Chapter eight is now finished! I hope you all enjoy it!
(Marshalanime does not own Naruto or Pokemon)
After he told her he wanted to travel with her Audrey felt like celebrating but had to stop herself from jumping in and down in excitement, They still had to get everything packed. It wasn't hard to toss everything she'd brought from her jeep into the hotel room back in, the problem came when she remembered that Naruto now had quite a bit of luggage after her shopping spree the day before. It was hard enough making enough room for the boy when it was just her things crammed in there.
Well nothing was going to get done if they just stared at the damn thing. "I should have a few straps in there somewhere. I've got a few things that could go on the roof" Audrey said after a short sigh and she dropped the bags in her arms down on the street. This could take a while.
Audrey had popped open her trunk and taken to tossing out bags and other luggage as she searched for the straps she was positive were in there somewhere. Naruto, Zorua, and Petilil ended up frantically running around behind the woman catching her things before they hit something or someone and Murkrow, well Murkrow watched them.
"Found them!" Audrey triumphantly said as she took a step back from the vehicle and thrust her right hand up with the bundle of straps in it. "Now we can get everything ready to... go?" the professor said as she turned to face the others and being a tad bit surprised when she saw Naruto and the two pokemon a bit winded with luggage mostly piled around them. "Hehehe, oh, did I do that?" Audrey said with a nervous chuckle.
"So Naruto, have you ever flown on a plane before?" Audrey asked as they drove through the city. Naruto was in the passenger seat like before and Zorua and Petilil were sitting in his lap, though this time they had to make room between their seats for Murkrow to stand on. After a moment of silence Audrey became curious and so briefly glanced over at the blond. Seeing him staring back at her with an odd look she asked "Is something wrong?".
"What's a plane?" the boy asked her. Hearing his question Audrey's lips formed a thin line and blinked a few times before smiling and chuckling. She didn't know why but she just found it funny how that surprised her. Being around this kid just made her happy for some reason.
"Mur" Murkrow's cry poked through the professor's thoughts and her eye went to it and then immediately back to the road. Stomping on the break the jeep screeched as it slid to a halt just before rear ending the car stopped in front of them. In the process her, Naruto, Zorua, and Petilil's eyes widened as they slid forward with her and Naruto being stopped by their seat belts before slamming into anything. As for Murkrow it had opened it's wings and taken to hover in the jeep to avoid hitting anything like Zorua and Petilil had.
With a shocked expression and feeling like she'd just had a heart attack Audrey glanced up to see the red light that the other driver had stopped for. Turning her head to the side she saw Murkrow landing back down as Petilil, Zorua, and Naruto got themselves back together with Zorua glaring at her in annoyance. "Ah hehehe maybe, I should keep my eyes on the road" she nervously said though Zorua's glare didn't lighten up at her words. With another nervous she turned forward again ans slumped down trying to hid her face behind the steering wheel.
True to her word she watched the road the rest of the way to the airport and once they were there, well once they were there Audrey couldn't hide the smile on her face as she watched Naruto took in everything with complete amazement. Hopefully he's not afraid of heights and holds onto that sense of amazement when they get on a plane.
Coming into the main lobby Audrey brought Naruto and the pokemon over to a row of seats. "Okay, I need to go get our tickets so could you wait here?" Audrey asked the blond and pokemon. A quick nod of the head later and the professor left to get their tickets.
Hoping up on the seat the blond happily watched the people around them coming and going on whatever business they had. Petilil had climbed up onto his lap, Zorua was resting on the floor next to him, and Murkrow was perched on the back of the seat next to him after being shooed off Naruto's head a few times. Though Naruto promised to wait right there, being the young boy he was, he was getting bored, fast.
He began to wonder when Audrey would be back, his head resting on his hands as he used them to tilt his head every few seconds. "Baltoy" the sound coming from behind him jolted the boy straight up which in turn startled Petilil. Glancing around the blond saw a small, tan pokemon float by his head. Well he was pretty sure it was a pokemon. Up till now all the pokemon he'd seen looked similar to animal or plant life from his world but this one looked like a clay doll of some sort.
It's body consisted of two main parts, the head and body. It had rather large yet closed eyes with a light red marking that ran along the top of it's eyes and the space between them where a nose would go. Poking out the top of it's head was a spike. It's body was rather simple being only a sphere though it did have a circular red marking on the front that had two off shoots on either side that connected at the back. It's arms seemed even more simplistic as they were little more than long rectangular shapes, though they were surprisingly flexible. Lastly, on the very bottom where legs might have gone on a different creature a top like spike jutted out.
The small pokemon floated in front of the boy, happily waving it's arms and making a few spins resulting in Naruto's boredom being forgotten. "It looks like Baltoy likes you" a feminine voice said from behind him. Turning his head Naruto say the woman who spoke looking down at him with her hand resting on the back of his seat.
The woman looked to be in her mid to late teens with shoulder length black hair that fanned out towards the end and her bangs swept from the left to the right and curved upward at their tips. She had soft amber eyes with long eyelashes. She wore pearl like earnings made from some sort of red gemstone that matched nicely with her open jacket that ended half way down her torso with dark blue trim around the edges. Under her jacket she had a simple form fitting black shirt that stopped just enough to see the bottom half of her belly button. Hanging off her right shoulder she had a leather satchel. Further down she wore bluejeans that clung to her athletic legs and lastly she had a black and white pair of sneakers.
Immediately to her side was what the boy assumed was her friend as the guy was standing next to her with his hands resting behind his head. He had brown hair that he had spiked up in the front with a matching goatee and stubble that loosely it to his hair. He had a pair of sunglasses on but at this angle Naruto could see that his eyes were grey. His hands were covered by black fingerless cloves. He wore a dark blue vest over a forest green shirt. he two wore bluejeans though they weren't as form fitting as his companions and his shoes were dark blue.
"Looks to me like he's got a natural talent with pokemon" the guy said as his sight moved over the three pokemon traveling with the blond. "Maybe Baltoy will end up liking him more than you" the man joked and then laughed at his own joke. Though his laughing didn't last to long as the woman jabbed him in the side with her elbow.
Recomposing herself after the small assault she went on to introduce herself. "Names Erin and this" she pointed at the guy beside her who was muttering to himself while rubbing his side, "is Desmond. We're...".
It was here that Desmond interrupted her to say "We're here to try out luck in the Unova league!". As he said this he grabbed a pokeball from his belt and held it up to either show it off or to just show off, Naruto couldn't tell.
"I was going to say 'Just arrived in Unova', but that works too" the woman said after a brief sigh. She was accustom to his behavior so there was no point in getting ad at him, it's not like it'd stop him from doing it again in the future.
Naruto at first was taken in by the sight of the pokeball as the only other pokeball he'd seen so far was Prinplup's and briefly wondered what was inside it, but then a question entered his head. "What's the Unova league?" the blond asked.
"It's the pokemon league here in Unova" Erin gave the short answer first. "Basically..." she was going to give more information such as challenging gym leaders to the Vertress Conference where qualifying trainers compete against one another but Desmond interjected once again.
"Basically it's where cool trainers like us show what we got and the best out of the bunch gets a shot at the Elite Four and league champion" the man said with a big grin as he pointed to himself with his thumb, all the while oblivious to Erin's growing irritation.
While the woman took in a deep breath to calm herself down Naruto's eyes lit up like the night sky. "You're trainers!" the boy excitedly said as he quickly pulled his legs up so he could sit on his knees and bringing his eyes closer to the level of theirs. He'd nearly knocked Petilil to the floor in the process but remembered the little thing was there soon enough to grab it before that could happen and now held it with his left arm.
"Ha ha! Excitable little fella aren't you?" Desmond said as he leaned down at patted the blond's head with a big grin on his face. Seeing the two grinning at each other put a grin on Erin's face as well, he always had an easy time getting along with kids. "Hey! I got it!" Desmond suddenly shot back up before tapping his fist against his palm. Turning to Erin, "Doesn't this airport have a battle arena?".
"Huh? Yeah, why the interest all of the sudden?" Erin questioned the man. Half the flight here she spent listening to him go on about taking on a gym as soon as possible. The only reason their still in the airport was because Baltoy took off while they weren't looking.
"Why don't we have a battle" The man suggested. Erin was just starting to decline when he cut her off before she could get through her second word. "Come on, it's not for me" Desmond said as he leaned down and wrapped an arm around Naruto's shoulders. "It's for the kid! Don't tell me you never wanted to watch a real pokemon battle when you were his age" the guy said and Naruto's expression grew even more excited, Desmond's arm being the only thing stopping him from bouncing right out of his seat. The boy had watched the tail end of a battle on TV the night before with Audrey but seeing on in real life had to be even better.
Seeing the over joyed look on the blond's face did cause her to reconsider it, but. "That's great and all but we can't just drag him off with us. Unless you seriously think a little kid came to the airport all by himself" Erin reasoned and Naruto's expression fell a bit at the prospect of seeing them battle fade away.
"Simple!" Desmond responded as he got up and ran behind Erin. With a startled yelp from the woman he yanked open her satchel and started rummaging through it. "We'll just leave a note" he said as he pulled out a notepad and pen.
"Don't just go sticking your hands in other peoples things!" Erin barked at the man as she yanked the paper and pen out of his hands. Desmond though just gave her an odd look confused as to why she got upset. Turning her attention to the boy as she held the notepad in one hand and the pen in the other "Now, who all are you traveling with?" she calmly asked so she'd have a better idea of what to jot down.