There!
Lifting a hand to cover her eyes from the sun overhead she looked out into the clouds. Just like she had suspected she saw a small airship floating innocently through the sky. A mischievous grin slowly snaked onto her face, "Finally found them!" she whispered with giddiness.
Then she frowned recognizing a familiar part of their aura, "They're humans?" She asked herself with a small hint of disappointment.
The energy emitting from that airship was the same that she had sensed around the remnants of the destroyed mountain a few months ago, there was no mistaking that the ones who caused such chaos were now right in front of her.
Her face turned into confusion, "But where are they going?" She pondered, looking over to the west where the balloon was going. They were traveling along the southern border of Ruby League it seemed. Perhaps at the end of the day or the next they would be past Blood League and into the Crescent moon League. Just that little transportation wouldn't be able to withstand going over the large seas to the other continents, they had to be heading to one of the neighboring leagues, perhaps the Crescent Moon League? The Amethyst League?
She felt herself frown at how their travel would play out and she could summarize it all in one word: Boring.
The only way they were going to have any conflict with anything would be flying Pokégirls and that alone just didn't sound so appetizing.
The Pokégirl sighed with a pout. What could she do to make their journey more... fulfilling? Although there was also the slim chance that she could be wrong that these two weren't the beings that caused that mountain to rupture.
That spoke something to her. She needed to have them prove that they were the ones that was involved in that mountain incident. Suddenly her fur frizzed, she thought of an idea that could work both ways, something that could make them prove to her that they were who she suspected, and also their journey wouldn't be boring!
She let out a very large smile, "Let's see if you guys are who I think you are!" She said to herself. She tapped her chin with her index finger, "Now let's see." She muttered turning away from the cliff she stood on she looked around the place, her eyes caught the sight of a boulder twice the size of that air balloon.
"Perfect!" Walking over to the large piece of rock she heaved it up over her head, turning to the airship at least half a mile away she narrowed her eyes in concentration. With a shout she launched the rock like a Wreckball goalie with her left arm. Suddenly being shot off the boulder headed straight for the balloon at an alarming speed.
She wiped her hands of the dirt, "Let's see if you survive that." She stated. If they were just ordinary people and they ended up dying then that was her miscalculation, but if they managed to survive in a way that convinced her that there may be a chance that they were beyond super-human than that was a jackpot.
Not to mention the balloon would be too damaged for repair so then they'd just have to travel by foot. Now all that needed to be done so she could enjoy the upcoming future was for those humans to prove themselves... not die.
Sitting at the edge of the cliff she swung her feet watching the performance she had set up.
One must never underestimate the art of listening, and gathering intelligence. Doing so could help a ninja improve their self and widen their knowledge. Many ninja have underestimated this important rule and because of it the price would usually be their own life, luckily for Naruto he was learning something knew each day.
"Pokegirls can have children?" Naruto asked, the mere question caused Tashira to roll her eyes.
Yue nodded, "That is correct Naruto-sama, although before that time comes they are considered Pokéwoman. Basically it is a Pokégirl who reaches her mid-thirties, at that age they undergo what some people call a "Second puberty" after that they are officially known as Pokéwoman." Yue explained.
Tashira sighed; ever since the Cheshire learned what the word 'Sama' met she had never stopped using it when referring to Naruto and Hinata. Even though it still disturbed Naruto and Hinata they both knew that they'd never be able to convince her to just use their names without any sort of honorific, so they just had to accept this, at least she wasn't calling them master anymore her new honorific change made things less... weird.
Naruto scratched his head in confusion, "A second puberty?" He asked not being able to follow, Tashira's eyebrow twitched.
"Oh my god." Tashira muttered.
Surprisingly or not surprisingly depending on how well someone knew the feline, Yue was pretty tolerant of the blond Shinobi. Tashira didn't know whether the Cheshire considered it a privilege to educate one of her 'Masters' or if she was just humoring the blond.
She liked to think the latter.
Yue nodded, she even smiled, "That is right, you see when a Pokéwoman gives birth to another Pokégirl, it is called a Pokékit, at this age they do not feel the sexual desires a Pokégirl has. The Pokégirl hormones only kick in during a Pokékits first puberty, which happens around the same time a human girl, would undergo maturity. After a Pokékit experiences their first puberty then they are considered Pokégirls and then when a Pokégirl reaches the ages of her mid-thirties she then experiences her second puberty and is then considered a Pokéwoman." Yue explained.
"What's the difference between Pokégirls and Pokéwoman anyway?" Naruto asked.
"Pokegirls can't get pregnant, only by parenthogenises, but for Pokéwoman they have a slightly decreased libido, and are no longer subject to parthenogenesis, they also take a longer time to go Feral, and are also able to bear children through sexual reproduction."
Naruto slowly nodded his head in understanding, before a question mark appeared over his face, "Eh? Why can't a Pokégirl have children? Why does it have to only be Pokéwoman?" He asked.
"That is a common misconception, Pokégirls can also bear young but instead of children they birth Pokékits. Pokegirls are infertile as far as normal reproduction goes; they are only able to bear young only from parthenogenesis meaning that no male can get a Pokégirl pregnant. Parenthogenisis is a form of asexual reproduction among Pokégirls, this can only happen to Pokégirls, not Pokéwoman. When a Pokégirl undergoes parenthogenisis they become pregnant spontaneously without the need of a sperm cell. A Pokéwoman can give birth to human males, females and Pokékits, a Pokégirl can only give birth to Pokékits alone. When a Pokégirl becomes a Pokéwoman she can no longer be subjected to parenthogenisis." Yue explained.
"Ah! Now I get it! So you're saying I can have sex with Kiya as much as possible and she won't get pregnant?" Naruto asked with his famed naivety.
Hinata sputtered in shock, lowering her head a shy blush appeared on Yue's cheeks, Tashira crossed her arms and turned her head with an irritated blush and Kiya had a large smile on her face.
Yue slowly nodded her head, "That is the general idea Naruto-sama." She replied.
"Tch." Tashira grunted, turning away from the group she looked out to the clouds.
Something caught her attention, a small black dot in the distance quickly getting bigger as moments passed. Tashira narrowed her eyes in confusion at the object, "What the?" She mumbled. It began to get bigger and bigger, the object growing in size heading straight for their airship, the object was in fact a large boulder hurling at them at a fast rate.
Suddenly Tashira's eyes widened as she realized what it was, she quickly turned to the group, "Everyone get out!" She yelled before the boulder twice as big as the balloon crashed into the side of the airship.
The sudden pressure on the balloon caused the balloon to explode, a loud shock wavso erupted as the basket they stood in shattered. The sudden shock wave from the explosion was quick to deafen the Kitsune's sensitive ears; each of them blasted to a different direction.
Kiya felt herself hurling to the ground, the pressure of the air had determined that. Slowly opening her eyes she found herself looking up into the sky, a large ball of smoke above her, most likely that was the fuel-source.
There was debris all around her, pieces of metal, rope, wood, and rubber.
Her eyes suddenly widened before she began looking around although she heard nothing, her eyes caught the sight of Tashira descending through the air unconscious. She'd think about what just happened later, right now she needed to make sure everyone was safe.
Kiya back-flipped through the air, hardening her expression in concentration. Naruto had her learn how to increase her Ember for months now, she still wasn't very effective with it but hopefully she could sustain enough energy to make this work.
Pushing energy to her hands she converted it to fire, and like expected there was a regular ball of fire.
'Come on!' she encouraged; timing it correctly she suddenly flared the flames, giving her a push toward the Dracass before her flame died back down. She had to keep up the same amount of energy, Naruto's objective was for her to throw a ball of flame as large as herself perhaps even larger instead of just throwing a small baseball sized flame, although that was still the beginning stage of making it an effective technique.
She flared her flame again, not giving up like she did the first time her fire grew three times its size.
Positioning the fire away from her, her body began to push backwards towards the Dracass, the flames acting as her own personal jet pack. She was wasting a lot of energy right now that if this kept up for a few more minutes she was going to get exhausted real fast.
She began to close in on Tashira, turning her body around she canceled the technique before straightening her body proportionate to Tashira's location, picking up speed as she grabbed a hold of the Dracass.
Kiya kicked her legs back to flip forward to connect her feet and jump off a metallic girder from the airship. Her eyes scanned back and forth in the sky, Hinata was far above slowly coming to. Kiya nodded to herself, she needed to get Tashira back into her pokeball!
"Naruto-Sama! Are you at all hurt?" Yue yelled seeing Naruto spiraling down through the air, smoke emitting from his back.
He was only the size of an ant to her because of the speed he was descending. She had to catch up to him before he hit ground, her body disappeared before reappearing closer. Teleporting continuously she began to slowly close the gap between them, more and more of her energy becoming depleted with the effort.
It didn't matter if she was tired; she had to save one of her masters! Her eyes looked at the blond continuing to spiral leaving a trail of black smoke behind.
-"Everyone get out!" Tashira yelled Naruto's eyes turned to the Dracass; suddenly he caught the sight of the boulder. Yue was the only one in the Boulder's way, Naruto dived, and bringing the girl to the floor of the basket the boulder crashed into the balloon, right above them was the main fuel-source.
A large amount of metal and fire hovering to keep the balloon full of hot air suddenly exploded. The fire enlarged from the rush of air, Naruto closed his eyes as he held Yue close beneath him.
Then everything became hot.-
"Naruto-sama! Naruto-Sama! Naruto-sama! Naruto-sama!" Slowly Naruto opened his eyes at the calling of his name, there was a deep ringing in his ear from the explosion, but he could vaguely hear Yue's voice. Suddenly his eyes opened, his body reacted, flailing in a sudden confused panic, and forcing his body to spin out of control.
Ting! Ting!
Yue's ears twitched, looking behind her she could see the large boulder from before wrapped up in the orange balloon, the whole thing was on fire burning fiercely, hitting the pieces of metal in the air as it came down on them. Shaking her head she focused on Naruto struggling to get his body leveled.
Suddenly Yue teleported closer to Naruto, another one and she had her arms wrapped around him. With her righting him, his body slowly began to even out, Naruto grunted before creaking open his left eye, "Ugh-... Yue?" He whispered.
Yue didn't reply, her eyes on the boulder that was beginning to close in on them, she tried to teleport but their bodies merely flickered, remaining in the same position.
Yue's eyes widened, closing her eyes she held onto the blond.
There was a bright yellow light that suddenly shined. Opening her eyes in surprise she caught the sight of Tashira's Hyper Beam technique easily making the boulder explode into smaller pieces of flaming rock.
Yue's eyes widened at the display of power.
Kiya looked at the sudden draconic form of Tashira in her arms fully awake; she had suddenly let loose her strongest attack. As soon as it wore off Kiya screamed in a loud squeaky voice, "You're awake?" She asked.
Tashira merely looked at her passively, the two of them still falling through the air she ordered, "Let go of me."
Kiya's ear twitched, but she continued to stare at her as if she had heard nothing. Tashira tightened her fist in irritation, "Hey! Kiya let go of me you-"
"MmmFuhmmDmMHmAhahm." Kiya continued to look at Tashira as her mouth continued to move but no sound was coming from the girl. Was it because of the wind, explosions setting off because of their fuel source? She didn't know, but she didn't have time to ponder that right now.
"What?" Kiya asked.
Pushing herself away from the Kitsune her wings spread out, Kiya flailed as she saw Tashira about to take off. Tashira's arm reached out as she grabbed a hold of Kiya's tail causing said girl to yelp. With a large flap of her wings she was off, flying around the debris she swooped in and grabbed the back of Yue's shirt, Naruto in the feline's arms she looked up in shock to the Dracass.
"Tashira-dono! I am glad you are unharmed!" She spoke.
Tashira nodded "Yeah, no problem." half listening as she was focused on dodging the flaming rocks. Going around she went up to where Hinata was jumping off debris around her and grabbing their supplies out of the air.
"Yo Naruto, I could really go without Kiya in my hands right now." Tashira spoke.
Naruto slowly shook his head trying to wake himself up, he kept drifting in and out.
"Naruto!" Tashira called out.
"Kk.. uh... right." Naruto grunted, taking out his pokeball he pointed it at Kiya, "Kitsune... return!" He panted Kiya materialized into light before returning to her pokeball.
"Thanks." Tashira muttered, flying around she grabbed their bags out of the air.
"Gah!" Tashira suddenly yelped causing Yue and Naruto to go through some turbulence. Yue looked up at Tashira in concern, "Is something wrong?" She asked.
Tashira felt her eyes flare, "What the hell do you think you're doing!" She yelled.
Yue continued to look at the Dracass as she barked at her left shoulder. Hinata's head popped over Tashira's shoulder, "Tashira-chan this is the only spot that wasn't taken, besides your hands are full." Hinata explained quietly.
Tashira bared her teeth, "Riding on my Back!".
"... Yeah." Hinata replied lamely. Grumbling, Tashira turned her head away, focusing on maneuvering herself through the air with the extra weight, including the weight seals currently in place she was descending faster than what she would like to call safe. Her eyes glanced to the debris falling through the sky harmlessly now that they were out of range.
She narrowed her eyes, they'd have to figure out what happened when they got to the ground, but first they had to make sure that everyone was okay.
Dropping to the ground Naruto fell to his knees, and then down to his arms, grunting in pain.
"Naruto-kun are you alright?" Hinata asked quickly jumping off Tashira.
Naruto merely nodded, "Yeah... It's just my back." He muttered, the clothing around his back was burned away, his flesh red, and bleeding.
"Remain still Naruto-kun." She instructed, putting her fingers together she muttered, "Byakugan." veins appeared on the sides of her eyes.
She analyzed the wound.
"It's a second degree burn." Hinata muttered, taking the bag that she was carrying off her back she quickly opened it and took out a scroll that had the medicine in it, the scroll she had was the one that had been divided on Naruto's half.
She unsealed an ointment. Burn salve, opening the lid she put some on her forefinger and middle finger.
"Don't move Naruto." She warned before using his shirt to clear his back of the blood, after that she applied the salve.
~Sssss!~
"GGgnnaaAHH! Kkuussoo!"
The pain, he felt Kyuubi's chakra corresponding with the medicine, steam began to arise from his back as it slowly, extremely slowly, began to heal, repairing the damaged skin.
Ripping off the rest of Naruto's shirt she pulled out gauze and wrapped it around his chest and mid-section, covering his back the gauze began to turn red with blood. Tying it off Hinata slowly helped Naruto to get back onto his knees and then sit down.
Watching the medical operation for a few moments Tashira turned to the Kitsune and narrowed her eyes. She had thought of a reason as to why Kiya hadn't heard anything she had said when they were falling, although she hoped that she was wrong, "Kiya." Tashira called over.
Kiya remained unfazed as if Tashira had not said anything making Tashira frown, "Great." She muttered.
"What's wrong?" Yue asked focusing on the Alpha of her harem, Tashira crossed her arms using her head to gesture to Kiya who continued to watch Naruto, "The explosion must've deafened her sensitive hearing, and from her calm behavior I doubt she even knows it." Tashira explained.
Yue's eyes widened in worry, "Is she gonna be alright?" She asked, Tashira waved her off, "She should be able to hear things again in a few days, don't worry about it." She replied, looking back up to the sky she could still see a large black cloud from the explosion.
"Does anyone know what just happened?" Kiya asked, then she froze finding out that she couldn't even hear herself talk. At first she blamed it on the pressure of the wind when they were falling but now she was barely finding out that wasn't the case.
Kiya patted her left ear experimentally, then again on her right.
"Boulder's don't just go flying through the air like that. Someone: Pokegirl or human threw that boulder at us for a reason, either they know who we are, or we stumbled upon its territory or something. Either way there's no use complaining about it now. Tashira, Yue please make sure that all the supplies are undamaged." Hinata spoke sliding on another copy of Naruto's upper clothing over the Blonde's shoulders.
Naruto bared his teeth, "Then it wasn't an accident, t-that bastard blew up our airship, and almost killed us along with it! That was the only airship I liked damn it! We should... go find them!" Naruto growled, "They were obviously trying to kill us for whatever reason!" Naruto stated as he tried to get up.
Hinata pushed his shoulders down forcing him to remain seated, "Please don't overexert yourself Naruto-kun you may be a fast healer but your body is still weak. You should rest before doing anything strenuous. Not to mention we have no idea who the person-"
"Or Pokégirl." Tashira interrupted.
"-Or Pokégirl is. We should first make sure we and our supplies are in good condition." Hinata explained. Naruto tightened his fists, something just threw a fucking mountain at them and yet they were going to do nothing about it?
Despite how much it made his anger boil inside Hinata was right. The last thing they needed to do was go searching through the whole area trying to find someone when they didn't even know what the thing looked like, male or female, human or Pokégirl.
Naruto's muscles relaxed as he gave in to what Hinata said, he looked over to the Pokégirls, "Are any of you hurt?" He asked. Kiya continued to tap her ears with a shocked look on her face, Naruto raised his eyebrows in confusion.
"Me and Yue are fine, just a little tired. As for Kiya, she seems to have temporarily lost her sense of hearing from the explosion, due to her sensitive hearing." Tashira replied. Naruto looked back to Kiya, "I see." He whispered.
"What?" Kiya asked seeing Naruto's lips moving. Her ear lowered and for once her whole demeanor seemed to deflate, "Naruto, you're not going to believe this, but I can't hear anything." Kiya muttered pointing to her ears.
Tashira shook her head, her eyes drifting back to the black cloud in the air that was now starting to disappear. Not looking away she asked, "Hinata, did you manage to retrieve all of our equipment?"
Hinata looked over to the bags, "We have the majority of them, but we are missing a few."
"Which ones are missing?"
"We are missing about... Four bags: One contains the journal's we got from Artemis the Huntress's base, the second is the technology we took from Professor Kenzel's lab, the third holds all the food we packed, and the fourth is our training equipment." Hinata replied, each of those very vital for the journey ahead of them.
"What all do we have?" Naruto grunted.
"We have bags containing our combat gear, and regular clothing; another has our weapons; third is our medical supplies; the written journals from Kenzel's lab; And last is our camping equipment." Hinata replied.
Tashira nodded, suddenly she had her wings sprouted, "We should search for them, and the best place to start off would be around the area of where the debris would have landed." She replied. Hinata nodded, sliding Naruto's vest over his shoulders she stood up, preparing to get on the Dracass's back.
Yue watched as Tashira held Hinata up preparing to take off, "I will assist as well." Yue volunteered.
"No. Yue I want you to use your Teleport ability to quickly gather wood and find any food within the vicinity. Kiya, I want you to provide the fire for tonight, and both of you watch over Naruto." Hinata ordered.
Yue nodded her head as Kiya stared at her.
Hinata faltered, she would apologize but then Kiya wouldn't hear it anyway, "Um... Yue, please find a way to tell Kiya... what I told her to do. We'll be right back." Hinata said before Tashira's wings flapped and then they were into the air and over the trees.
Yue watched as they were gone in moments, looking over to Naruto he sat down dazing in and out of sleep. Looking over to her other superior Kiya stared at her in cluelessness for her lack of hearing. Yue felt her shoulders lower.
There had to be paper somewhere in one of these bags, searching through the backpacks she found a few blank scrolls and some ink. Taking one out she opened the bottle of ink and stuck her finger in it, using her nail she wrote down Hinata's orders and then showed it to the Kitsune.
Kiya's eyes looked to the paper before she nodded, "Sure thing. I'll help you collect the wood." She said, Yue nodded.
Yue looked around the forest; she'd definitely need help here. Judging from the amount of time they had traveled she would summarize she was somewhere in the north of the Blood continent, the border between Ruby and Blood might possibly be a few more days of travel north.
Her eyes traveled to the terrain around her, 'The weather changes quick within these continents.' Yue thought to herself. It was still snowing within the Ruby league, here in this forest everything was damp, wet and perhaps bits of slush here and there. With the way this forest was, finding dry wood would prove a challenge.
"Kiya-dono I suppose we should get sta-" Yue turned to Naruto's alpha only to stop herself realizing that Kiya was no longer here. Shaking her head she looked back to Naruto, "Naruto-sama, please forgive me but I will return shortly." She spoke, grabbing all of the backpacks she set them up against a tree close to Naruto.
"Hey. Don't think I'm too useless Yue-chan." Naruto whispered as he chuckled, "I'm just resting so that when we find the bastard that did this... I'll take the person down for sure."
"I'm grateful." The Cheshire replied, Yue then bowed her head, "Please excuse me Naruto-sama." She spoke before she took to the trees, her energy far too low to do any teleporting.
Naruto sighed; his back was starting to feel better now. Although his heart was a different story, he didn't know why but his heart-beat was fast. Far faster than it ought to be. Naruto swallowed his saliva, "What's going on?" He asked himself. He was calm, tired even, and yet his heart continued to beat as if he was training with Lee.
'Almost feels like it's not even my heartbeat.' He thought to himself. He slowly shook his head, that didn't matter now.
He snorted as he looked around, what kind of tamer would he be if he let the females do all the work? He grunted, slowly getting up to his feet his grunted to himself, "I guess I'll set up shelter." He whispered.
Xx
xX
It was fast.
In the dark room there was incense burning in front of them, with the incense and a few candles as their only source of light he and the perverted sensei honored the old Saru for his sacrifice, having sat there for hours on end feeling nature around them, the Mana flowing with the wind in little wisps, the spiritual remnants left behind from the Pokégirls and humans alike within their surroundings, and the still very alive energy within the living, and so as the four of them sat there they gave their respects to the non-living.
Suddenly the silver haired boy grunted, the Pokégirl beside him opened her eyes and glanced to her tamer. There was a pain in the center of his back, his heartbeat began to speed up at the sudden ache when he had been feeling fine only moments ago. Bringing up his hand he held it to his chest, as if to check if the speed of his heart rate was actually real.
"What's wrong?" The older man beside him asked calmly, his most famed Pokégirl by his side as she too looked upon the youth.
In return he remained quiet, staring at the incense burning atop old man Saru's tombstone. He remained silent for a while longer before looking away, "I feel it again." he whispered. It was the same as yesterday only stronger this time, so much that it felt like he couldn't breathe as himself, instead like another, why was it that he was hurting even if he did nothing to cause his body to react in such a way.
His Pokégirl looked at him before looking to their sensei.
The man kept his eyes closed, his face poised in concentration and slight confusion on his students behalf. He had slightly shrugged it off before not knowing what it could mean, although now it was starting to peak his interest.
"Continue with your meditation." He replied.
The boy tightened his fist stubbornly, "I can feel it now, even as we speak I feel..." He whispered, he looked at his master, "Will you not let me go search?" He asked. The man slowly opened his eyes.
Go out and search for something he thought he felt? Bah, epiphanies, visions, illusions, he was never the one to fully believe in those.
He shook his head, "Perhaps if you proceed on your routine with three times the usual vigor I may consider it." he replied, there was improbability detected in that statement, the boy gave it his all in everything he taught him, how could he ask for more when he was always at his limit?
He felt himself chuckle, 'If his attitude was in place, he may actually be able to surpass even me.'
This boy... He was everything he wanted him to be, and yet he could also be the most ignorant.
They had sat in silence for quite a while now, the silver-haired youth had thought over his rejected request, trying to focus on his meditation, but no matter how hard he concentrated he couldn't take his mind off of it anymore.
He went to his knees, before getting up on his feet. Turning, he headed for the exit, his Pokégirl startled and surprised could only follow after him.
The man didn't laugh out loud, merely just to himself at how right he was.
"Hey, boy?" He called out, his eyes now closed, poised in his meditative state he remained unmoving, his Alpha following in his steps. He heard the child stop in his tracks, "Please do not try and stop me." Was his only reply before he continued walking.
"Oh? You plan on leaving without anything to arm yourself with?" He asked, suddenly holding out the boy's primary and secondary weapon.
He could hear the boy now pat himself down, searching for his weapons. The man was patient, waiting for the boy to return and gather his weapons.
He slowly took them from his master's hand, "Thank you master."
He waved it off, "Don't forget to collect your other Pokégirls."
"Where are they?"
"Two are sparring in the courtyard, another is at the graves, and the last is resting in your quarters." He replied off-handedly.
The boy nodded.
He bowed, his silver spiky hair falling over his face, before he looked up into the Horned Sage's eyes with his green ones.
The man sighed; his ten foot tall Alpha Hottie only chuckled.
"Watch over yourself boy; remember what I've taught you." He spoke, it wasn't threatening, there were dangers out there and they both knew it, it he was preparing to set off in search of something then he had better be prepared.
"Right." He replied, smirking a bit at how the old-man knew what he'd do, and for a moment, his green eyes glowed blue before returning to their green, showing he understood.
Xx
xX
... Five hours Later...
"Tch." Tashira grunted with a frown, as she dropped the rest of their retrieved supplies in the center of them, a fire was set up with a shelter built over them to cover them from any rain or hail.
Bamboo sticks Kiya had found she had propped up in the ground, also going around the tree four feet away from it, then the Kitsune had brought out a couple of their sleeping fabrics out to tie it to the top of the bamboo sticks to provide as a roof, reinforcing the roof by putting up multiple large leaves on top of them to hold off any leakage longer, the tree's above were still dripping water every now and then.
The thick blanket and leaf roof had also circled around the tree as well.
They still had blankets to spare.
Yue managed to find some less than ripe apricots, peaches and mangos in the trees above now currently stacked off to the side.
"That's all we've found." Tashira reported to her other superior, dropping two bags in front of him.
Naruto looked over the two bags, the one of the left holding their training equipment, nothing but scrolls and weapon holster's inside, but even if it was light Naruto was glad that Hinata told him that it was caught by the bushes of the trees. Looking to the other he gave a grimace at the bag containing their food, half the back of it was burnt away, and the food that was still within the bag was either burned, smashed, or had mud and ice smeared all within it.
Naruto's fist tightened, "What about Kenzel's technology, and Sukebe's journal entries?" He asked as Tashira slowly sat down on the oddly dry grass, Tashira knew that it was courtesy of Kiya.
Giving a harsh curse she looked at Naruto as if she had failed, "We only found traces of another one, it was wrapped within the tarp of the burning balloon leaving nothing but crisp behind. We weren't able to find the other one for some reason, we circled around the area and yet Hinata had not found it at all or anything that resembled the bag. Who knows? Maybe a Tamer in a rush found the bag and then took off in the thirteen minute window we lost contact with it." She finished, ending with cold sour sarcasm, she wasn't in a good mood.
All those notes, all that knowledge. Each of those entries had the ability to prepare them in understanding this world, and perhaps maybe even be able to surpass it, the knowledge on how to attain resources, technology, develop medicine... all gone.
Tashira narrowed her eyes as she looked down at the inflamed wood burning in the center of the circle they created around their heat source. Her hold on her pants tightened as she inwardly berated herself, after months of Hinata and Naruto training each one of them so they could one day prove to them that they could be in some way useful in their journey, all of it just seemed to break down like a busted mirror.
When she was confident before, she was cursing whatever arrogance she had now. Their transportation was taken out, Naruto and Kiya were injured, and Yue and herself almost depleted their energy completely trying to recover from the surprise attack... to just recover from a fucking rock!
Training, sparring, fighting: All of what she went through she now considered her abilities useless itself if she wasn't even able to protect her tamers from something like that.
Tashira gripped her pants leg tighter. She knew damn well that Kiya and Yue felt the same way, while Kiya may not have been able to hear, that didn't mean she couldn't talk and ever since she realized she couldn't hear she hardly even talked unless it contributed the conversation in some way, her whole demeanor screamed sorrow.
How could she have let them down? All she actually retrieved from their missing supplies was their training equipment. Food, Technology, Information all lost.
Tashira's body tensed when she felt Hinata's hand rest on her shoulder.
Hinata raised the somewhat burnt and dented canisters they had recovered from the crash sight, She had left to fill them up with water, "I've managed to gather some drinkable water." She said as she passed one to Kiya who had her hand raised, she caught it without even looking, her eyes watching her tail slowly swung back and forth.
Setting down the water Hinata sat in between Yue and Tashira.
"What's our plan of action Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.
Funny how she seemed to still look up to Naruto to be the main leader.
Naruto adjusted himself against the tree he was sitting against, a pillow behind him to provide more comfort than the bark of the tree ever could.
Naruto shut his eyes in thought for a good minute, then opened, "We don't know the terrain around here in the blood continent. The sun is also beginning to set as well so we won't be going anywhere tonight. While we rest and recover we'll learn more about what kind of Pokégirl's inhabit this area, what the weather's like in January, what kind of foods can be found, and where the most traveled route Tamers take that is near the border, we'll find all of this out by pokedex. After that we can only prepare ourselves for the journey, do training on the way."
Hinata as well as everyone else nodded.
"Tashira... could you give me the bag with Training equipment?" Naruto asked, Tashira's hand grabbed hold of the bag before she tossed it to the blond.
Catching without much effort he opened it, searching through the scrolls as Yue, and Tashira looked at Naruto in curiosity; Kiya meanwhile remained none the wiser. After a while he finally took out a scroll, unfurling it he applied chakra to a inked marking causing a small head-sized machine to poof into existence.
"Good thing I bought batteries." Naruto muttered, "The best thing to do right now is to heal you girls. Despite how you feel, it's always better to be safe." He spoke presenting the PPHU (Portable. Pokegirl. Healing. Unit) he had bought.
Pulling out a small pokeball he then enlarged it before he turned to Kiya who was holding her tail in front of her as it moved slowly, "Kitsune return." He ordered, Kiya materialized into red light before returning to her ball.
Hinata followed Naruto's example, soon she had given Tashira and Yue's pokeball to him so he could heal them. Naruto wasn't completely sure, but hopefully this healing unit would be able to heal Kiya's hearing problem.
Xx
xX
Ignorance was bliss?
Had she really just said that to him? After knowing the state of his mindset she had dared said those words to him?
Did not knowing something make you feel safe? Honestly the naivety of the statement could not be questioned, the more someone knew about something then the less they should fear it, not the other way around.
It wasn't the fact that she had actually said that to him, the real reason was because it triggered something within him that he didn't like.
He was the definition of ignorance.
He knew a lot, but he also knew nothing.
In all the information that he had managed to gather around him as he progressed to figure out the mystery that continued to plague him in his dreams, he knew that no matter how much knowledge he attained, none of it would help him regain what he was working to re-possess.
Confusion, thinly veiled anger, and at a loss for what he was to do next. Was he to continue to do what he had for who knew how long?
Could he remember when it all started?
Honestly.
No he couldn't, all he could remember was the past half a year he spent observing the areas around him. To him it was like he was always here, only now he was able to actually comprehend what was happening, and because of the sudden interruption of what he had previously known he lost it.
He remembered everything and he remembered nothing.
Damn it... he was tired.
He wasn't that mad at her, hell if he could even call it that. She was, after all, the latest Pokégirl to join his harem, of course she didn't know how his harem worked, how they functioned. So he might as well get her caught up with the rest of them.
"How much longer master?" She panted, having been at this for a while, he didn't show any signs of this ending soon, and she had to ask.
He looked at her, her form positioned at a much different angle compared to him. Sweat accumulating on her face as well on her shoulders and torso, her finger touching the ground as she tried to steady the whole weight of her body on that one appendage, her legs pointed to the sky.
She had discarded her upper clothing leaving her exposed to the cool breeze in the ever-growing darkness of the day beginning to come to a close and would soon inevitably and eventually start anew. It was actually a comforting breeze; the sun was slowly dying away, being conquered by the darkness of the night.
Her hair was cut short, but nonetheless gravity and her form reacted, causing her to occasionally have to use her other hand to get her bangs out of her vision, her breasts only working against her, her nipples now pointed to the ground.
Her stomach muscles flexed and her abdomen would push in and out signifying that she was panting.
He shook his head, "Master." He whispered, as if the word itself was poison within his mouth.
The sheer display of disgust caused the Pokégirl's body to freeze over in fear, realizing that she had yet again went against what her... er- tamer had told her.
The oldest one, the alpha sat beside him with a look of boredom, not really caring about what was happening, or why, but still watched to show that she at least would observe.
The second... the beta had her hands behind her head, every now and then she would nod off, the signs of a weary fatigue was beginning to show, then in the next moment she would wake herself up and then her face would again school into a look of arrogance, and other emotions that would continue to make the draconic Pokégirl look more foolish, at least, it was because of how weak she actually was that made her look foolish when she tried to create an aura of superiority.
She grunted, she couldn't take anymore, so with the crumpling of her body she had officially announced she had given up, even if she had not voiced anything other than moans of soreness from being in the same position on each of her fingers for more than ten minutes each doing vertical push-ups until it made her fingers ache with a knowing future than her fingers would swell from the blood, muscle work, and bruises.
She looked up pathetically to her tamer, he merely shook his head, "Got a long way to go."
She lowered her head, that was true she supposed, she was nowhere near the skill of any of his other Pokégirls.
Xx
xX
The most known Pokégirls to linger near the border were Eva type Pokégirl's, Psychic types, flying types, and a few Ice types.
Any Pokégirls with a bounty on their head that were located near this area were Wolverine's and even then they were rare, so it was unlikely that they'd be able to collect any bounties.
As for travel.
From what she saw on the small map displayed on the screen of her 'dex, there were currently twenty-three routes that remained near the border of Blood and Ruby league, all ranging from ten to thirty miles away from the border. The 'Dildie Route' was the shortest and most traveled route, although why they called it that she had no idea.
Would it not be better to travel the less likely taken route instead of one that had constant travelers?
Then again taking the most traveled route probably wasn't so bad. No one would care about what they did because they didn't know anything about them, and just as long they didn't do anything that was too obvious that they weren't regular tamers.
Then again taking the less traveled route lessened the risk of witnesses, but an added risk of traveling the less taken route would be the unknown dangers of the path.
'Then again how would training go with many other tamer's watching us, we wouldn't be able to train in anything that would cause people to be suspicious of us. But while we may not be able to train like usual, we could still have Pokébattles with passing tamers to test our battling skills.' it wasn't so much as the thought of them losing, it was just so they could see how wide they could stretch the rules of a Pokébattle, to see what was allowed and what wasn't.
As for area's with population, there were four villages, two towns, and three cities located within the northern area of the Blood continent. If you went into deeper detail, which was unnecessary but it never hurt to know what happened around here, there were small known resting places for traveling tamers, camps, training spots, activities, and interestingly two shrines in the northern area.
There would be a few tamers who would manage these spots, have their Pokégirls look out and around to keep track of things there, so nothing got out of control.
Hinata tapped her chin as she looked at the information shown to her, what were their shrines dedicated to, 'I didn't expect for there to be any religions in this world.' She slightly wondered what kind they had; did they have religions like they did back in fire country, with Monks or Samurai on Shinto or Buddhism?
Or did they have something completely different like back in their world Stone country looked up to the known God's, Lightning country with something about a guy named Thor, or the overall Shinigami himself, or did they have a completely different belief system?
How did these people define their Theology?
How this world's religious standpoint belief's system worked she was misty about, but she knew a small amount of it. Like the well-known name of "Church of the Thousand Gods" She wasn't quite sure what that meant exactly. Was it just a church that allowed you to pray to any faith you believed in?
She knew that the way it was created was that after the end of the war against Sukebe, the reduced populations of the earth mingled and slowly abandoned their old cultures. It was natural that this would lead to religious transitions as well. As old ways were gradually left behind, religion underwent a transformation as well. Many old religious myths and tales intermingled as people traveled about, and slowly, they began to form one large conglomerate of faith.
Although she didn't think that even if the end of civilization as it was known would have made everyone just drop their religion and embrace a brand new one that happened to incorporate everything from every religion.
She was sure that there was other churches, mosques, shrines etc. Like how Edo had a shrine dedicated to Kami herself even if the Thousand faith church may have that faith incorporated as well.
She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, even if it was in the night and there was a small shower from the sky above, she was fairly interested with this world's system, besides the fire and roof that their Pokégirls set up kept her dry and warm.
With a little prodding she scanned the nearest shrines list of known Pokégirls. One of the most well-known was the Shrine Maiden and Shrine Priestess.
And a chord of remembrance struck her as she read the Pokégirl's abilities.
Summoning.
It came as hardly a surprise to her, instead it flooded information to the front of her mind that had been pushed back with the stress and new gain of knowledge, maybe a little miffed that this world could summon, but no it did not come close to being surprised.
She remembered, so now she had to wonder.
'Naruto signed Jiraiya-sama's Toad contract didn't he?'
So many thoughts and ideas rushed into her head. Could he still summon them? Was there a way to contact the people back home? Was there a possibility Jiraiya may find a way to get them back?
If it did work then that could make a tremendous advantage, that also meant that they could... -Borrow some of this world's technology, information, medical knowledge and so on. Take it back with them, probably make trips back and forth or something, none of the enemy nations would know what'd hit them.
Parts of this place held people who mistreated Pokégirls, so she also couldn't help but play with the thought of bringing some of them back with them, sure it'd confuse everyone in Konoha at first, but maybe in a year or two, it would no longer be surprising.
Their population in both civilians and Shinobi would double.
But what if the summoning didn't work?
Summons had to be somewhere when they weren't being summoned, did this world's summon and their summons both share the same world?
If so then that would mean that... maybe one day they could go to one of these shrines and request a Shrine priestess to teach them how to summon... whatever they summoned, relay messages to the Toad or Slug summons, and have them relay that message to Jiraiya or Tsunade!
'What do Shrine Priestess's summon?' In the data presented about the Pokégirl, it said that they could use a summoning technique to bring forth an Esper. What was an Esper? Scanning through the long list of known Pokégirl's and their data she went to the 'E' section, and then, there it was, right between the 'Eva' and 'Espea' data.
ESPER, the Aeon Pokégirl
Type: Varies
Element: Magic/varies
Frequency: Very Rare (All Leagues)
Diet: varies
Role: varies
Libido: varies
Strong Vs: varies
Weak Vs: varies
Attacks: varies
Enhancements: varies
Evolves: None
Evolves From: None
Espers were supposed to be Sukebe's ultimate weapon, seconded only by the Legendaries. Thirteen were created at first, each one of a different elemental type, some differing from the normal Pokégirl classifications. But for some reason, they rebelled against Sukebe's forces and left for another dimension near the end of the War. They left no trace behind, no means of following them to wherever it was they had gone.
They were thought to be lost at first, but a few years later, a powerful Pokégirl was seen speaking to a Shrine Maiden. Shrine Maiden's Tamer, a young man named Incaros, scanned the Pokégirl, which registered as an Esper. Soon after, the Esper appeared again, summoned by the Shrine Maiden via the contract that she had made with her. This was the first recorded instance of a Shrine Maiden's summoning ability.
Espers are among the most chaotically arrayed Pokégirl types ever, capable of having nearly any elemental type possible. (There was even one rather ridiculous incidence of an Esper who's magical powers were based entirely on food.) Very few Espers have been recorded as being native to this dimension throughout history, those that remain being mistaken constantly for other Pokégirl types. Fewer still have occurred through threshold, no more than 1% of all Espers occurring from it. Some Espers have been known to take advantage of this fact, acting in a manner similar to Farfuck'ds, pretending to be delusional to hide their identities.
No one knows if Espers will return en masse to Earth one day, as they left on very bad terms with their fellow Pokégirls. There is a growing belief that they may return to Earth one day, should Parity become a reality.
She read each line with the utmost conviction. Her heart filling with hope, an ever-growing smile on her features.
It required some thought, but it was definitely something to look into.
She'd tell Naruto tomorrow... -er later on Today.
"Mhnn- Hinata-sama?"
Hinata turned around seeing the Cheshire next to Tashira slowly sitting up and rubbing at her eyes, her ears twitching, Hinata smiled, "Hello Yue-chan."
Yue looked confused, looking around at the still dark night with nothing but the nearly dead fire nearby.
"Hinata-sama please come to bed." She whined, feeling somewhat restless now that she was up, she went to bed without Hinata and now woke up without Hinata, the whole event had her feeling... wanting.
"I will soon Yue-chan, go ahead and sleep I'll be right there." She replied looking back to her dex.
Yue shook the stars from her vision, her cheeks puffed out in a small pout. Slowly getting out of the sleeping bag she stretched herself.
Hinata suddenly gasped feeling a set of hands reach in between her arms and grope her breasts, Yue rubbed her head against Hinata's back purring loudly, before bringing her head over Hinata's shoulder and rubbing against the lavender-eyed girl's cheek, "Hinata-sama, since we're up."
"Yue-chan." Hinata gasped, blood rushing to her face.
Releasing her hold on Hinata, she teleported, suddenly appearing in front of Hinata, she pushed Hinata's legs opened and nuzzled her head into Hinata's sex, purring loudly as she did.
Hinata gasped again, suddenly dropping her pokedex her hand went to the back of Yue's head, "Y-Yue-chan." She moaned.
"Hinata-sama." She whispered nipping at Hinata's sex through the clothing.
She breathed breathlessly, she glanced to the pokedex on the ground and then looked at yue's big purple eyes, then back to the dex, and finally back to Yue.
She sat by idly watching her Tamer's mouth move up and down, expressions helped her determine what the topic was about, but that only got her so far. Kiya's tail slowly wagged back and forth as she watched her pack, group, family... Harem talk to each other, confusion was on Naruto, Tashira, and Yue's faces at first. Then Naruto became contemplative, seemingly mulling over something Hinata had brought to his attention.
The healing unit healed her ears only by a small fraction, but the damages were pretty much healed.
But her hearing disability didn't seem to be fixed, although the healing unit did help somewhat. Heck she could already hear little whispering like mumbles in the farthest regions of her hearing, far better than it was yesterday, how all she heard was a strange ringing and then it became total silence.
Kiya blinked as they continued to talk and theorize to each other.
'Wonder what their talking about?' The whispered mumblings didn't really help her, but what kinda helped was that she could feel vibrations around her, not from hearing, but from touch. Thanks to Hinata's constant badgering about meditation, she had managed to use her energy by constantly exerting it all around her, small and slowly all throughout her body.
Hyper-sensitivity she supposed, nothing special.
She mainly used this so she could enjoy all of the things Naruto and her did together when they were alone, other than that it was pretty dormant until now, she finally found a reason for it she guessed..
She could feel Naruto pacing back and forth. Tashira making her grunts of doubt, and Yue tapping her foot in worry like usual. Curiously she tilted her head as Naruto suddenly smiled before nodding his head, and then he shrugged his shoulders before he grinned he then bit his own thumb, drawing a bit of blood.
She felt how much... chakra Naruto used doing his little thing; it was actually surprising how much he used. Yet nothing happened, he was left drained, a weary fatigue visible before he knelt down on one knee from exhaustion, and bits of pain.
Again they were all confused, so he tried again.
Then again, and again, and again.
Suddenly blood dripped from his nose. Kiya stood up, ready to runrover, same as everyone else.
He panted, and they seemed to take a break, Naruto was in too much pain.
Kiya scratched an itch on her thigh before she sprawled herself out on the cushions and blankets spread out from under the shelter, Naruto and the rest were out father where the clearing was a little larger and out in the open.
Kiya didn't know what they were doing, but it left her uneasy because it put Naruto in pain, howeve she wrote it off as one of those "Shinobi things" that Naruto and Hinata were always spouting. She stuck a finger into her ear and scratched the inside.
She was beginning to think that they were just wasting their chakra for some training exercise.
Well, that's what she was beginning to think.
Then suddenly chakra waved over them, Naruto giving it a final shot pushed as much chakra as he could into the summoning. Chakra among chakra spread out and washed over everyone because of how much he was using, and how much he was wasting.
Kiya sprung up again in that moment, watching in confusion.
He pushed and pushed more chakra, blood dripping from his nose until finally there was a reaction, where before, the technique just wasted his chakra, now there was some sort of -influx, next thing she knew the place exploded outward with force, pressure and a rush of air.
Their shelter and their bags were sent flying, Kiya being lifted off her feet and up into the tree's.
"Gah!" Naruto grunted as he crashed into the bark of the tree, smoke covering the area.
Tashira took to the air, Yue teleported farther away up on a tree branch, and Hinata pushed chakra to her feet to remain standing.
It took a while for the pressure to cease, and the clouds to clear, and when it finally did Naruto's eyes looked at what he summoned, and he couldn't help but stare in confusion.
"What the-?" Naruto muttered, Hinata and the others regaining their composure as well, responded to the summoning in a similar fashion, none of them expecting this.
It had a female figure, but it was far from human.
Instantly Tashira, Yue, and Kiya figured out what he had accidently summoned, "A Pokégirl?" They all whispered simultaneously.
True to their confusion, it was indeed a Pokégirl. One that was nearly as short as Naruto himself, she looked fairly... amphibious. And like them, she herself seemed surprised that she was summoned, her first response was to look around in shock.
Naruto's eyebrows shot up, "I summoned a Pokégirl?" he asked himself as he slowly stood up, the others landing back on the ground as well.
"How did I? I don't-" Naruto mumbled, taking out his pokedex he pointed the scanner at her.
HOTTIE, the Hot Frog Pokégirl
Lvl: 18
Type: Animorphic (frog)
Element: Water/Fire/Poison
Frequency: Very Rare, Rare on Magma Isles and in other volcanically active regions
Diet: normal, however Hotties love sushi and spicy foods
Role: Heavy combat fighter, portable heating unit. Hotties are usually unsuited for more domestic roles.
Libido: High, Very high right after a fight or when "making up"
Strong Vs: Bug, Fighting, Fire, Plant, Poison, Steel
Weak Vs: Electric, Ground, Psychic
Attacks: Poison, Poison Lash, Fireball, Flame Tower, Flamethrower, Burning Hands, WaterGun, Water Spear, Slick Stroke, Double Slap, Tackle, Lick, Tongue Lash, Tongue Wrap, Tongue-In-Ear, Go Down
Enhancements: Sticky finger and toe tips, sticky tongue, ability to elongate tongue up to 10 feet, can control body temperature from ambient up to hot enough to melt lead (625F), highly resistant to heat, enhanced strength (x3), enhanced speed (x2),
Evolves: Salamandra (Fire Stone), Horny Toad (Diamond Stone)
Evolves From: None
The Hottie is one of the few amphibious Pokégirls to exist. She stands anywhere from 5ft to 5'6" tall and has a stocky build. Breast size is usually a firm C - D cup, although anything from a B to DD has been seen. It must be noted that typically, the smaller the bust, the angrier the Hottie tends to stay. All Hotties have blue nipples.
Hotties have green skin that is decorated with vertical bright red stripes. Some can have blue irregular spots along with the stripes or instead of them. Hair color is usually a green that is a couple of shades darker than skin tone. Hotties do not have body hair; from the neck down they are completely hairless.
Hotties have webbed hands and feet tipped with short strong claws. Their hands are fully functional while their feet are slightly flatter and elongated, resembling short swim fins. The feet are not long enough to change their gait from human, however it should be noted that Hotties are sensitive to criticism of their feet.
Frankly, studies have indicated that Hotties are sensitive to criticism of anything about them, from their looks to their abilities. In fact, Hotties have hair triggers and a Tamer never knows what will set them off. They don't stay angry for long, and the quickest way to reduce their anger is to get them into a battle. While angry, Hotties have an annoying tendency to destroy their Tamer's belongings, venting by breaking everything that comes within reach. One Researcher described this behavior as "pissed off soon to be ex-girlfriend" His previously calm Hottie reacted to this statement by piling up his clothes and using flame thrower on them.
Hotties have a high libido, which becomes very high after winning a battle or when her Tamer apologizes and she's ready to make up. At this point she becomes very amorous and will take her Tamer to seek out the nearest body of water for a taming. Just the site of a large bathtub can put one into a receptive (demanding) mood. It should be noted that turning her down at this point is almost guaranteed to trigger her anger.
Hotties have the ability to regulate their body temperatures accurately from ambient to more than 600 degrees Fahrenheit. They often use this ability to warm up the bath they are using to something they find more relaxing. Caution must be observed in these situations as what is comfortable to a Hottie can be lethal to an unprotected human. Make sure any bubbles seen are coming from water jets and not from boiling. Hotties also can control the temperature of various parts of their bodies and some use this to heat up drinks by sticking their fingers into the liquid, or foods. Some have been known to use this as for practical jokes.
The Hottie's poison lash attack uses their tongue, which they coat with their poison attack saliva before unleashing the poison lash. They can also coat weapons or just about anything else they can get into their mouth. It should be noted that a lower concentrations, Hottie venom causes skin rashes or illness if ingested. Angry Hotties have been sometimes seen licking silverware to be used by those their ire is currently aimed at.
Naruto's face twisted into confusion, 'How did I summon a Hottie?' he asked.
Unfortunately, it seemed the Hottie wasn't prepared to answer, seeing as it was freaking out. So the first thing she did was shoot a fireball at the one that held the pokedex, a large ball of fire soon heading toward the blond, before eventually exploding, catching Naruto off guard.
It spun around; quickly using her reflex's to jump away from a draconic Pokégirl, the Hottie's hands blurred before she brought her right hand to her mouth. Her cheeks bubbled up, and then she let loose a water gun, catching Tashira head on, she was sent tumbling across the ground.
The Hottie looked back and forth, using what her boss had taught her she saw five living beings in all: two tamers, and three Pokégirls.
She panicked, 'How did that Tamer-'
She dodged again, this time the attack came from a Vulpine Pokégirl, continuing to dodge she realized that these Pokégirls weren't any pushovers, this Kitsune's attacks were timed, fast, and precise with no hesitation
They actually seemed... trained?
'I have to report this to the boss!'
And just like that, she burst into smoke, Yue readying herself to attack from behind, now gone, with Kiya mid-leap, crashed into the feline.