I'm back! Thank you for the reviews! I hope you enjoy this next chapter! By the way, I'm now on my summer break, so I might be able to update more frequently! ^_^
Begin Training!
"Mudkip, Starly, Water Gun and Wing Attack!" shouted Naruto. The two Pokemon obeyed and attacked Kakashi's Manectric.
"Treecko, Sneasel, use Quick Attack and Icy Wind!" commanded Sasuke. Treecko dashed towards Luxray, a white trail of light behind him. Sneasel spewed ice shards from its mouth towards Luxray as well.
"Torchic, use Ember! Skitty, use Doubleslap!" shouted Sakura. Torchic breathed out a powerful Ember attack at Rotom, and Skitty ran towards the Plasma Pokemon, slapping it furiously.
"We got them, guys, keep attacking! Dattebayo!" said Naruto with a determined expression on his face.
"I can't make their attacks like appeals. This is more like a gym battle, more serious. I have to battle like a gym challenger would," thought Sakura as she kept shouting out commands to her Torchic and Skitty.
"You three are still amateurs," said Kakashi while reading his book. Then, he continued, "Manectric, Thunder Wave! Luxray and Rotom, use Discharge!" Manectric paralyzed Mudkip and Starly, causing them to stop attacking.
Treecko, Sneasel, Torchic, and Skitty were all flown back when Luxray and Rotom attacked them using Discharge.
"Naruto, Sasuke-kun, take out Vulpix and Houndour," suggested Sakura. The two boys released Vulpix and Houndour The two new Pokemon looked around in confusion before they were attacked by Kakashi's Pokemon.
"Argh, Vulpix!" shouted Naruto as his new Pokemon was thrown back by Kakashi's Manectric.
"Houndour, get up!" encouraged Sasuke when Houndour was hit by Luxray's Spark attack.
"Guys, gather all of our Pokemon together in one spot!" suggested Sakura. All three trainers' Pokemon ran towards a spot to stick together, but before they could gather, Kakashi attacked.
"Luxray, Manectric, Spark attack! Rotom, Ominous Wind!" comanded Kakashi . Luxray and Manectric started to attack the opponents with their electricity while Rotom sent purple waves of energy towards the rookie Pokemon.
"Eek, Torchic, Skitty!" yelled Sakura as she ran towards her Pokemon to heal them. Naruto and Sasuke went to help their Pokemon too. All of the rookie Pokemon were badly hurt from Kakashi's advanced attacks.
Even though the small Pokemon were hurt, they didn't want to let their trainers down. Sakura suddenly had an idea. She cradled Torchic and Skitty in her arms and ran towards Naruto and Sasuke. She whispered something to them and all three of them nodded.
"So, are you three going to continue? Look how badly your Pokemon are injured," taunted Kakashi. Before he could go on taunting, Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto shouted out attacks simultaneously.
"Torchic/Houndour/Vulpix, Ember!" The three Pokemon jumped in the air and, together, made a huge ring of fire around Kakashi's Luxray, Manectric, and Rotom. (AN: Like Sakura's first time fighting in Petalburg Forest.)
"Starly, Mudkip, combination of Gust and Water Gun!" shouted Naruto. Starly took to the skies with Mudkip on its back. The young Starly blew his Gust attack towards Kakashi's Pokemon while Mudkip jumped off his back and fired a powerful Water Gun attack. The water and wind combination hit Luxray, Manectric, Rotom, on the mark. (AN: The wind and water combination kinda reminds me of Naruto and Yamato's comtination when they were fighting Kakuzu.)
The attacks didn't stop there. Just after Naruto's combination was done, and the electric Pokemon were soaked and hurt, Sasuke got his Sneasel to attack.
"Sneasel, use Icy Wind!" Sneasel jumped high in the air and fired thousands of ice shards at Kakashi's Pokemon. Since they were already soaked, the Icy Wind attack froze them.
In the skies, Starly still had a hold of Mudkip, who extinguished the ring of fire around Kakashi's Pokemon, so that it wouldn't melt the frozen Pokemon.
"Alright! We did it! Dattebayo!" congratulated Naruto.
"Not quite," answered Kakashi, still not looking up from his book. The ice that froze Kakashi's Pokemon suddenly shattered, unfreezing the Pokemon. The three advanced Pokemon ran towards the rookie Pokemon, ready to deliver the final blow.
"What the heck?!" cried a very surprised Naruto.
"Manectric, Thunder! Luxray, Thunder Fang! Rotom, use Discharge!" commanded Kakashi
Manectric hit the rookie Pokemon with a huge blast of lightening, immediately knocking out Mudkip and Stary, but not Vulpix. (AN: Mudkip is a water type and Starly's a flying type, so both of them are vulnerable to electric type attacks.)
Luxray ran towards Treecko and Sneasel, ready with its Thunder Fang attack, and attacked both Pokemon with its Thunder Fang, knocking them out as well. But, Houndour managed to dodge the attack.
However, Rotom's attack knocked out the remaining Pokemon. It discharged blue electricity from its body, hitting and knocking out Torchic, Skitty, Houndour, and Vulpix.
The three rookie trainers stood, frozen in their places. Naruto even dropped to his knees in shock. Sakura, however, got out of her frozen state, and ran towards the Pokemon and treated them as much as she could.
Sasuke hung his head and gritted his teeth in anger. His thoughts wandered away to a person that he, one day, dreamed of surpassing.
Kakashi's voice woke the trio from their trances, "You three can use teamwork to your advantage. During the fight, you didn't abandon each other or try to do everything yourself. What you just did was great. You three can easily beat anyone with teamwork, even Team Sound. I hope our fight taught you three something. Good luck on your first gym battle and contest you three. "
Kakashi then, was gone; like he just disappeared into thin air. His Pokemon disappeared as well. Sakura healed the teams' Pokemon as best as she could using her items and medical kit. But, they went back to the Pokemon Center anyway, just to get their Pokemon up and running again.
At the Pokemon Center, the trio, surprisingly bumped into Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji. Sakura and Ino greeted each other like the best friends they are.
"Ino-pig, nice to see you. Here for the contest, aren't you?" greeted Sakura as she hugged Ino.
The blond retorted, "Of course, Billboard Brow. And you're here for the same reason?"
"Yep, and Naruto and Sasuke-kun's gym matches too," replied Sakura. Ino then grabbed Sakura's wrist and dragged her off, away from the boys.
Ino started talking again, "Sakura, that dark haired boy is so cute!" Sakura giggled and nodded her head.
"He is, isn't he? That's Sasuke-kun. The blond's Naruto." Sakura showed her Poketch to Ino. "Have you gotten a Poketch yet?" When Ino shook her head Sakura continued, "That's too bad. This was the last one in Rustboro. I had to fight for it with some redheaded bitch. Luckily, I got it, partly thanks to Sasuke-kun."
Ino raised one of her eyebrows and asked ,"What do you mean partly thanks to Sasuke-kun?"
Sakura answered, "Well, she was distracted by Sasuke-kun, so I took the opportunity to buy the Poketch. Nice, huh?" Ino laughed and nodded, high-fiving Sakura.
"That's an effective way to get a Poketch, Sakura." Then, spotting Sakura's locket around her neck, she took it and examined it. She then asked, "Where did you get this?"
"Oh, this? When I bought the Poketch, it was one of a few more presents the shop gave away. I didn't actually choose this. Sasuke-kun chose it for me while I was arguing with the redhead." Ino let go of the locket and spoke again.
"It looks really nice on you, Billboard Brow. And it looks like Sasuke-kun cares for you too." Sakura blushed lightly at the comment and shook her head lightly.
"N-No, it's not like that. We're just friends." Ino snorted and teased, "Right, just friends."
Naruto came up to the girls and interrupted them, "Hey, what're you two talking about?" Ino and Sakura acted innocent.
"Nothing, just stuff, y'know," replied Sakura. Ino nodded along.
Naruto, being the kiddy and naive kid he was, just said, "Oh, ok then. Hey, Sakura-chan. Do you have any idea when the next contest is gonna be?"
At the mention of the word "contest", Sakura and Ino looked at each other and ran towards Nurse Shizune, pushing aside poor Naruto.
"N-Nurse Shizune, do you know when the next contest is going to be in Rustboro?" asked Sakura and Ino simultaneously.
Shizune smiled and asnwered, "Of course. There's a contest going on right now, so new entries can't be added today." Sakura and Ino's disappointment showed in their faces, so Shizune quickly continued, "B-But there will be another contest in five more days. You just need to wait a bit more."
"Thank you, Nurse Shizune," said Sakura. Ino, however, asked Shizune another question.
"Nurse Shizune, do you know the dates when the Hoenn Grand Festival is going to take place?" asked Ino.
Sakura looked at Ino and asked, "What's the Grand Festival?" Ino looked at her like she was crazy.
"I thought you would know this, since you always did well at school. Anyway, the Grand Festival is the last barrier for all Pokemon Coordinators, the last challenge. To enter the Festival, you need to have at least five ribbons through a region, Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, or Sinnoh. Kanto has the Grand Festival too. The festival in Hoenn is usually held in Slateport City," explained Ino.
Shizune nodded as Ino explained the Grand Festival. Then, she took out two flyers and gave them to the two young coordinators. "These flyers explain what the Grand Festival is all about and its schedules for future contests. These might come in handy for you two," offered Shizune. The two girls took the flyers. Sakura folded it up and put it in her small bag while Ino put it in her skirt pocket.
"Shikamaru, Choji, let's go. I have to get ready for the contest," called out Ino. Then, turning to Sakura, she smirked. "You'll never catch up to me, Billboard Brow," taunted Ino.
Sakura twitched and shouted back, "Oh yeah?! What makes you so confident? I'll prove to you that I have become much, much stronger, even stronger than you!" Ino ignored Sakura and was already walking away with Shikamaru and Choji.
On the way out, Ino slowed by Sasuke and said in her most flirtatious voice, "See ya next time, Sasuke-kun." She even stressed the "kun" part, making Sasuke get shivers down his spine.
"Grrr, the nerve of that pig," muttered Sakura under her breath. Naruto came up to her waved his hand in her face.
"What, Naruto?" asked Sakura forcefully.
"Uh, there's a gym in Rustboro, so me and Sasuke can battle the leader here and maybe you can watch? Then me and Sasuke-teme can help you with your contest," offered Naruto. Sakura smiled and accepted his offer.
"Alright! Let's head to the gym, dattebayo!" Naruto was out of the Pokemon Center in no time. Sakura and Sasuke had to run after him so that they wouldn't get lost again.
Naruto banged on the door of the Rustboro gym as he called out, "Hey! Is anyone in this place? Open up!" A while later, a man with face paint and in a black costume opened the door and poked his head out.
"Thank you! Hey, are you the leader here?" asked Naruto. The man in the black cat costume shook his head, but gestured them to come in.
"My name's Kankuro, and I'm helping out my little brother run his gym," introduced the man.
"So you're not the leader?" asked Naruto.
"No, my brother is. And I have a sister in another city who's also a leader," said Kankuro.
"O…k. So, mind leading us to your brother?" Naruto asked. Kankuro just kept walking, a sign that he was leading the trio to the leader.
Finally, they reached a door, and Kankuro opened it. Inside was a gym designed for rock and ground type Pokemon.
"Gaara, there are some people looking for battles," said Kankuro. All of a sudden, a lot of sand collected in one place, the middle of the gym, and formed the shape of the leader.
"So which one of you wants to go first?" Gaara threateningly asked. Sakura backed up, clearly stating that she wasn't here to challenge him. Sasuke stayed put in his place, wondering if he should go first.
However, Naruto stepped up and shouted, "I'm going first, and I'm gonna win! Dattebayo!"
Gaara narrowed his eyes and said, "Very well. Go to the other side of the gym." Gaara went to his own side and took out his Pokeball. Naruto did the same thing.
"You can use only one Pokemon here, no more than one. I take battles as life or death situations," said Gaara. Naruto nodded his head and got ready to begin.
"Go, Sandslash," said Gaara. A Pokemon with lots of spikes on its back came out of Gaara's Pokeball. Naruto took out his Pokedex to examine it.
Sandslash, the MousePokemon. Sandslash can roll up its body as if it were a ball covered with large spikes. In battle, this Pokémon will try to make the foe flinch by jabbing it with its spines. It then leaps at the stunned foe to tear wildly with its sharp claws.
"Vulpix, go!" Naruto threw his Pokeball, and Vulpix came out. Sasuke and Sakura sighed.
"Naruto definitely doesn't know that he's at a disadvantage," thought Sakura.
"Kid," said Kankuro, turning to Naruto, "How many Pokemon do you have on you?"
"Um, right now, three," answered Naruto.
"Alright, each side can use three Pokemon. Let the match begin!" announced Kankuro. Gaara stood in his place, motionless, while Naruto crouched a bit, ready to launch his attack.
Oooo…. Naruto's first gym battle… with Gaara as his opponent! What'll happen next? And what about Sasuke's battle? Sakura's contest? Review, and I will update! ^_^