Thanks for the reviews guys! The alerts too. ^_^ I hope you enjoy this chapter! Find out who wins! Oh, and by the way, I have a new forum on my profile, "Spread the SasuHina HATE!" I just don't understand that couple… yeah, it's cute, but it makes NO sense AT ALL. Post some comments on my forum too!! :D

Another Way

Recap

Chikorita was blasted back from the fire. Chikorita went through the wall of the fire circle and still went on until it hit the wall. Even then, Torchic didn't stop the flame thrower attack. Ino couldn't think of anything to do.

The buzzer sounded, Torchic stopped the attack, and Chikorita fell to the ground. The two friends turned their heads towards the scoreboard, and both their eyes widened.

End of Recap

Naruto's jaw dropped and Sasuke uttered his trademark "hn". Then, Naruto began to grin from ear to ear and cheer. "Yes! Sakura-chan, you did it! You won your first contest!"

"No way. Ino lost?" muttered Choji, munching on his chips.

Shikamaru sighed and said, "I kinda had a feeling that this would happen."

"Sakura-chan won! That's what happened, Shikamaru! Dattebayo!" shouted Naruto.

"What I meant was Ino underestimating Sakura, you idiot," said Shikamaru. A vein popped in Naruto's head. Shikamaru continued, "Ino had way too much self-confidence. Anyway, Sakura also had a type advantage over her too. Plus, Chikorita's Ino's newest Pokemon. I even thought that Ino went easy on Sakura for a while."

"Come on Shikamaru. Didn't you see them out there? They were going all out on each other!" yelled Naruto.

"Whatever. You're troublesome," said Shikamaru, ignoring Naruto's comments.

"She actually won. Hn, Sakura is one determined girl," thought Sasuke.

On stage, Sakura was overjoyed. Ino still couldn't believe that she lost to Sakura.

"How? How could I have lost? I have more experience. I should've won!" Ino shouted mentally. She shook her head a few times and turned to Sakura.

Sakura was grinning her head off. She held out her hand towards Ino, and her best friend took it. They shook hands and hugged each other.

"I still can't believe I won," whispered Sakura.

"Well, I can't believe I lost" Ino whispered back. Both of them giggled and released each other.

"Alright, let's give it up for our winner, Sakura Haruno!" announced Tsunami. Sakura received her very first contest ribbon. The young girl couldn't contain her excitement. She was jumping up and down out of excitement.

When all of them were outside once more, Sakura and Ino said their goodbyes.

"When we meet again in a contest Sakura, don't think you'll be able to beat me anymore," said Ino.

"Oh yeah, well I'll be much stronger too, so don't count your chickens before they hatch, Ino-pig!" taunted Sakura.

"Whatever billboard brow," said Ino. Then, she moved closer to Sakura and whispered, "Even though we're going separate ways, don't think I won't forget about Sasuke-kun."

Sakura twitched and yelled back, "Oh please Ino! Like I would let you near him!" Sakura quickly covered her mouth when she realized that she had just announced it for the whole group to hear.

"Ha ha! Well, see ya forehead." Then, Ino walked past Sasuke and whispered, "And see you later, Sasuke-kun!" Shivers went down Sasuke's spine as Ino strode past him. Naruto looked confused, and Sakura looked like she was about to blow up.

"Hey, hey, Sakura-chan. How do you feel about getting your first ribbon?" asked Naruto.

"Pretty good. After all, I did beat Ino," replied Sakura.

"Oh, hell yeah we beat the pig! Shannaro!!" chanted Inner Sakura.

"Oh, you guys are gonna challenge the gym leader again aren't you?" asked Sakura. Naruto grinned, then nodded. Sasuke just muttered a "hn".

"Are you guys really ready to face that guy? The last time I checked, he was pretty intimidating," continued Sakura.

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan! Me and Sasuke-teme will both beat him! Dattebayo!" shouted Naruto.
"Shut up, dobe, and let's go," said Sasuke as he began to walk towards the Rustboro gym.

"Hey, teme! Wait up!" yelled Naruto as he ran after Sasuke.

When they arrived at the gym, Naruto and Sasuke were, once again, brought to Gaara. Both of them seem pretty confident about themselves this time.

"I hope they'll succeed. They were so supportive when I wanted to enter the contest. I'll have to return the favor," thought Sakura.

"So, you two have returned," said Gaara in his monotone.

"Yep! And this time, we're gonna win!" said Naruto.

"Which one of you is going to go first?" asked Gaara.

Both boys stepped up and said, "Both of us are going." Kankuro seemed surprised and Gaara still maintained his stoic expression.

"What the--? Are they serious?" Kankuro asked himself.

Gaara closed his eyes for a while, and re-opened them again. "Fine. Each of you can only use one Pokemon," continued Gaara.

"Fine with us!" said Naruto as he took out a Pokeball. Sasuke took out his as well.

"How are they gonna win? Both of them used almost all their time in helping me. Please, please, please win, guys," prayed Sakura.

Naruto and Sasuke both released their Pokemon at the same time. "Go, Mudkip/Sneasel!" Gaara released two Pokemon as well. "Go, Cranidos, Dugtrio" A large elephant loomed over Mudkip and Sneasel, but the smaller Pokemon weren't intimidated.

Before the match began, Naruto and Sasuke took out their Pokedexes and analyzed the Pokemon. Sakura did the same thing on the sidelines.

Cranidos, the Head Butt Pokemon. A lifelong jungle dweller from 100 million years ago, it would snap obstructing trees with headbutts.

"That Cranidos was resurrected from a fossil?! This match seems much harder than the last one. Be careful, guys," thought Sakura.

Dugtrio, the Mole Pokemon. Dugtrio are actually triplets that emerged from one body. As a result, each triplet thinks exactly like the other two triplets. They work cooperatively to burrow endlessly.

"Let the match begin!" announced Kankuro.

"Dugtrio, Night Slash. Cranidos, Headbutt," commanded Gaara.

Dugtrio glowed white and started to attack Mudkip while Cranidos charged toward Sneasel.

"Sneasel/Mudkip, jump up!" commanded Sasuke and Naruto simultaneously. Sneasel and Mudkip jumped together, causing Dugtrio and Cranidos to miss them.

"Mudkip use Water Gun!" shouted Naruto. Mudkip sprayed out water, but it didn't hit Dugtrio and Cranidos. Instead, the water started to flood the gym floor as Mudkip kept spurting out its Water Gun attack.

"Dugtrio use…" Gaara was interrupted by Sasuke's command.

"Sneasel, use Icy Wind!" Sneasel blew out cold wind from its mouth, towards the water. The water immediately froze and trapped Dugtrio and Cranidos. Sneasel and Mudkip landed on the ice lightly.

"Sneasel, use faint attack," said Sasuke. Sneasel walked up to Cranidos, and distracted it. Then, it struck Cranidos with its claws, hard. The huge Pokemon fell down, breaking the ice that stuck to Cranidos's feet. Dugtrio was still frozen solid.

"Yes! Take that!" cried Inner Sakura.

"Those two are working really well together," thought Sakura.

"Cranidos, Zen Headbutt," said Gaara. Cranidos got up immediately. The top of its head glowed and it charged toward Sneasel. The dark type Pokemon dodged the attack, so Cranidos hit Mudkip instead.

"Oh man, Naruto's gonna blow, now," thought Sakura. To her surprise, Naruto didn't say anything. He just stayed where he was. His lips even twitched to form a small smile.

Suddenly, Dugtrio attacked Mudkip from below. Sakura hadn't seen Dugtrio break free of the ice. Mudkip took the hit and flew up in the air. Sakura slapped her plam to her forehead. "It's over now," she thought.

"Now, Mudkip!" shouted Naruto. Mudkip then unleashed a stream of energy towards Dugtrio and Cranidos. Both of them were hit by the energy. Sakura started to say, "Naruto, did you use…"

Naruto answered her question on the spot, "Yeah, that was bide. Mudkip already knew what to do in this case. Mudkip, use Water Gun!"

Mudkip hit Dugtrio and Cranidos again with the water gun. (AN: The water greatly affects Cranidos and Dugtrio since they're both ground or rock types.)

"Sneasel, Icy Wind!" commanded Sasuke. The two ground type Pokemon semi-froze. Both of them can still move, but barely.

"Mudkip/Sneasel, finish it!" Naruto and Sasuke commanded simultaneously. Mudkip and Sneasel combined two of their attacks, Water Gun and Icy Wind. Ice shards hit Gaara's Pokemon, and water followed soon after. The two Pokemon were completely frozen, and couldn't continue battling anymore.

"No way! The kids won," thought Kankuro.

"Shannaro! Naruto and Sasuke-kun beat him! Hell yeah!" cheered Inner Sakura.

"Ha! Take that, Gaara!" boasted Naruto as he returned Mudkip to his Pokeball.

Gaara stood there, as still as a statue. "How could I have lost? How did the two of them beat me?" Gaara asked himself.

"I admit defeat," spoke Gaara. "You two are incredible."

"Teamwork always comes in handy, right, Sasuke-teme?" teased Naruto, jabbing his elbow into Sasuke's side.

"Hn, don't touch me dobe," replied Sasuke. Naruto twitched a bit, but refrained from making a comeback.

Gaara approached Naruto and Sasuke and asked them to extend their hands. Then, the leader dropped his badges in both of their outstretched hands.

"You two impress me. As a reward, I offer you the stone badge," said Gaara. Naruto grinned his foxy grin and Sasuke slightly smirked.

"I'm one step closer to becoming like my dad! Dattebayo!" cheered Naruto mentally.

"I'll have to conquer more gyms to reach Itachi. Just you wait, Itachi, I'll catch up to you in no time," thought Sasuke.

Naruto and Sasuke walked away and were congratulated by Sakura. The pinkette gave both boys a hug each, with Naruto and Sasuke slightly blushing.

"You two were great! How did you guys train? No, when did you two train?" asked a curious Sakura.

Naruto smiled and answered, "We took up some extra time training with each other when you went to sleep, Sakura-chan. We wanted you to help us too, but we didn't want to wake you up, so, we trained by ourselves." Then, Naruto sneaked a look at Sasuke and thought, "More like Sasuke-teme didn't want to wake you up."

"Ah man. I wouldn't mind training with you guys. But thanks for letting a girl get some sleep too," said Sakura. Then, she turned to Sasuke and asked, "Where do you plan to go next, Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn, it's your choice," answered the Uchiha. "I don't really mind, as long as there's a gym."

"I never thought Sasuke-teme was a person who lets other people make decisions for him," thought Naruto.

"Um, ok, Sasuke-kun," answered Sakura. She messed around with her Poketch, and scrolled around. "What about Dewford? We'll need transportation though."

"What kind of transportation?" asked Naruto.

"Transportation across water. None of us has a Pokemon that can ferry us across the sea, do we?" asked Sakura. Naruto shook his head and Sasuke just uttered his trademark "hn".

"If you three wanna go to Dewford, I have a friend who can provide transportation across the water," offered Kankuro.

"You do?! Where?" asked an excited Naruto.

"You just have to go through Petalburg Forest again, and you'll see a small shack. That's where he lives," answered Kankuro.

"Oh, you mean that shabby shack?" asked Sakura, recalling the image. (AN: Yeah, I didn't put it there at first, but still, you can imagine it, right?) "We passed by it when we first entered Petalburg Forest."

"Yeah, that place. He can use his boat to send you three to Dewford. Just tell them that Kankuro told you to go there," said Kankuro.

"Thanks cat-eared guy! We owe you one!" shouted Naruto as he ran out of the gym. Kankuro twitched. "Cat-eared guy?" he thought.

"Man, we really showed that Gaara guy a good fight! Dattebayo!" cheered Naruto.

"Hn, dobe, don't get your hopes up just because we won one match. There'll be many more to come," commented Sasuke.

"Stop being so emo, teme. Enjoy the time you have!" said Naruto.

"Emo? What is that idiot talking about?" thought Sasuke.

"Naruto! Don't call Sasuke-kun emo!" defended Sakura. Sasuke gave Sakura a small smile, making the girl blush lightly.

"Ok, let's get through Petalburg Forest again, Dattebayo!" encouraged Naruto. The hyper blond charged into the forest, Pokeballs in hand.

It took the trio a while to get out of the forest. They had to defeat the wild Pokemon that came charging at them, and, at the same time, they had to find a reliable path.

"I see the shack!" said Sakura. The pinkette ran towards the small, run down house, with the boys following her. She knocked on the door lightly, and a small boy opened the door.

"Who are you?" asked the boy. Sakura smiled at him and answered, "Kankuro told us to come here if we wanted to cross the sea to go to Dewford. By the way, my name's Sakura. Nice to meet you…" Sakura trailed off to let him say his name.

"Inari. My name's Inari. If you want to cross the sea, you'll have to see my grandpa. Wait for a while," said Inari.

"He seems nice enough," Sakura told Naruto and Sasuke.

Inari came back hand in hand with an old man, his grandpa. "Who are these brats, Inari?" asked the old man.

"They want to go to Dewford, grandpa. Kankuro told them to come here," answered Inari.

"Hmm? What do you brats intend to do in Dewford? Challenge the gym leader there?" asked the old man.

"Yeah! Me and Sasuke-teme already beat the gym leader in Rustboro, so for sure, we can beat the Dewford leader! Dattebayo!" yelled Naruto, a little too loudly.

"Ahahahaha! Do you brats really think it's gonna be easy to beat the Dewford leader? In your dreams, kid," taunted the old man. "But, I'll get you three to Dewford, just because your determination intrigues me."

"Thanks, old man! By the way, the name's Naruto Uzumaki! Dattebayo!" introduced Naruto. He pointed towards Sasuke and continued, "That's Sasuke Uchiha-teme." Then, he gestured towards Sakura, "And that's Sakura Haruno."

The old man introduced himself as Tazuna. He walked towards Naruto and examined him. "You look like the champion, Minato Namikaze," commented Tazuna.

"I'm his son," replied Naruto quietly. "I don't want to be known as 'The Champion's Son!' I want to be known as Naruto Uzumaki! And I'm gonna make people recognize me, Dattebayo!" Naruto encouraged himself mentally.

"Oh, you're the son of the champion? Good for you, Naruto. Alright you three, come with me," said Tazuna. The trio followed Tazuna and Inari to the back of the shack, where there was a small, shabby boat floating.

"We're going with that?" asked Sakura, not really trusting the small boat.

"Yep. That little boat has accompanied me to Slateport a lotta times too. In fact, I just remembered, I had some business in Slateport. After you brats finish your work in Dewford, I'll take you to Slateport with me. Deal?" offered Tazuna.

"Sure, old man!" agreed Naruto.

"Alright," followed Sakura.

"Hn, whatever," muttered Sasuke.

"Alright, brats, get on! You too, Inari," ordered Tazuna. The kids got on first, then Tazuna got on. He set the boat free, and started rowing.

"I'd better warn you kids to watch out for the Wingull and Pelliper. They sure can get annoying," warned Tazuna. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke immediately reached for their Pokeballs.

The journey to Dewford didn't take that long. The three young trainers had to fend off the sea Pokemon though. All three of them were getting very annoyed by the Wingull and Pelliper. Finally, finally they reached Dewford. Naruto immediately jumped off the boat, and Sakura followed behind. Sasuke got off the boat with Tazuna and Inari.

"Ahhhh! Finally, Dewford Town! We made it, Dattebayo!" cheered Naruto. Sakura hit him over the head for being so annoying. Sasuke murmured, "Hn, idiotic dobe."

"Alright, brats. Do what you need to do. I'll be staying at one of my friend's place. Good luck in challenging the gym leader!" yelled Tazuna.

"Bye old man! See ya soon!" shouted Naruto, waving like a maniac. Tazuna took Inari's hand and walked away.

"Alright! Now we're gonna need to train harder than ever before!" yelled Naruto, energized.

"I don't think there's a contest hall in this town, so I can help you two train too. Don't leave me out this time!" said Sakura, crossing her arms.

"Hn. So, where do you think we should train, dobe?" asked Sasuke.

"Eh heh heh… I have no idea," answered Naruto. Sakura sighed and consulted her Poketch.

A while later, she looked up and said, "Dewford's Granite Cave. I think it should be a decent place to train. We're gonna have to watch out for dangerous Pokemon though."

"That's alright, Sakura-chan! I'll defeat whatever comes in my way! Dattebayo!" said Naruto, running in the direction of the Granite Cave.

"Hey, Naruto, wait!" yelled Sakura, as she started to run after the blond. However, she was stopped by Sasuke, who caught her wrist, and pulled her back.

"Sauske-kun? What's wrong?" the pinkette asked. Sasuke pointed towards a person, someone who looked slightly familiar. Sakura tried to recall where she had seen that person before. Then, she gasped.

"Sasuke-kun, isn't that the girl in Rustboro who…" Before Sakura could finish, Sasuke nodded his head, and put a finger to Sakura's lips.

"No way is that bitch going to lay a hand on MY Sasuke-kun! Shannaro!" yelled Inner Sakura. All of a sudden, that person turned towards Sasuke and Sakura. Sasuke stiffened and Sakura's face showed anger.

"Crap. It's really Karin. Sakura, make a run for it," whispered Sasuke. Sakura nodded her head, and was about to run with Sasuke, but was stopped by Karin's voice.

"EEEEKKK!! Sasuke-kun! It is you! I missed you soooo much!" Karin ran and glomped Sasuke, tackling him to the ground.

"Hey, get off Sasuke-kun!" shouted Sakura, pulling the red head off her teammate.

"Oh, it's you again. What's with you, bitch?" taunted Karin.

Sakura twitched and retorted, "I'm the one who should be saying that, Karin. Don't touch Sasuke-kun!"

"You mean, my Sasuke-kun, billboard brow!" said Karin. Now Sakura was really annoyed. She started to clench her hands into fists, and tried very hard not to punch the girl.

"I have a name, and it's Sakura Haruno, red head!" yelled Sakura.

Karin snickered and said, "Springfield Cherry Blossom? The name doesn't even suit you! Your face's too ugly for your name, billboard brow!"

Now she's done it. Sakura started to pull back her arm to deliver a punch, but Sasuke caught her wrist again. He shook his head, and Sakura slowly laid down her arm again.

"Don't cause a scene, Sakura," whispered Sasuke. Sakura nodded slightly, grabbed Sasuke's hand, and made a run for it.

"Hey, billboard brow, release Sasuke-kun!" yelled Karin. Sakura and Sasuke were already way ahead. (AN: Too bad for Karin.)

"I think we lost her," said Sakura when she and Sasuke got to the entrance of Granite Cave, where Naruto was waiting.

"Hey, guys! I thought you weren't coming. Let's go in!" shouted Naruto, suddenly rushing in. Sakura and Sasuke anime sweatdropped, but followed him in anyway, still hand in hand.

I'm gonna stop it here now. Stay tuned for the next chapter! :) Something interesting's gonna happen... The usual, five reviews mark! Read and review, guys!