AN: Last chapter a reviewer by the name of Altair posed the question as to whether Scyther actually opened any of the eight celestial gates. And, to put it bluntly, no he didn't. He was simply suffering from a minor case of aura exhaustion, the equivalent of chakra exhaustion.
Also, I changed Naruto's eye color from amethyst back to blue. I am sure that some of you are now slapping your foreheads and cursing my indecisiveness, but trust me when I say that the color will be popping up again.
Apparently I got a little too excited when I first made this story and got a bit ahead of myself in regards to that particular subject.
So, my apologies.
Aside from that, chapter 2 and a few parts of chapter 1 have also been tweaked, check up on it if you want but the changes will not effect much past what you have already read.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Pokémon.
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Last time on The Rise of Chaos: Naruto begins the battle with Nobou and his forces. Having told Misty to return to the Pokémon Center, Naruto tells Ash and Brock that he and his pokémon will initiate the attack. And, after giving them a final warning that once they go into battle there is no turning back, Naruto went into battle.
As Naruto tore through the enemy forces his pokémon did much the same to the pokémon-based portion. The battle began extremely well for Naruto's pokémon as they each inflicted a number of losses on the enemy. But, upon the appearance of Nobou's pokémon, things seemed to go downhill.
Realizing the problem that Nobou's pokémon were presenting for both himself and his teammates, Scyther pulled everything that remained of his power into one massive attack that he used to defeat all but one of Nobou's pokémon.
After the event, Pikachu found Scyther in the middle of the forest hanging on the very edge of unconsciousness. And, after proceeding to recount just how hopeless the situation seemed, Pikachu's observations had been rendered inconsequential by Scyther's simple reminder.
"We didn't go into this battle alone."
And indeed they hadn't.
()
'Come on dammit.' Nobou raged as he took another horizontal slash at Naruto with his kunai.
The kunai traveled straight and true as it closed in on its target. Air rushed out of the blade's path as it plowed on, hoping for just one taste of its targets blood. Just one trickle would have been enough to appease its appetite, for it knew that just a drop of his blood would be all it could reasonably hope for.
So it continued on its way, attempting to penetrate its target's cloak in what was the just the beginning of the three layered defense separating it from the blood it so desperately craved.
The fabric began to yield to the blade of the kunai and mold to its shape in an attempt to prevent any amount of penetration from occurring. But, the blade continued on, aiming for its one and only target. The blade could feel the first strand of the fabric give way as it continued to close in on the reason for its existence.
Its target, its goal, its meal, its delicacy, its lifeline… it was all just another impossible dream that so many before it had tried to achieve as well.
What made it any different?
()
Large portions of the attacking troops were literally ripped apart as Naruto tore through them like a demented cyclone.
Entire bodies were reduced to little more than bloody chunks in mere moments, as they proved unable to register Naruto's movements. The ability to react to those movements was held by just a handful of people.
But, the ability to react to those movements in a way that allowed for the reactor to live another day…
That was held by only one of Naruto's enemies.
"Dammit." Nobou screamed in rage as his kunai was driven into the ground by Naruto's right blade.
Not willing to be deterred so easily, Nobou latched his other hand onto the grounded kunai and used it as leverage to throw the bottom portion of his body into an arc.
Aiming to strike the side of Naruto's head as he was completing his spin towards his airborne body, Nobuo lashed out at Naruto's skull with an impressive kick.
Using his right aura-reinforced forearm to take the brunt of the attack, Naruto ducked downwards as his body finally turned enough to face Nobou.
Flowing through his spin into another, Naruto covered his left blade in a think coat of wind-based aura as he lashed out at the kunai anchoring Nobou's body to the ground.
The shrill cry of metal on metal reverberated through the air as Naruto's blade passed cleanly through the body of Nobou's kunai.
And, with hardly a second of hesitation, the portion of the kunai in Nobou's had began to slide to the right emitting a high pitched screech as the friction connecting it to its bottom portion failed to hold his weight.
Having only the better part of two seconds to decide on a reaction, Nobou found himself stuck between decisions.
On one hand, he could try to push off of the kunai to propel himself into the air where he could attempt to regain his bearings. But, the extra weight that would be put on the kunai portion would likely cause it to fall even sooner and make him lose all the force behind his spring.
On the other hand… well. He wasn't able to get that far.
Naruto made the choice for him.
()
After slicing Nobou's kunai in half, Naruto continued his spin using his right blade to deflect an incoming kunai as he sheathed his left blade.
And, never stopping his spin, Naruto withdrew three shuriken from his holster as he used his right blade to gut a daring attacker.
Nearing the end of his three-sixty, Naruto threw two of his shuriken to deflect a few incoming kunai, while he used the last one to sever an approaching attacker's windpipe.
With Nobou's body coming into view once more, Naruto launched himself from his crouched position onto his, slightly bent, right leg.
Then, using the momentum from his spin to his advantage, Naruto shot his left leg outwards causing his foot to collide with the right portion of Nobou's ribcage.
A sharp crack rang through the air as Nobou's body was sent careening straight into the body of one rather burly attacker.
Deflecting another kunai as his spin continued, a large cloud of dirt billowed around Naruto's body from the waist down as a powerful burst of wind sent his body airborne.
Naruto's body was sent into another series of swirls as he kicked his right leg across the length of his body, while assisting its travel with another burst of wind. The kick sent Naruto's body spiraling into a series of diagonal flips while his body continued to turn on a lateral plane.
With his back facing Nobou's current resting place and the top of his head facing the ground, Naruto threw his right blade into another group of kunai at a horizontal angle as he withdrew two of his own from his holster.
Effectively disrupting the storm of kunai the blade continued on its course soon finding shelter in the skull of one unlucky attacker.
Deflecting a couple more shuriken as his body once again flipped upright, Naruto once again found himself facing Nobou's body.
Naruto's left leg shot forward as he began his descent towards Nobou's fallen form.
()
Nobou flinched as he collided with one of his larger allies.
'He must be one of the Omegas.' Nobou thought offhandedly as he once again experienced the felling of going airborne as the Omega member lost his footing and began to plummet, back first, towards the ground.
Pain pulsed through the right side of his body as Nobou attempted to brace himself for what he knew would be a painful descent.
But his attention was quickly redirected, however, when the sight of Naruto's outstretched leg entered his vision.
'Shit already.' Nobou thought as he began to pump aura into his chest.
Nobou felt his breath hitch as Naruto's heel adopted an eerie blue glow as he continued his descent.
'More dammit.'
Nobou's muscles tensed as the searing pain in his ribs turned into little more than a dull throb.
But, then again, that may have just been his heart.
'More.'
The throbbing seemed to spread into the rest of his body as his vision began to pulsate, pushing Naruto's body up and pulling it down again at twice the speed.
'More.'
The continuous crunch of shifting dirt filled Nobou's ears as his legs stopped their descent.
The man under him had finally hit the ground.
'More.'
The crunch gradually became louder as the rest of his body followed, until it had all connected with the Omega member's body.
The dry taste of his mouth became more pronounced as his upper body bounced less then a centimeter into the air as the man's body redirected his downward momentum.
"More."
The throbbing became more erratic as blue steadily filled the entirety of his vision.
And then it all stopped.
Sound, sight, smell, taste, feeling… all of the five senses left Nobou's body.
Everything that convinced him he was alive. They simply left.
And then they were back.
Dust billowed around Nobou's body as Naruto's heel slammed directly into his sternum launching his body straight into the chest of the man below him. And, for just a fraction of a second, a sharp series of cracks filled the air as the man's entire ribcage shattered under the pressure of Nobou's body.
The man's heart and longs were soon riddled with numerous puncture wounds as the remaining shards of bone shot through his body, slicing through anything and everything that stood in their way.
Nobou felt his upper body begin to sink as Naruto's kick pushed him further and further into the soft putty that was now the man's chest. He felt his body shake under the insane pressure as the aura shielding him from the attack began to crack and disperse.
Nobou pushed everything he had into the makeshift wall of aura shielding his chest, but it was no use. No amount of aura would save him at this point; the damage had already been done.
A sound akin to shattering glass reverberated throughout the battlefield as the shield fragmented under the pressure of Naruto's attack.
'I'm going to die.'
Hairline fractures being made across a solid plane of ice…
That was his most accurate description of the sound that reverberated throughout his head.
With his sternum fracturing under the force of Naruto's aura-enhanced dropkick, Nobou found himself looking at Naruto's previous words with a frighteningly calm mindset.
"Your out of your league."
Yes he was.
Nobou was soon brought out of his thoughts, however, when the pressure on his chest had a notable increase. He could feel small bits of bone find their way onto the surface of his heart as a hacking cough racked his body.
And then the pressure left.
The coughing continued as Nobou immediately rolled over to spit a large glob of blood right next to the deceased Omega member's body. Sucking as much air as he was physically able, Nobou was once again sent into another coughing fit as a large amount of airborne dirt found its way into his lungs.
Still not willing to be killed while lying down, Nobou struggled into a siting position doing his best to ignore the unbearable pain in his chest. Scanning the area for Naruto, Nobou didn't have to look far as the sight of Naruto gripping a sword buried onto a man's skull soon came into his view.
It soon left as well.
Feeling a massive build up of aura into Naruto's blade, Nobou barely had enough time to cover his eyes as a thin wave of concentrated wind exited the sword. Its host's head was split cleanly in two as a number of surrounding attackers also met a similar fate.
Uncovering his eyes, Nobou bore witness to the attack's gruesome results as Naruto had once again disappeared from view, likely having already found a number of other victims.
The thought of Naruto soon left Nobou's mind, however, as a streak of black caught his attention.
'He has allies?'
()
Pikachu groaned as he dragged himself out of the hole in the forest back onto the main battlefield. Scyther's limp body hung loosely on his shoulder's as Pikachu came to a sluggish halt.
Two shallow, thin trenches marked their path of travel as the tips of Scyther's feet rested against the soft dirt. The trenches were quite rugged and by no means perfect, but never the less, their existence was obvious. In places the trenches deepened as their creator applied more pressure, while in others each trench shifted to the side as though created by a faltered step.
Pikachu sighed as his eyes drifted towards the battlefield once more. None of his teammates were visible through the massive mosh pit of and it was only the continuous streams of attacks that tore through the air that assured Pikachu of their continued existence.
A small pulse of aura shot through the battlefield as Pikachu's back suddenly straightened up. His legs stopped shaking as a new influx of power began to course through his veins. His body felt substantially lighter as Scyther's weight seemed to lessen.
"Man I love gravity seals." Pikachu sighed in mild contentment.
Directing his gaze towards the blazing sun as he prepared to enter the battle once more, Pikachu closed his eyes as he allowed the sun's warming rays to wash over his body.
A light breeze ruffled his fur as he continued to relish in the warmth of the sun's rays. It was a nice change from the stifling heat that seemed to have rested over the entire journey through the forest.
It was a spontaneous change, but a pleasant one nonetheless.
"Are you done? I don't think now is the best time for you to work on your tan."
Pikachu's ear twitched at the sudden intrusion, but aside from that he made no additional reaction.
Aside from responding of course.
"Do you think you could run around me one more time? That breeze felt quite refreshing."
"That seems like it would be a wasted effort." Denkou responded as he placed a hand on Pikachu's shoulder. "All you have to do is run forward a few yards and I'm sure a Water Gun will hit you eventually."
Pikachu chose to ignore the jab as bent down to lean Scyther's body against a nearby tree trunk.
"Its about time you guys got here, if it hadn't been for Scyther's attack, you would have had to pick up my team's shattered remains."
"And, if it hadn't been for Scyther's attack we would have joined the battle few minutes sooner." Denkou retorted as he watched Pikachu position Scyther into a sitting position. "It was a lot more effective to pick off the stragglers in the wake of his attack then it would have been to be the substitute for that attack. Don't worry Pikachu, with me watching over you could be bitch slapped into another dimension and I would still be there to catch you."
"I'll take your word for it." Pikachu said as he straightened up and turned towards the battlefield.
"You're just going to leave him here?" Denkou asked as he watched Pikachu begin to move.
"Where else would I put him?" Pikachu counted looking over his shoulder to face Denkou.
"Nowhere." Denkou said as he appeared in front of Pikachu. "You just have to make sure someone doesn't sucker punch him."
As soon as his sentence came to a close, Pikachu found himself leaning against the tree next to Scyther as Denkou stood over him.
"Trust me, I got this." Denkou said smugly as he disappeared from Pikachu's view.
A peaceful silence fell over Pikachu's position as the sounds of battle were droned out by another gentle breeze that floated across his fur.
'Sure why not.' Pikachu thought as he relaxed his back and leaned his head back against the tree. 'I'm sure he can handle it himself. After all he has twice the number of teammates I had and only half of the enemies. And he also has what remains of my team. I suppose I can sit this one out.'
'Plus, if I'm slow enough to be caught off guard by Denkou then I wouldn't last long on the battlefield anyway.'
()
'Okay you got this.'
'You kicked some guy in the kneecap and broke his leg and now everyone wants to kill you. You can handle this.'
'Dodge that girl's kick, make sure not to be hit by that guy's punch, duck under that guy's kick. This is child's play to you. Its hardly even worth your time.'
'Shit, multiple pointy objects incoming.'
'Okay, it's okay you got this. This is what you were trained for.'
'Holy hell that was close, but I'm just too good to touch.'
'Yeah that's right, a punch to the kidney. Your scared now aren't you.'
'By the sweet love of Arceus! I'm sorry. It was a joke… andsoisthis. Ha ha, another punch to the kidney how do you like that?'
'Noooo! I'm sorry that was a joke there is no need to aim that low.'
'Shit, more pointy things… and a kick, give me a break. And a punch? How am I supposed to dodge all of that? Of course, more pointy things.'
'This might sting a bit.'
Ash flinched as he lifted his arm to block the double fisted haymaker heading straight for his head, making sure to reinforce his forearm with aura to withstand the blow.
Spinning on his heel, Ash then proceeded to deliver a partial roundhouse kick to the offensive leg while his unoccupied hand dug into this pouch for something to prevent the incoming maiming.
'Ouch, that stung you bastard.' Ash cursed as he sliced his had along one of the multiple sharp objects contained within it.
Ignoring the pain, Ash quickly withdrew his hand from his holster after slipping his finger through the hole of one of his weapons.
Ash's muscles tensed as he prepared to counter the first barrage of incoming kunai.
Launching his hand forward to combat the offending weapons, Ash's breath suddenly hitched as his hand came into view.
Aside from the large gash running along the back of his middle finger his had was completely fine.
But, it wouldn't be for long if the star at the end of it weren't an optical illusion.
'A shuriken.' Ash thought blankly as he stared at the inadequate piece of metal. 'Arceus why do you hate me so?'
Shifting his fingers to position as much of the shuriken between his had and the kunai, Ash winced as two kunai deflected off of the shuriken's surface violently torqueing the piece of metal and moving it upwards along Ash's finger.
A small nick from the third kunai was all it took for the shuriken to shoot off the end of Ash's finger in a series of flips as the fourth and final kunai deflected off of it. The kunai was redirected down towards Ash's torso as it continued to fly effectively despite the shuriken's interference.
Ash let out a high-pitched scream as the kunai closed in, falling just below his crotch as the blade glanced off his zipper and buried itself into the waiting dirt.
Bracing himself for the next barrage following less than a second behind the first, Ash couldn't help but release a small sigh of relief as he prepared to cope with the coming pain.
After all it could have been worse.
A powerful gust of wind prevented him from confirming his assumption, however, as the five approaching kunai were knocked off course. Each one was thrown into an erratic death spiral as they shot back from whence they came.
"Having fun?"
Soon after hearing the voice of his savior, Ash felt the pressure on both his leg and arm suddenly lessen as two dull thuds soon followed.
Turing around to face Naruto as he returned to a regular standing position, the sight of red in his peripheral vision was all Ash needed to see to know what had caused the loss of pressure.
"Actually yes." Ash responded as his gaze locked onto Naruto's still form. "Nearly dying does wonders for the adrenaline. I imagine this is what it is like to be high."
"I wouldn't know." Naruto said blankly as he offered up a gift.
Glancing at Naruto's outstretched hand, Ash found himself to be thoroughly humiliated when he was greeted by the sight of a kunai.
"Since you couldn't find your own." Naruto reasoned as Ash hastily accepted the gesture, snatching the blade from Naruto's palm.
And, with that Naruto promptly disappeared, giving Ash a full view of ten fast approaching shuriken.
'Bastard.'
()
'Dammit' Nobou swore as he dodged Brock's slash.
Naruto's assault had thinned out his troops to a ridiculous level. Whereas before there had been a seemingly never ending mosh pit crowded around one point, now there were just a few groups of them separated by yards of ground.
Nobou's hand moved to clutch his chest as a particularly painful jolt shot through his body. Ducking under Brock's horizontal slash, Nobou moved to deliver an uppercut to Brock's chest, but a spontaneous coughing fit quickly put an end to the attack.
Hacking up a fountain of blood as his vision grew hazy, Nobou failed to notice Brock's haymaker. Nobou was sent airborne, while he tried to regain his bearings. His vision swam as another jolt shot through his chest when his body collided with the dirt.
Nobou swore again as his body rolled across the ground, kicking up a small cloud of dirt. As his body began to lose its momentum, Nobou let loose a low growl as he finally regained his bearings.
"This is getting ridiculous." Nobou mumbled in frustration, while he rolled out of the way of Brock's stab.
This guy was bad.
No, he wasn't just bad he was real bad.
'This is insulting.' Nobou thought a he sidestepped Brock's vertical slash. 'I'm almost certain one of my lungs is at least partially collapsed and this guy still hardly land a hit.'
It was so damn frustrating.
This guy should have died the moment he proved himself an enemy, but instead the tables were turned.
Which brought Nobuo to the one who turned them.
Naruto…
'Even at my best I wasn't able to even land a hit on him.' Nobuo thought in a surprisingly clam manner as he sidestepped another one of Brock's stabs. 'And it wasn't just his speed either, he had experience. He anticipated my every single move and countered each and every one of them easily. He didn't hesitate in anything he did and he seemed to know everything that was going on around him.'
He defiantly knew what he was doing.
And then there was this guy.
Nobou began to cough as his chuckle backfired.
Compared to Naruto, this guy was shit. Not just any kind of shit either, he was like Mewfive shit. And that is one of the worst kinds of shits seeing as the shitter didn't even exist. So then by default the shit couldn't exist, which meant that this guy didn't even exist.
Yes, he was that shitty.
'Okay maybe not.' Nobou thought in agony as Brock's roundhouse kick glanced off his ribs.
But, none the less, he was bad.
Sure he could probably take on any ten of his current troops at a time and still come out unscathed, but still his troops were all from Section 10 so they were truly shit.
This guy might be able to take on someone from Section 7 one on one, maybe… unless that person was from Alpha then he would be screwed.
But anyways back to the task at hand.
Nobou ducked under Brock's horizontal slash, but was soon forced to throw himself into a backflip to avoid the Brock's follow up sweeping kick.
'Hey at least the guy is learning… Wait, why am I happy about that?'
Nobou was violently torn away from that thought, however, as searing pain flooded his body.
'You sir, are stupid.' Nobou mentally groaned, while his legs collapsed out from under him as soon as he landed his backflip. 'Why the hell did you backflip when you have severe damage in your chest area.'
Nobou dropped onto his hands as he was sent into a violent coughing fit.
'I need a scapegoat.' Nobou thought, as he was rendered immobile by his horrible condition.
He forced his head upwards as he searched the clearing for anyone or anything that could get him out of this situation.
Brock's kunai came ever closer as Nobou willed his vision to focus itself.
'Just don't cough.' Nobou told himself as he began to call on what little aura he had left.
()
Brock stared on unflinchingly as his kunai came ever closer to his opponent's back.
The man had been hacking up blood for the duration of his attack, but he somehow still managed to evade almost all of his strikes. But this seemed to be it, the man was now keeled over due to his own actions and Brock was not about to let this chance go…
Not after what he had done to those civilians.
Brock's vision soon shifted, however, as the image in front of him changed in an instant. Brock had less than a second to register the bewildered face of his new opponent before his kunai met flesh.
'Kawarimi.' Brock thought as his kunai continued, seemingly undaunted by the flesh and bone of its current host.
A strange yet very distinctive sound pounded through Brock's mind as he watched the man in front of his open his mouth in a silent scream as the kunai tore through his chest.
Brock watched in horrid fascination as a fountain of blood began to bubble up through his mouth. The man's eyes grew dull and unfocused as his body grew limp, forcing Brock to release his grip on the kunai as the man's body collapsed onto the ground.
Brock didn't know how long he stood there looking at the corpse, but then again he didn't really care.
His hands shook as he replayed the scene over and over in his mind.
At least with that other man he knew that he was evil.
As he watched that man casually impale innocent bystanders, Brock was able to assure himself that if that man died then others wouldn't have to suffer. But with this man no such thing had occurred.
Brock stumbled away as he forced himself to look up from the body… his first kill.
With the scout, all Brock had to do was knock him unconscious to summon the army. In fact Naruto had ordered him to keep the scout alive seeing as a rescue beacon was triggered when he was incapacitated, Naruto wasn't sure if the beacon would still be sent if they were dead.
But, that was irrelevant now.
Brock stumbled once more as his eyes finally began to refocus themselves.
"Naruto?" Brock asked, while he regained his footing.
"The one and only." Naruto said as he placed his arm around Brock's shoulders to stabilize him. "How are you feeling?"
"Not to well." Brock said with a humorless chuckle, gladly accepting Naruto's help.
"I'm not surprised." Naruto said simply, glancing towards Brock's hands. "Its only human to react in such a way."
And, without another word, Naruto and Brock disappeared from the battlefield.
()
"Why?" Misty grumbled once more, observing the battle from her perch on top of a nearby building.
The battle looked quite spectacular from her point of view. Streams of every element imaginable shot out of the huge army of pokémon, while hundreds upon hundreds of small black shapes littered the sky above the human combatants.
At one point the growing crowd of civilian spectators all gave something of a cheer when a massive white blade appeared in out of thin air.
Now the battle was winding down and it was obvious that her side were going to be the victors. But, that still leaves the question as to why she couldn't have at least helped.
"Rest here, me and Ash will take care of the rest."
Misty spun around in surprise as Naruto's voice reverberated through her mind. However, the spin proved unnecessary, as Naruto stood directly to her right. Only Brock was behind her.
'Is he shaking?' Misty thought in utter bewilderment, momentarily forgetting about Naruto's presence.
"Why are you still here?"
The question was simple and straight to the point. However her answer wasn't.
"Why didn't you let me stay?" Misty countered as she glared holes into the side of Naruto's head.
Naruto never turned to face her however. He was to busy watching Ash cope with his first kill.
It was quite impressive actually.
Having swept his first attacker's legs out from under him, Ash grabbed the man's collar and began to run forward. Using his back as a shield against five incoming shuriken, Ash used the man's body as a battering ram against the one who threw them.
And, once two bodies collided the shuriken in the man's back quickly severed his spine under the added pressure, while they also stuck his body to the shuriken thrower.
But, Ash didn't seem to stop he simply kept fighting, upping his kill count as he went.
Another way to react, ignore it for now and break down over it later.
Anyway, back to the matter at hand.
'Why didn't you let me stay?' Naruto recited Misty's choice words as he formed his response.
"I did."
That got her confused.
"How?" Misty asked as she attempted to blink away his lies. "You told me to leave."
"But you stayed." Naruto said as he continued to look ahead. "I knew where you were as soon as you left the rooftop."
"Why did you let me stay then?"
"Because I was already in battle." Naruto said, still refusing to look away from the battlefield. "I wasn't going to call a timeout while I came up here to repeat myself to you."
Misty flinched at that.
Naruto's voice hadn't changed throughout the entire conversation and neither had his facial expression, but still it was obvious he was mad.
"Why did you choose to stay?"
"Because I still know I can help." Misty said without hesitation.
"Are you willing to prove it?"
"Yes." Again there was no hesitation.
"Okay then. I want you to go down there and kill at least one of the enemy troops." Naruto instructed with his gaze still locked on Ash.
"That's it?" Misty said smugly, choosing to throw a kunai off the side off the building.
That had been her style of choice when they had been training for the past month, and frankly it reminded Naruto of Tenten.
Of course Misty only used kunai and shuriken, and she wasn't nearly as good as Tenten was when she was still in the academy. But, she got the job done.
The kunai flew straight and true as it closed in on its target. The woman had been running to engage Ash when the small blade had shot through the side of her chest. Slipping through her ribcage as it burrowed into her body, the kunai passed through her right lung before finding home in her heart.
She was dead before she hit the ground.
"How was that?" Misty asked proudly, crossing her arms under her chest as she once again faced Naruto.
"That's not what I asked you to do." Naruto said, preventing any possible outburst by explaining himself. "I said you needed to go down there to kill them. I want you to kill them without the kunai ever leaving your hands."
Misty was slightly taken back by the prospect and the fact that she didn't already leave to complete the task told Naruto that he needed to make his intentions clear.
"The majority of this war will not be fought from a distance." Naruto said finally turning away from the battle to face Misty, while leaving a shadow clone to watch over Ash in his place. "With distance you never actually see what happens to the person you killed. You will see a body drop and you might see a bit of blood, maybe. But when you are close you will see everything."
"I told you to go back to the Pokémon Center because you showed me that you were frightened by the mere sight of a man throwing kunai at a group of civilians. War has plenty more horrifying things than that, death being among the top. So if you can show me that you can deal with the act of killing and all of the horrors that come with it, then and only then, I will include you in this army. Otherwise you will be completely useless."
He was serious that much was obvious.
"So are you still willing to be helpful?"
The truth was she didn't even know herself… or at least she thought she didn't.
Giving Naruto a stiff nod, Misty disappeared from the roof. And, as she moved to flank the small group of remaining troops currently attacking Ash she had about five seconds to convince herself that she truly wanted to do this.
'Come on Misty. You have already killed once today, now all Naruto wants you to do is see what it looks like.' Misty thought. 'So if the action isn't a problem then why should dealing with its consequences be any different?'
If she was in a better mood, Misty may have laughed at the fact that she just stumped herself with her own question.
'If you don't do this then Naruto will scrap you from the army and defending every thing you care about will be nothing more than a wet dream. If you are not allowed into this army then you will no longer be trained which means that you will never get enough power to protect anything you care about.'
'If you were to be attacked then you could do nothing more than roll over and submit all because you couldn't deal with the effect death has on a persons body.'
'And even then, if this war gets any more violent than it already is, then even by opting out and going home you still won't be able to escape the sight of death.'
'And besides, controlling a navy sounds fun.'
"…Good point."
()
Naruto's Pidgeotto was sent reeling as the Dragonair's tail slammed into his chest once again.
Things were not looking good.
His left wing was covered in a thick layer of frost from a near miss by one of Dragonair's Ice Beams and reinforcements didn't seem readily available. After all, all of his teammates did not have any viable means of sustained flight aside from Scyther of course, but after wiping out half the battlefield saving his ass probably wasn't what Scyther was ready to do.
So here he was, dodging a persistent Dragonair while occasionally having to deal with a Pidgey or Spearow that felt the need to join in on the action.
Throwing himself into a barrel roll to avoid an incoming Ice Beam, Pidgeotto released a seal level while rounding on Dragonair.
Pidgeotto's wings shone white as he delivered a powerful gust of wind on Dragonair's position. Dragonair continued its flight seemingly unaffected, but Pidgeotto remained undaunted.
Following in the wake of his attack, Pidgeotto encased himself in a Wind Lance as he moved to meet Dragonair's continued charge.
Meeting Pidgeotto head on didn't really seem to be on Dragonair's mind at that moment, however, as it swerved its body to the side and proceeded to slam its tail into the side of the lance.
That didn't seem to be the best course of action, however, as its tail failed to penetrate the protective layer of wind around Pidgeotto's body. Dragonair's body was dragged into the mini-jetstream surrounding Pidgeotto's body and promptly deposited at an unhealthy pace out the same place it had entered after completing a full revolution.
Capitalizing on the opening, Pidgeotto redirected himself to intercept Dragonair's body as it attempted to regain control of its body. Pidgeotto was about ten yards away from Dragonair when it finally succeeded and by the time it figured out what was going on he was about seven yards away.
One more yard was used to come up with a proper response to Pidgeotto's attack and four more yards were used to charge up an Ice Beam. One more yard was used when Pidgeotto released another gravity seal in response and half of the last yard was used to fire the Ice Beam.
This left a buffer zone about a foot thick in-between Dragonair, Pidgeotto, gale force winds, and ice capable of snap freezing nearly everything it touched. This did not bode well.
A sizable shockwave rocketed over the battlefield as the tip of Pidgeotto's attack tore into the thick beam of aura-enhanced ice with unparalleled efficiency. Dragonair's attack was ripped apart into thin strips at the front before being spat out as a fine powder.
Dragonair pumped the entirety of its being into its attack, slowing Pidgeotto's advance to a halt a hairs breath away from its face.
Soon after, Pidgeotto felt an intense drop in temperature as his attack began to be pushed back by Dragonair's own. Larger and larger chunks of the Ice Beam began to make their way into his Wind Lance as his attack began to lose its steam.
A felling of drowsiness began to become more and more predominant in Pidgeotto's mind as small flaks of ice finally began to make their way through to his body.
'Screw it.' Pidgeotto thought as he gathered a large amount of Aura into his chest. 'I have too much riding on this attack as it is, I might as well do all I can to see it to success. Besides, the battle is almost over, the ground is… close enough I suppose, freezing is the only other alternative, and I have Scyther as inspiration. The stars may be aligned in my favor, Arceus might give me a blessing, and I have a chance of not dying.'
'Those odds are good enough for me.'
()
'Snow?'
Ash's Pidgeotto brushed aside the strange phenomenon as he tore through the air in search of his Naruto-associated counterpart.
When Denkou had given them the order to engage Ash's Pidgeotto had immediately gone to clear the skies of the few opponents remaining. He had entered the battlefield about a minute ago, now all that was left was to find Naruto's Pidgeotto and help him finish whatever battle he was in.
That wasn't necessary, however.
An overwhelming blast of wind sent Ash's Pidgeotto into a series of flips as his counterpart's aura signal had a massive spike.
Leveling himself out once more, Ash's Pidgeotto was instantly met with the sight of what seemed to be a sideways tornado. But he knew better.
'Great.' Pidgeotto thought in exasperation as it released two seal levels. 'Apparently Scyther's antics have influenced him. I better make sure he doesn't die from the fall.'
()
"And that's a wrap." Ash said as he drove his kunai into the neck of the last enemy troop present on the battlefield.
"Indeed it is." Naruto said as he and Brock approached from the direction of the city. "It went better than I ever could have hoped for. You all did great for your first battle."
"I need a nap." Misty mumbled, looking slightly nauseous.
The battle was over, but its memory was still present.
Suddenly, a dull roar began to flood the air. It was a distinctive sound, the voice of many blended into one strangely harmonious noise of celebration.
They were cheering.
The atmosphere seemed to gain an immediate lift as a feeling of unmistakable pride began to work itself into each of the amateur shinobi.
"They may not fully understand it themselves, but what you three did here today essentially saved their lives." Naruto said as he turned to face the still growing crowd. "If we did not exist they would have been at the mercy of Nobou and his troops for far longer than what they experienced today."
"That is why we fight." Naruto said, shifting his gaze to meet those of his friends. "Not because we want the enemy to die, but because we want the innocent to live."
"The fact that we receive tons of adoring fans doesn't hurt much either." Ash said, as he moved to address the crowd, providing them with a low bow.
"What should we do about the aftermath?" Brock asked, referring to the numerous dead bodies rotting not far behind them as he gave the crowd a tentative wave.
"Already got it covered." Naruto said, as a small army of shadow clones began to clear out the corpses and release the pokémon they had once owned.
Later that night, the bodies would be taken to a nameless clearing where they would be piled up and burned into nothing more than ashes.
"Nobou got away." Naruto mumbled as he turned to face his pokémon as they stumbled up to his side. "You all did great."
A his comment received little more than tired grins before each were promptly withdrawn back into their poké balls for a nice long rest.
Aside from Pikachu of course, who promptly jumped onto Naruto's shoulder where he proceeded to pass out.
The first battle of the war was finally over and they had come out the victors.
'It only gets harder from here.'
()
Pokémon Moves
Pidgeotto
Wind Lance: The manipulation of wind. The user spins to form a protective yet deadly barrier of wind around itself, that takes the shape of a lance.
()
AN: Well, there's the chapter hope you liked it. I apologize for any spelling errors that may have come up in this chapter, I didn't really have time to proof read it; I figured you wouldn't mind them that much.
As always reviews are welcome and appreciated.
Until next time...