Author's note: Apologies for the month long delay! Studying is taking a lot longer than I expected so my writing schedule is even more messed up than it already is and well, real life is a tad shitty again. I powered through tonight - this morning? What do you call it when it's after two? - to give you finally something again! Hope it's not too awful *winces*

Thanks to the following reviewers: Pen-Woman; PinkiePieParty122894; Elsyra; babyvfan; Nellana; TheBeauty; CrisStarTina; Mkayemolina

Warnings: Description of injuries; blood

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Kishimoto owns it. I also don't own Pokémon, that belongs to Satoshi Tajiri and The Pokémon Company.

I hope you'll like it!

Chapter 5

As quietly as possible he sat up, pricking his ears and breathing shallowly. It was silent for a bit, making him wonder whether he hadn't just imagined it after all, but then the shuffling sound started anew, only now a bit further removed from the tent. Whatever it was, it was still quite close to the tent, however, and he wondered what he should do.

He was almost completely certain that it was a Pokémon, because what else could it be in the middle of a forest? It could perhaps be another Trainer, but there wouldn't be any reason for one of them to approach his tent in the dark and the footsteps sounded too light for that. Unless they were walking on the tip of their toes, but why would they do that?

No, it was most likely a Pokémon and he had half a mind to lie back down and go back to sleep, but something in him stopped him from doing that. Sure, it was probably a Pokémon – but which type and why were they coming so close to the tent in the first place? Wild Pokémon tended to stay away from people unless they were highly sociable. Was this one curious, perhaps?

He could deal with curiosity; he could deal a whole lot less with a potential attack. If this Pokémon grew irate enough to attack, he and Mimikyu might be in a lot of trouble, depending on who the Pokémon in question was. A Hoothoot? Doable. A vengeful Impidimp or a mischievous Haunter or Gengar? Yeah, they might be in quite some trouble then, because those Pokémon weren't exactly known for holding back or being open to reason.

Naruto sighed inaudibly and pinched the bridge of his nose. This was so not what he had envisioned would happen during their first night. Well, only one way to deal with this.

He tapped Mimikyu's shoulder and the faint rustling of his cloth let the blond know that he was looking at him. He pointed at the zipper of the tent next before bringing his finger to his mouth, indicating they had to be silent. A cool touch against his wrist let him know the small being had understood him.

Cautiously he pushed himself out of his sleeping bag, grateful that he hadn't zipped it all the way shut, and crawled to the opening of the tent, his fingers trailing across the cold nylon cloth as he searched for the zipper. Once his fingers bumped against the small metal lip he took a deep breath and then very quickly opened the tent, letting Mimikyu dash out of it first.

There was a startled squeak, a thump, followed closely by a pitiful whine as Naruto crawled out as well, snatching up his torch. Hastily he clicked it on and trailed the beam of light around him, trying to find Mimikyu and the mysterious Pokémon.

"There you are," he breathed out relieved when the light fell on Mimikyu, who was standing just a couple of feet further next to the dead campfire.

Mimikyu had several shadowy tendrils outstretched and clamped around a Pokémon, who was only struggling weakly now, like all the fight had left it abruptly.

"All right, let's see who we have here," Naruto muttered and rose up, stepping closer to Mimikyu.

His heart clenched when his eyes fell on a Vulpix who was trembling so badly, one would think he had been struck with an Ice move. When Naruto crouched down, the Vulpix visibly flinched and tried to curl up into himself, whining miserably when Mimikyu's tendrils refused to budge.

"Hey there, I didn't expect to see you here," Naruto murmured and placed the torch on the ground. "I didn't think you're that active at night, are you?"

"Mimikyu." He stinks.

Mimikyu's less than friendly comment had Naruto frowning and opening his mouth to chide him, but the wind picked up then, making the torch roll slightly. The beam landed fully on Vulpix now and when some of the shadows retreated, Naruto was upset to realise that the stench Mimikyu was remarking on was caused by blood trickling out of several lacerations across Vulpix' back.

"Oh no, did you get into an ugly fight?" Naruto asked worriedly. "They really got you well, huh? Were you looking for some care here?"

Even if they preferred living in the wild, some Pokémon would willingly seek out people if they got hurt, knowing that people meant treatment normally. Vulpix might have stumbled upon his tent, realised what a tent in a forest meant and might have been trying to gain his attention.

"You poor thing, I'll help you, okay? It's going to be fine, I promise," Naruto murmured soothingly and picked up the torch again. "Mimikyu, can you place Vulpix next to the fire pit? I'm going to get some bandages and a couple of Potions. And I have to get another fire going on as well," he added, because while it was not that freezing cold yet, neither was it still that warm during the night.

Fortunately he had stocked up on some Potions before they had departed, so he grabbed two of the bottles, a roll of bandages and his lighter. If Vulpix had been in a better state, he would have asked him to light the fire, but he definitely couldn't do that now. The poor thing looked like he was barely able to shuffle more than a couple of inches, it was a wonder he had managed to reach Naruto's tent from wherever he had come from. He had probably been driven by sheer pain and determination to get help at that point.

When he left the tent again, he nodded in approval when he saw Mimikyu dragging some wood to the pit. Vulpix was lying flat on his stomach next to the circle of stones, panting visibly; the occasional shudder wrecking his thin frame.

"Thanks, Mimikyu," he smiled and his partner chirped softly, shuffling over to his side after dumping the last branch in the pit.

It took a couple of tries, but then a flame sprung from the lighter to the pile of wood and within seconds it started to spread, devouring the wood slowly as it started to illuminate the small area around the tent again.

"All right, let's see," Naruto muttered and settled on his knees in front of Vulpix, ensuring that the Pokémon could keep him in his sight and see what he was doing. The last thing he wanted to happen was for Vulpix to grow afraid, lash out and worsen his injuries like that.

"Oh, that looks really painful," he mumbled and clucked his tongue, his fingers hovering over the deep lashes. "Can't be from a Fury Cutter, they're too deep for that."

While a Fury Cutter move was dangerous in the sense that a Pokémon could attack several times in one row, the resulting scratches often were shallow at best, precisely because the Pokémon launched their move in succession, often wanting to be too quick to deal any real damage.

"Maybe a Scratch or a Cut?" Naruto muttered to himself and frowned. No, probably a Cut then. Razor Leaf was a possibility as well, but Grass Pokémon weren't likely to attack Fire Pokémon out of their own volition because nine times out of ten they would lose the ensuing fight due to their Type differences.

"Okay, we're going to do it like this: I'm going to spray Potion on those wounds," Naruto said and grabbed the first bottle. "Washing away the blood can wait until you're no longer bleeding so much. The spray might sting badly, sorry, but we need to close these cuts soon."

Vulpix whimpered, the weak sound tugging at Naruto's heartstrings and he uttered soft soothing noises as he carefully petted Vulpix' head.

"I know, I know, but you can't keep walking around with these injuries. You're losing too much blood. I'm going to count to three, okay? I'll also be placing my hand on your back, because you need to hold still, but the spray might hurt. It'll be okay soon, I promise."

Aiming the bottle at the deep gashes, he counted down, "One. Two. Three."

The second the spray hit Vulpix' back, the small Fire Fox yowled and started struggling desperately, trying to get away.

"No, Vulpix, hold still, please! I know it hurts, I'm almost done, I promise, you're doing so well!" Naruto babbled, trying to keep Vulpix down as he emptied the spray bottle across his back.

Shadowy tendrils soon curled around Vulpix' limbs, across his shoulders and right above his tails, avoiding the slashes across his back but keeping him restrained all the same.

"Thanks, Mimikyu," Naruto sighed and threw away the bottle once it was completely empty.

He started massaging Vulpix' shoulders softly, wincing when Vulpix trembled underneath his touch, still trying to get away even when restrained by Mimikyu's shadows.

"Hey, you're okay, you're safe, you're going to be completely fine soon, I swear," Naruto soothed, watching with sharp eyes how some of the spray mixed with the blood, diluting it as it seeped down Vulpix' back.

The Fire Fox whimpered and pressed his snout against Naruto's thigh, claws digging into the dirt, leaving grooves behind as his body spasmed with pain.

"This is going to be quite the night," Naruto sighed.

Mimikyu murmured in agreement; his little eyes fixated on the shuddering form of Vulpix.

At one point somewhere in the night Vulpix fell asleep, completely exhausted from the pain. As soon as he stopped struggling, Mimikyu released his hold on him, eyeing him warily.

Naruto remained awake, not comfortable with the thought of going back to sleep when something might go wrong with Vulpix' healing. The lacerations were rather deep and all he had were Potions. The local market didn't offer any Super Potions or Hyper Potions or Arceus forbid, Max Potions, so all he could so was spray Vulpix with regular Potions and hope those would do the trick. If he didn't show any improvement in the next two days, however, he would need to bring Vulpix to a Pokécentre, because only Sister Joy would be able to help the Pokémon then.

Whoever had attacked Vulpix, they had apparently been quite irate.

"You can go to sleep," he told Mimikyu, who regarded him curiously. "No need for the both of us to remain awake. You did a lot of training, so you need your rest too. Go on."

Mimikyu looked doubtful, but when Naruto smiled at him and gestured at the tent, Mimikyu sighed softly, but wandered back inside.

Covering a yawn with his hand, Naruto checked Vulpix' injuries again, pursing his lips at the sight of gleaming red still dripping down from underneath the bandages. He wasn't bleeding so badly anymore, but he would definitely need a second dose of Potion at the very least to have a shot at healing completely.

"I wonder where you were attacked," he mumbled, cautiously stroking the centre of Vulpix' head with the tip of his index finger. "I didn't hear any fights nearby, so where did you come from?"

In the grassy area they were in, Vulpix could have come from anywhere. With such deep lacerations, however, a battle would definitely have been audible even with human's ears, so how long had Vulpix been walking around in search for help before he had discovered Naruto's tent?

"You'll need a second Potion in the morning and some curry to eat definitely," he nodded to himself, critically studying Vulpix' slender form. It didn't look like he was starving, but he definitely could do with some more food, that was for sure.

"But for now, rest," he murmured, huffing amused when Vulpix' right ear twitched in his sleep.

Well, he would definitely never forget his first night on the road, that was certain.

The sky was coloured a soft purple pink, night making way for morning, when Naruto decided he might as well prepare breakfast for the three of them. Vulpix was watching him, still next to the fire pit but looking more at ease now that the bleeding had finally stopped. His skin was slowly knitting together again, but Naruto was going to use another Potion on him after breakfast to speed up the healing. He was happy, though, that the wounds didn't require either a Super Potion or Nurse Joy.

"Looks like you're doing a bit better already," he chattered, cutting up some Berries. "I'm going to give you another Potion after breakfast but later today we should be able to wash all that blood off you. I'm glad the cuts weren't that deep. It would suck for you to have to go to a Pokécentre."

While Nurse Joy was always nice, wild Pokémon didn't tend to be very comfortable in Pokécentres, because it was an unfamiliar environment and with Trainers constantly walking in and out to heal their own Pokémon, they couldn't be really at peace either.

Vulpix grumbled in response, making him grin. "Yeah, didn't think you would like that. Are you a boy or a girl actually? I've been thinking of you as a boy, but I'm pretty sure there are more female Vulpix than male ones, right?" He looked at Vulpix curiously.

The fox in question yipped in confirmation, carefully stretching out the front paws.

"So, girl?" Naruto guessed and Vulpix yipped again, her tails softly swaying back and forth, stirring up some dead leaves.

"I've always found it interesting how some Pokémon species will have more girls than boys and vice versa," Naruto chattered and started dividing the fruit between three bowls. "I wonder if there's some sort of biological reasoning behind it? Ah, but there are also species who are only female."

Like Vespiquen, they could only be female as they were the queens of their hives.

"Good morning, Mimikyu," he greeted when his partner came out of the tent, dragging something with him.

"Mimikyu!" Here!

Both Naruto and Vulpix watched bemused how Mimikyu dropped some kind of reddish brown cloth in front of Vulpix. When he started spreading it out, pointing cheerfully at a button clumsily sown onto one of the sides, Naruto realised what it was.

"You made a costume for Vulpix!" he exclaimed amazed, abandoning their breakfast to pick up the cloth.

It was rather rudimentary, nothing more than something resembling a sleeveless vest that could be buttoned, but it was clearly a costume all the same. Mimikyu probably had made it from the same material he had created his tail from and Naruto spared a moment to wonder when exactly Mimikyu had had the time to stuff extra cloth in his backpack and how he hadn't noticed that before.

Then he discarded the thought and grinned, showing the costume to Vulpix, who eyed it dubiously.

"Look what Mimikyu made for you! It's to help you get better!"

It was obvious that Mimikyu didn't have much – if any – experience with hurt Pokémon in general. While he needed to repair his costume every time it became damaged in battle, other Pokémon didn't have to do that. They simply had to heal from their injuries, no costume to repair whatsoever. But Mimikyu had probably assumed that if he felt better from having his costume repaired, other Pokémon might feel better too if they had one of their own.

It was a sweet thought and it made Naruto happy that Mimikyu had actually done this for Vulpix, especially when the Fox Pokémon was a stranger and Mimikyu didn't have the best experiences with most Pokémon so far.

"Vulpix?" Vulpix looked confused still, but stuck out her snout to sniff at the cloth while Mimikyu cheerfully made his way over to one of the bowls, ready to eat his breakfast.

"After we get you cleaned up, you can wear it," Naruto said, folding the small cloth together. "Wouldn't want to get it dirty already."

Vulpix cocked her head to the left but was distracted when a shadowy tendril pushed her bowl with fruit towards her, shoving it forwards until it was right in front of her so she wouldn't have to move too much yet.

"Right." Naruto clapped his hands together, more cheerful now that it looked like Vulpix was on her way to becoming fully healed. "Time for breakfast!"

They had definitely earnt it after the long night they all had had.

True to her Type nature, Vulpix wasn't particularly fond of water and she spent quite some time growling at it, standing tall on her paws. Naruto would have back off, because the last thing he wanted was to push a recently injured Pokémon, but her fur was completely matted with blood by now and they really needed to wash it off.

"Look, I can either wash off the blood or you wait until it dries up completely and then you might need to get it shaved off," he said patiently, kneeling next to the small brook he had found yesterday. "I know you're not fond of water, but that blood needs to come off."

Mimikyu was watching the spectacle from a small distance; his shadows dancing restlessly around him as he stared at Vulpix growling angrily.

"Kyu, Mimikyu, Mimi?" Throw in the water?

"Nobody is going to get thrown into the water," Naruto sighed when Mimikyu's suggestion only made Vulpix snarl more forcefully. "But Vulpix, you can't keep walking around like that. Surely it can't be that comfortable?"

She had lost quite a bit of blood after all and even in her dark reddish brown fur, it was hard to miss. Not to mention she was starting to smell quite a bit and it was never a good idea to smell like blood, whether it was fresh or old.

"Okay, how about this? I'll wet a handkerchief and clean off the blood with that," he suggested, sitting up so that he could grab a handkerchief out of his pocket. "That way you won't have to get into the water at all and you'll still get clean."

Vulpix stared at him warily but ceased growling at least and after a long tense moment, she huffed, sounding completely put out, before she wandered closer and laid down in front of him, her head turned away from the water.

That was fine, she didn't need to look at the water in order to get clean. Dipping his handkerchief in the water, he caught her tensing from the corner of his eye and he uttered a shushing noise immediately.

"Ssssh, it's okay. It'll just be a bit wet, but that's all. I'll be as fast as possible," he promised and carefully started dabbing the cloth against her back.

Just the simple touch of the cloth had her tensing up severely and he was about to pull back, not fancying being bitten or hit by a Fire move, but she remained on the ground and simply buried her snout underneath her paws.

"You'll be fine, this won't take long," he said reassuringly and tried to be as quick about it as he could while still getting rid of all the blood.

That wasn't an easy task, given how cacked it had become to her fur, but half an hour and a lot of Mimikyu hovering near them later, Naruto finally got rid of every last speck of blood and he sat back with a sigh.

"There, looking great again," he praised and Vulpix sat up, preening visibly.

She appeared content about the lack of blood as well, shaking out her fur as she stood up on her four paws.

"You want to wear the costume?" Naruto asked, holding the sleeveless shirt up in the air. He didn't fail to notice that it had Mimikyu perking up – something Vulpix saw as well.

She looked at the costume and came closer then, which Naruto took to mean that she wanted him to put it on her. He did just so, even managing to close the single button, and now she sat in front of him proud and tall, wearing the costume and looking like she'd never been hurt in the first place.

"You look pretty," he told her and she stuck her little nose in the air as if to say "Of course I do, how could you think otherwise?"

It had him laughing and he stood up, brushing dirt off his knees. "Well, guess this is goodbye then," he said lightly. "I'm glad you're all better again. Be careful from now on, okay? I wouldn't want you to get hurt like that again."

Mimikyu shuffled over to him, looking at him inquiringly. "Mimi?" Training?

"Sure, it's best if we train as much as possible before we try to tackle the first gym," Naruto agreed and stretched his arms, turning to go back to the tent. "Maybe we should focus on your Shadow Sneak and Shadow Ball today, those seem to be your strongest moves." Which was logical of course, given that Mimikyu was partly a Ghost type.

"Mimikyu!"

But as they walked back to the tent, Naruto became aware of a rustling noise behind them and he furrowed his eyebrows, turning around again.

Vulpix stood right behind them, apparently intent on following them.

"Erm, do you need to go in the same direction as we?" Naruto asked confused. The forest was big after all, who knew where Vulpix had been planning on going to before she'd been attacked.

Vulpix padded closer, a spring in her step. "Vulpix!" With you!

"With me what?" Naruto questioned even more bemused.

"Vulpix, Vulpix!" Stay! With You!

Oh okay.

Wait, what?

AN2: Some of your guesses came pretty close or were even correct as you can see :)

Fun, random question: who is your favourite Legendary Pokémon? Mine's Mewtwo, can't help it, he's just too great.

Next chapter should hopefully - finally - show the first gym!

Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.

I hope to see you all back in the next chapter! Please stay safe and take care of yourselves!

Cuddles

Melissa

P.S. For more information about my upcoming and posted stories, please visit my profile.