Author's note: I want to apologise to those who are waiting for updates of my other stories. My updating schedule has been quite the mess, I know, and writing goes easier for some stories than others. I also can't really pull all-nighters anymore because I have to get up really early to give my youngest cat her medication. That said, I will do my best to keep a more consistent schedule from now on. I'm hoping to update some more this weekend. For now, have this update!
Thanks to the following reviewers: PinkiePieParty122894; swordsmanwielder; leighd1314; JaiJayce; Harley23Black; Pen-Woman; SarahNThatcher; Sebby-chan3000
Warnings: Some exposition, because who doesn't love mysteries? Also we're back to Naruto's pov!
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 enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 29
Warm sunlight dappled across the wall, painting it a beautiful light orange. Some Starly chittered right outside the window and in the distance an Onix was loudly declaring its distaste for something happening. The day was quite beautiful, promising to turn even more radiant with the bright sun, but Naruto couldn't find it in himself to enjoy it when he stuck in bed, sicker than he could ever recall being.
There was nothing fun about being sick, he decided mulishly, grasping the edge of the blanket firmly. The pounding headache was terrible and he felt hot all over, but every time he pushed away the blanket, he would start freezing just a couple of seconds later, forcing him to retrieve the blanket and start the cycle all over again. His vision wavered every once in a while and the pounding in his head seemed to travel throughout his entire body, intensifying each ache until he imagined he was just one big throbbing nerve. He couldn't move his legs without all his muscles locking into place, forcing him to remain in the same position or attempt the torturously slow process of attempting to move into a different position.
"You keep glaring like that and you might set your wall on fire," a familiar voice piped up dryly.
Naruto turned his head, watching his mum enter the room. The sunlight caught her red hair, making it look like she carried flames instead of long locks of hair.
"I hate being sick," he complained, tugging at the blanket.
"I doubt anyone really likes being sick," she said amused and placed a pitcher with water on the table. "How are you feeling?"
"Like crap," he answered honestly, pouting.
"Language," she chided lightly, but her scolding would have more effect if Naruto hadn't overheard her using foul language more than once before. "I know it's not fun, but you'll have to stay in bed until the fever is over."
"But I never get sick," he whined and huffed.
Mum sat down on the bed and placed the back of her hand against his forehead, grimacing in sympathy. "I know, sweetheart, but this is what happens when you land on a Pokémon's bad side," she sighed and ruffled his hair.
Land on a Pokémon's bad side? Naruto frowned, growing confused. He hadn't done such a thing, had he? He couldn't remember angering a Pokémon. Even if he had, how had that lead to him catching a fever?
"I don't understand," he said bewildered.
She chuckled and leant forwards to kiss his forehead. "Don't worry about it. Just keep resting, okay?" She stood up, humming, and turned to leave again.
"Mum?"
Dark eyes gazed down surprised at him. Naruto shot up, disorientated, and wildly looked around him. He wasn't in his room anymore, he quickly realised, but in a tent, bigger than his own was. He was lying down on a sleeping bag, had a thick blanket resting on him, and his hand was –
He was holding onto the wrist of an another man.
Embarrassed, he quickly released the wrist and cleared his throat. "What – what happened? Where- where am I?" He winced at the way he croaked out the question; the words digging like shards in his throat.
"I'm glad to see you're finally awake," the man said, acting rather unperturbed for someone whose wrist had been snatched. "If you had remained unconscious any longer, we would have had to transfer you to a hospital."
Unconscious? Naruto looked down at the thick blanket; when he moved his leg, pain briefly flashed up, making him hiss reflexively.
"Yeah, I wouldn't run a marathon just yet with that leg," the man said dryly.
"What hap - " Like a filter had fallen off, suddenly Naruto recalled what exactly had happened.
He had been stuck in the mountain and the corridor had collapsed behind him and his Pokémon. Mimikyu had been trapped, he remembered; a sick feeling twisting his stomach. But he had managed to free Mimikyu after goading an Onix to the crushed stones, right. He had grabbed Mimikyu and then – Onix had come back and had snatched him up by his leg. He had been just in time to throw Mimikyu at Lucario? Before Onix could have attacked him as well. Then Naruto had been thrown around in the air before Onix had been forced to release him and …
He couldn't remember anything after that. Nothing but heat and cold and the highly unpleasant sensation of being one giant throbbing painful nerve. His insides felt like they were cooking, he recalled dimly, and everything had hurt so much … There had been so many Pokémon snarls and screams, but he hadn't been able to put a stop to those and …
"My Pokémon!" he gasped in panic and made a move to get up. "Are they okay? Are they safe?"
The man tutted and pushed him forcefully back down with a surprising amount of strength given how slender he looked. "Your Pokémon are fine. They're in your bag right next to you, see?" He pointed at Naruto's backpack, which was indeed right next to the sleeping bag at Naruto's eye level if he would lie back down. "We just convinced your Mimikyu to take a break actually. I'm sure they'll be more than happy to see you back up."
"What happened?" Naruto asked dazedly.
He felt so stupid for repeating his question, but he was completely flabbergasted. The last thing he remembered, they had all been stuck in the mountain, nowhere close to an exit. Now he found himself in a stranger's tent, lying on a sleeping bag while someone else … tended to him? What on earth was going on?
"You caught a severe infection," the man informed him, adjusting his cap, which – had Naruto met him before? Now that he was focusing on the man, he was starting to look oddly familiar. "Your Pokémon informed us that you got injured by an Onix when rescuing one of them. Mountains aren't exactly sterile, so your wounded leg became infected and you developed a fever."
"That explains why I feel like crap," Naruto muttered to himself. His head was still vaguely pounding, but at least he had stopped feeling like he was being boiled alive. "Have we met before?"
"Yeah, he's the Trainer whose Snorlax decided to treat himself to your meal," a second man piped up, entering the tent. A burst of cold air followed him inside before he zipped the entrance shut.
"You're not going to let that go anytime soon, huh, Blue?" the first man said resigned.
"I'm not the one whose Pokémon treats everything like his own personal buffet," the second man, Blue, snarked.
Wait, Blue?
"Like your Pokémon are all that perfect," the other man shot back.
He had heard the name Blue before, no? Yeah, he was sure he had. And Snorlax – a Snorlax had eaten his, Mimikyu's and Vulpix' dinner back when they had celebrated their newly won Badge, hadn't it?
Wait, did that mean that these two –
"Red and Blue?" Naruto wondered aloud; the other name popping up in his memory like a lightbulb flicking on.
"You remember us," Red smiled. "That's a good sign. At least you didn't hit your head that hard."
His head? Naruto touched his forehead gingerly, feeling the rough edges of a crusted over wound. Right, when Onix had thrown him through the air, he had smacked his head straight into a wall. That explained the headache.
"How did you find us?" Naruto asked stumped.
He had no idea just how long he and his team had been wandering around in the mountain, but it had to have been several days at the very least. Add to that him being unconscious for who knew how long and he was worried to find out just how much time they had lost in there.
"We were investigating a possible sighting of a Mythical Pokémon when we took notice of the suspicious high amount of Pokémon that escaped the mountain injured," Blue started to explain and halted at Naruto's feet, crossing his arms. "We thought it was especially curious when we discovered scorch marks and traces of poison on them."
"So we decided to try to search for the Pokémon that was causing all these injuries," Red took over. "Fire Types aren't likely to live in this type of mountain after all. We came across your team after we found a collapsed Golem and they explained what happened."
"We took you outside, seeing as you weren't going to get any better trapped inside that mountain," Blue snorted.
"Thank you for helping us out," Naruto said sincerely. "Sorry for all the trouble I caused."
"It's fine, we could hardly leave you behind there," Red said and shrugged. "You should mainly thank Blue, though; he's the one who made sure you didn't need an army of Blissey to help you heal."
"That's because you are pants at treating even a simple papercut," Blue sneered. "How you survived for so long on that mountain without keeling over, I'll never know."
"Just because I didn't memorise an entire medical guide," Red muttered, rolling his eyes.
Naruto opened his mouth, intending to ask how his Pokémon had been in the meantime, but then his brain registered something odd. "A Mythical Pokémon?" he wondered aloud, attracting both men's attention. "What kind of Mythical Pokémon?"
"That's the question, isn't it?" Blue snorted. "The sightings told us of a dark Pokémon flitting around during nights of the new moon. None of the descriptions matched the Pokémon roaming around here normally, so we decided to conduct an investigation here. It's how we noticed all those injured Pokémon."
"A Dark Pokémon?" Naruto repeated, furrowing his eyebrows. Hadn't he …
There had been a Dark Pokémon in the mountain with them, Naruto remembered with a sense of unease. It had been right before the corridor had collapsed. His Pokémon had sensed its presence before he had and Mimikyu had ended up attacking it. Whatever the Pokémon had been, it had been somewhat weak to Mimikyu's Dazzling Gleam because the attack had hit it quite badly – right before it had launched its own attack at Naruto. That strange, invisible Pokémon had jumped in then, he recalled, and that Dark Pokémon had fled at that point, never showing up again.
Had that been the Pokémon Red and Blue had been tracking down?
"I think I may have seen that Pokémon," he said slowly, because it was hard to wrap his mind around the fact that he might have come across a Mythical Pokémon of all types just like that.
"You have?" Blue instantly whipped a notebook and a pencil out of his pocket, his gaze intensely focused when he demanded, "Can you describe it in more detail?"
"Not really," Naruto said and shrugged helplessly. "I had just woken up actually. The corridor was dark of course, but I used my torchlight. All I could see was this dark mass, like some sort of shadow, hovering in front of the cave. I think it had a blue eye," he went on, squinting in thought. Yeah, he was pretty sure that Pokémon had looked at him with a bright blue eye. It had been somewhat creepy actually. "And it seemed to have a weakness for Fairy Type attacks? Mimikyu at least seemed to have done some damage to it with his Dazzling Gleam."
"Interesting," Blue muttered as he wrote something down. "Did something out of the ordinary happen right before you came across his Pokémon?"
"I don't think so … I had a really bad nightmare?" Naruto winced at how childish that sounded. "I usually don't get nightmares that bad, but … There was a Hypno nearby when I woke up." It was hard to forget just how unnerving Hypno was, especially when spotting one right after waking up.
"Hypno feed on dreams, they don't cause them," Blue mumbled and started flipping through his notebook.
Red looked up at him, remaining in a crouched position next to Naruto. "You think it can be that one?" he questioned cryptically.
"It fits the nightmare aspect at least," Blue replied distractedly, reading something in his notebook. "And it was the new moon after all."
"A mountain would be an odd place to wander around for it, though," Red remarked.
"Hm, not so sure about that," Blue retorted, narrowing his eyes at whatever he was reading. "It's relatively close to a town. It might have wandered here in search of new food."
"What are we talking about exactly?" Naruto asked cautiously.
Blue pursed his lips and closed his notebook. "I suspect – and keep in mind that this is just a guess seeing as we don't have any physical proof or photographical evidence – that you came across a Darkrai."
"A Darkrai?" Naruto repeated blankly.
"It's a Mythical Pokémon that is said to inhabit dreams and cause nightmares," Red explained. "Frankly not much is known about it, given that it's a Mythical Pokémon, but records show that it seems mainly active during nights of the new moon. From what we've discovered, it seems to feed on dreams? But that is all just guesswork. Nobody has ever managed to get close enough to study it."
"You said you usually don't get really bad nightmares," Blue reminded Naruto. "And you encountered it right after waking up, right?"
Naruto nodded, frowning.
"It might have been infiltrating in your dream in order to feed off it," Blue concluded, tapping his pencil against the notebook. "From the stories recorded, it doesn't really seem to single out one person in particular. You just happened to have the bad luck to run into it."
Well, bad luck seemed par for the course for him lately, Naruto mused wryly. He hadn't exactly been swimming in good luck; not since he had entered the mountain at least.
"That doesn't explain the Hypno, though," Red commented suddenly, gnawing on his lower lip. "Are Hypno native to this area?"
"They tend to keep to less-travelled roads," Blue said.
"Yeah, but a mountain?" Red asked sceptically. "That seems a bit too less-travelled, don't you think? We didn't come across any of them when we searched the mountain."
"They could have kept themselves hidden," Blue pointed out. "We didn't check every cave."
Or the Hypno had been brought in by an outside source, Naruto realised with a start. Wasn't this whole conversation sounding awfully familiar to the one he had had with Tsunade and Uchiha Itachi after Naruto had been attacked by that Tyranitar? They had said that a Blissey had found him and had proceeded to heal him, but Blissey hadn't been native to that area either. And when they had gone to look for it, they hadn't been able to find it back. Could this Hypno be the same?
It seemed farfetched, but … Hadn't his Pokémon mentioned having been guided by an invisible Pokémon back then? It had led them straight to Naruto; the invisible Pokémon he had encountered in the mountain had been quite helpful as well. Could this be the same Pokémon? If so – did that mean it was following him?
"You look like Gengar is currently sapping your life," Blue said dryly. "What's wrong?"
"There was another Pokémon in that mountain," Naruto said slowly, trying to gather his thoughts so that he wouldn't sound crazy. "It's … It was invisible the whole time, though I caught a glimpse of it once. I think, at least. It happened so fast, I'm still not sure whether I wasn't still dreaming."
"What do you mean?" Red frowned.
"After I woke up in one of the caves, there was a Pokémon hovering above me," Naruto explained. "I think it had blue eyes, but it disappeared so fast that I wasn't sure whether I was dreaming still. It came back, though, and even brought me some extra food from a … Trainer's bag, who you know …" He trailed off uncomfortably.
Red and Blue nodded, motioning him to go on.
"Anyways, like I said, it was invisible the whole time, but when Darkrai – I guess – attacked me, it threw itself into the battle as well and the attack … rebounded?" Naruto shrugged helplessly again. "I'm sorry I can't explain it better, but I was barely able to see anything and after that the corridor started to collapse. I haven't seen or heard that Pokémon again after that."
"You think that Pokémon had something to do with the Hypno then?" Blue furrowed his eyebrows.
"Some time ago I was attacked by a Tyranitar who had escaped its facility," Naruto began and both men winced in sympathy. "Professor Tsunade and a detective told me afterwards that a Blissey had been healing me when they found me – except that Blissey aren't native to that area and they couldn't find her back afterwards. My Pokémon said they were led to me by an invisible Pokémon, so I was thinking that maybe – the Hypno and Blissey are connected to that invisible Pokémon?"
It sounded incredibly farfetched, never mind stupid, but both Blue and Red considered it seriously.
"Gengar can turn invisible," Red muttered, but Blue shook his head.
"They're not really known to care for other people, though," he commented. "And they definitely wouldn't have the … power, I guess, needed to somehow bring another Pokémon into play like that."
"Another Mythical Pokémon then?" Red suggested and rose up.
"Could be," Blue nodded. "But if that's the case, this one might be basically impossible to study, if it can keep itself invisible."
"It felt … friendly?" Naruto said, wrinkling his nose. "I mean, it was strange, not seeing anything, but it didn't really seem to mean me any harm either."
"We'll have to take a better look around the mountain," Blue decided and without awaiting his partner's input, he abruptly turned around and left the tent again.
Red shook his head. "Don't mind him. When he goes into research mode, not much can take him out of it," he sighed and tilted his head to the right, studying Naruto. "I'll make you something light to eat, all right? You'll have to rest for a bit longer, but your fever is gone and your leg is healing well."
"Thank you," Naruto smiled awkwardly. "Again, I'm sorry to be a bother."
Red lifted his hand. "Don't mention it. While I get you something to eat, you might as well reassure your team that you're not about to drop dead," he advised bluntly and walked out of the tent as well.
As if that had been their cue, six beams of red light instantly filled the tent, crowding it in spite of its large size. Vaporeon and Vulpix chittered worriedly, clambering onto his legs. Toxtricity and Lucario stretched their limbs before coming to stand on either side of Naruto while Mimikyu rushed over to Naruto as quickly as he could, climbing on top of his stomach. The sixth light revealed … a Pidgeot?
"Pidgeot?" Naruto called out stumped, briefly distracted from rubbing Vaporeon's and Vulpix' heads and hugging Mimikyu back.
"Pidgeot!" Evolved! Pidgeot preened, spreading out his large wings. He looked impressive with his bright colours and massive wingspan and Naruto stared at him in awe.
"You look amazing!"
"Pidgeot!"
His Pidgeotto had evolved into a Pidgeot! He felt a bit sad that he had missed that great moment, but couldn't help but be proud of his Pokémon as well.
"Mimi, Mimikyu, Mimi!" Was so worried!
"I know, I know," Naruto shushed and curled his hand around Mimikyu's back while black tendrils shot out, latching onto his upper arms. "I'm sorry for worrying you all, but I'm feeling better!"
Toxtricity eyed him intently and hissed. Called out for mum.
Naruto's smile wavered for a couple of seconds before he chuckled. "I did? Ah, guess it was because I was dreaming about her. More importantly, though," he grinned and bundled Mimikyu tighter against his chest, beckoning the others to come closer. "What is that I heard? You all kicked some major arse in the mountain?"
For now he wouldn't think about possible encounters with Mythical Pokémon and nearly perishing in a mountain of all places. Now he had some major catching up to do with his team!
AN2: There you go, who doesn't love the possibility of a Mythical Pokémon roaming around? And look, Naruto's finally out of the mountain! Next chapter should finally feature a Gym again :')
A bit random, but has a Pokémon game ever conditioned you in a way? Arceus made me really paranoid about slipping and passing out, losing all my stuff to the point that when I started playing Violet, I actually started to panic when I misjudged the distance and fell off one of those windmills :') Imagine my huge sigh of relief when I realised that the Pokédex in this game actually saves you from becoming splatter on the ground!
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.
