The Pokémon Wildcard
Chapter 1: A Day in the Life
The sun rises over Pallet Town as a majority of the residents woke up from their sleep to prepare for their daily activities with flocks of Pidgey flying in the skies overhead. We turn our attention to a house within the town where inside we can find Delia Ketchum at the kitchen wearing a light yellow t-shirt, a pink apron, blue jeans and orange shoes as she's hard at work cooking up some breakfast, she turned away to look at the clock hanging on the wall and smiled softly.
"It's almost time for him to wake up soon," said Delia before returning her focus to the food being cooked on the stove.
We now go up the stairs to the floor then through a door into a room. On the left side of the door is a wooden cabinet with the right wall side bearing a coat rack, further inside on the left corner of the room between two windows is a slight shorter cabinet with a TV on top and a stereo next to it. On the right side of the room is a wooden loft bed which is just the top portion of a bunk bed and the bottom has a desk built into it whilst having small bookshelves and bearing a laptop which is currently turned off. On the bed we find someone who is covered up with a blanket and fast asleep, but not for long.
*Riiiiiiinnnnnnnnngggggg*
An alarm clock in the shape of an open Pokéball started ringing loudly, causing the person to twitch and mumble drowsily as a hand reached out to press a button to stop it from ringing again. The blanket was pushed away to reveal a young boy with blond spiky hair and blue eyes with the notable thing about him being the three whisker markings on his cheek. He was currently wearing green and yellow pajamas with Pokéball designs on them. The boy rubbed his eyes to shake of the grogginess as he climbed down the ladder and made his way out of the room to bathroom and took a nice hot bath to become fully awake then returning to put on some clothes.
He now wears a blue short sleeved t-shirt with a sleeveless hoodie jacket over it, khaki shorts, blue wristbands, and blue-and-white sneakers. The boy ran down the stairs to the ground and into the kitchen where he saw Delia already sitting at the table laden with pancakes, toast, and orange juice among the other basics of breakfast.
"Good morning Naruto, I can see you're up now," said Delia with a warm smile.
"Good morning mom," Naruto responded with a foxy grin as he sat on the table.
Ever since that night when Delia picked up Naruto from the bushes and learnt of his origins, she took him in and had adopted the baby with him taking on her name in addition to his. The time spent with him as he grew were more than precious to her; he's always excitable, curious, hyperactive and very friendly given how he easily got along with others in kindergarten but can be very protective when he sees his friends being bullied.
One thing she noticed is that Naruto absolutely loves Pokémon and apparently they like him too, an example being the young Pokémon kept at the kindergarten perking up whenever he shows up to play with them and being sad whenever he leaves much to the surprise of the teaching staff. However not everyone is in good terms with Naruto and many would try to bully him and his friends, that in turn awoken something within the boy which made them wish they never had…a prankster. The bullies would always find themselves on the receiving end of pranks and no one can prove that it was Naruto who had actually being getting help from the wild Pokémon in his pranks.
"So what will you be doing today honey?" asked Delia.
Naruto finished drinking a glass of orange juice before responding "I'm going to Professor Oak's lab to have some fun with the Pokémon, he might also have some new cool stuff which has to do with Pokémon too,"
"Okay then, I'll pack a small lunchbox for you," said Delia.
"Thanks mom!" Naruto went back to eating his breakfast then carried the dirty dishes to the kitchen sink and he helped his mother with washing them, he went back up to his room to pack some items into a backpack before returning downstairs to find Delia waiting for him with a lunchbox in hand "I'll be back later in the day!"
"Be sure to send my regards to the professor for me!" said Delia with a wave.
"I will!"
Naruto waved back before running down the path towards his destination, he ran through the town whilst saying hello to the neighbors and was soon crossing a wooden bridge over a stream then climbed up a flight of stairs towards a building at the top which has a wind turbine spinning slowly. Naruto opened the door and went inside to a hallway with several doors, he went to the end of the hallway and climbed up the stairs on the right to the first floor into a room full of technological devices like computers and so much than Naruto himself knows, there he found the person he was looking for. He is a middle aged man with gray hair and wears alight maroon polo shirt underneath a white open lab coat, beige pants with a brown belt and brown loafers.
"Hiya professor Oak!" Naruto called out loudly.
Said person turned around from his work and smiled upon seeing who it is "Ah Naruto, good to see you my boy. How's your mother?"
"She's doing great and wanted me to send her regards to you," Naruto replied while walking up to the professor "So whatcha doing?"
"I'm currently researching on the levels of loyalty of the Growlithe and Arcanine towards trainers and non-trainers, if there's a difference between two factors. I'm quite interested to find out," said Prof Oak thoughtfully.
"That sounds pretty interesting, now you got me curious too," said Naruto.
"Enough about that for now, I don't need to guess why you're among the many times you've been coming," Prof Oak spoke with a knowing smile, Naruto rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish grin.
"Pretty much the same as usual," said Naruto.
Oak has been familiar with Naruto since it was Delia who came to his lab and told him about everything which included his origin. Needless to say but the man was knocked for a loop as this was outside anything related to Pokémon but calmed down and decided to help as well as keep it a secret. Naruto quickly took to the professor and would always come to the lab to hang around or play with the Pokémon in the corral, it was quite surprising that Pokémon belonging to other Pokémon trainers were quite taken with him along with his own…making the young blonde an interesting research subject to check on from time to time.
"Well I shouldn't keep you waiting then, they're all out there waiting for you,"
"Thanks prof, I'll see you later!" Naruto ran out of the room and down the stairs, he went to the backdoor of the lab and emerged into the Oak Corral which is the place where the professor keeps all of the Pokémon belonging to trainers there. Naruto barely took three steps when something overshadowed him with flapping of wings being heard before landing on the ground behind him with a thump, then he felt a pair of arms wrap around him and was lifted into air.
Instead of panicking, Naruto laughed a bit from being hugged "I guessed you missed me huh…Dragonite?" he grunted a bit from the hug tightening a bit before looking up at the draconic bipedal Pokémon with light orange skin.
"Dragoo!" Dragonite nodded with an eyesmile before putting Naruto back on the ground, this happens to be one of Oak's Pokémon during his trainer day before retiring to become a Pokémon professor. Dragonite was present when Delia introduced Naruto as a baby and became rather caring more than normal when other children would come to visit the corral, there were times Dragonite would fly over to Delia's home to act as a self-appointed babysitter which Delia was willing to allow so it was no surprise that Naruto got attached to it.
"How about we go and see the others?" asked Naruto, getting a nod from Dragonite and placing him on its back and flying deeper into the corral before landing atop a grassy hill. They didn't wait too long when pattering of feet could be heard and a variety of Pokémon appeared running towards them being Oddish, Ratatta, Pidgey, Doduo etc. "Hey guys…whoa!" Naruto got tackled to the ground and ended up being dogpiled on "Okay okay, I missed you all too! Please calm down!"
"Dragooo!" Dragonite didn't like how they were being rough with Naruto and pulled him out of the heap with a small frown on its face, getting the Pokémon to look a bit ashamed.
"Don't be too hard on them, they're just happy to see me," said Naruto in a placating manner, Dragonite wasn't entirely convinced but accepted nonetheless "Anyways, let me tell you what's been going on since I last came to play you guys," he began telling them what he had been doing at school and at home along with the pranks he played on the school bullies and how nobody is still not able to prove that he was the one with the Pokémon laughing, then he played a few games with them before sharing his lunch if a only a bit "I almost forgot to tell you guys, I'll be going to a summer camp in a week's time where I'm going to learn a lot more about Pokémon. One of my many steps to becoming a Pokémon trainer!"
One of the Oddish poked his legs with one of its leaves to draw his attention "Oddish odd odd,"
"I don't know how long I'll be gone, but I'll be back before you know it," Naruto locked at the watch on his wrist to check the time and was rather surprised "Wow, look at the time. I gotta get home…now don't look so glum, I'll be coming back tomorrow okay?" he cheered the Pokémon up when he noticed their being sad. He was about to leave when Dragonite scooped him and placed him on its back "You want to carry me home?"
"Dra!" Dragonite nodded in affirmation to his question.
"Alright then, let's go!" Naruto cheered happily as Dragonite began flapping its wings and took to the air with him holding on tightly then it flew in direction of Naruto's home and landed at the front door for Naruto to jump off "Thanks for the ride, be sure to tell the others I'll back tomorrow," he giggled when Dragonite nuzzled against his cheek before taking to the air again and returned to the Oak corral.
Naruto entered the house and called out loud "Mooom, I'm home!"
"I'm in the living room, sweetie!" Delia called out, Naruto headed to said place and found her watching a soap opera then she turned and greeted him with a smile "Welcome home, and how was your day at the professor's lab?"
"It was a lot of fun, and the Pokémon really missed me especially Dragonite," Naruto plopped on the sofa next to her.
"Well it's to be expected since you always go there to play with them, keep it up and you might steal their attention away from their trainers," said Delia playfully.
"Oh come on mom, I wouldn't do that. Plus in the future I'll also be getting more friends when I become a Pokémon trainer,"
"That's true, now go and wash up for dinner then we can talk afterwards about the summer camp next week," said Delia.
"Okay," Naruto jumped off the sofa and made his way to his home to change then take a bath. Afterwards he came back down to have dinner with Delia.
The week had finally arrived and Naruto was currently standing in a group of children around his age as they waited for the bus hired to transport them to the campground, Naruto's ears picked up faint sounds of grumbling and glanced to the side and caught sight of some boys whom he recognized to be the class bullies are glaring at him. Feeling mischievous, Naruto turned towards them and silently mouthed the words 'I will be pranking you' which caused them to widen their eyes in fear before shuffling away much to his amusement.
"Hey Naruto!" he turned towards the source of the voice to see a girl approaching him. She has brown hair which reaches up to the back of her neck, she wears a light green short sleeved blouse, yellow skirt with large orange flowers reaching to her shin, and a pair of blue sandals "I thought it was you,"
"Hiya Leaf, I was wondering where you are," said Naruto, happy to see his childhood friend, they spent a lot of time both in and out of school and Naruto would at times bring her along to the Oak corral to play with the Pokémon too.
"My mom was making sure that I had everything I needed for the summer camp, I just placed my bags down and came looking for you," said Leaf with a smile but then it turned into a frown "But he too is come along to the summer camp,"
"Ugh, should have figured that he would be coming along too because of the professor," Naruto rolled his eyes at the thought of the subject of their conversation.
*Honk Hoonk*
Everyone turned to see a yellow bus arrive into town and stop before the group, meaning that this was their transport to the Pokémon summer camp so the children including Naruto and Leaf began boarding the bus whilst the adults were packing the bags into the luggage before setting off their destination. It took some time on the road but the bus had finally arrived at its destination and everyone disembarked to view the area.
It was a large camp site comprising of a large building and there were multiple wooden cabins in the distance, a playground amongst other things they've yet to see but the area is surrounded with a wooden fence. Naruto and Leaf took their bags from the bus and were led along with the group to the building where other children were already there.
"I can't wait to learn more about Pokémon!" said Leaf excitedly.
"Me too, and I'll know how to make my future Pokémon the best the world has ever seen!" Naruto pumped a fist with gusto.
"I told I saw a whiskered face around here," Naruto and Leaf growled at the sound of an annoyingly familiar voice as they turned round to a boy with auburn hair wearing a light blue t-shirt with red trims, brown shorts and red tennis shoes "I figured that you would show up here,"
"Hello Gary," said Naruto with a deadpanned expression.
He is the grandson of Professor Oak so of course they would have encountered each other long ago and needless to say they don't really get along that well. Gary's arrogance tends to rub Naruto the wrong way and he would use his knowledge to lord over him since everyone was aware that Naruto isn't exactly a scholastic type of guy but actually makes up for that with practicality, something Gary is jealous of with how the blonde so easily interacts with both tamed and wild Pokémon…almost as if he is a Pokémon magnet. Because of that Gary ended up calling him Poke-boy which really irritates Naruto and Leaf.
"What do you want?" asked Leaf.
"I just came around to check out the competition, which aren't that much at all," said Gary nonchalantly.
"You just wait and see Gary, when we become Pokémon trainers, then we'll see who exactly is competition," said Naruto with a look of challenge.
"We'll just have to see…Poke-boy," said Gary smugly.
"Stop calling him that!" said Leaf angrily, drawing the attention of some children.
"Gonna be a while till I get tired of the nickname,"
"Ara ara, now what might be the cause of this state of unrest?" a feminine voice called out softly to the group, they turned to see a pale skinned girl with long black smooth hair reaching the upper part of her back. She wears a white kimono with large sleeves and a long hem with light blue snowflake designs on it, has a pale blue obi wrapped around her waist which is attached to a large bow on her back, and wears black geta over white kneesocks.
"Nothing to worry yourself over, just telling these guys that I'm gonna be the best," said Gary.
"But I do wish that you be more polite to others, it won't speak well of you if that persona persists," said the girl.
"She's right you know, that kind of attitude will draw in enemies and push away comrades," another feminine voice spoke up, this time is a girl with darkened skin and short brown hair. She wears a black t-shirt with a yellow lightning bolt emblem and a yellow vest worn over it, khaki-colored Capri pants, and cream/black/yellow shoes with black laces.
"Hmph, doubt they could do anything to me by then. I'll smell you two later, Leaf and Poke-boy," Gary walked away with a flippant wave much to their annoyance.
"You shouldn't have bothered with that guy, he's always been that way as long as we've known him," said Leaf with a small frown.
"Even so, there's no harm in trying to convince him to change for the better. I had forgotten to introduce myself, my name is Aya Gozen and it is a pleasure to meet you all," said the kimono girl with a polite bow.
"And my name's Ginchiyo Tachibana, nice to meet you," said the dark-skinned girl.
"Well my name's Naruto U.N Ketchum and this is my best friend Leaf Green," Naruto introduced himself with Leaf waving hello to the girls.
"So what is it that brought you here to summer camp?" asked Leaf curiously.
"I wanted to catch a break from all the training my brother had been giving to me, plus I wanted to meet up with Aya after all this time too," said Ginchiyo.
"Indeed, my mother also wanted me to come to camp to make acquaintances with others and I personally wanted to come and enjoy the scenery with the Pokémon," said Aya.
"We came because we want to learn more about Pokémon trainers and my dream is to become a Pokémon master," said Naruto pointing a thumb at himself.
"I haven't decided on what I want yet, but I plan to travel around the world to meet different people and learn about things I never knew. What about you girls?" asked Leaf curiously.
"We're both heiresses from well-known families, Ginchiyo is from the Tachibana family which originate from the era of samurai in the Johto region and I am from the Uesugi clan who are also from the same era in the Sinnoh region," said Aya.
"Then that makes you two nobles, you're kinda different from what I've heard and read about," said Naruto thoughtfully.
"Of course we aren't, we have pride but won't let it go to our heads. Too bad there are some like that," said Ginchiyo with a scoff.
"That's good to hear, you two are too nice to be stuck up," said Naruto with a foxy grin.
Aya raised an armed sleeve to her mouth as she giggled "Ara ara, what a nice thing for a gentleman such as yourself to say,"
Ginchiyo slung an arm around Naruto's shoulder as she smirked "I like you already, something tells me that we're going to get along just fine,"
"Hey guys, the counsellor is calling us over," Leaf spoke up for them to hear.
"Come on, let's find out where we'll be sleeping then we can explore this place fir a bit," said Naruto, picking up his bag.
"I'm with you on that one," said Ginchiyo.
"I would like to accompany as well," said Aya.
"Alright, let's go," Naruto nodded in affirmation before the newly formed group approached the counsellor to be assigned to the cabins for their stay in the camp.
Time went by in the camp as Naruto, Leaf, Aya and Ginchiyo participated in many activities together and were having a lot. The group also got to learn more about each other as time went, Ginchiyo takes pride in her achievements and strongly believes in honor but would be utterly outraged at the sight of dishonorable acts and will not forgive so easily, she also has a love for electric type Pokémon. Aya is always calm and composed no matter what occurs and would never lose her cool, she likes taking things at a steady pace and not too fond of being rushed in the least, and she also likes ice Pokémon too. The two learnt a lot of things about Naruto and Leaf especially the former. Aya is quite fond of Naruto's excitable nature and sunny disposition as it in a way harmonizes with hers and so would often invite him to strolls just to be within his presence.
Ginchiyo came to discover that Naruto is curious about a lot of things and barely sits still, one time she showed him some basic katas taught to her with a stick and Naruto wanted to give it a try, the next thing she knew was that he emulated her katas perfectly which shocked her, she asked if he had done any combat training and was surprised when he said no and that this was his first time and wanted to know more. Ginchiyo was hesitant to teach as it goes against the rules of her clan and so just taught him the more common moves to at least bend the rules a bit although she didn't know exactly aside from the fact that Naruto treats her like an equal and not her position. Naruto once said that Ginchiyo and Aya are good friends and doesn't care if they're heiress to clans which surprised both of them and made them happy as well.
Naruto himself was having a lot of fun with the girls, he often goes exploring in the woods with them and show them how to care for the Pokémon which were kept to teach the campers the practicality of caring for them. He and Ginchiyo would play competitive games to one-up the other, Aya often invites him for strolls and casual conversations about things in the Sinnoh region much to his ever-growing curiosity. Leaf is often with him during those times though he tends to catch glimpses of them pouting at each other from time to time and would feel a bit confused at that. Soon a week was gone and they're drawing to the end of the time spent in the summer camp, so the counsellors decided on one more activity.
"Alright everyone, I'm sure you all know that there's three days left to the end of the Pokémon summer camp so we decided on one last activity and that is a Pokémon scavenger hunt!" said the counsellor.
"Three days left huh…," Naruto muttered quietly, to him it mean that he'll be saying goodbye to his new friends and it really bothered him.
"Now we'll be putting you all into teams of two and picture of the Pokémon which you two are to find and bring back the tags attached to them here. Whoever does so first are the winners!" the counsellor held out a box full of paper "Now step forward and pick out a paper which will align you with your partner then let the scavenger hunt begin!"
Naruto went to pick out a piece of paper and waited for his partner who soon showed up, revealing to be a boy with black hair less spiky than his and wearing a black t-shirt with a red Pokémon logo on the front and camo cargo shorts with a pair red-and black sneakers, the boy approached with a smile on his face.
"Guess we're partners eh Naruto?" asked the boy.
"Pretty much so, Kurow. Let's go win this thing and show Gary what for!" said Naruto with a smirk.
He met Kurow a few times and became friends as they had some things in common, they really love Pokémon and dislike snobby people like Gary. So the duo set off into the forest with a bag in hand to begin their quest.
Elsewhere, a young girl with short brown hair wearing a pink dress with pink Mary Jane flat and a straw hat with a pink bow tied around it was walking through the forest looking very lost. The person she was partnered with suggested that they split up to search for the items and left before she could anything, leaving her alone to wander about aimlessly.
"Where is everybody? Is anyone there? Hello?" the girl called with the growing feeling of unease.
Suddenly the bushes in front of her started rustling which startled her. She turned to run but tripped herself, yelping when she fell to the ground, she looked back at the bush in fear as the rustling grew louder then a Pokémon jumped out and landed by to reveal it to be a Poliwag. It looked around for a bit and saw the girl who recoiled a bit before it hopped away deeper into the forest.
"I knew that I didn't want to come here at all…MOMMY!" tears gathered at her eyes as she laid there all alone.
The bush started rustling again causing her to look back, wondering and hoping that something scary wouldn't appear again. The bush rustled louder and she looked away with her eyes closed and tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Hmmm, I know I saw it come this way…hello are you okay?" a voice spoke up, getting the girl to open her eyes and look to see a boy with spiky blonde and blue eyes "Hi my name's Naruto Ketchum! What's the matter?"
"I hurt my leg," said the girl looking down at the bruise on her left knee.
"I see…then it's a good thing I brought this along," Naruto reached into his pocket and took out an orange handkerchief and wrapped it around the bruise then made sure that it was well tied "There you go, it's my lucky handkerchief and it's sure to make your leg feel better,"
She tried to move but couldn't because of the pain "It still hurts, I can't stand up,"
"Come on now, never give up until the very end. It's best to keep trying with everything you've got than not at all," Naruto pointed a thumb at himself with a wink "That's how I roll, so let's keep trying okay? This time I'll help," Naruto held a hand out to her.
The girl stared at the gesture for a moment before gladly accepted it, but was surprised when she was suddenly pulled up to a standing position and stumbled into his arms in a hugging position of sorts, the girl stood back to look at the blonde who was grinning at her.
"See? You stood up with you second try!" said Naruto happily.
"…I did, thank you," said the girl with a shy smile.
"No problem, let's get you back to the campgrounds so we can have the counsellors take a look at it," Naruto turned to guide her out of the forest when he heard her mumble something.
"Um…,"
"What's the matter?"
"My name…is…Serena," said the girl with tinge of pink on her cheeks.
"It's nice to meet you Serena, now let's get you outta here," said Naruto with a foxy grin.
"O-okay," Serena nodded shyly "He's so nice,"
"Hey Naruto!" a voice called out before emerging from the bushes to reveal Kurow "There you are, where've you been? I thought you were going after Poliwag?"
"I was but then I saw Serena hurt and I'm helping her back to the campgrounds for the counsellors to check on her injury," Naruto explained.
"I see…then you go on ahead while I try to find that Poliwag, it's the last thing on the list anyway," said Kurow.
"Thanks Kurow, you're a real pal,"
"Thank you very much," said Serena.
"No thanks necessary, now get going," said Kurow with the duo walking past him in direction of the campgrounds…however none of them noticed that Kurow's eyes were glowing with some strange blue energy when he looked back at them "So he really is the one that the world latched on to and brought here…his potential for bonds with Pokémon will be more than enough for me to pass on that,"
Sometime later, the scavenger hunt was finally over and surprisingly the winners were Leaf and Ginchiyo with Naruto and Kurow in second place and a sulking Gary and his partner in third. Naruto introduced Serena to the others and it took a while until they got her out of her shell and become comfortable with them. Serena got along well with Leaf and Aya as she's not too used to Ginchiyo's personality that much. But soon the three days were other and the time had come for them to go their separate ways, Naruto and the girls were currently standing at the parking area with the buses and heiresses' limo waiting for them.
"I guess this is it huh…," said Naruto silently.
"Yeah…," said Leaf looking down on the ground.
"It saddens me that we must depart like this," said Aya.
"She's right, wish it would have lasted longer," said Ginchiyo.
"At first I didn't want to come to this summer camp, but now I don't want to leave," said Serena.
"…It doesn't have to be that way," Naruto spoke up drawing their attention "We can always keep in contact on the videophones. And when Leaf and I become Pokémon trainers, then I'll be sure to come to Johto, Sinnoh and Kalos to see you all again!" hearing this made everyone cheerful especially with his second sentence.
"You're right, you all better grow fast and visit soon," said Ginchiyo.
"Ara ara, that gives me plenty of time for your welcome," said Aya.
"I hope to see you all again," said Serena, smiling softly.
"We definitely will, right Naruto?" Leaf to said blonde who gave them a foxy grin and a thumbs up.
"That's right, it's a promise of a lifetime!" Naruto held out a pinkie finger, the others linked theirs with his.
*Honk Hoonk*
"It's time to go!" the counsellor called out, and everyone began entering the buses.
"Goodbye for now," said Aya.
"Goodbye," said Serena.
"Yeah, see you later," said Naruto.
Everyone got into their assigned vehicles, and rode away to take different routes. Up on the hills was Kurow and he was wearing a black cloak, he gazed down at the bus transporting Naruto and Leaf before smiling as he put on the hood to shroud his face and walked away with his body getting taller by each step until reaching the height of a grown adult.
"Hope you train yourself well kiddo, I'm betting my cards on you," said Kurow in a much deeper voice before he was engulfed in a thick mist and disappeared.
This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, this is the second of this new Pokémon story and I'm giving you the lowdown of Naruto's life since Delia took him in as an adopted son. He still has his family name but I decided to shorten it to initials to make things easier hence Naruto U.N Ketchum. Leaf won't be his first companion and will join him later after the Cerulean gym battle. Naruto doesn't know his true origin yet but will find out later on. And another thing, I increased the age of starting Pokémon trainers to 13, kinda makes more sense that way too. Be sure to look forward to the next chapter for his beginnings as a Pokémon trainer and awakening.
NB; Naruto will acquire special non-lethal weapons along the way.
Here's the updated Harem List
Oichi
Leaf
Serena
Lyra
Sabrina
May
Cynthia
Dawn
Hilda
Shauna
Lillie
Aya
Ginchiyo
Diantha
Iris
Valerie
Cheryl
Mallow
Kimia
Rosa
Be sure to read and review like with the other stories.
This is Hussbek from Ghana.
Signing out.