The Pokémon Wildcard
Chapter 6: Gathering the Lost Three
***Green***
"Awww man, should have known better than to attempt taking a shortcut through the forest to Viridian city," Naruto lamented, looking at the map app on his PokéGear with a frown on his face.
"Pikapi, pika pikachu," Pikachu patted Naruto's head as a way of trying to cheer him up.
"Cheer up Naruto, I'm pretty sure that something good will come out of this," said Leaf.
Brock nodded in agreement "She's got a point there, I recall a saying that people view a traveler in two ways; either he's one who gets lost or the one that explores the unknown,"
"Then I hope it's the latter," Naruto muttered before taking a seat on a rock with the others soon following suit.
The group were about to settle down for the moment when they heard something rustling within a nearby bush then a Pokémon emerged from it and scampered over to a stream nearby to drink from it.
"Oh look, it's an Oddish!" Leaf brought out her PokéDex to scan the Pokémon.
[Oddish, this Pokémon is typically found roaming the forest, scattering pollen as it walks around]
"I've been holding off on catching an Oddish for a while, this is the perfect chance for me to catch one!" Leaf eagerly took out a PokéBall and prepared to throw it.
"Guess the detour was useful after all," Naruto mused.
"Let's go, Rattata!" Leaf threw the PokéBall into the air, calling upon said Pokémon who stood at the ready "Start off with Tail Whip and then follow it up with several Quick Attack"
Rattata wagged its tail towards Oddish so as to reduce the grass type's defense power before dashing at highspeed whilst leaving a white trail of energy behind it, repeatedly slamming into Oddish from multiple directions, leaving no chance for Oddish to counterattack or defend itself.
"It's weakened, now it's time for me to catch a new friend!" Leaf brought out a PokéBall and threw it. The PokéBall was about halfway when something intercepted and knocked it away from Oddish to clatter to the ground.
Naruto's eyes widened in shock and shot up from his seat upon seeing the Pokémon that stood in between Oddish and Rattata so as to protect the latter.
"No way, all the way out here?" he brought out his PokéDex to scan the Pokémon just to make sure that he wasn't seeing things.
[Bulbasaur, a strange seed was planted on its back at birth. The plant sprouts and grows with this Pokémon.]
"Is that really a wild Bulbasaur? I thought they're extremely rare to find besides being handed out as Starters to beginning trainers," said Brock confusedly.
The Bulbasaur snarled before launching a barrage of razor sharp leaves from the bulb on its back towards Rattata.
"Jump out of the way!" said Leaf urgently, Rattata leapt into the air to avoid the incoming projectiles, but the Bulbasaur followed up with a pair of thick green vines which stretched out and grabbed Rattata in midair and proceeded to slam it repeatedly onto the ground until the Pokémon was knocked out.
"Oh no my poor Rattata!" Leaf quickly recalled the fainted Pokémon by into the PokéBall with concern.
"Man, that Bulbasaur is pretty good," Naruto stared at the grass type Pokémon who continued to snarl at them before following after the recovered Oddish into the bushes to escape from them "Let's go after them!"
"Pika!" Pikachu scampered after his trainer in pursuit of the two grass Pokémon.
"Wait for us!"
Brock and Leaf ran after the du and soon caught up with him. Their search for the Pokémon eventually took them to a footbridge, spanning over a very deep trench with rushing water being heard below to the other side.
"That's weird, the map didn't say anything about a bridge here," said Leaf, checking on her pokegear.
"Maybe it was recently built, then again the bridge doesn't exactly look very stable like it hasn't been maintained in quite a while," Brock pointed out upon looking a bit more closely at the bridge.
Naruto hummed in thought as he looked at the bridge, working on a solution to get them across to the other side, then he snapped his fingers upon coming up with an idea as he took out a PokéBall from his belt "Butterfree, I need you!" he tossed it into the air to call said bug Pokémon.
"Freee freeee!" Butterfree fluttered before the blonde, eagerly awaiting his orders.
"I need you to use your String Shot on the ropes,"
Butterfree nodded in affirmation and proceeded to launch his silk along the bridge's ropes, the others were confused at first but Brock soon figured out the reason why Naruto was doing so.
"I get it now, you're having Butterfree use his silk to strengthen the ropes to that they won't break when we're crossing the bridge," said Brock.
Naruto nodded in response "Yeah, it's a lesson that my mom taught me; it never hurts to be extra careful,"
"That's just like her," said Leaf.
After safely crossing the bridge to the other side, the group resumed their search for the Bulbasaur and Oddish but things started getting weird for them. They were falling into hidden pitfalls and snare traps.
"Guessing that I'm not the only one who thinks that someone set up these traps for a reason," said Naruto who's currently dangling upside down due to his leg having been caught by yet another snare trap.
"You're not wrong about that, whoever it is must really not want any strangers around," said Brock, keeping any eye out for any more hidden traps.
"Well, all the traps are doing is getting me annoyed," Leaf added, patting the dust off her skirt much to her displeasure.
Naruto reached into his backpocket and brought out a Swiss army knife which he used to cut the rope then landed safely on the ground with a forward roll "This rather piques my curiosity instead of driving me away,"
"Same here, curiosity is the trait of a Pokémon Journalist,"
"Let's just hope that it doesn't get us into trouble," Brock advised the duo.
Despite falling into several more traps, the group eventually came upon a cabin house in the middle of a clear with a lake nearby. There, they saw a woman tending to some Pokémon until she noticed them and became quite frightened.
"W-Who are you and how did you get here?!" asked the woman fearfully.
Naruto waved his hands in a placating manner "Whoa there, calm down! We're not here to cause any trouble!"
"You're not?"
Leaf nodded in response "Yeah, we were just trying to find what was so important that there were so many traps,"
The woman appeared to have calmed down a bit "So, you're not here to catch the Pokémon?"
"Not really, since you're asking that question," said Brock, trying to keep his blush under control considering the current situation "Can you tell us who you are and about this place?"
"Oh, my apologies. My name is Melanie and this place is the Pokémon village where Pokémon that are sick or were abandoned come here for healing and rest then they leave," the woman introduced herself.
"Wow, a pretty name for a pretty lady," Brock swooned before being whacked in the head by an annoyed Leaf.
"Cut that out, Brock!" said Leaf angrily.
"That explains the traps from before, you were just trying to prevent intruders from coming to steal the Pokémon here,"
Melanie nodded "Yes, and I'm hoping that you wouldn't catch any of the Pokémon where you're here,"
"We won't, we could even lend a hand around the place while we're here. You guys are okay with it?" asked Brock.
Naruto shrugged his shoulders "I don't mind, plus it's only right that we help you," he and Brock set to work on cooking food for the Pokémon after the former let out his own to rest or help them out along the way. Leaf went on to groom and clean the Pokémon near the lake albeit they were still anxious around her but she figured that they will eventually warm up to her one baby step at a time, she let out her own Pokémon as well with her Bulbasaur and Clefairy sticking close to her while Rattata decided to explore the place being naturally curious about things.
Meanwhile, Naruto's Pokémon were also doing their own thing; Pidgeotto was perched atop a branch of a tree which Scyther was currently sitting underneath its shade with both calmly surveying the area, Butterfree flittered about to explore the place whilst Pikachu and Sandshrew tried to mingle with the Pokémon here.
Leaf was brushing the fur of one of the wild Rattata when she heard something from behind her and looked to see an Oddish which she quickly recognized "Wait, you're the Oddish from before,"
"Oddish odd," the grass Pokémon nodded nervously.
"I'm really sorry about before, Rattata and I thought you were a wild Pokémon and we wanted to catch so you can be our friend,"
"Oddish?"
"I had be wanting to catch an Oddish for a while now, and seeing you was a chance I didn't want to let slip plus I like Grass types a lot although I'm still openminded to catching other types," Leaf stretched out a hand to Oddish "So what you do say, can we start over the right way this time?"
Before Oddish could reply, Leaf's Bulbasaur suddenly extended her vines to grab her trainer and lifted her into the air right before something rushed at where she was before, revealing to be the same Bulbasaur from earlier.
"Bulba Bulbasuar!" Leaf's Bulbasaur demanded why Bulbasaur was trying to attack her trainer with the Pokémon simply growling at her and looked ready to fight.
"Hey, what's going on?" Naruto ran over to stand in between them and try to learn the cause of the problem.
"I don't know either, I was apologizing to Oddish for what happened before when Bulbasaur attacked from out of nowhere.
Naruto felt something and looked down to see Bulbasaur pushing his head against his leg as if trying to drive him away "Just what's your deal against us?"
Melanie approached them with a sad expression "Please don't be upset with Bulbasaur, it's just that he was trying to protect Oddish,"
"What do you mean by that?" asked Leaf.
"You see, Bulbasaur had taken it upon himself to be the protector of the village, I've never seen such a brave, loyal and determined Pokémon like him. But the thing is that Bulbasaur doesn't like Pokémon trainers due to having been abandoned by his trainer,"
Naruto looked down at Bulbasaur who still continued to push against his leg "Damn those trainers, they don't have a single clue on what it means to be a Pokémon trainer if they're so willing to abandon these Pokémon,"
"It's really awful," said Leaf sadly.
Sometime later, Naruto and Brock were done cooking and served everyone with their food. Pokémon found the food to be quite delicious with Melanie requesting for the recipe which they kindly gave to her. Pikachu and the others were finishing their meal when the former noticed that Bulbasaur was glaring at them and decided to confront the Pokémon
***Pokémon Translation On***
"Okay, why do you keep glaring at us?" asked Pikachu.
"Why do you keep hanging around him, don't you know that he'll eventually abandon you the moment you no longer meet his standards or he gets a better Pokémon?" said Bulbasaur angrily.
Pikachu frowned in response "I don't see that happening, Naruto is different compared to the other humans. He won't abandon any of us,"
"That's what they all said and yet look at these Pokémon here, this is what we got for our loyalty,"
"I sympathize with what you have all gone through, but do not let the actions of several represent the majority. Naruto is the opposite of those humans, he is loyal to us just as we are loyal to him," said Scyther in a calm masculine voice.
"Stop saying mean things about him!" said Butterfree with a squeaky voice "Naruto has been very nice to us! He helped me achieve my dream of becoming a Butterfree back when I was a Caterpie!"
Bulbasaur scoffed at that "More like being worthwhile tools until he has no more use for you,"
"That's where you're wrong," Pidgeotto spoke up in a feminine tone from her perch "We're with Naruto because we chose to be him, there's no doubt he would let us go should we decide to leave. However, I don't see any of us doing that anytime soon,"
"Naruto helped me when I was in trouble, he didn't do it while expecting anything in return. That's what made me want to be with him!" said Sandshrew, disliking the negative view that Bulbasaur has towards his trainer.
"I can say that Naruto is a great person to be with, he trains us but not beyond our limits, willing to spend time with us in any way. He even protected me from danger on the very day we meet for the first time. I know there are bad humans, but Naruto is not one of them," said Pikachu with finality with the others nodding agreement with him.
Bulbasaur scowled at them before walking away "Seems to me that I'm wasting my time, you'll eventually see that I was right all along,"
"Geez, what crawled into his bulb?" Butterfree grumbled.
"It's clear to see that the pain of betrayal had left a scar on him," said Scyther.
"I didn't see any scars," said Butterfree confusedly.
"It's a figure of speech," Pidgeotto explained with a sigh at the bug Pokémon's naivete.
***Pokémon Translator Off***
Bulbasaur walked while grumbling to himself, annoyed at how those Pokémon ignored him and continued to believe that their so-called trainer will never abandon them…if they knew the truth then they would save themselves from the pain of betrayal. Bulbasaur looked around and noticed that the very person whom they were arguing about was nowhere to be seen save for his friends who were currently talking to Melanie, agitating the grass Pokémon even further.
"Bulba…," Bulbasaur began to search for the human so as to make sure that he wasn't up to no good when no one is looking.
He walked around for quite a bit until he finally found the human sitting cross-legged in the middle of a small clearing with his eyes, showing no signs of movement save for the slow rising and falling of his chest as he took in deep breaths before letting them out.
Grumbling in annoyance, Bulbasaur approached the human with a vine extended to wake him out of whatever it was he was doing so as to make him return to the others when the Pokémon suddenly felt a sense of calm which was easing him of his anger much to his confusion. Bulbasaur then noticed that the feeling was originating from the human before him but couldn't figure how that was possible.
Suddenly, Naruto's eyes snapped opened and turned his head in the direction of where the others are before jumping to his feet and running towards them. Bulbasaur ran after him while wondering at the rapid change in behavior but eventually got his answer as there were a group of strangers…strangers who were not supposed to be here. Apparently, the human and his friends were familiar with these group of men wearing black jumpsuits with a large red R on the chest and black hats, along with grey boots and gloves since they were standing protectively in front of Melanie and the other Pokémon.
"So the rumors were true, there really is a hidden village with all the Pokémon we can get," said a grunt with greed in his voice.
"How did they get past the traps?" asked Melanie worriedly.
Another of the grunts scoffed in response "You may have gotten us by surprise with those traps at first, we were able to avoid them all together,"
Leaf glared at the thugs "Sorry to disappoint you but there are no rare Pokémon here,"
"Like we would believe that, you must be hiding them somewhere so we'll just have to get rid of you brats first before finding them for the boss,"
Brock took out a PokéBall whilst Leaf and Naruto's Pokémon stood by their trainers to help them "We won't let you have your way! Go Onix!" he threw the PokéBall to call on the giant Rock Snake Pokémon for battle.
"We'll see about that, let's get em boys!" the grunt threw a PokéBall with the others following suit, revealing their Pokémon to be Beedrill, Raticate, Fearow and Pinsir.
Music Start: Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen OST; Battle! (Trainer Battle)
"Beedrill, get those brats by using Poison Sting!" a grunt called out, Beedrill's needle arms glowed purple before launching a barrage of purple arrows towards the group.
"Onix, block that Poison Sting while using Harden!" Brock quickly responded, Onix's body glowed for a moment as it moved into position and deflected the incoming projectiles with hardly any damage inflicted on it.
"Raticate, attack with Bite attack!" Raticate lunge at the group with its teeth bared to attack.
"Bulbasaur, use Vine Whip to stop that Raticate and slam it to the ground!" Leaf's Bulbasaur extended her vines to intercept the Raticate, grabbing it in midair before strongly slamming it to the ground, the Raticate got up to attack again only to be knocked back from a Tackle attack by Bulbasaur who was displeased with the presence of Team Rocket.
"Bulbasaur!" the grass Pokémon growled at the grunts.
"This little runt thinks he can take us on eh? Fearow, use Peck on that walking bush!" a grunt sneered in command, the Fearow swooped at Bulbasaur and began attacking repeatedly with its beak as Bulbasaur hopped left and right to avoid getting hit by the flying type move which could hurt him a lot.
"Pidgeotto, get Fearow away from Bulbasaur by using Quick Attack!" Naruto called out, Pidgeotto immediately complied as she took off at highspeed with white energy trailing behind her then slammed strongly into Fearow from its blindside, knocking it away from Bulbasaur "Nice one!"
"Why you little, Pinsir use Focus Punch on those brats!" the Rocket Grunt's Pinsir ran with one of its fists glowing white and landed a hit on Onix, making it roar in pain.
"Hang in there Onix, use Rock Throw!" said Brock with the Rock type Pokémon slamming its tail into the ground and rocks flew out and knocked the Pinsir away.
"Bulbasaur, use Razor Leaf on Raticate!" Leaf's Bulbasaur launched a barrage of sharp leaves to strike the grunt's Pokémon much to his chagrin.
"Raticate, use Super Fang on that brat's Pokémon!" the grunt growled, Raticate lunged with its teeth bared to attack.
Naruto was quick to intercept with a command "Scyther, use Vacuum Wave to stop that Raticate!" Scyther channeled energy into his claws before swinging them to launch an X-shaped slash wave which struck its target, knocking out of the battle "That's one down!"
Bulbasaur was preoccupied with fighting the other Pokémon that he failed to realize that the grunt's Beedrill had snuck up from behind until it was too late when the grunt gave out a command "Beedrill, use Twineedle on that Pokémon!"
Grass type turned around only for his eyes to widen in shock as the Beedrill closed in with its needle arms poised to strike, everything suddenly went into slow motion with the bug Pokémon getting closer…when it was suddenly blindsided by a shoulder tackle from Naruto.
"Bulbasaur, are you okay?" asked Naruto urgently, keeping a close eye on the recovering Beedrill. Bulbasaur didn't reply, looking at the supposedly bad human who had saved him and recalled how Pikachu and the others regarded him so positively.
"Hang on while I deal with this one, Pikachu use Thundershock!" Naruto called out. Pikachu quickly fired a blast of electricity, zapping the Beedrill to the point of fainting which left their opponents with one last Pokémon to battle "Butterfly, use Confusion on Fearow!" Butterfree's eyes glowed with purple psychic energy and Fearow was enshrouded in a purple aura, restraining it in midair
"Alright, use Bind on Fearow, Onix!" Brock commanded, Onix wasted no time in wrapping its body around the bird type Pokémon and proceeded to squeeze it tightly until it couldn't endure anymore and fainted.
Music End.
"I can't believe this, we've just been beaten by a bunch of kids!" said one of the Rocket Grunts in disbelief.
"Let's get out of here!" the grunts turned to escape but Naruto wasn't having any of that.
"Not so fast, you know what to do Pikachu!" said Naruto, Pikachu used Thunder Wave to paralyze the Pokémon thieves before they went on to tie them up for Leaf to contact Officer Jenny to come over and pick them up.
"This oughta teach these guys not to go stealing Pokémon, they won't know who would be waiting to lay the beatdown on em, right guys?" Naruto smirked at his Pokémon cheering in agreement with him.
"Bulbasaur!" Bulbasaur was actually smiling at Naruto for the first time since they had come to the hidden village, showing that he had finally warmed up to them seeing as they were different from other humans.
"And we see what you mean about Bulbasaur being a guardian now, willing to fight those guy's Pokémon without hesitation shows how much he loves this place,"
Melanie smiled in response "Naruto…don't you agree that Bulbasaur would be a great addition to your team?"
"He would, I see an amazing Pokémon in him. But I can't force him to leave this place, it won't be right for you or the other Pokémon,"
"I know…which is exactly why Bulbasaur should go with you," said Melanie, surprising everyone especially Bulbasaur himself.
"Bulba?" Bulbasaur turned to Melanie, wondering why she said that as she carried him in her arms.
"Bulbasaur has been protecting the village for so long, but this place is just too small for his bulb to grow. He needs to go to the outside world to do just that and achieve the potential that we both see in him. Please do me this favor, take Bulbasaur on your journey with you, I just know that he would be a good companion for you and your Pokémon,"
"But who will be here to protect you and the Pokémon?" asked Brock in concern.
"It's true that Bulbasaur had been protecting the village but the problem was that he did his job too well. After recovering, Pokémon are supposed to return to the wild and later be caught by worthwhile trainers, but this place had become too safe that they don't want to leave. Taking care of sick Pokémon will always be my mission, I know full well that my job isn't finished until they've returned to where they came from, so it is the day when a Pokémon leaves that it is the most rewarding cause it shows that my efforts were not in vain,"
"…I understand what you mean Melanie, but the final decision falls down to the Pokémon in question," Naruto bent down to face Bulbasaur eye-to-eye "So what's it going to be Bulbasaur, would you like to come with me and give being a trainer's Pokémon another shot? I assure you that, should you wish to return here; I won't hesitate to do so. It's your call,"
Bulbasaur looked down in thought, thinking things over carefully. Despite being a trainer, this one was different given that he actually tackled a Pokémon to save him instead of having his Pokémon do so, then the opinions of his Pokémon were another thing "…Bulbasaur!" he made his decision and nodded to join him.
"Alright then, let me just…," Naruto reached for a PokéBall.
Bulbasaur called out to him "Bulba Bulbasaur!" he stretched a vine to point at Pikachu who blinked in confusion.
"It seems to me that Bulbasaur wants you to battle it with your Pikachu," said Melanie.
"I see, how about it buddy?" asked Naruto.
Pikachu tipped his hat with a grin "Pikachu!"
Everyone moved over to the clearing near the lake with Naruto and Pikachu facing Bulbasaur with the others stood at the edge of the clearing to watch.
Bulbasaur was the one to make the first move as he started using Razor Leaf to attack Pikachu "Use Thundershock on those leaves, Pikachu!" Pikachu blasted the incoming projectiles till they're burnt up. Bulbasaur then switched to using Vine Whip to attack "Evade those vines with Agility!" Pikachu began moving around about at highspeed as if teleporting, dodging the vines "Time for some offense, use Quick Attack!" Pikachu rapidly closed in on Bulbasaur and slammed into him before he could react.
"Using Agility to avoid attacks then applying the increased speed to Quick Attack for a rapid offense, Naruto continues to surprise me," said Brock, being quite impressed.
"It's never boring watching Naruto," said Leaf fondly, recording the battle with her camera.
Bulbasaur recovered from the sudden attack then aimed its bulb to expel blue spores towards Pikachu.
"That's Sleep Powder, watch out!" Leaf called out in alert.
Naruto's mind raced for a solution before coming up with one when he glanced downwards "Pikachu, Iron Tail towards the ground!" Pikachu complied as he leapt into the air with his tail taking on a metallic sheen before descending to slam it into the ground, throwing up a thick cloud of dust which mixed with spores, render it ineffective "Glad that worked,"
However, something shot out from the dust cloud and wrapped around Pikachu, revealing to be green vines from Bulbasaur who proceeded to slam Pikachu into the ground repeatedly.
"Do something Naruto or Pikachu won't last much longer!" said Brock urgently.
"Okay Pikachu, time to reveal a new move; use Thunderbolt," Pikachu grabbed the vines with his cheeks sparking as he unleashed a stronger blast of electricity which traveled along the vines and zapped Bulbasaur badly for him to collapse to the ground.
"Now's my chance, go PokéBall!" Naruto flung a PokéBall for it to hit Bulbasaur and suck him inside of it. Everyone watched in tension as the PokéBall rocked back and forth until it chimed to signal a successful capture.
Naruto picked up the PokéBall with a smile "We've gotten ourselves a new comrade!"
"Pi-Pikachu!" Pikachu cheered happily with a victory sign along with the other Pokémon cheering at having a new member of the team.
"Looks like I made the right choice after all," thought Melanie, watching the trainer and his Pokémon react to having Bulbasaur with them now "Please take care of Bulbasaur for me,"
Naruto in response "I will, and that's a promise,"
Apparently, Naruto wasn't the only one getting a Pokémon as Oddish wanted to go with Leaf after coming to like her and minded Melanie's words as well. In the end, Leaf got the Oddish that she always wanted.
Soon it was time for them to resume their journey with Melanie seeing them off but not before Leaf suggesting that she gets into contact with the Pokémon Rangers who could help her sanction the hidden village and provide better protection much to Brock's relief before setting out.
***Red***
"Hmmm…looks like we're finally getting somewhere," said Leaf, looking at the map on her PokéGear carefully.
"Really?" asked Naruto.
"Yeah, if we're continue to follow this trail, it will take us to Route 24 which will lead us straight to Vermilion City. Even better, there's a Pokémon Center along the way too,"
Brock smiled at the good news "Looks like things are turning out right for us,"
"We could heal our Pokémon and resupply there, let's go!"
After several minutes of hiking, Naruto and co caught sight of a black silhouette from a distance and curiously made their way over to it. A closer look reveals it to be rock spire with a small Pokémon sitting on top of it, it was the sight of the Pokémon which surprised them with Naruto scanning with his PokéDex like always.
[Charmander; From the time it is born, a flame burns at the tip of its tail. Its life would end if the flame were to go out.]
"A Charmander? Here I thought encountering a Bulbasaur was something unusual," said Naruto, looking at one of the Kanto Starters before him.
"Seeing it makes me wonder how Red is doing on his journey," said Leaf thoughtfully.
"Oh Red's from Pallet Town, he came to challenge the gym and won a badge. He proved to be good in battle although he didn't talk much," said Brock with a hum.
"Guys, this Charmander doesn't look too good," Naruto pointed out with a small frown upon seeing said Pokémon breathing rather raggedly and the flame on its tail being unusually small.
"You're right, it makes me wonder why it's out here?" said Brock.
At those words, Pikachu hopped off Naruto's shoulder and climbed up the rock to speak to Charmander. After some exchange of words between the two Pokémon, Pikachu jumped back down and returned to Naruto and the others to relay the information to them. In spite of not understanding Pokémon talk, Naruto was able to figure out what his buddy was trying to say.
"According to Pikachu, Charmander was told to wait there by his trainer until he comes back for him," said Naruto.
"It makes me wonder just how long he had been waiting to be this worn out," said leaf, looking at Charmander with concern.
"Same here, but we could give it some food and berries for the meantime till his trainer returns," said Naruto taking off his bag and reaching inside for the contents.
Brock nodded in approval "That's a good idea,"
Naruto climbed up the rock and placed a small pile of Pokémon food and Oran berries next to Charmander "Here you go, hopefully this would sate you until your trainer returns,"
"Char…mander," the fire Pokémon weakly thanked him.
"You're welcome," He jumped back down to rejoin the others "Okay guys, let's go,"
The group resumed their trek along the trail with the Charmander watching them leave until they disappeared from its sight. The group noticed that the clouds above them were starting to darken which signaled that rain will soon start, causing them to hasten their steps until catching sight of the Pokémon Center ahead much to their relief and quick ran over right as the rain finally started.
After settling down on a free table, Leaf went over to the cafeteria to get some soup for her and the others so as to warm themselves up from the cold weather. She returned with a tray holding the bowls of soup when she noticed that Naruto was staring at the window with a lost look in his eyes.
"What's the matter, Naruto?" asked Leaf.
"I'm just wondering if the trainer had picked that Charmander in time before the rain started, this is the only trail leading to here which meant that the trainer had to have come here after us but I haven't seen any one come in yet," said Naruto with concern.
"Pika…," Pikachu felt the same way.
"I'm sure that Charmander was picked up by the trainer by now and maybe found shelter elsewhere," Leaf responded positively, placing the bowls of soup on the table and sitting next to Naruto to place a hand on his shoulder "I'm sure things will be fine,"
Naruto smiled softly "Thanks Leaf," the girl beamed happily in response.
They were suddenly snapped out of their reverie by the sounds of laughter and turned towards a group of boys who were around a blue-haired boy wearing a pair of sunglasses on his forehead with a pile of PokéBalls on a table in front of him next to a bonfire.
"Man Damien, you sure got a lot of Pokémon here!" said one of the boys.
The blue-haired boy puffed his chest out in arrogance "Of course, I've got the best collection!"
"No doubt about that! By the way, Damien, didn't you have a Charmander before?" asked another boy.
Hearing this made Naruto and co snap their heads sharply towards, feelings of dread beginning to form in their hearts as they hoped that they were talking about some other Charmander.
Damien scoffed in response "I had one but that thing was so weak that it couldn't even beat the weakest of opponents!"
"How could he say that? Any Pokémon can be strong in the hands of a good trainer, Naruto's a perfect example!" said Leaf angrily, the person in question was growing angrier by the second.
"So, what did you do to it?" asked a boy.
Damien let off a shrug "Eh, I left on some rock in the woods," Naruto's hands gripped the edge of the table tightly "That thing is so stupid, no matter what I do to it; it keeps on following me. I finally got rid of it by promising that I'd come back for it, and it totally fell for it hook, line and sinker! No doubt it's still waiting for me right now in the rain!"
"So that means Charmander had been abandoned!" said Brock angrily.
"How could he do such a thing!" Leaf was upset then she noticed Naruto raise from his seat with a dark shadow over his eyes "N-Naruto?" he approached the group who were still laughing over such a cruel action done to an innocent Pokémon.
"Hahaha! It's probably still out there, wagging its tail around!" said Damien arrogantly.
The boys laughed in agreement "Yeah, it'll probably go out by now!"
The next they knew was that Damien was grabbed by the collar of his shirt and lifted into the air, they turned to see a blonde boy holding the guy up with one hand and a livid look in his eyes.
"Hey, what's your problem!?" Damien demanded.
Naruto then spoke with thinly veiled rage in his voice "My problem? My problem?! You wanna know what my problem is? You willingly abandoned a Pokémon just because you weren't winning any battles, that's what my damn problem is!"
"It's none of your business!"
"Everyone here knows full well that a Charmander dies when the flame on its tail goes out, what you've done isn't just abandonment but borderline murder of an innocent Pokémon!" trainers around murmured and/or nodded in complete agreement with Naruto's statement.
"So what, that Pokémon should have been stronger without me having to waste my time raising it myself!" Damien retorted.
"Raising a Pokémon is the best part about being a Pokémon trainer!" said Brock angrily.
"You wish, it's the most boring part of the job! And besides what are you gonna do about it?"
"Taking you to Officer Jenny for starters, making sure that you never touch a Pokémon ever again," said Naruto.
Damien sneered "And with what proof?"
Leaf spoke up with a smirk "With this…," she tapped her PokéGear and it began to playback Damien's voice, making said person pale with fear "It's a good thing that I had a voice recording app installed into my PokéGear just for moments like these,"
Naruto tossed Damien bodily onto the couch "I'm going to rescue Charmander, I hope that everyone makes sure that this disgusting excuse for a human being and his friends don't go anywhere until the authorities come and get them,"
"Don't worry about it, we'll make sure that they won't move an inch until Officer Jenny arrives," a trainer spoke up with the others starting to surround Damien and the others.
"We're coming with you," said Brock.
"No need, I intend on using that to get to Charmander and back quickly," said Naruto, putting on a raincoat with Pikachu climbing to his shoulders.
"Okay Naruto, and please be careful," said Leaf.
Nodding in affirmation, Naruto exited from the Pokémon Center and began running along the trail towards where Charmander is "Time for some speed!" the bracelet transformed into its gauntlet form as he took out a Pidgeotto card from the holster and inserted it into the gauntlet.
[Attack mode: Quick Attack]
Naruto's running speed sharply increased with his body leaving behind a white trail of energy in his wake. He soon reached the rock spire to find Charmander trying to protecting the flame on its tail with a large leaf albeit to little effect and was being attacked by a trio of Spearow.
"Pikachu, scare those Spearow away with a low-level Thunderbolt!" said Naruto urgently, Pikachu leapt off his shoulder to fire weakened blasts of electricity which was enough to drive away the Spearow for Naruto to get to Charmander and wrap him with the raincoat "Oh man, the flame on his tail is even smaller than before. We gotta hurry!"
He dashed back to the Pokémon Center and barged through the door to find Nurse Joy and Chansey waiting for him with a gurney nearby which he placed the Pokémon upon before they whisked it away to the emergency room for treatment. The trainers gasped in shock when they saw the state which Charmander and glared at Damien and his cronies, inches away from calling on their Pokémon to attack them.
Naruto and co sat in front of the emergency room, waiting in tension and praying in hearts that Charmander pulls through. As time went on, Brock and Leaf fell asleep but Naruto remained with wide awake, his nerves preventing any form of sleep from taking over. Eventually, the lights went off and Nurse Joy emerged from the room for Naruto to confront her.
"How is Charmander?" asked Naruto urgently.
Nurse Joy was silent for a few moments before speaking with a smile on her face "I'm happy to say that Charmander will be okay, he just needs lots of rest," hearing this brought relief upon Naruto and Pikachu.
"Oh thank goodness," Naruto dropped back onto the bench, the tension leaving his body.
"Pikachu…," the electric Pokémon was as relieved as his trainer.
"Now's the time for you to rest as well, no doubt that you strained yourself running through the rain to save Charmander," Nurse Joy pointed out.
Naruto nodded in affirmation "I will, thanks very much," he woke the others up and relayed the news to them before going to sleep in their rooms and waking up the next day.
Officer Jenny and a couple of policemen arrived early morning and received testimony from the surrounding trainers as well as the audio recording from Leaf's PokéGear. This guaranteed that Damien and his gang will have their trainer licenses revoked. Afterwards, Naruto inquired from Nurse Joy if he could see Charmander which she was more than happy to guide him to the room where Charmander was resting, they went inside to find the Pokémon awake albeit a bit confused.
"Hey there, Charmander," Naruto called out, Charmander turned to see the group and recognized them especially the blonde one who saved him yesterday from the rain with the Pokémon waving at him.
"We're glad to see you're okay after what happened yesterday," said Leaf with a smile.
"Char?" Charmander tilted his head at what they meant.
"Let us explain to you what happened…," Brock proceeded to tell the young fire Pokémon what had occurred and the end results of today, everyone sympathized with the Pokémon upon seeing his disheartened expression about his former trainer's true colors.
Naruto then spoke up "Before you start blaming yourself for this, it's no one's fault but Damien's. You were nothing more than loyal to him like you were supposed to and yet he didn't value you like every self-respecting Pokémon trainer was supposed to. You almost died because of his ignorance,"
Leaf continued "Everyone in the Pokémon Center were angry with what he did as it goes against everything as a Pokémon Trainer, that's why we've made sure he would never do something like this ever again,"
"Which is why Charmander…I want to ask if you'd like to come with me, become my Pokémon. I promise to take care of you, train you to be the strong that I know you can be. I'll do everything I can to make you happy and your loyalty truly worthwhile,"
Charmander was surprised to hear this trainer who saved him wanting him to be his Pokémon, but at the time he was unsure. Some parts of him is still loyal to Damien and also afraid to be hurt again. But this human showed more concern for him unlike Damien, he could give him a chance…
Seeing that Charmander was still hesitant, Pikachu reached for Naruto's belt and tapped one of the PokéBalls, making it open up to reveal Bulbasaur much to everyone's confusion.
"I think I see what's going on; Pikachu called Bulbasaur to speak to Charmander since he was abandoned too," said Brock.
"Might as well leave it to you two then, we'll be waiting outside till you need us," Naruto got up from his seat and left the room with the others in tow for the Pokémon to have personal conversation amongst themselves.
***Pokémon Translation On***
"I've heard from Pikachu about you and your 'trainer', frankly I think you're better off without him and he deserved what he got," said Bulbasaur bluntly.
Charmander frowned in response "How could you say that, you wouldn't understand since you're that trainer's first Pokémon,"
Pikachu raised a paw "Actually, I'm Naruto's starter Pokémon,"
"Huh? But I thought Bulbasaur is his Pokémon?"
"I understand your confusion since a normal trainer would have either you, me or a Squirtle but that isn't the case for Naruto. My trainer abandoned me a long time ago and I was serving as a guardian for a hidden village until I meet Naruto and Pikachu, at first I was distrustful of them but later came to like them and gave being a trainer's Pokémon another shot. So far, I'm enjoying my time spent with them," Bulbasaur smiled as he thought on how Naruto had been treating him with kindness and respect.
"Is…is he really a nice trainer?" asked Charmander curiously.
"I'll go as far as to say that he's the best and that I'm glad to be his Pokémon," said Pikachu happily.
Charmander bowed his head in thought "It must be nice…Damien never praised me or cared that much,"
"Yet another one of the many reasons he's not worth being your trainer, I implore you to join us and be with Naruto. It will be the best decision you've ever made," said Bulbasaur, not wanting Charmander to suffer neglect as much as he did.
Charmander hummed in thought for a few moments "Then in that case, I'll…,"
***Pokémon Translator Off***
Pikachu went to call Naruto inside the ward with Brock and Leaf coming inside as well to meet with Charmander and Bulbasaur.
"So, have you decided on what to do now?" asked Naruto.
Charmander nodded in affirmation "Char Charmander," he pointed at one of the PokéBalls on the blonde trainer's belt.
"You'd like to be with me?" asked Naruto, wanting to clarify.
"Char char,"
Smiling happily, Naruto took one of the PokéBalls and enlarged it before holding it out to Charmander "I promise that you won't regret this choice, welcome to the family!"
Charmander in response then tapped the PokéBall to be sucked into it, allowing capture without a single struggle.
Naruto grinned at Pikachu and Bulbasaur "You can be pretty persuasive from the looks of things," Pikachu rubbed the back of his head sheepishly while Bulbasaur simply smiled in response.
"Let's inform Nurse Joy of what happened then we'll be back on our way towards Vermillion City," said Brock with a smile at how things had turned out.
Sure enough, Nurse Joy was happy to hear of the good news and had them promise to take good care of Charmander, some of the trainers who had waited behind to learn of the Pokémon state of health congratulated and wished them good luck on their journey as the group set off with a new member of the team in tow.
***Blue***
"Looks like someone's feeling peppy today," said Leaf, looking at Naruto walking ahead of them whilst whistling a song he heard back home with Pikachu nodding in tune to the song.
"How couldn't he, given that he now has a Bulbasaur and a Charmander on his team, something which can be classified as an extremely rare occurrence," Brock pointed out to the only female in the group.
Naruto turned to face them while walking backwards with a foxy grin "He's right you know, I really gotta remember which side of the bed I woke up on to be this lucky. I'm gonna help those two alongside others to be the very best they can be!"
Leaf rolled her eyes in amusement "All you need now is a Squirtle and you've got yourself a complete set of Kanto Starters,"
"There's hoping for that one, right now I'm on cloud 9 and nothing's gonna bring me down!"
Suddenly, Naruto's foot sunk a bit into the ground much to his confusion. Brock and Leaf went to check on him when the ground gave way underneath their feet and they feel screaming into some sort of pit.
"Ow, I think I landed on my head," said Brock.
"Should have known better than to challenge Murphy's Law, Naruto," Leaf groaned out.
Naruto responded painfully "Tell me about it…oh my back,"
"Piiiika…," Pikachu shook his head to clear the pain from it.
Hearing snickering from above, the group looked up to see five blue heads wearing black sunglasses peering over the edge of the pitfall and laughing at them, giving the trio an idea of what's going on.
"So, this pitfall is nothing more than a prank," said Naruto.
"A rotten one that's for sure," Leaf added with a frown.
The five continued to laugh at Naruto and the others until the sound of sirens as well as the sound of a vehicle's engine was being heard which caused them to quickly run off.
"What was that all about?" asked Brock.
Naruto shrugged in response "I don't know, but let's focus on getting out of here,"
That was when someone peered over the edge, revealing to be Officer Jenny "Are you okay down there?"
"We are now," said Brock in a lovestruck tone but Leaf smacked the back of his head.
"Pull up your love blinders and pay more attention to getting out of this hole," Leaf looked at Brock in annoyance.
After helping them out of the pitfall, Officer Jenny took some yellow tape and used it to form a barrier around the hole to prevent anyone else from falling into it "I don't even to guess that you had been victims of the Squirtle Squad's latest pranks,"
"Squirtle Squad?" asked Leaf curiously.
"They are a group of Squirtle who had been abandoned by their trainers, so they cause havoc all over town to make things difficult for the people living here," Jenny explained.
Naruto rubbed the bridge nose of his nose in exasperation "*Sigh* This again…I'm getting really tired of hearing about this same thing over and over again,"
Jenny blinked in confusion "Uh, what do you mean by that?"
Brock was the one to clarify "Let's just say that we had recently met two Pokémon who were in the same situation until Naruto took them in,"
The officer nodded both in understanding and approval before continuing to speak "To be honest, I find it rather saddening. If they had someone to care about them, they wouldn't have turned out so bad," she got onboard her motorcycle and revved the engine a few times "Take care of yourselves and be careful," then she rode off towards the town.
"Officer Jenny…the beauty of justice," Brock swooned as said person rode away from them.
Naruto shook Brock by the shoulder "Snap out of it, Brock. You need to quit acting that way,"
"He's right, girls don't like guys who act like that," said an annoyed Leaf
Brock slumped in depression at their words "Oh…,"
"Anyways, let's head on over to the Pokémon Center to get our Pokémon checked up before resupplying our provisions at the mart," said Naruto.
"And don't forget dinner too," Leaf added.
"That too,"
A short trip to the Pokémon Center to revitalize their Pokémon then purchasing provisions from the mart with Naruto buying something in particular, the trio decided to take a short break on a grassy slope next to a river. Brock was reading through a book and Leaf was working on her blog on her laptop whilst Naruto simply laid on the grass and stared blankly towards the sky with Pikachu lying next to him.
"Say Naruto, what do you have planned for the Vermilion City gym?" asked Leaf as she continued to type on her computer "From what I've been seeing online, the gym leader deals in electric types and seems to be very strong that several trainers steer clear from the place,"
Naruto hummed thoughtfully "Well, for starters; Pikachu will be involved since Electric types won't be that effective but I'll need to keep a guard up for whatever attacks that gym leader would have prepared for that factor. I haven't decided on who else to add to remaining but I'll need to work on teaching the others moves which would definitely help along the way,"
"Good idea, you've been working on physical conditioning and move proficiency with the newest additions so far," Brock pointed out to the others.
"True that, I'll research on the PokéDex t-,"
*BOOM*
Their conservation was suddenly disrupted by an explosion, taking them completely by surprise as it was rather unexpected.
"What was that?!" asked Leaf in a panic.
Brock looked around to see black smoke rising from a nearby forest "It seemed to have come from the forest near here!"
Naruto sprang to his with Pikachu climbing to his shoulder "Let's go!"
Hastily packing their things, they ran towards where the smoke was coming from. Naruto's aura senses suddenly picked up signatures of Pokémon as well as a human which seems to be in pursuit of them.
"Keep your guard up guys, we've got trouble ahead!" Naruto called out.
They emerged into a clearing where there's a cave nearby, there they saw a group of Squirtle being attacked by a human dressed in punk clothing and commanding a Magneton to attack them with a jeep parked nearby and a net in hand.
"Today's my lucky day, a group of Squirtle just ripe for the catching," said the man greedily.
"That guy must be a Pokémon Poacher!" said Leaf with a frown.
"And he's after those Squirtle!" Brock added.
"Not gonna happen," Naruto then yelled out to the poacher "Hey, leave those Squirtle alone!"
This caught the poacher's attention as he turned towards them with a look of annoyance "Beat it kids, don't get in the way of a payday if you know what's good for you,"
"Well Pokémon aren't things for you to sell for income!" said Leaf, coming to seriously dislike Pokémon poachers and thieves like Team Rocket.
"Tch, talking like you know how the world works. Looks I'm gonna have teach you a lesson,"
Naruto walked to stand between the Squirtle and the poacher with a PokéBall in hand "I won't let you hurt them anymore than they already were. Charmander, I choose you!" he threw the Pokéball to call on the most recent member of the team "Charmander, I need your help to protect the Squirtle from that poacher!"
"Char char!" Charmander nodded with determination his eyes to help his new trainer.
Music Start: Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen OST; Battle! (Trainer Battle)
"We'll see about that! Magneton, use Thundershock!" the poacher called out, Magneton launched a blast of electricity towards Charmander.
Naruto quickly reacted "Charmander dodge it by jumping sideways then retaliate with Ember!" Charmander immediately complied to the command and opened his mouth to launch hot sparkles of flame towards Magneton but the magnet Pokémon moved out of the way.
"That weak attack won't touch my Magneton, use Sonic Boom!" the Magneton began firing shockwaves with Charmander leaping from side to side to avoid the incoming projectiles.
"Don't lose heart Charmander, use Smokescreen to conceal yourself!" Charmander opened his mouth to breath out a thick cloud of black smoke before jumping into it to hide himself from the attacks.
The poacher scoffed at the move "Nice try punk but that changes nothing! Magneton, use Gyro Ball to blow that smoke away!" Magneton spun rapidly like a top whilst enshrouded in silver energy as it blew through the smoke and slammed into Charmander, knocking him.
"Charmander, you okay buddy?" Naruto called out in concern.
Charmander shook his head before getting back to his feet and was ready to continue "Char!"
"Steel type moves aren't that effective against a Fire type like Charmander, just need to step things up a bit," Naruto muttered thoughtfully.
"Alright Magneton, use Gyro Ball again!"
"Charmander, wait until the last moment to dodge then use Flamethrower!" Charmander focused on his opponent as it approached before jumping over to land behind the Pokémon then attacked with a powerful stream of flames, inflicting a lot of damage on it.
The poacher growled in annoyance "Why you, Magneton end this by using Tri-Attack!" the Magneton began to prepare for its attack.
"Charmander, get ready to use Flamethrower!" said Naruto, Charmander nodded in affirmation and stood at the ready.
"Tri-Attack is my Magneton's strongest attack, there's no way you can stop it! Fire now!" Magneton launched the attack of fire, ice and electricity towards Charmander.
"Charmander, use Flamethrower right where you stand!" Charmander obeyed without hesitation to fire a stream of flames right which launched him high into the air like a rocket much to the shock of everyone watching.
"By using Flamethrower, Charmander was able to dodge that attack much more effectively than when he would have jumped! Just how creative can Naruto be?" asked Brock in wonder.
"You should have seen the pranks he used to do back home, you'd think it was done by someone much older," said Leaf.
"Alright, end this with one more Flamethrower!" Naruto called with Charmander doing just that, engulfing the Magneton in flames before dying out to reveal it lying on the ground, scorched and knocked out.
Music End
"It's our victory!" Naruto declared with a foxy grin.
"Char char!" Charmander jumped up and down in joy.
The poacher returned the downed Magneton with an aggravated look in his eyes "Stupid Pokémon, guess I'll have to take care of you brats myself!" he ran over to the jeep and brought out a bazooka which he then took aim at Naruto and the Squirtle.
"Naruto, watch out!" Brock yelled in distress.
In Naruto's eyes, it was like time started to slow down as he subconsciously channeled aura through his feet then he dashed forward at speeds faster than when he used one of the cards. He was soon in front of the poacher to grab the bazooka, redirecting it to fire away from everyone before knocking him out with a powerful punch to the stomach.
Naruto looked down at the unconscious poacher with disdain "That's enough from a sore loser like you,"
"Naruto, are you okay?" asked Leaf as she and the others went over to check on him.
"I'm okay, it's like my body went on autopilot when I saw him trying to attack us with that bazooka and I wanted to stop him from hurting us," said Naruto with a thoughtful look on his face.
"Either, everything is fine now," said Brock, then he smelled something "Do you smell that? It's like something burning,"
"Look over there, there's a fire!" Leaf pointed for everyone to see lots of smoke rising to the sky.
"It must have been from when the poacher shot the bazooka, we gotta stop else everyone will be in danger!"
"Then it's a good thing that we already have a solution!" Naruto turned to the Squirtle Squad "If you guys work together, you can extinguish the fire with your Water Gun,"
"Squirtle Squirtle," the leader nodded in understanding and turned to the rest who were ready to help considering that these humans came here to save them from the Pokémon Poacher, especially the one with the spiky blonde hair.
The Squirtle Squad worked together to put out the flames whilst Naruto and the others checked around to make sure that none of the wild Pokémon living in the forest were in any form of danger. Soon afterwards, they took the poacher to Officer Jenny and reported what had happened. This put the Squirtle Squad in a much better light to the townspeople that they were awarded with a certificate and even given the honorable position of a firefighting team, Leaf wasted no time in posting this which led to her getting lots of hits online and improved her blog's popularity. But it appears that not everyone was truly satisfied.
Naruto and the others were back on the road towards Vermilion City when the former suddenly stopped much to everyone's sans Pikachu's confusion.
"What's the matter, Naruto?" asked Leaf.
"We've got a follower…," Naruto glanced over his shoulder with a small smile, everyone looked behind to see a Pokémon running to catch up to them.
"It's the leader of the Squirtle Squad, I can only guess the reason why he came out here," said Brock in a knowing tone.
"Would you like to come with us?" asked Naruto.
"Squirtle Squirtle!" the Squirtle nodded eagerly and took off the sunglasses to reveal eyes which shone with renewed hope as he ran over and leapt into Naruto's arms.
"Welcome to the family Squirtle!" said Naruto smilingly.
"Pi-Pikachu!" Pikachu cheered at the addition of yet another member of the team.
"So, you have all three Kanto starters within a month. That's got to be a world record," said Leaf in a joking manner.
"Yeah, but remember that you already have six Pokémon on you, one of them would have to be sent back to the lab in order to make room," Brock pointed out.
"I recall, I think I'll send Butterfree back for now. Professor Oak had told me that the PokéDex has a link to the system which allows me to transfer or exchange Pokémon, gotta love technology at times like this," Naruto took out his PokéDex and interacted with the transfer system with Butterfree's PokéBall disappearing from his belt, leaving behind an open slot before taking out an empty PokéBall from one of his pant pockets "Now then, I officially welcome you to the group,"
"Squirtle!" Squirtle tapped the PokéBall to be sucked into it and allowed himself to be captured without a struggle.
"You're really lucky to get these three Pokémon," said Brock.
Naruto shook his head "It's not only luck, it's also because we were being proper trainers,"
Leaf nodded in agreement "That's true, now let's get going,"
Later that night, the group had set up camp to rest and were currently having dinner. Elsewhere, the Pokémon were having a conversation whilst having their dinner.
***Pokémon Translator On***
"Whoa, so you guys were abandoned too before Naruto took you in? dude, that's so weird," said Squirtle in wonder.
"Yeah, I wouldn't even be alive if it wasn't for Naruto. He's a great trainer," said Charmander happily.
Bulbasaur smiled as well "He proved to me that there are still good humans out there,"
"Told you Naruto's the best," said Pikachu proudly.
"You know, I can't help but see some sort of irony in all this," said Pidgeotto.
"What do you mean?" asked Squirtle curiously.
Scyther responded to the question "What she means to say is that these three Pokémon were abandoned by trainers who failed to see their worth and now with a trainer who truly values them. Almost as if the world guided three lost ones to a single sanctuary in Naruto,"
"Whoa, didn't think that you'd be into all that Zen stuff," said Squirtle, receiving an annoyed look from Scyther.
They were then disrupted when Naruto called out to some of them.
***Pokémon Translator Off***
"Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle! Could you guys come over?" Naruto called out to the mentioned three as they came over to their new trainer "I almost forgot that I bought something for you three,"
He reached into his backpack and brought out three bandannas with each colored red with a fire theme, blue with a water theme and green with a grass theme much to the surprise of the three Pokémon.
"I saw these when we were shopping and figured that I need something to make you all unique and bought them. They're durable and proofed against Pokémon attacks so you won't worry about them getting damaged, come so I can put them on you,"
Naruto folded the green bandanna into a choker style to tied around Bulbasaur so the fabric won't drag along the ground. With Charmander, the red bandanna was worn around the neck in a way that the tied knot is at the back and the tip is in front. And Squirtle had his blue bandanna around like a scarf with the long tip dangling from the side of his neck.
"I gotta say, you three are looking pretty spiffy," Naruto smiled, seeing the Pokémon marveling at each other. Next thing he knew was that he was tackled to the ground the teary-eyed Charmander and Squirtle while Bulbasaur smiled in gratitude "Hahaha, I get the idea, you really like your presents!" he hugged them back.
Leaf was busy snapping pictures of them "Awww, what a cute moment. It kinda makes me consider getting some accessories for my Pokémon, I'm sure Clefairy would love a cute bow to wear on one of her ears,"
Brock watched on with feelings of nostalgia "Seeing this reminds me of the times spent with my brothers and sisters…now I'm starting to feel homesick,"
As everyone were enjoying themselves, they were unaware of the soft glow coming within Naruto's Card Holster where three brand new cards now laid inside, representing the bond formed between Naruto and the three Kanto Starters.
This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, a wrong selection of a route resulted in Naruto and co getting lost on their way to Vermilion city for the former's next gym. A encounter with an Oddish and an uncommonly seen Bulbasaur led the group to a Hidden Village where they met Melanie who's a caretaker of injured or abandoned Pokémon. Not so soon afterwards that they were attacked by members of Team Rocket but were able to defeat them. Later on, they left the village but not before adding two new members to the group; the formerly distrusting Bulbasaur and the Oddish whom Leaf had been after at first and took a shine to her.
While still lost but gradually getting back on track, the group came across a weak Charmander who was waiting for its trainer to come back for it. They later found out that the trainer purposely abandoned it out of neglect and laziness which they wasted no time in making sure that his Trainer license would be revoked and rescued the Charmander from certain death. It took Pikachu and Bulbasaur to convince a reluctant Charmander to join them in Naruto's team.
Falling for a rather bad prank led the group to meet a group of Pokémon abandoned by their Pokémon trainer known as the Squirtle Squad that cause trouble for the townspeople quite frequently. The Squirtle Squad were attacked and almost captured by a Pokémon Poacher had it not been for the intervention by Naruto and his friends then helped deal with a forest fire before things got any way worse. Due to their actions, the Squirtle Squad were given honors and made the firefighters of the town. However, the leader of the Pokémon gang chose to be with Naruto, having developing a liking for him during the incident with the poacher.
One of my longest chapters for this story considering that I decided to combined all three back-to-back episodes into one. Next chapter will be Naruto's next chapter and a forthcoming evolution. Before anyone asks, the reason why the Trio didn't show up was because I decided to have them appear some other time as I'll be adding the more competent Rocket Members like the Admins and co from the games for Naruto to face down. Also, several of Naruto's Pokémon will be receiving accessories to spiff them plus a way of applying the items from the games too. Also keep in mind that I'll go about the episodes in ways that follow but at the same have their own styles so be sure to look forward to it.
Naruto's Team
=Pikachu [Ability: Static] (Moves: Tackle, Quick Attack, Thunderbolt, Agility, Iron Tail, Thunder Wave)
=Pidgeotto [Ability: Big Pecks] (Moves: Tackle, Gust, Quick Attack, Wing Attack, Twister)
=Scyther [Ability: Technician] (Moves: Vacuum Wave, Quick Attack, Leer, Focus Energy, Pursuit, Slash, Double Team)
=Bulbasaur [Overgrow] (Tackle, Vine Whip, Razor Leaf, Sleep Powder, Poison Powder)
=Charmander [Blaze] (Ember, Flamethrower, Tackle, Smokescreen)
=Squirtle [Torrent] (Tackle, Withdraw, Water Gun, Bubble, Rapid Spin)
At Oak's Ranch
=CaterpieButterfree [Ability: Tinted Lens] (Moves: Tackle, String Shot, Bug Bite, Gust, Confusion, Stun Spore, Sleep Powder)
=Sandshrew [Ability: Sand Veil] (Moves: Scratch, Defense Curl, Sand Attack, Rollout)
Leaf's Team
=Bulbasaur
=Rattata
=Clefairy
=Oddish
=?
Brock's Team
=Onix
=Geodude
=Zubat
This is Hussbek from Ghana.
Signing out.