Author's note: Here with the next part! Took me longer than I had intended to finish it, sorry for that.
Thanks to the following reviewers: PinkiePieParty122894; Pen-Woman
Warnings: Second half of the Gym Battle; some surprise meetings
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Kishimoto owns it. I also don't own Pokémon, that belongs to Satoshi Tajiri and The Pokémon Company.
I hope you'll like it!
Chapter 34
Naruto had made the right choice to keep Mimikyu for the last two Pokémon.
Gurdurr was quite intimidating with its muscles and how high it could keep its I-beam girder in the air. It was fast and quite agile, even with the metal beam, but it was no real match for Mimikyu. While it did manage to land one Rock Throw at Mimikyu, every Low Kick and Dynamic Punch missed by a mile thanks to Mimikyu's dual nature as a Ghost Type. The missed attacks obviously made Gurdurr frustrated and it became sloppy in its haste to land an attack regardless. It grew so flustered in fact that Mimikyu easily evaded its Slam with ease before almost cheekily slinging a Shadow Ball in Gurdurr's back.
Because Mimikyu had been mainly on the defence at the start of their battle, Gurdurr had clearly not anticipated being attacked by him. The Shadow Ball in its back took it by surprise and he stumbled sideways, losing his balance. The metal beam tipped over, sliding out of its right hand before it managed to tighten its grip around it. Mimikyu didn't give Gurdurr time to regain its balance, however, and quickly sent not one but two Dazzling Gleams in Gurdurr's direction.
Perhaps Gurdurr could have withstand one Dazzling Gleam in spite of its severe weakness against Fairy Type attacks, but two Dazzling Gleams straight after each other were clearly a bit too much. Gurdurr fell back, sprawled on the floor, and its heavy beam clattered to the ground with a loud metallic noise, making Naruto wince. Gurdurr made one more admirable attempt at getting up, but Mimikyu shot forwards and two of his shadowy tendrils lashed out in an attack Naruto realised surprised was Slash.
He hadn't even known Mimikyu could use that move! He couldn't help but grin in excitement when the Slash attack turned out to be too much for the disorientated Gurdurr. It uttered a pitiful groan before it dropped down again, fully unconscious this time.
"Come back, Gurdurr, your fighting was admirable!" Guy sniffed, calling Gurdurr back.
Mimikyu shuffled over to Naruto, who couldn't resist bending down to pat Mimikyu on his back. "You did such an amazing job! I didn't even know you learnt how to use Slash!" he gushed.
"Mimikyu, Mimi, Kyu!" Mimikyu preened visibly. Tried out for first time now!
"That's amazing!" Naruto praised. "Think you can handle the last Pokémon?"
"Mimi!" Mimikyu answered determinedly. Of course!
"You are one formidable opponent, Naruto-san, Mimikyu!" Guy called out and if possible he grew actually more excited in spite of the fact that three of his Pokémon had already lost, leaving him down to just one more. "But don't think you've won the whole battle yet! Do not underestimate the power of Fighting Pokémon!"
With that he released his last Pokémon – which turned out to be a Machamp.
Machamp might be a bit smaller than Naruto, but its four well-muscled arms and its ripped body made it a very intimidating opponent and Naruto couldn't help but feel a bit apprehensive. It was said that Machamp knew every martial arts style in the world and that their punches were extremely fast, to the point of being able to throw no less than five hundred punches per second! Not only was it capable of hitting extremely fast and powerful, but the presence of its four arms instead of just the regular two of his pre-evolutions made it practically impossible to avoid its attacks. It didn't even need to think about the use of its arms; its arms basically had a will of their own.
If Machamp just stuck to Fighting attacks only, then Mimikyu wouldn't have any problems. His Ghost nature ensured that no Fighting moves would ever be able to hit him, but if Machamp used any other moves, then things could become problematic, simply because of how fast it could move.
As the battle went on, however, Naruto began to realise something. Machamp was clearly Guy's highest levelled Pokémon yet for some reason none of its attacks managed to land even once on Mimikyu. Its Low Kicks petered out into nothing; a fate its Low Sweeps followed. It used Focus Energy next, but that did nothing to help with its Vital Throws, its use of Strength or even its Dual Chops. Machamp even used Bulk Up, but it might as well have failed at using that move for all the good it did for Machamp.
Completely puzzled by how the battle was going, Naruto took out his Pokédex and quickly looked up Machamp, searching through its pages. He usually didn't bother looking through all the pages, but there was one dedicated to all the moves that a Pokémon could learn. It was a neat feature, introduced by Tsunade a couple of years ago. Not only did the page list all the possible moves, but it also explained what kind of Type a particular move was so that Trainers wouldn't try teaching their Pokémon a move it couldn't learn.
As Naruto went through the list of moves a Machamp could know, he couldn't keep himself from grinning widely, tightening his grip on his Pokédex. Machamp's attacks couldn't land because all of its attacks were useless against Mimikyu! Normal and Fighting attacks couldn't hit Mimikyu because of his Ghost nature and the Dragon attack Dual Chop did nothing because of Mimikyu's Fairy Typing! Mimikyu was the biggest adversary Machamp could have; the battle had already been won before Machamp had even exited its Pokéball.
Machamp was capable of using other Type attacks such as Fire Punch or Ice Punch, but if it knew such attacks it wasn't using them at all. Guy didn't appear stupid either; if Machamp knew any non-Fighting or non-Dragon moves, surely he would have ordered Machamp to use those instead when it became clear that none of his attacks were landing? That he hadn't, had to mean that Machamp knew no other Type attacks.
Naruto thought it was odd that Machamp knew no other Type attacks when it clearly could learn a variety of other Types. Perhaps Guy had simply not thought to teach Machamp those because he never had battled a Pokémon like Mimikyu before? Naruto wasn't certain how many Pokémon could boost about having a triple immunity against a powerhouse like Machamp. Guy's oversight worked in their favour, though.
Naruto and Mimikyu had won. This battle was over.
"Mimikyu, use Dazzling Gleam as many times as you need," he ordered.
Mimikyu had seemingly been having a lot of fun dancing around Machamp, evading its attacks even though there was no way those attacks could have hit him. His speed training with Toxtricity was clearly paying off and Naruto couldn't help but wonder if Mimikyu was showing off how fast he had become already.
"Kyu!" Okay!
Now it was obvious Mimikyu had been playing with Machamp. His aura of mischief vanished instantly and he grew serious, retreating a bit before sending a first Dazzling Gleam towards Machamp. Machamp managed to dodge that one, growling, but the second one had him blinking rapidly, turning around quickly. Mimikyu wasn't deterred by that and simply shot a Shadow Ball at Machamp, which hit it straight in the middle of its back. It sent Machamp spinning around with an angry roar, but Mimikyu had been waiting for that.
The second Machamp whirled around to confront Mimikyu, he sent a barrage of three Dazzling Gleam plus two Shadow Balls for good measure towards Machamp. The four-armed Pokémon dodged the two Shadow Balls, but was too late to evade the Dazzling Gleams. They smashed straight into Machamp, sending the muscled Pokémon crashing to the floor. Its upper left arm twitched faintly and Mimikyu raised two of his shadowy tendrils, preparing for another attack.
It wasn't necessary. After one more twitch, Machamp stopped moving completely, down for the count.
"I AM SO SORRY FOR FAILING YOU, MACHAMP!" Guy wailed as he called Machamp back. "THIS FAILURE IS ALL ON ME! I FAILED YOU AS A TRAINER AND AS A FRIEND!"
"You won, Mimikyu!" Naruto meanwhile cheered loudly and opened his arms when Mimikyu came running towards him.
Mimikyu jumped up the second he was in front of Naruto and landed in his arms, his shadowy tendrils latching onto Naruto's upper arms. "Mimi, Mimikyu!" Won the fight!
"Yes, you did! You were so amazing!" Naruto gushed and hugged Mimikyu as tightly as he dared.
Mimikyu's small body was basically vibrating with excitement and his tendrils tightened a bit around Naruto's arms.
"I knew you could do it!"
Mimikyu chirped and hugged him tightly in return.
Naruto looked up when footsteps approached him. Guy was walking over to him, his eyes red-rimmed but a grin nevertheless spreading across his face.
"Life is all about learning and you taught me that the process of training is never finished," Guy said solemnly, halting in front of them. "In my overconfidence I failed to realise that I had not properly prepared Machamp to battle every Type. You showed me my mistake and for that I thank you. Machamp and I still have a lot of training to do, but that is okay! THE POWER OF YOUTH WILL GET US THROUGH!" he boomed the last words, making Naruto and Mimikyu jump in shock.
Guy's grin was almost blinding when he held out his hand, showing off a badge in the form of an orange fist. "You and your team definitely proved your close bond to me! You are very much deserving of this badge! Take it, you've earnt it!"
"Go on, Mimikyu, take the badge," Naruto grinned. "You've earnt it after the fight you put up!"
Perhaps he was still pumped up from the battle, but Mimikyu wasn't shy at all when one of his shadowy tendrils shot out, snatching the badge from Guy's hand.
"Fifth badge down!" Naruto crowed. "Only three more to go!"
As Mimikyu cheered, waving the badge in the air, Guy burst out in tears, crying about the power of youth.
"Congratulations on beating the Gym," Nurse Joy smiled as Chansey disappeared in the back with Naruto's Pokémon. "Not many people succeed in it."
"Is it that rare to beat the fifth Gym?" Naruto wondered bemused.
She shrugged, typing something on her computer. "A lot of Trainers complain about the challenge presented. I guess if your team isn't properly prepared, this Gym can be quite a hassle to pass."
"I suppose," he muttered, bracing his arms against the desk.
It was something he had thought as well when taking on the Gym challenge. If your team wasn't properly prepared to deal with the four different challenges, there was no way you could pass all of them.
"Chansey!"
Chansey ambled back to the desk, carrying the tray with Naruto's Pokéballs.
"Looks like your Pokémon are in top shape again," Nurse Joy smiled while Chansey placed the tray in front of Naruto.
"That's fast," he remarked surprised, having expected the healing to take longer than this.
"Hm, our healing machines got an upgrade recently," Nurse Joy explained. "The healing is a lot faster now, unless a Pokémon is severely injured. Yours weren't, though; they were merely exhausted so that's why it didn't take that long."
"Well, I'm glad to hear that!" Naruto said and collected his Pokéballs, clicking them back onto his belt. "Thank you, Nurse Joy, Chansey."
"Take care!" she smiled and Chansey chirped in agreement.
Upon leaving the Pokécentre, having made the decision to buy something sweet for his Pokémon as a treat, Naruto almost bumped into someone. He was just in time to stumble sideways, avoiding tripping over his feet.
"Can't you look where you're going?" a woman snipped annoyed.
That voice …
Naruto turned his head and stared when he recognised the woman in front of him. That pink hair and that condescending attitude – yeah, there was no way he would forget her any time soon unfortunately.
She seemed to remember him as well, because she snorted and rolled her eyes. "Seriously, it's you?" Haruno sighed. "What are you doing here?"
"What does one do at a Pokécentre?" he couldn't help but ask sarcastically. "I came to heal my Pokémon after our Gym battle of course."
"The Gym here? Let me guess, you lost," she said mockingly.
"No, we won. First try," he replied, narrowing his eyes slightly when she scoffed in disbelief.
"There is no way you won at this Gym!" she denied. "You're lying! This is my third attempt and you're telling me you won first try? It's impossible to get past that ridiculous challenge, let alone win against the Gym Leader!"
In response Naruto held out his newly acquired badge, taking pleasure in the way her eyes bulged in shock. "Guess your bond with your Pokémon isn't that great if you can't even get past the challenge, hm?" he remarked innocently. "Keep trying, though, you'll get there eventually."
"Don't think you're better than me just because you won at the Gym!" she snapped; her cheeks turning a ruddy red as her hands balled into fists.
"Well, we're the ones who won first try while you apparently are still on your third try, so I guess in a sense that does make us better," he mused aloud.
"Don't think you're suddenly a successful Trainer now," she sneered. "If the challenges didn't have that ridiculous pool and that stupid huge block of wood, I wouldn't be having this much trouble to begin with. Your victory is just a fluke!"
"It might have helped if you kept your Water Pokémon," he commented helpfully and turned around, ready to leave her and this ridiculous conversation behind.
"Oh please, as if you kept that pathetic thing!" she snorted ugly.
Naruto's eyebrow twitched and he grew annoyed. Turning around to face her again, he patted the Pokéball of Vaporeon. "Vaporeon is doing just fine, thank you for your concern," he said coolly. "He's one of the reasons why I won that challenge actually."
She narrowed her eyes. "You're bluffing."
"Why would I? Vaporeon is an amazing Pokémon. As I said before, you're just bad at Training," he said dismissively and started walking away.
"If he's so amazing, why not have him battle one of my Pokémon then?" she demanded hotly. "You're all talk, but who says you're telling the truth?"
"Vaporeon doesn't have to prove himself to you," he said annoyed.
"What, scared that he's going to lose after all, like the weak one he is?" she said tauntingly. "We both use one Pokémon, you Vaporeon, I pick one of mine. Or can't you handle even one simple battle?"
He closed his eyes for a moment and debated whether it would be really worth it to accept her challenge. Neither he nor Vaporeon owed her anything and he didn't want to ruin their amazing day with her nasty attitude. On the other hand, it would be rather satisfying to show off just how strong Vaporeon had become now that he had joined a team that actually cared about him. It would serve her right to realise she had lost out on an amazing Pokémon.
"I would almost start to think that this is becoming tradition between you two," a familiar voice spoke almost lazily.
Naruto whipped his head around in surprise, recognising the dark haired man standing at a short distance from the two of them. It was Uchiha Sasuke, the younger brother of the detective. He was dressed in a long, thick coat to combat the cold and he looked somewhat amused; his hands resting in the pockets of his coat.
"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked puzzled. "You here for the Gym too?"
That for some reason seemed to amuse Uchiha even further. "No, I'm not here for the Gym. I'm meeting up with someone nearby when I happened to overhear your … little discussion," he said delicately.
"You two know each other?" If possible Haruno's eyes seemed to widen even further. If she wasn't careful, her eyes would fall right out of their sockets.
"We've met a couple of times. You were there the last time, at the Contest Hall," Naruto said bemused.
The reminder of the Contest Hall seemed to piss her off. "Whatever, you going to let that Vaporeon fight one of my Pokémon or is he still too weak and you can't admit that?"
"That's right, Vaporeon joined your team," Uchiha remembered and there was a glint of interest in his dark eyes. "I have to admit I'm curious. You're going to accept the challenge?"
"Don't really know why I should humour her when she doesn't even deserve to look at Vaporeon anymore," Naruto said irritated.
"If you don't want to humour her, why not humour me?" Uchiha asked. There was definitely a glint in his eyes this time, but Naruto didn't understand why.
"And why would I humour you?" Naruto asked, crossing his arms.
"If you win, we can have a battle," Uchiha suggested unexpectedly.
"What, suddenly I'm strong enough?" Naruto retorted mockingly, calling back to their first conversation.
He was taken aback when Uchiha smirked. "That's something I would like to find out. So how about it? You're going to accept her challenge?"
This was stupid, Naruto decided and pursed his lips. He didn't owe these people anything and there was no reason for him to want to battle Uchiha. Except that for some reason there was something about the dark haired man that made him want to prove himself. He had no idea just how strong Uchiha was, but considering the way he carried himself, his team must be fairly strong. It would be a good way to train his Pokémon even, fighting against Trainers who didn't belong to a Gym.
Before he could battle Uchiha, though, he would have to battle Haruno with Vaporeon. Looking at her unbearably smug face made the decision for him. Fine, if she wanted a battle, a battle was what she was going to get.
"Fine, I accept your challenge," he decided and grabbed Vaporeon's Pokéball. "Vaporeon, I choose you!"
The way Haruno's eyes started to gleam made Naruto suspicious, but it was too late. The moment Vaporeon appeared with a chirp, landing gracefully onto the ground, Haruno released her Pokémon.
A Maractus. A Grass Type Pokémon. Vaporeon's biggest weakness.
She had definitely chosen Maractus on purpose. Water being weak against Grass was the most basic knowledge every child learnt. She was here to prove a point and Vaporeon realised it as well, judging by the way he tensed and his tail slightly drooped upon seeing who they were battling.
"Hey," Naruto called out gently and Vaporeon turned his head to look at him. The apprehensive look in those black eyes made Naruto's heart ache slightly. "She might have a Grass Type, but we both know you're strong. Just do your best, okay? Show her what she's missing out on!"
Vaporeon nodded determined and turned back to face Maractus and Haruno. Maractus was moving its body rhythmically, emitting a sound that was reminiscent of maracas being played. Naruto had heard that sound before in his hometown when musicians used to pass through, each one proficient in one type of instrument. The maracas had always been the odd one out in that group, which was why Naruto remembered that sound so well still after all these years.
Naruto did his best to remember the weaknesses of Grass Types quickly. There were the obvious ones like Fire and Flying of course, but they were also weak towards Bug and … Ice?
Ice!
Vaporeon had the disadvantage as a Water Type, yes, but he also had learnt an actual Ice move not too long ago! Aurora Beam. It was the only attack that would be able to damage Maractus severely. It was their only shot at winning this battle without dragging it out for too long.
"Maractus, Leech Seed," Haruno called out.
"Vaporeon, avoid that one!" Naruto called out urgently. If Maractus managed to hit Vaporeon with Leech Seed, it would take much longer to wear it down and defeat it. "Just do your best to avoid all its Grass moves!"
Maractus snorted and launched another Leech Seed. Vaporeon avoided that one neatly as well, almost dancing backwards before jumping to the side to avoid the third Leech Seed.
"You're going to play the avoidance game the whole time?" Haruno asked amused. "Maractus, Petal Blizzard."
Vaporeon jumped out of the way again, but some of the petals still hit his shoulder, slicing straight through him. He whimpered in pain, but ducked away when Maractus tried to hit him with Leech Seed again.
"Vaporeon, use Aurora Beam as many times as you can!" Naruto quickly ordered when Maractus prepared itself for a new attack.
Both Maractus' and Haruno's eyes widened when Vaporeon swiftly jumped into the air in spite of his injury, opened his mouth and shot a fierce Aurora Beam straight at Maractus. Maractus yelped and jumped out of the way, but Vaporeon proved to be faster, aiming another Aurora Beam at Maractus. This one hit Maractus in its side, making it yelp and waved its arms around in a panic. Maybe Vaporeon felt emboldened by the sight of Maractus' panic, because he jumped into the air, higher than before, and launched the biggest Aurora Beam Naruto had seen so far.
This Aurora Beam hit Maractus straight into its belly, slamming it backwards into the wall of the Pokécentre. Maractus tried to get up, but Vaporeon shot forwards and knocked the Pokémon off balance with a Quick Attack. One Bite aimed at Maractus' side proved to be too much. With a pitiful whimper Maractus sagged down, its eyes rolling back when it fainted.
His tail high in the air, Vaporeon practically skipped back to Naruto, exhilaration blasting off him.
"Look at you, beating a Grass Type!" Naruto praised him, sinking down to his knees so he could pat and hug Vaporeon. "I knew you could do it! You were so amazing just now!"
Vaporeon chirped almost shyly, 'Did well?'
"You did more than well, you were great!" Naruto stated grinning.
"Since when does he know Aurora Beam?" Haruno snapped, calling back Maractus.
"Since I actually took the time to train with him," Naruto shot back and picked up Vaporeon, uncaring of his weight. "But that's something you apparently don't know how to do."
She puffed up her cheeks. "How dare you - !"
"Pay him for your loss and leave then," Uchiha spoke, walking over to them. He turned to address Naruto, ignoring Haruno's spluttering completely, "How about that battle? You ready to take on my challenge?"
Naruto met glistening eyes with a challenging look of his own. "Bring it on!"
AN2: I only realised during the writing of this chapter that Mimikyu has a triple immunity to all the moves Machamp learns naturally. Damn. Go Mimikyu!
Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.
I hope to see you all back in the next chapter! Please stay safe and take care of yourselves!
Cuddles
Melissa
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