Author's note: Apologies for the slight delay, wasn't feeling well this weekend so it took me until now to finish this chapter, but hey, at least there's an update!

Thanks to the following reviewers: Pen-Woman; swordsmanwielder; PinkiePieParty122894; leighd1314

Warnings: Just a battle, nothing in particular

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 35

Haruno couldn't look more reluctant to pay him than she did at this moment, but she ended up pushing some money in his hands, nearly making him drop it, before storming off with a thunderous face.

"You ready?" Uchiha asked; his hand already dipping down to release his first Pokémon.

"Definitely," Naruto confirmed and called Vaporeon back in his Pokéball.

"All right, let's see what you got," Uchiha smirked and threw his first Pokéball into the air.

Naruto had no idea exactly what kind of Pokémon Uchiha would have in his team, but the sight of a sprightly Luxio appearing with a cry took him by surprise nonetheless. He hadn't known what to expect, but for some reason he had assumed that Uchiha's team would be fully evolved already, given his comments about experience in the past. He could also just be training some of his unevolved Pokémon; nobody said you had to stick to one team only after all.

Even not completely evolved, however, Luxio could be quite a problem. Naruto's team wasn't exactly built for an Electric Type. Both Vaporeon and Pidgeot were naturally out of the question for this fight, considering their weakness to electricity. Toxtricity wouldn't really be able to do much, given that he was partly Electric as well. Naruto supposed they could try the poisonous attacks tactic but … Leaving Toxtricity out of the running for now, only Mimikyu, Ninetales and Lucario remained as choice for this battle. He might have to resort to brute force so to speak in order to have a chance at winning this fight, so Ninetales perhaps? Fire was amongst one of the strongest Types after all and Fire didn't have an innate weakness to Electricity like Flying or Water did.

Decision made, Naruto selected Ninetales' Pokéball and threw it in the air. The red beam formed the elegant form of Ninetales and she appeared with her tails spread out, gazing down at Luxio. Luxio bared its teeth and growled threateningly, but Ninetales simply snorted, obviously unimpressed.

"Luxio, let's start with a Spark," Uchiha suggested almost idly.

"Ninetales, do your best to avoid all the Electric attacks," Naruto instructed immediately. "We don't want you to get paralysed."

While becoming paralysed didn't necessarily hurt, it could make it impossible for Ninetales to attack, leaving Luxio to have an easy victory. Naruto wasn't planning on giving Uchiha an easy win, though.

Ninetales sidestepped the Spark, flicking one of her tails at Luxio as if to taunt the Electric Pokémon. Naruto didn't think that was necessarily a good move, but it had been a while since Ninetales really had a chance at battling, so for now he let it be.

Obviously Luxio didn't follow that same train of thought, because it growled angrily and aimed another Spark at Ninetales, who jumped back this time.

"Ninetales, use Flamethrower," Naruto said, figuring Ninetales' strongest attack so far would be the best move.

"Luxio, avoid it," Uchiha ordered calmly, but his eyes narrowed slightly when part of the stream of fire nevertheless hit Luxio in its tail.

Luxio hissed, smacking its tail furiously on the ground before raising its back.

"Luxio, Bite."

Luxio shot forwards, but before Naruto could say something or before Luxio could latch on with its teeth, Ninetales smacked Luxio away with one of her tails. Luxio landed almost behind Uchiha and before it could shake off the surprise, Ninetales opened her mouth and launched a second Flamethrower. This one hit Luxio straight into its face and chest and the force behind it sent it flying with a yelp.

The red beam of its Pokéball enveloped it and brought it inside the ball before Luxio could end up flat on the ground.

"Interesting," Uchiha muttered, studying Ninetales.

She stared frankly at him; her tails swishing almost idly, though her posture was tense, preparing for another battle.

Uchiha's second Pokémon made Naruto call Ninetales back. "Sorry, Ninetales, you'll get another chance soon," he promised and selected Lucario's Pokéball.

"You know your Type matchups," Uchiha smirked as the light of his Pokéball revealed the intimidating form of Houndoom.

As Houndoom was partly resistant to Fire, because of its own dual nature, Ninetales wouldn't be able to do much in this fight except drag it out for a while. Houndoom was weak against Fighting and Water, however, and so it was Lucario's chance to shine.

"I'm not an idiot," Naruto retorted, narrowing his eyes.

He wouldn't claim to be an expert in all Pokémon, but there had been several Trainers in his hometown who had been fond of Houndoom. Some of them had ended up at Tsunade's lab when their spot in the team would be taken by someone else and so Naruto had learnt to deal with their fierce temperament.

Lucario clenched and unfurled his paws a couple of times. 'This is going to be fun,' he spoke excitedly.

"Do your best to avoid all his attacks," Naruto said. "Aim when Houndoom is open."

"Houndoom, use Fire Fang," Uchiha instructed.

Houndoom was as fast as lightning when it shot forwards, opening its big jaw to launch its attack, but Naruto noticed something off. He furrowed his eyebrows and watched how Houndoom came close to snapping its fiery jaw around Lucario's arm. Lucario dodged the attack and opened his arms, sending an Aura Sphere straight at Houndoom.

"Houndoom, use Bite and Incinerate," Uchiha ordered, crossing his arms.

This time Houndoom managed to Bite Lucario in his shoulder, but Lucario growled and kicked off Houndoom, sending it skidding backwards. Lucario didn't get much time to prepare himself, because an Incinerate was sent towards him next, which he dodged by ducking to the side.

As the battle continued, Lucario both on the offense and defence, launching Aura Spheres and Force Palms whenever he saw an opening, Naruto began to realise something was really off. It was subtle, almost unnoticeable if not for the fact that Naruto was paying close attention to the battle. Whenever Uchiha would give Houndoom an order, Houndoom would of course willingly follow it, but there would always be a slight pause, a delay of barely two seconds tops in which Houndoom seemed to need time to register the demand.

Could Houndoom be a new addition to the team? Then again, Naruto's frown deepened slightly, hadn't Luxio also paused at times? Was he just imagining things? Uchiha came across as a very experienced Trainer, so it would be slightly odd if his team was entirely fresh. Sure, training a variety of Pokémon wasn't unheard of, but usually most Trainers tended to keep at least one or two Pokémon as a fixed member of their team, switching out the others.

"Lucario, go all out on the Aura Sphere," Naruto ordered, anticipation making him clench his fists. "Do not give Houndoom even a chance to hide!"

Lucario glanced at him surprised for a moment, but then he nodded determined and jumped high in the air, opening his arms wide to launch a barrage of Aura Sphere at Houndoom.

Across their impromptu battlefield, Naruto caught Uchiha's eyes. Uchiha narrowed his eyes slightly; his lips forming a thin line. As relaxed and almost nonchalant as he had appeared during the battle with Luxio, as wary did he appear now.

Naruto wanted Houndoom defeated as soon as possible, because he wanted to see if the pause in following orders would happen with the next Pokémon as well. He wasn't entirely certain why he was so focused on this apparent anomaly; maybe because it felt like Uchiha wasn't taking him seriously if he was using a fresh team to fight against him?

Houndoom managed to avoid several Aura Spheres, but once the first one hit him, the second and the third one followed swiftly, hitting Houndoom in its sides and on its back. Houndoom managed to launch itself upwards, hitting Lucario with a fierce Fire Fang, but then fell back down, too tired to get up again. Lucario sprang backwards, hastily patting away the burn.

"You are quite good," Uchiha remarked after he recalled Houndoom. He sounded almost reluctantly impressed. "Absol, you're next."

An almost completely snow white Pokémon appeared next, its red eyes calmly taking in Naruto and an injured Lucario. It took Naruto a bit before he recalled some of the weaknesses of this particular Pokémon. He had never seen it in real life before, purely because Absol tended to have a bad reputation just like Mimikyu, with people believing it heralded the arrival of disasters. Naruto didn't really give those beliefs any credit. Just like how Mimikyu was hated for no reason, he was convinced Absol was also disliked for no reason. He doubted any Pokémon truly had the power to bring forth disasters and honestly, Absol was quite pretty, almost majestic looking.

Its weaknesses were Fighting and Fairy, Naruto recalled with some trouble. Lucario would be a good matchup but he was injured and so Naruto called him back, exchanging him for Mimikyu instead.

"Mimi, Kyu," Mimikyu wondered. Don't know it.

"It's an Absol, Mimikyu," Naruto explained. "Don't let your guard down."

"Mimi!" Won't!

"Well, this is quite the difficult matchup," Uchiha murmured but he remained unperturbed. "Absol, use Night Slash."

Absol chirped, bending lower. It didn't make a move yet, but it didn't have to. Naruto had seen enough. Especially when he quickly checked Uchiha's belt and counted only four Pokéballs in total. Perhaps he was assuming too much, but wouldn't an experienced Trainer like Uchiha have a full team at the very least? Did Uchiha come across as more confident and stronger than he actually was? Naruto didn't think so, but there was something really off about this situation.

"Mimikyu, wait," he said and while Mimikyu chirped confused, he paused, his shadowy tendrils flitting across the ground.

"You want to end the match?" Uchiha asked curiously, raising an eyebrow. "Quite curious, considering you have won twice so far."

"Is this your actual team?" Naruto demanded, stepping forwards.

"Of course this is my team," Uchiha replied and snorted. "You think I stole them? They wouldn't listen to me if that were the case as you should know."

"Not stolen, no, but is this your main team?" Naruto rephrased his question, unwilling to let go of his suspicion just yet.

The slow smirk spreading out across Uchiha's face was enough of an answer. "No, they're not," he answered, confirming Naruto's suspicion. "They are ones I'm still training extensively. What gave it away?"

"The fact that you only have four Pokéballs to start with," Naruto pointed out, feeling annoyed at this revelation. So his team hadn't actually been fighting against Uchiha's full strength? He couldn't help but feel both insulted and irritated by that. "As cocky as you are, there's no way you wouldn't have a full team."

"Cocky?" Uchiha repeated with a scoff, but Naruto ignored the interruption.

"And I noticed how your Pokémon would pause a bit every time you gave an order," Naruto went on. "Not for long, no, but it was noticeable. It made me think that you couldn't have been training with them for long or not regularly at least."

Absol sat down on its haunches, cocking its head to the left.

"You're very observant," Uchiha said amused. "And very annoyed for some reason, why is that?"

"If you challenge me and my team to a battle, I expect you to actually bring out your full strength," Naruto said annoyed. "Not battle me with a team you don't even regularly train with!"

Uchiha actually had the gall to tut at him! "Don't know why you feel so insulted, but this team is plenty strong already."

"But it's not your strongest!" Naruto insisted irritated.

"You're not ready yet to battle my main team," Uchiha stated bluntly and called Absol back.

"And why's that, huh?" Naruto challenged him while Mimikyu hissed threateningly, raising his shadows in the air.

"Because at your current level you wouldn't make it far against my team," Uchiha smirked. "You get those remaining three Badges and we'll see about a rematch."

"We will wipe the floor with your team," Naruto promised, snapping and picked up Mimikyu.

Uchiha merely smirked wider. "Looking forward to that," he said lightly and turned around, walking away.

Naruto watched him go down the street and disappear behind the corner; annoyance burning within him.

"Mimi, Kyu, Mimikyu." Not sure like him.

"I'm not sure either," Naruto said through gritted teeth and turned around, walking back into the Pokécentre. He had some team members to heal up.

Naruto had no idea what kind of Gym awaited them next. After spending two days in the town mainly to rest and warm themselves up in a cozy motel room, Naruto set off once more, dressed as warmly as he could. Mum's scarf was wrapped around his neck several times, covering his lower face and his bonnet kept his head warm. Even with gloves on, he kept his hands tucked away in his pockets to keep them as warm as possible.

Snow and rain switched constantly nowadays and the nights were spent curled up with all his Pokémon surrounding him to make sure they were all warm enough. He tried to keep his tent underneath some shelter in the form of trees as much as possible, but that wasn't always an option, so sleeping together at least ensured that he wouldn't freeze during the night.

He used the map on his Pokédex to guide him to the next town, battling the occasional Trainer they happened to come across. Those weren't as spiteful or unfriendly as Haruno had been, so Naruto had no trouble accepting their offers of battling, getting excited each time his team managed to win. They were all steadily becoming stronger and he couldn't wait to see how they would do against the next Gym Leader, whoever that ended up being.

As he followed the winding road, he started taking notice of how sparse the shrub and the trees became. Sure, it was winter, but the amount of trees dwindled steadily and the trees that were present all had bare branches, looking like eery skeletons once evening settled in. More and more Ghost Pokémon also started to appear. After a Litwick nearly led him astray and started siphoning his energy, Naruto made sure to stay clear of them, letting Mimikyu occasionally out to battle them. Shuppet floated aimlessly around the few trees remaining and occasionally Naruto would pick up the sound of a Banette giggling; the noise eery, making him hunch his shoulders.

At night if Naruto concentrated long enough, he would occasionally glimpse the burning eye of a Duskull floating around the tent or hear the tinkling of Sinistea as it chattered with its brethren. He had taken to watching his steps during the day as well, as sometimes a Greavard would slowly rise up from underneath the ground and he didn't want to accidentally step on one and hurt it. A Haunter who had suddenly popped up in his tent during one night, sticking out its tongue, was met with two big Shadow Balls and a Mimikyu screeching in anger. The Gastly line stayed clear from them after that, which honestly amused Naruto somewhat. Apparently Mimikyu had left quite the impression on that Haunter, making sure that at least those Pokémon gave them a wide berth.

Phantump would coo quietly amongst the bushes while Pumpkaboo hobbled around the grass which slowly turned from a bright green to a dead brown colour the further Naruto travelled. Some Gourgeist would occasionally meander amongst the Pumpkaboo, watching Naruto with unsettling grins on their faces.

Aside from the abundance of Ghost Types and the steadily declining state of nature around him, Naruto also couldn't help but take notice of how quiet everything was. Yes, there was the occasional noise of a Pokémon rustling past or chittering amongst themselves, but otherwise it was silent, almost unnaturally so, as if something kept everything hushed. Maybe the Ghost Pokémon, they tended to unsettle a lot of people. Even his own Pokémon were unsettled every time they left their Pokéballs and during the night they clung even tighter to him. Naruto couldn't exactly blame them; even he felt somewhat uneasy.

When Naruto arrived at the next town, he almost didn't realise it was the town he had been looking for. The houses present were spare, dotted across a couple of streets and none of them were very personalised. The only buildings with some actual colour to them were the Pokécentre and the Pokémart; all the others were made out of the same dark grey stone and dark roofs. The atmosphere here was heavy for some reason, none of the loud talking or laughing Naruto had heard many times before in the other cities and villages. It was as if nobody dared to laugh; the few people he came across looking solemn, merely inclining their heads towards him in greeting.

There was a tall building in the middle of the town, looking similar to a temple and the plaque next to it announced it was the Memorial Place for All Pokémon Lost to Time. Ah, that did explain the solemn atmosphere somewhat.

Naruto bowed towards the building as a form of respect and made to walk away, continuing his journey, because admittedly the odd atmosphere, making even the air heavy, made him feel as if he was suffocating and he couldn't wait to leave this town behind. The trees here were all barren as well, their branches raising upwards, standing out starkly against the grey sky.

Just as he was about to leave the town again, however, another building caught his attention and he paused, taking a couple of steps towards it.

The building had grey walls just like the others and a grey roof, but the door had a deep purple frame which shone faintly. There was no pathway leading towards the door, nor any visible window. A wooden plaque hung right next to the door, bearing a single inscription.

'Gym specialised in Ghost Types'

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. This dreary looking building was a Gym?!

AN2: The sixth Gym Battle is up next :) Any guesses who the Gym Leader is going to be? LOL

Random question: to people playing the DLC of Scarlet/Violet, anything in particular you're looking forward to with the new update coming soon? I'm excited to catch all the Starters! It's been so long since I got to use Treecko and Snivy in my team, I'm looking forward to having those in my team again! Not to mention all the Legendaries coming back!

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

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

Cuddles

Melissa

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