Author's note: Sorry for the delay; I've been pretty tired this weekend so I had to finish this chapter today.

Thanks to the following reviewers: Pen-Woman; PinkiePieParty122894; peachy88; JaiJayce

Warnings: Diving into the dark Pokédex entries again; minor flashback to traumatic mountain stay

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! I wish you all a Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays/whichever holiday applies!

Chapter 36

Naruto knew you shouldn't judge a book by its cover – well, looking around at the dreary place he supposed in this case it would kind of be right to judge a book by its cover. With the amount of Ghost Pokémon wandering in the area and the presence of the temple it made sense that this Gym would deal in Ghost Types. Clearly the Gym Leader wasn't flamboyant either, preferring to keep everything as sober as possible.

Well, he was here and his Pokémon were all completely healthy, so he might as well challenge the Gym now. Mimikyu would have the biggest advantage in this Gym being partly Ghost, though at the same time he also had the biggest weakness seeing as Ghost was weak against Ghost. Fortunately most of his team should be able to take it up against Ghost Pokémon, even if they wouldn't have the biggest advantage.

The door creaked slightly when he pushed it open and he looked around curiously. The interior was just as sober as the outside. Aside from the entrance there were two other doors; one most likely leading to the Gym Leader, the second one probably leading to the private quarters. A single desk stood on his right with a computer, but its screen was black and there was nobody behind the grey coloured desk. The walls were dark blue and the lights emitted a soft glow, casting shadows in the corners. The floor was made out of simple wooden planks, which creaked quietly when he walked further into the hallway. Nothing personal hung on the walls or stood on the desk; nothing that gave away who the Gym Leader was.

Right as Naruto wondered what he should do to get the Gym Leader's attention, the door to his left opened and he turned his head. A lanky, grey haired man stepped out to meet him; his dark eyes hidden behind a pair of glasses. In spite of his grey hair he appeared quite young; he couldn't be that much older than Naruto. Was this the Gym Leader? He was dressed in a simple white shirt and black trousers, but well, compared to Might Gay's green spandex suit everyone else's outfits would look rather plain.

"You're a new challenger?" the man inquired politely; his hand still resting on the doorknob.

"I am, yes," Naruto confirmed. "Name's Naruto."

"Yakushi Kabuto," the man introduced himself. "I'm the assistant of the Gym Leader."

It seemed like a lot of Gym Leaders didn't like greeting challengers at the start, huh?

"I must admit I'm surprised to see a challenger," Yakushi said and released the door, walking over to the desk to activate the computer. "It has been a while since this Gym was last challenged."

Oh? "Do a lot of people give up after the fifth Gym?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Hm, not many pass the fifth Gym and even less manage to win in this Gym," Yakushi looked up from the computer and smiled at him. "Just a warning. I know this Gym doesn't look as … intimidating as the others," there was a light sneer contorting his mouth, "but that doesn't mean you should underestimate our Gym."

"Wasn't planning to," Naruto reassured him.

Just because he had five Gym Badges already didn't mean he was about to get cocky. It would only grow more difficult from here on after all, with more difficult matches and more high levelled Pokémon. His own team wasn't weak anymore either, though, so he did believe that he had a good chance at winning here as well. He wasn't about to give up now!

"Is there some kind of challenge that I need to do first before I can battle the Gym Leader?" Naruto questioned when Yakushi simply shut down the computer again after having typed for a little bit.

"A challenge?" Yakushi repeated bemused before realisation lit up his eyes. "Ah, that kind of challenge. This Gym doesn't have any extravagant challenges planned. All you have to do before you can battle the Gym Leader is have a battle with me. If you win, then you can go through to meet the Gym Leader. If you lose, you have to try all over again – or give up as most people end up doing." He chuckled.

"I'm not planning on giving up," Naruto informed him. "Where will we have our battle?"

"Eager to start, hm?" Yakushi smiled. "That's nice to see. Follow me."

He walked to the other door Naruto had spotted earlier, so Naruto had been right in his assumption that that door would lead to the Gym Leader eventually. So he only had to battle Yakushi, win and then he could challenge the Gym Leader himself? That should be doable normally. At the very least it would be good practice for the Gym battle.

The room Yakushi led him into was just as plain as the entrance hall had been. The walls were a soft purple here and there was a single light in the middle of the ceiling which flickered a bit when Naruto closed the door behind him. There was nothing present in this room that could be used to block an attack or to hide behind; it was a simple, plain room with not even a window. Aside from the door they had just walked through, there was one more door behind Yakushi, which Naruto assumed was the one that led straight to the Gym Leader. At least he wouldn't have to spend a long time making his way through a maze or something.

Yakushi took his place opposite of him and smiled. "You ready to start?"

Anticipation bubbled up inside of Naruto. "Definitely!"

"All right, let us begin," Yakushi said lightly and threw his first Pokéball into the air.

His first Pokémon turned out to be a Duskull; its red eye fixating eerily upon Naruto as it floated idly in the air.

Naruto debated for a moment, but then chose Toxtricity. He didn't have a big advantage against Duskull, no, but he could still attack him without much issue as long as they didn't go for any Poison attacks. It had been a while since Toxtricity could fight anyways, so Naruto thought he would appreciate the chance.

Toxtricity rolled his shoulders the second he left his Pokéball and he tilted his head to the side when he noticed Duskull. Duskull for its part merely kept gazing straight ahead, unbothered by the arrival of another Pokémon.

"Duskull, use Confuse Ray," Yakushi instructed.

"Toxtricity, avoid it," Naruto warned. If that attack hit Toxtricity, this fight could turn difficult if Toxtricity couldn't force himself through the confusion.

Toxtricity almost performed an actual pirouette in order to avoid the Confuse Ray and the following Will-O-Wisp. The room wasn't that big, so he wouldn't have a lot of space to manoeuvre; it would make avoiding the attacks rather tricky, but they would just have to make do. As long as they could avoid the attacks that would leave lingering effects like a burn or confusion, they should be fine.

"Toxtricity, try hitting him with a Spark or a Thunder Shock," Naruto called out.

Several of those should be enough to take down Duskull or perhaps even paralyse it enough so that Toxtricity could wear it down.

Toxtricity grunted in agreement and instantly shot a Spark at Duskull, who dodged it by floating lower to the ground. Toxtricity was quick to launch a Thunder Shock, which did manage to hit Duskull. The Ghost Pokémon shrieked when the lightening bolt cleaved through its incorporeal body; its red eye started to glow more menacingly and it floated higher again. Naruto grimaced slightly, rubbing the back of his neck. It seemed they had already managed to piss off Duskull. Well, that didn't matter. If it was pissed off, it might actually grow more sloppy with its attacks, leaving gaps in its def-

The lightbulb blinked once, twice, and then the room was plunged into complete darkness. It was so dark Naruto could barely even pick up the glowing fringe around Toxtricity's neck, as if the darkness was sapping away every bit of light it encountered.

"What happened?" he asked startled, setting one foot back instinctively.

Yakushi's voice floated towards him. "My apologies, sometimes the electricity shuts off. It's a problem with the wires; we're still searching for someone who can actually fix the issue. The light should be back in a bit, though. In the meantime let's continue our battle."

Continuing the battle was easier said than done in this total darkness. Naruto couldn't even see the hand he held in front of his face, no matter how closely he pushed his fingers towards him. Opening his eyes or keeping them closed had the same effect: pure and utter darkness. He couldn't see what Duskull was planning; the blackness even stealing the glow of its red eye seemingly. With no way to see what was happening, he had no idea how to instruct Toxtricity or even warn him for any upcoming attacks. It figured that it would be his bad luck that the light would give out today!

"Toxtricity, are you okay?" he asked alarmed when Toxtricity's hissing turned low for a couple of seconds.

'Fine,' he hissed, but he sounded more agitated than before and there was the swishing sound of his tail sweeping as he walked back and forth in the room, apparently searching for Duskull.

"Can you see Duskull?" Naruto urged, because ever since the light had given up on them, he had lost sight of Duskull completely.

It was odd, because he had encountered Duskull in the wild before during the night and even at the darkest point of the night he had still been able to spot their glowing eyes. It was actually what had kept him from travelling too deep into the night, because try as he might, there was just something really unsettling about having those glowing red eyes fixated on him. Even in this complete darkness, shouldn't he be able to catch a glimpse of its eye or so? Anything at all?

A shiver unwillingly ran through him and he furrowed his eyebrows, wrapping his arms around himself. Was it just his imagination or was the room getting colder as well? What, had the heating given up too? It really felt like that, because with each second that passed, the room felt colder and colder and he started rubbing his hands over his arms briskly, trying to warm up again.

"Did the heating give up too?" he called out uncertainly.

"Hm, I'm afraid this building is quite old," Yakushi's smooth voice answered from somewhere in the back of the room.

Old, okay, but how badly insulated was this room that it lost all the heat so quickly? He started shivering, which only increased the cold he felt and unwillingly he was reminded of the caves back in the mountain. It had been really cold back then as well, that deep underneath the ground, and so dark. Without the glowing stones or the light of his Pokédex he hadn't been able to see anything. Kind of like now and shit, if that wasn't a memory he could do without right now. It was stupid to remember those caves again, because he was out of there, he was no longer trapped inside, so really, what point was there in thinking about it over and over again? They had left the mountain behind a couple of weeks ago, there was no reason to think about it anymore.

No reason to remember the biting cold, the pitch black darkness of the caves, the utter desolate feeling of loneliness and helplessness that had threatened to overwhelm him so many times …

The cold grew worse and his mind started to become fuzzy for some reason. His arms felt numb and heavy and he couldn't even tell anymore whether he was still rubbing himself or not. He tried to open his mouth, say something to make it clear that he wasn't feeling well, but his lips were equally numb. A wave of panic surged upwards, but that abruptly disappeared, taking over by a sense of emptiness. He stumbled backwards, felt something – was it cold, warm? He couldn't tell – brush against his cheek. With a lot of effort he twisted his head around, sluggishly blinked and met a single red eye.

A vicious snarl erupted from behind him and the next moment a bright lightning bolt cut through the darkness, zigzagging straight at him!

Naruto attempted to duck, but the lightning bolt shot past him and lit up Duskull from within. Duskull shrieked furiously, but before it could do anything, there was the unexpected sound of a bass guitar twanging; the noise echoing incredibly, vibrating through the entire room. The vibration hit Duskull full on and it gurgled before dropping down. Right before it would hit the ground, a single red beam lit up the room and Duskull was called back into its Pokéball.

The next moment the light suddenly came back, flooding the room with its bright yellow colour and Naruto flinched, closing his eyes instinctively. At once the chillness disappeared and a violent shiver wrecked his body when the room heated up rather quickly again.

When he opened his eyes Toxtricity stood right in front of him with his back turned towards him. His fringe was glowing brightly and he was growling lowly, staring straight at Yakushi. Yakushi, for his part, merely smiled and brought his hands together, performing a shallow bow.

"I apologise for the scare. Like I said, the electricity and the heating in this building are rather unpredictable," he said and shrugged.

Naruto stared at him and then looked at Toxtricity, who was still growling lowly in his throat. Yakushi appeared completely unbothered by the recent cold and Naruto couldn't help but wonder how much of the cold he had experienced was a result of the heating seemingly failing – and how much of it had been a result of Duskull trying to siphon his energy.

"Did your Duskull try to attack me?" he demanded, curling his hands into fists.

Yakushi raised an eyebrow. "Why would he do that? He had simply moved to your side in order to dodge your Toxtricity's attack. I apologise if he scared you in any way."

Scaring him, huh? What a funny way to describe Duskull trying to suck out his energy.

'Lying,' Toxtricity hissed quietly, agitatedly.

"I know," Naruto murmured and narrowed his eyes slightly.

How many Trainers before him had truly given up because they couldn't win at this Gym – and how many of them had been forced to quit before their life force had been sucked out? There was no way to prove that this had been a deliberate setup, but …

Naruto glanced at Yakushi, who was smiling patiently. A shudder went through him, though this one had nothing to do with the lingering cold.

"Let's continue the battle," he said after a pause.

If he had been unwilling before to give up, he was completely determined to win now. If that guy thought he could scare him off by using his Pokémon against him, he had something else coming to him!

"Very well, I'm glad to see you're still in high spirits even after that scare," Yakushi smiled amused.

Naruto kind of wanted to punch him in his face. He settled for defeating his Dusclops with the help of Ninetales, who took a lot of pleasure in setting the Ghost Pokémon and its bandages alight with her Flamethrower, gracefully jumping out of the way every time Dusclops attempted to launch an attack. Their next opponent, Sandygast, was utterly destroyed by a combination of Water Pulse and Aurora Beam, courtesy of Vaporeon, before Sandygast could even hope to attack. Its sand burst apart, coating a large part of the floor; its mournful cry still echoing through the room when it returned to its Pokéball. It hadn't even managed to land a hit on Vaporeon and Vaporeon pranced his way back to Naruto afterwards, swishing his tail back and forth in excitement.

Naruto's Pokémon must feel his determination to win, because they were more ruthless than before, reacting swiftly to his orders and practically dancing around their opponent, taunting them with every attack that didn't hit its target. Naruto wasn't normally the type to be ruthless or revel in wiping the floor with his opponents, but after what Yakushi had attempted to pull, Naruto saw no need to hold back.

Yakushi's last Pokémon, an eerily grinning Gourgeist, fell victim to a triumphant Pidgeot, who didn't let himself be deterred by the lack of free space to fly through. Three Whirlwinds sent Gourgeist spinning from one side to the other and two well-aimed Wing Attacks had it dropping forwards, knocked out completely.

By the time Yakushi called back his last Pokémon, he was no longer smiling. Naruto couldn't help but feel quite vindicated at that sight and he petted Pidgeot's head in praise when his Pokémon landed in front of him with a proud chirp.

"You did really well, Pidgeot," he smiled and Pidgeot ruffled his feathers, looking almost smug. "I'm very proud of you."

After he called back Pidgeot, hooking his Pokéball back onto his belt, he looked up and met Yakushi's eyes. The older man looked rather sour this time; his lips pursed together until they formed a thin line.

That's what you get for being such a douche, Naruto thought vindictively.

"Congratulations on beating me," Yakushi said and the words seemed to hurt him, judging by the way he grimaced. "Not many are able to do that, so bravo. Don't think you'll be able to beat the Gym Leader this easily, though. I'm still just a beginner compared to him."

"Well, I will certainly try," Naruto told him cheerfully and walked past him without glancing back at him even once. If he would look any longer at him, he might actually punch him for real after all.

The doorknob easily gave away underneath his touch and he stepped forwards, noting idly that this time the walls of this room were a moss green. This part of the Gym was definitely bigger than the previous room, spacious enough that even a Pokémon like Pidgeot would be able to fly around easily. One wall was divided into brick and glass, allowing some of the grey daylight to pour through the windows, illuminating the Gym room. There was nothing to hide behind either here, but it didn't feel as cramped as the previous room and not that sombre either, in spite of the muted colour palette.

Still Naruto couldn't wait to be out of here.

Movement in the corner of his eye tore his attention away from the windows. He turned around, watching a man with long, black hair leisurely walking towards him. He was dressed in a white shirt with wide sleeves and his dark purple trousers were loose. His eyes were sharp when he regarded Naruto and then he smiled, inclining his head.

"Welcome to my Gym," he said silkily. "My name is Orochimaru. I will be your opponent this time."

AN2: Got to love those creepy Pokédex entries, hm? Nothing more fun than a Pokémon sucking out your life force.

We're actually already nearing chapter 40, can you believe it? I can't, damn.

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.