Author's note: We've already reached the thirtieth chapter of this story, can you believe that? :O I hope you're ready for however long this story is turning out to be, because oh boy this might be quite the long one.

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

Warnings: Some minor angst; small time skips

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 30

Winter had really settled in now. A fine layer of snow covered the surroundings every morning with the mountain thickly covered in the stuff; no humans to trample it down there and Pokémon choosing to remain inside the mountain instead of wandering around. The mountain looked idyllic like that, but Naruto had a hard time suppressing the dread filling his stomach every time he glanced at the imposing figure it cut. He and his team had been stuck in there for several days and by the end of it, he had honestly started to worry whether they would ever be able to escape out of it.

Red and Blue had pulled him out and had set up their tent on the other side of the mountain, meaning that he wouldn't have to traverse the mountain again, which was a relief, he wasn't going to lie. That was about the only good news so far, though. Having gone at least a couple of days without any decent food or water on top of having been injured had done a real number on his body. The first full day after waking up all he was able to do was sit up and slowly eat and drink a bit. The headache had finally disappeared, but his body was still rather weak and that left him frustrated. He had just been a bit sick for a little while, why did he feel so weak now?

The second day after recovering from the fever, Naruto forced his feet to finally touch the ground again, getting up rather wobbly. The longer he would lay down, the worse this would get, he knew. Working out was his best option right now, especially if he wanted to leave soon. He didn't want to keep relying on Blue and Red, seeing as they had their own things to do which didn't include looking after a stranger.

"Don't strain yourself," Blue warned, watching him catch his balance against the edge of the table. "I didn't patch you up just for you to overwork your body again."

"I can't keep lying down, though," Naruto argued, fixating his gaze on the table when he grew a bit light-headed. He blinked rapidly several times, forcing the blurriness to fade. He was not giving up already, damn it!

"No, but you should take it easy," Red commented, looking up from a notebook. "We won't leave before you're completely okay again, so don't worry about that."

That was just the thing, though: Naruto didn't want to be a burden on them and he definitely did not want to keep them from their own journey. So he gritted his teeth and lifted his left foot – only to nearly slip when a red beam suddenly filled the tent, revealing Lucario. A second red beam followed swiftly and Mimikyu appeared with a soft cry, immediately shuffling over towards Naruto. He grabbed Naruto by his ankle, firmly anchoring his black tendrils around it.

"Mimikyu!" We help!

'We can help you move around,' Lucario agreed, coming over so that Naruto could rest a hand on his shoulder.

Naruto wasn't particularly happy, having to rely on his Pokémon like this, but Mimikyu looked up at him pleadingly and even Lucario threw him an imploring look, so with a soft sigh he gave in. If his team would feel better helping him out, then fine, he would let them.

He reached out with his free hand and selected the four other Pokéballs, throwing them one by one into the air. "Come on, guys, you might as well get some fresh air as well."

"Here, before you freeze to death," Blue muttered with a scowl, practically showing a blanket into Naruto's chest.

Naruto wanted to point out he was wearing his jacket, but when Toxtricity opened the tent, the chilly wind instantly hitting his face made him hastily throw the blanket around himself. Keeping the blanket pulled shut with one hand and his other hand on Lucario's shoulder, he carefully walked outside, the rest of his team pouring out of the tent as well. Mimikyu kept steady pace with him, making sure his shadowy tendrils were securely fastened around Naruto's ankles and legs.

Pidgeot spread out his giant wings once he hopped outside, letting out a screech before he took off and pushed himself off the ground, flying circles above them. Toxtricity pulled up his nose at the fine layer of snow covering the ground, but was soon prowling around, chasing off a couple of curious Taillow. Vaporeon was a tad more enthusiastic, prancing around, chasing after the snowflakes his tail stirred up. Vulpix sneezed before studying the snow carefully, poking at it warily.

Naruto paused, his breath escaping him in little white puffs, as he realised he had nearly forgotten something. "That's right," he said and looked at Vulpix. "Vulpix, I found something in the mountain that might be interesting to you."

"Vulpix?" Interesting? She bounded over to him immediately; her dark eyes shining with curiosity.

He smiled. "It's in my bag actually. It's a Fire Stone! It can help you evolve if you want to!"

"Vulpix?" Evolve?

"Mimi, Mimikyu?" Mimikyu asked befuddled. Need stone for that?

"Hm, some Pokémon can only evolve when certain conditions are met," Naruto explained and started carefully walking forwards, making sure to place his feet securely against the ground. "One of those conditions involve using a particular Evolution Stone. If Vulpix wants to use the Fire Stone I found, then she can evolve into a Ninetales."

Mimikyu threw Vulpix a look. "Mimikyu, Kyu." Be weird to see.

"Vulpix, Vulpix!" Vulpix shot back, slightly offended. Would not be weird!

"It's up to Vulpix to decide whether she wants to evolve or not," Naruto said soothingly. "If you don't want to, that's fine. If you do, you can use the Stone."

"Vulpix, Vulpix, Vulpix?" Become stronger?

Toxtricity snorted and hissed. Only if keep training.

Naruto inclined his head. While a bit rudely stated, Toxtricity wasn't wrong. A Pokémon could evolve but if they didn't keep up their training they wouldn't become that much stronger even with the new form.

"Vulpix, Vulpix," Vulpix decided after a short pause. Will think about it.

"That's fine," Naruto reassured her. "No rush at all." It wasn't as if the Fire Stone had a time limit attached to it or so.

He took a deep breath next, inhaling the crispy cold air and letting it fill his lungs. Feeling more determined surrounded by his team, his next step was firmer, more confident.

"All right, let's see how long I can walk around before we turn into a popsicle, hm?"

Over the next couple of days, Naruto continued to build up his strength once more. After two days of mainly eating soup, he was back to eating normally and walking around was going smoother and smoother with every day that passed. With him no longer at risk of passing out, Red and Blue were gone for most of the day, exploring the mountain's depths in hopes of finding either this Darkrai or the mysterious invisible Pokémon that had followed Naruto around for a little while.

While Naruto walked around, stretching his legs and testing the limits of his body, his Pokémon went back to their training as well. They still kept close to him, never leaving his eye sight and were quick to react the second they thought something was wrong, but they were slowly starting to relax. Pidgeot had taken to test his strength during flying, practicing first with Mimikyu on his back as the latter was the lightest of their entire team. Once Pidgeot could confidently fly around with Mimikyu, he switched out the Fairy/Ghost Type for Vulpix. Vulpix was not exactly eager to be the next test subject, but Pidgeot's explanation – Want to fly with Trainer! – convinced her to jump on his back and allow him to take her up in the air.

Vaporeon had taken to practicing his Aurora Beam on the nearby trees, before he tried out a new move: Aqua Ring. This one wasn't an attack like all the previous moves he had learnt; when used it surrounded him in a veil of water, making it easier to heal himself during battle. It was quite the nifty move to have during battles and Naruto couldn't be prouder that Vaporeon had managed to use it perfectly from the first time!

While Lucario also tested his strength on the poor trees and snow covered rocks, Mimikyu surprisingly paired up with Toxtricity. Not to practice any moves as Naruto had assumed, but instead to practice … speed?

Frowning, Naruto paused his own pacing around and watched Toxtricity slowly increase the speed with which he launched weak Thunder Shocks at Mimikyu. Mimikyu didn't try to block those with an attack of his own, but instead he would do his best to dodge them as quickly as he could, shuffling from one side to the other and jumping back and forth.

"What are you two doing?" Naruto asked bemused when Toxtricity continued to launch one weakened Thunder Shock after the other; his tail tapping with slight agitation every time.

"Kyu, Mimi!" Practice speed!

Toxtricity hissed; the sound almost nonchalant. Asked for help.

Naruto wanted to ask where Mimikyu's sudden interest in increasing his speed had come, before it clicked and he pressed his lips together. Was this because Mimikyu had become trapped in the mountain? Did he blame himself for what had happened? That was stupid, it hadn't been his fault at all. If anything, it had been Naruto's fault for not realising he should have picked up Mimikyu when they had started rushing out of that corridor.

"You know, what happened in the mountain – that wasn't your fault, Mimikyu," Naruto said and saw how Mimikyu faltered for a couple of seconds before he regained his bearings and kept dodging Toxtricity's attacks. "That was just bad luck and me being a stupid idiot."

"Mimikyu, Mimi, Mimi, Kyu!" Mimikyu retorted stubbornly. Not stupid, want to become faster!

Faster is always good, Toxtricity concurred; the frill around his neck briefly glowing.

They weren't wrong, Naruto agreed begrudgingly. Being faster would give Mimikyu an advantage during the battles, that was for sure.

He just hated the reason why Mimikyu was so insistent on becoming faster.

Recovering physically was easy. Mentally …

It was stupid to be afraid to fall asleep, Naruto decided angrily and stared up at the dark ceiling. So what if he had the occasional nightmare of still being trapped inside the mountain, unable to leave until the rough walls swallowed him up, squeezing his body until nothing but a smudge of red remained? That was just because he had been trapped for a while and his mind was trying to come to terms with that, that was all.

Knowing all that didn't make it easier to convince himself to close his eyes and let sleep take over, though. He could hear the gentle, slow breathing of Red and Blue nearby. They had returned tonight from yet another fruitless search, but Red seemed content to spar with the Pokémon in the mountain and Blue seemingly took notes of everything he considered to be interesting Pokémon behaviour, whether that behaviour came from Mythical or Legendary Pokémon or the regular ones that roamed freely across the land, water and sky. They were going to leave soon; their journey taking them to another destination now that Naruto was nearly fully recovered.

As nice as Red and even Blue – with his occasionally caustic tongue – were, Naruto would be happy to be back on the road with his own team, taking up the journey he had been forced to put on hold for now. It would be fun to go back to travelling, if only falling asleep didn't feel so scary now. It was stupid, he knew, but convincing his mind was more difficult than it had any right to be.

A beam of red light crept out of the gap of his bag, making his heart beat quicker in surprise until he realised that Mimikyu had got out of his Pokéball. He shuffled over towards Naruto and before long Naruto felt cool, shadowy tendrils dancing across his arms before they curled around his wrists and Mimikyu pressed himself against his chest.

A bit surprised, Naruto curled his arm around Mimikyu's light body, feeling him bury himself even closer.

"You're going to get cold," Naruto whispered in warning, because even in the sleeping bag with the blanket on top of him, the chilly night air was hard to ignore.

"Mimikyu. Mimi, Kyu." Is fine. Not cold.

Naruto huffed amused at the stubborn reply. "You didn't have to come out of your Pokéball."

"Kyu, Mimikyu," was Mimikyu's reply. Can't sleep. It was an obvious lie, judging by his sleepy tone and the quiet yawn that followed his retort, but Naruto didn't call him out for it.

It was nice, to be honest, curling up with one of his Pokémon. They had done this with the entire team several times before already and he thought this kind of thing was more likely to happen with how cold the winter was shaping up to be.

"Mimikyu, Mimi, Kyu?" Mimikyu suddenly asked anxiously. Going to replace one of us?

"Replace one of you, what are you – oh," Naruto realised quickly.

Today and yesterday he had actually tried to train Geodude and Zweilous. Geodude was rather willing to listen to him, showing a rather laid-back attitude about it. He got along with the others as well, though he was understandably wary around Lucario and Vaporeon, preferring to keep away from them.

Zweilous on the other hand … He hadn't been easy at all. Not only had he refused to listen to Naruto every time he had tried to give him an instruction, but he had also attempted multiple times to attack the others – and not in a friendly sparring kind of way. He had evaded the Pokéball Naruto threw at him several times, forcing Lucario, Mimikyu and even Blue's Machamp to subdue him enough for the Pokéball to finally capture him inside.

Zweilous' stubborn attitude led Naruto to believe that perhaps he was still too strong for Naruto to have any sort of control over him. With how violent he had acted towards the rest, it wouldn't be safe for not to continue his training. Perhaps later, once Naruto had more experience, he could try training Zweilous again but for now that was an impossible mission unless he wanted to risk himself and his team.

"I'm not going to replace any of you," Naruto reassured Mimikyu, hugging him firmly. "I just wanted to see how well they would listen to me. Geodude would be a nice addition, but I like our team how it is now. Don't worry, nobody's going to be replaced."

"Mimikyu, Mimi, Kyu?" Mimikyu asked; some of the trepidation gone from his voice. Where they going?

"Once we reach the next town, we'll go into a Pokécentre and I will contact the professor so she can take them over," Naruto explained, burying himself and Mimikyu deeper into the sleeping bag when the wind started whistling. "They'll be able to stay in a nice place then, where they can play with others."

Hopefully that way Zweilous would also relax and become a bit more sociable so that by the time Naruto would try to train him again, he wouldn't react so violently anymore.

"Mimi. Mimikyu, Mimi," Mimikyu muttered; his voice muffled against Naruto's shirt. Good. Don't want lose others.

"Yeah," Naruto smiled, "me neither."

Surprisingly – or perhaps it was not so surprising when he had his Pokémon's comforting presence surrounding him – falling asleep was not so scary this time.

"Take care of yourself," Red smiled, tipping his cap a bit lower.

"Not getting another fever would be a good start," Blue said curtly, most of his attention on the map he was holding.

Red rolled his eyes. "Don't mind him; he's cranky because we got up earlier than usually."

"I think it's bullshit that this librarian wants to see us this early," Blue groused and folded the map before shoving it in the front of his bag. "He could have easily picked a later hour; we're not working with a deadline here. Come on, let's go. If it starts snowing worse than this, Pidgeot won't be able to fly us all the way there."

"Thank you again for your help," Naruto said and bowed. "I really appreciate it a lot."

"It's fine," Red said dismissively and clucked his tongue when Blue made an impatient gesture. "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming. Good luck with the rest of the Gyms, Naruto."

"Yeah, thanks," Naruto smiled, a tad bashful, and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

He watched both men get onto the back of Blue's Pidgeot, before Pidgeot spread out his wings and took off, sailing through the air.

"Looks fun," Naruto muttered to himself, squinting his eyes when Pidgeot turned into nothing but a tiny dot quite quickly. Once his own Pidgeot grew strong enough, he would be able to fly with him too. He could hardly wait for that!

Taking a deep breath, nearly sneezing when a snowflake tickled the tip of his nose, he opened his Pokédex and ticked on the map's icon. He glanced at the mountain behind him before focusing on the map, orientating himself on it. If he walked straight, following the nearby frozen over brook, he would reach the road that would lead him directly to the next town. The next town which had a Gym in it. Butterflies started to flutter in his stomach at the thought of his next Gym Badge and he closed his Pokédex, shoving it back into his bag.

The next Gym had Fighting Types, he remembered Yamanaka telling him, which meant that Mimikyu would be the obvious choice for it. Pidgeot would do well in this Gym too, given his Flying Type. Would two Pokémon be enough, though? That would entirely depend on how many Pokémon this Gym Leader would have and whether or not he would have to battle other Trainers before the Gym Leader. Who else could he put in? Vaporeon maybe? Lucario could be an option, but he wouldn't have the advantage and it would most likely come down to whoever would tire out first. Vulpix could be an option as well; she hadn't been able to participate much in the Gyms so far, so she was probably eager to let loose, even if it was against a Fighting Type.

Then again, perhaps a Fighting Type wouldn't pose that much of an issue anymore after she had defeated so many Rock Types back in the mountain. Even if those defeats had happened with help of the others, it was still something she had been able to do, which increased her odds against a Fighting Type.

I'll let her practice against Lucario, Naruto decided, perking up when he located the brook.

From here it was a straight line basically, following the brook until he ended up at the tree line at the side of a road. It took him perhaps around an hour to reach the road, but the snow had grown a tad heavier by now and he had to stop and rummage around in his bag for the large scarf he knew was packed. He pulled it from underneath his folded up tent and wrapped it around his neck several times, tugging at one layer so that it covered his nose. The ends of it he stuffed inside the pockets of his jacket, using it as an extra layer around his hands.

Hopefully the next town would have a shop that sold gloves and maybe even woollen hats. It wasn't as if he wasn't used to cold winters, but back home he could simply retreat in his house when he became too cold and wouldn't have to worry about gloves or hats unless he planned on staying out for hours. Here on the road, he could set up his tent, but a tent didn't have the same luxury of a house with its thick walls and its heating.

When his stomach started to grumble, he paused and retreated to the right side of the road where a couple of trees formed some light shelter against the snow. After some debating, he quickly set up his tent before he started preparing lunch, using the tent as shield against the icy wind. With the curry finished and bubbling promisingly, he released his team so that they could eat something warm as well.

"Pidgeot, Pidgeot?" Staying night here?

Naruto pondered the question and after lowering his spoon, he dug out his Pokédex and opened the map. He guessed their current position based on the intersection he had passed a little while ago and slid the map across the screen until he found the town.

"Hm, might be for the best," he concluded. "It looks like the snow won't be letting up any time soon and we might only arrive very late in the next town. Best to spend the night here and then we should get there by early afternoon normally."

"Vaporeon?" Training? Vaporeon briefly looked up from his bowl; his tail swishing gently back and forth.

"Sounds good to me," Naruto smiled and closed his Pokédex, putting it back in his bag. "It'll be good to have some extra training before we tackle the next Gym."

Everyone was in agreement with that and as soon as the bowls were empty and cleaned out, they held a training session behind the tent until the snow flurry grew too thick, forcing them back into the tent. The branches of the trees acted as an extra roof, so Naruto didn't have to worry about his tent collapsing underneath the snow. Even so, he made certain to set up a relatively large fire once night fell, melting the surrounding snow.

In an unspoken agreement, none of his Pokémon returned to their Pokéballs even at Naruto's insistence. Instead, they followed him inside the tent and curled up around and on top of him, sharing their warmth with him.

His resulting sigh was both exasperated and fond and while he would never admit it aloud, their presence made it a lot easier to fall asleep. With them nearby, sleeping wasn't so scary anymore. He couldn't keep using them as a clutch against the nightmares, he knew, but for now – for now it was fine.

The first thing Naruto did when he set foot in the new town was made a beeline for the clothing store he spotted.

Ten minutes later he stepped outside again, the proud owner of an orange! pair of thick gloves and a black orange hat which he promptly tugged over his head. He sighed in relief, waggling his fingers inside the gloves. Thank Arceus this town had a clothing store, because he thought his hands had been about to freeze off! He would have to find a place to sleep tonight, but first he had a Pokécentre to visit.

While he let Nurse Joy take care of his team, he brought the two Pokéballs containing Geodude and Zweilous to the computer system set up on the left of the front desk. He booted up the computer and held out his Pokédex for the system to scan it. As soon as his data had been uploaded, the screen flickered and a menu was displayed.

General Information

Personal Information

Contact Professor

He bypassed the first two options and selected the third one. Each Pokédex had been encoded with the respective professor's information so the computer knew which professor it was meant to contact. He had to wait for around a minute, but then the menu display disappeared and another screen showed up instead.

At first he only saw an empty chair, but then a white coat moved in front of the screen and Tsunade's face appeared when she plopped down. She smiled pleasantly surprised when she saw Naruto.

"Hey there," she greeted him. "How's the journey going?"

"It's going fine," he told her lightly, decidedly not telling her about the mountain mishap. That would probably worry her too much. "I actually arrived in the next town; I'm preparing to challenge the fifth Gym!"

"That's great to hear!" she said; her smile widening. "You need any help in particular? Not that I mind seeing your face, but this is the first time you've contacted me through this way."

He held up the two Pokéballs in front of the screen. "I caught a Geodude and a Zweilous on my way here, but I can't keep them with me obviously. You mind taking them over?"

"No, it's fine. Send them through. You know how?" she asked.

"Yeah, through this box, right?" he said and placed the Pokéballs carefully in the metal box a attached to the computer. Six indents had been created at the bottom of the box so that the Pokéballs wouldn't start rolling around.

"Yes, and then you simply have to press on that blue button on the side of it," she confirmed. "The computer will send them to me."

Once he was certain the Pokéballs were firmly placed in the indentations, he retracted his hand and bent down to search for the blue button. It was on the right side of the box and when he pressed down on it, he jumped slightly when a lid suddenly closed off the metal box. It started to glow gently and a low buzzing sound filled the air before it abruptly grew quiet again.

When Naruto checked the screen, he saw Tsunade lean out of view. A couple of seconds later she held out two Pokéballs. Next to Naruto, the metal box opened again and a quick look inside revealed that it was completely empty.

"Got them," Tsunade smiled. "I'll take good care of them, don't worry."

"I know," Naruto grinned. "I'm not worried about that."

"Uzumaki-san?" Nurse Joy called out and he turned his head towards her to acknowledge her before he looked back at the screen.

"Looks like my team is healed, I've got to go," he said apologetically.

"It's fine, good luck with the next Gym!" she said and then the screen grew black once more.

With his Pokémon fully healed now, he set out again, trailing through the streets until he came across a large square building. It had an actual running track surrounding it and he was ready to dismiss it until he read the sign above the door.

'Gym of Youth! Where Youthful Spring Shines Through!'

Gym of Youth? Naruto stood there stumped for a little while before he hesitatingly walked up to the glass door. Gym of Youth was a pretty odd name for a Gym, but this had to be the Fighting Type Gym he had to challenge, no? He hadn't come across another building that resembled a Gym, so this had to be it.

"Hello?" he called out when he stepped through the door. Wide-eyed, he took in the punching bags hanging up in neat lines on the ceiling: one line covering the left wall from view, the other the right one. There was a door right across from him, looking quite chuffed as if it had been repeatedly kicked in, and one more door on his left. It was through that door that someone came bounding out suddenly, startling Naruto badly.

A young man practically bounced over towards him. His black hair was in a bowl cut of all hairstyles, he was grinning widely and he was dressed in a … green spandex suit? What?

"Welcome to our Gym of Youth! I'm Rock Lee, our wonderful Gym Leader's assistant!" the man introduced himself exuberantly, nearly bowling Naruto over. "I hope you're ready for this challenge!"

Yeah, Naruto regarded him wide-eyed, he hoped so too.

AN2: We're finally at the fifth Gym! I don't think the Gym Leader for this one was that hard to guess given its Fighting Typing :') So yes, next chapter will finally have another Gym Battle LOL

Question time: do you prefer the Gyms of the older generations, in which you just had to battle some Trainers before reaching the Gym Leader? Or do you prefer challenges like they're doing in the newer generations? I personally don't mind the challenge version of it, but beating up some Trainers before tackling the Gym Leader was fun, not going to lie.

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.