Author's note: A bit of an interlude chapter if you will.

Thanks to the following reviewers: PinkiePieParty122894; leighd1314; Pen-Woman; JaiJayce; Nightstalker100

Warnings: Nothing really special

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 39

"I didn't know you were in charge of Gyms," Naruto wondered, blinking bemused.

"Not exactly in charge," Uchiha denied. "It's another unit performing the inspections, but when it concerns serious complaints, I am in charge. So what can I help you with? Konan said you experienced issues with the sixth Gym."

Naruto couldn't help but snort quietly. Issues was one way to describe what had happened, he supposed. Uchiha raised an eyebrow; obviously Naruto hadn't been as silent as he thought.

He cleared his throat and began to tell the older man what had happened. "First of all, I have to say that I don't know how much the Gym Leader himself is involved in this," he thought it necessary to state. "My problem was with his assistant, but I have no idea just how much the Gym Leader is aware of what his assistant is doing."

As the Gym Leader normally Orochimaru should be aware of everything that happened in his Gym, but it wasn't as if Gym Leaders were perfect. They could be deceived after all, just like everybody else. It could be that Orochimaru was aware of what Yakushi was doing, but it was also possible that he had no idea at all.

Uchiha was typing something on his end of the screen. "The sixth Gym Leader – that's Orochimaru, correct?" he asked for confirmation.

"Yes, that's him," Naruto confirmed. "I didn't have any real problems with him, though. It's his assistant."

More typing. "Yakushi Kabuto?"

Man, they really had everything on file, huh? "Yeah, that's him," Naruto confirmed again. "The challenge for this Gym was battling Yakushi's team and if I won, I could challenge Orochimaru next. We started the battle with our first Pokémon. I chose Toxtricity, while Yakushi chose a Duskull."

He shifted in his chair; exhaustion still tugging at the edges of his consciousness. It was a mixed sort of exhaustion, both mentally and physically somehow and very, very annoying to deal with. That annoyance alone was enough for Naruto to want to report that bastard, but considering how much worse things could have become, he felt he owed it to all the future Trainers arriving here to report that douchebag. That way he couldn't pull that shit again with other people.

"At one point the whole room suddenly became dark. Yakushi told me that happens often, because of faulty wiring or something like that," Naruto continued, frowning. "I couldn't see anything and Toxtricity had a hard time hitting Duskull. At first I didn't really notice anything out of the ordinary, but the longer it stayed dark, the more I started to feel cold, like I would never be warm again. Yakushi claimed the heating was faulty as well, but I started to feel quite sick. I didn't realise what was happening until Toxtricity managed to hit Duskull, knocking it out."

He took a deep breath; his arms unconsciously wrapping around himself again when he recalled just how cold he had felt. "Turns out that Duskull was siphoning my energy."

Uchiha frowned; his handsome features hardening.

"I don't know how long Duskull would have taken my energy if Toxtricity hadn't figured out what was going on," Naruto said, because it really was thanks to Toxtricity's quick acting that Naruto wasn't feeling even worse right now. "Yakushi claimed he didn't know what was happening when I confronted him about it, but I don't really believe him. Because as soon as Toxtricity took out Duskull, the lights came back on and didn't fail again after that."

He shrugged half-heartedly. "I don't know. It is possible, I suppose, that Duskull was doing this of its own accord, but I would assume that if you work in a Gym you have complete control over what your Pokémon do. Or at the very least teach them enough for them to know that they can't attack the Trainers," he added wryly.

Yakushi hadn't looked very sincere when he had apologised anyways, so Naruto wasn't really inclined to think the whole Duskull situation had been truly an accident.

"Do you think that Duskull would have gone on until there was nothing left of your energy?" Uchiha asked speculatively.

"I don't know," Naruto admitted and cast a furtive glance around himself. "But there is a graveyard attached to this town, so … I don't know. I don't want to accuse him of really bad things - "

"Ordering his Pokémon to attack another Trainer is quite bad," Uchiha murmured.

"But I don't know why he would have ordered Duskull to attack me if he wasn't planning something at least," Naruto finished. "It could be that he just didn't want me to challenge the Gym Leader, but all the same …" He hesitated before he sighed. "Maybe it might be best to see if there are any missing people listed who disappeared around here."

He didn't want to assume or even accuse Yakushi of actually killing people, but nobody who ordered Pokémon to attack other people had actually good intentions. With the way this town was set up – out of the way, clearly not popular, their own temple to pray at, the existing graveyard – it wouldn't be so difficult to make someone disappear, he thought. Accidents could always happen after all, even when you had Pokémon to help you. Case in point, himself. He had nearly died in that mountain if not for his Pokémon and Blue and Red showing up to rescue them.

Making someone disappear in a town surrounded by graves and Ghost Pokémon? That wouldn't be that difficult.

"I will," Uchiha reassured him. "We will be consulting the missing person's list and I'll be paying this Gym a visit as well. He won't get away with this so easily. Thank you for reporting this; something tells me you weren't the first person he pulled this trick on."

"I doubt it either," Naruto muttered.

Yakushi's excuses had sounded too smooth for this to be his first time trying to pull this stunt. Who knew how many other Trainers he had attacked in this manner?

"I suggest you go rest now," Uchiha advised. "Having your energy be siphoned by a Ghost Type is not to be treated lightly."

"I know, I already got the spiel from the Professor," Naruto smiled weakly.

Uchiha nodded. "And she's correct. I will leave you be now. Good luck with the remaining Gyms."

"Thanks."

At the same time the screen turned dark, the nurse called out to him.

"Your Pokémon are all perfectly fine again," she informed him, smiling, placing the tray with the Pokéballs on the counter.

He stuffed his Pokédex back in his bag and walked over to the counter. "Thank you. Erm, I'm not feeling too well. Is it possible for me to stay the night here?" he asked tentatively, clipping the Pokéballs back onto his belt.

Her pink curls bounced slightly when she nodded; her smile a notch wider. "Of course it's possible! You want to have a meal brought to you and your Pokémon as well?"

"Yes, please, that would be nice." He thanked her before walking to the back of the centre where there was a door that would lead him to a floor upstairs.

The rooms here, reserved for Trainers, were simple but comfortable. There was a bed with lightly purple blankets, neatly made up. Curtains, its purple shade slightly darker, offered a way to block out the view from the window and slightly below it there was a comfy looking couch placed. A thick white rug covered the floor from view and there was a small fire merrily crackling away in the small fireplace. An empty wardrobe offered him space for his clothes if he wanted to store them away. A sink was put in the corner with some folded towels placed on a shelf next to it; a way to freshen up a bit.

The room wasn't large by any means, but it was comfortable and warm and that was all that mattered to Naruto right now. He could spend the night outside in his tent, but he was still feeling cold and he wasn't in the mood to try to set up his tent now. Better to rest here and leave in the morning again once he was feeling better.

He removed his shoes at the door and hung up his jacket at the peg next to the doorframe before placing his bag at the end of the bed. He walked over to the couch next, sinking down on it with a groan. Every muscle in his body hurt, like they had been locked together for too long. If this was how it felt like to have your energy be sucked out by a Ghost Pokémon, he rather never experienced that again.

Something sharp dug into his left thigh and he slid his hand in his pocket, recognising what it was when his fingers touched warm metal. Right, the Gym Badge. Mimikyu had held it against his chest the whole way back to the Pokécentre and Naruto hadn't had a chance to clip it to his bag yet. He pulled it out of his pocket and held it up in the air. The purple colour matched the colour of the drapes, he noted with some amusement. The eerie looking Ghost sign stared right back at him, gleaming in the soft light of the fire. To think this was already their sixth Badge … Only two more and then they would be ready to challenge the Elite Four. Who could have thought that in just a couple of months they would have made so much progress? Half a year ago he hadn't even dreamt of having his own Partner Pokémon, let alone starting his journey finally!

"Funny, how life can change so quickly," he mumbled, turning the Badge this way and that way.

He now had six Badges and a full team of six Pokémon with two more staying at the professor's place. They only needed to challenge two more Gyms and then the Elite Four would be waiting for them. That was such a strange thought to consider, especially for someone like him, someone who hadn't been able to start his journey on time like all the others.

But that hadn't mattered in the end. Because he was here now, on the cusp of challenging the seventh and second to last Gym. He might not have been able to start his journey at the same age as all the others, but it was working out in the end after all.

"Mum, dad, just two more to go," he murmured, smiling to himself.

He slipped off the couch and went to his bag, pinning the Badge right next to the fifth one. They all shone and glimmered and he spent a moment smiling down at them. They were proof of his and his team's hard work; there was nothing wrong with admiring that proof.

He probably should use the time until their dinner arrived to try to look up information about the next Gym, see if he could figure out whether the Gym Leader there used a specific type, but he was feeling too tired and the bed looked incredibly inviting.

He kicked off his trousers, folding them up and placing them on an empty shelf. When he turned to the bed, six beams of red light filled the room, making him laugh and shake his head.

"You guys were really just waiting for the cue, huh?" he said fondly and placed his hands on his hips.

Vaporeon chirped and jumped on top of the bed; Ninetales following him with an elegant jump of her own. Toxtricity pushed the bag off the bed and Lucario caught it before it could drop on the floor, placing it neatly against the bed. Pidgeot ruffled his feathers, spreading out his wings a couple of times before he padded over to the left sight of the bed, content to lean against that side as his body was too big to sit on the headboard. Mimikyu shuffled eagerly over to Naruto, who bent down and picked him up; shadowy tendrils instantly closing around his shoulders in an embrace.

"Come on," he said and walked over to the bed, throwing the blanket open so he could crawl underneath it, still holding Mimikyu in one arm. "Let's get some rest before our dinner arrives, okay? I'd say we've earnt the rest."

That earnt him a chorus of chirps and grunts of agreements. When he laid down, he ended up with Mimikyu curled up in the junction between his head and his shoulder; Vaporeon draped across his stomach on top of the blanket with Ninetales warming his legs, the tips of two of her tails resting against Naruto's left hand. Pidgeot rested his head on top of the mattrass and Toxtricity plopped down next to him; his back against the bed. Lucario sat down on the other side of the bed, resting his head on the bed as well.

Surrounded by the comforting presence of his team, it didn't take long for Naruto to fall asleep, finally giving in to the tug of exhaustion.


AN2: I feel like Naruto often ends up in a Pokémon pile. Oh well.

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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