Author's note: I didn't think this story would reach fifty chapters when I started writing it, but here we are! Had a bit of trouble writing this chapter, but I managed it somehow. I had wanted to finish more updates this weekend, but unfortunately that didn't happen.

Thanks to the following reviewers: PinkiePieParty122894; Pen-Woman

Warnings: 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 50

Even though winning the seventh Gym Badge made Naruto feel as if he was floating, he was quickly torn out of his victorious daze when he remembered he had a couple of Pokémon who urgently needed to be healed.

Still carrying Mimikyu in his arms, he left the Gym through a door on his right which brought him almost directly in front of the exit. It was drizzling when he walked outside; a chilly breeze causing some of the raindrops to nearly hit his eyes. Mimikyu grumbled at the sensation of the rain and Naruto stood still for a moment to open his jacket so that Mimikyu could scurry inside of it. Naruto zipped his jacket partly shut, leaving the stuffed head of Mimikyu's costume poking out.

With Mimikyu mostly covered against the rain, Naruto hurried to the Pokécentre, wanting his Pokémon healed as soon as possible. There, he had to wait for a bit as a queue had formed by the time he arrived. The waiting wasn't too bad at least, especially when the drizzle turned into an actual downpour, making Naruto happy that he had arrived at the Pokécentre before they could get caught in that vicious bout.

"Good afternoon, welcome to the Pokécentre," Nurse Joy started her spiel before she looked up and recognised him. "Oh hello there! Did you take on the Gym?"

"Yes, and we won," Naruto said, feeling a tad too worried to smile when he placed the Pokéballs of Ninetales, Lucario and Snorlax on the counter. "But Ninetales and Lucario got hit by an Explosion. Especially Ninetales got the full brunt of it."

"Don't worry about it," she reassured him, placing the Pokéballs in a tray before handing that tray to Chansey. "Chansey, please take care of these. They just returned from the Gym and two of them dealt with an Explosion."

"Chansey!" Chansey accepted the tray and left through the door which led to the healing machines.

"They'll be healed soon," Nurse Joy said smiling. "In the meantime you're welcome to wait here if you want. If you have somewhere else to be, you can return within the hour and they should be healed then."

The fact that it would take an hour at most settled some of Naruto's worries, but with nowhere in particular he could go to, he chose to sit down in one of the comfy seats to the side, watching the next Trainer step up to the counter to get his Pokémon healed.

"Mimikyu, Mimi?" Mimikyu asked curiously, shuffling onto Naruto's lap when he sat down. Snorlax staying?

"I'd love for Snorlax to stay but he might have to stay with the professor for at least a little while," Naruto admitted and scratched the bridge of his nose. "It's not Snorlax' fault, but he needs a lot of food – a lot more than what I can provide or pay for. The professor can give him all the food he wants and needs, though."

He felt a bit guilty for transferring Snorlax so soon to Tsunade but he just couldn't afford the amount of food Snorlax needed on a daily basis. Yeah, he could keep him in his Pokéball which would negate the need to feed him, but that wouldn't be fair to Snorlax. If Naruto was back home, then feeding the large Pokémon wouldn't be such an issue seeing as he had learnt to grow some vegetables and fruit. He might even be able to get a discount for Pokémon kibbles with Tsunade's help, but he wasn't home at the moment and it would be a while still before he would actually return home. It would be better to have Snorlax spend some time in Tsunade's lab and get him back once Naruto was ready to go home again.

"Mimi, Kyu, Mimi?" See Snorlax again soon?

"We can visit him again after we win the last Gym Badge," Naruto suggested, pulling off his backpack and shoving it underneath his seat. "We'll need to go back home for at least a little bit anyways to find out how exactly to reach the Elite Four."

He thought one had to cross water at the very least to get to the Elite Four but he wasn't entirely sure. Tsunade would know, though, and it would be nice to spend some time home again before they would start the last stretch of their journey.

"Kyu, Mimi." Will be nice.

Naruto hummed in agreement. Yeah, it would be nice to see home again.

The queue of Trainers seeking help for their Pokémon seemed never ending. Whenever one Trainer left with their team healed, another one took their place, ensuring that Nurse Joy barely had any time to take a breather. In spite of how busy it was, though, and how less than polite some Trainers unfortunately were, the nurse never lost her cool nor her smile as she helped Trainer after Trainer.

Nearly an hour and a half after Naruto had arrived at the centre, Nurse Joy looked around and beckoned him to the counter once she caught his eyes.

"Chansey just informed me that your Pokémon are all better again," she smiled, typing something rapidly; her fingers a flurry of movement. "They are completely healed so you can take them back."

As if that had been her cue, Chansey walked through the door, carrying a tray with three Pokéballs. She placed it on the counter with a soft chirp.

"Thanks, Nurse Joy, Chansey," Naruto smiled genuinely this time and accepted his Pokéballs back.

"You're welcome. We're happy to help you again in the future," Nurse Joy smiled and gestured for a girl to step forwards, who had come to stand behind Naruto when he had been called to the counter.

"Okay, time to say goodbye to Snorlax for now," Naruto sighed and walked to one of the computer systems, Mimikyu shuffling alongside him.

While Mimikyu leant against his leg, Naruto booted up the computer and held out his Pokédex so that the system could scan it. The second his data was uploaded, the screen flickered to life and the menu was displayed.

General Information

Personal Information

Contact Professor

He selected the 'Contact Professor' option, waiting for the system to connect to Tsunade's computer and alert her that she had a call. It didn't take long before the call was accepted and the screen changed to the view of the professor sitting behind her desk. She must have been close by when the system pinged her computer. She smiled when she saw him.

"Hey Naruto, how are you doing?" she greeted warmly.

"Doing well, we just won our seventh Gym Badge!" he grinned excitedly, snapping the Pokéballs of Ninetales and Lucario back onto his belt, putting Snorlax' Pokéball onto the desk for now.

"Congratulations, that means you only have one more Gym left to go!" Her smile widened before she grew solemn all of a sudden. "But are you sure you're okay?"

He stared at her befuddled. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"I have been told that you apparently stopped a criminal gang from abducting the Pokémon of a local Move Tutor," she replied to his surprise and raised an eyebrow.

"How do you know about that?" he demanded because he definitely hadn't called her to tell her what had happened.

Did she know Kurama perhaps? It would make sense if a professor and a Move Tutor knew each other. Frankly, Naruto had the impression that a professor knew a lot of people and not necessarily those in the same field.

"Detective Uchiha informed me," she answered clipped.

At the mention of Uchiha, Mimikyu peered up, uttering an inquiring noise.

"He called me this morning," she continued and crossed her arms underneath her impressive bosom. "I hope you realise how dangerous that situation was. That could have ended really badly for you and your team, Naruto."

His first reaction was to get angry because he wasn't a little kid anymore who didn't know what he was doing. But he knew she was saying this out of concern for him and not because she considered him incapable of taking care of himself.

"I know, but I couldn't let them take Kurama's Pokémon either," he sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "So when I overheard one of them talking about it on the phone, I needed to do something. But hey, why would Itachi call you?"

He remembered that Tsunade and Itachi had talked before after the incident with the Tyranitar, but he didn't think they were actually in regular contact with each other.

"You do remember I have a lot of Pokémon roaming around in the fields behind the lab, right?" she snorted, but her gaze was flat even through the screen.

He frowned, feeling one of Mimikyu's shadowy limbs curling around his ankle. "Does he think they'll target your lab next?" he asked worriedly.

She shrugged; in the background her assistant Shizune walked past, looking like she was on the phone while she stared down on the clipboard in her hand. "It's a possibility," Tsunade replied and sighed, making the connection crackle slightly for a second. "If the group dared to target a Move Tutor, it's not unthinkable that they would try to attack the lab next. Even the biggest idiot knows there are a lot of Pokémon roaming around here."

He bit down on his lip, worrying it between his teeth. It was stupid of him, but he hadn't even considered that Tsunade's lab might be in danger of being targeted by that criminal gang. Of course it would be! If there was one place where you would find a variety of Pokémon – often strong ones to boot – it would be in a professor's laboratory!

"Don't worry about it, okay," Tsunade said, clucking her tongue. "The lab is very well protected; unfortunately this wouldn't be the first time someone tried to attack the lab. They never succeeded before, though, and they won't succeed now. We've got the head's up from the detective so we'll be on our guard. They are also sending some people here who will keep an eye out as well for any suspicious activity."

That put Naruto slightly at ease. Tsunade was far from weak, but it was reassuring to hear that there would be more people looking out for the Pokémon at the lab than only herself and Shizune.

"All right, enough with the doom, any reason in particular you're calling?" she asked lightly.

"Right," he said and cleared his throat. "I caught Snorlax a little while ago and I want to send him to you. At least until I'm back home permanently." He smiled embarrassedly. "I can't exactly afford all the food he needs now."

"I get that," she chuckled. "He's one of the big eaters after all. Send him over, I'll take care of him in the meantime until you're ready to take him back."

"Thanks," he smiled and placed Snorlax' Pokéball in the metal box attached to the computer.

He bent down and pressed down on the blue button which would activate the transfer. The lid popped onto the metal box, closing it off. The box started to glow gently then, a low buzzing sound filling the air, before both the sound and the light disappeared. Checking the screen again, Naruto saw Tsunade leaning out of view. A few seconds later she held up the Pokéball, confirming that she had received Snorlax.

"He arrived. You want to say something to him before we disconnect?" she asked.

Naruto thought about it and nodded. "Yeah, I want to say something to him."

Mimikyu tugged at his ankle and Naruto bent down to pick him up, settling him down on the desk while Tsunade called Snorlax out of his Pokéball. Snorlax looked around confused.

"Hey, Snorlax," Naruto called out and Snorlax' head whipped around to the screen. "The professor will take care of you for a little while, okay? She'll make sure you'll have enough to eat."

"Kyu, Mimikyu!" Mimikyu chirped, waving some of his shadowy tendrils in front of the screen. See you soon!

"We'll be back soon, yeah," Naruto smiled and unable to quell his worries entirely, he added, "Be careful, okay? That group that attacked the Move Tutor might try to attack the lab too."

"Snorlax, Snorlax!" Snorlax replied determinedly. Will protect lab!

"Good, we'll see you soon, bye!" Naruto said, waving at Snorlax.

Snorlax waved back happily and before the call disconnected, Naruto heard Shizune say, "All right, you must be hungry! Let's get you something to eat!"

The screen turned black then and Naruto stuffed his Pokédex back in his bag.

"Mimikyu, Mimi?" Lab be fine? Mimikyu's dark eyes peered up at Naruto.

"Yeah, they'll be fine," Naruto replied and took a deep breath. "The professor is really skilled when it comes to battling with Pokémon and now that they are warned, they won't be taken by surprise like Kurama was. Besides, Snorlax is there now too and he has fought this group before so he knows what to expect as well."

"Kyu …" True …

Naruto shook his head. "No sense in worrying about it. The professor can handle herself and she'll have help too. The best thing for us to do now is to focus on getting the last Badge."

Because the sooner they had the last Badge, the quicker they could go home for a while.

They spent the evening at the Pokécentre, using its dinner service so that they wouldn't have to go out and buy something. With how late it had been by the time Naruto had got his Pokémon back, there had been no real point in leaving the city and setting up camp outside. They might as well spend one more evening in the Pokécentre instead.

"Vaporeon, Vaporeon, Vaporeon?" Vaporeon questioned curiously, stretched out across the tiled floor. Know what Gym next?

Naruto finished the last bite of his noodles before he placed his bowl back onto the cart. "No idea," he replied. "Deidara didn't give me any clue. Let me see where the next Gym is."

He nodded in thanks when Lucario pushed the cart with their empty stack of bowls back into the corridor so that either Nurse Joy or Chansey could take it back. He pulled his Pokédex out of his bag and settled down onto the bed, opening it. Lucario and Toxtricity came to stand in front of him while the rest of his team crowded him on the bed. Mimikyu crawled onto his lap, Vaporeon shuffled forwards until he was lying on Naruto's left side while Ninetales laid down on Naruto's right. Pidgeot hopped onto the bed as well and settled next to Ninetales.

"All right, let's see," Naruto mumbled and tapped on the map.

He orientated them on the map, quickly finding the path they had taken to enter the city they were currently in. Moving the map around, he discovered a road to the north that appeared to lead straight past another forest and a lake from the looks of it.

"Seems like the last Gym is in a town and not really a city," he muttered after following the road to the new place. Their last destination was larger than a village but it was by no means the same size as the cities they had visited so far.

"Ninetales?" Water Gym? Ninetales flicked the tip of one of her tails at the screen, pointing at the mass of water that bordered the southern side of the town.

"Maybe, but it would be unusual for two Gyms to have the same Type," Naruto said, tilting his head to the left. "We already battled a Water Gym near the start, so it's unlikely this one will be centred around Water Pokémon again."

Unlikely but not entirely impossible, of course, but still.

"Mimikyu, Mimi?" What other Types left?

"Well, there's still Steel, Fairy, Dragon and Rock as well," Naruto listed from the top of his head. "I don't think we fought a Ground focused Gym either. I might be missing some still, but we definitely didn't fight every Type yet."

'Doesn't matter,' Toxtricity hissed; his tail swishing back and forth. 'We win again.'

Naruto smiled. "Well, that's the goal at least." He studied the map again. "Unless we get really unlucky with the weather or so, I'd say we'll get there in a couple of days."

"Ninetales, Ninetales," Ninetales said; her eyes gleaming with satisfaction. Badge will be ours.

Naruto chuckled and shook his head. He sometimes forgot how cocky his team could be. Then again, he glanced at his bag in which he kept the seven Gym Badges, they had earnt the right to be cocky considering they were almost finished with the Gym challenge!

After breakfast, Naruto set out again, this time leaving the city for good as he took the northern road. It was drizzling again, but the wind wasn't that cold so aside from the occasional raindrop he had to blink out of his eyes, walking in this weather wasn't terrible at all. This road seemed more well-travelled, though, and he encountered several Trainers challenging him to a battle. With how confident he felt in his team's skills, he had no problem accepting each challenge, delighting in seeing how strong his team had become so far when they defeated one Pokémon after the other.

It was fun battling other Trainers, because it helped his Pokémon become even stronger, but it also helped that each victory earnt him a bit of money. He had made do with the tent and Pokécentres for a while now, but it would be nice if he could afford a motel room in the next town or so, give himself and his Pokémon something comfortable to sleep in.

While he kept his guard up – having had run ins with that criminal gang twice already made him wary of encountering them for a third time – he enjoyed spending time in the woods, having his team train there when they didn't encounter any Trainers. He even managed to catch some Pokémon! Actually catch them after a proper battle between his Pokémon and them! Even though he had no immediate plans of replacing anybody in his team, it was fun to catch more Pokémon and he looked forward to spending time with them all when he would return home.

By the time he arrived in the new town, he had caught a Nickit, a Tropius, a Cubone and even an Axew! He had had no idea such a wild variety of Pokémon could be found in this region, let alone an actual Dragon Type! Axew had actually given his team the most trouble out of everyone he had caught, because in spite of his small size, Axew had been quite ferocious. Not ferocious enough, however, compared to Mimikyu who had delighted in hitting Axew with three strong Dazzling Gleams in a row. Even the strongest Dragon Type was no match against a Fairy attack after all.

As he walked into the new town and spotted the sign of the local Pokécentre, he took a deep breath and smiled; excitement bubbling up inside of him.

Time for their last Badge.

AN2: Final Gym starting next chapter! Fifty chapters in and we're finally reaching the last Gym *sweatdrops* This might actually turn out to be my longest story ever, 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.