Caught in the Whirlpool

Part V

The Sealed Shrine probably wasn't the structure's true name, but whatever its builders had called it was long lost to time. It was the oldest thing in Uzu no Kuni just behind the caves that were carved into the islands' bedrock by nature. But not very much was known about it since few people had studied it and no foreign researchers knew where it was.

The shrine was ringed by a circle of eight stone half-spheres, most of which were still intact, that were decorated with mysterious symbols that were thought to be magical seals. At the center of this circle was the shrine itself. It was a stone building little larger than a tool shack that had been built over top of a natural tunnel that dead-ended in an underground lake.

Spirals and spiral-like designs covered every inch of the shrine. Swirls were carved along the edges of the shrine roof, whirls were etched on the square doorframe, and flagstones were set in the ground spiraling out from the building to the outer ring of boulders. And some of the interior walls of the stone building were downright hypnotic if one looked at them for too long.

Old stories claimed that in ancient times people would worship a guardian spirit or spirits at the site. Ordinary people would bring offerings of food and incense to place outside of the shrine, and in times of great danger priests would travel down to the underground lake to appeal to the guardian or guardians more directly. But whatever worship or rituals that had taken place at the shrine had ended long before any of the oldest written records so it was impossible to judge if there was any truth to the tales.

The structure had nearly collapsed several centuries ago until Kushina's ancestor, Mito Uzumaki, had stepped in. Mito had raised funds and local interest to restore the shrine in her later years and studied it as a hobby until her death. It was one of the things she was most known for, and it had probably been played up so that the fact that she trained pokémon for battle instead of for show was overlooked.

Kushina had visited the site of the shrine fairly often as a child. It was quiet there and most citizens of Uzu Town didn't bother hiking out to it, and those that did usually only did so on special occasions or holidays. The land wasn't owned by anyone, but because of Mito's intervention it was regarded as an Uzumaki clan possession. And then there was what Mito had left behind…

The red-head grinned as she reached the top of the hill and the shrine came into view. The area outside the stone ring was overgrown with dense bushes and ancient stunted trees, which provided plenty of places to hide. So she wasn't the least bit surprised to not see Kyuumaru anywhere.

"Good morning, Kyuumaru," she greeted, stopping just outside of the boundary formed by the half-sphere rocks. "I've been gone for a long time so I'm sure that you don't remember me, but I'm Kushina Uzumaki and I've brought you some food." She bowed. "Please accept my gifts."

With that little formality out of the way, she cautiously set foot on the shrine grounds. She slowly walked up to the shrine's south-facing door and knelt just shy of the doorway. After arranging the leftovers she'd brought from the house and taking a moment to pray to whatever spirits were around to listen for some good luck on this visit, she stood up and turned to leave—

"Gah!"

Kushina tensed at the unexpected scream and then took off running towards it. Locals knew better than to come to the shrine unless they were going to be respectful to the site and Kyuumaru. But maybe someone hadn't gotten around to warning a young adventurous child or some visitor from another of the islands and Kyuumaru had mistaken them for a dangerous intruder.

She scrambled down the winding trail and the brush thinned out as she moved down the hill—

"Sharky, no, wait!"

With a final burst of speed she dashed past a scraggly pine with a twisted trunk and saw the Kurohi she'd encountered on the ferry. There was a shark-like gabite with him that had just halted a charge at another pokémon. And that other pokémon…

Kyuumaru crouched up-slope of them in a full threat display. His pale golden fur bristled, nearly obscuring the red-and-white-striped rope tied around his neck, and his sharp little teeth were bared in a vicious snarl. Nine bushy tails lashed behind him—solid yellow and lacking the orange tips normally characteristic of his kind—and his red eyes blazed. He snorted and a few tiny embers sprayed from his nostrils.

"Sharky, back up," Shun commanded. "We don't want to fight this one."

The gabite hesitated and snarled a protest back at its master. Kyuumaru didn't like what he heard and smoke started to leak from his nostrils and between the gaps in his teeth. Kushina inhaled sharply and stepped off the trail to intercept.

"Sharky," Shun hissed. "We need to back off—"

Kyuumaru was apparently tired of warning them and let loose a roar that drove the gabite back into its ball. Shun paled and stumbled backwards, tripping on a rock and almost falling. With a sharp bark Kyuumaru charged—

"Kyuumaru!" Kushina yelled. "That's enough!"

The ninetales stiffened and turned his glaring ruby eyes on her.

"He's leaving, I'll make sure of it," Kushina promised. "I've left you some food. Please accept it."

For a long minute she feared that Kyuumaru wouldn't listen to her and attack the stupid Kurohi. But then, slowly, his fur smoothed down and his lashing tails stilled. Now that he wasn't so agitated she could see that he was scruffy and the rope looped around his neck was dirty and frayed.

Akane really did give up on him, she thought with a mental frown. The poor fox looks like he hasn't been brushed properly in months. And he needs a new rope, too.

He gave her a hard look before vanishing up the hill like a ghost.

Kushina sighed and stalked over to Shun, grabbed him by the collar of his coat, and started dragging him down the hill.

"You idiot!" she hissed. "Kyuumaru could've set you on fire! What were you thinking?"

"I saw you walking this way and I was worried," the Kurohi sputtered. "I was sure that you were a mainlander—that you wouldn't know about the ninetales… How do you know its name?"

"I was born on this island," Kushina informed him. "And I know all about Kyuumaru—like how to safely approach the Sealed Shrine without pissing him off. What's your excuse for not knowing?"

"I was born on South Uzu," Shun answered, peeling her fingers off his jacket collar. "I only know not to come up here."

"Good, that's all most people need to know," she remarked.

He jogged after her silently before voicing a question. "If I wanted to visit the shrine, how would I approach safely?"

"Stick to the paths at all times, keep all pokémon confined or leave them at home, bring food for Kyuumaru, do not enter the stone circle until you have stated your intentions to Kyuumaru, and be respectful," Kushina listed. "But, really, you just shouldn't come. He doesn't like strangers and I don't feel like doing formal introductions."

"…You know, I didn't catch your name before," he said.

"I know," Kushina replied as she stepped onto the path that would lead her to the nearest beach.

"So…what is your name?" Shun asked.

"Kushina Uzumaki," she reluctantly answered.

"Your red hair made me think of that family," he nodded.

"Yeah, can you quit following me now?" she grumbled.

"I'm sorry, it's just that you're so interesting," Shun chuckled weakly with embarrassment. "Where are you off to now?"

"The sea," she told him. "I have work to do."

"You work?" he blurted out in surprise.

Kushina stopped walking and glaring at him. "Yes, I work. Is there something wrong with that?"

"No, no, no it's fine," he hurriedly assured her. "It's just—aren't you engaged? Doesn't your man support you? You shouldn't need to work."

"I don't suppose I need to work anymore, but I want to," she shrugged. "I'd get bored if I didn't have something to do outside of the house."

"Oh…"

He seemed rather flummoxed by her answer and Kushina took advantage of that by making her escape. Shun didn't follow her and she started to relax. The guy was decent for a Kurohi, but his thinking was just as old-fashioned as any male citizen of Whirlpool Country.

I hope I don't run into him again anytime soon…but if I do, maybe I should steer him to Akane.

Ken-Ichi sighed and dragged a hand over his face. He hadn't given much thought to his offer of leading his possible cousin to the Land of Whirlpools. And he hadn't thought much on the blond's two friends coming along, either.

Now he was starting to regret it.

All three trainers were significantly younger than he was and all they seemed to do was argue. Naruto tried to fill the silence by relating stories of his adventures. Sasuke would scoff at him. Naruto would get offended and start yelling at Sasuke. Sakura would get annoyed with Naruto and yell at him to be quiet. Naruto would profess his innocence, but she wouldn't buy it. Blessed silence would fall for a little while…until Naruto shared more stories and the cycle would begin all over again.

"…and then I lost her," Naruto sighed. "It was so disappointing. She was Yukie Fujikaze, no doubt about it! I really wanted an autograph!"

"Sure she was," Sasuke grunted. "I bet she was just some woman who looks like her, and she kept running away from you because you freaked her out with your autograph requests."

"No, it was her!" Naruto protested. "I saw her in the park with some of her pokémon from her movies!"

"I'm sure that there are plenty of people out there with the same pokémon as her," Sakura reasoned. "Sasuke-kun is probably right. You just stalked some ordinary woman."

"I did not!" the blond boy whined.

"How about we stop for lunch?" Ken-Ichi suggested. "The next town is just around the bend." Maybe they'll be quiet after they fill their stomachs.

"Yeah!" Naruto cheered. "Let's get ramen!"

"Hn," Sasuke grunted.

"Let's get something healthier," Sakura argued.

"Ramen's healthy," Naruto insisted.

The pink-haired girl wrinkled her nose. "No it's not."

"Yeah it is, I eat it all the time and I'm perfectly healthy," Naruto declared.

"What about some place that serves salads?" the girl asked.

"Ew!" Naruto gagged. "Vegetables are disgusting!"

"They're good for you," Sakura informed him. "Vegetables contain all kinds of vitamins and fiber—"

"No way, no vegetables!" the blond boy declared.

"You'll stay short forever, then," Sasuke muttered with a shrug. "I want something with tomatoes in it."

"Salads have tomatoes in them," Sakura said brightly.

"Gah!" Naruto wailed. "Nooo~!"

Ken-Ichi swallowed another sigh and rubbed at his forehead as he felt a headache coming on.

Why me?

Kushina sat perched just behind Tsunami's head as her gyarados plowed through the ocean swells. She'd put her bathing suit on underneath her clothes in case she ended up in the water, but the water was cold and the currents were strong and unpredictable in places so she hoped that getting wet wouldn't be necessary. The GPS device that Professor Utatane had lent her, which was both waterproof and buoyant so that it floated if dropped instead of sinking, kept her oriented towards her goal.

The beach where the professor had found the egg and broken shells was one of the more remote ones, accessible only by the sea and a narrow treacherous road that partially disappeared at high tide. She was a little surprised that the old woman had visited the place, and it was pure luck that she'd arrived in time to save the one unbroken egg. If she had arrived even a few hours later the waves could've crushed it or the cold water could've drowned it.

I wonder what kind of pokémon lays black eggs…

Tsunami cut across the fringes of a small whirlpool and slipped around a rocky point into a C-shaped depression in the sea cliffs. It was high tide so most of the beach was covered by water, but the few high-and-dry spots were the places that she was most interested in. With a little instruction Kushina's gyarados head for what was left of the beach and lowered her armored head so that the red-head could easily dismount.

She picked her way over the beach carefully, peeking under every sizeable rock (of which there were many) for anything that Koharu might've missed. But aside from a few tiny eggshell fragments that she sealed in specimen jars and some wooden planks left from the destroyed crate, she didn't find anything. It was about what she'd expected to find so she wasn't terribly disappointed and she just moved on.

However, just as Tsunami surged back out into open water Kushina spied a fishing boat in the distance.

"Hey, let's go talk to them," she said. "Maybe they've seen something."

The boat was typical of most independent fishing vessels that based themselves in Uzu no Kuni. It was small, old, and equipped to be a generalist. There were metal and wire traps for crabs, nets for shrimp and small fish, and long lines for larger fish on board. Whatever was in season they could fish for it, and make just enough money to keep the boat running and the fishermen paid.

When Tsunami slithered over to pace alongside the slow-moving boat there was no one out on deck. A loud sharp whistle received no response. But when her gyarados bellowed, three fishermen tripped over themselves in their haste to appear.

"Good afternoon!" she called, fighting down a bit of laughter. "Permission to come aboard?"

The three men, all of them around the age of her father, gaped at her in shock. One of them eventually shook himself free of his surprise and scrambled up to the small pilot house where the captain presumably was. And shortly after that he returned with a fourth man, clearly the master of the ship.

The captain radiated authority and toughness as he almost strolled over the deck to the side of his ship. He was balding with a short grizzled beard and a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth. She didn't know him personally but judging by the black horizontal tattoo that ran underneath his eyes and across the bridge of his nose he was part of the Kurokawa clan.

He gave her a long hard look before speaking. "What sort of foolishness is this?"

"What do you mean, Captain?" Kushina asked, projecting as much innocence as she could. "I just wanted to visit your boat so that I could ask if any of you had seen any weird exotic pokémon around. But…I guess I could just stay over here and ask you, too."

"'Weird exotic pokémon'?" he drawled and braced one forearm on the rail. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, I've been hearing some rumors about mystery pokémon in the ocean," she said. "Pokémon that no one's ever seen before in these parts. I love rare pokémon and it would be so great if I could catch one!" she cried with starry eyes. "Have you or your crew seen anything, Captain?" she asked with a slight pout.

Come on, I'm a silly simple girl. Take pity on my sad pretty face. Tell me something!

"Hmm…" The captain plucked at his lip before making his decision. "Well, if you keep going down the coast you might—might—be able to find something around the Wingull Rocks. But be careful little girl. The currents are really strong around those islets; lots of whirlpools."

"I'll be careful," she beamed and patted her gyarados on the head. "Tsunami will take good care of me."

"I can't say that I've ever seen a girl with a gyarados before," the captain remarked.

"I like to be different," Kushina shrugged cheerfully and waved. "Thank you very much, Captain!"

"That would be Captain Kaito," he corrected, an expression similar to a smile cracking through his stern façade.

"Thank you Captain Kaito," Kushina waved again and urged Tsunami away from the boat. "Bye-bye!"

As soon as she was out of sight of the boat, Kushina relaxed with a sigh. She rarely enjoyed playing at being a flaky girly-girl, but it had seemed like the best course of action. If she'd been her usual self—blunt and a bit abrasive—they were less likely to tell her anything, and they might've gotten suspicious enough of her to warn their buddies. And if they had smuggling ties, and she seemed naïve enough and played up her cute feminine wiles, they might risk sharing a little inside information like…where some crew had lost a shipment of rare pokémon.

Perhaps that's Professor Utatane's problem, she mused. People know that she's smart and if they tell her things she'll put the pieces together and sniff out smugglers, even though that's a job for the police. But a shallow cute girl that hungers for rare pokémon is safer to talk to…

"Well, you heard the captain," she said to Tsunami. "Let's hit the Wingull Rocks!"

The female gyarados bellowed and surged on ahead towards their new destination.

Kenjiro shoved his hands into his pockets and surveyed the main battle pool at the heart of his gym. He and his sons had set up the old, rarely used bleachers on one side for the media and any spectators that turned up. The mural that depicted Mito-sama was now half-covered, but the mural of the founder of the Uzumaki would be in clear view of the audience and the cameras.

"When was the last time that anyone used these things?" Arashi grunted as he tested the wooden planks to see if any of them needed repairs or replacement.

"My uncle would sometimes set them up for outdoor battles on the low side of the island," Kenjiro answered.

"It's been a long time since he was leader here," Kenshin remarked. "We're lucky these things didn't completely rot."

His twin sons, Ichi-Tora and Ni-Tora, brought in some fresh wooden boards to replace several benches that had already been identified as bad. Their slowbro and slowking used their psychic powers to carefully levitate the planks through the gym and deposit them near the bleachers. Meanwhile Kenshin began directing his kabutops to cut out the bad wood with its scythe-like forearms.

"I wonder if this foreign trainer is going to show up early or not," Arashi said as he carefully paced along the higher benches.

"If he's smart he'll come early and scout the gym to maximize his chances of winning," Kenshin replied. "If he's arrogant, he'll turn up just in time or late and come in blind, trusting his monsters to make up for his lack of preparation."

Arashi smirked. "Anyone want to make a bet—"

"No," they all responded simultaneously.

"Okay, okay fine!" Arashi grumbled.

Kenjiro frowned at his youngest son. Arashi seemed incapable of taking his problem and his situation seriously. It was doubtful that the young man had any idea of how extensive his debts really were, and since he rarely made any payments on them it only got bigger and bigger. Kenjiro now dreaded the days when it came time to pay Arashi his salary for working in the gym because he knew that it wouldn't last long.

I almost wish that I could fire him, he sighed. But he does his job well enough, and cutting off his only source of income won't do anything to shrink his debt.

As he supervised his sons' repair job, the fingers of his right hand traced the outline of his gym's badge in his pocket. It was a white disk carved from a seashell that had a tight spiral etched into it. A distant cousin of his handmade all the badges that he handed out to successful challengers in addition to making jewelry out of shells to support himself.

It was not only the symbol of his gym, but of his ancient clan. In other lands the symbols of gyms either represented the specialization or some abstract shape that suited the leader's fancy. But in the Land of Whirlpools all gym badges were based on the ancient crests of the clans that ran the gyms, which gave them greater significance.

There had once been five gyms in their nation's pokémon league—one gym for each of the five islands. The Uzumaki Gym proved the strength of water on Central Uzu, the Kinomoto Gym demonstrated the strength of grass on South Uzu, the Biyokuchi Gym proved the power of fighting on East Uzu, the Retsukai Gym had shown the power of ice on North Uzu, and the Hoshitama Gym on West Uzu attested to the strength of steel. But then, shortly after Kenjiro had taken over leadership if his gym, the Hoshitama Gym had collapsed…

That was when things really started to fall apart, he thought, still rubbing on the badge in his pocket. The Hoshitama Gym closed and no one stepped forward to revive it. Then the old league champion, Takeshi Kurohi, died and no one got around to setting up a tournament to select a successor. And now I have to resort to this to get enough money to keep my own gym functioning.

It made him want to spit. Uzu no Kuni's Pokémon League was one of the oldest in continuous existence. All of their gyms predated any formal league and all were still family-owned by the same bloodlines that had founded them. And now after centuries of success their long tradition of pokémon training and battling seemed to be nearing collapse.

To think that I might live to see the end of our League…

Kenjiro shook himself and focused on the present. His gym needed to be prepared for the coming special challenger. And in a few days he would face this foreigner and educate him on the power of water, just as he did for young trainers seeking to earn his respect and badge.

I will treat him just the same as everyone else.