659I Don't Own Naruto or Pokémon!
Bonds – Chapter 4
It had been a long while since Naruto had seen his mother so hysterically worried – so long he'd nearly forgotten how utterly crazy it made her look. The last time she was so worked up was when he left home to start his Pokémon journey, and had actually stalled him for an hour before she let him go. Seeing her dote and cry over her other child was quite a unique experience; instead of feeling a little sad and guilty, it made him feel really warm. His mother was truly a loving and caring mother and she wanted nothing more than to have her children safe and at home. Even with Minato holding her back, Kushina had her arms wrapped around her baby girl and continued to look over her, trying to find if there was anything she missed or lacked on her journey.
"Mom, don't worry," whispered Mito with a small smile, "I have everything packed and accounted for. And I'm not going to be alone on the road," she continued as she gestured to Ash, May, Max and Brock, who were all looking Kushina with a little shock. "They've been traveling for years already, so I'm sure I'll be fine."
Ash nodded with a smile, "Mito's right, Aunt Kushina. We'll make sure she's safe and fine. We promise."
Kushina sighed and nodded rather reluctantly, "Okay, but you have to call us every night before you go to bed."
Mito smiled and nodded as her mother released her, "I will, mom. I promise." The girl patted her pant pocket, gesturing to her PokéNav, in which she had saved her parents' number along with her brother's, listing them as the first, second and third speed-dials respectively.
"Alright, I think you're good to go…" uttered Kushina as tears welled in her eyes.
Minato hugged his wife close with one arm as he ruffled his princess' hair, smiling down at her. "I'm proud of you, Mito. Now have fun on your journey and be sure to treat your Pokémon well."
"I will, daddy."
Naruto smiled at his baby sister as he walked up to her, looking down the road she was going to trek, and couldn't help but think back to the time he first left home. It was so many years ago, but was still vivid in his memory. Just like his sister, he had his Charmander by his side, and with a heart full of ambition and a mind filled with knowledge, he was certain that he'd succeed. He knew his sister wasn't like the old him at all, but he was even more certain that she'd make something of herself by her own terms – just as she had in their family. "Good luck, Mito. Feel free to call me if you have any questions or problems." Naruto patted her head and grinned as she giggled at him, "And make sure to train hard. Maybe when you're older, you can beat even Cynthia in a battle."
Mito's smile grew, "You got it, Naru-nii!"
"We'll see you in a month," said Minato with a loving smile to his princess.
"Okay." Mito started to step close to her friends as they made their way down the road, "Bye, bye!"
Kushina sniffled, "Bye, baby. Be safe!"
"I will. I love you!"
Naruto could only smile as his mother leaned against his father as soon as Mito was out of sight. It wouldn't be the first time he marveled at how loving and affection his parents were after so many years of marriage – they were still deeply passionate and in love. Despite his father's annoyance and anger of other men – all his mother's previous suitors – trying to hit on his mother, everyone knew there was no risk. There was no way that Kushina would ever betray Minato's trust – that was just how true and strong their marriage was. After so many years of being together with Cynthia, Naruto could only hope that they would turn out to be as happy and at peace as his parents.
Kushina suddenly pulled away from her husband's warm embrace and sent her son a stern glare, "Naruto Namikaze!" cried ordered, making Naruto gulp. "You're not going anywhere for the next month and the month after! I don't care if you're busy with your ice cream or traveling! You're going to stay home with me and your father and we're going to live as a family. I won't have both my babies away from home!"
The young champion gulped again, "You got it, mom. I don't plan to leave for a while." Honest to himself, Naruto had really been hoping that Cynthia would grow to love Pallet Town and wouldn't mind staying for a while. He had been wanting to show his childhood home to his lover for a long time and it would be heavenly if she would agree to build a small home there. They would still keep their apartment in Sinnoh and their villa in Unova, but having another home in Pallet Town would make him feel closer to home. "In fact, I have something planned for next month."
"Hey, Naruto!" called out a sudden voice before Minato or Kushina could enquire more on their son. "The professor told me to come bring you this." Tracey, the assistant to Professor Oak, smiled as he handed a small box to Naruto. "He wanted to keep this safe in the lab, but seeing how you're back, we thought that it might be better for the egg if you kept it with you."
Naruto gladly accepted the box, "Thank you, Tracy. Please tell the old man that I'll take good care of this."
"Of course." The assistant quickly left, jogging back to the lab.
Kushina smiled at the sight, having calmed from her daughter leaving, "Oh, it's really been a long time since I've seen this." The mother of two will always remember how the strange Pokémon Egg ended up inside Naruto's crib the moment he came home from the hospital. She and Minato had thought some stranger had made it into the house and very close to their baby – it really scared them at the time. Minato had rigged their entire home with the most advanced security technology in the world to make sure that nothing would ever harm his wife and son, but no signs of forced entry was ever detected. "Seeing you with your pet egg again really makes me think back to when you're a small boy! You were so cute holding onto the egg everywhere you went, including the bath!"
Naruto sighed, "Please don't bring that up."
Minato chuckled, "This egg sure brings back memories."
"You know, I've always thought that he swirls on the egg look like our old family symbol." Kushina rubbed her chin in thought as they all made their way back to their house. "The Uzumaki Clan adopted the use of the whirlpool for centuries already, and it looks really close to the markings on the egg." She smiled, "If this egg really can survive for so long, we could make it into a small family heirloom!"
Her husband laughed, "Sure, it would be quite the interesting gift."
Naruto looked down at the egg, 'I wonder what kind of Pokémon is inside it…'
Night swiftly came and Naruto found himself inside his childhood room, smiling at the nostalgia. It had certainly been quite a while since he'd last seen his room, but none had changed with time – his mother had kept everything spotless. Just as before, the top of his dresser was stacked with picture frames depicting the various stages of his journey – his first badge, his first championship, and his Hall of Fame photo. Right next to the frames were all his Gym Badges, all packed neatly into badge cases from each region; and next to them was his Indigo League Trophy. Almost all his accomplishments, neatly placed inside his room. And now, with a strange sense of nostalgia and irony, his Pokémon Egg rested next to all those achievements. In a way, it was his constant; no matter how many years he had been gone or how much he had changed, the egg had always been with him.
With a smile, Naruto sat down on his bed. Even after sleeping in it the previous night, it was still much smaller than he had remembered. Perhaps the bed he shared with Cynthia back in their apartment was too big, but he wasn't used to being so close to the edges of the bed. But either way, it didn't feel as comfortable as it did when he was younger. He had a feeling that nothing had changed with the bed – it was him that changed. He had grown to like softer beds and had grown to love having Cynthia cuddling up against him for the night. Without her, all beds would feel lacking.
Naruto was really starting to miss his lover, and he couldn't help but reach for his phone.
After four long dialing-tones, he smiled at the silky voice of his love. "Miss me too much to sleep?"
"Yes," he replied with his smile widening, "I'm not used to not having you next to me in bed."
Cynthia's giggle still sounded cute over the phone, "Tell me about it. The bed is huge for only one person, and no matter how I hug the pillow, it's just not the same." Over the years, the Sinnoh Champion had grown used to having her lover's warm body as her personal pillow, "This makes me miss the time when we were stuck in Kalos and had to share a sleeping bag." It was a little odd for her back then – embarrassing really – since they hadn't started dating yet, but the cold night never felt warmer with Naruto's arms wrapped around her. "Lucian is really going to pay for this in our battle."
Naruto gave a small laugh, "Kick his ass for me, honey."
"So how was your day?" Cynthia asked as she lay on their usual bed, feeling a little warmer. "Mito left for her journey, right?"
"Yeah, she did just this morning." Sitting down on his small bed, he continued, "She's going to travel with a group of friends around Kanto for a while and meet us at Indigo Plateau next month." Both champions unknowingly smiled at the thought of their days together in the Kanto Region – traveling around with backpacks, cooking for themselves in the forests, visiting amazing places, and challenging all the gyms. "Man, this brings me back. Do you remember the time when we went on that cruise in Vermillion City?"
"How could I forget? That was when you decided stand at the bow of the ship and almost fell into the water." She couldn't help but laugh at the memory, "If Garchomp was a little slower you would've landed in the water and killed yourself." Naruto shared a laugh, "Oh, we had a great time in Kanto. Mito is going to have a blast traveling around."
"I think so too, but my parents are still quite worried. Mom especially; she doesn't want her baby girl to get hurt out in the real world."
Cynthia nodded to herself, "Well, it can be a dangerous place, I guess. But she's with friends and they'd take care of her."
Naruto paused and wondered if he should speak his mind, and ultimately decided to go for it, "Hey, when you become a mother, do you think you'd have a hard time letting your child start their journey?"
Cynthia surprised Naruto with her lack of hesitation. "I'd be worried about them for sure, but if they are anything like me, I wouldn't be too worried." Naruto smiled at her chipper tone, "But I'm sure their father's genes would make me worry. I wouldn't want any children of mine to go on a twenty miles hike up a frozen wasteland with barely enough equipment to scale a small hill, nor would I want to see them go spelunking into caves miles underground just so they could find a Pokémon fossil."
Naruto smiled and climbed under his sheets, "So…already have the father picked out, huh?"
"Yes, but he's still a flight-risk." Naruto could mentally see the gleeful smile on his lover's face, "Nonetheless, he's cute and sweet. And on a good day, he can probably give me a decent battle. Not to mention that he makes the best ice cream in the world. I hear that babies tend to inherit their mother's taste for food, so when I have children, I'd want a man like that." Cynthia hugged her pillow, feeling very warm, "The father, who should know who he is, should start training a Chansey for a nanny, because I want a big family. At least four kids – three boys and one girl."
"Only four?" Naruto added with a grin, "I'm hoping we'd have enough for a family Pokémon League."
Cynthia giggled and rolled over on her bed, "Then our apartment certainly wouldn't be big enough. We'd have to get another place – a nice house with a big back yard in a quiet neighborhood where no annoying reporters would be bothering us." She gave another soft laugh, "But anyway, why the sudden baby talk? You want to be a daddy?"
"I'd want to be a daddy if you were the mommy." Naruto switched off the lights and rested comfortably under his sheets, "It'd be really nice. Imagine us and our children, just living together in our house with all our Pokémon around. We can teach them how to ride on the Pokémon's back and how to make ice cream with Yuki and Chichi." Cynthia could only smile at the thought of such a life, "The boys will probably want to learn how to battle, but if our little girl is anything like her mother, she'd kick her brothers' butts. And wow, there will be so much blond hair around the house!"
"I would love that," Cynthia whispered into the phone, "I want that more than anything."
Naruto's smile was perpetual, "I'd love to give it a try. You know me – I've always been a hardcore fan of our nightly baby making activities."
"Well," muttered his beautiful girlfriend sultrily, "If you make me a nice dinner and the Cynthia Special next month, I'll definitely give you a fun night~"
"Oh, baby, I'd teleport back to Sinnoh now if I can!"
Cynthia giggled again, "You can wait a month, baby."
The Namikaze chuckled with a sigh, "Oh, I love you, honey."
"I love you, too."
Just like that, lying in the dark and cozy room, under his sheets, Naruto chatted with Cynthia into the night. It made them both feel more at home – which, to the two of them, was where the other was. They may not have been cuddled up with their legs tangled together and all, but it was close enough. The least the voice of their other half could do was to provide them with a good night of sleep.
And perhaps a good dream.
It was in Kalos, Lumiose City – the most romantic place in the region – also known as the City of Lights. In all of Naruto's life, that was probably one of his happiest days. Not only had he and Cynthia earned themselves a badge from the Lumiose City Gym earlier that day, they had the best time touring the city. For once in their very busy lives, they took time off and spent the day having fun like regular people their age. They didn't think about following their training schedule, their physical workout regimen, their activity logs for future references – they even turned down some challenges from other trainers around town. The entire day was accompanied by beautiful music and wonderful scenery.
They didn't bother to go to the Pokémon Centre; instead, they went to the Pokémon Boutique and shopped to their hearts' content. Never had Cynthia thought her dear Garchomp would look better with a pink bow around her neck nor with a simple crystal bracelet, but somehow, it worked. Though Naruto had a much harder time trying to convince Amaterasu to wear a beret – every time he place the hat on, the Charizard would burn it to ashes. By the end of their shopping time, Naruto had to pay for over ten hats.
"Why'd you buy another one?" asked Cynthia with exasperated laugh, "He already burned ten berets; the eleventh one will end up just the same."
"He can give up on me giving up," the young man replied with a smirk, "I will get a picture of him wearing this."
"Come on," the girl muttered as she walked on ahead, "Let's find something to eat."
The Kalos Region was the fifth region Naruto and Cynthia had travelled through together, and would probably be the last before they challenge their respective region's Elite Four. So far, it had become Cynthia's third favorite region – trailing behind Sinnoh and Unova. The food was amazing, the people were nice, the Pokémon were incredibly interesting, and the ice cream was nearly as good as the ones in Sinnoh. And perhaps travelling would feel different at age fifteen than at age eleven, but the entire region, especially Lumiose City felt much more romantic than any other place.
"I know a place," Naruto quickly answered, "It's called Sushi High Roller. Apparently it's the most famous restaurant in town and it doesn't serve just anyone." Cynthia was intrigued as her best friend smirked, "It only receives Pokémon Trainers who have earned the title of League Champion. It can be any of the major regions, but you must have won a Major Pokémon League to be able to eat in this restaurant." For once, their status as Champions of the Indigo and Sinnoh Leagues proved useful for something other than their right to battle the Elite Four. "That's not all, however. In order to receive service, the champions must battle the trainers hired by the restaurant, and if they manage to win, they get to have the restaurant's most luxurious meal for free. And the final twist: these must be triple battles!"
Cynthia grew excited and smirked, "That sounds very interesting." She gave Naruto a look, "Let's go get a free dinner, Indigo League Champ!"
Perhaps the restaurant make some mistakes when they hired the trainers to take on the champions, because they didn't really do their jobs. Naruto let Cynthia go first – because ladies first – and she had battle against a girl named Cilantha. The Kalos girl was decent and was probably much better than the regular trainer, but against Cynthia's Garchomp, Milotic and Lucario, she was lucky she lasted a minute. Maybe because she was angry for having to wear a pink bow, but Cynthia's Garchomp was much more aggressive than normal and managed to defeat two of the three of Cilantha's Pokémon herself with one very powerful Giga Impact. Then that last fell almost immediately after to a barrage of two Brick Breaks and one Dragon Tail.
Cynthia was kind enough to wait for Naruto before she ordered, and the restaurant did its best to keep her waiting. The owner himself came out of the lounge and faced Naruto – his name was Kazu and looked a little like Jervis, Cynthia's Butler back in Unova. He thought he felt the need to protect his restaurant's good name and sought to badly defeat Naruto, but he had no idea that triple battles were Naruto's specialty. More than once, Cynthia had thought to herself that Naruto may be the best trainer in the world when it came to triple battles. All his teams were built like cohorts and each member would enhance the strength of the others. So, with his two Greninja and Goodra, Naruto wiped the floor with Kazu. It wasn't as short as Cynthia's battle, but it was only longer by ten seconds.
"Man, they really have great food here." Naruto sipped on a glass of cold soda as he patted his belly, "I haven't eaten this much for a long time."
Cynthia was halfway through her fifth sundae and nodded with a smile, "Yeah, even the Pokémon food is great." All twelve of their Pokémon were each provided with as much food as they could eat and they nearly cleaned the restaurant out – Amaterasu finished eight servings by himself. "And this ice cream~"
The Indigo League Champion smiled fondly at his best friend, "I bet you'd rather have a life-time supply of ice cream than become the Sinnoh Champion."
After taking a nice picture for the restaurant to place on their Wall of Fame, the duo left with full stomachs and smiling faces. They wandered through the town and took in the beautiful night lights. Prism Tower – where they both received their badges a few hours ago – acted as a tall beacon as they trekked through the busy streets filled with young couples and small families. It was unlike any other town they had visited before – none even came close. They walked a full circle around the city – from North Boulevard to South Boulevard and back to North again, talking and laughing all the way, eating ice cream from each vendor that sold them.
But finally, they experienced their first share of bad luck that day – or did they? Hotel Richissime was fully booked with no vacancy due to the high volume of tourists and so were all the other inns and motels in the area. Cynthia did suggest they go to the Pokémon Centre and spend the night there, but Naruto had another idea.
"You're kidding, right?"
"Oh, come on. It's not a big deal, and look at the view from here!" Naruto asked his Gallade to teleport the two of them to near the top of the Prism Tower – right into a nice and big balcony. It overlooked the entire city and gave an amazing view of the clear night sky. "Don't worry about falling; this is a balcony and we won't roll over the three-foot glass railings."
"But I tore my sleeping bag last week, remember? I threw it out a few days ago." Cynthia sighed, "Let's just go to the Pokémon Centre and-"
"You can share my sleeping bag."
Cynthia nearly choked, "W-What?!"
"There's enough room in it," he said with a small blush as he stepped closer to the girl, "And I really want to do this. Come on, don't you want to spend a night overlooking the City of Lights? Just the two of us, looking at the stars on the ground and in the sky." Cynthia's blush almost glowed as bright as the buildings down below, "This is the most romantic city we've ever been in and I don't want to miss the chance."
"F-Fine…"
The sleeping bag may have looked out of place, but having Naruto's arms wrapped around her felt perfect. It was warm and snuggly, and it was then that Cynthia realized just how amazing a pillow Naruto made. She didn't bother with the scenery – and neither did Naruto for that matter – she was a little overwhelmed by how right it felt to be so close to her best friend. She had never lied so close to him before – she could feel his heartbeat with her cheek. At that moment – just before they both fell asleep in each other's arms – they knew they were madly in love with each other…
The sound of crashing waves was thundering and made Naruto wake with a jolt, but he immediately realized that he was no longer lying in his sleeping bag with his beautiful girlfriend. No, he was on his feet, standing upright. And most importantly, he was no longer in his bedroom, or Pallet Town for that matter – nowhere near the small town would one ever find such violent and powerful waves. The ground shook as tons of water roared with defiance, and Naruto felt feeble and weak as he stood atop a cliff – as if the ground was a mere weak shield against the almighty attacks of the sea.
And just like any weak shield, the ground shattered into pieces.
As he fell into the dark waters and the high winds brushed against his face, he didn't feel any fear. Lightning from the black clouds illuminated the sea in a series of flashes, and revealed the large forming whirlpool to him. It was gigantic – spanning nearly a mile in diameter and spawned sixty-foot waves in its wake. It was…a maelstrom. It was deafening – the wind, the thunder, and the roaring waves. Such was the power of nature.
Just before Naruto plummeted into the deadly vortex, something swept in from under him and carried him off.
"Wow, we're not ready for that yet, Fishcake!"
Naruto had no idea what was happening, but he realized that he was riding on the back of some Pokémon. It had long wings that stretched magnificently to the sides and a wide back that provided more than enough space for him. It had a white body that had small blue flaps along its back, and it was powerful. Naruto felt the winds conform and obey the Pokémon's movements and the waves follow after its soar.
"Who are you?" His head was seriously starting to hurt and he strained to get words out, but he needed to ask.
"You mean you still don't recognize me?" Naruto didn't know why, but he felt like he should know the Pokémon's name. "You named me all those years ago; how can you forget? It's me, Susanoo!" Naruto's eyes widened as an old memory rushed into his mind. Susanoo was what he named his egg when he was five. His grandfather had just finished telling him a story about an ancient clan of people who worshiped a Storm and Sea God whose name was Susanoo, and he decided to name his first Pokémon after such a powerful deity. "You remember me now, right? Of course you do! You wouldn't forget your first Pokémon!"
"Y…You were never born," he muttered as he winds and pressure made his pain worsen.
"And whose fault was that?" The Pokémon flew higher and higher into the sky and soon pierced the thunder clouds, reaching the summit of a clear blue sky. "I was ready to hatch, but you were never ready! I've been trying to reach you ever since I was able to speak! But would you listen? No! You were always researching and reading on other Pokémon and how to make them as strong as possible. Then when you were older you went off and started to train all those Pokémon and totally forgot about me; and no matter how hard I tried to visit you, you were always too far away. And the few times you came back to town, all you had in your mind was that girl!" Naruto was nearly unconscious from the pain, but he strained to listen on. "Miraculously, you came back two days ago and was finally in the right state of mind. My communications finally reached you!"
"What does that mean?"
"It means that you have to wake up now," the Pokémon muttered before it dove down and threw Naruto from its back. "Go find me because I'm finally going to be born!'
Naruto cried out as he fell from the sky and plunged through the clouds, but he soon passed out…
Naruto woke with a jolt – in reality this time. Subconsciously, he was immediately relieved that Cynthia wasn't sleeping next to him – that last thing he wanted was to knock her from the bed. But that thought merely lingered for a few brief second as he jumped from his bed and sped toward his dresser. It was dark and his eyes were blurry, but he faintly heard something shaking or vibrating. His heart was beating through his chest because of the dream, he still rushed to switch on the lights before he ran back to the egg, rubbing his eyes so he'd see clearly.
"Oh, my god…" he muttered to himself as he opened the box in which the egg rested, "This is actually happening."
The egg was causing all the shaking and vibrating, but that wasn't the strangest phenomenon. It was actually glowing. A bright blue light emitted from within the shell and even with his bright yellow lights on, it shown brilliantly in the room. The glow was pulsating, like a heartbeat. And it was becoming increasingly bright, in conjunction to the increasingly violent shakes and vibrations. Naruto watched in amazement as the started to expand – one side of it was stretched out, as if something was trying to force through the shell from the inside.
Some of his badges cases started to fall of the dresser and his trophies fell the ground, making Naruto take a step back.
"What is going on?" asked a sudden voice that made Naruto jump. "What are you doing, son?"
"It's the middle of the night, Naruto."
"Dad, Mom!" exclaimed Naruto with vigor that surprised his parents, who were both standing by his door, "Come here!" The champion noticed his parents' expression shift from groggy to shock and awe, "The egg! It's…Its moving and shaking! I think it is finally going to hatch!"
Minato immediately reached into his pocket and held out his PokéNav, filming the entire scene. "I…I can't believe this. I never actually thought anything would come out of this egg."
"Why is it glowing?" whispered Kushina as she held onto her husband's arm, "And shaking so violently?"
Everybody's breath hitched when the first crack appeared on the surface of the egg – a small little spider crack. But soon more appeared, each one larger than the last. Then the glow became perpetual and started to shine brighter and brighter…until the shell blasted opened. Minato hugged Kushina and protected her from the shell pieces and Naruto stood in front of both his parents to keep them safe, but there was no danger, and all of them were sure of that when they turned to see the hatched egg.
"Luuu, Lugia."
The End!
Well, that was the fourth chapter, and I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. I just love the pairing in this story and I love writing the fluffy scenes between them, so I'm sorry if it was a little too much.
Anyways, Lugia is born! How will that change Naruto's life? And will it change it more or less than him having babies with Cynthia?!
PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW! XD AGAIN, I WILL UPDATE FASTER WITH MORE REVIEWS! XD