Pokénin 020 (Pokemon/Naruto)

As they were swimming, Tekai was slowly getting annoyed with himself that he had invited Clair along. 

Not because she was bothersome-although the curt ‘princess’ persona she insisted upon was beginning to grate on his nerves-no, he was more so irritated that he had to slow down due to her lack of speed and stamina. 

To Tekai, it was like knowing it took only 30 minutes to commute to work on average, but since a coworker wanted to tag along, it added an extra 20 minutes to the commute. Not the worst thing to occur, but damn was it really beginning to grind his gears! 

The only solace was that he got to spend more time swimming with Gil. 

‘Attack. Mate. Dominate!’ 

‘Not helping Gil.’ Tekai sighed to himself as his horny magikarp once again egged him on.

But Gil's basic emotes got him thinking. 

“Yo, Clair, can you see what I'm doing? Try copying my movements.” 

“Why would I want to look at you.” 

“Okay miss average speed. Don't you want to impress my big brother? I think he wouldn't notice someone so slow~” Tekai taunted. 

“...just swim.” 

Tekai hid his grin, pretending to wipe his face as he saw the fires of competition burning in Clair's eyes. 

The cerulean haired girl may not be as openly driven as Zinnia, but she had her own pride. 

“Sure, sure, but if we can reach Blackthorn sometime in the next 20 minutes, I'll hand the salon voucher over. What'dya say?” 

“Just swim, I'm looking aren't I?” Clair replied with a huff. 

‘Hook line and sinker.’

“Karp Karp Karp.” Gil chuckled at her, and swam around Clair in a literal circle. 

Tekai swore he heard her grinding her teeth, yet she remained silent, and seemed to be genuinely looking at his form. 

Deciding he had messed with her enough, Tekai earnestly started to swim, and telegraphed his moves so that she could get a better read on them. 

After ten minutes had passed, they had reached halfway to their destination. 

Whilst Clair hadn't mastered the Dragons Ascent, she did pick up the basics.

It just went to show how much of a monster she was with her comprehension. She was on some Naruto timing, just like how he grasped the Shadow Clone jutsu in only a handful of glances. 

Filing away this knowledge, Tekai made sure to remain vigilant should he ever meet another character from the Pokémon games. Especially the Gym Leaders, Elite Four, and Champions. 

Seeing the smug pride on Clair's face, Tekai really wanted to tease her. However, good performance deserved praise. 

“Good job, Clair. I expect nothing less from one of my friends.” Tekai turned back and gave her a thumbs up. 

“Hmph, who's your friend.” Clair glumly but back. 

“Sea, sea!” Horsea cheerily chirped. 

“Quiet you.” Clair grumbled. 

Tekai let loose with a bemused chuckle, and was going to say something in retort, however, his ears perked, and he heard a distressingly familiar noise. 

It was the kind of sizzling hiss that coincided with the activation of an explosive tag! 

Not only that, but there were multiple of such instances. 

Turning to his left, out towards the lake, Tekai saw a child-sized, tanto wielding, masked figure standing on the water.

And heading right at them were five explosive laden kunai!

No! They were aimed at the water just in front of, and beside them. 

The ninja was trying to go blast fishing. To take them out with the concussive force, like a depth charge sinking a submarine! 

Without thinking, Tekai gripped Clair by the arm, and used everything he had to swim towards the shore, away from the attack. 

“Quick, return horsea!” Tekai said mid flight, and then addressed Gil at the same time. “Gil, go notify Cynthia that we're in danger, I'm counting on you!”  

“Karp!” Gil replied, and set off back to the beach house at an incredibly fast speed. His Swift Swim ability making him one of the best Pokémon when it came to moving in water. 

Clair didn't buckle under pressure, and followed Tekai's instructions. 

Running into the forest, Tekai knew that the route was just ahead, and that judging by their location, they could reach the tree fort outpost if they sprinted at full speed for the next 5 minutes. 

However, that plan was swiftly dashed as he saw an inky nightmare looking creature emerge from the darkness. It didn’t look anything like an animal or Pokemon, and was more akin to what someone might imagine a yokai or evil spirit to look like.

‘Konoha.’ Tekai thought to himself, and hissed as he was eerily reminded of Sai's ink style jutsu when he saw these things. 

As they advanced, Tekai had less than 30 seconds to make a plan, so he spoke his thoughts aloud to Clair, to get her input. 

“The outpost is in front of us, but the path is dark and riddled with trees. It is an optimal spot for ambush, and we are clueless as to the enemies numbers. Furthermore, we were herded in this direction, and it is a reasonable assumption that these inky monsters are weak to water. I say we about face, and confront the ninja on the Lake of Rage.” Tekai spoke a million seconds a minute, and communicated his plan. 

“A dragon does not flee in the face of danger.” Clair replied with an arrogant statement. 

Tekai's eyes bugged out, and he looked at Clair as if she were an idiot of the highest order. 

On one hand, he could see the appeal of forcing their way through. After all, these ink constructs could be much weaker than any shinobi. However, the vast forest kind of spooked Tekai, and the fact that they knew this was a trap that funneled them in this direction made him want to return to the water, where he was fastest. 

Tekai sharply inhaled, then tried to persuade Clair with something that might appeal to her foolish sense of vanity. 

“Killing the masked man takes priority. He is a coward, surely he is more deserving of our attention than these soulless things. By advancing into the forest, we would be retreating to the tree fort outpost. Let us instead fight it out with the ninja.” Tekai reasoned, and then, without giving her any chance at a rebuttal, launched himself back towards the water line. 

Hearing the crunch of leaves behind him, Tekai knew his companion had followed. 

Running forward, Tekai saw the masked figure jumping in their direction, doubtlessly with the intent to flank and murder them whilst they were occupied with the ink creatures. 

Perhaps the ninja was surprised by Tekai's quick turnaround, yet they didn't show it as six shuriken zoomed at him. 

Performing a quick set of hand signs, Tekai's palm glittered a soft white, and he deflected one of the oncoming attacks, whilst dodging the other two.  

Meanwhile, Clair pulled out her whip, and blocked the shuriken aimed at her. 

Ears perking, Tekai knew that the ink monsters would be here soon. 

They had to finish this fight fast. 

Evidently Clair thought so too, and she let loose with a powerful Dragons Breath at the ninja. 

The masked shinobi flipped in the air, and performed a substitution with a nearby log. 

When the ninja poofed away, they made a noise where they landed. The log's original location that the ninja had swapped with created the tiniest of sounds. 

‘There!’

Jumping up a tree, and moving towards that position, Tekai had gone into a full Dragons Rage, and was releasing a baleful aura. 

Speed greatly increased, Tekai did an axe kick down on top of the ninja's head just as they transitioned back into real time from the jutsu. 

Unprepared for such speed, the ninja took a devastating hit, and their neck twisted sideways, causing them to collapse. 

Tekai wasn't taking any chances that the body wouldn't be rigged to explode, and he withdrew his staff from his back, inserted chakra into it, and stabbed it through the ninja's heart. The purple-azure dragon natured chakra entered the ninja’s body, and burnt it from the inside. 

In one swift motion, he confirmed his enemy's death, and he used the staff like a pogo stick, and launched himself far away from the corpse towards the water. 

A second later, an explosion occurred, affirming Tekai's cautious behavior. 

“Clair, to the water! If you still wish to fight, we must do so with favorable conditions. Do not let arrogance be your downfall!” Tekai was quick to shout as he dove into the Lake of Rage. 

Leaf ninja typically travelled in squads of 3 or 4, but it wasn't unheard of for them to move in larger groups. They also had Pokémon with them, meaning they vastly outnumbered both him and Clair, so it was in his best interest to escape. 

Right now Tekai wanted to get away from the forest asap. Rushing to fight an unknown enemy was the height of foolishness. 

Cutting off his Dragons Rage so that he didn't needlessly burn his chakra, Tekai hissed as he had already spent a good 15% of his energy just from that brief exchange. 

A moment later, Clair splashed into the water next to him. 

Glancing back, Tekai saw two more masked ninja both of them also being on the shorter side, and three Pokémon. A smeargle was drawing up a winged ink monster, and the two ninja seemed to be waiting for it to finish. The other two Pokémon were a nuzleaf, and a dartrix.

‘Just fucking great, nuzleaf is a grass/dark type specializing in physical attacks, and dartrix is a grass/flying that specializes in long ranged attacks. Meanwhile, that smeargle is drawing some flying things to come and act as support. Shit this is bad.’ 

Nuzleaf:

Dartrix:

Smeargle:

“We swim back to the mansion! Release horsea, and ask her to use Smokescreen.” Tekai ordered, the tone of his voice and overall seriousness brooked no room for negotiation. He was also very deliberately loud when he said this. 

Noticing his words, the ninjas seemed to pick up the pace, they were likely well aware of the threat that Cynthia posed. 

“That is cowardly, we are not ninja, and even then, how do you know my Pokémon's moveset?” Clair questioned. 

“Woman! Just do as I command, our lives are on the line!” Tekai growled at her, an aura of bloodlust left him, and his chakra flared. 

Clair backed off from Tekai's intimidating gaze, and sent out her Pokémon. 

“Horsea, our enemies are approaching, use Smokescreen!” 

“Sea!” Horsea was quick to follow her commands, and spat out a large black ball towards the ninjas. 

Exploding in midair, the ball released a dense black fog obfuscating the air. 

As soon as this happened, Tekai made a shadow clone, and had it swim towards the mansion. His chakra was low, yet he couldn't care about such a thing, and pushed Dragon Dance to the limit, to absorb whatever ambient energy he could back into his exhausted body. 

Tekai then growled towards Clair using the Ryu Clans secret communication technique. 

[Follow] 

Instead of going back towards Cynthia's house, Tekai swam deeper into the lake, and began diving towards the depths. 

The water became darker and colder, the threat of the unknown pressed upon Tekai's mind. 

Yet this was a good thing, because the darker it was, the more certain he was that they would lose the enemy. 

Moving unimpeded for another 5 minutes, Tekai saw a wild croconaw lurking nearby. Its eyes were closed, and it appeared to be sleeping. 

The blue crocodile-Pokémon was the first evolution for tododile, one of the starters in Gold/Silver. 

Clair noticed it as well, and both of them shared a silent look with one another. 

This moment was broken as two things happened at once. 

Firstly, Tekai received the memories of his popped shadow clone. One of the masked men, and the flying owl Pokémon, the precursor to decidueye had taken him out. 

That meant that the grass/dark was here, as well as one other masked man. 

The only solace to Tekai was that neither of them should be able to breathe underwater like he and Clair could. 

However, as much as he'd like to rely upon that, it didn't change the fact that nuzleaf was a Dark type, and if it held its breath, it could still see down here! 

Secondly, as if to punctuate that thought, the nuzleaf came out of the darkness, and held out its hand. 

Green orbs were launched towards them, and Tekai recognized this to be Absorb! 

He didn't know what would happen if he was hit by this jutsu, and he didn't intend to find out! 

Forced to swim past the croconaw, Tekai and Clair missed the green orbs by just a hair. 

The blue crocodile Pokémon, however, wasn't so lucky. 

Slightly stirring due to Tekai's rapid movement, the Pokémon blinked its eyes, then caught a half dozen green orbs to its center mass. 

Wherever the orbs touched its skin, it took on a withered appearance, like a limb that had been under a cast for too long. 

Tekai looked on in horror as the orbs then returned to the nuzleaf, causing the Pokémon to glow with returned energy. 

‘What a heinous technique!’ Tekai thought to himself. 

Concurrently, several paper bombs were dropped into the water by the ninja, shaking the underwater world with concussive waves. 

“CRAW!” The crocodile Pokémon opened its jaws wide, and swam towards nuzleaf, engaging it in a vicious brawl. 

[Attack. Man. Flank] Tekai released a vibration from his throat, and motioned for Clair to go from the left. 

With nuzleaf locked in mortal combat, it would either win, or die. If they focused it now, odds were the croconaw would turn on them. If the leaf Pokémon won, it would surely be exhausted or heavily wounded. 

What they needed to do now was kill the masked ninja, and then complete their escape before the other one arrived. 

Plan realized, it was now time to execute! 

Gathering his chakra, Tekai set out to do battle once more.