Pokénin 017 (Pokemon/Naruto)

After swimming for another half an hour, Tekai caught sight of Cynthia and Zinnia. 

The pair of girls were resting on a sandy beach next to the lake.

An umbrella blocked Cynthia from the sun, and she was reading from a rare paperback book. Trying to take a closer look, Tekai saw that the letters were a little familiar. Almost as if they resembled the Pokémon, Unown.

Meanwhile, Zinnia was building a sandcastle with her bagon. 

Behind both of them was a sizable mansion, in fact, in this stretch of land alongside the lake, there were no villages, but about 10 gigantic houses dotted the area. 

To Tekai's vision, it seemed that these acted as vacation homes for the well to do. 

Considering Cynthia was a First Grade Official, this wasn't exactly a surprise that she lived at such a nice place. 

Pulling up to the beach, Tekai jumped out of the water, and landed with a flip. He then retrieved his pokeball, and returned Gil. 

Pulling up behind him, Clair was very obviously fatigued, yet was trying her best to appear prim and proper. The blue haired girl fixed her clothes, and slowed her ragged breaths as if she hadn't just swam a marathon. 

“Pfft.” Tekai covered his mouth at the sight. 

Clair eyed him dangerously, but was unwilling to raise her voice, given that they were with their new sensei, or maybe she thought she was too good for engaging in something so ‘childish.’ 

Ignoring Clair, Tekai waved at Zinnia, her bagon, and garchomp. 

The garchomp-who was sunbathing in the sand-snorted at him, then closed her eyes to nap. 

Tekai was about to greet his teacher, when she snapped her book shut, and turned to look at them. 

“My shadow clone has told me everything that happened.” Cynthia said, and eyed both Tekai and Clair critically. 

Internally, Tekai cringed when he learned his sensei knew the Shadow Clone technique, as that meant half his trade with Jiraiya was now almost worthless. 

Almost worthless because who knew when-or if-Cynthia would teach it to him. The ability was notorious for draining chakra after all. 

Clair began to hang her head low in shame, as if Cynthia's words carried with them some underlying disapproval. 

“Well, we got here, that's all that matters in a test of endurance, right?” Tekai scratched the back of his head, and replied. 

Ordinarily he would've kept silent, as he recognized Cynthia was probably putting on a ‘tough teacher’ act, but Clair looked so pathetic, he figured he'd say something so she didn't keep moping around. 

“That is correct. I have learned much from this examination, however, I still want to know more about you three before I progress with my training plans.” Cynthia inclined her head towards Tekai, then addressed the group at large. 

“Awesome, what comes next?!” Zinnia hopped to her feet, and looked to Cynthia like a puppy asking for a treat. 

Cynthia seemed a little taken aback by this enthusiasm, but a cool smile soon spread across her face. 

“I tested your endurance, next I intend to see your speed, power, comprehension, and the potency of your chakra. Please, if you would, do the following: 

1)) sprint across this bend in the lake to the other side, then come back as fast as you can. 

2) Lift these boulders over your head. Each one increases in weight by 200 from the last one. 

3) Learn the D-rank jutsu, Chakra Palm. 

4) Strike Garchomp with the technique

5) Block a strike from Garchomp 

6) Maintain the jutsu until you experience chakra exhaustion. 

Once you have completed those tasks, we will eat lunch. Ah, I almost forgot, whoever finishes first in the most categories will receive a salon voucher token for themselves and one Pokémon.” Cynthia said to everyone, then resumed reading her book. 

“Chomp.” Garchomp snorted at them, and waved her arm as if to say ‘get on with it.’ 

“Aw yeah, a race? Let's go, bagon!” Zinnia picked up her Pokémon and jumped in the water. 

Tekai was kind of tired from the journey here, but he wouldn't complain. His new sensei wanted a benchmark on where they stood. That was respectable. 

Already, Cynthia was acting as a more responsible teacher than Kakashi had to Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. So he really couldn't complain. 

Doing a few stretches, and releasing Gil back into the water, Tekai jumped in after Zinnia. 

“Come on shiny, let's go on the count of 3!” Zinnia splashed said, splashing some water at him to get his attention. 

“Alright Gil, let's show them our speed.” Tekai turned to his companion, ignoring Zinnia. 

“Karp!” Gil seriously intoned. 

“You too, Clair, do your best.” Tekai turned back, and gave the blue haired girl a thumbs up. 

Clair scowled at him and crossed her arms. 

“Sea, sea!” Horsea nuzzled Clair's side, then happily jumped in the water next to Tekai. .

“Horsea!” Clair shouted as if she had been betrayed. 

“Alright, everyone, 1,2,3, go!” Tekai also ignored Clair, and propelled himself forward. 

Channeling Dragon Dance to the limit, Tekai felt himself move as if he were a speedboat.

Water furiously churned, and wild Pokémon hurried to get out of his way. 

After five minutes, he made it to the other side. He was sort of out of breath, and his heart felt like an iron being pounded into submission by a hammer, yet he also felt the exhilaration of triumph! 

Zinnia was almost caught up, whilst Clair was only 60% of the way here. 

Taking a deep breath, Tekai set out once again, and swam back to the shore. 

Walking onto the sandy beach, Tekai felt as if he had gassed himself, so he began to slowly perform the Dragon Dance to recover some energy. 

Whilst he was doing this, Zinnia pulled up, and immediately made for the boulders. 

The tan, dark haired girl lifted the first three with ease. The fourth one weighing 800 was a struggle, and the fifth, 1,000lb rock was almost impossible for her.  

Witnessing this scene, Tekai had recovered a decent portion of his energy, and made to lift them at the same time that Clair finally returned. 

Tekai had results similar to Zinnia's, yet when it came to the thousand pound rock, he conjured up the Dragons Rage, and released a baleful aura all around himself. 

Snarling like a beast, Tekai barely managed to hold the damned boulder over his head, then tossed it to the side, feeling absolutely spent. 

“That’s right, you go shiny!” Zinnia clapped. 

A second pair of unexpected clapping came from the side, but when Tekai tiredly glanced back, he saw that Clair had her back turned to him, and seemed overly intent on lifting the 400lb rock. 

“Thanks for the support, Zinnia, Clair. I'm eager to see what we can learn together.” 

“Yeah, yeah, on to the scroll.” Zinnia smiled, and patted her bagon on the head. 

“Who wants to learn with you?” Clair huffed as she threw down her rock with seeming great effort. 

Tekai wanted to retort, yet the physical activities of the day had finally caught up to him, and he was beginning to feel sore all over. 

Muscles feeling like jelly, Tekai staggered over to the wooden table where Cynthia had placed the D-rank scroll. 

Taking a seat, Tekai did a once over, reading its contents. 

Chakra Palm was a simple jutsu that coated the fist in a very thin film external chakra. It had only two hand signs, Dog -> Serpent. 

A note was attached to the jutsu, claiming that this jutsu was invented to help taijutsu users combat weapons experts. 

Seeing the value in this jutsu, Tekai was excited to finally learn something else from the clan. However, since he had learned to use the aura of Dragon Rage, maybe this wasn't so useful after all? 

Shaking his head, Tekai figured he was thinking too small. 

In fact, whenever he initiated Dragon Rage, it was a huge strain on his entire body. But, buuuut, if he somehow found a way to combine the two jutsu, and make the Dragon Rage chakra localized only in his palm…

“Heuh heuh heuh.” Tekai rubbed his hands together like some two-bit villain as he discovered a potential cheat-code like work around to Dragon Rage's monumental chakra consumption. 

Observing the scroll once more, Tekai didn't think it looked all that difficult. 

Considering that he had learnt the Mystic Palm the other night, this adjacent technique should be easy!  

“....” After 30 minutes, and spamming Dragon Dance, Tekai had finally grasped the basic technique. 

A white glow coated his hands. 

Turning to see how his compatriots were doing, Clair was already sitting down in a meditative posture, draining her chakra dry, whilst Zinnia seemed to be struggling. 

Hearing a snort from the side, Tekai turned to see the reptilian Dragon/Ground Pokémon, Garchomp standing before him. 

The shark-like Pokémon stepped forward, and her eyes narrowed into slits. 

“Chomp.” She said, her inflection carrying with it contempt. 

Bowing to the Garchomp, Tekai prepared his Chakra Palm coated fist. 

“I'll go first then.” Tekai said, then lunged forward, pushing what chakra he could into his palm. 

Garchomp stood still, and took the hit as if it had been struck by nothing more than a stiff breeze. 

“Chomp.” Garchomp then raised a claw, and looked at Tekai dangerously. 

Feeling his heart quiver, Tekai held up his hand in a bracing position. 

A second later, he was hit by the Pokémon, and sent flying backwards. 

Landing roughly in the sand, Tekai found himself next to Clair. 

Sitting up in a daze, Tekai decided he would move on to the last stage, and channel the technique until he reached exhaustion. 

Closing his eyes, Tekai joined Clair, and took up a meditative pose as he initiated the jutsu. 

Sensing at the ebb and flow of his chakra, Tekai imagined how he might integrate that baleful aura into his hands alone. 

Meanwhile, he felt a shift to his left, disturbing his introspection. 

Cracking an eyelid, he noticed Clair had shuffled a few feet away. 

Tekai softly chuckled, then matched her movement, and sat next to her again. 

Clair snapped her eyes open, and glared at him. 

Tekai grinned in response. 

“What do you want, Black Mark.” Clair hissed. 

“Oh enough with the Black Mark nonsense, Clair. I know you want to be friends, so let's just enjoy the moment. The clouds in the sky, the reflection of the sun on the water, the Pokémon going about their day. It is peaceful and beautiful outside.” Tekai said in a relaxed mood, and took a deep breath, savoring the multitude of scents. 

Clair grumbled something inaudible, and turned her head away, but she didn't move from her spot, so Tekai took that as a win. 

Taking this moment of rest Tekai leaned back, and kept up the Chakra Palm as he entered a state of pseudo sleep. 

After an unknown time later, Tekai felt a jolt on sand in front of him, and woke up to find Clair and Zinnia had fallen asleep next to him.  

Clair's mouth was dripping some drool, and Zinnia was clinging to his arm as if she were a gorilla holding onto its prized banana. 

Blinking his eyes and yawning to himself, Tekai considered just shaking the girls off, yet as he had this thought, the sand in front of him shifted once more. 

Emerging out from under his legs, the head of Cynthia's garchomp poked itself out. 

‘Jesus Christ!’ Tekai thought to himself, and flinched, waking his teammates up in the process.

“Let's eat lunch everyone. I'll brief you on your performance while we eat.” Cynthia clapped her hands, gathering their attention, then moved off towards the mini mansion. 

Tekai was going to get up, but found he was surrounded. 

“Eh, Clair, Zinnia?” Tekai questioned. 

“Get off me.” Clair elbowed him in the ribs, and was quick to follow after Cynthia. 

“Hmm, I smell something good~” Zinnia-eyes still halfway glazed over-lifted her nose, and looked as if she would nom on Tekai's shoulder. 

“Gon, gon!” Bagon hungrily agreed. 

Tekai, seeing the tan girl's row of sharp teeth, knew he wanted no part of that! 

Putting his hand over her face, Tekai pushed Zinnia away, making her fall onto the sand. 

“Shiny? What'd you do that for? You finally ready for a spar?” Zinnia rubbed her eyes, and smacked her lips as if she were some sort of predator. 

“...maybe after lunch, c'mon lets go.” Tekai said, then left after Cynthia and Clair. 

Stomach rumbling, Tekai looked forward to getting some grub and hearing what Cynthia had to say.