11 World's Strongest Pichu

"Bravo! Bravo! Bravo Naruto Namikaze! Bravo!" Spoke a man as he applauded the feat that of the son of Minato Namikaze just accomplished.

Naruto and Cynthia's match just ended. However, as soon as the Sinnoh champion returned her strongest pokemon to its poke ball, Naruto doing the same with his Alakazam to give it some well-deserved rest, this random person had started commending Naruto for his win.

The crowd that had gathered to witness the fight cleared away to give this person some room. Said person, who was clad in a black robe, which hid his actual appearance, made his way to the front of the crowd as he stood inches away from the blonde duo.

He discarded his black robe a second later, letting the others know exactly who he was. There with his red afro and an excited look on his face was none other than Flint of Sinnoh's elite four.

"Flint, what are you doing here? I thought that you had things to do in Sunyshore City." Asked a moderately curious Cynthia while raising an eyebrow.

"Yes I did, but I managed to get all that stuff over with last evening. So I was able to head over her by today." Answered Flint, sating Cynthia's inquiring mind. It was a good thing for Flint that he had a flying type pokemon at hand with him whenever he was travelling. The aforementioned flying pokemon was a not a battler of Flint's, just a pokemon that assisted its master in getting from place to place much faster.

It was a lot more convenient too.

"That is not why I am here though." Flint paused for a moment as he looked at the man who had just beaten the woman who was hailed as the strongest in all of Sinnoh. "Naruto Namikaze, I challenge you to a battle."

A few people in the crowd behind Flint let out gasps of shock before they broke out into hushed mummers.

"Who is this Naruto Namikaze?"

"First Cynthia wanted to challenge him and Flint is going to do the same thing too."

"Naruto must be some kind of big shot."

"Whoever Naruto is, he is my new best friend."

Back with the man who was now the center of attention… again, Naruto did not know how to feel right now. Flint's sudden appearance and challenge had been so abrupt and out of the blue that Naruto did not even know how to properly react to it.

"I am not so sure about this…" Said an undecided Naruto. He did not want to downright say no to Flint. That might come off as him being rude. Naruto was thinking of a way of declining the 'offer' in a more polite manner. It never hurt to a little courteous every now and then.

"I think it is a great idea." Chirped a now happy Cynthia. Her mood had lifted a bit at the prospect of seeing one of her colleagues go up against the man that had bested her twice in a row now. She wanted to see how Flint would fare against someone of Naruto's caliber.

Naruto was about to 'kindly' reject the offer to lock horns with Flint when his (Naruto's) blue eyes met Cynthia's grey ones. Cynthia had pushed the long hair that was covering her right eye away and was now giving Naruto the best puppy dog look she could muster.

Flint smirked at the sight of what Cynthia was doing. He stored this away as potential teasing material for the future.

'Oh crap! Not this again. Must resist… must resist. Shit! I am failing, I'm failing.' Thought Naruto as he felt his resolve weakening for the second time that day. Naruto was contemplating if Cynthia had a pair of Sharingan. She seemed to be able to get things to go her way just by looking at him. Nah, Naruto dismissed that ludicrous thought almost immediately.

Cynthia was too sweet and beautiful to be a stuck up Uchiha. Damn.

"Fine I accept your challenge. But it will only be a one-on-one battle you hear me." Said Naruto a little begrudgingly. Naruto could already see his doom in his Cynthia's eyes. He knew that he couldn't give in to everything she wanted all the time. Thus, Naruto made a promise to himself to come out with a solution to this problem at the earliest possible. He did not know what had gotten into him. He must having have been a sucker for drop dead stunning looking women.

Naruto wasn't even supposed to be here right now. He would have left Hearthome City already if Cynthia had not talked him into a battle with herself and now another one with Flint. Oh well there went his plans for the day.

Such was life. You could make plans but you could never truly decide what happened until the time to carry out those plans came.

'Darn it Jiraiya-sensei, why didn't I listen to you when you told me about the dangers of women?' Naruto cursed the toad sannin in his mind, not realizing that he had called the man Jiraiya-sensei for once instead of pervy sage. In the afterlife, Jiraiya had a mysterious feeling that something awesome just happened.

-About 10 Minutes Later-

Naruto and Flint were at another battleground, seeing as the last one that Naruto and Cynthia used was nearly demolished after their battle. This battlefield was slightly different from the last one. It was surrounded by eight or nine trees giving it a look that was somewhat similar to that of a forest terrain. Cynthia, Roland and the other members of the crowd also tagged along with the two.

There was no way in the seven seas that they were going to miss a showdown like this.

Brock was acting as the makeshift referee like he did for Naruto and Cynthia's match. There was also a camera crew over here this time around. At first Naruto was not sold on the idea of battling Flint in the media's presence. Though a few moments later a light bulb appeared on top of Naruto's head as an idea for his next prank hit him. So, Naruto let the members of the paparazzi stay.

Flint had chosen his Infernape, his starter pokemon, showing just how serious he was about this battle.

Infernape was a bipedal, primate-like pokemon that was primarily reddish-brown with sections of white fur on its chest, head and lower legs. Several gold markings adorned its body: swirled, circular ones on its knees and shoulders, flame-shaped ones on the back of its hands and a stripe around its back that formed two swirls on its chest.

On top of its head was a large flame, which was never extinguished. Infernape had an orange, rounded muzzle, long, round ears with blue insides and a red ridge over its eyes. The eyes themselves were blue with yellow sclera. There were five blue digits on both its feet and hands, and it had a long tail.

When Flint saw what Naruto let out in return, he fell backwards.

It was a Pichu.

Pichu was a small, ground-dwelling rodent pokemon with pale yellow fur. Its ear tips, collar and tail were black and angular. Pichu had pink cheek pouches and a tiny nose, which looked like a dot.

-With Volkner-

Volkner was sipping a cup of mocha as he and his friend The Proprietor watched the battle between Flint and Naruto that was about to start any moment now. Flint had rung The Proprietor telling him exactly which channel his battle with Naruto was going to be aired on. This was why Flint had hired the camera crew in the first place, so Volkner could see this battle up live, even if he wasn't in Hearthome City.

Flint had requested The Proprietor to make Volkner watch the match, saying that there was a very high chance that by watching it the leader of the Sunyshore City gym would become rejuvenated to battle again.

That did not seem to be too likely an occurrence as of this moment seeing as the gym leader was a bit annoyed that he had been asked to watch a Pichu fight Flint's Infernape. Sure Volkner loved electric type pokemon with all his heart but the man was still skeptical about a Pichu lasting more than two minutes against Flint's Infernape. Scratch that, the Pichu would be lucky to even hold on for a minute. Volkner had no idea how wrong he was.

By Volkner's side, The Proprietor was beseeching the deities above to aid him and Flint, hoping beyond hope that this battle did the trick. Only the Proprietor knew how much trouble he went through to get Volkner go along with the idea of watching this telecasted battle.

It involved a rubber chicken and a ton of ham sandwiches. Don't ask, you really, really don't want to know.

-Back with Flint and Naruto-

"Are you serious?!" Bellowed Flint. Was this guy trying to make fun of him? This was an insult to Flint's pride. Which person in their right mind would think of doing something so preposterous?

"Not at all. I am completely serious about fighting your Infernape with my Pichu. This Pichu has a disease which prevents it from evolving, but that said it is on par with all of my other pokemon. In fact…" Replied Naruto, who now had a teasing smile on his face. "… I want to make a bet with you. The loser of this battle will have to attend the opening ceremony of this year's Wallace Cup in a bright pink ballerina tutu."

Some of the people gathered, mainly the gorgeous Cynthia, looked at the Namikaze as if he had just grown a second in the last few seconds.

"I didn't take you to be a masochist. If you want to do it then sure, why not? I will go along with it." Agreed Flint in a nonchalant tone of voice with a shrug of the shoulders. If Naruto wanted to dig his own grave then Flint was absolutely fine with that.

"If both of you are ready, then you may begin the battle." Announced Brock, kicking off the anticipated matchup.

"Flint, go ahead and start the ball rolling. You may have the first move." Offered Naruto, allowing the fire type specialist to strike before him.

Flint was used to matches starting the other way around but called an attack nonetheless. "Infernape, use Fire Punch."

One of Infernape's fists became surrounded in red-orange fire and it tried to punch Pichu with it.

"Pichu, counter with Iron Tail."

Pichu, making full use of its small body size, jumped onto Infernape's arm before running along the flame pokemon's limb. Pichu's entire tail glowed white and it hit Flint's Infernape in the face with it several times, making it look like Pichu was slapping Infernape due to how tiny Pichu was. Some of the spectators found this to quite cute as they "awwed" to Pichu's attack'.

Infernape brought its other hand to its face to swat away the pesky nuisance that was 'assaulting' it. Pichu saw it coming and jumped away before it could be hit.

"Pichu, use the Substitute Style Shadow Clones. Let's go."

There was a bright flash of light, which upon dying down revealed a group of fifty Pichu's standing side by side (49 Substitute clones and 1 original). One thing Naruto loved about his Pichu was its determination. That little critter had managed to master his Substitute Shadow Clone Technique better than most of his pokemon except maybe his Darkrai. Yes, Pichu was even better at using this than Naruto's Latios. Still, despite being ranked in second place to Darkrai, the ability to replicate nearly half a hundred Substitute Shadow Clones was nothing to be shy about, more so if you were classified as a baby pokemon in Pichu's case.

"Use the Akimichi Style: Pokemon Bullet Tank."

Flint knew what Naruto meant when he saw the mini Pichu army appear, due to the fact that he had seen the move in action in against Cynthia a while ago, but for the life of him he had no clue what this 'Akimichi Style: Pokemon Bullet Tank' was.

Flint watched as the Pichus ran at his Infernape, their bodies surrounded by golden electricity. While covered in electricity, each of the Pichus' bodies looked black and white. Flint concluded that Naruto was aiming to use a rapid succession of Volt Tackles.

Flint was about to instruct his Infernape on what to do, seeing as defense was Infernape's specialty after all, when all the Pichu's, who were now in the air as they headed for Infernape, curled each of their bodies into a ball and started moving at an incredibly heightened speed reminiscent to, as the name stated, a bullet's speed.

Realizing that this was a combination of Volt Tackle and Rollout, Flint, knowing that his Infernape could not come out of this unscathed, told his pokemon to do its best and dodge as many of the Pichus as possible.

When the flame pokemon managed to do as such while only sustaining two or three hits, Flint and his loyal pokemon felt like breathing a sigh of relief. Infernape would not have that leisure as it felt something smash into its cranium. This was followed by a blow to the back of its left leg and something else scarping its back. The knocks and swipes kept increasing in quantity a couple of second later.

Making a closer observation, Flint saw that all the Pichu's were using the tree as springboards to propel themselves back and forth at his Infernape, striking it again and again. It was like a bunch of closely arranged molecules bouncing off the walls of a solid object that was undergoing a heating process with the only noticeable difference being that the molecules (Pichus) were colliding into his Infernape as opposed to each other. Flint felt like saluting Naruto, this combo was even better than most of the contest appeals that he had seen on TV from time to time.

In Flint's eyes Naruto deserved a standing ovation. The blonde had succeeded in training his Pichu to the extent that it was able to use Volt Tackle without enduring any recoil damage. Flint knew that this was very much possible seeing as his own partner (Infernape) had learned how to use Flare Blitz without suffering the drawbacks of recoil damage as well. However, for a Pichu, a pokemon that was reputed to shock itself by accident, this kind of feat was… it was… Flint did not even have the right word to say right now. Flint knew one thing, Naruto and his Pichu had definitely come far. Most would already consider the fact that said Pichu had overcome the shocking of itself to be a praiseworthy achievement, this just went levels above and beyond that.

Yes, Naruto's Pichu would prove to be a worthy opponent for his Infernape. It was time to get serious.

-With the Spectators-

"Sugoi…" Whispered a completely astounded Roland.

"He is actually doing it, Naruto's Pichu is actually fighting Flint's Infernape as an equal." Croaked out a stunned Cynthia, her eyes as wide as dinner plates. She was horror-struck that a Pichu of all things was capable of going toe-to-toe with Flint's Infernape. This was mind boggling.

Cynthia knew that Flint's Infernape was no walk in the park to go up against. It was stronger than some her pokemon for crying out loud. Cynthia could not begin to imagine how much power and skill Naruto was keeping under wraps. On second thought, she did not want to know. She was not completely sure if she would be able to take that piece of information in and come out intact in one piece. Her mental health was more vital than the nagging curiosity in the back of her noggin.

-Back on The Battlefield-

"Infernape, use Swords Dance then Flamethrower."

Infernape crossed its hands across its chest and spun rapidly while releasing a red-orange stream of fire from its mouth. This made it look like a fountain of fire that achieved its desired aim of getting rid of all the Pichu clones.

Now there was another problem, there was no sign of the real Pichu.

Flint scanned the battlefield in search of the tiny mouse pokemon but there were no traces left behind by the electric type pokemon.

'Naruto's Pichu is not anywhere around, it is not in the sky (as stupid as that sounded), then that only leaves…' Thought a slightly panicked Flint as a sense of cognizance hit him.

"Infernape, look out below you."

Flint's warning came a moment too late as Pichu, now covered in yellow electricity, showing that it was using Volt Tackle, shot out of the ground like a F1 circuit race car, straight into Infernape.

Normally Infernape would have been able to take a Volt Tackle by a Pichu, no matter how powerful it was, in stride. Unfortunately, the location where this Volt Tackle hit was… less than ideal. You see, the Volt Tackle delivered a whammy to the region to between Infernape's legs, right in the sweet spot.

This introduced the fire and fighting type pokemon to a world of unimaginable pain. It never knew that it was possible for any part of its body to hurt this badly. Flint's Infernape, which was now jumping on one foot as its eyes bulged out of its sockets, really wished that it could have taken a normal hit instead this. Infernape wouldn't mind taking a Hydro Pump from a Kyogre or Suicune as opposed to what it now had to endure. That scenario involving the Hydro Pump currently seemed to be a whole lot more appealing to Infernape.

'So Naruto's Pichu can use Naruto's bastardized version of Dig. Man, this technique is a real pain in the ass.' Thought Flint as he watched his Infernape roll around on the floor as it clutched its nether region protectively.

"Pichu, let the power of youth explode."

Flint was dreading what was to come next. He knew that his Infernape, as it was, stood no chance of evading the next advance of Naruto's Pichu.

Flint looked on as Pichu's body was engulfed in a white glow and another 44 Pichu's appearing out of thin air. The bodies of all the Pichu's were surrounded by electricity as they took off in Infernape's direction. The way all the Pichu's were huddled together made the attack take on the outlook of an electric tiger.

"Feel the glory! Daytime Tiger!"

A very watered down version of one of the signature techniques of Maito Gai collided with Infernape and an explosion could be felt around anything that was within an eight hundred meter radius of the battleground.

-With the Spectators-

"It shouldn't be possible for any Pichu to fight at this high a level. None of my calculations show that an end result like this is obtainable." Spoke an awestruck Conway, his mouth agape, as he continued to try and analyze the face off, which he thought would have been a landslide victory for Infernape, between Naruto and Flint. The blonde and redhead's battle was not going as Conway had scripted it at all. It was quite the opposite really. Conway was starting to think that normal logic would not be applicable in Naruto's case.

'This is insane beyond definition.' Thought Ash, who had been struck dumb after he saw a Pichu using weaker variation of a move that was usually done when a shinobi opened seven of the Eight Inner Gates (not that Ash knew about the gates). Ash did not trust his voice at the present. He was certain he would sound like a spluttering mess.

No need to unnecessarily embarrass himself. That was Flint's job seeing as how the member of Sinnoh's elite four was having his Infernape get kicked around by a Pichu, something which should not have even posed any threat at all to Infernape. Ash pinched his right cheek to make sure that he wasn't dreaming, which he indeed wasn't.

Ash's Pikachu, which was perched on his left shoulder was looking at Naruto's Pichu with stars in its eyes (Pikachu could not see Pichu at the moment because of all the smoke kicked up by the last attack). Pikachu had an immeasurable amount of admiration for Naruto's Pichu. Pikachu's pre evolved form was showing it the true heights that it could achieve if it put its mind to it.

This made Pikachu feel a whole lot better of its decision to not evolve into a Raichu. Pikachu now had the utmost confidence, even more than it had before, that it could gain strength to help its trainer (Ash) without needing to rely on any fancy schmancy Thunderstone.

-With Volkner-

"I have never seen a Pichu with so much determination before in my whole life." Stated Volkner with a smile, an expression that was thought to be long lost to his face.

"It has been a while since you have enjoyed watching a battle, hasn't it Volkner?" Questioned the Proprietor, who was also smiling himself. Volkner would act like he was lazy and uncaring most of the time. This happy side of Volkner was truly a nice change of pace.

"It kind of reminds me of the battle that Flint and I had with you when we were just kids." Said Volkner, as he began to feel a sense of nostalgia enter his system.

"It sure does." Replied the Proprietor, who had stopped his previous task of cleaning a plate, in a quiet tone as he took a short trip down memory lane along with Volkner.

-With Jessie, James And Meowth-

"The boss' Pichu is out of this world." Remarked a stupefied Jessie. She, James and Meowth were all watching their 'boss' battle from afar using a pair of binoculars each, from their Meowth shaped hot air balloon. They were incapable of watching the match up close for obvious reasons such as putting Naruto in a tight fix. However, that did not deter the trio of former Team Rocket grunts as they found an alternative method to get around this.

"It makes the twerps Pikachu seem like a toddler." Said James, who was chewing on a biscuit. Another couple of biscuits were in his left hand while his binoculars were being held by the other. James and Jessie had long since discarded their Team Rocket uniforms and they were both now wearing identical attires. These attires consisted of a white fitting shirt with the Konoha symbol on it (as insisted by Naruto) and a pair of black jeans. Jessie was wearing carpi jeans while James was wearing a pair regular ones.

"That doesn't matter. We gotta cheer on the boss. That is most important." Commented Meowth, reminding Jessie and James of their main priority.

The three of them all promptly put on a cap with Naruto's picture on it (creepy) and starting yelling "Go boss! You can do it! Go boss! You can do it! Go boss! You can do it!"

-In the Afterlife-

Maito Dai was father of Maito Gai and a man who died when he used the Eight Inner Gates to fend off the Seven Ninja Swordsman of The Mist to protect his son and his son's teammates. It was a regular day in the afterlife for Dai. Ever since Sakumo Hatake had found peace and his soul had passed through limbo and entered the great beyond, the duo had spent a good majority of their time (they had nothing better to do anyway) chitchatting with one another.

Today they were both sitting in a cross legged position and talking about their sons.

"YOSH! My youth meter reading is off the chart. I sense that there is great growth of youth somewhere. Whoever you are let your flames of youth burn brightly and may they never diminish till your last breath." Exclaimed Dai (who was now standing) at the top of his voice, throwing in a 'Nice Guy' pose along the way. This earned him a sweat drop from Sakumo. The other people in the afterlife just backed away slowly from Dai, not wanting to be near him.

-Back on The Battlefield-

As the visible suspension of carbon that had been surrounding the battlefield cleared, Flint saw Pichu standing in front of Naruto, completely unharmed. Infernape was a different story altogether. It was covered in countless bruises and scratches. It also looked like Infernape had something akin to a bloody lip (I am not sure if that is the best way to describe it for Infernape's case). This confirmed Flint's suspicions when he wondered why one of the Pichu's stayed behind. There was also excess static coming off of Infernape's body, indicating that it was now paralyzed.

What had happened was that all of the Pichu clones, which had now disappeared, had charged forth using Volt Tackle. These clones had purposely upped the power of the Volt Tackles way past their normal limits, meaning that they all suffered tons of recoil damage as opposed to when they used a regular Volt Tackle.

Then again, Substitute Clones were meant to disappear after taking a hit or a certain amount of damage, so Naruto simply exploited this little loophole, if one could call it that, to its fullest potential.

In other words, the usage of overcharged Volt Tackles was a suicidal tactic that could only be utilized by pokemon (safely at least) belonging to one man, Naruto Namikaze.

A regular Pichu, Pikachu or Raichu that attempted this stunt would earn itself a one way trip straight to the nearest Pokemon Centre's emergency ward. Sure it was nothing compared the true Daytime Tiger but Maito Gai's actual version of that could probably and most likely punch a hole straight through a Zapdos and still have some juice left in the tank.

Clutching one of its sides, Infernape slowly got back up, albeit with a certain degree of difficulty.

"Keep going Infernape. We can't afford to throw in the towel." Spoke up Flint, encouraging his mightiest ally. Though Flint was probably doing it to save his own skin as well. "Use Flare Blitz."

Infernape's body became surrounded by red-orange fire and it shot at Naruto's Pichu like a missile, preparing to slam into it with great force. When Infernape was charging at Pichu, the fire around it turned light blue.

Only at the very last second possible did Naruto issue his command. "Pichu, use Counter."

Almost instantly Pichu's whole body was ringed in a dark orange color.

'Oh that sly motherfucker.' Cursed Flint in his mind, gritting his teeth in frustration while he was at it. Flint's hands were tied as he powerlessly watched Infernape's Flare Blitz get bounced off Naruto's Pichu as the fully evolved form of fire type starter of Sinnoh was then sent flying backwards and slammed into a tree, delivering double the amount of damage to itself.

Who knew fighting a Pichu could be so troublesome. Shikamaru would probably feel delighted that there were some people out there who understood him if he was here now.

Without delay, Naruto put another one of his plans in motion. "Pichu, use Flash"

Pichu's body began to glow brightly. In fact it glowed so bright that the light temporary 'blinded' everyone in the nearby vicinity. A couple minutes later, the aftereffects of Flash died down, restoring everyone's vision back to them.

The first thing that Flint's eyes discerned visually was that there were now 20 Pichu's standing in Infernape's blind spot. All of them had matching devilish smirks on their faces and all of their paws were covered in yellow sparks like when they were about to use a Thunder Punch.

It couldn't be, Naruto would really think of using…

"Leaf Village Secret Finger Jutsu: One Thousand Years of Death."

… that fowl and disgusting technique at a time like this.

Infernape felt a sharp and excruciating pain in its behind as all the Pichu's shoved their Thunder Punch enhanced paws up its rear in perfect sync, like it was an act that had been rehearsed many times over. Infernape was unceremoniously launched into the air and sent crashing into the ground thirty or so feet away, scooping up a mouthful of dirt along the way. Yuck!

Everyone witnessing this face planted into the ground. They all had disbelieving looks on their faces. Which nutjob would waste a perfectly good opening just to use a stupid trick like that. Apparently Naruto was that kind of person. Alas those people were blissfully unaware that Naruto was notoriously known as The Number One Hyperactive, Knucklehead Ninja back home for his antics.

Speaking of being blissfully unaware, the Pichu gang was ignorant of the threat that was still looming above their heads. They were made conscious of this danger when they heard a bolstering roar following by an enraged Infernape appearing on the battlefield looking like it was ready to murder something or rather someone, namely the Pichus in front of it.

The re-emerged Infernape did not look like its regular self. Its eyes were glowing red. Its head was glowing bright orange and the flame on said skull had grown to a massive size. To top things off, Infernape's body was surrounded by a fiery aura.

'Just my luck, why did the lousy Blaze have to get activated now.' Groaned Naruto internally. He knew exactly how powerful Blaze was, due to the fact that he owned a Blaziken himself. In a way, a powerful Blaze kind of reminded Naruto of the times when he entered the Nine Tails Chakra Mode. Not something he wanted to go up against. Though Blaze, if a shinobi were to look at it reasonably, had less than a hundredth of the power presented by the Nine Tails Chakra Mode. That still did not change Naruto's opinion on it.

The look that Infernape was giving Pichu screamed 'I am going to make you pay you little sneaky bastard.'

Infernape's pupils glowed orange and the fiery aura around its body intensified even further. It then fired five blasts of fire from its body, all of which were shaped like a 大. The blast obliterated all the Pichu's clones. Fortunately, the actual Pichu used Naruto's bastardized version of Dig to escape underground. Pichu then resurfaced next to Naruto.

'Wowee! That is some power.' Thought Naruto, unconsciously letting out a whistle of appreciation, as he admired Infernape's little handiwork. Five Fire Blasts back to back was quite the accomplishment.

Flint was grinning like a cheshire cat at this new development. Finally, something went in his favor… for once.

-With Jessie, James And Meowth-

"Come on boss you can win this. That red haired wannabe hunk's Infernape has got nothing on you." Spoke a hopeful Jessie, James and Meowth, all three of whom were on the edge of their seats, anticipating how things would play out.

-Back on The Battlefield-

"Infernape, let's turn the heat up. Use Blast Burn." Commanded Flint, a new load of pent up energy spurting forth into his eyes. Flint was delighted further by the fact that Counter did not work on moves like Blast Burn. He was also 150% positive that Pichu's could not learn Mirror Coat, so practically he was in the clear here.

Infernape's body became engulfed in light blue flames. It then punched the ground, sending a wave of energy into the earth which then moved underneath Pichu.

'Shit! Pichu has to dodge that or it is done for.' Thought a frantic Naruto a few beads of sweat trailing down his forehead. Naruto knew that his Pichu's endurance was not the best and that a Blast Burn of that magnitude would surely knock it out. That was why he had his Pichu send clones in its place for dangerous attack moves, using them as cannon fodder.

It looked like Pichu was sharing its trainer's thoughts. Without needing to be told, it created a group of Substitute Shadow Clones, all of which formed a ladder and quickly threw the genuine Pichu into the sky, securely out of harm's reach. They managed to do so just in the nick of time because a split second later the energy from Infernape's Blaze enhanced Blast Burn burst upwards in a giant explosion of red-orange flames, which looked like a mini volcano eruption, annihilating all of them (the Pichu clones).

'Oh dear Kami, please no. Not like this.' Prayed a really desperate Flint, who was biting his fingernails as he stared at the airborne Pichu that had landed and was now clinging on to his Infernape's back like a lifeline. The trepidations that Flint was experiencing doubled as he stared at the sight of Naruto's Pichu making more Substitute Shadow Clones, which were now holding onto various parts of his Infernape's body.

Perhaps lady luck decided to smile on Flint. This was plausible because it was at the moment when all the Pichu clones were tightly grabbing Infernape that said pokemon recharged from using Blast Burn and regained its ability to move again.

"INFERNAPE, SHAKE THEM OFF QUICKLY!" Pleaded Flint in a tone that could be interpreted as begging.

"Pichu, you can't let Infernape win. You have battled far too hard to lose here. THUNDER MAXIMUM POWER!" Ordered Naruto calling out what he hoped would be the finishing blow.

"PICHUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

There was a bright column of yellow electricity that extended all the way to the skies above before a ground began shaking violently and a few small tremors could be felt by the people nearby. You know how a ripple is formed on the water's surface when an item is thrown into a lake. There was a matching ripple here too, only it was a ripple of the ground that was equal if not stronger than when a powerful ground type pokemon like a Swampert, or any pokemon for that matter, used a move like Magnitude or Earthquake. (For those of you that have watched Fairy Tail, think of Jura Neekis' Rumbling Mt. Fuji. That will give you a better idea of what I am trying to portray here).

-With the Spectators-

"Holy Raikou! What the fudge just happened?"

"There should be a barrier set up for battles like this. I could have gotten seriously injured."

"Where is the 'Hazard: Danger Zone Ahead' and the 'Observe at Your Own Risk' warning sign when you need it."

All of the onlookers plus Flint had ungracefully lost their balance and fallen down after that last display, which produced a shockwave superior to that when Pichu used its very own version of the Daytime Tiger. Roland had landed in the middle of Cynthia's breasts, something that many males nearby nearly exploded with jealousy about. Cynthia did let it go considering that she did not want to slap her surrogate little brother nor did she find him at fault. If only the little tyke knew how big a jackpot he had struck.

Naruto was the only one whose feet had stayed planted on the ground (by channeling a little chakra into the soles of his feet), though no one noticed due to being distracted by other things. Chakra was wonderful to have around to help a person keep his / her balance in a situation like this.

-Back on The Battlefield-

When the aftermath of the 'fissure' was made visible, everyone could see Pichu sitting on a knocked out Infernape in a crater that was at least five meters deep and four meters wide. The latter of the two pokemon had swirls in its eyes.

"Infernape is unable to continue battling, the winner is Pichu." Declared Brock, who had just gotten back on his toes, passing the verdict of the match. Although he had never imagined himself saying this at the beginning of the aforesaid match.

When its hearing picked up what Brock had just said, Pichu, now nearly completely exhausted, (all of its clones had already dispersed) rushed over to Naruto, who got down on one knee and picked up the tiny mouse pokemon before twirling it around in the air merrily in celebration.

-With Jessie, James And Meowth-

"The boss won! We knew he could do it." Spoke the emotional trio as they hugged each other tightly. They had tears of joy streaming down their eyes.

-With Volkner-

As the match was concluded, Volkner wordlessly got up from his left some change on the table to cover the expenses of the food and beverages that he had ordered, thanked The Proprietor and started making his way for the exit.

"Where are you going Volkner?" Asked the Proprietor

"I have training to do." Answered Volkner, his lips quirked upwards. "Looks like I still have some unfinished business after all. A gym leader's job is to make sure that every bit of his battling spark is passed onto all challengers. Thanks to Naruto Namikaze, I finally understand that. All of his spark and that spark of his pokemon too, watching Naruto battle has inspired me more than words can say. One thing is clear to me, I have to brush up skills. If I ever meet this Naruto Namikaze then I will give him the most electrifying battle of his life."

Volkner was back in business. All Sunyshore City gym challengers had better watch out.

-With Naruto-

"He did it! He beat both Cynthia and Flint in the same day!" Clamored a random spectator as he rushed over to Naruto. Many others followed his example and not long afterwards, Naruto and his Pichu found themselves hoisted into the air and put into a mosh pit before being hauled into the air, the eyewitnesses of the breathtaking battle cheering for them.

'Maybe this isn't such a bad day.' Thought Naruto to himself. His schedule had been set back a tiny bit but this treatment he was getting more than made up for it. Naruto did not even know what brought this reaction on by the onlookers. And you what, frankly he didn't give a damn. He was loving all the affection he was getting from all the townsfolk of Hearthome City.

Flint, who was moping in his corner of depression, was ignored. Flint wished that the ground would just swallow him whole. Flint did not know how he was going to face his fellow elites after this. He had been virtually stripped of 99.53% of his dignity in under an hour. The ballerina tutu promise that he had made to wear at the Wallace Cup was just the icing on the cake. Furthermore, Flint could not talk his way out of it because it was said on live television, meaning there were many people who had most certainly seen it.

It was official, this was by far the worst day of Flint's life.

There was one valuable lesson to be learnt here: Your value does not decrease based on someone's inability to see your worth. Most people wouldn't have spared a Pichu that could evolve a second glance, but Naruto had taken that Pichu in and transformed it into a total powerhouse, using his ninja skills to train Pichu to cover all of its weaknesses. Their secret ingredient in their recipe for success was nothing more than a little extra elbow grease.

The pokemon world had a lot to learn from this man.

End Chapter

Naruto's Team :

1. Dragonite

2. Latios

3. Espeon

4. Lucario

5. Darkrai

6. Greninja

7. Blaziken

8. Mewtwo

9. Alakazam

10. A Pichu That Cannot Evolve