Advance

*Note, this is a part of one of my more personal stories. This is a Pokemon x Naruto crossover. If y'all like it, I'll post some here and there but this is not considered a Reedsy series whatsoever. I fit as much of chapter one in here as I could, but word count is against me.

He sat there opening the little pouch he made. "Here Tsuko, you should eat." He says, offering his friend a berry. "It should heal that burn you gave yourself." He says with a smile. The Pokemon let out a yip jumping up and down. He chuckled, tossing the fruit. The Vulpix jumped up, biting into the berry, carrying it down to earth with her. Tsuko made a happy whine as it nommed on the berry. Itsodo smiled, laying down. He grabbed one of the berries, popping it into his mouth. Tsuko made her way to the makeshift pouch, wiggling her snout inside to eat a few more berries. 

"Save some for me." He says with a small laugh. He gently batted her snout away, grabbing a small handful for himself. We're going to have to go foraging soon, he thought with dread. It's been so hard to find berries that both of them could eat. The ravenette preferred to get the ones both could eat in case of a dangerous situation where one needed to get the other food, quickly. While he could teach his Vulpix the difference, that would take so much time. And with the attack of those water types, they didn't have such time.  "Let's go to bed. I'm sure battling with that Sandshrew tired you out." 

The Vulpix barked in response as Itsodo tied the makeshift pouch back together. He tied it back onto his belt before laying down on his back. Tsuko jumped onto his stomach, curling up. "Sleep well my friend." She let out another happy bark in response. He let out a sigh as he rested his hands on her back. With that he closed his eyes, letting the night and all it held lull him to sleep. 

Itsodo yawns, bringing his arms above his head as he stretched. Tsuko let out a yip jumping off of his stomach, stretching herself. He sat up, criss crossing his legs yawning once more. "Do you want to stay here a few more days, before we leave Tsuko?" He asks looking at his friend. The Vulpix sat on it's bottom looking at him confused. He blinked before asking again. "Do you want to stay here, in Ichi Aka?" Tsuko stood up nudging his side. 

"Vul! Pix, pix vul." Itsodo let out a chuckle. 

"Yeah, yeah. I've been waiting to leave for awhile now." He says with a slight smile. "Are you though? I mean- this is your home." 

"Vulpix. Vul, vul." 

"How original of you." He says with a laugh standing up. Tsuko seemed to make her own sort of laugh. "Well, let's get going then, yeah?" She jumped up and down excitedly before charging forward in a direction. The teenager laughed running after the fire type. The two of them ran through the woods jumping and climbing over logs. A good hour passed til the two were tired.

"Vul?" She asked tiredly trotting on a bit of moss.

"Yeah." He agrees, out of breath. With wide eyes he says, "Food." With a smile grabbing his little pouch. Sitting down on his knees, he unfolded the pouch. He picked up a few berries, setting them in front of her. He grabbed a few more for himself, bitting into one. Using his teeth to hold onto the one he set the other two down as he folded the fabric back into a pouch. Tsuko hummed to herself eating the berry. He chuckled at this, making the berry fall out of his mouth. "Shit!" He barks grinning.

The Vulpix looked between him and the berry a few times before flicking a berry to him. He smiles taking the berry watching as Tsuko ate the remainder of her berry before she trotted to the berry that fell, eating that one. The two of them feasted on the last of those berries before standing up, stretching a little. "Good meal?" He asks seeing his Vulpix doing a little trot around the moss. She looked up at him before smiling brightly. He nods, picking up the pouch and tying it to his belt once more. "Let's keep heading this way, we should reach the edge of the forest soon." 

And that the two did. When the two sat down from exhaustion he untied the pouch from the belt, and untied it. There were six berries left. "We'll eat one berry from now on. In the meantime we'll search for berries again." She yips in agreement, biting into a berry and walking off in a direction before plopping down. He grabbed a berry biting into it as he proceeded to tie the bag, attaching it to his belt once more. He finished the berry quickly standing up again. The Vulpix rubbed against his leg before heading off into the direction they were going before.

Itsodo followed after the Vulpix, the land no longer being covered in sticks, twigs and rocks. He folded his hands, putting the behind his back. Tsuko jumped upwards before running forward letting out a series of barks and yips. "Hey, Tsuko, wait a moment!" He shouts bolting on after her. He stumbled to a stop as she ran in front of a weird yellow and blue Pokemon. It was like a snake bug too. "Tsuko, use protect!" He shouts. The Vulpix responded quickly. Looks like she had the same thought as I, he thought to himself. 

"Back off, this is my battle!" A brunette shouts. He made his way to Tsuko and the other Pokemon. 

"It's not fair to attack a Pokemon," He motions to the being. "Especially if it was merely walking to a food source."

"You know nothing of this world, do ya buddy?" The brunette asks with a laugh. "The only way to get stronger is to kill! Either humans or Pokemon, so it might as well be them, eh?!" She shouts. His eye twitched. 

"Tsuko," He looked at the foe's Pokemon. It was a purple humanoid. "Use your ember and quick attack combination." He says stepping back. He kneeled by the other Pokemon taking his berry pouch off of his belt, untying it he handed the Pokemon a blue berry, the one Tsuko and him have been eating lately. "Here, this should help you." He says holding it in front of the interesting Pokemon. 

"Tyrogue, use rock slide!" The humanoid Pokemon summoned forth a bunch of rocks that flew towards them. Itsodo jumped back quickly, the unique Pokemon following after him.

"Tsuko, my dear friend try to dodge them! Quick attack if you can!" 

"Vul! Vulpix!" She barked, doing her best to do so. The fire type let out yelp of pain as a rock hit her. Itsodo let out a growl, his fingers closing in, and digging into his palm. 

"Tsuko! Are you okay?" He asks hurriedly, jogging to her. 

"Vulpix, vul, vulpix!" His face settled and he nodded, walking back to the strange Pokemon. 

"Use ember my friend-" He stopped feeling something hit against him. "Eh?" He wondered looking down. His eyes widen. 

"Dunsparce, sparce." His eyes widen and he nods. He looks up at girl. 

"Tsuko, let Dunsparce join you in attack!" The Vulpix yipped in understanding, and the Pokemon Dunsparce ran forward. Itsodo tilts his head as the Dunsparce rolls itself into a little ball. A flash of fire flew at the humanoid making draw away a bit, obviously not liking the heat. Then, Dunsparce rolled right into the Pokemon knocking it back. Vulpix nods at the Dunsparce and the two walk closer to Itsodo. 

"Hey that's not fair!" 

"It is however. You attacked the Dunsparce when it wanted to eat, and hurt it so much I had to assist it to do such." He said clipped. 

She clenched her fists, hunching over before pointing at their general direction and shouting "Use rock slide again!" The rocks came at Tsuko again, and one even managed to hit Dunsparce. 

"Dodge, dodge!" He says panicked. 

"Vul.. Pix!" She shouted standing on top blowing a bunch of embers at the other Pokemon once more. The Dunsparce used that rollout move too. 

"Ty-ty!" It shouted, in pain. 

"Use retaliate now Tyrogue!" The Pokemon whimpered shaking its head. "Now Tyrogue!" She shouts again. 

"Tsuko use protect, and Dunsparce- hide behind her unless you can use such a move yourself." He whispers. 

"Now!" She barks yet again. Tyrogue charged at the Vulpix attempting to deliver a swift punch only to fall back. 

"My friends, new and old, protect once more." He kindly commands. And they do so, blocking yet another rock slide attack. Itsodo's eyes narrow watching the Tyrogue's condition. He knelt down grabbing another blue berry. It doesn't heal much of their health, but it does something. He commented to himself. He stood up, tossing the berry to the Tyrogue. 

"Don't eat it Tyrogue, just attack again!"

"Your comrade doesn't have enough energy for the move you wish. Let Tyrogue eat the berry, it will help it." 

"He's my Pokemon-" 

"Ty, tyrogue!" He shouted, smiling. The Pokemon knelt down grabbing the berry. He took a bite out of it as he sat down. 

"Tyrogue!" She shouted taking the berry away from him. 

"Vulpix!" Tsuko shouted jumping on top of the girl. "Vul, vul." She barks nodding towards the berry. The Tyrogue looked up at the Vulpix before smiling and picking up the berry, biting into it once more.

"Get off of me! Off, off damn it!" Itsodo walks over to the group, Dunsparce following behind him. 

"Good job everyone." He says with a smile motioning for Tsuko to get off of the girl.

"You fucking bastard, he's my Pokemon, not yours! I tell him what to do!"

"One, language. Two, he is his own being." He says sharply. "Three, even if he did belong to you, I believe anyone would do something to better their survival, even if it meant disobeying a direct order."