The Works of Quill of Molliemon Discussion

[MrRigger2]

Don't get me wrong, I'd like to see Naruto and Sasuke team up for a double battle and kick butt all over the place. I think it would be awesome. And in the future, after they've traveled together for a while and know each other's habits well, I think it's pretty likely. But realistically, I don't think it's going to happen in this story.

Perhaps more likely is that the series' first Triple Battle will be with Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all on one side. Minato mentioned that the new Unova Battle styles were being brought to Fire Country in Shadow and Ash, but we haven't seen any yet, so it's certainly possible that what seemed like a throwaway line was actually setting up something in the future.

MrRigger

[Farmer_10]

It WOULD be a damn good nod to canon if they had the all the kids competing against one another in teams of three. They could make it a spectacle like the Chuunin Exams.

[MrRigger2]

It might, but I don't think it's very likely. Remember, Ino is a coordinator, not a Trainer, so she's not likely to participate in any kind of battle tournament. And while Hinata specializes in Battle Contests and so would be worth a lot more than Ino in a Triple Battle, any sort of battle tournament is likely covered by how many Badges people have as a method of keeping the entries down. Since Hinata isn't challenging Gyms, she probably wouldn't be able to enter.

MrRigger

[MrRigger2]

Bah, it's been long enough that I don't mind double posting. Besides, I have analysis to post!

Well, it looks like Genma and Minato are going to have to have a serious talk sometime soon. Specifically, about how long he's been hiding the fact that he has a son. It's one thing to hide a girlfriend. Minato's a celebrity, and there's no need to get the rumor mills up in arms if things aren't particularly serious or devoted (we know it is, and Genma's obviously been pushing, so Minato was going to have to let Genma in on the details soon anyway). However, it's another to hide the fact that you have a son from your agent. Hide it from the tabloids? Sure, that's understandable. However, it is one of those things that your agent has to know about in case the son in question comes out of the woodwork either demanding money/putting out a harmful interview/other PR nightmare. Yeah, we know Naruto won't do any of those things. But Genma's probably got the worst possible scenarios running through his head right now. Of course, it's not without reason. Right now, the island is still swarming with reporters and the press, and it could have been a disaster if one of them found out about Naruto first and blindsided him with questions about Naruto/an article. Sure, it's only a matter of time at this point, but at least he can start preparing now.

Ken-Ichi still having a Wartortle is interesting. I understand he doesn't see a lot of travel because of his mother, but he's clearly been able to get a fair bit of experience, and he's been at it for years. Lileep doesn't evolve until level 40, and Wartortle evolve at level 36, so I would think it would have evolved by now. If only for the fact that he trains at the Uzumaki Gym, so he's probably helping weed out any challengers that come to fight Kenjiro, and that would build up the experience pretty easily.

Perhaps I'm overthinking it. With his overprotective mother, inability to travel much, and limited training options, and lack of a real pushing force to get better, he wouldn't have fully evolved all his Pokemon. It just seems strange to me that Katsuro would have fully evolved a Charizard and Salamance while Ken-Ichi can't do the same, though I suppose splitting his attention across at least four Pokemon instead of just two might also have an effect. Of course, it could be something as simple as Wartortle disturbing Suzume less than Blastoise, so Ken-Ichi doesn't evolve it out of respect for his mother. Am I anywhere close to the mark, Molliemon?

You're doing a real good job of conveying Kitsune's childish mindset in the narrative. It makes it clear that Kitsune is nowhere near mature yet, what with her thoughts of how everything is going to be great, I just have to make it to mommy, and no one has to know that I was captured (despite the fact that she's still wearing the Soothe Bell). Not to mention her description of Kyuumaru as a monster with a dozen tentacles silhouetted by the heavens. There's no mistaking her as anything but a frightened child.

Of course, the interaction between Kyuumaru and Kitsune is pretty interesting. Every other section with Kyuumaru has had him desperately confused by time and similar people, but in this section had him much more grounded and mentally together. It's almost certainly because Kitsune is something entirely new to him. Kyuumaru has never seen a Zorua before, so he knows that whatever is happening is the present, and he doesn't have anything in the past to confuse it with, unlike his interactions with Kushina and others.

However, as good as Kitsune has been for Kyuumaru, Kyuumaru is probably pretty beneficial to Kitsune in the long run as well. He's really giving her the bluntest and most accurate advice she's gotten so far, and once she gets out of denial, it will probably be the most useful.

Maybe I'm looking for things that aren't there, but Kitsune's story reminds me a lot of young Kushina. Both have numerous older brothers who get to do things while they're made to sit on the sidelines. Both ran away from home. Both are convinced they're right, and won't take other viewpoints into consideration. However, while young Kushina met Mito and calmed down, Kitsune hasn't had that opportunity. It really underscores how bad Kushina's journey could have gone and how lucky she was that she hooked up with Minato early on. However, while Kitsune's journey so far has been pretty bad (in her mind), I think Kitsune's conversation with Kyuumaru will effectively serve the same purpose as Kushina's conversation with Mito.

Now, the chase that starts at the end of the chapter has two obvious outcomes. One, Kyuumaru searches for a minute or two before flooding the area with fire and flushes Kitsune out. Two, Kyuumaru starts off searching for her rather grumpily, and due to not wanting to harm the area, doesn't use fire to flush Kitsune out, and eventually realizes he's actually having fun searching out Kitsune, marking it as the first time in a long time he's enjoying himself and actually living instead of just surviving.

Looking at the character of Kyuumaru, the first certainly fits. Personally, I hope it's the second. Thematically, the second fits as well. Caught in the Whirlpool seems to be a story of revelations and confrontations resulting in growth. Kushina's had her secrets revealed to her family (raising Naruto, getting engaged, basically her whole life outside Uzu), making everyone there confront their personal feelings. Minato's role in the story has been nothing but confrontation so far (fighting Kenjiro, being the cause of the meltdown between Kushina and her family, the double battle last chapter). Inaho will soon be revealing Minato's secret love. Kitsune's running plotline is her refusal to confront the truth of her situation, though I suspect that will change soon.

Following this theme, Kyuumaru is going to realize that his current course of action really isn't healthy and it isn't making him happy (he can't even really be called content, I don't think), and he's going to have to confront that issue. If we want to strictly follow the theme, Kyuumaru will realize that Mito-sama would want him to be happy and leave the Sealed Shrine. However, I think it's also perfectly valid to have Kyuumaru refuse the realization and stay at the shrine, just to show that not everyone can grow, and not everyone wants to grow/change.

MrRigger

[Tempest Kitsune]

There's a third option there for Kyuumaru Rig. The younger Uzumaki generation starts interacting with Kyuumaru again, giving him a balance as he's still able to do his task, and he's grounded by the people in the present that obviously aren't Mito.

Regarding Genma's reaction, yeah, I can see him and Minato having some words, but the man is also Minato's friend. Once he gets the full story, I think he'll be rather understanding about why Minato didn't tell him, he wanted to keep Naruto to himself for as long as possible. The man is only human afterall, and after missing so much of Naruto's life, he wants to catch up without having someone looking over his shoulder. I also found it hilarious that Genma realized Naruto was Minato's son pretty much right off the bat, while no one else has made that connection.

[MrRigger2]

I can see Genma forgiving Minato on the personal side of things, but it really was a risky thing to do professionally, and I wouldn't blame Genma if there was some tension there over it.

Also, the idea of the younger Uzumaki generation interacting with Kyuumaru is a good one, except that the younger Uzumaki generation apparently consists of Naruto and Ken-Ichi, and that's it. Naruto might enjoy meeting Kyuumaru, but he's hardly going to stick around there and hang out, and Ken-Ichi can barely see his own pokemon because of his mother, much less go hang out with a half-feral Ninetails that's known to attack humans that get close.

MrRigger

[Tempest Kitsune]

Well, he may do it in order to get a measure of independence from her. Ken-Ichi is 18, he's an adult, legally. She can't really tell him what to do anymore.

[MrRigger2]

Not quite. He's still 17, so legally (assuming the age of adulthood isn't different for Uzu/Pokemon world), he still has to listen to Suzume.

MrRigger

[Quill of Molliemon]

Bah, it's been long enough that I don't mind double posting. Besides, I have analysis to post!

Analysis!

Ken-Ichi still having a Wartortle is interesting. I understand he doesn't see a lot of travel because of his mother, but he's clearly been able to get a fair bit of experience, and he's been at it for years. Lileep doesn't evolve until level 40, and Wartortle evolve at level 36, so I would think it would have evolved by now. If only for the fact that he trains at the Uzumaki Gym, so he's probably helping weed out any challengers that come to fight Kenjiro, and that would build up the experience pretty easily.

Perhaps I'm overthinking it. With his overprotective mother, inability to travel much, and limited training options, and lack of a real pushing force to get better, he wouldn't have fully evolved all his Pokemon. It just seems strange to me that Katsuro would have fully evolved a Charizard and Salamance while Ken-Ichi can't do the same, though I suppose splitting his attention across at least four Pokemon instead of just two might also have an effect. Of course, it could be something as simple as Wartortle disturbing Suzume less than Blastoise, so Ken-Ichi doesn't evolve it out of respect for his mother. Am I anywhere close to the mark, Molliemon?

Katsuro has focused almost exclusively on his top two pokemon (salamence and charizard) with a special emphasis on his dragon because he knew right off the bat that it would need the most work to fully evolve. His parents have always fully supported his pokemon-training ambitions and done nothing to hinder his traveling.

Ken-Ichi has split his attention more evenly on more monsters, and his mother has meddled significantly in his training and travel plans. Since his cradily is his oldest pokemon and a grass-type (which is reputed to grow faster/more easily than other types) it has managed to evolve before his wartortle. His training in grandpa's gym is an advantage, but he didn't really buckle down and take things completely seriously until after his ego recovered from Kenjiro defeating him.

Maybe I'm looking for things that aren't there, but Kitsune's story reminds me a lot of young Kushina. Both have numerous older brothers who get to do things while they're made to sit on the sidelines. Both ran away from home. Both are convinced they're right, and won't take other viewpoints into consideration. However, while young Kushina met Mito and calmed down, Kitsune hasn't had that opportunity. It really underscores how bad Kushina's journey could have gone and how lucky she was that she hooked up with Minato early on. However, while Kitsune's journey so far has been pretty bad (in her mind), I think Kitsune's conversation with Kyuumaru will effectively serve the same purpose as Kushina's conversation with Mito.

Huh, they are rather similar...and that's completely unintentional on my part.

I also found it hilarious that Genma realized Naruto was Minato's son pretty much right off the bat, while no one else has made that connection.

Genma has more information than most. He already knew that Minato has a secret girlfriend, and now he's been introduced to her (after finding her and his boss sleeping in the same hotel bed that morning). Now he sees a blond-haired blue-eyed kid that bears a very strong resemblance to Minato latch on to this girlfriend and call her "Mom"...and one plus one equals a secret kid!

Sasuke, after much observation, has guessed the truth, and Hinata is close but hasn't recognized Minato as the same man that she met at Naruto's house recently. And as for Sakura and the rest of his friends...they've known Naruto pretty much his whole life and have never seen Minato around their friend's home or in his life nor has Naruto ever claimed/admitted knowledge of his father to them, ergo the strong resemblance between the two blonds must be a coincidence and nothing more.

[Tempest Kitsune]

Hmm, just had an odd thought tangent. Naruto finally gets introduced to the rest of the family, and Kenjiro offers him an Omanyte. Naruto pauses to think, because he's still not totally sure that he'd be able to keep Ginsu from eating this new companion quite yet. When Kenjiro asks why he's hesitant, Naruto tells him the story of how he caught a wild Aerodactyl. How do you think the family as a whole would react to learning that this kid has not only captured and so far successfully tamed a wild Aerodactyl, which are probably one of the most dangerous fossil pokemon, but one that was trying its best to eat him?

Also, how exactly would Kenjiro present it to him? As a combination "welcome to the family/missed birthdays and holidays" gift?

[MrRigger2]

Considering that they own a number of fossil Pokemon, and know just how powerful the local species can be, I'm not sure they'd consider Aerodactyl the most dangerous (I'd personally give most menacing/dangerous looking to Kabutops with the arm scythes). The fact that it was human aggressive and Naruto brought it to heel with only one Pokemon on his side is more impressive than the actual species, at least in my mind. At least, capturing a human aggressive Aerodactyl is no more impressive than catching a human aggressive Gyarados, Onix, Tentacruel, or other physically menacing Pokemon that could easily do major harm to a human being. Remember, the Uzumaki clan is big into Water types, and while Ginsu is certainly impressive, I think they'd be more impressed by the fact that Naruto raised up a Gyarados (a mark of pride for the Uzumaki clan).

As for how Kenjiro is going to present Naruto with his Omanyte, I think it's something that he'd do in private, or at most with Kushina present. The family tradition isn't a party and so far doesn't seem to be something that everyone is involved in, but rather is something that is handled solely between parent and child. Getting your fossil Pokemon isn't really a present or gift, it's a responsibility. Or at least that's how I understand it.

Huh, they are rather similar...and that's completely unintentional on my part.

Really? Cause you could have passed that off as something you meant to do an no one would have known the difference. And with the number of similarities, I would have thought it had to be an intentional comparison.

MrRigger

[Quill of Molliemon]

Huh, they are rather similar...and that's completely unintentional on my part.

Really? Cause you could have passed that off as something you meant to do an no one would have known the difference. And with the number of similarities, I would have thought it had to be an intentional comparison.

The only thing that I planned on with Kushina and Kitsune was the little episode of mistaken identity. I was looking at zoroark's long red hair and I thought of Kushina's hair (and I suppose Chouza Akimichi's hair, too) and that led to the idea of "what if Kitsune saw Kushina and thought that was her mom?".

But I suppose if anyone points out all the similarities elsewhere, I'll claim that it was all a part of my super master plan!

[Farmer_10]

The part where she mentions going out on her own to evolve, that sounded like Demon to me.

[MrRigger2]

True, but unlike Demon, Kitsune would eventually be able to evolve on her own. Unless Demon started ransacking evolution stone stores or stumbled into a Hyuuga clan mine (they apparently made their fortune off of mining for evolution stones and inventing hold items), he would never be able to do evolve without help. But you're right, that does sound a lot like Demon. Of course, they left for different reasons. Demon left because he wanted to evolve in an effort to remove his "curse". Kitsune left because she just wanted to show her family that she was grown up enough to be involved in all the reindeer games.

MrRigger

[Farmer_10]

Oh, that's right. I keep forgetting that Zorua evolves by level not stone.

Hey Quill, any plans for a new chapter in the coming days or is this the last one for the year? No pressure, just curious.

[Quill of Molliemon]

Well, there are two family parties (Christmas Eve and Christmas) and then it all depends on what I get for Christmas and how much it distracts me...


...So I have no idea if I'll be able to squeeze in another chapter before New Year's or not.

[Farmer_10]

If you do, great. If you don't: Thanks for the great year and may the next one be even better.

[Nitramy]

Instead of an Omanyte, how about a "We recently discovered this little guy in a different part of the mines. Maybe you can have it."

Cue Naruto getting a Beldum.

[MrRigger2]

Well, the place where the Uzumakis gets their ancient Pokemon is, as I understand it, a natural cave, not a mine. And I don't remember any mention of any mines on the main island of Uzu (there might be some on the island where the Steel Type Gym was). Giving Naruto a Beldum may also come off as a smack in the face, as it could be seen as saying, "Yeah, all the other members of the family are good enough to get a rare ancient Pokemon, but you can have this weird thing that we don't know what it is. Have fun!"

Even if they know what it is, and know it eventually becomes a Pseudo-Legendary, Metagross doesn't have the same sentimentality that the ancient Pokemon found in the cave do. It wouldn't have the same impact or represent the same thing one of the ancient Pokemon does.

MrRigger

[Tempest Kitsune]

As always Mollie, an awesome chapter. Minato and Genma's interactions were interesting views into their friendship, as well as setting the tone for what's undoubtedly coming down the pipe. I just know that Naruto's going to call Kushina "mom" at the wrong point and the Meowth'll be out of the bag. I find it interesting that she apparently is still avoiding telling her family anything, to the point that she doesn't just spit out that Naruto is her son to Kenshin. Again, I figure it will be Naruto who ends up revealing that little secret. The interaction with the pokemon is interesting, and I like how you're setting up the characterization of the other mons. Dragon's pretty obviously on the cusp of evolution, and the tactics of Sasuke's demi-Lengendarys show some interesting insight into their personalities and how their trainer has affected them.

I can't wait till they encounter Kyuumaru now, I'm honestly expecting Demon to treat the other Ninetales with respect for the most part, with some of his own trainer's irreverence thrown in, like calling Kyuumaru "Old Man". Demon seems to have matured quite a bit, so I'm honestly doubtful that he'd attack first when encountering the other Ninetales. And Naruto, who appears to have kept his whole "I'm going to be your friend dammit!" attitude, will likely throw Kyuumaru off, further cementing his mental ties to the present as opposed to not being able to tell what's past or present at a given moment. Naruto's physical appearance will probably help this, as he looks nothing like a Uzumaki.

[Quill of Molliemon]

I find it interesting that she apparently is still avoiding telling her family anything, to the point that she doesn't just spit out that Naruto is her son to Kenshin.

At the moment, Kushina's focused on helping Naruto find what she lost. If she mentioned to Kenshin that Naruto is her son, she fears that he'll start interrogating her about the boy instead of helping. She'll tell him once Kitsune is found...if Naruto doesn't give it away before then.

[Tempest Kitsune]

"If" he doesn't give it away? Naruto has no idea what kind of relationship his mother has with the rest of her family, so the first time he says "Mom, look over there" or something similar where Kenshin can hear him, and Kushina reacts, the jig is up.

[Nasdaq]

You know, I was discussing this with the chat earlier, and they suggested I post it. I want to preface it by saying I love the stories, really all of them, and this comes down to finding the smallest nitpicks it seems. However, to stop beating around the bush, I simply feel Molliemon has a bit of a love of lists that tends to cut into the story a bit, very dry and unengaging. This chapter was the most egregious of this, I think, what with so many trainers releasing their Pokemon at once. However, instead of making this actually interesting, it was simply cookie-cutter. It would be so easy to write their releasing their pokemon and actually tell us something about the characters, about the Pokemon, and so on. Instead, there is just a list. A this, named that, and then a this, named that. It just seems so out of place in an otherwise extremely well written story.

Perhaps I just love delving into character motivation too much, but in the very least it could be made to be slightly more interesting. Maybe it doesn't have to be some massive descriptive burst of information, but still, more than a list...

This is nitpicking and accentuating the negative, really, as the stories are fantastic, amongst my favorites. This was the first thing that really stood out to me as a negative, though.

[MrRigger2]

Good chapter. Nice to see you got it up before the new year.

I do hope Genma doesn't let Minato live this one down for a while. Even if Minato is a private person, keeping Naruto secret for so long really was a crappy thing to do, both to Genma the friend and Genma the agent. Keeping things quiet for a little while isn't a terrible idea, but Minato's kept Genma in the dark for more than a year at this point. That's the sort of thing that you don't just let go, especially if you're friends. Ultimately, no matter who's fault it is, I don't think the story is going to end with the secrets behind Minato's personal relationships intact. Now, it's possible Asuka will be the one to blow the secret, as a way of getting back at Kushina, but I can't really see her wanting to air the Uzumaki clan's dirty laundry like that. More likely, it will be Naruto's fault, though I don't think it will be because of a lack of caution. Like Genma said, the tabloids will be sticking around for quite some time snooping around for stories (and any reason to avoid getting back on those boats, Inaho will take). And Inaho has outright said that her magazine isn't all that concerned about confirming their stories as true (I've got two eyes, so I've got two sources), so I think that the fact that Minato is simply going to be spending time with Kushina and Naruto will be enough for the story to make print.

One of the reviews on dA commented that Sakura had an observation fail, I assume referencing that she still believes Naruto and Minato aren't related. I can't blame her too much. As outside observers, we know that Naruto and Minato are related, and given what we know, it's easy to believe that it should be obvious to anyone in the story as well. However, we have to look at the information Sakura is working with. Sakura has known Naruto for years. Naruto doesn't have a dad in the picture. She knows Kushina isn't married. She knows the Fire Country League Champion doesn't have any sort of relationship, certainly not with anybody she knows. Because she knows all this, she then knows that there's no way Naruto can be related to Minato, no matter how much they look alike or how close Minato and Kushina may seem to be.

I did like Ken-Ichi's outside view. It helped drive home the fact that at this point, he's just helping out because he doesn't want to go deal with his mother, not because of any sort of connection to the group. I'm not surprised he thought Akai was Minato's most impressive monster, despite having a Pseudo-Legendary on the team. One, Gyarados tends to be more physically intimidating than Dragonite, despite being statistically inferior. Two, Ken-Ichi knows precisely how difficult a Gyarados can be to raise. Three, Ken-Ichi has probably seen his grandfather beat Pseudo-Legendaries before, whenever a Kurohi challenges the Gym, so he knows Pseudo-Legendaries aren't unbeatable. Four, it's red. Seeing a Pokemon that looks like it sprang forth from one of his clan's legends has got to be pretty mind-blowing.

Thanks for showing us Sasuke and Sakura's teams. Personally, I'd dump the Cherrim if I was Sakura, since she already has a Grass Pokemon in Ivysaur, but there's certainly something to be said for sentimentality. She's lacking a Water Pokemon, however, and on an island, having something that can save you from the water probably wouldn't be a terrible idea. Sasuke still has one in reserve, it appears. I'm leaning towards the idea that he would have held on to his Deino, but he didn't call it out, despite the call being for all walking or flying Pokemon. The only one from the Safari Zone that doesn't fit that bill is his Tynamo, but with an Electric type already on his team, I'm not sure Sasuke would want to double up on types like that. And Tynamo, with Levitate, still kind of counts as a flyer. Did Sasuke simply not want to risk having a recently captured Pokemon run off on him like Kitsune did to Naruto, or was he not sure of his control over his newly captured monsters? It just seems a little strange to me, as I can't see him wanting to get shown up by Sakura in any way that he can help. By keeping a monster in reserve, it seems like he is leaving himself open to accusations of not giving it his all, and I think Sasuke would want to prevent that. For that matter, Naruto keeping Eve in reserve seems strange to me as well. I can understand keeping Vee back, as he probably wouldn't understand what they're doing, but Eve would probably be able to help more than most, having been exposed to Kitsune more than most of the other monsters.

Kenshin's team is pretty impressive for a single type team. With that line-up, challengers are probably going to have their work cut out for them when he takes over Kenjiro's place as Gym Leader. As for his wanting to know about Naruto, he didn't ask "So who is this kid we're helping?", he asked "Who is he exactly?" There's a difference between those two questions, a big one. Personally, I think Kenshin is smart enough to look at Naruto and realize who he is. He knows Kushina has a son, he knows Kushina is marrying Minato, and he's perceptive enough to look at the resemblance between Naruto and Minato and, without the hindering biases people like Sakura are working against, realize that there's a relationship there. So when Kenshin asks who Naruto is, he's not asking "Who is this child, I have absolutely no idea who he could be", he's asking "I know who this kid is, are you going to lie to me again or are you finally going to come clean and tell the truth?" Kenshin isn't stupid. He just wants an explanation from Kushina. Can't really blame him for that either.

As for why Kushina doesn't just tell him right then, I imagine she only wants to have the conversation once, not once for each family member.

To be honest, I'm siding with Demon on the Kitsune issue. If she doesn't shape up quick, she needs to ship out. Naruto has enough Pokemon that he can certainly switch her out without hurting his team effectiveness (in fact, most of his choices would make it stronger), and he wouldn't have to deal with the headache of dealing with an unruly Pokemon on top of dealing with three other untrained (or mostly so) Pokemon. Vee, as a baby, needs a lot of attention, and Ginsu still needs to be civilized. Eve really only needs to be taught how to battle, but with those three things on my plate, I would have sent Kitsune into storage long ago, no matter how rare she may be. Especially considering that once you get past the illusion powers, Zorua/Zoroark aren't that impressive in a battle. Every hit will break the illusion, and once you know you're fighting a Dark Type, you know what to hit them with, no matter what they look like, and in a battle, the illusion powers will only go so far. You can't use them to hide on the battlefield like Kitsune does in the wild. If Naruto was participating in Contests like Ino or Hinata, I can see Kitsune being worth it. Her Illusion ability would probably make for an amazing Contest routine. And, from a reader standpoint, we've already done the "disobedient Pokemon" storyline with Demon, and it took until Gold and Silver for Demon to really become friends with Naruto (he obeyed before that, but never referred to him with respect until he thought Naruto was dead). Frankly, I don't think we need to rehash the same storyline when there's other things going on. For me, at least, it's screwing up the pacing of the story. The story still needs to resolve the plotlines concerning Kushina and her family, the smuggling, and Inaho's tabloid story. Kitsune is stepping all over that with an old plotline. Sure, it fits her character as someone who doesn't care about how her actions affect others, but that's kind of meta, don't you think? And from a personal standpoint, I'd rather deal with Three Lines, Some Waiting over Four Lines, All Waiting.

WARNING: Those are TV Tropes links. I'm not responsible if you get sucked in.

Dragon the Charmeleon is now one of my favorite characters, simply for his "Come at me, bro" moment.

Now for some questions and predictions. First off, Naruto and Kushina have mentioned Naruto's badge count as including Gaara's badge, but all references to out of League badges mentions that they don't count within Fire Country. Can you clear up this discrepancy?

Second, I'm predicting that Lugia may show up in this story. Having recently reread Guardian of the Sea, with Lugia's promise to remember Kushina, I can't shake a vision of a scene where everyone's walking along the beach when they're startled by an explosion from the water and a massive bird touches down in front of them and telepathically says "Hello, Kushina Uzumaki." Then the chapter ends. This may just be wishful thinking, however.

Third, I think Demon will have a much better meeting with Kyuumaru than Kyuubi. At the very least, it will be much less antagonistic. Demon's calmed down a lot since we first met him. That said, I don't know that the meeting will be entirely without violence. Kyuumaru will not appreciate the intruding army of Pokemon coming into his territory, I don't think. With that many Pokemon out, I imagine there won't be any time for questions in his mind, only action.

Four, have you given any more thought to the story idea posed a while back, "10 Adventures Naruto Missed"? I think it would be interesting.

Alright, this has gotten long enough. Time to go back to working on the Pokemon Quest update.

MrRigger

[Farmer_10]

You actually managed to squeeze one more in, you sneaky goose. Nicely done.