Work Text:
Hashirama's Chesnaught sways in place, takes a half step forward, and topples to the ground with a resounding thud.
Obito freezes.
The teenager watches with baited breath as the champion's armored tank of a pokemon shifts, groggily moving around on the arena floor as it tries to drag itself up and move through its injuries. Kamui bristles tiredly, flames flaring as Obito's irritated and exhausted Chandelure gears up for yet another attempt at making the ludicrously strong Grass-Fighter stay down.
Except then it stills.
The entire stadium seems to pause: all the trainers and spectators poised on the edge of excitement as the announcer starts the ten second countdown. At six seconds, Konoha - and there's a small part of Obito's brain that's still incredulous that the Elemental Archipelago's regional champion named his first Grass pokemon 'Leaf' - tries to get up again, but it fails even as Kamui circles the battleground, eyes glowing a familiar eerie purple-red as Obito's favorite girl prepares a Hex.
And then the countdown hits zero and the world goes wild.
"I did it," Obito whispers, screaming crowd fading into the background as he stands in shock, shoulders loosening as he stares across the field at Hashirama. The older man - the former champion - gives him a wide friendly grin as a familiar blond woman with two pigtails trailing down her back storms forward to check on the injured Chesnaught, followed by a beautifully healthy Blissey and—
Kamui bumps into his shoulder demandingly, half-substantial body badly scuffed up from the half-effective but brutal Wood Hammer Chesnaught had landed on her earlier. That attack had nearly been it for them, had nearly been the end, and yet...
Obito stares at his first pokemon and bursts out laughing.
"YES!" he whoops, jumping into the air with a victorious punch. "We did it! Kamui, we did it!"
Kamui squeals indignantly as Obito lunges at her, dropping them both halfway to the ground as he tightly hugs the tired Fire-Ghost pokemon against him while laughing. The Chandelure gives him about thirty seconds of free hugging to celebrate their win and then goes cold, making Obito shiver as she starts draining little bits of life energy out of the air around her.
"Alright, alright, I know you're exhausted!" Obito laughs defensively, unable to stop grinning as he shakes out numbing arms and stands back up. "Let's go greet the champion and— and Kamui! We won the CHAMPIONSHIP!"
Obito spins around, scanning the audience eagerly. He finally finds Rin and Kakashi sitting a few rows up from the front, behind the seats reserved for the any regional gym leaders, like Madara and Izuna, who had chosen to attend in person.
Rin is up and standing on her seat, voice lost in the crowd but clapping so enthusiastically that there's no question that it's her volume making Kakashi cringe next to her. Bakashi - once Rin kicks him and he finally notices that Obito is staring - looks down at him, expression hidden under the weirdo's omnipresent scarf.
Obito grins widely up at him, tossing an arm around Kamui as he waves at the normally smug jerk. It might have taken Obito until he was seventeen to finally make it past the Elemental Regionals and thus qualify for the Championship League unlike Kakashi who had done both at thirteen, but Obito had done it! And he'd WON!
He and Kamui had even managed to beat the exact same Chesnaught that had wiped the floor with Kakashi and his dog pokemon! Hashirama's Konoha had resisted everything Kakashi had thrown at it four years ago. It had beaten Kakashi's Granbull despite the type disadvantage, and it had beaten Kakashi's strongest, Jolteon, who had been with the other teen since he and Obito had been tiny brats bickering over how Kakashi's Eevee kept knocking Obito's Litwick off his head.
Hashirama had been champion for over a decade... but Obito had won.
Kakashi gets to his feet beside Rin with his Jolteon in his arms and inclines his head towards Obito as he holds up a hand. Obito grins, waving harder even as Kamui gets impatient and holds up one of her candles near his head, silently threatening to set Obito's hair on fire again. Bakashi's shoulders jerk, familiar enough that Obito knows he's being laughed at, and then the complete dork lifts up his Jolteon and grabs one of its front paws to make Chidori wave at Obito.
"I'm gonna laugh when that idiot gets himself electrocu—" Obito chokes as Kamui finally loses patience, hooking an arm around his neck and dragging him over to Hashirama while Obito scrambles to stay upright.
"Well done!" the older trainer greets him, as Obito coughs and catches his breath, rubbing at his chilled throat as Kamui finally lets go. "Congratulations on winning the Championship League, Obito. It was a really interesting challenge! I've been looking forward to fighting you since I saw the list of the regional trainers who had qualified."
"It was? I mean, you have? I mean, yeah, me too!" Obito splutters, grinning sheepishly and rubbing the back of his head as he shakes Hashirama's hand.
"Alright, your Chesnaught's going to be fine, Hashirama. Just bring it by later today," the blond woman says, startling Obito who had completely forgotten about— shit, gym leader Tsunade. She stands up, crossing her arms and giving Kamui a narrow-eyed stare that abruptly reminds Obito of the match he'd had with her once and all the deceptively cute and terrifying Normal pokemon that she had practically clobbered him with. "Is that Ghost of yours alright for the closing ceremony, kid, or do you need to hit the stadium's pokecenter first?"
"We're ok," Obito answers quickly. Kamui bobs agreeably, flaring her fires for emphasis as Hashirama recalls his knocked out Chesnaught into its pokeball.
Tsunade seems supremely unconvinced but exchanges a look with her Blissey before patting its head and walking off.
Blissey utters a delighted sound, bounce-walking up to Obito and patting him on the arm before looking at Kamui. With a sing-song trill and an abrupt pulse of sparkly golden-pink light, the happy pokemon spreads a Heal Pulse through the nearby area, wafting Obito and Hashirama's hair up as it spreads over all three of them, causing scrapes to fade and putting more color into Obito's pale face.
Kamui shoots backwards, startled at the sudden Psychic move before abruptly chilling the entire area, glowing dark purple in irritation as the indefatigable Blissey simply bounces off after her trainer, completely unmoved and unaffected.
"Why did it hit us with the healing move?" Obito asks, looking incredulously at Hashirama. He stokes Kamui's side as she cuddles next to him, still glaring after the pink pokemon.
"Well, it's Tsunade," Hashirama explains matter-of-factly, patting Obito on the shoulder and gesturing towards one of the arena openings before briefly waving up at one of the cameras filming the competition. "She has absolutely no faith in anyone's assessment of their own health. It, uh, might have been a result of growing up around a lot of stubborn people. Besides—" Hashirama sends him a kind look "—you looked like you really needed it."
"I'm fine," Obito says surprised. Hashirama's eyes flick tellingly over towards Kamui on Obito's other side and the younger Uchiha stiffens before deliberately laying his hand flat against the blue-indigo sphere of the Chandelure's body. "I'm fine," he stresses, daring Hashirama to comment on Kamui or Obito's frequent physical affection towards the Ghost.
Ghosts pokemon aren't really well known or popular among trainers, and Litwick aren't the most common to begin with. As a result, there aren't a lot of people - especially in the Elemental region - who are closely familiar with Litwick's evolutionary line. Most people had just thought Obito was weird as a kid when he walked around the big city with Kamui on his head. They hadn't known all the stories about Litwick, and Kamui had been cute enough in her first stage that most people had dismissed how their own pokemon hadn't liked the candle-shaped Ghost.
Frankly Obito prefers being overlooked compared to the other reactions that occur from informed individuals. He can still remember the hard, vicious look in Madara's eyes when he had visited on Obito's eighth birthday and caught sight of Kamui hanging around the house. Obito had had to tackle the twenty-year-old gym leader with all the force he could bring to bear to keep Madara from deploying Houndoom to kill her.
(( Obito can still hear echoes from the hours of worried screaming about life-force consuming ghosts and reckless brats playing chicken with death via potentially being stranded in the Ghost World.
That really hadn't been fun. Madara is a terrifying asshole when it concerns his family. Kamui still won't go near him or any of his pokemon to this day. It had turned Obito's multiple challenges at the Naka gym into a giant obstacle. ))
"Kamui is a great pokemon," Obito tells Hashirama, unwilling to budge from defending his oldest friend outside of Rin. "I didn't need healing."
Hashirama considers them both seriously as they arrive at one of the stadium's field entrances before nodding. "I believe you," the man accepts simply, brushing his long brown hair back and facing forward. "You would know her best. And you obviously have a very close bond considering how unique your fighting style is. I've never even heard of someone training a Ghost pokemon to deliberately open a otherworld gate! And during an actual battle, too!"
The Senju grins widely, sending Kamui an honestly impressed look. "That was extremely well done. Thank you for both for bringing my Trevenant back quickly, by the way."
"You're welcome. It's not like we would ever leave another pokemon in the Ghost World after a fight has ended."
Kamui makes a sound that can't be described as anything but a disappointed mewl before clearly beginning to sulk, and Obito flushes as Hashirama laughs.
"Kamui!" Obito hisses, ears burning. "We would not leave someone in the Ghost World!" His Chandelure slowly rotates around in mid-air so that's she's facing away and Obito grabs her arms, quickly spinning her so he can look straight into her solid yellow eyes. "Kamui, you can't just say things like that in front of a league champion!"
Hashirama's boisterous chuckles echo through the hallway. "That's alright. I've run into enough Ghosts to know that they aren't all as nice as people would prefer. My Trevenant still likes to use Forest's Curse on any fire pokemon in Tobirama's research center whenever I send him to stay there temporarily. He thinks the best way to keep Fire pokemon from burning trees is to curse them with a temporary Grass type and then he laughs if they get burned from their own body heat. Your cousin Madara nearly strangled me with his bare hands once because of it after visiting the Valley."
"That sounds like him," Obito says flatly. "Why was he in River Valley?"
A strangely pained look flashes across Hashirama's face. "I think he decided to drag Tobirama out early for their annual month-long vacation because of some persistent trainer on Naka Island. I try not to ask questions when my brother looks content. It usually involves answers I don't want to know or dangerous research I wish he wouldn't find interesting."
Obito stares into thin air, trying to put 'vacation', 'content', and Madara together with the reserved, intense professor who runs the River Valley Research Center. It doesn't really sound plausible. It sounds even less so when he adds in Senju Tobirama's second role as the water specialist in charge of the hellhole that is RVRC's current pokemon gym.
(( Obito can always tell which of his fellow trainers have tried and failed to earn the Katon or Suiton badge within the last decade. Not a single one of them ever believes he earned either badge until they see them for themselves. ))
"So," Obito says abruptly, trying to stave off any flashbacks to red eyes, slight smirks, or nightmarish water-themed obstacle courses, "what happens now?"
"Now we wait about thirty minutes until the closing ceremony starts, and then you'll be given your own champion badge at the end of it regardless of whether or not you accept the title. Everything else in the ceremony stays the same as was described in the pamphlet you received at the tournament's registration desk."
"Do I need to do anything as champion?" Obito asks, looking at Kamui and feeling another minor rush all over again at their victory.
Hashirama waves a hand. "The only thing champions are required to do after the ceremony is to return to Summit Plateau every three years to participate in the Championship Conference and potentially defend your title. If you don't accept the title, you don't have to return though."
There is no way in hell Obito would ever not accept, but: "It's a little strange to think you won't be in the tournament anymore." He rubs his neck, looking up at Hashirama. "Some of your fights were really incredible. I still have a recording of your one with Madara when you were both in the finals of your own Champ Conference."
Hashirama hums, remembering that fight years ago. "You know, Obito - and don't tell Hiruzen this since he was an Elite Four member at the time - but I think Madara was the hardest fight out of that entire tournament. I probably wouldn't have won against his Fire pokemon at all if I hadn't grown up with him and known him so well."
"It was a really satisfying battle to watch," Obito compliments, fighting back a smirk.
And it was! Not because Madara had lost (although Obito will admit to having rewatched that fight a few times out of petty spite rather than studying their strategy), but because it's always amazing to see a high level specialist manage a win against someone who specializes in pokemon with a type advantage. It takes a lot of skill and strategy to do that when both trainers have pokemon in the same power bracket. Madara's fights against Tobirama's Water pokemon or Tobirama's against Izuna's Electric types are just as impressive.
"Well I'm sure there will be several interesting battles in the next Conference, and you'll be able to see those in person as a tournament participant." Hashirama opens the door to a small employee break room. "How does getting a snack sound?"
"Sure. Although..." Obito trails off, holding the door open for Kamui who decides to just phase through it and him because his girl is a little shit sometimes and likes to make him shiver. "Does that mean you plan to compete in the next Conference?"
Obito will get to be champion for a very short period if so unless he continues to work his ass off.
"No, but I'll be a member of the Elite Four next time. Donut?"
"Who's leaving?" Obito asks, accepting the paper box and picking up a chocolate covered Long John as Hashirama takes a bite out of a pink, sprinkle-covered monstrosity.
The older man swallows. "Indra and Ashura want to step down so they can go on a longer travel trip and maybe move to another region. We were actually going to ask you if you wanted one of their positions so long as you defeated Minato's Flying types and Hiruzen's Fighters during the championship, but since you won, I'll take one of the empty positions instead."
"You, you wanted to ask me? Right away? Before the tournament?" Obito stares, a smear of chocolate stuck unnoticed at the corner of his mouth.
"Of course!" Hashirama declares, eyes crinkling from the force of his wide smile. "League rules require any new Elite Four members to have defeated at least two prior members before the league can offer them a full-time employment contract given the prestige and responsibility of the position. Since you won and I'm no longer champion regardless of whether you accept it or not, I can now fill an Elite position instead. However, there aren't a lot of trainers in the Archipelago who meet those qualifications. And several of those that do don't want to sign up for a different league career."
"Right," Obito nods, mentally thumbing through the list of all the past competitors that he remembers. A lot of Championship Conferences tend to end after the first Elite battle rather than making it all the way to the champion. Especially if the randomizer draws out Indra or Ashura's name for the first slot. It's why tournament publicizes the elimination matches between the Regional League's winners and runner-ups: a single competitor losing a single fight doesn't make for good television even if the fight is amazing. A few challengers manage to get to a second or third Elite round if the draw picks Hiruzen or Minato first, but Obito's pretty sure Kakashi was the first challenger since Senju Tobirama to get past both the Ōtsutsuki brothers.
Given that the last person to manage that before Tobirama was Madara - who stopped competing in tournaments after he took over the Naka gym - the League really must have a short list of possible candidates for the Elite.
"Why me though?" Obito questions after he finishes off the last of his donut. "Wouldn't I have the least seniority of anyone who qualifies? Kakashi for example—"
"We don't choose based on seniority," Hashirama interrupts, offering Kamui a glazed donut when she investigates the box. "We go by the number of victories first - whoever manages to defeat the most Elite Four - but after that the offer is a group decision. We tried offering it to Madara months ago because he's certainly champion level, but he laughed in my face at the idea of leaving the Naka gym before he had a decent successor and then refused to pick up any more League calls until we dropped it."
"I'm pretty sure I can convince Tobirama to take the remaining position if I ambush him correctly," Hashirama continues, speaking more to the ceiling than Obito, "but only if it doesn't interfere with his research at the RVRC. We might actually get more people applying to the Regionals with Suiton badges if he passes on the gym leadership. You're the first person in a decade to have every badge from the Elemental Archipelago, you know? It's really impressive actually. It's why we wanted you for an Elite position."
"I'm what?" Obito yelps. "But! But how?"
"A lot of people stop at eight badges that are needed for the Regional requirements. It's an amazing sign of dedication and will that you achieved badges from all the currently accredited gyms."
"It's a sign of Madara being an asshole!" Obito flails loudly, immediately getting an enthusiastic trill of an agreement from Kamui. "Do you know what he did! It's not bad enough that he neatly avoids any challenging trainer for a solid week before agreeing to battle them, but every time I lost trying to get the Katon badge, that— that jerk said 'better get more practice' and then had his Arcanine use Teleport to dump me in a completely different city in front of a gym I hadn't fought yet! He taught an Arcanine Teleport just to be an asshole! Who even teaches non-Psychics TELEPORT!"
Hashirama smirked. He smirked, Obito thinks, speechlessly outraged as he catches the Senju's brief expression before the Grass specialist rapidly switches to friendly reassurance. "I'm sure he wasn't doing it to be an asshole, young Obito," Hashirama soothes as Obito remembers and then rapidly reassesses what it means that this guy is Madara's best friend. "Teleport is a very convenient Move! My brother Tobirama taught it to his Cloister when he was only twelve and Madara's Arcanine has known it almost as long. I'm sure Madara was only trying to help you in his own way. Look at how far you've gotten!"
"...Are you actually trying to convince me that my cousin doesn't enjoy being an asshole?" Obito asks flatly. "Because you can't tell me he doesn't enjoy making trainers wait a week in his gym doing chores whenever they want a Katon badge."
"He's testing their patience," Hashirama claims with a charismatic smile that Obito is no longer sure he trusts. "Lots of gym leaders test for more qualities than simply having powerful pokemon. Hiashi tests for attention to detail, Gai tests for enthusiasm, and Tobirama tests for a trainer's willingness to work hard independent of their pokemon. You see what I mean!"
"You've never gone through your brother's obstacle course, have you?" Obito questions dryly, remembering Madara's surprised pride when Obito had bared his teeth at him a month ago and presented a case with every last badge in the region outside of the Katon badge.
"Anyway!" Hashirama goes on earnestly. "Since we haven't had more than a handful of trainers achieve both the Katon and Suiton badges since Tobirama and Madara took over, never mind the entire set of Elemental badges, we decided you were our first choice if you qualified. And the offer will continue to be open to you in the future if you ever step down as champion. Even if the positions are all filled, you'll always be qualified to challenge an Elite for their title."
"Right..." Obito murmurs, patting Kamui's smooth arm as the Chandelure nudges him, trying to imagine what it would be like to be an Elite working for the Elemental Pokemon League. He'd always wanted to be champion, to achieve the highest recognition a competitive pokemon trainer could attain, but champion is more of an honorary title. A champion has to sign an individual contract if they want to work for the League, but an Elite is an actual job with a variety of possible duties and different kind of respect because of it.
It's kind of strange... Obito had always thought about being champion but never about being an Elite. If anyone his age was going to become one, he'd always imagined it would be Kakashi. Rin, too, of course because Rin would never be anything less than awesome, but Rin had always been more interested in the traveling part of a pokemon journey rather than the competitive fights and—
Wait.
"You said I was the only one with all the badges," Obito says, eyes narrowing in thought. "Didn't Hatake Kakashi have them all when he challenged you three years ago?"
"No, he registered without the Katon and Doton badges," Hashirama answers absently, opening a bottle of tea. "Persistent fellow though. Apparently he showed up on Naka Island at the beginning of Madara's vacation and proceeded to question every person who might possibly know how to contact the Fire gym's leader. I still don't know how he managed to track down my phone number to ask me about it. He probably would have waited the entire month on the island if he hadn't accidentally annoyed Izuna one too many times and gotten Emolga sicced on him for a week."
"We are going to Kick Bakashi's ASS," Obito declares, clenching his fist and staring at Kamui with fire in his eyes, remembering the cocky tilt of Kakashi's head when they had been twelve and how the Hatake had claimed he'd found Madara an irritating challenge but not a fight worth remembering. And then he'd taunted Obito, betting that the older brunet boy wouldn't collect anything more than the standard eight badges and probably just the ones from easy gyms.
Obito had spent years putting up with Madara dumping him all over the region, determined to get that Katon badge before his first tournament so that he could match Kakashi's record, even after Izuna had laughed and told him it was okay to wait a few years to get more experience like most Uchiha do, and that silver-haired asshole hadn't even had the badge!
"-lure, -lure, chandeluuuure," Kamui sings in her creepiest tone, swinging back and forth like a pendulum as her indigo flames dance and wave hypnotically, eerie purple energy pulsing around her ghostly form.
"Great idea!" Obito agrees fervently, forgetting about Hashirama as he turns to leave the room. "We'll wait until night and then get him. So attend ceremony, find grandma, thank Rin, and then punch Kakashi in the nose with more to come later!"
... I think I see a bit of a family resemblance, Hashirama thinks silently, following the angry teen and his unnervingly delighted Fire-Ghost back out into the stadium.
At least they won't be filming anything live after the ceremony concludes.