SO, having looked back at what I had written at the beginning of this journey, I realized something. My frst few chapters really, really needed to be worked on. So, here we are, chapters 1-6 have been worked over, enjoy your first read through of the new stuff or if your coming back to see what I changed, enjoy!
Brianna's desperate gasps echoed in her ears, the darkness that she was trapped in seemed to be closing in around her as she desperately thought of a way to survive this latest encounter with the unknown. A rhythmic pounding on the solid ground caused the half were-cheetah to grip her plasma rifle tightly as the sound drew closer to the stalagmite that she was hiding behind. The HUD built into her helmet pinged the four targets as they slowly converged on her hiding spot, as if they had some way of tracking her despite the fact that all they appeared to be made of was solid granite
'Well, guess I can rule out technology, after all I did see them form out of a pile of rocks as I was exploring. And the plasma rifle does jack against them, I think all it did was make'em even angrier!' Taking a moment, Brianna tried her com device again but the burst of static had the young woman swearing softly as she shut down the system once more. 'Dammit, I must be in too deep, that or there's enough iron in these walls to block the signal. Either way, it looks like I'm on my own for now. I hope Gina and Brit are ok.'
Just as Brianna closed her eyes, hoping that all of this was some kind of crazy nightmare caused by a late night tuna run, her proximity alarm blared at her just as the stalagmite she was hiding behind exploded into rubble. A craggy hand reached for her armored shoulder with surprising speed and threw Brianna across the cavern, the young woman's armor sparking as she skipped and rolled along the floor. The out of control ride that Brianna had been sent on ended just as abruptly as it had begun, her armored back slammed into the cavern wall with bone jarring force. The impact forced the air from Brianna's lungs, causing the young woman to gasp loudly as she tried to regain her breath and face her attackers. Once Brianna was able to breath properly again, she struggled to stand as the four golems converged on her once more, their slow measured treads almost sounding as if they were a countdown to the end of the young woman's life as they drew nearer. Looking at her HUD once more, Brianna saw that she had dropped her plasma rifle when she had been thrown and was now weaponless, for all the good it had done in the end. Closing her eyes for a moment, Brianna felt tears sliding down her cheeks as the four golems drew closer, three of the silent constructs penning her in place while the forth continued towards her. And just when the young woman had accepted that it was her fate to die today, a single word caused the woman to feel a rush of hope.
"Duck!" Reacting on instinct, Brianna dove towards the floor, covered her head and clenched her eyes shut as a powerful blast of wind nearly lifted the woman off of the ground. As the violent windstorm died down, Brianna slowly raised her head and gasped in awe. A two foot hole had been blasted through the lead golem, the creature's massive hand reaching towards a young man that was standing in front of Brianna, as if protecting her. Brianna took a moment to look at her savior and couldn't help but grin at what she saw. Sun-kissed blonde hair, a tall, powerful looking body dress in a long black cloak with orange flames trimming it. The young man turned around and Brianna's eyes widened as she took in his sky blue eyes and three whisker marks on each of his cheeks. A metal plate attached to a headband caught Brianna's eye, a strange spiral design adorned the protective headgear that was niggling at the young woman's memories.
'Or are they Gina's memories?' Before Brianna could contemplate the situation any further, the young man grinned at her and gestured with his thumb at the remaining three golems.
"So, gimme a minute to take care of these guys and then we'll talk, ok?" As Brianna nodded slowly in shock. she watched a glowing sphere of blue energy form in the mystery man's hand, the sensors on Brianna's suit going insane from the readings they were picking up.
'What in the... That's not magic, could it be life energy manipulation? Just who the hell is this guy!?' Brianna watched in awe as the man pivoted quickly, slamming the ball of compressed energy into the nearest golem, the attack picking the construct up off of it's feet and sending it spinning into the far wall, creating a small crater that soon buried another of Brianna's deadly attackers under hundreds of pounds of rock. Brianna watched as the young man ran towards the two remaining constructs, fear once more gripping her as she saw the pair of golems turn towards him and begin swinging their oversized fist at at him, moving much faster than something that large and heavy had any right to.
But the blonde haired man began bouncing around each strike, appearing almost as if he were a leaf blowing in the wind, his movements almost appearing as if he were playing with the golems and not actually fighting them. The blonde thrust his hand out, the hit sending one of the golems skidding back as he flipped over the other one, landing on it's back. Brianna watched as he raised his arm and a cyclone of energy appeared, this time appearing like a funnel. Once the ability was stabilized, the blonde thrust his hand downwards, the attack ripping through the golem's head, the stone that made up the head and chest of the constructs body literally exploding into fragments while the remainder of the construct sagged and began to slowly fall apart, the man riding the disintegrating pile to the ground. Standing swiftly, the blonde ran towards the construct that he had knocked back and slashed his hand in a arc before him, another blaze of energy leaping from his arm towards the oncoming attacker. But before it could take a half dozen steps closer it just went to pieces, a small silvery stone rolling away form the pile and hitting the blonde haired man's boot. Leaning down, the mysterious stranger picked up the orb and eyed it critically for a moment.
"Ok, lets see what we have here..." Brianna watched the young man inspect the item in his hand, a thoughtful expression on his face as he rubbed his chin slowly. After several moments he nodded, pocketed the silver orb and walked back towards Brianna. Once he was facing the girl he had saved, he crouched down and held out a hand for the young woman before him.
"The name's Naruto. I'm going to get you and your sisters out of here. Come with me if you want to live." Brianna couldn't help it, the line was just so cheesy that she had to burst out in a fit of giggles, causing Naruto to pout and rest his hand on his knees. "Hey, I thought that sounded cool! Fine, fine, laugh at the guy that just rescued you, I know how it is. No respect I tell ya, no respect these days..." Brianna shook her head as she tried to gain control of her giggling, an attempt that caused Naruto to waggle his eyebrows at the girl, sending her off into another fit of laughter. After several moments Brianna finally calmed down and Naruto smiled at her warmly. "Feeling better now? Nothing like a good laugh to get over a scary or dangerous situation." Naruto stood up and held his hand out once more, this time Brianna took his hand and was effortlessly pulled to her feet. Walking towards her rifle, the young woman picked it up and magnetically attached it to the back plate of her armor, finally turning back towards Naruto and putting her hands on her hips.
"So, what's a guy like you doing in a place like this?" Naruto grinned as he folded his arms over his chest and shrugged his shoulders.
"Oh, nothing really, I just felt like seeing the sights, getting in a show, maybe doing some shopping in the area..." Brianna cocked her eyebrow at Naruto's answer as she looked at their surroundings.
"In a fifteen thousand year old temple... one that's built into the side of a mountain that just happens to be in the middle of a nature reserve in China?" Naruto laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head before gesturing towards a tunnel behind the pair.
"Well I think we better get going, after all those weren't the only defenders here, we better go and find your sisters!" Brianna's eyes widened as she realized that her sisters were still in trouble, the woman running towards one of the corridors in a blind panic. But after a few steps she squawked indignantly as she felt a pair of arms picking her bridal style, her blushing face looking into the mirthful eyes of Naruto. "I think you should let me do the running, we'll get there faster. Plus, I know where they are, you were about to head in the wrong direction." Brianna blushed as she was about to bring up the fact that her armor easily weighed a couple hundred pounds and would most likely slow the man down, that was until he took off in an insane burst of speed, the cavern walls zipping by the pair as the man deftly dodged any obstruction in the way as he held her securely. Brianna looked up at the grinning man that was holding her, a warm feeling growing in her chest as she continued to stare at his handsome face as the pair raced towards her sisters.
'Tall, handsome, very well built, insanely powerful and funny too... I think I'm in love!'
Chapter 1
Several hours earlier - Zhejiang, China
"So this ancient temple of... What was it called again, Gina?" Gina sighed softly, getting ready to repeat the information... AGAIN... to her younger sister, a sister that was apparently only paying partial attention to what Gina was saying as she looked at a fashion magazine.
"Like I said the last three times Brittany, it's called the Temple of Mu. Apparently it was some kind of outpost for a continent that sunk over 15,000 years ago. I still don't know what kind of disaster could have caused an entire continent to disappear, but there's way too much evidence to not believe that it existed at one point. I'm hoping that we can find some sort of clue where it was located, maybe some kind of artifact that would prove that Mu really existed!" Gina glanced back at the her other passenger and sighed at the nervous energy that was almost literally flowing around her. Brianna was looking over her small arms collection that she had brought on this mission, each piece was being expertly disassembled then reassembled at extremely high speeds as she tried to get rid of the feeling that was bothering her. " Everything ok back their Brianna? You seem a little... nervous." Gina watched her sister's hands slowly pause in their task, the question causing the young half human/were-cheetah to look up at her sister, an almost embarrassed look on her face.
"It's just... is it just me, or have you two noticed any kind of weird stuff that's been happening since mom came back to Earth?" Gina started to laugh as she shook her head, that was before she started to think about several instances that had been occurring over the last few weeks.
"You know, now that you mention it, there have been some weird things happening. Like pieces of equipment that I put down the day before and when I come back it's not exactly in the same place, but no one else has entered the labs. And some of the computers have been left on, even when I know for a fact I've turned them off. I didn't pay any attention to the incidents, I just thought I was being absent minded again... that is until you mentioned it. How about you Brit, seen or heard anything weird in the house lately? Brit?" Gina looked over at her sister, the were-cheetah growling lowly as she lowered her magazine.
"Ramen." Gina 's brow furrowed as she looked at Brianna then back at Brittany.
"Ramen? What does Ramen have to do with anything?" Brittany threw her magazine in the back seat and raised her half clenched hands towards her sisters, an almost manic look gleaming in her eyes.
"EVERYTHING. The smell of it is everywhere in the house, day and night! So many different flavors, and it never goes away! And now that I'm smelling it all the time, I freaking want to eat some but I can't find it anywhere in he house! It's driving me insane! Heck, I even smell it here, in the car! Didja build some kind of invisible ramen storage unit or something that makes the same scent as that stuff when I wasn't looking sis?" Gina looked at Brittany in concern, patting the growling girl on her shoulder.
"Ok, relax Cheetah, we'll find out what's happening when we get home, ok? And no, I didn't make anything like that, that would just be silly. For now, I need you ready to tackle this site, it's going to be the biggest one yet... and possibly the most dangerous." Gina looked out the windows and grinned at the sight before her, her honed archeological instincts were telling her that a major discovery was going to take place at this location. The mountainous region that they had travel to had been searched high and low for generations, as if the local populous knew that there was something of value or importance hidden away but no one had found anything, that is until today. A large platform had been carved into the side of the mountain, almost as if it were a landing zone for impressive looking temple that occupied the same area of the large mountain. Gina's well trained eye was already cataloging the features of the structure that despite it's age and battered appearance, the temple still stood strong and made for an imposing sight.
As the Ginamobile finished it's landing cycle, Gina excitedly popped the hatch and jumped out, nearly sprinting towards the temple before a strong grip on her forearm reined in her enthusiasm. Looking back at Brittany with a sheepish expression, Gina laughed nervously as she twiddled her thumbs in embarrassment. "Heheheh, sorry Cheetah, I just got a little excited, no one has ever been in a structure like this before! We're breaking new ground here, we'll be famous!" Brittany sighed and shook her head in exasperation while a giggling Brianna used their light gate to bring over the material they would need for the dig. Several minutes later, the Diggers team was ready to tackle the new mystery before them, not one of them knowing what awaited them inside.
"This place is a dump!" Gina glared at Brittany at her outburst, even though she was having similar thoughts about condition of the structure. The trio had cautiously picked their way through the antechamber at the front of the temple proper, but when they had entered the main hall the level of destruction inside the structure was mind blowing. Multiple interior walls were sporting massive holes, that is if they were still standing, which many of them were not. As Gina and her sister's traveled deeper into the ruined temple, Gina began to feel a trickle of fear in her stomach.
"It looks like there was some kind of battle that took place here. There's evidence of explosion here as well, just look at those blast marks! And do you see those areas where it looks like the stone melted? That almost looks like it was caused by a Fireball spell. But none of the evidence I have found points to the Murians using magic, so the question is what the heck happened here?"
As the trio steadily made their way further into the interior of the building, none of them noticed a small, completely normal looking snake that slithered behind them, it's forked tongue lazily flicking out as it studied the trio that had entered the once abandoned temple. Had the girls taken notice of the beast, they would have been confused by the fact that it had a band of fabric tied around it's body, as well as a small metal plate affixed to said fabric with a symbol of a musical note etched into it. Hissing softly, the snake slithered away, deeper into the complex and towards it's brethren, knowing that they would want to hear of the first fresh meat that was blindly walking right into their den after many years of patiently waiting in the shadows.
Gina rubbed her chin as she looked at the large door in her way, the characters surrounding it were surprisingly familiar to her. Brittany crossed her arms under her breasts and sighed as she waited impatiently.
"So, what does it say? Can we crack this thing open yet?" Gina stepped back and stared at the door for several moments before rubbing her chin in thought.
"Yeah, we can, but that's not the problem. These characters on this door are. They're not Chinese, ancient or otherwise, they're also not any of the dead languages from past empires that I'm familiar with." Brittany shrugged as she gestured at the sealed door impatiently.
"So what sis, it's a new one for you to learn now, just open the door." Gina shook her head and pointed again at the characters as she held Brittany back once more.
"No, I do recognize them, but that's the problem, it's Japanese. Japanese in a fifteen thousand year old temple on mainland China." As Brittany continued to look at Gina in confusion, Gina sighed as she shook her head.. "The Japanese used here is written in Kana, that was created around 800 A.D... and there's no evidence of anyone having been here for thousands of years, so how did a modern writing style get carved into a fifteen thousand year old door?" Both girls froze as the sound of stone rubbing against stone, the grating sound echoing throughout the room as a grunting Brianna pushing open the door and entered the ancient structure. The half were cheetah froze as she took in the sights before her as Gina walked forward, poking the immobile girl in the arm as she ranted at her.
"Brianna, the message said not to open the door! Some kind of evil entity guards this place and..." Gina trailed off as she looked at the awed gaze of Brianna, the young genius turning to the side to see what had captured her sister's attention. An elaborate city was stretched out before them, the very buildings appearing as if they had been literally carved from the stone around them while multiple soft glowing lights illuminated the complex. The sight stretched on for hundreds of meters and each of the girls gasped in awe. Brittany whistled appreciatively and placed her hands on her hips, her next comment causing both Gina and Brianna to nod in agreement.
"Wow..." Walking forward, Gina spotted a staircase next to the ledge the trio were on and the excited archeologist happily made her way into the silent city before her. Brianna and Brittany quickly followed their sister, watching as the eldest Diggers sister was working on her wrist comp while she grinned like a little kid in a candy shop.
"Amazing! This place has to be at least a mile across and look at the buildings, they look like they've grown right out of the ground rather than being built here! Look, bio-luminescent crystals to get past the lack of sunlight! Ooooh, look at that over there!." Gina rushed forward, looking at an ornate fountain that still had water running thorough whatever system kept it operational and bouncing around like a giddy schoolgirl. Brianna rested her rifle on her shoulder, looked at Brittany and the pair grinned at the overly enthusiastic sister as she gushed about the 'Greatest Find of the Century!'. Just as Gina was about to pass the pair once more, having her eye caught by another wonder in this rediscovered city, Brittany reached out and grabbed her sister by the back of her leather jacket, stopping the excited archeologist in her tracks and causing her to glare at Brittany and Brianna.
"Hey, what's the big idea! I was... OW!" Brittany bopped her sister on her head, causing Gina to rub the spot and glare at Brittany.
"Calm down sis, we don't know if this place is dangerous or not. So, how are we going to do this? Do we stay together or do we split up and search on our own?"
End flashback
"And that was when we decided to split up, Gina and Brittany went together since, well... Gina wouldn't be able to do anything on her own, she's way to excited about this place. I, on the other hand, am carrying enough firepower that normally I'd be a match for anything we could come up against so I decided to wander off on my own." Brianna watched as Naruto nodded absently, still dodging the occasional boulder or stalagmite in their way as they traveled deeper into the ancient city. Brianna looked at the man that was holding her and finally asked the question that she had been dying to get an answer to. "So, how did you end up here in the nick of time to save little ol'me? Gina said the only reason she found this place was because of some old dusty tablet that she unearthed in a previous dig, what's your reason for being here? Are you some kind of archeologist like Gina, or maybe an adventurer?" Brianna giggled at expression that appeared on Naruto''s face, almost looking like panic mixed with a little bit of hesitation mixed in for good measure.
"Uhhh..."
Flashback – Platform outside of the Temple
With the nearest settlement in the area over a hundred miles away (and being halfway up he mountain in the first place), Gina didn't think it was important to activate the alarms on her car, she didn't even bother to lock it, trusting in the fact the the location was so remote that no one would be around to try and get into her stuff. But, about an hour after the girls had entered the temple, white smoke began to leak out of the trunk before it popped open, a coughing figure pulling himself free and waving his hands to clear the air before him.
"Ugh, I've never gotten the hang of dispelling in an enclosed environment, every single time the same thing happens. Well, guess that's why I'm a combat shinobi and not an infiltrator." Uzumaki Naruto yawned as he stretched out his cramped muscles, scratching the back of his head as he looked at the structure before him. "Man, I must have fallen asleep, that nap sure did hit the spot. I'm guessing the girls went into that... huh, seems kinda familiar, almost like I've been somewhere... like this... before... oooh crapbaskets." Naruto quickly closed his eyes, stretching out with his senses until he felt the familiar warmth of Nature chakra surround him. Opening his eyes, Naruto could feel the three chakra signatures of the girls in the temple and also further inside...
"Ah shit, you have got to be kidding me... the first protection detail I get after fifteen thousand years and I let them walk in to a freaking Sound Research outpost!" Slamming the trunk shut, Naruto spun around and ran into the building, hoping that he reached the girls in time.
End Flashback
"Uhhh...I'm actually on a holiday, yeah, a mountain climbing holiday. It just so happens that today I decided to climb this mountain and... I just happened to be in the right place at the right time?" Brianna narrowed her gaze and gave Naruto a deadpan stare, the young man doing his best to to ignore the disbelieving look.
"Uh huh... so you decided to climb five thousand feet up a mountain in the Zhejiang province of China ... on the same day that me and my sister's decided to show up... on the same mountain that we arrived at when no one knew that we would be here...without any obvious climbing gear, not even a rope...right. Wanna try again?" Naruto started to sweat a little as he felt the young woman's intense gaze as she waited for his newest excuse. A moment later Naruto skidded to a halt as the path ahead of them branched off, both tunnels appearing to lead the same way. Naruto's gaze narrowed for a moment as he put Brianna on the ground, the young woman watching in surprise as Naruto sat on the ground, crossed his legs and closed his eyes. "Um... what are you doing?" Naruto grinned as he pointed towards the tunnels, his eyes still closed as he responded.
"I'm mapping out the tunnels ahead of us. I'm pretty sure only one leads towards your sisters, while the other would be... an 'unpleasant' side trip." Brianna nodded slowly as she looked down each of the available tunnels then back at Naruto.
"So... how exactly are you mapping out the tunnels in front of us if your sitting there with your eyes closed?" Naruto's loud laugh caused Brianna to grin as he opened his eyes and looked at his current companion.
"So many questions... well then, I guess I can can tell you. This entire mountain is laced with chakra conducting metal, which would allow anyone with even the slightest skills as a Chakra Sensor to use that mineral to see the entire interior of this complex. It's the same material used to create that orb I picked up from those golems I trashed earlier." Brianna's brow furrowed as she frowned cutely, causing Naruto to chuckle
"Oh yeah, that thing you picked up after the fight, what was that? And what the heck is Chakra?" Naruto grinned once more, holding his hand up and Brianna saw the silvery orb from before, but as she leaned closer her armor sensors were picking up minute energy readings from the material as it rested in Naruto's palm.
"This is a seal sphere, a highly advanced method of creating artificial 'life'... more or less. It basically acts as a focal point for a specific type of material, in this case granite, and allows said material to form a crude body to perform a function. This one's function was to stop all unauthorized entries into this facility, I'm guessing anyone that lived here had a mark somewhere on their body that would ID them so they could pass these guys freely. Usually these kinds of constructs have some form of override, I have a bad feeling that someone used it to kill everyone in the complex many, many years ago." Pocketing the silver orb, Naruto held out his empty hand once more, narrowed his eyes for a moment and the sphere of energy that he had used earlier slowly appeared. Brianna leaned in close, mesmerized as she watched the whorls of energy spinning around in multiple directions inside of the tightly contained sphere.
"And this, this is Chakra. The best way to describe it? Well... life creates it and makes it grow. It's energy surrounds up and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter..." Naruto trailed off as Brianna glared at him hotly, her finger thrust into the blonde haired man's face as he started to crack up.
"You bastard, that's from Star Wars! What the hell kind of explanation is that!?" Naruto laughed as the sphere he held in his hands slowly dissipated, the young man rising to his feet and wiping the dust from his legs.
"Heheheh, it's true I ripped that off from a movie, but it's honestly one of the best descriptions I could think of for chakra. It's almost like the Force, but with some distinct differences, mostly that it's a lot more versatile and there's no good or bad side, just good and bad people that use it. In any case, we're going down the right path, your sisters are still alive and we should find them fairly soon if we follow that route. How about you tell me a bit more about yourself on the way there, hmm?" Brianna turned away in a huff, causing Naruto to grin as he scooped the woman up in his arms once more, a squeal escaping from his passenger's lips as she found herself staring into his blue eyes. Brianna growled softly as Naruto smiled at her, an expression that caused Brianna's anger to slowly fade away.
"Fine, lets go get my sister's back and then we'll talk, after all I still need to learn a lot about you too Mr Uzumaki! And no more ripping off quotes from movies!" Naruto laughed as he raced down the correct corridor, the smile on his lips never faltering as the pair quickly sped along towards their destination.
"Sorry, can't promise that. I can promise however that I'll get you and your sisters out of here in one piece." Brianna shook her head in exasperation, but the young woman couldn't help but feel a rush of warmth when she head Naruto promise that they would all get out of this. The pair continued down the tunnel, Naruto focusing on the obstacles before him while Brianna was mentally squealing as she was held in the young man's arms once more, his solid chest providing the perfect place to rest her head.
'Oh, I am so laying claim to this guy before Gina try's to get her claws into him! He's a bit of a geek, but hey, so is the part of me that was copied from Gina, but the rest of him... just the thought of what he can do is mind blowing! Oh crap, how is he going to react when he hears I'm a clone of Gina? Will he think I'm some kind of sick, twisted experiment? Some kind of freak of nature? " As Brianna continued to obsess and worry over how Naruto would react to her 'questionable origins', the young woman missed spotting the end of the tunnel where a bright light had appeared, as if welcoming the pair to their final destination.
"Well look at that, it's the end of the corridor! Your sisters should be on the other side..." Naruto trailed off as he dug his feet into the ground, both him and Brianna sliding to a halt on a narrow ledge that dropped off into a black chasm. Both Brianna and Naruto let out deep breaths at the close call. A sudden scream had the pair looking up, Brianna immediately began to try and squirm out of Naruto's arms as she saw Gina pass right before their eyes, her older sister's terrified screams continuing as she fell into the dark chasm before them. "Oh shit... stay here!" Naruto quickly put Brianna down and leaped from the ledge, diving towards the falling girl while Brianna watched helplessly from above.
"GINA! NARUTO! NOOOOO!"