The following characters and concepts found in this story belong to their respectful owners. This story is for entertainment purposes only so please do not hire mercenaries, hit men, or any other intimidating person(s) to make your points clear.
All Dark Tome entries are from the original author Demonabyss, minus any entry marked with a asterisk (*), those are custom made and not found in the original story. At the very least I don't remember finding them in it... (Secretly hires an army of mercenaries for protection)
Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus - Monkey Tale
Chapter 3: Catty reception
Prowler, Wasteland
Two days. Two days since Felicia of the tribe that made their home in the train convoy that was lead by the Prowler made the impromptu of the boy who managed to defeat Bishamon... or at least trapped in a makeshift prison of molten earth in a worst case scenario. It has also been two days since the aforementioned boy fell from a tree and had yet to wake from his exhaustion, or a coma if the case was such. It took one day for all self restraint to break in regards of the blond child's possessions in a name of overwhelming curiosity by the much younger generation of the catwomen tribe that lived on the Prowler.
An odd collection of knives were easily discovered alongside a raggedy collection of spare cloths, one spare set of his current garments as a quick assessment determined, nutrient bars, scrolls, and smoke bombs. The last set of items were discovered as such with the accidental dropping of one of them. Of the child's possessions only two things were of interest between the potential of aiding them and their uniqueness: Firstly is crystal knife that held much resemblance to the steel knife set of a blade, a handle, and a ring that was the butt of the weapons yet was adorned in unfamiliar etchings and a crimson cloth bound over the handle that felt far smoother than any cloth ever woven. Secondly, and more important of the two, were the scrolls containing arts not seen in humans to date ranging from switching places with people or objects in near instant speeds to breathing a ball of fire as well as manipulating the earth to act as a shield. Yet all things considered, these only added to the mystery that was their passenger.
The fact that Bishamon went after him was a nonissue since the demonic samurai has not been known to be picky about who or what it wanted to kill so long as blood was spilt in the end, it was what they didn't know about him that kept gnawing on the edge of their minds. Even with a sizable number of human cultures in their world, both past and present, no known culture produced these kinds of knives let alone something as unique as the crystal one. Even amongst darkhunters, manipulation of energies harnessed from the very body wasn't heard of. The closest that compared to the power known as "chakra," as mentioned by the scrolls, was magic and the powers granted by the training to use the affinities of the light or the dark, or even augmentation at the hands of a spark though a limited and admittedly stretched comparison.
There was at least one other detail which enflamed their desire to learn more of him: the boy had two scents. The scent of a human was familiar to any darkstalker in the world as they knew it, but monkeys weren't as common knowledge. It was discovered by accident while one of the catwomen tended to him for injuries. Whatever the reason, he bore the scent of something of significant power that was kin to a monkey as well as a human's scent.
However to their dismay, all questions were on hold till the boy woke up.
XVX
Clack!
Clack!
Clack!
Clack!
The steady beat was the first to great his senses as they finally came to a conscious level of Naruto Uzumaki. Even with his eyes closed he was able to discern a measure of his immediate environment: he was on a bed tucked beneath the covers, the bed itself was in a room that shook and vibrated with each rendition of the consistent clanking sound that was muffled as the source of the traveling sound lay beyond the walls, actually it came more from the floor to be precise. There was also two objects lying on top of his chest if the unusual weight was to be correct. Cracking his eyes and giving his surroundings a precursory glance he found himself in a room roughly about three times longer than his closet that seemed to be used as a makeshift bedroom meant for three people given the two extra beds before him. A window lay on the wall opposite to the one the beds were stacked against that permitted the scenery as it sped by much to the boy's puzzlement as well as the unsaid curiosity of the bijuu within him.
Finally his gaze came to the source of the weight on his chest, a pair of black kittens sporting a individual tuft of colored hair of red and blue to keep them being mistaken as one or the other. Both were staring at him with twinkling interest shining through bright amber eyes. Both also purred when Naruto slipped a hand out from under the sheets to scratch their backs and the top of their heads, the pair even pushing against the palm of his hand to encourage it act and even rubbing themselves against it.
With the sliding of the door the scratching session ended when the blond container's head achingly turned to look upon the trespasser to the scene in the car. He gawked slightly to find the same blue haired, white furred "catwoman" from before standing at the doorway with a tray of what was either food or possibly medication in her clutch, the small whiff of the weak smells emanating from the tray suggested it was the former. "Hey, good to see you're awake! Are you feeling better?" she asked with a soft smile lighten with a small dose of amusement when the child gave her a startled, shy wave that looked to be ran on hinges in need of some oiling in return for her greeting. No other reply was given. Not yet at least. "Cat got your tongue?" she playfully asked as she set the tray down on a nearby night stand sitting behind Naruto's bed not to mention the boy himself. Two groans from a pair of kittens were heard by the feline woman, three for Naruto as well as a mental image of his bijuu, a massive ape-like creature of four tails with flaming red hair and green tinted skin, with a pair of horns forming a small crown on his head before slopping upwards and ending at darkened tips, giving the joke a thumbs down with a partially blunt toothed frown. "Well excuse me for trying to lighten the mood," she lightly grouched before turning a pair of green cat cattish eyes on the kittens. "Now Lucy has been looking for you two, so you two better get going."
Pitiful mews arose from the pair in some un-worded begging to not leave. "Get!" the catwoman near-barked like a provoked mother ordering misbehaving children with a finger snapped to the door; a twitch accompanied her features when the pair stuck their tongues out at her before leaping off the boy and subsequently bolting out of the door. She let loose a brief sigh before turning to the slight confused boy, and by lesser extent a colossal monkey, with her returning gentle smile. "Now then I'm Felicia, and who are you if I may ask?"
"Naruto Uzumaki," he replied quietly as he tried to sit up with some labor on his part. Smiling warmly, Felicia reacquired the tray and presented it to the blond observing her all the while as discreetly as possible. She was obviously not hostile, at least not without a measure of provocation to entice her to becoming aggressive; if the red armored samurai acts before and after discovering Naruto was an indicator, she didn't attack the demented swordsman without reason. Nothing in the way she moved or looked at him suggested she was of a darker nature...
"I see no bananas," a certain bijuu grumbled.
His line of vision jerked to the tray of food presented to him. Its contents were slices of dried meat, possibly even jerky, and of shriveled vegetables such as carrots and turnips. Further evidence that the world they were in was not in the best of shape. Shriveled or not, dry or juicy, they were bound to be tastier than the nutrition bars he kept in the duffle bag. A bottle of water also rested on the tray. Of course there were no fruits offered... let alone bananas.
"You're obsessed!"
"I want bananas!"
Felicia simply smiled, unaware of a mental argument taking place inside the child's mind, as she simply offered the tray of edibles to him. "Two days out, there's no chance you aren't the least bit hungry," she commented. Her smile threatened to turn into a teasing grin when the stomach of her guest choose to agree with the implication. "Hold out for bananas brat!"
"Once again... You're obsessed!"
"You have ramen, I have bananas!"
With careful acceptance the tray was received by the blond... the food however was torn through with the abandon of a starving man. If Felicia was put off by this then her choice of a reaction was most peculiar in the form of a chuckle. "Seems you're appetite is just fine," she commented as she pulled out a stool from the same area as the nightstand was and proceeded to watch him as he finished off his meal as she considered her broaching of what lay on everyone's mind on the Prowler, sans a now satisfied child of course.
"So what exactly were you doing out there by yourself out there before Bishamon was after you?" the catwoman asked with genuine curiosity in a gentle tone. The boy turned to look at her with a tilt of the head as he asked his own question, "Who?" Now Felicia felt put off, yet her own mind considered the possibility that a child around Naruto's age wasn't as likely to know the big named ones such as Bishamon's unless forced to.
"I think she means the blood thirsting nutcase you buried in volcanic earth before you used up all your chakra you moronic brat," Son Goku grumbled once more.
"The moronic brat who pulled off a lava jutsu!"
"Bah..."
"He was the onyx skinned man with the red armor," Felicia finally replied.
"Oh... drifting." It was Felicia's turn to tilt her own head in puzzlement whereas Naruto's returned to its natural setting. "Drifting? But what about your home? Your family?" Concern easily dripped into her line of questioning as a small frown began to form, and grow when the child actually froze to consider her question. "Never had one or any," he finally replied a bit coolly.
Her frown only steeped further as the implications manifested themselves into her mind: he was an orphan or at least alluded to it... from the way he answered, she could guess at the reasoning towards a life on the road. Runaway? Perhaps. Trouble from whatever town or village he hailed from? Most likely between his answer and the small collection of weaponry and smoke bombs; the crystallized knife may have even played a part in it. He certainly didn't carry the stench of blood unlike Bishamon who valued such a scent.
This was the utter definition of receiving more question than answers, and she only scratched the surface. Of course a new theory formed from all this, it was possible he was some variant of darkstalker she most likely never heard of which only added onto the assumption of being an orphan.
A mental flinch snapped through her mind as the sudden supposition that she may be over thinking things if the minor onset headache was to indicate anything.
Salvation was found when someone else, another catwoman of black and gray, pawed her way into the train car with a question at the ready. "Hey Felicia, have you seen the twins anywhere?"
"I sent them to you a few minutes ago," the first said with a cat-like groan with eyes drooped shut yet slowly pivoted to the other regardless. "Please tell me they didn't do something, Lucy," she half-heartedly begged.
The one identified as Lucy sighed as she rubbed the back of her head. "For one reason or another they let all the mimmoths loose. We managed to capture most of them but a few are still on the loose, I just came by to let you know about that." She turned to find the blond of mystery staring straight at her in curiosity. "Hey you're awake!" she exclaimed with a friendly paw offered to him. "I'm Lucy, what's yours?"
XVX
Four days later
Any edge in a decaying and maddened world that can be gained was an understandable need for those who still wished to live when set against implacable odds, a sentiment even Naruto understood when he had taken to theft over jutsu scrolls of the elemental nature while the basics were learned even by the most backwoods of shinobi culture and thus freely given to any who dared take up the blade. Of course no one had said certain edges couldn't be used for less serious tasks... such as tag for example.
"It!" A tanned child of a catwoman with blue hair turned about with an outstretched paw of a hand trying to snag the one that just tagged her only to find a small wood post to knock down in her overzealous attempt to tag the one that accosted her. "I got him!" shouted a similar catwoman with red hair instead as she pounced on Naruto only for 'Naruto' to poof into a roughed up sack full of cotton. Neither were deterred as they chased the laughing kid as he virtually teleported from one end of the train car to the other.
Felicia just smiled as she watched on from a crate. Though Naruto was still secretive in some aspects he had became more at ease around the catwomen, and it was from his ease that enabled her to learn more about him.
Case and point: what was common knowledge for the most mundane of citizens was earth shaking news to the blond. A little over a century ago a vampire of significant power and managed to plunge the world into an everlasting darkness, and life had adapted to its more dark conditions since then. Darkstalkers, the general term for nonhuman or a being of supernatural power, in general were often subject of persecution because of this.
Now whatever spell that held the sun at bay from the world beneath the clouds has started to dissipate in several parts of the world and it was gradually progressing, leaving a trail of death and destruction in the retreating cloud's wake as a result of years of crops, animals, and even some species that was still in the process of evolving to its nocturnal environment. As a more direct result the world reacted badly as several bands of humans and darkstalkers either united or gave into their more darker and bloodthirsty traits when the food grew scarce and supplies limited from the sudden reemergence of daylight. On a side note she had on more than one occasion caught Naruto by himself thus far with one of the newspapers they had collected over time as he perused with a faraway gaze that met paper.
Regardless, there were other little oddities she noticed about him: he could train till he dropped dead beat tired and be up and about the very next day. Any wounds inflicted upon him so far healed at a more rapid pace than recorded humans of the unaltered sort. He even had more stamina than an adult catwoman as he proven more than once...
Of course he had also proven he was by no means an expert in his craft. The most he has been able to teach them is how to collect and utilize chakra, and the only techniques he was able to help them learn, successfully, was the body-switch technique known as Kawarimi and what he had called tree walking as demonstrated with him walking the length of the train car using the ceiling as his floor. In contrast he was incapable of performing of making a acceptable illusionary clone and his ability to shape shift known as Henge was still in the works...
The more elemental abilities, particularly involving fire, were a bit more disastrous between the burnt fur and the occasional burnt mouth.
The subject about his use lava had yet to be broached in the matter of training for obvious reasons... kunai were also slotted much like this only for a slightly differing set yet obvious reasons... paws like theirs aren't great for grasping such small handles.
Naruto had yet to truly delve into earth based techniques outside of the shield raising one, and hadn't had much of a chance to practice for his need to be on solid earth or stone ground to wield such a technique.
In any event, given Naruto's lack of any real aid as to help them master his limited reserve of techniques, made even more difficult considering that they were developed by and meant for humans, everyone interested in the practice of the abilities had turned to Felicia for help. In her desperation, and a little prompting from teasing friends, she managed to produce one name to sate the mounting call for help.
A strange blending of a groan and a muted laugh escaped her every time now as she thought of the possible revenge she would have incurred for unleashing a trio of kids alongside a slightly more lethargic crowd of catwomen upon him, upon Jon Talbain.
Or "Uncle Jon" as a pair of kittens have taken to calling him.
XVX
"Night"
With an image of a colossal ape-like monkey feasting upon a banana haunting his mind, partially because he went out of his way to get one to snack on, Naruto once again tucked himself into a relatively dark corner of a train car with a slightly rumpled news paper depicting of a gathering of the more peaceful darkstalker tribes and darkhunters. No solution was in sight, or even dared hinted from what he found.
A lone finger gently groped the ring of a crystal kunai as the thought of leaving was made more of a fact than a thought, but a question remained.
Will he and Son Goku go back by themselves, or with company?
XVX
DARK TOME: Creatures
Main Type: Experiment
Sub Type: Biological (Created through genetic type experimentation/manipulation)
Mimmoths: Mimmoths were originally an experiment created by a Spark (also known as Gifted or in a less polite term a Mad girl / Mad boy. To be defined in a later entry.) However they escaped and now cover a good part of the country. They are tiny vermin-like mammoths, about the size of mice. They fill the same niche as mice and tend to live along side them. However, they have the capability to do more damage then mice in that instead of eating food and spreading disease, they destroy machines from the inside out. They push and damage things with their tusks, unhinging or damaging connections that cause the machine to fall apart. As a result they are zealously hunted in any area with important or heavy machines nearby.
Oddly enough, mimmoths have been found to be a tasty snack by many when cooked right. Mimmoth on a stick is quite popular at fairs and similar events. Many groups keep them for that very purpose despite the possible danger/annoyance they pose. Some darkstalkers have been known to eat them raw and/or whole and/or still alive much to the disgust of most humans. Catwomen have been the most well known to keep them since they're so much like mice and in their opinion taste better (and they would know).
A/N: A poll is now being held, ye who reads this tale of a alternate Atum-Coma!
I have already plotted a story arc and I find room that would permit a sensible (or slightly sensible) side story which Naruto obtains a summoning contract. Choices are up and about and here are two spoilers for your perusal.
Poll Spoilers: Fire Monkeys are the re-skinned versions of monkeys with a more ape-like appearance like Son Goku with actual apes mixed in. Toads will be obtains via the canon method (Chunin Exams).
For those who vote the option containing "Other": Your votes WILL be ignored if you do not leave some form of notice (be it a PM or a review) with your vote.
Hope you have enjoyed the chapter! Voting will end on February 16, 2013.
Monkeybandit2, making off with your attention! No refunds.