[November 29, 2003 2:00 AM]
Looking through the hours of information that he had obtained from the Snake Talisman had taken Naruto the better part of the night. Most of it was useless as it didn't really have any information that was actually useful. However, he did catch a few spikes of energy that were either quick, or were sustained for long periods of time.
Once he correlated those with the time, Naruto realized that the energy spikes only occurred when the talisman was active. From there, he was able to isolate the frequency of magic that the Snake Talisman gave off. With that done, it was easy to exclude all of the background noise that interfered and he was able to get a steady energy signature from the talisman.
Even now, the talisman was still giving off data that Naruto was looking at in real time, and he was able to infer that it was currently not in use. At the moment he had nothing to do with the information, but it might be useful later on.
However, Naruto made a surprising find once he allowed the real time data feed to return to normal. There were two other similar energy signatures nearby. Naturally, Naruto had some nanomachines spread from the Snake Talisman to the other two similar energy signatures.
He went through the same process he went through with the Snake Talisman and was able to isolate those specific energy wavelengths. From looking at those two and the Snake Talisman, Naruto concluded that magic did not use electromagnetic energy. It used something else entirely.
This made sense though. It would explain why magic hadn't been ousted over the centuries to the general public. No one knew to look for it. Naruto was lucky because he knew that magic existed. He knew that it was an energy of some kind and he had the technology to actually find it. In fact, without the Omniband, it would have taken him far longer to find anything remotely magical.
The problem he had now was to decide what to do. He had pinpointed the location of the Snake Talisman easily. It was underneath San Francisco. Obviously an underground complex of some sort, but this raised another question. Why wasn't it being used?
The only people with stealth technology were Wade and himself. Well, usable stealth technology. Some groups were just barely learning how to refract light correctly. Something like the Snake Talisman would remove the need for stealth technology as all you had to do was hold the talisman.
This told him, that the people who were holding the talisman either didn't want to use it, didn't know what it could do, or the talisman might have some side effects.
Sadly, all Naruto had were questions and no answers, but this did make Naruto think about a recent meeting of his.
Jackie Chan knew what the talisman was, and he knew that it was magic. He had more information that Naruto desperately needed, but remembering the way their last meeting ended, he didn't think that Jackie would be in a very talkative mood.
Thinking about it though, Naruto realized he did have another way. Though, taking Kim and Ron along would help.
x-x-x-x-x-x
[Uncle's Rare Finds San Francisco November 29, 2003 1:00 PM]
Dragging his hand down his face, Naruto wondered why he thought it was a good idea to drag Ron along into an antique shop. Looking at the elderly Asian man, Naruto could see that he was about to explode. "I'll pay for all the damages."
The elderly man looked at him with a raised eyebrow, before he lowered the broom he had raised. "Hmph"
Pulling Ron up from the floor and shattered antiques, Naruto asked, "I know this may sound strange, but what do you know about magic?"
Seeing him raise an eyebrow, Naruto continued, "My friend here, was exposed to some strange magic a few months ago, and while nothing bad has happened, I want to make sure that there'll be nothing wrong."
Walking up to Ron, the elderly man began poking and prodding him. Once he finished he gestured with a finger to follow him towards the back. Following him, Team Possible were surprised at what they found in the back. A giant library filled with books, and a chemistry set. Well, Naruto thought it was a chemistry set.
"I shall perform a chi spell to see if you are cursed. If so, then I shall perform a cleansing spell." The elderly man said. Seeing him gather odd things, Naruto raised an eyebrow. It seemed strange, but the man moved like he knew what he was doing.
Looking at the library around him, Naruto put a hand on a drawer and began to send out a legion of nanomachines. The entirety of the desk was covered in a matter of moments, but Naruto then had them spread out and cover the library books. With everyone occupied with what the old man was doing, nobody saw the nanomachines disperse into the books.
Pulling out his data-pad from his left pocket, Naruto saw that the books were beginning to be digitized into his mainframe. Putting the data-pad back into his pocket, Naruto gathered a few nanomachines into his hand. Forming them into a ball, he tossed it into a corner where it disappeared into the shadows.
Turning to look back at the old man, he saw Kim giving him a questioning look. Smirking, he winked at her. Turning back, Kim began to observe the old man.
"Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao." The elderly man chanted over and over again as he waved a puffer fish around. Naruto was beginning to think that the old man was a hack when the fish began to glow green. Naruto took a step back when Ron began to glow a dark blue.
The glow around Ron began to get stronger, before it settled down. The old man stopped chanting and looked at Ron with a raised eyebrow. "The magic that you were exposed to was not a curse. However, the magic has remained in your body for so long that it has combined with your chi. It is now impossible to remove."
"One more thing. Your chi is strong and it is strange that it was able to absorb the magic you were exposed to." The old wizard said as he put his hand on his chin.
"Uncle we're back." Jade's voice rang out and was accompanied by a bell ringing.
"Uncle, where ar- bwaah!" Jackie's startled voice made Team Possible turn around and see him thumping his chest to calm down his heart rate.
"Jackie, what- bwaah!" Jade followed with an almost identical reaction as to what Jackie had.
Getting into a fighting stance, Jackie asked, "What are you doing here? We don't have the talisman!"
"Yeah, I saw Mr. Clean take it from the Police Chief. Also I was legally in the right. You stole the Snake Talisman and you broke out of jail." Naruto said as he looked at Jackie.
"Oh my gosh! Team Possible is here! Who are you?" Jade asked seeing Ron.
Ron could only hang his head at being unrecognized. Naruto patted his shoulder in sympathy.
"I didn't break out! Viper broke me out!" Jackie yelled back indignantly. He really didn't want to remember the time he spent in jail.
"Yeah, and I arrested her for theft which is the only thing I could prove." Naruto said as he began to smirk.
"Jackie! You are a bad influence!" The old man yelled out as he walked up to Jackie and hit him on the forehead with a two fingered strike.
"Uncle! Captain Black explained everything. I had no choice, but to steal the Snake Talisman to keep it from the Dark Hand." Jackie explained again to Uncle.
Naruto made a mental note to look up any Captain Black's in the US government.
"Pweh, excuses." Uncle stated as he walked toward the front desk. Turning to look at Team Possible he yelled, "Buy something or get out!"
"I'll write you a check." Naruto said to the grumbling old man.
"Anyway, Mr. Chan we wanted to know exactly what you are doing with the talisman. We know that it's magic and we know that you have two others just like it." Kim explained while going into mission mode and putting her hands on her hips.
"You really are like a super spy! You probably know all about Section 13!" Jade exclaimed while fangirling over Kim.
"Section 13? Oh, please don't tell me that it's another super secret government agency." Ron asked as he cradled his head in his hands.
"Wait, there's more than one?!" Jade asked with excitement. Naruto just looked at her strangely and wondered once again how much television this girl watched.
"Jade! Don't tell strangers secrets!" Jackie cried as he pulled at his hair.
"Look, how about we call Section 13 and let them decide." Kim replied trying to keep everyone calm.
Dragging his hand down his face, Jackie just conceded to the request. It wasn't his place to talk about Section 13, he wasn't an agent after all.
x-x-x-x-x-x
[Section 13 1:15 PM]
Still wearing the blindfold he'd been forced to put on, Naruto crossed his arms across his chest. While he was indignant about being forced to put the blindfold on, he was amazed at how naive these agents were simply because they were teenagers.
The moment he'd been forced to put on the blindfold, he had tapped his Omniband twice. It was something he and Wade had come up with. If, for whatever reason, he needed to be tracked he just needed to tap the Omniband twice. This would send a signal to Wade to begin tracking his location.
Already, Naruto could tell they had gone in circles a few times and it had messed with his orientation. Luckily, he knew that Wade was keeping an eye on them.
Feeling the van stop, he was led out and through a few flights of stairs until they arrived at what sounded like a giant room if the fading of voices was anything to go by. Feeling the blindfold come off, he had to blink a few times before his eyes adjusted.
Taking in the view, Naruto was right about it being big. The underground complex stretched pretty far into the distance. Once he finished examining the complex, Naruto decided that he had to have something better. Maybe multiple hidden bases around the world?
Feeling Kim trying to grab his attention, Naruto looked at where she was pointing. It was the same guy he had seen on Liberty Island. However unlike last time, the people here seemed to give him respect. It seemed that he was the head honcho.
"I'm Captain Black. Jackie called me and told me that you knew about the talismans. However, the talismans are an issue of national security and I can't divulge that information without the authorization of my superiors." Captain Black stated with professionalism.
However, what caught Naruto's attention was that Captain Black had superiors. It seemed that this place didn't have the same autonomy that Global Justice enjoyed.
"Call your superiors and get permission because we aren't leaving until we know what's going on. Besides, it can't be any worse than the missile fiasco from two years ago." Naruto said with nonchalance and was glad to see the eyes of the surrounding agents widen.
"How do you know about that?" Captain Black asked as he narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
"Why don't you call your superiors and find out? After all, for all I know, it might be above your pay grade." Naruto said with a smug smirk. However the smirk was wiped off his face the moment Kim smacked the back of his head.
"Goddamn it Kim! That hurts. Control your strength." Naruto whined as he looked at Kim with tears in his eyes.
"Don't be rude." Kim said towards Naruto before looking at Captain Black and smiling.
"Captain Black, we've been involved with national security matters before. If you could just call your superiors, I'm sure we could resolve this entire thing." Kim suggested more politely than Naruto.
Smirking at seeing Naruto get hit, Captain Black figured that it wouldn't hurt to confirm their story. Walking away, he pulled out his cell phone and called speed dial 1.
In the mean time, Kim began to lecture Naruto. "We are trying to help. Not make them kick us out."
"I am this close to finding the information that I need, and I have to deal with this goddamn red tape. It is infuriating." Naruto ground out while his hands were clenching the air.
"I understand your frustration, but you don't take it out on Mr. Clean." Kim said while not noticing the slip up.
Jade covered her mouth to try and keep her laughter in, but failed as a few snorts got out anyway. Jackie could only stare in shock at the complete lack of respect these teenagers had.
"Uh, Kim you said Mr. Clean." Ron supplied in a whisper as he saw that Kim hadn't noticed what she said and Naruto was too busy grinning to say anything.
"What? No I didn't. That's rude Ron." Kim said as she turned her glare towards Ron.
Seeing that Kim wasn't going to back down from this, Ron just let it go. He wasn't going to start an argument over something so small.
Seeing Captain Black coming back, Team Possible focused on him. Though Naruto was still rubbing the back of his head. Seeing the frown on his face, it seemed he received news he didn't like.
"The President has said that you are to be given security clearance to help in this matter." Captain Black stated while looking at Team Possible.
"Told ya." Naruto said with a grin before Kim flicked his ear. Holding his ear in pain, he looked at Kim with a hurt expression. She just raised an eyebrow at him, and he just crossed his arms and sulked.
"The Dark Hand is after the talismans for a reason unknown to us. What we do know is that they'll do anything to get them. So far, we've been lucky enough that we've been able to retrieve the talisman before them. Unfortunately, we still have nine more to find." Captain Black said as he began briefing them.
"So there's twelve talismans, and I'm guessing each one has it's own animal? So, the one in New York was the snake. What are the other two?" Naruto asked while trying to see if he could find any sort of connection.
"The other two we have in possession are the ox and the rooster. Three of the twelve animals in the Chinese Zodiac." Captain Black provided seeing that Naruto was already making some sort of connection.
"Hmm, 12 talismans. One for each animal. Obviously hundreds of years old and they're from China. Maybe some sort of key?" Naruto thought out loud as he rubbed his chin and began to ignore everyone around him.
"But to what? What would require 12 talismans of the Chinese Zodiac? Maybe a treasure of some sort?" Seeing that Naruto was making connections that his own team hadn't Captain Black began to rethink his opinion of the blond punk.
"If they're so old and important why aren't there records about them?" Ron asked as he and Rufus kept observing the complex.
"That's true, but at the moment this is just conjecture. For all we know they might just be trying to sell off the twelve talismans. After all, a collection is worth far more when you have a complete set." Naruto said as he decided to put solving the talisman mystery on hold.
"At the moment, we're keeping tabs on the Dark Hand's movements. However, it's been thanks to Jackie's knowledge of archeology that we've been able to find the talismans before the Dark Hand. Although, from what he's told me, they usually aren't far behind." Captain Black said as he explained Jackie's involvement.
"Ah, that makes sense. An archaeologist, who also knows martial arts. That way he can defend himself if the need arises. You chose well." Naruto said as complimented Captain Black's choice in outside help.
Turning to Jackie, he said, "For future reference, if you're going to steal something in order to keep it safe, make sure you actually do just that. Don't go trying to stop another thief. That's the work of the police. Your job is to just keep the object in question safe."
"But she's a criminal I can't just let her get away with it!" Jackie complained as he tried to let them see his view of things.
"That's true, but you need to keep the talisman safe and unfortunately, that takes priority. After all, you don't any sort of backup like we do." Kim said as she gestured to herself, Ron, and Naruto.
"She's right Jackie. What you need is a team. We can call it the J-Team!" Jade said as she imagined a team of crime fighters led by her.
"What? No, I'm an archaeologist, not an agent." Jackie said as he shot down her idea.
"Aww." Jade pouted at his answer.
"Wasn't Indiana Jones an archaeologist, and didn't he go around saving the world?" Ron said as he tried to remember the movie he saw a few years back.
"Hey, that's right! Jackie you can be an archaeologist and you can save the world too!" Jade said now completely convinced that Jackie was going to one day save the world.
Hearing Jackie sputtering denials, Kim spoke up. "She's right. I'm a cheerleader and I go save the world on an almost monthly basis. Sometimes more."
"I'm a millionaire philanthropist who goes around saving the world." Naruto said as he shrugged.
"I'm a... wait... I don't have a thing!" Ron said as he held his head with his hands.
"You're a regular high school student who goes around saving the world." Kim supplied quickly.
"So why can't you be an archaeologist who goes around saving the world?" Naruto asked with a smirk taking pleasure in the stuttering of Jackie.
Captain Black let out a few chuckled once he saw his friend having trouble coming up with anything. These kids were pretty funny.
"Well Jackie, it looks like you don't have an excuse." Captain Black said with a small grin.
Jackie could only stare at everyone in shock.
x-x-x-x-x-x
[On Route to Middleton 2:30 PM]
"So, Ron what do you think about actual Mexican food?" Naruto said as he flew the ship at a leisurely speed. None of them had anywhere to be, so there wasn't a rush to get home.
"I got to admit, this is good, but it's not Bueno Nacho." Ron said as he finished eating his burrito. Next to him Rufus was in a food coma after eating double his body weight.
Behind them, Kim was busy using her Kimmunicator. She was looking through the information that Captain Black had given them. Unfortunately, there was very little information to actually go through.
There was plenty on the Dark Hand's illicit activities, but none of it had to deal with the talismans. However, there was one thing that Kim noticed. The amount of money that the Dark Hand was spending was gigantic. They were looking all over the world for the talismans and they were pretty much using all of their resources to do it.
This would usually be bad for them, but with the amount of money they were spending and at the rate it was going, the Dark Hand would be broke in a matter of months. It seemed that the talismans were more important to the Dark Hand than money. That told her that it was unlikely that the talismans were going to be sold off. More than likely, the talisman's magic was to be used to help the Dark Hand regain all of its lost capital.
So far though, the magic of the talisman's didn't seem all that great. Sure levitation and super strength were cool, but both of those could be done through technological means. Invisibility was an interesting one, but again technology could reproduce it. Although, if you were caught unable to use your technology, the talismans would be greatly beneficial in that situation.
Shutting off her Kimmunicator, Kim decided to relax. It took them months to find three talismans. It'd probably take them over a year to find the rest.
x-x-x-x-x-x
[San Francisco Bay Aquarium December 1, 2003 4:00 PM]
"I can't believe that another talisman was found so quickly. It took them forever to find the last one." Kim said as she walked through the aquarium towards the Galapagos Island exhibit.
"To be fair, no one would have found the talisman if those scientists weren't doing research in the Galapagos." Naruto said as he brought up the rear. He was taking the time to look through the exhibits that were open. It wasn't often he had the chance to actually go to an aquarium.
"You know, -" Whatever Ron was going to say next was cutoff as an explosion rocked the aquarium. Feeling the building shake, Team Possible took off into the direction of the explosion. They arrived in time to see Jackie fighting off some thugs and quite possibly the largest person Team Possible had ever seen.
Running towards the ledge of the exhibit, Naruto stopped and turned around. Putting his hands together and taking a knee, he boosted Kim into the air. Tucking in and rolling through the air, Kim landed perfectly onto the tiny island where Aesop the tortoise was.
Seeing a guy using some sort of pliers to try and remove the talisman, Kim ran at him first. The guy was so absorbed in his task that he didn't notice Kim running at him. He did however, feel it when Kim punched him in the face hard enough to not only knock him senseless, but also make him fall into the octopus pool.
With that done, Kim saw Jackie get thrown into the water. Turning to look at who was responsible, she was prepared to fight the sumo off, when Ron landed on her. "Ron!" Pushing him off her, she had to dive into the water to avoid being crushed by the sumo's foot.
However, she did see that Jackie needed help underwater. He was being kicked around by two thugs underwater. Though her rescue attempt changed when she saw the shark coming at him. Pulling out one of the many lipstick gadgets she had at her disposal, she aimed it at the shark's mouth. Shooting out the elastic, she saved Jackie from being eaten.
Quickly grabbing his arm, she began to swim up to the surface. Once she broke the surface, she threw Jackie towards the island. He did not appreciate it if his scream was any indication. Though she was more concerned with Naruto fighting off three of the thugs at once.
Her concern disappeared when she saw him pull out his tonfa. He was dangerous when he had his weapons.
However, she didn't see Ron anywhere. Turning around, she saw he had somehow managed to get the tortoise to move, but she winced when she saw the sumo just fling him away like nothing. Climbing back onto the island, she ran after the sumo, but was unable to stop him from getting into a plane and taking off.
Huffing at losing a talisman, she was joined by the rest of Team Possible and the Chan's.
"Aww man, we lost it." Ron said as he crossed his arms and frowned.
"Don't worry about it too much, we should be able to track them." Naruto said while making his tonfa disappear.
"How?" Jackie asked as he didn't understand how they'd do that.
"The three goons I just beat up. We let them go and they'll meet up with their buddies." Naruto said as he activated his Omniband's visor. Ron and Kim were used to it, but it came as a surprise to Jackie and Jade.
Locating the three new signatures, Naruto was about to tell the rest of the group when he noticed that he was still tracking Jackie and Viper. "I completely forgot to disable the trackers on both you and Viper, Jackie."
"Wait, you were tracking me?" Jackie asked completely surprised.
"You and Viper. I thought you were criminals, so I needed a way to track you down. It's how I tracked you to that rusty bridge in New York. By the way, a rusty bridge? Really? Do you know how cliché that was?" Naruto said as he looked at Jackie.
"Hey! I set up that meeting." Jade said indignant that Naruto was calling her idea cliché.
"You watch way too many movies and you stuck out like a sore thumb. Next time you do something like that, you want to be inconspicuous so that you don't draw any excess attention, and do it somewhere crowded. That way you can get lost in the crowd easily if you're screwing someone over." Naruto said seriously while Jackie began sputtering.
"Don't tell her how to be a better criminal!" Jackie said as he saw the look of hero worship appearing on Jade's face.
"Naruto, I know you're having fun, but you don't teach a little girl how to be a better criminal." Kim said as she face palmed.
"Hey, spies do that sort of thing too. Besides, we've had to do that sort of thing remember? If she gets into that situation again, she better do it right to minimize risks. Also, what harm could knowing this cause? It's not like she's a super spy. She only has access to top secret military technology that she could access pretty easily since the agents in Section 13 don't really take kids seriously." Naruto said completely calm while looking at his nails. Though he looked at Jade quickly and winked.
She got the idea and winked back. She had backup if she ever got into trouble it seemed.
Jackie once again could only gape in disbelief.
"Anyway, I'm tracking the three goons now. I'll listen in to their conversation and let you know what I find out." Naruto said once he made his visor disappear and earphones popped out of his turtleneck.
x-x-x-x-x-x
[San Francisco Pier 8:00 PM]
"They should be meeting around here." Naruto said as he spied from behind some crates. Around him, Kim, Ron, and Jackie were also hiding.
"They're supposed to be meeting some big shot dude around here right? You think it's Valmont?" Ron asked as he peaked over the top of a crate.
"Nah, Valmont doesn't seem like the kind of guy to meet people at a pier. More than likely they're meeting someone else. Aesop is useless to them, so it's likely they'll be selling him off to someone. Illegal animal trafficking is a very lucrative business." Kim suggested as she moved between crates to get closer to the meeting spot.
"God, I just hope it's not one of those freaks who enjoys eating endangered animals." Naruto said as he expressed his disgust.
"Eww, can you just imagine eating a tortoise as old as Aesop? It'd be all tough and chewy. No thanks." Ron said completely missing the point of Naruto's displeasure.
"SHH!" Jackie shushed Team Possible. He couldn't believe that these teenagers were supposed to be professionals.
"Calm down. They're not even here yet." Kim said as she sat down and leaned against a crate.
"Yeah and just standing around being completely wound up is bad. It makes you really jumpy." Ron said as he stood up and put his hands on his hips.
"SHHHHH!" Jackie shushed even louder. However, the sound of wood breaking behind him told him that they'd been discovered. Jumping away from the destroyed crate, he turned and saw Tohru.
"Wait, before you attack," Naruto said getting between Jackie and Tohru, "how did you find out we were here?"
"The shushing." Tohru said plainly. Turning to look at Jackie, Team Possible could only shake their head. Though Jackie was completely shocked at being the one responsible for blowing their cover.
"Thank you. Kim!" Naruto said as he grabbed Kim's arm and swung her at Tohru. Not expecting to have a small redheaded girl thrown at him, Tohru took Kim's full strength to his face.
Being knocked off his feet was a very rare experience for Tohru. However, being knocked off his feet by a little girl was an experience he never wanted to repeat and yet it happened twice in a lifetime for him. It made him wonder if he was doing something wrong with his life.
Crashing back onto the pier, Tohru took a few moments to take in the fact that a little girl had knocked him off his feet, again. Unlike last time though, this girl didn't have the magic of the Ox Talisman to make her strong. This girl was just this strong naturally. That was unnerving.
Getting back onto his feet, he checked his pocket and made sure the talisman was still there. It was. Looking at the group of teenagers that were fighting his cohorts, he realized that it was the same ones who butted in at the aquarium. If he remembered right, he tried to step on the redheaded one.
However, he was more concerned with the blond haired one with marks on his face. He and Jackie were keeping his cohorts busy while the other blond and the redhead were trying to lure the tortoise away. He couldn't allow that, Valmont would be very displeased.
Making his way towards the tortoise, he saw the blond one take notice of him first. "Kim!" He yelled out alerting his friend.
Grabbing them both, and picking them up he made sure to keep the redhead away from his face. It hurt getting hit by her. Tossing them away, he picked up the tortoise and started walking towards the approaching yacht.
He needed to do this quickly, or else those two would come back and with his backup busy, and failing to do their job, he'd be unable to defend himself. Putting the tortoise at the bottom of the ramp to the yacht, Tohru yelled, "The money! Now!"
Seeing a briefcase opened, he saw the stacks of money and doing some quick calculations, he concluded that it was all there. Putting his hand out, the briefcase was tossed to him. Grabbing it out of the air, he began to make his way to their plane. Along the way though, the redhead made an appearance again. This time though, she looked angry.
Maybe throwing her into the ocean hadn't been a good idea. Seeing her run at him, he dropped the suitcase and got into his stance, but he was surprised when the girl jumped and flipped completely over him. So surprised by the jump, he was unprepared to be kicked by both her and Chan in the back.
Being sent flying again, Tohru wondered if all little girls were just dangerously strong. Crashing onto the pier, he heard wood groaning and he prayed that the wood would hold. Thankfully it did, but he noticed that the talisman had slipped out of his pocket. Grabbing it, he stood up and faced the girl and Chan.
Clenching his hand around the talisman he began to wonder how he'd be able to get out with both the money and the talisman when the talisman began to glow. Looking at it in wonder, he felt a strange sensation and deciding to see if it did anything he ran straight at Chan and the girl. He was surprised when he ran and rammed into both Chan and the girl.
Seeing the surprised look on their faces he realized that the Rabbit Talisman provided super speed.
"That's not good. With how strong he is, super speed makes him that much more dangerous. I wonder though, how's his reaction speed?" Kim asked out loud once she saw the barrels of oil that were next to the plane. Looking in her direction, Jackie noticed what she was looking at and understood her plan.
Seeing the glow of the talisman, Kim and Jackie grabbed a barrel each and spilled the oil onto the pier. Moving out of the way, the super fast Tohru crashed into the plane and tipped it over.
Looking at where she saw the talisman drop, Kim picked it up. Observing it, Kim couldn't believe that something like this was responsible for being able to make a man that large move that quickly. Putting it in her pocket, she realized that only she and Jackie were on the pier. "Where's Ron and Naruto?"
x-x-x-x-x-x
[Carl Nivore's Yacht 8:30 PM]
Holding onto the outside of the yacht, Naruto could only huff in irritation. While he was busy messing around with those henchmen, Jade had managed to sneak onto the yacht, and then Ron went after her. Kim and Jackie were able to handle the big guy no problem, but now he had to rescue Jade and maybe Ron.
Grabbing a ledge, Naruto pulled himself up and over it. Quickly running into the shadows, Naruto peaked around and saw that there wasn't anyone outside. It seemed that Nivore had a skeleton crew operating his yacht. That made things easier for him.
Walking through a few hallways, Naruto heard Ron yell. Running towards the sound of the voice, he stopped and took in the scene. The big cook was unconscious on the ground with Ron standing over him with his hand outstretched. It seemed that Ron had knocked him out.
"Nice job, Ron." Naruto said as he high fived him.
"I have no idea what just happened." Ron said truthfully. However, next to him Jade had seen the entire thing. For a moment, Ron had glowed dark blue, but what was weird is that the glow kinda looked like a monkey.
Shaking off her shock she decided to hold any questions she had until later. "How are we gonna get back?"
"The yacht has a very small crew. If we're sneaky we can take them out one by one and take control of the ship. Then we just steer it back, and by the time we reach the pier the police will be waiting to come arrest these guys." Naruto said having come up with a plan of attack.
The plan was never used because a moment later Kim and Jackie appeared behind Naruto. Startled, Naruto turned around in surprise, but he calmed down when he saw it was them. However, he did ask a question, "How in the world did you two get here?"
Holding the talisman in her hand and Jackie in the other, Kim dropped Jackie and answered, "Well, this little rabbit," Kim said holding up the Rabbit Talisman, "is my lucky animal. It gives the user super speed."
Eyes widening, Naruto asked, "How does it affect the rest of your senses?"
"Everything is just fine, but things kinda look like a blur. If you're not careful you could really hurt yourself if you trip." Kim said as she tossed him the talisman.
Holding it, he spread some nanomachines onto the talisman. Bringing out his visor, he began to look through the magic frequencies he had registered into his Omniband. Finding a similar one that wasn't registered he isolated it and saw that it belonged solely to the Rabbit Talisman.
Looking at the frequency through the visor let him actually see the magic of the talisman. It was an interesting sight. The talisman when not in use had a slight glow about it. An interesting thing he saw was that the rabbit on the talisman was actually glowing with magic.
However, his studying of the talisman was interrupted when Jackie took it out of his hands. Looking at his empty hand, Naruto slowly raised his head up and looked at Jackie with unsettling eyes.
"Magic is dangerous. You can't just play around with it." Jackie said as he pocketed the talisman.
Keeping his temper under control at the moment was one of the most difficult things Naruto had ever done. He almost ended up failing if Kim hadn't put her hand in his. Grasping it, he let his anger go. Jackie was doing what he thought best. He was wrong, but Naruto couldn't fault him for it. Besides, he didn't want to rip Jackie a new one in front of Jade. She didn't need to see that kind of thing.
Retracting his visor, Naruto was going to say something when he saw a shadow step out of the wall. Looking around, he saw that they were surrounded.
"So, the Shadowkhan can appear from any shadow? Even those that are potentially hundreds of miles away." Naruto said rhetorically. That would be an interesting thing to study. Instantaneous travel through shadows. Obviously magic of some sort, but it just reinforced Naruto's desire to learn and harness it.
Bringing out his tonfa, Naruto realized that with all of them in the kitchen there'd be very little room to fight. Kim beat him to it however, "Ron, take Jade and go."
Grabbing Jade, Ron ran out of the room screaming. A few Shadowkhan turned to look at him, but they ignored him in favor of the one who held the talisman. Looking at the magic tracker the Shadowkhan were carrying, Naruto realized that he still hadn't look at the information he got from that one.
Springing into action, Naruto backhanded a Shadowkhan near him with his tonfa. He heard a crack and seeing the Shadowkhan explode into shadow told him that they might be magic, but they were fragile just like humans.
On her end, Kim was enjoying herself. The only person she could ever fight seriously was Shego however, these Shadowkhan, as Naruto called them, weren't human. They were magic of some sort, if the exploding into shadow was any indication. As such, she didn't need to be careful and she could just punch them out of existence.
Meanwhile, Jackie was doing his best to keep the Shadowkhan from swarming him and keeping an eye out for the children, or at least that's what he thought before he noticed they were doing even better against the Shadowkhan than he was.
He had noticed that they could fight quite well at the aquarium and when they fought against the Dark Hand enforcers, but he didn't think they were this skilled. It seemed that Jade wasn't exaggerating when she said that they did this sort of thing often.
Throwing a Shadowkhan over his shoulder, Jackie felt one of the other ninjas trying to pickpocket him. Moving to stop him, Jackie was held in place by the other Shadowkhan. Feeling the talisman get taken, Jackie yelled out, "They took the talisman!"
Turning his head, Naruto thrust his right arm in the direction of the Shadowkhan that had the talisman. From his Omniband, cables burst out and grabbed the talisman. Retracting the cables, Naruto held the talisman in his hand and realized that every Shadowkhan's attention was now on him.
From his Omniband, a metallic glove formed over his right hand and the talisman was engulfed by the glove. Feeling that the talisman was now secure in his hand, Naruto wasn't expecting to feel the talisman activate.
He felt the rush of magic spread from his hand to his shoulder, and from there it spread to the rest of his body. Reveling in it, Naruto couldn't come up with a way to explain the sensation. However, he did know that even though he wasn't moving, everything was moving slowly. It seemed the talisman put the body in a state of super speed.
Walking around, he noticed that he wasn't experiencing the motion blur that Kim had. Though he wondered, had Kim activated the talisman before or after she started moving?
Shaking his head he focused on the here and now, taking the Shadowkhan down one at a time. However, he grabbed the talisman tracker from the Shadowkhan that was using it and put it in his holster. Its been empty ever since he started using the Omniband.
Once all of the Shadowkhan had been defeated, he retracted the glove and the talisman deactivated. Feeling everything return to normal, he leaned against the wall next to Kim. Coughing into his hand, he ducked under the punch that Kim sent at his head.
Seeing Naruto look at her with wide, Kim could only blush lightly at what she almost did. "Sorry."
Accepting the hand she offered, Naruto was pulled onto his feet and tossed the talisman back to Jackie. He had the information he wanted.
"Now, let's turn this thing back around and we can all go home." Naruto said as he crossed his arms.
x-x-x-x-x-x
[San Francisco Pier 10:00 PM]
"We got the talisman and Aesop should be back in the aquarium in a bit. Overall, it was a pretty good day." Jade said as she sat on top of a crate. Next to her Jackie was leaning against the crate exhausted from the days events.
"How do they still have so much energy?" Jackie asked out loud as he looked at Team Possible. They were talking and joking around with no signs of exhaustion.
"Jackie, I told you to look at their website. If you had you'd have seen that something like this is no problem to them. They literally go around the world helping people." Jade said as she looked down at Jackie from her spot.
"I'll make sure to do that tomorrow Jade." Jackie conceded, as she was right.
Seeing Team Possible making their way towards them, Jade jumped down from the crate. Jackie pushed himself off the crate and stood up straight.
"It was nice working with you Jackie. You too Jade." Kim said with a smile while shaking Jackie's hand.
"It was nice working with you too, and hopefully the next time we meet it'll be on better circumstances." Jackie replied with a smile.
"Tch, don't count on it. I get the feeling that things are gonna heat up before they quite down." Jade said as she crossed her arm.
"You know, I get the same feeling." Ron said as he nodded with Jade.
"Well, if you do need help just call us." Naruto said before looking at Jade and tilting his head. "Jade, do you have a cell phone?"
"No?" Jade asked unsure of where this was going.
Pulling out his cellphone, he had his Omniband scan it. Once it finished, he created a copy of it. However, he made sure that it didn't have any of his information. Inputting his cell phone number along with Kim's and Ron's, he handed it to Jade.
Going wide eyed at the gift, Jade just began to play with it. Seeing the look of conflict on Jackie's face, Naruto spoke up, "I made my phone myself. You also don't have to worry about cell service. It uses the same network as Kim's Kimmunicator." Here Kim pulled out her Kimmunicator.
"The phone has service all over the world, so you can call Jade wherever she may be." Naruto said in order to placate the potential argument about giving Jade a phone without consulting Jackie.
"Well, considering that she's somehow been able to smuggle herself onto my trips, I don't see a problem with her having a phone." Jackie said as he accepted that the gift was given in order to help keep Jade safe.
"Thanks!" Jade said once she finished playing with her phone. Everyone at school was gonna freak over it.
x-x-x-x-x-x
[Naruto's Workshop Middleton December 2, 2003 4:25 AM]
Putting the talisman tracker into the slot that appeared, Naruto activated his mainframe. Using the information he gained from the talisman's he began to began to scan it. The tracker was able to located the talisman's wherever they were. This meant that it's magic was attuned to those frequencies.
If Naruto could figure out how to activate the tracker, he'd be able to use a satellite to track the talismans all over the world. This would speed up the search exponentially.
At the same time as the scans were at work, Naruto was looking up the information he acquired from the tracker during Thanksgiving. Once again he correlated the time to the information he had and was able to find when the tracker activated.
This though, made Naruto see something interesting. The tracker's magic frequency resonated with those of the talisman's. Whenever it was near one, it would activate. A lot like strings on a guitar.
However, the opposite was also true. When the talisman was near the tracker, the magic of the talisman resonated with the tracker's. This meant that he would need a talisman to activate the tracker.
Or maybe he didn't. All he needed to do was replicate an energy signature that would resonate with the tracker. That was simple enough. What he couldn't do was replicate the magic of the talisman. For that he would need a sample of the magic from the talisman itself.
Grabbing one of his smallest infinite energy generators, which was the size of a penny, he attached it to his Omniband. The Omniband changed the air around itself into energy which it then changed back into a different form of matter. However, Naruto needed to create a sustained energy frequency and the Omniband by itself couldn't do that.
His infinite energy generator could though. All he had to do was have the Omniband take the energy from the generator and transform it into a different energy. That was much easier. Once the Omniband assimilated the generator, he had a nice glowing blue circle on the silver Omniband.
Connecting his Omniband to the mainframe, he began to look for a frequency that would cause a reaction. Luckily, he had four sample frequencies he could use to synthesize one. It didn't actually take long before he found a frequency that reacted with the tracker. Seeing the four little dragons on the tracker light up, he looked at the information his scans were receiving in real time.
Grinning, Naruto began to make plans to build the satellite he'd need. After all, he didn't want anyone intercepting his communications with it. A satellite that could only be used by Team Possible seemed like a very nice idea.
x-x-x-x-x-x
[December 2, 2003 7:00 AM]
"Wade, having the Centurion Project get stuck on my wrist was one of the greatest things to happen to me." Naruto said as he finished installing an improved shield generator onto the satellite.
"You know that's right." Wade said as he draw some milk.
"The Omniband's been able to cut down all production time to almost nothing." Naruto said as he looked over the satellite for any sort of problems.
"It's a pain to manufacture an Omniband without the Centurion Project though." Wade said as the work for his own personal Omniband hadn't even begun yet. The machines needed to create the nanomachines were time consuming as they needed to be able to work with incredibly small amounts of materials.
There was an upside though. Wade and Naruto had been working on making the nanomachines even smaller and they had succeeded. The only problem was that they were sure they could make them even smaller. The smaller size while nice, wouldn't be enough justification to create an upgraded Omniband when the one that Naruto was using was doing quite well.
They wanted each nanomachine to have its own infinite energy generator. This would allow it to create any type of matter infinitely. This way it could be used in places like space, which was one of their goals.
They wanted a space base. They even had a new generation spacesuit they wanted to create, but it was impossible without a source of energy for the Omniband so that it could create air, food, water, and fuel for the space suit.
At the moment installing a generator for the Omniband solved the problem, but if the generator was destroyed it meant that the Omniband would be without power until the generator was fixed, and taking into account how delicate the generator's inner workings were, it'd take a while.
"Yeah, that's true." Naruto said as he looked up at the monitor that had grown from the desk. Naruto had taken time to completely upgrade his workshop. His mainframe was now completely composed of nanomachines. As was most of his technology, but his ship wasn't. The ship was composed of materials with specific properties that allowed it to enter and exit the earth's atmosphere as well as fly in it. The nanomachines weren't able to replicate that just yet.
"You know I could give you some nanomachines so that you can build your own Omniband." Naruto said as he looked at Wade. In return Wade's face gained a thoughtful expression.
Sighing, he answered, "As much as I would like to, I want to do this myself. You've helped me get this far, and I think it's time I start standing on my own."
Surprised, but proud, Naruto grinned. "Alright then. I can't wait to see what you come up with."
Grinning back, Wade ended the call.
Although he felt proud, he felt a bit sad that Wade had chosen to do this on his own. They hadn't had the most traditional mentor student relationship, but it had been fun.
Moving the satellite out of the workshop, Naruto decided that while he and Wade were no longer mentor and student, they were now equals. He hadn't had an intellectual equal in a long time. He couldn't wait to see what Wade came up with in the future.
Prepping the satellite for launch, Naruto wondered if Wade had chosen to do this now because he had built the perfect metaphor. Launching the satellite, he saw it take off into the sky and before he knew it, it was gone.
Yes Naruto and Wade had a mentor student relationship that happened behind the scenes. The reasons are simple. Wade was a child genius who reminded Naruto of himself when he was young.
However, when Naruto was young he had trouble being accepted as a child prodigy who was able to make things better than professionals with years of experience. He faced a lot of resistance for years to even be able to gain access to the things he needed.
He didn't want Wade to face the same problems, so Naruto offered him a job. Wade took it because he would be able to do a lot more if he had access to Naruto's resources. An unexpected result was that Naruto and Wade had gained a sort of mentor student relationship.
Naruto hadn't planned it that way, but that's how it ended up when he saw how much more advanced Wade's technology was than his other employees.
Now, in the show, Wade considers Jim and Tim his intellectual equals and they still are. The only problem is that Jim and Tim are still very immature. They're hyperactive and as a result they don't think about the consequences of their actions. Naruto knew that if he tried hiring them as they are, they'd either blow up Middleton or kill someone on accident.
He knows how intelligent they are, and as such has decided to wait before asking them to work for him so that they mature in a few years. In the show, after they've entered high school they mature quite a bit. They enter high school at 12 which means that Naruto will probably ask them to work for him around the same age.
Now about the way the seeking device works on the talismans. Naruto compared them to the strings of a guitar and it's true. If you pluck a string on a certain note, like a G, any other string that's tuned to G will also vibrate slightly.
This means that when the seeking device is near a talisman the magic inside the seeking device resonates. This also means that when the seeking device is near a talisman the magic inside the talisman resonates slightly. It's this resonance that will allow Naruto to track the other talisman's around the world.
Of course, he's going to tell Jackie and Jade, but that's so that they can cover more ground quickly. This means that the Dark Hand will be unable to keep up. So potentially, Shendu will miss his deadline.
Almost forgot about the digitized books. Naruto had the nanomachines copy the books contents to his mainframe. This means he has his own virtual library with all of Uncle's books. Unfortunately, most of them were written in Chinese (Chinese written language is the same all of China, what's different is the dialects) characters. This means that his mainframe is currently busy translating all of them and forming a catalog of them, with references to each other.
This means that if Naruto decides to look up information about demons, he'll get a list of books that mentions demons in them. This cross referencing will become very important later on as Naruto learns about magic.
Ron's accessed his mystical monkey power! In the show Ron's fear of monkeys, self esteem issues, and fear of change, make it difficult for him to access his powers. That's why evil Ron was able to use them no problem in the Stop Team Go episode. Here though, Uncle accidentally brought the powers out. He has access to some of his Mystical Monkey Power, but not anywhere near the extent he had when he fought the Lorwardians. Ron himself doesn't know he has access to them yet though, it's more of an instinctual response when he fights.
The Talisman's will be going through a few changes. What I mean by this is that they have abilities that weren't shown in the show. One of them is that the Rabbit Talisman puts a person into a state of super speed if they activate it when they aren't moving. If they are moving, it makes them move like a rocket, but they don't have the ability to change direction easily.
Obviously, the super speed state is great for when you need more time but the super speed magic is useful to cut down on time when you're only going in a straight line or curving very slowly.
I was inspired to do this from how Jade used the Tiger Talisman. She used it to locate the other half of her locket. That shows that the talisman's have more than their simple use that's shown in the show.
However, I'm conflicted on the Dog Talisman. This is because I don't know if it actually provides complete immortality, or just immortality from physical death? What I mean is can you still die from old age, or do you live forever as long as you hold the Dog Talisman? Along with that, how come there aren't people who have used the Dog Talisman and lived for hundreds of years? No mention of them in the show at all.
I'll figure this one out later.
Any questions or concerns just send me a review.
Oh and I'll be opening up a forum in case any of you want to talk about any of my stories or just this one in particular, and this way I can get back to all of you as well if you have any questions.