A little shorter than usual (as of late), but I'd like to get this stuff out of the way.
One of the 'surprises' I keep mentioning is revealed in here. So read and find out what it is!
the damn disclaimer that I shouldn't have to write, but I do: I do not own Naruto!! Period!
And the usual language warning applies here as well. Enjoy
The battle wasn't going well for the red-eyes attacking from the south. Almost all the ground they had liberated had been easily taken back by the never ending dark formation. The only foothold the western specialists had left was the honeycomb of captured trenches, and only because the wildly uneven ground forced the marching soldiers to falter in their 'perfect' formation.
Sanshatav and his pack were having a field day in the deep ditches. The shield wielding troops filed neatly into the narrow trench works, allowing the close combat freaks to tear them apart. Unfortunately for the Agende Vhansin members, the enemy soldiers were impervious to the natural scare tactics employed by the cannibal specialists.
Sanshatav was currently hacking and slashing away at the constant barrage of men and steel. He had learned to avoid applying any energy into his long sickle-like sword for fear of providing on-the-spot ammunition for his enemies, so cutting them apart was a difficult task. At this point in the fighting, the bodies and heavy armor were piled so high that the enemy troops would soon not need to break their strict formation to cross the ditches.
"If that happens," his berserker mind pieced together through its own screeching, "We'll loose this battle…" He concluded his thoughts with more wild swinging. Through the corner of his blood limit eyes, he saw a handful of troops aim their weapons at him. "Energy's too low," he observed inwardly. "Guess this is it…"
The next thing he knew, the group of soldiers were engulfed in flames. He ducked out of instinct as the explosion flung bits of shattered bone and torn metal in every direction. He peered behind him to find the source of the unexpected bomb.
He let loose a deep growl in his frenzied state of mind, relaying what he saw to his familial comrades. After doing so, he let loose a bloodstained smirk. "How did I not see that? Oh well, we could use the help…" He raised his sword for another strike and put it through another enemy's exposed neck.
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Naruto held Hinata close to him as he sailed through the air via energy tails. She was tracking Lorsvall as best she could, but she was clearly becoming tired. He scaled a particularly high skyscraper to get a better view of the city and provide a higher launching pad.
As soon as they reached the edge of the roof, they saw the wounded General running for a blast door at the base of the central tower; the tallest structure of the city. Uzi strengthened his grip on the Hyuuga and leapt high through the air, passing over hundreds, possibly thousands, of dark troops in the process. He landed behind a massive steel wall that established a soldier free perimeter around the sky-high structure in the middle of the city. He softened their freefalling arrival with all his chakra tails, but it still hurt.
"There he is!" the blue-haired easterner yelled, pointing at the western specialist as he charged through the large gate.
"Oh, shit!" the blonde cursed when the immense blast doors began closing. "Go for it!" They broke out in a dead run for the tower's entrance.
"Hey, Uzi!" called a familiar voice. "We'll get 'im! Don't worry!"
"Yeah, leave him to us!"
The eastern duo turned to find Trench and Shades sliding a badly damaged motorcycle into the crack of the door a second before the gates slammed shut. Those particular western allies were the last people they thought would make it past the thousands of ironclad marching troops to this point.
"Did you just see what I saw?" Naruto inquired while staring in disbelief at the closed opening.
"I think I did…" she replied with similar uncertainty. "You saw Shades and Trench, right?"
"Yeah…"
She nodded. "Yep. I saw 'em…"
The blonde red-eye shook his head to regain his thoughts. "What am I doing? Let's open this damn thing." He strode up to the massive doors and thrust his energy appendages into the crack. He jolted back when there was a sudden drain on his chakra. "What the hell?!"
Hinata reactivated her Byakugan and immediately found the reason for the absorption. "Looks like there's some more of that energy ink lining the inside."
He sighed in frustration. "Where?".
She glanced up, down, and to the sides of the tower. "Everywhere."
"What?" he whined. "How much ink we talkin' here?"
She peered at the structure again before shrugging. "Shit tons."
"Damnit!" He kicked the blast doors before raising his hands in annoyance. "How are we gonna get through this?!"
The Hyuuga suddenly realized there was something flying through the air towards them. "Get down!"
Uzi obeyed in a heartbeat. He grasped his companion in his arms and wrapped his energy tails around them as tightly as he could without crushing them. A moment later, the blast doors blew apart in a violent explosion. Once the fire died down, the blonde easterner uncurled the chakra appendages and glanced in every direction.
"That was a shell! Where'd it come from?!"
"Hey Uzi!" called a voice from up high. "How ya doin?!"
Both easterners turned to find the voice's owner and were shocked to see who it was.
"Bastan?!" Naruto recognized the oldest Agran brother standing atop the perimeter's wall. "Wha- what are you doing here?! Weren't you in the southern country?!"
The goggled man was beaming. "Yeah, we were! Just got here! Good thing these guys don't turn around," he jerked his thumb behind him at the marching battalion. "We can bomb the crap outta them and they won't be the wiser!"
"Where are your brothers?!" Hinata added. "And Sheila?!"
"They're around! I came this far so I can gauge distances for my artillery crews. Nephil, Geist, and Sheila are leading the southern army's advance! We took a real beating before coming up! Besides," he continued with a grin. "I'm a walking bombing run! I can level crap faster than anyone else!"
"Say 'hi' to everyone for me!" Uzi gave a thumbs up to accompany his foxy smile.
"Will do! You two get going!"
The eastern duo turned back to the now crumbled doors. The blonde glanced at the blue-haired woman. "You ready for this?"
She nodded and smiled. "You bet. Let's go!"
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Lorsvall staggered quickly through one of the many hallways back to the throne room. His arm burned with its deep wound. He stumbled a bit when the tower shook with an explosion at its base. "Dammit," he thought. "How'd they break those doors so damn fast?! Oh well, it won't matter once I get to the throne room…" he glanced forward and found the lift he needed to take and a face from his past casually leaning against the adjacent wall.
He stopped when he approached the person. "How did you get in here?" he asked calmly.
"I came in earlier," replied the multicolored man.
"You here to kill me?"
"Nah, not my place."
"So, still going by that name, Lasion?"
"Yep."
"What was it again? 'The Raver'?"
Raver smiled. "Yep, that's it." He held up one of the shafted domes from one of the skulls of the mindless marching soldiers. "I see you kept researching mind control."
Lorsvall grinned with a chortle. "Yeah. Got a lot better at it too."
"Still not perfect," he replied, tossing the machine into the air and catching it as it came down. "They're pretty mindless. Not a lot of brain power."
"That what you came here for? To mock me?"
Lasion chuckled. "Nah. Came here to say goodbye."
"Alright," the enemy specialist patted the Raver on the shoulder as he boarded the lift. He smiled sincerely for once. "I'll be seeing you around, Lasion." The lift began to rise.
"See you around," the colorful westerner returned the smile. "Dad." Once Lorsvall disappeared from view, the party going specialist slipped his father's device into his inside pocket and walked away calmly with a sad smile adorning his face.
Anyone see this one coming? (I'd remember this if I were you... winkwink)
Oh, well. I fly home tomorrow, so don't expect any updates until... Saturday (why not?). Lemme know if you liked this little surprise!