Adventures of the Orange Flash
Chapter 59: Getting to know You
As they followed Sonic and his crew, Naruto and Nicole marveled at the sight of the city and couldn't help but be in awe of the advanced tech. From what Nicole analyzed, over a majority of the city is made of nanites; a concept which he heard from Tails and Rotor from I dimension.
"So where are we going?" asked Naruto.
"We're heading over to the Julayla Memorial Garden which is a public park but Nicole can soundproof the area to prevent any eavesdroppers from listening in," Sally explained to the duo.
"That's cool," said Naruto with a shrug of his shoulders,
They soon arrived at the park and the blonde kitsune was impressed with the place but was a bit disappointed as he sensed no actual nature in the trees although he sensed latent ring energy from the lake. Nicole made benches out of the nanites so everyone could have a seat before setting up a soundproof barrier around them.
"Uh before we start, we need to deal with something first," said Naruto.
"What is it?" asked Tails curiously.
"We need to find a way to differentiate between both Nicoles," he pointed, recalling how his comrades sometimes mixed him up with his clones back then although he uses that to his advantage against enemies.
"You got a point there, so how do we do that?" asked Rotor.
"How about a nickname? Should make things easier," said Sonic.
Naruto hummed in thought as S.A.C Nicole hovered in front of his face while in her Faerie Form, waiting in anticipation "How about…Nico? Rolls right off the tongue, don't you think?"
Nicole appeared thoughtful before happily nodding in acceptance "I like it, thank you Naruto!"
Are you serious? It iz the same name with only the last two letterz removed," said Antoine skeptically.
Bunnie intertwined her fingers with his "Now now Sugah, no need to be so critical,"
"Yes dear," Antoine smiled in response.
Naruto quirked an eyebrow at their interaction before noticing the rings on their fingers and realized what's going on "They're married huh…I feel kinda awkward about this,"
"Don't let it get to you, remember that this dimension is different from our own," said Kurama in assurance.
"Guess you got a point there," thought Naruto before speaking up "Considering that I'm familiar with you guys although with some differences here and there from my dimension, I'll introduce myself; my name's Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, a nine tailed kitsune and a proud member of the Freedom Fighters. The black chao is Yoru and the white chao is Kou,"
"You're a Freedom Fighter in your dimension?" asked Rotor.
Naruto nodded in affirmation "That's right and we're still recruiting members to join us, here a picture of the current member and our Identicards," he reached into his ninja pouch to take out the Identicard and photo, showing to the group.
"So Barby is with you guys but I don't see Antoine and who are the other three?" asked Sally curiously.
"Those are our friends, Sash Lilac the Water Dragon, Milla the Basset Hound and Carol Tea the Wildcat. We met them on a mission at their home planet and they decided to join us when we were returning to Mobius," Nico explained.
"Huh, kinda reminds me of my own space journey," said Sonic thoughtfully.
"So how were you able to wield the elements like that? So far, the ones we know are only able to wield one element at most," said Mighty.
Naruto hummed in thought before responding "I say everything but what I can tell you is that we the kitsune have ties to various aspects of the universe such as fire, water, earth and so much. We gain power from absorbing particular aspects as well as immunity towards them. For example, with my fire aspect, I can't be burnt and literally swim in lava though I haven't tried that yet,"
Sonic smirked at that "Sounds way past cool if you ask me, it's probably why you were able to go toe-to-toe with Enerjak before,"
"In a way yeah,"
"So do you have an HQ for your group?" asked Sally.
Nico nodded in affirmation "Indeed we do, Rotor with help from Naruto were able to construct the team's new base within the year. I can even show some snapshots of the place," she projected a Holoscreen to display a slideshow of the Freedom Fighters' HQ, displaying the features as well as the areas within it.
"Wowie, reminds me of my own saloon along time ago back in HQ. It's been a while," muttered Bunnie.
"I can see that you're well equipped to handle any situation that would come your way," said Sally thoughtfully.
"Looks at all those games, I'd love to go and play there!" said Charmy.
Ray nodded in agreement "You and me both,"
Tails then spoke up "Hope you don't mind me asking, but I'm pretty curious about that device on your waist and the gloves you're wearing,"
Naruto looked at said items before chuckling in amusement at the irony of it all "Oh these…they're the Energy Conversion Gloves or E.C.G for short, they have the ability to absorb any type of energy and turn it into an energy construct of the wearer's choice. For example, Sonic's running constantly produces kinetic energy which can then be converted into any construct of energy like a blaster, sword, rope and more depending on what is visualized," the blonde kitsune channeled chakra into the ECG-X gloves to create a construct of a windmill shuriken which he twirled with a finger before dissipating it "Next is the Synthetical-Atomic-Compressor or S.A.C which digitalizes all kinds of objects and compresses their atomic structures within it for easier carrying and then un-digitalizing them back into the real world again for use,"
"Whoa, these are amazing! Who made these?" asked Tails curiously only to be confused upon seeing Naruto, Nico and the Chao all pointing at him "Me?"
"The Tails from our dimension invented these gadgets with some help from Rotor, they really helped us many times through our adventures," Nico explained.
"Do you think you could give us the blueprints for both devices? It could really help us out over here," Rotor requested.
Naruto shrugged in response "Sure thing, you can even consider them as gifts to you," he noticed Rotor had been wincing in pain a couple of times "Hey Rotor, is there something wrong?"
"It's okay, just my old wounds acting up again," said Rotor.
Nico activated her X-Ray vision and frowned at what she was currently looking at "I'm seeing serious damage on your spinal cord, especially at the waist,"
Tails looked down at the ground in shame "It was all my fault, it happened when we were attacked by Eggman at our HQ. Debris was falling from above and Rotor pushed me out of the way only for a large rock to fall on his back,"
"I told you time and again to not blame yourself, if we went back in time, I still would have done it," said Rotor.
"Well, then let's get you fixed," Naruto got off the bench and approached Rotor much to everyone's confusion expect Nico and the Chao.
"What do you mean by that? Dr. Quack tried everything he could to help Rotor but to no avail," said Sally.
Naruto smirked as he took off the glove from his right hand to reveal a light-colored, sun-like marking on the palm "Well it's my turn then," he placed his right palm on Rotor's shoulder as a golden flamelike aura enshrouded his body, giving him a warm feeling before the aura dissipated.
Rotor still felt traces of the warmth within but then he noticed something else far more shocking, the lingering pain at his back is completely gone. He shot up to his feet and examined himself with growing confusion before turning to a smiling Naruto and asking the obvious question "How?"
"A power granted to me by an ancient ancestor of mine, I had another way to heal you but I wanted to make absolutely sure," said Naruto, putting his glove back on.
"You mean…," Tails trailed off, not wanting to risk raise his hopes up only for the to come crashing back down.
"My scans show that Rotor is fully healed," said Nico happily.
Naruto was suddenly embraced by Tails and Bunnie with the latter speaking "Thanks very much, yer have no idea how much this means to us,"
Sonic patted Naruto's shoulder "Yeah man, we wouldn't know what would happen if you didn't give Rotor a pick-me-up,"
"You're most welcome, it was the right thing to do anyways," said Naruto.
"I am curious to ask why Nico is here with you, wouldn't she normally be with the Sally of your dimension?" asked Sally, Nicole was wondering the same as it felt a bit unusual from their point of view.
Nico turned to respond "I don't really understand your question but Naruto was the one who found and rescued me from Eggman's database," the Hololynx went on to tell them what she and Naruto with several others went through during that venture "And since then, I've always been with Naruto and was able to develop into something more than I was back then," she emitted pixelated energy in one hand and electricity in the other.
"So, was there anything else interesting going on in your dimension?" asked Amy.
Naruto hummed in thought before snapping his fingers in remembrance of a particular event "Oh yeah, we had a fighting tournament where lots of fighters gather round to compete to earn a golden trophy not to mention the bragging rights in addition. Most of you guys took part save for a few,"
"Sounds like a real fun time for everyone, so who won? No doubt it was me, right?" asked Sonic smugly.
Antoine groaned in annoyance "Not everything revolves around you Sonic, what makes you so sure that it's you?"
"Come on, it's me we're talking about, I can tell that I was able to make it all the way to the top, right Naruto?" Sonic turned towards the blonde kitsune for affirmation.
"Instead of simply telling you about it, I think it's better that we show you," said Naruto.
"I have a recording of the entire tournament stored in the SAC, I'll put it on display for you all to see," Nico swiped her hand in the air to project a large Holoscreen which began to play the recording. They all saw the participants and were mildly surprised to see an Overlander take part in tournament.
"Who's that guy?" asked Mighty.
"His name is Natsu, don't let him being an overlander fool you as you're about to find out," said Naruto knowingly.
They watched as the between Naruto and Natsu began, the group were quite surprised at the sight of both combatants going at each other with great drive, pushing each other to break through their limits to achieve even greater power till the battle ended with a final clash and Naruto emerged victorious.
"Whoa, that dude can actually breath and eat fire? He's definitely a tough cookie, things would definitely get rough if we fought him here," said Mighty in shock.
"Let's not forget that you also fused yourself with your flames too, what was that?" asked Rotor.
"That would be my Azure Drive where I fuse with the foxfire to the point of actually becoming the flames itself, I gain absolute control over my flames as well as enhancing my physical abilities," Naruto explained.
"Just how many trump cards do you have?" asked Antoine.
Naruto shrugged in response "Enough for particular situations,"
The matches continued on afterwards, the Freedom Fighters were impressed with the skills of their counterparts albeit disappointed when they weren't able to advance further through the tournament, Espio paid great attention to Naruto and the Mobian lynx called Killua as he could see many traits of ninja training from both of them. Soon enough, the match between Sonic and Naruto which caught everyone's utmost attention.
"A match between the other me against you, this will be fun to see," said Sonic, still believing that his counterpart won the tournament.
"So, which of you won?" asked Amy.
Naruto simply smiled and placed a finger on his lips "Don't wanna give any spoilers, just keep watching and find out,"
Everyone watched as Naruto and Sonic repeatedly clashed fists and kicks then shifting to using special moves. The speedsters were rapidly switching between offense and defense against each other akin to that of a swinging pendulum. The Freedom Fighters were in awe of how Naruto was able to keep up with the Blue Blur, if anything it's they're looking at a ninja version of the hedgehog. Then it came to the climax of the battle where Sonic prepped up his Lightspeed Attack and Naruto activated his Celestial aspect and prepared his own move as well before engaging each other in a highspeed blitz while appearing as two shooting stars flying all over the arena and rapidly ricocheting off each other.
"Amazing, I know of a few that can keep up with Sonic, but this is a whole different level," said Nicole, everyone else felt the same way.
Just when they thought that this clash would end in a stalemate, the viewers were taken by surprise when Sonic suddenly went through Naruto then copies of the kitsune appeared and unleashed a powerful assault of strikes from all directions before knocking him out of the area with a white spiraling sphere of energy.
"I…lost?" said Sonic in disbelief.
"That you did, rather shocking isn't it?" asked Antoine smugly.
Sonic turned to Naruto "But how?" the kitsune pointed to the recording of himself who began to explain.
[Right back at ya, your speed always has me on edge. I figured that taking you by surprise is a better approach than trying to take you on in your greatest strengths] the recording of Naruto spoke.
"Naruto knew that taking you head-on in terms of speed isn't the best strategy so he rather chose to take a different approach by making you leave yourself open for a split-second in order to launch an effective offense," Nico explained further.
"I was known back home to be the most unpredictable knucklehead as I would fight in ways which no one would expect me to. I don't exactly plan ahead of time but rather make plans and execute them while still on the move," said Naruto with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Formulating and executing strategies while in combat, that makes you a frightening opponent to face," said Sally thoughtfully.
"So, this means that you're facing that Killua guy next right?" asked Charmy.
Naruto nodded in affirmation "Yeah, and it was a really tricky one as you're all about to see,"
The group watched as Naruto and Killua were teleported to a desolate area so they could fight without restraint which they did starting with hand-to-hand combat. Naruto was proving to be having the edge initially but then Killua began to counter with his own attacks then they switched to using blades before resorting to using elemental techniques. Things became tense when Killua triggered his trump card and began beating Naruto down until the kitsune used his own trump card being the golden flame form which Sonic recognized except that he wasn't donning the coat. The level of the fight cranked up to eleven with both sides busting out moves which practically reshapes the environment every second, Naruto and Killua finally decided to settle the fight through the use of their best techniques which shook the very atmosphere but the former emerged victorious and was crowned the champion of the tournament.
"Sacre Bleu…," Antoine muttered lowly.
"What that fight was way too intense," said Rotor in amazement.
"You're telling me, never would have thought that lightning could even be used that way," said Vector.
"Indeed…," Espio muttered thoughtfully.
"But that fight was totally epic!" said Charmy excitedly, hovering in the air with his wings.
Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly "Glad you liked it, was really going at it during the time,"
"You know, with all this excitement we forgot to ask how exactly you and Nico ended up here," Bunnie pointed.
"Now that you mention it, I totally forgot about it," said Naruto sheepishly.
"So…what happened?" asked Sally.
"Well, it all started when Nico along with the Chao and I went to relax over at Green Hill after doing a couple of things at Central City, then a giant golden ring appeared from out of nowhere and two strangers came through it. One being a green hedgehog looking like Sonic but calls himself Scourge and the other is a vixen called Fiona," said Naruto, he noted the frowns on everybody's faces "I guess you know those guys?"
"Pretty much, Scourge comes from an alternate dimension called Moebius where he along with our counterparts are the polar opposites of us. They've been causing trouble for us since way back and this is the latest so far," said Sonic rubbing the back of his head while minding the quills.
Amy spoke "Fiona used to be one of us but then chose to turn her back on everything we worked so hard for. What she did really hurt us," she glanced at Sonic and Tails who were both looking away with looks of melancholy on their faces.
"I get the feeling that it affected them more, not exactly the same like mine but there are some similarities," thought Naruto, thinking about when Sasuke left Team 7 and Konoha whilst trying to kill him several times and Sakura trying to deceive him so she could release him from the promise he made. While they got back together during the war, something inside told him that things wouldn't truly go to the way they were.
Nico then continued "We were cautious during our encounter with them and warned them not to do anything but it eventually devolved into a fight. Naruto and I were able to subdue them but then Scourge used his Warp Ring to escape whilst tackling me through it with Naruto having to follow in pursuit, that was when we emerged here and sensed the negative Chaos energy before tracking it…well you all know the rest,"
"Ugh, even when not messing with us. Those two go around messing with others," Sonic groaned out.
"So do you know any way to return to your dimension?" asked Rotor.
"Actually yeah, I swiped a couple of Warp Rings from Dr. Finitevus before he scurried away. I just need to apply some seals to them to lock on to my dimension then I'm good to go," said Naruto.
"So you'll be returning soon afterwards?" asked Nicole.
Naruto hummed thoughtfully before speaking "Actually, I think I'll hang for a bit to lend a hand or a fireball here before I go, if you guys don't mind,"
"We'll be glad to have you here, I just know that it's gonna be one heck of a party with you here!" said Sonic with a smirk.
"Thank you very much, we really appreciate it," Nico bowed her head in gratitude.
"We should be the ones thankful; you weren't here for long and yet helped up against Enerjak and even healed Rotor," said Sally.
"No biggie, so what's on the agenda after everything that's happened?" asked Naruto.
"Well for starters, we need to repair our HQ and get things back up and running," said Sally.
Vector then spoke up "We'll be heading over to Angel Island to check on Knuckles and make sure that he's doing okay,"
"I'll hang back to help with the repairs," said Mighty.
"I just received a message that Mina Mongoose will be returning from her musical tour tomorrow," Nicole spoke up.
Naruto blinked in surprise "Mina-chan's a singer here too?"
"That she is," said Tails.
Rotor checked his watch "Well, would you look at the time. It's getting late, no surprise given our rather long conversation,"
"So, where will you guys be sleeping?" asked Mighty curiously.
Naruto shrugged in response "We still got our camping gear, so it's no biggie for us,"
"You needn't do that, you could stay over at our HQ where's more than enough room for you during your stay here," Sally offered with nods of agreement from the others.
"Guess we can't say no to that, plus we could help with the repairs while we're there anyways,"
"Well then, let's get a move on. No to mention that I need to get back into shape now that my body's back to a 100%," said Rotor, stretching his body and smiling at no longer feeling any pain.
"But aren't you a member of the council? I doubt they would let you back on the field," said Bunnie.
"I may be a member but that won't stop me from some cardio workout,"
Some days later, Sonic was currently over at King Frederick Airbase which is also an airport as a plane touched down on the ground and taxied to a stop. No sooner did the doors open that someone rushed at and almost tackled the blue hedgehog to the ground with a hug.
"Oh my gosh, I missed you so much Sonic!" said Mina Mongoose happily, finally returning from her tour.
"Welcome home, Mina," said Sonic with a smile, he looked to see Ash approach them albeit with a sheepish expression.
"And what a home it is! By the way Ash and I had talk during our tour, and I believe that he has something to say to you," Mina gestured for Ash to talk to Sonic which he did.
"Er…I'm sorry…for being a jerk to you and a lot of people. I've had it kinda rough these past years and Mina always made me feel better, which was why I overreacted while thinking you were trying to steal her away from me," Ash held out a hand for a handshake, wanting bring peace between the two of them.
Sonic then shook it while looking sheepish "It's cool, I've been kinda a jerk a couple of times myself.
"Heh, that's true,"
"Ash, please be nice," Mina scolded her boyfriend.
"I'm gonna get the band settled down, I'll be leaving her to you for now Sonic," said Ash before walking away.
"Ummm sure," Sonic muttered.
Mina grabbed his hand and began to pull him away "Come on Sonic, I can see the city at any time but I want to see everything…starting with what we've lost,"
"Are you sure Mina? It's not a pretty sight," asked Sonic unsurely, receiving a nod of affirmation from Mina.
"To think I used to live here," Mina muttered as she stood alongside Sonic in the desolate and destroyed area which used to be Knothole until its destruction by Eggman and his fleet of battleships.
"Eggman was very thorough and caught us totally off-guard," said Sonic, thinking back on when he faced Eggman in his Egg Beater mech and got knocked all over the place the first time.
"When I went on my tour, I wanted my songs to rally everyone against Eggman. I even have a song as tribute for everything. But after seeing all this, I'm not sure…," said Mina sadly.
Sonic responded with a thumbs up "You go on ahead and sing then let us be the judge of it, let me show as not everything was leveled down…plus someone has something in mind for this place,"
"Huh?"
The duo found their way over to the Freedom Fighters HQ which is undergoing repairs after everything that happened aside from the distractions as of late. They went inside to find Mighty holding up the central support beam while Tails was nailing down the wooden supports for the ceiling.
"Hey Mighty, how are the repairs going?" asked Sonic.
"Pretty smooth, things are going well thanks to Naruto helping us out with his powers," said Mighty, the ground rumbled slightly but they weren't so worried except Mina.
"Who's Naruto, is he a new member of Chaotix and where's Knuckles?" asked Mina.
Sonic and Mighty glanced at each other nervously, not knowing exactly what to say to Mina till Sonic decided to speak "For starters; Naruto isn't a member of Chaotic. Also Knuckles got brainwashed into acting as the 'Ultimate Villain' against us. We were able to get him back to normal but he lost his dad in the process and has been keeping to himself on Angel Island,"
Mina gasped in shock "Oh no,"
"Most of the team are there to keep an eye on him, but he's been really hard on himself these days," said Mighty sadly.
"I'm sure he'll bounce back, Knux always does,"
Tails then swooped down whilst exchanging a high-five with Sonic in greeting "Hey guys, you can let go now Mighty,"
"Okay Tails," said Mighty.
"You leave on one little concert tour and the world changes," said Mina in amusement "Next thing you know is that you and Tails were fighting,"
"Us? Fighting? Perish the thought!" Sonic glanced at Tails who simply smiled.
"Uh-huh, we're totally cool," said the two tailed fox.
They felt the place rumble yet again before hearing footsteps heading their way and turned to see Naruto enter while dusting his hands "All done, I was able to restore the inner structure and reinforce it with my Earth Aspect so you guys won't have to worry about any potential cave-ins for a long time,"
Sonic gave a thumbs-up "Thanks Naruto, just what we needed,"
"Wait, you're Naruto? Are you related to Tails by any chance?" asked Mina confusedly.
Naruto let out a small groan "Why does everyone ask if I'm related to Tails every time when I'm not?"
"Because you got more tails than well…Tails, makes me wonder if we should start calling you 'Tails' instead since you represent it more effectively," said Sonic thoughtfully.
The blonde kitsune rolled his eyes "Let's not go there and I was asking a rhetorical question," he turned towards Mina "And it's nice to meet you Mina,"
"Same here," said Mina.
"Oh and before I forget," Naruto placed a palm on the central wooden pillar and channeled a small portion of Nature energy into it "…there, I've made the wooden supports more durable,"
"Awesome, all we have to do is install the additional solar panels along with the coverings then we're good to go. Let's go see how the lab is doing," said Tails before going through the door with Sonic, Mina and Naruto following after him.
They went inside the high-tech space to find someone already inside but it was who they are that sort of knocked Mina over for a loop. On the large monitor of the computer was Nicole but the one physically operating the computer is also Nicole!
"W-What's going on here and why am I seeing two Nicoles!?" asked Mina in confusion, the two AI turned towards the sound and recognized her albeit for different reasons.
[Welcome home Mina, sorry I missed you at the airport] said the Nicole on the monitor.
"Hello there Mina, it's nice to meet you," said the physical Nicole.
"That's nice and all but could someone explain this scenario to me? Why are there two of you?" asked Mina.
[Not to worry as everything will be explained, but there's something I need to tell Sonic first]
Sonic quirked an eyebrow at that "What's up Nicole?"
[Someone wants to speak with you]
"Who?"
[Mammoth Mogul from the Detention Center]
"Oh…," Sonic deadpanned upon hearing the name.
Naruto quirked an eyebrow as he recalled being told about him by Tails and the others; Mammoth Mogul who is by all rights a demigod had been alive for the longest time to date which even caught Kurama's interest. According to the Freedom Fighters, he had proven to be just as much a pain in the rear like Eggman, nearly bringing the world to its knees several times but being stopped by them in the end.
"What does he want with Sonic?" asked Naruto.
[Nothing much besides wanting to see him] said Nicole.
"There's something rather odd about this," said Nico thoughtfully.
"Glad I'm not the only one thinking that, here's hoping that he has a sore throat so I won't have to hear his rambling since I got plans today," Sonic spun round and dashed out of the HQ towards New Mobotropolis, wanting to get this over and done with.
"So…can I finally get some answers about there being two Nicoles?" asked Mina, getting awkward chuckles from everyone in the Lab.
"Might as well get started then…," said Kurama, Naruto sighed before leaning back against the wall and began to talk.
Meanwhile, Sonic had arrived at the Detention Center and went down to the lower levels most of the villains were detained. He was currently having a conversation with Mammoth Mogul as much as he didn't want to, the blue hedgehog was rather surprised and skeptically with what he was hearing right now.
"Are you for real dude? You're in a tiny cell which resists your magic. You don't have enough mind power to do anything more than give me a headache, yet here you are actually asking me to surrender?" asked Sonic in disbelief.
"He's got a point there, you got nothing," Nack the Weasel spoke up from his cell.
"I thank you to keep your thoughts to yourself," said Mogul, then he turns his attention to Sonic "I will give you this one chance to end this without confrontation, cede to my demands or I will be forced to call upon my new iteration of the Fearsome Foursome to do my bidding,"
"Where would you find this…Fearsome…Foursome…," Sonic looked around and took note of the four villains namely Naugus, Bean, Bark and Nack who are all locked up in cells before breaking into laughter "Sure Mogul, send guys who are just as trapped as you are! I hope I can sleep well tonight! Hahahahaha!" the blue hedgehog left the detention center, not seeing the evil smile on Mogul's face.
Later that night, Sonic was having a restful sleep in his room at the HQ when something suddenly smashed his door open, rousing him from his sleep. A black silhouette blurred into his room and kicked him off the bed then another silhouette flew in then proceeded to drag him out of the room and tossed him outside of the HQ.
"Owwww, hey! What's the big ide…," Sonic trailed off in his complaint as the moonlight showed who the silhouettes really are; they were Mighty, Tails and Mina but he noticed something completely strange about them. Their eyes were green and there were green diamond-shaped markings on their foreheads…most of all, they spoke simultaneously with a familiar voice from just this afternoon.
"You were warned, rise my fourth," said Mammoth Mogul.
"Oh great," Sonic immediately took to the defensive the moment his three hypnotized friends attacked him "I'll give you this Mogul, speaking through my friends with your voice kinda creeps me out, but it also ticks me off so let them go!"
"They're mind to use, boy. I found each of them and marked them in the past, all they needed was a telepathic signal to come under my control," said Mogul, making the trio attack the evasive hedgehog.
"I don't care, let them go now!" Sonic flipped over a punch from Mighty, knowing full well of his immense strength and the pain guaranteed from being hit.
"You could have prevented this if you listened to me earlier today, you will give me what I want,"
"Not likely,"
Mina was about to rush at Sonic from behind when she was suddenly tackled away from him and pinned to the ground by Ash "Mina, what are you doing!?"
"Thanks for the save Ash, I'll explain to you in a second!" Sonic dodged another punch from Mighty before zipping past him and wrapping his arms around Tails to hold him in place "C'mere buddy, we've had enough fighting between us for my liking,"
Tails struggled but couldn't break free "Weak child, release him immediately!"
"Not gonna happen!"
"Then perhaps…a more persuasive method will suffice,"
Then Tails stomped hard on Sonic's foot to release him before shooting up to the sky, Mina punched Ash away and dashed off at highspeed whilst Mighty took off in the other direction, leaving both Sonic and Ash in a momentary state of confusion.
"Seriously Sonic, what's going on?" asked Ash, rubbing the cheek where Mina punched him.
Sonic began to explain "As far as I can tell, a psychic bad guy is controlling our friends to force me to do something for him,"
"But why? What does he want and where can we find them?" asked Ash worriedly.
"I don't know but I do know who does, you want in on this?"
"Mina's in trouble Sonic, you couldn't keep me out of this,"
Sonic immediately scooped up Ash and took for the Detention Center where they went to confront Mogul who was controlling their friends judging by the diamond-shaped marking on his forehead and the taunting smile on his face.
"You got some explaining to do!" said Sonic angrily.
"What part of 'Dormant Mind Control' do you not understand?" asked Mogul arrogantly.
"Quit fooling around and tell us where they are!"
"I am willing to trade if you are willing to comply,"
"I'm not making any deals, where are the others!?"
Mogul shook his head "You really are the embodiment of obstinacy, very well then; I am sending Tails as high as he can go before passing out from the thin atmosphere and plummeting to his doom, I've sent Mina out to the center of the ocean where I will tell her to stop and sink into the abyss, and Mighty will walk into Doctor Robotnik's city without a fight and be destroyed pointblank,"
Sonic and Ash were horrified at what they just heard with the latter turning to the former in desperation "You're fast enough to catch the though, right? Right?"
The blue blur responded numbly "I could catch any one of them, but…,"
Mogul interjected sinisterly "They are too far apart to be saved in time or do you use your speed to alert the Freedom Fighters? Do you have time to explain everything? Do you have time to find which part of the sky, expanse of the beach or which road to New Megatropolis you need to rescue them?"
"Okay fine, you got him beat and are the smartest or whatever! Just what do you want?!" asked Ash desperately.
"I was once a god, boy. Universes were mine to create or destroy, I have been reduced to a minor sorcerer in a cage. You will bring me the Chaos Emerald which I have sensed while in confinement, restoring the power that is rightfully mine," said Mogul.
Sonic clenched his fists with gritted teeth in frustration at seeing no other way counteract all this and saving his friends, he looked at Mogul with a glare "I want your word that everyone returns unharmed or no deal!"
Mogul smiled evilly "You have it, welcome to the Fearsome Foursome,"
Nicole materialized and was confused at what she was seeing "Sonic, Ash, what are you two doing here at this ti-,"
"Nicole, where's the Chaos Emerald?" asked Sonic urgently.
"Castle Acorn, why?" asked Nicole confusedly.
"Cool, I'm gonna need a hand here Ash,"
"Right!"
What's going on?"
Sonic and Ash ran past a very confused Nicole and were almost at the stairs leading out of the Detention Center when they saw someone leaning against the wall and blocking their way…it was Naruto.
"Naruto please move out of the way, we need to…,"
"I know, I heard everything…," Naruto turned to them "But there's no need for that,"
Ash glared at the blonde kitsune "You don't get it, we need to give him the emerald otherwise Mina and the others will die,"
"I know, but you don't have to do it anymore as I taken care of the reason for doing so,"
"What do you mean?"
Naruto pointed over for everyone to see as the diamond marking suddenly disappeared from Mogul's forehead much to said person's confusion, he tried to regain control several times but to no avail until Naruto called out to him.
"Let me guess, you suddenly can't control the very ones you were holding hostage against us?" asked Naruto knowingly.
Mogul looked at the new face with narrowed eyes "How did you know, what did you do?"
Naruto quirked an eyebrow at what seems to be a dumb question "I saved my friends obviously; couldn't you figure that out genius?"
"You mean Mina, Mighty and Tails are all okay?" Naruto nodded in affirmation, Sonic sighed in relief "Thanks man, you saved me from doing something I was gonna regret,"
"You mean you were forced to bring the Chaos Emerald over to Mogul because he was holding our friends hostages?" asked Nicole in shock.
Ash nodded "Yeah, he wasn't giving us much of a choice either,"
"But how?!," Mogul snarled in anger "It should be impossible with where they are, even Sonic admitted being able to save only one. How were you able to do what he couldn't?!"
Naruto simply smirked "I've heard your side of the story, time to hear mine…,"
**Flashback Start**
Naruto was currently standing in the middle of the barren area where the Knothole village used to be with his Sage mode active while kneeling on one knee and a palm on the ground to 'scan' the place and wasn't too happy with what he's learning right now.
"That Egghead…he really scarred this place where so many Mobians called home, remind to trash three times the number of badniks he has," said Naruto.
"Noted, so what are you thinking?" asked Kurama.
"My shadow clones and I could utilize the Earth, Water and Plant Aspects in combination with Sage Mode to revitalize the land and regrow the forest as well,"
"Sounds about right, reminds me of the First Hokage's Wood Style albeit for unpleasant reasons," Kurama muttered with a frown upon recalling the past.
"Chillax buddy, no way I would ever use it on you plus we using it for the right reasons," said Naruto assuredly.
"I hope so,"
"Anyways, let's head back to the HQ to sleep and tell the others the good news," Naruto stood up and was about to exit his Sage mode when he sensed something which caused him to frown a bit in confusion "Are you sensing this too Kurama?"
"I am, there's something especially odd about the three of them. Their aura are outlined by another but darker and more dominant aura," said Kurama thoughtfully.
"You mean they're being controlled?"
"Makes the most sense since they fighting Sonic and above all else doing so with someone else's intent,"
That's was the moment they sensed the trio taking off in different directions and Sonic didn't follow after any of them but elsewhere with Ash, Naruto's instincts were telling him to act now lest something terrible will happen.
"Better get those three and fast, good thing I got the right tools for the job," Naruto crossed the middle and index fingers of both hands together "Shadow Clone jutsu!" he created three shadow clones before him "You guys know what to do, catch those three and make sure to knock them out before returning to HQ,"
The clones nodded in affirmation "Roger boss!" the first two clones dashed off after Mina and Mighty whilst the third clone activated his Chakra Mode and took to the sky in pursuit of Tails.
"Now to go after Sonic and Ash, and find out what's going on," Naruto dashed towards where the duo were located, eavesdropping on the conversation and getting the idea of what caused the others to act that way and what Mogul wanted.
Meanwhile, Tails was reaching his physical limit as he flew higher when the clone quickly caught up and knocked the fox out with a chop to the neck before catching him in his arms before returning to HQ. The clone also reached Mina as they ran along the ocean's surface, knocking her out as well then using the Hirashin to warp back to base. For Mighty who was approaching New Megatropolis, the clone had to take a different approach by using his Lightning Aspect to first paralyze him then pulsing a bit of Sage energy into the armadillo's forehead to knock him out before quickly using the Hirashin to get away before any of Eggman's forces were fully aware of their presence.
Upon receiving the memories from one of the dispelled clones, Naruto decided to make his presence known to everyone.
**Flashback End**
"…and that's what happened," Naruto finished, making sure not to say a word about Kurama.
"Wow Mogul, your plan would have worked if this new guy here wasn't involved. Talk about bad timing," said Nack nonchalantly.
"I do believe I told you before to keep your thoughts to yourself," said Mogul with gritted teeth, turning to Naruto "To think my plan was ruined by the likes of you who wastes such great power over pointless heroics,"
Naruto scoffed in response "You just met me and already acting like you know me," he suddenly appeared in front of Mogul and stared straight into his eyes whilst emitting foxfire "You hardly know a thing about me and what I can really do. You seek out power to force your will upon others, but I'm truly become powerful when I have something close to my heart to protect. That's the difference between you and I,"
Mogul felt both intrigued and nervous from the pressure radiating from the nine tailed fox standing before him without any external source of power like a Chaos Emerald but rather from within himself.
"I hope all of you are listening," Naruto looked at the prisoners besides Mogul "Should you ever come out of your cells to cause problems for my friends and I, know that you're gonna have a bad time the moment I get you within my sights,"
"Come on Naruto, we need to make sure that everyone's okay," said Sonic.
"Sure thing," he gave Mogul one last look before following the others out of the detention center.
"What an interesting young fox," Mogul muttered lowly.
Naruto and co made their way back to HQ where Tails and the others were waiting for them.
"How are you guys feeling?" asked Sonic.
"Totally ashamed," said Mighty, remembering everything he did, Ash embraced Mina to comfort her over everything that happened.
Tails nodded in agreement whilst shivering "Not to mention cold, thanks for saving us Naruto,"
"No problem, just glad that I was able to pick up on what was going on and reacted in time," said Naruto.
Mighty sighed sadly "Now I really know how Knuckles feels,"
"Maybe so, but we aren't going to let you go and sulk on Angel Island. No doubt things will get better in the long run.
"This dimension is really interesting, makes me look forward to what lies ahead," said Naruto.
"Same here, I'm in the mood for some fun," said Kurama.
This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Naruto and co took their time to get to know more about the counterparts of his friends especially the similarities and differences between dimensions with some making him feel a bit awkward before being reassured by Kurama. Also, Naruto told of some of his adventures and lifestyles such as the tournament which knocked Sonic and the others for a loop, but eventually got along in the end.
A few days later, Mina returns from her musical tour and meets up with everyone. However Mammoth Mogul used his powers to take control of Mina, Mighty and Tails to force Sonic to hand over the Chaos Emeralds to the point of putting them in situations that Sonic wouldn't be able to save all of them in time. But his plans were foiled thanks to Naruto's intervention and everyone were saved.
In order to avoid any potent misunderstanding, I made it that the Nicole with Naruto goes by the nickname Nico to make it easier to differentiate between the two AIs. I based this chapter on the Sonic the Hedgehog issues 185 and 186, this is one of the major changes with Naruto involved in the Comicverse. Be sure to read and review as always, any feedback will prove helpful along the way until Naruto returns to the Gameverse.
This is Hussbek from Ghana.
Signing out and staying alive.