Chapter 2: Tragic Losses, A New Purpose For Living

The team is on their way to Biratoro, a town 50 miles southwest of Shinjuku, this is Abigail's hometown, she's sitting with Naruto in his quarters cuddling, making Jennifer a bit jealous at the moment, though she knows that Naruto won't neglect her and will make it up to her later.

"We're here, Abigail." Matt calls out.

Smiling, Abigail rushed to the main screen as her home came into view, she was horrified at what she saw.

The town is littered with bodies, dead and wounded citizens. Red, pink and gray are the new colors of what was once a serene, lush field, which has now become the stage of a full-blown invasion.
The air which would normally be full of nature's sounds is now carrying a thick, black smoke and small embers, hell has descended upon this area.

An army and a rebellion fight each other because of the lies of their leaders, but it's clear who will win. The dead of the losing side lay in heaps across the field and the faces of the fighters are grim with sorrow and despair, their spirit will be broken soon.

With the rush of victory coursing through their bodies the winning side has gained a morale boost and is fighting their enemies with more determination. Some have succumbed to panic and are no longer capable of moving, let alone defending themselves, while others fight by only focusing on their enemy and not the carnage around them.

The toll on both nature and humanity is immense. It'll likely take years before this field will have recovered. It's clear gore, lost bombs and broken siege engines have taken the place of plants, trees and grass.

"No." whispered Abigail as she teared up, Naruto appears behind her, wrapping her up in his arms as she sobbed in anguish.

The PowerJet touches down and Abigail was the first one out of the ship, followed by Tank, Naruto, Scout, Hawk, and the Captain, Pilot stays on the ship.

Abigail sprints to a dilapidated house just to the right of the ship, taking no mind of any dangers that might be around, Abigail rushed into the house and into the living room and froze, slumped in one of of the chairs, covered in blood was Gwendolyn, Abigail's Mother.

Blood slides along her body, beneath her clothes and down to the floor. It's warm, somehow it feels kind of nice. But it shouldn't, surely this is the end of her, surely she's dying.
The only thing holding her up is this stupid chair beneath her. Maybe she could use it to stand up, walk away and find help. No, it's no use. She's too weak.
This is driving her crazy! Move body, move! She need to get out of here, she needed to live. Why are you failing me now when I need you most? Move already! We're dying! Don't give up, please.

Gwendolyn couldn't think straight anymore, everything's becoming a blur. She knows that she should lay down, let the blood flow back to her brain. Yes, she will lay down. This'll help her figure out how to make it out or at the very least it'll save her energy until somebody finds her. Surely somebody will find me soon.

"M-Mom."

Gwendolyn's eyes snapped open for a moment, an unknown surge of energy spurred her to move, to gaze upon her daughter on last time.

"Y-you're s-safe...A-Abigail." she wheezed.

Abigail grabbed her Mom's left hand, squeezing it firmly, tears streaming down her face.

Naruto wanted to look away, he didn't want to intrude on Abigail's final moment with her Mother, even though he never knew what having or losing parents or anyone close to him felt like.

"Don't look away, Naruto. This is why we fight Dread and his robot monsters, to prevent atrocities like what happened to our world and tragedies like this." Michael says solemnly as he watches.

"Fools make romance of death, for it is brutal and cruel. That I say be at peace with my passing is not such a thing. But once it is done, I will be safe and sound once more. I will live as long as I can, be with you as many days as we are sent, then keep me in your good memories. I will see you again." Robert says as Gwendolyn smiled as she closed her eyes for the last time.

"Mom? M-..." Abigail sobs openly now. Naruto began silently shedding tears for Abigail and her Mother, closing his eyes, Naruto clenched his hands into fists as a familiar red aura surrounded him, gritting his teeth, the blonde walks out of the house, to the surprise of everyone. Then, the Power Team got alerts that they were surrounded by at least six hundred Dread Troopers. Jennifer grabs Abigail and takes her to the ship while Jonathan, Michael and Robert prepare to power up and join the fight with Naruto, but he stops them.

"No, leave them to me." the blonde says in a deep, demonic voice.

"No way, there's way too many for you to take-." Matt began, but was cut off when Naruto looked at him, but his eyes are different. Instead of the calm, cool cerulean blue that he'd gotten used to was now gone, in its place two pools of crimson red, mirroring blood or a smoldering fire, Naruto had also gained slits in his eyes that made him look like a fox, he also had fangs and claws. Upon seeing this, Matt backed up without another word.

The next several moments were a blur of sparks, explosions, and feral screaming as Naruto tore through the entire force of Dread Troopers to the astonishment of everyone who had witnessed it.

Overhead, Sauron had witnessed what happened and had recorded the one-sided slaughter of his brethren to show to his Lord.

Once the battle was over, Naruto went into the ship and collapsed on one of the seats, Jennifer and Abigail were by his side instantly.

"That must be the power of the Kyuubi he told us about." Matt says.

"Yeah, and seeing what it did to those Troopers, I'm glad Naruto is on our side." Robert said, to which everyone agrees.

The next day, Naruto and Michael buried Gwendolyn and Naruto marks her grave with a kunai and some white lilies before he knelt down and says a silent prayer. After that, Naruto stands up and walks away from the grave.

Naruto then goes to Matt and Jonathan to request training, which they happily agree to.

Three months later...

Naruto is now a full-fledged member of the Power Team, complete with his own flight suit and Power Suit that is similar to Matt's.

Naruto also begins dating Jennifer and Abigail equally, which surprises the other four men.

Naruto, Michael and Matt are out on patrol near the northern most edge of the city.

The blonde is silent as he flies over the Downtown sector of the city, providing close air support for Tank.

Meanwhile...

Dread is watching the recording of Naruto's decimation of six hundred of his Dread Troopers. The blonde's destructive power intrigues Dread.

A devious plan forms in his head.

Sauron is now flying towards the Power Base, searching for Abigail, the girl who he was after before Naruto's intervention.

Jennifer is scanning for threats, Sauron activated his stealth mode and slipped past the Power Base's defenses.

Abigail was in her garden that she, Naruto, and Jennifer created.

She smiles warmly as she tends to her prized plants, a symbol of new life in a world full of death, pain, sorrow and pain.

Abigail sighed contently, her smile broadening.

The nineteen year-old was happy to be alive, though she was sad because her Mom wasn't here anymore.

"Ah, found you, human!" Sauron says as he drops his stealth mode and aiming his photon cannon at the frightened teen.

"No!" Abigail screams as the last thing she sees in her life is a brilliant red flash of light.

At the same time...

Naruto, Tank, and Hawk are returning from their patrol when they see Sauron attacking the Power Base, the Captain, Scout, and Jennifer are fighting Sauron the best they can.

The trio quickly jump into action and attack Sauron relentlessly and eventually forcing the robot to flee, but not without a haunting robotic laughter that gave Naruto chills.

Once the fires that Sauron had started were put out, Naruto looked around for Abigail.

"She's in...the Garden, Naruto." Jennifer said sadly as she removes her helmet, her tears already beginning to fall.

"No." Naruto whispers as he runs to the Garden, once there, Naruto felt his legs collapse beneath him as he took in the sight before him.

Lying on the cement floor, unmoving, with a precise hole in the center of her forehead, and a look of absolute horror frozen on her face was Abigail, his Abigail...dead.