FLIGHT OF THE KITSUNE STAR STRIKER

"Normal speech"

"Translated Dino Talk"

[Talking through a Comm Link]

Chapter 14: Some like it Hot…or Cold

The newly formed group comprising of Naruto, Chopper and Tricky had finally arrived at SnowHorn Wastes after leaving Thorntail Hollow in order to locate Garunda Te the gatekeeper in order to know of where they could find the first of the SpellStones and return it to the Forcepoint Temple and start the restoration of Dinosaur Planet.

"So, where do we find this Garunda Te?" asked Chopper curiously.

"We could ask some of the SnowHorns living here where he could be," Tricky suggested.

Naruto shrugged in response "It's a good of a start as any at the moment, let's get to it then,"

The group proceeded to ask around but all they got were vague answers and some were even too scared to answer their questions which served to confuse them and rouse their suspicions about what's going on.

"Why's everyone so afraid, we won't be able to find the gatekeeper like this," said Tricky.

"No doubt it's because of Scales, he must have come here to search for the SpellStones and did it…forcefully," said Naruto with a frown.

"We'll need to find the gatekeeper on our own," said Chopper.

They began to explore the area while having to watch out for anything of interest along the way, they collected scarabs that were hidden underneath the large rocks but couldn't get that much due to the limited capacity of the current scarab bag, not to mention the frequent encounters of the soldiers of the Sharpclaw Tribe with Naruto having to take them out before continuing onwards. Naruto and Chopper's ears suddenly perked up as they heard someone calling out from somewhere.

"Hello! Is there anyone out there? Please help me!" the voice yelled.

"Sounds like someone's in trouble, let's go and check it out!" said Naruto.

Chopper and Tricky nodded in affirmation with the former speaking "Okay Naruto!"

They traced the voice to find a SnowHorn's trunk sticking out of a hole, a closer look reveals to them that the SnowHorn is trapped under a thick layer of ice with the hole being the only source of ventilation to allow him to breathe.

"Are you okay down there?" asked Naruto.

"Not quite, the SharpClaw have imprisoned me in this infernal cave. If you can bring me FrostWeeds, I'll be strong enough to get myself out," said the SnowHorn.

"But we could also break the ice too," Chopper suggested.

[I advise against that; it could cause the cave to collapse on him if you break the ice from the outside] said Peppy.

"I know where the FrostWeeds are, I'll take you to them," said Tricky.

No sooner Tricky said that, some Sharpclaw soldiers appeared and growled angrily upon seeing the trio.

"Looks like General Scales knows about us, you two should go and collect the FrostWeeds while I deal with these guys," said Naruto, unsheathing the Dragon Blade, feeling it vibrate happily while the staff seems to be rather disgruntled "I get the feeling that these two weapons are going to be fighting for my attention a lot,"

Chopper nodded affirmation "Okay Naruto, let's go Tricky!"

"Right, this way!" Tricky scampered off with Chopper following after him.

"Don't let escape!" said one of the Sharpclaws, they made to follow but Naruto stood in their way in a single blurry movement.

"Sorry but they've got an errand to run so you'll have me to keep company," Naruto twirled his blade before taking a stance.

"Grrr, eat him then chase!"

They were about to attack when Naruto suddenly appeared before one of them and landed a sucker punch to the jaw, sending it reeling back in pain. Naruto sharply retreated with a backstep to avoid an incoming tackle from a grunt that followed up with a swing of its mace only for the blonde fox Faunus to somersault overhead to land behind it and knock to the ground with a low sweep kick before finishing up by raising a leg into the air and driving a heel to the head for the knockout.

Two of the SharpClaw grunts decided to double team Naruto as they attack back-to-back with the swings of their maces, Naruto rapidly deflected the incoming attacks with his Dragon Blade whilst constantly alternating between both grunts then instantly took to the offensive as he unleashed a slash which sliced off the maces by the hilts. As the grunts were shocked at what just happened, Naruto moved to stand between them before jumping into the air and performing a spilt kick at their heads simultaneously for a double knockout.

Naruto's ears twitched for a moment before he disappeared in a blur before reappearing behind a SharpClaw grunt that was about to attack him from behind. The grunt blinked in confusion before screaming out in pain as slashes appeared on its body before collapsing to the ground. Naruto watched as the defeated grunts were teleported away with a frown on his face.

"Again, just like with the fight back at Thorntail Hollow. Just how did the SharpClaw learn to come up with tech like teleportation?" Naruto muttered.

[Don't know to be exact, but I'm sure that we'll come across the answers in due time] said Peppy thoughtfully.

"I guess so,"

Chopper and Tricky soon returned with the former carrying more than enough FrostWeeds in his arms "We got the FrostWeeds, it took some time since they were very fragile,"

Naruto smiled in approval as she sheathed the Dragon Blade "Good job you two, now to give them to the SnowHorn," They went ahead to pass down the FrostWeeds through the hole to the SnowHorn for him to eat.

"Thanks very much, now I advise that you three get back before I break my way out," said the SnowHorn, the trio complied and watched as the SnowHorn smashed his way out and noted that he wore special clothing compared to the others that don't wear any "Aaah, the young prince! Err who is this with you?"

Tricky replied happily "These are my friends; Naruto Uzumaki and Tony Tony Chopper. My mother sent us to find you,"

"Well, I am Garunda Te. SpellStone Gatekeeper of DarkIce Mines," said the SnowHorn.

"The reason we were looking for you is because we need to find a SpellStone," said Naruto.

"A SpellStone?" Garunda Te hummed in thought "It is my duty as a Gatekeeper to guard the land from which a SpellStone is forged. General Scales took the SpellStone and discovered that I was a Gatekeeper. He gave me an ultimatum; allow him to take the SpellStone back into the sacred land or he would destroy my tribe. I could not risk the safety of the entire planet and so I refused to help. My daughter did not think this way and opened the gateway herself in order to save the tribe,"

Naruto frowned at this "No doubt, Scales didn't keep his end of the deal,"

"Indeed, he didn't like I suspected. Scales did not destroy my tribe but rather enslaved them instead. My daughter dishonored me. You must search for the SpellStone within DarkIce Mines and return it, to the Volcano Force Point Temple. Only then, will the SpellStone's power return,"

"So, can you open the gateway for us to get there?" asked Chopper.

Garunda Te nodded in affirmation "Certainly, I will open the gateway so you can use your flying contraption to reach DarkIce Mines," he let out a loud bellow with the group looking up to the sky to see a white swirling portal," But please hurry, time is running out for Dinosaur Planet,"

"Alright then, we're heading there right now," said Naruto.

Naruto and the others made their way back to Thorntail Hollows and got on board along with a rather excited Tricky, considering that this one is better compared to when he was kidnapped by the Sharpclaws. Naruto started up the engines and underwent the procedures for takeoff, hovering gradually in the air before activating the main thrusters to fly towards the gateway.

Like before, Naruto needed to carefully traverse his way through the asteroid field whilst watching out for space mines drifting amongst them, no doubt scattered there by General Scales. He also had to pass through several golden rings in order to temporarily bring down the forcefield to reach the location of their objective.


After descending through a volcano shaft and landing on a safe spot above the magma, Naruto and the others disembarked from the Kitsune Striker and took a look around the place.

"So, this place is the DarkIce Mines," said Naruto.

[Garunda Te said that the SpellStone would somewhere around here, so you need to locate and get it] said Fox.

[Remember to help the SnowHorns as well, no doubt they're being forced to work for the Sharpclaws] said Levy with concern.

Naruto nodded in affirmation "Got it, let's get to it then,"

They carefully traversed through the pathways inside the volcano but had to watch out for the balls of lava leaping out every now and then to avoid getting burned, kinda reminded Naruto about a video game he played as a kid involving a chubby plumber rescuing a princess. Regardless, they exited the lava cave and found themselves in their snowy region which was a sharp contrast to where they just came from.

"It looks some sort of slave camp," said Chopper as they peered from behind a hut to see several SnowHorns shackled and there are SharpClaw grunts patrolling the area.

"Yeah, better take them out stealthily. Wait here," said Naruto

The blonde Faunus targeted one of the grunts and ensured that he was alone before silently sneak up from behind and knocking out with a chop to the neck. He went on to knock out the rest of the patrolling grunts till there were none left that are conscious. They approached one of the shackled SnowHorns to see how to free them.

"It looks like you need to find a key in order to unlock the shackles," said Tricky with a small frown.

"I don't think that's necessary," Naruto reached into his pouch and took out a lockpick "Not when I was trained in the art of infiltration by my mom,"

"Your mom taught you how to pick locks?"

"Yup, our family descended from ninjas of ancient times so this kind of thing is a must,"

Tricky was starry-eyed by this "That's so cool,"

"I know right?" Naruto grinned in response, there was a click and the shackle came undone. He continued to unlock the other shackles and freeing the remaining SnowHorns.

"Thank you for releasing me. If you're heading down into the mine, then please look out for Belina Te, the Gatekeeper's daughter. She didn't mean to get us into this mess by telling Scales about the SpellStone. She did what she thought was right. Please help her," said the SnowHorn.

Naruto glanced at the others to see that they too felt the same way before speaking "Alright then, we'll do so,"

The SnowHorn reached into a nearby heap of snow and held out what appears to be a large metal cog to the trio "This might be of some use to you. I found it while I was working, it looked important so I hid it from the SharpClaw.,"

"Thanks, no doubt it will come in handy," Naruto took the cog and passed it over to Chopper "Mind keeping it in your backpack?"

"Okay Naruto," Chopper took the cog and placed it inside the bag easily and not even being weighed down "Sure glad that Slippy and Julia modded these packs for us,"

"Whoa, you guys keep getting cooler by the minute!" said Tricky.

They continued on their way but were obstructed by a gap with a river down below, looking a bit closer reveals to them a mechanism built into a wall but it was missing something which was none other than the cog they had just received. Naruto took the cog and inserted it before pulling the lever to activate a bridge for them to cross. The group crossed the bridge and came across a group of SharpClaw grunts beating up a SnowHorn.

"Why those no good-," Naruto growled angrily with aura radiating from his body in response to his anger.

He dashed forward at highspeed and slammed into one of the grunts with a flying kick to send it tumbling into a tree and slumping unconsciously. The other grunts snapped into focus from the sudden surprise attack with one of them lunging with jaws wide open to chomp down him. Naruto stood there unflinchingly for the grunt to come closer before suddenly countering with a rising kick to slam the jaws shut with great force that it broke off several teeth as well as knocking it out. Naruto turned towards the last grunt who started to run and thrusted his hand at it to make an Accel Decoy to appear behind the grunt and knock it towards him with the blonde fox Faunus attacking with an aura-powered clothesline to take it out.

Naruto turned towards the SnowHorn to see that Chopper was already tending to him and went over "Is he okay?"

"Just a couple of bruises but nothing I can't help heal," said Chopper, applying the first aid.

The injured SnowHorn let out a sigh of relief and before speaking up "I am forever in your debt. I see your little friend has yet to learn his Flame Breath,"

"You mean dinosaurs can breathe out fire?" asked Chopper in disbelief.

"Some particular species of dinosaurs can do so, it's understandable that you would be surprised since you haven't heard of this," the SnowHorn explained.

[This is very interesting to hear of!] said Levy excitedly.

"Well, dad was teaching me how but stopped in the middle when all this happened," said Tricky sheepishly.

"In that case, I can help complete your training," the SnowHorn proceeded to tutor the young prince "…now then, give it a go,"

Tricky closed his eyes in concentration as he took in a deep breath before opening his mouth to let out a stream of flames much to the amazement of Naruto and the Star Fox team.

"Wow, that's so cool!" said Chopper in awe.

Naruto nodded in agreement "Yeah, your flames will definitely come in handy along the way,"

"If I wasn't so exhausted, I could help you through the main gates leading to the mines ahead of us. I need some food," said the SnowHorn, the others looked ahead to see the large sturdy gates sealed shut.

"I see, let's take a look around and try to find some Alpine Roots for him," said Naruto.

The trio doubled back and checked places which they hadn't checked, finding new areas thanks to Tricky using his newly learned Flame Breath to melt ice coatings which were barring their way but were able to dig up enough Alpine Roots for the SnowHorn who ate them with relish.

"I feel much better now. Get on my back and let's smash those gates!" said the SnowHorn, Naruto and Chopper eagerly got on the SnowHorn's back with Tricky walking next to them. The SnowHorn proceeded to ram into the gates with great strength, successfully forcing them open. They advanced forward when Naruto saw something in the distance and quickly called out.

"Wait, don't go any further!" said Naruto urgently.

SnowHorn immediately complied and questioned him "What's the matter?"

"There's a SharpClaw Cannon up ahead, they were about to fire which was why I stopped you,"

"So, what do we do?" asked Chopper.

"We'll go on foot, being smaller makes us harder to get a lock-on. We'll use this advantage to make our way to the cannon and take out the grunt currently manning it before using it ourselves," said Naruto.

"Best be careful, young ones," said the SnowHorn.

"Will do, let's go,"

Naruto and Chopper got off the SnowHorn's back and proceeded to make their way towards the SharpClaw Cannon whilst avoiding the shots being fired by said weapon, Tricky smelt an opening into another pathway which enabled them to be out of targeting sight. Quickly going through the cave, they located the cannon and took out the grunt manning it.

"Alright then, now that we've got the SharpClaw Cannon under control. Time to do some damage, care to act as my spotter Chopper?" said Naruto, taking control of the cannon.

"Okay Naruto," Chopper took out a pair of hi-tech binoculars customized by Slippy to look out "There're some SharpClaw grunts coming out of that building at our twelve o'clock,"

"Gotcha, let's drop some bombs on these guys,"

Naruto fired the cannon several times to take out the grunts in the area till there were none left, though there was some sort of wooden barrier which piqued their curiosity to destroy and reveal an opening hidden behind it. They left the cannon and entered the building in the middle of the area where they acquired a bridge cog stored inside a mechanical chest.

"I think we need to find more of these cogs for that gear mechanism we saw on the way to the cannon," said Chopper thoughtfully.

Naruto in agreement with the young doctor "Sounds about right,"

Some exploration of the place rewarded the group with two more bridge cogs for them to into the gear mechanism which extended the bridge to get across to the other side. They went into a cavern containing a puzzle which had Naruto using the Fire Blaster to activate timed switches and Tricky needed to use his Flame Breath on four vents to start up a furnace which in turn opened a door.

Next to the door was an inscription which translated 'Beyond the leap of faith lies an ancient prize'. They soon found the meaning of the inscription as there was a cliff with a purple swirling abyss below it. Naruto steeled himself and took a running leap off the cliff much to the shock on everyone only to be further surprised which a bridge of mystical energy formed, preventing him from falling into the abyss.

"No doubt that this will be one of our weirdest missions ever," said Naruto.

[Please don't do that again, you scared us all] said Levy with worry.

"Sorry about that, guys," said Naruto apologetically.

The group went across the mystic bridge to the next room where there was a block of ice which Tricky melted to reveal some sort of horn which reminded Naruto and Chopper of trumpets.

"Hey, dad told me about this. It's a Dinosaur Horn!" said Tricky in surprise.

"What does it do?" asked Chopper.

"It can be used to call for help no matter where you are, and I know the best place to use it,"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow "Where exactly?"

"At the place where the blizzard is, a SnowHorn can help you get through it with no problems," Tricky pointed out to them.

"In that case, let's head over there and call one over,"

The trio made their way over to the edge of the blizzard where Naruto took out the Dinosaur Horn and blew on it, they waited for a bit before hearing a loud bellow as a SnowHorn emerged from the blizzard and stopped before them.

"I've heard your call young ones and I am here to help you out," said the SnowHorn.

"Thanks very much, we could use some help getting through the blizzard," said Naruto.

"Then consider it done, get on my back and we'll be on our way,"

Naruto and Chopper got atop the SnowHorn's back with Tricky walking beside them as they began to traverse through the blizzard, the weather was very cold and visibility is almost at zero. Chopper being a reindeer has a high level of resistance against the cold and Naruto had to enshroud his body with aura to retain a level of heat in his body. They were reaching the end when they noticed something off.

"Naruto, Tricky's not here!" Chopper exclaimed.

"What!? Tricky, where are you? Tricky!" Naruto called out but received no response from the young prince of the Earthwalkers.

"Not to worry my friends, he'll turn. They always do," the SnowHorn assured them as they reached the end of the blizzard for them to get off his back "If it will make you feel any better, we'll keep an eye out for the prince,"

"We'd appreciate it, thanks," said Naruto.

The duo moved on to be obstructed by a wooden barrier but Naruto easily cut it down to pieces with the Dragon Blade and went on to take down two Sharpclaw grunts as they went deeper into the cave before coming across a Sharpclaw Speeder.

"Guess we'll be using this to get to the mines," said Naruto thoughtfully.

"But there's only room for one," Chopper pointed out.

"Let's see then, get on my back and hold on tightly while I use my tail to wrap around you,"

"O-Okay,"

Chopper waited for Naruto to board the speeder before climbing onto his back with the blonde fox Faunus wrapping his tail around the reindeer's waist to hold him close. Naruto revved the engine before taking off albeit at a slightly moderate speed given the current circumstances.

They rode out of the cave and along a snowy pathway which took them across the areas which they explored before entering a tunnel in the mountains, the duo could feel the temperature getting hotter the deeper they went in. they went around a sharp curve only to be taken by surprise when they crashed into a barrier which sent into the air and landing on a conveyor belt.

"Ow, Chopper are you-," Naruto was interrupted upon seeing flames shooting out of vents and the conveyor belt was pulling them towards them "Get up or we're toast!"

"Yikes!" Chopper yelped out in fear.

Naruto and Chopper had to carefully time their movements whenever the flames would stop for a few seconds to avoid getting burnt alive before finding the exit in time to escape from the furnace at the end.

"Phew, that was close," said Naruto.

"Yeah, we almost got cooked," said Chopper.

[Are you two okay?] asked Peppy worriedly.

"We're fine, we've arrived at the mines in one piece," said Naruto.

"INTRUDERS!" they turned to see several grunts heading their way.

"Hang on a moment, got a couple of baddies heading our way," Naruto took out and extended it before taking a stance "Let's do this Chopper,"

"Right!" Chopper stood at the ready to fight, the grunts saw this and started to laugh.

"Hahahaha! What can little animal do?" asked one of the grunts arrogantly.

Chopper huffed in annoyance "I can do this! Heavy Point!" he suddenly grew to a large hulking humanoid form, making the grunts' jaws drop in disbelief "Heavy Gong!" Chopper reared a fist back and lashed out with a mighty punch which sent several grunts flying and crashing into the cave walls before collapsing to the ground unconscious.

Naruto chuckled at this "That never gets old, let's have some fun," he dashed at some of the grunts that were trying to stay out of the reindeer's range and knocked one of them down with a sliding kick. Naruto grabbed the fallen grunt by the tail with one hand then proceeded to spin around, knocking the surrounding enemies back before slamming the grunt hard to the ground. He looks to see the grunts get back up and were attacking him with their maces. He glanced down to see some rocks on the floor which he kicked into the air and swung the staff to launch them at the enemies with one of them diving out of the way but the other took the full brunt to the face and laid on the floor unmoving.

"He's gonna feel that in the morning," Naruto muttered before turning towards the last grunt and swiftly closed the gap to attack, the grunt raised its mace to block the attack but Naruto followed up with a kick to the gut, making it stumble backwards. Naruto took a quick step forward to launch the grunt and himself into the air with a one-handed uppercut, he spun the staff above his head rapidly before using the momentum for a downward strike to propel the grunt to the ground and landing afterwards.

"Naruto, I'm done!" Chopper called out, walking away from the grunts which were currently teleporting away.

"Same here, now let's-," Naruto's fox ears suddenly twitched "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"Shhh, listen…," they focused on their surroundings and began to pick out a voice echoing throughout the mines.

"Help me! Help! Get me out! Anybody there?!"

"Hold on, that sounds like…Tricky! He's somewhere around here!" said Naruto in realization.

"Let's go look for him!" said Chopper urgently.

The duo quickly tracked down the prince to the prison cells where there's another imprisoned next to him but they were more focused on the young Earthwalker in the meantime.

Tricky perked up at seeing the two "You guys are here! I lost you in the blizzard! Some Sharpclaws found me and through me in this stinky cell!"

"This is exactly why I told you to stay close to us, hang on for a second while I get you out of there," Naruto took out his lockpick and worked on unlocking the cell door which he succeeded in doing so.

"There's another one imprisoned too," said Tricky.

"Already on it," said Naruto, approaching the cell next to them and unlocked it as well. They went inside to find a SnowHorn lying on the ground.

"Who are you?" asked the female SnowHorn warily.

"I am Naruto, he's Chopper, and this is the crown prince of the Earthwalkers. We've been sent here by the SnowHorn Gatekeeper to find the SpellStone. Do you know where it's hidden?" said Naruto before making the inquiry.

"My name is Belina Te and the Gatekeeper is my father. Did he send you to rescue me?"

"Um, he didn't send us to rescue you but rather to retrieve the SpellStone. Your father felt that you had betrayed the beliefs of the Gatekeepers," said Chopper awkwardly.

Belina became upon hearing this "The old fool! I had to save the tribe! If it wasn't for my father being a Gatekeeper, none of this would have happened in the first place!" letting out a bellow, she smashed through the prison walls which uncovered a tunnel but also caused a bit of a cave-in as well.

"Belina, are you okay?" Naruto called out in concern.

Belina responded albeit muffled through the rocks "Listen carefully; find a way to the bottom of the mine. I'll meet you there,"

"Alright then,"

[Wow, she's definitely mad about this] said Fox.

[As much as I can understand her reason, at the same time she shouldn't have done what she did which led to this] said Peppy with a small frown.

"I'm wondering what was the point of me unlocking the cell when she could smash through the walls at any time," muttered Naruto with a sweatdrop.

"Let's go, we need to get to the bottom of the mine," Tricky sniffed around before finding a crack in the wall and began to burrow through it "Come on, this way!"

"Wait for us Tricky," said Chopper, crawling through the hole with Naruto following after them.

The now reunited trio had to make their way past an underground waterfall but had to avoid mistakenly falling into the frozen water, they also had to move along the conveyor belts and avoid the vent shooting out flames until they finally arrived at the bottom of the mine where they saw Belina Te emerging from a tunnel.

"You all made it," said Belina in relief.

"Yeah, but it wasn't easy. Do you know where we can find the SpellStone?" asked Naruto.

"My father didn't exactly say where the SpellStone was, but he knew General Scales had hidden it somewhere close by. I'm sure you and your friends can find it," said Belina.

"Alright then, and I get why you're upset but you need to understand why your father was angry at your decision," said Naruto.

Belina frowned "His beliefs nearly put the tribe in danger! I did what was right to save them!"

"From what we've learnt of these SpellStones, I can understand why the Gatekeepers are willing to go to great lengths to protect them. Your father knew that Scales seeking out the SpellStones puts everyone in the planet in grave danger as you have seen plus, he had also seen through the Sharpclaw general's deception when he made the threat. Which was why he was upset with what you did, to him you were willing to sacrifice the lives of everyone on the planet just to save the tribe," said Naruto.

"…," Belina had no words to say to what Naruto pointed out, from her point of view she wanted to save the tribe but from that of her father, she was throwing away the lives of many just to keep the tribe safe "…I,"

"But we're also glad you did so," said Naruto.

"What do you mean?"

"It bought everyone time. Now that we're here, we'll be helping with restoring the planet back to its original state and teaching Scales a lesson he'll never forget,"

Tricky nodded in agreement "That's right, we're gonna bash him up!"

"Yeah, just leave it to us!" Chopper added confidently.

"…alright then, please be careful," said Belina.

Naruto nodded affirmation before moving on with the other two in two. Things got a bit puzzling as Naruto had to carry an explosive keg up ramps whilst avoiding barrels tumbling down the barrels, activating magnetic hover cranes to carry the keg to upper platforms to use them to destroy a wall concealing a room to trigger the switch within it. Next was taking control of a SharpClaw Cannon stationed at the highest platform where he fired at switches hidden inside the large stone pillars in order to make a pathway rise from a lava pool to go further inside the mine.


"Hmm, this place is pretty big," said Naruto as he looked around where they currently are which is a large chamber compared to the others they had been through in the mines so far. Then were was the giant ice sculpture in the middle of the chamber, something about it made him feel rather tense.

[Be careful you guys, I get the feeling that this place is different from the ones before] said Julia with a small frown.

"Glad to know I'm not the only one,"

"Naruto look, the SpellStone is over there!" Chopper called out, pointing at the part of the sculpture where said relic is embedded in.

"Leave it to me, I'll just melt the ice and we can get it down easily," Tricky scampered over to the ice sculpture and began to use his Flame Breath on it.

[Naruto, I feel that this is too easy. Aren't there supposed to be guards?] asked Levy curiously.

Naruto frowned in thought as Levy brought up a good point, Scales went through a lot to obtain these SpellStones just to leave them unprotected. Surely, he isn't that arrogant to do that, but the only thing here is th-

"Tricky, stop using your flame breath!" Naruto called out urgently.

But he was too late as cracks began to spread throughout the ice sculpture and the place started to rumble, causing Tricky to run back to the others in fright. The ice shattered to reveal what could be best described as a fusion of both insect and dinosaur as it has four legs, two arms, an insect's stinger, and foldable spikes around its head. The monster swallowed the SpellStone before roaring at the trio.

"What is this thing?" asked Chopper.

"Hold on, I remember one of the SnowHorns warning us about something called Galdon when we enter the mines, this must be the one they meant," said Tricky, hiding behind Naruto.

"Looks like we're gonna have to fight it if we want to retrieve the SpellStone from inside its stomach," said Naruto, unsheathing the Dragon Blade.

Music Start: Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 2 OST; Battalion Unchained

Galdon reared its head back then leaned forward to spit a green glob at the trio, Naruto quickly scooped Tricky into his arms as he and Chopper dove out of the way before looking back to see the ground which the glob landed on began to melt which told them that it's highly acidic.

[Don't let those hit you two or you're done for!] said Peppy in alert.

"Noted," said Naruto, he turned to place Tricky on the ground "Get to safety while Chopper and I deal with this guy,"

"Okay, but be careful," Tricky scampered off to find a place, Galdon glared at the Earthwalker and was about to launch its acidic spit at him.

"Hey!" Naruto channeled aura into his legs to perform a boosted jump into the air and attack with a flying kick to the head with enough force to make it miss its shot for Tricky to escape "Eyes over here you dino…bug…thing! I seriously don't know what to make of you,"

Galdon growled at Naruto angrily and lunged with jaws wide open to chomp him in half, Naruto somersaulted into the air whilst leaving behind an Accel Decoy to take the attack instead as he slid down the monster's neck and slashing along the way and behind it. He looked to see gashes from his strikes but they had not penetrated its scaly armor deep enough. Galdon turned around to attack only to be beamed in the face by a boulder, the monster angrily turned towards the source which was Chopper in his Heavy Point form hauling another rock and throwing it. Galdon batted the rock and attacked Chopper as its new target.

"Jumping Point!" Chopper changed forms again, retaining a less bulky humanlike form but having his reindeer legs. Chopper crouched slightly before leaping high into the air and easily reaching the cave's ceiling, he knocked down several stalactites hanging overhead to crash into Galdon but it didn't seem to inflict much damage like he intended.

[It must possess the strong physical defense of an insect's exoskeleton; you need to find another way to hurt it] said Levy.

[Hey guys, I've noticed that something's glowing red at its end. It could mean something] said Slippy.

Naruto took a closer look and noticed that the stinger at the end was glowing just like Slippy said "I'll take a whack at it and see," he crouched slightly before performing an aura boosted dash to quickly get behind Galdon and slashed at its stinger with the monster roaring out in agony and then rage as it slammed its body on the ground, making the duo stumble out of balance before turning around and grabbing the Faunus before he could recover and swallowed him whole.

"Naruto!" Chopper and Tricky called out in horror at what just happened.

Meanwhile, Naruto slid down the monster's gullet and soon found himself flopping into its stomach. He got up and shuddered as he wiped the slimy stomach acid off him and looked around before seeing the SpellStone in some sort of membrane. He was about to cut it down but realized that he had dropped the Dragon Blade when Galdon grabbed him earlier.

"Might as well get the SpellStone and get out of here before I wind up being digested in here," Naruto took out his staff and proceeded to attack the membrane with the monster crying out in pain with each strike.

Outside, Chopper and Tricky saw Galdon moving about in agony with the former realizing what's going on "Naruto is still alive and trying to get out, we've got to help him!"

"But how?" asked Tricky.

"Like this, Arm Point!" Chopper's biceps, triceps, and shoulders become extremely muscular while his hands changed into his hooves. He focused before leaping towards Galdon's lower part of its chest with a hoof reared back "Carving Hoof Cherry Blossom!" he slammed a punch with such force that it left behind an imprint resembling a sakura petal. Galdon began to regurgitate before spitting Naruto whose body was enshrouded in his aura.

[Naruto, so glad to see you're okay!] said Fox in relief, the others felt the same way.

"Yeah, but you could have waited for a bit longer as I had nearly gotten the SpellStone," said Naruto, stretching a hand to summon the Dragon Blade whilst sending a mental apology to it.

[If so then that means…] Julia couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence.

"I'm gonna have to go back into its stomach," said Naruto with a shudder.

[Eeeeeew] Levy looked rather green at the thought of it.

Recovering from its 'stomachache' and punch to the gut, Galdon turned towards the causes of the unpleasant experience and roared at them in rage. It proceeded to launch acid spit back-to-back at the duo with Chopper changing to his Walk Point to utilize his natural agility whilst Naruto resorted to bolstering his own ninjalike agility with his aura and deploying his Accel Decoys to make it highly difficult for the monster to be able to get a beat on him. Galdon stopping launching its acid spit at them and suddenly a part of its chest opened up and began to suck in air.

[Naruto, try using the Fire Blaster at that opening!] said Fox.

"Got it," Naruto took out the staff with one hand and came up with an idea, he began to channel energy into the tip of the staff until it started to glow brightly with red energy before unleashing it to launch a large fireball which was sucked into the opening and exploded, causing the Galdon to roar out loud in pain.

"Looks like I'm going back in…ugh willingly this time," Naruto somersaulted into the air and dive in headfirst through the monster's mouth and found himself back in the stomach "Now to get the SpellStone," he sliced open the membrane and grabbed the SpellStone when he heard rumbling within the stomach "…I got a bad feeling about this,"

Chopper and Tricky waited with bated breaths as the Galdon groaned in pain and spat out Naruto more forcefully than before. The monster clutched its throat, gurgling constantly until it collapsed to the floor and laid there dead. The two ran over to Naruto who was rising to his feet with the SpellStone in his hands.

Music End

"Naruto, are you okay?" asked Chopper with concern.

Naruto nodded wearily "Yeah, but I can tell you one thing; I'm never ever doing anything like this again,"

[I sense a bit of irony, considering that Andross keeping trying to swallow us whole and we would counter by launching Smart Bombs into his mouth] said Fox, recalling their battle with the mad doctor back during the Lylat Wars.

"Please, let's not talk about that while I'm covered in stomach acid and just get out of here," Naruto grumbled.

"I'm sure there's a hot spring around here that you could use," said Tricky.

"Definitely gonna ask around for that and making plans for lots of showers once the mission's over,"

[Please do] said Julia and Levy.


Sometime later, after finding a hot spring thanks to a kind SnowHorn to wash off the slimy stuff off whilst feeling a bit cleaner, Naruto and the others were making their way back to the Kitsune Striker whilst having a conversation with Belina Te along the way.

"I believe you just need to come to terms with your father, you need to work together to not only lead the tribe but to also protect the planet from people like General Scales," Naruto pointed.

"I'm sure he'll understand when you let him know of your feelings and listen to his reasons too," said Chopper.

"I will, because of you three, my tribe shall no longer live as slaves," said Belina Te gratefully.

"Glad to hear, now we best be on our way to return the SpellStone back to where it belongs so as to put the planet back together," said Naruto, bidding her farewell before heading towards the starship to make the return trip to Thorntail Hollow.


This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, the trio went to SnowHorn Wastes where they encountered the Gatekeeper who revealed that General Scales has the SpellStone and enslaved his tribe due to his daughter going against his belief in protecting the stone so the group had to use the Kitsune Striker to travel to the DarkIce Mines in the outer orbit where they proceeded to save the SnowHorns that were enslaved by the Sharpclaws before venturing deep into the mines where they have to fight a monster which is known as Galdon in order to obtain the first of the four SpellStones. Now they're returning to the main planet to return the SpellStone as well as learn where to find the next one after doing so.

I'm trying to go through the arc without having you go through the hassle of reading 'Naruto climbed up the ladder, he flipped this switch, jumped over this gap and all that', therefore simplifying things especially if you already know everything about it. Still ad-libbing as I go but making sure that it's good to read like the boss fight for example, also keep in mind i wouldn't entirely be sticking to canon as you've seen that i had Naruto forgo searching for the prison keys but instead utilize lockpicks since that's what Kushina taught him during their training years. Be sure to read and review in order to let me know what could make things interesting in this arc.

This is Hussbek from Ghana.

Signing out and staying alive.