Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Sonic franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just hate or flaming.

Thanks for reading and please enjoy

A Maelstrom's Mobius Misadventures

-Chapter 2-

In the darkened streets of the smog and polluted filled cityscape that was Robotropolis a solitary figure stealthily darted from one rubbish pile to the next, sticking to the shadows as much as they possibly could. Eventually they arrived at one of the taller skyscrapers close to the center of the city and darted into the alleyway running alongside it.

"Okay guys, I'm in position." The figure said in a soft feminine voice said as they crouched by the building, a ruffling sound briefly filling the air as the they searched for something. A second later the alley was illuminated by a faint red glow thanks to a laser that was used to cut a hole in the wall.

This also finally brought to light the figure themselves for the world to see if just for a few moments at least, revealing her to be a young Mobian teen.

Standing at just under three and a half feet tall, she was a chipmunk with dark brown fur across most of her body aside from the lower half of her face and her belly which was instead a light cream color. Short vibrant red hair covered the top of her head in a tomboyish style while her attire consisted of a small light blue open vest, matching set of boots, a headset radio, and a utility belt strapped loosely around her waist.

Reaching into said belt, she pulled out a small penlight and turned it on before holding it in her mouth while she moved the wall segment out of the way to reveal a junction box. "Looksh like the intel wash good, should hath security down in firty seconds."

[Got it Sally, just give the word and I'll juice! Lard Robuttnik will never know what hit him!] A male voice crackled in the now named Sally's ear excitedly while she clipped a pair of wires and hooked them to a small handheld gadget.

"Jush make sure to follow the plan thish time Sonic."

[Yeah, yeah, go in, hook in Nicole to overload the Robo-Porter, get out before the big kaboom,]Sonic said back in a way that you could just tell he was waving it off without even looking at him. [Relax, it's not rocket science]

'For you it might as well be.' Sally thought to herself with an eyeroll but otherwise didn't say anything, opting to instead stay focused on her work. A bead of sweat slowly trickled down the side of her face as she carefully adjusted the controls on the device until the screen lit up. "Alight, I'm in, just give me one more sec andth… wait, that's not right."

[What's the hold up Sal? Am I juicing or not?] The voice demanded impatiently followed by the rapid rhythmic sound of something tapping the ground.

"Just hold on a sec, there's something weird going on," Spitting out the flashlight, Sally's eyes narrowed as she looked over the hacking device with confusion written all over her face, before gasping. "We've been made! Someone's already triggered the alarms!"

[Oh great, so this was a trap]

"Or someone tipped Robotnik off we were coming, either way the plan is a bust," Sally said while ripping the wires out of her gear and booking it back the way she had come. "We need to regroup and-*Vwoosh*-Ack!?"

A sudden loud rush of static and sound cut the chipmunk girl off as a beam of energy erupted from about halfway up the building she'd just been hacking into. Forced to shield her eyes from the sheer brightness she was left running blind and thus never saw the broken light post in her path before it snagged her legs out from under her, sending her tumbling into a heap of garbage with a yelp.

Ruffling around inside the waste, Sally's head popped back into view a few moments later, shaking several times in a vain attempt to get the trash out of her fur and hair. Pure disgust was written all over her face as she coughed up several globs of old motor oil that had gotten in her mouth.

"Pft, pft, blech, and the aftertaste…" She gagged, scraping her tongue against her teeth to get as much of the vile gunk out as possible while only just holding back the urge to vomit.

*Thunk*

The sound of something hitting the ground nearby caused the mobian girl to duck back under cover, this time leaving only her eyes visible. From this impromptu hidey hole Sally saw as a horde of SWATBots gathered up at the smoldering hole in the building she had been hacking into.

[I want them found and destroyed immediately]

'Uh-oh, Robotnik, and he sounds pissed.' Sally thought nervously, sinking just a tad further into the trash heap. Normally making the mad doctor angry is something she'd take pride in, but considering she was currently hiding in trash right in the smack dab middle of his domain that was about to be crawling with his troops she was understandably less enthused.

Before she could wallow on those thoughts for long, the hidden chipmunk's eyes widened in surprise when a pile of rubble barely ten feet away suddenly collapsed into a pile of cloth to reveal a pair of Overlanders, one carrying the other piggyback style. 'What the? Who are those guys?'

One was a blonde boy who looked about twelve or thirteen with strange whisker-like marks on his face dressed in tattered orange clothes, covered almost head to toe in burns and bandages, and carrying the biggest sword Sally had ever seen with one hand. Meanwhile the other was a brown-haired young woman in her late teens clad in a white robe and blue apron, the former of which also had a small white rabbit huddled in the collar.

"Ninja tarp, never leave home without it." The injured boy stated as he tucked the cloth away into a pocket and bolted down a nearby alley at high speed with both the sword and girl in tow.

'Whoa… whoever they are, that guy could give Sonic a run for his money.' Sally thought in awe, clambering out of her hiding place and staring after where the two had gone while dusting off bits of grime that still clung to her fur. That amazement was quick to turn to concern though once she noticed a pool of red liquid where the Overlanders had been hiding, instantly recognizing what it was even before the telltale coppery scent wafted into her nostrils.

Tracing her gaze along the ground, she spotted more blood spattered across the cold asphalt in the direction the duo had gone, leaving a distinct trail for anyone to follow.

'They're not gonna get very far if that guy keeps bleeding like this,' Sally thought before she glanced up as the distant sound of alarms and footsteps grew steadily over the ambient machinery noise. 'And neither am I if I don't get the hell out of here pronto.'

Turning to leave the way she had come from, the redheaded Mobian only got about two steps before glancing back towards where the Overlanders had fled. Confliction raced through her as the rational part of her mind knew that she needed to get out of there right away yet the compassionate side of her refused to just leave without at least making sure those two would be okay.

Gritting her teeth, Sally took one last step forward before groaning and running after the fleeing pair, her conscience winning out as she went to make sure they were fine… never noticing a very important detail about herself.

[Sally? Sally!? Are-zzt-ou okay? Sally!?] Sonic's voice called out from Sally's headset which lay forgotten within the depths of the garbage, the device crackling and sparking as globs of oil slowly trickled all over it. [Come o-zzt-Sal! Say some-Zzt Are yo-Zzztch]

'So I'm running into danger after two completely unknown people with no backup and Robotnik's troops about to come raining down from all directions… Sonic is never gonna let me live this one down.' Sally thought with a quiet sigh as she followed the trail of blood, just knowing that her friend was gonna give her one hell of a time after all those lectures she'd given him on his reckless impusive behavior. Her nerves stood on edge with each step, the fur on the back of her neck standing on end and her ears perked up as she strained her hearing for any signs of danger.

Thankfully the coast remained clear for the time being and before long the vest clad chipmunk soon managed to catch up with the mysterious Overlanders. Slowing down as they came into sight, she quickly moved behind an old oil drum, sticking out of sight just to be safe as she leaned in to listen in on what was happening.

She was just in time to see the whiskered blonde pulling his burned arm away from the brunette and hide it behind his back, clearly not wanting her to see it.

"Don't worry about it, I've had worse than this before," He quickly waved her off before grabbing his weapon off the ground and slinging it onto his shoulder. "Besides we have bigger problems to worry about, like getting the hell out of this place."

"And how are we gonna do that? We d-don't even know where here is," The brunette pointed out, her shoulders starting to tremble again as she hugged the rabbit in her arms. "I-I've never even heard about a p-place like this before."

'They've never heard of Robotropolis?' Sally thought with a raised brow, before her suddenly eyes lit up in horrified realization. 'Oh no, the Robo-Porter! Robotnik must've gotten it operational already! I need to-'

So caught up in her thoughts, the redheaded chipmunk didn't notice as part of the barrel she was leaning against started to chip apart from rust before snapping loose altogether. She froze as the metal chunk clattered against the ground loudly, causing the blonde's head to snap straight to her hiding place.

Without any hesitation he lashed out with his blade, cleaving the barrel clean in half and leaving her completely out in the open.

"Ah!?" A startled shriek tore from her lips before he seemed to just appear right in front of her and slammed into her with a shoulder bash that sent her flying back. Stars filled Sally's vision as she slammed into the cold steel of the alley wall, leaving her dazed and stunned.

Once her sight cleared up, the mobian girl felt her heart jump into her throat as the boy was on her again, swinging his giant cleaver of a sword straight for her neck. She tried to move but her body just wouldn't budge, leaving her unable to do anything but watch the blade descend upon her. "No! Wait!"

*Clang*

Sally's pupils were mere pinpricks and her breath came in short shallow gasps while she stared into the cerulean blue eyes of her assailant as he glared at her. Her heart was beating so hard in her chest it felt as if it was about to burst out at any second.

'Wait… I… I'm not dead?' Blinking in confusion when her brain gradually registered that she was in fact still breathing at all, the vest clad Mobian's gaze slowly drifted downwards. What she was greeted with was six feet of solid iron below her chin, stretching across her neck and embedded deep into the wall behind her as she had expected.

What she wasn't expecting was the divot in the blade that encircled around her throat, the edge hovering mere centimeters from her neck. Small bits of her fur clung to the sword as each breath she took shave a miniscule amount of the brown fluff off that showed just how close she was to literally losing her head.

"What… the… fuck?" The boy said, getting Sally's eyes to snap back up and meet his again, only now his snarl had been replaced by a flabbergasted expression as he leaned in close till their noses were almost touching. He then backed off with a sigh while palming his face with his uninjured hand before dragging it back through his air in exasperation. "Just when I thought this day couldn't get any fucking weirder, now there are animal people?"

"Hey! Who are you calling an animal?" Sally demanded angrily with a scowl as the blonde blinked in surprise.

"So you can talk? That's good, because I have a lot of questions for you," Grabbing the chipmunk girl's chin, the whiskered teen leaned in close once more so they were eye to eye. "First off, what is this place?"

"Robotropolis, the capital city and home of Robotnik." Sally said quickly albeit with a bitter after tone that made the boy's brow lift slightly.

"Not a fan of that fatass I take?" He asked, causing the redhead to scoff in disgust.

"I'd rather you take my head off right now than ever be associated with that madman," She stated without hesitation, looking straight into the boy's eyes as she spoke. "Look, we don't have time for this, Robotnik's forces could be on us at any second. I just wanted to help you guys after I saw you escape and that's it, honest."

The blonde's eyes seemed to bore into her, searching for any signs of deceit, before frowning deeper and glancing at the brunette with a questioning look as she shrugged unsurely. "Alright then… say we believe you, who exactly are you?"

"My name is Sally Acorn, a member of the Knothole Freedom Fighters, the ones who have been trying to put a stop to Robotnik's madness once and for-ack!" Sally introduced herself as she bowed her head a bit, only to end up regretting doing so when the movement caused the edge of the sword to dig into her throat. Backing up with cough, she awkwardly rubbed her neck from below, sighing softly in relief when she found she hadn't been cut. "Could you please move this thing? I'd rather not get another hole to breathe through."

"Keep talking and maybe I will," The boy stated bluntly although he did give the sword a small tug that dislodged it a bit, giving the chipmunk girl just a bit more breathing room. "You say you hate that fatass, so then what are you doing here?"

"Trying to stop him from completing a very dangerous machine known as the Robo-Porter," She said, silently noting how her captor's eyes lit up briefly in recognition as she talked. "It's a device that could potentially abduct anyone from anywhere at any time and robotisize them with just a push of a button. With it Robotnik could deal with anyone that opposed him before they even realized that something was wrong, no one would be safe anymore."

"Hpmh, that would explain a lot," The whiskered teen muttered to himself as his frown deepened. "Alright then, one last question, how do we get the hell out of this dump?"

"Well the safest way would be through the old sewer tunnels since Robotnik barely keeps them monitored so you can get just about anywhere as long as you can handle the smell," Sally said while carefully pointing to a manhole that was a few feet away from where they were standing. "However, it's a veritable maze down there, you could end up wandering for miles unless you know your way around or have someone show the way."

"And I'm guessing this is the part where you mention that you can do just that?" Her captor asked expectantly, getting the redheaded chipmunk to nod her head.

"Precisely."

Backing away, the blonde rubbed his chin in thought with a thoughtful hum, his brow scrunching up as he seemed to mentally debate the pros and cons of his options. However, before he reached a conclusion, the brunette girl placed a hand on his shoulder to get his attention.

"I... I think we should give her a chance Naruto." She said softly as the now named Naruto looked at her with a raised brow.

"You sure Ayame-nee?" He asked, getting a nod from the young woman.

"She doesn't seem like she's lying," A growing rumbling from the distant made Ayame cower slightly. "Besides we don't really have any better options."

"True, but just to be safe…" Without another word, Naruto suddenly crouched, vanishing from Sally's view underneath the sword much to her confusion.

"Ah!?" That confusion quickly turned to pure shock and embarrassment though when she felt hands feeling around all over her body. "H-hey! What the h-hell are you doing!?"

"Making sure you don't have any unwanted surprises for later." The whiskered blonde stated while checking all the pouches on her belt before moving to her boots. He was very thorough, checking the seams, the heel, and even feeling around inside for anything amiss, all whilst the chipmunk squirmed under his touch.

"Well w-watch where you're-Eek!" Sally yelped as Naruto's hands slipped inside her vest next, shivering running down her spine as his fingers ran through her fur. On reflex she kicked a leg out with all her strength, striking him right in the chest, and yet he barely even flinched as he just kept .

After about a minute, which felt like hours for the Mobian girl, he finally stopped with a satisfied nod and stood back up. Grabbing the handle of his sword with one hand the flat of the blade with the other, a loud squeal of metal grinding against metal rang out as he pulled the weapon free with a sharp tug before resting it on his shoulder.

The moment she was freed Sally sighed deeply in relief while grabbing her neck with both hands, a finger idly tracing over the half-shaved patch just above her Adams apple. 'Talk about being a hair's breadth from death, that was way too close for comfort.'

She didn't have time to dwell on these thoughts for long though as Naruto grabbed her shoulder and pulled her towards the manhole. Using his sword he levered the cover off, causing a waft of very unpleasant smelling air to billow up towards them that made both their faces scrunch up in disgust.

"Well, ladies first." He said while shoving her forward.

"Gee… how gentlemanly of you…" The vest clad Mobian muttered sarcastically before pulling out a large flashlight from her belt, taking a deep breath, and hopping down the hole.

Near total darkness filled her vision as she landed in shallow water with a splash, the sound echoing out around her ominously. Flicking on her light, the redhead shown it all over a circular stone tunnel that was filled with about half a foot of murky and oily water that sloughed against her boots.

Naruto landed next to Sally a second later without a word, idly waving a hand in front of his face to ward off the foul sewer stank. Stabbing his sword into the wall, he held both arms out just in time to catch his friend as she jumped down last and carefully set her down beside himself.

"Oh my lord… and I thought it smelled bad on the outside." Ayame's eyes watered as she pinched her nose shut while the bunny in her grasp crawled deeper into her robe with a disgruntled honk. Taking off her bandana, the young cook quickly tied it around her nose and mouth as a makeshift mask to help filter out the stench, although based on how her eyes remained crinkled up in disgust it didn't help as much as she had hoped.

"Word of advice, try to avoid breathing through your mouth as much as possible," Sally told the Overlanders before trudging ahead. "This way."

A tense silence filled the sewer aside from the echoing sloshing of their feet through the fetid water.

Ayame stayed behind Naruto with her eyes darting around the darkened tunnels paranoidly they traversed nervously as she hugged her rabbit. The battered teen himself stuck close to their 'guide's' side, pointedly keeping her in his sight at all times even as he took in their surroundings.

And as for said Mobian, she was fiddling with her vest as she walked, adjusting the collar repeatedly with a grimace. 'Ugh, why wont this stupid thing stop chafing? I swear if oil in the threading, I'll-'

"Why doesn't that Robotnik guy keep watch over these tunnels?" Naruto asked abruptly, his voice cutting through Sally's thoughts as she blinked in surprise.

"What?"

"Why doesn't the fatass have anything down here to stop us?" The blonde reiterated with a suspicious frown. "Seems pretty convenient, a bit too convenient in fact."

"Oh that, he actually does, see for yourself," The chipmunk girl said while moving her light to the side to show what looked like a giant metal rat that was half submerged in the water covered in rust and missing its head. As soon as she saw it Ayame yelped and stumbled away, almost falling over if not for Naruto catching her and keeping her steady. "He'd have to waste a ton of resources to keep it completely monitored all the time properly so he just sends a couple of those things at random-"

"Are you kidding me?" Faster than she could blink Naruto's burned hand grabbed Sally's shoulder and squeezed just hard enough to make her flinch. His thumb rested on the shallow patch of fur on her throat his sword had left, his nail slipping through the thinned brown fluff lightly and scratching the sensitive skin underneath. "There are giant killer rats down here and you're only just telling us that now?"

"Well excuse me if a few things slipped my mind while you were threatening to cut my head off with that oversized butcher's knife of yours," To the blonde's surprise though, rather than cowering in fear Sally actually grabbed his wrist in a vice grip of her own while glaring back at him. "I'm sure you'd have spent all the time in the world going over every little detail if you'd been in my position."

"…Fair enough," He conceded after several moments, a sigh escaping his lips as he let the anthropomorphic chipmunk go. "I'm sorry about that, I'm not normally so jumpy it's just…"

"You don't know or trust me and that makes you a bit quick on the trigger," Sally finished for him as she continued to trudge along once more. "I get it, I've been there done that more times than I care to keep count of. Hell I'm still not sure whether or not you two are spies, wouldn't be the first time that maniac tried to plant a mole."

"Also a fair point." Naruto agreed with an understanding nod.

"Uhhh… n-not to butt in this delightful conversation," Both the blonde and redhead blinked when Ayame stepped between them with her shoulders trembling. "But i-is there anything e-else we should be worried about d-down here?"

"Aside from the Rat-Bots, a few random patrols, some toxic runoff, maybe some old outdated Badniks, and the occasional flooding when it rains," Sally listed off while ticking fingers on her hand then pointing behind them. "The real problem will be the SWATbots once they realize we're down here, it won't take long thanks to whiskers all but painting the way for them."

"The hell is that supposed to mean?" Said 'Whiskers' demanded with a raised brow.

Giving him a dull look, the redheaded Mobian pointed her light at the side of her neck where he had grabbed her, specifically at the distinct hand shaped red smear now staining her fur. "Does this answer your question."

"Oh, ah shit," The blonde swore, turning his burned arm to reveal a long narrow gash on his forearm that was bleeding profusely. "I forgot about that."

"How do you forget… you know what I probably don't want to know," Sally told herself with a shake of her head as Naruto pulled out a roll of bandages from somewhere and started wrapping the cut. Focusing back on the way they were going, the redhead smiled when her flashlight illuminated an old degraded sign on the tunnel wall. "Just a heads up, we're coming up to a major junction point where a friend of mine is supposed to be waiting for me. So try not to-"

"Watch out!" Naruto suddenly shoved Sally aside as a blur shot through the darkness straight for them. He tried to block whatever it was with his sword but was just a bit too slow on the draw and whatever it was slammed straight into his chest, knocking the boy clean off his feet and into the tunnel.

"Naruto!?" Ayame shouted in horror as the old stone shattered upon impact and the entire section simply collapsed atop her friend, burying him under an avalanche of brick and concrete. Rushing over, she frantically dug through the rubble as fast as she could trying to help the whiskered blonde.

Meanwhile the blur came to a stop directly in front of the stunned redhead, revealing himself to be in fact another Mobian like her. Unlike Sally though, this guy was a hedgehog with dark blue quills/fur wearing plain white gloves and red sneakers with white stripes. "Sonic?"

"Hey Sal, it's about time I found you," The now named Sonic said while giving the vest clad chipmunk a smirk over his shoulder before turning to the digging Overlander, tapping his foot repeatedly on the ground at an incredibly fast rate. "And look what else I found, some of ol' Robuttnik's flunkies giving you trouble. So how do you want your butt whooping today?"

Before Sonic could do anything though, he was blindsided when Sally bonked him over the head hard from behind. Almost falling over from surprise, he rubbed his noggin with a grimace while looking at the chipmunk with a raised brow. "Oww… well that's one way to say 'thanks for saving my butt again'."

"Saving me? You didn't save me, you attacked the people I was trying to help." Sally retorted, causing the hedgehog to pause with a stupefied expression.

"Say what?"

"I'll explain later, move it." She said before shoving past him and helping Ayame sift through the rubble. However, both their efforts were proven unneeded when Naruto's fist burst out of the pile, sending debris flying in all direction.

Getting back onto his feet, Naruto shook off the dust and muck clinging to his body with a deep scowl as his eyes briefly flickered a deep red. Grabbing a piece of rebar that had gotten lodged into his torso, he casually tore it out and tossed it aside while pointing his sword at Sonic. "Okay… now I'm starting to get pissed."

"Oh no, a giant steak knife, I'm so scared." Sonic said jokingly while crossing his arms behind his head and grinning cheekily, not looking at all scared by the threat.

"Whoa, whoa, wait Naruto, just hold on a sec before you start hacking and slashing," Putting herself between the angry blonde and the source of his current anger, Sally held her hands up passively and spoke as calmly as she could. Thankfully, by some miracle, he was willing to listen to her still and lowered his weapon a bit. "This is my friend I was trying to tell you about earlier, Sonic."

"Sup." The hedgehog waved casually.

"H-hello." A nervous Ayame mumbled while waving back shyly.

"You know, I'm really getting tired of all these surprises." Naruto on the other hand didn't even bother responding, opting to speak with Sally instead while shouldering his weapon. No sooner had those words left his lips though that a huge metal claw pierced through the top of the sewer a mere ten feet away.

"…You wouldn't be the only one." The chipmunk muttered as everyone stared at the sudden protrusion with shocked expression while two more joined on the opposite side. With a deafening crackle the ceiling was ripped away, curtesy of an equally massive crab-like mech that towered almost four stories high.

[Ah… there you are] A dreadfully familiar voice rang out before Robotnik's face was projected across the front side of the robot. A malicious grin stretched across his lips as the claw holding what used to be the top of the sewer squeezed tighter, crushing the stone and steel with ease. [And even better, if it isn't a certain annoying hedgehog and a worthless princess]

"And you're still a pile of lard and bolts Robuttnik, nothing new there," Sonic shot back, still smirking as he did a few stretches while Naruto and Sally both readied themselves for a fight. "Oh wait, my bad, you've somehow managed to make yourself even more ugly. I guess miracles can happen."

[Laugh while you can, we'll see who has the last laugh after my Shellavator is done with you] Shellavator's claws slammed into the ground and ripped out large chunks that it held up threateningly as Robotnik spoke. [You all shall pay today for all the trouble you've caused me]

"As fun as that sounds I've got other plans," The hedgehog retorted in amusement, his eyes flickering to Sally when she made a subtle twirling motion with her hand, before bursting into a blur of movement. Instead of fleeing though, he began running circles around the trio, building up a lot of speed until a vortex formed around them that sucked up all the sewer water and even a few debris. "How about a wash up for that new toy though? I hope you like the spin cycle!"

Scoffing, the madman had his crab robot effortlessly dispersed the swirl with a wave of its claw, sending rancid water flying everywhere and revealing the two fleeing blurs on the other side. One was Sonic with Ayame in a princess carry, which looked more than a little ridiculous considering how much bigger she was, while the other was Naruto and Sally, the latter holding tightly to the former's neck while he cradled her with one arm and carried his sword with the other. [Fools, you think I'd fall for such an obvious distraction?]

"Incoming!" Sally shouted as Shellavator tossed the chunks it held after them which Sonic easily dodged out of the way, weaving through the streets while Ayame and Senbon screamed in terror in his arms.

Naruto on the other hand leapt up onto the side of a nearby building and somehow ran along it as if it was normal ground before launching across to the other side of the street as a piece of building slammed into where he'd just been. Seeing another shadow already descending on him when he landed though, the blonde spun on his heel and swung his blade with all his might, cleaving the incoming debris clean apart as the crashed onto either side of him.

[Run all you like! This time you shall not escape my wrath!] Grabbing up more ammo, and apparently not caring about the destruction it was wreaking on the city in the process, Robotnik's robot started to give chase-

*Clang* *Shink*

[What?!]

Only to end up stumbling when one of its legs buckled after just a single step. When Robotnik looked down to see what was wrong, he gasped in shock upon finding Shellavator's legs covered with dozens of Narutos that were furiously hacking into the limbs.

[Ack, not you blasted pests again! Take this!] Segments on the front of the robo-crab's sides slid open to reveal several small barrels from which dozens of miniature rockets were fired at once, each one quickly homing in on their targets. Many clones were blown to bits before they could react, but several more were able to avoid them, ducking and weaving amongst the limbs with the rockets hot on their tails.

"That is a really handy trick." Sally muttered as she watched the chaos over Naruto's shoulder.

"Thanks, hopefully they'll keep him preoccupied long enough for us to get the hell out of here," The whiskered blonde said with a smirk, before it turned into a frown when he noticed Sonic gettign farther and farther ahead. "Hey! Slow down dammit!"

"I wouldn't bother, Sonic doesn't do slow ever," Sally stated while rolling her eyes as the blue blur vanished into the distance without them. "Knowing him he's decided that it'd be best to take your friend to the Great Forest first then come back for us."

"That was not the pla-*Bazzzt*-gah!?" Naruto started to say as he leapt higher up to spot the pair, only to be cut off when a laser blast struck him across the back. Stunned, the whiskered boy stumbled as he landed on a rooftop hard before falling onto a knee as another shot struck his leg and yet another nailed his shoulder.

The culprit was a black egg shaped aircraft that hovered over the pair, soon joined by several more a few moments later. [Targets acquired, commencing termination]

"Son of a bitch!" Swearing loudly, Naruto only had enough time to dive behind an exhaust fan and cover himself with his sword as dozens of blasts rained down all around them. The whiskered boy grit his teeth as he struggled to keep the steady as round after round slammed into it along with the occasional lucky shot getting through the gaps and grazing his sides.

'Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place,' Sally thought as she looked around, trying to find a way out of their current predicament. However, after getting a good look at where they were standing her eyes widened in alarm and she patted Naruto's arm. "We need to get out of here!"

"You don't say!? And here I thought this was a swell spot to be!" He shouted back sarcastically, sweat pouring down his forehead as several cracks starting to stretch across the blade's side.

"I'm serious Naruto! We're sitting right on top of a munitions factory!" The vest clad Mobian shouted into his ear frantically. "If they keep shooting like that we could all be blown to bits!"

"Oh well that's just…" The whiskered blonde grumbled sourly under his breath while jerking his head to the side as a piece of his sword chipped loose and sank into the wall. As he stared at the quivering fragment in the wall though, his eyes suddenly lit up as he grinned knowingly for some reason. "Actually that's perfect!"

"What?! What's perf-hey?!" Sally tried to ask only to be cut off when Naruto stuck a hand down her vest out of the blue and pulled out a folded-up slip of paper that had been tucked inside the collar. A flick of his wrist caused it to unfurl and reveal a bunch of strange squiggly writing she didn't recognize and thick red borders.

Tossing the paper into the air, the Overlander let his blade go in favor of clasping both hands around her waist. "Brace yourself!"

*BOOOOM*

Several of the aircraft vanished into an inferno of heat and flames as an enormous explosion engulfed the rooftop. Others were knocked clean out of the air, the blast wave causing them to spiral out of control until they crashed into each-other or the surrounding buildings.

Only a single ship managed to regain control in time although not unscathed as smoke billowed out of the engines. Wobbly hovering back over the now burning munitions factory, the SWATbot inside focused the HUD onto the epicenter of the blast where a pair of half incinerated corpses could just be seen through the smoke and debris.

[Confirmation, targets Sally Acorn and Unknown One have been eliminated. Commencing search for remaining targets] It said before steering the ship away to another part of the city…

Never noticing as the 'corpses' burst into smoke a second later to reveal a smoldering log nor as an orange and brown blur darted off in the opposite direction, soon leaving the city limits and vanishing into the forests that lay in the distance.

-Later-

After almost five minutes of non-stop running straight Naruto finally came to a stop to catch his breath. Setting Sally down, the battered blonde leaned against a nearby oak tree with a sigh and wiped off the sweat caked on his brow. "Phew… well that was a thing."

"No kidding, but we should be safe here for now, Robotnik's troops rarely venture into the Great Forest," Sally muttered, before fiddling with the collar of her vest as she gave Naruto a dry look. "Although I could have done without the explosives on my neck."

"It's like you said, I didn't know if I could trust you," The whiskered teen shrugged off the accusation. "I wanted a backup plan in case you tried anything. Tell me you wouldn't have done something similar?"

"…Yeah, you're right." The redheaded chipmunk admitted with a nod, knowing full well she'd have set up some sort of contingency as well. Trust needed to be earned after all.

Sally's attention was drawn back to Naruto though when he grabbed his waist with a soft hiss, a slow trickle of blood oozed through his fingers. Even more blood was oozing from his arm and down the tree he leant on while small trails of smoke lazily wafted over his shoulders and from his leg.

Craning her head a bit for a better look when he hunched over slightly, her eyes widened in horror at the sight of the baseball sized gap in his shoulder.

"Oh my god," Grabbing the blonde's arm, she pulled him up off the tree and trying to drag him along… emphasis on tried as he remained firmly rooted to his spot. "Come on, we need to get you to a doctor now."

"Yeah, no, not happening," Twisting his arm, Naruto slipped free of Sally's grasp with ease, causing her to fall on her ass. "I'll be okay… I've had worse."

"Okay? Are you kidding me?" The redhead asked incredulously, scrambling back to her feet and gesturing to his everything. "Have you seen yourself?"

"I'll be fine," The blonde reiterated while shouldering his weapon, wobbling a bit with a slight slur in his voice as he did so which only made Sally more concerned. "Right now I want you to take me to… where your friend ran off with Ayame, I need to make sure she's okay."

"Then let's go then, they're probably waiting for us there right now." Sally said, grabbing the boy's arm and pulling him along again, only this time he actually followed after.

"She had better be… or I swear I'll… kick your…" That was as far as Naruto managed to get with his threat before his eyes rolled back into his head and dropping his sword as he toppled over in a dead faint.

Thankfully Sally caught the unconscious boy before he could hit the ground, grunting as she struggled to support his weight. Slinging him onto her shoulder, the chipmunk girl slowly started to walk through the forest with him in tow. "Just great… where's Sonic when you need him?"

-End Chapter-

AN: To answer a few questions in advance

How could Naruto get shot: Most of Robotnik's weapons are designed to hit high speed mobile targets like Sonic

Why did Sally and Naruto sort of trust each-other: Both are really good at reading people fast so they could likely tell the other wasnt an enemy

Why did Sonic run off without them: Because he could tell Ayame was not a fighter and knows Sally can take care of herself so he prioritized getting Ayame to safety first

Thank you for reading and if you have any other questions feel free to ask