Reading Team PHNK
An: So, I know it's been a while, but here's the chapter. Enjoy!
Interlude-Explanations
"Ok," Dragon said with a loud sigh. "Let's start off by saying that the reason y'all have Aura and not your original powersets is because the balance between Naruto, Percy, Harry, and Katniss is ridiculously one-sided in Naruto's favor." That had everyone's attention…and Naruto looking smug.
"However, I say that, but Harry's far more versatile with his magic, giving him more options and if need be, could kill the others with a single spell," Dragon continued, making Naruto frown and Harry to sit up straight. "Percy's got raw physical power and is possibly on par with Naruto, but that's all up to a matter of opinion." Percy smirked at Naruto, who just huffed in annoyance.
"Big deal! You already said that the balance of power is in my favor!" Naruto boasted.
"I did, but that's only on paper," Dragon told him. "Out of the four of you; Percy, Harry, and yourself each have ways to counter the other, and if given the right circumstances, could win in a fight. However, that's the problem: Katniss doesn't have any of that." Katniss looked up at him with a glare. Dragon clarified, "You're a remarkable hunter, Katniss, but against the supernatural powers of these three," he gestured to Harry, Percy, and Naruto, "you only have that and your archery skills. Both of which are easily countered by their individual talents."
"Really? It's that one sided?" Peeta asked, only for Katniss to scoff.
"I've been in that situation before," she said hotly.
"Not against three guys known for winning despite all evidence saying they'd lose," Dragon countered. "Because take away the Mutations, you've fought a war against normal, plain-Jane, non-powered human beings. Whether you believe it or not, Percy's fought gods, titans, monsters, and even held up the entire sky and survived the Greek's interpretation of Hell; Harry's survived fighting myth's most dangerous monsters, held back the most dangerous wizard of his age, and has defied death itself; Naruto has trained since childhood and has fought numerous more powerful ninja, and nearly single-handedly took down a goddess. Note, Naruto, that's singular, and Percy's is plural."
Naruto looked to Percy, who smirked at him, but before they could say anything, Dragon spoke again: "That's why I say Percy could match you in a single fight. He's got the experience fighting 'gods', but your chakra gives you lightning fast reflexes, making it hard for me to decide whose better. But on paper, Naruto, your power output is greater, thanks to the Kurama." Naruto choked on his spit. Hermione and Blake noticed this.
"Whose Kurama?" the cat Faunus asked.
"A being of pure chakra that, due to a power-hungry shinobi, was sealed into Naruto at a young age," Dragon said, shocking everyone. "I'll leave the actual story for later, but suffice to say, Kurama is one of nine similar beings, with him being the strongest. It's also why Naruto's eyes turned red and slitted like they did in his chapter. It's the influence of Kurama's chakra and is also why he's a fox Faunus in the story."
"Kurama's a fox?!" Nora squealed gleefully. Dragon smirked.
"He's a nine-tailed fox," he said. This caused Nora, Yang, Ruby, and surprisingly Weiss and Pyrrha to squeal girlishly, making Naruto pale and shiver.
"Fangirls!" he proclaimed in horror.
"What'd you call me, rapscallion?!" Weiss shouted, whirling to glare at the blonde.
"Hey, if that means I can cuddle with you, I'm game!" Yang teased, a light blush on her face. Naruto paled even more and hid behind Gaara.
"Harry? Why are you hiding?" Ren asked, looking at Harry hiding behind Hermione.
"I have too many fangirls as it is! I am NOT getting any more!" he mumbled, making Hermione roll her eyes.
"I think it's too late for that," she whispered, looking to Ruby with a sly look on her face.
"Now that that's out of the way, I do have a way to prove everything to y'all," Dragon said loudly enough for everyone to hear. They all looked to him, interest.
"How?" Jaune asked. Dragon smirked and snapped his fingers, and a game console and game appeared on the table.
"That game is called Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution," he explained, making Naruto and Gaara perk up. "It's a good enough example of showing just how powerful Naruto and Gaara have become. But, this one is…modified, in a sense, to also show the max potential of Harry, Percy, Annabeth, Teams RWBY and JNPR, Katniss, and Peeta. And for Katniss and Peeta, your characters in this game have been…" Dragon stopped, trying to find the right wording. "…augmented, I guess you could say. It takes the selves of you from this particular story we're about to read and uses their skill sets."
Peeta and Katniss narrowed their eyes at their host. "Augmented?" Katniss growled. Dragon nodded solemnly.
"Snow's doing," he said simply, making them both hiss in anger, and the others frown and glare.
"He condones human experimentation?!" Blake hissed out.
"He condones a lot worse than that, but the one who 'succeeds' him is far worse," Dragon pointed out. "But that's for another time! Let's get this game started, shall we?!"
They all wanted to protest, but the thought of seeing everyone's potential was too much to resist. They nodded easily.
(Naruto vs Percy vs Harry vs Katniss)
They decided to go four on four to start. And Percy, Naruto, Katniss, and Harry were slated to start them off.
And Dragon set them up with their most powerful versions (that he thought up for Katniss and Harry to show their full power).
"Whoa! That's me using Nine Tails Six paths sage mode!" Naruto cheered.
"Am I wielding a scythe?!" Harry shouted, making Ruby starry eyed.
"Well, with you and Katniss, I had to improvise to show your true potential and since you're the Master of Death…" Dragon shrugged
"Wait, 'Master of Death?'" Percy asked, looking away from his avatar.
"Will be explained later," Dragon said. He turned to Katniss, who was staring at her avatar blankly. "Now then, let's fight!"
(FIGHT!)
"Yeah! Harry, go for the legs!" Ruby cheered as she watched Harry's avatar cast spell after spell with every scythe swing at the avatar of Katniss.
"Geez! He's fast!" Katniss growled as she tried to fire more of her avatar's trick arrows at her opponent.
"Reducto!" On screen Harry shouted, causing On-screen Katniss to be sent flying.
"Gah!" the bow girl screamed. "Stupid!" However, she recovered quickly and fired a bomb arrow at Naruto. "Ha!"
"Dammit! Stick to your fight, Catnip!" Naruto complained.
"Might I suggest shutting up, Whisker face?!" she fired back.
"Use your ultimate move and do it yourself," Dragon suggested. "I showed you the controls, so you can do that."
Percy was faster. "Like this?" he asked initiating his ultimate move on Naruto. A cutscene instantly showed Percy throwing Naruto into the ocean, where he proceeded to make large hurricane of water around Naruto, creating colorful slashes to represent cuts before creating a giant water orb around the ninja. Percy swam at the orb at break neck speeds.
"You're through!" Avatar Percy shouted, slamming his sword Riptide into Naruto and rocketed him towards the sea floor, causing it to shatter violently and create a massive earthquake, which sent Naruto flying again back to the battle area.
"WHOA!" was the unanimous reaction.
Naruto grimaced. "Well, I gotta admit, that was cool," he mumbled. "Nice attack, Water Boy."
Percy smirked. "Thanks."
"Now it's my turn!" Naruto shouted, initiating his character's ultimate move on Percy.
And then the watched Kurama and Naruto perform…
"Super Planetary Tailed Beast Rasenshuriken!" the on-screen ninja screamed throwing the massive energy ball while Kurama shot out orbs of destruction to surround it. The giant orb of energy slammed into the Son of Poseidon and create a giant semicircular flied of devastation.
Everyone gaped. "Ok, now I see why Dragon said Naruto could win against you lot," Ren spoke, shocked awe lacing his voice.
"Haha! Bask in my awesomeness!" Naruto cheered.
"Eat this!" Katniss growled, initiating her ultimate move on the unsuspecting ninja. A barrage of arrows slammed into Naruto, exploding on impact. Avatar Katniss appeared and, to her own shock, grabbed the ninja with one hand and threw him into the sky. She then drew several larger arrows and fired them around the avatar Naruto, before drawing what looked like an RPG on an arrow.
A cutscene showing Katniss holding her bow high above a crowed appeared with her speaking: "Whatever it takes…Whatever happens to me…Let it come! I'll never stop fighting! So long as I can breathe!"
"What the-?! What's that?!" Annabeth asked.
"Whenever one character is KOed by an Ultimate move in this game, a cutscene showing a defining moment in the victor's life is shown with a quote," Dragon explained. "This is from an alternate dimension for Katniss."
"Either way it sounds like her," Peeta chuckled, earning a mock glare from Katniss as the game returned and Avatar Katniss drew her bowstring.
"Drop dead!" the on-screen Katniss growled and fired the arrow, which hit Naruto and set off a chain reaction of explosions, which ended with Naruto screaming in defeat as the scene froze for a moment before starting back.
"YES!" Katniss shouted throwing her hands up.
"NOOOOOOOO!" Naruto whined, throwing the controller down.
"Overconfidence was your downfall, Naruto," Gaara told his friend.
"B-But…but, but…" Naruto mumbled.
"Finally! Got more magic," Harry mumbled as he initiated his character's ultimate move on Percy. The ultimate move cutscene showed Avatar Harry cutting Percy seven times, leaving afterimages. Then, a still shot of Harry walking into Hogwarts showed with him saying:
"You want to kill me? Fine! Then take a number; Get in line; And Wait your turn!"
Hermione couldn't help but giggle. "Of course, you'd say something like that!" she teased Harry. He scoffed.
"With all the enemies I've made, it needs to be said!" he defended.
"I like the saying, though," Percy muttered, looking irritated that he lost. "Can I use that?"
"Sure, knock yourself out."
"Soul Splitter!" Harry shouted, as the afterimages lifted the Avatar Percy into the air with their scythes, and avatar Harry fell from the sky and slammed his scythe down on the demigod. Percy was defeated.
"Nice hit!" Ruby cheered, jumping up and down.
"Hmph. Good job, Katniss," Weiss said. Pyrrha nodded.
"Crap! Overshot!" Harry grumbled as Katniss's character hit him with a well-placed kick, winning the game.
"I won't lose. Never again…" the avatar Katniss said, as she turned from the camera.
"That was totally awesome!" Nora shouted.
"Yeah!" Ruby cried in agreement. Dragon smirked at them.
"Well, let's let you all have a turn seeing your best, then we'll start the story, 'kay?" he asked. The agreements were unanimous.
(30 minutes later)
The next ones to fight were Gaara, Annabeth, Hermione, and Peeta, with Gaara narrowly beating out a combined might of Annabeth and Hermione (who were deadly when paired together, as they found out), with Peeta being the first casualty of the game. Then team RWBY played their round, with the others shocked at Ruby's impressive speed and accuracy at high speeds and Blake's unrelenting chain attacks. Team JNPR was last up, and many were surprised when Jaune took the top spot and Pyrrha losing first (due to her lack of knowledge on video games).
At the end of it, they all more or less understood each other's power a bit better, and soon were prepared to start the book.
"I just hope it's entertaining," Naruto whined, bored already without the game that bared his name.
"All books are entertaining," Hermione said primly, getting a nod from Annabeth.
"They challenge your mind and fuel your imagination," the daughter of Athena affirmed.
Percy and Harry rolled their eyes and shared a look of exasperation.
"If you say so," Naruto muttered, not at all convinced.
"Can we get started now?" Weiss snapped, getting irritated with the blond.
"Certainly," Dragon said. "Now, who wants to read now?"
An: And before anyone asks, the Katniss and Harry quotes are from stories I plan on writing at some point.