Chapter 50.5 was uploaded with this!
And we're back! Welcome to Twilight Key, Chapter 51!
This and 50.5 were finished a week ago...But I somehow forgot about them. They were done (except for the proofreading), but I never did anything with them after that...My bad.
I added chapter titles because I was bored and felt like it. The only reason I refrained from doing so in the past was because of my worry that chapter titles could spoil what happens in the chapter. I'll just be mindful of that.
I am so hyped for Kingdom Hearts 2.8. It looks awesome!
Anyways, on with the story!
I don't own Naruto, Kingdom Hearts, or anything else. I'm just a broke college student…
Normal Talking: "Insert witty remark here."
Normal Thinking: 'Insert witty remark here.'
Bijū/Deity Talking: "Insert witty remark here."
Bijū/Deity Thinking: 'Insert witty remark here.'
Scene Change: Insert Place Here
Jutsu/Magic/Technique: Insert Jutsu Here
Gummi Ship
"You opened our heart to Misa. And what did it get you? Nothing but a kami damn Keyblade in the back. Literally!"
"What will you do if you find that she willingly did it? That she betrayed you by choice?"
"You can't form the χ-blade yet because you are missing a vital piece of information…No, we won't tell you what, so don't ask. That's something that will come later."
"Because you don't have your own heart to generate the light, your body is siphoning off a small portion of my light, which it somehow…amplifies. I think it's acting like a pseudo-heart for you."
"Whether you are one of the princesses or not, you can't just accept another person's light in your body and use it as a replacement for your heart, even if the other person is a Keyblade wielder. It doesn't work like that."
"…I admire that attitude, I truly do…But it was also what allowed Xehanort to defeat you."
"Can you truly say that they care for you? That they have your best interest in mind?"
"Beyond being a Keyblade wielder, there are other reasons why your survival is more important than that of other people."
"But because it was my choice…does that mean I'm accepting destiny…or fighting it?"
"…You haven't been killed…You're just in no condition to fight Xehanort."
Naruto released an aggravated sigh as he rubbed his temples. He was sitting alone in his room in the gummi ship, thinking things over.
'Why does it feel like there's always something more to complicate things?' He wondered to himself. There was always something else to consider, another secret being kept from him, or another possible hidden agenda.
It had been a couple of days since the group had left Mahora, and because of the current lull in their travel, Naruto's mind started to wander. The more he thought about it, the more he dearly wished for answers.
Unfortunately, he didn't have access to anyone capable of giving him those answers.
Sighing again, Naruto closed his eyes and allowed himself to fall into the long familiar trance. Slowly, his breathing evened out and his awareness of his surroundings dimmed as he turned his senses inward. But even then, the shift that had become so instinctive for him to do at will didn't come.
Whenever Naruto had attempted to enter the Station of Awakening in the past, the transition had been easy. All he needed to do was relax and focus on the balance of light and darkness in his heart, losing himself to the flow. His mind would start to "drift" along the flow, and he would end up in the station.
In some ways, Naruto likened it to listening to an additional heartbeat, but it was still…more than that. It went beyond just the sense of hearing a heartbeat. It was like a whole new sense that you couldn't describe to anyone else because they wouldn't be able to fully understand without experiencing it themselves. By doing this, he would seamlessly slip into the station.
But that changed when he lost contact with Hikari and Yami. Ever since that happened, he has been unable to enter the station. He would go through all the steps, but he would never be able to "drift". No matter how hard he tried, he was unable to establish that link between mind and heart, which meant that he couldn't enter the Station of Awakening.
Realizing he wasn't focusing, Naruto took another deep breath and turned his attention back to his aura. As always, he could feel the light and darkness in his heart, swirling around one another in constant motion. Because he was calm and not trying to use any, his aura reflected that by slowly pulsing in time with his heartbeat.
And as per the recent norm, Naruto felt a small current of light leaving his heart and traveling to a nearby part of the ship. He knew that if he followed the faint pull of the connection, then he would be led to the control room, where Kairi was.
Ignoring the current of light for the moment, Naruto concentrated on the pulsing of his aura, willing himself to be consumed by it.
Ba-Bump
'Breathe in…'
Ba-Bump
'…Breathe out.'
Ba-Bump
'In…'
Ba-Bump
'…Out…'
Ba-Bump
His mind began to drift with the flow.
«Play Kingdom Hearts 2.5 ReMIX OST: Dive into the Heart - Destati»
Cerulean and violet eyes snapped open. Returning to awareness, Naruto glanced around, gaining a confused frown on his face when he took in his surroundings. "This…isn't what I was expecting…"
Ever since the incident with Kuro, Naruto's Station of Awakening manifested as the platform that depicted himself and Kuro. Even after his heart had healed and some time had passed, it didn't change, so seeing himself and Kuro and on the floor didn't come as a surprise to him.
What was a surprise was that the entire station was shrouded in a thick fog that was originating from the floor, making it difficult for him to see more than a couple of feet in front of him. He had made many trips to his Station of Awakening before, but this was the first time that he had seen this happen. Stranger still was how the fog seemed to be made up of a mixture of two different substances.
"This is…" Naruto reached out a hand, making the fog slip through his fingers. "…Light and darkness…?" He muttered, sure of it. The fog obstructing his vision was a mixture of light and darkness. "Why is this here?" He looked around again. "Hikari? Yami?" Naruto hesitantly called, but was met with silence. "Hello?" Still nothing.
Suddenly, the entire platform shook. "Whoa!" Startled, Naruto widened his stance to brace himself, preventing himself from falling. "The hell?!" He scanned the area, but wasn't able to see the cause. After a few moments, the platform stabilized and he sighed in relief. "What was that?" That definitely never happened before. "Hikari?! Yami?!" He shouted, louder this time, but he didn't receive an answer.
"Where are they…?" He mumbled. It was then that he noticed that the fog was…flowing. It was slow, but there was definitely movement. Following it, Naruto walked over to the edge of the platform. Once he was only a step away from walking right off, something happened.
Suddenly, two bridges made of floating tiles appeared in front of him, and off in the distance, light began to filter down from above, illuminating additional platforms, one at a higher elevation than where he was and the other at a lower one. The sight of the platforms brought Naruto to a complete stop. "What?"
Naruto knew about the lower one, as even from where he was standing, he could tell that it was the one that housed the heart of the Kyūbi, but he couldn't identify the other platform. After staring at it in confusion for a moment, Naruto blinked when he realized that the light and darkness flowing from the platform he was on led straight to this new platform.
Deciding to get a closer look, Naruto stepped onto the floating bridge and cautiously made his way over to the platform. Much to his alarm, partway through, the bridge started to shake under him, but it only lasted for a couple of seconds. Swallowing nervously, he sped up his pace. Naruto walked for a minute, listening to his footsteps echo through the silence until he was close enough to see the image on the new platform clearly.
Or rather, he was close enough to not see it.
"It's blank?" Naruto frowned. Now that he was on the same level as the surface of the platform, he saw that the platform was completely white, devoid of any colors or images. Growing increasingly confused, Naruto made to step onto the platform, but he found himself unable to. "Guh…!" He gritted his teeth as he was met with an invisible force, preventing him from proceeding. "What…is this?!" It was as if there was something repelling him, making it more difficult for him to get any closer.
His frustration grew upon being confronted with another source of questions, making his frown deepen as he applied more force. At first, nothing had changed, but slowly, he felt his body start to make progress. Trying harder, Naruto was able to push his way through whatever was stopping him. With a final grunt of effort, he succeeded in placing his foot on the platform.
The moment he did so, there was a flash of light, and then it was as if the previous repelling force was never there.
"Crap!" Stumbling slightly, Naruto caught himself before he could fall due to the sudden lack of a force working against him. "That was close…" He stood up and took in his surroundings. Even then, he still couldn't tell what it was that had been stopping him, but he no longer felt any resistance as he moved. Glancing back, his eyes widened. "The fog…The darkness can't come here."
It seemed that whatever had been impeding him also prevented the darkness in the fog from getting any closer, because as if there was an invisible wall present, the darkness stopped in midair. On the other hand, the light part of the fog was able to continue without any problems. "So only light can come here?" With a start, Naruto's head snapped down, allowing him to take in his appearance. "My clothes…!"
His usual outfit had changed at some point without him noticing. After his fight with Kuro, Naruto realized that the colors of his clothes represented the light and darkness in his heart. That was why the black parts of it had vanished when he was fighting Kuro. At the time, his darkness had left him and manifested in the form of Kuro, leaving him with only the silvery-white color that represented his light.
And just like then, all of the black had disappeared from his clothes, showing that he was currently without any darkness.
"What the hell is going on?" Naruto wondered. Shifting his attention back to the fog of light, Naruto's eyes followed its path. "It's going…into the platform?" The trail of light extended to the center of the platform before suddenly curving down, flowing steadily into it. "Wait…" Naruto's eyes widened as the implications sunk in.
With a small intake of breath, he turned to the platform he came from. "The Station of Awakening is a representation of my heart…" He said quietly. "So the light and darkness leaking from it…is my light and darkness. And if my light is leaving my station and flowing into this blank one, then…" He stared down at the platform. "This is Kairi's station of awakening." It would make sense, as that would explain why it was blank. Kairi's heart was missing, so she couldn't have a complete station, so this must be the manifestation of the pseudo-heart made by his light.
A small rush of relief flooded Naruto at this. At least he could figure this out without winding up with more questions than when he began.
Out of nowhere, the platform started shaking again. Bracing himself, Naruto waited out the quake, only relaxing once it had subsided. "Those really freak me out…" He glanced around, sweeping the area for anything strange.
His eyes came to an abrupt stop on a purple double door.
"That wasn't there before…" Naruto was positive that it wasn't, or else he would have noticed it. Walking up to it, Naruto noted that it was identical to the door he came across in his first dive to his heart, back when he first unlocked his twilight capabilities. And like that first door, this one was transparent, signifying that whatever was on the other side of it was currently inaccessible to him. "Let's try this." He reached a hand out, but nothing happened. "Okay then…" If he remembered correctly, the other door unlocked automatically for him when he got close to it. Naruto sighed. "What is this here for…?" Maybe only Kairi could open it? It would make sense, at least.
It was then that the platform shook again, but this one was more violent than any of the others. "Whoa!" Not expecting it, Naruto stumbled forward, accidentally going through the door. The next second, there was a blinding flash of light accompanied by a short flare of pain in his chest. "Gah!" The platform's trembling increased again as he fell to his knees. Naruto brought his hands to his chest, and it was only then that he noticed that he was now holding something.
Gripped in one of his hands was the same Keyblade he used when he fought Kuro. "When did…this get here…?" He muttered, but was distracted by another wave of pain. "Damn!" He dropped the Keyblade, making it clatter to the floor. "Agh!" Naruto suddenly screamed out in agony as this new pain spiked in his head. Screwing his eyes shut, Naruto clutched the sides of his head. "What…the hell?!" The pain rose to new heights as faint voices filtered into his head, steadily becoming louder.
"So eve…ing me? It…ie?!"
"…Yes."
"Wh…ne…?"
"Who…Who are you…?!" Naruto groaned.
"Lis…or…thing."
"…ova!"
"…un! Just g…f here!"
"Get out of my head!"
"No! Su…No!"
"…pin! Take th…n! Q…oo!"
"It's be…ime…to."
"I…W-What?" It was getting harder and harder for him to think clearly. With each passing second, the pain would grow and the voices became louder. Soon, Naruto's mind was nothing but a jumble of voices. "Ugh!"
"…to!"
"Stop talking…!"
"…uto!"
"Go away!"
"…aruto!"
"I said…Shut. UP!"
"You shouldn't be here right now."
«End Music»
"What the hell just happened?!"
"I-I don't know. The output suddenly spiked!"
"Well, we need to make sure it doesn't happen again. He isn't ready yet!"
"I know that! Best that I can tell, he suddenly started to destabilize, making his power fluctuate like crazy."
"But now he's back to normal…"
"Fortunately."
"Damn it…We're going to need to keep a closer eye on him. At this rate, he's going to start attracting attention to himself."
"You still think we should hold off on including him?"
"You know it isn't our call. Even if we wanted to include him, now isn't the time."
"But it's going to be time soon."
"…Yeah."
Gummi Ship
"Naruto!"
Naruto's eyes snapped open. Gasping for breath, Naruto doubled over, his body trembling. Trying to get control of himself, he blinked several times and shook his head. Now that he was awake, all the voices and pain had vanished. "G…Gray?" He asked.
"Finally!" The ice mage said over the intercom. "I've been calling your name for a while now! I was about ready to send someone to get you!"
"Sorry about that. I was…" Naruto trailed off, unsure what to say. 'What was that?'
"Yeah, whatever. Just get over here!"
The urgency in Gray's voice made Naruto quickly hop to his feet. "What's wrong?" He asked as he ran out the door. If there was an emergency, then he would just have to think about what he went through in the station later. Fear gripped him as he realized that there was a possibility that Kairi had reacted in some manner to his trip to the station.
"We're coming up on the next world now. But there's a problem." Gray answered. "There's…You need to see this for yourself. The world is under attack."
Naruto's eyes widened as he registered this. "What?! By who?!" He entered the control room, where the others were all seated, staring at the screen in front of them. Taking a quick glance at them, Naruto took in their expressions.
Natsu was growling as he watched the feed, gripping his arm rests to the point that Naruto was worried he would either break or burn them. On his lap, Happy was shaking while staring at the screen with wide eyes. Over in his seat, Gray had a hard scowl on his face while he held himself back from freezing the room. Finally, Kairi had a hand over her mouth as she watched the screen as well. He felt some relief that she seemed to be alright, but he didn't like the expression that she and the others had.
Deciding to see for himself, Naruto shifted his attention to the live feed of the world. What he saw made him gain a scowl that matched Gray's.
The world was large, and based on what he was seeing, it had a wide variety of climates and terrains. Just at a glance, Naruto could tell that this world was more technologically advanced than the Elemental Nations, and maybe even more so than Mahora had been. The screen they were viewing showed a large city with buildings that reached towards the sky, towering over everything.
But these facts took a backseat when Naruto saw the chaos ensuing on the surface. The normally beautiful city was being thrown into a state of havoc as a huge swarm of ships bombarded it. Even as he watched, one of the taller buildings took damage as a passing ship shot at it.
Heartless were invading the world.
"What the hell is going on?!" Naruto snapped. He rushed to his seat and started to rapidly press the desired controls. "Why are the heartless attacking?!" Naruto hit the buttons needed to get their scanners to count the number of heartless ships.
"No clue." Gray growled. "We didn't even realize until Natsu spotted a small flash on the surface. Turns out it was an explosion that was big enough for us to see from here." He shook his head. "We brought up the video feed and then called you when we saw what was happening."
Natsu growled louder. "This is…Who the hell would do something like this?!"
"It's like this all over the world…" Happy whimpered.
Kairi's eyes began to tear up at the scale of the destruction. "We…We need to do something." She said quietly, her eyes moving to Naruto. "Something. Anything! We can't just leave them! We have to help!"
Hearing this, Natsu and Gray immediately nodded in agreement. Naruto frowned and looked back to the screen. After a minute, a smirk spread across his face. "Yeah, of course. We're going down there." The Fairy Tail members grinned while Kairi gave him a small smile.
Decision made, Naruto started to quickly type in new commands. As he worked, the HUD of the gummi ship activated, complete with a top-down image of their gummi ship that was highlighted green to represent their current condition. "The big city on the screen is getting hit the hardest, so that's where we're gonna go! Natsu and Gray, you two have weapons."
"Right."
"You got it!"
"Kairi, I'm going to be piloting, so I'll need to be concentrating as much as possible on us not getting hit and maneuvering the tighter spaces. Can you take care of the scanners and navigation?" Naruto asked.
"I…" She hesitated for a moment, but then she nodded with a determined expression. "Leave it to me!"
Naruto grinned. "Good. Now, if we're all ready…" Preparations made, Naruto grasped the controls. "Then I'm taking us in!" The gummi ship accelerated, shooting towards the world. Soon, the gummi ship began to shake, but unlike the normal procedure for when this happens, Naruto didn't activate the landing mechanisms.
Suddenly, a loud beeping sound came from Kairi's console. "We've got a problem!" She warned them. "They formed a really big blockade! It surrounds the entire city!"
"So they don't want us getting into the city." Gray commented. "If we try flying straight into the city without thinking about the ships guarding it, then we'll be shot down on the spot."
"Kairi, is there any way around them? Or do we have to blast through?" Naruto asked.
"Wait a sec…" Kairi took a closer look. "The blockade is high in the air. We can…probably go under it? It looks like there's a canyon that goes from the ocean to the city that we can use as an entrance."
Naruto smirked. "Then that's how we're going to get in." He pushed forward on the controls, making the ship dive down. After a moment of nothing but clouds that obstructed their view, they were greeted to the sight of a wide ocean. Pulling back, Naruto angled them so that they were flying a little above the surface of the water.
Kairi's console beeped again. "We've been spotted! There's a small group of ships heading our way. Dead ahead!"
"Natsu, Gray! You're up!" Naruto said.
Natsu grinned viciously. "Heh, come and get it!" A few seconds later, four dots were spotted on the horizon ahead of them. "There you are!" The instant he had a lock on them, he attacked. The guns on the sides of the gummi ship fired, shooting several rounds that punched through the heartless ships. The dragon slayer laughed as the ships all exploded. "Ha! Too easy!"
"Hey, don't hog all of them for yourself!" Gray shouted, but he had a grin on his face. His grin grew bigger when a second group of heartless flew at them, but this time in pairs. "These guys are mine!" Taking aim, he fired two shots, each one impacting a single ship in either pair. As a result of his shots, the damaged ships careened off course, flying straight into their partners. "Who needs overwhelming firepower when you have precision shots?" He bragged.
"And we can do both!" Happy cheered.
"That definitely got their attention." Kairi called out. "There are a bunch of them coming at us now! And not just from in front of us!"
Naruto eyed the squares that popped up on the HUD. "Got it. Natsu, Gray, keep it up, but it might get harder to work while I'm evading."
"Don't worry about it. We'll handle it." Gray said. "Just do what you need to do."
Nodding, Naruto spotted a flash on the side of his vision. "Then hold on!" Pulling up, the gummi ship immediately followed his controls, allowing them to move out of the way of the attack. As if a that was the signal to begin, the air was suddenly filled with streaking lasers and speeding ships.
Easily slipping between two lasers, Naruto swerved to the right to dodge the ship that attempted to cut them off. The attackers were about to try again, but they never got the chance to when a blast from Gray put them all down.
After that, a trio of ships dove in front of the gummi ship, rotating in midair to face them while somehow flying in reverse. The three heartless ships started to charge their cannons, but Natsu never gave them the chance to finish.
"It's nice of them to stay still like that." Happy said brightly, watching as the ships plummeted to the water below.
"They aren't too bright." Naruto muttered, tilting the gummi ship to fly between two more heartless ships. As they passed Natsu and Gray each took one of them out. "They aren't good at evading, either." He commented.
"Sucks to be them!" Natsu cackled as another explosion filled the air. "This is awesome!"
Out of nowhere, a beep came from Kairi's console again. "Naruto! Move left!"
Not questioning it, Naruto did as ordered. The next second, something exploded in the exact spot that they had been in, making their ship vibrate. "Whoa!" Gray yelped.
Naruto cursed, attempting to stabilize them. "Okay, so they have bombs!"
"That's unfair! We don't have bombs!" Happy protested before turning to Naruto with a curious expression. "Do we?"
"No!"
"Oh, in that case, I think we should get some." Happy suggested. "That would make it easier to take out a big group of enemies! I don't know why you didn't think of this before, Naruto. That kind of thing should be obvious." He sighed. "Then again, I shouldn't be surprised by-"
"Happy, I swear to Kami that I will toss you out and make you fly on your own!" Naruto barked, pulling up so that they flew above an oncoming bomb. "I'm too busy to deal with your shit! Now shut up!"
Sufficiently chastised, Happy snapped a salute. "Aye, sir!"
"Would one of you please get rid of those red ships?! They're the ones with the bombs!"
"I'm on it!" Gray replied. Firing at the first red ship he saw, he was surprised to see that it didn't immediately go down. "What? It's still flying!"
"Then shoot again!" Natsu shouted, doing just that. Following two additional attacks, the red ship finally exploded. "Those ones are tougher!"
Naruto heard them, but he didn't have a chance to reply as he was forced to make their ship tilt to avoid another attack. Once they were level again, he spoke up. "Shoot the bombs out of the air!"
"Oh, that sounds like a good idea!" Natsu aimed at an oncoming missile, but his eyes widened when his shots missed. "Crap!"
Suddenly, another laser hit the bomb, making it explode at a safe distance. "Heh, I guess precision jobs shouldn't be left to the flame brain." Gray's taunt prompted Natsu to growl. "Leave the defense to me. You focus on destroying them." Normally, Natsu would have argued with the ice mage, but the proposal for him to blow stuff up made him agree.
"We're coming up on the canyon. It's too narrow for them to keep surrounding us like this, but they will also be able to get a lock on us easier." Kairi informed them.
"I see it." Naruto said. Up ahead of them and rapidly growing closer was a wall of rock, and the only visible opening to it was a narrow passage that led to the other side. "I'm speeding up! When you can, shoot the sides of the canyon to make the rocks fall down on them!"
"On it!" The gummi ship flew into the canyon, and Gray waited for all of fifteen seconds before deciding that a good amount of heartless ships were in range. Pulling the trigger, he shot as Naruto directed. He grinned widely at the resulting destruction of all of the ships that had been following them. "Oh yeah!"
Finally allowing himself to relax a bit, Naruto smirked. "Nice one. Kairi, how much further until we get to the city?"
"Not too much further. We should be seeing it any second now." She pointed in front of them. "Look! The canyon is ending!" As she said, the canyon came to a stopped, opening up to an expansive view of the valley on the other side. The sight they were greeted with quickly made their previous grief and rage return. "This is…horrible." Kairi whispered.
It was one thing to see an aerial view of the city, but being there in person…Actually seeing the burning buildings and the smoke rising into the air, it made the situation so much worse.
Tearing his eyes off of the destruction, Naruto took a deep breath. "Heads up. We need to focus on the matter at hand. We can't help anyone if we get distracted and shot down." Slowly, the others muttered their agreement. "There's more smoke than there was earlier, so we have more cover from being spotted. We're gonna stay low." Angling them down, Naruto flew the gummi ship above the abandoned streets.
"Here comes another one!" Kairi warned.
"From where?!" Naruto asked. Out of nowhere, several lasers shot by them, narrowly missing their ship and instead impacting the buildings around them.
"From behind!" Happy answered with far too much cheer.
"I kinda figured that out-ttebayo!" Naruto shouted, tugging the controls so that they swerved to the side. Circling a nearby tower, Naruto flew them so that they looped back around until the offending heartless ship was in sight. "There!"
"Gotcha!" Natsu crowed, shooting the ship out of the sky. With that done, Naruto reoriented them so that they were heading back towards the center of the city.
"That one called some friends!" Kairi informed them. "There's another group flying at us from above! They have an easy shot at us!" No sooner had she finished than a volley of lasers started to rain down on them. Luckily, the biggest hits taken were a few glancing blows.
Cursing under his breath, Naruto increased their speed. "Come on…" He mumbled, flying closer to the ground. The gummi ship was now so close to the streets that they were almost touching it.
"Naruto…" Gray said worriedly, seeing where they were going. "What are you doing?!"
"I'm putting us behind cover!" Naruto snapped.
"There's a tunnel ahead! We're gonna crash!" Happy screamed.
"They're firing again!" Kairi shouted over them.
"I know!" Naruto yelled. Right as the lasers were about to impact them, the gummi ship flew into the tunnel, only barely managing to fit. "There…" He said, listening to the sound of the tunnel's entrance caving in from the shots.
Gray shook his head. "You're insane."
"I said I was getting us some cover." Naruto responded. "Kairi, does this lead deeper into the city?"
Shakily, the redhead nodded. "Y-Yeah…"
"Good. And because they closed off the entrance, they can't follow us in."
"But what about waiting at the exit?" Happy's innocent sounding question made Naruto blink. "Won't we be an easy target if they know where we're gonna pop up again?"
"Uh…"
"You really are an idiot."
Naruto sent a quick glare at the cat. "Shut up! It was either this or getting shot!" It was then that he noticed light ahead of them. "There's the exit. Get ready to fire!"
"I'm always ready!" Natsu laughed.
"Now!" Naruto instructed as they flew out of the tunnel. Immediately pulling up, Naruto narrowly evaded the onslaught of lasers that streaked their way. In response, Natsu and Gray blasted apart several of the heartless ships.
Once they had some altitude again, Kairi's console beeped. "We didn't get them all! There are three following us!" Naruto attempted to lose them, but Kairi shook her head. "It's no good! They're still right behind us!" Her statement was punctuated by more shots firing by them.
Scowling, Naruto glanced at her. "How far behind are they?"
"Only a couple hundred feet!" Suddenly, a laser impacted them, making the gummi ship shake. On the HUD, the rear of the gummi ship's image turned orange. "And they're getting closer!"
Coming to a hasty decision, Naruto pulled harshly on the controls. "Everyone hang on!"
"Huh?! What are you-Whoa!" Natsu was cut off as the entire gummi ship was abruptly flying upward, but their trajectory didn't stop climbing. "Naruto?!" Soon, they found themselves upside down and flying in the direction they came from.
"Get ready to shoot!" Naruto shouted. Pulling up even more, the gummi ship began to fly down towards the ground. "Come on…" With one final tug, Naruto leveled them back again. Due to his maneuver, they were now positioned behind the heartless ships. "Do it!" Even through his shock, Gray was still able to take aim on the ships and destroy them.
Once the immediate threat was gone, an extremely pale Gray looked at Naruto. "Was the loop really necessary?"
Naruto smirked at him. "It got the job done, didn't it?" He asked.
"Ugh, I don't think I can handle another one of those…" Natsu said weakly.
A heartless ship intercepting them made Naruto scowl. "Too bad, it might happen again!" He said. As they flew around the enemy, Gray shot it down.
Before anything else could be said, Kairi's console beeped and an alert icon popped up in the bottom corner of the HUD. "Someone's trying to contact us."
"Any idea who?" Gray asked.
"I think it's someone from the city." Kairi responded.
Naruto nodded. "Patch them through." Doing so, the incoming call icon disappeared and was replaced by another image. Seeing the person's appearance, Naruto blinked. "…Hello?" He asked hesitantly, slightly surprised to see another humanoid dog. Staring back at them was a dog with golden brown fur, but he was standing up and dressed in red military attire.
"Attention unknown ship, do you read me? This his General Pepper of the Cornerian Army. Please respond."
Regaining his composure, Naruto spoke up. "Yes, we hear you, General. This is Naruto, pilot of the Stingray."
General Pepper smiled, obviously relieved. "I don't know who you are, but I appreciate the help you're giving my people."
"Happy to help. We saw what was happening and decided that we needed to lend a hand." Naruto replied. "We'll assist in any way we can."
The General seemed to hesitate, but an explosion on his end of the call quickly helped him make a decision. "We'll take anything we can get. The evacuation of the civilians is nearly complete, but that's only because the enemy forces aren't focusing on taking random lives."
"Then you know what they are aiming for?" Naruto guessed, hearing the implication. Much to his confusion, Pepper lowered his head. "General?"
"…Me." The general finally said. "The target of the invasion is me. Everything else is collateral damage." Even from where he was, Naruto could tell that Pepper was being crushed by the sheer amount of pain and regret at that knowledge.
"…What do you mean?" Naruto asked.
Pulling himself together, Pepper shook his head. "My past has come back to haunt me." He locked eyes with Naruto. "The evacuation of the city is complete. All that's left is the control tower. The problem is that it is also where the bulk of the invading forces is grouped." He bowed his head. "Please, I beg of you. Help me save the rest of my people."
Naruto smirked. "You didn't even need to ask. We were planning on it from the start. We'll get you the opening you need to clear the tower." Pepper quickly looked up, shocked to hear that. "I already said that we would help, right?"
"…Yes, you did." The general said quietly before nodding. "You have my thanks. At the pace you're moving at, you will reach the tower in a minute. My best squad will arrive soon to assist you."
"Understood." Naruto said. "Leave it to us. Just focus on the evacuation. We'll keep our comms open."
"I'll keep you updated on the evacuation. The best of luck to you." The transmission was cut.
«Play Star Fox Zero OST: Corneria Extended»
Once the call ended, Naruto glanced to the others. "You guys ready for this?"
"Yeah!"
"Ready when you are."
"Let's do it!"
"Then let's go!" Pushing the throttle, Naruto sped the gummi ship until it was little more than a blur streaking across the sky.
"There's the tower!" Happy exclaimed, pointing to the building that easily stood out in the surrounding area.
It was then that the HUD highlighted approaching ships. "And there are the heartless." Naruto said.
Beeping was heard from Kairi's console. "They're surrounding us!" All around them was a ring of heartless ships.
Seeing this, Naruto attempted to break free, but the heartless were persistent, constantly closing in on the gummi ship. "Someone create an opening!" He ordered.
"Comin' right up!" Natsu took aim at a ship in front of them. A moment later, the heartless vessel went up in flames and plummeted towards the ground. "There you go!" His glee was cut short when another ship quickly replaced the one that was destroyed, but this new one was much larger. "Uh…"
Gray made a sound of annoyance when he shot down a different ship and met with the same result. "They're swarming us!"
"It's worse than that! They're going to ram into us!" Kairi said, alarmed. "We can't take hits like those at these speeds!"
"What?! They're gonna blow themselves up, too?!" Happy yelped. "No! I don't wanna die!"
"We aren't going to die!" Naruto shouted. Thinking quickly, he pushed forward on the throttle again, making the ship speed up.
Noticing their increasing speed, Kairi's eyes widened. "Naruto, what are you doing?!"
Instead of answering, Naruto glanced at Natsu and Gray. "Shoot the big one in front of us! Now!" Not questioning it, both of them opened fire on the indicated heartless ship. The attacks blew the ship up only seconds before the gummi ship would have crashed into them, resulting in them getting encased in a huge ball of smoke and fire.
Acting immediately, Naruto swerved down and to the side, hitting the brakes as he did so, forcing all of them to lurch in their seats from the inertia. Natsu had to lash out a hand grab Happy to stop the cat from hitting something.
A moment later, there was the sound of several things flying by at extreme speeds. Once he heard that, Naruto sped back up, making them shoot out of the cloud of smoke. When their vision returned, they were greeted to the sight of the backs of the heartless ships. "Fire!"
Following the command, Natsu and Gray took the chance to annihilate the ships that had previously been giving them trouble. When they were all gone, Naruto sighed in relief. "That was close. I never thought that they would be willing to sacrifice entire ships just to take us down with them."
Gray shakily laughed. "You're insane…" He muttered, Happy nodding in agreement.
"It worked, didn't it?" Naruto defended himself. "They didn't stop us."
"No, but my heart nearly did." Gray retorted as they circled the tower.
Naruto opened his mouth to reply, but he didn't get the chance to when Kairi hastily spoke up. "I think they're starting to get angry at us! There's a lot of them heading our way!"
Snapping his attention back to the surrounding area, Naruto spotted a large group of heartless ships flying in their direction. Cursing, he pulled the controls to the side to avoid the volley of lasers. "How much longer until the evacuation is complete?" He asked, glancing to the burning tower.
"About half of the people have been moved to safety, but they still need a little more time to finish." Kairi answered.
"We can buy them time." Gray said.
"That's the plan!" Naruto made them dive down towards a stray heartless ship. Once that ship was destroyed, he veered off to dodge another attack from the side. As they flew, Naruto saw something that made him scowl. "Looks like they're bringing out other types of vessels."
Following Naruto's eyes to see what he meant, Natsu gaped. "What the hell are those things?!"
"They look like spiders!" Happy shivered. "Creepy…"
Crawling up the side of several buildings were giant machines that stood up on four legs connected to a circular body. The most notable thing about them were the flashing yellow lights on the bodies. Glancing around, Naruto saw that they were on many of the buildings, including the tower.
"I didn't think that the heartless had things like these…" Gray commented.
"…They don't." Naruto said, surprising the others. "Nor do they launch full scale invasions on worlds like this."
Natsu blinked in confusion. "Huh? What are you talking about? We're looking at them doing it!"
Kairi gasped as she caught on. "You mean that they're getting help from someone?"
Nodding, Naruto scanned the area. "Yeah, they probably are. We all know that it's possible for someone to gain some control over the heartless. It isn't hard to convince them to attack people, so this isn't much of a stretch if a person is determined enough."
"That's…" Kairi whispered, horrified.
"Unforgivable." Natsu growled.
"It is." Naruto agreed. "But we can focus on that after we finish this. Some of those spider things are scaling the tower, so we'll start there!" Turning them towards the tower, the Naruto waited for the HUD to highlight all the enemies climbing it. "Be careful with your shots!"
Gray picked a spider to start with. "Understood." Firing, he smirked when it fell to the ground, Natsu doing the same.
With the first volley done, Naruto was about to turn around, but he was shocked to see that two of the spiders leapt off the side of the tower in an attempt to reach them. "Whoa!" Pulling hard, he barely evaded the two of them. Right when the spider machines were about to fall, the yellow lights on their bodies turned red, making Naruto's eyes widen in alarm as the implications sunk in. "Shi-!"
Boom!
The spiders exploded with only a couple dozen feet between them and the gummi ship. Several voices screamed in shock, but Naruto didn't pay any attention to them. While it wasn't the worst possible scenario, the immediate blast had hit them directly, causing the entire gummi ship to shake violently. On the HUD, the entire body of the gummi ship's image gained an orange tint. To make things worse, the explosion made Naruto lose control of the ship, and now they were spiraling towards the ground.
"Pull up! Pull up!" Happy screamed.
"I'm trying!" Naruto bit out through gritted teeth. "Come on…" The ground was rapidly approaching them. "Come on…!" Only a few dozen more feet. "Come on!" With a final shout, Naruto managed to level them off and stabilize their flight. "Holy shit…" He breathed.
Gray clutched at his chest. "Okay…So now we know not to get so close to those spider things…"
"They're all bombs?" Kairi mumbled.
Naruto snapped his eyes over to the tower. "Yeah, and they are all over the tower. We can't let them get to the top. We're going to shoot them from more of a distance this time." They couldn't take another hit like that.
Circling around, Naruto gave Gary and Natsu a clear shot, one which they happily took advantage of. With this new information on the spiders, it was simple for them to pick them off without getting too close.
Suddenly, a part of the tower exploded. "What the hell was that?!" Natsu demanded.
"Something from inside?" Kairi guessed. "Do you think there are enemies inside, too?"
"I don't think so." Gray's voice prompted their attention to shift. "Check out the rooftops and highways. There are tanks all over the place." Just as he said, numerous large tanks sporting the heartless emblem were stationed periodically throughout the surrounding area. On the rooftop across from the newly damaged part of the tower, there was another tank present.
Coming to a snap decision, Naruto altered their path. "Focus on those tanks for now. The only spider things left are the ones at the base of the tower." Understanding his instructions, Natsu and Gray stopped looking for spider machines to destroy, now searching for the stationary tanks.
Picking one, Natsu opened fire on it, but scowled when it took longer than he would have liked to destroy. "These things are tougher."
A flash out of the corner of his eyes prompted Naruto to immediately tug on the controls. The next second, a large beam blasted through the exact spot they were about to be in. "They're aiming at us now!" Naruto warned. Not a second later, the other tanks started to shoot at them. Diving down, Naruto evaded a beam, only to have to veer out of the way of a following one. "Hurry up and take them out!"
"Easier said than done!" Gray shouted back. Taking out another tank, he quickly went for the next. "These things are freakin' annoying!"
Kairi's console chose then to beep. "There's another wave of ships flying in!"
"Damn it!" Leveling them out again, Naruto aimed their ship at the oncoming reinforcements. "Do it!" Natsu and Gray opened fire, but not all of the ships were shot down. As a result, Naruto was forced to weave their way through the swarm of heartless ships, destroying them as they went along.
"We've got a pair tailing us!" Kairi warned. "Ant they're getting closer!" Hearing this, Naruto chose to speed up and try to shake them off, but it was proven ineffective when lasers streaked by them. "They're still there!"
Growing more annoyed, Naruto pulled up on the controls. "I'm doing a loop again!" Not listening for their responses, Naruto tightened his grip and pulled harder. Coming out of the loop, Naruto was surprised to see that the heartless ships weren't there. "Wha-?" Out of nowhere, a shot hit their ship, making the right wing turn orange on the HUD.
"They're still there!" Natsu shouted.
"I can't shake them!" Naruto realized.
Kairi's console emitted a long beep. "They've got a lock on us!" She said, alarmed. "We can't dodge it!"
"Looks like you guys could use some help." An unfamiliar voice interjected. The next moment, two explosions were heard from behind them. "Heh. Too easy." He said cockily. Suddenly, four new ships flew out of the cloud of smoke and surrounded the gummi ship, flying alongside them.
"What? Who the hell are you?" Natsu demanded.
"You don't know who I am? How can you not know about me?"
A small rush of relief flooded Naruto. "I guess you're the squad the general said would soon be arriving?"
"Oh? So you do know who I am! My reputation precedes m-"
"Not the time, idiot." Another voice interrupted, this one sounding more agitated than the first. "Corneria is under attack and you're still not taking this seriously!"
"Huh? I am taking this seriously! No one is more serious than I am!" The first voice shouted back.
"That's not what I saw when you were having fun while on the way here!" A third voice chirped, this one higher pitched than the other two.
"T-That was-"
"That's enough." Cut in a fourth voice. Surprisingly enough, the other three immediately did as instructed. "Opening video feed." At this, Naruto did the same. After a moment, four boxes popped up on the HUD, displaying the four newcomers. In the first box was another humanoid animal, but this time it was a fox. "This is Fox McCloud, leader of Star Fox."
The second box housed a large toad with a cap. "Slippy Toad here!" He said, revealing that he was the owner of the higher pitched voice.
In the next box was some type of blue bird. "Falco Lombardi, the one who just saved your asses." Even then, Naruto could detect some smugness from Falco.
Lastly, the fourth member of the team was what appeared to be a Hare. "Peppy Hare, reporting in." He said with a serious tone.
Naruto nodded. "I'm Naruto. With me are Kairi, Natsu, Gray, and Happy."
Falco whistled, although Naruto didn't voice that he wasn't sure how a bird could manage that. "Wow, you guys look weird." Naruto's eye twitched.
"The hell does that mean?!" Natsu shouted.
"What? It's true! Just look at yourselves! I've never seen people like you bef-"
"Falco, enough already." Fox said, and Naruto heard the trace amounts of anger in his voice. "We can worry about their looks later. After we save the city." Naruto realized that he was probably angry that his home was being invaded. "Besides, they came in a ship, so they're probably from another planet."
Slippy's eyes widened. "What?! But how?! No one has managed to leave the planet's orbit for months now! Something has been blocking us!"
"It doesn't matter!" Peppy retorted. "Fox is right, we need to worry about the city for now."
Nodding, Fox returned his attention to Naruto. "The general updated us on the situation before we got here. We appreciate what you're doing. Are you still able to fight?"
Frowning slightly, Naruto glanced at their current status. "…We can still fight, but another big hit will finish us."
Surprisingly, Fox smirked. "Then it's a good thing that we're finishing this now."
"And how do you plan on doing that?" Gray asked skeptically.
"General pepper told you that their target is him, right?" Slippy asked. "They're tracking him with advanced biotech!"
Natsu blinked. "Yeah? And?"
"That means that if we can imitate the general's signature, then we can trick them!"
Naruto quickly caught on. "We can lure them away from the tower. And once they are clear of it, we can launch a larger attack to finish them all at once!"
"Exactly!" Slippy grinned.
"Do you have a way to do that?" Kairi asked hopefully.
"You bet we do!" Peppy responded. "Watch this!" The ship on their left broke off and flew towards the tower. Soon, Peppy decided that he was close enough. "Here goes nothing!" A large blue ball shot out of the front of his ship, rocketing at the tower. After a few seconds, the ball exploded, creating a huge explosion in the air, but instead of dying down, it remained there.
The off-worlders watched in surprise as most of the heartless ships invading the city immediately stopped what they were doing to head for the explosion. From the flying ships to the spider things, they all willingly flung themselves at it while those that couldn't gathered around it.
"Yes! It worked!" Slippy cheered.
"Whoa! They're moving into the blast!" Falco said. "Nice one, Slip!"
"Hehehe, thanks!"
"How'd you pull that off?" Naruto asked numbly. "You were able to mimic his signature that easily?"
"Slippy made missiles that mimic Pepper's life signs using my lucky charm." Peppy answered.
Kairi tilted her head. "How did a lucky charm help?"
Peppy smiled. "It was a lucky charm made of Pepper's fur; Given to me as a sample of our friendship." The pride in Peppy's voice was obvious.
"From his fur?" Happy repeated.
"Nothing weird there." Natsu added sarcastically.
"I know, right?" Falco agreed.
"SHUT UP!"
Fox's voice returned their attention back to the matter at hand. "Enough! It's now or never! All units attack!"
Knowing this was the best chance they were going to get, Naruto pointed them in the direction of the gathering of heartless. "Natsu! Gray!" Grinning widely, both mages let loose a large amount of shots at the swarm, Star Fox doing the same. The resulting explosion destroying every single heartless that had been there. "Hell yeah-ttebayo!"
"We did it!" Slippy whooped, but out of nowhere, a large beam of energy shot out of the sky and hit both him and Peppy. "Wahhhh!" Both of their images started to shake.
"Slippy! Peppy!" Fox shouted in alarm.
Regaining control, the two of them groaned. "I'm okay…"
"Just grazed, is all…" Peppy reported.
"What the hell was that?!" Gray asked.
Kairi's console beeped. "Look! Up in the sky!" Looking where she instructed, all of their eyes widened in shock.
Sitting in the sky high above the tower was a large purple portal, and slowly emerging from it was a massive structure. As more of it was revealed, Gray realized what it was. "It's…a fortress…An entire flying fortress." Floating in the sky was a red fortress with a circular body and a tower in the center. The fortress was sporting enough weaponry that Naruto had little down that it could level the area if it let loose.
Naruto's heart sank as he saw that it was big enough to cast a shadow over the tower and the surrounding area. "You can't be serious…"
Suddenly, a new image popped up on the HUD. This time, the person on the other side was a monkey wearing a helmet with a large A on the front. "Damn you! I'll squash you like the insects you are!" He shouted before his image disappeared.
"That must be the leader." Gray observed.
Kairi bit her lip in worry. "How do we fight something like that?"
"Like everything else we do. With style!" Falco said confidently.
"We're going in!" Fox declared. "Can we count on you for help?"
Shaking off his doubt, Naruto nodded. "You know it. Just tell us where to shoot!" As one, all five ships flew at the fortress. As they approached, the cannons mounted on the surfaces of the fortress swiveled around to aim at them. "You're gonna need to try harder than that!" Veering to the side, Naruto avoided the lasers until they were flying along the surface of the fortress. "Take out those turrets!"
"Got it!" Gray locked onto a turret and opened fire, Natsu doing the same with another.
"Incoming from behind!" Kairi warned.
Acting on instinct, Naruto tugged the controls to the side, making their entire world spin. "Wha-?!" Happy yelped in alarm as several lasers shot by them, only barely missing.
Once they were correctly oriented again, Naruto smirked. "Heh, that was fun." It was only then that he noticed the disbelieving stares he got. "…What?"
"Ugh…" Natsu mumbled, somewhat green. "Don't…Don't do that again…"
"Did you…just do a barrel roll?" Gray asked numbly.
"Oh, yes he did!" Falco laughed. "Nice one!"
"Shield analysis complete!" Slippy called out. "If we take out all those big laser cannons, we can take out that thing's G-Diffuser system!" The indicated cannons were highlighted on the HUD, showing that there were a few on the top, but only two on the bottom.
Natsu grinned. "I don't know what that last part means, but I get what we need to do!"
Naruto nodded. "We're on it!" He directed them so that they flew under the fortress. Flying under an oncoming attack, Naruto got them close to one of the cannons. "Now!" Taking the chance, Gray blasted the cannon apart. "One down." He grinned as explosions trailed along that segment of the fortress.
"Hey! Don't hog all the fun!" Falco admonished with a laugh, destroying the next one on the underside.
"We won't fall that easily!" The monkey man's voice growled. "Fire the missiles!"
From the sides of the fortress, panels shifted to the side, revealing missile launchers. The next second, the missiles were firing into the air, rocketing towards the gummi ship and Falco. Cursing, Naruto swerved to the side, but the missiles followed their every move. "Those things are tracking us!" Unable to prevent it, one of the missiles caught up to them, impacting the underside of their ship. The warning klaxons blared to life as the HUD reported the damage taken. "Crap, that one really hurt!"
Kairi frowned in concern. "How bad is it?"
Naruto glanced at their condition again. "The shields are fried, and there might be some damage done to the engine." He gritted his teeth as he narrowly avoided the next missile. "A little help here!"
"I've got the same problem over here!" Falco shouted. "How about we help each other out?"
"Anything to get rid of them! I don't want to blow up!" Happy yelped.
"Good! Then do exactly as I say and fly towards me!" Falco's ship circled around and started to streak towards them. "And don't move until I say so!"
Understanding what he was planning, Naruto pulled them around until they were heading in Falco's direction, him still doing the same. At their current rate, they would collide head on in a few seconds. "I really don't like this plan…" Kairi said weakly.
"It'll be fine!"
"Naruto…" Gray muttered.
Naruto ignored him, opting to focus on the task at hand. "Wait for it…"
"Naruto."
"Almost there…"
"Naruto!" Kairi screamed.
"Now!/Now!" At the same time, Naruto pulled up while Falco dipped down, resulting in the two ships passing one another with hardly a foot to spare. "Fire!" Startled, Natsu and Gray shot their weapons, destroying the missiles that had been following Falco. Behind them, Falco was making quick work of the missiles that had been trailing them.
Once the last one was gone, Falco smirked. "Hey, you're a pretty decent pilot."
Naruto returned the smirk with an identical one. "The same to you."
Kairi shook her head. "They're both crazy…" She mumbled. "And Naruto isn't normally like this…"
"It's probably some sort of adrenaline rush he gets by flying like that." Gray guessed. "Either way, it sucks."
"Aye."
"Ugh…"
Slippy's voice pulled their attention back to the present. "There goes the last cannon! Everyone, open fire on the tower!"
"Alright, this is it! Let's take it down!" Fox shouted, leading his team in.
Nodding, Naruto pushed down on the controls. "We're going in, too." Following his prompting, the gummi ship flew back down at the fortress. "Do it!" Not needing to be told twice, Natsu and Gray launched a large attack on the fortress.
The resulting chain of explosions was immensely gratifying to everyone involved. "Yes!" Happy cheered.
The monkey's image returned to their HUD. "Curse you! When Andross hears about this, you'll be through!" He raged as his fortress shed several layers, leaving only the central tower behind. "You hear me?! Through!" Not giving them the chance to say anything, the tower blasted up into the sky, retreating into the portal it had come from.
"Look! The heartless are leaving, too!" Kairi pointed out. Just as she said, all the remaining heartless spread throughout the city were also escaping into the portal, leaving the damaged city behind.
«End Music»
"Should we follow?" Slippy asked.
"No, let them go." Fox said. "We don't know where it leads, so it would be stupid to go into there." Naruto didn't add that although he wasn't sure that it was a Corridor of Darkness, it wouldn't be a good idea for a ship that wasn't protected from darkness to risk it. With all the chaos dying down, Naruto guided the gummi ship so that they were flying along Star Fox as they approached the command tower. "Naruto, right? Thanks for the help."
Naruto grinned. "No problem." He was about to continue, but he was distracted when a bright light suddenly lit up in the sky above the tower.
"What the-?"
"Whoa, what's that?!"
Ignoring Falco and Slippy, Kairi gasped at what they saw in the sky. "That's…!"
When his mind caught up to what he was seeing, Naruto's grin widened. "The keyhole." Shining in the sky was a familiar looking keyhole. "I didn't even think of that." He had been so focused on the invasion that he had forgotten that they would need to find the keyhole.
"But how do we get to it?" Gray asked. "It's kind of in an odd spot…"
Happy blinked, bewildered. "Huh? What are you talking about? Just do it from here!"
Kairi frowned. "Will that work?" She asked Naruto.
Considering the question, Naruto eventually shrugged. "I don't know, but it's worth a shot." Making sure that they were stationary, he pressed the button that would keep them there without any guidance. Standing up, he raised a hand and summoned his Keyblade. As if it had been waiting for him to do that, the keyhole flashed and Naruto felt a familiar tug in his hand.
Smirking, he twirled the Keyblade before pointing it at the keyhole, not see the beam of light that shot out of it. The light went right through the gummi ship as if it wasn't there and headed straight into the keyhole.
Click.
Hearing that sound, Naruto dismissed his Keyblade and sat back down. "There. Keyhole locked."
"Okay…" Falco's voice said. "I'm not the only one who is confused, right?"
"No…It's not just you." Fox said slowly.
"Oh, good. I was worried for a second there."
Naruto chuckled. "Don't worry about it. I just helped you guys out. You should get less of those other ships now."
"Really? It was that easy?" Peppy asked skeptically.
"Incredible! How does that work? What did you do? Was that keyhole emitting some sort of signal that drew them here?" Slippy questioned.
Not waiting for the answer, Falco cut in. "As long as it works, I don't care what you did. I just want some sleep." He paused. "It looks like your ship is pretty banged up. How're you guys doing?"
Naruto glanced over to the image that depicted their current condition. "We took some pretty big hits and need some serious repairs. Once we land, I doubt we will be able to take off again."
It was then that General Pepper's image returned. "If it is repairs that you need, then Corneria will happy to help. It was thanks to both you and Star Fox that we are still here."
"Uh…" Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "I don't suppose you guys have some spare gummi blocks?"
"Gummi blocks?" Slippy repeated.
"What're those? Some kind of snack?" Falco asked sarcastically.
Sighing, Naruto shook his head with a smile. "No, they are what our ship is made of. We need those to perform repairs."
Peppy frowned. "But we don't have any, so what are you going to do?"
After a moment of thought, Naruto had his answer. "I'm sorry about this, but we're going to leave straight from here."
"You're leaving?" Slippy lamented. "Already?"
"Nothing we can do about it, Slip." Fox said. "Their ship needs repairs and we don't have the right gear."
Pepper nodded. "It is unfortunate, but understandable." He lowered his head. "On behalf of the people of Corneria, I thank you for aiding us in our time of need." Still somewhat uncomfortable with such sincere thanks and praise, Kairi blushed, unable to simply smile it off like the others.
Falco gave them a thumbs up. "It was short, but fun. Next time you're in the system, be sure to swing by."
Joining in on the farewells, Slippy waved. "Next time, I want to hear about these gummi blocks. Oh, and that keyhole, too!"
Peppy nodded, smiling slightly. "You guys are almost as reckless as Falco-"
"What was that?!"
"-but you've proven to know what you're doing. Don't be strangers."
Fox grinned. "I'm tempted to offer you a spot on Star Fox. I definitely wouldn't mind flying with you guys again one day."
Naruto grinned back. "The same to all of you. Next time, I hope we don't have to leave so quickly." He pulled the gummi ship around. "So long!"
"Bye!" Happy called.
"Good luck with your recovery!" Kairi added. With that, they flew away, heading towards the next world.
Ocean Between
Once they had returned to the endless expanse of stars, Naruto smirked at Kairi. "Well, Kairi? Was that what you wanted?"
She blinked at him in confusion. "Huh?"
"You said it, didn't you?" He asked. "Back when we left Mahora."
"Said what?" Gray inquired, seeing that Kairi still didn't understand what he meant.
Naruto's smirk grew. "She said that she hoped that we wouldn't need to leave the gummi ship for the next world we went to." Kairi's eyes widened. "Are you happy now?"
"That wasn't what I wanted!" Kairi denied. "I meant something relaxing! Not heart pounding and terrifying!"
Happy giggled into his paws. "You jinxed it!"
"No I didn't! That wasn't my fault!"
"I dunno…" Naruto chuckled as Kairi pouted. "Anyways, it was a good chance to get some experience in battling with the gummi ship. It even showed us the extent of the damage we can take."
Gray frowned. "Speaking of that, what are we going to do about our repairs? Head back to the Elemental Nations?"
Much to their surprise, Naruto grimaced and shook his head. "Actually, no." He opened up the map and pointed at their current location. "We're here…" He pointed to another spot. "And the Elemental Nations are here."
"…Yeah…?" Natsu said slowly. "And?"
Naruto sighed. "And here is our current condition." He pulled up the display of the gummi ship. By then, nearly the entire ship had gone from green to orange, and there were even a few spots that were completely red.
"Will we make it?" Kairi asked, concerned.
"I don't know." Naruto replied honestly. "But I don't want to risk it."
"So what are we going to do?" Gray considered the situation. "We need repairs, but the Elemental Nations are out of the question…"
"We're going to go somewhere else." Naruto answered.
Happy glided over to him. "Huh? Where?"
Naruto selected a world. "Here."
"Traverse Town?" Happy blurted in surprise.
"Yep." Naruto confirmed. "There is a lot of traffic there, remember? I'm betting we can find someone to fix our ship. It isn't exactly close, but it's a lot closer than the Elemental Nations."
Gray nodded. "Makes sense. Let's do it. We can also check up on Wendy."
Entering the coordinates, Naruto hummed. "That's about what I was thinking, yeah."
Kairi gasped, forming a smile. "And maybe we can get news on Sora and Riku!"
Naruto gained a smile of his own at her excitement. "Maybe we will. I could use some good news."
There we go! All done with Chapter 51!
I said last time that this world would be a short one, didn't I? I liked the idea of having a world that was bigger on combat with the gummi ship than normal ground combat, so I decided to try it. Star Fox seemed like a great choice.
Review Responses!
rinsegaku: You didn't get it wrong. She knows some stuff that will be revealed in the future.
keyblade master cole: The Evangeline thing was just me keeping my options open, it isn't a for sure thing. But if I do have him get training from her, then I have a good idea of when it would happen.
redlox2: I'm not sure how much the interlude did for you, but that's about the extent of what I'm planning to do with the Elemental Nations in the immediate future…Unless I feel like making another one. And implied nothing, it is the training period.
Kairitrion Cerulean: Fair enough. I can admit that I didn't plan the Negima stuff well enough, meaning that it went on longer than it should have. As for a world with no fighting, I do have one like that (Or at least, I don't currently have any plans for fighting there) lined up, but it is still a few worlds away. The Kyūbi is currently classified as future stuff. I have a decent idea of when (And how) I want to go into that.
The10thDoctor1964: Thanks! Glad to hear that you're enjoying the story. As for your question, I know a little about the Tales franchise, but not really anything about Tales of the Abyss. The one I know the most about is Tales of Vesperia…I'll admit it's doable, at least.
Bubble MaKeRr: Subtlety is overrated!
Guest(2): If by "every" you mean the only two that were ever finished, then yeah, I do make him lose them all. And who were those two up against? Sephiroth (Seriously, I could not justify him winning that fight) and Cloud (And that was also intended to be somewhat close, but still in Cloud's favor). The Nox fight didn't finish and neither went all out. Urahara is a badass, he just acts like an idiot. He is currently out of Naruto's league. Looking for an OP Naruto story? Go somewhere else.
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Until next time,
Kog6943