AN: Chapter 2!! People, updates will come fast after the 30th, because that's the date of my last final. After that, I've got all summer.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the anime, games, movies, or books referenced. I do own Trei, Roy, and Silas. I do not own any music I specify to be done by another artist (although I probably remixed it at some point).
PLUR
Chapter 2
Introducing DJ Trei
Trei woke up to see Naruto stretching. Yawning, he dragged himself up, and noted that he was hungry. A clock above Naruto's stove showed it was only 6:30. "Yo, Naruto, you got anything to eat around here?" He asked.
Naruto walked over and opened a cabinet to reveal stacks of cup ramen. Trei sweat dropped. 'Wait, what the hell was that? People don't just drop over…damn new laws of reality…' he thought. Shrugging, he grabbed one and made his breakfast. Naruto ate with him.
"So what are you doing up this early?" Naruto asked. "I have to do a morning run, what about you?"
"Well, I usually save this till about 9, but I also go on a morning run. I practice a sport called free-running. Basically I just run through any obstacle that's there. Buildings, fences, etc. The trick is doing it in fluid motions. My parents made me take up gymnastics when I was a kid, I hated it, but now I can use it for something fun. It's fun, running through a city."
"City?" Naruto asked. Trei snickered.
"Picture this village real quick. Now make it about 100 times bigger. Next, make the buildings several hundred feet tall. That's the general idea." Trei said.
"I would, but that's hard to imagine…"
"Eh, I guess it might be for you. I've lived in one my whole life. So, mind if I join you on your run?" Trei asked.
"Can you keep up?" Naruto said. They were walking out the door.
"Hell if I know. I've never seen you run before! But that doesn't stop me from wanting to give it a shot." Trei said.
"Alright. Let's have a race then. The Hokage tower is in the center of the village, you can see it easily. First one there and back wins." Naruto said.
"You're on. Let me just pop in the mp3 player here…" Trei said, pulling out a small rectangular box and a pair of headphones. Naruto knew what headphones were, but he had never seen an mp3 player.
"Is that like a CD?" Naruto asked.
"This place is so messed up…you have refrigerators, stoves, TV, CDs, and headphones, but you never got around to computers or mp3 players. At least you guys don't have guns. An mp3 player can probably hold every CD you own."
"That goes without saying. I don't own any. Can't afford them."
"What, your parents don't give you an allowance? Paycheck not enough? How can you not have any CDs?! That's like a crime…"
"Never had parents. Or didn't you notice my apartment is small as hell and looks like crap? I've had to take care of myself for a long time, I didn't have money for that kind of stuff. What I do have is mostly gifts." Naruto said. He didn't have an angry tone, merely a low one.
"Oh…shit. Sorry man. I didn't know." Trei said.
"No problem. I know you didn't mean anything by it. So, can I listen to that?" Naruto asked, pointing at the mp3 player.
"Sure, the song is called Call on Me by Eric Prydz. It's one of the better known techno songs." Trei said. He happily noted that Naruto was bobbing his head to the beat. "You like it?"
"Yeah, the beat is nice. Anyway, you ready to go?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah, let me just switch to a good running song…here we go." Trei said, selecting the song Night of Fire. It was from a video game he played once (Initial D, the driving game). In a few seconds, the two were off. Naruto was fast, but Trei wasn't far behind him. Running down the street, Naruto kept to the ground, not wanting to be unfair and start jumping on buildings. Trei turned into an alley, trying to get onto one. He was shocked when he found he could make it onto a building with one jump.
"What the hell?! SICK!!!!" He yelled. He began pushing his limits, finding that movements formerly beyond him were simple. Naruto was still ahead, his chakra enhanced legs pushing him forward with incredible speed, but he was on the buildings too, after seeing that Trei could use them. Trei pulled ahead for a few minutes, enough for Naruto to see what free-running was. Every movement led into the next, as Trei never lost any speed from a landing or when he had to go down a staircase. Every obstacle he seemed to completely bypass with amazing ease.
Trei was shocked at his own performance. He was never this good. People spent years training to do what he was doing. In his world, these stunts would have killed him. Hell, he would have been falling over of exhaustion long before that. He decided that he liked this world.
In the end, Naruto won, but Trei wasn't far behind. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were a shinobi. That free-running stuff looks pretty cool."
"Dude, I don't get it. I was never this good back home. Something about this place…I can push myself incredibly far. It's crazy, and I love it." Trei said, smiling. Naruto laughed.
"Maybe Baa-chan can explain that." Naruto said. "Meantime, why don't we introduce you to some of my friends?"
"Sure…" Trei said. He somehow understood that Baa-chan was synonymous to calling her a grandmother. "Why do you call her that? She's hot as hell; she can't be older then 30."
"She's in her fifties. She uses a very powerful illusion." Naruto said. Trei gagged.
"I called a fifty year old woman hot…excuse me while I go slice my tongue out." Trei said.
Naruto led Trei through the streets of Konoha to the hospital, where Sakura was no doubt on duty. Trei noticed people staring with venom in their eyes, but didn't bother to question it, it could wait till later. He also got the feeling that it would be a touchy subject. On arrival at the hospital, Naruto went up to the receptionist.
"What do you want?" The woman asked.
"Where's Sakura?" Naruto said, ignoring the tone the woman had used.
"3rd floor, Hokage-sama's medical office."
"Thanks." Naruto said. Trei was wondering what Naruto could have done to piss so many people off, but said nothing. They walked up to the third floor as Naruto gave Trei a little background on his friend and teammate.
"Sakura-chan is Baa-chan's apprentice. She's learning to be a medic-nin. Sakura-chan has Tsunade's strength, or some of it, so I wouldn't piss her off. Her and I have been teammates we were twelve. By the way, if you are hurt around here, she's an amazing doctor; you'll be in good hands." Naruto said. Arriving at the office, he knocked on the door. "Sakura-chan? You here?"
"Yeah. That you Naruto?" She said, opening the door. Her eyes at once drifted to Trei's outlandish look. "This isn't a mental hospital Naruto…that's a different wing. Who is this anyway?"
"Hey! I'm not insane! I'm a raver. Big difference. And my name's Trei. Good to meet you." He said, extending a hand. Sakura tentatively shook it.
"So what's with the get-up?" She asked.
"He's not from this world. Quite literally." Naruto explained.
"Yeah, hard to explain, but I basically fell through this hole-thingy and now I'm here. And the get-up is because I'm a raver. The look is part of it…but then you don't know what a rave is do you. I keep forgetting that." Trei said. Sakura stared at him for a few moments before laughing.
"Well whatever. If this is some prank, at least it's funny."
"No joke Sakura. Check with Tsunade." Naruto said, putting on his serious face.
"Seriously? That's messed up. Well, welcome to Konoha then." Sakura said. She knew when Naruto put on that face he wasn't messing around.
"Thanks. Hey, I forgot to ask you Naruto, what kind of music do you guys listen to anyway?" Trei asked. Sakura answered.
"There's a Heartthrob Heroism concert tonight. I love them…" Sakura said. Naruto flinched. "You know, I have some extra tickets. Enough for the 9 and Team Gai, and a few more. Maybe we should make an event out of it?" Naruto hated the boy band, he wasn't a fan of crappy overdone cliché lyrics, but Sakura loved them, and he would take any occasion to go out with her.
"Sure." He said, halfheartedly.
'They sound kind of….emo… but whatever…' Trei thought. "I'm in. I have two friends that might join me if you don't mind. Thanks for the invite."
"No problem. I'll meet you outside the tower around 8. So where are you off to?"
"I figured I would introduce Trei here to the rest of the guys." Naruto said. Sakura said her goodbyes, and the two walked off.
"You like her right?" Trei asked. Naruto nodded.
"You picked that up quick." Naruto said.
"It's the way you look at her." Sometime later, Trei was introduced to Kiba, Akamaru, Hinata, and Shino (who crept him out to no end). In the end, they were persuaded to hit up the concert later that evening, even though Kiba hated the band, and Shino didn't listen to music at all. Hinata didn't really say anything, in keeping with her idiom. The most interesting meeting was with Ino's team.
"Ino, what's up?" Naruto asked, walking up to her and her team sitting down to lunch at Chouji's favorite restaurant.
"Just grabbing lunch. Who's your friend there, and what's with his outfit?"
"Why does everybody keep asking that!? It's a part of the culture where I'm from ok?" Trei said, getting sick of the questions. "Good to meet you though, I'm Trei. And you are?" He asked. He was immediately attracted to Ino.
"Ino, good to meet you. This is Shikamaru, and the hulk is Chouji." She said. "Care to join us?"
"Sure, all of the intro's make me hungry." Trei said. When their food arrived, Trei told the whole group the complete version of his story, starting from the rush to Roy's house. Ino didn't buy it until Naruto confirmed it with his serious face. They all knew that face. He didn't use it much.
"That's just crazy." Ino said. Shikamaru was most interested in the wormhole, it sounded like something fun to wrap his mind around. After answering a few more questions and having a few hamburgers (Trei wondered why they had hamburgers in this world), the two left to go meet Rock Lee, who was no doubt with Gai. However, they couldn't find the dynamic duo, so they decided to look up Ten-ten in her weapons shop. She was the first person who didn't ask about the outfit.
"Another one huh? You're friend here likes weapons." She said, gesturing to Roy.
"Yo, what's up bro? Having a good day?" Trei said.
"NINJA WEAPONS! How fucking sick is this place!" Roy said, running up and shaking Trei ragged.
"Yeah, yeah I know. That and…" he lowered his voice "every single girl in this place is hot as hell. Have you noticed?"
"How could anyone miss it? It's unreal!" Roy answered.
"For real." Trei said. This conversation carried on for several more minutes, before Trei actually introduced himself. "By the way, my name's Trei. Good to meet you." She responded in kind.
"Hey Ten-ten, any idea where we can find the green beasts?" Naruto asked.
"Training Field 25."
"Thanks." Naruto said. Soon enough, Trei and Roy met up with the only two people to ever manage to be constantly rolling without a single pill. After the meeting, the two agreed, they wouldn't let them touch ecstasy. They were high enough without it. Neji was on a mission as it turned out, which was just as well, as it was time to meet up with Tsunade.
Silas was already talking to her when Roy and Trei arrived. He appeared to have explained gone over his theory as to the dynamics of their situation, and their plan for dealing with it. Tsunade saw no other option (and she silently thanked the gods that she was talking to someone with a brain).
"It would seem that Naruto is your best shot at getting home. I trust you've shown them around, Naruto?" He nodded. "Good. So, while you are here, feel free to make yourselves at home, and enjoy yourselves. We will do what we can to make sure you get home as quickly as possible, but it seems that it is largely a matter of fate. Naruto, if Kyuubi so much as hints at one of these things, you get them to it."
"You got it."
"Ok, that is basically all we can do. Now, I need to ask, what exactly is a rave?" Silas and Roy then deferred the question to Trei. He knew everything about it.
"A rave is an all night party featuring music going at 140 beats per minute or above. The culture surrounding it is basically fifty percent based on music, fifty percent based on this." Trei said, pulling out a small pill. "MDMA, C11H15NO2, also called ecstasy. It's basically a super happiness and energy pill. The most common effects are complete openness, utter bliss, lots of energy, and usually one becomes very sensitive to touch. And if you could manage to make it that would kick ass."
"That sounds like a drug." Tsunade said the medic in her wanting to analyze any risk.
"It is, but if done properly, there is actually very little risk. It's after affects are a minor Serotonin drop, which is temporary. The only risk comes from the potential of being allergic, but even then, so long as it's a small dosage, you'll just get sick. There is a small risk of hypothermia or dehydration depending on how much water you drink. 12oz and hour is recommended. The pill would have major use for you guys, women in our society have used it recover from rape, soldiers from the trauma of war, etc."
"Could you provide me with a sample to analyze?" Tsunade said.
"Sure, but do you think you could synthesize more?" He asked.
"Yes, if this stuff is safe. Are there any other risks?" She asked.
"Don't drink alcohol when you're on it. Not that you would need to." He said. Tsunade nodded.
"So what's the music sound like?" Tsunade asked, curious about the foreign culture.
"Listen for yourself." Trei said, pulling out the mp3 player and headphones. He played the song Crush by Paul Van Dyk. She loved it.
"It's easy to dance to…I approve." She said smiling. "Of the music at least. Anything else you want to tell me?"
"Above all else, rave is based on an ideal. PLUR, peace, love, unity, respect. It's four words that we live by." Trei said. Tsunade would mull this over during the coming days, wondering what kind of world they came from where such an ideal could not only exist but thrive.
After the meeting, Trei and his friends met up with Sakura in front of the tower, and they were off to the concert. Upon arrival, Trei was sickened. He loved rock as much as he loved techno, but he had this band pegged. They were emo as hell. "This is NOT music!" He said. Calling Silas and Roy over to him, he devised a plan to turn the show around. "Guys, first, we school them in rock. We get Naruto to grab the DJ equipment during this. Then, when he get's here, we teach everyone in here what rave is. Sound good?"
"How are we going to manage to get past the security and all that?" Silas asked.
"We'll just tell them straight up, we want to challenge these guys. Crowd energy. Producers love that shit." Roy said. "I still know how to drum. Can you guys still play guitar?" They both nodded. "Then let's do this!"
Naruto was glad for any excuse to leave, and went off to grab the turntable, mixer, and vinyl set. Trei, Silas, and Roy went to the back. Upon meeting up with security, they asked to see the owner of the venue and the band's manager. The owner was fine with the idea of a duel, and he was excited to have the chance to have a new style of music started in his venue. The band's manager figured that a bunch of kids wouldn't have anything on his band, and in the end, would only screw up, and make Heartthrob look better. He didn't bother to listen to their music. Biggest mistake of his career. After a few more emo songs, there was a short break to announce the challenge. Trei was a bit nervous, they hadn't played rock in a while, but he knew one song in and out. Thin Lizzy – The Boys are Back in Town. They went out under the name Surreal (AN: my former band's name).
Sakura and Ino were a little tweaked that they would dare to challenge their favorite band. Ten-ten was at the point of unleashing a hell storm of pointy steel. That is, until Trei started playing. They were one guitar short, since Silas had to play bass, but it sounded fine. They liked the change of feel in the music. It wasn't a song of angst and pointless despair focused on some girl that left some guy. It was about having fun, remembering old time, and just kicking it with friends.
As he got closer to the solo, Trei started playing around. Back flips on stage, playing behind his back, under his leg, and several other show-off moves. However, this was to compensate for his overwhelming fear that he would screw up the solo. Strumming the few chords before it came, he breathed deep, and began the solo. As he reached it, he found his fingers moved naturally. He still remembered it. As confidence sprang up in him, he began playing around as the song went towards its end, literally dancing as he played and sung. The crowd loved it.
The manager of Heartthrob was sweating, and the band was starting to panic. "Aww man…but that song was so happy…how could they like that?" The leader said. One member of the band was too busy slitting his ankles (he was too non-conformist to slit his wrists like every other emo kid) to say anything. The drummer was crying black tears. Only the bassist responded.
"It's all so pointless, why do we even try? They'll never understand…" he said. Meanwhile, Naruto was rushing back with Trei's gear, while Trei was on stage, basking the glorious shouts for an encore. People like happy.
"How these guys never caught on to this style I will never know. I mean damn, I guess it's related to how the fight so much, so life must seem kind of…suck ass a lot of the time." Trei said to his friends. They nodded, and Roy popped up with a suggestion.
"They seem to think Heartthrob represents non-conformity. Let's give them a different anthem for that. Makes No Difference isn't too hard, and we all know that one." Roy said, referring to the Sum 41 song. "We can throw Fat Lip in there too. We got a good couple of minutes before Trei lays out some techno." The crowd was a little shaken by the difference in the style of rock, but they liked it just the same. Both kept the same light, upbeat feeling. What's more, a fair number of the audience responded to the anti-conformism message. Even the former Heartthrob fan club of Sakura, Ino, and Ten-ten loved it.
However, the highlight of the evening was yet to come. Trei began to set up his equipment behind a stage curtain while giving out directions to the stage technicians working the lighting. As he did this, Roy gave him an intro.
"What's up people?! Hope you liked the rock! Looks like Heartthrob split, sorry to all the loyalists in the crowd, we didn't want that…ok, I'm lying." The crowd laughed. "Right now, our lead guitar and singer is setting up to show you a whole new kind of music. It's meant to dance too. I can promise you, you have never heard anything like this!" Roy looked backstage to the right, seeing Silas giving him the sign to shut up and let Trei take over. "Ladies and gentlemen….I give you DJ Trei!" He said, running off stage as the curtain lifted.
Trei started off with a typical DJ technique to get some crowd hype. Letting his base beat roll, he grabbed a mike and shouted out. "DJ TREI IS IN THE HOUSE!!" And then let his first song roll. He decided to ensure a good show; he would just play a few famous songs from his world to start off, and then get to the original stuff. Remembering the night before, his first song was Techno Rocker by Base Attack. Silas and Roy were raving, glow sticks and all up on stage. Trei watched as the audience quickly adapted to the beat, and started up. Roy darted off stage to grab the only three girls he knew. It was always good to have a few females on stage. He also had a few pills of E for the whole gang. He made his way back to his new friends, shrugging off praise after praise. His friends too were blown away, and they loved their first experience with techno. He gave out the E to anyone who was willing to try it, which was a good half of the rookie nine. Lee wanted to try it, but Roy decided against it. Ten-ten mentioned how he was drunk, and that made people lose energy. Imagine the horror of a Lee with MORE energy. He grabbed the people Trei had wanted on stage. Sakura, Ino, Ten-ten, and Naruto, replacing Hinata, who was too shy, made their way to the stage.
In about an hour, the pills had kicked inn. Everyone on stage was going insane. The leaf residents looked to Silas and Roy as an example of what they should do. It didn't take them long to figure out that there was no particular style. Just move, have fun, and keep with the beat. The lighting effects were unreal. Trei had the techs sync everything to his turntable, and, using a laptop program Silas had written, he was able to let them run automatically to work with the music. 'Thank god for the nocturnal genius.' Trei thought. What had started as a rock concert had turned into a full blown, hardcore rave. Trei was letting another famous hit, ATC- Around the World (La La La La La).
The entire crowd was blown away for the remainder of the night. Trei featured the best of the best, covering every sub category he could think of. Ferry Corsten – Fire, Cascada- Every Time we Touch, Paul Van Dyk – Crush, David Guetta – Love don't let me Go, Benny Benassi- Satisfaction we're only some of the songs he featured. His original work also inspired a great deal of hype. He did techno remixes of the theme song for "The X-files" as well as one of the 007 theme, not that anyone in the crowd knew that. In the end, the party went until 2 in the morning. The Rookie 9 was still rolling, so they just went somewhere to have a small after party.
"Holy crap, this stuff is awesome, and that music…fucking wow." Kiba said.
"Yeah, Heartthrob's manager thought so too. He offered us a deal. We turned it down, we're not going to be here that long…we think. Anyway, we aren't sell outs." Trei said. Trei was staring at Ino, although he didn't really consciously notice it. Ino did, but didn't say anything.
"Yo, Naruto, is Ino with anyone?" Trei asked.
"She was with Shikamaru, but they split up. Why, you like her?"
"Yeah. I wouldn't mind getting to know her better. Now if you'll excuse me…" Trei spent the rest of the night talking to Ino (and eventually hooking up with her). The effects of E made it rather easy for him. Meanwhile, Naruto was thoroughly enjoying the effects of the drug.Trei had plugged his mp3 player into some speakers, and most of the group was still dancing to it, Naruto included. They taken the pills around 11:30, and it kicked in at twelve, meaning they were all at their peaks. The full moon gave the open training field some good atmosphere.
Sakura was debating in her mind whether or not she should give Naruto a shot, the effects of E allowing her to view every positive aspect of him at once, while conversely comparing him to Sasuke, who, when she thought about it, was just good at fighting. She eventually went with the "Ah hell with it" route and went over to talk to him. A good half hour later, they were making out.
Roy and Silas watched this all play out, laughing their asses off. "How fucked up are these guys man?"
"It's their first time, and Trei took three of the damn things. It's a good thing he miscounted last night." Roy said. Trei, in the dark, had only seen ten of the pills. In actuality he had twice that. "And that he's an idiot." Roy said in jest. Silas laughed.
"So, wait, he's getting with a girl from a completely different world. Isn't there something…I don't know, odd about that?"
"Does it matter? Shit, if it weren't for the fact that I think she would stab me, I would be all over Ten-ten. Funny name…" Roy said. He looked over to Kiba, who was break dancing. "Yeah, he's fucked up."
Trei eventually came back, Ino in tow, and walked up to his friends. "Guys, I fucking love this place." The two agreed, and for the night, it seemed a perfect world. The next day would give the three a glimpse into the harsh reality of it.
