Disclaimer- still don't have any ownership of either series, still trying to have fun while respecting the characters.
Chapter 5 - developments of imagination.
Naruto waited only as long as it took for Raphael to float to the side before he was off like a shot into the open sky.
Barrel rolls, rolling arcs, spirals, flips, sudden stops and rapid changes in direction were punctuated by gales of laughter. Raphael just floated by the edge of the cliff with his arms crossed and grinning.
After Naruto finally finished a series of maneuvers that would have made birds, fish, and fighter pilots jealous, he finally returned to where his new best friend waited. "So how does this work?!"
"You tell me." The white haired boy grins. "All I had to do was tell you it was possible, and you were off like a shot."
Sitting cross-legged in mid air Naruto glares at the other boy. "Say what?"
"This whole world is a product of your imagination." Raphael smirks at Naruto's confusion. "It is like a really vivid dream that you are in control of. If you want to do any of those things for real we have to start considering what restrictions can be bent, and what tricks you can work out with your partner."
"So why couldn't I move at first?" Naruto asks suspiciously.
"You were trying to push against ground that wasn't there." Raphael snickers. "Once you thought of it as flying your perspective shifted."
"So let me ask again." Naruto sighs. "How can it work?"
"Now you get the idea." He grins and points his right hand at Naruto. "The first question to consider is how would you like to move."
"What do you mean, how I would like to move?"
"The devices are designed to bring out your abilities." Raphael spreads his arms wide. "The spells or techniques are created by the user's imagination...within some limits. You can't make fire not burn you, but you can create a layer over your skin that prevents the burning material from actually touching you and reflects radiated heat. The same skill could be used to keep you from loosing heat while flying through the air. For flying the basic skill is a levitation spell that lifts you off the ground."
"This spell is called Flyer Fin." Naruto watches as white wings spring from Raphael's sandals. "The user of the device I am based on created this as a way to move through the air. All of the force comes from the feet just like if you were walking."
"But what about your arms?" Naruto mimes reaching out for a branch "When we go through the trees back home. We can grab onto or push off of a branch to keep moving or change direction." Cringing he continues. "Besides those feathers look girlie."
"So what would you say would be better?" Raphael cocks his head to the side as the wings fold up and disappear from his feet.
"Well like that hurricane dome that I created to follow dad's orders. Couldn't I create rings of wind around my ankles and wrists." The blond says while holding his hands up in the air.
"You do seem to be a wind nature type like The Lord Fourth." The spirit draws the edge of his right hand across the inside of his right wrist. "You have to consider that wind chakra and techniques ultimately cut sharply. How would you protect anything you want to carry in your arms? Or your skin and clothes for that matter."
"I got it dattebayo!" He points at the other boy. "That film you were talking about. I could create layers of chakra that move more slowly and slide past each other until they stop at my skin or clothes. The ones at the wrist don't have to be there all the time I will just drop back to the ones on my ankles when I need to carry stuff." Naruto smirks at a sudden thought. "I could also use them like weapons when I throw punches or kicks."
Raphael nods and grins back. "Why don't you show me and we can work out the technical mechanics."
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7:30 AM December 22
Harlown Apartment, Uminari City, Japan
Non-administered world #97 "Earth"
If Iruka, Jiraya, or Hiruzen Sarutobi were to see the young blond girl walking into the living room dressed in a white school uniform they could be forgiven for wondering what Naruto was up to making a preteen version of his Oiroki no Jutsu. Right up until they looked into her deep maroon eyes, even though the shadow of pain and sadness held in them would still seem quite familiar.
"Good morning Fate!" The girl raises an eyebrow at the overly excited greeting from Amy.
"Morning?" Fate looks across the room at a small red furred canine as Amy rather shakily put cereal, bowls, and milk out on the table. 'Did something happen this morning Arf?'
'She just came back from the ship a minute ago.' The dog mentally responds while shaking her head in shared confusion.
Fate reaches out to touch Amy's shoulder causing the other girl to turn from the table to face her. "Is everything alright Amy-san?"
"There has been a new development in the case." The older girl giggles nervously. "Nothing you need to worry about though."
"If you say so.." Fate says quietly, sitting down she looks behind Amy at Arf. 'Find out whatever you can once I leave for school.' The mini wolf gives a quick Affirmative nod.
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8:00 AM December 22
Bridge of the Arthra
A bright white light appears in the phone booth sized opening of the teleportation gateway at the back of the bridge. As it fades a a petite girl wearing a white lab coat over a Navy blue dress uniform is revealed. "Welcome aboard Mariel, and I apologize for the sudden disturbance."
The girl blinks her almost amber colored eyes, and turns her head to focus her glasses on the green haired woman who addressed her. "It is nothing for you to apologize for admiral, I am happy to help."
Lindy suppresses a smile at the eagerness to see the new devices painted on the young engineer's face. "I have something that I need your expertise and promise of discretion on first."
Mariel glances past the admiral to see that the brown haired young man sitting at the navigation console is well out of ear shot. "My services are at your disposal Admiral, but I can only promise to keep anything you want to reveal secret if it does not pose a threat to dimensional safety and stability."
"Nothing quite so serious as that." The senior officer smiles and motions for the girl to join her in walking from the bridge. "I just need your expert opinion on some readings the medics have taken of our new human guests, and how it might bear on decisions to be made about the devices you are here to examine."
The two of them arrive in the medical bay to find Naruto and Jiraya laid out in separate beds. The admiral motions to the older white haired man. "The medics have already checked them both and found them to be in surprisingly good health." Mari's eyes open wide in surprise at the readings on the man's linker core.
"The regeneration rate is astounding. He could be conscious in a week and nearly back to normal in less then a month." Lindy nods in confirmation of the girl's assessment. "A man his age might never recover from having his linker core drained."
"He seems to be in incredible health in general." Lindy lifts the light sheet off of the bed revealing that Jiraya had been stripped to the waist. "The medics assessment would say he was in excellent condition for a man in his twenties, outstanding for someone more then twice that."
The girl feels a blush rising at the almost predatory look in the fellow young woman's eyes. "Admiral was that all you needed me to check!?" She almost squeaks trying to get the last word out.
"Oh sorry," Lindy spreads the sheet back over the man and turns to the other bed. "I actually need your advice more on the seal this boy carries on his body." She pulls the sheet down to Naruto's waist and runs a sensor device over his navel, an eight pointed magical seal is briefly revealed on his skin. The woman spreads the sheet back over the teen and brings up a floating console showing a reproduction of the seal on the glowing screen.
"We found out from the only conscious an lucid member of our boarding party," Lindy starts with a small smile. "That there is apparently a dangerous magical creature locked within this sealing technique, and that the seal is maintained by just a portion of this boy's magical power. More concerning is that it was weakened and almost breached when they were attacked by the Wolkenritter. Then quickly repaired by a guardian that was bound within the seal itself. I need you to assess its current stability."
Mariel's eyebrows raised quickly at the start of this revelation to the point of almost looking owlish by the end. "If just the first part of that is true this seal is almost as complex in nature as a Mid-Childan intelligent device. It would make it easier to believe the story Amy sempai passed on to me from Levina? that this guardian was a reflection of the seal's creator and made a new device on the fly."
The girl walks up to the screen and places her hands on a glowing keyboard that appeared bellow it. The green haired woman watches as she almost mind numbingly fast runs through displays about the seal, the boy, the fox spirit prisoner, and finally the three devices. Blinking she pauses, "Have you done any scans on the girl yet?"
"I ran a few observation only tests myself before putting her down to sleep." Admiral Lindy smiles at the engineer finally noticing the omission. "I had not included them in the official files yet, but I ruled out her being a direct threat to anything other then attacking a pillow with drool for the time being."
"Well not knowing more about how the spell formulae behind the seal works I can say at least the energy readings are stable from the prisoner." Mariel shakes her head at the sign of maternal indulgence before continuing. "The Kyuubi no Yoko as Levina called it seems to be a mass of mana so large it could rival the maximum output of the Arc-en-ciel. That the boy is able to contain it puts his magical potential well into the SS+ range."
Stepping over to Naruto she continues. "My best guess would be that these devices and Levina herself were created as external keys to reinforce the seal."
"So would you say that refitting the new devices to improve their function would in turn strengthen the seal on this creature?" The admiral asks quietly.
"Undoubtably," Mariel reaches for Naruto's left hand, turning it over she reveals a small opalescent gem nestled into his palm. "I would say the sooner we give them a full diagnostic shakedown the better." With a look of concern on her face she grabs the scanner and runs an analysis of the active processes, seeing the result she giggles in relief.
The admiral walks over to the console and pulls up a video feed of Naruto gleefully flying through the air testing out different ways to use his new flight spell. "Set for this to record for...posterity..." She breaks down giggling when the virtual image of the boy breaks off a series of upside down vertical spins looking nauseous. "I think it is harmless enough to leave them alone for now and work on upgrading the new device, which I authorize you to use whatever parts and resources you deem necessary, but analyze later how the device designated Raphael can be here and in the lab at the same time."
