Chocolate Gold Disclaimers still going :D Feel free to add a character plus his online figure if they have one!
A forest grew in leaps and bounds with green flowing out of every hook and cranny, freshwater springs giving off a cool air and animals lazily spread across the scenery. It was perfectly beautiful in every way but there was only one fault with it.
It actually just consisted of very well-made graphics. But petty things like those did not undermine the amazement and confusion Naruto felt at the moment. Mismatched eyes gaze about in confusion and anger. Anger at the old woman NPC because of her attitude and at himself for his incompetence at knowing nothing about 'Ray'. Confusion at what the old woman had been talking about and about everything in general.
Naruto stood in the middle of a clearing, slowly sinking to his knees and gazing up at the bright blue sky. He reached for the sun and silently wondered about the no-sun-walking rule. He felt lazy and really alive at the same moment, a quiet moment of euphoria. But a sudden voice at the edge of the clearing brought his musings to an end. ''Sir?'' A small voice asked. ''Could you please help me?'' A fragile girl who looked about 14 stood in the shadows with a mask of hidden fear plastered on her face. Naruto's eyes narrowed at the obvious discomfort dread on the girl's face. ''With what?'' he asked. ''I've only just begun on Ray.''
The girl squirmed and asked him to come to the shadows. Naruto mentally hit himself as he remembered that normal players couldn't enter the sun light and slowly walked towards her. His eyes immediately zeroed on the small quivering lump in her arms. ''What is that?'' the tenor voice asked. The girl hugged the object even tighter and said a bit more confidently ''My loyal friend, Taka. In my last fight with another dueler, he got injured by said person in a very under-the-belt kind of way. All the doctors have told me he's dying and even Lady Rose said she couldn't do anything. Although she seemed a bit… off, she grumbled about a Soltactus being here. I've heard about them in The Lore and heard about them being able to heal sicknesses. '' She stopped for a breather and continued ''and I'd like you to help Taka here.'' Naruto was astounded by how much the girl cared for the virtual pet and motioned for her to show him the supposed 'Taka'.
They knelt down beside an old oak which seemed at least a decade old. ''I don't know anything about that, but I'll see what I can do. Maybe while I'm trying to do something, you could tell me more about Ray?'' Naruto asked the strange girl and for the first time took in how strange she looked. She looked as though she was wearing a clown-like ensemble; puffy green and black shorts, overly large black boots with poison green engravings, a green tank top with a nuclear sign on it and a black jacket with a lot of pockets. Her hair was poison green as well and was put up into a high ponytail. She swung a wooden staff over her back with flourish and sat down next to him.
''My name Is Prestige, I'm an Inukaite and my special ability is Radioactivity. No, don't even ask. The power was randomly chosen. As you can see, my Taka is a hybrid bird.'' She opened the small packaged lump and Naruto swallowed in surprise at what the hybrid really was. It was a small black puffy bird with green markings on it as well. What surprised him was the fact that the poor bird had a scale-like quality to its feathers and skin and that it had gills. ''Whoa.'' Naruto murmured as mismatched eyes focused on the gaping hole in its chest that seemed to be expanding.
''What the hell is that?''
Prestige nodded sadly and spoke softly. ''As all hybrids, Taka was made by a bunch of Hackers in the beta stage of Ray. And it seems that the attackers was one of those and wanted this one out of the world before the PMs could take a closer look at it since Taka is one of the last living hybrids.'' She watched in a distressed fashion as Naruto inspected the wound further. Strangely, he knew instinctively what to do and hovered his hand above the sick bird that seemed to not give off any sound except a high pitch gurgle. He hesitated before concentrating. He could feel the power roaming inside him but each time he reached for it, it slipped out of his grasp. The frustrated young man was about to give up until a soft dark voice spoke.
''Don't just give up. You have to want to save the little one before it dies.''
Focusing on that thought, Naruto took the power into his hands and felt it fill his being until he felt as though he was going to explode.
All that Prestige saw, was a black smoke coming out of the bird's wound. She panicked slightly and reached for Naruto. Just in that moment, his eyes snapped open and he compressed the poison into a small ball. Instinct told him to swallow it and he did. Prestige's gray eyes widened in horror as Naruto gulped down the compressed and liquefied death.
She sprung across the short distance and throttled him by his neck. ''ARE YOU CRAZY?'' As she took notice of what she'd done, Prestige backed down and just looked on with a frustrated look. She was grateful of course but the Soltactus still scared the hell out of her. She looked down at Taka and smiled when the bird weakly nudged her hand.
Naruto gazed at his hands in wonder and then felt his neck and stomach since both felt a bit tingly after swallowing the poison. He barely registered Prestige attacking him and finally focused on the small bird again. ''He still needs to be healed. I'm sorry but that's something I cannot do.'' He nodded at the green haired girl and stood up, intending to walk to the next town. He managed to walk a few meters until a loud jingling sounded behind him. Naruto turned around only to have Prestige almost poke his eye out with her wooden staff. ''Watch out where you swing that stick.'' He grumbled but raised an eyebrow at the fully healed Taka on the girl's head.
''Huh?'' was his only intelligent answer.
''I'm an Inukaite. In other words, a healer.'' Prestige said with a twitching eye. ''Plus, where do you think you're going? I still have to repay you for saving Taka!'' Said bird was giving him the evil eye. ''First of all, I was planning to get new clothes. Look at these rags!'' Naruto pointed at his tattered clothes and continued without missing a beat, '' Then I was going to find out more about Ray, the Soltacti and strange bees.''
Prestige nodded with each mentioned thing but stared at Naruto when he said bees. '' What the hell? Bees?'' The wild blond nodded and touched his whiskers softly. ''I actually almost forgot. When I just started, I was attacked by a horde of bees. They injected something into me and I woke up with these etched into my face. Really strange.''
The gray eyed player stared at Naruto and finally shrugged. ''Sorry, can't help you there.'' Prestige laughed awkwardly and then scratched the back of her head. ''Uhm… what's your name, my dear saver?'' Naruto laughed at the girl and grinned, showing off sharp canines and giving off a dangerous aura with his tribal markings.
''Kyuubi.''