Here we go, the battle of Aebra is underway! Each of the clone leaders will be referred to by their unit designation, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Epsilon and Sigma, enjoy, review and enjoy!
Alpha peaked over a crumbling wall from the top of a ruined building, the sight that greeted him was one that caused his blood to nearly boil in anger, Scores of warlords and Gigas' stomped through the destroyed capitol to flush out the last pockets of Kryn resistance... a resistance that was already on it's last legs and as such the majority of the people that the invaders found were the old, sick or young that had been left behind. Their merciless killing of the remaining Kryn was going to come to an end soon, after all Naruto didn't take kindly to anyone picking on someone that can't fight back. 'Well, the boss did say go wild, time to show these cock bites that it was a BAAAAD idea to invade this world.' Tapping the com bud in his ear, Alpha got a hold of his partners in crime, Alpha squad.
"So, ready for me to kick'em in the balls then run?" A bark of laughter from his men was Alpha's only answer and the clone leader prepared to make his move at soon as he heard the signal. Moments later a massive explosion dropped a building on top of a Warlord patrol and Alpha leapt from his hiding spot, wind chakra gathering around his arm as he fell towards a now immobile Gigas directly below him. "Futon: RASENGAN!" The wind enhanced spiraling sphere of destruction tore through the armor as if it was nonexistent, decimating the walker and tossing parts as far as the eye could see. All of the once patrolling enemies now focused on Alpha, who grinned cockily as he gave them all a one finger salute and spun around, his chakra enhanced speed sending him flying down the ruined street with his enemies hot on his heels. Alpha smirked as he passed a darkened alleyway, feeling the presences of multiple members of his command waiting in the shadows for the next part of the plan. Alpha continued to run until he reached a blocked section of the road that his men had found earlier, a office building having collapsed during the attack was cutting off the street. As Alpha acted as if he was trying to get through the roadblock several squads of Warlords appeared, along with their accompanying Gigas' and slowly approached, wary of the attack Alpha had used previously. All of the mech's stopped and looked above them, prompting Alpha to do the same and the clone internally smirked. 'Well well, this trap appears to have worked better than I imagined. Looks like we got one of the leaders to come out of hiding.'
Alpha watched as a man clothed in a black full body suit slowly floated to the ground, his bone white armor casting a terrifying image... if you weren't a veteran shinobi like Naruto that is. As the male landed he stood in front of his forces, arms crossed as he looked at their cornered troublemaker.
"You are not a Kryn."
Alpha's left eyebrow rose and he slowly clapped as he responded to the being before him. "Wow, didja have to use all your intelligence to figure that one out? Good job buddy, was it the lack of fur that gave me away? How about I get you to tell me if it's still daytime, or maybe if I'm in a city... no dumbass, I am not a Kryn, so what?" At the man's growl, Alpha knew he had hit a nerve and the clone grinned internally once more, surprised at how easy it was to rile the warrior before him. A triple click over his earbud let Alpha know the trap was set but he gave a signal to wait, wanting to see if he could get any info first.
"Silence whelp! Where did you come from and why do you interfere with our mission? The Kryn belong to the Dynasty and no one shall stop us from claiming our rightful place in the galaxy and our rightful property! I, Krio, will see to your slow and agonizing death for your temerity!"
Alpha grinned cheekily as he lowered himself into a battle ready stance, raising his hand and giving a come hither motion. "Well, what are you all waiting for then, I'll take you all on, bring it!" Krio's growl rose in volume then suddenly cut off as Alpha felt energy begin to collect around the now enraged man, a visible aura of power surrounding him as his power grew rapidly. A moment later Krio launched himself at Alpha, the warrior skimming along the destroyed street as he neared his target. Alpha stood his ground, the grin he wore never faltering and as Krio entered his range he only responded with one word.
"Now."
Massive explosions tore through several buildings at the entrance of the street Alpha had led everyone to, causing the structures to collapse and cut off the escape route for the Warlords and the Gigas'. Krio's charge faltered, the explosions shockwave slamming him into the ground. As the fallen warrior stood, Krio shook his head and spun around and saw the street was now bathed in orange light from the burning husks of the fallen buildings, a feeling of worry slowly growing inside of him. As the Dynasty leader growled in frustration at the newest wrinkle in his patrol, Krio detected signs of movement to his left, but when he whipped his head in that direction all he could see were shadows. A sound of falling rubble behind Krio had him whipping his head to the right and more shadowed beings were briefly caught in his vision before they also vanished, causing the warrior to fall back with his cadre.
"Show yourselves cowards! Only the truly weak and craven hide in shadows when they should step into the light and fight as warriors!" As one, the unknown beings that had surrounded his cadre stepped into the light, causing Krio's worry to increase as he looked at dozens of people... all of them identical to the man they had 'trapped'. The once confident warrior began to back away slowly, hoping that what his eyes were seeing was just an illusion. Alpha grinned as he dramatically raised his arm and gestured with his hand towards the Dynasty troops, finally ready to give give the orders his fellow clones had been waiting for.
"Operation: ASSKICKING has commenced! Alright guys, let'em have it! FOR THE GLORY OF THE LOG!"
Chapter 13
Riogen was perched stoically on the remains of one of the tallest towers in the once pristine capitol, the once gleaming edifice now broken and twisted, a parody of it's once awe inspiring splendor. The man sighed as the part of Riogen that was a sage wept at the damage and slaughter he and his people had wrought on this world and it's people, but the part of himself that was of the Dynasty strengthened his resolve to press on. Just as he was about to make his way to another part of the city and continue his patrol of the subjugated sectors, a panicked cry caught his attention and forced him to stay, recognizing the voice and hearing the fear expressed in it's cry. Moments later Ariel, his niece, landed on the shattered wall and panted as she caught her breath.
"I...I bring news from my father...h-he's under attack, a large force of extremely dangerous, identical beings that are not Kryn have entrapped him and his cadre!" Just as Riogen was about to respond, his senses were screaming at him, telling the sage that he should flee immediately! Racing towards his niece, Riogen ignored her shocked protests, grabbed her around her torso and flung them both off of the top of the tower. A moment later Riogen knew that he had been right in listening to his instincts as a massive explosion rocked the tower they had stood upon, brilliant flames shooting high into the sky and causing parts of the destroyed tower to fall, the heavy debris hitting the two falling members of the Dynasty. The heat from the flames were so intense that even as the pair fell towards the ground they flinched as they felt it, but it was a passing worry as Riogen managed to phase out of existence, carrying himself and Ariel away to a safer location and hoping to lose their new adversaries. Seconds after Riogen and Ariel disappeared Beta and a small number of his unit stepped into the light, their vantage point having been across from the now merrily burning tower and grinned as they realized the two members of the Dynasty were running and were completely unaware of what kind of torture they were in for. Moments later this part of the capitol was once again abandoned, the only evidence of anything having been in the area recently was the slowly dying flames atop the once proud tower.
Riogen crashed to the ground, rolling to absorb the impact and spare his passenger from the pain it brought. Ariel shakily rose to her feet, help her uncle rise since the distance traveling with a companion like he had was a draining task. Looking around, Ariel let out a sigh of relief when she saw that Riogen's teleportation had deposited them in the main supply camp of the Dynasty. Several Warlords immediately made their way towards the pair but they were stopped by a low growl and a glare from Ariel as she helped her uncle towards the command center. 'Teleporting both of us has drained him significantly, but we have no time for to waste! If we wait, then all that we have gained on this planet will be lost!' As the pair reached the command center they stopped and stared as they stepped into uncontrolled chaos, communiques flooding in on the current situation and they were all saying the same thing. Rioldo and Ilriel had been left to coordinate between the multiple cadres that were deployed in the city and the pair had done an admirable job as the campaign had progressed. But now, now it appeared that all they were doing was trying to hold onto the threads of a rapidly unraveling tapestry and failing at said task miserably.
"Warlord's under heavy fire at the palace entrance! All Gigas units have been destroyed! We cannot hold them off much longer!"
"This is Riokai, my warlords and Gigas' had discovered the last remaining pockets of hidden Kryn but the moment we attempted to strike at them we were ambushed! Severe casualties, I am requesting immediate support!"
"Th-this is K-Krio... They came f-from the sha-shadows... my cadre is gone... m-must r-run, they hold immense power and they just... keep... coming!"
Riogen growled as he looked at the map table that had been setup, each communique causing the system to update the situation from the reported sector. Riogen slammed a fist in to the edge of the map table, the majority of the city showing as a red zone and very few areas that were still pacified pacified were displayed in a tranquil green. An hour ago when Riogen had checked this very map the entire city had been green except for a few isolated hot spots that would be pacified within the next day. Now the majority of the map was a brilliant red and as Riogen continued to watch that same damning color continued to spread slowly, like an unstoppable tidal wave that was soon to wash over all of the Dynasty's endeavors on the planet.
"Well, it's nice to see that my work is appreciated and recognized. I guess it's a trait of MY family after all... I mean my dad had a flee on sight order and someone I'm guessing is pretty high up in your 'family' is basically saying the same about me... hmmm, I wonder if when I have my own kids they'll be the same? Heh, who am I kidding, of course they will be! My kids will be so badass!" Each member of the Dynasty froze at the unfamiliar voice directly behind them and the four slowly turned around, curious at who and what this upstart was. Golden blonde hair, ocean blue eyes, whisker like birthmarks and a wildly grinning face met the heated glared of Riogen and his kin, the stranger appearing to not have a care in the world let alone be someone that was systematically destroying the remnants of what was once a galaxy wide empire and it's complete rout of the population of the planet. "So, from what I can tell this is the only supply depot you have left on the planet, is that correct?" Each of the Dynasty members before this man stiffened at the question, wondering what he had planned next.
"Well, I'd say that your reactions would tell me that yes, that's true. Great, looks like we can concentrate here and go with the maximum effect. OK GUYS, SPREAD OUT!" Rioldo and Riogen watched as multiple shadowy figures appeared and began landing in multiple locations around the depot, while Ariel and Ilriel were both captivated by the sight of the man before them. "Now, you four have exactly ten seconds before my buddies are in position and we blow this place sky high." Riogen stared at the man before him, his fatigue temporarily forgotten as he glared at the new adversary before him.
"I have a feeling that you are bluffing, the amount of explosives needed to reduce this outpost to ash are more than you could possibly carry! Even with thousands of copies of yourself the task of destroying this camp is beyond you!"
Epsilon's second in command laughed heartily and put his hands behind his head. "Please, you expect us to destroy everything here by hand? You're right, if we were using conventional explosives then yeah, it'd be impossible, but the stuff we got? Way more powerful and effective for this type of work."
Riogen's eyes narrowed as he looked at the man before him, seeing no obvious signs of explosive material and as such he wondered how the man could be so confident that he would succeed in the destruction of the camp. "You seem to be missing a vital component then as I see nothing that can be used to seal our doom."
"You're right, we don't have anything on us that will blow up. That's because WE are the explosives."
Riogen's eyes widened as he and Rioldo teleported the woman and themselves away, moments before the multitude of blasts turned the camp into a crater.
With Naruto and CO
"ARRGGH!" Naruto screamed suddenly and fell to his knees, clutching his head in apparent agony as the others immediately gathered around him, their worry for Naruto was so great that no one noticed a massive mushroom cloud rising in the sky but they did notice the weakened blast wave shaking the ground they stood upon. Both Gina and Brianna tried to get him to look up while everyone else was speaking loudly about the tremor and not helping with the immense migraine that Naruto was feeling. Naruto held up a hand to ward everyone off as he shakily reached for the com bud in his ear. "G-guys? WHAT THE HELL DID I SAY ABOUT DISPELLING SO MANY CLONES AT ONCE?! HUH? NO MORE THAN 10 AT A TIME UNLESS SOMETHING THAT IS UNAVOIDABLE, UNDERSTOOD?!" Naruto cocked his head to the side as he listened to the response and nodded with a self satisfied expression. "Oh...well alright, I'll accept it this one time since you did take out the entire supply depot. And you got the people out Gamma? Awesome. Epsilon, Gamma, both of your remaining members are now on cleanup duty with Alpha and Beta as your primary objectives have been accomplished, hunt down any remaining enemies in the city and terminate with extreme prejudice. And Sigma... really? Well carry on then, we wouldn't want them to think they got away with all of this now would we?" Naruto lowered his hand, wiped a trail of blood leaking from his nose and and finally accepted the help of his girlfriends as he rose. All of his friends were looking at him for an explanation but the only thing that his response did was cause more confusion. "Heheheheheh... You'll all have to wait to see this, it's gonna be great."
Naruto and his group were standing on a ledge several kilometers from the capitol, following a strange signal that had begun transmitting the moment they had landed. Thinking that it could be a signal from Stripe, the group had started to make their way towards the source of the transmission. As Naruto looked towards the valley where the signal was located he had a sudden influx of memories from Sigma, memories that made him grin ferally at the chaos his clones were preparing.
With the Sigma's
Sigma grinned as he finally found a way inside their objective, his remaining thousand clones quickly entering the structure. 'It took some doing and a thousand clones were sacrificed, but this... this will be the biggest wake up call to never set foot in this part of space ever again.' Each of the remaining clones separated into smaller teams of twenty and each quickly chose a leader that conferred directly with Sigma on the next stage of their plan. After the brief planning session each leader went back their group and they all disappeared, leaving Sigma to wonder where he should go from here. 'Well, I guess I could hang around and make sure there are no complications.' Sigma leapt towards the ceiling and disappeared silently into the ventilation system just as a team of warlords appeared, leaving no trace that the corridor had been inhabited recently.
With the remaining clones of Gamma and Epsilon
Gamma was the last remaining member of his team, all of his other clones had sacrificed themselves as shields to get the remaining Kryn to safety or had directly attacked the Dynasty troops that were trying to capture the Kryn, giving the fleeing Kryn time to escape. Apparently the Dynasty needed the Kryn for something called a Soul Furnace, the very name causing Gamma to label it as a 'Very bad thing'. Gamma was the only one to actually survive as he was a very special type of clone, he was the sole Sage clone that Naruto made as an advanced sensor type, enabling his group to proceed with thei mission of find the hiding Kryn more easily than if they had to do it the old fashioned way, the enhanced clone also had the extra durability of sage mode and this was the reason that he was still alive, even after taking hits that would have destroyed any other clone. Leaping from building to building, Gamma was homing in on the position of his fellow clone commanders, seeing plumes of smoke and explosions as he neared the battlefield. 'Well, time to go and do some damage.'
As Gamma leapt towards another building Epsilon appeared with the remainder of his troops, a few hundred of the Bunshin Daibakuha that Naruto had made managed to survive since they hadn't been needed destroy the supply depot. Both clone leaders nodded at each other and leapt into the current fray, working on sowing chaos among the enemy troops and doing their best to drive the enemy back to it's ship hovering silently over the destroyed capitol.
Back with Naruto and the others
Naruto created several clones and motioned for his friends to wait for his all clear. Leaping from the clifftop Naruto felt the wind ripping at his clothes, the freedom of free fall causing the shinobi to whoop internally. A mere fifty meters from the ground Naruto activated his armor's flight mode, the chakra powered thrusters breaking his fall and holding him aloft a mere meter off the ground for several moments. As the shinobi cut all power to his thrusters he fell to the ground and scanned the area for possible traps or ambush points, not wanting a repeat of what happened to him in orbit. Once he was satisfied that the coast was clear Naruto dismissed his flight armor back to hyperspace and motioned to his clones that were waiting above. Naruto watched as his clones gave his friends a ride to the valley floor, even Brianna in her flight capable armor got a ride down with a clone. 'Heh, like she'd pass up an opportunity to be carried around like a princess, so spoiled.'
Naruto grinned as he and his team closed in on the elusive signal, wondering if it actually could be Stripe. As the group drew closer to the apparent source of the transmission Naruto began to reach for his beam sabers, having an niggling idea that the signal wasn't what they thought it was. A long trench of torn up trees and earth was his first clue that this probably wasn't Stripe and moments later his assumption was proven true. The smoking crater that they found stood over did contain someone that they were familiar with, the still body of the woman that tried to vaporize them in orbit was laying in the trench her re-entry had caused. Naruto looked at Gina when everyone heard a high powered whine, causing everyone to look up at Brianna as she her plasma cannon at the unconscious woman's temple. Brianna realized that everyone was looking at her and she sighed in exasperation, the cannon never wavering from it's target.
"Oh come on, I'm just covering her if she moves! Gina, are you sure the signal is coming from her?" Gina stepped forward with her tricorder and began running scans on the prone woman, nodding her head after a moment.
"Yep, it's coming from her alright, but there's something strange going on... AHHHH!" Gina fell away from the comatose woman as she suddenly sat up, causing Naruto to race forward and hold an activated beam saber across her neck, one of the clones grabbing Gina and pulling her away from the dangerous alien. "Give me a reason to not cut your throat, you just tried to kill my girlfriends...oh yeah, and our friends too!"
"Please, you do not need to use that weapon on Uriel, she is quite unconscious and will be for some time. The combination of your multiple attacks have placed Uriel into a state of hibernation for the time being, that is until she can regenerate a significant portion of her life force that was used to protect her as she fell from orbit." Everyone immediately froze and looked towards the source of the mechanical voice they had just heard, all eyes focusing on Gina's tricorder. Gina's eyes widened as she looked at the item in her hand, her mouth hanging open in shock. Naruto pointed his beam saber at the tricorder in shock gestured wildly with his free hand at the now vocal piece of equipment. "AH HAH! I knew that they were real! Rogue AI's have infected these people and they are jumping to any and all equipment that can house their consciousness! Quick, we need to disable the ship to stop them from leaving the planet!" Gina looked at her boyfriend with a deadpan stare and turned to Brianna.
"Brianna, your closer, you get to do it." Brianna nodded as she hauled back and slapped Naruto across the back of his head, pitching the shinobi forward. Naruto winced as he rubbed the now tender back of his head and glared at Brianna.
"OW! What the heck was that for?"
"Naruto, what did we tell you when you saw that online? AI's don't work that way, now calm down. I have a feeling that we may have found what was looking for us." Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and pouted, a look that caused Gina and Brianna to squeal internally, each thinking the same thought.
'He can be an idiot sometimes, but he's my cute idiot.'
"Correct, we are the origin of the signal that you have been following since landing on this planet. We have been given an amazing opportunity to communicate with another species for the first time, this is truly remarkable! Allow me to introduce ourselves, we are the symbiotic implants used by the Dynasty to control their vast powers, normally we are unable to communicate with others but due to Uriel being unconscious and your scanner's capabilities we are provided with a unique opportunity to speak with you."
Gina fell to her knees in awe as she looked at Uriel and then back at her tricorder. "Jinkies... you're the armor's computer?"
"Correct Ms Diggers, but we prefer to be called Symbiots. Now, let me see... ah, how sad, I see that you have come to this planet looking for your companion, Stripe'Gia. Truly a sad end to a brave man."
Everyone quickly looked towards Brittany and saw tears forming in her eyes as she ran forward, grabbed the tricorder from Gina's hands and growled. "What do you mean? What happened to Stripe!"
"When Stripe'Gia arrived, we began to feel hope, hope that some finally would be able to break the Dynasty's hold on this planet and free it's people. He fought valiantly but in the end it was inevitable. Stripe'Gia met his end at the hands of the forces of the Dynasty, his body was never found after the final battle even after several of the Dynasty leaders searched for it, hoping to discover how exactly he wielded such power." Brittany fell to her knees, the tricorder softly landing on the ground as it slipped through her fingers and the tears that had been pooling in her eyes finally cascaded down her cheeks. Brianna knelt beside her sister and pulled her into her arms, comforting the distraught woman as Gina grabbed the tricorder, tears threatening to fall as she tried to hold them in. Naruto wrapped his arm around Gina's waist from behind, offering support in the only way he could as the young genius calmed down, knowing that they had to press on, leaving the planet in it's current state was not an option.
"How do we stop the Dynasty?"
Rio, Father of the Dynasty floated above his final destination, the largest volcano on all of Aebra. 'Finally, the focus will soon be mine. Between the chattel we have reacquired on this world as well as the power of the foci, our might will reach the levels they had once been at the height of our power.' Lowering himself into the central vent of the volcano Rio nodded slowly as he mentally reviewed the necessary placement of the ether anchors he needed to suck th focus of the planet dry. 'Soon... soon I will be whole once more.'
Back with Naruto and co
"So, let me see if I'm missing anything. The Dynasty were part of a race of super powerful beings known as Gardeners, beings that tended to whole planets and civilizations. But something made some of them go nuts and begin to enslave whole planets and they tried to gain control of something called the Foci. They then turned on their own race, killing them all except their own family. Is that right so far?"
"Correct Gina, you have managed to summarize the situation quite well to this point."
"Thanks, so where was I? Oh yeah, so for three million years the Dynasty plundered and pillaged countless worlds and races. Finally you found a way to stop them, a series of artifacts that could stand up to the awesome powers that you and your symbiots were empowering the Dynasty with. The Dynasty thought that these weapons were a prelude to an invasion of another elder race that wanted to destroy them and the galaxy, so they did the only thing they could, run and hide in Quasi-space, the ultimate briar patch this side of the milky way and they got lost... until now."
"You are correct Gina, that is the present situation we are in. And now the planet Aebra is besieged, it's Focus and it's inhabitants the final goal of Rio and his kin." Gina sighed as she looked towards her friends, seeing looks of shock and sadness at the history of their enemies. Naruto was crouching beside Uriel on the off chance she woke up, but as the young shinobi looked towards Gina her expression of hopelessness tugging at his heart. Sighing the shinobi rose to his feet and walked towards Gina, holding her close as he kissed the top of her head.
"So, where is he now?" Brittany looked over at Naruto as she asked this question, her anger literally rolling off of her in waves as she waited for the location of the man that took Stripe from her.
"We have determined the planetary Focus is located in a vol... oh no, it appears we have some unwanted guests, a Dynasty cadre is approaching!" Naruto immediately looked at the entrance to the valley and saw a pair of Gigas walkers enter, followed by several warlords. As the mechanoids spread out, hoping to surround the cornered beings before them, Naruto turned to Brittany and Brianna and grinned. "I got the big guys, the rest are yours!" Naruto leapt into the fray, bouncing from boulder to boulder towards the massive walkers, intent on causing as much damage as he could. Brianna raised her cannon and began to fire at the advancing warlords, forcing them to slow their advance, leaving them easy pickings for a enraged Brittany's hand to hand combat skills.
Naruto reached the first Gigas and raised his hand, a rasengan rapidly forming as he dodged the lumbering strike of the mobile armor. Jumping on the walker's arm as it tried to pull it's fist from the ground, Naruto ran up the appendage and leapt into the air, coming down on the head of the doomed mechanoid. The shrill shriek of tortured metal was a preview to the head of the mech blowing apart, multiple pieces scattering across the valley like shrapnel. Naruto rode the falling mech to the ground, pulling his arm free of the smoking wreckage and turned to find his other opponent, the view before him causing him to see red.
The final Gigas had sprinted ahead, straight for his friends and family, intent on at least destroying the comrades of the most significant threat to it's cadre. Brittany was tied up dodgeing fire from the few remaining warlords and was unable to come to her sister's aid as Brianna fired as quickly as her cannon could cycle and the Vaultron Force were pulling some tricks out of their bag of magic, freezing the charging mech in it's tracks. But it was a short victory as the Gigas quickly broke free, batting the gestalt and Brianna to the side as it reached for the now unprotected Penny, Ace and Gina. Naruto was about to teleport when he felt a familiar presence and grinned, having a feeling that everything was under control.
Ace stood in front of a petrified Gina and Penny as the massive hand reached for them, when a beam of focused flames lashed out from a nearby cliff, severing the head of the mech and dropping it's destroyed remains to the ground. All eyes focused on the direction that final attack had come from and they all froze at the sight before them. Brittany's eyes teared up as she began to run towards the being that was slowly floating to the floor of the valley, her heart hoping that her eyes weren't playing tricks on her. As the young Kryn settled down on the valley floor, Brittany pulled him into a bone crushing hug as she sobbed, her tears finally slowing as she felt his arms wrap around her in response. Looking up, Brittany smiled warmly at the man that had captured her heart, kissing him with all the pent up emotion of the last several months that he had been missing and then burying her head in his chest, refusing to let him go again.
"STRIPE!"
On the Citadel-Ship
Riel stood at her customary place in the Dynasty's citadel-ship, the large viewport giving the matriarch of the Dynasty an unobstructed view of the last remaining Kryn city. 'Once we have crushed the remaining opposition here then we can complete the process of draining the focus of this world and we will then be unstoppable once more.' A soft chime signaled that one or more of Riel's children were returning via teleportation, causing the matriarch to turn away from the vista to greet her children. Their were four of them according to her implants, all of them having not moved from the teleportation platform but before Riel could even open her mouth she could see something was amiss due to the fact that only Riogen was standing, the others passed out at the sage's feet. "Riogen? What has happened my son?"
"Mother... we've lost the city. An alien attack force landed on the planet and tore through our defenses as if they were nonexistent. Our army is now in tatters and we have lost all that we had controlled no more than two hours ago. The most bizarre thing of all is all of the assailants are completely identical, to the last detail and as each of them fell they disappeared in a cloud of smoke. We couldn't stop him..." Riogen fell to his knees, the entire ordeal finally overwhelming him, allowing the young man to miss the furious gaze of his mother. Riel raised her hand, using her powers to move the four prone bodies and then stepped on the teleportation pad, knowing that she needed to warn her husband that their plans were not proceeding as they had foreseen.
Back with Naruto
Naruto grinned as he watched Brittany bouncing excitedly as she held onto her fiancee, her previous mood of despair finally broken when she had seen the Kryn Prince appear. Naruto looked over at the ridge line and saw someone standing at the top of the cliff, looking down at the group in the valley. 'Hmmm, I'm guessing she's with Stripe... well, may as well provide a helping hand.' Naruto summoned his flight armor and soared to the top of the cliff, startling the woman that had been watching the reunion of the two lovers as he landed before her.
"Whoa, sorry I startled ya! Name's Naruto, I thought I'd give you a hand down the cliff..." Naruto trailed off as the female Kryn slowly rose several inches in the air and smirked at the now silent shinobi. Naruto sighed and adopted a deadpan expression while looking at the now hovering alien. "Of course, you can fly... this always happens, I always end up making an ass out of myself when I meet someone new." Naruto grinned at the giggle that burst form the floating woman's mouth and saluted with two fingers, causing her to continue giggling at Naruto's silly actions. Just as Naruto was about to open his mouth again a flash of light behind the floating woman caused the shinobi's joking facade to immediately change to a serious expression, a tri kunai suddenly appearing in his hand as his flight armor disappeared in a flash of light. As Naruto prepared to throw the weapon the floating Kryn's eyes widened in shock and she thrust her hand forward, a blast of telekinetic energy flinging Naruto towards the edge of the cliff. Naruto gritted his teeth and let the blade fly from his hand, confused at the horrified look on the face of the woman that had just thrown him off the cliff. Just as he started to fall towards the valley floor, positive that they would hit their mark. Naruto waited a moment and when he felt a pulse of chakra he teleported to the marker that he had thrown, landing behind the Warlord that had snuck up on them. Holding his hand up Naruto quickly formed a rasengan and slammed it into the back of the Warlord, the squeal of tortured metal behind the woman causing her to spin around and stare at the destroyed remains of the Warlord, realizing that if Naruto hadn't been there she could have been attacked.. Naruto stood up again, his expression cheerful once more and he folded his arms over his chest. "Ok, how about we try that again, this time without throwing me off the cliff. Name's Naruto, you are?"
Naruto watched as the young woman looked down, seemingly ashamed at her actions. Naruto sighed as he walked towards the woman and flicked her in the forehead, causing her to squawk indignantly at the grinning face now directly in front of her. "Relax, it takes a lot more than being thrown off a cliff to faze me, so are you going to tell me your name or do I have to make up one for you?"
The woman looked up at Naruto's grinning face, looked away bashfully and finally muttered, "Jaliera, Archon of the Kryn." Naruto frowned at the unfamiliar title and slowly stroked his chin in thought.
"Archon? What the heck is an Archon? Actually, hold that thought." Naruto bent down and picked up the woman in a bridal carry, causing Jaliera to eep cutely and look at him in shock. "We'll fly and talk at the same time, there could be more of those guys hiding around here and I don't want you getting hurt." A quick change into flight mode again and Naruto launched himself into the air, landing near his friends. As the blonde landed he noticed that both of his girlfriends gaze's immediately locked onto the woman in his arms and Naruto heard a low growl in stereo. 'Uh oh.' Naruto quickly put Jaliera down and backed away, hoping that the girls wouldn't blow up on him. Both Gina and Brianna stalked towards Naruto, each latching onto an arm and glaring at the new arrival.
"Naru, who is this?" Naruto gulped loudly as Gina looked over at him, waiting for an answer to her question.
"Uhh..." Naruto's explanation was cut off as he tensed up at the third pair of arms that grabbed onto him, the shocked shinobi looking down at the woman he had saved in surprise, her heated glare flicking back and forth between the Diggers sisters.
"My name is Jaliera , please stop trying to browbeat the man that just saved my life. Naruto, who are these girls and why are they clinging to you like that?" Naruto began to sweat as Jaliera slowly tightened her arms around his neck, not leaving him any option of escape.
'Ah shit, I'm in BIG trouble...' Chuckling nervously, Naruto's nervous gaze met the Digger's sister's heated glares and the young man gulped as he looked at the woman hanging off of his neck. "Um, they're my..."
Brianna clung tightly to Naruto's arm and growled softly. "We're his girlfriends, now back off!"
Jaliera looked at both girls, then back at Naruto and grinned slyly, causing the trapped Shinobi to sweat as she pressed her body against the stiff man in her arms. 'Escape! Gotta escape! I could...yeah, I can kawarimi away, the log be praised as it delivers it's salvation unto me! Oh... oh hang on, that feels REALLY good... NO! Resist the temptation to feel good, man! Run you fool, run!' Naruto finally managed to free himself, his Kawarimi causing all the girls to hold onto a very large log with a death grip. The moment Naruto was free he immediately summoned his flight armor and rapidly said, I'MMAGONNAGOSCOUTTHEAREA!" This said, Naruto immediately took to the air, getting away from the terrifying feeling of jealously radiating off of all three women.
Moments after Naruto ran... I mean, began his scouting expedition, a loud cracking sound was heard as the log the three woman had been gripping succumbed to the intense pressure of their grips, disintegrating into slivers of mutilated wood. All three women then glared at each other, arcs of electricity flashing between their eyes and causing Penny and the others to back away.
"IT'S YOUR FAULT THAT NARU/STUD/NARUTO RAN OFF!" Penny sighed and slapped a hand over her eyes, wondering how this all could happen. As the three woman began to argue loudly Stripe separated himself from Brittany and walked towards them, clearing his throat loudly. All three women ignored him and continued to argue, Brianna and Gina's patience finally breaking as the reached for their weapons and an aura of energy surrounded Jaliera. Stripe sighed, took a deep breath and whistled sharply, causing everyone to stare at him.
"Now that I have everyone's attention, we have bigger things to worry about than who gets Naruto, like the planet being sucked dry of it's energy and my people being enslaved." Gina and Brianna looked at each other for a moment, and sighed as they holstered their weapons again. Stripe looked at Jaliera pointedly and the woman nodded, her aura vanishing as she turned to face everyone.
"Stripe is correct, we will settle this later. The architect of this entire battle is at the planetary focus right now, preparing to absorb the energy he needs to revive his diminished powers. Stripe, you know what to do. I'll send Naruto after you, it's up to the both of you now." Brittany eyes widened and she rushed forward but it was too late, Stripe had already disappeared in a flash of energy. All eyes focused on Jaliera, causing the woman to sigh as she faced the upcoming inquisition.
"As I said, I am Jaliera, Archon of the Kryn. I was the one that saved Stripe'Gia from his apparent death, creating a mental projection for the enemy to 'kill'. With the help of knowledge passed down by our ancestors I assisted Stripe in grafting his artifacts to his very being, allowing him to harness their power so that he could be the champion for our people that he was meant to be. I am glad to have finally met you all, your coming has been foretold for many years. And I must thank you, it's not every day a ruler's potential husband is delivered to her very feet by her competition."
Gina and Brianna's jaws immediately dropped at the words that Jaliera uttered, understanding who the woman was when she mentioned that she was an Archon. Brittany growled angrily and stepped forward, jabbing her finger into the shorter woman's sternum and leaned in untilwas right in Jaliera's face. "If you think I'm going to hand Stripe over to you..." Brittany's furious expression wavered at Jaliera's laughed lightly in response to what was said.
"Oh Brittany... I'm not talking about Stripe."
Naruto sighed again as he continued his flight over the devastated countryside of Aebra, wondering how complicated his life would get. 'First fifteen thousand years of my life, I couldn't make a real relationship work even if it was handed to me on a golden platter. Now I have two girlfriends and apparently a third girl is interested in me. Why kami, why me?!' Naruto landed on the ground, dismissing his helmet and allowing a cool breeze to ruffle his hair. Several moments later a soft chime grabbed his attention and Naruto growled, re-summoning his helmet , watching as Yang appeared in the HUD and grinned at him mischievously.
"So, I see two girls aren't enough for you eh? Your getting a call from Jaliera, she seems real interested in talking to you." Naruto hung his head as Yang activated the com system.
"Naruto? Sorry about what happened back there, but I needed you to leave your group for a little while, me and the girls had something to... discuss. Anyways, Stripe has gone after Rio, the Father of the Dynasty. You'll find them both at an inactive volcano to the south, I'm uploading the co-ordinates to your A.I and she will be able to guide you there. Good luck and we'll talk afterwards." Before Naruto could say a word the com link was broken and a flashing marker appeared on Naruto's HUD. As the Shinobi did a aerial u-turn and rocketed towards the coordinates he had received, he wondered what was happening with the others at that moment.
Jaliera lowered her com device and grinned cheekily at the Diggers sisters and their current predicaments. Gina growled and struggled futilely as she tried to escape Ace's tight grip and Brianna was trying to reach for Jaliera but was stopped cold as Brittany pushed her to the ground, not letting the half were cheetah have even a chance to use her enhanced strength on the alien woman before them. 'Well, this turned out about how I expected it to.' Penny sighed and stood in front of Jaliera, blocking the Digger's sister's view of the woman and causing them to stop struggling in confusion.
"Alright, that's enough! Everyone is going to calm down and act like a civilized person, that means both of you need to stop trying to kill the the leader of the Kryn for trying to steal your boyfriend. First off, how do you even know that Naruto is your 'potential husband' as you put it?" Gina and Brianna looked at each other and sighed, their friends and family releasing them as they waited for Jaliera's response.
Jaliera smiled softly as she touched her fingers to the middle of her forehead, a glowing symbol appearing at the point of contact. "Throughout our history the Kryn have created multiple artifacts, each with their own distinct powers and skills. When I took my place as the ruler of the Kryn I was tested to prove that I was the correct choice, my final test guided me to the artifact that would be bonded to me for the rest of my life. This artifact, the Eye of Clarity, allows me to see the possible paths of the present and short glimpses of the future, it is supposed to also allow it's bearer to see parts of the past as well but I have only been able to see one person's history with it, I'm sure you girls can guess who it was. All I know is that Naruto and I have some form of connection and many paths are opened now that we have met, including several where we are married." Jaliera looked towards the south and shed several tears, raising a hand to wipe the moisture from her eyes.
"And there are even a few that show me his death, one which could occur this very day."
Southern Ridge, location of the Planetary Focus
Rio folded his arms as he stretched his senses across the dormant volcano, feeling the teeming energy that was nearly withing his grasp. A flare of power caused the father of the Dynasty to smile as he looked above, seeing his wife Riel float down and settle on a ledge above him. "Ah, my lady, I see you have come to witness our final triumph."
"Husband, there is something amiss on this world. An unknown warrior that decimates our troops is running unchecked through the city, I fear he will attempt to stop you. Already he has incapacitated several of our children, all of whom are recovering on the Citadel ship as we speak." Rio's eyes narrowed as he turned back to the ether anchors, raising his hands and concentrating on the flow of energy that surrounded him, deciding that he had waited long enough.
"RIO! STOP THIS MADNESS!" Rio opened his eyes and slowly turned around, his gaze settling on the young Kryn Prince, Stripe.
"Ah, the young Prince, I see the reports of your death have been greatly exaggerated. Allow me to resolve that!" Rio raised his hands and a blast of energy slammed into the startled Stripe, throwing him to the ground. Rio vanished and a moment later he crouched at the side of the fallen Stripe, grasping his neck and stood up, holding the weakened Kryn aloft.
"The audacity! You dare confront me? Your arrogance shall be your undoing, insect!" Rio's hand was glowing brightly with power as he thrust it into Stripe's stomach, sending the Kryn crashing towards the far wall where he lay in a crumpled heap. Stripe groaned as he stood shakily, gathering the last of his power and preparing for what may be his last action in this life as he flew towards Rio, his entire being focused on his final strike. Rio smirked as he raised his hand, a force barrier stopping the reckless charge towards him. Reaching down Rio grasped the top of Stripe's head and held him up once more.
"Farewell young prince, you should have known that it was futile to challenge your betters." Rio pressed his hand to Stripe's chest and delivered a point blank blast of ethereal energy and turned away from the falling body, a look of satisfaction as he removed this latest nuisance from his sight. As Rio began to walk away he heard a clattering sound that stopped him in his tracks. 'That is not the sound of a body hitting the ground, what devilry ...' Rio spun around and stared at the floor where Stripe's body should have been resting, but in it's place was a large log with a hole burned through it. "A log?"
Rio's eyes widened as his instincts warned him of approaching attack but it was too late, the powerful falling axe kick driving the patriarch to his knees. A growl grew in Rio's throat as he looked above him, only to stare in shock at the being in front of him. Ice cold blue eyes and a no nonsense face met the leader of the Dynasty's gaze, causing the man to feel a trickle of fear directed towards the being before him due to the massive aura of energy that surrounded him.
"So you're the asshole that's causing all this trouble. I think you need an ass kicking and I'm more than happy to provide it."
Rio grimaced as he shakingly stood, gingerly touching his forehead and seeing blood. "You actually wounded me... who are you?"
"Name's Naruto... and I'm going to be your worst nightmare the rest of your very short life."
At the top of the volcano
Stripe groaned as he was helped to his feet, a clone of Naruto holding him steady as they both stood at the top of the volcano. "Thank you my friend, I do not think I would have survived that last blast."
The clone grinned as he slapped Stripe on the shoulder, then turned back towards the looming battle below them. The colones gaze was focus on the woman standing on a ledge above Rio and the real Naruto, a female that was preparing to jump in and provide assistance to her fellow member of the Dynasty. "Think you can take tall and ugly down there?" Stripe took a deep breath and grinned at the clone, rocketing forward towards the unsuspecting woman and the battle was joined.
With Rio and Naruto
Rio snarled savagely as raised his hand, a weak blast forcing Naruto to jump away and giving him a moment to breath. Once he was ready, Rio raised his arms above his head, a large sphere of energy forming as he smirked at the surprised look on Naruto's face. Naruto's eyes widened as he saw the energy blast bearing down on him and grabbed a what looked like a knife and tossed it to the far side of the volcano just before the blast could hit him. An explosion of power caused Rio to laugh in triumph, believing that he had killed Naruto with that attack, but his joy soon turned to ashes in his mouth as he felt a strong hand grab his shoulder, haul him around and intense pain as a fist buried itself in Rio's stomach. Looking up the leader of the Dynasty growled at the smirking face of the blonde hair interloper above him, energy gathering in his hand for another blast to wipe that look off his face but a sudden glow of energy where Naruto's fist had just been buried caused Rio to look down, seeing a swirling sphere of chaotic energy in his opponents' hand. Naruto rammed the condensed sphere into Rio's already hurting stomach, sending the man spinning into the wall of the volcano, createring the wall from the intense impact.
Rio gasped as he tried to regain his breath, the exchange that just occurred giving him some insight on the man he was fighting. 'His hand to hand abilities are astonishing! His strength and energy usage are on par with my own, but it appears he has no long range attacks...' Freeing himself from the cratered wall Rio launched himself into the air and decided to test this theory, sending blast after blast at the annoyingly nimble insect before him. Every blast was dodged expertly, but the only response from the man were several throwing knives that bounced off of Rio's force wall. Smirking as he continued his assault, Rio continued his barrage, confident that the pest before him would falter sooner or later. But as he continued his confidence soon turned to fury as not only did Naruto expertly dodge his barrage, he also appeared to be able to teleport around the cavern, almost catching Rio when he had strayed to close to one of the many ledges that littered the volcano's interior. Exasperated at the pests failure to die, Rio glared at Naruto while he tried to think of a way to end this conflict quickly. A loud blast to his right caught the edge of Rio's vision and he saw the other pest, Stripe, attacking his wife on a far ledge and Rio smirked, a plan forming quickly as events unfolded before him. Rio powered up another blast and suddenly spun, firing the attack directly at Stripe, the thin concentrated beam of energy stabbing towards the unsuspecting Kryn. Rio grinned savagely as he felt the displacement of air behind him signifying that Naruto had teleported once more and laughed maniacally as he saw him appear in the path of the beam, having knocked Stripe out of the way of the attack.
With Naruto
'Crap crap crap! No time for a clone!' Naruto teleported to the mark that was on Stripe, knocking the shocked Kryn to the ground just before the beam hit him, hoping that the armor that the girls had made for him could dissipate the blast enough that he'd be able to keep fighting. Naruto's eyes widened as the beam sliced through his armor as if it weren't even there, piercing his right lung and exiting out of his back, causing the man to fall forward as if he were a puppet that had it's strings cut. Riel watched the man fall and growled as she wiped a trail of blood from her nose, taking the opportunity to kick the prone man off the ledge and watched in satisfaction as he impacted with the ground.
Stripe shook his head from the rough landing and looked up, his eyes widening as he saw Naruto hit the ground, fear clutching at his heart when the man failed to rise again. Looking up in anger Stripe watched as both Rio and Riel floated towards him, identical looks of contempt on their faces.
"And now, only you remain, young prince... farewell!" Rio raised his arm once more, energy gathered for the final blow but he suddenly stopped, a look of shock on his face as he spun around and stared at the still body of Naruto. At that moment the volcano shook fiercely, a brilliant aura of red energy radiating out from Naruto's still body. As the three beings watched, Naruto's arm twitched and ever so slowly it pushed the once still body upwards, allowing all of them to see something that boggled their minds. The hole in Naruto's chest was swathed in the same red energy but all of the beings before him could see the hole burned into his chest quickly shrinking until it looked as if it had never existed. As Naruto slowly stood, he looked up and everyone gasped in surprise at the dramatic change in his appearance. Scarlet eyes with slit pupils focused on the floating pair, a vicious snarl displayed a set of very sharp canines and the whisker like marks on Naruto's cheeks had widened considerably, causing everyone to back away in fear.
"Alright, who tried to kill the kid!?"
Moments earlier
As Gina and the others were making their way to a safer location, a sudden pain in Gina's chest caused her to stumble, her sister's catching her before she hit the ground. In front of them Jaliera suddenly spun around, tears flowing down her cheeks as she covered her mouth.
"No... Naruto..." The saddened monarch fell to her knees, sobbing as she felt Naruto's life slipping away. Just as the last thread of his life was about to pass, a sudden influx of energy caused Jaliera to gasp, a feeling of malevolent energy replacing the soothing feeling that she had felt from the moment she had found Naruto. A sudden earthquake rocked the land, causing everyone to fall to their knees as a wave of scarlet energy flew overhead. Jaliera felt worried at the energy that had appeared until she realized where it was coming from. "He's awake...Kurama!"
With Kurama
'Oh sure, fall asleep for fifteen thousand years and what do I get? Kid's body is completely messed up, completely unconscious and if I hadn't been able to open the final lock with that last blast of energy he'd be dead! Oh we are SO going to have a talk about this later. But first...' Looking up, Kurama smirked evilly as he watched the pair of floating people above him back away slowly, their fear an almost palpable feeling in the air. Holding his hands in front of him, Kurama continued to grin as he gathered chakra in his hands, creating a extremely condensed sphere of black energy. "Hey, you call that an attack? HERE'S AN ATTACK! CHO MINI BIJUDAMA!" The marble sized attack rocketed away from Kurama's hands so quickly it almost appeared to teleport itself directly between Rio and his wife. As the pair looked at the black sphere between them in shock it exploded, throwing Riel and Rio to opposite sides of the volcano as if they were nothing more than rag dolls. Stripe braced himself against the shockwave, marveling at the power his friend was displaying.
Rio groaned as he struggled to stand, that last attack having seriously wounded him. Looking at the now feral looking man, Rio couldn't help but feel fear as he saw Naruto standing in a sea of flames, not even concerned about what was happening around him, as if the power he had just used was nothing. As Naruto raised his hand again and ghostly scarlet arm stretched forth, reaching for the injured Rio and swiftly grabbed him. Rio struggled futilely against his entrapment, not able to move as he was slammed against the ground repeatedly, the beating taking it's toll as Rio struggled to stay conscious. Finally the scarlet appendage threw the beaten man to the ground, his body bouncing several times until his hit one of his ether anchors. The defeated man reached for the anchor and pulled himself onto it, gasping for breath as he heard the sound of footsteps approaching him.
"Fl-flee!" Kurama slowed as the massive machine rose from the ground and rose into the sky towards the floating fortress. Once the massive structure disappeared Kurama let out a deep breath and turned to the final occupant of the volcano, a very shocked Stripe.
"I'm guessing your a friend of the kid's? Good, cause in about ten seconds I'm going to crash and he really could use some medical attention." True to his assessment, Kurama fell to his knees and then flat on his face, snoring loudly as Stripe looked at his friend.
"What the hell just happened?"
Aboard the Citadel-ship
Rio groaned as he dragged himself to his command chair, his breath short as he experiences something he hadn't had to worry about for millions of years, pain. Just as the ship was about to enter Quasi space once more an alarm began to blare as explosions were heard throughout the ship. Sigma burst through the ventilation shaft of the bridge and laughed as he saw the sorry condition of the once proud leader of the Dynasty.
"Well, looks like you had your ass handed to you. Now me and my boys have done some... redecorating of your ship, kind of a going away present and a warning... never, ever, come back here." A blast of smoke was the final indication that someone had been on the bridge with Rio, the man deciding that it was in his best interest to heed the warning... for now.