"I would get upset that the little runt was stealing all of the killing here, but having seen what he did to those Creepers... Even I am not that pig headed." Wrex's surprisingly calm comment seemed to summate the general mood of the entire group as they followed Naruto through the labyrinth of tunnels underneath Zhu's Hope, though given Liara's almost awed expression at the display of 'biotics' Naruto had displayed Jane could help but wonder if the Krogan had been purposefully understating his reaction to the brutal efficiency they followed in the wake of.
As a veteran of two of humanity's greatest engagements since First Contact, Jane knew that she could seem almost unstoppable on the battlefield when she got 'in the zone', but Naruto made her best look mediocre. The first two Creepers the young ninja had come across after finding the stone remnant were essentially vapourised by the biotic blast that Naruto tossed in their direction without even slowing down, the steam rising from his arm concerning her even if Naruto showed no visible sign of being hurt from the attack.
The next dozen or so were torn apart by claws of what the boy called chakra, each barely able to react before the boy dismembered or tore them apart before moving on. This was not to say Naruto was okay, the Creepers 'blood' had eaten heavily into his armour now where it wasn't covered by the claws, Jane would be surprised if the suit was still functional at this point let alone actually able to protect him. Finally though, Naruto slowed to a stop at the end of a corridor, allowing the others to slow from the run they had been forced to keep whilst keeping up
"Well, *pant*, at least we know that Naruto will be able to deal with this Thorian creature when we find it. I only hope that he calms down..." Ashley's comment and sudden cut off would have amused Jane if she wasn't struggling to deal with the size of the creature in front of them herself.
"That's a plant? I call bullshit!" It took a moment for Jane to realise that she had been the one to speak the sassy comment, though Wrex's chuckle followed by the readying of his shotgun seemed to prove it had been good for morale at least.
"Well bullshit or not Shepard, unless the brat has any other hidden surprises we might be here for a while blasting that thing." Wrex had a point, the thing was certainly big enough that it would be able to ignore their fire for a while, and that was assuming it didn't have a way of fighting back.
"WHERE IS SHE!" Naruto's bellow caught them all by surprise, the large cavern reverberating with the force of his shout even as the claws on his hands dissipated, seemingly realising they would be of little use.
The Thorian didn't seem to respond for a moment and Naruto growled in obvious preparation to make his displeasure known physically, only to pause as there was a sudden movement in the distended tentacles that extended down to the platform in front of them.
"Weapons ready people!" Glancing round as she moved up next to Naruto, Jane was glad to see that the other three were already getting ready and taking cover before her call, none of them needed to be brought back to reality as it were.
Her gaze focussed on the Thorian once more, just in time for her to catch an... Asari? Drop from between the tendrils and land in a practiced crouch upon the floor. Rearing up as the tendrils retracted once more, the Asari stared at Naruto with a mixture of interest and wariness, barely giving her and the others a contemptuous glance as she did so.
"You... interloper! Impossible, the old growth has not seen your kind in..." Naruto moved so fast that Jane could have sworn he didn't actually traverse so much as teleport across the gap between him and the strange Asari, catching her by the throat and hefting her in the air even as the Asari's eyes widened and her arms glowed blue with biotics.
"Ah ah ah, despite the fact you seem to be a mere extension of this giant piece of fertiliser, take a look down." The Asari actually did as Naruto suggested, her eyes widening slightly as she realised that Naruto had not only picked her up but hefted her back so that she was hanging over the gaping chasm the Thorian was perched over.
"You try anything and I will let go, whilst I am sure that the big guy can just produce more of you whenever it likes, you piss me off and I will really let loose on it and I am sure it realises what a bad idea that is." Compared to the almost frothing berserker they had followed down here, Jane was actually more concerned with the now icy calmness that Naruto exuded as the Asari's biotics faded as quickly as they appeared.
"Threats and brutality, the old growth knew that you would be just like the others, the cold ones who tried to slay the flock." Jane almost didn't want to believe what she was hearing, it almost sounded like the Thorian was acting... protective of the colonists it had infected.
"Because mind control and pain therapy for those who try and resist your control is so diplomatic and refined..." Ashley's sarcastic comment seemed to catch all of them off guard slightly, before Naruto laughed slightly and brought the Asari closer to his face.
"You claim to want to 'protect' those people, but you merely see them as disposable tools to further your own goals, which makes you the lowest of the low in my books... Now, I will ask nicely one last time before I get really angry. Where. Is. She..."
"Would you believe that the Thorian was the one who saved her from the Exo-geni excavations? Kami above Naruto you can be troublesome at times..." The voice, so different from the Asari's original tone despite still coming from her mouth seemed to freeze Naruto in place for a moment before the snarl returned full force.
"Shikamaru? Don't tell me this thing..." The Asari seemed to struggle for a moment before shrugging lazily.
"When I woke up there were these alien people who were getting slowly wiped out in a guerrilla war against an enemy even greater than the one we faced Naruto, given the hopelessness of the situation I didn't let them wake Ino-chan up and in return for my help had them bring her with us as we retreated underground. It was there that most of the aliens were 'collected' by this giant testicle's spores, though given my experience with Ino they had very little effect on me." The Asari started to spasm for several seconds before it's face turned to a snarl.
"Quiet flesh, this was not part of your deal! Your 'friend' wishes to destroy the old growth and that is not permissible!" Jane knew she should have just let the three continue talking but she had to try and take command of the situation before Naruto did something rash.
"Given that you enslaved the colonists and it was clearly against their will, how did you expect us to react? And you realise that allowing Naruto to talk to his friend is probably the best chance you have of him not tearing your bloated ass into small pieces right? You tell him where his friend is and answer our questions about Saren, then we can work out where we go from there." Whilst she couldn't condone the enslavement of the colonists, Jane also knew that for a being over 50,000 years old 'normal' social conventions probably didn't apply, that and if it had information on the reapers and the Protheans it could be a veritable treasure trove of information for them.
"Won't work, this troublesome plant doesn't seem to understand normal logic, as far as it is concerned you are all a set of mice that have tried to encroach on a cat's lair... Useful only for amusement or as sustenance. I haven't much time, the only reason I wasn't fully absorbed by this thing was because then it couldn't make use of my tactics, my chakra is nearly gone. She's over..." The strange voice prompted the asari to raise it's left hand in an obvious attempt to gesture at something, only for her expression to change into a snarl a moment later and try to bring it clawing for Naruto's face.
"Bad move..." With a blast of chakra Naruto decapitated the asari, the blast continuing forwards and slamming into the main body of the Thorian with such force that it's massive body shook with a ear piercing shriek.
"Flesh threatens us! Exactly like the corrupted one did when it came to 'bargain' with us, but this one is with few allies, I will crush you!" Even as Jane turned to the new location of the noise, another asari appearing from a pod to their left, the tentacles that had deposited the first Asari swung round with surprising speed to bludgeon Naruto off the platform.
"Naruto!" Ashley's cry prompted the rest of the squad into action, Jane only reassured by the still strong vital readings on her HUD to prevent her slipping into her own rage as the Asari began to glow blue with biotics.
"Wrex, you and Liara deal with our clone pest, Ash and I will see what effect ME rounds have on something that size." Wrex nodded grimly, all notes of humour gone from his voice as he activated his barrier just in time to tank the clone's throw, Liara responding in kind to knock the clone back into one of the threshers rising from the ground behind her.
Over the next minute the pair of them poured dozens of rounds into the Thorian, causing it to make the same keening angry screech it had when Naruto had hit it before, but it didn't seem to have any other noticeable effect. The only good thing was that the sounds of fighting was audible from below them, which meant that Naruto had managed to survive what looked to be a very long fall.
Giving a quick look down at the explosions and bursts of light, Jane had a sudden idea that had her grab Ashley's barrel before she could start firing again.
"This is getting us nowhere, but I think we can bring the thing down..." Gesturing over to where one of the gigantic tendrils that seemed to be holding the Thorian up entered the ruins, Jane saw the grin on Ashley's face mirror her own, the biggest kill of the day could still be theirs yet.
Despite the trouble the Asari clone was giving Liara and Wrex with her biotics, the two were able to keep her contained along with the waves of Creepers due to the narrow corridors and the cover that the Creepers seemed incapable of utilising, meaning that Jane and Ashley were mostly unimpeded as they ascended several piles of rubble to her first target. She only hoped that Naruto would be out of the way when they dropped this thing, otherwise he really wasn't going to be happy.
!"£$%^&*()_+
Naruto was pissed, to the same level he had been when Gaara had stupidly threatened Sakura-chan before the robot invasion had begun, even as his shotgun blew another Asari clone apart. From the little Shikamaru had been able to tell him before his chakra had fully run out and he had been fully absorbed by the Thorian Ino was alive, though where in this labyrinth was anyone's guess, and with the Thorian's attention firmly on him he had no time to search for her just yet.
The loss of the lazy but brilliant tactician hadn't sunk in fully yet, and Naruto knew that he would struggle with it later, but for now his blood was singing for vengeance and the Thorian would pay for it's arrogance.
"Your flesh will feed the old growth's power!" Another clone unleashed her biotics in a turbulent maelstrom that threatened to rip through his chakra armour before he pivoted out of the way and allowing the warp/throw combination to tear into the wall behind him.
"You talk too much." Coming from him Naruto knew that was probably a little 'pot, meet kettle' from an outside point of view, but if there had been one thing he had not hated so much about the robots it was that they didn't say anything or make many noises in general really.
Slipping closer as two of his clones sliced through a dozen Creepers standing between them before dispelling due to the acidic goo they excreted, Naruto ducked under a hastily thrown punch from the clone even as the Thorian above him gave another screech in pain, Jane-chan and Ashley-chan were obviously succeeding in their task to sever the thing's roots. Seeing the Asari clone falter for a moment as the Thorian tried to redirect it's attention to the pair trying to fell it, Naruto stepped in and in a single motion threw the clone up, slamming it directly into the distended body of the Thorian.
"Oi, you ignore me and I am coming back up there!" Given the rapid appearance of three more clones behind him at that statement, Naruto knew his distraction attempt had worked, swivelling round with a grin on his face even as he patted himself on the back for letting himself get flicked off the platform.
The Thorian had more than enough biomass to throw at them to overwhelm them if they stayed in one group, at least to the point that Naruto would have had to use more powers than he already had to get them out of trouble, so instead Naruto went for a tried and tested tactic that had worked against the robots as well. For all it's vaunted power, splitting it's attention in at least three directions worked a charm in reducing it's effectiveness to manageable levels, Creepers slower and less agile whilst the Asari clones were mostly limited to brute force methods and basic biotics.
"I will admit, I can understand why the teme said my shadow clones were annoying now..." Slipping under two throws Naruto was forced to hunker his shoulder down to tank the third, wincing as he skidded backwards several feet.
"Two can play at this game though..." Powering up for another of his bastardised throws Naruto heard the Kyuubi rumbling in the back of his mind.
"Your chakra points in our arm are going to fail catastrophically if you carry on using that move with your shitty control. As much as your arm exploding would amuse me, I want this giant piece of shrubbery to feel my displeasure first, so stop messing around and unleash my power properly." The Kyuubi's comment amused Naruto eve as he held back a pained grimace as he released his power, annihilating one of the clones and sending another flying backwards due to force produced.
'You do realise one of these days I will get you to admit you care Fox-teme? And no thanks, given how badly that thing is tilting now Jane-chan will probably only need to destroy one more supporting tentacle and down the thing will go!' If the Kyuubi was offended by his insult it showed no sign as it's power pulsed, intercepting a warp that ate into the chakra shroud rather than Naruto's uninjured arm.
"And you think that will be enough? You know better than anyone that merely cutting the head off a snake doesn't mean that the body will die. Something of that size will have a backup plan... If it doesn't then it doesn't deserve to have survived this long." Kyuubi had a point, which was why Naruto had his clones currently destroying as many possible connections the Thorian had leading outside this cavern as they could, if it did have some back up plan like the snake teme did then he wanted to contain it here.
"Wait! The old growth..." The sudden change in tone in the remaining Asari clone's voice indicated that the Thorian had probably realised it was losing it's battle.
But even as Naruto paused, to see what it was going to try and bargain for it's life, there was a third large explosion and a long screech from the Thorian's main body before it started dropping downwards. For a second Naruto thought it wouldn't be quite enough, the sound of the remaining tendrils straining against the Thorian's weight indicating that it might just survive, but then with an final snap one of the tendrils broke in half. Even as the other tentacles rapidly followed suit Naruto saw the clone in front of him dissolve with a pained cry, indicating that the Thorian had lost it's last semblance of control and this was truly it's end.
Or that's what it wanted them to think, Naruto thought rather suspiciously as the thing's giant body fell several hundred feet to the bottom of the cavern to land with a heavy, wet squelch. The Asari's death before the Thorian's main body had hit the bottom seemed a little too convenient, but he had clones that could keep an eye out for whatever it might be planning, it was defeated and he had more urgent business to take care of.
Whilst the Thorian's chakra hadn't been dispersed by it's 'death' it's spores seemed to be eliciting less chakra, which given Shikamaru had already given him a direction to look in meant that as long as Ino hadn't suffered anymore damage there was a chance he could still save her.
"I'm coming Ino-chan, you know Sakura-chan is going to be pissed that I woke you up first..." That was if Sakura hadn't been awakened previously like Shikamaru had, or her stone body destroyed in some battle or...
"Stopping being so negative brat, it is far less fun mocking you if you are being pessimistic about everything in the first place. You survived as did these two, so pinky should be fine as well, wherever she is..." Shaking his head to dispel his negative mental thoughts, Naruto took off at a jog back up to where the others were, whilst he wanted to find Ino as quickly as possible it would get Jane-chan off his back if he got her and the others involved.
That and if he used any more chakra he would risk having the Kyuubi mocking him for ages as he overloaded his chakra points, whilst he didn't think it was being serious about his arm being blown off he could never be entirely sure...
"Naruto!" The call from Jane pre-empted the woman running up to him, her face full of concern and relief as she eyed him up for injuries, though thankfully she restrained from hugging him given that after all that fighting he was essentially one giant bruise.
"I am okay taichou, just a little bruised from the knock, everything okay up here?" Given Wrex was currently covered in so much Creeper blood that it looked like he had been bathing it, grinning to him with the brutal savagery that seemed to be the Krogan version of joy, it didn't seem to have been too difficult.
"Shepard, we have a live one over here!" Ashley's call attracted all of their attentions and as they moved off in her direction Naruto was interested in what they would find, hopefully whatever it was would make up for the pain this mission had been in general otherwise he was going to let the Kyuubi loose to vent his frustration over everything...
!"£$%^&*()_+
It was... strange, opening her eyes for the first time but having memories of the growth that had come before her, the world around her vibrant and alive with the spores of her progenitor that quickly adapted to her presence and gave her an awareness that the human memories she had received just couldn't match.
Before she could appreciate the life and newness that she was being immersed in there was a shift on the edge of her awareness, the cold and chaotic feeling that had so terrified the old growth. And it was coming, for her...
She stood on her... legs was what the flesh had called them, and despite her uncertainty in the motion she did her best to stumble away from the feeling as fast as she could. The old growth had overplayed it's hand against the flesh that this feeling had belonged to and it's vengeance had been swift and deadly even to something as old and powerful as her creator, and now it seemed it was coming for her...
A/N: And we shall leave it on that cliffhanger for this chapter I think, more than enough story development to keep you guys happy for a while longer. What do we think of the Thorian fight? Too easy? Too boring?
I like to think the Thorian's back up plan adds a bit of interest, even if Naruto had already taken the possibility into account. Shikamaru being absorbed into the Thorian? Possibly a bit OC but I can see the lazy strategist making the choice if it meant protecting Ino until another one of their kind appeared, even if that possibility was remote.
Aftermath of the Thorian, finding Ino and the Thorian's offspring to come in the next chapter. Let me know what you think guys!
Defias