Welcome to Chapter 3 of Huntik Shadow. Hopefully you are enjoying the story so far. I am going to be continuing this story for a while yet I kind of like the muse I have for this story I also might be creating another story in the background as well (this one is also new).
So, look out for that one in the future. Anyway, enjoy Chapter 3.
Dawn: Himalayan Mountain Range
As the sun began to peak over the horizon and through the peaks of the breathtaking mountains, our intrepid hero was already awake and had already continuing his climb. As he continued to the peak of the mountain, he had determined was the correct one, two different groups began to move as well and close in on him.
Montehue and Tersley had made up a lot of ground on Naruto, however they were still behind the other group. Now this group have had an easier climb as they had scouted most of the terrain in the days previous looking for any clue to the hidden location of Shangri-la. Right now, however this group is being guided by a large silver wolf, with a large icy-mane of hair along his neck and around his paws.
This is the Meso-Titan known as Silver Hunter who is in the employ of an Organisation Seeker. One of the Professors top agents that have full autonomy to work within the parameters of the Organisation. This is Professor Rickman, someone who had been with the Organisation for a long time and had worked with the Professor directly in the past. Now he is one of the three on the trail of Naruto and with Silver Hunter leading the way they are chewing up the terrain.
As they were climbing higher one of his subordinates called out, "Boss," as she and it clearly was a she wearing a grey parka with dark hair and needing glasses to see clearly continued, "how much further up is this guy?"
As Rickman turned around, he addressed the woman with dark hair, "Bonnie, be quiet we don't need him being alerted to our presence just yet, besides," he continued as he turned to his titan, "Silver Hunter says that we are close he can smell him."
The area that they had found was the area where Naruto made camp last night, but he was nowhere to be found and the pathway up began to get steeper and more rugged not the ideal location for a large wolf like Silver Hunter.
"Bonnie, Celina," spoke Rickman as he returned Silver Hunter with a flash of blue light, "Be prepared where going to have to climb from here, the path is steep and unforgiving."
As Rickman examined the path ahead, he swore a little to himself, despite being an accomplished Seeker he was an older gentleman, its why he was out here in the first place hoping to find something to help with not only his aches but the Professors as well.
"The Brat is faster than I thought," Rickman mused as he pulled out another Meso-Titan amulet that was already glowing blue.
"Boss," spoke up the blonde this time her blue eyes reflecting the sunlight as she addressed Rickman, "How far away is this guy supposed to be?"
"I don't know how far ahead he has gotten but I'm going to slow him down," as he spoke, he began to glow the same blue as his amulet, "there is only one path up from here so now it's only a matter of time and I will not let him reach his destination if I can help it."
By this point the glow had entered his eyes as he smiled with a malicious smirk, the amulets blue gem nestled between to large claw looking segments began to hum, "Shred them all to pieces, Wendigo!"
With the incantation uttered and a large flash of blue light a swirling human sized tornado appeared before the group of three. Within the tornado a wicked set of red eyes could be seen glowing as the titan's true form appeared. A beast like man titan with large sharp claws however the entire titan was made of a swirling wind a living embodiment of how harsh sharp winds can be.
"Go!" barked Rickman, addressing his titan, "Get up that path as quick as you can and remove any Huntik dog you find."
Without a sound the living tornado began to dissipate as a sharp whistling wind sped up the only visible pathway on the mountain.
"You two," continued Rickman, "let's move, NOW!" and with that the group of three began to climb the arduous pathway to Shangri-La.
Near the Peak of the Mountain
We see Naruto having taken a small rest as he looks out across a slightly large outcropping of the mountain he is on. He had been climbing for a while trying to find out if there was a secret entrance somewhere, he had a feeling he was close as he began to sense something unique. As he began to move on, he felt the wind pick up, it was the whistling at first but the sudden harshness of it is what caught him off guard.
As the wind began to pelt him, he saw something within the wind and immediately dodge rolled out of the way, as he looked back, he saw a huge gash in the stone outcropping he was standing on.
"What the Hell…" he spoke aloud as a shape formed within the wind, "is that a titan?"
As he jumped back towards the mountain itself, he pulled up a small camera and quickly snapped a picture of the titan to analyse later when he wasn't in mortal danger. As it so happed the wind picked up letting Wendigo charge forward with a terrifying shriek the chilled him to the bone. A titan made out of wind was not one of the things he wanted to deal with on this mountain but due to its speed he only has one titan that can help.
The amulet he keeps strapped to his wrist began to glow blue sensing it was time. As he barely avoided being bisected at the waste due to a powerful wind slash, he called out the name of his titan, "Dance in the Dark, Shadowing" and with a flash of blue light a shadowy figure appeared, you couldn't make out any feature of this titan as it looked like a living shadow, it had two sets of wings on its back and a large build and strong claw like hands, its eyes glowed the same blue as the amulet, the only piece of colour shown on this living shadow titan.
As soon as he was summoned the shadow man attacked the swirl vortex of doom. It became an apparent battle of speed as Shadowing ducked and dived to dodge out of the way of the wind scythes slicing up the mountain. As Shadowing dodged, he was looking for an opening to attack the titan however due to his wind form it was troublesome to do so. As he swung with a quick claw swipe Wendigo turned to wind to didge but not fully the tornado looked to have staggered for a second as Shadowing hit it.
As Shadowing fought off the rouge titan Naruto was far from running, no he was watching intently noticing that just before the titan struck out with an attack, he became tangible. Naruto seeing this prepared to strike, as Wendigo dissipated to appear behind Shadowing Naruto was ready. As soon as he saw it his legs glowed with a blue light and with a roar of, "Twinspell, Hyperstide, Overslam."
With a mighty blue glow, a speeding meteor of a human slammed into the back of the tornado like titan causing it to lose it chance to turn intangible again. Seeing this Shadowing sped at the front of the now corporal titan and slammed his large shadowy claw into its chest. With a shriek that sounded like the end of a hurricane to titan turned into blue energy and streaked off down the side of the mountain back to its amulet.
"Thanks Shadowing," spoke Naruto as he saw the titan energy leave the mountain peak, he tracked it with his eyes knowing that this was the feeling he had yesterday, someone had sent this titan after him, "can you see if there is anyone down there."
As he finished speaking the large shadow melted into the ground creating a 2D surface that sped off down the mountain to find who would dear attack his seeker.
As Naruto turned around after Shadowing went to scout ahead, he saw the wind from the titan had cleared some of the snow and loose rock revealing an indentation in the mountain marred by runic arrays. Seeing them he quickly pulled out his Holotomb to scan the new runes. As this happened, he pulled up the image of the titan on his small camera to scan what titan that was that attacked him.
Wendigo: Attack 5 Defence 3: Type – Meso-Titan Warrior, Size – Medium: Special Ability Wind Form, Wind Scythe.
"Jeez," spoke Naruto as he looked at Wendigo's stats seeing the abilities of the titan along with its apparent strength, "Good thing Shadowing is so strong otherwise this could have gone bad."
As he spoke the words to the open Holotomb the holographic image of Wendigo disappeared and was replaced with the living shadow that is Shadowing.
Shadowing: Attack 6 Defence 5: Type Meso-Titan Warrior, Size – Medium: Special Ability Shadow Form, Shadow Merge, Light Flash.
Shadowing was and still is Naruto's strongest titan. It was given to him by his mother as it refused to bond with her but immediate bonded to Naruto. Apparently, Shadowing's true power can only be unlocked by their seeker according to the legend of the tribe that guarded Shadowing's amulet long before Kushina retrieved it.
As he admired the abilities of his titan his Holotomb began to beep indicating it had finished its analysis of the runes. It transcribed as the word candle light. Naruto smirked as he put away his Holotomb as summoned a small Bolt Flare into his open hand and placed it onto the rune inscription. Seeing it light up and a small rumble sounded as the runes glow extended and created a small opening like a small crevasse into the mountains main body itself. The cave was long and dark with no apparent light source. Naruto carefully stepped into the cave keeping his Bolt Flare active and he began to descend as the path sloped downwards into the heart of the mountain.
With the Organisation further down the mountain
"Boss," Called out Celina as she spotted a blue glow streaking its way towards them, "Look."
"What," snarled Rickman as he turned and saw the blue light slam back into his amulet causing him to stumble.
"Professor!" cried both girls in echo as they rushed to see if he was ok.
"GRRR!" was the only sound Rickman made as he rose back to his feet and he looked up to the peak where he could make out a small plateau.
"Enough Lazing around!" he barked as his legs began to glow blue, "we get up there and end him, double time."
With a gravelled shout of 'Hyperstride' Rickman had blasted past his fretting minions and raced up to the side of the mountain trying to reach the plateau and the annoyance that seems to be sticking wrench into his plans.
Without so much as a glance at each other Bonnie and Celina also called out 'Hyperstride' and raced after Rickman, however they were slower and more importantly the earlier shout had attracted the attention of another on the mountain and they watch as two slightly dim blue steaks raced up the side of the mountain after a far brighter streak.
After they had sped off a low growl was heard as a large wolf wearing golden armour and spike shoulder puldrons was pawing at the ground before it quickly bounded off back down the path towards his seeker.
Deeper within the mountain
Naruto had descended a fair bit down the mountain; however, the trip was not easy the terrain had become unsteady and almost looked torn up and forcibly rugged, the other thing making this difficult was the only source of light being a simple 'Bolt Flare' that he had kept since he entered the black abyss. As he kept moving, he began to hear a slight 'shhhh' noise in the distance. The deeper he went the louder it became until the loud 'SHHHH!' completely turned into the unmistakable sound of roaring water. He had stumbled upon a huge with a capital 'H' underground reservoir right in the heart of the mountain.
As he stood slightly to the left of the great waterfall as it plunged down into the deepest parts of the reservoir. Naruto quickly grabbed his canteen and filled it with fresh water, as he did the 'Blot Flare' moved unintentionally with his hand and plunged down into the depths of the basin. As it did something breath taking happened, a slight blue glow began to emanate from under the water surface, it looked like a small pathway made from bioluminescent animals that lead to what looked to be a huge crevasse in the middle of the lake.
Naruto looked down at the water below him and quickly touched the waterfall again to confirm his fears. The waterfall was ice-cold so that means this lake has to be just above freezing but judging by the fact that the lights only showed up after a Seekers magic entered the water and the lights led to a deep crevasse, all he could do was sigh.
"Ok really," he muttered to himself as he quickly double checked his bag before removing a plastic outer shell that should make his backpack water proof. As he began to apply it, he began dreading the fact he was going to be going for probably the coldest swim of his life.
"I swear," Naruto mumbled to himself as he stood with his now water tight pack secured to his back, "Guggenheim better send me somewhere tropical next; I swear."
As he looked below, he calmly cast 'Heat Skin' a unique spell that really didn't do much except keep a Seeker warm when cold. It did not have a combat application hat he knew of but it was a spell and his mother insisted he learn it so he did. As the spell took effect, he began to glow a slight orange colour, the other reason he learnt this spell.
As he jumped into the dark depths bellow, he uttered one last spell, a spell that his mother created in her days as a Seeker. 'Air Lock' was the spell he spoke as he fell from the waterfall height, it created a green tinted bubble around his head to as the name suggests trap air in a confined space. Great for an emergency dive as his mother had said. However, Naruto knew his mother better then anyone he had a sneaking suspicion the original purpose of this spell was interrogation because it traps the air around someone's head good for a few minutes of air but after well, questioning his mother history later he landed in the water with a large 'Splash!'
As he began swimming, he could still feel the biting cold against his heat skin and his little bubble of air wouldn't last for long. As he hovered over the fissure in the bottom of the lake, he saw a small golden light at the bottom. With a resounding sigh he quickly began to swim down into the dark unknown.
The deeper he got the colder the water became until his heat skin failed and he felt the icy sting first hand. Seeing as the walls were getting closer together, he quickly fired a 'Touchram' at a low level from each hand to try and act like propulsion. It worked but the dive was taking longer than he thought as the air lock was staring to run out of air as he was exerting himself requiring more air to function. As the golden glow at the bottom became brighter and brighter until he heard a splash. His head was hovering outside of what looked like a huge bubble attached to the ceiling of this weird room. Before he could analyse the room the 'Touchram' jets propelled him out of the bubble and he laned on the surprisingly warm ground as he began to shiver from his exposure to the cold.
As began to rise up, the shivering got worse but he persevered and looked around the room. The room was large and ornate with large sweeping columns inlayed with gold stretching to the ceiling. When Naruto looked up, he saw a shocking sight the bubble that he apparently fell through was the top part of a larger symbol with two huge sweeping circular wings and a crescent shaped bellow the water bubble. Naruto recognised the symbol immediately upon seeing it. It was the symbol of the Caster will family, the original family of Seekers, the ones who brought titans to the world.
As he stumbled back from seeing the symbol, he didn't hear the footsteps approaching him from the side of the chamber. As he tried to regain his balance a soft hand caught him from behind and steadied him. Not sensing anyone behind him it causes Naruto to jump forward still shivering as he turned to see who was behind him. As he looked up at the figure it was of an old-women, well past her prime but with a small spark of light still within her eyes. She was dressed in a robe like ensemble that was inlayed with gold like the surrounding pillars and had the Casterwill crest proudly displayed on the front. All she was doing was smiling at him as he regained his bearings.
As he staggered to his feet he asked the burning question, "Who are you old-lady?"
'SMACK!'
"Ouch!" screamed Naruto as the old lady produced a cane from who knows where and wacked him on the head with it.
"It's not nice to call me old," spoke the elder as she smiled, "I'm only 173 years young"
"What!" shouted Naruto as he back pedal from what was defiantly an Old Lady with a capital Old.
"Who are you child," she spoke as he looked at her face seeing her eyes almost looked completely clouded over still seeing a shine of deep green from within.
"My name is Naruto, I'm on a mission from the HUNTIK Foundation to find Shangri-La."
"Well, you found it," spoke the elder, "Welcome to Shangri-La, I am Kurera, the last member of the Casterwill family of Healing."
Alright I'm going to cut it here and see where we get to next time. I am enjoying writing this one as I get to have fun and write unique plot lines, that's not to say I won't be using some of the main quests but I will be. Anyway, feel free to review if you like also, I will be taking suggestions for Titans for Kushina and Naruto. However, keep in mind Naruto currently has 4 titans. Shadowing, Scolopen, Kerosen and an Unnamed Titan currently. Kushina has 1 Confirmed titan that I can say but I need at least 1-2 for Kushina eventually and for Naruto I want 2-3 more Titans for him.
Look for chapter 4 soon.