Merry Christmas every one!
"Death to the under-dwellers!" Wonder Woman screamed as she threw an enormous boulder at the Atlantean tank nearby. "Kill them, kill them all!" she exclaimed as she pointed her sword at the Atlantean army approaching them.
Her army bellowed as they advanced towards their enemy.
"She seems excited," Kurama commented, sitting at the edge of a nearby building, casually eating popcorn he had swiped from Batman's plane as he observed the war below.
A fireball suddenly fell from the sky, crashing into the Amazonian army.
"Behold man's final mad disgrace," a figure emerged from the fire. "He chops his nose to spite his face." The figure turned out to be a muscular humanoid creature with orange skin, horns, red eyes, and pointed, webbed ears. He was the demon, Etrigan.
Soon, the battling forces were surrounded by the resistance forces.
"You've got to put an end to this war!" a woman with black hair and purple eyes exclaimed. "You're going to destroy the only world we've got!" She had a beautiful angular face, her hair was tied in a ponytail, she was holding a rifle, ready to be used at a moment's notice. This was Lois Lane.
"You won't have it for much longer, surface dweller," Aquaman replied as he thrust his hand into the ground and flung a boulder at her.
Lois's team was quick to react as they dashed away from the approaching boulder and jumped below.
"She's right, you know," Kurama spoke up in a jovial tone before the fight could continue further. He jumped down from the building he was sitting on, still holding the packet of popcorn, and swaggered over to stand in front of her team.
"Why are you involving the humans in a war between your nations?" Kurama spoke as he tossed a popcorn into his mouth. "From what I know, the Queen here," he pointed at Diana, "killed your wife." He then pointed at Arthur. "After she tried to assassinate her."
A nearby Atlantean soldier, a bit too trigger-happy, shot at him before he could continue further.
The blue wave of energy fired by him was blocked by a purple magic circle before it could reach Kurama.
In response, Kurama flicked a popcorn kernel, soaked with his magic, at the shooter's head. As soon as the popcorn touched the Atlantean's forehead, it exploded, blasting the soldier's head into a gory mess.
"Don't interrupt me again," Kurama warned, his voice cold as he tilted his head down so that the enemy could see his emotionless blue eyes behind the sunglasses. The effect was instantaneous; everyone tensed as they felt a sudden weight on their shoulders, but the pressure was gone as soon as it had appeared.
"As I was saying" He continued, his voice taking a jovial tone again, "This is a personal matter between the Queen of the Amazons and the King of Atlantis, why don't the two of us just duke it out amongst yourself".
"This does not concern you, surface-dweller," Aquaman replied as he readied his trident, a bit cautious of Kurama's display of power.
"Oh, but it does," Kurama replied, holding up the popcorn bag near his mouth and shaking it. When no popcorn fell into his mouth, he sighed, neatly folded the bag, and put it into his shorts' pocket. "You are destroying our world too."
"Enough of this!" Aquaman exclaimed as he dashed towards Kurama, who just pointed a finger at him. A black circle suddenly appeared near Aquaman's chest, and the spell blasted him through several buildings. The invisible force carried him to the edge of the island and into the sea below.
Raising his finger covered with black energy, Kurama blocked Wonder Woman's sword as she suddenly appeared before him.
"You've got to be faster than this to catch me off guard," Kurama stated calmly as he flicked his middle finger at Wonder Woman's chest. The force of the flick, while weaker than his spell, still blasted the queen in the same direction as Aquaman.
"Who are you?" Lois questioned in amazement. She had witnessed two of the strongest people she knew get manhandled with just a finger!
"I am the reinforcement," Kurama replied. "You guys take care of their army. I'll keep those two busy." He finished and flickered away.
Xxx With Naruto xxX
With Aquaman and Wonder Woman being handled by Kurama, the resistance, with the help of Batman, Cyborg, Flash, and Shazam, were making quick work of the two armies.
Naruto was sitting on the edge of a nearby ruined building, overlooking the fights below. He observed with visible glee as he saw Orm get skewered by dozens of arrows.
"If you're thinking about ambushing me, don't," Naruto stated, as he observed the demon Etrigan fight off a group of Amazons. "Your stealth is shit."
Thawne appeared through a nearby broken wall, buzzing as he seemingly walked through it, not at all surprised that he had been discovered.
"Love what you've done with the place," Naruto commented while observing the fights.
"As much as I would love to take credit for this, it's not my handiwork," Thawne replied, starting to walk towards Naruto.
"You saved Lois Lane," Naruto started as he turned around to face the Reverse Flash. "You purposefully let yourself be seen on the camera so that you could lure Flash here, but you did not expect to see us here, did you?"
"How are you here?" Thawne questioned with a frown on his face, "Even in the future, not much is known about the two of you."
"Who knows?" Naruto replied with a smirk on his face, letting Thawne know that he wasn't going to answer his question.
"So, you said this isn't your doing," Naruto continued. "I'm guessing Flash would be the one responsible then."
When Thawne didn't reply, Naruto continued, "Come on, I know you're itching to answer my question. People do love to monologue when everything is going according to their plan."
"Correct!" Thawne replied with a smirk. "Can you guess what he changed?"
"He saved his mother," Naruto replied, having already figured out what might have happened. "But why did he forget that he saved her?"
This time, it was Thawne who smirked, "Who knows?"
Naruto shrugged, not really interested in the answer anymore.
"Breaking the sound barrier causes a sonic boom," Thawne explained. "The Flash broke the time barrier, causing a time boom."
"I figured that's what must have happened," Naruto replied. "The ripples of distortion radiated out from the point of impact, which was the Flash saving his mother. This event shifted everything a tiny bit."
"It shifted the events enough, creating this Flashpoint world!" Thawne exclaimed, not noticing the slight distortion as it approached him from behind.
"As much as I enjoyed our talk here, it's time to set things right," Naruto said as he jumped down from the ledge he was sitting on, not making any sound as he landed. "So, if you would please stop co-opting the Speed Force and let Flash clean up this mess. That would be wonderful."
"Now, why would I do that?" Thawne replied with a smirk as he faced the ocean, observing the dome of white light in the horizon. "This world is about to end and it's all thanks to the Flash. Hope his mother has a good view of it."
"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about this world ending," Naruto replied with a smirk as the glowing dome suddenly vanished.
Surprised, Thawne faced Naruto with an angry expression on his face, "What did you do?" Suddenly, he jerked forward and looked down to see a bloodied hand protruding from his chest. Looking up again, he saw Naruto in front of him vanish in static.
'A hologram!' The Reverse-Flash thought, the hand was removed from his chest in a quick motion, causing him to fall face-first.
"This is how you ambush someone." Naruto stated coldly as the distortion fell, making him visible again.
Xxx Few minutes earlier with Kurama xxX
Kurama observed the fight between Diana and Arthur from outside the barrier. At first, both had tried to attack him. After fighting them for a few minutes, he teleported a distance away and created a barrier around the two.
"I am not the one you should be fighting," he had said as the two of them tried to break the barrier. "This is a war between the Amazons and the Atlanteans. Your fates will be decided here, and the victor gets this world!" he exclaimed.
Realizing that the two couldn't break the barrier, they set their sights on each other.
"You murdered my wife, Diana!" Arthur exclaimed as he dashed forward and thrust his trident towards Wonder Woman. Blocking the attack with her sword, she replied, "She tried to assassinate me, Arthur. I was protecting myself."
"Yet, you wear her helmet like a trophy," Aquaman replied as he pushed her away and pointed his trident at the golden head piece she was wearing.
"No, I wear her helmet as a warning," she replied as she dashed towards him with her sword raised.
"I can't believe I ever loved you," Arthur seethed in anger as he blocked her sword.
"You never loved me!" Wonder Woman exclaimed as she kicked him in the chest.
Kurama did not intervene as the fight went on; Diana seemed to be having the upper hand, especially after she managed to lop off one of Aquaman's arms.
Noticing the blinking light on his wrist, he clicked a button on his ear piece, Cyborg's voice spoke through the comms.
"Kurama, I've just received intel. We have learned of Captain Atom's location. He was captured a few weeks ago."
"And what am I supposed to do with this information?" Kurama asked.
"Captain Atom is basically like a walking nuclear reactor. He has enough energy to blow up this entire planet. According to our intel, when he was captured, Aquaman turned him into his doomsday device," Cyborg replied.
"So, if he were to lose, he plans on destroying the entire planet," Kurama stated.
"Correct, I have sent you the location where he is currently being kept."
"I'll see what I can do," Kurama replied, a smirk forming crossing his face.
Quickly contacting Naruto, he said, "We have a solution for the energy problem of our ship."
"How so?" Naruto asked over his comms.
"Captain Atom, I have his location" Kurama replied, "His skin should have been breached, seeing as he's been preped as Aquaman's doomsday device, its only a matter of time before he explodes."
"The energy from the explosion should replenish a fraction of our ship's," Naruto answered. "Well, beggars can't be choosers."
"I'll get to it then," Kurama replied as he teleported over to the coordinates provided to him.
Xxx Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean xxX
"Well, shit," Kurama mutteres as he appeared above the ocean and started to descend onto one of the nearby shipwrecks scattered across the ocean. "It seems Captain Atom is in a submarine, well, I guess he would be under water since it was Aquaman who captured him."
He crouched down and put his index and middle fingers on the surface of the water, then closed his eyes then Immediately opened them in surprise and quickly teleported several miles away, just in time to see the water start to bubble and evaporate before an enormous dome of white light emerged from water's surface.
"Seems like Arthur lost," Kurama commented, seeing as the doomsday device was triggered.
Quickly teleporting further away, having sensed the point of origin of the blast, he started to perform a quick series of hand seals and slammed his hands on the surface of the water.
"Temporal Stasis!"
Kurama exclaimed as an enormous black magic circle appeared beneath the surface of the water, stretching for miles.
"This should help," Kurama muttered as he heaved a sigh of relief. "That was really close."
The blast seemed to have stopped advancing, staying frozen in the water. Everything within the area of the magic circle appeared to have come to a standstill, including the ocean. The spell had frozen time itself within the limits of its area.
"Now to teleport this away to our ship," Kurama muttered to himself as he teleported the dome of white light away.
Xxx With Naruto xxX
Naruto appeared near the barrier where the dead Aquaman lay, his head being cradled by a wounded Wonder Woman.
He deactivated the barrier with a touch of his palm and walked towards them.
"The war is over," Naruto stated as he saw Diana lay Arthur to rest. "What do you plan to do now?"
"Who are you?" Diana questioned, standing up, drained from the fight, emotionally and physically.
"You've met my brother," Naruto replied. "My name is Naruto."
Diana observed him for a few more seconds, he looked him the blonde haired man they were fighting earlier, just with black hair and red eyes, then around with a sad sigh.
"I never planned on coming out of this war alive," Diana replied softly. "We will be going back to Themyscira." she answered his question.
"What about Atlantis?" he questioned.
"I don't know," Diana replied. "I never wanted this war. My hands are stained with the blood of millions, all because I couldn't let go of my pride."
Wonder Woman turned around to face him, streams of tears falling from her chin, "Kill me," she requested.
Naruto observed the broken demi-god for a few seconds. He then turned around and started to walk away, saying, "That would not do justice to the millions that you have killed. Live. Live with the consequences of your actions and reflect upon them. That is your punishment."
XXX
Soon, news of Atlantis' defeat spread, and the battlefield grew silent as the Atlanteans dropped their weapons in defeat.
There were no celebrations by the Amazons; they had paid a huge price in this war as well.
"What happened to Wonder Woman?" Batman asked as he saw Naruto walking towards them.
"She left for Themyscira," Naruto replied. "She won't be coming back." Turning to Flash, he continued, "Reverse Flash has been dealt with; you should be able to access the Speed Force without any limitations."
Flash nodded; he wanted to ask what he meant by "dealt with," but he really did not want to know the answer.
"Where is Kurama?" Flash asked.
"He is dealing with the explosion you saw earlier," Naruto replied.
"Okay," Flash replied. He wanted to ask more, but knowing Naruto, he probably wouldn't be getting any answers.
"We will be leaving soon," Naruto stated as he threw a device at Batman. "That's a special kind of communicator. It will let you get in touch with me in case of emergencies."
Batman pocketed the device and handed Naruto a letter, "This is for Bruce."
Naruto nodded and pocketed the letter.
"Do you want to say goodbye to your mom?" Naruto asked Flash, who gave a small nod.
Naruto nodded and passed him a piece of paper. "Come here once you are done," Flash nodded and flashed away.
Naruto turned around and faced everyone. "Well, this is goodbye. We will probably not meet each other again, so take care and try not to start another war." With that, he teleported to his ship.
"Who is he really?" Lois, who was standing a distance away, questioned Batman.
"A friend."
XXX
Naruto teleported near his ship and walked inside to find Kurama typing away at the console.
"So, what's the status?" Naruto questioned as he looked at the console.
"The power from the explosion helped in regaining some of the crucial functions of the SIDRAT," Kurama replied. "It's still nowhere near its full capacity, but we can make do for now."
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and Naruto went to open it.
"Oh, this is going to be fun," Kurama muttered as he sat on a nearby chair.
Flash walked in; surprise was clearly etched on his face.
"What is this?" he questioned in amazement. "I thought this building was a rendezvous point. I did not know you had enough time to build a base of operations here."
"It's not a base," Naruto replied. "Well, technically, you can call it a base."
"Anyway," Naruto continued, "This is our ship."
"What do you mean 'ship'?" Flash asked as he looked around the center console, seeing several monitors depicting strange symbols.
"Well, it's a spaceship," Kurama answered, observing the shock on Flash's face. As he looked around more, he noticed that the interior was a blend of sleek futuristic design and practical functionality. The room they were in was an expansive, dome-like design bathed in soft, ambient lighting that shifted ever so slightly between white, yellow, and blue. One wouldn't notice the change unless it was visually observed.
"And this is our command console," Naruto stated, pointing at the center of the room.
Flash observed the raised circular console with numerous displays in wonder. The console's crystalline design seemed to pulse faintly, as though alive, reacting to the touch of Naruto and Kurama as they input commands. Surrounding the console were streamlined workstations, each tailored for specific roles like navigation, tactical analysis, engineering, etc. Each station was equipped with sleek touch panels and adaptive holograms.
The walls and ceiling of the command center were lined with what appeared to be smooth, metallic panels, but on closer inspection he realized that they were embedded screens.
Despite the advanced technology, the ambiance was warm and homely, almost giving an organic feel to the room. The floor was a combination of polished metal and glowing pathways, subtly guiding movement towards the three hallways leading away from the console.
"I clearly remember walking into a destroyed building; it definitely was not a spaceship!"
"Well, it's camouflaged," Naruto replied. "This ship is very big. It would be troublesome to have it parked anywhere, so we've camouflaged it."
"Let's get on with it then," Kurama said, clicked a few buttons on the console, and threw a device at Flash.
Flash observed the circular device with interest. "What is this?"
"It's a beacon," Kurama replied as he guided him to the hallway on the right. "It will help us track you."
"Track me where?" Flash questioned.
"To our timeline, of course," Kurama replied as he stood at the entrance to the seemingly endless hallway.
"Start running from here and enter the time stream, then stop yourself from preventing your mother's death," Kurama explained as he returned to the console.
"Wouldn't it be better if I did this outside?" Flash questioned. "I doubt I will be able to reach the required speed to enter the time stream in limited space."
"Don't worry," Naruto replied. "The hallway has been looped. You could run for centuries and not reach its end."
"Okay..." Flash replied, too stunned to say anything else.
"Well, get on with it," Kurama urged as he pointed towards the hallway. "We ain't got all day."
Flash nodded, got in position, and disappeared in a yellow streak.
XXX
"Just to review," Batman started. "You broke the chronal barrier, went back in time, prevented your mother's murder, and completely changed the timestream."
"Nearly destroying the world along the way," Naruto added. "Let's not forget that."
"Sounds about right," Flash replied with a sheepish smile on his face as he walked away.
"I have a gift for you," Naruto continued, pulling out the letter given by Bruce's father. "Consider this your belated birthday present."
Naruto then left, giving the man some privacy.
Thoughts?