Maelstrom EXE.
"Normal speech"
"Tailed Beast speech"
[Talking through the PET]
Chapter 17: Time Trials at Camp
It's a fine morning in ACDC Town where we find Maylu, Dex, Tory and Yai having gathered around the bus stop and it seems like they're planning to go somewhere judging by how the first three are carrying rucksacks while the latter intends to have hers simply delivered to where they're going today.
"Geez, how long are they going to make us wait?" said Yai with a huff.
"Don't worry, Yai. I'm pretty sure that they'll be here soon," said Maylu assuredly.
"Hey guys!"
Turning towards the voice, they saw Naruto on his skateboard as well as Alice and Sakura on their scooters albeit the latter carrying a rucksack on her back as they approach Maylu and the others.
"Sorry for the lateness, we were helping Sakura pack stuff for the camping trip which was a bit much for her to carry," Naruto explained to them.
Sakura pouted cutely "It was that much…,"
"Sakura-neechan, big brother had to use his seals to increase the size and make the bag lighter for you to carry the things you put in," Alice pointed out, making Sakura feel a bit embarrassed.
[That just leave one more person and it doesn't surprise me as to who it is…] said Roll.
At that moment, Lan showed up last while rolling on his skates since he wanted to meet with them as soon as possible.
"Sorry that I'm late, I kinda overslept," said Lan apologetically.
"And we don't even need to guess that Megaman tried to wake you many times until he finally succeeded," said Maylu with a deadpanned expression.
[Not for the lack of trying] Megaman commented.
Dex then spoke up "Well all that is behind us, now that we're here. Let's wait for the bus to show up to get us to Okuden Valley for our camping trip. And by the way, I'll be the leader of this group!"
"Have you gone camping before?" asked Sakura curiously.
"Of course, I went a few times with my parents. I'm pretty good at it," said Dex proudly, but the others felt skeptical about his claims.
"Well I've camped a couple times before whenever I go on missions which takes me out of the village, so I can help out here and there," said Naruto.
"Guess we can make you 'advisor' then," said Tory sarcastically.
"Look, the bus is here!" said Alice, alerting the others.
Like she said, the bus came from around the corner and slowed down to a stop before the children as they eagerly got inside the public vehicle and took their seats with great anticipation for their destination as the bus took off down the road.
After what felt like hours on the road, they had finally arrived at the entryway leading to Okuden Valley which is a deeply forested area with flora and fauna, where the animals live freely with no worries of poaching and the rolling mountains in the distance makes for a beautiful scenery.
"Wow, this feels so nostalgic…," said Naruto looking at the forest, feeling like he was back home.
"Look over here!" Lan calls the others over to a large map on display "According to this, we can reach the campgrounds by following the dirt path leading from the entrance here, there's even a dam further beyond the campgrounds,"
"That must be the Okuden Hydroelectric Dam which supplies power and clean water to various cities, we were given homework to write about it," said Alice.
Dex spoke up impatiently "That's nice to know, but first we need to get to the campground,"
Then a familiar voice spoke up "Then I hope you wouldn't mind if I tag along," the group turned around and most recognized her.
"Sally, what are you doing here? I thought you would be busy at your flower shop," asked Maylu confusedly.
"I normally take a week off every now and then to ease myself of the stress which builds up overtime from work among other things," Sal explained to the group.
"Being an adult must be tough," Lan commented.
"Plus I'm been here many times and could show you some interesting things on the way to the campgrounds,"
"It wasn't like we were going to refuse, you're more than welcome to join us," said Sakura politely.
Sal smiles in response "Thanks very much!"
However, there's a much more important reason for her being here. As it turns out, Commander Beef had informed her and her fellow Net Agents of a potential threat by Grave with their target being the Okuden Dam as the failed attempt on the Waterworks was some sort of test. Not only that, they also learnt of Lan and his friends going camping at the Okuden Valley and they could be of help to her as they've done so several times in the past.
With a new addition to the group, they set off for the campgrounds. Along the way, Sally would show them various plants and animals which they had never been taught about by Ms. Mari at school, Naruto on the other hand was fighting back to leap through the trees like he often does since he couldn't do so in the city to avoid getting exposed to the public. They were snapped out of their thoughts upon hearing footsteps from the bushes before someone stepped out onto the dirt path.
He's a man with brown hair and wears a pair of glasses, he also wears a green cap with a yellow boomerang logo on the front, a long-sleeved red jacket with white hem on the bottom, black pants and black shoes, and he carries a black backpack.
Sal seems to know this person as she eagerly approaches him "Dave, is that you?"
Said person smiles in response "Long time no see, Sal. It's been so long since we last met,"
"You know this person?" asked Yai curiously.
"Of course I do, this is Dave and he's my childhood friend who loves nature as much as I do," Sal introduces her childhood friend to Lan and the others.
"Now you're just exaggerating, how about I show you guys around after you've set yourselves up over at the campgrounds?" said Dave.
"Are you sure? Sal said she would show us around too," Maylu pointed out.
"Sure, as a Forest Ranger; I can show you places which even Sal doesn't know," Dave assures them.
"Well, you're the expert, Dave. So I can pass the baton to you then," said Sal fondly.
After bidding Dave farewell for now, the group went on their way and soon arrived at the camp site where there are already campers in the area judging by the tents, packages and gas stoves for outdoor cooking with a river nearby.
"Alright everyone, let's get started by setting up the tents then we make preparations for BBQ!" said Dex.
"As you command, fearless leader," said Lan sarcastically while Naruto and Tory started taking out the tents from the backpacks to get started.
"We'll start on the cooking," Sakura said with Yai and Maylu agreeing to help her.
There were a few fumbles with the tents but Naruto was there to help them since he's set up tents before and soon they were done and none of the tents collapsed. On the other hand, Sakura and the girls were making progress with the ingredients, Maylu had forgotten to bring the cooking knife but Sakura came prepared and had a few extra with her. There was also an issue with the gas stove as it wasn't functioning properly, so Maylu and Yai jacked in to find viruses messing with it and had Roll and Glide deal with them to have the stove working again.
Yai then called out to the boys "Hey, would you mind catching some fish for us?"
"Fish, but don't we have enough meat?" asked Lan confusedly.
"Even a prim and proper lady like me needs to have culinary options available. So why don't you go and get some for us,"
"Either that or you're still affected by when Yazoo hypnotized everyone into thinking they're animals," thought Lan with a sweatdrop, recalling how Yai started acting like a cat and Dex being like a gorilla.
Naruto then spoke up "I think I can do something about that, but I'm gonna need a couple of knives first,"
"Can we come and watch, big brother?" Alice asked hopefully.
"Sure, you can come," said Naruto while receiving some knives from Sakura before they set off further up the streams to where no one would be able to see them.
[So, what are you going to do?] asked Shiori curiously.
"First, I'll need to create some clones," Naruto created some clones who modified themselves to wear swimming trunks as they dove into the river much to Alice and Shiori's confusion "Now to just wait for the right moment…,"
Underneath the water, the clones were swimming after the schools of fish and forcing them to swim up to the surface and jump out in a panic.
"Now!" Naruto immediately starts throwing the knives that struck the fishes in midair and pinned them to the tree trunks from across the river "Heh, nothing to it," the clones pop out to the surface with smiles on their faces before they dispel themselves.
"That's so amazing, we've never seen anything like it!" Alice exclaims with awe, Shiori felt the same way.
"Well, it took a lot of practice and a jutsu before I was able to do this effectively without messing up," said Naruto, feeling proud seeing how his surrogate sisters are looking at him with admiration "Alright then, let's get these back to the others,"
Alice nods in affirmation "Okay,"
After gathering the fish, the surrogate siblings made their way back to the campsite where the others were surprised to see so many acquired in such a short time. Naruto teasingly told them that he has his own style of fishing and Dex declares him to be the go-to guy for fishing whenever they come for camping. With full stomachs, they met up with Dave again who took them on a special tour of his own, taking them to see even more wildlife and flora which Sal was surprised to see. But then…
"What was that noise…?" asked Maylu confusedly. They all looked around and saw construction vehicles driving around and knocking down trees much to their displeasure, especially Sal, Naruto and Dave.
"They've got to be fools to destroy something so wonderful…," said Sal sadly at the sight of such destruction.
"Yeah, even my old home harmonizes purposely with nature. There's a reason why it's called the village hidden in the leaves," said Naruto angrily.
Dave looks at all this with a blank expression "They won't be doing this for much longer…I'll make sure of that…,"
"I hope that they don't go overboard with this, there's so many wonderful things here," said Sakura worriedly.
"Maybe I should talk to my daddy about this," said Yai.
"…," Sal glances at Dave with concern, seeing his expression worried her quite a bit "I hope I'm just being paranoid but Dave's expression and those words he said makes me worry for some reason,"
Sometime later, they were back at the camp site and having a chat amongst themselves about various things. Naruto was also chatting with Sakura and BB about some things.
"So, who are these other Alter Egos I've yet to meet?" asked Naruto curiously.
[Oh, there are several others besides Passionlip, Kazuradrop and I. just that they're waiting for the right time to meet you] BB explains to him.
Naruto quirks an eyebrow at this then shrugs his shoulders "Okay? Guess I'll just have to wait until then,"
"Don't worry, I'm sure they'll come to like you too," said Sakura assuredly "We also need to make sure that whatever that Grail has left on you has no negative effects,"
BOOM*
Suddenly, the place began shaking much to the alarm of everyone which sent many into a panic.
"What's going on!?" asked Dex, wanting to know what exactly caused the ground to quake like that.
"That's what we want to know!" said Yai.
"Maylu, were there any e-news bulletins?" asked Lan urgently.
Maylu was looking at her PET and shook her head in response "It's no good, we're out of range here!"
[Lan, that explosion sounded like it came from the Okuden Dam!] said Megaman worriedly.
BB frowned at that [I hope that's not the case because if so…the destruction of the dam would result in the water coming this way and drowning everyone!]
"Then we need to get out of here!" said Tory urgently.
"Wait, miss Sal isn't here!" said Alice worriedly.
"She must have gone to look for Dave!" said Maylu.
Naruto spoke up "In that case, I'll…," Lan's PET started to beep.
[It's an email, Lan. The sender is…Black Rose!] Megaman was surprised to see who the sender is.
"Black Rose, she's a Net Agent who fights Net Crimes alongside Commander Beef!" said Dex.
"What does the message say?" asked Naruto urgently.
"According to the email, Black Rose came here on suspicion of Grave trying something and discovered that they're trying to blow up the dam with a time bomb that she's trying to disarm," said Lan.
"A bomb!? These Grave guys are worse than WWW!" Dex exclaimed in shock.
"Wait, there's more…there are several remote detonator receptors in the bombs, she needs us to find the detonators and delete their explosion programs. She requesting for us to locate these detonators and disable them but we should be careful since they might be cleverly hidden to appear as something else,"
"I think I got the gist of things; find the detonators and disable them. Let's split of and find as many as we can!" said Naruto with seriousness.
"Then Yai, Sakura and I will check around the campsite!" said Maylu before running off with the other two girls.
"Dex and I will take a look around the dirt path!" Lan and Dex left the camp site to check out the surrounding area.
Naruto turns to Alice "I'll need you and Shiori to stay here with Sakura-chan and the others while I go and take a look in the forest,"
Alice nods in affirmation "Okay, but please be careful,"
"I will," Naruto turned around and quickly darted into the forest at blurring speeds with Alice and Shiori looking on, hoping that he and the others succeed.
Maylu, Yai and Sakura quickly look around for anything that could give a hint at where the detonators could be when Yai noticed something off and called out to the others.
"Hey, look over there!" Yai pointed for Maylu and Sakura to see what appears to be someone's PET lying on the ground close to the river.
"What's a PET doing here?" asked Sakura confusedly.
"Maybe someone dropped it in a panic due to the sound of the explosion," said Maylu.
Yai frowned in response "You might be right, but something about it feels off…,"
"You think that it might be a detonator disguised as a PET?"
Sakura hummed thoughtfully "Black Rose did say that the detonators might be cleverly hidden, so we can't rule out such a possibility,"
"Then let's Jack-In just to make sure," said Maylu.
"Then I'll do it," Sakura stepped for with her PET's cable extended "Jack-In BB, power up!" she plugged in to the PET.
Inside the PET Comp
BB soon found herself warped into the PET's comp and looked around only to be mildly surprised to see that it's not a regular Comp at all.
"Looks like Yai's suspicions were spot on, it's really the detonator disguised to look like a PET," said BB.
[I knew it, my hunch was right!] said Yai proudly.
[Alright then, you need to locate the explosion program and delete it] said Maylu urgently.
BB nods in affirmation "Leave it to me,"
She proceeds to advance along the cyber pathways but there were issues as sometimes a particular pathway would self-destruct itself to obstruct her, forcing BB to take an alternate route. As if that wasn't enough, there were also Mettaur, Spikey and Handy viruses that would appear and attack her but BB and Sakura were able to work together effectively to delete them before resuming their traversal. Soon enough, BB comes upon a large round monitor and goes to examine it.
"This must be where the detonation program is to be sent to the bomb in order to explode, now to delete the program," BB swiftly interfaced with the program and soon deleted "I've done it, the detonator will no longer send the program,"
[Well done, BB. Let's jack you out so we can search for the remaining detonators] said Sakura.
"Okay Sakura," said BB before finding herself being recalled to the PET from the Detonator Comp.
In the Real Word (Lan and Dex POV)
Lan and Dex search around the area for any of the detonators when the latter found something odd nearby and called the former over to see.
"Hey Lan, come over and check this out," said Dex.
Lan quickly ran to him "What is it, Dex?"
"Look…," Dex held up a thermos flask for Lan to see.
"It's a flask, so what's the big deal?"
"Since when do thermos flasks need these…?" Dex rotates the flask to reveal a Jack-In with a blinking led light next to it.
"Megaman, could this be one of the detonators?" asked Lan.
[It's quite possible, given that it's made to look like something that no one would give a second thought about unless they know what they're looking for] said Megaman.
"Then let's take a closer look…," Lan brings out his PET with the cable extended "Jack-In Megaman, power up!" he inserts the cable into the slot to transfer Megaman inside the Comp
Inside the 'Thermos Flask' Comp
Upon entering the Comp, Megaman surveys the cyberspace with a small frown on his face "It's like we suspected, Lan. The flask really is a remote detonator in disguise,"
[Alright, all you need to do now is to find the program and deactivate it] Lan instructed.
"On my way,"
Megaman starts running along the cyber pathways in search of the program but like the previous comp, the pathways would suddenly explode which forces him to backtrack and take different route and all the while busting viruses that would pop up to attack him but Megaman had faced far worst compared to such common enemies.
Soon enough, Megaman comes across the detonation program that they were looking for. He made to approach but was then attacked by a pack of Spikey viruses much to his annoyance. The Spikey viruses began launching a barrage of fireballs which Megaman took evasive action with consecutive somersaults and leaps before arming himself with the Megabuster and returning fire to blast them back before finishing up with a powerful charge shot.
"Now that's out of the way…," Megaman ran up to the program and quickly deleted it "Lan, the program has been dealt with!"
[Good job, Megaman! I'm jacking you out now so we can find more of these hidden detonators!] said Lan.
"Alright, jacking out now!" Megaman proceeds to transfer himself back into Lan's PET to continue their search for the detonators.
In the Real Word (Naruto POV)
Naruto was leaping through the trees in the forest as he keeps a sharp eye out for the detonators and hoping to find them before the bombs destroy the dam and flood the entire Okuden Valley.
"Tch, these Grave jerks are crazy to want to destroy this place. Then again, they were willing to harm Yai and nearly destroyed Net City if we hadn't stopped them in time," Naruto mutters to himself as he leaps through the trees.
"Stay focused, brat. We can't afford to lose focus, this is easily comparable to those A-S ranked missions that you went on back in our world," said Kurama sternly.
"Tell me about it, but you're right though…,"
Naruto was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of rushing water and looked around to notice that he had landed near a small waterfall. He looked at the waterfall for a moment then started to consider something.
"You don't suppose…," Naruto approaches the waterfall and looks around before noticing some sort of pathway which goes behind the waterfall. Due to the darkness, Naruto uses the light from the screen of his PET as a makeshift flashlight to look around and comes across… "A rather odd place for a working PET to be lying around,"
"I don't think I need to tell you what this implies," said Kurama.
"Yup and that's why I'm gonna take a closer look at it," Naruto extends the plug-in cable from his PET after transferring himself into it while the clone takes control of the holobody "Jacking in and powering up!" he transfers himself into the PET.
Inside the PET Comp
A quick look around confirms Naruto's suspicions "It's like we thought, why else would there be a PET lying behind a waterfall of all places?"
"You can pat yourself in the back later, you need to search for this supposed program and get rid of it," said Kurama, reminding his host of their objective.
"Already on it,"
Naruto took off and soon found himself being obstructed by what the others have already come across but he was able to deal with them accordingly thanks to his ninja training and battle experience. Also the usage of his Shadow Clones cut the time needed to locate the program by a large amount as he soon found it and dealt with the detonator program.
"Alright, the detonator is no longer transmitting," said Naruto, feeling a bit relieved.
At that moment, several holoscreens appear around him which display Lan and the others.
"Hey guys, I was able to find a detonator and put a stop to it," Naruto reported to the others.
Lan nods in response [Same here, we were also able to find some and stop them too]
[Grave isn't playing around, that's for sure] said Tory.
[But it should be fine, right? I'm sure that Black Rose has resolved the bomb problem in the dam by now] said Maylu assuredly.
Suddenly, they all received emails and apparently was sent from Black Rose but the information wasn't what they expected at all.
[This is bad, since the bombs are now disarmed, the Grave Agent is now attacking the mainframe to make the dam collapse instead!] said Sakura worriedly.
[It seems that Black Rose and her NetNavi is getting ganged up on by several NetNavis] said Yai.
[Then we need to get over to the dam and help] said Lan urgently.
"In that case, I'll meet you all there," said Naruto before ending the transmission "I'm counting on you to get us there quickly,"
[Leave it to me, boss] said C-Naruto before he proceeded to leap across the trees in the direction of the dam as quickly as he could.
Inside the Cyberspace of the Okuden Dam Mainframe
Woodman; the NetNavi of Black Rose aka Sal grits his teeth in pain and frustration. He had jack in earlier to prevent the NetNavi of Grave from causing the Dam from flooding the valley after successfully disarming the bombs, but they failed to take into account that there could have been more than one as they stood before him.
The first one is a tall humanoid male NetNavi who seemingly wears a black suit, a red torso with a yellow collar around the neck, and a red helmet with a large golden boomerang on his forehead, red armor with yellow blades on the forearms and red boots with golden decorative on the front. His name is Quickman.
The second is also a male NetNavi with a slender body; he has a red head with a pair of scissor blade on top, two gray handles at both sides, a gray ring on his neck. His body is red with white area on top and also a large yellow "C" on the front, a gray line on each of his arms and legs, and red feet with a gray tip and gray lining under each of them. His name is Cutman.
"You know, for a supposed NetNavi of the mighty Net Agents, you're definitely not living up to the hype," Quickman taunted smugly.
"Tell me about it, I'm starting to think that what happened over at Net City is nothing more than a fluke," said Cutman, mildly annoyed at the thought of it.
[Woodman, don't give up! We need to stop them at all costs!] said Sal anxiously.
Woodman grits his teeth as he struggles to get back on his feet "I cannot let you flood the dam and put innocent lives in danger,"
Quickman scoffs in response "You may talk a big game but you're no pro player, time to put you out of your misery,"
"Allow me, I've a bit of venting to do," Cutman steps forward with a sneer "This is the end for you, Cut Boomerang!" he detaches the scissors from his head and launches at Woodman while spinning like a buzzsaw. Sal watches in horror at the apparent deletion of her NetNavi when suddenly…
*CLANG*
Something flew through the air and intercepted the scissors, knocking it away from Woodman and sent flying back to Cutman, everyone looked to see a windmill shuriken on the floor as someone landed in front of Woodman while revealing himself to them.
"You're…," Woodman recognizes who the NetNavi is.
[Maelstrom?] asked Sal in shock.
Said person smiles in response "My NetOp jacked me in to go on ahead to help ya and it's a good thing that he did since I was able to make it in time. Backup will arrive shortly so you might need to jack out,"
"I can still help…," Woodman insisted.
Naruto shakes his head in disagreement "Not in your current condition, you need to get outta here or they might target you as a hostage,"
[Alright then, just hold them out until the others arrive] said Sal, then Woodman was jacked out from the cyberspace.
"Facing us all by yourself? I don't know whether you're being gutsy or plain suicidal," Quickman commented skeptically.
Naruto brings out both the Chakra Blade and Vorpal Blade as he takes a fighting stance "Why don't you come a little closer and find out?"
"Then you've got no one to blame but yourself after we snip you to ribbons for challenging Grave," Cutman declares arrogantly.
The cyber ninja scowls in annoyance "Are you gonna talk or fight? We don't have all day,"
"Suit yourself!"
Naruto's instincts barely saved him in time as he darted to the side right before Quickman had suddenly dashed past while swiping at where he stood with one of the arm blades but then he instantly turned around and was upon him again but Naruto managed to block with his Vorpal Blade before swiftly moving away with a backflip to build some distance between them.
"So, he's a speedster. Then again he's called Quickman for a good reason, and he's not the only one I need to focus on…," thought Naruto with a small frown.
"Cut Boomerang!"
At that moment, Cutman launches the scissors from his head towards Naruto who leaps into the air to evade, but then Quickman lunges at him to attack and successfully lands a hit only for the ninja to burst into smoke and reveal a doll version of himself.
"What the…!?" Quickman looks around in confusion.
"Surprise!" Naruto appears behind the NetNavi and sends him flying with a roundhouse kick to the ground "Chakra Blade Boomerang!" he throws his Chakra Blade towards Cutman who scrambles out of the way to avoid getting hit before flying back into his hand.
"What's the point of all this, what do you hope to benefit from blowing up the dam?" Naruto demanded an explanation while also biding time for his clone and the others to find their way into the dam as soon as possible.
[It is to teach humanity about the consequences of their selfish actions] a familiar voice spoke up in response to the question.
"That voice, it can't be…," Naruto was hoping that it wasn't that person.
At that moment, a screen appeared behind Quickman and Cutman to reveal none other than…
"Dave, you're a member of Grave? But why…?"
Dave frowns in response [These woods are the last place on earth for extremely rare plants and creatures, insanely large projects like this hydroelectric dam chase the animals further away from their homes while also destroying plants that would have proven highly beneficial to the same humans responsible for their extinction]
"…," Naruto frowns thoughtfully at Dave's words, seeing the truth in them since he and the others saw how the construction crew were destroying part of the forest in order to make room for their project which saddened him greatly.
[And now, those very same people are planning to make an even bigger dam while ignorant of the consequences of their actions. Since they won't stop until nothing is left then someone would have to make them stop and that someone is me!]
[And you thought that the best support you could get is from Grave?] Sal asks, feeling sad that her childhood is doing such a thing.
[Grave sees humanity for the selfish people that they are and seeks to curb such tendencies, and I support them for that] Dave responds.
"Are you so blind as to not see what you're doing right now!?" asked Naruto angrily "You claim to want to stop the destruction of the forest and yet here you are about to destroy the dam and make it flood the very forest you speak of protecting, all the while potentially killing innocents, animals and plants. This makes you nothing more than a hypocrite!"
Dave frowns at such an accusation [You wouldn't be able to understand what I feel, none of you do! Quickman and Cutman, delete that NetNavi and continue with the collapse of the dam!]
"Will do!" Quickman prepares to attack.
"Consider him snipped to bits!" Cutman got ready to assist in attacking the cyber ninja.
Naruto senses something and smiles as he speaks "Then it's a good thing that I'm not fighting alone…,"
"Megabuster!" several energy blasts struck at the feet of the enemy NetNavis, forcing them to move back as someone landed next to Naruto, revealing to be Megaman "Hey there, hope I'm not too late to the party,"
Naruto smirks in response "Not at all, you're just in time,"
[It's thanks to Sakura and BB, they were able to hack the doors to unlock them so we could get here quickly] Lan explains as he and C-Naruto were able to get inside and plug into the main system of the dam with help from the aforementioned girls.
Megaman whispers to Naruto "Sakura has secretly jacked in Kazuradrop to have her restore the system, we just need to keep their attention on us,"
"Shouldn't be a problem, we're too hard to ignore," said Naruto with a smirk.
"Heh, that's true!"
[Alright guys, let's get them!] said C-Naruto confidently.
"Rolling Cutter!" Cutman summons several floating scissors which he then remotely controls them to fly towards Naruto and Megaman to attack them.
"I got this!" Naruto rushes forward and deflects the incoming projectiles with the Chakra Blade and Vorpal Sword away from himself and Megaman. However, the floating scissors realigned themselves in midair before attacking the duo once more "Guess these ones will be problematic,"
"And there's more to add to our problems!" Megaman was using his Megabuster to fire at Quickman has is proving to possess the speed to actually deflect the incoming projectiles "This guy's pretty fast!"
[We'll see about that! Blaster, battlechip in and download!] Lan swiftly slots in a battlechip into his PET, enabling Megaman to launch a massive barrage of energy bullets towards Quickman.
However, Quickman was rapidly darting from side to side to evade the energy bullets without so much as one of them even grazing him. The NetNavi sneers at them "I doubt you can even touch me!"
"With what happened earlier, I beg to differ," Naruto retorted, annoying Quickman as he continues to fend off the floating scissors with his Chakra Blade and Vorpal Sword.
"Surprise Snip!" Cutman suddenly appears from his blindspot and lowers his head to attack with his scissors. Naruto barely evaded the attack by channeling chakra to his feet and dashing out of the way to avoid a potentially lethal attack.
"That was a close call," Naruto frowns at his current opponent.
"I see his strategy now; he preoccupies you with those flying scissors of his then tries to attack you while you're not paying close attention to him and his ally," said Kurama.
"If that's the case…," Naruto crosses the middle and index fingers of both hands together "Let's see how they deal with a large number of targets, Shadow Clone jutsu!" he proceeds to created over three dozens of shadow clones with half of them handling the flying scissors while the other half go to aid Megaman against Quickman much to the shock of the opposing NetNavis.
"What the heck!?" Quickman was in disbelief at what he's seeing.
Cutman was just as shocked "This guy can create clones too!? But I thought only he can do that!"
Naruto quirked an eyebrow at their comment "I don't know who this guy you're talking, but he'll be a problem to be dealt with later on since you have our attention right now,"
"Grrr, we'll see about that!" Cutman remotely controls the flying scissors to target the one he believes to be the original.
[I've got an idea, try using this!] C-Naruto brings out a battlechip [Rock Hammer! Jutsu Battlechip in, download!] C-Naruto slotted in the battlechip, Naruto forms a handsign as a giant hammer made out of solid rock appears which he then grabs with both hands and swings at the incoming scissors, easily bending them out of shape upon impact.
"My scissors!" Cutman exclaims in shock at what just happened.
"Well whaddya know? Rock really does beat scissors," Naruto commented "And another thing…,"
"Wha-,"Cutman was about to respond when something pierced through his back then out of his chest, revealing that a clone snuck up from behind to attack with his Chakra Blade.
"Always watch your back when fighting a ninja, kinda obvious really," the cyber ninja finishes his sentence as Cutman is deleted and disperses into bits of data.
[Impossible, Cutman has been deleted!?] Dave was shocked then he notices something else [The pressure is returning to normal? Quickman, you need to stop them! Quick Boomerang, battlechip in, and download!] he slots in a chip into his PET which conjures several large yellow boomerangs that start flying all around the cyberspace, taking out many of the shadow clones while forcing Naruto and Megaman to take evasive action.
"Now to deal with that nosy cyber mouse," Quickman darts over to the system core and finds Kazuradrop restoring the system as fast as she could "There you are, now to get rid of you!"
[Oh no, Barrier; battlechip in, and download!] Sakura barely slots in a battlechip into her PET to create an energy shield to protect Kazuradrop when Quickman attacks with his arm blades since this Alter Ego isn't meant for combat unlike the others.
"You can't keep that barrier up for long!" Quickman continues to slash at the barrier with the blades only to suddenly find himself being restrained by Naruto who used an AreaSteal battlechip to teleport over and grab him.
"That wasn't the only reason, now's your chance!" Naruto calls out to Megaman.
[And we won't waste it! Megaman, I'm activating a Style Change; HeatGuts Style!] Lan quickly inputted the commands for Megaman to undergo the transformation into the aforementioned Style Change.
"Here I come!" Megaman rushes towards them with his large fist reared back for a punch.
[Quickman, you gotta get outta there!] Dave exclaims desperately.
"Can't…break free!" Quickman struggles to escape but Naruto remains firm with his restraint.
"You're not going anywhere, buddy!" said Naruto defiantly.
"Take…this!" Megaman attacks with a powerful uppercut right as Naruto switches places with one of his shadow clones as Quickman is then launched high into the air, inflicting no small amount of damage on him.
[Time to end this! Giant Fireball, jutsu battlechip in, download!] C-Naruto inserted the battlechip to supply the cyber ninja with the needed jutsu.
Naruto took in a deep breath as the faceplate opened up before he breathed out a giant ball of fire which flew through the air and engulfs Quickman in the flames, leaving nothing left of him afterwards.
"And that's that," Megaman declares their victory, even more so when the system announces that everything has been restored to stable levels thanks to Kazuradrop.
Dave was in shock, he couldn't believe that everything he's done to get to this point is going up in flames, all because of his own childhood friend and those kids [This can't be happening, I can't let it end like this!] He turned to escape only to suddenly be tackled from behind to the ground and had his arms pinned to his back.
"As a member of the Net Agents, I am putting you are under arrest for attempted destruction of government property and threatening of innocent civilians!" said Sal with a heavy heart, she had sought him out earlier while he was busy battling Naruto and the others "I'm sorry it has come to this, Dave,"
Dave scoffed "Don't be sorry, you're just doing your job after all,"
"…you're right, which is why I'm going to make sure that you don't go further down this path and destroy the dream I admired,"
"…,"
The next morning, Dave was taken away by the police to be interrogated about the Grave organization. On the other hand; Lan and the others are at the bus stop, waiting for the bus to show up and take them back to their homes.
Lan glanced to the side to see Sal looking downcast, no doubt having a good idea as to the reason why "Sal, I'm really sorry about Dave. He was a really cool guy,"
Sal smiled sadly in response "Thanks Lan, it's just that I understand where he's coming from but…I never would have thought that he would go this far…,"
Naruto spoke up "I get that he wants to protect nature and I fully support it but it's just that he should have gone about it the right way which wouldn't have involved hurting anyone,"
"Naruto's right, I'm sure that there are likeminded people like him who could have helped," said Maylu.
"Too bad Grave used his love for nature to control him," said Tory.
"I'll never stop saying it; those Grave guys are way worse than WWW," said Dex with a small frown.
[Then how about signing up for some of those Nature Protection Groups? That could help] Megaman suggested.
"That's a great idea, it may not be much but every little bit counts to help preserve nature," said Lan.
"Just a call and I should be able to fund some of these groups," Yai confidently declares.
Saying how they're willy to help with nature's preservation, Sal smiled "In a way, you helped these kids open their eyes and support your dream willfully. I can only hope that you will change back to the Dave I knew before,"
As they waited, Sakura noticed that Naruto kept massaging his left hand as if it's in pain "Naruto-kun, are you okay?"
Naruto turned to her "Yeah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?"
"It's just that I noticed you kept massaging your left hand and wanted to know what's bothering you,"
"Nothing serious, just that my hand would starting aching every now and then, I'm sure it's no big deal. No need to worry about it," said Naruto, assuring her that everything's fine with him.
"Oh okay…,"
But Sakura was anything but assured, in fact she's even more worried because of the potential implications. She would have to discuss things with BB and the others in the hopes that they could somehow suppress this potential situation before it becomes something beyond their control.
This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter; after having a couple of days off from school, Naruto and the others decide to go camping over at Okuden Valley where they could enjoy the great outdoors away from civilization and NetBattling albeit a certain few aren't so keen on the latter part. Upon arriving at their destination, the group were surprised to meet Sal who also came there to camp as well but what they didn't know was that she was sent there on a mission to disrupt an evil plan made by Grave and might need the aid of the kids.
Along the way, they came across Sal's childhood friend Dave who became a forest ranger for the sake of his dream. Arriving at the campgrounds, the group underwent various activities to settle themselves in as well as have fun while they're at it, even Naruto couldn't help but feel nostalgic since it reminds him of home.
But then things went downhill as the dam shook then they received a message from Sal aka Black Rose that bombs have been planted inside the dam and that she requires their help to locate and disable several remote detonators to prevent the bombs from exploding. Naruto and co were eventually successful in disabling the detonators but were alerted that the enemy is attempting an alternate method in destroying the dam to flood the entire valley. Naruto manages to get ahead of the group and jack into the Dam's mainframe just in time to save Woodman from getting deleted by Grave's NetNavis Quickman and Cutman. It was to his shock that Quickman's NetOp is none other than Dave who's a member of Grave, revealing his reason to be wanting to protect nature and punish humanity's selfishness.
With Megaman joining to help fight against the NetNavis while Sakura jacks in Kazuradrop to restore the system core of the dam before the pressure causes it to self-destruct, Naruto and the team manages to defeat the enemies and Sal was able to detain Dave albeit with a heavy heart. Even though everything seems to have ended well at most, Naruto couldn't help but noticed that his right palm has been aching recently, this worries Sakura greatly who hopes that her fears won't become a reality.
For this chapter, I decided to combine both the anime and Megaman Battle Network 2 to make things with Grave a bit more intense compared to the anime version since these guys aren't hesitant to kill and show how serious they are, there will be more like this in future OC chapters from this point onwards, so be sure to look forward to it. Be sure to read and review as always.
This is Hussbek from Ghana.
Signing out and staying alive.