Adventures of the Orange Flash
Chapter 20: Taking it to the Skies
Later that night, Naruto and the group had followed Mayor Zao to the City Hall and were escorted to the dining room where they sat at the banquet table for the serving robots to approach and deliver trays of food to the invited guests and mayor.
"Don't worry about taking turns! I'm sure you must be very hungry, so have at it!" said Mayor Zao cheerfully.
"SUSHI!" the girls called out happily at the sight of their favorite dish before chomping down on it.
"I always believed that ramen exists in all ranks and this the proof," Naruto slurped down the bowl of noodles and broth very quickly "Eating 'royal ramen' is a true accomplishment, mom and dad will be so proud! Seconds!"
"That explains why you have the scent of it all over you," said Carol teasingly.
Naruto puffed his chest with pride "Just goes to show that my special ramen diet is truly paying off," then he resumed on his third bowl as Lilac and the others giggled at him.
"So what's that giant head on the wall over there?" asked Torque.
"It appears to be a dragon's head," said Nicole as they looked at the large bronze ornament on the wall behind them.
Mayor Zao smiled proudly "That's the pride of my collection! An ancient statue modeled after the dragons of the Before Time,"
"What's special about them compared to, y'know, someone like Lilac?" asked Torque curiously.
The mayor looked rather surprised at the question "What's special? Hah! Did you come from another planet or something?" that question led to Naruto and Lilac choking down on their food so the Chao quickly patted their backs to have them swallow properly.
"Sorry about that, our food went down funny," said Lilac apologetically.
Zao nodded and continued with his story "Long ago, a magnificent creature soared across Avalice in a ball of fire. When it landed, our ancestors were so captivated by its power and beauty that they built three kingdoms in its honor,"
"Which are Shang Mu, Shang Tu and Shuigang right?" said Torque.
"Bingo! And when the cities were built, the dragon transformed into the legendary Kingdom Stone we know and love today," then Zao frown at his next sentence "The same stone that was heartlessly yanked away from me!"
"Well you took it first," Carol spoke up with food still in her mouth.
"Carol, manners!" Lilac spoke in a scolding manner.
"Sorry…"
"But why did you take it? And why now?"
Mayor Zao looked away sheepishly "Shang Mu is on the brink of an energy crisis. With the stone on our hands, we could have solved it overnight!"
"Well that worked out well…" Carol muttered.
"I don't think this 'energy crisis' of yours is an accident. I think it's deliberate, and I think we know who is responsible," said Torque.
"You do?" asked Zao confusedly.
"Yeah, and this person is the one who's really behind the theft of the Kingdom Stone," said Naruto while eating his tenth bowl of ramen.
"Indeed, the Prince must be assisting him in his endeavors without any of the leaders suspecting a thing," said Nicole.
"Could you tell me more about this fiend?"
"Of course," Then Torque proceeded to tell the mayor about what's going on.
Meanwhile at the Shuigang palace, there was a battle occurring within the building. Inside the hallway, numerous warriors laid on the ground slain, with the last of them kneeling down on one knee and gravely wounded as he looked up to stare at his enemy with hate. He is a green humanoid alien being with red eyes and a long brown monobrow as he dons a bronze armor with a dark brown cape trailing along the ground.
"Don't bore me with your lectures, I've heard them a thousand times from self-righteous warriors. Unless you have something useful to say, the only thing that matters to me is how quickly I can cast you aside. I really have a lot of work to do," said the alien with a scoff.
"*cough cough* You will fail, men like you always fail," the warrior barely choked out his defiance.
The alien unsheathed a knife which leaks out green venom and cut the warrior down without a second thought "An interesting theory,"
Suddenly a green floating robot teleported in from behind him, it is designed to resemble a squid only that it has two tentacles instead of the standard six to eight [Hello Lord Brevon, have you beheaded the intruders yet?]
"What is it?" asked the now named Brevon.
[There is an incoming transmission from General Serpentine] the robot AI then projected a hologram, showing Serpentine next to the Kingdom Stone with an evil smile.
[The full moon is out, not a cloud in the sky] said Serpentine.
"Don't relax just yet! Upload the scans and get back here immediately!" said Brevon.
[Of course, my lord] said the snake before the transmission ended.
"Contact the crash site and tell them to refit the warp drive, I want the artifact to fit like a glove,"
[As you wish sir] said the robot before it floated away.
Brevon walked away with a dark smile on his face "We're getting off this rock,"
The next day, Naruto and the group were having another conversation with mayor Zao about the plan which they had suggested to him.
"An alliance with Shang Tu? What a lovely idea! 'Oh hey magister! Sorry about ambushing your soldiers and desecrating your temple! Let's go frolicking in the woods with our makeup and pretty dresses!'" said Zao with sarcasm barley hidden in every word which shows how much he isn't keen on the idea.
"Your excellency, we're a neutral party. Send us to speak on your behalf," said Lilac as she attempted to change his mind.
"If he won't listen to the greatest ruler in all of Avalice, why would listen to a bunch of kids?" asked Zao skeptically.
"I knew that persuading this guy isn't going to be easy, but come on!" thought Naruto impatiently.
"Got any bright ideas then?" asked Kurama.
Naruto had a thoughtful look which then turned into a mischievous grin which only appears which he has a prank in mind "As a matter of fact I do, we just have to speak his language," Kurama quirked an eyebrow in confusion for a few moments before realizing what exactly he meant and smirked with glee. Naruto walked towards the mayor, giving the others a wink that he's about to try something to change his mind.
"Well Mayor Zao, I can understand your skeptism over this idea of an alliance but I can't help but inform of a small but important detail of the idea which you have overlooked," said Naruto.
"And what pray tell am I overlooking on this plan of yours?" asked Zao with a quirked eyebrow.
"You could go down in history as one of the founders of the great alliance where you unveiled the dastardly plans of a villain and smote him with the great arm of justice!" Naruto spread his arms wide in dramatically.
Zao is now fully attentive "Keep talking,"
"And you'll be known in Shang Mu's chronicles as one of its greatest leaders and people will be chanting your name 'Mayor Zao, Mayor Zao, Mayor Zao!' that you'll use it as your lullaby to go to sleep at night!"
"Hmmmm, that does sound quite pleasant," said Zao with a smile.
"And let's not forget that your chances for reelection are a 100% guaranteed," Naruto leaned in to whisper into the mayor's ear. That pretty much sealed the deal.
"Oh what the heck, I'll do it!" said Mayor Zao cheerfully,
Naruto and Kurama smirked inwardly "He took the bait, hook, line and sinker,"
"You mean you'll help us?" asked Torque hopefully.
"Of course, it's worth a shot!" Zao affirmed much to the joy of the others "This way to the airship!" he walked off with the others following after him.
"Never thought of you to be such a smooth-tongued guy," said Carol with a smirk for Naruto to respond in kind.
"The perks of being a prankster," said Naruto.
"Well it certainly got us what we wanted," said Lilac.
The group arrived at the airfield and were surprised to see a large boat-shaped airship hovering in the air before them as Mayor Zao looked at it with pride.
"Wow…we get to ride in THAT? Pleasesayyes," said Carol in wonder.
"But of course! It's equipped with everything you'll need for the trip, including your luxurious living quarters," said Zao with a smile.
"Riding in style? My kind of way to travel," said Naruto with a foxy grin, mirrored by Yoru while Kou cheered happily at the sight of the ship. Minutes later, the group were on board the ship and it began to take to the air with Mayor Zao bidding them farewell.
"Take care my friends!" said Mayor Zao.
"Thank you!" Milla cheerfully waved goodbye at him before flying away from Shang Mu.
A couple hours later into the night, the airship was currently flying over a forest with the stars twinkling up in the night sky. Carol and Lilac sat at the port bow of the airship while having a conversation.
"Just imagine it Carol, there are other worlds out there just like ours…" said Lilac as she looked up to the sky.
"We should go on a space adventure someday! Don't you think that'd be so cool?" asked Carol excitedly.
"Are you kidding? It's be the coolest thing ever!" Lilac smiled in agreement.
"Oh I know! Let's make Naruto's planet one of our very first stops? I bet there'll be a lot of awesome stuff over there!"
"Heh, I remember saying stuff similar to yours," the duo turned towards an undisguised Torque who stood a few yards away from them.
"Did you have a change of heart?" asked Lilac.
"No, not really. I guess I just wasn't prepared for the sacrifices I had to make…just gotta keep moving forward with the mission I guess. No point thinking about a past that can't be changed,"
Lilac was silent, recalling some of her past "You're right,"
Torque cleared his throat in an attempt to change the subject "So how's Milla and Naruto doing?"
"I'm not sure…can you go check on them?" asked Lilac.
"Okie dokie," Carol nodded in affirmation before walking off to the other side of the ship to find the others.
"I'm gonna go get some sleep,"
"I'm fine, you go on ahead," said Torque then Lilac walked past in direction of the sleeping quarters.
Meanwhile Carol was looking around for Naruto and Milla when she saw them standing close to the railings of the ship, she was just about to call out to them when she noticed that they seem to be having a conversation and her curiosity began to get the better of her.
"I wonder what they're talking about? How about I poke in an ear and find out?" thought Carol, then she went to hide behind the foremast of the ship to listen in.
"So what are you looking at the skies for?" asked Naruto as he watched the dog girl look up to the starry sky as if looking for something.
"I'm…I'm making a wish," said Milla.
"So what kind of wish is it?" asked Naruto curiously.
""Well…I really wanna see my mommy and daddy again,"
Naruto looked down towards the ground at that "Oh…I see, I guess you miss them huh?"
"Oh I really do, and I want them to meet you guys too!" said Milla happily, Naruto looked into her eyes and could see the loneliness in them, something which he's all too familiar with. He snapped up in surprise when he heard her call out to him "So how are you parents like? They must be nice since you're also nice,"
Naruto didn't know exactly what to say to that, he doesn't know if she could handle his past and so stood there in silence. Milla was wondering why he was so quiet when he suddenly spoke up.
"I never knew who my parents were…I'm an orphan," Naruto finally spoke.
Milla let a gasp of shock at what she just heard, Carol was quick to keep her voice down but it stop her from being shocked as well.
"Oh I'm so sorry Naruto, I didn't mean to-" Milla spoke but was interrupted by Naruto.
"It's alright, I care about you enough to talk about my past. You see…there was a disaster which occurred in my village on the day I was born and many lives were lost including my parents. As I grew up, I began to notice that villagers would look at me with eyes of anger and hatred as if I've done something unforgivable, and would go as far as calling me a demon child. Whenever I walked down the street, they would jeer, whenever I try to play with kids my age, their parents would push me away…I had never felt so sad and lonely in my life,"
Milla let out a soft whine at her friend being treated so badly while Carol gritted her teeth in anger at the villagers for what they did to him, as far as she can tell, Naruto is a very strong, loyal and kindhearted person who is willing to go to lengths to help others just like her friend Lilac.
"It wasn't until years later during a certain incident that I found out why I was hated," said Naruto.
"W-what was it?" asked Milla.
"I found out on the day of my birth, a beast was attacking the village and the leader sacrificed his life to seal it into a newborn baby which was me, but villagers saw me more as the beast instead of its container,"
"But how could they do that when you didn't do anything wrong?!" Milla had tears in her eyes, Naruto drew her close and hugged her with his tails wrapped around both of them.
"One fears what they don't understand and that fear later turns into hate, it took a while for me to understand their reasons and in turn strove to gain their acknowledgment. That turning point came when a powerful leader of a group appeared at the village and attacked it in search of me to acquire the power of the beast which I contained. I fought back but was almost captured when a…'friend' arrived to protect me. I pleaded for her to leave or she would be killed but she refused to listen and tried to save me…only to be brutally beaten to an inch of her life," Naruto closed his eyes tightly when the images of Pein beating up Hinata crossed his mind.
[Naruto-kun] Nicole whispered out sadly, she felt a strong pain within her upon seeing how much sorrow Naruto has and wished to ease him of it.
"I was so horrified and that horror turned into rage which led to me using the beast's power in a state of madness and rage, I was ready to unleash its full power when someone stopped me…it was the spirit of the villager leader who sealed the beast within me…and my father,"
"Your father was the one who sealed the beast inside you?" Milla was in disbelief at what she, his father was the reason for his son's suffering and for the first time in her life…she was angry.
"Yeah, I was shocked and most of all angry to the point that I punched him in the gut and demanded why he did such a thing. He revealed that he couldn't ask a parent to offer up their own child if he wouldn't do the same and most of all he had the utmost faith in me to control its power since I am his son and he could count on me to do so. I had never felt so happy in my life, to think that he had so much faith in me despite the short time we spent together. Soon afterwards, I resumed the battle against the leader and emerged victorious whilst speaking to him to the point that he performed a certain technique which resurrected the people he had killed at the cost of his life,"
"Did you also get to meet your mommy the same way?" asked Milla curiously.
"In a way I did, I was taken to a hidden island in order to properly connect with the beast's power. I was almost overwhelmed when the spirit of my mom appeared. She revealed she was a container of the beast before me much to my surprise. We had a fun conversation of how she and my dad met for a while, but before leaving, she thanked me for being her son and letting her and dad be my parents…it was then I realized that it was the love of my parents for me that I was able to keep on going throughout my life…they were my two suns in my heart," then Naruto looked down at Milla with a warm smile "And I'm sure that I can say the same for you too Milla-chan,"
"Really?" asked Milla with hope.
Naruto nodded in affirmation "The reason why you can be so happy is because their strong love for you lives inside your heart, so no matter how far apart you are…they'll forever love you until the day you meet again,"
Milla closed her eyes for a moment, then she felt a certain warm feeling which was strangely familiar before suddenly having the feeling as if two more pairs of arms joining in hugging her. She looked back at Naruto who had a knowing look in his eyes, causing her to hug him even more tightly as she rubbed her face into his chest with her tail wagging rapidly.
"Thank you Naruto, you made one of my wishes come true…I always wanted to know how it felt to be hugged by my mommy and daddy," said Milla with joy.
"You're welcome Milla-chan…I think we've had enough excitement for one night, how about we get some rest for tomorrow?"
"Okay Naruto," Milla walked into the sleeping with Naruto about to follow when he heard Kurama call out to him.
"Kit…"
"What's the matter Kurama?" thought Naruto.
"I…I never got to apologize for what I did to your parents. For what it's worth…I'm truly sorry,"
Naruto then appeared in the mindscape and went to hug the horse-sized fox "Buddy, I had long since forgiven you," Kurama smiled softly and wrapped his tails around Naruto in the form of a hug before he disappeared. Naruto towards the entrance and stopped before speaking out "Milla-chan wasn't the only one whom I wanted to tell my story to, you as well…cause I can tell that we all have a pained past. Goodnight Carol-chan, Milla-chan and Nicole-chan," then he went inside with all the hidden girls sharing a single thought.
"Naruto…"
*BOOOOOOM!*
Naruto was snapped awake from his sleep in the morning along with the Chao and Nicole projecting from the S.A.C from the sudden sound and the airship shaking violently.
"What's going on?!" asked Nicole confusedly.
"I don't know but we need to go outside and find out!" Naruto put on his clothes and ran out of his room and met the others running down the hallway "What's going on?"
"It's Prince Dail and his sky battalion that are attacking us! We need to take out their cannons or this ship's toast!" Torque replied.
"So what's the plan?" asked Carol.
"I'll deploy the lifeboats for you all to use to get yourselves over to the ships, I'll provide pickup with the monoplane once the cannons on any of the ships are disabled," said Torque.
"Then Nicole-chan and I will remain behind to serve as a defense for the airship," said Naruto.
Music Start: Freedom Planet OST; Sky Battalion
"Sounds like a plan! Let's go!" said Lilac. Then they dashed down to the hold below and moments later were seen flying out of the airship on the lifeboats with Carol heading for the Metal Ship, Lilac targeting the Fire Ship, leaving Milla to the Earth Ship.
"Good luck you guys," Naruto heard the sound of helicopters and turned to see said vehicles of Shuigang flying towards them, so he took a battle stance in preparation of a fight and data flew around Nicole in an orbit "Get ready Nicole-chan, cause here they come!"
"Understood!" Nicole nodded in affirmation.
Carol's POV
Carol arrived at the Metal Ship and jumped off the life boat and dashed along the deck towards the interior, suddenly a medium-sized yellow and green robot with spring-loaded legs jumped into her way and opened a compartment to launch an energy grenade straight at her. Carol leapt out of the way of the incoming explosive then dashed towards the robot with claws bared and rapidly slashed till it fell to pieces, she jumped down a few levels but stopped to look over the edge and saw a medium-sized stationary purple cannon as it searched around for enemies. Carol pounced from above towards the cannon below "Wild Claw!" she unleashed a powerful slash attack to destroy it before continuing on her. Carol ran up a ramped wall and destroyed a couple more Hopper MK IIs along the way before dropping down a few ramps to get to the lower deck.
She was advancing further when something shot out from a large pipe ahead, revealing yet another robot but it resembles a circular saw with sharp razor blades as it spun rapidly towards her "Whoa, I can't fight that! I better hightail it out of here!" she jumped out of the way and ran with it chasing after her, Carol barely made it to the entrance of the interior and climbed into it with the robot hitting the wall "Whew, that was too close for comfort," she moved on ahead and found a chain of bounce pads which she used to ascend to the upper levels of the ship only to land right in front of a DNA cannon which fired a laser wave upon locking on to her. Carol quickly tucked and rolled along the ground to evade the attack then switched to offense "Wild Kick!" she unleashed a barrage of lightning fast kicks to smash the DNA cannon down to the ground. Carol then ran up a few ramps whilst avoiding a couple of lightning rods to not get zapped then crawled through a small opening to get to another room. She dashed up and down the pathways with some help from the wind lifts until arriving in a large room.
"Huh? What's that sound?" Carol looked around before gazing upwards to see a giant purple robot with a spherical body and wings which spin around like that of a rotor "Guess you're the one in charge around here, might as well beat you before taking down the cannons,"
The robot spun its wings rapidly and swooped towards Carol, which had she running from it towards a wall and ran up along it then performed a backflip to jump over the robot as it quickly ascended to avoid crashing. The robot flew back up into the air and spend its wings as the tips began charging up with energy to attack, Carol looked around frantically until she sets her eyes upon a red colored pad on the floor "Oh a jump pad! Just what I need!" she ran over to it and performed a warp jump from it towards another on a wall right as the robot fired seven individual laser beams from its body and wings. Carol seized the opportunity to leap from the wall and unleash a Wild Kick to inflict damage to the body several times before landing on the ground with a roll. The robot again attacked in close range with its wings, Carol immediately jumped over it and landed on the other side then quickly countered with a combo of claw attacks before it flew away. Coral looked up and her eyes widened with the robot aimed the tips of its wings at her and began firing a salvo of energy spheres at her and began darting from left to right to evade the incoming projectiles. She backflipped several times and kicked off the wall to pounce at the robot in midair and unleashed a Wild Claw attack to strike the body again. Carol then saw the robot charging up for another attack "Not this time!" she quickly used the jump pad to warp jump to the one on the wall and kicked off to perform a Wild Kick which was more than enough to destroy it for good this time "That takes care of you, now for the cannons," She advanced to the next room where she found the cannons currently firing at their airships and proceeded to destroy them.
"Carol, get on!" Torque called out as he steered the monoplane close to the airship without worry of getting shot down. Carol took a running start before jumping out to land on the plane safely.
"Thanks for the lift," said Carol gratefully.
"No problem, now we have to wait for Lilac and Milla to be done on their side as well," said Torque before steering the monoplane towards the remaining Shuigang airships.
Lilac's POV
Lilac has arrived at the Fire ship on her life boat and landed on its deck and was moving along when a Hopper mk ii appeared and lobbed a grenade towards her, she quickly dashed underneath and lashed out several times with her twin ponytails to take it down then moving along. Suddenly a couple of small red crab-like creatures with small embers of flames on their heads appeared and lunged at her "Dragon Cyclone!" Lilac spun horizontally at rapid speeds to strike them back with her hair, at that moment a rotorblade shot out from a nearby pipe and rolled towards her but she quickly jumped over it to avoid the attack and dashed off before it could give chase into the interior of the ship.
Once inside, Lilac had to watch out for open pipes which were currently spewing out flames at random intervals if she didn't want to get burnt by them. More hopper mk ii appeared to attack but she made quick work of them by launching them into the air with a Rising Slash then kicked them hard into the walls with a two-hit roundhouse kick. Lilac came across a tall stacked moving platforms which she used to ascend to a higher level but then she was obstructed by a metal gate, she climbed down a rope ladder to step on a pressure plate which happened to serve as the switch to opening the gate for her to continue on her way and drop down to a lower level. Lilac moved along the passage and ran into a medium-sized orange/gray flying robot which split open its shell to reveal three miniature turrets that fired small bullets towards her. "Dragon Boost!"Lilac charged up her energy then launched herself forward like a comet to knock the bullets out of the way and smash through the robot, apparently there where were some of the crablike magmeon behind it and they also got destroyed as well.
"Just a little further to the cannons," Lilac climbed up another stack of moving platforms to get to the top, then she dashed down several ramps whilst being redirected by bounce pads before running through an upward loop into an large room where large wind vents blew upwards "I think I can reach up to the upper levels while using the updraft to propel myself with my Dragon cyclone," Lilac attempted her theory and sure enough, she was launched upwards to almost reaching the ceiling then she floated across the other side. The dragoness moved through the passage and exited to the deck until almost reaching the bow of the airship when a Shuigang Helicopter descended towards the deck and someone dropped off to stand in her, revealing it to be none other than her former friend Spade.
"You just don't know when to fold, do you?" said Spade with a glare.
"Don't you get it?! Lord Brevon is the murderer!" Lilac shouted at him.
"Thanks for the tip, now get off our ship before I throw you overboard!" Spade retorted before taking a fighting stance.
Lilac took a fighting stance as well "Like that will happen!"
"Oh well, don't say I didn't warn you!"
Spade flung a handful of playing cards in a spread towards Lilac, but she jumped high into the air before coming down at him with a dive kick. Spade quickly dashed forward whilst leaving behind a trail of green afterimages to avoid the attack, then he turned around to throw a card charged with energy at her, Lilac flipped sideways to dodge as it hit the ground and exploded then she quickly dashed forward to strike with a roundhouse kick.
"Ugh!" Spade crossed his arms together in front of himself to block the kick but grunted from the impact and was pushed, so he somersaulted backwards into the air and drew handfuls of playing cards charged with energy "Dual Crash!" then threw the cards towards Lilac. The dragoness quickly backflipped multiple times to get out of the explosive cards range until they stopped coming, in time for her to switch to the offensive.
"Dragon Boost!" Lilac charged up all her energy once more and dashed towards Spade at high-speed then slammed into him with great force. Spade groaned in pain from the full on attack and glared at Lilac before charging forward to engage her in close combat as he unleashed a barrage of punches and kicks, Lilac was on the defensive as she deflected the incoming attacks but a few got past her guard and was damaged, she then found an opening and countered with a rising slash which she quickly followed up with a series of kicks before knocking him back with a roundhouse kick.
"Gaah!" Spade crashed to the ground and then slowly got back to his feet while clutching an arm in pain as he glared at Lilac "This is far from over! I'll never stop until my father has been avenged!" at that moment, the Shuigang helicopter flew overheard for him to grab on to and be carried away from the ship.
Lilac could only look on sadly "If you only listened then you would have done so," she found the trapdoors and dropped down to locate the cannons before setting to destroying them. Moments later she saw the monoplane fly by with Torque and Carol, then she leapt out of the airship to land on the plane.
"What took you so long slowpoke?" asked Carol.
"I had a run-in with Spade, he still refuses to believe that it was Brevon who killed his father," Lilac responded sadly.
"We can deal with that later, Milla is the last one left for us to pick before returning to the airship to meet up with Naruto and Nicole," said Torque as he steered the monoplane towards the last but one airship.
Milla's POV
Milla rode her lifeboat to the Earth and hopped on board, she was running along the deck when she encountered a small green/gray robot with a propeller which it uses to hover in the air while equipped with cannons on both sides of its body, Milla quickly put up a Reflection Shield to defend against the bullets fired at her from the robot then conjured a phantom block to throw and destroy it. She dropped down a few levels only to be attacked by some green blob-like creatures, Milla put up her shield and quickly converted into short energy bursts to take out. The young continued to jump from one platform to another then used the updraft from the wind vents to ascend higher with her puppy float to the next platform but she quickly used her Reflection Shield in midair to block a shot from a waiting Pelletizer then retaliated with a shield burst to destroy it.
Milla soon found her way inside the airship and was running through the corridors quickly while being propelled by the wind vents around her and getting to the next sector of the ship. A couple of hopper mk ii appeared before her and begin to launch grenades in an effort to harm her, however Milla conjured a phantom block which she positioned in front of herself "Super Shield Burst!" she launched a long and powerful blast to take down a couple then switched to using several shield bursts to finish off the remainder. Milla traversed through interconnecting pipelines then dropped through an opening into an area full of elevating chains with giant purple crystals attached going up and down. Milla carefully went around them to avoid getting squashed and also had to watch out for Pelletizers flying around then used a bounce pad to get to an upper platform where she climbed up a rope ladder to the top.
She was moving along when suddenly a large spiked metal bar which has a chain attached dropped from above to smash the ground in front of her, causing the young hound to step back in fright "That would have hurt me!" she watched as it was lifted back up by the chain then quickly ran past it before it tries to fall on her again. Milla had to pass through more of the spiked metal bars along the way as they tried to fall on top of her but to no avail. She exited to the outer part of the airship which had the floor covered with spikes, however there were air vents available for her to use her puppy float in order to get across to the other side and through a doorway back into the airship where she found herself inside a vertical room with wind lifts above her, but she wasn't alone. There was a giant robot with a round ground body and a pair of long arms which it uses to climb up and down two large ropes on opposite ends of the room.
The robot proceeded to fire yellow electric spheres at her from above, but Milla ran from left to right quickly to avoid them then she conjured up a phantom block which she jumped and threw in midair at it, however the robot rapidly climbed up out of its reach and fired another volley of electric spheres, forcing her to dodge again. Suddenly the robot fired a large yellow crystal which upon striking the ground emitted a wave of crystal across the floor, Milla hastily used her puppy float to ascend and the wind lifts sent even higher towards the robot so she seized the opportunity to attack with a Super Shield Burst before the crystal returned to the robot as it climbed back up.
Milla somersaulted in midair several times to avoid the electric spheres being fired then used her Reflection Shield to send some of them back at it then following up by flinging a phantom block at it for additional damage before landing on the ground. Milla waited around whilst avoiding the electric projectiles in wait for the robot to fire the large crystal again which it did, she used her puppy float to avoid the wave and land on top of the crystal as she formed a phantom block and waited for the crystal to lift up towards the robot then fired another Super Shield Burst aimed at the open mouth which destroyed it this time as it crashed to the ground in pieces.
Seeing no other way out, Milla used the updraft of the wind lifts to ascend to the top of the room with her puppy float to find a doorway at the top for her to pass through and arrive at the bow of the airship. She dropped down a passageway to locate the cannons and proceeded to use her shield burst to destroy them before they could continue to fire at their airship. Soon enough, Milla heard the sound of a plane and saw Torque and the others flying by to pick her up.
"Milla, jump in!" Lilac called out to her.
"Okay!" she jumped off and used her puppy float to safely land on the monoplane.
"Awesome job Milla, that's the last of the ships firing at us. Now we can relax and get back to Naruto and the others," said Carol.
*BOOOOOM!*
They turned towards the sound and their eyes widened upon seeing something attacking their airship.
"Someone's over there fighting Naruto and Nicole, we have to go back and help them!" said Lilac worriedly.
"I know, hang on!" Torque steered the monoplane towards their airship where a battle is ongoing.
Naruto's POV Earlier on
"Wind Shuriken!" air swirled around Naruto's open palms as they took on the forms of large foldable windmill shurikens which he then took aim and flung them at the Shuigang helicopters and slice through their tail fins, causing them to plummet towards the ground below them as he somersaulted in midair and landed on top of Dragoon which he had been riding. Another helicopter flew towards Naruto and fired a cluster of missiles at him, Naruto took evasive action to avoid the pursuing missiles then threw a Hirashin kunai at it whilst placing a hand on Hazy-Moon's handle then disappearing in a yellow flash then reappearing at the side and having caught the kunai while the blade was unsheathed with the helicopter sliced in half "Flying Raijin Slash!"
Nicole flew about with her digital wings with the helicopters in pursuit, she spun around with data swirling around her "Shroud of Invisibility!" then she turned completely transparent much to the confusion of the pilots on board, suddenly one of the helicopters began to lose power rapidly before plummeting to the ground. Nicole reappeared behind the second one with data swirling in between her open palms "Digital Torrent!" then she fired a continuous stream of pixelated projectiles and shot it down as well. She turned around and saw another fleet of Shuigang helicopters heading "There's another fleet heading our way Naruto,"
Naruto flew up next to her on Dragoon with a frown on his face "Ugh they just keep on coming, which is becoming rather annoying!" he activated his Aura sight and saw that the auras of the pilots were all red which meant they're fair game and so began charging large amounts of chakra into the E.C.G X gloves then brought his arms to his sides in preparation of his next attack "Might as well take them all down with this attack, Chakra Blast Volley!" he proceeded to throw his hands forward one after another rapidly as he fired many chakra spheres towards the fleet. Unable to put any sort of defense in time, the Shuigang helicopters were eventually shot down by the onslaught of projectiles "Well that takes care of them, let's get back to the airship and wait for the others to get back," the duo made their way back to the airship where the Chao were waiting for them and had landed back on the deck when both felt the presence of someone approaching them from behind, they turned to see what appears to be a giant green peacock-like robot and on its back is anthropomorphic male panda with black hair tied in a topknot and wear a green royal robe with a yellow sash wrapped around his waist.
"Who are you?" asked Naruto cautiously.
"I am Prince Dail of Shuigang, you have been sent by Mayor Zao of Shang Mu to steal back the Kingdom Stone which makes you an enemy," said the now identified prince.
"Not exactly, but the stone needs to be returned to its proper place which is at the temple," Naruto activated his Aura sight and was surprised to see that the prince was emitting a blue aura which signifies him as a friend and yet there's an outline of a red aura for an enemy "What the heck is going on? He isn't an enemy in general but still one nonetheless,"
"Remember what Torque said, that warlord corrupts his victims to obey his will. He must have done the same to this one," said Kurama.
"Damn, the guy has a stronger hand in things than I thought,"
"You're wrong! The Kingdom Stone belongs to Shuigang and for being supported by Mayor Zao, the murderer of my father, you will face justice! Surrender!"
"Sorry but I do the opposite of that most at times, and this is one of them," Naruto took a stance with Nicole hovering next to him.
"So you chose death? How pathetic!" Dail sneered in reply before charging towards them on his Kujacker.
Music Switch: Freedom Planet OST; Prince Dail Boss Battle
[Initiating scan] said Nicole as she placed a certain amount of distance from the enemy and projected a holographic screen with a loading appearing on it.
The Kujacker opened its mouth to project a large ball of electricity which it then launched at Naruto, but he quickly dashed to the side to avoid it whilst channeling chakra to his gloves to create a handful of shuriken "Chakra shuriken!" he flung them at his target but Prince Dail expertly steered the Kujacker sideways to dodge the incoming projectiles and retaliated by firing smaller but yet faster balls of electricity at him "Swift release: Shadow Dance!" Naruto began darting around at high-speed whilst leaving behind afterimages for the electric projectiles to simply phase through them, he reappeared in midair as the Star ball within him switched to a water aspect for his next technique ''Water Bullet!" Naruto opened his mouth to multiple spheres of water which struck the Kujacker but with little to no effect.
"Why didn't it work?" said Naruto with frown as he somersaulted to the side to avoid a swoop from the Kujacker and flung a handful of chakra kunai in the middle of his flip and saw them bounce of its wings, but not after noticing a slight glow on its metallic "Now I see, it has an energy shield to defend itself,"
[Naruto, I've located the source of the energy shield. Its sources are the glowing orbs on the tail feathers, strike the orbs to bring down the shield then you can attack directly] Nicole called him through the headphones hanging around his neck.
"Got it," Naruto tuned his focus towards the eyes of the tail feathers and noticed that three of them had been damaged "I guess some of my water bullets had hit them earlier, gotta keep it up,"
"Take this!" Dail commanded the Kujacker to start flapping its wings rapidly to generate an intense amount of wind which to push Naruto and the others back towards the edge of the airship.
"I don't think so, Wind Spinjitzu!" switching aspects, Naruto began spinning horizontally at a rapid rate to form a tornado around himself, he spun forward whilst absorbing the opposing wind in his approach and grew stronger "Wind Darts!" multiple conically shaped wind constructs shot out from the tornado at the Kujacker with some of them taking out more of the glowing orbs before Dail steered it away from the barrage. The Kujacker swooped in close and began to peck at Naruto rapidly with its sharp beak, Naruto quickly unsheathed Hazy-Moon and began parrying the incoming strikes while backing towards the foremast, at that moment a beam shot out from behind Naruto to hit the remaining glowing.
"Naruto, the energy shield is down! You can attack now!" shouted Nicole after firing her Digital Torrent attack.
"Got it!" Naruto backflipped to land on the foremast sideways and kicked off towards the Kujacker with a blue spinning sphere appearing in an open palm "Rasengan!" he rammed the jutsu into the robot's head to send it flying back a great distance as he landed back on the deck.
"Impressive, but I'm not through yet!" Dail declared as the orbs lit up, signaling the energy shield's activation, then Kujacker began to fly around the airship at breakneck speeds in an attempt to ram into Naruto with its body. Naruto cartwheeled to the side to evade the first sweep with Nicole taking to the air along with the Chao, then he performed a Shadow Step in midair to dodge a follow-up and reappeared at the top of the foremast before quickly jumping off to dive to the deck below when Kujacker ascended to attack him for the third time.
Naruto fired an energy line from one of the ECG X gloves to latch onto one of the masts and swung around before letting go to somersault in midair and fling a handful of kunai then sped through a set of handsigns "Shuriken Shadow Clone jutsu!" then they multiplied into a thousand copies of the originals and struck the Kujacker with most being deflected but a few others damaging most of the glowing, the Chao quickly flew in for support as Kou fired a small energy orb to damage and Yoru lunged at another then bit down on it hard, bring down the energy shield once more "It's your turn Nicole-chan!"
Nicole hovered above and data swirling in between her open palms "Okay, Digital Torrent!" then she took aim and fired another powerful stream of data which into Kujacker, inflicting a lot of damage. Dail hastily stabilized the flight of his robot before glaring at his opposition with anger at their act of defiance.
"I've had enough of this, behold my true power!" Prince Dail yelled as yellow arcs of energy radiated from the Kujacker with its plumage turning yellow before unleashing electric laser beams in sixteen directions, Naruto and the others scrambled for safety from the beams as they continued to fire around as the former flipped over and slid under the beams, and Nicole having grabbed the Chao flew to evade them as well until the laser beams finally stopped firing.
"Naruto, my scanners read that energy level is severely drained from that last attack!" Nicole called out to him after looking away from a projected holoscreen.
"Then that just means that it's time to wrap this up!" Naruto reached into his ninja pouch and tossed several Hirashin kunai into the air which he caught with each of his tails as the sheathed Hazy-Moon floated into his hands and he took an Iai stance "Time to add a new chapter into dad's handbook,"
"Get out of my sight already!" Prince Dail commanded the Kujacker to fire a larger than normal electric ball towards the fox.
Naruto simply smirked in response "You'll get your wish alright," then he threw the kunai at each of the glowing orbs on the plumage then he warped away right before the electric sphere could make contact, multiple flashes of yellow light could be seen as each of the glowing orbs were being destroyed in rapid succession then Naruto reappeared right above Prince Dail in midair with the ninjato sheathed and the Hirashin kunai held by his tails as he called out his technique "Flying Raijin: Slashing Combo Level!" he came down and slashed part of the robot's head, causing various parts of the body to explode which left it critically damaged.
Music End
"This is far from over, you along with Zao with pay for crossing me!" Prince Dail yelled in outrage as he flew away in the damaged Kujacker with his sky battalion following him in retreat.
"Not before we wake you up from that teme's control," said Naruto murmured as Nicole landed next to him.
"Naruto!" said person and Nicole turned around to see Lilac and the others running towards them "Are you okay? What happened?"
"We had a visit from Prince Dail of Shuigang and had a fight but we were able to push him and force him to retreat along with his airships since you guys pretty much disabled the cannons. But the prince wasn't truly himself from what I sensed," Naruto explained.
"What do you mean?" Milla asked curiously, Naruto was about to explain further when the airship suddenly shook violently "W-what's happening?"
Nicole projected a holoscreen and looked at it before her eyes widened in surprise "This ship's engines have been severely damaged! It must have been from the battle and we're about to go down!"
Right as she said that did the airship begin its plummet to the ground below with everyone screaming in fright, Naruto was about to call for dragoon to get them to safety when it landed in a river and kept itself afloat much to their relief.
"Huh, so that's why your airships are boat-shaped…" said Torque.
"And here I thought it was just for looks…talk about multifunctional," said Naruto.
Lilac swam back to the floating airship and turned towards Naruto "So what was it that you were going to tell us about the prince?"
"Oh right, you see the thing I noticed is that…" then Naruto proceeded to explain what he had sensed "…and that's what I could think of,"
"This is worse than I thought, this could only mean that Lord Brevon already has the Kingdom Stone," said Torque with a frown.
"But what I'm most annoyed about is how Zao would do such a thing to us?" said Lilac angrily, Naruto frowned as he too wasn't pleased with all that happened.
"He must have thought we were all that he needed," said Torque.
"So much for sweet-talking that guy into helping us," Naruto grumbled.
"Tell me about it," Kurama mumbled.
"If he had told us from the beginning, we would have been ready! No wonder Brevon got away with a lot of things, our leaders are too brain-dead to pay any attention to themselves!" Lilac was getting really frustrated.
Nicole who had returned to the S.A.C to rest then spoke up [That could be said for Zao, but remember that Prince Dail is currently under Brevon's control and we have yet to speak to the magister over at Shang Tu]
Lilac simply let out a long sigh "Never mind…I'm just…I don't know,"
"It's alright Lilac-chan, we're just frustrated about things not going the way we hoped," said Naruto.
"Naruto's right…so how far is the closest city?" asked Torque.
"Shang Tu is just a few miles east, the river should take us there," said Lilac.
"We'll give that panda guy an update on our situation, the magister might be able to help,"
"Sure hope he believe us," Lilac looked down worriedly for a bit then spoke up "I'll go and check on Milla," she left the others to find Milla sitting on the edge of the airship and looking at the river.
"Things have been pretty crazy so far huh?" Lilac asked in a lively tone.
"Yeah…," Milla replied softly, both sides were silent for a moment then Lilac went to sit down to the young dog girl.
"…so how long have you been away from your parents?"
"I'm not sure…it feels like a really long time,"
"And you've been alone in the woods ever since?
"Yeah…,"
"I hope this doesn't sound weird but…" Lilac broke into a smile "…that's kind of impressive. I wouldn't survive a day with my tree house. Hey…when this all over, how about we have a girls' night out? Just you and me?"
Milla looked curious at that "You mean…a playdate?"
"Something like that, we could try out some new dresses, or maybe buy a huge plate of sushi and just pig out!"
"Can Carol and Nicole come too, and also Naruto since he couldn't hang out with us before?" asked Milla with sparkles in her eyes.
Lilac looked thoughtful for a moment before replying with a nod of the head "Sure they can come along, though we wouldn't call it a girls night out anymore, but good luck with getting Carol to put on a dress,"
Milla giggled with her tail wagging happily "Well sure, I'd like that!"
Meanwhile Naruto, Torque and Carol were having a conversation of their own.
"So uh, how did you two meet anyway? A green cat and a purple dragon girl seem like a weird mix," said Torque curiously.
"Maybe so, but I can tell they really care for each other," said Naruto.
"Yeah, both of us were part of a street gang called the Red Scarves. We used to make crazy money from winning martial arts tournaments!" said Carol happily.
"I guess you two were living the life then huh?" asked Naruto with a smile.
"Pretty much yeah,"
"Is that where you two meet Spade?" asked Torque.
"Yep, he was cool at first, but uh…things got weird," Carol looked down at the floor sadly.
"Why?" Torque was a little confused.
"Well, there's…there's lines we don't cross. And he crossed them,"
"By that, you mean Spade resorted to killing people for no good reason all for the sake of getting paid and your group followed his new ways as well,"
Carol nodded sadly "Yeah, we were surprised and then sad when they started doing things so differently, which was why we left the Red Scarves since we didn't want to be a part of it anymore,"
Naruto walked over to Carol and placed a hand on her should and smiled at her warmly "It only proves that both of you clearly knew the difference between right and wrong, and that is something I respect,"
"Thanks Naruto, that means a lot," Carol smiled back.
"So what I'm trying to get around is that if Spade is Prince Dail's brother, doesn't that make him a prince too?" asked Torque.
"I guess so, he never talks about it much," Carol replied.
"But surely he would have noticed the sudden change in his brother's personality, or perhaps he didn't even care to notice," said Naruto thoughtfully.
"That sounds just like him," Carol murmured.
"Look everyone! It's the city!" Milla came running up to the group with Lilac in tow as they all looked ahead to see the city of Shang Tu.
"Well we've arrived, let's go meet the magister and tell of everything that we know," said Torque, getting nods of affirmation from the others as they prepared to dock the airship and speak to said person in hopes of gaining his assistance.
This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, during the royal banquet with Mayor Zao of Shang Mu, Naruto and the gang exchanged information with said person and attempted to persuade him into forming an alliance with Shang Tu. However Zao wasn't convinced so Naruto used his prankster ways to change his mind, and they were gifted with an airship to go and meet up with the magister to relay the information. That night Naruto comforted Milla and told her of his past while being well aware of Lilac and Carol listening in on their conversation but trusted them anyways. The next morning, they were attacked by the Shuigang sky battalion, so Lilac, Carol, Milla and Torque went to disable the airships' cannons, leaving Naruto and Nicole behind to defend the ship against Prince Dail whom the former sensed that he was being controlled and so forced him back. However the airship had taken a serious hit and fell into the river below, luckily the currents would carry them to the city nonetheless. Naruto got to find out more about Lilac and Carol's past and affiliation to Spade, and now prepares to meet the Royal Magister. Read and Review as always.
This is Hussbek from Ghana
Signing out.