Adventures of the Orange Flash
Chapter 23: Learning Of a Secret
On the other side of the lake in Jade Creek, four figures broke through the water's surface and swam over to the shore which reveal themselves to be Torque, Carol, Nicole and Milla. They all turned towards where the hidden base was before it sank to the bottom of the lake with looks of worry for their companions whom are seriously wounded.
"Lilac, Naruto…" Carol muttered sadly.
"Can you sense where they are?" asked Torque urgently.
Milla started sniffing on the ground for a few moment when she stood back, looking startled "Something's coming, something very very big is coming!"
"It's true and they're almost here!" Nicole deactivated her scanner before speaking to the others.
Torque quickly put on his disguise and positioned himself in front of the others, ready to draw out his blaster "Stay behind me!"
At that moment, they saw a large group of jeeps driving by and were transporting soldiers belonging to the Shang Tu army forces. They began to slow down upon a familiar voice yelling out a command.
"Halt! I said halt!" turns out that it was General Gong who was leading the army as he stopped the jeep next to the currently small group "Well look what we have here,"
"Have you seen Lilac and Naruto?" asked Milla worriedly.
"The dragon girl and the fox boy? I'm afraid not,"
"What's with the army?" asked Carol curiously, mentally hoping that it wasn't meant for them.
General Gong frowned at that question "Zao and his goons are about to attack Shuigang. I'm not about to let that happen,"
Everyone was taken aback by the sudden news with Torque being the most vocal "Zao is going to war!?"
"This is all going according to Brevon's plan," said Nicole with venom at alien's name, she still remembers how Naruto and Lilac were brutally tortured and their separation during the escape made her all the more anxious.
"Not if we reach him. All he needs is a little persuasion, if you know what I'm talking about," said Carol with a smirk, recalling Zao being a sucker for compliments which can make him dance to their tunes.
"We're friends with him, maybe we can get him to stop!" Milla piped up.
General Gong snorted at that "Yeah right, like that wi…," then he suddenly stopped in realization of an idea "Wait a minute, I think you might be on to something! Hop in!"
"Okay then," Torque got aboard the jeep with the others quickly following suit before they all set off to intercept Mayor Zao and his army before an already bad situation gets worst.
Meanwhile at the Shang Tu palace, a wounded Lilac stands before the magistrate and Neera Li with her head bowed in guilt, Naruto wasn't present because he had been carried to the healing room to recover from his wounds.
"So you deceived us, do you realize what this means?" asked the magistrate with his back turned towards Lilac.
"If it makes any difference, I am deeply sorry for everything," said Lilac sadly.
"It means that I have been foolish and your fox friend was telling the truth this whole time," Lilac was rather surprised at the unexpected response from him as he turned round to face her "We examined the fragment which your commander give to us,"
A feeling of budding hope arose within Lilac "Does that mean you will help us?"
"Before we would do so, there's something you must do for us. A mission, if you will" said the magistrate "Accept and we will restore your strength. Succeed and we will restore your honor and that of your friend's,"
"Th…thank you, your Excellency," Lilac bowed in gratitude.
"Come on along this way, I will take you to the healing room where your friend is currently recovering from his wounds," Neera Li beckoned the dragon girl to follow her.
They walked through the hallways in silence until finally arriving at their marked destination, the duo were passing along the rows of unused pools until they saw one filled with hot spring water which has special healing properties and there saw Naruto floating in it while still unconscious but resting peacefully. The sight of the remaining wounds brought up the feeling of guilt within Lilac who was coming close to crying again, so she hastened her steps to move past and locate a pool far from him which didn't go unnoticed by Neera Li.
With Naruto, his consciousness had retreated to mindscape where he laid back against a large oak tree to rest while Kurama worked on healing his body with his chakra, he sensed the killing intent emanating from the bijuu and made the decision to remain silent for the meantime until he's in a mild enough mood to talk. He saw Kurama finally standing up and walking towards him.
"So, how is it?" asked Naruto.
"I was able to purge your body free of the serum then channeled my chakra throughout to accelerate the healing process but it seems that something is helping with it as well so I withdrew a bit of chakra to save for later," said Kurama.
"That's at least some good news to hear aside from awakening my lightning aspect," said Naruto, then he heard a loud rumble and turned to look at a tall mountain in the distance and saw dark clouds floating above with flashes of lightning.
Kurama growled in reply "Don't remind me, you had to get electrified to the point of near death to unlock which to me is nothing than Kami saving your bacon…again,"
"Guess my crazy luck has yet to run out on me. Since I'm in the process of healing, I can use this time to work on some new lightning techniques before I wake up and try them out on a few gluttons for punishment," Naruto got to his feet and patted the dust off his tattered pants.
"You do that while I lay down, healing you constantly had me tuckered out this time," it was now the bijuu's turn to lay under the shade of the tree to rest.
"Rest well buddy, you've definitely earned it," Naruto smiled at his now sleeping friend before beginning his trek to the mountain and slowly ascended to the top and stood in the middle, he looked up towards the clouds to see the flashes of lightning and took in a deep breath of concentration "Time for some training, for now I'll work on the ones I read about then follow up on the others when I return to Mobius," he stretched a hand up to the sky as bolt of lightning came from above to strike him and electricity coursed through and like before he felt stronger and his battle senses had sharpened. He then took to performing several katas infused with the lightning aspect and discovered that small jolts would shoot out whenever he performs a kick or punch and could also adjust the amount of voltage discharged for every strike. Naruto also took to practicing some of the lightning techniques which he could remember for a while and was quickly able to get a hang of them and resolved to master them out on the battlefield.
Having practiced enough, Naruto climbed down the mountain and reunited with a still sleeping Kurama and spoke out to him "Hey Ku, I'll be waking up now that I feel that my body has fully recovered and find out what's going on,"
Kurama tiredly opened an eye and responded "Then you can tell me about it when I'm awake,"
Naruto nodded in affirmation before fading away from the mindscape, he then felt himself floating hot water and opened his eyes to sit up and look around to notice that he was sitting in a tub, then looked around further to notice that the interior looked rather familiar, it took him a few moments before realizing that he was back in Shang Tu.
"I guess they found me after my escape with the others from Brevon and his forces from the base," Naruto made to get off the tub when he noticed the tattered pants and ninja pouch hanging nearby "Oh right, that teme burnt most of my clothes. This is a good an opportunity to put on those clothes which I had Honey-chan make for me," he got off and activated his fire aspect to quickly dry himself then reach into the pouch to take out a scroll and unsealed a parcel. He then opened the parcel to bring out a set of clothes which he began to put on. Soon he was wearing a black mesh t-shirt and worn over it is a black/ red long sleeved hoodie jacket with the large design of a red roaring fox at the back (Refer Assassin's Creed III Connor Kenway Jacket Hoodie), a pair of black pants and black boots, and unsealed his E.C.G X gloves.
"Fits perfectly as always," Naruto smiled to himself in admiration of the new threads, suddenly he heard footsteps and turned around only for his eyes to widen up seeing Lilac who is fully healed with new ponytails "…Lilac-chan?!"
Lilac began tearing up upon seeing Naruto standing before her "Naruto…Naruto!" she quickly ran over to the Kitsune to wrap in a tight hug with him doing the same as she sobbed "I'm so glad you're okay…I was so worried when you wouldn't wake up!"
Naruto slowly rubbed her back to comfort her "It's okay Lilac-chan, everything is fine now. I'm okay as you can see and even feel,"
"If only I hadn't ran off like that, we wouldn't have been tortured like that. This is all my fault," Lilac stepped back with her head bowed low in guilt. Naruto used a finger to raise her chin so she would look at him as he smiled softly to her.
"We all make mistakes, which goes to show we aren't perfect but are still willing to learn from them to make better decisions in the future, so please stop blaming yourself for what had happened. It makes me feel sad seeing you like this, so please smile for me like you always do," said Naruto with voice full of warmth.
Lilac sniffled a bit and wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled back "Thank you…Naruto,"
Naruto smiled back and gave her another hug before speaking up "So can you tell me what's going on since I was out of commission," Lilac then told him of what had been happening till now "I see…at least he's willing to listen this time, let's go and find out more about this mission of his,"
Lilac nodded in affirmation "Okay Naruto,"
The duo began their walk through the hallways towards the exit of the healing room, though along the way, Lilac kept throwing glances at Naruto with him not noticing until he looked sideways to catch her doing so much to her slight embarrassment.
"What's the matter, Lilac-chan?" asked Naruto curiously.
"Umm, about your new clothes…they look very nice on you," Lilac spoke rather shyly and looked away with a small blush on her cheeks.
Naruto smiled brightly at her compliment "Thanks, this is a redesign of the outfits belonging to my clan,"
Lilac became curious at that "A clan?"
Naruto paused for a moment before deciding to trust her with his secret "I actually belong to a ninja clan that works on protecting the weak and oppressed from behind the shadows and now sometimes in the light,"
"Well you certainly tend to act all ninja-like," Lilac giggled a bit with Naruto rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
"Heh, I guess it's become a habit to me,"
They finally left the exited the healing room into the main hallway where they found Neera LI waiting for them, the panda girl turned to them and was rather shocked upon seeing the Kitsune standing next to the dragon while dressed in new clothes with no visible wounds on his body which would have taken months to heal from as he was far more damaged than Lilac.
"How are you able to recover from such wounds?" asked Neera Li.
"The energy within my body automatically focuses on healing when I'm unconscious or resting," Naruto replied while not revealing much of his abilities.
"I see…you possess more power than you displayed during our battle, it might seem that I would have stood no chance against you if you fought with your full strength. Am I right?" asked Neera Li.
"Not really, you're pretty strong yourself and I myself am still in training,"
"Even so, I have to acknowledge that you're indeed powerful than any I've ever fought," Naruto could only nod in acknowledgement "We'll need to meet with the magistrate, follow me," Neera Li walked off with Naruto and Lilac following her.
They arrived at the main room where Kou and Yoru who were waiting with the magistrate saw Naruto and joyfully flew over to hug him while he petting their heads, they drew closer and Neera Li proceeded to explain about the mission about to be assigned to them.
"The fragment which your commander gave to us is indeed crafted from a rare mineral, but we discovered it before in another location," said Neera Li, much to their mild surprise.
"You mean that you found it before all this Kingdom Stone theft started up?" asked Naruto and received a nod of affirmation in reply.
"Then why haven't you dug it up by now?" asked Lilac.
"We feared that it was radioactive, now that we've studied it in person, we know that it's safe enough to investigate," said Neera Li.
The magistrate then spoke up "This could provide the answers we seek…why the invaders know of our world, and more importantly how to defeat them,"
"You're right, as of now we don't have that much information about Brevon and his forces aside from what we currently know," said Naruto while nodding in agreement, Jiraiya and Ibiki taught him that vital information is what tips the scale between victory and defeat.
"Get in there, find what you can and leave. Do it as quickly as possible," said Neera Li.
"We won't fail you," Lilac then she and Naruto bowed to them.
"First I would like to know where exactly we're to go, so…" Naruto activated the Holomap from his ECG X gloves before "…could you mark the location for us?"
"Of course, the two of you are to head over to Pangu Lagoon," said the magistrate.
"Okay then, let's go guys," Naruto ran off with Lilac and the Chao quickly following him, they ran out to the entrance of the royal palace before Naruto yelled out "Come on out, Dragoon!" a warp hole appeared in the sky before the air glider zoomed out of it before quickly descending to the ground to hover before them "We should be able to get to our destination more quickly by flying, hop on,"
"Okay," Lilac jumped onto the air glider with Naruto while the Chao held onto his shoulders, then they flew into the air and took off at high-speed into the distance.
It didn't take them too long to arrive at their destination as the group found themselves flying over a large waterfront which appears to be long forgotten, they could also catch glimpses of decaying buildings covered in greenery. Naruto piloted Dragoon to descend to the ground as they quickly hopped off for the air glider to rise back into the sky and fly back through a black hole.
"This must be the place, I guess. Whatever we're looking must be deeper inside," said Naruto after checking the holomap on his ECG X gloves.
"Okay Naruto," said Lilac absentmindedly.
Naruto quirked an eyebrow at her rather odd behavior but remained focused on the mission "Alright then, let's get moving," he then took off with Lilac soon following after him.
Music Start: Freedom Planet OST; Pangu Lagoon 1
Naruto and Lilac dashed along the grassy pathway at high-speed and leapt up to higher ground where they encountered a large stationary flower with yellow petals, the flower suddenly closed its petals then opened them to unleash a cloud of purple gas towards. Sensing potential danger, Naruto activated his wind aspect to launch an air blast to blow the gas away from him and Lilac. HAZY-Moon floated to his side before he grabbed the handle and dashed forward to slice the flower's head off before they continued on their way, the group went further and ran up a hilly ramp to an upper level and face another flower, this time Lilac jumped into the air and descended with a dive kick then followed it with a swipe of her ponytails to take it.
The duo jumped along several large floating platforms with rolling hills until jumping off to land on the group and traversing through a couple of decaying buildings, they were passing by what seems to be a large green honeycomb nest when suddenly a large swarm of green bees flew out of it and headed straight towards them with stingers ready to strike.
Sensing that they aren't organic, Naruto proceeded to defend himself "Wind Spinjitzu!" he started spinning rapidly to form a tornado of sharp wind blades to slice up any which came at him, Lilac also used her Dragon Cyclone to defend against any of the Stingers which came at her as well. The duo leapt at the nest while still spinning to repeatedly strike at it until finally exploding into pieces. They then ran downhill and picking up speed before use a makeshift ramp to launch themselves into the air and landing on circular platforms "So what do these do?"
"Hmmm, Lilac closely observed and felt a hunch coming on "Dragon Cyclone!" she spun rapidly with the platform doing the same as it began to lift her into the air and she controlled it towards one of the upper platforms. Following her example, Naruto used his Wind Spinjitzu once more to hover after her towards the upper platforms before jumping off to land on them. The duo continued along the path while jumping across several gaps to avoid falling in. Lilac found another circular platform and used it to float to the next platform, Naruto took a running leap and was halfway in the air before flinging a Hirashin kunai towards the platform and flashed over to it and land next to Lilac as they continued their run over a couple of wooden bridges. Suddenly Lilac ran through a large ring of blue energy orbs for a blue star to revolve around her, but it had not effect on Naruto when he passed through it too before they ran up the side of a broken tower to the top.
"What happened to you Lilac-chan? I sense some sort of energy around you," said Naruto, he sensed no negativity within the energy.
"I don't know, but I feel stronger because of it," Lilac replied.
"I see, then let's keep moving,"
The duo dropped down a couple of platforms before encountering another one of the Sunfloris, Lilac used her Hair Whip attack only to launch a blue spinning ring of energy to strike the flora and destroy it much to their surprise, it seems like the blue star also boosts her attacks as well. They dropped down to the bottom and continued on their way to arrive at a dead-end, they looked up to see an opening at the top.
Naruto jumped to a wall and latched on with chakra to his feet before turning to Lilac "Come on, I'll carry you up there,"
"Actually I have a better idea," Lilac jumped towards and began gathering energy within which included the blue star that fused with her "Dragon Boost!" she launched herself like a comet but this time was leaving behind a trail of blue afterimages as she ascended by bouncing of the walls to reach the top before an impressed Naruto ran after her.
"That's pretty cool," said Naruto "Those rings must increase your powers by a lot,"
"I know, I'm sure there's more of them around here,"
They jumped off the ledge to land on the lower levels below with another energy ring for Lilac to pass through and have another energy star to revolve around her, there was a much larger gap than before ahead of them. Lilac used the enhanced Dragon Boost to dash about halfway before the dissipated then quickly used a normal Dragon Boost to reach the other side, Naruto leapt into the air after her and performed the Shadowless Flight jutsu with extra chakra to get to the other side too before dashing at high-speed to move into the next area.
Naruto and Lilac began to notice that they were beginning to traverse into more ruinous areas as they moved along the pathways. Stopping before another dead-end, Lilac used another energy ring to acquire another energy star before they ascended another opening above. Ahead was another Sunfloris, Naruto threw a Hirashin kunai and flashed over to it then appeared with a hand discharging electricity
"Chidori!" he struck with the recreated technique of his sensei to pierce through the flora and left it in chars. The duo continued along the way and ran into what appears to be the small green crablike creatures with spikes on their heads, the creatures lunged at the duo with the spikes aimed at them but Naruto easily deflected them with his gloves before unsheathing his claws to slash at them while Lilac used several roundhouse kicks to parry then lashing out with her ponytails to take them down. They climbed a few more ledges before coming across a rather large bow and arrow before them and it appears to still be in working condition.
Naruto was thoughtful for a minute before coming up with an idea "Hey Lilac, let's use it to our advantage. Hop on to the arrow and I'll do the rest,"
"If you're sure of this," Lilac climbed onto the arrow with the Chao joining her then Naruto fired an energy construct of a grappling hook to wrap around the arrow and started pulling it back on the bowstring then he let it launch while being pulled along to be sent flying in the air before striking the ground for them to jump off and continue on their way
Naruto saw several more of the Cacteon that appeared to attack him and Lilac, so he dashed towards them with his lightning aspect active "Lightning Chain!" both hands emitted electricity then he thrust them forwards to launch a stream of lightning to strike one of the Cacteons before arcing to strike the others, forming a chain till they all exploded. Several Stingers swooped in from above to attack him, however Lilac rose to his defense as she jumped into the air and used her Dragon Cyclone to take them down
Finding another bow and arrow, Naruto and Lilac launched themselves into the with it once more all the while piercing through multiple Stingers before smashing through a rock wall leading to another pathway for them to follow through. Then they found another pair of spinning platforms which they then used to ascend to higher ground before taking off into the next area.
The duo dashed down a steep hill before running up and ramped wall to reach the top when they launched off a bounce pad to be sent across a gap and land on the other side where a Stingers' nest hung overhead and the insects flew out to attack them. Naruto switched to his fire aspect and took in a deep breath before unleashing a powerful blast of fire to burn them down to the ground, then the climbed a couple of intertwined vines to reach the top and crossed along several floating platforms to reach the other side and were now standing before a large double door made entirely of stone and etched in strange markings. Naruto activated his Aura Sight and looked around until seeing a roped lever overhead, then he performed a chakra powered jump to grab onto it with his weight pulling it down and causing the doors to open. They quickly went inside before the doors closed behind them
Music End
"We must be getting close to whatever we're looking for," said Naruto as they walked through the dark corridors with the tips of his tails lit with foxfire to serve as their lighting. When he didn't receive a response, Naruto turned to see Lilac looking down with worry in her eyes "Lilac-chan, what's the matter?"
"…I'm worried about Carol, Milla, Torque and Nicole. I couldn't find them after our escape from Brevon before we were arrested by Neera Li, I've never been separate from Carol this long before," said Lilac worriedly.
Naruto placed a hand on her should while smiling softly "There's no need to worry, I've the utmost faith that they're fine and safe from any dangers for the meantime. We can track them down after fulfilling this mission, I myself am feeling just as worried but I believe that we'll meet with them soon enough,"
Lilac smiled a bit from his words "Okay Naruto, then let's finish this so we can go find them,"
"I'm with you on that one," said Naruto with a foxy grin, causing Lilac to look away shyly but he could sense the depression in her fading away as she smiled more brightly this time "Let's get going then!" he then took off with her following him closely.
Music Start: Freedom Planet OST; Pangu Lagoon 2
Naruto, Lilac and the Chao were currently making their way through the inner depths of the ruins within the caverns as they hopped down a couple of ledges before approaching a metallic like pathway which suddenly disappeared before them then a few moments later reappeared much to their surprise, they quickly ran along the path to the other side before it disappeared again. Naruto noted something heading straight towards them as Kou hovered ahead and projected an energy shield to block an incoming energy projectile, they looked to see that it came from a medium-sized black/purple gravestone-shaped robot which opened to reveal a glowing yellow/white eye and fired another energy blast but they quickly moved out of the way to avoid it.
"Terra Blast!" Naruto activated his earth aspect and channeled his energy to levitate a large rock in front of him then launched it at speeds of a fired bullet as it smashed right through the stationary robot, destroying it. They resumed the exploration of the area by going through certain routes but it seemed to always lead them back where they started from "Shoot, it's like a maze in here,"
"Maybe there's a hidden path around here," Lilac suggested.
"That sounds about right, let's see if my Aura Sight can locate it," Naruto activated his ability and began to look around the area. He made his way back to the disappearing platforms and noticed that there's another route down below "I found it, this way!" Naruto jumped down after waiting for the platforms to disappear to arrive at the bottom and Lilac soon landed next to him.
The duo ran down a slope and picked up speed to dash up and down the hilly pathways then came to the edge where there more of the disappearing platforms, they quickly jumped along them before they would disappear however one of the platforms did just that and they dropped down to land in an area infested with swarms of Stingers which were currently flying straight at them. Naruto quickly drew out Hazy-Moon and Masamune while hardening his tails to become razor sharp then proceeded to slash rapidly at the incoming enemies, he twirled Masamune to knock some of the Stingers back then followed it up with a 3 hit combo slash of Hazy-Moon, he then sensed more coming from behind and lashed out with his tails to take them down before resuming the frontal assault. Meanwhile Lilac was using her hair and Kicks to destroy the Stingers attacking her and will at times use the Dragon Cyclone for both offense and defense against the incoming attacks.
"There's just no end to them!" Lilac grunted from getting stung before kicking it away.
Naruto was emerging unscathed either as he got stung too "I got an idea but I need you to stay close to me and cover your ears?" at first confused, Lilac tapped the ornaments on her ears and stayed close to Naruto much his confusion though decided to ask her later. Naruto took in a deep breath channeled chakra into his chest "Battle Cry!" then he unleashed a powerful roar that unleashed concussive waves which blew all of the Stingers away and shattering them into pieces. Naruto quickly scooped Lilac into a bridal carry which caused her to let out a rather cute squeak then took off at high-speed with the opening created, he channeled chakra to his feet and began scaling the walls to reach higher grounds as the Stingers continued to pursue them so he used his tails to launch fox fireballs to shoot them down as he ran before running up a slope and dashing through a passage to finally lose them.
Naruto finally stopped for a moment to rest after their escape and placed Lilac down on the ground much to her inward displeasure "Looks like we lost them,"
"You're right," Lilac looked back to make sure that they weren't chased.
"I've wondering about something, why didn't you cover your ears when I told you to? I noticed that the technique I used didn't bother you either," asked Naruto curiously.
Lilac looked hesitant for a few moments then she spoke up "That's because these earpieces are actually hearing aids, normally I was supposed to hear fine with my fish fins underneath them but a genetic defect rendered them useless which made me deaf so I can hear without them,"
"I see…" Naruto could see how depressed she was about it "…guess there's only one thing to do," he approached Lilac whilst sealing away the glove on his right hand then took off one of the earpieces and placed the hand marked with the Yang seal on the fin. Lilac felt a strange but yet warm sensation flow through her head which put her in a state of bliss but then snapped out of it.
"What did you just do?" asked Lilac.
"I just healed you," said Naruto factually.
Lilac blinked once then spoke "What do you mean by that?"
"I was granted an ability to heal any kind of sickness and wounds from a great sage, if you don't believe me why don't you take off your other earpiece and try to listen?" Feeling rather skeptical, Lilac took off the other piece and to her surprise that she could still the sounds echoing throughout the caverns, the shuffling of her own feet and the chuckle which is coming from Naruto himself "Feeling good to hear again?"
Lilac could only nod silently before finally realizing what is actually happening to her…she can hear now without her hearing aids and all it took was for him to place a hand on the fins to heal her and he simply did it without a second thought. She opened her mouth to say thank you but Naruto placed a finger on her lips so as to gently hush her.
"I know you want to thank me, but we're kinda running behind schedule here at the moment. So maybe after all this is over," said Naruto with a foxy grin.
"O-okay," Lilac felt a bit down at being denied but had to agree with him, the sooner they're done then the sooner they find the others…and she can thank him later. Lilac put the earpieces back on and noticed Naruto looking at her confusedly "I'm kinda used to wearing them for a long time now, plus they look good with my outfit plus I turned them off anyway,"
"Heh, can't deny that one," Naruto chuckled at that.
In the next area, Naruto and Lilac had to cross over a dark abyss with the use of the disappearing platforms which they had to exercise with extreme caution before reaching to the other side. The duo had to go through yet another Stinger infested area but this time they were ready Naruto engulfed in himself in foxfire and dashed ahead while burning down any Stinger which tried to attack them with Lilac following him closely from behind after acquiring an energy star from the ring of orbs earlier before entry till they were able to exit from the area. Then the group used an set of disappearing platforms to ascend to the top before running down multiple slanted paths and had to watch out for large swords hanging overhead which would fall towards them when they get too close.
It took some more exploration till Naruto and Lilac found themselves standing before double door made of stone, similar to the first one they saw. They looked around for the rope lever and located it way up above their heads which would normally be too high for one to reach except Naruto. The Kitsune ran up the side of the walls and reached the lever before pulling it down for the doors to open then dropping down and running inside with the others only to find themselves falling down into a dark wide open area. They cautiously walked along whilst keeping an eye out for enemies or anything of interest. Suddenly Naruto stopped in midstep with his eyes narrowed, causing Lilac and the Chao to stop and turn in confusion of his action.
"What's the matter, Naruto?" asked Lilac.
"We're not alone…," Naruto spoke in a low serious tone
Lilac took a fighting stance and looked around with him then they heard a rumble and turned to see a large blue eye with a slit pupil looking back at them and that wasn't the only things they saw…sharp teeth and claws, reptilian scales, red orbs, and a large serpentine body…this could mean one thing.
"What? This…this can't be possible!" Lilac stammered in fear.
"But it is…an actual dragon and it doesn't look friendly," said Naruto, the giant dragon let out a loud roar which would make Kurama proud before it took flight.
Music Switch: Freedom Planet OST; Neo Chase (Tragic Boss Battle)
"Get ready, it's coming to attack!" Naruto yelled as he watched the dragon fly around in the air then it swooped towards them with its mouth wide open and attempted to chomp at them. Naruto and Lilac darted from side to side as it continued to bite at the duo for a few more moments before ascending back into the air, Naruto quickly activated his celestial aspect with the white halo appearing over his head and prepared for an attack.
"Meteor Light Barrage!" Orbs of light appeared around him then he launched them to strike at the head of the dragon, resulting in no visible signs of damage much to his annoyance "Darn it, it's got a tough skin! There's gonna be a soft spot for us to hit," Naruto searched hard for any weak spots when he noticed that blue energy was being concentrated around the mouth and realized what is about to happen "Lilac-chan, we better move! It's about to let loose something big!"
"I know!" Lilac looked about frantically until seeing a couple of those energy rings above and jumped up to energize herself with an energy star swirling around her. By that time the dragon had finished gathering energy and opened its mouth towards them to unleash a powerful beam, Naruto quickly used the Shadow Step whilst Lilac performed an enhanced Dragon Boost to launch themselves into the air so as to evade the overwhelming attack "How can we beat it? It's so powerful,"
Naruto continued to observe the dragon as they descended back to the ground when he took notice of something, he was sensing multiple concentrations of energy and they all seem to be originating from the red orbs along its back "Let's try attacking those orbs, it might get us somewhere on beating it!"
"Okay Naruto," Lilac jumped through the energy ring and waited for the dragon to draw close to them and rapidly lashed out with her hair to launch a barrage of the spinning energy ring projectiles to strike at some of the red orbs and managed to destroy a few of them. Suddenly, blue fireballs appeared above them and began to launch themselves at the duo, however Naruto used their speed to outpace the fiery spheres before they could be hit.
Naruto ran towards the flying dragon and created a shadow clone to move ahead before turning around and cupping his hands for him to step on and was launched high into the air, then he took out handful of shuriken and flung it before speeding through a set of handsigns "Shuriken Shadow Clone jutsu!" the spinning metal projectiles began to increase in number then struck the red orbs consecutively, destroying several. The dragon roared out in rage and flew around to rush towards Naruto with its maw wide open to crunch at him. Naruto threw a Hirashin kunai to the ground and flashed over to it before dashing away with the beast in pursuit. Lilac came in from behind the dragon and used an enhanced Dragon Boost to smash through a large amount of the red orbs.
"There's only a few more left before we can take it, let's keep it up!" Naruto called out.
Lilac was evading another barrage of the blue fireballs being launched at her before they finally stopped firing and she skidded to a stop next to him "I'm ready to finish it!" Naruto and Lilac saw that the dragon is beginning to charge up to form another powerful blast for them and swung into action.
"I'll keep it busy while you go for the last of the red orbs!" said Naruto getting a nod of affirmation from Lilac, he began forming a Rasengan in his hand and channeled more chakra into it to increase the power "It might not be enough, Kurama I'm going to need your chakra for a little boost!"
"Coming right up!" said Kurama.
Naruto then felt the bijuu's chakra flow through his body and into the Rasengan as a vermillion red outline appeared on the blue spiraling energy sphere. He looked up to see that the dragon had finished gathering energy before launching the energy beam towards the duo, Naruto reared his hand back before thrusting it forward "Nine-Tailed Rasengan!" both attacks clashed and began to struggle for dominance as Naruto channeled chakra to his feet to maintain a grip on the ground so as not to get pushed back "Go for it, Lilac-chan!"
Lilac leapt into the and used an enhanced Dragon Boost to launch herself high into the air till she was right above the dragon, she quickly located the last few red orbs on its back and dove towards it then used her Dragon Cyclone to destroy them. Suddenly the energy beam began losing power and the dragon's eyes started glowing yellow, Naruto seized the opportunity to channel more chakra to the Rasengan and lunged at the dragon as he grind through the weakening beam before striking it in the head
With that strike, the dragon roared in pain and began to explode much to their confusion before proceeding to shrink. The duo noticed that there was a beam of light shining on the dragon and traced it to see something all too familiar to them as it fell to the ground.
Music End
"You're one of Brevon's robots!" said Lilac both in surprise and anger.
"True, but its color is different from the one we had the displeasure to meet," like Naruto said, they were looking at the robot which assists Brevon but instead of green, this one is rather blue.
[Brevon….searching memory banks] the robot starting beeping a bit before responding […that name does not exist in our database]
"So…not a robot working for Brevon. That's a relief," Naruto muttered.
"Then what are you?" asked Lilac.
[This is a primary security system for or or or orrrrrrrrrr…that name does not exist in our database]
Naruto rubbed the back of his head at the response "I think we broke something during our fight with it,"
Lilac continued to ask "What are you? Where did you come from?"
[Apologies, that information is password protected, password protected, password protected…] robot began repeating itself, causing a tick mark to appear on Lilac's head, feeling annoyed at not getting any answers. Lilac walked over to the robot and gave it a hard kick, getting a beep out of it before responding […password accepted, follow me] then it floated away, Lilac turned round and blushed in embarrassment from the look of disbelief that Naruto was giving her.
"L-l-let's go after it," Lilac quickly walked away to follow after the robot.
"Wow…just wow," said Naruto.
"Like you wouldn't have done the same?" said Kurama with a smirk.
"I would but I wasn't expecting her to do it first," thought Naruto.
"Great minds think alike," Kurama teased further, making Naruto put up his hood to hide the pink tinge on his cheek,
"Shut up!" Naruto quickly went after them with Kurama's laughter echoing in his mind.
The group followed the robot who revealed its name to be Pangu deeper in the ruins surrounded by underground waterfalls, there they discovered an aged alter before them. Before any questions could be asked, Pangu activated its hologram to display someone before them which is revealed to be a brown anthropomorphic dragon dressed in clothes resembling that of a scientist.
"A dragon?" Naruto muttered in surprise.
The scientist then spoke [This is our final message…a message that we leave for the future. Although we will respect the wishes of your people and allow our influence to pass into legend, there will come a time in your history when you must learn the truth] the hologram then switched to display the planet Avalice [When we were stranded here, we sought desperately to return to our world. We wasted countless years trying to find a way home, but we're no closer to an answer than when we started. We decided that helping your civilization survive and prosper was a more efficient use of our technology] then it switched to displaying the Kingdom Stone [We have condensed our energy reserves into a physical relic of extraordinary power. With proper care, you may one day use it to travel to the stars…to find the answers that we alone could never find] then it returned to showing the dragon scientist [If you wish to know more, you'll have to access our internal database. I pray that it's still intact by the time you receive this message] then the dragon bowed to them [May the winds of time carry you for eternity]
The hologram turned off to signal the end of the message and everyone were silent, thinking deeply over the message given to them. They thought back to the legend which mayor Zao told them about and compared them, seeing multiple revelations about a lot of things.
"So the dragons were actually beings from another planet or if possible, another galaxy before they crash landed here for many years. Could it be that maybe Brevon acquired some of their technology before coming here? Given that Pangu is possibly much older than Syntax,"
"…I'm not so sure, maybe the magistrate will be able to understand it better than us when we replay the message," said Lilac thoughtfully.
"Guess it's a mission accomplished then, let's head on back," said Naruto.
Sometime later, Naruto, Lilac and the Chao along with Pangu made their back to Shang Tu and met with the magistrate and Neera Li. Pangu then replayed the dragon scientist's message for them to listen to and now the magistrate looked to be deep in though.
"The implications of this are powerful…" said the magistrate.
"So what do you make of this?" asked Naruto.
"It's difficult to say…but if it's true, then the Kingdom Stone is more important than we realize. It must be returned to its resting place before the energy within is lost forever," the magistrate was silent for a moment, then he spoke again "Something terrible has happened during your absence, Zao has sent his army to attack Shuigang," Naruto and Lilac were shocked by what they just heard.
"What?! But they're innocent!" said Lilac.
"It's their prince who is being manipulated by Brevon, but Zao doesn't know that," said Naruto with a frown.
"It's true, which is why I sent an army to hold them off, but I fear that it won't be for long. I also received a message that your friends are there as well," The duo smiled happily at the small piece of good news.
"That's good to hear, so is there any way we can stop them from making a grave mistake?"
"As of now, you two are the only ones worthy of trust. You can stop this war before it begins,"
"Tell us what to do," said Lilac.
[Perhaps I can be of assistance] Pangu spoke up.
"Very well then, you must make your way to the snowfield for it is where they are located," said the magistrate.
"Okay then, we're heading out!" said Naruto, Lilac nodded in agreement and went to grab onto Pangu while Naruto made ready to call on Dragoon for a ride to their next destination.
"We're are on you two warriors…safe winds," said the magistrate as he watched them fly away to what he feels will be one of the greatest battles ever to be recorded in the history of Avalice.
This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Carol, Milla, Torque and Nicole were able to escape the base as well and ran into an army led by General Gong who revealed that Zao intends to go to war with Shuigang and so decided to follow to put a stop to it. Back in Shang Tu, the magistrate revealed that they examined the fragment as requested and spoke of a similar one located elsewhere, so they assigned a mission to Lilac and Naruto after recovering to investigate. Naruto comforted a distraught Lilac who blamed herself for their capture and torture by Brevon but the blonde paid it no mind and went as far as to heal her of her genetic defect, to be able to hear normally again. The Duo made their way through unknown ruins and encountered a dragon which turned out to be a robot resembling Syntax but a bit friendlier whose name is Pangu. Pangu relayed a message which revealed a lot of untold secrets. They returned to give their report only to be told of the upcoming war. Now they are setting out to stop it and set their sights on their true enemy.
Here's the complete harem list, after some well put reasoning from some of the authors. NO Change whatsoever from here on:
Honey the cat
Rouge the bat
Blaze the cat
Shahra the genie of the ring (Secret Rings)
Merlina (The Black Knight)
NICOLE
Bunnie
Barby koala
Sonar the fennec
Mina mongoose
Julie Su The echidna
Tikal The echidna
Clove the pronghorn & Cassia the pronghorn
Fiona the fox
Sally acorn
Lumina Flowlight(fuse void to become whole again)
Coral the Betta
Perci The lady bandicoot(sonic boom)
Lupe the wolf pack leader
Leeta the wolf & Lyco the wolf sisters in wolf pack
Sash Lilac the water dragon
Carol tea the wildcat
Milla the hound
Bride of the Conquering Storm
Relic the Pika
Custom avatar pink cat hero: Fuchsia the cat(NEW ADDITION)
Tangle the Lemur(NEW ADDITION)
Galaxina(NEW ADDITION)
Princess Undina(NEW ADDITION)
Yukikaze Panettone(NEW ADDITION)
Blake belladonna(NEW ADDITION)
Read and review as always.
This is Hussbek from Ghana
Signing out.