Adventures of the Orange Flash

Chapter 25: A Final Assault

Up high in the skies of Avalice, a massive galactic warship is breaking through the atmosphere and attempting to leave the planet. This is none other than the Dreadnought which belongs to Brevon who had stolen the Kingdom Stone to power the ship and left the planet's inhabitants in disarray. However there are a small group who aren't going to let him get away with his plan. One of the interior walls began to crumble then suddenly burst outwardly and two figure jumped through the now gaping hole in the wall, they were Naruto and Carol who were accompanied by Nicole and the Chao.

Naruto reached up to his headphones and tapped the interface a few times before speaking up "Naruto here, Carol-chan and I are currently inside the lower levels of the Dreadnaught and about to make our way to where the Kingdom Stone would be located,"

[Roger that Naruto, Lilac, Milla and I are at the other side. We'll cross each other at a certain point but maintain radio silence until then] said Torque.

"Got it," Naruto turned towards Carol and Nicole in faerie form "Alright girls, let's move out!"

"Understood/Got it!" Nicole and Carol replied respectively, then the group dashed off to commence with their mission.

Music Start: Freedom Planet OST; Final Dreadnought 1

The duo started things off by jumping off the ledge that they were standing on and dashing down the slanted pathway and then ran vertically across a wall to get across a deep gap to the other side and launched off a diagonal bounce pad to reach the next pathway. Suddenly large purplish-tan robots called Pounders flew overhead and quickly came down in an attempt to crush them under their weight but Naruto and Carol were quick enough to avoid getting crushed and kept on moving. They found themselves in an area holding a pair of teleporters when Brevon's voice was heard from the loudspeaker.

[We have intruders on the ship! Mobilize!]

At that moment, the teleporters came online and two Shade Elites appeared and took aim with their blasters at the duo and fired, Naruto dashed sideways and quickly closed in on one of the elites with his fists coated in foxfire and rapidly punched it all over before unleashing a powerful uppercut to send it crashing into the ceiling then plummeted to the floor, Carol leapt over the laser and pounced at the second and struck with a Wild Claw attack then followed up with a claw combo to finish hers off.

"Looks like we got his attention," said Carol.

"Let's keep it that way, smashing up his robots will definitely make him focus on us more," said Naruto.

They continued on their way to the end of the area and used a bounce pad to ascend towards an online teleporter to be transfer to another area, there was a Hopper mk2 which launched a grenade towards them. Naruto quickly chakra into the ECG-X gloves to create a kunai and threw it to destroy the grenade then Carol rushed up to the robot and threw a barrage of kicks to take it out then they stepped into the next teleporter to be warped to a larger area to encounter more Hopper mk2s and this time with laser cannons in the mix. Carol went to engage the Hoppers mk2 in close quarters and Naruto unsheathed Hazy-Moon and dashed up to slice the robots' legs off then cleaving them cleanly through with singular strikes, Nicole flew up to the laser cannons and fired blasted of data to hack into their systems and was successful in doing so then she remotely controlled them to shoot at the other Hoppers mk2s before having them self-destruct. The group went to the end of the corridor to get on top on a small platform which carried them along a rail to the lower level before moving through the next pathway.

A pair of Fire Spitters rolled out of the teleporters ahead of Naruto and Carol whilst attacking with streams of flames, Naruto activated his fire aspect and opened his mouth to inhale the flames then unleashing a powerful blast of fire to destroy them both. Naruto and Carol ventured further but had to watch out for large purple and silver pillars which creates purple energy spheres orbiting around them and so made use of some hovering mechanical pods as makeshift bounce pads to get past them to the other end then ran down a slanted pathway to enter another teleporter and was warped to a lower level where some Shade Elites appeared to attack them

Naruto summoned his Star Ball with the air aspect active then he kicked it towards the Shade Elites as the Star Ball paused in midair then began to spin rapidly to create a tornado which drew the robots within and tossed them into the air, Naruto charged chakra into the ECG-X glove and proceeded to rapidly fire a barrage of chakra blasts to destroy them before reabsorbing the Star Ball. Some Tankbots then showed up to attack the group but Nicole created a Static bomb and threw it at the robots to paralyze them, Carol wasted no time as she pounced at them and lashed out with a powerful Wild Claw to destroy them. They climbed up a staircase like pathway to the top and dashed along a wall to get over another gap where they jumped off the ledge and were redirected to a lower path by the bounce pads on the wall where they landed on another railed platform to transport them lower to another corridor, then the group found another teleporter and were warped.

Naruto and the others found themselves standing in the middle of a large chambers with a lot of teleporters built around them, they looked further in to see a large monitor which suddenly came online to display Brevon with the alien warlord snarling at them before pointing with a finger and proclaiming in a loud voice.

[GET THEM!]

At that moment, mass numbers of Shade Elites and Hopper mk 2 began to teleport into the chamber and set their sights on Naruto and the others.

Naruto simply smirked in response "The good old strength in numbers tactic, eh? Too bad it's also one of my favorite battle tactics too," he crossed the middle and index fingers of both hands and channeled his chakra "Let's even these odds, Multi-Shadow Clone jutsu!" there was a puff of smoke which then cleared to reveal a mass amount of shadow clones with the original standing in the front, then he pointed at the opposition.

"Like the teme said, get them!" said Naruto with a smirk.

"Roger!" the clones responded in affirmation then charged to engage the robots with either weaponry or jutsus to take them on.

"Wow Naruto, you're literally a one-fox army," said Carol in wonderment.

"I get that a lot where I came from," said Naruto with a smirk "Now let's keep moving while my clones keep them busy,"

He led the way through the battle to the other side of the chamber where they hopped into another teleporter and were warped to a corridor where they got onto another railed platform. However flying Turretus descended from above and fired shells at them, Naruto quickly unsheathed Hazy-Moon to deflect the incoming projectiles and Carol reached into her pouch and threw a handful of shuriken to destroy parts of the robots, causing them to crash to the ground and explode.

"Thanks for lending these to me, been a while since I last used them," said Carol happily.

"Well Milla told me about you being a ninja once so I wanted to see what you could do with them," said Naruto, they reached the end of the rail and ran through the corridor towards the next area of the Dreadnought.

The group emerged from the end of the corridor when it was suddenly sealed shut with a pair of blast doors much to their mild confusion but continued on their way nonetheless, they stepped onto a railed platform to be transported to the other side and dashed along the pathway. A few Hopper mk 2s approached to intercept them but Carol and Naruto quickly took care of them with claw attacks together, they leapt across a small gap to the other side when they heard Brevon's voice again from the loudspeakers.

[Open the airlocks!]

Suddenly the said airlocks located in between the gaps ahead of the duo began to open up with the wind and any robots near getting sucked into it and ejected into space. Naruto and Carol felt themselves being dragged towards one of the open airlocks when the former channeled chakra to his feet and anchored himself to the ground before reaching out to grab Carol while the Chao latched onto his jacket tightly.

"Man, this guy is totally pulling out all the stops here," said Naruto.

"Yeah, but do we get past here?" asked Carol as she held on to him.

"I got an idea, climb on my back then I'll carry you till we get past all of the airlocks to safer grounds," Naruto swung Carol around to carry her via piggyback "Get hang on, this is going to be a bumpy ride,"

Carol nodded in affirmation "Okay Naruto,"

Naruto dashed off and leapt across the first of the airlocks and barely reaching the edge with the force of the vacuum attempting to pull them down. The second airlock was at a dead-end but he knew better as he jumped into the gap and grabbed on to the wall before slowly sliding down to reach a lower platform and swing onto it. He located a bounce pad ahead and used it to reach up to an upper platform before using a ladder to climb up before another open airlock, then he jumped across it as well only to run into a couple of Tankbots teleporting in. the robots proceeded to fire at the duo but Kou flew ahead and projected an energy shield to defend them against the shots then Yoru formed a black energy construct of a claw and had it grab the Tankbots before flinging them into the airlock ahead. Naruto resumed his run as he ran along the walls with chakra channeled to his feet to prevent being sucked through the airlocks, then he jumped over one but then blast doors suddenly sealed shut to bar their way causing them to fall. However Naruto quickly grabbed onto a horizontal steel bar and held on then shuffled along to the other side.

"That was too close for comfort Naruto," said Carol looking relieved.

"Tell me about it, but it shows that he's getting desperate," Naruto replied.

"That's true,"

Naruto dashed along the pathway and ran vertically along the walls multiple times over the airlocks then vaulted over several energy orb-producing pillars until finally arriving at a teleporter, then he let Carol off his back since they had gotten past all of the airlocks now. The group stepped into the teleporter and were warped into a room where some Fire Spitters moved in to attack, Nicole fired a data pulse to corrupt their core systems, causing them to self-destruct from overheating then went through another teleporter to be warped into a chamber which was surprisingly empty but moved on regardless and warped elsewhere. They warped around many times whiles taking on Tankbots, Shade Elites and Hopper mk 2s until transporting themselves to a corridor with a railed platform and passing through it only for blast doors to suddenly seal shut behind them and they were standing in the middle of a very long hallway.

"Guess it's a straight line from here then," said Carol.

[I don't know, something doesn't feel right] said Nicole from the SAC.

At that moment, they heard a loud sound from behind and turned around only for their eyes to widen in shock upon seeing a massive laser beam being fired from a cannon in the ceiling and was heading straight towards them, Carol tossed a shuriken for to be vaporized instantly which only reinforced their reason to run as they took off. Then they heard Brevon taunt them from the speakers.

[Run while you still can, creatures!]

"I get the feeling that he purposely lured us here," said Naruto.

"Do tell…Nicole I could use the bike right about now," said Carol taking a short glance over her shoulder to see that the laser beam was picking up speed and catching up to them.

[Already on it…here you go!] said the Holo-Lynx.

Nicole transported the bike with the engine already ignited from the SAC to appear next to Naruto, Carol somersaulted into the air and landed on the seat then revved a few times before quickly accelerating to top speed for Naruto to use his true speed as they kept ahead of the pursuing laser beam. Suddenly a rather familiar robot teleported before the duo much to their annoyance as they recognized it to be Brevon's robot, Syntax.

[You are trespassing the Dreadnought, prepare to be vaporized. Thank you] said the robot.

"Ugh, how many times do we have to beat this hunk of junk?" asked Carol.

"I guess the teme took into account that his assistant would be getting totaled a lot and so had created lots of copies for it, I thinking bringing this space toy of his will also get rid of the copies too," said Naruto.

"That's an idea I can fall back on,"

Music Change: Freedom Planet OST; Major Boss Battle

Syntax started things off by transforming into a tank and aimed its laser cannons at the duo then opened fire upon them, Naruto and Lilac quickly darted from side to side with the former unsheathing Hazy-Moon and moving to deflect any incoming shots which could have hit Carol and the bike. Syntax rapidly approached them while firing then Carol skillfully hit the handbrake and revved the bike to perform a drift spin to face the robot and slashed at the head with her claws, she quickly followed with a barrage of kicks for additional damage before accelerating to pull away from a possible retaliatory attack.

[Switching positions for appropriate battle tactics] Syntax levitated to the ceiling and anchored its wheels to it before firing at them once more whilst driving from left to right in order to keep a beat on them.

"Kou, protect Carol!" Naruto called out to the Hero Chao who quickly flew over to the wildcat and projected an energy shield to deflect the incoming laser shots "Gonna show this robot that it's not the only one that can stick to stuff!" Naruto switched to his air aspect as wind swirled around his arms then he pointed them towards the ground and fired two powerful jet to propel himself high into the air towards the ceiling and quickly somersaulted to make contact feet first then latch onto it with chakra, Syntax aimed one of the cannons at him and fired but Naruto quickly channeled chakra to generate a circular shield from his right ECG-X before rapidly deflecting the laser shots whilst preparing a wind technique "Wind Shuriken!" he formed a spinning shuriken out of wind and threw it then forming more to follow after it and inflicting continuous damage upon the robot "I'm not done yet, Fire Grenade!" he switched to his fire aspect and formed a blazing orb in hand which he lobbed at Syntax, resulting in a large fiery explosion.

[Query; situation not in my favor, switching tactics and requesting assistance] Syntax dropped back to the ground and transformed into a train and positioned itself right in front of the trailing laser beam then a fleet of Super Turretus teleported into the hallway and proceeded to fire at the duo.

[Not so fast!] Nicole emerged from the SAC and fired a data pulse to hack into one of the Turretus system and commanded it to fire at the others, it managed to destroy a few being destroyed by the rest. Carol revved the bike for it to jump towards the robots and swipe at them with her claws and managed to smash some of them down to the ground but had to bank hard from left to right to evade the retaliatory laser fire from Syntax which was absorbed from the laser beam to fly ahead then drop to the ground and rush at her.

"Flying Raijin Slash!" Naruto flung multiple Hirashin kunai to strike the remaining Super Turretus then dropped from the ceiling to disappear in a yellow flash as he rapidly warped around and slashing the targeted robots with a chakra enhanced kunai then he turned towards Syntax "Foxfire Barrage!" he thrust his hands forward to fire a salvo of azure fireballs to repeatedly hit the large robot.

Syntax transformed into it tank form again to attack them from a long range this time, Naruto quickly dashed over to Carol and somersaulted in the air and stood on top of the bike's backseat with his celestial aspect active with the halo hovering over his head. He formed a chakra construct of a bo staff with light attribute, then he rapidly twirled the staff around him skillfully to absorb the laser shots into it. Naruto had the staff transform into a bow and pulled the bowstring to form an arrow made from light energy "White Hailing Arrows!" then helet loose to fire the projectile as it split into many more before repeatedly striking Syntax. The robot was still far from done as it transformed into what appears to be a pogo stick and was jumping all over the area in an attempt to crush the others under its weight while at the same time creating shockwaves on the ground, Carol and Naruto darted from side to side to evade its attacks and jump over the shockwaves, then Carol found an opportunity to leapt at Syntax and hit its head with the rear tire and revved the engine to grind against it before riding off.

"Nine Bladed Tails!" Naruto hardened his tails and leapt at Syntax as he slammed the appendages into its body, inflicting a lot of damage to send it tumbling back and almost hitting the laser beam, however Syntax transformed once more into a giant circular saw and spinning towards them once more and this time was moving faster than before that it would latch on to the ceiling before dropping towards the group.

"Geez, how many forms does it have?!" asked Carol as she performed a slide underneath the bladed robot before propping up to the wheels.

"I don't know but I'm getting rather fed up with this, let's see if I can't take away its sharp teeth," Naruto created a shadow clone and they worked together to form a Rasengan and infused it with the wind aspect for a windstorm to be seen within the blue spiraling sphere. They turned towards the robot and charged towards it "Wind style: Giant Rasengan!" then they rammed the jutsu into Syntax as sparks and shards of metal flew between constantly before both sides disengaged to reveal the blades had been shattered "How do you like that?"

[Damage at critical levels, switching to Plasma mode for total eradication of targets] Syntax quickly moved ahead of the duo and transformed once more into a vehicle with two large wheels which it used to cling to both the ground and the ceiling, then it proceeded to fire purple plasma spheres that were moving randomly towards its targets.

"Celestial Spinjitzu!" Naruto spun rapidly to create a white energy tornado to knock the plasma spheres from them before grabbing the sheathed Masamune with a look of annoyance "I've had about enough of this, time to end it!"

"Naruto, aim for its joints, that's its current weak spots," said Nicole in faerie form.

"Got it…Carol-chan, take out that other kunai which I gave you and aim for the lower joint while I go for the upper one!" Naruto fired a jet of wind with a free arm to propel himself back up to the ceiling and got himself into position with the Masamune at the ready.

"Roger that Naruto!" Carol reached into her pouch and took out a kunai which has a seal tag wrapped around the handle, she gripped tightly for the inscriptions to glow before chakra flowed out from it to the blade and formed a long energy construct of a blade "Ready!"

Naruto nodded in affirmation and took a running Iai stance with the Masamune "Get ready to attack on my signal…3…2…1…GO!" he put on a burst of speed and shot forwards at the same time Carol put the bike into overdrive and held the kunai to the side. Both quickly outpaced the incoming shots then simultaneously slashed at the joints, causing Syntax to collapse to the ground and right in the path of the large laser beam, ending becoming vaporized in a matter of seconds and the weapon itself shut down, having been under control of Syntax itself.

Music End

Naruto flipped off the ceiling to land next to Carol as they continued to dash through the hallway "Well that takes care of it for now,"

"Which is a bit of a relief if you ask me," said Carol.

"That damned robot wasted enough of our time already," said Kurama.

Then Naruto's headphones started beeping, he tapped the interface to open up a comm channel "This is Naruto here,"

[Naruto, it's me Lilac. Torque and I have gotten further into the Dreadnought, where are you guys?] asked Lilac.

"We're also advancing further in with Brevon getting more pissed by the minute," said Naruto with a smirk which is mirrored by Carol.

[Please be careful you three, Torque is suggesting that we meet up at a certain point within the ship]

"Okay then, we'll see you later then," Naruto cut off the link "Now let's go and find a way out of here," Carol nodded in agreement and the duo ventured deeper through the hallway.

Minutes later, they found a teleporter and warped themselves into the next area and sought a way out before selecting a path and going along with it to rendezvous with Lilac and the others somewhere in the Dreadnought.

Music Start: Freedom Planet OST; Final Dreadnought 2

Naruto and Carol moved through the hallway when they came across a couple of Medium-sized floating orange/gray robot that shot small bullets from the miniature cannons that they were hiding in their shells. Naruto quickly formed chakra shuriken and flung them to deflect the incoming projectiles then he formed a pair of spinning windmill shuriken to slice right through them before they crashed to the ground. Naruto and Carol continued up and down the pathway till they stepped into a teleporter to be warped to another room, there they saw two doors and one of them had a familiar lock on to it.

"Looks like we have to go look for a keycard to open the doors," Naruto activated his Aura Sight and looked around for a bit before seeing a yellow trail of aura leading through the other door "Let's go this way,"

"Lead the way Naruto," said Carol.

They passed through the door to climb up a ladder to an upper platform to go through two more doors and drop down to a lower platform. There they were attacked by green slimes, Carol pounced at some of them and struck with a Wild Claw while Naruto activated his lightning aspect and fired a Lightning Bolt attack to electrocute them. Moving on ahead, they came across a barricade leading to the lower level but would only remain open as long as one of them steps on top of a pressure plate, Naruto was the one to do so for Carol to pass through then had a shadow clone take his place and follow after her before passing through another one. Naruto looked around and saw two keycards on a small platform above but then there was a Sunfloris which spewed poison gas towards them, he switched to his wind aspect to blow it away then quickly closed in to slice the stalk off with his bared claws. Carol jumped up to the platform to pick up the keycards and they went to other way to unlock a door with one of them to find a teleporter which warped them back to where the other one was for them to unlock with the second keycard and go through. The trio ran up a slope and used a bounce pad at the end to reach up to an upper level to another teleporter to be transporter to the next room, they quickly took on some more green slimes and Sunfloris before passing through a couple of barricades into a chamber where multiple rows of platforms rising or descending could be seen leading to different pathways.

"Which way should we go?" asked Naruto.

"Hmmm, how about we take the high road? It might take us somewhere good," Carol suggested.

"Choa choa," Yoru nodded in agreement with her statement.

"Okay then, up it is," Naruto and Carol made their way to the platforms and jumped onto one of them to be carried up to the top and dropped down a bit to pass through a door, there was a barricade above them and so they sought for the pressure plate which was guarded by a Sunfloris so they quickly took care of it and had a shadow clone step on it for them to get up to the upper level and head over to the other side where there was another set of rising platforms to ascend towards a teleporter to be warped into the next room. A couple of shade elites teleported into the room too and began to fire their blasters at the duo, Naruto grabbed Carol and threw a Hirashin kunai to zip by them before flashing over to appear behind and both performed a double flying kick to smash them into the wall and Naruto launched two fox fireball to finish them off before dropping down to the lower level.

Down below, the duo came across another of the Robosquid which they first saw back at Thermal Base and like the first one, it also has a keycard stored inside a compartment. The robosquid proceeded to fire lasers at the group but Naruto and Carol darted from side to side to evade the shots, Nicole materialized from the SAC to launch a static bomb at the robot, causing parts of its body particularly its tentacles to spasm with arc of arcs of electricity coursing through it. Carol took the opportunity to kick off a wall to leap onto one of the tentacles and ran up to the head with a fist reared back and lashing out to punch through the glass and grabbing the keycard then flipping off of it. Naruto followed up by activating his fire aspect and channeling the flames to his right hand to take on the shape of a lance, he crouched slightly with his legs apart "Fiery joust!" he lunged forward at high-speed to pierce through the robot's eye for the fire lance to emerge at the other side before the robot plummeted to the ground.

Naruto and Carol backtracked to where they first came in from and found another teleporter to be warped back to the first chamber and this time took the descending platforms to the lower pathway to follow through. At the bottom, they found a locked door which required a keycard that they currently have to open it and find yet another teleporter to transport themselves to another chamber. They reached the edge of a large staircase-like pathway which was too high and in a way that Carol couldn't wall jump to the top so Naruto had to carry her and run up the walls while latching on with his chakra, several axle turrets appeared to fire at them but Kou projected energy shields to reflect the shots back at them and Yoru lunged at the others to crunch them with its powerfully sharp teeth. Eventually they arrived at the top and passed through a door into the next area.

The group emerged from the passageway and reached the end to discover a switch in the wall, they pressed it to notice a large pillar rotate itself in a 180 degrees to reveal a way down for them to drop into a ledge to press another switch to rotate the pillar again to provide another pathway to go through. Naruto and Carol continued through the pathway when suddenly heard Brevon's voice through the speakers again.

[You're forgetting something important about our troops. They don't... ...need... ...oxygen!]

At that moment, all power in the area went off and the group suddenly realize that they having extreme difficulties to breathe. Carol dropped to her knees with her hands around her throat and Naruto was in the same situation.

"I-I can't breathe," Carol could barely speak.

"Dammit, what can we do?" Naruto croaked out.

"Kit, do you still have that bottle of water before you came to this planet?" asked Kurama urgently.

"Y-yeah, I still do," Naruto fought to keep himself conscious.

"Use it to create bubbles for you and the wildcat right now, before it's too late!"

"Got it!" Naruto quickly un-digitalized the bottle from the S.A.C and unscrewed the cap then he activated his water aspect "Bubbled Shield!" water flowed out of the bottle and split into two streams and swirled around Naruto and Carol before forming large bubble-like shields around them while the Chao sat on Naruto's shoulders.

Carol took in a deep breath and exhaled with relief as she stood back up to look at Naruto with gratefulness "Phew that was too close. Now I know why astronauts are so cautious about their space suits,"

"Me too, though you can't attack otherwise you might pop the bubble," Naruto warned her "And I'm pretty cut back on my arsenal as of now too,"

"Most of your aspects require oxygen, leaving it down to your foxfire and celestial aspect," said Kurama

"Guess they'll have to do," Naruto turned to Nicole FF (Faerie Form) who was worried at first but now relieved "Nicole-chan, I'll need you to hack into the system and bring back the power and restore the oxygen supply,"

"I'm on it, though it might take some time," Nicole flew away at high-speed to find a powered equipment and begin the hacking.

Naruto and Carol quickly ran through the pathway and climbed up a ladder to the top and locate a barricade with a pressure plate nearby to step on. An axle turret descended from above and fire bullets at them, Naruto activated his celestial aspect with the glowing halo hovering above his head "Light Barricade!" he projected a light shield to deflect the shots to which it glowed "Repercussion!" a mid-powered beam shot out from the shield and blasted the robot into pieces. The duo unlocked the barricade and quickly passed through to the bottomed and dashed along the path to run up a slope and used a bounce pad to ascend to an upper level, then they passed to a couple of doors to reach one which needed a keycard to open. Carol noticed a ladder nearby and climbed up, moments later a pillar rotated behind Naruto to revel an opening and the wildcat reunited with him before they descended before finding the second switch to rotate it again for another route. The duo came across a chamber and saw the keycard laying at the end but the problem was the laser cannons constantly firing laser beams in different directions.

"Swift Release: Shadow Dance!" Naruto crouched slightly then dashed forward at high-speed with his afterimages displaying acrobatic techniques to avoid the laser beams and grabbing the keycard before quickly returning to where Carol was waiting for him. They backtracked to the locked door and opened it with the keycard and went through the hallway to an elevator which seems to work by stepping on either pressure plates on the side to get it to rise. Carol was the one to do so but then she looked up and called out to Naruto.

"Naruto, there's something heading for us!" said Carol urgently, Naruto looked to see spiked land mines heading for them.

"I'll taking care of them!" he held his hands before him for a large orb of light to materialize then he pointed it towards the mines "Light Gatling Bullets!" he began to rapidly fire photon bullets to destroy the mines before they got any closer to him and Carol till they reached the end of the elevator ride. They ran up a ramped wall and kicked off to ascend to the platform where they found another elevator, this one had more mines for Naruto to destroy in their ascent before reaching the end of it as well.

"I hope the others are okay," said Carol worriedly.

"I'm sure they're just fine," said Naruto assuredly, cheering her up a bit.

The duo were on board the third elevator with the mines ever-present for Naruto to destroy continuously until reaching the top, which was when the power came back on. Naruto cautiously cancelled out his bubble shield and noticed that he could breathe before disabling Carol's bubble shield, Nicole materialized from a nearby monitor with a smile on her face.

"Sorry I took so long but I was able to restore the power," said Nicole happily.

"Thanks a lot Nicole, you really helped us and then some," said Naruto with a foxy grin, causing Nicole to look away with a pink hue on her cheeks with Carol feeling a bit envious bit grateful nonetheless.

The reunited group moved along the pathway all the way to a long bridge comprised of medium-sized orange platforms but then they came across someone rather familiar…it was Serpentine but he was sitting on the ground and panting rather heavily.

"Hey what's up with him?" asked Carol curiously.

"I don't know but we should be careful, this might be a trap set for us," Naruto primed the ECG-X and had a hand on Masamune at the ready to unsheathe as he cautiously approached the enemy "Hey hebi-teme, what are you doing sitting over there?"

"You…keep on obstructing my lord again and again…you continue to interfere with his glorious plans…that's…," Serpentine raised his head to look at Naruto who's eyes widened upon seeing that the snake's eyes were glowing scarlet red, causing him to back away a few steps "…UNFORGIVABLE!" his body was engulfed in a large ball of red plasma energy which launched up into the air before coming down to smash though the bridge, completely collapsing for Naruto and Carol to drop a long way down to land on a larger bridge at the very bottom of the Dreadnought.

"What the- Naruto look at him!" Carol pointed in disbelief for Naruto to look only to be taken aback at what stands before them. Serpentine had sort of mutated into a giant version of himself but with darker green metallic skin, detached metal claws which hover at both sides, and his eyes are pupiless white eyes "This snake has really lost his marbles,"

"What has this guy done to himself?" Naruto muttered to himself.

"Such fanatical loyalty has led him to doing this kit, no point of pitying him in the least," said Kurama.

"I know…might as well just take him down and reunite with the others,"

"As the general of the mighty lord Brevon, I sentence you all to death!" Serpentine declared in a loud voice.

"Let's seek if you got what it takes to do so!" Naruto replied while selecting a track on my music playlist and setting it to loudspeaker mode as Carol took a combat stance next to him.

Music switch: Metal Gear Rising OST; The Stains of Time (Maniac Agenda Mix Instrumental)

"Be crushed!" Serpentine charged his claws up with red plasma energy and charged towards the duo and swung at them, Naruto and Carol quickly jumped back to avoid and prepared for a counterattack but were forced to revert to defense as the mutant snake continued to swipe at them. Carol tucked and rolled underneath on of the claws while Naruto performed a cartwheel jump to go up and over the snake and landed behind him.

"Blazing Fighter!" Naruto activated his fire aspect and ignited his legs and feet with flames, he lunged forwards and unleashed a combo of fiery punches and kicks at a quick pace before Serpentine turned round with a low growl and swiped at him with a claw charged with plasma, Naruto somersaulted in midair and fired a powerful jet of flames to propel him to a safe distance but the snake pursued him relentlessly to land a killing blow "Swift Release: Shadow Dance!" Naruto was rolling and flipping about with afterimages depicting his movements as he dodged the incoming claw attacks.

This is gave Carol the opportunity to pounce at Serpentine from the side and strike hard with a double Wild Claw attack at the waist then followed it with an aerial Wild Kick at the head with a lot of power. Serpentine retaliated by swinging his tail to knock her away but she managed to recover in midair and skidded backwards before stopping right at the edge of the platform, the mutate charged his arm with plasma energy and punched the ground, causing the plasma to race along the ground towards Carol.

"Now die!" Serpentine proclaimed.

"I don't think so, Swift Release: Shadow Step!" Naruto rushed forward as he disappeared from view before reappearing next to Carol and grabbed on to her then threw a Hirashin kunai for it to fly about the serpent's head before disappearing in a yellow flash, they appeared overhead and performed a dual heel drop kick to bash his head in before flipping away from him. Serpentine growled in anger and aimed his hand towards the duo and fired a stream of advancing flames which were moving in a zigzag pattern. Naruto activated his fire aspect and took a stance before Carol as he opened his mouth and inhaled deeply for the incoming flames to be sucked into it much to the shock of Serpentine.

"What?! How is it possible?!" shouted Serpentine in disbelief.

Naruto licked his lips before smirking at the snake "Thanks for the meal, and here's my payment!" he rushed forward with his body low to the ground while leaving behind a trail of flames. Serpentine swiped at him with his claws but Naruto shot jets of flames from his feet to propel himself into the air with a rising uppercut to the chin and was in midair, "Dancing Phoenix!" then flames emitted from his body took on the form of aforementioned firebird before he launched himself into a combo of skillful punches and kicks, he somersaulted in midair to evade being grabbed and retaliated with a blazing flip kick to keep himself airborne to continue his combo then performing a double kick to the face and somersaulting away to cool down from his attacks.

"Those were some slick moves Naruto, you gotta teach me how to do that," said Carol excitedly.

"Maybe I will, but we need to deal with the matter at hand," said Naruto, turning his attention to a recovering Serpentine.

"You will pay for that, you nine tailed mongrel!" Serpentine pointed one of his claws towards Naruto and Carol then proceeded to rapidly fire barrage of plasma shots in four diagonal directions. Nicole flew before the others and projected an energy shield to defend against the incoming projectiles whilst Naruto switched to his air aspect and summoned the wind to swirl around his right hand and Carol bared her claws and was ready to pounce. Soon the opportunity came when Serpentine stopped firing and Nicole brought the shield down, then they rushed towards the mutate and lashed out with their prepped attacks.

"Wind Assault!" Naruto struck Serpentine in the chest with the swirling wind constantly grinding at the armor and inflicting a lot of damage to the midsection.

"Take this, snake freak!" Carol leapt at the serpent's face and rapidly struck with her claws to the point that his face actually broke with one of his eyes hanging out "That's kinda gross if you ask me,"

"Arrgghh, I will not be defeated for a third time! I will destroy you all!" Serpentine yelled madly as he lunged at the duo and was swinging around wildly in a mad rage. Naruto and Carol was continuously dodging the uncontrolled but powerful attacks and then would counter with strikes of their own.

"Shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto created multiple copies of himself before they charged towards Serpentine at high-speed, then they began to attack him from different directions and purposely mess with his focus much to the reptile's anger "Let's go with Clone Spinning Axe Kick!" the clones immediately took to the air with spinning somersaults before slamming down on Serpentine's head and shoulders with heel drop kicks then flipping away "Then follow up it Clone Body Slam!" they lunged once more and this time with flying head-butts at the torso, knocking him back.

"Don't leave me out of this!" Carol pounced at Serpentine and unleashed a barrage of kicks, pushing him back further "This is all you Naruto!"

"I know!" Naruto took a stance with foxfire blazing around him then he held out his palm to create a Rasengan as the foxfire swirled around his arm to form the head of a fox as if it is holding the spiraling sphere in its mouth. Naruto crouched slightly before charging forward at high-speed till he was right in front of Serpentine "It's over for you, Foxfire Rasengan!" he rammed it into his chest as the foxfire swirled around and constantly damaging the target

"This can't be happening, Lord Brevooooonnn!" Serpentine cried out in anguish as his mutated body couldn't take any more damage and he went out in an explosion and leaving behind only a few parts of his armor, thus bringing the fight to a final conclusion.

Music End

"Well that takes care of him," said Naruto, looking at the armor pieces.

"Finally, an end to that fanatical loyalty of his," Kurama grumbled with light relief.

"Yeah, but how do we get out of here?" asked Carol confusedly.

"No worries, I'll just have to carry us back up there," Naruto pointed up to the tunnel which they fell through, then he activated his air aspect "Now hop on and I'll get us topside,"

"Okay Naruto," Carol climbed onto his back and held on tight with the Chao sitting on his shoulders as Naruto aimed his arms swirling with wind towards the ground before firing tow powerful jets of air to propel them high into the air away from the platform towards a route which they would take in order to regroup with Lilac and the others.

This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, the group as successfully infiltrated the Dreadnought and had broken up into two teams with Naruto, Carol and Nicole in one while Lilac, Torque and Milla are in the other. Naruto's team served as the decoy to attract Brevon's forces and so far were doing a good job of it, they traversed multiple traps and defeated many of his robot army and even took down Syntax (Again) in full power before facing a mutated Serpentine and defeated him as well. Things are looking up for them but the question is that can they keep the momentum going. Stay tuned to find out. For those wondering about Naruto's blade and how he carries them, they normally latch to his back by themselves but in battle or carrying someone they normally detach to levitate at both sides of his waist.

Read and Review as always

This is Hussbek from Ghana.

Signing out.