Adventures of the Orange Flash
Chapter 27: The Heroes' Return
In a flash of red light, Naruto along with Lilac, Carol and Milla appeared on a clearing in the middle of a forest. He knew that they had safely teleported back to Mobius since he was sensing the familiar energy signature of the Master Emerald nearby.
"Looks like we made it here, I would like to say welcome to Mobius," said Naruto with a playful smile as Nicole emerged from the SAC in her normal form to stand next to him while Kou and Yoru fluttered around happily at their return.
"Thanks for the welcome Naruto, but do you know where exactly we are?' asked Carol.
"We're currently on Angel Island, there's someone I want to check if he's around before taking you to my home," said Naruto.
"Okay Naruto, lead the way," said Lilac, Naruto nodded in affirmation and began to walk in one direction with the rest following him from behind. It was after a bit of walking that Milla went to be next to Naruto to ask a question.
"Um Naruto, why do they call this place Angel Island?" asked Milla curiously.
Naruto turned towards her with a smile "You'll soon find out when we get there,"
The group emerged from the forest and ahead of them in the grassy plains, they saw some sort of altar and at the center of it sits a large green gem which was constantly glowing. Lilac sensed the massive amount of energy which she couldn't even measure the amount practically radiating from it. Carol noticed something else and called out on it.
"Hey, why are the clouds so close to the ground? I never saw anything like that back at Avalice," said Carol confusedly, Lilac and Milla looked to see that the wildcat was right about her statement. Naruto and Nicole chuckled at their friends' reaction and the former proceeded to explain to them.
"Actually, it's not that the clouds are close to the ground but the fact that we're up high in the sky. The reason why they call this place Angel Island is because of it being capable of flying in the air," the trio's eyes widened in shock and mild disbelief of the revelation.
"How's it possible for an island to actually fly?" asked Lilac.
"That would be because of the Master Emerald supplying the energy needed for it to fly, should the Master Emerald be taken from the island then it will fall to the ground but will rise up to the sky should it be returned," Nicole pointed at the green gem within the Altar of the Emeralds.
"Master Emerald, is it like the Chaos Emerald?" asked Milla.
"Yup but there's a reason why it's called a Master Emerald, because it possesses power which far surpasses that of all seven Chaos Emeralds altogether, infinite amounts of it even. Which is why it must be protected from any who seek to use its power for evil," Naruto explained.
"Whoa, sounds like it has way more power than the Kingdom Stone," said Carol,
"So who protects the Master Emerald?" asked Lilac, Naruto was about to answer when a voice called out to him.
"Hey Naruto!" they all looked up to see red echidna descending towards them in a glide before landing on the ground and approached them.
"Yo Knuckles, long time no see buddy," Naruto smiled as he held out a fist and bumped it against Knuckles' to greet him.
"Yeah it's been a while, and looks to me like you were able to complete the mission too," said Knuckles with a grin, then he noticed the girls standing behind the blonde fox "By the way, who are they?"
"These are friends whom I made while I was at Avalice," Naruto gestured to each of them "Allow me to introduce you to Sasha Lilac, Carol Tea, and Milla Basset. We teamed up along with another during the mission,"
"Well it's nice to meet you three, the name's Knuckles the echidna and I'm the guardian of the Master Emerald," Knuckles introduced himself in a friendly manner.
"It's nice to meet you, Knuckles," said Lilac.
"Hi there!" said Carol.
"Hi…," Milla shyly poked her head out from behind Naruto's back.
"Has there been anything going on since I was gone, particularly Eggman?" asked Naruto.
"Nothing, Eggman has been oddly quiet since you were gone. Never heard even a pip from him," Knuckles replied.
"Hmmm, that's either a good thing or a bad one. We'll ponder over it later, right now I'm getting myself and the others home before checking up with the others,"
"Got it, be sure to tell the others I'll be coming by sometime," said Knuckles.
"Will do, let's go guys," Naruto walked with the Lilac and the others bidding Knuckles farewell before following after him, they reached the edge of the flying island before Naruto called out for Dragoon to appear before them "Two of you should hop on while I carry one in my chakra mode,"
"…I would like to be carried," Milla shyly spoke before the two could get a word in.
"Alright then, hang on tight," Naruto held Milla in a bridal carry before activating his chakra mode and began to hover in the air, Lilac and Carol pouted a bit at not being fast enough to ask to be carried and so got aboard the glider.
The group all took off into the air (Though they're already in the air) and flew away from Angel Island with Nicole being in her faerie form and using the GPS to navigate for them. It took about 13 or so minutes of flight till they broke through the clouds and had finally arrived at their destination. Lilac, Carol and Milla were in awe of the beauty of the town below them.
"Wow, this place looks very nice," said Milla in wonder.
"That it is, get ready cause we're coming in for a landing," said Naruto, he descended to the ground and placed Milla down then deactivated his chakra mode and Nicole reverted to her default form while Lilac and Carol jumped off Dragoon for it to fly back where it came from "Before taking you to my place, there's a place which I want to pass by to see someone beforehand,"
"Sure thing Naruto, we want to check out the place a bit anyways," said Carol in affirmation.
"Alright then, this way,"
Naruto led then along the sidewalk and across the street till they were standing before a building which was familiar to Naruto, Nicole and the Chao. Naruto knocked on the door a couple of times and didn't have to wait for too long when it opened up to reveal Tails whose eyes widened in surprise and his voice matched just that.
"Naruto? Where've you been? We haven't seen you in days and Knuckles could only tell us that you were sent somewhere on a mission by Tikal but didn't know anything more than that," said Tails, then he noticed the girls standing behind "And who are they?"
Naruto chuckled softly at Tails' reaction, though it was understandable since he left without giving them much details "I've got a lot to tell you and the others, let's go inside and I'll fill you in,"
"Okay," Tails let them into the lab, Naruto mildly noticed that the place was a bit tidier unlike before and so guessed he wasn't dealing in any projects for some time "So where was it you went?"
"Before that, I need to introduce you to each other so…," Naruto had them exchange introductions before speaking up "…about where I went, it all started when I met Tikal in a dream and…" Naruto proceeded to tell Tails about everything that happened during his time in Avalice before returning to Mobius "…And that's what happened,"
"Whoa, you've certainly been through a lot but it turned out alright in the end," said Tails with a look of relief.
"Oh that reminds me, there's something which I want you to check out," Naruto placed his hand on the screen of the SAC and tapped some buttons a few times to materialize a suitcase which he then opened up to reveal the prototype rifle given to him by Torque before "It was a gift given to me by our friend Torque, and I was hoping that you would be able to give it some tune-up,"
Tails' eyes sparkled at the sight of the firearm as he gingerly took it from Naruto's hand "Whoa, this thing's gotten some spiffy tech! I can't wait to see what makes it tick and how to improve it too," he looked up and then noticed the earpieces that Lilac is wearing "Excuse me, but what are those?"
"Oh these? They used to be hearing aids but I don't really have that much of a use for them now," said Lilac
"What do you mean, you once told me that you're deaf because of a birth defect?" asked Carol confusedly.
Naruto turned to Lilac "You hadn't told them yet?"
Lilac looked rather embarrassed "I kinda forgot to tell them,"
"Tell us what exactly?" Carol was growing more impatient.
"That I used my Yang seal to correct the genetic defect and she can now hear clearly without the hearing aid," said Naruto, surprising Carol and Milla.
"You restored Lilac's hearing?! Why didn't anyone tell us before?" asked Carol.
"Because I thought Lilac already told and she in turn forgot to tell you,"
"But it's great to know that you can hear much better now," said Milla happily.
"Yeah but next time, try to keep us in the loop," Carol pouted a bit at having been left out until now, causing Lilac to look sheepish.
"Will do," said Lilac.
"Anyways, I can modify them to become communication devices and more if you'd like," said Tails.
"That sounds like a great idea, I say go for it," Naruto was in agreement with his fellow fox.
"…okay, I'll do it," Lilac took off the earpieces and handed over to Tails "I hope you can finish it soon, it feels somehow strange without them,"
"Not to worry, I'll be done by the end of the day. Although the prototype rifle might take longer to look at," said Tails.
"I don't mind, take as much time as you want," said Naruto with a small grin "Anyways, we'll be heading over to my place to settle down before anything else,"
"Okay, then I'll see you all later,"
Naruto and the others bade Tails farewell before leaving the lab as the former took the lead once more till they arrived at the destination that is his house. To say that Lilac, Milla and Carol were surprised and mildly jealous would be an understatement of the year as they filled with awe at the sight of the duplex before them.
"Do you actually live here?" asked Carol in disbelief.
"Pretty much, but it was Kurama who used my body for a moment to buy it so I had no other choice but to accept it as it is," said Naruto humorously, he unlocked the door and turned to see that they were still standing there "If you're surprised to see the outside, then the inside will stun you. Come on in,"
The girls snapped back into focus and followed after the blonde into the duplex, like he said before that the interior would stun them and it did. Naruto proceeded to give them a tour of the place through the living room, kitchen, bathrooms, library and the backyard outside before returning to the living room again.
"I just realized that there aren't enough beds among other things for you girls, so I better head over to the market district in Central City to buy them and bring back here," said Naruto.
"Can we come along?" asked Milla.
"Yeah we wanna see more of this place," said Carol.
"Sure, it's no biggie," said Naruto.
The group left the house with Naruto locking it up again then he de-digitized the street bike for Carol to ride on and Milla sat behind her. They took off down the street at high-speed till they left Emerald Town and were on the highway, the trip didn't take too long and they arrived over at Central city. The group were walking through the area with the girls surveying it with looks of amazement though they were taken aback upon seeing the humans walking about with a few greeting them, so Naruto had to explain what they are to them before reaching the market district.
"Now that we're here, the first thing on the shopping list are clothes. I'll send a clone to purchase the materials needed for making the beds and a few other accessories then bringing over before we leave," said Naruto, creating a shadow clone and giving him a storage scroll and a sufficient amount of money for the purchases "Now that's out of the way, let's go and get your some threads,"
Naruto took the girls to a tall building which has a large logo with the initials H.C and the name Honey Clothing underneath, they went inside and walked up to the reception desk where the feline secretary sat behind it to and was hard at. She looked up and smiled politely upon seeing the familiar nine-tailed fox before her and it appears that he had brought along some guests.
"Good afternoon Mr. Naruto, it is pleasant to see you again," said the secretary.
"Same here, I wanted to know if Honey-chan is around today," said Naruto with a smile
"No need to ask, cause I'm right here," a familiar voice to Naruto and Nicole spoke as they all turned towards the voice to see Honey approaching them with a bright smile on her face, then she went ahead to hug Naruto then Nicole "It's been so long, I was wondering where you two have been this whole time…and I can see that you're wearing the clothes which I've made for you as well," she stepped to admire his current attire and blushed a lot due to him looking so handsome.
"Yeah, the first ones which I was wearing got toasted during a mission of mine with the only thing surviving being the metal plate of my headband. So I took the chance to put these on," said Naruto, feeling a bit guilty for having the first clothes received from her being destroyed by Brevon.
Honey simply smiled "I understand, though I could tell that someone is likely to get himself in a lot of situations just like Sonic but this just means you get to try on newer clothes too. They do say 'Clothes make the man' and I'm going to be making a handsome fox like you into a heartthrob!" Honey winked at Naruto, causing him to blush at the compliment.
"Ahem!" Naruto and Honey turned to see Lilac, Carol and Milla looking at them with small frowns on their faces with the wildcat having been the one who cleared her throat loudly before speaking "I hope that you haven't forgotten about us,"
"Of course not," said Naruto, he heard Kurama whisper something but couldn't catch it "Allow me to introduce you to Honey, the founder and CEO of Honey Brand Clothes and Accessories as well as a top fashion designer," the girls were surprised to hear that Naruto is friends with someone of such a high status "And these are my friends Sasha Lilac, Carol Tea, and Milla Basset,"
"Hello, it's nice to meet friends of Naruto," said Honey with a smile, but inwardly she was studying her potential competition for the fox as she was noting the looks of affection directed his way and felt pangs of jealousy "So what brings you all here?"
"I was hoping that you could help us out with getting some clothes, plus I want a new headband for myself as well," said Naruto.
"It's no problem at all, I would love to help them with the latest trends!" said Honey cheerfully and looking at the girls "He's mine!"
"Thanks for the help," said Lilac "I don't think so, I like him too!"
"Yeah thanks a lot," said Carol "Get in line, foxy's for me!"
"Thank you," said Milla "I don't want his attention taken from me by you,"
"I don't know why but I prefer Naruto looking at me more than any of them," thought Nicole with a pout.
"Why do I get the feeling that I'm standing in the middle of a warzone again?" thought Naruto nervously.
"Gee, I wonder," Kurama mumbled.
In two hours' time, Honey was taking the girls through multiple racks and shelves of clothing to give them recommendations as they choose some of their favorite themes, Carol was rather adamant in her refusal to purchase any dresses as she saw them as too girly for her tastes. Naruto himself bought several copies of the ones destroyed by Brevon and Honey herself personally replaced the cloth for the metal plate to make another headband much to his joy as he hugged her causing the others to pout with jealousy again. After paying for the clothes and accessories then digitizing them into the SAC, Naruto and the girls bade Honey farewell before leaving and along the way the shadow clone met up to hand over the storage scroll containing the items needed for the beds.
"So where do we go from here?" asked Lilac.
"Actually, there's a place which I want to pass by to see someone for a couple of things before we return to Emerald Town," said Naruto.
"Where's that?" asked Milla curiously.
"An auto shop where I got the street bike, I want to let a friend of mine know that I'm around now,"
"Really? That sounds cool, I could also check for some parts to tune the bike up later," said Carol excitedly.
Naruto nodded in affirmation and proceeded to lead the group towards the auto shop, they went through the door and walked up to the desk which was currently empty so Naruto called out at the top of his voice.
"Hey Rotor, where are you man?" said Naruto, there was the sound of metal clanging from behind a door then moments later it was opened for a walrus who was wiping his hands on a dirty rag to pass through "Yo dude, long time no see,"
"It's been a while Naruto, thought my ears were playing tricks on me when I heard your voice until I'm seeing you now," said Rotor amiably "And I see that you brought along some friends with you,"
The girls introduced themselves to Rotor before Naruto spoke up "So what's been going on since I was gone?"
"Business as usual, a new shipment of vehicles and parts will be coming in a few weeks' time just in case you need anything," said Rotor.
"Thanks for the heads-up, Carol would be needing some parts since she'll be using the street bike from now on,"
Rotor was rather confused from the statement "Why so?"
"Hers got totaled by a snaky jerk during the mission so I gave mine for use and she came to like it," Naruto explained with Rotor nodding in understanding.
"I see, then that leaves you without a vehicle in the meantime," said Rotor, getting a shrug in response "In that case, I'll check for any good ones which might catch your eye then,"
"If it doesn't bug you, then I wouldn't mind checking in every now and then to see your recommendations," said Naruto looking interested "By the way, if you don't have that much going on then you can hang with Tails since I gave him a prototype rifle to have a look at with some spiffy specs on it,"
"Sounds interesting, I think I'll do that,"
"Alright then, we'll be seeing you later," Naruto left with the girls following after them.
The group made their way back to Emerald town and reentered the duplex, Naruto took out the storage scroll and the bags of clothes from within the SAC. They entered the bed and Naruto unsealed the materials then sealed the bed into it for another use, Naruto, Lilac and Carol worked together on assembling the bed with some help from Milla who was holding up the blueprints and Nicole giving them directions on how to put together the pieces while the Chao helped out by handing over screws, bolts and tools for the assembling. Soon enough, they successfully assembled bunk beds for Lilac and Carol then Naruto unsealed a large beanbag bed for Milla with said dog girl flopping onto it with her tail wagging happily.
"Now that we're done putting up the beds, I'll leave the rest of the unpacking to you girls while I go and prepare dinner for us," said Naruto.
"Okay Naruto, I'm starving anyway," said Carol.
Naruto chuckled as he left the room and went downstairs towards the kitchen, then he scrolled through a recipe book and choose to cook a chicken casserole. Nicole materialized to him with the cooking too, Naruto was chopping some vegetables when he heard Kurama calling out to him from the mindscape.
"Hey kit," said Kurama.
"Hey Kurama, is there something you want to talk about?" thought Naruto.
"Actually there is and it concerns what happened to Brevon shortly after the fight, I sensed something activate within your body right before he started screaming his guts and right now is currently dormant within you," said Kurama.
"Is it harmful to me?" thought Naruto.
"None at all so far, all I know is that it makes use of your eyes similarly to the Aura Sight. I suggest that you go and speak to Tetsuo about it, he might have knowledge concerning it,"
"Will do," Naruto snapped back into focus to see that he was subconsciously stirring the casserole in the pot on the stove and it was almost, he turned the heat down to simmer to avoid burning the food. He and Nicole went to set up the table before calling out to the others whom he's pretty sure are still in their room unpacking "Dinner's ready!"
"We're coming!" Lilac was heard responding from upstairs, soon she came down with Carol and Milla. They went to wash their hands at the kitchen sink before sitting down at the dining table to eat.
"This is delicious!" said Milla as she ate.
"You're right, this is pretty good stuff," said Carol with a mouthful of food.
"Carol, finish eating before you speak," said Lilac in a scolding manner.
The wildcat swallowed and looked sheepish "Sorry about that,"
"So how you girls find this planet so far?" asked Naruto.
"It's a pretty fun place just by walking around, and I can already tell that there's much more to see," said Carol with a smirk.
"The people around here are very nice," said Milla with a soft smile.
"I agree with them, everything is so peaceful here," said Lilac.
"That's nice to hear, and I can't wait for you girls to meet the rest of my friends too especially my buddy Sonic," said Naruto fondly, "Anyways there's a place I need to be going to tomorrow and I'll be bringing you along with me,"
"Where are we going?" asked Carol curiously.
Naruto replied with a wink "You'll find out when we get there tomorrow, plus it's getting late so we should all finish up and go to sleep,"
They all nodded in affirmation and resumed their meal then washed the dishes afterwards before bidding each other goodnight and going to their bedrooms and falling asleep. Naruto was sleeping when he woke up in his dreamscape to find himself standing before the Altar of the Emeralds and Tikal was standing there with a smile on her face.
"It's good to see that you have safely returned Naruto, Avalice is truly grateful for your help and the spirits of the Yakan clan are full of pride for what you have done," said Tikal happily.
Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly "Yeah well, everything turned out okay despite a few setbacks in the end so it's no biggie,"
Tikal giggled at his reaction, she hasn't spent that long with Naruto but she can already figure that he loves to help anyone and everyone if he could and holds little concern for issues considered a big deal in the eyes of others. His modesty is also something to admire despite his level of power which he never lets it get to his head.
"I can see that you also brought along some friends from Avalice with you," said Tikal.
"Yeah, they wanted to see where I came from among other things, I really don't mind them tagging along. It will definitely make things a lot more fun," said Naruto.
"So what do you plan on doing in the meantime?"
"First of all I need to find out more about this power which awakened back in Avalice then resume my training with Tetsuo-jiji, and hope that something interesting will pop up along the way,"
"I see, well I do hope that you come by and visit every now and then,"
"Of course I will, that's a promise!" Naruto gave Tikal a foxy grin, causing her to blush a bit "Well I gotta go now, I'll come by when I can," he faded away from the dreamscape with Tikal watching him leave with fondness.
"He shares so many traits with Sonic, and yet he is unique in his own way. I can't wait to see what kind of waves that he'll make for Mobius," thought Tikal.
Naruto woke up from bed then went to take a bath before putting on the black vest with orange lining and zipper, a bear claw necklace worn around the neck, black baggy long pants with orange pockets and black sandals along with his Konoha headband and the headphones. He went downstairs to find Carol lounging around on the sofa and eating a bowl of cereal, Lilac was reading a book about Mobian history and it appears that Tails had returned the earpieces to her, and Milla was playing with the Chao. Carol saw Naruto entering the living room and called out to him.
"Hey Naruto, I was wondering when you were going to wake up," said Carol.
"Yeah, you slept just as much as Carol usually does," said Lilac, poking fun at her friend with the wildcat playfully glaring back at her.
"Guess I slept longer than I thought with everything that happened yesterday," said Naruto "So did you have breakfast already?"
"Yes, Nicole helped us out with the cooking this morning," said Milla.
"In that case, I'll prep up mine then we can all head to the place which I had mentioned," Naruto walked into the kitchen and proceeded a small breakfast of tuna sandwich and orange juice to sate him for a while before returning to the girls in the living room "Okay, I'll believe we're all set to go now,"
"So how do we get there?" asked Carol.
"Just hold on to me and I'll do the rest. You might feel a little woozy though," Naruto waited until Lilac and the others grabbed on him then he locked on to one of the Hirashin kunai before warping all of them towards it. They all reappeared on a pathway leading to their destination "Well, here we are,"
Carol shook her head to clear the dizziness from her mind before she responded "What do you mean by th-" whatever she was about to say next trailed off when she along with Mila and Lilac looked in awe at the massive building towering over them "Whoa…"
Naruto smirked at their reaction "I like to welcome you all to the Yakan palace, the residence of a ninja clan,"
"A ninja clan?" asked Carol.
"Yup and I'm the chosen leader, right now the clan was extinct so my mission is to help restore it to its former glory,"
Milla spoke up "Carol told me that she used to be a ninja once,"
"Really? Thinking about it now, some of your actions depicted some sort of ninja training," Naruto quirked an eyebrow in interest.
Carol looked a bit embarrassed "Yeah…it was when Lilac and I were with the Red Scarves until we broke off, so I didn't get to complete my training,"
Naruto looked thoughtful for a few moments "That explains a lot, if you'd like I can help further your training in the ninja arts,"
"Really? Thanks Naruto, you're the best!" said Carol happily, Milla and Lilac pouted at that.
"Anyways, I'll have Nicole give you a tour of the place but make sure not to touch anything whatsoever," said Naruto.
"Where are you going?" asked Milla.
"There's something which I want to discuss with the elder spirit within the temple, I won't take too long and be back soon," Naruto went inside as Nicole strapped the SAC on to herself and stayed behind to hang around with them.
Naruto walked through the long hallways until he passed through a door to enter a large circular room with large red banners depicting the Yakan Clan symbol hanging from the rafters, at the end of the room is a half circular pool with a statue of a quadrupedal fox with nine tails holding a star ball in its mouth. There he saw Tetsuo sitting at the edge in meditation before approaching the spirit Kitsune, Tetsuo opened his eyes and smiled fondly upon seeing Naruto.
"Ah Naruto, it's good to see that you've returned safely. I was informed of what happened by the spirits and it fills me with pride at your success," said Tetsuo amiably.
"Thanks for the good word, but there's something that I want to talk to you about," Naruto sat cross-legged before the elder with a look of seriousness.
"What is it you want to talk about?"
"During the final battle against the alien warlord, Kurama said that something awoken in my eyes and it was different from the Aura Sight. Brevon-teme took one look at my eyes and began to scream bloody murder as if something was hurting him then cuts began appearing all over his body and his bones were breaking without anyone touching him. Do you have any idea about that?" asked Naruto confusedly.
Tetsuo's eyes widened in shock upon hearing what his student and soon-to-be heir just said "Could it be…he has actually awakened that power? I need to make sure of it," he turned his attention back to Naruto "Could you activate these eyes for me to see?"
Naruto looked hesitant "Are you sure? I don't know how to control it,"
"No worries, I'll be fine," said Tetsuo assuredly, Naruto closed his eyes and concentrated, he forgone the familiar sensation which is his Aura Sight and sought deeply before feeling a foreign sensation which he then tugged at and channeled it to his eyes. He opened them to reveal that his eyes have become red-rimmed with light blue irises "I never would have thought that you would be able to awaken those eyes…"
"Do you know what they are?" asked Naruto, hoping to get some answers.
"They're called…the Mind's Eyes, an illusory ability which is awakened by barely a handful of us Kitsune,"
"What do they do?"
"They function slightly similar to the Dojutsu of your former world which requires eye contact with the target. What makes it deadly is the fact that it has the capability to literally convince the victim's brain to reflect anything that occurs to the victim within the illusion to their body. For example, if the victim within the illusion is cut with a knife then the brain will believe that the physical body was actually cut and so said wound will appear on it, just like what you saw on your foe," said Tetsuo.
Naruto nodded solemnly "Yeah, I was so angry back then and wanted him to feel pain in the worst way possible. But now I'm not so sure of using it all that much, it feels like a cheap shot to me,"
"That and it reminds me of that cursed Sharingan," growled Kurama, recalling the events every time a Sharingan is involved which are mostly bad.
"I can understand that, but I suggest you train in it as well in order to keep it in control without hurting your comrades. I know full well that is the last thing you would want,"
Naruto nodded in affirmation of his statement "Yeah, are there any scrolls relating to the Mind's Eyes within the archives?"
"There are, just need to find them before giving to you. Till then you can work on your regular training regime,"
Naruto got to his feet "Well I won't be the only one training, that's for sure," he left the chamber to reunite with Lilac and the girls who are currently outside at the training grounds, he was halfway there when he picked up the sounds of metal clanging behind a door leading to the armory "What's making that noise?" Naruto cautiously approached the door and quietly unsheathe Masamune as he slowly opened it and peeked through the crack, he was unprepared as a black streak and a white streak of light shot towards him and actually phased into his body "What the heck just happened?"
"I don't know, something just whizzed by in the mindscape and went into hiding before I could block it out. Only thing I know is that I sensed no negativity but rather intentions of servitude," said Kurama.
"Ugh, I have enough on my plate already. Let's just go meet up with the others, then think about what happened," Naruto got back up and walked away to his original destination, soon he managed to reunite with them "Hey girls, sorry I took so long,"
"It's alright, and we got a good look of the place," said Lilac.
"So what was it that you were talking to your elder about?" asked Carol.
"Something along the lines relating to my training as well as yours," said Naruto "I realized that you all could with some addition techniques to your arsenal of skills, I'll check with him later about that,"
"I can't wait, was beginning to feel like a one trick pony,"
"Carol's right, I myself need to train on some new techniques of my own plus Milla needs to learn of more ways of protecting,"
"Sounds like we now have something on our to-do list," Naruto checked up on the time from his ECG-X gloves "What say we head back to Emerald town for some lunch before going into details of our training regime,"
"I would like to eat some curried rice," Milla spoke up.
"Sounds good," Carol agreed.
"Same here," said Lilac.
"Then curried rice it is, let's get going," said Naruto before the girls grabbed onto him and he used the Hirashin seal to teleport back to town.
Weeks passed by since Naruto's return from Avalice with Lilac and the others coming along, he took them around to introduce to his friends and they really hit it off with each other. Milla found playmates in Cream and Cheese while Vanilla became a bit of a mother hen when around her. Lilac also got along well with Sonic because of their love for speed and battling bad guys. Carol is often hanging around with Manic and tend to get themselves into trouble at times with Sonia and Lilac always bailing them out. During the times which they weren't with friends, Naruto would take them to the Yakan palace for some training. He and Tetsuo had found some scrolls that contain instructions on martial arts for them to learn from, Naruto also helped Carol in her ninja training and was getting better with each passing day that she was halfway past the level of Chuunin.
Tetsuo was surprised and then pleased to learn that Milla has a talent in alchemy, given that he used to be an alchemist as well and so took to teaching her various things about potions among others. It was also discovered that she had some influence in nature and Naruto affirmed by tracing small amounts of natural energy emitting from within her and sought to train her in manipulating it after some more physical training. Milla and Naruto helped her create more techniques varying in mid-range and long range attacks along with some basics in close combat.
With Lilac, Naruto scrolled through the archives carefully after being reminded by Tetsuo that the Yakan clan members were also collectors of rare information and so would find something useful that could help. He came across a scroll entitled the southern dragon Kung Fu which is an imitative-style based on the characteristics of the mythical Chinese dragon. Naruto give it to Lilac along with a few shadow clones to train with, it took her a while but she began to attune to the fighting style as it seems to suit her very well and her speed utilized the style most effectively. Naruto also took to teaching Lilac some of the techniques taught to him by Sonic which were the homing attack, spin dash and the light speed dash though she's yet to master the light speed attack with her current top speed.
Naruto himself wasn't far behind on his training and was learning more techniques for his aspects and new ones for the recently awoken lightning aspect and the celestial aspect, his Kenjutsu was coming along well but then he also took to gunslinging since he'll be using the rifle soon and also because of…unforeseen circumstances and let's leave it at that for the meantime. He and Kurama contemplated on teaching them how to wield weapons and decided to shelve the idea for later until the time calls for it.
As of now, Naruto is back at home with the girls and just came from his room after doing a little browsing on the internet for anything interesting and felt like snacking a bit. He entered the room to see Carol lazily sprawled out on the couch, Milla was watching a TV show which has become a favorite of hers with Kou and Yoru, and Lilac and Nicole were having an interesting conversation before he called out to them.
"Hey guys, I'm going for a food run over at Uncle Chuck's in Central City. Any of you wanna come with?" asked Naruto.
Carol stretched with a loud yawn before slumping back on the sofa "Nah, I'll pass on that,"
Milla looked away from the TV for a moment "I'm okay, and the show isn't over yet,"
"I'll come along and I'm sure Nicole wants to come too," said Lilac with Nicole nodding in affirmation.
"Alright then, let's go!" said Naruto.
Then he received the SAC from Nicole and strapped it to his waist as they left the care of the house to Carol and Milla before taking off towards Central city. They made their way through the avenues till they arrived at Uncle Chuck's Diner and went inside where they saw Uncle Chuck standing behind the counter who smiled upon seeing who were entering.
"Well aren't you all a sight for sore eyes," said Uncle Chuck fondly.
"Hiya Chuck-jisan, we wanted to have a bite of your famous chili dogs so we come all the way from Emerald town for it," said Naruto with a smile.
"Well hunker down and give me a couple minutes, they'll be right over soon," the group went to sit down on a table and waited patiently for Uncle Chuck to arrive with a tray of chili dogs and sat with them to have a conversation "So what have you all been up to since the last time we saw each other?"
"Well we've been doing some training to brush up on our skills to be ready for anything bad, but nothing much aside from that," said Naruto.
"Good to hear, Sonic's been running around as usual. He gets too easily bored," the elderly hedgehog chuckled at his nephew's antics.
"That certainly sounds like him, though Naruto can be the same at times," said Lilac playfully.
"Hey!" Naruto pretended to pout, getting everyone to laugh with him soon joining. Suddenly Nicole flinched and held a hand to her ear as if hearing a certain sound, catching the attention of the rest "Nicole-chan, what's the matter?"
"I'm picking up an SOS signal on an open radio channel," said Nicole.
"Can we hear what it says?" Nicole nodded in affirmation and waved her hand to project a holographic screen as she fiddled a bit before playing the signal in audio for them to hear what is being said.
There was the sound of radio static at first, then they began to hear sounds of explosion and gunfire. Soon a female's voice was heard over the explosions
[Mayday, mayday...if anyone is hearing this…am Sally Acorn…nd my home is being attacked…y robots and I don't know h…an last! Please come help us…need help…]
The rest was static but everyone has a clear idea of what's going on, a girl's home is being attacked by robots and they're in serious trouble right now.
"Nicole, can you pick up on the source of the SOS signal?" asked Naruto urgently.
Nicole switched the Holo-screen to a map with a reticle rapidly moving around on it for a few seconds till it stopped in the middle of a forest and zoomed in to get a lock on then beeping to signal the location of the signal "I found it, and I'm also detecting multiple signatures which has to belong to the robots,"
"There's something rather familiar about this Sally Acorn, but I can't seem to recall just yet," said Uncle Chuck thoughtfully.
"We can think about it later, we need to get there as soon as possible before it's too late!" said Lilac, shooting up from her seat.
"Yeah, so let's kick into top gear and be there yesterday!" Naruto got up with Nicole transforming in her faerie form and stand on top of his spiky hair to give directions as he and Lilac were out of the diner and dashing through the streets and exited the city at high-speed in direction of the source of the distress signal.
This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Naruto has returned to Mobius with Lilac, Carol and Milla in tow. He introduced them to his friends with Tails offering to modify Lilac's earpieces and tune up the prototype rifle received from Torque. Naruto also purchased several things for their stay in the house and met up with Tikal in his dreamscape. He also takes them to the Yakan palace and speaks to Tetsuo who reveals that he had awakened a powerful ability but he wasn't too fond of it though. Days later after training among other things, there's a distress call and now Naruto along with Nicole and Lilac are en route to help this Sally Acorn and her home against the robot assault.
Be sure to read and review as always.
This is Hussbek from Ghana
Signing out.