Adventures of the Orange Flash
Chapter 37: A Visitation
Naruto came down the stairs with a loud yawn as Kou and Yoru sat on his shoulders which they've been on frequently ever since he had returned home with Lilac and Nicole. Needless to say, Milla, Carol and the Chao were rather upset with them for having not contacted them before leaving for their recent adventure. Naruto apologized many times for that and took to paying more attention to them, he helped Carol in her training more often in the training grounds and taking Milla and the Chao to places like Green Hill or Emerald Beach and played with them. all in all, they weren't upset anymore much to his relief.
"Now let's see what we'll have for breakfast this morning," Naruto picked up a cookbook and scrolled through the pages to make several selections before he begins cooking "…Hmmm, these will do," he went to the fridge to bring out the required ingredients while he created a shadow clone to turn on the stove and put on the skillet and pots before joining him in cutting the ingredients among other things.
Kou and Yoru watched as Naruto and his clone put the ingredients into the skillet and pots to cook them it didn't take too long until they were done then they poured the prepared dishes onto plates and bowls which happen to be scrambled eggs, oatmeal, breakfast rolls and sausages before brewing up some green tea and a jug of orange juice.
Naruto waited patiently at the table until he heard footsteps and saw Milla, Lilac, Carol and Nicole enter the kitchen before calling out to them "Good morning girls, hope you slept well,"
Carol yawned loudly "That we did, nice spread as always," she sat down on the chair with the other doing the same sans Nicole who shifted to her faerie form and went to sat atop Naruto's spiky hair "What are you planning for today?"
"I'm thinking that we should head over to Knothole, it's been about a week since we dealt Metal Sonic and his army. I think we've rested long enough and should go and check on everyone to see how they're doing,"
"You're right, we did promise to return there," said Lilac after taking a sip of green tea.
"Can we come too? I would like to see it too," said Milla excitedly.
"Sure, I wasn't planning on leaving you behind this time," said Naruto fondly.
"Then let's finish this up before we head out," Carol began eating her breakfast a bit more quickly.
"Alright then," Naruto went back upstairs to change into his usual clothing and contacted Tetsuo about where he was going before he would drop by later, he went down to the living room to find the others waiting for him as they're all prepared for the trip "Now that we're all set, let's go,"
The group went outside with Carol bringing her streetbike out of the garage and revving the engine a couple of times before getting on and wearing her helmet, Naruto summoned Dragoon for Milla to ride on since he and Lilac will be running. With everyone prepared, they all took off with Nicole serving as the navigator as she had saved the route to their destination last time.
After a long trip, they had finally arrived at the outskirts of the village, there the group could many of the residents hard at work in reconstructing their homes. The villagers caught sight of them and immediately cheered upon seeing the ones who helped them during the robots raid, Naruto waved with a sheepish grin in greeting as he's yet to get used to being complimented this much.
"Déjà vu, eh Naruto?" said Kurama, recalling when Naruto was welcomed by the villagers of Konoha after returning from his meeting with Nagato and Konan.
"Wow, you three sure are popular," said Carol with a smirk.
"I guess," Naruto replied.
They noticed someone approaching with Naruto, Lilac and Nicole recognizing to be Barby Koala who greeted them fondly "I was wondering when you guys would be coming back and I see that you brought some friends along,"
"We had to rest for some time after pursuing Eggman, but there was more to it than we thought," said Nicole while reverting to her default form.
"What do you mean?"
Naruto was about to respond when there was a whooshing sound and felt himself being embraced, it only took a moment for him to realize who it is "Bunnie-chan?"
"Ya darn tooting Sugah Fox, where ya been all this time?" said Bunnie playfully.
"Here and there with a bit of everywhere, I'll tell you more when we meet up with Sally-chan," said Naruto, gently pulling himself away from Bunnie much to her disappointment.
"Well if you're looking for Sally, then she's at the castle since the king, queen and prince have returned three days ago," said Barby.
"Well that makes it a lot convenient so we won't have to explain it twice," said Carol while glaring at Bunnie with jealousy with the Mobian rabbit smirking at her.
"I'll lead the way, I'm sure that the royal family already know that you're here and can't wait to meet you,"
Barby walked down the path with others following her while Milla wrapped her arms around Naruto and looked about shyly with the fox wrapping one of his tails around her as a sign of comfort. The group continued along the pathway with the residents greeting Naruto and the others while they responded in kind, soon they got past the forested section to a much clearer area where they came across a castle a fair distance ahead of them.
"Nice place, maybe I should take a selfies to show it to that panda guy and the magistrate," said Carol with Lilac shaking her head in amusement.
They continued along the way and went inside the castle after Barby and Bunnie got them past the royal guards then walked along a couple of hallways through a double door to find themselves inside the throne room. Naruto and the others looked ahead to see Sally standing next to two thrones with three others as well.
The first is a male Mobian brown squirrel with flat auburn hair, and short smooth hair. He wears a blue-colored uniform trimmed with red at the collar, sleeves and bottom with a red belt with an acorn-shaped buckle and gold epaulettes. He also wears white gloves and blue boots with buckles on the feet and red cuffs on top, as well as a golden crown on his head. Standing next to him is another male Mobian brown squirrel but is apparently younger, he wears the same blue uniform with the difference being that he wears red boots instead and a red strap slung over his left should from the waist. The last is a female Mobian brown chipmunk, she is the spitting image of Sally but is much older while wearing an orange dress accented in gold jewelry with a golden tiara.
Naruto and the others approached the royal family as they went down on one knee and bowed their heads in respect with the king beckoning them to rise as he began to speak to them.
"I've been wanting to meet you for quite some time now, I am Nigel Acorn and this is my wife Alicia Acorn, my son Elias Acorn and I believe you've already met Sally Acorn," said the king.
"It is an honor to meet you Nigel-sama, I'm Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze and these are my friends, Sash Lilac, Carol Tea, Nicole, Milla Basset, and my Chao friends Kou and Yoru," said Naruto, introducing the others.
"I've heard about your parts in defending Knothole from the robots' attack, and for that you have the utmost gratitude of the people and my family," King Nigel bowed his head in gratitude.
Naruto rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish grin "It's nothing really, it was the least we could do when we heard the call for help,"
"My, aren't you modest?" said Alicia with a giggle.
"We had gone after the cause of the attack, but we discovered that Dr. Eggman wasn't the one who ordered for the attack on Knothole village," said Lilac.
"What do you mean, that Eggman wasn't the one even though it was his robots?" asked Sally confusedly.
"It all started when we arrived at Seaside Hill and began our investigation…," Nicole proceeded to tell the royal family about what they had gone through since their departure from Knothole village up to their battle against Metal Sonic alongside Team Sonic "…it was afterwards that we rested for some time before making our way here to tell you want had happened,"
"I gotta admit, you guys have gone through something quite intense," said Sally.
"That we did, but we made it out okay with some help from our friends and the Chaos Emeralds," said Lilac.
Then they heard someone speak who happened to be Elias "By the way Naruto, Sally has been telling us of how strong you are which has piqued my curiosity about how good you are in combat,"
"He's very strong!" Milla piped up excitedly but then shyly hid behind Naruto when the royal family began looking at her.
"In that case, can I request for a spar?" asked Elias with a smirk.
"Uh, why are you asking for a spar with Naruto?" asked Carol confusedly.
"Like I said before, I'm curious to see how strong he is in person. Plus it's been a while since I last had a spar with anyone, particularly my father or my old friend Antoine,"
Naruto looked thoughtful for a few moments before shrugging his shoulders and speaking "Sure, I don't mind sparring you. It should be fun,"
"Splendid, I too am curious to bear witness to your prowess," said Nigel standing up from his throne "This way to the courtyard where you two may partake in the battle,"
The group followed the king and his family out of the throne room and through a couple of hallways before emerging from the interior to the courtyard which is full of green grass, trimmed hedges along with several stylish lawn ornaments but there was a large enough space for what they needed. Naruto and Elias stood there to face each other with Sally serving as the judge while the rest stood at the sidelines to spectate.
Naruto tightened his ECG-X gloves to make sure that they stay on before calling out to the prince "So how are going to do this?"
"We'll go at it with weapons only, kinda obvious that I would get steamrolled if you went at me full force," said Elias as he took out a pair of exotic red daggers with grips different from the normal ones with points running parallel to the handles.
"Alright then," Naruto took a combat with Hazy-Moon and Masamune hovering at both sides.
"We've met our share of royals, let's see how this one stacks up," said Kurama, with a look of interest.
"Ya know, this is the first time I actually get to see Sugah fox fight," said Bunnie admittedly.
"Me too, but the prince is a class of his own though," said Barby.
"This will be fun to see," said Carol with a smirk.
"Do your best, you two!" Milla called out shyly.
Music Start: Kingdom Hearts OST; Working Together
Naruto quickly grabbed Masamune and swung hard enough to send the sheath flying out of the blade towards which surprised Elias but he batted it away to see Naruto rapidly approaching him in a zigzag formation before striking out with a rising diagonal slash which was quickly blocked with the daggers, he spun round to lash out with his tails but Elias saw it coming and jumped back to avoid it.
Elias was now the one to take to the offensive as he dashed towards Naruto to attack him with the fox parrying the incoming strikes and utilizing short dashes from side to side in order to evade sudden lunges from his opponent. Suddenly Elias used one of daggers to hold down the katana blades before using the other to attack repeatedly. Naruto used his ECG-X to block them before unsheathing Hazy-Moon in a reverse grip to clash with the dagger then launched at Elias to knock him back as he shifted to a different stance with both blades in his hands now.
"We've just gotten started and yet I'm already impressed," said Elias, feeling the pain from the kick to his chest ebbing away.
"Same here, you definitely aren't a stereotypical narcissistic prince," said Naruto with a foxy grin.
"That I'm not, let's continue!"
Elias charged at Naruto with him charging right back to clash in the middle. He lunged at Naruto with a double strike but the blonde was ready for him "Lunar style: Orbitual Blade!" he twirled Masamune before himself like a propeller with sparks flying when the daggers made contact "Lunar style: Crescent Strike!" he swung Masamune in a reverse grip while performing a 180 spin to slash at Elias with the prince crossing the daggers before him to block but the impact was enough to push him back.
"Wow, look at them go at it!" said Barby in awe.
"You're telling me, I can't believe what I'm seeing either," said Bunnie.
Nigel nodded as he watched the battle go on "His skills with the blades show a result from diligent training,"
"Indeed, makes me wonder what he had gone through to attain such strength," said Alicia thoughtfully.
Naruto now held both blades in reverse grips as he continuously clashed with Elias for swift defense especially when he tries to lock them in place for counter attacks. Elias was beginning to see how strong the Kitsune really is and feels that he's yet to go all out, he dashed forward to attack with a 3-hit combo which Naruto blocked with both blades before putting up a distance with several backflips before retaking his combat stance. Naruto took a moment to look around for a moment before catching a glimpse of something which gave him an idea and got ready to put it into plan.
Elias noticed his opponent relax his stance much to his confusion but remained on guard, he then saw Naruto casually toss one of his blades into the air in his direction. The prince got ready to deflect the incoming blade when it suddenly glinted in the sunlight, blinding him. Next thing he knew was that he felt something whizz past him then the back of his collar was grabbed along with his feet being knocked out from under him and falling to the ground on his back. Elias looked up to see Naruto looking down at him with a smirk on his face, having caught the blade in his hand and pointing the other at his face.
"Looks like I win," Naruto sheathed both blades for them to float to his back and latch on before holding out a hand to the prince.
Elias smirked back "That you did," he took the hand and was pulled up to his feet.
Music End
The duo heard the sound of clapping and turned to see that the others were applauding, feeling rather sheepish as they were so into the battle that they had completely blocked them out until now. Naruto and Elias walked towards them with the latter putting his daggers back onto his belt.
"That is most impressive, I can see that you're improving Elias and your swordsmanship is most beguiling Naruto," said Nigel with a smile.
"Thank you father," said Elias with a slight bow.
"Thank you Nigel-sama, I've been doing a lot of training on it," said Naruto with a foxy grin.
"We can easily tell, you definitely got some style," said Barby.
"And we got to see you in action too, I must say that those robots wouldn't stand a chance against ya," said Bunnie.
Then Alicia then spoke up "I'm sure that the spar must have worked up quite an appetite, I hope you can stay around long enough for dinner,"
Naruto looked at the others to receive subtle nods of affirmation before responding to the queen "We would be honored to accept your invitation to dinner,"
"Splendid! In the meantime, you can explore the village to while away time until we're ready to call you all back," said Nigel.
"In that case, we'll be your tour guides and show you around Knothole," said Sally with Bunnie and Barby nodding in agreement.
"Sure, I would to see how everyone's doing after what had happened," said Naruto, he was taken by surprise when Sally grabbed him by the hand and proceeded to pull him away from the others and in direction of the village.
"Come on, I'll show you!" said Sally excitedly.
"Hey wait for us!" Carol ran after them with the rest following after them.
The group made their way back to the village and began their exploration, though Sally managed to lead Naruto away from the others so she could talk to him alone. The princess came to learn that he is friends with Sonic the hedgehog and lives in Emerald town, she found it amusing that Naruto tends to be childish about certain things as well as being mischievous when the situation calls. Naruto himself was enjoying the conversation as he even told her about his former village and its landmarks along with the adventures which he had with his friends although he misses them dearly nowadays.
"Sounds like you really had good times back time," said Sally.
"Yeah, I did," said Naruto with a nostalgic smile.
"Ever thought of going back there?"
"There's not a day that I haven't thought of it, but there are some things which prevent me from doing so. It's sad but I'll always cherish the bonds I made with them no matter far apart we are," Naruto lightly rub the metal plate on his headband then he looked to see the villagers hard at work in repairing their homes which reminded him of Tazuna back at the Land of Waves or when he helped rebuild Konoha after the Sound/Sand invasion and came upon an idea which Sally noticed.
"Do you have something on your mind?" the princess asked curiously.
"I'm thinking of lending everyone a hand or rather hands in fixing up the village with use of my shadow clones," Naruto replied, surprising her.
"Are you sure? You don't really need to do so…," said Sally unsurely.
"You're right that I don't need to but the fact is that I want to," Naruto crossed the middle and index fingers of both hands and was about to perform his signature jutsu when he heard someone call out his name.
"Mr Naruto!" he turned round and smiled up seeing Rory Bear, Sasha Cat, and Snaggle Tiger running up to him and Sally while Rosie Woodchuck walk behind them with a smile.
"It's you three, glad to see that my shadow clones were able to get you all to safety," he went down on one knee and ruffled Rory's hair, making the cub giggle.
"We're wondering when we would see you again," said Sasha.
"Well my friends and I had to take a short break after chasing down the one responsible for attacking your home and making him aware of your pleasures…personally,"
"I am relieved that you're in good health, it seems like you were about to do something," said Rosie.
"Oh right, I was about to send help to the village…," Naruto formed the handsign again "Shadow Clone jutsu!" there a puff of smoke which dissipated to reveal a large number of his doppelgangers, surprising everyone in the area.
"Wow…," Snaggle watched in wonder, he saw the fox do so before but never this much.
"Okay guys, I need you to help everyone with the repairs," said Naruto.
"You got it, boss!" the clones responded before taking off in different directions with some nearby to pick up tools and building materials to assist in the repairs, Naruto learnt to be more appreciative of his clones during his trip to Turtle Island. That dream he had on the ship showed how he took his clones for granted as they're still him in a way and so showed more respect from then on.
"So what is it you kids were up to?" asked Naruto.
"Actually they wanted to see you upon hearing that you and your friends had returned from the residents," said Rosie.
"Yeah, we were hoping that you would have some time to play with us," said Rory with hope in his voice.
Naruto grinned brightly "Sure thing, as a matter of fact I can show you some moves of mine," he looked as the three children cheered which reminded him of Konohamaru and his friends, they all went to a park to play "Alright then, check this out!" he activated his fire aspect as fists and the tips of his tails ignite in red flames as his body emit heat, he created constructs of swallows to fly around the children much to their awe for a while then switched to his water aspect with a puddle of water appears around Naruto's feet with bubbles rising into the air from it. Naruto manipulated the bubbles to grow large in size before encasing them in each one, the kids had a lot of fun bouncing around and into each other leading into creating a new game out of it. The kids then got a bit tired so Naruto activated his earth aspect with small pieces of stones which begun floating around him before he used Terra Mold to create stools for everyone to sit, he proceeded to tell them of his adventures back at the elemental nations.
"…even though he took out all of my shadow clones, I refused to give in as I created one more to help me create a Rasengan before running towards Doto for the decisive blow. Suddenly the sunlight reflected off the mirrors unto my Rasengan to make it glow with the colors of the rainbow before I rammed the newly evolved jutsu into his chest, it was so powerful that it destroyed his armor and sent him flying into one of the mirrors and was down for the count," said Naruto.
"Wow, that's so cool!" said Rory in awe.
"So what happened afterwards?" asked Sasha in curiosity.
"There was a holographic message made by the former king to Koyuki-chan about how much he cared for her and the Land of Snow which is now the Land of Spring. She later took on the position of ruling over the land but she still works as an actress too. I received an autographed picture, but it's too embarrassing to show to you,"
"Really, how embarrassing is it?" asked Sally, she and Rosie giggled upon seeing Naruto look away with a blush on his cheeks.
"Is there a way for us to watch this movie?" asked Snaggle.
Naruto contemplating whether or not to show it to them, given that he was human back then. He does have a copy of the movie since the director mailed one to each of the team members in HD graphics and he sealed in one of the scrolls which crossed over the dimensions with him.
"Maybe one of these days when I come back," said Naruto, receiving nods of affirmation from the kids.
Sally then heard her ring beeping and turned on the Holo-screen to open a message before reading its contents "I just got a message from mother, dinner is almost ready and we're being called back,"
"Now that you mention it, it's time for the children to return home and have dinner as well," said Rosie, receiving whines from Rory and the others.
"Don't be so down, I'll be sure to see you before leaving okay?" said Naruto.
"Okay Naruto," said Snaggle.
"Alright then, let's meet up with others before heading back to the castle," Naruto as he and Sally walked off with the former using his Aura Sight to track his friends down.
Later on as the sun had set, Naruto and the gang were having dinner with the royal family at the dining room, there many subjects for conversation with the king thanking Naruto for helping the villagers earlier though there were subtle glares thrown across the table between the girls and Sally for having pulled a fast one on them and resolved to spend more time with Naruto in the near future. After talking a bit more and finishing dinner, Naruto and the others were escorted to the guestrooms to rest for the night. Naruto had taken a bath and was currently laying on his bed and yet to fall asleep, he received a notification from his email and turned on the Holo-screen to check it out.
"Hmmm, looks like Rotor's got a new shipment of vehicles. Can't wait to see what he's got in stock," said Naruto.
"Hopefully, it's a bike faster than the first one we bought before giving to Carol," said Kurama.
"Maybe so, but I got my eye on you furball. The answer is still no to joyriding,"
"Tch, we'll just see about that,"
Naruto turned off the ECG-X gloves before removing them to place on the drawer next to the bed as he laid down on the bed and fell asleep. He was dreaming about being back in Konoha when he was suddenly roused asleep upon hearing the sound of knocking on the door "I wonder who it is knocking at this time of the night?" he approached the door and unlocked it to see who is behind it "…Milla-chan? What's the matter?"
Before him was the basset hound who stared down at the ground with a sad look which drew concern from him as she spoke "…I had a bad dream and I was too scared to go back to sleep so I came over to you,"
Naruto was saddened as he saw vulnerable Milla appears before him and so wrapped his tails around her before bringing her into the bedroom and locked the door, he guided her over to the balcony so that they could gazed at the stars in the night sky "It's okay Milla-chan, we'll all have bad dreams every once in a while but there's a way to deal with them,"
Milla looked up to him "What is it?"
"Being around your loved ones, their presence places a sense of ease upon you and helps you overcome anything you would see in a bad dream. I used to experience it a lot back home but when I look in the faces of those who care for me and see their smiles, it erases my fears by a lot and makes me look to the day with a heart full of confidence," Naruto looked down to smile warmly and sensed her unease fading away, then he recalled a certain song perfect for this and began to sing.
Music Start: Owl City; Fireflies
You would not believe your eyes
If ten million fireflies
Lit up the world as I fell asleep
'Cause they'd fill the open air
And leave tear drops everywhere
You'd think me rude
But I would just stand and stare
I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems
'Cause I'd get a thousand hugs
From ten thousand lightning bugs
As they tried to teach me how to dance
A foxtrot above my head
A sock hop beneath my bed
The disco ball is just hanging by a thread
(Thread, thread...)
I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems
(When I fall asleep)
Leave my door open just a crack
(Please take me away from here)
'Cause I feel like such an insomniac
(Please take me away from here)
Why do I tire of counting sheep?
(Please take me away from here)
When I'm far too tired to fall asleep
(Ha-ha)
To ten million fireflies
I'm weird 'cause I hate goodbyes
I got misty eyes as they said farewell
(Said farewell)
But I'll know where several are
If my dreams get real bizarre
'Cause I saved a few and I keep them in a jar
(Jar, jar, jar...)
[2x]
I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems
(When I fall asleep)
I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep
Because my dreams are bursting at the seams
Music End
Naruto finished singing the song before looking down and smiled when he saw that Milla was curled up with her head on his chest with a look of contentment on her face. He gently picked her up in his arms and carried her over to his bed to tuck her in before going to sleep on a couch in the room.
Unknown to them was that someone else was awake to listen to him sing and happened to be Sally, she was awake at the balcony of her bedroom to think about certain matters when she heard Naruto's voice as he began to sing. She might have heard it somewhere before but the way he sang it soothed her soul as she felt compelled to a restful sleep, Sally felt a bit disappointed when he stopped singing and went back into her room where she laid on her bed.
"When morning comes, I'll be sure to ask if they could join the group. I can just tell that they would be valuable members if they accept," the princess fell asleep with her last thoughts of the nine-tailed fox and his charming smile.
This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, things have pretty much calmed after the battle against Neo Metal Sonic alongside Sonic and his friends. Naruto and the others had rested along with apologizing to Carol and Milla for not contacting them since they left. A week later, the group decided to pay Knothole another visit where they reunited with Sally and her friends before meeting with the royal family. Both sides got along well with Elias challenging Naruto to a spar and losing in the end. Naruto also went to meet with the kids and the caretaker and had some fun with them along with Sally before returning to have dinner with the family since they had invited him and his friends to it.
Naruto was woken from his sleep by Milla who had a bad dream and comforted her by singing and she wasn't the only listener as Sally heard him to be going to sleep as well. The questions now are what's this about a group that she wants to invite Naruto and his friends to join? What's Naruto gonna get at Rotor's auto shop? And what's his next big adventure going to be?
Be sure to read and review as always.
This is Hussbek from Ghana