Adventures of the Orange Flash
Chapter 38: Invitations all Around
Naruto opened his eyes as the rays of sunlight came through the windows to shine upon his face, awakening. He sat up on the couch and stretched his arms out whilst yawning with an audible crack from his spine since he had to sleep on the couch since last night. He was about to greet Kurama only to hear snoring from within the mindscape to signify the Bijuu still asleep so he walked over to the bed and gently prodded Milla to wake up as the basset hound opened her eyes and let out a cute yawn then rubbed her eyes.
"Good morning Milla-chan, I hope that you had a good sleep," said Naruto with a foxy grin.
Milla smiled back "Good morning Naruto, I had a good sleep ever since you sang for me,"
"That's good to hear, I was a bit worried. Let's get ourselves ready so we can meet the others for breakfast before going home, there are a few things I want to do over at Central City,"
"Okay Naruto," Milla hopped off the bed and scampered out of the room towards hers to change, the S.A.C switched on and Nicole emerged from it before smiling at Naruto.
"Good morning Naruto," said Nicole.
"Same to you too, Nicole-chan. Guess you heard everything," said Naruto.
The Holo-lynx nodded in affirmation "Yes, we need to get ready to meet Sally and her family before leaving for Emerald Town,"
"Yup, better hit the shower,"
Naruto turned round and began taking off his clothes, starting with his shirt which caused Nicole to blush beet red at the sight of his bare chest and quickly retreated to the S.A.C lest she actually faints which would have been odd in a way. Naruto quirked an eyebrow at her reaction before realizing exactly why with a tinge of pink on his cheeks, he went to take his bath before changing into a fresh set of clothes before leaving the room with Nicole reemerging and sitting on his hair in her faerie form who was still blushing. They arrived at the dining room to find that Sally and her family were already at the table with Lilac, Carol and Milla soon appearing afterwards, everyone sat down at the table and exchanged greetings before proceeding to eat breakfast.
"So Naruto, what you and your friends plan to do from here?" asked Nigel curiously.
"We'll be returning to Emerald Town before I head over to Central City to purchase something, afterwards I'll be having a training session with my sensei in the mountains," said Naruto, not wanting to reveal the Yakan palace.
"I see, well I certainly hope that you visit us more often just to say once in a while,"
"Not to mention that I would like a rematch too," said Elias with a smirk which is mirrored by Naruto.
"We would be more than happy to," said Lilac politely with Carol nodding in agreement.
"Um Naruto? There's something I would like to ask you and your friends about after breakfast," said Sally, looking a bit nervous, causing Naruto to quirk an eyebrow at her reaction.
"Sure thing," the blonde fox replied. Nigel and the others had an idea of what Sally intends to do but decided to remain silent and wait for the end result.
Later on, Naruto and the others were led to the courtyard where he had sparred with Elias the day before by Sally. She had them wait for a bit until Barby and Bunnie showed up, Kurama mused that they might have something to do with what Sally wants to talk about.
"Okay Sally-chan, what is it that you want to ask us about?" asked Naruto with a quirked eyebrow.
Sally took in a deep breath and exhaled before speaking up "I wanted to ask you and your friends in hopes that you would join the Freedom Fighters,"
"Freedom Fighters, just what is it all about?" asked Lilac curiously.
"Well I think I'll start with its history to better explain things. The Freedom Fighters were a band of rebels forces that originally formed to oppose the tyranny of Ixis Naugus or any other threat with harmful intentions towards the innocents, they were also known as the Defenders of Mobius that helps people and stops evil that comes in their way. There's a story about the first group that became a legend when I was a girl back then in the old generation, the group were known as the Original Freedom Fighters that overthrew Naugus and defended Knothole from his dastardly ambitions whilst liberating other places or saving people to rebel against their oppressors,"
"Wow, they sound amazing," said Milla in wonder.
"Yeah, just who were these guys?" asked Carol.
Sally nodded and continued "The leader of the group is Col Tig Stripe the white tiger who had retired from the Acorn Kingdom Army, the members who worked under him were MP Bull Bones the bulldog, Sir Peckers the pigeon, Trey Scales the cobra and Spot Long the giraffe. Their heroic legacy continue to inspire people including me to fight against enemies like Eggman, and giving people hope and freedom they deserve for the heroic deeds they have done. With the Original Freedom Fighters as my role models, I decided to create my own group of Freedom Fighters to be just like them but better to protect Knothole as well as help others outside our homes,"
"I see…," Naruto muttered lowly, hearing this reminded him of the ninja corps back in Konoha as their main mission is to protect Konoha no matter what then the missions of going to aid other villages as well with the strongest example being his very first C turned A-ranked mission to help liberate the Land of Waves from the clutches of the business tyrant Gato. He snapped back to attention to hear Sally speak to him.
"So I ask of you all to please consider joining our team and becoming a Freedom Fighter? Although we're short of members with only me, Bunnie and Barby, we would very glad to have you join us and help stop any evil intending great harm towards Mobius. So what is your answer?" asked Sally a bit nervously.
Naruto crossed his arms with his eyes closed as he thought long and hard about this, he could join the team as their main objective is to help people and stop enemies like Dr. Eggman which suits him just fine but one problem is whether or not he would reveal his past or about the Yakan clan and so thought to ask Tetsuo for advice about this.
He opened his eyes and spoke up "Before I make my decision, I want to know what the others think about all this," Naruto turned towards Lilac and the girls "So what do you girls feel about it,"
Lilac was thinking for a few moments before speaking "I thought about it and I suggest that we join the Freedom Fighters, we can all work together to help others along the way,"
"I'm with Lilac on this, sounds like a lot of fun and we would kick bad guy butt while we're at it," said Carol in agreement with the purple dragoness.
"I-I want to join too, I also want to help," said Milla shyly.
"I support this as well, this could prove beneficial to us," said Nicole thoughtfully.
"Well, I guess that decides it," Naruto turned towards Sally and friends with a foxy grin on his face "…looks like you have four new members of the Freedom Fighters," next thing he knew was that he was suddenly glomped by Sally and the girls who were ecstatic upon hearing their acceptance.
"Oh thank you, we were really hoping that you would say yes!" said Sally happily.
"Things are definitely going to be interesting with ya'll around now!" said Bunnie with a smirk.
"Definitely," said Barby with a wink.
They heard a cough and turned to see Lilac and the girls were frowning at them with looks of jealousy, getting them to let go of Naruto albeit reluctantly then Lilac spoke up.
"Now that we're all onboard, what are your plans for the future?" asked Lilac.
"Oh right, for starters we're currently searching for a place which is suitable for building our headquarters. Somewhere well hidden from enemies and we could quickly deploy team members as well," said Sally.
"Sounds to me like you haven't found the best place yet," said Carol with her hands on her waist.
"You're darn tooting Carol, we've been checking out several zones but none of them seem to click with our plans," said Bunnie.
"Hey kit," Kurama spoke up.
"Oh hey Kurama, thought you were still sleeping," thought Naruto.
"I was but I couldn't help but overhear what you all were talking about and thought to toss in an input,"
"So what's up?"
"I recall that there was a zone which you had passed through before during one of your explorations and I figured that it would be a suitable place to build a base,"
Naruto recapped on what the Bijuu was talking and recalled the particular zone which he realized what he was talking "That's a good suggestion, I'll let them know," he received a grunt from Kurama who went back to sleep as he spoke up to grab their attention "Sally-chan, I just thought of a zone which would be perfect for you to build an HQ,"
"Really, where?" asked Barby curiously.
Naruto tapped the gem on the ECG-X gloves to project a Holo-screen and switched the display to GPS then using a free hand to move along the map before stopping on a certain spot and using his fingers to zoom in, he pointed it out for them to take a look at.
"Which zone is it?" asked Milla curiously.
"This place is called the Jungle Zone, it's a huge thick rainforest with treacherous waterways, snaking vines and giant trees. It's the perfect place to build the HQ whilst using natural camouflage," Naruto explained as he pointed at a certain spot "Especially here, there's a cave hidden behind the waterfall,"
"Whoa, that definitely looks like the perfect spot for a hideout," said Carol in complete agreement with Naruto.
"I see, I'll be sure to let my father know and receive his approval to build our HQ there," said Sally thoughtfully.
"And also I'm thinking of a few guys I know whom I can recommend to join the Freedom Fighters too, they'll definitely be of great help to you," said Naruto.
"Really?"
"Yeah, I'll have you guys meet up one of these days," said Naruto "But for now we should get going though,"
"Hope to see you all again soon," said Barby.
"We will," said Milla with a smile.
Naruto and the others went to say goodbye to the Royal Family with Elias exchanging contacts with him since he already did so with Sally and the girls, they also went to say farewell to Rosie and the kids and promised to visit again to play with the residents saying goodbye as well. The group soon were back on the road with Naruto and Lilac running along the pathway with Carol riding on her streetbike next to them and Milla riding on Dragoon with the Chao.
"Looks we've finally returned," said Naruto as they arrived at Emerald Town after a long run from Knothole "I'm gonna pass through Sonic's home and check if he's around,"
"Okay Naruto, Milla and I will head on home," said Lilac as Kou and Yoru flew over to sit on Naruto's shoulders to accompany him.
"I'm going to Tails' Lab to ask him for something," said Carol.
"What is it you want to ask him for?" asked Nicole, floating next to Naruto in her faerie form.
"I hoping to ask if he can an S.A.C for me too, makes carrying my bike and other stuff a whole lot easier for me,"
"Come to think of it, perhaps the kit could produce many of the S.A.C for the Freedom Fighters," said Kurama.
"That's a pretty good idea, I'll ask Tails to do that when I get him to join the Freedom Fighters along with Sonic and a few others," thought Naruto "Alright, I'll see you girls later,"
Naruto calmly jogged away in direction of Sonic's home, soon he arrived at the doorstep and knocked on the door a couple of times. He didn't have to wait long as it opened to reveal Bernadette who smiled upon seeing him.
"Oh Naruto, it's good to see you again!" said Bernadette fondly.
Naruto smiled back "Same here, I just got back from visiting a place with Lilac-chan and the others, so I thought to come back and say hello while checking in on Sonic,"
"That's a nice thing to do, Sonic isn't here though. He's gone exploring as usual along with his father this time, I really wish that they would spend more time at home,"
"I'm sure they would, they always come back here no matter how far they go from here,"
"I suppose you're right, oh I almost forgot to invite you inside for tea,"
Naruto shook his head in a polite refusal "It's okay, I was just passing by since I'm heading over to Central City to check something out with my friend Rotor,"
"Oh okay, I'll be sure to let Sonic know that you came by,"
"Thanks a lot Bernadette-san, I'll be sure to visit," Naruto waved goodbye then he locked on the Hirashin mark which he had placed close to the outskirts of Central City and warped over to it in a yellow flash.
Naruto soon appeared at the city and looked around to see that it was as busy as ever, Nicole emerged from the S.A.C in her normal form as they began walking towards the market district. They took some time before arriving at the auto shop and went inside to find Rotor at the work table, cleaning his tools before he noticed that they around.
"Hey Naruto and Nicole, good to see you two as usual," said Rotor with a smile.
"It's good to see you too," said Nicole.
"Same here, I got the notification of new rides and came to check them out," said Naruto.
"Yup, got some new bikes along with a couple of cars just yesterday. They're in the showroom so you can go and take a look for yourself," said Rotor.
"Sweet!" Naruto eagerly walked towards the showroom with the Chao flying after him while Nicole and Rotor soon followed after the excited fox. Naruto was busy checking out the bikes and every one of them are really appealing to the eyes as he examined each of them "Man, these new bikes are making it so hard to choose just one of them…hm?" he caught sight of a bike of which Sonic would have said that it looked way past cool with the stylish look and the sweet orange paintjob (Check out samuraiconceptbike1 by dwiirawan on deviantart. AN; I do not own the image)
"I see that one caught your complete attention just like I thought it would when I first saw it, that there is the Samurai ZR 200. Its creation was inspired by the sharp blade of a samurai's katana and is practically built while at the same time possesses great maneuverability," Rotor explained with a knowing looking in his eyes.
"I don't think I need to ask the next question right?" asked Naruto with a twinkle in his eyes.
"Hahaha, you definitely don't need to ask as I was one step ahead of your," Rotor amusedly held up the papers for the fox to sign which he did in a blur and paid the required amount of rings.
"Oh yeah, there's something I wanted to talk to you about," said Naruto.
"What is it?" asked Rotor curiously, Naruto proceeded to tell him about when he revisited Knothole and Sally inviting him and the others to joining the Freedom Fighters "…hmmmm, that certainly sounds like a promising group,"
"Yeah and we were thinking that you could join in too, with yours and Tails' techno mojo along with Sonic, we could really help a lot of people here in Mobius,"
"I'm not so sure Naruto, what about my auto shop? There would be no one to look after it," asked Rotor.
"Perhaps you could speak with the princess and discuss terms of agreement to avoid any potent issues in the future," said Nicole.
Rotor looked thoughtful "Maybe I will, I'll need to give it some thought,"
"Sure thing Rotor, take all the time you need. Nicole-chan and I will be heading back to Emerald town, keep in touch," said Naruto, wheeling the streetbike out of the showroom and into the main street.
"Alright, see you guys later,"
Naruto got on the bike and started the engine before revving it a couple of times as Nicole sat on his hair in faerie form with the Chao settling on his shoulders, he rolled on the throttle and took off down the road then into a highway. Naruto was taken by surprise at its rapid acceleration which soon turned into excitement, the handling was just as superb despite how it was designed as he overtook other vehicles in the highway.
"Whooohooo! This is my kind of speed right here!" Naruto popped a wheelie before landing the front wheel back on the ground to exit from the highway onto the leading out of the city to Emerald Town where he went for a full throttle to see what the bike could really do and he certainly wasn't disappointed in the least bit. It didn't take him that long till he arrived back at Emerald Town, he rode the bike into the garage then went further in to the living room where he found Milla along with Lilac and Carol watching TV.
"Hey everyone, I'm back," Naruto called out to draw their attention.
"Hey Naruto, welcome back. You were finished with what you were done with whatever you were doing in Central City?" asked Lilac.
"Yeah, I went to see Rotor and told him about the Freedom Fighters though he said that he would think about it before joining and I also got myself a new bike while I was at it,"
Carol's ears perked upon hearing of a new bike "You got a new bike? Where is it?" Naruto grinned and pointed a thumb at the garage behind him, getting the wildcat to run past him excitedly.
"Why am I not surprised?" Naruto chuckled amusedly.
"Carol just loves bikes as long as I can remember since I spent time with her," said Lilac fondly "Anyways, Carol told me that Tails agreed to construct an S.A.C for her while making a few more for us too,"
"That's good to hear, we can tell him and Sonic about the Freedom Fighters so they can join too," said Naruto.
"Sounds like a good idea, we can ask them about it when we see them again," said Lilac thoughtfully.
Carol came back into the living room with stars in her stars in her eyes "Your bike is so amazing, I'm almost tempted to trade mine for it but I know better,"
Naruto smirked in reply "Don't you know it,"
"Naruto, Lilac, Carol!" Milla called out, drawing their attention towards her.
"What is it Milla-chan?" asked Naruto curiously.
"Look at this!" Milla pointed at the TV for them to look at what appears to be some sort of advertisement going on at the moment.
[Ladies and Gentlemen as well as excitable kids, we bring news of an upcoming event which can only be held in Casino Park…the World Fighting Tournament! A perfect stage will soon be set for all talented fighters to congregate and contend with each other in order to decide who is worthy to earn the title of the Strongest Fighter in all of Mobius! The winner will be awarded with a gold trophy along with a large amount of rings as well. Tickets are already being sold at shops near you so you better get them before they run out of stock. This event is sponsored by HEXAeco, Chao Cola, Honey Clothing and Breeze Media, All fighters better clench your fists for heart beating battles!]
The TV ad was soon over as everyone was quiet, the one to break the silence was Naruto who was currently smirking wildly "I think I speak for most of us that we're gonna be participating and not watching right?"
Carol smirked in reply "You got that right Naruto, it's been so long since Lilac and I have taken part in a martial arts tournament. I can't wait to go buck wild again!"
"Carol's got the right idea and this is the perfect opportunity to see how strong I am against other opponents too," said Lilac eagerly.
"The only time I took part in anything akin to a tournament would the Chuunin finals, man…I'm getting those shivers of anticipation again and I have a feeling that Sonic and the others might also be taking part too," said Naruto.
"I'll be cheering for all of you!" said Milla with the Chao chirping in agreement while Nicole nodded to that.
"Well it's quite obvious that you'll need to do some training before the D-Day comes in order to prepare for strong opponents whom you're bound to meet," said Kurama.
"Pretty much the main game plan, I get the feeling that I'm going to be attracting a lot of attention during the event," thought Naruto, not knowing that is exactly what was going to happen to him.
"A tournament where the best of the best show up to duke it out…I'm getting fired up just thinking about it!" an energetic voice spoke up as a tongue of flames lit up a dark forest to reveal a black humanoid silhouette.
"A battle tournament eh? A perfect chance to show them that it was a big mistake to banish me…especially her!" a calm voice with blue electricity crackling in the air intensely.
Somewhere else, the doors leading into an office opened up as a robotic monkey dressed in a black valet suit walked in and stood before a desk and bowed to speak to the person sitting with the chair's back facing him.
"Ma'am, the advertisements are being spread throughout all of Mobius and the tickets are soon to be distributed just like you ordered," said the monkey.
The chair swiveled round to reveal a slightly taller than normal female Mobian female hedgehog with green fur, she has long quill gatherings with blue highlighted tips than fall behind her hair akin to that of long hair, and has two smaller and curved bangs of quills on her forehead with makeup. She wears a red-and-white business suit, white gloves being held together by pairs of yellow cuff rings, and a pair of red high heels.
"Well done Coconuts, continue doing so. I feel like this tournament is going to draw in a lot of interesting people, I can just tell," said the hedgehog as she shuffled a deck of cards in her hands with a twinkle in her eyes.
"By your orders, Miss Breezie," said the monkey before leaving the office to carry out the order.
This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Naruto and co have woken up the next morning and were offered a membership to joining a group known as thee Freedom Fighters to which they accepted wholeheartedly before returning to Emerald Town though Naruto headed over to Central City to meet up with Rotor and got himself a brand new streetbike (Check out samuraiconceptbike1 by dwiirawan on deviantart. AN; I do not own the image)
Naruto returns home only for he and the girls to come across an advertisement about a battle tournament which has piqued their interest and desire to participate and it appears that they aren't the only ones either, just what else is gonna happen in this event? Stay tuned to find out.
So read and review as always.
This is Hussbek from Ghana
Signing out.