Adventures of the Orange Flash

Chapter 41: Claws vs Fists

"I wasn't expecting to get my clothes to get burnt on my very first match," said Naruto as he emerged from the bathroom after taking a bath to wash off the dirt and soot before walking over to a scroll and unsealing a set of clothes for him wear.

"Well they weren't exactly fireproof plus our opponent was quite tough to combat just like when you faced Neji at the Chuunin exam finals," Kurama pointed out to the blonde ninja.

"Point taken, Natsu was just as stubborn as I was,"

"Which is kind of impressive considering that there isn't anyone as hardheaded as you," Kurama chortled.

"Oh ha-ha, very funny," Naruto rolled his eyes as he put on the vest and made sure that he was fully recovered.

"So what are you going to do now until it's your turn to fight again,"

"I'll check up with the gang at the waiting room before going to see Nicole and the others over at the stands,"

"Alright then,"

Naruto stepped out of the room and began walking down the hallway towards the waiting room, he was moving round a corner when he suddenly bumped into something and took a couple steps back before looking to see what it was that he walked into. Before him is a cat who looks just like Carla but has blue fur and carries a green backpack around its neck and a pair of white wings, helping it hover in the air. The cat looked at Naruto and its eyes widened in recognition.

"Aaah! You're the blue fire guy who fought Natsu!" said the cat in a wide-eyed expression.

Naruto sweatdropped at the reaction "Uh yeah, that's me but who are you?"

"I'm Happy, Natsu's best friend! I was cheering for him at the stands, but then he lost to you," Happy was a little disappointed when he said that.

"Maybe so, but it doesn't change to fact that Natsu's strong. He almost had me a couple of times during the fight till I won in the end, are you on your way to see him?"

Happy perked up at that and cheerfully responded "Aye! Pretty sure he's awake by now and pouting as usual,"

"Well, be sure to remind him that our rematch is still available the next time we meet," said Naruto with a chuckle.

"Aye, see you around blue fire guy!" Happy flew off while waving goodbye.

"It's Naruto!"

"Aye!"

"Funny guy…," Naruto shook his head in amusement before continuing on his way, soon he arrived at the waiting where Sonic and the others were around and eating from a buffet table provided while he wasn't around "Hey guys,"

Sonic turned round and smirked "Why if it isn't the winner of his first match, I gotta say that you were on fire out there in every sense of the word,"

"You're darn tooting, you had me worried there a few times," said Bunnie.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly "Sorry about that, Natsu was in a league of his own…" then he turned to Honey "And sorry about getting the outfit burnt, I wasn't things to escalate to that level,"

Honey waved him off with a cheerful smile "It's okay really, it rather gave me inspiration for a future fashion theme,"

"Oh cool,"

"But man, I gotta say you two really went wild over there. I don't know if I can stack up to you with skills like those," said Vector.

"I must agree with Vector, your level of strength is quite formidable," said Espio.

"Though you really had a close match with Natsu, especially when he had absorbed your electricity and used it to empower himself," said Lilac.

"True that, I doubt anyone would have seen that coming," said Naruto admittedly "Anyways, I'm heading over to the stands to meet up with Nicole and the others to watch the next matches before coming back here when mine would soon come up."

"Okay then, be sure to tell them I said hi," said Bunnie.

"Will do," Naruto then left the waiting in direction of the stands, partially aware of the effects of the first impression towards the ninja clans.

"Astounding, he was capable of wielding many elements with such mastery!" said one of the Shinobi clan members in awe and a bit of fear at mere thought of him ever being their enemy.

"Indeed, and it appears that the intensity of the battle granted him access to more of his potential. Such potential shall aid us greatly once we're allied with him and the Yakan clan," said the Bride of Constant Vigil.

"There's no need for further convincing, he truly is the one to restore the forgotten clan and serve as a protector along with the other heroes," said the Bride of the Endless Reach.

"Such level of power are unprecedented," said a Gossamer clan ninja.

"Now that is quite a sight to see, he certainly has a flair for battle," said the Bride of Rich Nights.

"I read from the archives that Kitsune of the Yakan are capable of using foxfire but never have I read of any actually being enshrouded with them," said a Yagyu clan member, having gone to refer to the old archives after watching the match.

"Either that or there wasn't a situation which we were aware of to have forced them to do so,"

Conquering Storm was gritting her teeth in anger at the level of strength that Naruto displayed in the match against Natsu "So he is that strong, at this rate I might have to resort to using 'that' in order contend with that foxfire of his. I shall accept nothing less than dominance over him,"

Meanwhile, Naruto was arriving at stands and was looking around till he caught sight of Milla and the others before making his way over to them.

"Hey everyone," Naruto called out, getting their attention.

"Hi Naruto, you were really amazing out there!" said Milla excitedly, Naruto chuckled as he sat next to her and the Chao plopped themselves onto his laps with a happy chirp.

"So you were so amazing out there, Milla was right about you being strong!" said Wendy with admiration in her voice.

"Thanks Wendy-chan, I really appreciate it," Naruto ruffled her hair with a foxy grin.

"Well don't be so full of yourself, this is just your first match with many more yet to come," said Carla with indifference.

"That may be true, but I have full confidence that Naruto will make it all the way," said Nicole.

"Thanks Nicole-chan, that means a lot," said Naruto with a foxy grin, casing Nicole to look away with a blush.

"So what are you doing here?" asked Wendy curiously.

"I thought to come up here and watch the other matches with you before returning to the waiting room when mine draws close," Naruto then he saw Scratch appear on the arena "Looks like one is about to start,"

[Welcome back ladies and gentlemen after our short intermission, we will now move on to the next which is… Mighty the Armadillo vs Carol Tea!] said Scratch, the crowd cheered as the Holo-screen displayed the portraits of said combatants.

Naruto watched as Mighty and Carol walked onto the arena and stood apart to face each other, Carol looked up towards Naruto and co before giving them a wink with Kitsune responding with a thumbs up while Milla cheered loudly in support for her to win.

[And the theme for this battle is…] Scratch pushed the button on the remote for the holograms to activate and now the arena is set on a giant tree stump, which has tall mushrooms bordering it while the background being a wide forest with larger mushrooms and small hills […Mushroom Hill!]

Carol took a stance with a smirk "I'm all set, are you?"

"Like you need to ask?" Mighty bumped his fists together before taking on a boxer's stance

[Now let the match begin!] Scratch announced out loud.

Music Start: Killer Instinct S3 OST - The Dragon Spirit (Kim Wu's Theme)

Carol immediately advanced towards her opponent with a quick dash and lashed out with a quick combo of claw attacks, Mighty was shifting to the defensive by bobbing and weaving around the incoming strikes while using quick steps to move around before seizing an opportunity to counter with a jab. Carol saw the attack and somersaulted sideways to avoid it then lashed out with a high kick but Mighty was quick to catch it then swung her around several times before tossing her away. Carol quickly performed an aerial recovery before rebounding off one of the tall mushrooms back at Mighty "Diving Kick!" she attacked with a diagonal kick which Mighty crossed his arms to block, forcing her to bounce away and take evasive action as Mighty had rushed up to her and unleashed a barrage of rapid punches.

Carol ducked below a straight punch and countered with a low sweeping kick to knock her opponent off his feet and to the ground "Lethal Lunge!" then she pounced at him with her claws bared to attack, Mighty quickly curled up into a ball and rolled away to avoid the attack before uncurling to retaliate with a punch which connected, knocking her back.

"Ow, feels like I got hit by a sledgehammer. I don't think I can afford to take any more of those," Carol winced from the punch before retaking her stance "Claw Combo!" Carol rushed back at Mighty while using her claws to throw a combination of quick attacks with increasing speed and able to landing a couple of hits despite the armadillo putting up a defense "Delta Kick!" the wildcat leapt upwards with a rising kick to break through Mighty's guard to launch him into the air then dived towards him to follow up with two additional kicks to knock Mighty down to the ground.

Her opponent wasn't so easily downed as he got back to his feet and charged at her to attack fiercely and Carol seemed to have noticed that he was now adding in knee strikes which caught her off guard and received a couple of hits before moving away to recover and regain her focus before exchanging blows with him once more but this time keeping her guard up for any sudden moves.

"You're pretty good," said Mighty as he ducked underneath a claw swipe and countered with a jab.

"Gotta say the same for you too, but I'm not planning to lose here," said Carol dashed sideways to avoid the jab and struck out with a roundhouse kick.

"Ditto!"

[Those two are certainly going at it, but who's going to come out on top?] said Scratch as he watch the ongoing battle.

Mighty saw an opportunity to attack with an uppercut to launch Carol into the air and leapt with both hands raised over his head, ready to slam her down to the ground. Carol saw the incoming attack and quickly somersaulted in midair while barely evading the attack then spun with a heel drop kick to knock him away before landing on the ground on all fours "Claw Frenzy!" then she rushed at Mighty while swinging her claws wildly with speed increasing in spite of Mighty blocking and parrying the incoming strikes whilst backing away from her but she maintained pursuit with intent to land a lethal blow on her opponent.

"It appears that Carol has created new techniques during her training," said Nicole as she watched.

"Yeah, Carol was a little unhappy with the small number of techniques which she had in her moveset so Tetsuo gave her some scrolls which contain fighting styles similar to hers and I even taught her a few moves which I saw from some old friends of mine," Naruto explained to the others.

"Wow, I can't wait to see what more that Carol can do," said Milla paying more attention to the match.

"I'm a little interested to see as well," said Carla.

Back with the match, Carol parried an incoming punch and backflipped several times to put up a distance between herself and Mighty. She was able to land a lot of hits on the armadillo whilst enduring a couple herself but it looks he can still go on, the wildcat figured that it was due to his species possessing strong physical defenses.

"At this rate, I'll get worn down before I can knock him out. I'll have to hit him hard enough to take him out but my moves so far aren't enough…unless I use that one, but I need the right moment to do that. Okay…back to it!" Carol snapped back into focus as Mighty as running towards her with a fist reared and took to the offensive "Here goes…Leaf Whirlwind!" she leapt into the air with an aerial roundhouse kick, Mighty skidded to a stop and ducked below the incoming kick, however Carol rotated her body to land sideways on one hand while still in motion to land the kick to send him tumbling back. "Not yet, Rolling Buckler!" Carol kept up the assault by curling into a ball and rolled quickly towards before launching him into the air with a double then she suddenly…disappeared in a blur.

[Where did Carol go? She's-oh my goodness…she's right behind Mighty while in midair!] said Scratch in disbelief.

Mighty looked behind him to see that Carol really is behind him like a shadow with a smirk on her "What the-?"

"It's all over with this next move!" Carol placed a hand on Mighty's back and spun round with a kick which he managed to block but she quickly spun the other way to land a backhand on the opposite side on his chest as they now plummeted to the ground with her now hovering above him, Carol landed another punch then somersaulted to land a powerful heel drop kick to his stomach right before crashing to the ground "Lions Barrage!" then Carol skidded away on all fours and looked to see Mighty laying there completely unconscious.

Music End

[…And the winner of this match with a stylish finish is…Carol Tea!] Scratch announced as the crowd cheered loudly, Carol happily waved to the crowd before turning to smile at Naruto who smiled back with a thumbs up which made her even happier.

"Alright, Carol won too!" said Milla joyfully.

"She's amazing!" said Wendy in agreement.

"Carol has truly become a lot stronger than when we first met her," said Nicole while clapping for her friend.

"Seeing as you are smiling, I can guess that she used some of the techniques you had taught her," said Carla.

Naruto nodded in affirmation "You're right, the Leaf Whirlwind and Shadow Dance were from my old friend Rock Lee who is a prodigy of Hand-to-hand combat and hard work while the Lions Barrage is from my former teammate Sasuke Uchiha. I could tell that Carol would be able to perform them once she trained hard enough,"

"I see, so where are your friends now?"

"Somewhere far, but I know they're doing well," said Naruto with a nostalgic smile.

"As much as I'm happy for her victory, let's not forget whom she'll be facing next," Kurama spoke up.

Naruto blinked in confusion for a few moments before it dawned upon him what the Bijuu was talking about "She'll be facing Killua in the next match,"

"Better hope that she's prepared for him,"

"Same here," thought Naruto then he spoke up "Anyways, I'm feeling a little hungry, anyone else feeling the same way?"

"I am," said Milla.

"Me too," Wendy added.

"Okay then, I'll head on over to the food court to get some grub for us. I won't be long," said Naruto as he stood up from his seat.

"Alright Naruto," said Nicole in affirmation.

Naruto left the stands through one of the entryways then headed on over to the food court where he purchased a couple of burgers and fries with some candies as well, then he went to one of the vending machines to get some cans of soda and was about to make his way back when he heard someone call out to him from behind and looked behind to see a familiar face.

"Hey Rotor, fancy seeing you here," said Naruto with a grin.

Rotor approached the blonde Kitsune while carrying his own bag of food "Yeah, one of my friends had sent a ticket to come and watch the tournament. Imagine my surprise when I saw your fight, it was pretty crazy,"

"I'll take that as a compliment, so how's it going with the construction of 'that'?" asked Naruto, reducing the volume of his voice to a mild whisper.

"Pretty smooth, your clones' use of the earth and water aspect has laid stable foundations. The supports are already in place, next phase is to prepare the materials before laying them out,"

"Cool, need me to send in more clones to help out?"

"We can manage with the ones already with us,"

"Alright then, I better head back to the stands before the next match is announced. Gotta know more about my fellow contenders," said Naruto.

"Point taken, I'll be rooting for you and the others," said Rotor.

Naruto nodded in affirmation before making his way back to Nicole and the girls then handed the food and drinks out for them to take then feeding a smaller portion of his own to the Chao as he ate. They didn't have to wait any longer as Scratch reappeared on the arena as usual and spoke through the microphone.

[Ladies and Gentlemen, we are now moving on to the next match which is…Vector the Crocodile vs Sash Lilac!] the Holo-screen display the portraits of the announced contenders before they arrived upon the arena [And now the next theme of the arena is…] The arena is set on top of a cruise ship which is sailing around a canyon-like location while it is surrounded by metal railing with the word "Speed" written around them […Canyon Cruise!]

Carol bowed towards Vector "Let's have a good match."

Vector nodded towards the dragoness "Same here, don't hold back on me,"

[Now let the match begin!] Scratch announced out loud.

Music Start: Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection; Amnesia

Lilac dashed forwards and struck out with a swift block which Vector crossed his arms before himself to block then retaliated with a punch of his own though Lilac quickly dashed backwards to evade before leaping into the air to attack with a Dive Kick which again was blocked despite she performed additional kicks to break through the guard before somersaulting away to build some distance herself and the opponent. Vector opened his mouth to unleash a loud roar with the soundwave knocking her back which he capitalized on to attack with yet another punch.

Lilac put up a defense and was struck with the impact "Blink Dash!" she quickly moved at lightspeeds to position herself behind Vector and attacked before he could react "Rising Slash!" Lilac used her hair to perform an uppercut to launch Vector into the air along with herself and followed up with another "Aqua Vortex Kick!" she lunged at the crocodile with a jumping roundhouse kick coated with water to knock him down to the ground.

Vector got back to his feet and popped a couple of gum into his mouth and began chewing quickly as he rushed at Lilac and threw punches quickly and at times using his tail to add into the assault as Lilac parried the incoming strikes with short dashes and her twin ponytails before backflipping a couple of times and switching to long range "Water Cannon!" she formed a sphere of water before launching it towards Vector who quickly blew a large bubble from his mouth towards the incoming projectile and triggering an explosive impact which cancelled each other out, he proceeded to fire smaller bubbles rapidly as they took on the forms of fiery projectiles.

"Dragon Boost!" Lilac charged all her energy and launches herself like a comet to run at high-speed to outpace the fiery bubbles fired at her before leaping into the air and performing the Dragon Swoop to counterattack. Vector actually opened his mouth wide to catch her in his powerful jaws and swung himself around to throw Lilac into one of the metal railings, causing her to slump to the ground.

[That had to hurt, can Lilac find a way to turn this all around to her favor?] said Scratch as he watched along with the crowd in apprehension.

"Ow, he's gotten a lot stronger since the last time we fought him and his teammates. I'll need to change my battle strategy a bit," Lilac got back to her feet upon partially recovering from the throw before using Dragon Boost once more to reengage her opponent in close combat, Vector blew several bubbles ahead of himself to serve as obstructions "Boost Breaker!" but Lilac cancelled the Dragon Boost to brake instantly which created an aerial shockwave that blew the bubbles away from her "Oceanic Torpedo!" she quickly shrouded herself into water before towards her target like a missile and rammed into him with great force.

Vector got back to his feet and smirked at Lilac "Not bad, you've definitely gotten a lot stronger since the last time we fought,"

"The same could be said for you which could also extend to your friend Espio, but I don't plan on losing here,"

"That goes double for me!"

Lilac took on a different stance as Vector rushed up to her to throw rapid punches and she redirected them whilst moving around almost like that of a dance before striking at several parts of his body with swift blows before evading any retaliatory strikes. Both sides were getting weary as the battle continued until Lilac suddenly used Blink Dash to position herself right in front of Vector in a crouched position

"It's over!" she proceeded to spin rapidly into a barrage of butterfly kicks back-to-back as they rose into the air "Dragon Cyclone!" Lilac spun herself horizontally to hit Vector with her hair multiple times and to stay a bit longer mid-air "Water Spinjitzu!" she created a whirlpool around herself while still spinning to continue the combo "Vortical Kick!" Lilac ended the combo by combining her last two attacks into in a water attributed drilling double kick to drive Vector into the ground as he laid there completely knocked out.

Music End

[And Sash Lilac emerges as the winner of the match by knockout!] said Scratch as the arena reverts to its default appearance with the crowd applauding, Lilac bowed to them and smiled towards Naruto and the others who were cheering for her victory before leaving the arena.

"It's great that Lilac won her match too!" said Milla happily.

"Goes to show that our training is definitely paying off, though I can't exclude the fact that our opponents are just as strong," said Naruto with a smile.

"She's a friend of yours?" asked Wendy curiously.

Nicole nodded in affirmation "Not only her, Carol is also our friend,"

"How did you all meet?" asked Carla, the feline couldn't help but feel curious as well despite her indifference.

"Believe it or not, we all met at another planet where there was this…," Naruto along with Nicole and Milla proceeded to tell them of their adventure over at Avalice before coming back to Mobius together while making sure not to mention too much about Angel Island "…and that's how it all happened,"

"Wow, that's so cool!" said Wendy.

"I'm finding it rather hard to disbelieve," said Carla.

"I can understand that…and it looks like the next match is about to start," said Naruto upon noticing that Scratch has appeared on the arena once more "Guess we had been talking for a while now,"

"I wonder who the contenders will be in this next match?" Nicole wondered as they listened for Scratch to speak up.

[And now for our fifth match, we have…]

This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, so far Naruto along with Milla, Carol, Lilac and Killua have advanced to the next with the remaining contenders still in wait for their matches in order to advance as well. Apparently the ninja clans were quite taken with the Kitsune's prowess but instinctively know that he hasn't revealed his full power just yet. The tourney is only going to get tougher as the advancement continues but everyone is determined to come out on top.

So read and review as always.

This is Hussbek from Ghana

Signing out.