Adventures of the Orange Flash
Chapter 49: A Waterlogged Endeavor
"Are you sure about this, Milla?" asked Wendy unsurely as she followed Milla along a pathway and oddly enough without Carla "What if Naruto gets back while we're gone?"
"We won't be long Wendy, we're just going to ask Cream if she'd like to help us with the making of the potion since she might know of where we could find the other ingredients besides the ones we gave to Naruto then head back before he does," said Milla assuredly.
"I hope you're right, Carla and the others must be worried by now,"
The duo made their way to Cream's house which was near the coast as they approached the door and knocked on it a couple of times, not having to wait so long as it was opened by none other than Cream's mother Vanilla who smiled upon seeing them.
"Oh hello there, you two," said Vanilla in greeting.
"Hello Ms. Vanilla, we're looking for Cream to ask her about something," said Milla in response.
"Well Cream is at home at home and brought along a new friend, you can come in and meet with her,"
"Okay,"
Wendy and Milla went inside and were guided to the living room where they saw Cream and her Chao Cheese sitting with someone else. She an anthropomorphic lilac cat with gold eyes and the tip of her tail being dark purple and a small gem on her forehead. She wears a long purple flared mantle-like coat of sorts with a gold collar and white tights, the cuffs are fuzzy and white, she wears dark pink high heeled shoes with white straps and fluffy cuffs.
Cream saw the duo and waved towards them happily "Hi there Wendy and Milla!"
"Hello Cream, we were looking for you and your mom told us that you brought home a new friend," said Wendy.
The young rabbit nodded in affirmation "That's right, let me introduce you to her. Her name is Blaze,"
Blaze stared at the duo rather blankly "…hello,"
"Now you two sit down so that I can bring some tea for us all," said Vanilla before making her way to the kitchen while everyone else sat down and waited, it wasn't long that she came back while carrying a platter of a tea set and a plate of cookies.
Soon they were having tea together, Wendy and Milla began to explain their idea of creating a potion capable of healing and came over to ask if Cream wanted to join in the making of it with the long-eared bunny being more than eager to help but was hesitant since she wanted to spend more time with her new friend. The topic was then changed to Blaze who tried to wave it off but insistence from a majority said otherwise and she finally gave, given the fact that they're so nice and polite in doing so.
"So you came here to find your Sol Emeralds…," said Vanilla thoughtfully.
"Why…why am I wasting time here sipping tea!?" thought Blaze while sipping on said tea.
"You know, I suggest that you talk to Sonic or Naruto," said Cream.
"Yeah, those two will be of great help," said Milla in agreement, though she's more for the latter.
"Indeed they will, like they have many times in the past," said Vanilla.
"Please don't worry. This is my problem, so I'll find them myself," said Blaze in refusal, though she felt a slight headache for a moment before it faded away for some strange reason.
Vanilla shook her head in response "Don't say that, I'm sure they'll be glad to help,"
"I've spent enough time with them to know that they won't even need a reason to help you," Wendy was quick to add.
"In that case, Cream will show you the way. After all, we don't want Blaze to get lost, do we?" said Vanilla.
"I said 'Don't worry'," Blaze insisted.
"Then we'll help too," said Milla, much to Wendy's shock.
"But we're supposed to head back home before Naruto does," Wendy protested.
"I know, but we could hang around to help Cream and Blaze find the Sol Emeralds. What reason do we have not to help a friend," said Milla.
"But…," Wendy still felt unsure of all this.
"Don't worry Wendy, I'm sure everything will be just fine!" Cream pumped her fists in determination with Cheese copying her.
Blaze let out a sigh "Well I am lost to begin with, having those three guide me around is okay, I suppose," then she spoke up "Have it your way,"
"All right!" Milla and Cream cheered happily at that with a hesitant Wendy behind them as they began their search for the Sol Emeralds.
A couple hours later, Naruto along with Nicole and their new friend Spicy the fox were moving quickly along the pathway having long since left the Leaf Storm zone and were en route to their next destination.
"Sonic said that we can meet up at Tails' Lab as he wanted to check on something, any fast route there?" asked Naruto as he ran.
Nicole FF (Faerie Form) swiped a hand in front of her to project a Holoscreen with a map on display before speaking up "We'll need to go through the Water Palace then head west which is where the lab is located,"
"Then let's get moving,"
The trio continued on their way along the road till they found themselves in a village decorated with white buildings and structures of Grecian design over a large body of water, Nicole pointed out that there are even ruins underwater.
"Let's make a quick run through here so we can meet with the others," said Naruto, he took a glance at Spicy and could easily tell she might not be able to keep up with him for very long so he called out to the Dragoon with the gilder emerging from a void to hover before them before placing the young fox kit atop it "You can ride on this with Kou and Yoru keeping watch over you while we make our way through the city, no doubt Eggman's got his Badniks looking for you around here so I'll clear them out while on the go,"
Spicy nodded in understanding "Okay, and I'm sorry for all this trouble,"
"It's not your fault, if anything it's that rotten egg's fault that he's harassing you like so I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind," Naruto patted Spicy's head with a warm smile.
"Mine too," said Kurama with a growl.
Sending a mental command to the glider with Kou and Yoru sitting on Spicy's shoulders before taking to the air, Naruto faced forward with a slight crouch "Let's do this!" then he took off at high-speed with Nicole gone into the SAC.
Music Start: Sonic Rush - Original Groove Rush; Back 2 Back
Naruto dashed down the sloping pathway before launching off a dash ramp at the end over the water to land on solid ground and skidded to stop before a high wall, he was about to climb with his tree climbing technique when he noticed that he was standing atop a water pump which suddenly unleashed a spurt to propel him high into the air and reaching the top of the wall and continuing on his way. He encountered an Egg Pawn though resembles a knight and wielded a lance, Naruto engulfed his right fist with foxfire and lashed out with a punch to destroy the Badnik and free the animal trapped within.
He bounced up from a spring and ran through an upward guiding loop then down a sloped path as he ended up riding down a downward corkscrew water slide and launching off at the end to run along the surface of the water without the use of chakra, he leapt to land at an elevated path and was launched into the air by another water pump to the upper platform where he targeted another egg pawn firing shooting jets of foxfire from his feet to propel himself forward then taking it out with an axe kick but maintained momentum as he dashed down a sloped pathway and directly into the water before launching off a diagonal spring at the end to burst out of the surface and landing on a buoyant platform.
He jumped along similar platforms ahead to reach the next area where he bounced off a spring to go through an upward guiding loop where he boosted off a dash panel to run up a slope and was redirected by a spring to move up another slope to be redirected yet again only this time he was grinding along a sloped rail to the top. Naruto dashed through a downward guiding loop to run vertically down a wall before bouncing off a diagonal spring to ride down a sloped water slide and sinking down to the underwater ruin where he quickly activated his Water Aspect to gain the ability to breathe underwater. Naruto ran along the pathway which curved downwards to send him running upside down before bouncing off a pair of springs to the next route.
Naruto made his way through a narrow passage where he came upon a giant waterwheel, he pushed against the mechanism which threw up a swirling current and sent him spiraling downwards to a new route. The vulpine ninja boosted off a dash panel to run up a ramped wall which curved for him to run upside down before jumping off to a path below to bounce from a spring up to an upper level. Naruto dashed along the pathway and trigger his Swift Release for an extra burst of speed as he ran up a ramped wall which curved to a platform and was redirected by a spring at the end to another route to run up another ramped wall and finally emerging from the water and kicking off with a flip then surfing along the water's surface to solid ground.
Naruto took a few steps forward to position himself atop a water pump to be launched towards the upper level before dashing forward "Water Whip!" a thin stream of water rose up from a nearby fountain for Naruto to grab and spin around then lashing out at speeds enough to slice an Egg Pawn which was charging towards him with its lance into half and freeing an animal inside of it. He dashed down a slope and bounced off spring into the air where he kicked of a wall to land on a rail then grind along to bounce off a diagonal spring to reach an upper rail to get to the top, then he boosted off a dash panel to speed through a downward guiding loop and ride down another downward corkscrew water slide to run along the water's surface once more before jumping lightly to dive in and run along the underwater path.
The blonde kitsune came across another giant waterwheel and choose to through it much faster to generate a current which sent him upwards and through a passage as he ran up a ramped wall to the surface then jumping along buoyant platforms to the other side then he boosted of a shuttle loop to launch off a dash ramp to get over a large length of water and landing on the other side before continuing onwards.
"So far I'm making good time, just need to keep pushing a bit more and we'll be through the village," said Naruto as he ran.
"Hey kit, do you sense that?" asked Kurama.
Naruto slowed down a bit and closed his eyes to concentrate for a moment before opening them with a frown on his face "I sense it now, Eggman's here,"
"Pretty obvious what comes next,"
"Yeah…a friendly chat with the doctor," Naruto locked on to the source and began making his way over to it.
Music Change: Sonic Rush - Original Groove Rush; Back 2 Back (Blazy Mix)
The blonde kitsune zipped along the path before it sloped downwards which led to him running underwater with his Water Aspect still active he went through a downward guiding loop to move vertically down a wall to be redirected via a spring and then run up a ramped wall to bounce off a set of springs upwardly to emerge from the water and land in a dry area. Naruto made use of a water pump to an upper level where he boosted off a dash panel to grind along an upwardly sloped rail before speeding through a giant downward guiding loop to bounce off a diagonal spring and riding down a sloped water slide to dive underwater.
Naruto encountered a familiar Badnik being Klagen which he lunged at whilst channeling chakra to the ECG-X gloves to create a spear and piercing through to free the animal inside before moving on through a passageway and rising to the surface and crossing along buoyant platform to the next area. An Egg Pawn rushed at Naruto with its lance to attack but he quickly evaded with a sidestep whilst covering his left hand with a swirling vortex of water before landing a powerful punch to the chest plate which followed up with a high-pressured blast to shatter the robot into pieces, Naruto moved on to dash through a shuttle loop then back underwater before dashing through a larger but partially submerged shuttle loop to bounce of a diagonal spring and landing atop a water pump to be launched into the air towards an upper level overhead.
He went on to grind along a downward-sloping rail then flipping off at the end to land back on the ground and bounced off another spring to land atop a hovering platform in the air, the blonde kitsune had to time his jumps carefully upon studying the patterns at which platforms move before crossing to the next area as he dashed downhill then rode down a downward corkscrew water slide to run along the water's surface before quickly diving underwater. He went in deeper as he dropped down one level after before going through a passageway, Naruto saw several Klagen and Egg Divers swarming up ahead and took to the offense "Aquatic Maelstrom!" he held his hands forward as the currents swirled round rapidly to form a large vortex which proceeded to pull the Badniks within in spite of their attempts to resist and were torn to pieces by the rotation and collision with each other.
With the route now free of robots, Naruto manipulated his elemental aspect to propel himself quickly through the water akin to that of a torpedo as he pushed through a giant waterwheel to stir up the current and guided to an upper passage to go through before launching himself out of the water to land atop another water pump to launch him to a much higher level but shifted into his spinball form to take down an Egg Pawn upon descent. He boosted off a dash panel to grind along an upward-sloping rail to bounce off a diagonal spring to ride down a set of downward-sloped water slides to dive back into the water.
"I'm pretty much losing count on how many times I've been going underwater here," Naruto muttered to himself as he pushed a large stone block through a narrow passage.
"I'm not paying much attention anyways," said Kurama with a shrug.
Naruto pushed the block far enough for it to fall into a pit which he leapt over and went to sped through another giant waterwheel to make the currents to lift him up to an upper route, he moved along to bounce off a pair of springs to reach to a pair of platforms which carried him out of the water. He boosted off a dash panel to speed through a shuttle loop to run up a ramped wall to the top following up by grinding along a rail to the other side. There he had to make his way across several moving platforms that were hovering in midair until sensing that he was very close to his target.
Music End
"Almost there…," Naruto leapt in midair and somersaulted a couple times before landing on top of a platform shaped like a giant white ring with water all around him "Now where is he?"
Nicole emerged from the SAC in her normal form with a small frown on her face for a moment before speaking "I'm detecting something rising quickly from the water,"
Sure enough, something burst out of the water creating waves in its wake before calming down to reveal the cause.
It was a giant robot resembling a plesiosaur rose up from beneath the water, it has a white part on its head which is where the cockpit is located, its flippers, shell and spikes are green with the latter having yellow tips while the rest of its body is grey with the underside, neck and the rotor on its back being red.
"So there you are Eggman, I've wanted to have a word with you along with a butt kicking," said Naruto with a glare.
"…ha ha ha ha!" Eggman suddenly started laughing without reason whatsoever.
"I don't think I said anything funny, did I?"
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have laughed, but you…you're so cruel…you taunt me by not using my full title. Ha ha ha ha ha!"
Naruto and Nicole looked at each other in confusion before the former spoke up again "After all these years, are you finally losing your mind Eggman?"
"Ha ha ha, there you go again," the cockpit of the robot opened up as Eggman spoke and he rose up for them to see him clearly.
Naruto looked at Eggman as he rose out of the cockpit and couldn't help but notice that he looked different compared to his usual self. The doctor now has a white moustache, pointy blue sunglasses, and visor-styled goggles. He also wears an open military-styled jacket with long coattails, a yellow stripe on the upper arms and yellow cuffs with two points. Underneath the jacket is a red jumpsuit with a metallic-looking vertical silver stripe going up the middle and black and yellow stripy boots, and his outfit is complete with a short yellow cape.
"But in the end, you will be destroyed by…Eggman Nega!" the doctor formally introduced himself.
Normally Naruto would have shrugged this off with Eggman simply playing up a new theme but he couldn't help but feel that there's something rather different with the doctor. Is he really Eggman or someone else resembling him almost entirely?
"My Egg Turtle will be your doom!" said Eggman 'Nega' as he sat back in the cockpit and got ready to attack.
Music Start: Sonic Rush - Original Groove Rush; Metal Scratchin'
The water levels suddenly rose and the ring platform was submerged which didn't bother the kitsune that much but maintained focus as he kept an eye on the Egg Turtle swimming around as he moved along the platform, his eyes narrowed upon seeing the robot launch itself upwards and come down at him with a body slam which he dodged by using Shadow Step to get out of its range. Eggman growled in annoyance as he piloted the robot to the center of the ring then to smash its head at Naruto who once again dodged with another Shadow Step but quickly closed in to strike with a chakra enhanced punch to knock it away.
"Grrr, miniscule pest! Firing torpedoes!" Eggman Nega pushed a button for multiple compartments on the robot's back to open up and launch a volley of torpedoes that homed in on their selected target. Naruto crouched slightly with his legs apart as he gripped the sheathed Hazy Moon on his back while waiting for the explosive projectiles to get closer "Lunar Style: Glinted Slash!" then he unsheathed the blade in a flash to strike at the speed of light before resheathing with the torpedoes falling into pieces before exploding harmlessly away from him "My turn to attack, Lunar style: Crescent Wave!" Naruto quickly unsheathed Hazy-Moon again to launch an energy wave to strike the target, Eggman Nega barely dodged the attack with only a long gash seen at the side.
"Got any info I can use?" asked Naruto, remaining vigilant.
[Still in the process of doing so, the database is encrypted so I just need a little more time in order to access it] Nicole replied from the SAC through his headphones.
"Then I'll just do what I can in the meantime,"
The water level around them suddenly dropped, leaving both combatants on dry albeit the Egg Turtle is currently immobile while on the ring platform, Naruto would have launched an assault immediately but hung back out of trained instincts which soon proved to be a good call as the top part of the robot's body opened up for a gun turret to appear then proceeded to fire rapidly at Naruto who crossed his arms while channeling chakra into the ECG-X gloves to form a protective dome of energy to shield him from the bullets.
[Additional attack incoming!] Nicole called out in alert.
Naruto looked to see the robot's head stretching out towards him with its jaws wide open to bite. The blonde kitsune dashed backwards to keep out of its range while maintaining the shield to defend against the bullets till the gun turret stopped firing due to overheating, he dropped the shield and performed a backflip in time to avoid a chomp then he rushed forward with his right foot shrouded in flames to attack with a flying side kick to send the head flying back to its body.
Before either could launch an attack, the water level rose back up again and submerged the ring platform and enabling the Egg Turtle to regain its mobility once more, Eggman Nega fired another barrage of torpedoes but Naruto dual wielded his Hazy-Moon and Masamune to slice every one of them into pieces which further annoyed the doctor so he positioned the robot overhead and opened up a hatch at the underside to release multiple spiked balls towards Naruto below.
[Those are underwater proximity mines; they'll explode should you get close to them] said Nicole.
"Then I'll just have to take them out from a distance," Naruto tapped on the screen of the SAC a few times to bring out the Peacemaker as he quickly primed the rifle and pulled the trigger to fire energy bullets rapidly to destroy the mines falling towards him, but a few detonated upon colliding with the platform and destroyed it, forcing Naruto to swim away "Tch, just my luck. Need to come up with a new strategy,"
[Analysis complete, I've located the weakpoints of the Egg Turtle. The propeller and the head] said Nicole projecting a holoscreen before Naruto as it displayed a blueprint of the Egg Turtle with the aforementioned weakpoints highlighted in red.
"Thanks for the headsup, Nicole-chan. Time for a full offense!" Naruto manipulated the water around him to shoot upwards and land atop the water's surface, baiting the doctor to come after him and sure enough the Egg Turtle burst out of the water as well with Eggman Nega glaring at him through the cockpit.
"I grow tired of this, be gone from my sight!" he activated the gun turret once more to fire at the kitsune whilst deploying more torpedoes in addition.
"Don't worry eggy, it will be over soon!" Naruto proceeded to skate along the water's surface and firing at the torpedoes pursuing him whilst taking evasive action from the shots fired at him from the gun turret "Water Spinjitzu!" Naruto slid to a stop and spun rapidly like a top with water swirling around his body like a cyclone, serving to protect him as he channeled the energy of his Water Aspect into the Peacemaker. He further manipulated the water to create large bubbles to rise into the air and swiftly bounced off them to position himself above the Egg Turtle as he took aim "Aquatic Beam Shot!" then he pulled the trigger to fire a blue water-powered energy beam to pierce through the gun turret, destroying it.
"I'm not done yet, Water Snake!" something shot out of the water, revealing to be a snake made out of the water as it wound itself around the Egg Turtle and constricted it quite strongly, effectively arresting its mobility. Naruto channeled a large amount of chakra into the rifle as he took aim "Chakra Blast Volley!" and pulled the trigger for the twin barrels to fire many chakra bullets towards the robot, triggering an explosion and signaling its destruction.
Music End
Something shot out of the explosion and was flying away rather quickly, revealing it to be Eggman's signature vehicle the Egg Mobile with the doctor yelling at him angrily "I won't forget this blight!"
"At least one thing's the same, and I forgot to ask why he's chasing after Spicy," Naruto muttered lowly, strapping the Peacemaker horizontally to the back of his waist with Nicole appearing next to him and Spicy descended towards them on the Dragoon.
"Are you okay Naruto?" asked Spicy with concern.
"I'm fine, wasn't really a tough fight thanks to Nicole-chan like she always does," said Naruto with a foxy grin, not noticing Nicole looking away with pink tinges on her cheeks from the blonde kitsune's praise "We might as well get a move on and meet up with the others so that we can talk this encounter with them along with other things,"
"Okay," Spicy nodded in affirmation, having witnessed everything from a safe distance.
The group finally found their way out of the Water Palace then headed west where they located a building far out but recognized it to be Tail's Workshop thanks to the logo placed on it before going inside, the interior from Naruto and Nicole's point of view bears a lot of similarity to the one back at Emerald Town. Soon they found Sonic lounging on a couch nearby and Tails was busy typing away on a computer, the hedgehog saw the trio and waved them over.
"Hey you guys, it's been a while and it looks like you brought along a new friend too," said Sonic with a two finger salute.
"Right back at ya, and I'd like to introduce you to Spicy," said Naruto, introducing the young vixen who shyly bowed in greeting.
"Hello," said Spicy meekly.
"So, where do we start?" asked Sonic.
"How about when you ran into Blaze?" asked Naruto.
They proceeded to discuss about what happened on their way here, Sonic bumping into who spoke about attaining Ultimate Power before being chased away and dropping some sort of gem which emitted energy akin to that of a Chaos Emerald, he was going to pick it up to examine when he saw Blaze swoop in and took it instead before taking off. Then it was Naruto's turn to tell him of what happened at the Leaf Storm Zone along with encounter with Eggman Nega.
"…and that's what happened before we came here," said Naruto.
"I don't know Naruto, maybe Eggman's put on a new disguise or something?" said Sonic with a shrug.
"We thought something like that too, but then I realized that he didn't feel entirely like the Eggman we're familiar with," said Naruto thoughtfully.
"And this talk about ultimate power could have something to do with it," said Nicole.
"Guess we'll need more clues to figure this out," said Sonic, suddenly they were startled upon hearing Tails' exclamation.
"This is terrible!" said Tails worriedly.
"What's the matter, buddy?" asked Naruto with concern at the fox's distress.
"Something's wrong with the Space-Time continuum, there's a tear in it and it's expanding! If it's not stopped soon…the fabric of reality will be altered!" hearing this made everyone's eyes widen in shock, even Kurama was taken aback by it,"
"Could this be Eggman's work?" asked Sonic urgently.
"I don't know…it might have something to do with Eggman Nega," said Tails.
"And it might also have something to do with Blaze being here too,"
"Alright then, we need to come up with a game plan. We can't afford to run in blindly," said Naruto with a frown.
"I got one, we find Eggman Nega and learn of how he caused this so we can figure out how to fix it," said Nicole.
"We also need to find Blaze as well so we can get additional info while seeking out Eggman Nega. And I also think that we'll be needing the powers of the Chaos Emeralds just in case something happens which require them," Naruto added.
Sonic stood up while pointing a thumb at himself with a smirk "In that case, leave the Emeralds to me. I know you already have one, so I'll head over to the Special Zones to get the rest!"
"Then we'll go after Eggman, that's the game plan!" said Naruto.
"Alright then, let's juice!"
The group quickly exited from the building and split up to commence with a new mission of stopping Eggman Nega from whatever plan he has in mind and restore the Space-Time continuum while trying to find out how Blaze came into their world.
This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Milla and Wendy visited Cream to invite her for potion making and encountered her with a new friend called Blaze, a discussion led to the duo joining Cream to help Blaze find the Sol Emeralds much to the latter's reluctance. Meanwhile, Naruto and co made their way through Water Palace where they encountered Eggman who claims to rather be Eggman Nega before defeating him in battle with the doctor escaping in rage. They soon met up with Sonic and Tails at one of his many workshops to discuss things and discovered that there's an expanding tear in the space-time continuum and need to find a way to stop it. So they set out with Sonic and Tails going to acquire the Chaos Emeralds and Naruto along with Nicole and Spicy seeking out Eggman Nega and hopefully Blaze to stop the former and help the latter.
This is Hussbek from Ghana.
Signing out.