Adventures of the Orange Flash
Chapter 57: An Unwelcome Visitation
Naruto and Nicole looked at the strangers with curiosity and caution, more for the latter as they had come from out of nowhere through a giant golden ring which shrunk itself and fell into the hands of one of them.
One is a hedgehog who looks eerily similar to Sonic the hedgehog, the difference is that his fur is green and there are a pair of slash marks on his torso. The hedgehog also wears a black leather biker jacket with flames on the tattered sleeves, a pair of red sunglasses, and a pair of green-and-black sneakers.
The other is a vixen with red fur and auburn short hair with a yellow bow tied to it, she wears a black belly-top, black elbow-length fingerless gloves, a grey belted skirt with a black buckle, and black skinny pants that have grey padded shoes attached to them.
"Who are they?" asked Nicole unsurely.
"I'm wondering the same thing, but be careful though. There's something about them that makes me uncomfortable," said Naruto with a small frown.
The green hedgehog began looking around the area "Ahhh Green Hill zone; same old trees, same old totem poles, same old crystal clear lakes…the same old boring stuff, maybe tearing some of these stuff up would liven the place up a little if you ask me," he then noticed Naruto and Nicole a small distance away "Well what do we have here, think this guy could be related to that little fox twerp given the number of well…tails he has?"
"And not only that, he also has Nicole with him. Kinda weird since she's always with that bratty princess Sally," said the vixen with a quirked eyebrow.
"They know you, Tails and Sally-chan? I'm sure they would be known around here since Tails would have brought this up," said Naruto.
"Watch yourself, I'm feeling quite a bit of negativity from those two but mostly from that green hedgehog," said Kurama.
"Noted," thought Naruto before speaking to them "Who are you people and why are you here?"
"Heh, twerp's got a mouth but I'll humor him. The name's Scourge the Hedgehog and she's Fiona Fox, ya better not forget that if you know what's good for you," said the now identified Scourge with a fanged grin.
"How's it going?" Fiona waved a hand in greeting.
"Well my name's Naruto Uzumaki and she's Nicole, but you still haven't told us where you came and your reason for coming here," said Naruto with a small frown and the Chao hovering close to him.
"Well I'm from Moebius while Fiona's from another dimension, we kinda got a bit bored tearing things up over at other dimensions and so came here to see what kind of trouble we could stir up or even make this place our new home base after showing everyone who's boss around here," said Scourge with a smirk.
"It sounds to us that that you're here with intentions for conquest," said Nicole with a frown.
"Wow, it actually required a calculation for you to figure that out?" asked Fiona, smirking at seeing the Hololynx take offense to what she just said.
Naruto frowned in response "Then I suggest that you use that ring thing of yours to go back where you came from and don't come back here, no one's going to let you do that especially Sonic and I,"
Scourge pushed up the sunglasses to his forehead while Fiona snickered with the former speaking "You can say that, but there's an itty-bitty problem with your suggestion,'
"And what would th-"
*WHAM*
Naruto was interrupted in midsentence as Scourge suddenly moved at high-speed and knocked him to ground with a solid punch to the face.
"Naruto!" Nicole ran over to check on the ninja along with the Chao as Scourge sneered at them.
"My problem is that I don't need to listen to weaklings like you, after all I'm Sonic's better counterpart which makes me strongest guy in any dimension," said Scourge arrogantly.
Fiona snickered in agreement "He's right you know, if he could knock down Sonic many times then who are you to tell him what to do when you got no bite with your bar-,"
*WHAM!*
Scourge was suddenly sent tumbling backwards much to her shock as she looked to see Naruto standing where the green hedgehog was with a leg outstretched to depict that he was the one who kicked him and was actually taking the time to lower the leg to the ground.
"Y-You have super speed too?" asked Fiona in disbelief.
Naruto turned to glare at the vixen "That and so much more, you're about to find out that it was a bad idea to ignore my suggestion to leave," he sensed something heading straight towards him at high-speeds and sharply stepped backwards at the last second to dodge an incoming punch from Scourge aimed at his head with the hedgehog skidding to a stop to glare at the blonde kitsune.
"You've got some nerve to kick me," Scourge snarled in anger.
Naruto quirked an eyebrow at that "I find that hypocritical since you punched me all of a sudden first, I simply responded in kind,"
"I'm gonna make you eat dirt and have fun while I'm at it!"
"You're welcome to try though I don't see it happening at any time,"
Music Start: Celldweller; Own little World
Scourge dashed towards Naruto and threw a straight punch at his head with the blonde kitsune tilting his head to the side to avoid it, the annoyed hedgehog threw punches rapidly akin to a machinegun but Naruto continued to evade them as afterimages trailed behind his movements before flipping backwards when Scourge suddenly switched to a front kick. This turned out to be a ploy as Scourge dashed to where Naruto was about to land with a fist reared back to attack.
"Gotcha!" he thrust his fist forward only for it to go right through the kitsune who faded away like dust "What th-," he was suddenly blindsided by a punch to the left cheek and was sent stumbling away before turning to see Naruto having stood next to him earlier with a fist outstretched "How the heck did you dodge!?"
Naruto smirked in response "That's the Shadow Step, I move at speeds that it looked like I teleported. I've improved it to the point that I leave behind an afterimage to trick my opponents and you happen to be the very first sucker for me to use it on,"
Scourge snarled upon hearing "Why you…," he went into his spinball form and revved up a spin dash several times to build up power, Naruto responded in kind by revving up his own spin dash.
The two speedsters repeatedly slammed into each other as they rapidly moved around as blurs of green and orange, they about to clash once more when Naruto suddenly veered out of the way to avoid the now confused green hedgehog and performed a drift turn to get behind him "Kitsune Fire Wheel!" Naruto enshrouded himself in azure flames as he slammed into Scourge's back to send him tumbling along the ground before skidding to a stop "Here's a bonus, Foxfire Barrage!" he thrust his hands forward to fire a salvo of azure fireballs, Scourge quickly got to his feet and took off at high-speed and evading whilst approaching the kitsune before leaping into the air in a spinball form and attacking with a Homing Attack "Fox Tail Inferno!" he lit up his tails with foxfire as he spun round to clash against Scourge with them. they struggled against each other for dominance but it soon resulted in a draw when they broke away to stand a short distance between each other.
"Blue fire eh? That's a new one for me," said Scourge while patting the dust off his jacket and mildly wondering why there aren't any scorch marks on it.
Naruto held up his hands and clenched into fists, igniting them with azure flames "The correct term would be foxfire, and there's more to come Greeny,"
"We'll see who's green here," said Scourge before moving his feet at blurring speeds to make it take on the appearance of a horizontal figure eight whilst stationary to build up speed, Naruto frowned slightly but not too surprised that this hedgehog would also know the Figure-Eight Peel-Out that Sonic loves to use, however he triggered his Swift Release as his body began vibrating before both took off with a sonic boom.
Rapidly ricocheting off each other as they moved about in the area with the air getting displaced from every collision, Scourge caught an opportunity to land a powerful front kick into Naruto's torso and smirked with glee upon hearing the kitsune grunt with pain but then it dropped from his face when his opponent suddenly puffed into smoke to reveal a broken wooden log in his place. Something wrapped around his legs before being lifted off the ground to hang upside down before a glaring Naruto who used two of his tails to grab the hedgehog's legs.
"Better grit your teeth, cause this is gonna hurt," Naruto reared a fist back with chakra channeled into it before launching Scourge into the air with an uppercut then used Shadow Step to deliver a barrage of punches and kicks in a hit-and-run like fashion from multiple directions after which he ended the combo by using Shadow Step one more time to appear above Scourge and delivered an Axe Kick to knock him downwards to crash to the ground and landing afterwards.
Fiona looked at the ongoing fight with shock and disbelief that this fox was actually pushing Scourge back "Is this really happening, there's someone who's just as strong as Sonic in this dimension?" she took a step forward only for a blue pixelated energy blast to whizz past her face, she turned to see Nicole with her hand stretched out.
"I advise that you not interfere and repeat my friend's advice of leaving this place along with your companion," said Nicole with a frown.
Fiona sneered in response "Then I'll tell you not to get in my way or you'll get permanently deleted instead of being sent to the Recycle Bin, you're no fighter just like the other Nicole,"
"Do not underestimate my capabilities lest you'd regret it,"
"Like that's gonna happen,"
Fiona rushed up to Nicole and attacked with a high kick which the Hololynx evaded by leaning backwards but then had to retreat further with a backflip upon sensing the vixen following up with a low sweeping kick before retaliating by dashing up to Fiona and knocking her back with a palm thrust.
Fiona rubbed her stomach to ease it of the pain and looked to see Nicole having taken a combative stance with the Chao hovering close by "So it seems you can fight besides being a calculator,"
"Watching Naruto train and fight urged me to take on a fighting style as well," said Nicole, fondly recalling the moments of when she trains with Naruto to help develop her skills in fighting.
"Then let's see how good you are!"
Fiona launched an assault of punches and kicks as Nicole shifted to the defensive by deflecting or blocking the incoming attacks with her open palms and forearms whilst moving from side to side in order to avoid being overwhelmed, Nicole seized a critical moment to counter when Fiona lashed out with a straight punch by leaning forward sharply to duck underneath it then raising a leg upwards to strike the vixen in the head with a scorpion kick and attacked further with a front flip and landing a dropkick to her opponent's chest, knocking her to the ground.
"You're a far cry compared to the other Nicole," Fiona groaned out while getting back to her feet and glaring at the Hololynx.
Nicole retook her stance with a small smile on her face "I'd accept that as a compliment if you weren't being so sarcastic,"
Fiona smirked at the response before attacking once more with Nicole taking to the offensive as well with both sides constantly clashing kicks and punches back and forth, Fiona began to notice how Nicole was able to counter her attacks and land strong strikes while defending against almost perfectly but would still suffer damage from her attacks as well. Nicole was carefully observing her opponent after breaking away from the current clash when she noticed a call for her and answered.
[Nicole it's Sally, we received your SOS. Can you tell us what's going on?] said Sally, calling from the castle grounds along with Bunnie and Barby.
"Naruto and I are currently engaging two people whose origins are rather shocking," said Nicole, catching a punch from Fiona and redirecting her to the side and moving away to create a distance between them.
[What do you mean by that?] asked Barby.
"Best I show you their appearance first," Nicole sent an image of Scourge and Fiona, hearing a gasp from Sally and the others.
[Who are they and why does that hedgehog look like Sonic except he's green and dressed differently?] asked Bunnie.
Nicole jumped into the air to avoid a low sweep kick then descended with an axe kick only to miss and strike the ground instead "They came from an alternate dimension but are here with ill intentions, the hedgehog introduced himself as Scourge and a counterpart of Sonic,"
[We'll contact the others and make our way over there to help, just hold on until then] said Sally.
"Noted," Nicole ended the transmission before fully focusing on her opponent.
Meanwhile, Naruto was still tangling with Scourge as he darted to the side to evade a Spin Dash attack from the green hedgehog and somersaulted into the air when he sharply turned around and attempted an attack from behind "Will-O-Wisp!" he swung his tails to create balls of foxfire which he mentally controlled to go after Scourge who took off to outpace them but saw that they were keeping up with him and scowled at that. He turned to run towards Naruto with the flaming orbs behind him and flipped over the kitsune for them to hit him.
Naruto mentally rolled his eyes as he turned around to grab Scourge by the back of his neck with the foxfire orbs being absorbed into his body then lifting the hedgehog into the air and slamming hard face first into the ground.
"Using the opponent's attacks against them is a good battle strategy used by many, too bad it didn't work in this case since my foxfire won't hurt me as I am the originator," said Naruto with his arms crossed.
Scourge got up from the floor and raised his head to glare at Naruto "Then I'll just have to use other ways to hurt you!" he lunged to tackle Naruto, ending both rolling along the ground till they stopped with Scourge holding him down with a fist raised above his head to punch him hard in the face. Naruto tilted his head to the side to dodge then used a tail to pull him back and kick him away before bouncing back to his feet. Scourge scowled before running circles around Naruto at high-speed to suck away the oxygen and suffocate the kitsune.
"Foxfire Spinjitzu!" Naruto began spinning horizontally at rapid speed in the air to form a blue fiery tornado around him which surprised the hedgehog as the azure flames aren't being snuffed out and a radial burst knocked him back "Time to amp things up a bit," Naruto activated his Lightning Aspect as blue bolts of electricity arcs through his body with a majority emitting from his hands.
"So, you also got electric powers like that Monkey Khan guy?" asked Scourge with a frown, seems like this fox has lots of power.
"I'm a walking bag of tricks, fun for friends and chaos for enemies," said Naruto with a smirk, then he rushed forwards with arcs of electricity trailing behind him "Thunder Punch!" Naruto coats a fist in electricity before throwing a punch with it, Scourge darted out of the way to see the attack creating a crater upon impact and sweated a bit "Lightning Cannon!" the blonde kitsune kept up the pressure as he held his hands close together to create a sphere of electricity before launching it followed by several more in rapid succession.
"Can't let those hit me!" Scourge began moving at blurring speeds while darting from side to side to evade the incoming lightning projectiles before releasing a quick burst of speed to position himself behind Naruto before leaping into the air and attacking with yet another homing attack albeit faster than the previous attempt "Gotcha!"
"…Static Trap," Naruto conjured an orb of electricity behind him right before Scourge struck with the orb immediately expanding to suspend him in midair with rings of electricity while continuously shocking him "Thunder Strike!" Naruto rushed upwards to strike the hedgehog with a lightning-charged uppercut then slammed him to the ground with a lightning-charged axe kick "…don't be so repetitive, if using the same move then try it with a different approach to make it harder for your opponent to predict your moves. Sonic didn't need anyone to tell him this, unlike you,"
Scourge scrambled back to his feet and was seriously glaring at Naruto "Don't you dare compare me to Sonic, I'm better than him or anyone else!" he performed his Spin Dash again with great velocity for a few seconds then he stopped spinning to take on a running position as several orbs of white light swirled around him before fusing with his body, making it glow a green light, Naruto frowned as he knew what Scourge was about to do then spun around while dragging an outstretched foot along the ground to form a circle then took a deep breath to focus.
Scourge initiated his Lightspeed Attack while leaving behind long trails of green energy in his movements, he attacked from the left but Naruto twisted his upper body to deflect with a backhand so he attacked from above only for the kitsune to actually reach upwards with both hands and redirect the approach to another direction away from him, further frustrating the green hedgehog. Scourge continued to attack from every direction he can to land a hit but Naruto was ever ready to defend by redirecting his attacks, then he began to notice that he was rapid rate of attacks were reducing and that his body was feeling numb till he stopped completely.
"What the heck's going on, why do I feel so numb?" asked Scourge confusedly.
Naruto was the one to answer "That would be because of my Static Armor, it's an ability triggered whenever I activate my Lightning Aspect. My body would be charged with static electricity, so contact with it may cause paralysis. I purposely goaded you into attacking me so as to slow you down,"
Scourge gritted his teeth in anger "Darn it!"
"Now that I'm done playing defense, time for me to take to the offensive," Naruto dashed up to Scourge and delivered a barrage of quick electrified punches then performed a powerful uppercut to launch him into the air then snapping his fingers to cast a lightning bolt to fall from the sky and slam Scourge down to the ground "I think we're just about done here,"
Music End
Scourge groaned as he struggled to stand and looked at Naruto who deactivated his Lightning Aspect "This guy's strong…so strong that it's almost unfair and he's pushing my buttons. There's gotta be a way to take care of him," an idea came across his mind which made him smirk mentally "That will do nicely,"
Naruto's ears perked up and turned to see the Quinjet arriving "Looks like the cavalry's arrived, we'll be taking you in to have a nice conversation,"
"Don't look now, but I suspect that he's not giving in just yet," said Kurama with a frown upon sensing the ill intent from the hedgehog.
"Better not try anything if you don't want to be schooled again," said Naruto, adhering to the Biju's warning.
Scourge smirked in response "Nothing of the sort…just feel that a change of scenery is in order," he suddenly got up and dashed towards Nicole and Fiona who were still in the midst of combat.
"Oh no you don't!" Naruto ran after him in pursuit to stop whatever plan he has in mind, Scourge reached into his pocket and took out the ring from before and threw it to whizz in between the two females then enlarging itself with an open portal within it "Nicole-chan, watch out!" Naruto called out to the Hololynx in alert.
But it was too late as Scourge tackled both Fiona and Nicole into the portal, Naruto wasted no second and jumped in after them with the Chao following after him despite the shouts from Sally and others when they got off the Quinjet only to see the giant ring disappear.
"What just happen?" asked Bunnie in confusion.
"I…I don't know," Sally responded unsurely.
Barby took out her Identicard and tried to contact Naruto and Nicole but only got static "Can't seem to reach them either,"
At that moment, there was a burst of blue fire which died down to reveal an anthropomorphic fox with white fur and eight tails while donning a grey kimono with the symbol of a howling fox designed at the back, though they noticed that they could see right through him.
"Who are you?" asked Sally warily.
"I am Tetsuo, a spiritual guardian of Naruto. I sensed something happen and came here immediately to find out what exactly occurred," said Tetsuo.
"Well we saw Sugah fox jump into a giant ring before it disappeared on us, tried to called him but got nothing either," said Bunnie.
Tetsuo hummed in thought and went over what they said whilst thinking about when he couldn't sense Naruto from the Yakan Palace before coming up with a rather worrying conclusion "I believe what just happened is that Naruto has just gone through a portal to another dimension,"
Bunnie blinked in disbelief "Surely you're just yanking our tails with that baloney,"
"But it isn't impossible, not to mention that we can't track them anywhere and doubt be able to do so back at HQ," said Sally thoughtfully.
"Which begs the question of how we would be able to get to them or bring them back," Barby crossed her arms with the question asked.
"My best theory would be that Naruto would have to use the very same method to find his way back which is with use of that ring you spoke of," said Tetsuo.
At that moment, Sonic arrived and skidded to a stop before the group with Tails landing next to him "Sorry I'm late guys, was hanging at Frog Forest when I got the call. So what's going on, and where's Naruto and Nicole?"
Everyone looked at each other uncomfortably until Sally was the one who decided to speak up "Well Sonic, the thing is…,"
Somewhere over a prairie with clear blue skies, a giant golden ring materialized then Scourge came tumbling out with Fiona and Nicole with the Hololynx tumbling a small distance away from the duo.
"What was the big idea Scourge?" asked Fiona with a pained groan.
"All part of a plan, I'll tell you more when we don't have an angry fox on our tails," said Scourge, scooping the vixen into his arms and moving out of the way in time as an orange blur slammed into where they were standing with the dust clearing to reveal a very angry Naruto.
"You got some nerve, maybe I shouldn't have held myself back so much," Naruto growled while holding out a fist blazing with foxfire.
"Before you go off blowing your top, you might want to check on your friend over there,"
Naruto turned to see Nicole trying to get up but something seems to be affecting her holobody negatively, raising concern "Oh I will…while at the same time laying the smackdown on you two," he crossed the middle and index fingers of both hands to create a shadow clone, smirking at their stunned expressions.
"As much as I want to continue this fight, we'll put it on pause and pick up later," Scourge took off while calling the Warp Ring to his hand with Naruto running after him but managed to use it in time to get away before the blonde kitsune could follow in after them.
Growling in frustration, Naruto jogged back to Nicole to check on her current state "Nicole-chan, are you doing okay?"
"I think so…my systems must have glitched…due to crossing…dimensions if I'm not wrong," said Nicole with her holobody flickering every now and then.
"Maybe you should rest inside the S.A.C for now,"
Nicole nodded in affirmation before changing into pixels then entering the S.A.C "So what would be our next step since we're here?"
"Well for starters, we should find a city or town to gather info then find ways of returning to our dimension," said Naruto thoughtfully with Kou and Yoru sitting atop his shoulders.
"But do you know how to locate it?"
"Luckily, I had formed several beacons via my modded Hirashin seals and the foxfire connection which Tetsuo had me create so I could be located," Naruto was about to pick a random direction when he felt something which caused his eyes to widen in shock "Did you sense that?"
Kurama frowned in response "It's Chaos energy, but it feels so negative,"
"We'd better go check it out, won't be able to live with myself if I just look the other way,"
"I'd expect no less from you Naruto," said Nicole fondly.
Naruto nodded with a smirk then crouched slightly with the Chao hanging on as he took off at high-speed in the direction at where he sensed the corrupted Chaos energy from while wondering what he was about to encounter over there.
In a city highly advanced in technology called New Mobotropolis, the residents were facing a crisis in the form of a single being who goes by the name of Enerjak, he came with the intention of ridding the world of technology whilst forcing the peace upon all inhabitants of the planet. When attempts to appeal to him failed, everyone tried to charge at him only to be restrained within a green forcefield.
Enerjak hovered before whilst donning an ornate blue-and-gold outfit with a design akin to that of ancient Egyptian pharaoh along with a menacing gold mask which covers all but the lower jaw bearing a red angular gem on the forehead, a chest plate, golden skirt with two blue belt-like pieces ending in triangular pieces at the waist, and a pair of golden boots with rounded toes which feature rounded studs.
"I am profoundly disappointed in all of you, I thought that as my friends you would understand and support my goal for everlasting peace. I was going to be gentle with you and this city, but I was wrong to have thought that. As shown by my benefactor Dr. Finitevus, this world must be purged with fire!"
"Come on Knux, this isn't you at all! Finitevus must have messed with your brain for you to act like this!" Sonic called out to his friend.
However, Enerjak ignored him "This world is corrupt and I have the power to change it, nothing you say can sway me,"
A voice suddenly spoke from out of nowhere "I can think of a few things, starting with a punch to the face!"
"Wha-,"
*WHAM*
Enerjak got struck in the face with a powerful punch which caused him to stumble as well as lose focus on the forcefield, freeing Sonic and the others.
Everyone turned towards the attacker to see that it was a male Mobian fox with nine tails as he wears a black vest with orange lining and zipper, a bear claw necklace worn around the neck, black baggy long pants with orange pockets and black sandals. The fox also had on a pair of wireless headphones, hi-tech gloves and waist pack-like object with a green circular touchscreen in the middle. Another thing to note would be the Hero Chao and Dark Chao with him.
"Who are you!?" Enerjak demanded.
Naruto smirked and responded while pointing a thumb at himself "The name's Naruto Uzumaki, kicker of bad guy butts and all-around good guy!"
"And here I thought he was your long-lost cousin," Sonic whispered to Tails who rolled his eyes.
"So, you intend to oppose me as well?" asked Enerjak, his eyes narrowed behind the mask.
"As if my punch from earlier wasn't more than enough of a message, if course I'm opposing you not to mention the negative Chaos energy which I'm sensing from you," Naruto stood at the ready with a look of determination.
"Do not think that you stand a chance against me," Enerjak hovered into the air whilst radiating green Chaos energy.
"Watch yourself, the amount of energy he's emitting can almost give you the impression that he's a walking Chaos Emerald," said Kurama in alert.
"I figured as much," thought Naruto before detaching the S.A.C from his waist "I'm gonna need you and the Chao to take the sidelines for this one Nicole-chan, this is gonna be one doozy of a fight,"
"Very well then, please be careful," Nicole emerged from the S.A.C and took it to attach to her waist, shocking everyone witnessing this "Come on you two, Naruto won't be happy if either of you got hurt,"
"Chao/Choa," Kou and Yoru complied albeit as they moved away.
"Am I seeing things or is that another Nicole?" asked Sally in disbelief.
"I am just as surprised as you all are," said Nicole who approached the other.
"Oh my, you must be the other Nicole I heard of," said S.A.C Nicole.
"I'm full of so many questions right now,"
"I suggest that we wait until the current situation is resolved,"
"Hang on, this is Enerjak we're talking about here. The guy ain't someone to handle mano-a-mano," Vector pointed out, he was taken aback when Kou and Yoru flew up to him and chirped angrily.
"I can understand but I'm sure that Naruto can hold his own against him," said S.A.C Nicole in assurance, turning towards the upcoming fight.
Music Start: Devil May Cry 4 OST; Swipe of Sword (Fighting Credo)
"Let's test the waters and see what we got here, Fox fireball!" Naruto conjured orbs of blue flames from his palms and launched them at Enerjak who knocked them away from him with a backhand only for Naruto to appear at his left side in a crouch "Surprise, Foxfire Kick!" he ignited his left foot with foxfire before attacking with a jumping hook kick but it was blocked with an arm from Enerjak who retaliated with a straight punch. Naruto saw the incoming attack and used the leg which was blocked to somersault backwards into the air to avoid whilst reaching into his ninja pouch to take out a couple of shuriken "Shuriken Shadow Clone jutsu!" he flung the shuriken and watched as they multiplied into a thousand copies of the originals. Enerjak held a hand out to conjure an energy shield to block the projectiles which bounced off to the ground upon impact.
"Thunder Arrow!" Enerjak thrust his hand to launch multiple green bolts of lightning bolts towards Naruto who sensed that it was far stronger compared to Knuckles back in his dimension but remained focused nonetheless "Swift Release: Shadow Dance!" he moved at high-speed with his afterimages depicting his motions in avoiding the energy attacks then suddenly appearing right in front of Enerjak and attacking with a jumping knee strike to the chest followed by a high kick to the head then grabbing it with both hands whilst flipping over to pull him off the ground and slamming back into it before jumping away from him.
"Whoa, the guy's got both speed and moves, remind me to have a race against him when all this is over," said Sonic with a smirk.
"Is this dude a ninja Espio? Seems to fight like one," asked Vector confusedly.
Espio hummed thoughtfully "Apparently so, which makes me wonder where he got such training,"
Enerjak got up from the ground with an angry growl and began launching blasts of Chaos energy at the source of his ire, Naruto leaned to the right to dodge the first blast then rolled to the left to evade two more, quickly ducking a shot aiming for his head before leaping high into the air when a larger blast came his way. However, this left him open as Enerjak appeared before him in midair at blurring speeds with a fist reared back before punching Naruto strongly, the kitsune suddenly burst into smoke and revealed a splintered wooden log in his place. Naruto reappeared behind Enerjak with his Air Aspect active as strong winds swirled around him "Aero Beast Swipe!" the wind swirled around one of the Naruto's arms to form a large beast paw which he then used to swat Enerjak down to the ground, Naruto held out a hand and channeled chakra to form a blue spiraling sphere with the wind fusing with it "Wind Style: Rasengan!" he dove towards Enerjak with the attack and was almost upon him when an energy shield was projected to block the jutsu. Naruto gritted his teeth as he tried to break through the shield but was repelled only for Enerjak to reach out to grab Naruto by the ankle to pull him in then land a punch to the chest, sending the blonde kitsune crashing into a building.
"What an annoyance," Enerjak grumbled.
"Oh no, we need to make sure he's okay!" said Sally, wanting to help the stranger.
Having been silent this whole time, Shadow spoke up "…It's not yet over,"
No sooner he said that did something suddenly shoot out of the hole in the building, revealing to be a spear made entirely out of lightning with Enerjak as the target who was nearly taken by surprise but deflected it in time before looking to see Naruto walking out of the building while blue bolts of electricity arcing throughout his body with a majority emitting from his hands to signify the use of his Lightning Aspect.
"Blue fire, wind, lightning, ninja skills…what else does this guy have? He's like a walking mixed bag," said Bunnie, looking towards S.A.C Nicole who smiled in response.
"Quite a lot with the list ever growing," said S.A.C Nicole.
"Lightning Shuriken!" Naruto spread his arms out to form spinning shuriken made out of lightning before throwing them with Enerjak backhanding them out of the way "Thunder Arrow!" he fired multiple bolts of Chaos Energy in response but Naruto took a stance "…Raikiri!" he channeled a mass amount of electricity to his left hand with his right hand gripping it to hold it steady and was producing the sound of many birds chirping, Naruto lunged at the incoming bolts of chaos energy and was actually cutting them in half while still approaching Enerjak much to the shock of everyone witnessing the fight.
"I must be seeing things cause I just saw that guy cut through those attacks like knife through butter!" said Bunnie, stunned with disbelief at the sight.
"Actually, it is a technique called Raikiri aka Lightning Blade which was created by his sensei. Naruto told me that it got its name when his sensei used it to cut a bolt of lightning in half before it struck the ground," S.A.C Nicole explained.
"There's no way that actually happened," said Antoine.
"Seeing him use that move in such a way, there's some truth in it Antoine," Rotor pointed out.
Naruto had destroyed all of the Thunder Arrows and was soon upon Enerjak who attacked with a Chaos empowered punch but managed to dodge at the last second and wasted no time in going for the counterattack "Rising Lightning Dragon Uppercut!" he clenched his fist as the lightning took on the shape of a roaring dragon around it and delivering a spiraling uppercut to launch Enerjak into the air and falling back to the ground with the helmet being knocked off and revealing his identity much to Naruto's shock.
"Knuckles, it's actually you?" asked Naruto in disbelief.
Knuckles snarled in response "Regardless whether or not you know me, you shall pay for opposing me and Dr. Finitevus!"
"Don't hesitate now partner, I suspect that the corrupted Chaos Energy is the cause of his current mindset," said Kurama with a frown.
"Then we just have to knock him out and figure a way to help him," thought Naruto, quickly snapping back into focus and start dodging like mad as Knuckles was upon and throwing punches which he definitely doesn't want any of them to land on him until he seized a moment to build some distance away from the echidna "Time to step things up a bit, good thing I prepped this before I showed up here," Naruto formed a handsign then he was engulfed in a puff of smoke before fading to reveal him with orange pigmentation around the eyes which show yellow toad-like irises and he was wearing his short sleeved red coat with a black flame pattern around the hem.
Naruto let out a deep breath before taking on the Frog Kata stance, waiting for Knuckles to make the first move which he did with a lunging haymaker punch. Naruto raised an open palm and caught the incoming punch with a crater being formed underneath his feet upon impact, again surprising everyone. Knuckles tried to pull back but Naruto refuted that attempt by holding on to the fist to yank him close then slamming a powerful palm strike to send him tumbling along the ground and smashing into yet another building.
"He just caught Knuckles' punch with one hand and sent him flying! How's that possible?" said Julie-Su who's Knuckles girlfriend and is well aware of his great strength which is no doubt empowered even further as Enerjak.
"That would be because he has accessed his Sage Mode," said S.A.C Nicole.
"Sage Mode, would it have to do with the toad eyes and the red-and-black coat?" asked Nicole.
"Indeed, Naruto told me that it is a state which can only be accessed by blending nature's energy with his own life energy, allowing him to tap into the very essence of the world which greatly enhances his overall capabilities,"
"Whoa, makes me glad that I'm not the one fighting him right now," said Mighty, feeling a bit nervous as he looked at Naruto who was simply standing there with his arms crossed and not moving an inch.
Naruto stared at the hole in the building which he had sent Knuckles through, waiting for him to come out and he frowned then leaned backwards to dodge a punch from an angry Knuckles who had teleported to attack from the side to surprise him but failed. Both constantly clashed punches and kicks with the air rippling from every impact till Naruto went in for a punch with Knuckles tilting his head sideways to dodge it, but something slammed his face hard enough to knock him away.
"Strange, I thought I dodged that fist so why was I still struck?" thought Knuckles/Enerjak.
"If you're wondering what happened? It's thanks to Sage Mode, tapping into the natural energy of the world doesn't just give me a major boost but also enables me to extend the range of my attacks. Therefore, even if my fist didn't land, you were still gonna get punched!" said Naruto with a smirk.
"How is it that you attained such power to be a thorn in my side?" asked Knuckles with a glare.
Naruto shrugged in response "Years of hard work, determination, and feasting on the food of the gods that is ramen,"
"You think you're so cute!?" Knuckles snarled with his body emitting even more Chaos energy in response to his current emotion.
Naruto smirked with his arms crossed "Dude, I'm adorable,"
"Hahahaha, I'm totally saving this for when I get on Eggman's nerves next time!" said Sonic as he laughed at the exchange between the two.
"As funny as it is, he really shouldn't make Knuckles any angrier than he is already," said Julie-Su worriedly.
No sooner she spoke that Knuckles lunged at Naruto with a roar and was attacking with great ferocity, Naruto was forced to the defense and was figuring how to land an effective counter as he continued to deflect the incoming attacks whilst making sure that the others wouldn't get hurt.
"Maybe I shouldn't have been so snarky," Naruto muttered as he performed a handless cartwheel to the side to dodge a blast of Chaos energy from Knuckles.
Kurama simply shrugged "You would have annoyed him anyways, happens every time. By the way, duck!"
Naruto immediately complied by performing a splits to the ground to avoid getting punched in the face before rolling backwards when the following punch smashed where he stood. Knuckles used Chaos Control to teleport in front of Naruto and was about to punch once more when something pulsed within the blonde kitsune then Knuckles suddenly found his arm restrained by something, they all looked to see a vine having sprouted from the ground and wrapped around the echidna's arm as if to protect.
"What's this?!" said Knuckles in confusion.
Naruto jumped back and noted that his appearance has changed in spite of still being in Sage Mode, a green energy construct of a vine appears wrapped loosely around his neck and arms with the ends dangling while flowers grow around his feet.
"Did I just unlock another aspect?" asked Naruto.
"Apparently, it seems you have unlocked the Plant Aspect which is akin to the Wood Bloodline of the Shodaime and Ashura but further advanced," said Kurama in spite of his dislike with the bloodline.
"Cool, this will definitely help me along the way. But first things first…," Naruto saw Knuckles break free from the vine and launch a barrage of Chaos energy blast towards him "Sage Art: Leaf Barrier!" he conjured multiple green razor-sharp leaves which circled around him as a shield and deflected the incoming blasts before launching them to home in on Knuckles who immediately shielded himself to block them as well "Sage Art: Vine Whip!" Naruto grabbed the ends of the energy vine wrapped around his hands as they lengthened before using to lash at Knuckles who shielded himself with his arms to defend against several hits before grabbing hold of the vine and yank Naruto close to punch him in the face. Naruto dodged at the last minute by using Shadow Step to get behind Knuckles and countered "Sage Art: Wood Hammer!" a large mallet made out of wood rose from the ground for Naruto to take hold then dealt a nasty thwack to send him skidding back several feet away from him.
"That's a pretty solid hit, I approve it," said Amy, being impressed.
Antoine rolled his eyes "Of course you would, he just used a hammer after all,"
"Enough of this, I'll end his here and now," Knuckles clenched his left fist as it surged with a mass amount of Chaos energy.
"If you're going for it, then I'll respond in kind," Naruto held out a hand to form a very large spiraling sphere of blue energy infused with natural energy "Sage Art: Giant Rasengan!"
Both stared at each other intently for a few moments before charging to clash in the middle, Naruto and Knuckles pushed back and forth whilst increasing the power of their attacks to attain dominance over the other with the very atmosphere being repelled by the pressure. The clash eventually resulted in a tie due to the ensuing explosion knocking both of them back and skidding along the ground to a stop
Music End
Knuckles glared Naruto as he called his helmet to him and put it on "You may be strong, but do not think that you can actually defeat a god whose mission is for the good of all!"
Naruto frowned in response "This isn't you Knuckles, something's messing with your mind and I intend to stop you from doing anything more that you would regret,"
"Do not waste words over matters you hardly understand, nothing can sway me from what needs to be done!"
"I beg to differ!" a familiar voice suddenly spoke up through a loudspeaker, interrupting the conversation. Everyone looked up to a see a fleet of battleships which were all too familiar for Naruto and Kurama to realize who it is.
"Eggman! As if we don't have enough problems already," said Naruto with a frown.
"Good afternoon Enerjak, please relax and leave everything to me!" said Eggman before pushing a button, having all cannons of the battleships to fire upon Knuckles who raised an energy shield to defend himself only for the beams to pierce right through without much effort "I have perfected this tactic to an art, my teleporting beams would bypass your futile defense and send you to my Egg vineyard where my newly refurbished Egg Grapes will drain you of every ounce of power!"
Just as soon as he said that, Knuckles was teleported away in a flash of light then Eggman appeared before everyone via a hologram with a dramatic bow and an arrogant smile "As you can see hedgehog, I have kept my end of the deal. So, my thanks to all you for serving as decoys which made my plans easier…especially you,"
Naruto frowned when Eggman sneered at him "What are you thanking me for?"
"Compared to them, you certainly proved to be much more interesting. I would have taken you as well as a bonus but there was only time to make one, quite a pity I must say…for now,"
"But kidnapping Knuckles wasn't part of the deal!" Sonic protested.
"Knuckles or Enerjak, it's all the same! I saved your city and got the best source of power, and to think it isn't Christmas yet!" said Eggman arrogantly.
"I doubt he would be enjoying his 'present' for long," said Kurama, suspecting that things won't be ending well for the doctor.
"Now be sure to hurry and rebuild, I want this place to be in perfect condition for when I return to erase it from the map! Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!" the Eggman hologram faded away while the battleships began their return flight back to base.
"Huh, well he didn't double-cross us but that guy just loves wiggling through loopholes to get his way," said Sonic before turning to Naruto "Gotta say thanks for showing up when you did, things were rather hairy earlier,"
Naruto smiled while he undid his Sage Mode and deactivated his Plant Aspect with S.A.C Nicole and the Chao going to him "No prob, couldn't just look away and not do anything,"
"But we would like to know just who you are and how you have another Nicole with you?" asked Sally.
"As much as we'd like to give you our bios, we need to focus on the current situation first. Just know for now that Nicole-chan and I are from another dimension and that we ended up here thanks to a sore loser and his girlfriend," said Naruto.
"He's right, so what's the plan to rescue Knuckles?" asked Sonic, being ever ready to jump into action and Julie-Su looked hopeful as well.
Sally looked away, appearing to be rather hesitant about that particular question "I don't know Sonic…I'm not sure that we should,"
Sonic blinked in disbelief "Care to run that by me again?"
Sally raised her hands in a placating manner "I know it sounds terrible, but rescuing him right now means releasing Enerjak onto the world again,"
"But Knuckles is not Enerjak!"
"I know he isn't but at the same time he is, we don't know exactly how to help him with this,"
Julie-Su spoke up "But Naruto here can help, he's shown that he can match up against him,"
"I understand but I can't be too sure that it would be the same next time should Knuckles fight with his true power," said Sally.
"No worries about that, the Sage Mode is just one of the many aces up my sleeves. I have transformations which are much stronger and I can even combine with my Sage Mode to be even more powerful," Naruto explained, though not revealing anything relating to Kurama as that is a bit personal.
"You see? He's up for it, so can we-," Sonic was speaking when a giant ring appeared behind him and two hands reached out to grab both him and Julie-Su before pulling them "Now what!?"
"Not this again!" Naruto dove through the ring after the two before it disappeared, he emerged with the others and equipped himself with a Hirashin kunai "Alright buddy, you got five seconds to explain yourself before I pummel you in a flash…and two seconds have already passed,"
Before Naruto is a tall echidna with bright red fur while sporting a small white beard and eyebrows, he wears a tribal garb consisting of a brown tunic and skirt with a pair of brown boots and spiked gloves. Naruto couldn't help but feel that he might be related to Knuckles.
"My apologies stranger, but I required assistance from Sonic and Julie-Su concerning Enerjak. I wasn't expecting for you to come along," said the echidna.
"Chillax Naruto, this is Knuckles' father Locke," said Sonic.
"Oh, so he's Knux's pops," Naruto hummed thoughtfully.
"So do you know what's going on with Knuckles?" asked Julie-Su worriedly.
Locke nodded in affirmation "I know everything, Dr. Finitevus went through a lot to transform Knuckles to the point of even blocking my ability to harness the power of the Master Emerald," Locke.
"If you can't use its power…,"
"I won't be able to undo the spell placed on Knuckles, I doubt anyone can access it now,"
Sonic hummed in thought "Maybe I can, but I'm not exactly a nerd for magic,"
"We'll just find another way to stop Knuckles without the Master Emerald," said Naruto.
"There's one option, the Brotherhood of Guardians had foreseen Enerjak's possible return and had prepared a device to counter him. But Doctor Finitevus had set the Destructix to guard it," Locke explained.
"So you needed help to get it, then you got the right trio for the job," said Sonic with a smirk before turning to Julie-Su "You see Julie, all we gotta do is pick up the gizmo after kicking Destructix butt and using it to change Knuckles back to normal,"
Locke glanced over his shoulder to reply to the trio "No Sonic…my forefathers and I crafted a weapon. You will help me destroy Enerjak!"
This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Naruto and Nicole soon learnt the identity of the mysterious strangers who came from another dimension, being Fiona Fox and Scourge who's actually an evil counterpart of Sonic. Things escalated to a fight upon learning that they came with bad intentions which ended in Naruto and Nicole's favor. However, Scourge dragged Nicole into another dimension with Naruto and the Chao forced to follow then being stranded. Things didn't end there as the duo ended up getting involved in a serious matter revolving around the dimension's version of Freedom Fighters against their friend Knuckles who being a host to a being called Enerjak. It's a never a dull moment with Naruto, just what else is going to pop up and drag him along with others into it?
As one could tell, we're now going into some of the comics arcs whilst in that very dimension so we'll see some interesting things along the way until going back. In layman terms, Naruto came from the Gameverse into the Comicverse but would hang around a bit in the latter before returning to the former. Also, we'll differentiate between both Nicoles from the next chapter onwards so as to prevent confusion. Be sure to read and review as always
This is Hussbek from Ghana.
Signing out and staying alive.