Adventures of the Orange Flash
Chapter 58: Chaos All Around
Everyone looked at Locke due to what he said about wanting to destroy Knuckles instead of trying to save him with mixed emotions. Soon, Julie-Su's feelings of disbelief and shock changed into anger which she wasted no time to let the echidna know.
"What do you mean you're going to destroy Knuckles!?" said Julie-Su in anger.
"He's not Knuckles anymore, he has become Enerjak!" Locke angrily argued.
"This is your son we're talking about here, not just anyone!"
"You all saw what Enerjak is capable of, a power like that shouldn't exist. I'm trying to save us all!" Locke explained.
"Are you trying to convince us or rather yourself before you go to bed every night and be plagued by nightmares of self-loathing?" asked Naruto, staring intently at Locke.
The echidna frowned in response "I don't know what you're talking about,"
"More like you know exactly what I am talking about but is denying what you truly desire and simply gave up. I may not completely understand what's going on here, but what I do know is Knuckles would do everything he can to save you if the roles were reversed,"
Julie-Su nodded eagerly in agreement "That's right! Back us up here, Sonic!"
Sonic hummed in thought before speaking "I can't exactly say for now, but I'd like to see that weapon first though,"
Julie-Su was taken aback at what he just said while Naruto simply stared at him with an unreadable expression and Locke nodded in approval as he spoke "Very well then," the echidna took out his Warp Ring and tossed it to enlarge and form a portal "I'll try to get us as close to the Grand Conservatory as possible,"
"I won't let you do this!" said Julie-Su angrily.
Sonic smirked in response "Oh I believe you would,"
"He's up to something," thought Naruto.
"Isn't he always?" Kurama pointed out.
"True,"
"The weapon is hidden there, I pray that we don't run into any…," Locke stepped through the Warp Ring to the other side only to see something unpleasant "…resistance,"
Before him are a group of Mobians which he and the others are all too familiar with and annoyingly so. They are the Destructix; a group of mercenaries for hire and standing at the head of them are Scourge and Fiona with the former sneering at Locke.
"Welcome back, old man. I'd like to ask what you would want written on your eulogy?" asked Scourge arrogantly, but then he and Fiona tensed when they saw who came through the Warp Ring last.
Naruto looked past and smirked upon seeing the two "Oh there you are, I was wondering when I'd run into you two again!"
"You know them?" asked Sonic curiously, mildly amused upon seeing them lose their cool a bit.
"Yup, they're why Nicole-chan and I ended up here when they tried to muscle their way into our dimension,"
"I should have known better when Finitevus said that you were reformed mercenaries," said Locke with a scowl.
"Is this the guy you told us about? He doesn't really look like much to me," said Drago Wolf, looking at how non-threatening the fox appears and likened him to Tails.
"…," Sgt Simian and Predator Hawk silently stared at Naruto, easily seeing the reason for Scourge to be so tense unlike the wolf Mobian.
Naruto hummed in thought before speaking up "Hey guys, how about you go after the weapon while I hold these guys off,"
"Are you sure about this? It could be too much for you," asked Julie-Su with concern.
"I got this; I'll catch up with you immediately afterwards. Not to mention that we've got bigger concerns than these guys,"
"Your friend is right, we must acquire the weapon else the world is doomed," said Locke.
Julie-Su growled in response "None of this would have happened if you hadn't let Finitevus get to the Master Emerald,"
"I had to find my forefathers, if only Knuckles had fulfilled his duty!"
"And that excuses you from yours? Cause it pretty much led to this mess!"
"Hey, let's have this chat later so we can get what we came here for, as much as I wanted to have some fun with these guys," said Sonic, glancing at Scourge but noted Naruto bouncing lightly on the tip of his toes with a smirk and getting the hint. They began to make their way towards the Grand Conservatory, which the others noted and weren't willing to allow.
"Don't let them get away!" said Scourge, the mercs immediately complied and went in pursuit only to suddenly see an orange blur then Naruto stood in front of them with his arms crossed and a quirked eyebrow.
"Sorry dudes and dudette, they got an appointment and it's kinda private," said Naruto with a smirk.
"Get out of the way! or in case you haven't noticed, there's eight of us and only one of you!" said Sleuth Dawg with a sneer.
"Yeah, Scourge told us about you but we don't see the big deal," said Flying Frog.
Naruto tilted his head and smiled before raising a foot then stomping the ground to ignite a wall of foxfire behind him to bar the entrance to the conservatory "And for added measure…," He crossed the middle and index finger of each hand together to create several shadow clones side by side much to the shock and growing nervousness of the mercs "I think this about even things out!"
Music Start: Dragon Ball FighterZ OST; Cell Games Arena Stage
"Get him!" Scourge called out before running ahead of the other members of Destructix towards especially the original.
"Divide and conquer boys, but don't hesitate to mix things up!" said Naruto, receiving affirmation from the shadow clones before charging at the opposition then splitting up towards selected targets. Naruto himself went head-to-head with Scourge in a highspeed battle as blurs of green and orange constantly clashed against each other while on the move all over the area.
One of the clones was currently engaging Drago Wolf in close combat and was easily landing counterattacks with punches and kicks to stun him then follow up with short combos to knock him. The clone had blocked a jab from Drago when he sensed something rapidly approaching and looked to see Predator Hawk swooping towards him with a flying dropkick.
Drago quickly grabbed C-Naruto's arms to hold him in place with a sneer "No way you're getting away from us!"
To his surprise, C-Naruto actually smiled back "On the contrary…," his tails lashed out to grab Predator Hawk's legs and held him in place "…it's vice versa for the both of you," he triggered his Air Aspect as strong winds swirled around him "Wind Vortex!" he conjured a large tornado around himself, pulling both Drago Wolf and Predator Hawk into it before going for the offensive "Typhoon Kick!" he leapt into the air while using the spiraling motion of the tornado increase the speed of his spin then channeled the momentum into a 360 roundhouse kick powerful enough to send the two flying out of the tornado and crashing to the ground hard while the tornado dissipated with the clone landing afterwards with a look of amusement "Ninjas back home do a better job of pincer attacks compared to you two, then again that's saying much,"
The next of the clones of the clones was currently dealing with a tag team of Sleuth Dawg and Sgt Simian as he blocked their onslaught of attacks with his forearms and tails, the former would attempt to go for critical strikes when the latter uses his great strength to attack the clone. C-Naruto kept in pace with his defense before breaking away with several backflips to create some distance between them.
Sgt Simian stared at the clone silently before speaking up "You…you have the eyes of a soldier, one who has seen and experienced many battles…,"
"I could say the same for you but not entirely as we both took different paths," said C-Naruto, having sensed something different about the Mobian gorilla as he's not actually evil but being rather militaristic to a certain extreme.
Sleuth Dawg spoke up "How about we have this chat much later, like after we've beaten him and the others to the ground like we are supposed to?"
"You're right, the mission must be upheld," said Sgt Simian, preparing to attack C-Naruto once more.
The copy of the blonde kitsune smiled sadly "I can see you're the type to be dutybound, but I too will protect my friends whether or not it's my duty," C-Naruto dashed towards them as he activated his Lightning Aspect with blue bolts of electricity arcs through his body with a majority emitting from his hands.
"He has lightning powers like Monkey Khan!" said Sleuth Dawg, surprised at this reveal.
"Twice I'm hearing about this guy, but I got my own style of using this element! Thunder Punch!" C-Naruto clenched his fists which emitted more electricity and engaged both in close combat, alternating rapidly between targets whilst bobbing and weaving like a pro boxer to evading their attacks and counterattacking with jabs till he stunned them after zapping sufficient electricity into their bodies "Lightning Impulse!" C-Naruto transformed into a lightning ethereal and went into a high-speed blitz upon the duo which lifted them into the air and he stopped in between them with his arms crossed "Lightning Storm!" he broke them apart to discharge a mass amount of electricity around himself, blasting Sgt Simian and Sleuth Dawg to the ground.
The third C-Naruto was fighting Fiona Fox in hand-to-hand combat, finding her to be quite skilled but couldn't help but detect something strange upon breaking away from their most recent clash and staring at the Mobian vixen with a frown on his face.
Fiona noted this and spoke up "Why are you staring at me like that?"
"I sense turmoil stirring within you like you've lost your way," said C-Naruto.
"I don't know what you're talking about,"
"I believe you do; you're scared of something. No doubt something happened in the past which made you afraid of fully trusting anyone,"
Fiona scowled in response "You don't know a thing about me!"
"I've met others like you before that set up walls around themselves till I broke them down, you need to ask yourself if what you're going for will truly make you happy in the end,"
"SHUT UP! I'm not trusting or relying on anyone, I owe nothing!"
C-Naruto shook his head in disagreement "So you're saying that you want to be alone, I advise against that as being alone…it's dark and scary, nothing more than pitch-black hell. I've been there most of my life and I wouldn't even wish it upon my worst of enemies,"
With a cry of frustration, Fiona lunged at C-Naruto with even more ferocity than before but the blonde kitsune could still keep up with her albeit a bit reluctant to fight given that he was saddened at what he was sensing from her; anger, fear, frustration and loneliness. C-Naruto ducked underneath an overhead punch with his left hand engulfed in foxfire to send her tumbling away with a palm thrust.
"Please stop lying to yourself before it's too late," said C-Naruto sadly.
Elsewhere, the original Naruto was still clashing with Scourge in a high-speed battle, at times dashing in between the battles of the clones against the members of the Destructix squad.
"I find it quite unusual for you to quickly fall back on using backup in this fight," said Naruto.
Scourge sneered in response "There's perks to being part of a team as you're about to find out," he skidded to a stop for Naruto to run ahead as two blurs burst out of the bushes towards him, he immediately went into a slide to duck underneath the approaching blurs and turned to see that it was Lightning Lynx and Flying Frog that tried to surprise him.
"Wasn't expecting a fair fight anyways, therefore…," Naruto punched his fists together to ignite them in foxfire before taking a stance as he activated his Celestial Aspect with a white halo hovering above Naruto's head as starlight sparkles around him "Better come at me with all you got or you're gonna lose badly,"
Scourge scoffed "We'll see about that,"
Lightning Lynx and Flying Frog lunged at Naruto to attack from different directions while Scourge ran rapidly in circles around them and waited for the best opportunity to get the drop on him. Naruto took to the defensive as he parried and deflected the incoming punches and kicks from the duo, alternating between the two or defending simultaneously. Naruto caught the punches from Lightning Lynx and Flying Frog from both sides when Scourge choose that very moment to attack the blonde kitsune with a Homing Attack.
Thinking quickly, Naruto made a move "Radiant Guard!" he projected a spherical shield of light around the himself to knock Lightning Lynx and Flying Frog away whilst fending off Scourge's Homing Attack before retaliating "Radiant Burst!" the shield shattered to unleash a burst of light projectiles in all directions, damaging all three at once "Coming at me with numbers won't really work on me as I've been doing just that back home through my favorite jutsu. Let me show you an example like that, Luminescent Avatar!" Naruto proceeded to dash about rapidly in flashes of light and creating ethereal copies of himself in different positions around the trio before skidding to a stop "And now, Luminescent Avatar Barrage!" he thrust his arms towards his targets with the copies doing them before they all fire a salvo of light orbs. Scourge scrambled out of the way whilst the remaining two got blasted from all directions. Naruto disappeared in a flash of light to reappear in front of Scourge with a white spiraling sphere of energy in his hand "Celestial Rasengan!" he rammed the jutsu into the hedgehog and sent him flying away in a spiral before crashing to the ground.
Music End
"Come on you guys, surely one of you wants to win," said Naruto with a smirk, the Destructix groaned painfully in response.
At that moment, Sonic rushed out of the Grand Conservatory and went past Naruto at high-speed much to his confusion then he turned to see Julie-Su and Locke come out as well albeit with a red ant riding atop the latter's shoulder as the Foxfire dissipated earlier before.
"Care to fill me in on what's going on?" asked Naruto.
"Well we found the weapon, but Sonic destroyed it before running off while saying that he has a plan to stop Enerjak and save Knuckles though he hasn't told me what exactly the plan is," said Julie-Su.
Locke shivered a bit and turned to where Sonic went "I sense Enerjak nearby, if only we had the weapon,"
The red ant scowled at the echidna "Are you daft mate? It was our training and your experimentations on his DNA and Chaos energy that led to all this! We're just as much to blame if not more!"
Suddenly there was a mass surge of Chaos energy and everyone turned to see a large pillar of green light shot to the sky which could be seen and sensed from the far reaches of the planet. The group also saw two figures in the night sky with one being Enerjak and other Sonic but he has transformed into his Super Form.
"The lad must have absorbed the energy from the Master Emerald in order to transform," said Archimedes the red ant.
"Looks to me like he could use a wingman," said Naruto with a smirk "Ready to roll, Kurama?"
Kurama smirked eagerly in response "Been waiting to let loose kid,"
Naruto closed his eyes in concentration as he fused his chakra with Kurama's and the golden chakra burst out before enveloping his body and emanating like that of flickering flames, starting with the two front spikes of his hair pointing upwards to resemble horns, the whisker-like markings on his face become thicker, and the chakra shroud's shape alters to resemble a full-length haori with six black magatama markings around the collar with his nine tails sticking out from underneath, and various other archaic lines extending along his body.
The others took a step back in surprise and awe of the power which the kitsune now radiates, they could sense the positivity and warmth as well as how the plant life was growing quickly in his presence.
"Such power and he could freely access it without Chaos Emeralds…," said Locke.
"Please save Knuckles," Julie-Su pleaded.
Naruto looked over his shoulder with a smile "Of course I will, it's the right thing to do after all," he took to the skies to join with the others.
"You dare use my power against me?!" said Enerjak angrily.
Sonic smirked in response "You better believe it!" then he saw Naruto fly next to him and whistled at his appearance "Looking good man, this your trump card?"
"One of many, now let's go save our friend from himself," said Naruto, prepping up for the fight.
Music Start: Xenoblade Chronicles OST; You Will Know Our Names
"I grow tired of your interference!" Enerjak brandished his staff and pointed it towards the duo to fire a large beam of Chaos Energy at them. Naruto and Sonic split up in different directions to evade the attack with the latter using his superspeed to get behind Enerjak then grab his staff while giving him a noogie.
"Come on Knuckles, why turn into Enerjak instead of Hyper Knuckles or do you really hate being pink that much?" Sonic yanked the staff away "And what's with the staff man? Weapons aren't your thing, what happened to the raw power of old?"
"Right here!" Enerjak thrusts a hand to fire a massive blast of energy which engulfed Sonic and dissipated to reveal the hedgehog completely unharmed.
"Have you forgotten that I'm invulnerable in this state?" asked Sonic smugly.
Enerjak was about to attack again when he got blindsided by a punch to the face by Naruto which sent him flying "Quit being difficult and let us help you already, a Knuckles with a god complex is an odd matchup like peanut butter and banana,"
Sonic nodded in agreement "True that,"
Growling in anger, Enerjak fire a blast of energy at Naruto to force him away then rapidly flew towards Sonic to engage him in close combat. Super Sonic darted from left to right swiftly to evade the incoming punches from Enerjak as both tore across the sky but got a bit too cocky which gave Enerjak an opportunity to land a hit and was about to strike with another punch when something wrapped around his body and stopped him. He looked to see that he was held in a giant energy construct of a hand by Naruto.
"Get over here so we can continue our chat!" Naruto yanked Enerjak over to him with a fist reared back before delivering a powerful straight punch to the face to send him flying "Foxfire Barrage!" Naruto thrust his hands along with his nine tails forward to fire a salvo of golden fireballs due to being in the Bijuu Mode towards Enerjak who recovered in time to form an energy shield around himself to defend against the incoming attack before retaliating with his own "Thunder Arrow!" he launched multiple bolts of lightning which seem to home in on Naruto as they relentlessly pursued the kitsune who tried to shake them but soon got caught up in an explosion of green energy.
The smoke cleared away to reveal a large ball of golden energy which unraveled itself, showing that Naruto had used his tails to shield himself against the attacks. Naruto stared intently at Enerjak before disappearing in a yellow flash and reappearing right in front of the echidna to send him flying with a backhand then used his enhanced speed to deliver a barrage of punches and kicks in a hit-and-run like fashion before finishing the attack by appearing above the Enerjak and delivering an Axe Kick to knock him downwards to where Sonic was waiting to slam into him with a spin dash for additional damage.
Down below, the Destructix Squad watched the battle albeit with nervousness especially towards the nine tailed fox who was proving himself to be capable of contending with a being like Enerjak without utilizing the power of the Chaos Emerald, an underlying message to tell them that the fox had been taking it easy on them and could have done much worse.
"What now, Sleuth?" asked Sgt Simian.
"Dr Finitevus paid us to guard the weapon, there's no point of our being here since it's destroyed. We're done here Destructix, fall back," Sleuth Dawg took out a Warp Ring and activated it for them to go through.
"Sure am glad that we ain't getting involved with that," said Drago Wolf, gesturing to the ongoing before jumping through the Warp Ring.
Fiona made to follow but noticed that Scourge wasn't coming along "Aren't you coming with, Scourge?"
Scourge shook his head in response "Actually, I got a better idea in mind,"
"What do you mean?"
"You see, tangling with Sonic last time got me thinking about who I am now and what I can really do," Scourge took out his Warp Ring which is charged with Chaos Energy from the Master Emerald "Which is why I supercharged the Warp Ring to take us to where the answers are,"
Fiona was unsure of what he was insinuating "I don't know Scourge…leave Mobius?"
Scourge pointed at the fight between Sonic and Naruto against Enerjak "Look at them Fiona, this fight will tear the planet apart and there's nowhere on Mobius to run to,"
Fiona sighed at this and made her decision "Okay…let's go,"
"Awesome, and besides it will be fun," Scourge jumped into the Warp Ring with a smirk.
Fiona made to follow not before turning to look at the fight one last time only to be shocked upon seeing Naruto glance over his shoulder to look at her with an unreadable expression in his eyes. His words from before echoed in her mind, the vixen shook her head to clear it and jumped into the Warp Ring with Naruto's words remaining stuck in her head.
Back in the fight, Naruto and Super Sonic were really taking it to Enerjak and proving themselves to be quite persistent and annoying in stopping him. Sonic even snatched the helmet and playfully tossed it up and down in his hand.
"Now you look more like Knuckles, do you feel more like him?" asked Sonic mischievously.
Enerjak growled "If I can't destroy you, then I'll simply send you away!" he waved his had to engulf Super Sonic in a green aura which teleported him to areas unknown.
"Hey where did you send him to!?" Naruto demanded.
"It matters not as you will soon join him!"
"Wrong choice of words," Naruto disappeared in a yellow flash to appear in front of Enerjak with a blue spiraling sphere in hand "Rasengan!" he rammed the jutsu into Enerjak to send him flying then moved in a yellow flash to appear at where his opponent was heading with another Rasengan and slammed it into him, grinding at his target from both sides before ending in an explosion of energy. The ground below suddenly burst open as a yellow comet shot up and slammed into Enerjak before revealing to be Sonic who looked at the echidna with a quirked eyebrow.
"Do you really think that burying a burrowing species in the planet's core is a good idea? Goes to show that you're as clever as ever, ya dingus," said Sonic.
"Yo Sonic, time to shift to a higher gear," said Naruto.
"Now you're speaking my language,"
Sonic smirked before going into his spinball form and charging up rapidly, Naruto focused on his chakra as well for his attack until the duo are all set and immediately took to the offensive.
"Lightspeed Attack/Tailed Beast Flash Bullet!"
The duo launched themselves at sound breaking speeds, rapidly blitzing Enerjak from all directions and landing strikes too fast to be counted accurately before ending the assault with a double flying kick to the face for a strong knockback.
"Something's not right, my positive aura should have broken by now! I can see some progress but it's not enough," said Sonic with a frown.
"Then we'll just have to hit him some more, despite our dislike of doing so," said Naruto, getting a nod from the hedgehog.
Music End
Meanwhile, Julie-Su and Archimedes were making their way towards the altar where the Master Emerald is located. They finally arrived but also met with the cause of this crisis…Dr Finitevus himself.
Julie-Su glared at the crazed echidna "Finitevus, you warped Knuckles' mind and made him lose control! You better change him back or I'll-,"
Dr Finitevus interrupted her "You're in no position to do anything girl, and besides…" he looked towards the three superpowered beings fighting about him in the night sky "…I couldn't stop this even if I wanted to,"
"What are you talking about?"
"The hex I placed on the Master Emerald binds it to my will, so Knuckles' intentions bent to my ideals the moment he tapped into its power. But I am most confused that Sonic could use the power without being controlled and another being of great power appears to oppose, I would like to dissect both of them but this battle would suit my grand design," said Dr Finitevus.
"I don't care about your dumb plan, get rid of the hex before I make you!"
"I already said it before, I can't do it even if I wanted to. I suspected that one of you might try to rescue him, so I locked the hex with the only way to break it requiring the sacrifice of one's life,"
Julie-Su began approaching the altar without some much as a flinch much to the mad doctor's surprise "Thanks for the info, I have no intention of letting him live like this!"
Archimedes was quick to protest "No you don't, Sheila. Both you and Knuckles still a lot of living to do while I've done enough. I'll be the one to do it,"
"No old friend, I'll be the one," a voice spoke up, everyone turned to see that it was Locke approaching with a solemn expression.
"But Locke…,"
Locke handed over his Warp Ring to the red ant "Please help him understand that everything I did was to try to protect him from a future terror, that I only wanted to keep him safe,"
Finitevus suddenly appeared in between the duo to knock them back with a double kick in anger "I won't have you grave eager fools stop me now! A world this corrupt needs to be cleansed with flames and your son has the honor of being the starting ember!" he began using his Warp Rings to assault them with punches and kicks "If you're so eager to die, then I'll be happy to oblige!"
Suddenly he was knocked away from them with a fiery blast to the face, Finitevus got up to see Naruto before him but was confused as he could see another Naruto still aiding Sonic against Enerjak. He didn't get a chance to speak as Naruto thrust a chakra arm to grab him then pull in close only to be sent flying very far by a punch from a larger chakra arm.
"Thanks for the help," said Archimedes gratefully.
"I'm a shadow clone sent by the original when he sensed that you all were in trouble," said C-Naruto.
"But he'll be back thanks to those Warp Rings of his," Julie-Su pointed out.
"I know, which is why I must act now," Locke got up from the ground and began making his way up the altar towards the Master Emerald.
"But Locke…," Julie-Su wanted to argue but could see that the echidna had made up his mind.
"The Brotherhood of Guardians had its reasons for how we raised the next generation. We only wanted to protect the ones we loved, even if we had to do it from afar," said Locke sadly.
"I…understand," Julie-Su could barely hold back the tears while Archimedes looked down in sadness.
C-Naruto closed his eyes "So this is the choice you have made,"
"…Yes, please look after my boy,"
"…*Sigh* I will,"
Locke reached the Master Emerald and sat atop it cross-legged in meditation before proceeding with what needs to be done "Now to do what must be done…,"
"The Servers are the seven Chaos Chaos is power enriched by the heart …release my boy! Let him lead his own life!"
The Master Emerald glowed brightly as Locke was engulfed in the Chaos energy with the elderly echidna letting out a teardrop before being swallowed up in the light. Sonic and Naruto were still facing off Enerjak when the latter suddenly glowed before dissipating to reveal Knuckles back to his normal self, albeit dazed.
Sonic quickly grabbed him before he fell "Easy there Knux, we got ya," Naruto was relieved to see that Knuckles was doing when he felt his clone dispel and was saddened upon receiving the memories, even Kurama was silent as they descended to the ground with both Sonic and Naruto reverting back to normal as well.
"Knuckles!" they turned to see Julie-Su with tears building up in her eyes.
"Julie-Su, where's dad? I thought I heard him…," Knuckles asked before he was hugged by the tearful echidna.
"I'm so sorry, there was no other way and he just went--,"
"Slow down! 'He went'? you mean dad…,"
Sonic turned towards Naruto who closed his eyes and sadly shook his head, giving the hedgehog a clear idea of what exactly had happened during their fight and the reason why Knuckles was back to his normal self. They heard a loud roar of rage and turned to see Dr. Finitevus reappear through a Warp Ring next to the Master Emerald.
"That old fool went and did it! All that research and spellcasting for nothing! At this rate, his brat will remember some of the farce…," the mad doctor was about to cast yet another spell on the Master Emerald which wasn't going to happen anytime soon.
"I remember…EVERYTHING!" Knuckles rushed over to knock Finitevus off the altar with a punch full of rage.
He barely crashed to the ground when something caught a hold of him by the throat and raised into the air, he looked down to see Naruto staring back with anger in his eyes and his left hand was clenched in a fist while engulfed in azure flames before rearing it back "This is for Locke, you bastard," the kitsune punched Finitevus with great force to sending him bouncing along the ground almost falling off Angel Island had he not grabbed the ledge.
Knuckles approached with clenched fists, having every intention to beat Finitevus to an inch of his life or not even let him have that inch "Get back up here, I'm not done with you by a long shot,"
Dr. Finitevus sneered in response "I think not, perhaps another time," he activated a Warp Ring below him and dropped through it with a taunting smile.
"Like I'm gonna let you go unscathed," Naruto threw a fox fireball to go through the Warp Ring before it disappeared and smiled in satisfaction upon sensing that the attack made contact. Everyone was silent as they didn't know exactly what to say given everything that has happened.
"…Knuckles? Um…," Sonic tried to say something for once was at loss for words.
"Let's go back down to the city and let everyone know that you're okay," Julie-Su suggested.
"…No," Knuckles stoically refuted much to their shock "You go back if you want, I'm never making that mistake again,"
"What do you mean by that?" asked Sonic confusedly.
"I am the last guardian of Angel Island, I will protect the Master Emerald even if it has to be by myself," Knuckles turned away from them with his arms crossed.
Julie-Su made to speak only for Naruto to stop her with a hand on her shoulder "Give him some time alone, he just need to go over certain things then you can try to speak to him. I get where he's coming from,"
"…Okay," said Julie-Su reluctantly.
"Let's head back, I'm pretty sure that I owe you all an explanation which can wait till morning after such a hectic day today," said Naruto.
Sonic shrugged in agreement "Yeah, we could use a few Zs,"
Nodding in affirmation, Naruto placed a hand on their shoulders before locking on to the Hirashin seal which he had placed back in New Mobotropolis and teleporting them towards it where everyone had been waiting with bated breaths. Considering that it was getting late, Naruto opted to camp out thanks to the modified camping set in a scroll with him, he went to bed with Nicole and the Chao after being told that he would be meeting with the council the next day.
The next day, Naruto was roused from his sleep by the Royal Guards and requested to be escorted to Castle Acorn where he would be questioned about his presence and purpose. Not wanting to cause any problems, Naruto followed them towards the castle with Nicole and the Chao in tow. They were now standing before some familiar faces like Elias Acorn, Charles Hedgehog and Rotor Walrus. The others not so much so they read off the name cards before them; Dylan Porcupine, Hamlin Pig, Penelope Platypus and Rosemary Prower.
"Rosemary Prower, could she be related to Tails in this dimension?" thought Naruto.
"Most likely, but pay attention as it looks like they're about to speak," said Kurama, Naruto snapped back into focus to see Elias beginning to speak.
"Now that the Council of Acorn has gathered, we would like to thank you on behalf of the kingdom for aiding us against the Enerjak threat," said Elias.
Naruto and Nicole bowed their heads with the former speaking "There is no need for gratitude, we had no intention of looking the other way when someone is in need of help,"
"Maybe so, but you were also brought as we would also like to know exactly who you are and why there is a duplicate of Nicole with you," said Penelope Platypus.
Naruto proceeded to introduce himself and the others "Well my name's Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze the nine-tailed kitsune, she's Nicole the Hololynx, and they're Kou and Yoru. We're all members of the Freedom Fighters," this surprised the council and one of them happened to be frowning inwardly.
"I see, may we ask how you have a copy of Nicole then," asked Rotor.
"Yeah well, the thing is that we're not from around here and…," Naruto was interrupted by Hamlin Pig.
"It's obvious that you're not from around here as we know nothing about you this whole time and yet you claim to be a Freedom Fighter? Appearing from out of nowhere to stop Enerjak, you could be a spy or simply playing hero for all we know," said Hamlin in an accusing manner.
"Hamlin, please calm down and let him finish speaking," said Rosemary, not wanting to agitate someone who went head-to-head against Enerjak without reliance on Chaos Emeralds unlike Sonic.
Naruto frowned at this while Nicole looked at him with concern, recalling his temper when something really gets on his nerves, Kou was making sure to keep a slightly irate Yoru from doing anything reckless.
The blonde kitsune took a deep breath to calm down before speaking once more "Now if you would let me continue, I was saying that we're not from around here as we came from a parallel dimension but ended up here during a fight against Scourge and Fiona when they used a Warp Ring. Another thing is that we really are Freedom Fighters and here's proof," Naruto reached into his ninja pouch and took out two items which he gave to Kou to pass to the council.
The council looked at the items which turns out to be photograph showing Naruto along with the members of the Freedom Fighters from his dimension and the FF Identicard.
"And another thing, I don't really like how you accused me of playing hero or being a spy. I didn't go up against Enerjak for the sake of getting a reward or for glory, I did so because it was the right thing to do and I have the power to help. I go by a code taught to me by my sensei; 'Those who break the rule are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash' and I have no intention to break that code," said Naruto with a frown.
"Our apologies, we did not mean to offend you. We were simply concerned for the safety of our kingdom," said Rosemary Prower in a placating manner "Although we're curious to ask of wat you intend to do from this point on,"
"Well, I'll be figuring out a way for us to get back home to our own dimension…," Naruto reached into his ninja pouch and presented a couple of Warp Rings in hand "Luckily, I swiped these from Finitevus and figure out a way to modify them to get back. In the meantime, I don't mind lending a hand here and there as I can tell there are additional headaches besides Eggman,"
"That's an understatement of the year," Rotor grumbled while Charles chuckled in bemusement.
"Very well then, let us put this into vote; all in favor of Naruto and his companion staying in New Mobotropolis as allies?"
"Yay," said Penelope Platypus.
"Yay," said Charles.
"Yay," Rotor was in agreement.
Yay," said Rosemary.
"Y-Yay," said Dylan Porcupine unsurely.
"Nay," Hamlin refuted to which Naruto mentally rolled his eyes with Kurama doing the same.
Elias nodded at the final verdict "The motion carries; we would like to welcome you to New Mobotropolis, Naruto Uzumaki and Nicole,"
Naruto and Nicole bowed in response "Thank you for having us here, you won't regret your decision,"
"Thank you very much," said Nicole.
"We'll be on our way then, I wanna get to know of the Freedom Fighters in this dimension," Naruto stretched his hand out for the photo and Identicard to fly back into his hand and returned to the ninja pouch before leaving the room.
"He's an interesting one, that's for sure," said Charles.
"I still don't trust them," Hamlin grumbled.
"And you thought it a good idea to antagonize someone as strong as him?" asked Rosemary with a quirked eyebrow.
"But…,"
"Accusing someone without ample proof is both reckless and puts us in a bad light, no doubt that we have left a poor impression on him and he won't be so open next time with the way he looked at us," said Elias with a small frown, Hamlin looked away from the stares by the rest of the council.
Naruto and Nicole just exited from the castle when they saw that Sonic along with Sally and the other Freedom Fighters with their Nicole appearing next to them. Apparently, they had been waiting for the duo to come out.
"We were wondering how long you were gonna be in there," said Sonic.
"Well, they were trying to find out if we're legit," said Naruto with a shrug of his shoulders while the Chao sat on them.
"We're curious to know more about you and your dimension before coming here," said Sally.
"Same here, let's find a place to settle down and we'll exchange stories," said Naruto.
"Can't wait to hear them," said Tails excitedly.
The group set off for a nice place to relax given everything so that they could get to know more about the duo and their dimension while it's vice versa for Naruto and co about them and their world as well.
This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Naruto along with Julie-Su were instantly against the destruction of Knuckles with Sonic being vague with his answer but the chat had to be on pause due to being obstructed by the Destructix Squad which Naruto alone was more than enough to handle. Turns out that Sonic had an alternative since he destroyed the weapon and siphoned positive energy from the Master Emerald to become Super Sonic and Naruto teamed up in his Bijuu Mode against Enerjak. The battle was a tricky one but Knuckles was eventually turned back to normal albeit with the sacrifice by Locke to remove the hex from the Master Emerald.
A solemn Knuckles decides to remain on Angel Island to guard the Master Emerald even if he had to do it alone. Naruto and co met with the Council of Acorns the next day and there was the slight issue of distrust but was looked past as the conversation went on with the result being granted residence in New Mobotropolis. Looks like this dimension's version of Sonic and the Freedom Fighters want to get to know them better with the same for Naruto who would soon learn various differences between both dimensions.
I'm basically venturing into unchartered territory concerning the comics but I'll do my best with some of the major arcs and leadups along the way, so be sure to read and review like always.
This is Hussbek from Ghana.
Signing out and staying alive.