Adventures of the Orange Flash
Chapter 69: Reluctant Retreat
There was a knock on the doors before one of them cracked opened only a little bit for Snively to poke his head through and timidly call out to the occupant of the room being the Iron Queen who stood with her arms crossed and back facing him.
"I'm still not happy with you Snively," said the Iron Queen.
"I know that sweetie darling, but…," Snively tried to explain but she wasn't hearing any of it.
"All of my enemies are protected within a city I can't enter, I've been mocked by those who should be my pawns, and I told you not to come back until you had a solution to this problem,"
Snively gulped nervously, recalling how he had been barred from entering her room until now
Her mood became even more sore due to a few days ago; she had sent the Iron King to attack Fort Acorn which is a stronghold between the new capital of the Eggman Empire and the dangerous radioactive slag with the mission of destroying the stronghold and the energy converter that cleans the slag as well as powering the city in order to pollute the region and leave New Mobotropolis defenseless. However, the Iron King was intercepted by Sonic, Naruto and Monkey Khan to hold him off and even trick him into destroying a decoy of the energy converter.
"B-B-But I have, my snuggle dumpling,"
"I'm giving you thirty seconds before I toss you into a cell like your uncle's,"
Snively brough out a device form his pocket and projected a hologram of Megaopolis "Y-Y-You see not long ago, one of my uncle's wayward creations used nanites construct an entire city," he switched the image to New Mobotropolis "Then the Freedom Fighters AI…Nicole used the nanites to construct New Mobotropolis; the city we're currently having problems with," then he switched the image to Nicole "But the solution lies in the problems themselves! The nanites are microscopic machines, Nicole is a purely digital being, and both are purely technologically based,"
Iron Queen's eyes widened in realization before scooping Snively into her arms "Which means that they're susceptible to my special brand of technomagic! Mree-hee-hee-hee! Oh Snivy-kins, it's the perfect plan!"
Snively smiled happily, seeing that Regina wasn't being cold to him anymore "All for you, my darling,"
"But what about that mangy fox? No doubt he'll attempt to intervene should we attack,"
"I've also been analyzing data relating to him and came to discover that he shares Sonic's strong loyalty and caring towards his friends. Controlling his Nicole and having her attack him since he would hesitate to fight back as seriously in fear of harming her," Snively suggested.
"Oh my smart cutie, you come up with the brightest ideas!"
In New Mobotropolis, everyone was going about with their own business, having nothing to worry about for the meantime. Even the Freedom Fighters were doing their own things with one example being Sonic and Tails being at the King Frederick Airbase, working on the Tornado.
"The old biplane has never looked better, don't you think so Tails?" asked Sonic as he hopped off the cockpit with a smile.
Tails nodded in agreement, tinkering away on the plane's engine "That I do, there's something about working on the Tornado that cheers me up,"
"Sure, by the way…have you seen Naruto?"
"Don't you remember him telling you that he was going to Albion to check on everyone there and picking Nico up?" then Tails noticed that Sonic wasn't exactly into the conversation "Is there something on your mind Sonic? It's not like you to be forgetful,"
Sonic frowned in response "Well, maybe. It's just that Sally….,"
*BEEEP* *BEEEP* *BEEEP*
The blaring of the alarm sounded throughout the city, putting everyone on alert instantly and disrupting the conversation between Sonic and Tails.
"Is the Iron Dominion attacking again?" asked Tails.
"Let's find Nicole and find out," Sonic ran off with Tails close behind and quickly found Nicole assessing the situation "What's the word, Nicole?"
"The Iron Dominion appear to be staging a full-on invasion," Nicole responded.
Sally soon showed up with Monkey Khan in tow "Nicole report!"
"I'm raising the city's defenses and forcefield now. The Iron Queen's forces are actually taking their time and making no effort to hide their approach,"
Sally frowned at the information "I don't like this, they're being too forward,"
Monkey Khan placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down "They're not exactly known for subtlety,"
"Even so, this seems too reckless and arrogant for them,"
Sonic crossed his arms with a frown "…Yeah, I don't the looks of this at all," but he wasn't talking about the Iron Dominion as he looked at the interaction between Sally and Monkey Khan with displeasure.
Outside the walls of the city, Iron Queen was casually being helped off her Egg Pod by Snively with her army of ninjas and legionnaires led by Iron King on standby.
"This way, my queen," said Snively lovingly.
Iron Queen smiled in response "Why thank you, dear Snively,"
Iron King snorted in mild displeasure at their interaction "Careful with your tone, Regina. Don't want the lackey to be too familiar with you,"
Regina waved him off as she approached the city walls "Oh calm down, Jun Kun…Snively obviously knows his place,"
Nicole projected herself before them with a frown "And it's apparent that you do not. As steward and administrator of this city, I am informing you of your trespass. You will leave now,"
"Mree-hee-hee-hee! As a masterful Technomage, I am exerting my will over yours, my digital dearie!" Iron Queen wasted little time and aimed her glowing staff towards Nicole who felt her parameters being rewritten rapidly and realized in horror what was happening to her "You're mine now!"
"Nooooo!" Nicole tried to resist but it was too late, she was under Regina's control. Now she wears her hair in a bun with hairsticks through it, a high-collared black and purple dress with long purple gloves and a red belt. Then she responded emotionlessly "Iron Nicole is online, your majesty. Awaiting your first command,"
Regina smiled gleefully "That's a good girl, now open the city for your queen,"
With a mere gesture, Iron Nicole created an opening in the city walls which the Iron Dominion wasted no time running through with Iron King at the lead as he laughed uproariously.
"This city falls to me at last!" the Iron King laughed arrogantly.
A few minutes earlier, Naruto was at Albion and having a conversation with Remington over certain matters. He was currently supplying them with weaponry which he had produced with help from Nicole and her nanites.
"So, will this be enough in the meantime?" asked Naruto.
Remington nodded in response "More than enough, we'll be able to set up appropriate defenses should we be attacked,"
Nicole flew over to them and had heard their conversation "I was also able to analyze the security system and was able to reactivate it whilst ensuring that it won't fall to the same methods as before. There was also a malfunctioning security matrix that would have knocked every living being within radius unconscious, I restored its stability and inputted an activation code for a countermeasure,"
"Many thanks, I find it hard to see how quickly it took for us to recover most of this city when it would have taken us years to do so," Remington looked around to see the echidnas living quite peacefully around the city which used to be nothing more than a ruin.
Naruto waved a hand while smiling "It's no big deal, I know how it feels to see your home being so messed up and wanting to restore it back to the way it was before. My home ended up that way too,"
"It must have been something severely damaging,"
Naruto's mind flashed back to he was summoned to Konoha and saw the aftermath of what Pein had done to the village and learnt what happened when he was gone "…more than you can imagine," suddenly, he felt something tugging at the back of his mind and soon realized that one of his Hiraishin Kunai was being used.
Remington seemed to have noticed "Is there something wrong?"
"I think I'm needed back in New Mobotropolis, I have to go," Naruto replied in a serious tone.
"Then don't let me keep you waiting, go on. We'll be fine,"
"Alright, let's go Nico-chan!"
Nico nodded in response and placed a hand on his shoulder as he locked onto the Hiraishin Kunai and warped towards it in a yellow flash. The next thing they knew when they returned was that the city was in complete lockdown and metal shutters were activated to even block out the sunlight and in its place were multiple spotlights all over the place, what's more was that the citizens were running in a panic and that both the ninjas and legionnaires were attacking the place.
"What the? What's going on?" asked Naruto in confusion.
"Naruto!" the kitsune turned towards Sally and the others "We've got a major problem!"
"I can see that, just bring me up to speed while I send a clone to get my Chao!" Naruto deployed a shadow clone who wasted no time in dashing towards the city's Chao Garden to do its assigned task.
Sally was about to speak when there was a cry and everyone turned towards the voice only to be horrified to see Nico having been captured in an energy field courtesy of a gleeful Iron Queen with Iron Nicole at her side.
"I've been waiting for you, mangy fox!" said Iron Queen with a smirk.
Naruto growled in anger "Let go of Nico-chan or I'm gonna let you have it!"
"Mree-hee-hee-hee! Oh I will, but not after a few 'adjustments' here and there," Iron Queen waved her staff, making glowing circuit lines spread throughout Nico's body.
"Naruto help, she's rewriting my-Aaaaahhhhh!" Nico's body let out a bright flash of light.
"Nico!" Naruto called out in worry and looked to see that Nico had changed completely. She now wears a sleeveless purple top, purple arm warmers, brown pants and purple boots (an Akatsuki's outfit from Log Horizon)
"Iron Nico online, awaiting orders," said Iron Nico emotionlessly.
"That's not good, not good at all," said Sally, feeling the tension grow even more because of the situation.
"Now my dear girl, why don't show me where your true loyalties lie by bringing me that fox's head?" said Iron Queen evilly.
Iron Nico nodded without emotion "As you wish, your majesty," she conjured a pair of ninjato made of pixelated energy in reverse grip and rush at Naruto who hastily unsheathed his swords to block her attacks.
"Nico-chan, snap out of it! This isn't you at all!" said Naruto worriedly.
"By the queen's orders, you must die," said Iron Nico stoically.
"This must be how they had gotten in, using her magic to control Nicole and having her simply let the Iron Dominion inside, just like wat she had done to Bunnie and Monkey Khan," said Kurama with a frown.
"Then I just need to grab a Power Ring to snap her out of it right?" asked Naruto frantically.
"Highly unlikely with the other Nicole under the Iron Queen's control, the Lake of Rings must have been disabled by now,"
"Any other ideas!? I could use some right now!" thought Naruto, desperately defending himself against the onslaught of attacks from Iron Nico and restraining himself from attacking her with the knowledge that she wasn't doing this of her own free will.
"I'm trying to-JUMP BACK NOW!" Kurama suddenly yelled out in urgency, surprising Naruto for a second before quickly complying as he broke away from the bladelock right as something slashed at where he was standing.
Naruto frowned in confusion "What was that just now?"
He got his answer as something became visible before him. Revealing itself to be a robot with similar designs to Kilgore but appears to be far more advanced with a sleeker design akin to that of a medieval knight, its glowing red eyes slanted into a death glare, and equipped with long metallic wrists blades which have been infused with superheated plasma.
"What the heck? It looks like an upgraded version of Kilgore!" said Sonic in shock.
"The first of its kind thanks to my dear Snively, allow me to introduce to you the ultimate killing machine; Fulgore!"
Fulgore turned towards Naruto [Target locked on, Eliminate] the robot activated thrusters on certain parts of its body to dash towards Naruto with its blades extended to stab him with Naruto darting sideways to evade but quickly used Shadow Step to get away from pixelated spears aimed at him from Iron Nico.
"Come on, Sally. Please tell me you got something, we're getting pushed back here," Sonic insisted urgently, seeing Naruto in trouble.
Sally hummed in thought, coming up with a plan "Our problem stems from a total lack of control. We need to debug Nicole and have regain control of the nanites in our favor as well as free Nico in the process,"
"Okay, how do we do that?"
Tails spoke up "If we can get to the Freedom HQ, I can access the city's mainframe from the lab,"
"Sounds like a plan, now let's-watch out, incoming!" Sonic called out in alert as everyone dove out of the way of a swing from the Iron King's Tremor Mace much to the hedgehog's annoyance "Seriously, did you take class in dramatic timing?"
"Spare yourself from further embarrassment, Princess. Bow to your king," Iron King demanded.
Sally glared in defiance "I didn't bow to Eggman and he was twice the tyrant you ever could be!"
"How about you take a knee yourself?" Monkey Khan slammed his charged Atom Bat into the Iron King's torso, knocking him "I'm entrusting Sally's safety to you while I hold him off!"
Sonic frowned a bit "…right, I'm counting on you," he scooped Sally into his arms and took off at high-speed.
"Ken?" Sally called out worriedly, seeing that they were leaving him behind.
"He's covering our exit. Come on Tails, we'll be using the Tornado to get outta here!"
"Right!" Tails was close behind, heading for the airbase.
Back with Naruto, he was getting hard-pressed in his triple battle with Fulgore and Iron Nico. He tries to suppress the brainwashed Hololynx but she would squirm out of the way since she knows his fighting style and whenever he attempts to attack Fulgore, she would get in the way, forcing him to stop his attacks.
"Eliminate…," Iron Nico created several demonic constructs out of data and commanded them to attack Naruto who activated his Lightning aspect as blue bolts of electricity arcs through his body with a majority emitting from his hands which he channeled into his blades then proceeded to cut the demon constructs down rapidly before they could attack him.
[Initiating Plasmaport] Fulgore suddenly vanishes from where it stood and reappeared in front of Naruto and attacked with a rising upcut, launching him into the air. The kitsune spiraled in the air when he suddenly burst into smoke, revealing a log in his place [Target lost, reassessing] Naruto reappeared behind the robot and knocked it away with a roundhouse kick to the back and followed up with an attack.
"Lightning Bolt!" he thrusted his blades forward to fire a large blast of lightning at the target, Iron Nico suddenly appeared and quickly generated a Digital Barrier to block the attack then retaliated with a barrage of pixelated arrows "Lightning Chain!" Naruto quickly launches a stream of electricity which struck down all of the arrows.
[Target reacquired, firing Energy Bolts] Fulgore proceeded to fire multiple energy projectiles towards Naruto who saw the incoming attacks and deflected them with his blades before putting some distance from them.
"Darn, this is just us nowhere, I can't hurt Nico-chan and she won't let me hurt that tin can," Naruto frowned in frustration, still haven't figured a way to free the Hololynx from the Iron Queen's control.
Sally contacted him through the headphones hanging around his neck [Naruto, we need your clones to help the Chaotix evacuate any of the civilians not yet captured through the Warp Ring]
"Alright, give me a second," Naruto unleashed a bright flash of lightning around him, blinding the surrounding enemies and quickly deployed multiple Shadow Clones to dash off to assist "They're on their way,"
[Noted, We're trying to reach the Freedom HQ where we can access the city's mainframe so we can debug both Nicoles]
Naruto's eyes narrowed in determination "In that case, call me in with the Hiraishin Kunai when you guys get there,"
[Alright then, hang in there until we get out]
Naruto turned to face Fulgore and Iron Nico, taking a combat stance "Now then, what say we pick up where we left off?"
"Eliminate target, for the queen," said Iron Nico stoically.
Monkey Khan was facing off against Iron King and barely holding him back when Amy leapt into the fray and brandished her Piko Hammer.
"Hey buddy, how about we find out who's better at using their hammers?" asked Amy in a challenging tone.
Iron King scoffed with indifference "Like a tiny pink girl can match my strength,"
*WHAM*
The Iron King was suddenly sent flying by a very irate Amy with a mighty swing of her Piko Hammer "Who are you calling tiny!?"
"Um…," Monkey Khan spoke up hesitantly, causing Amy to turn towards him while still annoyed.
"What!? You think I'm small and weak too?"
"No! I was just going to say that was amazing!"
Amy smiled happily at the compliment "You really think so? Well, you go on and let me be amazing. You need to help my Sonic and the others escape,"
Monkey Khan conjured his cloud and prepared to leave but was hesitant to do so "If you're sure…?"
"Don't worry, I'll handle everything here," Amy assured confidently, seeing Monkey Khan leave turned to face Iron King who was dazed by her attack and now glared at her.
He brandished his Tremor Mace in anger "You will pay for your insolence!"
Amy activated her Shock Gauntlets before picking up her Piko Hammer, channeling electricity through it then turned to face her opponent "Only if you stop swinging around like a wuss!"
Monkey Khan soon caught up with Sonic and the others on the Tornado, having barely escaped from the giant hands made out of nanites by Iron Nicole who was trying to capture them.
"Are you okay Ken?" asked Sally worriedly.
Monkey Khan nodded in affirmation "I am alright,"
"So, what happened to Iron Dork?" asked Sonic curiously.
"I believe her name is Amy Rose,"
The blue speedster smiled, already getting the idea just by hearing her name "Ah, say no more. Anyways, think you can show us the way to an exit?"
"I believe I can do just that," Monkey Khan took aim with his Atom Bat and fired a blast of lightning at the shutters to create an opening big enough for the Tornado to fly through.
"Get us to Freedom HQ as fast as you can, Tails! If we can't save Nicole, then we've lost everyone in the city and the Iron Dominion wins," said Sally urgently.
"Got it!" Tails nodded in affirmation as he increased the plane's speed towards their destination.
Naruto skidded backwards across the ground, several cuts and gashes were on his clothing as he swiped at a giant hand from behind which was trying to grab him before turning to face Fulgore and Iron Nico who have been tag teaming against him the whole time then Iron Nicole added more to his problems by trying to capture him.
"How do I keep getting myself into these kinds of situations? Ever since I became a ninja, the events I get pulled into are never normal," Naruto groaned.
"Tell me about it, the things one would consider normal would suddenly become the opposite whenever you're involved," said Kurama, recalling everything Naruto had gone through.
"Don't remind me, please,"
Suddenly, the Iron Queen's voice echoed from loudspeakers set up around him and said person appeared on a Holoscreen and was sneering down at him.
"Mree-hee-hee-hee! Look at you now, what happened to all that confidence from before? Not able to bring yourself to hurting your friend and in turn failing to save your precious city. It just goes to how weak you truly are in the face of adversity," the Iron Queen taunted.
Naruto growled lowly "Keep talking, you're just gonna make knocking you off your high horse all the more satisfying,"
"And yet here we are, now I'll have you watch as everything you tried to protect will be destroyed by the very friends you worked alongside, just like what I did to Monkey Khan! Mree-hee-hee-hee!"
Naruto's heart stilled as he started to see the memories of when Sasuke took an attack from Haku when he tried to attack him, when Menma sacrificed his life to blow up a mine to prevent a village from being flooded, when Hinata tried to save him from Pein and was beaten to an inch of her life. Such memories continued to flow through his mind and the Iron Queen's insults and laughter started to pull something out from within him, something…dark.
Fulgore took note that its target wasn't moving at all [Target immobile, executing Plasma Cannon] the robot thrust its chest out with the chestplates opening up to reveal its nuclear core which started to concentrate power to a single point before firing a large energy beam straight towards Naruto whose head suddenly snapped up to reveal his eyes completely changed.
He proceeded to claw at the energy beam at blurring speeds, making it appear as if his arms had duplicated. The Iron Queen watched in disbelief as the nine tailed fox literally shredded the energy beam to pieces until Fulgore stopped firing its attack in order to allow it core to recharge. That was when she saw his hands enshrouded in foxfire but…
"The color of his flames has changed, they're bordering on black even. Did he always have this power?" thought Iron Queen with a frown.
Naruto stood there with his fists still emitting the darkened flames and a stoic expression on his face when Iron Nico swooped in from behind with her blade raised to strike at his head and brought it down when he suddenly reached out to grab, stopping it by mere inches without so much as looking back.
"…," Naruto stood there silently before swinging Iron Nico about and flinging her away from him before turning towards Fulgore with a scowl "Grrrrr…,"
Fulgore scanned the power radiating from the kitsune [Target Threat increase by 100% Switching to Demolition Payload] it channeled the power generated from the nuclear core to activate the more power weaponry in its arsenal.
Fulgore started off by firing a barrage of empowered energy bolts which Naruto batted aside with his tails while still growling angrily, he went down on all fours and ran at the robot at the same time dodging and deflecting the bolts fired his way until he was upon it then attacked with the ferocity of an angered beast through his claw swipes, punches and kicks.
Kurama frowned a bit at this, seeing that Naruto's fighting style is very to when he first utilized the fox cloak against Sasuke at the Valley of the End…like a wild animal. He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a snicker but couldn't find the source anywhere when he looked around.
Back in the fight, Fulgore used his Plasmaport to warp away from Naruto and fired a volley of homing micro missiles then followed up with an eye beam, the blonde kitsune wrapped his tails which were enshrouded in the dark flames around him as a makeshift to defend against the incoming projectiles, emerging slightly damaged afterwards.
"Grrrr!" Naruto grew further angered and rushed when Iron Nico reappeared once more with several demon constructs to intercept only for Naruto to spear through the constructs with his tails then grabbing the Hololynx by the leg and throwing her away again only further this time before resuming his charge towards Fulgore who dashed right back at him and clashing in the middle.
[Damage levels high, initiating Overdrive] various armor parts of Fulgore surged with energy, boosting its combat prowess before attacking Naruto who wasn't backing down and retaliated. The robot and kitsune exchanged strikes with clear intent to take the other down when Fulgore landed a slash across Naruto's chest, causing him to stumble backwards with a hand on it to stop the bleeding.
Iron Nico was about to capitalize on the opportunity to finish him when she took note of the blood on Naruto's chest which caused her to pause "Error, Logic Query, Root Command Disruption, Objective Query…,"
Naruto took his hand off to look at the blood on his palm, something inside him snapped "RAAAHHHH!" he reappeared before Fulgore with his fist slammed onto its chestplate which was now sporting a deep dent which was evidence of his enhanced strength. Blonde kitsune wasn't stopping there with just one hit as he attacked with reckless abandon, not giving the robot any chance to put a defense or counter, all the while being assaulted with punches and kicks when Naruto paused for a moment to rear his fist which was emitting black flames before unleashing a powerful uppercut with the flames on the fist taking on the shape of a literal roaring beast "GO BACK TO THE SCRAPHEAP, YOU RUSTED TINCAN!" he sent to robot flying and smashing through the metal shutters.
Naruto started to breathed heavily, feeling his rage dissipate and the dark flames flicker out "What happened to me? I was so angry…,"
Sally contacted him through the headphones [Naruto, we made it to Freedom HQ. you can port to us now]
"R-Right…,"
"I-Impossible…," the Iron Queen couldn't believe what just happened, not expecting the kitsune to be capable of such prowess "Jun-Kun, destroy him!"
Knocking Amy back for the moment, Iron King rushed at Naruto and attacked with his Tremor Mace but missed due to Naruto have warped away in a yellow flash, striking where the kitsune once stood "Slippery little fox, I'll get you yet!"
"…," Iron Nico stood there, looking at where Naruto once stood with a frown on her face.
Naruto reappeared at the Freedom HQ and collapsed to the ground on his knees, drawing the attention of the others.
"Yo Naruto, you doing okay man?" asked Sonic worriedly.
"I'm good, using my chakra to heal myself. Give me a couple of minutes and I'll be back in the fight," Naruto assured them, feeling Kurama already helping with the recovery. Then his shadow clone appeared as well "Were you able to get Kou and Yoru out of the city?"
The clone nodded unsurely "Yeah I was, but…I came across them looking like this…," he held out his hands, revealing a pair of cocoons with one being black and the other white.
"Looks to me like they've gone into hibernation to prepare for reincarnation," said Tails.
Naruto collected the cocoons into his arms with the clone dispelling itself "Alright then, you guys came up with a plan while I was gone?"
"Yeah, we plan to digitize ourselves and Tails will upload us into the city's mainframe and we can do things as if we were in the real world," Sonic explained.
"Oh, Tails did that too back in our dimension. Looks like this will be my second run into the cyberspace," said Naruto in understanding.
"I still think that it's too big of a risk to do this," Monkey Khan protested.
"I understand your worry, but it's vital that we rescue Nicole from the Iron Queen if we want to take back the city," Sally pointed.
At the time, Tails had set up the machine and Sonic along with Sally and Naruto were ready to be digitized "I'll upload you guys into the mainframe as deep as I can access. You guys will have to hack your way in from there,"
Sonic responded with a thumbs up "Sounds good, juice us pal,"
Naruto nodded in affirmation "You guys watch over my Chao, okay?"
"I still think there should be another way," Monkey Khan insisted against their plan.
"Alright…digitizing!" Tails pressed the button, activating the machine which converted the trio into data and proceeded to transfer them into the city's mainframe.
In a flash of light, the trio found themselves in the digital world and were quick to notice that they were standing before the cyberspace version of New Mobotropolis albeit it being sealed up.
"Sweet, we're right at the gates!" said Sonic.
"Not exactly, we're perceiving just how Nicole had set up security measures against us," Sally pointed out to them.
"Different reality, different rules I guess," Naruto hummed thoughtfully "Kurama, you there?"
"Of course I am, where else would I go?" asked Kurama with a quirked eyebrow.
"Just checking,"
Sonic started tapped a foot in impatience "Look, let's just keep this simple without any of that complex stuff. I'm going to perceive myself spin dashing through the gates, okay?"
Sally smiled in amusement "Be my guest,"
"Alright then, one opening coming right u-," Sonic prepared to use his Spin Dash when the gates suddenly opened up to reveal Iron Nicole frowning at them.
"I rather you did not," said Iron Nicole.
"Nicole!"
"My file has been renamed to Iron Nicole, a digitized frontal assault was not anticipated but well within predictability,"
"So that's your way of saying 'that's clever'? Why thank you," said Sonic slyly.
"Surrender to the Iron Dominion or face deletion," said Iron Nicole sternly.
Sally moved past Sonic to confront Iron Nicole "Nicole stop, we know you're stronger than this! Your coding is too much for Rotor, Tails or Robotnik. Even when A.D.A.M invaded your system, you were still you!"
Iron Nicole gripped her head, feeling Sally's words create some sort of conflict in her programming "Error: Fatal Argument…Root Command cannot be found…Sally?"
The princess pressed on, seeing that she was getting through to her friend "That's it, Nicole! Fight off her control!"
Naruto and Sonic caught sight of something unpleasant with the latter making it known to Sally "Uh Sal…we've got a problem,"
Sally looked to see what they mean, hovering above them was the digital avatar of the Iron Queen who sneered down at them.
"Mree-hee-hee-hee! I seem to have a couple of viruses in my new city's system," the Iron Queen's started to glow with pink energy, causing them to become wary "I'll just have to purge you!" then she fired a pink energy beam at the group. Sonic quickly scooped Sally into his arms before dashing off with Naruto close behind, evading the blast launched at them.
"Wait, Nicole!" Sally saw the Hololynx struggling with herself.
"We'll come back around for her, a plan is needed right now," Sonic assured her as they ran.
"I think I can bend the rules of this world in our favor and help Nicole. But we have to do something about the Iron Queen," said Sally.
They barely got out of the way when the Iron Queen tried to grab them with Sonic considering something "I get that she's a techno wizard or whatever, but I'm pretty that we don't have a digitizer in the city so how the heck is she here!?"
"Her powers must be more advanced than we thought, I'm sure that not even Monkey Khan knew that she could do this," Naruto's eyes twitched then suddenly conjured a cyber kunai to block an attack from an invisible Iron Nico who became visible "I was wondering where you were,"
"Target reacquired, resuming elimination," said Iron Nico stoically.
"I really don't like seeing you like this, Nico-chan," said Naruto sadly then he centered his focus "But I'm gonna save you before that hag makes you do something you'll forever regret and neither of us wants that," he broke from the clash and took off with Iron Nico running after him.
"Looks to me like Naruto is leading Nico from here to face her alone," said Sonic.
"Okay, see if you can distract the Iron Queen while I try to get through to Nicole," said Sally with Sonic setting her down "Please, be careful,"
Sonic turned to face the Iron Queen "Heh, where's the fun in being careful? Get ready for a super sonic black eye, queenie!" he charged up a Spin Dash and launched off a cyber building at the Iron Queen only to be intercepted in midair by a spin dash from Iron Nicole and knocked down to the ground much to his shock "No way!"
Iron Nicole glared in response "This is my domain, I am without limitations here,"
Sonic grinned at the challenge and charged up a Super Peel-Out "Oh yeah? Let's see if you can really match my Sonic Spin!"
Music Start: Astral Chain OST; Legion Assault
Naruto broke off from the clash and took a defensive stance as Iron Nico floated in the air and materialized a large number of swords, spears and arrows above her before launching down towards Naruto who activated his Swift Release with both Hazy-Moon and Masamune in hand "Swift Release: Bladed Shadow Dance" he proceeded to move along rapidly and lightly all the while slicing through every projectiles coming his way.
He spun round in time to block yet another slash from Iron Nico's ninjato and got into another bladelock "Come on, Nico-chan! Is this what you really want, to be an emotionless tool for someone who doesn't care for you?"
"To serve the Iron Queen is to live a meaningful life," said Iron Nico.
"You're wrong, life is meaningful when you control of it with your own hands! Don't let the Iron Queen tell you how she wants you to live!"
They broke away from the blade with Naruto swinging his blades to launch crescent waves of foxfire to which Iron Nico created a pixelated energy shield to defend against it but noticed something rushing towards her and took to the air to avoid what's revealed to be shadow clones which were attempting to attack in a pincer formation before shooting them down with several digital spears.
Naruto called out to her "Think back Nico, back to when we first met! You wanted nothing more than to be free being under Eggman's thumb, free to follow the path you made for yourself without regret. Fight her off, don't let her take away your freedom!"
Nico gripped her head in pain, feeling so many things conflicting within her "Error…Memory Bank Search…Load Timeout…Objective Query…Naruto?" then she retook her stoic expression "Maintaining mission,"
"Tch, gotta keep pushing to help her remember who she is," Naruto muttered to himself.
"What's that? A ton of coding flashed across the screen," asked Monkey Khan, looking at the screen with worry.
Tails frowned at the meaning "They're fighting the defensive programming made by the two Nicoles,"
"…are there physical forms of the two of them?"
Well, Naruto's Nicole resides in the SAC which is in her possession inside the city and the bulk of our Nicole's coding is uploaded in the city's mainframe in order to control the nanites more effectively," said Tails thoughtfully.
"And where is the mainframe located?"
"It's set below Castle Acorn, but there's an access tunnel that runs from the science center. Not that it does us any good right now,"
"No…no good can be done at this point…,"
Tails was typing on the console when he found Monkey Khan words rather odd "Wait a minute…," he looked to see that Monkey Khan was not in the room and came to a dreaded realization "Don't tell me…," he rushed out of the HQ and saw the simian flying towards the city and went after him.
"What are you trying to do?" Tails demanded.
Monkey Khan frowned in response "To put the two Nicoles out of their misery,"
"No, you can't do that!"
"I can and I will, the Iron Queen used me to destroy the Dragon Kingdom's Freedom Fighters and I don't intend to let them suffer the same fate of being her tools,"
"Sonic, Sally and Naruto will be able to save them," Tails insisted, not wanting to select that alternative no matter what…he had already lost a dear friend that way and doesn't wish for it to happen again.
Monkey Khan remained firm on his decision "I am 50% machine and yet she was able to control, how do you expect fully artificial beings like them to be able to resist? Look, it's not easy for me but it has to be done," he tried to fly away but Tails knocked him off his cloud, forcing him to create another to ride on.
"No it doesn't, we're heroes and heroes always do the right thing, no matter how hard it will be!" Tails refuted, recalling his past experiences that he had gone through.
"It's not a matter of it being hard, it's impossible!"
"Was it impossible to save Bunnie, to save you?"
Monkey Khan faltered at the fox's words "No, but…,"
"Nothing is impossible! If you really think so, why didn't you simply zap me and continue on instead of arguing with me?" Tails pointed out.
"I don't want to have to destroy them…,"
"Then wait and see what our friends can do or do you not believe in them either?"
"You make it sound so simple, but…," Monkey Khan was finding it harder to protest against Tails.
"…,"
"…,"
Back in the digital world, the battle was still ongoing against the Iron Queen and the brainwashed Nicoles. Sally decided to try something to even the odds as she drew a pink glowing line on the ground with her fingers.
"Alright, if I apply Rotor's firewall coding as if I could cast it like magic," a pink wall of data rose up from the ground in front of the chipmunk much to her relief "Yes! Now we can make some progress!"
Then a pink blast of energy shattered Sally's firewall in an instant as the Iron Queen sneered at her "Naughty little virus, trying to make your own firewalls in my system!"
Sally began running towards where she saw Sonic fighting Nicole and called out to the former "Sonic, take to the offensive! I can hold Nicole now!"
Sonic broke off from the clash to respond with a thumbs up "Alrighty then, she's all yours!"
Sally got close enough to Nicole before slamming her palms to the floor and erecting multiple firewalls around them.
Iron Nicole looked around in confusion "What are you-,"
"Just give me half a second and I'll show you," Sally maintained her focus and soon encased them both within the firewalls.
"Mree-hee-hee-hee! Trying to make more worthless firewalls? I'll destroy them all the same!" the Iron Queen's eyes began to glow in preparation to launch another blast.
"Like I said before…," Sonic went into his spinball form and launched himself off a cyber building into the air "…here's hedgehog in your eye!" he slammed into the eye of the Iron Queen, causing her to cry out in pain.
"Eeeyargh! I hate that hedgehog!" the Iron Queen yelled in pained rage.
Sonic sneered "You aren't the first to feel that way!"
"Remember Nico-chan, remember how worried you were when you developed emotions? I said that you could accept them as they're a part of who you are and that you can share your feelings with others when you can't bear them alone!" Naruto called out to Iron Nico.
"Be silent! You're causing so much discord in my coding; you're making me so confused!" Iron Nico cried out hysterically, static occurring around her in the cyberspace.
"This level of control that the Iron Queen has on her, reminds me of the Genjutsu performed by the Sharingan," said Kurama with a frown, recalling the powerful illusions casted by the Uchiha back in the Elemental Nations.
Naruto blinked at the word 'Genjutsu' then a certain came to mind which gave him an idea…a crazy one but an idea nonetheless "Not sure if it will work but it's worth a try,"
The blonde kitsune crouched slightly then dashed towards Iron Nico who did a desperate move by conjuring numerous miniguns, rocket launchers and laser turrets with all of them aimed towards him and firing their payloads at the same time upon him. Thinking that she'd finally destroyed him, Iron Nico prepared to assist Iron Nicole when someone cleared his throat behind her.
"Ahem, I'm afraid you'd missed me," Iron Nico turned around to see Naruto and tried to move away but he wrapped his arms around her and proceeded to inject his chakra into her.
"What are you doing!?" Iron Nico exclaimed in shock, feeling foreign energy flow into her.
"Saving you…,"
Unknown to either of the two, the Sun Mark on Naruto's hand started to pulse and glow in resonance before mixing its chakra with Naruto's as it flowed into Nico's body, freeing her from the Iron Queen's control…and doing something else. At that moment, the duo were suddenly encased in a cube of pink firewalls, surprising Naruto but his attention shifted back to Nico when she groaned a bit and noticed that her clothes had reverted back to normal except that there were glowing purple circuits on various parts of her attire.
Music End
"Nico-chan, are you back to normal?" asked Naruto worriedly.
"…I think so, I don't feel her voice in my head anymore," Nico's eyes widened as she remembered everything she had done when she was under the Iron Queen's and looked at Naruto with remorse "Naruto, I'm so sorry! I didn't want to fight you, b-but I couldn't-,"
"It's okay, Nico. I know full well that you weren't doing it of your own will, which was why I saved you before you did something that would haunt you forever," Naruto spoke with understanding, knowing what she was going through.
"I was too careless and let my guard down, I should have been more careful,"
"Enough with the 'what ifs', you're okay now. We can talk about this later, okay?"
"Okay…," Nico nodded meekly.
[Naruto, Nico, can you hear me?] a familiar voice echoed within the firewall cube.
"Nicole, is that you? Are you back to normal?" asked Naruto.
[Yes I am, thanks to Sally bringing me back to my senses. I was the one that encased you in the firewall]
"Alright then, let us out and we'll work on taking the city back from the Iron Dominion and teach them a lesson they'll never forget," said Naruto, wanting to pay them back for what they did.
[Actually, Sally has a different plan in mind which requires Nico and Nicole to pretend to still be under the Iron Queen's control while you and the others head out to the Dragon Kingdom]
"What do you mean by that?"
[I can't say more under the risk that the Iron Queen would listen in, you can obtain the details when you return to the real world while we remain]
Naruto felt unsure about leaving Nico behind right after freeing her from the Iron Queen's control, not to mention leaving the city under the queen's new rule. He was snapped out of his thoughts when Nico took his hands in hers, making him look at her.
"Go with them, Naruto. I'll be okay," said Nico seriously.
"But…,"
"If I go with you, the Iron Queen would suspect that Nicole would be pretending to be under her control and that might compromise everything. We need to use her arrogance to our advantage until the right moment to take back the city presents itself," Nico gripped Naruto's hands tightly "Please, believe in me like you always do,"
Naruto was hesitant for a moment before letting out a sigh and nodded "Okay, just be careful until I get back,"
Nico smiled happily at the kitsune's caring nature as she changed her outfit to match the one the Iron Queen forced on her while Naruto utilized a transformation to make himself appear like he was seriously wounded "We're ready, Nicole,"
[Very well, on my mark;1…2…3!]
At that moment, the firewall broke apart and Naruto jumped backwards and pretended to stumble to the ground with Nico looming above him with a ninjato raised above her head as if to finish him off.
Sally rushed over to grab Sonic who had been knocked down to the ground by an energy blast from the Iron Queen and called out "Tails, get us out of here! Can he even hear us in the digital world?"
The Iron Queen reached out to grab them when there was a yellow flash around Sally and the others as they were pulled out from the digital world much to her frustration. Then she turned to the two Nicoles "Iron Nicole?"
"The invaders have been purged from the system, my queen. New Mobotropolis remains yours," said Nicole stoically.
"Well done," the Iron Queen turned towards Nico "I noticed that you failed to finish off the fox,"
Nico bowed in apology "A miscalculation on my part, failed to take into account of the possibility of external intervention,"
"Hmmmm, no matter. The fool will eventually return and you will have the opportunity to finish what you had started, do not fail at that time,"
"By your command,"
After the Iron Queen exited from the digital world, Nico took the time to carefully examine herself and noticed that her body had undergone some changes. The Hololynx felt like her overall capabilities have been greatly enhanced, she felt more…alive? Did Naruto do something more other than freeing her from the Iron Queen's control?
Back in the Freedom HQ, Sally and co had returned safely from the digital world with Naruto undoing the transformation before turning towards Sally to inquire something.
"Nicole said that you have a plan which requires us leaving the city and going to the Dragon Kingdom, what is it?" asked Naruto curiously.
Sally nodded in affirmation "Yes, we're going there to meet with the four ninja clans and having them break their alliances with the Iron Dominion, breaking their support lines and crippling their ability to recover,"
"And what of the two Nicoles?" asked Monkey Khan.
"We were able to free them and they currently working on reducing their level of control from within,"
"Oh I see, that's good," Monkey Khan glanced at Tails who was smiling at him smugly, Naruto noticed with a quirked eyebrow but didn't see a need to poke his nose in it.
"You took a big risk with that action of yours," said Kurama.
"I know, I recalled Chiyo-baachan's lesson when we were facing Itachi about combating his Sharingan and breaking free from his Genjutsu which is by either rebooting your chakra system or having others inject their chakra into your system to free you," thought Naruto.
"Even so, she doesn't possess a chakra circulatory system and isn't biological, it couldn't have worked,"
"True, but since it's still a foreign energy, I hoped that would overwhelm the Iron Queen's control and help Nico regain her true self,"
"*Sigh* After this, we'll need to check for any changes and hope there aren't any negative side effects,"
"Okay,"
"Alright everyone, let's shut everything down and gather supplies. We'll be heading out for the Dragon Kingdom," Sally spoke up.
"I'll get right on it," Tails ran off to gather the needed supplies and put them into his SAC.
Later on, the group had set off with Sonic and Sally riding on the wings of the Tornado with Tails as the pilot, Monkey Khan rode atop his cloud like always and Naruto was atop his Dragoon.
"Naruto, I need you in here," Kurama suddenly spoke.
"What is it?"
"Just come, you need to see this,"
"Alright, I'm coming," Naruto left his body on autopilot and dove into his mindscape to find Kurama sitting there with a serious look on his face "So, what is it you want me to se-,"
Naruto stopped in midsentence, sensing another presence besides him and Kurama inside the mindscape, he turned round only to gasp in shock as he saw who it was…a kitsune who looked just like him but the only difference was the color of his eyes which were red and black.
The lookalike smirked as he gave Naruto a two-finger salute "Yo Hikari, long time no see,"
"…Yami,"
This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Snively went to the Iron Queen with the idea of controlling the two Nicoles with her technomagic which will enable them to enter the city easily and turn their defenses against them. Sure enough, the plan was successful wit Naruto hesitant to hurt Nico whilst being pressured by Snively's newest weapon; Fulgore.
Some of the heroes along with Naruto were forced to retreat to the Freedom HQ where they dove into the city's mainframe to rescue the two lynxes which they were able to do so with Naruto's method causing strange changes on Nico before leaving them behind to go undercover and weaken the Iron Queen's control over the city. The group now begin their journey to the Dragon Kingdom to have the four ninja clans break their ties to the Iron Dominion and turn the odds to their favor. However, it appears that someone makes an unexpected return to Naruto, what is the reason for Yami Naruto's return?
A couple of chapters more and we'll be back to the Gameverse and where the action is for you guys. I'll see about compressing all of the four encounters with the ninja clans into a single chapter if possible on the next update. Be sure to read and review like always.
This is Hussbek from Ghana.
Signing out and staying alive.