Adventures of the Orange Flash
Chapter 74: Darker than Black
"We're almost at Westopolis!" said Nicole who was acting as a navigator for Naruto as they ran through the grassy plain in direction of their destination.
"I know, I can feel the anxiety, fear and despair from the people inside the city," said Naruto with a frown due to his NES (Negative Emotion Sensing) which he got from Kurama blaring on full cylinders right now.
They soon reach the outskirts of Westopolis where they saw crimson clouds swirl over the city, disgorging alien legions into the heart of the metropolis that wasted no time in causing destruction to anything and everything in their sight.
"Oh my goodness…," Nicole was shocked to see what is happening.
Naruto glared with his teeth gritted in anger, seeing this reminds him of when Orochimaru attacked the Hidden Leaf village alongside the deceived Sand village "We're not gonna let these invaders get away with this, let's get in there and drive them out!"
Nicole snapped back into focus and nodded in affirmation "I'm with you,"
Music Start: Shadow the Hedgehog OST; Westopolis
Upon running forward and launching off a dash ramp, Naruto and Nicole went into a freefall through the cityscape in the midst of skyscrapers. They had to veer from side to side to avoid the G.U.N helicopters flying around before reaching the bottom with Nicole activating her Digital Wings and grabbing Naruto by the hand so as to slow their descent and land on the ground safely. They were about to move on when a mechanical voice called out to them.
"You have arrived,"
Naruto's eyes widened in recognition "Wait, that voice…could it be?"
Something jumped off from a building's rooftop and landed on the ground, revealing itself to them.
It was a metallic-doglike robot which is very familiar to Naruto albeit with a different chassis, its black framework having it resemble more of a wolf than a dog, he took note that most of its equipment is retain but the chainsaw isn't present on its back.
"I guess Tails and Rotor were able to rebuild as well as give you some upgrades, but what are you doing here?" Naruto inquired.
"I was deployed to gather intel on the enemy and provide assistance once you have arrived. Carol considers this to be a chance to 'throw me a bone' which is a wordplay on me resembling a dog since dogs like bones, an attempt in humor on two levels,"
"Glad to have you on board with us, let's go and show these invaders just how unwelcome they are on this planet,"
"You may also call me Bladewolf, such is my new name given to me by Tails and Rotor who not only rebuilt me but also removed the Memory Erasure program from my system," said the newly named Bladewolf.
Nicole smiled in affirmation "Then it's nice to meet you, Bladewolf,"
Bladewolf nodded in response "Likewise,"
The trio proceeded with their advance and Bladewolf proved to be capable of keeping up with their speed. Apparently, Rotor had a hand in it as he built the framework with the purpose of highspeed performance and maneuverability alongside combat.
They landed in the streets to find them piled with debris, ignited cars, traffic cones and barricade fences while skyscrapers are left in various conditions with some knocked down while others are barely intact. As if that wasn't orbital laser beams rained down from above.
Hearing sounds of gunfire, Naruto and the others saw a squad of GUN soldiers taking cover behind a barricade and firing at a group of aliens being humanoid creatures with jet black and crimson skin and menacing yellow eyes that wielded alienlike plasma machine gun pistols and were shooting at them.
"Those must be the invaders, let's get them! Fox fireball!" Naruto conjured orbs of blue flames from his palms and threw them to attack some of the black aliens.
"Right!" Nicole equipped herself with the Arms Case as the bits flew around her, she holstered the SMG from the case and fired multiple bursts of energy bullets at a rapid rate "Spark Stellar!" Nico commanded the Bits to take up a specific formation which then unleashed a spread of lightning bolts straight forward at the aliens.
Naruto used the ECG-X gloves to create energy constructs of kunai into his hands "Here's the finisher, Swift Release: Bladed Shadow Dance!" he move along rapidly and lightly around aliens while leaving behind a trail of afterimages, cutting them all down. He went to check on the GUN soldiers "Are you guys okay?"
One of the soldiers were taken aback upon recognizing him "Wait, you're the guy who won the World Fight Tournament!"
Naruto sighed in response "Yeah, that's me and I'm here to help,"
"We'd definitely appreciate it, we already got word that Sonic the Hedgehog is already here and fighting the aliens. Plus we're also focusing on evacuating the civilians under all this,"
"Then let me help with that," Naruto created over hundred clones, stunning the soldiers "These guys will help with the evacuation while we go and deal with these invaders,"
"R-Right, thanks a lot," a soldier stammered a thanks.
"Don't mention it,"
Running forward along the street which took a right turn then sloped downwards, the team were suddenly attacked by a swarm of birdlike aliens that swooped around and was attacking from different directions, making it tricky for them to focus on one of them.
"Will-o-wisp!" Naruto created balls of foxfire with a wave of his tails which he then controlled remotely mentally to fly around and attack the aliens overhead with Nicole joining in by controlling her bits to attack as well.
Bladewolf spoke up "Alert beware of the glowing red fruits ahead of you, such foreign specimen are being planted by the invaders and have shown to be highly noxious to both Mobians and Overlanders. Recommend destroying from a safe distance,"
"We'll be careful," said Nicole.
Sure enough, they came across the red alien fruits which are large red and purple-glowing spiky pods standing on thin stems and inside them glows a faint yellow/white light. Nicole used her SMG to destroy them and clearing open a path into a much wider section of the city to find more GUN soldiers combating the black aliens but were getting pushed back.
Naruto was about to help when two orbs of black and white energy respectively appeared on his hands and revealed themselves to be twin single-edged shortswords with the black sword embossed with red hexagonal patterns whilst the white sword has less of the shine of a polished metal in its ore than it has the haze of a cloud, and both bore the Yin Yang symbols on their hilts. But it didn't stop there, the swords undergone another transformation and now appear as bayoneted handguns which surprised Naruto even more.
"Kurama, aren't these…?"
"If you're asking about the two lights that went into your body and hide themselves in the mindscape from us, then yeah these are the ones. Must have decided to finally be of use to you," said Kurama with a shrug.
"In that case…," Naruto twirled the bayoneted handguns which he learnt their names to be Kanshou and Bakuya and what they can do in his hands then took a combat stance "There's no better opportunity to test these guys out than now,"
The blonde kitsune rushed forward while at the same time shooting rapidly with his newly acquired weapons which caught the attention of the aliens and they started attacking him instead by firing plasma bullets with their extraterrestrial firearms "Swift Release: Shadow Step!" he suddenly disappeared from sight, confusing alien invaders. Unbeknownst to them, Naruto was standing among them as he performed a handstand while his tails held the bayoneted handguns then unleashed a whirlwind of kicks and bullets all around him.
"Vantage Raid!" Nico commanded her Bits to launch ring-shaped shots that appear to be made of ropelike energy which wrapped around the remaining aliens, restricting their ability to move then she slotted the SMG into the Arms Case and had it transform into a high precision rifle before proceeding to shoo them all down.
"Alert, incoming laser attacks from above!" Bladewolf called out to the others, that's when the orbital lasers rained all over the area, forcing Naruto and Nicole to generate energy shields to protect the GUN soldiers from harm until the assault came to an end.
"Darn it, we gotta turn the tides before things get any worse!" said Naruto urgently.
After making sure that the soldiers were okay, the trio continued on their way as they sped through a shuttle loop and launched themselves off a dash ramp onto the next section of the city. There they saw that the black aliens were fighting something other than GUN and were getting a one-sided beatdown or rather burndown.
"You weirdos picked the wrong planet to invade!"
"Aye!"
Someone jumped out from the flames to land on the ground before Naruto and Nicole with the two being shocked upon seeing who it is as the former made that known vocally.
"Natsu, is that you?!" Naruto exclaimed in shock.
Said person turned around and smiled upon seeing the kitsune "Naruto, long time no see!"
"Aye, it's really been a long time! And you have a metal dog with you," Happy hovered next to Natsu while waving at the group.
"Yeah but, what happened to you, Natsu? You've changed," said Nicole.
The reason for hers and Naruto's confusion is that Natsu was your everyday overlander with special fire powers, but now his body is completely different as his flesh is replaced with pinkish reptilian scales, black claws are visible on his hands and sandaled feet, he now possesses a pair of draconic wings, a pair of black horns on his head and a long tail. One can go as far as to say that Natsu has completely transformed into a Mobian dragon!
Realizing what they were talking about, Natsu looked at himself with a sheepish smile "Oh this? It kinda happened while I was training at a volcano over at Marble Hills Zone, I accidently fell into the lava which led to me absorbing the heat into my body that it couldn't take anymore. By the time I got out, I was already looking like this,"
Naruto sweatdropped at this "Something tells me that your body was forced to adapt and evolve in order to save you from your blunder,"
"Yeah but thanks to that, I'm so much stronger and these aliens are perfect to test them out on. Let's have a competition on the winner being who beats up the most aliens,"
"We don't have time for that, we need to stop the destruction of the city above all else!" said Nicole sternly.
"Oh okay, let's go!" Natsu took off.
"Aye!" Happy was quick to fly after him.
"What a strange pair," Bladewolf commented.
"Yeah, but his strength is no joke. I should know since I fought him before this change of his. Come on, we need to catch up with him," said Naruto.
They caught up with Natsu to find him burning up aliens with his flames which are clearly more powerful than before and was also making good use of his wings and tail for close combat. Naruto was then surprised to see Natsu suddenly combined lightning with his flames just when they fought in the tournament which he thought had faded away over time.
Snapping back into focus, Naruto stepped forward "I see you've gotten stronger, well you're not the only one,"
Natsu looked back with a challenging smirk "Then why don't you show me some new moves?"
"Try not to blink or you'll miss it,"
Naruto closed his eyes and called upon his newest aspect; his body is enshrouded in a hooded cloak made out of black flickering flames with his eyes glowing ominously from within the hood. From an outside point of view, he resembles a Grim Reaper.
"Now then…," Naruto's voice sounded like a whisper which sends chills crawling through one's spine "Let's have some fun,"
"Shadow Immersion!" Naruto leaned back to let himself fall into his shadow which promptly disappeared, the black aliens looked around for the kitsune frantically only for him to suddenly emerge from their own shadow "Dark Maelstrom!" Naruto creates a pair of swords out of dark energy then performs a spinning attack around himself to attack his enemies then finishes the assault by combining the swords into one for a powerful diagonal uppercut.
Several swarms of the birdlike flew towards him to attack but Naruto already had a counterattack set up "Abyssal Maw!" he outstretches both hands to create a large ball of darkness which has a vacuuming effect and sucked all of the aliens inside then disappeared afterwards.
"Interesting, your prowess is much greatly than I initially calculated," said Bladewolf thoughtfully.
"Whoa, those are some pretty slick moves," Natsu admitted.
"I didn't know that you had unlocked another aspect," said Nicole after shooting down the remaining stragglers.
Naruto reverted to his default form with a sheepish smile "I was training on it for a while before deciding to use it on the battlefield,"
There was beeping from Naruto's ECG-X gloves which he tapped to receive a call from Sally {Naruto, can you hear me?}
"Yeah, we can," Naruto responded.
{We're getting word from the network that the civilians are being safely evacuated and the alien invaders by being repressed thanks to your efforts and that of others but it's not yet over}
"What else is there?" Nicole inquired.
{We're getting reports of a large force of alien invaders oppressing GUN forces at the north section of Westopolis while there's another located at Downtown Westopolis}
"If that's the case, you can leave the bad guys at the north to us, I'm gonna burn em good!" Natsu spoke up, having heard their conversation and isn't hesitant to help them out.
Naruto nodded in understanding "Thanks for the assist, Natsu. That leaves us with downtown,"
{I'll have Carol rendezvous with you there to drive them out of the city, be careful out there} said Sally.
"We will, Sally-chan," Naruto ended the transmission before turning to the others "Time for us to head out, watch yourself,"
"No worries, I'm all fired up!" Natsu flapped his wings several times before lifting himself into the air and flying off to complete his new objective with Happy flying next to him.
"I will guide you to the rendezvous point," said Bladewolf, offering to be the navigator.
"Thanks Bladewolf, we need to hurry and prevent the enemy from setting a foothold on this planet," said Nicole. They set out with Bladewolf in the lead towards their next destination.
Music End
Inside the command center of GUN HQ, middle-aged man with heterochronic eyes and greying hair wearing a grey militaristic regalia watched over the activities of his subordinates relating to the alien invasion when a GUN soldier came inside and saluted him before giving his report.
"The black aliens have attacked six major cities around the world and every city is reporting significant damages and casualties. Amongst them, Downtown Metropolis has received the worst due to its weak defense system. Unconfirmed sources reported seeing a black hedgehog in Westopolis and-,"
"Shadow?!" the commander's eyes narrowed upon realizing who the hedgehog is "Deploy the troops now! And if you find Shadow with the aliens…then destroy them all!"
The soldier took a step back in surprise and confusion of his commander's sudden aggression "But sir, isn't Shadow on our side?"
"I gave you an order soldier, he's evil and he's the enemy!" he made to turn away but saw that the soldier hasn't left yet "What are you standing around for?"
"Um, I have another thing to report," said the soldier nervously, afraid of getting yelled at.
"Well? Out with it!"
"W-Well…in spite of Westopolis suffering the worst damages, it has the lowest number of casualties due to receiving aid from a group called the Freedom Fighters whom Sonic the hedgehog is a member of. A majority of the support came from a nine-tailed fox called Naruto Uzumaki who used some sort of skill to make numerous copies of himself to aid in the evacuation and healing the injured soldiers,"
"Is that so?" the commander hummed thoughtfully "See if you can get in touch with their leader, but do not forget my previous orders!"
"Yes sir!" the GUN soldier didn't hesitate to run out of the room, not wanting to gain the commander's ire at the moment.
"There's no fooling me, Shadow. This time, you're mine!" then the commander hummed in thought again "And these Freedom Fighters, they might be of aid to me especially that fox. But I can't be too sure yet, best that I keep an eye on them for now and see if they really are trustworthy,"
Elsewhere in another section of the city, Shadow the Hedgehog was casually walking along the abandoned street while holding a green Chaos Emerald in one hand and a blue Chaos Emerald in another. Suddenly, a being rose from the ground and confronted the black hedgehog.
He resembles the black aliens attacking the planet except that he has a jet-black legless body with three red bestial eyes, twin wide horns with red tips, a set of spines on his scalp, three-fingered paws with claws, and no lips. The alien being wears a dark brown worn robe with black-brown shoulder pads and golden accents, a maroon drape scarf with tattoo markings hanging from the back, golden chains with a set of silver-spiked medallions possessing a gem, and a double black cord necklace with red, blue and purple ornaments on one and golden and silver pendants on the other. Overall, the being appears to be some sort of hologram.
"You deliberately disobeyed me, Shadow!" said the alien angrily.
Shadow appeared nonplussed as he simply walked by him "No one tells me what to do, I have my own reason for collecting the Chaos Emeralds,"
"You really don't understand the situation, do you!? Perhaps Professor Gerald has done to your memory more than I imagined,"
Hearing that caused Shadow to promptly turn around while putting away the two Chaos Emeralds "The professor?"
Seeing the confused expression on Shadow's face made the alien pause in thought "Hmm…strange that you don't remember your own maker,"
"What did you say?" Shadow pressed, wanting to know more.
"Silence! The ramifications of your disobedience will be severe!"
Before Shadow could react, the alien waved his arm and suddenly teleported him away via Chaos Control to a place unknown to anyone but the alien himself.
Back with Naruto and the group, they've arrived at the rendezvous point which is on a long stretch of a highway connected to a network of freeways built high in the air amongst the numerous skyscrapers of Westopolis.
"Naruto, look!" Nicole pointed at something for him and the others to see. Sure enough, they saw that many of the skyscrapers of Westopolis have begun to be transformed and mutated by the black aliens in spite of them having taken out many of their soldiers earlier, along with some of their fruit.
"This is not good, they're already having an effect on the city," said Naruto with a frown.
Bladewolf spoke up "My theory is that they intend to alter the planet's ecology to suit their needs, most likely with the purpose of residence,"
"Not on our watch, and where's Carol-chan? She's supposed to be here,"
Beep-beep*
No sooner he finished the sentence that they heard the sound of a car horn and looked to see vehicle speeding in their direction before skidding to a stop next to them. Before the group is a heavily customized All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) equipped with all-wheel drivetrain, the off-road wheels and the high suspension allows it to cross terrain and small obstacles with no trouble. There's a machinegun turret mounted on the roof at the passenger seat while a Grenade Launcher is mounted at the rear roof of the vehicle. Naruto recalls Rotor and Tails naming it the Barrage, being one of many back at FF HQ (an Barrage from Grand Theft Auto Online)
Carol poked her head out of the driver's window with a wide grin "Hey guys, sorry for being late! The traffic on the way here is rather nasty,"
Naruto shook his head in amusement "Better late than never,"
"Anyways, these aliens are turning tail and running away from the city after the butt whooping we've given them, but we're not gonna let em off so easily. Sally told me that the invaders' lead tank is trying to make a getaway, so we're gonna chase it down and blow it up,"
"Simple and straight to the point," said Nicole with a hum.
"Pretty much, now hop in and let's burn rubber!" said Carol excitedly.
"Alright then," Naruto got in the Barrage to man the machinegun turret while Nicole took control of the grenade launcher and Bladewolf sat next to her in the carriage.
Carol slammed her foot down on the gas pedal, making the tires screech on the asphalt before accelerating at highspeed.
Music Start: Shadow the Hedgehog OST; Lethal Highway
Carol drove the Barrage across the highway, expertly maneuvering around the fallen debris, car wreckages and barricades set up by GUN's forces as they raced in search of the enemy's tank.
"Up ahead, that must be the tank!" Naruto pointed for them to see that black alien's tank which somewhat resembles that of a stealth bomber while appearing like a hybrid of mechanical and organic.
"Then start shooting at it!" Carol called out as she focused fully in the pursuit of their target. Naruto aimed the machinegun and pulled the trigger to fire bullets at the Black Tank, but it appears to be protected by a blue energy shield "Should have guessed that it would be shielded,"
"My analysis shows that energy is consumed when the shield actively defends against attacks, I suggest a constant attack to force the tank to exhaust its energy reserves hence rendering it vulnerable," said Bladewolf.
Naruto nodded in affirmation "Sounds good,"
Detecting that it was being attacked, the Black Tank increased its speed and began to pull away from the team but Carol immediately shifted gears and started to close the gap between them. It also seems like the alien invaders are being defensive of the tank as they would start firing at the team whenever they drive past them and those flying birdlike aliens swarmed them from above.
Kou swung into action as the Hero Chaos hovered in front of the Barrage and concentrated his energy to create a shield around the vehicle, protecting it against incoming fire for some time. Yoru wasn't being idle either, conjuring black spheres of energy the size of basketballs then narrowed eyes and jagged mouths appeared then started cackling as they flew at the flying aliens and bit into them several times before exploding in dark energy.
"Photon Detonator!" Nicole remotely controlled the bits to take on a new formation as they launched a ball of light which resulted in a large explosion upon impact and cleared out all of the flying aliens so they could focus on the Black Tank.
At that time, the Black Tank had deployed several bombs and remotely detonating them to destroy a portion of the highway between itself and its pursuers. Carol's mind raced for a solution until she noticed that a large piece of debris was slanted at a certain angle which gave her an idea. She steered the Barrage towards it and slammed her foot on the gas pedal to make go at full throttle as it launched itself into the air over the wide gap and managing to make it across to the other side.
"You know, I'm starting to see myself making it big as a stuntwoman," said Carol half joking and half serious.
"We'll talk about career choices when all this is over!" Naruto interjected as he continued to fire at the Black Tank's energy shield with the machinegun turret but it hissed with steam emerging from it due to overheat much to his chagrin "Darn, it overheated. Might as well switch to alternatives,"
He reached to the SAC and tapped the screen a few times to bring out his Peacekeeper rifle then held it next to his head "Full Auto," the rifle beeped in compliance as he took aim and fired energy bullets rapidly at the Black Tank with the shield still holding strong but now the color has changed from blue to green "It's starting to weaken, just need to keep it up!"
The Black Tank deployed more bombs to destroy the highway and this time made sure that there's no debris to serve as a makeshift ramp for a jump, forcing Carol to take a different route which has a lot of obstruction in the form of wrecked vehicles, scattered debris and black aliens which began to fire at them.
"This ain't good, not only did we lose the tank but we got all this to slow us down!" said Carol with a frown.
"Then we'll just have to clear a path. Let's go, Nicole-chan!" Naruto jumped off the Barrage and ran ahead.
"Right!" Nicole activated her Digital Wings and flew after him.
"Shadow Clone jutsu!" Naruto created a dozen copies of himself as they dashed forward "You guys know what to do!"
"Roger!" some of the clones accessed the Celestial Aspect with halos appearing above their heads as they went on the offensive "White Hailing Arrows!" each clone created their individual bows made from celestial energy then fired arrows into the air which spilt into numerous copies when falling back to the ground with the black aliens having no way to block or even dodge them, becoming nothing more than extraterrestrial pincushions. The next group of clones accessed the Air Aspect with strong gusts of wind swirling around them "Wind Vortex!" they worked together to create a large tornado which pulled the surviving aliens and debris into it then remotely controlled to move elsewhere and toss its contents to the side.
Next up were the clones accessing the Earth Aspect with rocks orbiting around them, they moved the heavier broken parts of the buildings out of the way while others got more creative and angled some of the much longer to serve as ramps for Carol to make the Barrage jump off of or carry across gaps.
Nicole was high in the air with her eyes scanning for the Black Tank when she caught sight of it "I've found the tank, sending you a route to intercept it!" she transmitted the coordinates to the GPS on the vehicle's dashboard.
"Thanks Nicole, I'm not gonna let it get away from us this time!" Carol took a hard swerve to the right into an underpass with Naruto running next to her but sure enough there were similar obstructions here as well "Naruto, could use some help here!"
"I'm on it!" Naruto ran ahead and created a shadow clone then they worked together to a large blue spiraling sphere of chakra "Giant Rasengan!" they thrust for attack forward while running, destroying anything and everything in their way with Carol driving behind them until they exited from the tunnel and were back on the freeway where they found the Black Tank flying ahead of them.
"We're on track and this time we're not letting it get away!" said Carol.
"Allow me to assist," Bladewolf extended his tail to grip the machinegun turret firmly then pulled down on the trigger to fire rapidly on the tank's energy shield to wear it down.
"Digital Projection!" Nicole hovered in the air from above while wielding the Arms Case in rifle mode and created a large number of swords constructed from data before launching them at the Black Tank's energy shield which has now changed from green to red "Just a little more and the shield will go down!"
"In that case…," Naruto switched to his Peacekeeper Rifle and charged it up with energy as he perched atop the roof of the Barrage "Shotlock: Meteor Shower!" he hovered a foot in the air and pulled the trigger to launch small star-like projectiles rapidly which homed in on the target, eventually shattering the shield and leaving the Black Tank completely vulnerable to their attacks "The shield's gone, take it down now!"
"Leave it to me, Shred Storm!" at Nicole's command, the Bits glowed with purple energy then darted at highspeed with a purple light trailing behind each of them as they unleashed a storm of slashes before finally ending the barrage with the trailing lights drawing a "Claw" (爪) Kanji for all to see. The Black Tank literally fell to pieces and exploded signifying the mission's success.
Music End
"Alright, we got it! Now the invaders will be forced to retreat from the city!" said Carol cheerfully.
"The battle may be won but the invasion is far from over, our aggression must not wane," Bladewolf pointed out.
"Do you have to be such a downer?"
"I am rather being a realist in the view of all things,"
"Come on guys, just…," Naruto suddenly frowned which caught the attention of Carol and the others.
"What's wrong?" Nicole inquired with concern.
"I sense something…something evil, and it's coming from over there!" Naruto ran off in a particular direction before the others could say anything.
"Naruto, wait up!" Carol called after the blonde kitsune.
"I'll go after him, be sure to catch up!" Nicole flew after Naruto to find out what's going on.
"Oh come on, don't leave me too!"
"I haven't left, so you're not exactly alone," said Bladewolf.
"Wasn't being specific here,"
"I know,"
Catching up with Naruto, the duo soon traced the source of evil which Naruto has been sensing in a section of the city. There they came upon a large floating eye with long black-and-red tentacles.
The eye turned to face the duo and glared "So, you're the one who has been getting in the way of my forces,"
Naruto frowned in response "And you're the one I was sensing, who are you?"
"I am Black Doom; creator and leader of the Black Arms," the now named Black Doom introduced himself, Naruto could tell that this isn't his real form and frowned.
"The name's Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, nice to know the name of the person whom my comrades and I are going to lay the beatdown on for attacking our planet,"
"So, you think you stand a chance against ME…do you?" asked Black Doom.
"You aren't the first ambitious guy to try taking over a world that we beat down and you won't be the last either,"
"It would appear that you do not know your place. Black Bull, I summon you!" Black Doom called out.
Suddenly a giant alien creature appeared before the duo; it is a massive creature having a large black and gray blubbery body with black and red wings protruding out of it. Spikes are present around the Black Bull's body and wings. Its face is red surrounding its singular green eye and has white fangs while it also has hands with pointy white claws next to its mouth.
"Behold, the wrath of Black Arms! Come Black Bull, burn this city and its in habitants to the ground!" Black Doom declared before flying away for the duo to face the creature on their own.
"What have they been feeding this thing?" Kurama wondered.
"I doubt either of us wants to know," thought Naruto as he brandished the Kanshou and Bakuya handguns "Let's defeat this thing and make sure that it won't hurt anyone else,"
Nicole pulled out her SMG from the Arms Case "It goes without saying, Naruto,"
Music Start: Shadow the Hedgehog OST; Boss: Black Bull
"Alright, let's do this!" Naruto took aim with his dual bayoneted handguns and fired rapidly at Black Bull, but the bullets merely bounced off its large blubbery body with no signs of damage on it at all "If bullets won't work, then how about this?" he holstered the handguns to his waist belt and formed blue fireballs on each hand "Foxfire Barrage!" Naruto thrust his hands forward to fire a salvo of azure fireballs at Black Bull but this time the alien refused to be idle as it opened its mouth to release a powerful stream of flames which overpowered the foxfire and was about to hit the duo.
"Hydro Zapper!" Nicole had the bits to take on dual formations which formed two orbs of compressed water, the bits proceeded to emulate the motions of a water pump as they released two beams of water that pierces through the flames, dousing it and struck the Black Bull right in the singular eye which made it react with a roar of pain and flee from them "It would seem that the eye is the weak point,"
Naruto nodded in understanding "Now that we know where to strike, we just need to focus on it,"
They chased after the giant flying alien to find several more of the Black Warriors wielding large purple energy swords and plasma machinegun pistols on the streets and began to attack them.
Naruto swiftly dashed forward in a zigzag pattern whilst using the Swift Release to leave behind afterimages to distract his enemies and shoot at them in the midst of the confusion, he reached some of the aliens and slashed at them with the bayonets on the handguns while also firing pointblank shots from close up. With a swift motion, Naruto slammed the pommels of both handguns together, making them combine and transform into a double-bladed melee staff. Naruto focused intently on the enemies ahead and time seemed to have slowed down to a crawl as he mentally marked them before throwing the bladed melee staff through the air like a spinning buzzsaw which sliced through the targets he had marked before flying back into his hand akin to that of a boomerang.
While this was going on, Nicole made her way past the aliens with her invisibility shroud active and reached the Black Bull. She transformed her Arms Case into its rifle mode and took aim whilst swiftly calculating the trajectory, power and target with energy being concentrated at the muzzle of the rifle before pulling the trigger to fire an energy bullet straight into the Black Bull's eye which inflicted a lot of damage and forced it to retreat yet again due to the unseen attack.
Resuming the pursuit once more, Naruto and Nicole caught up with the Black Bull which roared in anger upon seeing the two responsive for its pain, it opened its mouth to release a large swarm of the Black Wing aliens to attack them.
"It must be weakening to make such a desperate move, time to finish it off!" Naruto called out to Nicole who nodded in affirmation.
The blonde kitsune looked around for a moment and spotted a portion of the street they're on has been torn up to reveal the underground power cables which were damaged and sparking a bit. Seeing this gave him an idea as he accessed his Lightning Aspect with blue bolts of electricity arcing through his body with a majority emitting from his hands.
"I'm gonna be running up someone's electric bill after this…," Naruto concentrated as he absorbed a large amount of electricity from the power cables to enhance his next move "Lightning Storm!" he leapt into the air once he noted that the flying aliens had gotten enough then unleashed a constant flare of electricity from his body which attacked the Black Wings en masse and turned them to ashes before they could put up any sort of defense.
"And now, it's just you left to deal with," Naruto clapped his hands together and slowly spread them out with blue electricity crackling in between them before solidifying and shaping into a spear which he grabbed with one hand held it above his head "Let's see you handle this, Lightning Spear!" he reared back and threw the spear like a javelin as it flew towards the Black Bull and pierced right through its eye and emerged from the other side.
The Black Bull released a loud deathly wail before falling to the ground with a thud which shook the ground a bit due to the impact then it laid there unmoving, signaling its death.
Music End
"Heh, we got it!" Naruto smirked as he reverted to his normal form with Nicole floating down to land next to him while deactivating the Arms Case and the bits returned to it.
"With its defeat, GUN will be able to fully drive the black aliens out of Westopolis," said Nicole.
"Not to mention that my clones were able to help evacuate the citizens to safety and also healed the injured,"
Then Carol and Bladewolf showed up in the Barrage with the former taking notice of the giant alien lying on the ground and whined a bit.
"Oh man, I missed fighting a giant alien," the wildcat complained.
Naruto shrugged his shoulders in response "Pretty sure that there's more where this one came from,"
"There'd better be,"
"So, what will be our next course of action?" asked Nicole curiously.
Carol spoke up "We can meet up with Sally, she's waiting for us in the Mobile Operations Center which we've parked at the outskirts of the city. It's what we used to get here before I came to meet up with you, and also what we'll be using to get around instead of always going to the HQ,"
"Sounds good to me, let's head on over and find out what's going on since this place isn't the only one being attacked," said Naruto.
"In that case, hop in and we'll be heading out,"
Everybody got into the Barrage before Carol drove off into the highway which will lead them out of Westopolis so they can meet with Sally and the others in order to learn more about Black Doom and the Black Arms.
This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Naruto along with Nicole and the Chao arrive in Westopolis to find it under attack by alien invaders and GUN are hard-pressed to repel, making them waste no time in assisting them. Along the way, they ran into Natsu and Happy albeit the former having undergone a complete change since they last met, appearing more like a dragon than an overlander which was due to a mishap during a training which forced him to access his inner dragon powers.
It would also appear that amnesiac Shadow has a mysterious link with the alien invaders as the leader himself ordered the black hedgehog to deliver the Chaos Emeralds to him as 'promised' although he isn't entirely compliant to do so. Naruto and Nicole were also accompanied by a rebuilt and upgraded Bladewolf as they met up with Carol and eventually encountered the leader of the invader who summoned an alien monster to attack them only to be defeated by their combined might. Now they leave the city to unite with Sally and figure what else they can do to stop whatever plans that the black aliens have planned for Mobius.
As seen in the chapter, Naruto's newest weapon is the handguns versions of Kanshou and Bakuya wielded by EMIYA Alter from FGO. Bladewolf is also returned and will be equipped with various weapons and gears besides its signature HF Chainsaw. The Barrage vehicle is from Grand Theft Auto which I felt is a suitable ground assault vehicle for the Freedom Fighters with the same for the Mobile Operations Center (MOC). If you want to know how Natsu looks like now, refer to Natsu Dragneel the Dragon and Happy by Animemaster1995 on DeviantArt. Be sure to read and review like always.
This is Hussbek from Ghana.
Signing out and staying alive
Let us all bid farewell to 2023 before stepping to the long-awaited 2024.