Chapter 6: Blackout
"I don't see why we have to take orders from Naruto." Kiba complained. Everyone rolled their eyes. He had been complaining for the past 2 days. They had arrived at the site of the ruins and Naruto confirmed that it was a Neo Arcadian outpost. Eager to find the secrets of the ruins, the client, Ume Shokaze, chose Hinata, Naruto, Kakashi, Ryu, Arashi, and Kiba to enter the ruins with her. Kakashi had Naruto put in charge.
"Because, Kiba, Naruto has the most knowledge of the technology used by Neo Arcadia to guide us around any traps." Arashi explained for the 10th time. He was really sick of the mutt's whining. At least Akamaru kept quiet. He looked over at Naruto. His friend seemed tense, as if expecting something to happen. "What's wrong?"
Naruto was concerned. Most Neo Arcadia tech was self sustaining, so why wasn't the defense system online?
Just as he thought this, the door they came through slammed shut. Kakashi pounded on the door, "It's no use, the door is sealed shut. Arashi, try and contact the others outside." Kakashi charged up the Lightning Blade and struck the door. A barrier showed up and sent him flying, only the be caught by Ryu. Meanwhile, Arashi tried to get ahold of Azura. Static greeted his attempts to contact her. Just then, an alarm sounded out, and the door in front of them opened, showing several robots who charged in.
The robots started firing on them. Everyone ducked behind some scrap piles. Ryu was hit in the shoulder and tripped, thankfully falling behind one of the piles, "I hope the others are doing better than us." He said, pulling out his blasters. "With the defenses online, that's a suckers bet! I wouldn't be surprised if they were locked out of the ruins!" Naruto shouted over the gunfire, "Those are Pantheon X's! They were essentially the cannon fodder of Neo Arcadia's forces! There are likely dozens of them in these ruins!" He pulled out the Z-Saber, igniting it. Naruto charged forward, weaving through the blasts. He swung downwards, slicing one in half vertically.
As Naruto sliced off another one's gun arm and a third's legs, Kakashi pulled out several kunai and charged them with lightning chakra. He threw them as he jumped to the left, landing six direct hits on the chambers of the guns as he dodged the gunfire. The guns backfired, destroying the Pantheons. Rolling sideways into a kneeling position, he formed several hand signs at high speed, landing on the tiger seal. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Kakashi breathed in and exhaled a massive sphere of flame. Given the hallway was 15 feet wide, the 8 foot wide fireball engulfed a large chunk of the enemy. They had no time to celebrate though, as more poured in.
Arashi was fending off a bunch of birdlike Pantheons(think the green bird robots from Mega Man Zero 1's desert level). He had immediately released the Storm Blades and activated his Byakugan when he heard the alarm go off. Channeling chakra to the swords, he swung them in an intricate pattern, sending out crescent shaped waves that carved through them with ease. Finishing the last one off by severing its wings, causing it to crash, he looked over at Ryu. His friend looked like he won the lottery or something, blasting his opponents with glee. Arashi shook his head, "Ever the battle maniac." Kiba, Hinata, and Ume weren't doing nearly as well though. Their taijutsu wasn't able to do much damage, due to the Pantheons' armor, but they got by well enough. He didn't like this. It was too easy. Too uncoordinated. Despite the sheer numbers, all of them were taking the enemy apart left and right. A screech heralded a second squadron of the birds. He jumped at them returning to the fray.
Unbeknownst to them, a sinister presence was watching from above. Deciding to enter the battle it jumped down.
Naruto shared Arashi's worries. The lack of coordination went against all of the defense protocols programmed into the Pantheons that Ciel left records of. As the others finished their opponents, he finished his own, spinning vertically in the air in an imitation of Zero's Rolling Slash, cutting down three doglike Pantheons. Suddenly, all of his instincts went haywire. He jumped to the right turning around as something big crashed down where he had been standing. As the smoke settled, Naruto paled as white as snow, shaking in horror and disbelief. The lights went out and a large number of flashing lights appeared. The creature stood up. Standing at 16 feet tall, it was covered in gold and purple armor. A blue plume of hair spiked outward in a mohawk on its head. A black visor covered its face, and the claw-like hands lacked arms, floating at its sides. a violet colored claymore with a silver hilt was held in its right hand, seemingly made of energy. The tip of the blade was shaped like a plus sign with circular grooves at the corners where the prongs met. The armor was damaged heavily, as if it had been blown apart from the inside out. It seemed to glare at Naruto in both anger and confusion.
Naruto knew what stood in front of him and
He had seen this monster in his ancestor's archives.
And he knew they were in serious trouble.
His comrades looked at him in worry. They had never seen genuine fear on Naruto's face. As they laid eyes upon their new foe, Naruto uttered a name that sent a chill down their spines as if that name alone could curse the weak of heart.
"Omega."