6Authors note: Well, it's been a little while in planning but here's the first chapter to 'Naruto the Immutable Object'. Now, to anyone who hasn't played Transistor... get on it! It's an amazingly beautiful game! Or at the very least hop onto YouTube and watch a few let's play episodes.
Something I want to note here is that the world of Transistor is never really delved into too deep and the lore is up for interpretation, so really, this story is my take on it. I've done as much research as I could and this story is the end result. Please read it!
Oh yeah! This is also really more of a prologue, but I think it builds up the story well and will get everyone interested in how things in the a transistor world are going to change thanks to Naruto's presence. Anyways, onwards with the story!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Transistor.
Naruto the Immutable Object
-Chapter One-
Lazily swaying back and forth inside a simple hammock was a beautiful and elegantly dressed woman. Her gentle looking face was surrounded by long, puffy, pale-blond-hair, and was currently cast with a look of boredom as she sat upright, lazily swinging back and forth as she lightly pushed off from the stones near her feet. She was careful about the placement of her feet though, seeing as the hammock was situated over a body of salty water below her; the ties wrapped tightly around a thick lumbering branch which jutted out from a large tree off to her right. The base of the tree grew out of the sandy earth of a small island in front of her, with the stones she was using to push off from forming a short path between the hammock she rested on and the sandy beach in front of her.
Ahead of her stabbed in the sand was the parasol she usually carried, with her wide brimmed sun-hat resting on it. Maybe she should actually use them, she thought to herself seeing as she'd been in the direct sun for awhile now; something that wasn't exactly the usual for her. Well, thinking about it she was already in the hammock, and she was too comfortable.
With each motion she made in order to keep the hammock's lazy sway in motion, her long yet well fitted dress would tighten around her knees, squeezing lightly in a manner she rather found nice; sort of like someone wrapping their arms around her legs. The thought allowed a small upturning of the lips to break the bored exterior of her face, as she found the idea of someone specifically hugging around her knees odd and humorous. After a moment though, her boredom returned and her face mirrored that fact. She only came here because it was a place that she could come to to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city; a place that she didn't constantly have to deal with the various high-society social figures of Cloudbank.
Her name was Sybil Reisz, and her job in the city revolved around organizing the majority of the city's popular public events, from ground-breaking ceremonies to contemporary festivals. She really did enjoy holding events that would bring the people together in happiness; to be able to use her unique skills to make others happy always made her feel useful. Sadly though, once her name had become more recognized by the citizens things soon became more stressful. Instead of getting to do her work for the city and it's people for the sake of fun, she soon started being contacted by the city's better-off citizens. Ones that could make life hard for a person that upset them. As such she often had to plan extravagant events for snobby people that showed little gratitude for her work. Thinking about it now made her thankful that she wouldn't have to keep working the way she had much longer, and that was due to one reason.
Being an event planner wasn't her only job.
What she considered to be her true job was working for a group by the name of The Camerata, gathering information on various celebrities and the like, and using her cover to pick and choose those that held favorable traits in which might help forward the groups goals by forwarding their names to the other members of The Camerata. She had only done so once though, seeing as the group had only recently contacted her and allowed her to join.
The group itself was actually fairly new from what she had gathered from the way they spoke to her about their plans. Her initial thought was that the group was some sort of fanatical terror group, looking to take over the city she called home, but as they explained further she couldn't help but to agree with their ideals. Their goal was to wrest the power entirely from the citizens of the city and take the position of a sort of tyrannical council, ruling over it. It all sounded so evil, but in the grand scheme of things and after all was taken into consideration, it was something that she felt needed to happen, and after she got over her initial fears, it became something she actively wanted to help with.
Though, since the group was reletively new and hadn't actually began any of their plans yet, she wasn't entirely sure how far they'd actually be able to take heir goals. Not far in all likelihood, but it was still better to try and live with a meaningful purpose than to keep repeating the same cycles that she normally did, day after day. It was change. It was potential progress.
The lack of movement so far with the group was why she was currently on the little island she was. At the moment she was supposed to just live life like she normally would; live the day to day repetition that was her life. And that's where her boredom was derived from. A large part of the reason she joined was in the hopes of breaking out of the cycle of repitition and to finally have some change that was worth while. She wanted to get away from her monotonous life of living in the city, and when she brought up her curiosity over when they'd begin to make their moves, one of the other members had caught on to her change in mood. Royce Bracket, the smartest member of their group had, with little tact, confronted her about what she really wanted and had quickly wound up questioning about what was bothering her.
A short conversation later and he had already pried her concerns from her. Not in a forceful manner, but through conversation, like a couple of close friends. She found it extremely odd that even though they weren't close by any means, he'd still seemed to sincerely care, and that had been all it took to get her to vent to him about the anxiety she felt over the fast-paced world around her. Maybe it was his normally calm and collected demeanor rubbing off on her by proxy that allowed her to finally open up, but it really didn't take long, and it felt great to finally talk about how nice it'd be to just get away from it all, and have the option to be alone for awhile without having to surround herself with the usual crowds of people like she normally did.
The smile that he'd sent her when she finished venting made her feel content with having chosen to open up to the man, and that feeling was further reinforced with the man's next words.
"I understand," he had spoke calmly with knowing eyes. "It's the same way the rest of us feel, even if not to the same extent as you. But now that I know how you feel... I can help you. There's a place that you can go, well, that I can take you to, where you can be alone for awhile. It's a good place to clear your mind, or to just sit and think things through. Shall I show you?"
She was hesitant at first, but when she had thought about it there really was little risk, so she had agreed. A couple downward trips via gondola, and the duo was soon standing on a bricked path of the ground-level city streets, located directly in front of a group of tall towers.
Watching briefly as various people quickly scurried around, either heading one way or the other across the street in front of her, Sybil found it hard to comprehend how the people could maintain their smiling faces. How did they deal with the fact that nothing in their city every truly changed? Did they even notice? The thoughts brought forth the lingering insecurities she felt about herself and made her feel even more disconnected from her peers. Why couldn't she view things in the same manner as everyone else and just be happy? Closing her eyes she took a deep breath and reopened them. She needed to be rational.
Before she could ponder things any longer, Bracket began moving into the street, herself following closely behind. While she was thankful for the distraction, she couldn't help but to question where exactly they were going. A place that she could be alone? She really couldn't think of anywhere in the city that would allow that, but regardless she kept her stride alongside him. A few trips through various alleys, and down a few roads and Bracket finally came to a stop at an alley located within an isolated corner of the Goldwalk Plaza; one of the city's more popular market areas. The alley itself was just a dead end; a small path between a few four-story buildings with a wall ahead of them. This couldn't be the place right? There was nothing here, just a wall.
When the duo made it to the far wall, she watched in confusion as Bracket stopped and looked at her with another small smile.
"This is the place," he had spoke, confusing her and bringing a little fear to her heart. Had he tricked her? Did he plan to do something heinous and leave her here in this alley? "Well, not quite... I should open the door after all." those words changed her thoughts from fear and worry to confusion and bafflement. There wasn't a door here. Turning around Bracket swiftly put his hands on two bricks in the wall, before he pushed, making the bricks he had his hands placed on sink into the wall about an inch, before he changed his hands to a different set of bricks and repeated the process. Before her very eyes the wall just to the right of where he'd pressed began to shimmer, before what she could only assume was the door he'd been talking about quickly shimmered into view.
It was about four feet wide, and a few feet taller than herself. It looked like a metal frame cut squarely into the bricks with the spot the door should be at consisting of nothing more than a flat, white light. Shaking herself out of her amazement she turned her head to look at the very man that had brought her here.
"This... is a door?"
She didn't know what else she could say really. she'd never really seen a door like the one in front of her; not even in a city as peculiar as Cloudbank was. Everything in Cloudbank was typically made with clear intent or purpose, and usually accessible by all, unless otherwise stated. But this? This was clearly meant to be hidden, and you couldn't even see what was on the other side! It was just white!
Bracket himself looked almost proud, she thought, as he looked from her to the supposed door briefly. "Yes, It's quite... peculiar... I suppose," his eyes quickly roamed the white expanse of the doorway before he turned his gaze back towards her. "I assure you though, what's on the other side of this doorway is likely a place you'll come to appreciate... even if just a little. I'll admit, I've come here plenty of times in the past; usually when I had become troubled by something, or curious about our city's little helpers. It's curiously enough created by them I believe, but honestly I've never found proof of that. The existence of what's beyond this door is still a mystery, but not one that I can think of as overly important." a short pause filled the air as the man likely thought about what to say next. "Anyways, after our little... discussion... I've decided that it'd be okay for you to use this spot whenever you like."
She wanted to ask what he meant about the place being created by 'the city's little helpers' by which she could only assume he meant the Process. They were the only things she could think of as being helpers, seeing as they were the utilities that made the majority of the changes in the city. They often worked behind the scenes to make the things that the people of Cloudbank desired into a reality, by using their various properties to build, change, or destroy various things around the city into the desired image or outcome. They were basically the city's construction crew. But even so, what could possibly lie beyond the door that they could have created, and why wouldn't Bracket know for sure? He was the man that had been in charge of them for the past few years. Actually, ever since their creation when she thought about it.
Once again she had let her thoughts wonder a tad too long and as such lost her opportunity to vocalize her curiosity when Bracket reached his hand out to her, holding it palm up, clearly wanting her to return the favor. With only the slightest hesitation she raised her own arm and placed her hand in his, before the man turned and slowly began to walk through the door with her in tow. Watching as he slowly crossed through the white light was interesting. There was no bright flash, no sound, no nothing. It just looked like he simple walked through a solid wall made of white light, and soon her hand did as well, before she followed suite.
The transition was even more curious, as there was only the slightest of moments where she felt like she had been walking through water, and her eyes had become hazy before the brightness of the sun broke through that haze, clearing her view to one of beauty. The other side of the door seemed to take her directly to a mysterious, if a bit small, island of some sorts. It was oval in shape and only about the thirty to forty feet across from one side to the other either way. Her gaze was immediately drawn to the massive brown tree that grew at an angle out of the ground, for the base was sloped in a fashion that made the entire tree look more like a path that ascended into the sky a short ways. In fact, it was even flat on the top, to the point that one would have virtually no problem walking atop it.
It made sense though, seeing as there were actually various doors, not unlike the one she had come in through sticking abruptly up from the various branches of the mysterious tree. Where the doors led to she didn't have a clue. As peculiar as the tree and doors were, the rest of the island was more or less normal. The ground was entirely sand, and the water surrounding it was blue. Overall the place seemed like an okay place to be. Is that why Bracket thought of this place? It was empty and she could be alone here, but... there really didn't seem like there was a lot to do here.
Well, beggars can't be choosers.
Turning from her spot on a short rock path, she made her way onto the actual sandy earth of the island, where Bracket now stood. He seemed curious to know what her thoughts we're in regards to the place, if the way he was looking at her was of any indication. Well that made sense, the place was pretty abnormal and from the sounds of things he was the only other person to have ever been here before. A little curiosity over what her first impression was to be expected.
"So... what do you think?"
"It should work." she assured him with a slight tilt of her head.
"Alright then, I suppose I'll take my leave then," looking down briefly he rested his chin on his pointer and thumb in thought. "To leave you simply need to exit through the door we entered in. Do you remember which bricks I pressed to reveal the door?" when she shook her head in the negative, he pulled a small folded piece of paper from the pocket of his vest before handing it to her. "This will help you until you remember."
With that the man made his way to the door, but stopped just before he could step through it. "Oh, and remember not to stay here too long. We do still need you to scout for us okay?" at her nod he finally left through the door, much in the same lackluster way they came through.
Sybil stood still for a moment as she looked at the sky. Well, she was finally alone. What now? Her gaze drifted from the sky down to the doors on the tree.
He hadn't explained where they went...
Well, she supposed she could just go through them and find out. Bracket was a smart man, if they were dangerous in any way he would have said something about them. Well, that gave her something to explore later, but for now her feet were rather sore. Looking around she decided the only place she could sit without getting sand in her dress would be the hammock that hung just off the shore.
That's what got her where she was now. She'd been sitting here for just over thirty minutes, and the place had proven to be rather boring. But that wasn't really a bad thing because it also seemed like a great place to come and relax, or even take a nap. But having sat and thought her situation through, she felt ready to finally get back to her life in Cloudbank. With a small satisfied smile she gently, if a bit awkwardly, lowered herself down from the hammock. She was thankful for the fact that the rocks were flat, as so one could walk on them with minimal risk. Even so she still maintained care in the way she moved.
Picking up her sun-hat from its resting place she slipped it onto her head and sighed at the cool air that caressed her skin now that the sun wasn't shining directly onto her. With a light flourish she pick up her parasol with a twirl; simultaneously opening it before it quickly came to a rest upon her shoulder, further protecting her from the sun. It wasn't like she needed them, seeing as the temperature in this place was so comfortable, but at this point wearing her hat and carrying her parasol was already such a habit that not doing so just felt weird. At least if she was planning on going anywhere that was.
With a content nod Sybil made her way across the island, in a straight line from where the hammock rested to the door that bracket had gone out through, but upon reaching it she stopped. Looking back at the beach behind her she remembered the many doors that occupied the branches of the tree. She hadn't ever gotten around to checking them out. Should she do that now, or wait until a later date? It wasn't like they were going anywhere, but at the same time she was already here. Maybe she should just to get it out of the way.
The choice however was taken away from her when the usually soft sounds of the small island she occupied were suddenly broken by a loud crackling noise coming from just above her. Raising her head she moved her parasol out of the way just in time to see a tiny portion of the sky shooting off jets of electricity as a crack quickly formed directly above her. Bright beams of yellow energy soon began to pulsate from within the crack before traveling along the edges and then spreading along the grid pattern the sky usually held, turning that portion of the sky a strange glowing orange.
Sybil wasn't sure of what was happening, but then again the small island she currently occupied wasn't something she knew much about either. Was this normal?
She quickly threw her parasol between herself and the crack in the sky, using the object as a improvised shield, when a loud shattering sound echoed across the entire area. Tiny shards of electricity and glass shot apart from the sky, thumping against her parasol with a small amount of force. When the last of the thumping ended she lowered her parasol before looking up as the damaged sky with poorly hidden curiosity. The portion that had shattered looked just like a broken window, jagged edged of orange colored sky jutted out around a hole that made up the center. The hole itself was shrouded behind a very peculiar darkness. If she were honest it hurt her head to look directly at it, so she quickly lowered her gaze and thats when she noticed something small shooting down at an angle, apparently having come from the hole.
At the angle the object was flying it'd either land somewhere around the edge of the beach across from her, or directly in the ocean. The impact zone was quickly shown to be the ocean as the object quickly hit the waters surface, displacing it in the form of a large splash. What exactly fell? For a second she could have sworn it was a person, but that couldn't be right, could it? Even so, she was a people person and couldn't in good conscience take that chance, so with much vigor she quickly rushed over to that side of the beach, where she saw a persons arm quickly disappear underneath the gentle waters of the ocean.
Without thought she cast her parasol aside and threw off her sun-hat, before so lifted what little she could of her dress and began wading out into the water. Once the water was up to her mid waist she quickly dropped and began swimming. The task was grueling and not to mention dangerous as her dress clung around her legs, making it difficult to make the kicking motions needed to swim, but still she pushed on. She wasn't going to let something as trivial as her clothing stop her from trying to save this persons life.
Soon she was out and at the area the person had gone under at, before she took a deep breath and dove her best underneath the water herself. It was at this time that she was thankful that the currents were calm, because she doubted she would have been able to get enough leg power to fight them otherwise. Focusing on her current task she threw everything she had into getting down to the mysterious person, and within a very brief moment she was already wrapping their arm around her neck. Now came the hard part, and she knew she wouldn't be able to hold her breath much longer, so with even more effort than she was able to get before she thrust herself as hard as she could into every motion she made in order to swim upwards to the surface of the water.
She could only attribute her ability to do so to the fact that if she didn't, she'd likely drown down here; not a way she wanted to go. It was possibly the most panic-inducing thing shed done in her life, but soon she broke the surface of the water and gasped in massive gulps of air, beyond thankful that she'd made it. But before she got carried away with her own survival she quickly pulled the persons head up above the water and started wading towards the shore.
Dragging the persons limp body was incredibly hard. They seemed to weigh at least twice her own weight, and she wound up pulling the sand along with him. Him... she could see that the person was a young boy. Somewhere in there teens from the looks of things, but she couldn't focus on that. As fast as she could Sybil began doing chest compressions while she counted, and quickly water shot from the boy's mouth, before she quickly tilted him over to get it to evacuate his mouth as well. Just as fast she lowered him back down and put her ear to his mouth. He wasn't breathing! Panicked and with adrenaline pumping she smashed her lips to his and covered his nose, before she began doing basic CPR. She continued to do so for a few minutes, scared that the boy might already be dead when suddenly his eyes shot wide open and he quickly tossed himself onto his side and released the contents of his lungs onto the sand.
Sybil breathed a massive breath of relief before it once again caught in her throat, when the boy suddenly collapsed face first into the now muddy sand. Worried she quickly rolled him back over and put her ear back to his mouth, this time the boy was breathing. With a large exhale she relaxed, it seemed the boy was going to recover, or at the very least she bought herself time to get him to a hospital. So slowly she stood. Her hair was harshly matted and clung to her face and neck just about as badly as her sand-covered dress now did. leaning down she grabbed the boys arm, before she struggled to pick up his body enough to wrap it around her neck do she could carry him to the door.
It was difficult, especially with her ever-sore-muscles, but she eventually got his body to the door before she slowly tried to lower him through the door first. Tried being the keyword here as the moment any part of his body touched the white light it made a strange noise, like something thumping against plastic, before either his body refused to go through or the door refused to let him through. With a frustrated scream she began dragging the boy across the distance of the beach and to the hammock. It was an incredible struggle, but with a lot of effort she still managed to hoist the boys body up and onto the hammock, before she herself collapsed onto the sandy beach.
She didn't know if she would be able to make it up and out of the door to get help. Her muscles screamed in agony and now that the adrenaline stopped pumping her body was ready to shut down. The last thing she could do was look up through the netting at the teens strange orange clothing, and bright blonde hair before darkness took her into the dream world.
She really hoped the boy would be okay...
Annnnnnnnd that's that. My start to my Naruto/Transistor crossover. It was fun to play the game, write the outline, think things through and finally write it out. Now, my main concern is what it's reception will be like. I don't know how popular Transistor is, but I'm hoping fairly popular. Anyways, looks like I'll have the first crossover with Naruto for it here. That's cool. Really hoping that others will write for it as well, I mean the game was so fucking beautiful.
Note: the title is subject to change.
Anyways I'm out, so see you next time!
-SH