935Adventures of the Orange Flash
Chapter 68: You and what Army?
As Eggman laid in his padded room with his eyes unfocused and drool dripping from his mouth, he was muttering things that hardly made any sense. But if one were to pay close attention to his words…
"…must do away with kodos…no crabmeat, that's my cookie…more ore for Ultimate Annihilator…hate that hedgehog…CELL BLOCK OVERRIDE AUTHORITY EPSILON-GAMMA-GAMMA…want to ride the pasha…tastes like clucky,"
In reaction to the voice commands, the door proceeded to open its locks as the currently insane doctor rose and was straining against the straitjacket on him with an obvious goal in mind.
Snively was stomping through the hallway towards the prison in annoyance, reasons being how the Freedom Fighters are still capable of resisting so strongly despite the Iron Dominion taking over the whole operation, the major factor to this issue being that darn nine-tailed fox that had joined them and proven to be more than a pain in the neck.
"What was that sound, did you manage to break something uncle?" Snively grumbled as he approached the door to peer through the window "I hope it was ser-,"
*BAM*
"SNIVELY!"
The door suddenly slammed open, revealing with Eggman having broken free of the straitjacket with a crazed look in his eyes. He looked down to see Snively and grabbed him by the collar to pull the frightened nephew in close.
"What are you doing out here?! Snooping as usual?!" Eggman demanded.
"I…! Y-You…!" Snively stammered in response "U-Uncle p-please, you're not well! I-If you could j-just…," but he got tossed aside.
"No time! Must…destroy…hedgehog!" Eggman declared before ambling down the hallway.
"How in blazes did he get out?!" Snively scrambled to his feet and ran in the opposite direction in a panic "Voice command; open channel to all forces! All Dark Legion and Yagyu Ninja report to the detention level immediately! We have an-*OOF*," he looked up to see who it was that he ran into.
The Iron King leered down at him in disdain "Watch where you're going runt. What's wrong?"
"Robotnik has escaped!" said Snively in panic.
"What?! You dare betray me?!"
"No! I don't know how he got out, we need to catch him before he-,"
*BOOM*
"…escapes,"
Outside of the Eggdome, there was a large hole as a giant tortoise designed mech with Eggman at the cockpit walked out and sent the Dark legion and Yagyu ninja scrambling out of the way to avoid getting crushed underneath.
"I am warlord-doctor Julian Ivo Robo-Kintobor Mach Two! My rule is law, and the law is my will! AND I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG!" Eggman declared with madness "I will destroy the blue one, you know! he's the obstacle that always gets in my way!"
Iron King and Snively peered through a window at this scene then the former spoke up "Hmph, inform the queen,"
"Y-Yes sir," said Snively nervously, knowing full well that the Iron Queen will not be happy all the moment she learns of this.
"Hey Bunnie, how are you feeling?" asked Sonic as he skidded into the room of the Tommy Turtle Memorial Hospital where Bunnie was currently recuperating with a floating balloon in hand and Monkey Khan entering after him.
"Howdy Sugah-Hog, I'm feeling fine a dandy right now!" said Bunnie gratefully, Antoine smiled next to her in agreement.
"And we have that fox friend of yours to thank for that, his healing powers had dealt with all of the negative effects of that technomagic of the Iron Queen. You should be back on your after a full week," said Dr. Quack seriously.
Monkey Khan presented a bouquet of flowers and bowed his head apologetically "You should have never been in that kind of danger. I should have warned you, and for that I am truly sorry,"
Bunnie accepted the flowers with a soft smile "Darlin, Ahm a Freedom Fighter and been through lots of dangers and it ain't gonna stop me from helping others. Ah appreciate the flowers though,"
"Yes, they are very nice. Provided you didn't leave the hospital like you weren't supposed to?" asked Dr. Quack sternly.
"Well, I um…," Monkey Khan was nervous to answer.
"Calm down Quack-san, I got the flowers for him upon request," said Naruto, entering the room with a friendly wave.
"In other words, he wanted to get the flowers but we had him stay put to get them for him," Sonic explained mischievously.
Dr. Quack shook his head "Why am I not surprised…,"
"So, what's going on with you?" asked Sonic curiously.
"Nothing much really, just a bit worried about Kou and Yoru," Naruto turned himself for everyone to see the Chao tucked into his hood and were fast asleep "They've been sleeping a lot lately and I'm still trying to figure out why,"
"Looks to me like they're preparing to undergo reincarnation," said Sonic thoughtfully.
Naruto quirked an eyebrow in response "Reincarnation?"
"Don't tell me that you've forgotten what Tikal had told you, about the Chao lifecycle?" asked Kurama in annoyance.
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that. I guess they'll soon go into their cocoon forms and emerge in other forms," said Naruto in realization.
"That's pretty much it,"
"Now's the question of where I can keep them safe, carrying them around isn't exactly a good idea with the issue of the Iron Dominion and all that,"
"Well, the Lake of Rings also serves as a Chao Garden, you can leave them there for the meantime,"
Naruto hummed in thought "Sounds a good idea as any,"
Nicole materialized into the room with a look of concern "Sorry to disturb everyone,"
"No sweat Nicole, what's up?" asked Sonic.
"I've been scanning for threats as far as the Great Forest and detected something large inbound,"
"We'll go and check it out. Twan, you stay here with your wife," said Sonic already making his way out of the room.
Antoine nodded in affirmation "I will,"
"I'll drop off the Chao and catch up with you," Naruto was the next to follow.
"In that case, I'll…," Monkey Khan made to follow as well but Dr. Quack stood in his way.
"…," the doctor simply pointed at him then towards a direction opposite that of the duo.
"…*Sigh* I'll go back to my room and rest like I was supposed to…," Monkey Khan slumped and proceeded to do just that.
"Don't worry, you'll be with us in spirit," said Sonic.
Sonic was currently dashing through the Great Forest in search of the signal that Nicole was talking about, suspecting that it was no doubt a ploy made by the Iron Dominion as they're proving to be just as dangerous as Eggman given what they had gone through previously.
"I don't know what you Iron Creeps are up to, but I'm up for laying down a highspeed smackdown on you!"
Hearing a noise close by, Sonic quickly zeroed in and came upon a rather odd scene, there was a lone mech designed to resemble a tortoise which was uprooting trees all around it, but it was the person operating it that really surprised the hedgehog since he wasn't expecting to see him again.
"Blast it! Knothole wasn't under that tree either!" said Eggman angrily.
At that moment, Naruto caught up and skidded to a stop next to the Blue Blur "Hey Sonic, finally caught up with ya. So, who's the pilot of the mech where about to tra-wait is that Eggman?"
"Yeah, but the question is…is he back or is he still…?" Sonic muttered in mild concern.
Eggman took notice of the two "Ah ha, Mobians! Perhaps they can tell me where to find…wait, I know one of them…it's…it's…SONIC!"
"Yo doc, are you back? Ya'know like 'Back' back?" Sonic called and got a response…in the form of missiles being launched at him and Naruto, forcing them to take evasive action if they didn't want to get blown up.
"Here it comes, rodent! Right from the show!" Eggman declared.
"From the show?" Sonic muttered in confusion.
"From the show, I'm going to be on TV. I'm going to be…a superstar!"
"Guess we can rule out him being lucid,"
Naruto rolled his eyes whilst performing a cartwheel to avoid a couple of missiles aimed his way "Gee, you think? So, let's take him down,"
"Hold up, let's not attack him just. We'll wait him out until he runs out of ammo," said Sonic seriously.
The blonde kitsune frowned mentally in response, finding this rather unusual as Sonic won't waste much time in bringing down the mech without a second thought.
"Naruto! Sonic!" they looked up to see Tails flying towards them and was then shocked to see who was piloting the tortoise mech "Eggman is back?!"
"Not entirely," Naruto said, kicking a missile away to collide with another one and triggering a chain of explosions.
"Hold still and let me shoot you!" said Eggman angrily.
"Hey Tails, could you be a pal and disable his guns. With the way he is, I doubt he even sees you," Sonic pointed a thumb at the mech as he literally ran circles around the crazed doctor.
"O-Okay," Tails flew over and like Sonic said, Eggman completely ignored the young fox who went underneath the mech and opened up a panel to interact with the wires "It looks like I can shut the whole thing down from here, but you would have been to destroy this mech to no problem at all,"
"Yeah, I suppose…,"
"And…done!" Tails quickly out from underneath the mech right as it completely shut down and withdrew itself much to the doctor's aggravation.
"Why tortoise no workie?!" Eggman bashed the buttons to make the mech operational but to no avail.
"You're not going easy on him, are you?" asked Tails with concern.
Sonic leaned against the mech with a small frown "I…guess I am,"
"But why?"
"It still bothers you, doesn't it?" asked Naruto, having a good idea on why the speedster is pulling his punches more than usual.
"What you do you mean?"
Sonic sighed "Look, back then I had no issue wanting to kick his butt for all the things he had done in the past till now,"
"Then why?"
"I didn't just beat Eggman, I broke him and as unbelievable as it's about to sound, I feel bad about it. Please tell me that I'm making some sense,"
"None that I can follow, I don't he deserves any sympathy at all,"
Naruto spoke up "Tails, having spent a lot of time with Sonic. Have you ever seen him defeat someone to the point of them losing their sanity?"
Tails shook his head "Uh no, they normally get mad at him but nothing more than that,"
"A result at the end of every battle between Sonic and Eggman, and yet it wasn't exactly so with the previous one. Eggman lost his sanity, something that wasn't expected. From Sonic's point of view, it felt like he crossed a line as he had never done such a thing to anyone else beforehand,"
Sonic nodded hesitantly "Shadow had warned me before the fight and I chose to ignore him when I should have listened,"
Tails started to understand what had been bothering Sonic these past days "Oh, I never thought of it that way, I was just glad that Eggman was finally beaten for good this time. I should have noticed that you weren't your usual peppy self at the time,"
"…hello? Is anybody still out there?" asked a confused Eggman.
"First thing's first, let's do the civil thing of arresting Eggman and detaining him. It would be cruel of us to let the Iron Dominion take him back," Sonic started climbing up the mech to reach the crazed doctor.
"Be careful Sonic, he's still dangerous even though he has lost his mind," Tails warned.
"Yeah, dangerous," Sonic knelt down to Eggman who flinched upon seeing him "Alright doc, we're done fighting for the day. Why don't you come home with me so that we can fight another time?"
*Wham*
Eggman's response was a punch to the face that knocked Sonic off the mech and started celebrating "I did it! I got the hedgehog! I got him I got him I got him…! He never saw it coming! Ha ha ha ha!" he continued to laugh until he passed out.
"I had a feeling that would hap-," Naruto stopped talking and looked with the side with a frown on his face and his Aura Vision being active/
"What's the matter, Naruto?" asked Tails confusedly.
"You guys might wanna hurry up, we're about to get company and a lot of it," said Naruto in alert.
"Sounds like the Iron Creeps are coming to pick up Eggman," Sonic jumped down to land next to Naruto with a smirk "Tails, you'll need to get Eggman back to the city!"
"But I can't leave you two alone to face them!" Tails protested.
"The two of us will be more than enough to handle these guys, no problem," Naruto adjusted his ECG-X gloves and bounced on the tips of his toes a few times to limber up a bit.
"Plus, we're only facing a bare amount of the Iron Dominion and not all of the Dark legion are here, like say between 100 and 200 tops," Sonic added.
Sure enough, they arrived via flying saucers with clear intent to retrieve the doctor and inflict destruction while they were at it. Naruto took note of the Mobian ox dressed in eastern style armor and wielding some sort of mace. Tails proceeded to drag Eggman away from the fight but was having trouble due to the latter being quite the heavyweight so Naruto sent a clone to help him out.
The Iron Queen cackled at their words "Mree-hee-hee-hee! The weak certainly become confident when cornered. Have you forgotten how I drove you away from my city and broke in yours without consequence?"
Naruto quirked an eyebrow in response "Sounds like you've forgotten that we evened the score when we forced you to retreat when you tried to be a solo act because of your powers?"
Teeth gritting at the fox's words, the Iron Queen pointed her staff at the speeding duo in anger "Show no mercy and destroy them both!"
Music Start; Metal Gear Rising OST; Rules of Nature
Sonic smirked "Mind if I start us off?"
Naruto shrugged "Sure, gives me time to follow up,"
Sonic immediately moved at blurring speeds and began to destroy the flying saucers with a chaining combo of homing attacks, knocking the Yagyu ninjas off and to the ground before the ox could react.
"Hey guys, what to hear something interesting? I had an evil dimensional counterpart who was able to take over his world by himself, care to find out if I can do the same?" asked Sonic playfully.
"Save some for me Sonic, I'd like to take a page from my dad's playbook," Naruto took out a Hiraishin kunai and started twirling it with a finger.
"And what pray tell did your father do, flail about with a tiny dagger?" the Iron Queen retorted.
Naruto shook his head, tossing the kunai up and down repeatedly "My dad is one of the few to have a flee on sight order due to one of his major feats being able to defeat a platoon during a war by himself without even a scratch and all they saw was a yellow flash of light. Allow me to show you exactly what I mean,"
The blonde kitsune threw the kunai at the enemy and quickly weaved through a set of handsigns "Shuriken Shadow Clone jutsu!" the kunai multiplied into a thousand copies, forcing everyone to defend themselves but then noted that most of them missed completely, rather hitting the ground.
"Is that supposed to scare us?" asked the armored ox arrogantly.
Naruto smirked "Try not to blink or you'll lose track," he immediately disappeared in a yellow and the next they knew was that the Yagyu Ninjas and Dark Legion were getting knocked all over the place like pinballs with the only visible thing being yellow flashes before and after impacts. Sonic wasn't being idle either, utilizing his Spin Dash to blitz the opposition and having fun while he was at it.
"You ninjas really need to train harder, I'm not really impressed with your skills," Naruto reappeared with several Hiraishin kunai held by his tails while his arms are crossed with a quirked eyebrow.
Sonic skidded to a stop "I know right, Espio was more ninjalike compared to these guys,"
The Iron Queen gritted her teeth, seeing her army being torn apart by two annoying Mobians "No no no! It's Mount Stormtop all over again!"
"A minor setback, my love. I assure you," Snively tried to calm her.
"I will not accept your usual record of failure, I demand victory! Stop standing idly by and finish them, Jun Kun!"
The armored ox snorted as he finally stepped forward and brandished his mace "Jun Kun? I always figured that Iron King was your name, considering what my friends and I went through…," muttered Sonic thoughtfully.
"Face my Tremor mace with honor, hedge swine!" the Iron King challenged.
"You're on, Iron clod! Swing batta batta!" Sonic revved up his Spin Dash before launching himself at Iron King, but the Mobian ox reared his mace back and swung, literally smacking Sonic away and crashing to the ground "…right, you're one I actually have to worry about…,"
"Foxfire Barrage!" Naruto thrust his hands forward to fire a salvo of azure fireballs, rapidly taking down the Yagyu ninjas and Dark Legion in large numbers before quickly stopping the attack and leaping high into the air to avoid a sneak attack from behind "Foxfire Kick!" his left foot lit up with an azure flame before swooping down with a fiery side kick and impacted the ground with resulted in a radial shockwave, sending anyone within range tumbling away.
"Don't look now, but the hedgehog appears to be in over his head," Kurama called out in alert.
Naruto glanced over his shoulder to see that Sonic had been knocked down to the ground with the Iron King looming over him with the mace raised to strike and could sense gathering around the weapon.
"None can compare with the power of the Iron King!" the armored ox declared, he brought it down for the finishing blow when there was a yellow flash and Sonic was gone before the mace impacted where he was a few nanoseconds ago "What?"
Naruto reappeared a safe distance with Sonic in tow "Phew, a second late and you'd be a goner. What's with that guy?"
"We had a run-in with this guy a while back, he can take any attack than I know of and shrug it off like it's nothing, the only that can stop him would be the Fan of Fen Xing but it's all the way in the Dragon Kingdom," Sonic groaned in response.
"Let's see if I can't do something about him, take a break for the meantime," Naruto stepped forward and readied himself.
"You shall pay for your disrespect with your life!" said the Iron King.
"Just try it, Swift Release: Shadow Step!" Naruto blurred from eyesight before reappearing before the Iron King with a fist shrouded in azure flames reared back "Foxfire Punch!" he punched the ox right in the face…but it didn't appear to have any effect on him "Oh boy…,"
He quickly used Shadow Step to retreat when the Iron King retaliated with his Tremor Mace and ran after him in pursuit "Time for a body check, Fox Fang Fist!" he rushed forwards at high-speed then unleashed a barrage of punches, clawing and kicks whilst striking from different angles in search of a weak spot but wasn't finding any. The Iron King slammed his mace onto the ground to trigger a quake with Naruto having to use Shadow Step yet again to evade.
"Your attacks mean little to me, I am invulnerable!" said Iron King arrogantly.
"Everything has a weak point, just need to find it. Good thing I've got options," Naruto triggered his Fire Aspect with the fists and the tips of his tails ignite in red flames as his body emitting heat intensely "Here's a kickstart, Fiery Bird Missile!" he conjured birds out of flames before remotely launching forwards, the Iron King batted most of the fiery projectiles out of the way with is Tremor Mace, giving Naruto the opportunity to close in for an attack "Burning Fighter!" he ignited his hands and feet with flames before launching a fiery barrage of punches and kicks, ensuring that he avoids the swings from the mace then jumping back to see that the armor was damaged but the ox's body didn't have a scorch mark.
"Alright then, how about a different approach…," Naruto switched to his Air Aspect with the wind swirling around him strongly, he moved at blurring speeds to appear before the Iron King in a crouching position "Wild Tempest Kick!" a windstorm form around the legs as he performed a backflip kick to knock the Tremor Mace out of the ox's hands wasted no time to follow up "Aero Beast Swipe!" strong winds swirled around one of his arms to form a large beast paw which he swung to smash the Iron King down into the ground.
"Not done yet!" Naruto quickly strapped a small gourd and strapped it to his then opened the cork before activating his Water Aspect "Water Snakes!" multiple snakes made entirely of water shot out from the gourd whilst enlarging themselves and wrapped around the Iron King to hold him down tightly "Water Spear!" the blonde kitsune created three water spears and fired them attack.
The Iron King still remained standing in spite of his armor being just about destroyed "Is that all you have to provide?"
"I've got lots more!" Naruto switched to his Lightning Aspect to continue with his assault "Lightning Impulse!" he lunged forwards as he transforms into a lightning ethereal to launch into a highspeed blitz from different directions before skidding backwards with a hand thrusted to the sky "Lightning Strike!" the clouds overhead darkened a bit before multiple bolts of lightning descended and struck the Iron King one after another. The blonde kitsune crouched slightly before rushing forward with a fist reared back "Thunder Punch!" his left fist flared with large amount of voltage as he attacked with a powerful punch.
The Iron King suddenly reached out to catch Naruto's attack with an open palm before closing his hand around Naruto's then sneered at him "All those fancy attacks and now…it's my turn,"
"Naruto, get out of there!" Sonic called out in urgency.
However, the Iron King refused to give Naruto a chance to counteract and proceeded to lift the kitsune into the air and repeatedly slam him to the ground like a ragdoll. The Iron Queen cackled gleefully, seeing the current state that the fox was in who was struggling to break free. Suddenly, the foxfire shot out from Naruto's body which seemed to somehow affect the Iron King as he threw him far away.
The Iron Queen clapped her hands in applause "Well done my king, you might have gone overboard with bringing that annoying thorn under our heel, but we at least have the so-called 'Hero of Mobius' that will serve as a wonderful bargaining chip for the old man,"
"…," the Iron King wasn't listening entirely as he looked down at his hands which had a small burn mark on it "How is it possible that his flames could inflict this injury when it failed to do so before?"
Music End
Meanwhile, Naruto was running through the forest with intent to get back to Sonic and try to take down the Iron King before he's too late all the while contemplating on whether he should use the Chakra Mode or still save it as a trump card. He was suddenly snapped out of his thoughts by a voice.
"Greetings, Mobian," a metallic male voice echoed throughout the forest.
Naruto skidded to a stop, the Masamune shot out of its sheath and flew into his hand before taking a stance and keeping an eye out for the source of the voice.
"Who's out there? Show yourself," Naruto frowned warily, already suspecting the voice to belong to a robot since he can't detect any life signs.
He heard the sound of running around him from the bushes which kept him on guard. Suddenly, he heard a riving sound rapidly coming from behind and quickly ducked just in time to see a chainsaw swipe at where his head used to be. Next, he noticed that the trees around him began to fall in his direction. Naruto rapidly slashed at the falling trees into logs to avoid getting crushed under the weight.
Naruto had just cut down the last tree only to reveal the mysterious assailant being a metallic-doglike robot bearing down on him with a chainsaw-weapon attached to a prehensile tail. Blocking the chainsaw with the Masamune, Naruto struggled to hold it back when he caught sight of the robot canine attempting to attack with a metal claw and quickly countered by kicking it away from him which it landed gracefully on the ground.
"And you are?" Naruto questioned with caution.
The robotic canine detached its chainsaw onto a harness on its back before responding "I am IF prototype LQ-84i,"
"This is new, what's an IF prototype?"
"InterFace prototype; I am an autonomous robot featuring a high-level onboard artificial intelligence. An additional prototype interface enables verbal communication. I possess an intellect far beyond Mobian reckoning,"
Naruto quirked an eyebrow at the last part "Is that so? Then let me test it with a question; What is life and are we here?"
Instead of an answer, the robot suddenly launched a barrage of knives at speeds that they became heated due to the friction in the atmosphere. Naruto quickly deflected the incoming projectiles with his sword before catching one with one of his tails when it was mere inches from his face.
"I am here to kill you," said the robot dog bluntly.
"It doesn't require a lazy genius to figure out who sent this metal mutt after you," said Kurama.
"Tell me about it," thought Naruto tossing the knife away before speaking up "Killing me is not as simple as one would think unlike your masters. I have a long list of those that tried and failed,"
LQ-84i started revving his chainsaw and slowly dragged it along the ground menacingly "I may analyze orders, but I may not disobey them. Should I disobey a direct order, my memory would be wiped. I must destroy you,"
"Memory wipe? Is it being forced to obey?" Naruto snapped back into focus "Do you truly think that you can kill me? Have you and your masters thought this all the way through? For your sake, I'm hoping so,"
"Yes,"
"*Sigh* then you're not as intelligent as you say you are, what's the point of an intellect when a tight leash prevents you from truly using it,"
"You're taunting is pointless. Exterminate!" LQ-84i unleashed a loud howl as it became far more aggressive than before.
Music Start; Metal Gear Rising OST; I'm My Own Master Now
The robot dog lunged at Naruto while spinning like a drill with its front claws which reminded the blonde kitsune of Kiba and his canine partner Akamaru before blocking the attack with the Masamune and flinging it backwards. In spite of being thrown, LQ-84i threw a barrage of knives in retaliation while in midair.
"Nine Bladed Tails!" Naruto had his tails harden to become bladelike before performing a spinning jump to deflect the incoming knives away from him "Take this!" he used the momentum from his spin to throw the Masamune at the robot dog which was about to bat it aside with its chainsaw "Swift Release; Shadow Rush!" Naruto zipped past the thrown sword to reach the LQ-84i and unleash a combo of highspeed punches and kicks with afterimages depicting the motions before stepping sideways for the Masamune to slam into it and landing on his hand afterwards
Leaping backwards to land on all fours against a tree trunk, the LQ-84i launched himself off whilst spinning like a buzzsaw with the chainsaw active. Naruto hastily unsheathed Hazy-Moon and crossed both swords together to block the incoming attack with the impact forcing him several feet before properly anchoring himself to the ground "Will-O-Wisp!" he waved his tails to conjure balls of foxfire which he remotely controlled to blast the robot away from him.
"Initiating combination attack," the LQ-84i revved its chainsaw and proceeded to hack and slash, Naruto held both Masamune and Hazy-Moon in reverse grips before blocking the incoming attacks and at times somersaulting out of the way "Combination complete,"
"It's my turn then, Lunar style: Twin Crescent Strike!" while still holding the blades in a reverse grip, Naruto dashed forward and performs a 180 spinning slash at the robot canine.
"A savvy warrior utilizes all tools, backup required!" the robot canine leapt away and perched atop a tree branch before unleashing a loud howl. Soon after, a squad of Yagyu ninjas descended onto the clearing while bearing weapons to attack.
Naruto shifted the Masamune to a normal grip whilst having the Hazy-Moon in a reverse grip still, beckoning the enemy ninjas to attack him in which they did with hopes to catch him off guard. The blonde kitsune crouched slightly before proceeding to deflect and counter the attacks from various angles. One of the Yagyu ninjas flung the chain of a kusarigama to wrap around one of Naruto's wrists to restrain him, however Naruto yanked hard on the chain to fling the ninja through the air and crash into one of the others "Lunar Style: Rumbling Moon!" the blades glowed faintly as he went into a dancelike motion whilst unleashing a flurry of slashes all around him, inflicting damage on the Yagyu ninjas until them were unable to continue fighting.
Feeling the combat instincts suddenly take over, Naruto blurred away from where he stood with the Shadow Step to evade something which he couldn't see with his eyes and frowned in realization "Trying to attack me while using a cloaking shield, a smart strategy. Good thing I have way to flush you out," he closed his eyes whilst sheathing Hazy-Moon reached into his ninja pouch calmly, his ears twitched at a sound and immediately ducked underneath an invisible swing before pulling something out and throwing to reveal it to be an EMP grenade which unleashed a discharge, making the LQ-84i become visible as well as stunned "Peekaboo, I see you,"
"S-System e-error," LQ-84i stuttered, attempting to recover.
"While you're dazed…," Naruto immediately rushed in and unleashed a combo of slashes and punches before knocking it away with a flying drop kick to the face.
The LQ-84i managed to restore it systems and resumed combat by launching a barrage of heated throwing knives once more "Lunar Style: Orbitual Blade!" Naruto held out Masamune in front of himself and twirled it rapidly like a propeller to deflect the projectiles before retaliating with his own "Lunar Style: Crescent Wave!" he sheathed the katana before swiftly drawing it out to launch an energy wave that raced towards LQ-84i but missed due to it leaping out of the way.
The canine robot began to bound off the trees around Naruto like that of a pinball and increasing in speed "I will separate you from your consciousness," then he lunged from a tree to tackle Naruto, sending both tumbling along the ground until the former had the kitsune pinned and drove its chainsaw into the target's chest. However, the kitsune suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke much to the robot's confusion when a voice suddenly called out.
"Fox Fireball!" a ball of azure blue flames shot out a impacted the LQ-84i's blind-side to send it tumbling away as Naruto dropped down from a tree branch with a hand enshrouded in foxfire and a mischievous smile.
"Superficial damage," LQ-84i queried upon self-analysis of its combat system.
Naruto quirked an eyebrow at the visible damage on the robot's body "Not the way I see it from my point of view,"
"To continue alone would be foolish, help me!" the LQ-84i leapt away right before a group of Kilgore units emerged into the clearing with their miniguns all aimed at him.
"These must be the Kilgore robot that the others were talking about, and they're being mass produced. That can't be good for everyone in New Mobotropolis," said Naruto with a small frown on his face.
"Kilgore units, initiate attack!" at LQ-84i's command, the Kilgore units all opened fire at the same time. But Naruto was already in motion as he switched to his Celestial Aspect as a white halo hovered above his head as starlight sparkled around him.
"Radiant Guard!" Naruto crossed his arms as he forms a spherical shield of light around him and fended off the attacks from all directions, holding strongly against them. The robots continued to fire until their guns began to overheat then switched to launching micro missiles at their target.
"What do you fight for?" the robotic canine inquired whilst observing from a distance.
"Let me show you, Radiant Burst!" Naruto broke his arms apart to make the barrier shatter in a radial blast of light projectiles to destroy the missiles in midair and was quick to retaliate "Luminescent Avatar!" he began dashing about in flashes of light amongst the robots all the while leaving behind ethereal copies of himself then followed up with an attack "Luminescent Avatar Barrage!" along with the ethereal copies, Naruto thrust his hands forward to launch a salvo of light orbs which destroyed some of the Kilgore units but there were some still operational that activated their jet boosters to engage him in close combat.
"Just a little more and…," Naruto calmly waited for the robots to draw closer "Starlight Explosion!" he suddenly spread his arms out to generate three powerful balls of light to orbit around him and greatly damage the Kilgore Units to the point of destroying them completely. Naruto's ear twitched for a moment before spinning round with a glowing fist to punch something in the air and actually making an impact. The was a slight visual static in the air before it revealed to be the LQ-84i with a severely dented face from the punch. Naruto was far from done, grabbing the robot canine by the throat and holding it up while conjuring a sword of light with the other hand.
"S-Stop!" the robot called out but Naruto ignored its pleas, stabbing it several times then tossing into the air as he proceeded to slice it into many pieces with them falling to his feet "Cannot continue…,"
Music End
"That was harsh," Kurama commented.
"I've wasted enough time as is, I need to head back and help Sonic," Naruto pointed out to the Bijuu, he turned to leave when his ECG-X gloves started beeping to signal it was picking up a transmission. Thinking that it was the Freedom Fighters, Naruto activated the comm but it wasn't the case.
"Directive…analyze…target…relay to authority…," LQ-84i's voice garbled over the comm "Obey directive…must obey directive…no freedom…Freedom…undefined…,"
"Even an AI would be mistreated by the Iron Dominion to the point of seeking freedom from them…," said Naruto thoughtfully.
"Don't you have somewhere to go right now?" Kurama inquired.
"Oh yeah, was lost in thought for a moment," Naruto turned round and prepared to take off but then paused again to look at the pieces of the LQ-84i with a small frown on his face.
Back with Sonic, things were getting rough after the Iron King threw Naruto to who knows where before turning his attention to the hedgehog. He could handle the Yagyu ninjas and Dark Legion just fine but facing the Iron King with his invulnerability is a whole different story altogether. Luckily for him, Sally and the other Freedom Fighters showed up to back him up and were retreating to the safety of New Mobotropolis.
"Zey are giving chase!" said Antoine worriedly, seeing their enemies in pursuit with the Iron King in the lead.
"Oh no, if only one of us was incredibly fast!" said Sonic in faux distress before snapping his fingers in realization "Oh wait!" he proceeded to carry Sally, Amy and Tails one by one into the city before returning to jog next to Antoine with a smirk on his face "I mean, since we're so slow and everything…,"
"You're not funny and I'm about to be smashed!" shouted Antoine in a panic and for good reason as the Iron King was practically two steps behind him with his Tremor Mace raised to do that very smashing.
Suddenly, the ground between them burst open as Naruto emerged with a fist enclosed with stone reared back with a smirk on his face "SURPRISE!" he landed a straight punch right in the kisser and making the surprised ox stumble backwards but Naruto wasn't done yet "Bedrock Rhino Rush!" he stomped on the ground to create a large rock in the shape of a rhino's head and performed a palm strike to send it barreling through multiple enemies until it slammed into its true target being the Iron King who struggled to hold it back before smashing it to pieces with his mace.
Naruto backflipped multiple times until he entered the city with Nicole quickly putting up the barrier and turning to the others "Hey guys,"
"What happened to you, Naruto?" asked Sonic confusedly.
"After that Oxy-Moron sent me on an aerial trip, I got in a scrap with some of the Iron Dominion's forces which was the reason for the delay," Naruto explained with a shrug.
"At least you're okay," said Sally, then they were started by the sound of something against the barrier and looked to see that the Iron King was trying to break through with his Tremor Mace but to no avail.
"I will not be denied!" said the Iron King angrily.
"Will the barrier hold up?" asked Naruto with concern, ready to move should he hear otherwise.
Nicole looked to be in a bit of a struggle but not too much "The shield is holding just fine, but I keep getting that weird distortion in my matrix again though,"
Sally was concerned to hear that "Should Rotor run a diagnostic on you?"
"No no, I'm fine,"
"Maybe, I'll go and pick up Nico-chan to run a scan on you. Better to be safe than sorry," said Naruto.
Everyone went to the barred entrance with Bunnie and Monkey Khan to confront the Iron Dominion, smiling at the looks of frustration on their faces especially Iron King who was glaring at Naruto with rage.
"It appears that we've gained yet another victory over you," said Monkey Khan.
Bunnie nodded in agreement "Not to mention another failed attempt to take over the city, why don't y'all call it a day and go home?"
The Iron Queen gritted her teeth in rage "You will definitely pay dearly for this insult, you will all pay!" she turned round and stomped away with the others right behind her, not even sparing Snively a glance when he had just caught up to them.
"Phew, hope that's all for the day cause I'm gonna need some R&R after all this. if anyone needs me, you know where to find me," said Sonic before taking off.
"Same goes for me too, I got something to go over anyways," Naruto added then started walking towards the Chao Garden to check up on Kou and Yoru.
"Got something on your mind?" asked Kurama.
"Yeah, about that ox dude. He practically shrugged off most of my attacks today, kinda shook me up to see that," thought Naruto.
"Probably because you hadn't been facing especially strong opponents for a while now, not to mention that you hadn't exactly used all your techniques just the ones you learnt when you arrived in the new dimension,"
Naruto nodded in understanding "You're right, things will be different next time and I'll make to be ready for the second round,"
"That's what I'd like to hear," Kurama grinned at the response.
Back at New Megaopolis, inside of the EggDome, Snively was standing nervously before the doors leading to the Iron Queen's chambers and knocking on it rather timidly.
"Regina? Sweetie? Are you mad at me?" asked Snively with hopes as to that not being the case.
The doors opened slightly to reveal the Iron Queen glaring at him balefully "If you ever want to enter my chambers again, you will find a way past that shield,"
*SLAM*
She then slammed the doors into Snively's face without a second thought, leaving said person to bow his head in depression and walk away whilst trying to find ways to get back into his love's good graces again.
This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Eggman managed to escape from his cell and commandeer a mech in his crazed obsession with destroying Sonic no matter what. Naruto and Sonic were sent by Nicole to investigate a signal in the Great Forest where they came across the mad doctor and were able to disable the mech once Tails showed to assist in spite of his confusion as to why Sonic held back on the doctor. It was then that Sonic revealed his self-afflicted guilt about what he had done to Eggman, but such musings were interrupted when the Iron Dominion showed up to retrieve Eggman.
Naruto and Sonic remained behind to hold them off while Tails carries Eggman back to New Mobotropolis, they were able to take them on until the Iron King decided to partake in the battle. Naruto faced the ox but ended up facing the consequences for taking him and his nigh invulnerability a bit lightly and ended up getting thrown far away as payment for his troubles. While trying to get back to Sonic, Naruto was obstruction by one of Iron Dominion's latest invention; the LQ-84i which was sent to kill him but failed to do so after the ensuing battle. Naruto regrouped with the others in a retreat to the city, forcing the Iron Queen and her ninjas to return to the EggDome with a bitter taste in their mouths. But it appears that they're far from giving up on taking over the city.
As you can see, the Chao are drawing close to evolving to their next forms but I'll leave it to you to guess what they are. Also, I'd like to remind you guys that this will be the last arc before Naruto and Nicole return to the Gameverse and resume their 'normal' lifestyle. I checked out the Sonic Frontiers and I'm already generating ideas for it even thought it's still a long way off but be sure to keep on reading my stories. And once more, if anyone is interested in making a reading story out of my other stories, make sure to PM me in order to provide the details. Be sure to read and review like always.
This is Hussbek from Ghana.
Signing out and staying alive.