876AN: Sorry for the wait, it took me a while to get my ass in gear and start writing. Also, to avoid confusion, just pretend the prologue is chapter 1.
Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor Prototype.
"Talking"
Thoughts
Bijuu/Jinchuuriki/Elemental form
Inner being to outer being
Jutsu/Technique
Chapter 2
Five years later
Alex opened his eyes to find himself in a long, dark tunnel. As he looked around, dozens of thoughts were drifting through his head. Most of them, however, eventually led to a simple statement from the viral man.
"Well... this is boring." He muttered to himself. Sighing, he decided that he'd better get going. "Problem is; which way do I go?" looking down, he noticed a stream of water flowing past him to the right "Alright," he said decisively, "left it is. Don't need to see where it ends up, so I might as well see where it's coming from." And so he set off.
As he walked, Alex began filling his mind with meaningless imaginings. These weren't meant to do anything, just give him something to distract himself from the monotony of his surroundings. He was so engrossed in his thoughts, that he didn't notice the walls of the sewer. The tiles in the walls were warping as he strode past, becoming intricate, yet random, and interlocking engraved lines.
At the end of the tunnel, the Kyuubi suddenly sat up in its cage. What is that? It wondered. Something powerful is coming this way. What is it? And why did I never notice it before now? Straining its ears, Kyuubi could faintly hear footsteps."Who's there?" Called the fox into the dark tunnel before it. "Show yourself!" Still nothing. The Kyuubi tried again. "Please?" it asked tentatively.
"Well, since you asked so nicely..." came a sarcastic voice. A strange man dressed in black ambled out of the tunnel. Alex blinked, blinded by the relative brightness of the chamber. "Turn it down will ya!" Instantly the lights dimmed, and Alex smiled in relief. "Thank you!" He called.
The Kyuubi's jaw dropped in astonishment. "How...how did you do that?" It asked, stunned. "And who are you? How did you come to be here?"
Alex shrugged. "Couldn't tell you the first one," he said. "But I have a few questions for you. Some of which you could probably answer. If you do answer them I'll answer any of your other questions. Understood?"
The Fox nodded. "Right then!" Alex said, rubbing his hands together. "First-and this is rather important... are you a girl?"
Kyuubi stared down at the man in surprise. No one had ever bothered to ask that before. They just saw the destructively rampaging fox and assumed she was male. After a moment of silence: "Yes." She muttered, slightly embarrassed. Alex nodded, satisfied. "Thanks. Just wanted to get that out of the way." Seeing the now-confirmed vixen's confusion Alex elaborated. "Better I find out now than cause us both intense embarrassment in the future. Anyway, second question... how long have you been here?"
Kyuubi thought it over for a while. "I can't really tell" she said, finally. "There's no way check the time down here. Plus I've, er, kinda been sleeping a lot. But if I had to guess, I would say it's been 5 years."
Alex hissed slightly through gritted teeth. "5 years!" he muttered to himself. "Such a long time! But no matter, that's all I wanted to know. I'm sure you have a few questions of your own. Ask away."
The Bijuu tilted her head to the side, trying to decide what to ask first. Finally, she decided and asked: "Who are you, human?"
Alex smiled, bowing slightly. "I am Alex Mercer, to that first part. But as to that second part," he continued, his face becoming serious, "I am not a human."
"Then, what are you?"
"I am afraid that answer shall have to be postponed- don't worry," he said quickly, seeing the Kyuubi about to argue "I will answer you eventually. It's just that there is someone else who must be present when I tell you, as he will want to know the same thing. It's just more convenient to tell both of you one time. What I will tell you is; I am a being of immense power who has traveled a long way"
"Very well. Speaking of 'here', where are we? The last thing I remember was seeing a man. He was wearing a black cloak with red clouds, and had red eyes. The next thing I knew, I was trapped in this cage."
Alex listened to the fox's recounting intently, mulling it over in his head to see if it made sense. If she was telling the truth, it would explain why she had been acting so arrogant during the rampage when she so much more pleasant now. Also, she had seen a man in a black cloak and red eyes...
"Wait a minute!" The Kyuubi, who had lain down, jerked in surprise. "That man... was he wearing an orange mask?"
"No... I just remember that his eyes were red." She said simply. "Besides, you still didn't answer my question: where are we and how did I get here?"
"Alright, alright. 5 years ago, you attempted to destroy the village of Konohagakure no Sato and killed hundreds of people." Seeing Kyuubi's look of shock, Alex continued bluntly. "Eventually their leader, the Yondaime Hokage, managed to seal you away at the cost of his own life."
Kyuubi frowned. "But I am the most powerful of the nine Bijuu. But even if he sacrificed himself, it still wouldn't be enough to hold me. There was something else wasn't there?" Alex nodded. "Two somethings, actually. One thing was that he sealed you away using the power of the Shinigami himself to make a seal. The other thing was..." At this, Alex's expression turned somber. "He had to use his own newborn son as your vessel and make him a jinchurikki."
The Kyuubi's eyes widened at this new information. After a moment, she laughed to herself. How long she had boasted to the others about being impervious to the human's sealing attempts. Yet here she was now, in a prison stronger than any human could make. Suddenly, another question came to mind. "But how are you here? Also, judging from your earlier comment, you've been sleeping all this time. So how do you know all of this?"
Alex's mouth twitched in a slight smirk, amused by some unknown joke. "Well for one thing, I was present at the sealing so of course I know of the attack. As for the other stuff..." he shrugged. "I've been through other versions of this same world, so there are going to be consistencies."
Kyuubi was processing this, when something that had been nagging came to the surface. "What about the boy? The one we're supposedly sealed in? What's happening to him?
At this, Alex's face twisted into a scowl. "Those stupid villagers are happening, that's what. When they look at him they believe that he is merely you in a human body. They blame him for all the destruction and deaths that occurred during the attack." He began pacing furiously. "So they all beat him, refuse to allow him into their shops. Right now I could count on one hand the number of people who care about him..."
His rant was eventually interrupted by a comment from Kyuubi. A simple statement that, coming from the fox, stopped him in his pacing. "I wish we could do something to help him." She opened an eye to see Alex staring at her, stunned. "What?"
Alex shook his head. "You have no idea how weird it is to hear you say that."
"We've just met. It shouldn't that surprising." She snapped, feeling stung by the comment.
"I've met alternate versions of you. Trust me; what you've said is not something any of them would say. But hey! That's not a bad thing it just makes you- ah never mind! Back to the subject at hand, I do, in fact, have a way to help the boy." Alex strode to the approximate center of the chamber. Turning towards the cage, he raised his arms above his head, an aura of a black, smoke-like energy rolling off him. With a roar, the energy exploded off him in all directions, impacting the walls, the ceiling, and the cage bars.
Kyuubi jumped back in surprise (or as far back she could within the confines of her cage). "What the hell was that?"
Alex lowered his arms, panting. "I infused my power with the mindscape, providing him with one of my abilities." He grinned showing a mouthful of shark-like teeth. "Let's see the villagers try and harm him if he can sense them coming!"
Alex's legs suddenly gave way, bringing him to his knees. He gritted his teeth. "Damn! Using my power in here seems to make me tired." He then calmed. "I think that's my cue turn in for the night." With that, he waved his hand at the wall to the side of the chamber, causing a simple bed to appear there. As he crawled into it, Kyuubi gazed at him concernedly. It was odd, she barely knew him yet she was already worried about him.
"Are you alright?" she asked as he lay face down.
"Y-yeah..." he mumbled, "I'm just really tired. Don't worry Kyuu-chan, I'll be fine." Her eye twitched at the nickname.
"Don't call me that!" she barked, causing Alex to flinch from where he lay on the bed. "If you have to call me something, call me Kina! It's better than 'Kyuu-chan'"
"Whatever you say, Kyuu-chan." Muttered Alex, face down on his bed.
"Oh, forget it!" She growled disgustedly. I'm sure he'll get it eventually.
"Hey, Kina-chan..." Sounded Alex's voice.
"What?" She asked suspiciously.
"There's something else from when I did the whole power-infusing thing; something that will get you a bit more freedom, though it can't completely get you out of the seal."
"What is it?"
"You'll see, Kina-chan..." Said Alex, throwing her one last shark-like smile. "I'm sure you'll find it worth it. G'night Kina-chan."