บท 12: over the hills and far away
Vast. That was the only way to describe the endless void that is the cosmos. If one were to simply float along in the chilling emptiness, it would be easy to lose track of time. Hours would begin to feel like days, and days would begin to feel like years. If alone too long, no one could blame you for losing what remains of your mental fortitude and succumbing into a harsh madness. Luckily, Naruto was never along. Not really.
"We are so lost."
"…"
"…I know you can hear me, brat."
"…please Kurama, shut up."
"…"
"…"
"I told you this was a stupid idea."
"A 'stupid idea?'" Naruto thought incredulously, "If I remember correctly, you were the one that said, 'fuck it, we'll find a planet eventually!' Well guess what buddy, we fucking haven't!"
"We found four planets you little shit!" Kurama defended himself, "…it's not my fault that no one was actually on any of them."
"I hate you…I hate you so much."
"I don't see why we don't just go back to Earth. At least there we can fight something. You haven't had a good fight in a year." Kurama complained.
Naruto mentally sighed, "I already told you Kurama, Earth is the last place I wanna go. Besides, we've had a lock on a large mass of life forms for a while now. Every time I activate my Six Paths Sage Mode the presence gets stronger and stronger. We're getting close, you just actually have to patient."
"Who the hell are you talking about being patience, Mr. 'I Gotta Get Home Now?'" Kurama asked impatiently, "You're the most impatient person I've ever met, and that's saying something considering I was sealed within your mother for thirty years."
"…I hate you."
The two of them entered a moment of silence, neither of them saying a word as Naruto rocketed through the void. His body was covered in his Six Paths granted chakra shroud that protected his body from the natural terrors of space while also using his mastery over wind to create a chakra incased breather of sorts, allowing him to safely travel along the stars. Naruto, for a moment, was allowed to enjoy a moment of peace.
That is until Kurama spoke up again, "You know what I just thought of?"
"…what?" Naruto thought tiredly.
"When we eventually run into these 'life forms,' how exactly do you plan on you know…speaking to them?"
Naruto blinked several times, his mind replaying his tenant's questions a few more times before it registered completely, "…Shit."
"Exactly."
Naruto stopped his flight, floating for a moment as he thought, "I can't believe that didn't cross my mind. It's not like there's some kind of 'common tongue' or whatever. That's stupid sci-fi stuff." The blonde began to rub the back of his head as he tried to think of an answer.
Kurama sighed, "If only you still had that magical necklace or whatever that ancient woman gave you." The fox said suggestively, trying to drop the hint for his container.
"…yeah. If only." Naruto said, rubbing his chin in thought.
"Yeah…if only you had sealed in a scroll a few years ago."
"Yeah, I know. I'm such an idiot."
"Yeah…you really really are." Kurama thought to himself, "You sealed it in a scroll you fucking fool!" the Biju shouted in agitation.
"You know…words can hurt." Naruto thought pathetically. Reaching into the pouch fastened to the back of his pants, Naruto pulled out all of the scrolls resting inside of it. Fumbling through them, the ninja finally found the one he was looking for. Opening it up, Naruto found the seal he was looking for before shoving a small amount of chakra into, a cloud of smoke enveloping him. Flying away from the lingering cloud, Naruto looked at the Prayer Beads of Saraswati given to him by the Ancient One when he first arrived on Earth. Smiling at the memory, Naruto wrapped the beads tightly around his forearm, "There, that should take care of that…I hope."
-x-
"Captain."
Turning his head over his shoulder, Stakar Ogord looked at his first mate, "What is it, Martinex?" The man looked to be in his fifties, his greying black hair slicked back lazily along his scalp. Strapped over his body was a thick blue leather jacket with golden rings protruding from his shoulders, "If it's Mainframe, tell her I'm busy."
Martinex shook his head, his diamond resembling complexion shining in the dim cockpit lighting. Walking forward he spoke, "We've come across something…strange."
"Strange how?" Stakar asked.
Pulling down a tablet screen, Martinex swiped through several different sets of footage before selecting one, pulling up the ship's hull camera feed. Swiveling the screen over to his captain, the first mate presented him with what he found so strange.
Looking down at the screen, Stakar saw what looked to be a man on fire floating in the vacuum of space. Tapping on the figure, the captain checked on his life reading, "He's…alive?"
Martinex nodded, looking over his captain's shoulder at the anomaly before them, "Not only that, but he's giving off some massive energy readings. At first I thought he might be a Herald, but none of the energy I could pick up was cosmic in its makeup, but rather something I personally have never seen before."
"Bring him aboard." Stakar ordered.
"But sir," Martinex spoke, "What if he's hostile? Even if his energy isn't that of the Power Cosmic, he could still very well just be suppressing it somehow. I've never heard of any other being but a Herald or their master to be able to travel though space in such a way."
Stakar lazily closed his eyes for a moment, taking several seconds before saying, "He's not."
"Not hostile? Did you have a vision, sir?" The first mate asked.
The captain shook his head in exasperation, "They are not visions, for the last time."
"Right captain, of course." Martinex said, silently rolling his eyes, "I'll have Tiab activate the tractor beam at once. Are you coming along?"
"Yeah, I'll be there in a minute." Stakar said, seeing that a call was coming in. Waiting until Martinex had left the room he finally answered the call, "What is it Yondu? I thought I told you to never call this line."
Yondu's face could be seen on the screen in front of Stakar, his face one of mild trepidation. Placing his closed fist over the left side of his chest in a Ravager Solute, the blue skinned pirate spoke, "I know Stakar, and I…apologize. But I've heard some news that I feel you'd like to know."
Stakar sighed in agitation, "And what news would that be?"
"I've heard word that your score has been spotted on Hiberlac."
"And where exactly did you get this information from?" Stakar asked.
Yondu hesitated for a second before saying, "Quill and Kraglin heard it while taking a pit stop on a nearby port station."
"Do you have his exact coordinates?"
The blue skinned pirate nodded, "Of course." Yondu seemed to have an internal struggle before saying, "Stakar can we-"
"Don't ever call this line again Yondu, I won't warn you a third time." Stakar said, steel in his voice as he cut off the feed, cutting Yondu off in the middle of his sentence.
-x-
A woman stood near the airlocked door, waiting patiently to be given the go ahead to open the door to enter and speak with the mysterious fire man. Looking at a screen that played the camera feed in the small room, the woman found herself fascinated by the man. Now that he was conscious and onboard the ship, he was no longer engulfed in the strange yellow flames, showing that he appeared to be in his mid to late twenties, though she could be wrong considering his face was covered by near shoulder length blonde hair that had a spiky mess too it, along with a thick beard that was a slightly darker blonde color. His clothes were rather strange in her opinion, with a black jacket that was buttoned up almost all the way, with the collar popped up and wrapped around his neck rather rightly. Around his right arm was a red arm band with an orange swirl in the center, along with another band tied around his left, only the clothe was blue in color with a metal plate in the middle. On the plate was a strange looking symbol that was scratched through the middle. His orange pants were tapered off by a pair of black combat boots, the heels and toes protected by visible plating. Upon even further inspection on the mystery man's face, the woman could now make out strange marking that were hidden for the most part by his fascial hair, with three thin lines appearing to run along both of his cheeks.
"Interesting." The woman summarized, just as a loud ring rang out on the intercom above her head, letting her know it was safe to open the door.
-x-
"You've gotta be fucking kidding me." Naruto mumbled, "You take a nap for a couple minutes and this is what happens." Looking around, Naruto saw that he was now somehow in a some kind of closed off metal room, with the sound of a loud alarm blaring in the background. Getting up, Naruto gave the room some further inspection. It was rather bland, with three of the walls being a dark rusted blue color, and the fourth wall being mostly made up of a thick looking class window, most it being fogged up for whatever reason, "I thought I told you to be on the lookout Kurama?"
"And I thought I told you to fuck off?" Kurama grumbled with irritation, "Just be glad I kept the cloak going, otherwise you'd be here with your eyes popped out of your skull."
"Touché." Naruto thought.
It was then that a figure could be seen through the fogged-up glass. Standing at attention, Naruto prepared himself for whatever fucked up looking creature was waiting for him. With a loud ringing sound and a silent swoosh, the wall flew upward, revealing that the figure on the other side was in fact a woman. Looking to be in her early twenties, her small frame was covered by a dark blue leather ensemble that consisted of tight pants and a loose jacket. Under the jacket was a black shirt that looked to be made out of some kind of wool material. The girl walked towards him slowly, her hands raised up in what Naruto could now confirm was the universal sign of coming in peace. She was rather attractive, with straight black hair that when down to her shoulders, with a face that screamed natural beauty.
"We don't mean you any harm," The woman spoke slowly, "Do you know where you are, who we are?" She finished by pointing at the emblem on her left shoulder, the golden piece of metal resembling fire.
Naruto shook his head, "Sorry…uh, whatever your name is, but I have no idea what's going on here."
"My name is Tara," She said calmly, "And you're in the Virgo System, we picked you up after spotting you out floating adrift."
"And who are you guys…exactly?"
"We are the Stakar Ravagers Clan…welcome to the Starhawk."
Naruto looked past Tara's shoulder to see a rather peculiar looking…thing. It looked rather humanoid in stature, but its complexion was rather strange, even to Naruto, "Oh Martinex, this is Naruto." Tara said, giving Naruto its name. Looking back at Naruto, Tara continued, "So…if you don't mind me asking, what were you doing out there?"
"Taking a nap." Naruto said almost dismissively, to busy studying the thing in front of him, "So what are you made of exactly? I honestly can't tell if that's ice, diamond, or what. And if it is made of ice, how the hell aren't you melting right now, cause it's like seventy degrees in here."
"My skin is made up of a silicon-isotope organic crystal…not that that's any of your business." Martinex said, looking at the strange being before him with mild skepticism, "And how exactly could you survive out there long enough like that to 'take a nap?'"
"Trade secret." Naruto said, still a focusing on how cool Martinex's skin looked.
"But-"
"Son, there's no point in questioning further. The kid isn't going to tell you a damn thing." A deep voice boomed behind them, causing all three to look at the source. Stakar stood there nonchalantly, one hand in his pocket while the other held what looked like a cigar to his mouth, "I would like to know what it is you were actually doing out there. Not many beings in this universe can just fly around like that and survive."
"And why exactly do you want to know?" Naruto asked, not really wanting to get into another situation similar to what happened with Fury years ago.
Stakar gave him a long look, "I'm asking because I'm wanting to make sure I'm not harboring a Herald."
"…a what?"
The two men looked at each other for several seconds, one in silent judgement and the other in confusion. Finally, Stakar spoke, "You're not very bright…are you?"
"Oh I like him." Kurama said with a chuckle.
Naruto rubbed the back of his head, sighing in agitation, "Sorry that I'm not fluent in your alien mumbo jumbo, I've only been at this whole exploring the Galaxy thing for a few weeks now."
The four of them stood there for a second, no one really knowing what to say before a loud rumbling could be heard. The three Ravagers looked at the blonde, his cheeks blushing and his hand gripping his talkative stomach, "You guys wouldn't happen to have any food by chance, would ya?"
-x-
"So…you guys are pirates?" Naruto asked, the blonde shinobi sitting next to Tara in what appeared to be some kind of dining hall. Stakar and Martinex had excused themselves a little bit ago to go talk in private about something, leaving the two to talk about what it was the Ravagers were, with Tara doing her best.
Tara shrugged, "I suppose if you want to put on oversimplifying label on it, then sure we're pirates."
"Well, what exactly would you call yourselfs?" Naruto asked.
"Honor bound mercenaries I suppose." Tara tried to explain, "Really, it depends on what Clan you belong to, and the captain that leads it. Some focus on the stealing aspect more than others. Others are hired guns like the Aleta Clan, or deal in smuggling like the Charlie-27 Clan. But all must follow the Ravager Code."
"Which is?"
"No Ravager is without Honor, Duty Bound to serve his Captain. If you wish to Thieve, Thieve. If you wish to Smuggle, Smuggle. If you wish to Bounty, Bounty. But we do not Kill the Innocent. We do not Rape. We do not Deal in Children." Tara recited, having obviously memorized the code some time ago, "Those are the big ones, but there are other things that are frowned open, but like I said before it really just matters on what Clan you belong to and who your captain is."
"So what do you guys deal in?" Naruto asked curiously.
"That kid, would be Bounty Hunting." Stakar said, walking into the room with Martinex following after him. The man had taken off his jacket, his chewed up cigar still sticking out of his mouth.
"We go after the biggest bounties we can find and turn them in to whoever will pay the most." Martinex clarified. The hard skinned man around the table, shaking hands and greeting all his crewmates as he did. The dining hall was rather full, with such a wide variety of alien species that Naruto felt really out of place. Most had given him long suspicion filled glares when he entered the hall, but had backed down at seeing Tara walking alongside him. When the crew realized their captain had entered, every last one of them raised up their glass and chorused out 'Captain!'
Stakar waved his hand lackadaisically at his crew, this obviously being a common thing. Sitting down next to them, Stakar rested his elbow against the table top, "So…what system are you from kid?"
"No clue." Naruto answered, "My planet is really far away from here. It took nearly four days of nonstop flying before I reached another planet."
"Four days of flying isn't that long kid." Stakar said with amusement.
Naruto took a big bite of whatever kind of meat he was given. The food was pretty good, though he was a little put off by the purple color at first. His mouth still full he spoke, "It is when you're going at the speed of light…or at least I think that how fast I was going. Just know that I was booking it pretty good."
The room was quiet for a second…the three Ravagers not really knowing what to say after hearing that. After nearly minute, Martinex spoke, "How could you have possibly been moving at that level of speed?"
"You know that fire cloak of mine?" Seeing everyone nod he continued, "Once I go into that form, I can do a whole lot of cool things, one of them being complete control over magnetism. All I have to do is propel myself from the magnetic field of say a planet or star, and boom. I can also fly through other means, but this is the fasted way." Naruto didn't see any reason to not tell them. If he ever had to fight them, his Magnetic Release was only one of hundreds of abilities he had.
"That's actually very impressive," Martinex surmised, "Considering the fact that there are countless stars in the galaxy, let alone the universe, it wouldn't be hard to pick up on one and simply use its magnetic field as a spring board. And I'm assuming that 'cloak' of yours protects you from the harsh environment of space as well?"
Naruto nodded, "Yeah, and I use a neat little trick with wind to help me breathe. I call it, Wind Style: Fuck You I'll Breathe In Space If I Want To Jutsu, or FYIBISIIWT for short." He finished with a smirk, enjoying the look Martinex was giving him.
"So where were you heading exactly?" Tara asked, changing the subject.
Naruto shrugged, "I was heading towards a planet that I could feel had a lot of life forms on it and then go from there."
"The only planet near here is Ego, which is has zero intelligent life forms." Martinex informed him, "The planet is considered inhospitable, you'd have probably died had you tried to go there."
Naruto hummed, "Strange, I know I could feel life forms on that planet." Shaking his head he said, "Oh well, there's probably some kind of dumb space logic to explain it that would probably go over my head." Looking at Stakar he said, "Good thing you found me then, otherwise I might've been a goner." He finished with a chuckle.
Stakar shrugged, "It's not every day you see a kid on fire floating around in space."
"But that can't be the only reason." Naruto persisted, "You had no idea whether I was a threat or not, but you helped me out anyway, why?"
The burly man looked Naruto over for a second before shrugging again, "My people are born with the ability of precognition." When Naruto's face scrunched up in confusion Stakar explained further, "It's the ability of having foreknowledge of an event."
"So you can see the future?" Naruto asked, trying to wrap his head around such an awesome ability.
"In a way, though for me it's more of a brief picture of something. I can use it at will, but whatever I see is random, so it's not really all that practical."
"So what did you see?" Naruto asked, "When you saw me I mean. You had to have seen something to let a total stranger on your ship."
Stakar closed his eyes, "I saw you and Tara having…relations."
Naruto's eyebrows shut upward in shock, debating in his head whether Stakar was just messing around with him, and then at Tara to see her shaking her head at her captain, "How aren't you freaking out about this?" He asked, mildly surprised to see that the woman wasn't really reacting to the news.
"Because that's the problem with our ability. Fate isn't something that is set in stone, it can be changed under the right circumstances, such as the involved parties knowing about it before hand. Now that my father has told us about our possible…relationship, there is now a chance it can be avoided."
"Wait." Naruto said, looking back and forth at Stakar and Tara, taking note in the fact that they had a slight resemblance, "You guys are…"
Tara sighed, "He's my father, yes. Is that really that shocking?"
"No…no I guess not." Naruto said, "It's just kinda strange to see a man talk about his daughter's possible sex life so casually is all."
"Why?" Martinex asked, "What is so strange about a father wishing for his child to mate?"
"I'm gonna pretend you didn't just say that." Naruto grumbled.
"And now that we've gotten that out of the way," Stakar interrupted, effectively changing the conversation, "We can now get down to business."
"Which is?" Naruto asked.
Reaching into his pocket, Stakar pulled out a small sized screen, "I can tell you're strong kid, from what you've been saying I'd say you could take on a Nova Corps Centurion no problem. And seeing as how you have no idea where in Eternity you're going, I'd say we could help each other out a little bit."
"…I'm listening." Naruto said.
Pulling up an icon on the screen, Stakar slid it over to Naruto, the blonde picking it up to see the picture plastered on it. Naruto raised an eyebrow at what looked like a wanted poster. The creature in the headshot was rather strange in Naruto's opinion, with it looking as though it were a lion with a humanoid form. His long dark grey hair merged with his beard, giving it the look of a mane, with the end of the beard tied off in a ponytail. His dark grew skin was chiseled and hairy, his bare torso revealing his sculpted chest and abs, and his tree trunk arms were nearly bursting at the seams with blood vessels. His legs were covered by blue pants that was covered by various pieces of silver armor.
Looking back up at Stakar he said, "And who the hell's this guy?"
"His name is Blastaar the Living-Bomb Burst, he is considered by the Nova Corps as a Universal Threat with a bounty of 3 Billion Units. After months of searching, we've been informed that he is currently hiding out on the planet Hiberlac." Stakar reached over and scrolled down on the screen, "As you can see however, he's as much of a monster as his bounty would suggest. In the past thirty years since he's been active, he's destroyed dozens, if not over a hundred cities, along with killing millions of people during the war."
"War?" Naruto asked.
It was Martinex who answered, "The Xandarian-Kree War, or the Thousand Year War as it's called now, has plagued the star systems for just over a thousand years. It is only now that talks of peace are happening between the two sides, but the Kree are an arrogant people, so there is much bluster in their negotiations. It may take decades for a treaty to be signed, if it gets signed at all."
"The Kree have used Blastaar when they themselves can't muster up the fire power to conquer certain planets, so they send the Living-Bomb to level a few key areas before they swoop in and do the rest."
"And you guys are planning to go after this guy?" Naruto asked.
Stakar shook his head, "At first no, we've been just trying to pick up a location and alert the Nova Corps, on the demand that they pay us half the reward, which is fair all considering." Leaning forward he looked Naruto in the eyes, "But with you I think we might actually have a shot at taking this guy on."
"And let me guess, if I do this you'll give me a ride to a livable planet." Naruto said.
"We'll take you to Xandar, that's the perfect place to get your bearings. We'd have to go there to drop him off to get the reward anyway. That, and we'll give you 25% of the take."
"25%?!" Tara and Martinex asked at the same time, "Don't you think that's pushing it a bit Captain?" Martinex asked.
"Of course not." Stakar answered, "We were gonna only take half the original cut anyway, three fourths of it isn't a bad trade."
Naruto began to think it over, truly weighing the pros and cons of the situation before him. On one hand, he could just say fuck it and ditch these guys here and continue what he was doing before. The problem with that being that he had no clue as to what he was doing or what he was looking for, case in point being the apparent source of life he was heading for was inhospitable and that he could've died had he tried to go there. On the other hand, he could catch a ride with these guys to a place that could help him figure out an actual plan of action, with the only drawback being that he'd have to fight an apparent living bomb, which really wasn't even a draw back since he'd been looking for a good fight for a while now, along with the fact that he'd be getting paid a shit ton of money or units or whatever it was these aliens called their currency.
"Just do it brat, jeez. Is there really any harm?"
Smirking, Naruto couldn't help but agree with the Biju, "Alright Stakar, you got a deal."
-x-
Being forced to watch all of the Star Wars movies by Clint, Naruto couldn't help but have his own ideas of how space travel worked. When Martinex had told the blonde that Hiberlac was nine galaxies away, Naruto immediately figured that they were going to go into hyperspeed or warpspeed or whatever it was they used to travel. Which is why he waited, bouncing on his heels in excitement, for Stakar's crew to set the coordinates in for the rocky planet of Hiberlac.
"Boxia, what's the approximate time of arrival?" Stakar barked out, lounging in his captain's chair.
Boxia, a strange looking creature with pink reptilian like skin and a pair massive lime green eyes turned towards his captain, his words in a low pitch, "TOA is approximately seven hours, Captain."
"How many jumps?" Skakar asked.
"Seventeen, sir."
Naruto looked over at Tara, puzzlement on his face, "Jumps?" He asked.
Tara didn't bother looking away from her station as she spoke, "Jump Points are portals, meant to help with interdimensional travel. In the simplest way of explaining it, the Jump Point creates a small makeshift wormhole that shortens the distance between points A and B. It's the quickest way to get anywhere in the galaxy."
"Oh." Naruto said. After a moment of thought he continued, "So…no warpspeed or anything like that?"
Tara looked up at Naruto, "You mean like traveling at the speed of light?" When he nodded, she said, "Don't be stupid." Turning back towards her screen, she addressed her father, "Captain, the Jump Point is just over two hundred and seventy-five klicks ahead of us."
Stakar looked down at his helmsman, a rather small creature, it's face and body resembling that of an insect from Earth, "Hgsom, let's get a move on."
"My thoughts exactly, Captain." The man spoke in a thin raspy voice. Reaching his three fingered hand over to the throttle, Hgsom cranked it forward causing the ship to blast from her lazy cruise to a full speed zoom across the stars. Naruto made to instinctively grab ahold of something after the sudden increase of speed, only to realize that his body hadn't lurched at all. Looking around, Naruto could see that no one else seemed to be effected by it.
"The cockpit is stabilized thanks to anti-gravity, you shouldn't ever feel the effects of how fast we're going, otherwise we'd have all passed out by now." Martinex explained from his spot behind Stakar's chair, the two of them being the only ones standing in the room.
Naruto nodded, still taking a careful first step before making his way over to Stakar and Martinex, "So, what's the game plan here exactly?"
"You, Martinex, and myself will be going down to the surface. We'll be having Tara waiting in her M-Ship to pick us up in case things go south. Martinex and myself are the only ones that could take this thug on long enough not to die after a few minutes, so there's no point in sending down an entire squad. Should Blastaar be too much to handle, we retreat. There's no point in killing ourselves when we can escape and just send in the Nova Corps to do it." Stakar explained, "And if we take him out, drinks are on me."
"Jump point in ten klicks, Captain." Tara said.
"Captain," Hgsom said, his eyes still up ahead paying attention to what was going on in front of him, "are you sure that it's a good idea for only the three of you to take on the 'Living-Bomb?' I feel that this entire endeavor is foolhardy."
"I might not be in my prime Hgsom, but I can more than handle myself, the same goes for Martinex. As far as the kid, I feel like he'll be doing most of the heavy lifting." Stakar said, almost dismissively.
Naruto decided to speak, "Oh I can handle myself, trust me." Giving Martinex a friendly pat on the shoulder as he walked over to Stakar's chair to get a better look at the person he was talking to.
"Sorry if this comes off as rude," Hgsom said, his eyes still forward, "But I don't."
"We're about to hit the Jump Point, Captain." Tara informed.
Naruto looked out the front window in interest, waiting to see this "Jump Point." He was pleasantly surprised to see what looked like the opening of a honeycomb open up in front of them. Naruto could slightly see through the hexagon shaped wormhole to the planet on the other side. Just as they passed through, Naruto had to squint at the shocking change of darkness to daylight.
"So this is Hiberlac?" Naruto asked, "It's beautiful." He observed.
Tara shook her head, "This is Berhert. Hiberlac is still another sixteen jumps away."
Naruto deflated slightly, "Oh."
-x-
Naruto's excitement over the fact he was traveling in space slowly died down. Jump Point after Jump Point. Klick after klick. Naruto eventually realized that as an observer, space travel lost its luster after a while. In hindsight that made a little sense, considering the fact that Naruto was practically the definition of a hands on kind of guy, and didn't really enjoy just watching. Maybe when they got to Xandar he could buy a ship, but until then Naruto was forced to stand there and look pretty while the crew safely traveled through the cosmos.
"Captain," Hgsom called out, "After this oncoming jump, we'll have arrived at our destination."
Stakar nodded, "Martinex, Naruto, let's go. We'll get off on the cargo ramp." Looking over at his daughter he ordered, "Prep your M-Ship Tara, and keep an eye out for us, you'll be our bird's eye view."
"Of course, Captain." Tara said, giving a Ravager Solute as she did.
The three men walked out of the cockpit, the two Ravagers leading Naruto to the cargo hold. The three could feel the ship blast through the Jump Point, and the intercom stationed throughout the ship blared out Hgsom's voice, "Attention to all crew, we will be landing on Hiberlac in approximately fifteen minutes."
The battle ship landed down on the surface with relative ease, with Naruto, Martinex, and Stakar making their way to the cargo hold. Stakar silently prepped his two hand guns, while Martinex simply stood off to the side with his hands folded over his chest, "So how exactly are we gonna find a single guy on this planet?" Naruto asked.
"My contact sent me his coordinates, he's a few miles away." Slamming his hand down on a large red colored button, an alarm began to blare with a flashing light swirling around. With a loud hiss, the ramp door began to swing down. Covering his eyes with his hand, Naruto couldn't help but whistle in appreciation at the sight before him. The bright orange rocky surface contrasted beautifully with the purple colored sky and grey clouds. There didn't appear to be any kind of foliage or bodies of water, reminding Naruto a little bit of Mars in that respect. Descending down the ramp, Naruto couldn't help but notice that it wasn't as humid as he would've thought, probably around 75 degrees, at the most.
"So, lead the way Captain." Martinex said, standing at attention, waiting for his captain to give out his orders.
Stakar began to walk forward, a small device in his hand, the screen showing what looked to be a map with a flashing blimp off to the left side, "We've got a six-mile trek ahead of us, that's where he was supposedly spotted. Then we have to actually track him down. Which shouldn't be too hard, probably."
The walk was a quiet venture, the three of them not really in the mood to make small talk as they kept on the lookout for the Living-Bomb. Stakar lead the charge, one gun held at the ready, chumping quietly on a thick chekka cigar. Martinex stood at his captain's right, which made sense what with him being his right-hand man. Naruto trailed slightly behind the group, taking in the sights more than anything.
Finally making their way up a rather steep hill, the three of them finding themselves on a surprisingly flat plateau. In the middle of the plateau sat a single figure, obviously large in stature. "Welp…that was easy." Naruto deadpanned, the trio obviously having found their score.
The figure seemed to have heard him, his once lax form now straightening in attention. Slowly he got up from his sitting position, standing up at his full stature. Turning around, the three could one hundred percent confirm that the being before them was Blastaar the Living-Bomb Burst. Even from twenty or so yards away, Naruto could tell that he towered over them. Looking all three over, Blastaar snorted out of his nose, causing a visible gust of steam to blast out.
"You must either be very unlucky, or very suicidal. Either one, you all are going to die here today." Blastaar's deep baritone voice ground out.
Naruto smirked, "Oh yeah? Well, bring it on Mufasa." When Stakar and Martinex looked at Naruto in confusion he sighed, "Now I totally get why Clint would get so annoyed when I didn't get any of his Earth related references. That would've killed on Earth." Having enough of the banter, Naruto charged towards Blastaar, his eyes glowing gold with his pupils taking on the form of a strange looking cross. His fist drawn back, Naruto appeared within Blastaar's personal space in a near instant, his fist slamming into his jaw so hard that the impact sent a shockwave that crumbled the ground beneath them into a decent sized crater. The Living-Bomb was sent bouncing along the plateau, before collapsing in a cloud of dust.
Martinex followed soon after running past Naruto as his hands began to glow in two different colors. His right hand enveloped in a bright orange haze, and the left was swallowed by a shining blue. Extending his left hand out, a blast of ice shot out with heavy force, slamming into the still downed Blastaar. Stakar made a sweeping run around the area, pointing both of his guns at the Living-Bomb, letting loose a barrage of laser bolts. Naruto didn't want to miss out on the fun, his hands flipping through hand signs before taking a deep breath. With a great heave, Naruto released a bolt of lightning in the shape of a spear towards Blastaar, "Lightning Style: False Darkness!" He thought.
The lightning spear slammed into the downed Blastaar, with Martinex and Stakar letting up on their attacks as the three waited for the dust to settle. They couldn't help but scoff in annoyance at seeing Blastaar get up completely unharmed, dusting off any remaining debris on his shoulder rather nonchalantly.
"Is that the best you have?" Blastaar asked, "I've seen Nova Denarians with more fire power than that."
Getting in a battle stance, Naruto said, "You guys think you can keep him busy enough for me to get close?"
Stakar nodded as he finished reloading his pistols, "Of course, we can handle that much." Quickly activating the jet pack strapped to his jacket, Stakar blasted up into the sky, giving him a bird's eye view as he rained down fire on the Living-Bomb. Seeing that his captain was going high, Martinex decided to go low, pointing his right hand as a blast of heat shot out towards Blastaar's kneecaps. The beast didn't expect for the crystal man to shoot out a beam of heated energy towards him, but kept his ground as the attacks hit him. Growing tired of it, Blastaar slowing made his way over towards the one he perceived to be the bigger threat, Martinex. In a burst of surprising speed, Blastaar charged at the first mate. Jumping up into the air while clasping both hands together over his head, the beast made to slam them down on top of Martinex's head.
He was kept from doing it however when he was suddenly swallowed by a very thick wall of water. Looking around in shock, Blastaar found himself trapped and hovering in the air in a sphere of water, the ball being held by a smirking Naruto.
"Water Style: Instant Water Prison." Naruto said triumphantly. Looking over at the shocked Martinex and Stakar he said, "Well…not so instant in this instance considering it took me forever to gather enough water from the particles in the air to use it, but still. I'd give him a couple more seconds before he passes out from lack of oxygen."
Looking back at the now trapped Blastaar, Naruto was perplexed to find that the giant man was smirking at him. He didn't have time to speak, as the Living-Bomb's eyes began to glow a dangerous orange. The water surrounding began to bubble, steam emitting from the top of the sphere before the trapped beast released a mighty roar.
BOOM!
The explosion rocked the plateau, the flat surface collapsing in on itself and tumbling down several stories. The still in flight Stakar was sent spinning a short distance away from the force of the shock wave, and was forced to watch his first mate get sent flying into a nearby rock pillar. Dust and debris had only just began to settle when a figure began to make its way out of the cloud. Swooping his hand outwards so that the dust was pushed out of his face, Blastaar surveyed the damage he had caused. A smirk crept along his face when he saw the shocked expression of Stakar, who was hovering up above him.
"Two down, one to go." Blastar bellowed. Suddenly, his hands began to emit the same kind of energy as his eyes had before, before twin beams of energy shot out from them into the ground below him, the force of it sending him rocketing upwards towards Stakar, who did the best he could to get out of the beast's trajectory as quickly as possible. The Living-Bomb swooped past him, leaving a trail of orange energy in his wake. He wasn't done however, pointing his left hand towards the Ravager Captain, another bolt of energy sent flying right towards his chest.
He was once again thwarted by outside interference as a blast of ice intercepted his concussive beam of energy. Martinex followed after that with another blast, only this one being from both hands. The airborne Blastaar couldn't maneuver around the attack in time, resulting him getting pelted and sent flying into another poor stone pillar.
Stakar deactivated his jetpack, landing down with ease next to his right-hand man, "Thanks for the save son." He said, patting him on the shoulder as he did.
Martinex nodded, "Of course Captain." Looking over at the now destroyed plateau he had just been standing on, he couldn't help but grimace, "So what now? We're a man down and I doubt he'll just let us leave."
The captain nodded, "Yeah, I know. We probably could've planned this better."
"Yeah, probably." Martinex agreed.
Their conversation couldn't go any further, as Blastaar slowly made his way out of the dust cloud he had created with his landing. Once giving a snort reminiscing a bull, the beast growled out, "I grow tired of this. Time to di-" Blastaar's death threat was cut off by the fact that Naruto had appeared in front of him in a flash of speed, his leg extended back with steam building along his leg and foot.
"Boil Release: Erupting Strong Foot!" With a mighty swing of his foot, and an added burst of released steam, Naruto's foot rocketed into Blastaar's jaw, sending the juggernaut flying into a nearby cliff side. Not done with him, Naruto dashed towards him giving a quick open palm strike into his sternum as he reared his other hand back, said hand taking the shape of a tiger hand sign, "Daytime Tiger!" He roared, the air around his fist taking the shape of a tiger's head.
If anyone had been impressed by the destruction of his previous punch caused, then they'd have crapped their pants at seeing just how powerful the shock wave was, causing any nearby rock formation to crack and crumble into pieces at least a hundred yards out in diameter.
Picking himself out of the pile of boulders he'd accidently buried himself in, Naruto agitatedly dusted himself off as he spoke to himself, "That was way weaker than what Bushy Brow-Sensei could do, but considering the fact that I don't have to enter the Sixth Gate I'd say that it's a pretty good off-brand."
As he tried to shake out the numbness in his hand, Kurama spoke, "I'm surprised you haven't entered your Six Paths Sage Cloak and just killed this guy."
The numbness now having left his hand, Naruto thought, "Hey, I'm trying to dust off the cobwebs here. That and there's a shit ton of stuff I've been dying to try out."
His danger senses flaring, Naruto jumped over to the side as one of Blastaar's beams of energy blasted into where he was standing. Using his agility, Naruto did a triple back hand spring before landing in a crouch several feet away, right in time as Blastaar landed down where he had been like a meteorite.
Smirking, at the opportunity, Naruto clapped his hands together, "Earth Style: Sudden Quicksand!" Just as the ground beneath Blastaar spilt and cracked under the pressure of his landing, forming a decent sized crater in his wake, the dirt began to soften and loosen. Before long, Blastaar began to sink into the ground. As he struggled, the quicker it was he began to sink. Before long, the beast was neck deep in a pool of makeshift quicksand. Pulling his shirt sleeve up, Naruto applying chakra to his forearm, revealing a wide variety of different seals, each one different in size and makeup. Channeling chakra to a specific seal just under his wrist, a puff of smoke swallowed him. The cloud of smoke was quickly dispersed by a burst of Wind Chakra, revealing Naruto holding a blade in his hand. More specifically, and handless chokuto with black rectangular grip being gripped tightly as he began to channel Lightning Chakra into the single edged blade.
"Why must you use that blasted sword, Naruto?" Kurama asked, obvious agitation in his voice.
His old teammate's Chidori Sharp Spear now activated, Naruto thought, "It's a memento Kurama, simple as that." Pointing the electrified tip of the blade in the direction of Blastaar's skull he said, "Let's see you survive this blastard."
BOOM!
The Chidori surrounding the chokuto began to elongate, the pointed tip about to drive itself into Blastaar's cranium when another blast rocked the area, this one however no way near as big as the previous one. Naruto jumped out of the smoke, sword still in hand but his jacket now in complete tatters. Looking down at the now flapping piece of cloth that was once his jacket, Naruto's face scrunched up in mild anger as he carefully took off the headband given to him by Iruka. Quickly sealing, Naruto decided to take care of the rest of the pesky jacket. Ripping if off, Naruto shouted out, "You destroyed my jacket asshole! I liked that jacket!"
Blastaar didn't seem to care, having burst out the ground, his hands covered by thick balls of energy. He was obviously angry now, if his furious snarls were anything to go by as he charged towards Naruto. Flipping the sword into a reverse grip, Naruto drove the blade into the ground, "Chidori Current!" he shouted out. As the current of electricity sprawled forwards at the now back peddling beast, Naruto brought his hand out to the side slightly away from his body.
"Are you gonna use that move? Kurama asked excitedly.
"Yeah, I've been wanting to try this out on something other than a tree or a clone for a while now." Chakra began to spin and swirl around his forearm, similar to how the Rasengan forms around the palm. Eventually the swirling chakra began to take form along his arm and hand, forming a spinning cone like shape. Grinning, Naruto called out the name of his technique, "Rasenmori!"
Blastaar was too busy trying to evade the persistent lightning attack to really pay attention to what Naruto was doing, being forced to use his concussive blasts to shoot himself upwards on top of a nearby cliff side. Now free from that infernal attack, Blastaar looked to see the blonde had formed some kind of spinning lance along his forearm. Seeing how dangerous that attack was, Blastaar prepped his concussive blasts to rocket him upwards once again once the blonde got in his personal space, thus forcing him to drive his attack into the wall situated behind him. His plan now set, the Living-Bomb waited patiently for Naruto to charge towards him.
Naruto sprinted towards him quickly, his attack humming in anticipation for its use. As soon as he was an arm's length away, the blonde shinobi drove his rotating lance into the beast's chest. His attack was thwarted however as Blastaar propelled up once again into the air, the beast rocketing several yards up.
Blastaar thought he had successfully dodged Naruto's attack, only for that thought to be squashed when Naruto appeared out of nowhere. It wasn't straight up speed. He'd just…appeared. Almost as though he teleported. His thoughts went no further as Naruto drove his Rasenmori into the beast's chest.
Naruto smirked as his attack landed. Unlike your run of the mill Rasengan slash most of its variations, the Rasenmori wasn't a grind, drill, and burst. This was just a straight up drill and get fucked up. If the attack didn't kill you from the impalement, it did when it grinded into whatever it was touching, say…organs, for example.
The Living-Bomb Burst fell to the ground with a sickening crunch, blue blood flowing from the gaping hole in his chest. Naruto landed next to Blastaar in a silent crouch, giving him a quick once over before turning to look at the stunned Stakar and Martinex. At first he thought they were shocked at his show of prowess, only for that to be proven wrong after catching something in the corner of his eye. Time began to move in slow motion as he turned his head over to the still collapsed Blastaar, the Living-Bomb's hand lifted up and pointing towards him, said hand covered in his signature ball of energy.
Martinex was about to shout out in warning when he felt a sudden presence right in his personal space. Turning around with his hands glowing their respective energies, the first mate was surprised to find Naruto standing behind him, "Ho-how the hell?" There was no way Naruto would've had enough time to get from where he was to where he is, he'd have to have teleported or something. His attention was brought back to Blastaar, as a beam of energy rocketed out of his hand, the attack plowing into a cliff side a couple hundred feet away. When the attack hit, the blast blew the cliff to kingdom come, leaving a massive crater and cloud of dust and debris in its wake.
"Trade secret." Naruto said with a smirk, "I'm glad I prepped beforehand, otherwise that might've gotten a little messy." He finished as he looked at the spiral shaped seal on Martinex's shoulder blade. Stepping forward, Naruto said, "The bastard is harder to kill than I thought he'd be. I think it's safe to say that he can only take one more hit though." As an afterthought he looked over at Stakar, "Are they wanting him dead or alive?"
"Dead or alive, it doesn't matter." Stakar answered, "Just make sure to leave enough for a DNA test."
Naruto nodded, "I got just the thing." Channeling a precise amount of chakra into his fist, Naruto held out his unoccupied hand, using his control over magnetism to lift Blastaar up into the air. Bending his knees, Naruto jumped upwards towards the now floating Living-Bomb, his fist nearly overflowing with chakra as he reared it back. Once again in arm's length, Naruto slammed his closed fist into Blastaar's face, "Cherry Blossom Impact!"
While the attack wasn't nearly as strong as most of the others that had been thrown around that day, it was more than enough to finally knock Blastaar out, the massive alien slumping into unconsciousness as he flew through the air. Righting himself in midair, Naruto levitated silently as he waited to see if Blastaar was actually knocked out. Creating a clone, he sent the clone to give him a few testing kicks to the side.
When the Living-Bomb didn't even stir, Naruto threw the clone a sealing scroll, "Here, seal him up. And put a few paralysis seals on him while you're at it, don't want him causing a ruckus when we unseal him on Xandar."
"What are you doing to him?" Stakar asked as the two Ravagers walked towards the clone.
The clone shrugged, "Sealing him away. It's pretty much a pocket dimension that will keep him in stasis until he's unsealed again."
In a huge puff of smoke, the hulking Blastaar disappeared, having been transported into the storage scroll. Wounding the scroll back up, the Shadow Clone tied it together in a tight knot before tossing it back at his creator. Giving a quick thumbs up, the clone dispersed in another puff of smoke.
Descending towards the ground below, Naruto joined the Ravager duo. The three of them stood there, the three taking solace in the fact that it was quiet once again. Unsealing his old headband, Naruto silently tied it around his bicep. Looking back at the two, they could see their confusion over the piece of cloth, "It's my Shinobi Headband, it shows my village affiliation." The two nodded in understanding, the Ravagers using a similar thing with their colors and the shape of their Ravagers Flame emblem, "So…what now?"
Stakar holstered his pistol with one hand while running his hand thought his hair with his other. Looking at Martinex then Naruto he said, "Now…now we head for Xandar."
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