Adventures of the Orange Flash

Chapter 53: Aiming High

Blaze the Cat was currently moving along the dirt path through the rolling hills with Wendy, Cream and Milla trailing behind and chatting, having sensed where the next Sol Emerald is located. She was snapped out of her thoughts upon hearing something flying overhead and looked up to see some sort of bird then something leapt from it and landed on the ground close to them.

Apparently, he is an orange furred fox with nine tails and a lynx appeared next to him, Blaze took note of Wendy and Milla becoming nervous at the sight of the fox as well as having the strange feeling of familiarity towards him.

"I finally you," said the fox then glanced at the girls "You do know that the others are worried about you by now,"

"S-Sorry Naruto," said Wendy and Milla.

"So…you're Naruto Uzumaki," said Blaze with a steady gaze.

"We wish to ask you if you know anything about Eggman Nega," said Nicole.

Blaze frowned in response "That is none of your business, this is my responsibility which I shall deal with on my own,"

"I would have to disagree with you on that one Blaze, this is a problem involving all of us," said Naruto with his arms crossed.

"Not to mention that the space-time continuum has spread and is getting bigger as time goes, and I'm sure you're aware of this too," said Nicole

"…,"

"So, there is a connection between you and Eggman Nega,"

"What are they talking about?" asked Milla confusedly.

"I don't know," Wendy answered.

"I said this is MY problem, so don't bother me!" Blaze spun round and took off at high-speed and leaving behind a trail of flames which soon dissipated.

"Oh, wait for us Blaze! We'll see you later! Naruto! Nicole!" said Cream before grabbing Wendy and Milla to fly after Blaze by flapping her wings.

"Cream, w-wait!" Milla cried out but they were soon gone.

"Seems that she does know what is happening but refuses our help, we'll need to go after them," Nicole noticed that Naruto hadn't responded and turned to see that the kitsune looked rather unfocused and tapped his shoulder "Naruto?"

Naruto blinked for a moment before turning to Nicole "Huh?"

"Are you okay? You weren't responding earlier,"

"I'm okay, just got something on my mind,"

"You may say that, but it bothers you that Blaze didn't show signs of recognition towards you. Don't forget that the time rewrite would have erased her memories of the events back then like the others, save for you and Sonic," Kurama pointed out.

"I know…but I was kinda hoping that she could recall something," thought Naruto.

"Well you should shelf that thought for later and focus on the current situation as of now,"

"Okay then," Naruto then spoke to Nicole "We'll need to go after them, any ideas where they would go to?"

Nicole hummed for a moment before projecting a Holoscreen with a swipe of her hands to display the map, she looked around then pointed at a certain spot on the map "There's a high-speed elevator not too far from here which leads to a zone above us called the Altitude Limit, that must be where they're headed,"

"Either that Eggman Nega is over there or she's looking for something. Let's get going, Dragoon!"

A loud boom sounded then said air glider flew through a blackhole to hover next to him to hop on top of it as it increased its power output for higher acceleration and rapidly ascended to the sky with Nicole sitting on his hair in her faerie form. They soon burst through the cloudbank to come upon some kind of flying fortress surrounded by the numerous clouds.

"Time to check around and see what I can find," said Naruto before jumping off the Dragoon and going into a freefall.

Music Start: Sonic Rush - Original Groove Rush; Get Edgy

Naruto dove in headfirst before performing a flip to land on a rail feetfirst to grind downwards along it and was being redirected by several dash rails as he descended to the end and launched off a dash ramp to perform a couple of air tricks before landing safely on the next pathway and running through an upward guiding shuttle loop with his high-speed enabling him to grind along an uphill rail with more dash rails propelling the kitsune further upwards to the top where he bounced off a spring to reach up to a platform. He boosted off a dash panel to grab onto an uphill zipline to the pathway ahead before the path suddenly curved downwards for him to enter a cannon.

The cannon adjusted its aim before firing Naruto out of it into the air with a parachute in hand which he quickly used to glide in his descent. Naruto caught sight a several Egg Flappers equipped with machine guns flying towards him and were getting ready to fire, he quickly hovered a hand over his S.A.C and tapped the screen a few times before the Peacekeeper rifle materialized and he grabbed it with one hand to fire at the Badniks while using the other to steer the parachute as he continued to glide.

The blonde kitsune landed atop a rail and boosted off a dash rail to get through a rail loop to a small platform where he came upon a rocket-powered pad, he got on board and was being elevated upwards but had to lean from side to side to steer it whilst avoiding the giant propellers before jumping off to land on the next pathway, he bounced off a diagonal platform to get up to the next upper level and run up a ramped wall and bounce off a spring at the top. Naruto quickly jumped along some platforms and reaching the other side before they fell from being stepped on.

Naruto found another cannon and jumped into it to be launched high into the air with another parachute and took to gliding in the air with the Peacemaker in hand once more. He saw more Egg Flappers heading his way and this time along with Falco Badniks "Full Auto!" Naruto spoke out, the rifle beeped in compliance before holding down the trigger for rapid fire to shoot down several of the Badniks. Nicole quickly emerged from the S.A.C to help out "Data Drain!" she thrusted her hands forward for streams of pixelated data to emerge from the robots and were absorbed into her before dropping out of the sky "EM Hijack!" she sent out an Electromagnetic wave to remotely hack into the systems of the other Badniks and had them crash into each other and explode before floating next to Naruto with her Digital Wings active.

He landed on the next pathway and boosted off a dash panel to run up a series of vertical paths upwards to the top and grabbed onto an uphill zipline to ride along to the other side where he grinded along a downhill rail, Naruto reached the end to run up a ramped wall and bounced off a spring at the top to reach up to a rail overhead and boosted off a dash rail to grind up along it to the top to speed through an upward guiding shuttle loop to then running down a curved path which would have send him plummeting to the bottom had his feet not been caught by a bungee rope which then bounced him high into the air while letting go midway to reach up to the next path.

The blonde kitsune moved in further to get on another rocket-powered pad and maneuvered to avoid the spikes around him as he ascended, Naruto jumped off the pad to land on a rail and used his Swift Release to accelerate himself and grind along it to the other side before hopping into a cannon to be launched into the air for a paraglide. He now had to watch out for the spikes sticking out from the walls in his descent before landing on the next platform safely once more. Naruto sped forward to go through an inverse shuttle loop before running up a slanted path and boosting off multiple dash panels to launch off a dash ramp, he performed some air tricks before landing on a rocket pad to ascend to the next level.

Naruto came across a hang glider at the edge of a platform and suddenly smirked as he had an idea, he grabbed the hang glider and leapt into the air to glide with it. The blonde kitsune skillfully evaded the Egg Flappers along the way with Nicole using either Data Drain or Digital Construction to create weapons and take them out until he reached the next area and got off the hang glider.

Music End

"So far so good, no sign of Blaze and the others but I know for sure that Eggman Nega is around here somewhere since his Badniks are here too," said Naruto thoughtfully, he heard his ECG-X gloves beeping to signal a call and quickly answered it "Hello, this is Naruto here,"

[Naruto, this is bad! The tear in the space-time continuum has gotten even wider and is already affecting some parts of our world!] said Tails worriedly.

Naruto frowned upon hearing this "That's not good, how many Chaos Emeralds have you and Sonic gotten so far?"

[We've got six with only one more to go]

"We're getting closer to finding Eggman Nega ourselves and finding out the true cause of all this. We better hurry, the clock is ticking faster now,"

[Okay Naruto, good luck to you two] said Tails before ending the call.

"We'll need to hurry Nicole-chan, things are getting really messy,"

"Okay Naruto, I believe we should in that direction," said Nicole pointing to the left.

Music Start: Sonic Rush - Original Groove Rush; Get Edgy (Blazy Mix)

Naruto dashed along the current path at high-speed then ascended up an uphill path to be bounced into the air in the opposite direction by a diagonal spring before reaching a platform to bounce off another diagonal spring to be propelled higher in another direction to land right into a cannon and was launched into the air with a parachute in hand before making his gradual descent.

The blonde kitsune landed amongst three rows of rails for him to grind along but he was quick to notice that several parts of them were covered in sharp metallic spikes ahead of him, so he took to jumping from one rail to another to avoid making contact with them. Egg Flappers patrolling the area took notice and flew towards the kitsune then opened fire with the machine guns equipped. Naruto channeled chakra into the ECG-X gloves to project handful of chakra shuriken which he outlined with wind chakra to throw them whilst somersaulting from one rail to another to making himself difficult to be targeted.

More Egg Flappers descended but fired bolts of electricity to electrify the rails, Naruto activated his lightning aspect with the Blue bolts of electricity arcing through his body with a majority from his hands, he absorbed the electricity from the rails to gain more power before launching a counterattack "Lightning Chain!" he thrust a hand forward to launch a stream of electricity which strike the first Egg Flapper then arced off to connect with the two others and making them explode with him grinding past.

Naruto almost reached the end of the rails when he performed a chakra enhanced jump to reach up to the next row of rails above him and boosted off a dash rail to go through a rail shuttle loop which then shifted into a corkscrew loop. He saw a wall ahead of him and formed a Rasengan in hand to smash his way through and landing atop a rocket pad, Naruto maneuvered the rocket pad in between the spaces whilst avoiding contact with any of the spikes. He jumped off to the next path to run up a ramped wall before bouncing off a set of diagonal springs to the upper level.

The blonde kitsune dashed along the straight path towards the end to be redirected by a spring to run down a sloped route and redirected by another spring to launch off a dash ramp into the air and landing on a rail to grind along it and boosted off a dash rail when the rail slanted upwards then running down a curved path and flung into the air by a bungee rope at the end. Naruto found himself landing atop a small floating platform which was gradually descending and looked up to see many more above him, he quickly ascended along them to the ledge above him before it would be too far for him to reach.

Naruto hopped into the next cannon to be launched into the air for another paragliding "Lightning Storm!" he unleashed discharge of electricity from his body when several Badniks approached to attack him and Nicole was quick to assist further "Digital Torrent!" she fires from her hands continuous streams of pixelated energy to take the rest of them down. They landed on the next area and came upon a hang glider for Naruto to pick up and glide in the air and avoiding the giant propellers and Badniks in the way to reach the next level.

"Shifting into high gear, Lightning Overdrive!" Naruto radiated even more electricity around his body before taking off at high-speed while appearing as a lightning bolt across the path, he grinded along upward spiraling rail and leapt off at the end to go through consecutive dash rings, then he rode along a zipline over a long gap to reach a rocket pad to ascend and firing bolts of lightning to destroy the Falco Badniks which tried to attack him until he reached the top and jumped of the rocket pad to land on it with the lightning dissipating from his body.

Music End

"Hey, what's that over there?" Naruto looked ahead at something, Nicole looked as well and was quick to identify what it is.

"It appears to be a space elevation," said the Holo-lynx after scanning the structure.

"I can bet 100 rings that Eggy has yet another space station at the top of that thing," said Naruto with his arms crossed.

"Speaking of which kit, guess who's coming," said Kurama.

The duo looked to see what appears to be a VTOL gunship with large twin propellers with the overall design resembling that of a falcon/eagle as it hovered in the air and the cockpit opened up to reveal Eggman Nega smirking at them like always.

"You two again, you're certainly persistent," said Eggman Nega.

"Well we need to be if we want to stop you from destroying this world," Naruto retorted.

"We suspect that the source of the problems would be at that space station of yours, wouldn't it?" asked Nicole with a frown.

Eggman Nega scoffed in response "Your naivety amuses me to no end, though I see no point in explaining myself to the likes of you,"

"You'll be surprised, give it time and you'll be singing like a canary," said Naruto.

"Nice to know that you have knowledge of birds, let's see how much you know about my Egg Eagle!" Eggman sat back in the cockpit as it closed up and he prepared to attack.

"Oh I know alright, and exactly how to cook them,"

Music Start: Sonic Rush - Original Groove Rush; Metal Scratchin'

Eggman Nega piloted the Egg Eagle to place a fair distance between himself and the kitsune and Hololynx before taking aim with the Vulcan cannons equipped and opening fire. Nicole took to the air and began analyzing the gunship while Naruto somersaulted out of the way to avoid getting shot but the Egg Eagle strafed sideways to keep a beat on him "Swift Release: Shadow Dance!" Naruto triggered his Swift release to move along rapidly and lightly with the trailing afterimages depicting his actions of somersaults, flips, handstands and dashes in dodging the projectiles much to the doctor's annoyance, his ears picked up the sound of metallic clicking to signal that the cannons are out of ammo.

Naruto was also quick to take notice of this "Now it's my turn to attack!" he activated his fire aspect with his fists and the tips of his tails igniting in red flames as his body emit heat which grew intense in the battle "Burning Barrage!" he engulfed his arms in flames before thrusting them forward to launch a salvo of fireballs at the Egg Eagle, pelting the gunship several times before the doctor took evasive action to avoid being hit by anymore fiery projectiles then he had the gunship transform into an avian form before swooping in talons first to slam against the platform and use its 'beak' for a peak attack "Swift Release: Shadow Step!" Naruto blurred from eyesight before reappearing in the air above the gunship "Blazing Kick Strike!" he enshrouded his left leg with swirling flames before striking the cockpit with a powerful roundhouse kick to send the Egg Eagle flying before stabilizing its flight.

"Target analyzed, putting on display," said Nicole in her Faerie Form as she projected a Holoscreen to display the data on the gunship for Naruto to see.

Eggman Nega snarled in anger before locking on and launching a salvo of homing missiles towards the duo. Naruto unholstered the Peacemaker rifle and his eyes narrowed in focus as he looked at the incoming missiles "Shotlock: Flame Salvo!" he hovered a foot in the air and launched small fireballs rapidly which homed in on the missiles and destroyed them "Here's a bonus!" he backflipped in midair before aiming with his tails to launch an additional volley of fireballs at the Egg Eagle before landing back on the ground.

The Egg Eagle dove into the cloudbanks to void visibility before suddenly rising up to land on one side of the platform in its Avian Mode, the propellers were aimed in Naruto's direction and spun rapidly to whip up very strong wind currents to blow him off. Naruto smirked as he switched from the Fire Aspect to Wind Aspect, he stood there completely unaffected by the winds and rather gathering energy for a counterattack the moment the propellers stopped spinning.

"Wind Dragon!" strong winds swirled around Naruto before taking on the form of a dragon which looks like a traditional Chu-nan dragon that is twenty feet long with a red mane and the rest of its body borders light blue. The dragon roared out loud as wind is gathered with chakra into a swirling ball around its open maw which is then launched at the Egg Eagle with the impact knocking the gunship off the platform with deep slashes all over its body from the sharpened blades of wind.

"Time to end this!" the wind dragon proceeded to fly around Naruto to form a tornado which lifted him into the air and winds swirled around his feet "Cyclonic Vortex Kick!" he swooped down towards the Egg Eagle with a dropkick, triggering an explosive burst of wind upon impact and destroying the gunship.

Music End

Naruto landed back on the platform with a backflip and Nicole hovered next to him to see Eggman Nega jettison from the gunship in his Egg Mobile to scowl at the duo.

"You truly are becoming a thorn at my side, but this changes nothing for ultimate power is almost within my grasp!" Eggman Nega declared.

"Given how I've been knocking you around like a pinball, you're gonna have to forgive our skepticism," said Naruto with a quirked eyebrow.

"If you wish to see what I am truly capable of so badly, then follow me to my space station of you dare," said Eggman Nega before flying in direction of the space elevator.

"Should we wait for Sonic and Tails before going after him?" asked Nicole.

"Nah, let's keep going. Send a message to tell them where we're headed and to hurry up if they don't want to miss out on the fun," said Naruto with a smirk.

Nicole simply shook her head in amusement before sending a message to the hedgehog then the duo leapt off the platform to make their way towards the space elevator to ascend to the space station currently situated at the planet's orbit for a final confrontation with the doctor.

This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Naruto finally encounters Blaze and tries to find out about her connection with Eggman Nega and the tear in the space-time continuum but was mildly surprised at her refusal for help and stubbornness to resolve the situation on her own before she took off with Cream following her with Milla and Wendy in tow. They follow her to the Altitude Limit zone to bump into Eggman Nega once more. A fight in the air forces the doctor to retreat into space with them in pursuit after calling for backup, one can only wonder what to expect once they reach the space station. Be sure to read and review as always.

This is Hussbek from Ghana.

Signing out.