Naruto stared at his clone as they started to circle each other slowly, the fake - the Alternate Lightning. Naruto tightened his grip around Fang's Lance as he snapped out at Storm. "How do you know who I am?" he shouted, watching as Alternate Lightning cocked her head to the side in confusion. Naruto just snarled the same way Fang would. "How do you know I'm a L'Cie?"

"Has Fang not told you?" Alternate Lightning asked softly, Naruto fought the urge to attack Alternate Lightning.

"Fang? Why does it always have to be Fang to tell me everything? Why don't you just tell me now! This Paradox is messing with your head too Lightning!" he shot back; Storm looked at Alternate Lightning who looked really confused now.

"What does he mean? Paradox?" Storm asked, pointing at Naruto, the young Dragoon didn't do anything as he held Fang's Bladed Lance out in front of him, waiting for Storm to finally starting to take things seriously, the sooner this Paradox was fixed the better.

"Something in his timeline must be different... something about me. I shouldn't be here." with that she disappeared in a flutter of petals, leaving Naruto alone with this Storm guy, his mirror image, if Lightning's weapon had been a choice for him.

"So you chose the lance." Storm stated as they started to circle each other, Naruto clicked his tongue as he followed the movements.

"The Weapon of Destruction chose me." Naruto snarled. "Then I defeated the Lightning while she was cursed as the Faceless Guardian and she choose to join Fang and I." he explained. "Who are you? Why do you look like me? Why is does Lightning think she's with you? Or is she really some kind of Alternate Lightning?

"If you first believed she was an alternate, then you thought right my friend. That Lightning is from my timeline." Storm paused for a moment, as if someone was telling him something, before he spoke. "Anyway there are several of us err... can I call you something else? It's odd to say someone's name who has the same name as you. Do you have a codename?"

"Highwind." Naruto muttered without a second thought as he spun his lance in his hand. "The traditional name of a Dragoon."

"Well, Light... er... my Light you can probably say, god forbid if they ever meet." he shook his head before finally charging Naruto with a slash, the Dragoon quickly blocked the attack, so that's how it was going to be. "Told me that Anima messed with the timeline or something causing different versions of ourselves who choose different paths to meet, we fight to unlock a new role as a L'Cie."

"Anima?" Naruto frowned. "No, that doesn't sound right." he slashed at Storm who jumped back; Storm definitely had Lightning's agility. "Fang and Bahamut are the Masters of the Rift. She told me about the Void and how Parallel Worlds exist." he explained as he attacked again, both weapon meeting in the center as they tried to overpower each other. Naruto didn't try hard enough; he wanted a full explanation before he really started fighting. "And she told me that two Parallel Worlds should never meet. For they would begin to collapse upon themselves and fall into the Void. Your Anima did not mess with the timelines, that fal'Cie is trying to destroy the dimensions!"

"So what does it matter?" Storm grunted, clearly not caring that this meeting was damaging their home worlds. "You know who I am, I know who you are, and I want to unlock a new role! So let's fight!" He tried pushing back on Naruto but the Dragoon cried out his warrior's roar and pushed Storm back and kicked him in the stomach. "Thunder!" Storm shouted for a last ditch attempt to lay down an attack.

"Aero!" Naruto shot the spell back to counter, his strike overpowering the lightning element. Naruto quickly charged at Storm moving his hold down on his lance. The moment the other L'Cie went to strike Naruto broke through the flimsy guard, knocking the gunblade out of his hand and hit him hard in the stomach before swinging him around and slamming him hard onto the ground. It surprised Naruto to see Storm replace himself with a log, so he could still use chakra?

"Nice job, but you shouldn't underestimate yourself." Storm said pointing a different gunblade that Naruto hadn't seen before at his neck, how did the boy know he was having confidence issues right now? "Gotta love the Substitution Jutsu." he grinned while pulling another gunblade that Naruto had never seen sheathed in his off hand. "Now, tell me, did the old monkey tell you who our parents are? If he's dead in your time, so help me..." he grumbled, Naruto frowned.

"Old Man Hokagé? He was saved by the Black Dragoon of the Rift." Naruto grumbled as he brought an armoured hand up and grabbed the flat side of the gunblade to pull it away from him; the name of the weapon came to him. Gladius. "But don't you dare think of ruining the surprise for me!" he pulled the gunblade out of Storm's hand and threw it away before dropping a small black ball on the ground, a Ruinga exploded at their feet. Naruto jumped out of the way, he wasn't sure what Storm did. He landed back on the roof of a building and looked down at Fang's weapon, it was harder to use than his Gungir. It was larger and heavier, but Fang was taller and stronger. He gritted his teeth together, this was another sign telling him that he was weak.

"Come on! You're the same as me! Where is all your jutsu?" Storm taunted as Naruto watched him from above, he knew that his other self wouldn't be able to find him, not while he didn't have chakra. It made him wonder, why did he keep his chakra network while his was replaced with the Crystanium Network? Then it clued in with him. He had an abundance of chakra in him before he was a L'Cie because of Kyuubi, now that the system is gone and replaced with that of a L'Cie, the energy didn't disappear either, it was still there, still flowing in his body, as a L'Cie. He stared at the his brand, the first arrow had finally formed, and all he had felt since the exam was despair, the lack of confidence in his abilities, but who did he really have to go up against? Two Master L'Cie of all people! Of course he wouldn't be strong!

Now was the time to prove himself; that he could become just as great as a Master L'Cie and complete his focus.

He jumped off the building, a fair distance away from Storm and studied his brand as it flashed gray, grinning he started to walk forward to Storm who was still actively looking for him as he charged the abilities in his hand before shooting them off. Slow, Daze, Pain, Fog, Deprotect and Poison. He heard Storm cry out and cover his eyes in pain as Fog took hold. Naruto knew that only Fog and Daze took hold on his first try but he kept throwing other spells before picking up his pace, his role changing to Commando as he brought his lance down in a strike. Storm brought up a block. They pushed off each other as Storm, silenced, but grinning, moved in for a powerful strike with both weapons. Naruto spun his lance as has his brand flashed yellow, a red aura surrounded him as he took the brunt of the blow. Storm didn't let up though as he kept attacking before pausing, Naruto found his opening as his brand flashed red again and Fang's lance took on a dark aura, feeding off his Vendetta.

"Darkness!" he shouted, his attack lunging forward and catching storm in its aura, he felt the other energy build up in his other hand. "Drink of Anguish!" he slammed the other energy ball into Storm and sent him flying backwards. He cried out when he crashed into a building.

"That's more like it!" Storm shouted out as he got back up onto his feet, acting like the attack never did hurt him. Naruto took a step back, was he really that resistant? It was bugging him, he felt sorry for his enemies. "My turn!" He was upon Naruto in a flash his weapons coming down as the lance went up, Naruto didn't wait he quickly brought an armoured foot up and slammed it right in Storm's crotch, the boy's eyes went wide as he crumpled on the ground, dropping his weapons. Naruto picked up the other gunblade Edged Carbine and flipped it back into it's gunform, holding it level to Storm's head.

"So you know how to use it eh?" he whimpered, still supporting himself.

"I had one until Kyuubi set Fang and Lightning free from my body." Naruto muttered as he knelt down, constantly laying down the debuffs to keep him immobilized. "So I can shoot it if need be."

"All of this without jutsu, Fang really must be working you down to the ground, I'm scared to think how strong your techniques are." Storm joked but Naruto just pushed the barrel of the gunblade closer to his clone's head.

"How can you still use your chakra?" he spat. "When I became a l'Cie, I lost it all!" he pushed Storm over onto his back trying to find his brand, it must have been hidden like Lightning's.

"The timelines must be different." The fight was stopped when Lightning, well, the Alternate Lightning, appeared before them. "Storm, don't think of using your other mode, Dragoons are by far the hardest class to defeat because of their pure strength, be happy he didn't use any of Fang's real techniques against you."

"Light!" Storm whined, but Naruto stared at the Alternate Lightning.

"Am I really that strong?" he asked Alternate Lightning, the woman nodded.

"I assume Fang's been working your to the bone." she said, crossing her arms before looking at Storm. "This one here has been relying too much on abilities given to him than abilities hard earned. I think we can just call this fight a draw."

Naruto didn't say anything as he buried Fang's lance into the ground, crossing his arms and running his eyes over Alternate Lightning and the immobilized Storm.

"See! I told ya I'd get it... oh fuck..." Naruto heard Fang, the Fang he knew, swear behind him. Storm chuckled. Naruto quickly turned around to see the real Lightning, Fang, Serah and Sakura come to a stop from their run. Serah's eyes went wide with surprise as did Lightning's, who still dressed in her Valkriye Armour. She couldn't believe that there were two Lightnings standing there. It was like seeing two sides of the same coin. "Yeah, this is Cocoon alright… if it's not ours, it theirs." Fang crossed her arms. "We crossed dimensions."

However the two Lightnings wouldn't listen to what was going on as their raised their blades at each other for a moment, however Storm ran between the two of them.

"Wait up! Light!" he cried out, the Alternate Lightning lowering her blade but the real Lightning didn't budge. "You two are like Highwind and I, the same person of different worlds, dimensions, whatever it's supposed to be. There is no need for you to fight!"

"Remember what we said earlier?" Sakura asked pressing forward. "There might be another dimension where you never became the Faceless Guardian, where your blade was chosen, I think we found it." Everyone fell silent as Serah walked up to the Alternate Lightning, getting awfully close to her face as she looked her over just once.

"Can I help you Serah?" the Alternate Lightning asked confused, probably wondering why Serah was up in her personal space. Serah ignored her, slowly reached up to touch the side of Alternate Lightning's face, moving it from side to side. Alternate Lightning didn't fight her, even though this Serah wasn't her own, it was still Serah.

"You're different." she whispered, stepping back closer to her Lightning. "I thought you'd be the same, parallel worlds and all." she titled her head to the side. "There is that slight difference, that I can see in the two of you to tell the two Lightnings apart." she held her hand out as Mog landed softly in her hand. "I guess, it's just one of the abilities of a Time l'Cie."

"The curse of a Time Traveler." Fang muttered softly, causing Sakura to take a look at the brand on the back of her left hand sadly, she quickly covered with her right.

"You can call it a curse or a blessing, but I think of it as something that can help change the future for the better." Storm said as he looked at Sakura. "Don't ever think negative Sakura, it doesn't do you any good." he said with some concern when he noticed Sakura looking at her brand.

"By the way Storm," Alternate Lighting asked getting his attention. "When will you quit the acting like a complete idiot and start acting like Highwind? I'm getting tired of you and your fake happy-go-lucky attitude." she asked as Storm frowned and looked away.

"I really don't like being serious at all; remember that when I do, I become a senseless killing machine for no remorse for who I kill? Whether it be man, woman or child?" he shot back causing the Alternate Lightning to wince, the real Lightning crossed her arms.

Fang frowned softly as she looked over to her own Lightning who was fiddling with the gauntlet of her armour. She slowly stepped closer to Lightning and wrapped her arm around her slim waist, pulling her closer. Lightning moved in, leaning against Fang causing Serah to smirk as she looked back at Alternate Lightning.

"That's the difference." she said and it destroyed the current topic of Storm's current behavior pattern. Sakura giggled while Naruto smirked; his laughter in his eyes hidden beneath the shadow of his helmet. Storm just stared at the two of them, slowly putting two and two together.

"No way..." Storm said with wide eyes as Alternate Lightning realized what relationship her other self and Fang had.

"I should have guessed. Alternate timelines tend to do these things actually." she said with indifference as Storm looked at her like she grew two heads.

"You're telling me that now? How was I suppose to know that it's even possible?" he demanded as Alternate Lightning looked at him with an evil glint in her eyes.

"If that was possible," she said pointing to Fang and Lightning, "-Then in an alternative timeline there might be a you being in a romantic relationship with a guy." she shot back as Storm suddenly gagged at that and began coughing violently. "Don't say that! I'll be having nightmares for weeks!" he exclaimed.

Naruto chuckled darkly, causing Storm to give him a wild look, but yet he couldn't really be seen underneath the helmet. Fang placed a small kiss on Lightning's forehead before she looked back at the group. "I dunno about you two, but we ought to get back to our world and close up this bridge. If we leave it open others might stumble in and cause yeh guys some problems you don't really need happenin'." she looked over at Naruto. "Say yer goodbyes, I'll try to get the tear somewhat functional again so we can get home." she pulled away from Lightning and waved over at Serah and Sakura. "Come, your Time l'Cie powers might be able to help me a tad." they quickly left, leaving the two Lightnings and two Narutos alone. Lightning spoke first, acting like Storm was never weirded out with her moment with Fang; she quickly asked Alternate Lightning a question.

"I'm assuming you never became the Faceless Guardian." she asked her alternate self. "However, did you become the Warrior Goddess in your time?"

"I did, but an incident came up and I lost my right as a Warrior Goddess against a threat that had the power to bend time, space and death itself to his will. He defeated me and took my powers Etro blessed me, forcing me to fight back as a l'Cie again..." Alternate Lightning said as Storm took over.

"Even with help from the other Master l'Cie in our world, this entity defeated them without a scratch on him and sealed them away into their weapons and banished them into alternate timelines that connect to our world. That's where the other Naruto's come into role. They were all given the same Focus on one target: the Ten-Tails." Storm said with a serious expression not noticing that his and Naruto's brands were beginning to glow.

"I don't think they were banished to other parallel worlds." Lightning spoke softly as she turned around slowly, the ruins of Cocoon, how long it had been since she had seen them last. "I became the Warrior Goddess, I saved Fang and Vanille, Cocoon, all of it. We got to live our lives, forever eternal. Generations passed then the era of magic starting to come to its end, making way for Naruto's era. The gods knew that the Hallowed Lord would soon try again to cause Ragnarokkr, and only the Champions and the Master l'Cie could stop him. So they sealed us away in our weapons, Defiers of Fate together in Anima's Vestige, while the Time l'Cie were scattered and the Histora Crux was lost." she watched Naruto's brand with a careful eye. "I refused, so they made me the Faceless Guardian so I could choose who would be the one to awaken us. I had killed countless foolish men, seen many turn Cie'th from the shock alone. Then Naruto came along, the fal'Cie forcing Fang's weapon and curse upon him. I should have killed him, but my need for Fang... after hundreds of years became too great for me to ignore."

"So your time was different." Alternate Lightning muttered, her own blue eyes locked on Storm's brand.

"Naruto's Focus has something to do with the Odin-Bahamut Ragnarok and some beast, possibly the one you spoke of." Lightning looked at Storm, Naruto nodding along the way. "However, Fang and I need to find the other dormant l'Cie and stop the Hallowed Lord before he destroys our world. For if the Fourteenth Cycle begins, all life will come to an end." he looked at them. "Our fights are different, and your information about the worlds is terribly incorrect. Things cannot freely cross the Void, once Fang closes the bridge. Your world will stand alone, like it should."

"I hope you're right, and I wish you guy good luck on-argh!" Storm was cut off as his brand's light all but exploded in a bright light. Naruto took a couple steps back as his was glowing a dark purple. Wisps of light escaped from both of their brands, causing both Lightnings to step back in surprise as they collided together, creating what looked like a summoning sphere. Storm collapsed on the ground, holding his head in pain.

"What's going on?" Highwind snapped as Storm tried to move a little bit.

"The blessing of two Etro's." Alternate Lightning whispered, Lightning narrowed her eyes, unbelieving as Storm's eye began to glow red. The sound of two female's voices, both of the same tone began to speak in a near perfect harmony.

By the grace of the Goddesses of Death. May his spear of blood strike fear into the hearts of the wicked. Come forth, Black Dragoon. A name in dimension, a pact of time. Highwind shall rise, his bond eternal and unyielding.

They watched as a black jewel of some sort floated from the sphere and floated down to Storm's outstretched hand. The boy smiled softly as he closed his hand around it. "I see." he whispered looking at the jewel as he stood up slowly. "It's an Assist Stone. Like the one used by the Warriors of Harmony and Discord." the moment those words left his lips Lightning flinched, like she was remembering something terrible. "These were used to help the change the tide of battle; one never appeared for the Snow-Naruto I fought. So why did this one come into existence?" He asked as he looked at Naruto, grinning, Naruto's glare was hidden beneath his helmet though.

"Looks like we might be seeing each other again, only as allies on the battlefield." he held his hand out for a handshake. "Can't wait to see you in action, partner." he added with a smile.

"I won't be seeing you again." Naruto muttered. "Once the bridge is closed, it's closed." Lightning looked up, wondering where that sudden base of knowledge came from. "I can't just freely jump between dimensions on your bloody whim. As Fang had told me, continue to jump between dimension you'll rip a hole in space and time." he pointed to the stone. "That's probably why a stone was created, because I am learning and following the laws of Time and Relative Dimension in Space, something you clearly won't be following."

"Naruto." Lightning said quickly but she was all but ignored, but then she clued in. Fang watched over the Rift, she was able to use the Histora Crux. Naruto's knowledge was coming from his brand that was basically a combination of hers and Fang's. "I think I know why a crystal was made." she walked over to Storm who looked up at her, slightly intimidated who held it out to her. "This is like an Eidolith. The Eidolons are something different, some need to cross the Rift to get to their summoners, some need to cross the Void. These stones, if used right, can summon the Eidolon within without damaging the home dimensions."

"Of course." Alternate Lightning added, probably realizing it herself. "The summons of World B, all of them needed to cross the Void to get there, that's why we had the summonstones."

"And that's why World B is collapsing. They didn't summon their warriors right, they didn't send them home right. That world is falling apart because there are too many tears in that world's fabric of time and space." Lightning responded as Alternate Lightning held her closed hand up to her face, thinking. "Storm, you can summon Naruto, but only if you are in dire need of his help."

"Call me when you don't need me, and I kid you not, my spear will go places where it shouldn't go." Naruto quickly threatened. "If I see you and judge that you'll just be a problem to our reality, I will kill you."

Storm chuckled softly. "I'll keep that in mind, only in dire situations that I should summon you when needed. Now if you'll excuse me..." he said pulling a necklace out showing a necklace with six similar jewels with two glowing as he added the summonstone to it. "I need to win a bet against a Sannin, and I have a feeling that Lady Luck is on my side." he said with a grin, Naruto smirked.

Lightning smiled softly as she placed get hand on Naruto's shoulder. He looked up at her and she nodded. "We should get going too. We need to find Sakura some equipment and start some definite training. We're done with the basics."

Storm's jaw dropped. Highwind grinned, knowing now that his strength was on the rise. It would only be time before the young Dragoon would become a mighty dragon. "Alright Lightning. Let's go." Lightning turned away and left in the direction Fang and the two Time l'Cie had left leaving him be with Storm and Alternate Lightning. He walked over to Storm and pulled one of his daggers from his belt and held it out to Storm.

"One of my skinning knives. I want you to have it."

Storm took it and let out a small smile. "Thanks, and maybe one day once we fully master our powers...can we fight each other again one last time?" he asked as a door to the Rift opened up behind him and the Alternate Lightning to his world. Naruto took a couple steps back, knowing that Fang and Lightning weren't too far away.

"Maybe, just next time, let's make it fair. L'Cie to l'Cie. None of this stupid ninja stuff." He saluted once as Storm disappeared with Alternate Lightning. Naruto took a couple steps back before removing his helmet, the fake smile disappearing from his face.

"He is nothing more than a threat to the dimensions." He told himself as he looked at Fang's lance he was still holding on to. "I will kill him."

A/N: This leg is completed! Now back to Naruto's Eidolon mess! It should happen soon!