Adventures of the Orange Flash

Chapter 54: Clash of Wills

"At this point, I don't think I'll need to count the number times when I end up coming up to space," Naruto muttered to himself as he gazed through the massive glasslike casing surrounding the space station which he and Nicole entered from the space elevator to see the earth.

"You're right about that Naruto, I got a message from Tails; they just arrived at the Altitude Limit zone and would soon catch up to us," said Nicole after reading said message.

"Good to know, what say we take a tour through this place before our appointment with a certain byproduct of poultry,"

Nicole giggled in response "I certainly don't mind,"

Music Start: Sonic Rush - Original Groove Rush; What U Need

Naruto dashed along the pathway to the end to be redirected by a spring in the wall to send him running up an uphill road to go through several dash rings to propel him diagonally up to land on the higher platform to run downhill to the bottom before running up a ramped wall to go through an opening where he grabbed onto a rocket as it launched with him along for the ride. The blonde kitsune realized he could maneuver the rocket and did so to smash through a couple of Egg Flappers before letting go to land on the next level when it was about to crash into a wall and explode.

He then boosted off a dash panel to go through a shuttle loop and another set of dash rings to launch diagonally up over some orange mechanical bulbs which seem to alter gravity, making him float upwards to the next platform to speed through a shuttle loop before running down a vertical route to enter a cannon in his spinball form, Nicole was the one to take control of the cannon to take aim before launching Naruto out of it into the air and landing on the ground. Ne grabbed of a weighted fan which swung in one way before going the other way like a pendulum to send Naruto running upside down on the ceilinged path which curved up and down before grabbing another fan to be redirected back to the ground.

Naruto boosted off a dash panel to go through downward guiding shuttle loop before launching off a dash ramp to take to the air to bounce off a spring at the bottom of a wall to run up along it through an upward guiding shuttle loop, he ran through a passageway to enter a cannon for Nicole to take control and launch him out of it. he somersaulted several times in the air before landing on a rail to grind along, zipping through a rail loop before leaping off at the end of land at the next pathway.

The blonde kitsune ran along the route which sudden curved downwards vertically for him to enter a cannon for Nicole to launch him out of it, he looked down to see a couple of Egg Pawns wielding blasters and prepared to attack "Foxfire Kick!" Naruto's right foot ignites with an azure flame before striking out with a flying side kick, his attack impacted with one of the Badniks before releasing a radial burst of foxfire to send the rest flying as he landed in a roll before to run up a ramped wall into an upward guiding loop to launch off a dash ramp into the air to run sideways along gravity walls resembling large green metallic meshes, leaping from one to another before reaching the other side.

Naruto saw several Egg Pawns charge at him with lances in hand and accessed his Air aspect as a strong gust of wind swirl around him "Aero Beast Swipe!" wind spirals around one of his arms to form a large beast paw before swinging at the Badniks to smash them up, he quickly leapt into the air to evade the shots fired from above by Egg Flappers an responded in kind "Wind Darts!" Naruto pointed his tails towards the robots for multiple conically shaped wind constructs to shoot out from them and take them down.

The blonde kitsune boosted off a dash panel to grab onto a fan which swung him up to the ceilinged pathway to run upside down as the path curved upwards for him to bounce off a diagonal spring and propelled through several dash rings before landing on a rail to grind along it then somersaulting off it at the end. Landing on the next platform, Naruto ran along the path when there was a sudden shift in the gravity which sent him up to the ceiling again, he got redirected by a spring at the end to grind down a rail to the lower level then the path slanted upwards for he in accel rapidly. Gravity returned to normal for Naruto to drop from the ceiling to the uphill path and constantly boosting off multiple dash panels consecutively to the top where he used a fan to fling him to an upper platform to grab onto a rocket to ascend to the next level above him.

Naruto entered a room which locked up and several Egg Pawns equipped with swords and shields teleported in and approached to attack him, he switched from his Air aspect to the Lightning aspect as blue bolts of electricity arcs through his body with a majority from his hands "Chidori!" Naruto began to channel a mass amount of electricity to his left hand with his right gripping it to hold it steady and was producing the sound of many birds chirping, he crouched slightly then took off at high-speed with a white trail of electrical energy behind him. Naruto stood at the other end of the room and behind him were the Badniks having gaping holes in them before exploding. More Egg Pawns teleported in along with Egg Flappers as they opened fire on him, Naruto darted from side to side with his motions appearing as bolts of lightning till he positioned himself in their midst for a counterattack "Lightning Bolt!" he thrusts his hands forward to fire a large blast of lightning at the robots, short-circuiting them to explode. Naruto heard the doors open and quickly exited through it

"Looks like we're getting somewhere, let's keep this going!" said Naruto with a smirk as he ran.

Music Switch: Sonic Rush - Original Groove Rush; What U Need (Blazy Mix)

Naruto sped through the passageway before reaching the end to grab onto a rocket and taking flight, he maneuvered the rocket in the air to avoid crashing into the pillars along the way. He then released his hold on the rocket for it to crash into a wall as he went into a freefall, catching sight of a passageway ahead of him "Swift release: Shadow Flight!" he propelled himself forwards in midair while leaving behind a trail of afterimages to reach it.

Naruto got to the other end of the passage where he got into a cannon for Nicole to take control of and launch him into the air, he flipped several times in midair before landing on the next pathway to run up a ramped wall and through an upward guiding shuttle loop then gravity shifted to send Naruto up to the ceiling path and run upside down. Naruto bounced off a diagonal spring to run sideways along a gravity wall and jumping off at the end to land on a rail to grind along it.

Looking up ahead, Naruto caught sight of multiple Egg Flappers dropping bombs in his direction. He quickly switched to his Celestial Aspect as a white halo hovers above his head and starlight sparkles around him "Light Gatling Bullets!" white orbs of celestial energy formed at the palm of his hands before thrusting them forward to rapidly fire photon bullets at the Badniks to shoot several down, he leapt off the rail to land on one of the Egg Flappers and jumped higher into the air before twisting his body to aim upside down "Light Beam Rapid Refire!" he switched from firing photon bullets to a barrage of light beams to finish off the rest.

Naruto channeled chakra into one of the ECG-X gloves to launch a grappling hook towards and used it to swing around for the gravity to pull him up to the ceiling once more before dashing along it, he grabbed onto a fan to spin round on it to run on the ground which curved downwards for him to bounce off a diagonal spring into the air to fall through an opening into a room where the gravity shifted to send him to the ceiling yet again. Several Egg Pawns wielding swords and blasters teleported into the room and attack him, Naruto quickly created a pair of chakra kunai with the ECG-X gloves and began deflecting the slashes from the blades and shots from the blasters as he weaved in and out amongst the Badniks with white light trailing behind him.

Naruto reached into his ninja pouch and tossed several Hirashin kunai into the air which he caught with each of his tails then he threw the Hirashin kunai at some targeted Badniks with them before he warped away, multiple flashes of yellow light could be seen as each of the robots were being destroyed in rapid succession then Naruto reappeared behind them with the kunai dissipating and the Hirashin kunai held by his tails as he called out his technique "Flying Raijin: Slashing Combo Level!" Nicole emerged from the S.A.C to help out as blue pixelated energy radiated from her hands "Data Drain!" pixelated energy was drawn out from some of the Egg Flappers overhead "Digital Torrent!" she then fires a continuous stream of pixelated projectiles to destroy them.

Nicole located a control panel nearby and hacked the system to unlock a door for her and Naruto to exit through while she returned to the S.A.C, the blonde kitsune resumed his run with a gravity shift sending him to the ground where he boosted off a dash panel to sped through a downhill shuttle loop down along a slanted path before launching off a dash ramp at the end to go through multiple dash rings then a rainbow ring to perform several tricks and landing on a platform to grab onto another rocket. It was a bit of a short flight for Naruto to get to the next platform and drop off.

"Almost there," Naruto muttered to himself, running up a ramped wall and bouncing off several diagonal springs to ascend further to the top before running along a gravity wall where he jumped off at the end to grind along a rail to go through a rail loop to get to the next pathway and boosting off a dash panel to go through an inverse shuttle loop. He was soon running along a straight path before skidding to a stop before a pair of metallic doors.

Music End

Naruto approached the doors only for them to open up "Guess we're being expected after all,"

Nicole emerged from the S.A.C in her normal size with a small frown on her face while hovering next to the blonde kitsune "Please be careful Naruto, no doubt Eggman Nega has something planned for us,"

"Then we'll just have to wreck whatever plan he has in store for us," said Naruto with a shrug of his shoulders.

The duo passed through the doors and across a bridge to get onto a linear platform, the bridge suddenly retracted itself which left the duo on the platform then they heard a sound and looked up to see Eggman Nega riding on his Egg Mobile like always and looking down on them with arrogance.

"Enough with the running away, it's getting very old here," said Naruto with his arms crossed.

Eggman Nega scoffed in response "I don't have time to chat with you right now,"

"Then you will just have to make time for it," said Nicole with a frown.

A familiar voice spoke up for all to here "I would have to agree especially since you need to take responsibility for many things," they turned to see someone land on the platform, revealing to be Blaze the Cat "Long time no see, Eggman Nega,"

"Blaze?" Naruto was mildly surprised, given that he was expecting her to show up since she would be after the doctor as well.

"Oh Blaze, my dear. I never expected to see you in this world," said Eggman Nega "It seems Eggman made a mistake,"

"…so you guided him to our world,"

"Sounds to me like our Eggman and Eggman Nega are working together," said Naruto thoughtfully.

"Apparently so," said Kurama.

"It's best to let someone else do the dirty work, I've been waiting for him to return with the gems," Eggman Nega sneered evilly "I could care less what happens to our world,"

"…," Blaze stood there silently then her hands ignited in flames as she glared at the mad doctor "I'll destroy you!"

She took a step forward only for Naruto to stand in her way "That's pretty harsh, but please calm down,"

"He's my opponent, go away!"

"I would if he wasn't a problem to us as well, he has a lot to answer for,"

Blaze glared at Naruto "I said I would resolve this on my own, I must protect my world and I don't need anyone's help!"

Naruto waved his hands in a placating manner "Please calm down,"

"Why are you still here? If you don't leave…,"

"…surely you're not intending to fight me, are you?" asked Naruto, hoping that it won't be the case.

Blaze took a more aggressive stance towards the blonde kitsune "If it is to curb your interference…then so be it,"

"I don't think you have much of a choice Naruto, you will need to fight her," said Kurama.

"But she's not an enemy!" Naruto protested.

"And yet she's not willing to listen to you, only option you have is to wear her down,"

"Tch, this is just like what happened back at the Solaris incident except she's not being deceived in this one," Naruto let out a sad sigh before taking a fighting stance "Looks I have no choice then,"

Eggman Nega saw what was about to happen with no small amount of amusement "Hahaha…this world is so entertaining. I think I'm going to like it here,"

Music Start: Sonic Rush - Original Groove Rush; Vela-Nova

Blaze made the first move by lunging at Naruto to unleash a combo of punches and kicks with flaming fists and feet, Naruto himself took to the defensive with sidesteps and weaves to evade the flaming assault due to his lingering hesitance of hurting Blaze but soon snapped out of it as he ignited his fists with the azure flames of foxfire and began deflecting the flaming strikes then responding with attacks of his own.

"Fox Fang Fist!" he rushed forwards at high-speed then unleashed a barrage of fiery punches, clawing and kicks, but Blaze evaded the assault with graceful steps akin to a dancer before somersaulting into the air to evade a flaming uppercut. She hovered in the air by projecting continuous streams of flames from the soles of her feet "Red Meteor!" Blaze enshrouded herself in flames then diving towards Naruto who used Shadow Step to move out of the way as she impacted where he stood, releasing a radial burst of flames around her "I'm not done yet, Burst Dash!" she channeled flames at the bottom of her feet before launching forward whilst spinning as a fiery tornado.

"Foxfire Spinjitzu!" Naruto started spinning rapidly as the azure flames swirled around him to form a tornado before he went to collide against Blaze, both tornadoes repeatedly clashed with each other with sparks flying from every collision before finally dissipating after the last clash and skidded away from each other "Will-o-wisp!" the tips of his tails lit up in foxfire which created orbs of blue flames which floated around him before he mentally launching them, Blaze defended by standing on one leg and unleashing a flurry of flaming kicks with the other to deflect the incoming projectiles "Fire Claw!" she took to the offensive by leaping forward while spinning horizontally with her right claw forward like a flaming drill.

"Swift Release: Shadow Dance!" Naruto dodged the attack with his trailing afterimages depicting his actions and positioned himself beneath her "Meteor Blow!" he leaned backwards with his tails holding him up from the ground and kicks the Blaze up into the air with both feet, creating a small shockwave, then he used Shadow Step to appear above her and struck with an axe kick to slam her to the ground and landing afterwards. Blaze got to her feet, remaining ever determined to defeat the blonde kitsune "Scarlet Bullet!" she thrusts her hands forward to launch a barrage of fireballs towards Naruto who switched to his Water Aspect after reaching into his ninja pouch and took out a small gourd with Fuinjutsu inscribed all over it before attaching it to his waist and popped open the cap with a thumb for a stream of water came out of the gourd and pooled around Naruto's feet with bubbles rising into the air from it "Aqua Barricade!" a wall of water rose in front of Naruto to defend him against the incoming fireballs till the barrage ended which was when he took his turn to attack "Dynamic Wave!" he spun in the air with pool of water beneath him churning then he performed several roundhouse kicks to launch three large waves at Blaze.

"Axel Jump!" Blaze propelled high into the air with a fiery spin to get over the waves before taking aim at Naruto "Phoenix Swoop!" she dives forward with a flying drop kick and arms spread with the flames appearing as an avian attacking with its talons outstretched from above "Water Dragon!" a mass volume of water shoot out of the gourd in the form of a serpentine dragon which lunged at Blaze where they collided in the middle, both struggled for dominance in spite of the elemental disadvantage with Blaze showing that her flames are not so easy to extinguish which resulted in a cloud of steam before it dissipated to reveal the two combatants facing off once more.

"I said I would defeat him!" said Blaze angrily.

"That's enough, this fight has no meaning!" Naruto responded, truly seeing no reason why they're fighting other than it being a waste of their time.

"How would you know? I am the guardian of the Sol Emeralds. It is a fate that forces me to live with my curse…my flames," Blaze looked at her hands in melancholy "Because of my powers, I've always been alone…," then she clenched them into fists "Which is why I must also do this alone, it's my responsibility!"

Naruto couldn't help but be saddened by those words as they practically tell him that she shares a painful past all too similar to his own…recognizing the loneliness in her eyes akin to his own whenever he looked in the mirror, then he responded to her "I truly understand where you're coming from, but what you're doing right now is attempting to shoulder the burdens of the entire world…doing that would lead to you getting crushed by the weight. A mistake I almost made,"

"Enough!"

Blaze engulfed herself in a massive amount of flames in preparation for a powerful attack, Naruto sighed in resignation before deactivating his Water Aspect before responding in kind by emitting a great amount of foxfire from his body. Both stared at each other intently, waiting for either one to make the first m-

*BOOM*

Barely a second and they had clashed head-to-head in a blur of speed, Naruto and Blaze struggled as they pushed back and forth against each other whilst increasing the output of their power to overwhelm the other, the very atmosphere began to shake in response to the power radiating from the duo. Eventually one side won out and it was Naruto who won the struggle while Blaze was blown back, tumbling across the platform before skidding to a stop.

Music End

Naruto was about to approach the feline to check if she's okay when he saw her struggling to her feet and heard her mutter lowly "I…I must save the Sol Emeralds. I must…,"

"You really are that determined, maybe a bit too determined," said Naruto.

"That's the pot calling the kettle black," said Kurama with a quirked eyebrow.

"I know, so shut it furball," thought Naruto before calling out to Blaze "Please listen, you shouldn't try doing things that are way beyond your limits, I've been doing that very thing since I was younger…and I still do. But I realized that letting the ones who care in gives me a different kind of strength. What I'm trying to say is that, just be your true self and don't be afraid to accept help from your friends. No doubt you already made a few during your time,"

Blaze listened to the blonde kitsune's words and thought back to everything that happened ever since she woke up in this world, her meeting with Cream, Milla and Wendy and how they wanted to help even though they just met and her repeated refusals, encountering Amy and Knuckles who wanted to help as well even though there were a few rough patches in between.

"Blaze!" they turned to see Cream flapping her ears while carrying Milla and Wendy in her hands towards them before rushing over to check on her "Are you okay?"

"Did you two fight? I hope not cause Naruto's our friend too and wants to help you like we do," said Milla with Wendy nodding in agreement.

"…Perhaps…Perhaps you're right," Blaze got back to her feet and smiled at Naruto "I can rely on friends, if I let myself…,"

Naruto smiled brightly and Nicole emerged from the S.A.C smiling as well "Glad to hear that, let's reintroduce ourselves; I'm Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze and she's Nicole, it's nice to meet you,"

"I-I'm Blaze, it's nice to meet you as well," said Blaze.

"Sorry I'm late," a blue blur landed on the platform, revealing to be Sonic with Tails arriving soon after "There was a slight delay on our way here,"

"No problem, we were coming into terms about a few things, we just need to go after Eggman Nega," said Naruto.

"You must be Sonic the Hedgehog, I've heard a lot about you," said Blaze.

Sonic smirked in response "Right back at ya, and before I forget…," Sonic brought out a purple emerald cut gem "…I believe this belongs to you,"

Blaze gasped in surprise "The seventh Sol Emerald, but how?"

"I saw our Eggman snooping around here and had a small scuffle with him dropping it. So I picked up to give it to you," he handed the Sol Emerald over to Blaze who took it.

"Um, t-thank y-you," said Blaze, feeling a bit shy since it's her first time that someone really wants to be around her.

"We told you that Naruto and Sonic would help us," said Cream, giggling when Naruto rubbed her head fondly.

"That we would," Naruto affirmed.

"So, what's our next move?" asked Tails curiously.

"We'll need to share knowledge about what we know right now then seek out Eggman Nega to put a stop to all this!" said Nicole.

"Then let's get to it," said Naruto with eyes of determination.

This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Naruto and co finally arrived at the Space station and set about searching for Eggman Nega whom they eventually found but then Blaze also appeared to fight the doctor. Naruto attempted to speak to her but she remained adamant that she would face him on her own to the point that she would fight the blonde kitsune in order to do so. With hesitance, Naruto was forced to fight Blaze and defeated her without much damage, this gave him the chance to calm her down as well as point out certain things which she came to realize and accept. Sonic soon caught up and gave Blaze the last of the Sol Emeralds after picking it up from Eggman earlier before, everything is coming together with the end right around the next turn for everyone.

We're drawing close to the end of the Sonic Rush with the next chapter having an interesting mix so be sure to look forward to it. Read and Review as always.

This is Hussbek from Ghana.

Signing out and staying alive.