Quick thanks to Rikudosage, The Divine Writer and Juubi no Shinju for helping me with this chapter and the idea of this story.

''Ah Midgard...'' a blond-haired man sighed as he looked around. It was cold and snowing, the ground was covered in a thick white layer of snow. There were several cone/pine trees spread across the landscape. There was no sign of civilization, only whiteness for as far as the eye could see.

The man stood in a large circle of runes and symbols imprinted deeply in the snow. Smoke rose from underneath him and the snow melted, becoming an unrecognizable mess.

He stood out in the blankness of the snow. His body was covered by a hooded dark cloak with green lines and symbols, it was open slightly on the middle to show a black shirt beneath and a necklace with green magatamas. On his forehead was a metal headband with a strange symbol on it's center..

''Now what…'' he looked around and then smiled upon seeing the sun. It was high in the sky, hidden behind some clouds, it would take a while for it to set. ''Guess I'll just go that way.''

And so he walked out of the puddle, walking as though he were completely weightless. He left no impression, nor did he sank into the snow the thick layer of snow beneath him.. The wind was strong, but he felt nothing of it, instead the wind and snow went around as if there were an invisible bubble around him.

He walked and walked for around an hour, from one hill to another. There was still no sign of civilization and a storm was forming.

''Huh, what's that…'' his cerulean eyes squinted as a black dot appeared in the horizon.

The dot grew in size, and others joined in the air.

''How peculiar. Midgard has some really strange creatures.'' He stopped squinting his eyes as the objects approached. They were made of metal, and kept themselves in the air through rotating metal blades. ''They are going to where I was. Are they looking for me?''

They were going to where he was, but halfway through, half of the band turned to his direction and the other half continued to where he previously was. Within seconds he was surrounded by the various metal 'birds'. Their 'wings' stirred up the snow and they each flashed a bright light at the man.

I sense life inside them… he squinted his eyes and saw the creatures inside the metal 'birds'. Head, legs, arms… they seem humanoid. Can't tell in this snow.

The creatures tossed out ropes from the flying metal cage and descended from it. It was hard to distinguish them amidst the snow that they stirred up themselves, but their silhouettes were very

much human-like. They sat on the edge of the flying metal object, and they pointed metal devices at him.

''This is a restricted area! Raise your hands and get down on your knees!'' One of them spoke through a device that he deduced to be some type of voice amplifier.

''Been here for an hour and I'm already annoying people, what's up with this place?'' The man asked himself, raising his right arm.

''Raise both of your hands and get down on your knees!'' The one holding the voice amplifier repeated and several of the creatures descended through the ropes.

These guys are going to end up getting themselves hurt… He thought, looking around at the mess that the wings of the metal objects were making.

''I will not repeat again, raise both of your hands and get down on your knees!'' It demanded and the creatures surrounded the hooded man, pointing their metal devices at him.

Sighing, he complied and raised his arm, or at least what was left of it. The 'invisible bubble' around him faded and the half of his sleeve flopped around in the wind. He didn't have a left hand, his arm was cut off from the elbow downwards. Without the protection from the wind, his hood also came off, revealing his face to the creatures.

His hair was relatively long, wild, voluminous and tied up in a ponytail that reached the base of his neck. It had been a while since he had it cut, probably around two years, give or take. He was tall and seemed young, barely out of his teens, and possessed six whisker-like marks on either side of his cheek.

''Oh…'' The speaker muttered, noticing that the man only had one arm.

''Well, nice to meet you, I'm Naruto.'' He introduced himself, lowering his arms and making them tense and point the strange metal device they each held. ''I wasn't expecting a welcoming party.''

Two of the creatures snuck behind him and reached to grab him, but they phased through him and tripped.

''Bye.'' He winked and faded away.

-A mile away-

''Heh, too easy.'' said Naruto as he looked down on the group of creatures that tried to capture him. He's on a much larger mountain, having escaped and fled when they were still on the horizon. ''I need to practice the normal clones more, they would have seen through it if it weren't for the wind and snow.''

He reached inside his cloak and took a object from one of it's pockets, a golden compass.

''Now there must be a cave somewhere in here.'' He shook the compass and the pointer spun around erratically for a few seconds before suddenly stopping on one direction.

Taking one last glance down, he saw that there were more metal things headed to both of his previous spots, these ones however 'crawled'.

It didn't take long for him to reach the entrance of a cave, his pacing was relatively quick and it wasn't far from where he was. But upon arriving, he noticed that he didn't have anything to do.

Sunset was still a few hours away and he didn't feel even the slightest bit of fatigue.

So he set up a camp in the cave. Made a fire, a bed of leaves and twigs, he didn't have many resources but it turned out okay.

''Now what…'' He sighed and looked outside, a terrible blizzard was happening outside. ''I wonder if those guys will be okay.''

You are worried about them? A voice spoke in Naruto's head, Kurama, his life-long partner. Tch, moron.

Hey, no need for name callings, I'm sure that they aren't exactly bad creatures, whatever they are. He answered, taking a seat in front of the fire.

Creatures? I bet they are human. Kurama huffed and Naruto raised an eyebrow.

What makes you say that? I'll take you for the bet, what is your wager? He removed his cloak and casted it aside. His attire underneath it was a long-sleeved black shirt with green lines running along. He had a pouch on the right side of his bum and a very large, white championship belt of some sort.

The belt was ornamented with lines and ancient runes, on its front was one large diamond-shaped blue gem, it covered half of his abdomen and radiated pure and divine light.

It is typical of humans to attack first and ask questions later, no matter where you are. Kurama answered and Naruto took off the belt and placed it in front of the fire. If I'm right, you will do whatever I say for the entire month.

Entire month?! Naruto gulped and sighed. That's a sucker bet! And what counts as 'human' anyway? The elves and dwarves are humanoid-ish, asgardians are humanoid, and I'm humanoid.

Squishy, and weak hairless apes. Same thing across any dimension. You aren't squishy, nor weak, you aren't human. Kurama said and Naruto grinned.

Wait, was that a compliment? Sounded like a compliment to me. Naruto chuckled and Kurama closed the connection.

''Years pass, and same old Kurama. But you're kinda right, I wonder why this body shape is used so much, in Konoha, in Asgard, maybe in here. Same but different...'' He looked at the belt, it looked ridiculous and clashed with his clothing.

Personally he didn't like it's appearance much, it clashed with his black and green clothing and called out a lot of attention. But it was made with a lot of care for him to use, and it reminded him of the old Raikage.

''I miss everybody…'' He laid down and looked at the ceiling. How long did he stay like that? He didn't know, he fell asleep halfway through his trip down memory lane.

-On the base of the mountain-

''What a waste of time.'' said a blond woman to her teammates, a grizzly bear, a large red robot and a man with a round black shield with a red star on the center. She wore a black latex/spandex suit with a golden star on her chest, and a wore a silver tiara with a black gem on her forehead.

''We don't know yet if it is or not. The spatial anomaly and the hooded man can be connected, we could be facing an invasion. This can be important, Darkstar.'' The one with the shield reprimanded, his attire was black, with red and white on his arm, and white stars on shoulders and chest.

''I doubt it, Guardian. Everyone knows that if you want to invade, you start with Manhattan.'' The 'robot' spoke, possessing a much stronger, russian accent than the other two.

''Really, Dynamo?'' Darkstar glanced at her armored friend, and he shrugged. ''Powersurge still is in HQ, we are going to have to go on without him.''

''He'll catch up, let's go.'' The bear said, taking the lead into the mountain, the others quickly catching up.

''What do you think the hooded creature is like?'' Darkstar asked, hovering in the air besides the bear.

''Reports say that he looks human, blond hair, blue eyes, whiskers on the cheeks and only one arm.'' Dynamo answered, and Darkstar raised an eyebrow.

''Whiskers?'' She repeated and he shrugged.

''It was on the report, they were very specific about it.'' He went ahead and Darkstar glanced at the bear.

''Wouldn't be the strangest thing we came across.'' The bear added, he was walking and talking proof of that sentence.

''If I were running, where would I hide...'' Guardian said to himself, then went next to Ursa. ''There are several caves here on this mountain, most are unmapped. You know this area better than anyone, we need to get close enough for where you think he would hide? We just need to get close enough for Dynamo to locate him on his radar.''

The bear stopped and changed direction, ''then we go this way.''

They followed and they hiked through the mountain together. Cave after cave, hour after hour, and soon it was dawn.

''He's probably not even on this mountain, or any one of these, who's to say he's still even here in Russia at all?'' Darkstar complained, taking a seat on a rock. ''This is just a stupid goose-chase, we don't know anything about this guy. He can be on the other side of the world now.''

''He's here,'' Crimson Dynamo pointed upwards at a fissure on a wall ahead. ''My radars are picking up heat signatures, he's in there, camping.''

''Alright guys, approach with caution. We don't what he is capable of.'' The Red Guardian raised his shield ahead of him and took the lead. The bear and Dynamo following behind with Darkstar last.

They reached the crack and entered, it widening in to show a spacious and smooth cave. It was odd how the floor and the walls were so smooth, it wasn't natural.

In the center was him, he sat in front of a fire, on top of deer fur, with his back turned to them. He had his cloak on with the hood over his head, there were several large branches with meat roasting on the fire, five to be exact, probably deer meat. On the time it took for them to find him, he hunted, skinned, dried, and now cooked an entire deer.

''Thou took thy time, I was getting bored.'' Naruto said, taking one of the sticks and biting the meat. ''Thou art hungry?''

They blinked, and he shook his head.

''Yea, maybe I shouldn't try talking like her…'' Naruto said to himself and patted the ground besides him. ''Are you hungry? You've been looking for me for the last few hours right? Don't be shy, it would be a shame for all this meat go to waste.''

They were indeed hungry, and the meat smelled good, but they were on a mission and they had to stay focused.

''Identify yourself.'' Red Guardian ordered, approaching cautiously, keeping his shield raised. ''An Einstein-Rosen bridge was opened nearby, were you the cause of it?''

''I'm just a peregrine,'' he continued to eat. ''Einstein-Rosen bridge… hmph, what a silly name.''

''We have orders to take you in for questioning. Surrender and come with us peacefully.'' Guardian said, stopping behind Naruto, who simply continued to eat.

''Have I committed a crime? Have I done something wrong?'' Naruto asked, and finishing his meat. ''And what happens if I say no.''

The looked at one another, he hadn't done anything wrong, but he could be dangerous and they had to take him in.

''If you resist, then we will have to use force.'' Dynamo said, locking his weapon on Naruto.

''Force… violence… in the end it always resumes in violence. Man, another bet that I would have lost, at least one of them is a bear.'' Naruto said to himself, shaking his head in the process. Then picked up another of the branches with meat. ''What makes you think you think you can take me on?''

He got up and turned around. The light was dim and they couldn't make out much from his face other than the whiskers and the blond hair.

''He does have whiskers.'' Darkstar said and Dynamo chuckled.

''He looks dumb.'' He said and stepped forward. ''We don't want to beat up a crippled man, so c'mon dumbass, just turn yourself in.''

''What did you just call me?'' Naruto took a bite.

''I called you a crippled. Now come with us.'' Dynamo got in front of Naruto, towering above him by almost a foot.

''After that, you called me something..'' Naruto looked into his 'V' shaped visor. ''Call me that again. One. More. Time.''

Seeing the tension rise, Guardian went to stop his partner, but it was already too late.

''I called you a du-''

He didn't get to finish the sentence, they didn't even see what happened. One second they were staring at him and the other they were laying down outside.

Crap… what the heck… Crimson Dynamo got up and looked around. His body felt somewhat numb and his armor's display was showing that he took a lot of damage. The others were besides him, deep in the snow. There was a path of broken trees that they had crashed through and far up were several holes with their shapes next to the cave entrance.

One by one they slowly started to get up, groaning and clutching their stomachs and ribs.

''Urgh… what happened, is everybody alright?'' Guardian asked, looking at them. His shield was cracked, there was a boot imprint on Dynamo's armor, Darkstar and Ursa seemed to be in the worst condition.

''I'll be fine… just give me a second to catch my breath.'' Darkstar used a broken tree as support to get up.

Space distorted in front of them and he appeared, his hood was lowered, revealing his face. He seemed somewhat bored, uninterested or disappointed. He still held the branch with the cooked meat.

''Was that too much? I am disappointed.'' He took a bite, chewing slowly and taking his time to savour the meat. ''I thought you guys were stronger, sorry. I sometimes get excited about fighting strong people.''

''You bastard, don't look down on us… Winter Guard attack!'' Guardian exclaimed, and threw his shield at Naruto. The shield passed through him and sunk into the snow, him fading away a second later. ''He's fast, on me!''

The four gathered around him with their backs to one another.

He appeared again on top of a branch nearby, and Dynamo launched three missiles at him. But the missiles went through and he faded away right after.

''What is this? Some kind of illusion?'' Darkstar asked and Dynamo readied his gatling gun.

''No, those are afterimages. I can't lock on him.'' Dynamo said his scanners glitching from trying to keep up with the blond man, till it all stopped. ''Huh, he left.''

''Good chance to get back my shield then, don't let your guard down.'' Guardian spoke, retrieving his shield and regrouping.

There was a tense silence, no sign of the whiskered man whatsoever. Darkstar created several dark energy spears and searched for him.

''There!'' Darkstar spotted his silhouette and sent her spears at him, but they missed, penetrating a dead tree instead.

Three static images of him converged together a few meters in front of them, where he was on the start. He didn't have the stick with meat on his hand anymore, instead he carried one large slob of semi-cooked meat. It was the largest piece of meat that he had back in the camp, it hardly finished cooking.

For some reason, a chill went down the Winter Guard's spine and a feeling of dread overcame them.

Naruto disappeared in a burst of speed and the meat fell to the ground. Or at least it was supposed to, instead it continued to float in the air, shaking slightly.

Dynamo pointed his right arm at the slob of meat and shot a bullet in it's direction. But it disappeared right after he did so, and appeared on top of his head.

He tried to grab it, but it disappeared once more, re-appeared in front of him and smacked him on the face. It didn't hurt, nor did it damage the armor much, but it was very much annoying.

Ursa growled and pawed at the steak, but it disappeared once more, re-appeared behind him and slapped him on the back.

He turned around to paw it, but the damn thing disappeared again!

Was that… Guardian narrowed his eyes, seeing dark silhouettes appear around briefly for a millisecond or less. Is my mind playing games on me? No… he's here, in hyper speed, controlling it. This is bad, he's too fast.

He raised his shield and the steak appeared in front of it and slammed itself against it. Disappearing right after and reappearing behind Darkstar, slamming itself against her butt.

''Why you…'' she growled and looked around for it, finding it on the snow to her right. She quickly charged dark energy in her hand and fired a beam at it.

The beam destroyed the snow on the ground, but the steak was unharmed, 'moving' a foot to the left and evading destruction.

Dynamo shot a missile at it, but once again, it moved right before doom.

Soo close, yet so far. It was frustrating and humiliating, he was taunting them, and it was working.

The slab of meat re-appeared on top of Darkstar's head, she tried to get it off, but just as she were to, it left her head and smacked her back.

''Raargh, show yourself, coward!'' she yelled, her hands blazing with dark energy.

She located the steak and started firing various beams at it. They all missed, only barely. For it 'danced' around her shots, beam after beam. But she kept on going, until it disappeared and behind it was the Red Guardian.

His shield was raised, but the beam still pushed him back. And while he was being pushed back, it appeared behind him and 'slapped' his legs, tripping him and making him fall backwards.

Darkstar stopped upon realizing it was him, and the steak flickered above his face and started smacking him around.

Dynamo had his weapons locked, but if he fired it could end up with it moving away. Darkstar shared the same thoughts, once is enough friendly fire for the day.

It continued to mercilessly smack Guardian across the face, over and over again, it almost seemed like it was dancing on top of him.

Fortunately for him, Ursa arrived, and with a mighty roar it pawed at the piece of meat, which simply disappeared once more.

The damage had already been done, Guardian's right eye was black, his nose was bleeding and his lip was busted.

Ursa helped him get on his feet and steadied him.

''Is this how you fight? Come out and fight like a man!'' Darkstar fired several beams in random directions.

''You sure taunting him is a good idea?'' Crimson Dynamo asked her, also shooting in random directions.

''Fight like a man? You want to get your assess kicked that badly?'' They heard from behind them both, making them flip around to face him. Smoke was coming out of his legs and the snow underneath him evaporated.'' Fine by me.''

Guardian quickly assessed his surroundings and threw his shield at Naruto, expecting the blond to evade and it bounce off the rock behind him. But instead, Naruto caught it and flicked it at Dynamo.

It struck him on the chest, ricocheted and struck Ursa's leg.

Darkstar created a large black two-handed sword and launched herself at him, swiping at his waist.

He faded away just as the sword passed through him, appeared behind her and elbowed her ribs.

She was sent rolling forward, where he was already waiting, and kicked her upwards.

Dynamo tried to aim at him, to entangle him with a net, but he was all over the place, and he couldn't lock onto him. So instead he flew into the air to catch Darkstar.

His attempt was frustrated by a drop kick from Naruto. The blond had seen through his plan and sent him crashing down at Ursa. Then flashed back to Darkstar and kicked her in the gut, sending her to Ursa and Dynamo.

All that was left was Guardian.

Guardian had been observing his movements very intently, and saw a pattern in them. He recovered his shield and it was time to test out his theory.

When the blond disappeared, he moved out of the way and dodged a punch to his shield. Acting quickly, he countered by swinging his shield at the blond's chest.

Naruto's image became 'static' and he disappeared right before the shield could hit him. He flashed next to Guardian and tried to kick him on the ribs, but he rolled out of the way and threw his shield in return.

The shield passed through Naruto, bounced on the rock behind him and returned. With his shield on his hand, he swung at the air behind him, a second after Naruto appeared. He saw a look of surprise flash briefly through the blond's eyes right before he disappeared.

They continued like that for a couple of seconds, Guardian trying to strike Naruto, Naruto dodging at the last second, countering and him dodging. He got faster after each attempt, trying harder and harder and getting closer by the second.

Naruto was getting ready to strike him, while he was already half-way to striking him. He was going to finally land a hit!

What he didn't notice was space distorting behind him, and a silhouette start to appear. It all happened too fast, his partners tried to warn him, but it was already too late.

The image in front of him faded away and he was grabbed by the back of his head.

Another after image. How long had he been chasing an after-image? How long was the blonde behind him?

Naruto lifted him up and tossed him upwards, flashed above and whacked him with the steak, sending him downwards at his still recovering team.

''Is this how you guys intend to capture me? Get me to surrender out of boredom?'' Naruto landed on top of a rock and sat down on it. ''It is working. I'm almost feeling bad for you guys..''

''He's too strong… we need to retreat.'' Guardian whispered to his teammates. ''Darkstar, can you fly? Dynamo, can you take me and Ursa?''

''I'm low on power, we won't get far.'' Dynamo said, and they all got up once more.

''I don't think I can fly far either. Can you contact HQ for backup?'' Darkstar asked Dynamo, and he paused for a few seconds.

''... No, I'm cut off from them..'' He checked for the cause. ''Something is blocking me. My guess, him.''

They looked at Naruto; they'd have to beat him to be able to call for backup, or pray for them to send a rescue team. Except that they were basically the rescue team, there wasn't any team to rescue the rescuers.

''Oh no, you guys aren't going anywhere.'' Naruto hopped off the branch and walked towards them. ''You sassed me up. We are in THE SHIT now, together, for the long haul.

Dynamo shot a missile at him, but he flickered to the right.

''At least make this a little fun, for me. C'mon, put some effort.'' Naruto smiled and then scratched his chin in thought. ''I'm disappointed, you're not even going to come close to even touching me with those individualistic strategies. So let's try again, put some more teamwork, I'll slow down a bit more to give a fighting chance.''

''Damn that confident bastard, he's mocking us.'' Dynamo growled and got ready to send more missiles.

''But he's right, we need to better synchronize our attacks to have a chance against him.'' Guardian said, and looked at them all. ''Ursa, you're with me, we're the vanguard. Darkstar, you're our backup, immobilize him when the chance arise. Dynamo, we're only going to get one chance you wait for my signal.''

''You know I can hear you, right…'' Naruto sighed and looked around. ''Just show me what you got.''

Ursa got on all fours and charged at Naruto with Guardian besides him.

Guardian leaned forward to strike his legs with his shield, while Ursa went for his upper body. He jumped above them both and used them as stepping stones to propel himself upwards.

Darkstar grinned and his eyes widened slightly as several dark tentacles went towards him.

Pulling a wired kunai from inside his cloak, he flung it on the ground and pulled on it to avoid the tentacles.

As soon as he reached the ground, Ursa was upon him, paws coming down on his head. He reacted fast and spun around Ursa, encircling him wire.

Guardian quickly came to Ursa's aid by attempting to barge into Naruto with his shield.

In return, Naruto pulled on the wire and pushed Ursa at him, then backflipped to evade Darkstar's dark tendrils.

''C'mon, you guys are way too desperate.'' Naruto said and pulled out four kunais from his cloak. ''Getting better though.''

Meanwhile Guardian got up and used his shield to cut the wires binding Ursa.

''We… can do this all day.'' Guardian spoke through raspy breaths, and Naruto chuckled.

''You might have to.'' He ran at Darkstar's direction.

Dynamo got in front of her and shot a net at him. In response he threw the kunais at them.

They passed through the holes of the net. However right after they passed, they were shown to have wires connecting them. The wires dragged the net and the two backwards, slamming and pinning them two a boulder.

Darkstar who was behind Dynamo had the worst of it, being sandwiched in between metal and rock.

She lost her concentration and her constructs dissipated. The kunais were lodged completely in the boulder, and the wire was extremely tight.

Dynamo calculated that he could break the wires if he tried hard enough, but he would end up hurting Darkstar in the process.

It was a cunning move, the armored man wondered if it was his plan all along. The wires had even sort of dug into his armor, had he not been in front of Darkstar, then she would have been ripped apart. It also could have been that he wouldn't have thrown them with such strength if he weren't in front of her on the first place.

Guardian and Ursa regrouped with the two, and Naruto waited on the sidelines, taking a seat on top of a rock.

They tried to pull the wires and the kunais from the boulder, but they failed. The projectiles were lodged too deep and were too tight.

''Try breaking the boulder.'' Naruto suggested, and then looked at the sky. They hadn't noticed but it was snowing more and the wind was picking up. ''Or try breaking just around where the kunais are.''

They didn't say anything, but Guardian followed his advice and started to chip away around the kunais with his shield.

It took some tries, but eventually, after a few minutes, they managed to release the two.

''Ready to try again?'' Naruto asked and stood up on the boulder. ''I'm nowhere near done with kicking your asses.''

''Alright guys, let's try again.'' Guardian looked at his teammates, whom nodded in return.

''Let's shut him up.''

This time, Guardian, Ursa and Dynamo charged at him, Dynamo using his propellers to arrive first.

With his gatling gun-arms ready, he pointed both at Naruto and opened fire, while the other two went for his flank.

Naruto's arm blurred, seeming as if he had a dozen of right arms, caught all the bullets and threw them back.

He threw them very weakly when compared to the strength that he threw the kunais. The bullets merely bounced off of Dynamo's armor harmlessly.

Ursa and Guardian were next, nearing Naruto, Guardian tossed his shield.

As expected, the blond caught it, in his right hand, giving them just the opening they needed to tackle him.

Naruto used the shield to throw off Ursa, but Guardian managed to get through his guard and tackle his waist.

To his surprise, the blond's footing was much stronger than he expected, and he failed to bring him to the ground. Instead he merely held him by the waist, like a child trying to push an adult.

Naruto brought the shield down on his back, sending him to the ground. The ground cracked, all around and several black tendrils erupted from beneath him, wrapping around his feet, waist and arm.

Guardian grinned and rolled out of the way. ''Now Dynamo!''

Dynamo shot at least a dozen of missiles at Naruto, who couldn't free himself from the tendrils in time.

BOOOOM!

A large explosion happened, sending both Guardian and Ursa back from the shockwave.

Darkstar even had to shield her face from it, despite being the farthest from it.

''It's… over…'' Guardian wheezed, being flung near his sister, Darkstar along with Ursa.

''We were supposed to take him alive. You killed him.'' Darkstar told them, and propelled himself backwards.

''My scanner shows that he is still alive.'' He pointed his arms at the cloud of snow, dirt, and mist.

Slowly a large silhouette became visible on the snow.

''Heh… not bad.'' They heard and the dust died down. There he was, standing tall, wrapped up in 'blanket' of spiky golden hair.

The hair slowly retracted and returned to it's normal, short pony-tail size. Revealing Naruto to be completely unharmed.

''Not bad at all, I'd be clapping if I still had my left hand.'' He grinned with his eyes closed. ''I'm impressed, although I had to hold back a lot for you guys to catch up.''

The four got their guards up, and he returned the shield, tossing it in front of Guardian.

''Before we go on, answer me something. Does everybody here in Midgard use those strange type of clothes.'' He asked and they at each other, Guardian picked up his shield.

''Uh… No?'' Darkstar said unsure if he was serious, while wondering why he called Earth 'Midgard'. ''We're different.''

Naruto nodded as if she made all the sense in the world.

''Alright then, well… you guys work well together, but this is a four against one, not to fair right?'' he asked and they shrugged. ''Let's see how you guys are when the odds are against you.''

Sixteen images of him appeared besides him, forming a circle around the Winter Guards.

''You are all in for a long night.'' The copies said simultaneously. Unlike the other images of him that they had seen, these weren't static, they weren't afterimages, they were solid.

-Sometime later-

It was indeed a long night. Time couldn't have passed slower for the four members of the Winter Guard.

Things were already bad when the odds were in their favor. Everything only turned worse when the clones appeared.

There were four clones for each of them, but it felt more like there were forty. They were very coordinated, and seemed to be nearly as fast as the original.

The clones stood around their fallen and beaten bodies, not a single one had been dispelled.

Ursa was fighting to stay conscious, he had been reverted to his human form some time ago, and continued to fight, but it was for naught. His body was completely dirty in blood, bruises, sweat and water.

His friends weren't much better.

Dynamo's armor had been completely destroyed and he'd been forced to fight without it. His clothing was torn and he was covered in bruises and blood as well, succumbing to his wounds, he fell unconscious mid fight..

Dark Star was barely conscious as well, her clothes were torn and her body was filled with cuts. The clones avoided striking her face, but the rest of her body was pretty roughed up as well. She tried to crawl back up, but she ended up collapsing every time.

Red Guardian was on the worst condition. His mask and uniform were all torn out, his shield was shattered, his lips were busted, his nose broken and his arm was bent in an angle that it probably didn't belong. He'd fainted a few minutes back when his arm was broken.

''I guess, that takes care of it.'' The original said, joining them and the clones. ''You guys learned your lesson right?''

He walked to the middle of them and Ursa lost consciousness.

''Hmm, you're the last one awake.'' He bent down in front of Darkstar, and glanced at the clones, thirteen of them dispelling in 'puffs' of smoke. ''You all know what to do.''

The remaining three clones picked up the unconscious men and disappeared.

''You're strong, but this 'nobody' is way over your pay grade.'' He picked her up and threw her over his shoulder like one would with a sack of potatoes. ''Next time, just accept the food.''

She tried to resist, but her body wouldn't move. The background shifted from the whiteness of the mountain base, to the familiar darkness of his cave.

She felt lightheaded, and couldn't make out much from what he was saying. While he placed her on the ground, she briefly saw the holes that he had made when he kicked them out, the wall was really thick.

''You guys fix them up so that they can at least walk tomorrow." He told the clones and idly wondered if it was really necessary. They technically were him, so they should know what he wants them to do. ''Don't heal them completely, or else no lesson learned.''

Was it odd that he sometimes didn't trust 'himself' to do the tasks? It was the clone loop, he made them to do things, and if they could, they would also make clones to do things for themselves.

He looked around and saw the meat from the deer he had killed earlier. He'd taken them off the fire when he went back, and hanged them in wires. The room was warm compared to the exterior, and the meat would last till they woke up, but he couldn't help but feel worried.

They wouldn't survive a trip back to wherever they came from in their current state.

As he thought, he saw the fur and gained an idea. The clones were by Ursa, Dynamo and Guardian, their right hands glowing and radiating golden light.

Seeing that they had everything covered, he disappeared in a burst of speed.

Darkstar looked wearily at the clones healing her teammates. It didn't make sense. He'd beat them up all across the mountain, and now he was healing them?

She'd ask what was up, but was too tired to do so, or continue her train of thought.

Time passed fast when you were half-asleep, or maybe he really wasn't gone for long after all. But the next thing she knew, the original walked into the cave dragging a dead deer and a large dead wolf.

He brought them to the middle of the cave, near the fire and retracted the wires back into his cloak.

"Skin and prepare them." He ordered the clones and then walked over to her. As he placed his hand on her forehead, she noticed how it was covered in blood. The last thing that she saw before falling asleep.

-sometime later-

''Man, what a dream…'' Darkstar drowsily got up to a half-sitting position, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

Her body felt incredibly sore, she felt very tired.

It was dark, but not cold. She was wrapped up in something fuzzy and warm. At first all that she saw was darkness, until she found four, large, yet dim, sources of light on the wall.

Four holes of different sizes, shaped after people, one was shaped after her.

She stared at the wall for a few seconds, and realization dawned upon her, it wasn't a dream.

Getting up, she noticed that the 'fuzzy' thing she slept on was some type of jacket made of wolf hide and fur. Her teammates were also asleep on top of something similar, but of deer, she couldn't quite tell.

He made this. She thought, inspecting the jacket. It wasn't a masterpiece, it was roughly sewed together with some type of metal wire. It was actually somewhat impressive that he could do so much in a night. Damn I wish I could make clones, such a useful thing.

On the ground besides her were several sharp teeth.

She picked one up and noticed that they were strung together to make a necklace.

It was probably wolf teeth, they were very sharp. She inspected them for a few seconds and tried it on. There was no mirror on the room, but she figured that it was cool, and that it matched the jacket.

Although some people of the eco group wouldn't like the set much.

As she adjusted, she came to notice the lot of strung meat of the ceiling.

Probably from all the deer's he killed. It was kind of nice that he went through the trouble for them/her. However she never suffered so much humiliation in her life. He mocked her, berated her, and punched/kicked her around like a volleyball! This isn't going to make me forgive him. I'm going to find him, and kick his ass!

She then noticed that there were no signs of him around the cave, or of anybody being awake besides her.

Where did he go? Did he leave? She thought, and looked around. What nonsense am I thinking, of course he left, we're enemies. If Dynamo didn't have such a big mouth, we could've been friends…

Pausing for a few seconds she shook closed her eyes and shook her head.

Nah, that was inevitable, things wouldn't turn out well if we did take him in… huh, what's that. Something caught her eye on the wall. Seemed to be scribbles.

Sorry if I can't stick around kiddos. For as much as I'd love to kick your asses some more. I'm a busy guy, and I'm not made of time. Actually, I probably shouldn't have wasted the time I already did with playing with you folks. Till we meet again.

· The Peregrine

The Peregrine… Really? And he thinks that 'Einstein-Rosen bridge' is silly… Actually it really is. She looked around at her teammates. I should wake them up now. She thought, and walked over to Guardian.

Her legs felt sluggish and her body was numb, but for some reason, she was fine.

'

Well guys, this story has been bothering my mind to be written, and so I did while my motivation for my other stories come back.

I wrote like 30k worth of material and possible ways of starting this, from different points in time. Went with this of him arriving in Earth, more precisely Russia.

More about his past, why he's without his left hand instead of right, why he calls Earth Midgard among other things, will come out eventually.

Try reading my friend's story 'The Crowned Light' by The Divine Writer