Categories > Anime/Manga > Naruto > Dead Rising
Dead Rising
Chapter 16
Naruto narrowed his eyes as he took in the new surroundings. Everything was in black and white, like an old TV show. There was static everywhere making a lot of the things in his vision in recognisable. But he could make out certain things.
Two cliffs and two gigantic statues carved into the cliff side. This... place felt oddly familiar to him; it was like an old deeply buried memory.
"Sasuke!" Naruto flinched at the loud noise and was surprised to find a young version of himself, wearing a neon orange and blue jumpsuit standing beside him. Narrowing his eyes Naruto took his gaze away from his young self and looked ahead.
There, across the valley, was another boy. Wearing blue and white clothing. For some reason the very sight of the boy made his blood boil. Blinking as a thought came to him, Naruto took another look at his surroundings even as he heard his younger self yell out.
"Are you going to run away again?!"
Naruto held the side of his head as he looked around with wide eyes. Was this... a memory of his? A forgotten memory? Made sense a lot of the things here are discernible to him.
He was astonished and shocked when he saw his younger self literally leap across the valley and land on top of the boy on the other side. However as static began to fill his vision until he couldn't see anything else Naruto frowned.
"Gah!" Naruto jumped when he was able to see again and the first thing he saw sickened him. The boy had an entire hand shoved through the lung of his younger self.
"Not bad." Naruto growled darkly at the indifferent, yet somehow cocky tone in the dark haired boy's voice. "You redirected the trajectory of my arm at the last second and instead punctured your lung instead of your heart." He slowly, cruelly, withdrew his blood covered hand from the boy's chest and smirked with cruel amusement at the pained scream he drew from his foe. "However, with your lung destroyed you will probably bleed out in the next minute or so. You were never able to defeat me, Naruto. You're a failure and you always will be."
Naruto growled. "Why don't you say that to my face you little fuck!" He said with a snarl. "I may not know who the fuck you are," He clenched and unclenched his hands as he watched the little prick finally pull his hand out of the chest of his memory self. "but when I find you, I'm going to blow your fucking head off! Then we'll see who is a failure!"
X.X.X.X
Theatre Of The Damned (Kino Der Toten),
Germany, Berlin, 1963
"Tank, does Richtofen seem a little 'off' to you?" Naruto, now hardened from his near death in Der Riese, whispered to the former United States solider standing beside him.
Checking his magazine for his M-14 battle rifle, Dempsey gave Naruto a look from the corner of his eyes. "You mean he's more crazy than normal?" He questioned with a frown pulling at his lips before he inserted the magazine inside of the slot of the rifle. Richtofen was already nuts. That was as plain as day. So to hear that Richtofen was acting more off than usual was a cause for concern.
Naruto fiercely shook his head from side to side. "No. Nothing like that." He quickly said. "I don't know what's with the man, but, I just...I have this gut feeling that he's up to something. I don't have the slightest clue as to what that is, but, this gut feeling, it's telling me it's really bad. For everyone involved."
"Really...?" Murmured a frowning Dempsey. He gave Naruto a direct look, to show he was now completely serious and not laid back. "If that's the case then we should keep a close eye on him. That...'man'...is unstable. Who knows what he will do behind our backs."
X.X.X.X
"I got nothin'." Said Naruto with both exasperation and weariness.
"Same here." Said Samantha with the same tone as Naruto's. She stopped looking at the documents and photographs and looked at her friend. "Perhaps zhe others have better luck zhan ve do?"
Naruto shrugged. "Maybe. So what do we do with all of this junk?" He questioned, jerking a thumb to the pile of books and other materials lying in an untidy pile behind them.
Samantha turned to look over her shoulder at said junk. "Ve burn it until zhere is nothing left." She informed her friend as she looked at him with thin lips. "Ve cannot allow zhese people gain any information zhey could use in zhe future. Even if zhey cannot difference mien language vith zheirs', I vill not be taking any chances."
Naruto nodded in agreement and turned around to face the pile of books and documented files. "So how do we burn them? Unless you have a lighter I don't see a way of doing it." He stated as he looked back at his friend expectantly. Wondering if she had the answer to this little snag.
Samantha looked at him. "You have a lighter do you not?"
"Ah." Naruto said with realization as he fished in his pockets for the lighter in question. He does indeed have a lighter in his possession. He always had one on him in the case he has to use some Molotov cocktails which is far an between.
With the lighter in hand Naruto walked over to the fairly large pile of reading material and picked one, a sheet of paper, up before rolling it up. Flicking the lighter Naruto held the flame underneath the rolled up piece of paper until it caught alight. With the flame illuminating his face Naruto slowly knelt down and put the rapidly burning paper among the pile of books and documented files and quickly got up and backed away as the fire quickly spread.
Both Naruto and Samantha looked on as the fires consumed the material. "That's one potential problem down." The blonde looked at his friend and tapped her shoulder to gain her attention. "Let's go see what the others are doing?" He suggested to her.
Samantha didn't say anything. With her MP-40 slung over her shoulder the possessed corpse gestured Naruto to lead the way. With that Naruto and Samantha walked around the bonfire like fire, and exited the room, all the while the sounds of flame cackling could be heard.
Meanwhile in one of the other rooms, Takeo and Fuu were having just as much luck as Naruto and Samantha. Fuu was unable to find anything that looked useful to their group, or anything that stood out to her. In actuality, everything she is seeing stands out to her and she has no idea on what they're meant to be looking for. So she just settled on giving things over to Takeo to look over. Suffice to say it made things a little easier for her, but, they were still having no luck in finding what they were looking for.
Because all the writing is in German. Fuu cannot read German. Nor can Takeo for that matter. While they were throwing things in a messy pile behind them, they weren't going to burn them, not until Samantha their translator has a go at them. So for now they're looking at pictorial references
From what they saw, the pictures and photographs weren't of any help to them whatsoever.
After a few minutes of silently searching the two turned around to look at the door when they heard it opening. Naruto and Samantha walked in and they briefly observed the pile of documents, books and photographs on the floor before walking in completely.
"Find anything?" Naruto asked.
Takeo shook his head from side to side. "We have discovered nothing." The former Imperial Officer replied. He brought his gaze to Samantha and gestured to the pile on the floor. "Samantha we need you to translate the writing to see if you are able to discover, what we had not."
Samantha nodded and made her way to the pile to get started on translating. "Okay. Zhat should be easy enough." She said before sitting cross-legged in front of the pile and start reading the first thing she grabbed.
"I'll check on Tank and Nikolai and see if they had any luck in their search." Naruto told them.
Samantha turned to look at Naruto from over her shoulder. "Alright. Come back here if zhey found anything." She told him.
"I will." Naruto replied with an affirmative nod.
With that said Naruto left the room and went to the location Dempsey and Nikolai are. Upon entering Naruto found the room was in a similar state as the previous two: books, pictures and files littered the floor in a messy pile. Both Dempsey and Nikolai were looking at a large and framed picture of a device of some sort when he entered, and the two grown men turned around when they heard the teenager enter the room.
Naruto squinted to get a better look at the framed picture. It looked like a blueprint to a weapon of some sort and it is eerily similar to the Thunder-gun. Only smaller and a lot thinner than it is now. A possible early design for the weapon perhaps?
"Did you two find anything of interest?" Naruto asked the American and Russian when their attention was on him.
Dempsey tsked and returned his gaze back to the blueprint. "Well we did find something; not sure it's interesting though. It looks like a blueprint for an early version of the Thunder-gun. Not sure if it's going to be useful for us considering there's already a working version of it." He replied; both Nikolai and himself parted when Naruto came up in order to get a better look of the blueprint.
Naruto rubbed the bottom of his chin as he looked the blueprint over. "Hmm. It DOES look like an early version of it." The whiskered blonde said with a small, yet thoughtful frown pulling at the corners of his lips. "We should take it. If there is a blueprint here, then there is a possibility there is a finished product somewhere in this world."
"Not here?"
Naruto shook his head from side to side. "No. If they were designing weapons and... god forbid, making zombies', then they wouldn't keep any of their finished products here. If I were them I would have moved them to some place else."
Nikolai frowned. "So we are going to go on another hunt?"
Dempsey shook his head negatively. "What the kid says makes sense. This facility is small and we did not see anything that resembles this thing." He said as he tapped his finger on the blueprint. "I'd wager the weapon was finished here and was transferred somewhere out there. If it is anywhere in Naruto's world, then we go get it and make sure it does not fall into the wrong hands. If it's not, then, we have one less thing to worry about."
Nikolai and Naruto both liked that plan and Nikolai, with Dempsey's help, proceeded to take the blueprint out of its frame and carefully rolled it up as to not damage it. After being given the blueprint Nikolai placed it inside his pouch putting it in a separate area so it would not get damaged.
"Did you find anything else?" Naruto asked as Nikolai was putting the blueprint away.
Both Nikolai and Dempsey shook their heads. "I can't read German, so if there is anything useful in these things we won't know until Samantha takes a look at them." The marine replied with a small scowl pulling at his lips.
"The Staff of Wind should be here however." Nikolai spoke up and seeing he had gotten Dempsey and Naruto's attention he continued on with what he was saying. "Its location was discovered here when we looked at the map inside our dimension-like base. It cannot be in any other place."
Dempsey rubbed his chin as his lips curved down to a thoughtful frown. "Maybe there is a secret compartment in this facility? Like, behind a wall or a hidden door?"
Naruto gave the marine a look as if he said something utterly inane. But as he thought about it he came to agree with his assumption. After all Group 935 are a secretive bunch and Naruto guessed it wouldn't be above them if they were to hide their most important things in secret rooms.
"That's... uh... a... fair assumption actually." Naruto stated, and with that thought now taken root inside his head the teenager was dead set on finding it. He looked searchingly around the room. "Now if I were to hide things in a secret room, where would I put it?"
"The stuff or the room?"
Naruto paused in his search to give Dempsey a flat stare. "The room, Tank, the room." He replied with his tone matching his expression before going back to his search.
"Maybe there is a hidden switch or pressure-plate somewhere?" Suggested Nikolai as he walked to one of the walls and began to feel around for a pressure-plate or something that would trigger the hidden door, if there is one to be open. "Perhaps it is in the room? Or somewhere else within the facility?"
Blinking Naruto looked at Nikolai for a moment, then he nodded to himself and moved to help him. Dempsey was left by himself who couldn't help but stare at the two touching up their part of the wall in bewilderment.
Then he shrugged and went to join. It was just a thought he came up with and if they were going to feel around for a pressure-plate then he'd might as well join in with them. Three searching for the same thing would make things move faster.
Minutes later a startled Nikolai, along with Dempsey and Naruto stumbled away from the wall when the Russian found the pressure-plate. The trio heard an audible 'click' before the foundation of the room shook when the noise of something opening was heard. Looking at one another in alarm, the three equipped their guns and held them at the ready as they went to investigate. Since Samantha confirmed there's no more zombies lurking around they didn't have to use their knives and were able to freely use their guns. That didn't mean the noise couldn't attract some unwanted attention from the outside though.
When they came out the three found Takeo, Samantha and an alarmed Fu exiting their room with their weapons equipped. They too were startled by the noise that sounded out of nowhere.
"What happened?!" Fuu cried out over the noise while looking at the three in consternation.
Dempsey was the one that answered. "We found a pressure-plate in our room and may have opened a hidden room in this place. It could be where the Staff of Wind is."
"We were going to check it out." Added Naruto.
"We shall accompany you." Takeo stated, hefting his Type 100.
All six of them exited in the direction they arrived in. The sound they were hearing appears to be coming directly below them. Nikolai and Dempsey moved down the stairs first, with Samantha and Takeo following after them, and Naruto and Fuu taking up the rear. After reaching the bottom of their staircase the six came back to the room with the blood-covered floor and walls and found the wall to their right – it was on their left when they entered for the first time – was now gone and a new room was revealed to them.
Dempsey frowned with annoyance when a thought occurred to him. "Wait, we had pressed a pressure-plate that is on the first fucking floor, that opens up an entire new room on the ground floor?"
"It's stupid!" Samantha exclaimed in exasperation.
"You're tellin' me, girly." Dempsey said with a shake of his head. "Anywaylet's see if what we're lookin' for is in there." He added as he went on to do just that with the others following after him.
Inside they discovered the device they were looking for. The Staff of Wind was mounted on top of a pillar-like stand, but the pillar had a hole in the middle of it; the staff itself was embedded halfway into it and from the distance they were looking at it, the Staff of Wind appeared to be deeply rooted inside of it and it would take great force for the staff to be pulled out. However upon a closer inspection they were able to see that the hole was wide enough for the staff to be withdrawn and inserted.
Dempsey immediately approached the staff and after releasing his grip on his M-16, allowing it to hang against his waist the marine grasped onto it and lifted the staff out. "Huh." Dempsey grunted out, turning around as he twirled the Staff of Wind in his hands. "Well... that was pretty easy. Thought there'd be more to this."
As if he were tempting fate everyone in the group found their eyesight brightening and were covering their eyes in alarm. Only to discover them covering their eyes was not helping at all as it only sped up the process.
As his eyesight was filled with whiteness Dempsey exclaimed with dismay, "Oh, god, me and my big mouth!" just before his eyesight was overtaken completely.
X.X.X.X
Naruto rubbed his eyes in disbelief to make sure his eyes were not playing on him. They weren't.
He was standing in a muddy, barren wasteland with ruined structures along with a damaged but still standing church in the distance. It looked like it the landscape had been shelled to hell and back. To make things even more grim looking there's barbed wire in almost every place he looked and there were bodies impaled on spikes. Looking up towards the skies he saw aeroplanes dogfighting; however from what he remembered after the earth had been blown up those types of aeroplanes were no longer in development. If he remembered the names correctly they are called Fokkers D.V and the Vickers F.B.5.
Looking ahead in the distance he could see a Mark IV tank moving about. Another thing that is no longer in development.
"That's odd..." Murmured the blonde.
He stumbled when the ground suddenly shook as if some great force had crashed into it. Turning around Naruto fell on his ass and stared up with disbelief when he saw three gigantic 1000ft tall robot walking around on the landscape.
"What. The. Fucking Fuck!?"
Unknown to him his separated companions were seeing the exact same thing as he is. However, the three adults of the group were having a sense of deja vu, while Fuu wildly looking around at her surroundings before settling to stare at the titanic sized metal man. She saw nothing like this before and while she had been in contact with her Tailed Beast, she never saw anything metal that is so titanic sized.
Samantha on the other hand was thinking back to the time she was given an image of a younger looking Takeo using the Staff of Fire, and she compared the environment she saw in that image to the one she is seeing now. She quickly came to the conclusion that they were one and the same.
Then suddenly, everyone was taken away from No Mans Land and found themselves together in another place that is shaped in a circle. Nikolai, Takeo, Dempsey and Naruto had their Elemental Staves in hand.
Having a deep sense of foreign familiarity with this room Tank, Nikolai and Takeo surveyed it wondering why they had this familiarity when they cannot recall anything about it. The three of them have vague memories of being in France during the First World War, all three of them were to link up and work together in order to locate their target. They could not remember for the life of them who that person was.
Looking around the three found are four pathways leading to different spots each of them covered in an element.
Fire, wind, lightning and ice. The same as their elemental staves.
The three also spotted four pillars in the room and each of the four has a corresponding element as their respective elemental staves.
All three men had the feeling they should know this place.
"This place... is it just me or is it familiar to you too?" Asked Dempsey, looking over to Nikolai and Takeo in order to see if they're having the same feeling as he is.
"Yes." Said a murmuring Takeo. The Asian narrowed his eyes at the portal surrounded in fire with suspect. "It appears, with our strange familiarity, that we may have been here once before."
Nikolai added in his own thought into the conversation. "To me this is like an old memory I cannot recall. Just how long ago was this? 10? 20 years ago?"
Dempsey scowled as he drummed his fingers on the staff of wind. For some reason he felt there was something missing. Like there should be someone else here with them. And from the looks on the faces of Nikolai and Takeo he guessed they felt the same thing he did too.
The six of them were alarmed, Dempsey and Nikolai, Takeo and Naruto and Samantha more so, when they heard a man speak in a German accent that five of them recognised.
"You vere close, but zhe actual number is 27."
They quickly turned around, with Naruto and Takeo, Nikolai and Dempsey and Samantha all raising their weapons to aim at the person who spoke. Only for them to almost lower their staves and gun in surprise.
"Vhat?" Samantha said in disbelief.
It was Edward Richtofen, but, this is not the man they came to hate. This one is different. He is younger, in different clothing and is much, much saner than the five remembered him being. This Edward Richtofen instead of wearing the Nazi uniform they remembered him in, wore a leather, sleeveless tunic, a long collared and long-sleeved button shirt underneath with the sleeves rolled up, dark grey/black trousers and a pair of dirty brown boots with straps at the top. He had many straps holding a single piece of leather to his chest, with two vials of blood hanging from one of the straps. He has a small pouch attached to his waist, along with a sidearm holster with a pistol they had never seen before inside of it.
In his hand was a spherical object that was faintly glowing. The very powerful Summoning Key.
Despite having four elemental staves and a ray gun pointed at him the younger Richtofen stopped in front of the group and looked between them all. He immediately noticed there was something wrong.
He knew that this Nikolai, Takeo and Dempsey are all from the future. But they are all younger than they should be appearance wise. And then there is Naruto, Fuu and Samantha. In all the timelines he came across he never saw these two children.
And Samantha herself was never in another body.
Which meant...
"Strange." The German man said as he looked at all six with analystic eyes. "I have never seen you two before." He was looking pointedly at Naruto and Fuu as he said that. He gave a slight frown as he looked at Samantha possessing another body. "You never had possessed another body." Then he finally looked at Dempsey, Nikolai and Takeo. "You three are meant to be much older zhan you look..." He narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked between the six with a slight frown. "Is zhis another timeline ve have not encountered before?"
"Timeline?" It was Dempsey who said that. "What the hell are you talking about? And why aren't you crazy like we remember you being?" The American demanded.
Richtofen looked at Dempsey and said in a firm and even tone that was filled with hate, "I am not zhe Richtofen you know. I detest my other self. I refuse to become zhat man." The sheer hatred in his voice had taken the five by surprise. Fuu on the other hand did not know what was going on and merely opted to stand to the side and observe. The man paused and took a deep breath before continuing in a much calmer manner. "I have been to many places. Seen many things I vish I could unsee."
"You said 'another timeline'. What did you mean by that?" Naruto asked.
Richtofen looked at the boy for a moment with the Summoning Key, unknown to the others, momentarily glowing brighter for a moment before settling down to its original glow. "Timelines are alternate realities if you vill. Each of them follow a path similar to zhe original and branch off of it. Some alternate realities vill have minor or major differences depending on zhe choices zhat vere made. I believe, no, I am certain zhat zhis is another timeline zhat has branched off zhe original."
Seeing as they had travelled through time and had gone to another world entirely, Naruto and Samatha, Takeo and Nikolai and Dempsey were very accepting of this. Fuu on the other hand was absolutely clueless on what the German field scientist was going on about.
"So what is different here than in the 'original timeline' you have mentioned?" Nikolai asked.
Richtofen glanced at the Russian for a moment before looking at Samantha and pointing at her. "Samantha is possessing another body instead of zhe body of my other self." He then switched his gaze to Naruto and pointed at him. "He has not been mentioned by Group 935 because zhe boy by all accounts, did not exist during zhe original timeline." He then looked pointedly at the three adults. "You three are not appearing as you should. You all look like your past selves, something zhat should not be possible."
The original group members shared a look for a moment before bringing their gaze back to the younger Richtofen. "Things are hectic where we are." Dempsey said, and almost casually crossing his arm around the length of the metallic staff, he added on with the form of a limerick. "There are meatbags walking about, their bodies adapted to fight."
Richtofen confusedly narrowed his eyes as he stared at Dempsey in puzzlement. Was he trying to rhyme, or make a poem, or something along that line...? Naruto, Takeo, Samantha and Fuu were all wondering what the former United States marine is doing too and what he is trying to accomplish by doing this.
Nikolai however had picked up on what the American was doing. He was sending a message of what was going on where they are in the form of limericks. So he joined in. "The Hellspawn were strong, nearly all hope was gone."
Takeo who at this point learned what Nikolai and Dempsey were doing joined in. Despite seeing it as stupid however he saw it as a necessity, as they had a certain someone in their group who does not know that himself, Samantha, Nikolai and Dempsey are from a world different from this one.
Naruto and Samantha came to this realization too and Naruto and Takeo both said at the same time, "Then the five arrived to defeat them."
Narrowing his eyes in thought, Richtofen tried to piece together what he had been told.
"Things are hectic where we are." - If what he is discerning from this limrick, where ever they are, things are bad and is steadily getting worse.
"There are meatbags walking about, their bodies adapted to fight." - The 'meatbags' is obviously referring to the zombies. 'their bodies adapted to fight', could possibly mean the zombies are already adapted to the way everyone over where they are fought and are having trouble fighting them.
"The Hellspawn were strong, nearly all hope was gone." - 'the hellspawn were strong', meant the zombies' were winning and are more than capable to dish out the damage. The second part of the limerick could possibly mean the fighters had sustained heavy loses through the years and were losing hope.
"Then the five arrived to defeat them." - That limerick referring to 'the five', Edward didn't know what they meant by that, but he had a few good guesses on WHO the five are.
"I see." The German scientist finally said after he had discerned what they were trying to tell him. He didn't know where they are but from the sound of it, they were in just as much trouble as his group is. "Vhere ever you are, it is happening over zhere too."
Then suddenly Naruto, Samantha, Takeo, Nikolai, Fuu and Dempsey all had a faint glow appear around them. The six were startled when they started to glow all of a sudden but quickly calmed themselves when they realised it must be there to signify they're leaving, where ever they are.
"Huh. It looks like we're off." Naruto stated.
"Yeah. It seems like it." Dempsey said; frowning he looked at the young Richtofen and tinned his lips. "Hey. Richtofen. Before we go – do you have any idea on what the hell is going on?"
The field scientist looked away from the group, downcast and clearly hesitant on what he should do. Taking a deep breath the German knew telling lies would not get him anywhere. So he decided to tell the group as much as he possible could without running the risk of corroding the very fabric of reality itself.
"Many things is happening, Dempsey. Too many things. I am running zhe risk of corroding the very fabric of reality by telling you zhis." He paused to wet his lips and to gather his thoughts. "Group 935 is trying to control forces beyond their comprehension. Zhey are running amok among zhe timelines in order to speed up zheir own agendas. My group and I, along vith Doctor Maxis are trying our best to stop them. Even changing history to stop zhe grim future ve all have been told about from occuring."
"Who told you about zhe future?" It was Samantha who asked this.
Richtofen opened his mouth to reply only to stop and think on it. Clenching his teeth together the German looked Samantha directly in the eyes and said three words that took them all by surprise.
"You did, Samantha."
Before they could say anything else, the six let out started gasps when their vision was overcome with light. The last thing they heard before their senses left them was from Richtofen.
"If Group 935 is vhere you are, zhen you must stop them. By any means necessary. Zhe very fate of zhe entire universe is at stake!"
X.X.X.X
When they came to, everyone found themselves back in the hidden facility in the Land of Lightning. From their position on the floor the six quickly deduced they had collapsed just before they had that 'experience'.
As he stood up Dempsey willed his Staff of Wind away. Once it dispersed into particles he unsheathed his combat knife, and held the flat side of the blade to his face. His reflection was of a younger looking version of himself. Brown locks replaced his blond and it was more grown out instead of it being the military shave he remembered. He had less wrinkles on his face nor did he have the creases on his forehead. He even felt a slight calmness that was not there before. Looks like the younger Richtofen had been telling the truth when saying he was younger again.
He was still wearing his Marine Raider's uniform so except his appearance nothing else about him had changed.
Once all six of them were back on their feet they discussed what they should do next. With their objective collecting the four elemental staves complete they had to figure out where to go from there.
Samantha pointed out they still had the matter of this hidden Group 935 facility that needs taking care of before anyone from the Land of Lightning can discover it and take advantage off its contents for their own personal gain. This was something everyone as a group agreed with. Nothing here must be salvaged or re-engineered. It must be destroyed beyond repair.
With that in mind Samantha then conjured some explosives that Dempsey found familiar to him; the M37 Demolition Kit or as it's nicknamed "satchel charge". A kit that has eight blocks of high explosives with two priming assemblies packed together in a canvas bag. What's good about these is they can be placed against a structure or slung into an opening before pulling the igniter. They were good for destroying bunkers, bridges and other important strategical areas.
They'd be perfect for destroying this hidden facility. And there was enough for all six to carry two of them.
Being the only one in the group with the most experience when utilising these explosives' Dempsey took one and instructed the others to do the same. He told them to follow him and to set the satchels in places where the explosion would do the most damage.
Takeo and Naruto wanted to cause the most damage and separated the blocks and put them in the rooms on the second floor. Everyone else wanted to make one strong explosion with their satchels so they kept the blocks together.
Once all twelve charges were put in the best places to cause the most damage, the six all regrouped in front of the elevator. Nikolai and Takeo went to the lever and started working on getting everyone to the surface. Since he knew how to work them compared to everyone else everyone gave Dempsey had the igniter's for the explosives.
With their weapons at the ready, Naruto and Samantha and Fuu all looked up at the ceiling that was slowly getting closer the more they moved up. Dempsey who was down on one knee was busy passing the time by counting how many igniter's he had for the explosives.
When everyone reached the top they got off the elevator and made their way out of the underground tomb. When they finally reached the surface Dempsey gestured to the others to follow him. They did so quietly and when they were at a far enough distance from the underground facility, Dempsey stopped and triggered the igniter's one by one. The ground shook from the shockwave of the explosions.
Everyone even at the distance they're at could hear the chain of explosives raging underground. With each explosion that occurred from another trigger press the more violent the ground shook. Dempsey, Nikolai and Takeo all managed to somehow keep their footing despite the miniature earthquake raging underneath them.
Naruto and Samantha both fell to the ground. Naruto had cushioned Samantha's fall when she fell on top of him, much to her smiling amusement and his nervous embarrassment.
Fuu on the other hand fell back on her rump. Then the earth concealing the underground facility crumbled in on itself as a large cloud of smoke and dust flew up. And then an explosion of fire emerged from the newly made gap in the ground.
Samantha after a moment of enjoying the close, bodily contact she had with Naruto reluctantly got off of him.
"That's our job done." Announced Dempsey. "We'd better get out of here before this draws some unwanted attention to us."
Samantha knowing that was her cue quickly went into her awakened form. Her skin went pale, the colour of her flesh was now the same hue as snow, and her eyes are now glowing an unsettling yellow. With a look of concentration Samantha focused her powers, and teleported everyone away from the Land of Fire and back to their dimensional base where they would be able to re-cooperate and plan what to do next.
Chapter 16
Naruto narrowed his eyes as he took in the new surroundings. Everything was in black and white, like an old TV show. There was static everywhere making a lot of the things in his vision in recognisable. But he could make out certain things.
Two cliffs and two gigantic statues carved into the cliff side. This... place felt oddly familiar to him; it was like an old deeply buried memory.
"Sasuke!" Naruto flinched at the loud noise and was surprised to find a young version of himself, wearing a neon orange and blue jumpsuit standing beside him. Narrowing his eyes Naruto took his gaze away from his young self and looked ahead.
There, across the valley, was another boy. Wearing blue and white clothing. For some reason the very sight of the boy made his blood boil. Blinking as a thought came to him, Naruto took another look at his surroundings even as he heard his younger self yell out.
"Are you going to run away again?!"
Naruto held the side of his head as he looked around with wide eyes. Was this... a memory of his? A forgotten memory? Made sense a lot of the things here are discernible to him.
He was astonished and shocked when he saw his younger self literally leap across the valley and land on top of the boy on the other side. However as static began to fill his vision until he couldn't see anything else Naruto frowned.
"Gah!" Naruto jumped when he was able to see again and the first thing he saw sickened him. The boy had an entire hand shoved through the lung of his younger self.
"Not bad." Naruto growled darkly at the indifferent, yet somehow cocky tone in the dark haired boy's voice. "You redirected the trajectory of my arm at the last second and instead punctured your lung instead of your heart." He slowly, cruelly, withdrew his blood covered hand from the boy's chest and smirked with cruel amusement at the pained scream he drew from his foe. "However, with your lung destroyed you will probably bleed out in the next minute or so. You were never able to defeat me, Naruto. You're a failure and you always will be."
Naruto growled. "Why don't you say that to my face you little fuck!" He said with a snarl. "I may not know who the fuck you are," He clenched and unclenched his hands as he watched the little prick finally pull his hand out of the chest of his memory self. "but when I find you, I'm going to blow your fucking head off! Then we'll see who is a failure!"
X.X.X.X
Theatre Of The Damned (Kino Der Toten),
Germany, Berlin, 1963
"Tank, does Richtofen seem a little 'off' to you?" Naruto, now hardened from his near death in Der Riese, whispered to the former United States solider standing beside him.
Checking his magazine for his M-14 battle rifle, Dempsey gave Naruto a look from the corner of his eyes. "You mean he's more crazy than normal?" He questioned with a frown pulling at his lips before he inserted the magazine inside of the slot of the rifle. Richtofen was already nuts. That was as plain as day. So to hear that Richtofen was acting more off than usual was a cause for concern.
Naruto fiercely shook his head from side to side. "No. Nothing like that." He quickly said. "I don't know what's with the man, but, I just...I have this gut feeling that he's up to something. I don't have the slightest clue as to what that is, but, this gut feeling, it's telling me it's really bad. For everyone involved."
"Really...?" Murmured a frowning Dempsey. He gave Naruto a direct look, to show he was now completely serious and not laid back. "If that's the case then we should keep a close eye on him. That...'man'...is unstable. Who knows what he will do behind our backs."
X.X.X.X
"I got nothin'." Said Naruto with both exasperation and weariness.
"Same here." Said Samantha with the same tone as Naruto's. She stopped looking at the documents and photographs and looked at her friend. "Perhaps zhe others have better luck zhan ve do?"
Naruto shrugged. "Maybe. So what do we do with all of this junk?" He questioned, jerking a thumb to the pile of books and other materials lying in an untidy pile behind them.
Samantha turned to look over her shoulder at said junk. "Ve burn it until zhere is nothing left." She informed her friend as she looked at him with thin lips. "Ve cannot allow zhese people gain any information zhey could use in zhe future. Even if zhey cannot difference mien language vith zheirs', I vill not be taking any chances."
Naruto nodded in agreement and turned around to face the pile of books and documented files. "So how do we burn them? Unless you have a lighter I don't see a way of doing it." He stated as he looked back at his friend expectantly. Wondering if she had the answer to this little snag.
Samantha looked at him. "You have a lighter do you not?"
"Ah." Naruto said with realization as he fished in his pockets for the lighter in question. He does indeed have a lighter in his possession. He always had one on him in the case he has to use some Molotov cocktails which is far an between.
With the lighter in hand Naruto walked over to the fairly large pile of reading material and picked one, a sheet of paper, up before rolling it up. Flicking the lighter Naruto held the flame underneath the rolled up piece of paper until it caught alight. With the flame illuminating his face Naruto slowly knelt down and put the rapidly burning paper among the pile of books and documented files and quickly got up and backed away as the fire quickly spread.
Both Naruto and Samantha looked on as the fires consumed the material. "That's one potential problem down." The blonde looked at his friend and tapped her shoulder to gain her attention. "Let's go see what the others are doing?" He suggested to her.
Samantha didn't say anything. With her MP-40 slung over her shoulder the possessed corpse gestured Naruto to lead the way. With that Naruto and Samantha walked around the bonfire like fire, and exited the room, all the while the sounds of flame cackling could be heard.
Meanwhile in one of the other rooms, Takeo and Fuu were having just as much luck as Naruto and Samantha. Fuu was unable to find anything that looked useful to their group, or anything that stood out to her. In actuality, everything she is seeing stands out to her and she has no idea on what they're meant to be looking for. So she just settled on giving things over to Takeo to look over. Suffice to say it made things a little easier for her, but, they were still having no luck in finding what they were looking for.
Because all the writing is in German. Fuu cannot read German. Nor can Takeo for that matter. While they were throwing things in a messy pile behind them, they weren't going to burn them, not until Samantha their translator has a go at them. So for now they're looking at pictorial references
From what they saw, the pictures and photographs weren't of any help to them whatsoever.
After a few minutes of silently searching the two turned around to look at the door when they heard it opening. Naruto and Samantha walked in and they briefly observed the pile of documents, books and photographs on the floor before walking in completely.
"Find anything?" Naruto asked.
Takeo shook his head from side to side. "We have discovered nothing." The former Imperial Officer replied. He brought his gaze to Samantha and gestured to the pile on the floor. "Samantha we need you to translate the writing to see if you are able to discover, what we had not."
Samantha nodded and made her way to the pile to get started on translating. "Okay. Zhat should be easy enough." She said before sitting cross-legged in front of the pile and start reading the first thing she grabbed.
"I'll check on Tank and Nikolai and see if they had any luck in their search." Naruto told them.
Samantha turned to look at Naruto from over her shoulder. "Alright. Come back here if zhey found anything." She told him.
"I will." Naruto replied with an affirmative nod.
With that said Naruto left the room and went to the location Dempsey and Nikolai are. Upon entering Naruto found the room was in a similar state as the previous two: books, pictures and files littered the floor in a messy pile. Both Dempsey and Nikolai were looking at a large and framed picture of a device of some sort when he entered, and the two grown men turned around when they heard the teenager enter the room.
Naruto squinted to get a better look at the framed picture. It looked like a blueprint to a weapon of some sort and it is eerily similar to the Thunder-gun. Only smaller and a lot thinner than it is now. A possible early design for the weapon perhaps?
"Did you two find anything of interest?" Naruto asked the American and Russian when their attention was on him.
Dempsey tsked and returned his gaze back to the blueprint. "Well we did find something; not sure it's interesting though. It looks like a blueprint for an early version of the Thunder-gun. Not sure if it's going to be useful for us considering there's already a working version of it." He replied; both Nikolai and himself parted when Naruto came up in order to get a better look of the blueprint.
Naruto rubbed the bottom of his chin as he looked the blueprint over. "Hmm. It DOES look like an early version of it." The whiskered blonde said with a small, yet thoughtful frown pulling at the corners of his lips. "We should take it. If there is a blueprint here, then there is a possibility there is a finished product somewhere in this world."
"Not here?"
Naruto shook his head from side to side. "No. If they were designing weapons and... god forbid, making zombies', then they wouldn't keep any of their finished products here. If I were them I would have moved them to some place else."
Nikolai frowned. "So we are going to go on another hunt?"
Dempsey shook his head negatively. "What the kid says makes sense. This facility is small and we did not see anything that resembles this thing." He said as he tapped his finger on the blueprint. "I'd wager the weapon was finished here and was transferred somewhere out there. If it is anywhere in Naruto's world, then we go get it and make sure it does not fall into the wrong hands. If it's not, then, we have one less thing to worry about."
Nikolai and Naruto both liked that plan and Nikolai, with Dempsey's help, proceeded to take the blueprint out of its frame and carefully rolled it up as to not damage it. After being given the blueprint Nikolai placed it inside his pouch putting it in a separate area so it would not get damaged.
"Did you find anything else?" Naruto asked as Nikolai was putting the blueprint away.
Both Nikolai and Dempsey shook their heads. "I can't read German, so if there is anything useful in these things we won't know until Samantha takes a look at them." The marine replied with a small scowl pulling at his lips.
"The Staff of Wind should be here however." Nikolai spoke up and seeing he had gotten Dempsey and Naruto's attention he continued on with what he was saying. "Its location was discovered here when we looked at the map inside our dimension-like base. It cannot be in any other place."
Dempsey rubbed his chin as his lips curved down to a thoughtful frown. "Maybe there is a secret compartment in this facility? Like, behind a wall or a hidden door?"
Naruto gave the marine a look as if he said something utterly inane. But as he thought about it he came to agree with his assumption. After all Group 935 are a secretive bunch and Naruto guessed it wouldn't be above them if they were to hide their most important things in secret rooms.
"That's... uh... a... fair assumption actually." Naruto stated, and with that thought now taken root inside his head the teenager was dead set on finding it. He looked searchingly around the room. "Now if I were to hide things in a secret room, where would I put it?"
"The stuff or the room?"
Naruto paused in his search to give Dempsey a flat stare. "The room, Tank, the room." He replied with his tone matching his expression before going back to his search.
"Maybe there is a hidden switch or pressure-plate somewhere?" Suggested Nikolai as he walked to one of the walls and began to feel around for a pressure-plate or something that would trigger the hidden door, if there is one to be open. "Perhaps it is in the room? Or somewhere else within the facility?"
Blinking Naruto looked at Nikolai for a moment, then he nodded to himself and moved to help him. Dempsey was left by himself who couldn't help but stare at the two touching up their part of the wall in bewilderment.
Then he shrugged and went to join. It was just a thought he came up with and if they were going to feel around for a pressure-plate then he'd might as well join in with them. Three searching for the same thing would make things move faster.
Minutes later a startled Nikolai, along with Dempsey and Naruto stumbled away from the wall when the Russian found the pressure-plate. The trio heard an audible 'click' before the foundation of the room shook when the noise of something opening was heard. Looking at one another in alarm, the three equipped their guns and held them at the ready as they went to investigate. Since Samantha confirmed there's no more zombies lurking around they didn't have to use their knives and were able to freely use their guns. That didn't mean the noise couldn't attract some unwanted attention from the outside though.
When they came out the three found Takeo, Samantha and an alarmed Fu exiting their room with their weapons equipped. They too were startled by the noise that sounded out of nowhere.
"What happened?!" Fuu cried out over the noise while looking at the three in consternation.
Dempsey was the one that answered. "We found a pressure-plate in our room and may have opened a hidden room in this place. It could be where the Staff of Wind is."
"We were going to check it out." Added Naruto.
"We shall accompany you." Takeo stated, hefting his Type 100.
All six of them exited in the direction they arrived in. The sound they were hearing appears to be coming directly below them. Nikolai and Dempsey moved down the stairs first, with Samantha and Takeo following after them, and Naruto and Fuu taking up the rear. After reaching the bottom of their staircase the six came back to the room with the blood-covered floor and walls and found the wall to their right – it was on their left when they entered for the first time – was now gone and a new room was revealed to them.
Dempsey frowned with annoyance when a thought occurred to him. "Wait, we had pressed a pressure-plate that is on the first fucking floor, that opens up an entire new room on the ground floor?"
"It's stupid!" Samantha exclaimed in exasperation.
"You're tellin' me, girly." Dempsey said with a shake of his head. "Anywaylet's see if what we're lookin' for is in there." He added as he went on to do just that with the others following after him.
Inside they discovered the device they were looking for. The Staff of Wind was mounted on top of a pillar-like stand, but the pillar had a hole in the middle of it; the staff itself was embedded halfway into it and from the distance they were looking at it, the Staff of Wind appeared to be deeply rooted inside of it and it would take great force for the staff to be pulled out. However upon a closer inspection they were able to see that the hole was wide enough for the staff to be withdrawn and inserted.
Dempsey immediately approached the staff and after releasing his grip on his M-16, allowing it to hang against his waist the marine grasped onto it and lifted the staff out. "Huh." Dempsey grunted out, turning around as he twirled the Staff of Wind in his hands. "Well... that was pretty easy. Thought there'd be more to this."
As if he were tempting fate everyone in the group found their eyesight brightening and were covering their eyes in alarm. Only to discover them covering their eyes was not helping at all as it only sped up the process.
As his eyesight was filled with whiteness Dempsey exclaimed with dismay, "Oh, god, me and my big mouth!" just before his eyesight was overtaken completely.
X.X.X.X
Naruto rubbed his eyes in disbelief to make sure his eyes were not playing on him. They weren't.
He was standing in a muddy, barren wasteland with ruined structures along with a damaged but still standing church in the distance. It looked like it the landscape had been shelled to hell and back. To make things even more grim looking there's barbed wire in almost every place he looked and there were bodies impaled on spikes. Looking up towards the skies he saw aeroplanes dogfighting; however from what he remembered after the earth had been blown up those types of aeroplanes were no longer in development. If he remembered the names correctly they are called Fokkers D.V and the Vickers F.B.5.
Looking ahead in the distance he could see a Mark IV tank moving about. Another thing that is no longer in development.
"That's odd..." Murmured the blonde.
He stumbled when the ground suddenly shook as if some great force had crashed into it. Turning around Naruto fell on his ass and stared up with disbelief when he saw three gigantic 1000ft tall robot walking around on the landscape.
"What. The. Fucking Fuck!?"
Unknown to him his separated companions were seeing the exact same thing as he is. However, the three adults of the group were having a sense of deja vu, while Fuu wildly looking around at her surroundings before settling to stare at the titanic sized metal man. She saw nothing like this before and while she had been in contact with her Tailed Beast, she never saw anything metal that is so titanic sized.
Samantha on the other hand was thinking back to the time she was given an image of a younger looking Takeo using the Staff of Fire, and she compared the environment she saw in that image to the one she is seeing now. She quickly came to the conclusion that they were one and the same.
Then suddenly, everyone was taken away from No Mans Land and found themselves together in another place that is shaped in a circle. Nikolai, Takeo, Dempsey and Naruto had their Elemental Staves in hand.
Having a deep sense of foreign familiarity with this room Tank, Nikolai and Takeo surveyed it wondering why they had this familiarity when they cannot recall anything about it. The three of them have vague memories of being in France during the First World War, all three of them were to link up and work together in order to locate their target. They could not remember for the life of them who that person was.
Looking around the three found are four pathways leading to different spots each of them covered in an element.
Fire, wind, lightning and ice. The same as their elemental staves.
The three also spotted four pillars in the room and each of the four has a corresponding element as their respective elemental staves.
All three men had the feeling they should know this place.
"This place... is it just me or is it familiar to you too?" Asked Dempsey, looking over to Nikolai and Takeo in order to see if they're having the same feeling as he is.
"Yes." Said a murmuring Takeo. The Asian narrowed his eyes at the portal surrounded in fire with suspect. "It appears, with our strange familiarity, that we may have been here once before."
Nikolai added in his own thought into the conversation. "To me this is like an old memory I cannot recall. Just how long ago was this? 10? 20 years ago?"
Dempsey scowled as he drummed his fingers on the staff of wind. For some reason he felt there was something missing. Like there should be someone else here with them. And from the looks on the faces of Nikolai and Takeo he guessed they felt the same thing he did too.
The six of them were alarmed, Dempsey and Nikolai, Takeo and Naruto and Samantha more so, when they heard a man speak in a German accent that five of them recognised.
"You vere close, but zhe actual number is 27."
They quickly turned around, with Naruto and Takeo, Nikolai and Dempsey and Samantha all raising their weapons to aim at the person who spoke. Only for them to almost lower their staves and gun in surprise.
"Vhat?" Samantha said in disbelief.
It was Edward Richtofen, but, this is not the man they came to hate. This one is different. He is younger, in different clothing and is much, much saner than the five remembered him being. This Edward Richtofen instead of wearing the Nazi uniform they remembered him in, wore a leather, sleeveless tunic, a long collared and long-sleeved button shirt underneath with the sleeves rolled up, dark grey/black trousers and a pair of dirty brown boots with straps at the top. He had many straps holding a single piece of leather to his chest, with two vials of blood hanging from one of the straps. He has a small pouch attached to his waist, along with a sidearm holster with a pistol they had never seen before inside of it.
In his hand was a spherical object that was faintly glowing. The very powerful Summoning Key.
Despite having four elemental staves and a ray gun pointed at him the younger Richtofen stopped in front of the group and looked between them all. He immediately noticed there was something wrong.
He knew that this Nikolai, Takeo and Dempsey are all from the future. But they are all younger than they should be appearance wise. And then there is Naruto, Fuu and Samantha. In all the timelines he came across he never saw these two children.
And Samantha herself was never in another body.
Which meant...
"Strange." The German man said as he looked at all six with analystic eyes. "I have never seen you two before." He was looking pointedly at Naruto and Fuu as he said that. He gave a slight frown as he looked at Samantha possessing another body. "You never had possessed another body." Then he finally looked at Dempsey, Nikolai and Takeo. "You three are meant to be much older zhan you look..." He narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked between the six with a slight frown. "Is zhis another timeline ve have not encountered before?"
"Timeline?" It was Dempsey who said that. "What the hell are you talking about? And why aren't you crazy like we remember you being?" The American demanded.
Richtofen looked at Dempsey and said in a firm and even tone that was filled with hate, "I am not zhe Richtofen you know. I detest my other self. I refuse to become zhat man." The sheer hatred in his voice had taken the five by surprise. Fuu on the other hand did not know what was going on and merely opted to stand to the side and observe. The man paused and took a deep breath before continuing in a much calmer manner. "I have been to many places. Seen many things I vish I could unsee."
"You said 'another timeline'. What did you mean by that?" Naruto asked.
Richtofen looked at the boy for a moment with the Summoning Key, unknown to the others, momentarily glowing brighter for a moment before settling down to its original glow. "Timelines are alternate realities if you vill. Each of them follow a path similar to zhe original and branch off of it. Some alternate realities vill have minor or major differences depending on zhe choices zhat vere made. I believe, no, I am certain zhat zhis is another timeline zhat has branched off zhe original."
Seeing as they had travelled through time and had gone to another world entirely, Naruto and Samatha, Takeo and Nikolai and Dempsey were very accepting of this. Fuu on the other hand was absolutely clueless on what the German field scientist was going on about.
"So what is different here than in the 'original timeline' you have mentioned?" Nikolai asked.
Richtofen glanced at the Russian for a moment before looking at Samantha and pointing at her. "Samantha is possessing another body instead of zhe body of my other self." He then switched his gaze to Naruto and pointed at him. "He has not been mentioned by Group 935 because zhe boy by all accounts, did not exist during zhe original timeline." He then looked pointedly at the three adults. "You three are not appearing as you should. You all look like your past selves, something zhat should not be possible."
The original group members shared a look for a moment before bringing their gaze back to the younger Richtofen. "Things are hectic where we are." Dempsey said, and almost casually crossing his arm around the length of the metallic staff, he added on with the form of a limerick. "There are meatbags walking about, their bodies adapted to fight."
Richtofen confusedly narrowed his eyes as he stared at Dempsey in puzzlement. Was he trying to rhyme, or make a poem, or something along that line...? Naruto, Takeo, Samantha and Fuu were all wondering what the former United States marine is doing too and what he is trying to accomplish by doing this.
Nikolai however had picked up on what the American was doing. He was sending a message of what was going on where they are in the form of limericks. So he joined in. "The Hellspawn were strong, nearly all hope was gone."
Takeo who at this point learned what Nikolai and Dempsey were doing joined in. Despite seeing it as stupid however he saw it as a necessity, as they had a certain someone in their group who does not know that himself, Samantha, Nikolai and Dempsey are from a world different from this one.
Naruto and Samantha came to this realization too and Naruto and Takeo both said at the same time, "Then the five arrived to defeat them."
Narrowing his eyes in thought, Richtofen tried to piece together what he had been told.
"Things are hectic where we are." - If what he is discerning from this limrick, where ever they are, things are bad and is steadily getting worse.
"There are meatbags walking about, their bodies adapted to fight." - The 'meatbags' is obviously referring to the zombies. 'their bodies adapted to fight', could possibly mean the zombies are already adapted to the way everyone over where they are fought and are having trouble fighting them.
"The Hellspawn were strong, nearly all hope was gone." - 'the hellspawn were strong', meant the zombies' were winning and are more than capable to dish out the damage. The second part of the limerick could possibly mean the fighters had sustained heavy loses through the years and were losing hope.
"Then the five arrived to defeat them." - That limerick referring to 'the five', Edward didn't know what they meant by that, but he had a few good guesses on WHO the five are.
"I see." The German scientist finally said after he had discerned what they were trying to tell him. He didn't know where they are but from the sound of it, they were in just as much trouble as his group is. "Vhere ever you are, it is happening over zhere too."
Then suddenly Naruto, Samantha, Takeo, Nikolai, Fuu and Dempsey all had a faint glow appear around them. The six were startled when they started to glow all of a sudden but quickly calmed themselves when they realised it must be there to signify they're leaving, where ever they are.
"Huh. It looks like we're off." Naruto stated.
"Yeah. It seems like it." Dempsey said; frowning he looked at the young Richtofen and tinned his lips. "Hey. Richtofen. Before we go – do you have any idea on what the hell is going on?"
The field scientist looked away from the group, downcast and clearly hesitant on what he should do. Taking a deep breath the German knew telling lies would not get him anywhere. So he decided to tell the group as much as he possible could without running the risk of corroding the very fabric of reality itself.
"Many things is happening, Dempsey. Too many things. I am running zhe risk of corroding the very fabric of reality by telling you zhis." He paused to wet his lips and to gather his thoughts. "Group 935 is trying to control forces beyond their comprehension. Zhey are running amok among zhe timelines in order to speed up zheir own agendas. My group and I, along vith Doctor Maxis are trying our best to stop them. Even changing history to stop zhe grim future ve all have been told about from occuring."
"Who told you about zhe future?" It was Samantha who asked this.
Richtofen opened his mouth to reply only to stop and think on it. Clenching his teeth together the German looked Samantha directly in the eyes and said three words that took them all by surprise.
"You did, Samantha."
Before they could say anything else, the six let out started gasps when their vision was overcome with light. The last thing they heard before their senses left them was from Richtofen.
"If Group 935 is vhere you are, zhen you must stop them. By any means necessary. Zhe very fate of zhe entire universe is at stake!"
X.X.X.X
When they came to, everyone found themselves back in the hidden facility in the Land of Lightning. From their position on the floor the six quickly deduced they had collapsed just before they had that 'experience'.
As he stood up Dempsey willed his Staff of Wind away. Once it dispersed into particles he unsheathed his combat knife, and held the flat side of the blade to his face. His reflection was of a younger looking version of himself. Brown locks replaced his blond and it was more grown out instead of it being the military shave he remembered. He had less wrinkles on his face nor did he have the creases on his forehead. He even felt a slight calmness that was not there before. Looks like the younger Richtofen had been telling the truth when saying he was younger again.
He was still wearing his Marine Raider's uniform so except his appearance nothing else about him had changed.
Once all six of them were back on their feet they discussed what they should do next. With their objective collecting the four elemental staves complete they had to figure out where to go from there.
Samantha pointed out they still had the matter of this hidden Group 935 facility that needs taking care of before anyone from the Land of Lightning can discover it and take advantage off its contents for their own personal gain. This was something everyone as a group agreed with. Nothing here must be salvaged or re-engineered. It must be destroyed beyond repair.
With that in mind Samantha then conjured some explosives that Dempsey found familiar to him; the M37 Demolition Kit or as it's nicknamed "satchel charge". A kit that has eight blocks of high explosives with two priming assemblies packed together in a canvas bag. What's good about these is they can be placed against a structure or slung into an opening before pulling the igniter. They were good for destroying bunkers, bridges and other important strategical areas.
They'd be perfect for destroying this hidden facility. And there was enough for all six to carry two of them.
Being the only one in the group with the most experience when utilising these explosives' Dempsey took one and instructed the others to do the same. He told them to follow him and to set the satchels in places where the explosion would do the most damage.
Takeo and Naruto wanted to cause the most damage and separated the blocks and put them in the rooms on the second floor. Everyone else wanted to make one strong explosion with their satchels so they kept the blocks together.
Once all twelve charges were put in the best places to cause the most damage, the six all regrouped in front of the elevator. Nikolai and Takeo went to the lever and started working on getting everyone to the surface. Since he knew how to work them compared to everyone else everyone gave Dempsey had the igniter's for the explosives.
With their weapons at the ready, Naruto and Samantha and Fuu all looked up at the ceiling that was slowly getting closer the more they moved up. Dempsey who was down on one knee was busy passing the time by counting how many igniter's he had for the explosives.
When everyone reached the top they got off the elevator and made their way out of the underground tomb. When they finally reached the surface Dempsey gestured to the others to follow him. They did so quietly and when they were at a far enough distance from the underground facility, Dempsey stopped and triggered the igniter's one by one. The ground shook from the shockwave of the explosions.
Everyone even at the distance they're at could hear the chain of explosives raging underground. With each explosion that occurred from another trigger press the more violent the ground shook. Dempsey, Nikolai and Takeo all managed to somehow keep their footing despite the miniature earthquake raging underneath them.
Naruto and Samantha both fell to the ground. Naruto had cushioned Samantha's fall when she fell on top of him, much to her smiling amusement and his nervous embarrassment.
Fuu on the other hand fell back on her rump. Then the earth concealing the underground facility crumbled in on itself as a large cloud of smoke and dust flew up. And then an explosion of fire emerged from the newly made gap in the ground.
Samantha after a moment of enjoying the close, bodily contact she had with Naruto reluctantly got off of him.
"That's our job done." Announced Dempsey. "We'd better get out of here before this draws some unwanted attention to us."
Samantha knowing that was her cue quickly went into her awakened form. Her skin went pale, the colour of her flesh was now the same hue as snow, and her eyes are now glowing an unsettling yellow. With a look of concentration Samantha focused her powers, and teleported everyone away from the Land of Fire and back to their dimensional base where they would be able to re-cooperate and plan what to do next.
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