Undestined Friendship

Chapters

Fairies of the Forest
Ruins in the Cavern
Silvercross Town
Kindness, Explanations, and Ramen
Much needed Training
No Path is Safe
Inner Beasts
Trust is Earned, not Given
Magical Trio
Chronicle
Tales of the Train
Shadow State
Four Children of Four Energies
Revitalizing, The Fae Forest

Fairies of the Forest

Book 1: Magic

Chapter 2: Fairies of the Forest

The sun had risen, it was the dawning morning and the Avatar, Korra had taken the last watch. Korra did not like waking up so early, but with being in a unfamiliar place, she could not argue with the logic of Gohan's idea. Since the sun was rising, Korra decided to awaken the other kids... She still did not like the fact she's a kid again.

The Avatar decided to awaken Gohan first, since she felt he would be the best to awaken. Korra rose from the fallen log, the fire place had gone out a hour back or two, and made her way toward Gohan's sleeping form.

She shook him gently. "Hey, Gohan, wake up." Suddenly, Korra felt a furry object wrap around her right heel.

Looking down she saw a fuzzy tail wrapped around her foot, in shock Korra screamed briefly.

Instantly, the scream awoke Gohan, Naruto, and Jaina who all immediately stood up in their different fighting positions ready for combat. Only too see Korra on her bottom looking at Gohan's currently raised tail.

"Y-You have a tail!" She said, causing Gohan to start to worry that she'll get scared.

Until Naruto said something. "Gohan, that's cool! That part of a kekkei genkai you have or something? What's it do for you besides being your tail?"

"Kekkei genkai?" Jaina questioned.

"Yeah, kekkei genkai! Bloodline limit, it's something that gives you a ability that's passed down genetically." Naruto explained.

Gohan took this explanation as a great excuse to cover up his tail. "Yes, it's part of my kekkei genkai, um, it helps me conserve and control energy a lot better than other people!" 'Technically true, along with allowing me to transform into a Oozaru.' Gohan mentally added as he explained.

"Well now that I look at it, it doesn't seem weird... Kinda cute." Korra commented as she touched the tail.

A shiver of pleasure ran up Gohan's body as Korra stroked the fur of his saiyan tail. "Can you not do that... Makes me feel kinda strange."

Korra stopped. "Sorry just never saw anything like it."

"So Gohan, what's it called, your kekkei genkai?" Naruto questioned, wanting to know the name.

"The... Oozaru limit?" Gohan replied, half truthing it. He wrapped his tail around his waist, remembering how both Vegeta and Nappa had them like that during the time when they attacked the Earth.

*Rustle Rustle*

A bush rustled back and forth, the four heroes got into their own stances. Gohan went into his turtle hermit school fighting stance, Naruto went into his Academy stance while Korra took on a water bending form. Jaina had her hands on her blade's hilts, ready to draw them.

Out of the bush, came a very tiny magical sparkling fairy.

Yes, a fairy.

Nearly everyone, except Jaina, was dumbstruck of the miniature human with wings. The female fairy flew over to Naruto's face, her little skin was pale white with shiny white long hair, small bug like wings whipping around continuously to hold her in the air. She flew around Naruto's head two times before stopping in front of his nose.

"Hello Mr. Fox!" She said childishly.

"Um... Hello... Fairy." Naruto said, still shocked by the small thing.

The fairy girl giggled and flew to Gohan. "Hiya Mr. Monkey!" She said briefly before heading to Korra.

"Hello Miss Spirit!" She turned around and faced Jaina. "And hello to you Miss Dragon!"

Jaina nodded, knowing Fairies see things differently. "Good morning fairy of the forest." The Dragon Knight knew to be nice to the little things, despite all fairies being childish, they only seek to help. Jaina eased up and stood calmly, the others also stood in calm stances.

Then the fairy's face turned to horror, and she went up to the Avatar's face.

"Miss Spirit you got to help us! The Dark one's monsters are attacking our home!"

Korra raised her hands to halt the energetic fairy. "Wait, please tell me what happened first." She said. Korra wanted to help, it was her duty, and what she had been training for her whole life, but she wanted to know what's going on first.

The fairy took in her deepest breath she could manage, before spilling the beans in a barrage of quickly said words.

"Couple weeks ago the Dark one got into our land. Our small nation called for our allies, the ponies, griffons, dragons, and satyrs to help us. Since we are so small, we can't really fight well except with magic. But we fairies don't use combat magic, we only heal everything and take care of the forests! But then Darkness came and started cutting down our forests and turning the nice creatures to evil shadow monsters! Now my home is being attacks and we can't fight without our allies' troops!" She teared up a bit. "My mom and dad are going to die! Waaaaah!" The young fairy started crying as she was now sitting on Korra's outstretched hand.

"Hey don't cry, I'll save your home." Korra said confidently.

"R-really?" The fairy sniffed.

"Yeah, we will help you out! Those dark ones won't know what hit 'em! Believe it!" Naruto yelled, giving a thumbs up.

"Naruto is right, we'll save your village! I doubt they can handle all of us!" Gohan said, eager to help.

Jaina just looked at them, but nodded saying, "It'll be a good training experience while we're at it." In the meantime she thought. 'Is the Dark One one of Damian's allies? If that's the case, he's made an enemy out of me!'

"Now tell us, where your home-" Korra was interrupted as the fairy jumped in the air, her wings flying.

"This way! This way! Follow me!"

"Run away!"

"There is too many!"

"The Darkness is going to destroy us all!"

Fairies all around scrambled for shelter, but the trees around them proved fruitless against the axes of the shadowy figures. A pack of shadow wolves chased after a family of ten fairies into a corner. The lead male fairy flew tall and defensive against the wolves, but for all his bravery, he knew it was for naught.

One of the wolves got closer to the cornered fairies, that was until a blond ninja popped out of nowhere, running toward the wolves.

"Leaf Village Secret Finger Justu!" Suddenly a small kunai stabbed the wolf's behind. "A Thousand Years of Death!" And propelled the shadow wolf into the air, a tag attached to the kunai lit up, and exploded.

*Boom!*

Suddenly rocks erupted from the ground, and slammed the two other wolves into the nearby trees, knocking them out.

"Oh yeah! That's right! The Avatar is here!" Korra yelled.

"Who are you?" The fairies asked the blond kid who did the effective technique before.

Naruto grinned. "I'm glad you asked!" Suddenly some sort of music played, and in the heavens a old man stood proudly.

"I'm the apprentice of the great toad sage Jiraiya! Master of the Sage Art of Senjustu, and Shadow Clone user of hundreds! I'm the future Hokage of the Village hidden in the leaves, and ramen extraordinaire! I'm Naruto Uzumaki here to save the day!"

Naruto striked a heroic pose in front of them.

"Idiot." Korra whispered as she saw the pose.

Naruto grinned, scratching the back of his head with his hand. The two heroes looked back into the fairy village to see Gohan laying down the law upon some of the shadow creatures.

Son Gohan, brought his left foot upward smashing it into the jaw of a large bear-reptile... Thing. He then shot his right hand out, firing a Ki blast. Knocking the bear-reptile into the depths of the forest out cold. The half saiyan turned one-eighty degrees and shot his left arm into the other bear-reptile's face. The bear flinched back, before it's side caught fire from Korra's fire bending. The bear-reptile screeched in pain before falling dead.

"Nice one Korra!" Gohan praised her skill.

"Thanks Gohan! Behind you!" She yelled.

Gohan used his tail to grasp the arm of whatever assailant that was attacking him, and flung him into the ground beside him. It looked like some sort of goat man with a dark clock of energy surrounding it and pure black eyes staring at Gohan.

"You won't win, the Dark One will consume this world!" It spat at Gohan.

Gohan's face turned from his calm personality into one of seriousness. The half saiyan grasped the front armor collar around the satyr's neck.

Gohan then said lowly. "I know his kind, I've defeated his kind before and I'll do it again! The Dark One's days are numbered!" A Ki blast formed into Gohan's right hand, and then blasted the corrupted satyr into oblivion.

Avatar Korra flinched at the brutality the saiyan warrior showed. "Gohan, that was... Brutal of you."

Gohan faced the now eleven year old girl. "Types like him don't listen to reason, I've lost my father and a friend trying to convince them. I won't lose anyone else again." He then turned from serious to calm emotion. "Sorry if I frightened you."

"It's alright, we still got a village to save don't we!" Korra said.

Gohan nodded, bringing his sword out of his sheath. "Let's see how Piccolo's blade works here."

Leaping with a burst of Ki energy, Gohan charged forward with the sword grasped with two hands. Three of those shadowed satyrs came up at him, both only dressed in weak leather and daggers at their disposal. Which did not do much in the face of Piccolo's blade, Gohan slashed down upon them, reducing them to bits of dark energy which evaporated.

Meanwhile a couple yards away from Gohan and Korra. The Dragon Knight Jaina Draconis, stood before three shadowed satyrs that surrounded her on all sides. Her duel Sword of the Fjords held in each hand, she could feel the magical energies coursing through her veins, and her draconic nature eager for blood.

A satyr to her right came at her, she steps backward raising her left sword to her torso, and her right sword down back mid waist. The dagger of the satyr parried against her left blade, she took a step forward, lifting her right foot and kicked the satyr back. She then spun, bringing her right blade across with her arm, slashing across the satyr's abdomen.

Suddenly, two other enemies let loose their battle cries and charged within the Dragon Knight's striking range. Jaina grinned as she felt her magic strengthen her body to let loose a signature technique.

She spun in a fast motion, her blades reaching outward to strike all those around her.

"Whirlwind!"

The spell knocked them back, some cuts across their bodies. But Jaina frowned at her spell's effectiveness.

"That should have killed you all, it seems I'll have to retrain my spells."

Naruto appeared behind her. "Need any help to beat these shadows?" He said.

Jaina shook her head. "No, but make yourself useful and deal with the last group over there." She finished, pointing toward the direction where a group of satyrs and a wolf stood chopping down the fairy tree homes.

The jinchuriki gave her a thumbs up before running off in the said direction.

She held her swords, then ducked at the two satyrs attempted to stab her with their daggers. Jaina flipped her hand's grips over the her swords' hilts and then thrust both blades in the hearts of the last two satyrs of the group she was dealing with.

'Good thing I've trained at such a early age, so I still have muscle memory of swordsmanship.' She thought as the two satyrs evaporated into dark energy that dissipated in the air. Jaina then resheathed her sword and walked back to where her two new acquaintances, Gohan and Korra, where located.

At the last group, Naruto Uzumaki the hero of Kohona, stood face to face with the shadowed being.

"Hey you! Leave those fairies alone and pick on someone your own size ya Nara shadow rip-offs!" Naruto yelled at them, forming his signature hand seals. Chakra flowed through him in large quantity as he released his technique.

"Shadow Clone Justu!" *POOF* Suddenly, smoke rose out of nowhere and out came twenty five copies of the blond ninja.

The satyrs were in shock that their opponent multiplied, one even said. "Oh crap."

Within a minute, the clones and the original beat down on their small shadowed satyr group, plus a wolf, with punches and kicks of all sorts. When it was over, the last of the dark energy evaporated into the air as Naruto dispelled his clones in puffs of white smoke.

"C-ranked Mission: Save the fairy village, complete!" Naruto shouted before heading back to the rest of his 'mission team'.

The forest, now quiet and filled with life once again, shown itself with the natural wonders it contained. Within the forest, the wooden tree homes of the fairies had in couple, humans of different worlds.

"We thank you for saving us. Spirit, Fox, Monkey, and Dragon, your group seems to have arrived at just the right time. But may I ask, why are you here?" A male chief fairy, with a robe of majestic beauty said.

"We don't really know, I'm guessing we were summoned to help this world from what we heard of." Gohan said, Piccolo's blade already put back into it's sheath.

"Well, Mr... "

"Gohan, Son Gohan, sir."

"Well, Mr. Son, you can head toward the Fairy capital to aid there. We fairies could really use your aid against the Darkness that tries to take over our land." The fairy chief said.

In Jaina's perspective, the Dragon Knight questioned the so called Darkness. Jaina decided to delve deeper to gain information via dragon mind-reading.

Mind-reading, a gift granted to her when she had become a slayer, if only briefly. The ability allows one to delve into the outer surface thoughts of a person or creature, however it has it's drawbacks. The consequence of using the spell requires the target to be weak-minded or unaware, and if the target proves strong they will know who used the spell.

It's a good thing Jaina can tell most of the time who's mentally strong.

'I hope these beings will be able to help us, but was it wise to not inform them that the journey to the capital is filled with peril?' Jaina mind-read.

Gohan turned to the others and spoke, "Guess we have our new destination then."

Suddenly, Jaina pulled Gohan to the sidelines, where she stared intently at him. "Look here, I usually work alone, and I have a duty of vanquish Damian off the face of my world. But I can see that my quest will have to wait in the wake of being transported here. Now as my temporary ally and 'leader' of this miniscule group, I suggest we stay within the forest for a few days. Reason being our journey to this capital of theirs will possibly be teeming with enemies, we are unprepared to face them in our current levels. So, I recommend you and your... Fellows... Train your skills."

Gohan nodded, her reasoning held all the correct points to stay put for a while. "Your right, we'll stay put and train our abilities to a sufficient level before heading off."

The two walked back to the others of the group, Gohan said to them. "Alright, Jaina and I decided we will head toward the capital after we... Summarize and refine our skills within the forest."

"Okay cool, I'll be able to work on getting back my Chakra control." Naruto approved the decision.

Korra shrugged her arms, "I guess so, maybe some training for my airbending."

With everyone agreeing on the decision, Gohan turned toward the Fairy chieftain. "We're heading for the capital soon, until then we'll train within your woods if you don't mind?"

The chieftain shook his head. "No, we don't mind. You and your friends are allowed to train in your abilities within the forest clearings at the lake you arrived from."

"Thank you." Gohan replied. He turned around and nodded to the rest of the group, who then proceeded to head toward the same lake they all awoke at.

The forest of fairies, filled with animal life and trees that measured many meters high. Tranquility was sung as the fish swam down the streams and the birds chirped on their roost built on branches. Entering a clearing by the lake they had arrived in this world at, our four preteen heroes trained in whatever skills they thought appropriate

"Anyone wish to spar with me?" Gohan asked, glancing around he saw Jaina sitting on a log reading some sort of tome written in a mysterious language. Naruto created some clones and was currently climbing up trees with only the soles of his feet. While Korra practices through some sort of martial arts form Gohan was unfamiliar with.

The original Naruto heard Gohan's request and replied. "Sure, I'll spar with you Gohan!" He turned briefly to his shadow clones. "Keep working on tree climbing while I spar with Gohan."

"Sure thing boss!" A clone replied.

Naruto ran up to Gohan and stopped a few yards away from him. Gohan spoke to the blonde. "Do you want any rules?"

"No, let's go all out!" The ninja replied.

Gohan slipped into his martial arts stand, his left foot going ahead of the other. Gohan's left arm also went forward while his right positioned itself in front of his abdomen. Each hand consisted of being shaped like a claw, Gohan's knees bent slightly. Naruto took a more offensive stance, his left foot only slightly edged forward then his right, and his hands were clenched to fist yet close to each other to allow himself to form hand seals immediately.

Silent words seemed to whisper into Gohan's mind, the familiar voice of his sensei Piccolo giving him advice.

"Kid, if you ever find yourself facing an opponent of unknown ability, wait for his concentration to lapse before striking. Watch his eyes to slide out of motion, once they do, strike at that time and your opponent will be unable to react."

Really, it didn't take long for Naruto's concentration to lapse as he charged forward at Gohan. Naruto shot his right fist towards Gohan's face, but the saiyan hybrid backhanded it and hit Naruto's stomach with his left fist. Gohan made sure to hold back as it was unknown if Naruto could handle his attacks at his current full power.

Naruto gasped for air as he flipped away from Gohan, avoiding a kick aimed for his side. One of his hands clenched his stomach in pain. "Dang! You hit hard like bushy brows and Sakura!"

Gohan grinned at the compliment. "Thanks, but you'll have to do better if we're gonna spar."

"You asked for it Gohan!" Naruto formed his hands into a T-shaped seal. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

*Poof!*

Gohan's eyes widened he was suddenly surrounded by fifty clones. All yelling their battle cries they charged at Gohan, fists at the ready.

Gohan side stepped, dodging a kick and punch. Gohan then spun flinging two clones that had grasped onto him into the dirt, and flung his left leg at another clone, dispelling it. His senses screamed at him to jump into the air, which he did dodging two clones who had attempted to attack his back. Suddenly out of nowhere, six oddly shaped black knives came flying toward the Z-fighter at high speeds. Quickly, Gohan stretched his arms outward and yelled.

"Ahhhhh!" An invisible force erupted from around the saiyan pushing back the kunais toward the surrounding trees.

"Not as fast as a bullet, but I'm not taking chances. Wait... Where did all those clones go?"

The half saiyan hybrid felt hands grasping onto his ankles and then pulled him down onto the ground level. Gohan looked to see a ladder of multiple Narutos and soon he crashed into the ground.

Naruto and his clones took this chance with Gohan on the ground to attack. They charged in toward the saiyan, four clones kicked him from the ground into the air. All of them yelling...

"U..." Three clones jumped off the previous four, and kicked the Z-fighter higher into the air. Each individual clone continuing the words, "Zu-Ma-Ki!"

Finally, the original and nine other clones, who all were already in the air came down upon the slightly ever dazed Gohan.

"Uzumaki Barrage!" They all yelled as pairs of fist and feet made contact, sending Gohan swirling down and crashing onto the ground. The clones disappeared into puffs of white smoke which dissipated quickly as the Chakra returned to Naruto, who landed on the ground only a few meters away from Gohan, breathing heavily with mild exhaustion.

"Ugh... Wow, that's a nice technique you did there Naruto." Gohan said, bringing himself off the ground wiping some dirt off his face with his hand. The Z-fighter stood up and looked toward the slightly panting jinchuriki.

"Thanks..." Naruto said getting back his breath. "Haven't used that technique in a while."

"It's impressive, but now it's my turn." Gohan replied. The human saiyan hybrid grinned as he went back into his martial arts stance, his tail still wrapped around his waist.

Korra, the Avatar, had stopped practicing her fire bending forms when the spar between Gohan and Naruto begun. During her practice however, she realized that her body would go out of place during the now unfamiliar, yet known mentally fire bending stance. This meant to her that she had to relearn her fire bending forms and start over on air bending completely. But back to present, Korra felt the urge to join into the spar, preferably as Gohan's teammate seeing how he was winning.

Running up to them, Korra yelled out load. "Hey, mind if I join the sparring session!?"

"Sure, I don't mind. Do you Naruto?" Gohan questioned, Naruto shook his head. Gohan continued. "Join Naruto as I could use more of a challenge... Since I appear to have suffered less from the portal incident." Gohan added to give a better reason why Naruto lost, so not to degrade the young ninja.

"Oh... Well if you say so I'll team up with Naruto." Korra replied, a little distraught that she didn't get what she wanted, but didn't mind nonetheless.

Gohan, Naruto, and Korra entered their fighting stances. Korra decided to use her water bending form to make use of the lake nearby, her form was elegant her feet firm on the ground yet allowed swift movement, her hands were flat shaped one outstretched in front of the other, her left palm facing Gohan.

Gohan outstretched his palm toward them, a bright blue ball of energy gathered in front of it. Suddenly it shot forward with blinding speed, Korra switched form immediately, slamming her foot down and causing a wall of earth to erupt from the ground and block the Ki blast.

She didn't get the desired effect as even through the Ki blast was blocked, the wall of earth shattered due to the forceful explosive power of Ki energy.

But Korra made use of this, and bended the shattered earth pieces back at Gohan. The saiyan hybrid saw the incoming projectiles and crossed his arms over his chest gathering Ki energy before throwing his arms to his side and yelled.

"Ahhhhh!" Gohan yelled, a Ki aura burst into existence channeling at rapid speeds which made the contacting earth shards grind into dust. Gohan then stopped only to get whipped in the back by a seemingly floating stream of water, causing him to once again crash face first into the ground.

*Cough* "Word to self, Korra's attacks can't be sensed." Gohan coughed a bit of dirt out of his mouth. Gohan's saiyan hearing perked up as he heard the sound of flying objects head his direction. Quickly, got up and back flipped before landing back on the ground and glanced to his previous spot to see some shuriken.

"Don't forget about me!" Naruto yelled. Gohan grinned, Korra stood determined, and Jaina just continued to read her book.

Ruins in the Cavern

Book 1: Magic

Chapter 3: Ruins in the Cavern

Korra was having one of the hardest training session of her life. Including her limited air bending training before she was transported to this strange world, Korra couldn't remember a single spar coming close to the sheer power and skill Gohan displayed with every offensive and defensive technique. She is a bit jealous, but yet it excited her at the same time to know that she could spar with someone on par with her abilities as the Avatar.

The Avatar ducked, narrowly dodging Gohan's kick. She thrusted her hand forward, fire appearing around it, toward Gohan's abdomen. But the half saiyan jumped back from her attack causing her to miss. Korra frowned a bit at the speed Gohan had at his disposal that made most of her attacks for naught. Suddenly, Naruto jumped over her head with half a dozen clones following him, all charging at Gohan with those black knives of his.

"How many of those knives do you have!?" Gohan yelled at Naruto.

"They're kunai, and I got plenty!" Naruto yelled back, the clones and Naruto attacked Gohan with many slices from their kunai. Gohan brought out his sword, blocking the many kunai strikes with more speed than skill. However, lack of experience with a sword soon caught up with him and even through his saiyan skin is tough, the many slices proved to make some cuts.

Korra decided not to stand there and quickly made her way closer to the lake, once there her fluid motions of water bending allowed her to rise the water from the lake. With quick thinking, she separated the water into many droplets before sending them at Gohan. Knowing well that water droplets wouldn't do much to Gohan, she then froze the rushing droplets into needles of ice.

With Gohan's back turned from Korra's attack, Naruto saw the needles coming in at high speeds, and jumped from Gohan at the last possible second. Gohan only had that second to wonder what Naruto was jumping away for, before he was stricken with many ice attacks from behind. He fell to the ground in pain.

Korra's eyes widened as she didn't expect them to actually pierce into Gohan's skin. She and Naruto rushed to Gohan's side.

"I'm sorry, I got carried away! You alright?" Korra questioned.

A stomach growled from Gohan's direction. "Yeah... My back hurts and I'm hungry, um... Do me a favor and take any needles out?"

Korra looked over Gohan's back to see that only a couple needles managed to stick into the half saiyan's back, while the rest were shattered across the dirt.

Naruto then commented. "Ouch... Um, I'm not good with needles... Korra are you?"

"Yeah, I have some knowledge." She replied, grasping onto a needle and pulling it out gradually.

Gohan nodded. "That's good, just keep doing it like that."

Korra pulled out the other five needles before sighing in relief that she did it all correctly. Then she saw a tiny bit blood at the needle tips and looked at Gohan before asking.

"Do you want to me to heal you? I've learned healing from my water bending teacher Katara." Korra said.

Gohan replied, "Really? That's useful! Do please go ahead."

"Awesome, then we can eat afterward! I'll go search for some food in the forest." Naruto said, before heading off, his clones that were training before on Chakra control dispelled, giving him the experience of tree climbing.

Korra grabbed a bucket, that she had borrowed from Fairy village, of clear water from the stream going into the lake, she brought it to Gohan and then bended some water onto his back, his shirt already removed. She noticed some of the holes from the needles were already beginning to heal over.

"You heal fast." Korra complimented, the water glowed white as it healed all of Gohan's injuries.

"I know, thanks." Gohan replied, watching in fascination at the speed of which Korra healed his minor wounds. Through not close to the recovery rate of the Senzu beans or Dende's own healing abilities, it was quite impressive to see powers used in the art of rejuvenation. Korra ended her healing in only a few seconds later, already finished.

"No problem. " Korra then punched Gohan's shoulder in a friendly matter. "But next time try to dodge it!"

Gohan grinned, before nodding at Korra.

*pluck*

Naruto plucked some bananas off the tree to bring back, he had gathered some berries but was unsure if they were edible for human consumption. He jumped down the tree, his feet covered with Chakra as he landed on the ground safely.

'Monkey plucking bananas like it's suppose to?' A deep dark chuckle resounded throughout Naruto's mind.

Naruto frowned mentally, 'Shut up fuzz ball.' He thought back.

'You brat! I am Kyuubi, greatest of the tailed beasts! Once I'm free of this accursed seal I will rip your soul to shreds and destroy Kohona! I'll take pleasure in killing your friends off slowly!' The Kyuubi yelled at Naruto.

'Yeah sure you will.' Naruto replied unconvinced.

'You rotten, weak, insufferable little-' Naruto cut the mental link to his tenant.

Naruto returned to his teammates location, a fire had been lit by Korra and some more fish had been gathered by Gohan. Jaina was craving some sticks to use as utensils with a knife.

"Hey, got some food." Naruto said, placing the items he gathered onto the fallen log.

"Awesome, Jaina how are those utensils?" Gohan asked.

"Hn, they're ready." The Dragon Knight replied, giving the utensils to Gohan.

Naruto took one and placed it into a fish's mouth, which he then stuck into the ground next to the fire so it can cook gradually. He looked over at his teammates, who were doing the same thing. He reviewed over them in his thoughts.

First, Gohan, Naruto liked him, he was quite cooperative and friendly. He was also willing to help out and the spar from before showed him how much strength he had, which he had plenty of, probably close to high level chunin. Naruto thought Gohan would've been a great Shinobi for Kohona if he was born there. Gohan had a kekkei genkai as well, the Oozaru limit as he called it. What it meant or did besides conserve energy, Naruto didn't know.

Next was Korra, another teammate of this group, she was competitive but friendly as well. Through Naruto guessed she thought himself a bit of a idiot, he was used to it. Naruto had to admit, her bending was very interesting, and she didn't appear to wear down from using it continuously like Chakra did.

Lastly is Jaina, she reminded him of Sasuke, personality-wise. She didn't seem interested or driven to help the group in... Whatever they were summoned here for. She's only shown the ability to use kenjutsu, or swordsmanship, in her fighting skills. Jaina claimed to do magic however, and Naruto didn't doubt her. Naruto hoped she would get to contribute to the team more then just grudgingly doing so.

Naruto took his now cooked fish, some fruit, and some fresh water and started eating, seeing the others do the same. After a few minutes when everyone's stomachs were satisfied, Jaina spoke up.

"Let's review over our current objective since we are all here." She then continued, "We are to head toward the Fairy capital where we will request audience with the authorities to gain knowledge on what's going on in this world, and if we can be returned to our own individual ones... Anyone disagree with this plan?" Neither Naruto, nor anyone else said anything. "Alright, we should have a supply check to see what we have. Gohan, what do you have on person?" She asked.

Gohan reached behind his waist and pulled out a small brown bag, he untied the string and looked into it.

"I have a dozen Senzu beans, and my sword. But that's about all." Gohan said.

Jaina shot a curious glance at the half saiyan. "Senzu beans?"

"Oh, sorry! Forgot you guys didn't know about them." Gohan paused for a second, thinking of a way to explain it. "Senzu beans are magical beans, they can fill you for both your food and water needs for fourteen days, restore all wounds no matter how severe in seconds, and also they taste like fish." He explained. "Oh, to give you guys fair warning. Senzu beans do not cure illness or disease, and take at least seven seconds to take full effect. Basically, don't get hit before the seconds are up."

Everyone blinked around Gohan, before Korra spoke up.

"Wow, just... Those sound really useful." She said, not having any other words for it.

Naruto only nodded. "What Sakura would've given to get one of those beans and make a garden of them."

"I agree, you should save those for dire situations." Jaina said. Gohan nodded and tied up the sack before replacing it back on his waist.

Jaina looked toward Naruto and asked of the ninja. "Alright... Naruto, what do you have?"

Naruto opened his pouch and examined the items within, the ninja was glad he had restocked before going to eat ramen back at Kohona. "Two sets of kunai, a set of shuriken, enough explosion tags to level a small village, and a small container of military ration and blood pills." 'And what remains of granny Tsunada's necklace.' Naruto mentally added. "Blood pills replenish blood supply while rations replenishes Chakra, which I only have use for."

"The rest are self-explanatory from the spar and battle earlier." Jaina noted.

Everyone looked toward Korra.

"I don't have anything of value." She said, shrugging her shoulders.

*Crack*

"What was that?" Naruto questioned.

*Crrrrumph!"

Suddenly, the ground collapsed beneath the group, sending the four heroes plummeting down a hole in the earth as it shook apart and reshifted, closing the crack that formed and sucked in the heroes with tons of rock.

Tumbling down the tunnel of rock and dirt, deeper and deeper into Equis, our four heroes finally crashed into what appeared to be the floor of a giant cavern. A minor earthquake continued to happen, dropped down rocks and collapsing the passageway that brought them here.

Gohan looked up to see the sunlight blocked as the exit filled with boulders of many sizes. It wasn't that Gohan couldn't easily burst his way out of the blocked tunnel, the problem resided in getting out without hurting, or killing, his fellow companions. Gohan's expertise in knowledge and study of the geographical layout of this cavern that his group fell into, revealed that the rocks were unstable, if something or someone tried to dig and break their way out of cavern the whole thing would collapsed onto them.

Gohan knew he could survive, but doubt filled his mind when he looked to his now standing friends.

"No problem, I'll just earth bend us out of here!" The Avatar, Korra, said with confidence.

She threw her fist upward like a punch, and the rocks started moving, however the instability of the earth around them reacted. Gohan, thanks to his enhanced saiyan senses, managed to see Korra react in a quick and precise manner as she moved her feet a bit to the right and her right arm shot forward, stopping the falling rocks from crushing both herself and Naruto and allowed the two to move out of the way.

"Don't do any earth bending, the cavern cannot handle pressure from anything without trying to crush us in here." Gohan explained.

"Yeah, figured as much when I felt the earth around me." Korra said, looking toward Naruto. "You okay?"

"I'm fine! No few pebbles going to knock me down!" Naruto boasted.

"Here we go." Jaina suddenly spoke, and came forth from the darkness with a unlighted torch. "You, Korra is it? Light this torch." She demanded of the Avatar.

Korra begrudgingly burst forth a bit of fire, lighting the torch up and the surrounding area. The Avatar then held her hand upward, and conjured forth a nicely sized flame, helping the torch push away the darkness so the group can see.

Jaina turned around, and started heading down the cavern. She only took a slight glance at the group's direction and said. "Let's go, I found the entrance to some ruins just right ahead of us. Korra, stay in the middle of the group to help provide a light source." Jaina switched torch hands and put the torch in her left hand.

"There was no need for a torch you know..." Korra said, raising her hand which held the flame in her palm to show her reasoning.

"Hn." Jaina made a annoying reply.

"Ugh, I hate that reply!" Naruto complained "Don't worry about her Korra, she's just one of those-"

"I can do what I want because it's the better method than yours no matter what you say?" Gohan answered.

Naruto pointed at Gohan as he looked at Korra. "Exactly!"

Korra giggled slightly at the comedic way in which both the boys tried to comfort her. The group followed the 'leader' Jaina through the caverns tunnel and came upon a mysterious entrance made of brown and green stones engraved with artistic lines that swirled lively throughout the architecture. A somehow unrusted small iron gate block the group from entering the unexplored ruins.

'Like that is going to stop us.' Gohan thought as he watched Jaina look around before pulling a chain that opened the iron gate. Allowing passage to the ruins of whatever made the place. As the heroes passed through the gateway, they were greeted by a sight to behold.

All around them, like magic, small yet perfectly placed stone lanterns lit up with burnt orange colored fires. Revealing the entirety of the ruins consisting of beautifully painted or engraved pictures on the walls that stretched all around the cylinder shaped roof. The roof had an ancient feeling, everything had that feeling, of being in a building with a story to tell.

The whole ruined room was made of green stone, probably from the moss and age the craftsmanship had endured over the centuries, the center was a huge circular floor with six strange symbols, each having some sort of word underneath it's symbol. The first symbol looked like a miniature butterfly, colored in pink. Next symbol shape is an orange painted apple, following that icon is three cyan colored gems. The fourth symbol gave the appearance of lightning, colored in a red hue. The last being a balloon, while in the middle of all five symbols, is a purplish star surrounded by other mini stars.

The exit out of the room was a strange door seemingly made of obsidian, no handle nor any switch could be found near it.

"Where are we?" Korra questioned, looking all around at the many depictions of long lost stories painted along the ceiling.

"Ruins, hundreds, or thousands of years old." Jaina answered, walking to the middle of room and glancing at the floor artwork. The Dragon Knight looked upward at the pictures, rolling her eyes along the images from left to right, then right to left, turning around to be able to see it all.

"I've never seen some place like this ever before." Naruto commented, his sight following along the flames of the stone lanterns

"This looks amazing, it's like we're in a adventuring novel." Gohan said looking around in awe. "What're suppose these pictures are telling us?"

Jaina replied. "Well, the first picture is definitely human. So it's safe to say humans have been in this world in the past. When you look at the next, it's a group of humans seeming to channel magic into the center of the room. The next picture indicated the symbols that are on the floor, so the ancient humans probably created those relics here." She pointed toward a picture. "Those images seem to show what each individual relic means."

The stone sketches varied from each other, some clearer to pick off than others. The balloon one easily indicated Laughter from the characters on the picture expressions. Another seemed to be a person helping nurse others to health, Kindness seemed the most likely meaning. Following it was several miniature events of a person being by another person's side, even in the face of death, Loyalty perhaps? Yet another one seemed to easily indicate Generosity with the giving of gifts. The last one seemed to be some sort of talk, then following through, Honesty seemed most likely with all the others being similar. The purple star was painfully obviously Magic.

"Laughter, Kindness, Loyalty, Honesty, Generosity, Honesty, and then Magic? What is this, some sort of review on positive sentient traits?" Jaina said.

The other three hero kids looked at Jaina in mild surprise.

"Did you just make a joke?" Naruto questioned in disbelief.

"Oh ha ha." Jaina replied to his disbelief.

Gohan and Korra snicker in amusement at the joking manner of Naruto's question to Jaina's own.

"We should continue." Gohan advised, "The Darkness won't stand idle as we explore here." He continued, reminding the group of their newest foe.

"He's correct, search out for a lever or hidden button." Jaina said.

Korra rolled her eyes, and put a bit of pressure in her right foot, feeling the ground around them. She closed her eyes as she sensed the earth's vibrations, and behold a small tile just next to her, shaped as one of the miniature stars of the Element of Magic happened to be the switch.

She pressed her left foot down onto the star picture, and felt the tile slide downward slightly. A small rumbling and the obsidian doorway blocking a long pitch black hallway opened up. Then the sound of a spark of electricity burnt out, all the magical fires disappeared, leaving the pre-teen heroes in the dark.

Before the group could manage to create a light source for themselves, above the newly revealed hallway, crystals shone brightly blue, lighting the way down the hallway. The group joined back up and journeyed through the hallway.

Jaina Draconis, Dragon Knight of Rivellon, ruler of the Battle Tower, and other assorted titles from her feats in the past entered the newest room with the rest of the group. The room, appeared to be a library. However the library's age worn down upon many of the scrolls, tomes, books, and other assorted literature. And shelves upon shelves were cracked, fallen apart, or simply destroyed.

She picked up a book, and found the pages rubbed down, purposely destroyed. "Such a waste of knowledge for it to get destroyed." She placed the book into a shelf. Before starting to walk through the library, looking for undamaged books.

Naruto absently passed through the many tomes, books, and other pieces. 'Not really a fan of reading... ' He thought as a excuse.

Jaina pushed aside broken wooden planks before coming across a glass case with four items in it, all undamaged and perfectly preserved. Two were scrolls, from the size of the rolls they contained a fair amount of illustration, another was a tome, probably a spell book to aid her skills. The last, a small notebook, most likely an journal.

Jaina pulled a small knife from a sheath hidden behind her back waist. The dragon knight pricked the edge of the case with the knife before prying it open professionally. Reaching into the case and pulling out one of the scrolls, she untied the knot keeping it rolled together and opened it up. Her assumptions were correct, the scroll showed illustrations of techniques, however they seemed to be focused on hand signs and manipulation of Naruto's energy called Chakra.

Rolling the scroll back up, she grasped the spell tome and placed it into one of her enchanted bagging, a bag she had enchanted in her time as a Dragon Slayer to hold items far effectively then a mere chest. Jaina then called to her acquaintance party members. "Over here, I have items that might spark your interest."

Gohan, Naruto, and Korra, traversed through the ruined library and came across Jaina and the glass case. Jaina handed the scroll she carried to the Shinobi Naruto, who unrolled it. Naruto's eyes widened at the techniques displayed in this scroll.

"This is a ninjutsu scroll! Wind techniques and lightning techniques!" Naruto said in amazement, and some excitement at the possibilities of learning more jutsu. "Some of these techniques I've never heard or seen before... " He said, looking through the scroll.

Jaina passed a scroll to Korra, the one with a green swirl on it. Korra opened the scroll, and she looked in surprise at the teachings within.

"This is a air bending scroll." She glanced at all the forms, "Wow, can't wait to try that out."

Gohan grasped the journal, he flipped through the pages, gathering glimpses of the contents within. He closed the book, confusion apparent in his face at the what appeared to be a journal written about Ki energy.

"What kind of library are we in?" Gohan questioned.

"These ancient humans seemed to have collected knowledge from other dimensions, pity that most of it was destroyed." Jaina eyes found a exit leading to the surface. "Come, the exit lies just ahead."

Korra, the Avatar, noticed how everything around her seemed to slow down. Suddenly she felt her world twist and turn into a different setting.

Aang, Katara, Sokka, and the Professor along with Momo, looked onto the great knowledge spirit. The spirit was three men tall, with black feathers running along it's body, his face was made of white feathers and his eyes were pitch black with no irises. They walked toward the spirit owl, Sokka speaking up.

"Are you the spirit that brought this library to the physical world?" The non-bender, Sokka, asked.

"Indeed, I am Wan Shi Tong. He who knows ten thousand things, and you are obviously humans which by the way are no longer permitted in my study." The owl said with utmost authority.

Aang looked up to Wan Shi Tong and asked. "What do you have against humans?"

"Hmmpfh, Humans only bother learning other things to get the edge on other humans, like that fire bender who came to this place years ago, looking to destroy his enemy." Wan Shi Tong necked stretched outward right to Sokka's figure. "So, who are you trying to destroy?" He questioned, a slight tint of anger in his tone.

"W-What? No, no, no, we're not trying to destroy, we're not into that!" Sokka lied, shaking his hands in false innocence.

"Then why have you come here?" The Spirit questioned further.

"Um, knowledge for knowledge's... Sake?" He lied, sweat dropping down his face.

"If your going to lie to a old knowing spirit being, you should at least put some effort into it- Korra, Korra!"

"Korra, you alright? You zoned out there." Gohan asked in concern.

"Wha- Gohan? Where did everyone go?" Korra asked, looking around for the spirit and people she saw.

"Everyone is right here Korra." Gohan said, Naruto looking in confusion, and Jaina not really caring.

"Let's go already, this place is boring me!" Naruto whined.

They all laughed, except Jaina, and the group of heroes headed up the stone staircase toward the light overhead. The four heroes covered their eyes from the blinding light of a noon timed sun, and behold they were finally free from being underground. Glancing around, they found out the ruins brought them at the very edge of the forest. They looked forward to see a grassland, filled with few trees spaced outward from each other and a river running down a set of hills. However, further exception gave them the sight of three roads from many directions colliding into what appeared to be a sizable town with a fortified wooden palisade wall.

Only, a quarter of the wall was on fire, or destroyed completely, and surrounding buildings were under siege.

The town was being attacked on the right side by a small-sized army from The Darkness.

"Well, looks like we have a town to save." Gohan commented.

Silvercross Town

Book 1: Magic

Chapter 4: Silvercross Town

Silvercross Town, is a community built by multiple races at the crossroad of three paths. Just as its name says, the main color used in building decoration is silver. Silvercross Town is in most part, a marketing place, with many inns and restaurants along with a diversity of shops. Because of this, the town is an economic boost to the united kingdoms fighting against the darkness.

The day started like most others, children played through the streets, parents worked in their stores, and militia went through their shifts. But in the midst of the afternoon, a militia spotted multiple black dots in the distance, soon, the black dots started to grow bigger until the shape of a small army was formed. The alarm rang throughout the town, to prepare for war.

Unfortunally, in just a few short hours, Silvercross Town found itself half taken over. The militia was no match for the forces of The Darkness, despite having a mix of races to fight them off.

Our four pre-teen heroes stepped out from the ruins. Looking through the trees onto the grassy plains, and the Town of Silvercross.

"Looks like we have a town to save." Gohan said.

"We have to help them!" Korra said with enthusiasm, ready to go.

Naruto yells "Alright, let's go!" Before charging straight toward the town.

Or at least he would have, if Jaina didn't grab him by the collar and stop the ninja in his tracks.

"Don't be a idiot, you charge in there and you'll die faster than a drop of rain can reach the ground." Jaina said in annoyance.

Naruto glared a bit at the Dragon Knight, "And what do you have in mind huh? Just let them all die!?" He said in sudden anger.

"Of course not!" Jaina retorted, "I'm just saying that we shouldn't have the brainless as the leader!"

Korra tried to stop the incoming arguement, "Isn't that going a bit too far-"

But Naruto turned around, his fist held high in an aggressive gesture. "Brainless!? I admit I'm not the smartest of persons, but at least I'm not a stuck up bitch!"

"Says the moron who can't keep to himself." Jaina replied, anger in her voice.

The jinchuuriki, Naruto, gritted his teeth, desperately trying to keep his anger within.

Gohan raised his hands partially, trying to ease the tension, saying, "Uh, guys, we shouldn't-"

But Jaina cut him off, her voice raising to a yell, a hand on the handle of her left blade, "I'm sure your bastard parents are proud of your idiocy!"

The remark on Naruto's parents seemed to have sparked something within the young ninja, his rage boiled up and his pupils shifted to a slit-like appearance. "My parents were not bastards... " He said coldly, his hand clenching into an fist.

But before the two arguing people could come to blows, the pieces of ground they stood on suddenly turned a one-eighty. Turning both of them away from each other, the two turned around to face each other once again and walked forward only to bash their noses at a solid wall of rock between them. They both looked at the direction of Korra, who's hand was outstretched to the ground and foot placed in a horizontal matter. Jaina glared angrily at Korra, ignoring the bruise on her nose. Naruto looked a bit pained, holding his own nose with his hand as his eyes changed back to their normal appearance.

"Arguing like this is getting us nowhere! We should work as a team, not fight against each other!" Korra yelled at both of them.

"Korra is right, we shouldn't be arguing. Can you two get along long enough to save the town?" Gohan questioned.

Naruto and Jaina nodded, agreeing to tolerate each other for the time being. Gohan sighed in relief, and Korra smiled at the agreement.

Gohan then said, "Okay, here's the plan... "

Naruto and Jaina silently entered the raided town, sneaking through the alley ways, Naruto turned to Jaina, having put aside his general dislike of her, and said. "Alright, if we go up and jump from roof to roof, nobody will catch us as easily."

"That sounds ridiculous, we'll be completely in their line of sight." Jaina replied.

The ninja shook his head, "No, nobody ever looks up, and the roofs have edges and walls that allow us to sneak under easily." Naruto said, he might not be the sneakiest of ninja, but even he knew basic stealth.

Jaina ignored his reasoning, "I say we continue through the alley ways toward the town hall like planned."

"But Gohan said-"

"I know what he said!" Jaina raised her voice just a bit. "But Gohan doesn't lead me, who elected him leader? Who told me I had to listen to your stupidity huh?" She finished in anger, not liking the group one bit.

"Fine then, go your way!" Naruto said in anger, jumping up toward the roofs of the buildings and leaving Jaina behind.

"Idiot." Jaina remarked, and continued silently toward the goal.

Jaina followed the edges of the buildings, staying in the shadows of the town's constructs. The Dragon Knight glanced to the side, and spotted a few figures of corrupted soldiers. Her mind raced to get names, two of them were those satyr creatures from beforehand in the forest, another appeared to be some sort of mythological gryphon, and the last... Is a pony?

Now, in Jaina's world, horses and ponies were an endangered species. What, as the animals are eaten by many races of her world, and are used as labor for humans. The poor species couldn't keep up with the hunting and poaching, and so now relied on farmers and pro-animal activist to keep them from going extinct.

Jaina shook her head of the thoughts, not the time to think about Rivellon's own problems.

The Dragon Knight looked for ways to get around them without alerting of her presence, however the Dragon Knight failed to realize that she was already spotted, or at least somewhat. One of the Darkness controlled satyrs walked toward her position, a blade in hand. Once he spotted her, he charged forward, yelling a battle cry which alerted the others.

Jaina cursed under her breath as she drew her own twin blades of Fjords from their sheaths. She parried the satyr's blade, and slashed at him with her own. The satyr jumped back, and seemed to charge magic into his weapon before slashing at her, she ducked, narrowly missing a line of magic energy that would've separated her head from her body. She thrust her left knee up, kicking the stomach region of the enemy and then spun around.

"Whirlwind!" She said, slashing cuts around the satyr's body and knocking him back, causing him to dissipate into black energy that vanished into the air.

Sliding her feet across the road, Jaina boosted her speed with a Charge spell, making her a blur of speed as she closed the gap between her and the enemy, and with the element of surprise in her favor, managed to dispatch the last satyr with ease. Quickly turning around, she blocked a blow of a massive axe from the gryphon, but the creature caused Jaina to fall to her knees.

Jaina cursed again, she totally forgot that she was eleven years old again! It was so degrading and embarrassing for her as a Dragon Knight and Warrior! If she was still grown, she could've easily won this battle in seconds, but nope, portal just had to be a b-

The Dragon Knight girl staggered back from the Gryphon hitting her with the butt of its axe. The gryphon raised its weapon again, and stroked downward to Jaina's skull. But the Dragon Knight rolled away, narrowing escaping decapitation, only to nearly have her shoulder blown off by magic if it wasn't for her timely reflexes. Jaina glanced toward the magic caster to found out that not only do ponies of this realm cast magic, but a horn stood on top of the pony's head.

"What in the name of the Divine... " Jaina muttered under her breath.

"Fall under the Darkness!" The horned pony said, shooting two black magic missiles at Jaina.

Jaina counted by firing her own, "Magic Missiles!" Two orbs of blue magic left her hand and she felt her magical reserves dwindle down to only a handful.

The two spells rammed into each other, causing a minor explosion, and using her remaining reserves, Jaina enhance herself with magic, charging toward the horned pony. Appearing in front of the pony, she brought her twin blades toward its neck. Only for its horn to lit up, and the pony disappeared in a flash of light. This action resulted in Jaina's attack to attack nothing and the momentum spin her body, revealing her backside vulnerable.

An axe came from nowhere, smashing against Jaina's back armor and sending her flying across the rock paved ground of the town road.

The pre-teen Dragon Knight stood back up, resuming her fighting position quickly. Jaina winced, her back bruised from the force of the axe, but she was thankful that her armor held, preventing any major injuries.

The gryphon's axe came down onto her once again, and the dragon-blessed human parried with her own swords. Swinging the weapon again, only to be parried once again. The gryphon growled in a malicious low tone, Jaina returned with her own growl, a deep draconic growl as her dragon side changed her vocal cords so slightly.

Jaina broke from combat, dodging another magical blast of dark magic from the horned pony.

"Dang it, this is harder than I thought." Jaina said, dodging yet another magic blast and axe swing. "I have to think of something... "

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" A voice rang out, following by the sound of multiple puffs of smoke.

"Wait, what!?"

"Fine then, go your way!"

'Why did I get angry at her, all that happen is a small argument.' Naruto thought over, having his arms crossed in a thinking pose. 'I'm sure she'll be fine... '

Pumping Chakra energy into his leg muscles, Naruto jumped roof to roof, ever closer toward the Town hall. Kneeling down behind a small porch wall, Naruto watched from the distance as some of the enemy troops patrolled down a pathway.

"No, go away!"

Naruto's head snapped toward the sound of a voice, an small horse-like creature that looked like a child, and behaved like one, scurried away from one of the dark figures. The little thing looked half starved, bruises and scratches covered its body head to hoof, how long exactly has this town been under sieged?

"Come here, once you've been converted to the Darkness, you won't feel anymore pain." The dark figure, some sort of bird creature with wings... Gryphon, he recalled, said.

This, this reminded him of something... This scene looked too familiar...

A six year old Naruto looked around the alleyway, ragged and torn clothes barely hanging onto his body. Starving and tired, the child cursed with a demon sealed within scavenged through a filthy trash can in search for a meal. Reaching down into the bin, he pulled out some mossy dango. He sighed and threw it back into the bin, there appeared to be nothing edible within.

He turned around, expecting to go back to his apartment. Yes, apartment, he lived alone having been kicked out of the orphanage just a few months ago. When suddenly, a man wearing black hardened leather armor and a strange mask covering his face appeared before him. To Naruto, the said figure looked like a ANBU ninja, the special forces of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

"Naruto Uzumaki, come with me, the true forces of Kohona could use someone like you. You'll never have to be hungry or live alone again."

The orphaned Kyuubi jinchuuriki took a few steps back, he could feel the strange and cold feeling of the emotionless voice behind that mask. In defiance, Naruto yelled. "No!"

"Very well." He monotony said, drawing a kunai and walking closer... and closer...

Naruto shook his head, he wouldn't let that happen to anyone else. Forming a hand sign, a puff appeared next to him revealing a shadow clone. The clone charged in, flinging shuriken at the gryphon which cut through its feathers like paper. Apparently the gryphon had lied to the pony child, as it screamed out in pain as it felt the flying weaponry embed themselves within its skin.

"Who did that-" *SLICE*

The gryphon's head was sliced off, before it dissipated into black energy.

Having defeated the gryphon, the clone glanced toward the small filly, "Better get to a safe place kid." Before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Naruto Uzumaki smiled, it felt good to rescue someone. The child scurried away safely as the Ninja made another clone to stalk the kid in case of further trouble. Still, Naruto couldn't help but think he was a bit rash to Jaina earlier, she seemed to have a lot on her mind. With way she acted, there must have been something that affected her in the past.

Every instinct told him to go help her, but his stubbornness- "Oh fine already!" He yelled out.

The young ninja leaped from roof to roof with great speed back toward Jaina's position. It didn't take long from Naruto to spot Jaina from the building tops. The Dragon Knight, Jaina, was currently engaging the enemy in combat. Seeing how she appeared to be in trouble, Naruto made a cross hand sign and yelled out his technique's name as his Chakra channeled within him.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

With a loud *POOF* around twenty-five numbered clones, plus the original, stood tall and proud as they faced down the shocked enemy and one Jaina Draconis. Grinning with preordained victory, the shadow clones completely overtake the foes like a avalanche of innumerable boulders, bladed with sharp edges. The gryphon never had a chance as the Kunai tore through it, and the unicorn found its head removed from its shoulder's by Jaina due to the distraction.

"Naruto... " Jaina started.

"Yeah?" Naruto said with a big grin.

Jaina sputtered over what she said.

"Can't you speak louder Jaina?" Naruto asked.

"Thanks." She said.

"Alright, your welcome! Now how about we get to the Town Hall?" Naruto dispelled his clones and said, "Let's get going, I'm sure Gohan and Korra have been waiting forever!"

Jaina sheathed her blades... Perhaps, Naruto wasn't so bad. He's still an idiot through!

Two human preteens, well... One and a half really, with another half being a alien species called saiyans. Anyhow, Korra and Gohan, Avatar and Z-fighter, quietly sneaked around the buildings within the shadow overcasts. Gohan glanced across the building edge, and spotted a group of civilians imprisoned in chains being surrounded by shadowy figures.

Korra looked over Gohan's shoulder, "We have to help them."

"I know," Gohan replied. "But there doesn't look like any way to help with the exception of a straight forward assault."

Korra smacked her fist together, "Just the way I like it."

The hybrid saiyan nodded, and the two charged forward without stop. Surprising the darkness troops in a split second of inaction which allowed Korra to earth bend two miniature pillars below them and smash into their chins, knocking them out.

"Get them you fools!" a dark unicorn lieutenant said.

The troops of darkness gave a battle cry before charging forward. They attacked with sword, spear, magic, and a giant battle axe. The lieutenant had the large battle axe, lifted by his magical powers. He swung the weapon at breakneck speeds toward Gohan, but the half saiyan martial artist leaped out of the way gracefully.

Gohan channeled his Ki to his right hand, a Ki ball formed and he blasted it toward the dark lieutenant. He expected it to defeat the unicorn no problem, but the dark lieutenant slashed through the Ki blast with his battle axe.

"Might've held a bit too much back." Gohan commented.

"Don't underestimate the darkness human!" the unicorn yelled with rage.

"How do you know that we're human?"

"The dark one knows everything, his mind reaches all his blessed followers!" the dark unicorn replied.

The unicorn slashed at him again, Gohan channeled a larger amount of Ki to his arms and parried the axe with his left wrist. The dark lieutenant eyes widened in surprise at his battle axe being halted by only a bare wrist. Suddenly, Gohan sensed another three behind him, and quickly he kicked the right side of the lieutenant and followed up with a Ki blast which caused him to dissipate into dark energy that vanished into the air.

'One down, many more to go.' Gohan thought to himself as he tilted to the left, avoiding a magical blast from a satyr warlock. The hybrid Z-fighter gifted the warlock and the other two swordsmen with their very own Masenko Technique.

Gohan brought his hands to his forehead, forming them one on top of the other. "Masenko... "

A yellow ball of energy formed in front of his palms, it spiked out in multiple directions within it's compressed area. Before Gohan thrust his hands forward, releasing a destructive wave of Ki energy.

"Ha!" Gohan shouted, the wave utterly engulfed the three enemies which all dissipated into dark smoke soon after.

Taking a deep breath and releasing it, Gohan glanced toward Korra to see how she was doing.

Only to watch in amazement as the Avatar herself controlled the elements with such fluid movements it seemed natural to her. Earth, Fire, and Water elemental techniques crumbled, burnt, and crushed the opposing darkness soldiers. A dark regular pony tried to strike her, only to get whipped back by a water bending technique. Her body turned around, flowing the water across the air and smashing into a gryphon's side, these attacks made the two dark soldiers dissipate into energy that faded away.

"This is too easy!" Korra shouted, water circled around her before striking another dark soldier. "Alright, who's next- Oh... I guess that's all of them." She smiled, letting the water fall to the floor as she eased her tension.

One of the captives, a small reptile-like child screamed out, "That was so awesome!"

"Thanks! Now let's get all of you out of those chains." Korra walked up to the iron chained captives, and kneeled down. She pointed her finger toward the base of the chain before bursting forth a bended flame that burnt through the chain and shattered it.

"Oh thank you! Thank Celestia!" a pony, mare, shouted.

Gohan pulled on the chains with ease, breaking them in two and freeing some of the civilians near him. He looked toward the mare and said, "Can you explain what happened here?"

"The Darkness, that's what happened, they attacked us a few hours ago. We never stood a chance as our militia was quickly dealt with and we were captured. The army's leader went to the Town Hall. If it wasn't for you, we would've all been enslaved by the Darkness' will!"

"Thanks, we'll take care of this." Gohan said, and looked to Korra.

Korra nodded and said, "Time to finish this."

Just as the two started to head toward the Town hall, they were interrupted by the sound of a male... Reptile man creature? "Wait!"

Korra and Gohan turned around, both saying at the exact same time, "Yeah?"

"What are you two exactly?" The reptile man asked.

"Human, and you?" Gohan replied.

"I'm a y-young d-dragon... " the dragon man replied in shock that there were humans, Humans! In front of him. The newly freed crowd behind him started to mumble about strange legends and something about books.

"Um... We got to beat up the bad guy, so off we go!" Korra replied, grasping onto Gohan's hand before he could reply and they both left toward the Town Hall.

The creaking of the door echoed down the hallway entrance of the Town Hall. Entering the building, Gohan and Korra were cautious as they walked down the hall way before coming up to a large door. They went through, revealing a excessively large dome room. The walls were painted dull gray, and the top of the dome had paintings of familiar images that they had seen in those strange ruins before. Looking back down, they spotted doors at each ninety degree angle of the room.

The two heroes walked across the dome room to the doors just ahead of them, upon reaching said doors they heard mumbling on the other side. Leaning on the door, they listened to the talk beyond the door.

"No! The Element will never work for one as evil as you!" An female voice yelled out.

A male, authoritive, and somewhat dark voice replied, "I think otherwise, every tool can be used for something other than its created purpose."

"Don't you dare, don't you bucking dare!"

"Oh I bucking dare alright," He replied. The voice of the male became unintelliable and the sound of energy filled the air like electricity. "Give your soul to me, for eternity, release your life to begin another time; end your grief with me. For Kindness has a new home in darkness."

A dark pink light filled the air, Gohan immediately yelled, "Get back!"

Korra and Gohan both leaped away from the door in a split second, the door was blown off its hinges as dark purple magical energy burst outward. Smoke rose from the room's entrance before a clear figure of a black scaled humanoid dragon stepped through, one much older than the one before as he had spikes coming off his elbows, head, and shoulders. He took a glance at Gohan and Korra, confusion clear in his face before a spark of understanding gave way and the Dark General began laughing.

"Hahaha, humans! Looks like the third commander failed in stopping the summoning spell. Oh well, I'll just fix this problem myself. You may believe with your recent victories that our Lord Darkness is weak, that your strength surpasses his own! Foolish thoughts, suicidal beliefs, but I won’t judge you for wanting to die.” The general said, dark pink lightning coursed around his arms.

“Even an Element of Harmony falls before his will! Its energies course forcefully through my body! Human or not, you stand no chance.” He finished.

With a flick of his scale wrist, a current of magical electrical energy shot forward from his claws. Arcs of energy smashing into the ground as it neared the two heroes, Avatar and Z-fighter.

Gohan leaped back, dodging the wild arc of electrical magic. The energy that he sensed from the draconic dark general was ever increasing from the origin point of that butterfly shaped gem hanging around his neck. If he and Korra could defeat him, remove the necklace quickly, then it’ll be all over for the darkness forces within the town.

Gohan rushed forward, using his Ki energy to enhance his speed greatly. The Hybrid warrior turned sharply left, avoiding another dangerous energy arc as he closed the gap between himself and the enemy.

Son Gohan thrust his right fist toward the Dark General, but the corrupted humanoid dragon grasped it and tried to claw at Gohan’s face with his free claw. Gohan grabbed the General’s free claw, and both of them pushed against each other in a effort to gain control. Their hands and claws locked bursting out small pockets of colliding magic and Ki energies.

“Hehe, is this all?” The darkness embraced dragon said; The General applied more force, pushing Gohan back as the hybrid’s feet skid across the flooring in a attempt to hold ground. Gohan didn’t look him in the eye, his head down low as he stared toward the ground.

“What’s the matter? We just started and you’re giving up already?” The Dark General mocked.

“No… I’m… Excited.” Gohan answered strangely.

“Excited?” The dark general questioned.

Gohan’s grip tightened, a blue aura of powerful, raw energy burst into existence, its force causing the ground underneath to crack and crumble. Gohan looked up, his black colored eyes piercing through the General’s tainted soul. Son Gohan brought the Dark General closer all the sudden, before the General screamed in pain as Gohan planted his left knee into the dragon’s stomach.

Gohan cupped his hands together in front of him, a ball of blue Ki forming within which then blasted forward and sent the dark one flying. But not for long as a wall of earth came forth from the ground, causing the General to crash into it. He fell forward when then another smaller pillar of earth came up and uppercuts his chin.

The dark corrupted dragon grew agitated, and clenched his claw into a fist before slamming it into the ground. Magical energy coursed into the floor shaking the surrounding area which disrupted our earth bending Avatar, Korra.

“Annoying, I’ll deal with you now.” he said, shooting himself upright and charged at Korra.

Korra saw him coming, she burst forth flames from her fist at him, a sort of fireball after fireball. The dragon humanoid smirked as he easily passed through Korra’s bended flames with little damage.

It was apparent that those scales of his were resistant to fire.

The dark dragon shot a fist toward Korra which hit her abdomen, Korra retaliated by kicking the dragon's side. Only to wince in pain at the hard scales, the dragon grasped her leg, lifted her up, and threw her across the floor. Korra landed on her feet, and slammed her fist forward into the air causing a line of earth to erupt from the ground closing in on the dragon quickly.

"Wish I had some water," Korra commented, she bended the earth around her. Nature flowing to her call for power as the ground heaved upward, large boulders of rock suspended in mid air before she kicked them toward the general.

The humanoid dragon dodged the line of earth, only to be hit by the two earth bended boulders. The boulders slammed on to him, their speed and weight causing the dark General to crash to the stone tile ground forcefully.

The dark General got up, his face full of rage.

"Play time is over, I may be one of the lowest ranking generals, but I am no PUSHOVER!" He grasped the Element of Harmony on his neck, "By the Lord Darkness' will, kindness will fall, leaving only hatred. Discord does not match up to the power of his control or strength." He clenched the Element harder, the pink tendrils of energy turning into a darker shade.

The ground shook, the tendrils of energy from the Element scattering throughout the room destroying windows, flooring, decorations, and releasing a massive amount of energy around the General.

"I am General Quencher, of the 25th ranked power. And you and this town, will fail."

General Quencher slammed his back three-toed reptile foot to the ground, before rushing forward with great speed toward Korra. The surprised Avatar summoned forth a great wall of earth, which the General smashed through, the General was at her face within a instant.

"Korra!" Gohan yelled, a blue aura surrounding him as he vanished into the thin air, and reappeared in front of General Quencher. He took the blow intended for Korra, the half saiyan yelling in pain before he blasted the General back with a Ki blast to the face.

"Gohan are you okay!?" Korra yelled in concern.

"I'm fine, watch yourself here he comes!" Gohan warned.

"Haze Sphere!" The dark dragon general yelled, a ball of black greenish haze-like energy appearing in his claw before it flew out toward the two heroes.

"Move!" Gohan yelled, as they both dodged the strange energy ball that exploded the wall behind them, and the building behind that, and the one after that. The Town hall started to shake unevenly as it's support started to falter.

"Gohan, I'll distract him while you try to get up close!" Korra said.

"Alright, but be careful. That attack of his is not something to be hit by."
Korra bit her lip, 'I wish that airbending would've clicked in already!' She thought to herself.

"Hey, scale butt! Would you like some rocks in your diet?!" Korra taunted as she bended the earth underneath. Korra's figure moved with the force of a bodybuilder as multitudes of bended rock pelted the General Quencher.

Quencher gathered the magical energy around him, pulling it into a clear shimmering shield in front of him that deflected the pelleting rocks. Gohan suddenly appeared behind him, punching the General into his own shield which shattered from Quencher's lapse of concentration.

Quencher summoned forth two more Haze spheres and shot them at Gohan. The hybrid Z-fighter crossed his arms protectively and was blasted back, crashing into the ground.

Gohan's attack toward Quencher beforehand, gave Korra enough time for her to gather water from the surrounding air. The Avatar's fingers flicking across the air like invisible knives gathered water particles, allowing her access to an water source for bending.

'I'll have to remember to thank Katara for teaching me this when I get back.' Korra thought as she flicked forward a lashing water whip technique toward the dark dragon humanoid.

The technique smashed into Quencher’s chest, the force of the water causing him to stagger backward. Seeing the water drop to the ground below him, Korra brought her hands behind her before fluidly moving them in front of her, the water freezing over into ice that struck the General in place.

This provided the perfect moment for another person, one Son Gohan.

Gohan cupped his hands in front of him, aiming them toward the General’s direction. Slowly he brought his palms to his side as he chanted the technique’s wording.

“Ka… Me… Ha… Me… “

A blue light shined brightly from Gohan’s hands, a ball of condensed Ki energy forming within. The half saiyan’s legs spread apart, firm and unyielding as he gathered his inner energy and channeled it to his technique. The blue light seemed to make the area around him darker in appearance, before Gohan thrust his arms forward at General Quencher’s direction.

“Ha!” Gohan yelled.

A sizable wave of blue Ki energy came bursting out of the small condensed ball, heading directly toward the dark dragon with no intent of slowing down at the slightest. The sheer power of the wave caused craters underneath as it soared over toward the General.

“No, no!” The General screamed, cracking through the ice that held him back. But he was too late. His eyes widened in fear as the wave closed in on him, in a futile effort to protect himself he threw his hands in front of him. The entirety of the wave engulfed him, burning away at his scales before the Ki technique dissipated in nothingness.

The sound of a body crashing to the ground echoed through the room.

“We did it,” Gohan said, walking next to Korra.

“That… Was the hardest fight I was ever in.” Korra commented.

*WASLAM!*

“Don’t worry! We’re here to kick ass and help!” One Naruto Uzumaki screamed after kicking the door down.

Jaina walked in, sheathing the blades she had out. “Ugh, the fight is already over.”

“What! Oh come on guys! You couldn’t wait for us?!” Naruto complained.

Gohan scratched the back of his head, giving Naruto and Jaina a sheepish grin. “Sorry, but he attacked us first!”

“Yeah, so even if we tried too, I’m not sure he would’ve agreed.” Korra defended sarcastically.

Gohan’s head snapped up, “Almost forgot! That gem!” He turned around, running up to the body… An alive, burnt, and ragged breathing body; Gohan tore the butterfly gem necklace right off his neck.

Gohan walked back to his fellow heroes, Naruto and Jaina both staring quizzically at the gem he held. Naruto asked, “What’s that?”

“I don’t know, but I think it’s related to that Kindness symbol we saw at the ruins before,” Gohan said.

“Didn’t Quencher say a few things about Kindness randomly during his ‘Power Speeches’?” Korra questioned.

Jaina spoke up, “It appears to be some sort of enchanted object that’s for sure, I can sense an immense quantity of magical energy radiating off of it.”

“What… Huh… Kindness… Gem? Hey is it me, or is it glowing?” Naruto asked.

Naruto was right, the gem glowed on top Gohan’s hand before it floated toward the midpoint of the four heroes. Gohan, Korra, Jaina, and Naruto stared at the Element suspending in the air before a bright pink light engulfed them all.

Kindness, Explanations, and Ramen

Book 1: Magic

Chapter 5: Kindness, Explanations, and Ramen

A blinding pink light engulfed the entirety of the group, each individual's body glowed with bright intensity. As the four heroes closed their eyes to be prevented from being blinded, a small figure began to form and the area around shifted to a, different setting. Gohan, Korra, Jaina, and Naruto bodies begin to grow a few inches taller before halting, an aura of energy bursting outward from them as they stopped glowing and fell on the ground.

Korra opened her eyes and stood up, her sight revealing to her a yellow pony with a long pink mane and butterfly mark on her flank. The pony seemed... Spirit-like, transparent in the now... Wait... When did she get in a library? Was she in the spirit world?

“Oh… my… “ The spirit-like pony in front of her spoke.

“Uhh… “ Korra was speechless.

The Avatar glanced around her, getting a more descriptive view of her surroundings. She appeared to be in some sort of living tree, that had a library carved within. Many different books and scrolls lay stacked on the shelves, as well as an sun symbol on the ceiling. She would’ve stared longer, but the mumbling of her group members distracted her from the library.

“I feel like Sakura punched me through five buildings… twice,” A certain orange clad ninja said, rubbing his head with his hand.

“I feel like I ate a Black Ring soldier, and threw him up,” Jaina Draconis mumbled.

The yellow furred pony whispered something Korra barely caught, “That’s… horrible.”

“Disgusting more like it,” Korra said.

Korra noticed Gohan had stood back up, he appeared… A little taller than before. Perhaps she was just a bit dizzy from that light.

Gohan spoke, “Who might you be?” He said with kindness.

Gohan’s voice seemed to be somewhat soothing to the pony apparently, as the spirit-like equine seemed more comfortable and willing to speak to him.

“Fluttershy, who are you?” Fluttershy replied quietly.

“Great to meet you! I’m Naruto Uzumaki! Future Hokage of Konoha!” Naruto proclaimed.

Fluttershy hid under the table in the center of the library, clearly frightened at the number one loud mouthed unpredictable knuckleheaded ninja of Konoha.

“Great work, you scared her witless.” Jaina said to Naruto.

“I did?”

Korra saw Gohan roll his eyes from Naruto, and walked to the table, kneeling down to Fluttershy’s facial level. “Don’t mind him, he’s just talkative.” He said with a smile.

“Oh… He’s like Rainbow then.” Fluttershy replied.

“Can you tell us where we are?” Gohan asked kindly.

“Your kind, I like that. You’re in Twilight’s library.” She said, “On the day it happened… “

Korra tilted her head in confusion, “What? What do you mean?” She questioned.

“When the Darkness came… When he- “ Fluttershy covered her face with her hooves, shaking with fear as she attempted to hide herself from whatever ailed her.

“When he what?” Korra further insisted in knowing what happened.

“When he killed us, and trapped our souls within the Elements.”

“Huh?” Korra said.

“What she say?” Naruto asked Jaina.

“I didn’t hear anything.” Jaina replied.

“He… He killed you?” Gohan questioned. “This Darkness, he killed you and trapped your souls within these Elements?”

“WHAT?!” Korra, Naruto, and even Jaina shouted.

“Excuse me for a moment Fluttershy,” Gohan stood up and face all three of them, “Can’t you guys be quiet for one moment?!”

Korra and Naruto gave sheepish grins, Jaina had more of a look that she was off in her own mind.

“Sorry, it’s just… Trapping a person’s soul in an object?” Korra said, now giving a questioning look, “That sounds like something out of a fantasy novel.”

Jaina smirked, and replied to Korra, “Yet here you are talking to a trapped soul, acquaintanced with people using different energies, and in an entirely different world. But enough of that, I want to know why exactly we are here in the first place, and I have a feeling that she knows.”

Fluttershy muttered a few unhearable words, Gohan had to ask nicely, “I’m sorry, can you please speak up so everyone can hear you? This is vital information for us all and we would greatly appreciate it if we knew what we are in for.”

Fluttershy nodded, gathering courage to reveal herself out from underneath the table and speak in a normal pitch. “The Princesses summoned you here, I don’t know how I managed to see it, but I felt my Element connect with the spell as they channeled it. They summoned you because our world is being taken over by… By that monster.”

“The Darkness no doubt?” Gohan asked for confirmation.

“Yes…” Fluttershy whispered.

Naruto had a curious look on his face, “What was the world like before that?”

Fluttershy closed her eyes, a smile on her face of apparent joyful times, “It was a time of peace.” She stated. “There were no real enemies, in fact over the last one thousand years there have been no wars at all. Hardly a single pony died of unnatural causes, and those who did were of major accidents.”

All four humans blinked, a thousand years of true peace?!

‘I’ve lived in a time of peace… ‘ Korra thought, ‘But I’ve never heard of a thousand years of no wars or conquerors. A few hundred years was all my people managed to do!’ She finished, looking toward the rest of the group.

Naruto had brought himself out of shock, his eyes filling with the fire of determination for some unknown goal that Korra didn’t know. Gohan seemed surprised, but seemed more focused on the rest of the story. Jaina however, Korra couldn’t depict whether she was determined, sorrowful, or outright lost.

Gohan spoke, “So what did the Element do to us?”

That took everyone’s attention off their thoughts as they looked toward Fluttershy with questionable glances.

Fluttershy, still having the courage to speak, said, “The summoning accidently made you younger… Through you are a bit cuter like a little animal.” Fluttershy giggled, “The Element reversed some of the spell, making you… Another year older? And making you regain some of your powers.” She finished, her form starting to become more transparent.

“Hey, what’s happening to you?” Naruto questioned.

“My time is running out… “ Fluttershy cried, “Please, please, please, save this world!” Fluttershy yelled in desperation. “Find the rest of the Elements, use them with the magic of friendship to defeat the Darkness!”

Gohan smiled, “We will, we’ll save this world!”

The ninja of Konoha cheered, “Yeah! We’ll bring peace to the world! If I can bring peace in this world, I’m sure to bring peace to my own, believe it!” Naruto finished by raising his fist, his arm stretched toward Fluttershy in a oath.

“Hey! Bringing peace and balance to the world is my job! And I’m sure not going to back down from it!” Korra proclaimed.

“Wait!” Jaina yelled.

Fluttershy recoiled back, but looked toward the Dragon Knight.

“What of our own worlds? My enemy moves to exterminate the last city of Rivellon!” Jaina said with anger, and surprisingly some worry.

“Your worlds are frozen while you're here.”

“Frozen?” Jaina questioned.

“In time.” Fluttershy said, nearly disappeared. Quickly she faced Gohan, “Gohan, as the previous bearer of the Element of Kindness… I give it to you to carry.”

Gohan carefully grasped the Element from her, he nodded his head in respect. “I’ll protect it with all my strength.”

And in another flash of light, Fluttershy, the surrounding area, and the group of heroes vanished.

Naruto Uzumaki landed on his feet, his body shaking a bit from the sudden change, and his mind processing the new information given to them from Fluttershy. Once that was done and settled, he glance toward the rest of his newly acquired teammates who were all now a bit taller, along with himself.

Yet he was still the smallest! Damnit! He’ll outgrow them next time when they get another of those Element of Hathingy-majingy.

*Growl*

Naruto clenched his stomach with his hands, he was starving!

*ROAR*

In an instant, a kunai was in Naruto’s hand, Korra was in a fighting pose, and Jaina had her hand on the handle of her blade. Yet Gohan was scratching the back of his head with a sheepish smile on his face.

“I guess I’m hungry.” Gohan said, giving a casual laugh.

“Hungry? With a stomach like that, it’s like you’re going to devour us whole!” Naruto yelled.

“And I thought Naga’s stomach was a loud grumbler.” Korra stated.

Naruto put the kunai back into his pouch, and watched as Jaina turned around to face the mayor of the town. It was only then when Naruto noticed a small necklace hanging around Gohan’s neck, with a jewel shaped like a butterfly. He was about to comment on it, but Jaina beat him when she started talking to the mayor.

“The army’s leadership has been cleansed, and the civilians have been freed. I sensed most of the army fled the town after Gohan and Korra defeated the leader.” Jaina said to the town’s mayor.

“Oh, oh, thank you! Here, take these! It’s the least the town could reward you!” The major left, and brought back a bag full of coin. Jaina grasped it and pulled out a golden colored coin, examining it before placing it back into the bag.

Naruto and Gohan’s eyes widened, is that gold? That would sell for thousands/millions of Zeni/Ryo!

“You should start training your militia better strategies, and upgrade their equipment when possible. Also you should consider adding stone walls instead of wooden palisades.” Jaina said like it was a everyday thing before she opened her own pouch and placed the money one in it.

Naruto expected the pouch the enlarge, but it stayed the same, heck Jaina tied it back into her armor’s side without any noticeable increase in weight. Was it bigger on the inside? Naruto then resisted the urge to smack his head, of course! The bag must be like a portable container scroll only adapted to use magic instead of Chakra!

“I’m quite hungry myself.” Korra suddenly spoke up.

Jaina was probably gonna make some mean comeback Naruto guessed, but her stomach allied with them as it growled like a beast in itself.

“Fine, I’m only staying with this group because your skills are useful.” Jaina remarked.

The group of four heroes, Z-fighter, Ninja, Avatar, and Dragon Knight; exited the town hall building to see the citizen of Silvercross Town repairing and going back to what their lives were before the invasion. Already the smells of cooking foods were filling the air as hungry customers were eager to get their mouths full so they could be content and happy.

Suddenly, Naruto’s ramen senses were tingling. The food of the gods sweet aroma traveling through the hair and into his nostrils, leading a path of scent straight toward the heavenly stand of ramen.

“Come on guys, I know the perfect food to eat!” Naruto shouted to the group behind him as he was already off toward the scent of ramen.

Naruto arrived at the stand, seeing one of the griffon creatures attending it. He looked over to the sign, reading it out loud as Korra, Gohan, and Jaina arrived behind him. “Silvercross City Everyday Ramen, four bits per bowl?”

Jaina took out the money pouch from that specialized pouch, bringing out a couple coins, “I assume bits are these coins that we received earlier.”

Gohan seemed to not take it anymore, “Let’s eat! I’m starved!” And promptly sat on a stool with his tail wiggling freely in the air. Naruto followed suite sitting on the right side of Gohan, while Korra sat the left side of him with Jaina on Korra’s left.

Naruto immediately yelled out his order, “Four Miso ramens, one for each of my teammates here!” He said with a fox-like grin plastered on his face.

Gohan laughed, then Naruto, then Korra. Jaina let loose a small smile, but remained quiet as she tossed forth sixteen bits on the counter to pay.

Five minutes later…

Naruto Uzumaki dug into his fifth bowl, four others stacked on top of each other. He stopped eating once he glanced to his right to see ten bowls stacked high, and Gohan still going. Korra slurping in some of her own ramen with an amusing smile as she watched Gohan, and possibly him as well, eat such large quantities.

“I’m not going to lose at ramen! No one can beat me at ramen.” Naruto said out loud. Though he was a little uncertain, Gohan had already eaten ten bowls!

“Hey, I’m just glad to eat something!” Gohan said with a smile.

Jaina had her mouth half open, “By the Divine, I’m not going to have any bits remaining after this… “ She said gobsmacked at how they could eat so much.

“Ahhh! That hit the spot!” Gohan stretched, his stomach now fattened up with ramen. He glanced toward Korra and Jaina, who seemed to be speechless. “What?” Gohan said with a sheepish grin.

“Y-y-you just ate over sixty-seven bowls… “ Korra commented, filled with shock and awe.

“Huh, I did? It seemed less than that.” Gohan replied in a thinking position, his tail wiggled behind him.

“I… Can’t… Believe… It… “ The voice of Naruto rang out, everyone turning to him, seeing his own bowls stacking at least forty-three high and his head on the desk. “I lost… Someone beat me… At eating ramen!” He yelled.

“You can’t win them all Naruto.” Gohan said with a smile, his hand scratching the back of his spiky saiyan hair.

“But, but, but ramen!” Naruto complained like a little kid, well technically he’s twelve now.

“Suck it up, I’m the one paying for all of this.” Jaina said, giving the entire bag of bits to the griffon whose eyes seemed to take the shape of dollar signs. She stood up, readjusting the blades on her back, and took off.

Korra took notice of this, “Hey, wait up!” She said, taking off after her.

Gohan and Naruto looked to each other, shrugged, and after Gohan grabbed his blade, they left the ramen stand. Walking toward the direction where the girls went, only to find them entering a building which was titled ‘Silver Dove Hot Springs’. Well, that’s what Gohan at least caught, Naruto on the other hand seemed to distracted to even glance at the sign overhead.

“Well let’s meet up with them!” Naruto said, about to head into the building.

“Wait, Naruto! Only females are allowed in there.” Gohan said, after witnessing several female gendered beings enter the building.

“Pfh, is that all? No problem for me!” Naruto said, his hands forming into an sign Gohan never saw before.

“Sexy Jutsu!” A puff of smoke surrounded Naruto, rendering Gohan unable to see him, until it cleared and revealed…

“H-how is that even possible?” Gohan asked in shock.

Lo and behold, Naruto had been gender changed, his previous masculine features replaced by curves and slim figure, B-cupped breast size, and long blond hair that had been pony tailed on both sides. His… Her clothes had adapted to fit her new female figure.

“Naruko Uzumaki! At your service!” Naruto… Naruko said, then she started to look at her figure before poking the breast. “I’m sure these used to be D-cup size… Probably has to do with my whacked up Chakra control. Oh well, I still look cute!” She yelled, winking at Gohan before giggling slightly at her own mischief.

Gohan was speechless, and didn't say a single word until after Naruko entered the Hot Springs.

“Naruto, you idiot.” Gohan finally managed to say, facepalming his blushing face.

A minute passed… Then two… Then-

*BOOM!*

The right wall of the building exploded outward, a huge hole coming into existence. In the rocky rubble on the outside, a now de-transformed Naruto lay there having illusionary leaves circling around his head. Before shaking his head and getting up, looking to the direction of the hole.

Korra and Jaina stood there, Jaina’s armor had been completely removed but her under clothing still was on. Korra didn't seem to have undressed yet, while a dozen other females stood behind them. All of them held murderous faces toward the blonde ninja.

Naruto stood up faster than a saiyan eating food, and ran toward Gohan’s position as fast as his legs could carry him. He reached the hybrid saiyan and grasped his hand before yanking him with him, still running.

“Time to go Gohan!” Naruto yelled with fear in his voice.

“NARUTO!!!!” The voices of man’s worst fear echoed through the town.

“Why have you dragged me into this?!” Gohan shouted as he ran with Naruto.

“Cause no man leaves another behind when it comes to… Them!” Naruto replied, pointing toward a ravenous group of females with Jaina and Korra leading them, all giving chase.

“But I didn’t even do anything!”

“Too late now! They’re catching up to us!”

Naruto pulled Gohan down an alleyway, and saw that it split off in four directions. Naruto hastily made a cross hand sign before twenty clones of the ninja poofed into existence, each clone split into groups, going down each direction as Naruto and Gohan went down the right path.

The vicious female group split into their own separate teams, and soon Naruto felt the memories of ten of his clones being brutally crushed, slapped, and other assorted terrible ways before their deaths. He gulped audibly looking toward Gohan.

“Oh man Gohan, we’re screwed now.” Naruto stated.

“I honestly have no idea what’s even going on anymore… “ Gohan said, his tail wiggled behind him.

The two boys turned another way, only to find one big wall blocking their paths.

“Quickly, climb, climb, climb!” Naruto said, chakra channeling to the soles of his feet and starting to run up the wall…

Only for the wall to bend outward and knock him down on the ground, his vision filled with a Avatar and Dragon knight now in front of them.

“Where you going Naruto? Didn’t you want to join us?” Korra smirked.

“Not like that I didn’t!” Naruto exclaimed, standing back up and waving his hands in front of him.

Jaina’s eyebrow twitched, “What you mean?!”

“I-I- Wha… Kami why!” Naruto yelled, his hands clenching his head as he yelled to the sky.

“Hey… Shouldn’t we just… Talk about this?” Gohan questioned unsurely.

Jaina smiled, “Sure, how about you just go find us a room at the inn while we… Have a ‘conversation’ with Naruto.” She said, Gohan could sense a small spike of energy coming from her.

“Alright.” Gohan said, and walked away from the scene.

“No! Gohan! Don’t leave me here with them! Wait, no fire! Stop with the fire!” Naruto begged.

“You should have never come to that spring!” Korra voice yelled out.

“Fireball!” Jaina’s also yelled.

Naruto screamed as flames and smoke rose from the alleyway.

The sun sets, its orange glow radiating a good night to the world. A crescent moon rises from the east, welcoming the nightly inhabitants below. On the top of a building, stood a young girl in woolen clothing, glowing silver eyes staring at the rising moon before looking down at a object on hand.

Jaina Draconis raised a necklace from her neck, a purple stone with a decorated golden dragon wrapping around it in a possessive hold. She tilted her wrist left and right, observing the stone with confusion. Jaina summoned her magic from within her, it flowed up into her arm, hand, and into the stone. The stone glowed dimly with silver as her eyes closed and felt her magic sing along with the reaction, the familiar power coursing through her veins and the feeling of the ancients giving her fulfillment. Before it all ended with a sudden stop, the stone no longer glowing.

Jaina opened her radiating silver eyes and frowned, holding up the stone she tried again. Stone glowing, the sensation of that ancient magic within, and her strength growing… Before once again, it stopped abruptly.

She looked on in slight anger, ‘What’s going on? Why aren’t I transforming?’ Jaina thought.

The Dragon Knight twirled the stone, looking for any damages. But none were to be seen, the stone was perfect, unbroken, so what was the problem?

‘Wait… Talana...’ Jaina Draconis thought, waiting for some sort of mental response. A sign, word, remark, statement from the one called Talana. Nothing.

‘Talana, respond!’ Jaina Draconis shouted in her mind, but nothing came back. She sat down on the edge of the building, letting the stone necklace fall down to her neck. ‘Has she lost connection with me in this new realm? It is probable as the Hall of Echoes could possibly not be tied to the dead of this world. Guess I’m on my own until I return.’ Jaina deeply thought.

‘Before then, I’ll have to find a way to activate the Dragon stone to regain my Draconic form. Otherwise I might find myself in a tight situation without any trump card to fall back on. Especially with another Damian-like evil in this world.’

Jaina stood back up, turned around, and went back down the trapdoor that led into the building underneath her, the Inn that she had told Gohan to find hours before.

She walked down the hall, and into their connected rooms. She immediately heard Naruto moaning in pain.

“Ow… Ouch!” Naruto moaned.

“Stand still, you’re not suppose to move while getting healed!” The voice of Korra replied to him.

Jaina arched an eyebrow as she saw Naruto sitting on a chair while Korra mended to the many burns upon his form. The Dragon Knight watched in fascination as the brightly glowing waters hovered and circled over a burn mark that slowly turned from red inflamed skin, into the normal whitish pink hue.

Turning her attention away from the two, Jaina went over to the table and picked up her bag. She sat on the chair and delved into her inventory before pulling out a specific book. Opening its contents, the book revealed the language of the forgotten mages.

‘What in the name of the Divine is Alohomora?’ Jaina thought to herself, ‘Ugh, page is too worn to tell me. So unsafe to use that spell.’ She flipped the page, and started going over the theory behind the magic missile spell. She’ll go through mediation later to work on her magic control and reserve levels.

Many hours went on, Jaina Draconis completed the full reading theory of the Magic Missile spell, she was certain that she could cast it once again, unfortunately having three bright arcane bolts suddenly bursting out of your hand in the midst of the night would draw some undue attention from both her… Comrades… And the town civilians. So she just opted to mediate on her reserves, practicing moving her mental energy within herself to individual parts of her body.

“What are you doing?” She heard the voice of Naruto speak up.

Jaina didn't bother to open her eyes from meditation, in fact she outright ignored the blonde ninja and choose not to respond.

She should’ve learned that nobody ignores Naruto Uzumaki.

“Hey! *Poke* I’m talking to you! *Poke* Respond silver eyes!” Naruto continue to poke and annoy the living Hell out of her. Finally, after a full minute of the insanity, Jaina groaned and replied.

“What do you want!?” She said in annoyance.

“Whoa, calm down. Just wanted to know what you were doing.” Naruto said.

“Meditating, what does it look like?” Jaina replied.

“Oh, thought you were gathering… Nevermind.” Naruto said, before walking off to the other room.

Jaina rolled her eyes, and attempted to get back in meditation, but failed. She shook her head, stood back up before walking over to the bathing room to get cleaned up. She absently wondered what Gohan has been up too. He’s been quiet and passive ever since that incident with Naruto.

Perhaps he’s planning for tomorrow, they still had to reach the Fairy Capital. Speaking of fairies, she didn't see many in this town. Oh wait, there were a few, you just had to have a keen eye to catch sight of them. Probably most of them had left Silvercross Town to tend to the wounded in the military. After All the fairies she’s heard of were gifted in healing magics, and these don’t seem much different.

Jaina got out from the bath, dressed in a robe. She rubbed her eyes, drowsiness now caught up with her. She saw Korra enter the bathing room after her. But she paid no heading to it as she caught sight of the beds.

And she relished in their divine comfortableness.

‘Oh, so long since I’ve slept in a bed… So… comfortable… ‘ Jaina thoughts trailed off as she found herself soon drifting into sleep.

Much needed Training

Book 1: Magic

Chapter 6: Much Needed Training

A bright ball of gas burning millions of miles away peaked its light through the window curtains, focusing onto the closed eyes of one human saiyan hybrid, Gohan. He covered face with his hand in a futile attempt to block out the sun.

“Sun.. You're so cruel in the morning.” Gohan groaned as he begrudgingly got up, arms and tail stretching to the ceiling before falling limp.

The Z-fighter stood from the bed, forcing his legs to awake themselves. He sloppily made his way toward the bathroom door, but took a glance toward the second bed in the room to see Naruto upside down with his feet on the pillow and head where his feet should've been.

Gohan tilted his head, but didn’t question the ninja’s apparent backward sleeping ways. After cleaning himself up quickly and putting on a clean and repaired purple Gi, he opened the connecting door to the women's side to find Jaina fully dressed in her under armor leather as she sat and cleaned her runic steel-like armor.

"Morning." Gohan said.

Jaina peaked an eye at him, and nodded in repliance to his presence, continuing to clean her armor pieces.

Gohan looked to find Korra snoring quietly lying outstretched on the bed with one half in the sheets and the other uncovered.

He quickly moved his eyes away from her, a small blush on his face from seeing a half-naked Avatar in only her undergarments.

"Will you wake up Korra? We have things to do today." Gohan asked of Jaina.

She nodded, but said, "Of what sort, I am curious now."

"Training and evaluation of our skills." He replied.

"I see, best to utilize the people around you to your fullest advantage."

Gohan frowned, his tail twitched behind him, "Why do you say it like that? We're all in this together."

Jaina voiced an annoyed sigh, "I've heard that before, lies and scandal is what follows in the shadows."

"What's wrong with you to be so oppressive against being both friends and a team with us?"

Jaina was silent, having chosen to ignore him much to his displeasure. The only sound heard was the rag brushing against the armor. Gohan opened his mouth to say something, but Jaina cut him off.

“It’s a personal matter, I don’t wish to discuss it.” Jaina finished the topic off. “I’ll wake up Korra if you wake up the blond.”

“His name is Naruto.”

Jaina shrugged and continued her work. Gohan turned around back into his room and reached Naruto’s bedside, where he then shook awake the ninja of Konoha.

“What do you want Kakashi? Waking me up so early… Sheesh is grandma Tsunade in a fit of anger again?” Naruto grumbled in drowsiness.

“Uh Naruto, it’s me, Gohan.” The hybrid Z-fighter replied.

“Gohan? Gohan… Gohan… Oh! My bad!” Naruto said, sitting up and realizing his awkward sleeping position. “Don’t tell anyone or I’ll fling kunai at you.” He said jokingly.

Gohan smiled, “My lips are sealed. Anyhow you should get ready, we going to train quite a bit today before we head toward the Fairy Capital.”

Naruto got off the bed, stretching before walking to the bathroom door. Gohan eyes looked across the room, and settled down at the sight of a necklace upon a table. He walked forward, and grasped the Element of Kindness before putting it over his neck. He could sense the magic binding around his neck, as if a child holding onto him with its small little arms.

It wasn’t half surprising when Gohan heard snoring coming from the bathroom door. He chuckled, knowing that only one person could’ve fallen asleep in the bathroom. And that would be the only person in the bathroom. So it didn’t take much for our hero to go and reawaken him, much to the ninja’s embarrassment.

“I’m awake, I’m awake!” Naruto exclaimed twice, his own voice didn’t seem to believe itself.

“Yeah huh, sure you are.” Gohan said in amusement.

Suddenly both Gohan and Naruto bolted up in surprise when they heard some very loud, and very angry, yelling.

“WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!”

Gohan simply stated, “Looks like Korra’s awake.”

“I wonder what caused her to be so loud?” Naruto said, rubbing his ears.

“YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO ZAP ME!” Korra yelled from the other room.

“Well, there’s your explanation.” Gohan commented.

The sound of stomping feet came barging into the two boys’ room. As a, thankfully has a bathrobe on, frustrated Korra eyed Gohan with an intent and determined face, it felt like he was facing Chi-Chi on a bad day. She came right up to him and said…

“Make Naruto share rooms with her next time, cause there is a No-Can-Do with me!” She demanded, pointing right at Gohan, then Naruto, then toward Jaina’s area.

Naruto had a mouth agaped, before he retorted, “No way! I would sooner sleep on the roof!”

“Oh come on you two, she’s not that bad.” Gohan defended Jaina.

“She just zapped me with her magic!” Korra argued.

“She nearly burnt off… Everything on me! Plus, she’s mean! Like, very mean!” Naruto added on to Korra’s argument.

“Look, can we make some sort of compromise?” Gohan tried to reason. It seemed to quiet down their anger a bit for them to listen.

The ninja spoke out. “What kind of compromise?” he questioned.

“We’re are going out to train for most today, evaluate our skills and techniques with each other. Then we are going to head toward the Fairy Capital first thing tomorrow. So I’ll share a room with her for this night so you two don’t have to deal with her.”

“What? But-” Korra started to say, but Naruto cut her off.

“Agreed!” Naruto yelled, “I’ll get ready for training.” He finished as he went to dress up.

“Gohan… “ Korra trailed off.

“Yeah, what is it Korra?” Gohan questioned with a smile.

“Nevermind… I’ll go get dressed up. I’ll tolerate her for now.” She finished.

Around an hour later, in the outskirts of Silvercross Town; Korra, Gohan, Jaina, and Naruto now stood in an grassy plains, provided a few trees here and there. The ninja of Konoha, jinchuuriki of the Nine tailed fox spirit, or at least, half of it. Stretched a bit in preparation for the training session.

“So… “ Naruto began to say, “What’s first?”

’You breaking the seal so I can-’

‘Oh shut your muzzle fur face!’ Naruto yelled back through his mental link.

Thankfully, Gohan broke the silence, “We can try sparring, it seems the best way to show off our abilities while training simultaneously.”

Naruto nodded, a grin plastered on his face. He took a glance toward Korra and Jaina, the latter who finished placing the last pieces of armor upon herself. Jaina grasped on to her two blades, placing both on her back.

She looked toward Gohan and said, “Will we make an effort to train in weapons?”

“Weapons?” Korra questioned out loud.

Naruto then remembered, Korra didn’t really have a weapon. Blazing fire, ground shaking earth, and whipping water, yes. But weapons? Nope. Not that it seems like she needed any, and Naruto can relate to that as ninja tend to do hand-to-hand combat quite a bit. Though an occasional kunai and shuriken never hurts.

“Yes, most notably swords. I need a sparring partner and Gohan is the only one with such a weapon on hand.” Jaina said.

“Hey!” Naruto exclaimed, “I’ve faced a… swords user… before! And I need to learn how to fight hi- them when they use those blades!” He finished, almost mentioning his best friend.

“What can those daggers of yours do against a blade?” Jaina questioned with curiosity.

“Kunai, kunai.” Naruto corrected, “And with a little chakra they can be very hard to break!”

Jaina smirked, “Well then we’ll just see how durable they can be.”

The Dragon Knight’s hands reached for her blades, pulling them out in a slow menacing matter. Naruto stepped a bit back, raising his hands in alarm.

“Whoa, whoa, we haven’t even made any sparring rules!” He exclaimed.

“No killing, only injuries that we can treat without much problem, and try to show off.” Gohan set the rules.

“Hey, showin off is my specialty- Ah! Sword of sharpness dattebayo!” Naruto yelled in surprise, narrowly avoiding a front arc slash of Jaina’s blade. Spontaneously a kunai appeared in hand and blocked the second incoming blade with a high pitched tang.

The ninja leaned back avoiding a horizontal strike, twirling the kunai in his hand before stopping with a good grip on it. He thrust the weapon forward and parried Jaina’s second sword. Naruto applied some Chakra into his muscles, giving him a boost of strength and speed, and leaped away from the Dragon Knight of Rivellon.

Forming a handsign in mid-air, two clones appeared behind him. All three Narutos landed on the ground, the clones moving toward the original’s right opened palm where they started to claw the air above his hand in a fast paced motion.

A spiraling sphere of blue chakra began forming within the original Naruto’s palm, the technique spinning around with great speed clearly told of a drill-like intention. The clones dispelled themselves and Naruto glanced toward his technique, a small frown appearing on his face.

“It’s incomplete… Oh… Still have to do water walking before I have a decent enough control to form it fully.” Naruto said to himself.

The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki looked upward and yelp in surprise as Jaina approached him with inhuman speed, a small trail of red magic lines in her wake as she approached him with the, unknowingly to him, Charge spell.

Quickly Naruto thrust his right hand forward, just in time for Jaina’s blade to come up toward him.

“Rasengan!” Naruto yelled his attack’s name.

The spiraling chakra smashed into the enchanted blades, in which both forces collided and imploded outward with a sudden burst of wild energy. Jaina recovered quickly, only having stumbled back from the collision, and raised an open gauntlet that conjured a flaming bolt toward the orange-clad ninja.

"Fireball." Jaina stated as the spell came at Naruto.

Quickly Naruto formed a few hand signs before he was engulfed in flame, but his figure was replaced with a burning log that appeared in a puff of white smoke.

"What? A log?" Jaina said in confusion.

"Up here silver eyes!" Naruto yelled as he came down from the air with two clones by his side. All of them carrying shuriken in their hands that they all flung at Jaina.

The Dragon Knight crossed her swords at a specific arc, deflecting the metal stars off the enchanted blades upon impact.

Naruto frowned, "I'll get around those swords!"

'Sure you will.'

'Go back to sleep fuzz ball!'

'You could easily beat her with just a snippet of my chakra. The nine-tailed fox spirit retorted.

'I will not use your power, now stop disturbing me from training!' Naruto thought back.

'You will one day brat, you will have no choice, and when you slip, I'll be there.'

Naruto leaped back as he took notice Jaina had dispelled his clones by severing their limbs. Not pleasant memories for sure.

At this moment, the ninja saw Gohan fly down right beside him.

"Having trouble Naruto? Perhaps you should switch tactics from using clones all the time." Gohan suggested.

"Clones are my speciality, my main fighting style is based around them." Naruto replied.

"Seems limiting."

"Hey! If I kept all my training I would've used Sage mode and the frog fu style already!" Naruto argued.

Gohan blinked, "Sage mode?" He questioned.

"Yep, makes me pretty much indestructible and allows me to use more badass techniques!" The ninja boasted.

"Magic missile!" The voice of Jaina made itself known.

Two white spheres of magical energy shot into the sky from Jaina’s raised fist, each individual bolt heading toward their two targets of Naruto and Gohan, locked into delivering some damage.

“Dodge!” Gohan yelled as he leaped away.

“Uh yeah!” Naruto said, doing the same.

But the magic missiles weren’t ordinary projectiles, they turned their direction, albeit slowly, and continued locked on the two boys. Who both repeatedly dodged the magical spell until it ran out of energy to consume in its chase.

No longer distracted at the idea of being struck by a ball of arcane energy, Naruto Uzumaki looked toward his Dragon Knight opponent to find her dodging boulders of earth by an Avatar. He had to admit that Jaina has quite some agility even if she's wearing heavy armor as she rolled gracefully from being hit.

Forming his signature handsign, Naruto shouted "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" as two clones appeared on both sides of him with puffs of white chakra smoke. And they, including the original, charged forward.

Truly when it came to Korra's turn for deep thinking, there wasn't much for her to miss from her world. But there was still notable people, like her spirit animal, Naga; her best friend, the polar bear dog. There were also her parents, as well as Tenzin, his wife and kids, and her surrogate grandmother Katara.

Only then did she realize, she barely if never called Bolin and Mako to mind whatsoever.

She should be concerned shouldn't she? But when it came down to it, she had only known them for a day at most, give or take a few more hours. But since arriving in this world, it was as if her perspective of the sentence "Friends her Age" shifted one-eighty degrees.

It was like it just seemed so much harder to gain recognition from people, only now did the title as "Avatar" aka "Balancer of the World", "Reincarnation of Aang", "Bridge between Worlds", the latter being even more true nowadays, were they so meaningless.

And yet... She felt so much more like a person! Gohan, Naruto, and even Jaina actually felt like she would have to gain their friendship the way it's suppose to be gained, not through title or reputation.

Wow, talk about overreaction. Where was she? Oh yes, about to give a few boulders to Jaina.

Korra slammed her right foot forward, and outstretched her arms, fist clenched, before rising them alongside medium sized boulders of rock flying from the ground. Korra then drew back her fist before punching the floating rocks toward Jaina's direction.

Then suddenly taken by Jaina’s swift movements of rolling forward and about in dodging her earth bending, Korra opted to change tactics and placed her legs firmly diagonally, and brought her fist racing through the air like a sucker punch.

A torrent of earth came rushing like a torpedo, following the movements of Korra's fist as it closed it from an angle at Jaina. The Dragon Knight never saw it coming, for she had not any experience in fighting a skill that can manipulate the earth below her feet.

“Wha- Oof!” Jaina shouted.

Jaina promptly fell on her bottom in sheer surprise, vulnerable and open to attack, which Naruto gladly did.

The orange-clad ninja charged toward the downed Jaina, his right hand outstretched to his left side, carrying a ball of spiraling energy that Naruto had recently gave name to.

“Here’s a Rasengan!”

The Dragon Knight quickly got up to defend herself, but it only served to expose her entire torso to the jutsu, the light blue ball slammed into her chest armor; Jaina went flying before gravity retook control and she skid along the grassy ground.

Korra smiled and rushed forward with fist straight forward, a spew of flame firebended right at Jaina. “Firebending never gets old!” Korra commented.

But the flame was disrupted, evaporating into the air as it was blocked by another force, revealing Gohan in front of Jaina’s figure with his palm open, albeit a bit burnt.

“Gohan what are you doing!” Korra shouted.

“Wha? What does it look like, I’m defending her. Plus… “ Gohan started saying, “Isn’t this a free for all?”

Naruto stopped in mid-motion, “Oh crap.”

One moment, Gohan stood there still.

The next, he was speeding right toward Naruto faster than Korra could turn her head.

“SHI-” Was all Naruto had time to say before a fist slammed into his stomach.

But Naruto still had some tricks, as apparently all Gohan had punched appeared in smoke as a wooden log. Gohan spun around, his right feet dragging along the dirt in his quick movement before his left fist slammed into the newly appeared Naruto’s right cheek.

The ninja crashed into a stray tree, his head spinning and the words coming out of his mouth, “Hit hard for a granny.. Tsunade…”

Korra mouth went agape slightly, “But-Huh-How? That was so fast, I barely caught up!”

Gohan looked to her, “Really? Sorry, I’ll tone it down if you like.” He replied kindly.

“What you mean really?!” Korra questioned loudly.

“I’m more powerful than the rest of you, I know I am, so I’m holding back my strength to avoid causing too much injury.” Gohan paused for a moment, “Let’s say I didn’t get affected by the transportation here than the rest of you did.” He finished, an excuse that Korra didn’t pick up.

A trail of red lines rushed past Korra, who she identified as Jaina rapidly approaching Gohan with blades drawn. Gohan brought his own sword out, and parried the Dragon Knight’s blows before kneeing her and knocking her back with a blast of blue Ki energy.

“You can’t rely on the speed of your techniques all the time, sometimes opponents can react faster than you give them credit for.” Gohan told Jaina.

Jaina got up, and responded by blasting a fireball toward his direction; Gohan merely moved his head to the side as it shot past him. He narrowed his eyes toward her.

“Why are you so against us?”

Jaina still didn’t respond, grasping her blades and running at Gohan. He brought his sword up and began parrying blow after blow, not with skill, but with speed alone. But even with speed and power, the lack of skill took its toll. As Gohan found himself having to use even more Ki to compensate for it.

Gohan moved his feet about, backing away from Jaina’s relentless assault. But with a small opening in her stance, Gohan dropped downward, a hand keeping him up as he spun and tripped Jaina with his legs.

However Jaina stabbed her blade into the ground to prevent her fall, and using the momentum, quickly got up and knocked Gohan back with the hilt of her sword.

Korra charged in firebending, fire coming from both her hands, Gohan disengaged from Jaina and flew up into the air to avoid the flame; Jaina dodged by rolling to the side. Korra landed, turning hundred-eighty degrees and kicking at Jaina’s torso.

Jaina attempted to raise her blade, but underestimated Korra’s speed and was knocked back. She stumbled, but regained herself. Korra struck fast, not allowing Jaina time to bring her blades to bear. But even with her relentless assault of punches and kicks, the armor Jaina wore prove very effective in defending her.

But before Jaina had time to retaliate.

Suddenly, out of the blue, hundreds upon hundreds of white smoke covered the area. From Gohan’s point of view, it seemed the plains had become literally Naruto.

“You better believe that you’ll going to get all your asses handed to you!” The seemingly original yelled.

Then all the clones spoke in unison, “BY NARUTO UZUMAKI!”

They charged forward, all at once, countless numbers of the color orange swarming over Korra and Jaina. Even Gohan found himself pulled down by the overwhelming odds of clones grasping onto his legs.

They tried to resist, with bending, magic, and Ki they struck at Naruto’s endless clones. White chakra smokes dispelled numerously as clone after clone met their demise by blade, martial arts, or bending techniques.

But with every clone brought down, another lands a blow upon them. Jaina, even with her incredible armor, found herself being worn down by Naruto’s one-man army. Korra could also be seen with a number of bruises laced on her body.

Gohan, with his incredible strength and durability, didn’t seem worse to wear compared to the others. In fact, it looked like he was excited, having fun. His lack of weariness was strange in Korra’s opinion. But Naruto didn’t seem to mind, it only fueled his determination to defeat Gohan.

Thought defeated, the clones left Korra and Jaina in favor of the Ki wielding martial artist. Giving precious recovery time to the two.

To the ruler of the great Battle Tower, the Dragon Knight Jaina Draconis was quite irritated by the fact that her ass had been handed to her multiple times in a single sparring session. Even her enchanted armor, something that she earned through hard work, sweat, and lots of killing, seemed only to balance herself to fight evenly with Naruto, let alone Gohan who still held back his true strength.

Of course, her pride would not allow her to respect the orange infested idiot, but still the thought remained. Naruto Uzumaki proved some challenge, perhaps it’s because he’s skilled, or the energy known as chakra provided a more potent augmentation to the body than previously thought.

Son Gohan on the other hand, was on a whole other level of physical superiority. He wasn’t skilled in the arts of swordsmanship from their spar, but he made up for it in speed and strength. It irritated the living hell out of her, that all her training proved useless, or at least pitifully, against Gohan.

Korra, self-proclaimed ‘Avatar’, had the full control of the elements. Even her Fireball spell paled in comparison to Korra’s control over flames, not to mention Korra also had control over the Earth and Water elements as well. And if Jaina could recall, had the potential for the wind element if she trained in it; a fact that should be rectified with the ‘Airbending’ scroll they recovered within those ruins.

Jaina scowled at the army of Naruto clones and the Ki using human fighting them, she didn’t have much in spells that affected an area around her, the only spell being that of the Whirlwind which required close proximity to be useful. Magic Missile only launched two arcane bolts, and Fireball is a single shot.

The only other skills she had that would be extremely useful would be in her Dragon form, but the cursed stone wouldn’t work for some reason!

She needed to vent off some frustration, and the nearest target, Korra.

Jaina began spinning in a three-sixty rotation, her blades pulled out and her magic coursing through her.

“Whirlwind!” The Dragon Knight shouted.

Korra had been close to her, and so the Avatar is within the Whirlwind's proximity. Korra threw up her arms in defense before being blown off her feet, small cuts forming in her arms, and falling to the ground in pain.

"Argh! Why did you do that!" Korra shouted at Jaina.

"The fight hasn't ended as of yet," Jaina simply replied. She raised a blade at Korra, "Yield."

"Kamehameha!"

Now, when a destructible force meets an indestructible object, what exactly happens?

*Kaboom!*

A cloud of debris and smoke covered the entirety of the training area. No one could see, but with our Dragon Knight Jaina...

Jaina reopened her eyes, and attempted to get up. But an immense pain flares throughout her entire body. She falls down against her back, numb, and unable to move. Last thing she could remember was her blade raised at Korra.

Were they attacked? If so, she better get up quickly.

Her hand reached for her expansive slayer pack, a bag enchanted during her time as a Dragon Slayer, she had no time to think back to that time; proceeding to merely think of the item she wanted from within and felt it within her grasp.

A bottle with red liquid was pulled from her bag, she popped the cork off and gulped it down. She felt the restorative properties heal over her wounds and rejuvenate her body. She still had low magic through, but she had enough for now.

Jaina stood back on her legs, grasping her fallen sword and lifting it up in a stance. Her eyes scanned the battlefield, but besides a fallen Korra, and unconscious ninja, only Gohan stood in sight, a aura of energy encasing his entire being from the feet up. Powerful in every sense of the word.

Gohan’s aura vanished soon after, his stance relaxing. “Think we’re done for today.”

“What did you do?” Jaina questioned, as he sheathed her blades.

“Huh? What you mean?” Gohan replied in confusion.

“That explosion, you used a spell- technique. The force impacted against my armor-”

“Kamehameha Wave.” Gohan informed.

“Explain.” Jaina demanded.

“Later, Korra and Naruto have to recover first.” He said, walking toward Korra.

Jaina gritted her teeth, she wasn’t used to being disregarded. She’s not some green-leaf rookie out of training! “Don’t you ignore me!”

Gohan stopped, and turned around. “I’m not? Why you think that?”

“Because you just ignored my demand for no reason, dammit! Now answer!” Jaina shouted.

Gohan narrowed his eyes, “No.” And turned, walking away.

Jaina clenched her fist. Why, why! Everyone else… Anyone else…

“Hey, are you alright?”

Jaina turned her head. Naruto stood there beside her, his clothes ragged, and injuries adorning his body, yet slowly healing. He looked to her, with an odd expression that she had never seen someone make at her before.

“I’m fine.” Jaina replied in feigned annoyance, she glanced back at Naruto’s wounds, and took a Potion of Healing from her back, the same type of potion she used beforehand.

“Here, drink this.” She mumbled, handing him the potion. Naruto looked at it strangely, “It heals you.” Jaina informed.

He grasped it with his hand, “Thanks!” The ninja exclaimed, gulping down the liquid held inside with no hesitation. Naruto’s wounds began to knit themselves even faster than before, the blondie’s eyes widening as he no doubt felt it’s regenerating properties. But he stopped drinking it halfway, and looked toward Gohan and Korra’s location.

“Hey guys! Jaina’s got this magic healing stuff! Doesn’t taste that good though, so fair warning on that!” Naruto shouted, causing both of them to walk toward Jaina and Naruto.

Jaina groaned silently, “Just give the remains of yours. I’m going to eat alone back in town.” she said, turning direction and heading back toward Silvercross Town.

Author's Note

Enjoy, feel free to point out any errors and tell me what you think.

No Path is Safe

Book 1: Magic

Chapter 7: No Path is Safe

A warm breeze blew across the grass fields of Silvercross Town, Naruto Uzumaki sitting criss-cross in an effort to try and think ‘Harder’. His problem? No good places around to begin the Water Walking exercise, and the solution didn’t seem to make itself known anytime soon. Seriously, how hard is it to find a sizable source of water?

‘Guess I could try looking around again,’ Naruto thought to himself, standing up and starting to walk around.

It has been three hours since the training session between himself, Gohan, Korra, and Jaina. The group didn’t seem to have been going too well, specifically Jaina, whose silver eyes seemed to hide what inner emotions she held within. But Naruto knew that look, he knew it all too well.

Naruto retreated to his thoughts. What kind of event had transpired to cause that? As far as he knew, Jaina had no Tailed Beast sealed within her gut. Through, now that he thought about it, he barely knew her at all. Besides the pleasant greetings first given when he, and everyone else, first entered this world, information is scarce.

‘Let’s see, Jaina said she was a Dragon Knight, whatever that is, ruled a Battle Tower, which sounds awesome, and her dream happened to be becoming the best Dragon Knight that ever lived. In a way, it’s like my dream to become Hokage, the best ninja ever. Who also rules the leaf village.’ Naruto thought, nodding to himself.

‘Talk about similarities- Hey is that Korra?’

Naruto looked ahead, spotting Korra standing there, her head lay low. Before it shot up, and she started to move in such a way it seemed like she was dancing. The grace in her movements, seemed unparalleled, Naruto was stunned beyond belief.

Her arm moved forward, generating a stream of red flames into the sky. Korra then spun around, her left foot kicking into the air and releasing a spurt of fire onto an imaginary foe. She edged forward, her steps one in front of the other as her fist were raised. She started punching in a rapid motion, each time a jet of firebended flame launching outward.

‘She controls fire like it obeys her will, that’s so awesome!’ Naruto thought as he continued to watch.

Korra brought her fist together, a huge wave of fire spewing forth like a huge fireball. It’s size larger than any Fireball jutsu that Naruto had even seen used. She shifted her body, trying to get in a stance unfamiliar to the ninja, before continuing her barrage of fire-based attacks.

‘Wait a second, doesn’t she control water? Maybe she can make me a water pool like Yamato!’ Naruto reasoned to himself. He ran up to the training avatar and greeted her with his trademark foxy grin.

“Hey Korraahhhhh!” Naruto screamed as he hit the deck, a line of burning hot flame passing over head, “I’m not ready to be ramen myself yet! I got so much to live for!” He yelled in anguish.

Korra stopped her bending, and crossed her arms, “What are you doing? I could’ve made you into toast!”

Naruto, still lying down, raised his hands like a prayer, “Don’t burn me goddess of flame! I know my name means a ramen topping, but that doesn’t mean I have to become one!”

The twelve year old avatar sweat dropped, “I’m not going to burn you.” Korra answered him.

Naruto looked up, “Really? Great!” He stood back up in a flash, “Hey, you control water right? Can you make me a pool? I need to train my water walking technique!”

“Water walking?” Korra questioned.

“Yep, it’s a way of controlling my chakra to… Uh… Better levels! Quite hard, not everyone can do it.” Naruto boasted, knowing they couldn’t use chakra.

“I did that when I was six, didn’t seem so hard to me.” Korra boasted back, arms resting on her hips.

“Whaaaaaaaaaaaa!” Naruto said mouth agape, “Prove it! I need proof! Solid evidence!” He exclaimed.

“If you haven’t noticed, there’s no water to walk on.” Korra said, her thumb pointing at the environment behind her.

“Of course I noticed that, that’s why I asked you to make one.” Naruto replied.

“Bending doesn’t exactly work like that, I don’t really want to kill the whole grassland to make a big puddle.” Korra answered the blond ninja.

Naruto scratched the back of his head, “Huh, guess there’s a difference between bending and chakra… Alright then… “ He trailed off in thought.

“Can’t you just summon clones to scout around for water?” Korra suggested.

Naruto’s eyes widened in realization, “Well, I feel stupid,” he commented before performing a cross handsign. “Shadow Clone Jutsu!”

Twenty clones of Naruto appeared around the original and Korra. The original Naruto raised his fist high into the air. “Alright, spread and search for clues- I mean water!” He said.

“Yosh!” The Narutos cheered.

The twenty clones spread out, running off in their search for a suitable training/showing off area. After a few foot tapping minutes of waiting, the original Naruto’s head shot up, and grinned.

“Found one.” Naruto stated, as he felt the other clones dispel.

“Great, lead the way!” Korra exclaimed, eager to prove her skills.

Meanwhile, back with a half saiyan Z-fighter, Son Gohan flowed through a complicated defensive orientated kata. His body moving in a fast paced motion, nearly invisible to even a well-trained eye. A punch, a kick, elbow strike, knee block, reverse throw, uppercut, stomach hit, he performed all of them expertly and quickly.

When Gohan calmed down, the ground below his feet had dirt traced lines of his movement. The Z-fighter wiped drops of sweat off his forehead as he used his sensing abilities to pinpoint one of his fellow's location.

'Strange, Jaina's energy signature is fluctuating, why is that?' Gohan thought as he began to lift himself into the air with his Ki.

'Korra and Naruto are moving, possibly just talking and training a bit. Sure am glad sensing is not just limited to Ki energy.' The half saiyan hybrid Ki aura flared around him as he flew toward Jaina's life signature.

Flying over the buildings of Silvercross Town, Gohan's eyes scouted over the constructs for any sign of trouble. He spotted the young armored girl sitting on the roof of a tall tower, and landed next to her, kneeling to her level.

"Hey, I sensed your energy fluctuate, everything alright?” Gohan said.

“Not really…” Jaina muttered under her breath.

“Huh?”

“Yes, everything is fine. Now go away, else I’ll make you.” Jaina threatened the half saiyan martial artist.

Gohan raised his hands in alarm, “Whoa, whoa, take it easy. I said before that we’re all in this together. Not that difficult to comprehend that ideology.”

She tilted her head slightly in his direction, her eyes glaring at him, “You would not understand, you’ve probably been surrounded with companions throughout your livelihood," Jaina stated.

Gohan scratched the back of his head, a sheepish grin on his face, “You got me, but that doesn’t explain why you’re so against it.”

Jaina groaned in irritation, “If I tell you, will you leave me in peace?” She questioned.

Gohan nodded, but also sensed Naruto eavesdropping nearby, ‘Then again, it could be one of his clones as well.’ Gohan thought to himself, looking toward Jaina as he listened in.

“Many moons prior to our arrival in this world, I after finally completing my training from childhood and up, I was fully initiated into the Dragon Slayer order in Farglow. My commander and friends congratulated me upon my ascendance into the elite ranks and we were about to head back home when a dragon was spotted.” Jaina said.

Gohan nodded, “Go on…” He said with interest.

“Heading toward Broken Valley, my commander ordered me to stay within the safety of the town while they head off and chased after the last Dragon Knight. However I was rash, and ready to slay a dragon. And being the last of its kind, this was the last opportunity for some glory and fame.” Jaina sighed, her fingers massaging her temples.

“How foolish, how idiotic I used to be.” She stated.

Gohan spoke up, “How old were you during this?”

“Eighteen, I’m currently nineteen… Well… I will be nineteen once we find the remaining Elements.” Jaina answered him.

“Alright, what else to your story?”

Jaina took a deep breath, “On my way to find my fellow slayers, I met up with her. The last Dragon Knight, Talana, within my view, only a few meters away from me. I walked up to her, ready to deal the killing blow, for she had been injured due to a slayer’s enchanted great sword.” Jaina sighed again, her shoulders slumping, “Before she succumbed to her wounds, she began to talk. Suddenly without warning, my mind was taken over by her draconic prowess in an instant. Talana slammed her dragon magic into me, changing my very being, forcing to become and take the responsibilities as the newest, and last, Dragon Knight.”

Jaina’s expression went into that of slight anger, before she calmed, reminding herself of something that Gohan did not know. She then continued the last bits of her story.

“A few hours later, I met up with my commander and friends at the entrance of the Maxos Temple. Where they immediately picked up the draconic magic now coursing through my veins. They instantly branded me a traitor despite my efforts to reason, and even through my commander left the field. My friends sought to kill me.” Jaina said.

“How did you get away?” Gohan questioned.

“The only way I knew how, I killed them first.”

The hybrid’s eyes widened, clearly shocked at the turn of events. ‘She killed her friends? She wanted help from them, and they instead try to kill her? What kind of friends are those!’’

“Now leave me alone,” Jaina said to him as she shifted her body away from him, going back to watching the clouds above.

Gohan stood up, and used his Ki to slowly fly away from Jaina, ‘No wonder you don’t want our companionship, you don’t want to be betrayed once again. Well, Jaina, I’m sure we can get to you eventually.’

As the hybrid saiyan flew away, his eyes pinpointed Naruto’s clone leaning against the roof, having eavesdropped. ‘Especially Naruto, he’s so much like my dad that I’m sure he can get to you.’ Gohan closed his eyes, remembering his father’s face. ‘Dad, you always know what to say. If you’re watching, guide us in helping us gain Jaina’s friendship.”

Landing around a small stall containing an wide array of food, Gohan grasped a bag of money he had earned earlier when helping repair some of the city walls. He had done this after training in both the goodness of his heart, and a way to get something to eat.

He now spent the whole bag of bits in getting said food. They’ll have to ration it, but today they were going to journey toward the Fairy Capital. Where not only will they find more information, but possibly find a lead on discovering more of the Elements’ locations.

Being twelve years old again, while an interesting prospect, got old really fast.

Remembering back when they were within the cave, Gohan recalled that there were six Elements in total. They knew that one meant Kindness, but he couldn’t recall what the others represented. Each Element aged them closer to their original selves, as well as returned all their combat experience, training, and abilities to them which each Element.

Considering each one of them had unique energies of their own, their little team could prove quite formidable against the Darkness in future encounters.

But first, they had to get to the Capital.

“Time to move, better get Naruto and Korra ready first,” Gohan said as he flew toward their direction.

The Avatar, Korra, cracked her knuckles in preparation to show how she can walk on water to Naruto. Which kind of sounded a bit bizarre now that she thought about it…

Nah!

“I’m going to prove it, right here, right now.” Korra boasted, facing the orange-clad ninja.

“You can’t do it! There’s no way!” Naruto exclaimed, inwardly hoping that she couldn’t.

‘Just sit there, you’ll see,’ Korra said as she walked to the lake.

Approaching the edge of the lake’s H2O, Avatar Korra placed her right foot over the water’s surface area. Instantly, her waterbending abilities guided the water’s properties into a increased density, yet maintaining its liquefied form, allowing the twelve year old girl to walk on top of the lake as if it was solid ground.

“How the hell are you doing that!?” Naruto shouted with a shocked expression.

“Waterbending,” Korra explained as if it was a everyday thing.

“That doesn’t explain anything at all!” Naruto retorted.

“Well… Um… Hm…” Korra said as she tried to think of ways to explain it. “My… Chi… Um… Huh…”

“Well? I need a explanation,” Naruto said, crossing his arms.

“Then show me how you walk on water Mr. Ninja!” Korra exclaimed to him.

“Fine then, I will!” Naruto said as he rushed toward the lake, running up to the water walking Korra.

Naruto decided to jump on to the deep parts where Korra now stood, “Chakra Water Walking, hiyaaaah!”

And then falls neck deep into the water.

Korra bent over, facing the floating head that was Naruto, “Water walking hmm?”

“Shut up,” Naruto merely commented. “I’m partially water walking…” He trailed off.

Korra raised an eyebrow, “Yeah… I see that… Well, if you need me, I’ll be in the middle of the lake.”

Korra started walking away from the ninja, who immediately called out to her, “Wait! Don’t go! Help me out of here first- Ahh!”

*SPLASH!*

Korra quickly shifted her foot and left arm toward the area where Naruto had sunk in the water. Remarkably, the surface water froze into its solid form of ice within seconds of her movements. The shinobi swimming back up then using the ice as a form of life raft, before climbing on top.

“Oh sheesh, I think the ice made everything colder!” Naruto yelled as his body shivered.

The Avatar then said, “I can always make a fire-”

“No, no, no! I’m good! Totally good! Not cold at all! I’m fit for duty, ma’am!” Naruto quickly interrupted as he stood up, squeezing the water out of his clothes, a small grin on his face.

“Okay, so… You were going to practice your version of water walking, correct?” Korra questioned.

Naruto nodded, “Yeah, couple clones here and there, then I’ll have it down pat in no time.” A handsign forming as fifty clones popping into existence.

Half of those clones fell into the water, having no where to stand.

The original Naruto face palmed himself.

“Do you want a bigger ice field?” Korra questioned.

“That’d be great,” All the Narutos said in unison.

Korra swiped both arms forward, her previously created ice field extending another few meters for Naruto to clone himself once more.

“Alright, since you’re all me, you know what to do!” The original Naruto proclaimed.

“Do what?”

“Huh?”

“No clue,”

“What an idiot,”

“I don’t know, what does he mean?”

The original’s eyebrow twitched, “Sometimes… I truly do wonder if you’re really my clones.”

Korra giggled, her hand reaching to cover her mouth to stop incoming laughter.

Naruto took a deep breath, before screaming loudly, “Stop joking around and practice water walking already!”

The Naruto clones saluted their creator, “Right away boss!”

The bender of the four elements, Korra, put a hand to her head, “I don’t think I can handle so many clones of me…”

Naruto nodded, “I don’t even know how I manage at times.” He said as he watched his clones fail multiple times, puffs of white chakra smoke surrounding both himself and Korra as they trained in his chakra control. The ninja of Konoha created more clones of himself as the others dissipated due to failure, before he also went and practiced.

Approximately half an hour later, Naruto stood bent over breathing heavily. His clones had dispelled, and the ice melted, yet the ninja stood on top of the water expertly. Despite having slight chakra exhaustion from spending so much on excessive clone amounts.

Avatar Korra whistled in awe, “So, many, Narutos.”

“I’ll say…” The voice of a fellow said, floating down and landing, a brown fuzzy tail waving in the wind.

“Gohan!” Korra exclaimed in surprise.

“Hi,” Gohan waved at her, “How’s it going?”

“Great, just helped Naruto in his training after finishing some of my own,” Korra replied to the hybrid saiyan.

“That’s great news,” Gohan said, “But I think it’s about time we get going,”

Naruto stood up, “Where to?” He asked.

“Fairy Capital, its about time we head off from Silvercross.”

“Sounds great!” Naruto grinned.

Korra crossed her arms, a smile on her face, “Sure thing, it was getting a bit boring around here anyway.”

“Fantastic, can you get our supplies from the hotel while I go inform Jaina?” Gohan questioned.

“Sure thing, I’ll get it.” Korra volunteered, she turned to Naruto and said, “You rest up, we’ll meet at the town gate.”

Twenty minutes later, at the town outskirts, four humans traveled further and further from the safety of Silvercross. The Dragon Knight, Jaina Draconis, followed her companions’ lead as they trekked along the road toward the Capital of the Fairies. As she watched absently the clouds overhead pass by, she remniscanted the smell of fresh air, and the clear blue skies.

A small breeze passed through, the feeling of the air flowing through her armor and gently touching her skin.

Her hand clenched itself, Jaina’s eyes narrowing in slight anger, ‘Curse you Damian.’

Looking back down from the skies above, Jaina glanced toward grassy fields, trees decorating the plains, giving it a perfected view of nature as the natural wildlife grazed on plant life. Her hand came upward toward her backside, gripping the handle of her blade.

‘My skill in duel-wielding has suffered greatly, I’ll have to relearn the movements before relying on using both my blades.’ She mentally sighed, ‘For now, I’ll use single-bladed forms and strikes.’

A feeling swelled in Jaina’s gut, causing her head to snap up in attention, looking around frantically for any sign of trouble, an enemy, trap, something!

‘This feeling, it has always informed me of danger beforehand.’ Jaina thought to herself.

Continuing their path downward for hours on end, the sun had just settled over the horizon, allowing the moon to come up from the other side, however the sky appeared filled with clouds, blocking the moonlight and starlit view of the night sky.

Jaina stretched, easing some of the uncomfortableness that had made itself known after hours of residing in her armor. She watched as Gohan turned around, stopping the group from continuing their journey.

“How about we stop here?” Gohan suggested.

Korra collapsed on the ground, sitting upright, “Finally… My feet are killing me!”

Naruto also sat down, “So much walking…”

Jaina walked ahead, passing by Gohan as her eyes scouted the terrain around them. Nothing seemed amiss, despite the feeling she had earlier beforehand. Her body constantly reminded her that it hurt, and it wanted to rest. But Jaina’s determination to try and find wha-

“There!” Jaina yelled out loud, shocking her companions as her palm opened up in front of her and a ball of magical flame shot forward.

The fireball sped across the grassland before it impacted against the trunk of an unlucky tree, causing it’s bark to explode outward.

A shadowy figure stepped out of the way, it appeared as tall as Gohan, a dark magenta cloak covering its form prevented most of his figure from being seen, however two horns came out of the hood, and two hooves stepped outward as it closed in on the group.

A rough, gruff voice spoke outward, holding a sinister yet amused tone, “Your instincts served you well, human. However you don’t necessarily hold the experience to match them.”

Naruto and Korra jumped to their feet as they walked up to Gohan’s side, Jaina however, stood in front of them all. Her hand gripping the handle of her right blade, eyes glaring at the enemy before her.

“Such hostility,” The cloaked figure stated, before two royal blue fur-covered hands revealed themselves and pulled back his hood. This revealed the face of a minotaur, multiple scars decorating its face from every angle made his skin look broken and stitched together just barely.

“Allow me to introduce myself, I am called by those of my prey, the purple scarred demon.”

Naruto commented on this, “Does this mean he has purple-colored scars?”

“No,” The Purple Scarred Demon answered, “But you won’t live long enough to figure out why.”

The minotaur’s hands reached into his cloak, before pulling out two identically looking battle-axes, decorated with the appearance of serrated teeth along the backside, yet holding the look of black steel, a royal blue handle matching his fur color.

Jaina drew her blade, her right hand gripping it tightly at her side.

“Goodbye, humans.” The enemy stated, before charging forward with unbelievable speed.

Jaina barely registered it as she hastily brought her blade up in defense, the sound of colliding steel echoing throughout the grasslands before her eyes darted to the second incoming axe. Her feet moved as it glided right past her left arm. Jaina reflexively used her whirlwind ability, her magic fueling its power as she spun around quickly, the air picking up around Jaina as the Dragon Knight brought her enchanted blade toward the minotaur’s body.

But the self-proclaimed Purple Scarred Demon reverse gripped his left battle axe, and used it to grab Jaina’s blade and fling it from her grasp.

“Damn it!” Jaina swore as she rolled from a strike just narrowly, her feet skidding along the ground and tearing the grass from the dirt below. Her free left hand grasping the handle of the second blade, unsheathing it quickly as she leapt toward the minotaur.

Jaina’s eyes caught the speeding right-hand battle axe coming toward her, and she gripped her sword with both hands, bringing it toward the right side of her face and effectively blocking the blow.

Pain erupted from Jaina’s left leg as the Purple Scarred Demon’s battle axe embedded itself within the metal plates, brute force impacting harshly against the nearly indestructible armor, causing it disrupt her balance and bruise her left leg.

This action against her allowed the minotaur to free its right battle axe from her sword’s parry, and come down toward her vulnerable head. However, a chakra enhanced kunai blocked the strike just barely, before she felt herself being pulled away from combat by a orange-clad ninja’s free hand as he held onto the kunai.

The battle axes begin glowing a sinister purplish color, as the minotaur crossed them over the front of his cloak covered chest. He then slashed them in a X pattern, two lines of magic shooting outward.

Naruto Uzumaki felt the earth beneath him shift greatly, before being thrust to the side by the earth coming outward and pushing him out of the way. The bended earth was then decimated into four pieces as the Purple Scarred Demon’s attack sliced right through them.

Avatar Korra, having successfully saved Naruto from being cut to pieces, thrust her arms forward as flame came forth. The minotaur dodged it easily, and charged toward the young bender only to parry the longsword belonging to Gohan.

The half saiyan Z-fighter sliced at him, but the minotaur blocked the strike by angling his left battle axe so the blade would be caught between the serrated edges. Gohan didn’t have a fast enough reaction time, and so his weapon got caught just as anticipated. The Z-fighter abandoned his blade and reinforced his arms with Ki energy quickly.

Throwing the blade to the side, the Purple Scarred Demon brought one of his legged hooves and kicked the center mass of Gohan before he could react. Gohan stumbled back, but opened his palms to reveal a blue Ki blast.

The minotaur’s eyes widened in surprise, but quickly calmed down and spun his left battle axe in front of him as the Ki blast came forth toward him. The Ki blast dissipated easily, much to our hybrid saiyan’s shock.

A aura of powerful blue energy burst around Gohan, the half saiyan’s speed improving greatly as he shot his fist forward toward the minotaur, only for it to go right through the cloak which the enemy wore.

“Who are you?!” Gohan yelled as he dodged the incoming blow of the foe’s weapon.

“Already told you,” He replied as he swiped at Gohan with his axe once.

Gohan tilted back, the battle axe passing through the air, he slammed a kick into the minotaur's side. Prompting the Purple Scarred Demon to back off, weapons raised on both side as the single-edged battle axes faced Gohan’s direction.

“Are you part of the darkness’s forces?” Gohan questioned while in his fighting stance.

“Is it that obvious? Did the ominous cloak give it away?” The Purple Scarred Demon replied.

Korra went to Gohan’s side, shouting at the minotaur, “Why are you attacking us?!”

“Orders, personal pleasure, fame, whatever, pick your reason.”

“How about, Rasengan!”

The minotaur sidestepped to the right, causing Naruto Uzumaki to fall forward and cause his completed Rasengan technique to drill into the ground, creating a crater. The dark enemy slashed his blade right through Naruto’s back, only for him to dissipate in white chakra smoke.

The Purple Scarred Demon turned swiftly to deflect a few shuriken thrown his way before his weapons glowed once more. With great strength, he leapt high into the air, before coming down straight down toward both Naruto and a now recovered Jaina.

The two human pre-teens dodged out of the way as he landed, creating a crater with his strength and his weapons impacting against the ground. This caused a small quake which brought Naruto and Jaina out of balance. The minotaur spun one-eighty degrees, ready to slice Naruto in two.

“Naruto!” Jaina screamed out as she ran toward him.

“Die, human!” The minotaur screamed as it slashed its left battle axe at the ninja.

Naruto’s eyes widened, but soon, an expression of shock appeared.

Jaina had stepped in front of him.

Inner Beasts

Book 1: Magic

Chapter 8: Inner Beasts

Again…

It had happened again…

She had stepped in front of him… He had stepped in front of him. Both of them had stepped in front of danger meant to kill him, taking a lethal blow so that he could live on. Why, is he cursed to see people die in front of him as he helplessly watches them perish? If only he had been faster… Stronger… Had more power.

Jaina’s body fell limply into Naruto’s arms, the ninja’s hands covered in the blood clotting around the slashed wounds along her chest. The memories of his best friend, Sasuke Uchiha, doing the same act of selflessness to save him, occured over and over within his mind. He had trained so hard, so hard to prevent this from happening once more.

But he failed, he was a loser, how could he ever become Hokage if he can't even save a friend?

Or protect one…

If only… He had been stronger…

If only he had been faster…

Then he could’ve saved Sasuke… He could have saved Jaina… From that… From those… Bastards!

How could they! They had no right! No right to take his friends away!!

’Hehehehehe...’

Naruto Uzumaki’s teeth clenched harshly against itself, canines lengthening as the sound of accelerated bone growth echoed silently from his mouth. His muscles tensed, hands twitching as the fingernails expanded outward into sharp claws. The whisker birth marks upon Naruto’s cheeks becoming more defined, a more animalistic expression decorated the jinchuriki’s face.

Naruto bent over Jaina’s body, all four limbs touching the ground. A crimson red bubbling energy began to appear throughout the entirety of his form. Malicious, corrosive chakra, like continuously boiling water without end, seemed to decorate his body. This red colored chakra began to take shape, two energy protruding ears coming from the back of Naruto’s head, and a single long bubbling tail waving behind the ninja’s backside.

But within the seal that still lay marked on Naruto’s stomach, the being caged within opened its eyes, teeth baring, and nine vicious long tails swishing about as it spoke with dark, violent intentions.

’At last,’

The jinchuuriki of the nine tails bijuu lifted his head, glaring hatefully at the Purple Scarred Demon with red, slitted, demonic eyes.

“I’ll kill you!” Naruto screamed with rage.

The one-tailed chakra enveloped Naruto leapt forth toward the minotaur. His feet leaving dust in his wake, speed drastically increased past his previous limitations. An outreached claw slashed diagonally at the foe before him. Claw-formed red chakra following behind his arm made his energy seem like it had a will of its own.

“Yes, show me your power, human,” The Purple Scarred demon said.

The minotaur thrust his right arm forward, the hilt of his battle axe slamming into Naruto’s stomach, causing him to miss his attack. He then brought his off-handed weapon upward, slashing across the ninja’s skin on Naruto’s left arm. The jinchuuriki of the nine tails fox recoiled slightly, however he spin quickly and managed to kick the cheekbone of the darkness troop.

It barely fazed him.

His two battle axes started to glow a light violet, before he made an cross-like pattern with them. Our shinobi of Konoha leapt away from him, the red chakra surrounding him following his body’s movements. The minotaur raised his weapons to the sky before, with a great heave, brought them downward.

A great X shaped cutting energy attack shot outward, closing in on Naruto faster than he could back away.

“Damnit, I really hate that technique!” Naruto exclaimed, his hands crossing into his signature sign. “Shadow Clone Jutsu!”

A clone, without the red chakra around him, appeared forth beside Naruto. The clone grasped Naruto’s shirt before throwing him out of the way of the cutting edge technique, before being severed and dispelled into white smoke by it.

Naruto charged forward on all fours like that of an animal. The one-tailed state jinchuuriki vanished from sight, when suddenly, he appeared right behind the Purple Scarred Demon. However the minotaur anticipated this action and blocked a powerful punch with the blunt side of his axe.

The ground beneath him broke apart from the force behind Naruto’s blow.

“Interesting, you’re more than meets the eye,” the minotaur spoke. “But I do have a job to accomplish, and your power up won’t make much of a difference!”

The minotaur flipped Naruto over by lifting his axe up violently, the jinchuuriki’s eyes widened and a kunai quickly appeared in his hand as he blocked a serrated edge swing from the darkness troop’s axe.

“I won’t let you harm anyone else!” Naruto yelled, grasping on the dark enemy’s arm, he threw the minotaur toward the ground. The ninja saw his chance, a spiraling sphere of blue chakra forming within his right open palm.

Immediately, Naruto Uzumaki leapt toward his opponent.

However this proved to be a fatal mistake.

*SLASH*

The ninja landed on the ground, writhing in agony. “Agh!” A great gash, similar to the one that struck Jaina before, decorated his abdomen. As blood dripped from his clothes, and the minotaur got up. His eyes widened slightly as the wounds upon the thirteen year old boy started to regenerate with an unbelieveable healing rate, steam rising from the injury.

Within seconds, Naruto was back on his feet, scarless, the red bubbling cloak surrounding his form.

“Naruto?”

The shinobi of Konoha whipped his head toward the direction of the voice, lo and behold, Son Gohan stood there, cautious and concerned as he looked right at him. It was then that Naruto realized that he had accessed the chakra of the Nine Tailed Demon Fox.

“Your energy.. It’s so… Malicious, dark… But I sense it’s individual from your own, what? What is it?” Gohan said in a shocked expression.

‘He senses? So he has like, sensory abilities? He can feel the Kyuubi’s chakra?’ Naruto thought to himself in small amounts of panic. If Gohan could feel the fox spirit within his gut, and senses that it is evil, what would stop him from telling the others and separating their friendship?

Naruto inwardly slapped himself, ‘Don’t think that! They’re my friends, they should accept me, right?’

“Move, Naruto!” Gohan shouted.

Naruto ducked just in the neck of time to avoid having his body severed in two, he punched at the Purple Scarred Demon but it had barely any effect. He felt Gohan grasp on the back of his shirt, a hissing sound coming from his breath as the corrosive chakra singed his hand a bit.

As Naruto was removed from the range of the dark enemy, he felt the kyuubi’s cloak of chakra around him dissipate.

’Curse you fourth Hokage for reinforcing the seal, I was so close!’

Naruto fell to his knees in exhaustion, his breathing heavy, “Damnit…”

Avatar Korra’s hands were covered in a mix of water and blood. Specifically, Jaina’s blood, as the Avatar desperately bended the water that she had filled in a water skin moments before as she attempted to heal the Dragon Knight’s fatal gash.

‘Darn it, don’t die, don’t die, don’t die!’ Korra panically yelled in her thoughts. The water glowed a light blue as it channeled along Jaina’s wounds.

Suddenly, the Dragon Knight coughed up blood before taking in deep breaths. A feeling of relief washed over Korra, Jaina would be fine, her lungs were healed and she started breathing once more. Korra stood up, looking toward the direction of the battle.

When Jaina had been struck moments before and Naruto had become enraged, Gohan had immediately picked up her body and sped toward Korra. He told, no, commanded her to find a safe area and heal the injured girl.

Of course, she didn’t question him. But the look on his face, the expression, scared her.

The energy surrounding Naruto, it unnerved her. It felt off, kind of like if she had a definition of the feeling of evil, that would be it. The red bubbling liquid-like appearance around the ninja seemed so wrong.

What is it?

Korra jolted up in surprise, something grasping her leg. Looking downward, she discovered Jaina had done so.

“K-Korra…” Jaina spoke weakly, blood decorating the bottom of her lips.

The Avatar kneeled down, “Don’t speak, Gohan and Naruto can take care of that monster, I’ll join them soon.”

“They… Don’t… No chance,” Jaina said, her hand reaching for the bag tied around her waist. “Drink this… Help them…” The dragon knight finished as she pulled out a flask carrying bright yellow liquid.

Twelve year old Korra took the flask from Jaina’s hand, looking at it in uncertainty, she said. “What does this do?”

Jaina took a ragged deep breath, “Gives dexterity…”

“So speed… “ Korra noted, popping open the cork, she smelled the top. A mixture of scents resembling that of flowers rose from the contents within.

Korra shrugged, “Bottom’s up,” with that, the avatar gulps it down.

As the potion poured down Korra’s throat, she felt her insides become energized, as if she could run a thousand miles in just a few seconds. The Avatar finished drinking the bottle before dropping it to the floor.

And with a great burst of speed, she nearly vanished from sight.

She approached the battlefield between the Purple Scarred Demon, Gohan, and Naruto. Quickly realising that Naruto was exhausted, and noting that the red energy had receded, she mentally released a sigh of relief.

‘Glad that whatever came over Naruto has ended,’ She thought to herself as she rapidly approached them, she leapt up, her current momentum giving her a great leap toward their opponent. She landed in front of the minotaur, and brought both her fists forward.

“Aaaagh!” Korra yelled in a battle cry as a massive amount of fire roared outward from her fists, a great sea of orange and red decorating the space in front of her as she released all her firebending on too him.

“Yikes!” Naruto exclaimed in surprise as he crawled away to avoid being hit by Korra’s attack, Gohan stepping away as well, the heat generated from the avatar’s bending practically making the air around to appear like a mirage.

Korra stopped her firebending, the flame dying down as she took a few steps back away from the dying embers. She narrowed her eyes, before they widened as the black charcoal colored smoke lifted to reveal a burnt down cloak and the dangerous figure within.

“You harmed me, those flames of yours, they are… Different than the natural fire.” The deep rugged voice of the Purple Scarred Demon said, the sound of tearing clothes being heard as he discarded the now worthless cloak.

Korra stepped back a few feet, shocked as the figure before her revealed the entirety of it's form. The Minotaur had a massive body, a deep bluish color to the fur coat decorating its skin. Like beforehand, when our heroes had first laid eyes on him, the purple scarred demon's face appeared to have cracks along it's facial structure. However it was just now that they realize the extent of his horrific markings that showcased along from his head to beginning of the hooves.

Naturally, this made the opponent seem more deadly than originally thought.

"By Kami, those scars..." Naruto trailed off in disbelief.

"I know, how is the body even staying together," Gohan said.

"Now do you see? This is why I have earned the name, Purple Scarred Demon." The Minotaur said. He raised his twin battle axes and suddenly charged at the Avatar, “Now perish!”

Korra reacted, throwing up a wall of earth in front of her with bending, however the minotaur’s axes glowed and cut right through the rock, making a clear path toward the pre-teen bender. She panicked from the look of a scarred demon just inches away and bursts open flames from her palms. The minotaur sneared as it no doubt hurt him, but he slashed downward and cut through a portion of her shoulder joint.

She screamed in pain as she fell backward, holding the gushing injury.

“Korra!”

Gohan yelled as he rushed forward with great speed, a aura of blue Ki firing up into existence around him as he did. The Z-fighter reached with quick timing, and used the sword from Piccolo to slash at the Purple Scarred Demon. But he simply raised his battle axe, grabbing the blade in its serrated edges and yanked it away from the hybrid’s hands.

That was fine, he didn’t need a weapon to fight.

The hybrid saiyan threw a fist at his foe, who didn’t expect an unarmed attack and was hit directly in his right cheek bone. But quickly recovered as the minotaur lifted his left leg and bucked Gohan away from him before spinning and using the momentum to follow through a diagonal attack with his weapons.

Gohan leaned back, one of the axes passing through the air harmlessly. The hybrid turned to face the next incoming attack, but found it piercing his skin. He winced in pain, but conjured a Ki blast in his right open hand, firing it at the minotaur who retreated and dodged the energy blast.

The Z-fighter charged forward, his Ki aura surrounding him as he meet in combat with the Purple Scarred Demon. He kicked with his left leg, impacting on the minotaur’s side. Using the leftover momentum, Gohan spun himself around the darkness troop’s form and elbowed his backside.

The half saiyan appeared like a blur of speed, his power pulsing as he barraged his opponent with a series of coordinated attack patterns. Left and right, up and down, it didn’t matter as he struck quickly with his martial arts skill.

But the minotaur seemed as durable as he was deadly, blocking a majority of our hero’s attacks with his fist as he sheathed his weapons to deal with a more agile foe. The Purple Scarred Demon grasped one of Gohan’s fists and flung him ninety degrees before throwing him to the ground.

Gohan slammed into the ground, but pushed himself up with a hand stand and uppercutted the minotaur using his legs. This caused the dark enemy to stagger backward to recover from Gohan’s surprise blow.

Using the recovery time to his advantage, Son Gohan stood himself upright and brought his hands to his forehead, the open palms facing the direction of the Purple Scarred Demon as spiking yellow energy formed in front of them.

“Masenko…” Gohan chanted his technique’s name before releasing it in a yellow beam of concentrated Ki energy, “Ha!”

The Purple Scarred Demon reacted faster than anticipated, grabbing hold of one his axes and spinning it hastily in front of him like a super sonic windmill.

The beam slammed against the spinning battle axe, before being deflected into the air harmlessly. The minotaur enemy then raised his axe vertically before slashing it downward, blue magical energy coursing outward in a arc firing toward Gohan.

“Arcing Wave,” He stated his attack.

Our hybrid saiyan hero dodged the attack by leaping to the right. Smashing his foot against the ground, Gohan propelled himself toward the Purple Scarred Demon, raising his fist in preparation.

The dark enemy reshealted his axe, before charging forward at Gohan to meet him in unarmed combat.

The two powerful forces meet in the middle, a crater forming beneath them as they meet eye to eye, fist to fist, kick to kick. Each blow slamming against another, bruises forming, scraps appearing, and wounds pulsing out trails of blood.

Son Gohan, after fighting the Purple Scarred Demon for minutes on end, realized, without a doubt, that he would not win this fight.

Their opponent had too much power, skill, and a merciless moral in order for them to gain victory.

‘Jaina and Korra are gravely wounded, Naruto is too exhausted to fight, and our summoning to this world has handicapped us so much that we can’t win against this foe. He’s playing with me, and I know it.’ Gohan thought to himself as he blocked a blow directed to his chest.

The minotaur’s energy signature suddenly rose dramatically.

‘This is bad!’ Gohan thought as he ducked to avoid being sliced into two pieces. The minotaur had re-equipped his weapons, and began to strike at the half saiyan with so much speed that he couldn’t keep up.

A slash appeared along Gohan’s leg.

Another on his side.

And yet one more slicing his cheek.

The Purple Scarred Demon threw his weapon, the axe embedded itself into Gohan’s chest as the hybrid coughed out blood and landed on the ground. Gohan took out the weapon and tossed to the side. Thankfully, Gohan has augmented his already enhanced saiyan body with Ki, preventing the axe from piercing too deep.

The Z-fighter stood back up and leapt away, before falling to his knees, hands pressing on the blooded grass as he saw his life liquid drip onto it.

“I must say,” The ally of the Darkness started to say, “Out of all of you, you put up the most fight. I had to increase my power to twenty percent in order to deal with you.” He finished.

“T-twenty percent? He really did play with us…” Gohan trailed off in slight disbelief, this was like Frieza all over again!

The minotaur started to step forward toward the half saiyan warrior, “But all that begins has an ending, yours just came a little early.” He taunted.

Gohan faced the ground, ‘What am I to do now? I’m low on Ki, I can’t access my Super Saiyan transformations- The ground is illuminated?’

Indeed, the grass below, despite some of it colored red due to his blood, had a soft blue color over it. The half saiyan looked up, and sighted the rest of the plains had a blue color to it as well. The fight had gone on for some time it seems, as it was not in the midst of the night.

Night...

It was then did our hero glance up into the sky.

His tail twitching.

For clouds parted away, and the picture of the full moon decorated the sky.

And just like that, Gohan’s heart pumped loudly in response.

The Purple Scarred Demon paused in his movements, curious to what the human before him could possibly be doing now. His eyebrow raised when he saw Gohan began to take deep rushed breaths, his body’s muscles beginning to pulse and calm themselves repeatedly.

“What are you trying to accomplish now?” He asked.

The half saiyan didn’t answer, his black onyx eye pupils seem to shake before shifting into pure red.

“N-no, not n-nowggrr…” Gohan managed to saw as he clenched his teeth, his vision enhancing to see the veins on his hands pulse.

Gohan shot upward, his mouth opened wide before his body began to expand outward, growing in size. His teeth lengthening themselves far more than Naruto’s previous transformation, mouth expanding into that of a large muzzle, eyes becoming entirety of the color red.

“Ggggrwoooaaahhh!” Gohan roared, as he changed further and further into that of a giant great ape.

Naruto, Korra, and Jaina, who all lay on the ground injured or exhausted, looked helplessly as a shadow of Gohan’s massive form overcasts them. The half saiyan figure’s feet smashing into the ground, a long tail swishing behind him, as two muscle-filled arms flexed in the air.

The Oozaru calmed down, breathing heavily, before snarling with anger toward the Purple Scarred Demon. Whom, by the way, stepped back in sheer shock and surprise.

Then the destruction began.

The Oozaru Gohan began by lashing out, flailing his massive arms, uprooting the few trees around him. Before the great ape grasped one of the trees, and threw it down at the minotaur before him.

The Purple Scarred Demon replied by having his battles axes glow, and a X-shaped magical attack severs through the tree and then impacts against the mighty Oozaru. The Great Ape staggers backwards, before roaring in rage.

The transformed Gohan struck out by smashing his fist toward the minotaur’s position. But he dodged it, causing a crater to form and the earth around to shake from the physical strength behind the blow.

The darkness troop slashed at the Oozaru’s legs before running back to avoid being swat at by the long tail. Gohan’s mouth glowed a bright yellow, before opening wide and releasing a powerful beam of raw Ki energy.

This beam of Ki energy tore through the earth below, vaporizing rocks and exploding outward in a great display of power.

The exhausted shinobi, Naruto, yelled toward the Great Ape, “Gohan, stop! You’re going to blow us up too!”

“Grwooooah!” The Oozaru replied as it smashed his foot down, breaking apart the ground underneath.

Naruto Uzumaki stood up, “Darn it, I can tell when someone has lost control of himself… No time… Got to get Jaina and Korra out of here while Gohan distracts that guy…” The ninja said to himself as he summoned forth the last of his chakra and conjured two clones beside him.

The two clones nodded, and they ran up and picked up the two grievously injured Dragon Knight and Avatar. Just in time too, as they leapt away carrying the two as beams of raw Ki energy impacted against the ground, exploding outward with shocking power.

The shadow clones brought Jaina and Korra to Naruto, but the Purple Scarred Demon arrived to meet them.

“You’re not going to get away from me!” He exclaimed with anger.

“Gwrooooaaah!”

“I think Gohan thinks otherwise!” Naruto yelled, as he and his clones tried to jump away from an incoming fist, which slammed into the ground in front of them.

The debris shooting outward from the destruction hit against both the minotaur and our heroes. The clones poofing out of existence as Naruto, Jaina, and Korra skid across the ground, slowing to a stop as they all breathed heavily.

“I… Must be cursed or something…” Naruto trailed off, shakingly getting on his feet once more. “But I can’t give up now… Not now, not ever!”

Naruto crossed his fingers into his signature sign, his breathing slightly erratic, “Shadow Clone Jutsu.”

Four clones popped into existence with the appearance of white chakra smoke, before one of them disappeared instantly and its chakra returned to the original.

“Don’t got much… Chakra… Heh, that’s a strange thing for me.” Naruto chuckled at his own predicament.

“Gwrrroooah!” The roaring sound of the Oozaru Gohan caught Naruto’s attention. He pointed toward two of his clones, “Get Korra and Jaina to safety,” He started before looking to his third one, “You, with me!”

Naruto and his shadow clone ran toward the battlefield, their aim, the Purple Scarred Demon. Whom was locked in a struggle between himself and Gohan’s Great Ape form. The latter who flailed his massive arms in an attempt to hit the minotaur, occasional beams of destructive Ki energy launching forth from his mouth which decimated the surrounding landscape.

‘Gohan can sure cause a lot of damage in that form… We have to defeat that scarred cow dude first, then deal with trying to turn Gohan back!’ Naruto thought to himself, opening his right palm which his clone walked near and began to conjure a spiraling sphere of concentrated Chakra within it.

With the Rasengan technique complete in the original Naruto’s palm, the clone ran forward and began throwing a few shuriken at their enemy.

“What?!” The Purple Scarred Demon yelled in surprise as he blocked the incoming ninja stars with his battle axes, he then sneared at the incoming jinchuuriki, “Don’t you humans know when to give up?!”

“Those words are not in my dictionary cow face!” Naruto loudly retorted.

Naruto’s shadow attacked, but was quickly dealt with an effective strike by the minotaur. The ally of the darkness sought to rid of Naruto, but the Oozaru before them slammed down its tail at their position.

This caused the Purple Scarred Demon to jump out of the way, and also gave Naruto the advantage he needed as he used Gohan’s massive tail to propel himself up at his opponent.

“Rasengan!” Naruto screamed in anger, thrusting his technique right into the dark minotaur’s lower abdomen.

“AAAARGH!” The evil dark enemy screamed as he was sent spinning from the air and the ground, his body skidding along it as the grass tore off its roots and his form rolled out of control.

“GWROAH!” The Oozaru Gohan roared as it launched a beam of Ki energy toward the downed Purple Scarred Demon.

The dark minotaur pulled some sort of item out of a small bag tied to his waist, “Next time humans, you won’t be so fortunate!” Suddenly, the item glowed and he disappeared with a loud crack just at the moment the beam of Ki impacted his position.

*BOOM!*

Naruto slammed into the ground as the explosion kinetic energy affected him. As he did, he struggled to stand back up to deal with the raging ape form of Gohan.

That was, until, a bright pink light shone on the Oozaru.

And he stopped moving.

And then, without hesitation, pulled his own tail off!

‘What the! What happened?!’ Naruto thought in shock.

The Great Ape began to shrink, smaller and smaller, and the pink light encased his body. Then, there was only Gohan, his clothes looking as if they had never torn off or suffered any damage during his transformation or the bout with the Purple Scarred Demon.

The half saiyan fell unconscious right afterward.

Naruto clenched his teeth, and managed to take a small case out of his ninja pouch. He popped it open, and swallowed a chakra pill. Then, after closing it and placing it back in the pouch. With some emergency recovered energy, he summoned forth a couple of shadow clones.

“Get… Us… Safety…” Naruto managed to say.

‘I can’t help but think, that the light was probably that Element Gohan carried...’

And then, there was black.

Trust is Earned, not Given

Book 1: Magic

Chapter 10: Trust is Earned, not Given

Our four heroes: Naruto Uzumaki, Son Gohan, Jaina Draconis, and Avatar Korra, followed the fairy commander through the gate and into the capital city. It was then, when traversing through the entirety of the place, that Korra finally figured out something, a point of view that astounded her.

Everything was peaceful, from the children playing in the streets to the guards that conversed with the citizens, nothing seemed… Different. It was hard to describe for this serene place seemed to have no grudges or hatred of any sort, no spark of violence, anger, sorrow, or any other typical emotions that demonstrated such conflict.

Just… Peace, as if there wasn’t any war, any loss of friends or family. As if the Darkness never came to be, this… This…. This was what that yellow pegasus had referred too. The scene before the Avatar reminded her of what she is, a bringer of balance and peace, her goal!

And it seemed, that she wasn’t the only one thinking of this. The loudmouth companion she knew to be Naruto had not spoken a single word. His eyes just seemed to be half open, like reminiscing about something that should’ve been, but wasn’t.

Even Jaina, who by far happened to be arguably to most non-cooperative member of the group, is staring at the surroundings with the utmost astonishment and awe. Korra couldn’t help but remember the small details that she heard from her initial introduction and small conversations.

Korra bit her lip, ‘All this time I’ve been talking to my friends, yet I barely know anything about them. All I know happened to be most of abilities, and what I’ve happened to learn when they talked about what current equipment they had on hand.’

She looked back to Naruto, ‘And the person who so happens to be the most loudest and somewhat idiotic person of the group… Is the one reaching out to all of us… Naruto… I call myself the Avatar. I’m suppose to bring balance to my world but I can’t even bring us together as a group, and yet you’ve shown more effort in that than I have . You and Gohan seem to have a relationship with each other that I’m… Quite frankly… Jealous of.’ Korra thought, her mind having wandered to a inner monologue.

“Hey!”

Korra’s head snapped up in attention, “Huh, what?” She geniusly said.

Naruto chuckled, “It’s me, anyhow, I was wondering if you had any money left from Silvercross Town?” He asked.

“I think Jaina had the money,” Korra answered him.

Naruto smacked his fist in a open palm, “Oh yeah! Thanks anyway.” He said before slowing down his walking to get next to the Dragon Knight.

Korra walked closer to the half saiyan Z-fighter, a question on her mind, “Hey Gohan?”

Gohan looked toward her, the thirteen year old saiyan having a grin on his face that lightened up her mood, “Yeah?” He replied.

“”I was wondering if-”

“Believe it!”

Gohan and Korra turned their heads and faced Naruto with deadpanned expressions of ‘Really?’

Even the fairy commander was wondering why in the sacred leaves did the orange-clad human shouted randomly.

Jaina mouthed a single word, “Idiot.”

“Was there any reason for you to even say that?” Gohan questioned.

Naruto gave a sheepish smile, “Uh… Force of habit.” He replied with embarrassment.

Korra said, “Somehow, this doesn’t surprise me.”

The ninja had a comical expression plastered on his face, “What you mean by that!?”

Gohan answered him, “It means you say it so many times that you might as well say,” He stopped to change his tone of voice similar to Naruto’s, “Believe it!” Then changed back, “Every five minutes,” He finished with a amused smirk.

“Oh come on... “ Naruto stated.

“You don’t hear me say, Deal with it! Every five minutes.” Korra commented.

Jaina chuckled a bit, “That would get so repetitive.”

“I wonder what I would say…” Gohan wondered out loud.

Korra replied to the half saiyan, “I don’t know, that Kamehawhatever you call it?”

“Kamehameha,” Gohan corrected the Avatar girl.

Naruto grew a bit curious, “Kamehameha! Kamehameha! Kamehameha! Actually that sounds a bit cool to say…” He commented.

“Oh ha ha,” Gohan replied.

“What’s that even mean?” Jaina asked.

“Turtle Destructive Wave,” He answered.

“It kills turtles!?” Naruto and Korra both say in alarm.

“What, no!” Gohan exclaimed. “It’s just called that cause the creator was called the Turtle Hermit Sage!”

“Ooooooooh,” They both say.

“So…” Naruto began to say, “Frog Destructive Wave?”

“Avatar Destructive Wave?” Korra butted in.

“Dragon Destructive Wave sounds better,” Jaina finished it.

“It does,” Korra agreed with the Dragon Knight.

Gohan facepalmed, “You… You’re all ridiculous.”

“You can say that again…” The fairy commander couldn’t help but comment on the conversation between the four human teens. “I really doubt you’re our enemies if you all act like that…”

The hybrid saiyan Z-fighter scratched the back of his head, “Hehe…” he chuckled.

‘Oh great, we just embarrassed ourselves...’ Korra thought to herself with a red-faced expression. ‘I blame Naruto!’ She finished her train of thought.

“Why do I get the feeling someone’s thinking of me…” Naruto whispered to himself.

“If you three haven’t notice,” Jaina began, “I believe we arrived at their capitol building.”

Naruto snickered, “So, you believe it?” He teased.

Jaina’s eyes widened a bit, before saying, “S-Shut up.”

“Well, at least the jokes can’t get any worse.” Gohan said with a grin on his face.

Naruto’s expression went into that of a mischievous one, “Never occur a prankster’s wrath…” he said, rubbing his hands together.

Korra stepped back, “Well…” She began to say, “Nice knowing you Gohan, I’ll bring something to wash it off.” The Avatar finished, patting the hybrid’s shoulder.

“What I say?” Gohan asked.

Jaina sighed, before smirking, “Actually… I’ll be there to see that happening.”

“Can… You not?” Gohan asked Naruto as the saiyan’s tail curled upward in a expression equal to that of a crude question mark.

“Too late, your destiny has been sealed!” Naruto exclaimed, both arms on his waist as he laughed his in a jokingly evil matter.

“I’ll be on my guard then,” Gohan said, “You never know… The destiny might turn against you.”

“We shall see Gohan, we shall see,” Naruto stated.

“We’re here,” The Fairy commander interrupted the group.

Our four heroes entered into a massive tree, the insides carved with a delicate yet royal matter that in contrast with the positive outlook of the city, gave the impression of a serious political atmosphere. Going down a dimly lit hallway, they entered into a large dome room with a balcony that held a number of seats in which high ranking leaders of the fairy council sat, staring at the four with soul searching eyes.

Within this room, the tension between the leaders of the fairy folk, and the four teenagers was high. As if pressure weighed down on the human heroes, being judged, any action could lead to potential consequences. Any word could mean an offence to another. So, it was in our heroes best interest, that they didn’t do any unwarranted disruptions.

Jaina’s thoughts went into a serious tone, ‘This is a delicate situation, I’m sure everyone in our group realizes that.’ She thought. ‘We do not know what offends them, nor the laws of their civilization.’

The Dragon Knight looked to each fairy that held a seat in the council before her, ‘They seem to have a more united culture than my world, or is it like a monarchy?’

She looked around, guards looked down at them, fully ready for any movement that they might pull off. ‘The positions of the guards indicate a fast reaction to anything we might do. Only appears to be one way to escape, which is the entrance, but it would lead to the center of their capital. We’ll be surrounded.’

‘If I had my Dragon form, it’ll be much easier to escape if things went sour.’

“Wow this place is pretty big, reminds me of that room where we met that yellow winged horse!” Naruto exclaimed.

The apparently leader of the fairies replied, “For that, you’re all going to jail.” The female fairy said.

“...”

“Whaaaaaat!” Naruto exclaimed in alarm.

“Naruto, you idiot!” Jaina yelled at him.

“Fantastic, just what we need!” Korra yelled, “Jail time! Thanks a lot Naruto!”

“Ugh…” Gohan groaned, “This went sour fast.”

The fairy leader and her compatriots started laughing at the reactions of the humans before them.

“I’m just teasing you,” The fairy leader said, “Ah, children.”

“Oh…” All four of the human heroes said, sighs of relief all about.

“Thank goodness-dattebayo,” Naruto said.

One of the male fairies chuckled before saying, “I apologize for our leader’s tease, its a bad habit of hers.”

“Oh shush Tiaro,” The fairy leader responded.

One of the fairies, a female noble toward the right of the dome, said, “So, this is the four human ‘heroes’ that aided in defending Silvercross Town?”

“That is us ma’am,” Gohan answered the noble.

“How old are all of you?” The fairy noble asked.

The hybrid saiyan replied, “I believe around thirteen right now.”

“.... What!? By the spirits, you’re all so young!” She couldn’t help but exclaim, screw professionalism, they were just kids!

“Uh.. Well, we were older.” Gohan answered.

Jaina interrupted him, “Fairy nobles, we are of a older age than we appear. The incident of in which brought us to your world in the first place had a side-effect which decreased our physical bodies to a pre-adolescent state. I am originally of nineteen years old.”

“Seventeen,” Gohan added on.

Korra perked up, “I was also seventeen,” she stated.

Naruto seemed distressed, “What! Oh come on! That’s no fair! Everyone is older than me, I’m only sixteen! Dang it, I’ll never be the tallest in the group!” The number one knuckleheaded unpredictable ninja exclaimed.

The three humans looked to him with expressions that told him to zip it.

The Uzumaki immediately silenced himself to avoid being punched, sliced, blasted, and burnt alive.

Jaina spoke up to the council of fairies, “Esteemed fairy leaders, we are more than we appear. Our actions in Silvercross Town freed them from tyranny under the Darkness’s rule through use of stealth and strategy. If you do not believe us, perhaps if we provide some sort of demonstration it will change your thoughts?”

The four human heroes watched as the fairies discussed among themselves, they whispered so softly and quietly that even Gohan’s slightly enhanced saiyan hearing couldn’t pick up what they were talking about.

The fairy leader looked back to them, her eyes staring downward at the human teens, “We have conversed about your suggestion, and against my displeasure, voted that we will provide you a way to prove yourself.” She stated.

A fairy lord spoke up, “You may have defended Silvercross Town, but that alone isn’t warranted to give our complete trust to you.”

This time a noble fairy women spoke, “Here is your quest: East of the capital, through Fae Forest, lies a encampment of harassment of the Darkness’s forces. This small force is making its way closer to our city by removing the natural defense of the forest, chopping the trees down, so that it will make a path for their siege machines.”

The leader finished it off, “You four are to head to this encampment and destroy it, as well as free our fellow kin captured by them during some failed hit-and-run tactics.”

Jaina finished writing down the notes in her small journal, before closing the book and looking up to the fairy council, “We will do our best to destroy the encampment and free your fellows.”

Naruto wanted to shout, but the saiyan hybrid, Gohan, stepped on his foot to prevent the ninja’s outburst.

“Ow…” Naruto said.

“Shush,” Gohan whispered, his tail wiggling about to his side.

Jaina turned to her three companions, “Alright, let’s go. The sooner we get this down, the more we gain of the fairies approval to aid us.”

Korra nodded in agreement, but said, “We should eat first though, we haven’t had any food since this morning’s rations.”

“Ramen?” Naruto questioned.

“Don’t think they have that in this city, different culture,” Gohan replied.

“What… No... Ramen…”

And so the four heroes left the fairy council, Gohan dragging Naruto with him as the ninja stood still like a statue in shock. Both Korra and Jaina couldn’t help but roll their eyes at Naruto’s ridiculous dependency on a single food type, Ramen.

Son Gohan walked through the bustling peaceful capital of the fairies, having eaten the last of the rations since they lacked the local currency to really spend time at a restaurant. Behind him, Jaina, Naruto, and Korra walked with individual expressions on their faces. The half saiyan could guess easily what Naruto probably was thinking, if the earlier statement on how the ninja was going to prank him didn’t tell him enough.

The youngest Z-fighter knew that Jaina’s possible thoughts somewhere along the lines of the upcoming battle, and Korra still was a complete loss on his part.

‘Perhaps I should get to know her more?’ Gohan thought to himself, ‘We’re all friends, so why not learn more about each other?’ The hybrid human reasoned to himself.

“Jaina, you mind if you lead. I don’t really know exactly where I’m going, hehe,” Gohan said, making a truthful excuse to talk to Korra.

The Dragon Knight shrugged and took the lead of the group, Gohan slowed down his pace to match the female Avatar’s own. Now walking beside her, the half saiyan greeted her with his family’s iconic Son grin.

“Hey Korra,” Gohan said to the teen bender of the elements.

“Hello Gohan,” Korra replied with equal happiness.

“So… Uh…” Gohan said as he tried to think of a subject to start on, “How is your day?”

‘Great job genius, you couldn’t think of anything else to start talking about before beginning a conversation couldn’t you?’ Gohan scolded himself in his thoughts.

Korra tilted her head left and right slightly, “Mmh, it has been fine, though I’m sure it will get exciting when we deal with that darkness encampment,” She answered.

Gohan nodded, “Heh, yeah,” He agreed as the half saiyan struggled to think of a subject to speak about, “So… What were you doing before you were sent here? As in brought in the portal of course.”

“Pro-bending,” Korra replied with enthusiasm at the subject, “It’s a type of competition.”

Gohan grew curious, now he was interested in a sport from a different culture, “How is it played?” He asked.

Korra paused, thinking of a way to explain it, before answering him.

“Pro-bending is a competition in which two teams fight against each other using bending. There are three players in each team with each player having one of the four elements. Well, except for air; there is only earth, fire, and water used in Pro-bending.” Korra explained to the half saiyan that walked next to her.

“Why isn’t air used?” Gohan questioned.

“Well… There are only four airbenders alive,” Korra replied.

Gohan’s tail seemed to curl up along with his tilting head, his confusion evident, “Is airbending… A rare ability? How do you get bending?”

“You have to be born with it, if one of your parents is a bender you’re most likely to have it. Though there are cases where two benders have a non-bender baby.”

‘What, like in the Harry Potter series?’ Gohan thought in amusement, “Wait, if that is true, how are there only four airbenders? Is it a rare genetic anomaly that forms when two different benders have a child?”

“Genetic what now?” Korra said, blinking, she shook her head, “No, all the airbenders were… Killed off in the hundred year war with the exception of the previous Avatar.”

“Wait what?” Gohan said in surprise.

“D-did I hear what I thought I heard?” Naruto butted in, shocked.

Jaina remained quiet.

Gohan spoke up again, “Wait, so… When was this hundred year war?”

Korra hummed in thought, “I think… By the time I was born… It ended fifty three years ago.”

Gohan crossed his arms as they all continued walking, “Adding the age you stated within the fairy council places it around seventy years ago. I… I don’t see how with only four airbenders that lineage is going to last long. If it is a genetic trait, it will disappear completely in a few generations.” He said.

“Wait, you mean, that…” Korra trailed off as she managed to piece together that by the time she ‘reincarnated’ once or twice the airbenders could be extinct. “Well… Tenzin isn’t going to like that…” She whispered to herself.

Naruto walked a bit back next to them, “I know it’s rude to overhear and all, but who the hell is crazy enough to destroy an entire group of people?!” The ninja exclaimed with anger.

“Firelord Sozin and Ozai,” Korra stated, “Both of them were said to be firebender fanatics, they believed firebenders should rule the entire world, specifically Sozin, and his grandson Ozai later on, alone. Sozin used used a comet he named after himself to greatly improve the power of all firebenders and then waged genocide on the air nomads, wiping them and their culture out with the exception of Avatar Aang.”

“And then proceeded to wage your world’s version of World War one and two?” Gohan questioned.

“Or the Great Ninja Wars?” Naruto added on, knowing that it was probably an equal estimate.

Korra shrugged, it was history for her, and it looked like her world wasn’t the only one, “Pretty much.”

“Everyone, pay attention,” Jaina stated, making them look up and notice they were in the midst of a forest. “We’re almost there.”

“Wow… Time flies,” Gohan commented.

“Whoa, there are a lot of them,” Naruto stated.

The four humans looked toward the large encampment filled with the forces of the darkness, most of the enemy forces were that of corrupted satyrs and Diamond Dogs. The latter in which were a new type of being that our heroes never seen before, until now that is. The darkness foes were cutting down the nearby trees, fueling fires with the wood, working crude machines, and chatting about with rough speak. Toward the back, our heroes could see a shack that held prisoners within cages, treated poorly.

Jaina nodded in agreement to the ninja’s statement, “I estimate around a hundred, give or take a few dozen more.”

Gohan hummed, “Hmm, what’s our plan then?” He questioned.

Korra crossed her arms, “We could just charge forward and hit them hard,” She suggested.

The hybrid saiyan shook his head, “No, it would allow them to grab some of their captives and use them as bargaining chips.”

“Perhaps a aerial assault?” Jaina began, looking toward Gohan, “You could strike from above and cause some chaos as we come around and attack quickly,” She finished.

“No, it wouldn’t work,” Gohan replied. “All of my Ki attacks are explosive, there’s a risk that it could cause a massive forest fire by scattering the campfires as well as possibly injure the captives.”

Naruto spoke up, “Why not make so they can’t escape, enter the forest, or get to the captives in the first place by blocking them off, then we can press on them and finish it off as they are cornered?”

The others looked to him.

“Well think about it,” Naruto started. “We can have Korra use her earth jutsu-”

“Earthbending,” The Avatar corrected.

“Earthbending,” Naruto said, before continuing, “To create a surrounding semi-circle wall that blocks off three sides, that way the only way they can escape is to come toward us. We can finish them off quickly like that.”

“That sounds good in theory,” Gohan said. “But how is Korra going to create that wall without them noticing?”

“Easy, you and Jaina can provide a distraction by staying ahead of Korra. As you fight their forces, you would slowly move along the path of a semi-circle, Korra would be electing up walls all the while. By the time they realize they are completely surrounded, we will all deal the final blow!” Naruto exclaimed.

Jaina, Korra, and even Gohan blinked. Before the latter hero smirked and joked.

“Who are you, and what did you do with Naruto?” The hybrid said.

“Oh haha! Very funny, I’m serious here!” Naruto replied.

“We can use this,” Jaina said, “The plan is worth a shot. Any stranglers can be dealt by Korra.”

“I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact Naruto came up with this…” Korra trailed off, “But what about the hostages?”

“We… Uh…” Naruto said, “I haven’t thought that far…” He finished with an embarrassed grin.

“At least you’re back to normal,” Korra teased. “I guess I could rescue them after I raise up the wall.”

“Alright cool, you do that.” Naruto replied.

“We have our plan,” Jaina said, “Now let’s follow it through.”

Gohan grinned, “I’m sure we can do it guys, believe it.”

“Yeah! Believe it! Wait… Wait a second…” Naruto trailed off.

“Told you so,” The hybrid saiyan said.

Naruto scratched his hair, “Yeah, yeah, I get it now.” He said sheepishly.

And so, our heroes began their plan of action, both Gohan and Jaina entered the encampment, immediately, they attracted the attention of the darkness’s forces that occupied it. At first, they met no resistance as they walked deeper within the camp.

That didn’t last long.

“Hahaha,” laughed one of the corrupted Diamond Dogs. “You have walked into your doom!”

“We’re going to kill you!” Said another.

“It’s a fact, you are going to die!” Another said.

“Really now?” Jaina said.

Gohan smirked, he could feel his saiyan blood beginning to boil, anticipating the upcoming battle, “Let’s test that fact.”

Without a second to waste, Gohan smashed a fist into the stomach of the nearest corrupted satyr, which gasped as saliva spit out of its mouth. The half saiyan Z-fighter quickly brought up his other fist, and punched his foe’s left cheekbone, sending it flying.

Jaina brings forth one of her blades, and slashes diagonally across a Diamond Dog’s body, she then kicks it away and points a open gauntlet toward another of the creatures.

“Fireball,” She says, as her magical energy channels into her hand and releases a flaming bolt, shooting its way across the ground, impacting against two of the darkness’s forces, burning them alive as their furs caught fire.

“Get them you fools!” One of them yells.

“Charge! For the Darkness!”

The forces of the darkness, corrupted and all, charge at our two heroes with malicious intent. But they appeared to be whirlwinds of death, as their expertise in both martial arts and swordsmanship greet their foes with defeat upon defeat. All the while, they slowly made their way around the encampment, distracting the forces as another one of their companions does her job.

Korra, the Avatar of the four elements, breaths deeply to prepare herself for her show act, that of conjuring up large formidable walls of earth. Opening her eyes, Korra runs forward before skidding her feet along the ground and raising both fist high in the air as if she was lifting something up.

Instantaneously with the completion of that movement, a stone wall forms in front of her. Korra smirked, and starts to make her way around, keeping in mind that it does take a little while for both Gohan and Jaina to lure the group of enemies around.

Gohan brought Piccolo’s blade up, blocking a weapon’s strike against him, the half saiyan dropped to the floor, and sweep kicked. This action brought down three guys that were in front of him, as he then hand pushed himself into the air with ease. Gohan, now in the air and facing downward, opened his hands to reveal small concentrated Ki blasts that would hit the enemies and not really the surrounding environment.

“Grrraaaaaah!” Gohan yelled as a multitude of blasts erupt forth from the saiyan’s palms, concentrated, small in size, and with the enemy clustered together, each and every blast hitting only their intended target.

The hybrid kicked away a corrupted satyr as he landed back on the ground, ‘Everything is going just as planned so far,’ Gohan thought to himself.

“Eeeyaah!” Jaina yelled her battle cry as she slashed open the stomach of a Diamond Dog, she then placed her hand in front of him, “Fireball!”

A flame bolt of magical energy mercifully ended the creature’s life from having to deal with the pain he exploded into ash and the fire ball impacted against the being behind its previous position.

The Dragon Knight quickly turns, and reels back to avoid an attack, she brings her blade up, blocking an attack from the side, metal upon metal creating sparks that disperse.

Jaina couldn’t help but smirk, “You lot are nothing but lapdogs! The lowest bunch for menial labor!” She taunted.

“Arf, shut up!” One of the diamond dogs exclaimed.

“Haha, I shall put the fear of the Dragon within you!” Jaina yelled as she kills another one of them by slicing its head clean off, “Magic Missile!” She exclaims, raising an arm up high, firing three arcane bolts of pure magical energy, each splitting off and finding individual targets.

They never stood a chance as the arcane energies seared off their flesh and turned them to dust.

With Korra, she continued to erect earth-made walls, she was surprised the darkness forces were having yet noticed them. But Jaina and Gohan were quite distracting in causing both chaos and taunting in the camp, they were almost done!

“Can’t wait until I get to join the fray,” Korra said to herself as she continued to earthbend and follow through with the plan laid out by Naruto Uzumaki.

Gohan dodged, and then uppercutted another on the diamond dog creatures, he moved out of the way of some more erratic and uncoordinated strikes, and then responded correctly with a series of martial arts.

‘Almost there, come on!’ He thought to himself as he observed that they were close to their goal.

Meanwhile, within the entrance of the Fae Forest…

Naruto observed within the trees the battle within the darkness encampment, waiting for the moment in which he will strike fast and hard with clones and all. His companions, Korra, Jaina, and Gohan were accomplishing their parts with ease.

‘Then again,’ Naruto thought to himself. ‘This camp is actually easy to defeat when compared to purple scar face… I guess our battle with him got us overestimating them.’

Finally, he took notice that Korra had just finished creating the semi-circle wall of earth, surrounding them completely.

Naruto smiled as the enemy took notice.

“Where we going!?” One of them yelled.

“We are surrounded, the darn human scum trapped us!”

“Quickly, head toward the forest!”

Naruto leapt forward to the tree just before the camp, and they saw him, all of them.

“It’s just one human, get in there!” A diamond dog exclaimed.

“I don’t think so!’ Naruto proclaimed, “You’re all going down!”

Naruto did his signature hand sign.

*POOF!*

What appeared to be a hundred Narutos suddenly appeared in white smoke, all of them working together to give their other a blue ball of spiraling chakra in their open palms.

“Take this!” Naruto shouted as he and his clones all leapt from the trees and toward the trapped group of enemies. “Multi Shadow Clone Rasengan Barrage!”

“Oh shit!” A bad guy yelled.

A hundred Narutos collided with the trap forces of the darkness, Rasengans impacting against them to form a large drilling wall of chakra energy, spiraling outward as he tore through the enemy, explosions racking the area.

“Aaaaaahh!” All the Narutos yelled in unison as they pushed their techniques, slamming harshly against them, breaking through their armors and weapons with ease.

“Way to go Naruto!” Gohan cheered as he raised a fist in the air, both he and Jaina safe from the attacks of the ninja clone army.

“Tch,” Jaina scoffed as she crossed her arms, her blade now back in its sheath.

“No fair, I wanted to fight too…” Korra said, “I’m fighting next time.”

Gohan laughed, “Sure thing, but I’m sure we just got lucky this time. The Purple Scarred Demon showed us that there are dangerous and powerful forces within the Darkness’s grasp.”

Naruto, the original, ran up to his companions. “There we go, all finished. Let’s go rescue those prisoners and head back!” He exclaimed.

“Agreed,” Jaina said.

Korra nodded, and bends a hole within the earth wall to make a door directly to the captured allies, “This way.”

Magical Trio

Book 1: Magic

Chapter 11: Magical Trio

Ominous clouds trail over the sky, no where in sight, does the sunlight show through. The landscape, nothing but wasteland, darkened by the lack of light, and plant-life nonexistent. It was here, darkness resides within its conquered domain.

A castle, standing tall, defiant against all odds, and decorated with the spikes of black stone.

Towers, spread throughout the wasteland, acting as fear-inspiring displays of defensive force.

Keeps, holding among specific points, containing terrifying creatures, and walls harder than steel.

And, floating above the castle, an island made out of a grayish violet crystals levitated in the air through the use of unknown magics. It’s edges holding towers, containing large weapons of deadly capabilities. A wall, making a inner circle, which guarded a single temple.

Within that temple, floating on a small pedestal surrounding by a sphere of dark energy, a small tiara with a red star-like gem upon it hovered endlessly.

The sounds of footsteps echoed in the air, a humanoid figure, whom’s cloak held a tattered aged appearance, golden cloth showing around the section of the neck to make a runic formation down toward the middle of the back, whom’s hood covered its face, stepped forward until just an arm’s length from the pedestal.

”Element of Magic, how goes your soul’s imprisonment?”

The gem encased within the floating tiara, glowed in answer.

’Not any better thanks to you! You’ll lose, the Princesses will stop you! A female voice rang out from the magical jewelry.

”And whom have the Princesses summoned to stop me? They themselves fall back on the legends left by humanity for hope.”

”I do not know, and wouldn’t tell you anyway!”

”Lies are quite a futile effort when confronting one such as myself, little girl.”

”Like you would know if I lied or not, Darkness.”

”The spell that your dear princesses have attempted has summoned something, girl, and it could be villains seeking to conquer the world.”

The gem seemed to shine a bit brighter in its reply, ”No, they are heroes! They already saved one of my friends from your dreaded spell!” Suddenly the gem grew silent.

”So, the report from one of my captains reign true. They have summoned humans to this world. No matter,they will not change anything.Destiny has stated that I shall be victorious.”

"Destiny? It was a false prophecy! It had to be! Good will always triumph over evil!"

”On the contrary, Element of Magic, good and evil is only an illusion to those who can't comprehend the universe's true nature.”

The darkened figure turned around and began walking away from the ever floating jewel, ”Until we meet again, holder of Magic. I have work to do.”

Within the domain of the fairies, at the edge of the Fae Forest, four human teens closed in on the constructed shack that no doubt held the prisoners. Of course they could see a few prisoners in cages, but Gohan sensed there was a large majority within the building itself.

In fact, now that he had a good look at it, the shack appeared more like a barn then a small wooden construct. Although it appeared made out of some sort of dark wood, most likely that of the Fae Forest lumber the darkness forces managed to harvest before he and his companions dealt with them.

Suddenly, his senses picked up something else. A violent energy that had finally shown itself, and it was powering up hastily.

Gohan stopped, and surprised his fellow humans when his blue Ki aura erupted around him, flaring outward in a showcase of power.

The hybrid Z-fighter was no longer taking chances when it came to these darkness forces. The Purple Scarred Demon showed that there were powerful adversaries, Gohan remembered that his power level appeared low, yet the demon utterly decimated them as a whole.

He silently cursed himself for that, he should've known that strength and power isn't everything. His world held plenty of examples. Guldo could control time despite being very weak, and nearly killed both himself and Krillin. The Androids held no power levels, yet they took down Yamcha, whom was a formidable warrior himself, down in one blow. That's not to mention what he learned from the other Androids who defeated Vegeta in Super Saiyan state!

And also... Cell... The bio-android was initially weak, but held the ability to absorb the life force of other beings, which is the reason he grew so strong in the first place.

Yes, power isn't everything. There are abilities and techniques which can overcome strength alone.

Luckily however, Gohan knew he had companions who have different methods of dealing with enemies. And diversity is always a great advantage.

He inwardly suppressed his saiyan urge for battle, now was not the time to get lost in its instincts.

"Everyone! There is something powering up from that barn, and whatever it can be is not friendly!" Gohan exclaimed as he slipped into a fighting stance, his legs bent evenly, firm on the ground, and his arms prepared both at his side and front.

“We shall beat him up real good-ttebayo!” Naruto exclaimed loudly.

“Hey, it’s my turn this time! You guys had all the previous enemies! Let me have a shot!” Korra exclaimed.

They do not understand, this new opponent wasn’t just some other enemy out of the woodworks! His senses were alerting him of growing power, yet, once again his inner saiyan blood began to boil for the thrill of a challenge.

‘Not now, Gohan, focus!’ The hybrid saiyan scolded himself.

“Move you imbeciles!” Jaina stated, snapping everyone to attention as they all rolled out of the way, Gohan flying into the air as a green wave of magical energy passed through their previous positions and destroyed a small section of trees.

“Whoa, that was a close one!” Naruto said as he stood back up, facing the direction from which the attack came.

The door of that shack had been completely blasted apart, creating a large hole on the building’s exterior. Within it, shockingly, stood on all fours a white furred pony. Specifically, a unicorn given the horn on its head and a female to boot due to the body figure.

Gohan, Jaina, Naruto, and Korra blinked all simultaneously, was this their attacker? A small white furred unicorn that was only three-fourths the thirteen year old Naruto’s height?

‘Cute,’ Gohan couldn’t help but think. Yet at the same time, his saiyan side insisted to destroy the adorable menace, to be alert, for it was not as it seems. Not only that, but his companions seemed to have left their guard a bit as well, even Jaina, if only slightly.

The pony, white furred it may be, tail included, held no mane of any kind. It’s oversized eyes seemed to look to them with a unknown innocence, before it changed drastically, oh so immensely did that facial expression shift. It’s rose red eyes took on a menacingly look as the mare’s form erupted forth with a flame-like darkish purple aura.

‘Dang it, I got to quickly-’ Gohan interrupted his own thoughts as he concentrated on his movements, dropping down to the ground his blue aura burst around him and then flared behind the saiyan as he practically rushed at the darkness corrupted unicorn.

The now menacingly looking unicorn reared her head forward, and a large, most likely deadly, ball of unyielding silver arcane magic with a small outline of black shot at the incoming saiyan hybrid.

Son Gohan stopped himself within his tracks, feet dragging across the dirt as he hastily put up his arms in defense. The ball of silver energy impacted quite harshly against him, an explosion racking the area as the Z-fighter was blown back. Gohan, with a burst of Ki, corrected his body and backflipped into standing position.

“Man…” Gohan trailed in his words, getting back into his martial arts stance, “That stung pretty bad, but that won’t stop me!”

The Z-fighter looked around him, already his fellow companions were springing into action. Naruto, as usual, had already summoned up some clones, while Jaina unsheathed a single blade and was bringing her magical energy within her free hand. Korra appeared to be charging into the fray, but whatever attack she has planned, the Son of Goku couldn’t tell.

‘If what I think is right,’ Gohan began in his head. ‘Then both Korra and Naruto will begin with close combat, while Jaina either uses her Fireball or Magic Missile technique-Spell, spell.’ He corrected himself.

While the saiyan hybrid thought of an action to follow up, Naruto charged at the corrupted unicorn with his clones. The first clone tried to throw a punch alongside another clone, but the unicorn teleported with a flash of bright light, appeared behind them, and cut through them with a magical spell that created a curved slash.

As per usual, the two clones dissipated in puffs of white chakra smoke.

“Rasengan!” The original Naruto shouted as he came forth from the smoke, a spiraling sphere of blue chakra spinning in his right hand. The orange-clad ninja thrust his attack forward at the unicorn, only for the white colored equine too conjured a shield in defense.

The Rasengan promptly drilled into the created defense and broke through it seconds later. But those seconds were enough for Naruto Uzumaki to get blasted back by a number of weak magic blasts.

‘Almost as effective as Piccolo’s Special Beam Cannon,’ Gohan thought of Naruto’s technique, before seeing his friend get blasted back. ‘Those blasts are similar to Ki blasts, though a weaker variation.’

Gohan began to float just above the ground, and circle around the combat scene as Korra started her own attack.

The Avatar of the four elements moved with deadly speed, spewing forth heated red flames from her palms as she attacks quite offensively. Son Gohan couldn’t help but believe that her Firebending Style resolved around quick, ferocious combos designed to bring down the enemy as fast as possible.

This type of fighting style seemed to put the enemy unicorn on edge, as if the mare didn’t anticipate flames to be used in such a matter.

‘Well,’ Gohan had a thoughtful expression as he hovered, watching. ‘From what I’ve seen so far, the magical variation in the usage of fire required the user to stand still. So, it would come to a surprise that someone like Korra, who has total control over the element, would have such a style that depends on quick movement and action.’ He finished.

Gohan shook his head, ‘Pay attention Gohan! Okay, what do you know about your enemy? Teleportation for one, it’s instantaneous as well. Magical blasts similar to Ki, less kinetic force of course. A spell that is like a blade slashing horizontally, and then some sort of explosive spell that struck me earlier. Quite a variety, add a shield and it would give me trouble in my current state.’

The saiyan then smirked, ‘If she was double the strength she is now,’ he thought.

Gohan’s body lit up as a blue aura of raw Ki energy burst into existence around him. The half human hybrid charged forward with great speed, catching the unicorn by surprised who had just teleported out of the way of Korra’s relentless flames. Gohan struck the darkness troop with his right elbow, sending the corrupted mare flying.

With rapid movement, the saiyan seemingly vanished from sight and reappeared in his opponent’s collision course. He struck the soaring unicorn upward into the sky with a powerful uppercut; with another action of rapid movement, he appeared high in the sky and kicked the unicorn back down to the ground.

The result was the unicorn crashing harshly as rocks broke up into the air, a crater forming from the position where she landed.

“Holy ramen, I don’t know either to be scared or be in awe at how cool that was!” Naruto commented on Gohan’s combo. “You moved as fast as bushy brows, and he’s like super fast dattebayo!”

The Z-fighter hovered back to the ground, sheepishly smiling as he scratched the back of his hair in embarrassment. “Well… I… Hehe…” Gohan attempted to reply.

Korra couldn’t help but add, “W-When you said you weren’t as affected… I didn’t know how much strength you still had… But if you are this strong…” She trailed off as her imagination tried to imagine how much more powerful Gohan could be.

But Gohan suddenly narrowed his eyes, looking back at the crater in which he created by the unicorn being hit onto the ground. “We’re not done yet,” He said in a serious tone.

“You sure about that?” Naruto questioned, “Looks pretty much like you defeated her to me.”

Our three heroes, at the ready for anything, hadn’t expected their opponent to go from one, to three! As the smoke cleared it revealed three copies of the white unicorn opponent. Only, the other two were without a horn. One appeared just like your average pony, while another had wings!

“Pegasus?” Gohan said questioningly, “Wait, how did she do that? The power level hadn’t decreased, it’s like two whole new beings had just appeared.”

“Perhaps it’s not a spell,” Jaina started, “But actually those two were also within the shack and were hiding their energy.”

“Why is it so surprising?” Naruto started, “I do clones all the time.”

Gohan scratched the back of his head, “Hehe… I guess you’re right.” He said with embarrassment.

The apparently unicorn leader of the enemy group began to speak, “Did you honestly believe that I would be defeated so easily?”

The normal pony spoke next, “Our strength goes beyond that of magic.”

The winged finished it, “You will face what it is to fight against the three tribes.”

Korra cracked her knuckles, “We defeated all the others here, you will be no different!”

The four human heroes faced the direction of the three pony adversaries, prepared for combat at a moment’s notice. Gohan readied himself in a martial arts stance as he watched his opponents.

Suddenly, the pegasus shot forward with lightning speed, a purplish aura of magic surrounding her form as she did so.

‘She’s fast!’ Gohan thought, as the pegasus opponent approached with great haste, lifting a hoof to deal a strike against him specifically. Gohan vanished just as the darkness corrupted pony struck, making his enemy miss. The hybrid saiyan reappeared above her, but she disappeared the exact same way he did!

Gohan landed on the ground, quickly standing up as he tried to sense his opponent. “She knows that move, this means she’s experienced this type of fighting before…” The Z-fighter said to himself.

Gohan blocked a side strike to him with his open palm, “Or, you just have fast opponents before?” He said to the mare. Using his other hand, he punched the pegasus with such strength that it sent her flying into the forest, trees breaking apart and falling as she crashed unto them.

Gohan turned around quickly as he sensed an incoming attack, only to be blasted into the same forest by a powerful blast of magical energy. He twirled and spun as he broke through the forest’s foliage in an effort to correct himself back into the air.

“Raaaaaah!” Gohan yelled as a burst of Ki energy blasted outward from him, stopping him from further crashing into the forest. He took a deep breath, and looked around for any foes, absently wondering if Jaina, Naruto, and Korra were doing alright.

He reeled back, avoiding an incoming kick from the pegasus. The half saiyan rebounded by striking at the mare’s chin, and then kicking her away.

“I’m sure they can handle it,” Gohan said.

Jaina Draconis slashed at the equine in front of her, the earth pony jumping back from her blade’s length. She grasp the handle of her other blade with her free palm, drawing it from its sheath and entering a duel-wielding stance.

‘One-handed is not working, I should just stick to dual-wielding and follow through what I mentally know.’ The Dragon Knight thought as she slashed with her second blade, her opponent once again dodging it, but she anticipated this action and followed up with her right-hand sword.

The pony before her got a cut right through the left shoulder, but it charged at Jaina, headbutted her in the chest and causing the teenage girl to stagger back.

Jaina clenched her teeth, before the wind began to pick up around her, the Dragon Knight’s mana fueling her channeling speed.

“Whirlwind!”

The teenage knight’s body spun around with ferocious momentum, her blades trailing behind shortly thereafter, the tips of the enchanted weapons just barely scratching the enemy’s hide. The darkness corrupted creature staggered back only slightly, before revealing a great warhammer constructed from its own magical energy. Jaina Draconis did not expect this counterattack, her spell left her vulnerable only a split second after its use.

‘I really shouldn’t rely on Whirlwind’s knockback probability.’ She thought to herself as the warhammer bashed harshly against her nearly indestructible armor causing her to be sent into the air; before gravity took her and crashed Jaina back towards the ground.

Jaina winced, her vision blurry for a split moment before it refocused just in time to see the incoming head of the warhammer. She rolled to her left, avoiding having her head split open, and leapt back to her feet.

She pushed magic into her muscles, a small pain of protest from such an augmentation was promptly ignored as she parried another incoming blow with the side of her right-hand sword’s edge. Bright sparks lit open from the collision of metal against metal, Jaina’s quick action causing the pony’s massive weapon to miss its target all together.

‘How in the name of the Divine is this cursed equine so powerful?!’ Jaina thought to herself as she swung her blade, more sparks being generated from the parrying blows as both of them tried to gain an offensive advantage over the other. ‘It makes no sense, no logic at all, it doesn’t even have fingers, how is it even holding the warhammer?!’

“Hammer Smash!” The earth pony exclaimed as its chosen two-handed weapon spontaneously increased in speed.

“Divine Damnit!” The Dragon Knight cursed loudly, she channeled her magic throughout her lower legs, a spell coming to her words in an effort to avoid the incoming attack. “Rush Attack!”

It was ludicrous to use a technique designed to charge and critically slash at your opponent as a way to actually avoid an attack. Heck, normally a human wouldn’t be able to accomplish such a different way to using the spell. However, Jaina was a prodigy, and also a Dragon Knight, she could accomplish much more than a mere man would be able too.

There was a clear difference between the Charge and Rush Attack spells, the former was used to get to a opponent and then be able to follow up with a spell of choice, while Rush Attack already had a preset follow up to it. The former is more difficult than the latter, but Rush Attack did cost next to nothing magical energy. The issue however is that Jaina's body did no longer have the muscle memory that's required to be innovative with it.

Thus, the Dragon Knight found herself crashing into the ground only a few meters away, cursing up a storm to Rivellon's deity. Suffering from the cruel backlash of spell failure, a portion of her large mana reserves wasted in only a brief moment.

"The number of times misfortune fell upon me in this new world could match the amount of my times in Broken Valley." Jaina said to herself, using a sword to press her weight against as she tried to stand back up on two feet. "And that includes the Lovis' Tower."

The warhammer wielding foe of Jaina approached with malicious intent, step by step it came forward as Jaina stood back up with both of her blades in hand. Suddenly, from out of nowhere, Naruto Uzumaki with two other clones appeared forward.

The clones conjured a spiraling sphere of blue chakra within their creator’s open hands, and the ninja struck the side of the surprised equine with a battle cry.

“Double Rasengan!” Naruto shouts as the two chakra spheres are thrust right into the earth pony’s side with great strength, the two clones behind him dispersing into white smoke.

The corrupted mare is sent spinning, warhammer and all, into a nearby tree which promptly gets destroyed and falls over her.

Jaina turns her attention back to her ninja companion, and sees him going through a number of unidentifiable hand signs that she couldn’t understand. What she did know was that Naruto’s way of utilizing energy relied on the use of such methods.

“Let’s see if this works!” Naruto said out loud, stopping at a certain hand sign. “Wind Style: Great Breakthrough Jutsu!” He finished, inhaling air before he exhaled quickly, the sheer pressure caused by the chakra augmented air blasted outward toward the equine, tearing flowers off their roots and serrating grass like a scythe would.

This sizable gust of pressurized wind impacted against the tree where their opponent had collided upon, it crushed it, shattering pieces of barks into the air, the pony herself spinning out of control as she was pushed further back into the Fae Forest.

Jaina, having now recovered, went over to the Konoha ninja. “Naruto, what about that magic-using equine?”

Naruto looked to her with a grin plastered on his face, “Korra is kicking its ass.”

‘Korra? But how could she stand up to something that uses magic?’ Jaina thought to herself, having doubts.

Korra spun around, dodging a bolt of magical energy that whipped past her, avoiding her side by a few centimeters. The Avatar of the four elements followed through the movements of the waterbending style, the liquid erupting forth from destroyed water-bearing barrels and into her hands, ready to do her very bidding.

The young Avatar guided it across her midsection, flowing up to her arms and toward the tips of her left hand’s fingernails before it shot with blinding speed at the unicorn. It spirited across the air with little resistance, and grazes the opponent’s side from the sheer speed in which the water traveled when it had hit.

“Ugh!” The magic-using equine grunted in pain as her horn lit up with arcane energies and she disappeared in a flash of bright light.

Korra’s eyes winced slightly from the bright flash, but quickly she looked around for her opponent and spotted the unicorn reappeared in a similar display of light. Already the Avatar guided the still levitating waters toward her foe’s new position, the teenage girl’s entire body moving with a fluid grace.

But her enemy also prepared an offensive attack, and three bolts of magic missiles shot forward toward the young bender. Korra’s attack connected as the water crashed harshly unto the mare. Then, quickly, she abandoned her waterbending and stepped out of the way of first bolt, her feet stopping abruptly before she leapt backward to avoid the second one. Once landing, the Avatar hastily rolled forward, the last missile traveling overhead harmlessly and dispersing on to the ground.

Korra quickly got back on her feet, rushing at her opponent soon after she then dragged her feet along the dirt, an entire motion like the beginning of a dance starting up which caused the water surrounding the corrupted unicorn to lift and bring her into a sphere of water which the equine then struggle to free herself to breath.

Korra froze the water right then and there, encasing the unicorn in a miniature pillar of ice. She awaited her opponent to somehow miraculously escape her solid prison, but after two full minutes, it appeared she couldn’t do anything.

The Avatar released a held in breath, before stretching her arms after a somewhat exciting match, “Well that wasn’t too difficult.”

She looked toward the direction of where both Jaina Draconis and Naruto Uzumaki had just defeated their own opponent, before looking toward the forest in which Son Gohan had brought his own into.

Only to have said enemy, the pegasus, be shot right out of the Fae Forest and crashing onto the ground out cold. The Ki-using martial artist flying right after that before landing, glancing at the pony for a quick moment, before looking up to Korra herself with a smile.

‘He has such a nice smile,’ Korra unwittingly thought.

Gohan lifted up the unconscious pegasus with one arm, before walking over to Korra and the ice-encased unicorn, and placed his own opponent next to the frozen prison.

“Wow, that was a small work out! But I think they were over their heads a bit, we overwhelmed them.” Gohan said. “At first I thought that it would be difficult, but apparently the huge energy I sensed was just three smaller ones all together.” He explained.

“Well, we all make mistakes,” Korra replied, not truly understanding of yet the full concept of Gohan’s sensing ability.

Naruto and Jaina came over soon afterward, one of the orange ninja’s clones dropping the normal looking equine, whom was defeated, next to the other two.

“Alright, we won!” Naruto cheerfully exclaimed, “Now let’s go save the trapped fairies!”

Jaina nodded in agreement, “I’ll stay here in case one of them awaken,” the Dragon Knight stated.

‘Always the serious one,’ Korra thought to herself as she made her way, alongside Gohan and Naruto, toward the shack that held the fairies.

Upon entering, the Avatar released a sigh of relief, the prisoners that were captured by the Darkness forces were still quite well in health, no doubt because they were only recently caught.

She couldn’t help but wonder the possibility of if they were a few days later in rescuing them.

‘Thank goodness that never happened,’ Korra thought, before helping the caged and shackled fairies out of their prisons with her friends.

Our heroes, with the released fairies and the newly captive three ponies, made their way back toward the Fairy Capital with due haste. Upon entering, the tiny but disciplined fairy military took control of the corrupted pony trio and imprisoned them somewhere else, after putting magical inhibitors on them to prevent the energy’s use.

Oh, and Korra freeing the unicorn from the ice, that too.

Gohan, Naruto, Jaina, and Korra were brought back toward the main political building of the capital once again, feeling the full blunt force that are the leaders of the nation… That is, the force of extreme over excessive gratitude.

“Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!” The energetic overall leader of the Fairy people shook Naruto Uzumaki’s hand up and down with much ferocity despite her size.

“You’re welcome, you’re welcome!” Naruto exclaimed with equal cheerfulness, he turned his head toward his companions and was about to say-

Jaina interrupted, “If you say we should eat ramen, I’ll drag you across the town and hang you on the tallest pole by the leg.”

Naruto turned his head around back to the fairy.

“No ramen in the town anyway…” Naruto grumbled, a chibi imaginary Naruto crossing his arms and crying bitterly.

“Haha…” Gohan’s chuckle trailed off.

Korra couldn’t help but have a large grin, “At least you have your priorities straight.”

The Fairy leader stopped shaking Naruto’s hand, a serious expression on her face. “Now, follow me, I shall tell you all we know about this war.”

Chronicle

Book 1: Magic

Chapter 12: Chronicle

An array of torches dimly lit up a dark hallway, though at first glance the atmosphere of the hall seemed to display a depressant of sorts, but that vanished soon afterward. The passageway soon had stained glass windows that shown colorful rays into the building due to the light entering from the outside.

Our four young heroes followed the leader of the fairy people into a sizable room, where a silence fell upon it before even a single peep could escape someone’s mouth.

In the center of this heliocentric pantheon, surrounded by a variety of mystical glowing flora, still, without a ripple throughout its watery surface, lay a small pond. Within it, tiny silver-hued flakes of unknown material float peacefully on its calm surface. Without any logic or reason, the flora that decorated the place with an naturalistic appearance had blue wisps of magical energy slowly, as if time itself came to a near brief halt, travel through the air.

The fairy leader stopped just in front of entering the serene garden, no other fairies were within the vicinity. She turned toward our heroes, whom were mystified with the look and feel of the place before them. Only one person could speak, and she spoke a question that confused her.

Jaina Draconis whispered, in a voice full of emotional luggage, “Why… Did you show us… This place?”

“To be honest, I personally felt I could trust you all. But either all, we were planning to show you the Mirror of Memories once you had returned, successful or not in your mission to save our fellow kin, we know how you are here.” The fairy leader said.

Gohan recovered from staring at the now named garden, Mirror of Memories. “Wait, so are you the ones who brought us to this world? We met someone within this Element who told us that a group of people called the Princesses summoned us here.”

Gohan lifted up the Element of Kindness from his neck to show, that obtained a reaction from the fairy almost instantaneously.

“You already found one of the lost Elements of Harmony!? We thought the Darkness had hold of them all!”

Naruto raised his hands as if halting her, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, I’m kinda lost… I only barely comprehended what the yellow flying pony said when she explained all this. Just tell me, who exactly is this Darkness?”

The fairy leader recovered her composure, “Yes of course… The Darkness is… Well…”

The four teenagers leaned in for the answer.

“I can’t really begin to describe it… Only a select few have truly seen what the Darkness actually is, but as far as I am aware, it is a being of immeasurable power.”

‘Sure haven’t heard that phase before…” Naruto, Gohan, and Jaina all thought sarcastically.

“Sounds pretty bad,” Korra said, unaware of what her companions were thinking.

“It is, the Darkness seemed to spawn out of nowhere! The entirety of the Satyr Kingdom taken control before the rest of us even took notice, with that, the villain's domain grew rapidly before all the other races could train enough forces to finally slow it down. Still, it persists and gradually is making its way for total world domination.”

“Oh great, another nutcase wanting world domination…” Naruto commented.

Jaina sighed audibly, “I agree wholeheartedly, Naruto.” She spoke with experience in the matter.

The leader of the fairies continued, “You must be most curious on to why you four are here, well, we need your help to be blunt. Originally, the Princesses plans were to summon forth four experienced adult heroes. However, it seems something went wrong and a side-effect-”

“Caused us to de-age, we understand.” Jaina interrupted, “I’m more interested on why you’ve brought us to this place, and who exactly are these Princesses you are referring too.”

Gohan spoke up, the half saiyan also having many questions, “Sorry to interrupt, but I too am curious of what Jaina said.”

“I-I understand… You have many, many questions…” She stated and pointed her hand toward the direction of the Mirror of Memories, “All four of you, look into there and you will see the past events that had occurred. Don’t ask me what events you will see, but I’m certain it all has to do with the Darkness in some matter.”

Without further questions, Jaina Draconis already made her way toward the edge of the Mirror of Memories, Gohan, Naruto, and Korra following soon after as they all circled around the mystical pool.

They stared into Mirror of Memories, the water, starting to ripple outward, before they all found themselves floating in a white void, their bodies transparent as colors surged within the blank terrain and images came into reality.

A swirling mass of colors erupted forth within the void, images come into shape, at first it seemed to be a bit more into the range bright hues, but soon it darkened, black, gray, and all other stereotypical colors assorted with evil came into being. The void shifted, taking the form of a large savanna landscape.

Within this beautiful terrain, filled with lush vegetation and wildlife, a city stood just beneath a secluded hillside. It’s inhabitants?

Humans.

But something seemed quite odd about this settlement, towers, high and mighty, and advanced magical innovations decorated the streets and lighting. This masterpiece of a civilization might seem to be ready for any kind of disaster. After all, the Humans were used to villains and heroes.

But a danger lurks, a powerful killer, the king of that genocides on a massive scale.

The streets, were empty. A silent eerie wind, breezes through the bygone quiet roads, stands, shops, and houses with no noise that indicates the sign of life.

At this moment, the images blur slightly, before focusing once again, this time on a closer perspective within the grand city.

Human corpses litter the streets, their bodies corroding away slowly into nothing but magical wisps as something ate away at them. These wisps, dissipate into the air as nothingness.

The skin, blackened, almost like it was charred yet contain no signs of being burned alive.

Yet, life remains, a lone form, whose figure is hidden within the shadows, lies on its knees in a sorrowful emotional state.

Around it, obscure shadow-like energy travels along its body.

“Control…” It says, voice desperate, “Control it…”

The images zoom out, and then time itself accelerates, revealing the years gone by as the once grand city is overtaken by nature, before eroding into the earth, and the savanna changing into that of a pine forest.

A figure of identical shape as the previously seen one, without dark energy emitting from its form, walked within this forest.

It stopped, holding itself up with a glove pressing against a tree, only for the plant to be devoured by the energy that came forth. The figure shook in self-contained rage.

“Argggggghh!!!!” It screamed loudly, as it smashed both fists to the ground, and an incredible shockwave erupted all around him, lifting up the trees from their roots, and turning a once pristine woodland into a barren wasteland.

”Hehe… Everything… Yes… Spread… “ A low, chilling voice spoke from its mouth. ”But to do that, I must destroy my opposition… The Elements of Harmony.”

A bright light shifts the image suddenly, before looking upon a small peaceful town in a nightly hour, the moon lighting the land dimly, and stars filling the sky.

The picture sped up, events happening at a more rapid pace, a figure sneaks into a large tree that had a building carved into it… Then a bright light emits from the windows with the entire construct exploding and catching fire the surrounding buildings. All the while, six lights in different colors shot into the air, before spreading out in multiple directions at the speed of light.

Our four heroes find themselves gasping for breath as they staggered away from the Mirror of Memories, trying to comprehend all they had seen in such a short period of time. After recovering, they grouped up together to discuss what they saw, with the fairy leader flying just a bit over to hear them.

“So, uh… Did anything understand what the heck just happened?” Naruto commented first.

Gohan raised a hand, only to slowly lower it back down, “Well… Uh… Perhaps… Yeah, I don’t got a single clue right now…” He crossed his arms as he frowned in thought.

“Wait, maybe…!” Korra began to say, before deflating, “Yeah, that wouldn’t be it…” She finished it off with a confused expression.

At this time, Jaina spoke up, “Let’s go over what we can understand, visions are never fully accurate-”

The blonde ninja interrupted, “Sounds like you have experience,” He said.

“Shush you,” Jaina retorted, before the Dragon Knight continued her previous dialogue. “Anyhow, what we most likely can determine is that the Darkness, as I assume that’s him, killed off all the humans ages past, destroyed the landscape to demonstrate his new power after years of toning it, and finally we saw him kill the bearers of these Harmony Elements.”

“So, he’s pretty much the bad guy?” Korra asked to confirm.

“Of course he’s the bad guy if he killed all those people!” Naruto exclaimed in agreement to the Avatar’s question.

“Wait, hold on!” The Fairy Leader decided to butt in, “What did you four all see in the Mirror of Memories?”

“I don’t know… If you say the visions are not accurate, doesn’t that mean what you say is not totally accurate as well?” Gohan stated.

Jaina started to retort, only to pause and think about the half saiyan’s logic, “You… Are correct, we still know next to nothing about the Darkness himself.” The Dragon Knight said.

“Then, uh, all we know is that he killed people?” Naruto asked questionably.

Gohan nodded, “Yeah, pretty much just that.”

“But,” Korra began to say, “Look at what he’s doing now, that’s a villain if I ever saw one! He’s practically invaded three places since we got here!”

Jaina agreed, “Indeed, the fairy village, Silvercross Town, and was making the way to their capital as a whole.” She said.

The Fairy leader spoke up in a louder tone in order to gain our heroes’ attention, “Hey, listen!”

Gohan, Naruto, Korra, and Jaina all looked at the little, yet politically powerful, individual.

“If you are confused on what you should do,” The Fairy Leader began, seeing that she now held their ears and eyes to her, “How about you begin with something you do know about? For example, finding the Elements of Harmony?”

Jaina gave a thoughtful expression, “Perhaps that could start us off, after all, from what we’ve experienced when finding the first in which Gohan holds… We will regain our original age and skills.”

“Which means all our training!” Naruto said with excitement, he couldn’t wait to be a complete badass again! Seriously, he did all that training to achieve Sage Mode and what happens right after he beats Pain? He gets shrunk to a little kid again! Well, at least he made some new friends, so that’s a plus. But still, it’s such a bother!

“Someone’s excited,” Gohan said with a smile.

“When is he not?” Korra replied to Gohan’s comment.

Naruto looked to Korra, “I can’t help but feel like that’s not a compliment.”

Korra raised her hands in defense, “Hey, I was joking!” She exclaimed.

Jaina sighed, before stating, “We have our quest, we should start by locating the remaining… Elements of Harmony.” She correctly said the item’s title.

“May I make a suggestion,” the Fairy Leader said. “There is a train station partially toward the northern exit of the Fae Forest. If you take that, it’ll bring you towards a town on the borders of the Griffon Empire and Equestria. There is a stop halfway there, but it should be of little concern.” She finished saying.

Jaina looked toward the fairy leader, dimly glowing silver eyes staring at the being as she used the ancient art of mindreading to discover the leader’s outer thoughts.

Mindreading, an incredibly useful spell born from true Dragons. It was gifted to Maxos, the creator of Dragon Knights, whom then past it on to the humans he mentored, which later was stolen by the Dragon Slayers long after the true Dragons and Maxos had left Rivellon. Mindreading was not a simple act, it required the complex and magical nature of either draconic heritage or memories. Jaina happened to have both.

Usage of Mindreading allowed one to read the outermost thoughts of a person with ease, and with concentration can be used to delve into the most inner thoughts. However, the spell came at a cost. It would drain your mental energies severely, depending on how trained the mind; a trained mind could be anything ranging from a disciplined soldier, mage, or even a fellow mindreader. It can be reduced through practice, but can still be considered avoided.

This is why Jaina uses it sparingly.

”That train stop brings them awfully close to a Darkness Encampment, but if they pass through fast enough they should go unnoticed.”

The Dragon Knight filed the small amount of information for later, she felt the impact upon her ‘mental energies’ and resisted the urge take a deep breath, “Thank you for the suggestion, we will make our way towards there with due haste.” She said.

“Whoa, whoa,” Gohan said. “We need supplies, and barely have any currency to purchase them with.”

Korra bit her lip, “Gohan is right, we have nothing.”

Jaina looked toward both Gohan and Naruto, “Well, if some people didn’t eat so much in Silvercross Town, we might have had some spare change.”

Naruto began whistling, avoiding eye contact. While Gohan smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. Luckily, for our group of heroes, the Fairy Leader took pity on their plight.

“Meet me at the entrance, I’ll be right back.” She said, heading off toward some other room.

A few minutes later, our oddball group of protagonists waiting patiently, some more than others, for the fairy leadership to return. When she had, she carried within a telepathic hold a small purse. This container was more similar to the money bags of old than their modern equivalent. The fairy gave it to them freely, Jaina taking hold of it before anyone else and placing it in the enchanted bag she owned.

“It contains over a thousand bits in currency. Although it may seem confusing for it to be gold, don’t be so alarmed. Bits are actually brass covered in a thin layer of gold-colored plate.” She explained.

“Oh, alright, that makes much more sense.” Gohan said in realization.

“Darn,” Naruto said. “It would’ve been worth so much back home, I could’ve been rich!” He exclaimed, before shrugging. “Aw well, ain’t like I was going to use it much anyway.”

Jaina smirked, “What’s the equivalent rate of per karat of gold to bits?”

Korra looked to Jaina, “Why you ask the sudden question?” The Avatar questioned, but was promptly ignored by her.

The Fairy Leader looked thoughtful for a split second, “Well, if you were to have a bit made out of pure gold and exchange it… I say around thirty-seven bits per gold coin?”

The duel-wielding swordswoman nodded in acknowledgement, she turned to Korra and finally answered her question, “Because, I have gold.”

“Say wha-?” Korra said with her mouth agaped.

“Huh?” Naruto replied in equal shock.

“And tell me why you didn’t tell us any of this before?” Gohan asked.

Jaina looked to the half saiyan, “I didn’t want to be scammed.” She answered simply.

Naruto, Gohan, Korra, and the Fairy Leader herself all looked to Jaina as sweatdrops ran down their heads comically.

“Fair enough,” Korra commented.

Son Gohan happened to be quite in a pickle, it wasn’t any sort of enemy, nor was it a complex puzzle or powerful magical incident that plagued him. No, it was the cruel misfortune of being watched by what he could sense to be twenty energy signatures of Naruto all about. Now that the important stuff concerning the fairy leadership, darkness, Elements of Harmony, and all the other relatable topics had been finished, it was time for Naruto to keep up on that promise he made earlier.

Which so happened to be that he would prank Gohan.

The half saiyan thought otherwise.

‘It’s like there is a never ending feeling of dread hanging around me…’ Gohan thought. ‘At the same time, I know something stupid is going to happen soon.’

Gohan could practically already hear the cries of Naruto’s call sign, Believe It, inside his mind as the clones help conjure forth whatever concoction of a prank they had in mind for him.

Strangely, he could sense Korra’s life signature nearby.

‘Probably watching to see what Naruto would do… Or mess up spectacularly on… Wonder what Jaina is up too then, haven’t seen or sensed her around.’ The half saiyan thought to himself, letting his mind wander to the countless possibilities.

‘Now that I think about it, Naruto’s shadow clone technique prevents me from distinguishing which one of him is a clone… Oh man…’

It was at that moment he felt all the energy signatures that related to Naruto disappeared to only one, whatever the ninja had been doing had been completed. The half saiyan couldn’t help but feel a bit more on guard.

Gohan suddenly leaned back as a strange spurge of colorful liquid shot right across from his face, “What the-!” He shouted.

“I’m going to paint you a whole new color-ttebayo!” Naruto yelled from atop a building, it was then the half saiyan noticed small contraptions attached to multiple buildings pointing toward him.

Gohan blinked, trying to comprehend where the orange ninja could have possibly achieved so much paint in such a short amount of time, let alone create such a prank trap.

“How did you even get all the paint?” Gohan questioned.

“Ninja secret!” He replied as he cut some sort of wire with a kunai. “Become orange!”

“How did you even find orange of all colors?!” The half saiyan yelled as he began moving instantly, avoiding a sea of orange spray that decorated the ground below him in a orange hue of color. He tilted left and right, leaning side to side, his footwork like a dance as he continued to-

Korra yelled from the safety of the roof, “Be the leaf, Gohan! Be the leaf!”

“Not helping Korra!” Gohan exclaimed back, “Yikes!” He said soon after as he avoided another ball of liquid doom.

“Be a painted leaf!” Naruto said, “Come on Gohan, orange is a awesome color, ya know!”

“I know it is Naruto, but this is ridiculous!” He retorted, dodging more and more sprays, “How much paint do you have?”

“Pfft, specifics!” Naruto waved it off, “But it seems I need some more!” He moved his hands into a signature seal, “Shadow Clone Jutsu!”

Korra laughed, before stopping abruptly, “Wait… How is nobody else noticing this?” She said puzzlingly.

“Sheer convenience of course,” A small figure stated next to the Avatar.

“Wha!” The Avatar was briefly shocked at the sudden appearance of a fairy next to her, “When did you get here?”

“Just now,” The fairy answered, before beginning to snack on something as she watch the prank unfold.

Gohan, for the lack of better ways to explain it, found himself being the target for countless blondie pranksters seeking to make him as orange as a carrot. It was then, despite all odds in favor of the Z-fighter’s enhanced speed, sensing abilities, and sheer overwhelming power… It all failed.

“Orange paint sphere attack!” A clone yelled, catching Gohan off guard as it ‘sacrificed’ itself to get a hit on him. The clone dispersed into a cloud of white chakra smoke, while marking a portion of his front arms in orange color.

He blinked, “That was unexpected…” Gohan said, looking toward Naruto who, and all his clones, were grinning in victory.

A malicious smile grin spread on the hybrid’s face.

“For your sake, I hope this isn’t waterproof.” Gohan said.

“What he say?” A clone questioned.

“Waterproof?” Another asked.

And like that, Gohan simply… Disappeared.

“Where he go, dattebayo?!” Naruto cried out as he, and his many shadow clones, frantically looked around for Gohan. He felt a disturbance behind him a split second later.

“Right here,” Gohan said, Naruto turning around only to get his frontal black part of his shirt covered in orange paint, the half saiyan vanishing and reappearing again and again, marks of orange painting in his wake on each clone.

“Run away!” A shadow clone yelled before Gohan appeared before him and spread a line of paint across his clothes.

“Every man for himself!” Yet another clone screamed, causing dozens of clones to flee in every direction possible.

Gohan kept marking each and every one, a smirk on his face in much amusement as he halted a clone, marked his shirt with orange paint, and then went off to the next within milliseconds time, his form dispersing into soon vanishing black lines due to his outrageous speed.

“He’s everywhere! He’s everywhere!”

“There’s no escape!”

“I want ramen!”

“How is that relevant?”

“Doesn’t matter, flee for your lives!”

“Ugh, stupid clones!” Naruto ran his hands through his hair wildly in irritation.

Korra was too busy laughing, desperately holding a hand to her stomach in an effort to stop laughin so that she could take in air. “Wow- Ha… Ah… Can’t breath!” She said, taking in precious gasps.

Gohan appeared in the middle of where he once stood when the prank originally began, viewing his little payback. “Hehe… I told you I would get you back, Naruto.”

The ninja, along with three dozen shadow clones of him, were all marked with a dash of patch upon their chest, which contradicted the clothing’s top black color.

“Darn it, Gohan! I will get you one day, I swear it!” Naruto exclaimed, releasing his clones as they all dissipated into white smoke, which covered the area only for a few seconds.

“I’ll look forward to you, but.. Uh…” Gohan trailed off slightly, “Please tell me this is waterproof…” He said.

“Well of course- Uh… I think it is?” Naruto replied as it finally it him. “Oh crud…I hope it is…”

“You hope, or you know?” Gohan asked with hesitation.

“Does maybe count as an answer?” He replied.

Korra facepalmed, “Now I can tell why Jaina calls him a idiot so much more often…”

The fairy giggled besides her, “That’s funny.” She floated down with her wings toward the two boys, Naruto having landed on the ground next to the hybrid human. “I’ll take care of it for you!” She said, magic flowing from her hands and small dust-like energy coating the paint and making it vanish.

“There you go, that was a funny scene! Thank you for the laughter!” The fairy girl exclaimed before beginning to head off.

Naruto waved, “Thanks! And don’t mention it!”

Gohan smiled, a smile similar to his father, Son Goku, “No problem, I’m glad you liked it.”

“Thanks again!” The fairy stated, before leaving at last.

Korra came down from the rooftops, and looked to the two boys.

“I hope you two know that without her, you probably would’ve been orange the entire time here?” Korra said.

“Yes…” Was all they could both answer with.

“Now, any comments that you believe Jaina would say about the situation you two found yourselves in?” Korra said, secretly enjoying her little rant on them.

“I’m a idiot?” Naruto said.

“It was all idiotic,” Gohan answered, he looked toward Naruto. “Through, she would probably blame it all on you.”

The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki grinned, and laughed it off, “Probably!”

“Most likely,” Korra had to agree, Jaina would certainly have done that.

Meanwhile…

“Achoo!” Jaina sneezed, “Why do I get the feeling someone is talking about me… Probably that idiot, Naruto.”

Tales of the Train

Book 1: Magic

Chapter 13: Tales of the Train

The wind carries the leaf, floating aimlessly, seamlessly across the homeland of the fairy folk. Its green exterior betrays the cold breeze it travels along, beginning the seasonal change that would bring the land into the colorful fall. The naturalistic capital starting its shift, as the people prepared for the frozen beauty that would follow it afterward.

A lone figure blurred speedily up the strong branches of a large tree, before stopping abruptly on top the tallest one, overlooking the landscape before him.

Naruto Uzumaki took in a deep breath as the breeze blew quietly. His clothes wavering slightly with the wind passing through them. He placed both hands on his waist, comfortably standing there as he viewed the breathtaking sight.

His eye-catching a leaf, traveling along the currents of the winds. It reminded him of his home, the great ninja village, Konohagakure, the village hidden in the leaves.

But the young ninja held an optimistic viewpoint. He is not one to easily swayed by the coming darkness. He knew exactly what he was going to do.

He thinks…

Our orange and black-clad shinobi crossed his arms in thought.

‘Um… Let’s see… We got a train to be at… It’ll bring us to… The borders of these two places… And then…” Naruto paused. “What the hell do we do from there?”

“Alright, Naruto, time to put on the thinking hat! We gotta find these Elements of Harmony, find a way for me to be taller everyone else, defeat the bad guy, then head home! No biggie, it'll piece of cake!” He said to himself filled with determination.

“But first!” Naruto said crossing each finger in a hand-sign. “Shadow Clone Jutsu.”

In a puff of white chakra smoke, three identical looking shadow clones came into being. The original, one and only, Naruto Uzumaki pointed to each of them.

“Alright, you go get Korra, you get Jaina, and finally you get Gohan! Meet up at the train station just over there!” He said, pointing toward the direction of a small, almost unnoticeable, train station just about toward the edge of the Fae Forest.

After all, Naruto did come to the tallest tree to spot said train station in the first place.

The three created clones nodded in acceptance to his plan and began leaping from tree to tree towards the town. Meanwhile, though, the real Naruto looked onward toward the train station. In mentioning his current team member’s names, it sparked a brief remembrance of the most latter companion.

Son Gohan.

The martial artist baffled him, while it was possibly true that he was least unaffected of them as he had said. There also the distinct likelihood that his power came from another source. Perhaps Gohan was a type of Jinchuuriki? But for what reason did he transform? Gohan never seemed to display any type of negative emotion, it almost seemed foreign to him.

“Well…” Naruto trailed off, “Except when someone threatens to hurt someone else.” The ninja stated.

It’s true, the Ki user only expressed such anger towards others than himself getting hurt.

Naruto could only wonder what Gohan’s tale behind that was, but if Gohan was a type of Jinchuuriki… Why exactly did that giant monkey form of his only have one tail? The ninja was absolutely sure the One-Tailed Beast had been extracted by the Akatsuki.

Wait… How come he never heard of Gohan’s Ki energy before? Or about the Avatar, Korra would talk about; or even this Dragon Knight that Jaina bragged about.

“What the hell did everyone even come from!? I mean-” Then it hit him.

They were in a different world right now… So what if his three friends were from different worlds as well.

It would certainly explain a lot of things… Sorta.

Naruto rustled his own hair with his hands in agitation, “Ugh, too much thinking! How about I just head to the train station already.”

With that, Naruto Uzumaki jumped down from the large tree branch and heads toward the target location.

Avatar Korra walked down the dirt-paved road that made the pathways of the Fairy Capital. The peaceful and tranquil atmosphere that covered the ever busy homes and markets gave her a sense of calm.

Even as her mind continued to be filled with questions revolving her increasingly curious companions.

First off, the only other girl in the group, Jaina Draconis, had quite the pissy attitude. Not in the way of bullying, but more likened to arrogance in her own abilities. Sure, Korra herself had a few kinks in being what could be arrogant, but it for good reason! She trained hard for those skills! Had control of three of the four elements at a younger age than her predecessor!

Okay, perhaps they were a little more similar to each other than she thought.

Next, Naruto Uzumaki, the obnoxious ninja was certainly annoying at times, but she could tell that the boy wasn’t a bad person. He had a big heart, and she could appreciate that! His abilities were certainly confusing, though, most of she’s seen Jaina’s abilities were a bit similar to her own and relatable.

Naruto threw that out the window and made copies of himself left and right like nobody’s business!

Not that it wasn’t really cool, it was amazing in fact! But outside of that and what he called ‘Rasengan’ his martial arts… Sucked. It’s more akin to brawler tactics than a trained form.

Then there was Son Gohan, the mysterious overpowered kind boy of the little group.

His martial arts were fine tuned, incredible even, she could see the fluidity of his motions, when she could see him that is. Gohan had such blinding speed that she could barely catch up to him. It reminded Korra of the air bending she’s managed to see from Tenzin and his family, defensive, fast, and yet very precise.

But his energy, she’s only seen glimpses of what he’s allowed them to see. He could fly without anything aiding him, could create beams of energy… And that’s about all Korra had seen outside of his usual martial arts.

What else could Gohan truly be capable of? Because out of all four of them, he lasted the longest against the so-called ‘Purple Scarred Demon’.

Not to mention, he overpowered that one guy back in Silvercross.

“Hey, Korra!” The familiar voice of Naruto brought her out of her thoughts, she had not registered when she had lain against a wall, but it mattered little.

“Naruto?” Korra questioned.

“Yep! Well, I’m a clone, just sending a message that everyone is meeting at the train station.” The shadow clone stated.

“Oh! I’ll be there soon then,” Korra firmly replied as she got back up. “Do you know which way it is?”

“Yeah, follow me!”

Korra walked after Naruto’s clone, trying to think of a conversation topic, “This train ride is going to take a while…” She started, “Got any ideas to pass the time?”

“Mmh… Good question…” The clone appears be to in the dark about the answer.

Wait… It came to her.

“How about we each talk about where we lived? It must be nice to know all these different places,” She said, fondly remembering the first time she entered Republic City. It was so different from the South Pole, she surely had a culture shock of some description when she first entered.

The clone raised an arm in exclamation, “That sounds like a great idea! The boss will surely love talking about the village! I’ll tell him that right away-dattebayo!”

“W-wait, don’t!” Korra yelled to stop it.

*POOF!*

Too late.

“...” Korra remained speechless for a full minute as it registered she no longer had a guide. Before she released a long drawn out sigh.

“That’s… Just like him…” She said, now having gotten used to the ninja’s blonde moments. A sudden thought popped in her head right after. “I wonder what Gohan would look like with blond hair… Nah, he’s fine with that charcoal black.” She waved it off as an afterthought.

She looked around, “Might as well go in the general direction he was leading me…” The Avatar slumped her shoulders in defeat for a brief second before standing straight and proud, walking what she hoped would be the correct direction.

Twenty-five minutes later…

“Ugh!” Korra slammed her fist against a nearby tree. She was utterly lost within the Fae Forest and very tempted to just burn everything around her to ease the frustration of that fact.

The Avatar took a deep breath, before releasing a long sigh. She lay back against a tree with her shoulders slumping, the bender’s sight catching the falling leaf petals in the wind.

And then Gohan’s face appeared in her vision.

“Wha!” Korra jumped upright, turning sharply and looking at the boy hovering just in front of her.

“Hehe, sorry about that. Didn’t mean to surprise you,” Gohan apologized while landing on the ground.

“It- It’s alright,” Korra replied.

The human before her smiled brightly, as if all was right in the world, “Hey, everyone was wondering where you were! Of course, Naruto blamed his clone for leaving you like that. He offered to look for you, but I knew exactly where you were at.”

“You… Did?” The Avatar questioned curiously, “How?”

“Oh…” Gohan’s face went thoughtfully for a few seconds, “Well, I sensed your energy? Well… More like life force now I guess?”

“Sensed my life force…?” Korra said with cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

“Um… Korra, are you okay?” Gohan asked.

The girl shook her hands in front of her, “I’m fine, I’m fine!” She hastily replied.

He only nodded in acceptance, “Let’s get going shall we? I’ll carry you there as it’s faster.”

“Yeah… Wait, carry?”

Twenty seconds later, the Avatar, bender of all four elements… Found herself two hundred feet in the sky, gripping the Z-fighter for dear life as they traveled above the treetops with a quickened pace.

“Don’t drop me, don’t drop me, don’t drop me…”

“Um, how many times are you going to keep repeating that?” Gohan asked with an amused expression.

“Don’t drop me, don’t drop me, don’t drop me…”

“Quite a bit… You know I wouldn’t drop you for anything anyway, right?” He said to her.

“I sure hope so! It’s a long way down and it’ll be a pain in the butt to recover from that!” Korra yelled to the ‘pilot’ who gripped her arms.

“It’s only sixty meters down, why such-”

“Sixty meters?!”

Gohan sighed, “We’re almost there, look, it’s literally right there.”

Korra looked forward, her eyes spotting a certain structure with a railroad track traversing out of one end. She could see the frontal part of the train itself clearly, its industrial appearance quite a contradictory to the naturalistic surroundings. The station itself painted a bright red and tan mix, making it easy to spot outside the Fae Forest’s edge. Although its height helped little as the trees that circled it were just as tall as the building itself.

She took notice that they were descending back down, slowly of course, and saw a few shapes within the station. As Gohan flew back down towards the ground, she made out that the larger shapes were both Jaina and Naruto.

Outside of that, there were a few fairies scattered about, and a quick glance into the large paned windows revealed a few of those cute pony creatures.

Upon landing, Naruto came up to her.

“I’m so sorry Korra, I didn’t mean for my clone to abandon you like that!” He apologized profoundly, even bowing a bit before her.

Korra’s eyebrow raised at the clear Fire Nation custom, perhaps Naruto’s home village had more similarities than she thought?

She raised her hands, waving then slightly, “It’s fine, Gohan helped me out.”

The ninja went back to his goofy smiling self quickly, “Alright then!”

“We got a long way to go,” Gohan began saying, drawing everyone’s attention. “So let’s get to it, we have to find the rest of these Elements and the best place to start looking is the final destination of this train.”

“Agreed,” Jaina decided to comment. She looked toward the train for a moment, “Although this contraption is new to me, I’ve seen zeppelins that provide a similar function, except through the air.”

Gohan turned towards the Dragon Knight, “You've never seen a train before?” He questioned.

She shook her head, “No, though it will not provide any problems.” Jaina finished.

“Mmh…” Korra hummed a bit while in thought, so where Jaina came from didn’t have trains? Well, it did have zeppelins, she’s seen a few, but they were being outclassed. Maybe they were magical zeppelins? Is that even a thing?

Naruto nodded, “It’s just a train, nothing too big!” He waved it off, “Let’s get on, then I got an idea to pass the time!”

With all four of our heroes in agreement, they made their way inside the station, sitting themselves within the confines of a train compartment. It took another twenty minutes before the machine powered up, charcoal smoke blowing from its top, and it began its journey towards the next station.

The sound of a flipping pages filled with ears of the last Dragon Knight hands gripping onto the leather cover that decorated the magical tome within her grasp. Jaina Draconis, in her personal experience, appreciated the tranquility that was brought with traveling in a train. Although there was an ever-present echo of the wheels traversing against the railroad, the sound was quieter than zeppelins.

A quick glance around her revealed what her companions were doing in their own spare time.

Gohan seemed to skim through a book she identified had received in those ruins a while back, the pages flipping faster than she knew possible to read. That, or he was the fastest reader she’s ever meet.

Wouldn’t be surprising considering so many other achievements he’s procured.

Korra, on the other hand, had a bored expression on her face. Sure, it has only been a single hour since the train had left the station. But taking in consideration Korra’s personality, it’s not too surprising to find her in this matter.

Naruto looked as if he was about to burst.

Then again, if anyone had a chance of dying from boredom, it would be him.

Jaina sighed audibly, drawing attention from the two bored comrades. The book shut loudly in her palm, in which she placed back within her inventory of items.

She could hardly believe why she choose to give attention to these people.

“Naruto…” She said.

“Yeah?” The orange-clad ninja replied.

“You had some sort of idea you mentioned?” Jaina questioned.

“Oh! Korra and I came up with this idea, we always seem to speak a little of our own homes…” Naruto began, catching all their attention. “So, a thought came up that we all spend this train trip learning of each other’s homes.”

Gohan closed his book gently, “That sounds nice, it’ll be interesting to learn of each other’s worlds.”

Worlds.

She nearly forgot about that little fact.

Not so little when you realize that the people you’ve been talking and fighting alongside with come from places where Rivellon doesn’t exist.

Korra blinked, “I almost forgot about that…” She trailed off.

Naruto scratched the backside of his head, “We kinda all glossed over it, huh?”

Jaina shrugged, ‘Might as well get this over with so that they leave me alone.’ She thought to herself as she readjusted herself on the seat. The armor she wore provided a bit of discomfort, but she rather be prepared for anything.

“I’ll start I guess,” Jaina said.

“I wouldn’t recommend taking a vacation to Rivellon anytime soon if I was you, but beforehand it was quite a peaceful landscape. Rivellon comprises of an abundance of valleys and fjords. As well as thousands of years worth of ancient ruins scattered throughout. Most of the more dangerous monsters were killed off centuries ago. But in their place became filled with goblins, trolls, the more mundane non-magical creatures.”

“Goblins and trolls?” Gohan questioned.

“Annoying,” Jaina commented. “Civilization is spread apart, prompting travel by zeppelin to get from place to place. Not to mention, the war with the Black Ring had destroyed a good portion of human civilization before they were defeated.”

Naruto lay against the cushions of the seat, “Sounds like your world has a lot to deal with right now.”

“Who just casually says a good portion of civilization is destroyed?” Korra stated.

Jaina didn’t seem to mind, “Like you’ve stated before with your hundred year war, it’s my history. Besides, I don’t live in the mainland any longer. I rule my Battle Tower upon Sentinel Island.”

“Tell us about that,” Gohan said.

“Huh?” Jaina replied in a small amount of surprise.

“Your Battle Tower, what’s it like?” The Z-fighter repeated.

Korra and Naruto looked at Jaina expectantly, the Dragon Knight narrowing her eyes in thought over the subject. No one had ever asked her about the Battle Tower if they weren’t actually involved in it.

“It’s… Very quaint. The Battle Tower itself was constructed with ancient magics. Not including the old design that not only holds up, but also surpasses current technological levels. It provides my needs in a way that seems almost sentient-like.” Jaina began.

The Dragon Knight continued after a few short seconds, “But it has a certain beauty to it… After I took control of it from a Necromancer and let my newfound servants clean it up. It always seemed… Welcoming. As if blessing an air of safety over me.”

She found that she had ranted on for a bit, “I apologize, what about your own world?” She asked, pointing at Gohan.

“That’s right… Hm… How can I explain this…” Gohan trailed off in what Jaina assumed was thought of how to describe his realm. “Well… What I know so far is that my world has a much more of a technology edge than anyone else here. But I spend my time outside the cities and near my home at Mt. Paozu. So I guess I’ll talk about most of that.”

“You live on a mountain?” Jaina asked puzzlingly.

“No,” Gohan answered. “It’s more of a valley than a mountain. It’s a very large valley, in fact, loads of forest and animals. But there is a desert to the east which is separated from the valley by Dragon Rock where Icarus lives.”

“Dragon Rock?” Jaina said.

“Who’s Icarus?” Korra asked.

“Dragon Rock is a… Boulder region, the boulders in my world can be up to a hundred meters tall. Icarus is a friend of mine, a dragon.”

“A dragon?!” Korra, Naruto, and Jaina all exclaimed at the same time.

Jaina’s interest grew sharply in the subject, Dragons, were in her world, a highly ancient magical species whose own names once said to spawn new flora and creatures in existence. They were perhaps the most powerful beings ever to be.

She had met one once, briefly, the knowledge imparted to her eludes her comprehension. She might be a Dragon Knight, with the same draconic magic coursing through her veins, but her mind still had human limitations.

“Yeah, he’s a Hire Dragon. We became friends when since I was very young. He’s grown quite a bit since then.”

“Wait,” Jaina said, wanting to confirm something. “Is he magical in any way?”

“Huh?” Gohan questioned, “No, he’s not. I mean, he’s smart, but he can’t do magic or breath fire.”

A breath escaped her, so, dragons outside of her knowledge aren’t all ancient powerful beings with the ability to create life.

That was relieving…

She didn’t want to be on one of ‘her’ dragon’s angry side after all.

That’s terrifying.

Jaina then realized Gohan had been talking for a bit, and refocused herself on his conversation.

“Most of my world doesn’t know about energy or magic, I got friends. But they’re all my father’s friends. Except for Trunks, but he’s a bit complicated.” Gohan stated. “What else… We have the Lookout, which is a large observation hanging high above in the sky, my friend Dende is training with Mr. Popo to be the Earth’s newest guardian there.”

“Earth’s Guardian?” Korra questioned, “Is it like an Avatar?”

Gohan scratched his hair in thought, “I mean… Well… I guess in some ways the two terms are similar…” He looked to Korra and asked, “How about you? How’s your world?”

“Huh?” Korra seemed dumbstruck for a split second, “Oh! Um… My world… Yeah… It’s pretty cool…”

“Have you actually traveled much?” Jaina questioned.

“I have… Just… Only to a few places.” Korra replied, “Well, my home is at the South Pole, it’s nice. Very quiet at times but it can get quite beautiful on some days.”

Gohan then said, “You live on an ice cap? How? Isn’t it a frozen wasteland?”

“Well it’s frozen but it’s not a wasteland. Sure snow covers the entire place but there are many creatures that live there alongside us.” Korra explained to the Z-fighter.

“Seems kinda boring-dattebayo,” Naruto commented.

“Hey!” Korra countered, “There were plenty of things to do! I spent a lot of time with Naga, my family, and Katara.”

“Who's Naga and the latter?” Gohan said, wanting to know her a bit more.

Jaina shrugged, her interest waning in the subject. It didn’t matter who they are. What mattered was getting information. She opened her book again, reading through it while vaguely listening in to the more ‘boring’ details of Korra’s narration.

There were a few details that caught the Dragon Knight’s ears. The first is when she mentioned pro-bending, a competition between ‘benders’ that utilized the elements of fire, water, and earth. The skill requiring to dodge and attack in seconds time did make Jaina respect Korra’s abilities a bit more than before.

Not because she could bend the elements in the first place, but because she had the reflexes to create a chain of offensive and defensive reactions.

“That’s awesome!” Naruto shouted, “Pro-bending sounds amazing, wish I could’ve seen it!”

Korra smiled, looking proud at the compliment, “Thanks!” She exclaimed.

Jaina, Korra, and Gohan then all looked toward the orange and black clad ninja.

“What?” Naruto raised an eyebrow in confusion, “Is there something on my face?”

“Your turn…” Korra pointed out.

“My… Oh! Oooooh… Mmh… Give me a second to think…” He trailed off in thought. Naruto snapped his finger when he presumably finished.

“I live in the Land of Fire, in the Great Ninja Village of Konohagakure. It’s surrounded by a huge forest with trees that have branches so thick you could sleep comfortably on them. Um… The leaves fall commonly so I guess that’s why it’s also called the Village Hidden in the Leaves.”

Naruto took a breath before continuing, “The village was amazing, very colorful and full of life. I especially enjoy Ichiraku’s Ramen Stand, which I visit pretty often with my friends and Iruka-sensei.”

“You said was,” Jaina caught that peculiar tense.

Naruto scratched the back of his head, a sheepish smile on his face. “Hehe… Well, the village got pretty devastated after an attack. But we are rebuilding as fast as we can.”

“I’m sorry,” Gohan apologized for bringing it up.

The ninja shook his hands in denial, “No, no, it’s fine! Everybody is alive and well, and I beat and convinced him to revive all those he killed. He’s given me something I now hold precious.”

Jaina saw it, a side of Naruto that he didn’t display much.

Something that screamed out with courage and unyielding determination.

A source of fulfillment that will be achieved.

“Ex- Excuse me…” Jaina said as she got up on her feet, letting the book fall from her hands and onto the couch while the young Dragon Knight left the compartment to be left alone for a small while.

‘That… Look… Why does it bother me?’ Jaina thought to herself. ‘His expression was just… It was like… He was a different person, someone that would keep his promise… Divine damn it, why does it stick in my mind?!’

All the while, the train moved forward, drawing ever closer to its first stop.

Shadow State

Author's Note

First off, I apologize for it taking way longer than it should have. It is inexcusable of me to update a chapter that was mostly done for the past few months now.

Shadow State

Book 1: Magic

Chapter 14: Shadow State

A train traveled across the landscape, leaving from the forest and into the great grass plains. Its wheels traversing against the railroad as smoke pillars from the head, speed settled at a certain mile, it goes blindly towards the set destination. Within its apartments, three figures rest while the traveling train passes under the starlit sky. The fourth figure, however, remains sightseeing through the compartment's windows.

Korra’s eyes scoured the landscape, watching as the terrain flew past with a quickened pace. But she couldn’t help but not shake off an unease forming within her stomach, which had nothing to do with the recent tall tales just a few short hours ago.

But it certainly did help explain the differences between herself and the others. Possibly as much as it explained it to them as well. It wasn’t just a differentiation in abilities, but cultures, technology, whole worlds!

Unbeknownst to her, or any of the four heroes…

Evil is at work…

Further ahead, an encampment of darkness awaits. Its servants hammering metallic tools against the rails. While malicious, blackened energies fill the fires with violet-hued flames. A multitude of tents stood standing, but these constructs were not of cloth nor leather, but rather enchanted pieces of steel plates lined upon woven runic wool, held together with magic.

A few sparks fly, again and again, it continues the working forces of darkness break apart the railing of the incoming train.

The wood is shattered, metal churned, the road brought into ruin.

A soldier appears before his commander.

“Sir…”

A lone figure, hooded-cloaked, decorated in purple with two shredded parts of it wavering in the wind.

“What is it?” It replied.

“We are successful in destroying the railroad, the infrastructure is proceeding as planned.”

“What else?”

“Future planning in the war machines in destroying the Fairy Capital lack fuel for the fires.”

“The Forest of the Fairy Folk lie at our doorstep, burn it.” The Commander turned, bringing out a small coin-like object. It lit up, glowing a dim light as it brightened with every word that came from within.

”Commander.” It was all that needed saying, a cruel chilling voice that would cause both adults and children alike nightmares for years.

“Preparations are underway,” He stated, “As asked, we have destroyed the railroad between the Fairy Capital and the Equestrian Outpost.”

”Proceed.” With that the coin faded back to its dull color.

“Sir!” A scout came way, “The train heads this way!”

The commander turned toward the direction of the Fae Forest’s location, spotting the incoming train traveled with great speed, steam pillaring from the front. “Fall back, we will sweep for survivors after its initial crash.”

“Fall back!” The scout sounded through the encampment, workers and soldiers alike retreating from the destroyed remnants of the railroad track.

Steam rushed from the top, the breaking of rails could be heard as the train attempted to stop itself from the collision that could happen once it reached those destroyed rails. Sparks flew as metals broke against metal, fast traveling speed clashing against the stillness of the brakes. The forces of Darkness were sure the train was going to crash with little survivors.

Then a blue light burst out from one of the compartments, like a speeding bullet it flew past each compartment from its origin to the front of the train itself. The blue light flew past the head before stopping a dozen meters in front of the train, as if bracing itself for impact.

That blue light was Son Gohan, his aura enveloping him as he thrust his arms forward at the moment the train caught up with his location. The half saiyan’s hands smashing against the train which jerked slightly, his entire body skidding along the ground as his feet implanted in the ground were pushed back, breaking the middle wooden section of the railroad as he slowed down the engine.

“Aaaaaaah!” Gohan yelled as his aura burst out further, shards of the earth being blasted into the air from below his feet, strength fighting against the speed of the rails.

A screeching sound echoes as more and more sparks flew, the rate of the train’s progress slowing exponentially.

The train stopped just before the destroyed railroad.

“Phew…” Gohan sighed in relief as he let go. The Z-fighter glancing toward the direction of the forces of darkness, his glare giving a menacing look while his senses spread and detected the exact number and energy output of the enemies around him. Gohan turned around, fists clenched while he said, “Seeking to harm innocent people who were only trying to return back to their homes? Not today, I’ll stop you… We’ll stop you!”

The Captain yelled to the hybrid warrior, “You and what army!?”

Meanwhile, a blond-haired head popped out of the train compartment window, “Hey, is that the darkness army that Gohan’s about to fight?”

An identical one appeared in the next window, “Looks like it, let’s help him out!”

Without warning, a hundred clones of Naruto came flooding out of the train, windows cracked as they escaped their cramped place and a darkness soldier swore he saw the compartment swell up like it ate too much. The entrance door burst open revealing a waterfall of clones drop out of it, they got up one after the other and assembled near their half saiyan comrade.

Then two girls dropped face first to the ground out of the door.

“Ugh…” Jaina began, “Stupid… Idiot…”

“So much orange…” Korra trailed off.

A few minutes ago…

Inside the train...

“What the hell!” Naruto exclaimed as he was pushed back from the burst of blue Ki that erupted from Gohan’s form.

“Hang on, we’re stopping right now!” Gohan yelled, then flew right out of the window, breaking it into a million glass pieces all over the place. Seconds past, then the entire room shook, causing Naruto, Jaina, and Korra to be lunged forward unexpectedly.

“What’s he doing!?” Korra questioned loudly as she held onto a seat.

“We’re slowing…” Jaina commented, taking notice their speed was drastically reducing.

“Kami,” Naruto stood back up, perfectly fine as he used his chakra to stick to the flooring with ease. He stepped to the window, his eyes spotting the darkness forces further ahead. After a full minute, the train finally came to a full stop. “He’ll need some help out there!”

“Don’t!” Jaina exclaimed.

“Wait, not in here!” Korra caught on quickly.

“Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!”

“By the divine you idio-Mmmph!” Jaina was cut off as her body was slammed to the ground by the large mass of clones.

Present Time.

“Naruto?” Gohan questioned as the ninja leaped to his side, the martial artist already in a fighting stance.

“Here to help!” Naruto Uzumaki gave a thumbs up, “Let’s kick some ass!” He then slammed his fist into open palm while his clones cheered in the background.

“Kill them!” The Darkness Captain exclaimed.

“Die!” The forces of evil charged forward with reckless abandon.

Naruto was about to charge in, but he was stopped by Gohan’s hand.

“Let me start off,” He said, walking forward a bit.

“Okay?” Naruto questionably said, shocked at Gohan’s declaration and his current mood.

Gohan was not happy.

“I’m giving you a chance!” Son Gohan yelled over the entire field, stopping the darkness forces in their motion, clearly surprised by the sudden exclamation.

“Turn around and walk away,” He continued.

An eerie silence…

A step forward, then more, before they once again charged into the fray towards Gohan.

“I’m sorry…” Gohan said as he slowly raised both hands to his forehead. Then, his expression changed to one of sheer determination and willpower.

“Masenko…” A bright glow emits in front of his palms, a small yellow orb of Ki, spiking in an omnidirectional pattern forming in just a few seconds time.

“Ha!”

In that moment, hell broke loose.

A single yellow beam of Ki erupted forth with both blinding speed and sheer power, arcing above the ground, its presence causing the earth below to break apart, turning into a line of craters just after the head of the wave passed over. It impacted just short of meeting the front lines of the darkness forces, an explosion, unlike any bomb, sounded over the entire battlefield as the shockwave blasted back corrupted soldiers, some incinerated in the blast itself as they vanished into shadow-like remnants that dissipated into the air harmlessly. Others caught into the pillars of smoke and dust generated by the technique’s impact against the ground.

A soldier coughed, his eyes barely opening to see a figure stand in front him dressed in a purple Gi before his stomach erupted with unbelievable pain and the entire body of the soldier sent flying, crashing into the other soldiers who in turn fell back to the ground.

Son Gohan vanished again, his movement too fast for the naked eye to follow, reappeared before another unit he smashed his fist against its chin, following by an invisible kai blast that blew his back against another unknowing group. The half saiyan bent to the side, avoiding a sword swipe, then turned and slammed an elbow onto the upper abdomen. The perpetrator's blood splashed onto the Z-fighter’s Gi as the soldier coughed it out, then Gohan grasped hold of the chest piece and threw the darkness follower. That soldier landed on top of another, both destroyed afterward as Gohan raised a palm, blowing them out of existence with a blue Ki blast.

Twin magical blasts came forward from the nearly still air dust, but the hybrid saiyan battered them aside with ease, opening both palms and returning fire with a barrage of Ki. As more explosions rocked the field with an ever increasing number of craters, the forces of darkness began to slowly realize that had awakened a sleeping dragon.

“D-Die!” A soldier yelled as he tried to bash his mace against Gohan’s back, but it went right through as the human vanished into an afterimage.

The soldier’s backside was slammed with a harsh kick, his entire body smashed into the ground with a large hole forming from the power behind the attack. Gohan twisted, his arm reaching out and firing a Ki blast, obliterating another attack before he spun and struck another soldier out of the fight with a single blow to the shoulder.

He landed, then stood up. The dust finally vanishing revealing the half saiyan surrounded still by the forces of darkness… Half of which were now completely gone.

Naruto blinked, all of them, “Damn, that was awesome!” He exclaimed in excitement.

“Shouldn’t we help?” One of the clones stated.

“Oh yeah, uh, charge!” The original Naruto yelled.

As Gohan prepared to continue, he quickly dodged a spinning disc of magical energy, flying into the air a few meters, he noticed the apparent leader of the Darkness Forces look to him with contempt in his gaze. Then, a magic circle appeared below the dark Captain’s feet, and four spinning disc shot out from around him towards the floating martial artist.

The Z-fighter raised his hands, firing a series of Ki blasts as a counteraction. The blast traveled through the air with stunning speed, each one impacting against the multiple spinning discs. However, they had little to no effect in even slowing down the magical attacks. The half saiyan found himself dodging them, flying above them as they passed underneath. He glanced towards the technique’s direction and took notice the discs flipping over and came right back at him as if they were homing missiles.

“Can’t help but feel like a lot of villains favor this technique,” Gohan said to himself as he moved to avoid another slicing round.

Had Gohan killed the Darkness forces a little earlier? No, not exactly, the corrupted followers were already long gone, after all, why would they simply dissipate into shadow-like energy after death if they were alive?

“Your efforts are futile, I have complete control over these disks. You’re hardly the first to try and attempt at dodging them,” The Darkness Captain said, not moving from position. Gohan only having heard him because he had made his way towards the commander in a plan to try and use his own spell against him. “And unlike others, I can dispel them just as easily.”

Gohan feinted upward, the disks coming down at the commander. Only for them to vanish into light particles upon reaching fifty feet of him.

The half saiyan landed on the ground, a dozen or so meters away from the commander of the darkness forces assigned to his location.

“Who are you?” Gohan asked.

“A mere commander, but if you wish for a name, Istar shall suffice.” He answered.

“Doubt you meant the one from Tolkien,” Gohan commented, “What’s your goal?”

“None of your business,” Istar replied as the magic circle below his feet floated to behind his back, aimed at the Z-fighter.

Gohan shifted back into a stance as he prepared for the incoming attack, his sensing also picking up Naruto, Korra, and Jaina who had recently joined the fight against the rest of the Darkness forces.

“Perish!” Istar’s voice yelled, four spinning disks launching from the magic circle behind him.

Gohan quickly put his hands to his side, a blue light forming hastily, before thrusting his palms forward, quick firing a weakened version of the technique.

“Kamehameha!”

The blue wave of energy shot forward with tremendous speed, obliterating the four discs as they were engulfed in the Ki technique. It continued to travel, reaching the Dark Commander in mere milliseconds, but he managed to disappear in a flash of light just before the attack hit him. The Kamehameha Wave still continued to travel, dissipating into the sky harmlessly.

Gohan lost track of him, but a second or two later his senses relocated Istar’s position. He quickly turned, his foot dragging against the dirt that brought up small clouds of dust.

“Missile Barrage!” Istar yelled once more, a barrage of red hued bolts firing multiples times.

Gohan was about to counter, but someone else intervened.

“Magic Missile!” A number of white colored magic spheres collided against the barrage of red bolts, the sky above being decorated in a fury of spell conflictions.

The half saiyan turned, “Jaina!”

“Go, Naruto!” Jaina yelled as her body was enveloped in a display of magic.

Naruto and clone appeared behind the magic circle, causing Istar to notice his sudden approach as the two charged at the Darkness Commander with a spiraling ball of chakra the size of the ninja’s head between the two’s hands.

“Giant Rasengan!”

“Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” Istar screamed as his body was devastated by the Giant Rasengan’s destructive capabilities against him. The Commander’s entire form sent spinning, plummeting, and skidding across the ground, throwing up rocks, grass, dirt, and dust as he went before finally stopping by teleporting himself above the ground.

“Damnit, where are my troops?!” He yelled, before taking notice most of his troops were gone or knocked out.

A single lone Avatar cracking her knuckles, “Troops? Is that what they were?” Korra said, smirking at the commander.

“Heh… Hehe… Hahahahahahaha!”

Korra made a confused and shocked expression, “He’s… He’s laughing?”

Jaina lowered her arm from casting the spell moments before, both swords held tightly in her hands. “I’ve faced few opponents who laughed in the face of death, never have they been a good sign.”

“Why do I get the feeling something’s going to happen that always happens?” Gohan questioned.

“You got that feeling too?” Naruto voiced, “I only get that feeling when-”

“When they transform,” The Z-fighter finished.

The cloak fell off.

“Well…” Jaina commented, “That’s one odd creature.”

“I’ve seen stranger things,” Gohan replied to that. “But if I had to say, he’s some sort of centaur-like being.”

The centaur-like creature twitched and contorted, its muscles bulging as horns stretched out from the back of his head, twisting into a curled shape. The mouth expanded, canines growing more monstrous as aura, hue in a shade of purple, expanded outward from his body. The size grew, twice, three times as large, you could stack five clones of Naruto on top of one another to get the sense of the scale of which this captain increased in mass.

Korra looked up the huge form of the captain, “That’s… That’s just not fair!”

Gohan, Naruto, and Jaina all looked to Korra and said one line in unison.

“And you’re telling me this now?” They all said.

Korra’s shoulders slumped, “Why do I get the feeling everyone has had crazy adventures concerning building-sized enemies…?” She mumbled to herself.

“Giant Apes,” Gohan said.

“Tailed Beasts,” Naruto continued.

“Disgustingly grotesque ogres,” Jaina finished it off.

Gohan shrugged, “It was bound to happen to you at some point Korra, it could’ve been a giant robot for all you know,” He said.

“Don’t know what a robot is, but I doubt it,” Korra replied.

Istar, the darkness captain, finished his transformation and looked down at the ‘insects’ beneath him. “Prepare to be crushed underneath my power!”

“Fat chance!” Naruto exclaimed at him, forming a hand seal, “Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!”

A total number of fifty clones poofed into existence around the orange-clad ninja, they charged at the large form of Istar, throwing a number of cloned kunai and shuriken along with their initial attack.

Istar raised a hand, a circle of magic appearing in front of him which acted like a shield, bouncing off the thrown weapons. He lowered his arm, the shield dispersing away before laughing maniacally.

“Is that the best you got!?” He said stereotypically and used his now huge bulk to swat away any clones that got close enough to his position. “Don’t believe for a second that size decreases speed!”

“Oh, I know,” Gohan replied, “I’ve experienced with such methods when I was younger, though he was much more terrifying that you’ll even come close too.”

“Korra!” Jaina called out, “Torch him!”

“Take this!” Korra said as she thrusts both arms forward, spewing forth a stream of red and orange flames.

“Fireball!” Jaina joined in with her concentrated mana conjuring forth a compressed sphere of fire and launching it at the darkness captain.

Gohan quickly joined in, his hands going in front of his forehead as yellow Ki energy spiked outward into a spherical shape before he thrust both palms forward.

“Masenko! Ha!” Gohan yelled as a wave of Ki shot out.

Naruto had a stroke of luck, he started flipping through multiple hand seals quickly.

“Wind Style: Great Breakthrough Jutsu!” His cheeks expanded as did his chest, then he released the held breath in an impactful gust of the wind that fired off to Istar.

The wind technique fueled the flames of Korra and Jaina’s attack, enlarging them into a wildfire.

“That’s…” Istar began to comment on the ever enlarging flaming death coming towards him, “That’s a lot of fire… Shit!” He raised his hand and conjured forth another symbol of shielding.

The Masenko technique reached it first, the centaur-like being found his entire form being pushed back strongly, his shield barely held against the destructive nature of Ki energy versus his own magical darkness. But, when the combination of two fire techniques fueled with the element of wind impacted against the shield, it shattered.

Istar reflexively covered himself with his arms as the enhanced fires engulfed him. The pain of his skin roasting and burning threatened to put him down, but with a yell, he flared out an aura of purple energy, dispersing the flames.

“Hah… Hah…” He breathed deeply before recollecting himself, “Good try, heroes,” He said the last word mockingly. “But I have faced many heroes before, and you’ll fall just like them!”

Istar clasped his hands together, channeling his inner magic, concentrating it on his center.

“What’s he doing?” Gohan asked no one in particular.

Jaina narrowed her eyes, her sensitively of magic gained from not only facing multiple opponents over the years but also due to her draconic heritage, allowed her to sense the magical energy more thoroughly than Gohan, though she would never be able to sense life energy like he does.

“He condensing magical energy into his body, with that much it could become unstable and combust outward,” Jaina explained.

“Wait…” Naruto trailed off, “So he’s gonna blow?”

Gohan thought for a second before it hit him, “Everyone, get down-!”

“Rwaaaaaaaaaah!” The dark commander screamed as a blinding light erupted from him and all the energy was released at once.

The Avatar, Korra, reacted quickly, slamming her foot down and digging it into the ground. A great wall of earth formed between her and her companions, and the channeling darkness captain that sought to obliviate them.

An area of energy came forth, blasting apart the wall and all the surroundings around Istar, but by Korra’s quick action, the shockwave was lessened on our heroes, allowing them to remain mostly unharmed by the attack.

“We can’t even get close to him!” Naruto exclaimed.

“True, every time I approach he sends me retreating back with his spells,” Gohan replied.

“I can charge him with one of my spells,” Jaina began, “My armor provides me with some level of magical resistance, it’ll still hurt a bit but I should remain fine enough to engage him. This should allow you three to follow-up,” She finished as he gripped the handle of her twin blades tightly.

Jaina then turned to the orange-clad ninja, “Naruto, think you can distract him?”

Naruto grinned, “Distract him? Easy!”

Korra pointed to herself, “What about me?” She questioned.

The Dragon Knight looked to the Avatar, “I know you prefer the offensive route, but I need you to act as support and keep his attacks from hitting us with your earth abilities.”

“Earthbending,” Korra corrected.

“That,” Jaina finished.

“I’m safe to assume,” Gohan said, “That I’ll hang back until you’ve gotten close?”

Jaina looked thoughtful for a second, but before she could reply.

Gohan grabbed her arm, and pulled her entire body out of the way, both Naruto and Korra dodging as an array of dark, purple bolts barraged the area.

Naruto leaped out of the way, summoning up more shadow clones who spread out to engage Istar. A few of the clones threw kunai at the dark captain, forcing him to disengaged from offensive assault to take a defensive position. They attempted to come close to him, but a wave of magic either disperse them into white chakra smoke or caused them to avoid it by retreating.

“Tch, then let’s try this,” Naruto said as he opened his palm, a clone arriving next to him, helping him shape the mold of a Rasengan while the original folded the chakra into the sphere. But instead of stopping at the point where it normally formed the spiraling sphere, he pumped more chakra into it, increasing its size to that of a Giant Rasengan.

“Not enough, we need the size bigger,” Naruto said, some sweat poured down his forehead, it was harder to form multiple large-sized Rasengan without Sage mode.

The ninja raised it into the air, pouring an incredible amount of chakra into it that gave even him some trouble. It was true, his chakra control had suffered, but with water walking back under his belt and some of his age by the Element of Kindness, he had regained the necessary skill.

The Giant Rasengan grew five times its size.

Then Naruto charged with it in hand.

Istar saw this and fired at the shinobi magical bolts of energy.

Naruto Uzumaki pushed the technique in front of him to act like a shield wall against the hostile attacks. But he didn’t need too as walls of earth formed up, taking the bolts and blowing apart.

“Go, Naruto!” Korra exclaimed as her body moved, motions flowing with great vigor as she used earthbending to cover the ninja from attacks.

“Massive Rasengan!” Naruto yelled, his clones vanishing to give him some needed chakra that was expended on forming the technique moments earlier.

Istar screamed out, “How can a lone human do such a thing?!”

“You underestimated me! That’s how!” Naruto replied.

The Massive Rasengan clashed against the hastily pulled up shield, but it drilled and tore through it with complete ease. It shattered under the overwhelming force of the chakra. The darkness captain put his hand forward, attempting to push back the huge technique that lay against him.

His hands burned as the Rasengan tore through clothes and skin, even with magical energy augmenting his abilities, Naruto’s strength was incredible.

Then he felt his back being slashed from the other side by two blades.

“Fatality!” Jaina yelled the spell’s name as her blades were covered in a mix of red and black aura, attempting to finish the fight while Naruto successfully distracted Istar.

Gohan flew overhead, observing the fight but keeping his distance, he would come down if the enemy retaliates and his companions need aid.

“T-Teleport!” Istar yelled as his body was enveloped by a white light, before vanishing and reappearing a few meters away. His front red with burns, while his backside bled from wounds caused by the Dragon Knight’s swings.

“Damn it, why are you four so powerful!?” Istar yelled before calming himself down, “Fine, if I can’t beat you on my own…” He took out some sort of stone, previously used to communicate with his leader. The centaur-like creature clutching it before throwing it harshly on the ground, breaking it apart.

Then, a large cluster of dark energy burst open from the broken stone.

Gohan, Naruto, Jaina, and Korra stared at what occurred, as the dark energy twisted and contorted numerous times.

Things are about to get a whole lot more difficult.

Four Children of Four Energies

Author's Note

The first chapter has gone through a grammar revision and a brief rewriting of Gohan's scene. There is still some work to be done with the other three heroes' scenes, but otherwise it's acceptable. Any future revision or rewriting has little to no impact on the story development.

Thank you, and enjoy the adventure!

Kind Regards,
Boyzilla

Four Children of Four Energies

Undestined Friendship

Book 1: Magic

Chapter 1: Four Children of Four Energies

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna couldn't believe they never saw it before, how could they not? Under their noses arose a darkness that even they, raisers of the sun and moon, could not have anticipated. The darkness had gathered strength from the shadows, it had planned, and executed those plans. The enemy successfully managed to spread the Elements of Harmony around the globe, then somehow their bearers: Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash disappeared off the face of the planet.

Without the Elements of Harmony, any hope of defeating the darkness decreased drastically. Nations around the world gathered together to combat it, but they proved too late as the enemy already had half of Equis under its whim. Slowly but surely, the endless armies of the darkness will destroy kingdom after kingdom, races will fall under its shadowy form.

Desperately, other nations attempted to research new forms of weaponry to guard themselves, technomages became reality, combining their limited technology with magical prowess. But the ages of stagnation worked against them, no progress had been made in a thousand years.

The forces of Equestria stretched their armies across the borders, some reinforcing the nearby kingdom of the Dragons whose nation was now halfway under darkness control. Even the dragons, with all their might and power, slowly were falling.

At this time, Celestia wished one race still remained, Humanity. Humanity, also known as the forefathers, could defeat this darkness. They created the Elements of Harmony, they discovered magic, they had technology surpassing all others. But in all their glory in their golden age, they mysteriously vanished. Some theorized they went extinct, others believed they simply went into hibernation to awaken once again when the world needed them. Celestia knew what happened through, the humans of Equis curiosity caused them to discover other dimensions, with this discovery, they moved away from Equis to colonize worlds where they could be alone.

If there was any hope for Planet Equis now, it was with Humanity, the heroes of the Golden Age. Humanity always had heroes, for they also had their villains. Princess Celestia needed heroes, and heroes she and her sister, Princess Luna, will conjure from a portal.

Princess Celestia stood upon an ancient Alicorn-Human circle, a place where Alicorns and Humans of old practiced powerful magic.

"Sister, you sure this will work?"

Celestia looked at Princess Luna, the worry in her eyes. Smiling to ease her sister's thoughts, Celestia replied...

"I'm sure, once we summon Human heroes, they will find the Elements of Harmony and defeat the darkness."

"But sister, what if the Humans decline?" Luna questioned.

Celestia paused, thought briefly about this but replied. "They won't, they will aid us."

Luna circled the runic writings. "Alright, sister I am ready to proceed." She stopped on a full moon drawing.

Celestia looked up to the sky, the spell required a certain astrological event which only happens rarely, in order to continue.

The two Princesses must create a Solar Eclipse.

The raiser of the sun stood on her solar drawing. The two sisters closed their eyes, their horns lighting with solar and lunar magic, colors of gold and dark purple resonating in magical auras. The moon and the sun closed in together in the close, before the sky shifted to an orange hue, the sun black, a Solar Eclipse stood in the sky.

In the ruins where the princesses lay, the runic magical writings glowed with colors of all sorts, blinding lights shone throughout the broken stone. Four pillars shone the brightest, each colored a bright sky blue. Slowly a small circle, portals, of energy opened up. The two princesses concentration increased, desperate to complete the spell and summon their four human heroes.

Then, a dark figure stood, human-like in appearance he looked liked a shadow come to life, dressed in a cloak with a hood.

"You shall not summon other humans, this world is mine!" He stretched his hands, black energy engulfed the pillars before they crumbled. The blue portals shifted and twisted against the strain of a foreign energy.

"No! You shall not win Darkness!" Princess Luna used all her might and magic and blasted the figure. But the figure moved out of the way and revealed a shredded blade in it's right hand. He charged at the Princess, shooting a blast at the concentrating Celestia and swinging his blade at the Lunar Princess.

Celestia's spell stopped, the magical residue blew apart the ruins in massive explosions that shook the forest. In the sky, if anyone would have seen, four small portals joining together and then streaking across the sky to a distant land fighting against the armies of Darkness.

Destiny had been altered for Equis.

Seventeen-year-old Korra, the Avatar, sidestepped a disc of earth. She had just joined a group of pro-benders called the Fire Ferrets and was fighting the other team. She then bended a gush of water at an enemy pro-bender but the enemy reflected it with his own bending of fire, producing steam.

The steam had pushed the pro-bending to the third line, with determination Korra, and her fellows pressed on their assault with Fire, Earth, and Water bending techniques. Slowly but surely the Fire Ferrets pushed them back when suddenly one the pro-bender had enough.

"Screw the rules! The Avatar is going down!"

In the confusion, the Fire Ferrets stopped bending for a brief second. The foe fire bender blasted at them lethally, especially at Korra herself. Korra stepped out of the way, but the fire bender than ran closer with flame, in surprise Korra, took a few steps back with water at the ready, she blasted at the bender, but he used his fire bending to propel himself into the air. And then blast down with anger.

Her team rushed to her aid and started attacking the fire bender, who then started to use electricity against the Avatar.

The electricity blasted Korra off the edge.

While falling a blue portal opened behind her and she fell in.

"What!" She yelled before the portal closed.

Nineteen-year-old Jaina Draconis, Dragon Knight of the Battle Tower, reverted back into her human form from her Dragon one. She landed on the cliff side and brought out her weapons, a duel wielder of the Blades of Fjords. She charged at the Black Ring foes with a battle cry.

"Magic Missiles!" She yelled, six white balls of energy erupted from her palm and homed in on the enemies, blasting them backward.

"Charge Attack!" The effect was instantaneous as her speed tripled and she charged forward with great dexterity, bashing her weapons onto the Black Ring Lieutenant, then spun "Whirlwind!" She yelled, a gust of slicing wind came off her blades as she spun three sixty degrees.

The enemies knocked onto the ground with heavy wounds. Quickly gathering herself and went over to two Black Ring soldiers and stabbed her blades into their hearts, killing them. She brought them out and saw the others getting up.

"Fireball!" She said, blasting a ball of fire at another incinerating him.

She parried the Black Ring captain's weapon, the latter who had gotten up and attacked her, the captain slashed at her side, but she blocked it with her blade and attacked with the other which collided with his shield.

"Tell Damian I said hello!" She said to him, then magic coursed through her muscles and veins.

"Final Assault!" Jaina Draconis yelled once more, her blades struck continuously in a matter of five seconds she dealt fifty blows to his torso, which he fell on his back and died.

Satisfied that another group of Black Ring soldiers lay dead, she then jumped off the cliff to change into her dragon form.

But instead of the sky, she collided with a blue portal, she was a bit shocked but she had seen many portals, Jaina wondered where this one would take her.

Jaina disappeared from the face of her world, literally.

"SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!" A blond teenager of sixteen years gathered his Chakra energy within him, he had performed hand-signs which directed his Chakra and pulled forth the technique.

With four clones of himself, Naruto Uzumaki gave chopsticks to each clone.

"Alright, first one to beat the score wins!" He yelled.

Each clone of Naruto and the original looked on in determination, the battle before them about to rage in what would take hours in only a few minutes, tensions all around they watched carefully as a powerful item was placed before each Naruto.

"On your mark... "

Chopsticks at the ready, eyes glaring at the item with sheer willpower.

"Get set... "

The item steam rose into the air, each individual ingredient taunting Naruto with all its glory and power. Teeth clenched, as the clones continued to stare at their enemy.

"Go!"

The clones and Naruto tore at their enemy, attacking it with all their speed they could possibly conjure with their arms, chopsticks flew wildly, slurping sounds filled the stand they sat upon, in the distant the sound of a timer clicked down, tick tock tick tock.

Then the alarm rang, the item and copies of it stood forty-two bowls high.

"Ahh... That was the best ramen contest ever!" Naruto said joyfully, ramen now eaten and in his stomach. He got up and looked at the man and daughter who made the food.

"Thanks, old man! That was the bomb!"

"No problem Naruto, anything for my favorite customer and the hero of Konoha!" The ramen stall owner, Teuchi said.

Suddenly, as Naruto jumped to get to the rooftops and make his way to the Hokage Tower, a blue portal opened up in front of him.

"Whoa Wha!" Naruto yelled in complete surprise as he disappeared into the portal and the portal disappeared, not a trace to be seen.

Within a realm that held seven mystical wish-granting objects, within the world in a time of peace and prosperity, somewhere on the continent, a sixteen-year-old half saiyan, half human, boy fought against a peculiar opponent. This strange foe happened to be the teenager's teacher in both life and martial arts.

And for this day and hour, this was Son Gohan's opponent.

An array of bright blue bolts traveled through the air quickly from Son Gohan's sparring partner, the Z-fighter, protector and hero of Planet Earth, brought his hand forward in a straightened fashion, deflected each of the Ki energy blasts in several directions. Once having elimated the threat, Gohan brought his left hand back, before thrusting it forward and releasing a wave of deep blue energy.

"Ha!" The hero of Earth screamed, briefly watching his basic Ki attack travel toward his mentor.

"Geerraaah!" A gruff masculine voice roared as Gohan's attack was met with a unmovable object, and soundly redirected into the sky above harmlessly.

Gohan chuckled and called out to his opponent, "Good one, Mr. Piccolo!" He complimented the addition of such an attachment to the name more out of respect than that or courtesy.

"Mmpfh," Piccolo grunted, before charging at Gohan with fists to bear.

Gohan replied likewise, sparring with his mentor was perhaps one of the most enjoyable actions of fighting. Not to mention, it was quite rare for Piccolo to meet him in Mt. Paozu especially when concerning the son of Goku's mother.

They met in the air, exchanging blows faster than an untrained eye could ever follow, indeed the speed of which the two fighters gave each other their martial arts couldn't be tracked by those of even trained sight. The trick lies in not relying on the sense of sight, but that using all the senses together.

Even then, one might catch only the briefest moment. The sense of sound only echoed with each punch, every kick, only did you hear them long after the origin of the attack happened.

With a resounding shockwave, both Piccolo and Gohan disengaged one another. They both stared at one another, neither of which were out of breath.

"You've grown soft in these peaceful times," Piccolo stated.

Gohan nodded, he would not have tried to hide it anyhow, "Yes, I haven't been training as much as I should have."

"You should, Goku gave you his mantle. You are the strongest fighter and so should be constantly on watch."

"But what is there to watch for?" Gohan questioned the green-skinned Namekian, "It's been five years, nothing has happened that could be a threat to the Earth."

Piccolo stared, before answering, "Nothing on Earth, perhaps. But there are other places."

"Like Space? Frieza was the ruler of an intergalactic federation, he was the strongest being out there. And now we're leagues ahead of him." Gohan stated. "You don't even need me to beat someone like Frieza; Tien, Krillin, and Yamcha could do it now."

"Don't lecture me, Gohan. I know how powerful we've all become." Piccolo snapped back but still remained calm and stoic. "There is always someone stronger, and I have a feeling someday we will see that."

Gohan sighed, "You're right, Mr. Piccolo."

"It's fine, try to convince your mother to let you train now and then." Piccolo finished, before both he and Gohan's head shot up in alert.

"What's that?!" Gohan yelled before covering his eyes as a bright flash erupted into existence just in front of him. It formed into that of a curved door-shaped portal, pulling at Gohan's body towards it.

But the half saiyan could easily resist it, his form instantly covered into a golden aura of power, hair shifting into the same color, halting the pull of his body closer to the portal.

Piccolo seemed to have a calculating expression, Gohan looked toward him for answers, the Namek had always held more skill in sensing.

"Someone is calling you, I can just barely sense large quantities of malicious energy on the other side..." He trailed off, "Fighting and winning against a smaller more innocent one."

The Namekian Z-fighter turned towards Gohan, tossing him a small brown pouch unexpectedly.

"H-Hey, why you give me these for?" Gohan asked puzzlingly.

"Kid, you need to aid them. If that darker source triumphs over the weaker one, it could spell disaster for that world, and our own." Piccolo said.

Gohan smiled, he knew there was more to what Piccolo was saying, "Looks like I'm not the only one who's grown soft."

He smiled, a small smile, "Open your palm." Piccolo said; the half saiyan teen doing so. "Geraah!"

Within Gohan's hand, a long sword, sheathed in a scabbard, formed. The hybrid recognized the symbol imprinted on the blade's handle. The hero of Earth, defeater of Cell, also noticed that the gift happened to be a larger, and more well-made, version of the very same weapon he held in his childhood days.

"Consider it a gift," Piccolo stated, "I'll watch over the Earth while you're gone."

Gohan left his Super Saiyan state fall, his hair receding to its natural black hue. The hybrid drifted toward the portal, a bright smile on his face.

"Thanks, Mr. Piccolo."

With that, Gohan left his home, his very dimension.

Gohan opened his eyes to see tall trees protruding over him, slowly getting up he noticed his body reacting much slower than usual. He stood up, too see the ground closer than other days, he looked at his hands to see them much smaller. Curiosity and confusion flowed through his mind, he went over to a lake to see himself.

"Oh... Well... That's unexpected." He looked at the reflection to see the child version of himself, around eleven years, looking back at him. His eyes then soared over to a fuzzy brown object wiggling back and forth beside his image.

"My tail? It grew back?" The half saiyan glanced to his backside to confirm that his tail had sprouted back and confirmed it was. Gohan faced forward and looked at his hand, clenching it a few times to see if it responded, he brought some Ki forth and a Ki ball formed, albeit much weaker.

Gohan checked his clothing, his purple Gi given to him by Piccolo remained intact, the clothing seemed to have shrunken to his new height over the crossing into the new world. Thankfully a tail hole was made when his tail grew back, he wrapped his tail around his waist like a belt to not draw attention.

Gohan went into his thoughts. 'Okay, I'm de-aged to eleven thankfully my clothes seemed to have shrunk too, and my sword as well. My power has decreased to around Nappa's, which is pretty weak. My tail has regrown and I'm in an unidentified forest with... Are those kids?'

Gohan started at three other figures dressed in various garments. A white skinned boy with blond spiky hair and three whisker cheek birthmarks on each side which gave him a fox-like face. He wore a headband with a leaf symbol engraved in the metal, a sort of orange jumpsuit with black coloring on the top, and a middle black stripe that went downward. On his right leg, there was a sort of white cloth tied around it, and a brownish pouch attached to his waist. He looked about the same age as himself.

Another kid was a light brown skinned girl, with sky blue clothing shirt and dark blue pants with a brown animal pelt skirt with white fur lining. She had a brown hair and a ponytail with also two side ones that went down each face. She had a blue cloth tied in front of her waist and a set of royal blue armbands, with another armband on her right arm, colored light blue. She also had brown fur boots. Gohan found her somewhat cute, where that come from? She was also his age.

The last kid was a mystery, she appeared to be a tanned color light, red skinned girl. She was decked in dark grayish unknown metal armor. No helmet through, which revealed her face. She held red hair that was cut short and a small dragon tattoo on her forehead. The armor had black leather in her stomach region, and runic markings engraved in the metal. Two swords lie in sheath tied to her back, the armor is smooth and sleek and fitted her childish body perfectly. Kinda weird how she is also the same age!

Gohan came to the conclusion, he wasn't the only one that went into a portal. That means these three are here to help this world as well. He wondered how strong they are as their energies seemed different than his own.

Gohan decided to set up a campfire, he picked up some surrounding twigs and sticks of the immediate area and a few rocks lined upon the lake shore. He made a fireplace in the mist of the three kids and himself then shot a small blue Ki beam which ignited the wood. Seeing the others not yet awakened, Gohan went fishing in the lake.

A couple minutes later...

The fire roared as it roasted a few fish. Son Gohan discovered the fish don't grow to big sizes here, so he'll have to down his saiyan appetite to a more human level. Not necessary a good thing, but with his current power level he'll manage fine.

"Ugh..." The blonde kid groaned as he began to awaken.

"Take it easy, that portal took a lot out of us." 'Literally' Gohan mentally added.

The blond kid's ocean blue eyes looked up to see Gohan, he looked at the fire and saw fish cooked. Then looked at the other two unconscious girls on the grass. Turning his head back to Gohan he said. "You got sucked into that por- Why is my voice higher?!"

Gohan pointed at the lake. "Take a look at yourself, we've changed."

The Kyuubi jinchuriki stepped toward the lake and seemed to take a look at himself for a few seconds, then suddenly erupted in a loud voice. "What the hell! I'm a snot nose brat again! Damn it Kami-sama is this some sort of sick joke!"

Gohan raised an eyebrow at the language the blonde continued to scream. Before calming down enough to face Gohan.

"So, what's your name?" He said making a fox-like grin.

Gohan countered with the infamous Son grin. "Son Gohan, yours?"

"Naruto! Naruto Uzumaki-dattebayo!" The ninja yelled pumping a fist in the air.

"Will you please shut up!" A feminine voice cried out.

Gohan and Naruto turned to face the direction of the voice to find the red haired girl sitting upward, her eyes glowing with a silver colored mist of energy.

"Holy Kami above your eyes are burning!"

The girl in rune engraved armor jumped to her feet and yelled back at the Uzumaki. "My eyes aren't burning you, idiot!"

Gohan suddenly found Naruto hiding behind him from the girl's wrath. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it silver eyed lady!"

"Names Jaina Draconis, Dragon Knight of the Battle Tower. Now tell me, which one of you conjured the portal and reduced my age!?"

"It wasn't me! I swear!" The blond jinchuriki immediately said.

She glared at Gohan, who seemed apprehensive at her look. "It wasn't any of us, we were all reduced in age, so we are all victims of the same incident."

Jaina pulled herself into her thoughts. 'Seems reasonable. So I doubt any of them work for the Black Ring, plus they aren't dressed like them or have any of the ugly face paint.'

"Alright, fine." She looked at the cooked fish by the fire, took one, sitting down to eat.

The girl with pony and pigtails besides Gohan began to stir.

'W-where am I?' She thought as she got upward and looked around, spotting instantly Gohan besides her. "Oh, who are you?" She instantly asked to found out who this guy was.

"Gohan, Son Gohan!" The half saiyan said, grinning cutely in the girl's perspective. "And what's your name?"

"Korra, Avatar Korra." The now identified Korra said proudly.

"And I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" Naruto greeted the Avatar, rushing to their side.

"Jaina Draconis." Jaina said lowly.

"Why is everything bigger?" Korra asked Gohan.

Gohan replied to her, "Oh well you see when we all went into the portal, a side effect affected our age. Possibly our abilities as well."

"What!?" Korra, Naruto, and surprisingly Jaina yelled.

Naruto and Jaina paused, checking their Chakra/Magic for any changes, both found their energy levels smaller, mostly Jaina, Naruto still had huge amounts of Chakra. Naruto went over to a tree and tried to climb it with sticking Chakra to his heels, only to fall off.

"Dang it! I have to do Chakra control exercises all over again!" Naruto loudly complained.

"It seems we have to do a lot of things, our bodies need to retrain to peak performance. Our skills need to either refined or learned once again." Jaina commented the situation.

Korra looked on in confusion, she felt fine, her skills were the same, at least to her knowledge. Quickly, she shot a burst of fire up into the air. "Nothing seems wrong with me, expect being eleven again, which sucks."

"Whoa, how did you do that jutsu with no hand signs?" Naruto said in amazement. "Plus! It looks like it didn't cost any Chakra at all!"

"What's Chakra, and what's jutsu?" Korra questioned Gohan, who was beside her.

"I don't know, I'm guessing it's another name for Ki. But that doesn't explain hand signs." Gohan said.

Korra was even more confused, Ki? Chakra? What's next magic?

"It seems we all use different energies, my magic levels have drastically decreased and my skills as well."

That made more sense.

"Oh, guess that's why. Well, Chakra, the energy I use. Is a combination of physical and spiritual energy that can be used for jutsus and increase our strength." Naruto explained.

"Ki energy is the life force, which I guess is physical energy, that can be used to do techniques and also increase strength." Gohan explained his.

"Magic is the mental, or spiritual energy, that I can use to do spells." Jaina simple informed.

"Hmm, Bending is using a natural element to preform skills, which the chi in our bodies guide. I can use all four elements, Earth, Fire, Air, and Water with practice. I can't use the air right now through... But I'll learn it!" Korra said with confidence.

"What about lightning?" Naruto asked.

"Well, fire benders can do lightning." Korra said, remembering that fire bender that attacked her earlier.

Silence then came...

And continued...

And continued some more...

"Fine! I'll introduce myself! My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I like ramen, kicking people's asses, my friends, and ramen! I dislike the waiting time for ramen, people who can't see a scroll from the kunai, and emos! My hobbies are eating ramen, training, and doing pranks. My dream is to become Hokage, the leader of my village and protect all my precious peoples! Dattebayo!" Naruto introduced himself.

Gohan decided to go next. "That's cool Naruto! My name is Son Gohan, I like training, studying, and playing with my little brother! I dislike cruel evil people and people getting hurt. My hobbies are training, fishing, and reading. My dream is to become a great scholar and martial artist."

Naruto clapped in approval, despite disliking the scholar part. Korra decided to go next, following Gohan and Naruto's examples.

"My name is Korra, I'm the Avatar. I like training, pro-bending, and beating the bad guys. I dislike obeying the rules, and meditation. My hobbies are training and hopefully pro-bending. My dream is to become to greatest female Avatar ever!"

"What is an Avatar?" Gohan asked.

Korra looked at Gohan with a grin on her face. "The Avatar is the person that can control all the elements! They can go into 'The Avatar State' to become one of the strongest benders ever. Their duty is to protect the world's balance between the physical... And spiritual... realms." Korra explained, saying spiritual grumbling.

"Sounds awesome!" Naruto said.

"That's great, I'm happy for you!" Gohan said.

"Really? Thanks." Korra replied to Gohan's saying.

Everyone then turned to Jaina, who rolled her eyes.

"Fine... My name is Jaina Draconis, I like dragons and swordplay, dislike... A guy... And goblins. My hobbies are... defeating evil men and ruling the Battle Tower. My dream is to become to best Dragon Knight of the current age."

'Even through I'm the last one... ' She thought.

'At least she's not another Sasuke.' Naruto thought.

'Her world must be in a midst of something evil.' Gohan thought.

'Dragon Knight? Sounds cool.' Korra thought.

It was then they noticed the sky had stars in them. The fire was burnt out, and the fish all eaten.

"We'll rest here and figure out what to do tomorrow. Um, who's got first watch?" Gohan questioned.

"I'll watch." Jaina replied, grabbing a smooth stone.

The group gathered more sticks and twigs before Korra started the fire back up. They then drifted to sleep while Jaina Draconis watched the ever silent forest around them.

Unknown to all of them, of what tomorrow will bring.

Revitalizing, The Fae Forest

Book 1: Magic

Chapter 9: Revitalizing, The Fae Forest

”Leave me alone!”

A small nine year old girl with red short hair, peachy colored skin, and a mark shaped like that of a dragon decorating the left side of the child’s face, yelled in anger. She wore gray cloth padded clothes, typical of that who are trainees in the Dragon Slayer Order.

That didn’t stop her fellow trainees in the slightest.

*Whack!*

The small red headed girl staggered backward, holding her hand to her now bruised cheek. Before her stood a small group of boys and girls similar to her own age.

The leader of this coalition, a boy, said, “You’re going to be beaten up Jaina, that way our trainers will pay attention to us instead of you all the time!”

The child Jaina put her hand to her side, and replied, “Not my fault you guys never train, if you did then maybe they would teach you some more.”

“Don’t be so smug Jaina, it doesn’t make you look cool!” The boy retorted.

“Can't we all just get along and be friends?" Jaina asked, hoping that would be the case.

One of the girl trainees spoke out, "Like anyone would be your friend, Jaina!"

"That's right, I bet the minute you become a Dragon Slayer you'll be all alone!" The boy leader yelled.

“No friends! No friends! Jaina has no friends!”

“Shut up! Shut up!”

“Wha!” A thirteen year old Jaina shot up, before wincing in pain, grasping her chest only to feel the bandaged cloth tied around her injury. The Dragon Knight sat upright against the wall, holding her hand to the bandages as she looked around to see where she is.

Jaina took quick notice that she appeared to be in some sort of natural cave, small amount of light from the mouth of the cave dimly lit the dark spaces. She realized that the repeated amounts of raindrops that echoed were coming from outside, thus explaining why the sun appeared to be giving less light because it was blocked by a heavy overcast of clouds. A great thunderclap sounded, giving Jaina a fact that the storm would not quit its course anytime soon.

Looking around more, she spotted the still sleeping figures of her fellow party members. The three pre-teens were out cold, Korra sported a crudely bandaged injury identical to her own on her left shoulder. While Gohan, through very minor scraps could be identified, seemed completely healed otherwise. Naruto, much to Dragon Knight’s astonishment, is unscrathed with no wounds to speak of.

Suddenly, said Ninja’s voice exclaimed, “Jaina, you’re awake!”

The teenager’s eyes darted toward the direction of Naruto’s voice, and spotted an exhausted looking form of him sitting nearby.

‘Must be one of his clones, so Naruto had conjured them up to watch us as we recuperate? A smart idea, glad we weren’t unprotected at least.’ Jaina reasoned in her thoughts.

“Thank Kami!” The clone began, “I don’t have much Chakra left so I was a bit worried I would dispel while everyone still slept. Look, in case you were uninformed. Last night we got our butts handed to us by Mr. Purple scarred demon ego face, my creator summoned us before he passed out and we brought you all here to this cave we found. Unfortunately, I’m the last clone as the others dispelled to try and give me more chakra to stay alive.” Naruto’s clone finished before sighing in relief, “Well, I’m about to go in three… Two… One…”

*Poof!*

‘Well, at least I know how I got here. But I still have gaps in my memory as to how we lost to this new enemy.’ Jaina thought, ‘Still, best to stand watch at the entrance until either Naruto, Korra, or Gohan awake.’

Jaina stood up, wincing slightly as she felt her chest burn in opposition. She took notice that her blades were not on her back, and glanced around to find them. It didn’t take long, and she equipped them back in their rightful positions. Afterward, she headed toward the mouth of the cave and sat upon a rock just a few meters away from the rainfall.

The Dragon Knight sighed as she sat on the rock, her muscles releasing tension that they received when she had stood upward. Jaina stared at the drops of rain bouncing upon the stone ground as they impacted outside, her thoughts wandering about.

‘That dream- No, partially a memory. Why did I remember it, that event was long ago in my childhood days.’ Jaina thought, absently bringing some salted jerky out of her enchanted bag, the preservations within the meat preventing it from spoiling. She tore at it, chewing slowly as she continued her train of thought.

‘Nonetheless, it means something. The draconic magic running through my veins prevents a memory occurrence within my dreams unless my dragon side is trying to tell me something...’ Jaina thought, remembering that certain fact in a book. ‘But that is preposterous, it has never occurred to me previously until now. So why is that? Ever since coming to this Divine damned world, I’ve lost control of my troubles and abilities, and they seem to come haunt me.’

She pulled up her Dragon Morph Stone necklace, ‘And then there is this, I should be able to transform into my draconic state regardless of my body’s condition. Even if I was a child, I would at least change into a dragon hatchling!’ Jaina thought in anger, clutching the stone tightly, ‘Something is different, it is as if… Wait… Talana was the previous Dragon Knight. And she resided within me ever since she forced her magic to change mine. Perhaps it was due to her that I was able to change so freely, without training, and now I don’t have such a shortcut.’

‘If that is true, then it would seem I’ll have to become a Dragon with my own power.’

“Morning,”

Jaina turned her head to the direction of Naruto’s voice, “Awake? Your clone just dispelled moments before.”

Naruto Uzumaki stood up, stretching and yawning before he replied, “Really? Didn’t notice.”

The ninja walked up to Jaina, and sat next to a rock that was nearby, he then started a new conversation. “So, what’s up? Anything happened while we doozed off?”

“Aside from being brought to this cave, I don’t have any knowledge on what exactly happened after I went unconscious for the second time yesterday.” Jaina replied.

Naruto scratched his head, “Um, well, Gohan went ape on us, Korra went all fire berserk, and I got wild.”

Jaina’s eyes deadpanned, “Hilarious…” She said sarcastically, “But I need more information than you are letting off.”

“Yeah… Well, Gohan literally went ape on us. Like, he grew up to like hundred feet tall, smashed a lot of terrain with his fists alone, and blew lasers-”

He saw Jaina’s confusion on the word ‘laser’.

“Giant energy beams,” Naruto explained, “Anyhow, he blew lasers right out of his mouth, blowing up literally anything that got in his way! Though… He didn’t have any control in the slightest.” The orange-clad shinobi finished.

“And Korra?” Jaina questioned.

“Pretty much what you expect, a rage flame that was so large it looked like a ocean wave engulfing purple freak and he wiped out.” Naruto said.

Jaina nodded, Naruto’s strange terms he used to emphasis on the events aside, she understood the meaning behind his words.

Finally, the Dragon Knight asked, “What about you? I swore I saw some sort of red energy seemingly boiling around your form when I got critically injured.”

“Well.. Uh… I… It was a technique I learned! Yeah, makes my chakra go all red and super strong, my ‘Holy Shit’ mode.” Naruto quickly said.

“Forgive me, I don’t find your answer all too believable.” Jaina said as her silver glowing eyes seem to have reptile-like slits for a second.

Naruto noticed this, “Uh, are you okay?"

Jaina tried to delve into Naruto's outer thoughts with her draconian mind reading abilities, but the minute her mind touched his she felt pushed back by force, causing her to reel back. She clutched her head in as it thumped a bit in pain before she recovered.

Naruto seemed oblivious to her previous action, "Jaina, you there? You sick? I hope not, because that's annoying!" He exclaimed.

Jaina looked up, blinking and decided to change the subject. "How so?"

Naruto lay back a bit, his expression of that remembering memories, "Well, there was this one time I caught a cold, kept sneezing all the time! Then, I was carrying some pepper when I met Sakura, accidentally sneezed and it flew into her face... Yeah, got a screaming for that, hehe." He began his story.

Jaina lay her arms on her legs, listening in to the ninja's story as the rain continued to fall heavily outside the cave.

"Suddenly, that very same night, I was attacked in my own bed by needles that put you to sleep on impact!"

"What..." Jaina said in disbelief.

"I know right? Anyhow, what happened next was a wild goose chase as I was sought after by my own fellow ninja, all because they thought I was having some supposedly dangerous disease cause Sakura was sick!" Naruto restarted his story, "But it turned out she only had allergies from the pepper, so it was all a fraud."

Jaina snickered slightly, that was a bit humorous. "I guess I'll return the favor with a story of my own," the Dragon Knight said, thinking back on her memories to find a humor-filled moment. After a few more seconds, the story hit her.

"I have it in mind now," She stated, "In Broken Valley, I was exploring the surrounding area nearby the town when I came across a goblin camp. Now, goblins are pretty stupid, let me tell you, they couldn’t tell a difference between cattle and swine. A small band of these creatures tried to ambush me from an abandoned wooden watch tower, at first I was prepared to fight, but instead of climbing down, they leapt from the top to try and jump attack me.”

Naruto nodded, paying attention to the rare moment Jaina actually talked about herself and her past.

“Instead of looking where they were leaping off, the three goblins all hit their heads on the exact same tree branch and began spinning in the air like cartwheels.” Jaina grinned for a brief moment, “Where they proceeded to crash into their own hovels, breaking them apart, and die from their own idiocy.”

“Wooow, that’s… So stupid!” Naruto chuckled.

Jaina giggled, making Naruto perk up at hearing such a feminine sort of laughter from a tomboyish girl. “Yeah, quite a foolish moment.” Jaina stated, ending her laughter with a facial expression resembling that of someone remembering the past.

Naruto raised his hand, pointing toward the outskirts of the cave, “Look, it stopped raining. Should we wake up Gohan and Korra?” the ninja questioned.

The Dragon Knight of Rivellon nodded her head in agreement, “Yes, it’s best we get moving. Our enemy knows we’ve been injured and possibly taken refuge around this area. If we journey now, we should be without any future ambushes.” Jaina finished.

“Um, just what I was thinking!” Naruto said, nodding his own head in approval.

The two heroes went over to their sleeping companions, awaking them by gently shaking their bodies. The first to awaken happen to be Gohan, who groaned slightly before opening his eyes. The half saiyan Z-fighter sat upward, stretching his arms as he yawned loudly before looking up to both Jaina and Naruto.

“Hey, um, what happened?” Gohan said, rubbing his head, “My head is pounding me…”

“Giant battle, clones brought to cave, we lost, waking you up.” Naruto nutshelled it all in a single sentence.

“Well that was very informative,” Jaina deadpanned on him.

“Heh,” Gohan snickered, “Nice to know you two are fine then.”

Naruto grinned, “Hey, it’ll take more than a ugly ass cow to beat me! Ya know!” He exclaimed, pointing his thumb at himself.

Korra groaned, and tried to cancel the sound caused by her rowdy companion by covering her ears with her hands, “Still as loud as ever too!”

“Oh come on, why does everyone against me?” Naruto said, the upper half of his body hanging downward in a dramatic sorrowful fashion.

Gohan stood up, and patted the ninja’s back, “We just like messing with you,”

Naruto perked up, scratching the back of his blond hair, “Yeah, I know!” He said.

Korra stood up, yawning a bit before looking at everyone, “Got any food?” She said, before she winced in pain, grasping her shoulder joint to see it having a large bandage on it. “Ow… That looks nasty…” She said, rubbing it gently.

Jaina took notice of this, “Oh yes, we should probably heal up before heading out.” the Dragon Knight stated, she reached for her small pouch and pulled out a few minor healing potions, the red liquid sloshing about within as she handed out the vial to Korra.

“Here,” Jaina started to say, “This will recover your physical wounds enough to be able to travel.”

Korra grasped the vial, and looked to Jaina, “How are you having all of these vials in that small pouch?” The Avatar asked curiously, pointing toward the object in question.

Naruto replied for Jaina, “She said it was enchanted, it’s like a sealing scroll in my world, in that it holds more than it seems to be able to.” He finished.

“I have capsules in my world, but those can only hold usually one object at a time. Then again, it’s a technological object, not magical.” Gohan spoke up.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, back up a second,” Naruto said, his hands raised up as he looked toward the half saiyan martial artist, “You have these things called capsules that do the same thing as a scroll, expect without using any chakra or magic? Just science and stuff?”

“Pretty much,” Gohan replied.

Korra blinked, “So, you got like, flying cars too or something?” She said.

“Yep, well, they hover more than fly.” the hybrid saiyan stated.

Both orange-clad ninja and blue clothed Avatar whistled in awe. Gohan’s world must be much more advanced than theirs is.

*GRUMBLE*

Jaina, Naruto, and Korra looked to Gohan with deadpanned expressions, the latter sweatdropped nervously as his right hand scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

“Sorry,” Gohan said, “Korra reminded me that I was hungry.”

Jaina sighed, “We don’t have much food, we’ll have to ration it out between the four of us.” The twelve year old red haired girl said.

“That’s fine,” Gohan replied.

Jaina nodded, “After we eat, we leave.”

The others nodded in agreement before the food from Jaina’s unique bag was spread out evenly among them.

Our four heroes traveled quickly along the road, ninja, Dragon Knight, martial artist, and Avatar trekked hastily toward their destination, being that of the Fairy Capital. As they passed by the long grass-filled plains, they came upon the entrance of deep, heavily foliaged, forest. The Dragon Knight, Jaina, brought out a small map given to her by the residents of Silvercross Town, the other three looming over her shoulder to get a view.

“Alright, we are entering the Fae Forest, the biome that holds the capital of the fairies.” Jaina stated as pointed her gauntlet encased finger on the map.

Gohan brought a finger to the map as well, “This current path is the more direct course to the fairy capital, but there also appear to be two more paths that enter the forest.”

Naruto stretched his arms upward as he began walking into the enchanted woods, “I’m sure we’ll be fine, what can possibly wrong?”

“Oh great, Murphy’s law…” Gohan said.

“Huh?” Korra questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Gohan turned to her, “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.” He answered as he followed the orange-clad ninja.

The Avatar giggled lightly, “Can’t wait to see what happens to him next,”

“He must have the worst of fortunes,” Jaina commented as she trailed behind them.

“Hey, I heard that-ttebayo!” Naruto exclaimed as he walked backward, facing his companions direction and not paying attention to where he was going.

“I suggest you look where you’re going,” Gohan said. ”Don’t want to make it true all too soon.”

Naruto ducked, avoiding being strangled by a stray vine, he immediately turned around and started pushing past the vegetation while keeping an eye on the road. As our group of summoned heroes continued their adventure deeper into the forest depths, following the light dirt colored path that lead to the fairy capital, they observed their surroundings with a peace of mind.

The surrounding forest continued to disperse the light around them, slowly but surely the sunlight was dimly blocked by the trees. Only occasional beams of light made it past the leaf tops as our heroes traveled down the road.

Gohan hummed slightly a small tune that had come into his head, following Naruto who also appeared to be quite joyous himself as they all walked along. The hybrid saiyan glanced backward, looking to see Korra checking out the surrounding forest with awe at its beauty, and Jaina to be reading a small book.

Gohan smiled as he looked back forward, “It’s quite peaceful.”

“Yeah, sure is,” Naruto agreed. “Looks a lot more… Planty… Then the forest we all arrived in, huh?” He said as he continued walking.

Gohan nodded, “Yeah it is.”

“Reminds me of home,” Naruto stated.

“What’s it like, your home?” Gohan asked, “I remember you saying it was called Konoha.”

Naruto turned around, walking backward as he nodded to the half saiyan, “Yep, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. My hometown, it’s a great place, I’m sure you would’ve liked it if you visit sometime.” Naruto said with a grin plastered on his face.

Gohan chuckled light, “Perhaps, after all of this is over we might found a way to visit each other.”

“Yep!” Naruto agreed before turning back and walking forward.

The Z-fighter looked up at the overhead tops of the trees, the leaves that fell down ever so often, and the beams of sunlight that past downward. His enhanced saiyan eyesight made him catch the little details of the plant life, such as the drips of water that trailed down some of the ground-level foliage, and tiny insects that nourished the environment.

He closed his eyes, breathing in deeply as he spread out his senses. A few seconds later, he noticed a energy signature that correlated to one that used it. It was no doubt that of a fairy, as it was similar to those of the first beings they rescued from the forces of the Darkness.

‘The Darkness, now that’s a name you would expect from a villain who’s hiding his identity.’ Gohan thought to himself, ‘So what is his true name? And what of the other… Elements of Harmony? Yes, what of the others? And how many other Elements are there?’ Gohan continued to think as he lifted the necklace from his neck, glancing down at the magical artifact that held a dormant overwhelming power.

‘Not to mention, I know I transformed last night. The others hadn’t mentioned it, but I can tell they have looked to me a bit cautiously every now and then.’ He continued, before looking toward Naruto Uzumaki, ‘Except for you, why is that? Does the power you exhibited last night the reason behind why you’ve not looked to me that way?”

Gohan glanced at the direction of the energy signature he detected before, ‘It’s moved away, perhaps a small scout of some sort?’ He thought. ‘I’m thinking too much, heh,’ a small smile washed over his face as he looked back to Naruto in front of him.

“Wha, Oh Kami, the hell!” Naruto exclaimed as he had been suddenly lifted up by a vine from his leg, and left dangling in the air, waving his arms about wildly.

“Told you so,” Gohan said as he held his laughter back.

“Told me so my rear end!” Naruto retorted back loudly, “Now get me down from here!” He demanded comically.

Korra and Jaina both mildly laughed at Naruto’s predicament, Jaina sighing, “You’re like comic relief for a ruler, you would make a could jester.”

Naruto’s eye twitched, Gohan couldn’t help it, and began laughing himself. The ninja couldn’t help but soon laugh a bit afterward, as laughter was a contagious emotion. Soon enough, Gohan took out the sword given to him by Piccolo, and sliced the vines off with one clear cut.

The ninja caught himself with a handstand, before getting his feet gently back on the ground and standing upright. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” Korra said as she began walking past him.

“You didn’t even do anything!” Naruto said as he began following her, both Gohan and Jaina beginning to walk as well.

“I did,” Korra said, raising her finger to prove a point, “I made sure the other vines didn’t get stuck around you.”

“Huh? How, I didn’t see anything.”

Gohan spoke up, “I saw her slice some of the vines around with waterbending so that you didn’t get entangled even more.”

“Well.. Uh… Sorry, and thanks.” Naruto apologized.

“It’s fine,” Korra said, waving a hand off in his direction.

The group continued going down the pathway, and it seemed to be, after possibly half an hour, that the forest’s plant life dimmed down. The branches clearing away and more sunlight shining through the trees, the foliage on the ground disappearing and the road made more appealable.

“We’re getting close?” Gohan asked Jaina.

The Dragon Knight nodded, “Yes, the Fairy Capital is just up ahead in a clearing within the middle of the Fae Forest.”

“Cool,” Naruto stated.

“Let’s go then, I’m getting bored.” Korra said, stretching her arms a bit.

“I concur,” Jaina said, she wasn’t used to being inactive without anything to fight for such a period of time.

Our heroes continued their journey, soon enough, the forest was giving away to a clearing. And as they turned a corner of the road, they were greeted with the faraway sight of the Fairy Capital. This capital city seemed to be fortified with large, wooden castle-like walls. A few large trees seem to be coming from within these walls, with houses decorated on them as well. From their perspective, the town was quite small in size.

“Looks a bit, smaller than I expected it to be.” Gohan said.

Naruto then said, “I’m sure it’ll be bigger the closer we are,”

Gohan nodded, “Then again, it’s the fairy capital, and they are small beings to begin with.” He finished.

“The walls,” Jaina began to say, “Look to be hastily built up, they aren't any extensive fortifications and is made of wood. It’s quite clear they were never prepared for a war against the Darkness,” She finished.

Korra spoke up, “Didn’t they say, in the first village we arrived in, that they usually just tend to take care of the forests?” She reminded her companions.

“That’s correct,” Gohan said.

“Hope they got ramen,” Naruto commented.

“We’ll just have to see then,” Korra said with a grin, “Come on!” She exclaimed as she started running toward the capital.

“Hey, wait up!” both Gohan and Naruto exclaim as they chase after the joyful Avatar.

Jaina jogged soon after them, the four heroes soon arrived closer to the grand capital of the fairy folk. It indeed appeared to be much larger than originally thought, as the walls themselves were some fifteen meters high. A grand wooden gate, crudely built in a hastened fashion, was wide open. When arriving, the twelve year old humans were stopped right at the entrance by a dozen or so fairies.

“Stop!” A male fairy, wearing strange cloth that took the appearance of armor, shouted with a aura of command.

Naruto, Korra, Gohan, and Jaina, stopped right on the spot. They did not wish to make enemies with the side they wished to aid.

The fairy commander looked to them, “Hm, you four have strange auras, but what exactly are you?”

Jaina stepped up in front of them all, “Humans, sir.” She said with military doctrine, her legs were straight together, and chest pronounced.

“And what are you doing here?”

“Told by a village near Silvercross Town to arrive here for information on the status revolving around the war against the Darkness.” Jaina replied.

The commander seemed to glare at them all, despite his small size, it seemed a bit intimidating, “Alright, follow me.”