The Mega Gamer
Chapter 10: Let It Snow

"Thank you for accompanying me Naruto," said Vert who was carrying a pair of shopping bags in hand as she walks alongside said blonde.

"It's no big deal, I was just stocking up on stuff from the shop when I met you, plus I didn't have anything serious doing before heading over to Compa-chan's place," said Naruto with his Digimon perched on his shoulder and hoodie "So is there anything you can tell me about the game you just bought except spoilers?"

"Apparently it is a remake of a popular RPG in the past years and had received positive reviews, I saw the trailers and knew that I just had to get it," said Vert with her eyes sparkling in excitement.

"Now you really got me interested, maybe I could play it sometime," said Naruto thoughtfully.

"You could play along with me since it has a multiplayer feature,"

"Hmm, this game requires research," said Gatchmon, ready to search the net but Naruto put a stop to it.

"Not so fast, I prefer playing the game first to get a proper handle on things. Plus, chances of bumping into spoilers are high and could pretty much dampen one's interest. Something Kiba tells me and I agree," said Naruto.

Vert was nodding in agreement "How true,"

They finally arrived at Compa's home and made their way to the living room where they saw Compa along with Neptune and IF before calling out to them in greeting.

"Hey guys, we're back," said Naruto with a wave.

"Heya Naru, what were you guys up to?" asked Compa.

"Well I was restocking on supplies then met Vert along the way, I escorted her to buy a new game before heading over here,"

"Well it's a good thing you restocked, we got information that Conversation was in Lowee at the Basilicom," said IF.

"Then it's a good thing that I bought this," Vert reached into one of her shopping bags and took out a pair of red-rimmed glasses before putting it on "I'm so glad that I finally got the Tsundere Otaku Glasses Set for moments like these,"

"Oh yeah, I remember reading about that on your diary," said Neptune.

"How do I look? Quite stunning am I right?"

"Um, that's…," IF doesn't really know what exactly to say to this.

[The fact that she believes that glasses make perfect disguises without changing her main outfit makes me think that goddesses in general suck at stealth] said K-9 with a deadpanned expression.

"It mostly works since people would assume that she's cosplaying as a goddess," said Model X.

[It also shows that humans can be gullible]

"I even have an extra set for Naruto," Vert reached into the bag again.

"It's okay Vert-chan, there's no need for that," Naruto tried to refuse.

"Don't be so cutely modest, I'm sure it will look good on you," Vert brought out a pair of black-rimmed glasses and put on Naruto who pushed it up to make it fit better, unaware that he triggered an effect "See, you look so smart with them on,"

"She's right, it suits Naru-sensei nicely," said Compa, she blinked in confusion at what she just said.

"Why did you address Naruto-sensei as a teacher?" asked IF before realizing what she just said "Huh, Me too?"

Naruto looked at them in confusion, pushing up the glasses again since they kept sliding down "Uh, why are you all addressing me as a sensei?"

Neptune giggled "You two are so weird, calling Naruto-sensei like that…huh?"

"Now who's being weird, but still why are we saying that?" IF smirked.

Gatchmon frowned before realizing something and called out to Naruto "Hey Naruto-sensei, take off your glasses,"

"Okay," Naruto took the glasses "Now what?"

"Everyone, try saying his name,"

"Naru/Naruto," said everyone before realizing what just happened.

"We aren't addressing him as sensei now, how come?" asked Compa in confusion.

"I thought as much, it appears that whenever Naruto puts on the glasses; it makes everyone address him as a sensei," Gatchmon theorized.

"Wow, I never knew Naruto has an ability like that," said Herissmon in wonder.

"Surely that can't be true," Naruto put on the glasses.

"Well, it sort of makes sense Naruto-sensei," said IF "See? I'm doing it again,"

[What a dumb power] said K-9 at the ridiculousness of it all.

Vert let out a squee and glomped Naruto while rubbing her cheeks against his "You just became a lot cuter than before Naruto-sensei, you can be my tutor any day!"

Neptune pouted at this "Alright Vert, put Naruto-sensei down so we can get ready to go to Lowee, and take off the glasses while you're at it,"

"Awww, just one more hour,"

"That's too long!"

"All this because of a pair of glasses," said Compa with an awkward smile.

"Can't deny never having a dull moment when with them," said IF "I hope you have a warmer Compa cause things are going to be chilly over at Lowee,"

Eventually Vert finally let go of Naruto and the glasses were put away, thankfully enough. In the next day, the group set out for the Sky Harbor and soon arrived at Lowee where they learnt is completely different compared to Planeptune, Lastation and Leanbox. Snow covers the entire region as far as the eyes can see with snowflakes constantly drifting down from the clouds above.

"Iffy, it's f-f-f-f-f-freezing here," said Compa, her body shivering from the cold.

"Yup, Lowee is perennially covered in snow…here's your warmer," said IF before handing said warmer to Compa who took it gratefully.

"…Thank you, are you okay Naruto?" Compa turned to Naruto who seemed to be looking elsewhere "…Naruto?"

"…huh?" Naruto snapped out of whatever trance he was in before turning to the others "What is it?"

"Well you weren't listening when I was suggesting that we could make a snowman while we're here," said Neptune with a pout.

"Besides that, is there something on your mind?" asked IF.

"Not really, just recalling a few things back home when it was snowing," said Naruto.

"Okay, just checking of you're doing okay in this weather,"

"I'm good, guess these clothes are keeping me warm,"

"That's good to he-whoa!" IF suddenly felt arms wrap around her from behind and looked back to see Vert cuddling her "L-L-Lady Vert?"

"Oh don't mind me, had to make the difficult choice of which warmer I wanted to use and I chose you," said Vert with a smile.

"Welp that was fun, let's leave those two lovebirds and get going," said Neptune cheerfully before grabbing Naruto's and pulling him along.

"Take it easy, Nep-chan," said Naruto albeit used to it by now.

"Hey, wait for me," Compa followed after them.

After being momentarily sidetracked, the group made their way to the city which appears to have taken on a fantasy theme by the looks of the colorful buildings and the assortment of rainbow sparkles in the air around them. they were also able to locate the Basilicom after getting directions from some of the residents, Vert felt that something needed to be brought into attention when they entered the building.

"Are you sure that it's okay that we simply enter Lowee's Basilicom?" asked Vert.

IF blinked in mild confusion "What do you mean?"

"Come to think of it, things were fine at Planeptune's Basilicom, but then Lastation's rudely kicked us out, Nep-chan and I got poisoned over at Leanbox's. What's to say that this one wouldn't be similar or might actually be worst compared to the previous ones," said Naruto thoughtfully.

"Now that Naru mentions it, I'm kinda feeling worried about this," said Compa.

"Point taken, we'll just need to be on guard while we're here," said IF.

"Always at the ready!" said Neptune cheerfully.

They ended the conversation upon noticing someone approach them, it appears to be a girl with long sandy blonde hair and wearing a white frilled headband and two big hairclips. She also wears a red maid uniform with a white apron and a dark brown bow with a square in the center at her neck.

The maid bowed to them in greeting "Welcome to Lowee's Basilicom, have you come to see Lady White Heart?"

"Yes, we have a number of questions to ask her," Compa affirmed.

"Very well then, allow me to introduce myself; I am Financier, the chamberlain of Lady White Heart. Allow me to prepare something warm for you all since it must have been cold outside,"

Neptune perked up at that "Oh, then I'll have a nice warm bowl of stewed pudding,"

"I'd be happy if I could get a cup of hot chocolate," said Compa.

IF followed up "I'll have milk tea,"

"I'll have the same, but a Darjeeling pure blend for the tea leaves," Vert was next,

Naruto went last "I'll have green tea with rice crackers and two cups of warm milk for my Digimon,"

Financier sweatdropped at the requests "This isn't a restaurant…,"

Naruto and the others were later guided by Financier through the hallways into the main room where they would meet with the goddess of Lowee, sure enough she was there waiting for them.

She has the appearance of a young girl with short brown hair which has a fringe parted to the left and a petite figure, she wears a large and puffy white hat with ornate blue lining and brown patterns on it on her head. Her attire consists of a white top-dress which seems to reach down to her knees. This dress is sleeveless at the top and has much chocolate-brown lining around that area. She seems to wear a brown belt over this dress so as to keep it form-fitting, and her final part of her outfit is excessively long and thick white and brown detached sleeves which nearly go up to her shoulders and have large frills protruding out of the back of them.

Neptune stepped forward with a cheerful wave "Hi there Lady White Heart, I'm Neptune and this here are…,"

"Cut the introductions, I know you all very well," said White Heart.

"You do?" asked Naruto with a small frown, the sentence is already raising alarms in his head.

"You mean we're well known around here?" asked IF.

"Of course you're known…as followers of Momus that is," said White Heart, surprising them.

"Here too!?," Compa gasped in shock.

"Everyone come out, capture these heretics!" White Heart declared, the doors soon burst open and the guards of the Basilicom came bursting in with weapons in hand "Looks like you're cornered,"

"Are you serious, Blanc?" Vert asked with the goddess's true name.

"Dead serious, and while I'm at it, I'll end your misery here too Vert,"

"Oh my, looks like my disguise is uncovered,"

"I don't know if I've said this before, but there are major parts that give you away," said Neptune.

"What do we do?" asked Herissmon worriedly.

"Well we can't fight here," said IF.

"Then we run," Naruto stated as he looked around sharply, adrenaline pumping into his body.

"But the exit behind us is blocked by the guards," Neptune pointed out.

Naruto smirked "One of the early lessons Iruka-sensei taught me is that when you can't find an exit or it's being barred…you make your own. Something I'm good at thanks to being a prankster,"

"And how are you going to do that here?" asked IF.

"Like this!" Naruto rushed over to scooped up Compa in a bridal carry with the girl letting out a cute squeak "Follow me!" he took off, running past Blanc who gasped in shock.

"Naru, we're heading for that stained-glass panel!" said Compa.

"I know, it's our way out of here so hold on tight!" Naruto responded, the pinkette braced for impact right before Naruto leapt at the glass panel, smashing through it and landing on the ground with fragments of glass falling around them before he continued to run.

"What?!" said Blanc in disbelief.

"Not what I expected but I'll take it, come on!" IF followed after them by leaping through the opening.

"Here we go!" Neptune quickly joined them.

"I've always wanted to something like this from the movies, here I come!" said Vert excitedly before following them through the hole.

"I can't believe they got away…," Blanc growled in anger "Go after them!"

"Yes, my lady!" guards left the room to go in pursuit of the group.

Unknown to any of them is that someone had been listening in "I better get moving, hopefully I can get to them first,"

Naruto and the others kept running as fast as they could to get away from the Basilicom with Gatchmon leading them through the snowy landscape until they found themselves in an area which the Digimon identified to be the Lowee Snowfield where they slowed down to rest a bit from their run.

"I wonder if we're safe now?" asked Neptune.

IF shook her head in response "No, they're bound to catch up soon. We need to reach the city and hide there, and Naruto…,"

"Yes?" asked the male blonde.

"How long are you going to keep carrying Compa?"

Naruto stood there blankly before looking down at Compa in his arms with the girl blushing beet red at being carried so closely by a male "Oh, sorry about that Compa-chan!" he put her down with a look of apology.

"I-it's o-okay, it was nice of you though. Thank you," said Compa, feeling a bit disappointed at not being carried for a bit longer.

The group trekked through the snowfield as fast as they could but were constantly having encounters with monsters which Gatchmon was quick to identify them to be Frozen Skull, Violent Good Girl, Gold Lizard and tPad. They would also run into Lowee Soldiers who were patrolling the area and would attempt to capture due to the Lowee Basilicom ousting them as enemies. Herissmon's Treasure Hunter ability helped to find some Plans along the way which involve creating Hero Drink C, Silver Anklet and Nep Bull.

"Brrrrr, it's so cold. I'm growing icicles on my nose," said Neptune as she shivered.

"I'm getting kinda sleepy too, how long do we have to keep going?" asked Compa tiredly.

"We won't be long, the city shouldn't be far from here," said IF.

"This is quite troubling, we will be needing allies with how the Basilicom treats us as enemies," said Vert with a small frown.

"Guess finding the Key Fragments isn't as easy as I thought," Neptune murmured sadly.

"Maybe so, but we do know one thing,"

"What is it?"

"That the Lowee Basilicom is backing Conversation,"

"With them calling us messengers of Momus, no doubt that they were setting us up," said IF.

Naruto crossed arms with a small frown "I don't know, there's something we're missing about all this,"

"What do you mean?" asked Compa.

Gatchmon spoke up from Naruto's shoulder "We must remember that Conversation AKA Arfoire has the ability to copy the powers of a goddess. The possibility that she could have driven away the real White Heart and took her place to send the Basilicom against us cannot be overlooked,"

"Now that you mention it, she did steal Lady Vert's power and was able to use HDD to beat us before till we were able to get it back," said IF thoughtfully.

"So, the Blanc we met at the Basilicom could be Arfoire in disguise, this certainly bodes ill for us," said Vert with a frown.

"There they are!" the group turned to see that the Lowee guardsmen had caught up with them much to their frustration.

"They found us!" said Compa.

"I guess we shouldn't be surprised, considering that this is their homeland and they would be most familiar with the landscape," said Gatchmon.

"Put your hands behind your head and get on the ground!" said a second guard.

"No way! The ground is cold and wet and mushy, I don't want to get dirty!" Neptune protested.

"Not to mention that we're accused for something we never did," Vert added.

"Just give up already!" guard #1 demanded.

"You intend on fighting us?" asked IF.

"Not us!" Guard #2 took out a familiar disc and held it in front of him "Go Dragon, I choose you!" the disc flashed brightly before dimming to reveal a giant bipedal dragon with scales and large wings.

"They're using Enemy Discs!" said Compa.

"Just where do these things keep coming from?" IF murmured to herself.

"Well we'll get serious too, I choose you Nep-Nep!"

"Pika!" Neptune immediately went into her HDD form and stood at the ready with her katana.

"…," Vert looked at IF rather intently as if trying to get her to do something without being vocal about it.

"Is there something you want me to do?" asked IF confusedly.

"I don't know…maybe a command from my Iffy?" Vert suggested.

"…oh I get it now, I choose you Lady Vert!"

"Now that's what I've been waiting for!" Vert happily went into her HDD form.

Now everyone was ready to do battle and…hold on, something's wrong with this picture and apparently, they were quick to notice that as Compa spoke up.

"Where's Naru?" asked the pinkette, they looked around and saw the blonde behind them…squatting down and drawing swirls on the snow-covered ground with a finger as a small black cloud hovered above his head and was raining down on him "Naru, what are you doing over there?"

"Nobody chose me, guess I'm not needed," Naruto mumbled, making the others flinch at the obvious message in the sentence.

"Don't worry Naruto, we choose you!" said Herissmon with utmost sincerity.

Gatchmon nodded in agreement "That's right, go forth and defeat your enemy!"

"*Sigh*Guess it will have to do, let's go Model X," Naruto held out his hand for the Biometal to float into his hand.

"It was in the heat of the moment, I'm sure they didn't mean it," said Model X.

"Okay, Megamerge…,"

"Biolink established, M.E.G.A System online!" Naruto was engulfed in a dome of light before it dissipated to reveal that he had transformed into Megaman Model X and had the X-Buster at the ready.

Music Start: Pokkén Tournament OST; Dragon's Nest

"I'll take point!" Naruto positioned himself in front of the others before rapidly firing energy shots at the Ancient Dragon with the X-Buster, the draconic monster roared in annoyance and charged at Naruto to attack with a Slash attack of its claws, Naruto quickly leapt into the air while charging up the buster "Charge Shot!" he fired a green energy bullet at its head, making stumble backwards in pain

"Allow me to assist," Vert twirled her spear and summoned a green magic circle next to her "Sylhet Spear!" a large wooden spiraled spear shot out and struck the Ancient Dragon "Las Delphinus!" IF called out with a wave of her hand, a blue magic circle appeared underneath the monster before a pillar of energy shot out to strike it strongly several times. The Ancient Dragon had enough and countered by flapping its wings to launch a powerful gust to send them flying backwards, IF and Compa tumbled but Naruto along with Neptune and Vert recovered in midair while the former skidded to a stop on the ground.

"Let's see you handle this, Cross Combo!" Neptune dashed towards the Ancient Dragon and slashed up to 5 hits with the sixth to propel herself into the air then striking at its head with the final slash to slam it to the ground, "Kinestra Slash!" Vert crouched slightly before disappearing in a flash to reappear right behind the monster where there was a moment of stillness then numerous slashes began appearing all over its body. Ancient Dragon got back to its feet and still seemed capable of fighting as it opened its mouth to launch a large orange sphere of energy towards the ground.

"That's a High Explosion attack, watch out!" Gatchmon called out urgently.

"I got this, Gaea Shield!" Naruto positioned himself in front of the group and summoned a bluish stone shield to block the incoming explosive attack before switching to offense "Yammar Option!" he summoned mechanical dragonflies to orbit around him before mentally commanding them to attack a they opened fire at the monster "Gonna need your help on this one Gatchmon, activating Digivolution!" a pillar of light feel upon Gatchmon.

[Initiating Digivolution]

"Gatchmon digivolve to…DoGatchmon!"

The now Champion level Digimon stood at the ready while Herissmon went to be with IF and Compa as support, he saw Ancient Dragon about to use X-Gust and quickly countered "Not so fast, DoGatch Buster!" DoGatchmon held his hands forward close together as the pointers detached themselves from his body and hovered around the hands at four angles as blue energy gathered at the hands before firing a powerful blast at the monster to inflict great damage "Here I come, Critical Edge!" she rushed up to attack with two diagonal slashes at the legs to force the monster to kneel then jumped back before moving at blurring speed for a final slash.

The Ancient Dragon went berserk as it attacked in random directions before stomping towards Compa and IF with intent to grab them, Naruto dashed forward to push the out of the way and ended up being grabbed instead. The monster roared in his face and began to squeeze him in its grip "Hey hey hey! I'm skinny enough as it is! Acid Burst!" he took aim with the X-Buster to fire a glob of green acid into the dragon face, causing it to roar in pain and throw him far from where they were and lost sight of him.

"Naruto!" Compa called out in worry with Herissmon feeling the same way.

"You have some nerve to do that!" said DoGatchmon "Sonic Slash!" Two pointers detached from DotGatchmon's hips and combined into a sword with a blade of blue energy protracting in between the gap before unleashing a powerful slash at the monster.

Vert glared at the monster "How dare you treat my cutie that way!? Feel the wrath of my EXE Drive: Spiral Break!" she dashed forward at high-speed to lance through the Forest Whale then she turned around and unleashed a barrage of thrust attacks from multiple angles consecutively with only green flashes being seen. Vert was then seen a fair distance above the monster "May your sins be cleansed!" she threw the spear at the monster, triggering an explosion of green energy around it. the Ancient Dragon was unable to continue and disappeared in a burst of pixels.

Music End

The Lowee guards flinched from the glare by the girls for what had happened and wisely made the decision to temporarily retreat from the pursuit.

"We need to get out of here!" said IF urgently.

"But what about Naruto?" asked Herissmon worriedly.

"We'll find him but we have to leave before anymore guards show up!"

"I hope he's okay," said a concerned Compa.

"I'm sure he'll be fine, this is Naruto after all," said Neptune assuredly, mostly to herself.

"I certainly hope so, there's still some games I'd like to play with him," said Vert.

The group hesitantly left the area to continue their escape with the additional objective of finding the separated blonde ninja aspirant.

Meanwhile, Naruto let out a groan and opened his eyes before sitting up to rub the back of his head to ease it of the pain. He looked around to find himself in some sort of underground ice cavern, then he looked up to see a hole above him with sunlight shining through it.

"What happened? The last thing I remember was being thrown by that monster during the fight with Nep-chan and the others then I blacked out and I hit something," Naruto muttered to himself.

Model X emerged from his pocket to hover up to him "Naruto, are you okay?"

"I'm fine now, any idea where we are?"

"It appears that we smashed through a mountain wall into an underground cave, it would have been worse if you hadn't Megamerged with me,"

"Yeah, lucky me," Naruto got up to his feet and flipped open his G-Pad "K-9, can you contact Iffy-chan and the others?"

[No dice, been doing that since you were conked out but something about this mountain seems to be interfering with the communications, even the map isn't working] said K-9 with a frown.

"Well the hole in the ceiling is too high to climb up to, might as well find another way out of this place and regroup with the others. We already have enough problems as it is,"

"Then I suggest we start by going through that tunnel over there," Model Z gestured to said tunnel on their left.

"Then let's get a move on,"

Naruto began his trek through the tunnels, all the while keeping an eye out for an exit or monsters for that matter. He kept checking on the map but kept getting static much to his frustration, the blonde began to notice something rather strange…he hasn't been running into any monsters at all which even K-9 and the Biometals found very odd.

They eventually exited the tunnel to find themselves in a large cavernous room with the entire place covered in ice and there was an underground lake and at the center of it appears to be some sort of statue depicting two women embracing each other with one of them being taller. Naruto approached the statue and noticed yet another oddity which he had to be vocal about this time.

"Guys, I don't know if it's just me but I don't think this ice is well…ice cause it doesn't really feel that cold compared to outside," Naruto pointed out, Model X and Z floated over to one of the 'icicles' and examined it.

"You're right, this isn't ice but rather pure crystal," said Model Z.

"But then, what could have caused this to happen?" asked Model X curiously.

Suddenly the whole cavern began to quake, causing bits of crystal to fall from above, Naruto heard the sounds of something cracking and traced the sounds to see cracks of light appearing all over the statue which suddenly exploded outwardly with a bright flash of light, forcing him to cross his arms and shut his eyes to shield himself. Naruto opened his eyes to gaze upon something amazing.

Before him are the two women who were supposed to be statues but are actually alive and floating in the air before him, they appear to be the fusion of both human and machine. The elderly one has dark blue skin with a pale blue claw mark on her right eye. She has dark blue and white color scheme with bronze highlights, she also wears a strange headdress which a large wheel attached at the back. The younger one has pale blue skin with a blue skintight clothing and silver metal armor. Her headdress has an inscription of a language unknown to him. Beneath her visor is a dark blue claw mark on her left eye and a wheel floated next to her.

"Who or what are they?" asked Naruto, staring at the mechanical women who were staring back. He was getting the vibe that they're sisters.

"I don't know, we've never seen them before even during our time with Vent," said Model Z.

"Be careful Naruto, we have no idea what their intentions are," said Model X with caution.

"No need to tell me twice," Naruto stood, body completely at whatever action they would do next.

"…," the sisters stared at him very intently as if they were looking into his very soul which made him feel rather nervous. Suddenly the elder sister waved a hand towards Naruto, enshrouding him in an ebony black aura.

Naruto was alarmed at the action as he felt something akin to a hand wrap around his heart and was slowly squeezing it "What the-?! What's happening to me?!"

K-9 scanned Naruto's status and was alarmed at what he's seeing [She afflicted some sort of curse on you, your HP is reducing and you're done if it hits zero! I don't think it will allow you to Megamerge!]

"What? What do I do?!" asked Naruto desperately.

"Most likely option would be to defeat them, hopefully it would undo the curse cast," said Model Z.

"But you must hurry!" Model X urged.

Music start: Final Fantasy 13 OST; Blinded By Light

"As if I don't have enough problems already!" Naruto summoned Kanshou and Bakuya into his hands and got ready to fight for his life. He tried to focus on both but something seems to prevent him from doing so towards the elder sister. He snapped into upon seeing the younger sister approach to attack as she launched her wheel to attack him, Naruto jumped out of the way and flung Bakuya towards her which she dodged with a twirl like a dancer before attacking with her floating wheel again so he held Kanshou in front of him with both hands to block it and push away from himself.

"Charger!" Naruto rushed up to the younger sister and attacked rapidly with his twin shortswords, his opponent was using her wheel as a shield to deflect the incoming attacks before suddenly pushing himself and retaliating with an offensive strike. The blonde quickly crossed the swords in front of him to block the attack, gritting his teeth from the force as sparks flew from the wheel grinding against the blades until he used his strength to move it to the side "Trace On!" blue circuits appeared on Naruto's arms from the shoulders to his fingertips which could even be seen through his clothes "And now, Blade Raid!" he proceeded to throw both swords at the sister then projected copies of the short swords and threw them as well for a volley of bladed projectiles.

The younger sister saw the incoming bladed projectile and resorted to utilizing dancelike moves to evade them whilst deflecting a few with kicks before thrusting her hands forwards to launch a blast of ice which struck the shortswords, freezing them then flinging her wheel to shatter them and striking Naruto at the same time to knock him to the ground. Naruto struggled to his feet while gritting his teeth as the curse is beginning to get to him but refused to give up. He held his hand out to call on the Sunlight Heart with the lance appearing "Arise Sunlight Heart!" it disassembled itself to release the self-contained golden energy within and arranged its core components in the shape of a large arrow-shaped energy blade "Sunlight Slasher!" the tip at the end of the Lance's handle opened up to release energy to propel him towards the younger sister who twirled out of the way but he wasn't as he drove lance into the ground and spun round its axis to land a double into her torso, knocking her back.

The younger sister frowned at this and began to gather energy with the wheel spinning above her, Naruto sensed that she was about to launch a powerful attack and braced himself by manipulating the energy of the lance to increase its width. Upon gathering the required energy, the younger sister dashed at Naruto who quickly held out the broadside of the lance as a makeshift shield right before she began to whale at him with the wheel with greater force than before, pushing him back with every impact before finishing her combo by performing a pirouette.

[You need to hurry; you don't have much longer!] said K-9 urgently.

"Then I better switch things up," Naruto sent away the Sunlight Heart and now held the Monado in both hands, he suddenly had a vision where he saw the younger sister launch him into the air with a flip kick then encased him in a block of ice and flung her wheel to shatter it off him. The sister lashed out with the flip kick to strike Naruto only for him to be engulfed in smoke which dissipated to wooden log in his much to their shock, she felt another kick to the side and was knocked away with Naruto landing nearby. He swiped his hand over the screen of the Monado to change from blue to light-blue with a change in the kanji "Monado Speed!" his feet glowed light-blue as he rushed up to the younger sister and attacked with the barrage of slashes at high-speed before knocking her back with a final strike.

Naruto prepared for another assault when he was suddenly overwhelmed with vertigo and went down on one knee, he realized that the curse was taking hold and fought against the feeling as he struggled to his feet and displaying his refusal to give up and die. He got ready to attack once more in spite of the bleak situation when he was enshrouded in a green aura and felt any damage being healed as well as the curse dispelling, Naruto looked up to see the sisters hovering before him with smiles on their faces with no signs of aggression.

Music End

"…Well done, you have passed the test," said the elder sister.

"Huh? You mean you were testing me? I thought you were trying to kill me!" said Naruto in disbelief.

"Our apologies, we wanted to see if you were worthy of our power," said the younger sister.

"Just who are you?"

"Allow me to introduce my sister and I; my name is Nix and my older sister is Stiria, we are the Twin Sisters of Shiva," said Nix.

"Shiva, I think I've heard of that name from somewhere before, something about a powerful deity wielding the powers of ice," said Model X thoughtfully.

"Well my name's Naruto Uzumaki. So why did you give me the test, especially without telling me first? I honestly thought you were trying to kill me," said Naruto with a small frown.

"You see, we have been here for many years and waited for one to come and prove themselves worthy of our allegiance and wielding our power. For a long time, none came till you appeared and merely looking into your eyes told us you were more than worthy but we wanted to make sure with a trial by combat," Stiria explained.

"Okay, I think I got the gist of things. Could you help me find a way out of here? I need to get back to Nep-chan and the others as we got separated along the way,"

"Very well then, but take this first," Nix held out what appears to be a necklace with an ice crystal on it "You can summon us by channeling energy into the crystal, and now for the way out. Let us begin sister,"

"Indeed," said Stiria as she and Nix floated around each other before performing a fusion in a flash of light which dissipated to reveal a motorcycle in their place.

Naruto's jaw hung open at the sight of it "Whoa…,"

[When you think you've seen everything, something new appears] said K-9 in wonder.

"Hop on, we should be able to get you out of here much quicker this way," said Nix.

Naruto climbed onto the bike and revved several times to listen to the engine growl with a smirk on his face, he may have never seen bikes in Konoha but he came to love the concept due to having seen many in Gamindustri so far. He looked towards the tunnel which he hadn't gone through yet, then he placed a foot on the ground and performed a 180 spin to face it.

"Let's ride!" said Naruto excitedly as he rolled on the throttle as the tires screeched on the crystalline floor before taking off with a 5-second wheelie into the tunnel.

Music Start: Sonic The Hedgehog 2006 OST; Wave Ocean - The Inlet

Naruto was getting used to the speed of the bike as well as learning how to turn with the Shiva Sisters teaching along the way, he also thought back on the video games with the racing genre which he played with Neptune and IF to remember the tutorials played back then.

Upon exiting the tunnel into the next cavern, He looked ahead to see multiple ice stalagmites scattered about. Naruto turned from left to right to avoid collision with the icy obstacles. Naruto saw a large broken stalagmite blocking a tunnel entrance with no way around save for the gap underneath it, he hit the rear brakes hard and tilted to make the bike slide sideways to go underneath the broken stalagmite into the tunnel before righting himself and the bike back up.

"Beware Naruto, the stalactites overhead threaten to fall on us," Stiria alerted their new summoner.

"Don't worry, I got this!" Naruto took off a hand off the handlebars to summon Sunlight Heart into it, sure enough the ice stalactites proceeded to drop off the ceiling towards them but he was ready to counter "Sunlight Flare!" he swung the lance multiple times with the tip opening up to launch compressed crescent waves of energy to strike the falling stalactites and shattering into small harmless pieces "Sunlight Slasher!" Naruto swung the lance as it opened up while emitting yellow energy and elongated like a sharp whip to slice through the stalagmites up ahead. There was a pit up ahead which is too long for Naruto to make the bike jump over, the blonde made a daring move by having it ride parallel to the tunnel walls.

"Impressive, I'm starting to find it hard to believe that this is your first time riding a motorcycle," said Nix.

"It really is, my guess it's because I'm applying my training from the Ninja Academy into this," said Naruto admittedly, he had learnt the basic movements from Iruka and further mastered it while performing pranks and needed to avoid either being found out or getting caught.

They just exited the tunnel when they came upon an underground river floating with a mildly strong which worried Naruto and was about to apply the brakes to avoid falling into it and search for another route when Stiria spoke to him.

"Do not worry Naruto, as the Twin Sisters of Shiva, our powers of ice are quite unfathomable as you are about to find out. So, continue onwards," said Stiria assuredly.

"…okay, I'm counting on you two," Naruto rolled on the throttle to accelerate and ride off the ledge, the tires were enshrouded in an lazuline-blue aura which suddenly froze the surface of the river and continued to do so as he sped forwards, forming solid footing to avoid sinking much to his surprise "Whoa, this is totes cool!" he swerved to evade the boulders sticking out of the flowing stream and launching off multiple ice floes floating in the streams as makeshift ramps till he reached the end of the tunnel and now found himself out of the mountain.

Music End

"I'm finally out of there!" said Naruto in relief.

"It has certainly been a long time since we saw the outside world, hasn't it?" asked Nix.

"Indeed it has, I believe you wish to reunite with you friends," said Stiria.

"Yeah, just need to figure out a way to locate them," Naruto affirmed.

K-9 spoke up [I got that covered, the Battle Pet System has a GPS feature which enables you to locate whenever your pets are. I'll direct you to where they are]

"No doubt they're with Nep-chan and the others, let's get moving!" Naruto rolled on the throttle and took off at high-speed to reunite with his companions.

Neptune let out a groan as she held her katana at the ready along with Vert as they're in their HDD form.

"Take this you bucket of bolts!" a voice yelled out in rage.

…and let's not forget that Blanc is with them in her HDD form which has her appearing as a young girl with a petite and slim figure. Her eyes are a crimson red and her hair is a sky-blue color, and is of short length, barring her bangs which reach down to her stomach. Her attire consists of a tight battle-suit which is white and has minor touches of blue lining. The top itself appears as a swimsuit-like armor with the sleeves being detached and reaching all the way to her shoulder, a pair of gauntlets being equipped on both of them and mechanical like devices connecting the elbow-forearm of the sleeve.

To make sense of all this, we need to look back. Neptune and co were till on the run from the guards when they met a girl called CyberConnect2 who is from the other dimension like MAGES. and Tekken. She helped them to escape to meet up with the person who requested her aid, revealing to be Financier much to their shock. They were wary at first but reluctantly followed her to a hidden base of a resistance force being led by Blanc, shocking them yet again. She revealed that Conversation stole her power and took over Lowee, forcing her into hiding and working on taking back control. That was when the fake Blanc appeared to attack them with Killachine and threatened to hurt the citizens, apparently it was the wrong thing to say as Blanc got extremely pissed and went into her HDD form to tear the mecha monster apart with Neptune and Vert joining in to help which brings us to now.

"Ugh, and we still need to look for Naruto," Neptune groaned.

"I feel the same way, let us deal with this matter quickly then begin our search for him," said Vert calmly with an undertone of concern for the blonde.

"Will you two quit dawdling and smash this tin can already?!" said Blanc in annoyance as she brandished her plasma axe, the duo were about to comply when they heard something which was getting louder.

"What's that sound?" asked Compa confusedly.

"I recognize that sound, it's that of a bike," said IF. No sooner she said that did something fly over their heads, they looked up to see the bike and their eyes widen in recognition at who was riding on it "That's…!"

"Cowabunga!" Naruto whooped in excitement as he slammed the bike into the identified Killachine, rolling the throttle to make the wheels grind against the mecha monster before getting off to land on the ground with a 180 spin to face it with a smirk "That has to be one of my best entrances yet, and I haven't even graduated from the Academy yet,"

"Naruto, you're okay!" said Compa joyfully.

"Yeah, but where did you get a bike?" asked IF.

"I'll explain later, let me help deal with this pile of scrap first," said Naruto before turning towards the Killachine and revving the engine, ready to fight.

Music Start: Killer Instinct Season 2 OST; Execute (ARIA's Theme)

"It's great to see you're okay Naruto, now I'm really psyched to win!" said Neptune with a smile "Cross Combo!" she rushed at the mecha monster and slashed up to 5 hits with the sixth launching it into the air then leaping after it with the final slash to slam it hard to the ground.

The Killachine rose and retaliated with a swing of its spiked club at Neptune but a green blur intercepted its attack, revealing to be Vert blocking with her spear before pushing it back with a look of determination "I'm just as I relieved, though I wish to hear what happened to you during the separation after this. Rainy Ratnapura!" she struck the Killachine several times before knocking it back with a powerful thrust attack "Sylhet Spear!" she twirled her spear to summon the green magic circle next to her for a large wooden spiraled spear to shoot out and inflict additional damage.

"Let's do this, Frosty Wheelie!" Naruto rapidly accelerated as the tires were encased in icy spikes and performed a wheelie with the front ice-spiked wheel grinding against the Killachine before dropping to the ground where he went into a 180 stoppie spin to attack with the spinning rear wheel then ending the combo by performing 360 drift spins to land consecutive strikes before skidding away from any retaliation from the machine.

"Not bad, starting to get the idea of what the fuss was all about when they spoke of you," said Blanc before scowling at the machine "I can see that a piece of shit like you is still working, I'll remedy that soon enough! Tanzerin Trombe!" she proceeded to spin rapidly on her feet like a top while striking consecutively with her plasma axe before ending the barrage by using the momentum to perform a downward strike which caused the ground to shake a bit upon impact.

[Wow, she's got quite a mouth on her] said K-9 with a quirked eyebrow.

"Gotta admit that this is a first for me," said Naruto with a sweatdrop before snapping back into focus and rolled on the throttle to charge at the enemy "Ice Ramp!" the Shiva Sisters conjured a ramp out of ice for Naruto to launch off with a backflip to strike the Killachine "Here's a bonus, Blade Raid!" he summoned Kanshou and Bakuya into his hands and threw them in midair at the Killachine for additional damage before catching them upon returning as he landed back on the ground.

"Time to get it on!" Neptune channeled her inner energy to increase her strength "Critical Edge!" she flew back at the Killachine to slash the robotic monster then followed up with an uppercut to launch it further into the air then slashed once more with great speed whilst inflicting a large amount of damage "Looks like it's just a little more till it's down for the count,"

"In that case…," Naruto got off the bike "I'll end this with my new EXE Drive,"

"You've developed one?" asked IF with surprise.

"Been working on one since Leanbox, and now's the time for its debut,"

Naruto felt his chakra surge as he prepared to execute his attack "Here's my EXE Drive: Uzumaki Blade Blitz!" he dashed towards the Killachine while summoning Kanshou and Bakuya into his hands to unleash a swift combo of vertical, horizontal and diagonal slashes. He switched the shortswords out for the Sunlight Heart which he activated before unleashing a barrage of one-handed thrusts. Naruto held the attack lance with both hands to perform a rising uppercut and triggered the energy propulsion to launch himself high into the air like a rocket, he reached the desired height and switched the lance out for the Monado as he swiped a hand over the panel to switch to a blue kanji for Buster, the sword opened up to project a long blue blade of energy as Naruto went into a freefall towards the Killachine "This is the end!" he somersaulted several times before attacking with a cleaving strike in a blue flash while landing on the ground with a thud. Unable to continue or take any more damage, the Killachine dispersed into numerous pixels, signaling the end of the fight.

Music End

Naruto put away the Monado and turned around only to catch a teary-eyed Herissmon who leapt into his arms while the rest approached him and he waved a hand in greeting "Yo,"

"Yo yourself, what happened to you and how did you get a bike?" asked IF.

"A lot actually, and it's not exactly a bike," Naruto glanced at the motorcycle as it defused to reveal Nix and Stiria who hovered behind him and waved at the stunned group "But the bottom line would that I made some new friends along the way, they're Nix and Stiria; the Twin Sisters of Shiva,"

"You gotta be kidding me, you actually got a summon?" said Blanc in disbelief.

"You mean those guys one would call on to help beat the big baddies in fights?" asked Neptune in her normal form, referring to several RPGs with the fantasy genres.

Blanc reverted from her HDD with the same for the others and continued to explain "The very same ones but I read that none have been seen all these years…till now,"

"It is a pleasure to meet you all," said Stiria with a bow.

"It's nice to meet you too," said Compa politely.

"Naruto, we'll take some time to rest for now. You can call us when you require our aid," said Nix as they transformed into white orbs of energy and went into the crystal pendant around Naruto's neck.

"Besides that, care to tell me what's going on right now?" asked Naruto, following them back into the hideout.

"Well you see…," Gatchmon took the time to tell him what happened when they were separated to now "…and that was when you showed up to help,"

"I see, it was just like I suspected,"

"By the way, there's something I want to ask you about Blanc," said Neptune.

"What is it?" asked Blanc.

"My friends and I are looking for an item called a Key Fragment, have you seen it?"

Blanc shook her head in response "No I haven't but why would you need it?"

"It's to help free Histy,"

"…is that the reason why you've been travelling all around the world?"

"Pretty much yeah, it's the main reason but we also help others along the way too," said Naruto.

"Yessy, we made lots of friends while we were at it," said Compa in affirmation.

"I seem to recall about Neptune not remembering anything," said Blanc.

"It would have something to do with the battle the four of us had back at Celestia, and also I had my powers copied by Arfoire as well," said Vert.

"I guess now isn't the time to fight between goddesses,"

"Of course not, I think it's better that we all become friends instead! We'll even help you save Lowee," said Neptune cheerfully.

"Help me save Lowee? That's rather foreign to hear that from you," said Blanc.

"It's obvious that you aren't happy about Arfoire using your power and identity to make a mess of things which isn't making anyone happy, I don't like that and I'm sure Naru and the others agree with me,"

"She's not wrong, Arfoire is bad news for anyone and everyone," said IF.

"From a certain standpoint, I shouldn't help Lowee. But I can't look away when people are in danger from that witch's ambitions, so I will help you," said Vert.

Blanc lowered her head in silence of what they said and began to sob "…Please…Help Lowee…I'll do anything as long as Financier and the citizens are okay…,"

She felt something wipe the tears away from her eyes and looked up to see Naruto smiling at her "No need to cry Blanc-chan, I really don't like it when girls cry in front of me as it makes me sad too. We'll help you save Lowee, that's a promise,"

Blanc stared at Naruto in wonder and looked past him to see the others nodding in affirmation before turning to him as a small smile graced her face "Thank you, Naruto," Naruto simply gave her a foxy grin in response.

Extras

Victory Pose (High Health): Naruto rides the motorcycle to a skidding stop as he somersaults off it to land on the ground and standing up with a smirk as the Shiva Sisters defuse and float on both sides with smiles on their faces

"Couldn't handle the chill could ya?!"
"Should have ran the moment you saw the Sisters come out to play,"
"Didn't even get to use all of the moves,"
"Well done, you're certainly getting stronger by the day," (Stiria)
"That was fun, hope there's more where that came from," (Nix)

Victory Pose (Low Health): Naruto slumps as he grabs one of his arms in pain with the Shiva Sisters hovering close to him in concern and Stiria prepares to cast healing spell.

"To struggle even when I called for help…"
"Ow, gonna feel this tomorrow morning,"
"Sorry you two, must have made a couple of bad moves for this to happen,"
"Are you okay? Please hold on while sister heals you," (Nix)
"Please hold still, I'll ease you of your pain," (Stiria)

This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, after receiving info that Conversation was spotted over at Lastation, Naruto and co headed over to the Basilicom to have an audience White Heart only to be falsely accused of being followers of Overlord Momus which left with little choice but to escape. The group suspected the goddess to be an impostor when they got attacked by the guards using Enemy Disc, the following fight led to Naruto getting separated from the others and ended up gaining allegiance from a pair of ice elementals.

With their aid, Naruto found his way back to Neptune and the others in time to help them take down a mecha monster sent to destroy them. everyone settled down and made the decision to aid the real Blanc in taking back Lowee with said goddess being truly grateful for their help. One can only wonder what will happen next.

As you can see, the Twin Sisters of Shiva from Final Fantasy 13 is just one of the many summons Naruto will acquire along the way and hope you like his EXE Drive with more to come. For those wondering, Naruto will definitely double Megamerge in this arc just not gonna say exactly when with the same for when he accesses the Kyuubi's power. So be sure to read and review as always.

This is Hussbek from Ghana.

Signing out and staying alive.