"Those are negatives," said Toltiir.
"'Negatives'?" asked Naruto.
"It's typical in game shows to have penalties or problems as well as positive outcomes," explained Toltiir.
"That's why I was saying to play nice with the mischief god," said Kushina to her son.
"What kind of negatives?" asked Naruto, who hadn't paid much attention previously but hadn't there just been one or two red spots on the wheel at the beginning? And hadn't they just increased in number every time that wheel was spun?
"'Enemy level up', 'Enemy Increase', 'Animosity', 'Yandere Girlfriend', 'Bankruptcy', 'Invasion', 'Lose Everything', 'Betrayal of Friend', 'Reset', and so on," explained Toltiir. "It's an automatic thing. Every time you roll something, another negative gets added."
Seeing her son begin to shiver with a wide-eyed stare at the now not-so-innocent wheel, Kushina thought he had an idea of how serious this could be.
"Anyway, it came up as [Mascot Animal], so let's see what's available," said Toltiir.
Plop! went a large top hat as it hit the ground.
"Let's see," said the cat, reaching into the hat and pulling something out.
"Pika pi!" said the yellow pudgy long-eared thing.
"Here we have a pikachu, from one of the pokemon universes," said Toltiir. "They can be friendly to those who manage to emotionally connect to them. In terms of this universe, they are creatures with natural chakra and a strong lightning affinity but no other elemental affinities."
"Pika?" asked the pikachu.
"Yes, if you are chosen, you can get a little jacket and forehead protector with the Leaf symbol," said Toltiir to the pikachu.
"Pika CHU!" said the pikachu, pumping one foreleg as he sat back on his haunches.
The cat reached into the hat again, fishing around briefly, then pulled something that could not possibly have fit inside the hat out.
"GRONK!" said the beast.
"What's THAT?" asked Naruto.
"It's a very young Triceratops from a world where the dinosaurs didn't die off in the usual timeframe," said Toltiir. "Instead they evolved so it's not the Cretaceous Period type - these are much smarter and get much larger."
"How much larger if THAT is a 'very young' one?" asked Kushina as she eyed the creature.
"Oh, roughly forty feet long," said Toltiir.
Naruto thought the pikachu looked easier to take care of, but the idea of riding something like that around, and possibly over certain individuals, had some appeal.
"Next up," said the cat, reaching into the hat and pulling out something very else out. "From one of the Monster Rancher universes, a Raiga type - HelmHound."
"Ruff?" asked the wolf-like horned creature, apparently made of metal.
"Yes, actually, with ninja and all I would expect that," said Toltiir to the HelmHound.
Naruto looked at the three. The three looked back.
"Finally we have," said Toltiir, reaching into the hat again and pulling something out. "From one of the planes of Azeroth, the Onyxian Hatchling!"
"GranK-k-k?" asked the little dragon.
"Choose one," said Toltiir.
"I gotta choose one?" asked Naruto, pointing to himself.
"Well, yes, that IS kind of the point," said Toltiir as numbers started counting down behind him.
"Uhm, I... well..." hedged Naruto. He could see riding around on that three-horn, but that yellow guy seemed enthusiastic and that metal wolf looked cool, and what said "future-Hokage-material" better than having a dragon? Maybe he could bargain? "None of the above?"
FWASH!
"Where'd they go?" asked Naruto.
"Back to where they'd come from," said Toltiir, the cat managing to shrug. "Okay..."
"But..." hedged Naruto.
"You were trying to bargain so that you could get more than one," said Toltiir. "I saw your expression."
"Oh," said Naruto, slumping a bit.
"You might want to address that in the future," noted Toltiir. "If you give away you're plotting something - that isn't a good trait for a ninja as I understand it."
Naruto could see the point. It was just that so much had happened!
"Next," said Toltiir, reaching in and pulling out a statue of a girl apparently made of metal. Except that the crystalline eyes seemed to regard him and the body language shifted as she (?) stood there.
"A self-aware gynoid from the year 2865," said Toltiir. "One of the semi-human models. Wait a minute."
The cat seemed a bit surprised as well when the statue went back to the hat and jumped back in.
"Well... it would have been an odd fit anyway," admitted Toltiir. "Okay, let's try this one."
"This one" turned out to be a transparent wolf, all the more remarkable that it was blue-white and had faintly glowing eyes. As well as big enough that the eleven year old boy might be able to ride it.
"A ghost wolf, found in the Twilight Highlands. This one of a particularly large and powerful breed. Mind you, if you choose this one - the Inuzuka clan will be quite intrigued."
The wolf sat on its haunches and seemed to be a bit uncertain as it regarded Naruto.
A large tiger leapt from the hat next.
"Jade Tiger," said Toltiir. "Stealthy and deadly - a good choice for a ninja's familiar wouldn't you say?"
Another beast came from the hat. This one spread wings and landed atop the tiger's head. The tiger didn't seem too pleased with this, but settled for looking slightly put off by it.
"A pygmy owl maybe? This is of the enchanted variety, so a bit smarter and more human-friendly than the more wild variants."
"I should say so," said the owl with a nod.
"No, I mean they're neat and all, but my apartment has a 'no pets or animals' thing," said Naruto.
FWASH!
"Fine, be that way," grumped the cat-shaped being. "Go ahead and give it another spin. I'll just replace the pet thing with a 'Reset' space."
Naruto grinned, having seen something on the Wheel he'd really wanted and now had the opportunity to get. He spun the Wheel, keeping an eye on the spot he'd picked.
Unfortunately, it came up:
(Posted Sat, 02 Mar 2013 17:39)
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