Wasn't his fault anyway. Believe it!
Naruto ended up leaving his room in the Lion's Pride inn, then just sitting off in the grass and watching things occur as he tried to figure out this weird place.
There was a blue-skinned girl who had horns on her head, hooved feet, and was wearing a pair of blue denim overalls with a white undershirt and silk fingerless gloves. Who was arguing with a dusky-purplish skinned girl with really long pointy ears, who was wearing some patchwork leather outfit.
There was a short but really thickly built guy who seemed to be wearing an outfit of metal plates. He was animatedly talking to some normal-looking guy who had a freaking ENORMOUS spider waiting patiently beside him.
A wolf-guy wearing some kind of tightly woven metal links was studying a map in the intersection and looking about as lost as it was possible to be.
A crowd of armored knights with banners on pennants rode horses through the intersection at one point, and they looked as if they had to negotiate that sort of thing so regularly it was second-nature to them.
Occasionally chickens or a cow would wander through the area, apparently completely unconcerned with the whole thing.
Naruto just stared for the most part. This was the weirdest place he'd ever seen, and that included the one time he'd been running from an angry group that hadn't liked the new paint job on their building and he'd tried to hide in this one club.
"Not from around here, are ye fellow?" asked a squeaky oddly-accented voice.
Naruto turned to look at the guy who'd just spoken and gave out a yelp as he started to scramble away.
"Something wrong?" asked the fellow, raising an eyebrow, sounding somewhat less amused.
"Ack, I... MONSTER!"
The smile vanished first, shifting to a scowl. Darkness seemed to gather around the three-foot-tall humanoid. "What was that?"
Naruto twitched but what could a little guy like this do to him anyway? "That weird moustache, that bald head, that mask! So you're a goblin, right!"
"You want a monster? Fine," said the gnome warlock. "Here's a monster!"
"So, just about everyone either uses these 'griffons' or they walk? That seems odd," said Jiraiya.
"What's odd?" asked the blue girl with the horns. "Though there are personal mounts. My people use elekk, humans like yourself use horses, the elves use riding cats, dwarves use sheep."
"'Sheep'?" asked Jiraiya.
"You don't want to know what I've heard they do with their sheep besides ride them," said the goat-girl with a shudder. "An elf I know was quite communicative regarding such."
"Well, as you may have noted, we're not from around here," said Jiraiya.
"I noticed... are you trying to seduce me?" asked the goat-girl, cocking her head oddly.
"Not at the moment, but I can make the attempt later if you like," admitted Jiraiya.
"AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" yelled Naruto, running past them.
"Wha?" asked the goat-girl.
"SPECIEST! CLASSIST! BRAT!" yelled a large demonic figure chasing Naruto.
"A half-hour. I ask him to remain out of trouble, and it's been what - a half-hour?" asked Jiraiya.
"Well, actually we've been talking closer to two," said the blue-skinned woman, standing up. "It looks like the rest of my party isn't going to show, so I ought to get going."
"And it looks like I may have to rescue my student," said Jiraiya.
"It ain't my fault!"
"Yes it was. Again!" Jiraiya shook his head. "Look, Naruto - the people here have different bloodlines, new jutsu, different techniques and ways of doing things. We could learn so MUCH here. IF you can keep from causing the locals to want to stick a kunai up your butt."
"But I haven't done anything!"
Jiraiya considered him briefly, then shook his head. "Look. You're not THAT stupid. Try and just make friends."
"Ah, Jiraiya," said a voice. "I was looking for you."
"AH! A..." Naruto paused, lowered his finger, and swallowed nervously. "A... butterfly."
The horned woman glanced at him, looked around briefly, and then brightened. "Oh. You mean my necklace? Yes, a dwarf jewelcrafter made this for me."
"So - you were looking for me?" asked Jiraiya easily.
"Yes, a few friends I've met are going to deal with some problems down in Duskwood," said the draenei. "You might tag along while you're trying to find your place in the world. What profession is yours anyway?"
"'Profession'?" asked Naruto.
"Well, I think I mentioned that we're sort of soldiers," said Jiraiya. "Does the term 'ninja' mean anything locally?"
"I've heard the term before, sort of a rogue combat specialist isn't it?" asked the draenei. "Well, I'm an arcane specialist mage. We've got a priest and a hunter already."
"Those are some big spiders," noted Naruto as the group walked towards the bridge.
"What is with all the aggro today?" asked Dekthena. "I swear - how many groups are going to just swarm at us today?"
"Fluffy! Sic'em," said the huntress, pointing.
There was a roar as her "pet" appeared, eliciting a brief scream from Naruto as it did.
"Never seen a devilsaur before?" asked the huntress.
The beast was easily three times Naruto's size, which wasn't impressive compared to Gamabunta or some of the other toad summons. In fact, if analyzed objectively - it was just kind of silly looking. Subjectively though, watching go racing over and scoop a spider up into its jaws and BITE IT IN HALF - it wasn't silly at all.
The other spiders were trying to shoot webs at the 'devilsaur' and getting arrows sunk into them as the huntress used her bow. One of the spiders got stomped by one of the huge clawed hindlegs of the carnivore as it ripped legs off another with its bite.
"So a 'hunter' specializes in ranged combat and the use of summoned animals?" asked Jiraiya.
"Hunters are different where you come from?" asked the huntress as she put another arrow into a spider's leg joint.
"Actually, yes," said Jiraiya. "We call them 'hunter-nin' and they normally use stealth and special 'spells' for the purpose."
"How strange," said the huntress, placing another arrow in a spider's eye with an almost casual shot.
Naruto merely stared at the way body parts of giant spiders seemed to hang briefly in the air as the devilsaur proved to the spiders who was the superior monster.
"Well, now you know why I'm so interested in your way of doing things," said Jiraiya. "Fascinating. What other kind of creatures can you summon?"
"Well, I normally only have three ready at any point," admitted the huntress, lowering her bow and eyeing the human. "My devilsaur Fluffy, my turtle, and an eagle."
"Well, you can get the next one," said Dekthena, the draenei mage giving a crooked smile to the two humans. "We're all anxious to see what you can do."
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(Posted Sat, 11 May 2013 16:44)
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