Created by: Renata, Melanie, and Jesse

WHERE EARTH MEETS SKY

(The reason for the title is that it is the definition for a vanishing point. Some of the characters in the story do a little vanishing themselves. - There are several other reasons too.)

Created by: Renata, Melanie, and Jesse

This is our humble story. Do not sue us for the use of the characters that we do not own. We do not own Full Metal Alchemist, Inu-Yasha, or Yu Yu Hakusho. We do however own the rights to our Original Characters. Aura and Jamie belong to Jesse; Underworld and Sparky belong to Melanie; Trinity, Joshua, and Alok belong to me (Renata); and Terrance, Lyndian, Shianne, and Boogieman are the products of long hours of us sitting in my room, thinking of characters.

Some of these characters are the complete products of our imagination. Some are based on someone we have met in life. As you can probably guess; Aura, Underworld, and Trinity are based on ourselves at the age of 13 or 14, though some of the personality traits and actions are taken to the extreme or are completely made up. Aura is 17, Trinity is16 and Underworld is 16.

We started writing this story during the spring of 9th grade. We have now graduated high school. Part of the reason for the delay is that as we grew as writers, but we didn't like the beginning any more. So, of course, we had to change it. We were awful at writing when we started it and now look at it! It's beautiful! This chapter is actually completely different than it was when we first started it. I don't think there is a single sentence in it that is the same. There will probably be more in it that is the same in later chapters, but we had to change most of the story line in the beginning because it didn't fit very well. Okay, I've rambled on too long. You might as well read it! I am sorry it is so short. It's only 1,375 words long. It's sad really.

-BEGINNING OF CHAPTER ONE-

SWEAT dripped from the exhausted, heavy-breathing bodies of five young fighters as they stepped off the boat that had nearly sealed their fates. One of the girls, a leader of sorts, dunked her head into the water off the side of the dock.

"Well, that was fun!" She said when she brought her head out of the water, and no one could tell if she really meant it or if she was being sarcastic.

A second girl, more sensible than the first, had less thirst for adventure and less vengeance on her mind. Her name was Trinity. She played with the long blue curled ends of her hair, with a mixture of unbelieving amusement and awe quirked in to her smile.

"Underworld," She said for about the fifth time that day, "You are nuts."

Most people would agree with her as well. Underworld was not normal, and everyone with a brain could tell that as soon as they looked at her. The front strands of her hair, which were really too long to be called bangs, were a light blue, while the rest of her hair got shorter until at the back it was shaved and was a dark brown.

Her pants were baggy, with chains that hung from them in an x-pattern. She wore a striped halter top with a black vest reading "Unlucky # 07" on the back and a green guitar pick hung from her neck. She smiled a smile that could only be smiled by her and said, "Yep, that's me."

The last girl in their group, Aura, looked about ready to pass out from seasickness. Her reddish hair was pulled back into a ponytail, a fact that she had been glad of during the boat ride. Trinity let Aura lean on her so she could recover. "Betcha get plane sick too, huh?" Trinity asked.

"Yep," Aura said weakly, "But I'll be fine after I get some sleep."

Underworld laughed. "We can't sleep yet!" she said assertively, seemingly full of energy. "We have to register and get to the HOTEL! WHO KNOWS HOW LONG THAT WILL TAKE?!"

"It only takes about an hour." A voice came from nowhere.

Joshua, the youngest of the group, jumped in front of the rest and yelled, "GET OUT WHERE I CAN SEE YOU OR I'LL COME FIND YOU!!"

Joshua was eight years old and the biggest troublemaker you could find. Trinity was just glad there was only one of him. He was her younger brother and, because he was such a big challenge to take care of, she was glad that he hadn't been twins. She covered his mouth, annoyed at his outburst at a complete stranger. Why couldn't he be shy?

The disembodied voice laughed. "I won't harm you until the tournament and only if I have to."

A boy stepped carefully from the bushes, and seemed to be trying not to trample any plants except for the grass. He gave a jovial smile and waved. "Hello, my name is Kurama. Who, if I may ask, are you?"

This time Boogieman stepped forward. Boogieman was actually the oldest of the group at the age of nineteen, and the only person in the group considered as weird as Underworld. His hair was ear-lobe length and besides it being the color it had been since he was born (dark brown), it had bright orange streaks coming through it and it was unnaturally spiky. "And WHO wants to know?" he asked, being very protective of his friends.

Kurama's smile wavered only for a moment at his rudeness, but it was again on his face after only seconds. "I have already given you my name. What else do you need to know?"

Boogieman's face slipped into a blank look as he stared off into space, probably trying to remember what Kurama had said before his rude comment. Then a look of 'OHHHHHH!' came onto his face.

Aura took his moment of thought to answer Kurama's first question. "My name is Aura," she started slowly, obviously still feeling a bit queasy, "and these are my friends Trinity, Underworld, Joshua, and Boogieman."

A thoughtful look came onto Kurama's face. "Those are odd names. I suppose they are nicknames?"

Aura smiled. "Well, my name is really Aurora I just shorten it to Aura because Aurora is a mouthful, and Josh's name is really Josh, but the rest are just all nicknames. I don't even know their real names."

Kurama nodded in understanding and then asked. "Do you need me to show you where the hotel is? I just came from there. All the other teams have already arrived."

Trinity interrupted Aura saying something, which was bound to be long and drawn out, to say "YES PLEASE! Aura, no offense, but you are getting heavy on this poor little shoulder of mine."

"Would you like me to help?" Kurama asked.

Trinity shook her head with a smile. "I was busting her chops. She's really not that heavy."

As the group entered the woods, Kurama turned to them and asked, "So, you are the team that Koenma sent then?"

Trinity stopped dead in her tracks, Aura nearly falling over in the process. "How did you know that?"

Kurama smiled, and Trinity stared at him intently. "I am a member of Team Urameshi. I believe you met Yusuke?"

Trinity stared at the ground, feeling stupid. "Sorry. It's just; we haven't really been able to trust anyone lately. While we were on the boat, somebody we thought that we knew tried to suck us into his body."

"You must mean the shadow people. They seem to take the shape of people we know. We speculate that otherwise, they don't have much of a form. According to Edward Elric, the only way they can get out of the gate is by taking the form of someone who has been transmuted. He has tried to explain it many times, but I am still not sure I fully understand."

Underworld seemed deep in thought. "Does he mean the Homunculus?"

"I think that was one word he used, yes. How did you know?"

Underworld laughed. "I read a paper by another State Alchemist, who was said to be close to Edward Elric. So, where was Edward Elric all those years? I heard rumors from my friends in the military, but you know what they say about rumors."

"You can't trust 'em!" Joshua supplied.

"RIGHT!"

"You can ask him yourself. He's here. Ed is here to help find the culprit behind the disappearance of several military officers in both our worlds. I assume Koenma briefed you on the situation?"

Trinity nodded and Underworld muttered, "It's not like we really needed to be briefed."

Kurama looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"

Underworld's entire composure had changed, and she glared at him. "It's not any of your business, okay!" she said angrily, and she ran in the direction of the hotel. 'I'll find it eventually' she thought.

Kurama looked completely confused, but none of them were willing to clue him in. The subject was touchy for all of them.

Aura remembered what was said in the briefing. Koenma had told them that several very important people, not just military officers, were missing from both of their worlds and from various time periods. They had evidently given contact information to someone important, who then handed it off to Koenma. Koenma reached an agreement with them. They would hold a tournament. The culprits would get to pick most of the teams that were to be invited. Koenma was allowed to pick two teams to fight on his behalf. There were evidently 3 other teams, and the culprits could be in any one of those groups. The rules of the tournament were that if their team lost, at the end of the tournament, they would have to reveal themselves and the gate would once again be sealed so that no one could use it as a gateway through worlds and time. However, if they won, then the culprits could go on with what they were doing without anyone interfering.

The stakes were high, but everyone on their team was willing to risk it; especially because they had their own stakes on the table as well. It wasn't like anyone had much choice in the matter.

-END OF CHAPTER ONE-

STORY APPROVED BY: Melanie, Renata, and Jesse

MY FRIENDS COMMENTS

Name: Melanie

Comments: None... Wallacha!

Name: Jesse

Comments: Sounds cool to me. Awesome job!!

Name: Phantomkizz

Comments: oh goody! goodygoodygooody! ...WOOT! O.O heck yes! Give me more! . lol.