Chapter 3
As Aries, Ed, Roy and Al all patiently waited for Shayda to pick up her phone, there was pandemonium occurring with Shayda, Muden and Reno at her apartment. Apparently, Reno once again decided it would be a wonderful idea to poke fun at Shayda's hair because of the prank he pulled that turned it white.
"Well sorry flour head." Reno wheezed due to his uncontrollable laughter.
"That's it Reno, I am really going to let you have it now!" Shayda screamed as she swung her foot at him connecting at that special place where the sun doesn't shine.
"Yeeeeooowww!" Reno screamed as he fell to the floor writhing in pain.
"Serves you right." Muden taunted Reno trying really hard not to laugh. It was at this point that he noticed Shayda's phone on the table. He walked over and picking up the phone noticed that there was a missed call from Aries. Muden played the message for everyone to hear.
"Shayda we have a problem. It appears that this stranger named Alphonse swallowed one of the fragments of the chaos Emerald. We need to get it out of him soon. Please come quick!" With that plea for help the message ended.
"You moron! Reno I missed an important message because of you stupidity!" Shayda screamed.
"But, but, but…I…."
"Shayda, he is really sorry and you can get him later, but right now we should get moving" Muden pointed out.
"Yeah you're right. Lets Go!"Sheda shouted. With that the two Turks and Soldier left the apartment.
Elsewhere, Hojo finished his work for the day. President Shinra had him running errands for his various projects, and Hojo was tired. Thanks to these useless errands, He lost valuable time. "I am so glad that is over with." Hojo thought grimly to himself. With that, he went down to his private office that overlooks his hidden lab. Once he entered, Hojo grabbed his phone and dialed a certain number.
"All right I will take a look at it. No, no those numbers do not add up. What…yes, yes I understand. Hold on I have another call." With that, Myker pressed a button to change lines.
"I am in the middle of a negotiation this had better be important!"
"Don't take that tone of voice with me. Listen you like research and development I have a task for you and your brother."
"You have my attention Hojo, what is it you need?"
"Myker, I require you and Reevous to apprehend a girl…"
"You know I am not a big fan of kidnapping right?"
"Would you let me finish Myker!? God, talking to you sometimes is aggravating. Listen, she is quiet unique and I need to get some data on her to further my research. I am willing to compensate you both handsomely for this job."
"Oh, so it is a Sinterror assignment? In that case, we will get on it right away." Myker said calmly. With that, he turned of his private line and went back to the call before.
"Terribly sorry but could you call back later, I have some matters to attend to. By the way, the figures better add up next time we chat." Myker stated while he hung up the phone. Once the phone was nestled on its cradle, Myker reached into his pocket and took out his cell-phone. With that he dialed a certain number.
"Hello…oh hey Myker you called."
"We have a job to do Reevous. Our boss wants it complete soon."
"I see, I see. So, what has Hojo requested Myker?"
"He wants us to kidnap a girl."
"Why?"
"I don't know. So can you do me a favor?"
"Of course."
"I want you to look into female Solders and Turks, that way we will have some idea of who the target is."
"Myker, how do you know it is either a Solder or Turk?"
"Why else would Hojo call me in the middle of a business call?"
"True, also, Hojo needs to stop doing that. He may be the boss, but he has to realize we have another job and he can't just call anytime he wants."
"I agree, so let us finish this quickly. Call me back when you have a lead."
"Got it Myker." With that, Reevous turned off his cell. He took out his laptop and began looking through the various files. Even tough it was a select group of people, there are many Soldiers and Turks that work for Shinra, and it would be like finding a needle in a haystack. Keeping that in mind he decided to look into Hojo's files which he was given access to. These files had sensitive information on them.
"This is taking too long. There must be a better way to sort through the data." Reevous thought desperately. He was beginning to get worried because other work required his attention when suddenly he noticed something interesting. One of the soldiers did not have any information within the database. Reevous remembered that one of the soldiers was excused from having data in the system, and he had a feeling he now knew who the target was. With that information he called Myker back.
"So what did you learn?"
"Well Myker I thought it would be quick to check Hojo's info on Soldiers and Turks. I discovered information on every one of them except one. Then I checked the total number of Turks and Soldiers in relation to the number of male and female representatives. There was a discrepancy between the total number of employees and the number of males and females by one, so by process of elimination that must be our target."
"Excellent work Reevous, but how will we find our target?"
"Well I have very good facial recognition so what we have to do is look for the one girl who is not listed in the files. I am sending you the data now."
"Excellent work Reevous."
"Thank you Myker. It was my pleasure. Also, we still need the numbers…"
"I know I know Reevous. But, Hojo gave us an order so we can't exactly ignore this."
"Got it. I will meet you soon."
"Yes yes, later." With that the two scientists hung up their phones.
Elsewhere Sheda, Muden and Reno were continuing their trip to the church. It was still a ways away, and the sky was becoming dark and overcast. There was tension in the air because a huge storm was approaching. The three did not want to be trapped in a downpour. As they moved quickly, Reno noticed what appeared to be a stuffed animal in the middle of the road. Reno slowly bent down to inspect it.
"Hey guys check it out!"
"What?" Sheda and Muden both asked.
"It looks like a stuffed animal!" Reno responded excitedly.
"So?" Muden asked.
"Ignore him he is just acting childish." Sheda pointed out.
"Wah…"Reno gasped as he fell over.
"Look we don't have time for this, bring the toy and let's go." Sheda commanded haughtily glaring at both Reno and Muden.
"R-r-r-r-ight." The two men quaked nervously. With that the trio continued onward to the church unaware that they were being tailed.
"Hey Myker, why don't we grab them now?" Reevous asked.
"We need to see where they are going Reevous. Besides, we need to find the opportune time to strike. Do not forget, we also need the girl alive."
"I know, I know Myker it's just this tailing is a bit boring. How the Hell are these numbskulls Turks, and that girl a soldier. I mean if they cannot tell they are being tracked they should be revaluated. Besides, we have other work that needs to get completed."
"Relax Reevous this will not take us to long."
"Understood brother."
A half hour later the trio almost reached the church but there was another problem. A loud rumbling was heard within the trio.
"Oh my God Thunder!" Reno shouted as he jumped and nearly dropped the stuffed lion on the ground.
"No you moron, that's my stomach!" Shayda responded. With that she reached into her bag looking for one of her blood packets. She searched for a few seconds and could not find one.
"Where are my blood packets!" Sheda shouted.
"Blood packets I thought those were packets of food coloring. I used them to set up my next prank" Reno responded.
"Blood packets…"Muden started to ask.
"You idiot! I keep these with me because I am not allowed to drink from the source. So how are you going to make it up?" Sheda asked.
"Well uh…" Reno stammered.
"What is the source?" Muden asked.
"Another human being." Sheda answered.
"OK…" Muden said sweat dropping.
"Well Reno?" Sheda demanded.
"Um uh…"
"What if I volunteer to let you drink my blood? Does that break any of the rules?" Muden asked Sheda.
"I don't think so. Thank you Muden." Turning to Reno, Sheda mouthed you will be punished. She then turned back to Muden, and her fangs protruded from her mouth and she began to drink. Muden felt a small prick in his neck, wet sticky blood coming down the side, and then nothing. A few moments later, Muden opened his eyes and saw Sheda wiping her mouth.
"Better?" Muden asked.
"Yeah, much. Thanks again."
"So what did it taste like Sheda?" Reno asked in a goofy voice.
"Reno…"
"Well it tasted a bit like chocolate mixed with raspberries yummy."
"Wait you had an answer to that question." Muden stammered.
"Yep." Sheda responded.
"Sounds tasty. Maybe I should try some." Reno joked.
"Not going to happen Reno!" Muden yelled. As he moved forward Muden stumbled a bit because he was a bit tired from having his blood drained.
"Muden!" Sheda and Reno shouted.
"I'm fine. We need to make it to the church and help this Alphonse." Muden said gritting his teeth. With that final push the group finally made it to the church. When they arrived they saw a girl dressed in a pink dress with a red coat and long auburn hair, two young men with long blond hair one was wearing a red coat and the other had on a brown coat. Both had a white dress shirts black, pants white gloves and brown dress shoes. The last person was a man with black hair, an eye patch covering his right eye, a blue jacket with a blue vest with various silver chains adorning it, blue pants and dress shoes. When Aries saw the group she quickly ran over to them. She grabbed Sheda's arm and quickly dragged her over to Alphonse.
"You can get it out right?" One of the blond haired boys asked.
"Of course I can but it might hurt a bit." Sheda answered.
"How much is it going to hurt?" The other blond haired boy asked.
"Well it depends, the shard seems to be lodged in you so I will need to reach down your throat to get it out." Sheda answered calmly.
"WHAT! Brother wait don't let her, there must be some other way to get it out." The blond haired boy who must have been Alphonse complained.
"There are other ways, for example I could beat it out of you or my friend over here could use his light energy and turn it into a sword and cut it out."
"WAIT that's even worse. OK. OK. I get it."
"Don't worry Al I will help make you as comfortable as I can." The other blond haired boy told him.
"Really brother, thank you, thank you very much."
"Of course." With that the other blond haired boy clapped his hands together and a flash of bright light appeared suddenly there was a metal chair. Al climbed into the chair and a small metal band went around him. It was also at this time that Muden had an idea. He took the small stuffed lion from Reno and handed it to Al.
"Here, hold this. Squeeze the lion tight if things get to painful. Trust me it will help." Muden said gently.
"Thanks." Al said.
"Lets begin." Sheda stated. With that, she gently reached down Al's throat being careful not to hurt the poor boy. She kept moving her hand gently until she felt the shard. She closed two fingers around it and carefully brought her hand up. Even though Sheda was being as careful as she could she still caused Al to gag a bit. Al quickly squeezed the lion to keep his convulsions caused by the gag reflex under control. When he stopped spazzing, Sheda managed to pull it out. When she held the shard of the chaos emerald a bright blue light began glowing around her chest.
"What's going on?" Muden asked.
"No idea Muden?" Reno answered.
"As if I was asking you Reno." As the two continued there bickering they did not notice the light began to get bigger, and the shard dissolved in the light.
"WHAT THE?" Everyone asked flabbergasted at the sight in front of them.
"Wow that was cool!" The little stuffed lion exclaimed.
"Did that stuffed animal just say something?" The man in the blue jacket asked.
"It would appear so Roy." Al replied.
"Meeep!" the lion shrieked realizing it just blew its cover.
"Yeah how are you able to talk?" Sheda asked.
"I won't tell you anything!" The Lion shouted defiantly.
"We do have methods to make you talk." Reno said in an intimidating voice.
"All right, all right I'll talk I'll talk just don't hurt me." Whined the lion.
"Wow that was pretty easy." Sheda commented.
"Tell me about it." Agreed Muden.
"Ok, so my name is Kon, and I am looking for my friend Ichigo, and the other Soul Reapers."
"What's a Soul Reaper?" Everyone asked.
"How could you not know what a Soul Reaper is!" Kon shrieked.
"Would we be asking if we knew the answer?" Sheda retorted.
"Guys, no need to be hard on the him. He is not from around here and is searching for his friends the poor guy." Aries chimed in.
"Not as poor as the lot of you." Came a calm and sinister voice from the door. Everyone turned to the entrance to see who spoke those words. What everyone saw shocked them to the core. Standing at the door were two men in the same suits, with the same hairstyle, wearing dress pants, dress shoes and leather gloves. The only difference was one had the outfit in red and red hair while the other had the suit in blue and blue hair.
"We saw some pretty interesting things. Such as that metal chair appearing, and more importantly that blue light coming from that girl." The one in red said.
"Who are you?" Sheda asked.
"Such power, power that could be better used within my grasp." The man in the red suit continued ignoring Sheda.
"Do you mind leaving here now? We do not desire trouble." Aries requested.
"Fools! How dare you interrupt my brother while he is talking?" The man in blue demanded.
"Now now, there is no need to get mad. After all, we arrived uninvited, and this is such a lovely location. Oh excuse me where are my manners? After all you are probably wondering who I am. My name is Myker." The man in red said introducing himself finally.
"And I am Reevous." The man in blue added.
"We came here for one reason. To take that lovely girl with us." Myker said pointing at Sheda.
"Well that's not going to happen!" Sheda snapped.
"Really, well considering how we were able to easily track you down and stay unnoticed I do not think your combat skills will be up to ours." Reevous and Myker said in unison.
"Um news flash, we out number you. Durrr" Reno jeered at the two.
"This is why I can't stand you Reno, you underestimate your opponents, act like a clown and were still accepted into the Turk program. I cannot wait to send your corpse back to Shinra!" Myker raged.
"Myker calm down we only need to complete our assignment. Besides that pest is not even worth your time." Reevous said trying to level his brother's temper. Suddenly, there was a clicking sound as Aries took her staff out. She got into a combat stance and the others joined her.
"I asked you two to leave this place. Now I will insist you leave!" Aries yelled.
"Right." Everyone else agreed.
"This is foolishness. We will take that girl with us for studying and offer the rest of you to Shinra in body bags." The twins said in unison. Aries was the first to charge in she spun her staff in an arc hoping to catch the two off guard, but quick as lightning the two brothers each pulled out a set of twin pistols and parried the blow that came at them. They then flipped backwards to put some space between Aries and themselves.
"Ed, lets back her up."
"Right Al." With that the Elric brothers charged in. They sent to quick punches at the twins who parried each of their blows. And sent two quick kicks back at the brothers. Fortunately the Elric brothers were fast as well, and able to block the incoming kicks.
"Got them in my sights Roy said." With that he activated his ignition gauntlet and snapped his fingers. A spark appeared and Roy turned it into a bolt of fire. He hurled it at Reevous and Myker.
"Wait a sec are you trying to fry us as well?" Ed and Al shouted at Roy.
"Sorry, but that should get them." Roy said. In that second however, the flame receded and was dancing around Myker's pistols.
"Interesting. This man can manipulate fire without fire materia. Well that is truly unexpected, but it is pointless as I can control fire as well." Myker taunted as he pushed the flame at the Elric brothers. As the jet of fire was about to incinerate them, the fire veered out of their path and out the door.
"How convenient, so can I." Sheda taunted.
"You will truly be an interesting subject." Myker responded.
"That's not happening!" Sheda yelled back. With that she took out her swords and charged in.
Meanwhile Reevous was still fighting the Elric brothers.
"You two sure are fast but you lack focus." Reevous taunted.
"Want to bet!" Ed shouted as he punched Reevous back.
"How was that?" Ed jeered.
"Not bad at all. But I take it you and your brother are not chess players are you? You put me in a position to capture your pieces." Reevous explained.
"How so?" The Elric brothers asked in unison.
"Like this. Hurricane!" Reevous shouted as he pointed his pistols at Al, and Ed. A huge cyclone of water enveloped them and knocked them to the back of the room and out cold.
"You will regret that!" Roy Mustang shouted at Reevous.
"Really? You can't do anything to me. Although you control fire from that glove of yours I don't think it will work against my ice/water materia." Reevous bragged.
"Damn, at this rate I won't be able to help Ed or Al"
"But you can join them in the sweet bliss of unconsciousness. Bubble constrict!" With that a force of bubbles came flying at Roy and sent him crashing to the ground.
"Don't forget about us!" Reno and Muden yelled as they charged at Reevous.
"Pests!" Yelled Reevous as he parried Reno's baton. The two of them were locked in a deadly dance as the gun parried the baton. Reevous swung back but Reno spun around and grabbed his hand.
"Now Muden!"
"On it, dancing light!" Muden created a beam of light and then curved it really quickly knocking the pistols out of Reevous' hands and curved the light back to knock him back on the ground.
"Urgh"
"Ready to call it a day?" Reno asked.
"I'll admit that hurt but it did not have the same amount of ommph that an attack of that caliber should have. Besides look at your friend."
"Wha…Muden what's wrong?"
"I must have used too much energy with that attack. Why?" "Oh yeah I shared my blood with Sheda and using materia that way must be too taxing on my body."
"Well looks like your friend cannot move Reno. Too bad." With that Reevous kicked Reno hard in the chest.
"Umph." Reno groaned as he fell down. With that Reevous picked up his pistols and left to reunite with Myker.
Elsewhere, Myker and Sheda were going back and forth parrying and counter attacking, each one trying their best to land a blow on the other. Aries suddenly came out and cast a haste spell on Sheda to increase her speed. With the affect of haste, Sheda was much faster than Myker and began cutting him with her blades.
"Damn, I will need some quick thinking to get out of this or else I am done for."
"Don't worry brother I am hear to help! Ice Slick!" Reevous shouted pointing his pistols at the ground and created a huge sheet of ice. Sheda unfortunately was going to fast and slid on the ice causing her to crash into a wall. At that time Aries was trying to sneak up on Reevous when suddenly he heard "Hell Eruption" as fire came out of the ground and knocked into Aries and sent her to the ground.
"Brother are you o.k?"
"Yes but she is going to pay for cutting me! We will do that."
"We will just make sure not to kill her. The boss didn't say we couldn't damage her." With that the two brothers pointed their pistols at Sheda. They charged them up and then combined their two beams into one.
"Take this Freeze Fire!" The brothers yelled in unison.
"Aaaaaa!" Sheda screamed as the searing pain from the attack hit her and caused huge burns on her back.
"Like we said you will end up ours."
"I think not. You two will regret harming my friends! Nor will I let you take me!"
"Oh stop with the bravado. We will just have to hit you one more time. Then you won't have any fight left. Ready time to end this Freeze Fire!"
"I think not. Chaos Elemental Canon Strike!" With that a beam encompassing all four elements went flying directly at the Freeze Fire. The two attacks hit each other but the strength of Sheda's cannon was too great to contain and it cut through the beam quickly. Myker barely dodged, but Reevous was not so lucky. His entire left leg got blown off. After the blast Sheda fell down unconscious.
"Aaa, Damn! My Leg!" Reevous shouted.
"Don't worry brother I am here. I will save you." With that Myker quickly used his fire to sear the wound shut to staunch the bleeding. With that, he hoisted his brother up. Using a warp materia Myker disappeared.
Back at the church everyone was slowly regaining conscious. Muden dragged himself up. He then saw Reno waking up.
"Reno look after Ed, Al and Roy. I am going to look for Aries and Sheda."
"What about me?" Kon's little whiny voice said coming out of nowhere.
"You are coming with me. I still have questions for you." Muden responded.
"Right." With that Muden and Kon went out of the church to go find the two ladies. As they walked down the road, they saw Aries lying on the ground, and Sheda not to far away.
"All right Kon your job is to help that girl their ok?"
"Gotya." Kon said.
"Oh and take this it's a potion it will help her."
"Right."
Muden then walked to Sheda and gave her a potion to get her back on her feet. She slowly looked up and saw Muden sitting there.
"Muden. The potion is helping a little but I will not heal quickly." Sheda said matter of factly.
"What will help you heal quicker?" Muden asked.
"Blood. But draining you will weaken you even more. Are you still willing to do it?"
"Of course. Sheda please drink if it will help you." Muden reassured her lowering his neck and helping Sheda get her mouth toward his throat. Once again, the fangs came out and Muden felt the odd sensation of getting his blood drained. And once again, Muden blacked out, but before he lost his consciousness he saw Sheda's wounds beginning to heal. A few hours later Muden woke up back at the church and saw everyone was slowly healing and regaining their composer.
"What did I miss?" Muden asked.
"Well you missed Sheda calling her dad and Reno getting in serious trouble." Aries answered.
"So not much." Muden said wryly.
"Exactly." Aries said. Suddenly there was a flash of light and a bunch of new people appeared in black robes.
"Who are those people in pajamas?" Sheda asked.
"Ichigo!" Kon Shouted.