Ghost Trick X Fullmetal Alchemist – Cheating the Scales

Chapter 4 ~ The 'Soft' Armor

The word "monster" echoed in Sissel's ears. Something he had never been called before, and the harshness of the word rang in his eardrums until he felt something being smashed against the back of his head. He was flung forward and slammed into a tree, headfirst. He could tell that his neck broke and the back of his head was bashed in, but the bright blue lights of the Temsik fragment shined through the wounds, healing them once again.

Escaping from his daydreaming world and back into the reality of the situation, he glanced up right as one of the men swung a branch at his head. Sissel quickly jumped back and watched the branch swing in front of his face and clip his whiskers.

The man with the branch prepared to swing at the black cat again, but his feet were kicked out from under him by Lynne, who athletically jumped to her feet and made a mad dash for Sissel while he lost his breath.

Sissel was yanked off of his feet by the red scarf around his neck and held tightly in Lynne's arms as she ran off through the park, just escaping the hands of one of the thugs.

The men with the shoulder wound and knocked out breath stayed behind, while the other two chased after Lynne as she ran to the edge of the park.

Approaching a tall fence, Lynne grabbed the cold iron bars and hauled herself up the tall fence. Sissel had grabbed on tightly to the lapel of the detective's yellow coat and glanced back behind them. The two were gaining on them fast, but Lynne was faster, as she got to the top of the fence and-

*RIII-IIIIIP!*

Lynne gasped loudly as her trenchcoat caught fast on a bar of the fence and was swiftly ripped from her shoulders. Sissel lost his grip and dropped onto the ground, landing squarely on his paws. He looked back up at the torn jacket as it fluttered sadly but was then still.

While she took a second to glance sadly at her ruined jacket, Lynne knew she couldn't take the time to stare at the ridiculously colored material. Mourning her fashion would have to wait. She snatched up Sissel from the ground again and kept running, as the men in pursuit of them went all the way around the fence, presumably unable to climb the tall barrier and further discouraged by Lynne's attempt.

As the rising sun cast an orange glow over the white-washed town, the shadows of Lynne and the thugs were cast across the ground. It would have actually been very pretty if they weren't being chased around.

Using her 'Detective's Instincts', Lynne was able to navigate around using her perception of the scenery. She passed through a marketplace, where the shopkeepers had only begun to open their shops to the public. Several people stared through their windows at the strange woman and cat being chased about.

Lynne nearly tripped over a rock on the ground, and grabbed a nearby fruit cart to steady herself. The detective glared back at the men, and a smirk formed on her lips. Lynne grabbed the rim of the cart and tipped it over, scattering the apples inside of it across the ground.

Sissel looked back again as Lynne continued to run, and saw the men trip and stumble over the colorful fruit. The shopowner came out and began screaming at the men, as he assumed that they were the ones who tipped the cart.

The redhaired detective ran until she came to an alley, where she hid beside a large pile of trash bags to catch her breath. She slumped down into the dank and smelly darkness to catch her breath. Kind of a bad idea, now that she thought about it. With every other breath she took, she almost coughed it back out because of the smell.

Sissel jumped down from Lynne's shoulder and stalked around the trash, his black pelt disguising him against the bags. He remembered that he still probably smelled bad from landing in the trash last night and wondered if he'd ever find time to wash himself.

Neither of them saw either of the men and let out stiffened sighs of relief. Although, Sissel's wasn't exactly necessary. After all, he didn't really need to breathe.

"What... what was that all about?", Lynne gasped between breaths, holding her chest. She rubbed her arms and remembered that she had lost her vibrant jacket to the fence. "They ruined my favorite coat!"

Sissel glanced back at her and entered the Ghost World. The vibrant red colors made him feel a little better, as they were a familiar sight in comparison to everything else around him. He looked around at all the cores, and made a small note of what was around him. A destroyed bike, a piece of wood that supported a rickety balcony, a leather wallet, and an assortment of random pieces of trash. Nothing particularly helpful or interest- wait. A wallet?

Jumping back into the real world, he strode over to the wallet and looked intensely at it. Maybe there was some information in here that could help them. Any information was good information at this point. The black kitten picked up the wallet in his mouth and let out a muffled mew to catch his friend's attention.

"What's that?", Lynne inquired as Sissel brought over the wallet. She reached out a hand and Sissel dropped the leathery pouch into it. "I might be a police officer, but I don't think I can do anything about this lost wallet."

Sissel, tail twitching, pawed at the wallet again and meowed. "Open it" the cat urged. "This might be able to help us."

While she couldn't really understand what he was saying, she did get that he wanted her to look inside of it. Lynne pried the wallet open and looked at it quietly. Her lips moved as she mouthed what she saw and her expression became more unsure with every silent word.

Sissel jumped into the Ghost World and reached out to Lynne's core, where she stood with a puzzled look on her face. "What's wrong?", he asked, with only the smallest amount of worry showing in his voice.

"The wallet doesn't have much in it. It's just some unfamiliar currency and a note with some really rushed handwriting. Looks like whoever wrote it was in a hurry", the detective reported, disappointed.

Sissel was about to open his mouth to ask her if there was anything legible, but she seemed to already know he was going to ask that. "I could make out some stuff that said 'if you find this please give it to me at blah blah blah address'. The address, of course, I couldn't read, but I could get the owner's name. It looked like 'Alphonso Eric'", Lynne told him, glancing up in thought.

'Alphonso Eric? I'm no expert, but that's not your normal, everyday name...', Sissel mused. Lynne interrupted his thoughts with a statement about how names are all unique, but Sissel just shrugged and moved on.

"So, you said you also found some money in there? How much?", he interrupted, receiving another unsure look from the woman.

"I've never seen this kind of money before. It says it's called 'sens', and there's about four-thousand worth of them in the wallet."

"Woah, you're kidding me, right? Four thousand?", Sissel asked, stupefied. "Nobody walks around with that kind of money in their pockets! No wonder this thing is on the ground. There's so much money in here, it probably burned a hole through this man's pocket!"

Lynne laughed and shook her head. "I don't think that value translates to dollars, Sissel. See, in different countries, there are different values in money. Like, in India there are rupees, and in Japan, there's yen. So say, if this guy had four-thousand yen, that would be worth about... fifty dollars of American money. This kind of money might translate like that", she explained.

Sissel didn't really get it, and stared back at her in confusion. "Sometimes I wonder how people work.", he meowed. "Why don't you all just use one kind of currency?"

"I think a sudden announcement that said 'everyone in the world has to use the same currency now' would cause a couple social and political problems", Lynne remarked, but then sighed in disappointment. "So much for this being able to help us. It tells us basically what we already know..."

There was silence between the two of them for a moment before Sissel spoke up, this time with an idea. "How about I take a look around? I can try and find out if we lost track of those guys who were chasing us, and maybe find something that could help us."

Lynne crossed her arms across her chest and looked at him doubtfully. "It would be a better idea for you to be out there rather than me, since you're less suspicious-looking, but what could you possibly find?"

"You never know", the kitten replied, attempting a comforting smile.

With that, Sissel jumped out Ghost World and back into the real one. He stepped out from the shadow of a trash bag and into the alley, glancing side to side for any sign of trouble. Seeing none, he began walking down the concrete and kept his eyes and ears open for danger. If he were to be run over by a car, if this world even had cars, he wouldn't suffer any damage, but it would definitely draw attention to himself if he were to escape unharmed.

Rounding a corner, the black cat came to another street. Some of the buildings were turning on lights and there were a couple of people setting up stands, so he assumed that this was a continuation of the marketplace that they had run through earlier. Maybe a good place to find information.

Right as Sissel was about to check it out, he heard a gentle voice from behind him. He glanced around and almost jumped into a barrel out of fright. Not far from where he was standing, a man in a suit of armor was crouched to the ground, his hand extended to him. From what Sissel knew, that armor was probably very heavy, and the person inside had to be strong in order to maneuver around inside of it.

The strange thing was that the voice emanating from the armor was very young and kind sounding, a bit like how a boy were to speak.

"Heeere, kitty", the armor beckoned. "C'mere, lil' guy. It's okay, I won't hurt you!"

Sissel seriously doubted that. He did have the intuition of a man but he was still just a cat, and his instincts told him that big, teeter-y things equal bad. But strangely, he felt some sort of pull towards the armor. It was a familiar pull, not physical but... spiritual! What was that all about...?

Of course! It was the same feeling from when he was back at home, before he and Lynne were pulled through the giant eye. But, why did this armored man have that same pull that a giant eye had? This required explanation, and this was probably this important information that Lynne doubted he'd find.

Sissel carefully walked towards the huge man's hand, which was almost bigger than he was. He sniffed this metal hand, not yet touching it, and felt a chill. He already knew that this was weird, since he hardly ever could feel anything.

The black cat was about to reach out and touch his nose to the armor, but felt a huge blow of pressure in the side of his head that made him fly sideways. Two feelings in a row, he was on a ghostly roll today. He heard a shocked gasp from the armored man and several people nearby, along with the sound of the bones in his head cracking.

Sissel hardly had time to react before he noticed the thugs from earlier. One was wielding the gun that had just sent a bullet through his face, who proceeded to point it at the armored man. The other man ran forward and grabbed Sissel by the legs and held him far away from his body, knowing the damage this cat did to his partner's shoulder.

"What... why the heck did you did that?!", the armored man screamed, standing up suddenly from where he was kneeling. "What kind of person shoots an innocent little..."

The man trailed off as he noticed blue lights and sparks emanate from Sissel's skull as the wound healed itself. With his jaw fixed, he began craning his neck upwards to struggle and try to bite his way free. But his captor glared down and began shaking the kitten violently, leaving him flailing and unable to grab anything with his teeth.

"I think you just saw why I shot the 'innocent little cat'", the man with the gun finished for the the silvery armor, then turning to address the other shocked people there. "Stay back, shut up, and don't say a word to anyone about what you've seen. Otherwise, I'll blow your brains out too!"

As Sissel began looking around for an object that might have a core, he noticed the man with the gun turned back and be face-to-chest with the massive armor man. A shadow was cast over him as the armor sized him down, pounding a balled fist into a flattened hand.

"Mister, I don't like it when people threaten to hurt other people. So maybe if you put the gun and the cat down, we won't have to fight", the now eerie voice of the armored man resonated.

"D-d-d-don't you t-tell me what to do!", the armed man screamed, holding up his gun right to the armor's horned head. As he was about to pull the trigger, the armor raised a hand and swiftly knocked the gun from his hands. Immediately after, the armor clapped it's hands together and slapped them onto the ground, causing a bright circle to flare up and surround both men.

Sissel noticed the grip of his captor loosen out of shock and managed to struggle free, leaping out the the circle of light right as a dozen bars shot up from the ground to form a big-cage formation around the two thugs, who stared incredulously at their sudden prison.

'That was... I wasn't expecting that', Sissel thought, his eyes huge at he touched one of the bars, validating it's existence.

"There. Now you two can think about what you've done until the police get here", the armored man stated, satisfied as the two caged men fell to their knees in dismay. The horned head of the armor then turned to look down at Sissel, who glanced back shortly thereafter.

People who had witnessed the scene began to applaud and cheer for the armored man, and several came over to shake his hand.

"That was a real piece of work!", a woman holding a child exclaimed happily. "I wouldn't expect any less from a famous Elric Brother!"

"Oh my, yes! That's the famous alchemist!"

"The Fullmetal Alchemist, what an honor!"

"Edward Elric!"

Embarassed, the armored man raised his hands to try and calm the crowd. "I'm happy to help, but you've got the wrong guy. I'm just the brother of the Fullmetal Alchemist, Alphonse Elric!"

Sissel had been listening to the cheery crowd when the armored man said his name. Alphonse... Elric...

"Oh", Sissel meowed, amazed. "I guess that could kind of look like... Alphonso Eric..." Sissel stared back up at the armor and wore a stunned expression. "Maybe he wrote that note in the armor. That could explain why it looked so sloppy."

The black cat let out a loud 'mrrowww' to catch Alphonse's attention. Once he had it, Sissel turned tail and ran back down the alleyway from where he came, waving his tail to beckon the large man.

"Oh! Ah, you're welcome, everyone! I've... gotta go now!", he called to the crowd, waving and then turning to lumber after Sissel, who was now patiently sitting at the far end the alley. The people in the early marketplace dispersed, sending farewells to Alphonse as he disappeared into the alley.

Once he had caught up with Sissel, the huge armor stooped back down onto one knee and stared hard at the black animal, who was rather puny in comparison. The stare the two shared was mystical, in a way, with the red soul-fire eyes in the helmet boring into the glossy amber ones of the cat.

"I saw that little trick of yours back there, kitty. The little light show in your head", Alphonse's hollow voice stated to Sissel, whose ear twitched and head nodded. "Would you perhaps be able to tell me how you did that? I know it might sound silly to ask you for help, but I have my reasons, and you seem awfully sought-after to be a regular black cat."

Even after Alphonse spoke, Sissel pondered what exactly to do at this point. This was a bit of a pickle. This guy had just helped him out of a huge mess, but how exactly was he, a ghost in the shell of a practically immortal cat, supposed to return the favor?

When the silence between the two resumed, Alphonse let out an echoing sigh. "I don't know why I'm saying this, but I'll tell you what", he announced, pointing a finger at little Sissel. "I'll count me saving you back there as a freebie. Let's say we're even. So, at this point, I want you to do something for me, and I'll be willing to do something for you in return. Get it? Its equivalent exchange, a rule I've tried to live my whole life by."

After a brief pause and a bit more staring, Sissel meowed knowingly. He wasn't sure how he would explain all of this himself, so he might as well take Alphonse back to meet Lynne. With another swish of his tail, Sissel got up and scurried back down the alleyway to lead this armor-clad fellow over to Lynne.