Fullmetal Alchemist

EUROPA WAR II

Chapter 11

VINE FALLS

Opening Theme: Melissa (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Vine braced himself as Rendon, Simon, and Aubrey surrounded him and their mysterious leader watched.

"What's the matter?" Vine asked the leader, "Gallia's alchemist not worth dirtying your hands over?"

"You're nothing more than a test, alchemist," the leader replied, "you and your squad are dead whether they kill you or I have to. The only difference will be whether or not they die with you."

"Wow, employer of the year you aren't, my friend," Vine declared as he turned his attention back to his enemies, "but don't think this'll turn out how you expect."

"Squad 7, get ready to attack!" Welkin ordered, "we'll help out!" Just then, dozens of spikes embedded themselves into the ground in front of the sevens drawing Welkin's attention to the leader.

"Stay where you are commander and allow your men to live a while longer, or advance and be slaughtered immediately," the commander ordered, raising a wall to block a blast Vine had fired at him to get back his attention.

"Eyes forward kids," Vine ordered, "school's in session. Welkin just stay back, I'll take this one alone."

"Shut up and DIIIEEE!" Aubrey shouted, punching at Vine to stab him through the head with her gauntlet. Vine easily avoided her attack, grabbed the gauntlet and jabbed it into the wall, wincing as he did. Rendon and Simon bot attacked him, but Vine jumped back away from them, clutching his shoulder as he did.

"You're quite talkative for a man as injured as you are," the leader declared.

"Heh, don't flatter yourself," Vine replied looking up at the leader, "my little sister's done more damage to me than this. This won't be a problem."

"Don't get cocky, you couldn't beat us if you were healthy," Rendon declared as he fired several spikes at Vine which he dodged easily.

"The way our last battle was going said otherwise," Vine replied, "actually the way this battle is going so far says otherwise."

"You can't dodge forever!" Simon shouted, punching the ground as spikes started shooting from the ground at Vine who used his alchemy to create his own spikes that stopped Simon's. "WHAT!?" Simon exclaimed as Vine jumped to the side and fired a blast that knocked Simon onto his back as Vine rolled backwards as two spikes from Rendon slammed into the ground where he'd been standing.

"Ah crap," Rendon cursed as Vine blasted him.

"Three down," Vine declared, blasting the still stuck Aubrey and knocking her out, "one to go," he finished turning his attention to the leader.

"It seems your skill is matched only be your arrogance," the leader declared.

"Are you going to keep talking, or are you going to get down here and fight me!?" Vine shouted angrily, "I'm going to make you suffer for all the innocent people you've killed!"

"As you wish," the leader declared, "it's time for you to learn a painful lesson in humility." He smiled menacingly as Vine's eyes suddenly widened with pain. Looking down, he discovered a spike had come out of the ground and stabbed him. Looking towards Simon, he realized that while Simon had been injured by his blast, he hadn't been knocked out.

"Crap," Vine cursed as the spike suddenly started expanding and slammed Vine into a wall. Using his alchemy, Vine was able to break the spike, but dropped to his knees in pain.

"Ahh, you're not looking so good," Rendon declared, surprising Vine who discovered he was standing next to the wall he'd been slammed into.

"Crap, I was careless," Vine cursed.

"Bye," Rendon declared placing his hand against the wall and unleashing a burst of alchemy that caused the wall to crumble towards Vine.

"Crushed under a building," Vine groaned chuckling as he looked up at the falling stones, "second worst day of my life."

"Vine!" Welkin shouted in dismay as Vine was crushed under the crumbling building.

"And that's that," Simon declared as he and Rendon both turned their attention to the Sevens.

"Now I can have some real fun," Rendon declared cracking his knuckles, "this squad even has some pretty girls I can play with."

"Isara," Welkin whispered to his sister, "take Riela and find a place to hide. You need to keep her safe."

"But Welks, I…" Isara protested.

"Don't talk back to me," Welkin replied, "this is a direct order. Take care of Riela."

"Fine," Isara replied unwillingly as she looked down away from her brother and ran to Riela.

"I'd advise against hoping you can escape," Aubrey declared as the three alchemists neared the Sevens.

"Sevens, get ready to fight!" Welkin ordered as his squad prepared for a battle.

"Enough, you three," the alchemists' leader ordered, stopping the three in their tracks, "boy, you're Lt. Gunther, aren't you."

"I am," Welkin replied in confusion.

"I see, so I was right," the leader declared, "then you must be the legendary Squad 7. The empires' forces have been talking about your exploits in Vassel and Kloden quite a bit. This should be interesting. I want them all taken alive."

"Alive!?" Renden shouted in surprise.

"Do you have a problem carrying out my orders, Renden!?" the leader hissed as he glared down at Renden.

"N… no sir," Renden stuttered in terror.

"Looks like you Sevens got lucky today," Simon cursed as all three alchemists put their hands to the ground, transmuting a giant stone dome over the sevens.

"There, a tank shell couldn't bust a hole through this dome," Simon declared, "is there a reason we aren't just killing them?"

"The Gallian military may not be willing to admit it, but the common people know who their real heroes are," the leader declared, smiling smugly, "which will make a public execution of these heroes far more entertaining."

"Oh, I get it," Renden declared laughing, "we get an audience for this slaughter, and then we can slaughter the audience."

"This should be fun," Aubrey declared, "let's do it."

"No," Isara cried quietly as she watched the alchemists leaving with the rest of her squad, "I've got to do something, but what? I can't fight them."

When they were gone, Isara and Riela emerged from their hiding place. Riela was terrified but Isara immediately ran towards the crumbled building and started trying to pull stones from the pile.

"RIELA, HELP ME!" Isara shouted to Riela, "if we're going to help the others, we'll need Vine!"

"Indeed," a horrifying voice declared as Riela crashed into one of the larger stones next to Isara who turned to see the enemy alchemists' leader standing over her.

"Did you two rodents think you had gotten away?" he asked in a menacing tone as he grabbed Isara by her shawl and lifted her up until she was looking right into his eyes, "you were wise to abandon your comrades and stay hidden. It means you get to live a while longer." Isara let out a cry of pain as he slammed her into the pile of stones. "I don't know whether he's unconscious or biding his time under there, but when he finally decides to come out, tell him I'm not impressed with his power yet. I'm going to see if his friends are the motivation he needs to get serious. There is a town ten miles to the north of here. If he's not there by this time tomorrow afternoon, your squad dies. I'll do him the favor of restraining my peons until then, but if he doesn't show up, or if he fails to impress me, then his friends and that village will die and I will hunt the two of you down and force him to watch as I personally gut you both alive before I release him from his torment." His instructions given, he lifted Isara again and slammed her again into the rocks, knocking her unconscious.

Ending Theme: Let it All Out (Fullmetal Alchemist)

(Author's Note: Just realized that between this chapter and the last chapter of SHONEN ALLIANCE, this is the second chapter in a row I've written where Vine got his butt thoroughly kicked. I bet he's happy right now.)