"That's two times I read through the manual…"
Manami set the Gummi Ship manual down on the floor next to her seat, then looked out the window with a bored expression.
Blasting off was exciting, but once they got to the empty space… there wasn't much to do. And they traveled through the view-less area for three hours, now.
The control panel beeped, and Ed looked down to the radar.
"Looks like we've found a world." He announced.
"Really?" Manami got up from her seat and went to look over his shoulder.
Just as she looked, a small flat screen beside the radar flashed on, revealing Roy Mustang.
"Right on cue…" Ed muttered under his breath, ignoring the screen and looking ahead where he was driving.
"Greetings, Manami, Alphonse, and Fullmetal; this is Colonel Roy Mustang from Central Command. I trust so far your travels are going smoothly? I've received the alert that you are approaching your first destination."
Manami looked up to see out ahead. Indeed, there was a planet up. It was far away, but they were fast approaching it.
"Yup," Ed pushed some buttons and flipped a few switches on the control panel. "We're locked in to begin landing shortly."
"Got any intel, Colonel?" Al asked.
Manami looked up to Al, raising an eyebrow. "Intel? Would you know anything about a word we just got to?"
"Actually, the worlds you're visiting are already charted and documented." Roy explained. "In the past, we've sent small squads of soldiers to set up some 'Gummi Satellites' to do some reconnaissance."
"Oh, I see." Manami nodded in understanding. "I guess that makes sense."
"Surely you didn't think we'd just shove you off to these worlds without making sure what you were in for, did you?" Roy chuckled.
"I wouldn't put it past you." Ed muttered, rolling his eyes.
"Brother, are you still mad about the train thing?"
"Among other things…"
Manami was going to question what the Elric brothers were talking about, when suddenly Maes Hughes appeared beside Roy in the frame.
"Maes!" Manami smiled brightly at the sight of him.
"Manami! Ed! Al!" Maes beamed back at her. "How are the three of you getting along so far? Hope you're having a good trip—"
"Excuse me Hughes," Roy shot him a look, annoyance in his tone. "But I was in the middle of providing the intel of the world they're about to disembark on... you can show them pictures of your daughter later."
"Sheesh Roy, who do you think I am? Some doting dad who never shuts up about his kid?" Maes laughed.
"That's exactly who you are…" Roy grumbled, but Maes seemed to ignore him.
"By the way Manami, Elicia says she misses you a lot! She couldn't stop crying when you left! I couldn't help but break out into tears myself, because even her little sad tears are just so precious!"
Roy cleared his throat LOUDLY, to shut Maes up.
"Fine, fine…" Maes held his hands up in defeat. "Seriously Roy, you gotta give me more credit than that. Who do you think helped get you that intel to begin with? I think I have just as much as a right to be here, y'know!"
"We ask that you stay focused, Lieutenant Colonel Hughes." Manami heard Riza say, despite being out of frame. "We can't delay Manami any further."
"You got me there." Maes smiled sheepishly.
Still, Manami was smiling at the sight of all of them. For whatever reason, she was reminiscing about how she would talk with Kai on FaceTime, especially on nights before tests they had to take... Kai would try to tutor and quiz her, but she would always get distracted and end up playing video games and goofing off...
"Ahem, Manami? You listening?"
"Huh?" Manami snapped out of it. "Oh, yeah..! Sorry... heh, you could say I... spaced out."
Everyone stared at Manami.
"... you know, because we're in space..?" Manami smiled nervously.
"..." Maes burst out in laughter, breaking the awkward silence.
"I get it! Hahahaha!"
"Tomfoolery aside…" Roy felt his eyebrow twitch. "The world you're going to seems to be more primitive, compared to ours. They appear to have creatures called 'yokai' running around, or 'demons' as others might call them."
As Roy explained, the image on the screen changed to show photos of the inhabitants of the planet they were approaching. Manami recognized some of them, as if they were references to some demons and creatures from old folklore tales.
"Demons, huh?" Ed asked. "We only blast off a few hours ago and we're already going to hell."
"I'm sure they're... nice demons?" Al chuckled nervously.
"Actually, it varies," Maes said. "Some live peacefully with humans, others are hostile. Speaking of humans, normally we would recommend that you try to dress appropriately, to blend in with the locals... but there's something kind of odd about this world."
Manami blinked as the image on the screen changed to a girl. Despite everyone around her wearing kimonos, robes, and yukatas... she was wearing… a school uniform?
But nobody seemed to mind?
"This girl doesn't look like she even belongs in this world... either she's from another world herself, or there's something else going on." Maes explained.
The screen changed back to the camera looking at Roy and Maes. "With this in mind, you three should be able to go in as you are... but just keep in mind; you might find yourselves attacked by both heartless and Yokai, so be on your guard."
"Right." Manami nodded.
"That will be all." Roy finished, giving a salute.
"Good luck!" Maes saluted as well. "I know you can do it, you three! Oh, and maybe you can bring my daughter a little souvenir—"
A hand reached in the frame to grab Maes by the ear, the transmission cutting out right as he let out a yelp.
"Well, that's that." Ed looked up to Manami. "Ready, Manami?"
"I think so." Manami nodded, trying her best to not outwardly seem nervous.
"Not much to really prepare... other than my nerves."
And so, Ed, Manami, and Alphonse landed the Gummi Ship… they found themselves in a rather lush forest. Here, the only sounds were of birds chirping.
Manami stepped off the ship to see a village in the distance, as well as some shrines. People were walking along the dirt roads, some carrying baskets of fruit.
"So Manami, how's it feel stepping onto another world?" Ed asked, as he and Al stepped beside her.
"Weird…" Manami admitted with a weak chuckle.
"It was weird for us, too." Al said. "Hey brother, remember the time we fought that black haired boy and his dad?"
"Yeah, but it turned out that that boy could transform into a red haired girl with just a splash of water... something about a curse." Ed shrugged.
"And his dad could turn into a panda." Al added with a chuckle.
Manami blinked. "How many worlds have you been to, anyway?"
Ed looked up in thought, as if he were counting in his head.
"A handful." Al answered. "About a dozen... though some of them were either completely abandoned, while others have been consumed by darkness since. Hopefully by the end of this... we'll be able to restore those lost worlds."
"..." Manami looked down to her feet, feeling nervousness rise within her. "Y-Yeah…"
"... come on, we need to get moving." Ed didn't want to let Manami start doubting herself before they even did anything. "We should start by heading over to that village and asking around. Maybe we can learn something there."
The trio turned to walk through the trees toward the village, but they stopped dead in their tracks when they all heard a strange sound. Something like a combination of a grunt and a hiss.
Something that sounded like neither man nor beast.
"..." Manami felt a shiver run up her spine, and she swallowed thickly. "Tell me that was somebody's stomach…"
"I don't have a stomach..." Al whined.
"Well, there's only one way to find out!" Ed whipped around and rushed to hide in the trees
"Ed..!" Manami and Al both whisper-yelled, scrambling to follow him and duck in the brush.
They followed the sound of the noise, and Ed pulled back some branches to reveal a bunch of heartless, circling around a small, defenseless creature.
The heartless seemed to be a little different... while five of them were the same shadow heartless that Manami saw last time, there were other types… three of them looked like Kappas, while the last two were basically enlarged centipedes.
Manami couldn't see past the heartless to make out what the creature they were attacking was, but it was backed up against a wooden wagon, trying to defend itself with a giant paint brush.
"!" Manami stood up and summoned the Keyblade. "We gotta help!"
Right after, Ed clapped his hands and transmuted his automail arm into a blade, while Al transmuted a lance that stood as tall as he did.
The centipedes noticed them first, and slithered over to attack their ankles with their pincers.
"Ew, ew, ew, ew!" Manami jumped back, casting fire at the one that came closest to her, setting it on fire.
Manami was about to strike it down as it writhed and twitched on the ground, but the other centipede reached to bite its tail, becoming a wheel that rolled over to ram into Manami.
"Gah!"
While Manami was distracted, the first centipede rolled away the flames on its body and got back up.
"Oh, man…" Manami groaned to herself and got in a battle-ready stance in front of the centipedes.
"Come on, you got this!"
Meanwhile, one of the Kappa heartless started to fling discs of water at the Elric brothers. Ed quickly conjured fireballs to deflect them, but the Kappa was throwing more water discs than he was transmuting fireballs.
It was quick for Ed to lose the match of speed and got hit by three water discs. They splashed on impact, but they felt more like getting hit by rocks.
"Grr… THUNDER!" Ed clapped his hands, then raised his automail blade and summoned a lightning bolt down on the Kappa, taking it out immediately.
Meanwhile, Al used his lance like a club to smash down on the shadow heartless, launching them up above him. He then spun his lance to juggle them into the air, dealing numerous blows. However, one of the shadows fell out of the juggle pile and managed to head butt him from behind.
While Manami fought off the centipedes, she caught a glimpse of the creature that they were saving. It looked like a mini cow, wearing glasses, still waving it's paintbrush frantically to keep any threatening heartless at bay from it and it's wagon.
Manami looked back to the centipedes, aiming her Keyblade and casting a fireball. The one she had set aflame earlier was destroyed, but the other centipede was knocked back… towards the cow she was protecting!
"!" The cow frantically bopped the centipede on it's head with its paint brush, before Manami ran over to smack it away with her Keyblade.
"Oof!" Al was dog-piled by the shadow heartless, but he was strong enough to stand once more and throw them off. He drew back his lance and stabbed through two of them together, destroying them both.
Ed ran circles around the Kappa heartless as they threw their water discs, before transmuting a giant stone fist out of the ground to punch one of them, smashing into it and crushing it against the other.
The remaining centipede that Manami was fighting went to bite its tail, once again rolling into a wheel. As it rolled towards her to ram into her, Manami stood her ground and held the Keyblade in front of her...
[Learned Guard!]
Manami deflected the centipede, and it fell flat on the ground, stunned. She took this opportunity to lunge forward and stab her Keyblade into it, destroying it.
She had no time to celebrate— there were still the two Kappa Heartless who threw water discs, this time hitting Manami and Al and dealing some damage.
Ed jumped up on the stone fist he transmuted earlier and jumped down on one of the Kappa heartless, plunging his automail blade through its head and taking it out.
"Brother! Think fast!" Al swung his lance like a baseball bat and hit one of the shadow heartless so hard, it flew across the battlefield and SLAMMED into the remaining Kappa heartless.
"BLIZZARD!"Ed summoned ice spikes that skewered the two heartless, destroying them both.
"Manami! You're up!" Al swung his lance to smack the last shadow heartless at Manami, and she gracefully slashed it in half and destroyed it.
Once she confirmed that they had defeated the last of the heartless, Manami smiled brightly as she swung the Keyblade over her shoulder.
"We did it!"
"Is that cow thing alright?" Ed asked, and everyone turned to look back.
The cow appeared to be unharmed, and she took a deep sigh of relief, then adjusted her glasses before approaching the three of them. She bowed respectfully, then handed a card to Manami with both hands.
"A gift card?" Manami asked aloud, inspecting the back and finding a name.
"Ara...kawa?" Manami looked up from the card. "Is that your name?"
The cow nodded quickly, making her glasses fall askew again... but she quickly adjusted her glasses.
"I guess she doesn't talk…" Manami thought, but then offered a smile.
"Well, glad we could help!"
The cow bowed once more before going to walk away with her wagon… but suddenly, one of the wheels fell off, causing her to panic.
"..." Manami and Al looked to Ed expectantly.
"Yeah, yeah…" Ed rolled his eyes, already knowing what they were thinking. "I got it."
He bent down to the broken wheel and clapped his hands, transmuting the wheel against the side of the wagon… and, in a flash, it was as good as new.
The small cow breathed another sigh of relief, then bowed to Ed. To his surprise, she offered him a gift as well…
Until he realized that it was a bottle of milk.
"... is this some kind of sick joke?"
"Brother!" Al scolded him.
"I mean, for me?" Ed forced a smile. "You shouldn't have! You... reeeaaaaaalllllllyyyy... shouldn't have…"
He was tempted to toss the bottle, but instead put it away with the rest of the group's inventory.
"I guess we can use it to make stew or something…" He figured.
Arakawa waved goodbye one last time before making her way to the village that Manami and the Elric brothers were originally heading.
"Bad rewards aside…" Ed looked to Manami. "How's it feel winning your first real heartless battle, Manami? Felt good to be able to fight back, huh?"
"Yeah!" Manami nodded in agreement, de-summoning the Keyblade. "But... why is milk a bad reward?"
"Brother hates milk…" Al told her.
"..." Manami turned her head to hide a smirk that curled on her lips. "Explains a few things…"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ed asked, crossing his arms.
"Oh, nothing!" Manami smiled back at them, feigning innocence. "Nothing at all!"
She quickly changed the subject. "Anyway, you really can't expect anything else from a cow besides milk, right?"
Before Ed or Al could respond, they froze at the sound of rustling in the bushes. More heartless suddenly jumped out— some shadows, others yokai.
"Already?!" Ed got in a battle-ready stance. "Guess we're not done here just yet!"
"Ready for another round, Manami?" Al asked, as he and Manami summoned their weapons once more.
But then...
"IRON REAVER SOUL STEALER!"
SLASH! Three powerful blades of energy mowed down most of the heartless, also leaving deep trenches in the ground. Any heartless that lived after that attack quickly fled, having no intention to test their luck.
Manami and the Elric brothers stared at the trenches in the ground with wide eyes, flinching at the sight of someone jumping out of the trees, landing in front of the trio…
It was a strange, silver haired boy, wearing a baggy red kimono… he had a sheathed sword at his hip, and what looked like... dog ears on his head?
"..?" Manami blinked in wonderment at the boy who didn't even notice them at first.
"I thought I smelled those creatures again…" The stranger chuckled to himself. "Heh, don't see what she was all worried about. I could take them just fine…"
He sniffed the air, then turned to face Manami, Ed, and Al. He stared at them for a moment, before he raised his eyebrow suspiciously.
All Manami could do was stare back, her mouth hanging slightly open. She could tell that he knew that they were out of place…
"Um…" Al cleared his throat. "Thanks for the help?"
"STAY RIGHT THERE!" The dog boy snarled. "You smell different from any scent I ever picked up before, and I don't trust it!"
He turned his attention to Ed. "Hey you, shrimp yokai! Start talking!"
"I'M NOT A SHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMP!" Ed immediately lost it, and Al quickly reached to grab and hold back his older brother from charging.
"GET OVER HERE AND SAY THAT TO MY FACE YOU DIRTY, FLEA-RIDDEN, TICK-INFESTED, STRAY MUTT!"
The stranger growled lowly, revealing fangs, as his eyebrow twitched.
"You nasty little... I'M NOT PLAYING AROUND!"
This guy seemed to be just as easy to set off as Ed was... which was really not a good thing.
Before Al or Manami could say anything to try to de-escalate the situation, the boy reached for his sword and went to unsheathe it… though, as he pulled it out, the blade turned into a WAY bigger blade than it's sheath. The sword itself looked like a fang!
"Whoa!" Manami and Al cried.
"Now you're going to tell me what the hell you're doing here, or else!"
"P-Please, wait!" Al pleaded, still holding on to Ed. "We don't wish to fight, really!"
"Ed, say you're sorry!" Manami looked to Ed, eyes wide with fear.
"Him first!" Ed barked, still too angry to reason with.
"Now's not the time, brother!"
"SIT, BOY!"
Manami heard a different voice, but before she could look, the boy in front of them suddenly face planted into the ground with a loud THUD!
"Wh...What is GOING ON?!" Manami shrieked, flinching as someone emerged from the trees.
"Inuyasha! Were you seriously about to pick a fight with these people? They haven't even done anything worth attacking them over! You are SUCH a jerk!"
Manami looked up to see her... the same girl in the school uniform as Roy showed her in the transmission earlier.
"That's..!"
"Ugh... stay back, Kagome!" The boy snarled, pushing himself up to sit on his hands and knees. "These guys could be bad news! Those weird black creatures start appearing and attacking people everywhere, and then suddenly these guys show up? They have to know something!"
"And your idea was to pick a fight with them instead of just asking questions?" The girl yelled at him, putting her hands on her hips. "How are you supposed to learn anything that way?
"I could always beat the answers out of 'em." The boy spat, standing upright. "Besides... he started it."
"Like hell I did!" Ed snapped.
The girl chuckled nervously, stepping in between her friend and the trio. "Sorry about that! I swear, he meant no harm, really!"
She then looked over Manami and the Elric brothers, particularly drawn to Manami, as well as her attire.
"Huh... did you... come from the future too?"
"Huh?" Manami blinked. "The future? No, we came from another wo—"
Before Manami could finish, Al rushed over and covered her mouth, even faking a sneeze.
"B-Bless you, Manami!" He chuckled nervously, but then leaned down to whisper to her.
"We can't tell them that we're from another world..!"
"Why not?" Manami whispered back. "Wouldn't being honest make it easier to tell them what we came here to do?"
"Wh-What she was going to say was that we're, uh... travelers! From a faraway land!" Ed spoke up over their whispering.
"..." The dog boy crossed his arms, frowning in disapproval. "They're suspicious, alright…"
"L-Listen, I think we just got off on the wrong foot! Um... care to introduce us, Manami?" Al squeaked.
"Okay, everybody… weapons down!"
Manami was first to lower the Keyblade, Al letting Ed go before they both lowered their weapons.
"Okay, so… hi…" She awkwardly waved with her free hand. "My name is Manami."
She then gestured to the suit of armor standing beside her. "This is Al, and the short—"
"WHAT?"
"—tempered one… is Ed." Manami finished, shooting Ed a glare.
Ed crossed his arms and turned his head.
"Nice to meet you!" The girl in the school uniform smiled. "I'm Kagome Higurashi."
Kagome looked to the boy with the dog ears expectantly, and he rolled his eyes as he sheathed his sword.
That sword shouldn't have been able to fit, but… it did.
"I'm Inuyasha." He grumbled. "Now that we got introductions out of the way, explain."
"Well you see... those creatures you fought? They're called the heartless." Al explained. "If we don't find out where they're coming from soon, they'll continue to spread and slowly take over everything!
"I knew it." Inuyasha frowned at Kagome. "Told ya they knew something."
"Heartless?" Kagome blinked. "Is that what they're called?"
'Yeah." Ed nodded. "They're basically beings of darkness devoid of emotions. Manami is here to take them off your hands!"
"And how does she plan to go about that?" Inuyasha looked at Manami, his expression judgmental.
"Um…" Manami tried not to let herself get intimidated under his hard look.
If anything, it was hard to explain what she was here to do, if she wasn't particularly allowed to tell them...
"Well... you know... I was gonna destroy them... with this?" She smiled nervously, holding up her Keyblade to display.
"..." Inuyasha only frowned deeper. "Last I checked, I just took them out for you."
"H-Hey, we did take some out before you showed up, you know..!" Manami retorted, feeling a little defensive.
"This isn't going well…" The Elric brothers thought.
"Actually, she's going to seal them up!" Ed stepped in. "We just need to figure out where they're coming from so she can seal them away once and for all."
"And then we'll be out of your hair!" Al nodded in agreement. "We promise!"
"... I don't trust them." Inuyasha crossed his arms. "This could be another trick. They could even be working with Naraku."
"Naraku?" Manami blinked, but neither of them heard her.
"Well, we kind of have no choice." Kagome shook her head. "They seem to know more about these strange creatures than we do, and they're the best lead we got. We can't afford to be too paranoid."
"We can't afford to be too trusting either." Inuyasha sighed, but it seemed like Kagome wasn't going to let this go. "... if you guys are really who you say you are, then I guess you wouldn't care if we tagged along? That way, I can keep an eye on you."
"Huh?!" Manami and Ed's eyes widened.
"No, this could be a good thing!" Al whispered to them. "He probably knows this world like the back of his hand!"
"Right…"
"Well, I think that's a good idea." Kagome announced. "I mean, with the others missing, we're gonna need all the help we can get."
"Hold on," Manami interjected. "You said people are missing?"
"..." Kagome slowly nodded, looking down sadly. "Yeah, our friends... ever since these weird creatures showed up, we haven't been able to find them."
Manami looked back to meet Ed with the same worried expression that she herself wore.
"..." Manami looked back to Kagome and Inuyasha. "I'm... looking for someone, too... we might find them all at the same place. I think we should work together... if that's okay."
"I was the one who suggested it." Inuyasha rolled his eyes.
"Heh, yeah…" Manami nervously rubbed the back of her head. "Right…"
"Let's head to the village for now." Kagome suggested, and everyone nodded in approval before they began to walk.
[Inuyasha and Kagome have joined the party]
[Location: Feudal Era]
