The next morning, Vanessa, Angel, and Luna all woke up to the sound of the reveille. It surprised Vanessa but didn't jolt her to sit upright like it did for Angel and Luna who screeched as she stretched her body.
Vanessa groaned as she slowly began to sit up and put on her glasses. A cheerful voice exclaimed "Good morning, Cpt. Kingston! Did you have a good night's sleep?" Major Armstrong had a sparkle floating next to his eye as he said that.
"Ah, yes, I did sir."
Major Armstrong turned to look at Angel "Ah, Sgt. Albert! Will you be joining us on the expedition to the gate?"
Angel was confused and turned to look at Vanessa who nodded.
"Um. Yes, sir." Angel replied in her timid voice.
"What did you say Sgt.?!"
Angel shot upwards and said "Sir, yes sir!"
Major Armstrong continued to look at her and Angel turned to Vanessa who whispered, "You forgot to salute" while putting her hand in the pose.
After a disgusting breakfast, the troops marched towards the plunge pool. When the plunge pool was in sight, Vanessa suddenly stopped and threw down her rifle. Then, she jumped backwards into the pool!
Major Armstrong exclaimed "Cpt. Kingston! What are you doing?!"
"This is the way to the gate, Major!" she yelled before the current pushed her further away. Two more splashes were heard. "Sgt. Albert! Edward Elric! Not you too!"
Edward smiled "Sorry Major, but we're going in after her!"
After being turned over by the current, Vanessa managed a doggy paddle while the current kept pushing her body upwards. Unfortunately for Edward who managed to catch up to her, he looked at Vanessa to make sure she was ok but ended up laughing at her which made him swallow a bunch of water and close to drowning until a heavy body rammed into him and pushed him upwards!
"Ack!" Edward turned to look behind him and saw that it was Major Armstrong. "Major! Watch where you're going!"
"I'm sorry, Edward Elric, but I had to use a lot of strength to catch up to all of you."
Edward looked around and saw many of his fellow scientists and Amestrian soldiers swimming in the current as well "You all followed us?!"
"Why of course! This is an expedition is it not?" Major Armstrong replied with the orange sparkle floating near his eye.
"No! Listen, Major. The gate is more dangerous than we thought it was, you have to send everyone back!"
"Edward Elric, how do you expect us to swim—back?!" Major Armstrong exclaimed the last part in shock as the current got stronger and pushed them with more force.
Edward could see the gate from a distance; he was getting closer with each moment the water pushed them forward. The current pushed him near Vanessa and he grabbed her around the waist which surprised her. "Alright! This is our stop!"
He swooped and carried Vanessa bridal style, the current lifted him, and he used the momentum to jump onto land. The current had carried Angel towards Major Armstrong and he copied what Edward did with Vanessa to her.
Vanessa was a little stunned and blushing now that she was close to Edward. It took her a few minutes before she blinked and said "Um. Thanks, Ed. But could you put me down?"
"Oh yeah, sure."
He lowered her body and in her haste to get down, she nearly tripped but Edward pulled her back. "Whoa, careful there."
"Uh-huh." Vanessa replied, feeling too awkward to look Edward in the eyes with her cheeks a little red.
Soon, all the soldiers and scientists joined them on land and Maria Ross found that everyone was accounted for.
Some of the scientists tried to get to the gate but Edward yelled at them to stop. Edward looked at Vanessa and she nodded. Despite her headache, she walked towards the gate and faced it. This time, she could see the darkness spreading from the gate. Luna came out of Angel's jacket and went down into her owner's arms. Luna hissed threateningly at the gate despite the unease she felt inside and Angel had a slight blur in her vision but after closing her eyes for a few minutes, everything seemed to be normal.
Vanessa raised her arms as if she was the conductor of an orchestra and on her command, the pebbles from the ground floated up in the air. She pushed her hands forward and smack! The pebbles hit the gate. Vanessa stepped back and the black hands began to emerge!
Edward yelled "Vanessa, get away from there!"
Vanessa ran as fast as she could and Edward extended his hand. She grabbed it and he pulled her to his side. Some of the soldiers had hand guns and tried to shoot at the black hands but to no avail. When the bullets made contact with them, it was like they lost their energy.
"It's no use men, bullets don't work on them!" yelled Major Armstrong.
The black hands tried to grab the soldiers but Vanessa ran forward and moved them away with one swipe of her hand.
"Reow!" cried Luna.
Angel ran towards Vanessa while summoning a ball of light in her hand. She threw the ball of light at the black hands. To everyone's horror, the black hands grabbed it and it seemed that the ball of light got extinguished.
Vanessa shook her head vigorously in disbelief.
Angel balled her hands into fists and thought to herself "Please! Please work!"
In those few minutes, the black hands became deadly still then rays of golden light broke through the hands. The light expanded until it covered the gateway and everyone looked away from its intense brightness. The gate was beginning to close as the black hands vanished.
Edward called "Vanessa!"
"Right!" she turned to look at him. Vanessa put her hands together, mentally prayed "Namo Amitabha Buddha", and brought her left hand forward "Begone distortion! Bring the world back to proportion!"
The pink beam of light from Vanessa's hand hit the gate but instead of it reverting into the Gate of Truth, everything was turning into a completely white space. Pink butterflies began to emerge from the light sweeping the scene and fluttered around the group of people until they froze and a large pink bubble materialized underneath their wings. Vanessa felt woozy but Edward held onto her just as she lost balance. Angel and Edward helped her to sit down and the people made a horseshoe so that Vanessa could get some air.
Despite the amount of people inside the bubble and the butterflies on the outside layer, the bubble quickly moved until there was a blue sky and Vanessa could see that the area was changing back into Central City. The bubble popped once they landed into Central Command.
Without the bubble to lean on, Vanessa drooped backwards but Edward caught her with his arm. She could see that Edward had turned back into the red cloaked alchemist. He smiled "Hey, you did it." Luna congratulated her and Angel on a job well done and Edward looked at Luna in shock. Angel covered her giggling with a fist.
Vanessa could only give a weak smile in return.
Major Armstrong said "Three cheers for Cpt. Kingston and Sgt. Albert! Hip! Hip! Hooray!" The other people joined in his cheering.
Vanessa's phone flew out of her pocket and generated a new portal which made Angel, Luna, and Vanessa float upwards. Luna closed her eyes and golden light surrounded her body which generated a bubble that enclosed the three of them.
Edward stood up in shock as his new friends were already leaving. Vanessa yelled "Goodbye Ed! You and Al will get your bodies back! Goodbye Major Armstrong! Thanks for taking care of us!"
Edward yelled "Yeah! And thanks for everything Vanessa! Take care of yourself and Luna, Angel!"
Major Armstrong got very teary as he waved to the group in the bubble. Edward continued to wave at Vanessa and Angel and vice versa until they were out of sight. Luna put her paws over Vanessa's chest, emitting golden light to cure her fatigue as she lay in the bubble and Angel leaned back, resting her eyes.
To Be Continued…
