Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King or Full Metal Alchemist
Notice: You will need to have full knowledge of the all characters and concepts of both Shaman King and Full Metal Alchemist to understand this story. Oh, and SPOILERS SPOILERS EVERYWHERE! Make sure you have watched up to episode…I guess 62 of Shaman King and up to episode 45 of Full Metal Alchemist before reading this.
Teaser: Over night, Ed and Ren switch places. How would they have managed in each other's worlds? Would they be better off or worse? Shaman King x Full Metal Alchemist crossover
Setting: In the Shaman King manga, part of the X-laws sacrificed themselves to find Hao's oversoul medium while in a match within the tournament, whereas the anime had them encounter Hao in the forest of the Great Spirit. I'll be using the manga's version. This fic takes place right after that match in the Shaman King world.
In Full Metal Alchemist, this takes place right after Ed and Al's encounter with Scar in Riore and they return to Rizenpool because Ed needed to "get something". Roy and his gang chased after them but did it to prevent them from getting caught by the fuhrer's soldiers. I'm going to change something here so that Roy left instead of staying to help ward soldiers away for Ed and Al. And Armstrong's group had to return to catch Ed under the fuhrer's orders.
In Different Worlds
In the room of the three teen shamans, two of them can be seen bouncing about the lit room in the middle of the night. They jumped about enthusiastically in their little game despite the noise they were sending into the quiet sleeping town. Horohoro, though he may not seem to like Chocolove's playful frolicking, holds a playful side in himself and occasionally, that playful side would surface and he would begin joining Chocolove in his games like right now.
"Stop it you two!" Ren with his hands on hips shouted at the two. He doesn't repeat himself and walked over to the table, putting out the candle—the room's only source of light. Having no light, the two settled down. Without anything to do anymore, they felt around searching for their beds so they can go to sleep.
"Goodnight, Ren," one of them called.
Lying curled up on his side of the wall, Ren grumbled, "Yeah, whatever."
"Goodnight, Ren," the other chirped in. Ren gave no response, but it didn't really matter because Chocolove began talking again, "Hey, I bet ya I can say that 10 times as fast."
Just as Ren feared, their games weren't over. The disgruntled teen knew it wasn't so easy to calm these two 'children' down. "Oh yeah, then go ahead," came Horohoro's voice. But they weren't given a chance to continue their game.
"Shut up, just shut up!"
The entire room morphed into a pleasant silence. It wasn't the command nor the tone of voice that kept Horohoro and Chocolove's mouths shut, though. It was the crisp 'shing' of Ren's blade that stopped them. The Kwan Dao reflected sharply in the moonlight, testing the silence in the room. Ren finally lowered it again then commanded, "Now go to sleep."
In a whole different world, in a small town, Al happily called to his older brother, "Goodnight, niisan." Stopping while in the middle of climbing onto his bed, Ed turned around giving his brother a grin, "Yeah, goodnight, Al." He laid down then nested himself within the blankets. He stared at the ceiling as he once again thought of how his brother, who can no longer sleep, was coping with the nights. His thoughts wandered, but soon the eyelids were involuntarily closing over golden eyes. Edward Elric fell asleep.
"Um…um…excuse me…"
Ren woke up to the unfamiliar voice of a 12 year old boy. He became startled then instinctively reached for the folded spear within his clothes. Now fully awake, Ren found he wasn't most surprised at his new surroundings but at the giant metal armor hovering before him.
"Who are you?" Ren rethought his question as he took in more of his surroundings, "…where am I?"
Al let out a gasp in surprise, "You sound just like niisan."
"Your niisan?" Ren turned his eyes back on the giant armor before him, eyeing Al suspiciously.
Seeing Ren's firm hold on the weapon, now unfolded into a long spear, Al was careful to not make any large movement. "Yes, my niisan. He was sleeping right here in where you are sitting." Al used a finger to point at the nest of blankets tangled about Ren's waist. Golden eyes followed and for the first time Ren realized he was no longer sleeping in the dirty straw mats but on a very soft and comfortable bed.
"I'm sure I've been watching niisan go to bed and stay there for the rest of the night. It wasn't until this morning that I found that niisan's body changed into yours."
It was hard to grasp, too hard to grasp, however Ren wasn't given any chance to think.
"Ed, Al!" came a shrill cry from the other side of the wooden door. Within seconds, the door came tearing down. Four soldiers clad in blue poured into the room. "I tried to stop them. I'm so sorry…" A blond girl with long hair was by the door frame calling in a mournful tone. The soldiers surrounded Al and Ren with their guns pointed at the two.
"Edward Elric, you are under arrest for the conspiracy you committed in Riore," One of them announced harshly. Their eyes, however, were trained on none other than Ren.
"Huh?" Winly suddenly burst out, "But that isn't Ed!"
One of the men eyed the girl, gun still pointed at Ren. "Don't lie to me girl, Edward Elric has golden colored eyes."
"The giant armor little brother is with him too. There's no doubt about it," another one of them called. With everything cleared up, the soldiers were now serious about arresting Ren.
Ren, though no matter how little he understood of what's going on knew that he was in some sort of trouble. Secretly, he beckoned Bason into his left hand and clenched carefully onto his weapon with his right.
"What should we do...!" Al hardly had the chance to finish his question when all of a sudden, the boy beside him launched out of the bed. Throwing the white bed sheet into the soldiers, Ren startled two of them, as he dealt with the remaining two by the other side of the room. The men recovered fast, slapping down the cloth and aiming for their target again, however, their guns were disabled as Ren put a quick slash through the barrels of their guns. They let out a cry and looked up and saw that their comrades' guns were in the same condition. All four backed away from the short boy standing in the middle of the room.
"Wow…" Winly commended in awe at the metal guns now cut cleanly into an angle. She called out in surprise when she saw the four soldiers making a move towards the window. "Ah, they're trying to escape!"
Ren didn't know the significance of the soldiers' escape, but decided to stop them anyway, just in case, however he was beat to the task. "Oh no you don't!" Al called out as he hurriedly finished the last details of his alchemic array. The giant blue armor placed two hands over the circle and a white light was brought forth, shooting around the soldiers and finally closing them in. Ren watched in awe as the light disappeared and a big wooden box was formed where the soldiers once stood. Muffled cries came from within the walls as the soldiers banged at their new cage.
The girl walked up to the armor casually as if what just happened was nothing out of the ordinary. "Good job, Al! Now they can't go inform the rest of the military." She turned to Ren uncertainly then said, "Uh…thank you very much."
"It wasn't anything," Ren told her loosely. Dealing with the soldiers was an easy job. The fact that he was attacked for no reason did bother him though, but right now, more importantly… Golden colored eyes turned to Al, "Now kid, start by explaining what you just did…and more importantly," His eyes narrowed. "..how you got your soul attached to that armor."
"AHHHHHHH!" One voice boomed through the morning lit room. Soon, another voice joined the first, screaming at the top of his lungs. "Huh?" Ed rolled his head towards the voices to face two very unfamiliar persons staring at him with their mouths wide open. Ed got up and did the thing most usual to him in situations like these. He screamed at the top of his lungs so that a trio of sustained crying echoed throughout the entire street.
"Who are you!" Horohoro pointed a finger straight at Ed.
"I should be asking the same question!" Ed copied Horohoro, beginning a staring match with each other.
"…hey, this guy sounds just like Ren…and he's got the same colored eyes too…" Chocolove commented from the side.
"Why should I need to explain?" Horohoro shouted back, "Ren was sleeping right here last night and then this morning you are here instead!" The blue haired teen explained heatedly pointing his finger around from the corner Ren and Ed slept in to golden haired boy standing before him.
"Oh, is that so," Ed composed himself as if all problems have just been resolved. "Huh?" finger still in midair, Horohoro's confused eyes followed as Ed casually ambled towards another part of the room. His arms were folded and his eyebrows were knotted as if deep in concentration. He stopped then looked confidently at Horohoro, "You said I switched places with your friend, right?" Horohoro nodded. Golden eyes now turned towards Chocolove, "and you said I sound and look similar to him?" Chocolove nodded. Satisfied with the answers, Ed spread his arms as if finishing a deduction. "Then it's clear. Your friend must be the parallel version of myself in a different world and he and I must have switched places."
The two roommates still gave Ed that confused look. Ed sighed and tried again, "Your friend must have taken my place in my world and I have taken his."
As if coming out of a stupor, Horohoro slowly acknowledged what Ed said. "…but how is that possible…?" he uttered.
"You don't remember your friend leaving after he went to sleep over there, right?" Ed asked, urging Horohoro to agree with him. "Right…" Horohoro answered after contemplating for a while. "And I don't remember leaving my place in my bed after going to sleep so that's the best explanation," Ed finished.
"But…" Horohoro uttered, still not satisfied with the explanation, but nothing more can come out because he couldn't find a better explanation either. He sighed in acceptance and Ed nodded approvingly.
"You seem to be taking this quite well. This sort of stuff must happen very often in your world," Chocolove finally piped in. Ed looked surprised for a moment then smiled at Chocolove, "No it doesn't, but anything is possible, don't you think?"
Chocolove shook his head then commented at the way Ed thought, "You must have seen lots of weird stuff happening." Ed had been expecting that. His grin widened and he answered.
"You bet."
"..h...how did you know I was just a kid?" Al gasped then asked more urgently, "How did you know my soul was fixed to this armor!"
Ren stared unbelievingly at the boy, with his transparent soul attached to the blue armor. It looked like an oversoul, but he detected no signs of furyoku. He was interested, yes, very interested.
"It's simple," Ren explained, realizing the two staring disbelievingly at him may not see spirits after all. "I can see your soul, clearly stuck to that armor." Ren pointed at Al.
"My soul…?" Al placed his palms across the spot where his heart is supposed to be. He looked up then asked again, "You can see my soul?"
"Yes," Ren nodded. Seeing the other was still not believing his words, Ren gave out more details. "I can see the soul of a human boy about the age of 12 stuck to that piece of armor."
Al jumped and exclaimed happily, "You can see me! You can really see me!"
"Yes," Ren answered, starting to become annoyed. "Now who are you anyway?"
The armor flustered, giving out a light 'Oh' and a small bow, "I'm Alphonse Elric, but you can call me Al. Pleased to meet you."
"Uh," Ren grunted dismissedly at the long introduction, "and would you mind explaining how I got here?" Ren eyed the unfamiliar walls of the bedroom.
Winly watched on quietly as Al began to explain. "Um..I watched my niisan go to bed last night, but when I came to wake him up this morning, I find you instead. And I'm pretty sure he didn't move from the room because I have been watching him all night." Al added at the end.
Ren contemplated for a while and sighed. "Then I can't think of a better explanation except this niisan of yours and I must have switched places over night."
"Eeh!" Both Winly and Al sounded in protest. "Your brother's voice sounds like mine, right?" Ren looked at the two. "Now that you mention it, your eyes look pretty similar too." Winly stuck a finger to her chin as she examined Ren closer. Ren made no comment at the new find, but goes on with his rationalization, "And I don't remember going anywhere over night so that's the only explanation."
"Hmm.." the girl and the boy hummed, reluctantly accepting the explanation. Al gasped again, "What if niisan never comes back?" he asked worriedly. "Well, I definitely hope not!" Ren shot back and added, half muttering, "It's not like I want to be here." He crossed his arms in a deep frown. Realizing Ren was in a situation he didn't want to be in as well, Al raised and shook his palms. "Oh I'm sorry…uh…uh… …what is your name…?"
"It's Tao Ren."
"Ren-oniisan," Al repeated. Ren ignored the friendly way Al chose to say his name, but his frown did deepen another shade. "I'm Winly," the girl waved. "Uh," Ren grunted. Now that the introductions were over, he faced Al once again. "Now, will you start explaining to me what that white light was," Ren asked, never having forgotten the conspicuous brown box by the wall and not to mention the pounding of fists coming from within. He eyed it. Al moved back to give Ren a better view.
"This is alchemy."
"Alchemy?"
"Hmm…" Al paused as he tried to explain, "I guess you can call it a form of sorcery…"
"Sorcery…as in magic?" Ren commented hurriedly, eyes wide and still interested at every bit of new information he was getting.
"Yes," Al answered as he began to kneel at the floor. With a piece of chalk, he began drawing a weird design onto the floor board. "By drawing an alchemic array," he explained then he placed a loose piece of floorboard on top of the design when he was done. "And using something as an equivalent trade." Al placed his hands onto the floor and once again the white light flashed in a frenzy as Ren watched in awe. The light cleared and the piece of wood was now replaced by a small toy horse of equal size. Al picked it up and rose from the floor, then he handed it over for Ren to see. "You can transform it into something of an equal matter."
Ren examined the transmutation in silence, not really knowing what to say. Just at that moment, a loud baritone boomed from outside. "Edward Elric, I know you're in there!"
"Ugh, we're surrounded!" Winly said while she peered out the window.
"I guess we have no choice but to go out," Al told Winly, who nodded in reply. The three marched out of the house just in time to hear General Armstrong say, "I'm sorry to do this, Elric brothers, but I received orders from the fuhrer to put you under arrest…?" The burly general looked in question after the three sole occupants of the house had emptied out.
"Where's Edward-kun?" He eyed the soldier who had followed the three out. The soldier caught on and reported, "Sir, these were the only occupants of the house!"
"Hmm…" Armstrong grumbled troublesomely when none of the children decided to explain. He did a double take when he saw Ren. Placing a hand to his chin and stooping over to stare at the small boy, he said, "I've never seen you before…but your eyes, they're golden just like Edward-kun's…" He rose back to his towering height as he came to a decision, "Seeing how Edward-kun can easily change his appearance, I'll have to put you under arrest." A gloved palm ascended, signaling for the soldiers to attack.
"Not if I defeat you first!" Ren cried as he rushed towards the row of soldiers. "Ahhh!" Winly and Al screamed at the boy who ran unguarded into a group of armed soldiers. The soldiers opened fire but the bullets were dodged. Winly and Al's shock melted into marvel as their eyes followed the flexible small boy twisting by all the bullets. Ren came down with the Kwan Dao slashing away the soldiers' weapons. Now at close range, the boy had a greater advantage over the soldiers. Because the target was mixed among them, the soldiers couldn't open fire and stood quite vulnerably to Ren's attacks. With his moves like lightning, Ren finished the entire dispatch in no time.
"I am still here," Armstrong addressed the short boy who stood amidst the pile of fallen soldiers. He gave Ren no time to react and rushed at Ren from behind. Ren however, made a quick twist and blocked the general's fist with the rod of his spear. The boy smirked, "I'm not defeated so easily."
The burly man made a sound in amazement. The two remained fixed in that position no matter how hard Armstrong pushed at the seemingly-weaker boy. They finally jumped away from each other. The general looked ponderous for a moment then he said, "Looks like I have no choice but to show you my true strength!" He removed his uniform to bare impossible tight muscles, but the act hardly fazed Ren as the boy had began launching towards his opponent again.
Armstrong swung an arm back and brought it around just in time to connect with the side of Ren's blade. There was the eerie white light again that Ren had never seen before. Ren looked up to see what was done to the tip of his spear. He flinched in surprise as the blade was now replaced with the figure of a small monument that looked unmistakably to be the other man. He wasn't as surprised as the first time he witnessed alchemy so he calmly let his Kwan Dao drop from his hands.
"Oh no, what should we do? Ren-oniisan can't use alchemy!" Al began to fret, making a start to find a way to help Ren, however, he was stopped short.
"Who said I can't?" retorted the purple haired boy. Turning his face up to reveal a confident smirk, Ren raised a palm into the air. "Hyoi Gattai!" he called as he slowly brought the palm down to his chest. All the works of the Spirit Control were invisible to the spectators' eyes, but Al could tell whatever Ren was doing exerted a lot of force.
"heh," Ren grinned as he knelt to the ground and drew an array with the speed of a seasoned alchemist. He slammed both hands down and before Armstrong can react his body was sucked into the dirt. The transmutation finished when only his head remained planted on the surface of the ground. The man protested and moved his head around as he struggled in his underground prison, but the boy ignored him and walked away.
Al ran up to Ren followed by Winly, "Wow, I thought you couldn't use alchemy!"
"I can't," came Ren's curt answer. He knew the confused looks Al and Winly were giving him so he quickly finished his sentence with a smirk. "but there's a spirit nearby who can."
Okay, Ren sure had a lot of action. Next chapter, it's Ed's turn to shine. How will the rest of the shaman gang react? And what's Ed gonna do about the situation the shamans are in? Please read the next chapter to find out : )