"Yeah! Go Al! Kick his ass!" Ed yelled from the balcony.
"Make us proud!" beside him, Riza cheered her 'student' on.
"Go Elric!" Kiba stood on Ed's other side, now fully aware that Al was a human. Akamaru and Black Hayate were near him, making friends.
"I hope you make this match interesting, Metal Boy." Misumi Tsurugi was a young man wearing glasses, a bandanna and a black mask covering the lower part of his face. He talked to Al in a way that conveyed his high opinion of himself.
"I'll try my best." Al bowed politely.
Out of habit, Hayate coughed to get their attention. "Okay. The battle starts… now!"
Without a pause, Misumi did his rubber act and had wound himself tightly against Al's body. He then went into a long, long speech about how his body could fit anywhere, why he was better than Al, and bla bla bla, etc, etc.
"Well? Ready to surrender yet, Metal Boy?" Misumi squeezed tighter.
"No," replied Al, who obviously couldn't feel pain. "You're wasting your energy, you know."
"Go Al!" Harry, Hermione and Kiba were now cheering. On the other side of the arena, Master Gai's team was watching the match. Neji Hyuga had turned on his Byakugan, and made a startling discovery.
"Hey, Tenten." He elbowed his teammate.
"What is it, Neji?" Tenten asked.
"That Metal Kid. There's nothing inside of him." Neji pointed at Al. "No body, not even organs. He's just an empty shell."
"Don't be ridiculous," Tenten laughed. "How else do you think he can move around?"
"I'm dead serious! He's all metal and Chakra." Neji observed. "I bet his little friends did some illegal experiment, and got deported here."
"Maybe." Tenten shrugged. "I was hoping the first battle would be a bit more intense."
"His Chakra's different from ours. He doesn't have the proper system to convert it to taijutsu, ninjutsu or genjutsu." Neji was still staring intently at Al. "But he sure has a lot of it. At least four times his opponent's."
"Really? You'd think he'd be able to make this more interesting." Tenten.
A distance away, Naruto seemed to be thinking the same thing. He cupped his hands to his mouth and yelled "Hurry up!"
Unfortunately for him, Misumi decided to follow his advise. He did the regrettable action of constricting tighter. It didn't cause Al any pain, but brought his hands together. He clapped.
BAM! There was a flash of bright blue light. Misumi was thrown off Alphonse, every single bone broken (except for the teeny tiny bones like the ones in his hand). He was covered with slashes, and there wasn't an inch of him that wasn't bleeding.
"Winner… Alphonse Elric." Hayate announced. Medic Ninjas came in and carted Misumi out. Al bowed politely, and rejoined his friends.
"That was brilliant!" Harry cheered.
"Good job!" Kiba complimented him. Akamaru and Black Hayate also barked their praise.
"You did great, mate!" Ron forgot his own nervousness to congratulate his friend.
"Hell yeah!" Ed yelled, clapping his brother on the back.
"Big brother? Did I just transmute without a circle?" Alphonse asked uncertainly.
"Yeah! You did!" Ed grinned proudly. He announced to Riza, "My little brother can transmute without a circle!"
"Good to see our assignment's not all useless." Riza remarked dryly, still a little sore at being insulted by the Hokage earlier.
"I wonder if the rest of them are that good?" Tenten asked Neji on the other side of the gym.
"Whoa. That blast used up most of his Chakra, but it's regenerating already." Neji replied. "He's strong."
Hayate coughed again. "Right. Well, your next match is…" Everyone turned to the monitor. It read…
"Luna Lovegood vs. Yoroi Akadō"
"Hey, it's another one. Check her stats." Tenten urged Neji.
Luna Apparated down to the arena. Her opponent, a young man who looked like Misumi with sunglasses, jumped down. They both looked coolly ruffled. They faced each other, and bowed.
"Good luck." Luna told him.
"Begin!" announced Hayate.
Yoroi Akadō leaped towards Luna. She hit him with the Jelly-Legs jinx, and stepped aside. Yoroi crashed into the ground where Luna was. As he tried to get up, Luna hit him with the Bat-Bogey hex.
"Her Chakra's different from ours, but different from Alphonse's, too. She can't do any of the Jutsus either." Neji told Tenten. "That 'magic alchemy' used up some of her Chakra, but it's regenerating, like Alphonse's did. She has a lot, too. Double Alphonse's amount."
"What about the rest?"
Neji turned to the group gathered on the other side of the gym. "Let's see. The people in the black robes have the same type and amount of Chakra as Luna. The instructor and small kid both have the same type of Chakra as Alphonse. The short kid's got a little more, and the instructor a little less."
Meanwhile, in the battlefield, Yoroi wasn't having much luck. He had underestimated Luna Lovegood, like so many others had done before him. The Jelly-Legs jinx had been lifted, and he finally got up. He started to run towards Luna.
"You are so dead…"
"Levicorpus!" Luna yelled. Yoroi was jerked up ankle-first. Luna moved her wand, lifting him higher and higher, until he was touching the ceiling.
"Finite Incantatem!" Luna lifted the spell, and Yoroi started to fall. That was no problem. A competent ninja always lands on their feet. Unless they couldn't move.
"Petrificus Totalus!" The force of impact nearly split Yoroi's skull open. He lay on the ground, an unconscious heap. Hayate walked over.
"Winner… Luna Lovegood," he announced.
"Yeah!" Team Riza broke out in applause.
"Go Luna! You're awesome! You showed him!" Lee cheered right along. "Be my girlfriend!"
Neji turned to glare at Lee for being so embarrassing. His Byakugan was still turned on, and he happened to catch a glimpse of the green-clad man standing between them. But what he saw was not Maito Gai. It was a short, balding, snivelling man with watery eyes wearing the appearance of Gai. Neji closed his eyes and shook his head to clear it. When he looked again, the rat-like man was still there. He glanced at Neji nervously, sniffling in an un-Gai-like manner.
Neji then looked around the gym, and gasped. The other Konoha instructors were also missing. In Kakashi's place was a girly man with long blonde hair, in Kurenai's place was a pale woman with dark hair, and in Asuma's place was a grim black-haired man. He opened his mouth to warn Tenten.
"Tenten!" he jabbed his friend in the ribs. "There's a man impersonating Gai-sensei!"
"You're crazy." Tenten jabbed him back, not turning away from the arena. "Look, they're displaying the next match. Ron Weasley against… me?"
"You can do it, Ron," on the other side Hermione comforted her friend, taking his bag.
"If you lose, Tenten, you're a disgrace to Konoha." Neji encouraged his friend.
Ron and Tenten both went down to the arena. Ron giggled nervously. Tenten glared at him, her weapons at the ready.
"Start!"
Ron proceeded to throw some dungbombs that he had in his pockets. He ran away, screaming spells and getting them all twisted up. Tenten kept her cool and used her Kuchiyose no Jutsu (the weapons summoning technique). Ron did a shield charm that… actually worked! Weapons went flying in all directions, and everyone had to duck.
A shuriken headed towards Maito Gai. By pure instinct, he pulled out a long, thing stick out, and yelled out "Protego!"
The shuriken bounced away. Everyone in the gym stared at him.
"Heheh…" 'Gai' squealed in a very un-Gai-like manner.
"Specialis Revelio!" three spells from the other side of the room hit him square in the chest. Now everybody could see what Neji saw… Peter Pettigrew.
"Oh, great! Thanks a lot!" Kurenai yelled. "Give it all away! Useless vermin!"
"Only one thing to do! Let's leave!" squealed Peter. He, Kurenai, Asuma and Kakashi made ready to exit.
"I don't think so!" Tenten yelled. Within seconds, she had pinned all of them to the wall by their collars with kunai. The Golden Trio + Luna hit by Anti-Disapparation charms, and hung there, hopeless. Al approached them one by one and flung them off the balcony to the center of the arena. Team Riza approached them, and Harry cast the rope spell on them, tying them together. The revealing charm was used again, to reveal expose Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange and Rudolphus Lestrange.
"Who are you?" "What are you doing here?" "What did you do to Gai-sensei?" "When was the last time you had a hair cut?" and other questions of the sort could be heard, as the rest of the gym finally comprehended the situation.
"Sonorus!" Hermione said, "Will everyone please quiet down? Your questions will be answered in a second. Quietus." She started rummaging through her backpack, pulling out various odds and ends that could usually be found in the potion's classroom.
"Er, Hermione? Exactly how much stuff did you 'borrow' from Snape?" asked Harry.
"Just enough. Here we go," she held a bottle filled with clear liquid. Hermione approached Pettigrew. "Open wide!" she said, forcing the liquid down his throat. She did the same to the other Death Eaters. "All right. Let's see… how were you able to impersonate them?"
"With the help of Lord Voldemort's new ally," Bellatrix smirked. "Some of you may already know him. His name's Orochimaru, from the land of Sound. We were sent as backup. He and his other supporters escaped while we distracted you."
The entire assembly gasped. They turned to check, and, surely enough, the Otonin were no longer there.
"Where are they! Where's Gai-sensei!" Lee burst out.
"Dog-brow is currently locked up in the Chamber of Secrets. Grey-hair took my place in Azkaban. It was amazingly easy, with the Dementors gone." Lucius laughed. "Red-eyes and Smoker were sent to another dimension, to our other new ally- King Bradly."
Collective gasps came from Ed, Al and Riza while the others looked on blankly.
"One last question." Luna spoke. "Where is Severus Snape?"
"Oh, he's impersonating a man named Roy Mustang!" Bellatrix laughed. "The real one came with us, to this world! Orochimaru sort of dumped him somewhere. Don't know where, you'll have to ask him!"
Now The Golden Trio and Luna also comprehended. Riza walked up and struck Bellatrix across the face with her gun.
"It's clear what we have to do!" Lee announced "Rescue mission!"
"Yes. You must go to the other worlds to save your teachers," the Hokage nodded. Shikamaru groaned. "I am changing the exam. If you succeed, you'll be promoted to Chuunin."
"Okay. It's all set." They were in the actual village now. Hermione looked mightily pleased with herself. She held a sandal, one blue and one black, in each hand. "It'll leave in three minutes. All you have to do is make sure you're touching some part of the shoe." The sandals were, of course, portkeys. She handed the blue one Neji Hyuga, and the other to Harry.
"Everyone who's going to England go to the blue sandal. Everyone who's going to East City go to the black one. Make sure you're touching the shoe!" The assorted Genin followed her instructions. Ron also went with Harry's group. He was going to help Harry defeat Snape.
"Is everyone here?" asked Hermione, checking her watch.
"I'm coming! I'm coming!" Chouji yelled from down the street, running at top speed. He was shouldering a huge backpack. He braked beside Shikamaru, and stuck a finger on the black sandal like his friend. "What are we doing?"
"Great. Everyone's where they want to be?" Hermione said.
"Shouldn't you or Luna go to England with them?" Ron pointed Teams 7 and Gai with his free hand. "I mean, they are landing in the middle of my front yard. Knowing Fred and George, they'll have extra arms by the time they're through."
"We have to stay and look after the Death Eaters. But here's something you can use," Hermione pulled out three small mirrors out of her bag. She handed one to Harry and one to Neji. "Three-way mirrors. I found these in Snape's dungeons. Just give them a good shake, and you can communicate with whoever's holding the other one."
"Hey, is this 'England' place where you found the Philosopher's Stone?" asked Ed.
"Yes, but it's-"
"Let's go!" Ed told Al, and shoved between Naruto and Sakura. They both put a finger on the shoe. Ed turned to Riza. "Coming?"
"No. I'm going to look for Roy," replied Riza.
"It's almost time." Hermione looked at her watch. "Keep in touch, and try to land on your feet! Five, four, three, two…"
A small tornado started around the two sandals, engulfing the rescue teams. When the wind cleared, they were gone. Riza, Black Hayate, Anko, Iruka and the Hokage stared at the spot they were in astonishment.
"Right." Hermione said as if she saw that happen everyday. "Next order of business: find Mustang."
Note: I changed a few minor details here and there (like in Chapter 5 when Hinata and Neji's teams entered the tower through the same door).
In the next chapter: Black Hayate catches an intruder and Riza gets a date.
