Chapter 24

"What is this?"

"Sora looked around him. There were capsules everywhere, storing heartless and nobodies, along with many other creatures.

"They must have been testing something here," concluded Ed. "They wanted to test out what these things are without the military interfering..."

"No." Al pointed to some of the capsules. "Someone from the military is involved. Look at the logos at the capsule."

"What...?" Ed walked up to one of the capsules. He found a bunch of papers on the floor. "What does this say?"

Ed read it out loud. "'Titan transformation is possible, but more philosopher stones are needed to maintain it. These creatures are able to maintain their original thought patterns after transforming.' What's a titan?"

"No..." Sora widened his eyes. "It's a creature from another world. It turns into a giant, humanoid monster. If they are transforming these monsters into this, then we are in trouble."

"Look!" Al found more documents. "'Interestingly, the subjects that had their souls were only brought back with..." Al paused.

"...with the caster's thoughts and memories?" Ed finished.

"Yes..." Al looked worried.

"Why is that scaring you guys?" Sora asked.

"Mustang didn't tell you, huh?" Ed looked at Sora. "You see, when we were kids, our mother died. We tried to revive her, but we messed up. One of my legs and my right hand was taken from that night...the leg from the failed experiment and the arm from 'creating' Al into armor."

"Wait...what do you mean by 'create'?"

"You see, Al died in the attempt to revive Mom. His real soul is somewhere, while the Al here was transmuted based on my thoughts."

"Oh." Sora looked at Al, who was looking down. "Well, have you guys ever found that soul?"

"We're close." Ed closed his eyes. "You see, when you perform a forbidden transmutation, you see a gatekeeper. He demands a sacrifice for these deeds. Reviving a human being is impossible. Anyways, Al has seen glimpses of him, but that rarely happens."

"Oh." Sora remained silent until he hears a sound. "Who's there?"

"Someone that you recently met?" Envy emerges from the shadow. "I never thought that you would be here again, boy..."

"You know this homonculus?" asked Ed.

"Fought him before, but he ran with his tail between his legs."

"THAT WAS NOT WHAT HAPPENED!"

"Oh? Well, that explains the others with you-"

"Do we have time for this?" A girl steps up. "Envy, we have our orders. Release the prototypes."

Monster-looking, terrifying creatures descended upon the trio at her command. "Sad, but you will perish, keyblade wielder. Along with-"

"Burn!"

A snap was heard. All of the sudden, the woman was on fire. "GUAHHHHHH!" She melted, scaring everyone except Colonel Mustang and the dark creatures.

"You BURNED HER!" Gluttony appears angry, stomping forward. "I WILL KILL YOU!"

Gluttony changes into a humanoid monster, charging into Mustang. "Sorry, Homonculus, but I did not skip stealth for this!"

Gluttony stopped, widening his eyes. "No...what..." All of the sudden, he collapsed as Envy smiled.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Gluttony." Envy flashed a smile at him.

"What the-" Sora got confused. "Wait, what are you doing?"

Envy had a hand on Gluttony's head. "Do you want to know something, guys? This homonculus was an experiment to open the gate to the one."

"The who?" Sora asked. In an instant, though, he remembered what Ed said about the "gate".

"Yes, that person whom you heard about." Envy laughed. "Anyways, my master gave me the ability to absorb monsters. But I will need time, so...ATTACK!"

On that command, the neithermen attacked the group. Mustang burned them, feeling confident, until he noticed them exploding.

"All right, Mustang!" Al was cheering. "Blow'em up!"

To the horror of the group, though, new creatures formed out of the flames. They were humanoid, but had black aura around them.

"You can't kill them like that!" Envy laughed. "They are much tougher than you think! They have the powers of other monsters from other worlds."

By now, Envy absorbed Gluttony. "Seems that I was able to absorb him too fast! DIE!"

"I don't think so!" Sora raised his keyblade up, glowing in light blue aura. His clothes turned bluish-black, and his keyblade turned into a sharp, long sword that resembled a zanpaktou. "Soul Form!"

Sora rushed in, smashing one of them into the air. The others tried to get to Sora, but Ed and Al placed their hands on the ground, using their alchemy to push the neithermen back. Mustang focused his attention on Envy, who was looking at him with sickness.

"You must perish, Mustang!" Envy ran towards Mustang, revealing two large maces. He slammed them on the ground, trying to trap Mustang. Ed yelled "Mustang!" and hit Envy with multiple earth pillars, slowing him down.

Sora took down the neithermen, and then pointed his keyblade to the others. "Light!" He released a massive blast, killing the rest of them. He looked at Envy, noticing that he was mutating.

"You annoying humans must DIE," he proclaimed. He began to morph, eventually turning into a monster dog with multiple faces. "Meet MY Form!" He roared, revealing Gluttony's head. He slashed at Mustang, who backed up. Ed drew multiple signs and created energy rifts. Ed got multiple spears and threw them at Envy, who only ate them.

"Hahhh!" Al threw multiple spears too, along with Sora, who was concentrating. All of the sudden, Sora slashed at Envy, releasing a energy slash in a form of a hurricane. It tore into Envy, who cried in pain.

"I'll not die by the likes of you!" Envy shook, throwing several blobs. However, those blobs began to shape themselves into creatures.

"Hey, isn't that-" Mustang widened his eyes and saw the woman again.

"Yes, this is Lust. Only, I have gained her blood, so I can recreate clones of her."

"How are you able to do that?" asked Al. "What have you given up for your power?"

"What do you mean? You mean that law that makes no sense?!" Envy laughed.

"Lust" attacked Mustang with claws. Mustang burned her, only to notice her reform. "It's useless!" Envy laughed. "Don't expect her to die! She has super regeneration, so she is invincible!"

A shot was heard. "Lust" widened her eyes and collapsed.

"So, I take it that "invincibility" is hard to beat." Hawkeye stepped out, displaying her sniper. "Colonel, don't go out on us again, or you're dead."

"Gwarsh! It's Sora!" Goofy stepped put. "I cannot believe it!"

"Goofy, we got to deal with that!" Donald pointed at Envy.

"So, more maggots to die?!" Envy opened his mouth, only to stop halfway. His silence surprised the group. What is happenig to him?

"Fine." He frowned. "I'll fight you all later..." He reverted and ran off.

"WHAT?!" Sora and Ed were shocked. "HE RAN OFF!"

"He must have thought better of it," reasoned Mustang, although he was troubled by it.

"Well, wither way, we found nothing when we were looking in the area," said Hawkeye. "Did you guys find something?"

"We discovered some bad guys manipulating...the heartless?" replied Al.

"Well, I think that it was the neithermen, but the heartless and the nobodies were infused into it." Sora shook his head. "Someone is trying to wreck the worlds for some reason-"

"Gwarsh, look!" Goofy pointed to a cylinder containing a white figure. "It was looking at us!"

"So you have noticed."

Everyone froze, looking around them until they spotted a man with an eyepatch. "I can't believe that you found out about this laboratory, Mustang."

"King Bradley?!" Mustang stepped back in shock.

"Why the shock?" Bradley smiled. "You and Hawkeye should have expected so. I am protecting Amestris from those outsiders."

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Sora pointed his blade at him. "You are harming them! If you're the king, then you should be making sure that they are safe!"

"You remind me of a young prince that I met. He was filled with your silly notions of being a king. My responsibility is to ensure that the nation is protected-"

"A king is nothing without his people!" interrupted Ed. "Were you just using us for screwing them over? And what did you do to Ying?!"

"A friend of yours?" asked Sora.

"Yes," answered Bradley. "Ying befriended Ed and Al. And to answer you, Fullmetal, I gave him a better purpose."

"What?!"

"Don't worry about him, though..." Suddenly, Bradley took off his eyepatch. "I, Wrath, will take you to see the one who will fix this world."

"What makes you think that you would win-" Sora widened his eyes and saw Wrath behind him. In a flash, he countered a blow from King Bradley.

"Sorry, keyblade wielder, but..." Sora teleported backwards, holding his keyblade up.

"I'm no cakewalk." Smiling, Bradley took off his eyepatch, revealing a red eye. "Time to die!"