SHONEN ALLIANCE
RE:BIRTH
OPENING THEME: KU ZEN ZETSU GO (Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters)
With Debauchery dead, an off switch seemed to flip in his forces. In the castle hallways, Elemental Hero Neos struck at a crystal Knight, only for the foe to melt into a puddle of green goo moments before impact. As Jaden and Yusei watched, all of the knights around them melted as well, leaving a pool of green goo all over the floor.
"Man, I feel sorry for whoever has to clean up this mess," Jaden admitted.
"Hopefully this means the Dark Saiyan's been beaten," Yusei said hopefully.
/\/\/\/\/\/\
Outside, the monsters that had been assaulting the heroes and the Knights of Lunaria suddenly turned completely docile, as though they were machines that had suddenly found themselves lacking any sort of instruction.
"Hmmph, took them long enough," Vegeta spat, "I won't be robbed of the next Dark Saiyan."
"The Dark Saiyan is slain!?" the old general stuttered, seeming unwilling to believe it was possible. Vegeta nodded in affirmation.
"Seems the Namekian was up to the task after all," Vegeta admitted dismissively.
"Our job isn't done yet!" Silphia shouted, landing beside the general, "Commander, send our knights in to find everyone Debauchery's been holding captive! We're not done until everyone is out!"
"Don't forget about Mom and our sisters!" Renee reminded them.
"They're fine," Silphia replied confidently, "I already locked on to their energy! Goku and Piccolo are with them!"
"What!?" Vegeta shouted angrily, "Kakarot is with them! That bastard! He was trying to steal another Dark Saiyan for himself!"
"These Saiyans are weird," Moka sighed, "I can't imagine arguing why it's my turn to fight one of these Dark Saiyans."
"Honestly," Clare admitted as she and Ichigo walked up on either side of the vampire, "that just makes me that much more glad that they're on our side.
"I can agree to that," Ichigo sighed.
/\/\/\/\/\/\
Without opposition, sweeping Debauchery's castle was a simple, though time consuming task. Even with the entirety of the Knights of Lunaria, it still took an hour to search the entire castle, liberating a staggering number of captives as they did. Finally, however, the task was complete.
The numbers were staggering to Queen Fiona. There were dozens of women clothed in the same carefully crafted, gaudy, and vulgar metal bikinis she and two of her daughters still wore. The attire marked them as Debauchery's "trophies", but in truth, they had been leaders before the Dark Saiyans had arrived. Some were queens and princesses. A couple had even been considered goddesses by the people of their home worlds, though most had served as powerful generals and war heroes in their worlds' armies, captured and disgraced to make a very clear point. To the Dark Saiyans, they were nothing. It had taken two powerful beings from a world whose weakest warrior, the human fighter Yamcha, still commanded enough power to reduce a planet to rubble, just to bring an end to two of these beings.
Far more numerous then the "trophies" were the women wearing far less garish but no less humiliating cloth bikinis, many of whom were tending the metal bikini clad women, which made sense. These women had been those of lower rank, servants and citizens, who had caught Debauchery's eye and been given the "privilege" of being made his slaves. Even a few of her own servants and subjects fluttered about her, concerned for their queen's well being.
In total, the former captives represented more then two dozen worlds decimated by just the now slain Dark Saiyan of Lust, and despite her brave declaration that she preferred death to the humiliation she had endured, she wondered who had suffered the worst fate. She doubted the millions that Debauchery had declared "unworthy" for his collection had gotten quick or easy deaths. She could still hear the cries of her own people as the Dark Saiyan had brutalized them.
Yet, somehow, it was her own, previously slaughtered knights who now worked tirelessly to aid with the relief of the more heavily affected of Debauchery's victims. It seemed fate had been far kinder to Lunaria then the other kingdoms.
"Mother," a voice broke her away from her thoughts. Teresa had approached her from behind. Her armor had been removed, leaving her wearing only her silver pants and a lengthy bandage wrapped over her breasts. Fiona understood that the shinobi healer, Sakura, had used the bandage less to treat any wound Teresa had received but rather to keep a potent medicine held securely against Teresa's chest that was meant to help her struggling heart and lungs. Her daughter's expression made it clear the rub was a miserable concoction to have pressed to her bare skin, but the color slowly returning to her face made it equally clear it was helping.
"How are you feeling?" Fiona inquired, her motherly concern apparent in both her voice and her features.
"I'll live," Teresa replied curtly, "I'm surprised you're still here. Aren't you concerned about the kingdom?"
"General Braun already told me what happened with the Dragon Balls," Fiona revealed, "I know Lunaria is safe. I'll return once the same can be said for Debauchery's victims."
"There are a lot of them, but Lunaria should have no difficulty giving them sanctuary," Teresa admitted, "at least until the Dark Saiyans are dealt with."
"Be that as it may," Fiona sighed, "to think that just one of the Dark Saiyans has caused so much suffering. These victims represent millions more dead and more then a dozen worlds destroyed by Debauchery alone."
"Is this really everyone?" Teresa asked, her mother noticing a bit of doubt in her voice.
"What do you mean?" Fiona inquired of her daughter.
"I haven't seen Shantella among them," Teresa replied, confused by her mother's response, "when the Dragon Balls didn't restore her to life, I had thought for certain that she had been taken along with you and Karina."
"Shantella is not with you!?" Fiona cried out in dismay, surprising Teresa.
"No. I wasn't even certain if she had escaped," Teresa replied, shocked by her mother's response.
"She escaped shortly after you did," panic was becoming very apparent in the eyes of both queen and princess.
"Then… where is she?"
/\/\/\/\/\/\
Worlds away from the frantic Lunaria royals, a previously quiet night in Amestris' Central City now seemed to shake with the sound of both explosions and sirens. A loud speaker was blaring out orders for citizens to remain in their homes and lock their doors as the streets became awash with activity.
The brave soldiers of Amestris' military were marshaling against whatever threat had suddenly besieged their city.
Three particular soldiers stood out amongst their peers whom were all dressed in Amestrian military uniforms. One was a man with spiked, unkempt, black hair, and tense and aggressive, dark blue eyes. The man wore the standard Amestrian uniform, albeit under a dark red cape, similar in design to Piccolo's. Two sheathed swords hung from his back, their hilts poking out from under the cape, a long sword hung diagonally from his left hip to his right shoulder while a shorter one hung horizontally from his right side to his left.
The second was much younger then his companion, and a fair bit shorter, with long, golden hair tied in a ponytail and golden eyes as tense as his comrade. He wore a black, long sleeved jacket under a long, red jacket, white gloves, dark pants, and black boots.
The last person was difficult to discern anything about under the heavy looking suit of metal armor he wore, though despite the very heavy armor, he was doing a surprisingly good job keeping up pace with his two companions. The three were moving swiftly and purposefully through the horde of soldiers, trying to figure out what was happening
"Damn it, why does it always have to be something!? Just once, is a bit of peace to much to ask!?" the blonde young man cursed.
"If you've got energy to whine, Short Stuff, then move faster," the older man ordered in response.
"Grrr, I'll get mad about that later," the young man declared, "what do you think we're up against here!?"
"Honestly, Fullmetal," the older man, clearly a high ranking officer based on how the soldiers around them reacted to him as they passed, "I couldn't even begin to guess. Whoever they are, they came out of nowhere if they got into the city before we spotted them!"
"So what do we do, Vine?" The man in armor asked, his voice sounding surprisingly young given his size, "do we even have a plan?"
"I'll get back to you on that one, Alphonse. I need information before I can even think about a plan."
As if on cue, there was an explosion in front of them that brought them to a halt as other soldiers fled, seemingly terrified.
As the dust kicked up by the explosion began to settle, a giant figure began to appear, silhouetted through the dust. The three heroes were shocked when the dust cleared to reveal what looked like a giant dog made of metal with razor sharp, metal fangs.
"What the hell is that thing," Vine cursed under his breath, staring up at the metal monstrosity.
Movement caught his eye, and he looked to the creatures front paw to see an Amestrian soldier trapped under the paw. The hound was growling at the trapped man.
Before any of the three could react, more movement caught their eye as a figure moved past the hound to stand over the pinned soldier. He wore odd attire, unlike anything the three had seen before. He was clad in an unfamiliar, blue uniform that looked like some sort of military uniform, with a metal helmet shaped like some sort of monstrous creature with a red gem embedded into the beasts forehead and covering the stranger's eyes. More bizarre still was the device attached to the man's wrist from which emitted some sort of black and red platform on which rested a card with a picture of the same dog that stood before the team.
"Well done, Ancient Gear Hunting Hound!" the man declared, holding the device towards the trapped soldier.
"N… no… please!" the soldier cried desperately as light emitted from the device and shone on the man. As the three heroes watched in shock, the man vanished and a card slid out of a slot on the device!
"Bastard! What did you do to him!" Edward shouted angrily, getting the mysterious assailants attention, as if he'd only just realized they were present.
"Who the hell are you?" Vine hissed angrily.
"Three more victims," the enemy declared, smiling smugly as he held up the card so the heroes could only see the back. "You want to know what happened to the other guy? It's the same thing that's going to happen to you!"
He flipped the card so they could see what was on the front of it, and Ed and Vine's eyes widened with shock at the sight. Printed on the card was an image of the same soldier who had just vanished, his face frozen in a permanent expression of horror.
"Who are you?" Vine demanded again, his expression shifting to anger.
"What does it matter to you?" the foe taunted, pulling a new card from a deck held in the device on his wrist, "you'll all be turned into cards yourselves soon enough! My second Ancient Gear Hunting Hound will see to that!" He placed the card onto his device, causing a second mechanical hound to appear and face the three heroes!
"We'll see about that!" Edward declared confidently as the first hound lunged for his group! "Heel Fido!" He shouted as he clapped his hands together and placed them on the ground. The Hunting Hound leapt into the air, and kept going up due to a pillar of earth firing from the ground underneath it, catching it in the stomach and propelling it skyward!
"You'll have to do better then that!" Vine declared, drawing his long sword from his back and spinning it skillfully in his hand before holding it ready to face the second Hound. The metal beast made the mistake of thinking very little of its prey, bounding forward to attack. As Vine swung his sword, a beam of crescent light emitted from the sword's tip and carved forward, sliced into the creature's throat, then continued through the throat until it exited the back. Ed's hound landed hard on its back just as Vine's hound's head slipped from its body and began to fall to the ground, both exploding into a cloud of smoke!
"What!? How did you…?" their enemy cursed, "no, don't tell me… ARE YOU THREE ALCHEMISTS!?"
"I hope those oversized puppies aren't the best you've got," Vine declared, "unless you're going to tell me that you attacked an Amestrian city without preparing to fight State Alchemists."
"Now, tell us who you are!" Edward demanded.
"Don't get full of yourself!" the enemy hissed, a wicked smile crossing his face as he pulled four more cards from the deck of them, "we're the Academy's elite Obelisk Force! We're more then ready to deal with you State Alchemists!"
"Obelisk Force?" Vine repeated in confusion.
"Let's see how you handle this! Polymerization!" the Obelisk soldier shouted, playing the fusion spell card.
"Now what is he up to?" Ed cursed.
"I fuse two Ancient Gears to my Ancient Gear Golem!" he roared as the ground began to violently shake, "now you'll witness the rise of a monster that will crush you State Alchemists effortlessly! I FUSION SUMMON ULTIMATE ANCIENT GEAR GOLEM!"
The rumbling intensified until finally an explosion shook the alchemists as something burst from the ground. That something turned out to be a giant metal golem standing far taller then any of the nearby buildings as it glared down at the three who looked like tiny toys by comparison!
"That thing's huge!" Edward exclaimed in disbelief.
"Can't just blame your undersized perspective for that observation," Vine cursed as the golem rose its arm to strike, "ah hell, SCATTER!" he ordered as the fist descended towards them!
They narrowly cleared the impact zone before the fist crushed them, though the force of the impact sent all three into the air. They recovered skillfully, landing and rolling back to their feet with quick, skillful movements, and refacing their foe.
"If you've got a plan, I'm all ears!" Ed shouted.
"It's a machine!" Vine declared, "I don't care how big it is, those joints are a weak spot! Given the amount of strain this things size would put the legs under…."
"It'll fall hard if we blow out one of the joints in its leg!" Alphonse realized before Vine even finished.
"Got it in one," Vine replied, "focus fire and keep the pressure on!" Leading by example, he pointed the palms of his hands towards the towering creatures legs as a barrage of red hot blasts of air fired from them, each striking the mechanical monstrosity square in the knee!
"Guess we'll need some firepower!" Edward declared, clapping his hands together and placing them on the ground. A cannon formed from the stone in front of him, pointed at the Golem. A second transmutation created an explosive reaction that fired a stone cannonball with explosive force! It slammed into the same knee Vine was attacking, shattering and kicking out a cloud of stone and metal shrapnel. Cracks were beginning to show in the metal of the knee joint, though it didn't show signs of buckling yet!
By now, Alphonse had carved a carefully constructed transmutation circle into the dirt which he now stood over, his hands held over it. His transmutation caused massive, serrated teeth like the jaws of a giant bear trap to spring from the ground. They closed with ferocious force on the knee, their sharp teeth puncturing into the punished metal of the joint moments before a second cannonball crashed into it, further cracking the metal!
"Stop them!" The Obelisk Force soldier demanded, prompting his Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem to swing its fist down at the alchemists again.
"Shoot! Heads up!" Edward warned as the fist closed in on them!
There was a loud crashing sound behind them and a flurry of movement before the Golem's fist came to a sudden, shaky stop just above their heads!
Vine and Ed both turned quickly to see what had stopped the attack and found a giant of a man standing behind them, his arms and back pressed against the golem's massive hand, holding it above their heads! He had a bald head with the exception of a single strand of golden hair and a golden colored mustache. He wore military pants, but the shirt was gone, possibly removed or more likely, if the alchemists knew anything about the Major, Alex Louis Armstrong, torn to shreds when the man had put his massive muscles to work.
"I have this, Colonel!" the Major declared confidently to Vine, "trust in my muscles and finish this thing off!" Vine gave only a simple nod in response before dropping to his knees and placing his hands on the ground, forming a cannon about as large as Ed's. A smile crept across his face as he aimed the cannon at his target.
"Checkmate!" he said triumphantly as his cannon fired a focused beam of red, glowing hot, pressurized air at the Golem. Edward fired simultaneously and the knee shattered as both shots struck simultaneously, separating the Golem's left lower leg at the broken knee. The hand immediately lifted away as the Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem lost its balance and began to topple backwards!
It hit the ground hard, creating a large crater before exploding into a cloud of smoke. Miraculously, it had narrowly missed severely damaging any of the nearby buildings during its destruction, a fact that made Vine take a relieved breath before he focused on the soldier of Obelisk Force!
The enemy was in a panic, making it clear he hadn't been prepared for his Ultimate Golem to be overcome. He fumbled with his duel disc, finally managing to grab ahold of a card. He drew it, but quickly noticed only half a card was in his hand as a squeal of intense pain shook his entire body.
The reason for the scream was not difficult to ascertain. Vine's sword had impaled his deck, slicing every card in it clean in half before stabbing through his duel disc and finally impaling his arm.
"Ya know, I really don't care for card games and you're not helping," he hissed, "so why don't you give it a rest. You're finished."
/\/\/\/\/\/\
The attack was over as quickly as it had begun. Two dozen male and female soldiers of Obelisk Force were being led away in chains by Amestrian Military Police, though they represented only a fraction of the invaders initial strength. More then twice that many had either been killed or had escaped.
Unfortunately, Amestris wasn't without casualties either. Three dozen cards had been recovered picturing both soldiers and civilians, men, women, and even several children who had been trapped in the cards, just like the soldier Ed, Al, and Vine had witnessed.
Worse yet, more then 40 were still unaccounted for. No evidence of their deaths or cards recovered, made the possibility of their abduction by the retreating soldiers a terrifying possibility.
Vine was standing alone, apart from where his allies were working to assess the aftermath, observing one of the Duel Discs. After separating from Ed and Al, he and Armstrong had gone to great lengths to subdue an Obelisk Force soldier without damaging her disc, allowing the State Alchemist to relieve her of it while it was still functional, which couldn't be said for the one he had impaled earlier. Not that studying the functional device was helping much more then the broken one,.
"What the hell am I even looking at?" he sighed in frustration.
"Guessing you're not having much luck," Ed's voice drew his attention behind him as the Elric brothers approached.
"Well, the device itself may as well be magic for all I can figure out," Vine admitted, "maybe the eggheads in Central Command can find something, but I won't be holding my breath. Doesn't mean I've had nothing but dead ends though."
He pulled the top three cards from the deck and showed them to Ed and Al. The Elrics' confusion was apparent as they looked over the Polymerization spell card, Mirror Force trap card, and Ancient Gear Golem monster card.
"Are these cards for some kind of game?" Ed asked, taking the cards and inspecting them.
"Looks like one of those Trading Card Games," Vine admitted, "there are a couple of popular ones in Amestris, but these cards don't look like any of those sets. Besides, I feel like modern parents aren't so complacent that 'game where you summon real monsters and turn your opponents into cards' wouldn't prompt at least some kind of complaint."
"Then who were those Obelisk guys? What's going on?" Alphonse asked, concern apparent in his voice.
"I… I have no idea," Vine reluctantly admitted.
/\/\/\/\/\/\
Vine felt like his limbs were made of lead as he dragged himself home, followed by Ed and Al. Ed was clearly exhausted as well, though Alphonse seemed just fine. Vine might have envied the armored young man had he not been painfully aware that neither the Fullmetal Alchemist nor his younger brother were people to be envied.
"Forgot to ask before the exploding started, but what brings you two to Central? Mustang making you so miserable you had to get away from Southern Command for awhile?" he asked the brothers.
"That would be a pretty good reason," Ed admitted, "but we actually wanted to see how things were going with that girl."
"Right," Vine sighed, "my bikini clad impromptu house guest from space. What did you two end up doing with that capsule she was in?
"We buried it where it landed," Ed revealed, "you'd never find it without knowing where it was."
"Has she gotten any better, Vine?" Al asked.
"Well, she remembers her name now," Vine revealed as they approached his front door, "so that's something at least."
He opened the door and hurried the Elrics inside. It was a modest home with minimal furnishings. One small table sat alongside the room's far wall, on which sat a chess set being studied by a woman. She had dark brown hair that hung down to her hips, chocolate brown eyes, and was clad in nothing but a yellow bikini top and brown pair of sweat pants. She looked up when the three alchemists entered.
"Welcome back," she said, smiling sweetly, "so we playing a round tonight or what? I bet I can beat you this time."
"Edward, Alphonse, meet Shantella."
ENDING THEME: HOLOGRAM (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood)
And so we come to the end of the Debauchery, Dark Saiyan of Lust saga. As the chapter has made very clear, once a new chapter of SHONEN ALLIANCE: ALTERNATIVE is written, we begin the Amestris Saga, though things may be set in motion for the farther future as well. Also, just a reminder that if I have enough questions to answer after Alternative, I'll do another Interlude to answer them, so now would be a good time for questions if you have any.