Last time our heroes returned to Central just in time as Max, Steve, Julie and Tyler used Violet's dimensional transporter to 'beam' onto Ed and Al's world. Apparently Allen Shockley, The Stranger, wants The God Hand defeated just as much as Will and Guts do. The surprises that day were far from over when several friends of Will and the guardians had arrived through the Krell gateway. On with the show!

Chapter 20: Role-Call

A short time later our heroes were driven to Central H.Q. In the main reception hall stood several people that Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia and Hay Lin recognized. Especially a certain blond-haired, blue-eyed ninja, and a certain pirate with a straw hat.

"Naruto!" exclaimed Will, "Luffy! You're here!" "You bet!" exclaimed Monkey D. Luffy, "Like we'd ever miss out on helping you take down the demons." "And this time," said Naruto Uzimaki, "That bitch Pai-Mey is going down for good, believe it!"

"But how did you guys get here?" asked Irma. "That's the weird thing," said Luffy, "I had this wigged out dream about a strange man with glowing blue eyes. He told me you and the others needed the help of my crew and me again. When I woke up, there was this map next to of an island unknown to any records of The Grand Line. Nami found the island and we made out way to the center where these two big columns stood. The map also had instructions on how to activate the gateway and how to set it for where you girls would be."

"It's different for me and my friends," said Naruto, "Like Luffy, I also had a weird dream about a strange man with glowing blue eyes. He told me that you were going up against the demons on their turf soon. The Stranger showed me on a map where to dig for the means to get to you. When I woke up, there was the map in my hand. I followed the map and dug where it told me to do so. Pretty soon the entire village was helping me dig up these alien ruins. It was Sakura who figured out how to activate and reprogram the gateway."

"You did?" asked Taranee. "I sure did," answered Sakura, "It was hard, but it got easier once I figured out the vowels of the Krell language." Meanwhile Sakura's inner ego was chanting; who rules? I do! who rules? I do!

The next hour or so was spent as Will introduced Ed, Al, Max and the other Rambler to Naruto, Luffy and their friends. Hay Lin was especially happy to see Rock Lee, while Fay and Garra acknowledged each other with only a polite nod. "That guy without eyebrows," said Michael to Fay, "He creeps me out." "He's a manslayer," said Fay, "Like me, only he was born one, I became one over time."

"Ninjas," said Steve lightly, "Don't make me laugh." "And what's that supposed to mean?" asked Sakura. "I mean, little lady," said Steve, "Is that I'm not convinced that you kids are up to the challenge we're about to face." "Is that so?" asked Naruto.

"Look, kid," said Steve, "I've killed more demons than I know numbers of, so if you ninjas thing you got what it takes, then please show me." "You want to see what I can do?" asked Naruto, "You really want to see what I can do?" "Yes," said Steve, "Let's see what you got."

"Oh man," said Shikamaru, "He's going to do that Jutsu." "What Jutsu are you talking about?" asked Zolo. "You'll find out soon enough," said Saske. "This is so humiliating," said Sakura, "I can't believe he's going to do it." "Here I go!" exclaimed Naruto as he made his hand signs, "Sexy Jutsu!" With a large puff of smoke, Naruto transformed into a very well built teenage girl with long, blond hair and no clothing on.

"Oh my god!" exclaimed Will. "That's just disgusting!" exclaimed Jill. "But very interesting," said Shawn, who was promptly slapped by Violet for eyeing another 'girl.'

Naruto then resumed his normal form and gender. He grinned as he saw the effect of his jutsu: Steve and Sanji had fainted form the sudden rush of lust; Max, Michael, Tyler, Leon, Martin, Nigel, Eric, Guts, Ed, Zolo and Usopp had nosebleeds; Al would have had a bloody nose if he had a nose to bleed from. "Are you convinced?" asked Naruto as Steve recovered. "I don't know," said Steve, "I may need some more convincing; do that again." "NO!" exclaimed all the girls present.

Later…

"Okay then," said Max after about another hour of talking, "Before we discuss why we're all here, we should get a list of all who are here." "Already done," said Julie as she handed Max a long sheet of paper with everyone's name on it. "Well just to be sure," said Max, "I'm gonna read everyone's name: Will and Matt…" "Here!" said both Will and Matt.

"Taranee and Nigel…" "Present!" "Irma and Martin…" "Here!" "When did they end up together?" asked Sakura. "Fairly recently," answered Cornelia just before her name and Caleb's were called, "Here!" "Hay Lin and Eric?" "Present!"

"Edward and Alphonse Elric…" "Right here!" said Ed and Al held up his hand. "You're not as tall as I thought you'd be," said Max. "What's that supposed to mean!" exclaimed Ed. "Moving on," said Jill as she took the list from Max, "Guts…" "Here," said Guts. "Naruto Uzimaki…" "Right here, believe it!" "Sakura Haruno…" "Present!" said Sakura. "Saske Uchiha…" "Here!" said Saske.

"I'll speed things up," said Leon as he took the list, "Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara and Chouji Akimichi, just raise your hand." Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji then raised their hands. "Hinata Hyuuga," continued Leon, "Shino Aburume, Kiba Inuzuka, and Akamaru…" Hinata, Shino and Kiba raised their hands, while Akamaru barked.

"Neji Huyga, Tenten and Rock Lee…" Tenten, Neji and Rock Lee raised their hands in acknowledgement. "Temari, Kankuro and Garra of the Sands…" The three sand ninjas raised their hands.

"Okay then," said Laura as she took the list, "Representing The Straw Hat crew, Monkey D. Luffy…" "Just call me Luffy." "Nami and Zolo…" "Right here," said both Nami and Zolo. "Tony Tony Chopper…" "Just call me Chopper," said the blue-nosed reindeer. "A talking blue-nosed reindeer," said Laura, "Who knew? Anyway, Sanji and Usopp…" "Present!" said Sanji and Usopp.

"Moving on," said Shawn, "Representing The Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, Max Kildare and Jill Sparrow." Present," said Jill and Max. "Leon Smyth-Falcon and Fay Valentine…" Yo!" said Fay and Leon. "Laura Hurst and Michael Long…" "Here!"

"Simon Brotonoononowluski…" "My name is D.P.," said D.P., "And don't forget it!" "Tyler Spartan…" continued Shawn. "Here!" "Violet Baudelaire and Julie Eckheart!" "Right here!" "Steve Austin…" Ready, willing and able!" said Steve. "Shawn Ohmaford, oh wait, that's me, here!"

"Is anyone else coming?" asked Will. Just then two more people entered the room, a man who looked like a slightly older version of Tyler and a woman with shoulder length brown hair and brown gloves on her hands. "Dr. Aaron Spartan and Maria Van-Helsing reporting for duty!" exclaimed Aaron.

"You're late again," said Max as she glared at Maria, "Aaron has an excuse this time, but you Maria are always late. Why are you always late I ask you?" "I go where I'm needed," said Maria in a light German accent, "When I'm needed." She then pulled out a long black cigar and a lighter from her pocked.

"I think this is a non-smoking facility," said Taranee. "What are they gonna do," said Maria, "Arrest me?" "Just humor me and smoke that sh$t of yours outside," said Aaron, "And wait until we're done talking. I don't know why I even bother, your chances of being killed by a demon are much higher than death by smoking."

"You bother because you care," said Jill, "And that's all that matters. By the way, how's Virgil doing?" "He's complaining as usual whenever he's in the hospital," said Aaron, "He'll be up on his feet and seeing again within a few days." "We'll have to go on without him," said Violet, "At last calculation, the time/space distortions will reach global proportions in a matter of weeks. We need to stop them at the source now."

"So here's the plan," said Will, "Violet and Martin will recalibrate the Krell Gateway to send us to the source of the distortions." "It is more than logical that the world we arrive on," said Violet, "Would be one that is worse and the worse nightmare anyone has ever dreamed of. We can safely assume the locals aren't the friendly kind."

"That's where we come in," said Naruto, "If the demons are as bad as you say they are, then we're ready to take them on!" "Same here!" agreed Luffy, "I'm ready to take Pai-Mey down once and for all!" "That's great," said Jill, "We're gonna need all the muscle we can get." "Once we've arrived," continued Violet, "It should be a simple mater to locate the device that's generating the distortions. We find it, destroy it and leave."

"It's not that simple," said Will, "My friends and I promised Guts that we'd fight The God Hand and defeat them." ""You're going to what?" asked Sakura, "You're going to take The God Hand on, and you expect to live?" "We'll try," said Nigel, "We'll give it our all."

"Your all may not be enough," said Laura, "From what I've learned, The God Hand are the most powerful Demons in existence, or as close as can be. If you girls, your boyfriends and Guts take them one as you are now, you'll surely be destroyed. But that may not be the case. What we have here is a rare opportunity to deal a crippling blow to the forces of chaos. Assembled among us are some of the greatest heroes on my world."

"Well," said Jill in a modest tone, "We're not that great." "Also with us," continued Laura, "are those whose mission is to defend against the forces of chaos, as well as several others who have experience fighting said forces. I can't promise that when this is over, that we'll all come back alive and unharmed. But if we work together, if we stay true to the bonds of fellowship that we have made with each other, I can promise you victory."

Within seconds everyone was clapping at Laura's speech. "That girl is gong to be President someday," said Tyler to Max, "Mark my words."

The next morning Will and the others found themselves back at the gateway as Martin and Violet reprogrammed it to the source of the distortions. "You sure the two of you have it right this time?" asked Michael. "We're positive," said Martin, "Using the data collected from both this world, Metamore, my world and Violet's world, we triangulated the dimension where the distortions originate from."

"Will," said Matt, "If we don't make it…" "We'll make it," said Will, "We survived Phobos and Nerissa, we'll survive this as well. But just in case, what were you going to say to me?" "I wasn't going to say anything," said Matt, "I was going to give you this," he placed a small box in Will's hands. She opened it and saw a silver and gold bracelet with the worlds 'Our love is eternal,' inscribed on it.

"It's beautiful," said Will as she put it on her left wrist, "Thank you." Before Matt could say 'your welcome,' Will was kissing him, and he pissed back just as passionately as she was.

"Explain to me this," said Ino to Irma, "How did you and Martin end up together? The last time we saw you people, you threatened to carve your name into his ass with an ice pick." "He pulled me out of the way of a laser blast," said Irma, "And it just happened. All this time I've been deluding myself when I've really loved him all along." "You couldn't have waited until Monday to confess your love," muttered Cornelia, "You just couldn't wait, could you."

"We're ready!" exclaimed Violet as the gateway activated. "This is it, Al," said Ed, "On the other side are countless demons that want to destroy us all." "Not if we destroy them first, brother," said Al.

"Anyone who wants to stay behind," said Will, "Now is your chance to say so." There was a moment of silence before Will spoke again, "That's that then, let's do it." One by one they stepped through the gateway into the unknown, into a world of chaos.

The end of chapter 20. Next chapter, our heroes take the first steps into hell. Please review and I'll see you next time!