Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ Anime Hearts ❯ Chapter 6: Return to Anime City ( Chapter 6 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Er, sorry about the wait, I was kinda busy (sweatdrops)

Okay, this chapter makes up for the parts I missed in Chapter 2.

Reviews:

Winged-Knight-Well, thank you very much. Also, I've noticed that you seem to be my only reviewer so far.

Chapter 6: Return to Anime City (1)

Along the city streets, a figure wearing a beat-up tan jacket, a white t-shirt, jeans, and black sneakers walked alone. Tetsuo glanced around and asked, “Where am I?”

“Why, dear boy, you are in Anime City, home for the poor, the wretched, and the refuse.”

Tetsuo spun around and saw a tall man striding towards him. He wore a blue suit with a red cape, and a red mask around his eyes. But what really caught his eye was that the figure's skin was a deathly pallor. Something about this guy gave him the creeps.

“W-what are you?” he stammered.

The figure smiled, revealing fangs, and bowed, saying, “My name is Myotismon, and you are-?”

“T-tetsuo Shima.”

“Ah. Well, Mr. Shima, I believe you are looking for your friends, are you not?”

The boy blinked. “H-how'd…?”

“I know many things,” Mytoismon answered, “And I know that one of your friends is around here somewhere, but he may have moved on and made new friends.”

“What do you mean by that?!” Tetsuo shouted angrily. The man only gave him a wicked smile.

“You'll see.” And with that, he disappeared, leaving no sign that he was ever there.

------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------

World Name: Anime City

----------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, Kaneda, Ed, Al, and Morty had just arrived at Anime City where they were instantly greeted by Gene and the others.

“Well, how did it go?” the gunman asked. “Did you find the Keyhole?”

“Keyhole?” echoed Kaneda. “Is that what that was?”

“The Keyhole is very important,” Jim said. “The Heartless travel though it to the world's core and do all sorts of bad stuff. And when the core is damaged enough, the world disappears.”

“WHAT?!?!?!?!”

The foursome's exclamation of shock caused people to poke their heads out their windows.

“SSHHH! Not so loud!” Gene warned them.

“Oh, sorry.” Morty said quietly.

“Anyway,” added Aisha, “I think the Keyblade locks them, so the Heartless can't get through.”

Kaneda though of his friends Kenshin, Kaoru and the rest, and inwardly he sighed in relief.

“Only you can lock the Keyholes and save the world.” Melfina said softly.

“So no pressure huh?” Ed remarked dryly.

“Oh, I almost forgot!” Kaneda pulled the Power Block out of his pocket. “I found this ins one of the worlds. What does it mean?”

Gene examined it and said, “I don't know very much about these things, but I think Rick does. You should pay him a visit and see what he thinks. Oh, and by the way-“he pulled a silvery stone out of his pocket and tossed it to Kaneda-“I found this while back and I think you should have it. It's called an EarthStone.”

“Uh, thanks.” Kaneda said, pocketing the object.

”You know,” Gene added, “Maybe the worlds that were destroyed can return if you find a way to stop the Heartless.

”Maybe…”

Then the foursome turned and began walking down the street.

“So, how do you think that stone thing does?” asked Al.

“I dunno, maybe someone around here-Oomph!”

Kaneda fell backwards as he walked into something. Looking up, his eyes widened as he realized he'd just walked into a humanoid cactus wearing boxing gloves.

“Oh, I'm so sorry, young man; I guess wasn't watching where I was going!”

Kaneda blinked. “Uh, it's no problem.”

Then besides the cactus, appeared what looked like a giant swan.

”Excuse me,” it said in a female voice, “I was wondering if you had seen any small creatures running around.”

“Hey, hold on a minute,” said Ed, “I think we might have… Come on guys.”

A few minutes later, they returned with their arms full of small Digimon.

“Are these the squirts you've been looking for?” asked Kaneda, struggling to keep the wiggling Koromon in his arms.

“Ohthankyouthankyouthankyou!” shouted the cactus (also a female), embracing Kaneda in a very tight hug.

“Uh, you're welcome,” the boy groaned, “Now, do you think you could let go of me?”

“Oh, sorry.”

The cactus let go, and Kaneda fell backwards. He got up and frowned before proceeding to the painful task of pulling out all of the needles, wincing as he removed each one.

“As a reward, for bringing back our children,” said the swan, “We'd like to give you something.”

“What-ouch-is-ouch-it?” Kaneda asked in between yelps of pain. The cactus pulled out what looked like a torn page. (2)

“It's a page I found one day,” she said. “I've been trying to find out who it belongs to, but I'm having no luck so far. Maybe you could hold on to it for me.”

“Uh sure, okay.” Ed replied, gently taking the page from her glove and carefully putting it away in his traveling bag.

As they watched the two creatures walk off with the smaller ones, Al said, “Aw isn't that sweet?”

“Yeah - ouch - If - ouch - you - ouch - think - ouch- a - ouch - Ouch- mutant - ouch -Bird - ouch - And - ouch - a - ouch - Giant- ouch - Walking - ouch - Pincushion - ouch- Is - ouch - sweet.” Kaneda grumbled, as he continued pulling out the needles.

“Well, we'd better get going.” Morty reminded them.

“Oh-ouch- okay. Let's - ouch - go!”

After helping Kaneda remove the last of the needles, the foursome went into the Accessory Shop, where they found Rick busy restocking shelves. He turned when he heard the bell ring.

“What is- oh, it's you again.”

“Hey, I need you to look at this.” Kaneda said, taking out the Power Block. Rick got off the ladder he was standing on and went over to examine it.

“Hmm. Looks like a Navigational Power Block.”

“Do you know what it does?” asked Al. Rick stared at them in surprise.

“What? You're flying a ship and don't know what a Navigational Power Block does? You must be worse off then I thought. Anyways, a Navigational Power Block is used for traveling to other worlds. I can install it for you, but first, I want you to deliver something.”

He went to the back of the store, and returned with a big leather-bound book.

“I found this a month ago,” he told them, “But it was dirty and the pages were torn out. I did a pretty decent job of repairing it though.” He added, as if wanting to prove to them that he did fix it.

“So, where do you want us to take it?” Ed questioned, examining the book.

“There's an old house down the street,” Rick answered, “I think there's someone there who might take an interest in it.”

“Okay.” Kaneda replied. As they were about to leave, Rick stopped them.

“Hey Kaneda, do you still have that Ability Stud I gave you?” he asked.

“Oh, yeah,” the boy replied, pulling the object out of his pocket. “I totally forgot about it.” (3)

“Well, I can put it in for you if you want.” Rick said, with a slight smile.

“Uh, are you sure you're licensed for this?” Al asked worriedly.

“Don't worry. It will only take a second…”

----------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------

“OW!”

“And were' done!”

Rick stepped back to admire his handiwork. Kaneda glowered at him.

“That hurt!” he shouted angrily.

“What? Did you expect it to tickle?”

Kaneda rubbed his ear. “That hurt worse than when that cactus hugged me.” He complained.

“Cactus? Oh, you mean Togemon? Yeah, she's pretty nice, just be careful. The other day I found something for her, and she went totally nuts! It took me nearly a week just to get all the needles out. But I probably didn't take as much time for you, since you must have had all your friends helping.” He then noticed Ed and Al's beaten-up weapons.

“Looks like you need new equipment,” he said. “There's a weapons shop not that far from here, you'll know it when you see it.”

BOOM! BOOM!

A loud sound caused them all to jump.

“W-what was that?” Al stammered nervously.

“It must have been the old bell at the Gizmo Shop.” Rick said thoughtfully. “I wonder…”

----------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------

Shortly afterwards, the group stood under a wooden sign that read, “Zatch Bell Weapons”.

“This must be the place.” Kaneda said. He pushed the door open, and a bell rang softly, signaling their arrival.

“Hello? Is anyone there?”

The shop was small and dusty, and the walls and floors were cluttered with various types of weapons.

“Well, we'd certainly recognize this place as a weapons store.” Ed muttered.

Kaneda glanced around and stopped. Sitting on a counter was what looked like a doll with blond hair and golden eyes. It wore a black dress-like outfit with a white bow on the front, and blue shoes.

“Why would a doll be in a place like this?” Al asked curiously.

“Huh. It kinda looks like you, Ed!” Kaneda pointed out. (4)

“Weird.” Ed began poking the little doll.

“Um, could you please not do that?”

Ed jumped back in surprise. “Who said that?”

“I did!”

“AH! It's alive!” Ed screamed, practically leaping up into Al's arms.

“Of course I'm alive!” the doll said, sounding slightly annoyed. He (they guessed it was a he) jumped off the counter and said, “Hi! My name's Zatch Bell! And you are…?”

“Zatch! What did I tell you about startling the customers?”

The turned and saw a young man walking out of the back, a red book nestled underneath one arm.

“Aww! I was just having fun, Kiyo!”

From behind the boy came a teenage girl, smiling happily.

“Hi! Welcome to Zatch Bell Weapons!” She said cheerfully. “How may we help you?”

“Uh, we're looking for new weapons, a shield and spear to be precise.” Kaneda said, watching with a slight grin as Ed jumped down from on top of his brother.

“Yep, we got those!” the girl said, smiling. She walked over to a rack and picked out a spear, then turned to the group. “So, which one of you three uses a spear?” she asked.

“Uh, I do,” said Al, stepping forward.

“Well then,” the girl said, handing him weapon. “You'll love our Mythril Lance. It's light, durable, and easy to use! `Course, all lances are pretty easy to use, you just throw them, or use them to slash and stab…”

CRASH!

They all turned to see Zatch lying in a heap surrounded by various kinds of shields.

“Zatch!”

Just then, the bell over the door rang, and they all looked over there, but instantly froze. Standing in the doorway was a Heartless Soldier.

“Don't move,” said Kiyo, pulling out his book and opening it, “We got this one, right Zatch?”

The little boy pulled himself out of the pile of shields and grinned. “You bet!”

Kiyo pointed to a certain passage and shouted, “Zachaire!”(5)

Instantly, Zatch's eyes went blank, and his mouth dropped open, only to unleash a huge burst of electricity that sent the Heartless monster flying through the air and into a fruit stand across the street, where it vanished.

Kiyo grinned as he closed the door. “How was that?” Kaneda and the others could only stare slack-jawed.

“Uh…”

“So, are you gonna buy anything or what?”

“Oh, right!” said Kaneda, snapping out of his stupor. “Um… we'll take this.” He reached down and picked up a shield and put it on the counter. Kiyo nodded.

“Okay, let's see…that adds up to… ¥1853.”

“¥1853?!” Kaneda shouted angrily. “Are you nuts?!”

“Take it or leave it.”

Grumbling, Kaneda pulled out a few bills and coins, which he dropped on the counter.

“Thank you,” said Kiyo, scooping up the money. “Please come again!”

----------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------

“So now what?” asked Al after they left the Weapons Shop.

“Well, we still have to deliver that old book, so we'd better get on to that.” Kaneda replied.

After walking a little more, they found the old house that Rick had told them about. Clearly, no one had been in there for a while, because some of the shutters hung off at a crazy angle, and the paint was fading.

“Oh well, nobody's home, let's go!”

Kaneda grabbed Ed by the arm as he tried to run off. “Come one. You're not scared, are you?”

Ed tried to smile bravely. “M-me? Scared? Never!” And with that, he walked to the door and pushed it open. “Hello? Is anyone there?”

The room was mostly empty, except for some furniture here and there, but they were either covered in cobwebs or powdered by a fine layer of dust.

“Hello?” Al's voice echoed throughout the cavernous house.

“What are you doing here?”

The four of them jumped in surprise. Turning around, they saw a young boy with brown hair in a green Chinese-style outfit.

“Do you think he's a Heartless?” asked Al.

“No. He doesn't look like one.” Ed pointed out. The boy looked confused.

“Huh? Oh no, the Pharaoh sent me to help you.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Now…”

The group looked around in amazement, for the room had lit up, and there wasn't a trace of dust or cobwebs anywhere.

“Okay,” the boy continued, “In this place, I can help you learn magic. By the way, I'm Sayoran Li, but you can just call me Li. And these are my helpers.”

From another room came a pretty young girl dressed in pink and a yellow mouse with wings.

“Hi!” the girl said cheerfully. “My name's Sakura Avalon and this is Kero.”

“It's Keroberos.” The mouse said annoyed.

“Kero is better.”

“But you make me sound like a frog!”

“Ahem.” Li cleared his throat and got the other two's attention. “Now then,” he said, turning back to Kaneda and the others, “Is there anything you want?”

“Oh yeah!” Kaneda pulled out the old book and the page he had gotten from Swanmon and Togemon. “Rick told me to give this to you.”

“Hmm. We'll take a look at it later.” Li said, putting them away on a table.

“Oh, and there's also some weird stone things,” added Kaneda, pulling them out. Li took the pink stone and held it for a minute.

”Hmm…there are some magical healing energies coming from it. Yes… this is for the spell Heal. As for the other one…” he took it in his other hand and examined it. “It looks like a summon gem.”

“A summon gem? What's that?” asked Ed.

“When a world is destroyed,” Kero began, “Usually everyone in it disappears, but if a being's heart is strong enough, they survive in gem form.”

“I can release it.” Sakura added with a smile.

“You can really do that?” asked Morty.

“Just watch!” Sakura pulled a small key out of her pocket and shouted, “The key that hides the forces of darkness! Show your true identity! (6)” Instantly the key changed into a pink staff with a star inside a ring the top with a white wing on each side. “RELEASE!” She brought the staff down on the stone, and there was a huge burst of light, forcing everyone to shield their eyes.

When it cleared, they were surprised to see a huge silver wolf in the middle of the room. Its eyes slowly opened, and it growled viciously and spoke in a female voice. “Where am I? Where are my children?!”

Now take it easy,” Kaneda said, holding up both hands, “We're not going to hurt you.”

“You know,” Li said, “It's possible that when a world is restored, you will return there.”

The creature blinked. “Fine then. I will stay with you for now, but when my world is restored to its former glory, I will leave.” And with that, she returned to her stone form. Sakura picked it up and handed it to Kaneda.

“There.” she said. “When a spirit is released, you can summon them to help you in battle. And if you find any more, you know where to bring them.”

----------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------

After saying their goodbyes, the group decided to head back to Rick's in order to see if he had installed the Navigational Power Block yet.

“Hey Kaneda!”

The boy spun around and saw a familiar figure running towards him.

“Tetsuo!”

The two teenagers ran up to greet each other.

”Were have you been? I've been looking everywhere for you!” Kaneda exclaimed.

Well, I was looking for you too,” Tetsuo interjected, “And I also met this weird guy who—“suddenly a Shadow leapt at them out of nowhere, but Kaneda easily destroyed it with his Keyblade. Tetsuo's jaw dropped. “H-how…?”

”Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I'm the Keyblade Master, or something like that. Weird, huh? Oh, and these are my new friends, Morty, Edward and his younger brother Alphonse.”

“Hi.”

”Hey there.”

“Hello.”

”Anyway, are you gonna come with us? We got this really cool ship!”

Tetsuo just stood there silently, and then his face became stern. “No thanks.” With that, he ran off.

“Hey Tetsuo!” Kaneda tried going after him, but the other boy was faster. “Damn.” He turned back to the others, saying, “Well at least he's okay. Come on.”

----------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------

When they returned to Rick's shop, they found not just him, but also Gene, Melfina, Aisha and Jim waiting for them.

“What's with the gathering?” Kaneda asked, “You having a party or something?”

”No, actually, we wanted to stop by and see ya.” Jim said, smiling.

”And to warn you about Myotismon.” Gene added.

”Mytoismon? Who's that?” Ed asked confused. Everyone else (excluding Al, Morty, and Kaneda) looked surprised.

“You've never heard of him?” asked Melfina gently.

“He's a total freak, and he's the reason the Heartless are roaming Anime City,” Aisha said, “And he has all sorts of evil powers!”

”They say he's a vampire that turns his victims into vampires if they're lucky.” Jim added.

Kaneda raised an eyebrow. “If they're lucky…?”

Gene nodded and replied, “Yeah. Apparently, you can only become a vampire if you're a virgin. If you're not, then you turn into a ghoul, a vampire's undead slave.” (7)

The foursome gulped.

“Anyway,” Rick said, “The only hope for stopping him and the Heartless is using the notes Dartz wrote down. But they're scattered around the words, and I think Myotismon has one of them.”

----------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------

Outside the shop in the street, two beings stood. One was a teenage boy, the other, an evil vampire. Myotismon turned to Tetsuo and said, “You see? While you were off looking for your friends, Kaneda simply replaced you. If you come with me, I can help you find what you want…” And with these words, he held out a hand.

Tetsuo hesitated, and he could hear a tiny voice in the back of his mind, begging him to say no. But he took the evil Digimon's hand, wincing slightly at the cold feel of it. “Okay, I'll go with you.”

Myotismon smirked evilly. “Excellent…”

----------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, the others were still talking. “I put in the Navigation Power Block,” Rick said, “And I threw in another one, just for the heck of it. It'll let you travel to new worlds, but there may be some weird side effects.”

“Hey, do you remember the bell ringing earlier?” asked Melfina.

Ed nodded. “Yeah. I wonder what that was.”

“Well, there's somewhat of a legend behind it,” Aisha began, “But it's all boarded up.”

”Why don't you give it a look?” Gene suggested. “All you have to do is ring it three times.”

“Sure.” said Kaneda.

----------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------

A few minutes later, the group made their way into the old building. A series of boards blocked their path.

“I think I'd better handle this.” said Al. With a single punch, he broke through the boards to reveal a large room. From the ceiling, a long rope hung down.

“Well, this is it.” Kaneda said boldly. “Let's just see what it does…”

He grabbed the rope, and pulled three times. Suddenly, a ball of light appeared, flew around their heads, and shot off.

“Hey! Follow that light!” shouted Ed.

They ran outside into the courtyard where a keyhole had appeared above a fountain. But before the group could get there…

WHAM! Everyone had to jump out of the way as a giant fist hit the ground in front of them. They all looked up as a familiar figure loomed over them.

“Great. Not this guy again…” Kaneda muttered.

The Guard Armor suddenly stopped and stood there, quietly, as if waiting for them to make their move.

Ed took a step forward. “Wait,” said Al, holding an arm in front of his brother, “Something doesn't feel right.”

Suddenly, the Guard Armor reared back as what looked like black lighting struck it, forcing the others to cover their eyes. When they could look again, they saw that the Guard Armor was now black with red arms and legs, as well as the Heartless crest on its chest. The blank area in the visor now held two glowing red eyes. The newly-formed Shadow Armor burst into flames, and wordlessly began moving towards them.

“Look out!”

Everyone dodged the creature's flaming fist as it slammed it into the ground.

Ed grinned as he shouted, “Time to cool off! BLIZZARD WAVE!”

The icy blast quenched the armor's flames, allowing Kaneda to strike it in the chest. The Shadow Armor stumbled backwards before bursting into flames again. And so this pattern repeated, until…

“AL! LOOK OUT!”

Al turned when he heard Kaneda shout his name, but it he didn't move fast enough, and his head was knocked off. It fell to the ground with a `thud', followed by the rest of his body.

“NOOOOO!”

Angrily, Kaneda turned to face the Shadow Armor. “Okay, now you're gonna get it! Ready Ed?”

The boy in question smirked. “Ready!”

”DOUBLE BLIZZARD WAVE!”

The cold wave permanently put out the fires surrounding the Shadow Armor, leaving it open for attack.

“HYYAAAAAH!”

Together, they jumped into the air and slammed their weapons into the heart symbol on the Shadow Armor's chest. It collapsed into a pile of armor, and Kaneda was able to lock the Keyhole.

“There,” he said, wiping his brow. “Too bad about Al though…”

“What do you mean?”

Startled, Kaneda slowly turned around and saw Al's body get up from the ground!

“AAAAHHH!”

Morty, who had been hiding behind the fountain when the fighting started jumped back also.

“What the--?!”

Al bent down and picked up his head, before putting it back in its usual place. “I guess we should explain, huh Nii-san?”

Ed nodded. “Yeah.” He turned to the others and cleared his throat. “You see, were' Alchemists, and that means we can turn things into others, but there are rules to it.”

“Rules?”

“Yeah. Say something is made of wood. It can only be turned into something that is also made of wood. This is called The Law of Equivalent Exchange.”

He sighed sadly before continuing. “There's also something called Human Alchemy, which is forbidden for some reason. They say that God hates it when people trespass in his domain. We only did it because our mother died suddenly. We were young and foolish at the time, and we didn't know any better. We thought we could bring her back. But…” He closed his eyes, remembering that day. “…We failed.”

“Nii-san lost his right leg, but I on the other hand, lost my whole body, and he had to sacrifice his left arm in order to put my soul into the suit of armor that you see before you.” Al put in.

“Then how--?”

Ed sighed and took off one of his gloves, revealing the metal beneath. “A friend of mine does Automail replacement parts,” he told them,” And I was able to get some. That's why they call me the Fullmetal Alchemist.”

”And your mother...?”

There was a moment of awkward silence.

”The thing we brought back wasn't even human anymore.”

Those nine words stuck in the others' minds as they stared blankly.

“We wanted to find something called the Philosopher's Stone,” Al continued, “Because it would restore us to normal. So we joined the military in order to find it. But then the Heartless came…”

*FLASHBACK*

“FULLMETAL!”

The Colonel's shout echoed throughout the hallways. Al sighed.

“Looks like he has it in for you now, Nii-san.”

“Well, let's just get it over with.”

The two brothers made their way into the office of Colonel Roy Mustang, who looked very annoyed.

“I heard you two destroyed a guard outpost surrounding a village.” He said, glaring daggers at them.

“The people were being enslaved! I had no choice!”(8) Ed argued back.

“That still doesn't give you the right to--“

Just then, First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye ran in, looking like she had run a thousand miles.

“Sir!” she gasped, “We're under attack!”

The Colonel stood up instantly. “What?!”

“Hurry!”

She ran out the door, and the Colonel followed her. Ed and Al sighed before running after them.

-------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------

The streets were filled with cries of fear, and pain as people, fled trying to escape the dark beings who hounded them. All around, towers of flames licked at the buildings.

“This is horrible…” whispered Ed, and his brother nodded in agreement.

“What are those things?!” Colonel Mustang shouted over the roar of the flames.

“I-I don't know sir! They just appeared and—look out!”

A dark being had leapt at the Colonel, who incinerated it with a single fire blast, but more started coming, attracted by the sounds of battle. Colonel Mustang simple torched them, and 1st Lieutenant Hawkeye shot as many as she could. Meanwhile, the Elric brothers found themselves surrounded.

“Time to do what we do best!” Ed grinned. He pulled off the glove covering his right hand and used alchemy to turn it into a blade that he used to slash through them, while Al merely punched them away, though they didn't pay much attention to him. (9)

“Help!”

They turned to see Shou Tucker, the “Sewn-Life Alchemist” running through the streets with his daughter Nina and their dog Alexander.

”Hurry Nina!”

“Daddy! I can't…”

The small girl tripped and fell, making her an easy target for the dark beings…

“NINA!” Ed tried to run towards he, but he was stopped when the earth began to shake wildly.

“W-what's happening?!” Al shouted.

They could only watch as the world around them began to shake and fall apart like it was the block city of an angry child…

-------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------

”Hey! Hello? Are you up?”

Blinking away the sleep from his eyes, Ed groggily lifted his head and stared into a kind face of a young woman.

“Ah!” he shouted, reeling back. “Who are you?! Where am I?!”

The girl raised her hands. “Calm down now. You're in the Egypt Kingdom.”

He blinked. “Egypt Kingdom?”

“Yes, a world ruled by the Pharaoh Yami.” (10)

Ed frowned. “Hey! Where's my brother?!”

“Over here, Nii-chan.” He looked up to see his brother standing in the doorway.

”Al!”

The girl smiled. “Now that that's settled, I'll tale you to see the Pharaoh.” She left the room, and the brothers followed her.

The hallways were teeming with servants rushing to and fro to keep the place clean. Ed noticed that some of them were human, while others were monstrous beings of different kinds.

“Here we are!” The girl announced, pointing to a giant pair of double doors with an eye shape carved into them. “The throne room!”

The doors swung open to reveal a large room. The walls were decorated with colorful wall hangings, and the air was filled with the sweet scent of burning incense.

“Presenting their Majesties Pharaoh Yami and Queen Tea!” (11)

The two brothers looked up, and saw two golden jewel-studded thrones at the end f the hallways, where a young man and an equally young woman sat. Ed took one look at them and started laughing.

“That's the Pharaoh?! He's almost as young as I am!”

“Ed, I don't think you should…”

“Ahem.” They all turned to face the Pharaoh. “It seems these latest refugees are not very respectful.”

His words caught Ed's attention.

“Refugees?”

The queen nodded. “Yes, refugees from the worlds destroyed by the Heartless.”

“What are the Heartless anyway?”

“They are evil beings,” the Pharaoh said sadly, “Creatures without hearts who steal them from others. They have destroyed countless worlds and yours along with them.”

“Were there any other survivors?” Al asked hopefully.

“Well, no human ones that we know of…”

From behind the thrones, a golden retriever ran out and knocked Ed to the ground before licking his face.

“Ah! Stoppit Alexander! Getoff!”

“It seems he knows you.” The other girl said with a smile.

”Yeah, yeah.”

“You are welcome to stay here,” the Pharaoh said, “Considering how your world is no more.”

Ed pushed Alexander off and frowned.

“Well…okay, I guess.”

*END FLASHBACK*

“And that was it,” Ed told Kaneda and Morty. “We'd pretty much given up hope of finding the Philosopher's Stone, since our world was destroyed, but if you can get rid of the Heartless and return the worlds, and then we can start trying to find it again.”

”Wow. That's some story.” Was all Kaneda could say after the brothers revealed their sad tale.

Morty cleared his throat. “Uh, maybe we should start going? You know, looking for the Keyholes?”

Kaneda nodded. ”Oh yeah. Come on, let's go. But let's stop by Rick's shop first, and tell him we're leaving.”

-------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------

But when they got to the shop, it was empty.

”Hello? Is anyone there?”

Al froze. “Hey, does anyone else hear snoring?”

The four of them looked around. “I think it's coming from over there.” Ed commented, pointing to behind the counter. Slowly, they moved quietly over to the counter, where they found there very last thing they would have expected.

Lying there was a boy around their age, with messy brown hair wearing an open white shirt, green pants, sandals, a beaded necklace, and thick orange headphones.

“Yoh?!”

The boy sat up and yawned before grinning at the smaller boy. “Hey Morty. I was looking for ya.”

“You mean we were looking for him.”

Kaneda, Ed and Al jumped in surprise as a figure appeared. The being was a young man with spiky silver hair in a samurai-like outfit. Morty and the boy didn't seem surprised though.

The boy scratched the back of his head. “Oh yeah, I forgot.” He turned to the others, who looked frightened. “By the way, my name's Yoh Asakura, and this is Amidamaru.”

“Hello.”

“Uh, h-hi.”

“What's the matter? Haven't you ever seen a ghost before?”

”Not really.”

Morty looked at his friend. “Hey Yoh, do you want to come with us? We're on a quest to save the worlds.”

“I dunno,” Ed said, crossing his arms. “Do you think he can handle it?”

Yoh grinned. “Sure! Check this out!” he reached and pulled out a big sword. “And with Amidamaru, we can handle anything!”

Kaneda shrugged. “Good enough for me. You're in.”

And with that, the two of them shook hands.

----------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------

After finally finding the others and saying their goodbyes, the group headed to the ship.

”Wow!” Yoh exclaimed, examining their craft with amazement. “It's huge!”

”Yep,” Kaneda said grinning, “It is, isn't it?”

”Hey come on! We gotta get going!” shouted Ed.

They all got on and took off into space, or whatever they call it.

“Where to next?” asked Al.

“Maybe we should try that new navigation thing Rick gave us.” Morty suggested.

”I dunno, he said there would be a few side effects…”

Meanwhile, Yoh spotted a big red button. “Hm. Wonder what this does.” And with that, he leaned over to push it…

”No wait!” Shouted Kaneda, who had spotted him, but it was too late and…everything took on a puppet-ish form. (12)

“Is this going to happen every time someone pushes that button?” asked Morty.

”Hold on, I think I got it.” Said Ed as he pushed the button again… and now they were all females. (Al even had a slimmer figure!)

”ED!”

”Hold on, hold on!”

After a few more tries, in which everything went totally crazy, they figured it out, and everyone returned to normal.

”Whew!” exclaimed Kaneda, “Glad that's over!”

“Hey, I'm picking up a Heartless reading from this nearby planet!” Al exclaimed.

Kaneda nodded. “Okay, let's go!”

To be continued…

----------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------

Phew! This may be my longest chapter yet!

As you can clearly see, I basically outlined the premise of the Fullmetal Alchemist anime/manga, but I made a few changes to the storyline so that it would fit. I may bring back a few characters from FMA in Anime Hearts 2, but we have to see. I already have an idea for that though…

(1)- Is it just me, or does nearly everyone who does a KH parody name this part something similar to this?

(2)- Well, I'm just making up what the rewards are.

(3)- Do'h! I forgot about that too!

(4)- Has anyone else but me noticed this?

(5)- Did I spell that right?

(6)- I don't remember how this goes, so I'm using the version from the manga.

(7)- Here, I'm referring to the kickass anime/mangaHellsing.

(8)- Yeah, I'm making this up. So sue me (Not literally of course!)

(9)- Okay, here's how I see it: Al is really a soul in a suit of armor, but he has no actual heart to speak of. So of course, the Heartless, who seek people's hearts, can't get his. Unless he has a spiritual one… uh, never mind. (I think I'm giving myself a headache…)

(10)- Now, (Beware of spoilers!) I discovered somewhere that the Pharaoh's real name is Atem (It's Atemu in Japan, but this I think this version sounds more Egyptian). However, I prefer to use the name I'm more used to.

(11)- Normally, I would do Yugi/Tea relationships, but this kinda fits more.

(12)- This part was inspired by the movie version of A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. No, I haven't seen it yet, but I'd like to. (But imagine female versions of the gang by yourselves, okay? I only put that part in because I thought it was funny.)