14KKD: Here's the updated version of my first story's second chapter. If you haven't reviewed the first, then go back there now and review that before coming back here. Anyway, I hope you guys like this one, and I'll be having some news for next chapter. But I'll state them at the end of this one, so, disclaimers... GO!
DISCLAIMERS: KKD STILL doesn't own anything in here except for Hajime. The others belong to their respective owners including Toei, Bandai, Funimation, Square, etc.
KKD: Now enjoy chapter 2.
Chapter 2: Body of the Sanctioned
*The scene starts with three o's enlarged to show some images, then some images from the previous chapter emerged in those o's*
Hajime: Fullmetal …Kamen Rider …OOO!
Ed & Al Elric: Here are the key points that occurred last time.
*The first image enlarges to envelope the screen; this shows scenes of Hajime's time before his arrival in the desert near Lior, which changes quickly to his first meeting with the Elric brothers, which changes soon after to their first moments in Lior*
Hajime: 1st, I, Hajime Genda, end up in the middle of a desert where I meet Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, and his younger brother, Alphonse, before we arrive in the desert city of Lior.
*We quickly shift back to the three o's before the image in the second o, which shows the events involving Father Cornello, including the moments involving his "miracles," his meeting with the mysterious woman, and his revealing of his possession of the Philosopher's Stone, expands to cover the screen.*
Al: 2nd, the prophet, Father Cornello, was revealed to perform "miracles" using the fabled Philosopher's Stone.
*Back on the three o's, the final image enlarges showing the final scenes of the previous chapter, including Hajime's Henshin into OOO, the fight with him and Ed against Cornello's beasts, and Ed's revelation of his automail arm.*
Ed: 3rd, Hajime transformed into what he called Kamen Rider OOO, and we fought Cornello's chimeras before I revealed my automail limbs to those who weren't aware of them in the first place.
We all just stood there and stared at Ed, who I had noticed placed my medal holder in a sort of strap on his waist. Now we could see Ed's automail right arm in all of it's glory. While Al looked indifferent, if one could tell or not, Rose and I were simply amazed (Rose, having not even heard of such things until now was in plain shock while I was just amazed at seeing in action what Ed and Al only told me about). Cornello on the other hand looked on with intrigue.
"Well that does answer a riddle: 'why would the military give a pup like you such a stern name: Fullmetal,'" Cornello asked with the equivalent amount of intrigue in his voice as there was in his smirk (boy I hate that look on his face; it just gives me the creeps). "…but it's literal." I thought the same thing once that image clicked into my head. "You see Rose," Cornello started to explain to the girl next to him. "Alchemists forbid their own from transforming lead into gold, but there's one practice more taboo; a technique forbidden by man and nature itself, alchemy …on human souls!" I could hear Rose gasp at this. I could only gasp myself upon realizing what happened.
"So, …this is …the result of attempted human transmutation?" I asked out of shock. Ed only nodded to confirm my guess to be true. I didn't even bother to listen to what Cornello had to say to the Elrics on this matter.
"You don't know the story!" Al cried trying to convinve Cornello into listening to the truth.
"Al!" Ed whispered venomously to his brother telling him to remain silent. I could somehow tell that Al was somewhat saddened after hearing this. This was truly a tough subject for the duo of alchemists.
"But …we just wanted…" Al started; if he was still human, I could've sworn I'd seen him cry at this point. I could only imagine that he was thinking about their mom and how wonderful she was. "…we just wanted to see mom's face again; …see her smile."
"But you've failed, didn't you?" Cornello interrupted. I knew he was being rhetorical, but it affected them nonetheless due to their reactions.
"Yea, …I'd label that a failure all right. Al lost his entire body, and I lost an arm and a leg, literally!"
"I see, you ignored every sign post due to your reckless, your selfishness, and you wanted to satisfy …your …desire. Is that it?" I deduced and asked Ed.
"Yea," the Fullmetal alchemist merely confirmed. "Rose, this is what happens when you try to bring back what's dead!" I could see Rose jump slightly at his response. "You really wanna go through with that?" I could tell Rose was confused and unsure of what to think; even under my new armor as OOO, I could tell that she was unsure of what to think. Cornello then placed his hand on Rose's shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.
"Don't let them worry you, Rose," the false prophet started. "…you forget that the great sun god, Leto has blessed me with the Philosopher's Stone. Besides, I have far more experience than those heretic boys did."
"Don't be stupid!" I heard Ed shout. This felt like one those quick explanation moments. "No matter what kind of powers you have, some things can't be done!"
"Oh, then why are you so anxious to get this stone?" Cornello asked. "YOU want to beat the laws of equivalence just as I do and bring your mommy back!"
"SHUT IT YOU FAKE!" I shouted. "Your power is blinding you to what really is going on. True, their desire is to get that stone, …but …THEY WOULDN'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE TWICE! I may not know them that well since we've only known each other since this morning, but I'm willing to help. I also know that bringing their mom back won't change a thing!" Why was I talking about desire so much, I'm not sure, maybe it was the sudden connections to OOO that drew me in this time, but I digress.
"He's right, holy man!" Ed confirmed. Here is where they finally explained why they needed something that could bypass the local law of equivalent exchange, and Cornello was certainly listening as his smirk suddenly soured. "All we want is to get our bodies normal again! See we don't lie about what's possible; we didn't start a cult!" That was true, that whole Leto thing never sounded real to begin with, and Cornello's frown and strained growls just confirmed it.
"We will ask one more time," Al said, "please give us the stone."
"And if you don't," I started to threaten, "…well let's just say you'll get a true taste of my power." Despite our efforts, Cornello's smug grin returned as if he was really prepared for this in some way.
"You are damned State Alchemist!" Cornello exclaimed. "May the wrath of God fall upon your head." I don't know if he was talking about Leto, or some other god, but my God would not give this guy another chance at the rate he was going.
"STOP HIDING BEHIND THAT CRAP! Get down here and I'll SHOW you some wrath!" Ed shouted.
"Pst, Ed." I whispered, "hand me one of those orange medals with the turtle on it." All I could see was Ed reaching behind his back and shuffling his hands as if doing something with them, but I knew he was rummaging through to find the orange Kame medal I needed. He soon found it and slipped it to me behind my back as I noticed something glowing behind Cornello's back. No doubt it was something related to that ring of his was being made. Sure enough, just he pulled his arms out revealing a machine gun, I quickly replaced my Tora medal with my Kame one after reverting the o-driver to it's horizontal position and before reverting it to the slanted pose of a henshined form and scanning the medals once more.
"TAKA"
"KAME"
"BATTA"
The holographic medals appeared again, but this time, the orange turtle medal appeared in place of the yellow tora medal. The medals merged once again with the turtle's shell and flippers in place of the tiger's head in the Tatoba combo before crashing into my chest creating the new O-lung emblem. As I felt power emerge in me once more, I could feel it changing and affecting my armor. My shoulder armor was much larger and sturdier than before, and I noticed pieces of armor on my forearms that looked like halves of some sort of shield with the design of a turtle's shell. During the change in powers, I felt like time had slowed for a moment. Once the changes were complete, I saw the glow behind Cornello's back had ended, and Rose had moved away shocked at what she saw happen. He must've used the stone to transmute that cane I saw him carry into some kind of weapon. I also saw Ed gasp at what happened.
"SINNERS!" Cornello shouted as he revealed what was behind his back; his cane had been transmutated into a machine gun of sorts. Hey, I'm not weapons expert, so don't ask me which one it was. However, the fake priest was eager enough to use it on the Elrics as he started firing. Out of instinct, I ran in front of Ed and Al and place both of my forearms in front of me merging the two plates on my arms for the moment.
All Rose could do was stand at stare at the destruction that she thought she'd never see from Cornello. Cornello on the other hand had a sick grin on his face showing how much he enjoyed that feeling. After a few seconds and the fact that he ran out of ammo for his gun, Cornello stopped to see the results of his work, expecting to see the bloody remains of the three boys. He couldn't tell at first because of all the dust that was kicked up on the floor from his firing onto the floor which he transmutated into sand earlier. What he saw though, was a shock to everyone.
Once the dust was cleared, I saw the shocked expressions of everyone in the room as they saw the orange energy shield thanks to my Kame arms' Goura Guardner feature, you know …those half shells on my forearms.
Anyway I dismissed the shield by removing my arms from each other and setting them back to my sides. I was panting after that sudden adrenaline rush which made me do that.
"Close call, huh?" I asked sarcastically to the Elric brothers.
"Yea …I guess." Ed said unsure of what to make of my powers. I only heard him chuckle with a slight nervousness in his voice. "I could've transmutated a stone wall out of this sand if you didn't do that just now." Despite what Ed said, I saw how relieved Rose was seeing us alive, and how stunned Cornello was seeing the opposite of the result he was hoping for.
"Father Cornello!" I heard from somewhere, it would seem that those cultists caught up with us. As everyone currently in the chamber turned to see Cray and his fellow cultists blocking our only available exit with weapons at the ready. I could tell he hated our guts at the moment as he pulled out his pistol again. Yet, I couldn't help but notice Ed hand Al back my medal holder as the action was about to get more hectic. Speaking of which, Cray was the first to start shooting Al, and I didn't have enough time to save him and Ed…
"AL! HAJIME!" I heard Ed shout getting the attention of both me and his younger brother. "THIS WAY!" He was pointing towards a blank wall with no doors, but if I guessed right, then Ed would be able to deal with that, and I didn't want to test out my head-butting with the Sai medal just yet. So Al and I simply ran after him, but I gestured to Al to hand me some different medals just in case. What Al handed me were a copy of the blue shachi medal, a copy of the gray gorilla medal, and a copy of the yellow cheetah medal. I was shocked to realize that he somehow knew what powers each medal held, but I just put them into my medal hold cylinder on my belt for safe keepings.
"IDIOTS!" Cornello hollered out at us as we were rushing to leave. "YOU'RE RUNNING INTO A DEAD-END!"
"*Huff-huff* well like I always say…" Ed was about to explain as he skidded to a stop in front of the wall before us. "…if you can't find a door," he clapped his hands creating that alchemic energy before placing his hands on the wall, "make your own!" Then I witnessed as he transmutated a door in the wall before us. I could only hear Cornello gasp at what Ed did as the Elric brothers and I rushed through this new entrance ready to get the heck out of there. We simply ran down the hallway as I switched out my current three medals with the ones Al gave me and I scanned them again.
"SHACHI"
"GORILA"
"CHEETAH"
I simply witnessed the new medal images spin and merge with the blue orca (shachi) on top, the gray gorilla's face in the middle, and the yellow cheetah squashed down below, before crashing into my chest once more. This time, I could feel a big change. My leg armor was now yellow with black spot and silver parts on my feet representing a cat's feet; it was obvious that despite the amount of armor, these legs were built for speed. My shoulder armor was now gray and rigid and the large silver gori bagon gauntlets graced my fists that now made me look even stronger due to their likeness of the animal it's medal was based on. Finally, my helmet changed to resemble a blue and white orca with the flippers near what would be the edge of my jaws, a black mouthpiece, yellow compound eyes, a small blue jewel gracing my forehead which seemed to jut out to represent the sleekness of an orca's streamlined form, and the dorsal fin resting on top of my head.
Moving on, I somehow picked up both Ed and Al with great ease and ran faster than any man could out of the temple.
"After them! NOW!" I could hear Cray shout in the distance before I rushed off like I did.
"Father…?" Rose started to ask Cornello as he still had that look of disappointment on his face. He turned with a gasp to look at the poor girls face with his machine gun still in hand. "Is it true what they said? That ring you're wearing, are you're miracles just alchemy?" Acting ashamed, the false prophet then placed a smile on his face as he would attempt to explain to Rose why the Elrics would be lying.
"Just because you can explain a thing, doesn't mean that it isn't the will of God, Rose." He started. "What matters is that I have been given the power to do things that no one else can." Rose looked like that she was beginning to doubt herself. "Let me show you."
Later that night, Cornello took Rose to a small bedroom with the only bed in the room covered by some drapes on all sides. The light from the moon shown through the windows so that one could see through to who or what was laying on the actual bed. Sitting on the bed was a figure of sorts, but one couldn't tell who or what it was properly due to the drapes; only the figure's silhouette was visible at that point.
"Rose?" the figure seemed to struggle to say in a male tone of voice. Rose gasped upon hearing the voice as it sounded familiar to her in some way.
"Cain, …" she said assuming it was her lost boyfriend brought back by Cornello as her eyes began to tear up with joy. The figure that Rose assumed was her boyfriend simply repeated her name. Rose, now caught up in the moment just smiled with her hands together and eyes almost ready to burst with tears. She was about to get closer to her boyfriend when Cornello placed a hand on her shoulder getting the young woman's attention.
"The sun god's rewarded you for your faith, Rose; your true love's soul has been resurrected." Cornello confirmed to her what she hoped. Yet he knew he had to explain why he wouldn't let her get closer to him, so he said, "But the work is not finished yet; his body still needs a few more days." Rose simply stared at him with faith and amazement in her eyes.
"I always believed it," the girl said with a whispered joy, "this really has been the work of God. If Ed knew…" she then started to think out loud, but she gasped lightly as she saw feathers of many colors laying at the foot of the bed. She now was unsure of what to think of that, but she still believed her boyfriend had come back to her.
After all that running, I deactivated my armor as we rested in the town square. Ed was still shocked about what I just did with my armor to say much. Al, I still can't make out much expression from him due to his helmet's inability to convey much emotion. After I caught my breath, Ed finally spoke up.
"WHAT WAS THAT?!" he practically screamed into my ears.
"Jeez, dude, you don't have to yell. Remember, we're trying to hide from them, now. "As I said, that was Kamen Rider OOO, the incarnation of the powers of the core medals. When used by the king 800 years ago, he lost all control and went berserk. I'm surprised I was able to stay sane through those changes." I explained, but then another thought came to my mind. "But…does this mean …I could have the potential of becoming a greeed?" I whispered to myself. After some thought, I said to myself, "Naw, I didn't even use a full combo much less absorb any cell medals, but since I can use the power of OOO …what does this mean?"
You count the Medals! One two and three! Life goes on! Anything Goes! Coming up OOO
*The screen changed to the Taka, Tora, and Batta Core Medals in a triangle. It cut to a series of shots of OOO with a ring going over his body, showing a Combo Part. It then cut to a far shot of OOO transforming before cutting to Hajime tossing a coin into the air. He caught it and put it into a Vendor, transforming it into the Ride Vender. It opened up and transformed into the Ride Vendor. It then cut to OOO driving off on it followed by Ed and Al on a few more of them as the title appeared*
Iranai, motanai, yumemo minai (Don't bother with dreams that are unnecessary or fleeting)
*It cut to Hajime, Ed, and Al walking in from the right followed shortly by Winry and Hikari from the left*
Free na joutai, sore mo ii kedo (It's fine to just be completely free)
*We soon cut to a scene with the trio of travelers staring off into the distance, first from a far off angle then to a close up of the trio*
Koko kara hajimaru! What you've been waiting for! Count the Medals! One two and three! (It starts now!)
*We see the ghostly images of the five greeed from the original OOO toku series hovering behind them before Ankh, Kazari, and Uva were shown up close showing off the Taka, Tora, and Batta medals*
Unmei wa kimi hottokanai (But you can't ignore fate)
*Hajime holding his open medal before the camera cuts to him close up holding up a Taka core medal*
Kekkyoku wa susumu shika nai (In the end, all you do is keep moving forward)
*It cut to a close up of Winry and Hikari examining a Tora core medal before cutting to Al with Ed holding and looking a Batta core medal*
Michi naru tenkai! Give me energy! Count the Medals! One two and three! (Mysterious turn of events!)
*It cut to a rotating shot of the Elrics, Winry, Hikari, and Hajime holding one of the coins as the ghostly glowing of the five greeed, and the ghostly glowing silhouettes of many more hovering around the five protagonists before Ankh, Kazari, and Uva are seen up close holding up their respective medals*
Daijoubu! Ashita wa itsu datte Blank (It's okay! Tomorrow's always a blank slate)
*The scene cut to a soaring zooming shot of the homonculi before it switches to Hikari embracing Hikari with Ed and Winry sitting nearby*
Jibun no kachi wa jibun de kimeru mono sa (You're the one who decides what your worth is)
*The scene changes to when Hajime was hanging out with some friends in college before the image shatters like glass and we see Hajime in between Ed and Al who were preparing to summon weapons via alchemy while Hajime scanned the medals and executed his henshin pose with the call of henshin*
OOO! OOO! OOO! OOO! Come On!
*It then cuts to a coin showing scenes from the chapter before cutting to OOO, Ed, and Al riding on their Ride Venders*
Anything Goes! Sono kokoro ga atsuku naru mono (Anything goes! Fire up that heart!)
*OOO and the Elrics drove off before cutting to a close up of Hajime's hand holding the medals.*
Mitasareru mono wo sagashite (Find something to fulfill you)
*It cut to a Taka Cell Medal with a head shot of Colonel Roy Mustang looking to the left for a side shot before cutting to Riza Hawkeye looking at him with the back of a Cell Medal to the screen before cutting to Winry and Hikari looking out the balcony of Rockbell Automail waiting for someone*
Life Goes On! Honki dashite Tatakau no nara (Life goes on! Time to get serious! If you are going to fight…)
*It cut to OOO activating the Tora claws before jumping up up with Ed at the side transmutating a lance who followed close by. It then cut to Hajime and Hikari hugging each other while Ed was chasing Al with Winry nearby giggling at their antics.*
Makeru ki shinai hazu (…then don't worry about losing)
*It cut to the homunculi walking out hanging out in their hideout before cutting to OOO inserting three Cell Medals into the medajalibur and activating the Triple Scanning Charge. He swung it down at the same time that Ed and Al swinging some swords at the same time, creating large sand explosions that sent Cell Medals flying all about and covering the screen with the dust. The three Core Medals spun before ending at the front of the screen with the Taka Medal at the left and the Batta Medal at the right*
"Uh …Hajime?" Ed said snapping me out of my stupor and deep thought process. "What are you talking about?"
"Huh? Oh nothing." I said quickly, obviously a lie to cover up what I knew about OOO. "Anyway, that almost worked out so well, too. By the way Ed, how did you know that those three medals you gave me would help us out at that point in escaping from Cornello?"
"I didn't. I just picked three random ones that I assumed could be helpful. Next time, would mind letting me what powers each medal has so I won't end up doing something stupid like that and accidentally harm you in the process?"
"Sure thing. I'll let both of you know just in case. That way, Cornello and his goons will think twice before messing with us!"
"Speaking of which," Al started, "why did they treat us like we were evil?"
"I have no idea, …well maybe I do. It's possible that they would've considered you evil since you two wanted the stone, and they would've thought I was some sort of accomplice."
"If we really wanted the stone at all costs, though, we would've taken it by now."
"True." Although we wouldn't get the chance to explain as we heard some sort of intercom activate. Over it, I didn't bother to pay attention to most of the details since it was mostly that Cornello's load of crap to the public, but he basically announced Ed, Al, and myself as enemies to their god.
As I heard the crowds coming closer, I couldn't help but notice two people on a scaffolding nearby. These were the woman from earlier without her cloak, and a short corpulent man next to her who looked almost hungry. Putting that aside, Ed soon got a plan, and I was willing to follow it at this point.
Once the crowds arrived, Ed was standing next to Al and Hajime who appeared to have already henshined. The crowds were all jeering at them for seemingly deceiving them. Of course, Ed got upset for them calling him short, but they put that aside and were claiming the Elrics and the rider to be heretics. Ed tried to convince them that their prophet was a fake using Alchemy instead of performing true miracles. However, Rose soon arrived and told them that Cornello brought her boyfriend, Cain, back to life. Yet, Ed didn't really buy that. Before he could say anymore, multiple statues of the people's god came walking into the area towards the Elrics and the rider. The next thing that happened, Al was knocked down and beaten by the statues, and so was OOO, who surprisingly didn't fight back. Ed was the next was to fall, and he soon fell unconscious.
Later, the Fullmetal Alchemist was brought to Father Cornello, who took his official State Alchemist pocket-watch believing that it was the source of Ed's enhanced powers. As Cornello laughed as the alchemist was taken to a dungeon, Ed couldn't help but smirk at Cornello's misconception.
While I was slightly against it, I had to trust Ed's plan for Al's sake. The next morning, Al and I snuck onto the roof of the temple and snagged the bell without the dumb cultist noticing us. While Al held the bell, he looked a little stupid, but I supposed as it worked. I still couldn't believe how we were able to snag the bell from under his nose, but maybe it was because he was so sleepy from the night before.
Meanwhile, Ed was in his cell, with his wrists chained up above his head and forced to sit on the floor. Rose came in and brought him some food, but instead of feeding him like Ed jokingly thought, she just left it on the floor at his feet before rushing back outside the room, but not before hearing Ed saying that he hoped her boyfriend was real 'cause he didn't want her to be disappointed. Ignoring the comment for the moment, the devoted but now doubtful follower of Leto ran back out into the halls. Ed simply sighed as she left and he moved the tray closer to him with his feet. He then heard a digging noise behind him. Knowing what this meant, he simply smiled with satisfacition.
At that same time, Cornello was sleeping when a strange symbol appeared above his head in his sleep before it changed into a giant snake of some kind. As it got closer to the false prophet ready to swallow him up, it vanished the moment Cornello awoke as if he had a nightmare, trying to get his breath back. He then saw the woman from before reminding him to keep the true nature of the ring he had a secret between the two of them. Cornello also heard her mention something about that medal she found earlier. Then, he pulled out the silver medal with the "X" on one side and the rhino's head on the other, but it accidentally slipped from his fingers and into a strange slot that emerged on his forehead that looked like it would appear on modern vending machines. With a clunk of the coin, the slot disappeared, and a black vortex appeared on his abdomen and from it emerged a monster that looked like a humanoid rhino with red discs on various points of his body. This beast fell on the floor causing Cornello to stand and back off in fear, but the beast just stood up and kneeled before Cornello.
"Dear father, what is God's will?" the rhino beast requested. "Tell me, and I will obey." Cornello heard this and smirked thinking he could use this beast to his advantage.
"Are you sure this will work, Al?" I asked the soul in the suit's armor. We were on a balcony where Al had all of this equipment being set up, including the bell we snagged not too long ago. The position we were in made it perfect for projecting announcements if we had the right gear, which Al was attempting to rectify.
"Of course," Al said answering my question.
"I guess, …but …don't we need Rose to see this? Even if that worked, do you think she'd believe us?"
"Well she seems doubtful enough, but there is only one way to find out."
"I suppose I should check the rooms and find out which one she would go to." Al simply nodded. "I got it. I'll check the rooms for where this 'Cain' might be. If Cornello tricked her into thinking that he brought Cain back, …then she'll try to get a close look at him." With that, I decided to use my driver for the job. I slipped my driver on my waist as I did yesterday, then I pulled out a red taka medal from my medal holder, but instead of tora and batta, I removed the gorilla and tako medals. Handing the medal holder to Al, I inserted the medals into my blet. "I promise I'll explain more about the medals when we get Ed out of there and these people convinced that Cornello's a fraud" I said as I tilted the driver once more and scanned the three medals now in it. "Henshin."
"TAKA"
"GORILA"
"TAKO"
At that point, Rose had entered the room where Cain was, but when Cornello walked in, she felt fear arise. Then, when the wind started blowing, the drapes around the bed moved to reveal not her familiar boyfriend, but rather a kind of giant bird. Cornello announced to her that he couldn't bring Cain's soul back, so he created the bird that stood before her and used it to mimic the human voice and convince her and others that this was what those whom the prophet revived truly were. He then left the room with a smirk on his face. After hearing a certain sound, he walked down the hallway to deal with one final matter.
"There is only one person left who knows my secret, …but not for long," Cornello thought out loud to himself.
I was now walking around on the side of the wall getting used to the tako legs' feature of sticking to any surface. My current armor had the all familiar Taka head, and my arms were the gorilla arms I used to increase my strength earlier for the escape, but my legs now were covered in light blue armor all over with a motif of an octopus' tentacles; it even had the look where it was divided into four segments on each leg. On my chest, the O-lung crest also had the octopus down where the gorilla's lower lip and jaw would be. These were the Tako legs.
While using the Tako legs to stick to the side of the building similarly to how I've seen some ninja use chakra in the Naruto anime, I heard something that sounded like a scream from Rose and a squawk from a bird of some sort. I rushed off running on the wall to the room where the squawk came from. Once I arrived, I saw through the window that Rose was standing in front of what I thought was some sort of bird. I opened the window and jumped in. Before the bird could reach her, I gave it a hard punch to the side of it's head that would make both Kintaros from Den-O, and Gamel from OOO, cry with jealousy of the strength I used.
When I looked up after I executed the punch, I saw Rose had her face covered with her hands the entire time. Soon though, she removed her hands upon hearing the gurgling sound that was coming from the bird that now lay nearly dead in between us. I heard her gasp as she stared at the nearly dead animal in front of her before turning to me and gasping at my unexpected presence. I then turned to completely face her.
"I guess I don't have to tell you that this place is dangerous," I said to Rose. "Come on," I requested to her while holding out my hand. It was obvious that she was still unsure about me and the Elrics as I saw that look in her eyes, but as she turned back to the dead beast in between us, I could tell that she would soon decide on what to do.
"This little charade of yours will be found out soon enough," Ed said to Cornello who was confronting the currently tied up alchemist.
"The faithful are not likely to distinguish alchemy and the works of God," Cornello explained. "Really? As long as I bring them happiness what do they care where it comes from?" All Ed could do at this was lighten up his expression as he thought about what was happening.
"Right," the Fullmetal Alchemist stated sarcastically. "So what's in it for you? You know? Besides all the cow-taoing?" The alchemist grinned while speaking this. All he got out of Cornello at the moment was a wider smirk and a chuckling.
Well I got Rose back to the balcony safe, but Al wasn't quite finished with his part of the task at hand. So with that, I decided to switch my Taka medal with one of my Kuwagata (Stag Beetle) medals. This time, the O-Ling crest had the horns of a stag beetle on top with my helmet representing the beetle itself. It's shell to cover it's flying wings acting as a mouthpiece, the legs reaching to the sides of my helmet, and the horn stretching up above my forehead. The lenses this time were orange, quite a nice change of pace from other riders who had a similar color scheme. I figured in case there wasn't enough juice to power up the device, Kuwagata's electricity powers should be enough to power up the device. Al was further explaining the situation he and Ed were in. I already knew all of that, but to hear from the horse's mouth was something else.
"We should get started," Al said after Rose mentioned something about his mom. "It's about time." Al then turned to me, and knowing what to do, I nodded. Then, I activated the power of the Kuwagata medal as electricity flowed from the horns on my head to the wires on the ground connecting to a cable going to the bell and to the inside of the temple. Now I have an idea of how it felt when Eiji first used this power, but I was able to stand up and hold the henshined state longer than he did.
With the device powered up and my body recovered from the shock of the power I suddenly used, Al flipped on a switch and I could here a sound from the bell that sounded like it was coming from some form of microphone.
"What? Is it the money you're after?" I heard Ed's voice come over the bell speaker. Boy was Rose surprised at this. If Ed's plan worked…
"Oh, I can get all the money I want from the offerings," Cornello spoke through the same speaker as I searched through my medal holder looking for some particular medals. Once I found them, I just decided to listen in on the conversation between cult starter and the Fullmetal alchemist.
"But you think too small," Cornello explained to Ed. "I'm making believers who would gladly throw away their very lives in my name. And why not? They believe I can ressurect them; they aren't afraid to die. …There is no greater army than those with a holy call! Mark my words, in a few years I'll following large enough to tear this country apart and rebuild it! In my name!" What Cornello didn't notice was Ed was somehow able to take his hands out of the chains they were in and put them down at his sides before sighing.
"Makes no difference to me." Ed said calmly while getting Cornello's attention.
"WHAT?" the prophet shouted angrily.
"After all, there's no REAL way of bringing people back to life, right? Once you cut me down, I'm gone for good."
"I'm afraid that's right. Even with the Philosopher's Stone I wouldn't DARE try human alchemy. I'd end up like you, and why would a king risk his life for the sake of his mindless pawns?" However, before he could continue… "W-wait a second," he noticed Ed's hands were free of the chains and that he was eating the food given to him. Ed saw Cornello's look of confusion and grinned a somewhat sheepish grin while revealing a hole in the wall behind him revealing an operating microphone. Then it hit Cornello that that thing was possibly on the entire time. He gasped upon this realization.
I heard Cornello gasp on the other end, and I knew what would possibly happen, so I covered my ears expecting the following shout to be much louder than most would expect.
"3, 2, 1…," I said counting down to the right moment, …and then…
"WHAT~!" I heard him shout over the speaker, which was quite loud by the way (I'm glad I covered my ears even under my armored helmet). "HOW LONG HAS THAT THING BEEN ON?!" If I still had my Taka head on, then I'm sure I could see the shocked looks on the faces of the townfolks' faces.
"Long enough for the mindless pawns tearing this country apart comment, I think," I heard Ed say.
"HOW DID YOU GET MY BROADCASTING EQUIPMENT?"
"Al and Hajime rigged it up. I know, you smashed them into pieces, but that was just some metal I whipped up to look like them! Pretty clever, huh?"
"NO MY CHILDREN! HE LIES; DON'T BELIEVE HIM!" That last shout was followed by several gunshots. I only assume that Ed could handle himself, but to be safe, I switched my tako medal with my cheetah medal before scanning the medals once more.
"TAKA"
"GORILA"
"CHEETAH"
"I gotta go check on him Al!" I told Al as my tako legs switched out with the cheetah legs. "Meet us down in the courtyard as soon as you can!"
"Right!" Al responded to me before I ran off at the fast speeds the cheetah medal granted me to find Ed.
After transmuting his cane into a gun once more, the smoke cleared to show Cornello that the microphone was destroyed, but Ed was no where to be seen. The false prophet was low on breathe and trying to catch it, but one quick turn and his gun barrel was sliced clean through. This was because of what Ed had done to his automail arm: transmute it so that a blade emerged from the wrist.
"Oh and by the way, I don't get my skills from a pocket watch," Ed proclaimed as he readied himself for another attack. Scared of what Ed would do next, Cornello dropped what was left of the gun and he ran off into the hallways with Edward not too far behind him.
It didn't take long for me to find Cornello, and when I did find him he was cornered by Ed and myself. Yet, just when I was ready to strike, as strange Rhino humanoid tackle me. What struck out to me was that this creep had strange red discs on various spots on his body, and I could somehow hear the sounds of medals building up in him.
"WHAT THE? A YUMMY?" I shouted in shock. Ed and Cornello looked confused for a moment, but Cornello soon got a grin on his face when he saw that I was starting to struggle against it. This gave Cornello the chance to escape. "ED! GO AFTER CORNELLO! I'LL TAKE CARE OF THIS CREEP!" I shouted to Ed, who simply nodded and rushed off after Cornello. At that point, I was struggling against the creature big time. Now I see why Eiji had so much difficulty fighting one of these things. Quickly thinking that a full combo use would be eminent, I reached for where I stored my medals without my actually holder (that cylinder thing on my hip that held several medals whether they were cell or core), and grabbed my tora medal. Yet, before I could grab the other one, the Rhino yummy charged at me as I was forced to close that case on my hip up and switched out my gorilla medal with the tora medal and scanned them once more.
"TAKA"
"TORA"
"CHEETAH"
With the medals now merged and the tora arms replacing the gorilla arms I had a moment before, I activated the tora claws and started slashing at the rhino. Then, with the yummy somehow dazed enough, I rushed off shoving the beast towards where Cornello ran off to.
By the time Cornello exited the temple, he stopped by the statue of Leto in front of the temple and stared in shock at the crowds that actually came to complain about what happened. Even Cray was confused by all of this as he asked Cornello what the meaning of the broadcast was. After he managed to calm himself down, the false prophet attempted to get back into favor with the people.
"My children!" he started, "A non-believer has used a science to impersonate me! It is a conspiracy of the devil! But witness as the Great Leto redeems me with his vengeful light!" The crowd just stood there confused unsure of what to do until, "BEHOLD! GOD'S POWER~!" Cornello then used the Philosopher's Stone to make the statues of Leto nearby come to life and obey his command once again. Suddenly, he also heard another sound come from behind him.
All I could do now was get launched outside by the yummy and looking pathetic while doing it. I then turned to see the creature walk up to Cornello confidentally and kneel at his feet, but I also saw Ed rush off towards me to see if I was ok, which I confirmed to him that I was. That was a partial lie. While I was still able to fight, the armor only lessened the pain that would normally be inflicted on me and I still had some mild bruises from the impacts the yummy gave me.
"Now my children, do not be afraid!" Cornello proclaimed. "I summoned this creature, and it is willingly to serve us all for the will of Leto!"
"That is not something that can be controlled you bastard!" Did that word just cross my lips? I swear I'm gonna was my mouth out with soap the next time I use that word. Anyway, if I remember OOO correctly, then no human soul could control a yummy; only the Greeed could. Ignoring that, I saw Ed give me a hand, which I accepted, and helped me up to my feet.
"I have no idea if what he says is true or not, but I'm not taking any chances! So I warning you: give it up!" Ed said basically supporting me without knowing what would soon happen.
"Hmph! You didn't fool me with that little display down there," Cornello said to Ed as he pulled out some kind of silver pocket watch, which I could only assume was actually Ed's. "Without this pocket watch, the only alchemy you can perform is to your own metal arm!" Now I could tell Ed was determined to prove him wrong from the look in his eyes. "And you, why do even bother taunting me with those medals in that belt of yours. The only armor variations you can appear to use are those that have medals with a minimum total of two different colors." Boy did I wish to prove him wrong know too. Ed wanted to go first, but I placed my arm in front of him signaling to him that I wanted to try something and I wanted to disprove him first. Ed just nodded giving me the ok, and I stepped forward while removing the remaining yellow medal for something I needed to use for what I'm hoping for.
"Know what?" I asked Cornello sarcastically. "You're not the only one who can't stand doubters preach!" With that, I revealed my third yellow medal, the Lion head medal. I then replaced the Kuwagata medal in my driver with this one before tilting the driver back. I know using a full combo is extremely risky, but I needed to prove this guy wrong, big time. That and I needed to take out the yummy before things got too out of hand.
The people observing this could only stare in awe at what they witnessed. They could see Hajime in OOO's armor scan the items in his belt before holding up to his heart before holographic images of his medals surrounded him before stopping at the yellow medals in front of him. While this happened, something was announced on his belt.
"LION"
"TORA"
"CHEETAH"
"RATA RATA RATORATAR!"
(Insert Ride on Right Time!/Ratoratar's Theme)
The three medals then merged to crash into his chest, and his armor changed once more. While his leg armor still resembled a cheetah, and his torso armor remained similar to a tiger to a degree, his helmet changed in design. While the eye piece color changed to blue, the green beetle design on Hajime's helmet soon changed to resemble a lion's head. While he had a black mouth piece with parts to resemble a lion's muzzle, the rest of it changed to look like a lion's golden mane.
With that, OOO tensed up and howled out as the people around him could literally feel the power emitting from him. They also covered their eyes and ears as the scream nearly deafened the people and the light that seemed to glow from his helmet seemed to blind them to. It was also obvious that the Rhino yummy was weakened by this light.
I lowered my light's intensity and heat so that I could give a fair chance to my target. Now I knew why Eiji would scream like he did when he first used a full combo. But this was kind of a pain to just take it so easy. Wait! What's going on here? I need to focus on that yummy! Although I feel that it is a big pain to deal with this creature since he'd only release one cell medal, but I suppose it would be worth it to handle it now. I ran right past the yummy and then slashed him with my tora claws, and I could see that I easily knocked him over next to that short whimp Ed. Who seemed even more amazed at my power.
"Well, that seems too easy. …I guess I better end this fast." I then jumped down and ran around the rhino freak in circles making it dizzy in the process. Once I assumed it was enough, I slashed the Rhino yummy rapidly before it fell on the ground once more. It was almost too easy, but the sooner the better. Then I grabbed my scanner and I was ready to strike him out. I then scanned all of my medals again.
"SCANNING CHARGE!"
With that, three yellow rings appeared in between me and my target. I rushed through the rings as golden yellow auras of the cats my medals were based after as I passed through each one. As I went through the rings, my speed increased enough to get through the rings even faster than normally, then my claws emitted an even brighter aura, before my intense hot light from my lion head blasted increased to a degree where normal targets would be blinded instantly, but I milded it down for the sake of the citizens nearby, …what a shame. Ignoring that, as I passed through the final ring and the above effects took affect, I sliced through my target with ease.
Those watching this spectacle only saw bright light before they heard an explosion before the light died down and all that could be seen was smoke before that too soon faded and all that could be seen of the creature as a small medal that came falling from the explosion and landed in Hajime's hands.
(End song)
Ed knew something was slightly wrong with Hajime when he used those yellow medals altogether. It was almost as if he was acting …lazy and almost didn't care about the battle. In fact, he almost could've sworn he saw what looked like a feline monster take his place acting lazy in place of OOO during the fight. Yet, he turned back to Cornello and prepared himself for something. The Fullmetal Alchemist then clapped his hands and placed his real hand on the ground as blue electrical energy began to zap up from the ground. The energy then entered the temple and came into contact with the largest of the Leto statues in the desert city.
"Now that you've seen the power of desire take over that beast you had, here's the REAL hammer of God!" Ed shouted while OOO, still in Ratoratah form, was resting lazily on the ground. At that moment, everyone in the area, minus OOO but including Cornello, stood shocked at what they saw. The largest statue in the city had come alive and was following the mental commands of the blonde child with the metal arm.
"I don't believe it," Cornello spoke with mere awe in his voice. "Not even the Philsopher's Stone can move something as big as that!" Again, minus Ed, Al (who was looking on from the crowd with Rose), and OOO, everyone just stood in awe at this massive power that Ed wielded.
"Rings and watches have nothing to do with it," Al explained to Rose proudly. "MY brother's the Fullmetal Alchemist!"
"Wow," OOO said sarcastically but with a hint of honesty in his voice, "I'm impressed, and that's saying something." With that, the giant statue was about to punch down on Cornello who was screaming like crazy. The only thing was, the larger statue punched the smaller one that was controlled by Cornello.
After seeing this feat, Cornello simply collapsed down to his knees in amazement and near defeat. Shortly though, when Ed demanded the stone once more, Cornello attempted to make a run for it only to be stopped by OOO. Then, suddenly, Cornello experienced the twisted and painful recoil of the stone. Even OOO had to admit it was gross seeing that machinery emerge from Cornello's pulsing and swelling left arm. Then, Ed saw the stone on Cornello's ring actually break, proving the entire time that it was a fact.
"Man, how troublesome," I said. "All that work you guys did and the results led to a fake." Although it was a pain, I decided to switch my driver to it's horizontal pose canceling my transformation. Yet with the power leaving me so fast, I passed out.
When I awoke, Al had me dangling over his shoulders with one hand while carrying my medal holder in the other.
"Well, look who's finally up," Al pointed out.
"Ugh, wha-what happened?" I asked.
"Not much," Ed announced, "Thanks to you, though, we proved Cornello wrong big time. Now the people of Lior are able to fend for themselves and follow their own path. As for you, you seemed to in personality when you used all three of those yellow medals."
"Really?"
"Yea. Say, are you ever gonna explain how those medals work?"
"As soon as Al puts me down, and as soon as you tell me more about your adventures before that desert town. You know, why your bodies got into their current states, how you became a State Alchemist, and what made you go to Lior in the first place …shorty." When I mentioned the first part, Al put me down right away, but I said the last part about Ed's height as a joke. He once again took it literal as I grabbed my medal holder, gave Al my bag, and headed for the hills with Ed on my tail screaming bloody murder that he'd kill me for saying that. Of course Al was behind him trying to calm him down too. Now despite these incidents, I have a feeling this is the start of a wonderful friendship the start of a series of many adventures, but also the path to solve other mysteries like why I acted the way Ed described as I used the three yellow medals. Maybe I should just stick to having the full combos being a last resort after all. Oh well, I'm just wondering if I'll ever get home.
Kimi no te de kirisaite Tooi hi no kioku wo
*The scene shifts to scanning Ed's automail arm from the joint connecting it to the shoulder while it was surrounded by both core and cell medals before changing to the image of a glowing transmutation circle*
Kanashimi no iki no ne wo tometekure yo
*The scene cuts to Ed, Al, and Hajime's silhouettes looking off onto a small town with many fields before showing a close up of their faces. A few seconds of this, and Hajime nods to Ed who then turns and hold out his automail arm before clenching his fist.*
Saa Ai ni kogareta mune wo tsuranuke
*It cuts to a zooming out to see the State alchemist symbol from East City before it flashed revealing the title of the story in front of a transmutation circle*
Asu ga kuru hazu no sora wo mite Mayou bakari no kokoro moteamashiteru
*The scene changes to a birdseye view of the trio standing on the edge of a tower staring off into the sunset, which shifts to a panning close up of the trio then a view of the sunset from the town they were in*
Katawara no tori ga habataita Doko ka hikari wo mitsukerareta no ka na
*The scene then shifts to Hikari nudging Winry awake from her slumber. It quickly changes to getting a better view of Winry's room before we get another look at the girls staring out the window before smiles emerged on their faces*
Naa Omae no se ni ore mo nosetekurenai ka?
*After a quick pan of the countryside, we see the Elrics inside a train car staring out of it with Hajime polishing his medals once more*
Soshite ichiban takai toko de okizari ni shite yasashisa kara toozakete
*It then cuts to Hajime sitting in a spot not too far from the Elrics talking to "ghosts" of the five most well-known greeed as well as even more transparent images of some other greeed that have yet to be introduced. It cuts to Colonel Mustang, Hughes, and Hawkeye walking towards the screen with other State Military officers, which quickly changes to Trisha Elrics falling and fainting, before another scene change occurred showing Gluttony, Envy, and Lust*
Kimi no te de kirisaite Tooi hi no kioku wo
*It cuts to a rotating scene of the Elrics and Hajime surrounded by goons with swords and guns as well as several yummies before Hajime henshins into OOO and Ed transmutates a blade from his automail arm followed by Al transmutating the ground to launch Ed and OOO into the air with OOO executing his scanning charge while slashes down with his armblade*
Kanashimi no iki no ne wo tometekure yo
*The scene changes again to a desert wasteland with Sacr walking slowly towards the camera before the image blurs and zooms in on Scar's face looking as stern and cold as ever.*
Saa Ai ni kogareta mune wo tsuranuke
*The scene shifts to Ed clapping his hands before creating a green glowing transmutation circle in the ground with just the resulting electricity before it changes to the Elrics, Winry, Hikari, the "ghosts" of the greeed and Hajime standing in front of a stone image of another transmutation circle*
Hajime: Fullmetal Kamen Rider OOO Part 1
Ed: Chapter 3-Phantom Thief
Al: Hey brother, do you or Hajime feel like you thought you knew someone and don't know whether or not they're good or bad?
Ed: …I think so. Still, those medals are almost too powerful to use.
Hajime: I know, I nearly lost control with that last combo back in Lior.
Al: You have a lot of explaining to do Hajime.
Ed: Yea, totally, but during the time between now and that chapter, we'll tell you our story in more detail as long as you hold up your end of the bargain, ok?
Hajime: No problem. All of this and more next time on Fullmetal Kamen Rider OOO.
KKD: And there you have it. There's the updated versions of my first story's chapters. And now for the news I said I'd give about the next chapter. Those ideas some of you guys sent me, I'm gonna bring some of the OC Greeed into it. As for which ones, you'll have to wait and find out, plus they are a part of the reason why I had to extend the episode amongst two parts so I can make it easier on myself. So you'll have to wait to find out who it'll be, but I trust you that you won't be disappointed. Also, that will be the real update to this Update Sunday, and with that, I'll have to remind you guys that if you never reviewed this chapter, please do here first if you already reviewed the first one, and THEN go on to the next chapter. I'll see you guys in the next chapter.