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“No way. Absolutely not. Nuh-uh”

“Come on Mike! Just for an hour!”

“Yeah, an hour of Hell!”

“It’ll be fun!”

“Are you nuts!? The salt will make my automail rust and I’ll get Fenrir’s seat all wet, not to mention my hair will go nuts!”

Since summer started the weather was quite warm, so the Nagakuras, Teresa, Cassie, and myself headed to the beach. The breeze was cool and the sand was warm on our feet. My beachwear consisted of a sleeveless shirt, shorts, two wristbands, sandals, and my favorite pair of sunglasses. Teresa wore longer shorts to hide her automail leg a little bit, while Cassie just wore a bathing suit. Werewolves were apparently more fond of water than I had thought. I’d never admit it to Cassie’s face, but she would probably smell like a wet dog after being in the water. After a little fun in the sun, the Nagakuras slipped into their bathing suits. Now they wanted me to do the same.

“Go, have fun. Let me chill right here.” I said putting my sunglasses down and sitting in a beach chair.

“Oh come on!” they whined in synchronization. It was hard to resist, but I motioned for them to leave. There was a pause when I felt tension. The light suddenly faded, and before I could move my glasses up, the Nagakuras seized by arms and legs before starting to carry me towards the water.

I slammed the panic button down and began pleading and begging them while I tried to wiggle out of their grasps. It was useless. When the Nagakuras wanted something, they always get it, one way or another. But I wasn’t about to give in. I was NOT about to get wet. I managed to get my right leg loose and planted it into the ground firmly. With one motion I pitched Miome into the air with my left arm. I spun out of Mayuno’s grasp and ran like Hell towards Miome. I leapt up and caught her, landing in a slide to decrease the shock. Now although she was both in a bikini and my arms she had just tried to get my clothes and hair wet.

“Thank you for flying DarkFire airlines! We hope you enjoyed your trip!” I said in a hurry. I dropped her like a rock before bolting as fast as I could in the other direction, kicking up a lot of sand in the process.

"MICHAEL!!!" I looked back to see them shaking their fists in synchronization and in the same pose. I waved back at them with a smile. Miome cracked a smile and I instantly knew I was off the hook. They'd never get me in the water.

After relocating to another beach chair farther down the beach, I sat back and relaxed. I was a few feet away from Teresa, who was building a giant sand castle. She was putting all sorts of detail into it, from the separate sections of the drawbridge to a few etches to show it was bricks. Even the towers had what looked like shingles etched into it! I watched her carefully. I knew that to make a bridge that didn't touch the ground and had that much detail, you'd need a lot more than a pail, shovel, and water. Sure enough, I saw a flash of light and knew she was using alchemy.

"You knew that's cheating." I said as I put my hands behind my head and my sunglasses went down.

"Still, you have to know what you want to be done on it right?" she shot back. It was technically true, you did have to know what you wanted the outcome to look like before transmuting.

"True...I guess it is easy to draw a transmutation circle in the sand. Just don’t enter a contest or you'll be disqualified.”

“Loosen up a little Mike,” she said as she stopped and gave me a glare, “it’s just for fun, jeeze.”

“Sorry T., I just had a water scare. It looks really awesome, trust me.”

“Thanks.” she said as she got back to work. I just put my hands behind my head and relaxed. My mind turned back to Sean. Now would be a good time to attack me, but he was no where in sight. Then again, with his shape shifting powers, I guess he could be anywhere. A gorgeous young woman was walking past me, her skin glistening in the light. I pulled my glasses down and looked at her, trying to see if she was staring at me. I just wanted to make sure she was human. She saw me and stormed off with a disgusted look.

“Smooth DFA, you really have a way with the ladies.” I muttered to myself as I put my glasses back up and lowered my head.

“Did you say something?” Teresa asked, looking up.

“No, nothing…never mind.” I closed my eyes and started to fall asleep. The air was pretty warm, and the sun on my black clothes were really starting to make me hot. I thought about going in the water for about two seconds before I shook my head. Not a chance in Hell. I was dozing off when I heard people talking near us.

“What’s going on out there?”

“Oh my god, look at that!” My ears twitched to pick up sounds that seemed to be farther off, trying to figure out what they were talking about. That’s when I heard a huge crashing sound. I tore my glasses off and threw them in the sand as I leapt up. There was a boat about a mile or two out with a pillar of smoke rising from it. I saw something dive into the water, but I didn’t know if it was a shark or something else.

“Mike!” Teresa shouted. I looked over to see her standing next to me, pointing at her watch.

“Yeah, let’s do it!” She quickly drew a transmutation circle in the sand while I transmuted my clothes into a bathing suit and looked at myself in disgust. “Damnit Mayuno and Miome, I guess you’re getting your wish.” I said as I realized I stood the strong possibility of getting wet. Teresa placed her hands on the circle and incased us in a large box of sand. I clapped my hands and used flame alchemy to turn the sand into glass. It was too thick to see clearly through, but people could tell there were two people inside. We put our space armors on and with one quick swing, the glass shattered, revealing Zero and Milky Way. “Let’s rock!”

Teresa took off immediately into the air, causing a good deal of sand to be sent airborne and creating a sort of smokescreen. I burst out of it in a run, finding difficulty in moving quickly on sand. I hit the water and leapt upwards with the help of my boosters. I put them to full power and coasted along the surface of the water. I flew past a buoy that signaled the no wake zone. The bell must have rung six times because I caused it to go completely horizontally. By the time I got closer to the boat, I was aware of two people in the water, signaling for help.

“Teresa, you get the people in the boat back to land, I’ll help these people.” I said over our communication link.

“Gotcha!” I watched her land in the thick smoke and flew closer to the two people in the water. If I was submerged, I wouldn’t be able to get back out, so I had to give my boosters more power as soon as I grabbed them. The problem was that they were pretty tired already and barely above the surface. I turned off the boosters on my feet and diverted all power to my Pod on my back. It had enough power to send me into space if I needed it to, but the suit itself didn’t have enough power to do that. I hovered above the two swimmers, a young girl and what looked like her father.

“Grab my legs and I’ll pull you into my arms!” I shouted as I hovered closer to them.

“Please…” the girl said as she struggled to stay afloat, “help my…dad first…Zero!”

“I’ll help you both at the same time! Just grab my legs!” The father grabbed my foot but slipped off. I drove my foot into the water and hooked him under his armpit, forcefully bringing him out of the water and grabbing his wrist. I held him in my arms as the girl grabbed my leg. I brought both of them out of the water completely and held onto them tightly. It would be hard to get them back to shore quickly for medical attention, as the suit was only meant to support my weight in midair. I couldn’t fly straight forward, and had to go at an angle so I could fly straight. Also, holding a middle-aged man and his nineteen year old daughter was no easy task for a seventeen year old. The man’s legs were farther down than my own, and both of them left me little room to breath or maneuver.

“What happened to your boat anyways?” I asked as I hovered while adjusting my boosters’ power.

“Something…hit it.” the man said. He was clearly exhausted.

“Hit the boat? What was it?”

“It looked like a big laser.” the girl replied. A laser hit the boat? What the Hell would have a laser on it, and why would it target the boat. I looked back a the boat. Teresa was hovering over it trying to see the damage done to the engine. That’s when I saw a big orange orb under the water. That’s when I realized that the laser was aimed at me now. I whipped around right as the laser slammed into my back, instantly sending me flying. The force was so great I dropped the father and daughter. I regained my sense of direction and grabbed both of their hands. I flew over to the boat and set them down in it with two other passengers. I turned around to see a robot float out of the water, flames from it’s aerial boosters on all sides of it’s shins. It was bulky and huge, but the huge cannon on it’s right arm gave one helluva punch.

“Ha ha ha, well if it isn’t Zero! Pleasure to meet you.” a voice called from within the machine. It was a voice I recognized. It was Sean’s.

“Damnit! It’s a setup!” I looked at the people in the boat, all of their faces fearful. “Teresa, get them the Hell out of here!”

“How, I can’t carry them all!?”

“Push the boat back to shore. I’ll handle this joker.” I jumped off the ship and hovered ten feet away from Sean, using my boosters on my feet to give me more balance and mobility. “What are you doing here? Why did you attack these innocent people!?”

“Well, Zero is kind of touchy today. That time of the month?”

“Shut up Sean! This isn’t a game! You could have killed those people!”

“I could have!?” he said as he motioned in shock, “Damnit, if I had known that I could have racked up a body count.” I went to draw my sword when he cannon flashed down right at my head. “Uh uh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

“Why not? I’ve tasted your cannon once already. It’s like instant eggs.” I said as I gave him a thumbs down. He was stunned for a moment. I should have been showing fear after the last time we had met. I was almost killed by him, but I had no clue what to expect from his attacks. Now I knew just what I was doing thanks to Edward. And after fighting Omega so long ago and playing superhero in my Ray armor, I was sure I could beat his suit. After all, I had more experience them him. He could have only had his suit for a month or two.

“Maybe, but I’m sure it’ll tear straight through someone that doesn’t have armor and a shield.” His cannon turned towards the boat.

“Don’t you dare-”

“You can’t tell me what to do!” His cannon began charging. I knew he’d fire before I could stop him, but I had a better plan. I pointed behind him and shouted “NOW MILKY WAY!” Sure enough, he turned around to avoid a non-existent ambush, only to turn back around and get a punch to the face. He bent backwards, but then snapped back and head butt me. I flew back a couple of feet only to face him and his charged cannon. He fired a huge beam at me, but I managed to divert the beam in two with my Z-Saber. He threw his fist forward and fired little energy pellets at me. I blocked a few with my blade as I dodged the rest and flew right under him. As I came up I put my head between his legs and grabbed them as I flew straight up, causing him to go completely upside-down. His own boosters thrust him into the water.

“Teresa, go now!” I said over our communication link. She began to push the boat back towards the shore as I hovered over the spot where Sean had submerged. A minute passed. Then a second one. I knew he was still down there, so I summoned my Rayfall gun and began to fire into the water in a circular pattern, hoping to drive him out. It worked, but he came up behind me and brought his cannon down on my head, sending me into the deep. My boosters weren’t tuned to water, so there was no way to propel myself forward or upward but with my own hands and feet. The suit however still had quite a bit of weight to it, so it pulled me down to the bottom of the sea. I started to walk towards the shore when a laser pierced the water right in front of me and blew a hole in the ground. I looked up to see a red dot above me. He had locked onto me and was toying with me. I turned my pistol upward and fired at him. The water slowed the bullets down quite a bit, so he was able to counter them with his palm, using his energy to counteract and cancel my own. He charged his cannon and fired another shot, this one much wider. It completely engulfed my body and took a lot of energy out of my shields. I had to destroy his lock on ability. I pulled my Z-Saber above my head and fired some energy bullets into it. The energies created a huge flash, and I was sure I had blinded him temporarily. I had to get to the surface. That was when I got an idea.

I powered my suit down and thrust my right arm into the sand to keep myself at the bottom. I waited for a moment for him to dive in, but he didn’t. He was probably trying to find me with his lock on ability. I started to run out of breath when he finally dove in. I hid in some seaweed as he landed on the ground. I powered my suit on and charged him. He went to take off towards the surface when I grabbed his cannon. As he broke the surface I came out with him, my sword slamming into his cannon. It was tearing away his shields when he grabbed me and tried to pitch me back underwater. I diverted all energy to the boosters on my feet, causing the water to form a crater where I was pushing against it, and sped towards Sean. Before he had time to counter my attack I had smashed into his cannon with my shoulder and tore it straight off. His suit put a plate over where the connecting piece for the cannon had been severed, and he whiped around to face me. He had gained much more speed now.

He dashed right for me, blinded by his hate. I grabbed the small end of the cannon and wound up, cracking him right in his shoulder just before he slammed into me, he flew into the water and sped along it’s surface on his back before taking back off into the air.

“A line drive! He’s rounding first base!” I said as I took off for the shore.

“The second baseman pegs him off!” He thrust his left arm back and shot a huge energy ball forward. I dodged it but dropped the cannon in the line of fire. The shell of it melted since it had no shielding to protect it and was rendered unusable. With that done I pitched it into the sea, laughing at Sean as he gasped in shock of what he had done.

“Bravo, it takes skill to suck as much as you do.” I said as I clapped my hands. I was purposefully egging him on. When he charged in anger, he left himself wide open. I guessed that as a homunculi, he didn’t think was he was full of rage. Still, I had to plan my next move three steps ahead just in case he got lucky.

Sure enough he charged me at full speed. A speed that was faster than my own. I dodged him and watched as he made a wide arc back towards me. He must have had the suit for a month at least to be able to fly and fight that well in it, but his mobility was crap when he was at full speed. This time though he swung his legs out right as I tried to dodge him, slamming his feet square into my chest and sending me skyward. I was wide open for an attack, and he took it, shooting energy pellets out of both of his palms and wearing my shield down quite a bit. I back flipped and held my pistol forward and shot him directly in his palm. My energy bullets fired faster than his pellets, but it took two to take out one pellet since he was more powerful. Still, I managed to push them back till I stuck his hand and shorted out his right hand. He pulled it back and switched all power to his left hand, this time instead of firing straight ahead, he had the pellets go into a spray fire. They were firing faster and in all directions, but I managed to spin through them and charge Sean like he had done to me.

I smashed into his chest with mine to knock his guard down. He went to punch me but I kicked his arm away and spun him with the same kick. I punched him under his ribs when I saw his left hand glow. He slammed it onto my shoulder and fired out a huge energy pulse. It tore straight through my shield and set me back a few feet.

“Ha, is that the best you’ve got?” I said as I put my faceplate down to breath more.

“It’s obviously better than you HAVE.” he said as he laughed at pointed at my shoulder. I looked over to see it beginning to digitize. This was the first time my armor had actually been blown off. His energy could tear through my armor after my shields were depleted. In the corner of my visor it gave a damage report. It was still minor, but any more force could blow off the whole shoulder portion and even drain enough energy to de-digitize my suit. “You’re armor’s outdated, just like you and your ‘skills’. Even your race, all humans and mortals alike! All you deserve in life is the end.” He held his hand forward and fired another shot at me, just one. It would have blown my shoulder clean off if it made contact. At the last second I threw my hand up and swung my blade. My suit had made a change to the blade by analyzing Sean’s suit and it’s abilities. The pellet contacted the sword and shot it right back at Sean, shorting out his other hand.

“How that for outdated…” I said as I slowly looked up at him, “you God-awful MISTAKE!!!” My faceplate snapped up as I threw my sword back into it’s holster on my Pod.

“Damn you…I guess I’ll have to do it the fun way then.” Sean said as he pounded his left hand into his right.

“So be it!” I charged straight at him, making direct contact with one of his punches. It made me spin, but I used the momentum to deliver one Hell of a kick to his chest plate. He recoiled before punching me in the stomach. I retaliated by giving him a head butt. We gave each other three head butts before I stopped and gave him a double kick to the chest, my boosters igniting at the last second to burn off some of his shields.

“Ha, that’s not nearly enough to blast through my shielding!” he laughed as he brushed his chest off.

“Then maybe this will!” I had flown back up in front of him and began slamming my feet into his chest like I was running up stairs. The intense flames tore through his shields and armor. My Pod’s boosters were pushing me closer to him, so I ended up giving him a good fifty or so kicks before I finally drew my blade and slashed him in a ‘Z’ pattern, ending with a full powered diagonal slash to the right. I had so much force in the swing that I had turned myself around completely.

“What did, how did you-my armor it’s-!” He was grabbing his chest. I had burned off his skin and fried most of his muscles. I was sure he’d be dead from that attack. As I glanced over my shoulder he started laughing. I saw his muscles regenerate, his skin reform. It was disgusting, and soon he was flying in a large black suit, his bare chest completely exposed to the elements. I saw his boosters switch so he could fly away.

“Where do you think you’re going?” I said as I drew my Z-Saber again, “I let you get away from me once, I’m not doing it again.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. I let YOU go. If I had known you’d beat me in your fancy-smancy robotic suit, I would have killed you the first time I saw you. Guess I’ll have to kill you when I know I’ll win.”

“You’ll lose right now!” I said as I swung my blade. He tried to dodge it but I still cut his stomach wide open, causing blood to arch through the air.

“Cut that out!” he shouted as he began to fly away. I chased after him, but his boosters must have had a quick thrust ability, because I was just about to grab his legs when they ignited and sent me flying back into the sea. This time I hit the bottom rather quickly. I realized that all of my friends were still at the beach, and he had no objections about killing them. I started to panic. I couldn’t let them die while I walked back towards the beach in the water. I couldn’t swim in the suit, but I would never be fast enough without it on. Besides, if he flew back and I had my suit off, he’d kill me instantly. I had to do something.

I started to cry. I was a powerless kid again. My arm was gone, my friend was gone, and I was all alone. I had no where to go and was dying. I had to get help, I had to find meaning to live. And I found my friends soon after. Now I was going to lose them, the only reasons I was still alive to this day. I felt a great pain in my chest as I began to crouch down. I felt a power welling up inside of me. My suit had more power than I knew of, that was for sure, but I didn’t know that my emotions affected it’s abilities. I knew I had to fly out of the water, and I knew flames don’t burn underwater. But the suit had enough force to shoot me out. All of the power in my remaining shields and weapons was transferred to my Pod and feet. A bar on the screen showed the energy levels at two-hundred and twenty-seven percent. I leapt upwards as the thrusters on my feet and Pod overloaded with power and shot me straight out of the ocean. The power immediately reverted and balanced out again. The computer systems were shorted out for a bit, but I knew which direction to fly in and I knew I could catch Sean. I was just above the surface when my thrusters went to full power and shot me right towards land.

Sean had just made it over the shore and had repaired his right hand already. He opened fire on all the innocent people and went to grab the Nagakuras. Teresa had lined her shot up, but I had already been high in the air at that time. I swooped down like an eagle and smashed Sean straight into the sand. There was a huge crater from the impact I was sitting on his chest, slamming my fist into his face. His visor system made it look like he only had red lights for eyes and tried to make him look scary, but I slammed my hand into him so hard that it broke through his remaining shielding and cracked his visor, making him blind with it down. I went to slam my fist into him again when his suit de-digitized and I saw his face again, the face of my old best friend. I had hesitated, and he took that time to strike. His arm was already a sharp spear and he knocked off a huge portion of my torso armor. I started to open fire on him when he turned into a lion and bit down on my left arm. Electricity sparked out of it and a huge pain shot through my body. I punched him off and pulled back a bare arm.

“Your suit will shut down soon!” he said as a lion, “Everyone will learn who you are!” He was right, and if people knew I’d be a celebrity and a wanted criminal.

“Have it your way.” I slammed my fists into the ground and caused a sandstorm with my thrusters. As soon as I ripped my hands from the ground I flew over behind a snack stand and de-digitized my Ray armor. I transmuted my arm into a blade and ran towards Sean as soon as the storm died down.

“Didn’t you learn anything from last time?” he said as I smashed my blade into his hardened body.

“If you haven’t noticed,” I said as I parried two of his blows, “I’m not as scared of you as I was before. I know a weakness.” I clapped my hands together and waited for an opening.

“What are you going to do, tell your mommy I was mean?” he said in a taunting voice. That pushed me too far, so I slammed my right shoulder into his chest and slammed my left hand on his lower torso. He stumbled back and patted himself down. “Ha, nice try, but your little trick didn’t do anything.”

“Oh yeah.” I wound up and stabbed him in his left shoulder. It deflected and made him spin as well as smile. Then I aimed for the spot I had placed my hand on him and pierced him straight through his vital organs. He looked at me in shock, not sure what I did. “That was for not believing your old pal,” I said as I pulled myself closer to him. I ripped the blade out of his torso, causing more blood to spray onto the beach. “and that was for talking about my mother.”

“Damnit, how did you-”

“I’m and alchemist. I created you, I can sure as Hell destroy you.” I summoned my keyblade and went to smash it down on him when he summoned my old one and blocked it. We parried blows for a bit before he sacrificed his hand to block a blow and nailed me right on the top of my head. An extreme amount of pain shot threw me and brought me to my knees.

“This blade was forged from your darkness. It can easily defeat you, perfect for me!” he said as he slammed the blade into me a few times. I was about to go unconscious from the pain.

“Yeah…it suit you cause you could never beat me.” I sputtered out. He backhanded me with his iron hand before striking me again and knocking me out.

For a while I thought I had died. After all, he said he’d kill me the next chance he got. He could have destroyed me. I finally came too and saw Teresa in her armor, Miome, Mayuno, and Cassie standing over me.

“Am I…did he…”

“No, you’re still alive young man.” Teresa said with a smile. The Nagakuras wrapped their arms around me screaming my name and sobbing. They obviously though I had died.

“Did you-”

“No…I managed to drive him off with my weaponry, but he swore that next time we’d all be toast.” Teresa said softly. There was a crowd around us already, so I told her to go home and that I’d meet her there. I jumped on Fenrir and started to head home with Cassie behind me. She asked me what had happened out at sea and what he had said to each other, but I didn’t want to talk about it.

When I got home I went into my room and lied down on my bed. The cold pillow felt nice on my head, and the sheets were just a little chilly, feeling very nice on my beaten body. I just stared at he ceiling, the slow spinning fan just in my sight. He had stolen that keyblade on purpose. Someone had told him about what to do. Somehow he knew everything but what he was. There was one component missing from him, and I didn’t think he knew it. Then again, neither did I. But still, he had beaten me again. Even with Edwards knowledge I had failed. I knew that homunculi can sometimes change their molecular structure around so they have harder skin or can shape shift. Carbon is a hard substance, along with iron. If I had turned it into someone softer or moved the molecules around, I could turn his skin from a steel wall into a thin sheet of aluminum foil. It worked, but he could still regenerate. Ed told me of a transmutation circle that he had to be lured into to take that power away from him. I just had no time to make it during the fight. I was rash and wanted to end it quickly. Now the fight would be worse the next time since he had that armor.

A smile crept across my face. Teresa had saved me and some civilians. She finally got a good taste of what it was like to be a superhero like Zero was. She was a good friend and great partner. She’d be a huge target now, but she was still good to have around. Besides, where Sean knows me inside and out, he doesn’t know Teresa, and that will cost him dearly. For now, I’d rest and recuperate. I would tinker with my armor to make it more resistant and ‘borrow’ more technology to enhance my shielding. That cannon would be stronger next time, and I doubt I’ll be able to rip him apart like I had today. He’d probably get more equipment, better mobility, or even steal a copy of my suit. We’d be dead even then.

But I had an advantage still. My friends and DarkFire alchemy would beat him all the time, every time. I rolled over to go to sleep when my hair curled right into my face. “THIS IS WHY I DON’T GET IT WET!!!” I shouted as I exploded from the covers. Damn water…