The Multiverse Team

Chapter 3

Edward was angry. Really angry.

But it really made sense, in a way.

He'd been through too much for his life to return to normal. He shouldn't have been so surprised when he found himself in a space almost exactly like the Gateway of Truth.

And now he was sitting in a strange building with strange people, both the blue-skins and the other guys, with absolutely no idea on what to do.

He could escape, if he wanted to. He could tell he had the ability to use alchemy again. The only problem was, he had no idea what he would do when he was free.

Why couldn't that voice drop them somewhere that he had been before?

He was so angry, he didn't notice the Soul Reaper standing outside his cell for the past five minutes until he cleared his throat in a very deliberate way, causing Ed to jump about two feet off the floor.

When he had recovered his composure, he noticed that his captors weren't even taking notice of Ichigo.

"Hey, are you invisible or something?"

Ichigo sighed and muttered something about answering that question already. "Have you been paying attention at all to what I've been doing out here?"

Ed opened his mouth to reply, but found he had no answer.

Ichigo sighed again. "I just sabotaged your cell so that it can be opened from the inside. I did the same thing to everyone else's."

Ed started pacing. "Yeah, but what's the point? It's not like we know where to go once we're free."

Ichigo smiled. "Actually, it turns out we landed somewhere in Ben's universe, so he knows where we're going. Apparently, the people here have figured out how to space travel, and there are several billion other races out there. This race is called the Chiss. And I'd say he knows his way around pretty well, given that he knows exactly how these cells work."

Ed stopped and glared at Ichigo. "Then why haven't we gotten out of here yet?"

Ichigo leaned on the glass. "We have to wait for a guard change. I may be invisible, but you are not, and neither is my body."

Ed blinked. "Your body?"

"Never mind that now. So what does this alchemy of yours do?"

"Huh? Why do you need to know that?"

Ichigo shrugged. "Ben wants to know exactly what everyone can do. Apparently, he' s trying to decide what we can use to get out of here."

Evidently, this isn't the first time that guy has had to escape a prison, Ed thought. He knows exactly what to do. And given the fact that Ichigo's going along with it, I'd say it's not his first time, either.

"Fine. Alchemy allows me to transmute anything I can touch, even change the elemental composition. In other words, I could build a wall here in a split second."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "So in other words, I really didn't need to sabotage your cell."

It was Ed's turn to shrug. "Not really, but it does make things easier."

The Soul Reaper opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by another voice. "Ichigo, they're all leaving!" A second later, a plush lion toy came running into Ed's view. "All the doctors and guards, they're leaving!"

"So soon?" Ichigo said, looking at the toy like he didn't believe him. "Are you sure about that, Kon?"

"Uh, sorry to break up the chat," Ed said. "But what is that?"

"Oh, Kon?" Ichigo said, looking back at the alchemist. "He's a Mod Soul. That's just the body he's inhabiting at the moment."

"You mean like a ghost?" Ed asked, intrigued.

"No, 'cause he's not a real soul. He was created, and never really had a body to begin with."

Still sounds like a ghost to me, Ed thought. He wondered what exactly Ichigo did on a day-to-day basis to make him talk about ghosts and souls like they were a common occurrence. But what really had him shaken was that Ichigo just said Kon's soul was created. According to the laws of alchemy, that was impossible!

"So, anyway, you might as well know that we're going to have to drag Kajin and Natsu out of here. Apparently, the Chiss decided they were better handled under sedatives. They're both taking a long walk through dreamland right now." Ichigo turned away, but not before Ed saw the corners of his mouth curve up in a small smile. He's almost enjoying this. "Better hurry and get out of there, 'cause I'd rather not wait for who knows how long for the next break."

He started walking towards one of the other cells, Ed couldn't see who's, Kon crawling onto his shoulder along the way. One thing's for sure, this guy's possibly stranger than anyone else here. I mean, seriously, souls don't just occur on a daily basis, let alone get created. Makes me wonder just how crazy everything else in his world is.

Ed approached the door, clapped his hands together, and pressed gently on the transparent door. It shattered with no effort at all. A second later, he heard another door shatter, and looked over in time to see Ichigo place a now bandage-wrapped, over-sized sword on his back and stepping through a now pulverized doorway. This was contrasted by a door on Ed's other side sliding open, and Ben stepping out with hardly any noise at all.

Ben simply acknowledged Ed with a small bow of his head, before heading towards where Ichigo was dragging out the pink-haired boy, Natsu. Ed followed. "So I hear that your our ticket outa here, then?"

Ben shrugged. "Hopefully. It really depends on if Chiss starships have the same controls as Alliance ships. If we can get to a spaceport and out of the atmosphere, then I'll have a better idea of where we should go."

Ed had to admit, he was more than a little confused. But at the moment, he didn't have much choice in the matter, so he decided to go along with it for now. Ichigo drew his sword again (could it even still be called a sword, when it was as tall as the guy himself?), and smashed the last cell door.