Q and Yoyo

Rei crept down the street, keeping alert for any sound or movement. At the edges of her beam of light she noticed nervous faces in some of the windows she passed. "This thing has been terrorizing them for some time, it would seem."

"Don't shoot me," Rei reminded Ace as they neared a crossroads.

"I have master aim," Ace said. He could see the faces and could tell they were not looking hopeful at the two of them.

In that moment Ace heard what sounded like running from directly behind him and he spun around with the gun.

Rei heard the footsteps and turned. She aimed the flashlight in the direction she heard them come from. She was not quick enough because all she saw was the shadow of someone running between two of the houses. She quickly took off in pursuit.

Ace followed the girl and the flashlight. He was a bit surprised how fast Rei was but he kept up with her anyway. The being they were following slipped between house after house and he was amazed at how well Rei was at keeping a bead on it. However as soon as he thought he could get a shot off, he was going to take it.

Rei plowed on with determination fueled by anger. She tailed the figure closely, wishing it would stop or reach a dead end. She noticed that the houses were beginning to be spaced farther apart meaning they were getting close to the edge of town. It was not long before they reached the fields just beyond the town.

The creature stopped and turned to face them, catching Rei off-guard and causing her to stop short.

Ace held his gun out and kept it trained on the humanlike beast they were chasing. "Yo, Rei," Ace said. "Do you think we just ran into a trap?"

Ace kept his eyes moving around the field. Whatever was going on, he knew that they hadn't chased it out here by accident.

The creature seemed to grow, suddenly. The long cloak it wore became even darker and ragged, becoming longer with the body. She could have sworn that it was becoming foggy, though she could not tell in the near darkness. Red eyes appeared in the cowl and she thought she heard a low chuckle.

"Yup, looks like it," Rei finally replied, voice wavering slightly.

Ace's hands were trembling. He wanted to shoot it but he couldn't tell what would happen if he did.

"What do we do?" Ace said as he watched the dark being. In that moment it shook its head and let out the same scream they'd been hearing all night.

As the creature screamed, so did Rei. She pointed her knife at the dark form ahead of her and activated the alchemy symbols etched into her automail. Lightning flashed forward along a surprisingly straight line, striking the thing in the chest. It staggered backward--more like bobbed--then came to stand straight again. It seemed hardly phased by the attack.

Ace took his cue and ran out in a circle around the creature away from Rei firing a string of bullets. He knew they stood a better chance if they were able to hit it from both sides. Each bullet struck the creature and caused its head to shake, but it immediately straightened up again.

"Well, that's not really working," Ace thought. He had limited weapons he could use with him and there wasn't much he could do in the field, either.

Rei continued to fire as much lighting into the monster as she could, but it was completely unaffected. It finally seemed to have had enough and raised an arm. No hand could be seen under the ragged robes it wore, but that hardly mattered when it swept its arm at Rei. It slammed into her, knocking the wind out of her and sending her flying several yard to the side. She hit the ground hard and gasping for breath.

Ace's eyes widened as he saw its arm stretch and smash Rei into the ground. "Shoot," Ace said. This thing was powerful, whatever it was. He needed to think of something fast.

He drew a transmutation circle on the ground with his foot and he dropped all the metals he had in his pack on it. Hopefully this would work.

Rei scrambled to her feet as quickly as she could. Her side hurt incredibly, but she was fairly certain there were no broken ribs, though another hit like that would definitely break at least a few. She fired another bolt at the monster and walked in a wide arc around it, watching for anything that might be a weak point. She had lost the flashlight Ace had made when she had been hit, so it was a difficult task.

Ace transmuted the metals together and smiled to himself. "If this works," he thought as he picked the metal off the ground.

Ace had felt the attack while his world flipped upside down. He slammed into the ground and felt his body ache. "Oh gosh," he thought.

The monster attacked again, this time aiming for Ace. Rei used the opportunity to run in and stab the monster with her knife. It seemed to dislike that, though, and released a powerful wave of....something. It knocked her to the ground, sending her skidding across the ground until she was back to where she had begun her run from.

"Stupid stupid thing."

Ace crawled back to his feet and felt dizzy. Geez. He wondered over back to the spot where he had transmuted the objects. The only problem was he had no idea where that was. Frick. He stumbled around in the dark looking for it. "Here, bomb bomb bomb," he said.

Rei got back to her feet again. She would be sore in the morning, but she knew they needed to get rid of this thing now.

"That's right, Ace is here somewhere, too," she remembered. She looked for him briefly, but gave up the search due to the darkness. "What the heck are we supposed to do against this guy?"

Ace still hadn't found the bomb as he crawled through the darkness. A moment later he looked up and realized the monster was standing directly in front of him.

"Well, howdy," Ace said.

No real ideas coming to mind as to how to defeat the monster, Rei shot lightning at the monster. In the flash, she saw Ace and nearly slapped herself in the forehead. "Idiot, don't get that close..."

Ace saw the Monster turn its head and the red eyes look toward Yoyo. In that moment Ace jumped to his feet and ran away. He felt a force hit his back and he hit the ground in pain. "Great," he grumbled.

[ *Rei ]

Rei saw Ace run, but now had to deal with the monster herself. She ran away from the monster, just out of reach as it swept its arm at her again. "Why won't you just die?"

Ace looked down on what he landed on and smiled. "What luck, I fell ontop of my bomb and it didn't go off. That makes me wonder if it will go off," he said as he picked it up.

"Run away, Rei!"

'Run away, Rei!'

"If I survive this, I'll have to go to a mental hospital," Rei thought as she ran from the monster. She had no idea what Ace had in mind, but whatever it was, she did not want to be anywhere near by when it happened.

Ace picked up the bomb and pulled his arm back. He couldn't really see Rei but he figured she had gotten away. The red eyes sat in the middle of the field and he could see they were staring at him. "Well, here we go," Ace said as he threw the bomb at it.

There was a bright flash and a soft popping sound. Rei turned and saw that there was now a fire surrounding the large cloaked being. It seemed to be annoyed by it, but did not flail like one who was on fire normally did. "At least we can see it," she muttered, going back to the fight, lightning leading the way.