The Power of the Medals [OPEN]

[Trey Isaka]

The scene opens to a warrior with a strange appearance combating some giant insectoid monster, with the monster so far winning the fight. The claw-like parts of the warriors arms fold downward with a glow of energy directing from his torso to his hands. The warrior charged towards the monster, letting out somewhat of a battle cry. As the warrior lept into the air and got close to the beast, the scene freezes and a voice is heard.

I know what your thinking.

• Question 1: What the heck is going on here?
  
• Question 2: Why does that guy have claws?
  
• Question 3: What the hell is that giant bug thing?!
  

Allow me to explain. But first, we'll need to rewind a bit.

The scene changes to the day during prehistoric times when the meteor wiped out the dinosaurs. The scene freezes again. Hold it! We've gone WAY too far! Fast forward to the hiking trip!

The scene changes to a young man looking over a landscape in a mountainous area. There we go. See that guy in the awesome jacket? That's me. Name's Trey. Believe it or not, all this started on this exact hiking trip. I was with Marcus, my cousin who is also a coworker of mine, and Hina, my girlfriend who was the one who talked me into going on this trip. I was resting, since I don't usually go on hikes into steep mountainous areas, Marcus was staying behind as well, trying to set up a camp, and Hina went to go see if there was anything interesting in the area, like an old building from the days of feudal Japan. I was taking in the sites while Marcus was setting up the tents when Hina got back to the camp site to tell us what she found.

"Guys, you're not gonna believe what I found!" "If its another birds nest, no thank you. You made us stop every time you saw one on our last trip." "Its not a birds nest, You guys just need to see it for yourselves." "Well, sorry, but I'm still busy setting up camp." Hina turned towards Trey and walked towards him as she said "Trey, you'll come see what I found, right?" and brushed up against him and giving him..... the "pout". That's another way this all started. I just can't say no to her when she gives me the "pout." Whenever she does it, my tongue gets tangled up and my mind goes blank. Ultimately, I could only say.... "Ok...." Hina grabbed Treys arm and pulled him toward the path Hina just came from.

After a half hour, they arrived at some kind of cavern. "This is what you found?" "No, Its whats inside the cavern that I was talking about. There's some kind of shrine in there, with these 5 creepy-looking statues on the walls. Knowing you, I thought you'd want to do some research on what's inside." "Well, now that I know there's something not yet discovered in there, you thought right!" Trey strode into the cavern with confidence.

[Trey Isaka]

I had no idea what I found in that shrine, but I can tell you right now, it was powerful.

Trey walked in front of Hina, carrying a flashlight and examining the stonework. After a couple minutes they arrived at the shrine, Trey being in awe as he witnessed the more elaborate stonework and the detail of the statues. At the back of the room was the main podium of the shrine. Upon it was an artifact that caught Treys eye.

Trey walked forward toward the shrine, which had a strangely designed belt buckle and three coins within the three slots on the buckle. He slowly and cautiously reached for the buckle, worried about whatever traps guard it. As his hands got close enough to snatch the buckle, he quickly grabbed the buckle and pulled it close to him. A single thought entered his head as he looked at the buckle. OOO Driver. That's what I thought when I examined the buckle, as if I knew what its called, but not how.

Hina looked at Trey in confusion. "Trey, are you alright?" Trey's answer was delayed as he continued to examine the buckle. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, I'm good. This thing must've been pretty important if a shrine was made for it."

Trey and Hina walked back out of the shrine and back to camp.

[Trey Isaka]

As Trey and Hina returned to the camp they saw that something had happened. The camp was trashed! The tents were shredded up, the camp fire was spreading, and all the food we brought was eaten. Normally I'd blame Marcus for this, but when I looked around the camp site I saw inhuman footprints in the ground. Whatever did this definitely wasn't human. "What the hell happened here?" In the distance, Marcus' voice is heard, screaming for help. Trey immediately recognized the voice. "That's Marcus, I recognize that whine and cry for help anywhere."

"Then let's go find him!"

"Hold it, it might be too dangerous for you. Stay here until we get back."

Trey ran off towards the sound of Marcus' terrified screaming. Meanwhile, Marcus was on the ground, crawling on his back away from some sort of mutated mantis. "Go ahead, human. Keep screaming. It is futile to think you will survive this trip to Hell!" At that moment, Trey let out a whistle, getting the mantis' attention.

"This a private fight, or can anyone join?"

"Trey! Oh, thank God!"

"You might wanna hold off on thanking Him until this thing's dead."

[Takumi Hirata]

Something...something drew him here. He wasn't himself right now, no. He was in a state of rage and anger, his eyes glowing crimson. There was no way he would end up remembering these events later. The power took him over, the power he had created for himself through alchemy.

He lifted his handful of Medals as his belt appeared on his waist. They floated into the belt, being absorbed, lighting his body ablaze, feathers falling around him as he assumed his form as the Avian Greeed, Ankh. And as he looked at the Yummy, and at Trey, he felt the pull.

The human had his coin.

[Trey Isaka]

"Do you really think you stand a chance of defeating me, human? As your kind say 'Its your funeral!'"

The mantis immediately charged, readying its blades. Trey Readied himself, but was knocked back, parts of his jacket shredded. As he attempted to stand, an instict took over and affixed the buckle he found at the shrine onto his waist. "That... that buckle.... could it be.... "

Trey then looked down at the buckle, seeing that the coins were still in their slots. He placed his hand on the device on the right side of the belt, ran it over the coins and yelled "Henshin!"

TAKA!

TORA!

BATTA!

TaToBa! TaToBa! TaToBa!

Trey's body changed in an instant. Marcus was amazed and confused as to how this was possible. "No..... NO! You can't be back! You were sealed away!" "Sealed away? I think your mistaking me for someone else." "Do you truly think I am an idiot?! You know what I am speaking of, OOO!" "OOO? That's what this power is called?" "Oh, you're definitely clever, keeping this charade up for this long! Once I kill you, I will become a true member of the Greeed!" The mantis charged at Trey again, blades at the ready.

[Takumi Hirata]

Takumi lifted his hand, clenching his fist. Flames gathered and danced around his hand, which he flicked down towards the sight of what would likely become a battle, launching the flames for the Mantis.

[Trey Isaka]

Trey stood his ground against the blades, but was blindsided by the flame that seemingly came out of nowhere. The mantis used this opportunity and charged again, this time landing another hit. Trey was still standing, but staggered back as he tried to reclaim his defensive stance. As the mantis charged again, Trey saw an opening for a strike to the monsters torso and punched the mantis in the stomach. Trey's hand literally went into the creature and a sound similar to coins falling is heard. As Trey pulled his hand out of the monster, he saw that he had taken something from within the mantis. It was another coin, similar to the three in his belt buckle. This gave him an idea that would definitely turn the fight around. He took out the yellow coin and replaced it with the new one, running the device over the buckle.

TAKA!

KAMAKIRI!

BATTA!

Treys arms changed color and form, the claw-like parts on his forearms changed into blades similar to the ones on the monster. Trey instantly readied them, sending power from his torso to the blades.

"My Core Medal! How dare you steal from a warrior as powerful as I?!"

"It was easy. When you charged, you didn't protect your torso as well as you thought. I thought that would be a chance to land a hit, but taking away your 'Medal' and getting a new power works too."

[Takumi Hirata]

"The Yummy had a Core?" he muttered, his mind as the Greeed from years ago. He leapt down, spreading his astral wings as he shot into the fray.

[Trey Isaka]

Trey readied himself to charge at the monster, but was caught off guard when Takumi flew onto the scene. "Huh? Get out of here, pal! In case you didn't notice there's a monster right there!"

"Insolent human! How dare you speak that way to a member of the Greeed?!"

"The what?"

"You do not know of the Greeed? Are you even the original OOO? You are a fool to think you are worthy of such power!"

[Takumi Hirata]

"Yummy," he hissed, lighting his arm ablaze, "You aren't mine. We were at war. I don't need you to fight my battles!" he shouted, hurling the bolt of fire for the Mantis.

[Trey Isaka]

The Yummy quickly blocked the fire and redirected it towards Trey, who quickly dodged and charged towards the Yummy, readying the blades on his arms. As the blades made contact, the Yummy was thrown back and crashed into a tree. The Yummy grasped his side in pain and said "You will live to regret this OOO. And as for you, Ankh, Uva will definitely hear about this." The Yummy quickly ran off. "Hey! Get back here, coward!"

[Takumi Hirata]

"He's active?" the mind of Ankh in control of the body muttered. His wings spread out as he shot after the Yummy, flames dancing around his hands as he unleashed a storm of feathers down at the Yummy.

[Trey Isaka]

The Yummy continued to run, unaware of the storm of feathers coming right at him. As they made contact, the velocity caused the feathers to dig into the Yummy's skin and stop him in his tracks. The Yummy fell to the ground with a scream of pain which echoed throughout the forest. As the Yummy tried to crawl away, he had seemingly dissolved into sliver coins. "What the? What the hell did you do to him? Wasn't he on your side?"

[Takumi Hirata]

He turned to OOO, "No," Ankh stated, "He's the enemy. He's the beast of one of my brethren."

[Trey Isaka]

"If he's your enemy then why were you trying to kill me with that first blast of flame? Why'd you even help him in the first place?"