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// Revealing the unseen 
// Story: Fullmetal Pony 
// by clearshot01 
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A/N: This may seem random, and to be honest, even I feel like it is so, but this is what I thought of, so this is what I wrote.
Luke immediately began bombarding Akumu with his fire shouts, and while he was distracted, I took the oppurtunity to attack from behind. The blade struck a barrier, however, and Akumu started laughing. “Did you really think it was going to be that easy? You're almost as much of an idiot as that ninja version of you. But enough talk, it's time to get this over with”. He blasted us both back into the wall, dazing me and Luke. Just as he was about to strike, Meg's nunchucks hit him sqaure in the face. “What the? How did you undo the paralysis?”. “Duh, nothing can hold me down, I'm just too sexy!”. She rushed him, teleporting randomly to keep him guessing where she would stirke from next. It was amazing. Her movements were precise, not a single action wasted. It was like a dance. No, I'm not falling for her. I like Twi, I just haven't told her yet. Maybe if we survive this, but until then, shut up! She was tiring though. Her movements started to slow down, and Akumu started getting closer to landing a blow each time. Suddenly she lost her balance, and Akumu took the oppurtunity to Kick her straight into the wall, rendering her unconscious. Para got really pissed, and he broke the paralysis spell, charging Akumu with a fury that I've only ever seen once, when my 'mom' beat a man to within an inch of his life when he held a knife to me and demanded money from her. “YOU BASTARD! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!”. He took his guitar and threw it at Akumu, who shattered it with a single blast. But it was only meant as a distraction. He created a blade with magic and slashed Akumu across the torso with it, leaving a wound deep enough that it most assuredly slashed across his heart. But Akumu just stared at the wound and chuckled. “You can't kill me Para. None of you can. You're just not strong enough. And now your weakness is going to cost you your life!”. I got up, and so did Luke. We exchanged a glance. He knew what I was thinking. “You're crazy, you know that?”. “Yeah, but if it works, we'll at least save Para, and hopefully undo the paralysis on the others. Isn't it worth the risk?”. “Fine, but don't come crying to me when you end up in the hospital. You sure you're gonna even survive?”. “Yeah, something tells me this is gonna work, so just trust me”. “Fine, so on three again?”. “Yup”. Akumu was standing over Para, a dark blade in his hands. Just as he was about to bring it down, he was distracted by our simultaneous shout of “THREE!”. “This again?”. I rushed him, and he poised, ready to deflect the fireball he thought Luke was gonna throw at him. What he wasn't expecting was for Luke to set my body on fire as I slammed into him. This caught him off guard, but what caught him even more was what happened the moment we made contact. The flames jumped from my body and engulfed Akumu. He roared, not so much from the pain, but from surprise that he had actually fallen for our ruse. I took the opportunity to buck him back into the wall, and I impaled his arms in an attempt to immobilise him and buy time for Para to get himself out of harm's way. “PARA! TELEPORT OUT OF HERE, AND TAKE THE OTHER SHADOWS WITH YOU!”. “What, why?”. “Don't argue, just do it!”. He nodded and his horn glowed slightly, and after a bright flash and his words of encouragement “Give him hell for me!”, he and the other shadows were gone. I looked around and saw that Christian and the others were already getting ready to join the fray. Something seemed different about them though. I could feel like something in them had changed, as if they had somehow become more powerful. Then I noticed it. Christian's knife was glowing, and suddenly shards of ice were being fired out of it, straight towards Akumu. He was surprised, but he still managed to block them. “Interesting, I knew that all ponies could use magic in one way or another, but I've never seen a pegasus that could use an external object as a focusing point in the same way that a unicorn uses their horn. Impressive”. “Shut up and go down already!”. Chris continued his barrage of ice shards, and Akumu continued to block them. He didn't notice Riley taking aim until he had already fired. Akumu simply teleported away, but suddenly the bullets changed direction and started following him. “OH YEAH! HOMING BULLETS! TAKE THAT DUMBASS!”. Realising he couldn't dodge them, he simply stopped and quickly erected a shield to block them. What happened next surprised all of us. I turned to see Claudius staring at the shield, his brow furrowed from intent concentration, and suddenly the shield shattered, just as the bullets were about to hit. “EPIC! I CAN BREAK SHIELDS BY FOCUSING! Wonder what else I can break?”. He then proceeded to break a pillar directly behind Akumu, and the pillar came crashing down on top of him. “Nice one Claudius, really brought the house down with that one”. Dammit, that's the best I could come up with. Meadhbh was right, I am terrible at being funny. I refocused on my task, taking him down. I walked toward the rubble, both blades drawn. He dragged himself out, and I raised both blades. I looked at RD, and Luna, and Mom, both of whom had just woken up. I hesitated. It was only for a second, but that was all it took. He blasted me into the far wall. My body went limp. I was unable to move. He walked towards me slowly, enjoying the feeling of his impending victory. I tried to get up, but my body wouldn't respond. The only thing I could do was look at him. He raised his dark blade. “Since you're going to die, you might as well know something about your two blades. They were from a world where people were protected by beings called soul reapers. They are Zanpakuto. I've seen soul reapers perform amazing feats with them. Too bad you'll never get to realise their potential”. He brought the blades down. I heard mom scream. There was a flash of light...

I was back in that white expanse again, and I was human, as far as I could tell. I was dressed in a black kimono with a white sash, and I had some sort of armband on my left arm. And there, floating right in front of me, were Taiyō no me and Tsuki no me. “What the? You guys said you were gonna fade after your last conversation! What gives?”. “Oh yeah, that. Sorry, we knew Akumu was listening, so we said what we had to in order to keep him from guessing our true motive”. “And that would be?”. “To teach you the most powerful technique available to a soul reaper. Bankai, the final release”. “Wait, but I'm not a soul reaper. How can I-”. “Huh, you really are dense sometimes, you know that? Of course you're a soul reaper, how else could you have a Zanpakuto? Anyway, down to business. We're gonna teach you how to perform Bankai. Your other self had already attained this, but you have to learn it all over again. And there's only one way to do that”. “And that way would be?”. “You have to fight and defeat us”. “Wait, what? I'm about to die at the hands of that psycho, and now I have to fight you guys too? How the hell are we gonna do that before he finishes me off?”. “Simple, this realm exists outside of time, so as long as you are here, time is at a standstill in the world you're currently in. It means we have all the time in the world to teach you. So, are you in?”. “Do you really need to ask? I have to beat Akumu, for my friends, for mom and Luna, for my sister. If learning Bankai will help me do that, then I have to master it! So let's get to it!”. “Good answer. Seeing as we have to go all out, at least if you want you to be able to bring out your Bankai's true potential, we might as well use the most powerful forms we can, just don't hold back., Kage Kishi”. “Why do you think I'll hold back, and why are you calling me that?”. “We're calling you that because that's your name. Kage Kishi means Shadow Knight. And we're asking you not to hold back because we're pretty sure you'll be hesitant to face us in the forms we choose, but if you don't give it everything you've got, not only will you not attain Bankai, you will die!”. “Die? Meh, could be worse”. “Oh, and how's that?”. “It could be my friends and family that die, but there's no way I'm gonna let that happen, not again”. “Alright”. There was a bright flash, and standing in front of me were mom and Luna. “What the? Mom? Luna? What are you doi-”. I was cut off as they attacked with blades that appeared out of nowhere. I barely managed to avoid being beheaded by the double attack. “We told you not to hold back. And we also told you you'd be hesitant to face us like this”. “ Taiyō no me? Tsuki no me? How did you two-”. “We are the eyes of the sun and moon. While most Zanpakuto have a unique physical form when they are summoned by their soul reaper for the purpose of attaining Bankai, we do not. But we can copy the physical forms of others. And who would be more appropriate to test you then the Princesses of the Sun and Moon?”. “I see. Testing my conviction as well as my strength. Gotta hand it to you, you don't do anything half way”. “If we did, you would never attain the true potential of your Bankai. Now, enough talk. Fight us, or die!”. I nodded silently and drew my blades. I then noticed that both of their blades were mirror images of mine. No surprise there, seeing as they are Taiyō no me and Tsuki no me. I should expect that they'd be able to wield themselves in battle. And facing off against my mom and aunt. This'll be really tough. But I can't afford to lose! I immediately went on the offensive, making my attacks as unpredictable as possible, but they still managed to dodge every single one of them. They knocked me back several feet and lunged. Just before they hit I heard a conversation from the memory of another one of my alternate selves, the one from the world of shinobi...


Flashback to Konoha!

I was sparring against a blonde teenager with orange and black clothing, and a black headband. He was really going at me with those shadow clones of his, except he couldn't even land a hit. I substituted too fast for him to even react before my sword was at his throat.
KageKishi: Nice try Naruto. You lasted a few minutes longer this time. Just try to keep your eyes on your surroundings next time.
Naruto: Yeah, yeah. Hey, KageKishi, mind teaching me how to use ninjutsu without the handsigns? And can you teach me how you use that celestial style jutsu?
KK: Sorry Naruto, I can't.
Naruto: AWWW, COME ON!
KK: Naruto, it was those experiments that Orochimaru performed on me. They're the reason I can use jutsu without handsigns. Just like my ability to copy those Kekkai Genkai. All because of those damn experiments. And as for the Celestial Style jutsu, I don't know why I'm able to use it. I just draw in energy from the sun and moon and picture what I want to do. That's how it works. Kakashi seems to think it's a Kekkai Genkai.
Naruto: Oh, ok then. And Kishi, sorry about bringing up the past like that, I didn't mean to upset you. You still miss her, huh?
KK: Yeah. I still can't believe she's gone though. She shouldn't have had to die. I should've been able to save her.
Naruto: Kishi, you can't blame yourself. If anyone's to blame, it's Orochimaru, and he's gonna pay for what he did, BELIEVE IT!
KK:Yeah...

Flashback is over!


That's it! I focused, picturing myself appearing behind them, with a log in the spot I used to be in, and sure enough, I was suddenly behind them. I immediately charged at them while they looked at the log in confusion, using a technique my other self had learned from Yugao Uzuki, the head of the ANBU. “Leaf Style! Crescent Moon Dance!”. Out of nowhere, there were three clones of me charging them both from different angles. Or so they thought. They failed to notice the two attacking from above. We both dealt heavy blows to each of them before they could react. But the battle was far from over. “Interesting. You've learned to call upon the abilities of one of your alternate selves. But let's see how good those techniques really are”. And there were suddenly a thousand of them, all around me. Each wielding a copy of either  Taiyō no me or Tsuki no me. But I noticed that all the Luna copies held Taiyō no me and the Celestia copies held Tsuki no me. They're making this too easy. What am I not seeing here? I found out the hard way, when I got too close to a clone trying to pass it. It exploded, sending me flying back several feet. I decided to put another of the powers of my alternate self to use. The ability to copy bloodline traits. I decided to go with an old favourite. “Sharingan!”. I could tell which ones would explode immediately, and plotted a path through them. Guess something good did come out of those experiments. Doesn't mean I won't wring Orochimaru's neck if I ever see him though. I found the originals near the far edge of the sea of clones. Alright, time for some payback! “Water Style! Oil Dome technique!”. A dome of oil encased the two. “Fire Style! Fireball technique!”. BOOM! The oil ignited, causing a massive explosion. I was sure that I'd beaten them, so I was surprised to hear them behind me. “Very impressive. But we expected as much. Well, except for the eyes”. “Yeah? Guess the experiments performed on him had their benefits, though I doubt they outweighed the negatives”. “You'd be right. But enough about that. This last fight will be one on one”. “Alright, so who's my opponent, or are you two gonna merge or something?”. “Actually that's exactly what we're going to do. And trust us when we say you ain't seen nothing yet!”. With that, the entire world seemed to shake. Tsuki no me was absorbed into  Taiyō no me, and they morphed into something else entirely. They had made themselves into a giant black and white dragon. “If you think facing us was tough when we were separate, then this'll be brutal!”. They moved faster than I thought possible for a creature their size. I barely managed to avoid the lethal blows, but the minor ones were starting to take their toll. I was slowing down, and each second brought me closer to defeat. I realised it was now or never. I focused my energy into one last strike. I made a horizontal slash with Taiyō no me, and a vertical slash with Tsuki no me. The two waves of energy from the two seperate slashes combined into a cross. “天体クロス!” (Tentai Kurosu – Celestial Cross!). The resulting blast wave blew me backwards a few metres. I was also slightly blinded by the bright flash it caused when it hit. When I could see again,  Taiyō no me and Tsuki no me were back in their sword forms. “Wow, you did it. Not surprising, though your alternate slef did it a little faster”. “Yeah, yeah, so I can use Bankai now?”. “Yup. Now go kick his ass for us!”. “Happy to oblige!”. Taiyō no me and Tsuki no me started to glow, and the next thing I knew, I was on my feet, facing Akumu. The look on his face was enough to tell me he was shocked. “HOW? HOW ARE YOU ALIVE, AND HOW DID YOU BECOME HUMAN AGAIN?”. “Easy,  Taiyō no me and Tsuki no me brought me into some weird world that exists outside of time, and taught me how to use one of my alternate self's most powerful technique”. “No. You can't be serious. That's-”. “Impossible? Improbable? Both? Sorry to disappoint, but I learned how to access my alternate selves abilities!”. I drew my blades, and shouted “BANKAI! 太陽と月の賢明な目! (Taiyō to Tsuki no kenmeina-me! = Enlightened eyes of the sun and moon!).

A/N: Aright, I'm just gonna skip the boring commentary and argument. Pinkie, it's all yours. "THANKS! Okay everypony, I have to keep my end of the deal, so KEEP KICKING FLANK! Also, I'll be holding a huge party afterwards. Just don't tell Stephen. He's a bit of a buzzkill!" PINKIE! "Oops, gotta go! BYE!"