OK, this is my first story here on . I don't know what reactions I'll get from this, but I'm willing to toss caution to the wind like how Gamma tossed Elwood aside like he was a useless piece to the plot development of ZOMBIEPOWDER. ...perhaps he was...or not...

Anyway, read, then comment/criticize/like/dislike or whatever.

Oh, the plan I have for this is to release a chapter weekly, thus the short length of the stories. I have 72 chapters, including this one, which will be published, thus "completing" ZOMBIEPOWDER. (Also, I'll always write ZOMBIEPOWDER. in all caps and with the "." at the end to mimic the American manga title). Also, as I've seen in the tradition of other writers here, I do not own the rights to the story, nor am I working with Mr. Noriaki "Tite" Kubo in this endeavor, though that would be a great honor. I also am not saying that I know the characters as well as their creator, but I will attempt to keep them in character by researching them in the volumes of ZOMBIEPOWDER. I own.

So here's Track 28: Reunion. Enjoy! :)

Track 28: Reunion

The dust settled over the landscape of Gemini Laboratory: a simple dome situated over a dust bowl cliff. Inside, however, a young boy was cursing in every possible way a 13 year old could. John Elwood Shepherd kicked multiple walls around him to no avail while saying, "How dare that lousy Gamma and Smith leave me behind! Those lowlifes! I oughta take my knives and shove 'em right up their-

"Don't you DARE do anything to my Gamma!" yelled a young girl. Angelle Belle Rose Cooney was the source of the yell. Her interjection stopped Elwood almost immediately. However, her uncanny appearances at whenever Elwood said he was going to inflict harm on Gamma began to make him wonder if Angelle was spying on him.

"Why shouldn't I?" yelled back Elwood, uncaring of the young girl's attitude toward him, "He left me behind without a word! I thought!" Blood began to drip from his clenched fists. "I thought he and I were teammates. Looking for the Rings of the Dead…How can I possibly return to my sister now?"

Angelle had sympathy for Elwood till that point. "Well, guess you'll just have to stay here. A stupid kid like you can't traverse the desert alone."

Elwood wanted to talk back, but he couldn't find the words. He fell to his knees, hiding his tears from view.

Angelle strode down the hall at breakneck speed. "Stupid kid," she mumbled, "He doesn't know what he's getting involved with. Besides…" A drop could be heard hitting the ground. "How could he leave without telling me?" asked Angelle to no one. She sat down, curled up, and began to sob.

"The desert sky knows no mercy, especially to those with black armor on their arm," sang an impish, but masculine voice.

"Smith, do me a favor and shut up," sighed a silver-haired man. Gamma Akutabi leaned outside the side window letting the wind whip his face. Though with the "convertible" he "borrowed" from Nazna Gemini, it didn't matter if he sat up or leaned out over the side of the sepia toned car. He wore a black tank top, and tanned slacks. His usual clothing proved to be too hot for the desert's cruel heat. His chainsaw sword was in its skull-spine sheathe in the backseat of the convertible along with Gamma's clothing.

"You seem to be in a bad mood," mused Smith. The four-eyed man in a banker's attire drove in the left side of the car. His light blond hair accented his deep brown eyes.

Gamma's jade eyes rolled at what Smith said. C.T. Smith had never learned to be quiet; he always pried.

Smith sighed, "He'll be fine. He has Nazna and the others to help him along."

Gamma leaned back, watching the sky. "Yeah, I know." He closed his eyes and let the hum of the engine sing its mechanical lullaby.

Elwood stood up from where he was lying on the ground. The tears he shed weren't visible on the manicured grass. He sighed and turned toward the laboratory interior. He stopped when he saw the grave where Gamma stood before he left. Elwood stared at the cross for a while, and then walked over to the site. As he walked over, he saw a name engraved into the cross. It was faded, but Elwood made out the words: Fayren Tatena. Elwood stared at the grave. He closed his eyes and put his palms together. As he did so, he thought, "So how do you know Gamma, Ms. Tatena?" He opened his eyes, not even expecting an answer. Who would from a dead woman?

"Elwood! Elwood!" called a blood-clad chestnut haired maid. Tasha was running, with a knife in one hand and a porno mag in the other toward him.

In the split second before she crashed into Elwood, he thought, "There are so many things wrong with this picture." He felt a soft feeling on his face before crashing to the ground.

Tasha looked down at her chest feeling Elwood's face trying to breathe while being suffocated. Tasha blushed and said, "Why Elwood, you naughty little boy "

Elwood grabbed Tasha's shoulders and pushed her off of him. He heaved in tanks of air. Afterward, he looked at her and asked, "What's up, Tasha?"

He noticed that she was blushing madly. She came close to him and said, "You're still such an innocent boy, aren't you?"

"Uh, what do you mean?" asked Elwood, his face reddening more.

Tasha giggled, "Angelle hasn't treated you correctly since you've gotten here, and we rarely get such a strong young man to be here." She came close enough to Elwood to be within kissing distance. "It's always Gamma and Smith. So since you're here, I'll give you a nice warm welcome."

Elwood's face screamed crimson, but only because of how close Tasha was to him. He didn't understand what she was trying to imply. "Uh, it's actually been very nice since I've been here. You ladies are quite kind and courteous to your guests, and I thank you for that."

Tasha raised her eyebrows, and smiled. She wrapped her arms around Elwood and said, "You're such a sweet boy. I only wish more men could be like you." She got back to a within kissing distance of Elwood. "You're just so cute, I could just…" Elwood could feel her heart race. "I could just do so much with you."

Elwood's face could not get any redder, so the rest of his body began to turn shades of scarlet. Tasha giggled and kissed Elwood on the cheek, leaving a small amount of saliva behind. She licked her lips and said, "You even taste sweet." She slid her hand up Elwood's shirt and rubbed his back. "You're even so muscular. It's quite impressive for a boy your age."

Elwood put his hand on Tasha's shoulder. "Was there something you came to tell me?" It was taking every ounce of his being to say those words as calmly as he possibly could.

Tasha jolted, letting her breasts brush by Elwood's face. "Oh yeah, that's right. Nazna said the surgery on Wolfina's brother was done."

Elwood's eyebrows shot up. "You serious?"

Light shot in a straight ray through the single window in the blank room. All the furniture and fixtures were a bluish-gray color. The only different color was present in the dark brown hair on a couple of pillows. The hair was adorned on a fair-skinned girl of 18 years old. She slept on her side, breathing quietly as she rested. The light from the window soon fell on her face, awakening her to a new day. Her light hazel eyes fluttered open from the light. She sat up, without a shirt on, but the bedspread covered her huge H-cup breasts from any peepers, though the position of the window would have prevented anyone from spying on her.

She yawned, stretching out her arms, cracked her neck slightly, and got up to wash herself. The shower automatically turned on to her being within proximity, and her body was instantly wet with perfectly warm water. She used the soaps that she brought with her, wary of anything that Nazna may provide. Her promise to the good doctor included her being a guinea pig for her strange experiments. She sighed and finished washing, proceeding to dry herself. Looking in a mirror, surprisingly not fogged up from the shower steam, the face of Wolfgangina Lalla Getto, or Wolfina L. Getto for short gazed back at her. Wolfina was a finely toned woman for her age, and her physique was amazing. She remembered drinking a lot of milk when she was younger, which gave her the body she had today.

Wolfina put on her clothes, a simple gray button-up shirt, and navy blue jeans. She clipped her cross necklace onto her neck, and tied her hair back into a pony-tail. The door to the room was right next to a bookshelf with multiple books on various sciences. Wolfina flipped through some of the books, but none were interesting enough to keep her attention. She sighed, and headed toward the door.

Before today, Elwood did not know what speed he could attain. By the time he reached Emilio's room, Tasha clocked him at 19.6 miles per hour as his maximum velocity.

Inside Emilio's room, Emilio himself lay on a medical bed. His light blond hair was cut short, but it appeared spiky. He was dressed in a white medical robe with a Gemini Laboratory logo on the breast pocket, an uppercase G with an L connected to the inner part of the G and an azure dragon encircling the letters. A woman in a scientist's cloak with black hair and a black turtleneck dress was scribbling away on a clipboard. She was aware of Elwood and Tasha at the doorway, but she paid no attention to them.

Elwood looked over at Nazna and asked, "So, the operation was a success?"

"Screw off, brat," Nazna snapped.

Elwood was silent.

Nazna collapsed into a chair, "Do you know what it feels like being surrounded by slimy tentacles who want to grab you in every place on your body? All the while, you have to hack away at them so you don't get eaten, and on top of that, you forgot to eat before the operation. It took me 4 freaking days to get that little cuss out of him." She lazily pointed to the tray by a gauntlet and a sword. "All I want to do is sleep the next week away." She dragged her feet going over to a doorway. "Sleep is my new hobby." She slammed the door behind her.

"That was weird," said Elwood.

"You get used to it," added Tasha. "I got to get back to work, so I'll leave you here. Be careful, ok?"

Elwood smiled uneasily, "I will."

Tasha smiled and pecked Elwood on the cheek, and left the room.

Elwood blushed from his own popularity and thought, "Wonder how long that will last?" He looked around the lab. It was less freaky than he expected. Monitoring equipment was hooked up to Emilio, and his heart was at a steady beat. Elwood smiled and said, "Wolfina will be glad to see this."

He walked over to the tray with the Ring of the Dead in it. The Ring was 1 of 12 rings that could give one the legendary Zombie Powder once collected. However, this powder obtained its energy through a most disturbing way. It "ate" its victims. Specifically, it dug into a person's system, and latched itself in the brain of its victims. While inside, it sucked away the life energy of the host. However, this put the host into a comatose state. There were no signs of more life being taken than how many years the Ring was inside someone.

Elwood stared down at this epitome of life and death. On one side, once Elwood had all 12 rings, he could obtain the Zombie Powder to revive his sister. He wasn't sure how much would be needed, but he was certain Gamma would give him some to save his sister. On the minus side, the dubious nature of the Rings gave Elwood shivers at the thought of a Ring possibly eating him or Wolfina. He resolved to keep his distance from the Rings; let the guy who nailed armor on his arm take care of the Rings.

That reminded him, Gamma had abandoned Elwood at this lab full of crazy, yet somewhat attractive, maids with Wolfina as a lab rat. "I'm going to take that sword of Gamma's, and shove it up his silver haired ass." Elwood turned to exit the room, but he tripped on one of the cables hooked up to Emilio's monitors. As he fell, he tried to grab something to stop his fall, but he knocked the pan that held the Ring of the Dead in it. Elwood hit the ground hard, and blacked out.

Apparently, the racket woke Nazna from her nap, causing her to kick the door down and yell, "KEEP THE VOLUME DOWN YOU PATHETIC LITTLE PRICK!" She then took notice of the lab. Emilio was still asleep, but Elwood was lying on the ground, bloody. The tray that held the Ring of the Dead was also on the ground, flipped down. Nazna ran over, and frantically searched for the Ring. "Oh no," she whispered. She turned Elwood over, and saw that his nose was bloody. "Aw, damn it." She then noticed his left hand was holding something. She proceeded to pry his fingers open, but jumped back when the tentacle mouths leapt at her. She jumped back, and they receded. Her heart skipped a beat. Elwood was holding the Ring of the Dead with his bare hand. And the bigger surprise took her a moment to process it. He wasn't getting eaten by the Ring.

END Track 28: Reunion