Dragon Ball GX, Side Story: The Alchemic Saiyan

Chapter 31: Catching Up With The Doc

May Chang

As Edward screamed in anger, I began to hug Alphonse; he was not attractive at all in this state…he was actually terrifying! His rage shamed even that of dragons themselves, and I had seen one mad, its fury was nothing to Edward's, who was firing off huge streams of red Ki beams into the sky as he roared with indignant and distraught hateful spite at being tricked by the girl who was even scarier than him, Apathy.

"Should we-"

"You want to be ripped in half?" Envy snaps sarcastically as he cuts off Lan Fan, who quickly silenced herself.

"I agree, we can't go near my brother yet, I've seen him like this before when he was wholly human, he has to vent, especially now that he's possibly the strongest being in the universe" Alphonse remarks calmly.

"Well he's clearly not as smart as he's come off as, cause otherwise-MMMMPH" Buccaneer begins, his mouth quickly silenced by the scabbard of General Armstrong's sword in his jaw who was glaring at him.

"Do you want to get us all killed you damn fool! He's so blinded with anger he might swing his head over here and vaporize us, use your head!" she chastises with a furious tone. I hoped Edward would calm down soon.

"Come on, lets go back inside May" Alphonse say softly as he picks me up with care and begins to carry me.

"But, what about Edward?" I ask worriedly, my concern at an all-time high as I saw him begin tearing his clothes apart while his anger continued to flow, his eyes still spewing those lethal red Ki beams like a faucet.

"Whether underneath a glacier or inside a raging inferno, it makes no difference nor matters, temperature extremes like these no longer affect my brother in his true form, he'll be fine out here even overnight" Alphonse replies calmly, causing Ling to laugh.

"Ha ha! Now that is handy, it explains why I've stopped feeling cold outside, this Ki energizing effect is amazing!" the prince exclaims excitedly as he walks along side Lan Fan and Fu. As I looked up at Alphonse's face, I felt a sudden pang of attraction, he was so mature and confident, even more than his older brother it seemed, and his body, his true form is really handsome too, maybe if things didn't work out with Edward…

Just as I began to fantasize of having dinner with Alphonse, I heard his voice interrupting my thoughts with a, "May, are you feeling ok, your face is red, has the cold gotten to you?"

I began to blush even harder as I realized what had been happening and nodded my head weakly to lie and cover the truth and my embarrassment.

"Yes, I must be colder than I thought, take me inside quickly, please" I plead, hoping to get a private room to regain my composure in and stop feeling like my face would melt.

"Agreed, we all need to get out of the cold, it seems only Edward can endure this harsh landscape unprotected, and a good thing, he needs solitude for now, everyone back inside!" General Armstrong commands as she points to the door, everyone moving faster. Underneath my parka, Xiao-Mei shivered, the cold having gotten to her a lot quicker than me, and I patted her head, assuring her with whispering words that we were almost inside. Taking one last backwards glance at Edward and his tantrum, I sighed, wondering who I should pick, who would be the man I should love?

10 Hours Later-6:05 AM, Dawn at Haimburgin

Tim Marcoh

As I awakened, I sighed and groaned, my back aching from having slept bad once again as I sat up; things just kept getting worse after that damn civil war with Ishval, but maybe there was hope yet now that Edward was super powerful and well versed in alchemy. I shuddered at the thought that maybe, he'd done it by performing human transmutation again, but I quickly banished that train of thinking and focused on getting out of my bed and onto my feet so I could go to the restroom and do my business. Trudging heavily across the wooden floors, I made it to the restroom door and was surprised to hear the shower running. Knocking on the door, I got a harsh reply.

"Who is it! Can you not hear how its occupied?" the voice of Martel shouts irritably.

"Its me, Doctor Marcoh, I need to use the restroom please!" I shout, hoping she'd either let me in to do my business or be done soon.

"Oh, Marcoh; hang on I'll be out in a minute" she replies with an apologetic tone. True to her word, just over a minute later, the water stopped and I heard her clamoring out of the tub and toward the door, where she promptly opened it and walked out, clothed in a large towel, her wet hair dripping considerably.

"I'll dry it when I have more privacy in another room, say what are we going to do for breakfast?" Martel asks casually, her tone indicating she was rather relaxed.

"Well I thought we'd try contacting the Pride fellow first and getting out of here instead of wasting time if we don't need to, we'll have something to eat if we can't contact him or Edward" I reply, causing her to nod affirmatively.

"Then I'd better go wake the others up once I'm dressed, provided they haven't already been woken by Greed that is" she chuckles as she rushes off down the hallway to another room as I began to enter the restroom.

15 minutes later, I was all freshened up and prepared for the day, and began to head back downstairs, where to my surprise, they were all awake and waiting for me.

"What took you so long ya old codger?" Greed chuckles jokingly, causing the others and myself to laugh too.

"Ha ha, I know, I'm not thrilled with being an old man either, all these aches and pains are very undesirable but it's a part of being human, having to age and wear down" I reply, trying to ignore my creaking bones in my back.

"But I thought Edward said that accepting that stuff as just inevitable was a load of bull-"

SLAP!

"Heh heh heh heh, oh that Bido is quite a kidder, yes he is, ha ha ha; Bido! That's a bit too much for the doc to take in right now, he has to hear all that stuff from Edward later, so shush!" Greed responds with laughter after smacking the homunculus, his tone switching to a barely audible whisper when Bido's name was mentioned a second time in his sentence, piquing my intrigue vastly. However he was right, this was best heard from the man who likely knew the details best; Edward Elric.

"So have you tried to contact Pride yet?" I inquire to Greed, who nodded once.

"Yeah, that's the problem, he's still not answering, something must be wrong" he says calmly.

"Then why are you so at ease, isn't this cause to worry?" I remark, hoping I was wrong and we weren't stranded.

"Oh don't be ridiculous, we still have our failsafe; Edward's Emergency Beacon he gave, once activated he'll be down here to rescue everyone present faster than you can say "human transmutation alchemic rebound" ha ha!" Greed chuckles as he holds out the small metal tube with buttons and strange lights on it.

"Speaking of everyone here, has anyone noticed the missing Ishvalan yet?" Roa comments dryly, making my attention snap back to alertness as I frantically looked around with my eyes.

"Oh my, where did he run off to!" I panic, worrying what he might be up to; shit! What if he's found out how to break down and deconstruct the Vibranium restraint clamp?

"Relax, he's just outside, no need to wet yourselves like a bunch of feral beasts" Dolcetto chuckles. Promptly rushing outside, I spoke with a raised but hushed voice, "Scar! Where are you?"

"I'm up here Doctor Marcoh" a flat toned response remarks, causing my eyes to wander to the roof where I saw he was laying down.

"What the…Scar, why are you on top of my home?" I ask as I look up to see the man lying on his back against the shingles.

"I slept here, and you just woke me up, luckily I was going to awaken on my own with a few more minutes when the sunlight reached my face" he replies calmly as he begins to sit up and stretch.

"Scar, you slept on my roof the entire night?" I ask with disbelief, finding it hard to believe he could stand to sleep on such a hard surface.

"I wasn't about to sleep under the same roof with abominations, a demon, and a murdering traitor, also, no one said I couldn't sleep here, so it worked best for everyone" he replies curtly while leaping off the roof gracefully onto his feet before me.

"Oh…well that's understandable, I suppose, the good news is you're alright, and its time to get going now Scar" I reply, hoping he was still on board with us. Nodding his head, I led him back inside and we reassembled with the others, with Greed still holding the beacon device.

"Alright, we're all gathered, good; now as soon as I activate this beacon, I'd advise you step back cause he'll probably come right where the beacon's signal is emitting, and you don't want to be in his way when he does pop in, believe me" Greed announces as he sets the device on the floor and pushes a red button on the side, causing a red light on top to begin flashing, while a low volume ping begins to echo in 2 second intervals. As this beacon was turned on, I wondered how Edward would find his way to us.

Edward Elric

Having thrashed fitfully the whole night at first, I finally drifted off late into the evening when I had exhausted my rage, falling into a deep sleep, now as the sun rose up, I smiled, enjoying how my new Saiyan body was better built to handle sleeping and waking due to its durability and strength. Rising up, I yawned and began to scratch my chest.

However I realized something was off, and when I looked down I screamed in shock. "AHH! My clothes, damn it! I must have ripped them to pieces yesterday during my pissed off state" I remark to myself as I see my form is totally devoid of any covering. However this also proved that I was now immune to ordinary extremes of hot and cold, even while unconscious, as I felt perfectly fine despite having slept in a snow bank, which now had mostly melted from my body heat, with some snow beneath me, but in a slushier state than that around me. Floating onto my feet and into the air, I chuckled, feeling rather pleasant now that I realized the lighter side of the news that had been revealed yesterday.

There just may be a challenger now that could give me a run for my money.

Having reached full alertness, I began to summon snow and other surrounding matter to myself, and in moments, reformed my outfit on my body with a few concentrated remote transmutations, then promptly began to flit around the air in flight with some cheer and delight, knowing I'd eventually get a good fight in the future.

"HA HAAAAAAAAAAAA! Yeah, I can hardly wait to fight such a foe, one worthy of my migh-AAHHHHHHH!" I scream, my shout changing from one of elation to pain as I felt my Ki sense assaulted by sharp stabs of fluctuation, nearly losing my concentration and falling from the sky. Holding my head, I wondered what the hell was causing this, as far as knowledge went, the only ones on this planet that could actively manipulate Ki were me and Ling.

"But if he's asleep and I'm here, what could possibly…(smack) I cannot believe of all things to forget, that the most obvious one nearly escaped my memory, the beacon of course! But that would mean Pride hasn't been able to sneak his help to Greed and the others" I shout to myself.

Apparently, Mother was a far more annoying an insect than I had previously perceived yesterday before Apathy made her appearance. Knowing that Greed's group and Marcoh wouldn't have used the beacon unless they could not receive aid from Pride, it was time to go get them myself, and maybe in time for an early breakfast in the fort. Once again focusing my energies and mind, I initiated the transmutation of my body into tachyon particles and vanished in a series of lines as I performed my fastest transportation technique once more.

Tim Marcoh

As I waited eagerly, I hoped that Edward was still the bright-eyed, naïve, idealist I had met over a month ago, the very reason I had found fit to share with him my research notes.

"Hey Doctor Marcoh!" a voice states cheerfully as a body appears before me without warning.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I scream in panic as I fall over on my ass, groaning in pain from the impact. Greed promptly began to laugh his own ass off as he doubled over in hysterics.

"HA HA HA HA! OH HO MAN! You should have seen your face Marcoh, it was priceless" the homunculus chuckles while he holds his head and stomach. Causing the man before me to snarl a little, then resumed smiling and offered me a hand.

"Sorry about that Marcoh, I didn't realize he was still that selfish and rude" the man remarks as he glances over at Greed with a disapproving stare, making the artificial human instantly stop laughing upon seeing his face.

"Ok ok, I'm sorry Ed, geez cut me some slack, I'm the incarnation of greed and all that, I'm still trying to adapt, not exactly easy being a textbook hero" he replies defensively as he holds his hands up near his face. My eyes widened as I heard the name Ed being used.

"Wait, Ed…Edward Elric, is that you?" I remark incredulously as I crane my head up a bit to see his face which was now above mine.

"Marcoh, you old pole cat hair son of a bitch, come here!" the man shouts exuberantly as he pulls me into a quick but crushing two second embrace then pats my back hard, the end result leaving me wheezing frantically.

"Wow…(wheeze) you're definitely a lot stronger and taller than when we last met" I pant as I catch my breath and try to ignore the pain.

"Yeah, its great to see you again, Crystal Alchemist" Edward salutes with a smile.

"Heh, yeah, as it is to see you Fullmetal Alche…(deep gasp) Edward! Yo-Yo-Your arm, your leg…is it tru-are they rea…Blblblbl, Edward my boy, are those your real-"

"Yeah, they sure are, I got flesh and blood limbs back, both of them" he replies, cutting off my sputtering stutter fest, my eyes still staring in amazement.

"You did it…HA HA! MY BOY YOU DID IT! YOU GOT YOUR BODIES BACK!" I laugh with joy as I rush over and hug him, my mood suddenly dropping as I realized the price they must have had to pay to achieve this.

"Edward, I-I really hope that…you didn't have to harm anyone to pay the toll for your limbs and stuff son" I continue, my mood slightly dampened from the realization that there might be a dark back-story to how he had regained his brother's body and his arm and legs.

"Ha! As if, I didn't even have to use a Philosopher's Stone for me or my brother!" he shouts triumphantly. As I heard his response, I felt my jaw drop in utter shock and bafflement.

"Really? But…how, Edward how did you pull that off?" I drone, barely able to believe what I had heard.

"There will be time for that later, first, let me fix your back" he replies as he taps my body jaggedly several times, the pain spiking to agonizing levels for a few moments, but then…suddenly vanishing, every last trace of my discomfort completely dissipating from my bones and muscles.

"Edward…this is-"

"Unbelievable? I know; now you want to try and get out of here before the central soldiers outside your house burst in and catch us, or do you want to waste time jabbering and me ending up having to beat the tar out of several of Bradley's goons to avoid getting apprehended before I can get you to safety?" Edward states, finishing my sentence and cutting me off as he explains the situation the rest of us had been completely unaware of.

"How the hell did we not notice them? Three of us have very enhanced animal senses!" Greed shouts as he glares at Dolcetto, Bido, and Martel.

"Hey, we only smelled dirt, we didn't think it was suspicious at the time, cut us some slack, they were crafty!" Martel argues.

"Irrelevant! We're out of here yesterday, everyone link up hands to me and we're on our way!" Edward shouts authoritatively as he offers his hands. Understanding his logic, I quickly grabbed hold and the others followed suit, with Greed using his other hand to hold Scar by the scruff of his neck.

Then, in a strange sensation of momentary weightlessness, the surroundings of my house vanished and were instantly replaced by those of a military base mess hall as I felt my body's heaviness return and landed on my feet. Upon fully regaining awareness, my body registered a stark change in temperature and humidity; the air in this new location was much warmer, drier as well, like central heating was in use. When I saw the rest of Greed's group, followed by the soldiers, who had clearly been thoroughly freaked out by this event as evident by the sudden surge in murmurs and frozen faces, I began to wonder what exactly Edward had just done to change our location.

"MEN! Stop gawking, its just highly advanced alchemy, you should expect nothing short of mind-blowing from the greatest alchemist and warrior in all of Amestris, and likely, on the entire planet; unless you have compliments or serious questions, return to your personal business and eat your rations. Have I made myself clear?" the sharp, commanding, and unmistakable voice of the most infamous relative of my old friend Major Armstrong shouts. Instantly the men looked away and went about the activities they had been engaged in before our arrival.

"General, I'd like you to meet Tim Marcoh, formally and formerly known as the Crystal Alchemist before he deserted the Amestrian Armed Forces. Dr. Marcoh, this is-"

"I know who she is Edward; Olivia Mira Armstrong, its an honor to see you again General Sir" I state, stopping Edward before he can do my introductions for me as well, making him blink in shock.

"Wait, you mean two already know each other?" the looming Elric brother remarks with surprise.

"Yeah, I had no idea that such an old geezer would know such a beautiful woman" Greed remarks with a whistle as he removes his shades and pockets them, causing Martel to gasp angrily and promptly punch him in the right arm.

"Shameless" Scar remarks monotonously as he glares at the homunculus.

"For once, much as that pains me, I'm inclined to agree with the terrorist, you've got some nerve flirting like that in front of me" Martel snaps irritably.

"Babe, I'm sorry, really, but I'm Greed, remember? It's who I' am, it may not improve significantly till I'm no longer merged with a philosopher's stone, just have some patience ok?" Greed replies to the girl, making her smile weakly, apparently showing some profound trust and faith in his words.

"As for you "Scar", you can stick it up your ass hypocrite! Self-righteous bastards like you have no grounds to stand upon and condemn others for morally ambiguous, questionable, or neutral actions and lifestyle choices" the artificial human rebuts masterfully with a scoff.

"A disgraceful abomination like you that has no heart, spirit, or soul beyond the innocent ones trapped and bonded to your accursed stone is beyond redemption, and is by default nothing more than an instrument of corruption, spite, wickedness, and evil" Scar states calmly with conviction, then turns his back to head for a table nearby and take a seat.

But just when I thought it was over, I saw Greed snarling and growling as he clenched and ground his teeth so hard, it sounded like rocks scraping each other, then moments later, snapped.

"Oh I'm the abomination and disgrace am I?" Greed shouts angrily, causing many people to stop again and stare, Scar however kept walking to the seat.

"Well newsflash dick, I'M NOT THE GUY WHO KILLED A LITTLE GIRL AND HER PET DOG TOO!" the homunculus bellows, making many of the soldiers and myself gasp in horror as Scar himself stopped mid-stride and turned around, his face still hard and unfazed.

As he began to step forward in the direction of Greed's position, Edward instantly moved from where he stood and placed his right hand on Scar's chest and gave him a glare that made Greed's pale in comparison for scale of intensity as he held up the other hand clenched in a fist, the body language clearly screaming, "Open your mouth and I'll put you through a wall!"

Scar instantly backed down and resumed heading for his seat, where he sat down with a huff. Once that situation was avoided, I approached Edward, my jaw slack both from amazement at how much control Edward had over Scar, and the horror at having learned the bare truth that it was indeed the public menace several feet away who had killed the darling Nina along with her father, my former friend Shou Tucker.

"Edward…is it really true? Is she…-" I start, unable to finish the sentence due to how sad the truth was. The boy nodded sadly and hung his head.

"I could have stopped that from happening, I should have just killed Tucker before he could ruin her life since I had no idea I'd ever get the kind of powers or knowledge I now have, its all my fault Marcoh, I'm so sorry" Edward explains, his voice strained as he gritted his teeth, then looked up to me with watery eyes.

"You met her, didn't you?" I remark, the rest of Greed's group having gone off to try and get food and to give us some privacy. Edward nodded weakly, wiping his eyes and sniffling to avoid full-blown crying.

"Yeah, I happened to meet her one day last year just after her third birthday, she was so sweet, their dog Alexander too, it pains me greatly, knowing that Scar, of all people, had to be the one that did this" I lament, remembering the sweet child and how happy, innocent, and joyful she was. Edward nodded again and sighed.

"What I don't understand is why, why would Scar kill an innocent girl and her dog? She wasn't even an alchemist" I continue, still in disbelief that even a man as warped and dogmatic as Scar could do something so heinous. Apparently this made Edward very stressed as he slammed the table and stomped the ground, collapsing the furnishing to splinters and shaking the base like an earthquake had struck for several moments, making my chair nearly fall over as I barely jumped out of the seat and onto my feet while it toppled over without me. Seeing what had happened, my eyes all but popped out of my skull as I gawked at the sight.

Edward had smashed a foot deep impression of his boot into the concrete floor and was not showing any signs of pain or damage as he casually removed his foot from the depression to reveal something even more shocking; molten material! To have melted the parts of concrete that actually can melt like rocks, his foot fall would have to have generated enough pressure so quickly, that during the span of his footfall, the forces exerted had to increase its temperature to over 2000 degrees in less than the time it takes to blink.

I quickly realized as I saw Edward's calm state he was in after doing something this unbelievable, that Scar had not even begun to put Edward's new scale of power into words.

"Shou Tucker…that bastard, he fused Nina with Alexander to create a talking chimera for his yearly evaluation, just like he did with his wife two years ago to get his initial State Alchemist certification" Edward snarls as he clenches his hands in spite at the memories, his words instantly shattering my previous train of thought on fear of how powerful he might actually be, with disbelief and appall at the revelation of truth behind the secret to the former Life Sewing Alchemist's claim to fame.

"So he killed her out of what he considered mercy…can you really condemn him for what he did considering?" I ask, hoping Edward wouldn't disagree. With a heavy sigh, he nodded back.

"Yes, at the time I had tried to convince myself that there was a way even though I didn't truly believe it, but if I had only gotten these powers sooner…I could already cure her if she were still alive; now I'll have to wait for my secret plan to see if it will work after this whole mess with Father and Mother has been cleaned up, until then, we have to prepare for the war" he responds, his voice firming up near the end of his statements.

"I hope this secret plan works, but for now, I need to get caught up Edward, and you can start by explaining that!" I shout as I point to the boot shaped depression in the floor filled with molten matter. He chuckled and put an arm on my shoulder and led me toward the exit.

"Marcoh…there is a lot you need to get caught up on, please come with me, my brother and other new friends are waiting to see you" Edward laughs as we walk out the door and into the halls.

Ling Yao

As I slept peacefully and dreamed of a lovely dinner with Lan Fan, I smiled and licked my lips as I admired hers, their skin inviting and sumptuous, their appearance just begging me to touch and taste. Leaning forward, I prepared to make contact and then-

"LING YOU LAZY BUM GET UP!" Lan Fan suddenly shouts, snapping me out of my trance and moments later out of my dreams, her face replaced by that of Edward in his true form as he bend down into my cot to stare in my eyes.

"(Groan) You ass, why would you wake me up at this hour, its not even breakfast time, when I smell that iron skillet frying I'll be ready to get up" I mumble as I turn over and try to go back to sleep, faking snoring to try and be convincing.

Without warning, I felt something very hard and painful smash into the back of my skull with a loud gong noise.

"AAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWW WWWWW! WHAT THE HELL!" I shriek as I clutch the back of my head which throbbed in agony.

"Get up, now, that goes for all of you!" Edward shouts as he raps the skillet he'd obviously conjured with his alchemy some more to repeat the gong sounds, everyone slowly waking up and groaning in distaste at this form of treatment, save Fu and Lan Fan, who almost instantly leapt out of bed and stood at my side after the first gong noise that came from the contact with my skull.

"Edward (moan) come on, even us artificial humans like to sleep" Envy mumbles as he gets off the floor, his dog form's red eyes glowing in the still dim room. There was promptly a scream of horror in the voice of the man I now realized had accompanied Edward into the room.

"ITS, ITS, ITS, ITS YOU, ENVY!" the man screams like the world was ending.

Tim Marcoh

The moment I had turned on the lights, my eyes wandered to the glowing red eyes I could recognized anywhere, and this time the demon had taken the form of a vicious hound.

"What the hell? he told me him and most of the other Homunculi had been taken care of for good, but he's still alive!" I pant, wondering what was going on.

"Huh, Marcoh…is that you?" Envy asks as he resumes his androgynous human form slowly in a flash of red light and stares me in the eyes intensely, his gaze appearing to be filled with shock.

"N-N-No, you stay away from me you monster! EDWARD HELP!" I scream as I scramble over behind him, worried he might try and take me back to Father.

"Wait, why are you scared, you said Greed told you…(eyes narrow) I'll be right back Marcoh" Edward begins, his voice tightening with anger near the end of his sentence, and with a wisp of lines, he vanishes into thin air.

"Wait, DON'T LEAVE ME HERE WITH THAT DEMONIC FIEND!" I beg, desperately hoping he had not abandoned me. My fears were absolved when he returned a moment later, this time with a passenger, and it was Greed, whom he was holding by his left ear!

"Ow ow ow ow ow ow! Hey man, what the hell did I do this time?" Greed whines in pain as he looks Edward in the face.

"Greed, what did you tell Dr. Marcoh about Envy and your other siblings who had defected from Father, word for word, right now, It obviously has to do with why Marcoh here is shaking in his boots, so talk!" Edward shouts authoritatively and shoves Greed over to my side where he turns to face me with a groan.

"Greed, what is that monster doing here, why is he here in Briggs, how could you let that demon up here!" I shout, shaking his vest manically as my panic takes hold.

"Marcoh, you got it all wrong pal, I told you five of the seven homunculi had defected from Father, me and four of my other siblings, I never said nor insinuated they got taken care of for good like Scar did" Greed replies casually as he removes my hands and smoothes out the wrinkles I made. Turning my face to look at Envy I point and my fear turns to anger and disbelief.

"There is no way that monster would ever leave Father, he's a psychopath who loves nothing but to kill the most people he can!" I scream, causing the infamous Envy to be taken aback and back step several feet in what appeared to be shock. Feeling pissed, I decided to just speak my mind and let loose my feelings of hate, knowing Edward would make sure he at least didn't hurt anyone if I angered him.

"He's not a human, not even close! He hates everything that we are, he says we're weak and stupid, and that we're foolish to a complete and utter fault, that we're hopeless, pointless, and nothing more than an energy source for their use, this monster is the furthest thing from human possible, he's a selfish, rotten, wicked, shape-shifting DEMON! A FIEND WITH NO HEART, SOUL, OR SENSE OF CONSCIENCE! I HOPE SOMEONE INCINERATES YOU TO ASH ENVY, YOU FREAK!" I bellow, making everyone in the room stiffen up, and the girl to actually gasp.

Strangely, I saw Envy's face had not moved, but his eyes seemed to be quivering, and then I saw it, a single tear rolled down each eye and without any warning, he ran at the wall and then busted through it, and kept running, breaking through each obstacle with a very loud crash, his feet imprints perfected preserved in the metal.

Standing frozen with shock, I couldn't comprehend what had just occurred, nothing made sense now.

WHACK!

"OWWWWWWW! What the hell did you do that for Edward?" I wince as I grip the back of my head from the light tap he gave in that area.

"Marcoh, what did you do that for!" he shouts angrily, my eyes widening as I hear his phrase.

"Are you serious? Edward, do you have any idea-"

"I know everything about that you do and a hell lot more!" Edward snaps, cutting me off and making my thoughts and mouth silence as I see the look in his eyes; one of chastising rebuttal. I quickly came to the conclusion that…much of my previous perceptions of the world were now invalid, void, or misconceived. Unable to wait, I put my hands on Edward's shoulders and looked into his eyes with a pleading gaze.

"Edward…what happened since we last met over a month ago?" I beg, hoping he'd be in a mood to tell me everything. He chuckled weakly and put a hand on my shoulder to ease my mind, and somehow it did.

"Come with me Marcoh, you need to hear everything my friend" he replies gently. Then in another dizzying whoosh, we began to go through the strange instantaneous transportation method once again.

Alphonse Elric

As I stood out on the top of the fortress wall, I stared in the direction of Rush Valley and worried if she might be ok, my brother would probably destroy the Earth if anything were to happen to her, which is what scared me most. After seeing his outrage yesterday, I couldn't exactly say he'd never do something as drastic as blowing up the world, which was what made me unable to relax. The only thing that helped distract my mind from my fears of my now god-like brother, was the thoughts about May.

"What is it about this girl that just makes my mind keep wandering back to her? What!" I ask myself out loud, glad that no one but my brother had a chance of hearing this in the morning blizzard I stood in.

All of a sudden, there was the now familiar noise of Edward using his teleportation powers and he appeared a few feet away with…wait, he retrieved him at last!

"Doctor Marcoh!" I shout with joy as I rush over to him and hug him. This promptly caused the doctor to freak out when my super chilled armor body touched his human flesh.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, I was just so glad to see you I got a bit overexcited" I reply sheepishly.

"Its quite alright, Edward is there anyway you could-"

Without a second thought I found Edward touching my shoulder and the cold was instantly dispelled with a warm glow that touched me to my core as a light yellow aura cling to my skin.

"Oh…thank you Edward, that feels so much better, that reminds me, Alphonse what's going on, your brother has a full body again, why are you still living armor?" Marcoh asks tentatively. I realized that Edward must not have told him the truth yet.

"Marcoh, I did get my body back, but thanks to my brother's actions to obtain it…things…didn't quite work out as planned" I reply uneasily, unable to stay very calm and collected.

"What, what do you mean, you're still merged with the armor, how is it your body could be-"

"MARCOH, I STOLE HIS BODY FROM THE REALM OF TRUTH!" my brother blurts angrily, shutting up Marcoh long enough to start listening as I put a hand on his shoulder.

"Dr. Marcoh…Brother transmuted himself to my body and took it by force, he didn't offer anything in exchange, nor did he try, he demanded Truth give me up or he'd get a fight, Truth relinquished and my body was set free, but it was still without my essence, my soul remains in here" I explain as I tap my chest, then remove my head and show him the blood seal. Making him gasp.

"Scar was right, you are too powerful, or…maybe you're not powerful enough…AHH, I DON'T KNOW ANYMORE! (Pant) Edward, you have broken the law of equivalent exchange, without a stone! That's not possible, that's not supposed to be possible, it might unravel the fabric of the universe or something, maybe even-MMMPPMMMPPPPHHH!" he screams, his rant interrupted again as Edward clamps a hand over his mouth to shut him up forcibly, Marcoh was apparently too excited to pause and listen of his own volition, and unfortunately for him, my brother wasn't in a patient mood.

"Shut…up…your face, and listen to me Marcoh!" Edward snaps, making the doctor calm visibly and finally stop trying to scream. Upon removing his hand, Edward sighed deeply.

"Marcoh…we have a lot to talk about" he says solemnly, and I knew then we were about to mounty up and drop the full truth on him, and I hoped he'd be able to take it.

1 hour later

Tim Marcoh

As I began to fully absorb what I had learned, a few things sank in, like how rude I'd been to Envy, and how terrifying Edward truly was, and worst, what might await us regarding this new fiend called Mother who had even managed to have a pawn able to hoodwink Edward after his return as a super alien being.

However, what concerned me most, was the most perplexing issue of all.

"Alphonse…what happens if your body gets destroyed while your soul is still bonded to the armor?" I inquire as the younger Elric brother clanks his feet nervously.

"I don't know…I really don't know Doctor Marcoh, this situation is something even Edward knows nothing about" Alphonse replies somberly, making my concern magnify still more.

"But…I had an idea" he continues, causing Edward and myself to jerk to attention.

"You have an idea, come on Al spit it out!" Edward snaps impatiently, causing the armor boy to flinch for a moment.

"W-Well, I was talking to May about the field of Biological Alchemy and Alkahestry last night just before she went to bed, and then that got me to thinking about DNA…and then I remembered how you can transform your body from your former human shape, to your new Saiyan body. If you can do that in a matter of seconds…couldn't you possibly clone me a new body even if its destroyed?" Alphonse explains, causing our jaws to drop; I was astounded at his cleverness, he'd just found a failsafe backup idea!

"Damn…why the hell didn't I think of that sooner? Al, you're a genius!" Edward beams admirably, making Alphonse rub the back of his helmet bashfully.

"Ha, and here I' am, stuffed with enough knowledge to fill over a million billion Central Library Archives, but I couldn't reach that conclusion as fast as you, good job bro, we can relax some at last" Edward laughs as he begins to float on his back and kick a leg up in good spirits.

"But Edward, how are you going to un-bond his soul from the armor safely and then put it into another vessel?" I remark as I remember another key issue mentioned from earlier. With a scream, Edward flailed and fell out of the air onto his back, denting the metal in a slight impression of his body from the impact as he groaned in not pain, but annoyance.

"Way to ruin my mood doc, couldn't you have mentioned that another time, we know that's the biggest issue of all, but now that the destruction of his original body isn't an issue to worry about, we can take our time, and fix this after we deal with Father and Mother" Edward retorts, I was about to smile, but then I remembered the last thing to worry about.

"What about his armor body? His soul is bonded to this suit, so if the blood seal is damaged, it will do the equivalent of killing him, and his suit is only made of antique steel" I point out, causing Edward to rub his chin in serious thought.

"Hmmmmm…you know Marcoh, you're absolutely right, he needs more protection, especially against threats like Mother and her children, even Father's remaining goons are a potential threat" he begins, then begins to walk over to his brother, stopping and standing right in front of him.

Clapping his hands, the familiar echo heralding an alchemic reaction rang through the air and Edward began to place his hands on Alphonse's shoulders as he said, "Hold still Al"

With a flash, the lightning-like discharge poured around the armor, and suddenly, a lustrous silver sheen began to form around every nook and cranny. Within minutes, the suit was quite bulkier and the boy looked like he was made of silver, and he began marveling at his new coating. As Alphonse tapped himself and found he emitted no sound, I instantly realized why I had felt a sting of Déjà vu at the sight of his gleam.

"That's Vibranium…you coated your brother's entire body in it!" I exclaim, shocked that he had done it so quickly.

"Yeah, I had to really focus so that my modifications didn't screw with his blood seal beneath, but it worked, now he's "Al Take You All On!" Edward guffaws as he doubles over in hysterics.

"NO WAY! There is no way you're making that my nickname!" Alphonse screams indignantly with an embarrassed tone. Still laughing his ass off, Edward slapped his brother's back hard, but shockingly he didn't budge and still no sound came from the action.

"Lighten up bro, I was teasing, blame my master, he has a corny sense of humor like King Kai, it rubbed off on me some. So then what should your new nickname be then, (grins) Al-Balone?" Edward continues, apparently stuck on a pun streak.

"Oh shut up!" Al fumes as he begins to rush silently toward the exit and runs back inside the base, his tone laced with intense embarrassment.

"Well Marcoh, I think we should try and finish up out here and go back inside to discuss plans for what to do about Scar, the rest of Father's lackeys, and most important, the new crisis regarding Mother and her homunculi I cannot track yet" Edward states as he begins to lean over the railing.

"Edward, before we go back inside, I have a question, a very serious one that I have to ask you alone where no one else can hear me" I start, causing him to smile.

"Sure, anything Marcoh, just say it" he replies cheerfully, as he gazes at the morning sky with a smile, enjoying the sunrise; I felt a little guilty now knowing I was about to ask such a grim question, but I couldn't wait, it had to be discussed, and with a sigh, I gathered my fortitude and began to speak.

"Edward…what do you think of Human Transmutation now?" I ask nervously, causing him to lightly chuckle, his gaze unbroken.

"I use it all the time to disguise myself, its very useful" he says happily. I realized he had not understood my question properly, for he obviously now knew of likely over a billion uses for the field that were amazing yet wholly benevolent.

"I'm talking about creating Philosopher's stones and attempting resurrection" I remark flatly, causing his muscles to tense up as he whipped around and faced me, his smile now gone, replaced with a concerned straight face.

"Why do you ask of such things?" he counters suspiciously, his eyes showing a subtle flare of anger just beneath his gaze.

"Edward…is it possible to bring back the dead with human transmutation?" I ask firmly, desperate for an answer. Edward smiled then shook his head.

"Yes, it is, but I' am not going to do it, the price is far too high; besides, there are better ways that don't require a price, and I shall reveal them when the time is right" he says with a smile as he pulls out a strange glowing rainbow gem from his shirt on a necklace and holds it. I suddenly become captivated by the beautiful gem.

"We'll talk about it another time when all this craziness has been solved, I promise Doctor Marcoh, come on lets go back inside and have some breakfast, I'm starving, how about you?" Edward says with a smile as he puts a hand on my shoulder. Smiling back I understood how he wanted to avoid the subject for now, and nodded.

"Sure, lets go eat, I'm pretty hungry myself" I laugh as we head back to the stairwell door and go inside. As we got into the fortress, I felt us begin to break down again via Edward's marvelous and strange power of teleportation. During the shift from matter to energy, I wondered, was there really that much to worry about if Edward is this powerful?