Chapter 2: A Surprising Encounter

"I –urp– hate trains," uttered Natsu as he attempted to keep himself upright.

"You always say that," sighed Lucy. She was beginning to wonder where in the world she and Natsu had ended up. Nothing about this place is familiar, and I don't think I've ever read about it in any books, she thought. Lucy was deep in thought, looking out the window of the train trying to piece together everything that had happened for a while before she realized that Natsu was trying to talk to her.

"Oi Lucy! Are you even listening to me?" asked Natsu who had now somehow managed to speak without turning completely blue and sweaty.

"Huh? Oh sorry Natsu! I was just thinking about everything that has happened," replied Lucy as she looked the pink-haired dragon slayer straight in the eyes before looking away again. Natsu blushed slightly at the fact that Lucy's eyes seemed as if they were looking straight into his soul, passionately. Lucy's face was tainted pink at the fact that she had looked at Natsu so seriously. She didn't mean to, even though she absolutely loved looking in his dark green eyes.

"Well uh, anyway," said Natsu as he turned his head in an attempt to hide his flushed cheeks, "What do ya think this 'Fullmetal Alchemist' looks like anyway?"

"Well guessing by the name, I would say he has several body parts, if not his whole body, made of metal," suggested Lucy.

"You mean like a robot?!" asked Natsu. Lucy thought he sounded a little too excited about that.

"I don't know, we will find out when we meet him!" said Lucy with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. Suddenly, Natsu's motion sickness came back and he rolled over on the floor. Lucy just sighed and went back to looking out the window while she waited for the train to arrive in Central City.

XxXxX

It was mid-afternoon when Natsu and Lucy had finally arrived in Central City. As usual, it took Natsu a good 7 minutes before he was able to actually step off the train and onto the immobile platform. Once Natsu gained his bearings again, the two wizards began looking for any sign that would point them in the direction of the 'Fullmetal Alchemist' and his whereabouts. As they walked through the train station, they heard conversation about something called an 'alchemy festival' taking place all throughout Central. Neither Natsu nor Lucy knew what that meant.

"This sure is a weird town," said Natsu as he looked at the citizens' clothing and listened to the way they talked. To him, it seemed like some of them spoke differently.

"Yes, it is a little different. Come one let's head into town," said Lucy as she grabbed onto Natsu's hand.

When the two young wizards stepped out of the train station, they notice the city of Central to be even crazier and busier than Magnolia, and maybe even Fairy Tail! They saw magical vehicles all in the streets, signs everywhere that read "57th Annual Alchemy Festival". All Natsu and Lucy could do was stand at the entrance to the train station and be completely taken over with a sensory overload. Lucy was the first to shake off her daze. She looked around for anyone that might be able to help them. She decided that she would start by finding one of these 'alchemy' magic users and asking them if they could point her and Natsu in the direction of the Fullmetal Alchemist.

"Come on Natsu, let's start heading for the crowds. Someone might be able to help us out there!" said Lucy as she started to make her way down the steps of the train station. Natsu followed suit.

"Oi Lucy, what kind of magic is alchemy anyway?" asked Natsu.

"To be honest, I'm not sure. It's never shown up in any books I've read and I've never met or heard about anyone using such a magic. I guess it could be a type of lost magic. Kind of like the Time Arc that Ultear used or the God Slayer magic. We will know more once we start getting answers to our questions," stated Lucy as she continued for the crowds ahead. But it is strange that a whole city of people would be able to use this lost magic, if that's what it is. No, wait, it HAS to be lost magic. There is no other explanation for it. But still, why would only this city use it? It is just that rare and secretive that they keep all knowledge of it to themselves? Hopefully we will find out when we find this Fullmetal guy, thought Lucy.

As the duo got closer to the crowds, Natsu's nose kept being taken over by the scents of foods he's never smelt before. He realized that he still had not eaten anything since breakfast which was almost 6 hours ago.

"Lucy! Can we stop for a minute? I still haven't eaten anything!" complained Natsu.

"Yeah sure, just make it quick! We need to get back home soon. I'm sure Gray and Erza and Happy are worried sick," replied Lucy. As soon as Natsu heard the words "Yeah" he took off, letting his nose lead the way. 20 minutes had gone by since Natsu took off and Lucy had lost sight of him sometime during that time frame. She wanted to find him soon so they could start looking again.

"Natsu! Oi Natsu! Where did you go?" shouted Lucy while looking all around for the pink-haired dragon slayer. As she wandered a little further into Central, she caught a glimpse of pink spiky hair. She knew it had to be Natsu. How many guys have cute, pink spiky hair like him?, she thought to herself. She ran towards Natsu in an attempt to catch up with him. When she was close enough, she reached out her arm and grabbed a hold of his arm, which startled him and he jumped. Natsu whipped around so fast that his face was within centimeters of Lucy's face. Once they realized how close they were to each other, both of their faces turned a dark crimson color. They stood like that for a few seconds before quickly turning their faces away to hide their embarrassment.

"I-I finally found you," said Lucy. She was a little shaken by their close proximity just a few seconds ago.

"S-sorry I ran off like that. I smelled some awesome foods and let my nose lead me. I didn't realize I was that hungry!" said an apologetic Natsu as he rubbed the back of his neck and shot Lucy his famous tooth grin. Lucy couldn't help but laugh at how goofy he was sometimes.

"It's okay," said Lucy with a slight smile. "Let's continue walking to see if we can find that Fullmetal Alchemist." Just then, Lucy felt someone tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see it was a citizen of Central.

"If you are looking for the Fullmetal Alchemist, he's somewhere over there near that big crowd with his brother," said that townsman while pointing towards the east where a large crowd was beginning to gather.

"Thanks!" said Lucy as she grabbed Natsu's hand and began to run towards the crowd. This caused Natsu's face to turn the same color as his hair.

As they got closer to the crowd, they began to see flashes of light. Lucy and Natsu tried to push their way through the crowd to see if they could get closer to the front to see this alchemist fellow. As they were attempting to make their way through the crowd, they noticed the light getting brighter. What a strange type of magic, they both thought in unison. As they reached the inner edges of the crowd, they saw a tall man in a suit of metal having a 'magic' and physical battle with a shorter, blonde man in a red cloak with a strange black symbol on the back of it.

"Oi Lucy, which one you think is the Fullmetal Alchemist," asked Natsu. Before Lucy could answer, a sword went flying past her face.

"Where the hell did that sword come from?!" shouted Lucy while a look of complete shock came over her face. Natsu had instinctively pulled her closer to him to prevent her from being injured.

"Do you think one of them uses magic that is similar to Erza's?" asked Natsu. As he asked this question, the younger wizard duo continued to observe the battle taking place in the middle of the city. As they watched, they saw the shorter blonde man clap his hands together and then touch the ground which resulted in him pulling out a javelin.

"That's definitely NOT Erza's magic," said the two wizards in unison while still in awe of what they just witnessed. As they said this, the man in the metal suit of armor drew a strange 'magic' circle on the group and held his hands on the edges which produced a 6 ft high wall which stopped the javelin and made it crumble back to rock. Both Natsu and Lucy realized that these two people used the same kind of alchemy magic, although it appeared to be much stronger that the other stuff they witnessed while walking through the streets before. They could tell that one of these two guys was the Fullmetal Alchemist they were looking for. The battle continued until a tall man with one blonde curl entered the sparring circle.

"Alright Edward Elric and Alphonse Elric, this sparring match has been decided to end with a draw. Only because you boys are on the path to destroying this part of the street!" stated the military-looking man.

"Yeah, yeah Major Armstrong, we get it," said the short blonde man. "Alright everyone clear out! This match is over!"

"Thank you for watching," said the tall metal suit wearing man. Natsu and Lucy both noticed that by the sound of his voice, he was much younger than them yet he was so much taller. The two Elric brothers continued to have a conversation with Maj. Armstrong about something dealing with someone named Mustang and something about some stone, but Lucy couldn't quite tell if she heard it all correctly so she pushed it out of her mind. When the major had finally walked away, the Elric brothers turned around to walk in the other direction only to see Natsu and Lucy blocking their path.

"Are you the Fullmetal Alchemist?" asked Lucy and Natsu in unison while looking at the tall metal man.

"Uh, uh um… no. That would be my older brother here, Ed," stated the younger brother in the metal suit. "My name is Al!" he continued while offering a friendly wave. Both Natsu and Lucy looked at each other and then at the short, blonde haired, red cloak wearing boy. They couldn't believe that he was the famed Fullmetal Alchemist they heard so much about. He was short, didn't look at brave as some of the stories they heard made him out to be, and he also didn't appear to be made of metal. Umph, it would have been cool if he was a robot, thought Natsu.

At this point, Ed was already teaming with anger at the fact that yet another person had mistaken Al for him. He attempted to shake of this anger before responding to the duo standing in front of him.

"Yes! I am the Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric!" said Ed with a proud smile on his face.

"Well that was a surprise. You're such a pipsqueak!" laughed Natsu while pointing and looking down at Edward.

"DON'T YOU DARE CALL ME A PIPSQUEAK AND LOOK DOWN ON ME AS IF I AM LOWER THAN YOU! AND WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL THAT YOU NEED A MICROSCOPE TO SEE HIM WITH!" shouted Ed while jumping up and down.

"Nii-san, he didn't say any of that," said Al as he shook his head and sighed. Ed didn't even hear him.

"And like you're one to talk! With your pink hair and ridiculous clothes! How about putting on a damn shirt?!" shouted Ed back at Natsu.

"You wanna go, little man?! I'm fired up now!" shouted Natsu. Ed signaled for Natsu to come at him.

"Natsu! Please don't! You'll destroy the town!" said Lucy as she looked away in embarrassment, while Alphonse let out a big sigh. It was too late by the time Lucy said this. The Fullmetal Alchemist and Dragon Slayer wizard were starting to battle each other in the middle of Central City. Al and Lucy just looked on in shock.

"Karyū no Tekken!" yelled Natsu while swinging his flaming fist towards Ed. He was barely able to dodge Natsu's attack. Ed clapped his hands together and touched the ground, in which he pulled out another javelin. He aimed for Natsu's feet hoping to trip him up. What kind of alchemy is he using? The alchemy he uses sort of resembles Col. Mustang's flame alchemy but on a much more explosive level, thought Ed.

"Karyū no Hōkō!" shouted Natsu while blowing bright red flames out of his mouth. Ed barely had enough time to use his alchemy to put up a wall in front of him to block the flames. Natsu then began swinging at Ed with his Karyū no Tekken attack. Ed ran towards a pole and just before touching it, he clapped his hands together and changed the pole into a sword. He used the sword to block Natsu's punches. This magic is a lot alike Gray's maker magic, thought Natsu. Lucy and Al looked at each other and decided that they needed to stop this before that part of the city was destroyed. The both ran towards their counterparts in an attempt to get them to calm down. After a few minutes, both Natsu and Ed had stopped chasing each other and were now standing a few feet apart. Lucy was telling and scolding Natsu about didn't go off to find the Fullmetal Alchemist to fight him, but to ask him for help. Natsu nodded in agreement, although he wasn't happy about it. Lucy then turned to face the Elric brothers.

"I'd like to apologize for the way Natsu behaved, Fullmetal Alchemist-san," stated Lucy while bowing apologetically not knowing how to address Ed. Ed blushed slightly at the fact that when Lucy bent over, he could see straight down her shirt. That was the first time he had ever seen boobs before. His face became redder the more he thought about it.

"Call me Ed, uh…" said the young State Alchemist.

"Lucy! And this is Natsu," said Lucy as she pointed toward the dragon slayer standing on her left.

"Right! Natsu and Lucy! Nice to meet you! Anyway, what brings you to Central?" asked Ed.

"Well, actually we were looking for you. We were told by some people in…. Natsu what was that town called again?" asked Lucy.

"Uhh, Resembool I think," said Natsu as he scratched and titled his head. Ed and Al both looked at each other when they heard the name.

"That's our home town!" they said in unison. "No wonder they told you to see out the amazing Fullmetal Alchemist," added Edward with a smile on his face. "So what can I help you with?" he asked. Lucy and Natsu both spent the next hour or so explain their current situation to the Elric brothers. Throughout the explanation, Ed kept thinking about Lucy's chest and that made him blush. Jeez she's attractive, thought Ed to himself.

"So basically, what you guys are saying is, is that you ended up in Resembool and you have no clue who you got there? That's strange. We have seen some pretty weird stuff in our search for the Philosopher's Stone, but never as weird as this," said Alphonse. Natsu and Lucy both nodded in agreement.

"Well, I've decided! My brother and I will help you figure out what happened and help you guys get back home" stated a pride filled Ed. "Especially if it means helping you, Lucy," continued Ed. Lucy smiled and blushed which made Natsu a little jealous.

"Al, we are gonna put our search on hold for now and help them out!" said Ed as he turned to face his brother. Al agreed that it was the same thing he was thinking.

"What's a philosopher's stone?" asked an extremely confused Natsu. Ed and Al told them that it was something they were looking for to fix something they both lost. Natsu and Lucy now had a vague understanding of what it was.

"Anyway, let's head over to Central's library and see if there are any books in there that can give us a lead," said Ed to the group. As they began to head in the direction of the library, Natsu became curious about something else.

"What kind of magic do you guys use here?" asked Natsu, who directed the question to both Edward and Alphonse. The Elric brother looked at each other before responding.

"Magic? What do you mean? Alchemy is just science, not magic," replied Ed. Natsu and Lucy both looked at each other with very confused faces. They both had the same thought: WHERE THE HELL ARE WE?!

"What?!" exclaimed the two wizards.

A/N: WOO! New chapter! I will try to update this one at least once a week. We'll see. Anyway, let me just say something here. I DO NOT SHIP Ed x Lucy! I AM A 210% NaLu SHIPPER and EdWin SHIPPER. I threw in the part there about Ed blushing and Lucy's boobs, and Lucy blushing because it will make for a better romance picture between Natsu and Lucy that will be painted down the road. As of right now, I have no clue where I am going with this still, but I hope you guys like it! Thanks for reading! Reviews are always appreciated!

~Aeroniel