Gohan Venture's Into Amestris - Chapter 1.
"You wanted to see me, Colonel...?" A young man of 16 with blonde hair, gold eyes and a very short stature for his age, at around 5 feet tall, had asked dryly. He was wearing white gloves, black pants, black boots, a black shirt and vest with a red cloak that he had draped over him, a large black symbol adorned the back of the cloak. His name, Edward Elric AKA Fullmetal Alchemist. Beside him was a large suit of armour that was actually his younger brother, his soul trapped inside the large suit of armour, Alphonse. They were currently in a relatively large office in the Eastern Command Centre, standing in front of a large desk.
"Ah, Fullmetal. I wanted to see you about a new case I thought you might be very interested in." Replied a man in his late twenties, a smirk planted on his face. His name and rank was Colonel Roy Mustang - The Flame Alchemist. He was wearing a blue uniform, customary of the Amestris military with white gloves that had red circular inscriptions on them. He had black eyes with jet black short hair. Standing beside him was a woman only slightly younger, she was wearing a blue uniform like that of the former. Her hair was blonde and she had brown eyes. Her name and rank was Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye.
"It better not have me running through snow or deserts..." He replied in a less than enthused tone.
The Colonel chuckled before he said "As tempting as it may be, it's not," Ed breathed a sigh of relief at hearing that "Which is good for me and the Lieutenant as we will be accompanying you." He continued.
"Huh? Why? Is it something that's 'Oh so important' as to get you from that chair?" Ed replied teasingly, the Colonel just shrugged it off with a chuckle like it didn't phase him, making Ed frown.
"Yes, it is. We will also be bringing Armstrong." Riza informed in a serious manner.
Both boys eyes went wide "Armstrong...?" Alphonse muttered. Riza simply nodded at him.
"Wait... What kind of case are we dealing with here?" Ed questioned, his curiosity being gnawed at.
"The kind that requires the ability of alchemy. We are to bring this boy in." The Colonel stated, throwing a file onto the table containing the intel gathered. Ed picked it up and began looking over it.
"Gohan? Odd name, it sounds foreign," Ed inquired "-Wait, he can't be any older than me. Why would he need all of us to bring him in?" He continued, looking puzzled.
"Because we already sent dozens of soldiers, good ones too, in order to bring him in. They all returned empty-handed and a couple quite battered," The Colonel said matter-of-factly before continuing "And by empty-handed, I also mean their weapons weren't with them, he destroyed them all and sent the soldiers on their way... Without killing any of them."
Ed was dumbfounded "How could he-" He began before being cut off.
"He can dodge bullets, Ed." Riza said firmly to reaffirm the seriousness.
"Oh~ well that's just swell..." Ed replied with a less than enthused tone "What else do we need to know about him?" Ed continued, frowning.
"He can seemingly disappear into thin air, fly, get whacked with the butt of a rifle to the face without even flinching, throw people through walls, move objects with his mind and shoot lasers from his fingertips," Riza continued to fill them in on the details "Without any form of transmutation circle."
"H-Huh?" Alphonse responded, taken aback.
Ed had a frown still plastered on his face "No transmutation circle...?" Ed asked in disbelief, the adults nodded "...I get it, this is some kind of prank, isn't it? Well I'm not buying it, Colonel. I'll see you again when you have a serious case for me instead." Ed said as he turned and began to walk away.
"Ed, it is an order from the Fuhrer himself. He wants to meet this boy. He's here in Eastern Command." Mustang reiterated.
"The Fuhrer?" Ed questioned in disbelief.
There was a knock at the door and the Colonel ushered whoever it was in.
"Good Evening Fullmetal, Alphonse. Colonel, Lieutenant." Said a rather tall, aged man. He was also wearing the military attire. His hair was short and black and had a blue eye- His left eye was covered with an eyepatch. His name and title was Fuhrer King Bradley. The group made their respectful greetings to the Amestrian King- The Colonel and Lieutenant saluting him, the boys gave a nervous welcome "At ease," The Fuhrer said and gave them a warm smile.
"I hope the Colonel has filled you in adequately on the details," Ed and Al both gave him a nervous nod. He then had a more serious face on him "So then you know that this is a delicate case and not one to be taken lightly, the boy took down some of my finest men without any sign of effort, or so they keep telling me. If he becomes too much of a hassle, it's best if he is neutralized. But, I came here to wish you all luck in this mission and I have faith in your abilities."
"Sir!" The Colonel And Lieutenant said in unison with a salute.
"Um, thank you, Sir." The boys both said in unison albeit reluctantly.
"Then I will be off." The Fuhrer said his farewell before leaving.
Once the Fuhrer had left the room, Ed muttered "Is it just me or did a tornado pass through here?" He then turned back to the Colonel, who by now had a very smug smirk that Ed wished he could slap from his face.
"We'll be leaving in the morning by train, to a small village south of here. That will be all, Fullmetal." The Colonel finished, still with his smug smirk plastered on his face, the two boys left the Colonel's office.
One week prior, in another universe...
"Phew... What a workout." Said a well-built teenager at the age of 17 as he fell onto his back in the middle of a large grassy field after a series of workouts that spanned dawn to dusk. He had onyx black hair that was spiked up tall with a long stubborn bang that fell over his forehead, his eyes matched the colour of his hair.
He wore an orange, short-sleeved martial arts gi, with a navy-blue short-sleeved undershirt, a blue sash around his waist held his orange slacks up that matched his gi, blue wristbands and navy-blue boots that had a red line down the front of them and another lining the bottom of them.
On his back he had a large black and white Kanji symbol 'Han'. The boys name and title was Prince Gohan, well, only Prince if he accepted the formal title given through his mothers bloodline, which he didn't- Not out of any disrespect for his mother, mind you.
His head turned to the side as he lay there, gazing at the now setting sun over the horizon. He let out a sigh 'It's going to be a long time before I get to experience days like this again once I enrol for school next week and begin the week after... I really want to make my father proud of me and - I owe it to him.'
Gohan laid there for a while longer to just savor the moment before he stood and stretched his tired muscles so as to not to have them seize up on him after his rigorous training.
He made a move to walk home but out in the corner of his highly trained eyesight he caught a glimpse of a glowing green light between the trees in the distance 'That's odd, I could have sworn I saw something, it was faint, but there.' He might have brushed it off as just exhaustion, had he not felt his instincts calling for him to check it out. Was it really his instincts? He couldn't be sure, but whatever it was, it was calling him.
He made into a light jog - Which for most everyone else would be more like a sprint - Towards the outline of the forestry.
He could not see it still but decided to press on to check it out, entering the woodland. He took precautions as not to fall into a trap by keeping his senses perked up on his surroundings.
A few moments later after some walking, he saw the green light in the distance, now a steady glimmer. So now he knew it wasn't his imagination. He began into a walk again towards the strange green glimmer of light.
Now that he was closer, near a rivers edge that flowed through his enormous backyard, he could make out that it was a strange glowing, green pattern scrawled into the dirt. Hesitantly approaching the strange pattern, he could see that it was a large circle with a couple of triangles pointing in the opposite directions of each-other, one on top of the other. Around the inside edge of the circle were strange runes that Gohan couldn't understand, they were nothing like he had ever seen.
When he approached it again he could have sworn it called out to him again, rather than his instincts telling him to. His instincts were haywire, he just couldn't place too much trust in them right now, or maybe it was just him not wanting to, he didn't know.
Before he knew it he a metre away from it, entranced by the glow it gave off. The strange patterns instantly began glowing brighter and whipped he his head around scanning his surroundings as the wind began to pick up. The ground, he noticed, was shaking ever so slightly. Animals began sprinting in the opposite direction.
Gohan stood up and turned around to try and see what else was going on incase of an attack. Behind him a black line began appearing horizontally within the circle and a few moments later the line got wider in almost an instant to reveal a large eye in the centre of the circle. Black tendrils with finger-like claw endings cane out and wrapped themselves around Gohan's turned form before dragging him towards the large eye.
"What the-" Gohan's eyes went wide and forced himself to turn around. He tried to pull himself away from the eye now formed on the ground but it was too late and he was dragged into it.
"Big Brother~! Where are you~?!" A pint-sized boy by the of 7 called out in one of the many grassy plains of his backyard. He was wearing a similar outfit to the one Gohan was wearing during training. He went by the name and of Goten AKA 'Squirt', the nickname given to him by his older brother, Gohan.
"That's strange... I can't find him anywhere. It's not like brother to skip dinner," He noted with a frown "...I know! I'll use my, super-duper energy sensor, to find him!" He continued excitedly before trying to scout out his big brothers energy signal. He stood there for a few moments, scouting the entirety of where his senses could reach but couldn't find him anywhere and to him it felt like his brother had just slipped off the entire face of the planet. Ever since he could remember from learning the technique to find peoples energy signature, he could always find his brother. Tears began to well up in his eyes "W-Why can't I sense my B-Big Brother?" He snivelled. His emotions soon got the better of him and he began to wail, calling out for his brother.
Meanwhile, with Gohan, he now found himself in an empty white expanse that he felt stretched on for an eternity, very reminiscent of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber he trained in with his father so many years ago. Thinking that was the case, he began to pan around in search for the building with an exit that he practically called home for nearly a year but instead found a large pair of stone doors forming some sort of gate.
There was a large mural etched into it of a Dragon which Gohan recognized as the Eternal Dragon, Shenron, it's long form winding around the centre of the gate with it's head near the top, mouth opened with a roar; there was a large book depicted down at the bottom of the gate which was opened, facing upwards towards the tail of the Dragon - On it's 'pages' he noted 7 circles covering both pages which he assumed must represent the 7 Dragonballs; he noticed smack bang in the middle of the gate spanning both of the doors also, was a male figure who looked very much like himself, he looked as though he was powering up into the Super Saiyan transformation.
Curious, he approached the pair of doors and began running his hands over it, looking for any sign of hidden indentation that would allow his hands to grip on to which would allow him to open the doors - There was none. He next tried to pry it open along the crease of the doors with his finger-tips, failing that, he then placed each of his hands on a door and began pushing against it with all his might, that was a failed attempt, also. "Where in the world am I...?" He muttered to himself as he leaned slightly against the door with his hands "There's no way out..."
"Hello, Gohan." Came a voice from behind him that sounded eerily similar to that of his own.
Spinning around in what looked like an instant, Gohan got into a defensive fighting stance "Who's-?!" Gohan began. What he saw shocked him mid-sentence, his eyes growing wide. A purely white 'figure' of a male, his height and stature, stood there only metres from him - Gohan figured the only way you could possibly see it was due to the fact that it had a thick, misty, black border surrounding it, giving it said 'figure'. The entity began chuckling - Showing that it also had a mouth - At Gohan's reaction which made him frown "Who are you?!" He demanded.
"Well..." The entity started "The people here call me 'The World', or perhaps 'The Universe', or perhaps 'God', or perhaps 'Truth', or perhaps 'All', or perhaps 'One', and from the moment you stepped into the portal-" The entity raised his arm and pointed at Gohan "I am now also 'You'."
"...Okay~" Gohan dragged out the 'a' "I've met my share of Gods and heard about many more, so what could you possibly want from me?" Gohan questioned this God.
"Yes, there is many Gods in your Universe." The God grinned a large, toothy grin.
"What do you mean my Universe? And you didn't answer my question." Gohan scowled.
The God began laughing "Good. You are just as I'd hoped you would be - Brave enough to challenge even the Gods themselves - You'll need it to follow your destiny."
"My destiny? What the heck are you talking about?" Gohan asked, getting frustrated with the being.
"Well, you have several destinies, depending on the situation, as many opposing destinies of others converge on each-other. I merely ask if you have the courage to follow one - As for the Universe-" The God mimicked Gohan's seriousness "You are not in your own."
"Wha-?" Gohan managed to mouth out in his stupor.
"You want to follow in your fathers footsteps, do you not? You want to become a hero to many, do you not? You want to be the greatest warrior that you can be, do you not? You want to rediscover a point in your history that you feel more ashamed about than proud and change it, do you not? Well... I offer the chance to do so if you assist me," This made Gohan curious, very curious "I don't normally do this with people who haven't tried to perform Human Transmutation and anything you've done in your own Universe - I have no jurisdiction over - But... Would you like to see the Truth? I do owe you." The God continued.
Gohan raised an eyebrow as he looked toward the God "A yes to all the former questions but... Truth? Uh... Well, any truth is better than a lie, right?" Gohan broke into a nervous smile.
The God grinned roguishly "Are you sure?"
Gohan had a determined look on his face "If Truth can help me - Help others - Then sure."
The God looked stumped for a second "I like your answer." The entity snickered "Very well then..." As the God said that, the doors behind Gohan opened up revealing a large eye that had once appeared behind him not so long ago.
Long black tendrils came from behind Gohan and started pulling him through the gate "What the-?! Oh come on, these t-things again? Can't a G-God such as yourself think of anything e-else?!" Gohan questioned the Deity with a less than amused scowl on his face as he struggled against the things.
The God began laughing "A good sense of humour too, that's to be sure!" The God replied heartily before the gate closed up on Gohan.
Soon enough, Gohan was floating through an endless black mass, only with large film-like ribbons surrounding his form that had pictures of much of his childhood, the black tendrils kept him held through it all and his eyes open as he felt like his head was going to explode with all kinds of information getting processed into his brain. Before long he found himself back in the endless white expanse before the God.
"What the heck was that...?" Gohan asked, dumbfounded, turning around to see the gate closed and then swung back around to face the God.
"That was the Truth, all of this Universes knowledge is within there." The God pointed out.
"Really...?" Gohan had an eyebrow raised in disbelief.
"How was it?" The god asked in curiosity.
"Uh, it was okay, I guess. I learned about something called 'Alchemy', right?" Gohan asked.
The God gave him an affirmative nod.
"Okay... Well, what now?" Gohan asked, curious as to what the being was going to do next.
"You're... Not going to ask for more?" The God asked him, curious as to why Gohan hasn't asked to go back in.
"Well... Should I? I figured that was all you were going to show me because you owed me? So why ask for more?" Gohan replied innocently, looking back to the gate and then on the Deity, the God was stumped by a reply from Gohan for the second time this meeting "I prefer to gain knowledge and power on my own merits, thanks but, no thanks. Besides, that place gave me a wicked headache." Gohan reiterated, laughing sheepishly whilst scratching the back of his head.
The God was still frozen in his stupor at Gohan.
"Hey... Are you okay?" Gohan asked in confusion.
"Wha- Oh yes, I'm fine," The Deity coughed "You've passed all the tests. You are of the purest heart that has ever stepped into my domain - It is a shame that none such as yourself has ever stepped into my domain from this Universe, in other varying circumstances - A warrior that uses his power, which could quite possibly be the end of us all, solely for that of the good is a rare occurrence indeed. You understand the laws of nature already, it seems, with your ability to harness energy and strenuous training for such, so you'll do well here," The deity said with a smile.
"What do mean, here? Why do I have have to be here again?" Gohan asked scrutinizingly.
"I expect a lot from you, Gohan, we'll meet again... Eventually." The deity chuckled.
The deity stood there for a moment after Gohan left "Strange kid."
"What do you think, Ed? Does he have a Philosopher's Stone?" Alphonse called over to his brother as he laid down on a bed. The two boys were in a room ready to get some sleep, or in Alphonse's case, just lay there.
Ed had his right 'arm' raised over his face, the 'arm' actually being made of Automail. "I don't know, Al, but it's the only logical explanation for all the things he can do - Without Equivalent Exchange - Alchemy has it's limits." Edward replied, sighing.
"I hope he has one. Then we could get our bodies back." Alphonse responded, hopeful.
"Don't worry, Al. We will get our bodies back."
The next morning...
Mustang, Riza, Edward and Alphone were waiting for the train at the Central station.
"ELRIC'S~!" Come a loud booming voice.
Edward shouted as he and Alphonse were getting squeezed together, the former into mush.
"Alex! Y-You're squishing m-me!" Ed forced out as a large bald - Besides a small blonde curl in the front - Muscular man, with a blonde mustache that curled up at the ends, in a military uniform gave them a huge hug. His name and rank was Major Alex Louis Armstrong, the Strongarm Alchemist.
He finally let them both go "I haven't seen you two in weeks!" He Stated.
"Hi, Alex!" Alphonse greeted.
"Yeah, hey." Edward got out as he tried to catch his breath.
Roy, Riza and Alex also made their greetings, much more formal. Soon after, the train had arrived and they all got seats at the back of the train; Ed and Al were sitting across from each-other in one set of seats, Riza, Roy and Alex were in another set of seats across the aisle.
"Hey, Mustang. What else do you know about this guy?" Edward questioned him.
A smirk broke out on the Colonels face "... He's three times your size." Mustang chuckled as Alphonse held his brother back from 'Killing the Colonel' as Ed was putting it "Relax, I can tell you this much - There was no trace of Alchemy, at all, from him."
"None...?"
"None," The Colonel answered simply "But you never know, it's not like any of the soldiers he fought were Alchemists. They could very well have missed some details." He informed.
"I guess..." Edward sighed.