The Man from the Other World
Summary: Ben, Gwen, and Kevin are left stranded after a battle with the Forever Knights. They are picked up by a strange man who is visiting his brother in Bellwood, little do they know that the Forever Knights have an interest in him as well, because he's from another world. Crossover with Fullmetal Alchemist.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. But I have been watching a lot of Fullmetal Alchemist lately.
Chapter One: The Man in the Car
"Humongousaur!" shouted Ben Tennyson as he smashed his fists into six Forever Knights. They were after a Null Void projector, trying to use it to free some of their clients, many of whom Ben, Gwen, Kevin and Grandpa Max's new Plumber's squad had sent there. The Knights had tech to sell, and no clients to buy them.
"You people are really getting annoying," Kevin Levin said between blows as he punched and kicked several Knights out of his way.
"No kidding, but it can't be helped since we threw all their clients in the Null Void," Gwen said, kicking a knight away as she used her Manna to put up an energy shield to protect her from a laser blast.
Humongousaur swept his large tail around, slamming it into more Knights as they charged forward. A sudden blast from a laser lance obliterated Kevin Levin's car.
"Aw man, not again!" he groaned. He focused his rage on the Forever Knights. He couldn't count how many cars he'd gone through thanks to villains and monsters like them. Why did it always have to be the car?
Knocking out the last remaining Knight, Ben shut off the Omnitrix and returned to normal.
"That's finally over," he said.
"Great, but how do we get home? They toasted my ride, again!" Kevin growled. He was deeply unhappy about having to get another car again, especially after all the hard work he had put into it in fixing it up and adding upgrades and improvements.
"Man, I am so dead," Ben said. "Even with my parents knowing about the Omnitrix, they'll kill me for being out so late. It'll be one in the morning before we get home if we have to walk!"
Just then, a car pulled up beside them.
"You guys need a lift?" a voice asked.
The three teenagers looked up to see a man wearing a white shirt and a brown coat sitting in a car. He had long blond-gray hair and had it braided back. They couldn't tell how old he was, but there was something undeniably different about him.
"Yes sir," we're trying to get back to Bellwood," Ben told him. The man smiled.
"Well what do you know," he laughed. "I just happen to be headed that way myself."
"Is it all right if we ride with you sir?" Ben asked.
"Hey, why not? You all seem like good kids. Hop in."
Ben, Gwen and Kevin climbed into the car. Kevin noticed the car itself wasn't very fancy, the guy didn't have very good tastes when it came to vehicles, then again, he did look too old to be driving a cool car.
"What's your name?" Ben asked the driver.
"You kids can call me Edward Elric," he replied.
"So Mr. Elric do you live around here?" Ben asked.
"Just Ed please, and I don't live around here, I'm just visiting my brother Al. He works at the Bellwood observatory. And who are you guys?"
"I'm Ben Tennyson, this is my cousin Gwen and her boyfriend Kevin Levin."
"What do you do for work Ed?" Gwen asked.
"I work in prosthetics, trying to improve them and make it easier for people to adjust to them."
"That's a very good thing for you to do," Gwen said.
They drove through Bellwood until they reached the observatory.
"After I say hi to my brother, I'll drop you guys off at your houses," Ed suggested.
"No, no, don't worry about that, we can walk home," Ben protested. He didn't want his parents to worry more than they already did.
"Suit yourself," Ed said.
They entered the building and Ben spotted a man with graying-blond hair talking to Grandpa Max, he resembled Ed and Ben figured that was Ed's brother Al that he had mentioned earlier.
"Ben, what are you doing here?" Grandpa Max asked.
"I could ask you the same question, Grandpa," Ben said.
"I'm just visiting Alphonse here, seems he has a love of rocketry and space, just like I do. You should go over to his house sometime; he has tons of interesting stuff there. Would that be fine with you Alphonse?"
"Sure, besides, it'll give me a chance to tell some stories," Al laughed.
Ben nearly groaned; old people stories were boring stories. But he noticed that the man they had met earlier had walked straight up to Al and slapped him on the back.
"Hey! Watch it, Brother, that's the wrong hand!" he yelped.
"Sorry Al, sometimes I forget you're not in a suit anymore."
Max, Ben, Gwen and Kevin gave Ed a quizzical look but didn't say anything.
"Wait a minute, Ed's the older brother? Then why's he so short?" Kevin joked.
"Who-are-you-calling-so-tiny-he-can't-even-be-seen-without-a-magnifying-glass-you-jerk?!" Ed shouted, acting very different from the man they just met who seemed very calm and collected.
"I didn't say that, man," Kevin smirked. This guy was one of the weird ones.
"Would you like to come over right now?" Al asked, "it's not too late and my brother and I would enjoy the company. Wouldn't we brother?"
"Yeah, we would," Ed said. He had told Al about some things he had noticed about the three teens and unbeknownst to Ben and his friends, Ed had seen some of their fight with the Forever Knights. He was intrigued by Gwen's powers, as they reminded him of the Alchemy from their childhood; he hoped to learn more about it. And hopefully find a way to harness that power from so long ago. Alchemy could do so much for this world, but he had to find a way to harness the energy from the other side of the Gate. No easy feat, but then again, people in this world didn't believe in aliens from another world. And he knew they existed too.
"Don't worry about your parents, Ben, I'll let them know you're visiting one of my friends, they won't mind."
They climbed into Ed's car. "My Brother can always drop me off at work, he knows where I live," Al had explained.
Ben, Gwen and Kevin began talking about school and sports and homework and ignored the two brothers in the front seat.
"I noticed something about girl, Alphonse, she could create energy with her mind."
"Really?" Al asked, curious.
"It's kind of like Alchemy, but not quite," Ed said, "I'm not sure where the energy comes from. I'll have to ask her about it."
"But what if her powers are a secret, Brother? Maybe she doesn't want other people to know about them."
"Well her cousin and her boyfriend there do, they were all with her. This boy Ben seems to be the leader of the group. He's different too; he can turn himself into other strange creatures. I couldn't see how, but it was something he was wearing. And Kevin, he absorbs metal with his hands, very similar to Alchemy."
"I'm sure we'll get to ask them questions later, Brother," Al said.
They arrived at the house and made their way inside. The house was very simple. But Grandpa was right; Alphonse did have interesting things in his house.
"Hey, what a cool suit!" Ben said, lightly touching a large polished suit of armor standing in the corner. There was an interesting symbol, one he'd never seen before. There was also something special about the helmet, it was like it could have been a face instead of a helmet. The suit had a loincloth around its waist and the suit itself looked like it was really old.
"Would you guys like something to drink?" Al asked.
"You have any soda?" Kevin asked.
"Sure," Al said.
"Get me something too, would you Al Ed asked, he took his suitcase to a back bedroom.
"Three sodas and some milk coming right up!" Al said loudly.
"There's-no-way-I'm-drinking-that-crap!-You-give-me-milk-and-I-will-stuff-you-into-that-suit-of-armor!" Ed spazzed from the other room.
"I'm just kidding, Brother, YEESH, you still spazz out like you did when you were fifteen!"
Gwen wasn't look at the suit of armor; instead she was looking at a painting of a blond-haired boy, his hair braided, standing beside a suit of armor. There was another painting, one of a woman and two young children. Maybe that woman was Alphonse's mother.
She thought it was strange that Alphonse didn't have any childhood photos, only paintings. It was curious, but she didn't think about it too much.
Alphonse came in, bringing cans of soda with him, he handed them to Ben, Gwen and Kevin. Ben took his and out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw a plaque of some sort on top of the mantle. He turned around and read the inscription:
Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is the principal of Equivalent Exchange. In those days we believed that to be the world's one, and only truth.