There are many who believe that we are not alone in the universe. That in a separate plane of existence there are parallel worlds. Some are normal as the ones that we live in and others where there exist powers that are born from our dreams.
There are many legends and stories of people who have been able to cross these rifts in Time and Space, but they don't do it alone.
And this is where our story begins…
*(Cue Pokémon Movie Intro Music)*
FULLMETAL & POKEMON: DIAMOND & PEARL
Present
THE LOST CHAMPION
Two giant dragon like monsters were above her fighting, near them holding a red chain was a blue hair man laughing as the world began to rift around them. Suddenly the dragons hit him with a force of energy so strong that the ground around her shook and she fell back into one of the rifts.
"No! Cynthia!"
"CYNTHIA!"
"CYNTHIA!"
Olivier gasped as she woke up. Her bed sheets were twisted around her as a result of her trying to fight out of her nightmare. Some sweat matted her long hair to her face. Slowly sitting up she looked around her room to get her bearings. Seeing the furnished bedroom and canopy bed instead of her usual military quarters, it clicked where she was.
She was in bedroom at the Armstrong Family Estate in Central City.
Carefully, she untangled herself from her bed covers and walked across the cerulean carpet to her window. She tugged aside the curtains just enough to look down into the moonlit garden below.
'Why are these dreams still haunting me?' she groaned as she placed her forehead to the cool glass. Ever since she was a small child, she had had dreams of living in another world, being referred to as this 'Cynthia' and battling with a shark like dragon and several other creatures with special powers that would make the homunculi pale in comparison. Some dreams were good, but others…like this one…seemed to cause her pain in the form of terrible headaches.
'Well if I'm going to be up, then I might as well do something productive.' She thought as she changed from her night clothes into some sweatpants and a tank top before grabbing her sword from its resting place by her bed.
Quietly she headed down to the garden and then began to go through her usual training drills. To the untrained eye it looked like a beautiful battle dance, the silver gleam of the sword danced around her as she spun and jab at imaginary opponents.
"Olivier?"
She spun around rapidly, ready to lunge at her intruder, but realizing that it was just her second in command Miles; she stopped the blade mere centimeters from his throat. He didn't even flinch.
"Miles you startled me." Olivier gasped as put her sword back into its scabbard.
"What are doing awake at this hour Olivier?" he asked with concern in his voice.
Over the years the two had grown rather close. Working together in such a cloistered environment it was only natural, but in this case it was something more.
It wasn't until they were reunited after the Promised Day did the two realize that their fondness for each other was because of the love that was beginning to grow. Their relationship was slight catatonic though, Miles being as chivalrous as his namesake never push their relationship at a pace that made her uncomfortable.
"I'm fine, you don't need to worry about Me." she said as she took a seat on the cold stone bench facing the fountain.
Miles tsked lightly and wrapped his jacket around her. "Olivier, you know you can't lie to me so easily right?"
Olivier glared at him, but he didn't back down.
"Olivier, please. What's bothering you?"
She sighed and looked towards the water. "Nightmares again…"
Miles gently wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. He was the only one in her command; scratch that, in her ENTIRE life who knew about the nightmares.
"I think that I'm starting to lose my mind." She muttered. "These dreams are becoming more and more frequent. There are times I'm worried that I'm forgetting who I am."
"You're not going to lose your mind; you're much too stubborn for that to happen."
Olivier pouted slightly as she looked at him.
"I am not stubborn!"
"Whatever you say my Queen." he replied well naturedly.
Sitting in silence the two watched as the sun began to rise and gently burn away the mist.
"We should get inside; we have a long day ahead of us with the awards ceremony at ten." Miles said as he helped her up.
"I hate formal political crap like that."
"And yet you want to be Fuhrer."
"Exactly! When I become Fuhrer I can either ban them-"
"Which is unlikely."
"Or just force Mustang to do all that formal crap for me. He already likes to parade around like one of mother's show cats"
*(-o-)*
The Amestrian awards ceremonies were far from plain, and formal would just be an understatement. All the main streets that lead up to Central Command were blocked off for a parade that would start on the outskirts of the city. From the rooftops there were several civilians throwing handfuls of confetti and wishing Grumman a good term in office. Behind him in the motorcade were the soldiers who had survived the Promised Day battle. The Elric brothers were in an open car with Roy and Riza.
This being the first time that Ed was in his dress uniform much to his chagrin, Al was wearing his signature red coat.
The awards ceremony started off as normal. The Amestrian Anthem, the open speech, moment of silence to the fallen, more boring speeches…etc…Finally Grumman announced the award of promotions.
"To Major Edward Elric; for his valiant efforts to subdue the enemy and desire to protect the nation, I award him the rank of Colonel."
There was loud applauds everywhere, people chanting 'Fullmetal' over and over again as the civilians cheered for their favorite state alchemist. Even from where Mustang was seated he could see the smile Ed was forcing on his face as he walked up to Grumman to accept his promotion in the proper military style.
"To Colonel Roy Mustang; for his sacrifice and bravery, I promote him to the rank of Brigadier General."
'That punk is getting another step closer huh? Guess I'll have to step it up otherwise this gap between us will only get smaller.' Olivier thought with a frown.
"And finally to Major General Olivier Mira Armstrong; for her courage and diligence in securing victory against the enemy, I am pleased to present her with a promotion to a full-fledged General."
From the crowds you could make out Alex and the Brigg soldiers shouting their congratulations to their fearless leader as she made her way across the stage. She accepted her promotion with the air and dignity that cause her to receive her icy nickname.
Suddenly, a large black vortex appeared behind her. A strange worm-like creature with golden horns, legs and red eyes lunged out and snatched Olivier before she could realize what was going on or move out of the way. The creature quickly dragged her into the abyss before they could stop it.
"GENERAL!"
"SISTER!"
"WHAT IS THAT?"
"GENERAL ARMSTRONG!"
"OLIVIER!"
*(-o-)*
Ash was playing with his Pokemon near the Sunyshore beach. They were killing some time before they met the ferry back to Twinleaf Town when he saw a bright flash of light that reminded him of what happened when Palkia and Diagla clashed, followed by a splash a few meters out into the ocean. Using a small spyglass Professor Oak had given him for observing wild Pokémon, he look out to the sea and saw an unconscious woman floating at the mercy of the waves.
"Staraptor! Go get Flint and the others! Buizel! You gotta get me out there!" Ash yelled as he jumped into the water with his Pokémon. It took little to no time for them to reach her. She had long blond hair that was currently covering part of her face, and was wearing a blue uniform that seemed a little big on her. Making sure that he had a good grip on her jacket, they started the journey back.
When they reached the beach, Flint, Dawn, Brock, Nurse Joy and Volkner were all there waiting. Flint jumped out into the water to meet them and carried her to shore.
"Where did she come from?" Flint asked as he placed her on a blanket that Nurse Joy laid out.
"I don't know." Ash said as he took a towel from Brock. "There was this weird flash of light and then she just fell out of the sky."
"People just don't fall out of the sky Ash!" Dawn reprimanded.
"Well she did!"
"Is she okay?" Brock asked.
"She's just unconscious, I don't believe that she was out there that long." Nurse Joy replied as she pushed some of the woman's hair out of her face and gasped.
"What's wrong?" Volkner asked but then paled as he saw the woman's face.
"It's Cynthia!"
*(-o-)*
Meanwhile back at Central…it was utter mayhem. All the military and civilian police were trying to restore order; the other officers on the stage were taken to a secure location. The crowd was yelling, people rioting. Utter pandemonium.
"You all saw what happened right?" Roy asked as he and Riza shoved their way through the crowds towards the Elrics who just barely escaped from a security team thanks to Miles and Alex.
"You mean that giant ass worm just appearing and snatching General Armstrong?" Ed yelled.
"Who could have done this?"
"The Drachmans?"
"No." Miles stated sharply. He was trying to remember where he had seen that creature before. It looked kind of familiar. Then he realized it was in one of the old journals that Olivier had cataloged her nightmares in. That creature sometimes appeared in them. "No…it couldn't be…that creature could it?"
"You've seen it before?" Alex demanded.
Miles winced slightly at the volume. "Once, but it was in a picture."
"That's better than nothing." Roy said as they made their way out of the crowd and into a vacant office.
"Where was the picture from?"
Miles winced a bit a having to reveal Olivier's secrets but in this case it was necessary.
"In a journal, General Armstrong was using it to catalog some of the nightmares that she has having."
"She never mentioned anything about nightmares."
"I doubt you would have noticed, but they had started to increase in frequency as of late."
Roy took a thinker pose. "Well that would explain why she had dark circles under her eyes, and why her face wasn't as radiant."
Only Riza caught Miles' annoyed glare aimed at Roy.
"So the creature, do you know what it was called?"
"Its name is Giratina."
There was a flash of light, then the Amestrians found themselves in a large white room with a vague figure sitting before a door, a large white creature with a gold like ornament on its back that seemed to subtly shift colors. And beside it..
"IT'S THAT GIANT WORM!" Ed shouted.
"I AM NOT A WORM!" Giratina shouted back.
"He's right Brother." Al replied as he looked at the Renegade Pokémon with curiosity. "He looks more like a basilisk with legs then a worm."
"Who cares what it looks like…" Roy stated. "WHY THE HELL ARE WE AT THE GATE OF TRUTH?"
"Because, Arceus didn't think to warn me before he snatched someone from your dimension." Truth said as he glared at the large white creature.
"My sincerest apologies Gatekeeper, but I did not think that it was possible for one of my children to act so recklessly!" Arceus replied as he leveled a glare at Giratina.
'Wait…so Giratina came from him?'
'Is Arceus a boy or a girl?'
"It was Palkia and Diagla's fault anyway. They were the ones to send her into their dimension in the first place!"
"What are you talking about?"
To their surprise Truth sort of face palmed.
"Your friend Olivier was originally from another world, the world where Arceus and Giratina are from. The Pokémon dimension."
"Holy crap, so she was a giant monster too!" Roy shouted as he tried to imagine a ferocious ice monster with sharp blades…only to be slapped by Riza and Miles.
"No. in our world both Pokémon and humans live side by side." Arceus corrected.
"In our world your friend was known as Cynthia, the Pokémon Champion of the Sinnoh Region. A very kind and loving trainer."
"Kind?" Alex repeated in befuddlement.
"Loving?" Al gasped.
"Are you sure we are speaking about the same woman here?" Ed and Roy asked in union.
Arceus ignored them and continued. "A few days ago, or in your time, a few years, a mad man name Cyrus and his organization Team Galactic attempted to take control of my children Palkia and Diagla in order to contort space and time to his own twisted needs."
The room changed, and projected them above a mountain peak where a blue haired man was shown with a destroyed red chain in his hands standing before a crumble altar and two large dragon-like beasts above him. They could also see a woman who looked very much like a younger Olivier wearing a black jacket and fighting with several other Pokémon and some other teenagers. They watched the battle unfold, and Cynthia get knocked off the mountain and into a rift.
"Due to their rage after breaking free your friend regretfully fell into the rifts and fell into your world where she was reborn as Olivier Armstrong." Arceus explained as the projection disappeared and they returned to Truth's domain.
"Well that explains a lot, but why did you take her back now?" Riza asked.
"My siblings wouldn't stop whining about whose fault it was that she disappeared so I went to get her to shut them up." Giratina replied. "Honest, I didn't know she was some big shot in your world too."
"Big shot?"
"A Pokémon Champion is viewed as the strongest trainer of their region. They are quite famous for their skills and strategies of battles."
'No wonder she was so good at defending Fort Briggs.' The older soldiers all thought in unison.
"Well is there any way to bring her back to our world. Her abduction has caused a large ruckus." Alex asked.
"After all the work I put into taking her back and dropping her off?"
"Do I need to use Judgment on you?"
"No Father!"
"What those two are forgetting to say is that it will not be easy to bring her back. The strain of crossing dimensions is immense, and if done against one's will …there is a chance of complete memory loss."
"But she was remembering her life as Cynthia recently, doesn't that count for anything?" Miles asked, surprising everyone.
Arceus paused. "There is a chance that she will remember, but those memories will be distorted. She will have trouble adjusting at first until one personality either dominates or the two blend. It will vary on how strong her psyche is."
"Oh it's strong alright." They all replied.
"She was alive when I dropped her off so she should be waking up in her world soon." Giratina commented.
"Where did you drop her off at?"
"Uh…in the ocean near Sunyshore."
"YOU DROPPED HER IN THE OCEAN?" the Amestrians, Ishvalan, Pokémon and Truth shouted.
"Don't get all uppity! Palkia and Diagla got made because I broke through their precious pocket dimensions again!" the Pokémon retorted. "Besides, I made sure to drop her close enough to land and people."
"YOU OVER GROWN WORM! HOW DARE YOU!" Alex yelled.
"I AM NOT A WORM!"
"There is only one way to bring her back to your world…"
"What's that?"
"One or more of you must find her and challenge her to a battle. If you are triumphant then her psyches as Cynthia will likely crumble away
"Is there an alternative?" Al asked. He didn't like the thought of having to battle a friend or damaging her mind.
"The one with the strongest bond to her will mix the psyches of her mind. If that occurs she can still cross the boundaries between your worlds without repercussions."
Arceus started down at Truth. "That is still a dangerous tactic Gatekeeper, they will only have a year to establish that bond or they will be ejected back."
"I am willing to take that chance." Miles shouted.
"AS AM I!" Alex bellowed, sparkling loudly.
"Same here." Roy replied. "I can't possible get to be Fuhrer if I have no real competition."
"And you know I have his back." Riza added.
"You can count me in." Ed stated.
"Me too!" Al cried out.
'Such noble and loyal friends…Cynthia…Olivier…what ever you call yourself, you are lucky to have them.'
"You will all have one year to find her and bring her back." Arceus said as Giratina used its power to open up the Gate, only the door dissolved and became a vortex of swirling colors. "If you do not find her and re-establish the bond to your world…then you will have to return without her."
The small group shared a look of determination then jumped into the wormhole. They grabbed each other's hands as the felt, but soon the distortion became so severe that they were torn apart just as they reach the pulsing light at the end.
*(-o-)*
Sunyshore
"How is she?" Bertha asked as she spotted Flint and the other trainers in the waiting room. Aaron and Lucian were right behind her.
"Still unconscious." Flint replied. "Nurse Joy and the doctor are confident though that she'll wake up soon."
"Any idea where she's been?" Lucian asked.
"The only clues we have is kind of identification badge that was in her jacket pocket. But the water destroyed it beyond recognition." Volkner replied. "She also had a sword."
""What was she doing with a sword?" Aaron asked with a hint of fear in his voice.
"No idea, but from the calluses that were on her hands and the blood on the hilt mostly matched hers, *(Aaron whimpers)* I can guess that she used it frequently." Flint replied.
"And what of her grandmother?" Bertha asked. "Have you contacted her yet? You know she would hate to be let out on this!"
"I already sent a message to her. She will more than likely be showing up by tomorrow morning."
"Do you think that Cynthia will be okay?" Dawn asked as she hugged Piplup.
"Right now it's impossible to tell." Brock replied.
"Brock is right…" Ash added. "All we can do now it wait."
"Pika." Pikachu replied sadly.
In her hospital room Cynthia's whimpered a bit in her sleep as memories collided in her mind. Frigid cold air that always seemed to be around her, guns exploding around her, the sensation of being crushed, a large mountain that she had the urge to call home. There were also faces. Lots of them.
Several were of soldiers dressed like her in blue uniforms. The faces blurred before she could get a good look at them. They all began to blend together in a chaotic symphony of voices and colors.
'No! Stop! Make it stop! Please!' she screamed as she fell into the kaleidoscope.
Suddenly one of the voices broke through with a feeling of protection and warmed echoing through it.
"Olivier?"
Cynthia gasped as she awoke and practically fell out of the bed, only stopping herself by grabbing the bed railing. She looked around and saw that she was in some kind of hospital room.
"Cynthia! Guys she's awake!"
Cynthia looked over to the doorway where a dark haired boy with lightning marks on his cheeks stood with a yellow mouse 'A Pikachu' she told herself.
At his call some more people came in. One had spiky blonde hair, one with green hair and cowlick that stood up like an antenna, a flamboyant looking man with purple hair, and an elder woman who looked the most normal, they looked vaguely familiar. There was a blue haired girl holding a blue penguin 'A Piplup' and a teen with spiky brown hair and Xingese looking eyes. There was also a woman with pink hair wearing a nurse's uniform with them.
"Cynthia thank goodness you're awake." The older woman commented.
"Yeah, we were really about you." The dark hair teen added.
She blinked a few times then asked. "I'm sorry, but who are you?"
*(-o-)*
When Miles awoke he was being poked by a strange looking brown creature with a leaf on its head….wearing his sunglasses on its head. Well…they were now goggles, similar to the ones that he used to wear as a teenager.
"Uh…Hi?"
"Nuzleaf?"
He looked around to get his bearings. Currently he was in a forest, but in the distance he could see a small city. Nearby was a sign.
Welcome to Sandgem Town
"Sandgem Town?"
Miles started to stand up and then was shocked when he realized he had de-aged back to his eighteen year old self.
'Oh boy…'
*Twinleaf Town*
"NOOOOOOO!"
Al winced as Ed freaked out the second he woke up and fell out of the tree they had landed in.
"Two feet! All two feet gone!" he cried.
The problem?
Ed and Al had de-aged back to 10 and 11 respectively…so Ed…was now as short as ever.
"Two feet! Do you know how long it took me to grow just two feet?" Ed wailed as he hit the ground with his fist.
"I know Brother, I know. I lived through it." Al said with a sigh as he shimmed his way down the tree.
"Excuse me? Are you two okay?"
The two boys turned around and saw a very kind looking woman with blue hair and a strange cat with a curled tail.
The two brothers reacted differently.
"WHAT IS THAT?"
"KITTY!"
*~(Lake Verity)~*
Riza looked at her teen self's reflection in the clear waters then over at also de-aged Roy and Alex.
"Anyone want to bet that Fullmetal freaks out over this?" Roy asked with a laugh.
A piercing 'NOOOOOOOO!' echoed around them.
"I do believe that was Edward Elric."Alex said as he brushed off the dirt from his pants.
To their surprise as a teenager Alex had more hair and no mustache.
A splash drew their attention towards the water. For a moment they managed to see a faint outline of a creature floating above the lake before it dove back in the dark blue depths below.
"What do you suppose that was?" Riza asked aloud.
"I'm not sure, but for now we should find the Elric brothers and Miles before they cause mayhem."
"How do we do that?"
"Follow the screams." Roy suggested.
"And how do we do that?"
Roy raised a finger, took a deep breath then shouted at the top of his lungs. "EDWARD ELRIC IS SO SMALL THAT YOU NEED A MAGNIFYING GLASS AND A MICROSCOPE JUST TO FIND HIM WHEN HE'S FIVE FEET IN FRONT OF YOU!"
"ROY!"
"WHAAATTTT?"
"Shrimp detector is working! He's that way!"
To Be Continued…
9foxgrl Rant
Okay, I'm finally going to get started on this idea! I'm going to TRY and update weekly on this! That's if I don't get overwhelmed with classwork first!
So far, this is the pairs that I definitely have down.
OlivierXMiles
Royai
If you've read my little snippet in Muse's File Cabinet then you know which Pokémon they are going to have so far, but if you have a suggestion then please add it in your comments or PM me.
Also, if you haven't already, please vote on the poll for Zephyrus' hostage on my profile page. Hopefully I will be updating Ice Prince Alchemist either today or tomorrow morning.
Thank you all.
