A/N: Mmkay, so a couple days ago, I was in this exact archive and was reading the descriptions of this story and another one, Alchemy Shadows (which is very good by the way), and I was mildly freaked out when I noticed just how they were exactly the same. It freaked me out even more when I looked at our first chapters and noticed lots of other similar things. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but I want to make it very clear that this was all just really coincidental. I did not steal this idea from anyone else.

On another note, who here wants for me to change the names of the Yugioh characters to their Japanese ones? I made them the English dubs version cuz that's what I saw first, when I was 8 and it came on cartoonnetwork. But, at the same time, I have seen subs and I have read lots of fanfics with their Japanese names, so, since I live for the readers, I want to know what they would prefer. So just drop me a review and lemme know.

Speaking of which, I only got ONE review for the last chapter. AnimeSnowflake is currently my favorite person: Not only did they review, but they reviewed and gave constructive criticism. Thanks a bazillion! However, I got a fair amount more hits than reviews. Hits are nice, but reviews are what feed the plot bunnies. I have abandoned stories before when I lost inspiration. I won't give any sort of quota or anything, but please do review.

Now that I have concluded ranting... ONWARD!

The group of friends looked around at each other. After a long moment of uneasy silence, Atem finally spoke up.

"We should follow them."

"What? Why would we want to go after people like that?" That was, of course, Kaiba.

"Because, Kaiba, they are our unofficial 'guides' here. Plus I'm not sure I trust them. What could be so dangerous about a desert village? I want to be sure of their motives before I put my trust in them fully."

"So you decide to follow them into a completely unknown situation in a world that's completely new and strange to you? Because that makes sense and is completely, 100% danger-free. What happens when it does turn out to be dangerous?"

"Oh, so you believe them now?"

"Not like I have much choice. This must just be a parallel dimension where alchemy developed instead of some other science like physics. There is an actual scientific theory regarding parallel dimensions, and you didn't answer my question."

"I'm sure, whatever it is, we've faced worse."

Kaiba grunted. I wouldn't underestimate this world. We don't have any idea what's out there.

"Well, you do whatever you want to do. I'm going to do like they suggested and get a room 'til they come back."

"You'll have a hard time without money." Atem was smirking now.

"But they gave us plenty!"

"Correction: they gave me plenty. You, for once in your life, don't have control over any sort of money. So this is completely under my jurisdiction."

Kaiba glared. "So you're blackmailing me."

"Well not really... actually, yeah. That's exactly what I'm doing. So either you can live as a hobo for a couple days, or you can come with us."

"And possibly get killed?"

"I doubt it'll come to that."

"Why do you even want me along?"

"Yeah, Atem, why do we want this pig along?" Joey joined in the conversation.

"Because I'd rather we didn't get separated. Like Kaiba said, we don't know much about this world. We need to all stick together."

"Everybody off!"

That was the train conductor. Realizing they hadn't moved from their train compartment yet, the out-of-place teenagers clambered out and into the hot desert sun.

Atem looked around for the Elrics, before seeing the giant suit of armor standing out in the crowd. They were at a booth, and as he got closer, he heard the end snippet of their conversation.

"—two tickets to Liore," Ed was saying.

"Uh, that'll be 40."

Ed handed over a few coins and were directed over to where a cab driver was waiting.

"Over here!" Atem called.

They stumbled up to the cab service.

"We need..." Atem counted the group of people. "six tickets to Liore."

"Yeesh. The guys just before you asked to go to Liore, too. What, is there some kinda reunion or sommat'? Costume party? 'Cause all 'a you look weird. The one was in a suit of armor. Some kinda freak." The guy shook his head in distaste. "Anyway, that'll be 120."

Atem paid and they piled into a cab.

"So, have you ever heard of Edward Elric?" Yugi asked their cabbie.(1)


After listening to the cabbie about the older Elric, Atem leaned back and thought about what he had just been told. It seemed as though Ed was generally well-respected by the common-folk, and he had somehow managed to garner a reputation that he was out for the people. Hence, "The Hero of the People."

But Atem still wasn't sure.

Glancing out the window, he saw the Elrics.

What happened to their cab?, he wondered.

"Can you let us out here?" he asked. When the others looked at him questioningly, he pointed out the window, where the Elrics were trudging through the desert.

"Uh, sure kid, but don't you want to get closer to civilization?"

"Just let us out."

"Okay, okay. Jeesh. Ya' don't need to bite my head off."

They piled out of the cab and headed towards the Elrics, trying to keep out of sight.

As they neared the village of Liore, Ed and Al stopped, before looking directly at where they were crouched behind a sand dune.

"Why don't you just come out now? You've been following us for hours."

Atem was the first to stand, refusing to be intimidated by the short blonde.

A vein bulged on Ed's forehead. "We told you to stay there. Why did you follow us? Are you just looking to get killed?"

"It's a desert village. How dangerous could it honestly be?" As Atem said this, Yugi stood beside him. Slowly, everyone else rose up, too.

"We honestly don't know. We came here on a rumor about certain strange happenings. We're just checking them out. We don't know what'll happen, but based on the nature of the rumors, it probably will involve some danger."

"It can't be worse than anything we've faced before." Yugi reiterated Atem's earlier point to Kaiba.

"Oh really? I wouldn't suggest you underestimate this world. It's not as soft as you seem to think it's going to be."

Atem and Yugi rolled their eyes.

Ed was seething. These people were getting on his nerves. Looking at Al, he knew his brother would never approve of leaving them out here in the desert, so, reluctantly, he gestured for them to come along.

"But when we get there, leave us alone."


"Ugh, I need water," Ed complained for the thousandth time. "I'm so thirsty I can almost hear it... Wait—"

He ran ahead and looked into the square. Upon seeing a flowing fountain, he ran forward, shouting in joy.

"Woohoo! Yeahheheh! Waterwaterwaterwater!" But once he got there, the grin faded and he picked up a cup full of wine.

"Great."

"Hey you! Get away from there! Kids ain't allowed to drink from the fountain, you know that."

The man looked at the group in front of him and laughed after hearing their story. "Oh, you're out-of-towners, huh? I thought you were just a bunch kids trying to sneak a drink at the fountain."

Glancing up, the bartender reached for a wire to the radio. "I almost forgot; time for a little soul-food."

As a voice came out over the airwaves, preaching, Ed commented, "Well, that's freakish."

"Your friends are in strange clothes I ain't ever seen before, your buddy's in a suit of armor and you're wearing gloves in the desert and you're calling us freaks?"

Ed didn't comment.

After a long pause, the man spoke again, "So, uh what's your deal, anyways? Are you street performers or somethin'?"

Ed did a spit-take. "I don't think so, pops. Do I look like a clown to you?"

"Who is this guy on the air, anyways?" Yugi spoke up for the first time. They had been watching silently, mostly because they weren't sure of what the societal norms were and didn't particularly want to make fools of themselves. After the first few minutes, however, they had decided that this society wasn't all that different from their own.

"Why, that's Sir Cornello."

"Huh," Ed said. "Doesn't ring a bell."

"You're kidding! You've never heard of the great prophet Cornello?"

As a crowd of people came up, basically singing Cornello's praises, Ed and Al got up, clearly uncomfortable.

When Al broke the radio and subsequently fixed it, the group became very suspicious. Not of the brothers, but of this so-called prophet Cornello. If they mistook the brothers' alchemy for "miracles", they had a feeling that their alchemy and the prophet's miracles might be one and the same.

As Ed attacked a couple people who had called him short, a girl with brown hair and pinks bangs walked up.

"Ah, Rose! Finished your shopping for the offering?"

The girl smiled and nodded.

"Why don't you take these travelers to Father Cornello? He always has rooms open."


After they had gotten settled in to their various rooms, Joey and Tristan spotted and Ed and Al headed to the sanctuary Rose had said she'd be in. Sharing a glance, they followed, making unnecessary ninja gestures and rolls.

Due to the extra time it took for them to get there, they found Al waiting outside, presumably watching Ed and Rose inside. They got to him just in time to hear him mutter, "Great, Ed. Push your total cynicism on someone else."

"Hey Al, what's happening?" Tristan asked, coming up behind him. Before anyone could respond, there was the sound of a gun being click and a man saying, "Don't worry Elric, your brother will join you soon."

"Hey, what're you—" Joey shouted, but it was too late. The gun fired.

And Al's head flew right off.

Immediately, Joey and Tristan noticed something was wrong; for starters, there was no blood. But before they could do anything, the man had the gun pointed at Ed.

"Cray! What are you doing?"

"These two are enemies of God; it is His will, Rose, not mine."

"I don't think so."

Al had gotten up. As Cray turned to look in astonishment, Ed threw Al's head at him, effectively knocking him out.

But... Al had no head.

"Y-you don't have a head!"

"Don't be scared Rose," Al said, leaning over to display that he not only didn't have a head, but his entire body as well. He was an empty suit of armor. "This is how I am."

"Th-that's not possible!" Joey and Tristan exclaimed.

"You're not there..."

"It's true; I don't have a body. But I'm still here. This is my punishment for setting foot on holy ground, where mortals are forbidden."

Ed stared obstinately at the ground.

"We made a mistake Rose, Joey, Tristan. And we're paying for it."

At that, Rose screamed and ran away.

"Rose!" Ed started towards her, then looked back at the two boys behind him. "Do you still trust me? At all?"

After a long pause, Joey sighed. "You haven't really given us a reason not to. If I had a secret like that, I'd want to keep it that way myself."

"Yeah, so long as you don't suddenly start trying to kill us, I think we'll be alright."

Ed nodded. "Stay here. We'll go after her."

"We're coming."

"And you don't actually have any control over us," Tristan pointed out.

Ed grunted in annoyance. "Please stay here?"

"Brother, we're wasting time! Let's go!"

"Fine, but don't blame me if you get yourselves killed!"


They found themselves in a cavernous room, with Rose standing at the end of it.

"Rose!"

Cornello's smooth voice cut into the air. "You wrestled with the darkness and won, Rose. Thank you for bringing them to me."

He turned to the Elrics. "State Alchemists, brutal enforcers. I had a feeling you would show up one day."

"Well let's not chalk that up to pious premonitions, okay? You knew we'd come for the stone!" Ed shouted.

Stone?, Joey thought. What stone?

"You mean this, young man?"

He held up his hand, displaying his ring. Ed's grin became almost feral.

"I knew it. Alchemy without a transmutation circle. Completely ignoring the principle of Equivalent Exchange. It could only mean one thing!"

"Yes, the mythical gem, the legendary amplifier. The Philosopher's Stone."

"That's it Al. It's ours."

The way he said it sent shivers down Joey's spine.

Ed demanded Cornello give him the stone, but he refused, instead turning the floor into sand, causing Al to sink and making it so Ed couldn't draw a transmutation circle. Then he brought out a hulking chimera, a lion and a snake mixed.

"You mixed animals, the most depraved form of alchemy there is!"

"Maybe so, but most effective!"

Then Ed clapped his hands together and pressed them to the ground, pulling up an iron spear. As the lion snake attacked, he used it to hit the snake and lion chimera out of the way.

"H-how did you do that without a transmutation circle?" Cornello growled. Throwing a bird that had been perched on his shoulder, he shouted, "Bring me his head my pet!" before using his Philosopher's Stone to transform it into some hideous beast that only vaguely resembled the bird it had been.

It attacked Ed, claws closing around his left leg. Joey and Tristan closed their eyes, waiting for the snap as his leg was broken.

But no such sound came.

"What?"

"Wrong leg, pal!" Ed brought his foot out of the beasts claws. "And here's the right arm!"

He pulled back his arm and struck the bird-thing, sending it flying across the room.

But the lion/snake was back up, and came flying at Ed, teeth closing around his arm. However, nothing went through. It was gnawing on his arm, but it couldn't seem to bite it.

"What's the matter, you poor bastard? Can't get a good taste?" Ed threw the monster off and kicked it with his left leg.

"That's impossible! Those claws on your leg, those teeth on your arm! No one could survive that! Unless... Your limbs, they're fake!" Cornello shouted, realization finally dawning.

"Brilliant deduction."

Ed started to rip his coat off at his right shoulder. "Don't look away Rose. This is what happens when you try to bring a human to life. When you cross into God's territory, or whatever the hell it is, is this what you want?"

His right arm was completely made of metal. Steel. Looking down at the rips in his pants, so was his leg. Tristan and Joey had never seen anything like it.

"I see. Now I understand you Elric. You crossed the line; you did what is strictly forbidden. You tried to create human life and your bodies were taken to the other side. You are the FullMetal. The FullMetal Alchemist!"

End Ch2.

(1)See, this is irony, because in the show, Ed asks his cabbie about himself, sort of trying to be a braggart. Well, not "sort of", he's being a braggart, but then he gets angry at the cabbie when he calls him short. And runs out of the cab. Chasing the poor cabbie.

A/N: Blargh, I know this was kind sorta really pretty much the exact same as the first episode of FMA, aside from the beginning, but it was necessary. And I don't really like a lot of this chapter, I must admit, and the next chappie is already better. DON'T LOSE HOPE IN MEEEE! I promise, this next chapter will be different. There was a reason no one else came to the showdown with Corny. They have a different purpose O.o Anywho, all will eventually be made clear. And not exactly like the show.