Wolf: Thank you so much! I'm happy that my OC isn't cliche~ You've made my day, anonymous reviewer. Checking for updates every few hours~? That's admirable dedication...I think there's a tear in my eyes. Eh, well, the point is I don't think I'll update hourly. Isn't that a bit too extreme? I have three other chapters typed up, and I'm proofreading them to make sure they're valid. But, you'll see an update either tomorrow or the day after~

TimeWolf: What a popular penname~ I'm ecstatic that you've reviewed for my second chapter~ Thank you. It's just that I was fearing that the trolling type of characters are disliked. Greed deserves more love~ I don't know why Envy is more popular. Oh, actually, I do. But I'm still envious. e ue

WhiteOokamiKiss: Thank you for reviewing! I'm happy that she is liked and different. I decided to just suck up my gut and give her a surname. The name Catalena is actually Romanian, so I decided to just give her a Romanian surname. Nothing special, just a surname. At least her middle name isn't Sparkles, right?

A/N: I had a lot of fun typing this. It'll be my first action-packed, heated trolling session/battle ever. Thank you for even clicking this and taking the time to read it! By the way, are these chapters too short for you? I know that long fanfics aren't very appealing. Example: Even though I find an interesting fanfic with like, 300 reviews but 100 chapters, I get turned off. :( BUT unless it's like, supremely intoxicating, I will read it.

Disclaimer: I do not own FMA: Brotherhood. If I did, Greed wouldn't have died, and I wouldn't like him as much as I do now. You know, like when an artist dies his/her artwork becomes heaps more valuable? That applies here.


Avaricious

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|Just for this moment…|

Chapter 3

A Short Thesis

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She did not exactly understand why the child would be called the Fullmetal Alchemist. But then again, Führer King Bradley was known to give unusual yet suitable names to the newly appointed State Alchemists. Catalena was slightly anxious about what title she would be bestowed.

Her smile reveled the thought of having an illustrious title. Then she thought about how her fame or infamy—she hadn't thought about her future—would affect this nickname of hers.

"Catalena? You're not getting cold feet, are you?"

Her vision blew away in a cloud of smoke and she found herself staring down at the blonde alchemist.

He sneered after she hadn't uttered a word, "Oh, I get it; you're scared of me and my cool nickname, aren't you? That's right, my title is Fullmetal; It's only natural that you'd be swooning in my presence right now. " He grinned and posed threateningly in front of her, even wiggling his white-gloved fingers.

The brunette's senses finally came down to earth, and she realized she had just been insulted. "Eh? Oh please. Swooning over you? Sorry kid, but you must be this tall to ride this ride," she shrugged her shoulders, hovering one of her hands over Edward's head for emphasis.

True to his hotheaded nature and already broiling patience, he clapped his hands together, and in a shroud of blue lightning reconstructed a blade out of his right arm. Without hesitation, he lunged at her.

Catalena's stormy eyes widened, and within the last few seconds, was able to step backwards and dodge the metal blade by the breadth of a hair. Edward's swing caused him to fall forwards, and by the time he stood up straight Catalena had retreated a few safe feet away from him.

She looked amazed, smirking through and through, "Oh, wow! So that's why they call you the Fullmetal Alchemist!" Colorless eyes gazed intently at the automail arm. "I heard of you before. Who knew the revered and heroic Edward Elric would strike to kill when he was the one who challenged a poor and helpless girl that was myself?"

Edward's golden eyes traced to her periodicals, still dazed that she had somehow dodged him. Of course, he had never meant to kill her with it. Just shut her endless trap.

Catalena lowered her brows, appearing slightly disappointed yet still retaining a wry smirk, "Lucky for me, his short height detained him from landing a lethal blow~"

A vein pushed itself through his skin, and he had returned his blade arm, satisfied with just punching this annoying girl square in the face. Or, maybe in the chest, since it was never right to hit a girl in the first place. But then wouldn't she get breast cancer? Wouldn't that be horrible on his account?

Looking past it all, he charged with a single objective, "ARRGGGHHHH!" The blonde roared while forcing himself towards her. His fists were raised and once he got close enough, swung.

She easily perceived his direct actions, merely swaying to the side. Catalena didn't even try to counterattack, so Edward took his chances and began swinging his fists again.

Just as all the others, she would only move to the side, duck, or stray backwards. His fists would only meet air, and his temper would only soar. The more angry he became, the more reckless his attacks were, and Edward had begun realizing that perhaps her strategy was to tire out her opponents first (As well as taunt) before fighting them.

"What the hell—Stop moving so much, dammit!" Edward would cry while they were in the heat of the action.

Not even hindered by conversing, she laughed, though her gray eyes tracked his arm movements, "Why don't you stop missing?"

If looks could kill, Catalena would have become a ghost, because it seemed Edward's pupils disappeared in his fury. He ushered a battlecry just as his fist sliced through the dry air.

Catalena ducked, her gloved hands making contact with the ground, and in a flash of blue light, transmuted a pillar of the ground from under her feet to elevate her into the air. The blonde she was fighting witnessed her first act of alchemy, and groaned as he saw that it curved backwards to the roof of a low building. Catalena leaped off the pillar, and as she stepped towards the edge of the rooftop it would shrink back into the ground.

In pure enjoyment she smirked down at the Fullmetal Alchemist, "You getting tired yet~? Mr. Fullmetal? Can you reach me up here?" To her, enough wasn't enough, and she waved down at him.

"I'LL KILL YOU." Clapping again, Edward slapped his hands against the ground and performed the very same act she had, except his pillar had to tilt forwards.

Seeing that he was still persistent on fighting her up close, she skipped away before his pillar became close enough.

Edward kept his reconstruction of the rock up, causing it to chase after her in a train-like motion to sum up for time. He raised his metal arm in preparation to grab her by her gray hood, "I've got you now, slick bastard!"

She had turned to look at the advancing cylinder of solid rock, and only had enough time to duck away from Edward's grabby hands. Regardless, his fingers found the fabric of her alchemists' cloak, and he grinned triumphantly as he yanked it, finding just enough power to pull her along with it.

The rock he had used crashed into the ground, and the blonde leapt off to poke at his captive. Sneering as the dust cloud began to disperse; he turned to look at the gray cloak in his right arm, "Not so fast now, are you, Ms. Witty—" Golden eyes resembled saucers as Edward realized the only object in his hand was a gray fabric. "GAH. WHAT IS THIS. When did she—" He looked around in jittery motion.

The smoke cloud had disappeared, and standing near the crumbled trail of dirt was the lone figure of Catalena. Edward noticed she didn't look as happy as she usually did. She looked vexed, if it was possible.

"You slipped out of your clothes?" Edward disdainfully swallowed. He noticed it truly was only a crop top she wore underneath, but he wasn't nervous by this because Winry would always wear one of those too.

Catalena covered her upper arms and rubbed them, furrowing her brows and for once, frowning, "Yeah. If you could please be so kind and give me back my cloak, I would be happy to continue this little game of dog and monkey." She opened one of her palms, fingers flexing for the object.

Edward glanced at the possession in his hands before staring at her awaiting person again, "That depends. Are you actually going to fight me this time, or are you just going to run away?"

She scoffed at him, still looking unamused, "It's not running away, dumbass. If you had some lunatic midget swinging their fists at you; wouldn't you prefer to dodge too?" Edward's face cracked at this, "It's logic." She added, closing her eyes.

"Yeah, well, it's frustrating to fight you since you move around so damn much! I'm starting to think that you're probably just one of the 'all talk and no fight' type of people!"

"…"

"You probably aren't capable of fighting me; that's why all you do is run away." Edward smirked as he saw Catalena growing angry for the first time since they'd met.

For a few seconds there was only the silence and remaining dust lingering in between them. They both stood on decent sized ends of the rooftop, each in wait for the others' action. The brunette, who had covered her emotions with a mask of apathy (Possibly due to annoyance), simply said, "You're right. If it actually were a real fight, I'd probably react accordingly."

Edward's response was a simple, confused, "What-?"

Catalena crossed her arms over her chest, smiling arrogantly and raising her thin eyebrows, "I mean, if you actually were worth fighting…" she paused to let it soak in "…I would take the time to hit you in the face, too. But you obviously aren't experienced in the matter, so I find it a bother to use my alchemy against you."

"...BASTARD. I HATE YOU SO MUCH RIGHT NOW!" Dropping her clothes, he pulled up his right sleeve; his long legs bounding towards her in mere moments.

Again the previous style of battle ensued. Edward would flail angrily at Catalena, and Catalena would brush his attacks to the side. Surprisingly, for this time, Catalena stuck her leg out in front of him just as he had finished missing a punch of many. He would cry out in shock, tripping and then falling to the ground.

Catalena grinned down at the crashed figure, but soon enough her smirk would transform into a symbol of confusion. Edward was one with the ground, and Catalena was too busy looking down at him that she didn't look up.

A wall of stone rose from behind her. Initially, she would crane her neck upwards to gaze at it, and become unaware of the spears of small rock that snaked their way around her body, holding her in place against the slab. She would only utter a 'tch' as she was rendered immobile.

Edward rose up from his fallen position, traipsing towards her and performing another act of dominance. Catalena's hands were strapped against her sides of the slab, so Edward took the liberty to confiscate her brown alchemy gloves. It was her substitution for a transmutation circle, so without it she could not perform alchemy to his chagrin.

Despite being subdued, she still mocked him, "Taking my alchemy gloves, huh? You really are afraid of me, kid."

Edward retained a composed and serious look. He was not one to gloat when it came to fights like these. Without answering her, he walked by, disappearing for a minute and then reappearing with her dismissed gray alchemists' cloak. He placed her gloves within his own cloak before finally speaking, "It's not that. It's just that I don't trust you. Completely different story, and don't even bother arguing with me on that."

Catalena, still clenched within the bands of stone, replied half-heartedly, "Whatever. Congratulations. I guess I have to report back to Colonel Mustang, now…" Quietly she cursed to herself.

The younger of the two pressed his hand against the slab of rock, deconstructing it into a mound of dirt. Catalena became free again. Her first act was to swat rubble off of her person. Edward graciously handed her gray cloak. Although hesitantly, she accepted and donned it. Fitting her hands within her pockets she felt a smooth, round object. Pulling it out by a chain that was attached; she hung it before her face, finding it out to be the silver pocket watch from before.

Out of the corner of her thoughtful eyes, Edward was watching her with a scrutinizing and stern gaze. He gave her one look before turning around with a shrug and walking away. Understanding her part of the deal—and that he wanted her to follow him, Catalena's steps obediently traced after his.

When she followed this boy, she thought there was something nostalgic about it. It was far from a good memory. Silent eyes and unvoiced opinions drifted between them, and Catalena was probably the only one thinking so heavily upon the simple act. It wasn't that she had forgotten about when she was taught by him; it was that she wanted to forget.

There was a reason she refused to become a dog of the military, yet again.

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A/N: That seemed shorter than the other chapters. :| I hope this proves that she isn't a trolling killing machine. She prefers to watch from the sidelines, because she isn't so strong as you think. Philosopher's Stones aren't infinitely useful to those who cannot use them well. Or in this case, she refuses to use it. Thank you for reading! This was very fun to type out. I hope you were able to imagine the fight without much difficulty. :( Please read and review.

I wonder, can anyone guess who was capable of pushing Catalena around? I think it's pretty obvious. If you do, please keep it to yourself just in case others aren't aware. Thank you and come again next time.