Fullmetal Alchemist
Invaders of Gallia
Episode 38
AN EXPLOSIVE CONFRONTATION
Ali vs Dirk
Opening Theme: Kanashimi Rensa (Valkyria Chronicles)
Audrey coughed as she began to regain consciousness. She remembered that she had nearly been killed when the flood created from the destroyed Aqueduct had taken her tank, but she couldn't recall how she had managed to escape her tank and she didn't know where she was now.
"She's waking up," a voice shouted. Audrey was surprised by how familiar the voice sounded as she slowly opened her eyes to see who had spoken. Her eyes widened with shock when she saw the speaker.
"Nik… Nikki?" she stuttered as she realized Nichole Bridgette was kneeling next to her.
"Ah, welcome back to the world of the living my lovely Ms…" Balwin began to state. However, just the sound of the old pervert's voice was enough to cause Audrey to shoot upright with a scream, slapping the old man across his cheek and knocking him onto his side. "Well, I see you haven't gotten any softer these last two years," the old man declared as he rose, rubbing his cheek.
"Where am I? Why are you two here?" Audrey asked as she tried to remember what had happened.
"What kind of question is that?" an irritated voice demanded. Audrey looked up to see Ralph Bridgette glaring angrily at her.
"Ralph?"
"You're safe and alive, which is a lot better off than you'd have been if my little sister didn't always get her way," Ralph declared, earning himself an irate glare from his younger sister.
"Now, now Ralph. That really isn't…" Balwin began to protest.
"So… you guys saved me?" Audrey realized, "why… how?"
"It wasn't us," Ralph hissed, "you wanna thank someone for pulling your butt out of that death trap, then you'd better thank the same guy who pulled you out of a hundred just like it before."
"Let it go, Ralph. That's an order," a voice which made Audrey's blood run cold ordered. Looking up to the top of a small hill they were sitting at the base of, she saw him. His red cape was being blown out like a flag by the wind as he stood with his back turned to her, looking down at Anthold Harbor.
"Colonel…" Nichole stuttered.
"Come now, Colonel, there must be something you wish to say. After all, you did just save young Audrey's life," Balwin suggested, causing Vine to turn his head and glare down at the Gassenarl sister, frightening her even more.
"Don't ever let me see your face again," Vine ordered angrily as Imca appeared from the other side of the hill and stood beside him, "come on, we've still got work to do," he ordered his squad as he descended out of sight down the hill followed by his new Lieutenant.
"Well, even I wasn't expecting him to be that blunt," Ralph admitted as he followed Vine towards the main harbor.
"Colonel, wait!" Nichole pleaded.
"Nikki, we should go," Balwin suggested. Nichole slumped with disappointment, obviously upset with how things had turned out. She gave one last sad look at Audrey before she left to follow her brother and her commander.
"Darn it, why did he do that? Why!?" Audrey shouted angrily as she slammed her fist against the ground.
"He always has been an interesting guy, that one. I've seen a lot of brave soldiers in my day, but none of them quite compare to him," Balwin admitted.
"What's your point, old man?" Audrey cried desperately.
"Ralph may believe that Vine saved you because Nichole begged him to, but I think we both know better. If he were planning to see you dead, why not let you go now? You'd have been dealt with and Vine wouldn't have even had to lift a finger to stop you. Instead, he secretly rescued you and brought you here, deceiving his comrades into believing you were killed."
"What do you mean?" Audrey asked, a little surprised by what Balwin was implying.
"Well, I was just thinking. Vine didn't reveal himself to the Lanseal squads before he saved you. In fact, I still don't think they realized he's arrived yet, unless the recognized Imca when she saved the boy who destroyed the aqueduct. If they don't know he's here, then how could they know that he prevented your death? I'll bet the Gallian army now thinks you perished in your tank. You could likely walk away from this battlefield right now and no one would ever even know. Quite interesting how convenient that is, isn't it?" he glanced back at her to see how she was reacting before continuing. When he was convinced what he was implying was sinking in, he continued. "Well, I guess I should leave. Too bad, I hope we get to see each other again, my lovely little Audrey." Audrey was to dumbstruck to even respond as Balwin turned his back on her. "On a less subtle note, you should know that Vine is taking a great risk to allow you to walk away from this, free and clear. If you ever cared for the man at all, you won't make that risk come back to haunt him." With that, the old man walked away, and Audrey Gassenarl was left, alone and presumed dead by the Gallian army.
….
Meanwhile, the Gallian army had begun its push into Anthold port and Lanseal's squads had just pushed into the town's main square.
"Alright, no sweat. This is going great!" Avan declared as Class G finished securing a perimeter in the town square.
"Yeah, too great if you ask me," Ed admitted, "what're the rebels up to."
"Audrey Gassenarl may be dead and most of their armored battalion destroyed," Julianna declared, "but even so, there's no way such a loss would cause the rebels to give up. Not when their entire cause is on the line."
"We're not done yet," Zeri declared, "not until Baldren is either captured or killed."
"What do you think, Brother? What should we do?" Alphonse asked as Ed stood watching a road that led into the square.
"We get ready to fight," Ed replied, "we've got company!"
"What kind of company?" Julianna demanded as all of Squad G turned their attention down the road Ed was watching. They were horrified when dozens of V2s began to file into the street, Dirk Gassenarl at their head.
"The bad kind," Ed declared as he transmuted his automail blade.
"Leon…" Avan stuttered as Dirk began to advance towards them.
"Keep it together, Avan," Ed ordered, "if you want to save your brother, you're going to have to stay focused. You can't let yourself be distracted."
"Right," Avan admitted, "everyone, prepare to intercept!" he ordered as the Lanseal students all hurried to cover and prepared to fight the V2s.
"Alright, come on!" Ed ordered as he charged at the V2s.
….
Dirk fired the first shot, firing a wave of blue flame that Ed dodged before jumping over Dirk and landing a powerful kick into the Artificial Valkyrur's helmet, causing him to stagger backwards.
"No flame shield, huh? Guess you don't have a power source nearby, which means you're mine!" he shouted as he swung his automail blade and locked it against Dirk's physical shield.
"Open fire!" Avan ordered as the V2s continued their advance. Without a second thought, every Lanseal cadet began to open fire on the V2s. Without their flame shields to protect them, four dropped instantly as the remainder began to open fire on the cadets. Even without a power source to strengthen their flames, the V2s attacks still proved to be incredibly powerful and the cadets were soon being battered by their attacks. Julianna watched powerlessly as a large group of her own squadmates were blown away by a V2 before she could do anything to stop it.
"Darn it, this has to end now," she cursed as Zeri managed to bring down the V2 that had killed her squad members.
"We need more firepower! Where's the Dream!?" Avan demanded. As if to answer is question, the Isara's Dream almost immediately broke through the wall of a building and fired a tank shell into the V2s, blowing two away.
"So much for minimal damage," Lavinia declared, "oh well, I guess it can't be helped now." Suddenly, another tank shell rocketed past her, blowing away a couple more V2s. Lavinia was surprised as a heavy Gallian army tank rolled up beside the dream. At first, she couldn't figure out who's tank it might be, cut as she looked it over, she noticed a turret sticker that made her cringe. "You've gotta be kidding me."
"Well well, Lavi, looks like you've built quite the tank there," Balwin Lane declared as he opened the hatch of his tank and stood above it, "I guess some of what I taught you finally sunk in."
"Who the heck asked you, Old Man!?" Lavinia shouted angrily as she climbed out of the Dream to confront her grandfather, "when did you get here, anyway!?"
"Oh, we just arrived. Don't hold it against us, Lavi, it is quite a trip to get here from Randgriz," Balwin pleaded.
"What do you mean, we?" Lavinia replied.
….
Ed swung his automail blade which Dirk parried with his weapon before knocking Edward away from himself with his shield. Looking up just in time, he was just able to raise his shield to block three blasts that slammed into him from above, driving him several inches into the ground. His shield was still raised when Vine landed in front of him, allowing the Raging Blast Alchemist to carve a deep gash into the Artificial Valkyrur's armor, causing him to stagger backwards.
"What the heck, Short Stuff? I thought you were distracting him," Vine scolded.
"I was!" Ed shouted back, "maybe if you'd get the lead out once in a while, you could have gotten him!" By now Dirk had recovered from Vine's blow and was facing the two alchemists again.
"Damage Minimal," he declared as he prepared to attack.
"Darn it, hey Colonel, don't forget who this guy really is," Ed cautioned.
"I haven't," Vine replied, "but even so, we're going to have to hurt him if we're going to stop him. We can worry about how to help him after we end this war."
"Darn it, well, I guess it can't be helped. Let's stop him before things really get out of hand."
….
"Man, there sure are a lot of 'em!" Rene cursed as she fired her Anti-Tank Lance into a group of V2s, only managing to kill one despite injuring a few others.
"It's no good!" Alexis shouted as her sword deflected harmlessly off of a V2s armor, "Even without their shields, our attacks can't penetrate their armor!" As the V2 rose it's weapon to strike her, Alexis realized her only hope was to raise her shield and hope for the beat as she couldn't hope to dodge.
"Don't lose heart children!" Major Armstrong ordered as he roared onto the battlefield, "they must be stopped here. Swinging his fist, he bowled over the V2 attacking Alexis with a vicious clothesline before punching the ground, launching several large rocks into the air which he punched at several V2s, transmuting them into spikes as he did, which easily pierced the V2s armor, taking out a half a dozen enemies.
….
Anisette screamed as she was blown onto her back by a V2s flame.
"Anisette, no!" Cosette screamed as the V2 advanced on the terrified Annisette. The young idol to be could only watch in horror as the V2 closed in on her. Suddenly, a figure shot by the V2, taking off its head as she did. As the V2 fell, Cosette and Anisette realized that their savior… was Imca!
"Are you two alright?" Imca demanded as Cosette ran to Annisette's side.
"We're fine, thanks," Cosette replied gratefully to her savior, "you were with Vine's group! Does that mean that he's here too?"
Imca only replied with a smile, before turning and heading off to continue the fight.
"Alright, about time something good happened!" Anisette exclaimed happily.
….
Vine and Ed both jumped back from Dirk, just in time to allow themselves to evade a powerful flame attack.
"This is getting annoying," Vine cursed, "even Selvaria wasn't this much of a pain in the neck. That armor and shield are both well built."
"When you fought Selvaria, I doubt she had an army of little Valkyrurs swarming around either," Ed reminded him, "those V2s are giving the others a really hard time."
"I noticed," Vine admitted, "If this keeps up, we won't be able to keep focusing our efforts on Gassenarl, because we'll have to save the others from the V2s. I doubt Baldren is holding anything back this time. We're likely up against every V2 he has left as his disposal."
"Well that isn't a comforting thought," Ed admitted.
"It wasn't meant to be," Vine declared, "on the glass-half-full side of things, though. If we can defeat them, then we'll have wiped out Baldren's final defense. From there, the rest should be easy."
"I'll believe that when I see it," Ed replied, "so what's our plan?"
"Let's leave Dirk be for now and focus our efforts on beating the V2s. That'll give us a much better shot of defeating him. We won't have to worry about his cronies or the others."
"Fine, but let's at least keep him busy for a while," Ed declared as he clapped his hands together. Using his alchemy, he formed a dome over Dirk that Vine quickly reinforced with a stone cage made of thick stone pillars before Ed formed a final dome over the cage.
"With his reduced fire power, that should buy us some time, so let's not waste it," Vine ordered as the two alchemists ran to help their friends defeat the V2s.
….
Meanwhile, their friends were in desperate need of their help as at least two dozen V2s had surrounded the town square, trapping the battered and beaten Lanseal cadets.
"There's just no end to them," Zeri groaned as he tried to catch his breath behind a wall.
"It doesn't matter… how many we defeat," Cosette gasped, "we're not getting anywhere."
"Grrr… don't give up!" Avan ordered, "we've come too far to fail now!"
"Naïve little boy," Balwin declared, "but he's got spirit. He reminds me of someone I know."
"Better a naïve little boy then a perverted old coot," Lavinia replied, "try not to throw out your back, Old Man."
"Now Lavi, you know that I haven't had any back trouble in years," Balwin declared, "Let's end this."
"Focus your fire and bring 'em down one at a time!" Vine ordered as he and Ed arrived to help.
"Without a power supply, this'll be easy," Ed declared as he held up his automail blade. As if to mock the height challenged alchemist, the V2s flame shields suddenly powered up and formed around the artificial monsters!
"You had to say it," Vine cursed, "WATCH OUT! THEIR FIRE POWER WILL DOUBLE NOW THAT THEY'RE AT FULL POWER!"
"They aren't the only ones!" Ed panicked as a blue flame shot into the sky, revealing that Dirk had smashed out of his prison. Moments later, the most powerful Artificial Valkyrur emerged from his swarm of V2s and stood at their head, facing the Lanseal and Gallian forces.
"Crap," Vine cursed.
"Eliminate them," Dirk ordered as the shielded V2s began to advance on the heroes.
"Hope you don't think we'll make it that easy for you," Vine declared as he formed a small ring on the hilt of his sword which he stuck his finger through and began to twirl the sword, "now, Raging Blast Rain Attack!" he shouted as he began to quickly twirl the sword on his finger, firing hundreds of tiny blasts as he did which pelted the V2s like a swarm of angry hornets. Unfortunately, the blasts did absolutely nothing to pierce the shields. "Well, it was worth a try," Vine cursed, "though in the end, I guess it was just a waste of energy."
"We could try to find the power source like we did in Leanbluff!" Ed suggested.
"They'll be expecting that," Vine replied, "besides which, we're completely surrounded. There's no way we could sneak a squad out past all of these V2s."
"Yeah, you're right," Ed admitted, though not happily, "so what then?"
"Working on it," Vine replied, "alright, guess it's as good a time as any to cut loose."
"Why am I getting a bad feeling when you say 'cut loose'?" Ed asked.
"Because it's probably going to suck," Vine replied as he placed his hands on the ground and transmuted a massive cannon. "EVERYONE GET DOWN!" Vine ordered as the cannon fired a massive, powerful blast that cleared a path through the V2s. Taking advantage of the momentary confusion, Vine used iron from the ground around him to form twin copies of his usual sword.
"Fullmetal! I gotta destroy the power source or we'll never beat them before we wear ourselves down! I'll try to draw as much of their attention as I can!" he shouted.
"Fine, just don't get killed!" Ed replied, "Al, let's keep 'em busy!"
"Right, Brother!" Al shouted as the two Elric brothers rushed the V2s.
"I'm right behind you, Edward Elric!" Major Armstrong roared as he thundered up behind them and began knocking V2s flying with his fists.
"Let's help 'em out, guys!" Avan ordered as Squad G resumed the battle. Vine, meanwhile, took off as fast as he could through the opening he had created, blasting and cutting any V2s unfortunate enough to be in his line of fire!
"Vine! I'm coming too!" Ali shouted as she ran up alongside Vine, her Valkyrian aura glowing with incredible power. Realizing his young friend wasn't about to take no for an answer, he nodded his head in approval.
"Right, let's do this!" he replied as Valkyrur and Darcsen broke through the V2 seige and began to seek out their power source.
"WATCH OUT!" Vine shouted suddenly, pushing Ali back as he jumped out of the path of a massive blue energy wave, fired by Dirk Gassenarl. "You're as stubborn as your brother," Vine cursed as he held up his swords, preparing to fight, "but to challenge me one-on-one, means idiocy must run in the family."
"Vine!" Ali shouted in reply, "I got him! You gotta help the others!"
"You sure!? He'll be a lot stronger then the last time you fought him!" Vine cautioned.
"I'll be fine!" Ali shouted, "I'm stronger too!"
"Alright, then, I won't be long!" Vine promised as he took off to finish his mission.
"These people are important to me," Ali admitted as she faced Dirk, "AND I WON'T LET YOU HURT THEM! NOT COSSETTE, NOT BIG GUY, NOT SHORTY, NOT AVAN, NONE OF THEM! YOU HEAR ME!"
"Commencing battle," Dirk replied.
"Fine, have it your way," Ali hissed as the real Valkyrur charged the artificial one.
Closing Theme: Heart of Sword (Rurouni Kenshin)
"Good grief, 'bout time this one got a new chapter."
"Quiet, Short Stuff."
"Don't call me short!"
"Vine, you've gotta hurry! We can't stop them like this!"
"Gramps!"
Next Time: A Heroes Fall VINE ENRAGED
"You freaks will regret this! ALL THE WAY TO THE GRAVE!"