Author Notes:Hello, this is the first fanfic I have ever written. Actually, in all honesty, this is the first narrative work I have ever written. The Writting quality is probably lacking, so I will appreciate any constructive reviews that can help me improve the Writting. Also, if the dialogue for any character seems to be speaking or acting in a way that is out of character, please tell me so that I may improve it in future chapters.

For context, this fanfic is set during the time of the Age of Exploration Arc of Dr Stone, with Edward and Alphonse Elric entering Japan at approximately the same time as the Kingdom of Science first discovered the existence of Why-man. On the other side, the Elric Brothers, alongside the forces of Brigs and those under Colonel Mustang, have just defeated the Father, so this fanfic is set during and after Chapter 108 of the Fullmetal Alchemist Manga, meaning it is set after the Promised Day.

March 20th, 1914 - Central City, Amestris

Edward stood in the midst of the ruins of Central HQ after the battle against The Father, looking over at Alphonse's ruined metal body. Picking up a long metal rod off the ground, he started carving a transmutation circle on the ground.

"…That's right. No one told us to give up! It's okay, I can do it." - He says while drawing a transmutation circle at the ground - "Mei Cheng, stand back"

"It's… a Human Transmutation Circle!?" - Ed hears Ling speaking.

"I will be back soon. This is my last Alchemy as the Fullmetal Alchemist." - Edward declares while activating the circle, with a determined look on his face.

He appeared in the white empty void that he had visited thrice before. The oldest of the Elric Brothers sees himself facing The Truth, the all-powerful white entity with a black silhouette, sitting in front of a large ornate gateway. The Gate of Truth.

"Have you come for your brother?" - Truth asks with a grim - "But how will you pull a whole person out? What is the payment? Will you offer up your own body?"

Edward marches forward in silence, going past Truth, nearing the Gate - "Here is the payment." - he says while looking at the source of all his alchemical abilities with a smirk. - "This huge thing. The Gate of Truth exists within everyone. That's how everyone can use Alchemy." - Ed responds, with a slight smile on his face. After all this time, Al is finally getting his body back.

"…Will you degrade yourself to an ordinary person unable to do Alchemy?" - Truth asks.

"There's nothing degrading about it. I've always been an ordinary person. A small person unable to save a single girl who'd been turned into a Chimera." - Ed responds calmly, with peace in his eyes. - "Since seeing the truth or whatever, I have relied too much on it, made too many mistakes… I have always been a puppet."

"…Will you be alright without this? - Truth asks.

"Even without Alchemy, I still have my friends." - Edward replies with a wide smile.

"That is the correct answer, Alchemist. You have beaten Truth…" - Truth speaks in a calm manner, his voice booming with wisdom. - "However, that is not what is going to happen." - Ed is confused at what he hears. - "Instead, I offer a that a different exchange be made: a task to be completed by Alphonse and you."

"What?" - Edward asks dumbfounded. I don't need to give up my ability to do Alchemy for Alphonse's sake? Regaining his composure shortly after - "A task?"

"Yes. A mission, tasks… call it what you want" - The Truth continues - "In exchange for the return of your brother to the world of the living, I make you an offer: You and your brother will go on a mission to help save a world from a dire disaster. Of course you can refuse it, and instead offer your alchemical abilities in exchange for his life."

"Could you give more details? I don't understand, what do you mean with "a world"?" - Edward Elric asks, with an air of curiosity, but at the same time confusion. - "Is there more than one world?"

"Not just more than one, there are infinite worlds." - The Truth replies. - "The one you inhabit is one in an infinite sea of universes. What I ask of you and your brother is that both of you go to one of those world where a great and unnatural disaster has struck, and help its people recover from it."

"But what about our friends and family we will leave behind?" - Edward asks, thinking of Winry, van Hohenheim, and all the others he wouldn't see if he accepted such a mission. - "What will happen to them?"

"When your task is complete, you can draw a transmutation circle and return to Amestris. However, be aware that it will only work when your task is complete, if you try to return before that it won't work." - Explains the Truth - "When you return, it will be as if you never left, you will return to the moment you activated the circle you used to become here. You will not have aged a single day."

"But… what if we die during the task?" - Edward asks, worried about such a possibility. - "What will happen?"

"You and your brother will safely return to Amestris." - The Truth declares. - "However you, Edward Elric, will return without Alchemy, according to the terms of your original offer."

"I accept the task, but what about Alphonse?" - Edward requests, clearly worried about his brother's consent. - "Did he accept?

"Yes, brother. I accepted the offer" - spoke Alphonse Elric, coming from behind Edward. Didn't see you coming from behind, Al.

"Good luck on your journey, young alchemists!" - the entity declares while giggling - "Because you will need it."

"Just a question: when and where are we going?" - Edward asks, looking behind into truth's face.

"June 14th, 5740 A.D." - Truth surprisingly answers - "Itabashi, close to the Arakawa River, in the Japanese Archipelago"

And, just like that, the gateway opened and the Elric Brothers crossed into it, determined to be successful. Waking up inside a forest in a strange land filled with human statues, it seemed to be early in the morning.

June 13th, 5740 - ISS, Earth Orbit

A notification went off in a console inside the recently rebuilt International Space Station. Radio Waves of high intensity were detected coming off the surface of the earth off the coast of Japan. Rei approached the console and activated the audio. A transmission comes off:

"Can you tell me what our bearing is, seafarers?" - says a feminine voice, with a rough sound quality. Likely a result of bad transmission equipment, weak signal or poor quality microphones as pondered by Rei-1.

"Yeah, totally" - replies a young male voice, with a bit of static.

After a short pause, the woman speaks again - "Chrome? It seems like everyone…" - the voice is interrupted by a strong interference coming from a signal sent from the moon. A second later the voice comes back - "Ahh right at the most important part the sound totally got wrecked with noise…" - the noise repeated again. It's regular, like some sort of artificial transmission. It seems to be Morse Code. The noise repeats again, as if spelling a message. It's a repeating message! "Why, why, why, why, why"… It keeps getting repeated!

"Yo" - says another transmission coming from the earth's surface. - "Are you the one? The mastermind behind the petrification?" - a young male said. Wait, I recognize that voice. It's Ishigami Senku, son of Byakuya! - "Heh, heh, heh, We finally met. After 3700 years I'm sick of waiting. Isn't this thrilling?" - I need to keep listening.

And she kept listening, waiting for the next transmission from ground. Since Senku is there, maybe Ishigami Byakuya is with them.

June 13th, 5740 - Tactics Chamber, Roppongi Hills

The five generals of the Kingdom of Science, Asagiri Gen, Chrome, Ishigami Senku, Nanami Ryusui, and Saionji Ukyu, were spread around a table with a map of the surrounding region. There were two other smaller tables, one with a clay pot filled with sheets of paper, and another with a bowl of food, a jar, and a cup.

"Since chrome here doesn't know about that time," - Ukyu says, imagining that Chrome doesn't know the history of humanity before the petrification - "How about we clear up the story so far?"

"Okay, thanks. I remember most of what I heard before though!" - he replies. On that day, a mysterious beam suddenly rained down upon the earth turning all of humanity into stone. This was, of course, unprecedented, even for the technology of civilization back then. When Senku was unpetrified by himself, 3,700 years had passed.

"Hmph, so we're thinking that the mastermind behind all that is the "why-man"? - Ponders Nanami Ryusui, looking into the map while holding his sides with his hands.

"You're calling them the "Why-man"?" - asks Ukyu with curiosity.

"There's no way that they could have kept living for 3,700 years." - declares Ryukyu with a sinister look. - "Which means, did they also petrify themselves?"

"Hey, hold on, hold on. I know I was all worked up earlier, but are we even sure this Why-man is an enemy?" - Chrome asks, thinking about the whole affair. - "Isn't there a chance they're friendly?"

"It's not impossible, but we wouldn't have to strategize if they turn out to not be an "enemy"." - replies Senku, looking at chrome. - "If they do happen to be friendly, we'll have overplanned, but that would be the end of it."

"Well, I mean" - Gen shares his thoughts. - "At the very least, things are seriously not looking that good for that outcome. After all, they ignored Senku-chan's taunting and just like that, the "why" Morse code signal stopped without any other reply."

"It's unclear where they are and where they are going." - says Ukyu while tilting his yellow cap. - "An invisible enemy, right? That's the worst!"

"That's it!" - Declares Senku with determination, surprising the other four generals. - "Heh, heh, heh, in that case it's quite simple. We need to "see" the invisible enemy. With the eyes of science!"

June 14th - Itabashi, Japan

Edward and Alphonse awoke in the middle of a forest, they were surrounded by a number of human statues that seemed impossible to count. Whatever it is, this place is surely weird. Both Al and him appeared to be without any wounds, it appears that Truth healed them when they crossed the gate, even Ed's clothes were repaired. Alphonse was naked and seemed to be malnourished. While Ed was wearing his traditional black shirt and pants, with his trademark red, long sleeved, hooded cloak.

"Alphonse, are you okay?" - Edward asks, worried about his brother's sickly appearance.

"Yes brother, it's just that..." -, Alphonse answers with a light mood. "I haven't felt anything with my body in so long, it's like a burst of electricity running through me. It's so warm. Do you know where we are?"

"Well, truth said that we are in a place called Itabashi, in a land called Japan…" - Edward gave a response, unsatisfied as it didn't solve their doubt. - "He did mention we were close to a Arakawa River, so it would be useful for me to climb a tree to see which direction leads to the river. But first, we need to give you something to clover yourself"

Ed clapped his hands, touching a nearby bush to produce a set of very rough cellulose fabric clothes for Alphonse to wear. - "Thanks for the clothes, brother" - Alphonse says to his brother

"Now we need to find that river, and after that find people. We really need some food, and it seems that we are away from any people." Ed declared, while clapping his hands and touching the ground, raising a column of rock above the treetops. - "Looks like the river is about two kilometers to the northeast, from where we could probably get some fish and build a raft. We could try to go downriver from there, there's usually civilization around large rivers."

The two walked, with Alphonse using a stone walking stick to aid him to stand, for about one kilometer, coming across a multitude of human statues on the way. "Brother, do you think that those statues…" Alphonse said, while looking at the statues, a few of them were broken and eroded. - "Do you think that they might be actual people?"

"I hope not." - Edward replied. - "Being turned to stone sounds like a very painful death. But they sure look uncannily accurate, whoever built them must be a master sculptor."

They continued to walk, until they arrived at a large river, which looked like it was a little over 250 meters across. - "This must be the Arakawa River, in all honesty it doesn't look that impressive" - Says Ed while looking at the river. He clapped his hands, transmuting a long spear, and using it to hit four fishes out of the river. - "At least now we have gotten some food."

"Brother, this reminds me of the Island teacher sent us to for a month" - Compares Alphonse in a happy tone - "Surviving alone, just the two of us, without any technology. The only difference being that we can use our Alchemy this time."

"Yeah…" - Replies Edward with a smile on his face. - "It takes us back." - Edward goes silent, while he removes the guts from the fishes and lights a fire, putting the four fishes in a stick above the fire.

"By the way, brother" - the youngest Elric brother calls out. - "The fish smells delicious.

"To be fair" - the oldest of the two replies. - "The last time you smelled or tasted any food was before we tried to transmute mom back." - Edward stopped, his eyes filled with regret.

"Brother don't be sad" - Al tried to cheer him up. - "What is in the past is already done."

"I know…" - Ed lightly punches the ground. - "It's just that we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for our foolish mistake…"

"Brother, think of something positive!" - Alphonse suggested - "Like eating those fishes, they look delicious"

Edward gave a slight smirk - "Yeah, they sure do look good."

After a few dozen minutes the fishes were barbecue roasted, with each young man eating two fishes respectively. Alphonse was overflowing with happiness for being able to eat for the first time since the fateful day they tried to bring back their mother.

"We should probably build a Raft" - Edward gives a suggestion. - "It would be faster than following the river by foot."

"I agree brother" - Said Al in support of the idea. - "And it would reduce the distance I would have to walk, after all I'm still feeling weak, and my muscles are atrophied."

Edward stood up, clapping his hands into the ground and, amidst blue sparks, pulled out an axe. He uses it to cut a few small trees to use for the raft, interweaving the long using ropes made of fiber. As soon as it is finished, he lays it down into the water, with his younger brother safely seating on top. As such, the two start their journey downriver.

June 13th - Laboratory, Roppongi Hills

"An erlen-meyer flask?" - Kohaku says while looking into the flask. - "We can see the enemy with this?"

"No, that's not it." - Replies Gen, thinking that it's too simple of an answer to be true.

"Actually, yeah" - Responds Senku, who's carrying a plate full of rocks.

"I was right!" - She screams with surprise.

"You've got a job, Power Team!" - Senku tells Kohaku, Magma, Nikki, and Taiju, holding the batch of minerals on one hand. - "Chrome found a ton of minerals in the caves. This lovely sphalerite…"

"Oh, yeah," - Chrome says, while remembering his explorations. - "I did pick that up."

"…Needs to be turned into a very fine…" - Senku stops, very surprised at seeing that the rocks were already crushed into a powder by the Power Team. He didn't even have time to finish his command before they had already gotten into work.

"Instantly smashed!" - Screams Gen with a mixture of fear and surprise.

Senku picks up the bowl of Sphalerite Powder, given to him by Nikki. - "Once we dissolve it in water and pour it into the Erlen-meyer Flask," - He speaks while following each step. - "It clings to the bottom on its own. It's fluorescent paint!" - He hands over the flask to Kaseki, making him a request.

"Then comes the usual crafting." - Kaseki speaks, while whistling, with the flask on his hands. - "Basically we need to make a giant Vacuum Tube from the Erlen-meyer Flask, right? Ohoho, that's too easy, it's the little ones of those that are hard." - While quickly and masterfully finishing the job.

"We've come this far," - Ryukyu says with a confused look on his face, while Senku connects the electric utensil to a wire. - "But I still have no idea what it is."

"Once the switch is on," - Suika responds with enthusiasm. - "You'll probably get it.

"Electrom Beam! When the Vacuum Tube is evenly heated," - Senku explains the purpose of the instrument. - "The rush of electrons are sped up by the electrode. Once they hit the bottom of the Flask, the fluorescent paint lights up. It's the birth of the Display Screen!"

"I originally planned to make it for the GPS." - Senku continues. - "So with the materials already gathered, it's an easy win."

"This is a screen?" - Gen asks confused, looking into the tube. - "All I can see is a little dot, though…"

"Isn't Senku going crazy?" - Yo thinks out loud. - "He makes too many complicated things."

"When that dot's beam starts whirling around, it forms an image." - Senku happily explains. - "With precise speed, left to right, up to down. Because of that, it projects an image on the entire screen. That's the good old cathode-ray tube television."

"How do we get the beam to move…" - Chrome asks curiously. - "at a precise speed?"

"With a magic stone!" - Senku announces. - "Using the power of a crystal!"

"He said he's gonna use a crystal ball to see his enemies or something. " - Yo whispers to Gen. - "He's going crazy after all, isn't he?"

"Yeah, but I'm not senile yet." - Senku responds, having heard everything, while he worked with a shining and translucent rock. - "Within the crystal, there really is some magical power."

"Huh… Are we talking about science?" - Gen asks, slightly confused.

"It's 10 billion percent about science. When we send electricity through the crystal plate, it shakes at a ridiculously consistent tempo." - Senku explains, while holding a small crystal plate connected to two wires. - "And electrical waves are made from that magically beautiful crystal's super consistent shaking. We make a sandwich out of two plates! Then, the electron beam that passes through the gap curves beautifully.

"The dot is going left to right." - Suika reacts surprised at the workings of the machine. - "It finally moved! And became a perfect line!"

"Whoa, I don't get it" - Says Shishio Mirai. - "But is this crystal a TV?"

"Crystals are amazing!" - Chrome screams, filled with energy and enthusiasm. - "I know that much!"

"From a single stone, getting this kind of power…" - Ruri declares, amazed at what she sees. - "It's quite mysterious, isn't it? The principles of nature."

"Yeah, and I will gratefully use them for science." - Senku replies with calm, while further modifying the machine. - "The final touch is a longitudinal curve. Once we hook up the radio antenna to the longitudinal sandwich from before…"

As Senku finishes the contraption, the line in the screen starts flowing in the shape of a wave.

"That's it, that is…" - Ukyu says, finally realizing what Senku was working on. - "Ahaha, wouldn't it be awful if me, the sonar man, if I'm not the first to recognise this? Being able to see enemies… The eyes of science… It's radar!"

Author Notes:

The first chapter of the fanfic is still narrating events as they happened in the Doctor Stone Manga, with the exception of Rei, from the spin-off Dr Stone Reboot: Byakuya, being present in the ISS.

Events following the Elric Brothers meeting the Kingdom of Science, which will happen in the next chapter, will start diverging from the events of the Manga in execution, Although I will try to follow the general plot of the Dr Stone manga as long as it is plausible. In the future the plot may start to diverge if it makes more sense due to a different context.