AN: This should be a better quality than the last chapter. Check out the end for more notes.
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or Fullmetal Alchemist.
Edit 4-27-20: Just some minor changes
Chapter 1: Bonding Time!
People often wonder, 'what is it like in a pokeball?' Edward Elric and Alphonse Elric get to experience what it is like in a luxury ball. The luxury ball takes a pokemon's most loved environment from their memory, and turns it into a small virtual world. For Ed, it just so happened to be a summer in Resembol. With his house behind him, he can see the rolling landscape, his tree, and farms in the distance. The luxury ball creates an illusion to make the pokemon inside as comfortable as it can be.
The only problem was he was alone. He couldn't sit by the tree with Al. He couldn't get into a shouting match with granny or get hit in the head with a wrench by Winry because they weren't there either. And Al wasn't in the same containment unit as he was. It made Ed homesick for all it's worth. Seeing everything, but not actually being there. The only thing he could do was reflect on his thoughts in a heart wrenching environment. He came to dread it.
Sometimes, voices would echo through his environment, like a speaker; clear with slight static. The voice always speaking sounded like the girl who caught him, Laura. So he assumed that was who it was speaking.
One day, he heard the voice sound quite angry. There was muffled laughter. The girl had shouted at the bullies after a few more unhearable taunts. Then there was a quiet whispering to me.
"Com'on Griffin. Show these bullies what you're made of." There was a flash of light and Ed found himself on the floor. A cry of surprise escaped him at the sudden and rather disorientating action. He shook himself and observed his surroundings. In front of him were three kids. The main kid laughed so hard after seeing Ed's small stature he almost fell over.
"Bwahahaha! Go poochyena!" With a flash of light a grey dog like pokemon appeared. Ed winced slightly as the information was downloaded into his brain. The bully sneered "Ha! Your small Eevee is even too scared to fight! Much less protect you!"
The Bite pokemon gave high pitch hyena-like laughter that sounded freakishly similar to the bullies own.
But the only thing the eevee saw was red.
Ed growled. Then he attacked. To the humans, all they saw was a flash of red with streaks of gold and the poochyena was fainted. The dog, however, was given a much brutal torment. "Shorty?! Can a shorty do this?! What else are you gonna call me, a half pint, bean sprout midget?! I'm still growing you backwater stupid idiots!" All while the golden Eevee beat up the dog quite easily, leaving stunned trainers, and the bully running with his tail between his legs.
Ed huffed and puffed- but wasn't prepared to be scooped up into the arms of his trainer. Laura hugged the eevee tightly, who immediately pushed away only to notice that his fur was wet. The lass was crying. Ed looked into her eyes and immediately noticed the relieved look in the teary, green eyes. He could read his trainer perfectly. He had no reason to be able to (Ed had only just met her), but he understood the situation. He saw how that kid has bullied her for years, even though they were supposed to be friends. How she had been injured so badly by that poochyena she couldn't go to school the next day. How today, despite having no care for his trainer he saved her. And Edward Elric understood everything.
And he found it deep within himself, to accept his fate and be the kid's partner, maybe even find friendship in it. Then, Ed, now named Griffon, pushed himself away from the teary eyed trainer with a huff. What was that about friendship? Naw, Griffon just needs to keep up appearances. Besides, the hug was getting awkward anyway.
Laura held up Griffon's pokeball before going to tap the button. . . only to have it snatched from her grasp. She looked up and saw the eevee held the capsule in his mouth.
"H-hey give that back . . !" The school girl stuttered before giving chase to the runaway pokemon
. . .
Laura landed on her knees on the soft grass of Route 104, chest heaving. She had chased Griffon all the way from Rustboro City. "C'mon. . . We have to *gasp* get back or *gasp* Ms. Larsen will kill us. . ." The brunette felt a shiver of dread run down her spine
Ms. Larsen was the girl's homeroom teacher who talked about the basic needs and knowledge of a pokemon trainer. She was a very kind teacher but when people broke her rules they were in for a rough punishment.
The mischievous Eevee stopped where he was before glancing back at the girl. He rolled his eyes. Not nearly as bad as Teacher's punishments. Ed shivered at that thought.
He spotted Laura was a couple feet away from him, almost keeled over from being out of breath. With another eye role, Griffin walked up and rubbed his head on her knee, with a small purr. The schoolgirl gave a small giggle and tentatively pet Griffin on the head.
"Did you run away because you didn't want to be in that pokeball . . .?" Laura wondered aloud.
Edward gave a small yip of approval. Good girl, you shall be easily trained.
"Oh! OK then, I'll make sure not to keep you in that ball until Ms. Larsen needs me to. Anyway, we have to get back, my mom will be worried about me." With that statement, the Laura hurried back to the city, with Griffin in tow.
. . .
Laura sat under the shade of a large oak reading a book. Griffin sat curled into a small ball right beside her, lightly snoring. The leaves rustled and the puffs and wisps of clouds lazily drifted against the stark color of the blue sky. The golden eevee's ear twitched as he woke from his short nap. Blearily, rubbing his eyes with his paws, he yawned- earning a small giggle from Laura.
"Laura!" The shout caught the school girls attention as she snapped her head away from Griffin to see Robby coming into sight from a path in the forest.
Griffin too snapped his head up in time to dodge a tackle from a silver eevee.
"Al!" The two Eevee's shared a type of hug and Al grinned at Ed mischievously.
Robby and Laura also grinned. "You know what happens when a trainer meets eyes. . ." Laura said with a glint in her green eyes.
"They fight!" Robby finished in an almost scream. "I'll beat you this time for sure! C'mon, Silver!" Alphonse, AKA Silver, retreated to stand just in front of Robby.
"We're not pushovers, let's do this, Griffin!" Edward jumped back to where Laura was standing, eyes gleaming in anticipation. "Since we won last time, you get to go first."
"Alright, Silver use tackle!" Al shot forward like a silver blur.
Edward jumped into the air and used the back of Al's head like a springboard, which would have sent the silver eevee into the dirt face first if he had not used the momentum to flip and land on his feet.
"Quick attack!" Ed landed in a flash and rammed into Al's side sending him into a tree.
"Oh no! Silver, get up!" Robby grinned when Silver got back onto his feet. "Quick attack!"
"Baby-doll eyes, then Sand attack after!" Al shot forward even faster than before but wasn't able to outspeed the effect of the move baby-doll eyes. Like quick attack, baby-doll eyes was also a priority move, but instead of damage it lowered the foes attack stat.
Silver rocketed into Griffin, who shrugged off the attack, before sending sand into Al's eyes with one kick, lowering accuracy.
Al shook his head briefly to dislodge as much sand as possible, but there were still grains of sand stuck in his eye.
"Silver, try tackle!"Once again the younger Elric charged at his elder, albeit more blindly than before.
"Dodge then leer!"
The golden eevee easily out maneuvered the silver and shot a nasty glare at his still charging form. While the sand attack only blinded an opponent in the first instant, even after most sand was shaken from the eye, there was still one effect the grains of sand remains did- prevent the opponent from paying attention too closely to detail. A loose stone being a perfect example
Alphonse promptly tripped over a small pebble, his legs flailing about in the air as he was sent tumbling.
"Griffin, now, quick attack." It was all downhill from there. Ed shot forward like a bullet, with his outline blurring in a white light. With Al's defense lowered and him being worn down, Al was done in with four blows from the attack.
Robby looked down with a downcast expression as he walked over to where Silver was resting, having fainted from the fourth blow.
Laura ran over to Griffin with a happy squeal as she picked the tired golden eevee up, who promptly began squirming. Managing to escape, he dropped to the ground, before sticking a tongue out at Laura. Robby giggled at the interaction, before going to sit down by the oak tree.
The school girl immediately noticed his downcast expression and went to go sit by him. "Don't be upset because you lost. . ."
He shook his head sharply before looking away. "I-I'm not. . ." Robby muttered.
Laura sighed. "I've known you long enough to say, yes, you are upset. But don't be. Think about losing more as a challenge to overcome, something that you can learn from," She paused biting her lip in concentration, but her eyes lit up as an idea came to her. "Do you know why you lost?"
"No. . . Ms. Larsen said the only way to win is to get a pokemon's HP to drop, and the only way to do that is attacking moves. . . You hardly even use attacking moves, so why am I the one losing every time?"
"Well you know that even non-attacking moves have their own purpose. I use that purpose to help get an advantage over the brute strength that you prefer. It's called strategy."
Robby's brow furrowed in concentration."Is that what you're always reading about in your books?"
"Yep!"
"Wow. I didn't know books could help you get stronger! But I don't really like reading. . . Could you teach me instead?"
"I'm not very good at teaching, but I'll try!"
The two laughed, before moving onto a new subject. Ed, listened to the conversation before mentally declaring it was boring and tuning the two trainers out. The wind rustled the trees surrounding them, and soon Al had awoken from his brief power nap.
Ed grinned, gazing upon his little brother. The elder Elric brother had, surprisingly, grown. It wasn't much for a human's standard's, but when you happen to be a single foot tall fox, dog thing, every inch, half inch, and centimeter mattered. And now because of the growth spurt, Ed could say he was now taller than his brother.
The silver eevee stretched and yawned, before resting his gaze on his older brother. His face held a smug smile on it. Shaking his head, he stood up, only then understanding why his brothers grin had been prideful. He had grown.
Al smiled. "Congratulations. You have reached one foot and one inch tall."
It was a great accomplishment indeed.
The brothers and the friends had stayed by that tree until the sun had begun to set, talking through the evening, before heading to their respective homes, as to not miss the curfew set by their parents.
. . .
Dim, golden sunlight streamed through the half opened window by Edward's bed. With a yawn, Ed blearily looked out the window. It was evening; Laura's siblings would be coming home soon.
The garage door rumbled as it opened and mumbles could be heard from behind the second door that separated the garage from the mud room. It swung open and was revealed Alexis singing along with Skittles, her pet skitty, to some strange pop song. She shuffles in, pausing as Skittles jumps over her foot, so she wouldn't actually kick the pink cat. She seemed to drag herself into her room, where she promptly shut the door. Ed's ear flicked as he registered the muffled bang of her book bag hitting the floor.
Gordon ambled through the door a short minute later. Two pokeballs hung on his belt: one contained his Linoone, Walter, while the other contained Pumpkin, his Swellow. Ed hadn't really interacted much with Gordon, but, even though he heard those two pokemon are the strongest in the household, training them was just a fun pastime that they did to fight trainers who pass through Petalburg.
Apparently pokemon battles are a good source of cash.
Skittles skittered over to where Griffin was lounging. "Wanna play?"
Ed opened one eye blearily. "No, not really. . ."
The Kitten Pokemon visibly slumped before brightening up as something else caught her attention. Bounding away, she began swiping at the strings attached to the blinds. The senior Elric brother sighed, now used to the 'shiny-object' nature of Skittles.
Edward shifted, remembering how he first met the crazy kitten. The memory was very vivid, considering it was the first time he actually was commanded in battle
. . .
It was the week after Griffin had finally decided to give Laura a chance. Coincidentally, Both Gordon and Alexis had been on some sort of Choir and Band trip to Lilycove city. It was a popular tourist spot with its beaches, shopping mall, contest hall, and other various attractions.
It was the day they came back, Saturday, when Skittles forcefully introduced herself to Edward.
The alchemist turned Eevee had been taking a nap when he had been awoken by a paw poking him in the side and a soft cooing. Opening his eyes he saw the cooing was coming from what looked like an older version of Laura, while the poking was coming from a strange pink kitten thing.
Skitty, the kitten pokemon, a normal type. These pokemon have a habit of becoming fascinated with moving objects and chasing them, often chasing even their own tails. In battle, they tend to puff up their tail to look more intimidating. Skitty evolve into Delcatty.
Wincing at the brief headache, Griffin looked around, spotting an older, male version of Laura. He, noticing that he was being stared at, gave a small wave before moving to go and drop off his bag in his room. The cooing had stopped and Ed briefly noted that Laura was now in the room and engaged in a conversation with what he guessed was her older sister, who he later learned that her name was Alexis.
Skitty's pink and cream face popped up in front of his own, way too close for comfort. With a stifled yelp, Edward jumped up and stumbled backwards to a much safer distance.
"Hi! My name's Skittles. You sure are a weird looking Eevee. I've never seen a gold one before. Or any Eevee before! Are all Eevee your size? Or are you just big? Or small? Or-"
Edward Eevee Elric's face, was twisted in a strange contorted way- his smile was a grimace, and his eyes screamed, 'if you say one more word, you'll regret it.' He managed to squeak out, with his words shaking from keeping an intense anger restrained, "I'm . . . not . . . short."
"Oh, okay!" and then it was over, as Skittles wandered over to attack some strange cat toy that certainly wasn't there before.
Griffin blinked. Once. Twice. He blinked three times before deciding that he's met weirder people before.
"Alrighty, then!" The loud exclamation from Laura's sister broke Griffin from his pseudo-thoughts. "If it's a battle you want, it's a battle you get! C'mon, Skittles!" With some sort of exaggerated pose, that looked like it was meant to be cheesy, she ran off in the direction of the backyard.
"Let's go, Griffin!" And Laura was off, the golden Eevee trotting at her heels.
Arriving in the backyard, Ed was met with a rectangular field marked by white lines and filled with a soft, gravelly sand. Alexis was standing on one side of the field with Skittles just in front of her. Laura moved to stand mirrored to her sister, so he reflected where the eccentric kitten Pokemon was standing.
Laura's brother, Gordon, stood in some sort of referee area and by his side was a long weasle looking pokemon. Linoone. A sigh of relief was heard from Griffin. The information download didn't give nearly as much of a headache if one was prepared for them.
Gordon called out, "This is a 1 v. 1, it ends when either pokemon surrenders or is unable to continue battling. Are both the trainers and their pokemon ready?"
Everyone gave a small nod of their head, but Griffin who slowly found himself shaking his own head. With a gesture from his trainer, the Linoone bounded over.
"You're a wild catch, aren't you?" He paused, considering, before continuing, "Well it doesn't really matter, but you need to know the rules in order to participate in a battle. I guess I'll fill you in on how it works. Name's Walter, by the way."
"Laura calls me Griffin."
"Griffin, sweet name. Pokemon battles are where two trainers fight using pokemon that they trained. Trainers call out commands, and the pokemon follow them. Pretty simple right? The trainers deal with the different strategy of the moves while the pokemon have to understand what they are trying to convey. It is a game of strength, strategy, and trust. There are plenty of rules, but for this battle there is only one you need to know: don't attack to seriously maim. Got it?"
Griffin managed to give a toothy grin that looked rather foreboding, but Walter took that as a yes and dashed back to Gordon's side.
"Alright, let the battle start." Gordon made a chopping motion with his arm, signaling the commencement of the battle.
"Griffin, use quick attack!" Ed took a quick glance back at Laura. She stood with her fists up, almost like she was about to join the fight herself. Throwing away his doubt, he shot of like a rocket, heading straight for the pink and cream kitten.
"Fake out!" And, suddenly, Skittles appeared right in front of the golden Eevee, slapping him across the face with her tail. The sudden appearance along with the crisp strike was enough to get Ed to flinch, ending the attempted quick attack. Then, without getting a chance to recover, he was rammed into by the pink fuzzball and tumbled through the dirt.
"Griffin, counter with sand attack and follow up with a tackle!" the elder Elric brother flung a pawful of dirt straight into the already squinting eyes of the Skitty, before launching himself straight at his opponent. She was sent flying and rolled in the gravel.
Skittering up onto her paws, she leapt after another order from her trainer. Another tackle.
"Baby-doll eyes then dodge!" Griffin didn't exactly know how begging would do anything to help in a battle, but then again, he and Al didn't exactly know a lot about their moves. So he figured, hey might as well, and he summoned his innermost Elicia Hughes. Shining the cute eyes upon Skittles didn't do anything to slow her down (did he use the move right?), so he ended up dodging anyway. "Now leer!"
Does glaring do anything in a battle. Make them run in fear, tremble? At least Edward knew he could get this look right, when he noticed a visible shiver go down the back of Skittles.
"Don't let him intimidate you! Use tackle!" Skitty had managed to get closer when he was executing leer, so he wasn't quite able to dodge it. When she hit him this time, it somehow didn't hit as hard as last time. Was that because of leer or baby doll eyes? Or was the kitten just tiring out?
"Now, finish this with tackle!" Griffin didn't really think that only one more tackle would end the battle, but it was worth a shot. Halting his roll from the last hit he took, he gained traction and sped towards Skittles. She took the hit and was sent flying, landing in a heap close to the center of the battlefield.
"Skittles is no longer able to battle! Griffin and Laura are the winners."
With a shout of joy, Laura ran forward to embrace one surprised Edward Elric. He found he wasn't unhappy with the contact.
Edward Elric. He might have lost his body and his world. But he still has his brother.
And maybe this new life has something to it as well.
Notes: Was that end bad? Hope not
Sorry if anyone seems OOC.
Also, I have a poll on my page asking what eeveelution Ed should become. Review so you can explain your choice. Yes, original ones are allowed, but you have to provide fun facts and a general visualization.
I'll update the next chapter in two weeks.
Bye.
