Halfmetal Alchemist: Chapter 34

Vergo and the East City Serpents

Roy raised his eyebrow and cast a wondering look at the large crowd gathered in a section of East City, where a half-dome like structure had been erected. "What on earth is that?" he asked, seeing if any of the others knew. Leroy gave him an incredulous look. "You're the Fuhrer of Amestris and you don't know that there's a Flameball dome in East City? Dad, Flameball's Amestris' first professional contact sport!" Roy sweatdropped. "Really...?"

Lira hopped up and down excitedly, catching hold of Anri's hand and pulling him towards the dome. "Oh! Let's go see, Anri, let's go see! We should! East City's team is playing in their first match today!" Anri gave her a bewildered look. "You mean this sport's recent?" he asked. "Of course! You remember you used to play Flameball with your brother, don't you? Well now it's famous!" she replied, steering him through the crowd. "You don't say..."

Leroy and Ilia elbowed through the crowd with Faris and Roy at their heels. After getting into the dome, Lira turned around in Anri's arms and looked up at him, excitement in her blue-green eyes. "You should see who's playing!" he gave her his most mystified look and sat down in the bleachers. "Isn't this an inappropriate time though? I mean... Central just got leveled and we're-"

She looked at him. "Everyone from Central is here; it's something to keep their minds off of the destruction. All entry is free because it's the first match: Central City Chimeras versus East City Serpents." He settled in his seat and crossed his arms. "Alright... but this is a dome, how does this Flameball work?" Roy and the others took seats next to him, and Ed and Al sat slightly higher in the stands due to Fullmetal and Ed's vertically challengedness.

"It's like this: Flameball is played in an alchemically altered air half dome. The air is altered so that it supports a players weight, until it's like water without the heavy pull. The ball is a flameball, it has a special covering that will allow it to burn without actually bursting aflame, and the players wear special armor to keep from being burned. The ball can be punched, kicked, and held, as long as the flame keeps going. Whoever hadlast contact with the ball if the flame goes out has their team penalized and the player is switched for another. It's a contact sport so there's no switching for injuries unless they're severe or the team pulls them. To make it harder, however, there are large blobs of water that float around in the dome as easily as the players do; if the ball comes into contact with it, the ball will go out, and whoever had last contact is penalized. Each team is allowed only one alchemic move per round; there are three rounds, each twenty minutes. Alchemic moves involve changing air density, just about anything with alchemy!"

"So how are points scored then?"

"Points are scored from firing the ball into one of the goals. The goals have electronic sensors, so the larger the flame on the ball, the more points the team earns! Each team has twelve players, but only six are allowed on the field at the same time." The stands got quiet and she patted his arm. "It's starting!"

Two openings in the floor opened and twelve players shot out of them; six dressed in dominantly red, six in blue and yellow. Central's team was large and heavy set, but they looked mean and fast as well, while East's looked pitifully scrawny in comparison. Anri gasped and stood up, squinting at the figure in the middle of the dome.

"Vergo!"

The boy in question was waving at the spectators. He was tall and well built, with a mess of blonde and black hair that stood almost on end on his head, his right eye was a deep dark black, his left a beautiful bright blue-green. He waved both his arms in the air and the East City side cheered as loud as they could.

"Vergo..."

His right arm was predominantly automail, a special kind that resembled Anri's but was not quite all automail; it seemed as if it was wired into his skin. He spun around in the air to get a good view of all the fans and did a quick somersault, then focused on the other team. Roy looked at Anri quizically. "Vergo? You know the kid?"

"O-of course I know him... he's my... he's my son!" Lira looked at him happily. "See? Now aren't you glad you came?" she asked. He nodded and smiled, putting his arm around her shoulders. "He's gotten so big... I missed out on a lot while I was in Lior, eh?" She nodded. "Vergo was devastated when you left; he didn't want to do anything anymore! So I remembered watching you and Vergo play Flameball before you left and I played with him instead. And look at him now, it's his profession."

"My little boy... I should have been there... he probably thinks I abandoned the two of you."

"You can sort it out with him later, just watch!"

The bell had sounded and the ball was tossed into the air; Vergo and the player for Central leaped into the air, but the Central player had a bit of height on Vergo and knocked it into East City's side of the playing field. Vergo flipped quickly in the air and bolted for the ball which had been intercepted by Spiro, one of his teammates. Vergo flipped his hands at another player and Spiro passed to Aero, who kicked it hard in Vergo's direction. Vergo went down on his back and grabbed the ball with his hands allowing it to pull him faster towards Central's goal. He went upright again and a Central player smashed into him, making him release the ball and kicked it into East's goal: Three points for Central.

Vergo checked his automail for damage then headed back to the center. This time it was Vergo who leaped up andspiked the ball into the waiting hands of another teammate, Louis who 'swam' straight to the goal. Vergo overtook him and Louis kicked for the goal just before a Central player flattened him. Another player was veering to intercept the ball but Vergo executed a flip kick to smack it into the goal: Four points for East City.

Kina and Rita, twins, the last two onfield players of the East, executed a perfectteamwork shot that zigzagged the ball between them down the court until they slammed it into Central's goal: seven points for East City.

This continued for two more rounds, until Central and East were break even at sixty-sixty. East City had switched out five players for five new ones due to fatigue. The new line up was Vergo, Walt, Paul, Chad, Trina, and little Rani. East City's team cheered them on from the benches: "Ver-ti-go! Ver-ti-go! Ver-ti-go!" Vergo glanced at his teammates on field. "Shall we humor them?" he asked. They nodded enthusiastically and little Rani said, "Let's give 'em Vertigo, Vergo!"

There were three minutes left on the clock and Central was leading by eight, when East City's formation suddenly changed. Walt, the strongest kicker on the team, kicked the ball straight up and out of the dome until it was just a speck in the air over the dome. Walt, Paul, and Chad cupped their hands and lifted Rani and Trina, who cupped their hands as well and lifted Vergo. "Go!" he cried, and the three boys on the bottom pushed off, gained speed, and broke through the dome surface. The ball was coming back down... slowly... slowly. After reaching the pinnacle height of their jump, Rani and Trina pushed off from those three and Vergo jumped from them. The rest of the team landed safely back inside the dome and kept Central's team busy. It was futile because they were too busy watching Vergo. He finally came on level with the ball and lifted his leg up, spinning his body slightly, and rammed it back down into the dome while Central's awed team was experiencing a sense of vertigo. The ball banged around in the goal with two seconds left on the clock: twenty points for East City!

The announcers blared that East City had won and the players were released from the domeand quickly hounded by press and fans. Anri got up quickly and bounded down to the crowd to find his son. Vergo was happily chatting with the media. "The name of that last shot? We call it the Vertigo Shot! Now now, I don't have a lot of time for the media, have to train the rest of the team for our next match you know." He smiled winningly at the cameras and he and the team departed as quickly as they could. They were halfway out when Vergo stopped suddenly.

"Vergo..." Anri didn't know what to say; he had been away for so long he didn't know how his son still felt about him, if he hated him or not. Vergo stared at him fora moment, then a strange look, a cross between childish happieness and confusion took residence in his face. "Dad? Is that you?" Anri nodded slowly and Vergo tossed the ball he was holding to the ground and jumped at him. "You old dog! You haven't changed a bit since you left! You're back, you're back, you're back! Dad! You're... Are you going to stay for good this time?" Vergo asked, holding onto his father's arms. Anri looked away. "I don't know ifI can, Vergo. There's something else that needs doing; but it won't take years, I promise."

"Where's Mom? Does she know you're back?" Lira appeared at Anri's shoulder, still happily, and hugged her son. "Congratulations on the victory Vergo!" He grinned and squirmed in her grasp. "Aw... c'mon, Mom... Dad looks a little lonely over there!" And it was true, Anri was feeling left out. "Now how old are you now Vergo? Twenty something?" Vergo looked offended. "Me? Twenty something? I'm flat out twenty!

"What made you stay away for so long, Dad?" Anri had been dreading the question; he wasn't sure if his answer would be all that believable. "I was held up in Lior because I was recieving orders from a Fuhrer who had been dead for at least ten years; I got duped." Vergo nodded. "Wow, that's weird... It wasn't all for nothing though, was it?"

"No, it wasn't."

"That's good at least!" Anri smiled at his son's cheerful manner.

"No, the best thing is that I've got my son back!" he said, catching Vergo's blonde and black head in a headlock.

Sorry that took so long! I've been writing too much in my other story and almost forgot about this one! Again, SORRY! I'll try to be quicker now! - T A