(3) The Fullmetal Alchemist is Always Right

A pale hand reached out and flicked the side of the gummi ship. A chunk of it fell off in return. The person, whoever it was, scoffed.

"Well, this was certianly unexpected," said the figure. "A crash landing. And here, of all places..."

The figure circled the ship, then looked at the surrounding hills. No one was there.

"Huh. Must have went for help," the figure mused aloud. "Whatever. I'm not going after them. This is the last place I wanna be at right now. I'll give my report to the Idiot and he can go after them himself. It's his job, not mine..."

Grumbling, the figure raised an arm and a dark dot appeared in front of it. The dot quickly grew and swirled, becoming oval shaped. Suddenly, a black portal formed before the figure, its depths showing nothing but pure darkness.

"I can't wait for all of this to be over," sighed the figure, stepping into the darkness. The portal swirled once more, then disappeared once the figure stepped past, leaving no trace of ever having been there. However, the figure's voice still echoed throughout the hills: "I can't wait to be whole again."

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"Hi. We were told that we'd find a mechanic here. A Winry Rockbell..?"

"Yup. That's me," Winry grinned at the black clothed, spiky haired boy standing in her doorway. "What can I do for you?"

"Fix our ship, please!"

Not only was the voice unexpected, it was scratchy-sounding. Winry looked down. And nearly fell over at the sight of a talking duck, clad in a blue hat and jacket, and giving her an impatient look.

She didn't have time to fall over, however, because a tall, dog-like person suddenly appeared in the doorway as well and starting pumping her arm. "Nice to meetcha, ma'am!" greeted the thing, "I'm Goofy!"

"I can tell," Winry muttered under breath. She was trying not to stare at the newcomers. The boy was around her age, with brown, spiky hair and startling blue eyes. Other than his strange clothes, though, he seemed normal enough. But the animal-people...she didn't know what to think!

Well, she thought, their clothes have a lot of zippers on them. Maybe they're wearing costumes? Or maybe...maybe it's some sort of alchemy-thing?

Whatever the reason, it still was not polite to stare. So Winry smiled and tried to act like nothing was wrong with this picture.

"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Goofy and..." she looked at the others questionably.

"I'm Sora," supplied the boy, "And this is Donald." He pointed to the duck-person.

"Hello Sora, Donald, and Goofy," said Winry, nodding to each one respectively, making sure she got it right. "Why don't you all come inside and tell me again about what you needed fixed?"

They agreed and Winry led them into the kitchen, letting them pull up a chair around the table and offering them drinks. All the while, she kept thinking about how weird they were. Granny sure picked the wrong day to go grocery shopping, she thought to herself, Boy is she missing out!

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Ed and Al stood quietly outside the kitchen, pressed flat against the wall and listening in on the conversation.

"So you're foreignors, huh?" they heard Winry say. "Where ya from?"

"Um, the west?" answered one of them. "It's, uh, really far away."

"And we can't get back there 'til our ship is fixed up!" someone else injected. "D'ya think you help us out?"

"Well, I'm more of an automail mechanic, but sure, I can take a look at your ship. Repairs are gonna cost ya, though. You do have money, right?"

"Oh yeah. We gots loads of munny!"

"Great," said Winry. They heard a chair slide, followed by footsteps. "Let me go grab my toolbox real quick and then you can show me where your ship's anchored at."

The brothers scrambled to get out of the way, but they weren't fast enoguh. Winry spotted them. She raised an eye brow and gave them her 'why-are-you-acting-stupid?' look.

"What are you guys doing?" she asked them, her hands on her hips.

"Shh!" Ed whispered at her, a finger held to his lips. "You're gonna blow our cover!"

"What cover?" she asked, causing Ed to realize that they were now standing right in front of the open doorway of the kitchen. The brown-haired kid saw him and waved. Grabbing Al, Ed jerked them back behind the wall, out of sight again.

"Okay, I know they're weird looking," said Winry, "But please, do not go in there and start trouble! They're nice people. And they have money. So leave them alone. I'm warning you. Don't scare off my paying customers unless you want an early death!"

It definitely didn't sound like an empty threat. With a gulp, both Elrics nodded their heads to show that they understood. Winry could be scary sometimes. They've been up against serial killers, plotting politicans, homuncli, and alchemy gone awry, but all of it seemed insignificant under the glare of an angry Winry. At least there weren't any wrenches laying around in the nearby vincinity, much to the Elrics' relief.

Of course, no matter how scary Winry was, Edward was twice as stubborn. Once she headed up the stairs to her room, the feeling of impending doom vanished and Ed entered the kitchen. Al was more reluctant to disobey, but not wanting to be left behind, he followed after his older brother. Besides, this would be interesting.

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"Hey, look! It's that big fella from before, who answered the door!"

"Uh, yeah," said the big fella. "Hi. I'm Al."

"And I'm his brother, Ed. The older brother," Ed made sure to stress. (It was amazing how people were always getting that wrong.) The boy at the table opened his mouth, but Ed cut him off. "And you three are Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Yeah, yeah, we heard, blah, blah, blah. Look, let's just cut to the chase." Ed walked over to the table and grabbed a chair across from Sora. He spun it around so that it was backwards, plopped down in it, and leaned forward on the table with his arms folded under him. There was a strong look of determination about him.

"You're an alchemist, aren't you?" he asked, his question directed at Sora, who blinked in response.

"Umm..no. Or I don't think so," he looked at his friends for help. "What's an alchemist?" he whispered, although everyone in the room heard him.

"Um," said Donald, then he whispered back, "Someone who mixes potions and materials!"

"Oh! You mean like a moogle?"

"Ahh, sort of. Something like that, I think."

Ed gritted his teeth, and his left eye started to twitch. "Arg, stop playing dumb already!" he shouted, "I know you're alchemist! And I know that you used humans to make those two illegal chimeras!" He was standing up now, pointing an accusing finger at Sora.

"What?" Sora looked shell-shocked. "I did not! I don't even know what you're talking about!" He too was now out of his chair.

"Those two!" Ed shouted, moving his pointing finger to Goofy and Donald. "Those chimeras are too advanced to be normal! You combined a human with an animal to make them, didn't you?"

"Hey!" yelled an offended Donald, jumping out of his chair to get in the fray as well. "Don't call us names!"

"Yeah," Goofy agreed, but without raising his voice and staying in his seat. "And what's all this nonsense you're sprouting? Sora didn't make us. Me and Donald were born this way."

Edward's upcoming retort got stuck in his throat and his mouth hung open. Born that way! But that was impossible! It's not like it was some disfigurement or anything. They looked entirely like an animal, just in a slightly humanoid way. No one was disfigured that much. It was too unnatural.

"Exactly!" said Sora, folding his arms across his chest and looking smug. "I'm not an alchemist and my friends aren't...whatever it was you called them. So stop making judgements about people you'll hardly know!"

"Grr...I'll make whatever judgements I want!" Ed burst out, feeling a mixture of annoyance and confusion. He had to be right. He was always right. (In his mind.) That kid was lying. He was an alchemist, and those were his chimeras, obviously brainwashed into thinking they were normal...

"Ha! You can't fool me!" he assured them, rather loudly, "I amthe Fullmetal Alchemist, and I'm never wrong when it comes to alchemy. I'll get to the bottom of this, just you wait! I'll--"

"Er, brother..."

Ed whisked around to give Al an annoyed look, miffed that his monologue was cut so short. His brother, who was still hovering in the doorway, frantically nodded his head to the right. Ed's eyes flickered over from Al...to Winry. Suddenly, the blood drained from his face. Not only was she carrying a wrench, but a whole toolbox full of hammers, screwdrivers, and other heavy, metal projectile objects.

'Edward," she practically growled. "I warned you..."

There were panicked foot-steps, a clank, a whoosh, a shout of pain...and then someone exclaimed, "Wow, that girl's got some arm! A direct hit from all the way across the room!"

--------

Ed held a bag of ice to his forehead as he dragged behind the others, who were cheerfully chatting amoungst themselves as they headed to the crash site. Winry was fully against Ed coming with them, still upset that he "attacked" the newcomers after she specifically told him not to. Yet surprisingly, Sora had been forgiving. He told Winry that it wasn't any big deal, and that he didn't mind Ed coming along...as long as Ed apologized first.

That proved to be a problem. Edward flat out refused to do such a thing. But...he so wanted to see this ship of theirs'. And he wanted to find out more about the usual trio, so that he could gather evidence to prove just how right he was. In order to do this, he was left with no choice but to apologize.

Ed made sure to cross his fingers behind his back while doing so.

A blinding amount of green was up ahead, Ed noticed. They were heading towards the hills. But why? Winry noticed this too and frowned.

"Are you sure we're going in the right direction?" she asked, jerking her thumb back behind her and adding, "Because the water's over that way."

"Water?" Sora said, puzzled. "What's that got to do with anything? And the ship's right over there, see?" He pointed, and everyone's heads turned to follow it. Over on a nearby knoll sat the broken down gummi ship, orange exterior glistening in the sun.

Ed, Al, and Winry stared, and all was quiet for a moment. Then, Al slowly asked, "That isn't a boat, is it?"

--TBC--

A/N:

Well, the story is starting to pick up, slowly but surely. Many thanks to you reviewers, and a special thank you to Fullmetal Shinobi for correcting my spelling. ) Kudos to you guys!

(Random Extra)(1)

Winry: Look Ed! -points to Donald- Finally, someone shorter than you!

Ed & Donald: HEY!

(Fin)

I got a headstart on the next chapter, so it might be posted by tommorow! Yay! I might actually meet the deadline! xD (Zana, out!)