A/N: Alright, so I'm doing work on stuff I shouldn't be working on... actually, that's a lie, I'm so behind on Fear of Infinity it's not even funny, I'm being mean and slow... ahem. Anyway. I've still got a few chapters stored for this one, so go ahead and enjoy.

Thank you to MissMoe and guest for reviewing!

Title: Another Kind of Battle

Author: liketolaugh

Rating: T

Pairings: None

Genre: Friendship/Adventure

Warnings: AU

Summary: 'An Amestrian battle is different from a battle in any other region. For one thing, a human battles right alongside their pokemon.' 'There were three requirements to be a State Alchemist. First, you had to pass the State Alchemist exam. Second, you had to have at least three pokemon. And third, you had to get the first four gym badges.' (Follows Ed through his Pokemon journey and then skips ahead to a post-2003 anime AU. Post-Hoenn Ash in later chapters.)

Disclaimer: If I owned Fullmetal Alchemist, would I really be here right now? Or Pokemon, for God's sake.

It took three more days to reach East City, and half of that one to find a place to stay, using money Trisha had saved them from Hohenheim.

"So," Ed mused, kicking his feet thoughtfully, rhythmically thumping against the bed frame. "What first?"

"Automail oil first," Al said firmly, listening to Ed's leg creak. "Then we can go around and get everything else. I still remember the list."

Ed nodded thoughtfully. "We got here in kind of a hurry, so we should probably take a day to train before I challenge the gym." He shuddered. "Thank god automail isn't against any of the gyms' rules. Don't know what I'd do then."

Al nodded. Then he hesitated. "Brother?"

Ed paused and looked up at Al. "Yeah, Al?"

"What if you can't beat the gym?"

Ed stiffened. "I will," he said firmly.

"But what if you can't?" Al pressed. "Gym leaders are gym leaders for a reason, and they've been training for much longer than you have, brother. Even you and Riolu have only been training for a few years. Some of the gym leaders have trained for over a decade."

Ed's gold eyes sparked, and his expression was almost desperate.

"Failure isn't an option, Al," he said with cold certainty. He looked up at Riolu. "You get that, right, Riolu?"

Riolu, expression gone serious, nodded. "Huh." He crossed his arms.

Ed brushed his fingers over Minun and Seel's pokéballs.

"Seel isn't ready for battle yet," he said regretfully. "But Fighting type has an advantage over Dark type, and Electric isn't bad either. We'll make do." Looking up at Al, he grinned confidently. "Don't worry, Al. We can do this."

Al tilted his head worriedly. "I'm not worried about the pokémon," he said softly. "But what about the gym leaders, brother? They have a lot of experience, and you don't heal like pokémon do."

Ed's smile faded slightly and his right hand twitched. "I'll be fine," he said with false confidence.

Al wasn't convinced, but he agreed, "Okay, brother."

Two days later, Ed looked up at the gym.

Gyms were some of the grandest buildings in each city, second only to the command centers. East City's civilian gym, the Dark Type gym, was a large, dark purple dome set on obsidian and carved with nasty statues of various menacing pokémon.

The local gym leader was a man called Cameron, once a runner-up for a State Alchemist title, now traditionally the third hurdle for any aspiring trainer. Very few managed to get his badge. Fewer managed to beat him.

Ed flexed his automail fingers and reached forward to push open the double doors, nervousness bubbling up in his stomach and a fierce glare in his eyes.

"Uh!" Riolu grinned up at him, red eyes sparkling confidently, and Ed grinned weakly back before striding through.

"You'll do fine, brother," Al soothed, despite his own misgivings. His brother was strong, he reminded himself. He'd been training a long time and he was almost as good as Al.

Almost.

"Plusle plu!" Plusle agreed fervently.

The gym was dark when Ed walked in alone, but he lifted his head, eyes flashing, and found the gym leader in the darkness a moment before he spoke.

"A challenger, huh?"

The lights flickered on and Cameron, tall and imposing, leapt down, landing neatly with a sneer.

Cameron was a man with dark skin and darker clothes, dark brown hair and eyes that were almost black.

"I think your ambition's a little big for your body, sunshine."

Ed's eyes flashed and he clenched his fists, stepping forward. "Who the hell are you calling small?"

Cameron laughed unpleasantly, arms crossing. "You don't have what it takes."

"Feel like proving that?" Ed snapped, bristling.

Cameron smirked and reached down to his belt. "Mightyena!" he called.

Red light twisted and a large Mightyena, larger than normal, landed firmly on all four feet and bared its teeth, growling lowly.

Riolu stepped forward and growled right back, eyes flashing. Cameron laughed out loud.

"Even your pokémon's tiny! That really what you plan to use, sunshine?"

"Got a problem with that?" Ed challenged.

"Not at all," Cameron chuckled, shaking his head. "It's your funeral, sunshine. And it might be literal."

"You wish," Ed hissed. "What're the rules?"

Cameron's eyebrows tilted up and he smirked again. "Two on two. You go down once, you're out. Both your pokémon go down, you're out. Got that, sunshine?"

"Yeah," Ed said tightly, crossing his arms. Riolu crossed his arms, too. "Ready when you are, old man."

Cameron's smirk vanished and he glared. "Oh, you'll pay for that one, sunshine," he hissed.

The arena was in a different room, free of landscaping, just a simple floor. The catch? The room was almost completely dark.

"Asshole," Ed muttered, unease growing. But he had to do this. For Al.

A growl revealed Mightyena's location, and Ed's gold eyes flashed there. Mightyena's dark fur blended perfectly with the darkness, and he could barely make out its outline.

"Still think you can handle me, sunshine?" came Cameron's taunting voice.

Ed tensed and dropped into a battle stance, bared teeth lost in the darkness. "And still have time to eat breakfast," he sniped.

"Alright, alright, break it up," the referee called. Ed wasn't sure why he was here; he wouldn't be able to see a thing in this light. "Let's get this show on the road! Trainers, begin!"

"Mightyena, Bite!"

Ed dodged away from where he'd last heard Mightyena, but the pokémon must have moved since it'd growled, 'cause it crashed into Ed from somewhere else, and the only thing that saved Ed from a nasty Bite was the steel of his arm.

"Uh!"

Riolu's red eyes almost glowed, even in the darkness; Detect, a move Izumi had taught him. Smart. Ed smiled to himself and called, "Riolu, catch and Force Palm!"

Force Palm was the reason they had taken two days instead of the expected one; Riolu had nearly managed it by the end of the first, so Ed had allowed just one more.

That wasn't the only reason, of course.

He threw Mightyena to Riolu, but Cameron, whom Ed had very nearly forgotten, crashed into Riolu and the little pokémon was knocked down, nearly sent flying. Ed's eyes widened. "Riolu!"

"H-hu-uh!" Riolu cried.

Ed hurled himself toward the little pokémon, eyes flashing, but Cameron must have heard him coming – his left leg's steps weren't exactly quiet – and dodged, with Riolu, long before he got there.

"Huh!" Riolu cried again, struggling furiously, but unable to get free. His eyes, wide and panicked, met Ed's through the darkness. "Huh!"

As if that wasn't enough, Ed felt a huge weight crash into him and he was flung forward, straight into a wall he hadn't realized was there.

"Bite!" Cameron commanded again.

Ed yelped as sharp fangs sank into his flesh shoulder and thought fast, rolling over to squash Mightyena into the ground. The fangs were ripped out of his shoulder and he hissed, but jerked away.

There, he moved slowly and quietly away, eyes on Riolu, trapped in Cameron's arms, thinking. He knew, knew, that he hadn't made a sound.

But Riolu's eyes were tracking him perfectly.

He realized that only a split second before Mightyena crashed into him all over again, and this time the teeth sank dangerously close to his neck. He gasped sharply and thrashed.

"Riolu, F-force Palm!" Ed coughed out, automail arm reaching up and bypassing Mightyena's neck to clutch at its leg with all the strength in his steel fingers.

How had Riolu and Mightyena known where he was? It was-

What was it that Cameron had called him? Sunshine?

In a flash, Ed realized; his coloring. Bright gold. Even in darkness like this, it had to make him stand out a mile. And his red coat, his white gloves… Shit.

Shit.

"Huh!"

Riolu made to obey his command and Cameron hastily dropped him. Meanwhile, Ed hastily shed his coat and threw it away, leaving his pitch-black leather jacket. Then he stripped away his gloves and dropped them, too; slightly shiny automail was still a step up from snow white gloves.

"Ha!" Cameron laughed, revealing his location. Sort of. "Finally worked it out, sunshine? It's no use, though. You can't hide your hair or those eyes."

Ed gritted his teeth and resisted the urge to transmute – the darkness would cover him more than long enough to draw a circle – but that, unfortunately, was against the rules.

"Well," Cameron said casually, "I guess the game's up now."

With that, he lunged for Riolu, grabbed him before the little pokémon could react, and bashed his head against the ground hard. Riolu cried out, and Cameron did it again, and again. In just a few more hits, Riolu was out, and Ed's eyes barely had time to widen before Cameron commanded,

"Mightyena, finish him!"

And Mightyena crashed into Ed one last time, banging his head off the wall behind him. Ed's vision went black.

That's the first gym battle, then. Or the first part of the first gym battle. Ed's not done yet, obviously. *grin* Thanks for reading and please review!