Hello there everybody! Sorry it took a little while to get this chapter up, but I've had a bunch of tests to study for. I think that because the school year is almost over, the teachers are going into 'Nazi mode', or something because on top of the three tests I've had to take this week, I've also had two projects to turn in and a informative speech to present to the class. Also, I decided to move the kidnappings to the third chapter, just to pace things out a bit. SORRY! Besides, I was just having too much fun with the dialogue in this chapter.

So anyway, I'd like to thank Fuhrer Allie, The New Fullmetal Alchemist, Anicka and LuSt for SlOtH for actually reviewing the first chapter! I've had a bunch of hits, but only four reviews. Oh well, hopefully more will come! And to the awesome people who did review, I send Armstrong sparkles to you all!

Disclaimer- It should be obvious that I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. But I wish I did…Why do you think I'm writing a fanfic anyway? Hah! Just kidding. Hiromu Arakawa is my idol.

The Alchemist Games

Chapter 2: The Invitations

Edward and Alphonse Elric paced themselves down the streets of Central. They had just returned from Dublith yesterday, and were ordered to check in with their leading officer; Colonel Roy Mustang.

"Aren't you excited to be back in Central Brother?" asked Al.

"Are you kidding me! Hell no!" yelled Ed, looking at Al with one eyebrow raised.

"But why not? It's been almost two months since we've seen everybody." reasoned Al, who glanced over to a very grumpy Ed.

As Al was speaking, a large group of tourists walked by, whispering rapidly. The Elric brothers ignored them; they were used to this kind of thing. How often do you see a seven foot suit of armor and a 15 year-old midget-kid carrying a certified State Alchemist pocket watch anyway?

"I don't want to see anybody if it means having to see the Colonel." Ed retorted.

"But what if Lieutenant Colonel Hughes is there? Don't you want to say 'hello' to him? Or what about First Lieutenant Hawkeye? She's always nice to us." Asked Al, as the two brothers reached an intersection and took a left. As they rounded the corner, the Central HQ building came into view at the end of the block.

"Well, I wouldn't mind seeing Lt. Colonel Hughes. He's a good guy." Ed said with a newfound sense of enthusiasm. "And the First Lt. isn't so bad either, but she freaks me out when she whips out her pistol…she's so scary that she makes Mustang cower in fear. And, if you ask me, he deserves ever bullet shot at him."

"But Brother, Colonel Mustang has done so much for us. You shouldn't-"

Al was cut off by Ed's ranting.

"I don't care!" yelled Ed. "You don't have to put up with his crap! I just know that the second I step into his office, the first words outta his mouth are gonna be some crack about my height, even though I'm not short!"

As they got closer to the Central HQ building, they started to pass more soldiers who stopped to salute. The Elric brothers were well known in the military; Ed for being the youngest State Alchemist in history, and Al for being, well, a seven foot 14 year-old kid who always wore a suit of armor.

Finally, they reached the entrance and headed inside.

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Walking up the stairs, Ed paused for a moment and ran a gloved hand through his golden hair.

"Al, you go mingle or hangout somewhere downtown. The Colonel only wants to see me, and I don't want you to be subjected to any of his lame-ass jokes."

"That's okay Brother. I like to hear what's going on in the military when we're away." said Al.

Ed shrugged. "Alright, suit yourself."

As they reached the door, officers Breda and Falman greeted them. Falman saluted and began to talk.

"Hey there Fullmetal! How's it-"

He was suddenly cut off by a louder, and much angrier, voice.

"Damn it Colonel! This is the third time I've asked you to do your paperwork this morning, and you still haven't signed one form!" First Lt. Hawkeye's voice could be heard from behind the door to Mustang's office.

Ed, Al, Breda and Falman all turned towards the door and slowly backed up. They could tell that the arguing behind the door was about to get uglier very quickly.

"But Hawkeye, I've just been busy…uh, making important phone calls. Before you walked in, I was just about to start my paperwork." Roy replied semi-confidently.

Ed, Al, Breda and Falman all jumped as they heard a gun go off in the office.

"Flirting with an ex-girlfriend hardly warrants as an important phone call!" said Riza sternly.

"Okay, okay, you're right! I'm starting my paperwork now! See!"

Rustling could be heard as well as the opening of desk drawers.

"Oh, would you look at that, it seems like my pen is out of ink…" Roy casually said.

Everyone outside jumped a second time as another gunshot was heard.

"Oh, but I'm sure I have another one here somewhere!" Roy quickly replied.

"Good. Now get back to work Sir." Hawkeye finished.

The four guys standing outside the door stood open-mouthed. They knew that Hawkeye was strict, but WOW. She was the only one who could, or would even dare, to speak to the great Flame Alchemist like that.

Shaking himself out of shock, Ed was the first to speak.

"Should we knock? Or Al and I could just come back later…"

His question was quickly answered as the First Lt. opened the door and stepped out of Mustang's office, smoking gun at her side.

"Man, guys are so immature sometimes…" Riza said, shaking her head and fixing her pinned-up blond hair.Looking up with amber eyes, she saw everyone standing in front of the door. "Oh Alphonse, Edward, when did you guys get here? How was your trip?" she asked cheerfully.

Ed and Al looked at each other. Was this seriously the same woman they heard yelling a few minutes ago?

"Hello there First Lt. Hawkeye," Alphonse said. "We just arrived in Central last night and came to check in."

Before Riza could reply, Ed butted in. "Yeah, speaking of that…can I see the Colonel now?" He asked nervously.

"Oh yes, of course." she replied.

"Cool. Hey Al, why don't you and the First Lt. catch up? I'll find you later." Ed said as he opened the door.

"Yeah, see you later Ed!" Al said back.

Before Ed had fully opened the door, Riza stopped him. "Oh Ed, when you're done talking to Colonel Mustang, can you tell him that I'll bring his mail by later? Also, let him know that he shouldn't even think about escaping from the window again because he'll still have paperwork to do tomorrow." Riza requested, shooting a glare towards the inside of the door.

"Sure, I'd be happy to tell him." Ed said cheerfully as he walked through the door.

Roy was wiping the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief. There were two bullet holes still smoking in the wall behind his desk.

"Hello there Fullmetal, have you gotten shorter since I last saw you?" He said with smugness returning to his voice with every word.

"AARRGGGGHHH! Who you calling so small you could kick him around like a hacky-sack! I'm not short!" Ed screamed.

"You could have fooled me." Roy replied, smirking.

"Shut up! How would you like it if I cut off your legs and stuck 'em on your head!" Ed yelled.

"Even if you did do that, I'd still be taller than you." Mustang shot back.

The rest of the meeting continued like this until Roy got tired of Ed's threats and threatened to discharge him from the military. They then began talking about important matters with the occasional sarcastic remark towards each other. Meanwhile...

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After talking with Al, Riza left him to chat with Second Lt. Havoc and went to go get Roy's mail.

In the mail room, Riza walked over to the mail clerk.

"Hello there. I'm here to pick up Colonel Roy Mustang's mail," she said. "On second thought, also Edward Elric's mail too."

"Again?" the man asked. "Doesn't that man ever get his own mail?"

"Oh, I don't mind." she replied, which was true. She really didn't mind. Riza felt it was her duty to serve and help Roy in any way she could.

"You're such a nice girl. And if this Mustang was a real man, he'd get your mail, instead of the other way around." The mail clerk paused and thought for a moment. "Actually, I've heard that he's a real ladies man. So…has he tried to put the moves on you?" he asked, winking at her.

Surprised by the man's comment, Riza thought to herself for a moment. 'Nah, Roy would never flirt with me, not when I'm his paperwork Nazi…not to mention the fact that every time he tries, I pull out my pistol. Maybe someday, things will be different…AHHH! What am I thinking?'

"Oh, no Sir. Relationships between fellow military personnel aren't allowed anyway." she replied.

"What! I'm surprised. You're a very pretty lady yah know." He said, smiling.

Riza didn't feel comfortable with the direction that this conversation was turning. "Uh, thank you…" she said, looking at her watch. She wanted to get back to Roy- if he and Ed hadn't had already killed each other. Plus, the mail clerk was making her uncomfortable. "Uh, Sir, the mail…"

"Oh, sorry, right away."

He went back behind the desk and soon came out with two pieces of paper.

"Hmmmm…here's all that was there. I don't recognize the engraving, but by the looks of it, these letters are important. All the alchemists got them." he said, handing her the papers.

"Thank you." she said, taking them and walking towards the door. "Have a nice day."

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Roy and Ed were arguing again when Riza knocked on the door.

"Come in," Roy said.

"Here Sir." Riza said, handing him his letter. "And here Edward, I picked up your mail too."

"Thanks!" Ed replied, grabbing the letter.

But before anyone could say anything else, Al burst into the room.

"Pardon the intrusion," Al gasped, "Brother, Winry just called, and she's in Central!"

"What! Why is she here? I haven't busted up my auto-mail yet!"

Hawkeye and Mustang just glanced at each other.

"She didn't say, but she's at the train station now, and wants us to pick her up."

Roy butted in. "It's okay Fullmetal, you're dismissed anyway. Go pick up your girlfriend." he said casually.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Ed yelled defensively, blushing at the same time.

"Come on Brother, forget it! We have to go." Al pleaded.

Ed glared at Roy once more before stomping out of the room. When the door was fully shut, Roy spoke.

"So, now that the circus is out of here, lets take a look at that letter."

"Sir, you should cut them some slack. They're only-"

Roy put his hand up to silence her. She then handed him the letter and he looked at it. The parchment was the color tan with a gold trim. It was also very heavy. There wasn't a return address on it either.

"Well would you look at this…"

Riza leaned over Roy's shoulder and read the invitation. It said:

Congratulations!

You have been invited to participate in the first annual

State Alchemist Games

You are being given the once in a lifetime opportunity to compete against other State Alchemists from around Amestris for the title of the Greatest Alchemist. First place winner will also receive $1,000,000 dollars!

R.S.V.P. in the next two weeks and further information will soon be sent to you. If you are planning to participate, request vacation time from your leading officer.

"Hmmmm…First Lt. Hawkeye, what do you think?" asked Roy.

"Permission to speak freely Sir?" Riza asked respectfully.

"Go ahead."

"I think it's a load of crap. Whoever sent this is obviously setting a trap."

Roy laughed. "And what makes you say that? More alchemists have gotten them. It's not like they're targeting me."

"Well…because first off, there's no military seal on it. If this was a real State competition, then surely the Fuhrer would've signed it. Second, no one has even heard of 'The Alchemist Games'. It's just so out of the blue. Why have major competitions if you're not going to advertise them?" Riza said, biting her lip.

Roy chuckled and smiled at Riza. "Your last name fits you well Hawkeye. You see through everything."

That comment made Riza blush, which was a rare thing to happen. 'Did he just say that?' she thought. Bringing herself quickly back to reality, Riza said the only thing that came to mind. "Thank you Sir," she replied, smiling back at him.

"Well, now that that's settled," Roy said, pulling out one of his gloves from his pocket and putting it on, "I believe we have some paperwork to finish- or, in my case, to start." And then he snapped his fingers, igniting the parchment. When all of the flames had died out, Riza returned to her desk.

Roy took a stack of paper and began to attack it. Or what was attacking in Roy's opinion. In reality, it was really just more like skimming the writing and signing it. But soon, his gaze began to wander around the room until it fell upon Riza. When his dark eyes reached her, he began to think to himself.

'Look at her, doing all of that paperwork…and I hardly even get my small stack done. Maybe I should start doing my work…it would leave less work for her and I could actually go home on time. But I should do it more for her. Yeah…then maybe if I did my work, she'd reward me with wearing a miniskirt for a day…' His stomach suddenly did a flip. 'What was that? Could it be that I-'

But before he could think any further, Riza interrupted the silence.

"Sir, are you okay? You've been staring at that piece of paperwork for a while now."

"What are you doing tonight?" Roy suddenly blurted out.

Riza was surprised at the random question. She wasn't even sure if she had heard him right. "What?"

Roy asked again. "What are you doing tonight? Have any dinner plans?"

"Well, uh…no. No, I don't think so." Riza stuttered.

"Good. I'm taking you out on a dinner date tonight."

So what did you think? Sorry if you were expecting a lot more to happen. I really didn't expect this next chapter to turn out the way it did, or to be this long. I had a whole list of things I wanted to happen, but I just started typing and I couldn't control my fingers. Plus, I was trying to set the mood of the whole RizaxRoy and EdxWinry thing. But I like Roy and Riza pairings better, so I decided to add them first. I guess it won't be so bad if I move the kidnappings to chapter three. That's going to be an exciting chapter! I've already started working on it, so I'll update soon!

Thanks for reading!

-Fullmetalfan