Ninjagirl: Sorry about the delay in getting this one up, I was having so much fun with a friend of mine. Anyhow…Ed! Disclaimer time!

Ed: -runs in- Ok! BlackNinjagirl does not own Fullmetal Alchemist, only this story and Rai. -turns to me- Now gimme cookies!

Ninjagirl: -grins and hands over chocolate chip cookies-

Ed: -takes them and grins deviously before running off-

Ninjagirl: -raises eyebrow at devious grin- Huh. Wonder what he's up to…Anyway. Enjoy!

The Lightning Alchemist Chronicles--Finding the Stone

By BlackNinjagirl

Chapter Four: Three Years Later--Part I

The three of them were in the middle of the desert making their way to a city named Liore, all of them sweating.

"I hate deserts," Ed grumbled. "It's nothing but sand."

Rai fanned herself, attempting to cool herself off. "It's too damn hot in my opinion."

Ed fell on the sand. "If there was some grass I could turn it into bread. I'm starving!"

Rai looked at him. "Me too, and thirsty as hell."

Ed blinked and got up on his hands and knees. "Hey, Al, where'd you go?" he called. No answer. "Al!" Still no answer. "Hey!"

"Down here," they finally heard him say, and an armored hand came up out of the sand and grabbed Ed's leg.

"GAAHH!!!" Ed yelled.

"I sunk again," Al continued.

Rai blinked. "Sunk? Again? Geez, you need sandshoes or something?"

Ed looked over at Al's hand. "Reason number two I hate the desert."

"Well if you didn't keep scaring off the guys who would drive us, maybe we wouldn't have to walk," Rai told Ed.

Ed glared at her. "Well if they didn't call me short I wouldn't be!"

Rai sighed and they dug Al out of the sand.

"How the heck do you keep falling in?" Ed yelled at Al.

"I get full!" Al retorted.

"Full of what?.!" Ed yelled, kicking Al so that his breastplate fell off and Ed was covered in sand. Normally Rai would have giggled at that but at the moment she just was too hot.

Al, however, laughed, and then moved away from the pile that was Ed covered in sand, just before Ed broke out of the sand and started chasing Al.

Rai sighed. "Ed, you're making me more tired watching you."

The two of them were yelling at each other while Ed was chasing Al, and Rai sighed again.

"Can we just get somewhere cool?" Rai told them tiredly. "My head is killing me cause of that damn sunlight."

Ed stopped chasing Al and walked over to her, looking a little worried. "Rai, are you alright?"

Rai nodded. "I'll be fine once we get somewhere cool."

Ed nodded. "All right, let's get going."

They got to Liore, Ed looking tired and Rai fanning herself still.

"You alright, Ed?" Rai asked him, looking a little worried.

"If Al had stopped when I told him to, it wouldn't be like this," Ed replied.

"Well you wouldn't stop either if someone were chasing you," Al put in.

"Shut up," Ed retorted. "I'm too tired to fight. If only there was some water…I could almost hear it…"

Rai blinked. "Wait, I think I hear a fountain."

Ed ran over and looked around the corner. "It is! It's a fountain! I can hear it! Al, Rai, look!!" he exclaimed excitedly.

Rai looked, and frowned. "That doesn't look like water," she commented dully, but Ed had already started running over to the fountain, and she sighed before following.

Ed stopped at the edge of the fountain, looking into it with an expression of disdain. "Well, that explains the nasty stench in the air."

Rai peered into the fountain as Ed grabbed a cup, filling it with the liquid in the fountain and looking at it.

"What is it? Blood?" Al asked.

"Nope," Ed replied, "more like blood red wine."

"Hey!" a guy yelled at them, pulling Ed away from the fountain. "Get away from there, you know that's off limits to kids!"

Rai blinked at the guy. "Eh…we were looking for water, not wine."

Ed explained that they were not from Liore and were passing through, and the guy took them to his shop and gave them refreshments--Rai lemonade and Ed orange juice.

"Oh, you're out-of-towners, that explains it," the guy said apologetically as Rai gulped at her lemonade, thankful that they had refreshments. "You'll have to forgive me, I thought you were trying to sneak a little dip."

Rai snorted. "Not my kind of stuff anyway."

Ed glanced over at Rai, then back at the guy. "A fountain stocked with wine--that's pretty ritzy. This town must be loaded."

Rai sighed, the lemonade cooling her off. "Ah…much better."

"Yeah, we do alright here," the guy replied as Ed glanced at Rai, smiling a little at her, before he looked back at the guy again. "Oh, almost forgot! Time for a little soul food," the guy added before flicking a switch, and a radio turned on, music coming through it, and Rai blinked and looked at Ed, who looked back at her.

"Children of God who live upon this land," said a voice Rai didn't recognize which came from the radio, making her frown. "As sun lights the day, so does the Sun God Leto illuminate thy path and drown out thy sorrows." The voice continued in this manner, and Rai huffed, not wanting to listen to any kind of religious anything.

"Well, that's freakish," Ed commented.

"Some kind of religious broadcast," Al noted.

Rai groaned and covered her ears. "Religious wish-wash is more like it," she grumbled. "Booooriiiiing."

"Your buddy's in a suit of armor and the both of you are wearing gloves in the desert, and you call us freaks?" He looked the three over. "What's your deal anyway? Street performers?"

Ed, who had been drinking his orange juice, spat it out at that. "I don't think so, pops. Do I look like a clown to you?!"

Rai glared at the guy. "Street performers?" She snorted. "Like we would ever do that crap."

"Well you must have some reason to journey all the way out here like this!" the guy pressed.

"We're just trying to track something down, that's all," Ed replied.

"Who's the guy jabbering religious stuff on your radio?" Rai asked him. "Some kind of priest or something?"

"Why that's Sir Cornello," the guy replied.

"Ah, never heard of him," Ed replied, then looked at Rai. "You heard of this Cornello guy, Rai?"

Rai shook her head. "Nope."

The guy looked shocked. "You're kidding me! You've never heard of the great prophet Cornello?.!"

"Why, should we have?" Rai asked, sipping her lemonade again.

"What's great about him?" Ed retorted.

"He can perform miracles, for one thing. I've never seen anything like it," one guy put in.

Rai raised an eyebrow. This smells fishy, and there isn't any dead fish around here.

"This place was a desert dust bowl before Cornello got here and turned it into a desert paradise," another said.

"Cornello can even forgive sins," another added.

"Yeah," yet another agreed, "we're on the sun god's good side cause of him. He even gives us blessings."

Rai sighed. "My two companions seem to be the only ones who aren't religious nuts."

Ed laughed at that one. "Not too fond of religion, Rai?"

Rai shook her head. "Never was one for that kind of stuff."

Ed blinked as if remembering something. "Oh, I just remembered, we have to be somewhere." He looked at Al and Rai. "You guys ready to split?"

Rai straightened up. "Yeah, all of this religious stuff is starting to annoy me a little."

Al nodded. "Yeah, okay." He stood up and hit his helmet on the top of the place, knocking off the radio and breaking it. "Oops."

"Now you've done it, buddy! What do you expect, wearing a stupid tin suit?" the guy grumbled.

"Don't bust a lung, grandpa, we could fix it," Ed retorted.

Rai nodded. "Yeah, easy as pie."

Ed looked at her. "Actually I think pi is harder."

Rai poked him. "Wrong pie, Ed. I meant the food kind, not the math kind."

"How're you going to fix it, it's in a thousand pieces!" the guy protested.

"I'm sorry," Al told him. "Let me try."

"Sure," Ed told him.

Rai shrugged. "Alright with me."

Al bent down and drew a transmutation circle with chalk around the broken radio.

"That drawing, what's it for?" the guy asked Ed.

"You'll see in just a second," Ed replied.

"It's called a transmutation circle," Rai added.

Al, now done, stood up. "Okay, here goes." He put his hands out and put them on top of each other so they crossed and they were above the radio, then he tensed them and there was the usual flash of light that came from alchemy which kicked up smoke, and when it cleared, the radio was in one piece, and Cornello's voice even came out of it.

The guys around gasped.

"It's really a land of prophets! Your buddy can work miracles just like Cornello!" the first guy exclaimed.

Rai laughed while Ed turned to the guy. "It's nothing like that."

"It's science," Al interjected as he brought over the fixed radio. "We're alchemists."

"We're the Elric brothers," Ed added. "Not to brag or anything, but we're pretty well-known."

Rai nodded. "And I'm the Lightning Alchemist," she added, pointing to herself. "I'm pretty well-known myself."

"Elrics? Not familiar," one man commented. "And I don't think I've heard of any Lightning Alchemist either."

"We don't have any alchemists around these parts," another told them.

"That would explain it," Rai noted, looking at Ed.

"I fix things for a living, let me know if you guys are ever in need of a job," yet another told them.

Rai sighed and Ed grinned sheepishly.

"Well, so much for that," Rai said with a sigh.

"They don't need any work, that's Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, and his female companion is Rai Kagerai, the Lightning Alchemist," a woman said from nearby. "They've been celebrities around East City. They say those two are real child prodigies."

Rai's eyes narrowed slightly at the woman. This town is full of suspicious-looking people.

Ed grinned. "Heh."

"Oh, a real live famous person," one guy commented.

"Oh, I get it! They call you Fullmetal cause you wear that armor," another commented.

"Hey, would you come to my daughter's birthday party?" another guy asked.

All of the guys were crowding around Rai and Al, thinking Al was the Fullmetal Alchemist, and Rai giggled.

Al waved his hands. "Uh, I'm not the Fullmetal Alchemist, he is," he told them, indicating Ed.

"Huh?" the guys asked, turning to look at Ed.

"You mean that little shortie there?" one guy asked.

Rai sighed. Oh no, they called him short. Here comes the rant…

Naturally Ed got mad at the short comment and grabbed two of the guys by the collars, spinning them around and yelling, "SHORTIE?.!.?.! CAN A SHORTIE DO THIS?.!.?.! WHAT ELSE YOU WANT TO CALL ME, A HALF-PINT PIECE POINT MIDGET?.!.?.! I'M STILL GROWING, YOU BACKWATER DESERT IDIOTS!!!"

Rai managed to keep from laughing--she knew Ed hated being called short, and she did too, but she always thought it was funny what Ed said when he was called short.

"I see there's plenty of excitement around here today," a woman said as she walked up with a bag of what appeared to be groceries in her arms, and Rai looked over at her.

"Ah," the older guy said, "Rose."

Ed stopped twirling the guys around--Rai fought to keep a laugh from escaping at the looks on the guys' faces, they were so funny--and looked at the newcomer, Rose.

"That's okay," Al interjected. "My name's Alphonse Elric."

"And I'm Edward, Al's older brother--also known as the Fullmetal Alchemist," Ed interjected.

Rai nodded to her. "I'm their friend Rai Kagerai, and I happen to be known as the Lightning Alchemist."

Rose looked a little puzzled. "Older brother? But shouldn't it be the other way around?"

Rai giggled at Ed's mad look. "Easy, Edward," Al told him.

The guy chuckled at Ed before turning to Rose, Rai hearing what he said. "So, Rose, have you finished your shopping for today's offering?"

"Yeah," Rose replied.

"Well, then, maybe you could take them to temple with you. They say they're looking for something. Maybe Father Cornello can help them. You know, ask for God's good grace."

"No, no, that's okay, we don't really--" Al started to say.

Rai sweatdropped. To temple? To get surrounded by more religious nuts? Hell no, I'm not going there…well, unless Ed wants to.

"It's alright if you don't have an offering today. There's rooms for travelers, you could stay there tonight," Rose interrupted Al.

"No, that's okay, we don't want to--" Al started to say, but Ed cut across him.

"We'd love to take you up on that offer, wouldn't we, Al, Rai?"

Rai turned and looked at Ed with an are you out of your mind look, while Al stopped, appearing startled.

"We would?" Al asked, and Rai imagined him blinking. "You mean you want to?"

"Mm-hmm," Ed replied.

Rai sighed. "You'd better have a good reason for this, Ed," she muttered to him as they started walking towards the temple. "I'm not going in there unless you tell me why we're going in in the first place. You know those places make me uneasy."

Ed grinned at her. "Relax, Rai, you'll be fine."

Rai looked at him, then sighed again. "I hope so."

They walked in silence behind Rose for a while before Ed turned to them again. "Hey, guys, remember the girl at the shop? She knew us…have we met before?"

Rai frowned and thought a minute, then said, "I don't remember her, and I've known you for, what? Four years now? And traveled with you for three of those."

Al thought a minute. "No, I don't think so."

"You shouldn't worry," Rose put in suddenly. "I'm sure Cornello will help you find what you're looking for. And besides," she added, "I bet if you show him you're faithful, I'm sure he could make you taller!"

It was Rai's turn to get annoyed at the comment. "Enough with the damn short jokes, they're pissing me off."

Ed blinked at her. "Rai, are you okay?"

Rai blinked and looked at him. "I'm fine, why?"

Ed shook his head. "No reason."

Rai gave him a strange look. Ed's been acting weird lately…maybe he knows? Nah, he couldn't, only Al knows. But it is weird…

Rose looked at her. "Maybe he could make you both taller," she teased.

Ed looked mad. "What's wrong with you people? I'm not short! You act like you come from a desert tribe of giants or something."

Rai sighed. "Ed, will you calm down already?"

Ed glared at her. "You want some of this too?!"

Rai's eyebrow twitched. "Edward," she said in a slightly dangerous tone.

Ed blinked. "What?"

Rai looked at him and sighed, then put a hand on his shoulder. "Settle down already."

Ed nodded. "Okay, okay…"

They got to the rooms and Rai sat on the windowsill, looking out of the window, where Rose was standing in front of a grave.

"I spoke to Rose. That grave is the grave of her boyfriend," Al told them.

Rai blushed a little at the word boyfriend, but, thankful Ed couldn't see her, quickly recovered. "Her boyfriend, huh? Poor girl."

"He was all she had," Al continued. "Her parents died when she was a little girl. Cornello has her convinced he can bring him back to life."

Rai turned around and looked at Ed. "You and I both know firsthand that that can't be done," she told her best friend--Ed had told her before the journey to find the Philosopher's Stone how he and Al had ended up the way they did, and, because of their deal and her belief in equivalent exchange, she had in return told him about her failed attempt to bring back her younger brother, in which had cost her her right leg, as well as the operation in which she had lost her left arm but gained her legend status as an alchemist.

"So he's leading her on and letting her think he can do it," Ed muttered.

Rai crossed her arms. "Which is stupid. What's Cornello up to, trying to convince them that they can be brought back from the dead? This smells fishy, and it's not the sushi I had for lunch."

Ed laughed. "You didn't have sushi, you hate that stuff."

Rai grinned at him. "I know, it was only a joke." The grin vanished. "I'm being serious when I say something fishy is going on, though."

Ed nodded at her. "I agree."

"Well, maybe he can," Al interjected, making them both blink.

"What are you talking about?" Rai asked him. "Don't tell me this guy's religious mumbo-jumbo is getting to you. I'm not going to be traveling with religious nuts."

Ed laughed. "I'm not turning into a religious nut!"

"You're not, but he seems to be," Rai retorted, indicating Al.

"But what if Cornello really is a holy man? What about all those scriptures? Maybe there is something out there, something we can't explain," Al continued.

Rai shook her head. "I seriously doubt it--nobody can be brought back from the dead."

"Don't count on it," Ed agreed, looking out the window again, and Rai saw him look startled, so she looked out the window herself.

Some religious-looking guy and someone looking to be working for him were there next to Rose, as if consoling her, but Rai huffed and turned her back to them, though not before the second guy looked at her.

"C'mon, let's get to bed," she told the brothers, adding in a mutter to Ed, "Maybe we can poke around tomorrow."

The next morning, the three alchemists were up and watching the guy, who was apparently Cornello and who they'd seen with Rose at the grave, perform 'miracles', turning water into wine, a log into a stone statue similar to the ones they had seen around town, and several others.

"What do you think?" Ed asked his companions.

"It's pretty obvious," Al replied. "He's using alchemy."

Rai crossed her arms. "I knew something was fishy with him."

"Yeah, but still, something's wrong," Ed pressed. "It's not equal--"

"Hey guys," Rose greeted them, Rai turning to look at her. "How're you liking your first miracle gathering? He's amazing, isn't he?"

"Well, he's an amazing actor, I'll give him that," Ed replied, "but those aren't miracles. He's swindling you!"

"Now Ed, we don't know that," Al argued. "We just know he's using alchemy and that he's ignoring the laws."

"What laws?" Rose asked them.

"Equivalent exchange," Rai told her. "In order to create something, you have to give something up in return. It's the basic law of alchemy. Hell, it's the basic law of everything."

Ed nodded at Rai. "It's not witchcraft, it's science, and you don't make things out of thin air. In chemistry, a reaction has to be balanced--so does alchemy."

"It's an equation, Rose--your output has to be of equal mass to the materials you started with," Al added. "Rai put it in a better way, though. And the base elements have to be similar too, like the radio I fixed. I couldn't make it bigger, or shrink or something."

"Equivalent exchange, as Rai so nicely put it, is our founding principle," Ed added.

Rai shook her head. "It makes no sense! He's totally disregarding those laws…"

"Because he's working miracles!" Rose told her heatedly.

It was then Cornello brought a bird back to life, and it flew around Cornello, Rai watching it as it landed on his shoulder.

"What do you say now, Ed? I bet you can't do that with alchemy," Rose pressed. "It's a true miracle…has to be."

Rai blinked and looked at Ed. "Ed, do you know what that means?"

Ed turned to her and nodded. "It has to be, nothing else would do it."

Ninjagirl: Yo, another chapter--well, part of a chapter, since this one is so damn long I had to put it in three parts--done! And….-stares at screen-….four reviews and a flame. Hm, at least now I can have a cookout with the flame. XD Maybe power up my flamethrower and use it on Envy. Or Lust. Hmm…choices! XP

Anyway, to thank my reviewers:

VioletLily2010: Wow, you're becoming a regular reviewer! XD Awesome. And with the whole name thing, I usually try to find out as many names as I possibly can. I have to say, some of them are interesting…._ Anyway, thanks for the review! -hands you cookie-

NINJA MONKEYS :D: XD Love the name. Makes me think of Kim Possible. XP And it's true, the only ones are Izumi (Ed and Al's teacher) and Mei, the little foreign girl from the manga. (They always think her little panda is a cat. XD) Besides, having a girl for an alchemist is quite entertaining, especially when said girl is a smartass. BTW, yes, ninjas ARE epic--and I love the signature. XD Many thanks for the review, and here's some peanut butter for your pet ninja monkeys. -hands over peanut butter- XD

DarkAngelDreams13: Thank you, I write to please. XD Thanks for the review, have a cookie. -hands over cookie- BTW…is she really kickass? Cool. But unfortunately for you, her heart belongs to a certain blonde. XP

Vanisha Tigerseye Stride: It seems like this one is the last change, thankfully. It was getting puzzling. Anyway…I look forward to seeing the rest of your story!! It's a good start and I hope the next one ends up being longer.

That's the last review, but….To the flamer, if you see this story again…there are several reasons for why I did that and Ed is not entirely known for being the youngest. He IS known for being the shortest as well. (Just don't tell him that to his face. XP) Rai's not known for the fact that she was the youngest--she's known for a particular mission she did, in which she lost her arm. They put down a different age when she became a State Alchemist, so you could say she's older than she looks, looking at paperwork.

Okay, I'm done now. See you in the second part of this chapter!