Ninjagirl: Yes, I know that you're thinking, "OMG you're late!" I'm also busy a lot too, and I tend to stall cause I wait on replies. 30 reviews! That's more then my other story, and that one has about the same amount of chapters! Dayum. Anyway. Disclaimer. ENVY!

Envy: -walks in, looking annoyed- What is it, brat?

Ninjagirl: Do the disclaimer.

Envy: ...And why should I do that?

Ninjagirl: Because I said so! And I can burn your sorry ass to cinders!

Envy: Do honestly think that would work on me?

Ninjagirl: Just freaking do it, Palmtree!

Envy: -waves hand- Yeah yeah, keep your pants on. BlackNinjagirl does not own the Fullmetal shrimp-

Ed: -in the background- I AM NOT SHORT!

Envy: SHUT UP, TWERP! -or my beautiful self-

Ninjagirl: -cough-Ugly-cough-

Envy: -glares at Ninjagirl- -or even Fullmetal Alchemist in general, so there's no point in suing her because all you'll get is worthless crap.

Ninjagirl: My games are not worthless crap! Especially not my Final Fantasy VII! Don't diss the Cloud!

Envy: Whatever.

Ninjagirl: -glares at him- You can leave now before I punt you, Palmtree.

Envy: -glares- Don't call me that. -walks off-

Ninjagirl: -once he's gone- He says that, but he looks more like a palm tree then anything. -waves a hand- Anyway. Review replies at the end of the chapter like always. Enjoy!

Note: Beta'd by Thestormslayer. Thanks lil bro! XD

The Lightning Alchemist Chronicles-Finding the Stone

By BlackNinjagirl

Chapter Five: The Mini-Tournament Assessment

Several weeks after the Liore incident, the three alchemists made it back to Central, and were standing in Colonel Mustang's office.

"You three did well," Mustang noted once Rai had finished her report on what had gone on in Liore. "I'm impressed." He turned to Rai. "Still want to stay with them?"

Rai leveled him with a glare. "You may be a Colonel, but you seem more like an idiot to me."

Ed snickered. "Good one, Rai."

Rai smiled at Ed before turning back to Mustang. "Of course I want to stay with the Elrics!"

Mustang nodded. "I figured you'd say that." He looked at the two State Alchemists. "By the way, both of your assessments are coming up."

Rai blinked. "Wow, so soon?"

"Well, you three have been traveling around," Mustang pointed out. "Anyway, you should decide what you're going to do for it, and stay in Central until you've done it."

They nodded and left the room, walking down the hall.

"So what do you think we should do?" Ed asked his best friend.

"Well, I don't think we should tell everything we've found out about the stone to everybody in hearing distance," Rai replied. "Mustang once told me about a battle being fought as an assessment…maybe we could do that."

Ed grinned. "Perfect! I could pay Mustang back for calling us short!"

Rai blinked. "You want to fight Mustang?"

Ed blinked at her. "Well, what's wrong with that? You don't like him calling you the 'S' word, do you?"

"Of course not, but a battle?"

Ed grinned. "Thing is, if I win, he can't call us names."

"But what if he wins?" Rai pointed out.

Ed shrugged. "I'll just make sure I win." He caught the skeptical look Rai was giving him. "What? I'm not going to cheat, if that's what you're thinking."

"You'd better not, else I might knock you into next week," she retorted, then frowned. "Well…if you're battling Mustang…who am I supposed to fight?"

"You could fight me after I'm done with Mustang," Ed suggested.

Al nodded. "Yeah, it could be like a mini tournament."

Rai thought a minute. "I like the idea…let's do it!"

The Fuhrer blinked when Rai told him her idea. "A mini-tournament? Sounds quite interesting." Bradley smiled. "I like it. We'll do it!"

Mustang, who had come along as well, blinked. "But, sir-!"

"Fullmetal against Flame and then Lightning battles whoever wins," the Fuhrer said.

"Which I'm betting is Ed," Rai put in with a grin.

The Fuhrer looked at the young alchemist. "Hmm…Fullmetal versus Lightning. That would be an interesting battle indeed. But then again, Lightning versus Flame would be a good battle as well…this should definitely be entertaining."

"Well, considering I've worked with Ed long enough for us both to know each other's moves, I bet it would," Rai interjected. "It would probably end up a stalemate, if I know battles. That and we both have automail."

Mustang chuckled. "I guess when you put it that way, it does seem interesting…"

Rai turned to walk off. "Well, if I'm going to battle once you guys are done, I'd better go get ready for it."

"Two days, Rai," Mustang told her.

Rai turned back to look at him, a smile on her face. "I know." She turned back and waved as she left the room.

Rai was in her tank top two days later, her automail left arm glinting in the sun, though she still had on her gloves, pants, and boots, and her hair was back in its usual ponytail, and she had her arms crossed. "This will be interesting."

Ed, who was standing next to her in similar garb but with his jacket and shirt still on, was grinning like a maniac. "Considering I'm going to get to beat some sense into Mustang, I would agree with you."

Rai laughed. "If you win, that is."

Ed snorted. "Oh, I'm going to win, I can assure you that."

Rai poked him. "Don't jinx yourself before you even get started!"

Ed crossed his arms. "Not likely."

Rai just sighed and shook her head before looking out to see Mustang approaching them.

"Lightning, Fullmetal," he greeted them, "good luck."

Rai grinned. "You should tell yourself that-Ed here thinks you're going to need it."

Mustang smirked. "He's the one that's going to need it."

Ed glared at the taller man. "You wish!"

Rai sighed. "Stop it before I send lightning bolts at the both of you."

Both alchemists stared at her, blinking.

Mustang, upon recovering from his shock, smirked. "You wouldn't hit Ed, would you? I thought you-"

Rai shot him a very scary glare that instantly shut him up. (AN: ….She shut Mustang up? O.o Wow…that's one scary glare…) "You mention that again and you will be regretting it."

Mustang, however, simply walked off.

Ed, however, blinked at Rai. "Thought you what? What was he going to say?"

Rai shook her head. "Nothing, Ed, don't worry about it." She saw Hughes walking to the middle of the Alchemist's Battle Arena and grinned. "You might want to head out there-Hughes is getting ready to announce the competitors."

Ed nodded. "Um, Rai?" he asked her, sounding hesitant.

Rai blinked at him. "What?"

"If I don't win, you'll beat him for me, right?"

Rai rolled her eyes. "You just said not long ago you were going to beat the living daylights out of him." She lightly pushed him in the direction of the center of the arena. "Go on out there and kick his butt already! You've wanted to for a while already, now go do it!"

Ed smiled and nodded. "Right. Thanks Rai."

Rai pushed him again. "Go on already. And give him hell from me!"

Ed nodded and took the hint, heading out to the middle of the arena.

Rai smiled when she watched him head out to fight Mustang. "Ed, I swear you're an idiot sometimes…" I guess it's why I like him so much,Rai added to herself.

"All right everyone!" Hughes announced, and Rai had to grin-Hughes was a very likeable guy. Anyone who didn't like him was either PMSing or was just a bastard all around. "Time to get things underway!"

He turned to hold out a hand towards Mustang. "In one corner we have Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist!" He spun around and held out a hand towards Ed. "In the other, we have Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist! Winner of this match will battle-hey, where is she?"

Rai jumped and walked to Hughes, having forgotten Hughes announcing Ed's name was her cue to go up to him.

"Ah, there you are. Winner of this match battles Rai Kagerai, the legendary Lightning Alchemist!" He handed Rai the microphone.

"Good luck to the both of you, but ED KICK HIS BUTT!" she yelled into it, Ed grinning as she handed the microphone back to Hughes.

Hughes chuckled. "Well, that was entertaining. Anyway…Rai, you might want to get back to the side. Right…" He looked at the two State Alchemists who were ready to battle. "Alright, let's start this thing! But before we do…" He pulled a cover off of a huge picture frame looking thing to reveal a humungous picture of his daughter, Alesia. "Look at this! Isn't this the cutest thing you ever saw?.!"

Rai sweatdropped. Wow, he has a really big picture of his daughter. Go figure.

Hughes chuckled when there was a bunch of groans. "Alright, alright, to the main event!" He looked at the two male State Alchemists. "Ready…..BEGIN!" he yelled before retreating.

Rai watched as Mustang snapped his fingers and sent explosions towards Ed, Ed thankfully dodging all of them.

It was when Ed ducked into the audience that Rai facepalmed. Ed, you idiot! The idea is to keep everyone from getting hurt, not drag them into it! She sighed. How did I end up with a dolt for a best friend?

She heard the dreaded 'S' word-"short"-and Mustang's voice saying it and her eyebrow twitched in warning. If he says that again I'm going to skewer him.

Ed, of course, being the temperamental guy he is, started yelling out something along the lines of "WHO'RE YOU CALLING SMALLER THAN A GRAIN OF RICE?" revealing his presence in the crowd, and Mustang sent a snap in the direction of the audience.

Rai sighed. Great, Mustang, blow up everyone in the military while you're at it, why don't you? She huffed. You sure have an ego bigger than Amestris.

She watched Ed transmute his automail arm into a sword and ripped off the top of Mustang's glove, and sighed again. Ed, two hands, idiot, two hands! You have to get both gloves for it to work! She huffed. You'd think me traveling with him for three years would have changed that. Apparently not…

As if to prove her point, once Ed had transmuted a huge cannon aimed right at Mustang, the Flame Alchemist smirked and pulled out the gloved hand in his pocket and moved to snap it at the cannon.

"Mustang, you frikin idiot! I didn't want him killed!" she yelled out before she realized it. Unfortunately for her, the battlegrounds were pretty much silent so the yell rang out clearly across where the two alchemists fought, and they froze and stared at her so that she blinked. "Oh damn, I said that out loud…" she muttered.

Mustang smirked at her. "Well, someone has gotten attached…"

Rai glared at him. "Shut it, Flameass!" she yelled, clearly annoyed.

Ed blinked at her. "Eh?"

Rai looked annoyed. "Never mind, I didn't mean to interrupt, get on with it," she told the two, waving a gloved hand at them in a manner that told them to continue. I can't believe I yelled out like that! When did I turn into such an idiot? She would have facepalmed for being such an idiot if it wouldn't have made it obvious.

Mustang continued smirking as he turned back to Ed, snapping his fingers and blowing up the cannon Ed had transmuted-although Ed was no longer on top of it, much to Rai's relief.

It wasn't long after that that Mustang had Ed on his knees and was about to snap his fingers and finish Ed off, Rai at the ready and about to snap her own fingers to stop the colonel if need be, but Mustang seemed to freeze and his eyes widened.

"Wha…?" Rai asked, lowering her ready-to-snap hand and blinking. "What's he doing?"

Ed, however, took the chance and stood up, transmuting his automail into a sword and putting the point to Mustang's throat, Mustang looking helpless.

It was then the Fuhrer stepped forward. "Stop," he called out in a commanding voice, Ed turning to look at him and dropping his transmuted automail sword from Mustang's neck. "No lives will be taken today…Fullmetal has won this match."

Rai relaxed her hand and let her tensed fingers fall apart, and a relieved-although faint-smile appeared on her lips.

Bradley turned to look at Rai. "Miss Kagerai, will you please come out here? I believe you still have your match with Mr. Elric."

Rai nodded and walked over to stand across from Ed as Mustang got up and walked over to the side to stand next to Hughes. "Well," she told her best friend, "looks like I was right after all, huh? Fullmetal versus Lightning."

"You mean I was right," Ed retorted, although he was smirking. "I told you I'd win, didn't I?"

"Only cause I came up with the idea," she huffed back, a smirk clear on her own face. "But talk is cheap-I say we see once and for all who would win between the two of us."

"You're on!" Ed exclaimed.

Bradley chuckled before turning to walk over to the sidelines, Hughes coming over to them to do his usual announcing.

"Well, this is interesting," Hughes commented. "I thought you two were best friends."

Rai grinned. "We are…we're just having a little friendly competition to see which would be the better fighter out of the two of us." She chuckled. "We'd never kill each other-even Ed's not that stupid."

Ed shot a glare at her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Hughes chuckled. "Alright, alright, calm it you two." He stood up, yelling into his microphone, "Time for Round Two! In the blue corner we have the winner of the previous match, the Fullmetal Alchemist Edward Elric!"

The crowd cheered, Ed grinning and waving his arms.

"And in the red corner we have our new challenger, the legendary Lightning Alchemist Rai Kagerai!" Hughes continued.

Rai was surprised to hear more people cheering for her then for Ed, and she could pick out things like "Show him why you're called a legend, Lightning!" and "Teach that kid a lesson!" as well as "Strike like the Lightning you are!" She grinned and waved her arms as well-the phrases were quite interesting, especially that last one she'd heard.

"Are both battlers ready?" Hughes asked, to which Rai and Ed both nodded, then he added, "Let's get ready to rumblllllllllllle!"

Rai took the chance to snap her fingers and send several lightning bolts in Ed's direction, Ed cart wheeling to avoid them and attempting to get close, but Rai sent more lightning bolts in his direction, the crowd thankfully not getting hit by the bolts. Rai knew that she was more of the ranged type, although she could go hand-to-hand if the situation called for it, but she also knew Ed was more of the hand-to-hand type, which made them one hell of a team but also made them equally matched, one having the other's disadvantages.

As it was, Ed managed to get close and Rai switched to hand-to-hand combat, fending off his blows with her own and him fending off her blows with his own-it appeared they were indeed equally matched as both jumped back from each other.

"I think we make a better team then we do opponents," Rai commented. "As opponents, we're fairly equally matched."

Ed nodded. "Yeah, me too."

Rai sighed. "May as well finish this." She raised a hand ready to snap and was just about to snap at him when he grinned and clapped his hands, slapping them to the ground and transmuting the ground beneath him into a fair-sized cannon, which sent a cannonball hurtling towards her. Rai simply snapped her fingers and sent a bolt at the cannonball, the bolt zapping a hole straight through the thing and made it fall apart before it beelines straight for Ed, Ed looking surprised before he was hit with the bolt, although it just hit his automail, which was what Rai had been aiming for, knocking Ed off of the cannon-which she hadn't anticipated for-and before she knew it, she was on her back under Ed, who had landed on top of her, and her back hurt.

"Oww…" she muttered. "…The hell just happened?"

Ed stirred and opened his eyes, then, hearing Rai muttering underneath him, quickly jumped off of her, a faint pink twinge coloring his cheeks. "Whoa, Rai, you okay?"

Rai nodded. "Yeah, I'm alright… my back hurts though."

Ed held out a hand to help her up, which Rai took and he hoisted her to her feet. "Sorry about that."

"S'okay," Rai replied with a small smile, dusting herself off. "I will say that was a good match though," she added just as Hughes ran up.

"Aaaand the Lightning Alchemist wins by a shocking victory!" Hughes announced.

Ed nodded, agreeing with Rai. "Yeah, it was a good match," he agreed, smiling a little.

The two alchemists stared at each other before Rai was yanked off by Hughes, who whispered something in her ear with a grin, to which Rai went red and tried to punch Hughes with a "Hughes, shut up!"

Hughes, of course, narrowly avoided the punch, still grinning at Rai. "Oho, I was right!"

Rai glared at him. "You're worse than Flameass!" Flameass was her own personal nickname for Mustang after she had stolen his gloves when she was six and set his ass on fire with them. She'd called him Flameass ever since and it stuck-Ed had taken to calling him that occasionally, though it was mostly in front of Mustang. Hughes even used it from time to time, as well as several others.

Hughes grinned and poked her. "You know it's true!"

"Doesn't mean I have to admit it!" Which she just did, in an indiscreet way, but she wasn't about to say that out loud.

Ed just blinked at both of them, looking confused. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Nothing!" both exclaimed quickly, Rai giving one last glare to Hughes, who chuckled, before the light brown-haired alchemist walked over to Ed again.

Ed still looked confused, but shrugged.

"C'mon, let's go get cleaned up," Rai suggested just before Bradley walked up.

"You three have to clean all this up first," the Fuhrer interjected. "You suggested the matches, you clean the mess up. And no alchemy."

The three groaned but set to work…

Ninjagirl: That's the fifth chapter done. Now for the review replies.

AyameRose: Yes, this is based off of the original anime, although I will probably add in a trip to Briggs, just because General Mira Armstrong is that epic. She is one of my favorite characters in Brotherhood as well as in the manga. Other then that, it will be mostly based off of the original anime. ^_^

kasuki101: Yup, that's Cornello getting his ass kicked in a nutshell. I never liked that fake priest as it was. Although I liked Ed's line in the second episode. "What's the matter, you poor bastard, can't get a good taste?" XD And yus. Ed and Rai, sitting in a tree! But there won't be any K-I-S-S-I-N-G! Not yet, anyway.

xXDrowningInChocolateXx: Thanks! I hope the rest of the story you end up liking too. XD

PoisnousNinjaSquirrel: Nope, I have a plan for them kissing later on. Although I might end up putting in an accidental kiss... I'm still musing over that idea. But I do have several ideas in which they're gonna kiss. So it will come when it does. XD

So yeah, that's all of them for now. I will see you guys next chapter. And as a note, the more reviews I get, the faster I update!