They were on their way. They just needed a few more people, and Central was theirs for the taking!
Mustang and his forces were staying in Central. The Xingese warriors told them that more were on the way. Half of the Briggs soldiers would accompany them to Central. That meant they could collect maybe some rebels, or people against the State, along the way.
When they moved out, they set out quickly to try and avoid detection. If too many people saw them, it was liable that Central would get wind of it and stop them. But they hoped to maybe collect some friends…
"Edward! Over here!" Terios hissed, waking him up. Groggily, he got up and followed the prince. "Look."
"Torches? Have we been found out?" he fretted.
"I don't know. I'll go wake up a couple of our strongest." Terios whispered.
He stood and watched as they wound closer. "Oi, kid! You're the Spectrum Alchemist, right?" someone called in a very rough voice.
"Why?" he asked, his voice shaky.
"Let's just say we here want t' join your rebellion. Central did this to us, wanting us to kill for them, now it's going to kill them." the voice answered.
As they came closer, he could see what these people were. They were Chimeras. Some were of multiple animals. They had scales, claws, fangs, fur, tails, wings, animal-ears, and other animalistic traits. "In that case… I'm Edward Elric, the Spectrum Alchemist. We're glad to have you on our side." he grinned, extending his hand.
Now, with the roughly seventy Chimeras, they had an even greater chance of getting an easy victory! Chimeras, Briggs-men, Xingese warriors, Ishvalan survivors, Central's own men, and a handful of Alchemists, all bent on taking the military down, and they intended to succeed!
The next day, they realized it would be hard to not be spotted. With several hundred rebels moving across the country, they were going to be spotted. No two questions asked. Er-rin quickly solved the problem by dividing the army into groups of ten to twenty. They had a set location they would meet at, and it was settled that that was the way they'd travel. But what had him upset was how the Rainbow Alchemists were placed.
"You separated us all! We're strongest together!" he pointed out.
"True, but if we concentrate you, then it's more likely they could just wipe you out with a simple hand-grenade!" Er-rin argued.
"Edward, just deal with it. We'll have to split. We're still strong, and it's you we need to worry about the most. If we lose you, than let's just say we're toast. You're the head of this revolution." reasoned Lyn. "Just think logically. Er-rin is right. If we spread out, we can protect more people and it'll be harder to wipe us all out."
"I agree with Edward! I really don't like that arrangement!" Karina almost shouted angrily, kicking up a small dirt-cloud.
"Too bad. It's what we gotta do. So calm down." ordered Dark.
His group was to leave five minutes after Strawberry's. So he had ten minutes of dawdle-time. He spent most of it going over a map of Central City. He needed a strategy—They couldn't just run in there waving weapons and expect the Central forces to surrender!
"Yo, Ed. 'S time t' get going." said Nalai, toeing him with her boot.
"Okay, I'm coming. I'm coming." he said, folding the map and tucking it into his pocket.
On the way there, he discussed a strategy with Nalai and Izumi. Izumi told him that they should scatter troops across the city and wait for a signal from him to attack. Nalai agreed with that strategy, saying it was best to 'divide and conquer.' With Central's forces scattered across the city, they'd be weaker and confused. She then said that after they start the attack, they should converge on Central Command.
"Okay, so there's four sections of the city. There's about six-hundred soldiers in Central. So if we divide this up just right, then we can have them at about ten soldiers to an attack scene. Mustang and his forces should remain close to the military HQ. So we should put a group here, here…" he said, circling an area on the map as they walked.
"Here. Here, here, here, here, and here. Maybe one there. Two close together here, lots of soldiers hang out there." Izumi pointed.
"Here, here, here, and one here. There. Have a small knot around the Command Center. And here." Er-rin nodded.
"So that's that. We're all settled, we just need to wait for all of the Xingese warriors to show up now!" he sighed, tucking the map back into his coat.
"They're here! Our warriors!" yelled Hikaru, who'd been in Strawberry's group.
"Yes, they're here! They're here!" hollered Ylassa, who'd been in the group before Strawberry's.
"Hey, is that Er-rin of the Hai-Chi Clan I see?" someone called.
People, I want an honest opinion—should I make the shouter Ling gone rouge? An old old friend? Or… what? Tell me!