I am very sorry for the length of time it has taken to write this chapter. I am so busy this semester it's unbelieveable. So thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and thank you to everyone who is sticking with this story despite my terrible update times.

One exciting thing I did do recently though was meet Vic Mignogna (voice of Ed) that was pretty amazing!

Just a little warning that this isn't very well edited but I'm busy and I think you all deserve a new chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter Nine: The Fight

"Duck!"

Ed, Roy and Al all complied and a gun fired, the bullet fizzled up and disappeared before it even hit Father. The three kids twisted round to see the gunman, or more precisely woman. Riza stood, behind them, the gun held steady in her hand and pointed at the enemy. She fired the rest of the round in the gun, it had no effect.

"Riza?" Roy tried to stand to go to her but Ed had grabbed him again. Calmer now Roy merely turned to look at him, Ed was glaring at Riza with mistrust.

"What now?" Roy asked, annoyed.

"The homunculus could shape-shift dumbass," Ed spat back, before raising his voice to Riza. "Prove you're Riza Hawkeye."

Riza nodded in approval before casting her mind back to something only her and at least one of the boys would know but before she had a chance to speak the doors behind her burst open and Envy flew through the door, looking murderous.

"Well that about proves it for me," Ed said, letting go of Roy and leaping towards Envy. He was closely followed by both his real and foster brother. Roy, grabbed hold of Riza and hugged her tight for a second, before rounding on the man who started all this. He was now surrounded by others of his so called 'children'. Roy swore loudly alerting Al, who was about to reach Ed who was already trading blows with Envy. Looking behind him he saw two other homunculi, hoping his brother would be fine, Al wheeled round to fight one of the others. It was now an even numbered fight. Al briefly considered that probably wasn't a good thing.

Raising her gun Riza aimed it at the boss, while the tall shapely woman, stepped forward and squared off to Roy. The fat man leapt at Al, with surprising agility. Ed was still engrossed in his fight with Envy to realise everyone else's plight.

Riza squeezed the trigger but it did little more than click. She'd already used the whole round and she had no spares. Throwing the gun aside she realised she had no weapon and the others were occupied. With no expression father used his alchemy to fling her across her across the room. Riza hit the wall and slumped unconscious. Father turned to the rest of the fight and just watched.

The woman smiled at Roy, who just narrowed his eyes back at her. Her beautiful face twisted and she leapt forward, her fingers extending, unnaturally, into sharp points, which she used to slash across Roy's face. He dodge back but caught some of the lethal swipe. Streaks of blood appeared across his face. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Riza go flying. The homunculi used his distraction to stab his shoulder. Crying out he slammed his hand down on her arm, trying to make her retract her hand but it did no good. She kicked his knees out from under him and he fell heavily onto the floor, smashing up his knees. The woman pulled her hand back to its usual configuration and stood over Roy where he knelt with his hand on his shoulder. Roy desperately wanted to look at his friends, he'd heard Al call out shortly after he had, but he didn't dare look away from his opponent. That was until agony filled scream filled the hall.

Al ducked the first attack from the fat man. He groped in his pocket for a stick of chalk but didn't have time to use it before the next attack. He dodged and ducked but had not time to make any kind of counter attack. He heard Roy call out but had little time do anything as the fat man managed to finally land a hit, knocking him back with surprising force. He let out a choked off cry. As he slumped to the ground winded.

Too involved in trading blows with Envy, Ed had little idea of what was going on around him. He managed to get a good solid punch in that knocked Envy back, but it didn't last long, Envy lashed back with a solid kick to Ed's stomach which made him stumble back. They carried on like that, neither getting the upper hand until Ed heard something that made run cold. He heard Al's cry and spun round in time to see him collapse. Taking advantage of Ed's distraction Envy grabbed his automail arm and twisted it. Ed screamed as he felt the arm be yanked out of its socket.

Once the arm was free Envy pushed Ed to the ground, where, off balance he couldn't push himself up quickly.

From his position he could see Al was still breathing, and he could see Roy, kneeling on the ground panting, holding his shoulder, his hand stained with blood. Ed couldn't see Riza at all. He looked back to Roy who was staring at him, as waiting for him to do something amazing but Ed was out of good ideas at this point. He mentally cursed his father for abandoning them again. He thought back to their escape before and remembered the wall of fire.

Ed scowled at Roy, throughout the fight with the female homunculus he hadn't once used alchemy, Ed wondered why, before making a small snapping motion with his fingers. Roy's expression didn't change but Ed knew he'd seen it.

Roy swore silently in his head when he saw the gesture Ed made.

"Well looks like you are all under control now, maybe we can begin. Get up," Father told them. Roy dropped his hand away from his shoulder and stood. Al had recovered enough to help Ed stand up. Roy glanced back towards Riza she was still unconscious but he could just see her chest rising. He was glad, at least, that she was safely out of the way for the moment.

"Why do you need us? Ed asked. Father didn't answer he just gestured to his 'children' who began to drag the young alchemists away.

"Stop!" the voice rang out through the underground hall from the door. Everyone turned to look at the new comer. Hohenheim was framed in the doorway.

"Where the hell have you been," Ed snapped at his father.

"Dad." Alphonse gasped, looking at the man he only remembered from photographs.

"Well if it isn't Van Hohenheim, I would advise you to stay out of the way."

"I won't let you hurt my family anymore Homunculus." The ground began to shift under the feet of the homunculi and the teenagers, throwing them off balance. In the distraction Roy was able to pull the ignition cloth glove out of his pocket. Slipping it on to his hand he managed to send a spurt of flames at the female homunculi. Her screams were piercing as Roy kept up the onslaught until he was bowled over by the fat homunculus.

"Leave her alone," he wailed as he used his sheer bulk to bring the teen to the ground. Roy gasped in pain as he went down on his injured shoulder.

As soon as he'd been let go Al had turned on Envy who, surprised by the onslaught, had dropped his grip on Ed. Ed stumbled losing his balance easily without the weight of the automail arm he'd been previously compensating for. Hands caught him before he hit the ground and he looked up to see his father supporting him.

"Where the hell have you been?" Ed growled at him.

"No time to explain, get out of here."

"Not without the others."

"In your current state you can help no one, go."

Ed snarled at the statement, wrenching himself away from the support he just kept himself upright. He would show his father but Hohenheim had already moved off, not even looking over his shoulder to see if his son and complied with his demand.

Taking a brief second Ed looked at the battles around him. Al was facing off against Envy. Ed noted, with a little pride, that Al was a natural fight but without the intensive sparring training that Ed himself and Roy had received from Izumi Al would not be able to keep it up for long. A burst of flame directed Ed's attention to where two homunculi were attacking Roy. He was easily keeping them at bay with his flames, but they were coming back for more, healing each time, while Roy became more and more exhausted by his labours. He hadn't been 100% when the battle had started.

That's when it dawned on Ed he hadn't been attacked, no was noticing him, giving him the time he needed to do what he was best at. True without his arm he'd have to draw a circle but that was hardly a problem for him.

Taking a sharp rock Ed scratched a circle into ground and pressed his palm to it. Envy screamed as two sharp barbs pierced him, lifting him up from the ground. He was trapped. Al, who'd thrown himself backwards at the flash of alchemy turned to his brother and grinned. Ed grinned right back.

Another flash of alchemic light filled the room as Hohenheim and Father faced each other, each shooting a pulse of pure alchemic energy at each other. The energy from each met in the middle and stayed there as each tried to gain the upper hand. Lust and Gluttony both retreated towards their creator and after a feat of inhuman strength and agility Envy freed himself and followed.

"You're a mere copy, homunculus, you shall never beat me," Hohenheim informed his opponent.

"Really, I wouldn't be so sure, Hohenheim," came the reply. With the hand that wasn't pointing palm out at Hohenheim he directed at his 'children'. Ed and the others watched on in horror as the homunculi disappeared, as if being sucked into their Father's body. The tide of alchemy shifted, growing closer to Hohenheim, he was losing.

Thinking fast, Ed grabbed up his rock and quickly drew another circle, slightly behind where Hohenheim stood.

"Dad, take a step back," he instructed. Without a thought Hohenheim did as his son had said, stepping straight into the circle, once he was there Ed pressed his palm against it, activating the circle. He felt a shoulder brush against his own as Al laid his hands on the circle next to Ed's and a moment later, Roy joined them. All three teens were feeding their own alchemy into Hohenheim making his alchemy stronger than the homunculus could ever hope for.

Once again the tide of the battle changed and an explosion ripped through the air.

Thank you and please leave a review. As you maybe able to tell next chapter is (probably) the last one. This story turned out to be a lot shorter than was expecting.