I needed to look up the spelling of some of the more obscure characters' names for this chapter. If you want to see something interesting, check out the voice cast listed on the Danny Phantom Wikipedia page. Many of the guest stars I recognized (ie. Michael Dorn, David Carradine). But there are a lot more that I didn't. Twilight fans, did you realize Youngblood was voiced by Taylor Lautner?

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The next week passed without incident. We managed to find some old clothes that I'd grown out of to fit Ed. We did, however, have to take Al clothes shopping.

Despite our best efforts, Ed was out of bed in less than two days. He spent most of the next five days down in the lab with Dad, pouring over his notes. Dad was just happy to have a willing audience to blather on about ghosts to.

Al spent most of his days with Ed and my parents, but he took more breaks and finished earlier. He seemed to be the more approachable of the two brothers. I invited him to go out with Sam, Tuck, and I frequently, but he didn't want to leave Ed alone. He told me that once Ed got an idea in his head, he could get a 'little' obsessive.

Mom made arrangements with the school board for Ed and Al to start classes on Monday. The board was a little reluctant about letting two strange foreign boys in, but they changed their minds after hearing about their trip through the Ghost Zone. Or rather, Dad went on a 20 minute tangent blathering about ghosts, and the school board agreed just to shut him up.

Saturday dawned bright and clear. The mid-May weather was temperate; the weatherman predicted a high of 75 degrees. I was eating cereal with Al, contemplating how to best use this perfect weather to my advantage, when Ed came charging downstairs.

"Come on Al! Training."

Al grinned from ear to ear. He then proceeded to shovel the rest of his cereal in record time. I was a little afraid that he'd choke himself.

"Is there a park around here that we can use?" Ed asks me.

"Sure. I'll show you guys after breakfast. Would you mind if I call Sam and Tuck and have them meet us there?" I ask.

Ed shrugs and grabs an apple from a basket on the kitchen table. I noticed that Ed refuses to try cereal. He mentioned something about "evil cow juice."

We met up with Sam and Tuck at a large park on the outskirts of town. It was still early, so it didn't take us long to find an empty clearing.

"What's going on?" Sam asks.

"Ed mentioned 'training'. I'm not sure what that entails, but it has Al excited," I answer.

I notice a flash of gold out of the corner of my eye. I turn back towards the clearing just in time to see Ed launch the first attack at Al.

"I thought Ed was still injured!" shouts a panicked Sam.

"I thought you said that he had two prosthetic limbs," says Tucker confusedly.

Their questions went unnoticed. All of my concentration was focused on the two fighters in the center of the clearing. Their movements were so graceful and fluid that it looked almost like they were dancing instead of fighting. Ed especially, seemed to spend more time in the air, then on the ground. The prosthetics didn't seem to slow Ed down much. The only indication that they were still there, was Al's tendency to evade rather than block the blows from Ed's steel limbs.

I'm not sure how long the fight continued, but before long, I noticed that we'd drawn a small crowd. Dash and Kwan stood slack jawed a few feet away. Pookie was shaking behind Dash's leg; it looked like the poor dog was about to wet himself. I glimpsed Paulina and Star on the opposite side of the clearing. I swear, I think they're actually drooling. Mr. Lancer and Coach Tetslaff were standing off to one side. Mr. Lancer looked like he wanted to stop the fight, while Coach Tetslaff seemed to be egging them on.

Eventually, the two brothers seemed to wear out. Al landed a solid punch landing Ed flat on his butt.

"Come on Brother!" Al taunts. "I think all of that time away has made you soft."

Ed laughs good-naturedly and holds his mismatched hands up in defeat. Al laughs and reaches down to help his brother up. "When have I ever been able to beat you, Al?"

The crowd swarmed in to meet and greet the newcomers. After a few minutes of questioning, most from Dash pertaining to sports, the crowd moved on.

Mr. Lancer approached the brothers. "Catcher in the Rye, People! What is going on here?"

Tucker stepped in before Ed could answer. "They were just training, Mr. Lancer. Nothing to see here, really."

Mr. Lancer glared as Coach Tetslaff came up and slapped a hand down on Ed's left shoulder. "I don't know where you two came from, but I'd be glad to have either of you on my wrestling team. What do you say, Short Stack?"

In the blink of an eye, Ed had Coach Tetslaff in a half-nelson. "Who are you calling so small that he can't see over a podium!"

"Brother!"

After a few rounds of apologies, Ed finally lets the coach up, but not before Tucker and I snapped a few pictures.

"Fenton! Foley!" Coach Tetslaff commands. "You better be deleting those photos. If I see them again, I'll have both of your heads on pikes outside the school gates."

"Yes, Coach Tetslaff!" we shout in unison. We pretend to be deleting the pictures as she and Mr. Lancer finally leave.

"Where'd you guys learn to fight like that?" asks Sam.

Ed chuckles, "Our teacher believed that you needed a strong body to house a strong mind. Most of our lessons were administered while she was beating us to a pulp."

"That most be some woman," Sam says.

"You don't know the half of it," replies Ed. "Speaking of Teacher, have you tried it yet, Al?"

"No. You?"

Ed shakes his head, "No time like the present, I guess."

I watch as Al picks up a stick and starts drawing strange circles and symbols in loose gravel near the path.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"You'll see," Al replies, placing a handful of stones in the center of the circle.

"Let me try first, Al," says Ed. He then claps his hands and puts them on the edge of the circle.

There's a flash of green light, followed by an explosion. Everyone is blown back several feet.

"Dude, was it supposed to do that?" complains Tucker.

Sam is the first one to recover. She pulls two pieces of stone from where the circle used to be and brings them back to the brothers for inspection.

Al laughs, "I think you did that on purpose, Brother."

In Sam's right hand, is a 3' tall statue of Roy Mustang. Every last detail on his uniform is perfect. His hand is raised in his classic attack position. In Sam's left hand, is Roy's head complete with his trademark smirk.

"The explosion must have broken it in two," Al explains. "What'd you do brother?"

"Nothing different. I think the energies are just stronger here. Maybe it's because of our close proximity to the Ghost Zone."

Al nods, "The color of the alchemic reaction was all wrong too. Green instead of blue."

"You guys are alchemists?" asks Sam.

Tucker scoffs, "There's no such thing as alchemy, Sam."

Ed smirks and points to the beheaded statue, "There's no such thing as ghosts either. You just saw proof that alchemy is real."

"Alchemy or not," I say excitedly. "Can you teach me to fight like that?"

Ed thinks about it for a minute before replying, "I don't know how long we'll be here, but you're welcome to join us for our morning sparring sessions until we leave."

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