Dragon Ball GX, Side Story: The Alchemic Saiyan
Chapter 14: Getting A Second Opinion
Edward Elric
As Winry's jaw dropped, I knew she was concerned about me facing my father, whom I'd consistently voiced I hate over the years, now that I was so powerful.
"Ed, are you sure that's a good idea, I mean…you hate your dad, and now, you have all this power-" she starts out, unable to finish her thoughts.
"I know what you want to do brother, please don't, I beg you" Armor Al begs as he bounds down the stairs and lands in front of me.
"No, this has to be done Al" I say calmly as I push him out of the way with a single finger, then walk out the door. After a few minutes of flight high above Resembool, I spotted my father and landed in the tall grass along the road he was taking to our house. I decided that the best way to confront him before explaining how I was alive, that is if he knew I had died, was to pretend that I'd gone into hiding. As he began to get into view, I walked up to the center of the ruins of our old home and knelt down in memory of my mother.
"Hey, who are you?" Hoenheim asks with curiosity.
I smiled as my back was turned to him, then quickly formed my fake-out face by coating my features with my bangs, then changed my voice. "Oh, hello there sir" I reply with a deep, gravelly tone, quite counter to my usual youthful one.
"Why are you at the remains of my wife's old home?" Hoenheim asks accusatively.
"Apologies for my rudeness, I was a childhood friend of Trisha's, so that must mean you're Mr. Elric am I right?" I ask as I stand up and walk over to him.
"Yes, I' am Van Hoenheim; so, you knew my wife?" he asks with an air of suspicion.
"Yes, from the long ago days of my youth, well over 15 years ago, it feels like I only knew her a short while to be honest, so I cherish all the time I spent with her…I just wish I'd had more before she moved on" I reply wistfully.
"I know how you feel, I only knew her for such a short time myself" Hoenheim says sadly.
"Yeah, so why did you return back here Hoenheim?" I ask, making my question sound genuinely curious while still trying to not giggle at how easily I had fooled my father.
"I came to see her grave one last time before I went back on my quest" Hoenheim says, his tone regaining its resolve.
"Quest, what quest?" I press, hoping it was the one Psyagon had shown me he was doing in the anime based on our world.
"Well it's a secret, please don't be offended sir" Hoenheim replies hurriedly. I smirked beneath my hair, knowing now might be a good time to break the small talk and get down to business as we walked back to Penako's.
"That secret wouldn't happen to involve you detaching parts of your philosopher's stone into the ground would it?" I say smugly.
Upon saying that phrase, Hoenheim stopped in his tracks and turned around to face me, just as we reached the front door of the Rockbell home.
"How the hell do you know that?" he says angrily.
"I know a lot of things about you Van Hoenheim, or should I say…Slave 23?" I reply antagonistically, hoping I'd rile him up. His scowl and subsequent leaping at me to pin me to the ground proved me right.
"Who the fuck sent you, it was him wasn't it?" he says angrily as he grips my throat tightly.
"(Chuckles) No, the Dwarf in the Flask doesn't even realize how much I know about him" I chuckle.
"Then who are you? Reveal yourself to me!" he shouts angrily.
"Come now, surely you could recognize your own son-" I begin as I part my hair and unveil my face.
"-Father" I smirk as I see his jaw drop.
"Edward…my little Eddie?" he inquires with a shocked voice, barely able to speak as he jumps off of me.
"Yeah old man, its me alright" I reply as I get up and brush the dirt off my jacket.
"B-but…I heard you were confirmed dead, I came here to see your grave and pay my respects, and to…say good bye one last time" he stammers.
"Yeah, they were a bit too hasty on that public declaration that I was dead, cause I'm back" I say proudly, placing my hands on my hips and standing in a heroic pose. Just then, Winry had to come out and smack me with her wrench on the noggin.
Van Hoenheim
"ED! What are you doing!" Winry screams with rage as she stands between me and my son.
"HEY I MAY BE INVINCIBLE NOW BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN I CAN'T FEEL PAIN WHEN MY GUARD IS DOWN, NOW WHY ARE YOU BLOCKING ME FROM HOENHEIM!" Edward screams.
"Cause you want to seriously hurt him…maybe even kill him" Winry says quietly.
"What?…No, Winry, there's been a mistake, I wasn't going to-"
"Yeah brother, I know he walked out on us and mom, but that doesn't mean you can beat him to a pulp for it!" Alphonse interrupts as he stands beside Winry.
"No really, I was trying to-"
"Your brother is right, you should be ashamed to even consider abusing your new powers like that for revenge Ed" Penako adds, cutting him off again.
"Guys, I wasn't-" Edward attempts again, before they all cut him off. After 30 seconds of interrupting rebuttals, Edward screamed with an unearthly volume, screeching, "WILL YOU ALL SHUT THE HELL UP!"
Suddenly, 3 hands sprung from the ground and held them tight, moving to the side to clear a path to me. I then realized that maybe I was in trouble.
"I wasn't going to hurt him!" Edward blurts, desperate to say the line they'd been keeping him from stating. Then he walked up to me, looking me straight in the eyes.
"I do want to give this man something though" he says with a stonewall face, a small frown etched into his face.
"Ok, if it will help ease your anger, then I won't resist son" I reply as I lower my head to await a big blow.
"No, I have something much more intense in-store for you Hoenheim" Edward says as he walks closer, his arms outstretched as he approaches., I quickly closed my eyes, anticipating a big attack that would probably sting a little. However, instead of being struck…I felt something warm holding…hugging me. As I opened my eyes, I saw it was Edward!
"An apology, for hating you all these years when I thought you'd just abandoned us like a rotten dad" Edward says softly.
Upon hearing this, I was taken aback, and stunned. My eldest son Edward, who despised me for leaving them as children, was apologizing!
"I understand why you left, I understand everything now, and things don't have to end the way they were going to, so I'm sorry for my anger at you…dad" Edward says as he looks me in the eyes, then hugs me again. Unable to speak coherently, I just hugged my eldest son back and smiled.
"You don't know how long I've wanted to hear you say that, thank you Edward" I say tearfully as I manage to speak once again.
Suddenly though, I remembered how he'd called me and the homunculus by our original names, how could he have learned that?
"Edward, hang on, how did you know I used to be a slave, let alone that I was turned into a living philosopher's stone, who told you these things…and how did you get so tall in just 3 days?" I ask with worry, hoping this wasn't some kind of trick by the homunculus.
"It's a looooooooong story dad, you're gonna need to come inside and stay a while" Edward says as he throws an arm around my shoulder.
"Well…ok, but I can't stay for long, I have to get back to the plan, you know about don't you?" I say with a hushed tone.
"Yeah, the plan may not even be necessary anymore, but I will try to keep this as short as possible, so come on in" he says as he drags me inside, the others quickly followed.
As we walked in, he directed me to the arm chair for me to sit down, I obliged and he went upstairs for some reason.
"Where is he going Alphonse?" I ask my armor suited son.
"Oh yeah, dad…there's a situation that we need help with, its kinda unprecedented" Alphonse says nervously as he twiddles his thumbs.
"What kind of situation, is it bad?" I pry, hoping it wasn't too serious, but knowing my children it was probably a matter of life and death.
"Very bad" a frail, familiar voice replies from the stairs. Wait…I knew that voice. Whipping my head back to the stairs, my eyes widened as I saw the impossible.
"Hi daddy" the thin ,emaciated body of my youngest son Alphonse says weakly. I could barely contain myself and jumped from the chair and embraced him with as gentle a hug as possible so I didn't break any bones.
"Oh Alphonse, you got your body back, this is wonderful!" I shout as I hug him tightly.
"No…not yet isn't" Alphonse's voice continues, but with that metallic reverberation that only came from…the armor!
"Alphonse, please tell me this is a joke" I beg, hoping my ears weren't deceiving me.
"No, its no joke dad, its very serious" both voices of my son state, causing me to look over and see that the animated suit of armor and flesh and bone body of my son were both talking and walking.
"Oh damn, what kind of shit are you in now boys?" I pant as I stumble back to the chair, the panic settling in.
"I'm not in any trouble, but Al is in a lot, should I start from the beginning dad?" Edward asks gently.
"Yes, (pant) please, I have to know everything; how did you survive the explosion Edward, how did you grow a matter of feet within a span of days, how can you do alchemy without even clapping your hands, and most importantly, why is Alphonse's body back on Earth yet his armor still retains his voice?" I state as I try to calm myself.
"Ok, it all started after the Fifth Laboratory came crashing down. I managed to snap out of my unconsciousness and engaged the homunculus known as Envy in single combat. Then we each tried to pull off Scar's Destruction Alchemy move, and the world exploded. I could feel my life slipping away, but I wasn't conscious, so I had no idea what was happening around me, that's when I woke up" Edward begins, his tone dark and grave.
5 Hours Later: Mid-Day
"And after telling Roy Mustang and his men about Father's plan, I realized that my earlier actions might indeed cause Father to retaliate against them, so I created a dome from a metal so powerful, and who's atomic structure only I know, that there is no way anyone can go hurt them" Edward concludes, having told his whole story while floating in a cross-legged meditation style position.
"You defied Truth and just stole your brother's body…that shouldn't even be possible" I reply, my voice barely a whisper as I attempted to process all this knowledge that my son had told me.
"Yeah, so this jewel, my master Psyagon gave it to me, he said it can perform real miracles due to the power he imbued with it, but I can't figure out how to make it work. I marveled at the beauty and magnificence of this multi-colored stone, its aesthetic appeal was unparalleled, and I had seen many wonderful gems, none came even close to the majestic, raw luster or glow this one had; it was as if…it shone with a life force all its own.
"Then I met Psyagon in the middle of the battle between Ed and Bradley, he helped me figure out how to calm Ed down and told me more about the jewel" Winry adds, as she stared at the stone too.
"Yeah, he told her, that the secret to restoring Al to his body lies within the necklace, she then told me, but I can't figure this damn thing out!" Edward screams as he tries to pop it open, then bites on it like a wild animal chewing at a bear trap.
"Let me have a look, I may be able to help at least offer some insight as to how and truly find answers" I say as I extend my hand. He quickly took the necklace off and put the jewel in my hand.
"Fascinating, I can feel absolutely no imperfections, why, its completely and utterly flawless, at least on the surface, I can't peer inside this object's structure because I do not know what it is made of" I say as I marvel at Psyagon's craftsmanship.
"I don't get it, I know its sparkly and all, but even so, isn't it still fundamentally a crystalline structure?" Winry comments.
"Well when I looked at it, it appeared that it was, but then I peered deeper, and well…it seems to be a blend of both matter and energy" Edward replies with a flair of awe and mysteriousness to his tone.
"What do you mean a blend of matter and energy, aren't they two separate things?" I remark, remembering how matter can release energy through chemical reactions, but saying that something was made of both, that was a new concept.
"Well I learned advanced science from Psyagon too, and matter isn't quite what we think it is. Yes it's the building blocks of the world and universe as we know it, and matter can store energy within its bonds, but the truth is more fantastic than matter merely being able to hold it, they're actually one and the same at the deepest levels" Edward explains as he holds the cube.
"What do you mean brother?" Armor Alphonse asks with wonder.
"Matter is merely energy in a compacted, solid form, they are inter-changeable, matter is energy and energy is matter, it all goes back to the concept of one is all and all is one, remember?" Edward replies.
"Oh, that would explain how matter can make explosions or spontaneously combust, its changing from solid to free energy" I say as I put the pieces together.
"Exactly, but in most reactions, only a tiny percentage of mass is converted into energy. The more efficient the conversion of mass to energy is, the more powerful of a blast that can be made from the material, that's why some explosives are more potent than others, the matter used in them reacts more efficiently. But enough about what we already know, we need to figure out this damn crystal, how to get my brother back in his body!" Edward yells as he points at it.
"That still doesn't explain your statement about it being made of both matter and energy, you acted as if it was both solid and energy at the same time" Winry points out.
"She has a point, what did you mean by that?" I inquire, my curiosity growing again.
"I meant it as I said it; somehow, this crystal, its not just made of crystalline atomic structure, somehow…its also made of some kind of solidified energy, a kind that's nothing like conventional matter, its baffling" Edward replies as he rubs his chin and stares at it.
"What do you mean, if matter is solidified energy, then how is this solid energy you speak of any different than a block of wood?" I press, my curiosity climbing by the second.
"Well, the best way I can compare it is this; imagine a pair of handcuffs, but instead of metal, they're made of photons" Edward starts as he creates a pair of handcuffs from thin air and puts them on my wrists.
"But brother, light isn't solid, its energy" Armor Alphonse argues.
"Yeah, I know that, under normal conditions, photons are just energy particles. But imagine a pair of photon cuffs, and they acted exactly like these, but stronger due to being made of pure energy" Edward counters as he flicks the chain between the two cuffs.
"Hard Light Constructs, Psyagon demonstrated that when he talked to me!" Winry says with realization.
"Yes, with the proper application, light can function almost exactly like matter, just about any energy with the right application and manipulation can exhibit matter like qualities, that's why this necklace is so confusing, being made of some kind of solid energy construct, I cannot determine its make up, not without more time and examination" Edward explains succinctly.
"Well do you know of a good laboratory I can hide at, so I can try to help you with this?" I reply with a hopeful tone.
"I know just the place, you can hide at Eastern Command, Mustang will help shelter you while I figure out the best way to deal with Father and his plans, take my hand and I can take you there, Alphonse, your body will probably be safest there, with the Adamantium dome and all, so can I take him there?" Ed asks with a polite tone.
"Can you keep my body company dad, and make sure he's well nourished?" Armor Alphonse pleads.
"Of course, I'd be happy to, here, your necklace" I say as I offer it back to my eldest son.
"No, I can't risk it being damaged in a fight, I don't know how durable it is, you keep that gem for the time being and study it so we can get Al back in his body" Edward says as he closes my hand around the crystal.
"Agreed, I'll hang onto it for a few days and see if I can't find out anything with Alkahestry son, I promise I will guard it with my life" I say solemnly.
"Thank you, Winry, Alphonse, Penako, you guys stay here, I'll be back soon, make sure you hold onto me dad" Edward says softly as he walks over to pick up Alphonse's body, then motioned for me to come over. Grabbing his shoulder, I smiled and waved good bye to Penako, as we suddenly began to vanish.
Roy Mustang
It'd barely been an hour since they left, and already we could feel the panic setting in.
"But Priiiiiiidddeeeeeeeee, I'm hunnnnnnnggggggyyyyyyy!" Gluttony whines outside my office door.
"Oh have a little spine, you can hold your appetite longer than an this can't you?" Envy groans in annoyance, reflecting how I felt about the fat homunculus's hunger complaints.
"Yes brother, be patient, I'm sure Edward will return soon with an answer to your dilemma, now be quiet" Pride says with his cold, firm voice.
"Ok" Gluttony sighs as he plops on his ass, creating a tiny tremor as he did.
"Colonel, where is Edward? I feel like a rat in a cage having to wait in here for his safety" Fuery asks desperately.
"Yeah, and we're gonna have to confront the military soon once they find out about the dome Edward made" Riza comments as a sudden whooshing and the appearance of three figures from thin air behind Riza cause me to gulp.
"What, is something wrong, are you ok Colonel?" Hawkeye asks worriedly.
"If they show their sorry asses here I'll make sure they all sink neck deep in concrete" Edwards booming voice says with a laugh.
"YAAAAAAAAHHH! Fullmetal, please don't do that!" she screeches as she jumps out of her shoes and into my arms.
"(Chuckling) You make a cute couple" the bearded man says with a smile.
I quickly realized I was holding Riza close, and we quickly separated, blushes coating our faces.
"Colonel Mustang, Alphonse Elric reporting sir" the thin emaciated boy replies with a strained voice as he is lowered from Edward's arm.
"Ok, relax Body Al, you have to take it easy for at least a month, you've been stuck in the realm of Truth for years, barely being given the level of nutrients your body needs to live, its gonna be a while before you can stand up for extended periods" Fullmetal replies as he brings up a chair.
"Wait, that's your brother?" Fuery asks incredulously.
"Just his body, remember, his soul is still trapped in the armor suit, that was the whole issue remember?" Edward says with an annoyed face.
"Oh right, so then why did you bring him here Fullmetal?" Fuery continues.
"So that I can look after my son's body while I examine Edward's crystal his master gave him, he can't figure it out with Alchemy, so he thought it might be a good idea to let me look with Alkahestry" the bearded man replies as he puts a hand on Alphonse's shoulder.
"Who are you sir?" I ask as I walk up to the bearded man with glasses.
"I'm the father of the Elric brothers, Van Hoenheim" he says with a smile.
At that moment, the doors were busted down and Gluttony barreled in blubbering, "PLEASE DON'T KILL ME FATHER, IT HURTS TO DIE!"
Edward Elric
I was about to remind folks that my code name was no longer Full Metal, but I decided what the hell, its easier to say in a pinch than "The Alchemic Saiyan", I really had to figure out a catchier code name to reflect my new status. Then Gluttony busted the door down sobbing uncontrollably, begging "Father" to let him live.
"I'm sorry, I think you have me mistaken for someone else" my dad says as he rubs the back of his head.
"Huh? Oh, you're not Father, you look like him though" Gluttony says as he puts a finger in his mouth.
"I told you to keep an eye on him Envy, I had to go home and make sure that Mrs. Bradley wasn't looking for me" Pride groans as he and Envy walk into the room.
"Hey, its not my fault that Breda is such a sloppy eater, just be glad that Gluttony didn't get a whiff of that, at least in my case all that happened was me slipping on some mustard that squirted out of his sandwich and I got into an argument with him, tubby would have tried to eat Breda and his lunch" Envy snaps.
"Ahhh, so you're Hoenheim, its nice to finally meet you" Pride says as he notices my dad and walks up to shake his hand.
"Oh, so you're Selim Bradley, but you're a homunculus aren't you?" Hoenheim replies with suspicion.
"Indeed, I' am Pride, the first one he made" the young prince says with a smile.
"Well I don't mind you 3 being around as long as you behave; besides, from what I've heard, you all changed sides to join with my son" Hoenheim replies.
"Yeah, after threatening to kill us" Envy says bitterly.
"HEY, It was for your own good and you know it! And if I recall correctly, I gave you a choice, and showed plenty of mercy, don't you ever forget that" I retort angrily, surprised at how easily Envy was forgetting his place.
"EEK! Sorry, force of habit, I'm trying to improve" Envy pleads as he bows respectfully.
"That's better, anyways, I'm gonna go back to Winry and my brother, spend the rest of the day with them. Then tomorrow we'll get together and discuss the best way to save Amestris and-"
"Episode 10" a hollow eerie voice moans as it interrupts my train of thought.
"YAH! What was that?" I scream with alarm, the whole room rumbling from my voice.
"Whoa, easy with the lungs brother, remember we're not all super aliens, our ears have limits" Body Al says as he rubs his ears, everyone but dad, Envy, Pride, and Gluttony did too.
"Sorry, its just I could have sworn I heard a voice, and it sounded like it said-"
"Episode 10" the voice repeats, its tone much clearer now.
"AAHHHH! THERE IT IS AGAIN!" I bellow, causing the room to rumble once more.
"FULL METAL, ENOUGH WITH THE SCREAMING, WE'RE INSIDE!" Mustang snaps angrily.
"I'm sorry, but I know I'm not hearing things now; there is a voice talking to me, but I can't tell where its coming from, or what its statement means" I reply as I lower my voice and try to figure out what it means.
"Its your sensei, remember the events of Episode 10 you dummy! That's all I can tell you right now" the voice of my master snaps with frustration. I quickly realized that Psyagon must have spoken to me through the gem, he did say it had great power after all.
Wait a minute, episode 10, could he have meant Episode 10, Separate Destinations from the anime based on our universe? Remembering how Psyagon had shown me the series in full during my training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, I quickly went back over the episodes in order from the beginning. The first one showed me and Al fighting Douglas the freezer alchemist, the second chronicled a flashback of me and Al's childhood and that fateful day, the third was about our trip to Liore and that fiasco with Cornello, the fourth told of our trip to Shou Tucker. As I kept going down the list, I reached 10 and I felt my blood run cold. That was the one where Maes Hughes learned of the Nation Wide Transmutation Circle, and Father and his goons decided that he knew too much, and had him killed!
However, since Envy and Pride, the most powerful Homunculi had all defected to our side, that meant that Envy couldn't kill Hughes now, but if the events were meant to play out, then Hughes could still be in danger of dying, which meant…oh shit. Either Father will send someone else to try and off Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, or worse, no, I couldn't think that yet, my Big Bang Attack went through the center of Central Command, Hughe's post in the west wing of the building. Still, the fact remains that it's been a day past the timeline that had been projected in my series, but though my death probably put a damper on Father's concentration, I doubt he forgot that Hughes had closed in on the truth. Which would mean…
"AAHH! Mustang, quick, when was the last time you had contact with Maes Hughes!" I shout, causing him to give me a funny look.
"Um, 3 days ago at your funeral, why?" Mustang replies with a raised eyebrow.
"Wait, didn't you blow up Central Command Ed?" Envy remarks.
"Just the center, thankfully Hughes is stationed in the west wing, but that's not the point, he's still in danger! I'll be back soon" I scream as I vanish with Instantaneous Movement.
An instant later, I was inside the corridor entrance that leads to the west wing of Central Command, but realized that since Bradley had seen me like this, I'd need to have a disguise.
"Luckily I learned a few tricks from Psyagon regarding the use of Alchemy to alter my physical traits" I say with a smirk. Taking a few minutes, I changed my hair color from golden blonde to jet black, and my facial structure to more closely resemble Hoenheim's. Then, I did a finishing touch by changing my jacket from its trademark red, to a dark blue.
"There, that ought be sufficient, I just hope I'm not too late" I yell as I break into a dash to find Hughes.