Dragon Ball GX, Side Story: The Alchemic Saiyan
Chapter 26: Frozen Face-Off
Ling Yao
After appearing in the north, I realized just how cold it was, and began to shiver with chills. We were in the middle of nowhere, just surrounding by pure white.
"Well, at least this is the coldest place in the country, it can't drop any lower" I remark, causing Edward to laugh.
"Yeah, you wish; if a blizzard hits, you're gonna see just how cold Briggs really gets" he says as he floats over the ground with a smile.
Several minutes later, I got my taste of the quickest weather change I'd ever seen. In less than 30 seconds, the winds kicked in, and the snow began to fall even harder, causing the temperature to drop at least 50 degrees further.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I bellow with agony, as I feel my flesh beginning to freeze solid.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS PLACE, ITS LIKE THE LAND HAS A MIND OF ITS OWN!" I shout as I desperately try to warm myself up.
"That's the north for ya, biting cold, and automail has to be crafted of different materials up here or it's a danger to your body, and even then its still dangerous" Edward says calmly with a smile.
"Hey, how come you're not complaining about the temperature? It must be at least 40 below zero here!" I shout, as my wards nod in agreement, shivering just as much as me.
"Well, once you can control your own Ki, you'll never complain about natural temperature levels again, for now, you'll need these" he laughs as he forms four thick coats, sets of gloves, ear muffs, water proof thermal pants, and hats with his mysterious, motionless alchemy, each article black and blue in variations, except for May's, which were pink and blue. After several minutes, we were bundled up, and found that they weren't warming us up fast enough.
"Ed, we're not regaining the heat we lost, can you help us darling?" May begs, causing him to groan in annoyance.
"Check the front pockets of your coats, there is a dial in there with an internal electrical heating system, you can adjust it, its got an electric battery, and can be recharged, now quiet, I gotta sense around for the Briggs fortress, I have no idea where we landed" Edward says as he closes his eyes.
"WHAT, YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE WE ARE!" I screech, causing him to shout and nearly back hand me with his reflexes.
"Ling! I thought you were one of the soldiers, I coulda broke your neck you idiot, never interrupt me when I'm trying to focus my Ki sense!" he shouts as his fist stops less than a quarter of an inch from my nose.
"Sorry, its just so damn cold, and you said you were taking us there" I pant as my heart rate begins to step down after nearly jumping out my throat, feeling lucky at how narrowly I had avoided getting a blow from Edward to my face.
"Hey guys, where's Alphonse?" Lan Fan shouts above the blizzard.
"What? OH DAMN IT, ALPHONSE, WHY DO YOU ALWAYS GET LOST!" Edward bellows angrily, as his aura flares back into existence, the snow around him melting.
"The little girl May Chang is gone too!" Fu adds, causing Edward to remarkably calm down.
"That's actually some good news, I'd prefer to not hear her pointless swooning over me" Ed laughs.
"She could die out here! She might be from a rival clan, but she's still just a child" Lan Fan screams.
"Come to think of it, I can't find Gluttony either" Envy adds as he looks around.
"Will you all relax! Ok look, I can sense everyone with Ki sense but Al, because of his soul being bonded to an armor suit, only biological beings and certain special races of energy or mechanical ones have Ki to detect. To further put you at ease, Al is fine out here, he doesn't get cold, hungry, he doesn't even have to breathe in his armor body, so he's fine. If you give me a moment to concentrate, I'll go them all, so quiet" Edward says firmly, silencing us quickly as he closed his eyes.
Alphonse Elric
After having been separated from the group with May and Gluttony, we kept close so we wouldn't all get split up even more. Holding May's hand, I felt strangely protective of her, and I couldn't explain it. Gluttony's whines about how hungry he was though, were not welcome.
"I'm starving, is there anything to eat around here?" he pants.
"Well, there are said to be bears up here in the Briggs Mountains, but they grow over 15 feet tall and-"
"FOOD! BEAR BUFFET!" Gluttony screams with joy as he shoots off in a random direction, jumping like a grasshopper until he'd vanished in the whiteout.
"GLUTTONY! GET BACK HERE!" I bellow, as I crouch down to make sure May was still beside me.
"Good riddance, he's a rude guy, he tried to eat me" May pouts as she crosses her arms, Xiao-Mei doing the same.
"Look, I know he's got a long way to go, but that's not him being evil, Gluttony has an incredible metabolism, he must have tons of food before being satisfied, plus he is also an embodiment of the nature of greed, which I bet even he dislikes, cause he gets hunger pains real quickly. Please try to understand him May, how would you treat strangers if you were always hungry and could eat anything?" I argue, causing her to sigh in shame.
"You're right, it must be awful to always hunger, never getting a good break from the gnawing feeling in his stomach; however, if he eats me, I will not hesitate to kill him, I hope you understand Alpho…(gasp)" May replies, suddenly pausing for some reason.
"What, what is it, are you ok?" I shout as I pick her up, worried the cold may have begun to get to her, for a moment, the whiteout lessened, and I saw she was blushing fiercely.
"Yes but…I just remembered, seeing the blonde boy back in Resembool; is that really your original body, that your soul was taken from?" May inquires softly, the roar of the blizzard having begun to lessen some.
"Yeah, it is, it was very malnourished when Edward recovered it from the realm of Truth, but my body has recovered nicely thanks to brother's treatments, it's pretty much back to my old charming self" I say nervously, wondering why she was speaking of this subject at a time like this.
"Yeah, I bet you have a fiery temper like him too when you get mad" she comments under her breath.
"How rude, I' am not like my brother! I don't get a scary face, or blow up like he does over pointless things like height, and I certainly don't treat women the way he does, I'm a gentleman" I say proudly, as I hear her gasp some more.
Wait, why did I get defensive when she compared me and my brother, I couldn't be jealous…could I?
"Really, you're a genuine gentleman?" she asks breathlessly.
"I sure am, I'm not even sure how I learned how to be one, but its who I turned out to be" I continue, wondering why I kept talking like I had to point out such things to a girl that I currently barely knew.
"Wow…a real gentleman, that's so dreamy…(sigh) but Edward is the perfect specimen of manliness, who am I supposed to choose?" May says with a depressed tone. I finally realized why she was speaking of such things, she must not have really known about Edward and Winry.
"Um, May, there is something you need to know, its about Winry, from Rush Valley, the blonde girl. You see, she and Edward-"
"AAAHHHHHHHH!" Gluttony screams from nearby, his cries seemingly of pain.
"Its Gluttony, hang on" I shout as I begin to run in the direction the noise came from. After several minutes, I found him, but he had a thick gash going down most of his body, and his blood was freezing, halting his healing.
"Gluttony, what happened?" I ask, hoping he could tell me.
"A bear, a bear attacked me, and I'm still hungry!" Gluttony whines, causing us to feel embarrassed.
"Um, Al…you can put me down now, the snow storm is starting to let up" May says nervously, and I quickly sat her on her feet. If I had my body back, I'm sure I'd have turned beet red by now.
Suddenly, a heavy set of footfalls landed behind us, and we all turned around to face the source, seeing a towering silhouette, hot breath steaming out of its bared mouth.
"BEARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!" we all scream in unison, as I clap my hands and slap them on the ground to form an Ice Spear, Gluttony breaking off the frozen blood and healing his wound.
However, suddenly the bear raised its right arm, and light reflected off it, and I realized what we were really up against, May and I quickly dodging its blow as it slammed the ground where we'd stood with its giant limb, losing my spear in the process.
"That's not a bear, it's a man, that's automail!" I shout as the snowfall begins to lessen more, and I get a good luck at his arm. It wasn't designed like a human limb, but more like a combination of a chainsaw and a clamp. Using his flesh hand, he grabbed a launcher and shot a net toward Gluttony, trapping him for the time being.
"What kind of automail is that, its not like any I've ever seen before!" I shout, causing the man to growl and look at me.
"So you're with the spy, I knew he wouldn't have come alone" he shouts in a gruff voice as he holds the giant saw clamp up again.
"I asked a question! I have a friend who makes automail, but I've never seen something that big and tacky!" I shout, causing him to snarl and leap at me with surprising agility.
"FOOL! Obviously you don't know a good weapon when you see one. This right here is Combat Automail Model M1913A, the crocodile! Now surrender peacefully you miserable Drachman spies or I'll show you exactly what this baby can do!" he shouts angrily.
"What? Wait, we're not spies I'm- WHAAAAAA!" I shout as I narrowly avoid another blow.
"Please, listen to me, I'm not from Drachma, we're with my brother, the Fullmetal Alchemist!" I scream, hoping he'd understand.
"Yeah, I bet; now surrender peacefully, or I'll leave you in pieces!" he shouts, leaping at me again, this time successfully latching onto my right arm with his crocodile automail, pulling a ripcord on his arm and causing the blades to begin rotating.
"I'll hack you up piece by piece till I get to the man inside" he growls as it begins to scuff my armor.
"Hey, let go, this is my body!" I scream, worried that he might accidentally begin to damage me after some time.
"Then surrender you spy and I'll spare your life!" he shouts angrily.
"I'm not a spy! Please, I' am with the Fullmetal Alchemist, he's looking for me, we got separated in the blizzard, he's gotta be nearby!' I plead, hoping he'd listen.
"A likely story, you Drachman spies will say anything to save your own skin" he retorts as I hear my armor begin to crack.
"Alright, I didn't want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice" I shout as I clap my free palm into the one on my trapped arm, then tap his limb.
After several seconds, nothing had changed, and the man looked at me with an annoyed expression.
"Was that supposed to hurt?" he asks with an irritated tone.
"What, but your arm, why didn't it break, isn't automail made of iron?" I gasp, as I feel my arm beginning to near breaking.
"Alphonse, get ready to dodge!" May shouts as a series of kunai knives land near the man's feet, dropping another set near her in the snow, she placed her hands on the snow, and with surges of alchemic energy, an ice fist struck the automail man's saw arm and knocked us apart, but broke my own limb in the process, the armor cracking completely from the elbow down. After another series of knives implanted near his automail limb, ice formed around it, and pinned him to the ground.
"(Sigh) Thanks May, that was a quick save, but brother is gonna be pissed that I got damaged even with my new alchemy powers" I say as I look at my torn right arm.
"Not bad, you guys are pretty good, but you forgot something" the man says with a smirk as I hear steam noises coming from his arm.
"My automail has an engine and exhaust system, and it runs hot!" he laughs as the ice on his limb melts off, and he leaps to his feet.
"I expected such a move, thanks for letting me gain ground, May, now!" I shout, hoping she'd get the idea. With a nod, she tossed more knives, the first set landing in the ground exposed from the melted snow. Using her strange alchemy again, she caused a large granite fist to erupt out and grab him by his waist, trapping him at last.
"Good luck melting that automail man; thanks May, you really are a life saver" I pant as I look at her and us my surviving hand to give her a thumbs up.
"Yeah, we make a good team" she says with a smile.
"Can I eat him? He attacked us, I want to eat!" Gluttony shouts, having finally freed himself by consuming the net.
"But you just ate" May deadpans.
"Not full, barely had anything to chew it was so small, can I eat him?" Gluttony begs.
"No, we need him alive to ask questions" I say firmly, causing him to whimper.
"You're impressive spies, I'll give you that, but its all over now" the man shouts, as I hear guns cock all around us, the snow having almost completely stopped falling for the moment, allowing an unobstructed view for a long distance in the immediate area. Putting our hands up, I motioned for Gluttony to do the same, and we gave the appearance of surrendering.
"Wait…the Briggs Mountain Guard, but that would mean…-" I start as I look around.
"Buccaneer! Who are they?" a harsh woman's voice asks staunchly.
"Uh, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there General Armstrong, I apologize for the disturbance" the man says as he bows respectfully. Turning around to face the direction that the voice had come from, I found a huge wall, and up on a balcony nearby, was a woman with long blonde hair, and a man with white hair and dark glasses standing beside her.
"I asked you a question Captain, who are they!" Armstrong bellows.
"Drachman spies obviously, they were snooping around and looking very suspicious, Sir" Captain Buccaneer says as he salutes the general.
"You think everyone who comes up here unofficially is a spy Buccaneer, Cuff them and get bring them inside" she shouts authoritatively, turning her back. Using his automail arm, he smashed the thin column that was the alchemy hand's arm, and landed on his feet without missing a beat and strode over casually.
"With pleasure, uh…stick out your arm spy, we need two to cuff you" Buccaneer says with a confused look as he grabs what's left of my right arm attached to the armor and peers inside the socket.
"STAY AWAY FROM MY BROTHER YOU ASSHOLE!" Edward's voice bellows, causing the ground to shake slightly.
"What the, who's there now!" Armstrong shouts as she turns around, then freezes her gaze at the sky. Following it, I saw why she was so shocked.
There, in his human disguise, was Edward, blasting through the air like a rocket straight to Buccaneer! Moments after he turned around to face the source of the noise, my brother landed his foot right in the captain's chest, and sent him flying 50 feet into a snow bank.
"Freeze! Put your hands over your head whatever you are" the guards shout as they point their guns at Edward.
"How dare you point your peashooters at my friends, especially my brother!" he bellows as he raises his hand, causing red lightning to shoot from his hands, and strike just at the marksman's feet, making them jump in fear.
"Don't just gawk you idiots, shoot first, learn answers later, FIRE!" Buccaneer screams from the snow bank, causing the men to regain their composure.
"He's right, all men, fire at will!" the guard who'd spoken before shouts. A moment later, they all began to shoot. As expected, brother's Ki shield effortlessly absorbed all gunfire like peas from a straw, the bullets deforming upon impact. Once emptied of ammo, the men gasped in horror, as they saw Edward smiling.
"Is that all?" Edward asks with a smirk as the bullets float off him and begin to melt into a molten sphere, that quickly began to reform into new bullets, which fell into his left palm. Taking one and holding it in-between his right thumb and index finger, he laughed.
"You know, these things are only deadly because of their kinetic energy being concentrated onto such a small area, thus the basic principle that makes guns so deadly, but that doesn't mean they have to be propelled by expanding gas from the explosion of smokeless powder in a confined chamber; I wonder if I can flick it with the same level of force your pistols produce, shall we find out?" Edward taunts as he curls his thumb and fingers up to prepare a counter shot.
"What the, how the hell did he-"
With a loud classic ricochet noise, the man who'd ordered Edward to freeze earlier had his pistol shot out of his hand by Edward's flicked bullet, cutting his ramble short as he grabbed his likely aching hand.
"Son of a bitch, reload quickly before he can-"
With another three pinging ricochets, the last guardsmen were disarmed, all clutching their hands in pain from the force Edward's flicked bullets imparted to their bodies. A moment later, Edward had face planted all four of them, then lifted Buccaneer by his crocodile arm and tossed him into the wall of Fort Briggs with a clang.
"Come on chunky, don't tell me that's all you got!" Edward taunts, causing Buccaneer to flip back on his feet, his face contorted with rage.
"CHUNKY? I'll PUT YOUR HEAD THROUGH THE WALL YOU FUCKING BRAT!" the captain screams as he lunges at Edward with pure rage in his eyes.
As he neared Edward however, brother suddenly moved, and was a foot out of the way.
"I doubt that, by the way, that seems heavy, let me help you with it!" Edward shouts as he tears out Buccaneer's arm, causing him to scream.
"Bet that hurt didn't it? Don't worry, I kept the port in tact chunky, and I'll hold onto your arm, keep it nice and safe" Edward laughs as he holds the crocodile over his head in triumph.
"Why you…that's it, get him men!" Buccaneer shouts, causing dozens of new guards to pop out from nearby snow piles, pointing rifles at Edward.
"HA! Please, you think just cause you got longer peashooters it'll make a difference?" Ed brags as he puts a hand on his face and chuckles.
"Laugh while you can, cause these men have the latest from R & D, diamond tipped armor piercing rounds, they can punch halfway through Fort Brings from the outermost wall, that's over 100 feet of cumulative, reinforced steel, so whatever is shielding you won't stop these" Buccaneer says with a confident smile.
"Shoot me and see how wrong you are, hell, I'll even catch every bullet" Edward smirks, causing the captain to snarl.
"OPEN FIRE!" he bellows, causing dozens of rifles to crack as they sounded off. Cringing, I hoped they were wrong, and Ed had this under control. After 10 seconds, I removed my hand from my face and looked to see if my brother was injured.
As I suspected, I'd worried for nothing; standing there with 36 deformed shells on his skin, he growled and they fell to the snow, which was now rapidly melting as his aura, crimson red and blazing wildly flared to life.
"How the hell did he do that, who is this kid?" Buccaneer shouts worriedly.
Moments later, he got his answer, and Edward smiled as he begin to grow in size, reverting to his adult form, tall and buff, with his clothes tightening to accommodate his true musculature and size, needless to say, all the soldiers were terrified upon realizing who they were fighting.
"Its him, the monster!" one of the recently revealed snipers screams with a panicked tone.
"But how, he was just sighted in Central earlier today, how'd he get here?" another screams.
"Reports said this guy can fly, and incredibly fast, faster than sound even, not to mention his invulnerability was just proven; Captain Buccaneer, permission to retreat, please!" another shouts with desperation.
"Permission denied! We'll fight him, he has to have a weakness no one else has noticed! Besides, the general is watching, and you know what she does to deserters, you can't retreat unless she ok it, you want her angry?" Buccaneer shouts, causing the men to shake their heads.
"Maybe you chumps aren't getting the picture" Edward remarks with a smirk, as his aura starts to die down, till its gone, all the snow for miles having evaporated from the intense energy he'd emitted.
Suddenly, his eyes began to glow crimson, the glow focused on his pupils.
"Wait, brother, DON'T!" I bellow, hoping he'd listen to me as I realized what he was about to do.
With a sound effect similar to sizzling of some kind from ionization, twin beams of Ki energy, focused into laser fine points burst from his corneas, gradually streaming across the land like a piece of chalk being pulled across the board, leaving broken, burnt, and fractured ground in its wake, slowly arcing higher toward the mountains Fort Briggs was anchored into. Narrowing avoiding the beam, the soldiers in front of my brother leapt to the side, as it struck the face of the peaks, where the beams blew straight through like a hot coal through paper, the cracks easily over 500 feet in length, their appearance akin to giant claw marks from a monster. As he stopped emitting Ki, the ensuing rock collapse due to the now vaporized matter that had once occupied the new gaps in the local geology made the entire area shake violently for several moments. May, Xiao-Mei, Gluttony and I all huddled together in fear, even though we knew Edward would never harm us on purpose.
"Now, stand down, unless you want me to aim the next beams at the fortress, and I don't want to do that just as much as all of you, I just want to talk to Major General Olivia Mira Armstrong" Edward replies, as all the soldiers but Buccaneer shake and whimper in terror.
"Absolutely not, we don't know what the hell you are, but we'll die before we let you anywhere near our Commanding Officer!" Buccaneer screams defensively.
Laughing, Edward grabbed the crocodile automail he'd gotten from Buccaneer earlier off the ground, and pointed it at them, the arm transforming into a big gun with glowing lights, strange colors, and a gothic design as the arcs of transmutation surged around the former combat automail limb.
"This is called a Nova Burst Cannon, it fires plasma orbs that detonate with a temperature of over 10 billion degrees Fahrenheit, essentially, it's a grenade launcher that fires miniature sun bombs instead of the old pineapples, its powered by a perpetual energy device, and it's a gift to you General" Edward says as he holds it over his head and bows.
"Why would you give me such a powerful weapon? You act as if we have met, or that you expect me to begin trusting you" the general asks with a raised eyebrow.
"Actually, it's a little of both, long story, but please, I can prove I'm the Fullmetal Alchemist, just let me come inside, and we'll talk" Edward replies as he keeps kneeling.
"What if I refuse, what if I consider you too big a liability, a threat to my men and the border of this country, what will you do young man?" the general asks with a frown.
"You'll regret it, I have big news regarding the truth about our country, and its leaders, but its your choice, I don't need your help most likely, I can probably find a way to fix things with the friends I already have, but I heard your men were some of the best, maybe the best military force in Amestris, so just consider that" Edward says with a smirk as he stands up. Several minutes of silence passed, and finally, Armstrong turned her back on Edward.
"You and your friends may come inside, but I want to hear everything involving Amestris!" she shouts, causing Edward to smile genuinely.
"Thank you! Come on guys, lets go" Edward says as he flies over to us, and begins to walk.
"Edward, there you are! Thanks for warming up the place, it was really chilly!" Ling shouts joyfully as his group and Envy rush toward us.
"Freeze!" the snipers shout as they cock their guns again in preparation to fire on them, causing the General to snarl and turn around.
"Wait, don't shoot!" I shout, as Edward snaps right in front of them to block the bullets.
"My brother is right, these people are with me; they're the group I was with that my brother, the fat man, and the little girl got separated from in the blizzard, if they get shot, I'm gonna start tearing up your fort" Edward warns, causing the general to smile.
"Relax, I was about to stop them, the funny man did mention you by name, so I figured he was with you, let them all in men!" Armstrong bellows as she turns around again and walks away from the balcony, likely into the fortress, the white haired man following her.
"Alright kid, come on, you and your friends got invited inside, you should be honored, the Ice Queen rarely lets any one she's never met before personally other than the highly ranked officials just waltz inside Briggs" Buccaneer says as he uses his remaining arm to motion for Ling and the others to be allowed in.
"Luck had nothing to do with it Bucky boy; by the way, you wanna have this for your new arm?" Edward asks with a smile, causing the captain to raise his eyebrow.
"But it's a gun now, not an automail cannon, and-how the hell did you do that?" he remarks as Edward begins to convert it into an automail nova burst cannon, then connects the limb back into Buccaneer's shoulder.
"It will be explained once we're behind closed doors, I'll be telling you a lot of stuff" Edward laughs as he pats the newly made automail weapon.
"I don't know whether to think you're a jerk or a cool fellow, but I gotta admit, I like your style kid" Buccaneer laughs, causing Edward to join him. As the others rushed over and began to walk beside us, the doors were opened, and we stepped into the ironclad walls of Fort Briggs.
Father
As my recently arrived Pride told me of what he'd overheard the monster man speaking of, I snarled, knowing that he was mocking my power; he deliberately kept his distance to toy with me! If only I could get a more accurate gauge of his true strength, then I could judge whether or not it would be wise to engage him before my ultimate plan came to fruition.
"Relax my darling, I believe it is time that we had our two speedsters take a crack at this "monster" that took the form of Edward Elric, so your sacrifice's survival can be ensured" the thick voice of the woman I'd come to accept as a new pawn says with her thick, Drachmenian accent.
"Very well, have them emerge at Fort Briggs, then we'll see just how powerful this "monster" is, Pride, go give them the orders" I state, causing him to bow and go rigid as he sends his shadows to the tunnel around the country for contact with my tunneling son and my new accomplice's daughter.