Here's number two, and you'll see the two groups of protagonists meet one another here.

Disclaimer: Don't own any of these characters. Might be tempted to keep some of the mobians as pets...but in the case of some...(cough)Sally(cough)...that would be disturbing

Sally led the freedom fighters through the Great Forest with a map leading to the Heavenly Gate Temple. While most patiently followed behind her, Sonic groaned out of boredom. Or irritation. Probably both. "Are we there yet?"

"No." was Sally's reply.

"Are we there yet?"

"Sonic Hedgehog, either put up with us or go back home!" Sally wished for once he could put up with taking it slow.

Sonic groaned. "I still think that if Robuttnik wanted to use this portal, he would have by now!"

"Best to be cautious." Sally replied.

"Aunt Sally!" Tails pointed. "Look!"

The freedom fighters, except for Sonic, stared in awe at the temple. It was nearly identical to the one in the Alchemic world. "It's just a pile of rocks. Hard, dusty, even-a-tortoise-can-outrun-them slow rocks." Sonic muttered.

Sally just rolled her eyes. "Let's go an see what's inside adere." Bunnie suggested.

"Of course. Everyone, be careful." Sally ordered her friends and comrades.

Sonic's mood finally lightened up. He still didn't want to be in the temple, but something did catch his eye. The murals had pictures of Overlanders, doing various things with medieval tools. There was a sun and a moon mural as well, but they had faces. Finally, what caught everyone's attention where the drawings of what seemed to be the religious symbols of some kind of cult. "Nichole, are you sure you can't identify them?"

"Negative, Sally. Circles source is unknown."

"Hey, Sally." Rotor called. "Come take a look at this!"

The freedom fighters gathered in a dark room. When Rotor took out a flashlight, the freedom fighters noticed the entire floor was a more complicated version of the circles they saw. "Look up here Aunt Sally!" Tails called as he flew up to the roof. The illustration was of a planet, similar to their own, but the continents were clearly different.

"Early ettempt to draw Mobius, no?" Antoine asked.

Sally shook her head "No, Jualya showed me our earliest attempts at mapping the planet. It's still off." "Perhaps, it's the portal?" Rotor asked.

Sally looked through everything she scanned so far. "Hard to say; known of the earlier carvings we've come across indicate that."

Sonic walked around, and felt something wet under his shoe. At first, he dismissed it as water, but it was too viscous for that. "Guys, check this out!" Rotor pointed his flashlight at Sonic, and everyone noticed the small puddle of red liquid underneath his shoe.

"Blood?" Antoine asked, quivering in fear.

Sally took a look, and confirmed it. "Yeah, and it's fresh too." she noted, rubbing it between her fingers. Antoine fainted at the mention of that.

Sonic sighed in disgust. "It was probably just a wounded non-sentient animal." Sonic commented. "It's not much; I doubt most decent-sized mobians would die just from this."

Sally aimed Nichole at the blood. "Nichole, identify."

"Scanning." The computer replied. After a few seconds, Nichole's analysis was completed. "Initial analysis: No match found. However, two genomes were confirmed. Only 1 % difference. Both have shown 99-99.95% similarity with Overlander DNA."

Sonic then spoke up. "For some reason, I doubt it was Robuttnik. I figure Nichole would have realized if that was him or Snively."

"Correct." Sally stated as she closed her mini-computer. "We now know that there's someone new in the forest; we better have a look around."

"You okay, brother?" Alphonse asked.

Ed patted his side lightly as he lay against a tree. "I'm fine; she didn't hit any vital organs." After being blinded by the light, everyone except Alphonse was disoriented. Taking advantage of the chance to escape, Al picked up Ed and took off. When morning came, both Ed and Al realized that they were not in the outskirts of the town they were just in. The forest was far more lush than anything they had been in before, and they couldn't hear a trace of modern civilization anywhere.

"Are you good to move?" Alphonse asked his brother.

Ed got up, grunting. Ed used alchemy to close the wound; he would live, but it was still a piss poor job by medical standards. "Well, we might as well have a look around. Be careful though; those homunculi could be anywhere."

"DAMNNN IT!" Envy yelled, scaring a good number of birds. "We had them!"

"Oh, get a grip, Envy." Lust muttered. "We were under strict orders not to kill them."

"LIKE I-"

"You KNOW what the master will do to you, only child or not." Envy quieted down, and shuddered.

"I'm so hungry." Gluttony muttered.

Lust sighed. "Let's go. Those siblings were smart enough to cover their tracks. We might as well try to find someone to point us in the right direction." Still, Lust had a feeling they were nowhere in Amestris anymore.

Ed took a bite of some berries, feeling famished from his encounter. "We'll probably have to set a trap, maybe catch a rabbit. We seem REALLY far away from civilization."

Alphonse only nodded; it wasn't a problem of his, although he wanted it to be. Still, it didn't mean that he couldn't help out his brother. "I'll go look for some twIIIEE!" Alphonse stepped into a canyon surrounded by bushes, and lost his footing, sliding down the hill.

"Al, hang on!" Edward dived in after him.

Finally, the brothers reached the floor. "Sorry, brother."

"Don't worry about it, Al. In fact, take a look." Ed pointed in front of them, and they found a small village. Most of the huts were on the ground, others were placed atop the trees.

"It's beautiful, Ed. I've never seen anything like it."

"Yeah, we should try to remember where this is next time so we can visit again. Although, the huts look a bit small."

"There's still enough room for you to stand at full height. Might be a problem for me, though." Al commented.

"WHAT ARE YOU IMPLYING!" Ed scolded him.

As the two made their way across the bridge, the villagers began to come out. And that's when the brothers realized something was REALLY off. "Ed...is it just me, or am I seeing chimeras that look like humanoid animals?" If the holes in his helmet could change size, they would be the size of dinner plates.

Ed just stared in shock. "Al...we are so NOT in Amestris anymore..." The creatures took notice of them as well, and the two groups stared for the longest time. "Al...just back away slowly...you don't bother them, they won't bother you..."

"THERE'S A SWATBOT AND AN OVERLANDER IN KNOTHOLE!" Apparently the watchman sounded the alarm, sending the villagers into a panic. "ALERT THE PRINCESS AND FREEDOM FIGHTERS!"

The two alchemists made a break for it; granted, the villagers didn't look very threatening, but given the fact that the place was a big unknown for them, they didn't want to take any chances. However, a few of them blocked their way. Judging by the utility belts, it seemed they were soldiers or protectors. Their species included a pig, a porcupine, an armadillo, and a platypus. "Surrender at once, Overlander!" the pig commanded.

While the Elrics just tried to run away from trouble, the sight of anthropomorphic animals...most shorter than even Ed...was laughable. "You gotta be kidding me..."

However, he quickly regretted those words, as the Platypus thing hit him square in the face with a side kick. It wasn't the worst blow he felt, but their strength and agility surprised him. The pig and porcupine brought Al's arms down and threw him over, although it took them some effort. "Good thing my head didn't fly off." Al thought.

"You're not going anywhere, creep!" The platypus yelled. Ed and Al quickly recovered and put distance between them and their attackers.

"Sorry, but we beg to differ." Edward shot back. The two brothers, realizing they couldn't go easy on these creatures, got into fighting stances.

Sally received a signal on her wrist watch; not a good sign when all the Freedom Fighters were with her. "Sally here."

"Princess! An overlander and a swatbot have found Knothole! Your trainees are trying to keep them busy, but I'm afraid they won't be able to hold them off for much longer!"

"Don't worry!" Sonic declared. "I'm up, over, and gone!" In a flash, the hedgehog took off, with Tails taking to the air and following him closely.

"Everyone! We're not that far from the village! Follow me!" The rest of the Freedom Fighters took off after Sally.

"HAAA!" Edward sent the pig flying with an open palm strike from his right hand. The Armadillo made some decent punches towards Ed, but he blocked them all and knocked him down with his left leg. "You're good, but you haven't been force fed martial arts like we have!"

Alphonse blocked the platypus and porcupines attacks with his bare hands. Considering his size, there wasn't much need for technique; he just grabbed their fists and threw them back into the village. "Sorry; you should have let us go." he apologized, regretting hurting the creatures.

Edward threw the armadillo over him before putting some space between them. "Come on, Al! It's best we don't fight more of those-"

Just then the two brothers heard a whistling sound. "Ed, what is-"

Before the younger one could finish, something blue and incredibly fast knocked Ed over. Al tried to come to his aid, something came from the air and kicked Al down. "What the hell was that!" Ed screamed. Whatever it was, it was traveling as fast as a bullet, circling him. Finally, it came to a stop. Ed couldn't be sure, but it looked like some kind of hedgehog. The blue fur threw him off though. Meanwhile, Al was engaged with a fox, which was FLYING! "Oh great, now what?" The Alchemist muttered.

"Wow. The reports were right. And that looks like no Swatbot I've seen!" Sonic paid closer attention to Ed. "Hmph. For an overlander, he is short, though not nearly as small as Snoovely..."

As usual, that statement set Ed off. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT THAT HE'S MISTAKEN FOR A BABY!" Ed charged him, and jumped into the air with a spinning kick. Sonic, taken off guard by his outburst, took a hit to the temple and was sent spinning to the floor.

Though the force with which he was struck surprised him, he quickly recovered, and smirked. "So, this one's got some skills. Fine then; let's play!" Sonic's legs moved so fast they seemed to merge into a red wheel. He then took off, and landed a solid right on Ed. Now THAT hurt like hell; even if the creature wasn't that strong, his speed made up for that.

"Damn!" The hedgehog kept circling around him, hitting him from everywhere. "He's so fast, all I can see is a blue blur! Then again..." Edward stuck out his metal arm, and Sonic caught it right in the throat. "...that's all I need!"

Sonic hacked and backed away. "Trying to rip off Bunnie, eh? Let's see you try that again, blondie!" Sonic charged again, but this time, Edward was ready. The moment Sonic revved up, Edward clapped his hands and transmuted the ground in front of him into a wall. By the time Sonic figured out what happened, he couldn't stop and ran right into the wall. "Ow."

The hedgehog slowly fell back, not even registering the retreating Ed giving him the middle finger. Edward was going to help Alphonse with his fight, but then his blue adversary popped out from the ground, cutting the humans cheek and throwing him on his back. "Cutting the date short?" Sonic asked in a mocking tone. He then spun his entire body in the air until he formed a blue ball, and went towards Ed.

Using his automail arm, Ed blocked it, but he was being pushed back several feet, and his sleeve was torn to shreds. "Damn...if it's a test of cutting you want, I'll give it to you!" Ed stepped away, and transmuted his automail arm into a sword, taking a swipe at the hedgehog and giving him a small cut across the cheek.

"How are you doing that!" Sonic asked in disbelief. Edward simply charged and sliced. Sonic responded by using his Sonic Spin to attack, but Ed only batted him away. The two began a duel of Sonic Spin vs. Automail arm...

"Take this you Swatbot!" Tails charged, knocking Alphonse to the ground again.

"Wait! I don't want to fight you!" Alphonse cried as he hurriedly got back up. Tails wasn't buying it, and tried to land another kick on the hunk of living metal. However, Alphonse simply caught it, and spun around, putting Tails in a lock. "Listen! We mean you no harm! We can leave right now if you want!"

Tails still wasn't listening; getting caught only caused him to panic. "Gotta...break free!" Tails increased the speed of his propulsion, hurling both him and Alphonse in the air.

"AHHH!" the young boy screamed.

Both Edward and Sonic were tiring. While Sonic was fast, Ed had his powerful limbs to back him up, plus his Alchemy threw the Hedgehog off each time. "One more time!"

The hedgehog charged, causing Ed to prepare for a full-frontal attack. However, at the last second, Sonic spun around, using the centripetal force to send Ed flying with a kick.

Sonic got into a Sonic Spin and charged, but Ed, down but not out, reacted in the nick of time, transmuting the ground in front of him into a ramp that sent Sonic flying. Ed observed as the hedgehog, thrown off guard by the sudden rise, was sent careening into a tree. And this time, he looked like he was knocked out cold. "That outta-"

"En garde!" Edward blocked an attack by a rapier with his automail arm, noticing it seemed to be another fox attacking him. "Surrender, or pay zee conzequenzes!" Ed had some trouble understanding him with that thick accent, but the words were not as important as his clear intent. As Antoine prepared another strike, Ed acted first and landed a solid front kick on him, causing Antoine to keel over.

"Now, for the blue-" A metal canister was thrown in his face, spewing green smoke. Ed choked on the poisonous fumes, and ran.

A walrus creature(whom he hated to admit was a tad taller than him) prepared another. "You like that? Come closer and I'll give you some more!" Rotor gestured him. Edward transmuted the ground and created a pike, and charged. Rotor ducked to avoid it, but something flew towards Edward and kicked him away.

"You could learn a thing or two in sportsmanship, sugar!"

Now this one certainly caught Edward's attention. It was a rabbit, on par with the anthropomorphic characteristics of everyone else. But what really caught his attention were her limbs. Her left arm and both legs were mechanical. "Automail?"

Edward's automail also didn't fail to escape the eyes of Bunnie. "Roboticized escapee? But that would mean..." Bunnie put it in the back of her mind; just because Robotnik may have harmed the individual in front of her did not mean that he was a friend. "Heeyahhh!" Bunnie tried various karate kicks, but Ed flipped over them. "Hm. You got some fancy moves thare, sugar. Ah kinda like that." Finally, she shot him in the solar plexus with her metallic arm.

"Omph!" Edward flew back, reeling from the pain. "Her automail is even stronger than mine!" Ed then grunted as he realized his wound from Lust split open. "Damn it."

Bunnie's arm stretched, grabbing him by the collar. "Now, ya goin' to come quietly, or do ya need ta be put to sleep?"

"How 'bout neither, you freak!" Edward planted his palms on the ground, causing pillars to rise up and trap Bunnie's arm in place. Her strength decreased with distance, meaning her arm was now locked into place with no way out on her own.

"Uh!" Bunnie struggled. "No way!"

"I've had enough of this place!" Ed yelled. "I'm going drag Alphonse back to that temple and get us the hell out of here!" Granted, this was all his fault, but still...

Ed yelled in pain as something hit him in the back. "Enough!" Ed held his side and got up. At this point he wasn't surprised at what he saw; a chipmunk with auburn hair and a blue vest. Sally didn't give him any quarter, and attacked. Ed had to admit, he was impressed; her martial prowess was quite good. But she was still nowhere near teacher's level. Ed managed to defend himself, and Sally made sure to steer clear of his automail limbs. Sally landed another side kick, right were his wound opened, and Ed was brought to his knees. Sally prepared to strike again, but Ed caught her fist with his automail. "Auughhh!"

"Ugh!" Tails cried. "Heavy... Let...me...go!"

Alphonse was holding onto his legs, kicking while trying to avoid falling. "Please! Just put us down! You're going to get us killed!"

Tails began to pant erratically. "Can't...take it...anymore!" Tails passed out from exhaustion, and the two plummeted towards Knothole Village. Alphonse panicked momentarily, almost releasing Tails. However, realizing the poor thing could get hurt, Al tightened his grip and pulled the young mobian close to his chest, and oriented himself to fall back first...

Ed regretted hurting the creature like this, but survival (well, possibly) was at stake. Still, he couldn't shake off the sincerity in her eyes, like he was staring into someone who suffered as many hardships as him. He put it in the back of his head, and offered her an ultimatum. "Just let me and my brother go, and I promise..." Sally kicked him right in the chin, forcing him to let go. Sally winced as she held her hand; it was a long time since she felt dull, persisting pain like this. Edward, looking furious, transmuted his automail back into a sword. "THAT'S IT! NO MORE MISTER NICE ALCHEMIST!" Ed then noticed a shadow looming over him. "Huh?" The last thing he saw was Alphonse falling on top of him.

Ed woke up with a headache. "Oooh...that was one hell of a dream..." The Alchemist noted his surroundings, and felt a dull pain in his forehead. He saw that his bed couldn't quite contain his frame either, which was unusual.

"Hey Ed."

Edward looked to his left to see Alphonse sitting by the corner. "Oh, morning Al. I had the craziest dream..."

Ed looked closer, and saw that Al was in chains, and his own automail arm was still in sword form, handcuffed to the bed rail. "Um...the one about us being attacked by humanoid chimeras?" his brother asked.

Ed just stared at him with wide eyes. That could mean only one thing..."It wasn't a dream?"

"No, it wasn't...Mr. Edward Elric." The two brothers turned to face Sally, Sonic, and the rest of the Freedom Fighters in the doorway. Ed noted that the blue hedgehog and small bandages over his nose, as the chipmunk had her right hand covered in bandages as well, who then addressed them. "Your...brother...told me a few things about yourselves. But the main thing that caught my interest was that you came here from the temple, correct?" Ed, still looking at them dumbfounded, nodded. "That temple was supposedly a portal from another world. It seems you just got here before we also came up there to investigate."

Ed just looked away. "It's absurd...but then again, so is this." There was no other logical explanation other than insanity, so Ed accepted it. Ed then said "Well, if it's no trouble, we'll be on our way back then..." He tried to rise, only to forget he was handcuffed to the bed.

Bunnie then forced him back into the bed. "Not so fast, hon. We don't know if we can trust y'all or not."

"Yeah!" Sonic chimed in. "As far as I'm concerned, they could be working for Robuttnik!" Everyone noted in the room, however, could see the real anger came from being thrown into a tree.

"Who?" Alphonse asked. "Who the heck would give themselves such a ridiculous name?"

"Judging by how fast you answered, I'd guess no." Sally replied. "But Sonic's right; we can't trust you. At least, not yet."

"Hey! We tried to escape, but NOOO. You and your friends had to keep us here and fight us!" Ed complained.

"That's because we can't afford Robuttnik knowing about our village! We've had some mondo close calls, and we don't know who you are! Although..." Sonic eyed Ed's automail, chained to the bed rails. "...it seems to me you had an encounter with him from before."

"No, that's not true." Al responded.

"Then how 'dya explain that arm an leg?" Bunnie asked.

"I lost them in an accident, okay?" Ed said, hoping to redirect the attention. Sally wasn't buying it; what accident could have caused the loss of two limbs on different sides? It seemed she would find out soon enough, though, so she would let it slide for now. "So, what else has my little brother told you about?" Ed asked, hoping for the day to end and for them to get back home, never to speak about this experience again.

Sonic just looked back and fourth between them, unable to believe what Ed just called the big hunk of armor. "Little! That dude's a freakn' tank! Someone screwed up on their vitamin supplements..."

Tails answered "Nothing, really. It was part of a deal; he agreed to surrender so long as we didn't take off his suit; he said he needed it to live." Ed just looked at the young fox, in disbelief. "I hurled him up in the air, and he clung onto me. After a while, I got tired and fell. I would have been hurt pretty badly, but your brother protected me. We figured that you two couldn't be that bad, and he agreed to surrender so long as we didn't hurt you."

"In fact..." Alphonse interrupted. "That was the reason why you lost, brother. Sorry." The young boy chuckled sheepishly.

Ed just looked at him dejected. "I didn't lose Al, I was just the victim of an unfortunate accident...WHICH YOU COULD HAVE PREVENTED!" he suddenly screamed, pointing an accusing finger with his free hand.

"Don't look at me! He flew up so fast, by the time I realized what was happening..."

"DON'T GIVE ME THAT, YOU WOULD'VE SURVIVED! HECK, YOU DID!"

As the brothers continued to bicker Sally just held her forehead in anguish. Fate of the world in her hands, and now she had to deal with these two oddballs. "Actually, to be honest Sal, maybe they're alright; I mean, none of the baddies we've come across treat anyone like actual family."

Sally had a feeling he was right, but safe was better than sorry. While she hated the fact she was judging them based on their kind, she simply couldn't risk her people's safety. "Hm-hm." The brothers continued to bicker, with Alphonse becoming increasingly aggressive as well. "Excuse me..." Sally said. Still nothing, just the brothers continuing to shout. In an out of character display, she shouted "EXCUSE ME, I'M TALKING HERE, AND AS PRINCESS, I CAN LOCK YOU BOTH AWAY IN A DUNGEON ON A WHIM, ESPECIALLY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO MY HAND YOU BLOND JERK!"

The two brothers just stopped and looked at her, almost certain they misheard her. "Wait...YOU'RE a princess?" Ed asked, refusing to believe what he just heard. "An Honest-to-God Princess?"

Sally just rolled her eyes; these fellas definitely weren't from around here. "Yes! Princess Sally of the house of Acorn." Ed and Al only looked at in disbelief. This infuriated Sally only more. "Oh, that's-"

Ed held up his real hand and said "N-no! Forgive us, your highness! It's just, we're not used to...uh...princesses like you! You're a lot different!" That was certainly an understatement.

Sally just sighed. "This is going nowhere..."

"Okay, enough!" Sonic stepped in; usually he let Sally handle it, but he had a feeling he was the best candidate to talk to them. "Listen, I'm sorry about earlier. We're kinda in the middle of a war, and we we're not in much of a position to just let strangers come and go as they please. Especially..."

Sally interrupted him before he could continue. She didn't want to tell them their suspicions were based on their race; if they were good people, she could make an enemy. If they were bad, she might have the situation explode in front of her. "It's obvious that we're off to a bad start. But I'm afraid the two of you will have to endure. Dulcy will come back in three days; she'll determine for sure if you two are telling the truth." She then walked over and un-cuffed Ed, while Bunnie took care of Al. "Normally, I would confine you to a hut, or even our make-shift prison. But after what your little brother did for Tails, I feel its safe enough to allow you to roam about the confines of the village for now." She then narrowed her eyes at the pair, mostly at Ed. "However, I will expect you to help out with certain things."

Ed thought about it for a minute and realized that this was his trademark phrase calling. "Equivalent Exchange, huh? Okay, as long as this 'Dulcy' you're talking about comes, that sounds fair enough."

Sally never heard the term equivalent exchange before, but it made sense. "Okay then." Sally helped Edward off the bed, and Al took over. "Your wound is all stitched up; it wasn't serious, but could have become infected if you let it go. Your head might be throbbing, but Dr. Quack says it's nothing to worry about."

Ed's face turned sour upon hearing "Doctor" and "Quack" in the same sentence. "I think you need to either raise your standards or get the guy to change his name." he muttered.

Sally then walked in front of the Freedom Fighters and faced the two brothers. "While this is perhaps not the most becoming of circumstances...Edward and Alphonse Elric...I welcome you to the Village of Knothole."