Hello again, everyone! It's been a while, I know. What can I say? Life happens.

And…Sonic the Hedgehog of Archie Comics…has ended. It's pretty sad, but at the same time I feel rather happy. I'll rant about more at the end of this story. So please…enjoy!

"You're leaving us!?" Sonic shouted as Ed announced his intentions.

"I never said anything about just dropping you guys." Ed said. "As a State Alchemist, I am ultimately a part of the military. And now, we're going to war."

"Something doesn't make sense." Sally said. "Your colonel says something inhuman is attacking your country. The only ones who went through the gateway were us present. Who else could have went through with us?"

"I don't know." Ed sighed.

"So, now we're never going to learn what happened to Renley and Felicia?" Tails asked.

"Actually, I was getting to that." Ed explained. "I have no choice but to go to Central. However, wherever the Fueher decides to send me, Al and Winry can research in my place. And maybe I can negotiate a few favors too…" Ed scratched his chin in thought.

"Sounds good." Knuckles said. "But we can't stay here."

"Don't worry; we're taking you all with us." Al said. "Friends have to stick together, right?" He would have smiled if he could.

"I have to warn you; Central is much more populated and industrial than the other towns you've been to here." Ed said. "There are less places to hide, so you must absolutely stick with us. Understood?" The mobians nodded. "Then it's settled." Ed said as he finally stood. "I'll get some wood and transmute a crate. We're leaving, bright and early tomorrow morning!"

"Everything okay in there?" Al whispered into a crate.

"It'll do." Knuckles replied. "Thanks for the lantern." Indeed, Ed made sure that box was spacious enough to give the mobians sufficient leg room, and a lantern so they wouldn't have to wait in darkness. He also gave them a door for them to exit the crate whenever necessary; just to stretch their legs at night and to relieve themselves when necessary. It was going to be a long trip after all.

"Next time, see what you can do about getting us on the actual train." Sonic quipped.

"Uh…we'll see what we can do about that some other time." Al replied nervously. "Enjoy the games and books."

"Just knock three times when you come to pick us up." Sally ordered him.

"Will do." Al pushed the crate inside; he made sure they were put in with the normal goods, and not the animal cargo. He had forgotten what it was like to smell, but he imagined they wouldn't want to be stuck in a car with animals crowded against one another.

As Al circled back to the platform, he met up with Winry and Ed. "Are our friends safely on board?" Ed asked.

"Yeah. They should be fine."

"Great." Ed turned to face Izumi and Sig, the former donning a purple jacket. "…I'm sorry." Ed said, looking away.

"What for?"

Ed breathed deep; there was no good way of doing this. But he may not have another opportunity; he owed her this. "I'm sorry for betraying everything you taught us." Izumi blinked in surprise. "I should have listened to you from the beginning; Al and I wouldn't be in this situation otherwise. And I'm sorry for becoming a State Alchemist…I'm really seeing where it's leading me now."

Izumi gave him a disappointed look, then kneeled down and touched his shoulder. "It means a lot to me that you said that. Stubborn as you are, you really do need to express more humility." Izumi looked away herself. "The blame lies with me as well. I should have told you about my own transgression from the beginning. Otherwise, you would not be where you are now." Izumi stood. "I understand you have no choice in this matter. At least, not without severe consequence. So, what will you do now?"

"I'm going North; there's no stopping that now. But I still need to investigate what happened to the original chimeras."

Izumi nodded, smiling slightly. "I'm sure you'll manage. You all take care."

"We will." Al answered for them.

"Goodbye, Mr. and Mrs. Curtis. " Winry bowed briefly. "You take care of each other, okay? Thank you for your hospitality!"

"We will" Izumi nodded. "You take care these two boys. They mean a lot to me…and they need someone like you to keep them grounded." Winry blinked in surprise, her cheeks lightly flushing red. She nodded, and got on the train with them.

"Bye teacher!" Ed and Al waved from the window.

Izumi waved back, as if she were their own mother. Soon, the steam blew out from the engine's car chimney, and the wheels started turning, the whistle blowing. The brothers were on their way back to Central. As the train rode away from sight, Izumi smiled, still waving. Then, she frowned and looked away. "Honey?" Sig asked. "What is it?"

"There's something I need to do when we get back home."

Elsewhere, several figures gathered in an unknown location. The room was dark, the only light above a large, circular table. "How's the train coming along?" one young man sitting in a chair asked, his face also obscured by the shadows.

"On schedule."

"And our target?" he asked.

"We've confirmed she will be boarding with the children in three days' time."

"Excellent." He suddenly threw a dagger against a board, nailing a picture of General Hirako, one of King Bradley's most prestigious generals. "Now I can finally get revenge for you, pa."

In those three days' time, a young man with a thick overcoat and large hat covering his face waited on one of the passenger cars, seated as if nothing bothered him. Then, he saw his target move in front of him. A middle-aged woman and her two children walked by. "There you are." Giving them enough distance so they nor anyone else would catch him stalking them, he rose and followed them out. He then leaned towards a dark-haired man. "Found them. We strike in an hour." The man nodded, as he got up to inform the others.

Coincidentally, the Elric brothers and Winry were seated on that same train. "Let's order those new burgers and fries I heard so much about." Ed said as he looked at his menu. "Just going back to see 'Glorious' Mustang makes me want to drown myself in grease."

Ed in particular was seated with his right side facing the aisle, and the man in the overcoat walked by Ed. Their shoulders bumped together, giving off a light clang. "Sorry!" Ed said. The man said nothing as he continued on his way. "You're welcome." Ed grunted sarcastically.

"Hey…Ed?" Winry asked.

"Yeah?"

"That guy…I think he has automail limbs." She said as she watched him move to the next train.

"What makes you say that?"

"When the two of you bumped, I heard a clanging sound." Winry explained.

"Oh." Ed said as he returned to his menu. "What of it?"

"I don't know…" Winry said, looking a bit nervous as she took her seat. "I just get a bad feeling from him is all."

"You're being silly." Ed sighed as he kicked his legs up on the table. "Once we get to Central, it's going to be nothing but a pain in the ass. Come on; let's ask for some food and at least try to enjoy the trip."

The mobians had to come up with something of a routine while they waited in the crate. The initial plan was to sleep during the day, and relieve themselves at night. So far, it had been going good. But today, most of them couldn't sleep; something had them on edge. They couldn't figure out why, but it was as if some instinct in them just KNEW something was going to happen. Despite this, Knuckles was still able to nap; raised as a guardian, he was always naturally on edge, and felt he would be ready for anything when the time arose. Sally and Bunnie played a game together on Nicole to pass the time, and Sonic and Tails played slap jack with the playing cards Al loaned them, the lantern allowing them to see. "Ah hah!" Sonic said as he slapped a pair of jacks on the straw floor.

"No fair!" Tails complained. "You're faster than me!"

"I'm only going half-speed." Sonic said. Tails just gave him a sarcastic look. Sonic then sighed. "Fine. A tenth it is." As they were about to begin another round, Sonic spotted St. John sulking in the corner. Sonic tried to fight the feeling, but his conscious just wouldn't let him, even where the skunk was concerned. "Hold on, little buddy." Sonic said as he grabbed the deck and crawled over to him. "Hey, St. John! Wanna play?"

"Staring at the corner isn't giving it away?" St. John replied sarcastically.

"It did. You're playing anyway." Sonic said as he tossed him some cards.

Rolling his eyes, St. John turned around and gathered them up. "So, to what do I owe the…pleasure?"

"You've been out of sorts since we got here. Especially the baby incident." Sonic said, slapping a King on the floor.

"Thanks for bringing up happy memories." He said sarcastically, slapping a subsequent three cards, the final one being a two.

Sonic gathered them up. "Normally, I'd enjoy seeing you like this." Sonic said, throwing down a seven. "But it's starting to rub off on me, and now it's getting depressing to watch."

"So, you are all forgiving me?" St. Joh sighed, throwing down another seven as he collected the pair (Sonic let him).

"I can't speak for the others. As for me, I can't say I forgive you so much as I am letting it slide." St John threw down a three. Sonic then threw down a five. "This is all about your dad, ain't it?"

St. John froze for a moment; later, he placed another card down like nothing happened. "What do you presume to know about my dad?"

"Not much beyond what I heard from you…and Sal." Sonic said, continuing the game. "Guard of the king and all that. And that he died in the Great War. I'm sure he was a great mobian." St. John only rolled his eyes. "And I'm betting your anxiety being here has something to do with that."

"What clued you in?"

Sonic sighed. "Look, I get it. Overlanders killed your father, probably; you were…what? Five? Six? I know how hard that is. Granted, Uncle Chuck didn't die…but every time I saw his robotic form before his restoration, it broke my heart."

Realizing the two of them had something in common, the skunk began to ease up inside. Slightly. "May I ask you something?"

"Shoot." Sonic replied.

"How can you live with what Robotnik did to you, and accept the other overlanders…"

"Humans." Sonic corrected him.

St. John sighed. "Same difference. Anyway, how can you accept them without feeling on guard?"

Sonic paused. "That's actually a good question." He admitted. "Until now, my only exposure to overlanders was Buttnik and Snively. Knowing how they betrayed the king, I admit I didn't think much differently than you on the matter. When Ed and Al came to our village, we attacked. I assumed the worst…but in the middle of the fight…Al saved Tails from injury." St. John's eyes lit up. "At first, that wasn't enough. But then, I saw the two of them argue. They were real siblings; even though it took me a little while longer to warm up to them completely, I just knew they couldn't be pure evil. And with everything I've seen…I know I can trust them." As Sonic gathered the last of the cards, St. John looked away. "Besides, if there are bad mobians, there's got to be good overlanders, right? Law of Averages and all that."

"I know." St. John sighed. "It's just…hard."

"Hard?"

"It's one thing to accept people when you had a bad history with them. But when you come into their world…it's hard to know who to trust."

Sonic sighed as he gathered the cards and crawled back to Tails. "You really are piece of work, you know that?"

Back up in their passenger car, Ed, Al and Winry went over what the book told them. "So, the book mentioned a war with Croit." Ed said.

"So, they were at war with Amestris, even back then." Al said.

"Maybe not." Winry said as she looked over the map in the side compartment. "Croit is bordered by two other countries; and it's been at war with both as well as us before."

"There's also Milos." Ed added. "Even today Amestris and Croit are fighting over that tiny piece of land."

Al made a note. "Check for borders of Croit."

"There is another thing; the borders of nations have changed drastically overtime." Winry said. "We'll have to account for ALL land Croit occupied."

"We shared borders with other countries as well." Ed mentioned. "Drachma, Rochaio, even Ishvall back when it was independent." Ed listed them. "I think even Xing had a border with our country once long ago."

Al scribbled on the paper as he made an amendment. "A red king was also mentioned. It sounds familiar."

"I think I remember hearing about that in school." Winry said. "The red king was said to be very wise and won a great war…but I remember the story saying he was a benevolent king." Winry paused. "I can't imagine that would be the same person who abducted Felicia or use her to turn men into monsters."

"Don't let the stories that were passed on fool you." Ed said. "People can lie to make others look good, and it can last centuries. Especially with the lack of free press back then."

Winry nodded, as Al made a note to look up red king. "Those are the two most obvious starting points." Al said. "Anything else?"

Ed thought for a moment. "Maybe we could look up Renley and Tywin."

"The book made it sound like their names were lost in time; it didn't even give us family names." Winry said. "How do you propose to track them?"

"Their alchemy." Al answered. "It was mentioned Renley used the cosmos to fuel his alchemy. There must be something we could look into from there."

"Other than that, we got nothing." Ed sighed as he sipped his lemonade. "It looks like you've got your work cut out for you now, Al."

"There is another thing." Winry said. "Maybe we should look into your family tree as well. You left a copy over at our house."

Ed sighed. "Winry, the odds-"

"I know the odds, Ed." Winry said. "But I'm certain of it. Felicia HAS to be an ancestor of yours."

"If that's true, we must be descended through her siblings." Al said. "The story mentioned Renley and Felicia had only one child."

"Either the baby didn't survive…" Ed said as he thought of the possibilities. "Or they took her with them to Mobius…somehow."

"As wonderful as that sounds, I can't imagine it would be easy for a human girl to grow up surrounded by Mobians." Winry said.

"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt to ask Granny." Al agreed.

Suddenly, several men jumped out of their seats and drew guns and rifles. "Nobody move!" they shouted. Passengers screamed as they went down on their knees with their hands behind their heads. "We're in control now!"

Ed groaned as he did the same, along with Al. "Wow, this seems familiar."

"You've been on a train hijacked by terrorists before?" Winry whispered.

"Yup." Ed said. "Don't worry, we'll handle this soon enough." Ed and Winry looked to the side, seeing the young man with black hair walk up the runway without being accosted by the terrorists. Ed's eyes widened. "He's the leader." He realized.

The man continued his path forward towards First Class. Immediately, he was accosted by guards with firearms. "Freeze!" One fired, but he blocked with his arm. The bullet ricocheted off his wrist and grazed the shooter's eye. Another attacked with a knife, but he simply grabbed hold of the blade and kicked him in the knee, crippling him. His own men came in and subdued the rest.

He then eyed the woman, backing up towards the window in her seat. "Ah. Miss Anna Haruko." He said. "I do apologize for this…but I would like your cooperation on this matter." He said as he extended his automail hand

"Who…who are you?" she asked in fright as her children were taken from her at gunpoint.

He smirked, tipping up his hat and revealing his brown eyes under his messy hair. "The name is Darhk. Devilin Darhk."

Sonic yawned as he decided to take a nap. It seemed everyone else was doing the same, observing everyone relaxing after being on edge for apparently no reason. However, Knuckles, already having taken his nap, sat up. "Figures." Sonic thought.

Soon, Knuckles crawled to him, shaking him awake. "Wha-?"

"Shh!" Knuckles shushed him.

The others, sensing the commotion, began to get up. "Knuckles, what's going on?" Sally asked.

"I hear something. Outside."

Just then, they began to hear people talking. "Why do we have to be stuck here in the caboose?"

"Boss's orders!" another hissed. "Besides, if things go south, we can launch a surprise attack from here."

Now all the mobians were fully awake. "What's happening?" Tails whispered.

"Nothing good." Sonic stretched for a moment. "Hold on everyone. This should only take a sonic second." Sonic rolled into a spin and burst from the box.

"HOLEE-!" The gunmen pointed their weapons at Sonic. "The hell are you!?" one yelled.

"Sonic the Hedgehog." Sonic bowed. "But by the way you're shaking your boots, it seems I'm your worst nightmare. Which is kind of sad, really. I mean, I'm just an adorable little hedgehog after all."

"KILL IT!"

Before they could pull the triggers, Sonic rushed up to each of them and simply snatched the guns out of their hands. "Nasty little things." Sonic said as he discarded them into a pile.

The others jumped out and attacked the now unarmed gunmen. Knuckles and Bunnie easily one-shot one, being the strongest ones there. Sally and St. John used their martial arts skills to throw another off balance, and Tails flew another up into the roof hard enough to knock him out. When another aimed his pistol at Sally, Sonic quickly reacted and ran into him with a Sonic Spin. "Don't mess with my friends." Sonic said, slapping his hands together.

"Something's not right!" Sally shouted. "If what we heard is true, there's more of them outside! But why!?"

"Does it matter, luv?" St. John said. "All we know is that more of these hoodlums are out there. It's up to you what we do from here."

"Why aren't Ed and Al taking care of it?" Tails asked.

"Well, for one thing, their friends probably have more of those." Sonic said, pointing to the pile of guns. "Even with their skills, a gun of any type is a pain to deal with." Sonic wasn't the best student during Rosie's tutoring, but he remembered the story of how Prince Acorn died from the gunshot of an overlander.

"That, and they could be holding the other passengers' hostage. I'm sure they wouldn't risk their safety in that situation." Sally deduced. "The question is why are these people hijacking the train? For some reason, I doubt it's a robbery."

"Well, we're not going to learn anything by just standing here." Sonic said, impatiently tapping his foot.

Everyone nodded, and Sally began giving orders. "Tails, fly everyone up above to the top. Bunnie, St. John, put these men where they can't hurt anyone else."

"With pleasure, luv." St. John said as he and Bunnie got to work.

It was around that time that Devilin made a call to Central from the train, and he was speaking to none other than Colonel Roy Mustang. "Man, this feels familiar…" the colonel thought back to his negotiation to Bald. "Yes, this is Colonel Mustang." He said.

"Ah. Heard a lot about you, Mustang. Heard you burned my old man alive."

"Well, that is a rather long list…"

"And the Fueher had him executed shortly thereafter."

Mustang paused. "Who are you?"

"Devilin Dark. You knew my old man as Bald."

Now it began to click. "So, you're looking for revenge." Mustang deduced.

"Yes, that's right. And it's going to happen, one way or another. And I'm going to let you choose how."

"And why would I help you with that?" Mustang stood, barely able to contain his anger.

"The easy way is for you to turn over yourself and General Haruko over to me when this train reaches Central. Give yourselves up, and no one else has to be hurt. I'll just take you two. Of course, your other option is to do nothing…" He then pointed a gun towards the woman he introduced himself to. "…and I will take out his wife and children. If nothing else, it will show the general what it's like to lose the people you care about the most." Mrs. Haruko cowered in the corner at his threat.

"I should have seen that coming." Roy sighed over the phone.

"It takes three hours to get to Central from here. I'll give you two to make your decision." Devilin ordered him. "Call me back when you do.

"If you kill one hostage, just one…" Roy warned him. "…I promise you, I will rain hellfire upon you…"

"Two hours." Devilin repeated himself as he hung up.

The gunmen stood in the car patiently, keeping an eye on the passengers, most of which were huddled on the floor. Winry looked to the brothers, who were staying still. It seemed now was not the time; she knew the two of them could take these crooks on, but there were too many ifs. They didn't know what they were here for; it may not be worth risking their lives. Then there were the other passengers; they could easily take hostages if the brothers proved too much for them.

Ed looked to Al, who secretly drew a transmutation circle just like his. Seemed if the worst happened, he was ready. Ed then looked to Winry, who looked to him. If ANYTHING happened, her safety was paramount.

"My, look like quite a cutie." Ed looked to one of the gunmen eyeing Winry, making both teenagers EXTREMELY uncomfortable (as if being taken hostage wasn't enough). "How old are you, girly?" he asked.

"Daryl, cut it out!" one of his friends yelled. "We're in enough trouble as it is! If we get caught, I don't want to add pedophilia to our charges!"

"Aw, shut it Jon!" Daryl yelled back. "I'm just having a little bit of fun!" He eyed her again, smiling. Winry turned away, trembling. Ed wanted to act but the risk… "You've got some nice hair on you." He whispered as he handled her golden locks and holding the gun to her head. Now Winry was trembling, and on the verge of crying. "I bet you'd like to know what it's like to be with a real man rather than this shorty here." A vein popped in Ed's forehead, and he activated his circle. A fist with its middle finger up grew from the floor at high speed, and nailed him between the legs. "Uhn!"

Winry reacted quickly and swung her wrench across his face, knocking him out. "Damn fool…" the gunman he was talking to earlier took aim at them, but Al quickly shielded them from the gunfire as he placed himself in front of them.

Winry then gave Ed a dirty look. "I swear that had nothing to do with me being called short." He whispered to her. Winry sighed, uncertain if that was completely true.

"Will you all just die!?" the assailant yelled. Al quickly drew a transmutation circle in the wall, and the wood suddenly opened up and enveloped him. As the others began to fire back, Al carried Winry behind their seat while Ed ran forward and transmuted his sword arm. Having been experienced in several battles like this before, he was able to predict the bullets paths' and transmute shields from the environment to save him and other passengers. Ed jumped from behind some cover and stabbed one in the shoulder before using a spin kick to knock another to the floor.

"Don't move!" Ed turned to see one of the gunmen take a little boy hostage. "Hands in the air!" he yelled, jamming his gun further into the boy's temple. "Or he gets it!" Ed growled, slowly raising his arms. Before anything more could happen, the gunman heard something knock against the window. At first, he ignored it, but a harder knocking made him realize something was trying to get his attention. Looking to the window, he saw what seemed to be a very large blue rat smashing his open mouth against the window. He screamed so loud, it could be heard from outside the train.

Devilin heard the scream from his car. "What was that?" one of the gunmen asked.

"It came from five cars down." Devilin said.

"Wow. You always had good hearing, boss." One noted. "It sounded like it came from the next car over to us."

Devilin turned to two guards. "You two, look after the hostages! You!" he pointed to two others with rifles as he released the safety on his own pistol. "Follow me. Check it out."

Sonic ran back up to the ceiling as the bullets fired, shattering the glass. "Whoa! I thought Winry said we were kind of cute!?"

"Once they get over the shock of seeing us." Sally corrected him.

"Ah."

"We're exposing ourselves doing this!" St. John said.

"If we let them take the train, we'll be exposed anyway!" Sally fired back. "More are going to be coming! Tails! Knuckles! Bunnie! Get to the North end of the train! Sonic! St. John! You're with me!"

Sonic and St. John jumped into the window. The man who first fired had his friends gathered, but Sonic ran into them with a sonic spin. Geoffrey fired his trick arrows, shocking them and knocking them out with gas. Sonic quickly ran along the hall, tripping the gunmen hard enough to knock them out upon contact with the floor. When they were finally all out, Sally grabbed the edge and swung inside.

"Sally!" Ed hissed. "What do you think you're doing!?"

"Our location was compromised." She explained. "And we knew you would need help once we got an idea of what was going on."

"You're welcome, by the way." Sonic said as he and St. John backed away to the wall. Luckily for them, it seemed the hostages were too panicked to look up and see their "heroes".

"There are more on the way, mate." St. John said. "You've got a decision to make."

Ed sighed. "Well, you're here now. I suppose we'll need all the help we can get." Ed turned to address the crowd, holding up his watch. "Attention everyone! I am a State Alchemist! Please, remain calm and seated while me and my brother handle this!"

"Y'all ready?" Bunnie asked the fox and echidna as they positioned themselves on top of the car.

"Whenever you are." Tails answered.

The doors below opened, and more terrorists appeared. Seeing that the train was running over a large stretch of water, the mobians decided not to hold back in their attacks. Tails flew down and pushed a couple off into the water. Knuckles attacked a few others. Bunnie stretched her robotic arm to grab another, throwing him overboard as well. "There!" one of them shouted. They fired their pistols, and Bunnie quickly brought up her energy shield.

"Ah!" Bunnie yelped as one ricocheted close to her ear. The shield was designed to block lasers and large blunt-force trauma. These bullets were too random to safely block forever. Quickly, Bunnie took off on her jets and fired her pulse canon. The attacking gunmen were stunned and fell over into the water.

"What's the hold up, you morons!?" Someone shouted from inside the car.

"Sounds like the head honcho." Knuckles said as he glided up towards Bunnie.

"Sure does." Bunnie smirked. "Wanna take the lead?"

"With pleasure!" Knuckles said as he glided back down just as the car door opened. Devilin stepped out, and saw Knuckles charge towards him. He brought his arm up, making contact with Knuckles' spiked fists. A loud metallic ring echoed from the clash. "Ngh!" Knuckles winced. That…hurt. He was able to punch through solid stone with little problem, but this! This was something else!

Suddenly, Devilin brought his arm forward and grabbed him by the throat. "What the hell are you?" he asked as Knuckles continued to punch at his arm in vain.

"Let Knuckles go!" Tails yelled as he tackled Devilin. Though he managed to force him to release Knuckles and pin him against the wall, Devilin quickly recovered and elbowed him in the back of the head, causing him to lose consciousness. He then tossed him overboard.

"You-!" Knuckles managed to nail him in the stomach, but Devilin quickly recovered and kneed him. It was enough to completely knock the wind out of Knuckles, and he finished him with a spinning kick that sent the echidna down to the river below.

"Looks like I'll have to be the one to teach ya manners!" Bunnie said as she kicked Devilin in the face. As the hijacker braced himself against the railing he grabbed Bunnie's robotic arm. Bunnie pushed, gaining an edge on him. "Your automail's tough, but it ain't got nothn' on mah limbs!" Seeing the water pass her by, Bunnie realized Tails and Knuckles were still down there. "No…" Distracted, Devilin took advantage of the moment and kicked her off. "Eep!" Bunnie activated her jets and hovered over the water. "Ow!" Bunnie winced as she rubbed her jaw. "That wasn't a normal foot…" Bunnie put it in the back of her mind as she dove into the water, searching for her friends…

"What's going on out there?" Al said, hearing the commotion from outside the car.

"Seems our friends couldn't quite hold the line." Ed replied as they got ready. Truth be told, that surprised him. Knuckles and Bunnie were power houses, even taking into account their size. Ed made sure the passengers stayed down, and that Winry and the mobians would stay in hiding, no matter what.

Suddenly, the door slammed open, and Devilin stepped through. He eyed the two brothers, though none of the creatures he encountered before were there. "Well, at least I get ONE reasonable explanation for the trouble back here." Seeing his unconscious friends, he eyed them. "I take it you're responsible?"

"It didn't quite go as planned." Ed smirked. "We didn't want to make quite a mess."

Devilin saw the pocket watch hang from Ed's jacket. "I see. You're a state alchemist. Explains a lot." Devilin suddenly upholstered a revolver, and fired. Al pushed his brother aside, as he took the bullets for him. Ed ran forward, Alphonse trailing after him. "Shit!" They both attacked him, but Devilin blocked both strikes with a crossblock.

A loud metallic ring echoed, and Ed withdrew his hand, his left hand, in pain. "Nnh!"

Quickly, Devilin grabbed Al's arm and expertly flipped him on his back. "Whoa!" Al retaliated with a kick, which Devilin caught.

He then knocked his helmet off with a heel stomp, revealing his empty body. "What the hell-!?" Devilin kicked him away out of reflex, leaving him open to Ed's side kick.

Devilin rolled over and was back on his feet in an instant, turning to face Ed. Ed kicked him in the legs with his own right leg, and was once again met with a reaction he didn't expect. "Agh!" Ed cried as he bent over and grabbed his shin. Devilin then took the opportunity to kick him in the head, knocking him over.

As Ed struggled to stay awake, Devilin stood over him. "It's you. My Dad wrote to me about how he was beaten by a kid with automail. Automail better than his own."

Ed then snapped awake as his mind instantly clicked. "Bald?"

"You got it right." Devilin sneered. He placed his foot across Ed's neck, pressing hard. Ed could feel the cold steel, even through his boot. "Which means you must be Edward Elric, the Full Metal Alchemist."

"Always…nice to…meet a fan!" Ed choked sarcastically.

Before anymore could be said, Al's body got up and tackled Devilin. He smashed him hard against the wall, and slammed him again. "Ugh!" Devilin suddenly pushed his feet against the wall and ran up behind Al. "Seems like you don't feel pain or respond to pressure points." Devilin said as he swept the living armor's legs and caught him. "Well, there's a solution for that too!" He suddenly threw the body to the other side, and clear out the window. Sonic, watching from around the corner, rolled out the window with a Sonic Spin after him.

"Al!" Ed cried, even though his head was still there.

"Well, that takes care of one." Devilin said as he pulled out a Bowie knife and walked towards Ed. "Let's take care of the other-"

"NO!" Winry suddenly ambushed him from behind with her wrench. She managed to graze him, but he shrugged her off and grabbed her wrist and throat. Seeing Winry handled like that, Ed found his strength again, transmuting his arm into a sword. He stabbed at him, managing to graze his stomach, but he backed away before any serious damage could be done. Quickly, Devilin brought Winry in front of him as a shield. Ed halted immediately.

Devilin then reached behind his cloak, lighting a lighter were he kept a stick of dynamite. "Catch!" he said as he threw the stick towards him. As Ed jumped away from the explosive, Devilin kicked down the car door with Winry, and quickly stomped on the link connecting the cars, breaking it. The explosion went off inside the last car, and Winry tried screaming Ed's name, but her mouth was quickly gagged by Devilin's hand as he went back inside with her.

Sonic ran down the cliff-side, careful not to let gravity take full control. He had only a second, two if he was lucky, to scan his field of vision for Al. Fortunately, for him, that was all he need. Sonic saw Al's body about to tumble into the water. Remembering what Ed told him about Al's blood seal, he rushed towards him, coming up behind him right before he hit the water. Feeling the weight pushing against him, Sonic growled "YAHHH!", and rapidly accelerated uphill back towards the track. Landing on top of the Caboose, Sonic let the body fall to a heap on the roof while he hunched over to catch his breath.

"Sugar Hog!"

Sonic looked up to see Bunnie flying towards him, carrying Knuckles and Tails in her arms. "Bunnie!"

As Bunnie landed, she said "Quick, help me out with them!"

"If it's mouth to mouth, you got Knuckles!" Sonic said as he pumped Tails chest. Both mobians coughed up water and stood up. "Easy there, little buddy!" Sonic said, patting the fox's back. "What happened?"

"One of those goons was a lot tougher than he looked! Threw these two into the drink before I could even touch him!" Bunnie said.

"Metal." Knuckles said. "His arms are made of metal."

"His feet too." Tails groaned as he massaged his jaw.

"Extreme." Sonic said. "Well, let's get back on for round 2."

"Just one problem, sugar." Bunnie said.

"What?"

"Did you not see all these cars had stopped?" Bunnie raised her right hand over her eyes. "And the front is…smoking?"

Sonic looked around; indeed, ever since they got back on the train, they did not move. And it seemed the very front was indeed smoking, but there didn't appear to be any fire. "Huh. Well I'll be." Sonic commented.

"Hey, wasn't Alphonse with you a moment ago?" Bunnie asked.

Sonic looked, and saw Al's body wander blindly onto the tracks, before slipping and falling down the cliff again. "FOR THE LOVE OF-!" Sonic ran back down to rescue Al again.

Sally and St John slowly rose from their cover. Though smoke filled the car, they were okay. It seemed no one else was hurt either, but the shock was too much for the humans to take and they all fled for their lives out the other way. They didn't even notice the two mobians in the hall as they were focused on getting out. Ed crouched down close to the front, the floor being contorted upward from its normal position to shield him and all the other passengers from the explosion. "Nice going, mate!" St. John said. "Though you could have used that alchemy of yours sooner…"

"He couldn't." Al's head, seated next to Ed's knee said. "He could have compromised the car and halted its mobility, endangering the safety of everyone on board."

"When he disconnected the cars, it no longer mattered. And with that dynamite, I had to risk it." Ed said. He thought back to their fight. Devlin trounced him; all because of those automail limbs. Had he known ahead of time all four were prosthetics, the outcome would have been different. But Devilin was clever to cover all four so none could tell the difference until it was too late. Ed hissed and clenched his fist. "That jerk-!"

"He may have Winry, but in doing this he has lost the majority of his hostages!" Sally said. "Why would he do that!?"

Ed realized "These passengers…they weren' the real hostages! There is something else going on!"

"He's Bald's son!" Al exclaimed. "He's doing almost the same thing his father did! Bald's rebellion may be gone, but I've a feeling he's out for revenge! There must have been someone else on the train he was targeting!"

"You're probably right, Al." Ed agreed.

"Ed!" Sally shouted. "They're getting away! We have to go after them!"

Ed snapped out of his line of thought, and looked around. "Right!" He quickly looked around him. "Al, your-"

He was distracted by a knock from a miraculously intact window. Sonic was right there. Pointing behind him, he showed Al's flailing body tied with a rope. "You're welcome by the way." He said.

"S-Sure!" Ed blurted. "Al, you can stop now!"

"Sorry!" Al's body ceased.

Ed ran forward and transmuted the window to become a door and beckoned them in. Sonic nodded as he brought in Al's body, the other mobians following him.

As Ed attached the head, Al snapped the ropes. "Ah, much better."

"That train is going what? Twenty miles an hour?" Sonic asked.

"Uh…probably." Ed said, still not understanding their speed measurement.

"Well, I can catch up to them no prob then!" Sonic exclaimed as he began to rev up.

"Hold on, sugar!" Bunnie grabbed hold of him and lifted him off the floor. "That Devil guy is tough! We ain't lettn' you goin' alone!"

"Besides, I'm the one who's going to kick the crap out of him!" Ed exclaimed, throwing his metal fist into his flesh palm. "Come on! I've got an idea!"

"Sit down!" Devilin threw Winry into a seat, causing her to yelp. "I don't have no use for you from here on out…" Devilin said. "…but I suppose it's a waste of energy to kill you as long as we're not forced to. So behave, and you'll live through this." Seeing that his sleeve was torn, he pulled it off, revealing his automail arm.

Normally, Winry would be ecstatic to check out a new automail limb, but in this situation, it did nothing for her. She saw a middle-aged woman across from her, huddling her children close to her as the barrel of a rifle pointed at her. "Why are you doing this?" Winry whispered, clearly scared.

"Shut your trap!" one of the thugs yelled.

"It's alright." Devilin raised his hand. "It's political. The VIP there is my target; just a little bit of revenge for what the government did to my family." He said, pointing to the lady.

Winry paused before saying "I'm sorry."

"What for!?" Devilin yelled as he leaned back in his seat.

"You lost your limbs because of the military, right? That must have been hard." Winry said.

Devilin blinked in surprise, then began to chuckle. "Well, not in the way you would think."

"What?"

"My dad lost his left arm in the resistance. He had it replaced with automail, and customized it as a weapon." Devilin suddenly turned sad. "Despite that, he was captured and executed. Upon hearing that…I sacrificed my real limbs to get these!" Winry's eyes widened as he saw him squeeze the wooden table until it splintered. "I knew flesh wasn't strong enough, and I was bound to lose something forever if I continued down this path…" Devilin hissed. "Better to part ways with them now and skip the trauma! Now, I'm stronger than ever!" He emphasized by smashing the wall behind him, leaving a sizable hole that let the outside air in. "My father tried to be a weapon to overthrow the military! I knew I…had to be better…"

Winry began to tremble. "This guy…he's insane!"

"You know, Nicole could have shown you a diagram on how to make fuel cells, even if the only source you know of is fossil fuels…" Sally said.

"Maybe, but we need to go fast. Really fast." Ed answered. "Besides, if I'm going to use any of your technology, it's best to study it ahead of time. And that's something we don't have.

"I can agree to that." Sonic said, rubbing his hands in anticipation.

Ed stared at the caboose, breathed, and clapped his hands together. He had requested Nicole to give him a diagram of a cart that Sonic could pull. Such a transmutation would require intricate knowledge of the parts and gears required. Fortunately, as long as Ed knew what he was building and where to place it, he could make anything. Remembering the diagram Nicole generated, he placed his hands on the wall of the caboose. It transformed, elongating and sporting large, metallic wheels. The roof opened up, and the inside became various seats. Soon, a six-wheel race cart was formed. But that wasn't all there was to it. "Whoa. You and Buttnik have more in common than I thought." Sonic moaned.

"WHAT!?" Ed snapped. Indeed, the front sported an elongated, cartoonish version of Ed's head, complete with his ahoge (A/N: This is a Japanese term for what's called "Antenna Hair" in anime in manga).

"Buttnik loves to put his face on everything he makes." Sonic explained. "A quality you share."

Ed slapped his face. "Look…the important thing is that." He pointed to a custom made treadmill on the top, with handle bars in the front. "You simply run it. The force from your running should be enough to push the gears at a good speed. Fast enough to catch the train anyway."

"Ah yes. Let the hedgehog do all the work." Sonic cracked his fingers. "Well, if you and Al want to catch up with Winry, guess it can't be helped." He turned to the mobians who could fly. "You three, take to the air. Ease the burden for me."

"You got it, Sugar Hog." Bunnie said, giving him a thumbs up as she and the other flyers began their pursuit by air.

Sonic nodded, as he jumped into the treadmill. "Whoa." He said, tapping the belt. "It's tough."

"There wasn't a lot of leather in that caboose." Ed answered as he took a seat. "It was the best I could manage."

"Another thing you share in common with Buttnik; no consideration for your friends." Sonic quipped.

"In his defense, Sonic, Robotnik doesn't have friends. Just slaves." Sally corrected him.

Al and St. John hopped in. "We're exposed like this." The later said.

"I'll drive us away from the crowd." Sonic replied. "Hopefully, I can make this chunk of metal too fast for them to see us inside easily."

Ed sighed. "Well, good thing I made these." Ed put on a pair of goggles.

"For future reference, a windshield would have helped, mate." St. John said.

"Not enough glass, okay!" Ed shouted back.

"Well, I think this ride is going to be as good as it gets." Sonic said, stretching his knees. "So, hold onto your butts, everyone!" Sonic gripped the handlebars. "Least of all, me." He was going to have to imagine pulling that carriage again, a burden he hoped he never had to go through again. He breathed deep, and began to move. Though his body stood in place, the force of his feet made the belt move. The wheels were turning rapidly, and gradually, they were gaining some traction. Finally, the cart took off.

It went up the hill, a feat most automobiles could not hope to accomplish at such a steep angle and speed. Everyone braced themselves as they hit a speed bump. "Ugh!" Ed huffed. "Well, at least this is as fast as it gets!"

"Oh, not nearly!" Sally shouted. "You haven't seen anything yet!"

"I was afraid of that!" St. John yelled back.

Ed then started to feel queasy. "On second thought, this was a bad idea!"

"Congratulations on your mastery of alchemy, sir." Snively said as he wiped sweat from his brow, finishing work on a new Combot.

"Well, I wouldn't quite call it mastery." Robotnik replied as he went to work on some blueprints. "But thank you, nonetheless." He sneered, not bothering to look up from his work.

"Then my I ask, WHY can't you just use your alchemy to assemble your robots en masse!?" Snively shouted. Robotnik slammed his hand on the desk, and got up. "Eep!" Snively cowered as Robotnik hovered over him, putting his face next to his.

"I think you just answered your own question." He said. Pulling himself away, he said "It's fun to watch you sweat." Robotnik pulled his seat back in. "Now, get back to work! NOW!"

"Y-yes sir!" Snively gulped as he hurried with another.

As Robotnik tried to get back to his own studies, his intercom beeped. He made it to replace the primitive phone the Fuher gave him; it just felt so wrong to use a machine that not even his grandparents had to live with! Sighing, he pressed the button. "Yes?"

"I need you up here. A matter of the state." The Fuher said on the other line.

"I'm on my way." Robotnik answered. Getting up again, he warned Snively "Don't slack off." Snively nodded rapidly.

Robotnik had his working swatbots help him change into his new military uniform. As he entered the elevator, Robotnik tugged at it. "Reminds me of my days as both Warlord and Minister of Science back when my city was Mobotropolis." He sneered at the thought. "Now, though, the so-called leader and I are on the same page…mostly." He smirked.

Finally, he reached his floor. Stepping out, he entered the government building. He noticed everyone seemed to be in a hurry, rushing from one corner to another. Those who weren't moving were shouting over their phones. Making his way to the Fuher's office, he saw him present with Colonel Mustang. In addition, a large but muscular man and a blond-haired woman were also present. "My Fuher." Robotnik saluted. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes." Bradley nodded, standing from his chair. "We have a hostage situation. The wife of one of my generals was on a trip to visit family with her children. She was on her way back by train, and now terrorists have taken the train hostage."

Robotnik blinked. "It seems this is not some random attack."

"Correct." Riza stepped forward, handing him a vanilla folder. "According to Mustang's conversation with the ringleader, he is the son of Bald, another terrorist who also attempted a similar hijacking in retaliation against General Haruko years ago."

"So, this is more revenge than anything else." Robotnik concluded as he skimmed through the papers before returning them.

"Yes." Mustang agreed. "He demanded both me and Haruko give ourselves up. I've a feeling he's not going to end it there."

"It would be foolish to assume he would." Robotnik agreed. "In his shoes, I certainly wouldn't."

"We will need to act swiftly!" Bradley ordered. "Mustang, you and General Haruko will be at the train station, and await further orders. For the safety of the hostages, you will have to turn in your side arm and gloves. Don't want to tip the terrorists off."

"Yes sir." Of course, Mustang knew this wasn't actually a surrender.

"Lieutenant Hawkeye." Bradley turned to her. "You will be hidden away. Be ready to act, when the opportunity is right."

"Yes sir!" Hawkeye saluted.

"Armstrong, you will be at my side as we observe. You will be backup, just in case everything else fails."

"I will honor your orders, sir!" Armstrong saluted.

Finally, Bradley turned to "Kintobor." "Dr. Kintobor. While I have faith in my men, it would be foolish to place all my bets on them when there are other tools at our disposal. Tell me, are they ready?"

"I have a small platoon available." Robotnik said, saluting the Fuher. "I'll see to it if my assistant and I can get others ready as well."

"See that you do." Robotnik nodded, and went off.

"Sir." Mustang said. "I understand our roles in this operation, and trust your judgement…but if I may ask, what is Kintobor doing exactly?"

The Fuher smiled, and patted his shoulder. "Mustang, if what he says is true…what he has to offer may not only help our current crisis, but will change warfare to come as we know it."

"How much longer until Central?" Devilin asked the conductor, currently held at gunpoint by one of his men.

"A-about an hour and a half!" he stuttered.

"Excellent." Devilin sneered. He then turned to another henchmen. "Is everything ready?" he whispered.

"Yeah." He said, showing a grenade under his trench coat. "We've extended the fuse to give it time. Slip it into the old lady, she comes to her husband…and boom."

"Then I can personally off Mustang and Haruko." Devilin chuckled. "And if I can't do it myself…I'll take everyone down with me!" he thought, thinking of his contingency plan…

"I'm sorry." Mrs. Haruko said to Winry as she hugged her children close to her. "You got dragged into this mess because of me…"

"It's not your fault." Winry assured her. "We were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time." She then clasped her hands. "Look, we're going to be fine."

"You're brave, young girl." She said. "But this situation…"

"This situation is nothing my friends can't handle." Winry smiled. "If that jerk things he got away with murder, he's in for a rude awakening…"

"This really was a bad idea!" Ed cried as he hung himself over the side.

"You think you're suffering!?" Sonic shouted from the front, panting and sweating. "You aren't on the treadmill!" Even with the gears doing the work for him, Sonic still had to put in everything he got to make it move, and it was still too slow for his liking.

Up above, their flyers trailed behind. "I must admit, it's pretty amusing to see Sonic like that." Knuckles said.

"He's gettn' his exercise." Bunnie agreed. "Even after all that runnin' on any other day, he normally don't get tired."

Tails' nose then wrinkled. "Hey, do you guys smell something burning?"

Knuckles took a whiff himself. "Hey, you're right…" Knuckles said.

Staring at the back of the chariot, Bunnie began to see a trail of smoke. "Oh no, the gears are burnin'!"

Tails flew faster, catching up to Sonic and flying near ground level. "Hey little buddy!" Sonic wheezed. "You may actually beat me this time around…"

"Sonic, you're burning up!"

Sonic blinked. "Uh, Tails, I…" Sonic wheezed. "I feel fine! Exhausted, but fine…"

Suddenly, the back of the chariot caught fire! "Well, in a moment we won't be!" Ed yelled in panic.

"What's happening, brother!?" Al shouted.

"Sonic must be overheating the gears!" Ed said.

"Sorry." Nicole said. "I did not take into account the terrain nor Sonic's effort! I underestimated him!"

"How many times do I have to repeat not to doubt what I can do!?" Sonic shouted in frustration.

"Whatever!" Sally shouted. "We have to slow down!"

Sonic saw the train, just over the horizon. He realized this might be their only chance… "Nicole!" Sonic shouted. "How quickly can I reach the train at my current speed!?"

"3 seconds!" Nicole answered.

"And how much longer until we catch on fire!?" Ed shouted.

"TWO!" Nicole replied.

"Then hang on!" Sonic shouted. He pushed himself again, heading straight for the train.

"Oh no…." Ed moaned, holding on for dear life.

Soon, the chariot began to catch up to the train. "Everyone, prepare for a rude awakening!" The chariot hit a bump, and was sent flying. "Jump!"

On instinct, everyone did so just as the entire chariot went up in flames. Sonic touched down on the roof, catching Sally. Tails swooped down to grab St. John, and Al grabbed hold of Ed as they tumbled across the roof. Quickly Ed grabbed hold of the train and made a slight transmutation to make handle bars for them to grab hold of.

"Well, that was one heck of a way to make a comeback!" Knuckles commented upon landing.

"It was." Ed agreed as he stood. "And unless these hijackers are deaf, I'd imagine we're about to have some unwanted company!"

Devilin's head shot up at the roof. "Did one of you boys set off the bombs?"

"Then we would have all blown up by now!" one replied.

Devilin pointed to the exit. "Check it out. And if you find ANYONE…waste'em." His men scurried to the exit.

The men climbed aboard the roof, and there they found what they were looking for…though not what they expected. "It's those freaks!" one said as they saw the alchemists and mobians together. They unloaded the lead on them, but Ed quickly transmuted the roof to form a shield wall. It was too thin to take long term damage, but it would do for what came next.

Al, having prepared a few surprises of his own, activated his transmutation circles. Pipes formed on the roof, bellowing smoke. "Crap!" One choked.

St. John fired an arrow, which exploded into a net and ensnared one as he tumbled back below. "Freedom Fighters!" Sally commanded. "Let's move! Bunnie! Cover us!"

"I got y'all!" she replied affirmatively as she brought up the front and activated her energy shield.

One fired his shot gun, but all he accomplished was making Bunnie stumble back. "Ah!"

"Leave it to us!" Tails took off into the air, carrying Sonic with him.

"Like we practiced, little buddy!"

"Right!" Sonic spun into his Sonic Spin, and Tails kicked him like a soccer-ball.

"Oh-"

Sonic ran into him, knocking him out cold, and bouncing between the other henchmen like a pinball. As one was distracted, Knuckles glided into him. Bunnie stunned another with her canon, but his friend behind him came charging with a large hammer. Fortunately for Bunnie, Sally came in from behind, jumping off of her shoulder and knocking him out with a sidekick to the throat.

"You little-!" Another pointed his gun at her, but Ed ran into him and knocked him out with his metal leg.

"Ed! Go get Winry!" Sally shouted. "We'll hold them off!"

"Uh, you know we're not on a mission on your world, right?" Ed chuckled nervously.

"Force of habit!" Sally answered as she adjusted Nicole to taser mode and electrocuted another who lunged at her. "Just go!" Ed nodded as he and Al jumped across to the next car.

Devilin paced nervously. "They should have been back by now…" He turned to the best of his men, awaiting his orders. "You. Go and take the others. Take care of our…problem."

Before they could depart, Ed came crashing through the roof across from them. "Ed!" Winry gasped.

"Hey." He smiled.

Suddenly, Devilin grabbed Winry in a headlock and pointed a gun at her. "I don't know how you managed to catch up to us…and quite frankly, I really don't care at the moment. But I think you know the drill right now." Ed prepared to clap his hands, but Devilin waved his pistol. "Ah-ah." He warned him, jamming the barrel right to Winry's temple. "Even with your alchemy, if you try anything, I can pull this trigger faster than whatever crap you can pull." He then eyed Mrs. Haruko. "And let's not forget them. Even if you SOMEHOW prove me wrong on that account, you'll be sacrificing them to get to me."

Ed seemed to relax slightly. "You're right." He sighed. He then smirked. "Glad that for this, I'm not just relying on my alchemy."

Just then, something else crashed in from the ceiling, this time behind Devilin. He couldn't react, and Al fell on top of him. Winry escaped his grasp, and ran over to Ed." Ed!" Before his men could react, Ed transmuted the floor to ensnare the rest of the men. Though the metal wasn't very thick, it would take them a while to break free.

"RGH!" Devilin growled as he struggled against Al. "That's it! The bitch is dead!" Devilin reached over to shoot Mrs. Haruko, but Al blocked the barrel with his hand. Devilin pulled the trigger several times, puncturing Al's hand, but none of the bullets reached her. "Damn!" Devilin elbowed Al, but being living armor, he didn't feel a thing and suffered no real damage. Quickly, Devilin reached into his pocket and pulled out what seemed to be a grenade. Pulling the pin with his teeth, he tossed it into the air, and it exploded in a flash of light.

"A flash-bomb!" Ed realized. Using the distraction, he kicked Al off him and ran towards the main engine. "Finish them all!" he yelled as he quickly tore through their restraints.

"You three, stay here!" his second-in-command ordered, a big, burly man with a long black beard and arms covered in tattoos. "The rest of you, with me!"

As the brothers recovered, Al said "Ed, go after him! I'll protect everyone!" Ed nodded, and ran past the men. They tried to shoot, but Al attacked them all before they could fire a shot.

Sonic spun into another assailant, knocking him into a passing tree-branch. "There!" Sonic said, brushing his hands. "I think that's that!"

"Heads up!" Sally called, pointing forward. "I don't think we're out of the woods yet!" Several more thugs met them atop the train, and each one looked more threatening than the ones they had just knocked off.

"Yeah." Sonic moaned. "I'm getting that sense."

One of them wore a fedora and trench coat, carrying two firearms at his side. The only other feature they could make out was his tan skin from under the hat. Another had spiky black hair tied in a pony-tail, a scarf covering his face under his nose. He sported what seemed to be a sword, perhaps a Dao saber, across his back. Another was a giant hulk of a man, wearing an open black coat sporting his muscles, which were covered in scars. He had a black, pointy moustache and it seemed he was blind in one eye. Another was a girl about Winry's age with straight black hair, wearing a black dress and sporting both a rapier and a belt of grenades across her body. The next one was a tan man who wore a biker-like outfit, sporting a pale purple Mohawk and his entire left side covered in tattoos. Falling out of his wrists were two chains; that could be problematic here. The final one was an old man with a silver goatee; he was shorter than most of the others. But he also carried a bow and a quiver of arrows.

"I guess the boss wasn't kidding." The Trench coat man said.

"What do we do now?" The young girl asked.

"What we were told." The swordsman said, spinning his dao. "And since they're monsters, that's even more reason to put them down."

"Hey, come on!" Sonic snapped. "We're not the ones holding people hostage here!"

The trench coat man upholstered his weapons and fired. Sonic dodged, and he and his friends charged, Devilin's men engaging a Mobian each. Sonic circled the gun man. "You're fast…" he taunted him. "But not fast enough!" Sonic jumped into a Sonic Spin, but the man was just fast enough to duck in time, causing Sonic to nearly fall overboard. "Whoa!" he said as he grabbed the edge. "This is going to be a challenge!" A gunshot fired near his hand, causing him to change position. "Holee-!" Sonic flipped his hands as the gunman tried to shoot his fingers off. "Hey! Haven't you ever heard of not kicking someone when he's down!?"

"Of course." The gunman said. "I don't play fair, though."

"Oh great." Sonic flipped back up as he avoided a bullet and began running again.

Tails charged the swordsman, who swung his sword in response. Tails of course flew back a little bit, and tried again, but the swordsman slashed again. It seemed neither would make any headway. When Tails flew back up, the swordsman shot out a 9-sectional whip from under his sleeve and ensnared Tails' ankle, pulling him back down to the car. Tails eyes widened as he made a motion to stab him. Quickly, Tails spun his tails, whacking the man's face and pulling him across the car. As Tails managed to get the whip off his foot, the swordsman spun and kicked him in the stomach. Though Tails was stunned, he kept up with the car. However, he was now occupied with dodging his opponent's throwing knives.

Sally, in the meantime, tried to attack the girl with a roundhouse kick. She dodged with ease, and tried to impale Sally. Sally rolled across, and tried some punches. Though she landed one across her chin, it didn't do much and she retaliated with her rapier, driving her away. Sally switched Nicole to her taser mode, swung around and tried to stun her, but her zone was too large, able to easily drive Sally away. "Skilled." She said. "But you seem to have a poor choice of tactics." She tried stabbing Sally in the throat, who cartwheeled away. Sally switched Nicole to phraser mode, and shot a laser at her. The laser was enough to blacken the metal on top, but failed to land a blow on the lady who flipped away.

Bunnie decided she would take on the big muscle man. Bunnie nailed him in the stomach, but the flesh was ridiculously hard while at the same time absorbent. "What in tarnation-?" The man backhanded her, causing her to roll onto the ground. Bunnie got her bearings as the man made a motion to stomp on her. "AH!" Bunnie activated her pulse canon and hit him dead on. He fell to his knees, but remained conscious, still breathing." Bunnie's jaw dropped; that should have taken down anything living! "What the heck are you made of, Sugar?"

He looked at her, grinning viciously. "Tonight I dine on Rabbit Stew!"

"Ah doubt that!" Bunnie fired an extended leg at his face, managing to break his nose. Though he clutched it in pain, he laughed, and charged. Quickly, he picked up Bunnie into a bear hug and body slammed her onto the hull. "Ugh…" It was a miracle Bunnie didn't black out. Quickly, she activated her rockets and dragged them across the train. The brawny man let go as Bunnie flew up to safety.

At first, Knuckles didn't think he would have much problem with his opponent. However, the chain guy reacted and cracked his heavy chains like whips. Knuckles avoided them and took off gliding, charging right into the guy. Knuckles managed to graze his cheeks, but felt something cut across his own arm as well. Knuckles landed on the other car, finding his arm bleeding. It was deep, as if he was in contact with a bladed weapon. As Knuckles got a closer look at the weapons. As the man swung them into the air against the sun, he saw from their shadowy outlines they appeared to be serrated. "Come on-!" The chain man attacked again, and Knuckles somersaulted away. He managed to get behind him and kick him in the back, but the man spun around and nearly took Knuckles' head off with a wide arc. "WHOA!" Knuckles felt another slight cut, and rolled away in shame.

St. John of course took on the archer. He fired his crossbow while the archer used his bow. They both dodged their arrows, but St. John pulled a fast one with a flashbang arrow going off before it got near its target. The archer turned away, and St. John took the chance to finish him with an arrow to the heart. However, even though his sight was compromised, the archer snapped back and caught the arrow in mid-air. "Well, that's sure swell." St. John groaned. The archer discarded the arrow and ran one of his own across his boot, igniting it. He pulled back and fired quickly. St. John dodged, but he felt his fur singe. "Cheeky brute!" St. John decided to take the "stupid" approach, and came at him with a flying side kick, managing to make him stumble with a blow to the temple. However, soon as the skunk landed, the archer whacked him with his bow with more force than St. John would have thought possible.

Soon, the mobians found themselves cornered into the middle, surrounded by the henchmen. "Well, this trip has certainly gone downhill." Sonic muttered.

Devilin made his way towards the front of the train, ignoring the hot steam billowing out of the chimney. "End of the line."

Devilin turned to see Edward standing across from him. "Hn. To be honest, I'm glad you came here for me."

"You won't be in a few minutes." Ed said, smashing his fist against the hull, denting it.

"You must not have remembered our last encounter." Devilin smashed both fists and feet against the protrusions around him. "I'd say you're the one who's going to regret this, but for that to happen, you'd have to live at the end of this fight."

"I tend to learn from my mistakes…something I'm not sure you do." Ed retorted.

"What?"

"There's no WAY you lost all four of your original limbs in battle or by accident. You amputated them to get automail on purpose, didn't you? All to make yourself a killer…"

"So what? Equivalent exchange, right? I give up my limbs in order to stand a fighting chance against the state." Devilin answered

Ed growled as he prepared to clap his hands. "Well, I hate to break the bad news to you, but you got a raw deal. It takes more than automail to take me on, and besides…." Ed flexed his metal arm. "…I've got the best automail there is!"

"How would you know that?" Devilin spat.

"Simple. You've got the maker with you." Ed grinned. "And I think she's dying for me to use these to exact revenge on you." He bragged as he flexed the limbs.

Devilin shrugged as he reached behind his cloak. "Well come on then!" He pulled out a bowie knife and rushed Ed, pushing Winry to the side. Quickly, Ed clapped and raised the metal to create a barrier between Devilin and him, the knife scratching against it. Ed flipped over the edge and kicked with his leg. Though Devilin blocked, he was still knocked back against the new wall. Ed grabbed his wrist, smashing his arm against the wall, but in forgetting the arm wasn't flesh, Devilin held onto the knife easily. He quickly kicked Ed off, and lunged again. Ed blocked with both arms and stopped it inches away from his head. Devilin pushed against his knife arm with his other arm and pushed with all his weight, inching his blade closer. Just as it touched Ed's ahoge, he used all his strength to direct the knife to the side and head-butted Devilin once he saw an opening.

As he reeled back, Ed kiyuped back up and transmuted his arm into a sword and slashed. It scratched against Devilin's arm and managed to slash his shoulder, drawing blood. "See what I mean?" Ed asked.

Devilin sneered as he gripped the wound. "Nah. Still not worried."

"What!?" Ed shouted, getting fed up with this man.

"If you're hoping for your alchemy to give you an edge, it won't do you much good here." Devilin bragged. "If you do too radical a transmutation, you'll compromise the train. You could force it to a sudden stop, or make it explode…" Suddenly, a sharp spike appeared off of the train and nearly skewered him, missing his groin by a mere half-inch and forcing him back. He backed up to the edge and nearly fell over, rapidly waving his arms to regain balance.

"You're way out of your depth, kid!" Ed yelled. "I may not be able to do the crazier stuff here, but there's still plenty I could do, and I'm not your average alchemist!"

Devilin growled. "Right. If you're the Fullmetal Alchemist, then I'll become the Full Metal King when I'm done with you!" He banged his fists together, echoing a metallic sound and charged. Ed countered with his sword arm and blocked his strikes.

They dueled trading blows, neither able to quite reach the other, but Devilin surprised Ed by pulling him in and kneeing him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. He threw Ed back down on the train, and raised his leg to stomp on him. Ed quickly retaliated with a spinning kick to Devilin's stomach, causing him to fall back. Ed charged, and the two locked blades. "Not bad." Devilin admitted. "You can take a beating."

"Let me introduce you to my teacher. You don't even know what a beating is until you spar with her!" Ed uppercutted him in the jaw, knocking him down. Ed charged to knock him out, but Devilin suddenly threw powder into his eyes. "YAHHH!" Ed clutched his eyes as they burned. Devilin charged and pinned Ed against the chimney. Ed managed to block some blows with his automail, but Devilin began pounding away at him…

The Fueher stared outside his window office, contemplating the current hostage situation. He had earlier received reports that most of the civilians on the train were separated from Mrs. Haruko's car, so at least he did not have to worry about collateral damage. Personally, he could've cared less about her, but for the sake of his charade he had to do everything he could to get her out alive. Finally, his phone rang. Quickly, Bradley picked it up. "Yes?"

"They're ready. Just give the word." Robotnik's voice said over the phone

"Do it now."

"While I personally have no problem showing off my genius, are you sure you want to put them out in the open right now?"

"If they can perform as you say they can, that shouldn't be a problem. Get your toy soldiers in and out of there; rumors and conspiracy theories are nothing new that the state hasn't dealt with before." The Fueher answered. "Besides, by tomorrow, the world will know of them anyway. So no point in worrying about it now."

"A very wise decision, sir. I will send them out immediately."

"Launch the Combots, Snively!" Robotnik yelled as he briskly walked down the corridor he and his nephew were working in.

"Yes sir!" Snively answered as he pressed the levers on a control panel. "Such primitive machinery…" he thought as he saw the metal doors open. The light of the sun poured in, as it reflected off several green robots, Combots. They were essentially swatbots on steroids, armed to the teeth with lasers, flamethrowers, poison gas, anything Robotnik could fit inside them. They were ideal for combat obviously, but their specs made it difficult to produce them en masse. "Launch!" The boots under the Combots ignited, slowly lifting them off the ground. Finally, they took off into the air, faster than any vehicle on this planet to date.

"Sir?" Snively asked as they watched them disappear over the horizon. "Soon word will get out, and the Freedom Fighters will know we're here. Are you sure this is wise?"

"I have my concerns." Robotnik agreed. "But this could pay off in the long run…" he smiled.

Sonic banked and weaved around the bullets as the gunman continue firing at him. As he took a moment to reload, Sonic paused as well. "I gotta know, what makes you want to live this kind of life?" the hedgehog asked, crouched in case he needed to run again.

"I take it you never heard of the Ishvallans." He answered.

"A little." Sonic answered. "And I think I see where this is going." Sonic said.

"Then back off; this does not concern you."

"Can't do that if you're going to put innocent people in danger." Sonic replied.

"We were innocent too, once." The gunman sighed sadly. He fired again. Sonic dodged, and quickly turned to his 8'o clock. However, the gunman quickly pointed his direction and fired. The bullet grazed Sonic's leg, and the hedgehog tumbled off the edge. He managed to grab hold of the edge, but the pain in his leg would limit his top speed for a while now. "You're fast." The gunman said as he reloaded. "But after a while, I can see your pattern and way of thinking." He slowly approached where he saw the creature's fingers. "No matter how fast you are, I know where you'll be, and I'll be sure to fire there first."

"Well, crud." Sonic muttered.

Tails managed to head-butt his opponent, the areal descent adding to his momentum. Despite the surprise, the swordsman managed to roll with the blow and push Tails onto the car roof, knocking the wind out of him. "Oof!" Tails turned to attack him again, but the swordsman threw a pepper bomb into his face. "Ack!" He then kicked Tails down, and wrapped his neck in his nine-sectional whip. Quickly pulling him in, Tails began to struggle frantically.

Sally managed to land a flying kick on the fencing girl, but she quickly recovered and raised her guard up. The girl made several slashing and stabbing movements, forcing Sally back. "I can't keep retreating! I have to attack!" Sally reactivated Nicole's taser mode again, rolled under the rapier, and grabbed hold of the girl's elbow. Quickly, she jammed Nicole into her, the electric shock causing her to scream in pain. In a few seconds, the charge was used up, and the girl collapsed to her knees. Sally stood, certain she won as she caught her breath. However, the girl suddenly pulled a dagger from her hilt and slashed across Sally's arm. "Ah!" Sally collapsed onto the roof, clutching her wound.

Bunnie did a flip kick against the giant's face. He stumbled, but he refused to fall. He only smiled wickedly, and backhanded her away. "Ow!" Bunnie brought her shield up as he continued to slam down on her. "Didn't your momma teach you not to hit a lady!?" Bunnie yelled.

"She did!" he said. "And one day, I hit her anyway!"

Bunnie glared at him. "Why you…" Bunnie then brought her feet up, activating her jets right in his face. "Argh!" Bunnie flew away and extended her robotic arm around him, squeezing tight as she could. Though he was stronger than most she had encountered, he still could not break through. "I got ya now, ya brute!" The big man took a deep breath, and suddenly jumped forward. "WHA-!?" Bunnie felt herself being pulled in, and the man planted his foot into her stomach, and brought her down. "Ugghh…" Bunnie felt him press harder, as the air was forced out of her lungs. Her first instinct was to let him go to push the foot off, but he would only be free to attack. If she brought her legs up, he would only fall on top of her and crush her under his weight. Bunnie was almost in full panic mode now; every action she could take with her robotic limbs would only leave her vulnerable.

Knuckles continued to punch the chains of his opponent away, but the sharp edges cut into his gloves the longer they fought. Knuckles winced as he put an extra foot between them. Grabbing his hands, he could see his large knuckles ripped through his thick gloves, bleeding. "I can't keep this up much longer…" Suddenly, one of the chains took hold of his shoulder. "Aw, s-"

The chain man pulled him in. Knuckles quickly retaliated, punching him across the face. Though it was hard enough to force him to spit blood, he wrapped the chains around Knuckles' body tighter. As usual, Knuckles remained a fierce fighter, kicking at him and even head-butting him. "You filthy little rat!" the punk yelled. Finally, he wrapped the chains across Knuckles' neck, beginning to choke the life out of him.

St John, realizing his quiver was running low, took to dodging his opponent's arrows. Eventually, the old man came to the same conclusion, and pulled a machete out of his back. He charged and slashed at St. John. The skunk flipped over the blade and managed to land a kick across his head. The old archer actually fell over, and St. John proceeded to attack, but he blocked with his bow, knocking St. John off. Quickly, the archer kiyupped back to his feet and pulled another arrow out of his quiver, and fired. St. John prepared to dodge, but the arrow exploded before it reached him, spewing a toxic powder that flew right in his face due to being downwind. St. John hacked, and fell to his knees. "Your suffering will be over momentarily." The archer pulled back another arrow, intending to finish him.

Sensing that his friends were in trouble, Sonic realized it was up to him to come through with something. He quickly let go of the car and grabbed on again as the gunman let a bullet lose near his hands. "I need a distraction!"

Ed landed a solid punch on Devilin. As he stabilized himself, the terrorist somehow retrieved his bowie knife and managed to cut Ed's cheek. Ed fell over, but managed to transmute a good portion of the train into a pike and slashed ant Devilin's legs. He couldn't slice them, but he managed to trip him up. Ed raised the staff to smash his legs, but Devilin caught Ed by surprise when he fired a pistol from out of nowhere and grazed Ed's shoulder. "Ah!" Ed fell over, clutching his shoulder.

"You're a pain in the ass!" Devilin yelled as he planted his boot on Ed's chest. Cocking the hammer, he jammed it into Ed's head and said "As much fun as it's been, I better get rid of you right now!"

It seemed there was no way that Ed could get out of this one. Suddenly, Devilin stumbled when a wrench came down on his head, causing him to slump over to the side. Winry stood there, panting and holding her wrench with both hands. "Winry!" Ed yelled. "What the hell are you still doing here!?" He said as he struggled to stand.

"You're welcome." Winry sighed as she helped him up. "Where's Al?"

"Probably protecting that lady and her kids back there." Ed answered. "He'll be fine; I'm sure he's doing a bang-up job wherever he is." He looked at Winry, and to her it seemed his eyes had softened. "And…thanks." He whispered.

Suddenly, Ed was sucker-punched in the back of the head and sent sprawling. Winry screamed, and swung her wrench at Devilin again, but he caught it and grabbed her into a headlock. Ed quickly got to his feet, but Devilin used her as a shield. "I wouldn't try anything funny." Devilin said. Ed stared him down. He was confident…why? With his alchemy, he could think of a hundred ways to get Winry out of this. "I'm sure you thought of a way to save your girl here." Devilin sneered. "So, I've prepared this." Devilin then pulled out a remote. "I've rigged this train to blow. Once this car goes, the other's going to fall off the rails. So now, you've got everyone to worry about, including us."

"You crazy bastard!" Ed yelled. "You're willing to kill yourself for some petty revenge!?"

"As long as I take you all with me." He sneered.

Sonic flipped up back on the ledge and flip-kicked the gun out of his opponent's hand. "Ah!" Quickly, Sonic rammed into him with a Sonic Spin.

The gunman tried to reach for his weapon, but Sonic was ahead of him. "Oh no you don't!" Sonic spun his wrist rapidly, and unleashed a small twister of air at him, knocking him off the car.

Tails followed his lead, butting the swordsman's head and pulling the chain away from his neck. Slapping his tails' across the man's leg, he tripped him up. Seeing he was off balance, Tails revved up his tails' again and spun them, blowing him off with sheer force of air.

Knuckles was thrown off the train, the chains almost around his neck. "Let me teach you how to play hangman!" the chainman yelled. Knuckles struggled, and briefly noticed his opponent was close to the ledge. Taking a gambit, he tore his left hand from the chains and quickly punched the wall. The vibrations were just enough to throw him off balance and off the edge, falling to the ground below. Knuckles quickly jammed his right into the wall and held on as the chain loosened, saving himself from the fall.

Sally jumped back as the fencing girl made another stab at her, this time having both hands armed. Sally was now covered in cuts and panting. "She's good…really good!" Sally backed away…but stopped when she felt her heel make contact with nothing but air. She had run out of room!

"Nowhere to run." The girl said.

Sally realized she had to get up close again. "I'll have to rely on all my instincts to make this work!" As the girl made another stab, Sally ducked and suddenly bolted towards her on all fours. Though her vest was cut down in the back, Sally's own skin remained untouched and suddenly jumped towards her neck, wrapping her legs around her. "I've never tried this before-!" Sally twisted her upper body and the girl followed after her, her head smacking down on the roof. Sally landed on all fours, breathing heavily but proud of what she accomplished. Before she could celebrate, the fencer made another slash at her, but Sally was ready and kicked her hard enough to roll her off the train.

Bunnie, who was almost turning as blue as Sonic, suddenly had an idea. Her arm may have been hostage, but her legs were free! Bunnie raised and extended them into the muscle man's face, smacking him square. Seeing that it wasn't enough, Bunnie activated her rockets. Finally, the man grabbed his face and grabbed his smoking face, screaming. Taking a deep breath, Bunnie cocked her arm back and extended it like a cannonball, sending him flying off the edge.

Meanwhile, St. John regained consciousness. Reaching into his utility belt, he pulled out a pellet and threw it into the man's face. It exploded in a flash of light, causing the archer to stumble. Quickly, St. John snapped back to his feet and leaped at him, kicking him until they reached the edge. The skunk finished him off with a spinning kick, knocking him over.

The Freedom Fighters (and Knuckles) gathered around. "Well, that was fun." Sonic said, brushing his arm and shaking his wrist.

"It's not over!" Sally said. "We've got to help Ed! Get to the ringleader of this and-"

She was cut off when they saw hands gripping the edge of the train car's roof. "You have GOT to be kidding me." Sonic moaned.

One by one, the terrorists they knocked off got back on. "You're stronger than you look." The fencing girl said. Pointing her blade, she declared "But this fight ends now!"

The Freedom Fighters circled each other, preparing for Round Two. As the rebels converged on them, a laser suddenly shot down the gunman and he was sent tumbling over the edge. "Rovero!" The muscle man shouted.

The mobians looked up to the origin of the laser, and their eyes widened. Up above, several robots painted in military camouflage flew over them, pointing an assortment of weapons at them. "Combots!?" Sonic shouted.

Elsewhere, Robotnik looked into a small computer screen he constructed (note: transmuted) being fed through the Combots' optic lens. "The hedgehog!" Snively hissed. "Quick, Doctor! We can eliminate them now!"

"No." Robotnik held up his hand, frowning. "As tempting as it is, Sonic has beaten a horde of Combots before. I cannot afford to lose this battalion. Besides, if we deviate from the plans, we could jeopardize our position in the military." Typing in some commands, Robotnik sneered "Another time then, hedgehog."

The Combots' eyes flashed red, and they held their arms back. They ignored the mobians, flying forward. "What's this?" St. John asked. "Robotnik's Combots just ignore us?"

"Yeah, I am kind of offended." Sonic answered. "Especially considering the last time I trashed a horde of them." He emphasized by knocking his fists together.

"I don't think we're out of the woods yet." Sally said, pointing towards the conducting train. "They're heading for Ed!"

"Last chance! Back off! Now!" Devilin yelled.

"Bastard!" Ed growled, backing away.

Suddenly, a laser from above hit Devilin's hand. While the hand remained intact, it exploded the remote, triggering the charges on the sides of the train. The explosions rocked the entire train, and locked the wheels. Ed fell back, and Winry fell to the side off the rails and into the canyon below as Devilin lost his grip on her. "WINRY!" Ed reached for her, but she was too far down, and there was nothing Ed could use to transmute.

Al stood in a guard stance, as he had successfully subdued the last of the henchmen guarding the Harukos. Mrs. Haruko stared at him in wonder. "I remember you…you were the man on the train from years ago!"

Al snapped his attention to her, curious. "Who-?" Suddenly, he felt the explosions rock the car. Without thinking, he ran to the family and scooped them up, diving out of the window onto the canyon wall. Once he was certain they were safe, Al looked back to the trains falling over into the river. "WINRY! BROTHER!" he called.

Before Ed cried out her name, something blue and fast ran down towards Winry. Using the falling debris as leaping platforms, Sonic used his momentum to reach Winry before she reached terminal velocity. Quickly, he grabbed hold of her bridal style and managed to right himself, grinding across a falling train rail and bouncing off various platforms. "Hold on! We're almost there…" Sonic tried to assure her. He jumped up towards the train…but gravity took hold of them. "Oh…" Luckily, or unluckily depending on your point of view, one of the debris below them still had an active bomb. Suddenly, it followed suit and exploded, hurling Sonic and Winry up into the sky. "AHHH!" Finally, they reached the tracks, landing onto it with a thud, but thankfully not hitting their heads.

"Ow…" Sonic groaned as he rubbed his back spines.

"Thanks." Winry said, struggling onto her hands and knees while holding the small of her back.

"Of course." Sonic breathed deeply. "It's what I do; just ask Sal."

As if on cue, the others ran towards them, having jumped off before the train blew up. "Sonic!" Tails yelled. "Are you alright!?"

"We're fine, guys." Sonic answered. "Just tell Ed he owes me one."

As the others helped Winry up and checked her over, Sally helped Sonic up. "Rescuing the damsels in distress again?" Sally teased him. "I wonder how Ed will feel?"

Sonic brushed her off. "I don't think there's much jealousy to go round. Besides, I rather enjoy rescuing you much more." Sally blushed a bit under her fur. "You're much lighter." Sonic quipped as he cracked his back; he was not used to carrying people of overlander size. "Don't tell her I said that."

"Don't worry." Sally said rolling her eyes in disappointment.

"Speaking of which…." Sonic said as he came to a realization. Quickly, he sprinted down the tracks.

As Al tried his best to keep his composure and help the woman comfort her children, now screaming their lungs out from having been released, he felt something very fast zoom past him. "Sonic!"

The front car skipped along the rails, but the alchemist on top didn't care. He only saw one thing ahead of him. "YOU BASTARD!" Stricken with grief, Ed blindly attacked Devilin. The terrorist blocked his first few strikes, but was caught off guard by a kick from Ed's artificial leg. Devilin tumbled as Ed pinned him against the chimney. Devilin blocked with both his arms, trying to push Ed off. It seemed at first he would, given the fact he had two automail arms and their ground was extremely unstable. But suddenly Ed pushed them both down with his left hand as he cocked back his right, smashing his jaw across the face. Teeth flew out of Devilin's mouth. "MONSTER!" Ed yelled, tears of rage falling down his eyes. He landed several other punches, and Devilin's face was quickly becoming black and blue.

"Ed!" Sonic shouted as he rushed up behind him, restraining his arm. "Stop!" Ed elbowed him back, consumed with his grief as he continued beating on him. "You'll kill him!" Sonic yelled. Ed snapped out of his punches for a quick moment only to switch to choking Devilin. Even with four automail limbs, he couldn't shake Ed off of him as he felt the life being squeezed out of him. As his eyes began to roll back in his head, Sonic got Ed in a headlock. "WINRY'S ALIVE!"

Ed's pupils seemed to shrink for a moment as he registered what Sonic just told him. The train finally getting in sync with the rails again, the whole ride began to calm down. He slowly began to let go of his victim as Sonic continued to assure him. "It's alright, she's safe. Saved her myself." Sonic bragged. "Though dumb luck helped a lot too." Ed slowly stood, as he began to hyperventilate. Finally he collapsed on his knees, horrified with what he had nearly done.

Suddenly, Devlin got his wind back and drop kicked Ed. Seeing a revolver stuck in one of the crevices, he pulled it out and pointed at him. "Nice knowing you, sucker!"

Quickly, Sonic pushed Ed off the train as the gun went off. Sonic ducked, though he felt some spines fly off as the bullet grazed his quills. "Oh, you're going to pay for that!" Sonic quickly jumped into a Sonic Spin and flew towards Devilin. Devilin raised his arm to block him, but sparks flew as Sonic persisted. Soon, his spin was enough to shatter the arm and force Devilin off the car.

Sonic touched down on the rails as the engine car continued its smoking trail across. "I'll get you all!" Devilin shouted, as his leg caught on a metal pipe. "You'll-" Suddenly, the train to a sudden stop. Whether it was going to or Devilin hanging off it threw off the balance, the train titled over into the gorge below.

Sonic breathed as he slowly stood and dusted himself off. "Kind of makes what you did pointless." Ed said as he came up behind him.

"I guess." Sonic shrugged. "But if he had to die, I just didn't want him to die by yours or anyone else's hand."

"Any reason?"

Sonic gave him a genuine smile. " 'Cause I can tell you're not a killer. If you did…it would ruin you." Ed just looked at Sonic in surprise. "And I think someone else wouldn't want to see you stoop to that level either."

"Ed!"

The two turned to see Winry and the others run up to him. Winry then tackled him. "Ow!"

"You idiot!" Winry cried into his shoulder. "Don't take such a stupid risk for me again…" she sniffled.

"You know I can't do that." Ed said as he patted her back, blushing. "If you're ever in trouble, I will be there. It's a law of nature to me…just like equivalent exchange." The two looked at each other, just glad they were both alive.

"So what now?" Al asked.

Ed got up, and sighed. "It's not that far from civilization. I'll need to make a phone call…"

Further down the river, Devilin surfaced and inhaled deeply. Slowly, he managed to walk out of the river, despite losing both arms. Upon reaching the land, he collapsed face down. Hyperventilating, he desperately tried to get his bearings back. "I'll kill them…" he wheezed. "I'll kill them all…"

Suddenly, a green, metallic leg materialized in front of him. Snapping out of his delirium, he looked up to see the Combot staring down at him with its red eyes. Others materialized next to it as the lead Combot pointed what seemed to be a gun from its wrist at Devilin. "Aw, sh-"He was cut off as the Combot blasted him with Napalm.

"TARGET DESTROYED" the screen read.

"Excellent." Robotnik grinned, twiddling his fingers. "I'd say that was a successful test run, wouldn't you say, Snively?"

"Indeed, sir." Snively agreed.

"Let us report to the Fuher." Robotnik said as he got off his chair. "I think he will be most pleased with the results."

The sun was about to set as a lone car drove across the land. Roy Mustang grunted as the vehicle bumped, running over a pothole. "These vehicles were not meant for all terrain."

"Please bear it, sir." Riza Hawkeye said as she drove the steering wheel. "We had nothing else handy at the moment."

Mustang pinched his nose as he thought about what Ed told him over the phone. Apparently, he and his brother were aboard that very same train. They defeated the terrorists, though their leader was missing. While some good men on security were lost and the train was ultimately out of commision, no civilians were killed. Best part of all, Mrs. Haruko and the children were safe! All in all, the day turned out okay. "They have been very reliable, have they not?" Riza asked, starting a conversation.

"Well, I haven't discharged Fullmetal after all these years, so I suppose that counts for something." Mustang answered without taking his eyes off the road. "I'd rather not put up with his snotty attitude, but he does come through when it counts." He later admitted. "I'd imagine that Mrs. Haruko will never want to board a train again after this."

"You'd be surprised how well some people can get over trauma, especially military family members."

Mustang sighed as he stared ahead, spotting some familiar figures near the horizon. "There he is." They saw Ed, Al, Winry and Ms. Haruko waving at them, her children by her side. The car finally parked parallel to them, and the two officers stepped out, saluting the elderly woman. "Mrs. Haruko." Mustang saluted. "I apologize for our ineptitude in the manner! Are you alright?"

"A little shaken up, but I'll be fine." She answered. Turning to the two brothers, she said "And I owe it to these two." She bowed to them, saying "This is twice I owe you my life."

"Oh, it was nothing." Ed waved modestly.

"I must insist, once we have plenty of rest at central, you must join my family for dinner." She suddenly said.

"Oh, that's okay." Ed hesitantly put up his hand. "You don't have to-"

"I insist." Mrs. Haruko said. "I may not be an alchemist, but I understand the principal of equivalent exchange well enough." She then turned to Mustang. "I understand you have need of the state alchemists for that battle up North. It wouldn't trouble you too-?"

"It's quite alright, ma'am." Mustang replied, raising his hand. "We won't march out for quite some time, and I think Fullmetal has earned himself a nice dinner for his heroism today."

Ed chuckled, scratching his head. "Uh, if you insist!" Truthfully, Ed only turned her down because of Al's inability to eat. Having Al plop food into his body was starting to get old, and they weren't sure it was working anymore. "I guess we have to think of a different cover for him…"

Mustang then eyed something behind the brothers as he raised an eyebrow. It was a crate box, a rather large one at that. "What's in the box, Fullmetal?"

"Some items for research." Ed answered promptly. Seeing Mustang staring him down, he gulped and quickly offered an explanation. "After I got your telegram, thought these might come in handy."

Mustang wasn't buying it…at least not completely. "I don't know HOW you managed to save that from the train wreck you described, but I suppose we should be thankful." Turning to Riza, he said "Hawkeye! Do we have any cables in the trunk?"

"Sorry, sir." Riza answered. "I didn't anticipate we would need such things."

"It's no problem." Al answered. "We can transmute some cables from the ground."

"Very well." Mustang answered. As he took Mrs. Haruko's hand, he said "Mrs. Haruko, Ms. Rockbell, kids, please make yourselves comfortable. Get to work you two; since we don't have much room, so the two of you will have to ride on the roof with your things."

"WHAT!?" Ed yelled. "What's that for!?" he shouted, flapping his arms. "We took care of the terrorists for you, you- "

"As it is now, we don't have any room. Al alone would be too much inside. I figure we should let dogs of the military endure the top while the women enjoy the luxury of the inside of the vehicle." The Colonel answered.

"THEN WHY DON'T YOU GET ON TOP WITH US!?" Ed shouted back.

"It's rather simple; I'm the Colonel." Mustang said as he helped Mrs. Haruko into the car. Ed could swear he saw sparkles around his smug smile. "Now get going, or we're leaving you behind!" he ordered. "Thanks to your baggage, it will probably take us twice as long to get back!"

After a rather uncomfortable journey, they made it to the Elric brothers' apartment. As Ed, Al and Winry gently eased the crate inside, they set it down. "You can come out now." Ed knocked on the door, and the mobians opened it up.

The Mobians inside gratefully exited. "Whew!" Sonic sighed as he wiped his brow. "To be honest, I think getting around on that crazy train was a lot better than that box!" Sally lightly punched his arm, earning a slight 'ow!'.

"You're welcome." Ed sighed.

As they looked around, Bunnie said "So, this is where ya live, sugar?" It was rather humble apartment, but not from being cheap. On the contrary, it had some fairly nice furniture, with a sofa, chairs and a dinner table, and a bathroom and bed.

"Yeah. It's not the greatest apartment, but I'm not looking for anything fancy." Ed replied. "Plus, because Al doesn't eat or sleep, it's actually quite a good price for me."

Ed walked over to the sofa, pulling out a bed from under it. "A sofa-bed!?" Tails exclaimed. "Neat!"

"Trust me, it's nothing special." Ed waved him off. "We also got some blankets and pillows in the closet." Ed said as Al went straight to the closet. "I don't know how we're going to arrange this…" Ed then stretched. "…so you guys figure it out amongst yourselves. I'm going to bed." The alchemist said as he tossed away his jacket and boots.

Morning came. As a blaring ring familiar to all echoed around the room, Ed slammed his alarm off. "Damn it…" he grumbled. Making his way down the room, careful not to wake his sleeping guests, he quickly freshened up in the bathroom. As he grabbed his coat, he observed the mobians sleeping. He turned when he heard the familiar clanking sound of Al moving his joints. Waving at him, Al put a finger to his "mouth". Getting the message, Ed observed WInry sharing the sofa bed with Bunnie and Sally. The males were huddled up in blankets around the floor. Deciding all was well, he quietly went for the pantry and took a slice of bread from the pantry. Using alchemy, he heated it without the need for a toaster oven. It was very similar to how he unwittingly heated the water that was used to help Mrs. Hughes with the birth of her baby. All that was left was the finishing touch: spreading butter over the bread (he didn't mind most dairy products, he just didn't particularly like milk in it's raw form).

As he chewed on it, Ed saw Sonic walking towards him, yawning. "Morning." The hedgehog grumbled.

"Morning." Ed answered. "I take it you're not a morning…hog?"

"You don't look much better off." Sonic replied, scratching his side.

"Touché." Ed sighed. "I'm going to be briefed on this war up north. After that, I don't know what's going to happen."

Sonic nodded. "So…we've got to stay put?"

"Please?" Ed put his hands together as he pleaded with him.

Sonic sighed. "Don't forget, you've got that disorawatchamacallit." He reminded him.

"I might have to put that on hold. For now, I'm leaving it with you and Al." Ed said.

"Don't forget, we still need you to help us with that whole mystery with Renley and Felicia."

Ed nodded. "Al and Winry can probably help with that. I just need to get a letter of approval for them to use the library." Ed looked at his watch. "I've really got to go. As much as I don't want to see Mustang, I think it's not worth the trouble of getting on his bad side…all things considered."

Sonic nodded. "Well, see ya later." Sonic said as he hopped onto the counter and began to scavenge the pantry for himself.

"See ya." Ed said, grabbing his red jacket and helping himself out the door.

Ed attended the briefing; every man of the military in Central was there. As he listened, Ed had a hard time believing it. Or at least, he would have. But after all he had seen, he was certainly inclined to believe it. Though all they had were second hand reports, they certainly sounded like creatures that would come from Mobius. What really bothered him though was their crystalline forms. To transform a carbon-based being into crystal…that defied any rules of alchemy he ever heard of. "I know it is hard for all of you to believe that creatures like these can exist." King Bradley addressed his soldiers as he finished the report at the podium. "But I assure you, these threats are real. This information has been deemed classified in order to avoid causing the public to panic. And because of that, we must eliminate this new threat immediately!" Bradley stepped slightly back from the podium. "And we have a solution! This man shall usher in a new age of technology, technology I hope can be fused with the mightiest of our alchemists, not only to eliminate this threat but to make Amestris the most powerful military nation in the world! My friends and country men: I give you…Julian Kintobor!"

As the rest of the soldiers applauded, the man named Kintobor came up to the podium. However, Ed's eyes widened in horror. Though he was dressed in the blue uniform of the Amestrian military, nothing could erase his bulky physique and his red moustache, as Robotnik smiled and waved to the crowd. "Thank you, my friends." He said. "It is a pleasure to serve you all."

Aaaand….I think this is a good place to stop. After that wild ride, we're going to get a lot of buildup for a while now.

Now then, Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog has officially been cancelled. It is sad for me in some ways, having grown up with this character. While the games were indeed the official canon for the character, both the comics and the Satam cartoon I think were more or less the definitive sources for Sonic when the story was taken into account. Now, granted it was far from perfect; with obvious references to other media/culture and various tropes used throughout the ages. And sometimes incorporating new elements/characters from the games were a bit jarring, though I understood why they had to do that. But I've always enjoyed how they were able to give the world of Sonic essentially a brand new mythos with a world that always had more to explore at every corner. It was cool to see other characters that differed from Sonic, and it got surprisingly dark for a kid's comic based on a kid's video game. Though things got off the rails with the whole "Pendermonium" debacle, I do acknowledge that was not ultimately Archie's fault. In an odd way, I don't entirely blame Penders either (although I think he could have handled that better). While I'm sure the issues post Worlds Collide weren't by any stretch of the imagination bad, I can understand how the drastic change in continuity would negatively effect sales. Thinking of that, it is sad to see this particular canon to the franchise go out like this.

But at the same time, we should also celebrate this. Think about it: This was a LICENSED video game comic. It never belonged to Archie, and Sega could have easily pulled the plug at any given time. But this comic lasted for over 20 YEARS. That is an absolutely exceptional feat for a comic like this. Most experts in the industry probably expected five years at best when this comic was first started. Despite all the various hurdles and mistakes over the years, I think Archie deserves an applause for keeping this series going as long as it did. They created a fantastic world of their own, and kept many fans from childhood well into their adulthood. Again, no small feat.

So, I would like to say thank you Archie comics. You made my childhood colorful and beautiful in all sorts of ways, and helped me through some difficult periods in my life.

Thank you Sega for making this possible. I may not have agreed with all the rules you put on Archie, but it is still your property, and in the end it was because of you that this comic lasted as long as it did. While your track record with the games as of late has been rather mixed, if you find a way to make another Sonic series like this you will certainly have my attention and will probably benefit you in the long run.

Thanks to all the writers from Penders to Flynn for working well beyond the material they were given to make a rather linear outline into something layered and at times dark.

Thanks to all the artists from Steven Butler and Pat Spaz as well. You all had great designs for the characters and inspired covers that were truly epic.

The only other thing I would want now is for Flynn to get on with showing us his Lost Hedgehog Tales plans. Yes, I understand Flynn has other priorities in life and there was some legal concerns with releasing the plans…but I'd imagine now it shouldn't be too much of a problem legally at this point since Archie no longer has the license, and IDW is just going to do what they want now. Still, it would be nice to have an idea of what Flynn wanted to do with the series. Maybe some day…

That's all I have to say for now. I hope you enjoyed this little ramble of mine, and next time, we'll be preparing for war!

Uh, I mean, ED and friends will be preparing for war. See you there!