A/N: I know, Yugi does the magical ceremonial battle thingy and Atem is set free, blahbittyblahbittyblah. However, since I haven't seen that part in forever and am much too lazy to go back and watch it again, let's just say that this is right before said CBT. All else will (hopefully) be explained by the story. Oh, and this starts just before the beginning of the series for FMA. ONWARD.

(P.S. This is 2003 anime-verse for FMA)

Yugi, Atem, Joey, Tristan, Tea, and Seto Kaiba faced the enormous and foreboding Gate with apprehension. Not that there was anything else to look at; wherever it was that they were, it was all just blank white nothingness.

Aside from that Gate, of course.

Not a single one of them seemed to understand, or to even begin to comprehend, what was happening. All were transfixed by the Gate.

Then the Gate began to open.

Before any of them could react, thousands of tiny black arms reached out and quickly pulled them into its depths.

Tea screamed, Joey and Tristan yelped and attempted to pull away, Kaiba struggled like mad, and Yugi and Atem desperately tried to keep everyone together.

"Everyone, grab hands!" Atem shouted, reaching for Yugi and Kaiba. Damn, he thought. The last thing we need right now is to get separated.

Suddenly, they were traveling through a tunnel of light as a human chain, even Kaiba having seen the sense in staying together. Though the trip barely lasted 30 seconds, to the worried and frightened group of friends, it felt like an eternity.

Then there was an even brighter flash of light, and it all went black.

Edward and Alphonse Elric had seen a great many things throughout their lifetimes, bother terrible and wonderful. Improbable and what some would classify as impossible.

But never before had they seen anything quite like this.

They were bound to leave on a train that would take them as close to the desert village of Liore as any railroad went in half an hour. Al had asked to walk around the empty field for a little while, if only to calm their rather frayed nerves; this was the biggest lead on the Philosopher's Stone that they had ever had.

Understandably, they were nervous.

They had expected that, though. They had expected it to be hard. Challenging beyond anything they had done before, even. They had expected the unexpected.

Just not quite this.

For lo and behold, what should happen but a blinding flash of white light dumping six teenagers in strange clothes on the ground in front of them, completely out for the count.

"We... should try and see if we can wake them, Brother," Al said after a long pause, turning to Ed only to find him gone. Confused, he turned back to the mysterious teenagers, only to find Ed trying to kick one of them —a boy with strangely purple spiky hair and blonde bangs lying beside a shorter counterpart— awake.

"Brother!" Al reprimanded.

"What?" his older brother said shamelessly. "I'm just trying to wake them up, like you said!" He flashed a grin.

"Not like that!"

While the brothers began to bicker, Atem groaned as he awoke to a dull pain in his side. He vaguely heard their argument in the background, wondering briefly if it was Joey and Tristan before realizing that he recognized neither voice. He looked to his side to find Yugi lying motionless but for the rise and fall of his tiny chest. Unsure of the brothers' intentions, he surreptitiously began shaking him awake.

Yugi moaned and opened his mouth to say something to the Pharaoh, but Atem put a finger to his lips and pointed to the oblivious Elrics.

"What would you suggest we do? Throw cold water on them?"

"At least it's better than kicking them!"

Oh, so that's why my side hurts, Atem thought idly. He shook his head. But now's not the time for that, first we need to get everyone up and figure out what's going on.

As Atem moved to wake up Kaiba, the shorter one turned back to the unfortunate group, smirking when he saw Atem moving.. "See Al? He woke up!"

If he could've, Alphonse would've rolled his eyes.

"Hello there," he said in his usual friendly tone, "I'm Alphonse Elric. Who are you?"

For the first time, Atema and Yugi actually noticed what they were seeing and hearing, finally making the connection between the 11 year old voice and the huge suit of armor standing in front of them. What kind of place had they landed in where little boys wore suits of armor? Was it really that unsafe here? Or was there an even darker reason behind it?

After a moment, they realized that Alphonse was looking at them expectantly.

"Yugi."

"Atem."

They kept their answers short and succinct, still unsure of these people's friendliness, their suspicions reinforced by the boy in the armor.

"What about the rest of your friends?" the other boy asked. Though his tone was friendly, his stance was on guard, and his golden eyes wary.

It was Yugi who eventually answered, if only to break to tense and awkward silence that had fallen. Pointing to each of them in turn, he said, "That's Kaiba, Joey, Tristan, and Tea. The still haven't woken up yet..." He mostly mumbled the last part to himself.

As if on cue, Kaiba grumbled and began sitting up. "What happened?" he demanded of Atem and Yugi. "Where are we?"

"I don't know, and I don't know, Kaiba," Atem answered frustratedly.

"You're just outside the village of Sestin."

Kaiba turned to the golden-eyed boy. "Who are you?"

"I'm Edward Elric, the FullMetal Alchemist." Arrogance crept into his tone and he flashed a silver pocket watch as though it was a police badge.

"The FullMetal what?"

"Alchemist. It means I study the science of alchemy, which is—"

"I'm not stupid, brat. I know what alchemy is." Kaiba glared at him. "And I also happen to know that alchemy never worked."

"What's going on?" It was Joey; he'd finally woken up and was nudging Tristan and Tea awake.

"This little brat thinks he can trick us into believing that alchemy actually exists."

Unfortunately for Seto Kaiba, Edward Elric hadn't heard a single word beyond "little brat."

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING SO LITTLE HE COULD HIDE BEHIND A BLADE OF GRASS, YOU STUPID BASTARD?" Ed screeched, throwing a punch at Seto Kaiba before he could react.

"Brother! He didn't say that!" Al called exasperatedly.

"He called me little and a liar!"

"That doesn't mean you can just up and punch him!"

Joey, on the other hand, was rolling around on the ground and laughing his ass off.

"Oh man," he gasped between fits of laughter. "I've been waitin' for someone to do that to Rich Boy for a long time."

Tristan and Tea had gotten up by now and were asking the same questions Kaiba had. Ed sighed and drew a hand over his face.

"We don't have time for this," he muttered impatiently. "We have a train to catch! C'mon, Al!" he started to walk away.

"We can't just leave them here!"

"Why not?"

"They're obviously lost, the least we could do is help them find their bearings!"

"Why do we owe anything to them?"

"Well, you did kick one of them and punch another..."

"That doesn't matter! I was only trying to wake the Atem guy up, and the Kaiba dude just plain had it coming. Besides, we really don't have time for this. There won't be another train for days. We have to catch this."

"Well then, why don't we just ride this train with you so you can explain along the way? You're wasting a fair amount of time just standing here arguing about it as it is," Kaiba suggested as though it were obvious, still smarting about being punched in the face, and itching to punch Ed back as soon as he got an opening. "There. Problem solved."

"No way!" Ed shouted, as though the very idea were repulsive. "No tag-alongs!"

"We don't need to go with you afterwards. We'll just stay long enough for us to figure out where we are and what's going on so we can get home. Then we'll be out of your skin," Tea spoke up, playing the role of peacemaker before the situation got too out of hand.

"That's not—" Ed cut off, running his fingers through his hair in frustration. "Fine. But once we get to our destination —whether we're done talking or not— we're gone."

"Edward..." Al said.

"You know I'm right Al."

And that was that.

They made their way to a train compartment towards the back. The train was only sparsely populated, due to its rather remote destination.

"Okay, so what now?" Kaiba demanded.

"Well, where are you from?" Al asked politely, his sweet personality the complete opposite of his brother's unpredictable nature. Looking between the two, Atem wondered how in the world they were related.

"Domino City, Japan," they all answered in unison.

Ed looked confused for a moment, before it hardened into a harsh glare. "Very funny. Now tell us for real."

"What do you mean?" Tristan asked, taken aback.

"Japan? Come on; there is no country called Japan. Now quit jerking me around and just tell the truth already."

Atem felt a sinking sensation in his stomach. "Have you... ever heard of America? Or Egypt? Germany?"

Ed blinked. "What?" Then realization dawned on his face. "You — you're really not from anywhere near here, are you? Because this world has been explored in its entirety and none of those places exist here."

"'This world'? Now what are you going on about brat? Quit with all the dumb lies." Kaiba's voice was icy, with a hint of disbelief.

"I don't think he's lying," Yugi said quietly.

"So says the boy who thinks his friend is a Pharaoh."

"So says the Pharaoh, too." Atem glared a Kaiba, who avoided his gaze. Kaiba was uncomfortable around Atem, having seen him separate from Yugi with his own eyes, but still unwilling to admit it was true. So, instead of dealing with the problem, he simply was doing his best to avoid it.

"Come on!" Kaiba turned back to Yugi. "Are you really going to believe that we somehow ended up on this 'other world', coming from a guy who claims to be an Alchemist? To put this in simple terms so you understand, this is ludi—hey! What the?"

Throughout the entirety of Kaiba's argument, Ed had been growing more and more pissed off at this guy. He did his best not to react, but eventually, he gave in to temptation.

Now this dumbass was being held against the wooden backboard of the seat by a pair of transmuted handcuffs.

"There. Alchemy."

"It's not possible! There has to be a trick!"

"Would you like for me to gag you too? 'Cause I'd be more than happy to, I can assure you."

Kaiba fell silent, though still glaring and struggling mightily against his restraints.

"Thought not."

Joey and Tristan hi-fived and congratulated Ed on a job well done between bouts of laughter at Kaiba's expense. Tea had put her head in her hands and was mumbling something about "boys" and "idiots" and "why me?" Yugi and Atem exchanged a bemused look. Atem could clearly see the message in his counterpart's eyes.

I still don't know if I can trust them yet.

Me either, Atem thought with a sigh. Me either.

But Kaiba definitely had it coming to him.

Al gave his brother a look before turning back to the unknowing world-travelers. "Now, lets see... um, what's the last thing you remember before you all woke up here?"

"It was that weird Gate thing," Joey said. "Swallowed us all right up! Buncha' tiny black arms, creepy little things..." He shuddered, trailing off.

Ed started. "What... kind of Gate?"

"It was huge! And when it opened, we all got pulled in by the weird little arm thingies. There was a little tunnel thingy... and a flash of bright light. Next thing I know I'm waking up here." That was Tristan.

"Do you know anything about it?" Atem asked.

"No. Nothing."

No one was very convinced.

Ed had left Kaiba hanging for a good ten minutes before Al had made him let the stupid bastard down. Besides, the wound to Seto Kaiba's massive ego would surely be much worse than any sort of physical discomfort.

Edward and Alphonse explained as best they could about their country, Amestris, going into detail about their military, and about State Alchemists in particular.

"Oh, so you're a State Alchemist?" Yugi asked.

"Yup. Edward Elric, the FullMetal Alchemist." Once again, arrogance crept into his voice.

Atem looked at him steadily. Ed certainly seemed normal enough, but there was something off about him and Alphonse. Actually, a great deal of things. For one, why on earth was Al in a suit of armor? Why was Ed wearing gloves if he was traveling to the desert?

And why was Ed even in the military yet at all?

The train soon came to a stop. Ed and Al got up, and Ed grabbed a suitcase from an overhead compartment.

"Let's get going, Al. See all of you later. Maybe."

"Wait! Let's at least give them some money so they can find an inn and get some food," Al said, practically pleading with his elder brother.

"Fine." Ed pulled out a check and wrote out an amount. "That should be enough for a few nights. Don't worry about the costs; I have a large research fund. I really don't need it. We should be back by then, if you haven't decided what to do. See ya."

"Wait— why don't we just go with you? Wouldn't that be a lot simpler?" Tea asked.

Ed opened his mouth to speak, but it was Al who answered.

"No. It's too dangerous. You could very easily get hurt."

"But we—"

"No means no. C'mon Al."

And with that, they were gone.

End Ch. 1

A/N: Imma try to post once a week, on Saturdays. But don't be too surprised if I miss a week once in a while. I have tried before to write full multi-chapter stories, but always failed. I'm hoping I can do it better this time because I have a strict layout to follow (i.e. FMA episodes) and I'm just going back and watching them. I'm also trying to always have once extra chapter on hand. I promise, I'm doing the best any procrastinator can! Please review though, reviews are how I feed my plot bunnies.