THE END OF CHAPTER 16 HAS BEEN REDONE. GO READ IT.

A year between updates isn't very promising, is it? I also think it's funny how many times I've changed my username while writing this story. :)

I have an explanation: my inspiration died in a hole and I had to find it and dig it up. With a toothbrush.

...Okay, so I really just lost my inspiration. And I got lazy. I did marching band for the first time (drumline FTW). And since I've last updated, I've gone through multiple anime obsessions that include card games on motorcycles and super Saiyans, so if something completely off topic shows up...I'm sorry. Oh, and I read Mark of Athena. Well, 100 pages of it so far...

I don't own it, y'all.

Previously...

Percy kills some monsters and notices how much faster they're starting to reform and come back. Ed and Al tell Percy and Annabeth they're from an alternate universe (Ed comments to Al, "I bet our story will be all over the place by the end of the week."). Some random 'evil' organization (Vlakas Bakas) plans to use the FMA characters to do their evil bidding. The only problem with this? These guys are total wannabes.

Ed had been right. It had only been three days, and word had spread about the Amestrians and Xingese teenagers. It hadn't really been much of a surprise. With a camp full of teenagers, rumors simply spread like wildfire. Demigods had been running up to the group all day and asking them endless questions. Some of which were...stranger than others.

"Are you guys really aliens?"

"What's it like where you're from?"

"Are there gods in Amatis, or what ever your country's called?"

"Can we go there?"

"Are all the men there as hot as you guys?"

"Can you hook me up with a girl from your country? No one here will go out with me."

One would think if someone found out that you were from a different dimension that you'd be avoided and feared. Apparently the demigods hadn't heard of this. You do have to give them some credit, though. They've seen plenty of strange things in their lives.

The foreigners patience was wearing thin after three hours of the ungodly onslaught of questions, and to put in simply, they were pissed. Ed was ready to punch in Percy's in face, but Al had managed to calm his brother down. Sort of.

"How can you be sure it was Percy, brother? Anyone could have figured it out."

"Yeah right," Ed muttered under his breath. He'd have to punch Percy later. Hopefully multiple times.

"On the bright side, they don't know much else about us," Mei tried, hoping to cheer her friends up before someone - probably a certain dark haired demigod, as of right now - ended up severely injured.

Ed rolled his eyes. "Yeah, because we haven't been going on about alchemy the whole time we've been here. Ling hasn't been parading around like the soon-to-be emperor he is. Because none of us gave any thought as to what we did here."

"Ed's right," Ling grudgingly admitted. "I'm surprised this whole situation hasn't completely gone to hell. We need to be more cautious with what we say and do." The other five nodded in agreement, and a heavy silence fell over the group.

The six friends were out near the outskirts of Camp, having finally escaped the crazed demigods, hoping to avoid them for as long as possible. The border was close by, although none actually knew that. They were moping (or 'angsting sexily', as some put it) about their current situation. The only good thing that seemed to come out about everyone knowing they were probably from another universe was that maybe now people would be able to help them. On the flip side, the six were probably regarded with even more suspicion now, and were definitely the talk of the camp.

Winry, unlike the rest of her brooding friends, had gotten over the incident quickly enough. She was currently working on a spare piece of unfinished metalwork she'd found in the Hephaestus cabin. She did refrain from humming, though. She could see the twitch in Ed's eye, the slight pout of Mei, and the silent brooding of the other three. Unlike the rest of her friends, she'd actually felt herself fitting in with some of the campers, even though they hadn't been in this strange world for much more than a week. The Hephaestus kids all had some sort of respect for her, and she was able to come up with some amazing ideas after being exposed to the strange technology the demigods worked with. Mythological technology was really something that got a girl thinking. She did have to wonder when she'd get back home, though. She did have a job in Rush Valley that couldn't simply be abandoned. She really didn't mind being here, but Winry knew her priorities. Getting back home to Amestris as soon as possible was what she and her five companions needed. The question was, how? Winry sighed quietly and tried to push all of her conflicting thoughts to the back of her mind as she turned back to her work, grabbing a small screwdriver.

Meanwhile, located in some bushes slightly outside the camp borders, a force of twenty or so 'warriors' were whispering about how to get the Amestian and Xingese teenagers outside the camp borders so they could attack them. One suggested yelling for help. Another said bribing them with a way home. Yet another wanted to offer them drugs. The rest of the shadowed figures stared at him.

"What?" he said rather loudly. Six heads snapped up, having heard his voice. The drug-man quickly covered his mouth with his hands and ducked down lower. Hopefully the teenagers would dismiss the noise and ignore it. The foreigners weren't giving up that easily, though.

"There's a large concentration qi over there," Mei muttered under her breath to her friends. Ling nodded, drawing his sword into his hand. He could feel them too. The prince - emperor - sunk into a defensive stance as he eased his way towards the qi he felt. The rest of the teenagers fell in behind him, Ed and Al positioned protectively around Winry (who was wielding her trusty wrench).

The leader of the group of Vlakas Bakas swore, but his expression soon changed to a smirk as he whispered, "Ready yourselves, men. We're going to reveal ourselves now." He gripped his large broadsword tighter in anticipation. On his signal, the twenty-odd 'soldiers' stood up in sync...wait, one of them didn't see the signal and he stood up a couple seconds late. The Vlakas Bakas stood up almost in sync.

The dimension-travelers instantly sank into their respective forms. Unfortunately, they weren't aware of how much a joke these people actually were.

"We are here with an offer," the Vlakas Bakas leader said confidently. "We have the means for all of you to return home, but first we need a...favor."

Ling's eyes narrowed even further (if that's possible). "How do we know we can trust you?"

The leader cracked a grin. "You can't! We were sent here to take all of you back to our master. Now, why don't you all come quietly?" Leader hefted his broadsword onto his shoulder in a show of strength.

Ling smirked. "I don't think so."

The leader laughed. "Boy, you're outnumbered. I have twenty strong warriors with me. There are six of you. A kid with a toy sword, two girls with knives, weaponless blondies, and is that a wrench? I don't know what my master sees in all of you."

Obviously, the poor Vlakas Bakas leader had a death wish. Insulting a group of already pissed teenagers who are ready to beat the crap out of something was definitely not his smartest idea.

With a yell, Ed made the first move and lunged right into the middle of the VBs. One of the men fell like a rock, already unconscious, after he was nailed in the face by an automail fist. Only then did the leader of the Vlakas Bakas realize his mistake.

As if the first attack had signaled the rest of the foreigners, the rest sprang forward, eager to release some anger and take care of the idiots who dare insult them.

Winry even managed to take two of them out with her wrench.

A couple minutes later found unconscious Bakas members on the ground, while the considerably unharmed foreigners smugly glared at the idiots who dared attack them. The six had realized how much of a stress reliever their (rather one-sided) fight actually was about halfway through it. It felt extremely relieving to take one's anger out on somebody by decking them in the face. ("Violence does solve all our problems.")

Unfortunately, these thoughts were also forgotten as some of the foreigners' least favorite people at the moment entered the scene.

Two demigods rushed into the clearing, weapons in hand. Ed scowled, a look of distaste already on his face. So much for the peace. He cracked his knuckles. Then again, he was still up for some more face punching.

Percy and Annabeth came to a halt, and then proceeded to blanch as they saw the carnage on the ground.

"Uh...what happened here?" Percy struggled to figure out what happened in his mind. There were at least twenty figures laying on the ground!

"What does it look like?" Ed snapped. "We got attacked by these idiots."

"Punching people is a great stress reliever. Didn't even use my sword," Ling offhandedly commented.

Annabeth had bent down next to the leader of the Vlakas Bakas, feeling for his pulse. Thankfully, it was there, though faint. A huge welt had already formed on his face, and he looked worse for wear. But ass soon as she recognized the man's face, her concern evaporated on the spot.

"Oh, gods, it's those morons."

Percy recognized the man as well and tried to stifle his laughter. He failed. Horribly.

Annabeth couldn't help but crack a grin as well. These guys were total wannabe villains who thought they were all that. They showed up every once in a while, but they were never any threat. The best thing to do was knock them out and forget about 'em. They'd crawl back to their 'master' as soon as they woke back up.

So Annabeth pushed the VB's to the back of her mind and turned back to the six teenagers and tried to ignore the death glares they were giving her and Percy.

"We realize that you guys haven't had the best time here, and because Percy slipped your secret (great job, Seaweed Brain), everyone's hounding you guys about being from a different universe. I'm sorry, for what it's worth," Annabeth said sincerely. Taking a breath, hoping she wasn't going to regret her next words, she said, "We realize that you guys are getting really fed up with being here, so we've decided that we're going to take you guys to New York City tomorrow."

Tell me if the demigods should have been a little more shocked, freaked out, etc. by the FMA characters. Wasn't really sure what to do with that...So yeah...anyways, the next chapter WILL be NYC (and possibly some freaked out demigods). No excuses. Who knows when, but hey.

I'm also trying figuring out which characters to start bringing in. Whether or not this should continue into HoO. If I should have any homunculi, etc. Any suggestions are welcome. As long as they aren't stupid. Kidding. ;)

I'm planning on revamping previous chapters, so if there was something you think SHOULD have happened in any of the situations in previous chapters, but it didn't happen...tell me (within reason, of course). I can try and incorporate some stuff in there. So seriously, if you want to anything to happen in this story, now's the time to tell me! Review or PM works. :)

There's a crap ton more stuff I want to say, but I can save it for later.

Happy Valentine's Day, and see you guys next time!