Stumped, Ed thought for a moment. Then, he looked up and asked, "Do you have automail here?" Bulma shook her head. Ed removed his right glove, and Bulma saw the mechanical marvel underneath. She took his hand, examined it, and then asked, "What's your range of motion with this thing?" Ed grinned. "As much as my original arm. My left leg is automail as well." Bulma looked as though she had just discovered buried treasure. Then, Vegeta came back. "Woman!" Bulma's expression turned venomous. "I thought I told you to go away!" "Oh, be quiet, woman! I just sensed Frieza! He's on his way!"
Immediately, Bulma ran for a phone. "Yamcha, get out of the game. Frieza is coming." She turned to Vegeta. "What about Krillin and Gohan? Should I call them?" Vegeta shook his head. "Chrome Dome and the kid are already flying. I need to get moving." Bulma ran in front of him. "Now wait just a minute. I'm going too." Vegeta looked surprised. "Are you mad? Frieza could kill you with a gesture!" Bulma nodded. "Which he's probably going to do anyway. I never got to see him when we were on Namek, and I'm not going to miss this opportunity. Just carry this Capsule Corp. tracer, and I'll be able to follow you." With a look that said "I'll kill you for this," Vegeta snatched the tracer and flew away. Bulma looked over at Ed and Al, only to see their surprised faces. "What's wrong, guys?" Ed pointed at Vegeta's disappearing figure, and stammered, "H-he ju-just f-f-flew a-away!" Bulma giggled. "Yeah, he does that. If you want to meet more people who can fly, you can come with me." Nodding vigorously, Ed and Al climbed into Bulma's Capsule Jet (another source of surprise for them), and they where on there way.
Once in the air, Bulma gave the brothers a brief review of everything that had happened after she met Goku. They were skeptical about certain aspects of her tale, but where very interested in Shenron. "Could you describe him?" Ed had launched himself into the front of the cockpit. Bulma, who was surprised at his sudden interest, did her best. "Well, he's about 250m long, green, with red eyes and two horns." Ed looked back to his brother. "That's it, Al. That's the dragon on that psycho's robe! His vision was real!" "But what about the starburst, brother? Where did that come from?" At this point, Bulma interjected. "I don't know about a starburst, but Shenron is summoned from the Dragon Balls, and they give a pretty good light show." Neither brother responded, but Ed looked thoughtful.
Eventually, they reached Vegeta's location. There were several other people with him. They introduced themselves as Yamcha, Pu'ar, Tien, Chiaotzu, Krillin, Gohan, and Piccolo. Piccolo really caught the brothers' attention. After all, they had never seen a green man before.
Gohan began talking to Piccolo. "Piccolo, are you sure Frieza is coming? Couldn't be someone else?" Piccolo shook his head. "I'm afraid not, Gohan. There's no mistaking that energy. What worries me is that there's someone almost as powerful with him." Al, ever curious, spoke out. "Excuse me, but who is Frieza, and why are you all so afraid of him?" Vegeta started laughing. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!" Ed didn't appreciate having his little brother made fun of. "Hey, Spiky! It's a fair question! We've never heard of this Freezer character, and Al wanted to know who he is!" Bulma spoke up. "First of all, It's Frieza, not Freezer. Second, he's an evil tyrant who has his grip on a large part of the galaxy. He has enough power in his finger to destroy an entire planet! We thought our friend Goku had defeated him, but it seems he's on his way here." Ed's eyes shot wide open. "Let me get this straight. This tyrant has enough power to destroy a planet, and you know someone powerful enough to beat him?" Bulma nodded. "Yep, that's right." Ed felt his knees start to buckle. Gohan caught him. "Don't worry Ed. I'm sure my dad will show up in time." "So, your dad is Goku?" Gohan nodded. Al, sensing the need for a change of subject, asked another question. "So, how is it that you are all able to fly? We've never seen anything like that before." This time, Tien answered. "We manipulate our spirit energy into an aura around our bodies. Then we move the aura with our minds. As the aura moves, so do we." Al considered for a moment, then asked, "Does this energy have other uses?" "It sure does." piped up Yamcha. "We can use it in battle. We just have to form the energy into a projectile." "That's not all it can do, Yamcha." Piccolo floated down from a rock pillar. "It can also be used to create things. Another like myself created the Dragon Balls with his energy. I can use it to heal minor wounds and make garments." Al was impressed. "It sounds pretty versatile."
Suddenly, all of the martial artists looked of to the horizon. Everyone heard Krillin mutter "He's here." A large, circular ship descended from the heavens. Once on land, a ramp lowered from the belly of the ship, and several soldiers ran out and formed two columns on either side of the ramp. A small being, followed by a much larger one, descended the ramp. Ed became very nervous. "Is the big one Frieza?" "No," Vegeta answered, "That's his father, King Cold. The smaller one is Frieza." Al nudged his brother. "Ed, I can't see very well. Can you transmute some binoculars for me?" Ed shrugged. "I don't know Al. Can we use alchemy on this side of the gate?" "Well," the younger brother responded, "No time like the present." Ed nodded. He stood, clapped his hands together, placed them on the ground and... made a perfect pair of binoculars! Pleased, he made another pair for himself, and the two of them got a better look at Frieza and his father. Ed noticed something.
"Hey, is Frieza supposed to be half metal?" The others looked at him strangely. "What do you mean?" asked Krillin. "Well, see for yourself." He handed Krillin the Binoculars. After looking through them, Krillin let out a frightened gulp. "He's right guys. Frieza's been turned into a cyborg!" Vegeta grunted. "Makes sense. Kakarot gave him quite a beating." Ed glanced up. "Kakarot? I thought he was beaten buy Goku." Krillin laughed. "Well, Goku is what we call him. It's his human name. But he was born a Saiyan, and Vegeta insists on calling him by his Saiyan name." Ed rolled his eyes and looked back to Frieza. He was giving orders to his minions. Since Ed had never been very good at sitting tight, he nudged his brother, nodded to him, and began running down to Frieza. Al followed, knowing his brother was about to get into trouble. The others called out (as quietly as possible) for the two to come back, but Ed ignored them. Whatever this spirit energy could do, it couldn't possibly match his alchemy.
Frieza noticed the new arrivals. "What's this? A couple of earthlings come to defend their planet?" Ed stood defiantly about 15 feet away from Frieza and said, "I am Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist." Frieza chuckled. "Well, I don't know what an alchemist is, but it seems as though you are challenging me." Ed nodded. "That's exactly what I'm doing." Frieza started laughing. "HAHAHAHAHAHA! As if you could hope to defeat me! However, I admire your bravery. I'll kill you with a full power blast to honor it." Frieza raised his hand, formed a HUGE ball of energy, and threw it straight at Ed. The only thing Ed could think of to do was transmute the energy, so he did. He clapped his hands, stuck them out, and when the energy struck him, he felt it enter his body. Back where the Z-Warriors were watching, Vegeta declared "His energy level just jumped up to match Frieza's!" Ed could feel incredible strength running through his entire body. It was as if he had drunk 100 cups of coffee, and the caffeine had turned into raw power. Frieza, who had been expecting Ed to vaporize, became quite fearful. He threw another energy ball, and this one was absorbed by Alphonse, who had taken the opportunity to draw a transmutation circle. Ed watched as Al's armor body became smoother than any blacksmith could hope to make it. The points on his head, shoulders, and elbows became 10 times sharper than diamonds. With a grin, Ed clapped his hands together to transmute his right arm into a sword, which he usually did in battle. However, the sword he made was three times bigger than it usually was. He looked down at it, and his grin widened. "I'm not sure what just happened," he said," but I think I'm going to like it." Ed charged right at Frieza, and drove his sword right between the tyrant's eyes. Al, meanwhile, took out all the foot soldiers. Ed turned to King Cold, who held up his hands nervously. "Please don't kill me! I'll leave right now! You'll never hear from me again!" Ed chuckled sardonically. "If your son is any example, I doubt that you're telling the truth." He lifted his sword above his head, and sliced King Cold in two.
After Ed transmuted his arm back to normal, he heard someone say "Well, I was going to help, but you seem to have everything under control." Ed turned and saw a young man with purple hair. He was dressed in a black muscle shirt, with a blue jacket, black pants, orange boots, and a sword. Al stepped forward. "Who are you?" "My name's Trunks, and I'm here to meet Goku." "You're out of luck," Ed informed him, "he isn't here." Trunks nodded. "I know, but I know where he's going to be. Go tell the others to follow me if they want to meet Goku when he arrives." Trunks stood up, and flew away. Ed and Al ran (with speed that amazed them) up to the others and told them what transpired. "He knows where Kakarot is going to be?" Ed nodded. "That's what he said Vegeta. I don't know if he's trustworthy, but it seems like it's worth a shot." Yamcha spoke. "He's right. We should at least check it out." The others agreed and, after a quick flying lesson, they followed Trunks.