Meeting with Maes Hughes who came with the entourage in the mess hall, while putting up with his talk about Elicia, Ed learns Hughes has been promoted to a Lt. Colonel and is now the head of the Investigations department. Just before Ed can talk about Marcoh with Hughes, Grand comes in mentioning that Dr. Marcoh is a traitor who deserted his troops during the Eastern rebellion. While Ed tries look up information on Dr. Marcoh having no luck, in addition to dealing with Al who still has the cat, Ed learns from Hughes that his annual recertification as a State Alchemist is on the way very soon. Hoping to learn more about Dr. Marcoh from Mustang, and pass the annual recertification exam, Ed challenges Mustang to a mock battle to demonstrate their skills. While Mustang refuses, the Führer and Grand however agree, and Hughes suggests the parade grounds for the mock battle. On his way out Mustang also admits to Riza Hawkeye and Jean Havoc that though he'll follow their orders for now, he will become Führer, and suggests he'll want for all women to wear mini-skirts, something that Havoc is happy with while Hawkeye is annoyed. The next day after Hughes who is the announcer gets booed at for showing a picture of his daughter, the battle begins when Hughes runs off the field. At first Mustang has the upper hand with his flame abilities and taking advantage of Edward's short temper, where all Ed can do is hide behind the crowd, taking some of the audience with him.

Ed makes a comeback by setting up a decoy with his coat in a statue and destroys Mustang's ignition glove only to find there is another one which he uses to destroy the giant cannon Edward made. Just as Ed is going to lose, Mustang is distracted by an old wartime memory, which Ed responds by sticking his automail sword directly at Mustang and the Führer then calls the match on a draw so the field does not take anymore damage. Ed and Mustang are then sentenced to clean-up their mess which is the reason for Mustang refusing earlier. At Ed's request Mustang mentions the reason for his earlier hesitation is due to the Ishval Civil War and knowing it would be good to see him, gives Ed a tip at finding Dr. Marcoh. Shortly afterward, Hawkeye decides to adopt the puppy and names it Black Hayate, and shoots around it as punishment for peeing on the floor, while Mustang meets with Hughes. Hughes reveals that despite Ed's report, there is still strife against the military occupation led by Hakuro in Reole. Mustang decides to keep it secret from Ed at the moment, since it had been a major accomplishment for Ed, and he'll allow Ed to learn about it on his own someday. As Ed decides to put the cat in front of a potential home knowing it is all he can do, Hughes confirmed Mustangs suspicions that the alchemist killer is in Central right now which is why the Führer moved to Eastern Command with his entourage. In Central City, the killer is getting ready to head to East City after killing another military officer.