Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender nor Fullmetal Alchemist.
Chapter 02
Blonde
Mr. Akira had been trying to pull the hind wheel of his carriage out of the mud using his own strength and the strength of his ostrich horses for almost an hour now but to no avail. The wheel was buried too deep. He's starting to lose hope. He and his pregnant wife might need to walk but it was still ten kilometers away to their destination. It might put his wife's and his baby's health at risk.
After one last futile push against the back of the carriage, Mr. Akira finally gave up. His wife watched him sadly as she sat on a rock beside the road.
"Let's just hope that someone might pass by and give us a lift, honey," Mrs. Akira suggested to her husband.
"I've doubt it sweetie," Mr. Akira replied sadly as he slumped down beside the carriage, "You know we took a shortcut here in the middle of the woods. I'm not sure if someone would actually come along."
Mrs. Akira heaved an unhappy sigh, "What should we do now?"
Suddenly, they heard rustles in the bushes not far from them.
"What is that?" Inquired Mrs. Akira to her husband. There was panic in her voice. Mr. Akira ran to his wife and put his arms around her protectively. There was a sound of heavy breathing coming from a large animal nearby. The ostrich horses were making frightened sounds, and began to act restless in their reins; they were trying to get off the reins connected to the carriage but it was futile; they knew danger was approaching.
An armadillo bear stepped out of the shadows. The animal was probably twice the size of a bull. Its eyes were burning with hot temper. It was not pleased to see an intruder in its territory. It slowly prowled towards the couple who were trembling in terror and unable to move. Mr. and Mrs. Akira screamed as the animal stood on its hind legs and raised its fore arms with claws to attack.
Suddenly there was a crackling sound and two wooden blocks extended towards the armadillo bear, knocking it off its feet.
Mr. and Mrs. Akira's mouth hung wide open, trying to comprehend what just happened, both of them still hugging each other; Mrs. Akira's hand holding her belly protectively.
The animal went back on its feet and shook its head trying to clear its vision. A blonde young man with braided hair wearing a black jacket and black trousers jumped down from a tree and landed on his feet between the couple and the armadillo bear.
The creature growled at Edward Elric. It was more pissed than before. It began running towards his direction and then pounced over him but before it landed on the fullmetal alchemist, Ed stoop down and brought his hands to the ground. There was a spark of alchemy and a giant fist shape earthen boulder emerged from the ground and hit the armadillo bear hard on the jaw. The animal was flung backwards and suddenly it rolled and curled into a protective ball and rolled away in defeat.
Ed frowned for seeing how the animal retreated ridiculously, "Is that a chimera?" He wondered.
"Uh.." Mr. Akira said. Ed turned around and looked at the couple, "Thank you for saving us. We owe you our lives. We're probably animal food by now if it wasn't for you."
"Don't mention it." Ed answered tiredly while rubbing his nape. "Was that kind of chimera, I mean, that animal common here?"
"Oh you mean the armadillo bear? They are rare but this wood is their usual territory." Mr. Akira answered. "Anyway, sir, do you happened to be an earthbender?"
"An earthbender?" Ed raised his eyebrows, confused with the question.
"Yeah, you just used earthbending to fight that armadillo bear, right? However you really have an unusual color of hair. Is that the new trend now in Earth Kingdom?" Mr. Akira added, noting Ed's blonde hair.
There was a bit of awkward silence for half a minute. Ed didn't know what to say to them since he had no idea what they were talking about. Admitting to them that he was an alchemist didn't seem useful either since he was not sure if they even know what alchemy is.
"Er…anyway, sir, I didn't get your name?" Mr. Akira said finally.
"My name's Edward Elric, but you can call me Ed." The fullmetal alchemist answered. "Actually, I have no idea where I am right now and I've been wondering around for a day and a half. I'm looking for my comrade. I'm sure he dropped into this place, too but we got separated."
"Oh," Mr. Akira said, "We would like to help you. Perhaps by giving you a ride to Yu Dao city where you can probably ask for help from the authorities. Unfortunately, our carriage is stuck."
"That can be fixed," Ed said. The blonde alchemist pressed his palms against the ground and a bulk of earth pushed the wheel of the carriage out from the deep mud.
Roy Mustang was clever enough that he managed to reproduced fake Yuwon money through transmutation of a silver coins from his own pocket with mere rocks, after seeing a sample of Yuwon upclose when a fruit vendor in Yu Dao city showed it to him (the vendor showed what Yuwon looks like after he refused to take money from Roy; money that came from Roy's original world). Those fake moneys were the ones he used to buy dinner; therefore, he managed to survive another day in such unfamiliar place two days after the gate of truth sent him in this world.
He wondered if the fullmetal alchemist got into the same world he was in now. If he did, that means that Dr. Harlow and his homunculus were here, too.
Roy learned that the city's name is Yu Dao and after few chit-chats with generous citizens, he learned a bit more about it-the so called firebenders and earthbenders, waterbenders from water tribes in Polar Regions-people who seem to be have a special kind of ability to control elements. He wished there was simpler explanation to it that will make it easier for him to believe everything but one thing was sure, he needed to be careful; if such people exist it could be dangerous to be around them. Though he could not relate too much with the so called hundredth year war that the citizens mentioned about their history, he tried to listen nonetheless.
"Wow! That guy called Aang must be really something," Roy commented through the chit-chat over the bar counter, pretending to be interested.
"How could you not know about him? He's the hero that ended the hundredth year war! Because of him, everything is peaceful now." An old but energetic bartender commented while cleaning up some mugs with a dry cloth. "Say, you're not from here are you? But even if so, you could not possibly not know about the Avatar."
"I guess I'm not that updated with the news." Roy replied forcing a humble smile on his face and then gobbling up the remaining piece of his sandwich. "Anyway, do you happen to see an unusual looking boy wondering around here? He looks like a foreigner like me, but he got a blonde hair. Around seventeen years old?"
The old bystander frowned at the flame alchemist and squinted for good five seconds and then hooted with laugher.
"You sure are a good looking guy, but I think you aren't that foreign-looking to me. And I've never heard the word 'blonde' before." The bystander said between chuckles.
"I mean, a boy with golden hair, a yellowish hair, like that of a corn." Roy explained helpfully. Come to think of it, the state alchemist had never seen any blonde people around the city of Yu Dao nor any other hair color other than dark brown, black and gray.
"Nope! I've never seen one. Not that I remember someone like that." The old bystander answered while scratching his chin and thinking.
"I saw one!" The old bystander's grandson suddenly emerged behind his grandfather and walked closer to the alchemist. "But I don't think what I saw was a boy."
"Eh, don't kid around with our customer here, kiddo. He's not from around him so be nice to him." The old bartender told the kid rather irately.
"But I'm not kidding around. I saw it last night! Police were fighting against her. She was throwing cars at them this, but without touching them." The kid narrated, waving his hands to describe cars being thrown in the air, "It was awesome but scary. They couldn't handle by themselves her but then Toph Bei Fong showed up and helped them."
"Ah, Toph Bei Fong, they said she's the greatest earthbender of all time. She's one of avatar's close friends, too." The bartender commented and then he turned and looked at the flame alchemist. "Are you sure you're friend is a boy?"
Toph, who happened to be passing by in front of the said bar had overheard the conversation and the mention of her name. She decided to stand by the entrance door and listened to it some more.
"I think I know that girl you were talking about, kid." Roy Mustang said looking grave suddenly, which made the old bartender and his grandson flinched. "Don't worry, she's not a friend of ours. She's dangerous and in fact, the reason why my friend and I are in this world is to capture her, too."
The old bartender and his grandson sighed in relief.
"So, are blonde people back in your place that dangerous?" The bartender asked.
"You could say that." The flame alchemist replied. "So kid, was the girl captured? Where is she now?"
"Unfortunately, she got away." The bartender's grandson answered. "She could fly! Without wings!"
The bartender gasped, "Wow! Blonde people from your place could fly!?"
"No, not really. But that girl is not exactly human." Roy said.
"I'm not exactly sure where she went. But she disappeared in the night sky last night when she flew away." The kid added.
"I see." The flame alchemist stood up from his seat, "Put the bill on my tab, mister. I'll be back. And if ever you see my friend, tell him to look for me in this city. And don't worry. My friend and I are good people. But stay away from that blonde girl though."
Toph, hearing the alchemist's footstep closing by, she decided to hide at the other corner of the building. She felt two more footsteps followed Roy. The alchemist knew that he was being followed; two strangers had been watching him for an hour now since he was in the bar.
"Tsk, typically bullies," Roy scoffed under his breath. Then he started running. One of the strangers whistled and three more men emerged from the corner of the street blocking Roy's path. The flame alchemist stood surrounded by five men with the intention of robbing him.
Toph padded closer to where Roy and the other five men were, listening with her ears and watching what was happening through the vibrations under her feet behind the corner of another building.
"Just give us what we want and no one gets hurt," One of guys demanded.
"LEAVE ME alone and no one will get hurt," The alchemist replied with a sneer.
One of the men made a roundhouse kick towards Roy blasting a flame that almost burnt the alchemist's bangs if he didn't leaned backward. Roy thought that this guy must be one of those so called firebenders. The one behind him was going to grab him from behind but Roy's eyes were fast enough to notice him that he managed to grab the guy's arm first, blocked his leg with his own and threw him over to the ground in judo style.
"Hmm, not bad!" Toph commented herself in a whisper; impressed with the alchemist's moves as he sense the movements from the ground.
The third member of the robbers stomped his feet against the ground and an earthen column ascended towards the alchemist. With no time to dodge, Roy hung his arms firmly in front of himself to block it but the impact was too strong for him that he was thrown off the ground and rolled several feet away when his body hit the ground.
"Ow!" Toph squinted as she continued to listen; thought that that impact must have had hurt Roy real bad.
The bullies laughed at the alchemist mockingly. "Just give up and give us your money, you loser. Then maybe we'll let you leave."
Toph was starting to have the urge to step in and give the alchemist a hand. But she hesitated. She decided she would listen some more and wait a little longer.
Roy wiped the blood off his mouth with the back of his arm as he pulled back himself to his feet. He stretched one gloved arm aiming at the five men; his fingers ready to snap.
"I don't wanna do this, but you leave me no choice." He glared at them.
There was a big explosion in one of the streets of Yu Dao and smokes rose towards the sky from where the explosion occurred. Mr. and Mrs. Akira's carriage happened to be driving on the road beside the cliff overlooking Yu Dao City, and heading towards the city itself. They were just a kilometer away from the city gate now. Ed who happened to be riding at the back of the said carriage heard and saw the explosion from that distance.
"That blast!" Ed told himself, "I can't be mistaken. That's Roy's!"
Toph finally came out of hiding. That explosion was completely unexpected. She was not sure how it was possible but she was sure that it was that guy's doing. Roy's doing. Whoever he was, he got an unusual skill like the girl she fought last night and he knew the girl himself. Toph knew she has to talk to this guy somehow. She got questions she knew only this guy could answer.
She was originally planning to talk to him after the alchemist managed to beat up the guys bullying him if he could or if he could not, Toph was planning to barge in and save him instead, and that way, she would be able to talk to him without worrying about approaching him and earning his trust. Apparently, the situation changed abruptly.
"Wait!" Toph called at the flame alchemist, and based on vibrations under her feet, he was already on a run, leaving the five men traumatized by the explosion behind and gaining more distance from her. "I said wait!"
Knowing that Roy wasn't listening and was not planning to halt, Toph earthbent her way towards him to catch up.
"Hey you! I said wait!" Toph screamed, her voice muffled by the sound of her earthbending.
Roy noticed her but could not hear what she was saying. Instead, he thought that he was being attacked again by an earthbender and so he pulled into a sudden halt, swung his arm and aimed his fingers at Toph.
There was a snapping sound followed by an explosion.
As if in slow motioned, Roy saw Toph was thrown in the air with earth debris flying along her from the blast; her hair disentangled from the bun and became loose. In seconds, her wounded body hit the ground and rolled several meters away. It didn't take long before the flame alchemist realized he made a stupid mistake.
….to be continued.
Author's Note:
Okay, Sorry again for the grammar and spelling mistakes and for the lousy title chapter (couldn't think of any better title chapter). I wrote this one is half a day and was actually a bit of a hurry. I might not be able to update this for a while though because I'm gonna be really busy with work. However, just in case, there will be someone out there who are willing to volunteer in continuing to update this where I will give him/her the idea or collaborate with me for this in order to be able to update this regularly and sooner, that would be great. Just PM me if ever though ^^;
But if there'll be no one, then, sorry, I guess we'll just have to wait for a while ^^;
Anyway, please read and review please. And I hope you enjoy the story so far.
