Chapter Three

Morning came in to Central, which is the center of Amestris. The Central Military Headquarter is getting busy with military officers doing their jobs and today is the day of State Alchemist Examination.

Surrounded by boredom, Colonel Roy Mustang had been looking far, out of the window to the sky. He regretted rushing the paperwork that can last for a long time.

KNOCK KNOCK

"Come in…" Finishing his sentence, Roy stretched his arm and released a yawn.

"Colonel, the assessments papers had already been examined. Here's the report you wanted." Captain Riza Hawkeye passed down a book with a title "WRITTEN EXAMINATION – a list of successful candidate –" to Roy after he is seated.

Running his eye down every single page, Roy spots something… different from the usual. He turned to Riza with a grin on his face, and stated his question.

"I almost forgot that you're one of the examiners, are you not?"

"Yes, I am. Is there any problem?"

"How many this year?"

"53 took the exam, 5 passed, as you can see in the report. As I was saying, is there any problem?"

"No, not at all…" Roy paused mid-sentenced to think about his question again.

"…"

"… That's right. I saw a weird name in the list. You know, the report should include the candidate's gender." Obviously, Roy is starting a silly joke.

"… There is one." Still in her straight face. "She doesn't look like someone around here though."

"Her name does remind me of those Eastern peoples…? Did you say she? "

"A teenage girl."

Roy gave the book back to Riza and lays lazily to his chair, crossing his arm. "You know, they really should raise the age requirements to 20 and above."

Knowing what he is thinking, Riza starts walking towards the door out of the office.

"Battle Trial is in 1130 sharp. Same place." Finishing her sentence, Riza turned the door knob.

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The military peoples started to crowd over the prepared field for Battle Trial, where selected candidates are to show their alchemy and battle skill to pass the exam.

"The Battle Trial will start soon. This year's examiner is Lieutenant Colonel Alex Louis Armstrong." A woman around 30s, who's in charge of briefing can be heard from the candidates place.

"At least I get to have a better view this year." Roy said, standing beside Alex.

"You should stand back colonel. It's going to be dangerous."

"A few meters away, and I won't get a single bruise."

"So, there's a woman this year?" Alex stated, noticing a black haired female standing on the candidates side.

"A girl, that's what I heard from Capt. Hawkeye."

"Oh, no wonder she looks short." Indeed, the girl was the shortest among the candidates.

"Don't worry about the girl, just give all your strength to it. So that it is fair among everyone."

"Are you sure colonel?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"You are aiming for the girl, am I right?"

"If she passes then I'll have her as my subordinate." Roy said, smirking.

"As you wish."

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As the fifth and final battle begin, the military men whose watching started to whisper and talk among themselves, instead of cheering.

"Hey, look! Isn't that a woman? I bet she can't defeat the Lt. Colonel, not even one of the men did." One of them started.

"Hah, she's small! I bet she's only up to Lt. Colonel's waist. She'll get squashed in no time!"

As the girl move into the field, she didn't waste her time on those sounds around. In her mind, there's only "The last thing and I'll be a State Alchemist". Facing straight to the famous Armstrong, she bows politely as a greeting.

"I can see that you are well-behaved, young lady. Bowing is not a culture here, may I know where are you from, miss?" Alex asked after his bow to hers.

"I'm sorry, Lt. Colonel Armstrong. My hometown is confidential."

"I see. Shall we begin?"

"Yes, I'm ready."

In a second's time, Alex punches the ground to start his alchemy. Sand flies around as the ground roses, blurring eye sights. As the field is clear, Alex noticed that the girl is gone.

Alex lifts up his head towards the sound and to his surprise, the girl is on mid-air, with a kick heading towards his face. Alex punches the ground once more to attack the girl. Despite the ground rising beneath her, the girl lands with her leg without any damage.

Once again, Alex is astonished. He took some rocks near him and started punching towards the girl. Suddenly, the girl disappeared. A slight wind blew beside him, and by the time he noticed, he tripped to the swing by her puny leg and fall back to the ground, a hand almost meeting his face. The ground got clearer after that and soon visible.

"Wow, i-is that a pass?!"

"Hey! Hey! Hey! HEY!!!" The woman who was briefing the candidates came running around with her clipboard. "Show's over!!! Get back to your work and no GAMBLING HERE!!!" She shouted and swings her clipboard round and round.

"Gah!! It's the Clipborad Officer!!"

"RUN!!!"

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Breathing heavily, a sweet dropped from the girl's face to the ground, she didn't bother it, still hadn't move her hand away from the Colonel's face.

"Congratulations, young lady. You've passed the test." Alex said, offering a hand shake when he's still lying on the ground.

"Thanks." The girl said, moves her hands away and starts shaking his hand. She then helped Alex to get up.

"You're quite strong, miss. Oh, I haven't know your name yet, miss…"

"Aoi, Tanaka Aoi. Nice to make your acquaintances. Are you hurt anywhere? It seems that your back is scratched by those rocks. Stay still." She said. Alex obeys her without replying as he is curious what the girl will do.

"It seems that the girl has passed the examination." Roy came with his hand in his pocket, grinning. As the girl caught sight of Roy, her expression suddenly changed to a gloom, and irritation.

"Stay still now, Lt. Colonel Armstrong." As the Alice finishes her sentence, she ran behind Alex and examined the scratches. There's skins peeled off and some bleeding a little she thought.

Roy too got curious what the little girl's going to do, he looked at Alex for an answer, but Alex just shocks his head. "I told you not to move, Lt. Colonel Armstrong. Not even a headshake." The girl suddenly burst out from behind. Roy starts walking towards her and the girl seems to be closing her eyes to concentrate, letting out a breath.

"This is going to be hurt a little, bear with me please."

CLAP! CLAP!

Closing her eye, Alice touched Alex's back. As soon as her hand landed on his rough, peeled skin, it let out a faint, greenish glow. Slowly, the peeled skins gone, leaving only some trail of blood behind. Roy, the nearest one to the scene, widened his eye and remembered something familiar about it.

"Miss Aoi Tanaka, what did you just do?" Roy said, dumb-founded.

-End of Chapter-