鋼の錬金術師 (FullMetal Alchemist)
Chapter 6 The New Apprentice
Ran Fan led them through many streets, practically in a labrynth.
"Say, Ran, why are we coming and going?". Lust asked.
"The Master's house is hidden within the city. There's no easy way to get to it. It's the end of the last Lost Alley".
"Lost Alley?". Envy asked.
"There's a legend that says that there are ten Lost Alleys in this city. In the end of those Lost Alleys lay enormous treasures. Not only material treasures, but internal treasures. The Lost Master of Rentanjutsu inhabitted the last house of the Ninth Lost Alley. My Master lives in the last house of the Tenth". She answered.
"The Lost Master of Rentanjutsu?". The Elric brothers asked, curious.
"Yeng". Ran Fan answered.
Hope started laughing out of no where.
"What's so funny?". Ed asked.
"It's just… Hahaha! You're gonna see once we make it to the house".
"That future sight of yours is becoming annoying". Al said.
Finally, they gave one last turn to the right. Some steps ahead of them laid an enormous house. It was surrounded by a wooden fence, and tall trees.
"That's just the front. In the back, there's a full forest". Ran Fan commented.
They walked into the house, and they found one big room. The ceiling was quite high, and the walls were made of paper and wood. Many weapons hanged from them. In the center, there was a little person sitting, covered in dark fabrics.
A white mustache and two shiny eyes could be seen.
Ran Fan kneiled, as did Mei Yang. Everyone else imitated them, and then, an arm came out of the bunch of fabrics, and allowed them to stand up.
"Ran Fan… My young apprentice… News tell me you have fallen in love with the Prince…".
Ran lowered her head.
"…Yet your eyes let me know something has happened… What brings you here?".
"There's a war brewing between Xing and Amestris. In order to stop it, you must train us to go into the palace without beeing seen". She answered, drying her tears.
"Train them? I can't train you all…".
"Only these four. They will go in with this woman, and princess Mei Yang". She said, pointing at Envy, Lust, Ed and Al.
"Alright. You must be trained quickly, as I see things. In order for me to accept you as apprentices, each one of you must beat me sepparately".
"I'd like to go first". Envy said, moving forward.
The shadow stood up very quickly, and removed the dark cape that covered him.
"I hope you're ready to beat Master Fu". The old man said, adopting a fighting pose.
o0o
"Fine, before we start, is there something I should stop doing in order for this to be a fair fight?". Envy said.
"Renkinjutsu won't be of help, because I had a cirlce made for it to be useless in this house. Now, that's all".
"Ok". Envy jumped forward, down-kicking the place were Fu was standing.
The floor cracked, and Envy looked around. Fu was behind him, and hit him with his elbow behind his head, knocking him to the floor.
"You are too heavy. Your movements become predictable because of you heaviness".
"Aw… Come on, I'm very agile". He said, as he he gave a spinning kick over his head, and impulsed himself with his bodies, standing up.
Fu moved forward, and punched him in the face. He rolled back, and started to get angry.
"You're really pulling my nerves!".
Envy started jumping around, playing with Fu, as if he wanted to hit him. Ed and Al smiled at this, because they knew Envy's energy would last longer than Fu's.
After a while of messing around, Envy had Fu's moves defined, and interrupted his walk with a kick. Fu fell to the floor. Envy smashed the floor next to his head, and smiled at him.
"I win! Get a rest, and get ready for Ed".
He sat down, and asked Ran to bring him some water. After recovering, he stood up to fight Ed.
Fu threw a punch at Ed, who ducked and tried to hit the old man in the stomach. He moved the fist away with his hand, and rolled over, trying to kick Ed's ribs. He covered the kick with his knee, and broke the floor with his auto mail hand, as Fu rolled to the left, and stood up again.
He ran up to Ed again, and hit him in the head. Ed rolled back, and quite angry, tried to repeat that same hit. Fu grabbed his arm, and tossed him over his head.
"Ok… I could be really pissed off and start fighting you wildly…". He turned downside up again, and stretched his limbs. "Yet, no one's stronger than Sensei".
"Calling me Sensei, already?". Fu said.
Ed moved up to him, and simmulated a punch. As Fu tried to protect himself, Ed grabbed both of his hands, and kicked him in the stomach.
"I'm in". Ed said. "Your's, Al". He walked away from the battle field.
"Hehehe… This was good!". Hope said, laughing.
"That's why you laughed?". Envy asked. "The fact that we al kicked each others ass made you laugh?".
"Yeah".
"Oh! Ok".
Al walked to the middle of the room, and then looked at Fu. He smiled, since the little blonde boy didn't seem as strong as his brother. But he did seem more calm.
Fu stepped forward, and gave him a direct punch to the face. Al ducked, grabbed Fu's arm, and tossed him over his body, knowcking him to the floor quickly.
Then, he put his right foot on Fu's chest.
"You always use direct hits. It's easy to turn your own strength against you".
"I'm more stupid to a fourteen year old than to the Emperor's guards".
"Yours, Lust". Al said, walking up to his brothers. Ed was laughing his soul out.
"Ok… I know". Lust whispered.
"What was that?". Fu said, addopting his fighting possition again.
"Nothing". She said, with a grin.
Lust ran at Fu, and he did the same. He pulled his arm back, as if he were charging energy for a mighty punch, but he got stopped in the spot.
His face was between Lust's breasts.
Winry covered Ed's eyes. Al and Hope fainted. Envy blabbered something that sound like "me too!" while he drooled. Ran Fan and Mei Yang blushed. Xiao Mei didn't fully understand the situation.
Lust gave Fu a little pat on the top of his head, and he fell to the floor with a loud bang. His nosestrills were bleeding, and his eyes were blank. He shaked softly.
"I knew it would work". Lust said, smiling. She walked next to Envy, touching his face softly, and he fainted next to Al and Hope.
"Master! Master! That was a way too big shock!". Ran Fan said, trying to shake her master out of his cofussion.
o0o
"That big fat bastard is very dangerous". Greed said. "How's the army coming?".
"They are getting everything to cross the desert".
"Good thing. When do we expect the little annoyances to come back?".
"In about three days, sir".
"We gotta get ahold of that Hope kid. He will be very helpful in the war".
"Yes". Yeng answered. "What about Hohenheim?".
"I need to find some way to use him in my favour".
"I think we could pass you to his body. All we need is to pay for it".
"Hmmm… Keep talking…".
"We could use this Envy kid to pay the price to pass your essence to Hohenheim's body. This way, you will be able to use all of his alchemy".
"Heyyyy… Hohenheim has swapped his soul over and over again, right?".
"Yes sir, that's why his over five hundred years old".
"That doesn't make him… Immortal?".
"…Yes…".
"Ok… We must take hold of Envy, and use him to pay for my transfer, Yeng".
"Yes, master".
o0o
After waking up, Fu told Envy, Lust, Ed an Al to go to the back yard. The rest of them could go upstairs, and watch the training from the balconny.
A while before starting, Winry reppaired Ed's auto mail.
"Thank you, Win". Ed said, smiling.
"I'm glad to do it". She said, hugging him. He kissed her softly, and jumped off the balconny to start the training.
"You have to go the forest over there, and catch me. For this, you must work as a team, and use your skills. No alchemy allowed. You will have to do what your enemy least expects".
The four friends entered the forest and tried not to get sepparated.
Fu went past them, and jumped. He crawled up some trees very quickly, and they lost his sight.
After some hours of looking, they were really deep into the forest. From time to time, they heard Fu's voice laughing at them.
"Master! Do we have to spend the night here?". Ed asked.
"It will help you! If you don't find me in three days, I wont help you get into the palace!".
"Will we be ready in only three days?". Al asked.
"You can fight. You can't fight together. That's what you need to learn to do".
They kept searching for him until past midnight. They couldn't eat anything, so they just broke some trees and turned on a little camp fire.
The next day, they kept searching.
"Brother! Come smell this flower!". Al called Ed. He woke up, and wnt to Al. The flower was very nice, indeed. Then, he had an idea. He cut off all of the flowers, and tied them in a perimeter next to where they were camping.
They spent the rest of the day searching, but they didn't leave the perimeter. The strong smell of the flowers was having them tired.
"I can't stand it any more!". Envy shouted.
"Calm down, Envy". Lust said. The Homunculi looked at each other, without realising, for a long while.
"Ok, ready". Ed came walking to them, and mad them stand up silently. "Let's leave the place where the flowers are". He said whispering.
They walked away of the place, and camped in another spot. They could no longer smell the flowers.
In the middle of the night, Al woke up when he heard smelled something. Lust, Envy and Ed also smelled it, and they all stood up.
"More flowers?". Envy said.
"Shhh!". Ed tried to hear a bit more. A crack, some feet away from him, let him know that Fu was standing next to them.
Envy jumped over the trees, and landed behind him. Ed jumped towards Fu, and caught him, tossing him to the ground.
"I knew you would watch us closely! I set the flowers around us so that the smell would get stuck to you. Once you came looking for us away from the flowers, whe I smelt them, I knew it was you". Ed said, with a proud smile.
"Hooho! I'm a fine master!". Fu said, laughing.
He stood up, and made them follow him. They walked twenty meters, and walked out of the forest.
"We're already out? How big is this forest?". Envy said.
"It's not even a forest. It's just a cramped green space. My back yard isn't one hundred square meters".
"We got lost in there?". Al said.
"Your minds wanted the forest to be bigger, so it became bigger. The one who is deceived is a fool, but you are smart fools".
"Where have I heard that before?". Envy said, laughing to himself. When he realized, he was looking at Lust. She noticed, and looked back at him.
"What is it?". She said, smiling.
"Uh! Nothing…". Envy said, blushing slightly.
o0o
"Van Hohenheim… This is a little machine Yeng invented for you to do all I want. We plug it in…". Hohenheim felt an enormous pain when Greed took the kunai off his neck, and replaced it with a heavy machine. All he could do now was to see. He didn't feel the rest of his body. "… And you are my own personal alchemist… Hehe, I feel like Dante". Yeng smiled.
o0o
They walked up to the Palace. Fu guided them through the shadows, and they could see the moon, in the open sky.
"There isn't a door in this side of the palace, Master". Ran said, respectfully.
"Oh, isn't there?". Fu said, pulling a wood out of it's place. The wall moved back, and then to the left, revealing a stairway.
"Never hesitate". Fu said.
He walked in followed by Ran, Mei Yang and Xiao, Envy, Ed, Lust, Hope and Al.