Elementary Alchemy
Chapter 10: Parley with the Beasts of Dublith.
By Vox Deruste
"You are not my students." The Elric's had a colorful reaction to their sudden expulsion by their teacher. Though in their hearts they expected it. They knew that she hated the military but still felt the sting of the expulsion weighed heavily in their soul.
"Oh, congrats boys!" Korra clapped to the ensemble boys. Who looked at her with confusion while Izumi sighed. "What? This is common in my world when your master has no more to teach you to become their peer." Korra shrugged. Izumi glared at her. "Come on, my own earth bending teacher pull the same garbage as a joke." The brothers looked toward their teacher.
"Would you leave if asked?" She asked them. The brother thought hard on it but reached the same thought quickly.
"Teacher!" A knife at high speed pierced the ground in front of them.
"I don't teach military dogs!" Izumi barred her fangs.
"Rig-I mean, We need your help. We still need your help." Edward got on his knee. "Your the only person who knows as much, probably more, about the portal." Izumi kept firm and crossed her arms.
"And if I shout at you to leave!" The Elric's stayed frim.
"We're not leaving!" They said in unison. Izumi turned her sights toward Korra.
"Hey I figure it out right away, you ain't making me budge." Korra waved it off. Izumi let the angry mask fade.
"Well, it was because of you that I didn't put that much effort into the act." She did glare at the boy's one last time. "I still feel nothing but frustration with your choices…but this is bigger than just your own." She looked wistfully past them, walking past while picking up the thrown knife. "Now then we have some food to finish and some potential scaring memories.
The Edwards let go a collective breath of relief. Korra playfully slapped the back of Edward with a smile.
"Come on you big babies. Only one of you can overthink without a full stomach." Korra helped them both up and everyone enjoyed a nice meal for dinner. While silently trying to remember important information.
After eating their dinner, Izumi, Korra, and the Elric's sat in the living room exchanging notes.
"I for the most part believe your story." Izumi told Korra. "While it is farfetched your fighting style is unique and your demeanor tells me that lying is something you don't do." Korra nodded to this, trying to bite down the mild insult about her ability to lie. She felt it was a dig at her intelligence. "I never quite see an alchemist fight like you and I know transmutation when I see it. You did none of that during our fight." Korra took it as a compliment.
"That and the details she can recall from her world are much too intricate to be a fantasy." Alphonse agreed.
"Okay so everyone believes me." Korra clapped as she casually leaned against the wall. "What do we do with it?" She posed the question to the alchemists. "How do we get my butt home?"
"In all honesty, I don't have the foggiest notion." Izumi said honestly. "We just accepted that the notion of alternate worlds, much less the idea that we can travel between them."
"I have to agree with Te-" Izumi flashed a murderous look. "Izumi." Edward managed to say.
"No just…ugh, it's too weird from your mouth, you have my permission to say teacher."
"Thanks. Maybe the gate is involved…but the idea of it…" Edward trailed off. Korra had heard enough of the horror stories to know that it had to be the last option to use the 'gate' they kept referring towards.
"I think me and Korra are the only people in the room who don't know what the gate looks like." Alphonse made it clear to his brother and teacher. Both figures looked towards him, a realization dawning on them.
"Al…the gate took parts from people and gives knowledge in exchange." Edward started to pierce together a theory, then looked toward Korra. "When you and your friend appeared, both of you had little nutrients." Izumi started to reach the same conclusion as Edward provided the connecting tissue. "Your memory was altered and taken from you." Even Korra started to understand.
"I went through the gate." Korra understood. She then looked at Alphonse, an alchemist whose whole body was given to the gate.
"Al, you told me that you don't remember what happened when we…you know." Edward asked his brother as he laid a hand on little brother's metallic arm.
"I don't." Al said sadly. "I honestly want to say that I did but I barely know what you and Teacher mean when you say 'gate'?" Alphonse lamented.
"Maybe that why we share the memory loss, but I didn't really get anything from passing through the gate." Korra pointed out, but even she thought that the exchange theory had its merits. "Maybe I'm the odd one out."
"Maybe." Edward said begrudgingly. "But maybe it was because you didn't gain anything you managed to not lose anything." Edward's reasoning didn't satisfy anyone.
"Perhaps someone else paid the price?" Korra's eyes lit up from Izumi's words. She remembered Asami saying something about someone helping her toward the hospital.
"I think that's the case, maybe just…the whatever that scares you and Ed just simply made me forget." both silently agreed with the Avatar. "So we agree that we need to make me or Al remember what was in the gate?" Everyone went quiet again.
They weren't exactly thrilled by the idea of trying to induce trauma, at least Izumi and Edward thought that. Korra felt she might be mentally prepared but even she had doubts.
"I'll do it. I'll force myself to remember." Alphonse admitted.
"Al you don't have-"
"It's my choice." Al cut off his brother. "Even I don't know how."
"Here's to charging recklessly toward the unknown." Korra went over to the armored figure and patted his leather shoulder. "At least if you remember before I do." She lightly raise her first for a bump and Al awkwardly met it with a handshake. "Besides we have other stuff to figure out. Like that guy that helped Asami or the stuff about the ouroboros gang." A collective sigh came out of everyone, it was unlikely that all these events were connected but the fact they were happening at once did make it seen so.
"Do you mind if we stay for a while teacher, just long enough to make some progress?" Izumi sighed.
"Again, No longer your teacher, but yes. If you pull your weight around here. I want to know everything about how you performed the taboo as well. Especially how you pulled Alphonse's soul from the gate.
As the group shared talked away an unseen ear and eye was spying on them. Listening from the edge of a window, sticking to the walls. With lizard-like stickiness and stealth.
"Greed must hear of this. A way toward true immortality." He skittered away from his hiding spot and traveled to the den of his master. Through the alleyways and rooftops of the city.
On with those darkened corners, he saw a strange sight near the steps of his master's layer. A young man with green-colored clothes. Stumbling around like he was drunk, the earth around him seeming to shift and break. While not the smartest of his master's minions, Bido did understand that alchemy need circles, and the delirious stranger had nothing but clothes that seemed to be for a winter climate.
"Perhaps the master will know what to do with you?" Bido watched from afar the fight that tore the street apart. How the girl that was with the Fullmetal Alchemist fought in the same way but with more elements. The young man seemed to be confined to the earth. Bido watched what the young man would do and saw him wander and mumble in a circle. How he failed someone and that he should have stopped someone. But his interest peaked as right before he passed out he said.
"All those people…into a stone." He collapsed on the ground and Bido went toward his crumpled form, to make sure he was still alive.
"You know about the philosopher stone?" Bido questioned but he noticed that the young man was hanging on a sliver of strength. While he looked strong, his face was like that of a starving skeleton that drained his fluids crying. Groaning and rumbling in hunger. "I serve the master greatly this day!" Bido clapped with excitement as he rushed to alert the others of his recent discoveries and the grand news for his master.
Bumi did not know where he landed but his first impression of this new land was at best, to say little. But a dessert is plain by design and torturous go traverse.
He had to abandon the mech after it lost fuel. But he was relieved on that part given he was roasting alive in it. He tore his clothing to make a makeshift turban and flag with a long piece of metal. He was glad he had some survival materials.
The greatest trouble Bumi knew was ahead of himself was that he didn't know where he was. On the face of it, that was an obvious problem but there was a layer to it. If he made the wrong choice of the direction he could be traveling on foot for a week while going to another direction could bring him to civilization within days.
It's why he made the flag, even in areas with large deserts there are merchants and travelers that need to pass them. If he could find one, even in the far distance the makeshift flag would show his location.
He did have some luck after finding a series of pillars and stone structures. What seemed to be ruins of a grand civilization. Bumi couldn't help but speculate what could have led to this ruin. And whether Azuma came from this place. His demeanor and look resembled that of desert tribes he was familiar with in the Si wong desert. A people that are built on survivalism and pragmatism. It would explain a few things.
Though by far the greatest boon of the stone structure was the stone fountain with groves. Water was good on its own but one with signs of use basically promised that it was clean enough for travelers. Already the day was getting better, Bumi hoped the unexpected luck would continue after this. Thought it would be a lot to ask for a guide right now.
"Now does a random man end up in the middle of dessert like this?" Bumi into gear with a makeshift knife. He turned to face a strange vagrant. A young man in white and yellow and black hair tied back into a ponytail. He kept wary when he saw the sword on his back. "Now there is no need to be violent. Names Ling!" He said with a cheerful smile and slightly closed eyes, Bumi couldn't tell if it was because of the heat or not.
"Bumi." The retired general said with some weariness. Though he didn't sense hostility. "Why are you crossing the desert?" Ling looked at the man after only a few seconds of thought.
"Just traveling from Xing. On the search for something in Amestris." He looked Bumi up and down. "You don't look Amestrian? And your uniform looks military?" Ling questioned. Bumi briefly considered telling him flat out but then rescinded it. How would even explain what happened? He barely understood it, how could he explain it to anyone else. "Are you from drachma maybe that country to the south?" Not sensing any hostility from Ling, Bumi sheathed his knife.
"I'm not a military man from these parts." He decided to tell white lies. "I am looking for someone in Amestris."
"Oh so have I!" Ling put his arm around Bumi. "And thank you for putting down the knife." Bumi saw the flash of blades near his chest and neck. "My guards are not that patient." Two masked assassins appeared in front of Bumi. One was smaller and had the eyes of an old man and the other of an androgynous young person.
"Your guards need some work on their tact." Bumi kept his cool and look at the guards with distinction. "Bumi. Nice to make your acquaintance, I am trying to kill your boss. Too much effort on an empty stomach." Ling gave a small chuckle. The guards started to lower their weapons. "Feed me and your master has nothing to fear." Ling passed a what seemed to be a kind of chewing foodstuff.
"Sadly I would have wolfed it down already." Ling fully admitted with no hint of guilt or remorse. Bumi looked toward his guards.
"You two have been starving for days haven't you?" They said nothing but Bumi felt confident he was right. "Well either way I think we are after the same place, Amestirs." Bumi vaguely remembered what Azuma talked about on the ship and at the station. A nation he distrusted.
"Of course, we are even after a stone of legend in Alchemy." Ling asked the veteran. "You might have heard it before, maybe as a ghost story or a rumor." Ling stared deep into the firstborn of Aang's eyes. "The philosopher Stone, have you heard about it." He said it with a new sharpness of his voice and tongue. His eyes opened slightly.
"Don't try to get it." Bumi said grimily, still smelling the ash and sheer cleanliness of the event of the northern army. How much the air feel empty after the more solid bodies were congealed into…that stone. Why would anyone search it out for? A weapon? He didn't really know anything about it other than the price for it. And for his own sake that something actually come to switch that price. Better than it is just a shiny rock made from blood and gore.
"And why not? It's supposed to be a great trick for immortality?"
Bumi wanted to scoff at the notion but he did not know if that was a normal thought in this world. Azuma seemed to pivot from manic to extremely serious so he could not use him as a measuring stick.
"Mind if I travel with all of you?" Bumi boldly asked as he took a handful of water. "I can pull my own weight if needed."
"More than that if the war machine is anything to sneeze at." The shorter guard remarked.
"Are you an automail engineer? You know what that doesn't matter, I can always use more subordinates in my travels." Ling held out his hand for Bumi to shake. "We are on the trail of a really famous alchemist. You might have heard of him." Bumi shook Ling's hand.
"Probably not but it might be useful to find him." Bumi needed to find the Avatar, and it was the best bet that was something that Azuma called powerful. An alchemist would probably have seen her. She was only subtle with her powers once to his knowledge and by a month of it she waged war against a city. Bumi's strategy was to follow the trail of destruction.
"I will but I am after someone else. Two in fact." Bumi said truthfully. Ling studied him.
"Comrades?"
"Friends and students of a friend…I'm pretty sure this will prevent an international incident." Bumi joked but Ling looked at him confused. He sensed that the man was joking but not an exaggeration but more matter of factly.
"You have a strange fear but hey you made it halfway through the desert so I commend you for that." Ling motioned for his guards to come toward him, whispering. Bumi thought it was about him but in reality, it was the mech he was driving in. "Are you willing to show us how that machine works?" Bumi was unsure how to answer, he was fairly certain most of it was able to be transported across a dessert of all things without fuel. It was made with platinum and was hot to the touch. He explained those aspects of it. Ling waved it off. "We actually met an alchemist on our way here." A very muscular man with blond hair came from behind a stone wall.
"General Mustang gotten a tip of for a strange lead. It appears you had been anticipated, both of you." Bumi looked at the mountain of a man with confusion.
"It sure is nice of your boss to let my illegal crossing off Scott free." Ling said happily. The man seemed to groan over the assertion.
"In his own words, a backdoor to the east can open many other paths, end quote." He said slightly bitterly. "But we do need to move quickly. Show me where the machine is and I manipulate it into something more portable." Bumi was skeptical of the man's words but he seemed self-assured enough in his words to at least witness what he would do.
"Come on let's watch, it's quite a sight to see alkhestrist or alchemist work." Ling said with slight excitement.
Bumi took ling's enthusiasm and ran with it. He had little else to do and he needed away into the country if anything else. He did chastise himself that he simply went in but it was either this or try to smack Azuma upside the head. This was the rational option in his mind.
He did acknowledge that no matter the option a long journey was ahead of him.
Korra hated that three days were essentially wasted. Well not wasted, wasted. Just not that productive. She spent it training and listening to the alchemists of the house. She did admit that she was getting a decent look at the fighting styles of someone considered impressive in Amestris. Something helped by the fact that her water healing, while not curing Izumi's condition, did make it more bearable.
In short, less blood vomit.
Korra also took the time to learn more, though it was mostly out of boredom. Izumi had a faint interest in showing her the basics of alchemy, trying to see how it would interact with her bending. There was some success. Despite what some people might say about her, she was not an idiot. She can at least use a transmutation circle…to a degree. She was not an idiot but she was not a genius and Alchemy requires, at minimal, a basic knowledge of the periodic table of elements.
Korra lived under the assumption it was only four for all her life so that was not going to happen. She could make the circle at least. But the formula's, elements, and of course the math, especially the math. Those were things that would fly over her mind for a long time. \
While disappointing to Izumi she did take solace in the fact that Korra was much quicker at picking up fighting moves than she was with theories on metaphysics. Korra even taught her a move or three.
She, Izumi, and Alphonse were in the front yard in the afternoon heat. Taking a break from sparring while Al repaired said yard. Their last fight woke up half the neighborhood and gave them renewed fear of Izumi and her company.
As Al swept and used alchemy to fix what he could, a ball of paper was thrown his way. One that Korra and Izumi noticed.
"Well that's ru-" Al stopped his words once he read what was written on the paper. Korra got out of the shade and took a quick look at the paper.
On it was written:
We know your secret. You and the girl with blue eyes.
Al read out loud.
"Well, that's vague." Korra sneered. "Well, I was looking for an excuse to hurt some people. Hopefully, it was the guy that owlcat called me."
"You mean cat?" Izumi asked. Al shook his head.
"She means what she means." Alphonse said with resigned resignation. "If they know about my soul being bound to my body."
"Which is a stretch?" Korra pointed out. "They could just be scammers and kidnappers." Korra did feel a need to teach them a lesson but she could tell from Al's voice that he was thinking about actually talking to them.
"But it does mean they have the nerve to try and threaten someone in my house." Izumi said with barely concealed contempt. "Does it have a location?" Al looked more closely at the paper and saw that was written on the back of it.
We have your green wearing friend and we know about the stone.
Sighed, The Devil's Den.
"It's a dive bar not too far from here." Izumi said with slight disgust. "Miss Korra, if you would be so kind as to guide my former student there and make sure they know exactly what happens to people who litter my home." Izumi asked in a performative nice tone. Korra nodded.
"Permission to destroy the bar?" Korra asked. Izumi shrugged.
"If push comes to shove Al and Edward can repair it. I mostly blame their Dogs of the military status for this. Korra could somewhat agree with the argument. For two boys intent on research on something secret and bordering on taboo, they certainly leave lasting impressions and are not very subtle. Though Korra didn't say it out loud given how hypocritical it was of her, of all people to tell that to others.
Korra simply nodded and lead Al toward where the bar was.
"Finally I can punch something without blood barf." Korra said with slight excitement.
"You've been wanting to say that out loud for days?" Alphonse questioned.
"We are out of earshot right?"
"Barly." Al answered as other thoughts clouded his mind. He honestly wanted to do this alone. He should deal with his own problems, he and Edward always hated when people get caught up in their issues. Al less so but the fact his own teacher didn't think that he could do this on his own slightly dented his pride.
There were four people waiting outside the bar the paper talked about. A blond woman, a large, grey-haired man. A young man with sharp black hair, and a sword on his side. All behind a small beady little man in a cloak waiting and pointing at Korra and Alphonse.
"You came! You came!" He said with unrestricted excitement. "The boss will be so happy with me."
"Hey, beado!" The man with the sword said as he sized up the armored boy and Korra.
"What secret do you think you know?" Al tried to sound coy. The swordmen scoffed.
"Do I need to bang you to prove it?" Everyone stared at him as he walked up to the metal armor. "Yeah, I know how that sounds but you got my point right?" He asked as he casually knocked on the armor like he would with a door. He then took a step back after noticing the angered expression on Korra's face. "Now what did you say that this girl moved? Beado?"
"Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water!" Beado said making sure he had a good distance away from said girl. Her expression went past anger moving to active hostility as Korra slammed her foot on the ground making a small quake. The thugs fall on top of each other as he started to make a circle in front of himself. Korra then made a quick jab's in the air, pulses of air following the motions that made the thugs skip across the ground. She only missed one, a blond girl with a snake tattoo that dodged it. The other was a mountain of a man, who took the air blast in stride.
"You're going to need more than that!" The mountain man yelled out as he took out his war hammer.
"Your right." Alphonse agree as he put his hand on a hastily drawn circle, blue light glowing from sparks of lighting. From the alchemical process came a legion of arms that pinned down the man on the thugs that were tossed by the air.
The snake woman lived up to her name by slithering past the hands and the blast of fire from Korra. She could tell that the tattooed woman was heading towards Alphonse. The maneuver confused Her, she had knives on her but she must know that Alphonse had no skin to slice and stab at.
She slammed her foot down to make a barrier of earth and concrete. Preparing a fire blast in her hand, compressing it into a smaller ball of heat. Korra only saw Mako try something similar once. It blew up in his face. She hoped for a better result.
The woman jumped the barrier all at once, lunging at Alphonse. At the split second she nearly grabbed Al's helmet, Korra launched the ball of fire. On contact, a large fireball exploded outwardly. Blasting the woman against the wall of their own dive bar.
"Hot enough for ya!" Korra said triumphantly as sighed in second-hand cringe at her pun.
"Perhaps you should stick to fighting miss." A voice called from the bar. Clapping his hands. " You really put them through their paces. Pretty sure a few of them have broken bones." He said with a lackadaisical nature.
"Thanks for the encouragement boss." The thug with a sword groaned. Korra kept her stance tight and ready to throw another element. Alphonse felt a strange sense of Deja vu from the man. He looked young, having sharp features and trendy clothing. A Sleeveless fur jacket with leather pants. Tiny glasses obscuring slightly purplish eyes. "Alright, I need to be real with you." The man said while he removed his glass and began to spin it in his hand. "I am not going to fight you." He said pointing his finger and glasses at Korra.
"Fraid your getting I whip your ass." Korra said confidently. He shrugged.
"Not really." He said with little emotion. "Just don't fight women." He admitted. Confusing Korra as to what kind of criminal he was. And angering her further.
"So you have a fragile ego." Korra lightly moved her foot and caused the earth beneath the man to be around. Making him face his dive bar. "So preserve by getting out of our way." The man responded by chuckling.
"So full of life! The fact you managed to get out central without them getting you is an oversight on their part." Both Alphonse and Korra looked confused at him. "Besides, Man or woman. So long as your human sweetie, you were not winning." He said a wide grin on his face. "Roa." He said as his lumbering thug walked up behind him with his war hammer.
"Here Sir?"
"Why not? Do a double whammy." The thug looked at his boss with a collective confusion shared with his teammates and the two teenagers' opponents. Waiting for an attack on themselves, Korra and Al looked with horror as the thug took a swing…against his boss.
Shattering it in one hit.
"What the!?
"What was the point of that!" Korra screamed after Al. Feeling a similar queasiness she felt from the slicer fight. The blood and gray matter on the ground. An eye flew to her foot, staring at her.
"He was your friend!" Al screamed out. He didn't know what kind of stunt they were pulling but he knew that he had to apprehend them now. If they were willing to murder their boss, what about citizens?
"Hey, boss? Feel free to get up any time today." Roa asked the corpse. The duo was confused by the action but saw the piece of flesh turn into a cloud of black dust. Red lighting erupts from the neck of the corpse. Standing on its own. Fleshing reemerging from the red light.
Regrowing from the neck up, perfectly.
"Man, your swing is getting better." The boss said as he cracked his neck. Korra was the most stunned as Alphonse wanted to guess the man was from Korra's world. But given her shock, he rescinded the idea. "Okay so take that into account into your strategy." He then showed his hand, presenting a tattoo of a serpent eating itself. The same that Alphonse saw from the green hair person at the fifth laboratory.
It sparked some of Korra's memories from the lab.
"So you work for the guys making suits of armor in central!" Korra yelled at him, blasting gout of flame. She didn't need to worry about burning him.
"So they figured it out." He said with slight shock as he block the gout of flame with on hand. A strange material growing on the hand. Black and sleek like polished coal. "Yeah, I parted ways with them some time ago and no I won't answer any questions about them until I get something out of it." The Man dismissed. "Names greed by the way."
"Well, Greed." Korra mocked. She took a strong stance and lifted with her bending two large boulders over her shoulders. Large as cars. "Tell me why you blackmail us force and why we should trust you or I will demolish your tacky bar like an earthquake." Alphonse looked at her with worry and apprehension.
This is one of the reasons he wanted to do this alone, to minimize damage but Korra was probably going to level the district fighting someone who can regenerate.
Greed only slow clapped in response.
"Honestly you didn't see the negotiating type." He looked toward his thugs. "How long before she just started fighting?"
"Seconds." The snake woman answered.
"See that is why we went the indirect route. Also this." He snapped his fingers and abound Bolin was thrown out of the Bar. Korra wanted to dash toward him but Greed pointed to a large man with a sharp set of teeth over Bolin. His teeth are right above the earthbenders throat. "A moment of your time?"