Chance Encounter with a Dragon Master
xxxxx
"Ha! You're as cold as always, Aeros. I shall expect more good fortunes in your next report."
"As you wish and command, President Giovanni."
Aeros sighed as she put the phone back down on its pedestal. Briefly she wondered if it was a good idea to mention the boy they found at all. He was an oddity that might be more trouble than he's worth. At that thought, however, the Rocket boss quickly scoffed. The boy was literally a walking suit of armor. The applications for something like that could be limitless. Especially if his armor body makes him immune to harm and able to forgo human needs. The smile on her face grew. Yes, something like that could be very useful, she thought. Before she could actually imagine some of the applications, however, her attention was grabbed by the sudden knocking at her door.
"Come in." She commanded, slight irritation in her voice from being interrupted from her musings.
Without hesitation the door was slammed open, revealing a young man in a standard black uniform, a common grunt, who was panting heavily, his expression distraught. Aeros' eye began to twitch slightly, and she sighed again. She had the distinct feeling that this was going to be a rather long day.
xxxxx
The pokémon was running down the corridor of metal and concrete as fast as her legs could carry her, ignoring the exhaustion that was slowly yet surely creeping in. She made a right turn, then a left, and then another right, still keeping her pace despite her body's growing need for rest. She couldn't say where she was going as she ran about, passively noting the signs on doors written in human language as they passed by. She couldn't bear to stay with that thing any longer than she had to. When she was with her trainer, before she was taken away by them, Ari liked to think she had seen just about everything of anything that could have been thrown at her. Large pokémon, small pokémon, and pokémon who seemed to stretch the boundaries of what was possible in reality; there were not many things that surprised her, especially after her capture. Until today. Now nothing scared her more than that… thing.
While at least some part was thankful that it (he?) freed her, and then released her psychic abilities, she was still distrustful. The armor had been intimidating at the time, but the voice that emanated through it was strikingly gentle. That being said, it sounded much too human for her liking. So as soon as the collar around her neck had been freed with that strange magic power of his, she didn't hesitate in looking into his mind with a Mind Reader.
She had regretted it instantly.
She only wanted to find out what was in the armor so that she could confirm or deny her suspicions. She should have realized something was wrong when she found the armor empty, but she kept delving deeper. Ari had simply assumed that it was a ghost pokémon animating a suit of armor, so she tried to peer deeper, looking for a mind. Stories of ghost pokémon doing such weren't uncommon, after all, whether they were true or not. It was surprisingly difficult searching for the mind of the pokémon that should've been there, the usual places a mind would be were empty. Ari instead found it at the top of the armor's backside of all places. When she did finally find the mind, however, there was no hesitation to peer inside.
What she actually saw were memories. Memories with horrible images within them. She had seen pleasant images intermittent as well, but they were quickly drowned out by the more obscene. The memory she saw that stood out the most was of two young boys, their immeasurable pain, and the creation of something that wasn't natural. It had overtaken her, burned itself through her, and buried itself deep into her own mind, in the furthermost recesses where she couldn't dig it out. She doubted she would be able to access it again, but she knew it was there, like the ghost of an itch that could never be scratched. The entire ordeal lasted barely a second, but when it was finally over she couldn't stand to be near the …boy.
She rounded another corner, stepping into a hallway almost identical to the one she was in before, and slowed to a trot to rest her weary body. She wasn't exactly sure of where she was going. She kept moving despite that, determined to get away from the hollow armor and escape. Only briefly did Ari wonder if it was a good idea to leave behind the shinx, Tasha, behind. The thought was quickly dismissed, however, as she rounded another corner. The young pokémon seemed capable; she might escape on her own. Ari had her own escape to worry about. As well as her egg. The espeon needed to find it, or more accurately, find the child (her child) that hatched from it, and then make her escape.
Ari saw an arrow, colored in red, as she turned another corner. It was plastered well above her on a wall that made up a conjunction of a hallway. She barely considered it before following the path it pointed to out of curiosity. Something inside nagged at her as she trotted down; where were the humans? By all accounts they should be chasing after her. Did they not know she had escaped, or were they busy with something else, she wondered?
Before she could continue her line of questioning thoughts, the hallway she walked down met her with a large corridor. This one was different from the others she had passed through. It was a straight path with no doors on its walls; they were bear save for a strip of red leading down to the end. At said end were two sets of gleaming, reflective metal doors. On either side were buttons in the shape of arrows. She found it an odd sight at first, but quickly realized that it might be an exit.
She wasted no time running to the set of metal doors, only understanding what she was doing as she was half way down the hall. She continued still, struggling against her quickly returning exhaustion. She would not let herself be beat by the burning of her lungs and the soreness of her legs. If she used a quick attack, she began to think, it would be more than possible to reach the end in little time at all. If she did, she would have to rest, Ari thought to herself. How long had she been running to get away from the armor? No, her hastened escape couldn't be the complete source of her exhaustion, she realized. Was it her despair and misery from her captivity? It was possible, but she could not dwell on such foolish thoughts. Her strained running would have to do for now.
Once she was two thirds of the way down the hall, so focused on the doors was she that she failed to notice the human stepping around the corner behind her. She failed to realize how strained her speed actually was, how her body was stiff from being in captive spaces, her limited energy from what food she had been given that was now completely burned up, and the abuse they imposed on her combined with a body afflicted with malnutrition. She was unable to defend herself against the human that caught up to her, delivering a harsh kick to her abdomen. She was sent sprawling in pain, struck by surprise, and landed against a wall. She tried to stand up and fight back, her legs shaking, but she was kicked once again. This time the blow went into her stomach.
Paralyzed by pain and sent sprawling once more, it was all that Ari could do to look up at the human that assaulted her. Her neck barely turned properly for her head to see when a strikingly familiar-no, a dreadfully familiar-weight clamped down on her neck. Her head fully turned for her eyes to see the human that became the subject of her rising anger, but the effects of the returned weight were immediate. What little vibrancy was added to the world when she got her psychic abilities back were once again dulled. A sensation describable only as a fog or blanketing fell unto her mind. The human before her, a male with bleach blonde hair that poked out from a rag on his head, bearing cold blue eyes that were somehow accented by his black and red uniform, had put back a thick black collar on the espeon.
Through pained and narrowed eyes, Ari glared fiercely at the human and the emblazoned red R on his chest. In response, the human male started to speak in a sickeningly cheery voice. "Well now. Would you look at that. An espeon roaming the halls without adult supervision." Ari continued her fierce glare, a vicious image added to by the hairs on her back now on end; a toothy smile spreads across the man's face at the sight. "Or should I say, an escaped espeon?"
From behind, a more obese, more brutish man appeared. He wore a complete copy of the other human's outfit, save for the lack of a rag on his head, exposing a mop of short, greasy jet black hair on his head. The fabric that would have encased his arms like those of his companion's outfit were ripped off to reveal heavily muscled arms. He also sported a toothy smile, though with more intimidating effect due to the harshness of his face.
"Heh, I think you're right, Valimond. Think we could get a promotion for recapturing it?" The brute asked, his voice thick and heavy.
"I think we could." The first human replied without looking at his partner. "What say you and I do just that and put her back in her cage?"
No. She was not going to let that happen. She would not go back to her cage. She could not when she had come so far. Ari was now putting as much of her strength as possible to glare up at the humans, struggling to stand up and use her blocked powers. The waves of pain from her torso and stomach were too great, however, and her legs failed to stand her up completely against screaming muscles. Her mind was barely better, for the collar effectively cut off her abilities; she got no response in trying to glimpse the human's thoughts. She couldn't attack or use her psychic abilities at all, so she was forced to settle for the glare with vain hope that the humans would back off.
As she expected, it didn't work. The humans were nonplussed.
The brute chuckled at her struggle. "I don't know. It looks like it has some fight in it. We might have to… tame it first."
With those words came a sickening sensation in Ari, and she tried—and failed—to intensify her stare. She was already the spitting image of a feral animal, with her fur on end, back arched, and face twisted into a snarl. She knew exactly what was coming.
The sneer of the first human remained plastered on his face, and his eyes seemed to glint at his partners words. "I think you're right, Bo. How should we begin?"
Ari moved backwards, hissing and swiping out with her claw at an approaching hand from the human named Valimond. He paused, but didn't falter away. At the same time, the espeon found herself backed literally against a wall, the two humans before her effectively blocking any path of escape. The brutish human reared a leg backwards, in preparation for a kick, and Ari closed her eyes. Her body tensed as she mentally prepared herself for the oncoming attack. It never came.
A sound like that of a bell rang out throughout the corridor, ringing twice.
At the odd sound, Ari opened her eyes and, along with two confused humans, turned her head to look at the source. It had come from the strange set of doors, where a light she didn't notice below the ceiling before was now completely lit. The same doors slid back slowly and almost soundlessly open, revealing two figures standing tall. They both stepped out, one human, and the other a pokémon. Specifically, and to the espeon's surprise, it was a dragonite. The humans beside her were sharing an expression of raised brows and gaping mouths, irises shrinking in shock greater than Ari's that was mixed equally between them with horror.
"It's—it's not possible!" The human called Valimond stuttered, his voice a complete flip of its earlier smugness and sadism. "How did he get here!? Why is he here!?"
"There's no way…" The larger human, Bo, trailed off, his voice barely above a whisper. "It is him. The dragon champion!" The last line came out alongside a gasp as he took a step back.
Ari considered the figure more closely, her surprise giving way to intrigue. There weren't many humans who could partner with dragon types. The more she observed the trainer, the "dragon champion" as the humans called him, she thought that he fit the part. He stood tall, just short of the human brute, who was just shorter than the dragonite itself. The new human held himself with a strong posture; His shoulders were straight, as was his back, and his legs were spread in a commanding stance. In combination with his stoic expression, there was an air of confident arrogance and seriousness about him. His clothing was a mix of dark blues and blacks, with orange lining the fringes of his outfit. Then there was the cloth draping across his back—Ari recalled that it was called a cape—with vibrant crimson on the inside and black on the outside; it popped into a collar around his neck. His eyes were black orbs, hard set yet not the least bit foreboding. On the top of his head was a spiked set of a hair that was a lighter shade of the red of his cape; it reminded Ari of fire.
From the two human's reactions, his outfit, and to his disinterested gaze at them, Ari surmised with some small amount of relief that this "champion" was not allied here. A moment passed before the term "champion" clicked recognition in her. The strongest human trainers were often called that, she remembered, eyes growing wide. A glimmer of hope rose within. A human champion in this place could guarantee… Ari briefly closed her eyes, composing herself once more and returning to a glare once she opened them again. Humans were humans; not to be trusted. That included this new human as well. The espeon did not falter her feral appearance, keeping herself poised to attack.
As the new human looked about his surroundings with disinterest, the shorter grunt, Valimond regained some of his composure. His face twisting in anger, he pointed a shaking finger at the "champion" human. "You're not supposed to be here." He started saying, trying to growl his voice but ultimately failing. "This is a Team Rocket base! Get out now, or else!"
The orange-red haired human merely raised an eyebrow, finally noticing the group before him. "Or else what?" He asked simply, voice unwavering.
Valimond gulped loudly. His once pointing finger was now slumped down, along with the rest of the arm he was doing the pointing with. "Uhh, Well… or…" The man blinked, and his hand quickly went down to his belt to grab at three pebble sized balls, colored red and white. Pokéballs, Ari realized from past experience. Ripping one of the balls from his belt, the man threw it into the air, where it changed sizes and split open, pouring out white light. The light materialized into the recognizable form of a pokémon as the human shouted, calling it out by name. "Go, Machop!"
The light faded. In its place was the pokémon in question. Small in stature, yet standing tall, the superpower pokémon was deceptively named. It had the form of a scrawny child, but a closer look revealed the muscles in its light grey appendages were toned and well-exercised. Its torso was no exception; almost bulging were its abs and pectorals. Grey all over, with the head of a lizard and Mohawk fins on top, it was easily recognizable as exactly what the human said, a machop.
Valimond shouted once more; commanding this time. "Machop, use Brick Break!"
The fighting type pokémon didn't miss a second. It rushed forward, swinging back a fist and clenching it as it started to softly glow. Half way to the human and the dragonite beside him, it swung the fist forward, about to strike them both down. Neither of them moved, and for a moment Ari was sure that would be it for the two of them.
Instead, both human and partner nimbly dodged the attack, the dragon pokémon pulling his trainer to the side with bemused expressions on both of their faces. The machop stumbled upon meeting no resistance, and the dragon was quick to take the opportunity. It slammed itself into the muscled pokémon, the force of which producing a thick and wet sound, and sending it flying. By the time it met the wall and hit the floor, it had already fainted.
Valimond wasn't looking that much better himself. Mouth agape and eyes wide, the human backed himself into the wall behind him, fearful of the dragonite that was now slowly making its way towards him. Its expression was fierce; eyes twisted into a glare and mouth turning into a snarl. Before it could continue on the vicious rampage that it intended, the dragon's partner put a hand on its shoulder, snapping out of its rage.
That might not have been the best idea, Ari thought. For at that moment when the human and the pokémon were distracted, the grunt's brute of a friend had gotten himself behind the trainer. A fist was reared back, prepared to strike. Ari must have gasped, for the trainer's attention was drawn away from his partner, eyes widening as he quickly looked behind himself. The brute, Bo, roared and brought his huge fist barreling forward.
"You may be the dragon champion!" He yelled mid swing. "But you're no fighting champion!"
There was a flash of movement, and before Ari completely knew it, she had rammed herself into the brute's stomach faster than the eye could blink with a Quick Attack. The espeon wasn't completely sure how or why it happened; one moment she was trying to avoid attention by passively watching and the next she was getting involved. The brute wheezed from her attack, stumbling backward and crumpling to the floor holding his chest as he tried to regain the air knocked out of his lungs. Ari relished in the satisfaction of the image briefly, deciding this was why she got involved, before hopping back herself.
It wasn't long before the brute recovered, however. He regained his breath quickly, taking in big breaths of air, and slowly standing up. His expression was fierce and angry, and he reared back another fist, this time focused on the espeon in front of him. Ari was frozen briefly at the sight of the beastly man, unable to move out of the way. Before Bo could take the opportunity and throw a brutal punch, however, the fist of the dragonite that he had so conveniently forgotten crashed into his face, sending him stumbling once more. He collapsed to the ground again, but this time he didn't get up, now knocked unconscious.
After that, the partner and his dragon turned their attention back to the other grunt, Valimond, who quickly ran off as soon as they did, whimpering loudly. A single laugh escaped the human as he scratched his head at the sight, before he and the dragonite turned to look at the only other occupant in the room, Ari. She scrambled away, putting distance between herself and them while bringing her ever closer to the set of metal doors they appeared from.
A string of curses flew through her mind then, berating herself for her actions. She wasted a perfectly good opportunity to escape by helping a human when she should have just left him behind to deal with the grunts. Sure, the trainer had saved her from capture, Ari begrudgingly admitted, but it didn't change the fact that she got herself involved when she shouldn't have. She cursed her protective instincts; she had been a trainer's pokémon for too long. That perfect distraction was wasted for her to do what? Save a human? This human before her, she began to think with panic, was probably just as bad as the—
"Thank you."
What?
Ari blinked, then blinked again before closely examining the human before her. The arrogant demeanor he sported earlier had disappeared, replaced by a softer and calmer version. On his face was a warm smile, and his eyes had somehow became kinder as well. Ari remained suspicious, even as she found herself relaxing ever so slightly.
The human let out a soft chuckle and briefly closed his eyes before speaking, his voice soft and low. "If you hadn't jumped in just then, I might have…" Then he stopped; his expression changed. A look as if he had suddenly realized something crossed his face before his smile quickly turned into a frown, his serious demeanor returned once more.
Ari wondered briefly about the change before realizing exactly what he was looking at: herself. The condition of her body specifically. She still looked wild and ragged, ribs showing and bruises quickly forming. Ari didn't care. Why worry about what a human thinks, she sarcastically wondered?
When the human kneeled down, bringing his eyes to level with hers, Ari was almost caught off guard. She maintained her appearance, however, keeping her fur on end and teeth barred to look as viscous and wild as the human no doubt thought she was. She didn't trust him. Her instincts were almost screaming at her, don't trust the human. The urge to attack was rising, and while she ignored it, the espeon didn't need to trust her instincts here anyway. Humans were humans, after all.
"They've hurt you, haven't they?" The human asked. "And you're escaping, aren't you? I should have known." He finished, palming his face.
His expression became warm when his eyes were revealed again. "Let's get that collar off of you. I can't imagine that it's very comfortable to have that thing weighing down on your neck, or that it's very nice to have your abilities restrained like that."
He reached out a hand, but before it was even halfway close the espeon immediately backed away, growling. There was no way she was letting this human touch her, no matter what he said. The human frowned, looking down at his hand. Then he closed his eyes once more and turned his head away before reaching out once more. Ari gave the human an incredulous look at the action, but found herself less wary for reasons she couldn't comprehend. When his hand did touch the collar around her neck, it grasped quickly onto it. Ari nearly bit the human right then and there until he followed that grasp with an inspection of the collar itself, and she realized he was feeling for something. Whatever it was he was looking for without actually looking was found when Ari heard a soft click and felt the collar fall away, clattering to the ground uselessly.
Ari dashed away from the human immediately, her attention never leaving him or the partner pokémon beside him that was regarding her with a bemused expression. The human himself stood back up with a solemn expression, brows partially narrowed and a small frown on his face. He regarded her for a moment, where Ari maintained her fierce look, before turning and walking towards the metal doors. Her escape path, the thought passed through her mind fast and panicked. What was he going to do with her escape?
Thoughts that this was it, that her chances were up, that her escape route was gone for good, and that she could have prevented this flickered through her mind before she realized the opposite. Her psychic powers flared up on instinct, ready to lash out at the man before her opportunity disappeared as she thought it was going to; behind her, the dragonite noticed and began to advance, hostile intent rising again yet failing to be noticed by both. To the espeon's complete surprise, all the human did was press a button on the wall next to the doors. At that exact moment the doors to her escape opened. Ari was too stunned to recognize when the human, who had given her hope before dashing it before returning it again, walked past her without so much as a second glance.
"That elevator will take you to the top floor. It's just a hallway with another door at the end, I left it open when I came in, so it's a straight shot to the forest outside." The human said without looking at her, snapping her out of stupor.
With wide eyes and a tilted head, Ari looked at the human. Why would he possibly help her, she wondered? Because humans aren't nice, they're manipulative, was the answering and immediate bitter thought. They took everything good away and crushed it without mercy or caring.
The human continued speaking, failing to notice her inner musings. "I'm not going to blame you if you took that opportunity right now. Heck, I would do it myself if I were you." Ari couldn't resist rolling her eyes at that. "But you're not the only one. Team Rocket has more than a hundred, maybe more than 500 pokémon that have been suffering just as you did. They might be suffering right now. They might be suffering even more. They deserve to be free, and the people who are keeping them need to pay for their crimes."
Finally he turned to look at her, and Ari was taken aback by the look in his eyes. "I can't ask you to help, nor do I need you to. I'm telling you this because you deserve to know, and because not all humans are bad." Ari responded to that with a sharp glare, and the human laughed. "From the way you're looking at me, you probably think otherwise. Still, there are more than just a few who know what the right thing to do is. Whatever you decide to do, just make sure you can live with it."
With that, the human turned again and left, his dragonite partner following closely behind and leaving Ari alone to her thoughts. She stared on at the duo, frozen as questions repeated themselves throughout her mind. Thoughts of why. Thoughts such as why the human would possibly want to help pokémon; of what he could gain by doing so. Humans never really cared for what was right, she thought bitterly. So why now? And why was this so troubling for her?
The metal doors were closing now. If she hurried or used a quick attack, there was no doubt that she could make it inside before they closed completely. Panic urged her to move, and move she did at a respectable pace that would be sure to get her through the doors before her escape disappeared. As she arrived where the floor of the hallway met the floor of the "elevator," as the human called, she found herself slowing down. Then she was at a complete stop, and she could only watch absentmindedly and with the barest hint of her earlier panic as the elevator was closed completely off from her.
She saw humans fighting for pokémon. She had seen humans fighting over pokémon and fighting with pokémon, but today it was different. The suit of armor, who was somehow human (and now seemed quite nice) had both freed her and given her back her powers. Then the human with the dragonite came and she was saved again, her powers restored once more. At the same time, however, there were also humans who were trying to hurt her, as humans always did. The brute and the grunt, who were quick to dash her hopes and beat her up. Humans ruined her life, she thought, but now she was being helped by them. Humans that were helping pokémon, and humans that were abusing them; today Ari had seen both.
Memories of her previous trainer, of a voice like a honey, and a comforting embrace bubbled up to the surface of her mind. Ari quickly beat them down. There was pain attached to those memories, sensations that she couldn't bear to experience again.
"Team Rocket has more than a hundred, maybe more than 500 pokémon that have been suffering just as you did."
That's right. There were more pokémon here. Pokémon in the same conditions, in the same situation, that she had been. The espeon had seen some of them. And she was just leaving them behind. At first, the espeon was okay with that. Survival of the fittest; she knew death was imminent if she stayed, so it was only natural that her first priority would be getting away with her life. It was on the others if they didn't make out it out, it was their fault. That was what she had been so quick to accept, but now she wasn't so sure. Could she really leave them behind without a second thought? Could she leave Tasha, the shinx that was so quick to help her escape, behind so easily? Or her egg for that matter?
"Whatever you decide to do, just make sure you can live with it."
Her egg. The child that hatched from it. Right in front of her. Was she really about to abandon it on the promise of coming back for it later? Ari wanted to believe that it wasn't false, but she knew better. She had been ready to abandon it. She had been ready to leave the poor infant to a fate she had suffered without so much as a second thought. What did that make her, she wondered? Was she any better than the humans here? …Was she any better than her trainer?
No. She was not better than the humans, she realized with horror and self-hate. She ground her teeth; against her narrowed eyes the espeon felt tears threaten. This time she did not bother to stop them as the trickled down her face on thin trails, dampening her fur. She had planned to use other pokémon to escape, like a human would. She spared no thoughts on the welfare of other pokémon, like a human would. And she almost abandoned those she cared about, as well as those who cared about her. Just like a human would.
…Except, that wasn't completely true, was it? There were humans who were exceptions. The armored human, once Ari was able to get past his… nature, was a good example of that. He returned to his partner, the shinx, and freed her along with Ari. Then there was the other human who had a dragonite. When she was about to be beaten bloody he appeared out of nowhere and saved her, and she in turn saved him back. Then there was her former trainer; she was kind and caring before everything. It was because of her that Ari was an espeon.
Yet it was also because of her trainer that Ari was here today. It was because of the humans that were in charge of this place that she was reduced to this decrepit state. It was because of those two other humans, the grunt and the brute, Valimond and Bo, that her hope for an escape was almost destroyed.
It was by this time that Ari finally and fully realized that the metal doors had closed for good. There would be nobody else to open it for her. If she wanted to escape she still could though. The lack of weight around her neck and the freedom of her mind that the espeon became ever more aware of attested to that. With her returned psychic powers, it would be no problem to press the buttons and open the doors again.
She looked back down the corridor, towards the other end, and found the vague shapes of the human trainer and his dragonite. She looked back at the doors again, where escape lied just past, with visible hesitation. Then she closed her eyes and opened them with a far more determined expression, before turning herself the other way. For reasons she would have to find out later, the espeon began walking towards the humans she thought she understood.
xxxxx
"That'll be 8000 Cenz please."
Grumbling quietly but saying nothing, Edward handed the sum of money over to the man behind the booth and took the tickets from his hand. Once the trade was completed, the young alchemist mumbled a thank you and began walking away from the ticket booth down towards the plaza of paved tiles. The Elric brother was currently at a train station. The Easy City train station, to be specific.
The station was, in no uncertain terms, grand. At the center of the plaza, engrained into the tiles, was an embellished and highly stylized version of the proud Amestrian Symbol of the two headed dragon. Walls here and there bore simplified alchemical formulae, more for decoration than for purpose. That was the reason Edward had come up with and was sticking to, though; no alchemist worth their salt would take credit for the inaccurate formulae drawn. It was an awe inspiring sight when taken with the rest of the station regardless. The ceiling only added to that, being a combination of interwoven glass and metal that allowed multiple beams of light to scatter across the building. To many, it was a tourist attraction all on its own.
To Edward, who had seen it so many times he had half-forgotten it was there, it was rather boring. So too was the case with the many citizens that regularly came and went, off and on the trains in the station. As a crossroads of East City's business center it was only natural that it's well-crafted structures would be lost to the regular, unruly crowds. Groups of people were moving everywhere at rapid pace, from one direction to the next in all directions; it was an organized chaos of humans traveling en masse. It was one such crowd of bustling chaos that Edward was trying to escape, dodging between limbs and repeating "excuse me" at every turn as if he was a broken record. Maybe that was why he didn't care for the station half the time, he thought with no small amount of frustration. He hated when the crowds filled the station; it was impossible to tell where you were going, where you might end up, or when you might get tripped.
At that precise moment he finished that grumbling thought, before Edward was completely out of the crowd, his foot was tripped out from under him by a passerby. The result was a loss of balance and him falling none too spectacularly on the ground. He landed forehead first and stubbed his nose as the rest of his head followed. Ed practically yelped, getting up quickly and holding his nose with his left hand as he hissed in pain. "Al! Why didn't you catch me! I was…"
He stopped at that, halfway off from the ground. His brother was gone. And now, more than ever, did that Ed fully comprehend that statement. Al was gone. Gone. He could be anywhere now. Somewhere in that… other world. Or consumed by the gate, gone forever. Or he could be dead entirely, destroyed as the cost for the transmutation that took him. Either way, his brother was gone and he couldn't get him back because he—
He told himself to stop, hitting himself with his left hand. He didn't have time to entertain those kind of thoughts. Somewhere there was a madman trying to build himself an army with not-chimeras. A man who was crazy enough to do anything to get it in the first place, like sacrificing someone's family.
So, the facts. Ed needed to go over the facts, to get a hold on reality and to stop himself from thinking about that while he still could. The first fact was that Isorfold was using a dangerous and relatively new field of alchemy called teleportation alchemy. The second fact is that he's using that alchemy to pull creatures from a completely different world. The third is that it's working, despite being just a little too close to human transmutation. His new "companions" were proof of that. Then there was the fact that one of the pokémon he and his brother had already captured had escaped, screwing things up further. And, as if the universe or god or whatever force he didn't believe in truly hated him, Scar was now involved. Finally, and the hardest fact to accept, his brother was gone, and it was his fault because if he had—
He slapped himself with his right hand, then hissed in pain at the stupid mistake of using his automail hand to get a hold of himself. He composed his thoughts nonetheless and continued to the conclusion of his facts. Edward Elric was almost completely alone; he needed all the help he could get, even if he didn't want it.
So what to do now, he wondered? Isorfold may or may not have fled north. If he isn't, then he had to trust Colonel Mustang to find the madman while he was away (the concept of which literally made Ed gag). If he is in the North, then there was a lot territory to cover. By the time he found the bastard, it was a real possibility that he might already have an army. Still, he thought, a lead is a lead, and it was a damn good one right now. Besides that, it wasn't like he had anything better to do at the moment anyway.
With newfound resolve, the Fullmetal Alchemist picked himself up and continued on his way. As he walked to meet Daryn and Armstrong, he wondered just how exactly he was going to find Isorfold once he arrived in the North. The wild goose chase that was this case was only getting bigger, he bitterly thought.
Wherever Al was, Ed hoped his brother was faring much better than he was.
xxxxx
Putting his hands behind his head and his feet on the paper-strewn desk before him, leaning back into his chair, Roy Mustang Finally gave up. His eyes flickered between the notes on his desk belonging to the mad alchemist and the ceiling tiles above him. It had been no problem deciphering Isorfold's notes. While it had taken awhile to figure out the code, Mustang found that the notes followed it loyally once he did. The problem came in trying to understand what was actually said; half of what he had deciphered, what was not related to alchemy, made little to no sense. What was related to alchemy was also a problem; it wasn't helping him figure out how to get Alphonse back.
He took another glance back at the notes, briefly considering whether or not he should take another crack at understanding them or incinerating them entirely. His fingers pressed up against each other as he eyed the papers. Incineration was tempting, but he ultimately decided against it. No matter how much relief the act of frustration would bring him, he'd only be setting himself up for more stress in the future. So instead Mustang took up the notes in his hands once more, pouring over their contents to catch anything he might have missed before.
He first found that the notes were written much like the journal of an animal watcher. A description of the color of fur or skin, eating habits, and common behaviors of animals observed with a mention to a "home in the snow" mixed at seemingly random intervals. In combination with the occasional vagueness and consistency errors he found about the phrase, Mustang had quickly deciphered that the metaphor was closely tied to the transmutation circle that Isorfold used. It was also a clue as to where the mad alchemist's current whereabouts may be, which Roy had been sure to tell Fullmetal. That was the information he had immediately found out.
The problem with the notes, Mustang found, was that the details that were hidden in the notes were lacking. The most descriptions he found of the transmutation circle that the alchemist used were few and far between, and vague at best. He did find, however, extensive (or as extensive as coded notes could get) descriptions of the results of the transmutations. Those results being… unpleasant. Each "journal entry" detailed or mentioned an injury with each time that a transmutation was mentioned. Many of the injuries in question were deadly, Mustang found. Lost limbs, missing organs, and sometimes, to the alchemist's horror, cases of pokémon missing elements whole sale from their bodies. It told him that those cases were primarily failures. It was a safe assumption that held true for each and every entry. Except for the last three, which were cases of success. Depending on how and when the alchemist wrote, Roy gravely concluded that Isorfold only recently completed his transportation transmutation circles.
Isorfold had taken the trial and error approach to perfecting his alchemy. The mere implications of that sentence did not bode well with the Flame Alchemist. Clearly, the mad alchemist did not care in the slightest for the animals and pokémon he transmuted. What did this mean for Alphonse, he wondered? It meant that Al would be very lucky to be alive after he was transmuted, Roy realized. Isorfold only ever cared about what he got, not what he paid. Looking back at the notes, Roy found this to be true; they only detailed in the taking of pokémon instead of giving them back.
That only made his job harder, he thought with exasperation. He would have to figure out how to get the younger Elric back by himself. Mustang was no expert on transportation alchemy, however, and the only person qualified to teach it was the very same man that they were trying to catch.
After much thought, Mustang put his feet back on the floor beneath his desk and rested his chin on his hands, hunched over the documents before him. Perhaps there was something he missed? Perhaps some other piece of code he had yet to figure out that give him the answers? The alchemist doubted it, but he grabbed the notes into his hands and turned to a random page regardless. Thus the exhaustive search for answers was begun again.
And then quickly ended. Several minutes passed of finding absolutely nothing before the urge to burn the notes into cinders bubbled up in the alchemist once more. This time the urge was stronger than ever, and the alchemist could feel his gloved fingers rubbing against each other to the point that they almost created sparks. He ultimately did not follow through on the act, but that was due to a new distraction: the phone was ringing.
Roy was quick and eager to pick up the noisy device. Perhaps too eager, he thought; the boisterous voice on the other end turned the alchemist crestfallen.
"Roy, my man! How are you doing today?"
It was Hughes. He was calling on a military line. Again.
Roy sighed and rubbed his forehead. There was no doubt that the man was calling to talk about his wife and child. Of course, by "talking about" what the alchemist really meant was gushing. It was practically a routine for Mustang's patience to be tested by the unabashed family man. It was not that the man disliked Hughes or his family, on the contrary, he liked them very much. Where he raised issue was being constantly called by the other man to talk about them.
"Hughes, what have I told you about calling on a military line?" Roy asked, annoyance palpable in his voice.
"Only call when it's vitally important. That's why…" Maes' voice dropped a decibel in tone, prompting Mustang to lean forward into the phone held against his ear. "I've called to tell you that… my little Elicia's birthday party is coming in two weeks!"
Slam!
"Huh, what was that?"
"Nothing." Mustang mumbled, rubbing his pained forehead as a large red mark began to form. "I just slipped is all."
"Oh. Well, you should be more careful next time."
Mustang snorted. "Yeah, sure. Is there anything else you wanted to talk about (considering that you clearly don't care about military policy)?"
"I've heard some rumors about Alphonse."
Mustang started at that, then his eyes narrowed and became downcast; his demeanor making a shift to serious and solemn.
When Hughes next spoke, his tone was serious as well. "And I've also heard that you're not letting Edward investigate ways to get him back."
"… It's better if Fullmetal continued with a goal while unheeded by distractions"
"Well that's not harsh at all, calling his brother a distraction." Hughes retorted with sharp sarcasm. "Wouldn't you do everything in your power to get back somebody you love?"
It was a provocative question, but it was not something that Roy had been unprepared for. "Ed—Fullmetal—needs to focus on Isorfold. If you've heard the rumors, then you probably have some idea of what that man is like; we can't let him do something like this again. Plus, it'll keep the loss from weighing him down for the time being. As for his brother, I'm handling the issue. That way, if and when Isorfold has been caught, Fullmetal won't have to start from scratch."
"Yeah, sure. After that, you get to take credit for saving the younger brother of the state's prodigy alchemist." The other man replied, cheerfully teasing.
Over this, Mustang let loose a small chuckle. That comment would have been an uncalled for jab to anyone but Mustang. Especially considering that it came from Maes Hughes. Even when the man was teasing or calling inappropriately, Mustang could not help but find himself amused by his company and share a laugh every now and then. The flame alchemist honestly didn't know what life would be like without him, irritating as he may be.
"So this Isorfold situation of yours; it's a real mess isn't it? Rumors are going around that the guy's found a way to bring to Amestris whole species of animals from another world, or dimension, or something like that. As if something like that could be true. It sounds more like something straight out of a children's story." Hughes scoffed before pausing. When he next spoke, it was with excited enthusiasm. "Speaking of children's stories, you want to know what Elicia did last night? She told the entire Big Bad Wolf story from memory! It was so cute and amazing!"
"I'm going to hang up now, Hughes."
"But, wait, I'm not done-" Mustang already put the phone back down on the receiver, with just a bit too much force, before Maes could continue. Even with the phone call ended Mustang found the man's words had stuck with him. Specifically, the line "like a children's story." Why did that stick with him? He pondered why for a few seconds before realization hit him like a ton of bricks.
He quickly brought the leather bound note book into his hands and opened them to the first page. At first, Mustang wasn't quite sure how to interpret what was written there; a return, copy, and printed address as well as what looked like a sentence of dedication. For the addresses, the alchemist wasn't sure whether to take them at face value and investigate, or try to decode whatever hidden meaning was there. This was especially true for the sentence of dedication. While it was not entirely uncommon for an alchemist to write "in memory of…" or "special thanks to…" when they published their works, it felt misplaced in Isorfolds written notes. He had regarded it with suspicion before, but now he realized what the sentence truly meant.
"For my father, who always told the best children's stories."
Mustang smiled a cocky smile. Maes Hughes could really be a genius sometimes.
xxxxx
The large and aged stone gears turned against each other. Each wedge interlocking with another. Rumbling in the background and resounding in booming thuds throughout the underground structure. An intricate system of cement and metal piping was where the lumbering structures rested behind. The pipes dropped from an impossibly high and impossibly dark ceiling, their origin unknown. They were tangled in and about each other, eventually straightening out as they connected to their destination (source?) in the very center of the cavernous structure. It was an image reminiscent of organic veins. A stone throne, the destination of the pipes, where the air was sterile and foreboding, rested in the middle. Arguably in the middle of the entire country.
On that throne with which everything connected sat a man. It was clear, however, that he was anything but. On appearance alone he seemed to be in his mid-30s, but he had the air of an ancient; perhaps he was older than the very country he resided under. His beard and hair were bleached despite the lack of sunlight, yet still golden in color. His face was chiseled, and at one time, it might have captivated many a woman, but now it was as foreboding and as threatening as the room he resided in. His eyes were sharp and calculating, gold and dull, and were focused on an old leather-bound book that was written in an obscure and perhaps dead language.
Seconds passed like minutes, minutes passed like hours, which in turn passed like centuries for the voluptuous woman standing just behind the stone throne and its occupant. This was the hardest part for Lust, waiting to be spoken to so that she could in turn speak herself. The tension that her father made was often unbearable. Speaking up to him to break the silence was a taboo, however. She would wait until he spoke first. That was what she was taught.
Her shapely form stood as still as stone as she waited. Next to her was a cart, on which rested the black and blue (and currently some red) form of the feline creature, almost comparable to a lion, that she had brought before him. It was injured and unconscious. Barely alive. Lust was nothing less than impressed to see that it was alive, if slowly dying.
If she didn't know any better, she would have written the creature off as a chimera. She had seen plenty in her time. Some were grotesque, and others were the essence of magnificence. The creature that rested beside her certainly had the characteristics one could assume belonged to an alchemically created creature. But she did know better. It was a pokémon, an animal from another world with fantastic powers. This one in particular was brought over by that insect, Isorfold. From what her brother had told her, it was also sentient. Luckily for her, it didn't look like it would awaken anytime soon.
Did Lust particularly care about the pokémon? No. Whether it lived or died was of little consequence to her conscience. It was proof that her venture was coming to fruition, and nothing more. It was proof that the investment of a philosopher's stone was worth it. What her father did with the pokémon was not her concern. Lust almost smirked; it was likely that he would try dissecting it.
Finally the book snapped shut and her father regarded her. It was not the same as being spoken to, but it was the next closest cue for her to begin speaking. "Isorfold now has a philosopher's stone." She started, relieved to break the silence but still tense in her father's presence. "It's nothing substantial, however. I believe if he were pushed in the right direction, he could very easily become a sacrifice. If not, once his usefulness has reached its end, we'll have a plethora of… monsters to our disposal."
Her father brought a hand to his chin and nodded in contemplation at her words before turning his attention to the pokémon on the cart. "I assume that this is one of the monsters that you are referring to?" His voice was deep and monotone. It reverberated throughout the room and to Lust's core.
Lust nodded. "From what Envy has told me, they are called "Pokémon." It's the other world's version of animals, apparently. This one is apparently called a "Luxray." Importantly, these pokémon have supernatural abilities and, as Envy has reported, sentience."
"Sentience?" Her father seemed to almost taste the word in his mouth for a moment. Intrigued, he stood up from his chair, joints quietly hissing and popping from the movement. Small flashes of red revealed that the pipes connecting to the chair connected to him as well. After standing to his full height, her father began to walk over to the cart, his wooden sandals clicking against the stone of the floor all along the way. After reaching it he kneeled down to observe the unconscious pokémon at eye level, his expression never changing beyond the glint of curiosity in his eyes. "And what of your brothers, Envy and Gluttony?"
"Envy is currently in disguise, rounding up Isorfold's strays and putting them to work. As for Gluttony," Lust paused, a soft chuckle escaping her as she thought of her voracious brother's antics, "He almost couldn't stop himself from eating this one. So I told him to go track Isorfold's whereabouts."
Her father hummed in response before taking up the luxray's head in his hands, lifting it up and examining it. He turned the pokemon's head about, examining its facial marks and fur patterns while seemingly ignorant of the dried blood flaking off into his hands. He carefully rested the head back down after coming to some sort of conclusion. After that her father stood up and walked around the cart, running his hand along the torso. There was a twitch in the pokemon's body, but it remained unconscious. Still running his hand along the creature, her father finally stopped at the other end, where he began to examine one of the more currently deformed legs. A moment passed and he dropped the leg, his expression still as blank as before.
"This one is quite injured." He stated, voice level and monotonous. "One of the bones in its right leg has been fractured, while the entire left leg has been shattered. One of its forelegs is sprained as well, and it has a number of broken ribs. Some of them are digging into its vital organs, one of which, a lung, has been punctured."
Now that her father mentioned it, Lust noticed the misshapenness of its leg, as well as how oddly compressed its chest was. She sighed. She partly knew the reason why, but it was one of the parts she had been dreading to tell, and hoping that she wouldn't have to. "It was found after a run in with… Scar, father. It seemed like the human was trying to kill it."
"Scar?" Her father lifted his head to look at her, his emotionless stare boring through her. "The troublesome human who carelessly interferes with our goals? I thought he was dead… Will he be a problem?"
Lust shook her head, inwardly relieved at the lack of reaction. "I suspect that he won't, Father. He can't find Isorfold without knowledge of his whereabouts, and he's been injured. It's not likely he will be involved any further." Her tone was assuring. The truth was that Lust was not sure herself. Scar was an annoying one. Between his habit of killing precious alchemists and disappearing and reappearing at the most inappropriate times, the man was unpredictable. Try as they might, he was still a problem for herself and her siblings.
"Really now. Was it not you who reported that he was deceased?" It was a statement more than it was a question, and it was scolding all the same.
"Yes, Father." She answered, hanging her head low to avoid the stare he was now giving her. Anxiousness crept up inside her as she remained in his presence.
Her father put one of his hands on the luxray's torso once more, his eyes looking away from Lust. "And what of the Elric brothers?" He asked, his attention still on the pokémon.
Lust took a step back and averted his absent gaze. This was the other part she had been dreading to tell. She almost certainly knew what her father's reaction would be. "They have been meddling with Isorfold's affairs for the past few days, as we expected; the Fullmetal Alchemist was ordered by Mustang to capture him. Recently, however, the armored boy was lost. I do not know if he is still alive or if he's dead, but it is safer to assume the latter."
His reaction was immediate. He tore his attention away from the pokémon and directed it towards her with a fierce glare. His face was still; only the subtle downturn of his eyebrows betrayed his surprise and anger. It was not unjustified. Alphonse Elric had been all but confirmed as a human sacrifice. Losing him was nothing less than a setback.
"Explain." He said simply, voice slightly lower; it was almost a growl.
"Isorfold used the armored boy in a transmutation and received both a pokémon and a human as a result. It's possible that they might have seen the portal." Lust quickly replied. The thought of her father's anger was not something she liked to entertain.
Her father's expression changed at that. The subtle downturn of his brows that indicated his anger was now a subtle upturn of intrigue. He looked back down at the pokémon on the cart, scratching his bleached gold beard in contemplation. After the passing of several seconds, a bright red glow began to emit from the hand still placed on the luxray's chest. The glow quickly became blinding as arcs of red tinted lightning flashed about. Lust watched as the pokemon's misshapen leg mended itself together into a proper shape, and new life seemed to be born within it as its chest began to rise and fall with proper breaths.
Lust found herself surprised. Not by show of her father's alchemy, which she had seen countless times in a number of varying ways, but by the fact that he bothered to use it in the first place. Mercy was not a concept he properly knew, nor was it something he extended to lower life forms unless they had future value. Did her father require the pokémon for a future purpose then, she wondered?
He turned his attention to her once again, solemn and expressionless as before. "I have deemed this to be a venture worth continuing. Depending on what happened to these… pokémon during their transfer, they may have some future potential as sacrifices. Isorfold as well. He may also be a candidate for sacrifice. There is much to be gained and much to be lost from this venture," He walked away from her and the pokémon in question, and towards his throne where he sat down and rested his stare her at her before continuing. "That is why you must take care in your operations. Continue observing and only intervene when it is necessary. At the same time, make sure to get as much information about these pokémon from Envy. It is our true goal that you are working towards, my daughter."
Lust nodded in acknowledgement. She knew her father was right. As interesting as monsters and other worlds was, Isorfold was merely a distraction. A profitable distraction? Undeniably. But it was a distraction from their preparations for the promised day nonetheless.
"Still," He continued, "if this is handled correctly, then we might finish preparations ahead of schedule. For now, you are dismissed." Lust wasn't positive, but she thought she spotted the faintest of smiles on his face. At that moment he waved her off, and opened the leather book he was previously reading before; their meeting was done. In her humble opinion, Lust found that it had gone better than expected.
Lust nodded in response before turning to the pokémon resting on the cart beside her. It was alive, breathing, but still unconscious. She looked back at her father, who was back to reading his ancient tome and completely turned away from her, partially shadowed in inky darkness. He had deemed the pokémon valuable, but Lust found herself pondering the question of what to do with it.
A thought came to her then, and she smiled. Securing Isorfold's actions and further gaining his trust could help control the current situation. And what better way to do that then to return a lost pet? She took the handles of the cart into her hands and began pushing the cart towards the exit, which was a set of double doors of questionable material, and large enough to fit a giant. The doors opened against the metal of the cart, casting a light into the room that was almost blinding. Her form was obscured in shadow as she walked into it, the double doors closing behind her by some unknown force and clicking shut with a low but echoing bang.
In seconds the room became silent once more. The not-quite-a-man called Father, despite the darkness that now perpetuated him, turned his unaffected attention to the small, circular desk beside his stone chair. There sat a small wooden board that sported an intricately carved circle. The circle itself seemed almost arcane; Latin writings peppered the outsides and insides of the circle, which bore a double layered pentagram that touched the edges. It could have been mistaken for the setting of a board game, but it was lacking of any pieces. It was more than that, though. If one were to make a guess, it could be called the center. Of what, however, was debatable.
He reached a hand forward towards it and traced the line with a finger, before moving his hand underneath the table top to pull out a single drawer. The contents rattled and rolled from the action, but otherwise remained stationary. The objects themselves were figurines; almost game pieces. Five in total and all gothic in design. One piece seemed to be wrapped in barb wire, while another was draped in a sheet, made to look like a ghost. Another piece seemed to bear the skull of a dragon while yet another carried a smaller green skull at its side. The last piece was wrapped in a half robe and had a broken crown atop its head.
The not-quite-man scratched his chin in a thoughtful manner as he stared at a random piece now held in his other hand. As he rolled the piece between his fore finger and his thumb, he began tapping on the arm rest of his chair with another finger from his left. After a moment, the finger stopped tapping. A flash of red light and quick flashes of electricity appeared when he did, and from the display emerged five new pieces that were all animalistic in appearance. When the flashes of alchemy disappeared, there was not a trace on the rock or the new figurines that a transmutation had ever occurred. All of them appeared as if they had been carefully hand crafted. One of the new pieces was picked up and replaced by the previously held figurine, and Father let out a single hum as he inspected it.
"I wonder," He began to say aloud with true curiosity in his voice, "How has the game been changed with the introduction of these new pieces?"
xxxxx
Direction can mean everything in an endeavor, but the endeavor must be taken before the impact can be felt. With your path in place and your direction set, do you know the destination that you are headed?
Next Time
Tidings to the North