Creation began on 01-25-20
Creation ended on 01-27-20
Neon Genesis Evangelion
The Living Alchemist: Living vs. Iron-Blood
A/N: Brigadier General Basque Gran, the Iron-Blood Alchemist. Some people believe he's the strongest out of the State Alchemists, but others believe in another who's just starting out.
"…So, Alphonse, how has your alchemy been progressing?" Shinji asked the younger Elric as they and Edward traveled back to Central on the train.
"It's been going good," Al answered him. "While we were in Resembool, I transmuted five buildings, all two stories."
"Impressive progress. What about you, Edward? Anything new with your combat-style alchemy? Anything at all?"
Ed looked at Shinji and sighed, "You'd have to face me in combat to see."
"Maybe someday, I will…but not now or in the foreseeable present."
"What about your Living Transmutation research? How has that progressed since your trip to Lior after the corrupt priest?"
"I was…able to save a lot of people over there. A lot of people."
But it was the way that he said it that had the Elrics wondering if something else had happened while Shinji was in Lior, something that he wasn't divulging to them.
"Shinji, did something happen to you while in Lior?" Al questioned.
Shinji turned to look out the window at the scenery and responded, "I lost track of the priest because I stayed behind to save some men that were caught in a mine collapse. Mustang will chew my head off for that."
"When I think about it, that Mustang guy seems to have it out for you a little?" Ed told him. "Do you think he suspects something?"
"With you two…or with me?"
"All of the above."
"He probably wants to believe that, but there's no evidence of anything off. The way the State Military sees it, we're just three alchemists that joined a couple of months ago and have made progress in the time since."
"For him, 'progress' would be synonymous with 'why haven't we done any collateral damage to wherever we've been' or 'what kind of trouble have you avoided'." Ed expressed.
"We're able to remedy certain situations however we choose to," said Al. "Like in Youswell, where we took care of Yoki and Lyra."
But Shinji couldn't tell anyone about how transmuting Gluttony had revived over two-hundred-thousand lives he had consumed when he was a homunculus. If the military discovered this fact, he'd be in trouble and risk the secret of the Elrics' failed attempt that he undid to protect them. But it continued to play chaos with his conscience…and his success with the Red Water, detoxifying it with plants and using it to accelerate his research. If he did things a little differently, he could progress Amestris' technological advancement with planes and bikes in due time. That would probably get him in the history books for advancing technology…or even a promotional rank increase.
-x-
"…Where the Hell is Gluttony?" Envy questioned as he, Lust and Bradley were on the rooftop of Central HQ.
"I sent him into the sewers," Lust lied to him; now that Gluttony was no longer Gluttony and in the wind, she had to be extra careful when engaged with the other homunculi and the master. "If he finds any rats down there, he can eat them."
"Eighteen State Alchemists were found dead," Bradley told them. "So far, all we now have to identify the culprit behind each attack is a code name: Scar."
"Scar?" Envy asked again.
"One of the witnesses that saw him noticed an X-shaped scar on his face."
"So now the military know who they're looking for," Lust stated.
"It's still bad for us if this Scar goes after the Living Alchemist."
That, of course, meant it was also bad for Lust if something happened to Shinji; she needed to make sure he lived long enough to complete her back into the woman she once was.
"Fortunately, each of the State Alchemists left in Central have been assigned a protective detail," Bradley informed. "This should keep Scar away from Living until later on."
"Some of the State Alchemists may insist that they don't need to be watched over," Lust told him, which was a half-truth, since there was a rumor that many in the military were looking to the Flame Alchemist for protection.
"What about Iron-Blood?" Envy suggested. "Don't people think he's tough, as well?"
"He's all talk and intimidation. He's past his prime."
-x-
"…You three are quite moody today," Hughes told Shinji, Ed and Al in the cafeteria of HQ. "I'm guessing the security detail in place of protecting you from the State Alchemist killer was not what you were expecting when you got back?"
"I see no reason to place regular people in the military in danger against someone that has killed State Alchemists when it'd be much simpler keep the State Alchemists in one place and then wait for the killer," Shinji told him, barely touching his salad. "I'd rather be out helping the people, not babysat by unnecessary bodyguards, even if they are two people who were involved in the apprehension of Barry Stein."
Al looked around them, seeing the adults dressed in the military uniforms and sporting the same pocket watches he, Ed and Shinji possessed, all symbolizing that they were State Alchemists, the same as they were.
"They don't seem afraid of anyone," he told Hughes.
"You haven't heard what happened to the people this guy has killed, so you don't have a reason to fear him yet. Somehow, he was able to blow their brains out of their heads." Hughes explained to Al.
"Has anyone seen exactly how the killer does it?" Shinji asked.
"If anyone knew that, they wouldn't be cowering like rats here," they heard the voice of Basque Grand behind Shinji, who had to turn his head in order to face him.
"Cowering," Shinji responded, "or pursuing other interests?"
"Everyone's been at a fork in the road since the three of you showed up and passed the exam, unable to progress further in their advancement…other than you three. Even Tucker has yet to produce better results in his chimera research."
Soon enough, all three young alchemists gave off unpleasant vibes when they gave their frowns regarding Shou Tucker.
Even Hughes was put off his happy mood by their sour mood.
"And how is he these days?" Shinji asked Basque Grand.
"Barely able to focus on a transmutation after he heard of your success in perfecting the use of Red Water. Such a resource would prove beneficial for…"
"If Tucker's got balls and a spine," Shinji cut him off, "he can ask me himself. If he can't, he has no right to call himself a man and has no right to continue his chimera research."
"Ooh," Basque heard the other State Alchemists react to Living's choice of words.
"Anyway, my notes to using the Red Water properly were copied and are archived in the library. Anyone with sense can access them anytime they choose."
But Basque Grand couldn't make heads or tails of any part of the boy's notes; they were written in a code he hadn't seen or heard of a day in his life! How could anyone understand it?!
"Your notes are chaotic," he told Living, and then walked away.
"Jerk," Ed muttered.
"Hey," Shinji told him, "we both know he's not worth a migraine."
"Neither one is," Al backed him, referring to Basque Grand and Shou Tucker.
"Sounds like you three don't like the brigadier general much," said Hughes to them.
"Are we that obvious?" They asked him at the same time.
"You three…are unbelievably obvious. But he is a brigadier general; therefore, he is your superior in the military. Oh, yeah, Shinji, I wasn't sure if you heard or not, what with the Scar guy running around in Central and everyone, but the Führer has been impressed by your progress that he wants to see what more you're capable of in an extreme situation."
"How extreme is 'extreme', exactly?" Shinji asked, worried that he was expected to do something that was different from what he preferred doing.
-x-
"Battle assessment?" Basque Grand questioned in the Führer's office. "I've got nothing more to prove."
"It's not for you, Grand," Bradley explained to him. "It's for young Living."
"The Living Alchemist? He barely strikes me as a combatant."
"Well, we shall see, since he requested you out of the other veteran State Alchemists listed from the civil war. He was very adamant about it. The parade grounds are being prepared for it right now. Two hours from now, we'll see what more he can do."
But Basque Grand was furious that he had to serve as the opponent for the Living Alchemist. There was no way he could survive in a mock battle for even thirty seconds against his brand of alchemy, let alone a real one.
-x-
"…Who do you think would win out of the two?" Some people were talking about the mock battle that was going to happen today whilst Shinji and Basque were preparing in their own ways. "You know, if they were really giving it their all?"
"My money's on Iron-Blood," a soldier told his friend. "He was in Ishbal and claimed dozens of enemies to get his notoriety."
"Yeah, that's true, but you shouldn't overlook Living," another soldier expressed in the conversation. "He may be an up-and-coming teenage alchemist, but he's already become a local hero of sorts. He found that killer and gained a reputation after dealing with Yoki in Youswell."
"Can he actually fight?"
"I heard he almost stabbed a purse snatcher in his head."
"I heard he has a temper."
"But he seems more like a gentle soul. Why would he want to fight the brigadier general?"
-x-
"…You do realize that this is crazy, right?" Ed told Shinji as the latter alchemist was transmuting pieces of broken, rusted metal into kunai like the one he kept with him on the table in the room they and Al were using. "I mean, there's a reason he's called Iron-Blood, Shinji."
"Ed's right," said Al to him. "Plus, he's bigger and…well, he's unfriendly. He probably knew what Tucker was going to do to Nina."
"Whether he knew or not, whether he orchestrated it or not, that's not why I'm facing him," Shinji told them, finishing the transmuting of the old metal into kunai. "The reason I'm facing him…is because he reminds me of someone from my past…in a real bad way. I need to face him to put that ghost to bed, permanently."
"Who does he remind you of?" Al asked.
"My father," he answered. "We were never close. Never a kind word, not even a simple conversation. But I've put him behind me as best I can. I just don't like how someone similar seems interested in only thing above all else."
"Which is?" Ed asked.
"Personal advancement at the cost of community suffering. If you want to be the king of the castle, be prepared to be the only one living in it. If you want to rule the mountaintop, don't bother sharing it with those beneath you. And if you desire power to the point of being willing to harm others to get it…"
"Be prepared to have someone stand in your way of obtaining said power," the brothers expressed, which Shinji nodded in the positive as he strapped the kunai to his pants' left leg.
"What he said earlier about the Red Stone. He just wants it for himself, for power and advancing up the ranks. What he doesn't understand is that power…comes at a cost, and I don't mean Equivalent Exchange. It corrupts, it poisons, it becomes addictive, seductive, and once you get a taste for it…you get hooked and want more."
"And what happens when you come to have too much of it?" Ed questioned.
"You can either believe that you're unstoppable…or that you're not powerful enough to keep it in your possession. You believe that too much is not enough. People with power will always desire the most corrupt side of it: More power."
"So, even after you perfected creating the Red Stone and boosting your alchemic reactions to improve the human body's ability to regenerate, you still continue to seek being able to do it on your own through alchemy," Al suggested, noticing the small pouch of Red Stones on the table beside Shinji. "You don't want to be dependent on something that you obtained that will become a crutch for you."
"If there's a sickness spreading or someone is in a terminal condition, the use of the stone would be benevolent in the pursuit of saving lives. If the sickness is common and not life-threatening, like the common cold, and a person's condition is minimal instead of severe, you shouldn't rely on something powerful so much."
"It might be just a mock battle, Shinji," Ed told him, "but don't let that man win."
Shinji nodded. There was no way he would lose to Basque Grand.
-x-
"…Are you sure that you left him here?" Envy asked Lust as they waded through the sewers beneath the city.
"Yes," she continued to lie.
"Stupid lard," Envy muttered. "He's as worthless as Greed was before he was locked up under Laboratory Five! You should've kept him on a tight leash!"
So long as Lust continued to deceive Envy on the fact that Gluttony was gone, she could lead him further down the sewers…where she could dispose of him as fast as possible before he could go after Shinji for his Red Stone.
-x-
"In the red corner, we have the Iron-Blood Alchemist, Brigadier General Basque Grand!" Hughes announced on the parade grounds as he pointed to the veteran soldier from the Ishbal Civil War.
Basque Grand looked like he'd rather be anywhere else but here right now.
"This assessment will be over before it even begins," a soldier expressed.
"I don't know, I heard he hasn't been in a fight in a long time, so he might be rusty," another soldier added in.
Basque just sighed in annoyance.
"And in the blue corner, we have the Living Alchemist, Major Shinji Ikari, and a runner-up for the people!" Hughes announced Shinji's presence on the parade grounds, the young teen looking quite embarrassed being in front of all these people.
"That's the kid that caught that killer?" A female soldier questioned.
"He's cute," another woman expressed.
"Is he seeing anyone?"
"I heard he was able to transmute a new leg for a woman."
"He looks after the two child State Alchemists like some unofficial guardian."
"He's a little shorter than I thought he'd be."
In the crowd, Ed and Al were both worried and confused; were the women of the military both impressed by Shinji…and wondering if he was available?
"Isn't it against the rules for military personnel to date?" Ed asked his brother.
"Yeah," Al answered.
"Okay, the goal of this assessment is to disarm or disable your opponent. Only disarm or disable. We don't need anyone going to the hospital because someone got reckless and careless." Hughes told the two alchemists.
Shinji nodded in understanding.
Basque merely grunted.
"Okay…fight!" Hughes yelled and ran for cover.
Shinji received a shock when he saw Basque slam his arms onto the ground, transmuting the ground into tendrils of metal spears coming towards him!
"Oh!" He gasped as he clapped his hands and slammed them onto the ground, transmuting a wall. He's quite springy for a veteran!
The spears hit the wall, but were unable to break through it.
"You took me by surprise there, Iron-Blood!" Shinji yelled at Basque. "I wasn't expecting you to move like that!"
"And I wasn't expecting a coward!" Basque responded, slamming his hands to the ground again and transmuted a large cannon. "This is what a real State Alchemist is capable of!"
Blast! The cannon fired at the wall, demolishing it.
In the dust cloud that formed, all Basque could see was a small flash of light, but nothing else…until he took notice of a silhouette in the dust cloud.
"Do you surrender?" He asked, but was then caught off guard by what he was looking at.
In front of him was a well-made stone sculpture of a young woman posing with her hands on her chest, dressed in a swimsuit or lingerie. Hanging on her abdomen was a sign that read, "Girl (heart symbol) Power!"
"Aaahh!" The women in military uniform cheered.
"Wow!" Ed gasped. "I didn't think Shinji could do that."
"Brother, the statue's a distraction," Al stated, seeing the hole in the ground.
"What?!" Basque went, still looking at the statue so he didn't see the hole.
The ground under him shot up around him and grabbed his arms in the form of several hands, holding him in place as he was lifted off the ground.
"Aargh!" He groaned as something else emerged from the ground in front of him.
It was Shinji, with a look of calm fury, rising from the quicksand-like ground, holding a kunai in his right hand.
"Age," he spoke with a hint of malice in his tone, "creativity, versatility and the empowerment of knowledge. So much potential, yet so little time. Do you know how much time you have to explore the limits of your potential before your time ends, Iron-Blood?"
There was something different about this boy right now. There was a sense of conviction, determination that he didn't see before the mock battle began.
Clap! Shinji brought his hands together and then placed them on Basque Grand's uniform, transmuting them into something else.
"Hey! What did…" He demanded as he was released by Shinji, falling backwards, but not touching the ground. "Huh?! What is…"
Bounce. He floated upwards for a moment, but then Shinji pushed him away from himself.
"You're okay," Shinji told him, letting him bounce on the ground. "I just turned your clothes into a balloon full of some weakened hydrogen. You focused on offense while I was forced to react defensively and counterattack with a non-lethal method. One of the reasons I embrace my name as the Living Alchemist is because I value life, no matter who has it. It's only disrespected when people decide to take it, to end it or exploit it."
For some reason, this brought back memories of when Basque was in Ishbal. All those people that he killed with his alchemy, all those buildings he demolished in the pursuit of ending the war. He wanted to claim that Shinji was in league with the Ishbalans, that he was a sympathizer to the injustice they were dealt by the Amestrian military forces, but there was no way to put him together with the Ishbalans for his accusation to be anything but what he wanted to believe in.
"The goal of the assessment was to disarm or disable the opponent," Shinji continued. "I have disarmed and disabled you. This victory goes to me."
Basque couldn't move his arms or legs, was in a compromised position, no matter how embarrassing it was, and his opponent was looking down upon him. With his arms unable to move, he was unable to perform alchemy, so he couldn't transmute a weapon from the ground or from his gauntlets, disabling him. This…was a defeat in and of itself, and by some kid that didn't know the ways of war, of how peace and freedom was derived from power and fear.
"Well, that was fast," they both heard some of the soldiers say in the crowd.
"It started fast, but it ended fast, too."
"The brigadier general probably hoped to pin the major to the ground, but didn't anticipate for him to have a faster reaction time."
"Living certainly has his own way of dealing with people without resorting to violence."
"He must believe in noncombatant methods, restraining a foe without resorting to harming them. But how long can he rely on such methods before he has no other alternative but to use force?"
Shinji clapped his hands and put them on the ground, transmuting the previous alchemic reactions back into the foundation. It was as though the fighting that took place never happened.
"I must say, young Living," went the Führer to Shinji as he showed up on the parade grounds. "I didn't expect to see you be inoffensive against a veteran soldier from the war."
"Iron-Blood caught me off guard, sir," he explained, and then transmuted the State Alchemist's uniform back to normal. "I was expecting him to be rusty because there hasn't been another war since the previous one was ended, but he took me by surprise. I was also expecting his alchemy to be based around his name…or at least hint at something I was not seeing. Still, transmuting from the surroundings is unpredictable because you never know what's going to be made by the alchemist that does so."
"And…your decoy while you went underground to surprise attack?"
"That…was my rush attempt at distracting Iron-Blood from looking away. People can get distracted by anything or anyone if they catch the eye enough."
"Very perceptive. You'll go far."
-x-
She had to get away from him as fast as she could. How could she have underestimated what he was capable of turning into? Lust knew that Envy was capable of shape-shifting, but she had no idea that the male homunculus could become non-human creatures…and the one he turned into…was one that was beyond inhuman…and possibly beyond homunculi. It was massive, far larger than a human, more beast than anything alchemy could've produced, and inhumanly strong, as it tore her left arm off. Even as she regenerated, Lust had to flee, knowing that she was no match for Envy in the form he took, especially if he was far stronger than the other homunculi that remained, which were just herself, himself, Greed and Pride.
Unstoppable, she thought as she escaped from the sewers out of a manhole. He may be unstoppable. But even if he is, it won't matter for long. Living knows the truth now…and he'll pursue those that remain to their downfall.
Having a good head start, Lust was able to get away from Envy before he could emerge from the sewers, back in his human form as either his preferred state or as someone else.
"That traitor," he fumed, unable to find Lust on the streets. "I'll get you for this, Lust."
Not only had she deceived him, but she tried to do away with him. And she mentioned that Gluttony had been dealt with earlier on before she had returned to Central, but not how he was dealt with. Either she had killed him or just left him somewhere to starve, it was irrelevant because they no longer had a Philosopher's Stone to grasp through Gluttony, which left…
The Living Alchemist, he thought as he made himself look like a woman now. He's the only one that may be able to do it. All he needs is a little motivation.
-x-
"Less than three minutes," said Hawkeye to Mustang that evening in his office, referring to the mock battle between Living and Iron-Blood. "That's a new record for quickest battle assessment. Young Ikari actually bested your record by a minute."
"And he didn't harm his opponent," Mustang responded. "Instead, he just disabled his mobility and left him reduced to a floating laughing stock. He's very inoffensive."
"Or he just hates violence for the sake of violence."
"He's similar to Tucker in one sense, but he's like Marcoh in another sense; all three lack combat instincts to varying degrees."
"Tim Marcoh? I find it hard to compare Ikari to him let alone Tucker. At least with Tucker, Ikari's research has yielded adequate results in medical alchemy. The research into talking chimera alchemy is plagued with gaps and dead-ends. If anything, Ikari may be superior to both men, even if they were to work together."
Mustang felt he had to disagree with her on that, since it was unknown if the rogue Crystal Alchemist and the unstable Sewing-Life Alchemist were any good at teamwork. One thing was certain, though: It was unlikely that the Living Alchemist would ever consider working alongside the Sewing-Life Alchemist after the report of some foul play involving the latter's daughter.
-x-
Even if it was only a mock battle, Basque still felt humiliated by the Living Alchemist. He was an experienced combatant of war…and he was bested by a teen that wanted to use alchemy for…for healing purposes! What was so special about healing alchemy? It couldn't take out an army or solidify one's hold on territory. There was no way to achieve any victories in a war with someone…by playing doctor instead of being a soldier.
I had him, he thought as he couldn't sleep that night. I had him!
-x-
Leaving another body in his pursuit, the State Alchemist killer walked past a frightened couple that were too scared to scream for help.
The alchemist had believed himself to be capable of stopping this criminal…and was sadly mistaken due to this man's abilities.
It wouldn't be until sunrise before the military discovered that the Freezing Alchemist had been added to the body count.
To be continued…
A/N: For the record, Shinji just had to show up Basque Grand. The fight may have started quickly, but that was because Basque was resentful of the progress Shinji was making while Tucker had yet to do better with his own work since the attempt he tried with Nina, whom he might never see again. And as for Shinji, he refuses to permit either State Alchemist the opportunity to use the Red Stone he makes for the pursuit of inhuman acts just for the sake of defeating an enemy or to see what is possible, even though his research was catalogued in the archives in his native language, his insurance that it can't be exploited being that nobody in Amestris can read Japanese. And now we're down to just two enemy homunculi and one mastermind; Greed being a rogue and Lust now having no need of Dante to make her human. The decoy Shinji used was based on Asuka, his emerging from the ground was inspired by the full emergence of Venom in the film Venom, and you'll likely see what Envy turned into in the next chapter or the chapter after. Peace!