Chapter Three: The Mining Town
- Edward, Alphonse and Rain -
Edward and Alphonse looked around town, while Rain watched the train go into the tunnel.
"So this is where we get coal. "The Wild Frontier," eh? I always thought a place like this would be a little more lively." Edward said.
"Everyone seems a little tired." Alphonse said as he looked at all the people. A dog was sniffing near a pile of chopped wood, a man was sitting down resting and another man was walking up the stairs exhausted.
"Hmm..." Edward said as he was about to walk forward, but...BONK
"Oops! Sorry 'bout that." A boy seem to be younger then Edward and Alphonse. Alphonse looked at Ed in alarm as Rain ran up to Edward to help him up.
"Why you little!" Edward said as he grabbed the back of his head where it was hit and his other hand grabbed Rain's helping hand to stand up, only to be stopped by the boy.
"HEY! You're from out of town, right? On a trip, Where you from? Need a mean? A place to stay?"
"Uh...Well..Hold on a minute!" Edward said. Rain sweat dropped as she gripped Edward's hand and helped him up.
"Dad! We got customers!" The boy yelled.
"Listen when people talk to you!" Edward yelled at the boy with two anime vein popping.
A man from an upper level floor looked down. 'Must be his father.' Rain thought.
"Huh? What's that Khayal?" He asked.
"Customers! A piggy bank!" The boy named Khayal said waving.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, "PIGGY BANK!?" Edward yelled.
"You don't say." The man said grinning. He took his helmet off.
- Early nightfall -
"Sorry about the dust. The mines don't pay very much, so we run this inn to get by." The chief said.
"What're you talkin' 'bout, chief!? Your problem is, you're a soft touch!Always giving what you make to the poor! That's why your old lady's always crying!" Some of the men in the small restaurant said laughing.
"Keep it down, you!" The chief yelled as he bought more drinks to the other men.
"If you got a problem with how I spend my money, then hurry up and pay me what you owe for the booze!" The chief yelled at the men. They all laughed.
"So, there's three of you. You want one night's stay and three meals each?" The lady asked.
Rain nodded. "How much?" Edward asked.
"What...afraid you can't afford it?" The chief asked grinning.
"Don't worry, I bought enough." Edward said noticing his grin.
"200 thousand!" The chief said holding out two fingers.
Edward fell down to the ground along with the chair, Rain's jaw opened and Alphonse held his head.
"200 THOUSAND?! WHAT A RIP OFF!" Edward yelled.
"I said you might be able to afford it." The chief said. "We don't get too many tourists, so when they come we try to make sure they leave us all their money."
Edward shook his head and started out the door with Alphonse and Rain following. "You gotta be kidding me! We're go somewhere else!" Edward said as he held his hand up.
The chief grabbed Edward's head. "There's no escape, piggy bank!" He said with two veins pulsing.
"Forget about it. The prices are the same everywhere else." Khayal said as he sweat dropped.
"We don't really have enough." Edward whispered as Alphonse and him huddled behind a table. Rain stood by them.
"I guess the only thing we can do is use alchemy to turn pebbles into gold." Edward whispered.
"You know it's forbidden by the state alchemy laws to make gold." Alphonse argued back.
"If we don't get caught...we won't get caught." Edward said with an evil look. Rain had put her hands on her hip and a confused look toward Edward's facial expression.
"You're evil!" Alphonse said.
The two stopped whispering, because they just noticed Khayal was there beside them. He was looking at Edward.
"Dad! This guy's an alchemist!" Khayal yelled as he got up to go to his father.
Everyone huddled to Edward as Edward stood by a table. One of the mine workers put his broken pickaxe on the table. The blade was broken.
Everyone watched Edward with curious eyes as he clapped his hands. He put his hands on top of the broken pickaxe and lightning emitted from his hands. The lightning ceased and revealed a brand new pickaxe.
All the men looked at the guy's new pickaxe in awe.
"Wow!" one man said observing the pickaxe.
"It looks brand new!" The owner of the pickaxe said grinning.
"This is great! Our first customer in ages, and he's an alchemist." Another man said.
"I used to dabble a little bit myself. But I don't really have the talent, so I gave up studying." The chief said as he set down two plates of food and two cups of coffee on the table for Edward and Rain. Alphonse objected for the food.
"I'll give you a special alchemist's friendship discount. Plus the amount I owe you for fixing the pickaxe." The chief said.
"Sounds good!" Edward said grinning.
"Altogether, that's a 50% discount! 100 thousand!" The chief said.
Anime vein. "That's still a lot!" Edward said fuming.
"Edward, they're still giving us at least a discount." Rain said. Alphonse nodded in agreement.
"By the way, I didn't catch your name." The chief said.
"Oh yeah? Edward Elric." Edward said.
Edward was about to cut the meat, but the chief took the plate causing Edward to hit his knife on the table.
"So you're Elric the alchemist. The state alchemist?" The chief asked.
Rain looked around to see all the other men glaring toward Edward's direction.
"Well, sort of." Edward said as he went for his coffee only to have it taken away as well.
"Hey, what's the big deal?!" Edward asked getting mad.
All the men were behind him. "Get lost!"
The men grabbed Edward and Alphonse out the door. Rain stood by the door with the rest.
"Hey! We're paying customers!" Edward yelled.
"Bleh! We don't have food or lodgings for dogs of the military!" The chief said with an anime vein.
"Um, I'm a civilian. I'm not a "state" anything. So is Rain." Alphonse said.
"Oh that's fine then! Come on in!" The chief said welcoming Alphonse back in.
"YOU TRAITOR!" Edward yelled at Alphonse as he tried to stop him only to be stopped by the men.
The men shut the door on Edward as Alphonse and Rain sat back down on the table.
"Man, just when I thought had a paying guest." One of the men said annoyed.
"What a let down" Another man said.
Alphonse and Rain sat quietly and listened to the others.
"State alchemists aren't too popular here, are they?" Alphonse asked as Rain faced Al and Khayal.
Rain nodded. "Did something happen in the past to make everyone here dislike them?" She asked.
"No." Khayal said.
"Of course everyone around here hates soldiers. This town's under the authority of Lieutenant Yoki, but all he cares is making money."
"I hear he spends it all on bribes to his superiors back in Central City." One of the miners said.
"He even bought his way up being a lieutenant." Another guy said.
"Used to just owned the mines, but he got greedy about movin' up."
"Huh? So this place is...?" Al perked up.
"Yup, this is Yoki's private property."
"That's too bad. Maybe, Ed, Al and I can do something about this." Rain said standing up. She headed for the door to wait for Al.
"That rat owns everything in this town! We don't get paid enough to get by. Even if we complaing to someone higher up on the chain, Yoke bribes them all so they won't help!" Another man complained.
"See? I sucks huh, Rain?" Khayal asked.
Rain nodded while Al stood up from his seat.
Khayal's dad handed Rain and Alphonse a tray of food.
"And then there's the Alchemists. "Alchemists work for the people." That's the slogan of the alchemist, the source of their pride. I know they get a lot in exchange, but I can't forgive people who sell their souls to the military state." He said.
"What happens if the alchemist had other purposes other than joining the military?" Rain asked.
"Hah. What else would they want?" Khayal's dad asked.
"Who knows. Data or to get stronger." Rain replied with her eyebrows perked up. Her expression looked innocence to the others.
"Same thing though." Khayal's dad said.
Rain shrugged and went out the door with her tray of food and Al following.
*Outside*
*GRROWWWLLL*
"I'm hungry..." Ed groaned while laying on his suitcase.
"Damn you Al and Rain. Have you lost your humanity so soon?" He complained.
A tray of food showed up in front of Ed's face.
"Here. I snuck out with the food they gave me." Al said holding the tray for Ed.
"DEAR BROTHER!" Ed cried hugging Al.
"You're so predictable." Al said sweatdropping.
Rain sat next to Ed while he ate his food. She took little bites.
The crescent moon shown brightly over the town.
Al and Rain explained why these men hated alchemists and military so much.
"Hmm..These corrupt official are everywhere huh?" Ed asked.
"I guess. Thanks to this guy, the don't even get enough food supplies. That's awful." Rain said as she placed her tray aside and drinking the tea.
"I see." Ed said as he paused eating.
"That lieutenant Yoki's causing us a lot of trouble. I mean military personnel like us aren't very popular to begin with. When I became a state alchemist, I knew I'd get a certain amount of flack, but I never knew they would hate me this much."
"Maybe Rain and I should get certified as a state alchemist too." Alphonse said.
Rain shook her no. "I'm not going to join the military. I don't want to. Besides, if Ed can't go to places, Al and I can." Rain said grinning.
"What's that suppose to mean?!" Ed asked as he stomped up to Rain. She leaned back as he got close to her.
"Exactly what I said." She said. Al placed a hand on Ed's shoulder.
"She's right Ed." Al said. Ed fumed, but he sat down again.
"Besides, it's not worth it! One person sitting on this bed of needles is enough!" Ed said grinning. "Dogs of the military huh? I don't know how to respond to that." Ed said closing his eyes and crossed his arms.
"Not only that, but we broke the laws of alchemy and now we're stuck with these bodies." Al said.
"I wonder what teacher would say." Al said sighing.
Rain looked at them in question as a moment of silence passed as the mentioned of their teacher.
"She kill us!" Ed said shivering as Al took his head in his hands.
"Who is your teacher?" Rain asked as she crossed her legs and tilted her head in questioned.
"Izumi Curtis is our teacher who taught us alchemy." Ed said recovering from his shiver.
Al nodded. "Yeah. She taught us the value of alchemy, and even though she taught us to not do the forbidden taboo, we still did." Al said looking down.
Rain looked from Edward and Alphonse. She stood up with determination in her eyes. "I will help you then. I'm accompanying you right now, so I might as well be useful and help you find the Philosopher's Stone." Rain said.
Ed and Al looked at her speechless from her outburst. "Uh, okay. The road we're taking is dangerous, Rain." Ed said.
"We don't want you to get hurt." Al said.
"I've been on my own for a while. I think that shows that I'll do fine." Rain said crossing her arms.
Ed and Al sighed. "Girls." They muttered.
"What was that?" Rain asked. 'I swear heard them mutter an insult.' She thought.
"Nothing!" Ed and Al exclaimed waving their hands. She sighed as the trio sat in comfortable silence.
Their quiet moment was interrupted.
"Out of the way! We're coming!"
Rain, Ed and Al looked toward the source of the noises.
*Inside the hotel*
Three men walked in with the smaller guy in the front. He held a handkerchief in front of his mouth.
"Place looks filthy as usual." He said.
"Well, well, lieutenant. What brings you to a shabby little place like this?" The chief asked.
"Enough small talk. I hear you're late on your taxes. I know you're not the only deadbeat in this town, but don't expect me to just ignore you." Yoki said.
Rain, Edward and Alphonse peeked from behind the door way.
"I'm very sorry, but we're barely getting by as it is." The chief said.
"Hmph...I see you can still afford to sell alcohol. I guess that means i can lower your salary a bit more?" Yoki asked.
"Why you! You better be joking!" Khayal yelled as he threw the wet rag at Yoki's face.
"You little brat! Sir, allow me." One of the soldiers offered.
Yoki took the rag off and back handed Khayal.
"Khayal!" The chief yelled as Khayal landed on the floor sideways.
"I won't hold back just because he's a child." Yoki said as he signaled one of his men.
"Let this be a warning." Yoki said as the man drew his sword out and swung it back ready to hit Khayal.
The chief was about to run to him, but Rain ran inhuman speed and grabbed Khayal to dodge the strike of the sword. She halted a little ways away from the military soldier next to Khayal's dad.
"Who are you!" Yoki yelled as Rain handed Khayal to the chief.
"She turned to Yoki and his men while Edward and Alphonse walked in.
"You're talking about manners? Men like you are a disgrace." Rain said in a low voice. She ran toward the man with the sword and jumped up and kicked him in the face in mid-air. He flew back, dropping the sword in process.
Edward tapped Yoki on the shoulder. Yoki looked down to Ed. "Who are you?!" He yelled.
"Just a kid passing through." Edward said as he was drinking his tea still.
The other man with Yoki freaked out when he saw Alphonse.
"This is none of your business! Stay out!" Yoki yelled to Edward and Rain who dragged the other man toward the other guy and dropped him in front of him.
"Well, I heard that the lieutenant was gonna be here, so I decided to say hello." Edward said as he showed Yoki his state alchemist pocket watch.
'A gold watch with the president's crest and the hexagram!' Yoki exclaimed in his mind.
"Lieutenant. Who is this brat?" The man asked as he got up from the floor away from Rain to Yoki.
"You idiot!" Yoki yelled as he bonked on him on the upside of the head.
"Don't you know what a state alchemist is? They work directly for president!" Yoki whispered.
"You're serious? That little runt?!" The man whispered back.
'I thought I heard runt.' Ed thought as an anime vein showed up on his cheek.
"This is my chance. If I make an impression here, I might be able to make some connections at Central." Yoki whispered.
"Wow! You're really on top of things, lieutenant." The man whispered in awed.
"I'm sorry if my subordinates were impolite. My name is Yoki, an I'm in charge of this town. It must be fate that we met here! There's no need for you to stay in this pig-pen!" Yoki said as Khayal at the side yelled, "What do you mean, pig-pen?!"
Edward smiled. "Well, I guess that would be alright, because the owner here is too cheap to let me stay." Ed said as the chief "hmph" in return.
"Listen here, lowlifes. I'm going to make you pay every penny of the taxes that you owe me. I'll be back!" Yoki said as they slammed the door to leave.
Rain and Alphonse stood there in the crowd of the minors. Silence swept among them for a moment, but it was indeed not a peaceful quiet one.
"AAGGH! That makes me so mad!" Khayal yelled out as Rain patted his head with a sweat dropped.
"Um, mad at who?" Alphonse asked.
"Both of them!" All the minors exclaimed next to Rain and Al.
The chief walked up to Rain. "Thank you for saving Khayal. How did you get there so fast though?" The chief asked as Khayal and the others looked at Rain in expectant.
"Training." Rain said simply.
"Understandable I guess. Which reminds me, would you and Alphonse like to stay here? In exchange, free of charge for saving Khayal." The chief offered and the others nodded in agreement. Khayal hugged Rain as a thanks.
"Sure. Thank you." Al said bowing. Rain did the same.
The lady showed the two to their rooms and left them to do what they needed.
*Later in the night.*
Rain stood on the roof of the hotel watching. The crescent moon high in the dim lighted sky. It will soon be dawned and Rain will have to be back in the hotel.
'How am I going to tell them the truth? Father entrusted me with this. I cannot fail or I'll be destroyed by him.' She thought grimly as she bought her hand in front of her face. She clenched her hand in a fist.
'I'll have to think of something later.' Rain thought as she put the nagging feeling away in the back of her mind. She was ready to get down from the roof until she heard noises from below. She looked around for the source until she saw two soldiers under Yoki's division.
'What the hell are they doing here?" She thought as she watched them. The two men have torch and walked around the other Inn. She leapt across to the other inn. She jumped down in front of them and crossed her arms as the two men panicked at the sight of her for a moment.
"It's you little girl." The man on the left said.
"What are you two up to?" She asked.
"Nothing you need to worry about little missy. Go ahead." The other soldier said as the one on the left nodded and tossed the torch into the hotel.
Rain watched in the horror and disgust as the men let their torch catch the inn on fire and left. She gritted her teeth.
'Have to get Alphonse.' She thought. She stopped for a moment. 'Why do I care what these humans do?" She thought. A beam broke from the fire and crashed to the ground startling Rain from her conflicting thoughts.
'Tch. No time now.' She thought with irritation and raced toward Al's room at the other inn.
She rushed inside and opened his door to see Al standing at the window watching the flames. He turned to the source of the noise and saw Rain.
"Rain? What are you doing up?" Al asked as Rain approached him.
"Did you happen to see a couple of military men near the inn?" She asked. Al nodded. "Yeah. We should go tell the chief and the others." He said as he headed out the door.
Rain followed Al's trail. When they arrived at the inn, they see a few other people arriving as well.
"How awful." One of the minors said as more people arrived.
Rain and Al caught the site of Edward standing in the crowd along with Khayal sitting on the ground. The two walked up to them as Rain kneeled next to Khayal.
"Last night, I saw some of Yoki's underlings hanging around the inn. Damn it. What a dirty thing to do. The reason dad tried to learn alchemy was because he wanted to save this town." Khayal explained. Then an idea struck Khayal's head.
"Hey Ed. You're good enough to create gold right? Can't you just whip up some gold to help my dad and this town?!" Khayal pleaded.
Ed closed his eyes and bluntly answered. "No."
"Come on. It's not like it's gonna cost you anything!" Khayal pleaded.
"The foundation of alchemy is "equivalent exchange" Why should I give you free money?" Ed asked.
"Why you! YOu scumbag! You call yourself an alchemist?!" Khayal yelled as he gripped Ed's trench coat.
"Alchemists work for the people" right?" Ed asked.
Ed yanked his trench coat back as Khayal's dad and the other minors came to him.
"If I gave you money now, it'd just end up as taxes in Yoki's vault. I don't feel like being used by all of you just to get by. If you're that desperate, then leave town and find another job." Ed said as he fixed his coat. Rain and Alphonse stood there on the side.
"Kid, I know you can't understand, but the mines are our homes and our graves." The chief said as they all walked away leaving Rain, Al and Ed in front of the burnt down inn.
Ed stood there for a moment in silence.
"What should we do?" Rain asked. "I'm not going to let Yoki get away with this. This isn't right for the town." Rain said as she looked the burnt down inn.
Ed walked off toward a couple of culm.
"Ed?" Rain asked as they followed Edward.
"Are you really going to abandon these people?" Alphonse asked.
"Al. How much culm do you think is here?" He asked as he observed the culm.
"Huh? One ton...maybe two tons?" Alphonse said as he looked at Ed in questioning. Rain looked between the culm and Edward. Then it struck her. Ed was going to transmute the culm to gold.
"Okay. I'm gonna do something slightly illegal now. So you just look the other way for a second." Ed said climbing up the culm.
"Huh?!" Al exclaimed as he figured out what Ed was gonna do. "You want Rain and I to be an accomplice?" He asked.
"What, you won't?" Ed asked as he clapped his hands.
"You're gonna do it even if I say no right?" Al asked sighing.
Ed transmuted the culm. "Aaah, if we don't get caught, we don't get caught." Edward said.
"Man, oh man. Aren't you supposed to set an example for me?" Al asked as he put his hands on his hips. Rain crossed her arms sighing while smiling.
"All done. Come on." Ed said.
*Yoki's mansion*
Yoki and his men stood speechless as Ed, Al and Rain stood there with six piles of gold and some scattered on the floor.
"Now, I'd like you to sell me all the rights to the coal mines." Ed said as he crossed his arms smirking.
Yoki's men examined the gold.
"It's not enough?" Ed asked as he put his up to his chin.
Yoki shook his head furiously.
"P-P-Please don't be absurd!" Yoki exclaimed. He then turned around with stars sprinkling around him. Rain snorted as Al sighed.
"And also, um, if you don't mind." Yoki stammed glancing at Ed.
Ed caught on and grinned. "Oh yes! Of course I'll put in a good word to my superiors." He said.
"Oh, thank you, thank you! My dead alchemist!" Yoki said as he clapped Ed's hand. Ed laughed.
"But making gold is illegal, so in order to not get caught, I would appreciate it if you would write a document saying, "The rights were peacefully transferred free of charge." Ed said.
"Oh, I wouldn't mind at all! Well then, Let's do the paper work right away." Ed followed Yoki to fill out the paper work.
Rain and Alphonse went outside to wait for Ed.
*Another building*
"WHY NOT, DAD!?" Khayal exclaimed as he slammed his fist on the barrel he was standing next to with his dad sitting across from him. "Why can't we do it?!" He yelled.
"Because I said so. I won't allow a raid." His dad said calmly.
"Even if you're it against it, chief. I'm still going." One of the men said.
The others agreed too.
"No! I can't allow all of you to become criminals." His dad said sternly.
"But!" Khayal insisted.
Edward opened the door with Rain and Alphonse following him.
"Hi everybody! What a lot of gloomy faces! You're looking cheerful today!" Edward exclaimed as he happily came in.
Everyone glared at him.
"What are you doing here?" Khayal asked rudely with a hand on his hip.
"Hey, hey. Should you be speaking like that to the new proprietor of this joint?" Ed asked with his index finger on his chin.
"What the hell are y..?!" One of minors asked. Ed put a document of papers in front of his face.
"What's this?" He asked pointing to the papers lamely.
"Ownership papers. They confer on the holder the rights to mining, sales, distribution, and all subsidiary businesses in this town." Edward said holding them up.
"How did you get this? Hey! It's been signed over to Edward Elric!" The minor said looking at the papers.
The other minors exclaimed "WHAT?"
"Correct! So from this moment on, this coal mine belongs to me!" Edward exclaimed.
"NO WAY!"
"Believe it, but we're just a couple of vagabonds going from place to place. These documents will just be in the way...so.." Ed started as Al and Rain sighed and sweat dropped.
"You want to sell it to us? How much?" The chief asked.
Edward smirked. "What...you afraid you can't afford it? If you want something, you have to pay the price. After all, this deed is printed on high quality goatskin parchment, stamped with a gold seal." Ed said as he tossed the papers on top of the barrel.
Edward blabbed on and soon the the chief and the minors just stared at him speechless.
"How about the price of one night's stay and three meals for three at your place? Would that be fair, chief?" Edward asked and he pointed an index finger up.
The chief and the others stared at him again.
"Oh, the equivalent exchange." Khayal said. Rain patted his head. "An easy one too." She said smiling.
"Hahahaha! You're right, that is expensive! I'll buy it!" The chief said slamming his fist on the barrel. The other minors smiled.
"Sold!" Ed exclaimed.
"Mr. Alchemist sir, what is the meaning of this?!" Yoki exclaimed as he slammed the door opened. He had the previous form of the culm before they were turned into gold.
"Well, well, lieutenant. I just sold the deed to the chief here." Ed said as he handed the chief the papers.
"WHAT?!" Yoki yelled. "No, but that's not what I'm here for! The gold bars you gave me all turned to culm! Can you please explain that!" He said pointing to the rocks.
"When did you change it back?" Rain whispered to Ed as Al leaned in to listen.
"Right before I left." Ed whispered back looking smugged.
"I don't know anything about any "gold bars." Edward said innocently looking away.
"Please don't act dumb! We exchanged the pile of gold for the ownership documents. This is fraud!" Yoki said.
"Huh? The deed was given to me free of charge. See, you signed it! It says so right here." Ed said grinning while holding up a paper and pointing to it.
"What?!" Yoki said. "This deal is null and void. You two! Take those documents from them now!" Yoki said as he pointed to the minors. "Huh?"
One of the minors blocked their way.
It's not right to try and take someone else's property by force." He said.
"Abusing your power eh?" Another said.
"Shut up! Out of my way you scum. If you don't want to get hurt, you better..."
"Lieutenant, it's not good to underestimate the strength of coal minors." They said as they gang up on Yoki's two men.
WAHM BAM BONK PLONK.
Two of Yoki's men were unconscious as Yoki stood in the corner scared.
"Oh, lieutenant, I'll be sure to tell the higher-ups about your corruption and incompetence too." Edward said smiling innocently. "So please look forward to it."
Yoki slumped in the corner as the minors cheered. "All right! We did it! Bring out the booze!" They all said.
Rain and Alphonse stood next to Khayal and the chief while Edward was crowded around by the minors as they dumped booze on Ed.
"Dad." Khayal said as he held the documents. "Ed hadn't sold his soul after all." He said as they watched Edward and the minors.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. Oh, Rain." The chief said turning to Rain as she and Al looked at him in question.
"You were right too." He said as he ruffled her hair.
Rain smiled as Alphonse put a hand on her shoulder. The four laughed and they joined the party.
*Morning*
"I can't eat another bite." Edward said as he held his stomach.
"You're sleeping with your stomach out again! Sheesh Ed! You're so sloppy!" Alphonse said angrily as he held Ed's coat. Rain sweat dropped as she stood by Edward watching Alphonse trying to get his brother up.
The other minors were all passed out too in joy.