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+--- Thread: [Let's Write!] An Avatar/X-Over Adventure! (/showthread.php?tid=8236)
- Necratoid - 06-28-2011
Quote:Array-less alchemy is possible and so is remote alchemy,” Ed muttered. “But without journeying to the Gate or paying a Tool?”Okay, Ed is doing it on purpose now.
Though it can't hurt to ask, I doubt they'd be able to just make the dust particles and such in the smoke solidify and fall into the ocean on the fly, thus killing the telling cloud and leaving only a minor heat distortion... I'd say to hear Ed out and ignore them until they actually come towards us. Wood ship versus faster metal in a game of chicken? They'd be able to out run us in the other direction and bombard us to death. Its dawn not night, so the entire fire ship would have to roll ones on all their spot checks for like an hour for us to get in the sweet spot between siege range and fire bending range for our side to crack their shell and sink their boat.
- rmthorn - 06-28-2011
[X]Maybe we can trick them? Lure them into an ambush.
Then once the Fire Nation are dealt with:
[X]Go ahead with whatever Ed has planned. Hope they don't notice us.
- Epsilon - 06-28-2011
Necratoid Wrote:Okay, Ed is doing it on purpose now.No, that's just me not having time to get this things properly proofread. If/when I compile them I'll give them a proper proofreading at that time.
-------------
Epsilon
- Necratoid - 06-28-2011
I said Ed was doing it on purpose not you.
- robkelk - 06-28-2011
It's only one ship (I hope) - time to make a stand.
[x]Run? Forget that! Charge! They won't be expecting a full assault!
Especially if the Earthbenders shoot off some of those rock rectangles during the charge.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
- Vincent Ursus - 06-28-2011
[x]Run? Forget that! Charge! They won't be expecting a full assault!
- Bob Schroeck - 06-29-2011
[X]Maybe we can trick them? Lure them into an ambush.
Which would probably end up being...
[ ]Run? Forget that! Charge! They won't be expecting a full assault!
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- Ayiekie - 06-29-2011
[ ]Run? Forget that! Charge! They won't be expecting a full assault!
You haven't done a fight scene since like the second update, let's be merciful.
Besides, the Fire Nation ship is also pretty likely to have a notion where they took the prisoners, and is presumably here to investigate/salvage the derrick themselves.
- Epsilon - 06-29-2011
Do to a five hour plus power outage, new chapter may be delayed by a few hours.
Update: Rolling blackouts here and periodic Yuku outages and a need for sleep mean I'm putting off the update until later this morning, when the power grid is hopefully not going to brownout in the middle of writing.
---------------
Epsilon
- Epsilon - 06-29-2011
You people have got to stop leaving me with ties to resolve! ;p
Morning Day Four, Seized Fire Nation Vessel - Western Ocean
My mind ran through the possibilities quickly. Plans were proposed,
examined and discarded in droves. My fingers laced around the rail
and I stared out into the ocean, trying to see the pillar of black
smoke that was our enemy. No matter what way I looked at it we were
outmatched. The Fire Nation would have trained and experienced
sailors on board, and Tyro's crew barely knew how to keep this thing
moving. Running, fighting, staying here; all of them put us at a
disadvantage.
There was only one solution.
“We need to attack that ship,” I said, turning to face Tyro.
“Are
you crazy?” he
barked, his eyes widening. “We're no match for them on the open
ocean.”
“Exactly.” I snapped back. “And that is how we beat them.” I
strode past him. “I need to talk to Ed, he's our only hope that
this can work.”
“Ch-chief?” one of the men asked nervously as I stepped out of
earshot of them. I didn't have time to waste on questions, there was
the fact of seeing if this would work at all.
Ed was frowning towards the horizon when I approached, standing with
the aid of his makeshift crutch. He wobbled slightly as the ship
bobbed in the waves. “So, what's going on?” he asked.
“Fire Nation ship, probably heading right for us.”
“Running or fighting?” he asked, grimacing.
“How were you planning on keeping me alive down there?” I
pointed at the sunken derrick.
He frowned. “Is this really the time? We have people coming
straight at us? And if firebending is even half as dangerous as
Mustang's Flame Alchemy then we're in deep trouble.”
“We can deal with the firebenders,” I said sharply. “But I
need to know how you planned to keep me alive underwater.”
Ed flexed the fingers on his free hand and his frown deepened. “An
air hose,” he said.
“Air hose?”
He nodded. “Back in Amestris I fought a guy who had this armour
which was basically invincible. The trick was that the armour wasn't
made of metal at all, just carbon in a particular configuration. It's
extremely flexible and strong. If we made a hose out of it and ran it
from the surface, we could feed you air down there and you wouldn't
have to worry about the cord snapping.”
I frowned. “You'd need a pump to push air down the tube or the
water pressure would grow too strong,” I pointed out.
“Is that true?” He shrugged. “I'm not much of an expert on
this ocean stuff.”
“Where were you going to get the carbon for this air hose?” I
asked, my mind already whirling.
“There's plenty of coal on board. One hundred percent carbon.”
He grinned.
“And this stuff makes good armour?” I asked.
“Nearly perfect,” he said, frowning. “What are you planning?”
“I'm going to sink their ship,” I said. “Now, how did you plan
on using alchemy under water?”
“Glass,” he said. “Draw the array on parchment, then encase
the parchment in glass. Waterproof. Just slap it against the
structure and there you go, instant underwater array.”
“Where were you going to get the glass?” I asked.
“Glass is just melted sand. Sand is just ground up rock.” He
pointed at the 'ammunition' piles strapped to the deck.
I smiled. Oh yes, this was going to be beautiful. “Perfect. Meet
me down in the engine room, I just need one more thing.” I paused.
“And start working on the arrays to make this wonder material and
your glass.”
He watched me heading towards the cluster of earthbenders for a few
seconds then shook his head and walked to the hatch. Tyro and the
rest of his crew were arguing loudly as I approached.
“...have
to get between the range of their catapults and their firebending.
Then we can lop rock missiles at them and sink their ship.”
“There is no way they'll let us get that close. They can run rings
around us. If we start running now we can make it to shore,”
another said.
“And lead them right back to our harbour? And the village?” Tyro
shook his head.
“Tyro, I need to know two things.”
He glanced at me. “What is it?”
“Can you earthbend the coal?” I asked.
He smiled grimly. “Yes.” His expression lightened. “But that
is our fuel and two small to damage their hull.”
“The hull I can take care of.” I waved aside his concern. “How
far can you earthbend? Your maximum range?”
“Longer when my feet are on the ground,” he said. “Out here on
the ocean?” He rubbed his beard thoughtfully. “Depends, I can
throw something pretty far, but I'll loose stopping power and control
will be impossible after maybe ten bu.”
“Bu?” I asked.
“About as long as one of those stones,” He gestured towards the
rocks.
“So, fifteen metres,” I said, running my tongue over my teeth.
“You said control, what about not so fine. I only need something to
push in the right direction and keep it level.”
“Maybe twice that far. But not with nearly enough power to do any
damage.”
“That won't be necessary.” I waved his concern aside. I looked
at the trebuchets on the deck. “Maximum range on those can't be
more than three hundred meters. Still way out of range.” I nodded.
“We're going to have to trick them.”
Tyro crossed his arms. “Okay, I'm going to have to insist you
explain this to me. I'm in charge here.”
So I did.
*
Tyro followed me into the engine room. It was crowded and nearly
deafening. The furnace roared and the boiler hissed as three soot
coated earthbenders inexpertly adjusted the controls. Ed was sitting
near the coal pile, which was separated from the boiler by a small
door and filled most of the other room. At his feet were a half dozen
sheets of parchment, covered in elaborate diagrams. Another few
sheets of parchment were crumbled into balls at his feet. His cheeks
was stained with ink and he was chewing on the end of the brush.
“Ed, are you ready?”
“I hope so...” Ed looked up at me and his eyes widened as Tyro
dropped one of the huge stones next to him. “Uh, wow, that's even
more impressive up close. How do they do that...”
I snapped my fingers in his face. “Focus.” He gave me a sour
look.
“I'm focused,” he said.
“I don't like this plan.” Tyro said to me.
“It's the only one that will work. We need to get under the range
of those catapults. Surrendering is the only way to do that.”
He grunted and turned away to start ordering his three engineers.
After a few second of adjusting dials and levers the ship lurched
forward under our feet. Ed wove back and forth and snapped his hand
to the ground to keep himself steady. “I'm beginning to hate sea
travel,” he said with a grumble.
I sat down next to him. “We don't have much time. They're going to
move this ship up to the other one. If it starts coming towards us
we're only going to have maybe an hour before we meet each other.”
“We're moving towards the bad guys?” Ed asked.
“We need to get as close to them as possible.” I grabbed some of
the unused parchment from the bag Ed had taken on board. “Do you
have a spare brush?” I asked.
“Yeah, here,” he pulled a brush out of his pocket. I grabbed it
and dipped it in the nearby inkwell before I started sketching. “What
are you doing?”
“Mechanical design,” I said. “One of the things I studied.”
Oh, what I wouldn't do for a good drafting pencil? This brush was too
imprecise! Still, I soldiered on. “I need you to help me make some
things with alchemy.”
“Such as?”
“This.” I handed him the first sketch. “The pump for the air.”
Ed blinked. “This is...” He frowned at it. “Not very complex.
Six moving parts? I can make the individual bits, especially if we
can salvage some of the spare fitting from the engine room.
Assembling it would be a bit of a problem. This is a complex task.”
“And this,” I handed him the second one.
He looked at it. “Is this all one piece?”
“No, see on the back of the head?” I pointed to a section of the
drawing. “It snaps off.”
He frowned and turned it upside down. “Yeah, okay. I see it now.”
Ed's gold eyes narrowed. “This is some fairly complex alchemy. It's
definitely not beginner stuff.”
“Thankfully, I have my wonderful teacher here to help me,” I
said with mock cheerfulness as I continued sketching.
“Ugh,” he stuck his tongue out. “Okay, I think I can get these
to work.”
“And then I need some arrays in glass. But I remember the array in
question, so I can do those while you work on your part.”
“You remember?” he asked.
“It was the first array you taught me. It will be perfect for
this.” I held up the finished array. “How does it look?”
Ed's eyes widened and he stared at me. “You... really remembered
that array from just one use?” He grabbed it and went over it for a
few seconds in silence. “No way... one time, and reproduced this
faithfully?” He shook his head slowly.
“Nin, do you still need me down here?” Tyro asked as he walked
over.
“Yeah, best if you stay below decks for now, and I need to test to
make certain this will work.”
He looked like he was going to protest then stopped. “I just need
to give my men the final instructions, then I'll be back.” He
turned and marched stiffly out of the room.
“Right,” Ed rolled up his sleeves. “Let's get started.”
*
“By all the spirits!”
Tyro's eyes were shaking in his skull as he pointed at the device
revealed by the rapidly fading could of smoke (“Excess matter
runoff,” Ed explained. “Try not to breath it in.”). The metal
pumping device was crude but looked complete. I leaned down an
examined it, making certain the hose could connect smoothly. If it
didn't, I'd probably asphyxiate.
“Looks good,” I said. “Not perfect, but it will work long
enough.”
“Good.” Ed gestured to the pile. “I'll start on the second
array then, you get the coal. We'll need precisely one hundred
kilos.”
“Tyro, could you help me to move the coal to the centre of that
circle?” I asked, pointing to the cleared space.
“You bent metal!” Tyro gasped, his eyes still wide. “You.
Bent. METAL.” He and the three engineers were all staring at me in
awe.
“I transmuted metal,” I corrected.
“That's impossible.” His head waved back and forth in denial.
“No earthbender can bend metal.”
“I'm not an earthbender,” I reminded him. “I'm an alchemist.”
I paused. “In training.”
“Alchemist?”
“Someone
who can do that to metal,” I said. “Now we're less than a half
hour from being within range of that Fire Nation ship and we need to
hurry.”
“Right, right...” He was looking at me with something that was
either new found respect, or religious terror, I couldn't tell.
The hardest part was measuring the weight of the coal. But
eventually it was all pile din the centre of the alchemy circle Ed
sketched on the floor. Tyro bending proved invaluable since he could
float the nuggets over the circle without risking scuffing out Ed's
work with our feet. Ed finally stepped back and nodded. “It's as
good as it's going to get.” He looked at me. “Just like before,
take your time. If I see anything that even resembles a rebound I
will break your connection manually.” Which meant he would tackle
me away from the circle and hope the rebound didn't eat my arms or
any of him.
“Right, wish me luck.” Taking a deep breath I crouched next to
the array and placed my hands on it. My eyes examined the entire
thing before I closed them. The symbol was burned into my mind. I let
out a deep breath and listened to the voices.
Heat ran up my arms, flooded my chest and burned up my neck and into
my brain. It didn't hurt. Far from it. I could hear the Voices in my
mind, roaring and shouting and arguing with each other. I wanted to
sit there, to just relish in the familiar sound of them. But I
didn't. Instead I had to impose order on them. It was like running
through the house, screaming to be heard over the cacophony, bringing
it into unison. The symbols of the array shifted in my mind. The
equation balanced itself. From cacophony, came chorus.
My eyes snapped open as the reaction finished. Blue lightning danced
across the interior of the engine room, and slowly built itself back
into the hose and suit. I grinned. Barely even any smoke that time.
“Wonder of wonders,” Tyro breathed. “I've never seen
earthbending like that.”
“And Ed has never seen anything like your earthbending,” I told
him. “If you would please, try to life the suit.”
He glanced at me then at the black garment. Nodding his head he
walked over and touched it. A look of surprise crossed his features
before he walked back to me. “It is made of earth,” he said in
wonder. “But like no earth I've ever felt before.”
“Carbon nanotubes,” I said with a grin. “Can you lift it?”
“I think so.” He reached out with one hand, then the other. His
legs shifted apart as he widened his stance. His mouth compressed
into a thin line. Then he gestured sharply upward with a loud grunt.
The suit floated into the air in front of him. He smiled. “Yes, it
appears I can.”
I strode over and grabbed it out of the air. “Good. Now I...” I
paused and looked at everyone. My cheeks suddenly started burning. “I
just need to get changed.”
“What's the problem?” Tyro asked.
“I...” I looked at all of them as they stared expectantly. The
diving suit was skintight by design. I would have to strip entirely
before putting it on. The thought of doing that in front of a bunch
of men caused me to panic more than the idea of fighting a bunch of
firebenders by myself. Life is funny like that.
“I'll just go change!” I squeaked out. “Ed, finish those glass
arrays!” I darted from the room.
*
The
ocean was cold. That was the first thought in my head as I sunk below
the waves. The light dimmed. The glass goggles Ed had helped me
fashion with alchemy immediately fogged up and I bit back a curse.
For a moment I continued to sink, and my mind wondered what it would
be like to just continue dropping. The suit I wore was very light,
and I could have swam but out here in the deep ocean that would only
delay the inevitable. Then I stopped abruptly, my body jarring with
the force of it.
I was in Tyro's hands now, figuratively speaking.
The Fire Nation ship had been well within eyeshot when I was dumped
over the back, out of their line of sight. It would only be a few
hundred meters until we were within bombardment range of their
catapults. Everything relied on the firebenders being more eager to
capture the crew than sink the ship. The whole plan hinged on that.
If everything I had heard was true, then there should be no doubt.
Yet what sounded good up in the clear air surrounded by strong men
sounded very different in the cold deep, hanging by a thread and held
in place by a force you couldn't even see or understand.
It was the quiet I hated. Hanging in that cold darkness, barely able
to make out more than dim shadows through my fogged over goggles, the
only sound was the constant hiss of the pump in the back of the suit
as dry air was pushed into the suit. Two strong men were operating
the pump, hopefully with the even strokes I had shown them. Otherwise
the pump might break and then I'd be in even more trouble. These
thoughts rose unbidden in the silence.
I hated silence.
Would I even know if the other vessel opened fire? My first clue
would be when I suddenly started dropping down, my air hose flailing
above me. Then snapping loose of its hosing and the only sound would
be the quiet rush of water flooding in...
Stop it!
Was that a shape up ahead? It was dark and huge. A shadow in the
meager light. It had to be a shape! I reached up, my actions sluggish
in the water resistance and tugged on the hose once. Somewhere up
above Ed got my signal. Hopefully.
Two jerks.
Not close enough.
The shadow grew larger. My heart was pounding. My skin was crawling.
I wanted OUT. I wanted to scramble up the umbilical and out of this
cold, quiet hell. Why had I ever agreed to this? Why had I ever
thought this was a good idea? My hands clutched at the mask. It was
too tight. I couldn't breath.
Three jerks. It was the only warning I got before I was suddenly
flying forward through the water. There was no way to describe it
accept as surreal. My suit was pulling me forward, the entire thing
rushing forward. I was just along for the ride. The shadow in front
of me loomed closer and closer, growing until it blacked out
everything else.
I was coming in too fast!
I flinched, but just before I hit I felt myself slow down. Then
gently my body pressed against something large and cold and metal.
The Fire Nation ship. My hands scrambled over the surface, searching
for purchase. It wasn't hard to find. From a distance the ships
looked sleek and menacing, but up close the welding was crude and
primitive. The plates overlapped and gave enough handholds that I was
able to guide my motion around the side of the metal behemoth.
The quiet hell grew more bearable now that I was partially in
control of my own fate. I felt the “grip” on me from Tyro's
earthbending weakening with each meter I moved down the enemies hull.
In my mind the layout of the ship was front and centre. I could only
hope that they built these things to a single plan. There was a tug
on my umbilical.
Out of slack. This would have to do.
My
hand fished into the bag at my side and pulled out one of the
glass-encased arrays. With a curse it slipped through my fingers,
plummeting into the abyss. Underwater glass was slippery! Who knew?
That left me with only two arrays. One more loss and this plan was
history. Moving much more carefully, able to use only one hand as the
other partially gripped a seam in the ships hull I pulled the back-up
array out. With a smooth motion I slapped it against the hull.
I couldn't see it!
Cursing may not have helped, but it certainly felt good. I pressed
the glasses of my goggles against the thing glass of the array. Not
to hard, or it would break... I had to be able to see it. There.
Shapes and symbols. Blurry, but good enough I hoped.
Draw a deep breath. No closing my eyes this time.
The chorus became the cacophony.
The reaction was more spectacular than I could have hoped for.
Underwater lightning flashed across the hull, a perfect circle in all
direction. The water bubbled and hissed. Then red spread from the
centre outward. The reaction was even stronger, but then again it was
drawing on the nearby ocean to speed up the oxidation. Otherwise
known as rust.
In fact, the reaction went too fast. Before I could pull myself away
like planned the entire circle of rust imploded into the ship. The
water pressure pulled me in like a fly caught in a draining sink. I
felt the hose draw taunt against that pull as it hopelessly fought to
tether me, then the emergency valve broke and I was free. My body was
dashed against the side of the whole and i felt something sharp press
painfully against my skin. The suit held and then I was slammed into
the far wall of the interior corridor. For the next few seconds I
tumbled helplessly in the grip of the water. I saw men in red armour
and more casual garb bowled off their feet all around me.
My body stopped tumbling before my mind did. I pulled myself
unsteadily to my feet. My hands tore away my mask, and I coughed out
a lungful of water that had been forced down my throat. The water was
up to my knees and I could hear it roaring into the corridor. My eyes
cleared and I saw a half dozen men scattered all around me.
A women turned the corner, her feet splashing in the rapidly
flooding corridor. Her hair was black and she wore a slightly more
feminine version of the standard armour. “What is going on down
here?” she shouted.
I reacted on instinct, plowing into her with my shoulder down. I
proved stronger and heavier, but the water made my footing poor and
we both went over. I kept my head above the surging flood, she did
not. Grabbing her shoulders I knocked her head against the floor and
her struggles ceased.
Men were getting up behind me, groaning. I stood up, picking up the
woman's limp body and flinging it behind me without looking. Shouts
and cries of alarm went up. I started running. The water was up to my
waist now. I could feel the ship beginning to list.
One hand found my pack, confirmed it hadn't been torn free. The
array inside was still in one piece, though I could feel the glass
had cracked. I could only hope that it had remained water free and
not torn to pieces, there certainly wasn't enough time to check. I
pulled my knife, holding the blade away from me.
I turned a corner and three men waited for me. Two were armed with
spears, one was standing before them, trying to maintain his stance
as the water flowed up his thighs. “Intruder!” the man snarled.
“Stop right there!”
That was the only path to the engine room. I needed to go through. I
ran forward, the water splashing loudly all around me. The air was
full of curses and screams and cries. The man stepped forward, his
movement slightly off. His fist came up. Sparks danced along his
knuckles.
I dove. The jet of flame was weak, glancing off the water as I
plunged under it. I was moving with the current, he was fighting
against it. Firebenders fought from their base.
My arms wrapped around his legs, pulling them out from under him and
sending him tumbling behind me. My knife came up and suddenly the
water bloomed red, a perfect hamstring.
The spear caught me before I could even begin to recover. I shouted
in pain, swallowing water. I curled into a ball on instinct, allowing
the water to send me tumbling past. I came against a wall with a
painful jolt and slid to my feet, clutching my shoulder. The water
had dulled the impact some, the suit hadn't broken. Still my shoulder
felt like someone had smashed down on it with a hammer, even worse
than the pain in my ribs from being dashed against the hull.
Dislocated.
One of the armoured goons was charging at me down the flooded
hallway. The other was helping the man I had attacked to his feet. My
hand flashed out and I threw the knife. It clattered off the soldiers
faceplate, spinning into the water and vanishing. No damage at all,
but it made him flinch.
A wordless roar escaped my lips and I rushed forward, grabbing the
haft of the spear just below the blade with my good hand. The
soldiers snarled at me. He jerked his blade. His grip was better. I
was pulled off my feet. The wall crashed against my back. I cried and
let go.
He flowed smoothly, his spear coming up. It was aimed at my face. I
jerked my head to the side at the last second. Sparks filled my
vision. Pain bloomed across my cheek. My forearm came down on the
haft. The wood splintered.
The soldiers danced back as best he could in the current. It was up
to mid chest now. I rose from the water, my fingers finding and
gripping the spearhead before the current could carry it away.
“Juichiro!” the other soldier cried and tossed his spear. The
soldier caught it, but turned away from me slightly to do so. My feet
scrambled for purchase on the slick floor and I barrelled into him.
The air exploded from both our lungs.
The blade pressed against my glove, not meant to be wielding this
way. I brought it up sharply and the man screamed as it sunk into his
bicep. His arm twitched and he released the spear. I caught it and
backed off four steps, spinning the weapon around and pointing it at
him.
“Stay!” I barked and then turned and ran.
The engine room was in the back of the ship, the water was barely a
trickle I reached it. There were no more soldiers, but I could hear
the commotion on the deck. Loud crashes and shouts and the a sound
like a dozen bonfires being doused with gasoline. I needed to hurry.
I paused only long enough to smash my shoulder into a wall, popping
the join back in with a mind-searing crack.
The engine room door was open. The entire compartment, the whole
ship, was listing dangerously to the side. It was sinking, but not
fast enough. Four men stood in the room, two of them standing in
front of the furnace and constantly punching balls of flame into the
open flame. The other two were shovelling coal. One turned and
noticed me running up the hall, spear in hand.
“Look out!” he shouted and turned to face me with his shovel. He
sprinted into the hallway, thrusting the spade at me. He was no
soldier. I knocked his weapon to the side with my spear and clocked
him upside the head with the reverse motion. He crumbled like a
puppet with its strings cut.
The two firebenders were a much worse threat. They both had plenty
of time to set themselves. The water wasn't even lapping over their
shoes. Charging them was pure suicide.
I launched my spear at them. One stepped forward, kicking his legs
up. A curtain of fire cascading from the soles of his feet, flaring
out and catching the spear in mid air. It burned to a crisp almost
instantly, the steel blade tumbling harmlessly past their head to
clang against the boiler behind them.
The other stepped in front of him, his feet shifting and kicking up
a spray of water. His hands scissored and two streamers of flame
burst out at chest height. I fell under them, the heat washing over
my back. I felt the suit burn as my chest slammed into the water on
the floor. I slid forward, my hands pulling my bag out front.
The first firebender jumped over me, pulling his fist straight up
into the air. I slammed the final array on the ground, right in front
of the boiler. It was miraculously in one piece. No time to think.
Just react!
Blue lighting erupted all around me in a widening circle. Prepared
this time I rolled to the side as the reaction left a red circle in
my wake. A pillar of fire slammed into the circle as the firebender
fell where I had been. The floor vanished into red flakes underneath
him. He didn't even have a chance to scream before he vanished into
the suddenly revealed water.
The two standing men in the room stared in shock as I rolled over
and flipped to my feet with as much grace as I could manage. “I
wouldn't want to be in here when that boiler falls apart,” I said,
pointing at the listing furnace and boiler as it began to shriek and
tremble with most of its base gone.
I didn't look back but I could hear feet pounding after me as I
sprinted from the room. I paused only long enough to scope up the man
I had knocked out. I managed to make it around a corner before the
thing exploded.
The entire ship shuddered and I could hear the terrible sound of
iron and steel tearing itself apart. The explosion was still smaller
than I had expected. Of course, if it had been any larger I probably
would be dead now. The gods must look out for fools, I suppose.
Even so, with two giant holes in it this ship was not long for this
world. I threw the man I was carrying towards the firebender who had
fled the engine room. He caught the man numbly, staring at me. I
raised my hands. “I surrender. Bring me to your captain.”
“What?” the man gasped.
“Unless you want to sink to the bottom of the ocean, I'd bring me
to your captain so he can formally surrender to the earthbenders in
the other ship.”
For a few seconds he could only stare at me in mute horror.
*
Tyro laughed and clapped me on the shoulder. I bit back a shriek and
settled on only collapsing to my knees and moaning. The man looked
apologetic, but couldn't stop chuckling. Ed helped me to my feet.
“I still can't believe it,” Tyro said. “An entire Fire Nation
ship. Practically by yourself.” He shook his head in wonder.
“Alchemists are scary.”
“I had a lot of help.” I pointed out, bitting back the pain. Now
that the adreniline was dying down my body felt like it had been run
through industrial machinery. My ribs were probably cracked, my
shoulder was one giant bruise, my left hand was sore, my cheek was
bleeding and there were blisters all down my back. “I couldn't have
done anything if we hadn't worked together.”
“Still, it's amazing.” Tyro shook his head and looked towards
the prisoners. There were almost a hundred of them. The majority were
crowded near the bow of the ship, just regular Fire Nation soldiers.
About two dozen were sitting in front of them, there arms and legs
trapped in blocks of granite. The firebenders. None of them looked
happy. The earthbenders carrying spears pointed at them probably
didn't help. “That Avatar himself would be proud of this victory.”
“So, what do we do with them?” Ed asked.
[ ]Offer to let them go in exchange for information about the missing
people.
[ ]Leave me alone with the captain for five minutes. He'll tell me
everything.
[ ]Contact the fire nation. We can probably ransom them back.
[ ]They're too much trouble. Drop them into the ocean.
Note: Due to the delay caused by rolling blackouts last night, voting for next chapter will be open until noon EST tomorrow (and the same the next day). Regular shcedule will be resumed after the weekend.
----------------
Epsilon
- Bob Schroeck - 06-30-2011
[X]Leave me alone with the captain for five minutes. He'll tell me everything.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- robkelk - 06-30-2011
No guarantees they know anything, or their bosses will want them back, and no point capturing them just to kill them, so...
[x]Leave me alone with the captain for five minutes. He'll tell me everything.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
- Vincent Ursus - 06-30-2011
[x]Leave me alone with the captain for five minutes. He'll tell me everything.
- K sai - 06-30-2011
except I'm not sure the captain was in charge. Who was that girl?
- Ayiekie - 06-30-2011
[ ]Offer to let them go in exchange for information about the missing people.
Not that it's likely entirely your choice, mind - but that's what the Earthbenders want, too. And guess contrary to our earlier conversation that Nin can fight after all.
- Epsilon - 06-30-2011
K sai Wrote:except I'm not sure the captain was in charge. Who was that girl?Just a generic female Fire Nation soldier. They have a slightly different armour design.
Evening Day Four, Captured Fire Nation Vessel
“And what's this word?”
“Reward.” I ran my finger over the scroll and pronounced it in
the local language. Ed nodded and frowned down at the scroll in his
hands. He took a moment to consult the notes he had on the made in
the scroll next to him before returning his attention back to the
ones we had seized from the Fire Nation ship.
“I could just read them to you,” I pointed out.
“You need to rest,” Ed said absently, turning his head from the
scroll to his notes with a puzzled frown. I groaned and leaned my
head back against the pallet. The steady rocking of the ironclad as
it made its way back to shore was making it hard to rest, not to
mention the awkward pose I had to take to keep from aggravating the
burns on my back. They weren't as bad as I had feared, and the crew
had some unguents on hand that helped reduce the pain to a more
manageable degree, but that didn't make it anything approaching
comfortable.
“Besides, I have to learn the language here at some point,” Ed
argued. “It's really no different than decoding an alchemy cipher.
I just need time and hard work.” He frowned at the scroll. “And
the translation for this word.” He held up the scroll and pointed
at a symbol.
“It's a proper name, a port city I think.” I pronounced it for
him anyway.
I tilted my head away and stared up at the ceiling. Ed was hoping to
find some clue as to the location of his brother in the documents we
had managed to secure before the enemy ship had finished sinking. At
least the scroll cases he'd found, and the metal he'd had some
earthbenders help him salvage, meant I hadn't needed to go into the
sunken prison. That and my injuries. I was perfectly fine with that,
since it meant I wouldn't have to go underwater again.
It was not an experience I was looking forward to ever repeating.
“Hey, you okay?” Ed asked.
“...fine.”
“You look pale.”
“Just remembering the dive,” I said, waving his concern away.
“How about you? Are you doing okay?”
Ed ducked his head. “The grammar of this language is all different
and the words are confusing. It's all ideograms, with no real
alphabet.”
“I meant... are you okay in general, not just with the language.”
Ed considered my question for a few moments. “There have been
times we're I've been separated from my brother for longer, but it's
still not fun. At least now we may have a lead. Maybe.”
“If the crew talks,” I added.
“They'll talk.”
I didn't think so. From what I had seen of the way the crew reacted
to the earthbenders I doubted they would break. Frankly, the captured
crew looked terrified. But not of us.
“Hey, what does this say?” He held up a section of scroll.
“Let me see. 'All traffic around Point Mako is hereby restricted
by order of her royal highness, Princess Azula. Any unauthorized
traffic within thirty li will be treated as hostile.'”
“Li...” Ed did some calculations in his head. “That's like...
half a kilometre, right?”
“Close enough,” I said.
“So what's so important at this Point Mako that they don't want
anyone coming within fifteen kilometres of it.” Ed had a grin on
his face.
“I don't recall a Point Mako on the maps we've seen,” I told
him, trying not to get his hopes too high up.
“It's probably a code of some kind.” Ed gestured. “But the
Captain of the captured ship woudl have to know where it is, if only
to keep as far away from it as possible.”
“But he isn't talking.”
Ed frowned. “Then we'll just have to find out some other way.
Maybe it's listed in one of these scrolls?” I let my head loll back
onto the pallet as Ed began to dig through more of the scrolls.
*
Tyro was standing near the bow of the ship, frowning through the
darkness at the shoreline. The shore was nothing more than a looming
shadow in the pre-dawn light. My footsteps rang off the deck as I
walked up to him and he looked over at me.
“Where's your friend?”
“Still asleep,” I said.
“You should be resting.” There was no accusation in his voice,
just concern.
I waved him off and placed one hand against the railing to support
myself as the ship rocked in the tides. “I'll be fine.”
“Your ribs will only grow worse if you aggravate them,” he
informed me gently. I winced and grabbed at them but shook my head.
“What do you plan on doing with the prisoners?”
“They don't seem to be willing to answer any questions, even when
we offered to let them go.” He frowned into the darkness. “As
long as they're on board we can't return to the village either. I
sent a few men to shore on a skiff and they're going to contact the
village, let them know we won't be returning for some time.”
“You're taking them somewhere?”
“There is an Earth Kingdom outpost along the Western Coast some Li
north of our village. We shall bring the prisoners there.” He
glanced at me. “They also have excellent medics.”
“Do you think that they can get the prisoners to talk?” I
ignored his reference to my condition.
“General Fong is a hard man, from what I hear. But there is
something about these soldiers. They are not scared of us. Frankly, I
think they're more afraid of being released back to their own people
than being held by us.”
I considered his words for a few minutes. “I'd like some time
alone with the Captain of that ship.”
“That doesn't sound like a good idea, you're injured.”
I rubbed the bandage on my cheek. “Aside from this, not visibly,
and I'm a good actor. Plus I'm the one most responsible for sinking
his ship. He might let something slip to me in anger that he
wouldn't to you.”
Tyro rubbed his beard and then nodded. “Very well.”
*
The door closed behind us, leaving me and the Captain alone in the
room. The room had probably once been used for briefings and reports,
because it was large enough for several people to stand around in and
had a large metal table in the centre. The Captain was seated in a
chair across from me, his arms bound behind his back in granite
blocks and his feet similarly constrained. He was looking slightly
more tired than when he had surrendered his ship and crew to me. His
eyes were blazing yellow and his lips were white as he glared at me.
“I have a few questions for you.” I reached down and pulled out
a knife, a replacement for the one I had lost on the sunken ship.
“You are going to answer them.”
“I have already suffered enough humiliation by surrendering to a
child like you, I will not compound my crimes by betraying my
country,” he snarled.
“I admire your resolve,” I told him. “But my friend needs to
know what you know, and I intend to provide him with that
information.” I quickly ran the knife across my fingertip, blood
started welling up nearly instantly.
“Wh-what are you doing?” he gasped at my self-mutilation.
I placed my finger on the surface of the table. “I was the only
person who boarded your ship, Captain. A single person who sunk a
Fire Nation ironclad.” I began to draw. “Did you want to see how
I did it?”
His eyes widened as I continued to trace the outline of the array.
“You're crazy,” he said.
“Probably. I've had an unpleasant time since I woke up in your
prison. People throwing fire at me. Storms trying to drown me. I'm
tired of playing around.” I finished the symbol and placed one hand
on it. “This, Captain, is how I sunk your ship.”
Blue lightning flared around my palm before racing out across the
surface of the table. In its wake, the table turned red. Then
disintegrated into a pile of rust which flowed around his feet.
“Ahhh!” He gasped. “What did you do! You... you bent the
metal! But that's impossible!”
“I can bend a lot of things that the earthbenders can't.” I
walked up to him, the pile of rust scattering around my feet. I
brandished my knife. “Now, I'm going to ask you some questions.”
“You... you don't scare me!” He was lying. I grabbed his sleeve
and ripped into it with the knife. “What are you doing?” he
nearly shrieked. I continued in silence, cutting off his shirt with
calm efficiency. When I was done his chest was fully exposed. “I
won't say anything! You can't do this to me!” I placed my bleeding
finger against his chest, and began to draw. “No! No! You don't
understand! She'll kill me! She's crazy!”
I looked into his eyes once I finished the array. “Your Princess,
I assume?” He nodded frantically.
“She'll kill me if I say anything. She might just kill me for
being captured at all!” There were tears in his eyes. “Fire Lord
Ozai used to keep her under control, but with his death...” He
trailed off, probably realizing he had said something he shouldn't
have.
“I'm not interested in your internal politics.” I placed my hand
against the man's chest. “The question you have to ask yourself
here is; who is in the room with you now, your Princess or me?”
*
I flicked the last of the red tinged water off my fingers. There was
a distinctive thud-clock of Ed's crutch as he walked up to me.
“You weren't in your bed,” he accused.
“I had to find out some information.”
He looked at me, then down at the gourd full of water beside me and
out to the ocean. “How?” he asked.
“I asked the Captain.”
He frowned. “What happened?”
“I learned where Point Mako is. And a few other things as well.”
Ed grimaced, opened his mouth to say something and closed it again.
Finally he groaned and rubbed a hand over his face. “What did you
learn?”
“Unfortunately, he didn't know anything about your brother,” I
answered with the first thing I thought he would want to know about.
“Also he doesn't know what happened to the earthbenders. In fact,
last he heard the prison was still operating here and he was
surprised that it had sunk. Nobody transported the prisoners
anywhere.”
“Nobody?”
“That he knows of, but his ship regularly patrols these waters so
he's unlikely to have missed enough transports to move over a hundred
earthbenders.”
“So... what happened to them?”
“He has no clue. There is good news, however.”
“Oh?”
“Apparently the Avatar destroyed most of the Fire Nation's
Northern Fleet a few days ago. One of their admiral's laid siege to
the Northern Water Tribe and was almost completely annihilated. The
few survivors have been limping back to Fire Nation ports ever
since.”
Ed turned slightly green at that. “Ugh. War never changes, does
it?”
“I guess not.”
“What about Point Mako?”
“He didn't know much. It's some sort of covert weapons development
facility headed by War Minister Wu. There are some mountainous island
North of here, in old airbender lands, where they set up shop because
of how remote it is.”
“Weapons development?” Ed rubbed his chin. “Maybe... alchemy
research? My brother can still use his alchemy. That could be why
they took him but left me behind.”
“Would your brother cooperate with them?”
“What? Never!”
I shrugged. “Oh, and one last thing. Apparently there's been some
death in the higher ups of the Fire Nation. I get the impression
there is a power struggle going on over the sucession.”
“That might explain their bizarre behaviour,” Ed said, leaning
against the rail and crossing his arms. He frowned over my shoulder.
“What's the commotion up there?”
A quick look showed Tyro and two men arguing quietly near the front
of the ship. “I'll go check, wait here.”
“...it's hopeless, Chief!” one of the men was saying. “There's
nothing we can do.”
“He's my son,” Tyro growled out, his eyes wild.
“What's going on?” I asked as I stepped close to him.
The two men exchanged glances. “It's Omashu. The city has fallen
to the Fire Nation.”
I blinked. “When?”
“Just a few days ago,” the man said. “The news just reached
the village.”
I glanced at Tyro. “Haru?”
“No news,” one of the men said.
“He's a smart boy, Chief.” One of the men patted him on the
shoulder. “He'll see the city has been conquered and come back to
the village. There's no way he could have gotten there before the
siege started, not if the city has fallen already.”
Tyro pulled at his cheeks. “If only I could believe you. But the
Avatar and that girl put all those thoughts of helping people into
his head... he'll do something stupid, I just know it!”
“And going after him would be stupid,” one of the men argued.
“There is an entire army in the city now, and we're barely two
score able-bodied earthbenders. We're not the Avatar.”
“He's my son!”
“Maybe all hope isn't lost. The Fire Nation is in trouble at the
moment.” I outlined quickly what I had learned about the fall of
their fleet and the death of their 'Fire Lord'. “Now isn't the time
to loose your heads. You can still do something about this. If I
could ask you to help me out with something?”
[ ]The invasion must have displaced a lot of people. We can help
refugees fleeing the city and maybe learn more about Haru.
[ ]As much as I'd like to help, Ed and I have our own problems. There
is a place up North we'd like you to drop us off before you do
anything.
[ ]Head to General Fong's fortress like you planned. We still have to
dispose of those prisoners and maybe we can convince him to help us.
[ ]Head straight to Omashu! Now is exactly the time they won't expect
a counterattack!
---------------
Epsilon
- robkelk - 06-30-2011
Add them up for one vote:
[0.3]The invasion must have displaced a lot of people. We can help refugees fleeing the city and maybe learn more about Haru.
[0.7]Head to General Fong's fortress like you planned. We still have to dispose of those prisoners and maybe we can convince him to help us.
(The refugees will scatter in many different directions, after all.)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
- Bob Schroeck - 07-01-2011
One after the other:
[ ]Head to General Fong's fortress like you planned. We still have to dispose of those prisoners and maybe we can convince him to help us.
[ ]Head straight to Omashu! Now is exactly the time they won't expect a counterattack!
Only, don't do the second in the ship. You'll only run aground. Omashu is well inland, as I recall.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- rmthorn - 07-01-2011
[X]Head to General Fong's fortress like you planned. We still have to dispose of those prisoners and maybe we can convince him to help us.
- Necratoid - 07-01-2011
Well, technically we could get to Omashu by boat... but earth bending a canal that far would get rather noticeable and annoy the locals.
[ ]Head to General Fong's fortress like you planned. We still have to dispose of those prisoners and maybe we can convince him to help us.
a bit of intel gathering on targets of opportunity wouldn't hurt either.
- Vincent Ursus - 07-01-2011
[x]Head straight to Omashu! Now is exactly the time they won't expect a counterattack!
Wee, violence!
- Epsilon - 07-01-2011
Morning Day Six, Earth Kingdom Coast
Blue lightning and smoke danced in my vision for a few seconds
before clearing. I kept my hand over my mouth and tried not to breath
as I waved away the last of the dust. An excited murmur erupted all
around me as the results came into view. Ed clapped his hands
together.
“Alright, looks good.”
He hop-walked with his crutch into the remains of the array and
knelt down next to the metal limb I had crafted. He picked it up with
both hands. “Heavy,” he noted. “Heavier than my first limbs.
But I guess that's a tradeoff for such poor quality steel.” He
reached into a pocket and pulled out a length of rope marked with
black rings at regular intervals and began to measure it.
“Will it fit?” I asked.
“I hope so,” he said, measuring the 'knee' of the limb. “I did
the calculations five times on the trip.” He frowned and weighed it
again with one hand. “I think it will do. It's better than walking
around on a crutch.”
“What we need is titanium,” I said.
Ed extended his stump and grabbed hold of the fabric bunched up
there before he began to roll it back. “Second rule of alchemy. You
work with what you have.”
“Couldn't I just transmute the iron into titanium?”
“You're not ready for inter-elemental transmutation yet,” Ed
said. He was carefully polishing the mechanical joint where his knee
used to be and doing the same to the artificial limb I had created.
“I wasn't ready for any kind of transmutation but I pulled them
off well enough,” I said a bit sullenly.
“Don't get cocky just because you have natural talent.” Ed slid
the limb into the housing with a click. He winced in anticipated pain
but then blinked. “Oh right, no nerve connections.” He tapped the
limb. “Feels weird.” He looked at me. “Just because you've been
lucky doesn't mean you're good. A friend of mine used to say you
start out with a finite amount of luck, and the trick is to become
good before you spend it all. You proceed with your alchemy at the
pace I set, and master your basics before you try anything more
advanced.”
I sighed and stood up. “Okay.” I offered him my hand.
He took it and I pulled him to his feet. He took a few seconds to
adjust his balance but managed to stay on his feet. “Ugh. No
response at all.” He took a few tentative steps. “This is going
to take forever to get used to. It's like...” He paused and
chuckled. “It's like someone replaced my leg with a hunk of metal.”
“Are you good to travel?” I asked.
“The walk will help me adjust.”
“I'll go tell Tyro.”
The earthbending chief was standing with the rest of his men closer
to the ship. Unlike them he was making an effort to look like he
wasn't staring. The ship itself was run aground in the small bay we
had drifted into with the morning tide, having been forced to wait
for the high tide all night before we could land. The reason he had
chosen this bay was its narrow entrance, which the earthbenders had
sealed up behind the ship to hide the ship from being spied at sea.
“Your friend is ready to go?” Tyro asked.
“As ready as he needs to be.” I glanced over my shoulder at him.
“How long is the walk?”
“It will take most of the day.” Tyro said with annoyance.
“Haru will be fine,” I tried to reassure him. “If there is a
rescue mission we need to go on, the soldiers at the base will help
us do so.”
“You don't understand, I've been in their prisons. It's not an
experience I want my son to go through alone.”
“I want to head to Omashu and beat some firebender heads in as
well, but I'd rather do so with an army at my back than not.” I
paused. “Besides, the more alchemy I can learn, the better.”
He nodded in defeat. “Right.” He turned to his men. “Gather
the prisoners and lets get a move on. It's a long walk.”
*
The first indication I had that anything was wrong was when the
ground punched me in the gut. Ed shouted and threw himself to the
side as a pillar of earth erupted in front of him. I collapsed to the
side, unable to do much but clutch my ribs and moan. I heard shouts
and cries of pain across the trail.
We had walked into the mountains along a narrow pass with high cliff
walls on either side. You couldn't have asked for a better
earthbender ambush site. Of course, we hadn't been expecting an
attack from our allies. The pain began to fade enough that I was able
to sit up, but my ribs sent a mind-numbing shock up my body at the
movement reminding me I still hadn't recovered from almost breaking
them just two days ago.
A flash of movement drew my attention. There was a man bearing down
on me, riding what looked like a velociraptor in green harness. He
had a very nasty looking polearm pointed straight at me. My mouth
opened but nothing came out. Then Ed appeared. He leapt into the air
and brought his metal limb up and down in a vicious axe kick that
snapped the haft of the spear in two. He landed poorly, the
artificial limb twisting under him and sending him to the ground. Two
more dinosaur riding men leapt down from the cliff and brought their
spears towards his back.
A slab of stone erupted from the ground next to him, angling over
him to form a shield that deflected the attacks. The two riders
stumbled as their spears were jarred loose from their hands.
“Stop!” Tyro roared. “We are not your enemies!”
“What's going on here?” Another man was coming down the cliff,
this one riding a platform of rock that slid down the side of the
stone like an elevator. He wore loose green armour with a
wide-brimmed hat on his head. “Who are you?”
“I am Tyro of the village of Tongli,” Tyro snarled as he strode
forward. “What are you doing attacking us?”
“I... you aren't a prisoner?” the man asked as he leaped to the
ground.
“Do I look like a prisoner!” Tyro snapped and gestured behind
him. “My men are armed and the firebenders are in shackles!”
“We just saw...” The man gulped and adjusted his collar with one
finger. “A lot of firebenders and...”
“And you didn't think,” Tyro growled. I got the impression he
was glad to have someone to take his tension out on. “And these two
boys are our friends as well. They helped us capture all these
firebenders.”
“They... did?” The man was looking at me and Ed (who had climbed
out from under his rock shield and was glaring at the man). “Uh...
I think maybe we should talk to the general.”
“Maybe we should,” Tyro barked. He turned to me and continued in
a much softer tone. “Nin, are you okay?”
“No, I think I'm going to faint.”
And I did.
*
I regained consciousness to the moans of the wounded. I opened my
eyes warily and saw I was in some sort of building. Glancing left and
right I saw the room was full of injured men and women in partially
worn green uniforms and armour. More men and women, these ones
dressed in a lighter shade of green, were moving among the wounded
offering various drinks and occasionally changing bandages.
“Hey, you're awake.”
“Ed?” I looked up and saw Ed was sitting behind me.
“How are you feeling?”
“Like someone smashed in my guts with a rock,” I said. I looked
down. My shirt had been removed and I had to push down the impulse to
cover my chest with a shriek. Of course, there was nothing to cover.
Great, now I was injured and depressed. My wounds had been wrapped
tightly in white bandages.
“Where are we?”
“A fortress.” Ed leaned back in his chair. “It's pretty big,
built on the top of a mountain with really, really high walls.
Reminds me a bit of...” He trailed off. “I'm just glad you're
okay. You looked pretty bad there for a while.”
“Bad?” I asked, gingerly touching my bandages only to wince.
“Two of your ribs were broken,” he said. “You need to rest and
recover, so we're not going anywhere for awhile.”
“Ah.” I allowed my head to fall back on the cot. “So what's
going on?”
“You're asking me?” Ed snorted and crossed his arms over his
chest, his gold eyes narrowing. “I can't understand a word they're
saying. That Tie-row guy and his men went into this central building
while you were led here and the prisoners were led to what I presume
is a prison.” He glanced around. “And for some reason, the people
here keep giving me dirty looks.”
“It's your eyes.”
“My eyes?” He looked perplexed.
“Yellow eyes, its a trait common in the Fire Nation from what I've
gathered. At least, almost all the firebenders from that ship have
yellow eyes.” I gestured vaguely into the air. “And their skin is
lighter than the people from the Earth Kingdom.”
“Everyone here looks like they have a tan compared to me, and I
haven't even seen one blond. Why would they think I'm from the Fire
Nation?”
“They're scared. They've been fighting a losing war for one
hundred years.”
Ed lapsed into silence at that. A few minutes later a nurse came and
checked on me, forcing me to sit up as she prodded my chest and
shoulder clinically. Then she forced a drink into my hand which she
insisted I drink, even though it tasted extremely bitter. If it was
pain medicine, it was extremely poor pain medicine.
“Ah, so this is our little hero.”
I turned to regard the new voice. He was a tall man with an
extremely full beard much like Tyro's, but his was still a vivid
brown and his hair had not deserted him. He wore expensive looking
garments in green and gold, complete with some sort of headdress
which pulled his hair into a topknot.
“Excuse me?” I asked him. I noticed that all the men in the room
had gone quiet at his arrival and were looking at him expectantly.
“General Fong, I presume?”
“Yes.” He crossed one arm over his stomach and made the very
slightest of bows. “And you would be Nin, the alchemist?”
“Close enough,” I agreed. “I'm honoured by your visit.”
He inclined his head slightly, as if it was only proper to be
honoured. “I just wanted to meet the hero who helped capture so
many firebenders.”
“I was just part of a group effort,” I demured.
“Don't sell yourself short,” he said with a smile. “You
infiltrated the enemy vessel, fought through many enemies at great
personal cost and managed to destroy their engine room, forcing a
surrender. The Earth Kingdom could use more people like you on our
side.” His eyes glinted and his grin widened.
“Uh... thanks again.” I coughed into my hand, suddenly feeling
uncomfortable for some reason. “Can I ask, what you intend to do
about Omashu?”
He frowned. “Yes, Omashu.” He looked around the room. “This
isn't really the place for such discussion. I will be deciding what
to do with my old friend Tyro. For now, you rest.”
“You know Tyro?”
He laughed. “Tyro was once my superior when I was just a rookie.”
He shook his head with a rueful grin. “But he mustered out years
ago, long before I was made an officer.” He frowned. “Terrible
about his son. But I will see what can be done. You two need to rest
now, so I will leave you to it.”
He spun dramatically and walked out of the room. I laid back and
looked up at Ed, who was frowning deeply.
“What is it?”
“I don't know. Something about that guy...” He shook his head.
“What did he have to say?”
“Not much. Just wanted to see me in person.”
*
It was two days before I was up to moving anywhere, though the
doctor seemed to find the speed of my recovery remarkable. “You
have a very healthy flow of chi,” he told me while forcing me to
drink a small cup of very potent tea which made me jitter with
nervous energy for the next three hours. Shortly after the visit by
General Fong I was moved to a private room with Ed. “A suitable
reward for a hero such as yourself,” was the only explanation I
got.
During that time Ed stayed mostly in the room with me, only leaving
to get our meals and for an occasional walk. He spent his time
working out as best the small room allowed him to, trying to adjust
to his artificial leg. He also liked to work out shirtless, which
caused the sweat to roll over his muscles in a way I found very hard
not to stare at. I kept staring down at myself in misery, which Ed
thankfully interpreted as annoyance at my wounds.
We also worked on his vocabulary the whole time as I tutored him in
the local language. Ed steadfastly refused to teach me even a single
thing about alchemy until I was recovered. When I was well enough to
walk unaided we received a summons to see General Fong in his office.
Fong's office was at the top of the central tiered tower which
overlooked the entire base. It really was impressively big, with the
external walls stretching at least four stories tall and only this
able to overlook them. Large stone plazas faced the four cardinal
directions, with low structures scattered about near the walls. I
also got the impression there were even more chambers beneath the
surface.
“Ah, I'm glad to see you looking so well,” Fong opened the
conversation. He was sitting behind a large stone desk on a dais
slightly above us. Standing next to him was a beautiful woman with
long black hair and pale skin wearing a green dress that accentuated
her curves. For some reason, she was staring at Ed instead of me and
barely even gave me a glance. “This is my secretary, Tsubaki. If
you have any needs while staying here, please let her know.” He
introduced her with a wave.
“Ah, thank you.” I bowed as much as my tender ribs would allow.
“And a pleasure to meet you,” I said to the secretary.
“Charmed,” she said with a smile that probably would have been
alluring towards men not in my unique circumstance. Than she went
back to staring at Ed. Ed, for his part, was giving her a curious
look, rubbing at his temple absently.
“Can I ask where Tyro and his men are?” I began.
“Ah yes. They left the day after you arrived.”
“They did?” I was a little shocked.
“My old friend was quite concerned about his son. The fall of
Omashu is an incredibly serious problem for us as well, so I
dispatched some of my men with him to assess the situation.”
“Ah... I was hoping to help him look for his son. Haru rescued us
from drowning and I feel I owe him.”
“No need to worry yourself about that,” Fong chuckled. “You
must concentrate on recovering your strength and studying your...
alchemy was it?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Tyro tells me many amazing things about your skills. I must admit
I do not quite believe all his stories. Would you mind terribly
providing a demonstration?”
“Just a moment.” I turned to Ed. “He wants me to show him some
alchemy. Should I?”
Ed glanced at me, then toward Fong and his secretary. “Something
isn't right.” He cracked his knuckles. “But okay. You're probably
recovered enough to do a simple transmutation.”
I indicated as much to the general and he laughed. “Excellent.”
He clapped his hands and a quartet of men came in, carrying a large
sheet of metal between them. “Armour from a Fire Nation ship we
captured and tore apart for scrap. We were planning on sending it to
Omashu to be processed into weapons but...” he trailed off sadly
and shook his head. “Still, I hear you can bend the metal?”
“It's not bending,” I said as the sheet was placed in front of
me. “It's transmutation. The metal is deconstructed into energy and
then reconstructed into another configuration. Technically it can
work on anything.”
“Anything? Really? Fascinating.”
“Ed, I think he wants to be impressed.” I said to him.
“Yeah...” Ed pulled his brush and ink from his pockets and knelt
down next to the metal, his artificial leg clanking against the stone
floor. “Here, let's try this.” He began to paint an array onto
the metal.
“What is he doing?” Fong asked.
“It's called an array. It controls the alchemy. Without it,
alchemy is impossible.” For me at least.
“Why is your friend doing it and not you?”
“I'm his student.”
“I see.” He rubbed his beard. “And can anyone learn this
alchemy?”
Ed stood up and looked at the array. “Okay, finished.”
“Ed, can anyone learn alchemy?”
“Anyone with a Gate,” he said absently.
I repeated that to Fong.
“Gate?” he asked. I shrugged.
“I don't know much about it yet. It's... like the quality that
allows people to be a bender, I suppose?”
I knelt in front of the metal plate and placed my hands on the
array. In a storm of energy and smoke the metal rearranged itself
into a new shape. It was a suit of armour, huge and menacing and much
more complete than anything I'd seen so far in this continent. Ed
smiled at it nostalgically. Fong's eyes widened. The secretary
flinched, raising her hand up to defend herself, but then lowering
them when she realized it was only empty armour.
“Magnificent,” Fong said, standing up. He walked down the stairs
beside his desk and placed his hand on the armour. “Such precise
control. With this art, the technological advantage of the Fire
Nation would vanish.”
“Excuse me?”
Fong grasped his arms behind his back and began to pace back up to
his desk. He talked over his shoudler towards me. “I used to think
that we could end this war with on decisive strike. That taking out
the Fire Lord Ozai would be enough to finish this. With the Avatar on
our side, the war could be over in weeks.” He turned to face me.
“But the news you brought with you that Fire Lord Ozai is dead, and
yet the war continues, and if anything is growing worse each day, has
caused me to reevaluate this position.” He gestured at the armour I
had transmuted into existence. “Nothing less than complete victory
will be enough to end this war now. And this alchemy may well be the
key to that victory.”
“What are you saying?” I asked warily.
“I want you and your friend to teach my people alchemy. With
access to this art, we can smash the Fire Nation's war machines with
ease and end the war once and for all. So, what do you say?”
[ ]I don't feel comfortable teaching people how to use alchemy for
use in a war.
[ ]What's in it for me?
[ ]It's really Ed's decision, not mine.
[ ]I see no problem with this.
Hopefully Yuku won't go down again so badly next week. New chapter Monday morning, voting ends Sunday midnight.
---------------
Epsilon
- Vincent Ursus - 07-02-2011
[X]What's in it for me?
[X]It's really Ed's decision, not mine.
- Bob Schroeck - 07-02-2011
[X]It's really Ed's decision, not mine.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- robkelk - 07-02-2011
[x]It's really Ed's decision, not mine.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012