[Let's Write!] An Avatar/X-Over Adventure!

[Jorlem]

[X]I grew up on the coast.

[X]My parents were middle-class.

[X]I was studying the hard sciences.

Also, I think I noticed a typo. When you had Ed say that to use the Gate, you need to pay a Tool, did you mean pay a Toll?
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber."  --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.

[Lordpanther14]

[X]I grew up on the coast.

[X]My parents were middle-class.

[X]I was planning to join the military.

An error I noticed was when Tyro uses earthbending, 'With a soft grunt h pulled his hands violently apart' where h should be he.

The fire nation's current actions do not bode well for the future, and should Ed ever meet one of the spirits roaming around I wonder what his scientific answer will be?

[Shader]

Cover Story Time! Tell the truth... from a certain point of view.

[X]I was constantly moving as a kid. {Constantly moving as in always busy and never idle, but there is no need to divulge that.}

[X]My parents were rich, but I'm an orphan. {Some how I don't think your parents even exist in what ever world you are in atm. And they were emotionally rich, full of life. There are other sorts of riches other then money.}

[X]I am a student of life and the sciences. {Life involves Military and Politics and a wide range of topics so you're hedging your bets while still saying you know stuff. It also can include a dash of mystical information.}

[Necratoid]

“Right. Maybe while they're bust chasing this Avatar idiot for their bizarre religion we can sneak in?” He tapped the table a few times. “But we'll need a few things.”

There is my typo.  Noticed the pay a 'Too'l' thing as well, could be a slip or a mocking statement.
-[ ]I was constantly moving as a kid.
Vague is good.
-[ ]I'm an orphan.
Less back story to keep straight
-[ ]I was studying for a social science degree.
Politics is likely to start comparisons, Military doesn't fit will how we've been acting so far... hard science is going to be a sticky as a topic... Ed seems to know far more than us on this issue.

[Happerry]

[X]I grew up in the country.
[X]My parents were middle-class.
[X]I was studying the hard sciences.

[robkelk]

[X]I grew up in a big city.

[X]My parents were middle-class.

[X]I was studying for a social science degree.
--
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

[paladindythe]

I'll join in here.
[X] I grew up in the country.
[X] My parents were middle-class.
[X] I was studying the hard sciences.
There are sime hints that the protagonist has a disciplined mind, and an eye for technical detail.

[Ayiekie]

[ ]I was constantly moving as a kid.
[ ]My parents were poor.
[ ]I was studying for a social science degree.

I actually wanted to pick rich at first, but didn't think that fit with your astonishment over the concept of making gold. "Nin", huh? Interesting.

[Vincent Ursus]

[X]My parents were rich.
[X]I was studying the hard sciences.
[X]I was planning to join the military.

[Epsilon]

Just a reminder: There will not be an update Saturday and Sunday. Next section will be out Monday morning, so you have until Sunday midnight to vote.
--------------
Epsilon

[Bob Schroeck]

Pick three!

Okay!

[X]I grew up in a big city.
[X]I grew up in the country.
[X]I grew up on the coast.

Oh, that's not what you meant? Okay.

[X]I was constantly moving as a kid.

[X]My parents were middle-class.

[X]I was studying the hard sciences.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[rmthorn]

[X]I was constantly moving as a kid.
[X]My parents were middle-class.[X]I was studying for a social science degree.

You've piqued my interest with the various peoples' reaction to the protagonist's name.  Also, there's been no mention of Ed's automail arm yet.... shouldn't that be missing too or did the Fire Nation not take that when they took his leg?

[Epsilon]

You've piqued my interest with the various peoples' reaction to the protagonist's name.  Also, there's been no mention of Ed's automail arm yet.... shouldn't that be missing too or did the Fire Nation not take that when they took his leg?

This story takes place after the end of the Fullmetal Alchemist manga. As such, it contains massive spoilers for that.
--------------
Epsilon

[Lordpanther14]

Manga? I've just seen both anime's and figured it was based off the first one since the second anime, which is supposed to follow the manga closer from what I hear, didn't have that large opportunity for dimensional travel taken advantage of that the first one did.

Well guess I'll have to add that to my reading list, so I'm not massively spoiled.

[Epsilon]

The second anime, Brotherhood, is one of the most faithful adaptations of a manga ever produced (aside from they compressed the first few volumes). If youve seen all of Brotherhood, this fic will contain no spoilers you haven't already experienced.
Brotherhood, btw, is available for free streaming from Funimations website in some countries.
-------------
Epsilon

[Epsilon]

Early
Evening Day Two, Mining Village of Tilong

“Well,
the first thing you have to understand about me is that I come from a
big family. A huge family. I mean, I guess you can understand with
your brother and all. Me, I had brothers and sisters coming out of my
ears.” A ghost of a smile drifted across my face. “There were so
many of us I can't even count them sometimes.
“Have
you ever had a private moment as a kid? I haven't. You couldn't even
go to the bathroom without someone constantly banging on the door for
you to finish up. The house was always full of noise. Shouting and
screaming and crying and yelling and hollering...” I drifted off.

“Not
anymore.”

“What
happened?” Ed asked softly.

“They
all died,” I responded, trying to keep the hitch out of my voice.
“Or... more accurately, they were murdered.” Ed's eyes widened
sharply.

“I...
I don't know...” Ed clutched his right arm tightly. “When did...
how did you...?”

My
jaw ached and my eyes burned but I pushed down the feelings. “It's
just one of those things that happens in life, I guess. You don't
even understand what it means to loose them until they're gone, do
you?” Ed nodded mechanically, his eyes haunted. “Yeah, when we
grew up we were all constantly arguing. I swear, we must have sounded
like horrible enemies to outsides with how much we fought. We even
came to blows more than once. Moving days were the worst.”

“Moving
days?”

I
pursed my lips, rubbing at the corners of my eyes. “Father worked
for someone very important. We were constantly moving all over the
place. I remember living in cities and on farms and near rivers and
the ocean and in deserts. That's how I know so many languages, I
guess. I remember speaking with so many people all over the world
that they all blend together. There are so many faces from my youth,”
I explained and then paused. “But I can never really remember most
of them. Just flashes of places and people and things and then moving
on. But my siblings, my brothers and sisters they were always around.
It was always noisy with them around, and they just wouldn't go away
and then...

“I
remember sometimes wishing they would all just go away.” Oh God,
why was I telling him this? I couldn't tell him about what had been
done to my body but I could tell him this? But now that I had started
speaking I couldn't seem to stop. “I just wanted to shut them all
up and be alone for once in my life. I loved being alone. I yearned
for silence and the ability to just contemplate without anyone
interrupting.”

“It
wasn't your fault!” Ed broke in.

I
didn't disagree with him, just lowered my head and shook it gently.
“I'm getting ahead of myself. Though there really isn't much else
to say. My life was painfully average except for my siblings. Average
houses, average schools, average everything.” I laughed a bit, more
in relief than humour. “I bet if you went through the lives of
everyone in the world I probably experienced something a lot like the
vast majority of them. We weren't rich, though our fortunes waned and
waxed like anyones and sometimes we lived in very nice houses and
sometimes we lived in hovels. The only constant was the family, and
their constant voices.”

“What
would you do, if you could bring them back?” I stared at Ed sharply
for a few seconds.

“Is
this some kind of test?” I asked, more than a bit annoyed.

“There
are... secrets in alchemy. Forbidden secrets.” He looked up at me.
“I told you about them, earlier. Bringing back the soul, it costs
too much. But I have to know, if you'll make the same mistake I did.”

I
frowned, turning my eyes back to the ground. I considered his
request. If I could bring them back...? Seeing all their faces.
Hearing all their voices. Holding them in my arms. Drops fell into
the dust on the floor. “In a heartbeat,” I said with a hiss.
“What kind of a sick question is that? Who wouldn't? I'm not
some... monster! If I thought for a second that it would actually
work, that I could...” I gestured vaguely. “In. A. Heartbeat.”

Ed
shifted uncomfortably. I stared at him after rubbing furiously at my
eyes again. “So, does this mean you won't teach me?”

Ed
met my gaze without flinching. “How could I blame you for those
feelings, when I know them so well myself?” He crossed his arms
over his chest. “But I'm just going to have to be a better teacher
than my teacher was. Besides, you seem eager to learn I doubt I could
stop you, so I want to make certain you don't make the same mistakes
I did.” He grinned suddenly, his teeth flashing in the waning
light. “That's how we learn. We stand on the rubble our teachers
made before us, and learn how to build better.”

I
grunted and looked out into the steadily dimming light. “I guess
I've always been a curious sort. I studied a lot of things. History,
medicine, finance, physics, literature, chemistry... sometimes I
think I've read every book every written.” I chuckled, the grief
receding. “It's my way of living for them, I guess. Learn. Learn
everything. Experience everything. The world is so huge!” I stepped
out of the barn and tried to encompass it all with my arms, but of
course, that was impossible. “Even this strange land, that I barely
recognize except as something out of a history book or fantasy
story... it's all there and full of life and stories and new
discoveries just waiting to be made!

“That
is what I do. Learn about things, because they never can. So that
when I meet them again one day, and they ask me about my life I have
all the stories in the world to tell them.

“And
we'll never run out of things to talk about.”

Silence
descended on the barn. I shivered and crossed my arms over my chest.

“It's
late. We should get some sleep.” I didn't disagree with him.

*

“A
blacksmith?” The villager was older than most, his body bent with
the weight of the years. Unfit for physical labour he spent his days
watching the young children. They climbed over each other and shouted
and screamed around the room, so loud that I could barely hear the
old man speak. I really didn't mind.

“The
finer the better,” I said. “The best quality steel you can think
of.”

The
old man closed his eyes for a moment. “Unfortunately, young man,”
I winced a bit at that. “the best metalsmiths are probably in the
Fire Nation. With their firebending, they can control their forges
better than any of us. It's one of the reasons we're doing so poorly
in the war.”

“Well,
let's call that an option of last resort. Who else?”

“Omashu
has the best forges around here, but I imagine they are all dedicated
to the war effort. Other than that all the places I can think of are
a long way away. Ba Sing Se is the most advanced city on the
continent, but it is all the way across the land. I heard tales of
some fantastic forgers in the North as well, ah but those tales are
sometimes too fantastic. Some even say there are flying machines!
Bah, as if anyone has been able to fly since the airbenders
vanished.”

“Thank
you,” I said, bowing slightly and stepping out of the house I had
come to call the kindergarten. Ed was waiting for me, balancing on a
crutch he had improvised together from a broken spear.

“Well?”
Ed asked.

“Hmmm.
Not as useful as I'd hoped,” I told him. We lingered outside the
building, both because I didn't want to strain Ed and because I found
the clamour of the children comforting this morning. “Sounds like
anyplace that would have good quality metal would be a long walk
away, or straight into a war zone.”

Ed
scowled. “That makes things harder. We can refine the materials
with alchemy, if all else fails but the closer we start to our end
product the easier it will be. Just because you haven't suffered a
rebound yet doesn't mean I want to risk it on some insanely complex
array.”

“Yeah,
let's not.”

Ed
started walk-hopping down the path, his gold eyes deep in thought.
Even so he moved with an almost preternatural grace for a crippled
man, easily avoiding obstacles and weaving between the moving bodies
without pause. I followed him, wondering where he was going.
Eventually we reached the edge of the village and Ed was staring at
the thick stone wall.

“We
should leave,” Ed said.

“So
soon?” I asked.

“Sometimes
you have to keep moving,” he said. “Because if you stay where its
safe and quiet, it gets much easier to not work as hard as you
should. You grow complacent.”

I
nodded, understanding his reasoning but still finding myself
reluctant to leave the bustling village and start walking through the
quiet wilderness.

“Ah,
there you two are.”

I
looked over my shoulder and say Tyro striding towards us briskly. He
had about twenty young men, all of them hale and hearty so that he
stood out with his white hair and bald head. He stopped a few paces
away, looking between us and the wall. “Considering leaving?” he
asked.

“Yeah,
we have our own problems to deal with.”

“I
understand.” He gestured to his men. “My men and I are going to
go investigate the Fire Nation prison.”

“It
might not even be above the water anymore,” I pointed out.

“Even
so, we have to start looking for our missing people somewhere.” He
crossed his arms. “Though I have a proposal for you.”

“A
proposal?”

“What's
he talking about?” Ed asked.

“He
wants to make a deal of some kind.” I told him before turning back
to Tyro.

“You
come with us to the prison. I know you might not want to go back to
that place, but you'll be much safer with twenty armed earthbenders
watching your back. In exchange, we can use our ship to drop you off
somewhere along the coast. Not too far, because we have to stay close
to the village, but it would cut a few days off any walking you do.”

I
explained the proposal to Ed.

“Well,
there might be some information there we missed. Like where they took
Al.” He frowned. “But it might also be a complete waste of time.
Besides, if we head towards Barsinghey-”

“Ba
Sing Se,” I corrected automatically.

“Yeah,
then going up or down the coast doesn't help us.”

“So
we should turn them down?” I asked.

Ed
shrugged. “ I don't know. I'm not used to being this stymied. Al
and I never really had no idea where to go, we always had a
destination in mind, even if it was just chasing a vague rumour or an
ancient alchemy journal. I don't know enough about this continent to
have any idea where is best to travel.”

[
]Let's help Tyro. Pay him back for his kindness.
[
]We should head North, sounds like there may be more advanced cities
up there.
[
]It's a long walk, but Ba Sing Se sounds like the safest place on the
continent at this time.
[
]Head to Omashu. We're not afraid of any firebenders.
--------------
Epsilon

[robkelk]

Looks like I'm the first to exercise the ability to specify an Option Five:

"Let's get some of that firebender-quality steel the prison's made of, and help Tyro while we're at it."
--
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

[robkelk]

You've piqued my interest with the various peoples' reaction to the protagonist's name.

Well, you know... "Nin", short for "Ninny".

Or maybe not; I suspect Epsilon hasn't read Bubblegum Cards...
--
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

[Epsilon]

Wow. Guess that snippet really sucked.
--------------
Epsilon

[Vincent Ursus]

[X]Let's help Tyro. Pay him back for his kindness.

Except, less altruistic.

[Bob Schroeck]

[X]Let's help Tyro. Pay him back for his kindness.

And like Rob said, snag some steel -- or at least iron -- while we're at it.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Ayiekie]

[ ]Let's help Tyro. Pay him back for his kindness.

Tough choices all around, but you still don't really know squat about the world, so heading off on your own seems silly.

[Lordpanther14]

[X]Head to Omashu. We're not afraid of any firebenders.

We could have Haru be our guide.

[Epsilon]

Lots of exposition this chapter, hope its not too dull.

Morning
Day Three, Mining Village Tongli

“Hmmm.”
I ran my tongue over my teeth and laced my fingers together. “I
have an idea. We should go with Tyro.”

Ed
nodded. “Equivalent exchange for them helping us.”

“Not
just that,” I said. “But maybe we can salvage some of the metal
that derrick was made out of so that we can make your prosthetic.”
Ed frowned at the unfamiliar word. “Artificial limb,” I
explained.

“How
would we do that?”

“Alchemy,”
I replied.

He
crossed his arms and frowned. “I'm not happy with the idea of you
using any more alchemy until you are properly trained.”

“I
didn't mess up the last few times. And you'll have the whole trip to
work out the proper array beforehand.”

“I
don't know...” Ed was looking at me speculatively.

“And
it will hurt our feet less.”

“Fine.
Let's get started before I change my mind.”

*

That
evening Tyro retrieved Ed and I from his house. He had told us to get
some rest because the ship was leaving at nightfall. I was expecting
it to take a while to reach the shore where the villagers had stowed
their boats. What I wasn't expecting was for Tyro to lead us into a
nondescript looking building near the middle of the village and stand
in front of an empty square of floor.

With
a grunt he fell into the same deep bottomed stance and raise both
hands before his face, their palms facing each other but offset by a
few centimetres. With a soft grunt of effort he snapped one hand
downward as if he was pulling down an invisible lever, then thrust
the other forward in a palm strike at an invisible foe. The ground
before us opened up like a curtain, a soft grinding noise the only
indication that the matter hadn't just vanished. Ed's eyes widened
and he stared from the floor to Tyro. I gave him an apologetic shrug.

Now
he knew what I felt like when I saw alchemy in action the first time.

The
hole in the floor revealed a shallow stairwell leading down into a
dimly lit tunnel. Tyro led the way down, Ed and I following him. I
was worried about Ed on the stairs but he handled the climb down with
aplomb despite his crutch and missing leg.

“So
that was earthbending...” I said to Tyro as we started down the
tunnel he had revealed. The floor was far too flat to be natural but
there was no sign of toolmarks anywhere. About every thirty places a
torch hung from the wall providing illumination. “You made these
tunnels with it?” I asked.

“Yes,
before the war we used to mine coal in these hills. We learned many
secrets of excavating secure passages in that time. You have no need
to fear this tunnel collapsing.”

I
wasn't, until he mentioned it. “How does it work?” I asked.

“What
was that?”

“The
earthbending.” I gestured at the walls and mocked a straight palm
strike. “How can you move the earth itself with nothing but a
gesture. Is it some form of magic?”

He
got a hearty laugh out of that, the skin around his eyes crinkling
with mirth. “Never seen an earthbender before?”

“No.”

“I
suppose you wouldn't have seen much, coming from the Fire Nation.”

“I
don't come from the Fire Nation,” I corrected him.

“Ah...
I just assumed, with your skin colour and eyes...” He huffed. “Not
that there is anything wrong with being from there.”

“Well,
I'm not. I'm from... further away than that.”

“Further
away?” he asked, frowning.

“We
don't have any benders where I come from.”

“That
must be very far away!” he said with a soft chuckle. “Is that
why the other boy doesn't understand our language?”

“Something
like that,” I hedged.

He
made a sound somewhere between a cough and a chuckle then paused and
ran his fingers over his bald head. “I can't say anything for the
other types of Bending, but Earthbending is an art about harmony.”

“Harmony?”

“Yes.
You have to be at harmony with the earth. The breath of the earth and
the breath of the body have to be in union. The flow of this breath
is energy we call chi. When your chi is at rest with the world around
you, it harmonizes with it. Then a change in your chi is reflected in
the world around you. That is the principle of Bending.

“Earthbending
harmonizes with the earth itself. I can not imagine what it is like
to harmonize with the air or the water, but for Earth the connection
is strongest when we are in touch with the ground. Our chi is
amplified through that connection and the ground responds to our
action.”

“So
you can't, harmonize is it?, with anything but the earth?” I tapped
my fingers against the wall. “You said only the Avatar can use all
four elements, why is that?”

“I'm
not certain...” Tyro admitted. “To tell the truth, I was never
much of a student for the philosophy of Earthbending. Too much talk
about jing and soft and hard pressures and so on. All I know is that
some people are born able to feel the movement on the Earth within
them and some are not. The families in our mainland have connections
with the Earth, and so our land is known as the Earth Kingdom for our
capacity to produce earthbenders.”

“So,
it's genetic?”

“Excuse
me?”

“Passed
down from parent to child,” I clarified.

“Ah,
yes.” He nodded. “For the most part, yes. Though sometimes
children are born with the talent to parents who have no such talent,
and sometimes talented parents produce untalented heirs though that
is considerably more rare.”

“Dominant
genes, then...” I muttered. “Is the Avatar like some sort of
breeding project by the four nations?”

“What?
No. No.” He shook his head. “The Avatar is chosen by the spirits.
He exists to maintain the balance between the four elements and the
human and spirit worlds. As a consequence he also maintains balance
between the four nations. Or he did.” He coughs into his hand. “At
least, we hope he will return that balance to its rightful flow.”

We
entered a larger cave and my eyes widened. It was an underground
cistern, the walls and ceiling showing the nearly organic contours of
natural formations. In the water rested three large ironclads,
smaller than the one I had seen at the derrick but each an impressive
sight. Two of them were empty of activity. Only the one closest to
the far wall showed any signs of movement on it, with several people
walking in and out of the light cast by torches affixed to the walls
of the cavern. The tunnel we exited from merged into a wide ramp
which slowly angled down until it came to the crude dock the active
boat was lashed to.

“You
have a lot of questions, young man,” Tyro told me. “But I'm going
to be busy getting ready for the trip now. Maybe we can talk more
once we put out to sea?”

I
nodded and fell back to walk alongside Ed, who was looking a little
pained but holding up well enough. “What were you two talking
about?” he asked.

“Earthbending,”
I replied and laid out what Tyro had told me. Thinking about how to
translate the terms he had used to Ed's language made the concepts
Tyro was explaining easier for me to understand. Well... maybe
understand was too big a word. It still sounded a little bit (a lot)
like magic to me. Then again, so did alchemy and I had used alchemy.

“Chi?”
Ed frowned and shook his head. “Like the Xingese?”

“I
couldn't say.” I gestured back at the tunnel which was shrinking
above us. “The energy to carve that tunnel had to come from
somewhere.”

“Array-less
alchemy is possible and so is remote alchemy,” Ed muttered. “But
without journeying to the Gate or paying a Tool?”

We
reached the dock before Ed could finish his thought and had to climb
on board. Ed needed me to carry his makeshift crutch while he scaled
the rope ladder the Earthbenders used like a monkey. I threw it up to
him and followed in what I hoped was a more dignified fashion.

As
we stood on the narrow deck of the ship I gestured towards a duet of
men standing near us. While we watched a large rock simply floated
up over the side of the ship. The rock was a thick rectangle and
piled on top of it were several bags of supplies. The men stepped
back, bracing themselves as if catching the rock but it continued to
float unsupported through the air. They danced backward, their steps
quick but with long pauses between them. There hands moved in short,
sharp motions without any wasted movements.

Ed's
knuckles grew white as he gripped his crutch. I just leaned back
against the rails, curious. The men placed the rock down and a few
more came to grab the supplies and bring them below deck, while
another rock levitated over the edge as before. Soon enough there
were two dozen rock rectangles scattered about the ships deck. Men
climbed over them, lashing them down with ropes. It took me a few
seconds to recognize that they were using some clever knots which
would allow the rocks to be freed quickly if need be.

“Ammunition?”
I wondered aloud.

Ed
said nothing, just staring at the proceeding with a look on his face
that bordered somewhere between fascinated and offended. Finally Tyro
began shouting for the mooring to be cast off (although he used the
wrong terms, I noted) as he and a quartet of older men made their way
to the bow. The five fell into deep stances, their bodies weight held
as low as possible while keeping their backs straight up. In eerie
unison but obviously practised ease the five men began gesturing at
the wall in front of the ship.

And
the wall opened.

My
mouth dropped open and I nearly fell over the rail. I had seen them
using earthbending a few times, but it was always minor stuff. They
never moved more earth than an especially strong man could if he just
put his back into it, or two or three men working together at most.
But this was something else. This wasn't just a few hundred
kilograms. Tonnes of solid stone shifted aside like a curtain. An
entire cavern wall sunk away, lifted up and pushed aside as the five
men went through their individual motions.

“This
isn't a cavern,” Ed said with awe in his tone. “This is a bay.”
He stared around the walls. “They built this
with their alchemy?”

“Not
all of it, but I think you're right.”

As
soon as the wall was out of the way the ship lurched forward. I could
see black smoke boiling out of the stack now. The ship was slow in
gaining speed and inched painfully out of the bay. As it did the five
men rushed to the back of the boat and took stances again. I could
only half-see them around the stack but they began their dance again
and in response the earth shifted and bent, forming back over the bay
and erasing it from sight. The men even went so far as to make sharp
punching motions at the wall which caused the smooth stone to buckle
and crack like weathered stone.

We
sailed in the darkness.

“A
hidden port,” I said with a shake of my head.

“Those
motions...” Ed mused.

“Motions?”

“Alchemy
doesn't really require body motion. It's all external or done in the
mind. But...” He gestured to the exhausted five men as the others
helped them below decks. “What if they're not using array-less
alchemy at all. What if those motions are an array?”

“I'm
not certain I follow you.”

“Well,
the array is just a symbol on the ground. It doesn't really have any
power in and off itself. At a certain level you can perform alchemy
without an array entirely. All that's required is the circle, forming
the connection of energy between the subject and the Gate inside the
alchemist. What if these people use their motions like an array? A
way to balance out the equation. Notice how if they want the rock to
move right, they push their hands or feet right?

“Augh!”
He grabbed his hair and pulled on it. “If only I could talk to
them! Think of the experiments we could perform!”

“Come
on,” I grabbed his wrist and tugged him towards the hatch. “Let's
get you somewhere that you can concentrate on teaching me, so that
your brain doesn't explode trying to figure out their magic.”

“It's
not magic,” Ed said sourly but allowed himself to be guided
belowdecks.

*

The
coal and iron ingot clattered as Ed dropped them in front of me. I
raised my eyelids and gazed at him. He had told me to close my eyes
and practice a breathing exercise for the last ten minutes while he
wandered off, apparently in search of these.

“Coal?”
I asked, poking the large nugget gingerly.

“This
boat runs on a primitive steam-powered engine, coal-fed boiler and
all.” Ed curled his one leg under him as he sat in front of me. “It
took me a while to get them to let me borrow this. And I found the
ingot in storage. From the look of it, its pure iron. Not alloyed to
steel yet.”

“Okay,
what does this have to do with alchemy?”

“There
are three steps to all alchemic transformations.” He held up one
hand. “First step; analysis.” He raised on finger. “Second
step; deconstruction.” He raised another finger. “Third step;
reconstruction.” The third finger went up. “Can you tell me what
the most important step is?” He waved all three fingers about.

“Reconstruction,”
I answered without hesitation.

“Wrong!”
he barked. He lowered all the fingers but the first one he raised.
“The single most important step in alchemy is the first one,
analysis.” He pointed the finger at me. “The alchemist must know
every detail of his target before he begins his process. Every single
variable must be accounted for, from the type and concentration of
the elements that makes up the subject, to the chemical bonds that
form the molecules, to the structural bonds that form between the
chemicals, the density, specific gravity, its physical dimensions in
every detail, all of those qualities and more must be know.

“The
alchemist must also know all the qualities of what he wishes to
create. Thus he can identify which variables his beginning state and
his preferred end state have in common, and which they do not. He
must work out how to shift the variables between the two states.
Every micron of matter and energy that existed in the target state
must be accounted for in the end state. It's like balancing a
mathematical equation. You can't just add numbers to one side.

“If
you try, the reaction will balance itself!” Here Ed clapped his
hands sharply, startling me but making certain he had my attention.
“Above all else, the alchemist must not let that happen. Because
the equation will balance itself, no matter what it has to do to do
so. As the person closest to the epicenter of the reaction, the
alchemist is in the most danger from this rebound.”

“Okay.”
I nodded. “So, analysis is important.”

“Yes,
it has to be done before any other step can even be attempted.” He
held up his hands. “Thankfully, the alchemist has a shortcut he can
use to quickly understand all the properties of his target.”

“Your
hands?” I gave him a dubious look.

“No,
your Gate.” I tilted my head to the side.

“Remember,
alchemy is a transformation between matter, energy and information.”
He gestured around him. “The object is transformed into energy and
that energy travels through your body into your Gate, where it is
transformed into information. The information is then processed into
a new shape, transformed back into energy which travels back out of
you and reforms the object. This all at the speed of light, so it
appears practically instantaneous.”

“So,
what does this have to do with coal?” I asked.

“We're
going to start working on your Analysis.” He pointed at the coal.
“You have to learn how to use your Gate to Analyze the object.”
His tone shift made the capitalized words obvious in his speech. “The
easiest way to do that is by being able to tell the difference
between on object and the next.”

“You
mean the coal and the iron?” I asked.

“Not
just them. Take out that knife of yours.” I did so. “Place it on
the ground.” I complied. “The exercise is to tell the difference
between the coal, the ingot and the knife.”

“I
can see the difference,” I said.

“Not
with your eyes, with your Gate.”

“How
do I do that?”

“Handle
the coal,” he said. “Then the ingot, then the knife.” He
pointed to each in turn as he continued his explanation. “Steel is
actually made from two things, iron and coal. Well, it can be made
from coke, too, but I doubt they've progressed enough to do it that
way. The important thing is that the coal should be almost pure
carbon, a single element. The iron is also a single element. The
steel knife, however, will be an alloy of the two elements.
Ninety-eight percent iron to two percent carbon is around the ideal
ratio, though it varies based on manufacturing process and a lot of
other stuff we won't get into now. The important thing is that the
coal should feel a certain way, and the ingot a different way and you
should be able to tell the difference between the iron and carbon in
the knife by focusing on those two feelings.”

I
picked up the coal and rolled it around in my hands. “So, how
should it feel?” I asked.

Ed
sighed and shrugged. “I can't help you with that. Every alchemist
experiences it slightly different. Some visualize the elements,
others have a sensation of touch or even hear music related to the
elements.”

“What
about you?”

Ed
looked to the side, his expression softening. “Memories.”

“Memories?”

He
nodded. “Of my travels. The night it was raining while we were
stuck without a tent between cities, the first train ride I took,
this little inn in some backwater village...” He smiled wistfully.
“Even before we started travelling, when I was still a kid, my
alchemcy always felt like an adventure. Fantasies of places I had
never been but wanted so badly to see. As we journeyed, fantasy
slowly got replaced by real memories. All the years, all those shared
times with my brother, all the friends we made.” He chuckled to
himself and rubbed the back of his head. “That's why I always loved
alchemy. Using it, no matter how dark it got, it always brought back
to mind the good times, the lives I had touched and that had touched
me in return.”

He
looked down, still smiling but his smile had a nostalgic quality to
it. “There was one man I knew who experienced alchemy as a taste.
And another jerk who experienced it as...” He coughed into his
hands and blushed so fiercely he looked like he was going to explode.
“Yes, well. The exact sensation isn't important. It was almost
always something deeply important to the individual, however. We
often wrote down our research in codes and ciphers based on our own
personal sensations of how alchemy worked.”

“So
if will be something important to me?” I asked.

“Probably.”

I
looked at the stone in my hand. It felt dirty and hard and cold. It
was black and dull and gritty. Something important to me?

I
closed my eyes.

Voices.
Loud and quiet and shouting and laughing and arguing and questioning
and a million other things. A chorus of noise, without end. I
focused, trying to filter them all out. Which of those voices
reminded me of this coal in my hand?

It
came to me so suddenly I gasped and dropped the coal with a clatter.

“You
okay?” Ed asked, looking worried.

“F-fine.”
I picked up the stone again. Had I imagined it? I closed my eyes
again and concentrated on the voices. Again, with almost disturbing
ease the clamour hushed away until only one voice could be heard.
There were no words to that voice, just a murmur at the edge of
hearing. But I knew
it. My hand started to hurt and I opened my eyes to see I was
squeezing the coal so tight my fingers were shaking. I released it
gently. I realized my eyes were brimming with tears. Ed was
studiously not looking at me.

Cleaning
my face as best I could, dimly aware I was probably getting coal dust
all over it, I reached for the ingot. Like before, I closed my eyes
and listened. The chorus of my memory slowly resolved into a single
voice. Deeper this time, but still just a whisper on the edge of my
consciousness.

I
gently placed the ingot down and picked up the knife by the blade
without hesitating. I had barely closed my eyes before I began to
hear the voices again. This time not just one, but two. A
conversation, I understood quickly. Two voices whispering to each
other behind a thick wall, just low enough that you couldn't make out
what was being said but the tone of the discussion was obvious. The
two voices, soft and deep, were harsh in my mind. An argument?

I
placed the knife down.

“I
think I got it,” I said.

“Really?”
Ed asked, his eyes widening. “In just a few hours?”

“Hours?”
I asked.

He
nodded. “You've been meditating on those things for hours,” he
replied, gesturing to the side. There was an empty bowl next to him
and cold soup in another one next to me. “They came by to feed us a
couple of hours ago.”

“I...”
I blinked. How had I lost that much track of time?

“Anyway,
that's enough for today's lesson.” Ed pointed at some scrolls
unrolled next to him. “I've been working on the formula we'll need
while you've been doing your lesson. I'm basically done. Plus you
should rest before you work on anything else.”

“I...”
I looked down at the knife. I didn't want to stop. I wanted to hear
those voices again. They sounded so real.

Ed's
hand came to rest on my shoulder. “It's hard, to give it up.” He
smiled wistfully. “But we have to live in the world on this side of
the Gate. An important lesson in alchemy, is that alchemy is a tool
to live your life with, not a goal to live your life for.”

*

Tyro
was obviously trying not to let the disappointment show on his face.
But his hands told a different story. They gripped the rail of the
ship so hard the knuckles had gone white and the muscles in his arms
shook with barely restrained tension. The rest of the earthbenders
did not look nearly so annoyed as he did, but none of them looked
happy.

“It
sunk entirely,” I pointed out. The only thing left of the prison
was a few scattered bits of flotsam that bouyed up and down on the
waves. “Are you certain this is the right place?” I asked Tyro.

He
nodded stiffly. “We've consulted the stars five times and been over
the whole area for hours.” He looked up, the sun was paling the
horizon in the east but the stars were just barely visible. “I
will remember these stars the rest of my life.”

“What's
he saying?” Ed asked. He was leaning against the rail near me.

“Looks
like the derrick is gone.” I told him.

Ed
frowned and looked out into the water. “Not entirely.” I gave him
a look. “See, there, under the water?” I looked where he was
pointed but couldn't see anything but the chop of the waves and
indicated as much. “The derrick was held up by pillars under the
water. And not very tall ones, the water isn't very deep here. The
entire thing sunk, but its still down there. I can just barely see
it.”

Deciding
to trust him I turned to Tyro and translated. Tyro frowned at Ed then
followed the younger boys pointing finger with his eyes. Ed waved his
finger around a certain section of the water and Tyro eyes seemed to
widen. “He's right! Good eyes, boy! It's not far below the water.
The storm must have knocked it over.”

“The
storm that knocked our boat over?” I asked.

“Yeah,
it was a real big one.” He shuddered. “I've never seen anything
like it. I swear, the moon turned red,
althought I must have imagined it. The ocean was terrible that night.
Still, everything calmed down enough for us to find you.” He
laughed. “Haru told me he took shelter in the one cove that the
storm didn't hit. He was caught out on patrol. He came across you
almost like a miracle, just lying on the beach like someone had
pushed you to just that shore so you would be safe.”

I
nodded along, preferring the direction his thoughts were going rather
than mine. My thoughts were rather more morbid, focusing on the
unlikelyhood of anyone surviving in the sinking prison.

“How
do we get down there?” Ed wondered aloud.

“Why
bother?” I asked him. “Nobody could have survived under the water
for a whole day.” I was glad Tyro couldn't hear me. “And any
records would have been destroyed by the flooding. Not to mention ink
won't exactly stick to the surfaces down there for me to use alchemy
for any salvage operations.”

“Some
of those scrolls were in scroll cases,” Ed explained. “They
looked watertight. Probably just in case they got dropped off a ship.
There could be information that leads to where the prisoners,
including my brother, are being kept.”

“It
might as well be on the moon,” I said, gesturing at the water.

“No,
I think I know how to get down there safely. Maybe even use alchemy
underwater.” He smirked.

“How?”

“We
cheat!” he said with a devilish grin.

“Is
there something your friend has planned?” Tyro asked.

“Something
crazy, by the sound of it...” I began to reply but was cut off by a
loud shout.

“Black
smoke! Dead ahead!”

The
crew rushed to the bow of the ship. I followed them, leaving Ed
behind since he couldn't move very fast without getting his crutch
from the ground. There was a young man standing at the very tip of
the ship, pointing out into the paling darkness. The men were
muttering and Tyro did not look happy. Then I spotted it. A dark
cloud climbing into the sky near the horizon. In the darkness it was
hard to tell its size or if it was growing or shrinking.

“A
Fire Nation ship,” I guessed.

“Yes,
and not that far,” Tyro said.

“Has
it spotted us?”

Tyro
looked towards our stack, still belching out its own noxious black
cloud. Behind us, the sun was rising. “Our cloud is against the
dawn, the chances of them not seeing it are slim. The only hope is
they think we're another Fire Nation ship and don't bother us.”

“Or
they do think we're such a ship, and come checking on us to see what
we're doing where we aren't supposed to be.”

He
nodded. “I'm not certain if we can outrun them. We only have so
much coal we can carry at once, and they have firebenders who can
control their engines better.” I could tell that from the way he
and his men idled about that they weren't used to naval engagements.
Someone had to do something.

[
]Go ahead with whatever Ed has planned. Hope they don't notice us.
[
]Maybe we can trick them? Lure them into an ambush.
[
]Discretion is the better part of valour. Run.
[
]Run? Forget that! Charge! They won't be expecting a full assault!

--------------
Epsilon

[Lordpanther14]

[X]Maybe we can trick them? Lure them into an ambush.

Have everyone hide below deck, and then use those boulders we brought along to crush them when they're too close to use their trebuchet.