Liberation. (Angel)

OOC: Sorry Scoria, but the plan has been altered. Again, sorry.

BIC: Wanted: A skilled alchemist.
Reason: Transmute away something that is hated incredibly.
Where: The Chox Hol Motel, room 119.
Reward: Whatever they want.

This was the notice that Eiro posted in the town square. The last alchemist to attempt to transmute away her shield only managed to transmute her helmet, and it quickly restored itself. She thought that the reason was the boy’s relative inexperience, seeing as it was a 15-year-old.

The warrior sadly walked back to her motel room, well aware that several people were staring at the metal giant walking down the street. She could barely keep herself from crying. Having tasted a tiny bit of liberation from her cursed armor, only to be sealed inside it yet again made her desperate for total freedom.

Soon her motel came into view. She almost started crying again, seeing from the crappy state of her motel, which had cost her all of her money, that she had no way to pay any alchemist who attempted to transmute her armor.

“I’ll never find anybody to do it,” she thought, wordlessly walking up the wooden stairs to her motel room. The warrior wanted to do so many things that normal people could do, but she wouldn’t be able to unless the alchemist who answered that ad did the transmutation for free.

She wanted to taste, to smell, to feel. She didn’t care if she’d be much weaker without the armor, she just wanted it gone. Heck, she’d probably even quit bounty hunting after the armor was removed.

Sighing yet again, Eiro sat down on her motel room’s bed to wait for an alchemist to answer the ad.

OOC: Sorry for the short post. I didn’t have time to do anything longer. (Unless I’m a few minutes late for school)

Guns were the very things that kept Kric from updating his own arsenal of weaponry. The noise they made, the smell afterwards of gunpowder. And yet… they were the most efficient killing tools around, except for alchemy. One bullet could do more damage than several jabs from his own sword.

“How much for the Desert Eagle?” the alchemist asked, his hands in his belt, rooting for anything valuable.

“This baby is fresh off the market, a new model, more deadly than the last-” the clerk said proudly.

“I didn’t ask to hear about it, I wanted to know how much it would cost.” Kric grunted.

“For this, 700 salas.” The man replied. Placing various things on the counter in front, the alchemist looked at what he had. Four silver coins, a small square piece of diamond that was barely worth anything because of the dark grey color, and some rocks he had transmuted from metal.

“Hmm… reserve this for me, I’ll be back at the end of the day with your money.” Kric mumbled, and walked out the door before the man could say anything.

I need a job that pays quick cash, and plenty of it. Better consult the notice board. the diamond alchemist thought, placing his hands behind his head as he walked. After a few minutes, he came to the board, pieces of paper stuck to every centimeter of it, all wanting someone like Kric. Searching through the notes, the alchemist found one to his liking.

Wanted: A skilled alchemist.
Reason: Transmute away something that is hated incredibly.
Where: The Chox Hol Motel, room 119.
Reward: Whatever they want.

The 'Whatever they want' part was what caught Kric’s eye. He could ask for 700 salas to buy the gun, or maybe 1400 salas, so he could have a pair of guns. Smiling, he pulled the note down and began heading towards the Chox Hol Motel.

Arriving several minutes later, Kric glanced at the note once more before entering, pushing the motel door open with an auto-mail hand.

I wonder why they can’t just destroy whatever themselves, it seems a bit of a waste just to lose something that they could get rid of. I just hope it’s not alive. the alchemist thought, traversing up the stairs. Looking left and right has he went down the corridor, he stopped as he arrived at room 119, as specified on the note. Knocking on the door, he waited for an answer.

“Come in.” a voice said, originating from inside the room. Pushing the door open, Kric was faced with a strange sight. A person, the alchemist couldn’t tell if it wasn’t a man or woman, was sat on the bed in the middle of the room, facing the door and the alchemist.

“Umm… it said on the note to come here to transmute something.” Kric mumbled, his confidence gone.

“Are you an alchemist?” the figure asked.

“Yes, Kric Ureon, better know as the Diamond Alchemist.” Kric replied.

“Well,” Eiro said, using a gloved finger to wipe off a stray tear that had managed to slip through the helmet’s slit of an eyehole. “My name’s Eiro, and there’s some chalk over there if you need it.”

She pointed to a box sitting next to the door, sadly thinking of what would happen if this alchemist couldn’t transmute away her armor. “If he can’t do it that means I’ll have to go after and try to kill Rize, and I’m not so sure I’d even be able to…”

“So,” Kric said, grabbing a piece of chalk from the box. “What is it that you need transmuted? A broken lamp, a torn portrait, a priceless vase?”

“Actually, me. To be more specific, this cursed armor…” Eiro stood from the bed as she said that, allowing her armor’s full height to be seen. She towered over Kric, and she never wanted to tower over anybody ever again.

Kric had to crane his neck to be able to look up at the massive armored behemoth standing before him. The booming demonic voice that ushered through it made him wonder if this ‘Eiro’ looked better with the armor on.

“Judging by your voice, I think you’d look better with the armor on.”

Eiro sighed, almost starting to cry again. She’d forgotten how the armor made her sound like a male demon, when in fact she was a female human.

“Actually, that’s the armor. I’m really a nineteen year old female human. How I got this cursed armor is a long story,” she replied. Kric shrugged and went to work drawing a transmutation circle on the floor with the chalk.

Eiro sat down on the bed again to watch the alchemist work. “He’s actually kind of handsome,” she thought to herself. “I wonder if, after the armor’s gone, if he’ll… no, he probably wouldn’t.”

She continued to watch as he drew intricate patterns and designs on the floor with the chalk, crisscrossing some and circling others. He seemed to be a fairly experienced alchemist, and he even had a state alchemist title.

Eiro had only been to Amestris once, but that was enough to convince her that they were more technologically advanced. They had things known as ‘Guns’ and ‘Running water’ as well as ‘Electric appliances’. There were none of those in Hyrule, the foreign continent, or anywhere else for that matter.

“Done.”

The female warrior almost jumped with surprise. She had been so absorbed in her thoughts that she hadn’t been paying attention to Kric. Eiro looked down to see that a massive transmutation circle now covered a large portion of her room.

“I don’t see why you can’t just take the armor off but you’re the boss,” Kric said. Eiro wordlessly walked over to the middle of the room and stood ready for Kric to activate the transmutation.

Just before he did it, Eiro had one last thought in her head. “Am I wearing clothes under the armor, or am I naked? Oh well, we’ll probably find out. I just hope the armor doesn’t regenerate like it did last time…”

“Well, just don’t try to push your body against the armor.” Kric muttered, and clapped his hands together. Once he touched them to the circle, the entire thing began to glow light blue, and several jolts of energy sprung up from it. Taking a step back, the alchemist watched as several sparks traveled up the armor of Eiro, stopping at various places like her arms, legs, torso & chest. A sudden sound filled the room, like nails crossing a chalk board, and the helmet of the armor dissolved, revealing the figure to be a woman. Her hair was actually quite long, and her face made her look quite attractive, if it weren’t for the weary look in her crystal blue eyes. More wailing sounds filled the room as pieces of the armor. After her helmet dissolved her armored hands followed, slowly working towards her torso.

Uh-oh… Kric thought, noticing that all the skin uncovered so far was bare. Facing the wall, the alchemist waited until the sounds had stopped.

“Well… uh… I’ll take my payment and go!” Kric shouted. Waiting for the woman to get something to cover herself up with, the alchemist suddenly heard the sound of metal being banged upon metal.

“No no no! It was supposed to stay gone!” Eiro shouted. Turning back round, Kric saw that the armor was starting to regenerate, slowly forming back over the woman’s naked body.

“Why didn’t you tell me that it could regenerate?” Kric moaned. Keeping his eyes fixed to the floor, the diamond alchemist quickly added another three symbols to the circle, and touched his hands to it. This time, the circle glowed red, and sent out bigger sparks, covering most of the regenerated armor. Backing away, Kric hoped that he had been right. Moments later, the alchemist was rewarded as the armor imploded, knocking Eiro off her feet.

“Yes! Looks like that did the-” the alchemist started, but stopped in horror as he saw the armor forming over Eiro again.

“Sheesh, looks like this is going to be worth the salas.” Kric muttered, and rooted through his pockets once more, extracting the small cube of diamond.

“Can you stop this from regenerating? If you can’t I doubt there’s any point in continuing.” The woman said sadly. Shaking his head, the alchemist pointed at the circle, indicating that she was to stand back in the middle. As the armor finished covering her, Kric clapped his hands to the circle again, watching as the red sparks imploded the armor again. Not wasting any time, Kric quickly stuck the diamond cube into Eiro’s skin, tapping it as he did. The diamond suddenly began to expand, making what looked like another chestplate.

“What’s it doing?” the woman grunted, having just recovered from the second implosion.

“The diamonds going to form a suit of armor over you, which is hopefully pushing the armor off you. It’s now a test of strength, alchemy against whatever is powering your armor.”

Eiro sighed, knowing very well that the diamond armor wasn’t going to force the cursed armor off. It was true that Kric seemed to be a great alchemist, but the cursed armor had been created by a demonic god, which is obviously the greater one.

For a moment the diamond armor seemed to be working, causing the cursed armor to creek and groan with the added stress. Of course, that didn’t last long. The cursed armor pushed down with more force than ever, trying to get back to the way it usually was.

Feeling the diamond armor rather than Eiro’s bare skin, the cursed armor pressed down tighter. Eiro screamed in pain as the cursed armor pushed down on the diamond armor, effectively crushing her in the process. Kric quickly clapped his hands and activated the circle.

As the red sparks traveled up part of the cursed armor, the Diamond Alchemist ran towards Eiro. In a slightly embarrassing twist, the first part of the cursed armor to start dissolving was on Eiro’s chest. For a moment he hesitated to use alchemy to remove the diamond armor due to common modesty, but changed his mind when he noticed how much pain Eiro was in.

He placed his hands on the part of Eiro’s chest where the cursed armor had disappeared, reminding himself to ask for forgiveness afterwards for touching her in that area. The diamond armor slid off of the female warrior’s skin, becoming a cube in Kric’s hand yet again.

Not a moment too soon had he transmuted the diamond either, for the cursed armor reformed the moment he took his hands off of her. All of the pain was too much for Eiro, and she passed out…

Meanwhile, at Rize’s castle…

The blue haired god sat on his obsidian throne, staring at the image before him with crimson eyes. A portal of sorts stood open before him, showing him the alchemist’s attempts to remove Eiro’s armor. Rize chuckled to himself when he saw the female warrior pass out.

“So, now she wants the armor gone eh? How ungrateful,” he muttered to himself. “The armor keeps her alive and indirectly keeps me alive. If she thinks I’m going to willingly remove it, she’s got another thing coming.”

Rize was well aware that Eiro would come after him if alchemy didn’t work. Whether she came alone or with this ‘Kric’ didn’t matter to him. He was the god of bones, and he had several Ultima Demons working under him. He’d even been sure to purchase several creatures from the death dealer Grasthos while he was still alive.

“Iron, Copper, Nickel!” Rize shouted. Three golems suddenly appeared before him, each one made of the respective metal that they were named for. Each of them were seven feet tall, and held the usual appearance that golems had, with expressionless faces and high set eyes.

“Go there and punish them for trying to remove the armor. Don’t even try to kill the female though,” he muttered. Despite his seemingly inaudible command, the golems nodded and stalked off for room 119, intending to carry out Rize’s orders to the fullest.

Gold, Silver, and Diamond would remain at the dark god’s castle to protect him if they came for him. Rize himself merely sat back to watch the show on his viewing portal.

“She seems to like this Kric fellow. Maybe I can use that to my advantage if they come…”

Ooc: Rah, curse this no fighting rule!

Kric kept his eyes fixed on Eiro, using his hands to rub away the alchemic circle on the floor. It was one of the basic rules of being a State Alchemist, no circles that exceed stone spires should be left after alchemy was done, it was a hazard to the normal civilian.

Well I should at least wait till she wakes up, then I can try and get something for my troubles… Kric thought, finishing removing the circle with his right hand glove. As he finished, something dropped from the roof, hitting his auto-mail hand. Looking down, the alchemist found that it was a small round stone. Picking it up, Kric took a close look.

Iron, quite pure, wonder where it came from… the diamond alchemist thought. Suddenly, something collided with Kric’s head, making him yelp in pain. Looking around, the alchemist found that it was another stone. Picking up, Kric was about to examine it when yet another stone fell on him, followed by another, and another. Soon, the roof was leaking nothing but the hard objects. Taking cover under the bed, the alchemist put a hand to his bleeding lip. The stones kept on pouring, bouncing off Eiro’s armor without waking her up. Soon enough, the stones ceased falling, and began grouping together.

What in God’s name is going on? Kric thought. Answering his question with a swift movement, the stones formed three huge creatures, but from his hiding place the alchemist could only see their legs.

So… it seems we have golems to deal with. I wonder what this Eiro hasn’t told me? Kric thought, using his teeth to remove his right glove. Unfortunately for the diamond alchemist, he had forgotten that he had no chalk, and so he would have to resort to using a metal finger to carve into the wood.

The three steps of alchemy. Step 1, understand the molecular composition of an object. Well I know one of those things is composed of iron. the alchemist thought, finishing the circle. Silently clapping his hands together, Kric touched the circle, making it glow blue. A blue spark shot out from it, headed directly for the middle golem.

Steps 2, all bonds in the substance are broken through the use of alchemic energy. Kric thought, watching as the golem suddenly erupted in blue light. After a few moments it died down, and it its place was a silver cube.

And finally Step 3, reconstruction in which those atoms in the substance are reconstructed into something new. Kric thought, chuckling to himself. But his victory was short lived, for milliseconds later, one of the golems ripped the bed apart, revealing the hidden alchemist.

“Aw crud.” Kric thought, and reached for Wraith. But before he could touch the hilt, a fist of metal collided with his face, knocking him out cold.

~

Hours later, the alchemist was awoken by the sound of shouting. His head in incredible pain, Kric looked around for what was causing the noise.

“You weren’t supposed to bring the two back with you!” a voice shouted.

Ooc: I was wondering, should we ask for this thread to be moved to the BA, so we can do some proper fighting.

OOC: Fighting is allowed in the Crossroads, just not devoting the entire thread to fighting.

BIC: Rize stood with an incredible scowl on his face. The golems had brought Eiro and Kric back, when they were supposed to simply punish them! “I knew I should have kept demons as my primary henchmen,” he thought.

The two of them were tied back to back, which was fairly odd considering Eiro’s larger size. One golem stood moping, obviously the only one who was able to tell that they were in trouble with their lord. The dark god crossed his arms, noticing that Kric was waking up.

“So alchemist,” he said, letting the word ‘alchemist’ roll off of his tongue like poison. “How did you like that cursed armor of mine? It took quite a few souls to make it, much like the Philosopher’s Stone of alchemical myth.”

The Diamond Alchemist didn’t open his mouth. To be more specific, he couldn’t. The golems had covered Kric’s mouth with a claylike substance that kept him from speaking.

“Yes, that armor was quite a masterpiece. It makes her life easier, and makes mine so much longer.” Rize brushed a stray blue hair from his red eyes, his incredibly bony hands cracking as he did so.

“MASTER RIZE!” squealed a figure, hidden in the shadows to the dark god’s left flank. A pale skinned dwarf came toddling over, his beard kicking up dust in front of him as he went. In his stubby hands were various books and maps, obviously a cartographer.

“Ahh, Jereelon. Just the man I wanted to see,” Rize bent down to reach the dwarf’s height, an even three feet. He whispered something in the dwarf’s ear in an ancient language that not even the golems seemed to understand.

“Well,” Jereelon said, his squeaky voice starting to wake Eiro up. “There’s the island town of Chomchum. You can send them there. I don’t even think the people in that town have boats, and the weather is dreadful.”

The god of bones stood to his full height, about 6’7, and turned to his golems. “Copper, Nickel, Silver!”

Three golems took a step forward, leaving two golems and a cube. With only five golems and two Ultima Demons, it didn’t seem that the dark god had much of a defense. He wasn’t much of a fighter himself…

“Take them thirty miles East, to the town of Chomchum. Don’t kill either of them though. I repeat: Do not kill either of them.”

Rize turned to Eiro and Kric, pulling out a blue orb. The orb fired a bolt of energy at the duo, knocking them out to ensure that they didn’t fight back on their way to Chomchum.

“I won’t go through the same mistake that Harges and Gorin did,” Rize thought to himself. “My immortality will not be taken away. That armor is the only thing ensuring that…”

At times like these, I wish for a life back home, where I could have been a rich man. But no, I had to become an alchemist, and travel the world earning pain in return for my services. Kric thought, trying to pull the unconscious body of Eiro out of the sea. Several waves washed over her entire body, but she still didn’t wake. Looking around as he pulled, Kric surveyed his surroundings. They were on the edge of an island, on the beach. About fifty meters away started a forest, which was all that could be seen apart from a few mountains poking above them, far away in the distance. Grunting with effort, the alchemist finally pulled the woman clear of the water.

“If I’m stuck here, you’re not having a snooze while I have to get us out of this mess.” Kric mumbled, drawing a circle in the wet sand. Finishing in less than three seconds, he touched it, and watched as a blue spark traveled to Eiro’s helmet, causing it to melt away. Using the few seconds he had, Kric slapped the woman across the face with an auto-mail hand, instantly bringing back her consciousness.

“Get up!” the alchemist shouted, not bothering to try and act pleasant. Eiro shook her head and sat up, putting two armored hands to her head.

“Where, where are we? The last thing I remember is blacking out because of the pain, and that’s it.” The woman muttered. Turning his back to her, Kric checked to make sure that there wasn’t any damage to his auto-mail. Near the thumb was a deep cut, probably made when he had tried to grab Wraith.

Great, I now have to go see Heon when this is over. That’s if I can get off this island… the alchemist thought, turning his attention back to Eiro.

“You forgot to mention that the armor was created by someone with quite a lot of power, and who has such things as golems under his command.” Kric grunted, scanning the sea for any trace of a boat. But there was nothing, except lots of dark clouds that echoed with the resonance of thunder. To the west, about thirty or forty miles away, a particularly large storm was brewing, the area near it blanketed by the jet black clouds.

That weather is going to make things difficult for me to leave this place. Kric thought, scratching the back of his head.

“So… what do we do now?” Eiro asked.

“We. What is this we? There is no we, there is only you and me. I don’t want to stay with someone who has golems chasing her around.” Kric said flatly. Turning to leave, the alchemist stopped as he heard Eiro sigh.

“Well, at least I won’t have to pay you with whatever you want.”

Rolling his eyes, the alchemist knew that he would gladly do anything if it involved him getting a big cash pay-off. Muttering curses under his breath, Kric turned back round.

“Fine. I’ll help you. But as soon as this thing is over, I want my payment in full, 50,000 salas.” The alchemist grunted, saying the first large number that popped into his head. For a moment the woman hesitated, but after a few moments extended a hand. Using the circle in the sand again, Kric pushed Eiro’s hand to the wet sand, melting the metal away. Using a metallic finger, he quickly cut the tip of Eiro’s index finger, and then his own. Touching the two together, the alchemist looked at the woman’s confused face.

“This is a pact, sealed in our blood, that you will carry out your end of the bargain, and that I will carry out my end.” Kric said silently, removing his finger as the armor formed once more over it.

“Now, we need to find a way off this island.”

Ooc: Yay for blood pacts! I was reading about vampires lately, and I just wanted to put that into a post!

Eiro looked at her gloved hand as she and Kric made their way through the forest. They had decided to stay on the island through the storm, finding a way off of it afterwards. She didn’t really care; she simply stared at her hand.

It hadn’t been the first time in years that she had bled, but it was the first time in a very, very long time that she had physical contact with another person. She didn’t even notice the fact that her finger felt slightly moist from the buildup of blood in her gauntlet.

“What’s that smell?” Kric’s words snapped Eiro out of her thoughts, and the two of them looked around for the source of this ‘smell’. Of course, Eiro couldn’t smell it herself. The armor kept her from smelling anything.

“It smells like… Marijuana?”

The sound of drums suddenly filled the air, bongos to be exact. Eiro and Kric broke into a run towards the smells and sounds. If there were people on the island, maybe that meant there were boats.

For a moment the female warrior’s view was completely obstructed by moist, green foliage. The forest started to lose its density as Kric and Eiro neared their destination, several different shapes and colors beginning to form.

“Hey brothers, take a look at this.” Eiro almost moaned with disbelief when she heard the voice. Neither she nor Kric had entered the clearing yet, but it was obvious now the kind of people who populated the island. Hippies.

When Eiro and Kric burst into the clearing they beheld and amazing site. The clearing was roughly half a mile in diameter, with various buildings inside. An inn, a restaurant, several homes, a small hospital, and an even smaller schoolhouse adorned the bare ground at the center of the forest.

The female bounty hunter started to make her way towards the inn, not caring what Kric did. They’d need a room to stay in during the storm, at least, Kric would. The inn was made of fairly worn oak, with a maple door and plain windows on either side.

Inside the building was a single counter, next to which was a staircase. Standing behind the counter, non-surprisingly smoking a blunt, was a longhaired hippie. He watched Eiro with glazed over eyes as she entered the small building.

“How much for a room for the night?” Eiro asked. She watched as the hippie let a small amount of hazy smoke drift from his mouth, glad that she couldn’t smell it.

“Well, Mr. Scary Dude, no moneys is neededsss,” he said. Eiro noted the fact that he spoke with a slur, lulling his tongue over his yellowed teeth. “We’s is devoted to kindness and respects of all living things mistersss…”

Eiro nodded and backed away very, very slowly. On her way out she accidentally backed into Kric, knocking him down.

“Oh, uhhh…” she said. “Sorry about that, the rooms are free.”

Ooc: Must… resist… urge… to send… Kric… on a… killing… spree… *wrestles with inner hippie hating demon*

Bic:

“Hehe… no problem, it’s not like you meant to do it, unless you could plan with the power of your mind.” Kric giggled. Unfortunately, he, unlike Eiro, could smell all of the smoke in the small town, and it was starting to affect him.

“Are… you okay?” the woman asked uncertainly.

“Never been better! I want to stay here and breathe in the dirty air!” the alchemist replied, and with that, fell flat onto the floor, still giggling as he did. Moaning, Eiro grabbed Kric by his ankles and began dragging him, despite his mumbled protests.

~

Opening the door with her foot, the woman pulled Kric inside, stopping as she neared the bed. Moaning that his head hurt, the alchemist turned to crawl back out the open door, but stopped as Eiro placed a foot firmly on his back.

“Your not going anywhere in your condition, who knows what chaos you would cause with alchemy.” Eiro grumbled, and pulled Kric into the wooden bathroom. Filling the sink with water, she grabbed the alchemist by his head and dunked him into the cold water, instantly making him squirm. Grabbing at anything he could, the man struggled to get loose from Eiro’s superior strength. After a few minutes, she let him go, watching as he gasped for air.

“What the bloody hell do you think you were doing! I was intent to keep my end of the bargain, but you’re trying to kill me!” the alchemist shouted hoarsely.

“Well I wouldn’t have done it if it hadn’t been for your marijuana induced state of mind.” Eiro rebuked coolly. Mumbling curse words under his breath, Kric grabbed a small brown towel from a rack and wiped his face. Throwing the cloth into a small basket, the alchemist stormed out of the room.

The nerve of that woman! Trying to get rid of me in order to keep her salas. Next time she tries anything, I’ll stick Wraith into her stomach. Kric thought. Jumping down three flights of stairs, the alchemist looked at the people crowding in the main hallway.

“What’s going on?” Kric asked the hippie at the counter. In reply, the man pointed at the doors. Looking with a sleeve over his mouth, the alchemist saw that the sky had changed greatly, and was now nearly black, blocking out any light. A wind was blowing, bending trees and knocking over anything that wasn’t nailed down. Shaking his head at the bad weather, the alchemist walked into the door labeled ‘Kitchen’.

“Can I get something to eat?” Kric shouted, his eyes stinging from the amount of smoke in the room. Looking up from under a wooden sink, yet another hippie smoking a blunt, jumped up. Grabbing a plate from next to him, the man walked forward and extended his hand.

“Of course my brother, but all we’ve got are these brownies, and I seriously doubt that they will get rid of the hunger.” The man chuckled, obviously in the state of mind that Kric had been in. Grumbling under his breath, the alchemist looked around for anything else, and spotted what looked like a basket of fresh fruit.

“How about that?” Kric muttered, pointing at the untainted food.

“That stuff? Are you sure? If you really want it, then go ahead, but it doesn’t give you a kick like these brownies!” the hippie laughed, and went back to fixing the sink. Muttering that he needed to get a proper job, Kric grabbed the basket and left.

Eiro sat in the one place nobody wanted to be at the moment, on the roof of the hotel. Her large, heavy form was barely affected by the wind, even going as far as the shelter the area directly to the side of her from the majority of the weather. She sighed as the raindrops plopped against her armor.

“Rize isn’t stupid, he’ll actually go as far as to try and kill Kric…” she thought. The armored woman barely noticed when a potted plant blew over the rooftop and smashed against her shoulder. “I don’t want that to happen, but I don’t want to be stuck in this armor any more…”

“Wow, your armor’s strong enough to keep you from blowing away?” Eiro turned, seeing that Kric was kneeling off to the side with a basket of fruit. Several apples blew off, smashing into windows across the street.

“What’s the fruit for?” the female knight asked. The alchemist walked over to her and sat down, grateful that her armor sheltered him from much of the weather.

“I figured you might want some. It’s either this or brownies, and I don’t exactly trust what they put in those things…” Eiro smiled underneath her armor. It had been a while since anybody had actually cared about her at all, even if it was only going out in a storm to give her fruit.

She turned to look at Kric, taking in his features. Eiro guessed that the alchemist was about nineteen, the exact same age as she was. He was munching on an apple, seeming not to notice the fact that she was staring at him.

“Thank you,” she said, forgetting that he had yelled at her less than twenty minutes earlier. “I can’t eat those though. My armor gets in the way. It has been a while since I’ve tasted anything to tell the truth…”

Kric lazily jotted down a transmutation circle on the roof with one hand, continuing to eat his fruit with the other. In seconds a small circle sat before Eiro, similar to the one that he had used down at the beach. He touched his hand to it, activating a transmutation that sent a spark up Eiro’s armor.

Her helmet dissolved, and her face quickly flashed to a smile. She could feel the rain on her face, yet another thing that she had missed feeling. Kric grabbed a pear and shoved it towards her.

The knight quickly snatched the fruit, wanting to at least take a bite before her armor regenerated. She closed her eyes and uttered a “Mmmm…” of delight as she bit into the pear, tasting the delicious juice. Eiro lulled the bite of fruit around inside her mouth, savoring the taste before swallowing it.

He’d given her so much. Because of him she had felt things that she hadn’t felt in a long time, both physically and emotionally. Because of him she had taken a bite of fruit, tasting something that many people took for granted.

Eiro couldn’t help herself, she didn’t even think about it first. The knight leaned over and gave the alchemist a long kiss. She closed her eyes, emotions that she never thought she'd ever feel flowing through her like a disease.

She had never felt so good in her life. The last time she had kissed a person had been forced, and it had been with somebody she despised. This however, was with somebody she was beginning to think she loved.

When she realized what she was doing however, the female warrior blushed and ran back into the hotel, leaving Kric alone on the roof.

The kiss had come as quite a shock to Kric, and if it hadn’t been for the large sword on his back & his auto-mail, he would have probably been blown off the roof. He was dazed, not noticing the rather large amount of water pooling on his lap. He had not known that Eiro had felt that way about him, the alchemist had simply taken in that they had been partnered together simply because of the circumstances, and that she owed him nothing more than money.

Great, the one girl who decides she likes me is the one who wears armor that can’t be removed. Kric thought, scratching out the alchemic circle with a finger. Sighing, he shook his hair to try and disperse the water. Holding his hand out, Kric let the water build up in it, and began drawing another circle. After a few minutes of making intricate patterns, the alchemist tapped a hand to it, and a red spark jumped up his arm, flowing straight into the water. Instantly, the liquid began to reform, stopping as a perfect replica of Eiro appeared in the palm of his hand.

She would look quite beautiful if it weren’t for that armor.

Sighing again, the alchemist crushed the figure, letting the water drip out of his hand. Leaning back, Kric grabbed an orange from the basket and peeled it with a metal finger. Shoving a slice into his mouth, he looked at his right hand, pulling off the glove to show the prosthetic limb.

How can someone love me with this atrocity attached to me? the alchemist thought between chews. Flexing the auto-mail with disgust, he was suddenly angry at Heon for giving him the contraption, for making him a freak. Punching the roof next to him, Kric yelled in anger. But his anger was rewarded moments later, as the sound of creaking could be heard in the lull of the wind. Shouting a curse as the rotten wood below gave way, the alchemist dropped the orange and grabbed onto anything, his fingers clawing at air. Yelling, Kric landed with a thud in the dusty attic. But before he could move, the wood below him gave way, letting him fall through to the next floor. The process repeated, until at last, Kric was laid on the bottom floor, wood, dust, and the excrement from years of neglect strewn around him.

“Are you okay man?” the man at the counter asked. Spitting blood out of his mouth, Kric rolled over, revealing the various pieces of wood and glass stuck into his back.

“Never better.” The alchemist muttered, and trudged up the stairs. Pulling out the few shards that had stuck into his skin, he looked at the bloodied edges and laughed, dropping them on the stairs.

Pushing the door open with his hand, Kric walked straight past Eiro without looking at her, the lack of blood in his body and the nausea of breathing in the various chemicals trying to shut his body down.

“Um… Kric, about what happened on the roof, I-” Eiro started, but before she could say anything else, the alchemist collapsed onto the bed, blood leaking from his wounds.

Eiro screamed, although with the armor it sounded more like a beast’s roar. She ran over to where Kric lay, taking note of the various puncture wounds and bruises on his back. The warrior grabbed the alchemist and easily hoisted him onto her shoulder.

After making sure he was being securely held and wouldn’t be dropped on her way down, Eiro made her way to the stairs. In her hurry she failed to notice the fact that she was plowing through various people on her way, mostly hippies.

She leapt down the stairs, nearly kicking a longhaired man in the head as she sailed down the incline. Once at the bottom she ran to the counter, Kric’s blood beginning to dribble down the side of her armor. The hippie stared at the alchemist, smoking not one, not two, but three blunts at the same time.

“Hey man, he’s got jellies…” the hippie said, taking a large puff after saying so. Eiro suddenly grabbed the hippie, forcing all three blunts to the back of his mouth.

“If you don’t get some bandages or medical attention, you’ll have jelly coming out of your head!”

All of the hippies in the room, pretty much everybody but Eiro and Kric, stared at the armored behemoth, too high to be frightened by her demonic voice. The hippie behind the counter slowly reached under and grabbed several rolls of bandage material and bottles of bactine.

Without a word Eiro took her hand from his mouth and scooped up the supplies, charging up the stairs once she was sure they wouldn’t fall out on the way. By now the Diamond Alchemist’s blood was starting to soak through the female warrior’s armor, trickling down her side once inside the metal shell.

She ran so fast back to their room that she didn’t even bother opening the door, instead sending the piece of wood sailing across the room. Eiro stopped and gently placed Kric on the bed.

“What the heck happened?” Eiro thought to herself. “Did Rize and his goons show up? Is this that bastard’s way of punishing me?! I won’t let him get away with this…”

The female warrior tore off the lid of one of the bactines, pouring the disinfecting liquid onto Kric’s back. Despite the fact that he was supposedly knocked out, Eiro could still hear a silent moan of pain. She plastered several bandages on his back, taking note of the fact that she seemed good at this.

“After I get rid of this armor I should be a nurse or something,” she thought. “I never liked killing people anyway. Well, I’d make an exception for Rize and, to a lesser extent, Flamel…”

Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt the alchemist begin to stir…

OOC: Sorry for the short post. My spacebar is better, but my thumbs still start to hurt after a little while…

Kric was back in his home town again, the sounds of laughing filled the air. Looking down, the alchemist found that he was dressed in his childhood robes, and that his auto-mail had been replaced with a real limb. He was a child again.

Out of nowhere, his mother appeared, her honey gold hair tied neatly back into a ponytail. She wore the clothes of a wealthy woman, but had the face of an angel.

“You have returned son. But… you cannot stay.”

“Mother, why not? I have fulfilled my duty to the family, I deserve my place among you.”

“You made a promise my son, and any promise an Ureon makes must be kept. Goodbye, for now.” His mother said simply.

The entire scene changed for a moment, and was replaced by a giant chamber, the walls made of white marble. Directly in the middle of the chamber was a giant hand, bigger than a house, the fingers poised as though they were reaching for something. A few meters above the hand, what looked like a star hung in the air, emitting an eerie vermillion glow.

Having read enough on alchemy to know what he was seeing, Kric fell to the floor, muttering words under his breath. He was witnessing the chamber of Sages, where all alchemy was born. The star was the first Philosophers Stone, capable of bypassing the Equivalent Exchange law, thus destroying the circle of alchemy. Getting to his feet, the alchemist walked up too the hand.

If I could take the stone with me, then I would be able to help Eiro… She could once more lead a normal life…

Reaching out, Kric touched the hand, the stone cold to the touch. As soon as he did, something moved, and the alchemist’s hand slide forward, revealing that he had pushed a button. The ground underneath his feet rose, sending Kric up the hand, until he stopped at the palm. Dominating most of the palm was a strange alchemist symbol, which wasn’t circular. Looking up, he could see the fingers better, and saw that on the tip of each, a small orb of red liquid hung. Near the symbol, a small stone tablet rose out of the ground. Grabbing it, the alchemist examined it, finding that it had the major parts of alchemy written on it.

Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's First Law of Equivalent Exchange. However, the Sages have created something that allows a bypassage, it was named the Philosophers Stone. To create such an item, the Equivalent Exchange law must be followed, and human souls must be used to create it. However, for each use of the stone certain number of souls are used up and taken away, lessening the stone's power, and eventually the number of souls deplete fully, and the stone erodes away. However, this is of little problem to us, since souls can be attained from the man called Rize, and so we can make an infinite amount of Philosophers Stones…

As soon as Kric read the part about Rize, he backed away, shocked.

“All power comes from Rize, and so he holds the key to alchemy…” the alchemist muttered. A sudden pain flared in his back, making him scream with agony. Scratching at his back, Kric lost his footing, and fell over the edge of the hand.

Waking with a start, Kric rolled over, nearly falling off the bed. Realizing that he was once again awake, the alchemist noticed that his coat and top had been removed, and that several bandages were wrapped around him. Sat across from him was Eiro, slumped in a chair, sleeping. A faint beam of sunlight had poked its way through the clouds and the room’s window, landing on the woman’s helmet. Glad that fate had brought the two together, Kric rolled over, going back to sleep.

Ooc: okay, its time for the boat to be made, either from alchemy or the old fashioned way. Hope that part about Rize was okay.

OOC: No problem. It adds a bit more to Rize's character.

BIC: “Why do you persist in such a fruitless effort? No mortal has ever killed a god from the dark pantheon…”

Eiro sat in the middle of a bright room, blinded by the light that emanated from the walls and ceiling. Surprisingly, she was no longer wearing her armor. The warrior lifted her left hand in an attempt to block the bright lights.

“Wha-who are you?” she asked. Eiro felt an ominous gaze, as though she were being watched by a being as powerful as Rize himself. The voice ignored the female’s question, instead choosing to let her wake up. It would never understand humans…

~

Eiro woke up suddenly. The Diamond Alchemist was asleep on the bed, his breath coming out in a repeated, yet calm pattern. The warrior slowly walked out the door to get some breakfast for him, being careful not to awake the sleeping alchemist.

Once in the hallway she made her way to the counter. It seemed that the storm from last night had passed, as the air was warm and muggy. She could feel a thin layer of sweat between her skin and the armor, her hair sticking to her back underneath her helmet.

“Is there any food?” Eiro asked. The whole in the ceiling had gone untouched, the majority of the hippies too lazy to make an attempt to fix it. As always the innkeeper stood behind the counter smoking a blunt.

“That weird guy who came with you took all the fruit last night but,” the hippie took a long puff of his blunt before continuing. “I think there might be some dried and salted meat in the back.”

Eiro thanked the man and went into the back room, wondering just how much the innkeeper smoked every day. Just as he had told her, there was a package of salted pork on one of the shelves. She took the package and returned to her and Kric’s room.

Eiro was surprised to find that not only was the alchemist awake, but he was fully dressed and was jotting down various transmutation circles in an attempt to think of one that they could use to make a boat. The female warrior gently placed the package of pork on the bed, sitting down next to Kric.

“Umm… Kric?” Eiro asked. She was curious about something. This particular something had been bothering her for years.

“Yeah?” the alchemist replied, finishing yet another circle.

“Under my armor… how do I look?” She hadn’t seen herself in a mirror without her armor in years. All that she could remember from the time before obtaining the armor was that she had black hair and blue eyes. The rest of her frame had likely changed over the years.

“You’re beautiful,” was Kric’s reply. Despite the fact that he couldn’t see through Eiro’s armor, both of them could tell she was blushing. Yet another thing she thought she’d never be able to do ever again…

The alchemist suddenly stood and turned to Eiro, not even noticing the food that sat next to her. She was so much larger with her armor on. Without her armor she was smaller than he was, and fairly skinny. With her armor she was a lot bigger than him, and wider too.

“We should probably leave the island now. I can make a boat out of several trees using alchemy, then we can go after Rize.” Eiro nodded and stood, leaving the food on the bed.

Several hours and chopped trees later…

Both of them had played their part in making the boat. Eiro had used her armor’s massive strength to tear down several trees, Kric using alchemy to form them into a medium sized fishing boat. The both of them climbed in and set sail for the mainland almost as soon as the boat was made.

Eiro had gone the whole time without mentioning last night, afraid that Kric didn’t have the same feelings for her that she now knew she felt for him. They sailed away from the island wordlessly, unaware that they were being watched…

The structure of the boat had been a very sketchy thing for Kric, since use of transmutation on living things was actually incredibly hard. Supposedly, plants were a step down from a human, which was why the art of plant transmutation was thoroughly practiced, in the hopes that one day a human could be cured of any disease through alchemy.

Letting his hand skim the tips of the waves, Kric kept a hand over his eyes to shield them from the glare of the sun. Even though the structure of the boat was quite narrow, there was still plenty of room for the alchemist to lie down and snooze. Eiro was behind him, fiddling with the plant rope that held the mast in place.

“So, where exactly are we going?” the woman asked, her demonic voice echoing through the waves. Pointing a prosthetic forward, Kric motioned towards the darker landmass from the day before, where most of the clouds had been gathering.

“From that island we came from, that place is about thirty miles away, we should be there by midday, provided that we don’t get caught in another storm or something doesn’t attack us. Hopefully, from there we can find someway to track Rize.”

“Isn’t there anyway for us to get there quicker?”

“Well yeah, all we need to do is drop weight from the ship and we should speed up. Problem is, you’re the heaviest thing on the boat.” Kric chuckled. Moments later, the man felt a metal gauntlet come into contact with his head. Laughing, he rolled over and slammed right into Eiro, knocking her over and making the boat rock wildly. Still laughing the two kept on play fighting, until suddenly there gazes locked. Kric could feel something in the pit of his stomach, and knew it wasn’t going to go away. His face going slightly red, the alchemist got up and straightened his coat out, wincing as he ran a hand over his back.

“I could do with changing your bandages, before any of the wounds turn septic.”

Knowing she was right, Kric disrobed until his torso was revealed, many of the bandages now turning red from the blood. Sitting down with his back to Eiro, he placed himself so she was within an arms reach, and handed her the small medical tin that they had got from the hotel.

“Hold on, you’ll probably be better at doing it without metal covering your hands.” Kric said suddenly. Carving another transmutation circle into the wood of the boat, the alchemist tapped it lightly with a hand, watching as three sparks traveled up her arms and up to her face, uncovering all of them.

“Why did you uncover my face?” Eiro asked, blushing slightly.

“I wanted to see it, why, is that a crime?” the alchemist rebuked coolly. Not saying anything, she set to work on his bandage, throwing the old ones over the side. As she finished, the metal formed over her once more, concealing her body. Pulling his top over his body again, Kric left his overcoat off, the heat making him sweat enough.

“Kric… about last night-” the woman started, suddenly, but stopped as she noticed that he wasn’t listening. The days events had tired the alchemist out, and he had fallen asleep, his hand on Eiro’s leg. Shaking her head, the woman laid down next to him, following his example.

Around midday, the two were awoken as the boat gently collided with the shore. Looking too his left, Kric noticed how close the two were too each other, their eyes connected.

“I love you.” Both said at the same time. Tapping the circle again, the alchemist watched as her face was revealed, and the two wasted no time in locking lips. But before they could enjoy the moment, the other end of the boat exploded, sending the two flying into the air.

Eiro twisted in midair, unsheathing her spears and landing on the shore in a battle stance. She half expected to see Flamel Creed somewhere nearby, seeing as explosives were his department. Instead, she found that two strange beings were floating in the air above the water.

One was red, the other blue. They both had humanoid forms, although their bodies were adorned with spikes. They had the generic bat wings of a demon, and claws to boot. Both of them were glaring at Eiro and Kric.

At the moment Eiro wanted nothing more than to kill both of the demons for interrupting the greatest moment of her life. She felt incredibly good knowing that Kric loved her as well. Eiro turned her head slightly, seeing the alchemist standing in a battle stance with his sword.

“Who the hell are you?” Kric asked the two floating beings. The demons slowly lowered themselves until their feet touched down on the edge of the shore.

“Lord Rize told us to watch you two,” the demons said in unison. Eiro realized with shock that they were ultima demons, something that was incredibly rare nowadays. “He said to kill the alchemist and torture the girl if they escaped.”

The red demon unsheathed a large blade, making his way towards the female warrior. The blue demon began pulsing with magical energy, making his way towards the alchemist. Eiro tightened her grip on her spears, waiting for the red demon to get to her.

“Damn that Rize, I swear that when we get to him I’ll torture him until he undoes my armor. Then I’ll kill him!” the female warrior thought. She lost her patience, charging at the red demon. With her armor she was about the same size as said demon, and likely the same physical strength.

She parried the demon’s initial strike, countering it with a thrust to the chest. Eiro pushed onward with her spear, imbedding it deep into the demon. All the while it roared in agony. Rize had told it not to kill Eiro, so that meant that he couldn’t attempt to strike her with its sword up close.

OOC: Meh, I know it’s a short post. I hate my spacebar…

The demon’s aura was familiar, like something the alchemist knew. Moving his hands, the demon clapped them together several times, causing spikes to rise up out of the ground. Moving backwards, Kric sliced any spikes that jutted out near him, realizing what the aura was.

He’s using alchemy, so typical of the henchmen of the one who created alchemy…

Focusing, Kric tapped his palms together without dropping Wraith, watching as the blade began to transform, the diamond inlay steadily overtaking the entire sword. Swinging it deftly in front of him, the alchemist laughed at the whistling sound emitted from the diamond encrusted weapon.

“If you’re thinking about trying to use alchemy against a man like me, you need to be able to deal with Plant, Rock, Water, and of course, Diamond alchemy, which I doubt such a pathetic alchemist like you could do.” Kric said simply. A worried look crossed the Ultima’s demon’s face for a moment, but then it was replaced with a sneer.

“I am more powerful than you could ever hope to be!”

Smiling inwardly, the alchemist watched as the demon clapped his hands again and again, creating a pit around him. Letting himself fall in, Kric simply tapped the side of the wall with a hand, and a platform rose up, bringing Kric back up to ground level.

“Anything else you want to attempt before I finish this?” the alchemist muttered, slowly walking towards his opponent. The demon had a stressed look on his face, and began clapping his hands together again, making the stones around the man explode. Not fazed by the alchemic feat, he kept walking. Flapping his wings to gain altitude, the creature watched Kric stop. Shaking his head, the alchemist bent down and scratched a transmutation circle into the sand, tapping a hand to it. It glowed blue, and hundreds of tiny blue sparks shot out, traveling straight into the nearby water. Instantly, tendrils of water shot up, grabbing the Ultima demon before it could react, dragging it down into the water, pulling it under. Unfortunately, since Kric didn’t know that demons didn’t need to breathe, the creature eventually broke free after a few moments of struggle. Breaking the surface it screeched in anger, looking for Kric.

“It was told, that when other creatures started using alchemy, humans would be long gone from the planet. Apparently not.” the voice of the alchemist echoed over the waves. Looking around, the demon couldn’t see any sign of his opponent. A sudden pain flared in its stomach, and the creature looked to see Wraith embedded in it, Kric holding the handle. The alchemist had swum directly underneath the creature, and using alchemy, had created a temporary platform for him to stand on. Dropping back into the water once more, Kric withdrew his sword from the dead demon. Swimming to shore once more, he looked around for Eiro, and saw that she was still fighting. Sheathing Wraith once it had returned to normal, the alchemist walked casually up to the two.

“Need a hand?” Kric said casually, examining his nails on one hand. The two locked weapons again, Eiro pushing the demon back with ease.

“No thanks,”

After a few minutes, the fight ended when Eiro stuck her spears directly into the demons face, poking them straight through the other side of its skull. Laughing as the demon fell to the floor, Kric watched as the woman wiped her spears on the dead creature’s wings.

“Now, what were we doing?” Kric asked, a smile reaching from ear to ear on his face.

Ooc: If it there was anything wrong, like if I made the demons too easy to beat, tell me and I’ll edit it. I wonder what Kric wants to do now?

Kric jotted down a circle similar to the one from the motel, making sure that it was large enough for himself and Eiro to stand in. He activated the circle, eagerly watching the female knight. Eiro’s armor dissolved, revealing that she was smiling just as greatly as he was.

He walked up to her, brushing a strand of her black hair from her face. The two embraced and began to kiss, finishing what they had started only moments before. Then they lay down…

~

Rize shut down his crystal ball at this point, remembering how much humans disgusted him. With the Ultima Demons dead, all he had to protect him was five golems. If only he’d paid more attention to that “Alchemy”. People had developed it far better than he had.

“Sir,” piped up a squeaky voice. Rize turned to Jereelon, easily dwarfing the small man. “They can’t get in anyhow, the seal on the door is unbreakable. Your minions may have dwindled, but nothing can get through there.”

Rize sighed and nodded, leaning back on his throne. The dwarf walked off, leaving his master to contemplate on what was going on. The god closed his eyes and began to drift off to sleep…

~

“Stupid man,” Jereelon spoke aloud. He didn’t worry about anybody telling Rize. The golems couldn’t speak, and Rize’s slaves didn’t understand any language save for the ancient language of the gods. “Too blinded in your race for true immortality to realize that your throne is in danger.”

He toddled down a great spiral staircase, nearly tripping several times. The dark god’s castle wasn’t particularly big, it merely seemed that big to the petite Jereelon. He himself was used to the seemingly large size of the castle though.

“I’ll teach you a lesson you won’t soon forget!” Jereelon had by now made it to the entrance to Rize’s castle. One door, nearly ten feet across. No windows, no other doors. The fool wouldn’t escape.

“Ash tomb chradall!” the dwarf whispered, deactivating the seal on the door. Now Eiro and Kric would make it in and kill Rize, leaving the castle and title of “God of Bones” to Jereelon.

“You have taught me a lesson,” Jereelon let out a surprised squeak, spinning around and finding himself face to face with Rize. The dark god’s face was twisted into an angry scowl. “Don’t trust anyone.” With that, the God of Bones snapped his fingers, causing a spike to jut out of the ground and stab the unfortunate dwarf.

Jereelon let out a wail of agony, for good reason too. The spike had pierced through his abdomen, leaving less than an inch on each side. Blood was dribbling out of every opening in the betrayer. He let out one last gasp before dying, wishing that he had simply remained the dark god’s minion.

Rize growled, turning around and returning to his throne. That seal couldn’t be repaired, but he was too proud to leave his castle. No, he’d have his golems waiting for the two nuisances.

Tapping his hand to the circle every few minutes to stop the armor from regenerating, Kric watched Eiro. She had her head resting on the alchemist’s chest, listening intently to his breathing. Kric’s overcoat was covering her bare body, although it was still mildly wet from being thrown into the sea.

“Don’t you think we should continue up the beach, being down here’s a little exposed, figuratively speaking of course.” Kric muttered, stroking the woman’s head with an auto-mail hand. Raising her head to look at him, Eiro looked slightly disappointed, as if she wanted nothing more than to stay there.

“We can’t stay here, we would starve. Well, I would at least.”

“I suppose we should move,” Eiro sighed. Taking his hand from the circle, the two embraced and kissed again before the armor formed over her head. Hanging his coat over his arm, the alchemist led the way up the beach.

“I was wondering, what happened to your arm?” Eiro asked suddenly. The question caught Kric off guard, and he lost his footing in the sand, tripping over. Giggling, the armored behemoth helped him to his feet.

“Well, uh, it was quite a while ago, when I was fourteen. Before I became what I am today, I hated alchemy, and everything connected to it. I was in the middle of killing several alchemists that had wronged my people, and I was discovered. One of them, Rowan, managed to get in a lucky attack, and severed my arm. The group took pity on me, and fixed me with this auto-mail, and then they taught me alchemy. In return, I didn’t kill them.”

“That all happened while you were fourteen?”

“Yep, and here I stand for all to see, an alchemist with a sword on his back and an auto-mail limb as an arm.”

Casting his gaze downward, the alchemist let a stray tear fall from his eye. Feeling something, he looked down to see Eiro holding his right hand. Squeezing her hand through the armor, the two kept on walking.

Ooc: Sorry about the lack of words, I was rushed.