z

Young Writers Society



Code Name S.I.N.H. Chapter 2

by Dynamo


The training session ended with Darc winning seven to two, winning the best five out of eight that Zel declared. He looked forward to eating lunch without paying for it. He dropped off his sword at his room and headed for his first class, his Alchemy class was in room 409.

Darc met up with Zel at the elevator. "So Zel, what's the room number of your Alchemy class?"

"Room 409."

Darc's eyes widened in surprise. "Well, what do you know? We are in the same class."

Zel gasped, "Alright! We can sit together!"

"I don't think so," Darc replied with a laugh.

Zel frowned. "Why not? I thought we were friends."

"Because you turn every Alchemic experiment into a fireworks diplay."

Zel rested his hands behind his head. "Hey, one of the experiments I did didn't explode."

"But it melted the teacher's desk."

"Tch, whatever," Zel said in a grunt as they entered the elevator. He pushed the button for the fourth flor and the doors began to close.

"Wait! Hold the elevator!" Darc put his arm between the closing doors and held them open for a girl. The doors closed behind her when she came in. "Thanks, I didn't want to be late for my first class."

"Don't mention it," Darc said.

She had long, copper hair and was a little taller than Darc's shoulders. She cradled four different books in her arms. She wore small rectangular glasses and was wearing the academy's school uniform, which was odd because most people chose not to. Wearing a school uniform in Hokuten Academy isn't mandatory because most people find it difficult to fight in those clothes, but the uniform is a must for special events such as graduations or dances during school hours. The female uniform is a white dress shirt, a brown jacket and a brown short skirt.

When the elevator began to move Darc noticed that he'd never seen this girl on campus before. "Would you mind if I asked your name?"

She loked at him with a surprised expression, as if she didn't expect him to ask that. "Not at all. My name is Riley Anderson."

It was Darc's turn to be surprised. "So, you're the new girl who was transferred here?"

"Yeah, my old schol was Brownwell Academy."

"Well, it's nice to meet you. My name is Darc Andros-"

Zel pushed past him. "And my name is Zel Rocklin, I'm the toughest guy in the school!" That's Zel for you, always trying to make a good first impression by over exaggerating.

Riley looked around Zel at Darc. "Wait, you're Darc Andros? The Darc Andros??"

"That's me." Darc smiled when he saw Zel's shoulders slump from lack of attention.

Riley gasped, "You were the only person to get a perfect score on the state Alchemy test in 2235, you're my idol!"

Darc smiled and leaned against the elevator wall, he couldn't help but act modest. "That was three years ago, it's not that big of a deal." The state Alchemy test was a test held every five years in mercenary academies all over the country. In order to graduate and start doing real missions for money you had to pass that test.

"It is a big deal. The highest anyone had ever got on that test was 72%! You're the reason why I wanted to get transferred to this school in the first place."

That reminded Darc, students who got transferred to this academy are usually in their twenties. "How old are you?"

"I'm seventeen."

"I thought as much, you're a little short for the people who are usually transferred here." Darc tok another lok at her. "Actually, you're a little short to be a seventeen year old either."

Riley frowned, "I'm exactly 5'7, I'm not short." She seemed pretty touchy about her height. Darc was six-two, much taller than her.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you or anything." The elevator stopped and the doors opened. "Well it's been nice talking to you, Riley."

"Wait," she stopped them before they left, "before you go can you tell me which way room 409 is?"

Surprised, Darc asked, "You've got Alchemy first period?"

"Yeah, can you show me where the classroom is?"

Zel stepped in. "Sure we can, we've got that class too. Isn't that right, Darc?"

"Yeah."

Riley gasped, "Really?" That's great! I-I mean, that's interesting." She seemed excited about being in the same class as Darc but tried to hide it.

"Sure is," Zel replied, "class is always more fun with people you know."

Riley looked at him with a confused look. "Umm... I'm sorry, I forgot your name."

Zel let out a depressed sigh, "It's Zel."

They managed to get to class just before it started. The teacher had set up a seating plan that sorted the students around in alphabetical order. Darc and Riley ended up sitting at the same desk on the right side of the room while Zel sat on the far left. Mr. Ramza was the name of their Alchemist teacher.

"Welcome to Alchemy class everyone. Let's see if anyone remembers anything from before the vacation. Who can tell me why Alchemic reactions can only happen through a transmutation circle?"

Darc looked to his left to see if anyone knew the answer, no one raised his or her hand. Since no one else was going to answer the question he decided he should. He sighed and raised his hand.

"Yes, Ms. Anderson?"

Darc was a little more than surprised to see Riley had her hand up before him. "In order for a reaction to happen the Alchemic energy used to reshape matter has to have a path in which to follow. Which pattern is used depends on what you're transmuting and what you're using it for, that's why there are over thousands of different transmutation patterns that can be used."

"Very good, that's why Alchemy can be a dangerous process if not used correctly. Even the slightest miscalculation can cause Alchemy to blow up in your face," Mr. Ramza looked across the room in Zel's direction, "as Mr. Rocklin has demonstrated to us on countless occaions." Quiet laughter filled the rom.

"Hey, why'r you pickin on me?" Zel asked. The laughter got a little louder.

"Alright, settle down." The laughter died down. "Now, we're going to conduct a little Alchemy." He pressed a button on the small consol on his desk. The desktop transporters on everyone's desks flashed and produced a piece of wood, a small block of lead, a piece of chalk and an Alchemic power source in the form of a sphere. The technological advancement of teleportation, made in 2072, has made everyone's lives much easier. By breaking down an object into molecular proportions and rebuilding it in another location, things can be brought from one place to another in mere fractions of a second. The transporters in the classroom are used to hand out assignments and materials for experiments without anyone having to leave their desks. Even though teleportation has been around for more than a century it's still too dangerous to attempt to use it on a human.

"Now," Mr. Ramza continued, "open your textbooks to page 25 and follow the instructions given to you there, we will be using Alchemy to create a pencil. Have one person draw the transmutation circle and the other use the power source to reconstruct the materials."

Darc took the textbook from one of the desk's drawers and opened it up to page 25. "You want to draw the circle?" he asked Riley.

"Sure." She grabbed the chalk and copied the diagram in the book onto the table.

Darc placed the wood and lead inside the circle when she was finished. He then put the power source on the edge of the circle and held it in place with his left hand; he put his right hand on the edge of the circle.

The circle glowed blue, and then it shot light up to the ceiling like a spotlight. The wood and the lead liquified and merged together within the transmutation circle. When the process was finished, and the light was gone, he had produced ten pencils. Everyone else was only able to produce five pencils and a pile of garbage.

Riley picked up one of the pencils and examined it. "Very good. I expected no less from Darc Andros," She said with a cheery smile.

A small explosion shook the entire classroom. Darc and Riley looked over at the cloud of smoke on the far left side of the room. When it cleared they saw Zel leaning over his transmutation circle with black powder covering his face and shoulders. He had a rather surprised looked on his face.

His partner, who was a girl, yelled at him. "Dammit, Zel! I told you to only use five volts, not fifty! You turned the lead into a bomb!"

"Is he always that clueless when it comes to Alchemy?" Riley whispered.

"Yeah, he's ok when it comes to fighting but Alchemy in not his strong point. He barely passed the state Alchemy exams with 51%"

"Really?"

"Yeah. He had to rebuild a broken glass as part of the test but he drew a transmutation circle used for making fire. He overloaded his power source and took out half of the examination hall. It's a wonder he even passed."

"Wow," was all she could say.

The class ended early because Zel had to be sent to the infirmary.


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17 Reviews


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Thu Sep 28, 2006 2:36 am
Lampshade wrote a review...



Good job Dynamo nice story. I enjoyed this read a lot and have few things to comment about in fact I have only one thing that I think could be better. That thing is the elevators I know this is really picky but why don't you make the elevators rocket powered or something I mean you have holograms, alchemy, sweet swords why not go all the way? Besides that though I thought that this was very good chapter Dynamo!!!




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Tue Sep 19, 2006 9:07 am
Myth says...



I didn't read your post properly Dreamy, so I didn't know what you pointed out. :D




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Mon Sep 18, 2006 7:47 pm
Dream Deep says...



Myth and I are actually twins in disguise. ^_~ XD

So I suppose the word is that you need some proofreading...




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Mon Sep 18, 2006 10:38 am
Myth says...



You have a few typos/spelling mistakes in there that can be found easily. What you have to change, when editing, is to keep your writing in the past tense. There are a few sentences referring to the present and it breaks the flow of reading.




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Fri Sep 15, 2006 7:51 pm
Dream Deep wrote a review...



Just a really quick comment, Dynamo, because I've gotta run shortly: you want to watch your tenses. It's a pretty noticeable problem where it occurs because it disrupts the flow of the narrative. Here, for instance:

She had long, copper hair and was a little taller than Darc's shoulders. She cradled four different books in her arms. She wore small rectangular glasses and was wearing the academy's school uniform, which was odd because most people chose not to. Wearing a school uniform in Hokuten Academy isn't mandatory because most people find it difficult to fight in those clothes, but the uniform is a must for special events such as graduations or dances during school hours. The female uniform is a white dress shirt, a brown jacket and a brown short skirt.


Plus you're going to want to take a look at some of the typos... ^_~ A pretty good read, Dynamo.





Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.
— Corrie Ten Boom