She exhaled. The previous inventor had just gone, with what appeared to be a giant, primitive fan. They were next, and she knew what she had to say, how much sand to pour in, the name… She was fine. It was fine.
“Next.” Said the voice that had been insulting and dismissive of all the previous inventions. The boy took a deep breath, flashed her a quick smile, and ducked through the curtains to the stage.
“Behold! The power of alchemy!” Wow, she did not expect it to be that fast. After another breath, she stepped out from behind the curtains as well. “The power of alchemy!” She echoed. “I think we have a real winner here, if I may say. Sand? Good for beaches. But if you have too much and nowhere to put it, this alchemy machine is perfect!” She busied herself pulling her side of the curtains to the side, showing the machine. The boy mirrored her on his side.
“I give you… The Elemental Transmogrifire!” He gestured towards her. “Assistant.”
She picked up the sand bag and slowly poured it into the cannon looking machine, stepping away wearily once she finished. He stepped up to the plate, pulling the lever on the side.
“The rotation causes friction, which heats the sand while the counter centrical force promotes partical compression! The end result?” He was shouting to be heard over the noise of the Elemental Transmogrifire. He shut it off when he finished speaking.
“The end result? 50 pounds of sand turns into… This.” He pulled a piece of purple something out of the cannon.
“I call this new element… Cassandrium.”
A woman gasped. When our girl looked over at the gasper, she saw that she appeared surprised… And was that grey and black hair natural? Yes. Yes. Yes, it was. She knew that. Why was she questioning it? But she blinked and the black haired guard was looking like she had never reacted at all, making the assistant wonder if she had even moved in the first place.
The old man sniffed. “It was a good effort, I will say that. But without any flair, I simply cannot allow myself to give you the first prize. But it was adequate enough to gain a good job from me.” He opened a box and took out a green ribbon. Pinning it to the alchemists chest, he waved at them impatiently. “Get off the stage, children. There’s one more to go.”
She gaped at the idiotic man. As much as she would want to rail into him, she wanted to… To what? Home…? Home. Home! She needed the alchemist to send her home. She walked over to him, ostensibly to help move the Elemental Transmogrifire, but really so that she could remind him of his promise.
But pink smoke exploded from the backstage, the curtains flying back open and a dark skinned woman appeared in a flash of sparkles.
“Everybody at this expo make some noiiiise!”
She shouted to the crowd. “This is the most sensational moment you’ve all been waiting for! But first!” The woman pulled on a cannon rope and the cannon shot out- “I give you chocolate!” Even as she resisted the urge to cover her ears, the girl surprised herself with lightning fast hands catching all the chocolate near them, bending down to grab some too. The alchemist didn’t look very amazed by the chocolate, which was a stark contrast to the judge, who appeared absolutely estatic to receive the candy.
“Jaws, prepare to drop. Larynxs, get ready to scream and eyeballs, how about you take a good look around because after my creation, the world will never look the same!” The woman strutted around like a showman, ending with her ripping the cover off and displaying a table, two rocks and a giant white ball, all of which were covered in garish stringed gems that were eye searingly reflective.
The girl muttered, at the same time as the alchemist, “Looks garish and ugly. Where would you even keep it?” “Looks useless. What does it even do?” The alchemist spoke up at the end, loud enough for the show-scientist to hear him.
“The real question, kid… Is what doesn’t it do? Now have some chocolate and shut up.” She tossed a few in his direction, the girl snaking her hand out to grab one or two of them. The woman walked over to lean against her table, coincidentally prompting the judge to sing her praises. “It’s luster is glorious! I see no need to continue this contest.” He pulled out a blue ribbon and pinned it to her chest. “She is obviously the winner of this year’s science exposition!”
The alchemist’s head drooped, and he slowly walked away, going to sit on the fountain ledge. The chocolate eating assistant ran after him, determined to finally get sent home.
He looked up at her approach. “Oh, yeah. Uh, I’ll get started on sending you-” he broke off as footsteps approached, seeming to be happier until his mood crashed to even lower. She looked back at the footsteps and saw the soldier from before approach.
“You should’ve won.” The soldier said, sitting next to him. She looked at the chocolate girl, who was standing awkwardly. “You even managed to find a new assistant, and she probably did a better job than I would’ve.” The chocolate girl felt aghast. So she was a replacement? This whole mess wouldn’t have happened if she had only stayed! “My name’s Cassandra. What about you?” She appeared to care slightly, so the girl told her. “Kate, huh?” The newly named Cassandra repeated. “How did this kid manage to get you to help him out?”
Kate would have glared at the alchemist, bit she knew from looking in the mirror that all it indicated was that she was constipated. So instead, she chose her words carefully. “Well, it was very sudden. I’d almost say that he summoned me, it happened so fast.” Almost imperceptibility, the boy flinched. “And when he told me his tale, I just couldn’t say no.” Mostly because he wouldn’t send me back otherwise, she mentally added.
“I didn’t know that the kid was such a charmer. Have you been faking your awful social skills?” Cassandra nudged him. “And hey, I think he liked your invention after all. Look over there.
The as of yet unnamed alchemist lifted his head and paled. "Doctor St. Croix! No, don’t!” The boy ran to the man at his machine. “You’re building too much pressure!” The judge slapped him off. “I’m a great scientist, boy, I know how to handle this machine.” Croix pulled the lever. The machine whirrrrled violently, the top exploding off from its base and slamming into a castle wall, then to another wall, before slamming it’s way towards Cassandra, the alchemist, and St. Croix. Cassandra hesitated before tackling the boy, letting Croix get smashed with the rouge Elemental Transmogrifier and get sent flying.
The Transmogrifier itself landed in the invention of the first place winner, instantly getting caught up floating. Kate breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that. They could just grab it out of there, right?
It kept spinning, green lighting crackling from its surface. A windstorm appeared, the sounds of lighting and wind cutting out Kate’s ability to hear the alchemist.
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