Knowledge is Power (Clyde)

[Drystan Deverell]

(Takes place after this thread, as its outcome has been worked out by all parties involved.)

It had been nearly 12 horus since Drystan had dragged Clyde's unconscious body away from the damaged shopping district. In that time, Clyde's body had recovered, but the young man had yet to wake up. Drystan himself was just beginning to wake up, having dozed off. It was now about 2:00 AM.

"You need to wake up kid," Drystan said with a yawn, "your Arrancar friend aren't going to disappear while you sleep there...and you need to learn more about your own power before you can make the nightmares go away..."

[Clyde]

Nightmares. Clyde was experiencing one as he laid there unconscious to Drystan. Chains bound his right arm to the ground as Arrancar and hollow alike invaded the whole of karakura lead by the Lord of the Deep, Karzan. The boy desperately attempted to remove his arm from the bindings, to access his power and fight them. No matter how he tried however it seemed he was incapable of using it, like he had forgotten. He could only watch as the town was consumed by the darkness the hollows brought with them, tugging upon the chains, fighting as hard as he could to get a hold of a power he could not understand. His arm glowed violently as he fought to rip it from its chains until he was finally consumed by his own reiatsu.

With a gasp of air the young man sat up in a cold sweat. "What~!?" He stopped himself, getting his bearings straight. "How did I get here...?" He said aloud before it all came back to him. He had fought with Kyoshin, Karzan's second in command. Despite trying his hardest to best the arrancar, he proved too much for him. The boy thought he would be dead by now, but it looked like someone had saved him and brought him here. "Damn..." He cursed himself, checking his wounds seeing that most of them had closed, but he was still fairly exhausted from the battle.

He raised his head slowly at this point, noticing he was not alone. He stared at the man, vaguely recognizing him. He thought for a moment as to how he remembered him, before finally speaking up. "You're the guy Jake sent here...Drostin? Were you the one that got me out of there?" He immediately flubbed the guys name, having only met him once.

[Drystan Deverell]

"It's Drystan," he responded to Clyde with a light smile, "and yes, I got you out of there."

Drystan had been sitting while leaning against a wall, so he straightened up and stretched his arms, and rotated his neck to get out the kinks out of the muscles, before looking at Clyde and beginning to bluntly speak. "I know from Jake that your exceptionally powerful for a Human," Drystan said with a slight shake of his head, "but he also told me you don't quite understand your power either. You can't be going into battle against Arrancar of all things with a power you barely understand."

Standing up, Drystan looked down at Clyde, and smiled again. "I can remedy your lack of understanding if you don't mind a crash course in the history and applications of Alchemy."

[Clyde]

"Thank you, er, Drystan." He bowed his head, quickly correcting his error in a slight moment of embarrassment.

Clyde listened to what Drystan was saying about the human's power. How he did not quite understand it, yet he used it and relied on it so often. When he was finally fighting opponents like Virgil and Kyoshin, he reached a point where his limited knowledge of his power was barely enough to hold his own against them. "...I suppose you're right. Though in my defense I didn't have much of a choice when it came to those fights." He defended himself with a light chuckle, it being more of a joke really.

"I haven't had much direction in how to use my power, I didn't think there was anyone outside myself who could teach me though. I figured every human's power was unique in some way, no two were the same making it nearly impossible to know how they all work. However, if you couldn't help me, Jake wouldn't have sent you here. And right now...Karakura needs all the help it can get." Clyde reasoned, trying to stand himself. Lifting his legs caused quite a bit of strain, however, and he was forced to lean against a nearby wall for support. "So then, what is alchemy, exactly, and how is it related to Hou-renkinjitsu?"

[Drystan Deverell]

"Well for starters, 'Renkinjutsu' is just this country's word for Alchemy," Drystan said with a smile, "and you called your power Hou-Renkinjutsu? Alchemy of the Phoenix...a fitting name from what I've seen of your power. Alright then, a brief History of Alchemy."

Leaning against the wall and making himself comfortable, Drystan took a deep breath before continuing. "Most accounts of its founding come from ancient China," he said with closed eyes, "but the exact details of its origin are unknown. Alchemy at first was very simple. It was one man's search for immortality. He sought to use the potential of humanity to create the perfect substance, and this led him to experiment with what he knew already existed. The practical upshot of this, was that he created a method of altering our environment to our benefit, without causing harm to it. As time passed, and the creator of Alchemy died, presumably having failed in his attempt at immortality, the art of change through transmission of energy had spread across the globe. Unfortunately, there have never been enough Alchemists to replace the advancement of technology with the advancement of Alchemy, but you'd be surprised how many well known scientists and environmentalists are Alchemists..."

Taking a deep breath before continuing, Drystan gathered his thoughts, wanting to make it as concise as possible. "In any case," he started again, "Alchemy is not so much a shared power, but is a simple extension of the powers of spiritually aware Humans. Hypothetically, all Humans with Reiatsu are capable of performing Alchemy, but the process is complicated and few are able to perform a transmutation without a backlash. Alchemy is taking your spirit energy, and expelling it as Reiatsu, but in a considerably more refined way. The Shinigami have their Kido spells, which act in a similar way, but Alchemy, instead of forcing the Reiatsu to take form, takes the particles around the Alchemist, and transforms them to their will...but yours is somewhat different, almost unrefined in a way...the best way would be to show you as you use your power...do you think you're up for it?"

[Clyde]

The young man listened closely to what Drsytan spoke of. The basic functions of alchemy and how it seemed to very closely resemble whatever Clyde utilized. Clyde had never heard of alchemy up until this point, but found it quite fascinating. A lone human had tried to find the key to immortality, which if obtained could have destroyed the balance between human, shinigami and hollow. "Alchemy must be very powerful, then, for it to have such far reaching capabilities." The boy got most of what the alchemist was trying to explain, though some of the locations and terms were a little lost in translation to the other human. He understood the basics of what he was saying, and had to agree that the idea behind alchemy was very similar to his own Hou-renkinjitsu.

There were differences however, something about Clyde's power that made it different from theirs. "Is it possible that...I was one of these alchemists before losing my identity?" He questioned aloud, before quickly stopping that train of thought."Hmm, It's irrelevant right now. ...I can always find out about that later. You want me to show you my ability, I think I have enough strength..." The human resolved before he lowered himself, allowing his hand to come in contact with a piece of the floor. With some strain his reiatsu traveled down his arm and into the floor, making contact with the particles that composed it. His reiatsu then reshaped these particles, allowing the section of the floor to move upward, separating itself from the rest of the floor. He held it in that position, waiting to here from Jake's ally.

[Drystan Deverell]

"Now I have a question," Drystan said as he observed the process, "will the floor maintain that form when you release your hold on it? Like this."

As he spoke, he too would touch the ground, and in a flash of violet colored light, he would imitate what Clyde did, but even when the glow had stopped, the piece of floor would remain upraised, a spike of stone. "Alchemy is the process of changing something," Drystan said as in another flash of light he returned the floor to its original state, "and the most basic change you can make is shape. However, if you don't do it properly, then the change you've set in motion will fall apart, or backlash if too much or too little energy was used. Try it again, but focus on letting that shape remain as you make it. Don't just change the shape of the object, change the object itself."

[Clyde]

The boy lifted his arm from the floor as he said, "It will keep that shape only for a few moments. Then..." His voice drifted off as the reiatsu that he had placed within the object left the floor, causing it to return to its normal shape. The reiatsu circled the boy's arm before seeping through his sleeve and back into his body. "I can change things so long as I remain in contact with them, but it is never permanent."

He looked over at Drsytan as he preformed a similar form of the ability, however as he did it the floor did not become reiatsu like Clyde's had, it simply changed shape into another solid object. The human boy listened to what the man was trying to say, and attempted to copy what he had seen. He formed the floor into a spike of energy, it was not solid however. Like before, the object had literally been broken down to its base components to be manipulated. He was not just infusing his reiatsu, the actual object became reiatsu itself until their connection was removed, allowing it to become much more than a piece of rock or steel. It broke the boundary the solid object held. He tried using his reiatsu to force it into a permanent shape, but the objects form fluctuated as a result and fell apart almost immediately after he had removed his hand.

"When I preform the ability, my objects are not even solid...they're made of pure energy. ...What is the process of making them solid?" He asked carefully, not angry at his failure. What Drystan was saying made sense to him but he was not sure how to mimic it.

[Drystan Deverell]

"It's really simple when you think about it," Drystan said with a smile, "instead of forcing your reiatsu into or on the object, think of it as...worming your reiatsu into the cracks. Everything is made of particles, and those particles are held together by energy, but there are still tiny, invisible spaces between those particles. Alchemist place their own energy, into those space, and use it to shift the position of the energy holding the particles together. The upshot of this, is a permanent, but not quite irreversible change."

Drystan continued to smile. It had been a long time since he had talked at such length about Alchemy. The last time had been 2 years ago, when he and his uncle had been developing Alclistemy. It always felt good to share his knowledge with others, and to gain knowledge from them as well.

"The process is easier for some people," Drystan said after a moment, "some people have a talent for it, and others-like me-have the ability to see the flow of energy we need to change things. Its a bit of an unfair advantage, but there are countless renowned Alchemists who don't have Radharc....the Vision."

[Clyde]

(Music)

"Invincible spaces between particles. Hmm..." he stared back at the section of floor he had manipulated, it was cracked and damaged from his attempt. He stared at it intently. When he preformed his ability, he would literally take control of the object in question. Breaking it down to fit his needs, it was not influence; it was dominance. Perhaps He had been relying on some form of brute force, the objects rejected their form because he hadn't guided them into their shape so much as he completely tore them apart and put it back together however he wanted.

He lowered himself to the floor and stared closely. His eyes glowed with a spark of reiatsu, as if it was beginning to read it. He wanted to see...see the particles that Drystan spoke of. He wanted the sight that the alchemist had that allowed him to guide their shape instead of destroying it. No matter how long he stared at it, however, he did notice anything different. It was not that he was incapable, it was that he did not understand. It was just a piece of floor, what was he not seeing that allowed Drystan to do it so easily? He placed his hand down upon the cracked surface, hesitating slightly.

He tried to hold back his power this time, using as little as he could to slowly seep into it. It was difficult, he was use to simply over powering it. Slowly, a shape of a spike began to move from the floor. It was not made from the boy's energy, it was indeed solid. But he could not maintain it, it was too much strain to hold back his power and the shape cracked and fell apart as his support wavered. "Damn!" He yelled out, rubbing his head with slight frustration. "I guess I've never had much chance to be...delicate with this."

He sat himself down for a moment, resting his weakened body. "...Why are you helping me Drystan?" He questioned rather suddenly, leaning his head against the wall. "I understand Jake sent you here to help me, but why did you follow his suggestion? Just who are you in the grand scheme of things?" he asked curiously as he sighed out a little.

[Drystan Deverell]

Drystan seriously considered Clyde's question. He had never really given thought to why he did anything. Jake had become good friends with Drystan, so Drystan considered this situation a favor for a friend, but this was not the only reason. Drystan was intrigued by Clyde's power. Very few Alchemists had the power to completely force their will upon the objects they transmuted, and never to the degree that Clyde had shown. His interest however, was secondary in his mind.

"I was raised to believe in two principles," Drystan said out of nowhere, "one, is that everything you do, and everything you gain has a price, that something must be taken for something new to happen...the idea of karma, and of equal exchange. The second, is that when you have power, or knowledge, you bear the responsibility of sharing that with others, even if its only in a small way."

Drystan sat down next to Clyde and looked him in the eye.
"Jake is my friend," Drystan said bluntly, "but I would be lying if I said I'm doing this purely as a favor, or just for the sake of being helpful. I'm interested in your power, as an Alchemist. I want to know what makes it work, and what it can do, but more importantly I want to see that the bearer of this power-you-are also capable of bearing the responsibility it entails. 'Alchemist, be thou for the people' is a saying my organization takes to heart. You my friend, whether you like it or not, are an Alchemist of exceptional power. I'm here to make sure you know how to use that power, and to make sure you're aware of its implications."

[Clyde]

The human nodded to what Drsytan had said when he sat next to him. "Be thou for the people, huh?" He let out a small grin through the pain, "I think I've been pretty good with that." He raised his hand and stared at it intently. "If that's really what you want to do, then I will gladly accept any help you could give. The answers I've been looking for finally seem to be right in front of me, it's odd. Here I've wanted them for so long and now that you might be able to help me, I'd rather just learn more about the nature of my power...so I can finally end this war. I guess I'm just starting to figure out what's important to me."

"When you have power, or knowledge...you share it with others..." He boy repeated to himself quietly, thinking about what Drystan had said, he did not expect such a thoughtful answer but was happy to hear it. "Hasaki Ryo would do that for us. All of the power and knowledge I have I have gained thanks to his guidance." he thoughtfully thought of his sensei. "...But now, when we need his guidance the most he has disappeared. Since this invasion has started all of the spiritually aware humans have had no one who can share their knowledge with them. I know wherever he must be it is of great importance but, we needed his guidance now more than ever. On my own I was only able to fight the arrancar for so long...I need to figure out this power." He let out a light sigh, wondering where the shinigami who had taught him so much had gone off to.

[Drystan Deverell]

Drystan was surprised by how eloquently Clyde could speak of his teacher and of himself. Jake's assessment of Clyde had been correct...despite the hardship he had to deal with, Clyde was strong...very few people could be so inspiring in the same situation.

"Memories are not all that make us who we are," Drystan said with a nod, "for even the average human forgets things they'd rather not...its very hard to change a person, even with their memories gone...as for Ryo your teacher...I think you won't be needing him as much as you think. He left his knowledge in good hands."

[Clyde]

The boy was silent after that exchange. The alchemist was wiser than he let on in their first meeting. But what he said about Ryo leaving knowledge in the right hands...did he mean Clyde's hands? Was it possible that Ryo...was able to leave in the first place because he could entrust Karakura to Clyde? The boy had waited patiently for his return, not once thinking that perhaps Ryo didn't need to be there for him to still guide them as he always had, that perhaps there was another way. Things were all starting to make a lot more sense.

The young man positioned himself to be laying on his knee's, staring down upon the floor once more. "...And I need to use that knowledge now." He spoke finally, resting his hand upon the ground once more. He took in a deep breath remembering the basics of control. The first thing Ryo had taught him was control over his reiatsu, so that he could summon up his ability whenever he needed to in a moments notice. What he needed know was that control, it had become such second nature he had nearly forgotten it. Now he would use the basics again.

The flash of light was instantaneous, and from that light a small cylindrical shape rose from the floor. Clyde's power was moving differently this time, it did not enter the object as it had before but circled around it, only lightly touching it. It was no longer bending the shape to its will but...guiding it into a new form. And when the boy lifted his arm, to his surprise, the shape remained. Even as his reiatsu returned to his arm, the section of floor was now different.

[Drystan Deverell]

Drystan smiled as Clyde succeeded in performing his first real transmutation. It was basic for a practiced Alchemist, but for it was rare for people to learn this quickly, even for people with Clyde's potential.

"Jake was right," Drystan said standing up again, "you learn fast. Apparently the same move never works twice on you...anyway, if you keep practicing, you'll eventually be able to turn one element into another by completely rearranging the atoms...but this is good progress. Do you think you'd be able to manage a spar? There won't be any need to go all out, I just think it would be wise for you to practice in a familiar setting. Combat seems to be about the only thing you're familiar enough with for the exercises. Practicing with external stimuli is a good way to make more progress."

[Clyde]

The young man smiled proudly to himself as he saw what he managed to do. "A spar?" He clenched his right hand a few times to see how it was feeling. "I'm still pretty banged up from my fight with Kyoshin. ...But so long as I don't strain my body I think I'll be okay." He reasoned, grabbing hold of the wall with one of his hands to bring himself into a standing position. "Will we train in this room?" He asked as he stretched his arm to work out the kinks in it.

[Drystan Deverell]

"I don't see why not," Drystan said as he surveyed the large warehouse room, "its big enough, and I can always fix whatever we break...plus, there's Shinigami patrolling this area I think, so we should be safe from unwanted attention."

Drystan suddenly began to tap his foot to a beat, and if Clyde cared to look at his head, he would see that Drystan was wearing a pair of dark teal headphones, one of the cups pulls back behind his ear so that he could hear people talking. Drystan would reach into his pocket for a moment, then take the headphones off and place them around his neck with the cups facing up so that the music was audible even to Clyde.

SPOILER: Click to show

"Shall we get started then?"

[Clyde]

"I'm always ready, so yes, let's get this started." The boy lifted his right arm, gathering his reiatsu around it. His body was still injured from his last fight, so he definitely wasn't gonna be at his best in reaction time and speed but his reiatsu had at least restored itself to full. He would just need to focus on his power for this training, which considering that Drystan was teaching him about his power, was probably for the better.

"Music...? Won't that distract you?" He posed his question with a grin towards the alchemist as he raised his hands in an offensive posture moving in to throw a few punches his way, starting this fight slow. He did this one, to not strain his body, and two, to gauge Drystan's own strengths.

[Drystan Deverell]

(Shall we say you're operating at half capacity, or would you prefer less?)

"Not even a little," Drystan said as he somewhat lazily stretched his arms and legs, "its almost like white noise to me...I do some of my best work while inspired by music."

When he was done stretching, Drystan straightened up and smiled. Placing his right arm straight out, parallel to the ground, he released a flash of violet light, as a runic circle began to form of that same colored light. Placing his hand in the center of the circle, he began to gather Reishi, much in the same way Quincy's created their arrows, only materials from the environment also flocked to his hand and began to transform.

"A practiced Alchemist can also transmute spirit particles," Drystan said as the Reishi and materials began to form a golden object in his hand, "and my specially developed Flash Alchemy is designed to maximize Reishi use for combat."

Suddenly the runic circle would disappear, revealing Drystan to be holding an extremely intricate sword, made of what appeared to be gold, but was actually made of a special alloy Drystan had created himself. "Start whenever you like."

SPOILER: Click to show

SPOILER: Click to show

[Clyde]

(Yeah, half sounds good.)

"Alright, as long as it won't distract you I have no problem with it. Clyde moved forward, not wasting any time as Drystan created his sword from his power over alchemy. Clyde got in as close as he could, throwing careful punches towards his opponent and the weapon he used. It was like the young man's but...solid. He wondered how strong it was thanks to this difference. he was aiming more for the blade, covering his hand in his own reiatsu to prevent himself from accidentally harming it.

"It looks like quite a beautiful blade, Drystan, let's see how my weapon matches up to it."After a couple of punches he would bring himself around and throw his hand into the floor, causing a spear of reiatsu to shoot out from the floor at his opponents weapon, and quickly Clyde lifted himself and grabbed hold of it before it could revert. He pulled it from the ground and spun it in his right hand before slashing vertically at Drystan. "So with proper training, could it possible for me to transmute spirit particles as you do?"