The Alchemist's Amnesia

Part two:

It was later that evening that Eugene decided to try to find Varian's new lab. Nothing that was happening here was the kid's fault, and he was expecting Eugene to show up, and be the other half of team awesome. Eugene wasn't sure how he was going to do that. Part of him was still a bit mad at Varian for having tried to destroy Corona, but another part of Eugene felt so bad for him over what Stalyan had done, that he thought he'd have a very hard time making conversation with the kid. But for Varian's sake, Eugene decided that he had to try.

He knocked on a door. It had signs all over it, saying things like "Varian's lab," and "keep out." It wasn't exactly hard for Eugene to find where he was going. He knocked on the door, and took a step back, in case the kid decided he wanted to hug him again. Much to Eugene's surprise, the baron opened the door. "Uh, hi." Eugene said awkwardly. "Do you know where I could find the small child your daughter kidnapped and brainwashed?"

Before the baron could say anything, Varian came running up behind him. Once again, Eugene found himself getting hugged. He didn't remember Varian being this much of a hugger. However, Eugene remembered the exchange from earlier, where Varian mentioned something about a great natural disaster. Had the kid thought Eugene was dead or something? What had Stalyan been telling him?

"Eugene!" Varian exclaimed, and pulled away. "I knew you'd come. I want to give you a tour of my lab. It's so cool!" The kid said excitedly, and practically dragged Eugene inside. For a small fourteen year old boy, Varian could be surprisingly strong when he was excited about science.

Eugene looked around the lab. It was much bigger and better equipped than the makeshift laboratory Varian had set up in his dad's basement. However, from the suspicious stains on some of the walls and the ceiling, Eugene figured that the kid was still blowing stuff up on the regular when he didn't get his formula quite right.

To his surprise, Eugene almost stepped on a partially completed chess game. "Oh, careful." Varian said. "Grandpa and I are in the final match of our championship. It's best 74 out of 75, and I'm about to win."

Eugene stifled a snort of laughter. "Grandpa?" He asked. He couldn't imagine the battle hardened baron letting anybody call him grandpa, let alone play seventy four rounds of chess with him. The whole thing was enough to make Eugene laugh out loud, but he knew he was in a slightly dangerous situation, and had to keep it under control. "Not a word, Rider." The baron said, his withering glare turned to Eugene. "Not a word."

Varian, who had been excitedly rummaging around for something on his work table, pulled out a small green vial. "I've gotten around to making the Flynnolium much less easy to explode." He said with a smile. "If you watch, I can actually make water heat up in less than five minutes now, and the element is pretty stable." Eugene watched as Varian demonstrated. Eugene also noticed a particularly grumpy look from the baron at the mention of the Flynnolium. "What, does grandpa not have an element named after him?" Eugene asked with a smirk. The baron's glare intensified. "I believe I said 'not a word.'"

"Oh, and over here, I'm working on something new." Varian said, and grabbed a small green ball from the shelf. "So, you know how the pink ones make sticky stuff, the yellow ones dissolve things, the blue ones are bath bombs, the other blue ones are smoke bombs, and the purple ones release a toxin that knocks somebody out?" Eugene did not know this, but he'd make a mental note to remember it.

"Well, I was thinking that I didn't have any actual explosive bombs." Varian said. "All my other ones are sort of trick bombs, but I didn't really have one that did what a bomb is supposed to do." Eugene sighed. "Look, kid, I don't think you really need any help blowing things up."

Varian grinned. "Ah, but in some cases, I do. They're green because they're full of Flynnolium, by the way." He said, and Eugene received another dirty look from the baron. Varian grabbed the green explosive, and wound back his throwing arm. "Varian, wait!" Eugene tried, but it was too late. He'd already thrown it. However, nothing blew up. Instead, loud bangs and colorful lights filled the room. "What is that?" Eugene asked, thinking of how much Rapunzel would love the array of colors. Varian smiled. "I call it fireworks."