It was a stormy and frigid winter's day in Republic City, however the city still glinted in the limited light. The rain and clouds were the reason nobody saw the incoming object shoot over the city until it crashed into the earth a few hundred miles away with a massive boom and a huge shockwave that flattened trees and anything else that got in its path. A young lady called Shyla ran out of her house yelling "what the flameo!?" in surprise.
Shyla squinted, saw the shockwave in the distance and jumped on several citizens of Republic City to force them to the floor, yelling at others to get down. By the time the shockwave hit the city it had weakened enough to only knock a few trees over and dislodge a few roof tiles. Shyla earthbent a wall between the shockwave and the citizens, wrapping her arms around a few young children to protect them. Another loud explosion reverberated out, then complete silence returned. The shocked citizens slowly started talking again, about what happened, as the chief of the Republic City Police Department, Lin Beifong, walked up and surveyed the situation, taking note of the enormous plume of smoke and other debris in the distance and the damage to the city. After a few minutes of talking amongst themselves, one of the citizens started suggesting that someone should go and investigate, "I'll go" Shyla announced, Lin, who was also her mother, put her hand on Shyla's shoulder in an attempt to hold her back, the young and headstrong woman pushed her mother's hand off with a glance. "Stay, I don't want you hurt," Lin withdrew her hand and winced in discomfort at the situation.
*
Once she got to the city's port, Shyla clambered aboard a boat that was anchored there and directed the captain to go towards the origin of the fireball, and after Shyla paid him two hundred yuans as an incentive, he agreed to do so, taking her as far as the water allowed him to go. Shyla used her earthbending to enhance her running ability over the remaining distance.
Shyla arrived at the site of the fireball in record time, where she found nothing other than a massive crater. Shyla uttered an awed "woah", amazed at the size of the crater, which would easily encompass the entirety of Republic City, and had it landed on the city, nothing or nobody would've remained.
Suddenly a massive jet of fire erupted from the exact centre of the crater, forcing Shyla to shield herself from the intense heat and light with earthbending. Seconds after the jet of fire abruptly stopped, and a booming unearthly voice echoed over the surrounding area "name yourself!"
Shyla, slightly surprised that anything had survived in the area of the explosion, called out "Shyla," to which something jumped out of the crater in a single leap, summersaulted in mid-air and landed with its back to the young Shyla. Shyla dropped low into a bending stance, ready to react to an attack, when none was forthcoming, she grabbed the stranger.
"Why have you grabbed me?" a curious voice echoed around, followed immediately by a massive build-up of heat
"Shut up, hothead!" Shyla exclaimed before throwing the stranger
"Yea… throw the new girl" the voice echoed again, once again with the mysterious and strangely alien unearthly tone, a tone that subconsciously worried Shyla. The person, whose face was now visible, looked around at the surrounding area, "where the hell am I anyway!?" the young woman exclaimed
"Near Republic City," Shyla growled back
"ahh. Well, I guess anything's possible, I suppose" the mysterious woman replied
"what?" Shyla questioned, confused by the reply
"Ugh" the woman groaned, holding her head, "put that metal down, before someone gets hurt" she muttered, growling, not appreciating the show of hostility
"why?" Shyla grunted, mistrusting of the newcomer
"because FIRE melts METAL," the stranger replied, irritated by Shyla's apparent ignorance of such things. "I don't fight unless I have to" she added in an attempt to cease hostilities.
"Scram!" Shyla shouted before preparing to bend at the newcomer
"Or…?" the stranger asked ominously and maliciously, "How old are you, kid?" she inquired, thinking that however old the other young woman was, she was too young to die today.
"Like it's your business" Shyla replied sassily
"True…" the stranger muttered, she raised her voice a bit "why do you think I'm a threat to you? Is it something to do with the flames? Or the crater?"
"the crater, the shockwave" Shyla replied not entirely sure anymore whether this person was a threat to her and her city or not
"Yes, I do have a bit of a headache from that" the stranger replied, pondering. "maybe you should try landing on your head?"
Shyla was utterly confused by the newcomer's latest reply, "What?" Shyla asked, her confusion completely evident
"shall I help you?" the stranger replied with clear hostility, "it'll be easy, I just carry you to a great height and…" she grinned mischievously "let go," the stranger growled back at Shyla, who had been growling at the stranger when she wasn't talking, "or you could continue trying to threaten someone who has made no aggressive moves towards you"
"you hurt the city!" Shyla exclaimed in annoyance
"What would have happened if I had landed on your city?" the stranger inquired
"Destruction" the one word answer from Shyla was enough.
"Exactly. So, I landed here." The stranger rubbed her head in discomfort, "although, the city may have been a softer landing," she looked directly into Shyla's wide green eyes, to Shyla, it felt as if Derpina's purple gaze was penetrating into her soul. "I have done nothing offensive against you or your people, so drop that metal before you do something stupid." At that, Shyla dropped the piece of metal she was holding in a bending stance. "probably the wisest decision you've ever made!" the stranger smiled slightly at Shyla, before looking around, "we are not alone" she declared.
"What?" Shyla replied, again confused.
"Exactly what I said," the stranger confirmed, "there's others here"
"and…?"
"they are here to capture me"
"who?" Shyla asked, wondering at who could be after someone who didn't even know that Republic City had existed until she told her
"How am I supposed to know?" the stranger grunted in annoyance, irritated by Shyla's assumption that she knew who was after her when she had only just arrived, "were you followed?" she asked
"No!" Shyla yelled, also annoyed
"You were not followed, youngster?"
"Just me" Shyla confirmed
The stranger's head turned in apparent interest, "hmm," as two people jumped out from behind Shyla
"Grab her! She's the best chance we have of getting our friends in jail freed!" the two men grabbed Shyla and jabbed her with something, she fell to the floor growling
"she can't bend now!" another man exclaimed, victoriously before he noticed the stranger, "hey whatever, grab that firebender too!"
"Firebender?" the stranger inquired, "you must have me mixed up with someone else," the stranger turned around and saw Shyla on the floor unconscious due to the drug.
*
The stranger's attitude changed almost instantly, from someone innocent, to someone who looked as if they knew exactly how to defend themselves. "Grrrrr…" the stranger growled, "get the hell away from her!!" the stranger roared before conjuring up blue fire in both hands and using it in a deadly first strike to incinerate one of the attackers instantly. The roar caused Shyla to stir slightly from her drug induced stupor, while Shyla groaned, the other attacker was being incinerated by another precision attack from the mysterious woman. After causing the instantaneous death of both of the attackers, the stranger picked Shyla up and started running as fast as she could towards the city, ignoring the five other men pursuing, although she faltered, slightly surprised, when Shyla gripped her tightly. The stranger smiled slightly "oh, hi, you're awake…"
Shyla, also surprised to be in the arms of the stranger who she had threatened what felt like mere minutes ago, but were in fact hours, exclaimed "yes. What the hell!?"
"I saved you" came the abrupt reply, the stranger was still concentrating on outrunning the pursuers
"how?"
"easy. They couldn't stand the heat" the stranger replied, smiling in amusement
"so corny," Shyla muttered but couldn't stop herself from smiling
"shitty joke I know" the stranger laughed, smiling with Shyla, before returning to seriousness, "Who were they?" she asked
"chiblockers" the weakened woman replied
"uhhh… who?"
"People who block bending" Shyla looked slightly worried
"oh, I'm guessing evil?" when Shyla wasn't forthcoming with an answer, the stranger added "I certainly hope so as I kinda did what I'm supposed to do to bad people"
"well it's not your jurisdiction" Shyla retorted irritated by the vigilante justice that she had just witnessed being handed out
"now I'm here it kinda is" the stranger declared, completely missing out on the fact that Shyla was irritated
"well the police…" Shyla began, only to be interrupted mid-sentence
"I fight evil with fire. It's my purpose," and added, sneering slightly, "or are you going to have me arrested?" she shook her head to try to reduce the feelings of frustration she felt, before continuing "they were a small nuisance, I'm here for something else, it's my duty to return when evil does." She snarled down at the young woman, the anger bubbling to the surface for a moment "I didn't have to save you, I could've let them take you. But that is not my way."
"well evil's gone" Shyla muttered, slightly worried by the anger her mysterious companion showed, even if she had no conscious idea why
"I wouldn't be here if it was"
"Well what do you want?" Shyla asked, yet again confused by the stranger
"nothing yet…" the stranger replied, to Shyla she seemed determined to be surrounded in as much mystery as possible, "where's your city? Should probably get you to safety, they'll be back"
"straight ahead" Shyla muttered bluntly
*
The stranger sped up briefly, before being forced to jump high into the air to avoid an incoming arrow. "damn it!" she exclaimed before spinning around in mid-air, landing facing backwards into running backwards, once she had landed she started throwing fire at her attackers, causing them to scatter
"put me down and let me at 'em!" Shyla growled angrily, reluctantly starting to feel a bond between herself and her mysterious stranger
"you cannot bend" the stranger replied calmly "I'm not risking the life of a youngster." She smirked "besides, you still haven't answered my question, how old are you?"
"youngster! I'm twenty!" Shyla snapped
"Well I'm pretty old. I may not LOOK it but if I was twenty I would be considered a baby"
"how old are you?"
The stranger paused to think for a few seconds, while continuing to run backwards and lob fireballs at any would-be attacker, "I… I'm not sure" she said honestly, "I was reborn in the heart of a hypergiant star, though that was a few months ago… I think"
"so, you're alien?" Shyla whispered
"not exactly"
"well space?"
"again, not exactly. I die when I'm not needed and am reborn when I am… a long time ago I was ordinary…ish"
"ish?" Shyla inquired, the hereditary detective instinct in her trying to find out all she can about the newcomer
"I was more like you, able to control an element, fire, more than normal, but not to the degree I can now"
"how did you get more powerful"
"I… don't know. It happened randomly I guess. I… kinda remember the first time… someone killed someone close to me… a friend and I got so angry I ended up burning a whole forest and three towns down" the stranger looked down, pained, "nobody survived… all my friends, all my family"
"you have no one" Shyla whispered softly
"that was many many years ago…" the stranger said sadly, "it kinda changed me and my abilities"
"how?"
"I grew more powerful. That death caused my rage that burned down an entire forest and so caused all the deaths of everyone I loved." she paused for a minute, the memories burning her mind like the forest burned, "which made me even more angry, my abilities increased and I ran away. Spent years at sea before something that I can't quite remember happened, after that I don't know how it happened but I suddenly knew what I had to do, I went to a nearby town and transferred some of my powers into a few of the children there, then set myself on fire. From then on I was to be reborn in a hypergiant star whenever evil rose and I was to fight it, and was to die again when I was no longer needed"
"I see…"
"What am I?" the stranger inquired
"I don't know" Shyla replied sadly, one of the pursuing attackers got hit by one of the stranger's fireballs, "a firebender" Shyla said, hoping to help the stranger by letting them know at least some of their identity
"I may have been originally… but am I one still?" the stranger asked
"so you are"
"would a firebender be reborn after death?" the stranger asked sceptically, when she got no reply she continued, "your name is Shyla?"
"Yes, why?"
"I am Flame, or Derpina to my friends" the stranger smiled at Shyla before putting her down, "can you walk?" she asked concernedly
"yes" Shyla took a few steps to prove that she could, more to herself than to her mysterious friend, who had an unusual name
Derpina smiled at Shyla managing to walk, "can't be more than a few miles to your city" she stated calmly.
"I know."
The pair walked in silence until they were on the outskirts of the city, "hmm, hothead…" Derpina pondered, "I quite like that"
"what?" Shyla inquired
"what you called me"
"Oh." Shyla laughed
"it's true though" Derpina grinned
"you're pretty temperamental" Shyla agreed
"you should see me when I'm fighting"
"oh?" Shyla hummed, intrigued
"I really am a hothead then" Derpina laughed
"nothing wrong with that" Shyla smiled happily
"just you wait" Derpina muttered, "if anyone asks, I'm Derpina the firebender, not Flame whatever the hell I am…" she looked irritated at not being able to remember her past, "I need to get where I'm going before who I am gets out. If anyone remembers me, that is"
"where's that?"
"that's the problem"
"what?" Shyla muttered, still stymied by her mysterious friend
"I don't know. Everything has changed since I was here. I don't even know where 'here' is"
"you were here?"
"I don't know"
"how"
"I was last alive probably a few hundred years ago. Where are you going, perhaps someone there can help? Know what the hell I'm supposed to do now I'm here"
"I don't know"
"can you tell me what's happened in the past few hundred years. Why don't we find somewhere to sit down and you can tell me?"
"sure" Shyla grunted, looking forward to a sit down after her run in with the chiblockers earlier that day
"and why were those people after you?" Derpina asked, almost as if she could sense what Shyla was thinking
"they hate everyone"
"fair enough" Derpina replied with a shrug "over there!" she exclaimed, having pointed at a gap between buildings
"what about it?" Shyla asked, her question was answered seconds later when an arrow shot out of the gap and nearly struck Derpina. Had Shyla not pulled her to the ground, Derpina would've been hit
More men streamed from several gaps between buildings, Derpina frowned, "let me at 'em, they're probably the same people as before"
"take 'em as a team" Shyla retorted
"they probably have some of that poison stuff" Derpina muttered with worry
"what poison?"
"that stuff that made you unable to bend?" Derpina reminded Shyla
"no, they blocked me" Shyla replied
"huh?"
"they blocked my chi"
"then you're at risk, stay here" Derpina insisted. Derpina ran forward towards the attackers, and was hit in the arm by an arrow, Shyla muttered an expletive as Derpina pulled it out after muttering "ah crap" through gritted teeth
"careful!!" Shyla exclaimed when Derpina pulled the arrow out of her arm, only to look amazed when Derpina threw the arrow and she exclaimed "impressive!" when the arrow penetrated cleanly through an attacker's femoral artery, as he fell to the floor dying with blood spurting out of the wound, Shyla muttered "damn" in surprise and shock
*
Angered by the death of his comrade, one ran out to avenge him, and was only momentarily put off by Derpina's growl of warning, however, he quickly changed direction when Shyla started to chase him, earning a worried "Shyla, no!" from Derpina, who promptly started running after her.
Unfortunately, Shyla either didn't hear the yell of warning or chose to ignore it and another attacker hit her on the head with a shovel of some kind. Shyla was lying on the floor at an awkward angle, her head bleeding, "SHYLA!!!" Derpina yelled in anger and worry before lobbing a fireball powerful enough to blast the attacking man through a thick wall of a house about twenty metres away, disturbing the occupants' lunch. But Derpina had picked Shyla up and ran off before the unfortunate individuals could even get out of their chairs to see what the commotion was, or who had thrown that badly disgruntled man through their wall.
Shyla flopped around groaning in Derpina's arms while she ran. After running for a while, Derpina eventually jumped through an upstairs window of one of the many buildings and quickly deposited Shyla on a bed she had spotted in the room. Derpina, cursing indistinctly under her breath, sat down next to the injured girl and gently placed her hand on her head when a nightmare of things past came to haunt the unfortunate girl, Derpina instinctively caused the nightmare to burn up and be replaced with happier memories and dreams of the future.
*
When Shyla woke up after her most recent injury, the first thing she saw was Derpina cleaning and bandaging her various wounds. Even though Derpina had been up all night to regularly change Shyla's bandages and clean her wounds, she wasn't at all fatigued. "Ow…" Shyla winced.
Shyla's eyes opened and immediately she was blinded by the bright light of a sunny winter morning, spots appeared in front of her eyes when she tried to sit up, only to be restrained by Derpina. "good morning," Derpina smiled, "don't move too much yet" Shyla winced and just about managed to get out "good morning," before she dry heaved into a bucket from her head injury the previous day
"just finishing covering your injuries" Derpina explained, before she stuck the last dressing pad to her side and covered it with bandages. Derpina pointed at the stairs and smiled kindly "I can help you walk, if that's what you want" she shook her head sadly "where do we have to go, Shyla? I've patched your injuries up the best I can"
"away"
Derpina blinked "where to?"
Shyla shrugged and walked slowly out of the room, concealing her discomfort, she looked back over her shoulder "stay here, I'm going to go home and ask my mom to come here and see if she can help. She's a detective, if anyone can find out about your past, it's her"
"otay," the still mysterious Derpina replied.