Chapter 3 Fire Bending Training Begins Ryan wakes up in the middle of the night to smell of smoke. He quickly runs out of his room to quickly see that half the house is on fire. He wakes every one up and they quickly get out of the house. "What the hell is going on" Ryan says while coughing from the smoke, "i don't know but sis put the fire out" LJ reply's. Amber water bends the fire out and a voice in the distance saying, " Not so fast you thought you could get away so quickly think again prince Ryan your gonna die here" the voice is soon to be revealed as general snake. Ryan and the others get into a fire stance as Haku, Neru and Axle follow the general. "Ryan you lead the general and Axle somewhere where u guys can battle leave the rest to us", "got you LJ". Axle and Neru burn whats rest of the house, Amber reacting water bends the two away from the house while Ryan leads Axle and the general away from the others. LJ and Amber water bead whip lashes at Haku but she counter with fire attacks. LJ uses an earth rock under Haku's feet to lift her in the air and use the rocks to smash her to the ground and right when she gets up covers her hands and feet in rocks "Amber now" Amber unleashes waves of water on Haku almost drowning her. Amber and LJ bump fists 'that's how we do it". Yuki and Mitchel fight Neru as she thrusts rushing fire attacks at them. Yuki jumps in the air and tries to slice her from above but Neru dodges and gets cut from Mitchel's boomerang which flies back to him. Mitchel a throws it again and again until she gets very bloody then Yuki stabs her in the arm so she cant bend "LJ get her now". LJ hits her with a rock sending her flying until Haku catches her in mid-air. LJ knocks both of them out with a rock, the 4 run over to help Ryan with Axle and Snake."Stop don't interfere, don't you dare interfere" they all stop and watch as Ryan battles it out with Axle. Ryan doesn't bend at all while fighting Axle just shrugging off all his attacks, Ryan dodges his fireballs and jumps in the and dropkicks Axle in the face. Axle drops to the floor and gets back up, and Ryan hits him with a barrage of combos and kicks him in the air and blasts him with alot of fire killing Axle instantly. Ryan looks at Snake with a mad look on his face, LJ looks Ryan in the eyes he doesn't see the same Ryan only death and darkness and anger. Ryan uses the fire to dash at Snake at super fast speed and starts to fire bend at Snake, But through his efforts Snake proves to be too strong a foe for Ryan. Ryan fire bends kicks and punches at Snake, but Snake counter using Ryan's momentum to throw him off. Their only choice is to retreat again. LJ brings up an earth dome before Snake can kill Ryan and brings down alot of earth rubble to block Snakes path. The group escape on Mitchel's ship, for the night. The next morning LJ wakes up to see Ryan training, "have you been up all night" LJ asks "Yes... huff huff... have to train... huff huff... and now that i think about you need to be to". LJ trains with Ryan until the others wake up, "You benders and your non stop training why dont you take a breather" says Yuki. "We are training to become stronger shouldn't those with swords do the same" Yuki grabs the blade out and dashes at a coconut and slices it in half, "does it look like i need practice" she put the blade back in its sheath. "Were almost to Ba Sing Se" yells Mitchel, LJ walks over to Mitchel who is steering the ship."Ba Sing Se? why are we going there?" LJ asked,"i have a contact there that Ryan might like to see" Ryan stops to listen to Mitchel. "Who is it" Ryan asks, "Its your cousin Eric" Ryan folds his arms with a scolding look "that show off is coming". "Why dont you like your cousin" Yuki asks. "He's a show off and a jerk that likes to make me look stupid and less superior to him, im the prince and he is a just a fire bending fool" said Ryan, "but then you both can teach me fire bending" LJ said happily jumping around. Ryan notices Amber just starring at the back of the ship and goes over to her. "Are you ok" Amber looks at Ryan with a depressed look on her face,"no that was our parents home, the only thing that reminded me of them and now its gone" Ryan puts his arms around Amber and hugs her. "Everything is gonna be ok trust me after we prevent this war from coming i will have people help rebuild it" Amber smiles as she feels a sense of comfort in Ryan's arms. "We are here the city of Ba Sing Se" Mitchel says, the group loo in amazement of the huge city "That's really Ba Sing Se?" asked LJ "Yes its a beautiful city isn't it" said Yuki. The group heads to backroom poker game to see Ryan's cousin Eric in the middle of a game"Hey little cousin" Eric gets up and hugs Ryan "Your only older then me by 4 months" Ryan says while scolding Eric. "Remember those days when we used to battle when we were younger and you used to beat me yet people never came and congratulated you except for me, but im stronger and more mature now" Ryan says "i would love to fight you" "ok then cousin we shall fight and i have the perfect place to do battle" Eric whispers to the group "i know an under ground arena just follow me". The group follow Eric to a brick wall where he pushes a brick and a door appears with steps leading to a dark room, They follow Eric down the stairs and they enter another room with a platform stage and seats all around it like an arena. "Shall we dance cousin". Ryan and Eric stand on the stage facing each other, the two stare at each other for a while then they both run at each other and attack with a flurry of punches and kicks while fire bending at each other. The two jump back and at the same time fire at each other canceling each other out, Ryan uses the attack to catch Eric by surprise and jump through the flames and kick him in the face. Erin jumps back "maybe i have to use the attack we made when we were younger cousin" Eric moves his hands in the symbol of Ying Yang making fire sparks light over his whole body and moves his hands toward Ryan making a fire dragon come at him. Ryan's eyes widen as the fire hits him. when the fire disappears Ryan is on the ground with half his clothes scorched and laying on the ground with his eyes closed. Amber, LJ, Mitchel, and Yuki all run over to Ryan."Don't worry he isn't dead i didn't use as much fire as i should have i only burned his clothes a little bit and hurt him a little" said Eric, Ryan opens his eyes and gets up "No fair you used the secret technique that we made up when we were kids, we only use that in times of desperate needs or when we just can lose" "Exactly i couldn't lose not to you again i always wanted to be like you i trained for years trying to match you" said Eric. "R...really because i trained to be like you" said Ryan, Eric and Ryan look at each and hug it out "we are family we shouldn't be fighting" said Eric. LJ asked Eric "can you and Ryan teach to fire bend you see im the avatar and to prevent the war that's coming" Eric looks at LJ "The war has already begun yesterday they fire lord met with the leaders of the other nations to declare war, he is gonna use the next summer solstice in 90 days to destroy all the other nations and make it all the fire nation, but there is a way you can stop it you must learn air and fire in 90 days or we all better bow down or die before the fire lord". The group head on to temple far up north of the fire nation main territory to an abandoned monastery to train LJ in fire bending.