Avatar The Last Airbender, Chapter 1
The mystery girl.
"May I have some water?" I asked the man who had earlier jeered at me for being a little girl. Well, that is he jeered until I showed him what a 'little girl' could do. He flinched and I grinned, my coins clanking softly on the rotting wood.
"Sure, here's your water!" he said, hurriedly sliding the pouch forward.
"Thank you oh kind man." I said, mockingly. "You know old man, where I come from this would be considered a dump." He gulped, and I continued. "Where's a place where there is real food, not this garbage you call dinner." As I said this I flicked a piece of grain of my shirt, a seemingly careless gesture. Before I could make another comment, the man screamed in fright and down back into his house. I whipped around and saw something flying towards the town, fast. Oh no. I thought, and started running away too, as fast as my legs would carry. What is that thing?
Diving behind various fruit crates, I peered over. A small child, with a weird marking on his head sat in the square. Hmm. This ought to get interesting. None of the townsfolk made any move against him, they seemed to be waiting in grim anticipation for what came next.
A wall of blue fire crested over the hill, and I gasped. The boy whipped up his weird staff, and prepared to fight. I won't let him get hurt, I thought. He's too young to fight, and certainly inexperienced. Then the flames stopped, girl appeared through the slight mist the ground make when her fire hit. She was a tall, lanky teen that had a haughty air about her. How cute. Her mount stood next to her, a tall lizard creature that didn't match her glare. It looked almost anxious.
"That beast couldn't take a platypusbear." I murmured. "It would rather flee this fight, as it should."
The boy shouted a challenge, but I wasn't listening. No point, I was preparing for the looming battle. Another Man joined the fight, and the three squared off in the center.
"STOP!" I yelled as loud as my body allowed. The girl turned and laughed.
"Hey Zuzu, that your new pet?" she grinned as the scarred man turned, surprised.
"I am no one's pet." I snarled. "If it's a fight you want, then come at me." I felt my mouth twist into a grin. She roared and turned away from the others, charging me. The dust gathered around and I felt my power. Pure, raw power. But I would not use it, not around those boys, there was something different about them, something that wasn't right.
"RUN!" I shouted at them. They shook their heads and started to run back. The girl began bending at me, but in her rage the moves were sloppy and ill planned. I deflected them easily. But she had had more training than I, so soon she was winning.
Her fire was scorching, and even as I moved around to dodge her attacks, I was only buying my time. I flipped over a crate, twirling through the air and unsheathing my swords. The two katana were my best weapons, able to deflect fire, I was hoping they would help to save my life.
The dust clouded around me, acting as a blinding cover. I got up as quietly as possible and began advancing toward where I thought my enemy was. Curse this dust cloud, I can't even tell where the way out is. I thought, angry at myself for forgetting that I couldn't bend here.
I emerged from the dust cloud and looked around, blinking the daggers of crystal from my eyes. As my vision went back to normal, I heard or rather didn't hear anything. Silence is never good when you're in combat. That means your enemy is close.
I felt her fire before I heard it, the ground was vibrating with the pure force of the blow. I turned, my heels kicking up more dirt. My eyes widened in shock at the sight of the giant wall of flame in front of me.
I held out my blades but they only absorbed part of the blow. The rest sent me flying back into a solid brick wall. Well, what used to be a solid brick wall before I went sailing through it. The pure shock of being thrown into a wall at however many miles an hour dazed me.
Shaking off the shock and pain, I gingerly tested my limbs. As I reached to put my arm down, pain shot up it and a nearly screamed. As it was, I whimpered. My arm was almost numb, and I figured it was broken if not injured in any other way. It would bear no weight, when I touched it to the ground black stars crossed my vision and I felt dizzy.
"Come out little girl." My torturer said in a sing-song voice. "Have a problem?" her cruel laughter at my obvious pain was horrifying.
"I wouldn't expect a monster like you to know." I snorted, mustering up every ounce of courage I had left into that one sentence.
"How dare you insult me!" she shrieked and blasted her way into the rubble I was lying in.
I attempted at rising up to face her, my legs wobbly from injury. My mind was still fuzzy from the hits I'd taken, and I was just plain tired as well. I knew how painfully obvious it was that I was beaten, and she grinned, letting me know that I was finished.
She held her hand out, sparks shooting from it. Beside myself with fear, I made a last, desperate attempt at saving myself. Green fire gathered at my fingertips, creating a ball the size of my fist. I flung the ball at her, and the last of of my strength was spent. My vision blurred, then failed. I had a vague feeling of falling and then nothing more.