'The King of Omashu' – The Prepared Soldiers
"Men, you'll be going off to combat soon. It's important that you'll be prepared for anything."
Suddenly, a mailing crate slammed into the earthen floor and in a BANG! managed to bounce off the ground and in a blur, zoom away. The Earth Kingdom soldiers stood their flabbergasted.
"What on Earth was that?" blurted the Officer Cadet Hachiro. The rest of the men just shook their heads in bewilderment, and the Captain had frozen in astonishment.
"Well, I assume it was one of those things we have to prepare for." Jun said slowly nodding. The rest of the troop stared at him. "What?"
6 months later – the front line defending Earth Kingdom shores
"And it wasn't until King Bumi summoned us up in his chambers to kidnap the Avatar's friends that we realised it was them who smashed in front of us!" Hachiro explained, the little hut was filled with laughter.
"But what were they doing?" asked a snotty 19 year old.
"Well, they had this clever idea to use the mailing system as a giant slide," Snorted Hachiro.
"Ha, who ever thought of that?"
"Probably Aang, knowing him." Muttered a tall, thin looking man, he was called Masahiko.
"Oooohh, and since when did you know the Avatar?"
"Ever since he helped my tribe pass through the Great Divide," Said Masahiko with a smug look.
"What?" suddenly all the bored soldiers were interested and leaning in to hear the impending tale.
"Well, I was part of a refugee tribe," a lot of the soldiers nodded in sympathetically. "And we had to cross the Great Divide. "
"The biggest canyon in the entire world!" butted in a voice from the back.
"Shhhh!" Hissed the audience.
"Bu the Avatar and his friends had already arrived at the Guide's hut," Continued Masahiko.
"Was this before the Blind Bandit joined them?" asked Hachiro.
"Before, yes." He was glad so many people were interested. "Anyway, I had a go at them, not realising who they actually were, I was saying how my tribe needed the guide and that I was reserving a space for them."
"You must have looked pretty stupid."
"Yes, I'm sure I did. But then a rival tribe appeared and I blew my rocker. They nearly took the Guide for themselves but Aang smoothed it all over. You should have seen him. Only twelve years old and already he commanded such respect. Long story short, he resolved all past grievances between our two tribes and helped us safely out of the canyon after the Guide broke his arms."
"Geez, that's some adventure."
"Yeah, it's one I'll never forget."
"The Avatar completely changed your life for the better didn't he?"
"Why do you say that?"
"Well one, he saved your lives in that canyon and two, he helped you sort it out with that other tribe."
"Yes, yes he did. Not only did he change my life, but by spending time with us to help our insignificant problems, he made me realise that no matter how small the problem, fixing it will make the world a better place. Or something like that." The Scout blushed.
"So I'm guessing that's why you joined the army."
"Correct."
"It sounds like the Avatar has so many adventures."
"Yeah, well I hope he hurries up and defeats the Fire Lord."
"Give him a break,, he's only a kid."
"Yeah and he's taught us two lessons today. One that no matter how small the problem is, it'll be better fixed and two..."
"Always be prepared." Chorused the soldiers.
Suddenly they heard a frightened shout from the outside. "Fire Nation ships coming this way men, prepare for battle."
The 4th West Battalion lost to the five navy ships sent to capture coastal coal mines. Only one man survived the fight. His name was Masahiko and was part of the Gan Zhang tribe. He wrote a letter to Avatar Aang, introducing himself and describing the soldiers last night. Even though they were upset at the story, Aang, Katara and Sokka enjoyed reminiscing one of their early adventures. Officer Cadet Hachiro had engraved into his head stone 'Always be prepared'.
