Chapter 1: Fire Child

There we were, traveling the woods of the Earth Nation and heading to the Southern Air Temple to try to find some airbending scrolls. The reason for this was because I hadn't mastered airbending completely. The scroll my father left me only got me a quarter way to mastery. The same went for Hiriko, which made her eager to get there. The reason we went down south was because the Southern Air Temple was the only one that the Fire Nation hadn't been searching the most, which gave us the advantage of getting the airbending scrolls and keeping out of Zuko's sight. We could fly there, but the Fire Nation was all over the place. We take flight and we could get caught in an instant. Had to keep hidden, travel by the shadows. So we traveled by foot, which Yosuke complained about. Nobody was gonna take anybody from the Fire Nation, especially to an abandoned Air Temple. I wanted to avoid Zuko because I knew he was hunting the Avatars, which would meant I would have to face him. My reason for this is because he was one of my oldest friends. Our history together began before I left the Fire Nation, back when I was a child.

It was after my father's burial and I was still coping with it. It really isn't the most uplifting when your own father dies on your birthday. I was so depressed that I didn't want to leave my room or even speak. Every time I would go to sleep, I would always have the same nightmare: my father dragged into darkness and me stuck in a ring of fire unable to help him. My mother, my sisters, Hiriko, and even Kioko tried everything to cheer me up, but I could never crack a smile or even leave my bed. How could I knowing my own father won't be able to see me grow up? My depression seemed endless. Then Prince Ozai asked my mother to bring me to the place where I would spend some time with his two children: his only son, Zuko, and his only daughter, Azula. Zuko was the oldest and would become the heir after his father ascended to Fire Lord. My cousin and Kioko joined to see the palace. I didn't much care so I allowed them to come. Though it didn't really seem that much. I really was still depressed.

With that, it made both Zuko and Azula curious why I was sitting around doing nothing while Hiriko and Kioko played in the garden. My mistake there was ignoring Azula when she constantly questioned me. I then saw Azula's rage and earned a black eye. I was lucky that Zuko managed to stop her before she completely pumbled me. He managed to help me up and apologized for his sister's actions. But I simply told him, without using a word, it was nothing and went back to my spot. Though I was now kinda a bit enlightened for what Zuko had done for me. Though I didn't smile. But then Kioko did one of her juggling acts with fire cakes. It ended after she bumped into Zuko and the cakes landed on top of them. From there, I actually saw it to be amusing. I soon began to snicker and I wasn't the only one who thought it was funny as I looked to a giggling Azula. Then, for the first in months, I laughed. I actually laughed. It wasn't long until we all started laughing. Prince Ozai did have a heart for he now gave me two new friends.

From there, we all became friends and grew up together. With this, I managed to experience many things lie Iroh's siege of Ba Sing Se and his success in breaking through the outer wall. Though, in the siege, Lu Ten, Zuko's cousin, was killed. Iroh soon ended the operation 600 days later. Then, after Fire Lord Azulon passed away at the age of 95, Ozai became the new Fire Lord. Zuko became his heir, but Ozai also banished Ursa, Zuko's mother. Two years later, a war meeting was called and I managed to overhear it from the roof. I was always concerned to what happened to the other nations. One of the generals suggested sacrificing a novice soldier division to lure Earth Kingdom soldiers into a trap. I was sickened he suggested it and I wasn't alone for Zuko protested against it. From there, Ozai then called upon Agni Kai and challenged Zuko. An Agni Kai is a traditional Firebender duel used to resolve conflicts. I learned about it in school. If the fighter loses, they would lose their honor. That was what got me worried. If Zuko lost, he would lose the honor in his family.

Zuko allowed me, Hiriko, and Kioko to attend the duel along with Ty Lee. Ty Lee was a friend of Azula's from the Royal Fire Academy for Girls. She was quite the cheerful and energetic girl, surprising for she came from a noble family. We watched as Zuko got prepared and we were all shocked to see who he was facing. Instead of the general, as we thought, it was Fire Lord Ozai, who actually said Zuko had brought disgrace amongst the family. I knew Zuko wouldn't go against his father, so Zuko pleaded for forgiveness from Ozai without a single attack. I saw the tears in his eyes as he looked at his father. But Ozai didn't like it. After saying "he will learn respect and suffering will be his teacher", Ozai then defeated Zuko by burning him, permanently scarring the left side of his face. I was shocked that Ozai would show such cruelty, especially to his own flesh and blood. After that, he stripped Zuko of his birthright and exiled him like his mother, declaring he could only return after finding the Avatars from which one of them disappeared 100 years ago.

That was a hopeless errand by all accounts, but Zuko took it in hope to regain his honor and everything that he'd lost. Iroh accompanied him to help him. After he left, I then had to suffer that cruel, horrible she-beast sister of his. After six weeks, I then stopped coming to the palace and hanged around in my father's study, my only connection to him left. I always did keep getting lost in those stories. Then one day, after finishing a book, and looking for a new one, became the day my life changed. I was grabbing a book from the top shelf and it was stuck. It was a small one tightly placed with larger ones. It was like trying to pull a cabbage through a small pipe. I did managed to pull it out, along with most of the shelf. I ended up covered in books. While cleaning up, I found a scroll. It might've been on top of those books and was knocked off. When I grabbed it and looked at the casing, I saw the Air Nation symbol on it. When I looked inside it, I saw it had pictographs of airbending techniques. With my father as the Avatar, there was no doubt this was an airbending scroll.

Even though I shouldn't have done it, I practiced. I didn't just do it for fun as pretending to be the Avatar, I also did it to keep my father alive. Even though he wasn't here to do this, I thought I could use this in my line of work. What I used to do before was free slaves in the Fire Nation and helped them get back home. No one knew who I was for I was in disguise. Not as El Dragon, but as a new hero people in the Earth and Water Nation came to know as the Blue Spirit, a warrior wearing a blue mask who appears in the night and helps the innocent. I hadn't transformed in a long time. My days as the Blue Spirit started a year before Zuko left. Nobody knew, not even my own mother. After Zuko left, Azula made things a little harder. At night, I was the Blue Spirit, but Roku Tengen during the day. In just a few days, I got the technique down and was able to use it in my duty as the Blue Spirit. No one knew about the technique practice except for Ty Lee. I never told her I was the Blue Spirit, but I did tell her about the scroll.

She never told anyone else about it, so I could practice with her around. I would use it as I pretended to be the Avatar. I always did lie that bright smile she had. I did it for fun, but it was weeks later that it happened. With one last kick, I airbended Ty Lee right in the face. I was shocked and so was Ty Lee. I was also shocked of what was happening to me. I told my mother what happened and, instead of being shocked like I thought she would, she cried with tears of joy, hugged me, and told me how proud she was of me for learning airbending. When I asked her how I could, she then told me about my father's Avatar lineage and how it was not passed down from one life to the next, but from parent to child. There were no secrets in marriage. Ty Lee was there when it was told so only me, her, and my mother knew about this. From there, I began using airbending as the Blue Spirit and it actually helped me do jailbreaks easier.

Though some of the guards began to become suspicious with the Blue Spirit. Some of the people even began to think that the Blue Spirit was the Avatar. I was soon beginning to worry that the Fire Nation would find me out. After 2 months, I soon saw it too dangerous for me to stay in the Fire Nation. If Azula or Fire Lord Ozai would find out, my family and my friends would be in danger. I couldn't let them get hurt because of me. I then decided to leave. I wrote Ty Lee a message and then began packing all I needed for the journey. My plan was to go out and head for the Southern Air Temple to completely learn airbending, then go to the Earth and Water Nation to learn earthbending and waterbending. This world needed a hero and I was gonna it one. I was gonna master all four elements, stop the Fire Lord, and save the world. My mother even helped me. I did this during the night so no one could know I left. The only person who would know was Ty Lee. After leaving that message in Ty Lee's room, I then began to head toward the wall.

I almost got to it, but Hiriko and Kioko followed me. They asked me where I was going and I told them I was leaving. They asked me if I was leaving the city and I told them I was leaving the nation. When they asked why I told them it was for their own safety from that nation. When they asked why they could be in danger and I told them it would be because of me and I told them to go home. They asked if anyone was going with me and I told them I was going alone. They then asked why I was going alone and I only told them to go home. They didn't stop questioning me. After seven questions, I then airbended them away from me, showing them the reason why. But they didn't go home. Instead they told me they were coming with me. Even though I told them it was too dangerous to be around an Avatar like me, they said they would still go and help me. I wasn't going alone and they would make sure of it. Seeing they made a good point, I allowed them to come with me. They got packed up and we then snuck pass the guards and took a ferry to the Earth Nation.

We began our journey to the Southern Air Temple after getting to shore and nothing was gonna stop us. Along the way, I allowed Hiriko to look at the airbending scroll and she began practicing whenever we made camp. After a while, we then saw her actually airbend right in front of us, showing her as an Airbender. This is what got Hiriko more eager to get to the Air Temple. This was her way to reconnect with her ancestral roots. Along the journey, we ended up bumping into Tadaaki, Yosuke, and Seiichi during their bending practices. They did attack us because we were from the Fire Nation, but I managed to tell them we were on their side and get them to stop. They were quite surprised when they saw me and Hiriko airbend. I told them that Hiriko was an Airbender and I was the Avatar ad they did believe it. I tried to get them to help us, but they weren't willing to help anyone for the Fire Nation. They went their separate ways and we continued on to the Air Temple.

I was a bit disappointed they wouldn't help us. With the way the world was, we were gonna need all the help we could get. Though the call of duty came around as we saw a village being attacked by Fire Nation soldiers. I told the girls to stay back while I handled this. Though I was surprised when they came along and transformed into the two members of the Element Gang, the team I was destined to lead. Hiriko transformed into Torna, the Air elemental, and Kioko transformed into ShockBlade, the Lightning elemental. With this, I allowed them to join me and, after all these years, I decided to transform into El Dragon. When we got there, it was the three of us against a group of soldiers. It was easy at first until they began using Vengestone weapons. They also wore Vengestone armor, s we had to use our bending to knock them out. Vengestone is the only known stone that is stronger than our powers. Though we couldn't through it, it didn't mean we couldn't use our powers to force them back.

In this, we also ran into the other half of our team. Apolloid, the Earth elemental, Icedra, the Ice elemental, and Posidacus, the Water elemental. When they saw us, the six of us instantly teamed up and drove the soldiers out of the village. People rejoiced to see that the Element Gang were back. After making our leave, me and the girls came to see our teammates to be the male benders we bumped into. After revealing ourselves, I then tried to get them to join us on our journey. After seeing how we helped back there and saved those people, Tadaaki and the others agreed to help us to defeat the Fire Lord. Two years later, I went to the Spirit World, met the dragon spirit, and learned of the other Avatar's return. So now you know about me and Zuko. It's the reason I can't fight him. Zuko was the one who taught me to be assertive, he helped me through brick and brim. How can you face a friend who helped you get through life?

I hoped it wouldn't come to it, but it would someday. I don't want to harm him, but if I need to, I will fight him. I just hope we can end this war before it tears our world apart. But I still know that Zuko is still the same guy I made friends with. He has a pure hear of good, I know it. I also hope that one day, we can work together to restore peace to the world. Until then, me and my team will continue on to help me master all four elements and put an end to this war once and for all. My name is Roku Tengen and me and my team will save the world.