Author's Note – Am I the only one who finds this weird? My birthday and the Graduation Dance for the 8th graders were on the same day... WHICH ON THE 18TH OF MAY!

I'm actually a teenager now! Yes! Now, would you kindly review as my LATE birthday present? I might forgive you for now showing up at the party. =3

Also, do you notice the song lyrics that I put in on every chapter so far? I recommend you listen to the song while reading. It adds effect. =D

Vulcanblood – Yes.

This is more of a filler chapter, but introduces the narrator of the story. (An OC, although this character is one of my favorites. =3)

"It's a truth that in love and war,

Worlds collide and hearts get broken,

I want to live like I know I'm dying,

Take up my cross, not be afraid

Is it true what they say, that words are weapons?

And if it is, then everybody best stop steppin',

Cause I got ten in my pocket that'll bend ya locket,

I'm tired of all these rockers sayin' 'come with me',

Wait, it's just about to break, it's more than I can take,

Everything's about to change,

I feel it in my veins; it's not going away,

Everything's about to change.

It creeps in like a thief in the night,

Without a sign, without a warning,

But we are ready and prepared to fight,

Raise up your swords, don't be afraid,

Is it true what they say, that words are weapons?

And if it is, then everybody best stop steppin',

Cause I got ten in my pocket that'll bend ya locket,

I'm tired of all these rockers sayin' 'come with me',

Wait, it's just about to break, it's more than I can take,

Everything's about to change,

I feel it in my veins; it's not going away,

Everything's about to change.

This is a warning, like it or not,

I break down, like a record spinning,

Gotta get up,

So back off,

This is a warning, like it or not,

I'm tired of listenin'; I'm warning you, don't try to get up,

There's a war going on inside of me tonight (don't be afraid)

There's a war going on inside of me tonight (don't be afraid)

Wait, it's just about to break, it's more than I can take,

Everything's about to change,

I feel it in my veins; it's not going away,

Everything's about to change,

It's just about to break; it's more than I can take,

Everything's about to change,

I feel it in my veins, its not going away,

Everything's about to change."

- War of Change by Thousand Foot Krutch

Katara as frozen with fear, back pressed against the tile pool wall, and felt her heart stop as the sound of the gunshot rang through the pool and seemed to echo throughout the entire compound. For a few seconds, the world itself almost held its breath as the blood of Admiral Chan fly through the air, for the explosive bullet had imploded his head.

The female Stray began shaking uncontrollably as the headless body collapsed onto its knees, and the soldiers behind it lifted their guns in a menacing manner, fingers pressing against the triggers. The Blind Bandit abruptly jumped off the guard and whipped the now unloaded gun at them, crashing into one guard's eye. He cried out and quickly placed his gloved hand against it, the weight shifting to his trigger hand, causing bullets to fire into the ground, sending dust and pieces of rocks into the air.

The moment before the other soldiers began returning fire, the Blind Bandit turned and spotted her, and its mismatched eyes widened.

Then she squeezed her eyes shut as the sound of gunshots multiplied, reaching an almost deafening state. Instead of bullets, she felt a something, no, someone, collide into her and both of them flew back and smashed into the back wall.

Her breath got knocked out of her as they crashed into the wall. She didn't expect that her head would fly back and smash into the solid wall, pain flooding through her skull. Suddenly, there was dust flying, wilding talking, enraged shouting; hissings, howling, crashing glass, and cries of pain.

The weight of the person shifted and rolled off, and she felt blood stream and touch her bare foot. Using mush effort, she opened her eyes only a little, and saw the Blind Bandit lying in front of her on its stomach. Its head was turned her way, pale green eye closed and crimson eye half open, staring directly into her eyes. It whispered:

"And now...little sheep...the die has been cast...there's no turning back now..."

It's crimson ring rolled back and the eye closed, and the Blind Bandit's breathing relaxed. She stared down at the unconscious body for a few moments, assessing the situation. Then she looked up and felt her heart in her mouth.

Sokka was dressed in a dark blue skintight uniform of some sort, and his face painted grey, white, and black, exactly like a wolf. His shoulder length unruly hair now in what seemed to be a short ponytail. Equipped in his hand was a sharpened steel boomerang and in the other was a grey club.

Surrounding him were countless numbers of other Strays fighting the soldiers with other random items. Overwhelmed, the soldiers tried not to fire their guns to prevent shooting each other and tried blocking attacks with their guns, only for the guns to be knocked out of their hands.

Without warning, the terrifying sounds of sirens fired into the air, and dozens of more guards and soldiers came out from behind the Stray's houses and jumped down from the bathhouse's roof. In their hands were even bigger and more lethal guns, outmatching the Stray's old weapons. The Strays froze in their spots, death staring them in the face.

Before any of the reinforcements could even lift their guns, a computerized roar filled the air, causing everyone to cover their ears. Katara felt all the energy suddenly drain out of her, and her eyelids slowly closed.

The moment before she closed her eyes completely, she saw a flash of fire and heard screams of terror. Ears ringing, she felt the ground shake as a large shadow loomed over her, along with the sound of metal scraping against metal.

She forced her eyes open once more, and what she saw baffled her.

To put it simply, it was a colossal metal dragon. The dragon robot's body was long and serpent-like, with only four steam-hinged piston legs keeping it on the ground. Metal plates overlapped each other and connected the body together, acting as a 'slinky' whenever it moved. Its wings were made of long metal frames connected by clockwork cogs; thin flexible plates of metal attached. Rust and dirt coated the once grey iron into a dull brown color. Some of its metal plating eroded away, revealing gears and clockwork inside with a steel frame acting as a skeleton.

Its swiveling ball-mounted head was delicately carved with every detail, even if it was rusted. Instead of horns, there were venting stacks, causing black smoke to flood the sky. The artificial dragon's eyes were black with a large crimson circle in the center, similar to the Blind Bandit's eye.

Fire spewed out the dragon's mechanized nostril as it turned to the mob of petrified Lion soldiers and Strays, opened its mighty jaws, showing barbed blood-stained rows of steel teeth. In the back of its throat, a small orange light shone out.

Screaming and shouting, the Strays scrambled out of the way while the Lion soldiers whipped out their guns and aimed at the dragon. The soldiers began firing aimlessly at the dragon, only for the bullets to harmlessly fly off the corroded metal.

As expected, the bright light grew into a large beam of light, and suddenly bright orange flames spewed out of the dragon's mouth. Soldiers screamed in pain they were engulfed in the sea of flames and some directly in front got incinerated. The remaining soldiers were out of the fire's range and tried desperately to put out the fires on their comrades without water.

It abruptly stopped its assault by shutting its mouth, and the excess flames and smoke discharged out its nostrils and venting stacks.

With a large screeching sound, the dragon's side scrolled open and five unidentified figures dressed in hard leather leapt out of the dragon's open bowels. The preoccupied soldiers had no time to react as arrows flew through the air, immediately killing some of the soldiers. Another soldier shouted and ran around wildly as a small child rode on his head like a wild animal.

Another warrior easily stabbed through the bulletproof vests of the soldiers, brandishing knives in both hands and holding another with its teeth. One warrior was armed with brass knuckles, dodging bullets with ease and knocking out soldiers with swift punches. The largest warrior towered over the soldiers, smashing two guns in with a simple wooden log.

The last warrior wielded two hook swords, kicking down two soldiers and flinging two more into the air with the swords. He grinned, a lit cigarette sticking out of his teeth. A puff of smoke brushed past his lips as his vigilant brown eyes stared at the stunned soldiers and Strays. A grin crept onto his face and shouted:

"Back-up has arrived, bitches!"

"WHY IN THE NAME OF EVERYTHING HOLY DID YOU BRING THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS WITH YOU!"

A pile of shattered remains of invisible keyboards were gathered up at Hei Bai's feet. The golem had his achromatic eyes glued to the screen. The 3D model rotated, but now its torso and entire left arm was a dark shade of red.

His eyes followed the screen, watching through the dragon's eyes as the Freedom Fighters were on a complete massacre of the Lion soldiers, showing no mercy as they cut the impuissant soldiers down like a lawnmower mowing a wild yard.

"Sorry, sir." Fang apologized, and the camera's view shifted. "But they insisted that they come along, because they were, as they said: 'bored as hell'."

Hei Bai nearly let out a roared out in frustration, but caught himself as he felt his sanity slip.

"Crap..." He groaned, looking down at his mechanized hand and growled as sparks began to fly from the cracks between the metal plates. "Not now...Not now!"

Stage 1 of 2: Beginning to Erase Memory

Current Progress: 0%

"Sir? Sir, what's going on?"

"I'll-I'll be right back Fang, j-just, g-got to get to the-the-augh!"

He doubled over as the device inside him slowly came to life, connecting itself to his hardware. Stumbling off of the pedestal, he held back a scream as it began installing, which to a human felt like an animal trying to claw you out from the inside.

Stage 1 of 2: Installing Program – Fatal Fury

Current Progress: 16%

"No, stop it, STOP IT!" His fists pounded against his overloaded mainframe, mostly located in his head. He sprinted over to the desks, shoving the papers off and hastily searching for something. Opening the drawers, he simply tossed them over his shoulder after searching.

Stage 1 of 2: Installing Program – Fatal Fury

Current Process: 34%

At the fifth desk, he opened the drawer and his eyes widened in recognition. Hei Bai snatched the pill bottle out of the drawer, hands shaking violently.

Stage 1 of 2: Installing Program – Fatal Fury

Current Progress: 67%

Instead of simply twisting open the cap, he smashed the top off with his fist, and gulped down multiple of the bright blue pills. One of the pills fell and dropped onto the littered floor, its emaciated metal casing holding the pill of the ground by just the width of a piece of hair; the pill itself pure black with shimmering green lines flowing across like wires to a computer.

Stage 1 of 2: Installing Program – Fatal Fury

Error loading operating system: Installing Aborted

Hei Bai sighed in relief, "Thank God!"

He stood up and brushed the shards of plastic off of his hands, and turned back to the screen, only for his legs to suddenly feel weak and collapsed onto his knees.

"What-?"

Overheating – Forced System Shutdown

Saving files...

"No, NO!"

His eyes unfocused and blurred while his entire went numb. Fang was saying something, but it was so distorted Bei Bai couldn't decipher it. He hit the floor with a loud 'clang', and the darkness of the room faded into nothingness.

"Sword and Crown are worthless here, I invite everyone to dance. Laborers, Lawyers, Church, and Gown, all make their little prance..."

The Blind Bandit lazily opened its anomalous eyes, all pain replaced by a nagging exhaustion. It felt itself floating in the lifeless air, and its one working eye examined the area and only saw an endless horizon of black nothingness.

"Men and Women, Young and Old, reject my prophet hand. I don't implore them, nor ignore them. I firmly take my stand..."

The automaton suddenly felt gravity return, and suddenly fell feet first onto an invisible ground. It stumbled from the unpredicted pressure, but quickly steadies itself and looked around, trying to find source of the warped voice, only to see the never-ending colorless plain.

"This life is full of random death, and heaps of grief and shame. So few are soothed by 'accident', you want someone to blame..."

The voice was distorted and warped, sounding like many different people talking at once. The Blind Bandit grinned as it recognized the voice as it continued its poem.

"Fire, Plague, or Strange Disease, Drowned, Murdered, or, if you please, a long fall down the basement stairs. None are expected, no one cares."

Out of the corner of the combatant's robotic eye saw a figure in the distant; it was slowly advancing forward.

"I know the steps very well; all must learn my little dance. Families may die and loved ones cry, but no one is left to chance."

It got close enough for the Blind Bandit to see it fully, and it recognized the person immediately. The figure's skin was pure black, barely visible against the surrounding area except for a thin blood red aura. It was bald and had absolutely no face, as if it was an animated mannequin. Although it was faceless, it had a wide eerie grin; all its teeth were as sharp as knives with a split tongue like a snake brushing past the fangs. The figure was the same height as the Blind Bandit, and was wearing no clothes besides a tattered pair of ebony shorts.

"I often must work very hard, sweat running down my skin..."

The individual then vanished into the darkness, and the air plunged into silence. The Blind Bandit then felt a presence behind it, and didn't move as the creature's mouth was right next to the fighter's ear.

"After the dance, I then must rest...and the eating can begin..."

The Blind Bandit chuckled and didn't even turn around as it said, "Hello, Abaddon."

I grinned once more and replied: "Welcome back to your mind, Toph."

Poem: Walrus' Poem ((dot)com/forum/index(dot)php?topic=3577(dot)0;topicseen)

Abaddon*: is an intensive form of the word "destruction," which appears as a place of destruction in the Hebrew Bible.

In a vision in the New Testament Book of Revelation an angel called Abbadon is shown as king of an army of locusts, where his name is first transcribed in Greek as "whose name in Hebrew Abaddon" (Ἀβαδδὼν), then translated as "which in Greek means the Destroyer" (Apollyon, Ἀπολλύων). The Latin Vulgate, and following it the Douay Rheims Bible, has an additional note, not present in the Greek text "in Latin Exterminans," exterminans being the Latin for "destroyer."

*Note - This is not his real name, but just Toph's nickname for him.