Chapter 6: Things Change

It had been a whole three and I was adapting to life in this small town. Every week I would fight and I was still the undefeated champion. Something to be really proud of since I was only fourteen and a half. Esato and Tolleronza were dating and Impavido had calmed down a lot and Resistenza was dating a fourteen year old from the village and he was fifteen. It seemed like everyone was happy but me. Yeah I was the champion and all but it seemed like the more fighting success I got the more my family drifted away from me and not only me. Everyone was drifting away from each other and from their parents. It seemed like now that we weren't struggling we were so relaxed that we were falling apart. Things were changing and I didn't like it. That's why I made my decision to go off on my own and come back after a year or so. When I broke the news my mother cried but I told her I'll be back. She said that was the same thing my father said. And I told her I wasn't my father and that I meant it.

I had been practicing my bending every night with Oro and I was having trouble with water though my strength with fire grew tremendously. I could bend water on every full moon but other than that I was strictly a fire bender. I was also still waiting for this avatar guy to come around because that was taking forever and the voice had seemed to abandon me. I heard a lot of stories of him returning and I knew I couldn't just stay here and wait. When I decided it was time to go it started a chain reaction. Resistenza stayed and became the champ but Oro, Radice and Zoret decided to come with me. Impavido, Esato and Tolleranza were going to leave in a separate group. I said my goodbyes to everyone and me and Esato made a secret promise to both get better and have a rematch since we were always competing. That's was a month ago and now I'm here where the story started. Outside of a motel in a town about two-hundred miles away from the old town we had lived at for three years. It was my birthday and as I told you in the beginning of the story and I'm fifteen. Let me refresh your memory

It was December 22 my favorite day of the year, the day I realized my amazing power and the day I was born. It was the winter solstice, the mark of the beginning of winter and a fire benders least favorite day. Though I was different right now I'm standing here on the winter solstice about to fight a fire bender who has no idea what he has gotten himself into. He stepped into his stance widening his legs and raising his hands. He did have a good stance but he did not know what he was getting himself into. I lowered into my stance raising my right hand high and extending my left hand forward. The fire bender squinted and swallowed through a tight throat with sweat on his head. I could smell his fear of fighting me. He had said I wasn't real, that I was fake that is why I challenged him. He pulled back a fist an inhaled deeply I lowered my stance hands extended all the way ready for anything. Then he punched his breath synchronized with his punches. He punched stepping forward with each blow. I jumped over the first blast then came back down landing in a split and three blast went right over my head then he shot three more to the ground I was on. I hopped up onto my feet still bent down dodging the first blast then flipped into the air and twisted landing right next to him.

He did a sweep and I jumped then kicked straight out. He caught my foot with excellent reaction and threw me back I almost fell and did a back handspring to catch my balance then decided it was time to attack. I threw a swift punch and blue fire shot out at him he barely dodged it and I took the opportunity to catch him while he was off balance. I swept his foot and he fell to the floor on his back. He looked up at me sweating furiously with fear in his eyes. I knew what I had to do I knew what was supposed to happen. But that was the difference between me and a fire bender. I was different. "Are you ok." I asked him giving him a hand to get back up. "What!" He said slapping my hand away. "Finish it, I'll be disgraced if you don't you coward." He said. I drew my hand back and he flinched then I just laughed and walked away. "That was pretty good Argento." Said Radice. "Yeah it was." Said Zoret. I turned around to see a fireball headed for me. I sucked it in and breathed the smoke out. "Pitiful." I spat then walked away.

We walked into town and looked around it was a nice town we walked till we eventually found a vender selling cabbages. "Want some cabbages." He asked. "I don't really like cabbages." I said. "I want one." Said Oro "Yeah I do to." Said Zoret. I got out some money and just then the guy from the Agni Kai shot a fireball at the cabbages. "My Cabbages!" He yelled running off. "Do you really want to make this more than what it is?" I asked. He shot another fireball that I sucked it and breathed smoke out of my nose. Then I started to shoot small fireballs at him with my two fingers. The first to missed setting a shop on fire. Then one hit his arm, then his shoulder, then his ankle then one on the side of his cheek. He fell to the ground clutching his face and I walked up and looked at him. "Go to sleep." I said chopping him in the back of the neck. He passed out and I looked up at the crowd then walked over to the burning shop and sucked the fire up. "Get out of here, we don't like fire benders." Said an old woman. "Were not afraid of you here." Said a man as dozens of earth benders started to surround us.
"Fine We will leave." I said. We walked out of the town escorted by the benders. "At least we got to get through the town instead of having to go back." I said as we left the town.

We walked down a rock path looking at the trees surrounding us. We looked up to see a purple sky and looked pass some of the trees to see the cliff was still very high though we were going downhill and getting lower. "I wonder were we are headed." Said Zoret. "We'll find out when we get there." Said Radice. We walked for about three hours then stopped on the side of the cliff. "I wonder how long this path goes, its not safe to make camp right here we have to keep walking." I said. "Then lets keep going." Said Oro. We walked for another hour and there was a valley filled with hot springs. "Now this is a place to set camp." Said Zoret. "I don't know, it doesn't seem safe." I said "Why?" Asked Zoret taking off his shirt and pants revealing shorts underneath. He got into one of the hot springs and relaxed. "Look at the steam coming up out of the ground." I said "This is a geyser, hot water or lava could erupts anytime." I said. "Well it won't today can we please set camp here?" He asked. "I guess so." I said setting up my sleeping bag.

Oro came over setting her sleeping bag up next to mine. "You know your not going to use that." I said. She laughed "Are you so sure?" She asked smiling. "Yes I'm sure you will come over here to me in a few minutes. You can't resist me." I said "We'll see who can't resist who." She said laying down in her sleeping bag. We looked over to see Zoret and Radice in the hot spring laughing at us. We laid back and looked at the stars. "They look great from right here." I said. "Yeah they do." She said. I got up and slipped into her sleeping bag. "Goodnight." I said. "Goodnight.

I fell asleep and then for the first time in a long time the voice came to me again. "You must get up now. You must defend your family be brave and use your fist not fingers. Use all the power you can!" said the voice. I opened my eyes and looked to see lava running down the hill coming towards us. "Wake up! Pack your stuff!" I yelled everyone looked up. "What's going on?" "Just get ready!" I yelled. The lava was going pretty slow signifying that it was extremely explosive and hot. I made fist and punched and it started to part. Stay behind me I said looking back to see everyone ready. I kept punching and pushing and the lava started to part giving us a path right up the middle. As we stepped on the ground it felt extremely soft and like our feet could fall straight through. I kept pushing and parting the lava to keep my family safe. Then we got to the top to see a small hole where the lava had came from. I pushed it back some more and we walked around clearing a path.

"You were right." Said Zoret. "Its ok. As long as were still around." I said. We looked down the hill to see open road. We set up camp on the hill and went back to sleep. I woke up the next morning at the same time as everyone else and we got up and started walking. "I'm fifteen." I said "My birthday was yesterday, I don't feel much older." I said as I walked down the hill. We started to run and kept running for about thirty minutes then we stopped as we got into a more dense wood. We walked all day set up camp slept and kept walking the next day. This last two whole days then we got out of the woods. We walked down traveling in a place were we had no idea where we were. We ended up lost in another huge forest for three months eating deer and other woods foods. That was the most boring three months of my life. And on top of that I needed to find the avatar before summer and I was already April.

That's when one day we found a huge town we continued to walk into town and look around. When will I find the avatar I thought to myself as I walked through the town with my friends. They still didn't know what my true mission was. They thought I just wanted to move away and advance my life which was somewhat true but not completely. I walked down the street looking for somewhere to eat when I saw a beautiful girl with tan skin and long black hair, a tall tanned boy with black hair, a pale short girl with pretty shaded green eyes and a small boy with a bald head and arrows on his head and arms. He was an air bender and from the rumors that only meant one thing. "Your the avatar." I said. "Yeah nice to meet you I'm Aang." He said smiling. "Nice to meet you too." I said. My eyes got big as I looked at this small boy. "How old are you Aang?" I asked. "I just turned thirteen." He said. I looked in awe this boy that was supposed to complete my destiny was only thirteen. Well I was only fifteen and it was my birthday. I looked to the sky thanking the voice in my mind.

"So what are you doing here?" I asked. "Well I was looking for a fire bending master to teach me but there are no fire benders I can trust." He said. "Oh yeah and this is Katara." He said pointing to the tan girl. "This is Sokka her brother that's other girl is Toph and this is Momo." He said. "Well you know- I was stopped and my mind went blank. "Gain his trust first." said the voice. I smiled I hadn't heard that voice in a long time. "Well I'm sure there is someone you can find and trust." I said. "These are my friends Oro, Radice and Zoret." I said. "Nice to meet you all. Do you know where we can eat." He said. "Yeah I know this great place." I said. "Finally someone who will actually help us out." Said Sokka. I walked towards the left and looked around. "Do you know where your going?" Asked Toph. "Not really how could you tell?" I asked. "I can tell when someone's lying." She said. I swallowed hard. It would be hard for me to hide being a fire bender but I should be able to gain they're trust. I thought.

"That's just great." Said Sokka in a sarcastic voice. We walked down the alleyway and saw a vender standing on the road selling chicken burgers and bacon. I bought everyone chicken burgers and two strips of bacon. "Thank you." Said Katara. "Yeah thank you." Everyone else said. "He doesn't mind he rich." Said Radice. I smiled "I wouldn't say rich but I have a lot from underground fighting. I was the champion for three years." I said. "How old are you?" Toph asked. "Fifteen. I started when I was like eleven and ten months or so." I said. "I was the an earth bending champion when I was twelve." Said Toph. "How old are you now." I asked. "I just turned thirteen last week." She said. "How old are you two." I asked. "I'm fourteen and Sokka just turned sixteen." Said Katara "I'm seventeen." Said Oro. "I'm sixteen." Said Radice "I'm fifteen." Said Zoret. "Well its getting dark we should go set up camp." Said Aang. "Ok well I guess I might see you later." I said. "Where do you sleep?" She asked. "We set up camp too." I said pointing to the massive backpacks we all had.

"Oh well you should set up camp with us." Said Aang. "Ok." I said. We went to the entrance of the town where we had finally found our way out of the woods. I layed down next to Oro looking up at the stars. "Beautiful aren't they." I said. "Yeah." She said putting her head on my shoulder. "Not as beautiful as you though." I said. "Thank you." She said. I kissed her deeply and passionately getting a little tongue. I smiled and laid back and looked at the stars. "I love you." I said. "I love you to." She said. I looked over to see everyone asleep except Aang he was just staring at the stars too. "Your lucky to have such a good relationship." He said. "Thank you, I'm sure you'll find someone and if you already did you just have to find the way to tell them how you feel." I said. "I think I just might do that." He said. Just then a fireball shot at me. I jumped up and before I could suck it in Aang swept it away. "Fire Nation." Said Aang. Everyone woke up. "Wait." I said "This is personal now." "You couldn't just be satisfied with the Agni Kai could you. You had to take it too far." I said. "Agni Kai, what's that?" Said Aang.

"You should have killed me during the Agni Kai." Said the boy who now had a small red line scar on his face from our last fight. "Whats your name?" I asked. "Zuron." He said. Then shot another fireball at me. I sucked it in then breathed smoke out my nose. "He's a fire bender." Said Aang. "I knew we shouldn't have trust him." Said Sokka. "I think he's on our side. I can tell." Said Toph. The smoke cleared and I was right behind him. I put my leg in front of his feet and slammed him face down into the ground then threw him forward. He rolled up and revealed his bloody nose and a few missing teeth. He shot fire at me and I sucked it into my mouth heated it then breathed it back out of my mouth though it was blue this time. He ducked barely dodging it and I shot blue fireballs rapidly at him. He dodged the first two then the first one hit. He flinched and a cry of pain escaped his lips. Then he was hit in the chest, then the leg, then the arm, then one grazed his face. He fell to the floor squirming in pain. "Finish me!" He yelled. "No, I'm not a murderer." I said.

He shot a red fireball right at my face and I dodged and it grazed the side of my neck. I grabbed my neck and felt the scar. He got ready to shoot another and I grabbed his shirt. I picked him up then slammed him into the ground knocking him out. "Were you a fire bending champion?" Asked Aang. "No I was a champion of Martial arts. I'm a Wushu master." I said. "So you can fight really good too. That's great you should teach me fire bending." Said Aang. "Well I don't really know, then again. I remember." I said. "Widen your stance. Wider" I said. "Your not looking." Said Aang. "I said wider. Now breathe deeply and stay in your stance." I said. He sighed "Just like Jeong Jeong." Said Aang. "Well Jeong Jeong is the one who taught me. Along with this weird voice that tells me in my dreams that one day I would teach you fire bending." I said. "This guy really is crazy." Said Sokka. "Just stay there, don't move and keep breathing deeply." I said. "Oro want to go for a walk?" I asked. "Yeah lets go." She said. I held her hand then we walked into town, it was dark but had candles hanging and illuminating the road.

"I'm glad you decided to travel with me." I said. "Why would I ever let you get away from me." She said smiling. We stopped right in the middle of the road the candles illuminating us and kissed once more. "We should go back its been about forty five minutes." I said. "Jeong Jeong made you wait three hours." She said. "I know but he has to learn faster and be better than me." I said. "I don't know if that's possible." She said. I smiled and held her hand as we walked back in twenty minutes. We got there and I looked to see Zuron laying on the floor yet in a different spot. "What happened to him?" Asked Oro. "He woke up." Said Toph smiling. I laughed and looked at Aang. "Now Aang turn around and face the sky." I said. "Its nighttime so this might be somewhat difficult but I learned in the night so take a deep breath in and breath out strongly while punching forward." I said. He did it and a big fireball flew out of his hand. It was pretty average but a start. "Good, now use two fingers instead of your whole fist. You'll be able to go a lot faster and use a lot less energy." I said. Aang used his index and middle finger and shot small, rapid fireballs up at the sky. "Good, very good." I said "Try to make it hotter." I said.

He shot more and they started to darken then he shot and flinched back. "Ouch!" He yelled. "What's wrong?" I asked "I think it got too hot for me to control. Do you know Azula?" Asked Aang. "No who's that?" "Fire Lord Ozais daughter she shoots blue fire too." Said Aang. "Really, I thought I was the only one." I said "Well we've made enough progress so far I think you should rest. Oh yeah and how old is Azula?" I asked. "Fifteen, she's in pursuit of us." They said. "I'll remember that." I said. "They think Aangs dead." Said Katara. "But I saved him." She said. "Well lets get some rest." I said. We all laid down in our sleeping bags and I left mine and laid down with Oro and we all fell asleep in no time. I woke up and looked around, the moon was just starting to set. I got up and looked around breathing in the good air. I walked to the edge of the cliff we were on and breathed in the fresh air. I turned around and walked over to Aang. I gently tapped his shoulder and he opened his eyes. I walked towards the town and he followed. I walked down an alleyway and ran up a wall then jumped onto a flat roof. Then up to a tall flat roof over it. I looked around making sure there were no other buildings or any trees anywhere.

He followed me "Good morning Sifu Argento." He said. "Good morning Avatar Aang." I said and we both laughed
I showed him a simple combination. Two punches shooting huge fireballs, one slash of two fingers sending a wave of thin fire and a roundhouse kick sending fire everywhere. I sat down then he got up and did the same. "Now see how long you can control this fire." I said placing a fire in his hands. "Shouldn't you put a burning leaf or rag in my hand? " He asked. "Your right." I said looking around. I reached into my pockets and took out an unused tissue and set the center on fire while it was in Aangs hands. He held it and kept it from spreading for about two hours then the fire burned out from just sitting there in one spot. "Good now lets go have breakfast I said. I looked down at the long drop and then jumped landing on the ground. "That hurt." I said limping. We over to a place and bought some breakfast then at. That whole week we trained and I knew. The avatar was ready, To defeat Fire Lord Ozai, to complete his destiny and to complete mine.