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BOOK ONE : ACCEPTANCE
Chapter Seven - The Avatar and the Airbender
Air. Water. Earth. Fire. Only the Avatar can master all four elements and bring peace and balance to the world.
Kazu furrowed his eyebrows as his amber eyes concentrated on the figure of Kenji who stood twelve feet away from him. Both of them were standing in airbending stances, their feet lightly skimming the floor as they moved around the sparring ring in gradual circles. It had been over five months since Kazu first began airbending and he was now ready to have his first official sparring session.
The wind howled calmly around them as the two of them focused on each other, not making any brash movements. Most of the other airbenders had gathered around to watch the sparring session, with Shenji even beginning a betting competition, unbeknownst to the elders. Temujin was also in attendance,standing a few feet away from the sparring ring, stroking his pointy chin beard, overseeing the duel. Kenji wore an easily distinguishable smirk on his face as he looked at his sparring partner.
Then, with a flourish, the airbender spun on his heel and sliced his palm horizontally through the air, shooting out an air whip that advanced towards Kazu .In response, the teenaged Avatar swirled his arms around and shifted his footing, allowing the air current to pass directly over him as he bent over backwards. Straightening back up, Kazu punched out twice in front of him with each fist, shooting out strong air blasts that accelerated towards Kenji, who had to summersault over sideways to avoid it.
But Kazu wasn't one to give his opponent any breathing space. It was a firebender instinct. He lurched forward and spun on his heel, kicking out a wind swipe from his free leg, aimed at Kenji.
Just then, he heard Temujin call out his name and he instantly shifted his focus.
"Kazuhiko.", the bald air master remarked in a collected voice.
"Yeah?", Kazu responded and he instantly left himself vulnerable to Kenji, who leapt up before bringing the air current under his control and redirected it back towards Kazu, who stood unprepared for such an attack, and was left to throw his arms up in protection as he took the full blast of the wind attack.
Flying off his feet and landing on his back a few feet away, Kazu groaned as he looked up at Kenji with an irritated expression. His roommate grinned down at him, bobbing and weaving on his feet.
"That wasn't fair!You distracted me!", Kazu complained, throwing his arms up in frustration as he looked towards Temujin, who raised an eyebrow at him.
"Focus on what you're doing. There are many distractions in the world. Learn to block them out.", Temujin answered in a cool voice .
"But.. But he used my own attack against me! I don't know how to counter that!", Kazu pressed his point,only to have Temujin give him a blank expression. Kenji , however, was feeling a different set of emotions at the moment.
"I can't believe I get to spar with the Avatar!", Kenji remarked in an exhilarated manner as Kazu got to his feet.
"I've got a name besides 'the avatar', ya know?", Kazu called back as he summersaulted onto his hands, planting his palms firmly on the ground before he swung his legs forward as one unit, shooting out a wind blast from his heels before flipping back upright.
Kenji flipped sideways over the wind blast and shot a powerful air current from his palm that rocketed towards Kazu, and he narrowly managed to avoid it. But once he thought he was clear, he found himself right in the crossfire of another attack from Kenji and before Kazu could react, the air current caught him and sent him spinning backwards in a horizontal manner before he landed painfully on his back.
"ooh. That's gotta hurt.", Kiara remarked with a slightly amused expression as she and Ryoshi stood among the crowd of onlookers, watching the airbending match.
As Kazu opened his eyes, groaning, he found Temujin giving him a blank expression as the bald air master looked down at him.
"Tell me what you did wrong.", Temujin spoke as Kazu got to his feet, rubbing the small of his back.
"Well..I dunno. I guess I was just thinking that he was gonna-", Kazu began trying explain his thoughts before Temujin rudely cut across him again.
"Exactly! You were thinking ! You need to focus and feel the energy behind the air, not just the physical breeze itself. And stop trying to fight him like a firebender. Go again!", Temujin scolded Kazu as he ushered him back into the ring.
Kenji sent an air funnel in Kazu's direction and the strong wind currents seemingly spun the avatar off his feet, sending him plummeting back to the ground . But Kazu managed to shoot out a wind blast from his knuckles, aimed at the ground, cushioning his fall. He rolled forward and glared up at Kenji, who gave Kazu a sly wink, bobbing on his toes.
"Come on, Avatar. Show me whatcha got.", he stated coolly, beckoning Kazu to make the move. Kazu responded by punching out an air blast in frustration, which Kenji managed to weave around.
The airbender then shot out two air whips at Kazu,which the avatar deftly dodged before leaping up and shooting out an air punch at Kenji and as the airbender ducked downwards as predicted, Kazu lurched forward, bent low on his knees and swept his outstretched leg over the floor, drawing a semi circle as he kicked out an air whip from his heel and the wind currents caught Kenji off guard and blasted him off his feet.
Thinking he had won the sparring session, Kazu punched the air victoriously .
"Woohoo! Looks like there's a new airbending champion!", the avatar proclaimed proudly . But his joy was short-lived as Kenji leapt up to his feet and sent an air swipe at Kazu, that caught the unsuspecting teenager head on and sent him flying off his feet and over the edge of the ring.
As Kazu lay there groaning, Temujin walked up to Kazu and pursed his lips .
"I see I was wrong. You still have a long way to go in terms of your skill and concepts. One of your major flaws is that your fight more like a firebender and less like an airbender .", the bald air master remarked as Kazu got to his feet, rubbing the side of his head.
"What the heck was that?" Kazu chided, throwing his arms up," I beat Kenji and he just straight up blasted me out of the ring. ".
" I don't think you understood the rules, Kazu. ", Ryoshi's voice spoke up and they turned to see him and Kiara walking up to their side as the onlooking crowd began to disperse.
"You have to force your opponent over the ring boundary. That's when you win . Your defeat today had nothing to do with Kenji tricking you. It was your lack of attention that betrayed you in the course of your duel.", Temujin reprimanded him as he rolled his eyes ever so subtly.
"Airbending is not about superior strength and physicality. The mobility and skill of the user is what determines their victory. ", Temujin clarified.
"He mean ducking and running?", Kiara whispered pompously to which Ryoshi flashed her a warning glare. Thankfully, Temujin didn't appear to have heard her snide remark.
"We will continue your training later. It's almost dinner time. ", he added before he turned and left the three of them alone, with Kazu trying to press his point to Ryoshi and Kiara that he technically beat Kenji.
Half an hour later, the three of them were seated along with some of Kazu's dormmates on one of the long wooden tables that were laid out in the slightly crowded dining hall of the temple.
Today was one of the birthdays of one of the most celebrated air masters to have ever lived,Guru Tilak. Although the man himself lived almost eight-thousand years ago, his birthday was celebrated to this day among those of the air nation.
The air acolyte dining hall was filled today with many of the airbenders feasting on the kale seaweed wraps and the ginger infused aloe meals that sat on steaming plates in front of them. Temujin and the other air masters sat on the most ornately decorated dining table in the hall, complete with intricate carvings etched into it. The piece of furniture was placed on a podium that stood two feet above the floor and it was placed in a way so that the people dining on it was facing the hall at large.
Temujin sat in the middle of the table and for the most part of the feast,he was conversing with an unfamiliar man wearing a blue cloak that was buttoned upto his throat , draping over his shoulders, down to the floor . He had a gaunt expression on his face as he chatted with the air master and his long hair was braided into circlets that helped keep the tresses neatly . He was easily recognizable as of water tribe decent and the man and Temujin seemed to be have a serious discussion about something.
"Who's that guy supposed to be?", Kazu inquired to Ryoshi, finally giving in to the curiosity that was bugging his mind.
"Who?", Ryoshi remarked, evidently caught up in stuffing his mouth with the kale wraps.
"That guy sitting next to Temujin.", Kazu repeated, nodding towards the man in discussion.
"Oh.", Ryoshi remarked, swallowing the food in his mouth. "That's Minister Kuon of the southern water tribe. He tends to come here from time to time. He must be here to set up a meeting between Temujin and the chief of the Southern tribe. ".
"He kinda looks weird with his ponytails, don't ya think?", Kiara chuckled and Kazu shrugged with a grin as he proceeded to munch on his food .
After a few more minutes of feasting, Temujin stood up and sent a calm, yet assertive gust of collected winds through the room, over the wind chimes that hung from the ceiling and the hall instantly dimmed in noise upon hearing the sound of the wind chimes blowing .Kazu was one of the last ones to quiet done, controlling his laughter at a joke Kenji had just said.
Temujin took in a deep breath before smiling down at the entire hall.
"We are greatful for this delicious food, for our happiness ,for our passion and for our loved ones.", the air master stated in prayer as the others watched intently from their seats.
"Another wonderful day has come and gone and no harm has befallen us. For this, we are thankful. ", he continued ."The air masters and I will be attending the initiation ceremony of the new matriarch of the metal clan in Zaofu and we will be gone for a few days. ".
A soft murmuring hissed through the hall as the airbenders and acolytes began exchanging thoughts on the new matriarch, whoever she was. Kazu wondered if Bolin still lived in Zaofu. Kazu hadn't officially met old man, who was the only lavabender in the world, but he had heard that he was probably a lot less grumpier than his older brother, whom Kazu had the misfortune of meeting.
"No one is to disobey protocol until I return, we are not yet fully certain that the threat posed by Ta-lin has truly vanished.", Temujin was saying before one of the air masters hurried over and whispered something indiscreetly before taking his seat again.
" As master Naan has just reminded me, the fourth orfice of the temple pagoda is still forbidden for the acolytes. Anyone caught tresspassing will have to answer to me.",Temujin finished his speech before sitting back down, amid curious whispers that rang out through the hall.
"What's on the fourth orfice?", Kiara piped up, a little curious.
"Maybe a three headed air bison?", Kazu suggested sarcastically before she gave him a bland face.
"Whatever it is, I don't think anyone should try going there. And I mean anyone.", he remarked, eyeballing Kiara as he spoke the last word. She simply smirked at him before the lower half of her face vanished behind her cup as she drank the leafy juice.
Kazu watched from the docking platform as the Temujin and a handful of the other air masters departed for Zaofu in the airship that the minister Kuon had arrived in. The airship was clearly of Varrick industries construct,with the giant logo of the tech corporation etched out over the ship's body.
"Lock the bay doors.", one of the lotus sentries near them spoke into his hand-held radio device as the crowd began to disperse and head inside.
/
Peaceful snores filled the dormitory rooms of the pagodas as Kazu rolled around for the sixth time, sticking his fingers into his ears as he tried to catch some sleep. Kenji and Shenji had their mouth's wide open and the latter had a bubble inflating and deflating from his left nostril as he snored to his heart's content. If there was one thing Kazu had definitely learnt during his stay here, was the fact that airbenders were extremely loud snorers.
The two airbenders had been caught by Ryoshi , who found them sneaking to the place Temujin had forbidden entry to. Speaking of which, even Kazu's curiosity had been poked awake , wondering about why that particular orfice had been sealed off.
Maybe it was worth an investigation. Even though Temujin had give clear instructions to them all not to do so, what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him, right?
Looking around, he found his two roommates deep in their slumber, with Kenji cuddling his pillow in a humorous posture, with his butt jutting upwards. Slowly getting out of his bed, Kazu held his breath as he tip-toed towards the wooden sliding door of their dorm room and slipped out before leaping down towards the lowest floor of the dorm pagoda, cushioning his fall with his airbending. Making sure that nobody was awake , the avatar slipped out of the stone building, into the cold, brisk night outside.
Unseen by him, a swift shadow was following him at a distance, dogging the avatar's steps.
/
Kazu sneaked up the stone stairs to the fourth orfice and he stood in front of the fifteen foot tall stone doors. The door was intricately carved with murals and insignias relating to the hundred year war and events predating it. There was a sense of mystery about the thing and Kazu couldn't tear his eyes away from the stone. There was a writing etched across the top of the door . It was growing faint due to its age but it was still readable.
"Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free...", Kazu read the writing, his mind trying to decipher any meaning behind the confusing saying but his chain of thought was interrupted when a familiar voice spoke up behind him.
"I though I told you not to try something like this.", a male voice remarked and instantly, a jolt of shock shot up through Kazu's spine and he whipped around, throwing his arms up into a bending pose. His chest rose and fell as the silhouette moved in out of the shadows and the light from the torch that was lit up in the bracket illuminated his face. Ryoshi looked down at the avatar with disdain written on his face.
"Oh...Jeez. It's just you...", Kazu panted, bending down and resting his palms on his knees. The twenty-one year old airbender cocked an eyebrow as he folded his arms across his chest.
"Yeah.. It's me. And you shouldn't be doing this sort of stuff, Kazu.", Ryoshi remarked .
"Why not? I mean, don't you feel curious about what's behind these doors? Wait. If you're gonna give me more wisdom speeches, don't answer that. ", Kazu remarked, heading over to the door and rubbing his palm up and down, over the carvings.
"It..I mean.. Yeah..But... That's not the point! ", Ryoshi chided, shaking his head."You're the avatar ! You're supposed to set an example for others. You can't just waltz around the place, breaking rules! Has it ever crossed your mind that they're set for a reason?".
"I'm more than just 'the Avatar' you know? I'm a human being just like everybody else.". Kazu remarked gave him a bewildered look.
As the airbender opened his mouth to speak, the sound of man grunting in pain came from one floor below . Kazu and Ryoshi stared at the direction from which the sound came, but nobody entered the entrance hall of the orfice.
"What was that?", Kazu asked as he felt his heartbeat increasing as they stood in the strained silence following the sudden noise.
"I'm not sure.", Ryoshi remarked, his eyes darting left and right as he search the area for any unusual movement. The orfice pagoda that they were currently standing in was the only one with almost a dozen arched windows on each of the seven floors. Therefore, they had to look in every direction to keep guard.
"Maybe it was an eagle-owl or something?", Kazu suggested but his suggestion was answered not by Ryoshi, but by the distinct sound of whirring metal and they spun east to see four metal plates , glinting in the moonlight, rocketing towards them. Ryoshi managed to swat them off course with an air swipe and onto the floor just in time.
"That...does not look good.", Kazu mumbled as he stared, wide-eyed at the metal plates that stood, impaled into the stone floor.
Just then, five figures cloaked in black garb swung into the pagoda through the windows on the floor walls, their metal cables retracting back into their gauntlets. Ryoshi and Kazu clenched their teeth and stared back at them when a sixth figure entered the room , leaping up from the floor below. A woman. She wasn't wearing full black clothing like the others and her slightly gaunt, sullen face stared back at the two of them as they looked on, confused and shocked.
"What happened to the sentries?", Kazu remarked to Ryoshi but the woman seemed to have rather keen hearing, answering Kazu's question instead of Ryoshi.
"They weren't that much of problem. I'm quite surprised that the lotus thought that those unskilled excuses of benders were capable of protecting this place. And I have to say, this place looks like a fort, compared to the last time I was here. .", the woman remarked in a coarse, raspy voice.
"You must be wondering who we are.", the woman remarked as Kazu grit his teeth.
"Please. There is no need to fight. ", Ryoshi tried but to no avail as one of the metalbender shot a cable at Kazu, who answered it with a fire blast.
"I don't care who you are. You got in. But you're not getting out!", the young Avatar proclaimed as Ryoshi lurched forward to help him, swinging his metallic gliderstaff with him, sending out an air swipe that managed to catch all the masked intruders, except the woman, who simply flipped over the attack, avoiding it completely.
" You seem to think that you are at my level, boy.",the woman remarked in a taunting tone as Ryoshi stared at her, blinking stupidly.
Before anyone could react, the woman rotated on her heel and shot out two successive air blasts at Kazu and Rysohi that rocketed towards them rapidly, catching them head on, sending them flying back off their feet and into the walls behind them.
"You have no idea who I am , do you,airbender?", the woman proclaimed as Ryoshi lay there, groaning. A weakness of airbenders was the fact that due to their nature of avoiding direct attacks, if they got hit once, they tend to take longer to recuperate than the others.
Kazu , on the other hand, was already on his feet , and roared out loud as he began shooting out fire balls at the intruders.
Outside, the herd of air bison in the stables had begun to coo restlessly , waking up some of the air acolytes. A. few of them had trudged down to the stables, trying to calm down their own respective bison.
"Sparky... Shh. Keep quiet, you'll wake everyone up..", one of the acolytes, a thirteen year old boy , yawned, patting his bison's head in a groggy manner.
"What's the matter?", Kiara remarked, as she and a couple of the other older residents joined their younger compatriots, trying to calm the bellowing bison.
"Maybe it's the hay we gave them?", a woman next to Kiara suggested. Just then, the waterbender thought she heard the distinct sound of firebending coming from somewhere in the distance.
"Did you hear that?", she mumbled to one of the others, who merely shrugged. But this time, the whooshing noise came louder and Kiara was sure she hadn't imagined that up in her sleep deprived state of mind.
Just then, they heard someone calling out to the other and they followed the voice to find one of the remaining air masters trying to wake up an unconscious lotus sentry, who lay on the ground.
"What the flameo is happening?", Kiara remarked in confusion with the others.
/
Ryoshi and Kazuhiko were busy ducking and avoiding the various metal plates that were whizzing past their heads. Kazu's rational brain had stopped working and his instinctive side had taken over, resulting in him acting more like a firebender, shooting out fierce flames and completely forgot that he could airbend as well.
As Kazu lurched forward, the airbending woman ducked under his flames before running up a wall, flipping over him and shooting a concentrated air blast towards his spinal area . Upon contact, the force of the air blast shoved Kazu forwards onto the floor and in the confusion, his head knocked hard into the stone flooring and he lay unconscious in the dim light of the torches that lit the pagoda.
"We have what we came for. ", the airbending woman yelled to the others and they instantly converged at once on Ryoshi. He tried his best to parry the many metal plates whizzing in his direction but one of the intruders ripped out a chunk of the stone floor beneath them and another of his compatriots sent the six foot long slab of granite rock flying towards Ryoshi and the airbender could not leap out of the way in time, instead getting hit painfully by the chunk and slamming into the wall behind him,unconscious.
Having secured the Avatar, Ta-lin and the other bandits exited the pagoda the way they came in, through the window.
/
Kiara stood with the small crowd of airbenders who were grouped around the unconscious lotus sentry, trying to wake him up. As she stood,she felt something nudging her around her hip area and the distinct scent of Taka filled her nostrils. She had spent the day playing with the air bison so she assumed that that was what he was prodding her for. Feeling the animal nudging her again and cooing gently, she let out a frustrated groan.
"No, Taka. Not now. It's really late. ", Kiara groaned as she lightly pushed away the Bison's head. " We can play in the morning. Just go back to-WHAT THE HECK!?",she yelped out in shock, her eyes and mouth wide open now as she spotted a group of silhouetted people bolting away from one of the pagodas, wearing black clothing that she recognized as that belonging to the bandit clan. And on the shoulders of one of them, hanging unconscious, was what looked to be Kazuhiko.
"Kiara? What-", one of the air master began before she spun to them and pointed in the direction of the escaping intruders, her face now wide awake.
"THEY'VE GOT THE AVATAR!", she yelled and bolted forward, drawing up water from the water skin of the unconscious lotus sentry. Once the others realized what the teenager was yelling about, they too burst forward, shocked and panicked expressions on their faces as they chased after the bandits.
"So much for the stealthy.", one of the bandits hissed in a disgruntled fashion to Ta-lin as she lead the group towards the east edge of the temple.
One of the metalbenders then stopped in his tracks, ripped out a slab of the stone flooring beneath him and broke the slab into smaller chunks, hurling them like bullets towards the airbenders chasing after them, forcing them to scatter and cower to avoid getting hit.
Two more helped him by joining in the attack copying him. They focused their energy on the particles of rock surrounding them , their palms outstretched in front of them, fingers grasping at the rock particles Then, they thrust their hands down and instantly, one of the arched doorways lying between them and the airbenders collapsed, injuring a few of them while others airbent themselves out of the way.
"We're getting out of here. ", Ta-lin proclaimed and focused her attention on the particles of dust and smoke that rose up into the air and then began collecting the smoke in towards her, forming a circular sphere of rapidly spinning air currents around her and the metalbenders.
Coughing from the splurge of dust and debris, Kiara looked up from behind the derelict stone debris to see the three metalbenders retreating into the sphere of smoke.
"Oh no you don't!", she roared in anger and burst forward, leaping over the debris, to the other side . She then shot the water whip on her arm forward, stretching the liquid towards the sphere and she managed to wrap the whip around the torso of one of the bandits and hauled him backwards, off his feet as the sphere of grey smoke began to circulate like a mini hurricane.
"We have to go back!", one of the bandits yelled over the howling winds.
"No! We leave him. He's a lost cause ", Ta-lin roared venomously at the bandit as she swung her arms around , creating a mini storm of dust around them.
Kiara froze the water on the bandit she had caught into a block of ice, preventing him from escaping. Then, upon looking up, the sphere of smoke disappitated into the air and the bandits were nowhere in sight. They were long gone.
"I say we deal with this Tikaani situation immediately.", minister Kuon of the southern tribe remarked, pressing his index finger on the rectangular metal table that they were all seated around. Temujin, along with a few of the other air masters, minister Kuon and two lotus members were seated in the meeting hall of the vast airship , on their way towards Zaofu. On the way, they were discussing of possible strategies to address the problem of the dictator/chief that ruled over the northern tribe, Admiral Tikaani.
"Look. We all know what must be done. I propose a preemptive strike against their forces. We take the fight to him.", Kuon continued, pressing his point as Temujin listened, stroking his beard with a thoughtful expression on his face.
"I don't think making an unprovoked attack would be a right move, since the admiral hasn't done anything aggressive on international territory. ", the air master suggested in a diplomatic voice.
"Not yet. But he can't be trusted. He took over after the chief and his son were killed by Barbarians. And now he has the whole army of the northern water tribe at his command and who knows what he might do next. He has closed the tribe off from the rest of the world with blockades. Do you think a sane person would do that?", Kuon persisted.
"Well.. To be fair, he was third in line for the throne, since he was the late chief's brother. ", Temujin remarked as Kuon let out a frustrated groan.
"I don't think sitting around and waiting would be beneficial for our cause. I would like to let you all know that Chief Sitka is fully on board with my proposed plan and so is the newly elected president of Republic city. ", Kuon replied, not backing down.
Temujin let out a defeated sigh, not able to work through the aggressive point of view that the southern water tribe minister was bringing up. Just then, the silver door to the hall slid open and a lotus sentry came through.
"Master Temujin, there's an incoming SOS for you from the Western Air temple on the airship radio.", the sentry remarked, addressing Temujin directly.
"Excuse me for a moment.", the air master remarked to the others, who nodded as he got up and left the hall, following the sentry to the communications room , towards the hull of the ship.
Temujin sat down on the chair and picked up the teleradio system . "Hello?".
For a moment, he simply listened to what the person on the other end of the comms was saying and when they were finished, his face dropped in shock , his eyes and jaw were wide open.
"WHAT!?".
/
As the other dignitaries sat in the meeting hall, discussing about the situation in the northern tribe, Temujin burst into the room with a frantic and panicking expression.
"Master Temujin...what-", minister Kuon began before Temujin cut across him.
"We have to head back now! The Avatar has been kidnapped!", the air master wheezed.
There was a dull numbness that rang through Ryoshi's body as he came to. He could hear the low humming of thunder outside and the smell of earth and mud stung his nostrils as a gust of wind blew in over him . He felt somewhat , he tried to sit up but a sharp pain spread through his body, forcing him to lie back down , clutching his shoulder where the pain was most concentrated. At that moment, he thought he could hear hushed whispered from somewhere nearby and he slowly opened his eyelids, his pupils adjusting to the light that hit them.
At first, his vision was all blurry . He could make out three people walking towards him. Two in saffron robes and one in a white tanktop with blue pants on. Judging from blurry view, he seemed to be in the temple healing room.
"Are you alright?', he heard a female voice speak . "You've been out cold for almost five hours.".
As he turned to look at the source of the voice, his eyes found master Yin, a very slender figured woman in her mid forties. Her oval shaped face was accentuated by her big brown eyes that gazed down at him. Her blue air bending tattoos was briefly visible underneath her bangs that covered her forehead and she, just like the other air masters, wore a brown beaded necklace round her neck( it was supposed to help in meditation).
"What..happ-", he began mumbling as he memories of what had transpired swirled to the forefront of his brain.
"Kazuhiko!", he blurted out loud , springing off the bed before the pain forced him to sit back down.
"You should rest. They hit you bad with a pretty big chunk of rock. It's a surprise you haven't sustained any fractures.", the air master remarked kindly as she sat down next to him.
"Where is he?", the airbender continued, holding his shoulder.
"He..They got away. They took the Avatar with them.", Kiara responded quietly.
"No...", Ryoshi cursed, looking around in dismay as the sound of thunder erupted outside the temple." But how did they get in? Even with all the lotus sentries around.".
"We've informed master Temujin of the avatar's kidnapping. He's on his way back along with all the others. We've already sent out search parties to look for the Avatar. With this weather, the kidnappers couldn't have gone far.", Master Yin remarked as she handed him a glass of aloe juice.
No matter how they said it, Ryoshi felt had taken Kazu and he was unable to stop them.
"What's the matter?", master Yin inquired, seeing the young airbending master's tense slowly turned his gaze towards them.
"I..think I may know who our attacker was. It was a female airbender. ", he remarked quietly and he watched as the realization dawned on master Yin's face.
The torrential rain plummeted down to the ground, thunder crackled through the air as a bright spark of lightning lit up the skies whole.
"We wait until the storm abates. ", Ta-lin remarked as she gazed out of the cave that she and the bandits had taken refuge in. Karan was also present with the group, but he hadn't gone to the temple with them, since had had been waiting with their getaway vehicle. And he was glad, honestly, for he hadn't had to face his sister again.
The wind howled and rain poured down like bullets to the earth, the strong scent of moss and dirt filling the air as the thunder crackled through the sky, nature's force grueling down hard. The cave the group had taken refuge in was rather mossy and wet, with them driving out some of the rodents that scurried across the cave floor. A dampness filled the air as the cold winds blew in, forcing the inhabitants of the cave to clench their teeth, trying to ignore the freeze cold weather. Ta-lin, however, was not bothered by the cold. She knew how to regulate her breathing in order to keep herself warm.
A few of the other bandits were exchanging looks of disapproval and anger. She had forced them to leave behind one of their own so that they could get away with some firebender boy who had been out cold for almost five hours now. Why was he so important anyway?
They sat silently for about five drauling minutes as the wind howled noisily outside . Karan chose not to sit with the others, instead silently standing close to the mouth of the cave, hovering an orb of water inches above his open palm, watching the water swirling within.
"I can hear your irregular breathing. What do you want? Spit it out!", Ta-lin's voice came from within the cave and Karan turned to see her gaze locked onto the figure of Chin, one of their more burly metalbenders.
"We shouldn't have left Han back there!He's one of our own and you're not! Who the heck made you the boss anyway?", Chin seethed, glaring daggers at the airbender.
"I'm not stopping anyone from going back and retrieving him. He was caught because of his incompetence. He lacked the skill and the conviction to withstand that lowly waterbender. You are welcome to go back and get yourself caught.", Ta-lin hissed , giving him a cold stare, as if she was daring him to do so.
There was a strained silence that followed that taunting remark .
"Thought so. All mouth and no action.", Ta-lin jeered with a smirk. The brash metalbender couldn't hold his anger in anymore.
"BACK OFF!", Chin roared, getting up to his feet, ripping out two chinks of rock from the cave floor next to him as Ta-lin reciprocated almost immediately, moving in a spur motion and shooting a precise and powerful air blast at one of the rocks , shattering it to crumbs right from the metalbender's bending hold.
"I'm not going anywhere.", Ta-lin responded coolly, in her bending stance, eyeing him with an amused expression, as if he were a silly child throwing a tantrum.
"Make a move,and you will suffer a death more painful than your pathetic waste of a brain can imagine up. ", Ta-lin hissed at him. Chin began to shake in fury at being made to look stupid and was about to bring down the cave ceiling on the airbender before Karan sprang up in front of him, stopping him from doing anything stupid.
"Don't. She's working with Raman. You don't want to get on his bad side if you break the terms.", the waterbender remarked ."Besides, he's planning on ending her after he gets what he wants.", he added in a low voice.
For a moment, Chin didn't respond, his chest rising and falling as he breathed rapidly, his emerald eyes glaring at Ta-lin, who was giving him a threatening stare. Then, he dropped the chunk of rock on the ground with a rumble and walked towards the cave mouth, opting to sit somewhere where he didn't have to face that horrible woman .
"What the heck did I sign up for...", one of the other bandits mumbled as Ta-lin walked in the opposite direction, proceeding to sit down in a lotus position in front the unconscious Avatar as the teenager lay on the damp,mossy cave floor, his hands bound by metal cuffs. She sat there, simply staring at his face with furrowed eyebrows as the avatar lay, eyes shut, not aware of what was transpiring around him.
Kazuhiko's eyes flitted open slowly and he rubbed them roughly, let out a soft groan, as if he had been in a deep sleep. He seemed to be lying down on soft, mushy grass of some sort, for he could feel the soft prickle of the grass tickling at the back of his neck as he lay there. Slowly, he sat upright and rubbed his head, feeling slightly sluggish. As he sat there, rubbing his head, it was then that he earnestly began looking around where he was and it looked completely alien to him. He couldn't see everything yet , since there was a thick layer of fog that shrouded the landscape, obscuring anything from view. All he could see was the grassy ground he was sitting on the bright pink sky up above him. Wait. Pink sky?
"Where...Where am I?", he muttered to himself, getting to his feet.
For a few seconds, he tried walking around, feeling utterly confused, but the more he walked, the more he began to get the feeling that he was walking around in circles, not being able to see where his feet were taking him. Pursing his lips, he decided to try and airbend some of the fog out of the way,to clear his vision. Taking in a deep breath, he thrust his palm out in front of him, bending slightly at the knees. But, to his horror, nothing came. Not even a puff.
"Wait..What?', he mumbled, shocked. He then tried to shoot out a fire ball and yet again, nothing happened . He stood in a strange place doing weird hand waving motions.
"I can't bend? Why.. Why can't I bend?", he exclaimed , panicking as he tried yet again, this time a little frantically and again, nothing. What had those bandits done to him? Were they chi-blockers as well now? He had to get out of here, get back to the temple quickly. Deciding to try and call out for help, he took in a lungful of air, cupped his palms around his mouth and yelled out loud with all his strength.
"HELLO!?", he yelled that he could hear was his own voice echoing for miles and miles.
"IS ANYBODY THERE!? HEELLP!", he yelled out frantically, hoping that somebody, anybody had heard him. But no answer came.
"Monkeyfeathers...", Kazu cursed audibly, clawing at his face in disgruntlement.
Then, he thought he saw something moving in the foggy expanse.
"H-hello?", he called out, feeling slightly jumpy, since he didn't seem to have his bending for protection. As he watched, the shadow began to grow darker , more prominent and it also seemed to be getting bigger and bigger with each step taken towards him. Okay. This was one huge man.
But Kazu was in for a fright. What came through the fog was no man. It wasn't even an air bison, which would've been less dangerous. What came through was a large, adult polarbear-dog. And polar-bear dogs were definitely carnivorous. Just his luck.
At first, Kazu threw up his hands in fright and leapt back, his basic instinct taking over as he screamed out loud in fear. But then, when the animal didn't move or attempt to snap his neck with it's jaws, Kazu opened his eyes and looked up at the large animal. Something about the way he looked at Kazu seemed familiar. Kazu racked his brains, trying to figure out why the giant animal felt so familiar and then it clicked as his eyes grew wide in realization .
"N-Naga!?", he exclaimed out loud, his mouth talking before his brain ordered it to.
As an answer, the giant , white furred polarbear-dog walked forward, bent down and ran it's tongue over the Avatar's face. A wide smile spread across his face as he reached up and began petting the animal's head.
"Naga!", Kazu repeated, this time his voice a lot more calmer and happier.
"So...um..", Kazu remarked after a few prolonged seconds of petting the animal guide from his past life,"Where exactly are we?".
As an answer, the polarbear-dog simply kneeled it's front legs down and looked up at Kazu.
"You...want me to get on top of you?", Kazu remarked with a cocked eyebrow. The animal grunted as a response. Wondering what in Agni's name was going on, he clambered on top and the polarbear-dog began to gallop away into the thick foggy expanse , with Kazu sitting on the animal's back, clutching at her snowy white fur. He didn't know where Naga was taking him, but he trusted her. At least that much he was sure about.
Master Yin, minister Kuon and master Temujin were striding down the corridor to the cellary where the caught bandit was being kept. Temujin and the others had just arrived and Yin had just told him of the suspect for Kazu's kidnapping. But apparently the air master refused to believe that it was indeed Ta-lin who had taken Kazu until valid proof was there. After all, many police officers had sworn legally to her suicide.
As they entered the room,Kiara and Ryoshi came into view, already inside the room, eyeing the bandit with distaste on their faces as he sat scornfully on the floor. They had been keeping watch over him while the others arrived. They were already short on staff, since the lotus sentries had all been dispatched to search for the missing Avatar.
They could see that the bandit had his wrists and legs cuffed together with platinum restraints and his metal bracelets and other sort of weaponry had been removed, nowhere to be seen in the room. There was, however,a sturdy wooden table and two chairs placed in the middle of the room.
As master Temujin proceeded to sit down on one of the chairs, Kiara walked over and roughly hauled up the bandit off his feet and shoved him into the chair.
"Jeez. You caught me and now you wanna harass me? I thought the airbenders were a reasonable is this world coming to?", the man chided, rubbing his wrists in irritation.
"Ah, shut your yammering.", Kiara remarked coldly.
"How did you get in?!", Ryoshi chided.
"Are you plain stupid, boy? We're earthbenders. ", the bandit gave him a despising glare before stepping back and allowing Temujin to do the interrogation.
"Why did you kidnap that boy?", Master Temujin began, being cryptic and not revealing the fact that who they had kidnapped was the Avatar, on the off-chance that they didn't know. But it was highly unlikely that they didn't know who he was. Otherwise why on earth would they single him out?
"And what makes you think I'm ready to talk , baldy?", the bandit hissed venomously.
"I am not in the mood for..games! We don't want to make us do something that you don't want us to do. And I suggest you make your decision quickly before someone less patient than I decide to chat with you.", Temujin remarked with irritation etched on his face. The bandit simply eyed the airbending master scornfully before he let out a contemptuous snort.
"I've seen worse stuff than what you little airbenders can cook up. I ain't talkin. And there's nothing that you can do to make me.", he chided with a leer. Minister Kuon gave him an angry glare. The bandit was right, of course, without proper proof, being part of a ruling government, Kuon couldn't lay a finger on him without an legal clauses. Kiara, however, let out a frustrated groan and walked towards the bandit as he ,and the others in the room glanced at her with a confused look.
"What're you-Hey!", the bandit remarked in a slightly shocked voice as Kiara brought out a swirl of water from her waterskin and formed a water whip around her forearm. Using the waterbending move, she hoisted the man up by his feet, hanging him upside down .
"Talk! Or else!", Kiara roared with an aggressive expression as she brought his face to her level. For a moment, the bandit looked shocked, his eyes wide and then, that look vanished as quickly as it came.
"You won't hurt me. I know an empty threat when I see one.", he leered at her. For a few seconds, Kiara didn't budge.
"Well, I guess you're not as good as you thought, chump.", she stated coolly.
"Wait. What?", the bandit remarked and before he knew what was happening, Kiara was storming out the room, holding the man upside down by his ankles as the others paced after them, following them through the corridor outside with confused expressions. Once outside the temple inner pagodas, they found the teenaged waterbender standing near the edge of one of the protruding outer platforms that looked over the cliff side . She was holding the bandit upside down, over the misty abyss below as the adults watched with shocked expression on their faces.
"Now what you see down there is a hundred, maybe a thousand foot drop, I don't know. If my arm gets tired, I can't guarantee that I won't let go of you. And with your hands and feet cuffed, there's no way you're gonna be able to earthbend yourself to safety. ", Kiara remarked with a taunting smirk as the man gazed at her with a shocked expression.
"You wouldn't!", the bandit mumbled as he fought to keep his voice from cracking due to the sensation of fear that was gripping his body.
"Wanna find out?", Kiara smirked .
"Kiara, what are you doing!? Put him down!", Temujin chided from behind as she ignored him.
Then, before Temujin or any of the others could do anything else, Kiara dissolved the water whip , letting the man plummet down a few feet before she shot a whip after him, grabbing him in the nick of time before he vanished into the mist below.
"Had enough?", Kiara taunted as she hoisted him back upto her level. His skin had almost certainly turned pale and his eyes and mouth were wide open as she looked at her with utmost fright in his eyes.
"ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT! I'LL TALK!", the man yelped in fright . Kiara smartly turned to Temujin, who was eyeing her with a look of disbelief . She then moved the bandit away from the plummeting cliffside and dropped him to the ground, at their feet.
"None of you airbenders could've gotten him to talk.", Kiara muttered to Ryoshi as she joined his side.
"It was some airbending woman who met up with us during one of our raids. She claimed to be a rogue airbender and she could help us get rid of you lot. In exchange, she wanted help in getting the firebender boy. Don't know why she wanted him. Wouldn't tell us. NOW THAT'S ALL I KNOW, I SWEAR! PLEASE GET HER AWAY FROM ME!", the bandit poured out as he tried to scramble away from Kiara, hugging onto Kuon's legs as he tried to shake the bandit off with a look of disgust on his face.
"I can't believe it. It's her.. She's alive...",Temujin mumbled, his eyes wide in shock and his skin pale as if his fears had been realized.
"We need to get as many search parties out there now! We cannot let her take the Avatar! Quickly!", he yelled to the others , a hint of panic in his voice.
"Yes sir!", the nearby lotus sentries remarked, bowing to him before jogging off to relay the orders to the other remaining sentries.
"Wait.. You mean.. That kid was-", the bandit remarked with an astonished expression but he was knocked out by a water smack to the face by Kiara before he could finish his sentence as the adults stormed away, ready to go out after him.
"I'll get a few of my officers to go with us. The more the help the faster we can ensure the Avatar is safe.", minister Kuon suggested as he strolled off importantly to give orders to his men abroad the airship.
Kazu sat bareback on the polarbear-dog as the animal galloped through the thick fog. Looking up, he saw that the sky overcast was still bright pink and he could see translucent spirits passively floating around .He knew he was in the spirit world right now, with the appearance of Korra's animal guide as confirmation. But he still didn't know how he had got there and why he was there either. He hadn't entered the plane through any of the spirit portals. And he had no grasp of the concept of meditation yet so he couldn't have meditated here either.
"Um.. Where exactly are you taking me?", Kazu thought out loud and the polarbear-dog simply grunted as an answer as she bolted through the fog.
"Not sure what that meant but Okay.", Kazu remarked , a little confused as they paced along .
After a few more minutes of vaguely moving through the fog at a gallop, Kazu noticed that Naga's sprint was slowing down and his guess was proved to be correct when she came to a slow trot and stopped completely at the banks of what looked like a vast, unending lake.
The lake had a sort of eerieness about it, with it's glassy water surface blanketing the unknown below it. There were no ripples of life in the lake and Kazu could see his and Naga's reflection in the glassy water, staring right back at him. The expanse of the fog around them accentuated the eerie vibe that the scenery was giving off. He knew that this was probably a realm in the spirit world but it still didn't make it any less creepy for him, to the extent that the tiny hairs on the back of his neck stood up on end.
"Um.. Ah.. Why.. Why did we stop?", he remarked down to the snow furred animal. As an answer, Naga grunted and bent her head, stretching her neck towards the watery surface, her nose inches away from their reflections. For a few seconds, Kazu couldn't decipher what the animal was trying to say to him. Then, when it finally clicked, his eyes widened in disbelief.
"Wait a sec. You don't want me to.. go in there do you?", he stammered to the polarbear-dog, to which the animal simply grunted , as if saying yes.
"Awh ..Monkeyfeathers!", Kazu cursed in dismay. That was the last thing he was looking forward to doing.
"I'm not going skinny dipping in some spirity ghost lake! There ", Kazu chided as he slid off Naga's back. The polarbear-dog simply gave him a poker face before opening her mouth and sliding her large tongue over Kazu's face, giving him a reason to get in the water and wash his face.
" Alright.I'm going.", Kazu sighed in defeat as he trudged towards the water surface. "If I go , what's gonna happen?", Kazu called out but when he turned back, he found himself staring into the foggy horizon. Naga had seemingly disappeared.
"Okay.. was definitely a whole new level of creepy.", Kauz gulped, now genuinely feeling a little spooked. Had he just imagined that all up? He reached up his fingers and lightly touched his cheek. Nope. That all did happen. Naga's saliva was still there.
Kazu looked back into the watery lagoon , gazing at his rippleless reflection before taking a deep breath and slowly walking into the was a pretty gripping feeling, and his breath would strangle up in his throat with each step he took, fearing the worst.
When he broke the glassy surface, ripples of distortion waved on endlessly and he didn't know if he should do this or not. Maybe he should just go back . After all, he was only ten steps into the water. But when he turned around to head back to the banks, he found himself staring at nothing but an expanse of water for miles and miles stretching out over the horizon. There was no sign of the land that he and Naga had just arrived on. His heart began to drum frantically as he fought to keep a level head.
"What the-", he muttered to himself but he didn't have a chance to finish . Mid sentence, he felt a slight tug at his legs and then, in a swift motion, he was seemingly yanked down into the watery depths.
The icy cold waters engulfed him as he waved his arms around, trying to swim back to the water surface frantically. But it was no use. What had looked like shallow water just seconds ago had now turned into a deep water abyss with no sign of the lagoon floor, as if he had just magically been transported to the ocean. As he struggled, he felt the water pulling him further and further down into the depths of the emerald waters surrounding him.
Right in front of his eyes, the waters around him began to pick up speed and before he knew it, he was revolving down and down in an underwater tornado. He tried to claw and swim his way out of the powerful currents but there was no use. He felt his strength leaving him and the light in front of his eyes were dimming. The last thing his eyes let him see was the fact that the watery swirls were sending him rocketing towards the now visible lagoon floor and as he threw up his arms in panic, he was sent shooting straight through the clay laden floor before he vanished from view. As soon as he vanished, the aggressive watery currents began to slow down and seemingly stopped.
The waters were glassy calm and nothing moved.
/
Temujin stood on the airship , his brows furrowed as he scanned the green spirit wilds below them for any sign of the missing Avatar. He was the lone silent figure standing near the glass windows of the airship's common room. The storm had stopped now and the overcast skies stretched out over them, with the opaque clouds blocking any sunlight from making it's way towards the troposphere.
Kazu's kidnapping was his mistake. He underestimated even felt a little ashamed at hoping that she was gone.
He should've known better. She wouldn't have jumped into a rapid river if she hadn't had a way to beat it. But he chose to believe that she was gone. He chose to believe the police reports. He knew how dangerous an airbender Ta-lin was and yet had had left the sixteen year old boy with a bunch of sentries who were no match for her skill. The Avatar was entrusted to him and he had failed . But this wasn't his greatest failure. Not by a mile. That position, however, still belonged to something else.
"I just spoke with master Ela from Zaofu about our attendance to the ceremony being delayed. ", minister Kuon stated as he walked upto Temujin, springing him out of his thoughts. "I will be with my officers if you need me. Might as well get some paperwork sorted out while we wait.".
As the southern water tribe minister walked away, master Yin approached Temujin as the other air masters chatted vigorously, seated at the table.
"We will find him.", she assured him, taking his hand and giving it a small squeeze.
Temujin let out soft sigh as he turned his gaze back outside to see Ryoshi and Kiara seated on Taka, flying a few paces behind another air bison on which four sentries and Kenji sat.
/
Ta-lin returned back to the cave and once her foot entered the mossy tavern, the hushed whispering going on within halted immediately as the bandits looked at her figure. She had gone out to scout for a way out of the forest and had returned.
"The storm's passed. We move now or we won't make the base before nightfall. And it'll be even more of a headache once the boy awakes. ", she ordered as she created a sphere of air currents around her, blowing herself dry of any of the lingering moisture on her. As they watched, she walked over to where the unconscious Kazu lay and picked him up over her shoulder. Then she walked out the cave without another word,with the bandits following suit.
/
Kazu felt weirdly lightheaded as he came to. He groaned as his slowly opened his eyelids. A blurry green skyline loomed over his eyes and he could see translucent spirits floating by in a passive manner. Groaning, he sat back upright and rubbed his head sluggishly . As he looked around, he found himself sitting in the middle of some sort of lush forest. But the trees looked vastly different, with their twisted trunks and elongated emerald vines that stretched out unendingly. The grass itself felt weird to the touch, not really feeling prickly neither soft. There was no scent or smell to the forest around him and there was almost a pitch silence that was slightly calming to the ear. Thankfully though, the fog was a lot less opaque than before.
Then, out of the mist, he thought he saw somebody walking towards him. And this time it wasn't any bipedal animal or anything. It certainly wasn't Naga either. Kazu's eyes widened and his jaw dropped as he stared at her as she emerged out of the mist .
"It's good to see you, Kazuhiko. ", Korra's form remarked with a genuine smile on her face.
/
Ta-lin trudged along in the mossy forest undergrowth. The scent of dirt and mud filled the air and a residual humidity lingered around the group as they moved through the spirit wilds, keeping north, heading for the bandit clan base.
"So. What's Raman's plan ?", one of the bandits whispered under his breath to Karan as they walked a few paces behind Ta-lin, who was busy concentrating on walking with the teenaged boy slung over her shoulder. She had been adamant that she didn't need help carrying him.
"He didn't tell me much but he told us to stick close .Find out where the temple is. Now shut up before she hears you!", Karan hissed back , forcing his compatriot shut as the bandit gave him a displeased glare before nodding. They and the other bandits walked after her, following her through the slushy landscape.
/
Kazu was staring at the form of the middle aged Korra with his eyes almost popping out of their sockets in disbelief. She stood before him, cloaked in a slight ethereal mist , gazing at her reincarnation . She didn't tell him this, but it felt equally surreal for her as it was for him.
She had taken the form of her thirty year old self, when she was in her prime as the Avatar. Her hair was just long enough to stretch past her shoulder blades but not as long as it was when she first arrived in Republic city. She was also wearing the blue formal dress that her parents had first given to her for attending Varrick and Zhu-li's wedding ceremony all those years ago. Unlike how she was in her younger days, she didn't sport a ponytail on her head anymore,instead letting her hair flow freely. Under her bangs, her azure blue eyes were fixed on Kazuhiko with a slightly amused glint in them.
"Avatar Korra?!", he blurted out in an ungracious manner.
Korra smiled at him as she stood before him.
"You should be thankful. You were able to connect with me at a younger age than I ever did. ", she stated calmly as he eyed her . "I sent Naga after you to bring you here because it is time you knew about what it means to be the Avatar.".
"Um...", Kazu muttered , still stunned that this was actually happening.
"The Avatar state is a defense mechanism powered by your own spirit connecting with the spirit of light, thus forming the Avatar spirit. It is designed to keep you alive in times of danger and gives you incredible power when used correctly . It channels the power and energies of all the past avatars combined with the light spirit through your body when you use it.", Korra began and as she spoke, there was a momentary pearly white glow in her eyes before they returned to their normal blues.
"In the Avatar state, you are at your most powerful ... and at your most vulnerable.", Kora stated , rendering Kazu a little confused.
"Wait. I don't think I understand. If the avatar is most powerful in the Avatar state, then how can he also be at his most vulnerable?", Kazu inquired as he walked with Korra through the damp spirit forest.
"If you are killed in the Avatar state, the reincarnation cycle will be broken and the Avatar will cease to exist.", Korra remarked . "I learnt that the hard way, Kazuhiko. I had almost lost my connection to the avatar spirit twice during my early years and I do not wish that same fate for you. ", Korra stated and he immediately noticed that she looked very disturbed as she recounted the events.
" I had always struggled with my spiritual connections because of how reckless and naive I was. I had none of my past lives for most of my life to give me guidance and I want you to know that I will always .. be here for you, to guide you should you need my help. ", Korra remarked with a stern expression. There was a determined look in her eyes as she said this. She took a short pause, letting the youngster process all the said information before continuing.
"There is a great danger threatening to throw the air nation out of balance. Her name is Ta-lin and she is one of the most powerful airbenders living today. ",Korra stated with a serious expression . And as she spoke, all of a sudden , visions of a young airbending woman with a maddened look on her face, laying waste to the air temple, flooded his mind's eye.
"I was able to contain her but now, the danger has re-awakened. You must stop her before it's too late.", Korra finished .
"But... I can't.. I'm not ready yet! I've not finished my airbending training! Not to mention , I've not even begun water and earth yet! What if I fail?", Kazu blurted out, pouring out his doubts to Korra, who smiled at him.
"I know you won't. I am a part of you, Kazuhiko. I will be there to help you when you need it. For now, we must go our separate ways.", Korra remarked .
"But I don't know how to get to you again. I didn't even do it this time on purpose. I just sort of ended up here. What If I have questions?", Kazu remarked quickly. If there was anyone who knew the pressures of being the Avatar, it was Korra.
" I'll be here if you call me again. ", Korra said. Kazu nodded slowly but he couldn't stop himself from giving her a pitying look, when he thought about the fact that she was dead now, and she had noticed.
"Do not pity those who have passed, Kazuhiko.", Korra stated with a smile."Pity the living. And above all, pity all those who live without love.".
Pity those who live without love? How was that supposed to help him?
As Kazu came to, his head felt strangely light and the scent of wet, mossy shrubbery filled his nostrils and he could hear a dull murmuring , mixed with the soft, squishy sound of feet walking over slushy mud.
He could feel cold metal on his wrists and a second later, as the person carrying him made a misstep, he heard the distinct clinking noise of the metal cuffs colliding into each other. Trying to keep his cool, he did his best not to move a muscle as he opened his eyes ever so indiscreetly, just enough so that he could see through the lashes. The vision wasn't very clear but he could make out five dark figures walking a few paces behind him.
Just then, a raspy female voice spoke out, one that was so near to his ear that it could only have come from the person who was carrying him.
"If we continue at this speed, we won't reach the base today. ", the female chided commandingly to the others following her.
"Don't you give me orders, lady!", Kazu heard one of the men yell at the woman carrying him.
"I think you misunderstand my leniency for passiveness. A common mistake. It will be your loss, if you think you can take me on .", the woman taunted him and the mocking tone in her raspy voice was clearly evident , even to Kazu, who had no idea who this woman was.
"That's it! I don't care what Raman said to do or not do! She's going under a rockslide right now!", the man roared as the woman dropped Kazu to the ground, as if he was some lifeless ragdoll. It took all his willpower to not make a sound as his rib hit a jagged rock beneath him.
Ta-lin easily redirected the metal plates shot at her, impaling them to the ground before she shot precisely aimed air blasts at Chin, forcing the burly earthbender to shoot up a pillar of rock to shield himself. He then ripped up the pillar and sent it hurtling at the woman he hated. All the other airbenders would've simply ducked over the pillar but Ta-lin's method were a bit more unorthodox for an airbender. She stood her ground, planted her feet firmly to the mossy floor and shot two consecutive air blasts at the pillar, the first one slicing into the rock's exterior, cracking it open, before the second one seemingly shattered the pillar into smaller crumbs the size of a palm, littering the forest floor.
The onlooking Bandits, along with Chin, stared in shock at the airbender. They had never seen the type of airbending that the woman was using .
"No need to be shocked. Your rational brain acknowledges that you are outclassed, yet your barbaric side refuses to believe the truth, Chin.", Ta-lin taunted the earthbender and it worked, for Chin roared in humiliation and clear rage, ripping out boulders from the ground and sending them towards Ta-lin in succession, with the intention to crush her body now.
As Kazu lay there, watching discreetly through his lashes, he could see the traces of a sort of elemental battle taking place, glints of metal whizzing around combined with the sound of rocks being ripped out of the ground and the sensation of wind being manipulated. He also thought he could hear the voices of the others, presumably the other bandits, protesting against the fight. He need to get out of here as soon as possible.
As Karan and the other bandits watched, Ta-lin created a protective sphere of circulating wind around her and began advancing towards Chin with a mocking smile on her face. She had begun to back the bandit up into a nearby cove, unnoticed by him as he was busy panicking, pelting metal plates and boulders at Ta-lin in vain.
With everybody's back turned to him, Kazu couldn't stop himself from widening his eyes in shock as he saw her moving her arms in a clockwise motion and as they all watched, a sphere of rapidly circulating air materialized around Chin's head, encasing it whole. For a few moments, he simply stared at them all, confused as to what she was doing. Then, gradually, he began to feel the effects of having access to oxygen blocked. Ta-lin had created a vacuum of air around the bandit's head, thereby denying him of the ability to breath and as a result, Chin's face began to contort as his lungs struggled to function properly. His eyes began to pop out of their sockets in strain as he clawed at his throat painfully.
"What're you doing? STOP!", one of the bandits yelped at Ta-lin but she simply ignored him, glaring venomously at her victim as she continued to move her arms around, keeping the vacuum intact.
"NO!", Karan yelled in horror at what she was doing as one of his compatriots shot a metal plate at her, forcing her to lose her concentration on Chin and the air vacuum around his head evaporated. But it was already too late. They all watched as he plomped to his knees before crumpling to the ground in an unmoving heap, the ghost of his horrified expression still etched on his face.
Nobody moved as Ta-lin eased out of her wind sphere, a smirk on her face.
That's it . Kazu had seen enough. This had to be that woman that Korra had warned him about.
As Ta-lin turned to the remaining bandits, who were staring at her with fear and shock written on their faces, out of the corner of her eye, she saw something move . By the time her brain had registered what was happening, Kazu was already on his feet, bolting away down the hilly forest floor, sprinting down the bed of fallen leaves, ducking around the many spirit vines that stretched out over the area.
"NO! ", Ta-lin roared ferociously as she shot an air blast at Kazu, which missed him by inches, instead striking an nearby oak-pine tree, slicing the trunk clean through.
Fury written on her face, the airbender bounded out after the escaping Avatar. She couldn't let him get away. She wouldn't. After a few moments of confusion, Karan and some of the other bandits ran after her, while two remained behind, horrified expressions on their faces as they edged towards their fallen comrade.
His heart drumming against his ribs, Kazu bolted down through the forestry running for his life. As he leapt away, he felt a strange, sensation, through his spin, travelling up through the back of his neck, over his head. Instinctively, Kazu airbent himself out of the way, changing direction as a vertical air whip missed him by inches.
"YOU CAN'T RUN ,BOY!", Kazu heard a maniacal female voice roar from over twelve feet behind him. He seemed to be certainly a lot more athletic than his chaser but he immediately regretted thinking that, for as he rounded a tree bend, he thought he saw the woman muster up a cloud of air beneath her feet and she began gliding down towards him, much , much faster than how she had been chasing him up until now. Kazu didn't even know airbenders could do that.
He ran as fast as he could but the airbender was clearly gaining on him and when she was a mere four feet behind him, Kazu halted in his tracks and Ta-lin , who hadn't been expecting the sudden stop, shot forward and Kazu seized the opportunity to jump up to shoot a powerful fireball from his heels, aimed at her back, sending her off her gliding cloud and off a few feet, sliding across the mossy floor as smoke trailed off her back, where she had been hit. She glared at him as he ran off in a different direction. There was no way he cold hold his ground against her with his arms cuffed up.
/
Ryoshi and Kiara eyed the green canopy below them as Taka floated through the skies, the airship a few dozen feet behind them. The airbison were flying scattered across the area, trying to locate the missing Avatar as quickly as possible.
"Where could they be?", Ryoshi muttered apprehensively as Kiara rubbed his back to try and comfort him.
"Hey, he's the Avatar, Ryo. What could possibly hurt him?", Kiara remarked with a snort.
"But he's only sixteen.", Ryoshi retorted.
"And I'm seventeen and you're twenty-one...I don't see your point.", Kiara remarked with a pointed , all of a sudden, Kiara's attention changed as she noticed something strange with Taka.
"Hey. Is it just me or is your bison going down?", Kiara muttered and Ryoshi looked down from his spot on Taka's saddle, noticing that she was right.
"Taka? What's the matter buddy? ", Ryoshi remarked, yanking at the bison's reins but for some reason, Taka simply grumbled protestingly in response, yanking back at Ryoshi and continuing to descend.
/
Back on the airship, Temujin had noticed that Ryoshi's airbison was lowering down.
"What are they doing?", he mumbled as he squinted his eyes, Yin handing him a pair of binoculars from the metal cupboard nearby.
"Maybe they found something?" , she suggested as Temujin rolled the edge of the device, focusing the vision on Taka .
"Not likely, they have protocol to radio in to the others in case they found something important.", Temujin responded.
/
"What's wrong with him?", Kiara remarked as the air bison refused to listen to them, continuing to descend back down at a slow pace, now heading towards what looked like a sort of clearing in the forestry.
"I dunno. ", Ryoshi remarked.
"Shouldn't we radio the others?", Kiara suggested.
"No. We can't unless we're absolutely sure it's got something to do with Kazu. ", Ryoshi remarked, shaking his head."Let's just find out what he wants.".
/
Kazuhiko was tumbling back down the mossy slopes as metal plates wizzed past his couldn't afford to stand and fight the bandits, in case the airbender caught upto him again. He was simply left to ducking and weaving around to avoid the blades .
On of the metalbenders began whizzing in towards Kazu from the side, using a slab of earth to skid towards him at high speeds. His metal gauntlets were drawn out and razor blades protruded out, ready to impale Kazu down . By this time, Kazu was already running at a rapid pace and he couldn't just stick his heels into the ground and stop. In a desperate attempt, Kazu lashed out as the bandit drew close from the side, kicking out a fire stream from his heels at the man, sending him flying off his rock slab as Kazu tumbled down the slope in the momentum before he rolled back up his feet and continued his descent.
As he bolted round the bend of a giant banyan-oak, a jet of ice shot past his ear, impaling the tree near him. Kazu got a glimpse of the waterbender bandit from before, chasing after him, his forearms encased in water whips as he skid towards Kazu down the slope on a slide of ice that followed his feet trail. Not looking back, Kazu began to randomly shot fire streams over his shoulder at the bandit, forcing him to swerve his ice slide around to avoid the jets. But it was rather easy, since Kazu wasn't exactly aiming while he was attacking and there wasn't a lot he could do with his hands tied up.
Karan could sense the increase in the wind speed around them and had an inkling that Ta-lin was closing in from somewhere.
He began shooting ice bullets at the figure of the escaping teenager and watched as he ducked out of the way . As Karan chased after the escaping firebender, the waterbender shot a stream of ice along the forest floor and it managed to catch the teenager , forcing him to slip off his feet.
Kazu slipped on the ice that the waterbending bandit had shot at his feet and he spun around to catch sight of the bandit advancing towards him with his ice gauntlet drawn out. A little panicky, on instinct, Kazu bent his knees to his chest and thrust them back out, shooting a powerful air blast at the waterbender, which managed to catch him by surprise and blasted him backwards off his feet .Kazu seized the opportunity and leapt to his feet, bolting away, not looking back to see the shocked expression on the bandit's face. He had unwittingly exposed the fact that he could bend more than one element.
/
Taka now stood on the wet mossy floor of the forest clearing , cooing vaguely into the forest, as if expecting an answer.
"Um.. Do you think it's bison mating season or something?", Kiara suggested with an awkward chuckle before Ryoshi gave her a pointed look.
"No. It's gotta be something else.", Ryoshi responded.
"Soooo. What then?", Kiara inquired, scratching her head, evidently confused.
As an answer, however, the two of them heard the distinct sound of elemental bending taking place, followed by vague angry voices.
"What the flameo was that? ", Kiara muttered as the two of them looked around. Then, they began to hear the sound of feet sprinting across the leaf-laden forest flooring.
"Get ready.", Ryoshi muttered as he dropped Taka's reins, assuming an airbending stance whilst Kiara began to draw out an orb of water from her water skin. For a few strained seconds, nothing happened besides the sound getting louder and louder, drawing nearer and nearer.
Then, a burst of flames shot out from the boundary of spirit vine shrubbery that encircled the clearing and the figure of a teenaged boy leapt out, followed by a gaunt looking woman with an uncouth appearance, who seemed like she was shooting air at him.
"Kazu!", Ryoshi yelled in dismay as they watched him land on his palms before moving his feet together as one unit, shooting a burst of flames at Ta-lin, who managed to avoid it, summersaulting out of the way. Kiara leapt out of the saddle,shooting out ice bullets towards the airbender as Ryoshi scrambled towards the radio transmitter.
"We've got the Avatar! ", he yelled into the black handheld receiver before Temujin's strained voice crackled out from the other end.
"Zzat. Ryoshi. Stay where you are, we're inbound.".
With that, Ryoshi airbent himself off of Taka's saddle, bounding towards the fight scene but midway, he was hit with a chunk of earth that was flung at him from his left side. Rolling on the ground, he got back up, groaning, to find two bandits advancing towards him, shooting out metal plates from their gauntlets, which he managed to maneuver around before reciprocating.
Ta-lin growled vehmently as the Avatar avoided her air blast by inches and she was about to spin around to strike him down before she sensed danger and she managed to maneuver around as a dozen ice bullets shot towards her, missing her by centimeters .
"Back off!", Kiara threatened as Kazu got to his feet.
"Or what?", Ta-lin taunted. "You think you two can take me on?",she snorted. Kazu grit his teeth, glaring daggers at Ta-lin.
"My guess is that you still haven't finished your airbending training,boy. If that is the case, how can you possibly hope to fight me, half-baked Avatar?", Ta-lin leered, taunting the teenager, who assumed a firebending stance.
Then, in a spur motion, Ta-lin leapt forth, shooting out consecutive air punches and kicks at the two of them, forcing them to duck around to try and avoid the barrage of attacks.
/
Ryoshi cartwheeled over a dozen ice bullets that shot towards him before finding a firm footing, spinning around and using his gliderstaff to shot out an air swipe that caught Karan off guard, hitting him hard on his abdomen and sending him flying off his feet, crashing into a tree a few feet behind him.
As Ryoshi bounded forwards to seize the opportunity, six metal plates shot towards him and wrapped around his ankles, hurling him upside down, off his feet and sending him crashing to the ground. Groaning as he got to his feet, he caught sight of three more of the metalbending bandits standing next to Karan.
"Oh come on.. Where do these guys keep coming from?", Ryoshi groaned as Karan shot an ice spear at him.
/
Kiara burst forward,shooting her water tentacle, only to have Ta-lin maneuvering around the water .
"Is that all you got?!", Ta-lin taunted as she bounded towards Kiara and thrust her open palm towards her. As a torrent of wind began forming in her palm, Kazu leapt forward and shot out a burst of fire right in the heart of the torrent Ta-lin was about to create, forcing her off balance as she tumbled back a few feet before finding her footing and standing back up.
"You're not getting away from me, Avatar!", the airbender hissed as she advanced towards him but Kazu kicked out another fire blast but she swung her arms around, maneuvering around it and she repelled Kiara's water whip attack with an air block. As the two teenagers shot their respective elements at the airbender, Ta-lin began to duck and weave around it, shooting out air punches and kicks , her elbows tucked in close to her side to avoid being hit. She could easily take the girl out with an air barrage but it would take out the Avatar as well and that was not what she was looking for. She needed him alive for now.
Kiara was being forced back, using her water whips for defense, repelling the barrage of air attacks the woman was shooting at her. Kazu grit his teeth and bounded forwards, summersaulting over one of Ta-lin's air blasts before shooting out a fire blast from his heels at her, forcing her to leap up several feet to avoid it. Mid-air, the airbender spun around vertically and shot out and air swipe from her heel, aimed at Kazuhiko and he scrambled out of the way as the burst of strong wind hit the patch of ground he had occupied just seconds ago.
As Ta-lin's focus was on Kazu, she left herself open to Kiara and the waterbender lunged forward and shot a jet of water at her that struck the airbender head on,forcing her back as she cartwheeled backwards to avoid the force.
"We're not finished!", Kiara roared as she chased after the airbender, her forearms encased in water whips. Kazu, who had rolled out of reach from Ta-lin's attack, caught sight of Ta-lin luring Kiara away from him and he shot an air swipe that swiveled towards the airbender from behind her and managed to catch her unawares, tripping her momentarily, giving Kiara an opening to strike.
For a moment, it looked like it had worked. Ta-lin had an alarmed look on her face and Kiara was mid air, her arm swinging around with her water whip to strike the airbender. But then, that moment ended as quickly as it had begun. Ta-lin managed to flip backflip out of Kiara's reach and created an air funnel around her than lifted the waterbender off her feet , sending her rocketing out of the place, crashing painfully into a thick tree trunk over twelve feet away, groaning.
"Enough of this. You're coming with me, Avatar.", Ta-lin hissed at Kazu as he glared back at her. As she took two steps towards him, however, the distinct sound of a herd of cooing air bison approaching from the skies echoed through the air.
The two of them stopped and glanced upwards, catching sight of at least seven air bison flying in towards them, followed by a much larger water tribe air ship . The lotus sentries on the air bison stood up and began shooting their elements at Ta-lin, who began maneuvering around, weaving and evading the elemental attacks raining down on her.
Ryoshi shot an air torrent at three of the bandits that were bounding towards him , sending them crashing towards Karan, who leapt over the flying bodies. As the waterbender was about to shoot a water jet at Ryoshi, the shadow of the approaching air ship loomed over them and they looked up , seeing the small army of air bison moving in.
Ta-lin grit her teeth as she glared up at the newcomers, dodging their elemental attacks. She wasn't foolish enough to try and take on such an large battalion on her own . It would risk everything she had done until now.
"NO! We failed!", she roared venomously in anger before she began rotating her arms clockwise over her head, forming a torrential spiral of air that clouded the entire clearing from the view of the newcomers. Then, as the dust and the smoke cleared, she, along with the other bandits, seemingly vanished from view, leaving only Kazu, Taka, Ryoshi and Kiara on the floor, glancing around in confusion.
"How the heck did she get away?", Kiara groaned , clutching her rib area as Ryoshi walked over towards Kazu to help him out of the metal cuffs still on his wrists.
"The hostiles seemed to have retreated.", one of the four sentries on Kenji's air bison stated and the teenaged airbender, who had an exhilarated expression up until now, let out an annoyed groan.
"Aw man! When am I gonna get to see some action?!", he chided, slamming his fist into his palm in disgruntlement as the sentries exchanged perturbed expressions with each other.
/
Kazu walked into the common room of the water tribe air ship, rubbing his wrists now that there were no metal restraints around them. He was evidently shaken and appeared incredibly weak. But felt more weaker and drained than he looked. It was just now that he had been told that he had gone missing for almost twenty hours. Ryoshi and Kiara were following him through, with her still clutching her rib from being smashed violently by Ta-lin into the tree trunk.
As soon as the Avatar entered the room, Temujin rushed forth with a concerned expression on his face, followed by some of the other air masters, including master Yin.
"Kazuhiko! Are you alright? None of the search parties had been able to find you until now.", the bald air master remarked with a slightly relieved tone.
"Don't mind me. I just got thrown into a thick ,painful spirit vine tree trying to help the avatar. Just one of those things, right?", Kiara remarked irritably from behind Kazu. One of the healers aboard the air ship led her away as the elders glanced at her with raised eyebrows.
"I'm fine.. I guess.", Kazu replied, a little shaky and drained of energy. He also felt unnervingly hungry. But he had more pressing matters at hand.
" But there's something else. It was Ta-lin who captured me. The airbender that Korra warned me about.", he stated, a little shakily.
"What!?", Temujin exclaimed in fears were growing more and more true by the minute.
"You met Avatar Korra?", Ryoshi exclaimed in a flabbergasted manner, voicing the astonishment of some of the other nodded.
"When I was captured, I was unconscious and somehow I ended up in the spirit world.", he replied. " Korra found me and warned me that this woman was dangerous and was after me . I don't know why she's after me but she seems to have some connection with the air temple. ", he continued, feeling a little disturbed as he recalled the memory of the bandit's face contorting due to lack of oxygen .
Temujin exchanged silent, shocked glances with all the other air masters.
"Either way. You are safe. That is all that matters for now. We will work on how to deal with the threat once we are back in the temple.", he stated after a short pause.
"So you failed to acquire the boy you seek, even with my bandits helping you?", Raman remarked , gritting his teeth as Ta-lin had just told him that their deal would have to be continued, since she still didn't have the Avatar with her.
"Failure is an objective overstatement. You said your men were skilled and would be more than upto the task I had at hand and yet, they got beat by a bunch of teenagers. ", Ta-lin hissed as she tried to control her anger.
"Well. If you had said that the boy you were after was the Avatar, I would've taken more precautions. I would've come myself.", Raman spat and at this response, a look of shock flitted across her face momentarily before it reverted back to the unreadable expression. She hadn't told anyone her true motive. There had to be only one way that this oaf had knowledge of the boy's identity.
"One of my brothers saw him firebending and airbending. Not something just anyone can do.", he remarked coldly.
"It doesn't matter. Our agreement still holds. You give me assistance and I help remove the air nation as your threat.", Ta-lin remarked bluntly as if nothing had changed.
As an answer, Raman turned away from her and stood silently for a few seconds, his palms clasped behind him.
"No. We don't.", he stated coldly. A small smirk stretched the corners of Ta-lin's lips.
"You take my men and go after a teenaged boy without disclosing the important fact that he was the Avatar . That was forgivable. But then you abandon one of my brothers and kill and force them to act on your will?", he hissed in anger.
"And you unwittingly exposed the location of the air temple to my kin that you took with you, thereby eliminating my need for your help. ", Raman stated smartly as he turned to face the airbender woman.
"We no longer have an agreement. ".
"You know, when they say that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, they really have it wrong.", Ta-lin stated calmly with a smirk on her face.
"Enough small talk.", Raman spat. "You can leave silently, which is more than you deserve, or I can show you why we are feared in these provinces.".
Ta-lin didn't speak, simply staring at the leader of the bandit clan with a calm expression.
"I think I would like to see if you live up to your reputation indeed.", she stated firmly, assuming a bending stance.
Without warning, Raman began shooting out metal plates in rapid motion at Ta-lin,forcing her to cartwheel backwards to avoid the whizzing blades. He definitely was a lot more skilled than the other metalbenders she had come across so far. But that was just a minor achievement.
She began to duck and weave under the barrage of metal, bobbing lightly on her toes with a half smirk on her face. It was a useful tactic, to throw the opponent off balance by taunting them. And Raman seemed to fall for it, roaring as he began to shoot metal and kicking out small boulders at Ta-lin, attempting to strike her down.
"Looks like you're off your game.", Ta-lin taunted as she bobbed around.
In a burst of rage, the leader of the bandit clan shot seven metal plates at her and while she was engaged with the attack, he took control of the slab of rock on which she was standing and ripped it up off the ground, throwing her off her feet, where she narrowly managed to avoid the metal plates as she was sent crashing into a wall behind her.
"Who's off their game now?", he leered at her as she glared back at him.
"I'll admit. Good move. Now my turn.", she stated with venom and before Raman had time to register what she had said, she spun around off her feet and kicked out two air powerful air blasts from her heels, the first one catching him and throwing him off him feet, whilst the second one followed up, meeting him painfully.
Outside Raman's hall, in the cave labyrinth, a few of the passing by bandits were walking by passively, as the cave walls were almost soundproof and they had no inclination of the elemental battle taking place on the other side. Then, taking them by surprise, the cave wall burst open ad a body rocketed out from within.
As the bandits moved back, a little taken by surprise and shocked, they took notice of their leader getting back up to his feet, groaning in pain as the airbender woman walked out of the crumbling wall of dust and debris, a cold smile on her face.
As they realized what was happening, they drew out their elements, Karan amongst them. However, they came to a halt when Raman's voice rang out through the labyrinth.
"No! Don't. This is my fight. I can handle her.", he stated, getting to his feet and assuming a bending stance.
"I want you all to know that I would never ask you to do something that I'm not willing to do on my own.", he ordered them as Ta-lin smirked.
"Valiant. But foolish.", she stated .
As an answer, Raman lurched forward, moving his arms around swiftly, shooting out a barrage of metal plates that he had bent into sickle-like curved razor blades, with the intention of killing the woman now. Ta-lin began to swivel around, skimming her feet across the cave floor, avoiding the metal plates one by one before she locked her attention and swiftly moved her right arm in a clockwise motion from left to right, therby directing the metal plates off of her with a wind swipe and impaling them to the ground next to her. He then ripped out a chunk of the ground beneath them and sent it hurling at her, only to have her shatter it to crumbs with a powerful, concentrated air blast that struck the chunk of earth down the middle.
She then leapt up and kicked and punched out air blasts at Raman, who was able to avoid the first attack, but fell victim to the second.
"You have the skill but lack the creativity or the drive to excel at your element. It's a shame really. ", Ta-lin stated bluntly as she watched him crawl forward. She looked up momentarily with her eyes alone, catching sight of a cove of rocks that hung from the cave ceiling then she looked back down at the leader of the clan.
Then, with a swift motion, she clapped her palms together and thrust them upwards, creating an updraft of precise, concentrated air that shot towards the ceiling and struck the cove, dislodging the stalagmites that plummeted down the ten feet drop, crumbling over the figure of the weakened Raman, who vanished behind the rocks piling up on him.
After a few prolonged seconds of the rocks settling, the pile lay where Raman once stood. Now , as the dust settled, there was no motion. All the bandits had their eyes wide open,shocked and horrified, staring at the spot where the leader had vanished,seemingly crushed to death.
"Do I have your attention now!?", Ta-lin called out loud to the onlookers, her voice echoing through the labyrinth. As the shocked and unsettled faces of the bandits stared up at her, she knew she had them in her grasp.
"There has been a change of leadership. You did not RESPOND to reason, so now you will know fear! ", she roared out venomously.
"Spread the word. Until I have the Avatar, these caves ..are my caves. You answer to me now. If anyone has a problem with that, they can give my warm regards to your fallen leader sooner than you expected. Do I make myself clear?!", she roared out loud, glaring daggers at the bandits, who stood around unsurely and evidently shaken.
A shadow of a leer stretched across her face as she glanced around the area.
"I think there has been a misconception . Something you all should know about me . I always get what I want. ", she sneered threateningly.
That's all for this chapter drop a review , it helps me correct my mistakes. And I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Until next time, Avatar Yip,Yip!
