Chapter VIII: Roku's Island
Several hours passed as the balloon drifted over the ocean. During that time, Jin and Toph watched as several islands passed by, but they continued onward. Finally, as the sun began to dip into the western sky, an island became visible through the haze on the horizon. It was small, and though it was still considerably far away, two large mountains could be seen on its surface. Another, much larger island was just barely visible through the haze behind the first. As Jin and Toph looked over the edge of the basket, she asked, "Do you think that's it?" Jin retrieved his pack, pulled out the map, and looked back over at the island before ducking down to consult the map. "I think so. There should be a really big island to the southwest of Roku's Island, and another island to the southeast." He peered over the basket's edge, on the left side of the balloon; sure enough, a large island could be seen through the mist. "Yeah, this has to be it," he said. "We should start heading down." Toph grabbed the vent rope and pulled, and the balloon began to descend toward the island.
Roughly ten minutes later, the basket thumped against the ground. Jin opened the burner and put out the fuel while Toph held the vent open, allowing all the hot air to escape. The envelope rapidly deflated and fell to the side of the basket. Jin and Toph then grabbed their packs and climbed out of the basket. They looked around; with the exception of a few patches of grass, the island was completely barren, and made of a strange black rock. Jin bent down to examine the ground. "What is this stuff?" he asked as he pulled a piece from the ground. Toph examined it as well and replied, "I don't know. I've never seen anything like it before." Jin dropped the rock to look around again. "I don't get it. It doesn't look like anybody's lived here for years. Maybe Avatar Aang was wrong about there being firebenders here. …Well, at least we have a nice secluded spot to practice earthbending." Toph put her hand against the ground, closed her eyes, and focused. "No… we're not alone. There are people moving around right under us." She then opened her eyes. "Someone's coming." She then raised an earth tent around them. They sat in darkness for several tense moments. Toph whispered, "They're getting closer." Then, a muffled voice outside the tent said, "I know you're in there. Come out, or I'll blow this tent sky high." Jin and Toph did nothing, but then Toph asked, "Are you a firebender?" The voice replied, "That depends. Are you spies from the Shu Kingdom?"
"No. We're not from Shu. We're earthbenders." Toph lowered the earth tent to demonstrate. They saw the man for the first time- he was young, possibly eighteen, wearing clothes much like Jin's but in a dull red. "I see," he said. "I'll admit, we had earthbenders living here for a while, and we knew about the benders hiding on Crescent Island and in the Sun Warrior city, but I didn't think there were any others beyond the Shu Kingdom. Anyway, if you guys are benders, there's no way you could be spies." He glanced at the balloon behind them. "That's a nice balloon you have there. Where'd you get it?" Toph replied defensively, "We didn't steal it! We're… borrowing it on a long term basis." The man nodded. "Suuure you are. You know, not a lot of ships pass by here, but it'd draw way too much attention if someone spotted that. Maybe you should, I don't know, hide it with your earthbending or something." Toph and Jin then understood what they had to do; they approached the balloon, and bent the earth around it to form a dome over it. Though the dome was noticeable, it was unlikely to arouse suspicion. "Well, now that that's taken care of, I suppose we should head underground now," the man said. He began to walk away from the dome, but stopped and said, "You know, I should probably introduce myself. I'm Mao." Toph said, "I'm Toph, and this is Jin."
"Now that we've been properly introduced, we should be on our way." Mao continued walking, and the two followed. They came to a small cave near the base of one of the mountains and entered. The interior of the cave was rough like a normal cave, but this was only an illusion; only a few feet away from the entrance, the cave became a smooth flight of descending stairs. As the three descended the staircase, Mao said to Jin and Toph, "If you don't mind me asking, where did you guys come from? Why did you come here? Did someone find out you two were benders?" Toph replied, "We're from the east continent, and no, we didn't come here because someone found out we were benders. The truth is complicated." Jin looked over at her. "No it isn't," he said, then turned back to Mao. "The truth is… I'm the Avatar." Mao looked back, but continued to descend the staircase. "Really? Let me guess… you came here to find a firebending teacher, didn't you?"
"Well yeah. You know any?"
"No." A pause. "You know, we don't get many visitors, but people occasionally come to live here. As long as you keep your heads down, no one will notice two extra kids wandering around." They finally reached the bottom of the staircase; the bottom opened into a large cavern that seemed to end abruptly. Jin and Toph then realized that they were facing a long line of buildings; light glowed from behind the buildings, shining through the spaces between them, and noise floated from behind the buildings. Mao turned back to the stairs and said, "I have to go. I need to finish my patrols," before ascending the staircase. Toph and Jin made their way through the alley between two buildings, and emerged on a street much like the one in the town they had visited on the east continent. People milled about amongst numerous stalls that had been set up in front of the buildings. They wandered as well, trying to seem as unassuming as possible, but then, someone called to them, "Hey. You two. Come here." Not wanting to arouse suspicion, they approached the person who called them- a man standing by the entrance of an alley. "Hey. You kids like firebending?" Jin replied, "Uh, yeah. Sure." The man pulled a paper out of his pocket and gave it to Jin. "Then you'll love this: the 43rd annual Ring of Fire tournament. Some of the best firebenders in the entire world will be there." He turned and said, "I have to go now," before disappearing into the alley. Jin looked down at the paper. "It says here that the tournament will be at the top of the main volcano at sunset. Do you think we should go?" Toph looked at him and replied, "Are you kidding? Of course we're going! Maybe we can find a firebending teacher there. Now come on!" Toph grabbed Jin's wrist and dragged him off.
About half an hour later, Jin and Toph entered a large arena built at the top of the main volcano. Suspended over the (sealed over) vent on four large chains was an equally large platform, with stairs leading up to each side; seats had been carved into the crater surrounding the ring. The stands were packed; Jin and Toph struggled through the crowds, but found a place near the front row. The crowd immediately settled when a massive plume of flame appeared at the center of the platform. It dispersed, leaving a long-haired man in its place. "Welcome to the 43rd annual Ring of Fire!" the man shouted to the crowd. "I am your host, Kai Xin! The rules are simple: only two combatants are allowed in the ring at a time. Just knock the other guy out of the ring, or make him surrender, and you win! Round 1: Blade versus the Phoenix King!" Kai Xin jumped out of the ring, and two others entered. One wore loose clothes and about a half-dozen swords and numerous other small bladed weapons on various belts- this was presumably Blade; the other was a large bald man wearing only a pair of pants- apparently, the Phoenix King. Blade said to the Phoenix King, "Phoenix King. What an inappropriate name. Because when I defeat you, you won't be rising from your ashes again." He then reached into a belt and tossed several knives at the Phoenix King. The Phoenix King sent out a jet of flame that blew away the knives; then, Blade drew two swords and charged. The two fought, Blade with his swords, the Phoenix King with firebending. Finally, the Phoenix King gained the upper hand, and tossed Blade out of the ring.
The rest of the tournament proceeded in much the same way. One or two earthbenders, weapon masters, and even other firebenders- the Phoenix King defeated them all. Toph asked Jin, "What do you think of that guy? He looks like a good firebender." Jin only replied, "Maybe." Many rounds later, Kai Xin silenced the crowd, and announced, "And now, the moment you've all been waiting for. The final round: The Phoenix King versus last year's champion, Spectre!" A person then entered the ring- they wore a light black suit, and, more peculiarly, a dark metal helmet in the visage of a demon. The Phoenix King said to Spectre, "Last year's win against me was just a fluke, Spectre! I'm taking you down." Spectre said nothing in reply, but simply took a fighting stance. The Phoenix King fired a jet of flames at Spectre, but he easily diverted it, then sent a few fireballs in response; the Phoenix King dodged these, then charged. The two firebenders then battled at close range, sending out jets, arcs, and balls of flames at each other. Then, a wave of fire caught Spectre's right arm, burning away the suit and searing the skin underneath. He then sent out a massive burst of fire that knocked the Earth King off balance. Before his opponent could recover, Spectre drew a large circle, arcs of electricity forming as he did; he did this with the other hand before firing a massive burst of lightning. The lightning struck the ground in front of the Phoenix King and exploded; the force of the explosion knocked him out of the ring, into the stands off to Jin and Toph's left. Toph leaned over again and asked, "What do you think about that guy? Will he work?" Jin whispered back, "I think so." Then, Kai Xin announced over the crowd, "The winner of the Ring of Fire, and still your champion, Spectre!" The crowd's cheers became deafening, but fell silent when Kai Xin stepped into the center of the ring and said, "To make things more interesting, I'm willing to offer this sack of gold pieces…" He held up a small sack. "…to anybody who can defeat Spectre." There were no takers. "What?" Kai Xin asked. "Nobody dares to challenge him?"
Jin then stood up and shouted "I will!" He began to make his way toward the ring, but Toph grabbed his arm, and hissed at him, "Have you completely lost it? There's no way you can take him on!" He brushed her hand off and replied, "I know. I just want to see if I can talk to him," before hopping down to the bottom and climbing the stairs to the ring. Once he was in front of Spectre, Kai Xin exited, and Jin said, "Listen, I don't really want to fight. I need to talk to you." Spectre replied by launching several fireballs; Jin quickly raised a rock wall to block them and said to himself, "Okay, so you don't want to talk." He pushed the wall at Spectre, but he dodged it and shot several more fireballs in response. The process repeated itself several more times; then after Jin pushed the wall at Spectre again, Spectre jumped over it and threw a massive arc of fire at him. He tried to raise several rock walls, but the arc simply burned through them all. Jin panicked- he'd exhausted everything he knew, and now was out of options.
Just then, Jin's eyes began to glow a bright white. He braced himself and, incredibly, began to bend the arc of fire around him. He pulled it around him in a circle; all previous traces of fear had seemingly disappeared. Then, Jin thrust out an arm, throwing the flames back at Spectre. Spectre was too shocked to react, and was tossed out of the ring. The crowd had fallen dead silent through the entire sequence. Jin's eyes stopped glowing, and then he jumped off the platform after Spectre. He landed hard, but got up quickly in time to see Spectre heading toward a tunnel in the side of the volcano. He caught up to him and said, "Listen, I'm really sorry, but I need to talk to you about something." Spectre kept walking as he replied, "Look, whoever you are, just leave me alone." His words were nearly incomprehensible, being spoken in a low voice and further muffled by his helmet. "Listen. I'm the Avatar. I need a firebending teacher, and I think it's supposed to be you." Spectre viciously tossed an arc of fire behind him. "I said leave me alone!" He then entered the tunnel alone, and was swallowed by darkness.
