Chapter IX: Spectre

"I have to admit, we've had our fair share of visitors in the past, but we've never had an Avatar here before. If I remember the legends right, then you're here to find a firebending teacher. Am I right?" Jin, Toph, and Kai Xin were sitting in the stands around the arena; the stands had long since emptied, and they were the only three there. Jin replied to Kai Xin, "Yeah. I need a firebending teacher. So I need to find Spectre. Can you tell me anything about him?" Kai Xin shrugged. "To be honest with you, nobody really knows who Spectre is- I don't even know, and I'm the commissioner of this tournament. He just showed up with an application last year, and won. He never said a word to anyone during the whole thing, and as soon as it was over, he just disappeared. I'll tell you what- I'll go see if I can find his application. There has to be something there which can help you find him." Kai Xin stood up and left for some unknown place.

Toph then turned to Jin and said, "You know, you seem to be dead set on having Spectre as your teacher. Maybe you should look at one of the other fighters. I mean, what will you do if you can't find him?" Jin looked over at her and replied, "Normally, I wouldn't trust my instincts in a situation like this, because they'd usually be wrong. But I just can't shake this feeling about him. Spectre has to be my teacher. He just has to." Kai Xin returned holding a piece of paper; he gave it to Jin and said, "I found Spectre's application. It doesn't have a name, but it does have an address. It matches up with the one he submitted last year. You should try looking there."

Several minutes later, Jin and Toph stood outside the home marked on Spectre's application. The house stood on the outskirts of the underground settlement, and from appearances, had been long abandoned. Jin took a deep breath, approached the door, and pushed it open. From what could be seen in the sliver of light from the door, the inside of the house was even worse than the outside; most of the furniture was either overturned, rotting, or in most cases, both; the floor was strewn with various amounts of garbage; swarms of insects skittered across the floor; and various sections of the walls, floor, and ceiling were severely scorched. Jin and Toph entered, stepping over the debris as best as they could. "Hello?" Jin called. "Is anyone here?" He looked back at Toph. "Do you think he's really here?" Toph continued to make her way to the middle of the room. "Maybe not. But we should check the whole place out before we jump to any conclusions." She looked over to her left and stopped. "Wait… what's that?" Jin looked over; a rectangle glowed on the wall in a soft orange light. He looked over to Toph and said, "I'll check it out." He took another deep breath and approached the door, then slowly pushed it open.

Jin immediately noticed the room beyond was much cleaner than the main room. The room was lit by a single lantern that hung from the ceiling. Before Jin could take in any more of the room, a movement to his right caught his attention. He looked over and froze. In the room was a girl with her back was turned toward him; she had long black hair, but Jin couldn't see her face. She wore a familiar looking pair of pants, but no shirt, only a long bandage wrapped tightly around her chest. She reached back and untied the bandage, which fell to the floor; Jin gasped, noticing the girl's back was heavily covered with burns. She heard Jin's gasp, and in a blur, grabbed a piece of clothing from the ground, held it against her chest, and whirled around to face Jin, arm outstretched, a flame lit at her fingertips. When she saw him, the flame disappeared, and her expression changed from fury to irritation. "Oh, it's you," she muttered. "What do you want?" Now that Jin could see her face, he noticed the girl had another scar on her face- it crossed her nose and stretched under her eyes. Now that the girl faced him, Jin could feel his face burn; he stammered, "I, I… I was, looking for Spectre…" The girl sat down on a bed in the room. "Well you found me. Congratulations." She patted the bed next to her. "Come, sit. Let's chat, shall we? And tell your girlfriend she can come too." Jin instantly blurted in defense," She's not my girlfriend!" but sat down next to the girl; Toph sat down as well, next to Jin. "First off," Jin said, "how do I know you're the real Spectre?" The girl held up her right arm, showing the bandages wrapped around it. "You probably saw me get this in the final round of the tournament. But if you still don't believe me…" She stretched over the bed, and bent over the side to pick up something off the ground. She held the object up for them to see- a helmet, made from a dark metal and twisted into the visage of a demon. A helmet much like the one Spectre wore during the tournament. She resumed sitting with the helmet in her lap, but neglected to continue holding her shirt to her chest; Jin immediately turned away, face burning, and asked, "Would you please put a shirt on?" The girl asked, "Why?"

"It's just… really uncomfortable." Jin then heard a tearing of fabric as the girl replied, "Right, right. Well, I wouldn't want you to feel uncomfortable." There was a rustling sound, then the girl said, "Okay, you can look now." Jin looked; the girl was now wearing her shirt, but had torn off the sleeves. "There. Feel better now?" Jin nodded. "Good. Now tell me, what are you doing here?" Jin replied, "Well, I was at the tournament, and I saw you there… well, you know I was there. I faced you." The girl grew impatient. "Just get to the point." Toph then said, "What Jin's trying to say is, he's the Avatar. And he needs to find a firebending teacher. It's important." The girl stood up. "Not my problem. Anyway, from what I saw at the tournament, you don't need a firebending teacher. Now, get out of here." She started to walk away, but Jin said, "But I need to master firebending before New Year's Day. If I don't, an army of benders will begin attacking and take over the world." The girl waved her hand, and the lantern in the room went out. "Again, not my problem," she said, leaving Jin and Toph alone in darkness. Jin put his face in his hands. "What do we do now?" he asked. Toph put her hand on his shoulder and replied, "I guess we'll have to find someone else." Jin stood up and began to leave the room. "You know, I think I saw some hot springs on the way up to the top of the volcano. I'm gonna go there and think about this whole thing." Toph stood up as well. "That's not a bad idea. Maybe little relaxation will help clear our heads."

An hour later, Jin and Toph relaxed in the waters of the hot spring. They sat apart in different pools, the pools separated by a large wall. Both sat with their backs to the wall, mulling over their thoughts in silence. Then, to Toph's left, a voice said, "You know, when I first saw you, I didn't think you'd be the hot spring type." She looked over- the girl from before sat next to her. Toph said, "I thought you didn't want to talk to us." The girl replied, "You just caught me at a bad time. I've been thinking about what you said, and I might be willing to help you guys out. But first, I need to know something- who exactly are you guys fighting against?"

"Avatar Aang told us that after the war, a bunch of generals that led the non-benders began trying to learn how to bend, so they could… make better soldiers, but their descendants want to make an army for world domination." A pause. "I don't really know the story that well. You should ask Jin. He knows the story better."

"Okay. I'll go talk to your boyfriend."

"He's not my-"

"Whatever." The girl stood up and left.

On the other side of the wall, Jin sat with his back against the wall, eyes closed, trying to think of what to do next. He had been wrong about Spectre, but would have been more ashamed if his feelings hadn't misled him before. But even now, he still couldn't shake his feelings about that girl. She seemed… familiar somehow, as though he had met her before. Jin almost immediately dismissed that thought- there was no possible chance that he and the girl had met before today. Just then, his thoughts were interrupted when someone said to him, "I found you. We need to talk." Jin opened his eyes and gasped; the girl sat next to him just as before. Before the stunned Jin could say anything, the girl said, "Oh, get over yourself. In fact, you should feel honored; not only have you seen the great Spectre unmasked, but you've also seen her naked. Twice. On the same day." Jin turned away, face burning. "Stop mocking me."

"But you make it so easy for me."

"What do you want anyway? You gonna tell me, or are you just gonna sit there and make fun of me?"

"Well, as much as I'd like to sit here all day and make you feel uncomfortable, I need to tell you something. I thought about what you said, and I'm willing to reconsider."

"That's a little suspicious. How do I know you're not lying to me?"

"You can ask me any question about me that you want, and I'll answer it honestly."

"Okay… I know Spectre isn't your real name, so what is it, then?"

"That's a fair question. And you're right- Spectre isn't my name. My real name is Nina." Nina? Jin thought to himself. What a strange name. Then, Nina said, "Okay, I answered your question, so it's only fair that you answer one of mine. I want to know about these people you're fighting against."

A pause. "Alright. They're called the Order. They're the descendants of the generals that led-"

"Yeah yeah, that led the non-benders during the war, trying to learn the secrets of bending, and all that. I know that already."

"Well, that's all Avatar Aang told me about them." He then asked, "Why are you so interested, anyway?"

"There's a story I've heard that after the war, some of the firebenders that survived secretly made their way back to a special sanctum, hidden in the Fire Nation. This sanctum was where all the information about firebending and its techniques were kept. But when they opened the sanctum, it was empty. So they left, assuming the records of firebending had been destroyed. But when I heard your girlfriend say this… Order is trying to raise an army of benders…"

"You think the Order stole the firebending records."

"Yeah. And if they managed to find the firebenders's sanctuary, then they've probably found the others, too."

Jin asked, "Aang? What do you think of this?" Aang appeared, sitting at the edge of the water by the wall, and replied, "Unfortunately, Nina's right. At the war's end, the generals began searching for the sanctums of the Four Nations. The sanctums, as Nina said, were hidden in secluded locations all over the world, and contained all the collected knowledge of the bending arts. The Order collected the information from each sanctum, and then sealed it within a sanctum of its own." Aang disappeared, and Nina then said, "Do you realize how important this is? Not just to me, but all firebenders. When the Order raided our sanctum, they took several thousand years of firebending history with them. We thought it was destroyed, lost forever. But, if it still exists, after all this time…" She shook her head. "Sorry, I'm rambling. We should focus on the matter at hand. Anyway, now that you've told me what I want to know, I guess I'd be willing to reconsider."

"So you'll teach me firebending?"

"Of course. We'll start tomorrow. I'm sure 'Spectre' can reserve the arena for us."

"Thanks." There was no reply. Jin looked behind him; Nina was gone. He hadn't heard her leave at all. "What's the deal with that girl? He thought to himself. First, she doesn't want anything to do with me, and then she says she's willing to reconsider? She comes and goes like the wind. In his musings, Jin slumped against the wall and soaked in the hot water of the spring.

The next morning came, and Jin and Toph made their way to the arena again; unlike the evening before, the way was clear. The arena was empty, and through the mouth of the volcano, the sky shone through. Toph sat down at one of the seats surrounding the ring and said, "I'll wait up here. Good luck with your first lesson." Jin continued to the basin of the volcano, then climbed the stairs up to the ring. At the opposite side sat Nina, legs dangling over the edge of the ring, wearing her demon helmet. As he approached, she looked back at him and said, "You made it. You ready to start first lesson?" Jin nodded. "Good." Nina stood up, then took off the helmet. "Hate wearing this thing. It's hot, and it smells, and I can barely see out of it…" As she set the helmet down, Jin asked, "Then why do you wear it?"

"Well, about two years ago… a bad thing happened. I was banned from competing in the Ring of Fire, and all the other tournaments. So I had to come up with a new way to get in. So, I made up Spectre." Jin pointed to the scar on her face. "Is that where you…" Nina touched her scar. "This? No. I got this the year before that, when I was twelve. I was in the final round against that weirdo with all the knives when he threw one and hit me in the face. I still managed to beat him, even though half of my nose was falling off for most of the fight." She walked over to him. "Now before we begin, I need to see what I'm working with. Just try to make as much fire as you can." Jin replied, "Okay," then began to concentrate. After focusing as hard as he could, he trust out his arm; however, all he created was a feeble puff of smoke that barely left the palm of his hand. Nina walked over to him and said, "I'm going to tell you something very important. The strength in firebending comes from the breath, not the muscles. The breath becomes energy in the body, extends past your limbs, and becomes…" Nina took a deep breath and thrust out her arm like Jin, but this time, a massive burst of fire shot from her hand. "…fire. Try it again, and this time, remember to breathe." Jin nodded, took a deep breath, and repeated his actions; this time, a jet of fire shot from his palm, though it wasn't nearly as impressive as Nina's. Nina applauded and said, "Not bad. And remember that breathing thing. A master firebender needs to have proper breathing control in order to firebend effectively. We'll work on that as you go through your training. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Try it one last time." Jin nodded, took a deep breath, and continued.