Book 1 Chapter 11: News
Characters: Ryan Gaia (Orion), Suta-Shutaru, and Atlas (Introducing new character)
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-Bad News-
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Late at night there was a knock on our hotels door. I let the heavy sleeping ladies sleep on and answered it myself. It was the manager of the hotel, Shukan. "Come on, get them up, get them up, you must leave immediately!" "What for? We said we'll pay you tomorrow didn't I? It's only one day you can't give us a break?" "Money has nothing to do with this! Just get them up and come with me!" I did as the manager said and I did not have a good feeling about this. "You must go into hiding. The leader of the Black Rose has just assassinated the current fire lord. You Godbrother didn't make it." I realized then and there that I had to get to Uncles' tea shop immediately. "No you mustn't go. He has just ordered a hit on you and anyone traveling with you. If you turn yourself in he will let Suta and Atlas go free." He began to explain further. "He has also conquered the Northern Water Tribe and the East and Central Air Temples. Soon the world will be at his command, but that's not all!" I sighed. Then I spoke "I didn't think it was, continue." "His forces are on their way here! Our village has no hope of stopping him; you must escape and be free. Start a rebellion and conquer their leader! Now go!" I did as he requested. He told us that they were coming from the northern front which was natural because one of their main bases was the castle north of this little town. Not to mention I had to get to Ba Sing Se which was to the south. We headed towards south but ran into a little bit of a problem: they surrounded the city using the woods hiding city. There weren't as many from the north battlement but there were still hundreds. We fought and killed, fought and killed, and fought and killed some more but it just wasn't enough. After about an hour of holding of benders, and Suta not having a sword, Atlas and I were exhausted. Still about twenty of them remained from the southern front and surrounded us. "Aaaaaaaaaaah!" A mysterious, tall, black figure appeared out of nowhere, only seeing his eyes. He didn't bend but pulled out a katana and employed swift, aloof, movements that were nearly unpredictable, like he was dancing. However it took him the blink of an eye to drop about 23 people. He decapitated four of them and just straight up dominated the rest. He dramatically sheathed his katana and said "Are we going or what?" We followed him until we reached the train station into Ba Sing Se. That night we camped out underground and created a vast amount of tiny "peep" holes to release the smoke from our fire, although we managed to get a lot of soot on our clothing. We gathered around the fire as the man took his hood off and revealed himself.
(Back at the Village)
"Did it work?"
"Yes my lord, I sent the boy and his friends away."
"Good now where is the other you were telling me about?"
"He has left sir, before your agents were on the horizon he vanished."
"Argo, kill this man."
"No, please, mercy."
"Sorry I've given all the mercy out that I have, which is none."
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-Indifferent News-
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He wasn't who I expected him to be. He was young, 22 at the oldest, yet I half expected him to be old, wise, and a master swordsman. That's just me being Sokka again. He had proved that he was a master swordsman with his katana. I caught myself staring through the fire at his katana on his right and he said "Hey, who do you think you are, staring at Keiko like that?" I didn't see anyone else in the room besides him, Atlas, and Suta who was already curled up next to me and asleep. Atlas lay backwards with her feet close to the fire. "Who?" I asked. "My katana, Keiko." I thought there was something wrong with this guy, he's gone all wrong in the head. "My name is Kimikenkaku. Just call me K. ok? I'm an elite guard from the Northern Water Tribe. I allowed myself to get captured to make it here to you." I wondered how he knew me. Except for killing some Dai Li agents and three Black Rose members, I had really just traveled. "Don't worry" he assured me "your journey is legend around the elite. I heard my tribe's leader talking about it before we were attacked; he's a member of the White Lotus. You need to confront Saosasu and free the nations and I shall help you."
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-Good News-
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Neither K nor I slept that night. We were talking about the war and were worried about the Black Rose taking over Ba Sing Se before we got there. If they conquered Ba Sing Se the Black Rose troops were waiting at the other smaller communities and the world would be Saosasu's. "You know, it seems like every time there is a tide deciding battle for the world, the last strong front is Ba Sing Se?" we didn't laugh about it because the last time this occurred the fire nation infiltrated from the inside. Would the Black Rose do the same? When the sun was up we knew it. All the tiny peep holes that we made for the smoke from the fire to escape from had sunlight passing through them. It lit up the entire hole that we had slept in. We woke the girls and returned to the surface. "This is K you two, play nice." Atlas turned around and looked surprised, she must have thought that he was an old man as well. We didn't walk but ran to the train towards Ba Sing Se, we boarded and headed towards the middle ring where we would gather a rebellion and all the White Lotus members and head for the main outer rim gates to await the army of the Black Rose. When we got there we were relieved to see that Ba Sing Se was not taken over. However the city was swarming with people from different nations fleeing the hostile take over. The Black Rose society was winning. We kept running towards the middle ways of Ba Sing Se's middle ring. We finally got there and opened the door. My Godmother was there and she looked happy to see me. "Mae, I'm so sorry." She ran into my arms and cried into my shoulder. "I was there when he ended, he said to me "This is my gift to my nation, my life." Zuko had to pry me away from and barely saved my life." I guessed she finally noticed I wasn't the only one in the Jade Dragon. "Who are these your friends?" "Yeah, that's Suta my girlfriend, Atlas my Earthbending teacher, and that's K, he just saved our lives." K was standing in the doorway looking towards the way we came. He turned around, tipped his sun shade that appeared out of nowhere, and turned back to watch the fascinating streets. "Where's Zuko, I want to talk to him first." "He's in a secret storage space/ extra bedroom right next to the stove in the kitchen. I walked into the backroom and saw Iroh making tea. He pointed towards the wall left of the stove. I slid the wall back and entered but I didn't see my Godfather. I saw a man who was drunk, sad, and angry with himself. He put down the huge almost empty bottle and said "Please take a seat, Orion." I calmly sat at the foot of his bed. "I am not sad that my son gave his life to protect his country. I am sad that I was not able to help him. I think he is now on the same boat as your parents and your brother." "Father know now is not the best time but the man that leads the Black Rose, he is my brother. I asked him face to face on top of a volcano. He is definitely my brother." This put a more horrific face on him. "I promise that we I will avenge our families." He replied "And I promise that we will have a normal family someday. You don't have any parents right? Well I don't have any kids now, maybe you could fill their shoes." "That'd be nice. You might have a Daughter in-law thrown in with that deal." "You met someone Orion? Is she here?" "Yeah she's in the dinning area." He went out to see her, I followed but to see Iroh instead. "Why didn't you tell me it was my brother." "Because, I didn't want to see you hurt." I stood there and looked at him. I stomped on the ground, he was being sincere. I walked out and slammed the kitchen door, through it's vibration I felt Iroh's sorrow. He felt like he betrayed me. I walked back into the kitchen and he was surprised. "Thank you Iroh, for protecting me" and walked out once more. This time he was happy.