After getting the last one done so far ahead, it would be a total waste not get started sooner rather than later. Not 100% sure where this is going to take me, so this'll be a surprise for everyone. Hopefully a fun one.
Well, the good news was that the adorable little girl whose house Tom had broken into wasn't screaming bloody murder, even after he had demolished the Fire Nation soldier who had followed him inside. Tom couldn't help but smile at hers, so bright and innocent. Suddenly that smile wavered for a moment.
"Oh, wait, why did you beat that soldier up?" she asked, careful to keep her voice down, probably to not wake up her parents.
"Why do you ask, Sport?" Tom asked in return, charmed by expressive mannerisms.
"Well, a lot of the soldiers can be really mean and pick on people," the little girl explained. "It's not right to hurt someone for no reason, but you seem nice, so I figured you had one."
"How do you know I won't lie about my reason? I'm a stranger after all."
The little girl shook her head emphatically. "I can tell you're a nice person, so you wouldn't lie to me."
It was hard for Tom not to laugh at the girl's youthful exuberance and innocence. "Yeah, I think I'd have a hard time lying to that smile of yours." The girl widened her smile even more. It was so natural he couldn't tell if she was being cheeky or if the notion really brought her that much joy. Maybe both. "Okay, here it is. I'm on the other side of the war. I'm helping the Avatar."
The girl gasped loudly before clamping her hands over her mouth to quiet herself. Still, the whole time her eyes were alight. She slowly uncovered her mouth and whispered with barely restrained excitement. "Are… are you a firebender too?" Tom answered by snapping his fingers, a flame lighting above his finger. The girl practically shook with excitement. "With those weird clothes, too. Y-you're really him, aren't you?! You're the Dragon Knight!"
"Dragon Knight?"
"Yeah, me and my friends all gave you guys nicknames," the girl explained enthusiastically, "You're the 'Dragon Knight' 'cause you're a firebender and everybody calls you a knight all the time. We like to play 'Capture the Avatar'."
"You're well informed. And which side do you like to be on?"
"My favorites are you and the Avatar. And our side always wins. Just like you and your friends!"
Tom chuckled quietly, "We don't actually win all the time. I'm here because I just escaped from a Fire Navy brig." The girl was about to have another excited outburst, but she noticed Tom was looking off somewhere else. Her eyes followed his and spotted who Tom assumed were her parents. "It looks like it's time for me to go." He started to bend down toward the unconscious soldier. "I'll get this and myself out of your home. Sorry to interrupt your evening."
Tom thought he had covered up his wince well, but he could tell from the supremely plain-looking man's face that he noticed. "You're hurt," the man said. He looked to be in his mid-forties, as did his wife. They seemed to be a little old to have a daughter so young, but they had probably just found each other later in life. Not everyone marries at twenty after all. Though in looking at them, Tom couldn't help but feel like he'd seen the wife before somewhere. Was she a background character? It was probably nothing.
"I don't want to trouble you," Tom said as he started to try to lift the unconscious dead weight. He was surprised when he noticed the hand of the man join his in lifting the unconscious soldier.
"It's no trouble at all," the man said, "You'll find no love for Fire Lord Ozai in this house." He turned to his wife as he gently directed Tom away from the unconscious soldier and toward the woman on the other side of the room. "Noriko, please look after our guest while I take care of this."
"Of course, Noren," she said as she to moved over toward Tom. She gently placed a hand on his shoulder, but her grip was strong and insistent. "Follow me, young man."
"Can I help?" the little girl asked enthusiastically, though she instantly shrunk under her mother's glare.
"Go to bed, Kiyi. We'll talk about what you were doing up so late tomorrow before you go to school."
"Aww…"
"Actually," Tom said as he gave in and let Noriko lead him toward a room deeper into the house, "she's awake because of me. My scuffle with the soldier woke her up."
Noren and Noriko looked at each other, then at Kiyi who flashed her biggest smile yet, and then at Tom. "You're a nice young man, aren't you?" Noren asked as he hoisted the soldier onto his shoulder. They separated and Noriko tended to Tom's wounds. Turns out that he had even more than he noticed in all the excitement. Once everything that could be bandaged was, Noriko insisted Tom go to their guest room and gets some rest. Tom tried to politely decline, but he was pretty much just going through the motions and they both knew it. After all, he was in these kind strangers' house for a reason.
It took him all of a second to be out like a light. Getting to shore would have been enough to knock him out on its own, but the adrenalin fueled chase afterword was just too much for him. Not to mention using Dragon Burst without his infinite energy cheat. It was midafternoon by the time Tom woke up. Late for even him. His hosts must not have woken him up. Still, he couldn't help but feel they were treating him a little too nicely.
Tom took a careful peek into their living room before he entered. He didn't see anything that seemed to betray a trap. But he did notice both Noren and Noriko sitting at their table having tea. Tom entered the room and addressed them, which they returned.
"Feeling better?" Noren asked.
"Well, better is relative," Tom returned, "So yes. By the way, I hope I'm not overstepping for asking, but you didn't take off work or anything to watch me, did you?"
Noren gave a reassuring smile. "No, you needn't worry about that. We run the local theater and in between shows."
"I see. Sounds nice."
"We met thanks to the theater group here, so it's very special to us," Noriko said, the two of them indulging in their shared memories for a moment.
Just then the door opened and revealed Kiyi. Her face lit up when she saw their guest was awake. "You're finally up, Tommy!" she declared with glee as she entered.
Tom tried to hide his discomfort at being called "Tommy". It's not like she'd know why he had a problem with it. "You know," he said, returning the child's smile, "I normally only let one person call me 'Tommy'."
"Is it me?" Kiyi asked, eyes sparkling.
Tom couldn't help but laugh. "You know what, Sport? I guess I'll have to let two people call me that."
"Yay!" She ran over and started pulling Tom's arm, trying to lead him toward the door. "You should come play with us! My friends would flip!"
As much as Tom enjoyed Kiyi's enthusiasm, he didn't move a step. "Sorry, Kiyi, but I don't think that would be the best idea. Besides, I have to get back to my friends."
"Aww," the energetic girl whined, "Already? At least promise you'll come visit again sometime."
"Sure thing sport."
"Kiyi," they both looked up at her mother. Tom wasn't sure if Kiyi noticed, but there was the hint of a grim look on Noren's and Noriko's faces. "Go play with your friends."
"Okay," she said before turning back to Tom. "Come back soon, okay Tommy?"
"You bet, Sport," he said, ruffling her hair. Suddenly he snapped his fingers as a thought occurred to him. "Actually, since I have to be as inconspicuous as possible, how about I give you this to hold on to?" Kiyi's ever expressive face lit up as Tom took his jacket off and handed it to her.
"So you'll have to come back and get this really, really soon, right?" the energetic girl asked, bouncing with glee.
"Of course."
"Why don't you let me put that away so you can go play, Kiyi?" Noren asked.
The response was getting covered by the garment as Kiyi dashed past, "Thanks, Daddy!"
Tom did his best to hold back his laughter, but he couldn't help but at least snicker. Noren pulled the hoodie off of himself and put it down on the table he had been sitting at. "Kids," he said lightheartedly.
Once Kiyi was out of earshot, Tom's attitude turned serious as he addressed his hosts. "Did you ask Kiyi to leave because you didn't want her to hear about the rumors of the Avatar's death?"
"A-are you saying he's alive?" Noren asked hopefully.
"Only if you promise not to let the word get out."
"I see." Noren paused in thought, but then looked up, having realized something. "Hold on, how are you going to find your friends?"
"I could use a little help with that, actually," Tom said casually. "I don't suppose you could tell me how to get to the closest Fire Nation home island to the Fire Sages' old temple?"
It wasn't as simple as there just being one answer as there were multiple islands close to the crescent island. But with the help of a map and a quick geography lesson, Tom was able to guess where he needed to go. Getting transportation was a bit of a challenge, but at the edge of Hira'a, there was an industrial area that included a blacksmith. Since it worked out last time, Tom decided to scrounge up a little money working there.
The smith at the large shop was much friendlier, but much less inclined to hire some kid for a day. It took a fabricated sob story about being kicked out of his home and needing the money for food to get the man to cave. Like last time, he managed to make a little coin and something for himself before he left. This time is was some iron plate armor. It was simple, just a cuirass, as well as some pieces to protect his arms and legs. It was pretty simple and he'd be lucky if it stopped a solid spear thrust, but it was very light and sparse enough that it wouldn't restrict his movements. And since fists and feet were the most common weapons that he encountered, this would do for now. Remembering back to one of his earlier escapades, he added a bit of red cloth for a cape. Looking himself over, it was a little dramatic, sure, but he thought it looked pretty cool. (Besides, if that new Batman game was anything to go by, capes could totally be practical!)
With the money from his hard day of work, he chartered a boat to the island he suspected he'd find Aang and the others on. From that point until he managed to bump into them, he'd be winging it. A day had passed by the time he arrived on the island he hoped he'd find his friends on. He was sore and exhausted and fairly hungry having to eat lean with little resources on his own. He spent another half a day just circling the island on the beach, hoping to find the cave he hoped he'd recognize at just the right time. He knew he was ahead of them, but it was still a hope on a hope on a hope.
He was starting to think it was hopeless when he took a break in the mouth of one of the caves he had found. It was one of a good half dozen that could have been the one he was looking for. Assuming he was on the right island and the timing was right. Still, if fate decided to screw him at "Crossroads", then maybe it'd be kind now.
That was the thought going through his head when he heard a familiar rumble coming from a suspiciously descending cloud. "Well I'll be damned…"
Not that sure about this one. Glad it's done and all, but this might get heavily revised when I get back around to it. I don't dislike it, but I don't think it's as strong as some of my other ones. Time will tell I suppose.
And now comes the part where I answer some FAQs in a backlogged chapter because I'm hecking weird.
So, first of all, I don't know if I've put this in a Dragon Knight A/N or not, but I should probably be clear about some things. As far as I'm concerned, shipping is the bane of any and every fanfiction community and I despise it on principle. That said though, not all romances in fanfictions are shipping. Hell, not all non-cannon romances in fanfictions are shipping. And on that note, I should probably give my definition of shipping so there's no confusion. To me, shipping is when a fanfiction author hijacks the brain(s) of character(s) to force a romance that seems superficially appropriate, but goes against who the characters are supposed to be. Personally, I'm a hopeless romantic, but romance should only come out of natural character development. That said, I am writing Tom and Azula's banter as playfully flirty knowingly. My intent is that it can be interpreted as either budding romance or just their sense of humor/attempts to throw each other off. Or even something in between. And I'm not going to say if it's going to go one way or the other until it's actually properly addressed in the text. Same can be said for any romantic possibilities with Katara or any other character for that matter. Frankly, just noting these things draws more attention to the subject than I really wanted to which is why I've been mostly glib about my answers when asked directly about this sort of thing.
Another thing I feel like mentioning (mostly because I got an anonymous review asking this question and this is my only way of answering) is that Tom's probably going to be one of the very few OCs in RotDK. I don't think I can leave him as the only one as during the long break I took I realized the original ending I had planned would have ended up being a total anti-climax and I'd have to actually drop the other shoe and address the story's real antagonist. I've actually been a lot more explicit about some things than I had originally planned. For example, I wasn't going to namedrop "Jen" or explicitly state that Tom had lost a brother and sister as well as his mother during Rise. (The "Guru" chapter wrought a little bit of havoc with my original plans, but I think it's ultimately for the better.) I'm pretty sure I mentioned this somewhere, but if I hadn't, Tom is actually a bit of a snarky response to Gundam OO and my problems with that series, so I wanted him to be mysterious and interesting, but not have to dump details about him until the time was right. The distance from my hiatus gave me the clarity to see the sequel would have been too late, so I had to tip my hand a little to try to keep Tom from being some Dark Age of Comics "Mysterious Character of Mysteriousness #369124" with no substance. But the point of all of this is that (as I think I've mentioned before but I honestly don't remember,) "Rise of the Dragon Knight" isn't going to even be close to the end of Tom's story.
And finally (for now as this A/N is getting super long), I've gotten a few reviews addressing the Dragon Ball influences. I mean, Tom in the story outright stated that my inspiration for Dragon Burst was Dragon Ball's Kaio-Ken. (On a side note, I'm probably a little too proud of the parallels that I created between Azula and Tom's fight in Ba Sing Se to the fight between Goku and Vegeta. If I can help it, Tom's never going to use a vanishing attack during Dragon Burst ever again. But I digress.) So, yeah, I adore Dragon Ball. Pity it didn't stop at the ending and the franchise is now buried under a pile of crap, but what are you gonna do, right? That said though, I'm a bit worried about making too close a connection between Dragon Ball and my Dragon Knight series. There's some things to do with nomenclature and how it effects the perceptions of some things that I don't want to delve into too deeply. Like, I've not used the phrase "Cosmic Dragon Burst" because I'm worried it'll get compared with Super Saiyan. Mostly because it already has been compared to Super Saiyan... Thus why I'm using it now. And I'm not going to get into how everyone seems to not understand how Super Saiyans actually work (including Toriyama, amnesiac that he is), but there's also the point that neither version of Dragon Burst is a "form" so to say. But even all of that doesn't get into the bigger issue. I have a vested interest in NOT connecting especially Tom with the hyperescalation associated with Dragon Ball. I'm kind of walking the tightrope of him being somewhere in the top three, but not becoming too strong. Why? Well, let's just say [Redacted]. I wanted to be cheeky, but it turns out you might be able to figure out the spoiler if you google what I wrote. Oh well, I'll have the chance to tell my joke someday (I hope…). Hopefully I'll see you then!
