Wandering Firebender

Twenty Four: Friendly Fire

And so Elio's journey to Ba Sing Se continues on. Now that he was back to being on his own again, he found himself thinking deeply and reflecting a lot more. There were certainly a lot of advantages and drawbacks to traveling alone versus with someone else.

But overall, he was pretty sure that he preferred traveling with Cindra.

However, he couldn't let that deter him. After all, he was beginning to learn how the strength of his firebending and his skill with his staff would be dependent on two things: his inner peace and balance, as well as training.

So he decided that it was time to get back to his training.

He made his way off to the side, coming upon by the river again. He set all of his things down and removed his extraneous clothing. Once he had stretched his arms out, he grabbed his staff and began to practice his formations.

As he'd gotten more opportunities to fight with the staff, he'd become quite proficient with it. And as he'd gained experience, his training had changed to match what he'd become used to. So now, instead of perfecting his basics, he was now practicing how to chain together attacks...

"There he is. Do you really think that's the guy, Amari?"

"He fits the bill pretty good. And he's got the black staff. Get down!" Amari pushed down the two heads of her companions, ducking down behind a nearby bush. The two boys with her peeked through the leaves.

"He almost saw us!"

"Man, this guy is good."

"Okay, you two. Remember the plan. We need to make sure that this is the guy. So that means we need him to-"

"What're you three kids doing?" Elio asked, peeking over the bush.

He watched as a young girl and two young brothers all jumped back in surprise. While they had been plotting behind the bush, Elio had heard them bickering and rustling around. Realizing that they had been caught, the girl raised her fist up.

"New plan! Fight him now!" She shouted.

"What? Whoa!" Elio exclaimed in surprise as the two boys stood up and began earthbending rocks at him.

Elio slid back and did a spin to avoid getting hit by the initial attacks. He spun his staff around and began deflecting the rocks. The two boys advanced on him and worked together to create a wall out of the ground. They both began shooting boulders rapidly out of the wall towards him.

"Keep going! We gotta get him to firebend!" The girl coached them.

"What?" Elio said in confusion. He jumped over the attacks and landed on the other side of the wall. As the boys turned around, he spun his staff around quickly and allowed a few bursts of fire to come out the sides; a brief display of firebending.

"He is the guy!" One of the boys exclaimed. They immediately ceased their attack.

"We found you, finally!" The girl laughed triumphantly. Still confused, Elio put his staff away.

"What do you kids want? Why did you attack me?" He questioned.

"We had to make sure you were really the guy." The other boy answered.

"What do you mean 'the guy'?" Elio asked impatiently.

"You're the Wandering Firebender; the circus performer, right?" The girl asked. Elio looked at her in surprise.

"You've heard of me?"

"We've heard stories of a firebender traveling with a waterbender who's been fighting with the Fire Nation." One of the boys explained.

"And you fit the bill," The girl added. "Firebending and a black staff."

"Is it true that you dueled a Fire Nation captain?" The other boy asked.

"Hey hey, slow down. Who are you kids and what do you want?"

"My name is Amari." The girl started.

"I'm Roz. This is my twin brother Wel."

"We need your help." Amari said.

"You need my help?" Elio asked in surprise. The three kids all nodded.

"There's a group of firebenders bullying our town and taking people's stuff!" Wel said angrily.

"But all of our fathers are out fighting in the war. There's no one to defend the town. The men who stayed behind are too old." Roz added.

"So we went on a secret mission to find help. We heard about you and how you were traveling up the river. And here you are! And here we are asking for your help!" Amari finished.

Elio rubbed the back of his head, taking some time to think over this request. He was hesitant to help, admittedly, but he also knew that they had no other real options. He made his way back to his things, and the kids followed him. They waited in expectation for his answer.

"How far is the town from here?" He asked them.

"If we go now, we can make it back by sunset!" Amari answered.

"Sunset? You kids wandered this far from home to get help?" Elio asked.

"Well, yeah." Wel answered simply. Elio's eyes looked over the kids again.

"Alright, fine. Let's go. Lead the way." He reluctantly agreed.

"Yeah, alright! We did it!" Roz exclaimed happily. The kids all cheered and high-fived each other. Elio scoffed in amusement, pulling out his staff again and walking with it.

"Come on!" Wel gestured for him to follow them, and they began hurrying towards the trail. Elio sighed and followed them at his normal pace.

"So you didn't tell me before. Is it true that you dueled a Fire Nation captain?" Wel asked again.

"Something like that. He isn't a captain though. That's for the navy." Elio answered.

"But you did fight a Fire Nation leader guy." Roz changed the wording of the question. Elio sighed again.

"Yes, I did."

"What made you decide to start fighting the Fire Nation?" Amari asked curiously.

"I'm not fighting the Fire Nation. I'm just trying to outrun them. I'm looking for a place where I can settle." Elio answered.

"Like Ba Sing Se? That's where everyone's going." She pointed out.

"Maybe." Elio hesitantly answered.

"Where'd you get that cool staff?" Roz asked, wrapping his hand around it. Elio shooed his hand away.

"It was a gift from my master after he trained me how to use it." Elio answered.

"Was he from the Fire Nation too?"

"No. Well... I don't know."

"Hey, look at this!" Wel pulled something out of Elio's bag. Elio looked and saw him holding up Azula's royal headpiece.

"Hey, what're you doing in my bag?!" Elio shouted. He tried to snatch the headpiece back, but Wel tossed it to Amari before he could grab it.

"Isn't this a hairpiece? That's for girls, you know," She giggled, looking at it keenly. "It's really pretty though."

"It was a gift! Get your hands off of that!" Elio tried to grab it again. Amari tossed it over to Roz.

"It's really shiny! What're you doing with a girl's hairpiece? Is it your girlfriend's?" Roz asked with a teasing chuckle.

"It most certainly is not. Quit it!" Elio reached for it again. Roz tossed the hairpiece back to Amari.

"Is she pretty?" Amari asked curiously, placing the hairpiece atop her head and sticking it into her hair.

"She's the princess of the Fire Nation, alright?" Elio said, knowing that this would get them to stop. And he was right; all three of them stopped and looked at him in astonishment.

"The princess of the Fire Nation...is your girlfriend?!" Amari exclaimed in shock.

"No! Come off it already!" Elio finally managed to snatch the hairpiece back and shove it into his pack, "Don't go through my stuff again."

"Sorry. We're curious! We've never met someone nice from the Fire Nation before." Wel apologized on behalf of the group.

"I would imagine. There's not a lot of us out here." Elio responded simply.

"That's true." The kids all nodded awkwardly. They continued on in silence for awhile...

"So how many men are in this rogue group of firebenders?" Elio asked, adjusting his clothing.

"Uhh...like 6 or 7?" Roz answered slowly.

"How often do they come into town?"

"Every few days. Why?" Amari asked.

"Trying to get a sense of what I'm dealing with. From the sound of it, they're not soldiers." Elio deduced.

"Really? How do you know?" Wel asked.

"Because they wouldn't be able to come that often if they were operating under regulations. Fire Nation divisions have very strict regimens." Elio described.

"Ohh. Were you a soldier?" Wel asked.

"No, never. But my father's a general. He made sure I knew about this stuff."

"Oh wow! See? I knew you were the perfect person to help our town!" Amari said proudly. Elio chuckled and shook his head.

"I guess you're right... So you've heard stories about me, you said. What kind of stories?" Elio asked curiously. The kids all looked at each other.

"Just a few: about how you dueled the Fire Nation captain, about how you were in the circus as a performer, and how you were traveling with a waterbending girl. Where is she, by the way?" Amari asked.

"She's not with me anymore. She's going home." Elio answered.

"Aw man! We could've used her help too!" Roz grumbled unhappily.

"It's okay. I've handled a group of firebenders before. I'll manage." Elio said confidently.

"You must be, like, a really good firebender! What were your performances like?" Wel asked.

"My performances? Oh, well... They were great. They were really great. Some of the most fun I've ever had firebending." Elio said, thinking back with a fond sigh.

"Oh yeah? Think we could see it?" Roz asked.

"No." Elio quickly answered.

Finally, the four of them made it back to the kids' town. Elio looked out over the small town. Even from where he was, he could look through one end of the town and see out the other end. The kids rushed ahead and gestured for Elio to hurry up and follow him.

"Come on! We'll show you which way they come from!" Amari urged him.

Elio hesitantly followed behind them, entering into town. As the kids ran ahead of him, Elio looked around at the different small buildings. The townsfolk there glanced at him strangely; it must've been odd to see an outsider like him walking through while being led by children.

"Roz! Wel! There you kids are! Where have you been all day?" An older woman called to get their attention. The two brothers ran straight towards her. From a distance, Elio presumed that this woman was the boys' mother.

"We were out with Amari." Wel answered.

"We found someone to take care of the firebenders that keep raiding the town!" Roz added with an excited smile, pointing towards Elio. Elio and the woman made eye contact awkwardly.

"You kids did what?!" She groaned and walked over to Elio, "I must apologize for my sons' behavior, good sir. You didn't need to come out all this way." She apologized.

"It's alright, ma'am. It was on my way anyways. What can you tell me about these men?"

"They're a pack of traveling bandits. They prey on small towns and take as much as they can; they're like parasites," She grumbled. "The earthbenders of this town have all gone away to fight in the front lines. We have very little defenses, so they won't leave us alone." She explained.

"I see... Well, the kids here took it upon themselves to get help, and they found me. I'll drive them out. But I'll need everyone to stay indoors when the men arrive." He instructed.

"We'll tell everyone!" Roz volunteered before the two boys ran off in different directions.

"These men are dangerous, son. Are you sure you want to face them? You will be alone." The mother pointed out.

"I'll do what I can." Elio promised.

"You must be an earthbender, yes? That's why you're so sure of yourself." The mother presumed.

"Actually, he's the Wandering-" Amari spoke up before Elio cut her off.

"I'm not an earthbender. I just know how to handle firebenders. I've fought plenty before." Elio answered.

"Well... I can't say that any one of us would be comfortable asking a kid like you to fight our battles, no offense. But we don't have any other options." She sighed.

"It's okay. Spread the word to the rest of the town. I'll wait for the men to arrive. When do they normally come?" Elio asked.

"Before the sun fully sets! We'll have to hurry!" Amari exclaimed.

"Go then. Warn everyone, child." The mother nodded. Amari ran off to join the two boys in warning the town of what was about to happen.

"Thank you for being willing to help us, sir. Even at the word of children, you came to help us," She said appreciatively. "What's your name?"

"My name is Elio."

"Well, Elio, best of luck to you." She said before going back into her house.

Elio made his way to the other end of the town to wait for the firebenders to come. He sat down cross-legged with his staff in his hand, keeping his belongings hidden out of sight. After a few minutes of waiting quietly, the children ran over to join him.

"Hey, Elio! We've warned the whole town to stay inside until you've beaten the firebenders!" Roz informed him.

"Good. You kids should get back to your homes as well. You don't want to be around for when the fighting starts." Elio warned them.

"Have you thought about how you're gonna beat the guys?" Wel asked.

"Not really. I don't know what I'm dealing with yet. I don't know their level of skill. I'll just have to adapt to whatever comes my way." He answered honestly.

"Look, there they are. They're coming." Amari pointed forward.

Elio lifted his head and saw 7 men riding in on ostrich horses. As they came closer, he got a better sense of what he was dealing with: they were riding in formation, so they were ex-military. Using ostrich horses instead of komodo rhinos meant that they weren't being backed by the military; they were on their own.

"Get inside. Now." Elio firmly instructed the children. They quickly ran to their homes and shut the doors behind them. Elio stood up with his staff in hand as the men approached and began to circle around him.

"Oh, look! It's a new kid! You must be passing through, huh?" One of them chuckled.

"I am." Elio answered, resting the bottom end of his staff on the ground.

"We'll make this real simple, son. Give us everything you got in your pockets and we'll let you go." Another one said. Elio took in a breath.

"Actually, I've got a better suggestion. Leave this town now and never come back, and I promise that I will let you go unharmed." He stated his terms. The men laughed.

"I don't know if you've heard about us, kid, but you're in way over your head here. So unless you want to get burnt to a crisp, you better do what we say." They warned.

"Leave now. Final warning." Elio stated firmly.

"Alright, you asked for it."

One of the men shot a fireball at him. Elio quickly turned and spun his staff to repel the blast. Another man behind him shot a blast. Elio turned around and did the same thing again, flicking some fire towards one of the ostrich horses. It reeled back awkwardly.

"Enough playing around!" Another one shouted, shooting a stronger blast at Elio. Elio spun his staff again and brought it over his head, sending out a circular blast of fire out in all directions. This knocked the men off of their ostrich horses, and the animals scattered off.

As one of the men began to stand up, Elio attacked him first, swinging his staff towards his head. The man rolled back and shot a fireball out of his feet towards Elio's face. This forced Elio to bend backwards to dodge it. He stumbled backwards into two other men.

The two men tried to grab onto Elio. Elio twisted quickly and kicked one between the legs as hard as he could. As the first man went down, Elio loosened himself from the grasp of the second man. He lunged forward with his staff, but the man jumped back.

Several of them shot fire at Elio all at the same time. Elio spun his staff again, but the force of the blasts made him slide back. Using his own firebending, he took control of the fire and spun it around him, creating an expanding blast of heat that caught them all by surprise.

"You gotta be kidding me! He's a firebender!" One of them realized.

Elio slid his staff back into its sleeve and threw several fire punches towards that man, sending him off-balance. Two men shot fireballs at Elio to come to his defense. Elio jumped to his right to dodge the blasts, then twisted into a spinning fire kick to knock one sideways into the other.

"Of course the kid's a protege!" One of the men grumbled as he shot a huge plume of fire at Elio. Elio leaped over it and landed behind the man, using a few quick chi-blocking jabs to incapacitate him.

"I'm pretty sure you mean prodigy." Elio corrected him.

Elio was quickly tackled to the ground by the nearest man. He tried to throw a fire punch point blank into Elio's face. He twisted awkwardly to dodge it, but as the man tried to keep him pinned down, the other 4 men who were left threw a few kicks into Elio's sides.

Elio yelled out in pain. He grabbed the man on top of him by the neck and pushed him to one side. Elio twisted on his shoulders and spun around, creating another ring of fire with his feet and sending it outwards. As the 4 men stumbled back, he threw a few chi-blocking jabs down into the 5th man who had tackled him.

"Take him down already!" One of them shouted, throwing several fire punches at him. Elio sidestepped the attacks and returned with his own blasts. The 4 men all continued frantically throwing fire punches at him while Elio continued dodging them and directing their blasts towards each other.

"Quit dancing around!" Another one growled, shooting a wide plume of fire at him. Elio used his staff again to absorb the attack, but the other three men were quick to join in, sending a huge blast of fire towards his front and back. He was surrounded.

Elio shot up into the air with a big fire jump. Putting his staff back in its sleeve, he threw several fire punches and kicks down at the men. Two of them was hit and quickly crumpled down to the ground. However, the other two managed to either dodge or redirect the attacks.

As Elio landed hard on the ground, both of the remaining men shot arcing blasts at Elio at the same time. Elio managed to dive in between the two attacks, but as he rolled to one knee, a third arcing blast crashed right into him. He yelled out as he was knocked onto his back.

"Elio!" He heard one of the kids' voices shout his name, but he couldn't distinguish which one it was. As the two men walked over, the two twins came out and started throwing boulders at the men. They both fired blasts back at the kids, and they quickly scampered off.

"Stay inside!" Elio shouted to them before he was kicked in the back and turned over.

The two men standing over Elio looked at his face again and realized who he was. The man who had been kicked between the legs also had recovered and was also making his way over.

"Elio, huh? Now it makes sense. You're the kid that Cassian guy is looking for. He put a price on your head. Not a bad one too." One of the men chuckled.

"If we take you to him, we won't need to steal anything from this crummy old town anymore." The other man said to his partner.

"Not gonna happen!" Elio hissed, forcing himself to get up.

Elio kicked back up to his feet and threw a punch at one of the men. However, he caught the punch and threw an uppercut into Elio's chest. The second man then threw a kick into Elio's head as Elio tried to pull away. Elio stumbled sideways and was ready to throw a fire kick, but he got hit with a fire kick first.

Elio was knocked to the ground again and slid back in the dirt. He grunted out in shock, starting to get dizzy. He lifted his head up in time to see one of them up in the air, about to throw a fire kick down onto Elio. Elio gasped, seeing he only had a half-second to react.

Elio rolled to the side and got up roughly before the kick could hit him. The other two men shot fireballs at Elio once again. Elio, now regaining his footing, caught both of the fireballs and spun them around, bringing them back towards his attackers.

Not expecting this, the two men stumbled back in surprise. The man who had tried to take Elio out with the fire kick came up to him and tried to throw a fire punch. Elio dodged the attack and took him down with a few more chi-blocking quick jabs.

"You can do it, Elio!" Amari shouted at him from the front porch of her house.

Elio extended both fists out towards his remaining two opponents. They both began throwing quick fire punches and kicks at him. Elio quickly pushed the blasts aside, focusing on making sure he didn't get hit. Before long, the men were running out of energy.

Elio, realizing he now had the upper hand, ran towards both of them. He jumped into the air and threw several fire kicks at them. The two men stepped away from each other and blocked the fire blasts. Elio landed between them and took in a deep breath.

As they both threw fireballs at Elio, Elio turned his body and did two different moves. With one hand, he raised up a fire wall that absorbed the attack. With his other hand, he caught the second fireball and spread it outwards so it wouldn't hit him.

Elio twisted on his foot and threw a fire kick through the wall he had created. This sent a huge force of fire crashing into one of the men, knocking him to the ground forecefully. He turned back towards the second man, pulling his staff out and taking him down with several quick strikes to his shins and his head.

"This fight is over. Those of you that can still stand, take the rest of these men and leave. You're done here. And if you know what's good for you, you won't come back." Elio made his stance clear.

Elio watched as the three men that could still walk accepted their defeat. They slowly gathered the other four men and rode off on their ostrich horses. They only needed four to get away, leaving three of them behind. Elio took one for himself.

"Are they all gone?" Amari asked as she ran over to him. He nodded.

"Yep. They are. They won't be coming around here again." Elio said, managing a smile.

"Elio!" Roz shouted as he ran over with his brother. "You were awesome!"

"That was incredibly cool!" Wel agreed. Elio laughed.

"Thanks, I guess."

"What's wrong with your face?" Amari asked, pointing at him. Elio gave her a weird look.

"What do you mean?"

"Your eye area is red. So are your eyes actually." She noticed, tracing her finger around one of her eye sockets to show him where it was. Elio nodded in understanding.

"I just got hit with some fire. It happens." He answered simply.

"Man, that's so cool." Roz giggled. Elio scoffed and shook his head humorously.

Elio looked up and saw that members of the town were now coming out and slowly making their way towards him. Elio quickly hopped onto his ostrich horse and took control of the reins, turning it away from the town. He was about to run away when he was stopped.

"Wait!" He heard. He turned back and saw that the mother of Roz and Wel was walking towards him cautiously and holding some simple fruits in a bowl out to him, "I know it isn't much, but please take these with you. Thank you."

Elio was so surprised by this that he almost forgot to take the fruit. But he took the bowl and poured all the fruits into the saddle of the ostrich horse. Now a gentleman approached him, holding out some Earth Kingdom money.

"Here. As repayment." He said.

"Wow. Thank you." Elio said appreciatively, taking the money slowly and putting it in his pocket.

"My daughter's safe and sound now because of what you did... Thank you." He said slowly. Amari ran over and smiled up at him.

"Be careful on your journey, Elio, wherever it is you're going!"

"I will be. Thank you." Elio said with a chuckle. He looked out at the townspeople who were watching him leave. There weren't a lot of them, but the fact that they'd even shown him appreciation for what he'd done for them meant more to him than he could say.

Elio turned his ostrich horse away from the town and began to ride off. He grabbed his pack full of supplies on his way out. And as he rode away from the small town, he heard a noise behind him; something he hadn't heard since his time in the circus:

The sound of applause...