Chapter 3: A Morning Test

Accelerator slowly opened his eyes to a bright red and yellow ceiling that motionlessly hung above him; his eyes struggled to adjust to the visual display of colors. Blinking his eyes, the teen looked around the room he was in. Aside from a few framed paintings and Fire Nation posters, the area seemed quite dull, but Accelerator wasn't one to complain. Slowly shifting his body until he sat up in his bed, the esper let out a light yawn as he stretched his arms above his head. Placing his feet firmly on the floor, he finally stood up from the softness of the bed and glanced at a nearby window. Upon opening the curtains, Accelerator squinted his eyes as a bright beam of light flooded into his room; a luminous projection of sunlight was cast on the edge of the bed and on parts of the opposite wall. He peered out through the window and saw the expanse of a city that seemed to stand on the horizon at a grand distance. Flocks of birds flew quietly overhead, and Accelerator admitted to himself that he had never seen birds quite like that before. He remembered what happened the night before: he was taken to his room, informed of the rules of the palace, and immediately passed out on the bed. Even though he didn't show it, Accelerator thought a lot about how he came here or where he was; his questions would keep going unanswered the more he wondered.

Soon, his attention was ripped away from the window by the sound of three polite knocks that came from the other side of the door to his room. Taking his time to answer the knock, Accelerator eventually grabbed the knob and pulled the door slightly open. A dark-haired woman stood on the other side with a small smile gracing her face; after looking at her for a few moments, it became obvious to him that she was a maid. Her hands grasped each other as they rested in front of her body; her attire consisted mainly of a light red dress that was accompanied with a white apron. Judging by her facial features, Accelerator guessed that she was in her early 30s; possibly late 20s, but that was irrelevant.

"What do you want?" he finally mumbled in a rough voice.

"Good morning, sir," the woman happily responded with a slight bow, "I was sent here to awaken you (if need be) and inform you of your schedule for today. His majesty, Fire Lord Ozai, has commanded that you be in the training area within the hour."

Although the idea of being commanded by anybody pissed Accelerator off, he quickly bypassed it and looked down at the woman in confusion, "the Training Area? Where's that?"

"Do not worry. I shall act as your guide and take you there, but first I must suggest that you take a bath. Would you like me to wash you?" she said.

"….no," Accelerator dead-panned, "I'll take a bath when I want to take a bath – no time before or after, got it?"

The woman's smile turned to a wide-eyed look of surprise.

"Now, take me to the training area," he said as he stepped out from his room into the hallway, "I want to have a word with your 'lord'."

After nodding her head in speechless acceptance, the woman quietly led the white-haired boy down the corridor. Turning a corner, the two of them wandered down the hall until the woman made another right, and then a left. Realizing how large the building was, Accelerator sighed thankfully when the woman opened a door that lead to an outside area. He was immediately met with green grass that was slightly being pushed by the wind, aside from a square region in the ground that was reserved for a flat platform of some kind. Several people sat around the square in the grass that surrounded it; one of the first people in the group that Accelerator recognized was Azula. A smirk appeared on her face as she spotted Accelerator approaching the group, and she quickly noticed that his trade-mark scowl hadn't changed from yesterday. To the left of Azula sat two girls, about the same age as the fire princess, who also seemed to catch a glimpse of Accelerator.

The girl closest to Azula had a large smile on her face and large brown eyes that seemed to denote innocence; her brown hair was stylized and well-groomed, including a braided ponytail that fell behind her back. She wore a pink-themed uniform that revealed part of her toned stomach, although she didn't really seem to care. The other girl, who was furthest from Azula, looked to be much more….reserved. She had large, black hair that had been cut into one big bang, almost hiding her eyes entirely. Unlike the girl next to her, her face was hardened into an unimpressed, neutral gaze as she stared at the approaching esper. To the left of Azula was the same man from last night who referred to Accelerator as a 'peasant'; instead of his boisterous ranting like yesterday, the man glanced nervously at Accelerator before he looked down at the ground.

"Oohhh. Azula, is he the one you were talking about before?" the girl next to Azula whispered to the fire princess with a smile.

"He's the one that took out all of your guards?" the other girl questioned in a monotone voice, "maybe you should get better guards. He looks like he could lose to a large gust of wind."

"Ty Lee, Mai, be careful not to underestimate him," Azula said without looking to either of the girls, "believe me when I say that this boy is powerful."

The girls, Ty Lee and Mai, merely glanced confusedly at their dark-haired friend before looking back at the white-haired esper.

As Accelerator neared the square, he caught sight of Fire Lord Ozai who sat quietly on the side adjacent to the other four members; his face was stern and unmoving.

The maid lead Accelerator to the center of the square and immediately turned to give Oai a low bow before she spoke.

"I have brought the warrior, my Lord – as per your orders," she said, respect was obvious in her voice.

The Fire Lord replied with a small nod, "Good. You may leave."

The woman gave a final bow before she exited the square and disappeared back into the building, closing the door behind her. Accelerator didn't take his eyes off the man in front of him as the maid left; he wasn't sure what to expect this early in the morning, but it probably going to piss him off.

"Accelerator, I'm sure you must be wondering why I have summoned you here," Ozai began in his low voice.

'summoned?' Accelerator thought to himself with a hint of anger. Who the hell does this guy think he is? It took every bit of self-control for him to not kill that asshole where he stood – at least for now.

"truthfully," Ozai continued, breaking the esper from his thoughts, "I have yet to see your skills for myself. Although my daughter may believe in your abilities, I must admit that I do not share her…..confidence. Therefore, today I shall test your fighting abilities. You will do battle with some of my elite warriors that I have personally hand-picked; if you defeat them, you shall gain my confidence, but if you lose, then your life is forfeit."

"You mean that you'll kill me," Accelerator stated with a glare.

Ozai narrowed his eyes before he responded.

"Mere threats are beneath me," he said, "but know this: my word is law. Make sure that you don't disappoint me."

Accelerator's face suddenly changed to a small grin, "I see. Then may I suggest an alternate deal. If I can defeat all of your warriors, then you must agree to fight me ALONE. Will you take the deal?"

Ozai's face remained calm, although his hands seemed to form into loose fists as Accelerator spoke. The other four members stared on at the teen's reckless words with genuine surprise; even Azula's eyes slightly widened at the way Accelerator addressed her father.

"Very well," the Fire Lord said, surprising everyone even more, "I shall accept your deal, but only if you defeat ALL of my warriors."

"heh, Fine," Accelerator chuckled, slipping his hands back into his pockets, "bring your 'warriors' out here."

Ozai let out a deep, irritated breath before he raised his arm and made a gesture to someone that Accelerator couldn't see. After a few seconds, a neat, single-file line of uniformed men emerged from within the building and all stopped a few feet from Accelerator. The line consisted of about 20 or so men, all of whom wore red themed clothes; they seemed to vary in terms of size, but, for the most part, they were quite large and relatively intimidating.

"Choose 5 of the warriors before you to do battle with," Ozai stated, "If you are able to-"

"All of them," Accelerator interrupted, "I'll fight all of them. No, you know what – even better – I'll fight all of them without using my hands."

At that moment, many of the men started angrily mumbling to each other in disbelief.

"What? Is he suicidal or something?" Mai said, still with a monotone voice as she crossed her arms.

"Wow! That's a first," Ty Lee said, adding to Mai's comment.

As most of the men in line continued to murmur amongst another, one of them took a step forward to face Accelerator. Almost immediately, it was obvious how large he was; he stood at approximately 6'5 feet, and his muscles automatically tensed up as he neared the young esper.

"You don't deserve to fight all of us at once; I'm all that's needed to put you in your place," he said with a low, gruff voice. He leaned closer to the teen, his hot breath brushing against his target's white hair.

"Fine. Make a move then," Accelerator said with a bored expression on his face.

"hmph, brace yourself. You asked for this!" the man yelled as his hands were suddenly surrounded in flames. He reeled his hand back and threw his fist into the Accelerator's face, causing the fire to explode into bright orange embers. There was silence for a few seconds as many of the other warriors chuckled in response to the attack; Mai rolled her eyes in disappointment and Ty Lee sighed, thinking that the fight was over.

"This is your warrior?" Ozai angrily grumbled as her looked over at Azula, "his worthlessness is evident. I am ashamed that I almost enlisted this fool as a part of my army."

Azula nervously glanced at the Fire Lord, "Father, believe me, I-I saw his power the other day. He-he was able to easily overpower my guards in mere seconds!"

"Silence!" Ozai yelled, cutting off Azula's explanation, "You obviously have no understanding of what real power is!"

"…Real power?" mumbled a low voice.

Everyone suddenly looked to the origin of the voice and were surprised to see Accelerator still on his feet. More impressive than that – he looked as if the attack hadn't even landed.

"REAL POWER?!" his voice suddenly boomed, "I'll SHOW YOU REAL POWER!"

Within a second, the esper stomped his foot on the ground, causing the rock and dirt in front of him to crumble and break. In a massive explosion of debris and rubble, the man in front of him and every other warrior in line were suddenly thrown back and crashed into a wall several meters away. The sounds of breaking bones were overshadowed by the thunderous sound of rocks breaking away from one another. As the area finally cleared, the settling dust revealed the image of several unconscious bodies strewn about the grass.

"If you want to see 'true power', Fire Lord Ozai," Accelerator said with a combination of humor and anger as he created a fist, "then come and fight me!"

End of Chapter 3

A/N: Hey, guys, I don't have much to say about this chapter. Please comment. Bye!