Book 2: Static

Chapter 1: Into the Fire

Ada and Suda stared down their friend. It was so rare for him to actually sleep nowadays. Waking him now might not be the best thing to do.

Sen was sprawled haphazardly in the back seat of the satomobile, fast asleep. He had, as usual, exhausted himself completely before even trying to sleep, so the awkward position didn't bother him much. Suda had gotten used to seeing him like this. Ada didn't check up on him as much. She didn't like seeing Sen this way, or at all, in fact.

"He hasn't been eating much either," Suda said. "We have to pick one or the other."

"Your choice," Ada said. Then she was quiet.

Suda had to take matters into his own hands once again. He shouted Sen's name. That was enough to rouse the young man from sleep. He sluggishly righted himself and looked around. He never quite seemed to know where he was anymore. Every time he opened his eyes it was like a newborn looking at the world.

They were in a town called Isesaki now, a pit-stop on their aimless journey through the Fire Nation. They had yet to decide on a destination or a goal. At the back of their heads, there was still the thought of a firebending master, but they barely pursued that. Their agenda, at the moment, simply seemed to consist of moving forward.

If there was any upside to what had happened at Tunuk Bay, it was that they no longer had to travel at such a hectic pace. They could sleep when they wanted to, stop as long as they wanted, and do what they felt like when they were stopped. They did end up stopping frequently. The empty seat in the satomobile haunted them all. Hanjo's loss had left a gap in the group that would likely never be filled.

Sen and Ada had barely spoken since Sen's blazing outburst on the ship. Suda couldn't tell if they were scared of each other, hated each other, or were just too guilty to speak. He hoped they would work through those problems eventually, but until that time, he was the voice of the group, making all the decisions.

Sen occupied most of his time nowadays with Gun, using the animal guide to distract himself from his inner turmoil. Sleeping had become very difficult for the nightmare-plagued Sen, and so he stayed awake well into the night, practicing earthbending until he was too exhausted to dream and passed out. Oddly enough, he actually seemed to have learned something from the late night practice with the badgermole. His earthbending was more refined, a little stronger, and Suda had the oddest feeling that Sen was starting to see things that he shouldn't be able to. Maybe some of Gun's seismic sense was rubbing off on the Avatar.

Sen stepped out of the satomobile and started looking at the ground. Gun would not come, though, not in the middle of a town. Looking up, the Avatar seemed surprised to see himself in a town. He looked around at the people. It was a small town, and they were not used to visitors, so Sen attracted attention.

Ada had no Animal Guide there to help her with her emotional turmoil, so she had retreated on herself. She had become very quiet and soft-spoken. She only spoke on very rare occasions when it was absolutely necessary, and then only to Suda. Suda had pulled out their map of the Fire Nation. He hadn't quite given up on finding them a destination, something concrete to aspire to. They could only drift aimlessly for so long.

"Ada, you know stuff, help me out," Suda begged. She walked over to examine the map. The first thing she did was flip it the right way around, and then she gave him a hand exploring it.

"You know where we are?"

"Well, yeah, actually," Suda said. He had asked some of the locals earlier. They were on an island called Shu Jing, in a town named Isesaki. Ada seemed pleasantly surprised by their position. She had a slight smile on her face, the first smile Suda had seen in a while.

"Shu Jing. That's fortunate."

"Shu Jing, yeah," Suda said. "That's where Bolin fought the Ten Thousand Red Swordsmen!"

Ada was about to correct him when he continued on his tangent.

"Varrick chose it as the filming location because of its connection with the White Lotus, since Bolin vs. Ten Thousand Blades was one of the movers the Avatar guest starred in. It's where Master Piandao taught Sokka, so it was really important to the swordsman culture too. Didn't it get attacked by the Energybender, though?"

Ada was somewhat impressed by Suda's knowledge, even if it was rooted in his childish obsession with Bolin. Everything he had said was true, including the unfortunate attack. When Howler had wiped out the White Lotus, he had simultaneously attacked several locations important to their history as well. The Jasmine Dragon tea shop, Korra's training ground at the South Pole, and Piandao's castle had all been attacked. Though the master of the castle at the time, Pendrak Ong, had defended his home bravely, he had ultimately died in battle with Energybender forces. The ancient castle had been abandoned for several years.

Recently, though, that situation had changed. A new master, known as Sorikami, had laid her claim to the castle. She had emerged from relative obscurity years ago, after the Seventh Kingdom Uprising, and had rapidly become known for her prowess with a blade in the intervening years. Some people said she was a secret apprentice of Pendrak Ong, others that she was a veteran of the Uprising campaign. She was particularly hard to befriend, but those few friends were some of the most powerful people in the Fire Nation. She might be a very valuable ally for Sen.

Ada explained all this to Suda, and he agreed with her assessment. Master Sorikami was not a firebender herself, but she would doubtlessly know at least one very powerful firebender willing to train Sen in the art. Suda informed Sen of the situation, and they all agreed that Master Sorikami should be their first stop.

The small town they had stopped in was not far from Piandao's castle, so it would be a short drive if they could avoid trouble. Unfortunately, trouble was something that had a way of finding them. There had been no problems as of yet, but Suda had no doubt they were on the way.

Unsavory rumors had been spreading from Tunuk Bay that the Avatar was dead. Many people didn't believe it, but the few that did had been causing a lot of trouble. There had already been riots in several major cities, and crime was up in general. People believed that with the Avatar gone, there was no real justice left in the world anyway. It would be a ludicrous notion even if the Avatar was dead; Sen was not the only peacekeeper on the planet.

The town of Isesaki was in a precarious position. Apparently there was a notorious clan of raiders in the hills nearby, and all the citizens were just waiting for them to come down from the hills and start tearing things apart. Suda had heard of this, and suggested to the other two that they stay to help. Ada quietly complied with Suda's suggestion, as had become very common. Sen didn't really react at all. He simply leaned against the wall and started watching the forest.

They were called Ronan's Rampagers, apparently. Suda hated bandits with alliterative names. It was tacky. When he'd run a gang, they had never needed a fancy name. It was just "Suda's gang", and that was enough to scare the pants off their rivals.

"When do you think they'll be coming," Sen asked. Though Suda wasn't proud of it, he still knew a great deal about how bandits operated.

"If they were smart they'd wait until two or three in the morning, when everyone was too exhausted to put up a decent fight. But these guys have alliteration in their name, so they'll probably hit right at nightfall."

Sen allowed himself to relax until it was closer to sunset. He carefully examined his right wrist. When Suda had strapped him to the wall of the ship with a band of metal, Sen had struggled against it, trying to free himself and return to Hanjo. The escape attempt had slashed several deep cuts into his wrist, leaving him with a circle of rusty scabs around his wrist. It wasn't a pleasant sight. Sen ran his fingers around the circular scabs.

The sun vanished behind a mountain peak, casting a dark shadow over the town. Suda called for attention. If the Rampagers were as theatrical as he thought they were, they would be attacking now. His hunch proved true.

Hollering an incoherent battle cry, a raggedly-equipped bandit dove out of the treeline, barreling towards the town. Sen pushed a wall of earth at the bandits feet, sending him toppling to the ground headfirst. The Rampagers apparently had two dozen men, a waterbender, and Ronan himself. They had one down already, which was as good a start as one might hope for.

The first bandit's comrades followed suit, charging in a coordinated group. Now aware that they faced an earthbender, they watched the ground carefully, and Sen and Suda's efforts only managed to stop four of the encroaching attackers. They could do so much more, but they couldn't afford to destroy these buildings or streets. Restraining himself, Sen tried to do the best he could with a few simple earthbending techniques.

The Rampagers reached the edge of Isesaki, and Ada and the townspeople sprung into action. There were a few firebenders among the populace more than able to go toe-to-toe with Ronan's men, but the waterbender was something they weren't used to. She attacked with tendrils of water and ice spikes, something these backwater firebenders had never trained to fight against. Ada dove in with sparking blades and distracted her while the firebenders fought each other.

Electricity and water were a dangerous mix, so Ronan's waterbender found herself limited in her moves. Ada still had limited experience fighting waterbenders, but she was at least trained, unlike her opponent. A well trained nonbender could beat an amateur bender any day, but Ada wasn't exactly feeling well-trained. Her swords felt heavy in her hands, and her reactions were too slow.

Suda's metalbending made for an effective tool against the Rampagers. The bandits had equipped themselves with small scraps of metal armor, and their weapons were unrefined iron, one of the easiest metals to bend. Suda supposed it wasn't as much of a problem in a region where metalbenders were rare, but he was going to make it a problem. He trapped bandits in their own clothing and warped their weapons until they were useless. He took an especially sadistic pleasure in waiting until bandits were about to stab him, then bending their blades to the side at the last second. The look on their faces was priceless, every time.

Sen seemed to be fighting almost absent-mindedly, as if he were looking for something else in the battle. His attacks were slow, but effective. His glasses scanned the faces of the bandits, looking for someone who seemed like a leader. He wanted to demolish the Rampagers entirely, and that meant taking out their leader.

His target revealed himself eventually. He had not participated in the initial charge, instead waiting until all the defending forces had been drawn out. Bolting out of the woods on an eel hound, Ronan made his way into Isesaki's town square, far from the defenders, hoping to pillage the town behind their backs. Sen wasn't going to let that happen. Eel hounds were faster over open land, but didn't do as well over city streets. Sen barreled through the melee between Ronan's Rampager and his allies and headed for the treacherous bandit ringleader.

Ronan saw he was being pursued and dismounted his hound. Sen pulled up a wall of earth to defend himself from the initial firebending salvo, then sent the same wall flying towards Ronan. The rogue firebender dodged the attack and took shelter behind a wall. He peeked out of cover, hoping to get sight of Sen. He wasn't there.

The earth beneath the bandit rumbled, and he rolled to the side just in time. Sen emerged from the ground beneath his feet, just barely missing Ronan as he dodged to the side. Sen had been studying a few of Gun's tricks. He could tunnel pretty well now, and it made a very effective ambush tactic. The rudimentary seismic sense he had learned from Gun let him know exactly where to come out of the ground.

The badgermole himself was staying out of this brawl. Gun had been getting much larger in the past few weeks, calling him into the town streets would not end well. On top of that, showing Gun off would only run the risk of revealing Sen as the Avatar, as it had before. He was useful in a fight, but Gun would be staying out of this one.

With Sen now only a few feet away, the battle between Ronan and the Avatar turned into one of rapid strikes and faster dodges as Ronan launched dozens of shirt bursts of fire. Sen blocked them all with a cover of stones and then returned his own salvo of earth, launching rapid stones at Ronan. Most of them made impact, knocking Ronan to the ground.

Sen moved to capture the bandit leader and end this, but Ronan was surprisingly quick. He sprung to his feet and retaliated with a quick burst of fire. Sen threw up a stone wall, but the surging fire wrapped around the walls and closed in on Sen. Sen held up his arms to shield his face, and the scorching fire singed his hands.

Reacting viciously to the sudden pain, Sen slammed his foot against the stone wall and slammed it into Ronan, then into the ground. Ronan was briefly crushed beneath the massive weight. Sen pushed it to the side before it did any lasting damage and moved to grab Ronan and put an end to this. Sen took hold of Ronan's hand and prepared to take him into custody. Ronan screamed as if he were in agony, and Sen immediately released his grip. Ronan stood up and backed away from Sen.

Confused, Sen backed away as well. Ronan was clutching at his wrist, staring in agony at a palm that was scorched red. Sen looked at the hand he'd used to grab Ronan. He seemed fine, so what was happening to Ronan? He moved to investigate, and Ronan attacked him. Still crippled by pain, Ronan's attack was ineffective, and Sen decided to experiment. He put his palm on Ronan's face. The bandit recoiled as if he'd been stabbed with a knife.

Distracted as he was by pain, Ronan was easy to knock to the ground and trap in a prison of stone. Sen looked at his hands. He didn't feel any heat from himself. It was a mystery, but he could still hear the sounds of battle in the distance, so he had to return to his friends before pondering the mystery any further.

The battle was going well from what he could tell. Ronan's forces were down to less than a dozen men, including the waterbender, and dropping. Suda was being particularly effective with his metalbending. The waterbender was only wearing a cloth garment, though, so the same tricks wouldn't work on her. Sen decided to focus his efforts on that one.

Ada, despite her overall sluggishness, had been managing to keep the waterbender from supporting her allies and keeping her attention off the unprepared villagers. Sen's arrival changed that. His attacks were overbearing, giving Ada no room to maneuver. He was trying to hammer the waterbender into submission instead of using any kind of finesse. Something was making him very impatient to get this done with.

Ada tried to keep up her attacks, but it quickly became apparent that Sen was completely out of sorts. She was surprised; he'd seemed very professional earlier in the initial defense. Something had changed.

Sen's impatient approach eventually bore fruit, and a large stone made a satisfying thud as it collided with the waterbender's stomach. Winded by the impact, the bandit waterbender clutched her stomach and curled up on the ground. She remained prone by the ground at Sen's feet.

With all of their heavy hitters gone, the remnants of the Rampagers quickly retreated into the woods. The townspeople cheered and congratulated one another, along with their very helpful guests. All the noncombatants; women, children, and the elderly, began to emerge from the buildings and join the party. The mayor of Isesaki, an incredibly old looking woman, hobbled up to Sen and his friends. She spared a cruel glare at the bandit waterbender before turning a kindly gaze to Sen.

"Thank you so much for your help, young man. It's so nice to know you can still count on the kindness of strangers."

The mayor tried to rest a hand on his shoulder, but Sen took a step back, offering a lazy excuse for his sudden movement. He gathered Ada and Suda and talked privately.

"I thought that went very well," Suda said. "There was one villager who got kind of burned, but he'll be fine. Good work over all."

"It was," Sen admitted. He was glad to finally protect something, but his duel with Ronan had left some questions. He held out his bare arm and explained what had happened in his battle with the bandit. Ada touched his arm experimentally, and pulled her hand back sharply.

Suda and Sen looked at each other. Suda shook his head.

"I don't know what the heck is going on with you, Sen," Suda said. "But I know this kind of thing can't be healthy."

"I don't feel any different," Sen said, looking down at his body. "It's just other people who get burned."

Sen had never even noticed the rise in temperature. He had not made physical contact with people much in recent weeks. He assumed it was somehow connected to his untapped firebending. Only a firebending master would be able to tell him for sure, though.

"We should go to Sorikami," Sen suggested. "She's our closest lead on a firebending master for me. Hopefully a master will know what's going on."

"Makes sense to me," Suda said. "We should head out right away. No point letting you burn any longer than we have to."

Ada maintained her silence as they bid a polite but swift goodbye to the town they had helped save and sped off towards Shu Jing village. Sen's condition gave them a new cause to travel as quickly as possible. They were always on the run from something, it seemed.

The events at Tunuk Bay had been disappointing, to say the least.

The boy had not been the Avatar. The Energybender had wasted valuable time and resources on Tunuk Bay, while the real Avatar only got further away. The agent that had informed the Energybender that this "Hanjo" child was the Avatar had met his punishment already. It had not been a merciful fate, nor a slow one.

The pressing issue remained the Avatar himself, though. The Energybender had acquired more concrete information on Sen's plans, including the fact that he was headed for the Fire Nation, but there was still a long, dangerous hunt to be had. He had been hoping to catch the Avatar in the early stages of his training, while he was still inexperienced, and so he had focused most of his efforts and troops on the Earth Kingdom. There were some token forces in the Fire Nation, but nothing significant enough to carry out a nationwide search.

The Energybender looked over the coast of the Fire Nation from aboard his airship. He would soon ground this vehicle and abandon it completely. His overt attacks in the Earth Kingdom had made the airship too conspicuous. His forces and his personal power were not significant enough to withstand a full military assault, if the Fire Nation army felt so inclined, and Fire Lord Goto had always been a proponent of crushing Howler's forces. For now, the Energybender would be as restricted as the Avatar he hunted, forced to hide in the shadows and move in secret.

"The Imperfects are already on the move," his new commanding officer said. Rapidly promoted after the severe punishment of his predecessor, Dei Sensheng would hopefully prove to be less of a failure. The Energybender was not confident in his odds. Dei's only option for the hunt, given their limited resources in the Fire Nation, was a squadron nicknamed the Imperfects; four agents with significant power but little intelligence or cleverness to back up that strength. The Energybender was not confident in their odds of success.

"They'll be coordinated by the Harrier."

The Energybender relaxed. The odds had changed.