Chapter Fourteen:
I woke up the next morning and went to the room where my friends, Naoki, and Yuzin were speaking. "I have heard terrible reports from my people." said Yuzin. "Pregnant women have been taken from their homes in the night. I must return to the Fire Nation."
"We can come and help you." said Tetsu.
"Are you sure you want to continue journeying with the Avatar?". Naoki asked Kaze.
"Yes I want to stay with them. They are my friends." she replied. She glanced over to Yuzin. "Is there room for my bison." she asked him.
"I'll have to ask the captain, as he is the one who knows for much we can carry." Yuzin replied. "But if so, you can bring him along. He will be very useful to us."
We soon boarded the airship carrying our belongings, and it took off. "It will take us a few hours to reach the fire nation." Yuzin explained. "There we can investigate what's going on, and put an end to it."
"I'm really nervous about facing Tsume again." I admitted.
Sela put a hand on shoulder. "I'll be with you". she assured.
We looked out the windows a saw the Fire Nation in the distance. "There it is." said Yuzin. "It will still be awhile till we reach the palace."
"Where is Kaze?" I asked.
"She's down in the cargo bay with her bison." Yuzin said.
Yuzin told us where we could find her, and Sela, Genji, and I went looking for her while Tetsu stayed behind with Yuzin. We found the compartment, and walked in to find her and her Bison. "What are you doing?" I asked.
"I'm staying with him, because being cramped makes him nervous." she said, and leaned over and stroked his fur. "It's okay buddy, it's all gonna be good." she reassured him.
"What about when we have to face Tsume?" I asked.
Kaze looked at me, and went silent. Genji spoke up. "We'll get to that when we get to it." he said.
"We need to get their as soon as we can." Sela said. "These women were pregnant, and their families were killed."
Sela and I returned to the cabin, and explained that Genji had stayed behind with Kaze. "We should be arriving at the palace shortly." he said.
Sure enough the Fire Nation Palace soon appeared on the horizon. Within minutes the airship had drifted to a stop and the ramp extended all stepped down onto the ground. Kaze spread out her arms in excitement. "So this is the fire nation. Wow its really cool."
"It's nice to see the scenery." I replied. "But we got work to do."
A group of guards bowed to Yuzin when he walked by, then looked towards me. "Are you the Avatar?" one of them asked.
"I am Avatar Arata." I said as I shook his hand.
"Take Avatar and his companions to the chief watchman." said Yuzin.
We followed the guards into a building and to and office Their a man sat on his desk.."Sir I have been told by Fire Lord Yuzin to take the Avatar to you to discuss the threat of Tsume." one of the guards told him.
"Thank you." the chief replied. "Sit down Arata. I've heard you've had some trouble in Republic City."
"Arashi has taken Republic City and his lead assassin Tsume is here in the Fire Nation."
"I assure you that my men will be scouring the capital in search for this man. Can you describe him to us?"
A man walked in and placed a laptop on the desk. "Tell me how he looks and I'll make an image of him." he said.
We described Tsume to the chief, while he and the artist asked us questions. Eventually the artist turned around his laptop. "Is this him." he asked.
We studied the picture. "That looks about right, but somethings missing. The nails in his eyes."
"Nails in eyes?" the chief remarked.
"Their for his metalbending." said Tetsu. "Mostly he covers them with sunglasses."
The artist added them to the picture. "We'll post these wherever we can and I'll instruct have my men look the city up and down."
"Thank you chief."
"Yuzin wants you to return to the palace now."
Night had fallen and Tsume was ready to strike. He had seen a few wanted posters of himself and even had to evade a few guards. Most of the time he just managed to look inconspicuous. "Don't stare at the posters but don't go out of your way to ignore them." he reminded himself whenever he saw.
He was waiting outside the office of the Fire Nation's generals. He and his men kidnapping women was his own pet project, but this was official business. He tensed up his arm and slammed it against the wall. It exploded like thin glass revealing the general inside. "It's Tsume!" shouted one of his men.
The launched a fireblast at Tsume, who pulled his arms inward. Bits and chunks of concrete flew towards him making a shield. The heat splashed against the thick concrete, and Tsume released his grip causing the pieces to fly at the general and his troops.
They crossed their arms and winced in pain as the shards hit. One of the knocked over a table and hide behind it. "Perfect." Tsume thought."
Tsume blocked and dodged a few fireblast and shoved the table. It pushed the soldier up against the wall, and Tsume lifted it up and slammed the soldier repeatedly. He turned towards the general and the other soldier to duck a fireblast.
Tsume blocked another fireblast and picked up the table and hurled it. The soldiers were thrown back when it hit them and Tsume jumped at them before they could regroup. He wrapped metal around his knuckles and threw a savage fury of punches. The soldier reeled in pain as each blow landed, desperately throwing clumsy counterattacks.
Tsume grabbed the soldier by the arm, flung his across the room, and turned his attention to the general. The fight had left him, and he was on the ground staring up in terror. Perfect. Tsume slowly extended his claws, watching the general switch in fear. He brought them down sharply, piercing through the general's had into the floor.