Hey guys thanks for all the OC's so now I can get started on the story! Had to say a lot of you sent in benders with white flames but some added their own little flare to it so that was nice and made it easier on me. Now lets get on with the story!
Fire Nation Harbor
Lone could be found on the docks in his usual training attire along with a small travel bag and his two butterfly swords sheathed on his back in an x formation. In front of him with various sailor's and soldiers moving about was the ship that would be taking him, and whoever else the Fire Lord had made into the other members of the Five Dragon's, to the Earth Kingdom. On the outside he looked completely calm but inside he was bursting with excitement and nervous energy as this would be the first time he ever left Fire Nation soil and he couldn't wait to see what the world had to offer.
The ship itself was of a smaller and older model but still very much service worthy(the same size as Zuko's ship) Scars could be seen all across its metal hull showing that it had seen its fair share of action in the war, however the real kicker was the flag which was the same fiery red only now it had the symbol of five dragon's chasing each-other in a circle with the Fire Nation emblem in the center.
"Well at least we'll stand out apart from the usual rabble now won't we?" spoke a male voice slightly behind Lone making him turn to look at the one who had spoken.
The one who had spoken stood just behind him to his right gazing up at the ship with his golden eyes and a small smile on his face, like Lone had been doing earlier. The teenager looked about sixteen and stood just five foot eleven with lightly toned skin and a lean build to him with broad shoulders, his long brown hair pulled up into a high ponytail, with some framing his face reaching about his chin. He currently wore a decently tight-fitting sleeveless tunic that is a dark crimson with red and gold trim, red pants and sandals on his feet.
Taking his gaze off the boat for a moment the fellow teen turns towards Lone and holds out his hand in greeting.
"Hey the name's Zerek, and I'm assuming your another member of the Five Dragon's?" said Zerek as Lone hesitated for a moment before taking Zerek's hand in a firm handshake.
"You would assume right. Nice to meet you Zerek, the name's Lone." said Lone happily at having met one of his teammates so soon, and he seemed like an alright guy as well.
"Wow you two only just met and already so chummy? Can I join in!" exclaimed a bubbly female voice as said female popped in between the two teen's surprising them at her sudden appearance.
The teenage girl looked no older than seventeen standing five foot six, with a lithe, athletic build and gold eye's similar to Zerek's, but possessed a paler skin tone. She had black hair kept in a loose braid reaching her mid back with several strands coming loose in the front showing that her ears had gold stud earing's with two helix earing's in her right ear. She currently wore a black vest with gold trimmings, white baggy pants with a long red cloth belt black and flat shoes.
"And who might you be?" asked Zerek feeling his temper flare a little at this girl suddenly jumping into his and Lone's conversation. That was just rude on so many levels.
"Oh, sorry about that! Got a little ahead of myself didn't I? Names Akane so be sure to remember alright!" responded the now named Akane with a bright smile that made both boys look at her weirdly for a moment though Lone could see a bit of...something in her eyes that contrasted with her happy demeanor.
"Excuse me but are you three members of the Five Dragons as well?" asked a kind feminine voice from behind the three drawing all of their attention to the one who had spoken.
The girl who had spoken looked around sixteen, standing at five foot nine she was fairly tall and slender, with a lean musculature and heart shaped face, with delicate features, high cheekbones, and thin arched eyebrows. Her skin white like ivory with not a blemish save for some numerous little burn scars on her fingers, her eyes colored like molten bronze, wide and rimmed with dark lashes. Her dark brown, almost chocolate colored, hair falling past the small of her back to her hips in a perfectly done braid. For attire she wore close-fitting black pants under a layered crimson skirt falling to just above the knee with a gold sash around the waist, and a scarlet tank-top type shirt, the bottom tucked into the skirt, with gold embroidery around the neckline, and black boots.
'She looks more like a noble's daughter than a member of the soon to be most elite group in the Fire Nation.' was the collective thought of the other three before Lone stepped forward to greet what appeared to be their new teammate.
"Yes we are indeed members of the Five Dragon's. I am Lone, behind me are our other two members Zerek and Akane." said Lone introducing the other two. Zerek gave her a small smile and a wave while Akane hopped in place waving maniacally getting her some more odd looks from the passing sailor's.
"It's good to meet you all, my name is Kirah and I hope we can work together well." she said kindly with a smile. Just then Akane popped up next to her startling Kirah a bit.
"Oh aren't you just soooo nice! I can already tell we're gonna be great friend's!" exclaimed the bubbly girl as she hugged Kirah tightly making said girl blush a bit in embarrassment.
"I can already tell that demeanor of her's is going to be both a blessing and a curse in the future." muttered Zerek as he watched Akane animatedly converse with Kirah who was listening to her go on and on with a smile on her face.
"That's just how it is so I suggest you just deal with it." spoke a cold male voice making nearly everyone jump in surprise as they saw the one who had spoken.
The teen looked about seventeen and had a rather slender yet tall build with some defined musculature, he was about as tall as Zerek with a matching skin tone and narrowed golden eyes. The only real difference between the two being the new males short, slicked back, black hair. He wore a bright red military-esque uniform made from dyed red silks, a bright red long coat with the collar upturned, a pair of black pants, worn leather boots, and a pair of fingerless black gloves, however in his right hand he casually held a longsword in the form of a black bladed tachi with a cross shaped tsuba handle, a black and red wrapped hilt, despite the fact he had a black lacquered sheath resting at his side.
"So you must be the final member of our little group huh?" asked Zerek, though it came out as more of a statement, to which the new arrival simply nodded his head.
"I am Saito." he said simply leaving the other's a bit put off by his anti-social behavior. The only one not seemingly affected being the bundle of energy known as Akane who was instantly in front of the new arrival asking a series of rapid fire questions that he either didn't understand due to the speed she was speaking or decided to ignore as he made his way to their ship, which was getting ready to depart a the moment.
As the other took off for the ship Lone stopped and turned to look back at the small port town, the last bit of his homeland he will see in who knows how long.
"Well guess this is goodbye for now, but I will return one day, of that I can be sure." said Lone with determination before running to catch up with the rest of his team.
3 weeks later
It had been three weeks since the newly made Five Dragon's had left the Fire Nation homeland and once more they were sitting down for their usual evening meal.
Through the days on board the ship the group had gotten to know each other a little better seeing as how they would be working with one another for the unseen future. The group had also had a few light spar's here and there in order to get a feel for how their teammates fought and what would work best should they ever have to fight as a group.
They also managed to learn a bit more about each-other on a personal level. For one was that Saito apparently came from a rather prestigious clan but other than that he wouldn't say. Kirah turned out to be a general's daughter but other than some stuff about her family she would kindly shy away from anything regarding her training in the bending arts though it was easy to see on everyone's face that it wasn't a pleasant experience for her. Zerek turned out to be much in the same boat as her though as his father was also a high ranking General though it was easy to see he had a much more pleasant upbringing than Kirah. Finally there was Akane who was the biggest surprise of all as she was basically raised in the Rough Rhino's and the way she talked about battle made it plain to see that she enjoyed causing pain to other's making the others just a bit more weary of her.
Now however they were just enjoying a simple meal as they made their way ever closer to the Earth Kingdom. All was covered in a comfortable silence before Akane, as usual, decided to break it with a very unexpected question.
"Hey Lone, why do you look so much different from other people of the Fire Nation? I mean your eyes make you look like you belong more in the Earth Kingdom." asked Akane with childlike curiosity as her question had drawn the attention of the others, even the usual stoic Saito. Lone for his part merely looked down at his small stew bowl with a thoughtful look deciding on what to say to the bubbly girl in answer to her question. In the end he just decided to tell the truth.
"I don't know. Some would claim I'm an abomination of some Earth Kingdom brute and a Fire Nation whore, can't tell you how many times that's been said, however the Fire Monk's and the one's who trained me say it's because of my unique flames." answered Lone as he formed a small ball of green fire in his hand getting everyone's attention.
"You know I've never heard of 'green fire' before, do you think it's some kind of mutation?" asked Zerek with a thoughtful look on his face. Sure he had seen the flames in action during their spars but it still left him wondering what could make flames of that particular color?
"I'm not so sure, I've read some scroll's on firebending history and one in particular is a myth about those with the 'Emerald Flames.' It said that a bender of such flames only appears in times of great change with the last known wielder being around the time Fire Lord Sozin started the war." explained Kirah as she had read many scrolls during her training but that one had particularly caught her eye at the sheer absurdity.
"Wow! So your like super special huh Lone!?" said an excited Akane bouncing in her seat and making Lone chuckle a bit, despite her more violent side her more cheerful side was still good for a laugh. After so many years training with stone faced teacher's with little to no outside contact Akane's bubbly personality was refreshing, though he would always be weary of her should she suddenly decide to go psycho on him and want to 'play'.
Before anymore could be said one of the sailor's walked in and with a brusque salute began to speak.
"Sir's, we are exactly one day out from the Earth Kingdom. Is there any spot in particular you wish us to go to or should we make port at the nearest possible location?" asked the sailor.
The Five Dragon's had opted to wait and discuss a bit on where exactly they would make landfall when they had started out. After all the Earth Kingdom was very large and had numerous point's of interest in order to begin their campaign so they wanted to take some time and deliberate on where would be a good starting point.
"Well we have discussed it extensively and we feel a good starting point would be Kiyoshi Island." answered Lone to the now surprised sailor.
"Kiyoshi? But sir, the island is protected by a giant serpent that can shoot water hard enough to turn our ship to scrap!?"
"Let us deal with the giant eel, you just focus on getting us there." put in Zerek before taking a sip of his drink.
"Understood, however if I may be so bold to ask, what purpose do you wish to go to Kiyoshi?" asked the sailor curiously.
"Kyoshi Island is a symbol of support for the Avatar. It supports a false messiah that blinds everyone to the fact that they must take life into their own hands rather than hand it off to someone else. If Kiyoshi falls it will strike a major blow to the Avatar's support." stated Saito. It had become a common occurrence that the usually silent teen would only speak at critical moments or none at all, something his team had learned early on in the trip.
"That, and the fact that the current Avatar was there not too long ago along with a certain Prince Zuko. Depending on what we find it may bring us closer to finding said Avatar and putting a permanent end to this war." threw in Lone.
As soon as Zuko's name was mentioned Kirah tensed up before gaining a somewhat sad smile on her face at remembrance of the disgraced prince who she held some feelings for. It wasn't right, in her opinion, what his father had done, but there was nothing she could do accept pray that someday they crossed path's giving her a chance to speak with him once more.
With another salute the sailor left to carry out his order's leaving the Five Dragon's to enjoy the rest of their meal. Lone however looked out the window with a critical gaze as he could feel both anticipation and nervousness flow through him. Soon he would be in a real battle, no spar's, no do over's, just him and whoever stands in the way of his duty to his home.
'And so it begins, next stop Kiyoshi Island.' was Lone's final thought's as he returned to his meal while listening to Akane rant and rave about various Fire Nation delicacies she has sampled over the years. Despite all of their quirk's Lone new the pride and honor of the Fire Nation rested solely on their actions from here on out and he was not one for failure.
Alright review and/or Pm me! Sorry if this chapter seemed short but I'm having a hard time finding time to write so this is the best I could do at the moment. Silver lining is at least I got to introduce all the main OC's!