Okay, I kind of lied about this chapter in the last one's ending. Next chapter will have Gaang flashbacks and present-day. But for now it's time for another Ziyeng chapter.
Please note that the present-day events don't exactly concur at the same time as the Gaang's events. It's close, but not exact.
Prepare for a very long chapter (like, twice as long as usual), and one of my favorites so far.
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PRESENT DAY (TWO DAYS AGO)
"You have no idea," Ziyeng chuckled at past memories, smiling.
"What?" Hope asked inquisitively, tilting her head to the left and narrowing her eyes. "You've done it before? Prove it!"
Ziyeng's smile turned into a look of sorrow and regret. "Yes, I have done it. But I can't prove it,"
"Why not?" Hope's expression became even more confused.
"I'll tell you later," Ziyeng sighed. "You've just got to trust me. So I'm offering you this. You are a really good Earthbender. One of the best I've seen for your age! Something tells me I'm not gonna live much longer. And I want to prove to the world the Avatar isn't the only one who can master all four elements. Even if he can master all four elements…" he caught himself rambling and quickly got to the point. "I want to help you master Earthbending. If you're good enough, you may be able to bend Water or Fire. So what do you say?"
Hope considered the options. She didn't understand a lot of what this man was saying, but he sounded sincere and she did love bending. She was always fascinated with Waterbending refugees and their movements. Of course, her parents wouldn't like a mysterious man teacher her to bend.
Hope had a look of determination in her eyes. "Okay… but I'm going to need mom and dad to say okay," she started running to her house a few houses away.
"Sure thing," Ziyeng nodded. He quickly realized she'd soon ask his name. If he just told her "Ziyeng" then there's a chance someone would find out about Fire Lady Mai or Tom-Tom. He quickly feigned a fake name. "And the name's Zhao, in case your parents ask!"
"Mmkay!" Hope called back.
… A few minutes later, Hope returned. "They said it's okay! Now you can teach me!"
And thus began a beautiful apprenticeship.
FLASHBACK – ZIYENG'S POV – FIVE YEARS AGO
After that sage advice from the Fire Lord's uncle, I participated in the finals and came in eighth worldwide. It was nothing to boast about, but still. Better than I thought I would do. I lost to an Earthbender with amazing strength who spoke in third-person. Weird.
Soon after, out of pure curiosity, on a whim, I decided to try to accomplish the old man's theory. It didn't seem likely, but it didn't seem impossible either. With the way my life was going now, why not? I met a Firebending master. He was growing old, he had only just moved into the Fire Nation, and he used to be my brother's teacher (I later found out he disapproved of my brother's use of fire from anger and war). His name was Jeong Jeong. He was a wise old man, who seemed to look weary from aging. He had two vertical stars next to his right eye. He was reluctant to teach me at first, and if I hadn't coerced him into it he probably would've refused.
I came to be his second-favorite student ever. For some reason, he refused to tell me who his favorite was. I didn't have to ask who his least favorite was. After roughly four months of hard manual labor, mock Agni Kais, Firebending duels, strange exercises involving leaves and breathing, I finally achieved a rare feat: blue fire. But I didn't complain one bit. I persevered through it. Another two months gave me lightning, and another two months gave me the extremely powerful, deadly, and destructive white-hot fire that burned in intensity. Jeong Jeong had only used white fire once, and refused to use it ever again due to its destructive power. I was different. I fully mastered this form, and after one whole year of training, I was able to create an inferno of white fire and a pillar of white blazes simultaneously. I started beating Jeong Jeong in his most challenging duels.
That was when the "crack" happened.
I had been training with Jeong Jeong for over a year at that point, and he challenged me to a duel. He believed I was "ready to move on" and he asked for one final duel. He told me that he would be "taking back nothing" in this final Agni Kai. He also told me, much to my surprise, that if I won, he would deem me a Firebending "master" once and for all, a title I had been hoping for him to call me for some time. Lastly, he told me he "wouldn't be holding anything back".
Red flames met red flames. Blue flames met blue flames. Close-range combat created explosions. Lightning bolts connected and ricocheted into the walls of the duel arena.
It all happened so fast. He had gotten me on the ground and was hurling blue blasts at me. I managed to roll out of the way. He kept doing this for several seconds. I had gotten so used to it, rolling away from his fireballs, that I was taken by surprised when I felt searing pain. He had gotten me with lightning.
I felt the lightning pulsate through my right arm, cracking through a few veins like child's play. I then attempted to create my own lightning to take him by surprise, when a miracle happened. Instead of manipulating my own lightning, I gained control of his lightning. I maneuvered it through my stomach then out my other arm, aimed at my bewildered teacher. Lightning burst through my fingers… then I suddenly felt a jolt in my chest, causing me to involuntarily lurch forward, causing my hands to violently twist, in succession causing the lightning to hit the wall, an undesired target.
It felt like something inside me had split open. I had lost control of my body. Then, as quickly as it had begun… it was over. All the pain just vanished. As if in a dream, I was suddenly overcome with renewed strength. I was able to stand up in a second, all the mental and physical strain gone, with the agility of a lightweight adolescent. Both of my hands glowed with white energy, and fire almost naturally surged forward. My master ducked just in time. The fire seared through the walls until it finally vanished.
I stepped forward to my shocked master, pinning him on the ground. I prepared to summon a victory flare into the sky, when something most unexpected happened. As I let out a red flare from my index finger, several droplets of sweat that were dripping from my head… it just… flew, slowly rotating around the flare.
"Did you just… did you just Waterbend?!" Jeong Jeong asked incredulously.
I looked down at the hand that sent the flare, with pure shock on my face.
It was then that I knew that the wise old uncle had been right.
PRESENT DAY (0 DAYS AGO)
Ziyeng had been training Hope for two days now. She had shown remarkable progress for a ten year old after two days. She had three hours a day to train with Ziyeng. On his off-hours, Ziyeng would simply relax in his humble home.
On the first day, Ziyeng taught her basic exercises she already knew from natural experience, with a few rock-flinging abilities.
On the second day, Ziyeng encouraged her to have a little fun and make the biggest rocks she can bend and hurl them out of an alley.
She was clearly having fun doing it, too; she was laughing as she pounded mercilessly into a poor wall. Fortunately, the wall was well-built and could hold, and no one was inside the opposing house.
They heard a loud voice come from across the alley.
"That rock's far too big for a young girl," the voice reverberated through the alley's walls.
Hope beamed and sent another rock flying… when it hit a scarred face, which bounced back and cry out in pain.
"Uh-oh," Hope glanced around.
Ziyeng heard his cries. "I know that voice anywhere," Ziyeng narrowed his eyes. Fire Lord Zuko. He heard another person cry out "Zuko!"
He knelt down to the Earthbending prodigy and put a hand on her shoulder. "Now, listen to me carefully. These men will attack us. Don't listen to what they say. I want you to climb that ladder up there so we can get out of here. They'll leave us alone."
"O…okay, Mr. Zhao…" Hope whispered as she trembled with fear, quickly running to the ladder. When she was high enough, Ziyeng followed suit. Almost at the top of the ladder, Hope screamed. She lost her footing. Ziyeng, with quick reflexes, used his right hand to catch her before she hurt herself at all, and kept climbing the ladder. Just as he made it to the top, he heard an infuriated yell.
"That's Ziyeng!" the Fire Lord yelled in a harsh roar. "And he's kidnapping that girl!" Before Ziyeng could even react, Fire Lord Zuko let out a stream of fire at Ziyeng. If not for Ziyeng's quick thinking, jumping the final few ladder pegs and onto the roof. He quickly and carefully ran across the rooftops, Hope in his arms as they heard an inaudible threat from Zuko, and harmlessly dropping into a near-invisible alley.
Hope, still scared, was a bit shaky, but she wasn't too shaken up. They stayed hidden and quiet for several minutes.
"I think we've lost him, Zuko," the Avatar's consoling voice sounded.
There was a pause, and an angry roar from the Fire Lord that caused Ziyeng to flinch and Hope to quietly shriek.
A few minutes later, Ziyeng peeked over the rooftops and then through the streets to double-check. They were gone.
"Mr. Zhao, Who's Ziyeng?" Hope asked, who was showing great maturity by already having gained her composure.
"Those two people think I'm someone I'm not, someone I look like," Ziyeng craftily and successfully lied for his and Hope's own good. "They think I'm a crazy murderer." Well, that part was true. He wasn't a murderer… just… unlucky.
"Oh," Hope said.
"Now come on," Ziyeng smiled. "It's safe now. Do you want to keep training or take the rest of the day off?"
"I'll… I'll keep training, Mr. Zhao." Hope assured Ziyeng.
FLASHBACK – FIVE TO TWO YEARS AGO
Five years ago I started learning from Jeong Jeong. Four years ago I graduated from his teachings. Four years ago I finally bended another element: Water, if just barely. No matter how hard I tried, I could not even slightly manipulate Air or Earth, which surprised me, since Water was Fire's opposite and I had learned it first.
Jeong Jeong took my bending abilities quite well. After a little bit, I decided to keep my bending abilities secret… for now. He agreed and we finally parted ways.
After a few days of shock and wonder, I decided to travel to the Northern Water Tribe and practice Waterbending there. (To disguise myself from being a Firebender, I feigned being a Southern Water Tribe member who just discovered they could Waterbend). I got a teacher. They called him the "best bender in the city", and apparently he was a member of the fabled White Lotus order and the step-grandfather of two of the Avatar's old friends. They called him Master Pakku. He wholeheartedly accepted me as a student. I felt honored to be learning another bending style and guilty for not telling him my secret.
After a few months of laborious training (déjà vu for me), I was quite adept at Waterbending. I was in a practice routine, bending with two hands, when my peaceful solo training was cut short with an abrupt crack came from within my chest.
It felt just like the first one. Unique, surreal, painful. When it was over, I felt the same godlike feeling that I had felt months previous. It made me wonder why other master benders hadn't experienced a "crack" at the peak of their knowledge of Bending. Was it their willpower of bending other elements, or maybe it was something about a state of mind, or past experiences. Whatever it was, it didn't bother me much.
My first time Waterbending, sweat from a victory flare, was pure accidental and natural. I waited for the inevitable, picking up the water where I had dropped it. Then it happened. My somewhat long hair blew in the wind. I was Airbending. I looked around. Fortunately, no one had discovered me.
Look out, Avatar, now there's two Airbenders.
My next six months were spent mastering Waterbending. With no real masters to teach me Airbending, I trained myself, and I think I became quite good at it. When I became strong enough to fend off eight powerful Waterbenders on my own (Master Pakku's "final test"), with a maelstrom whirlool, I was officially a Master Waterbender. Airbending was a different story. I practiced at night when no one was watching, and shortly before mastering Waterbending I was able to create a spout that could carry me to great heights with air itself, or make a ball of air that could carry me around. I even went so far as to innerly consider myself an Airbending Master.
I left for Omashu (Ba Sing Se was flooded with tourists that would make it a pain, so I went for the second option). Even when I arrived, a final crack to allow Earthbending seemed to not come. I waited and waited, and even attempted to perform the movements of Earthbending without actually bending. A few months later, my crack came, jolting me from my sleep. About thirty seconds later, the rocky ground below me formed a ripple. I couldn't believe it. I was able to bend all four elements. I… didn't know what to think for the next few hours. I couldn't sleep. I had great difficulty jumping and cheering for myself as a near-Avatar.
The next morning, I did the same thing as I did with the Northern Water Tribe to Omashu; I found a Master, feigned just realizing I could bend, and going from there. The King of Omashu, a wise and powerful man named Bumi, offered to teach a novice at such an old age, saying it would be "interesting". I was honored to train under the great King of Omashu himself, even if I did think he was crazy. Regardless, he is still to this day the best Earthbender I had ever met.
This training took another whole year. I found Earthbending to be the hardest to learn. It wasn't Firebending's natural opposite, but for some reason I still had a hard time with it. Eventually, though, I was able to create columns from the ground, create fissures from the Earth, create armor out of the Earth, and create Earth "waves" with my feet. After a long battle with Master Bumi, I was fully accepted as a Master Earthbender. Finally, my mission was complete.
As a wise Avatar once said, "It was hard, hard work. But the results were worth it."
Could I, a lowly general stripped of his status and forced to murder out of blackmail, have mastered all four elements, something no known man had done before without having the status as Avatar? I couldn't believe it for the first few days, it was almost too surreal.
At last, with a dream fully realized, I had two things to do in mind. One, I wanted to see the Fire Lord's uncle again, and two, I wanted to share my knowledge with the world: what better way to start that off than a duel with the Avatar?
PRESENT DAY – 3 DAYS FROM NOW
Ziyeng had been training Hope for a total of five days now. She was already showing considerable promise. On the fifth day of training, Ziyeng sat on a park bench as Hope Earthbended with her feet (something that took Ziyeng a whole month to do during his training).
"Mr. Zhao?" Hope asked as she lay on the ground, arms relaxed behind her head as she kicked at the air, a few medium-sized rocks springing forward.
"What is it, Hope?" Ziyeng asked patiently.
"You've said you've mastered the four elements," Hope continued.
"Go on," Ziyeng braced himself, knowing what Hope was going to say next.
"Well, why can't you anymore?" Hope looked away from her bending to look at Ziyeng.
Ziyeng sighed. "It's a long story. Are you sure?"
Hope nodded vehemently.
Ziyeng breathed in. "Okay. I met this old man who gave me this interesting theory that I can barely remember and you wouldn't even understand if I tried to tell you," he chuckled, "But anyway, I mastered Firebending, then found I was able to bend other elements. After mastering all of them, I went to thank the old man…"
FLASHBACK – TWO YEARS AGO
I walked into a shop called the Jasmine Dragon. I had asked around Omashu for the Fire Lord's uncle, and a Wiseman told me he ran a teashop (I should have known) in Ba Sing Se called the "Jasmine Dragon". Therefore, I traveled to the Earth Kingdom capital to give my thanks.
"May I help you?" a waiter asked as I walked inside cautiously.
"Yes, I'd like to speak to the owner. I believe he is the Fire Lord's uncle, correct?" I asked.
"Yes. Is there something wrong in the Fire Nation?"
"Not at all. I've just met him before and would like to talk to him," I assured.
"Sure thing," the waiter smiled and walked to the second floor. A few seconds later, I was beckoned to follow.
I was escorted upstairs where I saw the familiar face I had been hoping to see. He was sitting in a comfortable-looking chair and sipping tea.
"You have a visitor, Mr. Iroh," the waiter replied curtly. "And you start brewing in half an hour." As he said it, the waiter left.
"Brewing?" I asked, confused. "But you run the shop."
"Let's just say I have a passion for tea," Iroh chuckled. "Now who are you?"
"Do you remember me?" I asked. "My name is Ziyeng. We sat next to each other for a few minutes at the Worldwide Bending Tournament, remember?"
Iroh thought. "Nope, I don't remember." He started laughing again. "With age comes memory loss, I assure you."
"You showed me that graph with the elements with your theory of being able to learn more than one," I explained.
Iroh thought. "Ah, I remember you!" a wave of realization hit Iroh. "You were that impatient Firebender!"
"Yes, and I've come to thank you," I continued.
"Thank me?" Iroh asked, tilting his head. "What do you have to thank me for?"
I smiled. I told him to look the outside window. Craftily, I Earthbended a pillar up with a single hand, to be visibly seen.
Iroh turned to me, now thoroughly bewildered as Jeong Jeong had been. For good measure, I Airbended and Waterbended one of the candles out in the corner of the room, then Firebended it back on.
Iroh turned to me again, his eyes wide. "It worked?"
"It worked."
Much later…
I then looked for an opportunity to show the world my newfound abilities, and the best option seemed to be dueling the Avatar. Of course, I had to find him. I heard rumors he was in the Southern Water Tribe, Northern Water Tribe, Omashu, Kyoshi, Gaoling Village, and even the Foggy Swamps. I kept tracking him, and finally found him in the Fire Nation capital.
"Avatar Aang!" I yelled out. The Avatar was in front of the Palace with two friends dressed in Water Tribe garb and another girl dressed like a Kyoshi Warrior. "I have a request."
"Hello," Aang said. "What can I do for you?"
"I'd like to duel you," I said bravely.
"You'd like to duel me?" Aang rolled his eyes, starting to walk away. "You have no idea how many times a day I get that request…"
"I'll pay you," I called after him, causing him to turn around. "I've got a large pay from my old job,"
"Now for money, I'll do it," Aang walked straight toward me and patted me on the back. "Are you sure you want to duel me? I am the Avatar."
"Absolutely," I told him. "This'll be different. Trust me."
A few minutes later, I was in a position I never in a million years thought I would be: face-to-face with the Avatar, about to duel.
"One last chance to back out," Aang told me.
"Never," I said.
And it had begun. I Firebended, he started countering it with Water. I continued to Firebend, hoping to eventually take him by surprise with a second bending element.
After several more Fire vs. Water/Earth/Fire/Air element bending, I decided to shake things up. As the Avatar sent forth a large gust of wind, I shocked everybody by pulling Earth out of the ground as a shield.
I lowered the rocks and grinned as the looks of Aang and his friends had the same bewilderment that everyone else who had witnessed my extraordinary talent had had.
"But…" Aang started, before I formed a suit of rocky armor out of the ground.
Aang shook his head. "You can Earthbend… and Firebend?!"
I charged forward, and Aang only managed to Airbend me away.
"But that's not all!" I laughed tauntingly as I Airbended at the Avatar.
He wasn't moving. This confused me. I pulled water out of the air and it hit him. He didn't flinch.
"Is something wrong?" I asked, walking up to him, but was thrown aback by a sudden burst of energy.
The Avatar was surrounded by a burst of blue cosmic energy, wind crashing around him. His eyes were glowing, as were his arrow tattoos. I stood up as Aang started floating and hovered towards me. I made a break for it, but he was already upon me.
"I don't know how you did it," I heard a voice. It wasn't Aang's. I don't even think there was a single specified voice. I heard hundreds, no… thousands of voices. All speaking simultaneously as if there were multiples within one. It was an experience that rattled me to the core, leaving me speechless. I was put on my knees by a seemingly invisible force. "But, by bending all four elements, and not being a reincarnate of the Avatar State, you have broken the natural balance of the order!"
At the time this was going on, my life was flashing before my eyes. I had no idea if he was going to kill me or make me melt or something.
"And for that, you will be stripped of your bending abilities!" the Avatar lost his majestic form, still glowing, and placed his right hand on my head and the left hand on my heart. What happened next I can barely remember. The Avatar's entire body glowed blue. Mine glowed red. The Earth seemed to shake as lights went to the heavens from our mouths and eye. And then it was over. The lights were gone, and I collapsed in a heap.
Without saying a word (or at least anything I could hear), Avatar Aang walked away, and his friends disappeared with him, leaving me.
I lay on the ground, for the next several minutes too weak to lose a muscle. I didn't know it at the time, but I had just lost what I had spent years working to attain—Waterbending, Earthbending, Firebending, and Airbending.
Thus was how I lost my bending abilities. All that hard work vanished in a single minute.
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Well, I don't have much else to say, just please review. :D
Tomorrow's the last chapter before the hiatus, however. D: