Chapter 5 – Encounter, Part II

Finally I arrived back at my home. It was nothing much, just a few rooms where I performed experiments. I was an orphan, so I lived alone in the ever-sprawling Embankment. Now I finally had time to think.

"All right, so when Yuri swore that his followers would return, he was right. Thy have. But I don't know their plans. So I should just go to someone high in authority, right? But they might be in on it too. Who knows? Maybe I should instead try to infiltrate their ranks and discover it for myself. Than decide my next move."

I was surprised to hear clapping. I was even more surprised to notice an Earthbender girl sitting on one of my custom-made chairs. "Nice speech, kid. We were considering you for the resistance, too. Such a shame you're a goody two shoes."

Before she knew what I was doing, or even had time to be surprised, I picked up a small machine and attached it to my arm. "What are you doing…?" She asked me.

"This," I replied. I pushed a button on the machine, and fire shot out. With a few flexes of my arm, the fire shot out towards the girl.

She didn't have time to react, and the blaze knocked her off her feet. "Impressive. You've managed to recreate firebending with your little toys."

"Not perfectly, obviously, but – " I was cut off as a huge block of earth came swinging my way. I ducked and saw the girl raise piece of earth.

She shot it my way, and I pushed the button again. The fire and earth collided, and the earth crumbled. "Pretty impressive for a replica." She said, sounding mildly impressed.

I shot another huge blaze at her, but she rose up the earth as a shield, and the fire couldn't get to her. "I have questions! Like, were you really considering me? And why would benders he allowed in Yuri's resistance group?"

She smiled as she threw her earth shield at me and I was forced to hit the ground. "Well, yes we were, or so I am told by my superiors. And Yuri failed because he didn't see that benders followed his cause as well."

I tried launching another blaze, but the button was temporarily jammed. "He wanted to wipe out all benders. Isn't that still the goal?"

The ground rose up from me, propelling me into the air. I landed a few feet from the girl. "I don't know. But what we're told is that we're eradicating those persecuting the gifted. We need to co-exist, especially in this utopia!"

But I unwittingly voiced her doubt. "But maybe that's just what they're telling you."

By now she had figured out that my button was jammed. "Good night, boy." Coralin said.

And than she was forcefully knocked back by a huge wave of earth. "Take that, crazy!" yelled Aiana as she arrived to the scene.

Coralin recovered herself and threw three huge chunks of earth. Aiana slammed one into the ground and raised a wall to deflect the second one. The third one headed towards me. "COME ON!" I exclaimed, pressing the button. A blaze started, and I flexed my arm so the fire collided with the earth, creating a small blast.

"Get over here!" Aiana exclaimed. "Let's get out of here!"

And while we dove out of my ruined apartment, I called back to my assailant. "You should never pick the wrong side. And here, the wrong side is the one that doesn't tell you the whole truth."

And Aiana and I escaped, me with a bag I'd been able to grab together containing some of my experiments. While we raced through the streets of the Embankment, soot and earth on our clothes, passerby looking at us strangely, Coralin rose from the small explosion in my apartment. There was a small gash on her arm, and her leg was bleeding profusely; apparently a beaker of glass had shattered on it.

She shook some of the soot off of her and smiled. She tore off her necklace and dropped it in the wreckage – she knew that Trevon would never believe that she left it behind willingly. "They'll all believe I'm dead," she muttered. "The gifted kid was right. They weren't telling me the whole truth. So I no longer pick their side."

And she dove out of the apartment as well, just as a fire managed to collide with a flammable experiment, demolishing my apartment. When she saw or footprints, she chuckled, remembering her mission. And than she took off down the opposite path, determined to make a life for herself.