Mai sat on the ship and watched as Zuko, Sephiroth, and Iroh left. She sighed. "This is going to be boring, isn't it?" she asked, turning to Ty Lee, with five young sailors around her.

"I don't think it will be." she answered, smiling.

Mai sighed, turning to walk out of the room. "Just stay out of trouble." she turned back around and saw Ty Lee being pampered by the men. "And stay out of their beds." Mai walked out of the room, hearing Ty giggle at the comment. Mai walked down the hall, and made her way to the med bay. When she got their she found Jee sitting next to Kalo. "Why are you here?" she asks coldly.

"I fought under Kalo many times. He was a close friend, so I think I deserve a little time with him, too." Jee replies.

Mai sits next to the young Captain and sighed again. "Sorry, I didn't realize you knew him."

Jee smiles at Mai. "I know how hard it is to see him like this, but right now we need to be strong for him. He will pull threw, I know it." Mai smiles at the Captain and the two sit their and talk for hours about Kalo.

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Zuko looked around and surveyed the situation they got themselves into. They where in the middle of a small meadow in the middle of a forest, surrounded by thieves. Sephiroth was out cold and Iroh was tied up. The lead thief walked up to Zuko and kicked him. "Stand up boy." Zuko stood up and sneered at the man. "You will make a fine specimen at the slave trades, kill the old man, and tie this one up to the other boy." One of the men nodded and pulled out a large ax, while another laid Iroh's head down on a rock. Zuko smiled as the man raised the ax. As the ax came down, Iroh spun out of the way and launched a fireball at the man's head. The man fell to the ground dead, his face burnt beyond recognition. Zuko took the chance and kicked the thief leader in the stomach, and freeing himself of the rope. He ran to his ostrich horse and drew his dao blades from the sack.

"Now, run before I decide to kill you too." he threaten. The thief stands up and turns away. Suddenly he draws a broadsword and turns on Zuko.

"I don't run." he whispers, before charging at Zuko. Zuko barely parries the blow, and is forced into a defensive stance. The thief was relentless. Suddenly Zuko felt his legs give out from under him. As he falls to the ground he sees a tree root he tripped over. He hits the ground and looses his blades. "You loose, kid." the thief says before swinging his sword at Zuko.

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Toph was sitting in the stands when she herd the small group coming down the hall. "Hey, Xin, we have more try outs."

Xin Fu looks at Toph. "OK, Could you test them for me, I need to get the arena ready?"

"No problem." Toph replies. She hops out of the stands and makes her way towards the five new comers. "Welcome to the Earth Rumble arena. Are you here to try out?"

"Yup, we are, ya know." one of the men replied.

"OK, then follow me. I will take you to the registration desk. After you register, I will test your abilities."

"How can you test our abilities, your a blind little girl, ya know?" the rest of the men laugh.

Toph smiles and laughs along with the men. Suddenly the ground beneath the men starts to crumble. "Ya, it's not like I could be a better earth bender than you 'great big men'." The men suddenly are launched into the ceiling, trapped their by Toph. They watch her leave the room, yelling. "Hey, Xin Fu, could you handle the men? I'm tired of being insulted."

Xin Fu looks up and sighs. "Where are they?"

"In the ceiling of the hall. They got on my nerves."

Xin Fu sighs again. "Then could you finish the arena for me then?"

"No problem." she replied.

"That's what you said about the new guys." Xin Fu yells over his shoulder. He walks into the hall and sees five men stuck in the ceiling. "I see you met the Blind Bandit. She has a temper, and she is probably the best earth bender in the world." He bends the men out of the ceiling and looks at the. "So, who insulted her?"

A young man with black hair and blue eyes looks away. "I kinda did, ya know"

Xin Fu rolls his eyes at the youth. "Oh well, only a mistake made once. So what are your names?"

The black headed youth looks a up. "I am Raijin, and my stage name is 'The Mercenary Seed', ya, know."

Xin Fu nods and looks at a large, dark skinned man, with short black hair. "What about you?"

"Name's Barret Wallace, but you can call me 'The Avalanche'."

Xin Fu looks art the next man. He was large, pale, and had brown hair. "My name is Barthello, but you can call me 'The Guardian'."

The next man was smaller than the last two, with a light tan skin and blond hair. "My name is Sabin Figaro, but you can call me 'The Returner'."

The last man was all lean muscle, and he was also pale. He had a brown ponytail, and that was all of his hair. "My name is Yang Leiden, but you can call me 'The Monk Supreme'."

Xin Fu smiles at the new comers. "OK, follow me. We will get you registered, and then tested."

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Jee was sitting in his new room, looking out the window. His view was of the port side, and it was a peaceful sight. Suddenly he felt the ship start to rock, and he rushed into the hallway to find the disturbance. What he saw was horrible. Three pirates laid dead on the floor at the hands of Vaan and Balthier. Jee was scared by the look in Balthier's eyes. It was pure malice and hate, not something common in the usually laid back man. Jee looked around and saw the reason for Balthier's rage. Fran, his love, laid dead and naked in front of the pirates. By the way she was positioned, she was obviously raped, them killed. Two other pirates where running from the enraged man, one trying his hardest to button up his pants and run at the same time. Jee launched a fireball at the man's feet, knocking him to the ground. Balthier looked at Jee. "Do what you wish to him, old friend." Balthier gave him a smile that would haunt his dreams before going to the pirates side. Jee and Vaan left before they could see the torment the man now faced. All they heard was his scream.

The two ran to the deck and saw Vivi and Lulu fighting off a large group of pirates. Jee and Vaan ran up and helped them fend off the attackers. "Where is Palom?" Jee asked Vivi.

"A pirate got past us and went into the med bay. He ran off to stop the guy." Jee nodded as he sent another pirate to meet Agni.

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Mai was sitting in the med bay, watching Kalo sleep. Suddenly, a hand grabbed her shoulder and pushed her onto the bed next to Kalo. Mai looked up and saw a pirate with a large grin on his face. "My, my, what a beautiful young lady we have here." he licked his lips and then forced a kiss on Mai. She struggled to push him off, but he was about three times bigger than her. She claws at his face. "Kitty's got claws, I see." He smiles as he licks his lips again.

As he pinned Mai down, nobody noticed the slight twitching in Kalo's hand.

Kalo heard the voice of his sister Mai well he heard her screaming out for help from anyone, Kalo tried to get up but like every other attempt he had made to get up the weight of the darkness pushed him back down, and he started to push back.

Mai continued to scream as the pirate tied her hand's to the bed, just as Ozai had done to her before. It was going to happen to her again while her brother was in the room same room as her. If only Kalo was awake, Mai thought desperately to herself as she continued to scream out for help before she was gagged with a damp cloth.

Kalo hated the darkness and the voice's started to get louder and color started to appear. He was almost there he could feel it and when he woke up he would kill whoever was hurting Mai and if it was Ozai that was just a great bonus in his opinion.

Mai looked over at Kalo as the pirate started to take off his clothes and it was then she noticed it Kalo's hand's were moving and his eye's were close to opening and Mai prayed to Agni that Kalo would wake up in time to stop this man.

Suddenly the voice's stopped and Kalo pushed against the darkness once more with every bit of strength he had. Not for himself, but for Mai. Suddenly the darkness erupted and Kalo saw that a man about to rape Mai.

Not waiting to fail her again' Kalo spun the man around and punched him in the face breaking his nose and causing him to lose a few teeth as well.

The man fell to the ground after another punch and Kalo started to punch and kick the man without any mercy at all until he was just punching wet pieces of bone into the bloody floor.

Kalo quickly ran to Mai untied her and hugged her tightly and both started to cry in happiness. They finally had each other again, and that's all that mattered to them at that very moment.

I would like to thank my Beta, Doctor Anthony, for writing Kalo's awakening. And as for the names for the Earth Rumble contestants, I used themes from their individual Final fantasy games.

Yang - Final fantasy 4

Sabin - Final Fantasy 6

Barret - Final Fantasy 7

Raijin - Final Fantasy 8

Barthello - Final Fantasy 10

Please review.