.chapter thirteen, the peculiar island

It wasn't long afterwards that the ocean-bound became seasick- and while not in the nauseous form, more of the "sick and tired of this freaking ocean" variety, as Sukai had so elegantly put it once dawn broke and land was still absolutely nowhere in sight. The girl had been alternating duty of moving the vessel with Kiro, about an hour at a time.

Hayate had slept in the crow's nest, and when awake spent his time scouring the endless seascape for the faintest hint of land, however desolate, remote or minute it may be. They didn't doubt Suyin's judgement and agreed to stay on course, but they were honestly beginning to question whether or not she really knew where she was going or if pride had overcome her and she refused to admit her error.

"I say," began Kiro as he took Sukai's shift, "we have a small coup-d'état. Tie her up and throw her in the basement, then go back the way we came and get to the teahouse, eat, leave Suyin there and go." Sukai sighed. While normally she would have spent all hours arguing with him and pointing out why his plan was both flawed and mildly psychotic, she was far too tired to begin formulating a rebuttal and, besides, she sort of agreed with him just this once.

As for Suyin, she'd been leaning against the ship's rail for an excruciatingly long time, and held her left palm to her clavicle where, if anyone had been looking, they'd see a blossoming emerald flame caressing her injury. Eventually, the fire vanished and she moved her remedied bone- the treatment had been as effective as she'd hoped, for she'd regained all mobility.

Around her neck, the glass pendant that cradled a now impressive flame shone like a beacon throughout most of the night. During the day, the light it emitted was considerably less impressive, but still nothing to scoff at. Whenever anyone tried to ask her any questions concerning it, though, she was sure to promptly change the subject.

Having been healed, she stood up and walked over to the navigating wheel, taking care of where she stepped. Most of the boards on the craft had been almost irreparably damaged due to the ravaging fires that threatened to destroy the Zhanxian altogether. The wheel was virtually unharmed, though, and she was pleased when it turned just as well as it had before their impromptu encounter with Lai and his crew.

She turned to the two Waterbenders and shouted. "'ts alright, guys, I'll take it from here."

Both of them collapsed, yawning deeply. Suyin nervously continued the Zhanxian on its course, piloting it through the mildly choppy seas for hours, until the landscape finally changed.

It was an abrupt, impromptu swap. A clear sky with nothing in sight for one instant, and the next, a bustling port surrounded by blossoming, vivacious greenery that curled around solid crimson bricks. Those bricks were the foundation for a hundred homes, and the sun even seemed to be shining brighter here. The sudden change in scenery brought everyone to their feet, the group looking more than nervous.

"Where are we?" Hayate inquired, slowly snaking his fingers down to his weapons, should the need to use them arise.

Suyin shuddered, looking ready to attack herself. Thus far, they hadn't seen any people here- what were they to make of this?

Sukai looked backwards anxiously, then squealed, pointing to whence they came. "Guys…"

Their arrival point was also a solid wall- while they didn't know how it had happened; they were now undoubtedly caged in, lest they should attempt to demolish the barrier by force. Kiro proposed the idea, but Suyin shook her head. "This place is far too interesting to just leave alone, isn't it?" Of course, while her curious soul was one aspect of her opinion, the inferno continuing to increase in mass in her pocket didn't sway her decision any.

"Halt!"

It was all of a sudden that Suyin let the wheel go, stopping the Zhanxian entirely. The voice continued to echo, and no one was quite sure exactly where it came from until they saw a group of about ten people standing firm on a shore a few metres above them, but considerably farther away. One of them closed his eyes and held out his hands, as though he was preparing to bend something. Kiro recognized his potential offensive movement and elected to not wait another minute.

"Bastard!" he yelled, impulsively running to the edge of the vessel and drawing a snake of water, then spat it forwards. It shot through the air, only to miss entirely as every member of the mysterious ten sidestepped it with astounding ease.

The bending man suddenly brought his whole body down, and a loud metallic sound resonated in the air surrounding them. They looked up and braced themselves for impact- four massive chains, each of the chain's segment about as large and tall as Suyin, were descending from the sky. They crashed through different parts of the Zhanxian, creating massive holes and chaining the craft to the bottom of the sea. As for the other tips of the chains, they seemed to be endless, climbing to infinity from above.

"State your purpose, and why have you arrived on Kumadori Shima?" He seemed to be menacing them. Kiro, who was normally so calm and composed, was evidently a much different person when put under pressure, or in what could possibly be a life-or-death situation. He shouted again.

"We were just sailing! It's open ocean for miles, and then your stupid place comes out of nowhere and all of a sudden we're intruding? Come down from your mighty pedestal and I'll show you what I really think."

"You're incredibly talkative." The same man as before snapped his fingers, and five tendrils of water rose from the sea beneath them, looming dangerously their craft. Kiro scoffed. "It'll take more than that to stop us!" He held a palm forward and clenched a fist- when nothing happened, he tried again, then again. "What the… Thermokinesis doesn't work?" He tried again when the ten enigmatic figures burst out into spontaneous laughter.

"Our water is most peculiar, you'd find, as are most things on Kumadori." He began to move the water closer, so that edges of it leaned over the rails of the Zhanxian. Everyone onboard looked incredibly nervous, particularly Kiro, who had just been made a fool of, and, for once, didn't consider responding.

"Thank you for cooperating. It seems as though it's a most unfortunate incident that has led you to our society, and it would be most appreciated if you left. Therefore, if you would simply turn your vessel around…" He waved his arms and they chains vanished back into the sky, climbing up, and the boards it destroyed were replaced almost magically. Suyin slowly began to comply, when Sukai bent over and hissed in Kiro's ear.

"What are they doing?"

The boy had now had time to calm down, and seemed to be assessing the situation calmly, as he normally did. "I'm trying to think, I'm trying to think…"

The Zhanxian was now well on its way to the brick wall that marked the exit, when all ten of the figures chanted and moved, shifting the bricks aside, casting them into the lake beneath. Suyin found it most interesting that they landed with very little, if not any, sound into the water. The passage was now clear, and they were free to leave this strange place.

"Do know that on your next arrival, you will not be treated so kindly."

Suyin sighed, ignoring the comment, and continued piloting the ship on its way out, when, just as they were about to leave, Kiro snickered.

"Powerful words, for one so weak."

He moved the water beneath the ship in a valiant crash, turning the entire vessel around to once again face their interesting assailants, who seemed more than distressed. He drew water and instructed Sukai to do the same, and Hayate jumped on the bandwagon by clutching his Kusarigama. Suyin continued to play pacifist, standing and watching.

"I can assume," Kiro began, catching his breath, "that you are terrible at observing things. I got it when you fixed the boards- the chains crashed through ashen, weak and burnt wood from the previous fire. When you repaired them, it was cleverly the same colour as most of the intact wood- but even that wood's been worn from weather: this is no new boat, and new wood would have a striking contrast.

Your water didn't help your cause- it didn't drip over onto our boat as realistic water does, and I couldn't transmute it at all. The bricks, also, fell strangely into the water, almost vanishing ethereally as opposed to collapsing in a heavy manner with a splash.

Finally, despite the prowess you demonstrated, you avoided my attack instead of neutralizing it or summoning a wall to stop it. From there, we can deduce that you actually have no physical powers and this whole time you've been messing with our brains."

The water surrounding him suddenly turned into ten razor-sharp, foot-long icicles that levitated ominously.

"I'd say you're no longer in any position to be giving us orders."

The strange figures onshore quivered in fear, but almost as spontaneously vanished absolutely into thin air, as though they'd never been present in the first place. The four onboard the Zhanxian quickly grouped together, Suyin having now drawn Guofan, ready to strike at a moment's notice.

It was then that the water turned scarlet as blood and rain began pouring down violently on the island rather than on the boat. The basin beneath them twisted and turned, gyrating their ship in a myriad of ways as Sukai and Kiro tried to stabilize it.

Suddenly, a titanic, azure, snake-like dragon, with long, xanthous whiskers that stretched down its body from its mouth appeared from below, towering above their craft. Its eyes shone a stunning ruby as it opened its mouth and released a chilling blast of air that set frost on parts of the Zhanxian, and more importantly, on the few humans upon it.

Smoke was released from its massive nostrils and a human shape was now more than evident upon its skull. It was that figure that produced a menacing command:

"This is your last warning. While we've created illusions previously, I can promise you that the terror you are about to witness, should you not elect to depart, will be very, very real." Kiro and Hayate clenched their fists, and Sukai screamed back. "I think you should just let us stay!"

The dragon roared and began to descend without warning unto the Zhanxian. It sliced through the air, ready to destroy the craft and all of its children, creating a shadow on-deck. Hayate threw a guard up in front of his face reflexively, although the force of impact would require a titanium shield rather than two chicken-bone arms. Kiro and Sukai drew water from beneath them and tried to shoot it in whips at the incoming beast, but the creature also aptly moved out of the way, snaking in between the projectiles.

Instants before the monster's immense cranium collided violently with the Zhanxian, it vanished entirely. Hayate and the crew slowly opened their eyes to realize that indeed, they were still alive. They were all shuddering madly, however, but now laughing with joy.

"I knew it!" Kiro screamed madly. "I knew they were just screwing with our heads!"

At that moment, elegant, cursive writing appeared in the air in front of Suyin, as though the world was a canvas and an invisible pen was drawing out words in gold. When the process ended and everyone gathered to see what had been written, she read the letters aloud while sheathing Guofan.

"You… suck out loud."

Sukai scowled. "Well, who's in charge of that?" A second later, the writing shrunk and attached itself to her left arm, whose sleeve she'd rolled up to not get wet while waterbending, in the likeness of a tattoo, causing her to growl ever so faintly out of anger. "Someone's gonna wish they didn't get up this morning…" Water began to rise around her out of instinct. Hayate sighed and shrugged his shoulders, and although Sukai's childish fit of anger had managed to lighten the mood a bit, a dark tension still loomed in the air- who were their assailants that were so strong?

Cautiously, and after discussion, Suyin agreed that parking the Zhanxian and exploring the island was the most intelligent course of action. After all, they were still technically being pursued by Lai, even though he hadn't been in sight for a while. Sukai was still fuming, trying to wash away the new blemish on her skin. Nervously, they all took their first steps off onto the land, then noticed that this lake was a pocket of water beneath the island's level- the only way to go from here was uphill. That having been said, Kiro pointed at a shimmering black pathway, which they began to climb. It was an intricately paved path that had not the slightest crack or blemish despite being made of pure marble. Hayate noticed this as well and, just to test a theory, slammed his boot down with what would normally be enough strength to make the mildest dent at least, but nothing.

When they reached the top, they couldn't help but marvel at the sight.

The harbour where they parked their ship was, as they'd suspected, a very small subsection of a huge, shimmering lake-esque body of seawater enclosed by land that would gradually rise, lined with marble paths much like the one they just made use of. At the top of the hill were hundreds of homes that were identical in colour but different in structure. A few different buildings stood out as well, but they could only guess what those would be.

"Welcome to Kumadori Shima."

The voice they heard was strong, but hinted at age ever so slightly. They turned around and saw a man with short-cut but spiky white hair and a deep navy robe marked with strange gray wisps drawn on the front. Everyone immediately took on an offensive pose, holding weapons and water at arm's length, pointed menacingly at the man.

The man sighed and waved his finger in the air, and just as quickly the kusarigama, Guofan and the water surrounding Kiro and Sukai vanished into midair. Terrified, the four let out innocent gasps, yet within seconds Suyin once more became somewhat collected. Hayate was second to notice that something was amiss- he still had his hands clutched as though his scythes were in his palms, as Suyin with Guofan. They couldn't close their fists if they wanted to, for there was certainly something there, but they couldn't feel the comfort of their armaments more than they could see them.

"I'm not hostile, you know."

The man waved again, and the water and weapons reappeared exactly where they'd been before. "There's no such thing as a bad country or a good country- only good people and bad people. You shouldn't judge people quite so prematurely."

None of them let down their guard, though, so he continued speaking. "I suppose then, perhaps, an explanation is in order?" Their weapons were still, though, still held out at arm's length. "I'm warning you, though, if you're going to show signs of defiance such as these, I'll take action." Suyin was slowly about to put down her weapon when Sukai leaned down and rose, both of her arms perfectly parallel. Water surrounded the man and she wrapped him up with a vicious flail of her appendages. "Now you can explain." The girl answered, frustrated.

"My." The elder yawned and snapped his fingers, then, just as quickly, vanished. Sukai, terrified, dropped the water and summoned it again to her sides. Everyone was once more prepared to fight. "What the Hell is up with this place?!" Hayate asked, infuriated, bringing his Kusarigama closer to him.

"There must be a trick to this. Don't panic- We'll figure it out."

Spontaneously, the man reappeared times eight, and began closing in on the Waterbenders and weapon-wielders, his palms outstretched. As the figures neared, Sukai tried to cut one of their tendons with a slicing water knife, but watched in disdain as it simply went through him. "They're all illusions!" She screamed. "We don't have to worry about being hit! We're okay!"

Just as the words left her mouth, one of the men kicked her in the side and she let out a groan as, even though she didn't budge, felt a splitting pain in her ribs. Suyin looked back to ensure she was alright, and didn't notice another enemy sneak in between and appear in front of her, flicking her in between the eyes, summoning a sharp pinching sensation, forcing her to curse. With Guofan in her clutch, she slashed and watched in disdain as the weapon just cut through air. When the figure counterattacked, though, she definitely felt pain as though she'd truly been hit.

What could possibly be accountable for this?

It didn't take long for the eight invincible foes to surround them entirely and force the four into submission by tying a rope around them, entirely destroying their mobility. It was at this moment that the doppelgangers all dissipated and the original man reappeared not far away, sighing.

"You could at least have the courtesy to allow me to apologize on behalf of our citizen guard. I swear, this is precisely why we choose not to associate with you ruffians." He sighed again and took a seat on a nearby stone. "Now that you're not going anywhere, I'll take my time and explain, thank you very much."

He inhaled deeply and began his tale.