Terezi had changed out of her armor but she still stuck out like a sore thumb with her earth nation casual wear. A part of Karkat felt that he should have worn his water nation outfit to somewhat even things out, but both would equally stand out no matter what. They went to a family restaurant and found Jake there. Dirk had contacted him earlier to get them a table. The food was good, insults were thrown, laughs were shared and old stories were told. Rose told of Karkat's reluctance to learn about bending in the past. Dirk told of Dave's past embarrassing moments while Terezi and Jake told of their adventures and travels.
Though it was loud and rowdy Karkat had fun. He actually felt like listening to all the stories, except for the ones about him, and this time wanted to remember all of them clearly. He didn't want to forget about everyone like he did before. After dinner the group walked back to the sword smith and Terezi asked for a gun demonstration from Jake. The adventurer happily complied and hit all the targets that Terezi had made for him spot on. Everyone clapped at his wonderful marksmanship and that was when he suggested Dirk and Dave to have a match to show off their sword skills. Dave flat out refused while Dirk pulled him out into the field anyways.
"Come on baby bro at least let me know if you've gotten better or not," Dirk taunted.
Dave just frowned at his brother and held his sword ready. Karkat didn't even see the first step. Next thing he knew the two were right in front of each other with their swords clashed and were pushing against each other. Dirk had a smirk on his face while Dave had his brows slightly furrowed in concentration. After the slight struggle the Striders jumped back for room before lunging at each other once more. It was a very fast paced battle. Even though Karkat could only catch about half their movements, he could tell that even a professional bender would have trouble against either of these swordsmen. And this was just a battle of swords. If they used their bending as well they could perhaps be undefeatable. This journey was definitely opening his eyes to the world and complete difference in strength in others.
A swipe at the younger Strider's head caused him to curse under his breath before changing tactics. The attacks became a bit more erratic and the sound of swords clashing became more frequent. Karkat couldn't believe it but they were actually moving faster than before. The amazement was soon cut short when a sword was seen flying straight up into the air and Dave fell backwards onto the ground. Dirk caught the sword as it fell and walked over to his brother. With an amused smile he put both swords into the ground and held his hand out to Dave. The boy groaned before sitting up and grabbing the hand.
"That was great! That battle was definitely much longer than the last time I visited. You're getting better Dave," Terezi complimented, "You Striders are just so cool."
"If getting your ass handed to you is cool then I question your definition for the rest of your vocabulary," Karkat scoffed.
"Hey Avatar you master fire yet?" Dave asked as he walked back to the group with his sword.
"Shut up. Not like I can learn anything right with your craptacular teaching."
"You're just not listening."
"What's there to listen to!?"
"Here we go," Dirk stated with a short sigh.
"Now boys settle down. Though this could be worked out with a scuffle, both of you have already expended your energy for the night," Jake attempted to cease the argument.
"Jake not everything can be solved with a fight," Dirk shook his head.
"Why not? It seemed to work the other day. The adrenaline rush and exhaustion at the end helps you realize you were both acting like foolish blokes."
"No, not really. They were both still idiots before and after their stupid fight."
"Hey!" Dave and Karkat both shouted at the older Strider at the same time before glaring at each other.
Terezi laughed, "This is going to be a fun week."
The next couple of days consisted of Karkat practicing the basics of fire bending as expected, Terezi bothering him at first before creating targets, Rose critiquing, and Dave every now and then correcting his stances in awkward and sexually implied ways to bother him and sometimes actually teaching him how to control his breathing to help with his bending. Jake had left sometime in the week for work letting Dirk concentrate on his own. It was a very different experience for Karkat. It wasn't routine like back in the north pole and the ship. Rose gave him a two hour lesson every second day but it was tolerable and Karkat was actually learning.
About five days into Terezi's vacation, Rose had decided to take the young captain out into the town to have some sort of girl hang out. Half the day had passed and Dave was taking a break from work to check on Karkat. After a few corrections the two sat on the side and Karkat took a break for a drink.
"Wow I'm sort of amazed how damn much you suck. I mean wow. But I guess . . . you're kind of getting it? You'll get better . . . Probably . . . I think . . ."
Karkat began to get annoyed by his teacher's banter so he quickly water bended the water in his cup to splash the fire bending teacher before quickly absconding into the forest.
Didn't have to be a dick about it. If it's so easy then why doesn't he show me how it should be done instead of telling me I'm doing it wrong all the time? Karkat thought to himself as he traversed his new haven.
The forest gave off an atmosphere opposite to the icy coves and cliffs that he used to retreat to back in the north pole. Instead of the sound of a cold hollow wind, here small chirps from birds along with a light warm breeze replaced it. It was comforting and a lot more peaceful. The only unsettling thing about the forest was the field of bright red flowers in which he found himself in front of again. He frowned at the unnaturally coloured flowers. Sure he's seen red roses and such before but never as bright as these. It was as if someone died here and the flowers absorbed the blood to create such a colour. Karkat shuddered at the thought and turned to leave and found Terezi standing right before him and a little close with a grin on her face.
With a cry he jumped back and fell onto a few of the flowers. Terezi laughed at first but gave him a disappointed look afterwards.
"That's no good Karkat. If you can't even tell when someone walks up behind you then the enemy would have a big advantage over you," she held out her hand toward shim to help him up and he took it.
"Well I'm not the one going around chasing criminals. Not like I have any enemies," he stated after dusting himself off. Well maybe except Vriska but he wouldn't say that in front of Terezi. She might have said something about Vriska being the enemy of everyone.
"What you think you can be friends with everybody? I'm surprised you haven't made any enemies with that attitude of yours," Terezi's smile came back as he rolled his eyes, "You never know. You just might make some along your journey.
Already did. "What could I do? I'd be too busy trying to learn the rest of the elements."
"You never know," Terezi repeated before walking through the red flower field, careful not to step on any. Once she reached the middle she hopped onto the slanted and seemingly cut in half rock and sat down. She beckoned him over, "Try not stepping on the flowers if you can!"
"Why should I?"
"Think of it as honing your senses. Taking careful steps to not let the enemy know where you are," she turned so that her back was facing him, "Try to surprise me."
"But you know I'm coming."
"I won't know how fast you're approaching though. Just try and sneak up on me at a pace I can't predict. By the way, if you step on a flower I can immediately tell where you are."
With furrowed brows, Karkat took his first step. About a third of the way there he stepped on one and it made a soft snapping sound under his foot. He cursed as he heard Terezi let out a small giggle. He slowed his pace and carefully traversed through the strange flowery maze. A couple minutes later he arrived at the center and sat on the other rock across from Terezi. The young captain shook her head at him.
"Stepped on one flower, the stem of two, half on five and carelessly arrived at the rock. I could tell where you were the whole time. If you took a sneaking class you would fail on the spot."
"Sorry I've already been involuntarily signed p for way too many fucking classes. The option of sneaking 101 has no room on my schedule for the next fucking year."
"Then reserve it for next year or take it on the side or outside of school. Find yourself a nice sexy tutor to help you," Terezi gave him an eyebrow wiggle.
"That kind of tutor would be hard as fuck to find. Harder than the class."
"You just haven't been looking hard enough."
"Okay first of all sexy and tutor just doesn't go together."
"Hey that's an insult to all the sexy tutors all around you," she gave him a playful shove, "What I can't be a sexy tutor for you?"
"Not to me. That would be just too fucking weird. You're my friend,"
"Hehe then how about Dave?"
"Disgusting. He's too stupid to be a tutor in the first place."
Terezi's grin grew from the sudden response, "But you have been learning. How about his sexy factor?"
"Where the fuck are we going with this."
"Oh nowhere. You should lighten up and have fun Karkat," Terezi teased. She picked a flower sitting near her and examined it. Without looking at Karkat she spoke again, "Since I'm leaving in two days I thought I'd let you in on what happened between me and Vriska."
Karkat went silent and noticed the mood change even though the smile she had on was still there, "I guess I'll tell you why I missed the last banquet too."
"Only if you want to," she twirled the flower before placing it down and pulling her legs up and hugging them, "As you know, Vriska and I were pretty close. At one point we were even nicknamed as the scourge sisters. Together we had planned to join the forces in Republic City when we got older to hunt down criminals and bring out justice together. We were an unstoppable team. Two years before the banquet we had joined a cadet troupe. It was kind of like an internship of some sort. It was fun. We trained and became much more skilled all the while learning new things together."
Terezi smile grew smaller until she sighed and put on a frown, "A year in, Vriska had somehow broken into the criminal info vault. She told me she was tired of just being a lackey so she wanted us to go and catch a real criminal ourselves to show everyone that we were not meant for menial tasks. But instead of finding a good bounty for us, she found info on her mother instead. Mindfang the most wanted pirate in all the seas. Once she found out she wanted to leave and asked me to go with her to search for her mom. Her plan was to become a pirate to find a pirate. She wanted to know why her mother abandoned her."
"But if she had joined you instead and created what you have now then it would have been pretty much the same thing. Maybe easier? Why would she fucking turn from chasing criminals to becoming one!?" Karkat inputted.
"That's what I told her but her argument was that a pirate as great as her mom would easily avoid a lawful troupe like ours. So the only way to meet or find a pirate is to be one. I tried to convince her otherwise but she was dead set on her goal. I couldn't stop her and she just left," Terezi picked up the flower again and began picking at it slowly tearing at the large petals, "We kept in contact for a few months afterwards. I just wanted to check on her and I constantly reminded her that she could come back. I couldn't believe though, after two months she had actually found herself a crew and a ship and then began to travel the seas to find her mother all the while robbing other ships and creating a name for them. It was getting harder and harder for her to turn back. A few weeks before the banquet I told her I wanted to meet up for old times' sake, just the two of us."
Karkat saw her pause and scrunch up the rest of the flower before tossing it to the side, "At the meet up point I brought a small group with me to arrest her. When she got there she was so mad at me. I told her that if she stopped what she was doing and turned herself in now then her punishment would be lenient because she used to be one of us. I even told her that I would help her find her mother no matter what after her punishment was over but no. She was enraged. She said something about me betraying her at one point but I can't remember too clearly. We tried to capture her but she was too strong and knocked everyone out. That was the last time I had a serious fight with her, the only difference was that she had killing intent and I didn't."
Terezi held up some hair on the right side of her head revealing a burn mark where hair wouldn't grow but was easily hidden by the rest, "I got that from being too hesitant with my attack and nearly missed a fatal hit. She used the opportunity where I was fazed to get away. I haven't seen her since. She wasn't at the banquet and neither were you. So from then till now I've been working hard to gain ranks high enough to have my own group to hunt down Vriska. She's eluded me pretty well. I even tried to go after her mom to see if she would follow and we'd somehow meet but nothing so far."
"So for the past two years the two of you have just been playing a stupid fucking chasing game?"
"Yeah pretty much," Terezi scratched her head, "Well it's not like I've been chasing only Vriska for the past two years. I have caught some pretty big criminals and training some good men for my group. Vriska's not the only one on my list but she is at the top."
"I see . . ." Karkat looked at Terezi who was looking down at the torn up red petals around her, "My mom died from cancer a few months before the banquet. I didn't want to deal with people so I just didn't go. I was practically an emotional mess during that time and hated everyone more than usual."
"Sorry to hear that. You mom was nice."
"Yeah. Sorry about what happened with Vriska. Must be hard to have your best friend turn against you."
"In a way I turned against her too. I know she's done some pretty bad things over the last two years but I want to make sure I capture her and not anyone else."
"Yeah knock some sense into that crazed spider bitch. She fights like a barbarian. Using all her dirty pirate tricks. I hate to admit it but she's a really powerful bender too."
"Well of course. She wouldn't be much of a challenge otherwise," Terezi gave him a small smile and he returned it.
"So you can smile."
"Well yeah," he gave her an awkward look making her laugh.
"We should get back," Terezi stood up and stretched before hopping off the rock.
". . . You go ahead and go back first. I'll be there in a bit," Karkat laid down and watched the setting sky.
"Don't be too long now. I heard you got lost here more than once," Terezi grinned at his sigh.
"I'll be back before dark don't worry about it."
"Quickly now before everyone decides to have dinner without you!" Terezi called as she walked back.
"Whatever I said quit worrying about me," Karkat waved at her and just stared at the sky to collect his thoughts. He began to wonder how the rest of his friends were. He wasn't in touch with most of them very often but he knew of them through everyone else.
John was of course an air nomad with Kanaya and the two, especially John, loved talking to him from time to time. Gamzee whom he used to be in contact with constantly also sudden stopped talking to him for some reason. His friend from the sister tribe in the South Pole was a little odd but it was too weird for the boy to suddenly stop talking to him. He didn't know anyone else in the South Pole so he couldn't really ask anyone about it. Sollux was hiding somewhere but he knew that he was doing something that involved computers as usual. Tavros he wasn't quite sure. He found out through Rose that Jade was teaching some sort of class in the earth nation capitol, what class he wasn't sure. Nepeta and Equius he had no clue about, same with Aradia. Feferi had mentioned something about Aradia suddenly losing contact with everyone else as well. Perhaps along his travels he could find out what was going on with everyone and report back to the Princess that would love to hear the news.
The sun was halfway through setting so he decided to head back. The forest was beginning to get dark pretty quickly so he hastened his steps.
Out of nowhere a hand clamped over his mouth and he instinctively elbowed the perpetrator in the stomach. Karkat quickly turned around and stood in a ready stance. The person before him was wearing a strange outfit he had never seen before. It was completely black with white trims and the eyes were covered by what appeared to be a masquerade mask. The perpetrator quickly recovered from the sudden elbow attack and began to water bend. He sucked the water out of the trees and grass all around him which shocked Karkat because he hadn't learned that yet. His only choice was to counter with fire bending which he barely knew at that point. The battle wasn't as bad as he had hoped though. He was able to dodge pretty well because he could predict his attacker's movements. Soon he got in a kick that knocked the attacker back against a tree. He held his left fist by his head ready for a punch as his right hand grabbed the collar of the attacker.
"Who the fuck are you and why are you attacking me?"
The attacker just smirked, "We're bringing you to the witch."
His mind wandered back to the first day he arrived at the small fire nation island to the old woman who told him about the legend of the witch who hid people under the mountain.
"Don't fuck with me. That's just some stupid fake legend."
"Or is it," the attacker gave him a full out grin before a sharp pain came from the back of his head. Karkat staggered backwards before falling over and his world blurred. A pair of feet joined his perpetrators and he looked up to see a girl in a similar outfit but with a long black skirt. His vision soon went black and his consciousness left him with the single thought of 'who the fuck are these people?'