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Curtain up!

Sokka; Master of the Black Sword

By: The Jade Knight

Beta and creative consultant: Richard Caine


-Tournament Saga-

Chapter 3

-

The Story of Sokka

Chapter 3: Spectral Combat

-

The gentle singing of birds fell on my ears moments before I felt the heat of the rising sun upon my face. I was meditating like I did every morning, but this morning was different. I usually got up with the sun but today I had woken up early, the sky had still been black. It had taken me several moments to figure out where I was. As soon as I had my feet under me I quickly and silently moved around our encampment. My ragged breathing echoed off of the stony walls as I checked on everyone. I opened the flap of my sister's tent and found her sleeping soundly, Aang was on top of Appa, and after I had hovered over Toph just long enough to tell that she was breathing I started to calm down.

I had had a terrible nightmare. It was kind of like the, prophecy-thing the old woman had told me, at least the worst parts. I watched the others all dragged deep into a black castle as I was chained to a immense boulder atop a cliff overlooking the ocean. For what seemed like hours I was forced to listen to their screams of agony as they were brought inch by inch to the brink of death. Then as the last gurgling scream died a great dragon appeared, smoke billowing from its nostrils, a scrap of green cloth that had once been a part of Toph's Blind Bandit costume in its bloodied teeth. For I moment I thought of fighting it, but everything and everyone I cared for was dead. I just gave up. Seeing my defeated state the dragon bellowed in glee before ripped into me and tossing my remains into the ocean.

Needless to say it was all I could do not to wake up screaming and clinging to anything within reach.

Of course after that I could never get back to sleep, so I quietly packed up my tent and got dressed before sitting down for a peaceful mediation, hoping that I could find some mental calm. After a while I found it, and my thoughts started to drift to the Soudatsu. By the time the sun came up I had reached a decision.

After I brought myself out of the meditation, I strapped on my sword and made my way over to where we had piled the supplies we had bought yesterday. We were tired and didn't really feel like putting everything away, so it was a real mess and in my searching I fond several miscellaneous items that made me block out several more minutes of my memory. Damn, anymore of this and I'll have more blank space in my head then memories. With a little sigh of satisfaction at ending the perilous search I pulled out a small pad of paper and a pen. I scribbled a small circle in the corner of the page to get the ink flowing, then I started to write. I didn't want them to worry, or be suspicious. After I was done I read it over to make sure it sounded right

Hey guys

I woke up early and decided to go explore the city for a bit. I won't be back for a little while but don't worry, I'll be back before lunch. I left the money bag inside my sleeping bag if you remember anything important we forgot yesterday. Try to have some fun.

-Sokka

Yeah, that sounded nice, light and to the point. Pinning it to the flap of Katara's tent, where I knew they would find it I wandered back over to the place I had left my rolled up sleeping back and folded tent. We had a short discussion last night about if we should set up tents or not. We were indoors, so-to-speak so there was no danger of rain. But the ceilings of caves sometimes became all drippy during storms, and it had looked a little cloudy last night. So to play it safe we had set up the tents.

Reaching down I picked up the modest money bag and turned the little leather pouch over in my hand. Counting out the coins I ran a few more calculations in my head. We had seven silver and forty two copper pieces left. At a hundred copper to a silver and forty silver to a gold we we standing on shaky ground. I grabbed three of the silver coins and half of the coppers and dropped them into the little bag that Piando-sensei had given me. I heard the coins clinking on the lotus tile in there and felt guilty for taking the money without the others knowing. I knew I would win the tournament and I knew I would be able to get us sitting comfortably for many months to come with the winnings, but I still felt like scum.

Jamming the remaining money back into the money pouch I rolled it back into my sleeping back, dropping it on the floor I took one last look around the cave before turned into the rising sun peeking into the cave and made my way back to the town.

In a few days I would either be a champion or cold hearted thief.

-

By the time I had passed under the archway again the town was starting to wake up. The air was filled with the smell of the first pieces of meat hitting the pans mixed with the scent of the morning drew. Only about half of the vendors were wheeling out their carts and the streets were still fairly devoid of people.

Excellent. When buying a disguise it was best to do so when the fewest people saw you doing it.

I wandered around for about an hour, checking around for a good place to buy something long and concealing to wear. Everything I found was either too expensive or didn't come in a size that I didn't have to swim in. I'm a speed fighter, a warrior of the water tribe, I learned to flow with the battle. So I need to wear something that flows with me, not against. Finally I spotted a small cart with a rack of worn robes and other types of clothing. Looking around I saw that no one was paying any exceptional attention to me so I breezed over and started to look through the items.

"Looking for anything specific?"

I looked over to where the voice had come from and found myself looking into the kind eyes of a middle aged man. I smiled as I took him in. He was a kindly looking fellow with dark hair and caring blue eyes. His face was a little rough and he was dressed in clean but slightly tattered clothes. He reached out a single callused hand and I exchanged a tight shake with him.

"You run this cart?" I asked striking up a conversation.

"Yep, my names Yoten. Anything I can help you with?" He looked like a good honest guy and I was having no luck so far, meh maybe he can help, as long as I don't tell him to much.

"Hey Yoten, my name's Brenton." I lied, Brenton wasn't a bad name. I guess I could have gone with Piando-sensei's suggestion of Lee, but it just annoyed me for some reason. "I'm looking for something loose but not billowy on the cheap side of the street."

Yoten looked me over for a second, taking in my cloths and sword; and then he smiled wider. "Another last minute entrant for the Soudatsu huh?" I almost felt my stomach hit my shoes. How could he have guessed that easily? I wasn't the greatest liar in the world but I had barely said ten words. How could he have possible guessed by now? Seeing the slightly horrifies expression on my face Yoten chuckled and placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry son. I had nine guys yesterday alone looking for a little fame and glory in the tournament but not wanting their friends or family recognizing them. I can keep a secret, you're safe."

I breathed a little sigh of relief but didn't drop my guard all the way.

"Looking at you," he continued giving me a calculating look, "I'd say the sister or mother said no, and the girl said yes? Am I right?"

I cracked my own smile. "That obvious?"

"Well judging from how you walked over here it was definitely a family member who told you no, and its usually the women who don't like combat tournaments. But you're holding yourself confidently and taking a chance by admitting it to me. So I'd say the girl you like had confidence in you, but you're not together quite yet and you want to impress her by at least being in the top ten."

"You can tell all that?"

"Well you got the cocky confidence of a man smitten."

"Smitten?" I asked a little confused.

"You got it bad for a pretty pair of eyes." He said definitely and I couldn't help but grin a little wider. But then I remembered my problems with Suki, and the realness of my feelings for Toph. I guess something must have shown on my face.

"Got troubles of the heart?" He asked seeming to understand. "Don't worry son, they all work themselves out in the end. All you can do is help fate along and hold on when it decides its time for you to take a dive. But don't worry, that old saying 'what goes up must come down' works the other way too."

I actually felt a lot better now, I told him so and after a few more minutes of discussing past Soudatsu's we started to flick through his small assortment of garments. He had a small cart that consisted of a single long bar suspended between two posts and a small counter on the other side I hadn't looked at yet. On the bar a few dozen assorted shirts and robes hung on wire hangers. We looked for a bit, talking about life and love. Until my finger nail caught on a smoke gray robe that I had passed over. I pulled it out a bit to get my fingernail off of the loose thread and Yoten came over.

"Find something?" He asked looking at the robe.

"No, my nails are just a little long and it-" I stopped and looked at the robe, then I pulled it completely out of the rack and looked it over. Unseen behind me Yoten was smiling politely and waiting as I examined the accidental find. The whole robe was a consistent smoke gray that almost looked spectral, at first glance it looked like a one piece, but after a second looked it appeared that the shirt and pants were separated and only held together with the belt.

"Want to see if it fits?"

I nodded before placing the Robe on the cart gently and quickly whipping off my shoulder-warmer and sword. Then I took the pants of the robe and started to pull them up over my shorts. The fabric was like well worn hard-cloth pants, extremely comfortable. And the strange thing was it almost seemed to anticipated my movements and cooperated fully. I found myself really hoping this would fit properly, it seemed to have been left here just for me. With my hands shaking with excitement Yoten had to help me get the shirt on. Its arms stopped right at my wrists and would not inhibit my sword movements at all.

Looking down I ran two fingers along the edge of the seams and found them nearly flawless, this was a quality piece of work. I tightened the belt and felt a hood on the back. Reaching over I pulled the hood over my head and made a few experimental movements. The hood would really help my disguise.

"It's perfect!" I exclaimed. Turning I found the man grinning happily at me.

"I felt greatness when I made that robe, I hope it finds it with you." I was shocked silent for a second.

"You made this?"

"Yes, I made all of them." He said proudly waving his hands over the dozen or so garments at his cart. "My mother was a brilliant seamstress back in the little village where I grew up, I used to spend hours watching her sew. I guess after my father left for the war she was all I had left. But why am I boring you with my life story? Well, it looks like it fits you perfectly."

"Yeah," I thought about what he said about the war. Had be lost his father to the war like I had my mother? I never thought about the Fire Nation soldiers being just like us. But I guess it would be so, a few men leading and the rest following. Shaking my head to loosen the disturbing thoughts. I got back to reality and though about what else I would need "Now I need to get a mask or something, can you recommend anywhere?"

"Well there are a few honest vendors a little further in, but if you don't want to walk all that way I could let you browse my little collection." I liked this guy, he had helped me along a lot so far so I decided to see what he had. With a curt nod he led me around the other side of the cart to the small counter he had set up there.

"My daughter is quite the little artist and she likes to help out, so she made me a few clay masks to sell. I know they don't allow metal masks in the Soudatsu and a clay one might be a little to brittle, but you're welcome to look over them."

I looked down at the counter, and arranged there were four very well made masks and space for a few more. "I usually sell a few every tournament. Last year one fighter made it to the end of the preliminaries wearing one of Shoji's masks." He laughed heartily "You can imagine how happy she was that everyone got to see something she made."

I laughed along with him and then looked down at the masks. They were really well crafted. I was blown back by the detail and care that had gone into these pieces. "My god these are amazing, how old is your daughter?"

"She'll be nine next fall." Yoten said in a proud fatherly voice. Nine? Nine? My god how in the hell did a nine year old make these masks? They had astounding details. One mask was like a fish-man head and it actually looked a little slimy, I had to touch it to be sure it wasn't really wet. Then one of them drew me completely in.

In relation the the other phenomenally crafted pieces it wasn't significant in anyway. It was in a basic face shape, tapering down to a sharply pointed chin and made of clay so white it almost hurt the eyes. The two horizontal eye slits, rimmed in thick black paint were wide enough to see though, but at such an angle they would make looking in to see my eye color nearly impossible. There was no mouth and the delicate yet sharp nose rose from the center of the mask like a threatening cliff face. It was almost featureless, but elegantly so. I ran my hand along one side of the mask as my eyes followed the wild black tribal tattoo that tore its way along the right side of the mask and vanished off the edge. It was wild, it was powerful, it was scary as hell.

It was perfect.

My finger ran along the back of it, and felt something off. Turning the mask over I looked at the inside. There were three straps converging on a small leather oval that held the mask on the face even in high activity. But what took my attention was the swirling patterns on the inside of the mask. The outside was flawless but the back told the tale of how it was crafted, if one was familiar with the technique used. I had spend many months watching Toph train and I just happened to be familiar with Earth-Bending. I let out a small gasp, and looked up at Yoten in amazement and a little fear.

His daughter had used Earth-Bending to make the masks.

I saw realization slowly dawn on Yoten's face. He knew that I knew. I studied his face for a second and started to pick out the features typical to one of Earth Kingdom decent.

"Mister Brenton, I love my daughter very much." This was a very simple statement but I could feel the meaning behind it. Yoten slowly backed up, putting the cart between him and me, and then he reached for something just out of my line of sight. Glancing back to where my sword was, leaning up against the cart, still in reach But I didn't want to fight this man, he was a kind soul. I could see that he didn't want to hurt me, but he was a war refugee in hostile ground, and he had a daughter here.

I made a quick, possibly stupid decision

"My real name is Sokka and I am Water Tribe. I am in as much danger in the Fire-Nation as you are, I have no intention of turning you in or telling anyone who you are." I said as loud as I dared and hoped no one passing heard me. For several long moments I could see him searching my face, undoubtedly looking for the tell-tale features of Water Tribe people, dark-ish skin, light eyes. Finally I saw him relax, and he raised the hand that had been below the counter a moment before.

He came around and looked me in the eyes, studying me. Apparently he found what he was looking for because a moment later, he clapped me on the shoulder. Taking it as a truce I exhaled the breath I hadn't realized I was holding. For the next twenty minutes or so we talked about how he had gotten here. Apparently he had been in Ba Sing Se when it had fallen to Azula and had just managed to get out. I told him a story much the same, with a narrow escape. When I was done he looked like he suspected more, but decided not to mention anything.

"So, are you and Shoji going to be at the Soudatsu again?"

"Yeah," Yoten said with a sigh. "Were trying to save up enough money to get out of the city and move back east, but tickets to the tournament are pretty cheap and Shoji loves watching it."

"How did she get into Tournaments?"

"Ha, funny thing. She had this hero, a pretty good one too. Tough little powerhouse of an Earth-Bender. My daughter thought the world of that Blind Bandit, did you ever hear of her?"

I think my brain just shorted out.

"You okay?" Yoten asked.

"Yeah I'm fine." I said still a little stunned.

"You sure son? You look a little odd."

"Fine, I just need to get going. So you're definitely going to be at the tournament?" I asked, a goofy, knowing grin on my face. Now I see why Katara is always smiling at me like this; it's fun knowing something no one else does.

"Yes, Shoji wouldn't let me miss it."

"Well I'll be seeing you there. Watch for me." After getting a nod I continued. "Now, I'd like to buy this mask as well, if you can be parted with it." I said gesturing to the white mask.

"Sure," he said slowly trying to figure out what I was grinning about. Boy, is Shoji going to get a surprise. "The robe and mask come to two silver and eighteen copper. Here I'll even throw in a duffel bag for free."

"No, I'll pay for the bag as well-"

"I won't hear of it, just promise you'll get far in the tournament. Shoji loves to see her masks in the Soudatsu." He said pressing a plain black bag into my hands. Seeing there was no arguing with him I put my shoulder-warmer into it before strapping my sword back on and slinging the bag over my shoulder. Since I was planning to go register for the Soudatsu in a moment I also put on the mask. Flipping up the hood I felt pretty mysterious and awesome. Now all I need is a kick-ass name.

"I plan on winning." I said simply through the mask. It even distorted my voice to the point that I could barely recognize it. As I handed over the silver I owed, a few extra coppers thrown in for a tip, I found I kind of liked the stony smell the mask had.

It reminded me of Toph.

I hear someone coming up behind me and I immediately switched back into full Fire-Nation alert. I was just putting the remaining money back into the small pouch, along with my Pia Sho tile that had come out with the silver, when the man behind me gave a little gasp. I turned around slowly trying not to look to guilty or like I knew too much. Keeping a mildly curious expression I turned around and faced him.

He was a powerfully built man, about six foot two with thick brown hair styled into a tight military crew cut and wore a gray shirt branded with the Fire-Nation emblem and plain camouflage pants. His thin, gray, short sleeved shirt hugged the sharp edges of muscles build on hard labor rather then in a gym, and on his hip hung a very heavy looking two-handed sword, a Claymore if I wasn't mistaken. It was obviously a very well made and expensive sword, its hilt was made of leather wrapped ivory and it even had a mirror finish on the guard.

"Hello?" I asked in what I hoped was an innocently curious voice. I suddenly found myself thinking that a dangerous and wild looking mask could have its drawbacks.

"Only the ones with the burning torches can play the mysterious and complicated game of Pia Sho in the deepest darknesses." He said in a calm voice as though it didn't make him sound like he belonged in a sanitarium.

"Uh, okay?" I said doubtfully. "I don't know how to play Pia Sho, this tile is just a keep sake I got from my sensei."

For several long moments the large man started me down. It was actually a little intimidating, him being better then a half foot taller then me and all. "Who was your sensei?"

"Piando-sensei," I said fearlessly. The large man frowned a bit and for a few more moments he seemed to be thinking about something, but then his face cleared of confusion and an inviting and calm face dropped into its place.

"I'm sorry I was so rude, please forgive me, I thought you were someone I knew. Its a little hard to tell who is under that mask." He said lightly thrusting out one scarred hand. "My name is Salazar."

I considered him, he seemed like an okay guy, but that's how psychopaths lure you in. The killer psychos are never the ones that looks crazy. But I had learned to trust my instincts over the last few months, and my instincts told me that this guy could be trusted ... to a point.

"Brenton." I said as I took his hand. The second our hands touched I felt the slight heat in the palm of his hand that I had come to expect from exceptionally powerful Fire-Benders.

"Salazar," said Yoten with a wide smile. "I thought you'd be back for the tournament."

"Never missed one yet, and like I promised last year I'm back to buy one of your daughters fine masks." He then laughed a little and wandered over to the table where Yoten had the remaining three masks laid out. I was just about to walk away when Yoten waved me over.

"Salazar, this young man will be entering the tournament also."

"Are you now?" He asked, sizing me up. He gave a small nod. "He's got a body built for a good mix of speed and power. If he has really been trained by Piando like he claims I might have some strong competition early on."

"Excuse me, but you said you've been in past tournaments?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Well, this will be my first competition of any kind. Could you tell me what I should expect?" behind Salazar's considerable back I caught sight of Yoten telling me silently that I could trust this guy.

"Have you registered yet?" I shook my head. "Well I haven't either, so then sit tight and I'll walk over with you and we can talk on the way."

A short while later in which I found out that Salazar was a Captain in the Fire-Nation Army, we were walking toward the center of town. He asked me a few questions about the war and I told him in vague terms that I didn't think it was all it seemed. Then we laughed a bit over the mask he had bought. It was one of the odder ones, a black mask with the face of a fox pained over it in oranges and reds. He seemed like a nice guy and only nodded when I answered his question about the war, and with that we continued on in silence.

-

I stood in the public bathroom just outside the Soudatsu registration tent. I was nervous as hell but also excited beyond belief. Is this what Toph went through before every fight when she fought in the Earth Rumble? If it was I could see why she loved it so much. My heart pounded, brimming with expectations and fears, adrenaline rushed through my system and made my hands shake.

I will win.

I slowly took off my gray robe. I think I had come up with a pretty wicked name. It seemed to fit the look I had going with the robe and mask. Pulling my shoulder-warmer out of the bag I tied it back on and carefully folded the robe into the bottom of the black bag Yoten had given me. After making sure that the delicate clay mask wasn't at risk of being damaged by nestling it deep in the robe I walked out of the restroom, and almost right into Aang.

"Sokka!" He shouted excitedly. "We've been looking everywhere for you. Katara thought you might be around the tournament grounds today."

"Hello?" I said weakly a little confused. I noticed Katara cutting through the crowd with Toph a moment later.

"Sokka, there you are." My sister shouted with a gleeful expression on her face. "Toph said she felt you walking around over here."

"What are you guy's doing here? I said I would be back by lunch time."

"We know." Katara said when she came to a stop in front of me. "But you looked so put out yesterday we got together after we found your note and decided to cheer you up." Her face was sparkling, Aang looked like he was about to explode with a secret, and Toph smiled.

Oh God, they didn't.

"We know the money is a little low, but you do so much for us. You're always worrying about money and protecting us, we just wanted you to know that even though you aren't training Aang it doesn't mean you don't have a big part in this war. So we talked and decided it was time we planned a little something special for you. A Sokka day!"

I'm doomed.

With a dramatic 'Ta-Da' my sister thrust four small red and brown tickets beneath my nose. Looking down I saw 'Soudatsu' written in fancy script across the tops of the tickets. I thought I lead a pretty good life, what did I do to deserve this. Looking back up I saw that Aang was laughing and bouncing around, Katara hugged me, and over he shoulder I saw a frown crease Toph's forehead.

-

The roar of the crowd was like thunder on a hot summer night. The air was full of power and excitement, and even though we were high up in the stands I could feel the emotion pouring off of everyone. This was fantastic. Katara had been talking about getting closer seats even though I'm pretty sure no one in the arena was sitting. It wasn't a bad idea, the arena had first come first serve seating rules. Basically it meant the meanest and toughest got the prime seats and everyone else went higher up. With Toph I'm sure we could get front row, but Katara and Aang had some 'keep the peace and a low profile' bit going on. It seemed like they were taking over everything that I usually did, making sure we stayed safe and all. It was turning out to be more my day than I thought it'd would.

A few minutes ago, after they dragged the last round's loser off of the floor ... he was knocked out. It was a criminal offense to kill someone in the ring, but even so there had been three deaths in the nine years of the Soudatsu. Anyway, the announcer came out and announced the next fight would be between me and some guy named Kujo. I got an image of a red-eyes killer dog when he said that name, weird. I could have sworn I had heard that name somewhere before.

So I quickly told Katara that I had to go to the restroom. I wasn't worried about Toph's lie-detector bit, I really did have to go. After I relieved myself I made sure my gear was in my bag before wandering over to the fighters only entrance. I was scared and everything seemed to be going so fast. I didn't even remember how I got to the back change rooms.

There I was, standing in a small white room. A mirror on the wall across from me and a small tub of water sitting on a small table set up under it. With a few deep calming breaths I shook my shaking hands out, trying to still them before placing the bag with my costume in it on the floor. Then I took off my sword and leaned it up against the wall. Next my shoulder-warmer came off followed by the cloth wrist guards.

Then I paused.

This was the last time I could run out, no one knew who I was. Even the Fighter's card they gave me just stated that I had full clearance here. It didn't have my picture on it yet, I had been a late entry so I would get a proper card tomorrow. No one knew who I was, I could just go back up into the stands and pretend to be disappointed that one of the fighters disappeared before his fight. I had always wondered what I could do in an all out fight now, we hadn't dealt with any enemies since I started training with my sword. But there would always be a fight. I didn't have to do this.

Except for the money.

We were broke, poor. If we didn't have money we didn't eat. I suddenly got an image of a starved and sickly thin Toph, or Katara, or Aang. No, there was no way in hell I would let that happen. There was no option. This was a way I could ensure that they would always have stability. If the only way I can help Aang win this war is to be the backbone of the group, to sacrifice everything to make sure that they had food and money, to make sure that they can concentrate on the important things. Then so be it.

I will be their strength.

I will be the power behind the curtain.

I will be the protector

I had wasted several precious moments thinking stupid thoughts, so I was running late. I heard an amplified voice telling the next two combatants to be at the arena floor in two minutes. Reaching into the bag I got out my gray robe. I quickly pulled on the pants and tugged on the top. Then I grabbed the belt and clinched it tight around my waist. I stood looking myself over in the mirror for a second, then I took the hair clip out of my hair and let it fall down around my face. Leaning over the small tub of clean water I started to wet down my hair, once I was satisfied I grabbed the small towel beside the tub and toweled it. Not completely mind you, wet and wild hair looked a lot different then my usual wolf-tail, and if my hood was pulled off during the fight the last thing I needed was one of the others recognizing me by my hair-style.

Next I picked up my mask and ran my hands over the surface looking for any cracks or damaged that might had occurred. If it was destroyed or damaged I planned on wrapping a white handkerchief around my face as a back up plan. But it was in perfect condition so I put it in place.

I looked into my reflection as I put up the hood, and felt a twang of fear at what I saw. Even though I knew it was me I was seeing it was still fearsome. I was dressed in my smoky spectral robes, they were of a simple cut but that only seemed to make them more eerie, like I was so general I could easily become anyone's worst nightmare. I had the hood up casting a slight shadow over the blacked out eyes of my mask, even in this bright light all I saw was darkness when I looked into my own eyes. The face that stared back at me was deathly pale and crawling up the right side of my face like a skeletal spider was the savagery of that strange tribal marking.

I actually shuddered a little.

-

I stood facing the two wooden door that I would go through when they called me out to the arena floor. I had been a little behind so they had sent out a clown or something to entertain the crowd. Apparently there was never too many people who entered this thing, so the tournament organizers policy was to make every allowance and delay as long as the fighters put on a good show. Suddenly a huge booming voice echoed through the entire arena.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please, a round of applause for Bonky and his pet Bull-Kitten."

Okay, here it comes.

"And now if you could all please direct your attention to the Battle Pit we will begin the next match." A roar of approval erupted from the unseen audience.

"Please give a welcome to the return of a regular combatant, a man who has won the Soudatsu three of the seven times he has entered. Armed with a Warhammer weighing a hundred and forty pounds he has the Soudatsu's fastest knockout of six seconds ... "

Ow, that had to hurt.

" ... hailing from our own home town, please welcome, KUJO!" For a second I wondered if a bomb had gone off the screams and cheers were so loud. And from the sound of splintering wood it sounded like jolly old Kujo came out through his door. Looking at my own door I estimated that it had to be at least three inches of solid oak.

For a minute or so I hear the crowed work themselves up until that booming voice spoke up again. "And his opponent, a first timer to the Soudatsu. Weighing in at a hundred and sixty pounds ... "

I didn't stand on a scale, where did they get that?

" ... hailing from parts unknown. The man without a name, the shadow of the night. Please welcome, THE GHOST!"

I gently pushed open the doors and let them drift to a stop. I didn't tell them any of that 'man without a name' crap, but it was good. I have to say they know how to pump up their crowd, but it didn't seem to work for me. I walked out of the darkness of the hall and into the silence of the Battle Pit trying my best to look unnaturally graceful, almost gliding. Of course I almost tripped and fell on my face several times, I just hope no one noticed. My footsteps were the only thing I heard; apparently the people who came here like Kujo, and thus despised me.

Looking casually around at the arena I realized it looked really different form down here. The Battle pit, as it was christened was a circular pit, about a hundred feet across dug into the earth and the arena had been built around it. High in the stands the place had seemed kind of small, but down here the rows of faces glaring down on me seemed to be in the hundred of thousands. Old, young, men, women, all glaring me down.

I don't know why they didn't like me; I like me. Maybe if they gave me a chance...

And there was the smiling face of my opponent, all the way up there in the clouds. Oh my.

He was a mountain of a man. I wasn't small for my age, I stood at a pretty good five foot six, but even so I barely came up to his navel. His bronzed arms were cabled with great hairy muscles that looked like they could bust a tree in half, and speaking of trees; for a moment that's what I thought he was holding. In his hands a pole of well beaten wood measuring an easy five feet long, and on one end a was head that resembled a carved sledge hammer head which looked big enough to turn me into pulp in a single swing.

He was too big to be natural. He grinned down on me from behind a scruffy and unkempt beard, his steely gray eyes gleaming with a gleeful menace in the powerful arena lights. He wore an entire herd's worth of leather armor. Across his chest he had a well worn steel chest plate tied onto the leather vest. His arms were bare but he had tough leather gloves on his hands, stained with some dark liquid. He took a few steps toward me, his steel reinforced boots rattling on the packed dirt floor, until he was standing a mere three feet from me.

And I laughed.

For a moment he faltered as my laughter echoed throughout the silent arena. The people in the stands started to whisper and a subtle buzzing of whispers filled the void after I fell silent. Some of them probably thought I was mad, insane, but they would be wrong. I had been scared, really scared about the fight for a while. What if Katara had been right? I didn't want to be turned into a bloody disassembled human puzzle. But then the best thing in the world happened; I was paired with the biggest and strongest guy I had ever seen.

Water style, Kyoshi Earth style, both of these disciplines were designed to use an opponent's power against them. Kujo would defeat himself. All I had to do was help him along. The fairer the fight, the greater the chance I would have to lose; if I was outclassed in every aspect like now, I was almost guaranteed victory. I enjoyed my wonderful paradox for a second, but I knew I still needed a plan.

The most obvious one would be to stay out of his reach and dart in and out taking little pecks at him. But he would expect that. He had likely been gargantuan his whole life, and that was the most obvious attack pattern. He would expect it, and judging from his choice of a long and vicious Warhammer he had long since worked a way around his speed problems with an age old solution; hit them really hard until they stopped moving. They might dodge the first hit or the second, but eventually they would slip up, and that hammer only needed to hit you once. But it had a fatal flaw, that long hammer. It was the one tactic he thought I would never pull.

Get in close, right in his face and stay there.

A man in dark pants and a white and black stripped shirt walked toward us from the sidelines, the referee I assumed. He stopped a short distance away, but directly between myself and Mr. Happy Man Mountain. "We are going to have a civilized fight today, no killing, no severing of limbs, and try to refrain from hits below the belt." He paused for a moment, for questions I guess. But after he got none,so he continued. "The fight is over when one fighter either gives up, is knocked out, obviously defeated or the judges decide that his life is in danger of he continues. The fight will start at the whistle." And then he turned his back and jogged off to where ever he came from.

A second later the whistle blew.

The next thing I saw was a block of iron the size of Zuko's old cruiser coming at my face. Ducking down I quickly drew my sword; why hadn't I done that before? Damn I needed to get control of this fight -the Warhammer slammed into the earth where I had been only moments ago- fast.

"Run little monkey man, Kujo will smash you." Hollered the troll as the Warhammer breezed over my head. By now the crowed had worked itself back up to near explosive levels.

That was enough of that.

I watched all of the hairy muscles of Kujo strain as he reversed the course of his heavy Warhammer. Timing it perfectly I jumped a fraction of a second before I turned into a puddle of jelly and almost laughed out loud as I felt my foot successfully touch down on the head of the death stick. Not waiting for a second I ran up the long shaft of wood, putting my balance to the absolute test. Just as I kicked off of his hand, Kujo's slow brain finally caught onto what was going on, but by then it was to late. Twisting in mid-air I slashed with the tip of my sword, cutting the ties holding his vest on that ran along his right shoulder. As I passed in front of his face and kicked off of his chest I saw the slow surprise forming on his dull features.

Well, better late then never I guess.

The moment my feet his the dirt, I immediately rolled between his legs and came up behind him. Getting a grip on the back of his belt I kicked off of the ground and launched myself up, getting a foothold in the small of his back and was again on his shoulders just as he brought the hammer down into the patch of dirt I had landed on right after jumping off of him the first time. I almost laughed at how far behind my moves he was, as I slashed though the ties on his left shoulder this time. Running over his shoulder I added insult to injury by shaving of half his beard with a careful thrust. My work done for the moment I decided it would only be polite to let him catch up with what was going on, so I dropped to the ground again and waited for him to figure out what had happened.

His eyes narrowed at the pile of dirty and scraggly hair on the ground, after a second he ran a hand over the bald part of his face. His eyes snapped to me with lethal intensity as he bellowed a thunderous war cry and resumed his mindless pounding of the ground. I couldn't hold it back any longer, I roared with laughter as I easily ducked and dodged every one of his brutal blows. I did a quick back-flip -cool, I didn't know I could do that- and watched with glee as his face got redder and redder until be looked like he was going to pop.

With a sigh I decided it was time to finish this.

I kicked off the hard earth again, immediately building a good head of speed and grabbed his belt just as I passed, redirecting my momentum so that I swung up and landed feet first on his back. With two quick jab of my sword I cut the only remaining ties holing is heavy leather vest on. Just as the heavy leather started to shift I grabbed a handful of his hair -disgustingly greasy hair- and let the vest fall down beneath my feet and around his. A fraction of a second later the crash of his Warhammer hitting the ground shook the immediate area and Kujo swayed on his feet, only to fall on his face with a little help from me. And as I was standing on his back when he fell I didn't have far to go to press my sword to his throat.

I stood on the behemoth's vast and hairy back for several seconds as he thrashed about, but both his arms and legs were trapped by the leather vest, and eventually he stopped struggling and laid still his head pressed into the earth in defeat. It was then that I realized that sometime during the fight the entire crowd had again fallen silent.

Except for the sound of my own heart thundering with adrenaline and the wheezing of Kujo the silence was deafening. At least until that same echoing announcers voice spoke up again.

"In an indisputable victory Ghost has defeated the previous Soudatsu's champion in a minute and three seconds." The reaction was almost immediate, it seemed like the audience had been waiting for confirmation of the fantastic thing they had just seen. Having it, they exploded in the loudest roar I had ever heard. Screams, whistles, mindless cheering echoed back on itself in the arena and redoubled. My heart started to pound again as the screams grew louder and louder, and when I stepped off of Kujo and raised my sword in triumph I was nearly blown back by the combined voices of a thousand ecstatic fans.

It started slowly from the back somewhere, I couldn't even tell which side started first, but the next thing I knew they were chanting. Among the roars and screams I heard a single word being chanted over and over, and every time it was repeated more people joined in until the entire stadium was chanting my fighting name.

"Ghost!"

"Ghost!"

"Ghost!"

I was thrilled that I had won so easily and that the crowd seemed to like me now. But still, something tugged at the back of my mind. I couldn't help but feel like I had forgotten something very important, something about my costume. But whatever, I was victorious, it could wait until later when i was with the others.

"Ghost!"

"Ghost!"

"Ghost!"

Wait, the others.

"Ghost!"

"Ghost!"

Toph.

"Ghost!"

"Ghost!"

I looked down at my costume and my heart sunk.

Oh, bloody hell.


Jade Knight

Richard Caine