AN: This chapter got a bit longer than usual! We're starting to really get into the drama within the overall cast! As always, any feedback is greatly appreciated! stay tuned for more!
"Welp, Minji is going have to settle for some fire flakes…"
It would be an understatement to say that Kova wasn't the biggest fan of fire nation food. Even though It is similarly comprised of meat and spices like food from the watertribes, the way it's prepared didn't suit his tastes. Too much emphasis on spices and flair and not enough juicy substance; a sentiment he held that summed up most fire nation types in his mind…
He did try to tell Minji that asking him to bring her something good from the stalls was a bad idea, but she insisted on him getting her something before running off. So now he was making his way to the only foodcart that looked vaguely appealing, at least until he bumped into to someone who just bought something from there…
"Woah… What's up Kova?! What are you doing here?"
Looking down, he saw a younger boy with skin more fair than his own, with brown hair wrapped in a bun and blue eyes. He wore a thin purple anorak and trousers with white lining. It was none other than his younger cousin, Asuka
"Hey Asuka. Just picking up some snacks."
"Cool, so am I!"
"What are you doing out here by yourself? Shouldn't you have a group of smokebringers guarding you?"
"I had my aunty take me to get some more fireflakes after she ate most of mine."
"Your Aunty…"
"Well look who we have here… You've grown quite a bit my dear Nephew!"
Kova's eye's narrowed at the person arriving on the scene. He wanted to correct her and add that he was an in-law, but given his past experiences with her son, he knew better than to take the bait.
"Hello Princess Azula. I was just make sure Prince Asuka was attended to before leaving."
"A shame, I'd love to catch up but you probably are busy prepping for your matches. Hopefully my son will keep you company in my stead!"
Kova didn't even bother giving her a reply before heading off. He didn't even notice Asuka waving him off. Minji's snacks are going to have to wait.
"What was that about Aunty? Is Kova okay?"
"Oh don't worry, he's fine."
Several years earlier…
"Enjoy your first day at the academy Kya! Look out for your sister when you can Suzu!"
""Bye Mom!""
Kyanna and Suzune waved off their mom before entering the gates of the Royal Fire Academy for Girls. Suzune wasn't exactly enthusiastic about having her sister come to her school. She would rather not have to play babysitter at the expense of what little social life she was afforded.
"Just try to stay out of trouble! I got to get going."
"Hey wait, mom said to show me around!"
"You can figure your way around the place, just head to orientation at the front pavilion right there. See ya!"
The academy had seen numerous changes in the years following the conclusion of the hundred-year war. One of the notable ones were the inclusion of non-fire lineage students. This was meant to accommodate the Fire Nation children of water tribe descent on paper, but given the economic gap between them and the native fire nation population, the amount of them that could afford to be here besides Kyanna are a handful at best.
This fact was made abundantly clear as Kyanna made her way through the stares and whispers of various girls surrounding her in the front yard. Just as Kyanna had a bad feeling about coming here, suddenly had been approached by two girls who were probably a year older than her.
"Hey, You're new around here?"
"Definitely haven't seen her before"
Upon getting a closer look at them, Kyanna noticed that these two girls are twins, both of which have water tribe features. The first twin reminded her of her younger brother; fair skinned and blue eyes. the second one reminded her of her older brother, only she had two golden eyes instead of one.
"My name is Kya, I'm a little lost here after my sister Suzune ditched me…"
"Princess Suzune is your sister!" the lighter twin asked in astonishment.
"No way, I thought the royals were all regular firebenders?!" said the darker twin!
"Nope, me, my mom and my little brother are all waterbenders."
"Really!? I've heard enough, you are our new best friend! My name is Siku!"
"And I'm Amka! Stick with us and we'll run this place!"
And just like that, Kyanna had found her own little tribe
Aang stood ahead of Sokka, Suki and Toph as they welcomed the entourage entering their skybox. The three men with their own security detail composed of an assortment of benders (with fire notably absent from this medley) were visiting from their own skybox located on the opposite, eastern side of the arena.
The three men in question were none other than Commander Haru from the Earth Kingdom of Ba Sing Se, Vice Chief Nanuq of the Northern Water Tribe and Shogun Gyarlun of Tempesta. The former was someone they knew very well, while the latter two were new up incoming players on the global stage.
"Greetings Shogun Gyarlun, it is a pleasant surprise to see you so soon! I wasn't made aware of your attendance when I last spoke with your prime minister…"
"The pleasure is mine Avatar Aang. This event happened to peak my interest at the last minute so I decided to see if it would live up to the speculations."
Toph wasted no time catching up with Haru. He is a longtime friend and ally of the gang since the war.
"Where have you been Haru? Don't tell me you have gotten too busy since you're a bigshot now, Beardo!"
"I'm doing well, King Kuie's rebuilding project has required direct supervision of the military, but thankfully I had my subordinates handle some of the load."
Meanwhile, the vice chieftains were mixing like water and oil…
"I see the Fire Lord and your sister couldn't be bothered to greet us…"
"They are busy speaking their daughters before the two of them face each other, surely you can understand right?"
"Your family's attachment to the Fire Nation blinds you and the rest of my southern brothers and sisters, hopefully this next farce of a match will allow you to wake up."
"Our treaties have made it abundantly clear that Southern business is no longer any of your business. Just sit down and have a drink, that will lighten ya up a bit!"
In a dorm not too far from the northern arena entrance, Kyanna was getting some last minute advice from her mother, Katara.
"Remember to keep track on the amount of water in you have on hand relative to your opponent's distance. Draw them in when you full or keep them away when your empty. This is especially vital in your case since you're up against a firebender."
"Well not just any firebender… But thanks mom! This was much more useful then what dad told me"
"Anytime Kya! I would have your father give you advice as well but we ended up agreeing that you each got advice only from the parent who shared your bending in the interest of fairness."
"I'm not so sure it will be enough with Suzune… she's older than me and she's so good with firebending."
"Don't sell yourself short, you are truly talented for your age. And besides, your father struggled with benders younger than him when he was your sisters' age."
"Really…Like who?"
"You're looking at one of them!"
Kyanna was truly speechless as she took in mother's words and smug expression. Her father was one of the strongest benders on the planet, the idea of anyone giving him trouble seemed like a bad joke.
"Well, it's almost time! I'm going to hurry back to the skybox and watch you two put on a show. Good luck Kya, may Twi and La give you strength!"
"Thanks mom. I'll give it my all!"
Seeing that her daughter was in good spirits, Katara went out the door with absolute faith that her little waterbender was ready to fight. Regardless of whichever of her daughters won, she knew that Kya was a fighter just like she was.
As Kya got her fighting attire ready, a new wave of determination surrounded her demeanor.
"It's just like my dad always says; there's no way through the storm except through! If Suzu thinks she's just going to breeze past me, she's got another thing coming!"
"Introducing first; From the Fire Nation Capital of Caldera, please welcome Princess Kyanna!"
Kyanna made her way past the roaring crowd dressed in her battle gear. She wore a purple Uwagi jacket with two white straps on each shoulder, with a large white sash around her waist, and black stretch pants with a pair of lightweight purple shoes. Her hair loops were undone into split bangs and her braided bun was now a low pony tail braid.
As she waved at the crowd, she happened to spot her parents and their friends making a ruckus as they cheered from their skybox.
"Introducing next; Also hailing from the Fire Nation Capital of Caldera and representing Team Agni Kai, she is the Crown Princess of the Fire Nation, Princess Suzune!"
Emerging from the slightly higher uproar, Kya's sister Suzune emerged in a black and gold mandarin gown, with her hair undone except for two braids in front of her ears. But what was most striking to her was the look of sheer focus and will on Suzune's face as she took her place across from Kya on the field. She didn't even bother to acknowledge her family (probably anticipating the looks of admonishment from her father over representing a team based in a practice he had done away with), let alone the rest of the crowd.
"You better not hold back or you will regret it Suzu!"
"I wouldn't dream of doing so… "
And with a final nod to each other, the announcer gave the call for the match to begin!
…And true to her word, Suzune immediately launched a ferocious assault. She enters a crane stance to perform several high kicks in rapid succession, unleashing multiple fireballs blitzing towards Kyanna.
Kyanna quickly draws water from the western sidepool and uses a swaying motion with both arms to encase herself in a big orb of water. The water orb then split into several tentacles that dispersed the fireballs.
The infamous octopus form served as more than just a funny birthday trick, she was able to swat out the fireballs but still have water whips to form a counter attack. With a forward lunge of her right arm, Kyanna sent a long whip attack towards the now approaching Suzune who had entered her range.
Suzune was forced to stop and take the attack head, entering a horse stance with her arm held parallel and creating a flame wall that evaporated the whip. She then made a pushing gesture with her right hand, sending the flame wall barreling straight towards Kyanna.
Kyanna then gathers her remaining whips and makes a double armed wave motion, meeting the flame wall with a wave of water. A torrent of fog and steam splits the field as Kyanna regains her breath.
"Winded already? it won't be much of a match if you don't have more than this Kya!"
Suzune emerges from the top of the cloud cover, unleashing a pillar of flame with a wave like motion from a double handed vertical chop.
Kyanna was quick to act on Suzune leaving herself stuck falling through the air. After raising up her left arm to create an ice shield to block the fire blast, Kyanna counters with open handed jabs that sent a medley of ice shards.
And for the first time in the match, Suzune was on the backfoot as she was forced to dodge the volley of ice shards with a thruster kick to her right.
Spotting the look of annoyance on Suzune's face, Kyanna decided to throw a verbal jab of her own
"I can go all day, trust me. I didn't come this far just to lose to you!"
Suzune couldn't help but click her tongue as she landed back on the field. Wasting no time getting back into the mix, Suzune ran forward before making a shooting arrow stance, releasing a low wave of flame from her foot. She aimed to take Kyanna off balance, forcing her to deal with the terrain of the field.
However, the wave didn't even make it to Kyanna… it simply fizzled out. Suzune stared wide eyed at the phenomenon, the noticed Kyanna's posture. Kyanna held her right hand outward as if she was grabbing something.
And then Suzune noticed it….
The air throughout the entire field was filled with a damp feel to it. It was almost as if it would rain inside the arena.
"Thanks for burning up all that water, big sis!"
Everyone in the stands were marveling at Kyanna's incredible feat! She had taken control the evaporated water in the air and forcibly made it precipitate, filling the air around Suzune with millions of rain droplets
Suzune quickly tried to move in and finish the fight quickly, but as Kyanna's hand made a fist, Suzune's legs were suddenly frozen to the ground.
With her immobilized, Kyanna played her trump card. She made a wave like slap motion with both her arms, releasing a torrent of instantly freezing water towards Suzune. Her sister's fireball jabs faded. She could do nothing as the torrent froze her in place. Kyanna flung herself forward as a wave of water materialized from the air, she finally went on the offensive to end this fight.
As Kyanna felt the crowd cheer her on, she finally felt that it was her moment to shine. She could even hear her mother yelling "GO KYA" at the top of her lungs.
For too long she felt like she was stuck in her sister's shadow. She didn't envy the wait of responsibility that Suzune would inherit, but she did want to be recognized for her own worth. And this moment would be her way to make that happen
…Or at least it would have been if not for the frozen sculpture Suzune was incased in exploding.
After the debris cleared, what appeared next shocked everyone except for a certain Firelord who knew what was coming… Suzune's immediate vicinity was engulfed in what appeared to multi colored flame that persisted even within the frost prison Kya created.
Kya was too late to change directions while riding on the wave, so tried to her best to brace for impact with an ice shield.
Unfortunately, the last thing she would remember about this match was Suzune's Bow Stance Single Punch… And the overwhelming force of the massive multi-colored twin fire blast.
…To be continued
Kyanna Tengoku (Transliteration of the Inupiak word "Qaiyaana", which means 'Fork of the River', combined with her last, her full name roughly means 'Divider of the Heavenly Paths')
Age: 13
Waterbender, Rokudan/Grade 6 level (Profesional)
Training: Trained in Southern style waterbending by her mother, Ambassador Katara of the Southern Water Tribe
Southern Water Style: Emphasizes controlled manipulation of water via ice shards, water whips ect.
Hydro: with enough moisture, she can manipulate the moisture in the atmosphere, creating water from thin air
· releases a massive wave of freezing cold that allows her to freeze everything within close proximity almost instantly
Visual design reference:
· Her overall look is based on Yoruichi during the soul society arc
· Fantasy VA: Alice Lee (Lois Lane MAWS)