MaiZhen Nuo's Story

Maizhen rolled over in her sleep. The warmth of the air and soft grass was a wonderful bed compared to her boat. It was decent sized, being able to fit at least 10 people in it. Though there was only her, her small stash of supplies and Bohai her buffalo yak. It was a very awkward fit, and Bohai was never comfortable. He often would get out and swim. Maizhen didn't row, she just bent the water so her boat would move.

They first arrived in the Fire Nation. Maizhen hadn't liked that very much. The people were too stressed and uptight. The fire bending boys were very attractive in her opinion, though. She and Bo left the Fire Nation and made their way to the Earth Kingdom. She stayed there for a while, the people were great. They were all so kind to her. Finally she had made it to the Air Temple, well right outside of it at least. After many years of traveling and going back and forth between the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom, she had set out for what she had always wanted to see. the airbenders.

She was awoken by the smell of smoke and the sound of explosions. She quickly got up and gathered her things. She filled a small canister with water and mounted Bohai, who was already getting antsy to go somewhere. He could sense danger. They started riding in the opposite direction from where the smoke and sound was coming from, then a thought hit Maizhen. That was the direction of the Air temples. She yanked on bo's reins and he let out an angry grunt at her. "Come on! We have to turn around. He listened to her and they sped off in the right direction. Maizhen was shocked to see the firebenders attacking the Temple. Bohai skirted around the edge, still staying hidden from everyone. She slid off his saddle. "You go run for help." she said and scribbled a quick note and attached it to his horn. He grunted again, refusing to leave her. She sighed and skillfully hopped back up onto his back. "Fine then, but if we die because you're easily seen, I'll kill you." He let out a happy sound, mixed between a horse's neigh and a squeal and they ran around the edge, looking for a good place to come in.

Bohai decided to come right into the middle, where all the action was. Maizhen smiled, he was just like here always dramatic and needing to be in the center of everyone's attention. That wasn't hard for him though, no buffalo yak had ever been outside of the northern water tribe before, at least not the Maizhen knew of. Mai bent the water out of her container and whipped it at several fire benders, knocking them off balance. Bo continued to run while Mai dropped water onto the burning people. Mai saw an earth bender fighting off a few fire soldiers, and was distracted by her incredible bending skills. Bo neighed at her, but it was too late, she was hit on her side with a fire ball and she flew a good 10 feet then landed on her back. Before shit hit the ground she was able to bend her water to put on the fire on her side. The wind was knocked out of her, and she couldn't breath. She tried to sit up, but she could feel that a few ribs were broken. Bo stood over her, but she kept screaming at him that she'd be fine. He finally listened and ran off, trampling the firebender who had hit her.

Mai dragged herself to cover with the help of an airbender who was doing a marvelous job at fighting back. He protected her while she healed herself. She felt weak after exerting that power, but she was healed and ready to fight again. Just as soon as she was going to thank the boy, he was engulfed with terrible red flames and burned before her eyes. She tried to put the fire out, but it was no good. With a new found rage she, shot shards of ice water at the firebender and she died on sight. Mai's nostrils were flared as she ran out from her hiding place and ran off towards the fight again. She saw a pretty girl up high in one of the towers, She seemed to be stuck or just contmplate her option. She was looking down to the center of the battle. Mai followed her gaze and saw a fierce-looking girl with a blue flame in her hand. She was dressed in fancy clothing. Must be royalty. She sneered at her and dropped a huge amount of water on her. Hopefully putting out the flame, and even better, probably pissing her off.

Maizhen knew it probably wasn't the smartest idea to piss someone off that had a blue flame, so she chickened out from the fight she had started and returned to her hiding spot. She was far away from the girl, and behind her, so it was very unlikely that the blue-firebender had seen the waterbender. Mai snuck out of her secret place once again and made her way to the tower that the girl she had seen was in. She guessed her way down corridors, not running into many firebenders and eventually found a large room that wasn't even much of a room anymore. She quickly made her way through the rubble and towards the girl. "Hey, you okay?" she asked, a large orb of water was floating and changing shape just above her left hand.

Bo was still trampling firebenders. For it size, he was very quick. He was smart too, killing then hiding, and sneaking up behind to kill again.

,, Your brothers in arms are dying Tetsip! Get down there and help them! " The Corporal shouts at Tetsip, who's sitting at the edge of what appears to be a balcony of sorts. ,, You an officer? " He responds in a monotone voice, as he always does. ,, I am warrant officer of the - ! " That's all Tetsip needs to hear.
Beneath him this awful asylum roared and danced to the beat of war-drums. He stood up and looked down, ignoring the Corporal's rantings. ,, Orders heard, understood, affirmative. " More clinically scanning than actually looking for potential targets, he surveys the battlefield. A water-bender just failed at bending, resulting in a wet and angry princess. The water-bender just ran into the tower with Tetsip at the top and was most likely not " down there " anymore.
The Corporal said "down there", so he ignores the water-bender. Furthermore, it's a water-bender. The briefing didn't mention them - a good opportunity to ask the fellow bender for some advice, later on.
A large beast trampling fellow soldiers. There was nothing about that in the briefing, so he just let it trample on. The sound of hooves on metal is nice, he thinks.

Two air-benders are escaping on gliders, technically, they aren't " down there " anymore as well. So he ignores them. No target sticks out anymore, so he switches lower in his priorities, aiming for key defense points. Two groups of air-benders, hiding behind a hastily constructed barrier of wood and stone - having the 21st squad under crossfire. A satisfying target.

He jumps over the railing, the Corporal still ranting about something, and creates a cloud of fire beneath him. After a landing soft enough to not impair his fighting capacities he takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. The orchestra of war is about to play the symphony of destruction and despair. He turns off all the surrounding noise, now there are only three things; eleven airbenders, a barricade and Tetsip. He begins the death-dance; slow waterbending-like figures at first, he's moving towards the barricade. Air is cutting deep scars into the wood and stone around him - as soon as he feels the slightest breeze he gives in, makes a full turn and sidestep and continues moving forward. He let's the flow of war carry him away. His movements are getting faster and more violent as he approaches the barricade -only in those rare moments he finds satisfaction. He's now locked into a trance, spiraling downwards into a holocaust of ecstasy and freedom. Destroy, maim, burn, violate, end, crush, burn, reduce to nothingness, kill, burn burn BURN - He has to finish this before he gets drawn too far away.
His movements end abruptly, now he's only moving his right index-finger in a circle. Two flaming whips form a double helix and cut through the barricade as well as the airbenders. One of them, a young girl, dashes forward. It's time to end the dance. Tetsip opens his arms violently and claps. Once. The whole area in front of him is incinerated.

And the young airbender girls banshee-like screams jam their claws into his mind, like a hawk into his prey, and carry him away into a land of perfect fulfillment.

Travel; the single greatest part of being free. Tochi had freedom and used it well, or so he thought. The one regret he bore was not reaching Ba Sing Se or getting a chance to explore the southern regions of the world. No, instead of continuing his travels further, he was found and recruited by the Fire Nation Military. Tochi had returned to his home for a short week only to be forcefully drafted. He wasn't sure to make good or bad of his current situation; he never had the opportunity to explore the Northern Air Temple before, but these pretenses weren't exactly... ideal.

Tochi stood looking down on a recently charred corpse. "This isn't right..." His ever spirited eyes were losing their glimmer, his gusto slowly fading. As a relatively fresh recruit, Tochi's orders were to eliminate any and all Air Nomads. Princess Hiroko was leading the charge head on, her fire bending was top notch to boot. If anyone could ensure the Air Nomads' extinction, it'd be her. Tochi's group was in charge of clearing out any stragglers roaming the vacant chambers and corridors. "Stragglers..." Doubt was slowly flooding his thoughts. His group charged full speed down the halls, incinerating anyone and anything. "How can we call this strategic warfare when we're just killing the dead..."

Screaming, crying. "The pain these air benders must be feeling is insurmountable." Tochi couldn't exactly think straight as he sluggishly trekked the halls dragging behind his energetic group. A extraneous fist broke Tochi's daze. "Hey, you, Soldier! Quit lagging behind, we're almost done clearing this sector! We've found a jammed door!" The soldier's voice was quite blunt, but Tochi had to follow his orders. "Aye sir!" He followed behind the soldier as an explosion opened a new corridor.

The new corridor had various halls branching out in different directions and large chamber across from their stand point. "Alright, divide an clear the halls." Tochi took the nearby passage which led to a hallway that received heavy fire. He scanned the premise to find two girls over by some debris. The darker skinned girl, she definitely wasn't an Air Nomad, unfortunately she was most likely a Water Bender... and the girl with the white hair, who was being helped by the Water Bender, was most definitely an Air Nomad. "Oye..." Tochi couldn't do much of anything beside stand, frozen.

As the smoke slowly cleared and Tetsip got a hold of himself again, he noticed the Corporal behind him shouting. " Push! Push! Take the halls! " Tetsip looked back and saw whatever was left of the 21st. Attacking now; the corporal could have ordered them to jump off the mountain as well. Most of the unit were tired already, perhaps wounded. There was only one officer left, a warrant officer by the rank of Corporal. Attacking with this...implication of a unit was suicide.
Tetsip was the first one to jump over the still burning leftovers of the barricade.

A young airbender boy makes the fatal mistake of closing the distance. Jumping, accelerated by his own airbending, he's aiming his kick for Tetsip's face. Before the boy can react, eight fingers get a hold of his leg and smash him on the ground. But the pain doesn't stop. Tetsip steps on the boys back, grabs his foot and while letting himself fall to the ground, he dislocates the boys knee. Threat neutralized, someone else deal with him.. Charging through a maze of halls, Tetsip can't help but notice that someone already cleaned up in here. ,, Looks like the 20th was here before us. Perhaps the 12th. Maybe the 2nd. It's hard to tell what's exactly going on when your supreme commander's a spoiled royal brat. We need someone with experience, someone who focuses on coordination rather than fighting himself. " The Corporal starts ranting, as usual.

He abruptly stops his ranting - a young firebender carefully observes the battlefield. Tetsip does what he always does when he has no orders, nothing. He sits down, leaning onto a wooden pillar and takes out his flask. Before drinking he smells it, not to check whether it's still fresh or not, but to see what he's about to drink. Vanilla tea. Calmly he sits, watching the theatre of war. As he warms the tea with a small flame from his index finger, he notices the young firebender staring over to two girls. One of them definitely an air bender.

After he's finished with his tea, he'll have a closer look on the girls.

It seemed as if time stopped. She felt cold, wet, and angry. The flame in her hand grew in intensity as she dried herself off and glanced in the direction of a tower. She caught a faint tail end of a person’s clothing and glared. Before she could go after the person responsible for spilling water on her, a sound of twisting wind caught her attention. She pushed herself towards the edge of the tower she was on and glanced down. There was an air bender making his way towards her. A smirk covered her face as she jumped from the top, descending downwards towards the bender. She propelled herself with her flames and smiled. She was ready for another fight as most of these benders did little to fight back.

This air bender, however, had a strange spark in his eye. Something she had seen in others that had abandoned everything they were taught and was ready to fight. It sent chills down her spine as she increased her speed. When she was in distance, she opened her mouth, spewing a large wave of fire towards the air bender as it surrounded the area, burning any nearby trees and anything else that was caught in its way. She was pissed at the fact that she had been drenched by a water bender, and she was excited to be back in battle. The two emotions were shown evidently in her eyes and through her bending.

“Hey, you okay?” she heard from behind her, and she turned sharply. Kazuko recognized the voice, and she wasn’t sure if she was glad to see her, or worried that she was brought into this too. However, there was a strong feeling of relief just knowing she wasn’t alone in this. It had been a while since she had seen Maizhen. The familiar dark skin and hair of the water bender brought her back a few years, she just wished it was under better circumstances. She wondered if Bo was here too, if so, where was he?

”Mai, its good to see you. If I had known you were coming, I would have tidied up the place a bit. It’s a rat-pig sty in here.” she joked and let out a small laugh. If she couldn’t laugh, she might cry. It was best not to think about it too much. With all the carnage around her, she might be one of the few still able to laugh.

Her good nature was short lived, though, as her demeanor snapped back to serious with the arrival of a fire bending soldier. Let your guard down for too long, and someone could die. He wore the all the markings of a common fire nationer, but with the green eyes of an earth bender. Not that it mattered, a uniform meant enemy. It meant death. The background mattered little.

”Watch it!” Kazuko snarled to Maizhen, trying to give her warning before the inevitable attack. Her eyes pressed into a squint towards the soldier, he didn’t seem to be moving. The fire bender had come in and just frozen, rather than spurned an attack. It was peculiar, like there was something off about him. He seemingly didn’t have the stomach for this war, or maybe he just didn’t have the mind-numbing obedience that the others had. Either/or, she wasn’t waiting for him to gain his confidence back. She’d make the first move.

Without skipping a beat after her warning, Kazuko sent a wave of air towards the soldier in an attempt to throw him back against the wall. Summoning a small tornado, Kazuko rose almost to the ceiling. Her grey eyes looking in disgust, she give him the same courtesy of hesitation.

”You paused, as will I. Take a moment to think about why you deserve this, huh?”

Her tone wasn’t so much menacing as it was nonchalant. She wasn’t doing this out of anger or hate, but she wouldn’t give any more mercy by doing it out of defense.

Mai Smiled at her friend. "Oh it's no problem, you don't need to clean up for me." She said and laughed a bit. It was forced and fake, and her smile was the same. It went as quickly as it came and the water above her turned into a violent snake, separating into two, then spinning in opposite circles.

Watch it!" Kazuko yelled to Maizhen. The dark skinned girl whipped around to see the uniformed firebender, standing there, frozen. Her face twisted, in just a short amount of time she had grown to hate the firebenders as a whole. She watched as the white-haired girl sent a whip of air towards him, and she shot one of the water snakes toward his gut for good measure. She threw the other vine of water into Kazuko's tornado, turning it into an icy twister.

She drew the water back from when she attempted hit the fire bender and made six shards of ice. They were floating in the air behind her like loyal birds.

"Kazuko," She said, but she couldn't go on. If she made one more move to hurt him, she'd be just like the firebenders. Defense or not, she wasn't sure if she could do it. Not like this at least, two against one. She knew her power, and the last time she'd seen Kazu, she was a powerful bender. She withdrew the ice from the tornado, and merged it with the six shards, turning it into the ball of water again. "Don't force me to get involved anymore," She meant it as a warning, which in all honesty it was, but her voice sounded as though she was pleading with the man, which annoyed her slightly.

Bohai had been doing fairly well against the firebenders with his sneak attacks, but unfortunately, he had spooked an airbender, and they blew him over, right into the path of a firebender. The bender was frightened at first, so as she turned to run from the beast, she sent a flame at him. He moved, but it still hit him in the upper part of his back leg. He let out a horrifying sound. It like a horse's neigh, but more throaty, so sounding like a growl. At the end, it was more of a high pitched howl. He kept belting out his cries of pain as he dragged him self away from the battle field. He got hit in the head with a rock, that he wasn't sure where it came from. He was losing blood fast, but he had managed to get into the grass, out of most everyone's way. Some airbenders tried to help him, but he bit at them until they left. He wouldn't leave Mai. his crying continued.

"Bohai!" Maizhen screamed and ran to where Kazuko was sitting earlier. She scanned over the battle numerous times but she couldn't see him. She kept screaming his name. "Kazuko I have to find him! He's hurting." Tears welled up in her eyes as she kept looking for him. Finally, she saw something, it was Bo's reins, stuck on a rock. she couldn't see behind it, but she figured that's where he was. "I have to go get him."

She turned on the firebender with new found passion. "Either you let us by, or you'll regret it," She said. Even though tears were streaming down her face, she looked angry, and her deep, dangerous voice proved that much.

Even as a man who excelled in bending; Tochi didn't the conviction of a military man, let alone a killer. It was a pathetic site; such an open free spirit, forced to do the impossible. The plague of being a part of this, catastrophe, gnawed at his heart piece by piece.

“Watch it!” The voice cracked his trance. The spine tingling chill that arose from Tochi’s innermost conflict was suddenly ruptured, his control was back. A raging gust of wind was hurled towards him, forcing his back against the wall. Without pause, a chilling strike smashed his chest, pounding with irrefutable hate. “So this is the pain we are causing…” His uttered words were buried under the roaring twister that the Air Bender summoned. Tochi couldn’t help but attempt and understand the predicament.

As the attacks halted for a short moment, his entire body ached of numbing pain that was probably well deserved. Tochi could once again feel the ground. "Kazuko." ‘The name of an Air Bender… how elegant.’ His thoughts weren’t exactly on topic but it was the least he could do to crack a smile. Even through the pain, Tochi stood up, listening to the Water Bender speak. "Don't force me to get involved anymore," Even after the threat, Tochi continued his attempt to stand and recompose himself. “You paused, as will I. Take a moment to think about why you deserve this, huh?” It seemed the situation wasn’t as bad as it could be; they were rather respectful considering the circumstances.

The ice surrounding the Water Bender caused Tochi some unease, he took a quick sigh. “Phew, thanks for that.” Tochi began to brush himself off a bit, avoiding his bruised torso. “I’m not sure what was worse; my body shutting down or your attacks.” That was the usual Tochi, speaking his mind and trying to crack a joke in a terrible situation. ‘How stupid of me, they won’t hesitate to send me to my grave.’ He sighed rather heavily, taking a stance and immediately launching six rapid-fire shots towards the six levitating ice spheres. “Sorry, I had to break the ice somehow.” Tochi revealed a light smirk at his own witty remark. ‘This isn’t the time to be messing around, though. I gotta get serious.’ He definitely wasn’t at peak condition; the chilled air, the aching body, today wasn’t a great day.

The silence, if you could call it that, was disturbed by a rather loud howling of sorts. "Bohai!" Tochi was completely lost, but it was apparent that the Water Bender was now in distress; if there was a time to attack, it’d be now. The girls muttered a few short words as Tochi stood awaiting their strategy. "Either you let us by, or you'll regret it," There was something different about this threat, it struck Tochi oddly, it was backed with real emotion this time. “I’m not here to fight you, to hell I don’t even know why we’re here!” The tension seemed to rise significantly, bothering Tochi. “I’ll let you go to your… hound, or whatever… but I’m coming with. You won’t survive down there with Princess Hiroko leading the charge. I know you don’t have much to go on, but just trust me.” Tochi’s composure had finally begun its return, the pain didn’t seem to subside though, but that wasn’t an issue. He kept his posture; awaiting their response, inter locking his eyes with theirs.

Kazuko Mori

Kazuko watched as both hers and Maizhen’s attacked collided with the fire bender. Once again, he seemingly did nothing. It was off, almost too off. There was no point in manipulation. Her and Mai weren’t important figures, there was nothing to gain, and if he were really trying to kill them there would be no motivation in dragging it out. She really didn’t understand it, if he really didn’t want to kill them, then why would he be here in the first place? And under the army’s command?

He uttered a word of thanks and cracked a couple jokes. She might have laughed, but she was still on edge about him. It made her wince to see the fire going towards Mai, even if they were too wide to hit her. Her tornado calmed down as she did, simply making her hover off the ground in a lower wind. He seemed harmless enough, stupid, but harmless. Who else ends up in the fire nation army while wanting the opposite of what they tell him to do, ending up in a room of potential enemies only to crack jokes? The whole thing seemed ridiculous, though not impossible. Kazuko sighed, she just wasn’t willing to pick apart the situation right now, and there were more important things to deal with.

As if on cue with her thoughts, Mai gave her a perfect example of ‘more important things’ as she rushed to the hole behind them. Apparently Bo was in trouble, although Kazuko herself couldn’t hear it. "Either you let us by, or you'll regret it," she heard Mai order the fire bender. He responded with an “I’ll let you go to your… hound, or whatever… but I’m coming with. You won’t survive down there with Princess Hiroko leading the charge. I know you don’t have much to go on, but just trust me.” He says he wasn’t there to fight them, and Kazuko believed him. He would have done it by now if he really were, especially after taking a beating from Mai and herself.

”Look, Bo needs help. We don’t need to trust this guy, but we could use him against the others, whether hes on our side or not. He has a point, Hiroko is going to be a problem.” she said to Mai and then looked back towards the hole. ”Look, Ill get us both down there to bypass the halls. We can get to Bo faster that way.”

Kazuko spun up orbs of air to encompass the non-air benders, like putting them in giant hamster balls. This would hopefully keep them from falling out on the way down. Making her tornado larger again, she started her own way down and waited for the others.

Only a few feet from the ground, Kazuko ran into their first problem. A fire bender soldier waited almost directly below them. He wasn’t fighting, though rather he was drinking…tea? She didn’t understand firebenders. Letting out a groan, she realized there would be no way to attack until she was done bending the other two down, she couldn’t do both at the same time and she was more than vulnerable in this situation. It made her unnerving uncomfortable. ”Im going to need a little help down here” she yelled to the other two, ”Time to prove your side, soldier!”

A violent breeze of air extinguishes Tetsip's small flame. He audibly sighs and turns it back on by snapping. Again, his flame is extinguished. He leans forward, away from the pillar to take a look at whitewater's coming between him and his tea. An airbender girl is riding a tornado. " Neat. " He thinks while leaning back and starting to warm up his tea again. Or at least trying to - a small ice shard bumps into his fingers, extinguishing the flame.
Tetsip let's his head fall into his three-fingered hand, thinking about how much he hated situations like this. Why is fate always playing shenanigans? Which dark god of irony did he offend to deserve something like this? He shrugs it off, cursing to himself. He takes a deep breath, sighs and prepares to snap his little tea-flame back on. Before he even gets a tiny spark out of his fingers, his hand alongside his pants is doused in a fine mist of water. Grinding his teeth he's warming up his palms, soon his gloves fall apart. A rare reminder of just how worn down he is.
Two missing fingers, no feeling in the thumb, burn scars running over and under each other, impossible to tell where one starts and ends. And that was just his right hand. Things looked a lot more sinister under his uniform.

He snapped out of his thoughts. A bubbling sound came from his cup. He overdid it a bit, but the tea will still be drinkable. Finally, tea. Or so he thought. A young airbender girl, he believes the same one that was just riding the tornado, suddenly stands next to him.

”Im going to need a little help down here” She yells at someone ”Time to prove your side, soldier!”

That's Tetsip's lucky day. He's going to get to finish his tea and the enemy will be so polite to get to him, saving Tetsip the walk. ,, Thanks. " He says while continuing to sip his tea. Out of the corner of his eye, he's taking a closer look at the airbender. Fragile body, no proof of hand-to-hand combat experience visible, closed the distance to him. She might be an easy target.
Toss tea in her face, roll forward, jump, flying armbar, break arm, roll back, incinerate.
Then again, if things always went according to plan, he'd still have all his fingers.

Tetsip continues to nip on his tea, now knowing he needs to save some.

Maizhen's heart was pounding in her ears and the one thing on her mind was getting to Bo. She was trying to calm herself down as much as she could so she would able to fight the firebender, as she anticipated. Instead, she was taken by surprise.
“I’ll let you go to your… hound, or whatever… but I’m coming with. You won’t survive down there with Princess Hiroko leading the charge. I know you don’t have much to go on, but just trust me.” The Firebender said. She blionked at him a few times, unable to come up with a response right away. Kazuko spoke as well.

”Look, Bo needs help. We don’t need to trust this guy, but we could use him against the others, whether hes on our side or not. He has a point, Hiroko is going to be a problem. Look, Ill get us both down there to bypass the halls. We can get to Bo faster that way.” Maizhen nodded, her plan made sense. She had a fleeting thought of going down the side before, but she could never make it. She was too weak. She was still sore from her incident earlier, because she hadn't enough time to heal herself to perfection.

"Fine, soldier, you can help." She didn't look at him, because she didn't want him to see that he was getting to her. She loved Bohai so much, and the fact that he was willing to help, even if it wasn't for the sake of Bo, meant a lot to her. Suddenly, wind was all around her, and she was in an orb of air, created by Kazuko. She might have been scared, but she trusted her small friend. When Mai used her water to push the air, she noticed it worked similar to a giant ball. She was just getting the hang of it when Kazuko yelled from near the bottom of the tower side.


”Im going to need a little help down here” she yelled to the other two, ”Time to prove your side, soldier!” Maizhen started at a full sprint towards the side of the mountain, she gingerly made her way down in the air bubble. She glanced around for the rocks Bo was behind, at first she didn't see them. She didn't know which direction it was because his howling had quieted for the most part. That scared her even more. She reluctantly put her attention on the firebender in front of them. He was drinking tea? She broke out of the air bubble when she was about three feet of the ground and landed silently in her leather boots. She summoned two snakes of water again, standing ready to whip them around the firebender and freeze them in place.

"This isn't the time." She said to him. She reached a hand out and froze the tea in his cup. That ought to piss him off. She let a smirk appear on her lips for a split second. Then it dissapeared when she heard a low moan escape Bo's dying mouth. "Kazu, I need to find him. We half to make this quick." She said softly. She wasn't sure if the firebender could hear her, she wasn't even sure if her friend could hear her.

The stand-off was pretty uneventful; the Air Bender was drifting off in though while the Water Bender appeared worried. Tochi swore he saw the desperate side of both girl, but it didn’t matter at this point, there were obviously more important matters to attend to. “Look, Bo needs help. We don’t need to trust this guy, but we could use him against the others, whether he’s on our side or not. He has a point, Hiroko is going to be a problem.” Tochi was somewhat relieved at the Air Bender’s response. He honestly wasn’t the military type; war wasn’t his field of interest, on top of that, Tochi couldn’t stomach such bloodshed.

“Look, I’ll get us both down there to bypass the halls. We can get to Bo faster that way.” As relieved as he was, Tochi’s caution rose when the Water Bender spoke. "Fine, soldier, you can help." Tochi wasn’t sure to be surprised or honored; these two girls graciously opened their arms for him, letting him assist them. It wasn’t long before a sphere of air completely surrounded him, it was rather solid considering the makeup. “Huh, pretty neat technique.” Tochi was rather intrigued by such a masterpiece, how the air could act as a shield protecting those inside while simultaneously lifting them off the ground.

“I’m going to need a little help down here” Tochi couldn’t exactly tell what the Air Bender meant so he proceeded to roll the sphere so he could reach her. As Tochi reached the hole in the floor, the sphere enabled him to fall the relatively great distance without a single scratch. "Wow, this is something!" He was rather impressed with the Air Bender's technique, but that was all put to a halt. “Time to prove your side, soldier!” Tochi looked up and much to his dismay, the words he had wished to never hear were spoken. As he stood beside the Air Bender, he could clearly see a Fire Nation soldier drinking some tea. Tochi also noticed the frantic Water Bender searching for her hurt pet behind some rocks by the mountainside.

As the soldier sipped his tea, he appeared to show little interest in the trio. Again, to Tochi’s dismay he could make out one word coming from the man’s mouth. “Thanks.” Tochi assumed a pose of defense, praying the man would just leave them be. ‘Thanks… tch, what the hell is he thanking us for?’ It was a brief moment of thought. Tochi didn’t even realize that the Water Bender had returned from her search and had frozen the tea cup. “Looks like we’re gonna haveta fight, huh…” ‘Great, just what I wanted…’ Tochi wasn’t pleased at all, the man didn’t appear to be just any soldier though; he was most likely a highly experienced soldier of sorts.

‘How can we deal with this guy fast…’ For once Tochi had actually thought of a pretty good idea. Considering the fact that he still had to prove himself and that the missing… dog… was still out there, there was only one obvious answer: an Agni Kai. “Air Bender, leave. Go help your friend find her pet, I’ve got this.” Tochi proceeded to place his hand on the Air Bender’s shoulder. “Be sure to keep your eyes open, I don’t know how long this will take. I probably won’t be able to rescue you two anytime soon.” He snickered lightly as he removed his hand from the Air Bender’s shoulder, nodding.

“Alright!” Tochi was a little more relaxed despite the looming situation. He figured this would go really good or really bad, at least the girls could get away in either instance. “Sir, I challenge you to an Angi Kai! Right here, right now!” His hand pointing at the Fire Nation Soldier, while sweat dripped down his forehead.

Kazuko Mori

Kazuko starred at the fire bender drinking his tea, her hands moving to keep the orbs afloat, but the rest of her body motionless. He made no attempt to attack; he seemed to be calculating instead. Thinking, plotting, and Kazuko was worried. Fortunately, Mai and the other soldier made it down before anything started, not that it made Kazuko breathe any easier. She had barely been able to exhale since this whole thing started.

Mai was the first one down, addressing the tea drinker with a curt “This isn’t the time.” She went of the offensive, freezing his tea, not that aggravating him further would make things easier. The soldier came down next and Kazuko was finally able to move. At least she wasn’t defenseless anymore, not that she was moving any more than she was before. She felt still, the way he was so calm about everything was eery. But then again, it wasn't as if the fire nation was in any situation to lose at this point. The surrounding area was charred, there seemed to be little air bender resistance anymore. The air was hot and dry, the currents still. The outcome seemed bleak, but Bo still had a chance. Another groan was heard, Mai uttered a soft "Kazu, I need to find him. We half to make this quick." She was right, they needed to move. Now.

The soldier placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to scowl. The idea of a fire nation soldier making contact with her still didn’t sit well, no matter how much he claimed to be on her side. She knew him for only a few minutes and he was already touching her, her displeasure showed on her face.

Before she had time to move it, he stepped up, challenging the other fire bender to an Agni Kai, something she was familiar with, but had never seen. “Air Bender, leave. Go help your friend find her pet, I’ve got this. Be sure to keep your eyes open, I don’t know how long this will take. I probably won’t be able to rescue you two anytime soon,“ he directed towards her. Kazuko knew he was joking, but she knew how serious this was. For a moment she almost felt gratitude, almost.

For now, she was going with Mai to find Bo. ”Fine,” she said to the soldier and then turned to Ma, ”Let’s go.” Kazuko turned around, scanning the surrounding area for Bo. Taking a deep breath in, Kazuko closed her eyes. ”Mai, Im going to listen for Bo’s cries and try to amplify the particle frequency by accelerating the sound wave patterns in the air. It should help you hear it loud enough to follow it to where Bo is. Got it? Here goes.”

All of these techniques required a lot of concentration and left Kazuko uncomfortably bare, but she had to do it. All of the monk’s training was meant for peace, not this. She was so under-prepared. Clearing her mind, Kazuko listened for Bo, channeling and enhancing currents until she could hear him. ”It sounds….southwest. But there seems to be a lot mo-“ Kazuko stopped, noticing a large company of fire nation soldiers in that direction, including Hiroko. She could feel the heat coming off of their flames from where she stood on the air currents and despite its warmth, it gave Kazuko chills.

Kazuko sighed, looking at Mai. ”You hear it? Hes back there.” The soldier they met may have taken on that one, but this was about to get a lot harder than just one.

The tea is frozen. The damn tea is frozen. She just froze my tea. She just froze my damn tea.
Tetsip still can't believe how cruel irony can be. Grinding his teeth, he contemplates what terrible things to do to the waterbender. However, Orders are clear, no one said anything about waterbenders. Tetsip starts to control his breathing; an insurmountable rage burning within him. Slowly, he feels the shroud of humanity lifting from his soul, until there's only vague emptiness. An emptiness that has to be filled by violence.

,, Agni Kai! " The boy's words echo in Tetsip's head. He'd give everything to fight this out like men. But, orders restrict him from attacking any other member of the firenation. With the waterbender and firebender being a taboo for Tetsip, he starts plotting. And fate smiles at him, the airbender turns her back to him. His heart is pounding; the hunt is on.

With the tea frozen, there's no shock effect in throwing it any more. He needs to figure out something else. ,, Excuse me. " He says with his rough and hollow voice, putting down his now frozen tea. ,, My name is Tetsip Taduo, soldier since 16. I do not believe in honor and deny the Agni Kai. " In the cover of his emotionless speech, he inconspicuously moves his left hand behind his back. ,, I hold no interest in hurting the two of you. Feel free to go. " He takes a deep breath ,, I just want to kill the airbender. "

A cone of fire engulfs the area in front of him, as he punches with an open palm. In the momentary cover of his fire, he tries to begin his death dance.
Death dance. That was a nickname the soldiers that saw what he does on the battlefield gave his style of fighting. The movements are slow at first, derived from waterbending figures, sans the actual bending. They become more and more violent, literally charging one up, until one unleashes a terrible storm of fire. Right now, he was the most vulnerable; still slow and performing figures more ritual than effective. But he wouldn't have it any other way. It's just too much fun.

The displeasure that was plastered on the Air Bender's face haunted Tochi. The reason why his so called glorious nation caused such... dislike within anyone was beyond him. Luckily the Air Bender appeared to bestow some sort of trust in Tochi, which forced him to crack a smile. ”Fine,” Her voice was rather irresolute and stolid, seemingly void of emotion, it threw Tochi off just a tad. ”Let’s go.” Hearing those words caused Tochi to relax quite a bit, knowing that his two new... acquaintances were going to escape safely. 'Good luck girls...' Tochi watched the Fire Nation Soldier intently, noticing his great frustration with his newly frozen tea. "Honestly... is tea that good?"

It came to no surprise to Tochi that the man was losing his cool, most Fire Benders had that tendency. As he sighed he noticed that the words Agni Kai triggered something in the man. "Excuse me." Tochi was thrown off a little that the Solider used... proper etiquette. 'What is he..?' He released his stance and loosened up just a little as the soldier set his tea cup down. "My name is Tetsip Taduo, soldier since 16. I do not believe in honor and deny the Agni Kai." Tochi's eyes widened quite significantly. 'Wait... what...' He was quite baffled at Tetsip's statement, it definitely wasn't the usual reaction of a Fire Nation Soldier. 'A Soldier... no honor... denying... an Agni Kai...' Tochi almost felt as though a blizzard had swept over him, just as the Water Bender had frozen Tetsip's tea. 'I was just trying to be a Hero of sorts... God Damnit, what is going on!?!' The chain of thoughts plagued Tochi. Rather than appear grief stricken for too long, he resumed a slight composure. His chest still ached but it seemed to fade as the continual discussion dragged on. "Well hello, uh, Tetsip. I'm Tochi Shiguro, soldier as of two weeks ago."

Still recovering from the remaining shock of denial, Tochi quickly realized that Tetsip was one of those die hard loyal soldiers. "I hold no interest in hurting the two of you. Feel free to go." Again, Tetsip ceased to amaze Tochi. 'What is with this guy! He'd turn his back to an enemy just because of his orders?!?!?!' It wasn't but a few moments before he muttered a few words that didn't come at a big surprise. "I just want to kill the airbender." Of course, Tochi's assumptions were proven right. Tetsip was your typical follow orders to the word soldier. 'He honestly thinks he's going to get his way...' Tochi sighed heavily.

It wasn't until after the fact that Tochi noticed the soldier's movements. As the cone of flames erupted from Tetsip's hand, Tochi rolled out of it's path as it scathed his left leg. "Damn." Tochi was slightly impressed that the soldier could so inconspicuously prepare an attack. "It'll take more than that bub!" Tochi hopped to his feet, the burning pain causing him to flinch momentarily. After rising to his feet, Tochi leapt into the air launching a full fledged crescent flame from his right foot. "Sorry Tetsip, but I'm gonna have to stop you here!" He followed quickly by a dual fist flame.

Mai watched as Tochi made his way down the side. He challenged the other firebender to something she had never heard of before, and before she could completely focus on the two, Kazuki was agreeing that they needed to find Bo. She was saying something about amplifying sound waves; Maizhen didn't understand, but she nodded anyway. She could hear Bo's breathing all of a sudden, shallow and raspy. He was fading. "I hear him Kazuko! It worked!" She exclaimed. She began sprinting in his direction, but before she could take 3 steps, she skidded to a halt. Firebenders; lots of them.

".. Deny the Agni Kai." The other firebender said. She only caught the second hal of what he was saying, but it was enough to whip her head around. He wouldn't fight? She was confused. He continued to speak before she could figure it out, though. "I hold no interesting in hurting the two of you. Feel free to go. I just want to kill the airbender." Maizhen almost laughed at what he said.

"Look, buddy." She spat at him, taking steps closer to him as she spoke. Before she could continue, the airbender who had introduced himself as Tochi, cut in. She was distracted by another of Bo's groans and she quickly walked over to Kazuko. She tried to give her a smile, but it was a failed attempt. She gave one last glance at the firebenders behind her, noticing Tochi had gotten hurt. She didn't have time to heal him, although he was winning her over slightly. She trusted that he would hold off this firebender, maybe not fight the rest of the army, but this would buy them time.

She summoned more water from anywhere nearby, creating a large flowing bubble of water above her head. She trusted that Tochi could take it from there. She began running towards the mass of Firebenders again. "Come on, we don't have time for a plan!" She dodged a few fireballs sent her way and returned the favor with shards of ice. Most of the few that saw her advance were taken out by her cold weapons. Normally, she wasn't this intense, quick, or accurate, but then again, these were very special circumstances. "Hold on Bo!" she screamed, and it was returned with a low moan. He heard her, and responded. She just might make it.

Kazuko Mori

Kazuko heard bits and pieces of conversations and sounds from around her when she was trying to channel Bo’s sounds. Everything from hearing orders, groans of pain, fire, the soldier from before. The soldier from before? “Tetsip…Agni Kai…airbender.” She was only picking up bits and pieces, she couldn’t concentrate on everything at once. The conversation continued, “Hello…Tochi…weeks ag-“, the sound of fire. Fire??? Shit.

Her eyes shot open, just in time to see the blaze coming towards her. I knew we couldn’t trust that…Tochi was is? Whatever hes doing, it isn’t protecting us. Her mind raced, diving sideways with her hands going down to propel her straight up into the air like a rocket, going atop of the blaze. Her eyes were wide, she was more surprised than scared, but it seemed to feel the same. It didn’t take long for her to return to solid, though. The moment she panicked was the moment she died.

She took a moment to look over at Mai who seemed to already be moving, Kazuko needed to be right behind her. Knowing she stood no chance at any close contact fighting, Kazuko kept her height and pushed herself towards Mai and Bo, trying her best to dodge the fireballs being thrown at her. But with her bending being used to stay afloat, she could only dodge, not deflect.

That’s when one collided with her left shoulder, Kazuko drew a sharp inhale. The flesh was burnt, the smell made her nauseas, and the pain enveloped her whole arm and a good part of her chest even though the wound was only the size of a grapefruit. The worst part was, she was losing altitude. Fast. ”Go for Bo, Mai. Ill catch up. Kazuko meant it, she didn’t want Mai waiting up for her. She could handle this, or at least she hoped she could.

Kazuko fell with a thud into the middle of the soldiers, right side down, trying to spare her wounded arm. Unfortunately, that left her left side exposed, and a stream of fire connected with her left arm. The pain was excruciating, there was no way that she would be able to bend with that arm anymore. She needed a way out, but she could barely think with the pain.

A scream escaped Kazuko’s lips. It was shrill and full of anguish, but using her still working right hand she amplified it to a dangerous frequency. Those within a ten foot radius around her stopped in their paths, cupping their ears that now had small streams of blood coming out of them. Outside that, it was just loud noise. She would have needed both arms to control direction and current, so she didn’t dare making it any larger, in case Mai was close. This at least gave her time, and if nothing else, their equilibrium would be off now with their ruptured eardrums. Leaving at least the ones close to her unable to walk or shoot straight.

Left leg forward, inhale, crouch while turning.
Before Tetsip was even close to being a real threat, a crescent flame crashed through his own.
End the dance? Redirect it? No, the dance must not be stopped. He takes a deep breath and
let's the tides of war decide his own fate. For the first time since three years, he had bad luck.
The flame arrived as he was just wide open and scorched his face, especially the upper part.
Doing his best not to make a sound, he unleashes the first few fireballs. It was then that he realized that even if he opened his eyes, he didn't see anything.

Disregard eyes. Survived worse. The situation was dire, two random strangers and an opponent against one blind soldier. He needs to solve this quickly. Assuming a slightly crouching position, as if he was to run a race, flames shoot out of his limbs. Before he
can catapult himself to the general direction of the airbender and try to get her down in hand-to-hand combat, water hits him and pushes him several meters back. His leather boots make a squealing sound, echoing in the hall. He's overcome with a feeling too familiar,
the feeling of flames closing in. He didn't understand why the other soldier attacked him, but that was unimportant. The soldier gave Tetsip a marvelous gift, flames for free.
Making a full turn, relying on his experience and luck, he redirects the flames, spiraling all around his body and shoots them back in the general direction of the airbender.

A scream. The smell of burned flesh. Air nomad flesh. Target acquired. Again, flames shoot
out of Tetsip's limbs; sending him straight after the screams. The feeling of being in the air without seeing anything is nothing pleasant, especially not with the cold sensation of ice shards flying all around you, not for the average person that is. Tetsip reveled in this type of situation; they are there, I am here. Cards on the table. Everything is as it should be. All he needs to do is get in grappling range, a few locks later and the airbender is no more.

The world twists and turns as Tetsip's eardrums rupture. The next thing he feels is the hard and unforgiving kiss of a collision with someone. Whoever it is, he'll get the full close quarter combat massage, including dislocated joints and burned skin.

Mai was running as fast as she could still, dodging fire, and sending equally painful attacks back. She saw a body in front of her, scorched and bloody. At this point, she couldn't tell who they were, just that they were at the wrong end of either an enemy, or a fellow soldier. She leaped over it, and was suddenly thrown off balance. Something hit her in the side, hard. She kept running, with Kazuko still behind her in the air, or so she thought. ”Go for Bo, Mai. Ill catch up." Her friend said to her. Mai slowed down a bit, but didn't stop. She continued running. She had seen Kazuko's shoulder. It was bad, but it wasn't crippling. Mai knew her friend would be alright.

Her side was burning, but she figured it was because of how much she was running. She glanced down at her self, only to see red. Red, red, red all the way down her leg. Shit. She had been hit was a fireball, the only thing that had kept her going was adrenaline. She had felt it, but not the pain. She didn't have the time to heal herself. She heard a scream, and she turned around. Kazuko! She then heard another scream, and covered her ears, firebenders all around Kazu went down, holding their heads. "Lucky I was far enough away." She glanced between the nearing rocks where Bo was, and where her friend was. She cursed under she breath and began running towards Kazuko, taking out firebenders as she went. Her side was hurting extremely bad now that she had seen it and knew how bad the wound was. She saw Kazuko lying on the ground, covered in blood and burns. Maizhen quickly dropped water all over her body, rinsing her wounds.She laid her hands on her arms. "Shh, don't move." She began concentrating, her eyes closed. She put her energy into healing her friend. After a few moments of silence, she opened her eyes again. She deflected a pillar of fire, with a wave of her hand. The water she used splashed over herself and Kazu. "Hey, you're going to be okay. Get up." She grabbed her now healed arm and yanked her to her feet. She still had minor burns and cuts, but Maizhen could get those later. She only healed the really bad ones, but Kazuko should have been able to bend again. She saw Tetsip on the ground, making his way towards him, and that just made her in more of a hurry to get away.

The waterbender began running, but stopped once more. "Kazu, stay in front of me. Bo is right over there. Come on! She pleaded with her friend, waving her in front of her. That way she could protect them both, not having to make any stops.

The situation surrounding Tochi wasn't necessarily dire, but it wasn't looking good. The crippling pain of a fresh burn creating a numb sensation in your left leg, and the remnants that remained of his chilled encounter were hindrances not to be desired. The upside was the effectiveness of his attack; the flash of flames that Tochi had launched indeed made contact with Tetsip, searing the upper half of his face. Tochi couldn’t note specifically, but it had appeared that the flames may have hindered his eye sight. Although, he was lead to believe it not true due to Tetsip’s constant pursuit of the Air Bender.

“Damn, I didn’t help much at all.” Tochi was pretty disappointed he couldn’t stop Tetsip from attacking the girls, but he had tried his best, relatively speaking. As he lay against a nearby rock that protruded from the scorched ground, Tochi was fading. ‘I… have to… stay… awake…’ The pain was excruciating and the guilt was racking on his spirit. The two weights just bogged him down too much. ‘I’m… a fool.’ Tochi let out a half-hearted snicker as he began to raise himself off the ground.

Tochi could see his two new friends, if they could even be called that. The Air Bender had just released a loud, ear piercing scream and the Fire Nation Soldiers just dropped like flies. He snickered lightly, "No one should talk to her... she might talk your ears off... or just rip your ears off..." He laughed a little more freely this time. "I need to just shut up..." Tochi realized that his current predicament wasn't looking to good.

The lime green hue twinkled with the sun’s shining rays and for a moment he caught a glimpse of two people over by another building. ‘Two more people, I doubt they’re Fire Soldiers…’ Although the image was rather fuzzy, he could distinguish that one was leaning against the crumbling building while another stood beside them. They two seemed to be holding a conversation of sorts. Although the getup looked familiar, it was apparent that they weren't Air Nomads. From this distance, Tochi had no luck of finding out who, are what, they were. “Just my luck.” In this position it was hard to know whether they were friend or foe, but heck, either way Tochi would probably get his ass kicked... Being from the Fire Nation wasn't looking to be so great right now.

Tochi’s emotions were quite mixed at the moment though. He could continue helping the girls he just met, he could remain loyal to the Fire Nation, or he could simply flee the scene. It was the decision between what felt right, Tochi's pride and his cowardice. Ultimately, the decision did nothing; no matter which emotion he followed, he was bound to bad luck. “Alright… I just have to flee the scene…” Tochi’s gut often spoke the greatest sense; as the man limped away from the escalating battle, the gut wrenching feeling that swept him grew ever so worse. “Heh, my heart is gonna kill me for this.” At this point, Tochi wasn’t exactly clear on his own intentions; he found that his body had trekked the distance between himself and the two strangers. ‘Maybe they can help me… but... maybe not’ Tochi then collapsed a mere few feet from the two strangers, unconscious.