Tochi Shiguro's Story

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.

“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.

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.

Kazuko Mori

The fire benders around her were dropping, but her situation wasn’t improving, just buying her time. Her arm was shot and charred, and she was having a hard time seeing straight from the pain. Mai was coming through the firebenders, straight towards her. She was deliberately disobeying, as usual. Sweet Mai, a bleeding heart with a listening problem. Kazuko cracked a smile, an actual smile. Maybe it was the relief she was feeling or that she wasn’t quite going to die yet, but she momentarily disregarded the current annoyances.

“Shh, don’t move.” Mai instructed, and Kazuko did just that, letting her mind wonder while she waited. Where did those flames come from? The ones down here I had coming in that swarm, I was an open target. But the ones that shot me down…they didn’t come from those troops. Too far left.

“Hey, youre going to be okay. Get up.” Kazuko flexed her fingers in her left hand. Her skin was still charred and burning, but the muscle worked and the bone was completely healed. It wasn’t perfect and it didn’t feel great, but it functioned and that was more than she could have asked for. ”Thanks.” she nodded, grateful. Mai was waving her on, but she heard something by her feet.

“Heh, my heart is gonna kill me for this.” She could barely make it out, but it was the sight she was a greater shock. At her feet was the fire soldier, the Tochi character. He seemed mangled and burned, barely conscious if at all. He was looking up and she followed his gaze. Earth benders? That has to be...Aoi and Izumi! They're alive! They're the only earth nation here, it has to be them. She was grateful and hopeful, glad another from her home was okay. There didn't seem to be any left. She looked around, no air benders, but she did find the other soldier, Tetsip. In a heap of other soldiers, he looked almost as bad off as Tochi but he was handling his state of consciousness a little better. Her eyes fallowed Tetsip’s path to where he was, and then it clicked. Tetsip was the one who hit me and it looks like Tochi got hit getting in the way. That would explain why it was farther left than I was looking.

Everything was getting in the way of them and Bo, and yet she couldn’t just leave Tochi. In a way, she owed him a life debt. There was a balance that needed to be kept, the monks had always taught her that, not that there was anything she could do. But Mai could. ”Mai, look. We can’t hold off on Bo any longer so Im going after him. But he needs help.” she nodded towards Tochi, then looking back in Bo’s direction. ”You don’t have to help him, but its not like I can do anything.” Mai’s a big girl, she can choose for herself, but knowing her heart theres a good chance she’ll help him.

Kazuko shot up, not taking any time to watch for Mai’s reaction. Luckily they weren’t far, and that one leap got her close enough to him. He was bad, half drug into the bushes and too much blood to tell how bad it was. But one thing was in his favor, and it was something she never expected. Kazuko recognized the caw immediately; it was Shou, her RavenHawk. She used the term ‘her’ loosely, as it seemed to have more loyalty to Bohai than her. Well, maybe he just needed it more, but a check-up would have been nice. Shou seemed to be protecting him, which may have just saved his life. Kazuko reached down to stroke Bo’s face, Shou circling overhead. The fire benders seemed to have left, not finding Bo much of a threat anymore. She had to get him to Mai, though, before she attracted the fire benders back. Prepping an orb of air to carry Bo, Kazuko prepared to transport him.

Hiroko was launched a few feet away and managed to grab hold of a tree branch. This bender was obviously powerful and she did not want to under estimate him again. Quickly regaining her composure, she stood, watching and studying the Airbender. She needed to evaluate her foe before recklessly charging into him again. He was using his twister to keep himself propelled and in order for her to have an advantage, she would need to disarm his twister and force him to the ground. The only way to do that was to dive straight into the middle and use a burst of flames to suck out the oxygen from the twister. After all, oxygen only fuels the fire. Before she could follow through with her plan, a commotion caught her attention. She spotted an Airbender, a Waterbender, two of her Firebenders, and an Earthbender. One of the Firebenders, it seemed, was fighting another. A scowl marred her face as she directed her attention towards the traitor. This Airbender could wait; he wasn't the Avatar. He was much too old to be the twelve year old kid her father spoke of.

"Good news airbender, you get to live today," she spoke with disdain. She twisted her body towards the area she had spotted the fight and with a powerful flame thrust, forced herself back towards the tower.

Maizhen saw that Kazuko wasn't moving, wait no she was moving. In the wrong direction. She saw Shou circling over Bohai. She took a deep breath in and was about to leave Kazuko when she spoke. ”Mai, look. We can’t hold off on Bo any longer so Im going after him. But he needs help.” she nodded towards Tochi, then looking back in Bo’s direction. ”You don’t have to help him, but its not like I can do anything.” Mai watched as Kazuko made her way over to Bo. She let out a loud sigh/scream.

"God dammit Kazu!" She yelled then made her way to Tochi, putting her hand on her side to stop some of the bleeding. She looked at the Earthbenders. "He's good. Don't hurt him." She looked down at the unconscious firebender at her feet. She dropped to her knees and put her hands on his left leg, where the worst wound was. Water glowed blue around his leg and on her hands. She blinked a few times, having a hard time concentrating. She finally closed her eyes, and healed his leg. She inhaled sharply as her body was again deprived of energy. Precious energy she should be saving for Bohai. She sat back and dropped ice cold water on his face. She then pulled him in into her lap, and put her hands on his head. The back of his head and his back had her blood on it now, from laying on her wound, but she was certain that at this point, it didn't matter. He looked like he had a few head injuries, which needed to be fixed as well. As she healed these wounds, her nose began bleeding slightly.

"Get up." She said, and wiped her nose on her sleeve, leaving a streak of red on the light blue fabric. Her voice was soft and hoarse, like she'd been talking too much. When she saw Kazuko with Bohai, one last kick of adrenaline pumped through her veins. She pushed herself up, letting Tochi slide off of her lap. She stumbled a bit as she made her way over to Bo, who was being transported in an air bubble. "Bo, Bo wake up." She cradled his head, covering herself in blood even more, if it was possible. "Bo, it's going to be okay." She was crying now, holding onto him as she pulled water from the ground. Once more, the water gave off a beautiful blue light, hiding her blood stained hands. She placed her hands on his head, healing the wound completely, unlike the other people she healed. Her nose began bleeding profusely, and her side was still leaking crimson everywhere. She felt extremely dizzy, but she moved onto healing his leg."Stay with me, Bo." She whispered. At least she thought she whispered it, she couldn't tell what was reality, and what was just in her mind anymore. The pain was worsening, and her energy was fading fast. Everything was fading. Bo's breathing was still shallow, and it was slowing, despite his head injury being healed.

As Mai healed his leg, she began to become hysteric, because Bo wasn't responding. "Don't leave me!" She cried, holding onto him, holding onto consciousness. She was healing everything, even things that didn't need it. She pushed herself too far, and as much as she was trying to fight it, her world snapped away from her like waking up from a bad dream. She fell back and hit her head on the hard ground, she couldn't feel it though. She couldn't feel anything.

Eiko stood, still leaning against the wall for a moment. She tried to keep track of everything that had happened but things were starting to blur again. She was worried she might pass out again, or there was the possibility her brain had been damaged and now it was starting to kill her....though she doubted that.
Suddenly, someone crouched next to her, making her jump. As quickly as she could she tried to get into a defensive stance, however she wasn't able to. Seeing as the man was from the Earth kingdom as well, she gave a small sigh of relief. However there was something odd about him, even at a time like this. His voice held no compassion at all, nor anything else. Her eyes stared at him for a moment before her brain registered his words. "I haven't seen anything. I think someone hit the building and then some of the side came down on me. I'm just waking up...." She replied to him before glancing out from the building. From the distance, she could almost make out a Fire Nation soldier walking there way. As he grew closer, she realized he was indeed walking towards them and then collapsed.
Her initial thought was he deserved it, however, when glancing over at Aoi she suddenly got a chill. Was this man so desperate he would attack another man while he was down? She took a deep breath and stood up straight, ready to do whatever she needed to do. Honestly, Eiko didn't like the fire nation and it was close to hate. However, she didn't believe you should attack a man when he is down. It just wasn't fair and it wasn't right.
As she stared at the fire nation man, a water bender came and began healing him. "He's good. Don't hurt him." She stated as she healed him. Eiko was about to ask how they knew each other but before she got the chance, the water bender was gone. "Damn... I'll have to ask later.." She thought to herself while kneeling down next to the fire nation soldier. Since he was healed by a water bender, that had to mean something was good about him, however, she didn't think Aoi was likely to see it. Though she didn't get into a defensive stance, she watched him out of the corner of her eye carefully, ready to move at the slightest movement.