Avatar: A New Hope

"Big reward you say, maybe I should turn you then, hahahahaha, nah, then things wouldn't be fun anymore without you around.He said laughing and jokingly. Then Roku pulled some drinks out of his bag and threw one to Rolan, and he caught it."Roku, if it's wrong for a earth bender to love a fire bender, I don't want to be right.Rolan opened and drank the drink in one go, like he was a pro at drinking, which he thought he was."Roku, would you do me the honors being my best fire bender friend?

 

As more and more earth bender soldiers gathered, Feng was forced to do more and more acrobatic stunts to dodge their attacks and remain for the most part unharmed. She was too busy dodging and jumping around that she didn't have much of a chance to even attack anymore. Man..I hope the fire lord doesn't punish me for that rental ostrich horse...for all the use it had. Grah, it also had a great majority of my supplies on it! Trying hard not to get too distracted by that depressing thought of having lost valuable supplies such as her other clothes and food, Feng was surprised by the appearance of a great airship. Clearly it was for the extraction of the princess, though how the army knew that the first wave of soldiers would abandon the princess, Feng was unclear. Unless it was an extraordinary event of luck. Regardless, it seemed the princess would get her escape. Feng took a moment to glance at the princess to see if she had gotten on. To her surprise and bewilderment, she hadn't. "What're you waiting for?!" she shouted slightly annoyed. Then she shifted her gaze to the beast next to the princess. Oh she wants to save her pet too. How nice.

In a move befitting a warrior princess, Adena had approached Feng and questioned her identity. She was about to respond, but a huge chunk of rock came flying between them. Feng didn't have much of a chance to explain being too busy deflecting attacks with her sword and hopping around dodging rock formations. It was then that a rain of fire from the airship began pouring down. A few of those blasts had hit relatively close to Feng. "Hey! Friendly fire isn't actually friendly!" she shouted as soon as she got a little more room to breathe as the attacks had taken down a few numbers of the soldiers.

Suddenly a great blast knocked over a tree that also threatened to squash Feng beneath its great weight. Oh heavens! thought Feng as she somersaulted out of the way wide-eyed at her close encounter with death. Catching her breath from that scare, Feng tried not to yelp as she was suddenly grabbed by the princess on her mount heading towards the hovering ship. "Ow! Ow! Ow! Hey!" shouted Feng as during the process of being pulled up by the surprisingly strong Princess, she was being hit by the rhino as it was running. As soon as Feng saw that they were going to run onto a small ramp onto the floating ship, she started to get a bit nervous. "Now, wait a minute...eek!" started Feng as a chunk of earth came whizzing past them. She turned around and saw more soldiers appearing. Raising her sword, she tried to deflect a few attacks, and just before they made it onto the ship, she turned to the side and noticed a dock in the distance. There were a few large boats there but what seemed a bit curious to her was why some animals were being loaded aboard. But she didn't pay this much mind as she was trying hard to protect the princess and survive. I also need to do some explaining.

 

Kai had seen two men walk onto the boat. They both had animals with them which they appeared to be very fond of. A fire nation airship could be seen in the distance. His eyes widened and he had become frightened. He jumped across the barrels he was hiding behind to go up to the two men standing on the boat. He ran up the ramp breathing heavy. "Hey! you two. What is going on? Are you part of the resistance? If you are, did a small water bender happen to have joined?" He said panicking. He was worried about Kota and maybe they would have some information about him if they were a part of the resistance. "Please tell me."

 

The center of Ba Sing Se was nothing. Its buildings and people were turned to rubble and corpses. All that was left of the area was the Royal Palace, which still stood proudly beneath the sky that grew darker by the minute. The long, perilous day was at last coming to a close...and the city had prevailed for the most part...but at what cost? Several individuals began to roam the area, holding candles in their hands and tears in their eyes, searching for the loved ones they lost in the midst of all the madness. A masked man walked among them, but he felt no sadness. Nor was he carrying a sympathetic candle in memory of those who had perished. Instead, he wielded two long, elegant katanas. One in each hand as he strode through the rubble towards the grand palace.

The others paid him no mind. They were too engulfed in their emotions; too blinded by their own tears to notice that an armed assassin was among them. If they had given it a moment's glance, perhaps they would have noticed the spine-chilling way his boots intentionally stomped on the pale faces of the scattered corpses beneath him. Like dirt. Kicking them aside occasionally. All but one person let this strange sight go over their heads: One of King Tasuki's guards who was monitoring the palace entrance.

"Excuse me, sir." the concerned guard said, stepping towards the masked man as he neared the palace. "You're gonna have to-"

His words were cut off as both sides of his neck met with the man's blades, slicing in either direction. Blood poured out of his open neck. His body collapsed. His decapitated head rolled away. The masked man used his robes to wipe blood off his katanas, then pushed the front palace doors open. At this moment his mind went into a euphoric, almost numb, state. The silence of the night became filled with the melancholy sounds of an orchestra. Yells and shouts from guards inside the palace were turned into fine melodies of violins and cellos. He, the masked man, was the conductor of this blood-filled concerto; his katanas were the batons. They were swiftly swung in all directions as he hummed along to the flutes in the background. His eyes were closed, and therefore he could envision the plethora of instruments surrounding him, each being played oddly-enough by an Earth Kingdom soldier who hastily played along to the rhythm...as though their life depended on it. This went on for over a half-hour, until each of the instruments stopped playing, one by one. The masked man sighed deeply and opened his eyes, expecting to hear applause and see roses fall to his feet. Instead, however, all he saw...was blood.

It was everywhere. Flowing down the staircases, splattered across the walls, stained into the carpets. Everywhere. It seemed that King Tasuki's palace was now the scene of a massacre. The dead bodies of his guards were scattered around the rooms in awkward positions, all missing a limb or two. A few even their heads. The masked man looked over the mess he had caused from the top of the staircase. Counting each of the bodies until reaching the number 31. Did he smile at this realization? Did he frown? Was he laughing? Was he crying? You couldn't tell behind his ridiculous mask.
As he proceeded into a room on the second floor, an old man in long brown silk robes appeared inside. He sat behind a small desk, holding up a pocket knife, shaking from head to toe. With how terrified the man looked, it was hard to imagine that it was Tasuki himself.

"You..." the King said grimly. "You killed them...you killed them all. And now...you're going to try to kill me..."

"No, your majesty." the masked man said. His voice was smooth, velvet, and almost calming. "I'm going to kill you."

Tasuki screamed at the top of his lungs as he revealed a small boulder from beneath his desk, split it into five pieces, and sent them hurtling in the man's direction. The rocks then burst into flames and were deflected, knocking the King backwards and burning him severely. He could only gaze helplessly as his assassin walked towards him, wielding two blood-soaked katanas.

"Who are you?" he whispered, his right cheek pressed against the floor.

Before he could be given an answer, his chest was stricken with a sharp blade, sinking deeper and deeper until escaping out his back. King Tasuki could feel himself disappearing, being engulfed by darkness, leaving his precious kingdom behind...

 

Rolan looked to the small child that had ran up to him and Roku and he asked them if they were part of the resistance and if he had seen another water bender like him, and if he had joined the resistance. He was scared, as he should be. The Fire Nation had just laid waste to the city, burning and destroying and killing anything in there way."Kid, I'm sorry to be that guy, but there isn't really a resistance. It was thought as a Idea to inspire the people to take action. But if you must know, we are on a very important mission from the Earth King himself. As for your water bender, yeah I think there were a couple of them with us in when we were with the Earth King. I don't know if they are on board with us or not, I think were still waiting for others. Now why don't you run along home little boy, this is dangerous stuff were dealing with, war is no place for a kid.

 

Adena jumped down from the Komodo Rhino once they were safely inside the safety of the airship. She left the girl that had attempted to help her by Agnimuhka and stormed over to General Kynu. Her face had contorted into rage. She was bloody, beaten, and covered in dirt and ash. Her porcellain skin was an ashen gray and her eyes reflected that of fire. "WHAT in the hell was this?!" Her arms were flailing vigurously as she gestured to the outside. The entire day was a complete sham. The princess couldn't help feel that this was the plan the entire time. She was just left out of the loop.

 

The man told him that a few waterbenders were a part of the meeting with the king. "Thank goodness. If he is smart, he will stay out of this war." Kai said softly. Then it hit him. The man told him to go home. He called Kai a child. "Excuse me. I have more talent in water bending than most do. If you wish, I will take you down to prove my worth. The king has told me to help with this war. I'm going with you people."

 

Roku burst into laughter "Yes if you would do me the same honor my friend." While he was a drinking a boy came up to them asking about his brother "Calm down kid, yes there was a water-bender who talked about his older brother that must be you, he will be here soon with the others. I guess you can say we are the resistance kinda." He looked at Rolan and shrugged."Can you fight, I mean can you look into another man's eyes and kill them if you need to" he asked the boy. He sat down on the boat " Trust me boy the fire nation will kill you and your brother without thinking."

 

The other man laughed and assured Kai that his brother was there. He seemed a bit tipsy and drunk. He asked him if he could take the life of another man. Kai had a past of killing before. When his and Kota's parents were killed, Kai took a spear and impaled the man responsible when he was not looking. Kai said "I can kill any man. I have done so in the past. The fire nation took something dear to me, and I will gain my revenge." His voice was soft and angry. "I apologize for getting angry earlier. Why is the city going into lock down? Oh, and the name is Kai."

 

General Kynu flipped the side lever and the ship was closed again. He let out a deep sigh of relief and yelled at the top of his lungs, "We're good! Now let's get the hell out of here!"

He escorted the Princess and her female friend down the hallways and tried to keep his composure as she yelled. After all, it wasn't like he had just saved her life or anything. "Look, don't ask me any questions, alright Princess? All I know is that a few hours ago your father made be come aboard this flying death machine to Ba Sing Se, and if the whole city wasn't in ashes I had two jobs: Number one, find you. Number two, drop off-"

Kynu came to a sudden halt for a few seconds, then he ran down the hall to the control room where the Captain and Co-Captain were seated. "Turn this thing around! We forgot something! I want us at the center of Ba Sing Se ASAP!"

"Sir, it's nighttime. We can hardly see a thing as it is-"

"I've grown quite tired of your backtalk! Turn back NOW!" Kynu then faced the Princess with a small smile. "We have someone special for you to see."



The masked man sat on top of a collapsed building in the center of Ba Sing Se, his katanas concealed, and his hood over his head. He appeared to be waiting for something. To any normal passer-by, he even looked like Death himself. Suddenly, the loud sound of running engines came from above. The same Fire Nation airship which had dropped him off at this position had arrived for his retrieval. A rope ladder hung down beside him. Some Earth Kingdom soldiers began to gather around, standing in combat positions, but with a quick rotation of his arms the masked man formed a circular wall of flames around himself that spun endlessly. He then casually grabbed hold of the ladder and climbed it without any interruptions. Once aboard the ship, he brushed off his shoulders and looked around the room. He saw General Kynu, Princess Adena, and a young woman he was unfamiliar with.

"Well, well, well..." he said, turning towards the Princess. "Look at you, Adena, with all those battle marks. Didn't think you'd measure up so small against some Earth imbeciles."

 

"Well then welcome to the resistance Kai. The name is Roku and the lock down is because of a very dangerous woman who the Earth King underestimated and is escaping on that airship." He look towards the ship and notice it moved closer to the center of the city. He grabbed his binoculars and looked towards the airship but it was dark and he couldn't really see. "I don't like this at all Rolan, I have a really bad feeling about this. "Hotaru down boy" he yelled to the rhino "got to make sure they don't see me." He looked at Kai ,"long story I will tell it when the others get here."

 

Adena rested her hands on her hips, glaring daggers at the masked man. She knew exactly who it was, which pissed her off some more. Her father apparently didn't have any faith in her succeeding. He was the real plan. There was never any belief that she could do it on her own. She was just pissed that it took her this long to see it. Her father never believed in her before, she was just hoping that this time would be different. "It wasn't my fault. Those b@st@rds left me there! They didn't even try to help! They just...LEFT!" Her arms were flailing more furiously then before as she stared into the mask. He was always trying to outdo her and in her father's eyes, he was doing exceptionally well.

 

OOC: Sorry for my absence from earlier. Went to hang with friends haven't seen in awhile, look down at watch, it's 230am. Time flies when your shootin the shet.

IC:

Rolan had jumped off Coco's back right in front of the kid who said that he could take me down. He looked the kid dead in the eyes. He study the boy while he and Roku were talking. Rolan might be some ex solider who is a drunkard, but he has his dark secrets from the past.Rolan then finally opened his mouth to speak."Boy, you might have killed a man in the past, but something tells me you didn't see his life leave his eyes, hell I bet you didn't even give him the chance to beg for his life. Killing anybody is fine and dandy, but when you look into there eyes as their life is leaving there body. You begin to think, maybe this man has a family of his own. Maybe this man didn't mean to do it and he was just following orders. Maybe he had no idea what he was doing, and was being controlled by somebody. You talk of revenge like it is something so easy to get. You will seek revenge, but will never get it, and you will slowly lose yourself to all the sins that you have committed. The blood of all the lives you have spilled to get your "revenge" will be on your hands forever, and there is no way of washing it off. You will be forever haunted by the faces of the people you have killed. There last dying screams, there last words of mercy and of forgiveness. You think you have a dark past, you don't even know what this war has done to me and Roku over there. You should go home while you can, and save yourself the trouble of being haunted by the dead. War is no place for kids. Only men who follow stronger men' words."Rolan was furious with what the kid had said about how he could take a mans life no problem. Rolan had taken up drinking not because of the loss of his parents, but for the lives he had taken after he had lost his parents. He had gone on a blood frenzy on the battle field when the time for war. He violently killed men, and later on when that became boring for him, he started to do things that were inhumane. He walked over to Roku who was watching the airship fly over the city. He said to him that he didn't like the looks of this."Yeah, I don't like the looks of it either. It feels like everything has just gone to hell.....

 

The masked man chuckled softly. "Don't worry about it, Adena. Luckily for you Ozai is naturally two things: A master of war, and one hell of a father."

He revealed his blood soaked katanas and threw them aside, then sat down on a side bench while the airship took off again. It was obvious by his casual body language that he found the day's events to be quite amusing. "Wait, you didn't think the Fire Lord was actually going to trust you to take down King Tasuki, did you? Ha! That's a laugh. You may be a General now, Princess, but you have to understand that these kinds of missions require someone...of a higher caliber. Ozai just wanted to test you with this assignment, probably for his own entertainment, but in the end he knew I was the one who would have to get the job done-"

"Wait," General Kynu interrupted, leaning in with his eyes wide. "So, you've done it? Is he-"

"Yes. It is done. King Tasuki is dead."

Miles behind the airship, Ba Sing Se was completely silent on this night. It was a night of grief and solemness. The heart of the city had been destroyed and eliminated. Without a heart, how can anything continue to live?



Draco stood at the dock for a moment, gawking at the enormous ship before him. He had never seen a vessel so large, other than the ones from the Fire Nation that attacked his home, and it made him feel uncomfortably small. But it was going to get him where he wanted to go, nonetheless.
"Well, as the monks said," he whispered to himself while approaching the walkway. "Each journey begins with a single step."
As he boarded the ship Draco began to see some familiar faces from the group he had met with earlier. Many of them were missing, though, which worried him. He could only hoped they hadn't backed out of the trip. A couple of the men who were already on board appeared far stronger and more masculine than he. Their faces were stern and serious, while Draco's was rather playful and boyish even in his adulthood. The last thing he wanted, though, was to seem inferior.
"Evening, gentlemen." he said in a voice deeper than his usual. "Ready to train hard, are we?"
His chest was puffed out and his face forced a tight frown with sharp, glaring eyes.

 

Adena was ready to punch the masked man in the face. She had even started to recoil her fist in anticipation of the swing. Then, General Kynu interrupted. His question had almost made her stumble back. The king was dead. She had failed at the attack and then he stepped in and finished the job. She was already an embarrassment to the country for her failure and now it would appear even worse when they discovered a single man did the entire job of a small fleet. This guy really ticked her off and tried to consistently make her look like an idiot. "YOU killed him? I was supposed to kill him! Not be tested. Testing ended when school did. Four years ago!" The princess swung her fist at his chest. She should have been pleased that the overall goal from the invasion succeed, the princess was far from pleased. No one had faith in her. Some girl was obviously sent to help her, like she couldn't do it on her own. There had been an extraction team sent, since she would so obviously be captured. They even sent a backup assassin to take out the king.

 

"Oh please Adena, I mustn't take all the credit." the man said teasingly. "After all, if it wasn't for you the King's army would have been protecting the palace, rather than out hunting for some crazed Princess. So therefore you weren't completely useless, which I must congratulate you on. You were more like...bait."

He chuckled softly for a moment, picking up one of his katanas and wiping the blood off. It was beginning to dry, and he preferred to have his weapons looking sleek and shiny.

"And another thing." he said, raising a gloved finger. "I noticed that Ba Sing Se suffered some pretty significant damage--a portion if it, anyway--and I'm somewhat impressed. Especially when considering the low expectations I have for you. Perhaps when we get back to the Fire Nation, Ozai will have some type of treat​ or something prepared for you."

General Kynu held in his laughter, aware of the Princess' short temper, and turned his attention to the remaining katana that still lay on the floor. He observed the way it was covered almost entirely by dark, crimson blood. The combined blood of the Earth King and his guards. It almost shocked him to know that the very weapon he stood only a few feet away from had been used to eliminate the powerful ruler of the Earth Kingdom. How had the masked man defeated him? Did Tasuki even put up a fight? After the day's events, perhaps he lacked the pride to even want ​to fight back.

 

"BAIT?!" She was seething. They used her and found it funny. She rules over all of them and yet they were acting like it was no big deal. Like her death wouldn't even matter. "I am no one's bait!" The princess sent a blast of fire at all of them and ripped away the guy's mask. Adena was tired of looking at it and it only angered her further since he always insisted on being concealed. The way he spoke to her, condescending and like she were an animal, was enough to send her over the deep end. The entire day had been one huge disappointment after another. All she wanted was to get cleaned up and figure out what to say to her father. She could already picture his reaction in her head.

Then there was Roku. The right thing to do would be to inform her father on his whereabouts, but then he might assume that he was the reason she failed. She wasn't sure what to do with him yet or if she should even do anything at all. He seemed sincere earlier, but it could have just been a ruse. It was rather confusing and the amount of energy she had used throughout the day was now seriously wearing on her. Adena could feel her adrenaline slowly disappearing now that she was in the safety of the airship. Her body was settling down and revealing just how badly it hurt. The dress and cloak she had changed into at the camp were now just as dirty and destroyed as the uniform that she had on before.

 

Laughter could be heard, just before some kind of Ostrich Horse ran up the ramp into the ship after finding the others had already boarded. Seeing the others there, Aria grinned from on top of the creatures back. "Miss me? I hope I'm not too late but I did pick up a new friend on route." In one fluid motion she leapt acrobatically off its back and landed to pat its neck. "Found them alone at a small pool of water, and they're packed to the brim with supplies." She explained, rubbing the back of her neck. She didn't bother to mention that the ostrich was only half the reason for her delay and she'd had to take a slight detour to get over the wall. Although, finding the orstrich horse had certainly brightened her mood. She'd never ridden one so it had taken some getting used to but it was really good to feel the wind blow through her hair. She looked around at the the people already there, she recognised most of them as benders from before however several seemed to be missing from the party. She just wondered what laid in store for them now.

 

The man told Kai reasons for not joining them. These reasons didn't effect him in any way. Although he was young and naive, he new it would be difficult. He replied to the man "I may just have to live with the haunting if it ever does happen. I am here to stop a war, not going on a murdering rampage. At the time I was furious with the man who had just killed my parents. I did not know better. I am strong though. I could be a great asset to the team if you just give me a chance." He looked back and saw another young boy, an air nomad possibly, and a girl on an Ostrich Horse. "Welcome you two. I am Kai, the older brother of that younger waterbender you may have met. I am here to accompany you for training."

 

The man laughed at the Princess' anger with his head still down, endlessly taunting her. His mask lay at his feet, ripped from the straps but still intact overall. He picked it up and tied the ripped straps together so it would stay in place, disguising him once again with its comical expression.
"I wouldn't do that again if I were you." he remarked. "You of all people should know how important it is for my identity to remain anonymous among others."

The masked man gestured to General Kynu, Feng, and the other FNA soldiers who stood post by the windows in the room. Kynu glared at him with distaste when singled out. "I was curious when you first boarded the ship, but I think I've got you all figured about by now. You're just some kind of advanced soldier. No different from any of my men except you specialize in single assassinations. Ozai probably keeps you locked up in training most days and calls upon you when needed. Isn't that right?"

The man put both hands up mockingly as though he were surrendering. "What can I say, General? You caught me."
He faced Adena, staring into her eyes deeply and intently. She was one of the very few people that knew who he was.