12 Chapter 12 The Fire Nation Capital

Yet he flew upwards, just like Aang did. It was an amazing feeling flying in the air. A human dream. And so it was time to head east,

Towards the Fire nation...

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The ride there was not smooth, nor was it comfortable. At max, Kypher could fly with the help of the glider 6 hours every day. Luckily for him, there were many small islands spread across the sea. It took him nearly a week's travel to reach the fire nation. By then he was exhausted, hungry and pissed.

Although he had not met any monsters or pirates, he had to fly through a storm. Can you imagine flying through a storm. No wonder Aang and Appa almost died, whilst they were running away.

Despite that, he did find something interesting. At one of the islands, he had found a small podium with a charcoal-like stone, the size of first. Now, he did not know if the stone was valuable or not. But his gut told him that it was.

So he just grabbed it and stored it in his backpack, and had been carrying it since.

After reaching the nearest town, he decided to buy a map. Apparently the town he was in, was just a bit less than 60 miles east of the fire nation capital, and unlike the Gaang, he was not wanted for anything at the moment.

Finally, after a bit of thought, he decided to make a small detour from his destination , to visit the capital. He was already here so might as well.

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The fire nation capital, by itself was massive. There were many districts, but there were 5 main ones. The royal district, the military district, the market district, the noble district and the poor district.

Normally he would only be allowed to visit the poor and the market district's, however one perk of being a sound-bender in addition to air bending was the ability to silently climb walls and gates, which gained him access to the noble district.

He wasn't a complete moron to try to sneak into the military and royal district's although he could, he chose not to provoke anybody. The comparison to the noble district and poor district was massive, with space, luxury and hygiene being the largest differences.

The market district was filled with stores and booths that sold many random things, including masks, which was something Kypher chose to buy immediately with the money his father had given him.

After going around noble district, he had found an entertainment centre. A place where rich kids could go to for some amusement, there were many things there including puppet show which propagated the fire lord as some sort of hero. There were even some Pai Sho tables set up to allow for people to play.

Kypher was excited as ever to try out his skill in Pai Sho. And after searching for a bit he had found a table with a kid, waiting for an opponent. He walked over and introduced himself.

"Hi, I'm Kei. You mind if we play a game" He asked in confident but polite way, whilst raising his hand for a handshake, making it seem like he was a noble. This was a trick he had learnt from his mother. By acting like a noble, there would be less question.

"Sure, I've been waiting for an opponent to join anyways. I'm Retu" The kid responded with a slight sigh of relief while shaking his hand. It seemed like he had been waiting for some time now, " What's with the mask anyways? You hiding from someone?" He asked with genuine curiosity.

"my mother" Kypher replied with in a whisper, which was just loud enough for Retu to hear, which made his chuckle.

"Not allowed to be outside I suppose?" It was simple yet effective lie. One that any teenager would believe in. After all, this wouldn't be the first time somebody tried escape parental punishment.

"Nah, you wanna start?" Kypher asked with excitement. Finally an opponent he can beat...

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3 hours had passed and yet no winner had been decided, around them was a large crowd which seemed to have been ignored by the two teens, who were immersed by the game. It was only after Kypher had made a mistake on purpose and lost the game, did he address the elephant in the room. The Princess Azula., the crazy bit** as well as her 2 friends Mai and Ty Lee.

After seeing them, Retu immediately bowed low, and Kypher followed after, it wouldn't be smart to offend the crazy woman in her own city.

"Well, well, well. It seems the 2 old men here, had finally realised who was standing before them" The psychopath stated in a teasing way. "Why are you wearing a mask, I dare ask. Is it because you are hiding?" She noticed Kypher's mask and decided to make him take it off.

"Yes, princess Azula, I am not supposed to be out of my home, at this current hour."

"And why is that so? Why not take it off to prove it." She asked, making him sigh. He could just kill her now, but she won't feel the despair she feels later on in the cartoons, so it would be more entertaining to follow her orders for now. So Kypher after some intentional hesitation, took off his mask, revealing his face.

"My, why haven't I heard that we had such a handsome man in the noble district." She teased once again. It seemed to be her primary hobby to tease, then torment.

"Because I am just visiting the fire nation, princess Azula."

"I see, then how about a spar?" It seemed like she wanted to recreate Zuko's accident on Kypher's face, this made him smirk. This would be fun.

"Very well" The crowd around them started moving towards the sparing zone. It seemed like a beast den, where the kids craved the violence.

Reku, on the other hand seemed, to be worried. He had understood Azula's intentions and was worried his Pai Sho partner would be hurt. He was debating whether he should step in and try to do something, when he saw Kypher just shake his head and flash him a grin. It seemed he was confident about something

"Start" Mai started the spar. Immediately Azula shot a blue fire towards Kypher's face, which he deflected. This seemed to surprise her. It seemed she expected him to get hit. Well too bad for her, he was not going to be hit once. Kypher started advancing while blocking all of her bolts.

"Are just going to dodge like a dog, the entire time" She yelled out, thinking it would distract Kypher, Yet she was already mistaken about something. Kypher was closer to her than she expected. After dodging 2 more fire bolts he moved dashed towards Azula, and hit her chi-points in the arm, neutralizing it, before jumping back.

Azula frowned and looked towards Ty Lee who seemed surprised at the technique. She looked back towards Kypher, who looked like he was grinning. This angered her. She immediately reacted with a large fire slash, directed at Kypher. Who for some reason did not move. The arc flew at him and hit him in the elbows, which seemed to unexpectedly throw Kypher out of the ring, which signalled the end of the match.

Kypher got up, slightly bowed towards Azula before walking in the opposite direction, with Retu, his grin never leaving his face. The crowd cheered for her. But Azula was not happy...

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Azula was pissed. At first the stupid noble with the handsome face, was too immersed in his Pai Sho game to bow, so she decided to punish him by hurting him in a spar. But during the spar, she realised. He was holding back. And the chi-blocking technique was something only Ty Lee was supposed to know.

Yet, what made her mad the most was, the fact that the pretty face, was thrown out of the ring. There was no way enough power in the slash to do that. That man was not who he show himself to be.

"Ty Lee, did you see it?" She asked her, knowing that Ty Lee was experience in the art.

"I don't know. It seemed like it was the same technique, but it wasn't. His was more advanced than mine" She said with a sad smile. Chi-blcoking was something she thought to be unique only to her. But now it wasn't.

"Hmm... Did we find out where he is from?" She asked. It seemed to slip have slipped out of her mind.

"I think he said his name was Kei, but he didn't say his family name." Mai answered this time. She was the most perceptive out of the group.

"I think we should find out more about him. He more mysterious than what it seems." She said with a slight smirk. Once she found out who he is, she will find out every secret he has. Those azure blue eye's wont escape her.

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"Kai, how did you do it?" Retu asked after a while.

They had found a small pond and chose to sit on the bench near. Retu sat on the bench playing with a small wisp of fire, trying to illuminate the area around them, whilst Kypher was throwing pieces of bread into the pond, which the ducks inside gobbled down almost instantly.

"What do you mean"

"How did you make her arm go limp. I saw you hit her wrist and her elbow, and her hand just went...*ploop*"

"I hit her chi-points, which blocked her ability to move her arm." He answered and the pond fell back into silence.

After a while though, Kypher asked him "Retu, what do you think of the fire nation's mission?"

"That the fire nation would bring glory and peace to the 4 nations?" he asked to make sure. Kypher just nodded, "It's mostly a lie. Although, at first, the fire nation's goal would have been to bring peace, after avatar Roku's death, the Fire Lord's became self-centred " Kypher nodded

"They no longer look for peace, but for political and monetary power," Kypher paused before taking a leap of faith,

"What if i told you that in 3 years the fire lord would be gone, while the 4 nations returned to peace and prosperity..."

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Alright people. So, after some slight consideration, I decided to make Ty Lee a potential love interest, while Toph became something like a little sister figure to Kypher. I did this for 2 reasons:

1st- Toph is young, and I mean very young. She is 12 when the story starts. Too soon. And while Ty Lee is 14 she is portrayed as a more mature character in addition to being closer to Kypher's age group.

2nd- It is easier to portray Toph as a goofy and head strong character, instead of a loving and caring one. Although, there are novel's who were able to achieve this. If I had tried, it would sound less like Toph and more forced. Ty Lee is easier to build because in the cartoons she has been portrayed as a cheerful girl with her own insecurities, with her not appearing much allows for a person to have more room for development.

Finally, this is my fanfic, and I know some will be disappointed, however i would like to stress that this is not a romance novel. Although it may contain some romance, it is mostly battle and slice of life based. Thank you and,

Cya tomorrow...

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