Chapter 3

"Ouch!"

"You've gotta stop being such a baby." muttered the nurse.

"I mean how old are you?"

"Easy for you to say." retorted the young boy through gritted teeth.

"You don't have to wake up everyday to dodge rocks hurtling towards you at a hundred miles per second."

"YEOUCH!" he cried as the bandage on his arm was roughly tightened.

"Maybe if you took this more seriously you wouldn't end up getting hit all the time." she snorted as she walked towards the door.

He gave a sigh.

"I'm trying. I really am. It's a great honour and all but..." his voice fell away as he stared down at the sheets. "... I don't think I'm cut out for this."

Hand on the doorknob, she turned to him.

"Don't make excuses for the things you struggle to do. With a little care, even the smallest of seeds becomes the tallest of trees. Just work harder and soon it'll be your greatest asset." she said closing her eyes and smiling.

"Goodnight sir." she said closing the door.

"G'night Mary. " he said lying down.

Earth bending. A unique skill that allowed one to manipulate the very earth at will. As a descendant of the Pang family, he too needed to master this art so he could be considered a mature and recognised member of such a great family.

But that had changed in quite a frightening way.

Now instead of regular earthbending lessons, the level went from normal to insane with him being pummeled by rocks day in and out so he'd master it as soon as possible.

Even more annoying was the fact that over the past few weeks, prominent people from all over the world wanted to see him all of a sudden. From the vice-president of Republic city to the Lords of the earth kingdom, he had suddenly become the centre of attention.

He couldn't blame them too. If he'd heard such news, he'd also come running.

He rubbed his back tentatively, sending shadows of pain up his spine.

'Always stay alert, huh?' recalling the words master Fong had uttered before a rock slammed him from behind.

He still remembered the sensation of it hitting him square in the back, knocking the breath out of him and flinging him out of the ring. He tossed and turned on the bed with his eyes closed. Wishing for sleep that never arrived. His body and mind tense for tomorrow's training / beat down.

"Arggh! I won't be able to get any sleep like this."

Climbing out of bed, he went out the door and took a stroll on the courtyard.

The quiet of the night greeted him and the sound of the crickets welcomed him as he walked bare foot on the grass. The fresh air felt good on his face, the grass tickled his feet and the moon shined serenely upon him from above as he spread his arms and stared up at the starlit sky. He let his mind roam free. Free from responsibilities. Free from his family. Free from his fears.

"Fwoo... Hahh..." he exhaled after taking in a lungful of air.

"Alright. Time to head back. Tommorow is..." he grimaced "... another thrashing ." he laughed wickedly.

On his way, he spotted a fire burning on the ground in a patch where no grass grew. On either side of it with their bare backs facing each other, two figures crouched low, heads bent and eyes closed. Draped around each of their shoulders, a red cloth with a black design lay.

The boys rose at the same time and turned to face each other as the cloth fell off their shoulders in doing so.

"Sophia is my girl." the more bulky one said. "Let's call it quits before you get hurt."

"May the strongest win." said the other, grimly who was more on the skinny side. He raised his arms in front of him and took a stance.

"Very well." he answered as he also took a stance.

'Isn't that Timothy and Arid?' he thought as he observed his cousins preparing to face off.

An Agni Kai. A formal match amongst fire benders to settle disputes and arguments by a show of strength and skill. It was supposed to be done in attendance with at least 1 witness but it seemed that rule had gone out the window with these two.

The younger but more muscular one, Timothy, struck first. Crimson balls of flame shot from his fists towards Arid.

A wall of fire blocked the onslaught. Heating the air and pushing Arid back in the process. Almost immediately, a whip of heat sailed beneath the fire wall towards his feet.

Arid jumped off just in time to escape the attack but came face to face with Timothy in the air as he grinned from ear to ear.

"Gotcha!"

A ball of flame flew towards Arid at point blank range.

However, Arid wasn't done. Twisting in midair he narrowly dodged the attack which singed his clothes and summoned a fireball to blast at his foe.

"Watch out!"

Startled, Arid halted his attack as he looked to find the source of the interruption.

"Who was that?" he asked scanning the area.

But then, the fireball he'd been about to launch at Timothy suddenly shot out from his fist towards the sole onlooker below.

Eyes widening, he began to call out a warning. But the flame engulfed the young boy as he let out a yell and raised his outstretched hands to try and block it.

"Shit!" he ran towards the boy hoping to extinguish the fire before it caused any damage to the boy.

But the boy wasn't burning. In fact the flame hadn't even come in contact with him. In his hands, the ball of flame lay burning brightly as if it had just been plucked from a bonfire.

Arid looked at the boy, then the flame and the boy again stupefied as he recognised who the boy was.

"Will?!"

Timothy's jaw dropped as he beheld his little cousin holding a fireball in his hands despite being an earth bender.

"Umm..." Will began.

He was just as surprised as he stared, dumbfounded at the bundle of flame in his palm. It tickled his palms warmly. It didn't exactly hurt but felt like he'd been given some slightly hot water to hold in his palm.

'How could this little heat hurt a person? ' he wondered.

"Could this probably have been the reason why mum and dad wanted to come "reunite with the family"? " Arid said turning towards his brother whose jaw still hung open.

" Don't tell me... "

"Yeah." Will said sheepishly as he let the ball of flame fall.

"I'm the Avatar."

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The flames soared high into the night sky. Consuming the structure below as it gradually turned to ashes.

"Get out of here!" a man bellowed looking behind him.

The house creaked against the onslaught of the blaze. Turning the sky a vivid orange.

"Hand him over and I'll let you live." another said.

"Not happening!"

He stood blocking the exit as he faced the figure approaching through the fire, unfazed and unburnt.

"You? Standing in my way? Then you can die with him! "

The earth rose around the house and engulfed it. Crushing all that lay within.

Ronin woke with a start to the sound of an engine.

"Wakee, wakee..."

"Ben?" Ronin asked jerking his neck.

"Oww..."

He yelped as a sharp pain shot up his neck, almost making him pass out.

"No it's the firelord. Of course it's Ben!" he answered as Ronin gently massaged his neck.

"What happe..." then it all came back to him. The heist... The coin... The Terra... The battle...

"Well to answer your question..." Ben began. "we failed."

"Big time."

"Roth?" Ronin sputtered as he turned to face him. The sound of a metallic rattle accompanied his movement. He stared at his wrists and ankles which had been firmly attached to the floor of the vehicle through thick chains.

"Yeah, boy." Roth answered painfully. "Welcome back."

"Thank goodness you're okay." he sighed.

The vehicle bumped along the road. Rattling their chains and slamming them unto the walls of the vehicle. Sunlight filtered through the holes in the tarp. Making it, at least, possible to see.

"Wait..." he started. "Where's Sean? Where're they taking us? What's..."

"One at a time." Roth began.

"Sean was banged up real bad. He's over there." he said pointing to an unconscious figure on the floor.

"Looks like he cracked a rib or two but he'll be okay."

Ronin breathed a sigh of relief glad he was alright.

"How about me? I don't get any sympathy?" a familiar voice inquired.

Ronin's heart clenched in his chest. That voice was...

"Lucas?!!" He said spinning. "They got you too?!"

"Unfortunately, yeah." he answered. "I slipped up and was knocked outta the sky, like that." he demonstrated slapping his hands.

"But the others? They escaped?"

"Probably. Since they're not here with us, they might have got away."

The situation looked more dire to Ronin. Thinking that only their team was captured but it turns out even Lucas was captured.

"Damn it!" he cursed hitting the metal floor. His only answer, the continuing growl of the engine.

His gaze flitted to the other side of the truck. And then he saw...

"Is that... Trice!?"

"Finally noticed, huh?" Roth smirked.

She was bound to the walls of the truck by chains just as they were. The only difference was she was bound hand and foot to it. She lay spread eageld upon the wall with a thick collar around her neck

"You should've seen it!" Ben exclaimed. "She was taking them out like they were nothing! They all had to team up against her before they could handle her! She's amazing!"

"Yeah no kidding."

They'd all known that she was unrivaled when it came to combat with the elements. But for her to singlehandedly take on 6 of the Terra at once was simply astounding.

"Is she..."

"Dead? Nah." Roth said. "They were saying somethin' about "too good to kill" and "games" or something. So they just knocked her out."

"Whatever they were saying' it can't be good." Lucas tugged at the chains. "Knowing that those caught by the Terra don't come back, we'll be ..."

Ronin reached into his pocket and grasped one of its contents as some fear began to set in.

'No.'

He looked around at the dejected faces of his friends. They tried not to show it, but they were already resigned to their fate.

'Not again.'

"We're slowing down." Lucas said.

Sure enough, the truck was slowing down. Their surroundings suddenly turned dark as the sunlight was blocked out. It seemed they had entered a tunnel. They felt it it tilt downwards sharply as it circled about 3 or 4 times before it came to a stop.

Black clothed guards jumped aboard immediately and began to blindfold them with pieces of black cloth.

"Hey! Get your mitts off of me!" Roth struggled.

Ben tried to bite the hands of the guards and was rewarded by a blow to his head. Lucas didn't utter a word as the cloth was placed over his eyes.

Ronin's vision faded away with the descent of the black cloth. Even with his eyes open within the cloth, all he saw was darkness.

He felt his arms roughly tied behind him with chains. Stiff hands rose him quickly to his feet and pushed him forward. He felt himself step out of the truck unto solid ground. He was guided along a series of turns. Straight ahead, left, left again, they continued onwards like that for a while and then took a right.

With the last turn, the sounds of murmuring began to make its way towards his ears. As they walked, the sounds grew louder and louder till it became almost deafening. The sound of people shouting and screaming taunts and jeers. The sound of flesh on metal. Banging away like a monkey let loose on some metal pots.

"Lookee what we have here! Another play thing!"

"He's mine!"

"I bet he doesn't last 3 days."

The noise from the people was suddenly extinguished. They seemed to had entered a kind of room. His shirt was torn off him and then, he was forced into a chair. Immediately, a metal restraint went around his stomach and pinned him to it.

The guard picked up a long metal object which had been lying in a fire and brought it towards the blinded and restrained Ronin. Although he couldn't see it, he felt the heat emanating from it and shrunk back.

The guard pressed the object unto Ronin's right breast and forearm. He writhed and struggled against his restraints as the smell of sizzling flesh made its way up his nose.

The brand was pushed deeper. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, determined not to scream so the guard wouldn't enjoy any satisfaction from his pain.

At last, it was removed. He took rapid breaths as the mark burned fiercely on his flesh. He was roughly moved off the chair and out into the continuing noise of the people outside.

After several strides and turns, the blind fold was whipped off his head and he was kicked away.

"Assingment: Bird." the man turned away.

It didn't take long for his eyes to readjust since the place wasn't very bright. He stood in a square cage with 4 other people who gave him blank looks. They were a sight for sore eyes. Covered in fresh scars, dirt and dried blood. In a corner, a large piece of wood, which seemed to serve as a bed, lay. On it, a man sat staring keenly at Ronin.

On the right, left and behind of his cage, other prisoners stared at the newcomer through the bars.

"Um... Hello." Ronin fiddled with the end of his shirt.

His right cheek suddenly became hot in response to the bolt of fire that struck near his head.

"What's your element?" The attacker asked leaning on one of the bars of the wall whiles he sat on the makeshift bed. He seemed to be the leader.

"I... I'm not a bender."

"Figures."he closed his eyes and leaned back on the bed.

The others paid Ronin no heed. One absently shot small gusts of air unto himself to cool himself since the place was quite hot. Another crushed some stones beneath him, reformed them, broke them again... repeated the cycle. The others sat down in the dirt and stared into space.

Sinking down to the floor, he got the message.

'You're not welcome.'

He dug his hands into the dirt and clenched them into fists. He looked down unto his chest to find the engraving of what looked like lines of wind travelling up his forearm and surrounding a ball of fire. It throbbed painfully— the smell of burning flesh making its way up his nose.

"What the heck have I gotten myself into?"