72 Providing Guidance
"Let's go get Bumi," said Aang as he stood up and looked over at Katara.
Katara nodded and they both turned to look at Genji who was still training with his metal staff.
"Will you join us, Master Genji?"
With hope, Aang hoped for Genji to go with them and help him in finding Bumi and freeing him.
Stopping, Genji turned to look at Aang and nodded, "Very well, I'll help you."
Aang smiled in joy and quickly jumped away with Katara following behind him with a smile.
Genji shook his head a little and followed behind Aang and Katara who was carrying Mai's baby brother.
…
Standing behind Aang and Katara, Genji had a look of boredom on his face as he looked at the seductive Azula, sweet and innocent Ty Lee, and the gloomy Mai who was surprisingly with Azula and Ty Lee.
"You brought my brother?"
Mai stepped forward and asked after Bumi descended from a chain and was placed behind Azula and the rest.
Raising the baby in her arms, Katara said, "Yes! He's here safe and sound, without a single scratch!"
Mai nodded and took a step forward, ready to receive her baby brother.
"We're ready to trade!"
Aang also took a step forward after saying that they were ready to make the trade. The trade for the baby of the new lord of Omashu for King Bumi, the king of Omashu and master earthbender.
"I'm sorry, but a thought just occurred to me," said Azula, stopping both Mai and Aang from moving.
Mai turned to look at Azula and saw her cunning eyes, instantly understanding that Azula was planning something. She took a step back and continued to listen to Azula.
"We're trading a baby for a king. Not just any king, but a powerful Earthbender," pointed out Azula as she looked at Mai for a second before shifting her gaze to Aang. "This just doesn't seem like a fair trade, right?"
Nodding, Mai shifted her gaze back to Aang, laying her trust in Azula, "The deal is off!"
Aang and Katara frowned and the imprisoned Bumi was being pulled back up into the air.
Without wasting a single second, Aang jumped into the air and Azula followed right after him.
"Katara, leave now, don't let the baby come in harm's way," said Genji, making Katara leave as he pointed his staff at the approaching Mai.
"Okay!"
Katara left and safely fled from the fight.
Narrowing his eyes, Genji let a smirk form on his lips.
"I wish to fight with you both, I need to see at what level I currently am on," said Genji, wishing to test the level of his strength.
C'mon you level threes!
Mai frowned but complied nonetheless as she wanted to hurt Genji. He frustrated her and she didn't like how close he was to Ty Lee at all.
With a light shake of her hand, a throwing knife fell from the inside of her sleeve and landed in her hand before instantly throwing to Genji.
Ping!
Genji hit the throwing knife, making it fly off to the side and stick to the some wood.
Bang!
Suddenly, Ty Lee's fist burst from the wood floor and hit Genji on the bottom of the foot, making him stumble back.
"Damn, so silent. Are you sure the both of you aren't assassins?" Genji joked as he steadied himself and faced both Mai and the emerging Ty Lee.
Lifting the foot that Ty Lee had hit, Genji stomped it into the floor and quickly regained control of it.
"Okay, let's go once more," said Genji as he held on tightly to the metal staff.
He had already ignored Azula and Aang since he had already told Azula what to do.
Focusing his attention on both Ty Lee and Mai, Genji smiled.
"You're fun!"
"…"
Ty Lee and Mai both moved forward, attacking Genji with all their might after seeing their previous attacks failing.
Mai threw many throwing knives at Genji, making him dodge and block some. Then, as if planned, Ty Lee rapidly made her way to Genji as he was distracted dealing with Mai.
"This is pretty fun," said Genji as he blocked and dodged the throwing knives and sensed Ty Lee approaching from behind.
Then, surprising both Mai and Ty Lee, Genji twisted his body and stabbed Ty Lee with the staff, accurately hitting a spot on her shoulder.
[Ding! Skill level up!]
[<Acupuncture> (Lvl. 36)]
"Pa! That's one arm," said Genji as he mimicked the sound of his staff striking Ty Lee.
Genji didn't plan on hurting Mai or Ty Lee, so he did his best to hold his strength back, instead, he used his acupuncture skill with his spearman skill.
Because of this combination, just like Genji said, Ty Lee suddenly lost all control of her right arm as it dropped to her side.
!!
She jumped back and looked at Genji in alarm and amazement, not expecting Genji to have so much skill with the staff.
"Haha…" laughed Ty Lee nervously as she looked at Genji.
Ping! Ping!
Sh!
Genji blocked Mai's attacks once more but finally failed to block one as he nodded at Mai.
"Hiding a throwing knife behind another knife… that takes a lot of skill," praised Genji as he dashed to Mai who pulled out two small knives and ran to Genji as well.
Ping!
Ping!
The metal weapons struck against each other and Genji's heavy hits caused Mai to be pushed back.
"You don't need to try to stop my attack, you can dodge it. Even without a flexibility like Ty Lee, you can do much more, Mai," advised Genji as he began attacking Mai with one hand on his staff as he split his attention over to Ty Lee who began to attack him with her fast attacks.
She took a while, but Ty Lee managed to regain control of her right arm before returning to the fight and attacking Genji.
Ty Lee saw that Genji was preoccupied with Mai's attacks and knew that she had a chance to attack Genji. However, she was quickly proven wrong when Genji suddenly blocked her attacks.
She looked over Genji's shoulder and say that he was managing to block Mai's attacks with a single hand in his staff. Despite it being metal and heavy, Genji was using a lot of strength in that hand to hold up the staff and even more so by trying to control his strength to not hurt Mai.
With his now free hand, Genji blocked Ty Lee's attacks by slapping her hands away.
"You're doing good, Ty Lee, but your attacks follow a pattern. Try to switch it up some more and add some feints in your attacks…"
[Ding! Skill level up!]
[<Adept Instructor> (Lvl. 39)]
With his attention split between these two girls, Genji began to start making mistakes slowly. His right arm was growing tired and full of cuts and his left arm was beginning to feel numb.
Both Mai and Ty Lee were making some progress during the fight under Genji's pointers.
Suddenly, Genji jumped back and made some distance between himself and the two girls.
A smile hung on his face as he nodded at their progress.
"Okay, no more games," said Genji as he looked to the side and looked at the level of his Polearm skill.
[<Adept Polearm> (Lvl. 39 (1,953 / 2,000))]
'Just a bit more…' thought Genji as he narrowed his eyes and dashed forward.
Thrusting his staff as fast as he could, Genji's staff instantly appeared before Ty Lee.
Ty Lee quickly dodged and the staff gazed her left shoulder, yet that was enough for her to lose control of her left hand.
With a wry smile, Ty Lee was about to put some distance between herself and Genji when she suddenly felt something press against her thighs and hip.
As she fell on her back, Ty Lee caught a glimpse of a shiny metal staff.
'Ah… he was so fast,' thought Ty Lee as she looked at Genji focus his attacks on the dodging Mai.
Although Mai wasn't as agile or swift as Ty Lee, she was able to react to Genji's thrusts.
Seeing how his attacks weren't landing on Mai, Genji smirked a little and then…
"Pa! Left arm down…"
[Ding! Skill level up!]
[<Adept Physician> (Lvl. 39)]
"Hmph!"
Mai humphed in annoyance as she threw a couple of more throwing knives at Genji before running right at him. Her knife is ready to hit Genji wherever.
"Woah! Calm down!"
With a quick movement of his staff, Genji swooped his staff down and hit Mai's wrist, making her drop the knife in her hand.
"That was too close, don't you think?"
With a smile, Genji pulled back the staff and looked at Mai for a second before turning his head to Ty Lee who was looking at him and Mai with a look of admiration.
Shaking his head lightly with a smile, Genji turned around and left.
"I'll see you both in the Earth Kingdom," said Genji as he waved his hands and left.
Turning her head in irritation, Mai was about to leave as well when she noticed that Ty Lee was watching Genji leave.
"What are you looking at?"
"At Genji."
"Why?"
"Because I like him."
"He's Azula's, isn't he?"
"That's fine."
"It's fine?"
"Azula said that she's going to share with me."
"…"
"Hehe…"
***
As he walked down the city and over to the exit, Genji began to think about his peaceful future. The future where he can relax and do whatever he wished to do.
Things like spending the entire day in the bed with Azula and Ty Lee in his arms.
One narcissistic and confident girl and a naive innocent girl in his arms.
"… that'd be nice…" muttered Genji as he looked into the distance.
It was a shame that he'd have to wait at least 2-4 more months to properly enjoy something like this.
The ripe time for Zuko's spiritual growth, Aang training in the four elements, the 'Day of the Black Sun', and gathering allies.
Genji was beginning to feel impatient, however this is one of the best outcomes so that the nations could come together and form a unified place, Republic City.
Sighing, Genji shook his head and left Omashu with his staff resting on his shoulder as he looked at his Polearm skill level.
[<Adept Polearm> (Lvl. 39 (1,993 / 2,000))]
***
Azula walked back to Mai and Ty Lee, a smile on her face as she remembered Aang's fleeing figure. Especially after Bumi had refused to leave with him.
"What's got you happy, Azula?" Ty Lee asked in curiosity as she looked at Azula's smile.
"I'll tell you later," said Azula.
Ty Lee nodded and looked over at Mai who turned to leave before turning back to Azula who frowned a little.
"Mai is shy, Azula. She's like you, terrible at expressing her emotions," said Ty Lee as she looked at Mai's departing figure, hoping to keep Azula from getting mad at Mai. "She's already forgiven you. Mai just doesn't know what to say."
"I see… Emotions really are annoying," commented Azula before turning around and looking out over to where the sun was currently positioned.
Ty Lee kept quiet and just stood there next to Azula.
***
TWO DAYS LATER
Flying high in the sky, Genji had his eyes closed as he continued to secretly use his firebending to have his skill level up.
Suddenly, he felt himself going down and suddenly opened his eyes.
"Aang!"
Snapping awake, Aang looked at Genji with an apologetic look on his face.
"It felt like the swamp was calling out to me," said Aang as he turned to look at the swamp and feel out of it once more.
Katara looked at Aang worryingly and on the other hand, Genji instead looked down as well as he thought to himself.
'So it begins.'
