Book Four: Air

IC: Azon

Azon's head turned to the side as Kara charged him from behind. When her knife was in distance, he turned on his foot in a movement of Airbending, reaching out to place a hand behind her head and use it as momentum to completely turn himself behind her. The hand was behind her head moved down to sieze hold of her wrist while his other pushed against her back and slammed her face first into the wall, pinning her down.

"Tell me Kara," he said to her, calmy pushing her head further into the wall, "do you want your Waterbending returned? Then ask me. Ask me sincerly, and tell me why."

"Yeah, sure," said Toph. "Too bad Suki isn't here for the women part of it, too, huh?"

She flushed. It might have been something she would have laughed at before, but ever since he had found out the truth about her feelings, she only felt embarrassed.

"We should probably get up there and help them."

***

IC: Maku and Chan

Chan back-pedaled to avoid the onslaught of icy daggers. Throwing himself to the deck, he rolled out of the way and behind a few barrels and crates the mercenaries used as cover for their real business. He stayed there for the moment, waiting for a moment to strike again.

He turned and saw Jerrel. He moved out of the way, yet again, and swung a punch at the boy.

Maku had, by now, recovered. He could not bend, either, because of the wooden ship, but like the others he knew how to fight. Drawing his sword, he came in close and swung the blade at Katara's back.

***

IC: Kara

"I've already asked you!" she cried. Kara's voice was muffled, both with pain and because of the wall. "You are the one taunting me!"

IC: Azon

"Does your Waterbending mean so little to you?" snapped Azon.

"Is there no sense of decency left inside you? Ask me, Kara, like you mean it."

He pulled the knife from her hand and released her from the wall.

"Ask me."

Sokka nodded, feeling uncomfortable when his friend mentioned Suki. He spoke, "We might as well make these guys pay for capturing us."
With that said, he walked out of the room, heading for the deck.

IC: Toph

She hung back for a moment or two. She sighed, heart aching and face burning.

This... This was why she had never said anything before! They couldn't even talk to each other anymore!

Well, maybe busting some heads would make her feel better. Toph doubted it, but it was worth a shot.

She chased after Sokka, and they made their way up onto the deck.

A battle was already playing out there.

***

IC: Kara

She scowled at him. "I will not beg!" she said. "You ask me if I have no decency, but you are no better! You taunt me, push me around. When I asked, you refused, and now you want me to do that again for your own amusement!?"

Jerrel lauched himself into the air and landed on top of the crates and looked down at Chan. "Why are you scared of a little girl?" Jerrel taunted as he moved from his perch just as Chan's eyes moved toward the top of the crates. "We Earth Benders aren't supposed to be afraid of anything." Jerrel's voice came from infront of Chan, this time he was perched on the rail of the deck, in his Ninja-esque Earth Bending style.

Sokka grimaced as he emerged from the deck. He really was confused about all this and hoped that a battle would calm him down. He grinned when he saw his sister. He spoke, "Starting without us?" He unsheathed his sword.

Katara

Katara heard Maku running behind her, and dodged forward, feeling the blade slice part of her back. She winced as she came back up, it felt shallow, she could treat it later then. She glared at Maku and made a water whip, waiting for him to strike so she could deflect them.

IC: Azon

A smile formed on The Sage's lips.

"The actions of humans are repeated."

He flipped the knife around in his hand.

"And her eyes opened...if only for a moment. But it's a start...I suppose."

He struck Kara across the head with the handle of the knife, watching her crumble to the floor. He tossed it aside and bent by her, his hands aglow in the green light. A moment later, he stood, brushing them off together.

"Now then, I suppose I should head to the deck."

((Thought it was Maku that attacked Katara from behind?))

IC: Toph/Maku/Chan

"You can't expect them to play fair, now can you?" said Toph. She clenched the fist that now had a Dai Li glove attached to it. "Let's get this over with, fast. I hate being on ships."

Which meant she was already beginning to feel sea-sick again.

~~~

Maku smirked as his sword caught Katara across the back. He was not trying to kill her, but he was definitely trying to hurt her enough so that she was disabled. He ducked another water-whip, and rammed his free elbow into her shoulder.

~~~

Chan frowned. "Admitting fear is the first step towards bravery. One who does admit fear is a fool." He shrugged, and added, "Besides... Would you face off against ice daggers?"

***

OOC: It was. It's fine, though.

Sokka grinned in agreement and charged at Chan from behind, his sword raised. No one hurt his sister.

((Wrong name on the brain.))

Katara

Katara cried out as the man rammed her, and in response sent the water into his face, keeping him from breathing while she recovered. This man was pushing her, he wasn't fighting like he wanted to win, it was like taunting, like he had already decided he'd beaten her.

Aang

"I guess the riots really have gotten out of hand around here...." Aang stated the obvious to Suki as the crew worked around them to get the boat tied up to the dock. It felt rather odd, to see this kind of destruction even though the war was technically finished. "Do you think anyone-Well do you think anyone may have...gotten hurt?" Aang asked Suki awkwardly as he looked up at the warrior.

Jerrel moved from the rail to the deck. "Yes I would." He replied to Chan. "If it meant protecting what I believe in." Jerrel smirked at Chan. "So from my perspective, it doesn't seem you believe in what you and your companions have planned to do."

IC: Suki

She glanced at Aang and sighed. "I'm afraid we might have to consider that possibility," she said. "It seems... very likely."

Suki hated telling Aang such. He could handle it, that was true, but it was still something no one wanted to hear.

She looked back towards the town. "But hopefully we can help stop things like this from happening elsewhere."

***

IC: Chan

The former soldier grunted. "It is a job. I work to live, boy, same as you."

He heard footsteps fast approaching from behind him. Chan tried to dodge, but Sokka's sword still swiped him across his upper arm. Grunting, he kicked out at Sokka in the hopes of a counterattack.

***

IC: Maku and Toph

The mercenary leader sputtered, unable to breathe, and left off attacking Katara. Once he had recovered, he tried to attack her again. A fisted rock glove smashed him in the face, and he stumbled away and almost fell completely.

"Need some help, sweetness?" said Toph.

Katara

Katara looked over at Toph and nodded. "Yeah, thanks," she said, and moved her arms, bringing water from the sea onto the boat, behind Maku so when it hit his legs he would move with it.

IC: Maku and Toph

As Katara guessed, Maku did step into the water. He was trying to regain his balance from the earlier attack Toph had gifted him with. The mercenary leader fell, accidently, into the trap. Crying out, he slipped, and was pulled under.

Katara

The mercenary fell into the water, and Katara took the opportunity of his vulnerability to freeze the water around him, effectively holding him in place. She didn't know how long it would hold, but took her attention off him and looked over to see where the other guy had gone, and saw Sokka fighting him.

IC: Azon

Azon appeared on deck and calmy took a step back as one of the mercenaries went flying by with a yell where he was just standing. He looked around slowly before shrugging his shoulders and taking a seat in the middle of the deck. He crossed his legs and placed his hands together, even as another yelling mercenary came flying just over his head and crashed into the water and the sounds of the fighting came from all around.

"Ahh...now...isn't this nice?"

Maku struggled against his bonds. He looked over at Katara and actually smiled. "Pretty smart. You just didn't think of one thing!" The ice began to melt as he, for once, could his bending. "I'm a firebender, sweetheart."

"Too bad you can't do that again," said Toph. "Not unless you want this whole ship to go up in smoke."

"True," said the merc. "But I don't have to worry about that." He flashed his hand, and a wave of knives were thrown at Katara.

Katara

Katara was drawn back to reality as the mercenary freed himself from the ice. She caught the knives just in time with a sheet of ice, and let it melt, dropping the knives around her and sending a water whip at his face. A firebender, she couldn't just freeze him then, she'd have to incapacitate him some other way. Throwing him off the deck could work, into the sea.

Maku dodged the water-whip attack and chuckled. "Close, dear, but no cigar. Are you sure that little wound isn't beginning to slow you down?"

He made a move to send more knives flying, but the rock glove returned. It knocked him in the gut. The man was badly winded.

Katara

"I've had worse," Katara said. Her back wound was hurting a little more, but she had to ignore it, there was no time to heal it now, with so many hostile mercenaries around. She took some of the water on the deck and shot it at Maku, hoping it'd be strong enough to send him overboard. She looked over at Azon sitting in the middle, and yelled, "How about a little help?"

Aang


The Airbender sighed before nodding in agreement with Suki's words. "You're right, the meetings start tomorrow, and then we can fix all of this." Aang stated as he began to feel a bit more motivated as he felt his previous nervousness leave him, even if it was just a temporary boost.

"So do you think Lords Wuong or Kai will be greeting us?" Aang asked as he looked away from Suki to see that the walkway off of the boat was now set up. Aang personally didn't like the idea of staying with Lord Wuong. But he especially hated the idea of having to stay with Lord Kai after what he had seen of the man at the previous meeting.