Avatar: A Legend Reborn

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Upon Uquo's departure the room had turned tense, and as a heated conversation between Krane and Zarina's began, it quickly became hard to tell if things would boil over. They both spoke passionately about their opinions, but Tao found herself siding with Krane in this matter. Her hatred may have been directed at the Phoenix King, and the Fire Nation, but unlike the rest of the group she knew little about the Fire Nations culture, or the Avatars activity within her community and 'nation'. The Avatar was a woman she, and her family had feared and resented for years. The greatest threat, and weapon the Fire Nation had harnessed. She may have not known the woman's circumstances or lifestyle, but that still didn't excuse the atrocities she had brought upon her people. It was a hard subject, and one Tao knew better then to interject on.

Not wanting a fight to break out, Tao stood at a close distance watching Zarina and Krane carefully, but before anything could escalate Krane was quick to calm down things down. Once Zarina apologized both parties soon dismissed the conversation and the subject was thankfully changed. Crossing her arms and letting out a relieved sigh now that the subject had been changed, she turned her attention up to their leader as he talked of bending classes within the city, and a change of clothes. Smiling at the idea of meeting other EarthBenders, Tao spoke up, "I'd love to check those classes out! But.. clothes?" Throwing a casual look down at her own attire her lips suddenly pulling into a grimace.

Weeks of travels had brought quite a bit of wear and tear on her clothes. The bright colors and textures of her villages traditional clothing were covered in dirt and held a distasteful brown tint. Poorly sewn patches covered holes along her pants and collared tunic, while the sleeves on her shirt had been ripped off long ago. Her shoes however, were another story. They could have been compared to potato sacs with the way they looked now. Dirty, crinkled, and hardly staying along her feet, two pieces of cloth she had ripped off from her sleeves were tied around her feet to hold her shoes down. She looked homeless--but then again, she had been homeless. Frowning, she tugged at her clothes in disgust as she realized just how dingy she looked, "Yeah, some new clothes would be nice.."

Following behind everyone with haste once they made their way back out into the City, Tao couldn't help but get sidetracked along the way. Struggling to contain her curiosity, she made a number of stops to get a good look at everything they passed, and in return she had to run to catch up to the group at least three times during their trip. By the time they made it to the Market and everyone went their separate ways to look for clothes, Tao struggled to focus her interest in shopping. She had never cared about the way she looked, so she had never grown any sort of appeal to fashion.

Glancing at the others nervously, she began to walk around in a stiff manner. Unsure of what to look at first her eyes eventually fell on a dark green fabric sitting on the shelf before her. Biting her bottom lip nervously she raised a hesitant hand to took the shirt, "Ma'am?" Startled by the sudden voice, Tao jumped back in fright, arms raised in defense, "Ah! Y-yes!" Face red in embarrassment she lowered her hands and was quick compose herself as the older woman smiled at her, "Do you need help with anything?"

Clearing her throat, Tao nodded, "Actually.. yeah." Looking at the shirt in her hand, Tao placed it back on the shelf before rubbing her arm uncomfortably, "I'm not really sure," Pausing to find the right words, her nose scrunched her eyes narrowed as she spoke in a slow and uncertain tone, "What I should be.. looking for." She must of looked like an idiot right now. Clothes shopping was something she had never really done, and as childish as it sounded, her mother had always bought her clothes for her. If Tao had any choice she would have just worn her training clothes around, but that had always been met with a scolding from her mother.

With a kind nod and motion with her hand, the woman lead her over to another shelf of clothes, "Why don't you have a look at these over here?"

Standing behind her, Tao stared at the clothes curiously. "O-okay, Tha--" Turning to thank the woman Tao found her already assisting another person, "Thank.. you." Turning back to the clothes before her, an even larger frown slipped across her face. Looking over the shelf again, she sighed quietly, 'I guess I'll just get these, then.' She thought to herself, picking up a folded shirt and the pants that went matched them. Despite the woman's assistance, Tao still couldn't help but feel lost.
 
[spacer]The Underground City was impressively large for being built in less than a decade and existing in complete secret beneath an actual, bustling city. In the time it took the group to travel to the tailor, Krane had already explained what they would be needing. Their colors and styles could of course match whatever they wanted; the Rising had no dress code nor formal color, although more often than not a dark blue was chosen by its members. Even so, each member of the three new members would need a new set of clothes while Tanvi and he would need theirs repaired as well as newer garments. Krane suggested a thick type of overcoat for everyone. Summer was slowly drawing to an end and they would need the layer. Besides, a thicker, more rigid layer would keep their clothes longer. Krane suggest thick linens stitched tightly together, but stressed the importance of leather and tanned hides. The materials would be water tight and more durable than anything aside from densely woven cotton. Darker colors, neutral colors, leather patches joints and legs and then thinner materials for their middle layer. Krane had been at this a while. While their clothes needed to be durable, if they needed to fight, they either needed to able to fight in their clothes or remove them quickly. Soldiers had armor. The police wore armor. Even officers donned armor. Without being inconspicuous, the group couldn't easy wear more armor than plates under their clothes - and that was if they could afford to be weighed down, and normally they couldn't. Mobility had to be on their side, and that's what Krane stressed.

Still, Krane had seen Tanvi have her clothing repaired plenty a times. While Tanvi assisted the group with their new clothes, Krane vanished after having their clothes to be repaired and new garments for them. Krane decided to go off and get a few things they might not have been able to as well as get their travel packs. He assumed it would take three people three times as long. Each new recruit was allotted a pack with a few knives, eating utensils, lockpicks, flint, a sharpening stone, a simple comb, thick bundles of string, a simple floating compass, a small bit of ink and a pen, a little parchment - just general, useful items. Items that could actually make or break a situation; save or cost a life. In his years with the Rising, these simple items that were cheap to produce for new recruits saved more than Krane could ever. Krane had one in his bag, Tanvi had one in hers, and soon so would Suzzio, Tao and Zarina. Krane would also be getting them a set of bags to travel with, since what little they had wouldn't at all suffice. Anything else he might pick up would be a surprise, and left that way intentionally.

Meanwhile, the tailor had plenty of different materials for the group. If Tao wanted to at least replicate the colors of her people, dark green linens with bright leather stitching closely resembled the gold embroidery of their robes. It wasn't at all the same, but those robes were a far stretch from functional. Thick boots of both leather and linen were available, although it made little sense for anyone to choose the linen while traveling. They were much more warm, but broke down far more quickly. If Suzzio or Zarina were looking for colors in red, they were there and numerous. Red colors blended in far better in this world dictated by the Fire Nation, and the Rising wasn't above abusing that. The tailor had jackets, robes, shirts, pants, capes, cowls, gloves, vests, belts, buckles, and everything you could consider in between in varying sizes. She was employed to do this and there were others that made these clothing in bulk for her to custom fit to new recruits. There first set was always free; that was the common rule. Krane had to pay to repair what he needed, but it was well worth the price. The Underground City had plenty of jobs to earn some coin for this type of deal, and Uquo had the prices frozen so that there would always be a decent balance between supply and demand. It helped that the former royals and marketeers funded them, but the system was in fact designed with this goal in mind. Everyone could get what they needed.[/spacer]
 
Makki moved ahead of the group, spotting water not that far from the rest of the group. Her brisk walk took her away from the group and cleared her head somewhat. She just had a little longer to go before she'd be out of their hair and maybe figuring out how to strike back at the Phoenix officers that ruined her life, then it would be on to the man in charge of the whole operation. One step at a time, Makki reminded herself, stopping at the water's edge. Revenge then fixing this messed up world. One step at a time.

Makki uncorked her bending water flask, it wasn't empty but it was always good practice to replace it so that the water didn't get too dirty or filthy, allowing earth benders to be able to break the flask or interrupt her bending. Not to mention if she needed to drink from it in an emergency the last thing she wanted to taste was bender sweat mixed with dirt. That was just nasty. Makki quickly coaxed all the water out of the flask, putting it all on the bank near the river. She'd started to lift a small amount out of the river when she felt something sharp press against the back of her neck.

"Care to give us some of that water, miss waterbender?" a male voice asked.

There was a thump and an irritated voice chimed in, "we want gold not water, stupid! There's a whole river right there!"

"Ohh... I like gold!" the dumber one said excited, "give your gold instead miss waterbender!"

Fantastic, bandits. Makki thought as she rolled her eyes at their conversation. "I'll have you know that I'm not alone! And I'm not defenseless." Makki smiled and ducked below the spear while moving completely around and moving her arm out with her body. The water sprayed out in front of her, creating a small wall of icy spikes that the bandits had to move carefully around to get to her. Unfortunately, she didn't really have a way to get around it right now either, without leaping into a straight up fight without trying to understand her enemies first.
 
Zarina hummed quietly as the group made their way towards the markets. She was thankful for the cloak the family had supported her with, for it had kept up quite nicely while the rest of her clothes could barely pass for cloth. Her pants had rips and tears and loose threads in many places, her shoes had holes and provided little in the way of protection from the ground itself. Her shirt...well, barely hung onto her shoulders. Even the wrappings for the sarashi that covered her wrists and chest frayed and worn.

She couldn't help but watch when the group's resident earthbender kept getting distracted by the city around them. While it was just another grand city to Zarina, she understood that the sights and smells and sounds could be exciting and overwhelming. For her part, Zarina enjoyed the quiet life of the tiny little village she worked in as a healer. But such places would be beyond her reach...

The firebender shook her head as her thoughts took a dark turn. She wouldn't become desolate, not yet. She had a name now. And a purpose to fight form Her inner fire had been reignited and burn fiercely in her chest, she couldn't allow such thoughts to endanger that fire. Not now and not ever.

She drew out of herself with another shake of her head and focused back on the group. When they'd arrived, Zarina practically dove into the clothes in relief. With a giddy smile, she plucked a red shirt from one of the neat piles and held it up to her chest. "Might run a little big..." She hummed then picked up a white vest. Then she reversed the order with a small frown before she put the clothing back neatly. She opted for a red, short sleeves half-shirt then picked a black, sleeveless vest to go over it. On her way to the bottoms she spotted Tao getting dragged by a saleswoman and chuckled at the look on her face. With a smile, she walked over to the taller woman, "Need any help?" she asked.
 
Tenten used a pace that kept her between Makki and the two Earthbenders, that way they didn't get totally out of her sights. She was paying most attention to the youngest, of course. Using nature as her camouflage, the tribal woman blended in while she stalked closely behind the fellow waterbender. She was half proceeding with caution, half preparing to jump out and scare Makki with a playful roar and a pounce. The young one would hate her for it, but the fun would be worthwhile.

The woman stopped suddenly when the alarmed croaking of Lee reached her ears. Only seconds later did her eyes lay on the water, where Makki was dealing with unpleasant looking company. Meanwhile, the startled frog squirrel was hopping around everyone's feet until she could cling to a tree and scurry on up. This was not a safe zone for her.

Water started to collect up Tenten's right arm, from what she had left in a bottle worn at her hip. She got into a crouching position, planning a surprise attack from her hiding spot. Just when she was about to assist Makki, she was interrupted by a sudden yank at her skull. Someone had sneaked up on her and grabbed her by the hair! How did she not hear him coming!? "Not quite as stealthy as you thought you were, huh?" The man had himself a good laugh, clearly amused.

Tenten was rudely dragged from the bushes and dropped to the ground, where she got a glimpse of a foot coming down on her. She managed to roll out of the way and rise to her knees, her nostrils flaring as she glared at the bandit responsible for her failed ambush. Water shaped like a tentacle went stretching from her left arm towards the bandit, binding him so she could reel him in at a terrifyingly high speed. He stopped only when his gut met with her large foot, then his limp form was dropped to the ground. The man wasn't dead, but the air was knocked out of him pretty damn good.

Immediately after, Tenten had her sights locked on the fools who wanted to triumph over spikes of ice in order to get to Makki. She was watchful like a protective lioness, looking like she could leap on her prey at any moment. From what she'd learn though, just impulsively jumping on people and biting their throats wasn't always going to work. One of them had a damn spear. "Do we really look like we have any gold?" she then questioned, making a gesture to her overall appearance. Tenten could pass off as a homeless person in any public environment, so robbing them of money seemed like a ridiculous idea.
 
At first Yoshino was glad to hear Karan's response, it made her a bit more calm. As they kept going, she saw Makki vanish from their sight and then Tenten want to try and scare Makki. She could'nt help but let out a sigh when suddenly someone got to Tenten first, someone they didn't know. Immediatly she placed her hand on Karan's mouth, fearing he may try and shout something at the unidentified person who begun dragging Tenten away without seeing them. They had managed to remain undetected due to the silence they managed to keep.

After Tenten and the man vanished from their sight, Yoshino removed her hand from Karan's mouth and signaled to him to remain quiet and follow her. She then approached some bushes and hid behind them, peeking between the bushes to get a glimpse of what was going on. She managed to see Tenten take out the man who was previously holding her, and then looked towards Makki. At a first sight she seemed fine, but then She noticed the approaching bandits. They started to go around the wall of Ice Spikes.

Then she smiled. Because of how cautiosly the bandits were going around the Ice Spike wall, it would be a good chance to try and trap the bandits so Makki and Tenten could take them out with a water attack. All they need was to ensure the bandits couldn't just walk away.

Yoshino turned to look at Karan "Alright, I want to trap the bandits before they can get around the Ice Spike wall. You raise the earth on their left and I'll raise the earth on their right. That should at least buy us some time." She whispered, gave Karan a pat on the shoulder and turned to look in the direction of the Ice spike wall "Go." She then said and jumped out of the bush to Tenten's right side. She moved her right leg to in front of her, then raised her hands in a sudden move, which would make an earth wall now block the bandits from the right side. "You two alright, Makki, Tenten?" She asked.
 
The search for water was going swimmingly, as they had finally reached a river. At least, that is what he thought was in the clearing. He watched be up to no good. Such a prankster. When some grabbed her hair, it sent Karan into a adrenaline rush. He was about to stomp a hole in someone's ass and walk it dry. But a hand kept him from doing anything rash such as shouting a threat or committing murder in cold blood. It was Yoshino's hand. She gestured for silence and he nodded. Stealth? Not really something I am known for but ok. Let's go save our friends. Quietly, they went into the brush.

A pat of his shoulder and a plan later, they came out of the brushes. This was easy, he moved things like this everyday. Crouching, he smiled and yanked up the rock while looking like he was doing the wave at the Rock Pull event at his old village fair. They were taken care of, for now. He slapped his hands and rubbed the palms. "Ha! Just wait there a minute. Papa will be back." Turning, a look of pride switched to concern but Yoshino already asked the question. "Should we just tie em up a leave? Though, we could always see if they have anything useful for us? Information, perhaps?"
 
Makki watched as Yoshino and Karan trapped the bandits with earthen walls. She smiled for a moment, glad to briefly have the upper hand. However, her smirk was squashed when she saw the unarmed bandit change his stance. Earthbender. Damn. Makki, without missing a beat, turned to Tenten and said, "Ra-" she caught herself quickly, almost not missing a beat, "Tenten! Follow the leader!"

Makki ran straight towards the ice spike wall, pulling her hands down in a line to the ground and out to the sides. The water mimicked the movement, splitting down the middle and moving to the sides of the earthen walls the two Earthbenders had built for the waterbenders. The water froze to the walls when Makki clenched her hands. Makki didn't stop running while she did this and the dumber one, sensing the danger that was oncoming attempted a jab straight at Makki. Hope I remember this... Makki shifted her weight onto her left heel and twisted out of the way from the spear, but not before she felt it tear her shirt at the stomach. Unphased by the near miss, Makki grabbed where the metal met the wooden shaft of the spear with her left hand and chopped the shaft of the spear with her right.

The spear snapped where she wanted to, and after it did she continued to spin on her heel, using her momentum to stab the dumber bandit in the neck. Just like how the monks at the air monastery taught me... except I was supposed to stop at the neck and not follow through... whoops. She then used her right hand to bring down the closest ice wall to the unarmed bandit, using the water to rise it up to the bandit's knees and freezing them which would allow Tenten to do whatever she wanted with the bandit. "Tenten he's a bender be careful." Makki stopped and stood there for a moment to catch her breath.

"Well. We found the water and directions all at once. Let's consider that a win, yeah?" Makki said after a moment to try and get away from the dead man that had collapsed behind her while she moved to the ice wall that wasn't being used and bended some water into her canteen and flask for bending. After she'd done so, she checked her stomach to see if the spear had broken skin. A small red line where the spear had nicked her on the side was there, but it had already stopped bleeding. If I'd been any slower I would be dead. I need to practice more to get faster. Ugh, practice... "I take it everyone else is okay? No one else got stabbed. Not that I got stabbed, I got nicked. And the blade's not poisoned. It's expensive and they're hardly assassins. Hardly even bandits."
 


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Midway upon the journey towards a lowly Earth Kingdom village, a young man, clad in black and the pigment of desert sand, found himself in the company of other misfits. There was naught in the air but the sounds of nature – the chirping of the crickets as they gazed upon the four, the flapping of the wings as they flew forth from the scene, and the dry crunching of the grass that was treaded on. On and on, they trudged, exposing themselves to the calming greenery that enveloped the young man, Suna's group. The sun was not blotted by the clouds and thus did not hesitate to shine upon those unhidden by shade. In spite of the sun's position high above the heavens, the atmosphere was rather cold for the Sandbender – after all, there was no place on Earth hotter than the Si Wong Desert. Suna knew not of how his companion's felt in this so-called "heat," but then again, he didn't care.

As Suna trekked on, he pulled the rope tied around the Dragon Moose's neck, leading the beast forward as it crunched more grassy blades underneath its large hooves. The caravan that the animal hauled contained various goods, such as clay pots filled with sand from the young man's native desert, rolls of different fabrics that he himself sewed, and different pieces of Earth Kingdom apparel. To the inspectors they'll soon encounter, it'll be that, and nothing more… that is, if they fail to find the secret compartment in the caravan that held weapons and armor. The Sandbender removed his left hand from the pocket of his trousers, stopping abruptly in the middle of long, winding path. "We've got a problem…" He muttered, nervously scratching his raven black locks and raising his brow in disbelief. Suna unfolded the map that was creased within his pocket, attempting to read it as best as he could. With one final sigh, the Sandbender concluded that they were, in fact, lost. He wasn't a good navigator. "… We're lost. At least I think we are."

It was only earlier that day that Smellerbee, their handler, gave them the mission to go the old ruined Taku north of Gaipan in order to facilitate an information brokering with one of the Rising's few informants hiding within the ranks of the Phoenix King's forces. As a sleeper agent, the man, or woman, they were supposed to meet defied death almost every day. It was quite unfortunate then that Suna's failure to follow directions and rightly lead this team implied the delay to meet the nark. It was a manifestation of unprofessionalism on the Sandbender's side. This was, after all, their third mission together, and the first one to hold great importance to Jet's cause.

"Jet's gonna have my head…" Suna thought to himself, gulping whilst looking back and forth to his allies and the map. He and his comrades had just gotten out of the Great Divide and were near the town of Gaipan. It was, however, teeming with Fire Nation soldiers and Phoenix Police, and thus was impassable. Still, in his confidence, the Sandbender pulled the rope once more to the path. "Let's just go straight, we're bound to reach a town anyway." He uttered, smugly walking forth, secure in the loyalty of his team. When it came to handling and organizing his team, Suna had a lot to learn. More and more they paced the road untraveled, until a band of Komodo Rhino-riding Fire Nationalists stopped them in their tracks. With a smirk, Suna looked back towards Dhune, Rae, and Naomi.
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"Whatcha got in there, boy?" One of the grizzled soldiers said, his bearded chin smugly facing the skies above them. Licking his crusty lips, the man fell from his mount, stepping forth as threateningly as the one-eyed brigand could. His band of middle-aged compatriots stepped to the fore in response to their leader's and, almost immediately, blocked the path that led them straight to the humble town of Gaipan. It was then that Suna's misdirection led them to the commonly used path, and not the secret one that the members of the Rising used since time immemorial. It was both fortunate and unfortunate for Suna and his gang, seeing as the Sandbender was itching for some action.

The Firebenders pushed the young Sandbender to the side, opening the wooden door to his team's caravan. The man's sights were at once filled with wonder at the admixture of colors and beauty that his fabrics beheld. In the corner, the captain grabbed the bag of gold that Suna and his team kept for themselves and waved it in front of their faces, filling the open air with the sound of the tintinnabulation of clinging coins. "My, my! Just my luck; I was about to ask you four for a fee to pay in order to use this path. Looks like this is it, eh boys? Drinks on me tonight! Wait… what's this?" It was then that the captain saw a moveable plank of wood. It was strange indeed, and so he opened it – seeing a cache of weapons and armor. "We've got ourselves an arms dealer!" They recoiled, igniting their arms and brandishing their weapons before the four. "By the order of the Phoenix King, you're all under arrest."

Suna slapped his forehead – how could he have failed so miserably to lead and hide? It mattered not, for the danger they faced was real. The soldiers encircled them, like a pack of wolves against four does. There were perhaps six among the ten that could bend flames and fire, but this mattered not. The true wolves were Suna and his friends. "Tsk, I'm screwing up this leadership thing right away aren't I? I'm sorry everyone, but now's the time to show these losers who we are." With a swift, serpentine motion of arms, the sand in the clay pots inside the caravan came flowing out like water, encircling Suna and compacting before him. Imitating a Waterbender's octopus form, Suna lashed out at the captain with a tentacle of sand.​
 
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This is the third time. The third time. The caravan consisted of three wagons pulled by Dragon Moose and guided by one of the group. Suna in the front, Naomi in the middle beside Duhne and Rae-Lee covering the rear. Suna was supposed to know the directions, Naomi needed the most practice and Rae-Lee was trusted to keep their backside clear of hazards, or so was the idea. The origins of these wagons were an enigma and Suna swore by them, saying they had gotten through the gates of Omashu and Gaoling alike, but recently their rouse had been seen through far more frequently than Duhne took comfort with, and for reason. Not only were there certain risks in getting caught, most notably losing their cover, but ff they were caught, they had no option but to kill those that caught them. There is no taste more bitter to Duhne than that of blood spilled into the ground, regardless of reason. It was only made even more distasteful in that these men didn't have to die if their wagons were more secure. Regardless, it didn't matter now... but, it definitely would later.

Duhne was quick to reprimand Suna for his eagerness to 'show' these firebenders who he was. Nationality did not degrade the value of life nor did the fact these firebenders would have slit their throats for a bag of coin. There wasn't much Duhne would actually do to Suna, but a cold tone in his voice and his stern words would make it clear. Duhne replied, "Suna, you were doing just fine until you slipped up. Now we have to kill them." Of course, Duhne wasn't without action, either. Leaning into a stance just as stern as his words, Duhne stomped down one of his feet and broadened his legs. The result was solid stone shooting up and around the feet of the Komodo Rhinos, immediately removing them as a threat. As the earth bound them in place, Duhne then smirked. He couldn't avoid killing these police - not now - but he could still sport his technique. And, follow up with Suna. "No need to slaughter these beasts like we will them," he added, "they can't talk." The conviction in his words were likely the most daunting. It was as if these men were already dead.
 
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"Hey!" Bellowed the Sandbender, the gallous captain of the guard still ensnared by his serpentine appendage of compacted sandstone. Its grip tightened like an anaconda constricting its helpless quarry. The Firebender could do naught but squiggle and squirm, powerless within the hold of the sandy prison that bound him. "If I actually got the chance to talk, these bozos wouldn't be in this mess!" Suna exclaimed with a grin on his face, eager, perhaps, to finally engage in a hands-on battle after stealthily creeping about. Dhune was, in all ways, correct – the ill-fated soldiers of the Fire Nation were dead men that still held the breath of life within them… that is, until the four take it from the soldiers like the trained thieves they were. It was this tone of certainty that the young Sandbender rode along with. "What an Airbender." The young Sandbender thought, referencing his peaceful self and unwillingness to kill in spite of his lack of choice.

Two of the soldiers unhinged their belts from their saddles and rushed towards the one whose sandstone tendril slowly crushed their leader. With a spear and sword in hand, they pierced and swung at the young man respectively. Instead of a bloodied Sandbender standing before them, what was between them was simply the open air. Suna had disappeared before their very eyes, releasing the captain from his sandy grip. With befuddled minds they looked to and fro, attempting to find the conceited Sandbender to no avail.

While the Firebending head and his two non-bending soldiers scratched their heads in Suna's unforeseen disappearance, two Firebenders hastily jumped forth from their saddles and fought Dhune with standard blasts of fire. The three Firebenders and two weapon-wielding goons under the Phoenix King's command rushed the two girls that were behind them. Grunts and groans filled the open air as the birds within the trees fled the chaotic scene. It was quite fortunate that the area wherein they exchanged elemental blows was far from civilization.

It was then, in the chaos and confusion, Suna shot back up from the soil underneath his three assailants' feet. In his wake, a miniature wave of sand and soil rose up and devoured them, leaving the remaining soldiers in the mercy, or lack thereof, of his three friends. The captain's blasts of flame could not set the moist soil ablaze and was thusly buried alive, along with his two comrades. As the Sandbender emerged from the undergrowth and bent the wave of tender earth, Suna could not help but justify once more. "And don't blame me for the second mission, Dhune. 'Misty' here had her share of faults!" He uttered after the three enemies were buried, riding a wave of sand and soil and landing in front of the Dragon Moose and his caravans. He calmed the animal down as his friends continued to fight. ​
 
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As the caravan came to a stop and Suna's voice floated around them, she could only sigh. They were lost again? Why can't the sand-bender read a map? Rae grumbled to herself. If she was good at navigating then she would have offered to help him or at least try to. But as it was, Rae was likely worse with a map than Suna. Stiffening as she heard a new, unfamiliar voice and pausing to hear who was talking. Fire-Benders... she realized and creeped up towards Suna.

Duhne's voice was added to the mix now, the stern reprimanding to the sand-bender. She wasn't going to lie to herself, she knew what she wanted. Right now it was to spill the blood of the fire-bending trash in front of Suna. She was now in front of the caravan and her eyes narrowed. Suna's comment on 'showing' them who they were couldn't have made her happier. "About time..." Rae muttered. She raised the hand that held her knife it as the fight began and the first came to be slaughtered or rather restrained.

She creeped towards the fire-benders and stayed clear of the unfortunate three who just met their end. One of the fire-benders turned towards her with alarm, obviously not expecting her to be so near him. "Hello, goodbye," Rae-Lee said. She swung her blade upwards from its low starting point as it sliced through the skin of the of the now injured fire-bender. The only thing she disliked about using knives was having to clean them when she was done. She stuck it back in her belt after she made a very distasteful face at the blood that covered it.

Now with both hands free Rae began compressing the air into a small, no, very small ball of air. Maybe I should have listened to all those annoying tutors back home, she thought with a snicker. With the air ball now formed, she sent at the fire-bender who was struggling to get back up. As the fire-bender bled from the gaping wound in his stomach Rae stepped on his hand. "Now we can't have you getting back up. After all I did to keep you down...," Rae-Lee said as she shook her head in disgust. She lifted her foot off his hand and then stepped down, hard, on his trachea.

She watched with a sickening satisfaction as the remaining life he had faded from his eyes. He was dead. "Well that takes care of one," Rae-Lee said.
 
Naomi remained mostly quiet as they were stopped by the fire bending nationalists, leaving her arms loose by her sides as one of them began to inspect their 'convoy'. Naomi was usually quite capable of hiding her emotions especially after the help The Rising had given her in order to help her cope with her past, but much of this situation provoked many memories that inspired anger within her. For a moment it was hard to concentrate and her fingers flexed, like a reactive spasm as the building anxiety attempted to force her into action. However she appeared to remain in control and after a deep breath she managed to maintain her composure as she visibly relaxed. That was until Suna directed some words which prompted them into an engagement with the fire benders. She can't say she cared much for his attitude as the loss of life no matter what side they belonged to was a shame and something which she firmly believed was not to be taken lightly.

Her fingers flexed and her arms raised as she began to pull water from some of the other pots on the wagon, tendrils of water encircling her form as she elegantly and fluidly moved her arms, moving her feet with careful precision as the water danced around her as they began absorbing blows of fire before they would lash out like a coiled snake, striking enemies with precise blasts which would knock them off their feet, or in some cases into trees. She spent a moment longer fighting in this manner, bending her arm as she swept her foot back to bring her body lower before she twisted to the side, a tendril of water arching around to smash into the side of a fire bender which took him off the Rhino to the ground bellow. Shortly after she began to change her movements into a defensive form, bringing up walls of ice or more tendrils of water to deflect fire balls away from herself and the others. After she heard Suna attempting to justify with Dhune by pointing out her own mistakes she furrowed her brow a little, "Now is not the time to be discussing such things, concentrate on the matter at hand" she said softly before she bent herself forwards to duck under a fire ball, stepping forwards as she spun on her heel, twisting her body into a twirl before bringing her arms up, causing an arch of water to slam up into her opponent which sent him flying into the air.

Naomi was perhaps the most elegant in her techniques and her movements. Her fighting style of bending was often observed as a kind of dance, no movement rigid or stiff in how it was presented. Instead, her movements remained fluid and gentle, her body appearing relaxed and free from the bounds of typical movement. Had she not been intending to cause harm one might look upon her and see something deeper, like a form of art or an expression of beauty depicted in the way she moved.
 
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Blasts of fire interrupted the rebuttal of Naomi, and walls of earth shot up to intercept them. This four riders weren't patrol like the last groups that had caught them; they were part of a platoon and a solid ten more soldiers rushed to their aid, albeit all on foot. It was more likely that this platoon patrolled this area, but did so in close vicinity to another. The Police Force was getting smarter about how they managed their groups. It was far harder to fight fourteen than four, as long as a distress call could be heard. The police were growing wiser while Suna insisted on the ways he was accustomed to. This wouldn't work forever, and the fact they were outnumbered three-to-one was proof of that. Something had to change. For the moment, however, the odds were still in their favor. Even outnumbered, these untrained, unskilled recruits were hardly a match for Suna or Duhne alone; Naomi and Rae-Lee could likely have escaped them if need be. But, together, their force was dominant.

"You were tasked with being a leader," Duhne said as he held up his hands and ripped them apart through the air, causing a large divide in the stone. Duhne stepped forward, stomping his foot onto the ground and sending a shockwave through the earth to unsettle the police that were fighting from a range. Cowards. Most police were taught to stay behind their better fighters and just bend blasts of flames as support. The tactic worked on petty thugs and bandits - most of the time - but against anyone with half a wit for tactics, it was fruitless. "You cannot blame those you lead, Suna! Her mistakes are your mistakes, as are mine and Rae-Lee's - that is what it means to be a leader. Jet would have never said that, especially at a time like this," Duhne exclaimed to Suna while holding his stance. Duhne was in charge of the defense and the support while Suna went into the fray offensively. Naomi was an extension of Duhne, assisting Suna while never venturing far from the caravan. This kept all of their zones covered: defense, offense and the area in between. Rae-Lee possibly had the most important task of guarding each caravan during a fight. If they all fought and were distracted, any means of damage or theft could occur. Each member of the group knew their role; the challenge was adjusting to them.
 
"Man, they're right…" Suna thought to himself, his eyes gazing upon the soil on which they fight in a downcast manner. "Get it together! Don't screw this up… Do it for mom." If it weren't evident enough, there was guilt and shame brewing within the Sandbender's heart, as even he, one who has built walls labeled with bravado and hard-heartedness, was still verily human. He was still a greenhorn in the ranks of the Freedom Fighters and the Rising, being tasked to act as a field leader for this band of thieves in spite of Dhune being the better candidate for it. Suna knew he had a great friendship with Smellerbee and Jet, but just what was it about the Sandbender that they gave him such a position? It was all a big mystery to him.

It was at this very moment of deep, existential thought that the Sandbender's smile and words withdrew within him, simply motioning his arms to imitate the erratic movements of the Sandsharks that brave the vast, perilous dunes of the Si Wong Desert. The very grains of sand and little pieces of earth trembled violently as they hovered above the theatre of war, creating a corpulent tendril of little cobbles and jagged rock, with sand and soil acting as the adhesive that glued the different elements together. With naught but a willingness to redeem himself, Suna motioned his hands cyclically – his arms imitated a skilled Airbender creating a sphere of wind at the palm of their hands. In response to its master's physical movements, the appendage of earth squirmed like a snake.

Taking his freely given position of leader more seriously than earlier, Suna looked at the current situation – four dead, six more to go. The others were sent back into the woods by Naomi's water dance, and Dhune disoriented them with a rightly timed quake upon the ground. "Naomi! Rae!" He exclaimed, simply nodding his head as he looked intently into their eyes back and forth – since the team had a few training sessions with one another before formally going on missions, they executed a variety of "combination moves." Suna was not unfamiliar with Naomi's affinity for creating a certain cannon that sent various forms of the elements flying like bullets, and Rae's Airbending was the steering wheel to Naomi's cannon. Suna's large admixture of different earthen materials, then, was the team's ammunition.He needn't say a word, he hoped that Naomi and Rae-Lee would simply understand, as they had done it twice or thrice in the past. This was Suna exercising his potential for strategy, as a leader should. Those fallen by Dhune's shockwave and Naomi's water barrage should be easy enough targets to shoot, as they were both wide open and defenseless. "I'm sorry, I'll get better." ​Suna muttered under his breath, wishing none of his companions heard – it would be a shame if his friends found out he was capable of being humble.​
 
Rae-Lee spun on her heels at Suna's sudden exclamation of her and Naomi's name. Temporarily confused with why he called out to them before it clicked. "Oh... Yeah...," Rae-Lee bit out as she remembered. Heh. I should pay attention, Rae-Lee thought to herself. Making her way back to the caravan and towards Naomi she watched as Duhne and Suna fought the other fire-benders. "Alright, Water-Girl," Rae-Lee said. She positioned her arms and hands in the position as the beginning of a funnel formed with the air between them. Focus Rae, let's not mess this up.

The funnel shape between her arms and hands began to stabilize into a more steady funnel. Now most of it was up to Naomi to toss in her variety of arsenal. It was harder for Rae due to her lack of skill in Air-Bending to direct such arsenal at those opposing them. It meant Rae had to concentrate. Concentration was not her strongest point. In fact, it wasn't even something she considered herself to be working on. "Hurry up," Rae-Lee grumbled to Naomi. Her eyes darted between Naomi and the on going fight with the fire-benders. A fight she wanted to participate more in but was needed here to assist Naomi.

She thought back to how she had seen Suna fight which closely resembled the way an Air-Bender would fight. A very skilled Air-Bender. She remembered watching Suna from afar as he practiced, perfected, his fighting style. Rae-Lee left those thoughts to be thought over later and focused back on the current fight. Seeing the increasing number of soldiers come at them was beginning to unnerve her.

It was between two choices with Rae. Drop the funnel to go back into the heat of the fight or keep the funnel up close to the caravan to be the guard. Hmm, fight or not fight? If it weren't for the previous lectures from Duhne about forgetting her role from time to time; it would have been an easy choice. Sighing, she stayed put. No lecture for me~
 
Naomi gave her thanks to Dhune in the form of a subtle nod as the two walls came up to deflect some fire balls before she began to windmill her arms in a forwards circular motion, causing two streams of water to fly over the wall like artillery strikes. Once the streams of water hit the ground she separated both into pools before freezing the water right beneath the feet of the remaining fire benders, creating an unstable ground for them to move on which would buy all her friends some time to pick their targets and plan their moves. When Suna called her name alongside Rae-Lee she nodded, "Understood!" she replied to confirm she'd heard, waiting for Rae-Lee to start her funnel as she prepared for to deliver the cannon. She can't say she much cared for Rae-Lee either in the way she spoke to her, but recently she'd began to accept her for the way she is. She knew that the girl would be there for her if she needed and she'd do the same if need be; perhaps that was enough.

"You'll need to make this count Rae, I don't have a constant supply of water to keep it going for long" she said as she brought her arms closer to her chest, broadening her stance a little as she began to make another kind of circular motion with her hands, spinning multiple steams into a larger singular stream. As she began to feed it more water she began to speed up the current within the stream, focusing her concentration as the water began to react violently. For a moment it looked like Naomi was struggling as the water essentially became aggressive and harder to manage as the pressure built behind the currents, though any who had seen her using it before would know better than to question her ability to perform it. Rae-Lee would begin to feel the pressure too and it'd ask her to concentrate harder on her airbending in order to contain the water circulating within the funnel upon it's eruption point. Before Naomi moved to release the cannon she shouted to Dhune, "Dhune! can you give my feet some support!" she said as she moved a foot back so she could push against the earth that Dhune would bend in order to stop the cannon from pushing her back off her feet.

Once Dhune had supported her feet she threw her arms forwards, the cannon exploding violently into the air funnel with incredible force. The pressure combined with the air funnel could very likely blast through rocks, more so if rocks were fed into the cannon. However Rae-Lee was now on a time limit as Naomi had a limited reserve of water. "Suna! pick our targets!" she called as she continued to steady the flow as well as the feed of water into the cannon. It was incredibly taxing to say the least and it'd be a little while before she could use this move again, though there was no denying it was reliable for it's intended uses. Had she been next to a river or a lake she could have made it more powerful and consistent, but she would make do with what she had.
 
Having ditched the first pair of clothes she had picked up, Tao found herself looking over some more familiar colors, and clothing. Looking over a dress laying among the racks, the warm green and lighter stitching resembled the traditional colors of her village, and while darker colors had been suggested Tao found herself settling with something more familiar. The dress was long and simple. Hemmed tightly so it would hug her waist and the top of her hips, two flaps would drape over the front and back of her legs.

Tucking the dark green clothing beneath her arm she slowly walked over to the pants section. Not against showing any leg, she wasn't about to walk out of this store with only a dress in her hand. Wanting something of a darker green, the hard frown had settled back on her face as she focused on looking for a pair of pants. Finding something she could easily move in that wasn't tight was the next challenge, so as she concentrated, Tao didn't notice the figure approaching her from behind.

"Need any help?" Jumping lightly, bright eyes landed on a familiar face once she turned round, "Oh! Zarina!" The edges of her lips curved into a bashful smile as she turned her sights down to the clothes beside her, "You saw my distress all the way over there, huh?" Giving a small shrug and a laugh, Tao hid her embarrassment behind a grin now. "Shopping isn't really my thing, so it took me a bit to get into the groove of things--But thanks for coming to my rescue, anyway." Smooth, Tao. Real smooth. She didn't like looking like an idiot, especially not in front of people she was trying to impress. But unfortunately for her, it happened a lot more then she'd like to admit.

Red ears gave away her embarrassment so once she noticed the clothing in Zarina's hands, Tao attempted to change the subject, "So, were you able to find everything alright?"
 
While the water canon was a fantastic exercise in teamwork, there was nowhere near enough practice as a team to use it. It was easy to believe that their most powerful, collaborative technique would be their fallback, but believing that opened an avenue of disregard to the drawbacks of the technique. They were four against fourteen and Duhne felt at least two other nearby platoons using his seismic sense. Their plan needed to be quick an efficient; Naomi's water canon was anything but that in its present state. While Suna had no ability to realize this, both due to his lack of seismic sense and his weaker tactics in general, Duhne did and Duhne felt it was time to alter plans. At least Suna was considering the input of others now...

"Regroup!" Duhne shouted to the three of them as they prepared for the water canon. Duhne twisted his body forward and jerked his flat hands upward, resulting in Naomi being elevated onto a stone platform as she requested. "Rae, prepare the wagons; forget the canon," Duhne explained. Duhne followed his first hand motion with another identical one, resulting in a large stone protrusion being created in front of Naomi. Duhne followed up with a quick kick, pivoting on his hips as he turned around to face the firebenders that surrounded them. A second platoon. The kick resulted in the protrusion being hollowed out into a barrel and the stone cylinder that was launched out impaling one of the Police in the distance. "Suna, you led us Northeast instead of Northwest. We're near New Ba Sing Se, and we need to get out. Naomi, use that barrel to guide your canon and let Suna bend it to aim. Rae-Lee will kill any stragglers and get the Dragon Moose ready to run," Duhne explained. Their situation was dire. What was fourteen men before now became thirty-two with the newest platoon falling in on them, and they had no time to deal with this.

Facing the police that were collapsing onto the wagons from behind them, Duhne stood in silent solitude. He had to trust the two behind him to fight off ten of these wannabe soldiers and had faith Rae Lee could procure the wagons. What he hated was his role. Duhne placed a solid fist against an open palm and closed his eyes. He felt the ground using his seismic sense, but more so, he projected himself into it. He did not bend the earth, he felt it. He felt it and he knew that ground was teeming with life, even if he could only bend the earth. And, with his chi, he apologized to the earth below him for what he was about to do. As fireballs rained down on him, the tattoos on his upper torso lit up a bright green. Stone soldiers shot up from the ground, first in the shape of sharp eggs that broke down to reveal the arms and legs of these soldiers. Each soldier intercepted a blast with no harm done to it, and in the end there were twenty-two of them. Duhne stood in silence, his fist still in his palm, and his regiment of stone soldiers began to march on the police.

While fire still rained down on them, only two were strong enough to even hurt these golems. It wouldn't matter as the golems would regrow their lost parts after touching the earth and absorbing some of it into them. These stone golems pursued the police fervently and upon getting close would break their limbs and smash their skulls with powerful, blunt-force blows. If the police ran, and they did, the golems would literally throw parts of their stone bodies at the fleeing police in such a velocity that their ribcages would shatter and the last tastes in their mouths would be the blood they vomited. Still yet, few escaped. With his bright green tattoos still afire, Duhne lunged forward and waved his arms upward. It was gentle and slow, unlike his normal techniques, until a quick jerk back reminded everyone that he was an earthbender. The results of this were large protrusion of earth in the distance being molded into a wave in front of the fleeing police, then the jerk caused pillars of stone to impale and police too far off. The last remaining stragglers were caught between a wall of bloodied stone and the golems that would soon crush them. This is why Duhne asked for forgiveness, and this was the infamous bending style of the Hundred Man Army.
 
"Nah, I just saw someone drag you off to what looked like a torture session." The firebender gave Tao a wide smile before she cleared her throat in embarrassment in preparation for her next words, "Besides...it was more of...an excuse. I won't lie, you...fascinate me. Few people can fight me toe to toe...let alone end it in a stalemate." she stumbles over her words and curses her ineptitude in her head. "I never really had friends...I couldn't trust them to defend me if something happened to me. I...don't think you'll have a problem fighting off some bandits, you know?"

Zarina grunted in frustration as she tried to get her rambling mess of a point across. With whom her mother was, her mother had stressed that any friends she'd made could be used against her, or worst, would be the ones to kill her in retaliation. Her father had been the one that ultimately killed her mother...the same wouldn't happen to Zarina if she had any say about it. But Tao...she and Tao had fought. Granted, neither really seemed like they wanted to hurt the other, and it was that controlled reluctance that fascinated Zarina. They'd disagreed and came to blows, but they both walked away from it just fine. Neither cursed the other, no one died. Sure...it could have been Krane's timely intervention, but...Was that really it?

"Oh, uh not quite. I managed to nab some stuff on the way here." She holds up some black fur-lined boots. "Now I just need some pants and sarashi replacement. Did you find stuff that you liked?" She asked as she turned to look at the pants. Zarina settled on some slightly loose, but form fitting black pants that could be tucked into her boots comfortably.
 
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