Khuzo and Ridge, mercanaries

Several other characters, way too many to list

Khuzo's home forest

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The night was pitch black, with a cloud cover completely blanking out the moon. Maybe it was a good thing. After all, moon empowered assassin waterbending prodigies would not be fun to fight. Ridge was watching the camp with his incredibly keen eyes. He sat above the camp with a tree limb as his only support. He was completely hidden, and only Khuzo could even begin to locate him. Occasionally he moved without telling anyone, but this may have been for the better. If neither side knew where he was, neither side could blow his cover.

Khuzo was alone, sitting, next to a fire, as he picked a massive splinter out of his hand. It was actually more along the lines of stabbing it out, as he dug into it with a thick piece of treebark. Reika hadn't spoken in hours, and Shungo had fallen asleep, a combination of depression and exhaustion had completely drained him. Khuzo was tired, but he could stay awake for days if he had to. He yawned, and then looked up across the fire at the old woman.

"Well, young man, where will you go now? What will you do now?" she asked. She was very friendly, and was messing about the camp attempting to clean it up.

"My mission is a failure, their father has died. It's just me and them now."

"Well, what is the next step?"

"To go after The Twelve, of course."

"Where will you find them? How will you know where to find them?"

"That's easy for me. Working as a mercanary connects you with a lot of people. Good and bad. That's a good thing, I should mind you."

"Good thing? How can working with bad people be a good thing?"

"Bad people know about bad things. It's good to be on their good side, and not their bad."

"Ah, I see."

The two sat in silence for some time, and Khuzo knew where they had to go next. He hadn't seen Reika take care of the assassins, and therefore didn't know about what kind of condition they were in.

Meanwhile, Itami was pulling his foot out of a tree. He had just woken up, having been out for hours. He looked ticked, and he was ticked.

"That little...I swear when I get my hands on her..."

"Maybe...maybe we should just let them go, War..." the girl spoke quietly. She was very timid.

"NO! Maybe if it was someone other than Khuzo I'd let them go, but Khuzo...Khuzo needs to die!"

"Why, though?"

"Because...because he just needs to! That's why!"

"But...but what about Forge?

"Forge didn't kill him. He's too wiley for that. He survived. Somehow..."

"Maybe it was his friends..."

"Khuzo doesn't have friends. He'll just abandon them the second this is all over."

"Is he really like that?"

"He always has been. Always will be. Mom used to say he was just meant to be alone. Mom always said he was just a "stray cat".

"What should we do about Forge?"

"What can we do? He died before you could heal him. He's dead."

Above them, the giant Forge was impaled on a more giant tree, and lay hanging from a giant tree limb. Even Forge couldn't have survived such an injury.

"Comon', let's go."

Back at the camp, Khuzo managed to dig his splinter out. He pitched it out onto the dirt and then began to work on the leeches stuck on his legs. Pulling up his pant leg, he began to work on his right leg. Reika suddenly came over to the fire and sat down.

"So...how are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm fine...I'll live...so I'm fine..."

"How do you deal with it?"

"What?"

"Itami...doing all that?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I heard him back at the prison ship...your whole family..."

"I DON'T deal with it. If I did, I wouldn't be human. I'm supposed to feel confused, angry, and sad...I just keep going because I have a chance...a chance to deal with unfinished business. I have a chance to redeem my family name...and stop this from happening again. I can end The Twelve. That's my consolation."

"I'm going to come with you."

"You want vengeance, and I understand that. It would be wrong for me to hold that opportunity for revenge away from you. You deserve your chance to get back at the Fire Nation, and The Twelve. You can come with me."

Nice post thesecondsign, I like your dialogue writing style, very realistic.

Can a give me links to your other posts? I want to read them.

Thank you xD

Maximus: Non-bender, hand-to-hand specialist, and sharpshooter.

Esther: Waterbender.

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Maximus awoke to the sound of a loud horn as the ship was slowly docking into the harbor. Esther was already up and was sitting on Maximus' bed next to his feet.

"Let's get going Maxy!", said Esther in a cheery attitude.

"Right..."

He got out of bed and crouched so Esther could jump onto his back. After she was secure, he walked up the steps and went on deck to see the ship fully docked into the harbor. A long hatch was dropped and Maximus made his way down onto the mainland. He took a deep breath and then sighed in relief. Maximus looked into the distance and noticed an old tea shop that he used to drink at when he was younger.

"She's got to be there.", said Maximus.

"Who? Your girlfriend?"

"No, no...I don't have any attatchments to anything in this world."

Maximus made his way to the tea shop and took a seat at a table next to the counter. Esther took a seat next to him and looked around the shop in wonderment. He knew she would be there in ten seconds. One, two, three, four, five, six...The door opened and a woman walked in. She was tanned, had eyes that were the color of the purest gold, and had purple hair that fell along the sides of her face, shot out along the sides of her head, and was up into a ponytail in the back. Eight, nine...She walked up to the table and took a seat. Ten...

"Why hello there. Haven't seen you in a while. How you been?", she asked.

"I've been...busy...This is Esther by the way."

"Hi there sweetie! My name is Violet."

"Hi! So...how do you know each other?", asked Esther.

"Well...Let's just say that when we met, we weren't the best of friends.", replied Violet.

"Let's get straight to the point. I'm after Jiang Shi...", said Maximus.

"You mean the leader of the Crimson Guards? What do you have with him?", asked Violet.

"Uhh....Who's this Jiang Shi guy?", asked Esther.

"Jiang Shi is the leader of a rather large group of mercenaries, bounty hunters, and bandits that is looked upon as a crime lord in the Fire Nation...even if you did want to get him, you can't get him yourself..., said Violet.

Maximus looked around for inspiration and saw a poster along one of the walls. It was a bounty put on a criminal called the Blue Spirit. There was a blurry image of him on the poster and there was a reward for any information on him.

"I can't be myself...But...what if I'm someone else...?", wondered Maximus.

"What are you talking about? Are you so bent on killing him that you let go of reality?", asked Violet.

"No, no, no...I mean...What if I disguised myself as someone else...An idea just hit me. Wait...Never mind...", said Maximus.

"Well...I've got to get going. I'm going to go to the local bar for some drinks. See you around, handsome." Violet stood up and walked out of the tea shop.

"Let's go.", said Maximus.

Esther nodded and they both walked out of the shop. As soon as they walked out, a spot of white on the side of a mask vendor's wagon caught his eye, and an idea suddenly occurred to him. He now had the missing piece to his second identity. He ran up to the man pulling the wagon and bought the white mask for two gold pieces. After he got his mask, he walked towards his house with Esther right behind him. She looked puzzled and confused as to why he bought the mask, but she knew it was for a good reason. He opened the door and they both went in. Maximus brought the mask into his room and set it down onto his bed.

"What are you planning?", asked Esther. Maximus ignored her question and kept on going with what he was doing. After ten minutes of changing into his newly bought assassin's gear, he placed on the mask and then turned around to look at Esther.

"Oh! Is this charades? Let me guess....Nope...I don't know...", said Esther.

Maximus laughed and said, "I'll be the new spirit in town."

"The Fox Spirit? A criminal?", asked Esther.

"Exactly....well....except for the criminal part. I can't have anyone else knowing. Okay?"

"Got it. My lips are sealed."

"Good.", said Maximus. The sun was setting and it was getting dark.

"Go to sleep. I'm going to stay up for a bit."

Esther yawned while nodding and slowly walked to a bed in the room next to Maximus'. He walked to the utmost floor and opened a window up. He slowly made his way onto the rooftop and looked at the view. Looking around, he saw a stack of hay and took a few steps back.

"Just like when I was a kid...", said Maximus. He started off with a slow jog and then quickly accelerated into a speedy sprint. When he reached the edge, he jumped off of the side and dove into the stack of hay. He made his way out and ran up a wall. As soon as he grabbed the edge, he helped himself up and started to walk across it like a cat.

After a few hours at the bar, Violet walked out feeling pretty tired from having such a good time at the bar. Maximus had long since stayed out, practicing his acrobatic skills. It was a new moon in the sky, and the streets were dark. So Violet didn't see the men coming up behind her until it was too late.

When she felt the hands around her body she tried to scream and fight back, but a hand clamped over her mouth, choking off any sound. She twisted and struggled as she was dragged into a side alley where they couldn't be seen. There were four men around her. One of them was behind her, keeping her arms and mouth restrained, while the other three stood at a short distance, rubbing their hands together and undressing her with their eyes. The nearest came forward and leaned in close.

"I've been thinking about you since I saw you at the tea shop."

She recognized him. He was a patron at the bar, and he was also seen at the tea shop. She could smell the liquor on his breath as he reached forward to pull her shirt off. She increased her struggling, but the one holding her was strong, and she couldn't break free. Suddenly, there was the sound of something hitting the ground, and the two men who had been watching were falling to the ground, screaming. The man in front of her turned to see what was going on and immediately fell backwards, clutching at his throat in a futile attempt to stop the blood flow. A blade shot through the space her would-be rapist had been in, ending with the point in her restrainer's throat.

Violet looked up at her rescuer's face, and saw only a white fox mask. The Demon Fox flicked the blood off of his sword, combined them into one, and slid them into the sheath on his back.

"Are you here to rape me to? I'm not afraid to fight back! Those guys just caught me off-", her words were stopped when Maximus lifted his mask enough and gave her a kiss. He took a step back and then re-equipped his mask. And then, without a word, he leaped onto the wall, climbed onto the roof, and was away.

"Who was that...?", wondered Violet.

Maximus kept on running across the rooftops of the buildings until he ended up on top of his own house. He climbed down to the nearest window and crawled back in. As soon as he was in, Esther was standing there with a candle light lit. She was tapping her foot impatiently.

"Where have you been?!", questioned Esther.

Maximus removed his mask and smiled. "Nowhere special..."

Nice entry r3173mpt10n.

I like the spiderman refrence xD

Name: Tan-To
Status: Earthbender
Special move: Compressing dust in the air into an earth ball (like hammah when she gets water from the air)
Height: 5'4
Age: 16
Gender: Male
Weight: 115
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Short (1/4'' Brown ( like zuko's hair a couple days after he cut his pony tail off....except brown...not black)
Personality: He's very energetic and always happy....but when times get rough...he gets serious and does everything he can to make things right.....he joined the Gaang in Ba Sing Se the next day after Zuko's coronation....Tan-To lived in Ba Sing Se until he met them and now he's journeying off with the avatar to learn from him and toph because his parents never let him earth bend because they thought it was dirty and a waste of time....so he left......he is very adventurous....and has a crush on ty lee because they visited the island of kyoshi to drop off the warriors on their way back to the south pole so katara can teach water bending to the new water bending women from the northern tribe.....Tan-To has brought a less permiscuous side to Ty-Lee and now she is falling in love with him....and so is he.....

Amaterasu Okami: Firebending General

Haruhi Haetei: Waterbending Master

Hakuro Hakudoshi: Earthbending Master (half-death)

-----------------------------------------------------------

Inside the walls of the Black Citadel.......(continued)

Amaterasu: Hakuro!

Amaterasu struck lightning at Vicinity's face and then ran toward to Hakuro's half-dead body. Haruhi checked again and there was a slow heartbeat. Vicinity's face was burning by the second. Hakuro opened his eyes.

Hakuro: I'm sorry to be such a burden Ami. Leave me here to rot.

They did as they were told and dropped him in the corner. After that they went to the next floor.

????????: So got you past Vicinity.

Amaterasu: It can't be, Xiao.

Xiao: It's been a while partner.

Haruhi: Who's Xioa?

Amaterasu: My old buisness partner who's every being of himself was burned except for his bones and then the Black Citadel revived him to serve them.

Xiao: I'm so glad you remember me, partner.

Haruhi: It's a full moon tonight.

Haruhi started to bloodbend, but instead she was bloodbending Amaterasu.

Amaterasu: He......he is only bone.

Haruhi let go of Amaterasu and then Amaterasu tried to burn the moving skeleton to ashes but it only was slightly burned.

Amaterasu: I guess we give up.

Haruhi: I agree.

Just at that moment a small pebble shot through the skull, and then a rock threw off his arm.

Both: WTF?

Hakuro: You think I'd miss this party.

Haruhi: I thought you were dead.

Hakuro: Half.

Hakuro started to lift a huge boulder and crushed the skeleton to pieces and then Amaterasu burned the remains to ashes.

Amaterasu: How did you come back?

Hakuro: The lightning missed my heart.

Haruhi: We're glad to have you back.

Hakuro: Glad to be back.

Amaterasu: Are we going sit here and wait or are we going to kick my brother's @$$.

Hakuro: Your brother?

Amaterasu: It's a long story.

They ran up the stairs to face their third fear.

Good post LondonParisNYC.

Not so good heroicdud. I don't get how you can move when you're a skeleton since it has no muscles or talk because it's vocal cords aren't there anymore since you said everything except the bones were burned, and it was kind of...short....

Itami walked into the camp and the old woman was still cleaning up. He walked over to her and kicked her down, where she fell into the mud.

"Khuzo, big guy, can't bend, got scimitars with chains on 'em. Where is he?"

"I...I have no idea what you're talking about young man. I haven't had visitors in years. Why, some even say that that is probably why I act so crazy...EHAHAHA!" she cackled, and then she stifled herself. "Now, why would you go looking for such a man anyway?"

Itami ignored her, and reached over and grabbed an iron poker from the fire. He held it up, and examined.

"This will go in places you thought a heavy hot iron rod could never go if you don't answer the next question I'm about to ask you."

"Well I'll answer what I can."

"Where. Is. Khuzo?"

"I don't know who that is, young man."

"That's a LIE. A half dead man doesn't just WALK OUT OF A FOREST!"

"Well surely he had some friends with him? Maybe they healed him?"

"An injury like that isn't capable of healing. Not even from a waterbender. You are lying," added Sorrow.

"See? My friend here's a waterbender. She knows healing. Better than you, better than anyone else. Now, where did they go after they came here. You're the only thing around for MILES!"

"Why my dear boy, waterbenders have their ancient secrets, just like everyone else. There are ways to bring the dead back to life if one has the right materials. If there was a waterbender with them, I wouldn't be suprised if he had some."

Itami was getting very, very angry. To have his brother slip out of death's clutches so many times was starting to get redundant. He had escaped being impaled, being washed away at sea, and now being crushed with a hammer. It was starting to get very, very annoying. Sorrow sat in the back of the camp, half shivering in fear of what Itami may do to her if he felt he couldn't quell his rage. She sat, doing nothing, while Itami paced up and down the camp, thinking of where to go. The old woman suddenly sat down next to her. She offered her a drink. It was very warm. Nights were often very cold here, whereas the day was blisteringly hot.

"My dear, why would you EVER consider being around such a man? Why entertain such a violent man's company?"

"I don't have a choice...I've never had a choice."

"Well, there's always a choice, my dear. You just have to look hard enough."

"But...but if I choose to leave him, he'll kill me."

"You're a capable bender. How much of a threat does this man weigh in on you?"

She looked up as if the old woman were truly insane. Itami had murdered hundreds over the course of his short Fire Nation career. Some of the greatest swordsmen, benders, and even small armies had gone against him, and alone, Itami always emerged the victor. Perhaps the only one capable of killing Itami was The End, who enjoyed abusing the sociopath's ridiculously violent streak to his advantage. Death, Wrath, all the others, they were nothing to Itami. Itami hated them all, and they all hated Itami, for the sole reason that he was better than them. All of them. Only The End truly stood a chance, and until Itami tried to take his position, The End saw no reason to put a stop to Itami's actions.

It all seemed so hopeless.

"My dear, I promise you that if you look hard enough, someone out there can protect you from this man. Why, a kind young man I met not long ago seemed more than capable."

"Noone can kill Itami. He even insulted the princess once."

"And what happened? I know for a fact that the princess you speak of is not very kind. How did she take this?"

"They fought."

"And?"

"And they had to replace all of the castle gardens and she needed a new haircut."

"That's all?"

"Our leader stepped in, and made him stop. But that was the only time...the only time anyone ever tried to stand up to Itami...he's just too powerful..."

Itami had heard none of this, he was too busy making a trench while he paced up and down over and over again on the soft dirt. Thoughts rambled through his barely capable mind and he knew what had to be done next.

"Sorrow! Where's your messenger hawk?"

"Over by the other village..." she said quietly, and then she whispered. It came, and landed on her shoulder. She came over to Itami.

"What will we do, War?"

"We send a message. Have the soldiers standing by get ready."

"For what, my dear boy?" the old lady interrupted.

"For the purging. The purging of this land. All this pesky forest is about to go kapluht," and he made a sound with his mouth and his hands made the image of fire burning. He smiled maniacally. The bird soared off without question, with no idea that the message it carried would soon spell death for everyone and everything in the forest. Deep within it's ancient cofines, however, a mysterious force began to stir. It felt the presence of fire, even though it had yet to burn.

Charna

Gender: Female

Age: 15

Nation/Bending Power: Northern Water Tribe/Water

Special Ability: Can make dry ice

Personality: Basically, another Katara.....PMS all the time.....yet sweet and affectionate