"I'm beginning to think that the Avatar isn't even here in the first place." Zuko grumbled, eyes glaring at every individual passing through his hood.
"Patience is a virtue." I replied, sat on a barrel.
"Not when it's three hours of mindless waiting for any sign."
"I'm sure there would be something soon, Prince Zuko." Iroh added, checking out a Pai Sho piece that he bought off a nearby merchant.
"Believe in your uncle's wise words, young one." I winked at Zuko, a shit-eating grin ever-so-present on my face.
The prince just mumbled off and leaned on the alley wall. It's been three hours of waiting and listening for any signs. You would think the return of the Avatar would be big news, but it doesn't seem so in this place.
Just as I was about to crash into a nearby tavern to interrogate some fellow mercenaries for information, something crashed in the center of the plaza we're at. Dust and debris went everywhere, and a certain merchant mourned the loss of his cabbage cart.
"What happened?" Zuko immediately stood up and went towards the scene. Iroh and I followed, curious too.
My seismic sense had given me a general outline of what the thing is. It's a cart made of hardened earth, and at the moment, two people sat inside of it. As we approached closer, the dust eventually settled and gave us a clear view of the scene.
"That was fun, Bumi." A young voice echoed, followed by the deranged giggling of an elder.
"Indeed it was."
It doesn't take a genius to figure out who they are—Avatar Aang and the King of Omashu, Bumi. The two had just got off the famed Omashu delivery system in quite an eccentric fashion. While a cabbage merchant kneeled on the ground in misery and mourned for his cabbage-filled cart that's now in a hundred pieces, the two who caused it stepped out of the ruined cart.
I considered just outright going to them and having a conversation. I mean, it's not really a bad thing when I think about it. I haven't done anything remotely antagonistic to them and Aang is quite naïve, so I think my first impression would remain somewhat positive.
I don't know about Bumi though. Does he know me? There's a good chance he does, and it might be a reason for an early falling out. Does he condone mercenary work? He might not, but my reputation is a bit too bloody so that's worrying. Oh, and the fact that I have two Fire Nation royalty with me.
I would love to overthink my next action more—I know, bad habit—but Zuko, having the combined IQ of two coked up ferrets, decided to launch a fireball at two of the most powerful benders of their respective elements. In the middle of the second-largest Earth Kingdom territory not under the Fire Nation.
"Blimey." I watched the fireball get blocked with a stone wall, courtesy of Bumi who sensed the danger pretty quickly.
"Ohoho, what's this?" The elderly man giggled, curling his fingers whimsically. "Does he happen to be a friend of yours, Aang?"
"Zuko." The bald hero narrowed his eyes, instantly changing his stance to be combat-ready at any moment, staff pointed at the fiery prince.
"What are you doing here?" Aang asked, tense.
"To capture you." Zuko replied, before spinning and sending a wave of fire towards the airbender from his feet.
The fire got close, but a simple wave of Aang's staff dispelled it with a strong gust. The young Avatar followed with an overhead slam of his staff, sending a destructive burst of wind hurling towards Zuko.
Zuko evaded with a sidestep, followed by a jump and sending several successive fire blasts from his fists.
Aang jumped away, utilizing his airbending to soar a fair distance away. Bumi, however, only watched as the wall of fire blasts approach him with a crazed smile on his face.
"Bumi!" The young kid called out, landing softly on top of a merchant stall.
"Don't worry Aang," Bumi turned towards the kid, "I got this."
Following his words, Bumi stomped on the ground. He raised his hands as if heaving, and a stone wall rose from the ground. Zuko's attacks got blocked by the wall, which Bumi brough back to the ground after using.
"I'm still a powerful earthbender, no?" The king giggled, a crazed smile permanently plastered on his face.
"Prince Zuko might be in some trouble." Iroh said, standing beside me some meters away from the fight.
"He can learn from this." I replied. "I think."
Meanwhile, Zuko charged towards the Avatar, outright ignoring Bumi. The prince jumped onto a platform beside a building, and landed on the stall's roof with a fiery kick that sent fire everywhere.
Aang had already made his move, jumping towards another stall with the lightness of a feather.
The Avatar didn't manage to get anything out however, as Zuko had already made his way towards him with the fierceness of a wild lion. Fire set the flammable fabrics and wood aflame, painting the chaos.
"Stop!" Aang yelled, mid-air to land in another spot.
Zuko followed him, jumping. He was, however, hit with a gust from the Avatar that sent him tumbling towards my general direction.
The prince came hurling and rolled to a stop at my feet. He was already heaving, sweat running down his face.
"Doing a good job so far, keep it up." I flashed him a thumbs up.
"Shut up and help me!" He replied.
Rude.
His words caught the attention of the two opponents though. Aang and Bumi finally turned towards Iroh and I just standing off in one corner, watching. Aang recognized Iroh, judging by how his face tightened. Bumi, though, only stopped at my face.
Does he recognize me? That would be cool, no need for introductions.
"The Rock Devil." Bumi spoke, his crazed smile gone from his face.
Well, that's a bad omen.
Still, it's bad manners to not respond.
"Hello, I'm Ren." I waved at him, before turning to the confused Avatar. "And you must be Aang. Nice to meet you."
I bowed.
"H-hello?" The kid responded, waving in kind.
What a good kid. Zuko could learn a few from him.
Before I can make another quip on the heaving Zuko, Bumi stepped forward and faced me.
"What are you doing in Omashu?" The king asked, stern.
It was out of character, I think. I don't remember him being this serious in the canon.
"Visiting. I swear, nothing else." I answered, shrugging.
"And you came with two Fire Nation officials? A general and a prince nonetheless."
"Friendship transcends political alignments."
"They started a war!" Aang joined in, landing beside Bumi.
Iroh had stealthily dragged Zuko aside and hid in the alley during the exchange. My seismic sense is telling me that Zuko had to be physically restrained by his uncle.
"That is true, yes. Quite unfortunate—it should've been handled diplomatically instead of unwanted violence." I replied to Aang.
"Step behind me Aang," Bumi pushed the kid, "this man is dangerous."
"Sorry, that hurts. I'm not a threat at all." I feigned wiping my tears.
"Who is he?" Aang asked Bumi who never took his eyes off of my person.
"I'm Ren."
"The Rock Devil. A mercenary who claimed of hundreds of human lives. He might be here for us. He's the biggest threat at the moment, ignore the prince for now."
"I'm not here on any contract. Just out exploring, I swear on my honor."
"Does honor exists among you beasts?"
"That's a raw line, actually." I raised an eyebrow.
"Rah!" Zuko came barreling from nowhere, driving a burning kick towards the unguarded Avatar.
Before his attack can hit, Bumi punched the ground. A pillar rose from the ground and struck the prince in mid-air, knocking him unconscious. The limp body fell to the ground, unmoving. Iroh sighed in a corner.
"If you're not here for us, then you should leave now. Your companion is incapacitated already." Bumi stepped forward, adamant.
I thought for a moment.
He's right. Zuko is down, and I have no business fighting them. I never wanted to in the first place, despite Zuko doing whatever he wants. I'm simply here out of entertainment and giggles. It's all for the bit, nothing deep.
So, I guess I should leave now? Bring Zuko and Iroh away and go off riding to the sunset?
"Aang!" A girl's voice echoed, followed by the hurried steps of another.
From a corner came a girl and a boy, both wearing the traditional blue robe of the Southern Water Tribe. A white-furred lemur-bat hybrid followed sat on the shoulder of the boy. The two ran towards Aang.
"Katara, Sokka," Aang stopped them in their tracks, raising a hand, "don't come close."
"Wha—" Finally, the two turned towards me. I waved at them, smiling. Indeed, they're just kids at the beginning of the story.
"An enemy?" The boy—Sokka—asked, club on hand with a boomerang on the other. The girl—Katara—also followed suit, a hand resting on a waterskin on her waist.
"Don't bother, he's much stronger than you think." Bumi spoke, eyes still not leaving my body.
"Thank you for the compliment." I nodded with a smile, and put a hand on my chin after looking at the situation.
"I guess I should go?" I followed. "See ya' then."
I turned around and began walking.
With my seismic sense, I saw Bumi slouch and lose the tension in his shoulders. Aang and the others also began whispering, probably curious about the entire situation. Bumi was also about to turn around and explain to them fully.
Well, he was about to.
"There he is! Arrest him!"
A group of merchants appeared on a corner, bringing with them an Earth Kingdom guard. One of the merchants pointed towards me, yelling.
"He's with the Fire Nation!" They yelled.
"Alright, I'll deal with him quickly." The guard waved them off, before stomping on the ground and sending a jagged rock towards my direction.
***
Bumi watched in horror as the events unfolded in front of him.
As the rock neared Ren, he raised his hand and it stopped in mid-air. He flipped his hand, and the rock turned into hundreds of thin rock nails. With a snap of his wrist, the nails came hurdling back towards the guard.
Kak!
The guard couldn't react before the nails stabbed him through his entire body. With the momentum undiminished with just stabbing him, the guard was pushed onto a wall and screamed as the projectiles nailed him onto the side of a building.
Blood splattered throughout, the holes in his body painting the wall red. A final nail found its way into the guard's forehead, nailing his head onto the wall with his mouth open wide, blood dripping down his chin.
The shock faded, and chaos followed.
The merchants scrammed and ran away, as Aang and Bumi acted.
Bumi launched a barrage of massive boulders and slabs, firing them at immense speed towards Ren who hasn't even turned back towards them. The king knew better than to wait in this situation.
Aang, on the other hand, fired off a massive gust of wind that sent debris flying everywhere.
Ren tapped the ground with his toe, raising two walls in an angle behind him.
The gust arrived first, but the walls dissipated the wind efficiently thanks to its shape. The walls behind him formed a bottomless isosceles triangle, with Ren at the middle.
The slabs and boulders came next. The first round of projectiles produced cracks around the walls, and the second round of slabs finished it. The walls collapsed with the final slab, leaving Ren exposed.
The mercenary finally turned around, a calm expression adorning his naturally pale face.
Bumi had already made his second move—grabbing a massive pillar from the ground and using it to crush the mercenary in front of him. As the elderly man wielded a comically large earth pillar, Aang found his way behind Ren and tried to strike him from the back.
As the kid tried to send a palm strike on Ren's back, he faltered as the man suddenly turned around and face him. Calm hazel orbs seemed to awaken a primal instinctive fear within the kid, leaving him to falter a little in the middle of his action.
Before he can follow through with the palm strike, Ren had already sidestepped and grabbed his arm. He pivoted in his back leg, before spinning and throwing Aang towards Bumi's direction.
Bumi used his bending to avoid the human projectile, quickly and suddenly raising a pillar beneath each of his feet, sending him mid-air with the massive pillar of earth he has in his hands.
Mid-air, the elderly bender smashed down with his pillar towards Ren's direction.
As the pillar made contact with the ground, dust and debris flew everywhere. Buildings fell, roads ruined, as a crater dotted the ground where the pillar had struck.
Bumi wasn't able to enjoy the brief moment however, as he suddenly saw Ren running on top of his massive club. As his feet made contact with the ground, Bumi let go of the club and stomped the ground, launching several high-velocity slabs towards the oncoming Ren.
It of no effect whatsoever, as the slabs weirdly curved around and avoided Ren like a magnet with the same polarity. Bumi seemed to have expected it, however, as he had already ran away and made distance with him.
Jumping off the club, Ren was about to continue his dash towards Bumi when two wide stone walls rose from the ground on each of his sides. Then, his seismic sense detected a footstep right behind him.
Ren turned around and crossed his arms, just in time to receive the brunt of a high-powered gust of wind that sent him flying to the air.
The walls receded back to the ground. Bumi and Aang stared at Ren in mid-air, expecting to follow-up with their moves once he fell to the ground.
Only, he didn't.
Ignoring the laws of physics, Ren hovered in mid-air, as if standing on an invisible platform. The light around him distorted slightly, as if an invisible sphere surrounded him.
"What…" Bumi muttered, his eyes wide open.
"But he's an earthbender…" Aang was similarly shocked.
Meanwhile, Ren took a breath—calm and steady.
"Let's vent a little." He whispered to himself, a ghost of fluctuation in his eyes.
He raised his hand and seemingly grabbed an object in front of him.
Then, the ground shook.
Slowly, chunks of earth floated from the ground and gathered at a central point in the sky. Bumi and Aang watched in a mix of confusion and terror as the chunks slowly get bigger and bigger. Eventually, even buildings are ripped off the ground and joined the growing sphere of rocks hovering in mid-air.
"Too slow." Ren muttered, his hand tensing up.
The attraction grew stronger. Even the ground began tearing up chunks of its own, feeding the growing sphere. Quickly, the ground shook as large pieces of it floated.
Aang and Bumi snapped out of their daze and began dodging through the chunks of earth just randomly floating off. Eventually, a massive crater formed below, measuring two hundred meters in diameter and 25 meters deep at the center.
A massive sphere dangled over Omashu's plaza. Civilians and guards panicked, evacuating the vicinity. A stampede had already formed at the bridge leading to the city as the people ran to get out as quick as possible.
Aang and Bumi watched in horror. The king had long lost his signature crazed smile, replaced by pure terror. Aang, as good as he was, could only stare in silence as the gigantic sphere covered a chunk of the city in its shadow.