Sada gallops across the outskirts of Endinga on an elk-panther. She dismounts the animal and strolls as she gets closer to the Ombudsman's last location. To her surprise, she can't find any ambassadors or the airship.
Everything seems to be missing, with no sign of what might have led to this movement. Sada knows she would have been informed if this was a planned action. The Western Water Tribeswoman kneels as she scans the area.
Sada listens closely as she hears faint footsteps. The young woman takes cover between two boulders. She peeks her head down an incline as she sees two Earth Kingdom troopers. One has dug a hole and there is a shovel laying on the ground. The bodies of two slain ambassadors are tossed down the hole.
One is an earthbender and the other is a sword-wielder. The earthbender claps his hands and the hole is immediately sealed. Earth Kingdom swordsman: "Wait a minute, I never needed to use this shovel, why didn't you just do that in the first place?"
Sada leaps down and swats both of them with a thumping water whip. Both fly into a large cliff that is about twelve meters out. Sada wonders, Looks like the ambassadors were attacked. The crew needed to relocate, now they could be anywhere. I need to get back to Endinga and tell everyone else.
Fulipo stands in his personal chambers with two of his guards. He is sitting in a green leather chair behind a dark brown table with gold ends. One of Fulipo's lieutenants, Vito enters the room. He is bald with copper brown skin, long black eyebrows, curly brown hair, yellow-green eyes, a thin frame, small lips, and a curved nose.
Vito wears light fern green armor with darker seaweed green plates and pauldrons. Vito has a dark brown belt that is carved from an alligator's skin. He also has two silver earrings on his left ear. Fulipo crosses his fingers, "What is it, Vito?"
The lieutenant responds, "Sada has found our troops. She has exposed us. That girl could ruin everything we've worked on." A furious Fulipo pounds his right fist into the table. Elsewhere, Kett, Calveko, and Kashen play a game of hearts.
Kett laughs and waves his right hand, "Hahaha, I have a queen of spades."
Kashen: "Wow, this is the most animated he's been all day."
Calveko: "I'll say, he sure is fired up." Five Earth Kingdom troopers storm into the room. Two draw their swords, two have spears, and the one in the center of the formation is an earthbending sergeant.
Endingan sergeant: "Fulipo would like to speak with you." Calveko and Kashen dart their eyes at Kett.
Kett throws his hands up and decides to be diplomatic until Sada shows up, "Alright, you got me. Let's see what he wants." Kett, Calveko, and Kashen walk with wooden handcuffs. The guards escort them to a wide stone building with a parakeet green roof as well as multiple columns that hold it up. It is the Endingan City Hall.
Two spear guards salute the Earth Kingdom team as they step into the structure which has smooth cream-colored walls, a white floor, and a light green ceiling. Kett and his companions are walked into Fulipo's chambers.
Fulipo darts his eyes at Kett, "Well, we meet again."
Kett: "I guess so. This is the warmest welcome I've had, I don't exactly enjoy being in handcuffs. What happened?"
Fulipo hides his intentions, "We just had an investigation on some unusual matters regarding some visitors. Of course, you will be seen as innocent until proven guilty which means you will be released if we find that you are indeed blameless."
Calveko: "I don't think that's a good form of due process. Shouldn't we go free until you find out we are guilty?"
Fulipo quips, "I'm afraid I can't do that. I must hold you in case you are involved in the heinous crimes that were recently committed."
Kett stares blankly at the Earth Kingdom official, "And what exactly were these heinous crimes?"
Fulipo: "Espionage and public disturbance."
Calveko whispers to Kashen, "I think he just came up with that."
Kashen: "He definitely did. The second charge doesn't even sound that bad." The trio are escorted to a local holding cell that is bound by stone bars. The walls, floor, and ceiling are all made of greyish-green brick.
There are two old bunk beds. Kett looks up at the ceiling. Calveko: "What's the plan big guy?"
Kett: "We'll, I am a firebender."
Kashen: "Oh yeah, I almost forgot that with your new eyes." Kett concentrates and his cuffs are blown off by a precise explosion. Kett spreads his hands and fires two precise bursts of fire into Calveko and Kashen's cuffs, freeing them.
Kett smiles, "It never felt so good to be a firebender."
Calveko: "And now for the grand escape." Kett wonders if he should wait for Sada to reveal herself, but she might have no idea what's happening, so he decides to just get to work.
Kett cracks his knuckles, "Alright, stand back boys." Kett blows the bars off their hinges. Three guards spring into action. Two have maces and one has a spear. Kett points his right hand and zaps a fire bolt into a mace guard. Kett pops a flame beam into the spear trooper then swivels his hand and burns the remaining soldier.
Calveko picks up a mace, "I really want to get my sword back, but this will do in the meantime." Kashen does the same. Calveko: "These things are kinda heavy."
Kashen: "Quit you're whining you baby." The trio march toward the exit when they see two swordsmen and an earthbender stand across them with several other Endingan warriors further behind them. Kett pumps two flames into the duelists.
Kett jabs a line of fire at the earthbender's head, but he dips under the blast. Kett low left kicks a flame into the man's kneecap, "ouu!" Two warriors step ahead with axes and battle shields. Both are burly. One charges Kett and the other rushes after Kashen.
Kett pushes both of his hands and blows a rectangle of flames at the shield warrior. The man stomps his shield down and absorbs the hit. The trooper raises his shield and storms at Kett again as he spirals at him with a left swing. Kett lifts himself with a spark of bright orange and yellow fire as he zooms behind his opponent.
Kett strikes low with a flame belt. The shield warrior makes an effort as he skips over the flame and Kett pushes a fireball into his chest. The ground shakes as he hits the deck. The other axe warrior goes for Kashen. He thrusts his axe high, and Kashen holds his grip tight and high as he attempts to block it.
The soldier is too strong and knocks Kashen's mace out of his hands. It sticks into a wall behind him. Kashen gasps, "Good thing that isn't my sword." The vanguard jumps at him and lunges lower with a stomach jab. Kashen hops on the man's back and repeatedly hits him in the back of his head but the blows have little effect.
Kashen: "Take that, you big useless bull." The guard shakes side to side as he attempts to wiggle the Water Tribe fighter off him. He runs backward as he tries to slam Kashen against the wall. Kash jumps off and rolls against the hard floor. The man raises his axe as he looks to finish him while he is down, but Calveko intercepts the blow.
Calveko catches the axe in a unique spot then lifts it rapidly causing it to fly into the ceiling. The large man looks up in surprise for a moment then Calveko thuds his weapon into the man. Calveko helps Kashen up. The man with dual swords bounces at Kett with a diagonal spinning sweep.
Kett bobs low and left before rotating his right leg and back-kicking a fireball into the man's upper belly. Three troops come again. This time two have spikeball whips and one has a double-bladed silver sword. The man with the double sword charges directly at Kett.
Kett pops two fireballs at the duelist and the man pivots his blade diagonally as he blocks each fireball. The duelist slides at Kett with a blinding horizontal slash. Kett jumps over the hit and nails the man with a flying knee to his jaw. Kett lands like he's taking a knee.
One warrior whips his spikeball at Kett. The Vindicated Avenger turns and grabs onto the whip before transferring convection heat into it which incapacitates his foe. The guy gets laid out then Kett grabs a hold of the weapon and tosses it into the remaining guard.
Kashen and Calveko step behind Kett. Calveko keeps a hold of a mace while Kashen acquires a sword. The three of them charge out of the structure as they head straight for Fulipo.
The Real Fight Begins
Two swordsmen, two archers on horse-camels, and an earthbender face off against the trio. Kett looks at his comrades, "I hope you two are ready."
Calveko taps his weapon, "Never been readier."
Kashen clutches his sword, "Samesies." One of the archer riders propels two arrows at Calveko. The UW soldier dives left into the dirt. Kett flicks a fireball in the man's face and the creature gallops at him. Kett dives on the horse-camel and redirects it.
The second horse-camel rider fires an arrow at Kett, but he lays forward so that it zooms over his body. Kett looks up and shoots a stream of flames into the sharpshooter. Kashen diagonally blocks a high horizontal head-strike then counters with a swing at his enemy's midsection.
The Earth Kingdom swordsman spins a few inches back and Kashen promptly severs his head. Kett beams a blaze of fire into a swordsman as he accelerates on his newly tamed horse-camel.
Four swordsmen and an earthbender press on into the fray. Sada flips down from a rooftop and extends her hands as she knocks the earthbender and a duelist back with two water streams. Sada pulls her hands right then shifts them left as she flushes away the other three with a fountain of cool water.
Kashen shouts and grins, "Sada!"
Sada smirks back, "Let's take the fight to them." The team marches toward the city hall's grand front entrance. Three archers and two spear soldiers hold their ground. The archers begin to unleash a barrage of arrows at the team. Sada generates an ice barrier which intercepts the shots.
Sada extends her hands, and a storm of ice projectiles take out the Earth Kingdom unit. The Honor Envoy blitzes the City Hall. A formation of Earth Kingdom troopers wait in the hall. Two shield warriors with maces, two earthbenders, and a soldier with two iron assault hammers step into the fray.
Vito stands behind them with a bronze curved sword. Vito mocks, "So, this is how the United Way handles business? It will be a shame when we ship your tattered bodies back to the United Way hideout at Trondell."
The earthbenders immediately hurl multiple stones at Kett and Kashen. Kett stretches his right hand diagonally as he knocks a shockwave of fire through stones and at one of the earthbenders who launches his body back with an earth propelled thrust. Kashen parries two stones then gets hit in the gut by one.
Kashen moans and crouches under a fourth stone. Another three stones fly at him, but Kett vaporizes the shots with a fire wall that he generates. Kett hurls the wall into the earthbender which incinerates his body, leaving a black skeleton behind.
Sada hurls an entire ice column into the shield of one of the mace soldiers. The man's body is flung eight feet back as he thumps into a marble column. The trooper with dual assault hammers hacks at Kashen with a right swipe. Kashen vertically turns his mace as he thwarts the hit.
The warrior swings down at Kashen's head but the Western Water Tribe warrior but he blocks the blow, but he moves his weapon horizontally as he stops the attack. Kashen feels his fingers and hands tighten from the force of the strike. The warrior lunges again at his head and Kashen bends under the move.
The warrior attacks again by swinging both his blades with a right sweep at Kashen's shoulder and lower side. Kashen slides backward and the man pounds his right hammer at Kashen's nose. Kash sways his mace left as he butts the blow and the combatant swings against with a left blow.
Kashen takes a backstep, but his mace is knocked in the left direction however he still keeps a grip of it. The man steps forward and Kashen uses the momentum of the moment the sidestep ahead and glides his weapon a bit beyond his legs. Kashen pulls his hammer back and slams the man in his back.
Calveko strikes at the last shield and mace trooper, but he parries the hit with his melee tool. The soldier whacks Cal with his shield but Calveko stays on his feet and kicks the man's targe causing him to stumble two inches.
The shield-soldier presses Calveko as he slashes at him with a right swing at his neck. Cal ducks under the hit and pokes his blade into the guy's stomach. Calveko pulls his weapon back as the man falls. Sada extends her right hand and knocks the remaining earthbender out with an elongated water fist.
The team knocks Fulipo's door open as they search his personal chambers. It is empty. Kett: "So much for that."
Calveko: "He couldn't have gone too far." The team exits the chamber, and they see four earthbenders. Two spear warriors are behind the earthbenders. Vito is with the earthbenders and Fulipo is beside him.
Sada peers, "You sure booked it last time we saw you."
Vito replies, "You will not win this time." Jona steps about ten feet behind Vito with several peasants and other villagers. Most of the villagers have pitchforks and farming tools rather than weapons. Some have staffs or daggers but that is the best they can manage.
Fulipo asks, "What is the meaning of this?!"
Jona: "We are sick of you stealing from us and abusing us. I told villagers everywhere what happened. At first, many didn't have the courage to do anything. Most people didn't believe Kett, and his friends were innocent when they got imprisoned. But I was eventually able to get enough clues together to make the truth evident."
Fulipo looks at Vito, "How did this happen? I have more troops than that. They should have barricaded you from entering. How the vines wasn't I informed?!!"
An Earth Kingdom captain steps beside Jona, "Because we let them." Fulipo gasps.
Another Earth Kingdom trooper steps up, "That's right, after more people heard of what you did and what we did, many of us couldn't bare to do this anymore. It's time to make things right." The captain enters his battle stance, and a few soldiers draw their swords.
Fulipo, Vito, and his guards look around as they discover they are surrounded. Kett chuckles, "Oh how quickly the momentum can change."
Sada: "So now Fulipo, we will discuss things from our terms."
Fulipo drops to his knees, "Please, please, mercy! I will give you all whatever you want. Gold, weapons, trade information, diamonds, food, anything...."
Sada: "How about JUSTICE?!"