New Beginnings
Chapter 20
Written by rachel76m
Edited by Don Kaufman

The list of characters mentioned in this story belong to the various authors that created them. This is a fan-fiction story.

~~~000~~~

We wake up in the morning when we hear the knocks on the door again. “Knock! Knock! Knock! . . .”

I get myself up and walk to the door. “Is it daybreak again?”

“It is, sir.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

The morning proved to be a repeat of the last two days. Once we get done with our breakfast in the inn, we make our way back to Toph’s Metal Bending Academy.

We gather together inside the dojo and face Toph one more time.

“Okay, students. We will now do remote earth bending, earth shelter, quicksand, earthquakes and fissures. To do these five earth moves, we need to go outside one more time.” Toph picks up eight coils of metal cable from a nearby table. She also picks up eight sashes from another table.

We follow Toph to the back side of the dojo. “To do remote earth bending is going to be very similar to what we did inside the dojo by focusing our minds on the coins and cables while being suspended in the air. Now, there is no roof out here. How are we going to do it? I’ll tell you how. Each one of you will put a metal cable around your waist. You will all be blindfolded with these sashes. Then I’ll raise and suspend you all high in the air. Then with your minds you focus on the ground underneath you. You can manipulate the earth into whatever shape you want. When that is done, I want you to throw large pieces of earth at each other and defend it. This is to expand your minds again to think outside the box. Brianna, I want you to practice this as well. You may never know what hostile situation you will be in.”

We all respond in one voice, “Yes, Toph.”

We focus our minds on the metal coils in Toph’s hand. We bring them to us quickly. We get the coils wrapped around our waists. Then Toph gives us a sash for our eyes. “Don’t put the sashes on yet. Get far apart from each other first.”

We soon walk to spread ourselves apart from each other in a very large circle. We put on the sashes to blindfold our eyes.

“Is everyone ready?”

We all shout out loud in one voice. “Yes, Toph.”

Toph focuses her mind on the eight metal coils around our waists. She then lifts us high into the air. To me, it feels we are about three hundred feet in air. Once we feel ourselves stopped in the air. We start focusing our minds on the ground underneath us.

Each one of us starts using our minds on the ground underneath us. We create various objects of earth. Some of us lift pieces of slabs of dirt and erect mini fortresses. Some of the students create large round boulders of compressed earth.

For myself, I create a series of very thick slabs of dirt and pile them on top of each other. Then I create about ten boulders of compressed earth. Brianna senses my actions. She does the same thing as well.

After a half hour, we hear Toph speaking out loud, “All right students. Now have a dirt fight among yourselves. Don’t forget you need to protect yourselves while you are doing an offense against another student.”

Soon, we see in our minds many pieces of boulders and slabs of dirt raised into the air. Brianna and I raise up a very thick slab of dirt in front of us. I use my mind to bring up three boulders and toss them very fast at three different students. Brianna does the same tactic as well.

When the compressed earth pieces hit our slabs, the boulders break apart quickly. The other students soon realized they need slabs of earth in front of them as well for protection.

Brianna and I take the broken pieces and recompress them into six boulders again. We toss them very fast at the other students.

Down below on the ground, the fairies are standing guard near Robert. If any pieces of dirt fly in their direction, they control it quickly to protect Robert. Robert has a smile on his face.

From Toph’s perspective, she has a smile on her face. She sees a great dirt fight being played out in her mind.

Some students find their own shields of dirt are not thick enough to block the attacks. The slabs quickly crumble in front of them. They desperately bring up thicker slabs of earth from the ground for protection.

After a half hour of having this dirt fight, Toph speaks up really loud, “All right students. It’s time to end this dirt fight! I’m bringing you down to the ground.”

We let go of the earth that we used, letting it fall down to the ground. With our minds, we create a smooth landing area directly underneath us. We find ourselves floating back down to the ground. Once we are on the ground, we take off the blindfolds. We start walking back to Toph.

“That was a great dirt fight, students. From my perspective, I can tell Richard and Brianna planned ahead with their thick slabs of earth ready for protection. You have to think that first, students. Because, if you don’t protect yourself, you might find yourself on the ground unconscious from an attack. Now, while we are out here, I want you to create a very compressed boulder about a foot in diameter. It is another earth bomb. However, I want you send it to the ground and make it the biggest impact with the highest speed possible. I want you to see the difference from yesterday’s earth bomb. You will do it one at a time.”

We focus on the dirt in front of us. We each bring up bowling ball size of dirt. We start compressing the dirt as much as possible. We keep adding more dirt to the projectile we are creating. We keep compressing the dirt until it becomes a very hard boulder a foot in diameter. One by one, we lift our compressed earth ball high above us. We send it down to ground very fast about three hundred feet from us. When it impacts the ground, the earth shakes from the impact.
“BBLLLLAAAAAMMM!!” “RRRR-RRRrrrruuum-uuum-bbbbllleeee!!!!”

“BBLLLLAAAAAMMM!!” “RRRR-RRRrrrruuum-uuum-bbbbllleeee!!!!”

“BBLLLLAAAAAMMM!!” “RRRR-RRRrrrruuum-uuum-bbbbllleeee!!!!”

“BBLLLLAAAAAMMM!!” “RRRR-RRRrrrruuum-uuum-bbbbllleeee!!!!”

“BBLLLLAAAAAMMM!!” “RRRR-RRRrrrruuum-uuum-bbbbllleeee!!!!”

“BBLLLLAAAAAMMM!!” “RRRR-RRRrrrruuum-uuum-bbbbllleeee!!!!”

“BBLLLLAAAAAMMM!!” “RRRR-RRRrrrruuum-uuum-bbbbllleeee!!!!”

“BBLLLLAAAAAMMM!!” “RRRR-RRRrrrruuum-uuum-bbbbllleeee!!!!”

We feel the vibrations with each impact. We each created a very large crater in front of us. It is about fifty feet in diameter and about twenty feet deep in the middle of the bowl.

“That’s incredible, Toph. I didn’t realize a small object could create a large area of devastation.”

“That’s right, Ho Tun. It is the energy from the high velocity to the ground that is driving it. Okay, let’s create some earth shelters. However, in this case, you are using your feet to create them. Do not use the hands at all. Watch how I do it.”

We gather behind Toph. We watch her feet. We see Toph slides her foot in a short arc. Then she steps into the ground before the arc. “Step!” Immediately a three pointed structure with a roof jump up from the ground, “R-R-R-UUTTT!!” The walls and roof are about two feet thick.

“In case you wondering how I did it, by sliding the foot first, it sends the vibrations into the ground before you step into it. Now you all try it.”

We all spread apart in the area again. We each try it, including the fairies.
We find ourselves with mix results in shape, pattern and size. Some of them can shelter two people. There are some shelters that can have six people underneath it. When the fairies tried it as a group effort, they discovered the shelter is very big and can shelter Brianna, Robert and me safely. They are all smiling that they can do it together. Even Robert has a smile on his face when he sees the shelter the fairies made.

“That’s great everyone. Okay, we’ll now break for lunch.”

The badgermoles immediately come out and smooth out the area to get ready for the afternoon training sessions.

We walk back into Yu Dao. I push Robert’s carriage as we walk up to a different noodle wagon from yesterday. The owner smiles. He is serving Toph’s students. Our fairies are in butterfly mode drinking the sweet nectar from the flowers nearby. Brianna and I take turns in feeding Robert. Once we are done, we walk back to Toph’s Metal Bending Academy.

We follow to the backside of the dojo like we did this morning. “All right students, we are now going to do quicksand first, then earthquakes and fissures. This is where we sink someone into the ground. Since we are all earth benders, we can get ourselves out very easily. But, this is for someone who doesn’t know how to do earth bends. We can sink them into the ground to immobilize an army. We can also use it to create a soft landing if we are falling down to the ground. Sand benders can also create harder projectiles or for a firmer grip on the ground. So, I want you to sink each other into the ground and have your head above the ground. I want you to see if you can free yourself just using your own strength for about a quarter-mark. Do not use any earth bending to get yourself free.”

We make a circle and face each other. We quickly sink another student into the ground and leave our heads above the ground. We try using our own strength to free ourselves for about fifteen minutes. We soon come to the realization that we can’t move at all.

“That’s great, students. You can even make the ground more compact to keep them immobilized if you need to. All right, free yourselves by using your earth bending talent.”

We quickly focus on the ground around us to make the soil loose. We then push the dirt underneath our feet to rise up from the ground and stand on the ground. We see ourselves very dirty. We’ll definitely be taking a bath tonight.

“That’s great again, students. Now we are going to do earthquakes and fissures. Remember that we need to keep it confined to this training area. You can use your hands, feet or hammers to do this. You can use earthquakes or fissures to throw opponents off balance. You can use it to sculpt a landmass or to slice large chunks of rock clean off a surface to create avalanches or rock falls. The advance earth benders can make very narrow fissures for precise attacks.”

Toph makes a quick step with her right foot on the ground. “Step!” A long meandering line appears in the ground. She uses her hands to guide the direction of the fissure. “RRR-rrrumm-bbbblleee!” It is about two feet wide and about two hundred feet long. We all take a look into the fissure she created. I estimate the fissure trench is about twenty feet deep.

“Now I am going to create an earthquake here.” She stomps her right foot on the ground again. “Step!” It sends out another crack in the ground. She uses her hands to force the two sides to rub against each other by three feet. “RRR-rrrrummm-bbb-bbbllleee!!!”

We feel the vibrations from the ground as she creates the local earthquake.

“All right, this time, get in a straight line and spread yourselves out like before.”

We get ourselves about two hundred feet apart from each other. We focus on the ground. We all step into the ground at almost the same time. Quickly, eight fissures meander out from our feet. Some of the students use their hands to create sharp angles in the fissures. When the fissure encounters a large mound, the mound is split in half! “RRR-rrrr-rrrr-rrruumm-mmmbbbblleee!!!”

Once we finish our fissures, immediately the family of badgermoles comes out to smooth out the training area. We wait patiently until they are done. Once they are cleared of the area. We strike our feet onto the ground to create the local earthquakes. We use our hands to slide the two sides together. Immediately the training area is shaking with many ground vibrations. “RRRRR-rrrrrRRR-RRR-RRRR-rrrummmm-RRRRUUUMMM-rrrruummmbbbbllleeeee!!!”

We smile that we are able to accomplish it.

“That’s great everyone. Everyone did a great job. Richard, thank you very much for showing up. You have the makings of being a great earth bender on your world.”

“Thank you, Toph.”

The other six students all clap their hands as we gather around Toph.

“Well, it is time for us to go. I need to do a promised visit to the Northern Water Tribe. I promised I would show the water animal moves to Master Pakku, if I came back here again.”

“Don’t forget to wear those thick over coats to keep you warm. When are you leaving, Richard?”

“After tomorrow morning, Toph. First we have to get cleaned up tonight. I noticed we are a bit dirty from today.”

Toph smiles, “At least. It is clean dirt.”

“Yes it is, Toph.”

We all laugh and giggle at Toph’s joke.

Then a gentleman walks into the training area. We all walk toward him.

“Toph, I have some interesting news for you,.”

“What is it, constable?”

“You are going to have a sudden increase in students here. I have had many people make inquiries about your dojo here. I estimate at least fifty people from the young people to the adults to be here tomorrow morning. They want to learn how to metal bend at your academy here. There could be more as they arrive here in the next several days.”

“Gulp . . .” She turns to her original six students. “I expect the six of you here, but bright and early tomorrow morning like before. It seems the six of you have been promoted to temporary instructors. I still to want make sure you are helping them to be good metal benders.”

The six students all smile, “Yes, Toph!!”

We walk over to Robert’s carriage. I ‘click’ the basinet to detach it from the rollers. I carry Robert’s basinet while Brianna carries the folded up carriage rollers. Immediately all of our fairies flutter into our coat pockets to hide. We all leave the training area and walk around the dojo back to the front entrance of Yu Dao. The six students thanked me for the inspiration I gave them to be better metal and earth benders.

We walk back to the inn and stop at the front desk.

“We’ll be spending one more night here, ma’am. In the morning, we’ll be on our way after the morning breakfast.”

“Thank you for telling me that, sir. We’ll have the bill made up to pay off the balance that you owe, sir.”

“I greatly appreciate that, ma’am.”

We walk back to our rooms to get cleaned up. I set up the fairy’s shower like before. Brianna takes Robert and brings him into the bathroom to get cleaned up in the tub. While she is doing that, I take the pillows and the blankets in the carriage and placed them in the drawer. I close the drawer and recite the cleaning spell. When I open the drawer, I see everything is clean. I put them back in Robert’s carriage.

Once Robert is cleaned up and smelling nice. Brianna comes out and puts on a clean powdered diaper for Robert.

One by one, the fairies get cleaned in their shower set up. Brianna goes back into the bathroom and uses the tub to get herself clean. After fifteen minutes or so, she comes out with a towel around her torso. Her hair is wet from using the shampoo to get her hair clean. I then go into the bathroom to get myself cleaned up in the tub. It takes me about fifteen minutes to get myself cleaned up and use the shampoo for my hair.

We get ourselves nicely dressed for one more dinner in the inn. It is another chicken type meal with vegetables. The fairies have their own meal with the nuts, fruits and honey-water cups they made.

After the dinner we walk back to our rooms. We put on the multi-pocket coats. Quickly, the fairies fly into the pockets to get comfortable. We do another stroll down the sidewalks watching the sunset while the fairies are sipping the sweet nectar in butterfly mode. We see the clouds change color as the sun sets. Then we see the stars appear in the night sky.

We stop by the front desk to let them know what time for us to wake up. “Ma’am, we’ll you please knock on our door one mark later.”

“Of course sir. It is time to sleep in a bit and be totally relaxed.”

“Yes, it is, ma’am.”

We enter our room for one more night. We get ourselves ready for bed by changing our day clothes to the night clothes. Once we get under the covers, we soon fall fast asleep. Robert has a smile on his face while he sleeps in the carriage.

We wake up in the morning when we hear the knocks on the door. “Knock!!” “Knock!!” “Knock!!” I get up from the bed and walk to the door. “I am here, ma’am.”

“Thank you, sir. It is now the first mark in the morning from daybreak.”

I walk over to the bed and sit on the edge of the bed. “It is time to wake up everyone.”

“We hear you father, mother, Omega.”

We slowly drag ourselves from the beds. The fairies do another shower to wake themselves up. Brianna gets herself changed as well. She then focuses on Robert to make sure his diaper is okay and not soiled. The fairies quickly take their blankets and pillows to their satchel and put them away. Then they take apart their shower setup and put it into the satchel.

We pack up our satchels and leave them on the bed. The fairies have their morning meal while we have our last morning meal here at the inn. We get done in about forty-five minutes. We return back to our rooms to put on the multi-pocket coats and satchels. The fairies quickly flutter into the coat pockets. Soon, their heart beats are in tune with ours.

We exit the room and walk to the front desk. I square up the bill with the front desk. It takes two more gold coins to pay it off.

We exit the inn and walk down the sidewalks. We hear the Creator in our minds.

You need to enter a narrow alley on your right. Then walk down the alley about twenty feet. Then you will be beamed up to the Emissary’s star ship.

Thank you, Creator.

We look to our right a few times until we see a narrow alley on the right-hand side. We walk down the alley way for about twenty feet. We come to stop. Immediately we are beamed aboard the Emissary’s star ship.

“Well done, everyone. Now you are ready to visit Japan and China in six months. We are going to drop you off outside the Northern Water City here. We have some thicker coats here for to wear down there.”

“That’s great, Emissaries.” We take the warmer coats and put them on. We also see a smaller furry blanket for Robert’s carriage. Brianna puts his beanie cap on, then the three blankets we brought are tucked all around Robert. Brianna puts a warming spell on the blankets and the beanie cap. Then the furry blanket is tucked around Robert. Robert is smiling. He is now very warm.

We put the face masks on, then the hood to cover our heads.

“You should be here for about two hours, no more. Then come back to the same location where we dropped you off. Then we’ll beam you back up here and take you home. You will see Pakku walking a level below your location.”

“Yes, Emissaries. We understand.”

An emissary pushes a button on the panel. We disappear in a blink of an eye. We see ourselves just outside one of the outer buildings of the Northern Water City. We feel the cold wind blowing across the landscape. We immediately start walking into the city.

We feel the wind has calmed down some as we approach a building. We lower the face masks to reveal our faces. Once we get past the first building, we see the central complex off to our right. I unlatch the basinet from the carriage wheels. I carry Robert’s basinet while Brianna carries the carriage wheels. As we descend the stairs to the next level, we see Pakku walking along a wide sidewalk.

He looks up and smiles at us. “Richard and Brianna, it’s good to see you. Have you come to show some water animal moves from your world, Richard?”

“I am, Pakku.”

“That’s great, Richard. I need to do an errand before I see them. Please follow me.” He sees I am carrying a basinet. “My, my, I see you are with a child.”

“Yes, Master Pakku. His name is Robert.”

Once we are on the same level with Pakku, I reconnect the basinet to the carriage wheels. We each take turns in pushing Robert’s carriage. We follow Pakku until he arrives at his destination. He knocks on the door, “Knock! Knock!” He waits for a moment or two until the door opens.

“Good morning, Master Pakku! What’s this I see behind you? Hello, Richard and Brianna.”

“Good morning, Ratook.”

“I know you just came back from Ba Sing Se yesterday, Ratook. I need to relay some information to you that happened about five days ago.”

“What happened, Pakku?”

“Apparently, someone in our midst tried to use blood bending on a buffalo yak.”

“Do we have any idea who did it, Pakku?”

“Torin was there with his buffalo yak mount. The injured buffalo yak told Torin’s mount they are waiting for the Omega Unicorn to help heal him.”

“Were you able to heal the buffalo yak, Richard?”

“We were able to get him healed, Ratook. We also sensed his joints and limbs were highly stressed into unnatural positions.”

Both Ratook and Pakku shouted at the same time. “What?!!!”

“Now that is really bad, Richard. According to Torin this happened about five days ago.”

“Has anyone left the Northern City, Pakku?”

“There was a group of people who left the port here in a boat that same afternoon.”

“Sigh . . . that means they are long gone by now, Pakku. There is no way to track that person down now.”

“Well, let’s see some different water animal moves from Richard.”

Ratook smiles, “Yes, let’s see some different water animal moves.” Ratook turns around to make sure the door is locked. We follow Ratook and Pakku back to the main complex. They take a right-hand turn and enter a large area where people are practicing their water bending moves. Torin and several soldiers follow as well to join the group.

I take off the satchels and place them near Robert’s carriage. I open the thick coat. Quickly, my fairies flutter out from the pockets and fly to Brianna quickly. She opens her thick coat. The fairies quickly flutter into the coat pockets. Brianna then buttons up her thick coat.

Ratook and Pakku smile in seeing the fairies again.

I recite a spell to my clothes to warm them up. I take off my multi-pocket coat and hand it to Brianna.

“The three animals for the second sash are the monkey, the horse and the chicken. The three animals for the third sash are the frog, turtle and the duck. The three weapons are the iron monkey fist, iron claws and the iron frog darts. But first, I need to make a tree here.” I wave my hands at the ice before me. I quickly make a tree of ice with large lower branches that can support my weight. The lower branches are at least eight feet up from the ground.

I get into my stance. “The first animal is the monkey. Pakku, please have some steel ice balls floating in the air when I use the weapon.”

“I’ll be glad to do that, Richard.”

I then crouch down and move around like a monkey. I jump up high and kick out my feet like a monkey. When I land, I cross my arms as I do the two-finger slash around me. I then jump up and reach for the tree branch. I swing my legs around and sit on the tree branch. Then I jump out and kick my feet outward again like a monkey.

Ratook and Pakku smile that I’m acting like a monkey. They remember seeing Momo acting this way when Aang brought him here the last time.

“Get those ice balls ready, Pakku.”

“Yes, Richard.” Quickly, Pakku creates about fifty steel ice balls and have them floating in the air around me.

I reach out to the ice field. I quickly create two monkey fists with a string of water that is three feet long for each hand. I start spinning them around like a helicopter. Once the monkey fist hits a floating steel ice ball, it quickly explodes into ice powder! “Crack! Poof!”

I extend the water string to hit the furthest ice balls. I hit all fifty steel ice balls quickly!! “Crack! Poof!” “Crack! Poof!” . . . . “Crack! Poof!” “Crack! Poof!”

Ratook and Pakku are smiling widely now.

“Now, I’m doing the chicken moves. This involves a compact style of leg kicking in a tight space. The weapon is the iron claws for the hands. Since, I can water bend, I can have those iron claws on my feet as well. There is also a distraction move as well.”

I create the claws for my hands and feet from the monkey fist I used earlier. I start slashing the chicken moves with my arms and hands in the air around me. When I kick my legs out, they quickly see a devastating move that I can hurt someone badly. Then I kick up ice shavings to create a cloud of ice particles to hide my attacks with my feet and arms. I use my arms and hands to keep the cloud of ice shavings below my head.

I move up to the tree of ice I made earlier. While the cloud of ice shavings is around me, I slash the tree of ice with the ice claws. When I step away, the people see many slashes on the ice tree itself.

“Whoa! That is neat; he was able to hide his attack, Torin.”

“It certainly is.”

I do some more moves with the legs, arms and hands. After five minutes of that, I move into the frog moves. ”The frog can live in the water and on land.” I create a large ice frog and place it near the ice tree. “I will be creating ice darts on my finger tips and shoot them at the ice tree. Again the moves are very compact in fighting.”

I jump around like a frog for a few moves. When I jump high in the air, I kick out legs like a frog while I shoot the eight ice darts from my hands at the ice tree. “Thoo! Thoo! Thoo! Thoo!” “Thoo! Thoo! Thoo! Thoo!” The ice darts quickly hit the ice tree in a tight round pattern. “Thoo! Thoo! Thoo! Thok!” “Thok! Thok! Thok! Thok!”

I jump around like a frog again and doing somersaults in the air. When I land on my hands, I kick out my feet again like a frog. When I land on my feet, I move my arms around like a frog being in a tight space again.

“That’s a familiar weapon here, Pakku.”

“It certainly is, Ratook. He associated with a water animal move that I really like.”

I come to a pause again. “The next animal is the horse, he will be similar to the buffalo yaks here. The moves are the first ones to learn for the earth bender. The main move is the horse stomp.” I quickly create a wide channel of ice water that is twelve feet wide and fifty feet long. I run around the area. They quickly feel the vibrations in the ground. “RRR-rrr-rruumm-bbbbleeee!!” I run to the ice channel of water and leap over the channel in a single bound.

The people are amazed at seeing it. Then I come to a stop. I look at Torin about fifty feet from me. I quickly do the horse stomp at him. I bring my right leg up and strike the ground, “STOOOMMMPPP!!”

He falls to the ground on his rear end. “Owww!” Then everyone laughs around him as they bring him back up to stand. Then Torin laughs as well. “Hah, hah, hah . . .!! That’s a great move, Richard!!”

The buffalo yaks nod their heads up and down in agreement as they grunt with satisfaction!!!

“All right, two more water animals to do. The next one is the turtle.” I quickly create an ice turtle so they can see it. “They can be underwater and hold their breaths up to a minute if they need to. The primary strength is the shell on the backside of the turtle. The turtle’s shell can withstand the strongest blows to the back and not get hurt. There is also strength in the legs and the jaws. Master Pakku, please create an ice tree branch about a hand span in diameter.”

Master Pakku smiles, “Yes, Richard.” He quickly creates an ice tree branch that is about twenty feet long. He keeps it hovering nearby and waits for the signal from Richard.

I get on my hands and knees. I lean forward onto my hands, I quickly kick out my legs like a turtle. I spin around on my hands as I continue to kick out like a turtle. I also turn on my to backside and kick out my arms and legs like a turtle while I spin around in a circle. I turn over and walk around on my hands and knees again. I tense up my back muscles, “Now, Master Pakku!”

Master Pakku quickly swings the ice tree branch onto my back side. It breaks apart into many pieces as it is shattered. “CRRRAAAASSSHH!!”

“Now that’s impressive, Torin.”

“Yes, it is, Northwood.”

I create the three finger claw for my hands. I do the turtle slashes in a compact space again. Once that is accomplished, I stand back up again. “The last water animal is the duck.” I take the ice turtle I created and form it into a duck. I set it down near the ice tree. “Again, the moves are very compact for the legs again. However, the strength is in the duck bill. I won’t be using my mouth to do this, I will be using my hands for that. Master Pakku, please create another ice tree branch.”

“Yes, Richard.” Master Pakku quickly creates another ice tree branch. He keeps it hovering nearby.

I squat down and bring up my arms and hands to look like a duck. When the people look at the ice duck, they see it looks very similar to the one I am making. As soon as I do the pose. I quickly bring my hands down to the ground and kick out my legs like a duck. I do these moves for about two minutes. “Bring the ice branch nearby, Master Pakku.”

“Yes, Richard.” He brings the ice branch nearby.

I immediately jump out from my legs and hit my right finger tips on the ice branch! “CRAACCCK!!” However, the ice branch doesn’t break in half. I use my left finger tips to finish breaking it through!! “CRRRAAACCCKK!!” The pieces fall to the ground. I move around like a duck squatting on the ground. I kick out my legs like a duck. I quickly stand up. I do the hand clasp bow to the people.

Everyone is cheering and clapping that I really did well.

“That was great, Richard! Those were some unique water animals. We enjoyed it very much.”

“I can see the need for the smaller compact fighting styles. You never know what the situation you’ll be in.”

“That’s right, Master Pakku.”

“What are the next set of animals to learn, Richard?”

“If I remember right, it will be the birds of the air. It is time to learn how to fly without my wings. This is for the sixth and seventh black sashes. The eighth and ninth will be fire and the dragons. The tenth one is the spirit.”

“But, in your case, your use of the spirit will be as a weapon while our Avatar takes away a person’s ability to element bend.”

“That’s right, Master Pakku.”

“Well, that was a great demonstration, Richard. I can see already you will be a great animal fighter for your world. Remember to keep the yin yang principal in your mind always. Don’t let your anger control you. Then nothing will be impossible for you.”

“Yes, Master Pakku. Oh, Master Pakku, I need to tell a story to you.”

“What is it, Richard?”

“One day, my fairies and I had a sparring match for practice. They pulled an unexpected move on me. I thought I saw ice fairies coming at me. When they arrived, they revealed themselves to me quickly. Levi, Shiri, Rubio, Ruby, Silva and Silvia did a fire storm right in front of me. It was a combination of fire, wind, water and earth.”

“So, they did it to you as well. Did you take it well?”

“I most certainly did, Master Pakku. I was able to bring up a water shield almost in time. My face appeared sooted with black ash like yours. I told my fairies I loved it.”

Then the fairies and Brianna giggle again when they hear the story again.

“That’s great, Richard.”

I walk over to Brianna. She and my fairies are smiling widely. I put the coats back on. Once the thick overcoat is put on, the fairies quickly fly into the multi-pocket coat. They quickly get their heart beats in tune with mine. I button it up and put the face mask on, then the hood.

“We’ll be picked up from where we came in, Master Pakku.”

“That’s fine, Richard and Brianna.”

We push Robert’s carriage as we walk back to where we were. Everyone else goes back to their business of keeping the Northern Water City humming along.

Once we see the steps, I disconnect the basinet from the carriage wheels. Brianna and I walk up the steps. I then reattach the basinet to the carriage wheels. Once we get past the last building, we are immediately beamed aboard the Emissaries’ star ship.

“That was great everyone. We’ll now take you back to Earth. It will be about fifteen minutes when you left there. Don’t forget that six months from now is the trip to Japan and China.” We take off the warm coats and face masks and give them to one of the Emissaries. That even includes the small furry blanket we used for Robert.

We quickly see our own Earth on the video screen.

“How will I get my fairies there, Emissaries?”

“There a couple of ways, Richard. We can take them aboard here. You fly there. The Creator will direct you to an alley, then we’ll beam the fairies there. Or we could use the Wizard for transportation. Of course, there is the private company jet that will take you there. Which is it?”

“Well, the company is paying for this trip. I will need Sensei Chou, Qiang and Percy Jackson on this trip as well.”

“Yes you will, Richard. When it comes time to face Gaap and his water demons, do it facing the mainland with a half arena behind you. The people need to see them being defeated. Hopefully, the criminal gangs will relent of their stranglehold on the people.”

“Also, this is being played out in the other seven multi-verses. King Azazel is trying to destroy the Japanese Emperor Royalty there to bring more chaos. There is a specific element demon master possessing a Japanese Emperor there.”

“So that means there are two each of the element demon masters. There are two air demon masters, two water demon masters, two earth demon masters and two fire demon masters.”

“That’s right, Richard.”

“How long was the first fire storm we gave King Azazel?”

“It lasted about an hour, Richard.”

“So, when we box them up and send them to King Azazel, the fire storm will last four hours instead of one hour?”

The Emissaries smile. “Heh, heh, heh, . . . That’s right, Richard.”

“Oooh . . . King Azazel will hate that fire storm very much.”

“Yes he will, Richard.”

“Also, you will need to teach the details for the air, water and earth bending to Sensei Chou and Qiang within the next six months.”

“But, first I need to contact Poseidon. He needs to have his son Percy here in Jacksonville.”

“Then go ahead to contact Poseidon mentally, Richard.”

“Yes, Emissary.” I think within myself. Poseidon, can you hear me. It’s me, Richard Moore, you’re surrogate son.

I hear you, Richard. What do you need from me?”

You need to let Percy know that in six months is the visit to Japan. Have him here at our company jet hangar in the Executive Airport at Craig Airport in Jacksonville, Florida.

Thank you very much in telling me that, Richard. I’ll make sure Percy will be there on time. And thank you for helping my son to be a better water bender. I can tell he is much stronger now.

You’re welcome, Poseidon. I have also been told that Azazel is trying to destroy the Japanese Emperor royalty in the other seven multi-verses. He is using two demon element bending masters on each pair. When we box them up, the fire storm will last four hours this time.

Heh, heh, heh, that’s great, Richard. I’ll see you and Percy, six months from now.

See you then, Poseidon. I break the mind link with Poseidon.

“Well, it is time for you to go. We expect to hear a great report from you all.”

“Yes, Emissaries.”

An Emissary pushes a button on the panel. We immediately disappear in a blink of an eye. We appear in the living room of our house. We see on the clocks it is fifteen minutes later when we left.

We proceed to unpack our satchels. Brianna retrieves Robert from his basinet. She carries him up to his room. He has a big smile on his face. Brianna lays him in his crib. She checks his diaper to make sure it is not soiled. She sees a little bit of urine and stools. She proceeds to change the diaper and powders it. Brianna puts the new fresh powder diaper back on. Now Robert is smiling again.

We continue having a relaxing time during the two-week Christmas break.

I call Sensei Chou on my cell phone. “Ring . . . Ring . . . !!” “Click.”

“Hello, Richard. What brings this call?”

“I’m letting you know, Sensei Chou, that we just came back from the Avatar World. I learned a lot of Earth Bending moves from Toph in four days.”

“That’s great, Richard.”

“I do need to teach you and Qiang these first three elements before we leave in six months to Japan and China.”

“I understand, Richard. We look forward to being taught by you. We also need to start on the next set of animals for the next two sashes. It is the birds. You need know how to fly without the use of your wings this time.”

“That’s great, Sensei Chou. I also taught the beginning moves for the blue sash for Brianna.”

“That’s good to hear, Richard. We’ll continue with those lessons when she is here. Well, have a great holiday, Richard. I’ll see you here at the dojo on the second of January.”

“I’ll see you then, Sensei Chou.”

“Click.”