Chapter 28: Pai Sho

Walking out of the alleyway, Genji scratched the back of his head before heading to the port and finding a ship that helps with travel.

It didn't take long before Genji found a boat and to his surprise, it was one that was heading to the Earth Nation.

'Hm… I think it will be better to head to the Northern Water Tribe. Use this as a chance to level up my waterbending,' thought Genji as he remembered the skill that is really low in level compared to the firebending skill and his other two combat skills.

Not to mention that he would want to meet Toph if he does end up going to the Earth Nation.

'It'd be better to just head to the Northern Water Tribe for now and prepare for when Aang and his team goes there,' thought Genji as he paid the sailor before boarding the ship heading to the Earth Nation.

It was a much better choice for Genji to go through the Earth Nation to get to the Northern Water Tribe. Especially in these war times that the Fire Nation has caused.

Genji wouldn't attract much attention that way.

Not to mention that he was being followed by a firebender sent by Azula. Traveling from boat to boat, Genji would be able to lose the firebender. If he doesn't, then he still has some ways to get rid of him that doesn't involve killing.

Entering the boat, Genji sat down and noticed some people playing a game shown very often in Avatar.

Pai Sho.

'Hmm… it's very interesting. Should I give it a try?'

Approaching the group of people playing Pai Sho, Genji asked the first person he saw, a middle aged woman.

"Excuse me miss, but how do you play this game?" asked Genji as he gestured to the games two pairs of people were playing.

The woman raised her eyebrows and chuckled a little, "You're interested in Pai Sho young man?"

Nodding, Genji said, "Indeed. I've seen people play this game often and I grew very interested in it as of lately."

"Really? Not too often when a young person like you find interest in old people games like these," said the woman as she brought out another Pai Sho game and set it up on an empty table nearby.

Gesturing to Genji to take a seat before her, the woman patiently answered and listened to Genji as she explained to him how one plays Pai Sho and wins.

'Not too different from Chess and Go,' thought Genji as he looked even more interested in the game. 'It's a game about strategies and tactics. Would this help in leveling up those skills?'

Feeling expectant of the possibility of being able to level up his skills like this, Genji looked even more forward to playing Pai Sho.

"Are you ready?" asked the woman as she passed over to Genji his set of tile pieces.

Genji nodded, "Ready."

Placing down a single tile, Genji looked at the woman and waited for her to make a move.

Before Genji knew it, the boat began to sail and he already noticed the firebender looking at him from afar. Ignoring the firebender, Genji focused on the games of the other Pai Sho players to learn their moves and their thought processes whilst also still going against the woman.

"You have potential," said the woman as she beat Genji for the third time.

[Ding! Skill level up!]

[Ding! Skill level up!]

[<Adept Strategist> (Lvl. 21)]

[<Adept Tactician> (Lvl. 21)]

Genji chuckled and collected his pieces, "If that's a nice way of saying that I suck, then thank you."

The woman laughed and shook her head, "You have a good grasp over the game. You even gave me a hard time. You might even beat me by the time we arrive at the fire nation."

Genji chuckled, "I'll try not to disappoint."

Continuing the game, Genji continued to play against the woman, leveling up his two skills as much as he could.

***

Kyoshi Island, Training Hall

"Hm, you're getting better. You're attacks aren't as sloppy as before," commented Suki as she looked at Sokka with a serious look on her face.

"Which~ still means that I'm pretty good now, right?!" Sokka said excitedly as he grinned smugly.

Just when Suki was about to comment one what Sokka said, Oyaji interrupted them and quickly announced the arrival of Fire Bandits.

"Girls! Come quick, Fire Bandits have arrived at our shores!"

Without time to waste, Suki ran out of the Training Hall and went straight over to protect the villagers with the other Kyoshi Warriors. With Sokka following closely behind, Suki began to urge the villagers to stay hidden before grouping up with the Kyoshi Warriors and preparing an ambush.

"Here they come…" mumbled Suki as she made the Kyoshi Warriors move out to attack.

Quietly, the Kyoshi Warriors moved out and jumped out to attack once the Fire 'Bandits' had entered the village. With great ease, the Kyoshi Warriors took out the Fire Bandits very quickly. However, they didn't have means to stop the fire from spreading and the Kyoshi Warriors had to split into two groups.

With one group focusing on getting the villagers to safe places, the other group worked on defending.

Now, with half of their group gone, the Kyoshi Warriors no longer had the upper hand, until Aang appeared.

"Hey, I'm over here!" yelled Aang as he looked over at Zuko who was standing not too far from him.

"Avatar…" Zuko mumbled as he turned to look at Aang. "Finally you appear."

Aang remained quiet as he stood still, waiting for Zuko's attack. With a calm look on his face, Aang felt his emotions stir when he heard Zuko's next words.

"What did you do to my soldier? I haven't found him after so long… What did you do to him?!"

Shocked by Zuko's words, Aang took a step back, not knowing what to think.

'Did he… die?' thought Aang as his heart began to beat rapidly and fear welled up within him.

As a young and innocent boy who grew up with monks, Aang had been taught that all life is sacred and that taking a life is a terrible thing. Now, with that terrible thing being done, Aang felt his whole life and beliefs being crushed and taken from him.

'I… killed someone?'

"Aang! Snap out of it!" yelled Zuko after noticing Aang not moving.

Aang didn't snap out of it however and was quickly thrown back by a fire blast that Zuko had sent to Aang.

"That guy didn't die, Aang! He's alive!"

'Ri-right… Sokka is right…' thought Aang as he stood back up and faced Zuko, blocking all the fire attacks. 'But what if Zuko is right…'

Bang!

Aang was blasted away again by a fire blast and was now cornered.

"Aang! Protect the villagers!"

Right when Aang was about to submit to Zuko who was ready to tie him up, Aang heard Suki's voice reminding him of the villagers.

'The villagers…

…

THE VILLAGERS!'

With that wake up call, Aang's emotions that were in turmoil quickly settled and fierce sense of determination welled up within him.

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With his eyes lit up as he entered into the avatar state, Aang used airbending to push Zuko away before flying into the air with airbending. Floating in the air, Aang looked at the fire covering many houses and put out the fire with the nearby snow by using some waterbending.

Pshhh!

With the fire extinguished, Aang moved over to Zuko who recovered from Aang's air push. With a worried face, Zuko put up a weak fighting stance as he faced the Aang in the avatar state.

Aang glared at Zuko with glowing eyes and slowly moved his arms, bending the air in the area before making a ring of air around himself.

"Hmph!"

Then, with a simple motion, Aang had blasted that air as Zuko who was thrown far away by the force of the air.

Bam!

Some nearby buildings received some damage and the Aang slowly floated down to the ground in a weak state after the soldiers of the Fire Nation had run away.

"Aang!"

Katara quickly appeared after she had noticed something weird happening to the air. Then, just like she had deduced, Aang had entered the Avatar State for the third time since she had met him.

Quickly, without saying anything, Katara took Aang and Sokka over to Appa before leaving.

She didn't wish to wait for when Zuko would return to attack the village once more whilst Aang recuperated. So she acted quickly and got out of Kyoshi Island with an unconscious Aang and a moody Sokka.

"I didn't get to say goodbye," mumbled Sokka as he looked at the disappearing island.

…

Suki watched Appa fly away before gazing at her surroundings.

'The world is always dealing with this…' thought Suki as she looked at the destruction and the sadness on the faces of the children. 'I need to do something about this.'

Resolved, Suki planned to head out to the outside world to fight against the Fire Nation and to look for Genji.

'I need to look for him… make sure he didn't lie to me…' thought Suki with her eyes darting around nervously. 'He… he didn't lie to me! … right?'

…

Pwishh!

Splashing into the water, Zuko quickly swam up to breathe in air.

"Gaaah! I'll get you next time, avatar," said Zuko as he swam over to the beach where his ship is.

Ggrr…

Whilst swimming to shore, Zuko quickly noticed the water around him being moved around by an external force. Suspicious as to what it could possibly be, Zuko turned around and noticed a large sea monster behind him, the Unagi.

"!!!"

Shocked, Zuko tried to swim faster to the shore whilst the sea monster continued to make sounds behind him.

Hiieekk!

Preparing to attack Zuko, the large beast lifted it's head and quickly struck it's prey.

"Nephew"

BOOM!

Before it could sink it's teeth into it's prey, a large blast of fire hit the Unagi and made it reel back in pain before scurrying back into the water.

"Uncle!"

Raising his head, Zuko looked at the man who saved him from the jaws of death, his uncle Iroh.

"Quick, get to the shore before it comes back!"

With the urging of his uncle, Zuko swam over to the shore before finally getting back on the boat. After getting on the boat, Zuko turned to face his uncle and said, "Thank you uncle!"

"You're my nephew! I would save you no matter what," said Iroh as he chuckled and stroked his beard in amusement at Zuko's gratitude.

Zuko smiled wryly and sighed before heading into the ship and changed his clothes before heading back outside of the ship.

"Prepare to head out after everyone gets back on the ship. We will track the avatar once more and prepare," said Zuko as he looked into the distance to where the large Flying Bison had disappeared to.

"Yes!"

The soldiers moved out and began preparing to head out.

It wasn't long until the soldiers finally arrived and they quickly boarded the ship, With them now on board, Zuko headed out into the sea to track the Avatar's trail once more.

***

[Ding! Skill level up!]

[Ding! Skill level up!]

[<Adept Strategist> (Lvl. 25)]

[<Adept Tactician> (Lvl. 25)]

"Ho~, you've gotten better in just a single day. That's very impressive young man," said the woman as she looked at Genji with a bit of surprise.

Having played against Genji all day, the woman felt like Genji truly had talent for Pai Sho. With just a game, she could feel how he's quickly becoming better. Every move of his is much better than the previous move.

"Means a lot from the person whom I still can't beat," said Genji as he chuckled and collected the pieces once more.

"Okay young man, one more game before I head to drink my tea," said the woman as she gave Genji a smirk and played first.

Genji nodded and followed as he played his next piece with a sharp gaze.

'Heh, definitely much better than when he began playing,' thought the woman as she continued placing tile after tile.

It was like they were placing their tiles without properly thinking on where to put them, making the game look like it was going by fast.

Click!

"Hm?"

The woman's eyebrows raised and she looked at the board with a bit of shock. She looked at the board for a while longer, her eyes looking at every tile intensely.

Sitting back down with a smile on her face, the woman chuckled and said, "You win young man."

'Finally!'

[Ding! Skill level up!]

[Ding! Skill level up!]

[<Adept Strategist> (Lvl. 26)]

[<Adept Tactician> (Lvl. 26)]

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