Chapter 11: Is this a date?

Michael looked between the knife in the girl's hand and her face a couple of times. "You know, I think even if you stab me in the throat, I won't die." Ty Lee and the unknown girl looked at him like he was crazy, not knowing what to do after his absurd comment. "Oh sorry, you should start yelling at me in an attempt to protect Ty Lee from the 'pervert', please continue. That was just a thought for later."

"Right… Ahem." She raised the knife higher and pointed the blade at him. "Get away from her and quickly! Ty Lee, you too!"

Ty Lee just tilted her head to the side. "Nah, he already ruined the moment. Azo, please close the door behind you." She finally released Michael and he took a step to the side so as not to anger Azo. Even if he thought he could win the fight with ease, he knew better than to anger an already enraged woman.

Azo closed the door and crossed her arms over her chest, the blade never leaving her hand. "Please say that you at least know who this man is."

Michael looked at Azo and narrowed his eyes. He had never seen her in the TV series, but he knew that there were many more people in the real world than in the cartoon. The girl had black hair, narrow brown eyes, and blood red lips. There was a small horizontal scar under her left eye, as if someone had run a knife across her face. 'Judging by the size and shape of the scar, it was a dull knife. Most likely a knife for meat.'

He thought that it was quite possible that this scar was from a spear or other weapon, but Michael worked with knives a lot, so it was easy to determine which knife was used to make a scar. At least it's easier for him than it was for others.

"Actually, no! But even the best of friends once never knew each other, so I decided to get to know Michael better!" She smiled and put her golden 'Is that a kokoshnik in a shape of a fire?' in the chest beside her bed along with her dress. "Just look what he did to my hair!" She tossed her hair over her shoulder and let it hang loosely down to her back.

"You've never seen him before! He might be the Earth Kingdom spy and you won't even know it!" She hissed harshly, barely able to keep herself from screaming. "Or worse, he could be an assassin sent from Ba Sing Se!"

Ty Lee frowned and looked between Azo and Michael. She didn't like that her friend started yelling at her the moment she let someone into her room. She noticed that this happened every time she met someone new and showed interest in them, but decided to let it go, not wanting to destroy the fragile peace between the circus troupe.

But as with many things, she began to get bored of it soon enough. "Hey, if I were an assassin, I'd have killed her several times by now- no offense." He looked at Ty Lee with apology in his eyes.

"I can stand up for myself if you didn't know. You remember perfectly well what happened to the last one who tried to force himself on me." Ty Lee crossed her arms and glared at Azo with annoyance.

Azo only huffed, knowing that she couldn't win this argument. She gave Michael one last hateful look and flew out of the room like a bat out of Hell. "I feel like there's some history here. But I won't ask."

Ty Lee sighed, but smiled again and grabbed Michael's arm. "Thank you, I'd rather not talk about it. Now let's go, I'll show you the games for visitors!" She ran forward and Michael had no choice but to follow.

"There are games for visitors here?" He muttered and let the energetic girl drag him forward.

Now that he didn't have to hide in the shadows, Michael was able to turn his attention to the crowd of people gathered at the entrance to the main tent. There were several smaller tents in the same red and black colors as everything else in the Fire Nation.

Ty Lee skillfully weaved through the crowd, leading Michael to the first tent. People around seemed to ignore their presence. Michael was very tempted to steal someone's money, but he knew he should better watch out. There most likely were already local thieves here, and he didn't want to mess with them.

There were not as many different games in the tents as one might think. Everything around him looked more like a medieval festival with elements of Fire Bending, but Michael didn't mind. Ty Lee took him from tent to tent where they had a little competition between themselves.

They stopped at the first tent where there were not many people. "Come one, come all! Test your aim in throwing knives!"

Ty Lee gasped and pulled Michael even closer. "Mai will annoy me next time we meet if she finds out I didn't try it!"

They stopped at a wooden table with dozens of identical throwing knives, in the distance there were three targets at different distances: five meters, ten meters and twenty meters.

"Aren't these games open every time after the show?" Michael asked in confusion.

Ty Lee shook her head. "No, we usually don't have enough tent workers. You know how colonies are."

In the end, Michael won 5 to 4. They ran between the tents so fast that he didn't even remember what they were playing. But he remembered that he had won the knife throw, so he was content. Ty Lee was pouting because of his win, so he decided to fix things up a bit.

"Hey, wanna go grab a bite? My treat." He extended his hand towards her and she took it in hers, with a huge smile on her face. Michael wasn't sure where they were going, but he suddenly remembered a food stall near where the cabbages were "killed."

"Let's go, I know just the place." Michael was now pulling Ty Lee towards the city. They didn't notice the figure in the shadows following them.

---

Morning in the colonies of the Fire Nation came quickly, as in almost all cities closer to the equator of the continent. Many people got up with the sun, because in this world - who does not work, does not eat. This also involved one black-haired teenager with heterochromia.

Michael woke up with a loud groan and immediately nearly fell off the hammock. His head throbbed with a terrifyingly familiar pain, and his mind flatly refused to remember exactly what had happened the previous evening. He carefully grabbed the edges of the hammock and just listened to the sounds of nature for a while. Michael didn't even hear a hint of human activity nearby, so the chance of being near the city was slim.

Slowly, cautiously, Michael opened his eyes and immediately covered them with his hand from the blazing sun.

"Ugh… The last time I felt like this was after the New Year… How much did I drink yesterday?" He slowly sat up, trying not to rock the hammock, and looked around.

Oddly enough, he woke up in the woods, his hammock hanging between two tall trees. The strap of his bag was tied around his ankle, but it weighed much more than usual. Michael immediately put it next to him and decided to check the contents later.

"Where's Ty Lee?" He muttered and finally looked around.

Around him were tall trees like maples, but with wrong kind of leaves. The terrain was quite hilly, and Michael could not see even a hint of grass. It was definitely not the same forest near the city that the circus visited. He tried to remember what happened last night and gradually his memories began to return to him.

The evening with Ty Lee was fun, the girl was rather frivolous and did not hold a grudge for his victory in their impromptu competition. They ate something similar to tokoyaki and went to explore the city, where they were lured by another competition in one of the bars.

There they were told that this was a competition of who would outdrink whom, and as a proud Russian, Michael accepted the challenge. He remembered how he drank the first glass of rice vodka - 'sake, I think?' - and then his memory was blank.

"So." He started. "I'm god knows where; I don't remember last night and I don't even know if what I remember happened last night. Ty Lee must have stayed at the circus…" He muttered with a little sadness.

Deciding to take a break, he opened his bag to check its contents and immediately saw a huge problem. His metal staff, which was previously made of shit and sticks - not really, but material was shit and he wasn't a blacksmith - was broken in half. His eye twitched when he saw it. Taking out the broken staff and placing it in the hammock, he began to inspect the inventory.

All of his belongings were in place, so the weight came from something he hid underneath. He looked at what exactly lay at the bottom of his bag and froze. There, curled up in a ball, a fire-red fox was sleeping soundly.

The good thing was that none of his stuff was too heavy or sharp. All of his knives were on his body, and additional ones were wrapped in clothing. If this were not so, the fox would be much worse off. 'How can it even sleep in here?'

Michael just stared at the animal for a couple of seconds, after which he put the bag on his feet. 'I feel like a flayer. Why did I put the poor animal in a bag?' He rubbed his temples, but his mind still refused to help him remember what had happened.

He sat down in the hammock and slowly looked down. As it turned out, he hung high enough from the ground that if an normal person fell from such a height, they would definitely break their neck.

Michael blinked and looked around. He could've sworn he heard-

"Uugh…" Michael's eyes widened as he realized that his mind wasn't playing tricks on him. "My head…" It was undoubtedly Ty Lee's voice. But he had to make sure.

"Ty Lee?" He asked, speaking much more quietly than usual. Michael knew how annoying hangovers can be.

"Mick..?" She asked just as quietly, and he was able to breathe a sigh of relief. "Why does my throat feel like a sand desert?"

A couple of inappropriate thoughts flashed through his mind, but he promptly pushed them aside. Ironically, he always remembered every time he had sex, which was not as pleasant as one might think.

"Apparently we drank too much yesterday… If it was yesterday…" They both fell silent for a couple of minutes. "Any idea why we're both in hammocks a hundred meters above the ground?"

Ty Lee thought for a moment. "No… The last thing I remember is you trying to challenge the Fire Nation Guards to a dance battle." Ty Lee laughed, but immediately fell silent and groaned. "I'll never touch alcohol again…"

"Dance battle?" He muttered. "Did I win?"

Michael heard Ty Lee stand up on the hammock and heard a few pops. "I don't think so. You started out pretty good, but you couldn't drink and dance at the same time."

"Sounds about right." He stroked the fox in the bag without much thought. "Where I got a fox would be too much to ask, huh?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Michael caught a glimpse of Ty Lee sitting carefully on a tree branch next to his hammock and looking at his bag in surprise. "You have a fox?" She asked in surprise. "I've never seen a normal fox in my life." There was childish admiration in her voice and Michael chuckled.

He was pleased to know that Ty Lee was so upbeat, even when neither of them knew exactly what had happened the night before. "Me too," He admitted. "live your whole life behind stone walls and you'll never see the world. My dad used to say that a lot, never got out of the city though…"

Ty Lee looked at him with interest. "Did you live in one of the cities in the Earth Kingdom?"

It was a good question. The cities in the Fire Nation were more like cities in ancient Japan, while the Earth Kingdom's cities were filled with stone and earth. Ty Lee was smart enough to read between the lines, hence her assumption of his hometown. Some say that she is naive, but Michael immediately noticed that behind her innocent eyes there was an undoubted intelligence.

No one survives Azula just because of a pretty face after all.

"Something like that." Michael didn't notice her interested head tilt. "Well, now we need to decide what to do next." He looked around, noticing the river in the distance. They couldn't hear the sound of the flowing water, so it must have been a fairly slow river.

"We need to get down first." Ty Lee said and looked at the ground. Michael had strong doubts about his ability to move normally. Although his throat was already feeling better, his head was still in a world of pain.

"Let's go down… in a couple of minutes." He muttered and fell back into the hammock.

Ty Lee remained sitting on the branch, looking at Michael, she wasn't sure what to think now. She chose not to remember that her… colleagues were still waiting for her at the circus, this thought would definitely send her into a panic. Being completely alone in the woods with a guy she'd only known for a day was the least of her problems.

The problem was that she wasn't sure if she would be accepted back into the troupe. Of course, she was good, but not enough to be irreplaceable. 'As a last resort, they can always ask one of my sisters to take my place.'  She thought bitterly. 'Ah, here are the thoughts about the circus…'

Ty Lee stood up on a branch and walked over to Michael's hammock. She bent over his dormant form and began to examine his face to distract herself. His skin was tanned, but at the same time perfectly smooth, without a single flaw. Her eyes fell on his bandaged arm and she frowned. Someone dared to damage such perfect skin, which in her eyes was a sin. She knew that of all her friends only Mai had the same perfect skin, and she was careful enough not to get scars.

"If you want to cuddle, you can just ask." Michael's teasing voice nearly made her jump, but she caught herself in time.

"Oh, really?" She asked with a smile. "Aren't boys supposed to take the first step in things like this, hmm?"

Michael opened his eyes and looked in her direction. "Yeah, we should, but who said I'm just a regular boy?" He grinned. "And you didn't even deny that you wanted to cuddle."

Michael opened his arms for a hug without losing his grin. Ty Lee tilted her head, as if listening to the advice of someone invisible. She shrugged and began to carefully climb into his hammock. "Scoot over, you'll be the little spoon." 'Maybe it will clear my mind of bad thoughts'

Michael laughed softly and moved over to give Ty Lee enough space. His bag was already on the second hammock, so there was nothing to interfere with them. Ty Lee wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her breasts against his back. He covered her hands with his and did not even notice how he fell asleep again.

---

Azu wasn't in the best mood, no sir. The whole day yesterday went awry after the appearance of this Michael, and the evening where she finally decided to confess her feelings to Ty Lee became… strange.

After their performance, she decided to take a walk, but specifically went in the other direction from the place where Ty Lee and Michael went. But after an hour of walking around the city, the city began to stir with action. Everywhere there were people with alcohol, sellers of all sorts of things, and even dancers from her troupe! When she asked the reason, people just shrugged their shoulders and muttered something about free drinks in a tavern.

Then there were splashes of paint: on houses, on the ground, Spirits, even on people! Azu couldn't believe her ears; someone had bought the paint on purpose just to cover the entire city with it. And then she came across a crowd of people, music and screams sounded from the depths of the crowd. Some made bets, some just shouted, and some served sake bottles to the center.

"Give me vodka, not this piss!" Someone was screaming, but the voice was so drunk that Azu didn't know who it could be. She didn't even know what vodka was. And abruptly the cries were replaced by glee and groans, no matter what was happening in the center of the crowd, it ended and people began to disperse.

"That was fun, wasn't it?" One woman asked her with a kind smile.

Azu didn't even look at her. "I don't know what's going on…"

The woman laughed and patted her on the back. "You'll find out soon, Azu."

She immediately turned around. "How do you know-" But the woman had already disappeared. "my… name?"

You are reading story Journey Home – Starting Line at novel35.com

The strangeness did not end there, there were even more of it. Small things began to disappear around the city and appeared in completely different places. In the armory all the weapons were broken, and what wasn't broken was scratched - she learned about this because of the general's screams, the whole city heard him. She heard talk of how the wall separating the public baths fell down, how the animals began to gather into pentagrams.

And birds. Don't even get her started about the birds.

But the strangest thing was that Ty Lee did not return to the circus. She always returned to the circus. And Azu couldn't stop worrying.

---

A seven-year-old boy sat in the back seat of the car and looked out the window. Bright streetlights flashed past and disappeared faster than he could blink. Moscow was the city that never sleeps, especially today. The New Year was a holiday for the whole country, and especially for the family of three, today they learned that soon there will be another child in their family.

The boy blinked and rubbed his eyes, trying to get rid of the black dots in the corners of his vision. His mother, who was sitting to his left, patted his head and smiled softly, for which she received a shy smile in return.

She never even hoped to get pregnant again, the first birth was too difficult, so the second pregnancy was a miracle for her. The boy suddenly frowned and looked at his mother. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't even make out the color of her hair. He slowly turned his head towards his father and frowned even more. If he even knew that his mother was sitting next to him, then he could not see his father at all.

"Mom?" The woman lowered her gaze to her son, the boy looked frightened and almost cried. "Something is wrong with my eyes."

The woman took his head in her hands and bent down to look into his eyes. "You've been staring at the lights too long sweetie; it'll all be over soon." She leaned over and kissed his forehead and the boy calmed down. If mom says so, then it must be true, but he still felt that something was wrong.

The boy closed his eyes and began to think, maybe he forgot something when they left the house. But he got ready and even checked his bag a couple of times… Wait, where are they going?

"... Mom?" He asked again. "Where are we going?" The woman looked at her son in surprise and frowned. She put her hand on his forehead to check if he had a fever.

"Boris, turn the car around, he's got a fever." She said and put her arm around her son's shoulders.

"That's bad. The nearest hospital isn't that far away, but on New Year's Eve there will be too many people and too few doctors." Boris looked in the side mirror and began to turn the car around.

The boy tried not to panic, knowing that he wouldn't help the situation at all. He was upset that he got sick on such a good day, but decided that he would apologize already in the hospital. He still ruined the day for the whole family, at least in his eyes.

Boris turned the car around and drove on, worried about his son. After a couple of minutes, the boy began to pant and sweat, more from panic than illness.

It even seemed to him that a bright light began to approach in the windshield, but he wrote it off as a trick of his eyes. In the next second, this light became dazzling and the grinding of tires was heard. A second, and the boy was thrown forward, only the seat belt saved him from flying. Something hit the right side of the car and the whole world turned black.

---

Michael didn't wake up with the start, he was already used to the games of his own mind for half a year of isolation in the temple. His memories sometimes came back to him in his dreams, but never before had they been so… personal.

Of course, sometimes he could remember the name of his gang, or remember the next successful robbery, but never something from his early life. A sad smile appeared on his face, he remembered the name of his father only along with the accident that took away his right arm and eye. And he still didn't remember his mother's name.

He sighed heavily and felt Ty Lee's hands tighten around his waist. Apparently, he fell asleep immediately after he closed his eyes. 'Huh… I just wanted to lie down for a couple of minutes.' Michael turned slowly so as not to wake the girl and looked into her face. 'She's cute.'

He returned her hug and pulled her to his chest. His headache was no longer painful as hell and was just a throbbing memory. 'I think I needed this nap.' Now he was confident that he could get down and not break his neck… Hopefully.

Michael closed his eyes again and began to wait for Ty Lee to wake up on her own, he just didn't want to wake the girl. And to be honest, in recent days, he hadn't had time to just stop and rest. This week was a real horror for his nerves.

First there was an abduction by the Spirit, due to which he was stuck in another world. The only good thing that came out of it was a conversation with Iroh. Then there was a long hike through the thicket of the forest, and Michael still wasn't sure if those animals were Spirits.

Spirits don't leave anything after their death, when those animals that he ate had flesh and bones. In the end, he decided that these were normal animals that slipped into the Spirit World through cracks in reality.

Then there was his swim in the sea. Three days of bright sunshine and water. So much water. And, of course, the island of the Air Spirits, how can he forget about the Air Spirits? It was they who told him about his new enemy, whom they were afraid to call by name. 'This is even worse than Voldemort. There it was a Taboo that caused fear, but here it's just pure fear. It's like the gods of this world just didn't have the imagination and stole the plot point from Harry Potter.'

The girl in his arms began to wake up and yawned loudly. Ty Lee also felt better than a couple of hours ago, but her thirst was simply killing her. Michael also had a hard time, but he had long been accustomed to the sensations of a hangover, so he could endure much longer.

"Water." Was the first thing she said. Ty Lee sat up on the hammock and slipped out of Michael's arms, he groaned, already feeling colder.

With a wave of his hand, water from the air gathered into a small ball that hovered in front of Ty Lee's mouth. She stupidly looked at him for a couple of seconds, but decided to roll with it and drank it greedily. Michael also got up and sat opposite the girl, moving carefully so as not to overturn the hammock.

Ty Lee smacked his lips a couple of times. "So… I was cuddling with a Waterbender." She paused, as if thinking about her own words. "Yep, that's on the list of things I didn't expect to do this week."

Michael winced. "Not sure if I'm a Waterbender." He created a ball of water for himself and swallowed it down. Seeing the unspoken question in Ty Lee's eyes, he decided to answer. "I was born outside of Tribes at the South or North Pole and trained without a master. And there are a couple of other signs that I'm definitely unique."

He did not know why he was telling this to a girl who might have to betray him and start hunting for the Avatar. The words poured out of his mouth and he didn't even think about the consequences.

"Huh. You know, I've never seen anyone talk about their uniqueness with such a sour face." Ty Lee said with a smile.

Michael laughed but said nothing. He knew that being unique isn't always a good thing. As the first Dual Bender, every country will try to get him one way or the other. First the army, because of his powers, then the scientists, because of his elements.

"Can you get down from here on your own?" He finally asked. "I'll untie the hammocks and throw them down. Oh, and take my bag with you, but try not to wake the fox."

Ty Lee nodded and climbed onto the nearest branch. She crept up to the second hammock and opened Michael's bag to take another look at the fox, but to her surprise, it wasn't there.

"Um… Mick? The fox is gone." Michael looked in her direction and Ty Lee showed him the open bag. Everything was in place, but on top of everything there was now a leather-bound book.

Michael balanced, as if was struck by lightning. 'This was no ordinary fox. It was one of the foxes in the Great Library! Mother of honor, how did it end up in my bag?!'

The foxes from the Great Library were not ordinary animals, whoever thought otherwise. They were little helpers for one huge misanthropic owl who adored new knowledge. While their master maintained the library, the Foxes traveled the world and exchanged knowledge with people.

The fact that Michael, a man, hated by the world itself, was visited by such an animal and left him a book for free was suspicious. Very suspicious. But Michael decided to leave this problem for later, because the owl fuck wouldn't be able to get him here.

"Okay, it probably woke up before us and left on its own." Michael guessed and also stepped onto the branch. "Then just toss the bag to me and help me untie the hammocks, it'll be faster."

"Oki-doki!" Michael didn't know where Ty Lee got her energy from, but he suspected that he would have to sacrifice someone to be as upbeat.

Together they packed up the hammocks and went down to the shallows. Michael decided to find the city first and went towards the river, knowing that sooner or later there would be people next to the river. They walked slowly and chatted about nothing. Ty Lee talked about the jokes that she did in the circus, and Michael in response gave her advice on how to improve some of her pranks.

When they reached the river, Michael was surprised to see a completely different forest on the other side. And this forest was familiar to both of them.

"Well then. We're not far from the city." He felt Ty Lee tug on his sleeve and looked at her. The girl only pointed towards the city with an expression of horror on her face. Huge black clouds of smoke rose above it. Something was on fire and that was bad news.

Michael froze the water in the river, creating an ice bridge. Without losing a moment, Ty Lee ran across the ice in the hope of reaching the city faster. Michael, on the other hand, lingered for a couple of seconds and raised as much water as he could in the air behind him. If there was a fire in the city, then he could put it out, especially since he was not going to show his face.

Pulling bandages out of his bag as he ran, Michael wrapped his face around and looked like a copy of Zabuza from the Hidden Mist. He also wrapped his arms and torso to somewhat disguise his clothes. 'If I need a name, I'll use Zabuza. If I stole his getup, I might as well steal his name.' All this time, Ty Lee didn't look back and continued to run as if lives depended on it. For all they know, they did.

The trees flew past at lightning speed, and Michael barely had time to finish his preparations before they reached the city. It was still the same city where the traveling circus had stopped, but now is was much more colorful than usual.

Michael broke the huge ball of water that followed him into dozens of smaller balls and hid them on the rooftops where no one would notice them. He couldn't give out his main weapon right now, where people might notice him.

Splashes of paint were visible everywhere - on houses, on roads, hell, even on some people - crushed cabbage lay in the alleys, all kinds of things lay in strange places where they definitely should not be - who puts pots on the roofs? - and for some reason Michael thought that he knew the culprit. But the biggest change was a huge fire on the main street, around which a crowd of people gathered.

"Former citizens of the Earthen Kingdom!" Barked a Fire Nation General from the platform in front of the fire. "I demand that you give us the man named Zabuza and his accomplices!" Michael stumbled and almost fell, 'It couldn't be a coincidence' he thought. "Do it now, and no one gets hurt! Fail to do so, and we'll start throwing your possessions in the fire, and when there is nothing to burn, we'll start throwing people." He growled and nodded to his soldiers.

Michael and Ty Lee stood at the back of the crowd with wide eyes. Michael, because he couldn't understand how his drunken brain could come up with the idea of ​​taking the name Zabuza, and Ty Lee because it was the first time, she'd seen the Fire Nation's brutality. Of course, she saw people being taken prisoner and sent to work in camps all over the country, but she never even thought that soldiers would kill civilians just to find one person. Especially since all the prisoners fought against the Fire Nation soldiers, but civilians? In an occupied city?

"Well? Nothing to say?! Soldiers, start!"

As Ty Lee stood in shock and Michael thought about his life, the soldiers had already started throwing things into the fire. Some screamed, some cried, and one brave soul tried to run up to the fire to save at least some of their belongings, but it was all in vain.

People were whispering among themselves about Zabuza, the man who caused it all. Many saw him last night, but almost no one remembered his face, it was simply too unremarkable. Of course, people knew that he had different colored eyes, but where can they find him now? He might already be on his way to the next city and no one will know about it.

"No! Don't touch it! It's the only thing left of my mother!" Michael, hearing the woman's scream, finally snapped out of his stupor. He immediately broke a couple of balls into steam and began to slowly cover the area with a thick white mist. People started screaming as they saw the rapidly moving fog, and Michael took the opportunity to get closer to the fire.

When he was sure that he had closed the entire main street, he summoned a couple more balls and dropped them on the fire, which immediately went out. And again, people screamed, but after a second, they fell silent, hearing a voice that seemed to come from everywhere.

"Eight points." The voice was emotionless, as if he had repeated this phrase a thousand times already. "Larynx, Spine, Lungs, Liver, Jugular, Subclavian artery, Kidneys, Heart." Everyone heard his heavy steps, but no one knew where they came from. "Usually, when I hunt Fire Nation soldiers, I hit those places. A single blow of the sword is enough to kill."

The mist quickly began to gather in one place, in the center of the street where there were most of the soldiers. "But we don't want people to wash your dirty blood off the stone, do we? They've had enough problems with paint." Michael chuckled, sensing the soldiers' panic. There were no Firebenders among them, they were needed on the front lines, so they had little chance against a Waterbending Master.

Grabbing the general by the throat, Michael snatched the sword from his hands and threw it into the dead fire. The man in his arms was much shorter than him, but ten kilograms heavier, so that he immediately began to choke. "General, I advise you to order your people to stop this clowning before it's too late. After all, I can be less forgiving."

Michael dropped the General to the floor and started collecting mist in his right hand. The crowd gasped in shock as they saw the vortex of mist that quickly became a long ice claymore in the hands of the man who was no doubt Zabuza. But this ice was compressed much more than normal ice, which no one except the Waterbender himself knew.

At that moment, Michael was reminded that he was much taller than almost all the people in this world. He towered over the cowardly form of the general, who was coughing and trying to crawl away from him as soon as possible. The soldiers, seeing the threat, immediately surrounded the podium and a few of the bravest stood in front of their General. Michael let them do it and didn't even move a muscle as he continued to play his part.

Fear and worry could be seen in the movements of his opponents, but they took confidence in their numbers. Now they saw him as a simple Waterbender, not as a threat. 'Well, I just need to fix that.'

"You're surrounded-" The General yelled, but paid for it immediately as a wave of pain hit his throat. "by the fifteen of the best soldiers in this city! I make the rules here!"

Michael looked around lazily, counting the soldiers, there really were fifteen of them. The civilians quickly began to leave the main street so as not to become an accidental victim, but some people remained, they wanted to know how this clash would end. Ty Lee was among them. "All I see is fifteen idiots ready to throw themselves at my blade and die. Cities like this don't get professionals, only sissies who have never been in a real fight."

The city they were now in had long been under the control of the Fire Nation, and few could even come here to try and take it back. If someone was sent here, it was only to fulfill their duty to their homeland without threatening their lives.

"Surrender, criminal!" The young soldier shouted, but his hands were trembling. The spear in his hands went in all directions, like a kite in the storm.

Michael didn't answer, only raised his right hand to the sky. Fifteen balls of water immediately gathered above him and began to slowly circle over the heads of the soldiers.

While everyone was looking up, a thin needle of ice broke off from Michael's sword and immediately flew to the shocked General's right shoulder. The fat screamed and felt his hand lose all sensation. This caught the attention of the rest of the soldiers, who immediately focused on the main threat, occasionally glancing at the water.

"Just because I don't want to kill anyone on my vacation doesn't mean I can't cripple you." He pointed his claymore at the General. "I pierced the bundle of nerves that governs the movement of your right arm, without proper treatment you won't even be able to even wipe your ass anymore."

The balls in the air broke into hundreds and thousands of thin needles that hung menacingly over the battlefield. Seeing the fear on the General's face, Michael continued. "Of course, I'm a little rusty and could've missed, in which case once the senbon melts, your arm will be just fine. But what do I know? I'm not a doctor, just a murderer."

Something began to rise in his memories at those words, but he suppressed the feelings that threatened to resurface at any moment. Previously, he didn't receive memories while he was conscious, so Michael decided to proceed very carefully.

He brought the ice claymore down and felt the splinters hit his feet. The soldiers jumped at his unexpected action and gripped their weapons tighter. "You know, I'll do you a favor. You have five minutes to get the hell out of here, and only then will I start hunting your asses." He folded his arms across his chest. "Time started two minutes ago."

The soldiers looked at each other, at their General who was looking at his hand in horror, and nodded to each other. They threw their weapons where they stood and ran into the loose. "Stop! This is treason-!" An ice senbon was thrown between the General's legs, dangerously close to his manhood.

Michael took the claymore and dragged it across the hardwood floor towards the General. "I don't see you running, General."

"You're dead, Zabuza! The Fire Lord will kill you!" The General shouted hysterically as he rose to his feet. The man turned and ran after his soldiers.

Michael suppressed the urge to sigh and collected the ice behind his back. He glanced towards Ty Lee and was surprised to see her in the alley, he thought she had already run away while everyone was distracted. 'Though my cruelty is unlikely to frighten her. Azula did worse than me.' He imperceptibly gave her a sign to follow him and went towards the forest. Michael wasn't going to stay in town after his stunt.

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