[private - Mai] Taking a break

[Chase Sato]

He really was worried about her, she seemed to be in a lot of pain. Anything that required multiple healing sessions was definitely serious. It was kind of a nice change, worrying about her rather then just thinking about his family all the time. Splashing his face with cold water, his stomach growled loudly. He didn't even realize he hadn't eaten anything for over a day now. Ruffling through the pack, he dug out some food they brought. Taking a piece of dried meat, he put a chunk of it in his mouth and began chewing, giving a small piece to Zala as well, saving the rest for Mai. Mounting the emu horse, he trotted over to the shore of where she was, waiting for her to finish. Once she got up on the horse, he handed her the meat. "Here, you must be hungry too." he waited for her to take it, then started them down the path again, into a dense forest area.

The air wasn't as hot and heavy here in the fire nation as it was in the city. Though the sun was out, it was a moderate temperature, a nice cool breeze washing over them every once and a while. There was a creek running along beside the path they were taking, and the birds were singing loudly. It was almost enough noise to cover up the rustling bushes. The sounds came from all around them, which is what alerted Chase in the first place. After a moment, they were surrounded by a group of bandits. He had encountered this kind before, on his way out of the fire nation. They were probably from the same gang. Glaring at them, he prepared for an attack. "We don't have anything of value." he told them, keeping his head bent low to keep his face and hair hidden, even though it was tied back.

The bandit standing in front of them, obviously the leader, let out a laugh. "We'll be the ones to judge that. Now get down before we make you." he told them, fireballs forming in his palms. Chase knew he wouldn't be able to fight them from up here, but if they got down their chances of getting away were reduced to almost nothing. Mai wouldn't be able to fight, she was too badly hurt. He tried to think quickly, but wasn't fast enough. The lead thug fired a warning shot by their heads, the heat washing over them as the fireball passed. His next few actions all happened so quickly. Jumping off the horse, Chase aimed three attacks for when he landed, two fireballs aimed at the lead thug, the other at the feet of the other one who was standing in front of them.

While they attempted to defend against the attacks, Chase smacked the Emu Horse's behind, causing it to cry out and start running, right between the distracted men. Hopefully they weren't all benders, he wouldn't be able to fight them all if they were. One came in for a physical attack from behind, while the other three closed in on him from the front. Four on one wasn't that fair, but he'd managed it before. Hopefully his lack of sleep and food won't affect his abilities.

[Mai Toriko]

Mai let out a scream of shock as the emu horse took off through the forest after the fright it had endured from Chase's sudden smack to it's left flank. It gave her a rough ride for a moment before she managed to get a hold of the reins with her good arm and give a sharp yank while scolding the animal with a sharp tone to cease. She could see the fire blasting in the clearing a ways back, "That idiot..." she growled in her throat before she turned the horse on a dime and kicked to the flanks, setting it off through the forest back towards Chase. 'You're hurt in any way Chase I'l kill you myself.' she thought as she raced back int the direction of the fight.

There was no way he could take those guys on alone, she'd dealt with dirty fighters before. Scumbags would beat him to a pulp if he slipped up for one second. She saw them surrounding him and knew she had to act fast. Having been cornered many times on her escapes she knew she needed to break their formation if they stood a chance. Holding her arm to her rib cage she let the horse keep running through the men as she leapt off and landed a few feet from the war zone. She tossed her cloak, knowing it would only get in the way when she tried to bend. They didnt know she was bender yet, why would they? If anything she'd think they we're a fire benders together. No one would suspect a random water bender. With the moon gone she knew there was not enough power to blood bend but she could use her other skills. As she saw a man summoning a fire ball behind Chase she glared and made her move.

Gracefully she did and aerial flip and landed behind Chase, summoned the water from the creek to their left and swallowed the man whole in a water bubble before tossing him into the stream. She took her stance with her back to Chase, "what did I tell you before, don't go doing me any favors..." her voice had that same cruelty to it as it did the earth nation city. Something about combat drove that part of her to the surface and after all her confusion over Chase it was about time she blew off some much needed steam. One man took a step to his left and she formed a wall of water to push him back as well. "I'm more than capable of handling myself." without her cloak the deep bruising and blood was easy to see on her arm, it trembled as she held it up but she stayed in that position and never let her eyes wander from her opponents. She'd been here before.

[Chase Sato]

He was able to hold his own against them for a little while, but it didn't take long for him to realize that he may have bitten off more then he could chew. The three he was facing were easy enough to deal with, but worrying about the fourth one behind him was throwing him off a little. While parrying two flame attacks from the front, he failed to notice the one coming from behind this time, but Mai swooped in, knocking the fourth bandit into the water, he was down for a while. Chase had only ever fought against water benders in training, and knew now difficult it was to fight your element's weakness. He was relieved for her help, and felt a little embarrassed that he had written her off so easily. Even though he was just thinking about her safety, she was still capable. "Okay, fine. No more favors." he told her over his shoulder, his tone serious. He didn't get a glimpse of her arm.

Three on two seemed a little more fair. He had a lot more confidence that they were going to win this now, especially since Mai was such a capable bender. They were facing two fire benders, unless the third was also a bender and had yet to show it. Widening his stance and taking a deep breath, he released a powerful blast of fire at the bandits. He hadn't meant to make it so powerful, some of the surrounding foliage got charred from the attack. Though he was a temperamental kid, he wasn't used to having so much rage in him, therefore lost some of his control over his bending. He would just have to focus more, he didn't want to accidentally hurt Mai.

One of the men split off to fight Mai, while the leader and the other supposedly non bender stayed back to take care of Chase. The head bandit fired a large fireball at Chase's chest, he decimated the flame with a swift circular arm motion in front of him. Returning the attack, he bent down, executing a swooping fire kick, the flames lapping at his enemies feet. They stumbled back, Chase took advantage of their poor footing, firing three consecutive shots at each of them. The non bender couldn't block them, and got flung back, hitting the ground with no signs of getting up. Turning to his last opponent, Chase readied his stance, waiting for the other to attack first.

[Mai Toriko]

Mai smirked when the group seemed to split. She saw her fire bending opponent and changed her stance to adapt to fighting one person. Her eyes narrowed and her arms steadied as she gained control, awaiting his next movement. She was quick to calculate but she needed to see what he was capable of first. She kept her breathing even as the fire bender made his assault, firing a volley her way. Bending the water from near by she used it as a shield to extinguish his attacks while she moved closer. The young girl took a run at him, shielding herself with the water while she leapt over his head to get behind him.

As she moved to deliver as swift kick to his shoulder and neck area he twisted and caught her ankle, easily flinging the light weight female into the river. Not the smartest idea on his part, but then again they didn't appear to be the smartest group on the planet. The water bender remained under the water's surface, drawing her opponent to the water's edge in curiousty. Mai waited until she saw his reflection loom over the edge of the river bank and suddenly two legs wrapped around his neck and pulled him into the river. Mai surfaced moment later, clothing heavily disheveled but seemingly unharmed, save her arm injury from prior. She flipped her soaked hair out of her face and looked to see the two men floating in the river, she had no inclination to help them. She found her balance and turned to see Chase doing well against his bandits, having only one to deal with. Mai tried to pay attention but as she stepped out of the river she felt a sharp pain in her arm and looked down to see an hand gripping her tightly. "Where you off to doll face?"

"None of your business!" she grunted, kicking him square in the face and jerked his arm away from her. She collapsed on the side of the river when he let go, the force knocking her down. Sitting up a little she curled her arm against herself and tried to stand again.

[Chase Sato]

Taking another deep breath, Chase countered his enemies oncoming attack, meeting the flaming ball with his own, his flames overtaking those of the other fire bender. It was pretty obvious who was the more powerful bender, Chase knew his skills were more advanced, at least. The only thing this man had on him was experience. So it came as a fairly big surprise when the other took a stance that Chase was all too familiar with. The tips of his opponent's figures sparked as he motioned building up the attack, unleaching the attack at Chase. It baffled him that a fool like this was able to sue the ability that he had sought after for so long. His master always said that only skilled benders could produce lightning, but Chase felt like he was one of the only fire benders who couldn't.

But he had faced lightning before, and was well versed with how to face it. He actually faced a similar situation a few weeks ago while fighting some gang members back in the city. He would treat this attack the same way he did previously. Avoiding the attack would have been close to impossible. The only logical course of action was to redirect it back at him. Even if he was able to avoid it, there was a good chance that Mai would get hurt, especially if any of the electricity touched the water. The buzzing energy entered his body, a sensation he loved and hated at the same time. With this, one held so much power, but so much ability for destruction as well.

He poured his concentration on flowing the current down through his core, and out through his other hand. Though this technique was not unheard of, he knew that it was not common for one to actually know how to redirect lightning. Do the look of shock on his opponents face as his attack was turned back on him wasn't a surprise. He flew back, hitting his back and head against a tree, knocking him out.

Glancing around, he couldn't see Mai. Dashing over to the water, he saw her sitting up by the shore. This was the first time he had seen her injury. He gaped at her arm, the pride from the won battle decimate quickly. He had no idea it was so bad. Sitting down beside her with a sigh, he looked that the men floating in the water. Worry about them dying crossed his mind, but disappeared quickly. These men didn't deserve his worry. "You should have told me it was this bad." he said, staring out at the water. "But thanks. I would have got my ass kicked if it wasn't for you." looking over at her, he gave her a small smile.

[Mai Toriko]

Hearing his concern she shook her head, hiding her arm under her sleeves. "It makes no difference how it is," Mai got up and moved away from him. "You ever send me away from a fight when you think you can handle it alone, I swear Chase I'll come back and fight you myself. That was so stupid! How could you risk yourself like that when you have a family to save?!" she snapped before going quietly, "I know...I know you wanted to protect me but...I'm not the priority here okay?" Mai couldn't deal with it hanging over her head if he got injured and his family was left to the hands of those kidnappers, let alone murderers.

She bent the water out of her clothes to dry off and wrapped her arm in cloth from one of the men's clothing. Not like he'd miss it, if he woke up at all. She dressed her wound, finding it difficult to ignore the pain in her arm but trying best she could. She chuckled a little, darkly, as he spoke. "Like I said, no favours. It's just a pity to watch someone frolic helplessly in a fight." she teased, not meaning in a word of it. It was better to hide behind her humor than actually admit what she had felt. "Either way, You're welcome...I suppose..." she closed her eyes for a second and held her arm tight to her rib cage again as she walked to the emu.

"We may want to give him a break." she noticed how frightened the animal was at the moment and it wouldn't be very safe to ride him. Placing her hand on it's forehead she cooed softly, trying to calm it. Placing both her hands over it's eyes she whispered gently, keeping her own breathing in a calm slow rhythm for the animal to match as it came back to a norm state. "We travel on foot for the next while. We'll be better set defensively if our friends send a call for back up." she looked to Chase and never offered a smile. She couldn't, it all made sense now. She was a liability. If he cared about her his family may die...he had to stop and thus she had to give him distance. If they walked she wouldn't be pressed against him, she could walked on the other side of the emu horse if she needed to. Anything to give him space and not feel that ache in her chest. Being close to someone, and wanting nothing more than to hold them was so painful when you knew it was impossible...

[Chase Sato]

He knew that she would be mad when he first decided on sending her away from the fight, so he was more then prepared for her being this way. He didn't expect her to make him feel so shitty about it though. She was right, though. If something happened to him, his family was finished. He was their last hope, and couldn't go around doing reckless things like that. Well at least he learned his lesson with a situation where they came out victorious. "Okay. I'll be more careful" Standing up, he didn't really know what else to say. Well at least she accepted his thanks.

He pet the emu horse's neck as she tried to calm him down. He was really terrified, Mai was right, they wouldn't be able to ride him. But he should be fine in a couple of hours, so it wouldn't set them back too much. Without him they wouldn't have been this far this quickly, so they had to make sure he stayed healthy and sound minded. They still had the trip back to consider. Or whatever they were going to do once all of this was said and done. He hadn't even thought of that up to this point, he had just been concentrated on rescuing them. He did't think about what they were going to do after. Probably go back to Republic City? Maybe Ba Sing Se? He didn't want to stay in the fire nation, he knew that much.


They walked on opposite sides of the emu horse, Zala flying overhead, swooping down occasionally to land on the steed's back, brush against Mai and Chase, then take off again. It was a quiet walk, like most of their journey had been. On a good day he wasn't one to be chatty at all, so being in this state made him almost completely non social. Well she probably knew he was going to be like this. After a few hours, he broke the silence. "We can probably start riding again." he stated, still keeping their forward pace. Walking had been nice, he almost didn't want to get up there again. But it was so much faster, they had to. Grabbing the reins, he halted the horse and waited for Mai to get up, then mounted behind her, keeping a tight hold on the leather of the reins. "I still have no clue what I'm going to do when we get there." It was probably best they started making a plan together. Winging it wasn't really that wise, especially when other's lives are at stake.

[Mai Toriko]

"As backwards as this may seem, you'll need to make yourself known." she said. "But only to the right people. there will be very little chance of breaking them out without being seen, but you could bargin. If they're planning to over throw the name, you could vow to never return or something." she seemed to be rattling things off at this point but it made sense. "They'll be too many to go up against and fight with a forward assault, and if we waste time trying to sneak our way in through hidden pathways it could stall us too much." she looked over her shoulder. "If we go to make the deal at night, I'll have the upper hand with my blood blending and that way they don't agree, I can at least give us time to escape." she explained.

Mai noticed his defeated manner, the way he seemed ready to give up at any second. She hadn't helped the situation...she needed to make this right but in order to do that she needed that she needed to open up about her feelings and that wouldn't help anything either. After a while of tense filled silence she spoke.

"I'm sorry...I was so harsh before..." she whispered, dropping her chin as she looked back to the road ahead. "I just...I didn't want to lose you either...you're the only person who has ever given a damn and if you got hurt and I couldn't be there to at least try and help...I wouldn't be able to deal with it...and if you don't get to them on time I'll feel to blame because I keep holding you up..." she needed to get this off her chest, she couldn't stand looking like some cold hearted witch to him. "I'm so sorry..." she pulled her hood up and hid her face from him as tears gathered.

[Chase Sato]

She was right, with everything she said. He was spending all his efforts thinking of this elaborate plan, that he failed to see the simple. Again, he was very glad to have her along on this journey. He would have failed so many times over by now if it weren't for her keeping his mind on track. He really was appreciative, but didn't know how to put it into words to tell her. "I don't care how we do it, as long as they're safe when it's all said and done. But you're right. How do you think we should arrange the meeting to make the deal. We can't just show up." Maybe they could send a messenger hawk or something. He didn't want to go in and fight them. He didn't want to harm the people that he grew up around. They were all his family, in a way. The least damage they could do would be the best. All he wanted was to take the rest of his family away from this place. At least he had someone to help him. This whole thing seemed less daunting with Mai there. She was a skilled bender as well, so will be a valuable ally.

"Don't be sorry. I was stupid. We came into this as a team, and I didn't treat you like that..." They had said that they were even, but he ignored that and worried about her safety instead. Maybe be would have thought differently about including her in the fight if she wasn't injured. But he wasn't going to be making that mistake anymore. She should be mostly healed by the time they got there, so he wouldn't have to worry about her injuries putting them back. It was horrible of him to think of it that way, but it was kind of true.

[Mai Toriko]

Mai leaned back slightly into his embrace and let her temple rest against his collar bone. They rode the rest of the way in silence, but unlike before the tension seemed to have melted away between the two. She was at ease as her arm began to heal over. She kept her focus on her healing through water bending as she used some of the water left in her canteen to aid in the process. It was tiring but she knew if she didn't get moving on the healing she would regret it later. the day seemed to pass quickly on their travels, soon enough they found themselves in the city of their desire.

She was amazed at the different atmosphere that the cityscape gave. there was alot of people walking around as they passed through the streets but from under her hood she could sense a different aura that seemed to shroud them all. There was little joy among the people as the sun began to set. Their timing was in their favour as they could pass through with less detection. Where as in sunlight they would have stuck out fairly easy. Mai checked her arm carefully while peeking under her cloak. Turning her head a little she whispered carefully, "we need to ditch the emu for now, going on foot will allow us to be hidden easily. But we'll need it ready at hand for when we try and make an escape." she let Chase ride in the direction of where they believed his family would be held and the tension built once more. She offered a steady hand over his own and smiled as she saw the moon cast it's light over the city. The power raced in her veins, she was ready when he needed it.