Embarking on the Journey [Team Avatar]

It had been about a day since Raizo had met the mysterious bounty hunter by the name of Yoko, and about a half a day since he met the mysterious martial artist by the name of Katsuro. Keeping his arms firmly crossed upon his chest, the young Avatar would find himself standing infront of a massive cave entrance. He knew it was dangerous to enter it without announcing your presence first..That was safe to say with the charred remains of some unknown wanderer who attempted to enter at a previous date. Raizo would place a hand on the side of the cave's walls to feel the smooth rock that was probably created from the intense heat of the dragon's flames. Looking over his shoulder, the Avatar would notice the Three Firebending Masters were keeping their distance. He had almost forgot..The Dragon didn't like any humans. It was probably the most violent out of them all, which made him kinda cautious bringing anyone with him on the trip. Well, one of the reasons he was cautious. The other was he didn't want them cramping his style. He was the best there was, and if they were dragging their butts and trying to get him to follow the mission in a linear fashion, then he wouldn't want them any where near. The moment he left the sight of his Masters, Raizo planned to explore the world and do whatever the hell he wanted. It was tiring being couped up and alone all the time. There was no one to show off too..No one to even prank, cept the three old geezers who seemed to ignore them every time. How troublesome..Placing both hands around his mouth, the young flame Avatar would finally begin to yell into the cave. "YO! WAFU GET OUT HERE YA LOSER!"

All was silent at first before a low growl began to cause the cave to tremor slightly. Suddenly a bright light could be seen coming from deep within the cave's darkness, and Raizo would take action by slamming his hands together infront of his body. The colorful spectrum would get closer and closer, and soon the sound of raging flames could be heard from it. This was a blast of fire and it was headed right towards the young Avatar. Standing his ground, Raizo would grit his teeth and cause the flames to split once hitting him. Half would travel to his right while the other half would go towards the left. Soon the steady stream would end..and the massive figure of its creator would finally press itself out and into the blazing sun.

The Black Scaled Dragon would tower over the smaller Avatar, and the three others, and force them all to bend their necks back to look up at its face. Before Raizo could even speak, it would begin before him. Moving its body, it began to do a form of dance that only the flame Avatar could understand. Raizo would begin to laugh at the movements while bending over and touching his gut. "Haha, I'm sure they would taste as crunchy as all the others man! But that's not why I'm here!..It's finally time for us to leave the Fire Nation so I can go learn the rest of the elements. Though we both know I'm already the best in those aswell..hehe." A smug smile came across his face and the Dragon would shake its head..at the same time, the Three Masters would shake their heads aswell. The Avatar would snap his fingers in a 'Oh Yeah!' gesture, before waving towards his pet Dragon. "Oh buddy! Also two of my trainees will be coming with me on this journey. Ya know, I need a posse. People with posses are always cool after all." Raizo would place a hand on his chin in thought after finishing the sentence. "Perhaps I should start wearing shades too..Those are pretty cool. Yeah very cool actually!" And right on cue, all the observers would shake their heads at his words..Now he was to wait for the two others..One couldn't help but wonder how Wafu would deal with them.

A sonic boom sounded, like deja vu to the events the day before; Yoko Yotori was shooting through the skies like a comet, with a trail of rainbow fire behind her and her voice sounding like a screech as he exuberant her excitedness. She had to go back to the inn she had previously checked into, where she had left most of her stuff behind while she traveled to the Crescent Island. Now she came riding back on her Burning Broom, carrying with her a dark backpack filled with various belongings such as coin, food, drink, maps, her bingo book, and more. As she spotted the group of four down below, she stopped her cheerful screaming and looked down at the specks from way up high, smiling. She thrust her front foot downward, tilting the nose of the Burning Broom downward and thus beginning her descent. The first time she had done this, she had created quite the mess with her impact. Decidedly this time, she would choose a different fashion to land, suddenly spinning the tail around at the ground just as she was about to land. The jet of flame that normally would propel the broom forward, was now creating a plume of fire in the opposite direction to decelerate the momentum, and the way it was all timed caused the vehicle to come to complete stop with a thud on the ground, releasing a shockwave of flame outwards before it flickered away.

Yoko landed safely away from the rest so to not harm them, and she would step off the broom before picking it up and swinging it onto her back. With a little fiddling, she'd attach it to a strap of the backpack, and then focus her attentions on Avatar Rai... no, not really. Yoko was completely engrossed with the sight of the ashen dragon that Raizo had called Wafu several times before. "Wowowowoooowwwwww!" Stars sparkled in Yoko's eyes, and her mouth was wide open as her jaw dropped in awe. She didn't mind craning her neck up to look at the dragon, and would gladly admire its presence all day—these were the gods of fire, the original benders of fire... Dragons, and Yoko couldn't be more inspired or more humble that she was right now. "A real dragon! A real dragon!!!! It's so majestic and amazing and strong, just wow!" Yoko continued to babble on about all the wonderful things about the dragon, seeming not to have even recognized the presence of the elder men or the Avatar. It was like Yoko had become a little child again, when she had heard tales of the dragons from her teacher in school. He had always formulated this image for Yoko in which the Dragons were symbols of power and glory, the most honorable and majestic of creatures in all the land. She couldn't be more happier now, seeing a live dragon for the first time.

As the signature sonic boom rang in the air, Raizo would stop talking and drop his expression from a smile to a 'not again' sort of look. The Dragon, and Three Masters, would shift their heads to look towards the girl who resembled a falling star. She was taking all the attention off of the Avatar and the boy couldn't help but palm his face in annoyance. "Psh..Anyone can do that. It's nothing special.." He'd cross his arms as she'd land, not bothering to turn towards her as she started to froth at the mouth because of a simple Dragon. Making a rather loud coughing noise to interrupt her praise, Raizo would close his eyes and speak with a 'superiority' undertone. "Such a child. I expected more from a bounty hunter like yourself. You need to show some maturity and be abit more subtle with that flamboyant personality." As he spoke, the Three Firebending Masters would raise their brows towards one another. It was the exact same speech [withdrawing the bounty hunter comment and adding 'Avatar'] they had given him within the first week of training him in the Art of Fire Bending. This would cause them all to face palm in unison once again. They seemed to do this frequently, as permanent hand marks were beginning to appear on their foreheads. Wafu, on the other hand, would be looking down towards the female admiring him. Though he wasn't the type to deal with the like of humans, he couldn't pass up a good praising. Lowering itself to ground level and moving its snout infront of the girl, the beast would give her an intense glare. Raizo would watch with one eye open, like he wasn't interested..However, deep in side he only hoped Wafu would blast her away. Sadly, that wouldn't occur. The Dragon would only watch her..as though it was casting judgment of some kind.

In annoyance, two small flames would come from the Avatar's nose. "Alright, back to why we're here in the first place! Old geezers, do you have some kind of map so I know where I'm going? This is technically the first time I've left..if you don't count my past lives." The slightly annoyed boy would focus his attention on the three masters. The one in the center of the three would reach into his rather large sleeve and remove a scroll. One could only guess it was the map the Avatar would be using in his journey. Without hesitation, Raizo would slide over to the three and grasp the map by hand. Opening it immediately, his amber eyes began to spark. "Awesome! This perfect! I heard the Earth Kingdom has this cool event called Earth Bender rumble..I can't wait to go there! This is going to be wicked!" As he spoke one of the fire masters would place a hand on his shoulder. "Avatar Raizo, remember your goal. You are to go right to the nation's capital to undergo your training. No side trips. It is very important that you learn all there is to be an Avatar so you can keep balance throughout the world."..Blah blah blah..They were like a broken record with the balance thing. The moment he left, he was going where he wanted and when he wanted too. After all, no one would be holding his hand anymore.

Why did Raizo have to be such a killjoy in this instance; he was supposedly the owner of this dragon, and he took Wafu for granted? Yoko would slowly turn her gaze to the young man, with a frown and a tinge of red in her cheeks. After he was done speaking, she would bring her hand up beside her face and begin an imitation of a mouth ranting on by pressing her fingers together and then opening them repeatedly. She would then proceed to attempt an exaggerated impression of Raizo's seriousness, mocking his words. "Such a child. I expected more from a bounty hunter like yourself blah blah blah bleh..." After finishing her mockery she would open her mouth and stick her tongue out, pointing into it as if she were about to make herself gag. She would have kept making rude impressions and mocking comments, if it were not for the rumble in the air that came with the movements of the dragon. He came right up to Yoko, his presence sheer grandeur; so much so that it shocked the golden-eyed girl's lid wide open, freezing her in place under the inspection of the great beast. Nothing seemed to move as she stared into the ancient draconic pupils of Wafu, still breathless and at a loss for words.

...The tension broke once Raizo interrupted the moment again. Yoko this time would simply step back and take a deep breathe, trying to focus her attention on the other four humans in the area rather than the impressive visage of the black-scaled dragon. It was as if she had just gone through a wrenching epiphany, not something you could recover from so easily. She had the appropriate amount of fear and respect in her right now, colored with exhilaration. His presence was so drawing on her that it was difficult to pay attention to the words being exchanged not so far away from her, but she tried her best. It appeared that a map was given to Raizo, and that he mentioned something about the Earth Kingdom. But the three old men would take on condescending expressions and say something along the lines of an Avatar's duties. Yoko shook her head as they went on and on, trying to get a balance within her and some sense knocked into her. Her childish attitude pushed through once more to the top, and she would skip next to Raizo and put an arm around his neck. "Don't worry headmasters! You can count on me to take care of the young Avatar and make sure he does his duty. For sures, dudes!" And then she would swing him around so that they would be facing away from the elders, just so that she could look at him and give him a sneaky wink and a smirk.

So he would actually be leaving this home for quite some time it seemed. It had not even been a day since he met the avatar who seemed to be around his age. However already he had decided to take him up on his offer and travel around the world. The only things that haunted him was the thought of leaving his grandfather to fend for himself. However that was probably more of looking for an anchor than anything. The old man despite his deteriorating health had managed so far to fend for himself without Katsuro's constant direct help. It as the move of a coward to simply allow something like that to keep him from this opportunity. Katsuro took what little he had, such as money and the necklace that his mother had given him just over a year before. Looking deep into it he wondered if he should stop by his old home. If he wanted to rub salt in the wounds that had yet even begun to heal. Shaking his head he simply decided it was time to put it behind him and got on his way. The mask that he usually wore when he was walking into combat hanging off of his hips he began walking towards the meeting spot. Unlike some of the others he was traveling with he had no other way to get there such as flying.

When Katsuro finally arrived and came upon the spot the first thing he noticed was the avatar. He focused in on him like a hunter to prey. Not because he felt any sort of animosity or desire to attack him. It just dawned on him what he would be mainly dealing with. THis kid was one of the most arrogant pompous people he had ever met in his entire life. Hands down no person came close to him in the amount of overconfidence they had. So why was he willing to travel around with him exactly? Probably the thought of getting away and being able to travel that interested him. It was a chance he would never have again, and he would take it. Who knows maybe during the travels the avatar would humble, or more likely Katsuro would simply have to learn to get over it. As he closed the distance the next thing he noticed would catch his attention the longest. Had there not been a large dragon catching his attention he would have stopped at the girl first. Introduced himself all gentlemanly like and the such. Not because he had any side motives, it was just the way he was brought up. However while walking towards the group the dragon is all that Katsuro saw, and his jaw pretty much dropped as he looked at it. His awe was of different cause than what would be a firebender however. It was merely shock that there was one that truly existed, and surprise that he would be seeing it up close. There was no crippling awe at the thought of meeting the race of the first firebenders or nothing along those lines. Simply because he was by no means a bender himself. Still he would be shocked and begin to try to mutter out sentences as he got closer, but with no success. Eventually the shock would wear off but for now, it just had to sink in a little bit.

It was safe to say Raizo and Yoko weren't going to get along with each other. The constant showboating and one upping each other would surely pay its toll after awhile. Wafu could already tell, and he had only met the girl for about a few seconds. While in Raizo's case, he had known the boy all his life. The moment the girl began to mock him, the immature Avatar would turn around and stick his tongue out towards her with an annoyed look. It was like watching two children, at daycare, fighting for the attention of the other kids. However, what happened next was surprising to say the least. The bounty hunter would skip over to Raizo's side and place an arm around him. As this occurred, his amber eyes would shift to his corners to look at her. The expression on his face held..confusion. Yea, that was it. Utter confusion. Who goes from mocking someone to becoming so friendly and so sudden? Before the boy could say a word, she would swing him around and give a sly smile and wink. Raizo would turn his face the other way and removed her hand from his shoulder. "Whatever. I don't need your help." He'd mutter the words under his breath to the girl, while walking back towards the Dragon. "I'll follow the map and head for the capital. You three old geezers don't have to worry about a thing..I mean come on.." Raizo would turn off his heel and extend his arms with a smirk. "I'm your Avatar. What could possibly go wrong?" Those were words he would probably regret one day, but for now he believed himself invincible.

Stretching his arms back behind his head, the flame Avatar would look to the side to see a newcomer. It was the man he fought in the Agni Kai a day before..the guy with the weird ability to shut off someone's bending..Was this the guy who was supposed to be accompanying him under Fire Lord instruction? Great..just great. Another peanut to add to the gallery. Patting the side of his dragon, Raizo would look towards the young girl and the male. He wouldn't bother to introduce them..nor would he bother to greet the newcomer. Instead, he was ready to hit the road and show the world exactly why he was the best around. Hopefully with travels, his ego would be humbled. "Are you two ready to get out of here? I'm ready to go..fulfill my role..or whatever."

Yoko's eyes kept glancing toward the overbearing dragon, swerving back and forth in her eyes. She was a distracted individual at this point, so she didn't get all pissy when Raizo shrugged her arm off and made an attempt to escape her proximity in a obvious notion that stated that he didn't want to be touched by her. Rather, the redhead would simply allow her unoccupied arm to fall to her side as she watched him go. Her bubbly attitude would sink a bit, but she would nevertheless maintain her light smile. She would wait idly for him to figure out his plan of action and finish his dealings with the three old men behind her; it was several seconds after that that her head turned towards the sound of approaching footsteps at the same time Raizo's head turned. He seemed casual about his appearance, and Yoko would raise an eyebrow and formulate a confused expression now, not having been filled in on the situation. But from the Avatar's following statement, it would appear as though this newcomer would be joining them...

Yoko got a good look at him—he had a conspicuous spike hairstyle that stuck out as his most distinctive quality. It was bleach white in color, completely contrasting his fairly dark skin. He wore a short-sleeved black sweatshirt, with stripes of white that gave it a simplistic design. It was quite obvious that he was staring at the dragon that Raizo was petting softly, and he was at a loss of words as well. Yoko would wait for an appropriate time to catch his eyes, and would hold out her hand for shaking. If he would notice her and take her hand, she would happily greet him in a soft voice. "Hey there, my name's Yoko Yotori. What's yours?" Briefly the redhead would wonder if he would recognize her; he would have to go to rumor mills like bars or other gathering places with frequent passerbys. She was pretty much the best bounty hunter in the Fire Nation, so she could expect some degree of recognition.

Katsuro wasn't even really acknowledged by the avatar. Though he really shouldn't have been surprised. Given the kids personalty he probably lacked quite a bit of manners too, meaning he probably didn't feel the need to greet anybody. They were all here for him at every point in their lives. Katsuro of course ignoring the fact that he was in fact only there because of the avatar. Eventually once the shock and awe had worn off from seeing the dragon Katsuro did notice the girl nearby. His heart sank as he realized he was silently scolding the lack of manners from the avatar towards him while currently ignoring another person. She was a fairly pretty girl, who at first glance Katsuro would not put much older or younger than him based off of appearance. She had long red hair that to him at the very least, stood out when you looked at her body almost as much as his own hair did. Her outfit was fairly skimpy, as her top was only a bra and honestly, could he even say to himself that she was wearing pants. The gentlemanly side of him who had a little bit of shame in it was hell bent and keeping eye contact with her.

However she had several well displayed features that no man could easily ignore. So maybe twice at best his eyes attempted to drift downwards. He caught himself both times however, before it became too glaringly obvious. Taking her outstretched hand in a friendly handshake she would proceed to ask him what his name was. That was right, he had yet to even introduce himself. Katsuro's face changed into a welcoming smile, the kind you use when you meet someone for the first time and want to show that you have nothing but friendly intentions. "My name is Katsuro, and it is a pleasure to meet you." The handshake would not last an abnormally long amount of time unless she so wished. Her name and any fame that could follow it, really fell on deaf ears. While he did spent a decent amount of his life in back alley street fights they were usually unplanned. He tried to stay away from bars and other shady places too often as a kid, because he quickly learned that they were law enforcement magnets. Beyond that a large portion of his free time went into helping his mother, so there was no way he could know anything about here. Katsuro would wait to see if she had anything else to add, maybe even strike up a small conversation. If she had nothing to say he would turn towards the avatar and begin walking towards the dragon. Stopping in front of it he looked up at the boy and began to speak. "As for you, I never really got your name. What was it exactly?" To tell the truth he wasn't sure what he expected as an answer, anything from a large display to announce it to a smug refusal to tell him. It would at-least let him know just how arrogant this kid was though.

Raizo would cross his arms as the two others would be meeting for the first time. Narrowing his gaze and shifting his eyes to their corners, he'd nudge the side of Wafu who was currently watching the two. "Ya know, I wouldn't be too mad if you accidently fried these two right now. Infact, I'd be pretty grateful." His voice was low enough to elude the hearing of everyone else in the area. Only Wafu would be the one to take in the words and reply with a disgruntled growl. It was a sad day when the Avatar, one who was supposed to bring peace, wanted to get their human killing Dragon to fry to allies. It was even sadder when the human killing Dragon didn't feel like doing it..for ONCE in his life. With a sudden face palm, he'd release a sigh that held a spark within it. How troublesome..And when he finally removed his hand, he'd see the darker male standing infront of him as though he was ready to spark a conversation or something. Before any words would escape his lips, Raizo would cut him off with a low tone. "Don't bother." Shooting off the ground with the help of a flame beneath the soles of his feet, Raizo would land on his dragon's head and sit upon it with his arms crossed. With a nod towards his three superiors, he'd tilt his head back to look towards the clouds. "You two have three seconds to get on if you're coming. One.. Wafu would slightly raise his head. "Two.." A low growl escaped his mass.."Three." It shot into the air at a rather quick pace, heading towards the clouds before leveling out about 65 meters in the air. Throughout this whole process, Raizo would be studying the map in his hand..He saw exactly where the location of Ba Sing Se was..and he did say he would head there..but he never said he wouldn't take small detours. There were a few locations he wished to visit before being locked away to train constantly..A hotspring was one of them, and he'd be visiting it on the road.

Katsuro, not the first name she would have expected to escape his lips, but a name nonetheless. He was familiar with the pleasantries of a normal human being, very unlike her benefactor. In fact, Raizo looked more or less disgusted with the fact that Yoko was getting along with the third member of this team, which was really... groundless. She would turn a glance toward the dark-haired Avatar to study him as he got on his dragon, a deeper part of her trying to understand him; or rather, to just figure out what his problem was. Her best deduction was that he was chock full of stubborn pride, which was incredibly close to her own qualities. But what was the difference between them that made her friendlier and him averse to them at all. As far as Yoko could tell, Wafu was the only friend he had... But Yoko's thoughts would be interrupted by Raizo's next statement: Yoko would pretty much give Katsuro an apologetic smile as if she were responsible for his demand to get on the dragon in three seconds. She hadn't let go of his hand, so she would swing him toward the dragon with all her strength, enough to make him stumble into it. She herself would walk after him toward the torso of the winged beast, but from the countdown she realized there was no way she would be able to climb onto its back in time—with quick thinking she dashed for the tail just as it bounded into the air, and her hand would snatch the fleeting appendage at the last second. Being yanked off her feet, the ground would quickly disappear behind her as she focused all her energy into keeping that grip. With great struggle she would climb hand over hand up the tail, until she made it with the rest of the team in a semi-comfortable spot on the dragon.

And the ride would be exhilarating.

[Exit]

Yep, this guy was quite the arrogant asshole. Before Katsuro could even get to mention his sense the avatar would tell him not to bother. It would spawn a sigh from Katsuro and a clenching of his free fist. It would be a long journey at this rate and he really didn't see it getting any easier in site. At this rate they may just getting into several fights together. Just then yet another poor quality of the avatar was confirmed, impatience. At that moment he said that anybody who was coming had three seconds to get on or was being left behind. It could have been seen as a joke, up until the point where the avatar began to count down. A quick glance towards the person he now knew at Yoko and he suddenly realized her almost apologetic smile as he was thrown towards the dragon. Katsuro stumbled a bit, being caught off guard before landing on the dragons side. Suddenly realizing what had just happened and more importantly why it happened Katsuro quickly climbed up onto the dragon and turned around to help her up. She was not there however, instead dashing towards the tail of the beast trying to make the countdown. Before he could react the dragon shot up into the air at amazing speeds and she was hanging by it's tail. Katsuro thought about turning around and telling the avatar about Yoko's current situation. However the thought of having to hear his mouth, or whatever reaction he might give made him rethink. The idea was finally killed when he thought about the urgency of her situation in the end. Climbing down the dragon to get as close to Yoko as he could, Katsuro would outstretch his hand to try to help her, assuming she accepted it. If all went well they would be on there way, but one question popped up in his mind and just wouldn't go away. Where the hell were they going exactly?

{Exit}