17 Chapter 17 The Required Vacation

After some time, a sigh escaped from his mouth, before he also retreated to his temporary quarters.

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Morning came, and the traveling group had to leave for their next destination. Iroh and Zuko thanked Kypher for their somewhat awkward yet comfortable stay, although he was not the owner of the temples.

Once their ship had left the area. Kypher told Retu to pack up and prepare.

"Where are we going this time?" He asked curiously, hoping that Kypher would tell him this time.

"You are going back to the capitol?" Kypher pointed at him, "I am planning on creating a group of special benders. I need fire benders for that. I want you to find trustworthy people, who we can work with." Retu face turned ugly. "What do you mean? Am I no longer needed?"

Kypher snickered at this, before slapping him on his nape and telling him, "You will be the captain of the fire division, moron", which made Retu even more confused. But he was shushed before he started firing away questions like a machine gun. "I will be going to Ba Sing Se to visit a few people and picking them up. When Shade passes on a message to you, take a ship and bring them here. But make sure to know if they are trustworthy. Got it? Great!"

He didn't leave Retu a second to answer, knowing full well, he would not stop asking questions, before jumping of and flying towards the fire nation, with Shade right underneath them, hiding in their shadow.

It took them a bit less than 3 hours to travel this time, as Kypher had finally found a more efficient method of flight, it worked like propellers and the staff was used as a steering wheel. Although the required amount of chi was much larger, the trips became shorter.

After reaching the fire nation continent, Kypher bid Retu farewell and wished him good luck on his mission, knowing full well, the next time they meet would be once the story starts.

Going back home, was Kypher's priority, and although he was in a dire need of better weapons. He would forge them at home in secret. Why in secret? Well, ordinary steel no longer was strong enough for him, so he decided it was time to create platinum.

Platinum, a metal so refined, even metal benders can't bend. Kypher knew that in this era, there were only 2 known metal benders, one is Toph, and the other the Guru who no longer had any will or wish to fight others. But he still wanted to create the metal, for its unbreakable qualities, as well as keep it as a legacy for the future generations.

And although the method to create platinum was horribly difficult, Kypher did not want anyone to discover it too soon, therefore had to forge it himself.

On his way home however, he had found himself flying over Ember Island, a resort area located in the outer islands of the northern Fire Nation, and a vacation home to many, wealthy and powerful people. Was it a risky thing to do? Yes. Did he care? No. He had had enough with training. He was 15 for hell's sake, and it was summer. He was in a dire need of a break. So, for sanity's sake, he decided to take a 2 day break at the resort island. He had earned it, after all.

It took him a little while to reach the resort after landing a bit less than a mile away, and some more to chose a perfect temporary camp. Although he was here for vacation, hiding his air bending was a very important precaution he had to take seriously. It took him some time, but he had found a cool cave, which was quite large and fit with his needs. He sent Shade out to hunt something for itself to eat, and asked it to not be found.

After changing his clothes into something more vacation like, he entered the resort island square, which held a market. His unique white hair and blue eyes seemed to dazzle many and attract more attention than what he had hoped to. And as much as he wanted to, he couldn't risk people asking questions, so he chose to go somewhere with less people..

It took him a moment to find such a place, however once he did, Kypher walked into a small entertainment building, which housed a tournament of one of his most favourite games in the world, Pai Sho. Oh, how excited he was, seeing people play, how predictable their moves were. After signing up to the tournament, he was giving a card with a numbered table, it seemed his first prey had been chosen. It was a young, fat teen, who seemed to be so full of himself. He was surrounded by a small amount of lackeys who looked like they were praising his skills in the game.

"Look and see how easy this game is. I will destroy all of them losers, without too much thought" He bragged, and after seeing Kypher approach, he decided to brag even more. "Are you my opponent?" He asked with an obvious superiority complex. Kypher just smiled and nodded without saying anything, before taking his place before the fat man. "Great, this will be easy, you will be my stepping stone whitey." Something was wrong though. The fat man reminded him of someone. Terrible insults? check; blonde hair? check; surrounded by lackeys? check; There was only one thing missing...

The game its self lasted less than 5 minutes, the fat man seemed like he was throwing around the tiles wherever he wanted to. Of course the winner ended up to be Kypher by a landslide. The fat man however seemed to be displeased.

"You cheated." He stated before nodded as if proving that what he said was true. The referee however disagreed." He did not cheat. You just do not know how to play." He stated blandly. He looked like this was not the first time it had happened.

"YOU? YOU? MY FATHER WILL HEAR ABOUT THIS!" And there it was, the last piece of the puzzle. A fat Draco Malfoy. What a horrible encounter. The referee just looked at the fat ferret, with a look that said, well go on... do something. Fat Malfoy, seeing that his threat did not work stormed of with his goons trailing behind him, praising the kid for his cleverness and insulting Kypher for cheating.

"Is this common?" Kypher asked the referee who sighed at the question, "More than you can imagine..." He trailed off before resetting all of the flower tiles. "How long do you think i have before my next game?" The referee looked around the room then smirked before leaning in a whispering to Kypher, "They are all equally shit at the game, so my estimate is 5 minutes" making Kypher smirked back at the man, who bravely insulted the son's of the richest and most powerful people in the fire nation.

Kypher thanked the man for the information before zoning out while playing with a singular white lotus tile. Unfortunately for him it seemed fate was against him again.

"How is it every time I find you, you are sitting at a Pai Sho table, pretty face." A snarl appeared on Kypher's face, how is it he didn't realise she was near him. It seemed like he would have to day dream a lot less during his stay at the fire nation resort. But unlike last time, he didn't need to hide anymore, Aang would soon awaken and this world would be in chaos.

"It is a pleasure to meet you once again, princess" He then turned to look at the little fairy next to the evil crow, and nodded her while saying "Pretty lady", before turning to the last member of the group. " I believe I haven't had the pleasure of meeting you, Lady Mai. The name is Kai" He said while bringing forward his hand for a handshake. Mai, on the other hand, hesitated a bit, before shaking his hand.

After seeing everybody acquainted, Azula immediately started questioning him, "Now, tell me. How were you able to use Chi-blocking?" She ordered. Kypher started chuckling "No". The trio all made a face, while Azula was furious, her hand balled up into a fist, while flames started to appear, "What did you just say? Did you just refuse my direct command?" She said asked in a threatening manner. Kypher, seeing the similarities between the siblings, chose to respond in the same way.

With a snap, her flames died out, surprised not only Azula but the other two as well. Mai looked at him with weariness. "I don't have time for your temper tantrum, Azula" He responded with an blank face, while staring at the white lotus chip, he was juggling between his fingers. "How is it the two of you siblings, react the same way. At least Zuko had Iroh to calm him down before he did something stupid." The words seemed to throw the crazy woman into a rampage. "How dare you compare me to my useless brother. How dare you act like you know me." This made the people around them look towards the table.

"Do I need to remind you how I beat you in our spar last time?" He asked her this time which made her even more enraged. Ty Lee and Mai on the other hand look at Kypher with pure fear. Kypher finally removed his attention from the chip in his hands, which his moved for another snap. This time however, instead of fire being put out, lightning appeared. This made the trio look at him in shock. It was lightning something that required immense concentration and practise, yet here was Kypher producing lightning like it was nothing.

Kypher just stood up and started walking outside, before calling out to the princess, "I am here on vacation princess, nothing more, nothing less..."

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Hey guys, hoped you like it thus far. Check out my other novel HTTYD:The White Wolf.

Cya tomorrow...

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