Academy Encounters [1/6]

NOTES: If any of you spot a grammar/punctuation mistake, let me know.

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Life in the Royal Academy ain't so bad. With my increased thought process and calm thinking, the classes have become extraordinarily easy.

The Academy, I go to, has boys and girls split from each other when attending classes. Boys will be in one class, and girls in another. Reason being, something about distractions.

However there are 3 times during the day we are allowed to socialize and interact with each other.

During these times, all sorts of unfortunate accidents, and unusual interactions happen between those times, which end up with me being front row seat.

In fact interactions like these would be so often, and be so bizarre that I started to bring popcorn, or fire pops, whatever the hell they call popcorn in this world.

However, it seems the universe has decided to say fuck you in particular on the day I'm supposed to bring my chemistry invention.

Reason being I'm now dancing around flesh melting flames with a fucking bomb in my hand.

Lets rewind...

Today is, in earth months, 15th of May, 94AG, the day i'm supposed to bring a powerful stink bomb.

The stink bomb is question, is a beautiful machination of stink, which could leave a 42 inch crater, and spread a burning, almost blinding stink 67 yards in every direction, all documented results of weapon testing in a abandoned part of the mountain.

You're probably wondering why the hell I didn't put it up, the thing is, I DID!

I put it in my armored locker, credit of moi (That's french), and had to take it out in order to deliver it to the testing grounds behind the school (I have chemistry at the end of the day).

All the professors knew about this, and have decided to put out guards to tell the surrounding neighborhoods that a over-the-top chemistry project is being presented today, and to not worry about the loud explosion and slight stink during the presentation.

It's a decent little excuse for when I begin weapon testing, because the wind will defintely carry the smell.

Now what I was carrying and presenting was told to the entire school this morning before I arrived.

During the announcement, they were warned of the dangers of using bending around me when I was carrying it, EVERYBODY knew what the bag would look like, and when I would be transporting it.

You're also thinking, 'Who the hell would be crazy enough to attack a person using fire bending when they have a highly explosive chemistry project in their hand?'

This little firecracker in front of me would, and a temper this one has, immediately turning me around by the shoulder, getting nose to nose, even with my 7" height difference.

This is Azula, she's 2 years older than me, she stands at 5' tall, and really, do I need to explain what she looks like?

"Who do you think you are?" the feisty bobcat exclaims.

[NEW QUEST: SURVIVE]

Description: A prey unsuspecting is the best kind. Azula has been having a bad day, and severe temper switches because of her jealousy for her friend Ty Lee, manage your way through this predicament.

REWARDS:

- 2000 EXP

- [+5 VIT, STR, AGI, END, INT]

- 10 Bonus Stat Points

"A wandering traveler, say, wanna take a look at my wares?" I respond as I mimic the RE4 weapon merchant with a flash of the bomb inside my bag.

Azula takes a glance of what's inside the bag "Don't you dare act smart with me, you peasant."

"Well aren't you a feisty cutie?" I respond in a mock tone as I lightly booped her nose.

Did I ever tell you that I'm erratic? That's not a good thing.

'Hmm...[TARGET STATUS]'

This is a built in system feature, lets me know the emotions of the person in question, handy for conversations.

[AZULA]:

[ANGRY] [CONFUSED] [CURIOUS] [SLIGHTLY HAPPY] [EMBARRASED]

"YOU DARE TOUCH MY SKIN?! DISGUSTING!" the she demon screams.

'Curious? HAPPY?!' as I was reading the pop-ups, I notice Azula shift her right foot and send a horizontal wave of blue flame toward my ankles going into a offensive Chaquan stance, noticing this, I quickly stomp on top of the fire wave, dissipating it, entering the Kokutsu Dachi stance.

[NEW MARTIAL ARTS]

[KARATE LEARNED]

Right after I dissipated the wave, she sent two fireballs towards my shin and my head, quickly reacting I jump in the air and twist in the open space between the blasts, holding the bomb close to me, and yes, I did twirl in the air with a 40+ pound bomb in my arms.

"BITCH, I HAVE A BOMB!" I quickly exclaimed, giving away my surprise chemistry project.

"You better not let me hit it then" she growled back.

"Well that's just fantastic."

Having to quickly check my surroundings, I notice 2 things, first one being to check the 2 girls behind Azula who seem to be Ty Lee and Mai to see if they were getting ready to attack me.

It was the complete opposite of what I expected, instead of them being ready to attack me, they were looking at me with complete shock, as if the world just ended and everyone went mad.

The second thing I noticed was...

Genji, my magnificent shadow, the assassin I would actually trust, and best of all, one of the boys.

Donning a Noh Kabuki mask, having his Mako like hairdo, and that's basically all I've seen if him; he's always wearing a uniform and the Kabuki mask every time we hang out.

Ducking under a fire ball curved at my shoulder, I return the favor with a lightning fast round house kick causing Azula to become surprised and guard her head, sliding 5 feet to the left after impact, quickly shifting back into her stance.

"GENJI! Catch this and deliver it to the testing ground" I yelled

"Gotcha" Genji responds

Throwing the bag to Genji, he moved like a flash, grabbing the bag then jumping out of the window, disappearing just as soon as he appeared.

Noticing, Azula smiles wickedly "Maybe you can finally fight properly now, however I don't expect a weak peasant to do much."

"I'm afraid I can't afford to be your boy toy today, If I'm late they'll deduct 10 points from my project, and if I don't get my 100% because of you, i'll replace your perfume with mercaptan, you'll be smelling like concentrated feces for weeks" I "calmly" warned.

"You wouldn't dare" she hissed

"Trust me, I would" quickly responding before I went into horse stance, moving both my arms into a quick uppercut motion, and causing a harmonious wall of gold, red, and white flames to appear blocking her from coming closer.

Taking this time while all eyes were on my flame wall, I jump out the same window Genji jumped out of.

Before completely leaving I did one more status check.

[AZULA]

[SHOCKED] [SURPRISED] [INTRIGUED] [ANGRY]

'Fuck'

Making my way to the exit at the back of the school courtyard, I notice Zuko sitting on the stairs leading to the testing ground.

"Sup Zuko, what ya doin?" I said as I began to "pat" him on the shoulder.

"Ow...Nothing...Just sitting here because all the classes are boring, so I just went ahead and skipped the last class I had today, what about you?" Zuko responded rubbing his shoulder where I "gently" patted him on.

"Nothing much either, it's just your sister blasting fire at me with a bomb in my hand"

"SHE WHAT!" Zuko yelled in disbelief.

"Nothin' anyways, gotta blast!" I quickly responded before using my bending to accelerate my self like a jet engine down the path.

Doing that honestly makes me feel like Iron Man.

"W-Wait...and he's gone"

As I was traveling to the testing ground, I took note of a couple things:

[ENCOUNTER REWARDS]

[+1 VIT] [+1 STR] [+3 AGI] [+2 END] [+200 EXP]

That's one of things I noticed, I get a reward for every life threatening encounter I survive, however the other thing was...

The quest didn't complete...

'Vindictive bitch confirmed, I definitely need to watch my back now.'

[+1 INT FOR DEDUCING THE OBVIOUS]

'The last thing I currently need is a semi-sentient, human interface telling ME what is obvious.'

[Touché]

Finally arriving at the training grounds, I look and around and see 2 fire nation generals and several noble families prepared and ready to view the weapon testing.

'Nah this is fine, this is totally fine, really fine...Really'

I walk into the middle of the testing ground and begin presenting to the Nobles and Generals that have gathered.

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen, today, we will be testing a new chemical explosive, the purpose of this explosive is to disorient and severely injure enemy infantry with not only shrapnel, but a unbearable burning, almost blinding stink."

"Not only will this help save the lives of our fellow country men, but show the other nations our techological and weapon superiority!" I added raising my arms to the side, fingers stretched, looking as if I was about to embrace the sun.

The nobles and generals immediately start cheering and praising my speech.

"HERE, HERE!" a random general says.

"WELL SAID BOY!" a rich nobleman comments.

'Fuckin' chumps.'

[You really reeled them in, huh?]

'It's too easy.'

"Allow me to explain the magic behind this abomination."

Looking around I see the nobles and generals smiling with glee.

'Seems they liked that terminology.'

As I begin to explain the inner machinations of this chemical nightmare, with some purposefully left out details, I signal Genji to rig the detonator while I was presenting.

As I finished speaking, I looked to the corner of my eye and noticed Genji giving the ok signal.

"With that, the explanation is finished, and now I present to you, living death..." after delievering the end of my presentation, I turned around hiked my right foot ontop of the lever, pressing it down.

[Style Points +10]

'Thank you, and it seemed to have made an impression as well'

Shortly after pressing down on the lever, a spark of electricity was sent to the 10 second fuse, lighting it, and beginning the count down.

I start to loudly count down...

"10..9..8..7..6..5..4..."

'This feels like forever'

"3..2..1..."

The bomb detonates, sending out an ever expanding cloud of stink and shrapnel, shockwaves of rocks, wind, and dust devastate trees and branches on impact, leaving destruction in its wake.

"Well how was that ladies and gents?"

Looking back at the audience, I see shock and surprise.

"All that destruction, came from that bomb?" a tall lengthy skeleton like general questioned.

"Yes it did" I responded.

The generals, noblemen and women quickly turn their heads to the teachers.

My chemistry teacher suddenly breaking into a cold sweat immediately began to talk.

"W-We will enter deliberation"

After about what seemed to be a 2 hour meeting with constant interjections and suggestions from noble and general alike.

I ended up receiving my oh, so deserving 100%, and some really heart moving offers for when I graduate the Royal Academy.

The last bit being the reason I went over the top for this assignment, with this all out of the way early, I now have some breathing room for my later academy years and some benefits for future assignments, and projects, benefits being courtesy of the nobles.

You know there's class discrimination almost everywhere, but there's one thing that ties together the Fire Nation military and noble houses, and that's the appreciation and eye for brilliance.

No amount of discrimination can get through that.

After finishing up with the nobles and generals, I decide to go through the market district, after entering I spot Sav, and another one of the boys, Brick.

Brick was a bit smarter version of Pipsqueak, a bit, he had a wide face, lightly tanned skin, with a structured jaw, and a wide poked out chin, wearing his sleeveless school uniform.

I walk up behind and surprise them.

"Whatcha doin' boys?"

Scaring both of them, having Sav falling over from surprise, and avoiding a accidental attack from Brick.

"Woah there brick..."

"My bad Sol." he responds quickly before continuing to browse through the selection of cooked meat.

"Anyways, how'd you guys do on your tests?"

"I made a 86, they really enjoyed the testing display" Sav responds with pride.

"I took your advice and made pepper spray." Brick adds.

"You made something?!" Sav yelled in surprise.

"Yeah, I did, it had uhh...errr...hmm.."

"It's alright there chief, don't strain your brain cells." I say as I stop Brick's head from exploding.

"Thanks man." Brick happily responds, oblivious to the obvious teasing.

"Anyways, why the hell weren't you with us when we were presenting our projects?" Sav questions.

"Because word got out to the nobles, and a couple generals caught wind of it too, both parties made our chemistry teacher schedule a private showing." I explain ever so quietly.

"THERE WERE GENER-" my friend screeches before I put my hand over his mouth

"If you wanna try and let every know I met with figureheads of our country for a "simple" chemistry project, you might wanna warn me first" I whisper sarcastically

"My bad." my friend mutters.

"Well it's getting late now, I'ma head out and go home, I got some assignments and personal "Father and Son" training regiments to complete, so peace" I said as I began to show the peace sign, walking away with one of Bricks kabobs, and a bag of Hot Pops, that's the name...

"Wait a minute, he stole one of my kabobs."

Sav responds with a face palm.

Cutting through the alleyways, I began to feel as If I was being watched, except I was, by angry old women yelling out of a window.

I ignored the yelling and headed for the hillside, where my home sits atop, stopping 25 yards from the Torii gate, the entrance to the 1 mile long hill top, stone stairway hike to my home.

The sensation i've been having instantly became stronger, feeling a sharp tingle on the side of my face I instinctively dodged

Dropping to a push up position, a blue, anger filled blast missed a moment later, destroying the foliage.

Jumping back up, and looking around, I feel the tingling sensation again, dashing back, 3 lightning fast knives land in the spot I was just in.

That move seems familiar.

Quickly trying to get in a defensive chaquan stance, I felt another tingle on the back of my neck, turning around as fast as I felt it, a fist with a middle knuckle pointing out whiffed by, cutting my face.

Reacting, I grab the wrist of the assailant, and bend it towards their body, using my other hand to grab the the attackers arm, I throw the aggressor to the other side.

[TALENT UNLOCKED]:

SENSE DANGER [LVL 1]: My spidey senses are tingling. [TREPIDATION] (Can sense danger 0.5s before it happens)

As I began to study the attacker, I looked at her hair and face, recognizing her as...

Ty Lee?

Then that means...

Oh shit.

TO BE CONTINUED...