Grounds of the hunt

With the sun setting, the air had grown considerably cooler in comparison. The glittery bits of sand glowed in an opalescent tone as the light reflected off of it. The entire scene of a desert looked so different at night, from an aray of tan to a cascade of violet. Footprints were gone in moments as the sands constantly shifted from the winds. The sound of a billowing wind came from the large man as he sped through the sands. With his feet fastened to a wooden plank, his arms swayed in motion as the sand shifted under him, propelling him forward. His poncho swayed as he sped through the winds, coming up to what seemed like a mountain formation. Perfect to rest the night, of course, and where there is protection from the sun, there is life as well, hidden from the blistering rays along the desert until the night came and they could gather sustinance. The large man came to an abrupt stop, his wooden plank hitting against a rock as he flew forward and landed face first in the sand mound. It was one way to stop at least, now half burried in sand with the wooden plank still fastened to his feet. He was okay, right?

Kashikoi was walking through the desert with a straw flat hat over his head with him still wearing his mask with brand new clothing of a solid gray color. He had his hands in his pocket with his two fire nation soldiers wearing a gray uniform instead of the red uniform they normally wear. The fire nation soldier's faces were covered in a mask and a red scarf covering the mask just for display. Kashikoi kept walking through the sand with the wind constantly blowing in one direction against his side body structure. Kashikoi jumped onto this mountain platform seeing a man already on it. The fire nation soldiers also jumped onto the platform standing next to Kashikoi with there hands to their sides. Kashikoi stared at the man's back side of the head saying this.

"I wasn't expecting anyone to be here......Hello?"

The sound of someone's voice made it to him as he would shuffle himself out of the mound of sand he found himself in. Sitting up as the sand would run from his poncho, he unfastened the wooden board from his feet. He was free to walk now, his eyes wandering about to look for the voice in question.
" Who's there?" Clay called out, wondering if someone would show. His feet grinded into the sand under him, causing it to stretch over his feet up to his ankle. Closing his eyes, this allowed him to feel with the shifting sands if anyone was near. He could only see for about a few yards away, but a few yards could be helpful. " If you wouldn't mind showing yourself, I'd much appreciate it."

Kashikoi walking over to the edge of the platform of this cliff seeing the man below him. Kashikoi saying this out through his mask. Kashikoi's men followed right behind him with there arms to their side.

"Up here"

Kashikoi folded his arms waiting for his response. The wind blowing hard against Kashikoi's uniform with a yawn escaping his mouth but not visible as he is wearing his mask. Kashikoi stood strong not showing any signs of being tired.

"Oh..." Clay opened his eyes and looked up. His chain dangled against his chest under the poncho, CClay's eyes glancing up to notice 3 figures. " Would you rather me come up there to talk? Or are you okay with yelling at this distance?" Clay asked, the sand brushing from his poncho into the wind. His chain ruffled from the winds, making a small noise under the poncho that was inaudible from outside the poncho with all the wind kicking up, and the sand blew past, kicked up by the winds themselves. Clay bent down, grabbing his wooden board so he wouldn't use it, it was the quicker way to traverse the desert.

Kashikoi walked away from the edge of the mountain platform with his two men following him. Kashikoi saying this as he walks away on the platform going to the center of it.

"Come up here"

He would walk over to the wall of the mountain taking his turn to face both of his men who stand there facing him. He folds both his arms across his chest with his men turning the opposite direction waiting for the man to go on the platform.

Well, the man wanted an audience with Clay, Clay would happily oblidge. Bending at the knees, his arms rested to the ground under him, his torso turned to the side. As he slowly turned, his arms swung and kicked up the sand. With his legs pushing, he propelled himself as the sand whirled under him in a small tornado. The tornado pushed him up over the cliff edge before letting him go. He descended not too far from where the man was, crashing into the cliffside on his hands and feet. Standing himself up right, Clay looked at the three once again.
" Well, I'm here. What do you need?"

Kashikoi unfolded his arms looking at the teenager with a grin right under his mask. He pushes himself off the wall and takes his walk over to the teenager. With his arms to his side as he passes the fire nation soldiers, they get down on one knee and bowing to there admiral. Kashikoi placing his arms to his back like an admiral would, he looks at the teenager up and down saying this to him. Him and the teenager being a few feet away from each other.

"You are very young indeed.... you must be an earth bender I take it...."

" Don't get confused. I'm not an earth bender." Clay responded, staying still as the man would circle him. Looking down at him through the cloth that covered him, Clay wondered the reason for these 3 being in the desert. " If you're looking for a guide, it's best you look somewhere else. I don't offer my services for free, as would others, and I'm not nice to be around." Clay never let his guard down, his eyes keeping to the man whenever he moved into his peripheral, and closing whenever the man would circle out of his view.
" I am a sand bender. Else, i wouldn't wander the desert. Rock and sand do not mingle well on the bending charts."

Kashikoi getting into a fighting stance looking at the young bender. He would send powerful chi to both his hands as he looks directly at the teenager's body structure. Kashikoi then begins to speak to the teenager.

"How would you like to join me, together you and I can make the world a better place, but first I want to test your fighting skills."

Kashikoi's men walking to the mountain wall just to observe the fight from a far distance. They fold both their arms across their chest. Both of the fire nation soldiers looking to Kashikoi and the man about to spare.

" I have no intention of joining someone i barely know for a cause I don't understand. But if it's a fight you wanted, you could have just said so."
With the offer of a challenge, Clay shifted his hands in the poncho of his, feeling through the inlayer to make sure what he needed was where he needed in case he'd need something. Bolas, that was what he was looking for. Slipping a pair from the poncho, he brought it out for the man to see.
" I fight dirty. No pun intended. Ready when you are. Show me you have the strength to make this better world of yours so that I know I would have a place in it."

Kashikoi listened to the man's word as he took his run over to the teenager. With his hands onto his belt grabbing a hold of poison knives which are fire nation weapons as it is red and black to show that they come from that place. He grabs a poison knife in one hand and another poison knife in the other hand. Within a flash second he has both his arms crossed going inwards away from each other, then he uncrosses his arms having the blades attempting to slice his neck off going towards each other. Kashikoi hoping to poison the teenager to get the upper hand in battle. The two fire nation soldiers chuckle to themselves knowing that Kashikoi never starts a battle like that using knives.

Running straight towards Clay was a bad idea. Clay didn't know what the man was thinking, but with the majority of sand surrounding them, Clay went on the counter. Ducking from the crossing slashes as his tattered poncho was cut, Clay ducked to the right to dive out of the way. Mid dive, Clay threw those bola to where the man would land, aiming to take out the man's movements while Clay rebounded himself. Getting back to his feet, Clay unfastened the bandages on his forearms and let them drape a bit. Getting close to him would be hazardous now as he started his devilish dance with his arms swinging the bandages around to show their reach as they whipped through the air, stirring the sand around him to dance along as he readied his offensive.

Kashikoi saw the teenager duck from his slash attack. Then he saw the teenager dive to the right of him as Kashikoi viewed the teenager's body rather quickly he saw his arm going into a throwing formation as he saw the teenager's bola being thrown at him. Kashikoi quickly took a small jump into the air having his left poison knife changed to a stabbing position instead of a slash position. Kashikoi pin pointed when the bola would be coming from right under his jump. Kashikoi took a landing kneel as he stabbed the bola in the center of it having the two balls wrapping around the poison knife on the floor. Kashikoi got off his kneel taking the knife that he stabbed the bola's with. He placed both the knives into his belt sheath to keep the knives there as he gets ready to be more serious. Kashikoi draws powerful energy to both his hands as the energy is more concentrated into the index and middle fingers rather then the whole hand itself. Kashikoi takes his flash run over to the teenager's body once again. He quickly examined the whole bandages and small particles of the sand going near the teenager. Within a few seconds, Kashikoi was right in front of the teenager with his index and middle finger attempting to strike the boy's chest pressure points. If this landed, the teenager would be temporally paralyze and also lose his sand bending for a short amount of time. His quick fingers were sure to land on the teenager's body, he waited for his reaction...

What speed the man had to get in while avoiding the whirling sand and those heavy bandages. As the man got close, Clay's hands pulled back, the bandages coiling around his forearms again just as the man impacted against the somewhat chest armor of Clay's tunic. The arm motion tightened the sand as the hit landed, Clay feeling a drawback from the blow. His move was stunted for a moment before his foot crashed to the ground, propelling the sand in the bandages as he would bring his arms to crash into the now adjacent man for a heavy impact. This would be followed by the built up sand around them that would collide from opposite sides like walls crashing together to pound against the man from the left and right.

Kashikoi quickly looked as the teenager moved his arms attempting to hit him. Kashikoi quickly sent both his hands out of the teenager's chest armor, he quickly had enough chi around his palms to be sent over to the teenager's arms that were coming at him. Kashikoi sent both of his hands to the teenager's wrist attempting to grab a hold of it. If this grab was successful, the pressure that he could do would make the teenager's sand bending in the arm area become temporally unusable. This was because he had pressure points at the wrist area that Kashikoi was a master at finding. Kashikoi waited for the teenager to react.

Clay didn't stop his assault, the man would find that grabbing Clay's wrists mid thrust was a bad idea as the force of the sand in the salamander skin bandages filled with sand being propelled with sand bending on top of his regular strength would stun one's arms, if not break their hands in the attempt. Though Clay's forearms were covered in the thick bandage, the chi force would still halt the surrounding attack of the sand from both sides, but his hands being propelled by the sand bending of the sand in his bandages would collide none the less and do their damage, a small price of temporary sand bending loss for the man's loss of the use of his own chi blocking hands. Clay still had his legs, and with them he could still move the sand around him, they would both just be temporarily out of the use of their arms it seemed, and Clay would recover as well as the man so he was okay with it as their collision would show the damage after the debree blew away.

Kashikoi quickly released the man's both wrist as he took his few leaps back noticing that he can't use his chi for a short amount of time for some odd reason. He sent his hand to his back grabbing a hold of his Guan Dao. He would spin it around his front finally getting into a fighting stance once again protecting his front with this weapon. Kashikoi spoke through his mask.

"you are pretty good, so hows about you and I join sides...."


Kashikoi fixed his body posture placing his weapon on his back with him standing straight with his arms to his side walking over to his two fire nation soldiers.

Clay kept his position, watching the man as he would take another stance. Standing himself up straight, he looked at the man. " I can't say. I don't have a side of my own yet. Hence why I'm setting on a journey now. But maybe, if we cross paths again in the future, and I've improved my skills, I could be of help to you in your goal." Clay went and picked up his bola he threw earlier, kneeling and slipping the pair into his thick poncho. " If you need me, well...you can find a way to contact me. I never caught your name, and my manners have faltered." bowing in the man's direction, Clay stood once again. " I am Clayton De Laroux, but you can call me Clay."

Kashikoi stopping next to his fire nation soldiers, a gray blimp arriving at the mountain platform area being in the sky dropping three ropes to the three people that are there.
Kashikoi takes a hold of the rope and so does his two fire nation soldiers.

"The names Kashikoi Kai"

He and his two fire nation soldiers are levitated in the air heading towards the blimp within a matter of seconds as Kashikoi looks down below looking at the sand bender that he sees promise in. Kashikoi finally makes it to the blimp having the hatches closing right behind him with the fire nation soldiers standing behind him looking a bit puzzled towards the admiral.

"You have never given your name out to anyone before...."

Kashikoi looks out through the horizontal window of the blimp still looking down below at the sand bender with his arms to his back.

"There is promise in him....."

The blimp flies off over the clouds escaping the scenery being gone. Kashikoi finally regaining his chi back clenching his fist gently.

l--[ Exit ]--l

Clay watched the man ascend into his air traveling vessel. Once the man was out of site, Clay gathered what he could to make a fire and set the debree he found in pack. He wouldn't rest yet, he still had a way's to go and could sleep after more traveling through the vast desert. He wanted to beat the night, which was closing in fast. Hopping back on the wooden plank, he took off again through the desert at a quick pace.

|-[EXIT]-|