Dead Wood

It was a warm sunny day in the Fire Nation. There wasn't a cloud in the sky as the cool summer breeze swept by. A messenger hawk flew by and landed by a waterfall next to a man sleeping next to it with a straw hat placed over his fact. This man lifted his hat and read the letter sent to him. It had the seal of the White Lotus on it. So the man wearing Earth Kingdom attire read the piece of paper that was in a small container wrapped around the hawk's back. The paper informed the man that there was a target named Senju in the area with an extremely rare bending ability never seen before by the Order of the White Lotus. This man had a high bounty on his head and was being hunted by every bounty hunter in the area for killing a general's son. However, this letter informed him that there was a tip he was hiding out in the forest nearby. Soran was instructed to kill the man for his crime.

Letting a sigh out, the White Lotus assassin reached over and grabbed his katana and used it to stand to his feet as the hawk flew off. He jumped high into the air using his bending and began to explore the forest. He jumped from tree branch to tree branch until he came across the man described in the paper he had received. He had long, dark brown hair and a scraggly beard. The man was wearing red armor stolen from the son of the Fire Nation general and was carrying an enormous sword made entirely out of oak. This Buster Sword was classified as an enormous broadsword. From tip to handle, it was approximately five to six feet long, with a single-edged large wooden blade approximately one foot wide. This man was surprisingly muscular to be carrying that thing around his back the way that he was. He was probably strong enough to swing it effortlessly as well.

The warrior watched as the man was standing in the middle of a group of trees and eating apples. He was about to jump from the tree in order to make his move and strike, before something unexpected happened....

Kimmi looked over at both men. One was the one she was to kill and she not the other one. But she knew the kanji on his shirt. "The White Lotus.",she muttered. As much as she disliked the Fire Nation she had to obey her boss. Denying a order was not tolerated. "Looks like I might get a two for one deal." She smirked softly before jumping from the branch she was sitting on to another above the man she was to kill. The White Lotus man noticed her stopping dead in his tracks. Looks like he was going to attack.
"He might be of help...for now."

The Assassin had noticed a woman with black hair and golden eyes jumping to a branch above Senju. She was wearing a black and yellow jumpsuit. Unusual for a bounty hunter, which Soran assumed she was considering her targeting the same man that he was. The girl jumped from one branch to another and accidently rustled some leaves. Senju looked up and saw both Soran and the girl, "Shit!" the Assassin exclaimed as Senju caused the branches from both trees to encase the two in each tree they were in.

Soran quickly drew his sword and began cutting the branches rapidly before jumping down on the ground. Senju pulled the humungous wooden sword off of his back and pointed it at the man wearing the straw hat. The Airbender charged and began exchanging sword slashes with the man. The two seemed evenly matched as they blocked each other's sword slashes blow of blow. The man's sword was surprisingly durable considering its wooden features. The thickness of it was keeping Soran's Platinum blade from cutting clean through it.

"Shit.",Kimmi cursed under her breath as Senju looked up from the sound of the rustling. Kimmi moved out the way as a branch rushed towards crushing the branch she was standing on. She jumped from to another tree watching the battle going on below her. "The thickness of Senju's Bokutou is keeping the other assassin from cutting straight through. Looks like his sword is made of Platinum, Kimmi inquired. She knew exactly what to do. She drew her leather whip from it's holster. 'You only got one chance at this' she thought to herself. The sound of her whip cackled through the air as both men paused and looked up to see Kimmi coming from sky. Her whip connected with the branch above her as her feet connected with Senju's face unbalancing him "Bullseye"

The two swords clashed as the two warriors looked into each other's eyes. Soran's grey Airbender eyes looked into Senju's green Earth Kingdom eyes. The Assassin noted that they had the same type of eyes. Not in appearance, but deeper than that. They both had the eyes of a cold blooded killer. The sound of a whip cracking through the air and taking hold of a tree branch. The man got distracted by the girl approaching. Soran smirked as he spun his body around and let the stranger kick the man in the face.

While spinning his body, Soran managed to perform a swift sword slash down the man's back as he stumbled from the kick. The blood splattered and painted the tree from behind him as Soran jumped back. The angered Senju stabbed his wooden sword in the ground and made tree roots charge each of the Assassins. With his advanced speed from Airbending, the White Lotus Assassin began chopping up each large root coming his was coming from a seemingly endless stream erupting from the ground beneath him.

As this happened, Senju charged the girl who had kicked his face after pulling his sword from the ground. The Woodbender began hacking and slashing at the girl with his abnormally large sword made from wood while Soran was distracted by the onslaught of wooden roots attacking him.

Kimmi watched as tree roots emerged from the ground attacking the Lotus man as a highly upset Senju raced towards her. Swoosh The sound of Senju's Bokutou cut through the air. Clang The sound of Kimmi's sword connecting with Senju's
  "You p-piece of shit!, He stammered "If I'm a piece of shit what does that make you?, she retorted. She could see as the anger grew in his eyes. She drew her whip and landed a blow to his side causing Senju to back away. Kimmi drew her whip once again aiming for hand hold Senju's Bokutou.

After cutting up the last root, Soran looked over at Senju and the woman clashing their blades together. The swift swordsman charged the Woodbender from behind while gripping the handle of his sword in both hands. The woman managed to make Senju stumble back by striking him with her whip. The man raised his sword to slash down at the girl, but his wrist was caught with the whip, which forced him to drop his Buster Sword. Using this moment of opportunity, the Airbender jumped in the air and flipped down with a vertical slash aimed for the top of the man's head.

Unfortunately, the man used his Woodbending to make a root of very tough wood emerge from the ground behind him and blocked the slash of the sword. Another root emerged from behind the swordsman, wrapped around his torso and slung him into a stone wall that Senju used his Earthbending to bring up. Soran crashed through the wall of stone while Senju kept his eyes on the woman in the black and yellow outfit. He stomped his foot on the ground and brought up eight tendrils of wooden roots to wrap around the girl while attempting to sink her into the ground by turning it into quicksand.

Kimmi saw the Lotus man fly through a wall as more roots rupted from the ground. The large roots wrapped around her waist as the ground started turning into quicksand "Dammit all." She looked up and notice a branch hovering over her. She threw her whip up as it wrapped around the branch. She gripped the handle tightly as she started pulling herself up. "You're not going to get out. You're done for.", she heard Senju cackle as he started walking over to that White Lotus man. "I'm tired you!.", She screamed. She inhaled deep exhaling as flames flowed out her mouth setting the space between Senju and the Lotus man apart. Kimmi pulled herself out of the sand pulling herself up onto the branch

Standing up from out of the rubble; Soran cut the wooden root off of himself was he watched the girl starting to sink into the ground while being dragged in by roots. The Woodbender slowly approached with an evil grin on his face. Suddenly fire surged between the two from the girl's mouth. She was a Firebender! This was perfect! He could use this to his advantage in order to finish this man with enough time to spare to save the girl.

Shooting out a pulse of a solidified jet of streaming air from his left hand; the wind broke through the wall of flames and ignited the oxygen within the pulse. This pulse struck the Woodbender and set Senju on fire. The man cried out in pain as he was burning to death. Soran ran over to the girl with his sword in hand and cut off the roots that were wrapped around her before grabbing her wrist and pulling her entire body out of the quicksand. The two then looked over and saw the man slowly burning to death while running around like a madman. Soran shook his head as he sheathed his sword and watched as the man burned in misery.

Kimmi frowned looking at Senju run around in agony. "No one should have to bear the agony of a flame.", she whispered to herself as she jumped from the branch landing in front of Senju. She picked up her sword from the ground, she sliced Senju's throat. Soon Senju stopped moving and fell into a heap on the ground. "Mission complete.", she muttered. She pulled a napkin from her bag and wiped the mixture of boiling blood and ash off and placed her sword back in it's sheath. She turned to face the Lotus man and finally got a good look at him. He had grey eyes one being covered by the bang in his face. His hair was pulled back into a ponytail and a few scars decorated his face. "Thank you for your assistance.", She said in a tone that showed no emotion whatsoever.

The Assassin watched as the woman took pity on Senju and slit his throat. With a nod of approval, the warrior simply let out a sigh of relief. He had handled many unique bending in his time, but this was an extremely rare ability. The target was now dead. Even though he didn't land the killing blow, he was happy with the outcome. One less scum in the world. Benders like that had no place in the world. Especially when it came to those who abused their bending abilities in order to get what they wanted. At least, this is what Soran was taught.

"Thank you for your assistance.", The girl stated with an emotionless expression. "No problem. You actually did my job for me. He laughed with a friendly expression on his face. The smile converted into a slight grin, "It seems you also hide your bending until the time to strike. That's impressive. My name is Soran. What is yours?"

"My name is Soran. What is yours?",Soran asked. 'So his name is Soran. I guess I could trust him.', she concluded. "Kimmatha, or Kimmi for short.",she answered. She tried to smile but it came out looking kind of awkward. She cleared her throat realizing that Senju's body was still lying there. "I need to get that out of here., she mumbled to herself as she keep her head low.

The woman introduced herself as Kimmi while giving off an awkward smile. This made Soran feel slightly uncomfortable. The girl cleared her throat while looking down at Senju's body. With the slightest movement of his hand; Soran sent a powerful gust that blew the man's burned body flying away in a mini whirlwind. This would carry him in a semi-circle before dropping his body into the quicksand that he himself had made. That way he wouldn't distract the two as they talked as his body sand into the depths of the Earth.

"So, Kimmi..." Soran began to say, "So are you an assassin for the Fire Nation or something?" he asked plainly, not really sure what else to say in the conversation. He simply awaited a response as the last bit of Senju sank beneath the quicksand.

Kimmi watched the rest of Senju's body sink in the quicksand then realized she did not answer Soran's second question. "No, I do not work for the Fire Nation, Kimmi's voice sounded quite agitated, and I wouldn't want to. I see that you work for the White Lotus, and your Airbending skills aren't bad either.", she noted.

This question seemed to touch a nerve. This girl actually seemed offended by his question of her working for the nation in which he probably resides. She then mentioned knowing what the symbol on his back represented. Impressive, considering that the kanji on his back represented the Order of the White Lotus in its purest form. Very few recognized it and this girl seemed to understand that he was a part of the great organization that believed in unity of all benders and nonbenders.

She then followed up complimenting his Airbending skill. This was a kind gesture, considering he had only demonstrated basic abilities mixed with perfect control. "Well, your Firebending came in handy when it came to killing that guy. I learned that mixing the elements provides the perfect resource of offensive qualities needed to effectively execute a foe." He stated plainly. "Sorry if my question offended you. But now that we have killed the Woodbender, what do you plan to do now?"

"Sorry if my question offended you. But now that we have killed the Woodbender, what do you plan to do now?" Soran asked. I must return to HQ, and report to Boss. What about you., She asked twitching slightly
  Kimmi didn't like to be postponed she has lost enough time fighting Senju, but now she was wasting time talking to this man.

Soran shrugged. He honestly didn't have a plan, he was only taking the day to relax before he was assigned this mission. "I think I am going to check out Ember Island." He stated calmly, "See ya later!" With that he jumped away, using his Airbending to jump ridiculously far as he exited the area.

[Exit]

Kimmi watched as Soran left. "Yea I will be seeing you again Soran of the White Lotus.", she said to herself. Kimmi stayed behind a cleaned the rest of the mess left from the battle. "It seems I have a lot to report to boss when I return." , she stated as she turn and went the opposite way of Soran.