An Obscure Passage

Kako wasn't as intimidated by the swamp as he perhaps should have been, similarly his ottergator didn't seem too worried either, then again it was half alligator. The ottergator was restless at the start of the journey, but had soon gotten used to Kako's presence on it's back. Kako too had grown a fondness for the creature, finding it a little similar to himself: relaxed yet deadly. He wasn't entirely sure whether this was a good thing or not. Giving the beast's fur a friendly ruffle, he looked over to the others.

"I've been through worse, I vote we head through. The worst we will have to deal with is a couple of animals, and that won't be a problem. Besides" He pointed to Hirako "It'll be helpful for the kid."

"I vote going through saves us time and we can get to Ba sing se faster." Hirako jumped off his ostrich horse to feed her some food before the others decided. The swamp didn't worry him to much sure it would be all wet and damp and slimey and gross but it seemed to him sort of cool and adventurous. Hirako hopped back on his mount and waited for the others to respond.

Mieko dazed away on the back of their beast of burden she'd taken to calling Big Balik. He was a big, slow beast, but the ride was rather smooth. Kross at least hadn't fallen off to much. They soon stopped as they reached, according to the map, a place called Boggy Swamp. The other discussed wether to go through or spend the time to go around, and wasting a week seemed inefficient. "I too caste my vote for traveling through the swamp. No point in wasting so long". Mieko hefted herself up on one arm. A shadow was far back on the road, highly obscured. She rubbed her eyes to clear any of the gook she may have had the road kick up. There was nothing there, just her imagination or a trick of the sun.

"Would have been faster to pack enough supplies and pass over the desert instead of having to go to Omashu." Kross mumbled to himself. "Seems we are going through then. I don't really have a problem with either way." he said while looking into it. He had never been into the swamp before, it would at least be an experience, though the plant life gave plenty of places for people to hide in and they could end up being ambushed, not like a desert... but, if that's what the fire nation princesses wanted he would keep them happy and if they are attacked it will hopefully wear them down. "Why are we heading to Omashu again?" Kross asked.

"How exactly did you come up with this formation... do you even know what people are capable of.... not that I am not happy with it... I like being in the middle... just... want to know why... wait... we are walking?" He whined and complained, the more the others thought he was good for nothing the better. "Can I change my vote?" he added, looking around at the others in the hope that someone would agree with him. Why take mounts at all if we couldn't use them, The last thing he wanted to do was to touch things and get his clothes all wet.

"You got that he is the most capable just because he is old?" Kross said looking at Kako, The older man had not proven himself in any way as far as Kross could recall and anyone could lie, He could agree with the other positions though. He would rather Hirako be at the back so that if we were ambushed no one of importance would be lost, he kept this evil little thought to himself. "So... are the animals to just be left here at the border then?" He thought it was strange... they weren't even half way. What kind of animals did everyone pick that they give up on slightly difficult terrain. Kross rubbed the hard carapace of the Giant Rihnosorus Bettle. This wouldn't slow down... YetToBeNamed, even with a rider because Kross chose right, planning was his specialty

"And I don't bend. Just a traveler." he made sure his tattoos were covered. "And will you even be able too? roots and wet earth, not the easiest things to shift about....I imagine. The air is also pretty moist, Fire wont be that effective....probably, well.. at least the novice wont accidentally end up burning the whole thing down." he tried to sound like he was making just an educated guess, but he knew it for a fact, he had spent a lot of time figuring out how to disable benders and make them easy to take out... If the group was more exhausted, now would probably be the best place for his plan. He looked to Mieko, should he fill her in on it, She had not said anything about his airbending but how would she feel to capturing these people... and Tsu.. they were wanted criminals so it all depends on how they view the law. His head was starting to hurt, all this thinking, He had time to decide.

Kako had no major to the plan, it was good enough. "Tsu, I suggest getting on my mount, an ottergator should handle fine in a swamp and it's big enough for the both of us." He patted the seat behind him. "Also, I suggest Kross and Hirako walk side by side, with the mounts that are unable to carry their riders in between them, just in case we're attacked. I agree that Meiko should head up the rear, though." With that, Kako spurred the gator into formation. His legs were still crossed, though he was positioned slightly closer to it's head, now.

He decided that the kid might need some backup keeping Kross in line, and Kako didn't trust him anyway given his secrecy. He stood on his mount, and took a look at the party. "Kross, believe me when I say i'm perfectly able to take on this party even with my bending weakened. Tsu may also be weakened, but he seems to have taken it upon himself to lead, and leaders need a good position to order. Frankly, we shouldn't have much trouble anyway, so how about we stop whining and get on with it?"

Hirako liked this Idea he nodded and looked up at a few birds flying in the sky as he hopped off Luna and patted her head he began tying his lead to the saddle to begin going into the swamp getting his sword and from sheath from his saddle and putting it over his shoulder. "Ready to go." Hirako looked at the swamp it was rather foggy and hard to see far away into but he could of sworn he saw someone but he rubbed his eyes and the figure disappeared.

"Well, I'm ready but I am not coming down, It can more than handle this." he said patting his perfectly planned beast of burden. "If I really must though in the future, I will dismount but not a moment before, not worth me getting my boots wet if I don't have too. Well, no time to waste lets go." he said trying to not give anyone the chance to dispute it, his beetle starting to trudge forward slowly, stepping over the first few rocks and roots as if they were nothing, keeping balanced and steady. If need be it could act like a giant battering ram... Kross would bet that it would uproot some trees if pushed too.

He really needed a name. Mieko had taken to calling it Balik, for no reason that he could fathom, but he could not think of a name to call it himself. "Prongs, Horny, Awesome, Barge, Say, What are those big metal things on wheels that the fire nation used during the war. A tink or something like that..." He mumbled to himself quietly until the final question. Big, armored, powerful, it would be perfect, if he could remember the word.

Mieko was still up on Balik. Kross at least had the right idea to keep his boots dry. This beast was more than capable of handling them on its back, if it ran into an obstacle it would not have any chance getting over it with or without their added load. Her thoughts though we're still mostly trained on the shadow she might have seen, it may have just been someone who lives near by here seeing what travellers were passing by. Or it could be something much more dangerous or simply nothing.

"Lets just get this caravan moving people, we're burning daylight". Mieko was standing over kross' shoulder on top of Balik looking over to the rest of the group.

"Ahh, an ambush" Kross said, sounding surprised scared though this was all within expected parameters, He subtly clenched his fist and started to make the fog around himself and the beetle denser but not too much to arouse suspicion, hopefully they would leave him alone but it could backfire and make him look like a target. Though if they trained in this area they would probably be used to fighting in the fog, as was he, at the very least it would obscure anything that he does. He smiled, ready to stand up, one hand in his bag, undoing he secret compartment, in case he needed his weapons.

As he was at the front, Kako had noticed the figures first, but wasn't too fazed by it. In fact, it was rather convenient, good training for the kid. "Hey kid, we've got an ambush on our hands. Remember, keep cool, channel your passion." Calmly, he stood up, he'd made sure to move around every so often so his legs weren't as numb as they would be otherwise, thankfully, this paid off. He cracked his neck, then his knuckles, and waited for the enemy's attack. One had already attacked Tsuyoshi, it seemed, and he seemed to be handling it just fine. Kako noted his metalbending, and waited for his attack.

His military training told him they were attempting to scatter the group, and they would have likely observed the party beforehand. "They may split us, so try not to stray from the party." He suspected he was dealing with the muscle of the group, as he had declared himself the strongest earlier, but only time would tell, and it wasn't passing fast enough as the ex-spymaster stared down his opponent.

Mieko being at the rear of the column was given the task of protecting from any attackers that would come that way. She'd constantly been looking over her shoulder since they entered the swamp, she still had that odd feeling from the shadowy figure the other day. No amount of watching had warned her of the attackers. They defiantly must of known just how to sneak about in this place.

She looked to her left and right. One of the brutes were in front of her, there was only about four others. Pretty even odds if only numbers were being counted. That spoke nothing of the skills of these folks though.

One of the blokes had already attacked Tsuyoshi. There was no room for negotiation now, they were committed to the fight. Mieko lashed out her right arm and focused her bending in to a tight stream of fire. She swung her arm again letting the fire whip dance around. Mieko pulled back her whip, all twenty feet went slashing forward to her own opponent.

Hirako looked around him he breathed in slowly focusing on his opponent he unsheathed his sword and put it in front of him focusing and his blade making it seem like an extension of himself he saw only the outline of his opponent carrying some sort of hammer he watched as it swung down towards him. Hirako quickly took a side step and ran at the man who was swinging his hammer violently to try and hit Hirako he ducked as one swing almost hit his head. He ran towards him and jumped now e was above the man's head he conked him with his hilt as the man stumbled he stabbed cleanly into his gut.

Kross waited for the shadow to fall on him, taking his hands out of his bag and making sure to time it right, as it fell he grabbed it by the... wrist? something was wrong but he continued, his other hand grabbing at the chest, using the shadows own momentum to throw it over his shoulder and down onto the ground. Quickly he stood up and tried to process what was going on. it didn't feel right. "Was that... Spirits." He was not really prepared for this, he did not expect to run into one and had no plan for dealing with them. He had learnt that the avatar was the bridge between the human and spirit world, They alone could calm them and restore balance He froze, weapons, bending, all useless as far as he was aware. "What should we do." he called out and started looking around and assessing his situation.

Kako was more than slightly surprised when his assailant decided he fancied becoming two people. However, he'd have to think about that later, as his assailants were coming at him full force. They were however, right next to each other, which presented Kako with a very easy method of dispatching them. He drew both his hands back, then pushed them forward into two punches, stepping forward at the same time. Fire spewed from his fists, engulfing the assailants. Kako kept this up for a solid ten seconds, before withdrawing, staying on his guard. "Looks like Tsu has been able to repel one of them, Hirako too. We know metal works, at least. Bending probably will too. You never know, we might be able to kill them."

These things were unbelievably fast. Meiko let the whip burn out and readied herself to start dishing out some heavy firepower. The thing continued to charge her unabated. The swamp waters didn't seem to slow it down at all. It was within just feet of her now when she tossed both her arms forward and propelled a wall of flame from her fists. All her foes movements had stirred up a large pocket of swamp gas from underneath that rose to the surface just behind it. When her flames poured over the monster the gas detonated. Mieko was thrown clear over Balik and landed just behind Kako at the front of the group. The swamp waters had broken her fall thankfully. Stunned from the blast she was semi conscious and barely above water.

"What the f... Raise your hand if you have no idea what is happening." Kross said with his hand already raised, the fog around him dissipating slightly so he was more visible. "Shadows attacked, shadows poofed and now some big shadow is talking like it knows the future." he shook his head and then placed one hand on hid headband, he hated not understanding what was going on and this was giving him a headache. "Kako, just do your fire thing and lets get out of these forsaken swamp... I only wanted to travel to Ba Sing Se... I don't want all this trouble." He complained, looking around until focusing on the towering shadow. He didn't really know what he was looking at, just a big shadowy blob, he had been taught that spirits took on various forms usually based on what it was in life. He couldn't imagine what this used to be.