Shifting Gears Part 1

Kanna Foloki sits in Kubala's office. She had requested a personal chat with her. Kanna: "He needs to be investigated, that's only fair."

Kubala: "Noted, but your job is to be a proxy. He may be investigated, perhaps he already is."

Kanna: "Why wouldn't you tell me if he's being investigated?"

Kubala: "Because if your emotions are too involved in all of that, it could jeopardize the mission."

Kanna thinks, "Oh, that makes sense. But still Kubala, please do the right thing." 

Kubala sighs, "I hear you Kanna. In the meantime, you have a new assignment. I hear the Reclamation Knights are attempting to Strike back again. I want you to be ready." 

A couple of days later several reclamation knights gather outside of a factory with Rankin waiting with his platinum armor. His watch commander Yavin waits in silver armor along with his head captain Tanbur who is a towering figure with bronze armor and a battle club. 

Kanna stands with Ron and Yoki across them. Kanna looks at Ron and Yoki, "Do you two feel comfortable going up against these guys?"

Ron: "I'll fight the big one, Yoki can deal with that silver man. You run it back with Rankin." 

Kanna points at the group leader, "Alright Rankin, let's see what you've got." Rankin motions for Kanna to strike first, so she does. Kanna kicks a fireball at Rankin's right knee, but he twirls his cutler low and puts it out. 

Kanna kicks a fireball at his left rib, but he sways right and hacks diagonally at Kanna. Foloki rolls left and Rankin has a momentous cut at Kanna's head. Kanna ducks and kicks a fire square at the knight's midsection.

Rankin turns his rapier sideways as he intercepts the burst of fire then shoves his blade at Kanna's abdomen. Kanna slips left but Rankin turns his blade over and hacks at Kanna diagonally. Kanna is forced to backstep to avoid getting butchered. 

Foloki punches two flames at him but Rankin slashes both then swings at Kanna's right arm diagonally. The former marine rolls left and forward. Rankin gets impatient and performs a horizontal leaping slash at Kanna. 

Miss Foloki flips behind him and Rankin turns to reposition himself, but Kanna back kicks a fireball into Rankin's right side as he is turning over. The platinum armored knight hits the ground, and his followers watch in amazement as Kanna has bested him.

Rankin admits, "You are the superior warrior, you have my respect."

Kanna orders Rankin, "Stand down and call your men off." While this is happening Tanbur charges at Ron. The archer shoots two arrows at him but Tanbur knocks both back with his bat. Ron lands a third arrow on Tanbur's leg but he keeps going and clubs left at Ron's body.

Ron dives under the shot and gets up and runs from Tanbur when he realizes there is no easy way to hurt him. The silver armored knight Yavin runs after Yoki. The earthbender hurls three earth objects at him.

The knight knocks bath the debris and runs to get a clear hit on the young woman. Yoki presses her hands together and hurls several large objects at the silver knight. Yavin is put down by the objects and blood flows from his fingers. 

Ron runs at Yoki, "I need your help." Yoki turns and sees Tanbur. Yoki causes part of the ground to fall in but Tanbur lunges at her and brings his club down at her. Yoki rolls right and Tanbur knocks a big dent in the ground. Tanbur hurries after her again and Yoki generates stone guards. 

Tanbur swings his club and Yoki blocks his club blow with her guard but her left arm still feels quite sore. Tanbur clubs again at her head but Yoki ducks low. Yoki knocks an earth column into Tanbur's chest, but he stays on his feet. Tanbur swings diagonally at her and Yoki spins backward.

Ron shoots an arrow into Tanbur's left shoe which goes right in. The armored warrior shrieks and Yoki levels him with an earth shaft. Kanna meets up with them, "The knights have made a truce for the moment."

Yoki: "What?"

Kanna nods, "Yes, they still oppose the change that is happening, but at least for now they have decided to stop attacking random people and raiding the city. They will leave the factories alone, but they demanded to have a voice at the city council."

Ron: "They really think that's gonna happen?"

Kanna: "That's what they want." The next day Kanna tells Mayor Jorai. 

Jorai: "That's ridiculous, why would I allow those brutes to have a voice in our politics?"

Kanna: "This all started because they felt unheard. I don't agree with their choice of action, but having a word in council might make them have faith in the bureaucratic process."

Jorai: "Why should they get a second chance, when they could have done things right the first time?"

Kanna adds, "They are not without losses from their own bad decisions. They cost us as well but one thing I learned about life is you can't argue about why things aren't perfect. You have to make the best imperfect solutions to deal with imperfect times."

Jorai rubs his forehead, "You have a point Kanna, please give me some time to think this through."

Kanna replies, "No problem."

The Feral Pariahs

A group of twelve soldiers march in standard formation at the city square. The government does these demonstrations as a show of the power, might, and force that the government can produce. It also is meant to instill nationalistic pride. Three trumpets and three drummers also accompany the soldiers during their military parade.

Four soldiers have swords, four have spears, and four are firebenders march. Four warriors prepare to counter them. Miss Gloom creeps about with black and gold armor as well as a purple mask. Hikura steps with a yellow-green and grey uniform. Hikura wears long dark grey metal boots.

Zigto has light brown and red-orange armor and is relatively short in stature standing at just 5'6. Xivak has dark grey robes and a long black cape. He is a male that wears a partial mask that only covers his mouth and nose rather than his entire face but also has a black bandana that covers his hair. 

A looping splash of carmine fire with a white interior extinguishes two spear warriors and one firebender. It is from Miss Gloom who enters her battle guard. Hikura pulls two three-feet-wide earth columns and shoves them into four soldiers. Zigto takes his bat and swats two fireballs into a swordsman and the last remaining spear trooper.

Just three troops remain, two firebenders and a duelist. Xivak hurls two spinning stars at the swordsman who deflects the first one that was heading for his throat but takes the second one across his left side. The soldier falls out. The firebenders punch three flames at the dark warrior who shifts his cape in front of him and his cape absorbs the fire. 

Xivak retracts his cape and skips between the benders before horizontally slashing one of them in half. The other fighter pauses in terror as he is impaled. Miss Gloom: "Good work, our enemies have been exterminated like the pests they are. Let this be a sign to all those who worship authority. We are true champions of freedom, for all the blessings and problems it brings."

Kanna sits with Kubala in her briefing room, "Can my friends sit in on these since they're technically a part of my team?"

Kubala: "Kanna your friends are kind of in a grey area. They can work with you and brief with you, but they're not commissioned to brief with me. There are a few things we may still want to keep from them."

Kanna nods, "So I might need to track down these feral pariahs."

Kubala: "Definitely, they are becoming a big threat. But before you do, I want you to search for a gun depot. We believe we found the place they are manufacturing those boom sticks."

Kanna: "Am I able to destroy it?"

Kubala: "We'd prefer if you kept it intact so we can take them for ourselves, but between you and me, you won't be terminated if you destroy it under the right circumstances."

Kanna: "Got it." Kanna meets with her friends Ron and Yoki. Kanna: "How have things been going you two?"

Ron: "Yoki keeps throwing out my breadsticks." 

Yoki: "Because you never eat them then they get nasty."

Ron: "You throw them out before they even get nasty, I was going to eat them right before, but you don't give me a chance."

Yoki: "Why would I wait until you attract mold in the house? That could cause lots of other things to go bad."

Kanna warns Ron, "Listen to your girlfriend. She knows best."

Ron: "Of course another girl's gonna tell me that." 

Yoki: "We also found a friend that want to help out."

Kanna: "What do you think this is? I'm a national agent; I personally picked you both."

Ron: "You picked us because you LIKED US. You had no idea we'd be this helpful but there still are people more capable than us." 

Kanna: "How do you know this random person will meet the minimum threshold I set?" 

Yoki: "Because we know he's legit Kanna. His name's Finchai." A young sixteen-year-old boy comes. 

Finchai: "I used to hand out newspapers and it was unfulfilling. Apparently, this is my chance of having a new life. You can call me Fin for short by the way or FC." 

Kanna crosses her arms, "So can anyone show me his skills?" Ron reveals a box of peaches and lays it down. Yoki quickly tosses peaches at Finchai, the young man pulls a lever to a double sword which extends, and Fin slashes one after another.

Kanna: "Not bad FC, maybe we need an obstacle course next and a formal training regime" 

Ron: "Why so strict?"

Kanna: "I was recruited by Macai, of course I'm strict."

Yoki: "I keep forgetting that. Macai was known for being so mechanical but effective. He definitely represented a different time."

Kanna becomes defensive, "Hey that guy won my unit some battles we would have never made it out of if it wasn't for his mechanical way of thinking. So, you can say what you want about it but doesn't change how I view him."

Ron: "Kanna we meant no disrespect, we just said what we said."

Kanna rolls her eyes, "Oh sure." A random man with a hat takes aim at Kanna with a flinklock pistol. 

Ron warns, "Kanna look out!" Kanna prepares to dodge, and the man opens fire, but Finchai slides and hacks the bullet in two. The shooter retreats in a rabbit-hippo carriage that rolls off.

Finchai: "See, I'm more than capable at helping."

Kanna admits, "Stopping peaches and stopping bullets are two very different things. You've shown me something, but I still want to see you formally trained." 

Formal Session

Kanna watches as Finchai swings in various directions. Kanna orders him to attack from different combos. Four Fire Nation soldiers stand around Finchai and strike at him from different angles with wooden paddles. Finchai holds his own paddle and keeps getting whacked from different directions.

Finchair screams, "What do you want me to do? How is four against one a fair fight?!" 

Kanna comments, "It doesn't have to be fair, you need to learn how to shine through all obstacles and get creative on the spot." The drill occurs again and again with the same result. Kanna pulls back at some point and decides to give Finchai time before retrying the same drill. 

It happens again but this time Finchai blocks attacks from all angles. He trips over one soldier and whacks a second one. Now it's just two to one. Finchai intercepts attacks from both easily before kicking one down and hitting the last one across the leg. Kanna claps, "You did Finchai. You are just about ready."

Kanna makes Fin jog, sprint, do push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, mountain climbers, pull-ups, hand-to-hand drills, evasion drills (dodging random objects that Ron throws at him), sensory drills (blocking while blindfolded), lifting, walking through a bush maze, and swimming (just for conditioning).

Finchai :"I'm not sure all those drills were necessary, but I feel great, am I legit now?"

Kanna nods, "I've done all I can to train you, I believe you are ready. You can play a role in our next mission, but the roles will start simple and may grow over time." 

Ron: "So we're hitting a gun depot?"

Kanna: "That's right, they haven't done enough for their work to get to factory level yet but I expect it's a pretty big depot. We can take a crack at some of the guards with stealth then I suspect they will meet us with force. I have faith in you all to get the job done. My ambition is for us to destroy this depot, so these weapons won't be reused."

Ron: "You can never stop technology, but you might delay its development."