The Protectors: A Hero's Heart (Book 1: Growth; An A:TLA Fanfiction)

Chapter 6: Rescue Training

The next day…

Morning classes began as normal as usual. Lessons like history, math and science were taught to the teenage Protectors-in-training by their teachers. After the series of morning classes, it was time for lunch.

Once Nidoria, Kugo and Bokio came to the canteen doors, they were greeted with familiar faces.

“Yo! What's up, guys?” Gianso exclaimed with a wave and a friendly smile.

Besides Gianso, there were Liyah, Izugail, Zeno, Ryoske, Khelsi and Shang-Yo. They had smiles on their faces.

“Ey, yo!” Bokio replied with a friendly smile.

Once Gianso and Bokio approached each other, their right arms raised to a horizontal position. They swooped their palms against each other, then they did the same with their back hands. After that, their hands clasped against each other and they shook.

“Oh, looks like we're having a friendly reunion,” Izugail said happily. “That's nice.”

“It's too bad the canteen is divided into departments. Our training mates had to sit next to each other,” Liyah said in a sad tone.

Nidoria nodded with a frown. “Yeah, true. I just wish there's a day we get to sit next to each other regardless of what department we're in.”

Kugo lowered his head and let out a sigh of exasperation. “Yeah, I agree. As much as I wanna be a Protector, the canteen should reconsider those strict rules.” Kugo looked up at the others. “I mean I wanna sit next to Zeno for the sake of my own gut!”

“Yeah, I wanna sit next to you, too, Kugo, but the canteen here has its rules,” Zeno said with an apologetic smile.

“Yeah, true,” Shang-Yo said. His left thumb and index finger moved to his chin. “I wonder why, though.”

Ryoske followed Shang-Yo’s actions. “I’m not sure either. Maybe because a Fire Nation Protector-in-training was a traitor back then?”

As Izugail continued to listen to everyone else's conversations, impatience was building up inside of her. She had the urge to lash out and tell her friends that they should eat now, but she had to maintain her composure or else, she'll lose her reputation. With that, she inhaled deeply, then she exhaled calmly. She repeated the process until her emotions slipped away from her veins.

Once she was calm enough, Izugail revealed a friendly smile on her face. “We have 30 minutes before our official Protector-training session. We should go eat lunch if we don't want to be late.”

Nidoria nodded. “Yes, Izugail. Of course, we don't want to be late.”

Kugo nodded twice.

Bokio nodded. Then, he turned to the others. “Okay, everyone. Let's go.”

With that, Nidoria, Bokio, Ryoske, Gianso, Shang-Yo, Izugail, Khelsi, Liyah, Kugo and Zeno all entered the canteen doors.

When they entered, Nidoria and her friends got to the counters like they usually did. Nidoria, Bokio and Kugo went to the Fire Nation Counter. Zeno and Khelsi went to the Earth Kingdom Counter. Izugail, Khelsi, Ryosuke and Shang-Yo went to the Water Tribe Counter. After they received their food, they went to their respective tables.

Once everyone sat around the tables, they ate lunch. In between eating lunch, they conversed about random topics.

Around the table with the Fire Department symbol — which consisted of the same symbol ass the one fro the Fire Nation — on it, Bokio, Nidoria and Kugo were conversing with each other.