Avatar:Folk tale of an earthbender{Book One:Earth}

Chapter 11: Earth Rumble

Daiki shook his head, rubbing the back of his neck. "I just.." Hanabi interrupted him. "He's doing the nervous scratchy neck thingy! He always does that when he's nervous!" She said. Mayu covered her mouth. "Sshhh!!!" Daiki spoke again. "I didn't...I didn't realize that it'd hurt you guys so much..and I wasn't thinking straight...I-I'm sorry." He looked down, biting his lip, preparing to be shouted at. But instead, his mother picked him up and embraced him. "You scared me so much."

Yin was stood at the door, she was Daiki's youngest sibling, only 14. "Welcome home. Big brother" She said, smiling at him. Kaori was still in the room, seemingly invisible. Daiki's mother looked toward her. "Who's your little friend?" She said, winking at Daiki. "Don't tell me...You've finally brought home a girlf-" Daiki covered her mouth, smiling awkwardly. "This is my friend Kaori. She's from the water tribe." He said quickly. "Oooh! I love the water tribe! The little arm wraps they wear are so cute! And I love sea prunes!" Hina chimed in. Kaori nodded nervously. "Yeah...me too!"

"Nice to meet you, I'm Daiki's mother, Rina. I'm so glad Daiki has someone to talk to! I was afraid he'd get lonely!" She said, clasping Kaori's hands in her own. "Do you want to stay for dinner?" She asked eagerly. Kaori nodded. "That..sounds nice...actually!" She responded smiling.

Their home was small, and it lead out into a bakery, filled with all kinds of cakes and treats. Despite their home being so small, Kaori liked it, it was cosy, with pictures of their family everywhere. They looked so happy. Kaori traced her fingers across the numerous photos, all of her fire nation royal family pictures had them all with serious expressions. But all of theirs had them smiling or laughing, she couldn't help but feel envious. "I need to get started on dinner! Today's been so nice!" She said eagerly. Daiki's mother Rina was average height, and thin, with soft features and large green eyes, her hair was placed neatly in a bun on the top of her head, with what looked like a thousand hair pins, and she was pretty. All of Daiki's siblings were pretty, even Yin, who was short and frail, with a round, chubby face.

Mayu pulled Daiki aside, smiling at him. "What?" Daiki said. "Oh nothing..just..wanted to...talk for a bit.." Mayu was smiling ear to ear, and she was moving strangely, using her hands to talk, which she never did. "Wow my HANDS really hurt" She said, winking at Daiki, shaking her hand in front of her face. "Did you get hu-" Daiki stopped, as he noticed something shiny on her ring finger, he held her hand, staring at it. "I got engaged!!!" Mayu said, smiling with glee."Who did this to you?" He said, examining the ring. "You say that like it's a bad thing!! Do you remember my boyfriend San? The engineer?" She responded. Daiki shook his head. "The engineer guy? Him? Of all people?" Daiki said. "Hey hey! I'll have you know that he's very prestigious! His father was friends with avatar Korra! His great grandmother was Toph Beifong!" Mayu said eagerly. Daiki pat her shoulder. "I'll give him a chance." He joked, winking at her. "Avatar korra huh?" He muttered, looking back at Kaori, who was chatting happily to Hanabi and Hina, as he remembered what had happened this morning.

"Komodo chicken is nice but roast duck is a lot nicer!" Kaori said eagerly. "No no no! Roast duck can be so dry! Deep fried pickled radishes trump both of them!" Hina said. "You're both wrong! Bean curd puffs are clearly the best!" Hanabi interrupted. Daiki sat down between them. "What're you guys on about?" He asked. "Since Kaori's from the water tribe I wanna know all about the food! But all the stuff you talk about sounds a lot more like fire nation cuisine! You must really like spicy food!" Hina said. "Uh huh." Daiki nodded, laughing a bit at their antics.

Yin sat down on the floor in front of the tv, turning it on, going straight to the news, before anyone could say anything, a loud, strong voice came from the tv.

"We, the Black lotus, are aiming to make the world we live in a better place. We will rid this world of all of the traditions and things of the past that are holding us back! With this, we will lead the earth nation, and eventually the entire world go an era of advancement and prosperity! We will crush those who get in our way! We are about to enter one of the most important eras in changing our workd for the better! We will do everything in our power to do what's right!"

After the man had fineshed his speech, applause followed, along with a fair amount of booing. Kaori shuddered. "Cutting off all ties to the past? Lead the entire world? Doesn't exactly sound ideal" She thought. Rina's reaction was no doubt the strongest, she slammed her fist on the table and gritted her teeth. "Prosperity my butt.." she muttered. Mayu changed the channel. "Let's see what's on the news"

"In other news, the crown princess of the fire nation was announced missing 3 days ago. She was last seen in the fire nation palace. If you have any information on ths whereabouts of princess K-" The womans voice was cut off by Kaori, who turned off the tv. "I think that's a bit too much tv for today, why don't we do something a bit more productive!" She said, desperate to change the suspect. "Let's go play a game!" She said. "Oooh! I'm really great at Pai sho!" Hina said. "We lost like all of the pieces to that game" Yin responded. "Battle! Earth rumble!" Hanabi shouted. "You're- you're 18, Hanabi" Daiki said. "Wha? That doesn't mean it's not fun, and mom won't mind!" She said eagerly. "We haven't done it in so long!! You're a bender, right Kaori?" Hanabi said. Kaori nodded excitedly. "Pleaseee! That actually sounds really fun!" She said.

Daiki sighed. "Alright.." He said, a small smile forming on his lips as he lead them out to the backyard. "First dibs on Daiki" Mayu said. "I'm gonna beat some sense into you!" She joked. Daiki stood back. "Uh huh." The two just stood there, waiting, until Mayu stamped her feet. "Give us a proper introduction! Like old times!" She said. "Oh!!" Hina cleared her throat, putting on a dark voice. "The big, the beautiful, the..." She stopped. "Psst...what's another word starting with B..?" "The big, the beautiful, the brilliant, Mayu Beifong" Hanabi said. "You totally stole my thunder there!" Hina snapped. "Not a huge fan of the big part, and I'm not Mayu beifong yet! I will be in...8 months though!" She said excitedly. "Dibs on this one!" Hina said, deepening her voice. "Daiki." She said. "Wow. What an introduction." Daiki said sarcastically, taking a wide stance, and keeping his body low to the ground. "Ladies first" he said. "No, I insist." Mayu said. "Alright." Two boulders rose from the ground, flying directly at Mayu, she dodged with ease, kicking both of them, and they shattered on impact with her foot.

"Are you guys self taught?" Kaori asked. "Completely! But Mom used to take lessons when she was younger, she says, she used to be a sandbender!" Hina said proudly. "Sandbending. Huh." She nodded, looking back at the battle happening before her. Mayu pressed her palm against the ground, and the ground beneath Daiki rose. Before he knew it, he was on his butt. "Ouch.." Mayu spun around. "I win!" She said proudly. "So all you gotta do is knock your opponent over to win?" Kaori asked curiously. "Pretty much." Daiki said. "I'm up!" Kaori said.

"Guess I'll stay then" Daiki said. "Ready when you are." He said. "No no, I insist. You should go first." Kaori said, winking. "Ladies first" Daiki said. "Same goes for you." Kaori joked. "Same technique eh? Daiki never goes first. He probably only went first when Mayu was up because he knew that she has incredible fortitude!" Hanabi whispered. Daiki furrowed his brow. "Funny. But you should go. " he said bluntly. Kaori sighed. "Fine!" She said excitedly, stamping her folt against the ground, as she ground rose below Daiki. Daiki wobbled for a moment but caught himself, making sure he didn't fall. He stood upright, as he seemingly got sucked beneath the ground. "Wha! We never did this part!" she said, looking around. "Gotcha!" He said, as he reappeared from behind her, raising the ground that she was standing on. "Wha!" Kaori wobbled but stayed standing. She jumped forward, pressing her hand against the ground, as a pillar rose, knocking Daiki over.

She cheered excitedly, spinning around. Truthfully, Daiki could've dodged it with ease, but it was worth it to see her reaction, stars in her eyes, with that ear to ear smile as she spun around. Daiki, scratched the back of his neck, covering his now scarlet cheeks. Yin giggled, helping him up. "I see you."