One hell of a day at Serpent's Pass!

[SHIRO TAKAHASHI]

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[atrb=background,http://i54.tinypic.com/5x0jfs.png] Shiro had finally arrived at Serpent's Pass. The first step to Ba Sing Se, and his first step to getting help from the resistance against the Avatar and the Firelord at the same time. He had heard rumors about Serpent's Pass being a very dangerous place, very few ever came back from a journey through it, and even fewer liked to travel alone along it. "So, this is Serpent's Pass? Doesn't seem so threatening, but whatever. I'll have to make my way across this in order to make it to the capital, so this is the best bet I have. Though, I suppose that it could get dangerous if I met anyone," Shiro said, putting his hands on his hips. He was glad it was at least somewhere that had plenty of water, he wouldn't need to use too much of his own water if he ran into any trouble. "Hm, I should probably rest right now though, travel during the night when there's a better chance of my bending to be stronger, just in case something happens," he said, pulling his backpack off and putting it down near the water and setting up a small camp near the entrance. While Shiro was thinking to himself about what he would do and say to the Earth King and the others when he arrived, he couldn't help but notice that there was a lot of water traffic coming back from the pass with a lot of damages. "Ahoy, what's going on, is there something dangerous up ahead?" he called out, not getting an answer from the people aboard but getting some strange looks. "Huh, strange, I guess they just have damage from something else happening to them before they got here. Whatever," Shiro thought to himself as he watched the boats leave. word count: 310 Shiro's Color Code: 0080FF total count: 310 notes: Gah, no muse at all, at least I'll have a good idea after others have posted XD

[SAZA]

Saza let out a low whistle as he looked to the serpents pass, on the other side of that was Ba Sing Sai, but more importantly there were military docks for the eath kingdoms Navy. Where there were docks there were ships. Saza smiled things were finally looking up for him but in order to get his ship he needed to cross the serpent’s pass. “wonder why they call it the serpents pass?.. it doesn’t look all that windy.”

To Saza what did it matter that there were threats as long as it was day he was strong enough to take on any thing.. Okay almost anything with moderate success. Saza approached the entrance to the serpents pass. He saw the ships but they were battered and almost destroyed. The damage did look familiar of something, but what?“what does that matter I don’t want a destroyed vessel, but its good to know that there are ports to both sides.”

Saza looked to his side the woman Iza at his follow. She was something of a crew member and yet not really. She had never served on a boat to his knowledge but she was also a fire bender, so who was he kidding she was as useful to him as he had been to captain Takara. In that respect she had earned the right to come along with him. but in all respect he wondered how well she would fair on a boat.“Great there are other people at the pass. Iza try and play nice, and lets not say anything that will get us into trouble.”

Saza walked up to the other person finally at the entrance to the pass. The walk had taken him a few days but now it was seemingly worth it. The idea of getting a new ship and returning to his life oh crime was sweet to him. he wanted nothing more to do with dry land. But still he hailed the other person.“Hello stranger! I didn’t think many people took the serpents pass… I am Saza… is it a toll pass now?”

Saza had only asked that last part because it would have been a profitable peace of land, and when it came to land politics who knew what was going on. It was all so much simpler on the high seas! Where everything is as legal as it is illegal.

[IZA]

Iza had her mask up covering her mouth but her eyes showed the smile she was hiding. It was another lovely day, a glorious day, a beautiful day a... well it was just another day nothing special. "hmmm This moment requires! no music" she declared mostly to herself leaving her lute strapped to her back along with her blades at her hips. Unlike her companion who barely showed up as a blip on the 'fire bender' meter; Iza showed up as a full 90 on it. Her red armor was more of a classic look, a look seen more on the royal guards, but even now that could have changed..

"You know i bet it's called serpent's pass to keep away rats.. rats hate snakes" she noted her arms swinging as she walked, almost skipping next to Saza. His wounds were healed up and with her bending had left barely any rugged scars if not just dark pink lines over the flesh. She was both happy and disappointed at that happening.

She gave Saza a look when he told her she had to be nice.. like she as a dog or something! She 'humphed' to herself, muttering about never hurting people... only annoyances. "If it cries and speaks gibberish i'm killing it though" she warned. Lucky for Saza's sanity the two had not come across any orphanage or any children at all. For the world that was great news, for Iza it was bullshit.

She wanted to suddenly hit Saza for greeting the stranger, talking to weirdos at a place called Serpent's Pass seemed dangerous. But she calmed herself and waved slightly to the person. "Greetings Stranger, i am Iza, and as this man has said his name is Saza, and mine is Iza! Now you're doubly sure of our names" she tilted her head in a cutesy manner her hands behind her back as she bowed slightly.

[SHIRO TAKAHASHI]

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[atrb=background,http://i54.tinypic.com/5x0jfs.png] Shiro heard the people behind him and sighed a little to himself before turning around. As soon as he turned around and saw the women's clothing, he raised an eyebrow and put his hand on his sword. "No, this isn't a toll passage, why, and what's with her armor?" he asked, narrowing his eyes while looking at the woman, and noting that the man had told her to 'play nice'. Wondering what he meant by that. "I'm only here because I'm heading to Ba Sing Se, and why are you here?" Shiro asked, wondering if they were fire nation, or if they were just random travelers. His biggest fear would be that they were Firebenders. If they were, he would have his work cut out for him, defending himself from their flames during the day. He looked over the two, and found himself rather confused about their appearences. The woman clearly being older than the man seemed like she was trying to show off being from the fire nation, while the man seemed more like he was a peasent from the earth kingdom itself. He couldn't place their skills from just looking at them, and that was rather frightening for him as well. He was always so good at it. Throwing caustion to the wind, Shiro removed his hand from the grip and smiled rather warmly at the two. "I apologize, it would seem I'm on the run from the fire nation for plotting against the Firelord, so I'm rather caustious of people that I meet randomly out here. My name is Shiro Takahshi, pleased to meet you," he said, bowing to the woman and the man, though keeping his eyes on them in case they were not as friendly as they seemed to be. word count: 303 Shiro's Color Code: 0080FF total count: 613 notes: Bah, distracted so I can't post very well at the moment, but I will keep doing my best XD

[SAZA]

“That was really upfront… so I guess I shall repay honesty with honesty. I am a pirate it is my intention to cross this pass, steal a ship from the other side setting down on wale tail island gathering a crew and then going about stealing pilfering and otherwise pillaging our filthy black guts out… savvy?”

Saza leaned forward not really sure what was about to happen he had no intention of a fight, but if this kid was an idealist which it sounded like he was it was probably going to end badly. He sighed and rolled his eyes. “so yeah we are not of the fire nation my friend here only wares it because… wait why do you ware that stuff I mean we got new cloths for me at that last town we stopped in… wouldn’t it be easier for you to have gotten some as well?”

Saza hadn’t even thought about it till just now but she did still ware the uniform of an evil army, then again he was a fire bending pirate who worked on a wooden boat for most of his life… oxymoron’s were bound to happen. Still he cared not for this talk. He returned to the matter at hand the crossing of the serpents pass.

Saza looked upwards at the path then back at the other man. He saw not someone who he wanted to attack but rather a deal opportunity. “listen our objectives may be different but our paths are the same. So we can either battle to the death here or work together to walk the pass… and I think you would be more interested in making alliances then enemies considering being on the run from the fire nation.”

[IZA]

Iza had to roll her eyes at how Saza was talking, like he was a pirate or something, what a dork. Oh wait... She shrugged mostly to her own thought, she could have hours of confusing conversation with herself, but this was not the time for that! She looked at the new guy and figured he was no threat, and if he was, well there was plenty of places to bury the corpse. But that would be something to worry about later.

Iza made a bit of a face as they both made comments on her armor causing her to glance at the men around her as she adjusted the armor at her chest and the hip flaps. "eh... I choose to wear this as a way to get around unnoticed" she muttered mostly to herself. Men would not understand the idea of hiding in plan sight. She remembers how she walked into various villages without getting a second glance from the fire nation solider stationed there. In fact just the other month she ate dinner at a camp as an honored guest cause they believed her to be some person from the royal guard blah blah blah, stories are boring to remember.

But then she thought about it, they were going to Ba Sing Se, she might stand out if she wore the armor, or she could just make up a story where she ripped the armor off the corpse of a Fire Nation scumbag. She made note of that story and started to think up the details. She smirked behind her mask as she thought of the grizzly details.

Iza poked Saza hard between the shoulder blades, "You really think it's wise to tell him everything? Or ask him so little? He could be a bounty hunter on the side and you're just racking up the price for him in his head" she grumbled, "And he could be 'too good' to be a pirate, or whatever we are seeing as we don't have a boat." She huffed a bit as she shook her head, "Also don't you think it would be at least polite to ask more about him... A name is not the only thing a person should divulge in a conversation with very weird and possibly threatening strangers." She turned her gaze swiftly to Shiro, "You've already learned about us, we are 'pirates', we're wanted by the Fire Nation, I'm Iza he's Saza... we know you're Shiro, going to Ba Sing Se for plotting against the Fire Lord, and on which you don't seem much like a threat, what else is there to know about you?" she asked her hands on her hips next to her swords.

[SHIRO TAKAHASHI]

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[atrb=background,http://i54.tinypic.com/5x0jfs.png] His eyes quickly going to the woman, Iza, and her swords. He figured she was the more threatening of the two, and started moving a bit of water from behind his tent into the air with his hands. He knew that waterbending was his best bet to stay alive if they were really threats, but he kept it there so as to not let them know if his powers. "I apologize, but I am no Bounty Hunter, nor am I cut out enough to be a pirate. I'm simply going to get reinforcements from the Earth Kingdom, nothing more. I can see that you want a ship, but those ships that passed a few moments ago seemed to have been damaged along this pass itself, and those didn't look like normal damages that any boat would get either," Shiro was rather nervous because he still didn't know the womans intentions, and she still seemed like the bigger threat by the way she was acting more than the clothes she was wearing. "Besides, unless she changes those clothing, I don't see anything that she tries to say working. I've heard stories about fire nation troops trying to claim they took the armor off dead men, who were quickly captured and put into a prison. If they won't buy that type of a story from actual firebenders, then I don't see it happening from the likes of you two," Shiro said, closing his eyes and sighing as he spoke. He was hoping to keep the eyesight from the two away from his hands, which were moving slightly to keep the water he had floated up, above the water that was slowly moving down with the current. word count: 291 Shiro's Color Code: 0080FF total count: 904 notes: Just woke up a while ago, so not my best work, but better than nothing XD

[SAZA]

“those ships were refugee ships from full moon bay, to attack then would be stupid, do you have any idea how many people it takes to man a vessel like that I have a crew of two at the moment on a good day those ships would take a crew of ten. Not to mention the amount of gold I would have to spend modifying it to my purpose. No I need to go across the pass to hit up the military bases on the other side. From there I can easily take hold of a small interceptor vessel and with a little work I would have a ship perfect for my means. In other words those ships are large bulky slow and damaged. I need one that’s light fast and in good condition.” Saza shook his head as he spoke clearly unimpressed with something.

In his time Saza had played many a game of chance. He had often needed to learn to read people, if you were going to play with the under belly of crime after all it was a good skill to have. Either this guy had one hell of a nervous twitch or he was hiding something. Saza shook it off it was probably the former one doesn’t meet up with a pirate and a woman in fire nation armor and then not be nervous… he would probably consider him more of a threat if he weren’t twitching.

“My point remains that this pass is dangerous. We should think less of killing each other and more about getting across the pass to the other side. if you are really intent on fighting us to protect a small ship, and what ever we would have to do to get said ship, then fine we can kill you, but could we at least do that on the other side of the pass?” At this point Saza’s voice was one of annoyance. He was beginning to dislike this affair and this kid. He didn’t want to have to fight after all the pass was a day’s journey at least. Not to mention it was supposed to be the pass of completely desperate for some reason. Now Saza was not a desperate person but he knew that meant that this place was usually bad luck.

Saza sighed what point was there in this fight? This kid was an idiot for trying to hatch schemes about killing the fire lord. Hell the longer this war went on the more people like Saza made prophet on unguarded cargo ships and convoys. Why stop such a good financial stimulus package? But that wasn’t why he was annoyed he was annoyed more or less because he felt like he was being ignored. The kid didn’t even seem taken back that he was a pirate. Usually that turned someone’s head.

[IZA]

Iza suddenly stopped moving her eye twitching for a second before taking a step back. "My apologies" she whispered bowing her head as she instead crossed her arms over her armored chest. She had shown some type of threatening motion, maybe she meant it. "I mean no harm, and i was just curious, i'm just an innocent wanted for mass murder fire nation national that's known for killing anyone she meets... you're perfectly safe" she reached up and pulled down her mask showing her cute/smug smirk.

She looked over at the boats as they sailed by, wow they were beat up all to all... oddly they had no scorch marks from any Fire Navy attack. She had seen plenty of those kinds of damages, they were hard to fix and were like battle scars for the ships that actually survived. "Interesting... might find out more as we continue the walk..." she muttered under her breath.

"And can we all just move pass my armor? it's red, i'm a fire nation person, why can't i just be a run away solider who's tired of fighting and can't go home? can we all just go with that story and move along?" she grumbled her cheeks red with annoyance."and if it remains an issue i'll just take it off" she growled a bit. Men men men, they were all so stupid about trying so hard to hide, if you flaunt it and act like it's no big deal and try not to pull the attention hardly anyone notices, it's the people who try and hide things that get noticed.

Iza looked to Saza and sighed, "let us all just go across, standing out here for too long and we won't get far by nightfall."
She looked at Shiro and took another step back, "You can stop with the hand twitching or whatever, you don't stand a chance in the daytime" she said coolly, but not saying anything that would give away what she knew to her partner. "We head the same way, across this land bridge, let us just go across it." she said and pulled her lute off her back and walked past the boys strumming a upbeat tune, humming softly as she walked ahead of them.

Note: colorcode is A000FF

[SHIRO TAKAHASHI]

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[atrb=background,http://i54.tinypic.com/5x0jfs.png] Shiro's heart began beating faster when the woman mentioned his hand movements. She saw them, he sighed a little and slowly lowered the water back into the main source and let his hands rest. "Fine, I suppose crossing the pass together will help both our goals. I have no intention of stopping you from stealing a ship or whatever, nor do I intend to help you do so. Once we get to Ba Sing Se, our path's will once again go separate ways," he said, walking over to his small camp and packing everything up again. She was right, if they were firebenders, or even if they were, but just really skilled fighters, he stood very little change without either the moon's help, or the cover of nightfall. After he had everything packed up, he silently walked past the man, Saza, and made his way toward the path after Iza. "This is going to be a very annoying, and interesting couple of days. I'm sure of that much. But, what on earth could have caused that much damage to those ships? They looked simply damaged in a normal way, but far more than any pirate could do, I wonder..." he thought to himself, remembering the damage on the boats as he walked. word count: 216 Shiro's Color Code: 0080FF total count: 1120 notes: Still a little slow. I'm sure things will get much better when we start fighting, whether it be amungst ourselves, or something/someone else XD

[SAZA]

Saza was experienced in sailing he had been on many ships over his life. spent more then half his life on a pirate ship and he could have sworn he had seen injuries like the ones those ships had. It was on the tip of his tongue but he couldn’t place it. For some reason he just didn’t know. It was blunt force he could tell that much, and it seemed familiar but he couldn’t place it.

Saza eventually shrugged it off and walked with the others. He was certainly glad that there was no fight to be had. It would have been an annoying delay. Though for some reason he got the thought that Iza would be disappointed. He had no idea why he kept someone so mentally unstable near him, but he could probably safely say that she wouldn’t do anything against him. Or she would slit his throat for a laugh, it was really nothing he wasn’t he used to.

Saza kept these thoughts to himself as he walked. He had no intention of convincing this man, Shiro to join his crew, but he had to admit that a third hand would make stealing a ship so much easier. Still this man was convinced that he was going to Ba Sing Se and he wanted nothing to do with a city full of refugees, even if it did have a port.“So Shiro why are you going about this any way? You know the hole opposing the fire lord, seems kind of foolish I mean why oppose or ally yourself to this conflict?”

Saza asked only half curious about his motives, more or less he was interested in who ever this character was. He shrugged he would pay attention to the answer if he got one but it was true if one wanted prophits in a war they didn’t ally themselves to any one side. there was no point the real money is made feeding off of all three sides of a conflict.

[IZA]

Iza continued to play enjoying the sight of the water and beautiful sky. She had a sudden urge to eat fish... this seemed like a fish eating moment. She shrugged the idea away, she had eaten yesterday so no need to really stop and eat again til later. She did a bit of a twirl as she played the lute, the armor of her shoes giving her a sturdy foothold on the loose stones of the pass. She wondered how long this pass had been here, and how much longer it would remain?

She glanced over her shoulder at the men and then glanced out at the water, onside she saw ships of the refugees and then made a note of something on the other side in the distance, she shrugged it off. If it was important then it would make itself known to them all. ".." She wanted to say something but kept her mouth sealed as she just focused on the ground and her music. The sound swimming across the air.

She had no side and all sides... the Avatar had gone nuts, the Fire Lord was crazy, and the Earth Kingdom and Water tribes were just being retarded... and the Air Nomads.. HA! lloooooosssserrrs! She did what she wanted, but did not care for profit. She just kept silent and smirked to herself humming a dark song.

[SHIRO TAKAHASHI]

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[atrb=background,http://i54.tinypic.com/5x0jfs.png] Hearing the music, Shiro was at a little more piece until he heard Saza's question. He stopped in his tracts for a moment, and scowled down at the ground for a moment. Did this man intend to stop him, force him to join his crew or even worse, kill him? If he did, he had another thing coming, and Shiro would make sure of it. "Personal reasons... I suggest for your safety, you not ask again," Shiro said, glaring back at Saza with a look that would kill if it could. "Whether I stand a chance against the Firelord or Avatar, or whoever, I'll do everything I can until they are both dead for good. If you try to get in my way, I will not be held responsible for my actions, or what happens to you," he warned before walking again. Shiro was serious about his threat, even if he was normally a kind person, this was something he wouldn't let anyone get in the way of. If they got in his way, he would make them regret it. Somehow, probably because of what Saza had said, Shiro missed a shadow in the water and a couple more damaged boats go by. If he had been paying attention, he could probably have seen it and figured out what was going on with all the damaged boats, but his anger had clouded his judgment, and he missed a very important clue. word count: 244 Shiro's Color Code: 0080FF total count: 1364 notes: Grrrr, I wanna fight soon so I can type better and more amazing scenes XD Oh well, patience is a virtue XD

[SAZA]

“you give me to much credit I have no care about any of that. I asked simply because I wanted too. That’s something your going to have realize about me Shiro, I don’t do something because im planning to do something I would be more likely to slit your throat for what ever coin you have then because you have an issue with the fire nation. I haven’t been a part of that nation for a vary vary long time.”

Saza spoke in a voice not really defending himself but rather just stating the truth as he saw it. He had no care for what this kids reasons were just as he was sure he had no care about what his reasons for being a pirate was. however he did find it odd that this kid wasn’t talking usually these revolution types were all to willing to talk about there reasons.

As Saza spoke he missed that which slithered close to the water and continued to walk. He sighed great he had made a bad impression. It didn’t matter to him, but it was an annoyance.

“I wont ask again, but…” as another boat passed he recognized the chunk missing from the boats. “Kyoshi Island That’s where I recognize those marks from there the same type my old ship the wind runner suffered when we sailed into the same waters as the U… Crap!”

[IZA]

Iza suddenly stopped as Saza finished his sentence. The trio was standing on a stretch of pathway that was merely 6 feet above the water and just as wide. The waves crashed against the sides slowly chipping the sides, being against the edge could cause either of them to slip into the dark water below. The fire bender looked around her eyes narrowed and face otherwise blank of emotion. "I think i should inform you two of the object i saw off shore.. it was large and rather living." Her voice was calm and she chuckled playing a few more cords of her Lute before stopping putting it on her back, "And this isn't an Unagi... It's something worse" she said, knowing more then what her companions would know.

"We could run," her eyes glanced down the path, the thin path lead to a ramp that would take them to a higher point, but it was a good distance and if a giant water serpent was lurking below it would be suicide to make a straight dash to it... "Or we can all shut the hell up and fight it off" she rolled her neck and shoulders pulling out her short swords, "Come on boy, use that tooth pick for something, the moon is not up, but i'm sure you can do something!" She gave a rather disturbing grin as Iza kicked a large stone into the water watching it sink.

A large pulse wave erupted from under the water as a growl mixed with it. "... i think i hit it.." Iza muttered to herself and giggled as the water bubbled followed by the Serpent of Serpent's Pass, "Oh the stories you hear about this thing and yet it's sooo much better to see it!"