A Call to Arms <Kei Lan, Earth Kingdom>

[gengoro]

“Everyone must evacuate the city!” one large troop shouted throughout the streets of Ba Seng Sei. Confusion was the normal expression that everyone on the streets had on their faces.
“Do you not understand what is going on? The Fire Nation is underway. I, Batu Numar of the Thunderfist Batallion witnessed it firsthand. They are coming,” the soldier continued.

More confused looks were expressed as he continued to rant. In a distance, Gengoro walked down the street toward the ranting, unknowingly about this fate encounter with this man. He was eating a rice ball that he spent his last copper coins on from the old man that he helped a while back with Yao’s gang. He couldn’t believe how delicious it was. Never in his life had he found such a delicacy.

“Everyone, you need to leave,” Batu continued, “Leave this matter to the hands of the military. The Thunderfist may be wounded, but we will not fall! The regular military will also make sure that the Earth Kingdom will not fall.”

Before Batu could continue on, another officer pulled him over to a corner to speak to him.

“What are you doing?” the officer questioned, “We need to concentrate on keeping the wall up.”

“I am trying to raise their spirits,” Batu exclaimed, “We must keep morale up. We won’t win if they aren’t”

“Even so, we are undermanned,” the officer continued, “Even if we did have our morale up, we couldn’t win with as little forces that we have. Bora Gan is wounded, the Kyoshi Warriors are missing, we don’t have much left!”

“Then we must go into an old fashioned way of recruiting, now don’t we?” Batu grinned with mischievousness.

The officer was shocked, “You don’t mean….”

“That is right,” Batu continued. He stood on a box to get a better sight of everyone in the street, “I want all women and children to leave the city immediately. The men, you must stay to fight.”

Batu pointed out to a random person in the crowd who had a Miao Dao on his left hip eating a rice ball. Gengoro was pointed out from the crowd.

“You there with the weapon,” Batu announced, “Congratulations. You have been selected by me to fight for the Earth Kingdom.”

“WHAT!?”

[gengoro]

“What are you talking about?” Gengoro asked as he looked upon him baffled.

“You heard me. I am drafting you for the war,” Batu replied boisterously. Gengoro from what he was told by Xun a little while ago, Ba Seng Sei doesn’t even know about the war, let alone that there is a secret police out there to make sure no one knows about it.

“Sir, I have no idea what you are talking about,” Gengoro acted, “There is no war. You won’t get much out of me in swordsmanship, I’m just a bandit killer.” His last statement of swordsmanship wounded his pride a little, but he knew what he had to do.

“Are you mad?” Batu screamed, “We are at war!”

Before Batu could continue, a couple of men that wore green with jingasa hats and stone-like gloves on their hands came and apprehend the person in question. From what Gengoro could remember, these must be the secret police that Xun mentioned before.

“Sir, we would like you to come with us,” one of the officers spoke.

“What for? Everyone must know. We are being invaded!” Batu cried. Before Batu could speak anymore, a few of the Dai Li took him away. As much as the Thunderfist warrior fought, e was still no match for the skill of the Dai Li. Gengoro slunk away from the action to avoid anymore questions.

“So,” Gengoro thought, “The Fire Nation is drawing near. This could be bad news for the Earth Kingdom. If I know them well enough, they might have a few tanks and war balloons for the fight. I must prepare myself for what is to come.”

Finishing the rice ball he bought, Gengoro wandered the street to find what could be a weapon or armor shop for possible “purchases”, for a price of course.

[gengoro]

After a couple of minutes of wandering aimlessly, he spotted a weapon and armor shop. Feeling some glee in his heart, he entered the store. As he entered, his eyes lit up with excitement. Swords, spears, axes, tetsubos, everything he could ever imagine.

“So, how could I help you?” the store owner spoke coming through the door behind the counter.

“I never seen so many weapons in one area,” Gengoro said.

“Well, take your time sir,” the owner said. He sat on a stool and observed Gengoro.

Gengoro held one of the dao swords and waved it around. As he waved it around, he noticed the blade was somewhat flimsy. He had an odd look on his face, which the owner spotted. Gengoro went to test the sharpness of the blade with a piece of his hair. As he tested it, the piece of hair took a few seconds before getting cut. Gengoro then noticed how dull the blade was. What was glee in his heart earlier is now nothing but disappointment.

“Sir,” Gengoro turned to the owner, “I am very disappointed with the quality of these blades. These couldn’t cut a block of tofu.”

The owner, feeling really angry, stood up from his seat, “Are you insinuating that my wares are faulty?” The owner walked over to Gengoro.

Before Gengoro could answer, the owner picked him up from his furred vest and threw him out the door. Gengoro didn’t expect that to happen, so he couldn’t react to it properly.

“If you don’t have any money, we want none of your business,” the shop owner spewed as he slammed the door behind him. Gengoro couldn’t even take a few seconds to contemplate before having another encounter with someone.

“It seems that you are having a very rough day,” the stranger spoke as he extended his hand to Gengoro, “Perhaps a cup of tea would be helpful in raising your spirits?”

Gengoro didn’t know what to think. Getting thrown out of a store wasn’t a good way to start his day, and that odd warrior from earlier this morning didn’t make it anymore cheery.

“I guess it would be nice to have some tea,” Gengoro said as he reached for the stranger’s hand.

Merging with "No One Believes Him" thread