That Damn Igni! (open, Sekar/Iikagen)

[sekar]

Everything about the Earth Kingdom, seem to vocate a feeling of dreariness as Sekar and ensemble of some soldiers along with his nurse Yuka; traveled to the north west of the Earth Kingdom, in a small fort to treat young soldiers. It was dirty job but someone had to do it, and it just so happened some bozo decided to reinstate Sekar's medic status and shipped him to the Earth Kingdom. After a lot of tantrum throwing and slugging of insults (ARE YOU NUTS? WHAT RETARD THOUGHT THEY COULD THIS?!), Sekar was traveling with his escorts on road leading south to the fort town.

Sekar was wearing a burgundy colored cape and hood and his medical supplies were on his back in backpack/sachel. Yuka, was traveling with him in an ashy gray hooded cape. Sekar sighed in relief as the four soldiers set up camp off the road in a small clearing. Two of them caught a wild goat-hare and was roasting it with wild carrots and steaming rice. Sekar left to gather some hedgewood and motherwort to bring back to the Fire Nation. Leaving the camp sparse with guards watching the food. Yuka was flirting with one the soldiers.

[iikagen]

Days and days of travel without any sort of heading, and Iikagen found himself wondering why nothing of interest had presented itself. Back when he first came to this continent it seemed like he could amuse himself with some sort of antics every day, but he must have found the single most boring patch of the entire Earth Kingdom. Whatever path he was taking (for he had abandoned the main roads during a sudden desire to find some interesting foreign wildlife and then kill it...) it seemed to be taking him far away from any and all civilization.

Eventually Iikagen came to the conclusion that things might be more interesting if he headed back West toward the shore. At the very least he could count on there being more towns, and perhaps some more challenging fighters to start trouble with. Not to mention he still had some money saved up that wasn't doing him any good in the wilderness where he was subsiding on foraged nuts and scrawny roasted birds.

Another reason for his westward heading was the desire to return his alter-ego of the Big Bad Tengu spirit. He still had the mask in his possession and hadn't had the chance to scare the living daylights out of some passersby in recent weeks. Plus, if he was to return to his old hell-raising ways, he might as well avoid the extra attention that the bounty on his recognizeable face would bring. Despite his new drab Earth kingdom clothing, he'd still been keeping his face and head shaved clean so there was no real hiding his tattoos.

Somewhere out in the woods, curled up in his own little nook of a large oak tree, Iikagen's rest was eventually disturbed by the sight of smoke rising from the woods a short ways away. The sun was setting quickly at this point, but there was just enough light for him to identify the thin column of gray haze as a campfire.

The Igni considered the possibilities of this news, and quickly decided it was worth a closer look. After all, after going days without sight of another person, and coming off his last stinging encounter with a traveling earthbender, he needed to screw with someone. Iikagen rolled out of his tree, practically falling down through the branches in a quasi-controlled fashion before latching onto the lowest hanging limb and swinging down to the forest floor. He took his traveling pack with him, loaded with all his essentials plus his Tengu mask, and started off towards the supposed campsite.

For now he would just observe, but he fully intended to get some sort of enjoyment from this meeting.

[sekar]

The four soldiers that were with Sekar, heading to the colony, were still around the edge of came talking amongst themselves as the food was cooking in the fire pit. Yuka brought some of the food to the soldier she was flirting, her foxy smile playing on her lips as she coyly sat down.

Meanwhile Sekar was under an ash tree harvesting a kind of weed that grew under it. It was mostly used for fevers and headaches. He put in his basket as he started too look for chicken fennel and gorsebush for more herb work, when he had strange feeling that something was amiss. Standing up he started to head back in the camp and whistled for Yuka.
“Get these classified and written down.” He ordered as he gathered some food and started towards the tent. Something was off, Sekar didn't know what, but something was just off. Sighing and shaking his head as he tried to rationalize why he's been feeling paranoid. He opened the tent flap and sat his plate down with facing outside of the tent bending over to get his journal.

[iikagen]

By the time he covered the mile or so between his original perch and the smoke of the campfire, and then wandered around laterally enough to pinpoint its location from ground level, the sunlight was completely gone from the sky. Iikagen eventually managed to spot the orange glow of a fire through the tree trunks and occasional shrubbery. The Igni slowed his approach and began carefully stalking his way closer to the campsite, moving from tree to tree as he committed the general layout of this particular stretch of woods to memory. His eyes were ever on the move to spot possible sentries or wayward campers.

In the off-chance this was a military party, he didn't feel like being picked off by an arrow or something pathetic like that. Such mediocre deaths were beneath him; such was Iikagen's opinion.

But as he reached stone-throwing distance of the camp, Iikagen settled down behind a tree and observed for a few minutes, being very careful to never look directly into the flames of the fire. He would need good night vision, and it might take his eyes hours to readjust if he stared too long at the light.

However, that concern might not prove too important. After watching the campsite for several minutes and tallying up a total headcount, it seemed like this wasn't some kind of military convoy or even a decent scouting party. There were Fire Nation soldiers, but only four by his count. Four soldiers, a woman, and some other guy who seemed to enter the camp a short while later and then disappear into his tent. The fact that he came back in from outside the camp's borders hinted that there could potentially be others out in the dark as well. The unarmed man's willingness to go alone also suggested that they considered the area reasonably safe. It could be because this was a Fire Nation controlled region of the continent, there were sentries elsewhere in the woods, they had already sweeped the area earlier, or maybe the man was a capable warrior on his own.

All these thoughts swirled around Iikagen's head as he watched, soaking in every little detail before deciding to act on a combination of stone cold logic and the desire in his gut to raise some hell.

The wayward Igni slowly stood up and made his way back a good distance into the woods toward a relatively distinct-looking tree with a trunk that seemed to twist and bend around noticeably more so than the others around it. It made a nice landmark and a good place to store his belongings that he wouldn't need in the near future. Removing his Tengu mask and from the traveling pack and then tossed the pack up onto a low hanging branch before starting on his way back toward the camp.

He walked carefully as before, holding the mask down by his side for the time being. Even he wasn't entirely sure what he was going to do; how he was going to make first contact or what he really hoped to gain from this encounter.

[sekar]

Sekar grabbed his food and sat in the tent catagorizing his his herbs. He wrote down their characteristics and plan to take a few seeds to plant in the Fire Nation. Sekar gulped down some food and wroted down all his notes for the harvested herbs.

Yuka was outside with the guards she was braiding the hair of one who smiled indulgently at her and winking to the others when Yuka though she saw something in the woods.
"Whatcha see there dollbaby?" Yuka wrinkled her nose and shook her head. "Just thought I saw some sort of creature."
The soldier laughed and bragged about the time he fought a wild boarcupine.

Another soldier went around back near the edge of the the camp and propt his long steel tipped spear on a old tree to take a leak. He then saw something the bushes.

"Hey! Who's there?" He asked to the darkness as he staighten his clothes and looking about.

[iikagen]

As the soldier peered into the darkness toward the small cluster of bushes near the base of a tree where he thought he saw movement, his eyes strained to adjust to the darkness. After a moment more of silence he picked up his spear and took a few more cautious steps toward the small patch of foliage.

"See anything?" came an inquiry from one of the soldiers still by the fire. The man beyond the fire's illuminating reach remained quiet as he brought the tip of his spear to bear and quietly tip-toed closer. When at least he was within reached he stabbed at the leaves and immediately hopped back as a rustle of movement caught his eye. In a flash of movement a small furry creature dated out of the bush and zig-zagged off into the forest.

The soldier let out a tense breath and chuckled silently at himself for being concerned. "Just some little critter," he called back. Relaxing his posture, he leaned his spear against the tree and resumed the business that had brought him out of the camp in the first place. "Probably a shrew-hare or something..."

The soldier then whistled a quiet tune to himself to ease his mind as he used the restroom and then refastened his belt. However, as he turned to scoop up his spear he was surprised to see it in the hands of someone else.

"Dis is a nice spear," Iikagen mused out loud as he held the weapon in line with his eye and stared down its length for any defects.

He wasn't even really regarding the Fire nation soldier, who hopped back and uttered a startled curse before saying, "Where the hell did you come from?!"

"Hm?" Iikagen hummed, seeming as though he was just interrupted in his train of thought. The Igni shifted his grip on the spear toward the center and twirled it about his fingers once before planting the butt spike into the ground. "Oh, I was admiring de craftsmanship. Top quality stuff, dis is."

The soldier frowned and furrowed his eyebrows. Aside from the fact that a stranger had somehow blind-sided him and taken his weapon, his appearance and accent made him seem even stranger. For a moment he glanced back toward the camp and wondered if he should call for help? He wasn't too far away after all, but he'd probably get mocked for being snuck up on like this. esides, the others would definitely hear them if the man attacked.

"Can I 'ave it?"

"Wh-what?" The question caught the soldier off-guard as he was trying to evaluate his options.

"De spear?" Iikagen elaborated, wagging it back and forth in front of him, "It's nice, and I need ano'der. So can I 'ave it?" His face was quite disarming with excited, almost child-like eyes and a hopeful smile. Even despite his tattoos, he didn't appear to be threatening.

"Well, no. I can't give you that, so if you'd just-"

"Why not?" Iikagen pouted.

A deep crease began to form between the soldiers eyebrows. He was a fairly young soldier himself, without much in the way of combat experience since he left boot camp, but his simple status as a member of the Fire Nation was enough to make him feel the stranger was far out of line. "Because you can't. It's a standard issue military weapon and not to be handed over to civilians," he answered.

"But if I wanted, I could've just taken it and ran while joo was taking a piss," Iikagen countered, wagging his index finger at the slightly younger soldier.

For a moment he couldn't come up with a retort when he considered just how easily the tattooed stranger had outflanked him. Instead of trying to argue the fact, he shot back with "Well why didn't you?"

"Cuz I was being polite by asking," Iikagen answered. "But if joo ra'der I steal it, den wha's dat say 'bout joo morals, ah?"

The soldier narrowed his eyes slightly as he tried to study the man before him. Just who the hell was he and why was he trying to spark an ethical debate with him in the middle of the woods at night?

"Joo know what? Fine, joo can 'ave de spear back," Iikagen said bitterly, shoving the spear abrubtly at the soldier who caught it and quickly shifted his grip into a more defensive position. "I don't even want it any more if dat's what joo Fiyuh Nations all 'bout..." At that point he turned quickly on his heel and began to walk away, disappearing from view behind the tree though his footfalls could be heard crunching on the debris of the forest floor and his mutterings faded off.

The soldier stood there, completely befuddled for a good several seconds until he realized he should probably get back to the camp. He wasn't sure if he was going to report what just happened or not, partly because of the sheer strangeness of it all. But he hardly made it a few steps before a tap on the shoulder caught his attention.

He started to turn and raise his spear but Iikagen's hand reached out and grabbed the shaft of the weapon. He loomed in close, staring down at the soldier from his greater height with a wide smile on his face. "No, seriously d'ough... I need dis."

A sudden right cross, striking like a viper, caught the soldier on the cheek and spun him right to the ground. As the man fell, iikagen wrenched the spear from his grasp and held it calmly in his left hand, even as the sound of the soldier's fall, followed by a call for help raised the alarm for those within the camp.

[sekar]

Everyone started scrambling around at the sound of the soldier's fall. The grabbed their own pikes and spears and head headed to the place where the man feel.
"SHIN! What happened?" Asked the lead soldier, Shin was helped up as Sekar rushed over to treat him.
"He....he asked for my spear, he was really strange I thought he was an idiot but..." Sekar rubbed some aloe salve on his bruises as he asked.
"What did he look like." Sekar lifted an eyebrow as he looked up in the trees.
"Oh...he had blue face tattoos and talked in accent, like...from the islands way south." Sekar blinked and then made a very irriated groan.
OH Good AGNI, that little ass is back, well I think thats him, damn! He is just bad luck incarnate. Sekar rubbed his temples as Shin was taken back to the empty camp.

Yuka ran to Sekar who looked like he was going to spit fire.
"Doctor? What's wrong, what happen to Shin?" Sekar sat by the fire as the soliders hussled around looking for the intruder. That Sekar was sure that I was...
"That Igni nutball is here! Can't tell if it's the one that I pulled the arrow out of his ass, but it's sound like a crazy ass Igni." Yuka winced at Sekar's word and looked around the camp.
"Well...at least know you what to do now." She laughed at the last bit. Sekar rolled his eyes and headed for his tent. He flung the flap open and stepped grouchily in.

[iikagen]

With the soldier's back turned after that sucker punch, Iikagen allowed a smile to spread across his features. It was deliciously absurd to bother with all that trouble in diplomacy just to throw it away in favor brute force. He appreciated the comedic value, even if he didn't entirely understand why he decided to go that route. But as the Fire Nation soldier scrambled to his feet and toward the camp, the Igni was faced with another decision to make.

He had almost hoped to return to negotiations after stealing the spear, or at least attempt to. However, in a move that was probably in the best interest of self-preservation, the young soldier had left him unsupervised in favor of back-up. Never one to remain inflexible with a changing situation, Iikagen was swift to capitalize.

The Igni warrior dashed quickly along a path tangential to the campsite, staying just out of the fire's illuminating range. He could hear the sound of more men rushng to the soldier's aid, and saw two more men in armor at the ready near the fire. Iikagen circled around about a quarter of the camp's perimeter in order to position himself to the side of where they'd first spotted him. Once there he gripped the spear in both hands and then snapped it in two over his knee.

The noise would have definitely alerted someone, and so he broke into a run once more, circling around the camp the same way until he reached the opposite side of the camp he'd started on. Once there he took a moment to steady his breath from the sprinting and took another good look at the men inside the camp. The 2-foot long bladed end of the broken spear was tucked into his sash behind his back while he held onto the remaining 5-foot section of wood like a walking stick.

For a moment he just observed, and he could see the soldier named Shin regaining his bearings near the center of the camp with another soldier who seemed to be wearing firebender gear. The other two were now cautiously approaching the side of the camp where he'd snapped the spear with ther own weapons in hand. The only person unaccounted for was their non-military guest and the woman, whom he figured were in the tent.

"Time to meet de neighbors," Iikagen thought out loud, and with a final private grin he darted toward the canvas tent from behind, using it as an optical barrier between himself and the soldiers at the center of camp. When he came up right behind it, the Igni grabbed the rope thatheld one corner anchored and then whacked at the stake hard with the spear shaft. It tore up from the ground and in rapid succession he smacked loose the adjacent corner. Within seconds the tent began to collapse toward one side without the tension in the ropes to hold it upright.

However, rather than keep on moving to continue the attack, Iikagen hugged the side of the tent close and made sure to pull a flap of the collapsing wall over himself as he dropped to the ground with it and lied undercover. With any luck, te confusion and panic created woul keep their attention focused on the treeline and not right under their nose.

[sekar]

Most of the soldiers ran around the forest edge holding their weponds close. As they scoured the perimeter, Yuka saw something in the distanced and headed towards it. Just as she was going to inspect whoever was causing a fuss when the man she was flirting with took her by the arm.
"You should stay here, were I can protect you from the savage that is around here." He smiled charmingly as she was taken back into the fire light.

Sekar was going over some notes when he saw a shadow go passed his tent he put the book down went go outside but watched as the fellow chopped the ropes down collasping one side of the tent. The soliders still focused on the forest but Sekar was outside and behind the intruder.

"So. If I am not mistaken...I believe we have an Igni in our midst. I pray to Agni it isn't the same one I encountered last year."

[iikagen]

Iikagen laid very still under the cover of the collapsed tent, turning all his attention to his sense of hearing after he retracted his long legs from view. There were sounds of footsteps, at least one set from out in the woods, and one that was quite nearby that likely belonged to the nonmilitary member of the group he'd spotted earlier. However, as Iikagen strained his ears to try and gather a general layout of where everyone was, he was struck by the comment one of them made.

'How does dis guy know what I am?' he thought to himself, also questioning what the odds were that some man in the Earth Kingdom has ever seen an Igni before, let alone met with one face to face. Iikagen was a strange enough individual among his own people, but even he had never heard of other Ignis setting foot on such distant lands as the Earth Kingdom before him. He immediately thought to sit up and take a look at the man to see if he recognized him, but the Igni heard footsteps coming his way that compelled him to remain still.

"Doctor," he heard a Fire Nation soldier say from just a few steps away, "Step away from the woods. It's safer by the fire with the rest of us for now." Iikagen tried to compile a mental map of where everyone stood and what the best strategy would be for attack, but as a second or two passed and he realized it was all just guesswork at best, he decided to just take a chance.

Throwing the fabric of the tent aside with a sweep of his arm, Iikagen sat up and planted his other hand on the ground. In an instant he focused his vision on the Fire Nation soldier nearest him, who was standing just enouh past him that his back was turned to the emerging Igni. However, the other soldiers around the camp could still spot the movement in the tent and one shouted a warning of, "Look out!"

Iikagen's eyes glanced that way for a split second before darting back to the closest soldier, who immediately turned and angled his spear down at the Igni. The soldier reared back ever so slightly to gain some momentum and then stabbed down hard at him. Iikagen reacted immediately and kicked off hard with his legs while pushing up with his base hand. In an amazing feat of timing and balance his body was lifted up just over the tip of the incoming spear that sank into the dirt where his organs had been just a heartbeat before. Iikagen twisted his airborne torso and went on the offensive immediately thereafter, using one leg to kick down at the extended spearshaft and drag the soldier in, while the other angled up and kicked out into the man's face.

The soldier reeled back front the foot slamming into his nose and managed to keep his grip on the spear whose tip was dragging along the ground. Iikagen completed his twist while still balancing on one arm until his legs swung full around and he landed facing the opposite direction. Without hesitating for a moment he immediately surged toward the reeling soldier at amazing speed. The soldier barely had time to register the second attack or properly grip his spear before Iikagen lunged forward and steped his left foot up onto the soldier's right thigh. The Igni used his opponent's own leg as a stepping stone to raise up his following right knee to collide squarely with the soldier's chin.

Iikagen's momentum carried him and the soldier in a backward fall, from which Iikagen recovered with agraceful roll while the Fire Nation warrior merely hit the dirt unconscious with a thud. Wih that enemy dispatched, the Igni finally had a moment to take a good look at the man who'd apparently recognized him.

He was a frail looking man, apparently older than himself, with long black hair and a small beard. He seemed familiar, and the reference to him being a doctor... "Ah!" Iikagen blurted out, pointing at the man as he stood up and turned around. "Joo dat guy!" he said ambiguously, a grin spreading across his face. Despite the shouted orders from the remaining Fire Nation soldiers relating to the fight going on, he ignored their cals and cleared his throat. "So very good to see you again, doctor," he added to Sekar, dropping his voice an octave or so and speaking in his most elegant Mainland accent.

[sekar]

The moment seemed to be still for an hour eventhought it's only a few seconds. The soliders all grabbed their spears as Shin pointed at the Igni.
"That's the guy!" He hobbled over with his hands alight. Yuka ran beside Sekar and grabbed his hand, frighten of the whole situation and then got a good look.
"Good Agni! It's the crazy bastard that threaten to slit Tomo's throat!" Sekar had an expression on his face that defintely said; Why me...why does everything happen to me.. irritated, Sekar held his hands up and approuched the Igni. The lead soldier called out.
"Doctor Pragghi you should keep away he is dangerous!" Sekar rolled his eyes and was only a few feet from the Igni.
"No Sh*t sir, I know this unholy son of a rhino. I saved his life...You," He turned to the Igni frowning "You are Mu-Fi's law in human flesh I swear you're put on this planet to make me go insane." Sekar crossed his arms and glowered Iikagen his face had the deep crease of an unamused frown and tapped his foot annoyed.

"You have better have a good reason to be disturbing my camp 'savage'." Sekar said as the soliders crept closer, Yuka was still behind Sekar.

[iikagen]

Iikagen did well to keep his amusement contained behind a slight smirk as Sekar went about explaining their relation to he other soldiers. His, and his nurse's choice of words certainly painted the encounter in a bad light for the wayward Igni. Personally Iikagen had thought he handled the situation like a gentlemen considering the fact he as being pursued by deadly archers, but he wasn't about to start arguing minor details. Instead he took a few casual strides with his long legs until he was standing face to face with the good doctor.

He glanced behind him at his nurse and nodded politely in recognition. It was a bit of a gamble that Sekar wouldn't attempt to use his firebending to attack, but Iikagen trusted his instinct here. From what he recalled, Sekar hated his guts but seemed to abhor all violence as well. And given their past he knew Sekar knew that he was unlikely to actually kill him.

"Stay back!" one of the soldiers shouted from behind him. With his peripheral vision Iikagen could see two others off to his right, one with a spear and the other with a sword. That left the bender at his back. "Doctor, get away from him now. We'll handle him," the ordered.

"Oh, but I wouldn't hurt a fly," Iikagen said out loud, talking over his shoulder. And no sooner did the words leave his mouth did he clap his right hand on Sekar's shoulder, then suddenly turned back and drove his forehead right into the smaller man's face. Iikagen hit him square between the eyes and then shoved the rest of his body aside with his extended arm.

"Sekar!" Yuka cried in concern the moment she saw the surprise attack. She took a step toward the doctor as if to help, but Iikagen very quickly intervened. With a sudden lunge he managed to grab a hold of Yuka's wrist and pull her away from Sekar while turning to face the soldiers. The nurse struggled and tried to break free, but in an instant Iikagen had her hugged to his chest and the bladed end of the broken spear out of his sash and under her neck.

The soldiers who had begun to rush in after he struck Sekar skidded to an abrupt halt when he brought the blade near Yuka's throat. "Let her go!" the soldier who'd been socializing with Yuka earlier demanded, and he leveled his spear toward the Igni.

"Maybe later," Iikagen taunted the man. In front of him, Yuka squirmed to get her hands up and pull his forearm off her chest. However, the Igni simply positioned the speartip so that the back edge of the curved lugs at the blade's base was pressing against her neck. That section wasn't sharp, but the feel of cold steel against flesh certainly got the nurse to stop trying to escape so desperately.

"What do you want with us?" she asked bitterly, craning her neck away from the weapon.

"Oh, Idunno," Iikagen replied casually as he guided her in a step sideways towards Sekar. "Maybe a few cheap laughs, but not much else..."

"LET HER GO!" the same soldier shouted again, and his comrade had to restrain him from getting too close to endager her.

"One second," Iikagen said to Yuka before addressing the soldier. "Will joo please be quiet while de important people are talking?" He raised his eyebrows and cocked his head to the side in a condescending manner before continuing. "We going to play a game of Hide and Seek. Us versus Joo... Now joo all stay here and count til joo run out of numbers."

One of the soldiers had been subtly inching his way closer to the woods as if to flank their escape, but Iikagen put an end to that by saying, "Ah-ah-ah! Get'jo ass back dere wit de rest and start counting. Joo break de rules and joo end up like 'im!" He nodded his head toward the unconscious soldier he'd kneed in the face. The soldiers shared a collective look of outrage, but they still took a few steps back.

Meanwhile Iikagen gathered up the dazed and possibly concussed doctor from the ground and managed to hoist him up onto his shoulder. He was forced to let Yuka go for this, but as he anticipated, she didn't want to leave her friend alone by running for safety. With his spear held close to Sekar's exposed ribs, Iikagen gave one final wave to the soldiers before ordering Yuka to march.

***************************************************

Iikagen led/carried his prisoners a fair distance into the woods, taking a long looping course around the campsite so he could keep an eye on whether the soldiers would heed his commands. As he'd expected, it wasn't more than a few minutes before he saw two of them sneak away and into the woods to try and follow his trail. In the dark, he figured he had a little time to prepare before they could actually find him.

By now Iikagen had come around full circle to the same way he'd come from when he first spotted the campfire. And after fiddling around a particular section of the woods for a minute, he found where he'd stored his Tengu mask.

"Here we are," he informed his guests. "Dis looks like a nice place to stop for some rest." Iikagen dipped down and shrugged Sekar roughly off his shoulders and gave a good stretch. Yuka was standing a safe distance away from iikagen, but she was staring worriedly at the doctor. "Keep an eye on him, would'joo?" he asked as he circled around one of the trees nearby and plucked his mask up off the base of the roots. Without bothering to explain where he was going, Iikagen hen took off at a light jog through the woods until he was all but lost in the darkness of the night.

[sekar]

Sekar had a stare off with the Igni, frowning disapprovingly at him with his arms crossed he had about two seconds to react before Iikagen crossed over and headbutted him in the face.
BLAM!
Sekar was on the ground, half-conscious and his head throbbing. He could barely process what was going on. He just heard noises and and half-words. He thought he heard Yuka scream. Then he heard the Igni again and felt him pick him and throw him over his shoulders. To tired and in pain, Sekar flickered out of consciousness as he and his nurse was dragged away into the woods.

Yuka was furious, but she figured something was going to happen like this. She could only stew in her anger as he was left alone with the unconscious doctor. She stuck out her tongue in defiance as Iikagen ran off.

Mean while the soliders all poured around the forest as one sent a letter asking for backup. The tried to follow the trail but it just lead him in circles. The one that was flirting with Yuka growled and said.
"He's gonna be around here some place. " He said frustrated.

Yuka's eyes searched the dark woods and had Sekar's head on her lap. She carefully stroked his face hoping that he would come too soon. He has to, Yuka also noticed that she wasn't tied up.
Fool, as soon as he wakes up I am taking off

[iikagen]

Despite the fact that he was making every move off the top of his head, Iikagen couldn't help but congratulate himself on playing his hand beautifully. Some might call it hubris, but as the Igni liked to believe: It's only hubris if he loses.

And so it was with a confident grin that he watched the first soldier pass underneath his perch. It was the first soldier he'd encountered, and the one missing his spear. Weilding his sword as a backup the young soldier cautiously crept along through the woods, keeping his eyes downturned to try and pick up some hint of a trail. His eye didn't notice anything strange about the lowest hanging branch of the tree he just past. Nor did he hear the faintest ruffle of foliage as Iikagen looked after him as he went on by.

The Igni was hanging horizontally along the underside of a thick lower tree branch about 10 feet off the ground. His legs wrapped around near the base and one arm hooked over the branch to keep his body pressed tight to it. His remaining arm he held just behind his had with a short leaf-covered tree branch that he'd broken off for camouflage.

"Sucker-punching, flea-infested, disease-ridden...." the soldier muttered as he passed outside of Iikagen's sight. He made for a tempting target. Personally Iikagen was hoping to strike the bender first, but the fact that the young soldier was heading towards his captives (accidentally or otherwise) made him think he should probably cut him off.

With all the fluid grace of a pygmy hog-monkey, Iikagen deposited the broken branch in the tree, unhooked his feet and then flipped over backwards to land on all fours, crouched on the ground.

"What the-!?" came an unexpected voice to the side. The Tengu-masked Igni turned his head to regard the sound and saw the also-masked firebender standing barely 10 yards away. Iikagen could barely believe he'd missed the man's approach, but a moment later when the flames ignited in the bender's hands it didn't matter.

Springing like an animal Iikagen scrambled on all four towards the soldier. The flame in his hands came forward and turned into a jet of fire roaring his way. The Tengu-clad Igni veered diagonally and began to stand into a run. The flames narrowly missed and the bender began to correct his aim while keeping the fire streaming. Iikagen would not have been able to outrun the flames if not for a tree in his path, which he ran up with two long strides and then kicked off on the second. The flames chasing him stayed low and washed over the trunk, but up high he was spared from the heat. In the air he grabbed his shortspear and threw it end-over-end at the firebender.

Given the conitions of light and the haste of the action, Iikagen considered himself lucky to even hear the sound of impact as the spear connected with the bender's helmet. It only caught on the metal horns adorning the sides, but it was enough to rock the man back and knock his eye holes out of allignment. It was all te opening Iikagen needed as he landed in a roll heading towards his opponent. The roll was a good choice, as a second burst of fire came out of the disoriented bender's hand aiming chest-level.

Iikagen popped up from his roll just a few feet from the firebender and he managed to catch the man's incoming arm by the wrist and angle it out away from him to avoid the third burst of fire. Iikagen threw a back elbow with his free arm to smash against the face plate of the helmet and then swung the bender's arm around to drag him off balance. In the same fuid motion he also kicked off the ground with his left leg and swung it up and over the bender's trapped arm. Iikagen brought that foot all the way over and backdown to the ground, squeezed the arm in place between his knees, and then cranked up hard with both hands.

The bender howled in pain as the bone cracked and his arm bent in an unnatural manner. He lit up a flame in his remaining arm to try and burn the stationary Igni, but Iikagen reacted quickly to the sight of the light and dropped all his weight hard onto the already broken elbow. The bender's scream intensified three-fold as he fell flat to the ground and couldn't retain the concentration to finish the attack. Practically sitting on the man's shoulder, Iikagen rolled bckwards and came to a crouch on the other side of the bender who immediately cradled his shattered arm.

Iikagen sat quietly for a moment and stared at the bender, tilting his head every now and then in a very bird-like manner. There was only a dim light provided by the scarce moonlight and the embers burning on the ground left from the firebending, but it was enough to light up the bright yellow-gold painted eyes of his mask in a dramatic fashion.

He stared at the man, who seemed to be in just a little-too much pain to put together a counter attack, for just a moment longer before whirling away swiftly and darting off into the woods once more, making sure to pick up the shortspear along the way. Behind his speedy retreat he could hear the young soldier rushing in from not far away asking, "Did you get him?" And then, shortly after, "What the hell just happened!?"

[sekar]

"The f*uck broke my arm!" Replyed the solider with a twisted arm. He showed the swollen and broken limp to the others as the one helped him up.
"Damn Lim, that sonovabi*tch gotcha ya good. We need to go find the doctor and Miss Yuka, they're out there alone, and who knows what gonna happen to them." One of the solider shuddered and adjusted his helm.
"Wh-what if the Igni took her so he could...violate her and make the doctor watch or something." Said the one. The other shuddered. Shin took his spear and raised it high not letting his thoughts disturb him.

"Men! We can't let our imaginations get the better of us. We're the motherf*ucking Fire Nation! Nothing scares us! So don't let some crazy masked pyscho scare us! We're the goddamn Fire Nation Army!!" At this pep talk the four soliders all shouted and raised their spears (before Lim winced and dropped his spear)

"Ok, Yu! Take Lim back to camp. Jaya c'mon with me we're gonna rescue Yuka...and the doctor too!" Followed with another cheer the two lurked in the woods for the Igni.

Somewhere in the Spirit World, the gods were laughing at a pack of jackasses braying.

Meanwhile, Yuka was still with the concussed Sekar waiting for the soliders to take her and her master back to camp when she heard Sekar groan, breaking her from her thoughts.
"Doc? Sekar?" Sekar awoke nausated and his head pounding. He blinked in the darkness and started to panic.
"Wh-what happen? Where am I?" Yuka grabbed his hand and squeeze it.
"Take a deep breath doctor you're ok...ok kinda. The igni knocked you out we've been kidnapped. Stay calm and conscious. The soldiers will find us." Sekar blinked and got up and stumbled to the brush and vomited.
"Blasted head ache...I feel sick." Yuka got up and called for help.

"HEY HEY WE'RE OVER HERE!!" She called out Sekar smacked her on the head.
"Dumb fool, you'll get the Igni's attention...lets gets back to camp ourselves." Sekar lit his hand and headed east towards the camp still concussed.