First Time For Everything.

"So, this is The Great Divide. I can see why they call it that now." Kasu was standing on the edge of a cliff looking over the entire canyon. He wore his everyday green clothing, with his green cloak. Under his cloak was a sword which was hidden that had a green hilt and was three feet long. He had his hood up as so no one can see his face, and to keep the sun off of it. He also had with him a pouch of water, and a bag of food for his journey. He looked down and suddenly back up. "Holy crap that's a long way down!" he yelled then quickly covered his mouth as he didn't want to be heard. He quickly looked around trying to spot anyone, but didn't see them. He let out a sigh of relief then spotted a cabin. "Great, a tour guide" he said walking towards it.


Word Count: 156
Total: 156
RUP: 0

"The Great Divide has nothing on the Si Wong Desert!" Data muttered to himself walking up one of the many great canyons. His travels took him to many great places, but yet he still hasn't found anyone to give him that thrill-seeking challenge he thrives for. Coming to a stop, The Young Earth-Bender turned his vision up in front with his arm held up blocking the glare of the sun. Then he spotted it, a group of people taking in the sights. "Looks like I'm not alone out here." Data muttered to himself as he brought his body moving again. The hot stone under his feet felt great, he never has seen so much earth around before. In Si Wong, you'll be luck to get a hold of a few meters of earth. But here, Mother Gaia shows her true beauty. As Data walked, the various items clipped and hooked to his hip began dancing with every movement. The three most noticeable items would be his wooden type water flask, a large pouch of gold, and his newly obtained weapon; The Wrath Of Gaia. The Ocean Blue item rested on his left hip and barely moved, he couldn't wait to actually get a chance to use this weapon, may it be in combat or training. After a few minutes of walking, The Young Earth-Bender would reach the group. The leader of the tour would quickly notice Data and stop his advance ready to defend these innocent people. "State your business!" The guide yelled in a powerful Earth-Bending stance. A small smirk grew across the face of Data, but he didn't want any trouble. He could tell the people on the tour were most likely rich and innocent. "No trouble. I just want to join this little tour. I seem to be a little lost." He said reaching into his pouch of gold, and taking out a few handing them over to the guide. "Money talks right?" The Young Earth-Bender said with a arrogant tone. The guide sensed this tone but didn't comment on it, he simply took the gold and went forward with the tour with Data close behind taking in the gorgeous sights.

Kasu reached the cabin to find that no one was there, and though his face was covered you would be able to see his mouth form a frown. "Now what" that's when he seen a man walking on the other side of the cabin. He had different items on his hip, a wooden flask, pouch full of gold, and an ocean blue item he had never seen before. As the man walked Kasu walked around the cabin to see the man was in fact walking towards a group with a man at the head of it. 'That must be a tour group, and he must be their guide' he thought to himself as the man approached them. "State your business!" the guide yelled as the man approached them. He couldn't really make out what the man was saying, but he could tell he was another tourist by the way he offered his gold. No real threat right? Just another tourist, but now there was a new problem. Kasu didn't have any money to pay the guide, maybe he would accept his food. Kasu now walked over to the guide trying to ask. He hated having to talk to others but he needed help getting across, so he had no other choice. "Excuse me sir!" he yelled to get their attention. "I would also like to be led across the canyon! I don't have any money, but I have food if you are willing to accept that!" he said holding out the bag.

Word Count: 252
Total: 406
RUP: 0

Kasu was greatly surprised, though they were complete strangers not even saying hi to each other the man paid for him. Kasu had started to thank the man when the guide stopped him. "You can't have food in the canyon, it attracts creatures" he said with a serious look on his face. Kasu frowned a bit at the thought of having to abandon his food which he brought with him. But Kasu didn't argue, and just nodded in agreement. "So when will we be leaving?" he asked. "Now, the food you just brought here put us all in danger" he said as he turned away telling everyone to stand up. 'Great my first encounter with other human beings in over a month and I put them all in danger' he thought to himself as he dropped the bad, and continued to follow the group. As they walked, Kasu kept a distance from the group by a few meters. He didn't feel like talking to anyone, and was afraid to anyway. Plus he didn't want anyone to notice how jumpy he was right about now. Every sound, every pebble they dropped startled him a bit, and that was embarrassing. He began to think that maybe he should have tried to walk around the entire canyon instead of through it. Yes he was a bit afraid, but yet the tourist weren't afraid and were actually smiling a bit, and pointing out different objects, and their shapes. "Yeah, laugh it all up now" he said to himself. He noticed how evil he had sounded, and shook his head now feeling bad about what he had said. They were just trying to enjoy themselves, so why shouldn't he do the same? If only it was that simple for him.

Three hours passed, and the group had only walked three miles, and taken like eight breaks. Kasu could understand since these people were most likely rich, and weren't use to this kind of stuff, but he couldn't help feeling a bit furious. It was now about five o'clock as Kasu looked at the sun trying to judge from the position. Nightfall would be coming soon, and so did the guide as the guide stopped to look at the sun as well. "We'll camp here for tonight" he said stopping the group. It was still unusually early to set up for camp seeing that they had a good three hours before nightfall. But then again these people probably never set up a tent in their lives, and it might prove difficult for maybe all of them. Kasu sighed, and joined the group to help set up the tents.

Word Count: 442
Total: 848
RUP: 0

Kasu was helping a elderly lady set up her tent. Unlike the others she seemed to know how to do it, but just couldn't do it no more. She had a few young children probably her grands and great grandchildren. They were helpful though extremely playful getting into a bunch of mess. One three year old girl had ran into someone else's tent making it fall. No one was really mad, but she cried her eyes out. And all Kasu could do was to smile. Then he had heard a slight commotion, and decided to turn his head around to see what it was. The guide, and the man from earlier were what had seemed to be having a heated conversation. "I'm going on ahead. Now that I know how to get outta this place, I should be fine. If anyone wants to come follow me. But I'm not going to rest here when we still have good traveling light!"

No way he was planning to leave by himself. It wasn't that he was worried about the man himself, he looked like he could handle himself. It was the innocent people of their tour group he worried for, with one less person their chance for survival got worst. "You can't go!" he yelled running past the man and standing in front of him. "You go, and these people die. Elderly, and children. You think these creatures worry about who, or what they kill? I don't think they do at all. And rather you can defend yourself or not, what about bandits? They're not afraid of fire, and without someone to watch your back your chance's become as slim as ours!" Kasu was secretly praying that what he said had gotten through to the man, and he would stay. But Kasu also knew it might not be likely either.

Word Count: 317
Total: 1,165
RUP: 1

Hours past, and there was still no sign of the man. No one had dared to go look for him in fear of them being robbed, or eaten alive. In a way it was pathetic, but what could they really do? Kasu understood that having extra baggage can slow you down and even get you killed. But the man had even offered to protect them. The man shouldn't had been surprised that no one followed behind, and neither was Kasu. The image of him walking through the dust, and disappearing was still in his head as he thought of how stupid this man was to. Sure he knew his way out now, but no matter how good you are you can always use someone else to back you up. Kasu wasn't suggesting himself, but was referring more to the old guide, who in fact looked like he needed someone to help him.

The sun had fallen, and the moon rose high up into the sky out of everyone's reach. The hot canyon soon became cold as the temperatures dropped dramatically. Everyone was huddled around the campfire for warmth. Everyone except for Kasu that is, he was sitting high above the group on a rock, that over looked the general direction that the man took. He had seen multiple fires around that area indicating it wasn't just the man alone, but even other travelers or bandits in the area. Either way they weren't the only people in the canyon. The fire below grew to the point where it was at least fifteen feet tall. This was for their protection, but also served as a beacon letting bandits know they were there. But the bandits also were at risk of being attacked so moving around without fire would be suicide. And if they did move around with it, Kasu would be able to spot them a mile away.

That was the plan anyway until a few clouds started to appear which meant nothing at first. Until he realized that these were rain clouds, and there was more gathering over the Divide. More problems arose. It was already freezing in the canyon, the rain wasn't going to help. And it would put out their fire leaving them vulnerable to the beast which reside in the canyon. Not only that, but if it was heavy rain, there would be flooding, and they would need to be able to get to higher ground, while fighting the freezing air, and the creatures at the same time. It was official, they needed an extra hand. They needed the man from before to help them, but he was about six miles away. It would take forever if he brought someone along, but if he went by himself an half an hour at the least while jogging. Kasu didn't even have to say a word as he looked down and the guide caught his gaze. The guide understood, and nodded giving him the ok. Right afterwards he took off in the direction the man went.

After about thirty minutes there was still no sign of the man, and a light rain had begun. The clouds weren't making it easier to find him as they blocked out the moon taking away the little light he had. Kasu hadn't thought to bring a torch as he just took right off so he was as blind as a bat except for the occasional lightning flash's. Kasu counted the time it took for the thunder to clap right after the lightning flashed. Five seconds. The whole storm was five miles away, this was a trick he picked up from his father. He didn't have long though as he kept moving looking for the man, but not a single sign of life was found. If only he had a name to call out, to reach out to the him with. Finally after ten minutes signs of life showed.. but it wasn't the life he was hoping for. He seen the outline of a bug like creature, and assumed it was the monsters the guide warned him about. He had to hurry, fighting by himself like this wasn't going to be great.

The next flash came, and the thunder came two seconds afterward. The storm was already upon them, as the rain started to fill like rocks being thrown at him. It was so cold he could see frost starting to appear on his cloak, and on the ground. The rain now drowned out all the sound along with the thunder, so even if he did have a name to call it wouldn't be heard. The flash's were more frequent now though allowing him to see, but the rain didn't allow him to see more than twenty meters ahead. He kept an eye on possible ambush spots for creatures and bandits. The water started to rise up to his ankle, and slowed him down. He counted the time it took for the thunder to come after the flash. There was no time, they both came at the same time. The storm was now directly above them as the rain began to feel more like iron balls instead of rocks. To top it off, he was now surrounded.

The creatures he knew that were there now had him surrounded as they came from behind rocks cutting him off from continuing his search. The water was rising even higher now, and his cloak was drenched. It felt heavy on him, but also protected him from the rain. But the rain was nothing compared to what he had to face now. In order to be able to avoid being eaten, the rid himself of the extra baggage. He threw away the cloak letting it flow down along with the rushing water. His dirty blonde hair, green eyes, and tattoo now showed. He held his katana in hand, and placed his hand on the hilt using his thumb to push it up some. He was once again in a battle for his life.

Word Count: 1004
Total: 2,169
RUP: 2