アライアンスデー

***

     Ryosuke went walking around the harbor and finally settled down, sitting on the side of a wall, letting his feet touch the water.  It was so hot here in Mizukoku to him, so in his heated state, he used his magic to make it snow over the water.  He smiled a bit and looked at how the snow melted immediately as it hit the water. 

     “Oi!” suddenly some man was yelling at him, “What do you think you’re doing?!  You’re freezing the water, magic user!”

      He ran over to him and Ryosuke stopped the snow.  “O-Oh, Ryosuke-sama,” he smiled, “How about you use magic somewhere else?” he asked cheerfully, helping the boy up.  “Be careful.”

      “Sorry,” Ryosuke nodded and walked off.  The man had gone back and his wife and him were pointing and talking about him.

      “Must be annoying, huh?” a girl suddenly was beside him.  He looked up at her in surprise as she'd appeared out of nowhere.  

      “Nanda?  Who are you?” he asked, a bit annoyed now.

      “Hey, don’t get annoyed at me.  I don’t like these water benders either,” she snickered.

      “What?  I don’t dislike them,” he started, “Are you not a water-bender?”

      “Nope,” she smiled. She looked older than him; probably around Yuya or Daiki’s age. 

      “Oh…Then, where are you from?  Are you here for Alliance Day?” he asked.

      “Yeah, my friend said that it’s nice here in Mizukoku and Alliance Day Feasts are amazing,” she smiled widely. 

      “They do taste good," he nodded in agreement, "I’m Matsumoto, Ryosuke, from Yukiguni,” he introduced himself.

      “Oh I know all about you of course,” she said, leading him through the town.

      “You do?” he asked, a bit freaked out at the way she said it.

      “Of course!  Who doesn’t know you, Prince Ryosuke of Yukiguni?” she laughed, “You’re the one who tried to killed yourself a couple months ago.”

       He frowned and turned his head.  “I didn’t try to kill myself!”

      “Don’t get mad at me,” she faced him on the other side, shrugging her shoulders, “It was you who did it.  I’m not judging you, though.  You just wanted friends, right?  I can understand that.  I don’t have any either.”

      “You don’t?” he looked back at her.  She was the first person who actually understood why he had done what he had done.

      “Of course,” she nodded, “I understand you a lot more than you know.”

       Ryosuke smiled at the fact that his feelings weren't weird--he wasn't a troublesome child... Others felt the same. “So what’s your name?”

      “My name’s Suzuki, Emi,” she said, “Come on.”

       They had come to the harbor.  “Where are we going anyway?” Ryosuke asked.

       “I want to show you a place,” she said, “From there you have the best view of the palace.”

       “But, I shouldn’t go far.  I should tell my parents also.”

      “Oh come on Ryosuke-sama,” she laughed harshly and Ryosuke suddenly got the creeps as she tried to push him onto the small ferry.  There was nobody else on it, but the driver who was dressed in all black.  It was all too sketchy. 

      “I can’t; I really need to go back,” Ryosuke said and suddenly caught sight of Yuri and the others in the distance, “Look, I should really go back to my brother.  I don’t think my mother would want me to leave him alone,” he lied in attempt to leave the girl.

      The girl noticed what he was looking at and sighed, “He’s with friends, come on.  It will be fun.  Haven’t you wanted friends?  We can be friends!”

      He looked back at Yuri again, “No, I really have to go,” he hurried and tried to run off to Yuri.

      “Oh Ryosuke, I was trying to do this the easy way, and I didn’t want to force you,” she ran after her and grabbed his arms tightly.

      “What are you doing?” he shouted as he felt his arms burning. 

      “Get on the boat now,” she flared and his arms burned even more.  She couldn’t be a fire bender…No they weren’t allowed here! 

      People around them started to stare and scream at the fire.  Men came running at him to try to help him.  “Ryosuke-sama!”  But the girl shot flames at the men, burning them.

      “YURI!” he screamed desperately, but his brother couldn’t hear him, “YURI!  YURI!”  He tried to kick her off of him, but she was surprisingly strong.  She suddenly kicked him in the stomach sending a blast of flames at his arms once more and he fell back into the boat as she hopped on. 

       More men were running to the boat, “What do you think you’re doing!?” a man yelled and police officers were rushing to the scene now as the man started the engine. 

      “YURI!” Ryosuke screamed again as the girl closed off the entrance, locking it.  Ryosuke ran to the side of the boat, screaming at his brother, “YURI! YURI!” He had to get him to notice him--tell his father--get someone.

     “It’s the prince!” others were shouting and his flesh burned. 

     There were many screaming civilians now, and Yuri finally turned his attention to the scene with the others.  In a final attempt, he screamed “YURI!” once more as the girl knocked him to the floor. 

     “You’re attracting too much attention, your highness,” she laughed and people were coming after the boat.

      “There’s no way you can take me; they’re coming to get me right now,” he tried to act tough.  “You should stop this nonsense!”

      She laughed, “Stop trying to act so regal and powerful!” She shot fire at the others’ boats, now coming at their boat, which was speeding off faster than Ryosuke could have imagined.  With that, she set the harbor on fire and people were scurrying away, screaming.  Yuri was a speck now, but the boy was running towards the harbor, with the others tagging along.

      The whole harbor was on fire right in front of Yuri and the others.  What was he to do?  He knew that was Ryosuke in the boat and the police officers were all screaming about the Prince.  The clock chimed that it was 11am.  The Alliance Day festivities would start at noon and this is when Yuri and the others were instructed to come back to get ready. 

      Yuri grabbed his friends and made a mad dash back for the castle.  He had to tell his father. 

      Bursting into the castles, Sato, Saki, and Miyu were all extremely confused, but Yuto understood the situation and took the smaller three to the kitchens as Yuri raced up the stairs to the veranda where the parents spoke.  Yuri was crying at this point.  Where was his Onii-san now? 

      “OTOU-SAN!!!  OKAA-SAN!!!” he screamed, sobbing in fright.  What had he let happen!?

      He burst through the door and ran to his parents.  All the others looked at him in shock and the older children were starting to gather after hearing the screaming and yelling.  The other younglings followed up and went to their own parents.

     “What’s wrong?” Mao quickly went to her child, checking for injuries.

     “I-It’s not me!” the youngest son was having difficulties breathing, “T-The harbor!”

      “What about the harbor!?” King Ohno came over. 

      At the next moment, a guard flew through the door.  “Sir!” he said, “The harbor’s been attacked!” he was frantic, and the King of Mizukoku was in horror.  The others were all panicking now.

      “It was Hikoku!” the man screamed, "It had to be!" He was out of breath, and the king’s anger soared as the whole crowd of people ran to the front veranda to view the harbor. 

      “OKAA-SAN!” Yuri was shouting still.

      “That’s not the worst news,” the guard was breathing heavily, not knowing how to get out the next part.

      “What?” King Ohno demanded, “Was something else in the kingdom burned?”

      Queen Mao turned back to Chinen as the guards talked to the king, “Where is your older brother?  He went down to town today also,” she said worried.

       “H-H-He,” the youngest cried, "It's my fault.  I didn't see him.  I didn't know!"

       “Spit it out already!” Ohno screamed at the guard and the guard bowed to the floor, and screamed the reply.

       “The prince was kidnapped!”

       For a moment, all was silent and then eyes were snapping all around the room in confusion.  “My Prince?” Ohno was furious, but confused as he saw all three of his sons immediately.

      “NO!!!!” Mao screamed and dropped to floor sobbing. 

      Her sons and husband looked at her, the rest of the family in confusion besides Mao and the youngest.

      But the guard cleared the confusion, “No sire…It was Prince Ryosuke from Yukiguni,” he continued to bow as if the King would strike him in anger. 

      The room was silent now besides the queen’s sobs.  The King was in shock, he didn’t move.  The sons of the Matsumoto family too stood there in shock before suddenly Jun started shouting, “How did this happen!?” he demanded.

      “There was a girl,” the guard breathed, “She bended fire.  She burned the whole harbor…she had the Prince and pushed him into the boat.  He was screaming, but civilians confirmed that she had burned his arms and he was forced on the boat.  Men were sent after the boat, but her bending caused the engines to explode.  There have been twelve confirmed casualties your highness…”

      Yuriko and Yuka helped Mao out of the veranda and into another room as the King and Queen of Mizukoku set off to the harbor.  King Matsumoto was also going, and the three oldest sons were to come with, along with Tomohisa and Maki (who wished to go along with her boyfriend). 

      They raced off across the city and people were still screaming in confusion.  The King first ordered everyone in their homes and to leave was prohibited for the day.  He asked for their cooperation and calmness.  

      The fire was out once the royals had arrived on the scene and the firefighters on scene were busing bending the water and cleaning it from the scraps of exploded boat pieces.  Bodies were placed on the harbor, covered with sheets.  Maki had a hard time looking at such a thing, and Tomohisa turned her away.  The three eldest boys of the Matsumoto family were only interested in their younger brother at the time, though.

      “What happened to my younger brother?” Daiki cried out to one of the police officers on site.

      King Matsumoto stood behind his sons with a face of stone as the officer tried to explain.  “We tried to stop her.  It was a girl—she looked about twenty-something.  From the witnesses we have, Ryosuke was talking to the girl in front of the boat.  Apparently they seemed to be friends at first, as some described.  The boy suddenly tried to get past her and one woman said she heard him say, ‘what are you doing’ in a shrill voice.  It was that moment that people started to notice the ordeal and some began to notice it was the prince.  I saw with my own eyes the rest…The boy started struggling, and she sent flames up his arms.  I saw him fall backwards onto the ship as I ran towards to harbor.  Other officers were already after them, as she had locked the boat entrance and the boat was a fast one.  There were twelve cop boats after them…She destroyed and killed every single one.  After that, the harbor went into the flames and that was when the other Prince showed up.”

     “What?” King Matsumoto asked.

     “Prince Ryosuke must have realized that it was his younger brother close by and began screaming his name.  Realizing that, Prince Yuri ran toward the harbor but it was too late.  He ran off back to the castle afterwards.  We’ve already discharged a crew of officers in pursuit of the boat, your highness,” the man bowed.

     King Matsumoto held his head and returned to King Ohno and the others along with his sons.

     “What shall we do?” King Ohno turned to King Matsumoto.

     “This has gone too far,” Jun growled, “They’ve involved my family now.  I'm going to start this war now.”

     Suddenly, the cop returned to King Ohno.  “Sire, the harbor was messaged.  It’s was Queen Matsumoto.  Apparently various areas in the other countries have been burned to the ground and a message arrived in Yukiguni today.”

      “Let us return immediately.”

***

     Back at that castle, King Matsumoto messaged the royal guards in charge while he was away and the message was read off.  It included the plan to kidnap the Royal Prince, the plan to burn the harbor, a few other places, and one more plan—to kill Tomohisa.  

      “What?” Maki shrieked and held on to her boyfriend.

      “It wasn’t accomplished,” Tomohisa soothed her, “It was probably to be done at the aqua dome this morning…I had plans to show up, but I cancelled at the last second.”

      That was true.  Emi, who in truth had been Erika of the Sakurai Family, was planning on killing Tomohisa that morning.  In frustration, though, he did not show up. 

     The plans had been made now, though.  The royal families would all return to their home countries.  King Ninomiya was beside King Matsumoto in war and the two were currently planning an attack.  King Aiba would provide defense on the borders of Tsuchikoku and Yukiguni, also.  Kazekoku would kick up the security, but should be fine otherwise.  King Ohno cracked down on security on the border and had his whole country on lockdown for the time being.  He would take care of issues in the country and it was decided that Tomohisa would go along with Maki to Tsuchikoku.  There, he would help take charge of the military and defense drills.  Also, it was safer for him there instead of in Mizukoku where he was threatened with death.  That would only be for a bit though.

      They had to get Ryosuke back immediately.  It required a vast amount of strength to get him back, but the kings and queens could not leave their countries undefended without them.  So it was decided. 

      Daiki, Keito, Maki, Yuma, Yuya, Takahisa, Kota, and Hikaru would go on a quest.  Tomohisa would oversee the quest as the commander.  That gave the team two magic-users, two air-benders, two earth-benders, and three water-benders.  Yuya would stay in the kingdom with Yuri and help his father with the military.  Yuri would not be involved with his young age. 

      Kei would also stay and help the king on his end, while Yuto and Hina would stay also for their young age.  Saki and Sato had to stay, while the King would let both his older sons go and work without the Princes, as he wouldn’t actually be waging war, unlike the kingdoms of Yukiguni and Kazekoku.  The same went for Mizukoku, who gave all three sons for the quest. 

      The quest wasn’t just for getting Ryosuke back though, even if that was the main reason.  While there, they were instructed to figure out secrets from inside Hikoku.