1 : GROUND ZERO

On a quiet night with an oblique moon lazily gazing over the land, the Fire Palace in the capital was a sight to see. The walls were decked with heavy capes of deep red while gold silk draped over the entire ballroom. Long stripes of rose red satin lined the engraved long tables, with gold embroidery of dragon motifs exquisitely dancing over the two long edges of the tablecloth. Sitting quietly in the corners of the dark wood columns where plainly decorated lanterns, each with a unique minimalist calligraphic design on them. The nutty scent of candles wafted through the air, but it was no contender for the appetizing assailment of smells by the spread of food available. Steamed fish, chilli crabs, ducks roasted to a crispy brown perfection and fiery spicy sea slugs were just a pinch of the collection available. Even the dumplings were still steaming hot in their bamboo baskets. To say it was a party was an understatement, it was a feast fit for an emperor. And made for an emperor it was, for this was none other than a feast hosted by the Fire Lord himself.

In celebration of a year's anniversary since the world entered the new era of peace, Fire Lord Zuko was throwing a three night long feast. Among the invited members were the governing nobility in the Fire nation itself, alongside honourable guests from all over the world, most notably the Earth King, the Avatar and the president of the newly formed Republic City to name a few. Although this was only the first night of the feast, even without all of its most honourable guests present yet, it was already a significantly grand affair.

'I hate these parties.' Garbed in several flowing layers of fine robes, Zuko internally sighed to himself. While nevertheless traditional, his current attire lacked any form of armour and the spiked metal shoulder guards were now replaced by nothing but silk garments. The design was as elaborate as ever, but it was an immediate contrast to the militaristic design of the past century.

Flanked on both sides by Suki and Ty Lee, his personal bodyguards for the night, he began his political manoeuvrings for the night. While this feast was officially a celebration, anyone familiar with politics could tell it was not simply that. It served to assuage any wary citizens remaining that the path of peace was the more prosperous one but more importantly, it was another opportunity for the Fire Lord to appease the more vocal nobility. It could be said that those in positions of power in the Fire Nation could be split into three groups, those who were all too joyful that the overdrawn war was finally over, those who were still sizing up the new Fire Lord and those who defied the new regime. Those of the latter group tended to belong to the militaristic families, or strongly identified as Ozai loyalists who could not stand to serve his 'usurper'. Regardless of their reasons, it stands as truth that Zuko had plenty of enemies who would rather see his head separated from his body. This night happened to be a crucial night, for the Avatar was arriving only tomorrow. Honestly, it was not Aang's fault. The kid was busy joining the water tribes' own celebration and it would be discourteous to insist for him to leave that for the Fire Nation's. Besides, he was going to join for the second and third day, bringing along Katara and Sokka as well. With himself exposed to an entire crowded hall, of which half of them had qualms with him in one way or another, Zuko was practically almost a sitting duck for assassins. However, as the Ember Island Players liked to say, 'no matter if the stage is on fire, the play must go on'.

"Your Highness Lord Zuko, it is truly an honour to be in your great presence. Ever since the war ended, prosperous tidings have been rolling in non-stop for the citizens of your great nation. I cannot imagine the vastness of my Lord's benevolence if my Lord could even humble yourself to interact with lesser persons such as us." An elderly man, face adorned with laugh wrinkles and twinkling eyes bowed to him with a customary greeting.

"Nonsense, Lord Shingi. Do away with those formalities, this is a celebration. Besides, although I am Fire Lord, it is due to the wise counsel of individuals like yourself that allowed our successes up to this day." Reaching out a hand, Zuko gently pulled up Shingi's arm in a silent request to stop him from bowing any further.

"Your Eminence truly is a thoughtful one!"

Throughout the past year, while Zuko could not fully trust anyone on his counsel yet, Shingi was relatively trustworthy. Being a noble who delved into trade, the end of the war was a huge boon to his business as new trade routes emerged as quickly as baby hamster-rabbits in March. Besides that, he was not only an old friend of his uncle, but also shared the same wily streak which made him suited for dealing with the court. However, he tended to show a definite bias for decisions in favour for his business. Not that Zuko minded much, for the boom in trade was exactly what he needed to both usher in the new age and to ensure the economy did not collapse from all the demilitarization going on.

As the pleasantries were finally put out of the way, Shingi finally revealed the motive behind his approach. "There are a few friends of mine who will be all too glad to meet you, if you would be so kind enough to grant an audience."

Intrigued, Zuko let himself be led off to a group sitting by the large shogi screens which led to the verandas outside. The group turned out to consist of the heads of other prominent merchant houses, not only those from the Fire Nation itself, but some were even from the far-off shores of the Earth Kingdom and there was even one representative from the Northern Water Tribe. It seemed that a trade pact was currently in the works. As usual, Shingi had outdone himself and prepared everything to Zuko's liking, and he as good as won Zuko's support from the moment he began his proposal. Needless to say, it was a short but jolly discussion.

"Well, to commemorate such a joyous day, it would be a sin not to bring out the sake!" One of the members, with a portly belly and a thick moustache, bellowed out as he waved for servants to pour them the alcoholic drink.

Holding up his cup, the man gave an energetic shout, "To Fire Lord Zuko, and to a new era of prosperity!"

As the group chorused the same words, they each presented their cups and drowned their cups in heightened spirits. Even Zuko could not help but gently smile in the face of such exuberance.

Unfortunately, it would seem that his bad luck decided to gate-crash the celebration.

It was only for a split second that Zuko felt a killing intent directed towards him and instinct told him to move in the way only someone paranoid would react. Black figures swamped in from behind him, the paper-thin shogi screens torn apart and Ty Lee and Suki each contending with their own opponents. Burning sweeps of flames pushed several back and quick successive bullets of fireballs warded off the rest. However, as talented as all three of them were, the guards were too far away and even more assassins emerged to surround them. Soon, they were forced to back off to the veranda, which was lined with guards sprawled on the floor. Whether they were dead or unconscious, Zuko could not tell. As he watched one enemy diffuse his fireball, he threw a leg sweep However, the saying 'there's safety in numbers' could not have echoed the enemy's situation any better. Before he could knock over his target, he felt a hit from the side as a powerful roundhouse kick connected with his torso. Slipping, he barely clutched onto the rails as he lost his balance, and before he could blink, fire consumed his vision as the wooden support behind him gave way. Instinct was his only saviour as he brought up his arms in time to form a barely existent fire shield, but it seemed his luck had run out for Zuko felt gravity take him as he was finally overwhelmed if not by skill then at least by sheer numbers. Bright spots flickered in his vision and the world turned to darkness before he could even feel an impact.

Meanwhile

It was surrounded. Human voices, sneering, shouting, demanding. There were whips of flame, burning as they cut into his thick armour. What started as scratches deepened into lesions, and cuts into gaping wounds. Subconsciously, it stored up a ball of energy, exploding it outwards once it was sufficiently charged in a desperate attempt to push everything away. The attacks remained relentless. Distantly, there was a metallic screech that bespoke of pain, drowned out by the malicious orders dished out by the humans and the determined pokemon that encircled it.

It needed to get away. The screeching was echoing in his ears and his spheres were weakening with each use. The commands of the humans were thrown out with renewed fervour, and were as ceaseless as the long-range pokemon attacks which hit it. At the back of its mind, it became aware that it was the one screeching. Now desperately flailing its thick arms around perchance it should hit something, it gave a loud roar of fury.

How dare they?

It was a legendary. The ones capable of even matching it could be counted on only one hand. It would not collapse from such low, insignificant beings.

How dare they?

Now rejuvenated by rage, the being clawed through the air with such veracity that it tore the space apart. A coagulating mess of ghostly beams shoot out, quickly accompanied by dark purple and black clouds which seemed to suck one's soul it. Eyes gleaming, the being gave another roar as it rent the very fabric of space around it, tearing the land asunder.

Then all was still.

The giant was gone, and its enemies lay unmoving on the cracked, rugged debris left behind.

A/N

I know it's a short chapter but hopefully it gets longer, considering this is more of a prologue. Please leave a review, even if you're just airing some thoughts or leaving a short comment. Reviews are sustenance for that thing authors like to call their muse.