Dan, standing by the entrance fazed by what happened says "What the hell why do those three stand out the most, and why does their aura terrify me, who the hell are they?"
Alexis pushes Ash aside, he steps forward towards Steven "Fuck off Ash, this is between me and this asshole Steven"
Steven glares straight at Alexis with his eyes burning with red hot fury clinches his fist "Who are you calling asshole, Fuckface"
Ash shakes his head, places his hands around their shoulder again aiming to calm them "Now now, let's all get along and put our differences aside. It's been long since we last saw each other"
Alexis and Steven scream in unison "I don't care!"
Dan remains frozen like a statue, he doesn't know where to go or what to do in this big hall filled with the children of the Five Nations.
The three children in the center have stolen the spotlight, Dan just like the rest can do nothing but watch
Alexis points his sword at Steven with a devilish smirk, "So Steven are you still the dog's tail or have you taken control of yourself "
Those words from Alexis reverberate in Steven's mind, making his eyes widen, bringing a deeper hate he has for Alexis, the air becomes still as Steven says "What did you say"
Ash raises his hands in defeat, stepping back "I just can't with you guys"
Before things become worse, a short black girl with black hair, wearing a white dress that show the emblem of the Air nation on the back of the dress, runs to them
"Stop it you guys no violence" said Esther—Knight exams candidate from the air nation 2nd branch
Ash pops a warm gentle smile across his face "Awwwnnnn it's you Esther, your still so cute, oops I mean lady Esther" he bows
Steven raises his eyebrow "Baby chick you qualified"
Alexis sheaths his sword and turns his devilish smile into a loving caring smile "Ok ok Esther anything for you"
Dan's confusion increases, he doesn't know how to explain what just happened, the two guys just dropped their fight when the girl came in
Esther pouts "Hey stop calling me 'Lady Esther'"
Ash chuckles as he pats her head "Not a chance"
Dan finally moves from the hall entrance to a corner, to wait for what might be told or who he can have a conversation with
As Dan rests his back on the wall, he folds his arms while looking down "Hmm how can I start a conversation with this people"
A black boy with short curly black hair approaches him
"It's easy, you just say hi or hello my name is..."
Dan raises his head "H-hi my name Dan"
"Hello my name is Agi, I'm from the fire nation, i haven't seen you before, you're from....." Agi;Knight exams candidate from the fire nation 6th sub-branch
"The lightning nation" Dan said
Agi tilts his head, surprised"Weird, i don't know about you"
Dan laughs weakly "Hehe" saying to himself"Maybe because i didn't know about until just recently"
"So what is up with those three in the centre" Dan adds
Agi turns his head straight at their direction "Oh them, those guys are Alexis,Steven and Ash, they are from the weapons nation, fire nation and ice nation, respectively"
Dan's eyes widen "Wow... And the girl?"
Agi face turn bright with a warm gentle smile"Her name is Esther, she is from the air nation"
"Oh cool. So why did they call us out here" Dan asked
Agi rests his back on the wall with a sharp grin"Well for a reunion and also to tell us about the next exam for us to pass"
"So wait there is still another qualifying exam"Dan said
Agi nods his head
Suddenly a loud voice calls out to Agi, Agi turns to the direction of the sound
"Agi, come over here" Screamed Steven
Agi waves at Dan as he heads over to Steven's side of the hall
A second later, the tall silver haired Ash notices Dan, he taps Alexis on the shoulder "Hey Alexis isn't that the boy your sword almost hit"
Alexis looked at him with weary eye having no interest in what Ash said whatsoever "Yes and so?"
"I don't think we know him"Ash Said
"True i haven't seen him before and you know what too" Alexis adds
Ash responds quickly "What?" Eager to hear his answer
Alexis turns and leaves him "I don't care"
Ash Shaked his head while hissing, he left Alexis and went over to meet Dan, he puts his arm around him
Dan body reacts immediately he turns his head and he sees the huge presence of the sliver haired boy 'Ash'
Ash with a warm gentle smile "Hey there bud, who are you i've never seen or heard of you before"
Dan musters the courage to speak"Oh hey there my name is Dan and I'm from the lightning nation"
Ash faces moves closer to his face "Ouuu, what branch and what's your family name"
Dan scratches his head "Erm i don't have one"
Ash grin widens, as he says to himself "I knew it he's the special kid"
Esther approaches them and she looks at Dan, her eyes sparkle when she sees him, she moves closer to him "Wow.. cute boy"
Alexis turns his back, he sees Ash and Esther with the new boy. Alexis walks up to him "Esther move back you shouldn't stay close to strangers"
"I'm not a kid!" Esther scoffed
Alexis glares down on Dan "You what is your name?"
"Well my name is Dan and I'm from the lightning nation" Dan said
Alexis devilish smile awakens"No wonder i don't like you, not just because of your stupid face but your damn nation"
Dan blinked confused"What"
A woman wearing the red armor from the fire nation appears on the stage with a microphone and tells everyone to keep quiet
"Now that you are all quiet i can talk now, hello everybody my name is-"
Ash interrupts her with a loud scream "Cathy!!!! It's been so long, look at you standing right there talking to us"
The girl in the red armour cheeks starts to turn red "Shut up Ash!"
Ash chuckles to himself
The girl clears her throat, and steps forward to the microphone "Like i wanted to say, Congratulations to all the candidates and i wish you all luck for the next qualifying exam, remember failure is not an option"Said by Catherina Ross—Vice-Lieutenant from the fire nation, fire chi user from the 16th branch family "The Ross"
Dan standing in the middle of the arena as the rest of the competitors he looks at her in awe, those short but impactful words strength his resolve to his aim for his goal of becoming a knight
"So I'm here to brief you guys on the upcoming qualification exam; It's a 'Forest race', you will all start in different positions in the forest and must get out fast before you are eliminated, you can fight each other to knock out your opponent or reach the finish line first" Catherina adds
Murmurs begins to emerge among the children with most seeking to knock out their opponents and test their strength while few are aiming to finish the race fast
Catherina:This exam helps all you future nights to navigate yourselves in disastrous places and making sure you can find your way out as you fight your enemies
Catherina stares down at the children "This exam helps all you future nights to navigate yourselves in disastrous places and making sure you can find your way out as you fight your enemies"
Dan smiles "This is awesome, but when will the other non-nation contestants hear it"
"They are in their own separate hall being briefed" Ash adds
Catherina speaks once more "Finally the numbers of the people who qualified from each nation, 20 from the 16 branch nations each which makes 320 from 1 whole nation like the fire nation, which means 1600 in total from the whole nations, but this year is this Different we still have the 60,000 that qualified but from the 5 nations combined we have 1601 this year"
The children begin to speak among themselves
"Another person entered"
"Who could this be?"
Catherina adds "The one person is from the lightning nation, he qualified outside the normal bracket system meant for you guys and qualified from the ones the other people take, he didn't know he had-"
She is interrupted again, but this time it is a vexed Alexis, who immediately points his sword at Dan's throat
"Bullshit! So those lightning nation cunts really thought they could pull this one from under our noses, eliminate him now or i will"
Dan is frozen he doesn't know how to react in this situation, as the tension is rising an average heighted boy with grey hair jumps in to calm Alexis
"Stop! Alex" Said the boy 'Henry';Knight candidate from the weapons nation 3rd sub-branch(Weapons nation)
Alexis eyes unwavering as his bloodlust raises "Get out of the way Henry"
Ash grabs Alexis hand squeezing it hard "He's doing the right thing, you can't just beat a boy like that out of nowhere"
The sliver blue haired girl, Rebecca that Dan saved yesterday stepped in "Enough of this Alexis"
"If the officials didn't kick him out then you have no right too" Chase adds
Alexis sheaths his sword, steps away and sighs "Your right, but I'm not stopping because of you clowns, i stopped because i thought to myself, what will a bozo from the lightning nation do to me"
Anger starts to boil underneath Dan's skin, which makes him step to Alexis "Just watch and see"
Catherina snaps "ENOUGH!"
The noise seizes, and she continues to speak on the microphone "that's all i wanted to say to you people, you may now leave and go prepare for tomorrow's event"
Everyone in the hall all say in unison "Yes Ma!"
As Dan begins to leave, Alexis hits him with his shoulder
"Be ready Bozo" Alexis said
Dan glares at as he leaves "Screw you"
Dan goes to a small forest outside the town to train, he refines his two special moves— Lightning Karate Straight punch and Lightning Karate Chop. He remembers what Greg told him about not using his abilities well
Suddenly Samuel appears and decides he wants to train with Dan which Dan willingly agree too
They go all out and at the end of the training they are both on laying down on the ground, panting heavily
"Hey Samuel will you aim to finish the race fast or fight opponents" Dan asked
Samuel replies"Both"
Dan smirks "Smart answer"
Hours pass and all the children from the Five Nations are in their rooms preparing for tomorrow
Ash in his room
Ash is seated on a chair in a light blue robe with has the ice's nation emblem on the back of it
"Thanks cathy for bringing the wine and dressing like that"
Catherina in her red night gown, rolls her eyes at him "Shut up you perv"
Ash pours the wine into a cup, sips it and looks at Catherina's hair "Why did you change your hair to red, i liked your pink hair better"
"Shut up, you know you should have taken the exam 2 years ago with me but why did you stop"Catherina said
Ash with a playful smirk "Didn't feel like it, just wanted them to force me to do it, since this is my final chance, from all ages of 14-18, every 18 year is forced to qualify"
Catherina shakes her head in disbelief"You're an idiot, so where do you think you will finish"
Ash leans back in his chair and confidently says "At the top"
Catherina leans forward"What about the other contestants"
Ash takes another sip of the wine before answering "Well, Alexis and Steven look stronger than ever, Esther keeps on growing, Agi and Henry are still good, Rebecca is decent and chase is still perfect"
"What about Dan? I saw you with him today" Catherina asks
Ash releases a heavy sigh as he put his head down "To be honest disappointed,I saw in the forest today, he still uses his power like a child, hopefully he will qualify"
Catherina nods her head and gets up, preparing to leave his room, as she approaches the door, Ash asks
"Can we do it?"
Catherina charges at him with a punch to his stomach
The next day
All contestants are in there different starting places
Dan is at his starting spot, he eyes are sharp and focused, he whispers "This is it, time to show them all" as lightning sparks appear faintly around his body