Avatar: Two Brothers

Magic

A large portion of the earth kingdom forces were sent to reclaim the avatar, leaving the earth prison much lower on security. This was the perfect opportunity for Rice to accomplish his mission. He walks up to the entrance of the prison where two earth kingdom soldiers stood at their post. Seeing his presence, the guards immediately held up their fists.

“Halt! Who are you? State your business here!”

“Terribly sorry to bother you gentlemen but I have a friend inside that I would like to visit.”

“This prison is off limits! No visitors allowed!”

“Oh, you both seemed like you had a terrible day. Has the warden been extremely tough on you both?”

“Well, yes, I mean that is not information I’m qualified to give!”

“That’s okay I understand, strict business! Then how about a magic trick to put you both in a better mood?”

Both the guards looked at each other puzzled but they were curious so they allowed the man to show them some magic tricks. Rice pulled out some dice and began throwing them in the air and hiding them in his hands. He showed a multitude of tricks and made it such a spectacle that both the guards were completely enamored by the performance.

As time passed, guards throughout the prison began to flock towards the show, making the crowd larger and larger. Eventually it got to the point where the warden was wondering where everyone had gone until he stumbled across the crowd.

“Hey, what is the matter with all of you? Get back to your station now!” He yelled with authority.

“But boss, this magician is amazing!”

The warden barged his way through until he was at the front. “So you are the rascal who distracted all my soldiers! I don’t buy this whole ‘magic’ deal, I know it's all fake!”

“Ah a critic, would you like to prove it through a live demonstration?”

The warden was skeptical but all the soldiers were encouraging him to participate. “Hmph, fine! I’ll play your game and expose you for the fraud you are!”

“Excellent! I just need to ask one favour from you.”

“What is it that you need?” asked the warden.

“To make this trick fair, I require something with the proper weight and noise. Ahh, that will do!” He pointed at the keys the warden had on his sash.

“Ha! I see what you are trying to do! And I ain’t giving them!”

“But sir, you told me yourself that I’m a fraud. If I really am a fake then your keys should come right back to you.”

Suddenly, the warden felt trapped by his own words. All the prison guards were staring at him to see how he would respond. Filled with pride and ego, he didn’t want to be embarrassed, so he pulled out the keys. “I better get these keys back or you will regret your entire existence!”

“Rest assured I will return your keys to you. You have my word.” Rice replied with his hands open, showing that his fingers were not crossed. The warden handed the keys over and Rice placed them into his bamboo hat and began throwing it up in the air. After adding in a few other motions for dramatic effect, Rice put his hand into the hat. The crowd waited with anticipation to see what would be pulled out and on his hand was a tiny little Gerbil Elephant (elephant head with a gerbil’s body).

Both the female and male guards were in awe by the sheer cuteness of the creature. Even the warden couldn’t help but smile at the little creature. And after Rice took a bow to signal the end of the show, he received a massive standing ovation for his performance.

After the ovation ended, he bid farewell to his audience and they thanked him for the entertaining show. However, before he was able to leave, the warden blocked his path.

“Hey pal, you have something you still need to give me.” He held out his hand with an open palm to receive his key.

“Of course, how could I forget.” Rice slapped his hand, “High five!”

“You idiot! I don’t want a high five from you! Give my keys back!”

“Oh, why didn’t you just say so. My apologies but I don’t have your keys right now. Just give it a couple more minutes and you will get them back!”

“I knew it! You are a lousy good for nothing theft! Guards arrest this man and throw him with the other one!” The warden commanded but nothing happened. He turned around to find that all the soldiers were lying on the ground. He was left wondering what had happened until he saw the lone man standing around all the defeated earth soldiers, Ruthar.

“How? You were locked away in that prison?” Those were his last words as Rice knocked him out gently and he fell to the ground unconscious.

“Hopefully that was a good warm up for you.” He directed his comment to Ruthar.

“Barely, my body is still extremely stiff from being locked up there. By the way, it was pretty crafty of you to send this little fellow with the gift.” Ruthar held out Niall the little bunnypup with the warden’s keys around his neck.

“A compliment from Ruthar, such high praise.” He took the keys from Niall’s neck and placed it on the warden’s chest. “Here you go, your keys returned just like I promised!”

“You know you could have just fought your way through all of them. They wouldn’t have stood a chance.”

“Ha! Now where is the fun in that?” Rice replied.

“I would love to keep this conversation going but we need to stop Gursehaj and his goons from reaching the kids. They already have a big head start, I hope we will make it in time.” Ruthar expressed his concerns.

“Oh I already know the solution to that. Follow me.” Rice began walking back into the prison.

“I just got out of that disgusting jail cell and now you want me back in there!?”

Ruthar was not happy about going back into the prison but Rice ignored him and kept moving forward. So despite not being fond of the idea, Ruthar followed Rice as they walked down the prison into an underground cellar. They walked through the long hall and eventually saw an extremely large animal that was chained to the ground.

Rice allowed Ruthar to move ahead of him and when he finally got close enough to the cellar, he rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating. “Mikayla, is that you?” The sky bison hears her owner’s voice and wakes up full of joy. Finally, they had been reunited.