Chapter 75: After the Battle

That afternoon during resting Ash fell asleep. He woke up on Peacebender territory, finding himself face-to-face with his father, Lightning - a light gray male wolf. Ash perked his ears. "Dad!" he exclaimed.
"Well done," Lightning smiled. "You did good."
"Dad, why did I Firebend?" Ash blurted out. "I'm not a Firebender."
"You're not. I was," Lightning said.
"You were?" Ash gasped.
Lightning nodded. "I ran away though. I wasn't evil. You have Firebender blood, Ash. But since you didn't learn Firebending, you could never master Firebending moves."
"But I used fire--" Ash began.
"I believe your instincts told you that since there was no water it decided to resort to fire," Lightning nodded.
"So...Ironfang is dead?" Ash murmured.
"That is kind of the way it goes," Lightning chuckled.
"I just can't believe I beat him," Ash admitted.
"We're proud of you, Ash," Lightning said.
"And what about Rusty?" Ash couldn't help asking.
"He's not dead," Lightning said, "but badly wounded. Eclipse healed him though."
"Then he wasn't the third animal?" Ash cocked his head.
"No, he wasn't. Tiggerkat was."
Silence for a moment. Then, Ash spoke. "Tiggerkat?"
"Yes," Lightning confirmed. "As shocking as it may be..."
"She's really a Reese Cup Bender? And...Reese Cups exist?" Ash gaped.
"Yes," Lightning sighed. "I find it hard to believe myself."
"Eclipse and Rusty barely helped me...what was the purpose of three?" Ash asked.
"With Rusty almost dying, it gave you a bigger urge to kill Ironfang. Eclipse was a skilled enough Healer to prevent Rusty from joining to Peacebenders," Lightning said.
"What happened to the Dragon of Time?" Ash wondered.
"It made its way back to the land of Yin and Yang," Lightning replied.
"And what's Yin and Yang?"
Lightning smiled. "You'll find out soon enough."
Ash sighed. I shouldn't have expected a straight-out answer.
"The world shall celebrate this day," Lightning sighed, looking at the bright sun, "You did well."
The world began to fade around Ash.


Ash woke up - the sun was just rising, so Ash figured he must have slept until the next day. He slowly rose up to see The Bending Tower grouped together. The Earth Kingdom, Water Tribe and Tribe of Flying Birds had all went their separate ways to go home.
The Bending Tower were grieving; they had lost several animals: Kabu, Ice, Spots, Stella, Zapada, Eris, Clover, Lily and Ember. We lost so many, Ash thought regretfully.
But you achieved so much more, said Lightning's voice in Ash's head. The land will be at peace for many moons to come.
Ash sighed at sat down, looking at The Bending Tower animals: all had a mixture of sadness and relief. He stretched. It would be quite a while to get back to The Bending Tower, so Ash decided that today would be a resting day.
Comet was laying next to Lily's lifeless body; she was his sister, and Ash noticed he looked the most sad out of everyone. Ash looked to see a little ways away from the grieving group was Eclipse standing over Rusty, who, frankly, looked exhausted; he was asleep and had a long scar on his side and had dry blood on him. Crystal was standing above him, looking down on Rusty with sadness.
Sylvia was sitting with Eclipse and Rusty, her belly swollen, and had her head on her paws, looking terrible; Spots had died, so Sylvia would be raising a pup without a father. Ash felt sad for her.
Eclipse trotted over to Ash. "Three of us? Nothing happened. You killed Ironfang yourself!"
Ash sighed. "I was told in my dream that Rusty was hurt to encourage me to kill Ironfang. So I could avenge him."
"But they shouldn't mess with Rusty's life like that!" Eclipse blurted out.
"The Peacebenders know what they're doing," Ash shrugged.
Airia trotted over. "You killed Ironfang."
"Yep," Ash smiled.
Airia gave Ash a lick on the head. "Nice Firebending by the way."
Ash gave a weak smile. "But I'm still a Waterbender."
"Of course," Eclipse agreed. "He may have Firebended that one time, but he's still a Waterbender."
Charlotte then wandered over. "Hi," she murmured.
"Hi Charlotte," Airia nodded.
Charlotte looked at Ash. "Who will be your new deputy?"
"Hmm?" Ash said.
"Rusty is in no condition to be deputy," Charlotte pointed out.
"She's right," Eclipse agreed.
Ash sighed. He got to his paws. "Benders! Gather!"
The Bending Tower animals then gathered around Ash.
"Right now Rusty is in no condition to be deputy," Ash said.
Murmurs rose in the crowd.
Ash scanned the animals. "I will choose the new deputy."
He looked around. Who would fit the job? Ash looked around the animals, who were all looking at Ash expectantly. He began thinking. Not Stone...Dust, no...Hazen just doesn't feel right...
His eyes then laid on Raoul.
"The new deputy will be Raoul," Ash announced.
Nyla - who had chosen to stay with The Bending Tower - nodded at Raoul and murmured something to him. Raoul, looking surprised, began to trot forward. "I chose Raoul," Ash began, "because he is loyal to the end, and hard-working."
Raoul then stood next to Ash. "Thank you. I had no idea I'd get a role as b-big as this...I'll...try to do my best."
Cheers came from The Bending Tower.
"We will start going back tomorrow," Ash nodded. "Hunt and rest."
The animals then broke up and began talking to one another.
"Why did you choose me?" Raoul asked, turning to Ash.
"Because why not?" Ash smiled. "I personally think you'd be a great leader."
Raoul nodded. "Thanks, Ash."
Raoul then trotted towards Max and Miguel, who began congratulating him.
Ash looked up at the cloudless sky. The sun was shining brightly.
Peace for many moons to come...

THE-END

Author's Note:

MAN I hope I didn't forget to write anything. D:

Second series to come! :) I'm probably gonna make the blog today just to work on the sign-ups and Meet the Benders page.

The epilogue will be posted in the afternoon. :3