Hello hello hello ^_^
So, I've been thinking about the idea of Avatar characters being in the situation of the Hunger Games...and no, this isn't a parody. I just wanted to see what would occur if the kids were thrust into this situation.
Oh, and since I know I constnatly wonder about shipping in a story myself, here's the line up: Kataang, Maiko, Tokka, maybe a weeeeeee bit of Yukka, and...not sure what else.
I own nothing!
So, enjoy!
Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony.
Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements could stop him. But when the world neede him most, he vanished.
100 Years passed and, with the Avatar gone, the Fire Nation soon claimed the land. To show the sheer amount of power Fire Lord Ozai had over the world, he created a game system, where each nation sends children between the ages of twelve and eighteen into an arena in Ba Sing Se, to kill one another on live TV. The Watertribe must send in four tributes, the Fire Nation tosses in four undesirables, and the Earth Kingdom- the largest of all nations- sends in six children.
Ever since the Air Nomads were eradicated in their search for the Avatar, the three nations pit their children against one another.
Let the games begin.
The Siblings
Katara sat in the main dome of her frosty home, rotating her wrist over a large stone pot, stirring the stew with a glazed look in her eyes. She seemed to be focusing on something far into the pot, past the foam and chunks of meat swirling inside of the granite. Across the room, leaning on the wall with the hood of his parka drawn tight under his head was her brother, Sokka. He was focusing all of his attention on sharpening the boomerang in his palms. Neither of them said a word to one another, too deep into their own gnawing, paranoid thoughts as the date was continuously penetrated into their brains in the form of a horn blaring from the center of town.
The flap of their igloo was thrust open, their grandmother practically tumbling in with the force of the wind behind her. She shook her old, white hair free of flakes, setting a few bowls near Katara's cauldron.
"You both shouldn't worry yourselves so much," Kana said sagely. "The likelihood of either of you being selected is astronomical."
"But there's still a chance," Sokka quipped quietly, venom behind his words.
"Oh, nonesense, Sokka. I'm sure that- "
Katara clenched her fist above the pot, having heard enough about 'astronomical chances'.
"Gran Gran, just stop!" she ordered, frustrated. The old woman winced at the sudden level of her granddaughter's voice. "You know there are less and less children nowadays. The parents have stopped having them. There aren't many children in the village and you know it." Katara- an otherwise level person- pointed a finger at her grandmother accusingly. "Sokka and I have a lower chance of getting frostbite. After avoiding the Games for so long, it'd be amazing if we both escaped it. But then, there's always next year!"
Katara locked eyes with her brother, who stared at her with confused but understanding eyes. Almost grateful that she had said what both of them had been thinking for the past few weeks.
But instead of consolation, the young Waterbender found only aggitation in her grandmother's face. "I think you both better go. Don't need the soldiers dragging you out in front of the whole village."
As Gran Gran laddled the stew into a bowl for herself, Katara grabbed her own parka, wrangling it over her head. She pushed her way out of the tent, mumbling, "Come on, Sokka. Let's go."
He tucked the boomerang into it's sheath on his hip, tugged his hood tighter and stepped outside to join his sister.
The wind was literally howling- many percieved this as the Spirits mourning the upcoming events- and snowflakes bit the siblings' faces. Other children were already beginning their march to the village center, where two of them would be chosen to fight for their lives.
Katara folded her arms over her stomach, grimacing. "I've got a bad feeling about this, Sokka."
He slung his arm around his little sister's shoulder, giving her a light but reassuring squeeze. "Everything's going to be fine, Katara."
Slowly, they began to make their way through the gray blizzard.
A pretty but rather creepy woman from the Earth Kingdom stood on a snow-pressed stage, attempting to grin through her layers of clothing. Once the flow of children halted, the woman, Joo Dee, cleared her throat.
"Welcome to the 28th Anual Reaping Day," she shouts over the roar of the blizzard. Ignoring the silence of the crowd, she continues. "Today, we will choose one girl and one boy to join two others from the northern sister tribe, as well as ten others from around the world, and travel to the beautiful Ba Sing Se arena in the heart of the Earth Kingdom. So, shall we begin?"
Carefully plucking her hand out of her left glove, Joo Dee drew a piece of parchement from a glass bowl, reading the name aloud for all to hear.
"Sokka Kuruk," she said loudly.
Katara's grip on her brother's arm tightened, her stomach shriveling. She had thought that the shift in her stomach's equilibrium meant something unfortunate for herself, not her older brother. Immediatley, she screamed in protest, tears already springing from her eyes and freezing on her chin.
Beside her, Sokka nearly lost conciousness, though his exterior didn't betray that. To his peers, he looked hardened, his face taking on a grave but determined shadow, as if he had already accepted his fate but was mapping out his plan of attack in his head. The edges of his vision blurred and his heart beat loudly in his ears as he squinted at Joo Dee's snow-blurred figure, before her words finally registered.
He set a hand on Katara's shoulder, before prying himself from her iron grip to mount the stage. The entire village, who knew him by his father or as a friend or as a protector, parted for him, most of them hanging their heads in respect. He stood on the stage, the wind no longer biting anymore, as if the Spirits were just as shocked as the South Pole's inhabitants.
"Ah, well then," Joo Dee chirpped happily, yanking her hood off of her head. "Thank goodness the wind has stopped. Now for the female."
As she fished around in the bowl, Sokka surveyed the crowd. There were more girls than boys in the tribe. He knew some of them personally, whether it be from awkward and ill-fated romantic encounters or the being friends with Katara. He knew he didn't want to have to train and fight with them, and, if it came down to it, kill them. How could he return home without being dubbed a savage?
"Ka...oh. Oh my," Joo Dee said, her lips faltering a bit.
Joo Dee always smiled. Something was most definitley wrong.
"What?" Sokka asked, taking a step towards her and craning his neck to look at the parchement. His heart sank.
"Katara," he croaked out in a barely audible whisper.
No, the Spirits- if there were such a thing- definitley hated him.
The Pure
"Smoked salmon, Princess?" the servant asked.
Yue shook her head, placing a gentle hand out to push it away. "No thank you," she said, her voice sweet but serious. She had no appetite that day.
The snowy courtyard was packed with children of all ages, a sea of blue fabrics and white furs. Yue sat on her cushion, in the long row of royalty and elders, between Grand Master Pakku, the mentor for the Watertribe children chosen to compete, and her beautiful mother. Beside her mother, her father sat, a grim expression painted on his face.
Finally, the chief rose and silence fell upon the village.
"Brothers and sisters," he said loudly. Beside her, Yue felt Pakku stiffen as the ceremonious reaping began. It had been about ten years since Pakku entered and survived the Games, though at a terrible price: dealing with the death of his old friend by his own hand.
"Today, the Spirits hide their faces, ashamaed of us as we send our own younglings into an arena of death."
Murmurs of agreements echoed through the empty square. The lanky messanger sent by the Fire Nation squirmed in his seat. Of course, he'll have to report the treacherous few lines to the Fire Lord, like he did every year, but nothing ever came of it. So long as the nations kept sending in children...
"But as custom serves, we will draw two names, a male and a female, send them our blessings, and deliver them to the arena in Ba Sing Se."
Slowly, he unfurled his legs and stepped down the snowy steps, were names scrawled onto pieces of parchement sat in two seperate ceramic bins, decorated in blue tribal designs.
He dug his large hand into the male bin, reading the characters. "Hanh," he said simply. A last name is not needed; every member of the tribe understands who Hanh is: cocky, arrogant, strong, and unwilling to learn. He mounts the steps behind the Chief, thrusting his fist into the air in victory. A few of his comrades cheer for him; Yue quietly notes that Pakku shakes his head.
Already, her father is digging through the bowl hurriedly, wanting to finish the ceremony as quickly as possible, so he can retire to his chamber for the day to meditate on the fact that he'd most likely sent two children to their death. He drews his hand from the bowl.
"Lin Xing," he read. People murmured, wondering who the name belonged to. A small girl emerged from the crowd, her clothing dangling above her arms. It takes a moment to register with the crowd, but both of her arms, from the elbow down, were missing. Slowly, they watched in shock as she mounts the steps beide Hanh.
Hanh snorts, slapping her on the back. She stumbled a bit, yelping as she attempted to maintain balance.
No, Yue thinks, her face contourting. This isn't right. Send someone who has a chance. Smarts or strength or charisma...
Before she realized it, she was on her feet, the words slipping from her mouth.
"I volunteer to take her place."
Her father's eyes- as well as those of the villagers- were the size of saucers.
"Surely you don't mean that," the Chief says in a hushed tone.
Yue took a look at the impaired girl, biting her bottom lip.
"I do."
The Untoucables
The sun was beating upon the Fire Nation, sweat pooling on the brows of anxious citizens. Their children were safe. It was only the criminals and the undesirables that were eligible to compete in the Games. Those that were just taking up space anyways.
The untouchables had already been decided on before hand, two boys and two girls, and today was the unveiling.
Fire Lord Ozai stood in his perch, acompanied by his prodigious daughter, Princess Azula, and the two mentors, Iroh and a woman named Lo. Lo's twin sister, Li, stood with them.
"Citizens of the Fire Nation," Ozai's voice boomed in the empty space over the city plaza. "Today we present to you your contestants, the untouchables and scum of our nation. As we cleanse the other nations of their children, we cleanse our own of any blemishes." He guestured to a guard on the plaza's stone ground, who motioned for the contestants to be brought forward.
"A daughter of six and a circus preformer," Ozai announced as the first woman was taken out in chains to be displayed for the crowd. She was stunning, with a long brown braid, hourglass figure, and a creamy complexion. Her large brown eyes gazed at the crowd, gaining glints of sympathy here and there. "Ty Lee, a traitor found prefroming in the Earth Kingdom." All sympathy vanished as people booed the pitiful girl. She instantly began weeping.
"The second female competitior is a vagabond responisble for supplying the masses with opium," Ozai announced, a tired-looking eighteen-year-old shoved into the light. "Yana Lee."
"The first male competitior is a man by the name of Chan, who hails from Ember Island and has stolen nearly forty gold pieces worth of merchandise from hard-working citizens." Seventeen-year-old Chan was shoved up beside Yana Lee, though his face did not convey tears; only determination.
"And the final, a man you all know well," Ozai bursts, almost unable to contain the sick excitment in his voice, "my son, the banished Prince Zuko!"
The crowd falls silent, before erupting into thunderous applause as the scarred prince steps out on his own accrod, hands bound behind his back, angst and brooding apparent in his golden eyes. He seems transfized on a woman in dark robes, her eyes trained on him as well.
He mouths a few short words, but they fall with a thud on her already heavy heart. I love you.
She presses a hand to her mouth, holding back an uncharacteristic bought of tears, nodding. After supressing the bubbling emotions, she mouths back, I love you, too.
The Fighters
No, it wasn't supposed to be like this.
Her parents wanted to keep her a secret, to defend her from things like this. But someone had ratted on them; someone Fire Nation. And now, as her parents weeped like babies, Toph felt conflicted. Relieved to be away from her parents, but angered by the fact that she had to kill other children. Sure, she loved fighting, more than anythng in the world, but murder was something else entirely.
Beside her, she was disappointed in the competiton, to say the least. I mean, if she was going out, she wanted to go out with a fight. With her abilities, she could be able to crush the competition with ease.
The first male was a ffiteen-year-old named Jet, who was a complete cocky bastard, by Toph's definition. He carried two hook swords at his sides and a long piece of hay between his lips.
The second was a paraplegic boy named Teo, another non-bender.
The final male tribute was a sensitive Earthbender named Haru, who's mother wept silently. Toph could feel the thick moustache billowing from his upper lip.
The first female tribute, Toph decided, were pitiful. Meng was a sniveling girl with unruly braids completely perpindicular to the ground and big, buck teeth. A non-bender, a non-warrior, and clumsy, she was done for the second the game keepers rang the gong.
The final tribute, besides herself, was a sharp woman at the age of eighteen, tall and darkly dressed. She was a quick fighter and a bounty-hunter named Jun.
"Ladies and gentleman!" the presenter, a fat woman who knew Meng personally, Aunt Wu, shouted, trying to contain her emotions for the sake of the crowd. "Your tributes!"
The Savior
The boy sat up, standing where he had been perched for several hours, watching the events unfold in the large Earth Kingdom village. Parents crying as their children were called to battle, listening to the history of a savage game and a greedy nation. He grimaced, holding his staff, running his hand in frustration over his tattooed forehead.
Aang turned to his spirit animal, grey-brown eyes narrowed.
"I have to go down there, don't I, buddy?"
The flying bison roared in response.
The Avatar sighed.
"Yeah, that's what I thought..."
So, here are your tributes! Just to recap, the tributes go like so...
Watertribe: Sokka, Katara, Yue, and Hanh
Fire Nation: Chan (From the Beach), Zuko, Ty Lee, and a lady named Yana Lee
Earth Kingdom: Toph, Jun, Meng, Teo, Jet, and Haru.
So, even the outside characters, like Azula and Mai, will have parts throughout the story.
And reviews are greatly appreciated! Seriously, they make my dia!
Peace, L. ^_^