Title: Book 2: Down to Earth
Disclaimer: I don't own A;TLA or Naruto, they belong to Mike and Bryan, and Kishi respectively. This story isn't making me money so please don't sue me.
VVVVV
It was a calm, dark night on our ship. We had left earlier n the day from the South Pole and they Water Tribe was giving us a ride to save some of the time on Appa and ease his workload. I was sleeping peacefully as we sailed along the waters. I was woken up though by Aang, he shot up in his bed panting lightly. I opened my eyes slightly to look at him; he got out of his bed and climbed the ladder to the deck. Katara awoke as well and followed him up. I knew Aang was having nightmares about him and his time in the Avatar state, but I decided letting Katara deal with Aang instead of me. I laid my head back down on my pillow and closed my eyes again, drifting back into sleep.
VVVVV
I woke up the next morning and sat up in my bed, I looked around and it seemed that everyone was gone.
"I guess they let me get some extra sleep." I yawned and rubbed my eyes tiredly. I looked around for my belongings but saw they were gone. I raised an eyebrow curiously and got dressed. I climbed the small ladder and popped my head out from under the deck. On the deck I saw the rest of the group packing things on Temari. I came up all the way onto the deck and Sokka glanced over at me, as he was packing.
"Oh well lookey here, he's finally awake." He said sarcastically and hopped of Appa.
"Good morning to you too Sokka." I said and walked over to the group. I saw Temari, Aang and Katara all packing stuff and they had just finished. They all cme back onto the deck and I tilted my head at them.
"Why didn't you guys wake me up?"
"Well we wanted to, but Katara suggested that you sleep in." Sokka said giving an annoyed look at Katara. She gave a look back at Sokka.
"Well, he was in the hospital not too long ago and he had a pretty intense spar with Temari. Maybe he could have used the extra rest."
I chuckled at the two arguing and I waved my hands in the air to try and break them up.
"Thank you Katara, I enjoyed the extra sleep thank you." I smiled at her and she smiled back. Sokka let out an annoyed huff. As we were standing near Appa, Master Pakku and two other water tribe people came behind us. Master Pakku was holding a bag in his hand and reached his hand inside.
"Katara," He said and pulled what looked to be a small amulet necklace out of the bag. "I want you to have this. This amulet contains water from the spirit oasis the water has unique properties. Don't lose it."
"Thank you Master Pakku." Katara said and hugged her Master. Aang was the next one to step up to the water-bending Master.
"Aang, these scrolls will help you master water-bending, but remember they're no substitute for a real master." Pakku's gaze drifted to Katara and Aang looked back at her as well, smiling. He bowed slightly and hopped onto Appa with Katara. Sokka was about to go next.
"Sokka." Pakku said and Sokka approached him. "Take care son." Pakku said simply and patted him on the shoulder. Sokka gave a sad expression and depressed one since he got nothing. Sokka turned back and shuffled toward Appa. Temari and me turned to go back toward Appa.
"Wait, you two." We heard Pakku's voice and turned back to him. "I haven't forgotten about you both." We walked back toward him and he leaned to both of us.
"Look, you both are obviously different from those other three. I don't know what you're gains are for working with them, but they better be good ones." He glanced to Appa where the GAang was sitting waiting for us. "Make sure that you do everything you can to protect those three."
Temari and I looked at each other and back to Pakku. We both nodded to him and he pated our shoulders.
"Alright, now get going. You've a long journey ahead of you."
We turned back and climbed onto Appa's saddle. We got settled and looked back at Master Pakku. He looked to Aang who was positioned on Appa's head.
"Fly straight to the Earth Kingdom base to the east of here. General Fong will provide you with an escort to Omashu. There you'll be safe, to begin your earth-bending training with King Bumi."
Aang turned back to the front and grabbed Appa's reigns.
"Appa Yip Yip." He said and snapped the reigns. As we were leaving Katara shouted something back to Master Pakku. "Say Hi to Gran-Gran for me."
Then just like that we were off toward the base. I sat against the saddle with my hands folded in my lap. I knew that Fong was going to try and induce the Avatar State in Aang. It wasn't going to be pretty at all. Temari glanced over from her seat next to me and raised an eyebrow.
"You alright Zero?"
"I'm fine, just a bit of sea sickness from the boat." I smiled lightly. I knew right away that Temari didn't buy that at all, but to her credit she didn't pry any further into what I was thinking about and just leaned back against the side of the saddle. I sighed and closed my eyes waiting until we got to the base.
VVVVV
Sometime after we had left the boat, the sea from under us had been replaced with mountains. We were moving further into Earth Tribe territory and it wasn't long before we would see the base. Sokka was sitting will his elbow probed up against the saddle. He then glanced around and stood up looking in front of us.
"There it is!" He shouted and we all looked toward where he was pointing. Down in the mountains was the base, surrounded by a circular wall of stone. Other walls protruded from the circle wall and went off in other directions. We dove down toward the enclosed base and landed on the roof of some building. As we arrived I looked to see none other than General Fong himself there to greet us. We all hoped off Appa and did some stretches; it was nice to be back on solid ground again.
"Welcome Avatar Aang!" General Fong exclaimed. "I am General Fong." He bowed to him and was a line of soldiers behind Fong who followed suit.
"And welcome to all of you Great Heroes! Appa, Momo, Brave Sokka, The mighty Katara, Powerful Temari, Knowledgeable Zero."
"Mighty Katara? I like that." Katara folded her arms after hearing our names.
"Mine was obvious." Temari said after she heard them all. "Though I'm not so sure about one of the ones that were given were accurate." I looked over at her and raised an eyebrow.
"You don't mean me right? I'm pretty knowledgeable if I do say so myself."
"No I wasn't talking about you, I was talking about over there." She said pointing at Sokka. Sokka then turned and narrowed his eyes at Temari.
"I'm plenty brave enough!" He said and Temari took one step toward him with her hand on her fan. Sokka immediately cowered behind Appa.
"Zero! Don't let her hurt me!"
I rolled my eyes and off in the distance I heard a loud boom. I turned to look at the place where the noise came from and it seemed they were shooting off fireworks for our arrival. Sokka came out from hiding and looked up at the sky.
"Not bad, not bad." He said as we watched the spectacular presentation. Once it was finished General Fong escorted us to what seemed to be his office of sorts. It was a long room and we sat on a stone slab in front of his desk. He sat down in his chair and looked toward us.
"Avatar Aang, we were all amazed at the stories of how you single handedly wipped out an entire Fire Navy Fleet at the North Pole. I can't imagine what it feels like to wield such devastating power. It's an awesome responsibility."
"I try not to think about it to much." Aang said nonchalantly.
"Avatar," Fong said. "You're ready to face the Fire Lord now."
"What?! No I'm not!" Aang said with an expression of pure confusion.
"Here we go." I said softly and waited for the discussion to play out.
"Aang still needs to master all four elements." Katara said.
"Why," The General responded, "With the kind of power he possesses, power enough to destroy hundreds of battleships in a matter of minutes he can defeat the Fire Lord now!"
"But sir the thing is Aang can only do those things when he's in the Avatar State." Sokka said.
"See it's this special state where—" Aang began to explain but was cut off by the General. "I'm well aware. Your eyes and tattoos glow and you're able to summon unbelievable power." The General stood up and walked to a map of the world. "Without you we'd be slaughtered before we even reach their shores, but with you leading the way, as the ultimate weapon. We can cut a swath right through to the heart of the Fire Nation." The General used his finger to draw out his plans.
"Right but, I don't know how to get in or out of the Avatar State. Much less what to do once I'm there."
"So it's decided then." The General turned back to look at us. "I'll help you figure out how to get into the Avatar State, and then you'll face your destiny." At this point we all stood up.
"No nothing's decided. We already have a plan. Aang's pursuing his destiny his way." Katara said and crossed her arms.
"Well, while you take your time learning the elements, the war goes on." The General stood up and held out his arm. "May I show you something?" Aang nodded and followed the General. Katara and Sokka were about to follow but I put my arms out to stop them.
"This decision needs to be made by Aang and Aang alone. He needs to see this by himself."
Katara gave me a look of annoyance before finally realizing that what I said was true. She sighed and we were all escorted to a nice room inside of the main building. It has stone beds with padding on them, a nice rug in the middle between where we all slept and dangling lights from the ceiling. We didn't hear much from Aang until it was nighttime. To pass the time while we waited for him, Sokka taught me how to play the Avatar universes version of cards. It was kind of like solitaire but with bending elements instead of kings and queens. Katara tried to become more acquainted with Temari by doing yoga with her. She taught Temari some different poses and I could see it, even though it was very slight, that Temari was starting to become more comfortable around these people. Once we all finished we were brought food by the people in the building. The meal consisted of Roast duck and boiled rice, with tea for drinking. To be honest I hadn't eaten that well since we first arrived at the North Pole and they had a feast for us. They even brought us dessert, which was and assortment of fruits like mangos, papayas and watermelons. After we ate we laid in our beds and waited for Aang to come back. We didn't have to wait long though as he arrived about 15 minutes later.
Aang came into the room looking very somber and not like his normal self. He went to his bed and sat on the edge of it. We all looked at him awaiting his answer.
"I told the General I'd help him." Aang said and looked down. "By going into the Avatar State."
"Aang no." Katara said and sat up on the edge of her bed. "This is not the right way."
"Why not?" Sokka asked. "Remember when he took out the Fire Navy? He was incredible."
"There's a right way to do this." Katara said. "Practice, study and discipline."
"Or just glow it up and stomp that Fire Lord." Sokka replied. I looked over to Temari who seemed to be deep in thought. She looked around the room at us and decided to add her two cents.
"I'm all for us getting this Fire Lord taken care of as quickly as possible. So if this Avatar State is the fastest way, I say we do that."
"See Katara, even Temari agrees with me, and that never happens." Sokka said motioning his hand toward Temari. Katara looked over at me and I could see in her eyes she was asking for some sort of back up. But this had to be done, the right way, just like she said.
"I agree with the three of them Katara. If we can kill the Fire Lord now, our lives will be better for it."
Katara looked around at all for of us and stood up angrily.
"If you four meat heads want to throw away everything we've worked for, fine! Go ahead and glow it up!" She said and began walking out of the room.
"Katara, I'm just being realistic." Aang said and stood up to maybe go after her. "I don't have time to do this the right way." He looked down and gave a sad expression as he realized she was already gone. I sighed and looked over at Aang.
"Look Aang, you have to do what you think is right. If you think beating the Fire Lord right now is the best thing to do, go for it. But it has to be your decision alone, not somebody else's. Do what you think is right." I yawned a bit and stretched out my arms. "And I think what is right now is that we all get some sleep."
Aang obviously had heard what I had said and was processing it. He looked over to me and I looked at him back.
"How do I know which decision is the right one?"
"You don't sometimes." I said and closed my eyes as I laid against my pillow. Soon I heard the rest of the group head to bed as well. I slowly drifted off to sleep and awaited the next day.
VVVVV
The next day was spent trying to get Aang into the Avatar State. Fong and those around him tried ever last crackpot idea they could think of, from chi enhancing teas, to throwing mud on him. It sufficed to say that none of them worked. After a day of failed experiments we went back to our room. We had dinner, all 5 of us in the room, at one point Aang left to go outside and Katara followed. I knew they were having some discussion about the whole Avatar State thing but it wasn't my business. They both came back after a while and we went to bed. I was sleeping peacefully when I was suddenly awakened by Aang's voice.
"Zero, Sokka, Zero and Sokka wake up."
Sokka and I both turned groggily and looked over at him. "Huh?" we both said almost in unison.
"I don't think we should be trying to bring on the Avatar State." Aang said and looked between us.
"You sure?" I asked him.
"Yeah."
"Okay." I shrugged and looked back up at the ceiling.
"Do you think the general will be mad?" Aang asked.
"What can he say? You're the Avatar, who knows better than you?" Sokka replied to him. Aang looked away in thought a second before lying back down in his bed. I turned away from both of them and closed my eyes, drifting back off into sleep.
VVVVV
The next day Aang, Sokka, Temari and I went to see General Fong. We were going to tell him that Aang was not up for triggering the Avatar State. Myself, Temari and Sokka stood a bit of a ways away from Aang as he addressed the General.
"The thing is," Aang told the General. "I don't think we'll ever be able to trigger it on purpose. So…I guess that's it."
"Sure I can't change your mind?" The General asked.
"I'm sure, I can only reach the Avatar State when I'm in genuine danger."
"I see I was afraid you'd say that." With one quick movement of his foot the General Earth-Bended his desk directly at Aang. It hit Aang dead on and he was sent sliding with it towards the window on the opposite side of the room.
"Aang!" Sokka shouted and tried to rush after him. Before we could go anywhere two guards grabbed us each. We were firmly in their capture at the moment. I looked over at Temari who was struggling with the men holding her. Temari was much more of a ranged combatant than hand-to-hand. I looked over at Sokka who was also having troubles with the guards. The guards holding me back were really tough and strong; it was hard to thrash about without get exhausted. We could see General Fong step to the edge of window. He pointed down at where Aang had landed.
"Men, Attack the Avatar!"
"Zero, what are they going to do to him?" Sokka asked with worry in his eyes.
"They're gonna do what the man says, attack." I looked at General Fong and he was racing down toward the courtyard below. I cursed the situation we were in. I would have to use my fire fruit powers now to get us out of this. I didn't want to use it yet but to get us out I would have to. I concentrated and felt the power running through me, I looked to my right hand and my index finger was glowing green.
"Hotarubi (Firefly Light)" I whispered quietly.
The guards did not notice and once tiny green ball of light flew into the air toward the back of Temari's guards. Both Sokka and Temari watched in amazement as the ball exited my hand. I looked between both of them.
"On my go." I mouthed to them silently.
They both nodded and I took a deep breath.
"Now!" I shouted.
Sokka lifted both his legs and rammed them back into the crotches of the guard holding him. They feel over immediately. I turned to Temari and she was still struggling.
"Shield yourself with their bodies!" I said.
Temari quickly backed into the guard and stopped struggling so they covered her. The guards holding her looked back quickly enough only to see the tiny green light I had made.
"Hidaruma! (Fiery Doll)" I shouted and the ball of light turned into a fireball which hit both of the guards holding Temari. They released Temari and she darted over to me to take out the guards holding me. Sokka came from the other side and both of them managed to set me free. Sokka looked at me and panted raised his eyebrows.
"Since when can you fire-bend?"
"Since right now." I said and rushed toward the stairs. "Come on we have to get to the courtyard!"
Temari and Sokka both rushed after me. We managed to make it down the stairs and we ran into Katara on our way down.
"What's going on?" Katara asked as we arrived at the courtyard.
"The generals gone crazy. He's trying to force Aang into the Avatar state." Sokka grabbed his boomerang from his back and whipped it at one of the guards. It hit the guard clean on the head, knocking him out. Katara then used her water whip to knock a guard off of one of the armored two legged bird things they had. Sokka went up to it and hoped on riding it away. I looked to Temari and motioned to follow Sokka. We ran after Sokka I looked toward Katara. She was trapped by General Fong and was already in the guicksand. We turned the corner just soon enough to see Katara get sunk waist deep into the ground.
"Katara no!" Sokka shouted and rushed on his bird toward the General. The General used his quicksand to trap the feet of the bird and because of the high speed of the bird, Sokka was sent flying off it into one of the stone things in the courtyard.
For the first time I saw Temari have a sort of reaction to seeing someone besides me in trouble. She was looking at Katara and I knew that she had a very small amount of fear in her eyes.
"Katara!" She yelled and ran toward her and the General.
"Temari!" I yelled and rushed after her. The General looked over to us and stomped his foot on the ground. A large slab of rock came up from the ground he shoot his fist in our direction. The earth came rocketing toward Temari and she kept running toward it. I knew she wouldn't be able to get away from the rock coming at her. I caught up to her just in time and tackled her out of the way of the rock. I felt the wind from it going past as I turned my body so that Temari landed on top of me instead of on the ground. She looked down at me angrily as I kept her in the tackle hold.
"Zero! Let me go, she's going to be killed!" She shouted at me and squirmed under me.
"Temari, there's nothing you can do!" I said and tried to keep her down. Aang ran over to Fong and grabbed his arm.
"Stop this! You have to let her go!" He said trying to convince the General to let her go.
"You could save her if you were in the Avatar State." The Genereal replied.
"I'm trying, I'm trying." Aang said and tears began to well in his eyes.
"Aang! I'm sinking!" Katara said as she was swirled down into the ground more.
"I don't see glowing!" The General said and squeezed his hand more putting Katara neck deep into the ground.
"No please!" Katara said, her voice full of fear.
"You don't need to do this!" Aang pleaded falling to his knees.
"Apparently, I do." The General squeezed his hand closed and the rest of Katara was sent into the ground. Nothing was left and it looked like she had never been there at all. My eyes went wide and I looked at Aang who made on last attempt to dive to catch her. He obviously, was to late to save her and he began shaking. As he did, his eyes and tattoos started to glow. He turned back to the General, looking at him with the rage I hadn't seen since we were at the Air Temple.
"It worked. It worked!" The General shouted with delight. But his delight soon turned to fear. As wind started bellowing around Aang. He raised his hand in the air and chopped it down, sending a large air current at Fong. It sent Fong backwards where he landed on the ground, flat on his back. Aang then earth-bended a large swirling column of earth and hovered above it the air. He stayed up there, showing no emotion and looking down at the General as the wind and earth swirled under him.
"Avatar Aang! Can you hear me?" The General shouted over the sound from the wind. "You're friend is safe." He made a few movements with his hands and Katara came out of the ground gasping for air. "It was just a trick to trigger the Avatar State, and it worked!" Aang was too far-gone at this point. In his rage he came back down the slammed the column into ground. The force of the impact was unbelievable a large gust of wind came flying out in every direction from the pot Aang slammed into the ground. I quickly grabbed Temari and rolled on top of her to shield her from the wind. The ground beneath us was also breaking apart at an alarming rate. I looked around and all of the buildings around us were damaged from what Aang had done. For a moment Aang just stood in the middle of the courtyard, a dome of air whirling around him. I knew he was in the Avatar State talking to Roku and that any minute it would be over soon. I looked down at Temari who still had her eyes shut tightly. I sigh a little relieved to see that she hadn't been hurt at all. I looked back to Aang in time to see the glow leave his body and him fall to his knees. He looked around at the destruction he had caused; he crossed his arms on his knees and looked down. I stood up and dusted myself then lending a hand for Temari to take and she took it. I helped her up and she smiled lightly at me.
"Thanks for saving me back there Zero."
"No problem." I sadi and we walked over to where Aang was. Katara came rushing over and she sat kneeled down next to Aang and hugged him.
"I'm sorry Katara, I hope you never have to see me like that again." Aang said as he hugged her back.
"Ha! Are you joking? That was almost perfect." The General walked up to us and began to stroke his beard. "We just have to find out a way to control you when you're like that."
"You're out of your mind." Aang said and turned to look at him.
"I guess we'll figure it out on the way to the Fire Nation." The General said rubbing his hands together. Than Temari very calmly walked up to face the General, she was shorter than him but stood right in front of him. She then in the blink of an eye, punched the General directly in the nose. The General stumbled back a bit holding his most likely broken nose. The General stumbled back Sokka who was on his bird thing and he knocked the General out by hitting him with his metal club on to top of the head. The General fell down to the ground and we all looked over to the soldiers.
"Anybody got a problem with that?" Sokka asked.
The soldiers simply shook their heads for an answer. They approached and bowed to us.
"Do you still want an escort to Omashu?"
Katara crossed her arms and thought for a second, we all looked at each other and she tilted her head toward the soldier.
"I think we're all set." She smiled.
The soldiers than bowed to us again and we walked back to the main building. We packed all of our stuff up and when we got everything outside. We loaded it up onto Appa and took of in the direction of Omashu. I laid back in the saddle as we left the view of the base and gave out a sigh. Temari looked at me and raised an eyebrow.
"What is it?" She asked.
"I'm just going to miss the food we got to eat." I said and held my stomach. She rolled her eyes at me and laid against the saddle.
"Well lucky for you I have the same mind for food you do." Sokka said grinning, he reached into a sack and pulled out a roast duck. I looked at him and smiled.
"Damn it Sokka you clever man." I said as he handed me one of the legs from the duck. He took one for himself and took a bite of it.
"What can I say, meat is the best." He said with his mouthful.
"It definitely is." I replied with my mouth full as well. Katara giggled at our antics as we ate. We were now on route to Omashu and I knew that we would meet Azula there. I would have to be ready for a fight once we where there.
VVVVV
So there you have it, the first chapter of the sequel. I hope it was good to read and fun. I always love rates and reviews so those are nicely appreciated. I also like constructive criticism as well, as long as you're not being an asshole. This is the book where things really start to get more action packed so I'm exited to write it up.
Cheers,
TheTurk95