Hello people... Loud Light here.
I"m horrible at introductions. I know.
Dont really have much to say.
But I have to say this though. For as long as I've known Drac, this story's been all he's ever talked about. This story is his baby and I'm crazy honoured that he gave me creative custody. I only hope I dont let him-and everyone else reading this-down.
Owl City - Coming After You.
I saw your face in a criminal sketch,
Dont be alarmed 'cause you dont know me yet,
I'm on the prowl now sniffing around this town for you...
...You've got the right to remain right here with me,
I'm on your tail in a hot pursuit,
Love is a high speed chase racing down the street,
Whoo hoo whoo hoo hoo
I'm coming after you...
Chapter 1
Love At First Fight... Or Not
The wind blew in her face as she took her first step on the island.
Her long ponytail twirled around behind her head, bumping aginst her bare lower back and bottom. Ty Lee ignored the familiar feeling, focusing instead on her task. From the periphery of the vision, she could see the four imperial firebenders that had accompanied her, moving swiftly and stealthily.
Quietly, she watched them, until they disappeared into the treeline. They had their orders; to investigate and confirm claims of the avatar being in this area.
At least that what she had been told. Ty Lee didn't know why, but she had the feeling that that wasn't the only reason Azula was interested in this island. For some reason, Ty Lee had the nagging suspicion that the Fire Nation Princess had an ulterior motive as to why she had ordered them to the island. If Ty Lee didn't know better, she would have said it was serendipitious that the avatar had been sighted in the area.
And whatever it-Azula's interest in the island was, Ty Lee reasoned, it had to be very important for it to share almost equal ranking with the hunt for the avatar.
She shook the thought and slowly walked across the beach, her shoes sinking into the sand with every step she took. She halted meters away from the shade of the tall and healthy treeline to empty her shoes. As she did, she swivelled her head in both directions and took in the beach. It seemed to go on forever, a never-ending line, gleaming golden yellow in the glow of the setting sun. Beyond it, the waves tossed their heads in a sprightly dance, sparkling in convivial glee.
And, Ty Lee noted glumly, amidst the seraphic waves, sat the ship. Behind it, the large Fire Nation warship cast a misshapen shadow on the joyful waves, darkening them with a gloomy shadow. Her lips turned downwards slightly as she nursed the asinine thought that if she were a fish, she wouldn't want to be caught dead in that gloomy place-not if she could help it.
As much as she wanted not to, Ty Lee couldn't help but wonder how much of a shadow the Fire Nation, like the symbolic vessel, cast on the world. She wasn't delusional, contrary to public opinion. She knew that her nation's plan to unite and rule the three remaining nations wasn't the most noble. Even less so, was the way they were going about it. One nation had been completely defeated, save for the sole pertinacious survivor. Another was down on it's knees while the third was still resistant-fighting tooth and nail against the Fire Nation.
The Water and Earth Nations would get what was coming to them in due time, the former probably before the latter. The Air Nation already had, and though it seemed a bit cruel, Ty Lee wasn't sorry. They had, the Air Nation that is, gotten as good as they had given.
Her insides clenched at the thought and Ty Lee wondered if she wasn't already floating in the gloomy shadow of her nation's ignoble actions.
Her sombre reflections were halted by the realization that the little daylight that was left was gradually slipping away. Her face creased into a light frown as she realized that she had two maybe three hours at most to scour the alien island for the avatar and then get back to the ship.
Deciding she had better be on her way, Ty Lee turned and slinked into the trees.
The air was cooler... and a bit moist. Perfunctorily, she smoothed her hair down before she began to move.
She moved slowly and quietly, slightly crouched, through the trees. As she did, she couldn't help but notice how peaceful the forest was. It wasn't quiet, not with the multitude of sounds; the bird songs, rustling leaves accompanied by the ambient sounds of it's flora and fauna, but it was peaceful nonetheless. And beautiful too, she added mentally as she gazed around.
Sunlight, for it was probably an hour or two past noon, speared through the forest canopy in golden shafts that seemed to give the entire forest an ethereal fairy-tale look. The leaves, green and full of life, caught the bright golden light and reflected it gently, bathing the entire forest in a warm glow. The mystical look was completed by a scattering of beautiful monarch butterflies fluttering contentedly around the trees.
Ty Lee had never seen a more beautiful sight. It looked like a whole new world. She had never been to paradise before, but she was pretty sure that it looked something like this.
It wasn't easy, but she eventually remebered why she was here. It wasn't to admire the scenery, even though it was stunning. Remembering she was a woman on a mission, she pushed all thoughts of the beautiful surroundings out of her mind and focused on moving swiftly and stealthily.
She wasn't sure what she would encounter here; she had been told the island was uninhabited... But it paid to be prepared. So every few metres, she would stop and look around, in case she was being stalked by a wild gorilla-bear.
She had been walking for close to fifteen minutes and was in the process of turning her head to survey the trees for aerial threats-just in case she really was being stalked-when something touched her leg.
Ty Lee started with a small undignified yelp and her heart leapt up into her throat. Her eyes widened and her heart-now back in it's home-threatened to burst out of her chest. Her thoughts began to go haywire. What if it wasn't a gorilla-bear? What if it was TWO gorilla-bears... or a whole troop of gorilla-bears or a-
Until she saw what had touched her leg.
It was a rabbit-squirrel... And it was cute.
She chuckled lightly to herself as she realized how terrified she had been of a harmless bunny. Her chuckle bloomed into a wide smile as she watched the small, furry creature playfully hop around her leg in a manner that was too cute to resist.
She was still smiling, and about to bend down to pet her new companion, when she saw him.
The avatar.
It was him.
He WAS here.
Without even thinking, she dropped to the ground as quickly as she could. Her sudden movement scared the rabbit-squirrel and it dashed away.
Ty Lee didn't even notice her fleeing companion.
She could already feel her heartbeat going through the first stage of a full-blown panic.
She remained perfectly still as she tried to calm herself. 'It's no big deal', she told herself. 'It's just the avatar... the most powerful being in the world... who can also bend all the elements... It's no big deal...?'
Unconsciously, she swallowed. All she had to do was immobilize him and take him back to the ship.
Easy. Simple...
She swallowed again and edged closer to the clearing, where he still ambled around aimlessly, careful not to make a sound alert him of her presence. Peering from around a tree, Ty Lee watched his erratic movements, a frown forming on her face.
What was he doing? Just wandering around aimlessly? Was he looking for
something?
It seemed like he was, if the frown on his face and his searching expression was anything to go by.
In complete silence, she watched him a few moments more, until his body language indicated that he was getting to ready to move on; probably to search for whatever he was missing somewhere else.
She clamped her eyes shut and pulled deep but quiet breaths into her lungs, mentally preparing herself for the moment of truth.
'You can do this,' she whispered mentally. 'It's just a simple fight. You've fought guys-benders and non-benders, before and won. It's nothing special,' she added.
Nothing special, her mind repeated, yet her body hummed, her muscles pulsing with nervous energy and her hands shaking in impatient anticipation.
Refusing to question her strange level of anticipation for a simple fight, Ty Lee exhaled one last time, came out from behind the tree and charged.
"WOAH LADY!" Aang yelled. "SLOW DOWN!"
He might have been talking to a rock for all he knew because a split second later, a fist, quick as lightning, shot out towards his left shoulder. Immediately he twisted, moving his shoulder out of the way. The fist missed, but it didn't seem to matter as barely a second later, a kick was following his evading shoulder.
With the aid of his airbending, he bent over backwards and was marginally grateful to see the attacking kick swing where his shoulder had been.
That, he reasoned, looked like it would have hurt. Thank the spirits he hadn't found out.
He took a few quick steps backwards and straightened, only to see the damned fist that had nearly taken his head off at the beginning of the fight, streaking towards him... again.
Gritting his teeth and resisting the urge to sigh, Aang shifted his legs-and by extension, his whole body-to the side, and watched her fist whizz by where his face had been. Realizing being too close to her was not good for his health, he decided he needed to create a healthy gap between them.
After, he almost sighed, he dodged her kick.
Did she never stop?
He shuffled backwards, just in time so that her kick missed his left knee by the skin of his teeth.
This, he mused as he saw her fists-two of them this time-flying at his face, was not going well.
She threw her fists at the bald monk but he dodged her attack by bending backwards... Again.
Ty Lee growled lowly. She hated it when she missed-correction, she hated it when he made her miss. Before this encounter, no one had been able to make her miss. She prided herself on being as accurate with her fists as Mai was with her knives.
And here he was, making her miss like it was going out of fashion.
Deciding it was time to break out the big guns, she threw a quick combo at him. As she had expected, his focus went to dodging her attacks, giving her time to prepare for the reak attack. As soon as he dodged the last of her smokescreen punches, she sent a helicopter kick his way.
It didn't surprise her, though it irritated her mightily when she realized-a second after her kick was supposed to hit his face-that she had missed again.
She sailed over his lithe form, more angry at him for making her miss again than concerned for her safely. Landing lightly on her feet, she whirled around.
She growled and went back at him like a lightning bolt.
Channelling all of her energy into her left fist, she launched it at the him, hoping to hit something-anything and at least slow him down.
Her hopes were washed away-along with the rest of her as he, from nowhere, bent a large wave of water at her. It threw her on her back and soaked her to the bone.
'So that was his plan,' she thought with a sour scowl. 'To kill her by giving her the chills.'
It was a good plan.
Ignoring the urge to curl up in a ball, wrap her hands around herself and shiver, Ty Lee flipped herself back to her feet. Her scowl deepened as water mixed with sweat slathered nastily down her back.
After a quick second to catch her breath and clear her vision, she went after him again.
Aang was dead tired.
He hadn't had anything to eat in close to three days, and he was ridiculously close to losing consciousness. And that was before mentioning the two-day flight.
And after all that, he continued mentally as he gritted his teeth, the universe still wasn't satisfied. He still had to fight this crazy pink-clad girl who, it seemed, had fists as fast as lightning and knew how to use them well.
Forcing his reluctant mind to work quickly, he bent over backwards and watched gratefully as her helicopter kick spun over his head.
His heart clenched as he realized that his situation was steadily growing worse. This fire nation girl was strong, well rested and well prepared for this fight whereas he was half-dead, fully starved, without his glider and very close to losing consciousness due to sleep-deprivation.
He had to do something to end this. And by 'something', he meant he had to attack.
He straightened and spun away from her. As his revolutions slowed down, he stretched his hands out and summoned the elements. Water answered his call first and sluiced obediently into his waiting hands. Expeditiously, he turned until he was facing his aggressor. Then he, with short twists of his hands, launched the water at her.
It worked. His attack completely caught her unawares and washed her a good distance back. He would have grinned at his success, if not for the realization that he had just, with his supposedly brilliant plan, doomed himself.
He was already bone-tired. What was he doing bending from a body of water almost two hundred feet away?
Being stupid, that was what.
Only Master Pakku could do something like that without feeling it, and even the seasoned waterbending master would probably require the assistance of the full moon to pull it off. Probably.
Trying it, with his energy reserves severely depleted, was not the smartest thing he could have done.
He tried to console himself by telling himself that he hadn't planned to. That it had just happened. But, he realized with a twinge of irritation, that it didn't matter. She was already coming back.
He dodged her fist... again with a small sidestep and, with all the energy he had left, twirled his arms frantically before blasting an air cannon at her.
It hit her smack on the upper torso and sent her back-again by a good fifteen feet.
'Good,' he thought. 'Now I have time and space to get ready for her next attack.'
His quick thought was cut short when he realized apprehensively that she had, in fifteen short seconds, cleared that distance and was coming at him with a flying kick.
He had no time to think, let alone move.
Her flying kick hit him square in the face and he thought he saw something that looked like a giant mushroom made of... water? Or was that sand? right before unconsciousness took him.
Ty Lee finally let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding when she finally floored the bald avatar.
It had been harder than she thought, and had taken a whole lot more time than Mai had envisaged... but Mai was right. This boy was a serious threat. It was no wonder Mai had ordered the four imperial benders to go with her to, in her exact words, 'restrain and capture the avatar.'
Ty Lee gulped in fresh air. She hadn't thought fighting him would be easy, but she hadn't expected it to be that hard.
She had even snickered when Azula had showed her his picture that the royal artist had drawn. In the picture, he looked like a boy that lived in the mountains with a furry pet and herded sheep for a living.
A boy that couldn't fight to save his life... But he could... And he had... And he had almost won.
He was nothing like the other waterbending warrior she had fought in Omashu. He, while cute, had been ridiculously easy to take down.
"Enough lazying around," Ty Lee groaned to herself, "Time to get to work."
Mai had ordered her to restrain and bring the boy to the ship-if she found him. She had found him and she had restrained him all right. Now she just had to take him to the ship.
Ty Lee knew without a smidgen of doubt that Azula would have come herself, to subdue the avatar herself. But she (Azula) had just, according to the messanger hawk that they had received the night before, left the fire nation. She would be arriving, the message had said, in two to three days, as the tides allowed. Mai was on the ship waiting. She would have come too, but she was interim commanding officer until Azula arrived and had to stay on the ship.
A tired sigh escaped her as she lugged the avatar to his feet. With a groan fitting for a boy, she hefted her cargo onto her shoulders. She tottered unsteadily on her feet as the added weight toyed with her balance. She took a testing step forward. And another. She took a third... and began to lose her balance. The weight on her shoulders unbalanced her and she toppled to the ground... With the bald monk on her.
Ty Lee groaned as her breath was pressed out of her body. She was about to push him off of her so she could get up when she heard a deep rumbling sound. At first, she thought it was the bald monk's stomach gurgling from something he ate. But then she heard the deep rumbling again, followed shortly by a swift flash of light and the rustling sound of the wind.
Her eyes widened when she realized what was happening. "Oh please no." Ty Lee pleaded with the shifting wind. "Agni no."
She pushed the avatar off of her body, flipped to her feet and began to run. It took longer than she liked, the wind mocking her futile efforts the whole way. Sand and fallen leaves flew around as the wind grew stronger. The forest, which had been breath-takingly beautiful and warm now seemed the exact opposite.
Ty Lee ignored the wind and the trees and ran on. By the time she got to the beach, she was very nearly out of breath. Immediately, her eyes flew to the shore where her imperial escorts had beached the boat.
It wasn't there.
And the Fire Nation warship that had been anchored firmly in the middle of the sea two miles away wasn't there either. She ran to the very edge of the beach and peered around frantically. The tracks she saw confirmed her fears; her escorts had left in the boat and abandoned her.
She swayed as the realization hit her.
SHE HAD BEEN LEFT BEHIND... SHE WAS ALONE.
A muffled sound escaped her throat and she quivered in terror.
SHE HAD BEEN LEFT BEHIND.
Ty Lee raised her head, her eyes already brimming with tears and froze.
A new wave of emotion hit her; terror.
Her eyes widened and her breath caught in her throat. As far as her teary eyes could see, the sky was shrouded by a mass of clouds so dark, it looked like the sun had also abandoned her and disappeared.
According to the captain, this island was notorious for it's constant rainfall and, most especially, it's storms. They, he had said, could last for as long as three days, beating down any and everything...
And she had just been stranded here... With an approaching storm.
Turning as fast as she could, she ran into the shelter of the trees, the wind already picking up in her ears, blowing sand and leaves about.
She needed to find a place to weather the storm... Until they came back for her.
Zooming past the trees, she ran, with the intention to dive into a large cave she had seen when she had been fighting the avatar boy.
She was close... So close, she could almost smell the dry comfort of the cave when she tripped over something and hurtled through the air, like one of Mai's throwing knives.
For two full seconds, she felt weightless and helpless, as she spun in the air like a top. She couldn't right herself... She hadn't expected it, and so was unprepared for it.
Just before she landed, she imagined Azula's voice in her head, telling her to be prepared for any and everything.
If only Azula could see her now.
She landed with a loud SMACK! on her face and was temporarily blinded by a white flash. Her head began to hurt, and pound unbearably, and her vision dimmed.
She got up quickly and tried to look around. Her vision swayed, like a ship in a storm, with each movement of her head that she made and she suspected that she was going to pass out in a few minutes.
If Azula could actually see her now...
She turned again and, after her undulating vision had calmed slightly, saw what tripped her.
It was the bald monk. The avatar... The avatar she had kicked in the face.
Turning her head and wincing as pain assaulted her brain, she focused her vision and looked past the trees.
She could see it coming.
Who couldn't see it?
Even a blind man would at least feel, and hear, it coming.
The mammoth thunderstorm, surging at the island like one of Azula's fireballs, growling like an enraged dragon.
Turning as fast as she could manage without falling, she ran into the cave and planted herself in a warm corner.
The sky grumbled angrily. In response, the atmosphere trembled fearfully. Lightning flashed brightly and somewhere in the tall forest, a crack resounded as a tree gave in to the forceful wind. The rain began, driven around by the restless wind, its pelting march gleefully joining in the cacophony of the thunderstorm.
The rain fell heavily, accompanied by the irate grumble of thunder, and Ty Lee began to get very cold. She drew her knees up to her hunched frame, tucked her clenched fists into her armpits and wished fervently that she were a firebender.
From her not-so-warm corner, her eyes found the avatar, still unconscious where he lay, furious raindrops bouncing off his rain drenched body.
Ty Lee began to pity him. She was freezing in the dry warmth of the cave and couldn't even begin to imagine what he was feeling out there in the cold, wet rain.
Then, like someone had snapped their finger, Ty Lee realized that he wasn't going to be feeling the cold because he was still unconscious. Then she frowned. If he was still unconscious, then it would mean that he wasn't feeling the cold-or anything at all.
Ty Lee bit her lip and pondered the situation. She could always leave him out there, but then he would probably catch his death of cold and die. And Azula would be furious and-and-
She didn't even bother to finish the thought. She rose to her feet, shivering ever so slightly, and slowly made her way to the mouth of the cave. She paused as a the wind peppered her face with stinging raindrops.
Like a mist before the sun-which was painfully absent, her hesitation disappeared as the mental image of an irate Azula came to mind. She shivered again-only this time it wasn't because of the cold and crouched in readiness to run. She pulled in a deep breath before she ran out of the cave into the pouring rain.
She hadn't even taken her second step and she was already soaked to the skin. The bald monk suddenly seemed farther, and Ty Lee almost turned around to return to the sanctuary of her cave. Almost...
She refused to abandon her mission on the ground that she was already wet and ran on. Her feet caught on a fallen tree branch and she slid forward gracelessly, her hands flailing as she struggled to balance herself. Ignoring the mud squelching in her shoes, Ty Lee hopped over another tree branch and slid to a stop in front of the avatar.
She quickly laced her fingers around his arms and hefted his heavy body on her shoulders-again, before turning to make her way back to the cave. As before, his weight on her shoulders coupled with muddy ground unbalanced her and made her journey back to the cave difficult, but Ty Lee managed.
She had barely made it into the cave before her legs gave out and her upper body flopped downwards.
It didn't surprise her at all. She had expected to pass out when she had tripped earlier. It was just bad luck that it was happening now. But then again, it was also bad luck that she was stuck on an uninhabited island during a thunderstorm.
Ty Lee blamed her running, tripping, almost tripping and carrying the avatar's five ton body on her shoulders-all in the driving rain-for the rapidly approaching unconsciousness.
She raised her head and saw the cause of her current situation being hurled into the cave from the impact of her fall. She could feel her legs being battered by the rain, but was too tired to do anything about it.
She blinked once. Then twice, trying to see.
But her eyes refused to work properly, only registering darkness swirling in a pool of inky blackness...
And then she blacked out.
Author's Note:
It's finally done.
I apologize once again on Drac's behalf... I know he hasn't updated in quite a while... So sorry.
This chapter isn't as good as I'd have liked it to be, seeing I'm not much of a writer, so I can only hope someone somewhere is still reading this.
I wont make any promises because I'm lousy with deadlines. But I will try to update as quick as I can.
P.S.
I removed the 3 week thing from the story because it was constricting my writing... Hope no one minds.
P.P.S
Hoped you liked the song I chose for this chapter. I love Owl City and this particular song seemed to fit this chapter. At least that's what I think. Review and tell me what you think.
Til' I hit the update button again...
Loud Light