The Last Airbender and the First Avatar
An Avatar: The Last Airbender tale by: GraysonPaladin
Disclaimer: GP does not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, which belongs to Nickelodeon and the creators. GP also doesn't own Sailor Moon, but does own the OC.
Summary: On top of the ancient Lion-Turtle, Aang searches for a way to end Sozin's War without breaking his beliefs. He meets with his past lives, and in the end meets the First Avatar.
Aang is in a conundrum, he just spoke with four of his past lives about how to finish Sozin's War without killing Fire Lord Ozai. Each of previous Avatars couldn't give him the advice he wanted, each one pretty much telling him that to end war must mean taking Ozai's life. Aang's own moral code will not allow him to take a life consciously, the only times he has taken a life was when he was in the Avatar State.
Momo, his winged-lemur companion, chirps in annoyance by his side.
"I know Momo, I know," Aang said, "but I can't give up." The young airbender closes his eyes, "I'm going to give it one more chance, maybe of my earlier lives can help."
The winged creature titled his head before stepping away from Aang. The boy sat back down into his meditative position and called upon his past lives. For some reason he couldn't call upon anyone, as he meditates ten, then, hundreds, then even thousands of faces past through his mind. Until he sees the last face and reality returns to him in a sudden crash knocking him out of consciousness.
When Aang opened his eyes he finds himself lying down on the hard earth in the middle of the forest. As he sits back up, he cringes as pain lances down his head and back.
"I was wondering when you were going to wake up," a feminine voice from behind him.
Using his airbending, Aang quickly turned himself around and drops into a fighting stance. To his surprise he sees a young woman in full color kneeling on the ground with Momo curled up on her lap. Aang blushes when he sees her wearing a tight white leotard with a wide ocean blue collar, and a short skirt matching the collar in color. Grass green bows and ribbons accented her chest and lower back. To Aang the strangest thing about her isn't the strange clothes but her hair, a golden color, matching a tiara around her head. Then it is her eyes, the same gray as his.
The woman smiles at his confusion and eases Momo off her lap to stand up. She brushes the lemur's fur off her pleated skirt and black leggings before walking over to him. Aang notices that she is very tall for a woman, nearly approaching Avatar Kyoshi's height. With the kind smile and soft glimmer in her eyes, Aang relaxes from his stance all the while wondering who this woman is.
"Hello Avatar Aang," she said softly.
"Um… hello…uh," he said uneasily.
A slight blush of embarrassment crept up on her pale cheeks, "oh sorry I forgot to introduce myself. I am Zeme Chiba, the first of our line."
Aang tilts his head in confusion, first of out line? What does she mean about… then it hits him, he reached the beginning of the Avatar line in his quest for answers.
"You're the first Avatar, aren't you," he asks her.
She nods, "yes, I am the first to bear the title of Avatar all those millennia ago," Zeme said with a wistful look. She shakes her head to clear away those thoughts, "sorry about that Aang, now I believe you called upon me for a reason."
Aang fidgets and glances down at the unyielding earth. "Uh… yes I need some wisdom. I need to end this war, but I'm not sure how to end it without killing Fire Lord Ozai."
Zeme frowns and kneels down to eye level. Her gray eyes gazed into his, like she is trying to seeing into his very soul.
"I see the conflict in your eyes child," she said after a moment. "You want to end the war decisively but without breaking your own code," she straightens back up, "and it doesn't help matters when four of your predecessors decided to give you overly cryptic or bad advice."
"What?" Aang grew defensive at the comment, "I just…"
Zeme interrupts, "calm yourself Aang, I meant not offence. Please take a seat so may discuss this matter."
Still slightly bit angry Aang sits down in front of the First Avatar. If there weren't more pressing matters he would be bombarding her with questions.
"Unfortunately Aang I am unable to provide you with the wisdom that you seek," she holds up her hand to prevent any outburst. "I am no wiseman Aang, I can only give you advice that come from my own experiences. And frankly Aang, what you need is advice, not wisdom."
"I see," Aang replied glancing at the ground.
Zeme sighs, "Aang look at me, don't be so disheartened. I have lived for nearly two hundred years and have experienced many things."
Aang seemed to brighten, "then can you help me?"
She smiles, "yes I can Aang; in fact I have been in a situation like yours. Aang did the monks ever talk to you about the First Great Elemental War?" the look of confusion on Aang's face was the only answer she needed, "thought as much. The First Great Elemental War happened shortly after bending was discovered by the people of this world; it predates even the founding of the Four Nations."
Aang now stared at her with wide eyes, he has always been curious about history.
"The First Great Elemental War if you can believe it was even worse than Sozin's War, each element was fighting against each other, trying to gain dominance over each other. It was at the final battle of the war when I fell from the heavens on to middle of the battlefield." She once again raises her hand to prevent Aang from speaking, "hold any questions Aang, and I'm sure you will have some. The four armies were about to fight when I fell into the middle of the conflict. The four generals believed me to be an interloper from the other sides, and used their most powerful attack against me. I forced the attacks up into the sky. The armies stopped fighting at the sight of all four elements being bended at the same time. The generals fell to ground and bowed before me as if I was spirit sent. Even though I was just defending myself I ended the deadliest wars in this world's history without even killing a single person."
"That's amazing! I mean ending a war like that, but how can I do that myself."
"I see you point, the main point of the story is to show you that it is possible to end a war without bloodshed. Your fight will be harder than mine, I just awed them with my abilities, Ozai is so steeped in his delusions of godhood that he won't back that easily."
"So I will have to kill him then," Aang said with a disgusted expression.
"No Aang that is not what I am saying. During my long life I learned many things about this world and the people, some things that may help you." Aang seemed to perk up at the statement, "there are three ways that I can think of to defeat Ozai without killing him, two of which death would be a better alternative. The first would be to dismember the Fire Lord, to remove his arms and legs," Aang pales and looks ready to vomit, "that is inhumane and I would never recommend it. Second would be a very advance form of chi-blocking, you would permanently disable his ability to bend with really harming him, problem with that is that one wrong move and you will kill him."
"And the third," Aang asked with a squeak.
"The third is to use a bending art that predates elemental bending called energybending," Zeme replies, "you would use energybending to completely remove Ozai's ability to bend fire.
Aang brightened up at the news, "that's great, by removing his bending he would no longer be a threat!"
Zeme similes a little, "that is certainly somewhat correct. However there are a few problems with that idea."
"WHAT!"
She shrugs, "first is that even if Ozai lost his bending, he would still be a threat. He is a charismatic leader, and unlike his daughter, he doesn't totally rule by fear so his supporter won't desert him." She looks thoughtful for a moment, "ok that would be an issue for all three suggestions. Another problem is that he is a firebender, and unlike the other benders his element comes from within. Take away his bending; you take away his inner fire."
Aang raised an eyebrow, "so…?"
"So you take away his inner heat, all firebenders need their inner fire to live; it the reason why they are less susceptible to heat issues but more to cold. Even in the heat of the Fire Nation Ozai would die from hypothermia! Then there is what would happen to you."
The current Avatar's eyes widen, "to me," he said pointed to himself.
"Yes to you," Zeme said testily. "Look Aang I don't know much about energybending, and frankly I don't want to know more. Energybending requires you to bend your own internal energy and those of other people. You must be of strong spirit and mind in order not to be corrupted by the power." Aang pales, "I know that as Avatars we could use it, but it is simply too dangerous."
Aang slumps, "maybe you're right, so I'm guessing the chi-blocking is the best idea."
Zeme nods, "yep. You can block his bending and not kill him. It is the best option Aang."
The youngest Avatar brighten, "excellent, now can you teach me how to block chi?"
She shakes her head, "I'm sorry Aang but at the moment we do not have enough time for me to teach you, trust in the Avatar State for it will guide you. And don't worry about what that Guru told you, the Avatar State is not dependant on the Chakras for it to work." She glances over to the horizon, an eerie orange glow crawls across the sky like a great fire. "It's time for me to go Aang, the Comet is here and your dance with destiny awaits."
She starts to lose her color when Aang calls out to her, "wait I still have some questions, what do you mean by you falling from the heavens and what is with your clothes?"
She turns her head to him and smiles, "I'm not from here Aang, my home fell to darkness and fell here, I've spent many of night trying in vain to find Sol and Terra among the stars. And the clothes mark me as to what I was before I became the Avatar."
She continues to fade, "mark you as what?"
Her body fades away, her last words echo on the breeze, "A Senshi."
Aang gathers his resolve and Momo, before heading off the moving island to the Wulong Forest on the western edge of the Earth Kingdom. There he battles the self proclaimed Phoenix King Ozai in duel to the death. The first half of the battle Ozai pushed Aang onto the defensive and forced him to keep retreating further into the Earth Kingdom. Only when Ozai literally pushed Aang's back against the wall did the course of the battle to change. The young Avatar ascended into the Avatar State, bringing up the combined memories and power of his predecessors, pushing Ozai onto the defensive. The Avatar pushed Ozai back to the sea, even with the power of Sozin's Comet Ozai could keep up with a fully realized Avatar. Soon Aang pushed him onto a stone pillar and earthbended Ozai some shackles. High above the fallen king Aang prepares for the final strike when a voice echoed in his mind.
Wait Aang, don't forget the plan, Zeme's voiced echoed, disable not kill!
At the last moment Aang halts his prepared attack, and instead separates the four elements into needles. He shoots the needles at the prone form of the Fire Lord, hitting various pressure points on the front of his body. Then with a flick of the wrist Aang flips Ozai onto his stomach and repeats the process forever blocking the Fire Lord's bending. With the glow fading from his eyes and tattoos Aang lands softly next to the fallen Fire Lord. With the power of the Avatar State fading the stone shackles holding Ozai break. The Fire Lord stumbles as he rights himself, keeping Aang in his sights. The Avatar, though weaken, grins as the man tries to firebend.
"What did you do to me," Ozai shouted.
"I blocked your bending, permanently Ozai," Aang said standing straight. "You've lost, the War is over."
Miles off the coast of the Earth Kingdom the Lion-turtle sits. Sitting upon its giant paw, above the water, is a young woman in green, blue, and white. Her golden hair shines in the waning light of Sozin's Comet.
"And so ends the Third Great Elemental War," Zeme said.
"Indeed Avatar-Senshi Zeme," the ethereal voice of the lion-turtle rumbled. "He brought balance back and without using that cursed art. Energybending must remain locked away for all eternity."
"Glad that we can agree on that Ao," she said addressing the lion-turtle. "The risk for corruption is too great even for an Avatar."
"You knowing first hand at what it can do to your mind."
"You don't need to remind me, I may be dead but I still get nightmares about using energybending," Zeme said. "Now I think it's best for us to return home, there is bound to be seagoing patrols arrive and you don't want to get caught Ao."
"Like they could even catch me," Ao rumbled with a laugh. "But I see you point, have a good day Avatar-Senshi Zeme."
"A good day to you too Ao," she replied. "Good job Aang," she said to the current Avatar before returning to the Spirit World.
Ao pulls away from the area and heads back out to sea, not to be seen again until he is needed once more. A few weeks later an armistice is signed between the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom ending hostilities between the two nations, and rushing a new era of peace throughout the world.
Paladin's Note: So this is one heck of a take on the origins of the Avatar, and frankly I got the idea for this after rewatching the Sozin's Comet Arc of AtLA and wanting to have Aang using something other than energybending against Ozai. I may do a story detailing Zeme's years in the Elemental World, then again I may not. For the Sailor Moon fans, yes Zeme is Mamoru's Silver Millennium sister, and Sailor Terra, Senshi of the Season and Elements. Zeme's name comes from a Slavic Mother-Earth goddess, thought it would be fitting.
Questions, Comments, Concerns, just drop me a review or a PM and I'll get back to you ~GraysonPaladin