Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Fifth Nation
Chapter 1: The Stranger
"No, no, no. We're not flying this time." Sokka said.
"Why wouldn't we fly?" Katara asked.
"Think about it. Somehow Zuko and the Fire Nation keep finding us. It's because of Appa. He's just too noticeable."
"What? Appa's not noticeable."
"He's a giant flying bison with an arrow on his head. It's kinda hard to miss him."
"Why do you always have to be the boss?"
"I'm not the boss. I'm the leader."
"Why do boys always think that someone has to be the leader? I bet you wouldn't be so bossy if you kissed a girl."
"I've kissed a girl! You just…haven't met her."
"Who? Gran-gran?" Katara smirked.
"No someone other than Gran-Gran!"
"Whatever." Aang said. "I'm okay with not flying. Besides, walking might be fun."
As they were walking, Katara, Aang and Sokka stumbled across a battalion of Fire Nation troops. A firebender shot out a blast and cut off their only escape route. As the leader prepared to fire a blast at the group, he fell to the ground, knocked out.
"Nice one, Sokka." Aang said "How'd you do that?"
"I didn't." Sokka replied.
"No. Look up there!" Katara said.
A group of young men and girls came out of the trees and began to attack the Fire Nation soldiers. Their leader was a young man skilled with dual hooked swords. The team quickly took out the soldiers and the young man landed in front of Katara.
"Hey. My name's Jet." he said.
"Hey." Katara replied as she blushed. "Thanks for helping us."
"No problem. This is Smellerbee, Longshot, Pipsqueak and the Duke."
As Jet and Katara were talking, the Duke called over to Jet. "Hey, Jet, these barrels were filled with blasting jelly."
"That's a good score."
"And these boxes are filled with jelly candy." Pipsqueak said.
"Also good. Let's try not to get those mixed up. Take them back to the hideout."
"You have a hideout?" Aang said.
"Sure do. Wanna see it?" Jet asked.
"Yes!" Katara said immediately. Jet took a rope in his hand and wrapped his other around Katara's waist as they were lifted into the hideout.
"Jet, this is amazing!" Katara exclaimed as she saw the hideout.
"Yeah, I thought you guys might like it." Jet replied.
"Eh, I've seen better." Sokka smirked.
As Jet was leading the group through the hideout, Aang spotted someone in a cloak, sitting in solitude. It was someone who he didn't remember seeing with Jet's group.
"Hey, Jet, who's that?" Aang asked.
"Who's who?" Jet said. Aang looked back and the cloaked figure was gone. That's weird Aang thought. That night, Jet and the Freedom Fighters held a party to welcome Team Avatar. As they were eating Aang once again saw the cloaked figure. "Jet!" Aang whispered.
"What?"
"There he is. The one I saw earlier. Who is he?" Jet looked over and saw the person Aang was talking about.
"I probably shouldn't talk about it right now."
"What are you guys talking about?" asked Katara. She looked over and saw the lone figure sitting alone. "Who is that Jet?"
"I'll tell you guys later tonight."
Aang and Katara looked at each other in confusion. What was the secret behind this person? That night, as the group was about to retire for the night, Aang noticed that the figure was walking around. He looked out and saw the stranger sitting on a branch, looking out at the valley. He also saw that the stranger had a guitar in his hand and began to play. The tune sounded strange. It certainly wasn't a song from anywhere he had visited. Suddenly, Aang felt a hand on his shoulder. He whirled around to see Jet.
"Probably best not to disturb him." He said as he led Aang away.
"Who is that?" Aang asked again.
"I don't know his name. No one does. He was just wandering through here and we found him. I think he might be part Roman."
"Part what?"
"Roman. You've never heard of them?" Aang shook his head. "About 500 years ago, there was a nation called the Roman Empire. None of them were benders, but for some reason they were the most successful empire in history."
"Well, they sure weren't around when the monks were alive."
"No. The Empire vanished about 300 years ago. No one knows why. But I think that that guy might be Roman. When we found him, he spoke to us in the Roman language. We couldn't tell what he said, but we could tell it was the Roman language. It has a very distinct sound. He can speak the Common Language as well."
"Do you think that maybe this means that the Empire still exists?"
"Hard to say. Maybe, though. Right now we should leave him alone. He seems to enjoy his solitude."
Aang and jet went back to the hideout to let the stranger play his guitar in silence. The next morning, Jet and Aang told Katara about the stranger. She was astonished to hear about a fifth nation. That night, Aang and Katara saw the stranger again. He went out to the same branch that he did the night before. Aang and Katara followed him there but kept their distance. Once again the stranger pulled out a guitar and began to play. He played the same tune he did the night before, but this time, Aang and Katara could hear that he was singing. From the sound of his voice, Aang and Katara could determine that the young man was about eighteen years of age. As they were listening to him, Katara put too much weight on a branch and it snapped. The stranger quickly spun around and saw the two benders standing there. His eyes widened as he knew that he had been caught. There was a moment of silence before he spoke up.
"Bonum vesperum." He said
"What?"
"Ah, I forget, people here do not speak Latin." The young man said.
"What's your name?" asked Katara.
"I am sorry, but I do not feel comfortable giving you my name."
"Sorry."
"You do not have to apologize."
"Are you from the Roman Empire?"
A strange look came to the young man's eyes. He looked down and said, "I am the last of that race."
"I'm so sorry." For some reason, Aang could tell that he was lying. But what was the truth? Was the truth that the Roman race was extinct and that this boy was not truly Roman or were there more of his race?
The next day, the stranger began to mingle more with the group. That day, Sokka returned from a mission with Jet and told the group to pack up and that they were leaving. Jet had just attacked an old man in the woods and stole everything he had. Katara went to learn more about this attack. Jet told Katara that the man was an assassin and pulled out a knife.
"See? There's a compartment for poison in the knife. He was sent to eliminate me. You helped save my life Sokka."
"See Sokka?" Katara replied.
"There was no knife."
"That's because he was concealing it."
"There was no knife." A voice said. They all looked at the doorway and saw the Roman standing there.
"This doesn't concern you, stranger!" Jet snapped.
"Yes it does! Do not believe this rouge." He said to Katara. "I have seen firsthand what he does. He claims that he is fighting for freedom and for a just cause. But I have seen the truth. He is a terrorist. That man was unarmed."
"How would you know?" Jet asked.
"I saw everything. Sokka is right."
"So the knife isn't enough proof?"
"How stupid do you think I am? I know that is your own knife. This boy is a liar!"
"Katara, who are you gonna believe, this stranger or someone who saved your life?"
Katara looked back and forth between the two of them and finally made up her mind.
"I believe Jet." The Roman glared at her and shook his head in disappointment before leaving the room.
"You guys can't leave. The Fire Nation is planning burn down the forest. If you guys use your bending to fill the reservoir we can fight the fires. But if you leave now, they'll destroy the whole forest."
Jet told Aang and Katara to fill the reservoir to. Aang and Katara finished filling the ravine and Katara suggested that they go meet Jet at the dam.
"I thought Jet told us to meet him at the hideout." Aang said.
"Well we finished early."
They arrived at the hill overlooking the dam to see the Freedom fighters placing barrels of blasting jelly at the base of the structure and Aang realized what they were going to do.
"Jet's gonna blow up the dam."
"What? No, that would destroy the town in the valley. Jet wouldn't do that."
"I've gotta stop them."
"Jet wouldn't do that." Katara repeated. As Aang was about to take off, he has knocked down by Jet.
"Yes, I would."
"Jet…why?"
"We have to free this valley, no matter what it takes. I thought your brother would understand, but-"
"Where's Sokka?" Katara said.
"Katara…please." Jet put a hand on Katara's cheek only to be pushed away by Katara's waterbending.
Aang reached for his glider but Jet used his dual swords to grab it. He began to swing at Aang. Aang dodged and leaped up on top of a branch.
"I'm not going to fight you, Jet."
"You'll have to if you want your glider back!" Jet followed Aang through the trees and kept swinging at him. As he was about to strike Aang, he was hit by an arrow that struck him on his shoulder guard and he fell out of the tree. He looked up to see the Roman standing there, his sword drawn. "This isn't your fight, Roman." The stranger swung his sword at him, barely missing Jet's throat.
"Yes…it is."
A sword fight broke out between the two young men. As they were fighting, the Jet hooked the Roman's sword and attempted to wrestle it out of his hand. But the Roman proved to be the stronger of the two and managed to pull Jet's sword to the ground and used the hilt of his sword to strike Jet's wrist, knocking the blade out of his hand. He then kicked Jet to the ground. Jet looked up at him in disbelief. There was no way a young man so silent could be so strong. He got up off the ground and swung at the Roman again. But his strike was deflected and was once again struck to the ground. He looked up one more time at the stranger.
"Who are you?" Jet asked breathlessly.
The Roman now looked taller and stronger. His shoulders went back and dropped, giving him a look of royalty. He then revealed his name. "My name is Manius Cornelius Tranquillus, supreme commander of the armed forces, leader of the Roman senate and people…Emperor of Rome." As he finished speaking, he raised his sword and prepared to strike. But before he could deliver his blow, Katara struck Jet with a blast of water and froze him to a tree.
"How could you do this? I trusted you!"
As she went silent, Jet made the sound of a bird call.
"What are you doing?" she said.
"You're too late."
"No!"
Jet's main archer, Longshot, loosed a flaming arrow from his bow at the barrels of blasting jelly. Manius grabbed his bow and shot an arrow at the Longshot's to either deflect it or put out the flame. The arrow barely missed and the flame was still burning.
"No." Katara said. The arrow hit its target and the barrels exploded, destroying the dam. A huge wave surged over the town.
"Damn." Manius muttered.
"All those people. Jet, you monster."
"This was a victory, Katara. With the Fire nation gone, this valley will be free."
"It will be safe. Safe from people like you." Sokka said as he rode up to the side of the cliff on Appa. "I got everyone out of the village."
"WHAT!" Jet exclaimed.
"How did you manage that?" Manius asked.
"At first they didn't believe me. The Fire Nation assumed I was a spy, but someone convinced them to believe me: the old man Jet attacked. We got everyone out just in time."
"Sokka, you fool!" Jet yelled. "We could have freed this valley!"
"Who would be free? Everyone would be dead."
"You traitor!"
"No Jet. You became the traitor when you stopped protecting innocent people."
Jet's attention turned to Katara. "Katara…please." Jet pleaded. Katara looked down. "Good-bye Jet." she said as she got on Appa's back.
"Wait. Where are the three of you headed?" Manius asked.
"We're going to the North Pole." Aang replied.
"Well, I'm also trying to reach the North Pole. With your permission, I would like to accompany you." Manius said. The gang looked at each other and decided to let him come. Before climbing on Appa, he held his sword up to Jet's throat. "This time, you were lucky. But be warned, one more step out of line, and I will end your life."
Manius then got on Appa's back and the group left for the North Pole, leaving Jet frozen to the tree.