Hey everybody, what's up? I'm Sokka's Fan-Lawyer and this is my first fanfiction! As this is my first, I hope that it's a sort-of-okay one to read, since I wanted to start my career off with a kind of good one and to see what people think of my writing style! Anyway, on with the fanfiction!!
Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar or any of its characters…I only wish I did. I did, we wouldn't be stopping at 3 seasons!
Dreams
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Sokka couldn't help but grin; after all those years of working, they had finally done it! Both he and Zuko had managed to save up enough money to buy an intergalactic travel ship! Naturally, it wasn't the best of quality, but it was good enough by Sokka's standards…which admittingly weren't very high to the price of ships these days. He was practically sprinting back towards their shared apartment to let Zuko know that their years of planning, slaving, and penny pinching had finally come to fruit! They would finally be able to take to the heavens and explore the vastness of the universe.
While their dreams were rather ambitious, their current circumstances were not. They had ended up getting a cheap apartment in the bad side of Ba Sing Se, where the crime rate was higher the Sokka's IQ (which, contrary to popular believe, was rather high). The sidewalks and streets were cracked…not that anyone actually used the streets anymore, what with their expensive hover cars and crap like that, and the buildings were dirty with various windows boarded up. Sokka ran up to a building, mentally noting the weather, which looked as though it may rain at any moment.
When he opened the door to their apartment building, he had to dodge a kid racing out via his hover board. The kid was wearing a baseball hat that read "SOLDIERS" with a sword through the middle, on his wrist was a sweat band, a yellow t-shirt, blue jeans, and sneakers; but what surprised Sokka most were his deep gray eyes, which –at this moment- were wide with fear. "What the…?" Sokka wondered when the manager came running out, "Stop, thief!" "Thief!?" Sokka asked, shocked; after all, who would steal from a run down place like this? "Yeah, he broke into my room and stole the money that I got from rent this month; and not only that, he broke into your place too." "What!" Sokka glared in the direction that the kid had gone, "Damn brat!" he charged after the kid in pursuit. He pulled down his goggles from his tan forehead over his blue eyes as to keep the various elements in the semi-smoggy air to restrict his vision, his sneakers hitting the ground at a fast pace, his baggy blue jeans, red t-shirt, black short sleeve jacket, and fingerless gloved hands were flying through the air wildly, which would have been a rather comical sit had it not been a emergency.
Damn the bastard, I hope he didn't take our money for the ship! Sokka thought as he sprinted, managing to catch a glimpse of the guilty party turning into an alley. People were naturally disgruntled when Sokka shoved between them to cross the street to get to the other side where the alley was, but Sokka didn't give a damn if they were upset, the guy stole their money so Sokka's actions were perfectly reasonable. As if hearing Sokka's thoughts, the kid turned around and saw Sokka rushing after him…which meant that he didn't see that the alley turned off to a new on, thus crashing into the brick wall. "Got 'cha!" Sokka grinned as he quickly nabbed the hover board while sitting on top of the perpetrator, ensuring that he wouldn't run away. "Get off!" The kid demanded as he squirmed, trying to slip away from his captor. "Like hell I will," Sokka grinned. "As it turns out, you owe me money."
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"So, who is this?" Zuko inquired as he sat on one of the two chairs in their apartment. "You tell him what you told me." Sokka ordered their tied up captive, who in turn, shot Sokka a glare. "Spill it!" Sokka said, comically smacking the youth upside the head. "Okay! God, you're an asshole!" The kid groaned. Zuko laughed ass Sokka stuttered, "What was that punk?!" "He has you pegged." "Shut up!" While Sokka pouted, Zuko looked curiously at their prisoner. "So you stole our money, huh?" For once, the kid looked confused, "Your money? You had some? I just judged from the look of this dump that you guys were broke-" "Shut up!" Both roommates demanded. The kid shrugged uncaringly. "What did you say your name was?" Sokka asked in an annoyed tone. "I dunno." The kid shrugged again. "My ass you don't! Quit messing with us!" Sokka yelled while Zuko tried to calm him down.
"Fine, at least we got the hover board, so that's something." Zuko comforted; the kid snorted, "It won't get you much; it's stolen and I'm pretty sure that the owners will have activated the tracking device inside by now." "What?!" They both exclaimed while thinking, how can you say that with such a calm expression?! "What were you guys going to do with that money anyway? You're obviously not putting it to your apartment's wellbeing, so I'm assuming you have another cause in mind." "As a matter of fact, we do!" Sokka retorted. "We're going to buy a space ship and ride it all the way to the across the galaxy!" There was silence after he said this, then…the kid burst out laughing. "Outer space? The edge of the galaxy? That's crap! No one can do it. After all, we've only managed to get out to several light years away, not nearly enough to make it the edge! Besides, even if you could, how would you survive? There's a freakin' black hole in the middle that you'll need to cross; nothing can survive it! Plus, the area surrounding it is one of the most dangerous out there! It's nuts!"
There was silence, then…"It's not nuts; it's our dream and we're willing to fight for it." He smiled slightly, closing his eyes; well, closing one of his eyes and squinting the one that was on the left side of his face, due to the large burn scar that was restricting that side's muscles. He was pale, with a red shirt on, plus a pair of dark cargo pants above his sneakers, and he wore wrist bands on both wrists. Surprise crossed the kid's features briefly, before being replaced by a look of doubt and contempt. "Dream, huh? That's a crappy dream. How can you fight for something that's never going to happen? The odds alone are enough to deter people from making such crazy declarations." "Why you-. Are you really twelve years old?" Sokka demanded, and this time, Zuko looked semi-angry himself. The kid just shrugged and fell silent again. "You know what? I don't give a damn about what you think; we believe we can do it and that's good enough! Besides, it's not like we're ever going to see you again!" The kid was silent for a second, and then whispered in such a silent tone that only Zuko heard, "Yeah, no one does."
Later…
"You sure we should have let him go?" Sokka inquired Zuko. After holding the boy prisoner for a few hours, Zuko finally unwrapped the rope and let him go. Zuko sighed and set down the pan he was using to make their dinner. "Yeah, he didn't seem to be a threat, plus he returned the money he stole back to Mr. Johnson, so there wasn't any real reason for keeping him here." "Fine, whatever." Sokka shrugged and returned to messing around with the touch screen menu of their paper-thin TV set. "So, what did you want to tell me?" Zuko asked as he added some things into the mixture. "Oh yeah!" He turned towards his friend and reached into his pocket, "We got it." He showed Zuko the paperwork that said that they were the official owners of the Sky model XZ, also called APPA for unknown reasons. "Really?!" Zuko said; Sokka nodded. "Yeah, the guy will drive it to the space port near the top of the wall tomorrow. From there, we'll have our friend Theo look it through and fix it up; plus we need to stock it with food and weapons and maps and etc." Zuko nodded, but then noticed that his food was burning. "Crap!" He hurriedly tried to put out the flames while Sokka laughed, "Man, you can't cook worth crap!" "Yeah? Well, how about you try smart ass?!" Zuko objected while he sprayed their extinguisher. "Smart ass, am I?" Sokka yelled as he jokingly punched Zuko, "It's go time!" The two began to fight as the sun set, then fell asleep in anticipation for the coming day.
The kid on the other hand, wasn't having a good time. He kicked a can in his path as he walked down the sidewalk, only to have the can be blown away due to a passing hover car; he could only sigh and press on. What was it about those two anyway? Why should they have shaken him up so bad? He wondered, and then thought, it must have been because of their talk of dreams; how could those idiots actually believe in that crap? Dreams were only delusions to distract you from your current circumstances, your hopes taking your mind away from what was happening. It never actually did anything, they weren't possible, they weren't logical, they weren't going to happen. And yet, those two were so caught up in their belief that they actually were going to try to obtain it. For some reason, an image of an old man crossed his mind; he quickly shook it off and spat onto the pavement, "Fools…dreams are for deluded idiots." He muttered as he continued to walk down the concrete path, not noticing the person walking several paces behind him. The guy reached into his pocket, drew out a cell phone (the new paper thin edition with holographic user interface that was shoplifted from a local Radio Shed) and talked into it briefly. After he hung up, he began to increase his pace, getting closer to the kid.
The thief would never be sure as to why he turned around at that moment, but when he did so, he saw the man in a large dark jacket with black gloves, boots, and baseball cap on his head. "Crap!" The kid began to sprint away, racing towards an alleyway; the man swore and raced after him. The Kid quickly turned down the nearest alleyway after that, charging down one to the left of the current one he was running down. He quickly turned to glance whether the man was still on his tail or not…which turned out to be his first mistake. While he was looking back, he literally bumped into someone coming towards him from the front; he grunted and fell to his butt. "I, I got him!" The man with shoulder length dark hair wearing a dark suit said in both glee and surprise; he quickly shook off his victory and began to tie him up with duck tape. "To think that you thought you could leave us so soon, Aang."
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Aang couldn't do anything but glare at his captors with a hatred that nobody would guess that he was capable of, his gray eyes squinted in a look of defiance. The man before him could only chuckle over the youth's spirit. "Hello Aang, how have you been lately? After you left our kind hospitality the last time, we have been worried about how you have been." Aang's look of contempt didn't falter as he remained tied to a steel chair with duck tape covering his hands and feet, restricting their movement. The room they were in was a fancy one, with a large window overlooking the space port -indicating that their location was along the top of the wall-, large fire place to Aang's left with a moose lion pelt for a rug with the antlers used as decoration for the mantle, then there were wooden walls for the other sides of the room, with a wooden-looking door (although Aang guessed it was probably metal underneath the coating that made it look like wood that was rather popular these days, mostly due to wood becoming hard to find); a table lay between Aang and his captor, who was wearing a dark, pressed suit, with shoulder length hair and a square jaw; the man's name was Xin Fu, a drug lord and wrestling manager for the intergalactic wrestling league known as 'Earth Rumble Six'-…why it was called that no one knew for sure- but what he was most infamous for was being a part of the most feared mafia family in the whole galaxy…the Fire Nation.
"Not going to answer, huh?" Xin Fu took a sip from the wine glass he was holding at the time, then slammed it down on to the table. "You don't know who you're dealing with boy!" He got up and stood over Aang imposingly. "Where is it? The serum that you stole?" Aang's facial expression turned into a expression of surprise; Xin Fu laughed, "What, you thought we didn't know? I must say, you do give yourself too much credit, don't you? Yes, we know that you stole the Avatar serum as well as deleting the plans, but while that only delayed us, it is rather inconvenient; so tell me its location, now!" Aang only shrugged, refusing to speak…only to get punched, making the chair-and Aang-fall to the ground on its side. Xin Fu bent down and squeezed Aang's head with one powerful hand and scowled, "You have no idea on what's riding on this…if Ozai doesn't get his hands on that serum, then the whole galaxy's going to pay." He got up, brushed the dirt of his suit and began to walk out, "I'll leave you here awhile to…reconsider." He pressed his hand against the palm print scanner set on the door's 'wooden' frame, and left, letting the door automatically shut behind him.
Aang just lay there away, but eventually, he muttered, "Damn it, damn it, damn it; how could I have let this happen? What am I going to do?" He looked around the room and saw the razor sharp antlers on top mantle for the fire place, "…that could work." Aang mused thoughtfully…then pondered, "But how am I going to get to them while I'm tied to this freakin' chair?!"
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"So, where did you say where this thing was?" Zuko asked Sokka as the wandered the space port, searching for the ship that they had bought.
"Um, it says here L-42." Sokka reread the slip of paper that the previous owner had given him. "Crap, I can never read Bumi's hand writing…you'd think that the guy would have been a doctor instead of a geologist." Zuko only rolled his eyes at this, after all, hardly anyone actually wrote things anymore since email had become much more convenient…and more legible; that is, anyone but Bumi, who-for some reason-still clung to the old ways, then again, he had always been a little…out there. Then again, he is a part of the reason the boys had wanted to escape to the stars in the first place.
Zuko was shaken out of his thoughts by Sokka shaking his hand in front of his face, "Hello…Zuko? Can you help please?" Zuko shook his head to clear his thoughts, "Yeah, sure, just give me a second." Sokka shrugged and left, satisfied with that answer. After a few more minutes of searching, the duo had found it. It was roughly 35 feet high, with a spherical part at on the front that was around 30 feet high with a darkened reinforced glass that prevented them from seeing inside; the 15 foot by 15 foot entrance was along the left side, which was opened by a hand scanner set on the side, then there were six boosters that were influenced by a 'tail' on the end of the ship that helped define what direction as well as whether they would rise or decline in height. "Well, this is it…wanna check out the interior?" Zuko nodded and Sokka pressed his palm to the scanner, "Bumi claimed that he had already programmed it to acknowledge our prints, but knowing Bumi, it might not work…" Despite Sokka's skepticism, the door opened without difficulty. The interior was made of the same material that the outside was: gray colored metal plates. The inside was several rooms, with the piloting seat up ahead in the sphere at the front of the ship, the middle being a kitchen with a large pile of boxes that were storing tons of heat up dinners for the microwave in the kitchen, then there was a computer and a TV, plus a back room for the transport drive that would help cut down the distances between planets by clumping up time and space. Then there was a side dedicated to fuel and electricity to keep the ship going. "Cool." Was all that Sokka could say and Zuko could only nod as they got out.
"At least Bumi was kind enough to throw in some inventory to help us get started." Zuko said as they began to walk away from their ship. "Yeah, that was pretty nice of him-" Sokka got cut off as the thief from earlier passed by them. "Hey, what's up?" Zuko asked kindly while Sokka just glared at him. The kid glanced in their direction, then took off running again. "Well, that was rude." Zuko stated while Sokka just nodded in agreement. "Anyway, like I was saying-" Sokka got cut off yet again by a group of people running passed them saying things such as 'After him' and such as they ran in the direction that the thief had gone. "…that's not a good sign." Zuko said. Sokka nodded. They glanced at each other and immediately began to follow them.
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Aang couldn't believe he had been caught…again….five minutes after he had escaped the first time. Then again, in retrospect, he hadn't expected to suddenly be swallowed by the ground underneath him, did he? While he had been sprinting from the guards, he had found a route out of the port that involved him sprinting through a farmer's corn field…but that was meet with disastrous results made apparent from the minute he had stepped on the solid ground; after that step, there had been no ground, he fell into a pit, and then the opening closed and he was transported into a part of the park, the only area in the city that could allow trees to be grown without risk of being chopped down…it also made a rather nice mugging spot due to the low visibility. When he was pulled out of the ground, Xin Fu was standing there, smirking smugly with victory. "Long time no see boy. I hope you didn't miss our company." He stated sarcastically. "No, I'm afraid I didn't." Aang shot back. Xin Fu smacked him. "Nice one kid. Now, tell me where is the serum?" Aang took a few seconds to recover from the blow, then he said, "I don't have it anymore." "Then what did you do with it?" Xin Fu demanded through gritted teeth. "I had a friend of my send it out to the vacuum of space. Good luck finding it." Xin Fu's face was a look of horror, then he composed himself, "Is that so? Then I guess we don't need you alive any longer." From the earth, he pulled out a sharp spear composed of dirt and rock. Aang was shocked, "Ho-how did you do that? I thought I had destroyed the data for the 'bending' project…." Xin Fu laughed, "No, you only took the Avatar data, you didn't think to take all related project data, so it's only a matter of time before we recreate the serum, so your assistance is no longer required…so DIE!"
He launched the spear at Aang, whose feet were still in the ground; Aang quickly raised his arms to possible do something when…a boomerang flew through the air, knocked down the spear, and hit Xin Fu on its way back to its owner, "And that's when we step in." Sokka grinned as he walked out into the clearing. "Who the hell are you?" Xin Fu asked while Aang simultaneously demanded, "What the hell are you doing here moron?" "Trying to save your undeserving ass." Sokka replied with a mock hurt look on his face. He then turned his focus on Xin Fu, "So, you're the asshole that kidnapped my friend here…Xin Fu was it? You look better on TV." Sokka smirked. Friend? Aang thought, since when was I his friend? Xin Fu only scowled and tried to have the earth swallow Sokka to, "Whoa!" Sokka grunted as he leaped into the air to avoid the hole; an action to which Xin Fu responded by hurling sharp rocks to nail Sokka in midair. Suddenly, Xin Fu felt a rush come from behind him, jump up, and knock the shrapnel away. "Zuko!" Sokka greeted as he landed, "Took you long enough." "Yeah, yeah, I'm here aren't I?" Zuko responded with an annoyed look on his face, "I was just fetching my swords from the apartment." It was true, in Zuko's hands were a pair of dual swords. "Swords and a boomerang? What the hell are you two, cavemen?" Xin Fu pondered angrily. Both Sokka and Zuko glared at him, "You know, even though lasers are considered the best weapons technology can offer, they still are nothing but hot light, so it is possible to reflect them back at their owners, like so." Zuko stated as he quickly turned and knocked a laser shot from the gun of one of Xin Fu's men that had hidden himself among the brush; a few seconds later, a quick yelp was heard and the sound of running followed. Xin Fu and Aang were both shocked at Zuko skill; a state that Sokka took advantage of. He quickly place a small explosive (a stun bomb model 943, serial date 2422) on top of his boomerang, quickly ran trough the mathematics in his mind, then he hurled it at Xin Fu, but in a way that it would arc behind him, following just beyond his vision, the stun bomb slid off and the boomerang nailed the man in the back of the head…but then fell to the ground. Xin Fu stepped forward while holding the back of his head where the boomerang had nailed him, only to be cut off by Zuko who began to slash at him with his blades, forcing Xin Fu to back up and step on the bomb.
The explosion was brief and it kicked up a dust cloud that began to cover the area. Sokka and Zuko heard Xin Fu scream and high-fived each other, thinking the battle won, and began to try and dig out Aang. After a few seconds of trying, however, the dust in the air seemed to begin to force its way into the duo's lungs. While they were on the ground gagging, Xin Fu appeared out from the dust cloud. "Nice plan, kiddies, but not to well thought out. You see, a dust cloud is simply little particles of earth floating through the air; particles that I can harness via my Earth serum and bend them to my will." Zuko and Sokka could only gasp in response; Xin Fu laughed, "Now die! Suffocate to death or, if you hold out long enough, I'll have to have the shards rip out of your lungs and go straight for your hearts." Zuko…and Sokka; they tried to protect me, and now they're about to die because of it. The image of the old man returned to his mind, Gyatso, I'm sorry I couldn't save you, but maybe, I can help these guys instead! Suddenly, Aang's eyes began to take on a slight glow as he suddenly forced his way out of the ground. "What the hell?" Xin Fu yelled as he saw Aang free himself. "How did you-"realization dawned on him, "You little bastard! You injected the Avatar serum into yourself, didn't you?" Aang could only smirk slightly, "Yeah, that about sums it up." Xin Fu howled with rage and flung himself at Aang, who only stood his ground and –at the last minute-summoned a wall of earth for Xin Fu to slam into; Xin Fu collided with it and managed to hit it with enough force to shatter it. As he lay crumbled on the ground, Aang stalked over to him; Xin Fu saw this and backed away in horror, "Please…don't kill me, I don't want to die!" "Nether did Gyatso, but then, who does?" Aang summoned a large rock and positioned it above the fallen man and glared, "Go to hell." And brought it down…or at least, brought it down halfway. Xin Fu had fainted by then, so Aang just through the rock aside and turned it into a pair of handcuffs that covered Xin Fu's hands and feet, put them on him, and tied him to a tree. Naturally, he had already dispelled the earth from Zuko and Sokka's lungs as well as the dust cloud. With all that done, the glow left his gray eyes and he fell unconscious.
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"So…any idea what happened to that Xin Fu guy?" Aang shrugged carelessly as the three teenagers were sitting on the chairs back at Sokka's and Zuko's apartment. It had been three days since their fight against the drug lord; when Sokka and Zuko awoke, they noticed Aang on the ground unconscious with Xin Fu lying a few feet away. Zuko and Sokka were just about to kick his unconscious ass, but they then heard the police sirens, so they grabbed Aang, and ran like hell. "I dunno; the police haven't turned up anything. They didn't even find him where we conveniently left him!" Aang answered, and then returned to drinking his soda. Sokka just shrugged, "Who gives a crap? It's not like we're going to be running into him again, so why bother. He probably learned his lesson from when we kicked his ass, so I doubt that he will be trying anything soon." The other two shrugged at this and then there was silence.
"…so…" Aang began. "When are you two leaving?" "For space?" Aang nodded; Zuko shrugged, "Probably in a day or two. Why?" "I dunno." Aang mumbled and quickly took a sip from his drink. Sokka's eyes narrowed, "You want to come." He stated; Aang just spat out the soda he had been drinking, "What?! Who said I wanted that?!" "You did." Sokka smirked, "So why not?" "…why not what?" Aang asked, even though he knew the answer. "How about you come with us? With that Avatar serum, you could help make us unstoppable!" Sokka's mind was already working the possibilities. Aang looked to Zuko, who just shrugged, "I don't care; although, having more people might increase our chance of success." Aang was silent for a moment, taking in just what they were offering, and then said, "Well…I guess I could come; I mean, you guys needed me to save your asses from Xin Fu, who was basically one of the weakest members of the Fire Nation…" "He was?!" Both Sokka and Zuko asked simultaneously. "So, I guess I could help you out." "Yeah!" Sokka grinned while Zuko just said, "Welcome to the team." Aang nodded, then asked, "So where did you say we were going again?" Both Sokka and Zuko glanced at each other, "The heavens…and whatever is beyond!" The Avatar serum host couldn't help but grin while thinking: Gyatso, you were right; maybe having dreams isn't so bad.
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"So, you say Xin Fu of the Earth branch has been defeated?" The Fire Lord Ozai himself asked the messenger. "Yes sir, the base has been invaded and the inventory captured by the police." The Fire Lord just waved his hand, dismissing the bad news, "The goods can be recovered; after all, today's police force is rather corrupt, plus our spies inside their organization can also help in their retrieval. No Sergeant, what I want to know of is the Avatar serum; has it been recovered along with the rest by the police as well?" The sergeant shook his head, "No sir, we actually don't know where it is." "What?!" The Fire Lord showed a fleeting expression of anger. "How did that happen?!" The Sergeant was shaking a little, but kept his composure, "Apparently, a thief somehow managed to infiltrate our operations there, caught wind of our plans, and stole it at the last minute. We do have identification on him though." "Really? Then what is his name?" "He goes by Aang Gyatso; the adopted son of 'Monk' Gyatso." Ozai's eyes widened with recognition, "Ah, so he's his brat…no wonder he caught wind of the serum." There was a slight pause, then he ordered, "Find him. We find him, we find the serum. If there are any people with them, kill them; I don't care how you do it, just make it happen!" The Sergeant nodded, bowed, and left the room, leaving the mafia head to stare out the window into space's infinite reaches from his throne in his rather large chamber.
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Well, that's it! Personally, while I wrote this, for some reason, it had begun to seem like the first chapter of a beginning manga series (It could just be me though). I hoped you enjoyed it! If you have any corrections or opinions on this, feel free to click the magic button to review and let me know!
Read and Review…or I'll…SUE YA!!