Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN BEN 10 OR AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER. THEY BELONG TO THEIR RIGHTFUL OWNERS. ALSO THIS FIC IS BASED OFF OF CODECRASH'S STORY.


II: The Villagers

Ben was at the same Tea Shop where he left, this time instead of being empty, it was filled with potential customers all here to see Ben. Those who saw Heatblast were curious unto how Ben combusts himself on fire without having to bend, according to some. There were a few who were pretty afraid of Ben. However, a few potential firebending villagers gathered around Ben mostly on what he could do. But the one thing that came up to a few people was, where'd the green light come from? And also, where did he come from?

Ben was flattered to have all this attention around him. Thankfully, Ship had transformed into a steampunk-like watch; he clasped onto Ben's arm. Ursa was shocked to see all these people gathering around her shop, buying and paying for the items the store had. Ursa waved to Ben as she was flooded by customers who were paying for the tea.

"So how'd you combust your entire body on fire?" one villager asked.

"Um, I got it from my grandmother?" Ben lied.

"That's a pretty rare gift for any firebender to combust their body on fire like that," said another man.

"How rare?" Ben asked, though there was another question that's been plaguing him for quite sometime. Who and what are firebenders? Ben knew if he asked this, it'll raise suspicion in the community. So his best bet was to listen.

"Very rare!" said a man.

"I must be valuable," Ben said.

"Say where'd you from stranger?" asked the boy Ben saved earlier.

"A far away place," Ben said.

"Is it somewhere exotic like Ember Island or Shu Jin?" asked the boy.

Ben was stumped. "I barely passed with a C in Geography Class, can you remind me where on Earth, if this is Earth, are those places are?" Ben asked.

"Fire Nation," the villagers said in unison.

"Figures," Ben said.

They shared a laugh.

"Are you with the Avatar?" the boy asked.

Ben slumped and had furrowed look across his face.

"The who?"

"The Avatar!" the boy repeated.

"What's an Avatar?" Ben asked.

The villagers also have furrowed looks across their faces. This stranger who happens to be a firebender don't know or never even heard of an Avatar.

An elderly man spoke, "Is you looking for de Avatar?"

"No? Just ignorant," Ben said.

"Hmph," the old man just left it at that. He began to educate Ben about the Avatar, "The Avatar is a very powerful being who can control the four elements: earth, fire, air, and water without fail. It was their sole duty to ensure the world is in balance."

"So what happened to them?" Ben asked.

"He just disappeared," said the old man. The others nodded. Ben began to suspect that they know something that not even he was aware of. They all looked very frightened; Ben was suspicious.

"Just disappeared, and after 100 years, he has returned," said the old man.

"Really? After...wait hold up!" Ben paused and thought for a good two minutes, "100 years? You mean like over a century?"

"Well what do you think '100 years' mean?" the old man shared a laugh at the dimwitted Ben.

"Well sorry," Ben mocked. They all shared a laugh; Ben however, even though he enjoyed their company thought about what the man said about the mysterious Avatar.

...

After a few more drinks, Ben left the shop waving goodbye to all the good folks who supported him. He never thought that he would make friends in this strange land, better yet allies. Though he was cautious not to get in any firebender's bad side as one of them mentioned that most firebenders tend to be direct serial killers and that they are very fast with their hands and the like. Ben made a promise to not cross into anymore firebender - or any benders for that matter.

He got on to his motorcycle and decided to ride to the docks to follow the sea to new cities.

On his way to the docks, he noticed that there was a Fire Nation air ship sitting by the docks. His first guess was that it was a battleship through the design and that it was full of Fire Nation soldiers who can coincidentally - firebend.

Sadly, Ben had no idea where to go, if he goes back, it'll be the endless sight of trees and rocks, he'll be driving for weeks on end to find another civilization outside of this one - or worse bump into a random animal that might swiftly kill him on sight. So his best bet was to not cause any trouble.

...

At the docks, Ben swerved and pulled on the brakes. He witnessed a very quorum of soldiers guarding three young women.

"This should be easy," Ben thought.

"Ship?" Ship warned.

"Don't worry Ship, what could go wrong?" Ben asked, now remembering why he said, "Why did I just say that?" he sighed, "I just hope that this universe is tamer with this phrase than my own." Ben drove into the harbor carefully, watching in all directions.

Ty Lee, Mai, and Azula were preparing to depart after Azula gave the soldiers specific instructions on what to do while they are gone.

"You don't have to tell us twice!" said the second soldier.

"But wait, Princess," said the soldier who had the bruised eye, and the burnt arm. The man who threatened the boy's life until he intervened, "What about the rogue firebender?"

"What rouge firebender, soldier?" Ty Lee asked.

"Do you mean my brother?" Azula questioned.

"No!" the man yelled, until a blue fireball nearly hit him.

"You shall not yell at the three of us," Azula demanded, "We are your rulers and Gods, you should treat us with more respect, or else that bruise in your eye will be the last thing you should worry about."

"Okay," the man said, "The man, this boy can combust his entire body on fire in a mist of emerald green light. He calls himself Heatblast. He was covered in magma and dark charcoal. He has fire as eyes. FIRE AS EYES!" He was on his knees in a pleading gesture. Azula smiled, "Please, this guy is unlike any firebender known to man. He may be an adversary to the Avatar!"

"He might?" Azula questioned, "He is. Any Firebender who attacks a Fire Nation soldier without mercy is either a clear adversary to the Avatar or was influenced in some way.

"So what are you proposing you do?" the man asked.

"What do you think?" Azula asked. Suddenly, they hear a revving Motorcycle from nearby. The man was aghast, shaken even. Ty Lee had a furrowed look across her face, Mai had her same look.

"It's him!" the man pointed, "It's him!"

"How do you know?" Ty Lee asked, "He looks kinda cute!"

Everyone slowly looked at Ty Lee as if she had lost he damn mind.

"What? I'm not lying!" Ty Lee said.

Ben then got off of his motorcycle to see a few soldiers and three young women. Ben took a good look at them before speaking.

"Let me guess," Ben said, "Firebenders?"

"And who are you?" Azula asked directly.

"It's him! The Heatblast-Guy!" the soldier said shakingly.

"You snitched on me? So not cool!" Ben complained.

"So you must be the Heatblast guy," Mai said.

"The one and only," Ben said in his cocky stance, "Is that a bad thing?"

"Oh very bad," Azula said getting into her fighting stance, "You see, we have a rule, if a peasant ever harms a soldier in the Fire Nation, the civilian must be killed on sight."

"Man you guys are so messed up!" Ben critiqued, "He grabbed a boy and shoved him to the ground because he was an 'Earth Scum'."

"He was an Earth Scum! He's an Earthbender!" the soldier snapped.

"So you must be influenced by the Avatar," Mai pointed out.

"You're darn right! He's one of those brats!" the soldier yelled.

"Is that so?" Azula said with a sick grin across her face. Ty Lee got into her stance.

"What's with you guys?" Ben asked, "He's an Earthbender, whatever that is, so what?"

This triggered a sense of anger in Azula's psyche.

"So what? I'll show you so what!" she snapped. Her hands immediately combusts into flames, hazel, blue flames.

Ty Lee got into her fighting stance, locking her eyes on Ben, and Mai pulled out her knives.

"Okay this is going to be fun!" Ben rolled up his sleeves revealing the Ultimatrix. Taking this as a threat, Ty Lee launched in and began to give Ben a swarm of punches and kicks, trying to block his chi. Mai threw her knives at Ben, which he dodged, barely, and Azula was building up her flames to launch at Ben. Ben was overpowered by the two ladies fighting him, Ben was bruised by Ty Lee; he dodged some of her moves, but she was too fast for him to handle. He'll give her this, she was pretty agile.

Ship who was in motorcycle mode, reshaped itself and transformed into a plasma cannon in between them.

"SHIP!" Ship said angrily as he shot a warning blast at them. Azula, who was by now finished building up her chi began to advance towards Ben. Ship was about to fire until Ben jumped over his mechanical friend with the hologram standing on the faceplate, arm raised ready to use the watch for defense.

"It's hero time!" Ben yelled.

From there, Ben slapped the dial down.

...

In his veins, a green energy ball races through his veins. Ben began to transform rapidly; he curled up into a ball as his feet stretched out, denumbering his toes to that of a bird, his head began to resemble that of a fly. He retained his eye color, however he grew a dark blue cloak, and had a voice that can shudder the Grim Reaper. On his chest was an emblemized badge that had a black circle with a green hourglass on the center.

...

"BIG CHILL!" said Ben's new form. Before the three women could move in for the attack, Ben slapped the Ultimatrix one more time. This time purple rings engulfed Big Chill, he had a firey appearance, that was the only thing that changed.

"ULTIMATE BIG CHILL!" Ultimate Big Chill yelled in a grave tone in his voice. If Ultimate Big Chill had a mouth, he would have smirked at the dumbstruck expressions across everyone's face.

"Are we fighting a spirit?" Ty Lee asked, a little terrified.

"Ready to give up?" Ultimate Big Chill asked, "Or are you going to glorify me to death?"

This pissed off Azula even more, "Kill him!"

The Fire Nation soldiers moved in and barraged Ben with a frenzy of fire balls, Ultimate Big Chill just stood there. Azula had her arms folded, thinking that the boy was suicidal.

Ultimate Big Chill took advantage of Azula's pride against her, he simply turned intangible; the fire balls went through him, and instead of the fire passing through, the fire turned into gas.

"Ice beats fire, I win," Ultimate Big Chill said with a smug.

Azula was aghast, she then turned to the soldier that informed him.

"I thought that he was a fire bender!" yelled Azula.

"He is...I think," said the soldier.

"You want fire? All you have to do was just ash," Ultimate Big Chill giggled with his own pun. This earned him to have Ty Lee giggle a little with his wry joke. Azula glared at Ty Lee.

Ultimate Big Chill still fought against the small band of soldiers, sighing and not wanting any time to be wasted, Azula and her posse moved in for the kill - until...

Ultimate Big Chill exhaled a stream of fire at the soldiers. Instinctively, the soldiers created a firey shield to block foreign firey attacks, but...

The fire froze both the shield and the soldiers. Mai was the first person to stop and withdraw.

Azula blinked.

"What...?"

"Fire so cold it burns," Ultimate Big Chill smirked.

"Are you making fun of me?" Azula yelled.

"Does a cat meow?" Ultimate Big Chill teased, enjoying angering Azula.

In retaliation, Ty Lee advances towards Ultimate Big Chill, but when she lands a punch on Ultimate Big Chill's stomach, it phased right through; when she pulled it back, her arm was encased in ice. She backed away terrified.

"A punch? Really?" Ultimate Big Chill smirked.

"You'll pay for that!" Azula screamed angrily, creating a stream of electricity through her chi to her fingers.

"Let's see how cocky you get if you get shocked by..." Azula shot a huge voltage of electricity straight at Ultimate Big Chill, "LIGHTNING!"

Ultimate Big Chill dodged the lightning. Now he could just stay as Ultimate Big Chill, but he want to go for something else.

"Electricity? Hmph, okay!" Ultimate Big Chill said, "I can play that game."

And with a swift agile jump, Ben transformed again.

In a flash of green light, standing in Ultimate Big Chill's place was a sentient dry cell alien he yelled...

"Buzzshock!" Buzzshock flew over as he dodged Azula's lightning attacks and Mai's knives. However, when he did get hit by lightning, not only that he absorbed her, which irritated Azula to the core, but he made copies of himself.

"Nah-nah nah nah-nah," Buzzshock sang.

At a final attempt, Azula threw a high-voltage, electrical beam towards Buzzshock. The second Buzzshock jumped in and absorbed some more, blasting its own electrical blasts towards her, along the way destroying the Fire Nation air balloon with a boom. As it sank, Azula, not giving a care barraged Buzzshock so much that eventually she got tired. To finish it off, Buzzshock moved in for the "kill" until the soldier from earlier blasts Buzzshock from the sky, eventually draining his powers.

The second and third Buzzshocks dangerously moved in towards the soldier. They all dodge the man's attacks as they each produced their own electrical cells to blast the man to the ocean.

The Third Cell then precedes to attack Mai by redirecting her knives towards her. Mai dodged them in the nick of time, however was knocked unconscious by the second Buzzshock. Ty Lee tried to chi block them, but it proved to be challenging. Azula was going crazy, she had to admit, the guy was pretty fast.

Once the girls were exhausted from fighting, a surge of green light blinds them until they see the sight of a teenaged boy with the green jacket. Azula got up, shaking in anger. Ben, who by now the watch had to recharge had two choices: run or die. But then something came up. Just before Mai threw her knives at him, Azula halted him.

"Wait," she said, she then turned towards Ben, "You prove to be a worthy opponent, I'll give you that."

"What?" Ben was confused.

"It's not the first time where I lose," Azula said, "But when I do come back, I'm always one step ahead."

Ben knew what kinda trap he was in, even if he tries to find a way out, psychologically, Azula would always piece together on what Ben was going to do. He was playing a dangerous game, but albeit, he could just transform into one of his brainy aliens, but knowing the watch too well, the chances of the watch getting his selection correctly was pretty slim.

"What game are you playing?" Ben asked. Ship charged itself and aimed it at the three young women. Ben was happy that Ship was on his side. He had a dangerous look across his face, one to which even Mai blinked, "Please answer carefully."

"No game, just a proposal," Azula said.

"What proposal?" Ben asked.

Azula had to think fast; she could guess that Ben was for justice, that's all she knew. He rescued an Earthbender, that was enough, not only that, but he proved to be a worthy opponent that may potentially get her the Avatar to please her father. So to ensure, she had to play the devil's advocate, case in point: using Ben's sense of justice to her advantage.

"A proposal to restore peace to the world," Azula said, "You see, the world is at war and we are losing a great deal. A demon had been reawaken to the world, killing innocence. And all these people who support these demons are hurting the world, hurting the nation. If you join us, peace will be restored; but if you don't, the world will crumble in ash faster than you can blink."

"A demon?" Ben asked.

Ship was calming down. Azula had Ben at checkmate. Mai and Ty Lee were not surprised at Azula's manipulation techniques, but they were surprised on how easily Ben was able to be manipulated, and after the abuse they went through, trying to convince Ben seemed like a challenge. All they had to do is twist their words and rearrange for Ben to join their regime. Ben was strong and strategic when it came to battle, but when it comes to the persuasion of the opposite gender, and also rank, Ben could be defeated without landing a punch.

"What do you say?" Azula asked.

"If the world is in trouble, why can't I say no?" Ben said, shaking her hand, however Azula also noticed that Ben didn't trust her. But she knew what she was doing, trust had to be earned, "But any screw ups..."

"Since when do I screw up?" Azula teased, grinning dangerously.


Author's Notes

Hi there people of the Internet! I know that by now you guys are typing away! Typing away to Valhalla to what had happened. Well, I'm all for opinions. Now, I know its been a while since I saw "Avatar: The Last Airbender", the reason was because of the movie that came out in 2010. It ruined it for me. *shudder*. Also I heard that the sequel had been confirmed, the title, "The Last Airbender Part 2: Crossroads to Destiny is scary. I just hope it's an improvement to the first, curse my optimism.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this fic as much as I have writing it! Please always leave reviews, they are always appreciated, until we meet again, I bid you all an adieu and...

Peace!