Chapter 2:
Welcome to Skull Island.
As Aang awoke, he felt something jabbing into his back. He sat up, and coughed out sea water.
"Aaarrrh!" spat Aang as he tasted the salt on his tongue. He stood slowly, barely able to keep his balance. Aang lifted his fingers to his temple and groaned softly.
"Ugghh… hmm, IM ALIVE!" yelled Aang joyfully. He picked up his glider, remembering that his friends were probably nearby. Aang scanned the area around him. He was on a very rocky beach, nearby there was a clump of trees. Aang looked up at the sky.
"Where am I?" thought Aang aloud.
Meanwhile …
Iroh frantically started toward his nephew's still body.
"Zuko!" he cried. He dropped to his knees next to the prince's form. Quickly , Iroh rolled his nephew face up. Iroh checked his pulse. The retired General sighed in relief as he felt the boy's pulse through his fingertips. Iroh scanned the beach and with a sigh of relief noticed that the launch they had used wasn't significantly damaged. Then, he noticed the dead bodies of three men. Iroh gagged as he noticed one had been impaled by a sharp rock. Zuko groaned softly and his eyes shot open.
"uncle?" said Zuko as he sat up.
Iroh turned to his nephew.
"Zuko, are you all right?" asked Iroh concerned.
"I'm fine uncle… what happened?" asked Zuko as he stood and noticed the men who were dead.
"we crashed" answered Iroh simply. Zuko stared around the beach.
"did the supplies make it?" asked Zuko. Iroh started sniffling.
"no… not even the… the tea" answered Iroh , burying his face in his hands. Zuko slowly put an arm around his uncle's shoulders. Then they heard roaring … and screaming.
"did you hear that?" asked Ann slowly.
"hear what?" asked Jack.
"I thought I heard … never mind" replied Ann. Slowly, the group made their way in – between the craggy rocks. Every once in a while, Carl would take out his tripod and camera to take a shot of an interesting statue or carving.
"Incredible… absolutely incredible" mumbled Carl. Soon the group stopped. In front of them was a village of stone. All around were spears jutting out of the ground, some, with skeletons tied to the shafts. Once again, Carl set up his camera to take a shot of the village.
"hey!"
Baxter jumped at the sudden sound; Jack chuckled for a few moments. Everyone turned to see two teens, the boy was at least sixteen, and the girl standing next to him was about fourteen. Behind them were two very strange animals. There was a large horned creature with six legs, and a small lemur – like animal with large ears. The boy and the girl were both dressed in blue.
"uhhh… hi there!" said Carl waving his hand.
"Yeah, hi, look, we're trying to find our buddy, have yah seen him, he's got an arrow on his forehead." Said the boy quickly.
"Cant say we have" answered Ann.
"Guys! Can we move along please!" said Carl, cutting in.
"Well, could we come with you then?" asked the girl. The boy shot her a glance that said "what the hell are you doing!"
"Sure" replied Ann. Soon the group was moving again, with the two teens and the animals trailing behind.
Sokka didn't like these people, not one bit. The blond woman slowed her pace so that she was walking alongside Sokka & Katara.
"so what are your names?" asked the woman politely. Before Sokka could say anything, Katara spoke.
"my name is Katara, this is Sokka, my brother, the animals are Appa and Momo".
"Pleased to meet you" said Ann as she shook Katara's hand, then offered a hand to Sokka.
Sokka stared at the hand although it had ten fingers, and reluctantly shook it when Katara nudged him.
"Pleased to meet you" said Ann as she shook Sokka's hand.
"Alright! Your name?" asked Sokka impatiently.
"Ann" she replied. As the group moved through the village, Sokka and Katara learned the names of the other men in the group. The one called Jack, slowed his pace so that he was standing next to Sokka.
"Do you guys live here?" asked Jack.
"Nope. We got caught in a storm, then the winds carried us here I guess" replied Katara.
Jack was about to continue questioning when a girls crying could be heard. Sokka drew out his boomerang slowly. Then they saw the girl. She wore scraggy and dirty clothes. And her raven hair dirtily lay upon her shoulders, slowly the girl raised her arm, and stood rigid.
"Mr. Denham I think we should go back" whispered Ann. Carl raised a hand and said
"I'll handle this" as he took out a packet of nestle chocolate.
"Look. Chocolate. You like chocolate?" said Denham holding the packet out to the girl. The girl didn't even blink. Slowly a steady flow of rain started pattering.
"I don't like this" whispered Sokka uneasily.
"Here, put it in your hand and take it!" said Carl grabbing the girls hand and putting the chocolate in her palm. Suddenly the girl started snarling and bit Carl's hand. Carl groaned angrily.
"She didn't want the chocolate!" said Jack as Carl started running after the girl. The girl ran into a crevice in one of the buildings, as Carl was about to enter an old woman snarled at him. Carl halted and everyone looked around as they realized that they were surrounded. Sokka gripped his boomerang till his knuckles turned white.
"It's all right! Just a bunch of women and old folks! … there harmless!" Suddenly Mike gasped, and Ann slowly turned to see a spear sticking out of his back. Ann screamed like she never had before.
Then…they heard the roar. It continued for about another five seconds. The group suddenly realized that men were closing in on them.
Aang had never been so frightened in his life. The scream had come from further down the beach and the roar had emanated from the inland.
"Katara?" whispered Aang as he opened up his glider and took off.
The scream and the roar had only distracted him for a moment. He was more worried that ten of his men were about to become part of a monster's breakfast. The creature was about 24 feet long, brown scaly skin, a large horn and a maw full of bone – crushing teeth.
"Uncle! Come with me!" said Zuko as he rushed forward to take the beast head – on. Iroh began circling the creature, trying to flank it. Zuko distracted the creature with a blast of flame, giving his men time to escape. The creature began lumbering towards him. But halted as something grabbed its tail.
"Gotcha!" cried Iroh as he held onto the beast's tail. The creature flicked its tail, throwing Iroh to the ground. The creature turned, and lumbered toward Iroh. Zuko quickly stepped in front of the monster and launched several blasts of fire at the creature; the creature groaned and snapped its jaws at Zuko. Zuko side – stepped, barely avoiding his arm being torn off. The creature lunged again and Zuko dodged, quickly launching another blast of flame at the monsters under belly. The monster howled and began waddling away, defeated, no breakfast was worth this. Zuko ran over to his uncle.
"You all right?" asked Zuko. Iroh nodded slowly. Zuko stood and scanned the surroundings.
"We need to move into that cove over there" said Zuko pointing to a cove further down the beach.
"Then we'll find the avatar" finished Zuko.
End of chapter 2.
Oh boy, the nightmares only just beginning…