Tips would be nice.
I do not own Avatar, but I wish I owned Yue.
Chapter Two: The Princess and the Avatar State
"Are you sure the guy will give us an escort?" Sokka asked Yue. "Positive," she answered. "He's never turned down anyone before."
"I can't wait to arrive!" Aang shouted estactily from the top of Appa's head. "What's his name again?" Yue smiled. "General Fong." she replied.
"There it is!" Katara screamed. Yue laughed. "It looks like Hahn's house gone wrong..." her happy comment lingered in the air, now a sour memory. "Hahn. Dad." She whispered. "How are they taking this?"
"Get Yue back!" Hahn screamed at Chief Arnook. "I want my wife!" Chief Arnook looked up from his scroll. "It's her choice," he answered. "I don't know why she would leave the Northern City, but she's sure to return eventually."
"She could be married to Sokka by then!" Hahn yelled. "If you won't go after her, I'll go myself!" Chief Arnook stood abruptly and angrily. "You shall do no such thing! I shall NOT permit you to leave the city to chase the Avatar and Yue!"
Hahn grimaced, then secretly snickered. 'I won't have to leave,' he thought. 'All I have to do is find a willing mercenary. Ah, yes. Admiral What's-his-name? oh yeah. Choi. I'm sure Admiral Choi would love to go after Yue. Now the only thing I have to do is pay him and bust him out of prison.'
When the group landed at the fort, they were immediately greeted by General Fong himself. It was obvious who had arrived; the Avatar with his arrow and flying bison, and the princess, with her snow-white hair.
"Welcome. I am General Fong," he introduced himself. "I suppose you want an escort to Omashu?"
"Yes, please." Katara answered. "Good. But first, I must talk to the Avatar. Alone." Fong replied, whisking Aang away.
"I'm following them," Yue declared. Sokka looked up from some bread he was eating. "WHAT? Why?" he asked.
"Because I want to know what's so private that Fong can't say it in front of us," Yue retorted.
"Aang will tell us," Katara said hopefully. "I have no doubt he will, but I want to hear the General's exact words," Yue said, and ran off after Fong and Aang.
It didn't take her long to find them. They were on the wall of the fort. She crouched behind some barrells as Fong was talking. "Look, Avatar. Soldiers are returning from the war." Aang looked and gasped. Yue gazed down. The soldiers all had an injury of some sort, some missing arms or legs, others pulling carts of wounded and dead men. It wasn't a sight Yue had wanted to see so soon after leaving the safety of her own walled city.
"I'm trying to stop this war," Yue heard Aang say. "I'm learning the elements as fast as I can."
General Fong turned to gaze at Aang. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about. You see, I can still give you the escort to go to Omashu and learn the long way, or we can explore the Avatar State."
"The Avatar State!" Aang was surprised. "But I don't know how to enter it. I can only tap into it when I'm hurt or in danger, and I can't control myself when I'm in it." Aang informed him. General Fong laughed. "I plan that during your short stay here, we might as well just, you know, trying tapping into your powers."
"I dunno," Aang began, but faltered. His gaze fell to the soldiers still filing into the fort. "I guess we could try," he answered. "But please, don't do anything stupid."
"I promise," Fong said. "Let's get you back to your friends."
Yue ran from her hiding place to meet Sokka and Katara.
"It is a good deal, yes, a very good deal," muttered Zhao. "But how do I know you'll keep your word?" Hahn held up a bag and shook it. A clinking sound erupted from the seal-skin. "You get this now," Hahn promised, "and you'll get double that when Yue is back here."
Zhao nodded. "How will we communicate?" Zhao asked. Hahn groaned. He hadn't thought of that. "Tell you what," Zhao said, "I'll send you a pigeon. It will wait for you outside the city gates, until you arrive, regardless of when it arrives. Just send it back with your message."
Hahn smiled. "Deal," escaped from his lips. "Now to bust you out..."
Yue pretended to be totally surprised when Aang told her about General Fong's idea. "So, we're trying tomorrow, I guess." Katara stood up. "Shouldn't you learn the other elements first?" she asked.
"That's what I said, but Fong said that this way is faster."
Yue stood up too. "I need to take a walk," she said quickly. "I need some thinking time."
Yue escaped to the wall of the fortress, where she leaned against a watch tower. Her breathing came fast and in gasps. She felt sick and weak. What was going on? Her vision reeled, then went dark...
Zhao breathed the night air with great inhales. It felt great to breathe fresh air, rather than the stale, smelly air of the prison. He was on a raft, on his way to the Earth Kingdom, and on his way to his target. Hahn had left him hours ago, saying it would be suspicious for him to be gone for so long. Zhao had agreed.I
His gaze fell to the moon. "You think you've won, don't you?" Zhao whispered. "No worries. I'll get you yet, and your precious moon princess too. You can't protect all your waterbenders forever! The Water Tribe will fall, starting with the princess..."
Yue was standing in a lake. Two ginormous fish were circling each other, one black, one white. Yue knew who they were; the moon and the ocean, ying and yang, life and death.
Avatar Kuruk appeared in the middle of the fish. "Yue," he called.
"I'm right here," she answered.
"You have done something wrong," he said.
"I did?"
"The moon was supposed to succumb to Zhao's fire, and you were to give your life to it. You have stopped that from happening."
"I was supposed to die?"
"Yes."
Yue staggered back with horror. "I was supposed to DIE?"
"Yes, but you have stopped that from happening. Now..."
"Now what?"
"I don't know! I just don't know!" Avatar Kuruk yelled with frustration. "Tui will have to tell you... it was Tui that decided what was SUPPOSED to happen. It was Tui who gave you life... so you could give Tui life."
The fish disappeared, and standing in their place was a man and a woman. The woman stepped forward. "I am Tui," she introduced herself. "I am the one who pulls the tide in and out. You have broken the pattern by running in front of the fire..."
Yue frowned. "What's going to happen?"
Tui looked at La. "Two things CAN happen, but only one will. We can turn back time, La and I, by circling backwards, and you can die..."
Yue gulped. "Or?"
Tui looked unhappy. "This is La's idea. He has sympathy for you. He wants to let you live and to see what happens. If we like it, you can live. If you goof things up, we will do MY decision."
"Which one are we doing?" Yue asked, fearing the answer.
"We will let you live," Tui answered, "but only if your actions please us."
"One thing," Yue began, "the vision my father had... of a young woman becoming the moon, is it yet to come or is it evaded?"
"That depends," Tui answered.
"On who's decision?"
"On you."
The Moon, the ocean, the Avatar, and the lake disappeared, and Yue was back to leaning on the wall. "That was wierd," she said, but that was an understatement. That was the decision of her life.
The next day, everyone in the group had breakfast... but Aang. "General Fong wants you to be... er, ready to feed off of spiritual energy," the servant who brought up breakfast told Aang. "Sorry, kiddo."
After the food disappeared, the group was whisked into the temple of the fortress. A table set for two was in sitting in the pavilion at the top of the temple. "Who's this for?" Aang asked Fong, who had joined them by that time.
"You. Tea is known to calm and to help meditate, and raise the chi. Take a few sips. See what happens." A half-hour later, Aang had downed five cups and was feeling rather bloated. "Uh, I don't think tea is going to do it," Aang whispered. "All right," Fong said. "Then into the temple areas we go."
Deep in the temple, an old priest held up a bowl. "We shall combine the four elements," he said. "Perhaps that will trigger the Avatar State."
"Water," the priest said, and poured water into the bowl from a pitcher. "Earth," he mumbled, and threw in a handful of dirt, "Fire," he declared, and dropped a torch in. "Air," he proclaimed, and pumped some air into the bowl from what looked like a mini version of a blacksmith's bellows.
He held up the bowl proudly. "The elements combined!" He shouted. Before Aang could ask what the bowl would do, the priest, without warning, chucked the bowl's contents at Aang.
"Feeling anything?" the priest asked. "Nothing. It's just mud," Aang replied, wiping his face with his arm, which didn't help either, since his arm was covered in mud too.
The rest of the day went like that, trying weird techniques to coax the Avatar into the State. By noon, Aang was about to give up. He went down to the fortress base to talk to General Fong.
"So you see," Aang finished after talking to him, "I just think that I should continue on my travels."
"I see," Fong said. "Since we can't do this the easy way, we'll just do it the hard way."
"Wait. What?" Aang was confused.
"Men," General Fong commanded, "attack the Avatar!"
Yue heard strange crashing sounds coming from outside. "I should find Sokka," she whispered, and started to run. She bumped into him and Katara just outside their room. "What's going on?" she yelled. The sounds were so loud they could barely hear each other.
"General Fong's gone crazy and he's attacking Aang!" Sokka replied. The three ran outside.
Sokka tried to take out a few soldiers with his boomerang and Katara tried stopping some with her whip. Yue stayed by Katara, watching her moves. She would try to copy those moves later, to learn- or try to learn- how to bend.
General Fong smiled, turned his head, and saw the two girls. "All right Avatar," he called out. "Maybe you can avoid me, but she can't!"
Fong twisted his arm, and Katara's ankles sunk into the ground. "I can't move!" she cried. Yue put her hands around her waist and pulled. Katara wouldn't move.
Fong twisted his hand, and this time Yue sunk with Katara, both up to their waists in earth. "This is bad," Yue said.
"Aang, do something!" Katara yelled.
"If you want to save them, then get in the State!"
Fong twisted again, and the two's heads were the only things poking out of the ground. "Aang, help!" Yue cried.
"You have to stop," Aang pleaded. "You could save them if you were in the Avatar State," Fong replied. "I'm trying," Aang begged. "I don't see glowing," Fong said, and clenched his hand. Aang jumped to the place where the two sunk into the ground, but it was too late. They were gone.
Aang's tattoos glowed a brillant white. "It worked!" Fong cried with victory.
Aang's white eyes fixed themselves on him. "Uh oh," Fong realized.
Aang rose into the air and began doing some serious damage to the fort. "Wait, Avatar! It was only a trick!" General Fong raised his arm and the two girls emerged from the ground, gasping. But Aang didn't hear. He was oblivious to the rest of the world, secluded and blocked off from everyone.
Yue gasped. Something was rising out of Aang- his spirit! She saw his spirit go onto a dragon with Avatar Roku. She looked at Katara. She didn't seem to have seen anything. Yue turned back to where the dragon had been- but it was gone.
Seconds passed, and then the dragon returned and so did Aang's spirit. Katara moved in to comfort him and slowly, she coaxed him out of the Avatar State.
"See, Avatar! It worked! Now just imagine if you were doing this to a squadron of fire nation sold- ohhhh." General Fong fell unconcious after Sokka hit him in the head with his club. "That's what we do to crazed generals," Sokka said.
"Do you still want that escort to Omashu?" A soldier asked.
"I think we can manage," Aang replied.
Yue stopped by the soldier. "One more thing," she whispered. "It would be a good idea NOT to tell my father that we came this way," she advised. "Secret from Arnook? All right, I won't tell him, but if he asks, he's going to get an answer." the soldier replied. "Deal," Yue said, and climbed on Appa.
"Appa, yip-yip!" Aang said, and the group was off.
Zhao watched as Appa soared in one direction, and a pigeon in the opposite. It had a message tied to its tail. A very simple message.
SHE WENT TO FONG'S FORTRESS.
There you have it! The next chapter! Sorry if it wasn't too close to the episode. I haven't watched these in a while and I'm going by memory. The next chapter will be summing up the Cave of Two Lovers. Sorry that it took me so long to post this chapter!