PREDATORS: THE AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER VERSION!
Part 2
"Either fight me like a man or stand still so I can take your head, firebender!" Jet screamed as he swung one of his hook swords at the hated enemy he was combating. Piandao, however, managed to evade the attack with yet another skillful parry that left his younger opponent increasingly frustrated, "Young man…for the last time, while I may be a citizen of the Fire Nation, I am not a firebender! I have been patient with you thus far, limiting my capabilities; but if you continue to remain obstinate to my pleas, then I shall have no other choice but to take your life!" Piandao exclaimed; his straight sword thrust out towards Jet, by his right hand, as he strategically backed away, from the stubborn, teenage rebel, to create a fair gap of space between the both of them.
Jet snickered, "Fire Nation trash! Keep denying it all you want, but I'll never believe your lies! I know your kind too well, so it was easy for me to catch on to your plan a long time ago. You must've known that I was the leader of the famed Freedom Fighters and that I had a huge, Fire Nation bounty on my head. So you found some way to knock me unconscious, capture me from Ba Sing Se, and throw me in this God-forsaken jungle to ensure that I don't receive help from my allies and you have a safe haven to kill me. But obviously things haven't gone so smoothly, as you hoped, so now you've resorted to playing innocent; in the hopes that I'll believe your words and lay my guard down, giving you the right moment to incinerate me with a fireball! Well…if you value your life, you better start letting those flames fly now, because it's going to take a lot more than tricks and petty death threats to defeat me! I have no mercy against firebenders!" He cried.
Piandao stood there staring at Jet as if he was insane, "What on earth are you talking about, boy!"
"Enough with the act!" Jet growled, raising his hook swords in resentment, "You don't want to firebend? Fine! You'll die from my advantage!" The teen yelled before starting a charge toward Piandao. Piandao, however, sighed as he calmly prepared for the oncoming attack, "For a life to end at such a young age; it truly is a shame." He murmured while entering into a defensive stance, already envisioning the counterattack that he would use to end his young opponent's life.
Just as both opponents were about to unleash their respective assaults on each other, a strong gale of wind came between them, abruptly halting the battle. Both Jet and Piandao then turned their attention to the direction from which the gale came, and saw a small group of fairly recognizable faces standing in front of the dense bushes, not too far from them.
"That's enough fighting Jet; we have enough problems on our hands already." Aang spoke, his staff-glider thrust out in the direction of the two warriors.
Jet gave a surprised stare at the Avatar, "Aang? What are-"
"I asked the same question earlier…" Aang gently interrupted before gesturing to the members of the party behind him, "…we all did; both of ourselves and each other. But to be honest, none of us has a clue what we're doing here. "
"Piandao!" Iroh called out amiably, recognizing his fraternal White Lotus brother. The feeling became mutual as the elite swordsman sported a soft smile at the sight of the former general, "At last…a friendly face." He chuckled before sheathing his sword, irking the nearby Jet, in the process, "Hey, firebender, we're not done yet!" He yelled.
"I'm afraid you are." Iroh spoke as he and his group meandered closer into Jet and Piandao's vicinity, "Like the Avatar implied, fighting amongst each other is the last thing we need in these very perplexing and disturbing times."
Jet's eyes and nostrils flared out at the sight of Iroh, "You again! What is this, some kind of collective Fire Nation plot? I won't be taken down without a fight!" He cried, once again raising his hook swords defensively.
"Jet, stop!" Aang exclaimed, "Open your eyes and look around you: you're in the middle of nowhere surrounded by random people like the Avatar, a Dai Li agent, and the Fire Nation princess! Everybody is just as confused, over this situation, as you, so you've got to stop thinking that this is the work of the Fire Nation!"
Piandao sighed, "Finally, a voice of reason! First this fool randomly attacks me while I'm wandering through this jungle, trying to make sense of things, and then I spend almost what seemed like an hour trying to persuade him, in battle, that I'm not his enemy nor am I firebender!"
Jet reacted to Piandao's words by sticking his index finger, in an accusing fashion, in Piandao's face, "Hey, the Fire Nation has had everything to do with what's wrong in the world today! When I saw your Fire Nation clothes and smelled smoke coming from somewhere in the jungle, I knew that you had to be up to something!" He retorted, masterfully managing to clinch the long strand of wheat, in his teeth, as he forcefully talked.
Aang cleared his throat apprehensively, "Actually… me, Iroh, and our new friend, Phil, were the ones responsible for that."
Phil, alongside Aang, nodded, "Yeah, it's actually kind of a funny story-"
"No one wants to hear it, either!" Azula loudly interjected, arms crossed and still keeping her space from the closer mass of her male associates, "Look, I don't know—and honestly don't care—about anyone else, but I need to find a way out this jungle sometime this century! So if you guys are done 'bonding' with each other, I'd like to start moving again." She impatiently spoke.
"It's a strange day, indeed, when you see the Fire Nation princess in the company of both commoners and the Avatar, himself." Piandao spoke, in amazement, before taking a few steps closer toward Azula and saluting her with a bow, "Princess, Master Piandao; at your service."
Azula stared down at her countryman with narrowed eyes, "Hmm…yes, I've heard of you: the famed swordsman who compensates his lack of firebending ability with the skill of a blade. Admirable, but I still hold no respect, in my heart, for deserters."
Piandao raised his body, "Princess-"
"Spare me the excuses. It's torture enough for me to associate with a group of my inferiors, let alone another one who is a shame to the Fire Nation military." She interpolated.
Uncomfortably, Piandao cleared his throat, "Thank you for your…understanding, princess."
Making the most of an awkward situation, Aang decided to speak out, "Alright, well at least our numbers have increased; which means better protection against the unknown." He smiled.
"I don't care how lost I am, I'm not hooking up with anything Fire Nation related; period." Jet sneered, still holding his hook swords defiantly. In an attempt to assuage the hostility of the troubled teen, as best he could, Aang placed a hand on Jet's shoulder, "Look Jet, we need to stick together; at least just for a little while, until we can ultimately figure out a way out of this place. Right now, though, we have no understanding, whatsoever, of this environment; so there's a better chance of survival if we use all the resources we have, and that means you, me, and everyone else."
Jet gave Aang a hard stare before slowly moving his gaze onto Piandao, Iroh, and Azula, respectively, "As long as they keep their distance from me, then everything will be sunshine and roses." He spat, sheathing his hook swords afterwards. Aang took a sigh of relief at Jet's answer and removed his hand from the teen's shoulder.
"Well, now that that's taken care of, maybe we should let down that old lady above us." Phil said nonchalantly, drawing the attention of the crowd to the branches high above them. There, a mysterious elderly woman dangled helplessly by the chords of her tattered, deflated bag, which, was caught up in the crooked branches of the treetops above her. Sporting a nervous smile, she addressed the people below her, "I'm sorry to bother you folks down there, but I'm in need of some assistance, please!" She spoke in a surprisingly cordial tone, given her circumstances.
"How do you think we should get her down?" Aang asked the nearby Iroh while concentrating his gaze on the trapped old woman. A similarly gawking Iroh scratched his beard as he thought up a response, "Well…I would suggest-"
His sentence was cut short when a short jet of blue flame suddenly singed across the chords above the elderly woman, causing her to fall from her elevated height, in the branches, and land roughly on the ground before the group of people. Instinctively, both Aang and Iroh's eyes drew on Azula, followed by everyone else's. Standing in her same position, with one hand casually placed on her hip, and the other, raised high, at an angle, above her head, Azula then lowered her arm and blew out the residual smoke rising from her two, extended fingers. Sensing the stares upon her, Azula returned them back indifferently, "What? She needed to be freed, right?"
Iroh shook his head, disapprovingly, before stepping towards the recovering old woman, "Madam…" He uttered, as he helped her to her feet with his hands, "…please excuse our roughness."
The old woman grunted as she supported her weight on her feet, "It's quite alright, I only just almost broke my hip but…I've been through worse pain before." She replied while removing the torn remnants of the apparatus from the trunk of her short body. Looking up to Iroh, she smiled, "Thank you for your kindness, sir."
Iroh nodded with a similarly friendly smirk, "The honor is mine, madam. Such an unfortunate circumstance could only be the result of the same perilous journey, through the sky, that I and all the others, standing before you, have already experienced. We were lucky to have not shared the same condition as you."
The old woman moaned, "Oh, what a horrible journey it was too. Tell me, who are you people? Where are we?" She asked in bewilderment.
"Well…in regard to your last question, that's what we're still trying to find out." Aang replied, sauntering towards the old woman with an open hand, "My name is Aang, though, and I'm the Avatar. The man who helped you to your feet is Iroh, and these people around me are the others that we've found in this jungle, like you."
The old woman turned a surprised gaze on Aang before she courteously received his gesture with both of her hands, "The Avatar? What an honor it is to finally meet you! Are you the reason that I've been brought here? Do you somehow have the power to teleport people from their homes too?" She asked.
Aang shook his head, "No ma'am, I have nothing to do with any of this. My presence here is just as much a mystery to me as you."
"Oh." The old woman replied, in a slightly disappointed tone, "Well…are you any closer to ending the Fire Nation's war and restoring balance to the world?" She asked, eager for some sort of good news.
"No." Azula blurted.
"Yes…!" Aang quickly returned, "…sort of-well…I'm working on it! Anyway, the fact of the matter is this: I came up with an idea to travel to higher ground, in order to survey the environment and possibly find a way off this place. Would you like to join our group?"
"Would I? What other choice do I have?" The old woman responded practically, "My name is Hama, and I would love to help you in any way I can."
Aang nodded, "Great! Um…can you bend?"
"Judging by the look of those clothes, I bet it's fire." A nearby Jet spoke with a scowl, unsheathing one of his hook swords with his left hand and patting its edge, softly, in the palm of his right, menacingly. A disturbed Hama sported an uneasy grin, as a result, "Oh no, child…I'm actually a waterbender. You see, I was captured from the Southern Water Tribe and imprisoned by the Fire Nation, at a young age, during one of the many waterbender purges in that region. I was freed, soon after, however, for good behavior. Since then, I've been living in Fire Nation territory as a simple innkeeper." She then reached down to tear off a large, flowering plant from the ground. Rising up, Hama used her free hand to hover over the top of the flower and, with a quick swipe of her hand, she removed the water from the body of the flower, causing the plant to shrivel, "See?" She testified to Jet.
At the sight, Jet's facial expression immediately relaxed, "Hmm. Okay, you're cool." He said calmly before returning his hook sword.
"Wow, I've never seen a waterbender bend the water in a plant, like that, before! What kind of technique is that?" Aang asked, after witnessing the marvel. Hama grinned, "Oh, it's just a little skill that I developed, myself, a long time ago." She replied, amiably, while still holding the hovering mass of water, from the flower, in her free hand.
"It's totally awesome, too." Phil randomly complemented, earning the similar murmurs of those around him, with the exception of Azula. The silent chatter ended, however, when the sounds of a single, unknown handclap made a strange introduction into the vicinity.
"What now?" Piandao muttered while grabbing the hilt of his sheathed sword and eyeing the surrounding environment suspiciously; his sentiment, likewise, spreading to the others, who also readied themselves, defensively, for the unexpected. As if sensing the growing hostility from the stiff silence, the owner of the mysterious applause promptly exposed herself from behind the trunk of one of the many nearby trees.
"Whoa, calm down everybody. I just wanted to complement the old waterbender too." June the Bounty Hunter uttered, as she stepped out into the open, "What can I say? I'm a sucker for entertainment." She added while raising her forearms, opening her palms, and giving off an innocent shrug. Iroh was taken aback by the bounty hunter's familiar presence, "Oh, June! If I had known you would be here, I would have put on some better clothes!" The general remarked of his young crush.
June rolled her eyes, "Yeah…nice to see you again, too, Iroh." She replied jadedly.
"Boy, I guess nothing is so surprising anymore." Aang sighed, as he recognized the young huntress. Although their last encounter was less than friendly, he nonetheless felt no threat from June, given the state of affairs, as she approached his group, "How long where you standing behind there?" He asked her bluntly.
June sighed, "Oh, long enough to watch these two guys duke it out, notice the old lady get stuck in the trees, and see the rest of you come to resolve it all."
"So…was there a reason why you stayed hidden this whole time?" The Avatar inquired, once again.
June crossed her arms, "Aside from being a natural loner...I'm also an opportunist. I don't get involved in things that don't concern me, but I do take advantage of chance openings when they're to my benefit. How I ended up from the back of my shirshu and into this tropical paradise, in the space of a few seconds, is beyond me; but after eavesdropping on the conversations of you guys, I realize that you all are looking for the same answers that I seek. So, needless to say, count me as the newest addition to your group, as well."
Aang beamed at June's statement, "Sure! We've been looking for more people to join up with us, anyway." He spoke.
"Uh, for those of us who have no idea who you are, would you mind filling us in?" Jet asked June, while observing the huntress curiously.
"June the Bounty Hunter…" She responded, "… I hunt people for a living and I'm real good at it. Happy?" June languidly replied with a hint of sarcasm.
Phil raised his eyebrows, "No kidding? I hunt people down too! Hey, do you find you it easier to break the legs of running targets, or do you aim for severing the old Achilles-tendon to stop them in their tracks?" He genially asked.
June rubbed her chin, "That's a good question. I usually solve that problem by using the Spinal Cord Rearrangement Technique. That way, they stop running and they don't put up a struggle." She responded.
Phil snapped his fingers, "Of course, the Spinal Cord Rearrangement Technique! You know, I don't know why I don't use that move more often. I've heard that it's really effective!" He replied back.
"Uh, you know what guys? I think it's time now to keep moving!" Aang quickly changed the odd and uncomfortable subject. Moving ahead of the company around him, Aang lead the advance, once again, as the haphazard group, of now eight people, followed behind him to resume the trek up the terrain of the mysterious jungle. The hours slowly passed by, though, as they ascended up the countless hills and knolls of the foreign landscape. By the time the group had reached an uncharacteristically dry, open clearing, many of the company were exhausted from the long period of walking in the humid climate of the jungle.
"Aang…I think…that it's time…for a rest." A weary Iroh spoke from behind the sweaty airbender, himself.
Stopping in his tracks, Aang turned around to face his band of fatigued and perspiring individuals, who, had halted their stride, after his, as well, "Well…I guess a little break won't hurt." He spoke, upon observing them. But while each person graciously took time to lie down upon certain, spread out spots along the ground, an annoyed Azula used her moment of respite to briskly make her way toward Aang, "Look here, Avatar, I'm not sure where exactly you went to leadership school at, but you're doing a pretty lame job. We need to keep moving." She sneered.
The Avatar, in a meditative sitting position, along with Iroh, looked up to his disgruntled, ill-fated, travel companion and sighed, "In case you haven't noticed, Azula, everybody is tired. We've been walking for hours. You look like you could use some rest, yourself." He replied calmly.
"Yeah…thanks for the concern. But In case you haven't noticed, the sun hasn't moved from its position in the sky for hours either!" Azula responded back.
Aang's eyebrows raised in alarm from Azula's report, "What?"
"She's right." Iroh spoke as he sat beside Aang, "Ever since we've been walking, the sun hasn't moved an inch. As firebenders, I knew only Azula and I would be the ones to notice this strange phenomenon, but, for the sake of group morale, I have been hesitant to speak out about it."
"It only gets better too…" Azula began, as she knelt beside Aang to face a small, cracked opening, within the rocky earth, in front of him. It housed a small puddle of water, "…when I first landed here and saw no sight of civilization, I decided to make a water compass to get some kind of read on my location. This was what I saw." She finished, before reaching into a pocket on her trousers and pulling out a small leaf. Placing the leaf in the water, she, Aang, and Iroh watched as it spun wildly in a 360 motion.
Aang shook his head, "What does it mean?"
Azula sighed with annoyance, "It means one of two things, genius. Either we are on one of the Earth's poles surrounded by a magnetized rock, or the world has suddenly managed to lose all of its magnetic poles since we arrived in this jungle."
The revelation stunned Aang as he sat staring at spinning leaf. Reading his emotion, Azula gave a slight grin, "Still feel like resting now?" She asked, knowing her rhetoric would add insult to Aang's injured confidence. Standing up, she then left the Avatar to ponder on both her words and findings. Iroh, no stranger to Azula's subtle ways of taunting, decided to reinforce the Avatar's resolve as he had done so many times with his own nephew, "I know how troubling this may look, Aang, but for the sake of everyone else, you must keep strong."
Aang let out a deep breath of air through his nostrils, "Azula doesn't bother me, Iroh. But this…this really bothers me…" He spoke before trailing off, "…You know what, Iroh? I think you and Azula aren't the only ones who've noticed something weird."
Iroh raised his eyebrows, "Oh?"
The Avatar then locked his eyes with the general, "Have you taken a good look at the people here?"
Iroh blinked confusedly from Aang's odd question, "Uh…I suppose so. What exactly do you mean?"
Aang then turned his gaze onto the six other people that laid, sat, or stood, leisurely, at a distance, in front of him, "A member of the fierce Dai Li, a radical anarchist, a deadly swordsman, a sadistic warrior princess, and a ruthless bounty hunter. All of them are lethal individuals with some type of history for violence. Except Hama, of course, who is the only person out-of-place amongst them."
Iroh paused for a moment, to reflect upon Aang's words, while observing the six people from the point-of-view that he shared with the Avatar, "I suppose the Fire Nation general, who earned great fame for his exploits on the battlefield, fits into this examination, as well?" He asked plainly. Aang turned a somber gaze on Iroh, who, though his eyes were still fixed ahead, gave a short chuckle, "It's quite alright, I understand. It's a valid observation; but still, what about you Aang? Where does the Avatar fit in all this?"
Sighing, Aang was hesitant to respond, "Do you remember what Azula said earlier? About me abandoning the world and the affects that it has had? Well, what if all the suffering and death that I've caused, albeit indirectly, makes me no different from anyone else? I suppose that I'm just as much a violent person or…killer too." He then became silent for a brief moment, "If this is so, then is it more than just a coincidence that all of us are here together?"
After asking the question, Aang looked at Iroh once again, who, this time, returned back the Avatar's stare just as pensively. Aang then lowered his gaze as if to further contemplate on the disturbing thoughts and revelations that had come to him. Two quiet minutes passed and then Aang quickly rose up from the ground to stand on his two feet "All right everyone, break time is over!" He exclaimed loudly; his tenacity once again rejuvenated by his sense of duty as the Avatar. All that was important now, to Aang, was leading his group of people out of the jungle and, for the sake of sanity, he knew that he needed to focus on that. The questions could wait, for now, but at the moment, he and everyone else needed to reach higher ground without another moment's delay.
So, with minimal reluctance on the part of the group's various members, the sweaty voyage resumed, once more, with the Avatar at the helm. Exiting soon from the open clearing, the march came into contact with the jungle, yet again, but found its brush and flora less thick than the deeper areas from which they had came. Recognizing these environmental signs, from his earlier, nomadic adventures with Katara, Sokka, and Toph, Aang quietly understood that he and his troupe were finally getting closer to the point of their destination. More minutes passed by and after grazing past another small collection of trees and brush, the Avatar finally saw the horizon of the land's promontory in the short distance beyond the leveling slopes of earth before him. Turning back, joyously, to his group, he yelled "There it is guys, the highest point of land! C'mon!"
With renewed energy, a damp and sticky Aang smiled as he jogged over to the promontory, reaching its edge in a matter of moments to finally survey the land. But as he stood there looking out into the vista that pressed both the heavens and earth into one massive scene, the open smile that was strewn on his face slowly retreated into a wide, shocked gape. The members of his traveling party soon joined him at the summit and they too were gripped by a similar response from the extraordinary sight before their eyes. Some, incredulously, rubbed their eyes as if to confirm what they were witnessing was in fact real while others, like Aang, gawked at the view in a pure stupor. Even Azula, always the calm and calculated individual, felt her heart jump as she looked on with both amazement and wonder at the bright sky overlooking the endless, unstirred, green topography of the jungle below. It was abnormally littered with the large, celestial bodies of strange, orbiting planets and moons. Save for the glowing sun that rested in the backdrop of the sky, the visual was vastly different from anything that the benders and warriors had ever seen on Earth and brought the group to a stunning conclusion that only an astonished Piandao was finally able to verbalize, "Sweet heavens…I-I don't believe it…we're on another world!" He exclaimed.
…TO BE CONTINUED…