Hi everybody, sorry for the long wait. I've had quite a lot to do in regards to work and school, well enough of that. Let's get started. Remember, this is based of the 2003 TMNT series.
The Library
Appa continued to soar through the skies with Aang sitting at the reins with Leo, Katara, Raph, Toph, Don, Sokka, and Mikey in the saddle. The Gaang spent the last few days telling the Turtles about the war and some of their adventures; finding Aang in the ice-berg, being chased by Zuko while traveling to the North Pole, Zhao's' assault on the North Pole, meeting Toph, Aang now learning Earthbending and Waterbending. The Turtles we're quite impressed with the kids' accomplishments to say the least.
"Okay, so explain how you can see if your blind." Leo asked.
"I don't see like you normal folk." Toph answered. "I use Earthbending to see; it's kinda like seeing with my feet. I feel the vibrations in the earth and I can use it to see everything around me."
"Like a form of subterranean sonar." Don deduced. "Fascinating."
"Cool." Mikey added. "But this Avatar State sounds even cooler."
"It's not all that cool." Aang replied.
"What do you mean it's not cool?" Raph questioned. "You can create massive tidal waves, earthquakes, even freaking tornadoes! You're practically a kick-butt Superhero!"
"The Avatar State is still dangerous." Aang said. "On top of that, I can't use it all the time, it's when I'm most vulnerable."
"What do you mean?" Leo asked.
"It's when I'm connected to my Avatar Spirit and all my past lives; if I'm killed in the Avatar State, the cycle is broken and the Avatar is gone forever."
"I get it, so it's like a method of last resort." Don guessed.
"Yeah, pretty much." Aang replied
"On top of that, he can still accidentally hurt others around him, so it's not a power to use all the time." Katara added.
"It's still pretty awesome." Sokka said. "You guys should see him, he laid waste to an entire armada of Fire Navy ships."
"This kid's a regular Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide." Mikey said.
"Dr. Who and Mr. What?" Aang asked. "Should I be really honored, or really offended?"
"Wait, you never heard of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide?" Mikey questioned.
"Parallel world, remember Mikey." Don reminded.
"But it's one of the all-time classic monster movies!" Mikey still whined.
"Monster movie?" Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph asked at the same time.
"What's a movie?" Katara asked.
Mikey could not believe what he was hearing. "You're kidding. Please tell me you're kidding! This world doesn't have movies?! Please tell me you guys at least got TV! Or Video Games! Or Comic Books!"
Aang, Katara, and Sokka all looked at each other, not really understanding what Mikey was saying.
"No… should we?" Sokka asked.
Mikey's jaw was about to drop. "Next thing your gonna tell me is that you guys don't have hamburgers."
"What's a hamburger?" Toph asked.
"Uh oh." Leo, Don, and Raph grimaced, having a good idea where this is going.
"No hamburgers?!" Mikey exclaimed as he quickly stood up. "Please for the love of Silver Sentry tell me you at least have hot dogs, or nachos, or pizza! PLEASE TELL ME YOU HAVE PIZZA!" Mikey exclaimed as he shook Katara by the shoulders.
"No… never heard of any of that. I guess we don't have those." Katara said. Mikey just had a blank stare on his face as he slowly let her go. "Uh Mikey… you okay?"
"Oh boy." Don breathed.
"Here we go." Raph said as he face-palmed.
Leo began to count down. "Three…. Two… One."
"NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The scream echoed throughout the sky. "WHAT KIND OF WORLD IS THIS! IT'S A MAD HOUSE! A MAD HOUSE!" Mikey screamed as he shook Raph.
*Slap*
"Thanks." Mikey calmed down a bit.
"Don't mention it." Raph replied.
"Is he okay?" Aang asked.
"He'll be fine, he's just being overly-dramatic as usual." Leo replied.
Meanwhile, back in the world of the Turtles, the pyramid of the Nexus was still under the watch of the evil Foot. The Foot Ninjas continued to guard from the bottom of the underground structure while at the top, the Shredder and his subordinates Karai, Hun, and Stockman were currently monitoring it.
"Stockman." Shredder spoke. "How long must I wait?"
"I assure you, I am nearly finished deciphering the ruins." Stockman replied from one of the pillars that decorated the top of the pyramid. "I should have it set in a few hours or so."
"You had better, for your sake." Shredder replied, causing Stockman to gulp.
"Father." Karai said, getting his attention. "He is working as fast as he can, the Nexus will be open to us soon."
"Not soon enough." Shredder replied. "The Turtles have already been transported to the world this Nexus point is connected to. I must find them immediately."
"What's the big deal, Master?" Hun questioned. "There just four mutants, we have an army." Shredder immediately grabbed Hun by the throat and brought him close to his helmeted face.
"You of all people should know the significance of the Turtles, Hun!" Shredder exclaimed as he threw him down. "Those reptiles have interfered in my plans for too long! I cannot afford to underestimate them again. Once we cross into the next world, our first task will be to eliminate those infernal terrapins once and for all!"
As Shredder made his declaration, Karai looked a bit towards the side, unsure of her father's methods.
Back in the world of the Avatar, the heroes all set down at a vacant field with dozens of holes in the ground. Aang sat in the middle of the field in a meditative position with a flute in his hands; while the others all stood behind a bit from him.
"Um, why are we in the middle of nowhere?" Raph asked.
"There's a lot here actually." Toph pointed out. "There's hundreds of little…"
Aang quickly shushed her before she could finish. "I know you can see underground but don't ruin the surprise, just watch." Aang blew a note in the flute and a prairie dog popped out of one whole and squeaked the same note; Aang laughed and Mikey gave a bit of a smile himself while the others just looked at each other. Aang blew another note, resulting in another prairie dog emerging and squeaking. "I'm putting an orchestra together!"
"Orchestra huh?" Sokka questioned. "Well la-di-da."
Despite that, Aang blew more notes, causing a few more prairie dogs to pop up and squeak as well; resulting in Momo chasing all the prairie dogs that emerged. Katara and Mikey laughed a bit as well while Leo and Don gave amusing smiles, where as Raph just sighed.
"This kid is the messiah for the whole world? Raph questioned Aang's childish-behavior.
"He's twelve years old Raph." Leo replied. "Cut him some slack."
Mikey quickly zoomed over to Aang. "Mind if I take a crack at it?"
"Sure, go ahead." Aang replied with a smile as he handed Mikey the flute. Mikey then immediately began to bet-box with the flute; resulting in some more prairie dogs coming up and squeaking in a pattern to go with Mikey's bet-boxing. Aang, Katara, Leo, Don, even Toph seemed to take a liking to this, where as Raph just shook his head with an amusing smile. However, every party has a killjoy, which came in the form of Sokka who plugged the flute Mikey was playing.
"This is great and all but don't we have more important things to do? We should be making plans."
"We did make plans." Toph said. "We're all picking mini-vacations."
"There's no time for vacations." Sokka replied.
"I'm learning the elements as fast as I can." Aang stated. "I practice hard every day with Toph and Katara, I've been training my arrow off."
"Yeah what's wrong with having a little fun in our down time?" Katara asked.
"Well it seems we've found the kill-joy of the group." Raph pointed out.
"I'm not a kill-joy, that's Katara's job!" Sokka pointed out, resulting in him getting smacked upside the head by a water-whip. "Ow!"
"You we're kinda asking for that." Don told him.
"I kinda have to agree with Sokka a bit." Leo said. "We know next-to-nothing about the Fire Nation. We don't know where the Fire Lord lives, what the terrain is like, it's military defenses nothing. We're gonna need a lot more information to win this war."
"I see your point." Aang said as he got up. "But let's finish our mini-vacations first. They won't take to long."
"Sounds fair." Leo replied.
"Hold on, before we go anywhere, you guys are gonna need disguises." Sokka said to the Turtles.
Aang took out a map and showed it to Katara. "You're turn Katara, where would you like to go on your mini-vacation?"
Katara spotted something on the map that caught her interest. "How about this Misty Palms Oasis?"
"Oasis huh?" Mikey chimed in. "Sign me up!"
"Oh yeah, I've been there." Aang said. "It's a presteem, natural, ice-spring. And I usually don't use the word 'presteem'. It's one of nature's wonders."
Five Minutes Later
The group was standing in front of the Oasis where the ice-berg looked like nothing more than a puddle and the oasis seemed nothing more than a slum.
"Must have changed ownership, since I was here." Aang guessed as he laughed nervously. The sign fell down and broke as soon as he said that.
"When was that? In the Late Jurassic?" Raph questioned.
The group walked through the slum-oasis; each of the Turtles we're wearing hooded robes to avoid being seen; Raph's was dark red, Leo's was dark blue, Don's was dark purple, and Mikey's was dark brown. They we're about to walk into a hut, which had many loitering Sandbenders around it. Most of the group walked in, but before Sokka could enter, one of the Sandbenders spat in his path, resulting in him glaring at the smirking Sandbender; Leo quickly pulled Sokka in to avoid making a scene.
Once inside, it seemed like a run-down restaurant. "Well this is… quaint." Leo observed.
They saw someone order a drink in which the chef took a couple of swords and cut up dozens of fruit, mixing it all with many juices before putting it in a cup and dropping a little umbrella.
"I don't see anything wrong with having one of those fruity beverages while we plan our strategy." Sokka said as he quickly ran to the bar.
"Mikey, you've just been replaced." Raph commented.
The person who ordered the previous drink ended up bumping into Aang, accidentally spilling the juice on his robe.
"No worries, I clean up easy." Aang assured as he used Airbending to blow off the juice from his robe.
The man gasped. "You're a living relic."
"Thanks, I try." Aang replied.
"That was a complement?" Mikey asked. "Normally calling someone a relic is an insult."
"That only applies to old people." Raph corrected.
"An Air-Nomad right in front of me." The man observed. "Professor Zei, head of Anthropology at Ba-Sing-Se University." He began to observe Aang's tattoos. "Tell me, which of the Air Temples, do you hail from?"
"The Southern Temple."
"Oh splendid!" the Professor said as he began to measure Aang's head. "Tell me, what was the primary agricultural product of your people?"
"Uh… are fruit pies an agricultural product?"
"No." Don said. "He means stuff like corn, grains, rice, home-grown stuff."
"Oh. Well I wouldn't know."
"That figures." Raph said as he rolled his eyes.
"So Professor, you're a well-traveled guy, obviously." Sokka observed. "Do you have a more current map? Ours seems to be a little dated."
"Yeah, outdated." Mikey added.
"Certainly." The Professor replied.
He showed a map to the group at the table. Sokka began to observe it but wasn't quite satisfied with what he saw.
"What no Fire Nation? Doesn't anyone have a good map of that place?"
"Sokka, think about it." Leo told him. "If anyone had a map of the Fire Nation, don't you think they would have used it by now?"
Sokka then face-palmed, realizing Leo was right.
"You've made a lot of trips into the dessert." Katara observed.
"All in vain I'm afraid." The Professor said. "I've found lost civilizations all over the Earth Kingdom, but I haven't managed to find the crown jewel: Wong-Shi-Tong's Library."
"You spent years walking through the desert to find some guy's library?" Toph questioned.
"Buddy, you really need to get yourself a hobby." Raph said.
"This library is more valuable than gold my friends." The Professor replied. "It is said to contain a vast collection of knowledge."
"I can understand why you'd look for something like that, knowledge is power." Don said as he was now interested. "Tell us more about this library."
"According to legend, it was built by the great knowledge spirit, Wong-Shi-Tong, with the help of his foxy knowledge seekers."
Sokka had a smile on his face. "Oh, so this spirit has attractive assistants huh?"
"Get me a library card to that place." Mikey said with a wide smile.
"I think he means they look like actual foxes guys." Katara stated.
"You're all right, handsome little creatures." The Professor continued. "Wong-Shi-Tong and his Knowledge Seekers collected books from all over the world and put them on display for all of humanity to see, so that we may better ourselves."
Leo began to think. "If this place has books collected from the entire planet, maybe they have something from the Fire Nation, maybe a map or something of their history?"
"I wouldn't know." The Professor replied. "But if such a thing exists, it's in Wong-Shi-Tong's library."
"Well, looks we have a destination in mind." Don observed.
"Yep." Sokka confirmed. "Aang, I do believe it's my turn. I want to spend my vacation at the Library!" Sokka announced dramatically.
"Did you have to be so dramatic?" Raph questioned.
"Uh hey, what about me?" Toph asked. "When do I get to pick?"
"You gotta work here a little longer to qualify for vacation time." Sokka told her, resulting in Toph pouting with her arms crossed.
"Of course there's the matter of finding it." The Professor said. "I've made several trips into the Sing-Wong Desert, and almost died each time. I'm afraid that desert's impossible to cross."
"Impossible is our middle name." Mikey stated. "Just ask our Sky-Bison right outside."
"A Sky-Bison?" The Professor asked with a wide smile. "You actually have one?!"
Back outside, Appa growled at a group of Sandbenders that we're observing him rather closely.
"Sandbenders shoo!" The Professor exclaimed as he and everyone else all ran up to it. "Away from the Bison!"
"You heard him, get lost ya vultures!" Raph stated as the Sandbenders begrudgingly walked away and got back in their boats, which they then propelled away into the desert; everyone gave suspicious looks at the Sandbenders as they rode away.
"I don't like the look of those guys." Don observed.
"That makes two of us." Leo replied. "We better keep an eye out while we're out here."
The large group all loaded up on Appa and began to take flight over the treacherous desert. Raph, Katara, Toph, Mikey, Don, and Sokka all laid back in the saddle while Aang, Leo, and the professor all sat on top of Appa's head. The professor soon began to directly talk to Appa.
"Tell me Sky Bison, are you the last of your bread?" The professor asked while Appa gave a groan in response. "Oh delightful! I only wish I spoke his tongue. Oh the stories this beast could tell." The professor stroke Appa's fur while Momo ran up and chirped at him. "Sshh chatty-monkey!"
Leo and Aang took a look at the picture of the library. "It shouldn't be too hard to find a place like this out here." Aang said.
"A library that big is sure to stick out like a sore thumb." Leo observed.
From there the entire group spent what seemed like hours of searching the endless desert, with no sign of the library.
"Ugh." Toph groaned. "Does this place even exist?"
"Some say it doesn't." The professor said nonchalantly.
"And you didn't mention this before?!" The angry Raph questioned. "Toph, if we die out here, remind me to kick that guy's ass in the afterlife."
"Will do."
Even more time passed; and to say the company was board would be an understatement. Mikey at this point was attempting to play eye-spy to alleviate the boredom.
"I spy something…. Brown." Mikey said.
"Is it sand?" Don groaned. "Like the last twenty times?"
"There it is!" Toph announced, pointing in a certain direction, causing Leo, Aang, Don, Katara, Sokka, and Mikey to look in the direction she was pointing, they all spotted nothing and glared at Toph. "That's what it'll sound like when one of you spots it."
"She's blind, idiots." Raph cracked while he and Toph fist-bumped and they both snickered.
They still searched and found no luck at all.
"It shouldn't be this hard to spot a giant ornate building from the air." Katara said.
"Maybe this place really doesn't exist." Don guessed.
"And this may be just a waste of our time." Leo said.
Sokka looked through the telescope and spotted something that caught his attention. "Down there!" He said, getting everyone's attention. "What's that?"
The group soared down on Appa before jumping off at the base of what appeared to be a small tower sticking out of the sand.
"Is this it?" Mikey asked.
"No, it's not what we're looking for. The building in this drawing is enormous." Katara replied.
They noticed a faint sparkle in the distance and looked in that direction. It came from a fox carrying a scroll in its mouth.
"A fox?" Don questioned. "What's a fox all the way doing out here?"
The fox then ran across the sand and straight up the tower, much to their surprise.
"That's no ordinary fox." Leo observed as it dove into the window at the top of the tower.
"I think that was one of the knowledge seekers." The professor guessed. "We must be close to the library!"
Leo, Aang, Mikey, Katara, Raph, Sokka, and Don all looked at the picture and they realized it.
"No, this is the library!" Sokka revealed as the tower looked identical to the top of the building in the drawing. "It's completely buried."
"Oh, well isn't that just perfect?" Raph said sarcastically. "Talk about a waste of time."
"THE LIBRARY IS BURRIED!?" The professor yelled. "My life's ambition is now full of sand!" He fell to his knees before taking out a small shovel. "Well, time to start excavating." He then began to dig.
"This guy is a few books short of a full library." Mikey whispered to Don who nodded in agreement.
Toph put her hand to the base of the tower and immediately felt the inside of it. "Actually that won't be necessary. The inside seems to be completely intact, and it's huge!"
"How's that possible with all this sand over it?" Don questioned.
"Magic library, remember?" Raph reminded.
"The knowledge seeker went in through the window. I say we go up and see what it's like inside." Leo announced.
"Pass." Mikey said.
"Yeah, I'm staying out here to." Toph said.
"You guys got something against books?" Katara asked.
"I'm not into libraries. Capital B, for boring." Mikey answered.
"And I've held books before, and I gotta tell ya, they don't exactly do it for me." Toph revealed.
Katara then remembered, once again, that Toph was blind. "Oh right, sorry."
"But hey, if there's a comic book section in there, let me know." Mikey said while Raph, Don, and Leo rolled their eyes.
Sokka then tied a long rope to his boomerang and threw it up to the window like a makeshift grappling hook and started climbing. Aang patted Appa's head while near Toph and Mikey.
"Don't worry buddy." Aang consoled his beloved bison. "I'm not making you go underground ever again. You can stay out here with Toph and Mikey."
Toph and Mikey just stood next to the large bison.
"Yo." Mikey greeted to the bison.
"What's up?" Toph added.
The remainder of the group then began to climb down the rope and into the library. Leo was first, followed by the professor, then Don, next was Sokka, then Raph, then Aang and Katara was last, with Momo flying next to them. Once inside, to say the library was fancy would be an understatement.
"Whoa." Don breathed.
"Man, Toph wasn't kidding." Raph observed. "This place is huge."
"I'm sure Master Splinter would love this place." Leo said.
"Oh, it's breath-taking." The professor observed. "The spirit spared no expense in designing this place."
"You can say that again." Don agreed.
"I mean, just look at these beautiful buttresses." The professor pointed out, causing Aang and Sokka to snicker while Katara, Leo, Raph, and Don just rolled their eyes at their immaturity.
"What's funny?" The professor asked.
"Don't worry, they're just being idiots." Raph told the professor, earning slight glares from Aang and Sokka
The group quickly set down on the floor and began to observe more of the massive library.
"My word!" The professor exclaimed as he looked at an illustration of a large owl. "The exquisite, mosaic handiwork of the tile-rendered, avian-symbol…" The kids looked to the professor, as they didn't have a clue what he was saying.
"He means, nice owl." Don translated.
They heard the sound of wings flapping from deep in the library. "Someone's coming, hide!" Leo stated as the group quickly ran and hid themselves.
Aang, Momo, and the professor hid behind one pillar while Leo hid underneath the small rise from the floor next to them. Katara and Sokka hid behind another pillar while Raph and Don ducked under the small rise next to that pillar. They slightly looked out to see a large owl emerge from the shadows. It walked across the bridge to the center where it saw the rope that hung down from the window. Raph placed a hand on the handle of one of his Sais, preparing for the worst.
The owl turned its head 270 degrees, looking in the direction of the group. "I know you're back there." It spoke.
"Yeah, that's not creepy or anything." Don whispered.
The professor walked out into the open and introduced himself to the owl. "Hello. I'm professor Zei, head of anthropology at Ba-Sing-Se University."
"You should leave the way you came." The owl advised. "Unless you want to become a stuffed head of anthropology." The owl gestured to three stuffed animal heads that decorated a pillar, resulting in the professor gulping and holding his throat.
The rest of the group walked out. "Are you the spirit who brought this library to the physical world?" Sokka asked.
"Indeed. I am Wong-Shi-Tong, he who knows ten thousand things. And most of you are obviously humans, which by the way, are no longer permitted in my study."
"What do you have against humans?" Aang asked.
Wong-Shi-Tong scoffed. "Humans only bother learning things to get the edge on other humans. Like that Firebender who came to this place a few years ago, looking to destroy his enemies. So, who are you trying to destroy?" He looked at Sokka.
"What?" Sokka asked, trying to act innocent. "No, no, no, no destroying. We're not into that."
"Then why have you come here?"
"Uh…. Knowledge for knowledge's sake?" Leo, Raph, and Don all face-palmed at that.
"If you are going to lie to an all-knowing-spirit being, you should at least put some effort into it."
Before Sokka could say anything else, Leo pulled him out of the way and stepped up.
"Sorry about that, he's nervous when it comes to the super-natural." Leo began. "I can understand your weariness of humans, I've seen it many times with my own eyes." Leo removed his hood, revealing his turtle face; Don and Mikey followed suit as well; Zei looked in surprise while Aang, Katara, and Sokka had questionable looks as to what they could gain from it.
Wong-Shi-Tong didn't look to surprised. "I suspected that you weren't human, yet you are not spirits either. What are you exactly?"
"We're beings from a different dimension." Leo started. "The only reason we're here is to get information on the Fire Nation and we know nothing about it; we we're hopping you would have something. The most we're looking for is a map, that's all."
Sokka was about to say something, but Raph quickly nudged him, giving him a look that silently said 'shut up'. Leo wasn't lying, but he did leave out a few details for obvious reasons.
"You said you couldn't trust humans." Leo continued. "Well these three right here are only kids, it's not like their soldiers or anything, besides one of them is the Avatar, and if I recall, happens to be the great bridge between your world and this one."
Don and Raph nudged Aang a bit and he slightly stumbled next to Leo. He gave a nervous laugh. "We will not abuse the knowledge in your library, good spirit. You have my word."
Wong-Shi-Tong stood up right. "Hmm. Very well, I'll let you peruse my vast collection, on one condition. To prove your worth as scholars, you have to contribute some worth-while knowledge."
The professor presented a large text. "Please accept this tome, as a donation to your library."
"First edition, very nice." Wong-Shi-Tong waved his wing over the book before it disappeared.
Leo walked up with a scroll and opened it; it's showed a group of ninjas practicing a ninjitsu technique. "This is an ancient marital art of our world, may you find it knowledgeable, Great Spirit"
"A martial art from another world, fascinating." Wong-Shi-Tong took this scroll as well.
Katara was next. "I have an authentic Waterbending scroll."
"Ooooh. These illustrations are quite stylish." Wong-Shi-Tong accepted Katara's offer.
Don walked up right after and presented blueprints of the Battle-Shell. "These are schematics from a vehicle I constructed myself, I guarantee you won't find anything like this."
"How inventive, I accept." Wong-Shi-Tong took the blueprints.
"Uh…" Aang tried to think of something. "Oh, I know!" He pulled out a wanted poster of himself.
"I suppose that counts." Wong-Shi-Tong took the poster.
Raph walked up next before pulling out a magazine. "Maybe you can start a new collection of other world stuff."
"Hmm, well, it's certainly colorful." Wong-Shi-Tong took the magazine.
Sokka was last. "Oh great spirit, check this out." He whipped out a tiny string before tying it in a five-pronged-knot. "Ta-da!" Wong-Shi-Tong gave a blank stare. "It's a special knot! That counts as knowledge."
"You're not very bright, are you?" Wong-Shi-Tong guessed.
"No, he's not." Raph added, resulting in Sokka scowling. Regardless, Wong-Shi-Tong took the knot.
"Enjoy the library." The owl then flew down into his library while most of the group began their search.
"Bright enough to fool you." Sokka scowled before getting smacked on the back of the head by a certain red-clad Turtle.
"Don't say that out loud, moron!" Raph stated before grabbing Sokka by the arm. "Come on!" He then dragged him into the library after the others.
Meanwhile, back outside; Mikey and Toph sat on the sand next to Appa; it was a pretty awkward silence between the small group.
"So… you guys like flying?" Toph asked.
Appa gave a small groan while scratching his ears.
"Yep. I like the feeling on being on top of the world, living for a few years in the sewers; you're going to wanna get to the top of something. I roof-top run all the time with my bros back home." Mikey answered
"Of course I'm more comfortable on the ground where I can see." Toph said.
"Have I mentioned how cool your Seismic Sense is?" Mikey asked.
"'Seismic Sense'?" Toph asked.
"Well it's basically you're super power." Mikey explained. "And every cool power, needs a cool name."
Toph gave a slight grin. "I like it. But all this sand is so loose and shifty, it makes everything look all… fuzzy."
Appa gave a slight groan.
"Not that there's anything wrong with fuzzy, big guy." Mikey quickly said.
Back in the library; the group was looking through the many books and scrolls on display; Don obviously took a huge liking to this place as he surfed through a scroll, as did Aang and Katara.
Aang looked at a picture that caught his interest. "Hey Raph, look at these weird Lion-Turtle-things." He showed the picture of Raph. "You guys could be distant-cousins."
Raph looked at the picture. "Somehow, I doubt that. And I've seen plenty weirder"
Katara walked up to the young Avatar. "Aang, did you know in a past life, you we're left-handed?"
"I always knew I was special."
"Well you are the Avatar, doesn't that already count as special?" Don asked.
"Guys, let's try and remember why we're here." Leo said. "Lets find a map and get out."
"Why are you in such a hurry to leave?" Aang asked. "Wong-Shi-Tong let us look at all his stuff."
"I don't trust him, he was very hostile towards us, and I've got a feeling that me also be a bit paranoid." Leo added.
"I don't like the guy either." Raph added. "He seems all kinds of arrogant."
Sokka meanwhile took a few scrolls from the shelves and put them in his bag. He soon spotted a burnt piece of paper in a glass case, Don noticed this as well and walked up with him.
"What does it say?" Don asked.
"'The Darkest Day in Fire Nation History'." Sokka read. "It's got a date at the top, but it doesn't say anything else."
"Generally when something is referred to as 'the darkest day' it usually means something bad." Don said.
"Bad for them maybe, but good for us." Sokka lifted the glass with his hatchet and took out the parchment and began running in a certain direction when the others arrived.
"Sokka, where are you going?" Aang asked.
"I want to know what happened to the Fire Nation on their darkest day, this could be promising." Sokka said before running off.
Raph gave an amused smile. "I think the idiot may actually be onto something."
"Let's go, come on." Leo said as he, Aang, Katara, Raph, Don, and the Professor, along with Momo, all ran after him.
The group ran through the library before coming to a section that had the Japanese symbol for 'Fire' over the door with dragon statues. "The information on the Fire Nation should be right up here."
They walked into the chamber and found themselves completely shocked as all that filled the room we're piles of black dust and soot. It wasn't hard to deduce what happened.
"Firebenders." Aang realized.
"They destroyed everything having to do with the Fire Nation." Katara said.
"How much do you wanna bet this is the reason Wong-Shi-Tong sunk his library?" Leo guessed.
"I wouldn't blame him, someone tried to destroy something of mine, and I'd probably hide the rest." Don said.
"This is so unfair!" Sokka exclaimed. "Just when I think I'm one step ahead of the Fire Nation, it turns out they beat us here a long time ago."
"This war is a hundred years old." Raph reminded. "I guess we can always capture a high ranking Fire Nation officer and beat the information out of him." He punched his left palm with his right fist.
Aang gave a questionable look. "Do you always go for the violent way?"
"You'd be surprised how much it works." Raph told him with his arms crossed.
"I need to know what happened on the Darkest Day." Sokka still said.
The group heard a small whine and looked behind to see a fox looking at them.
"One of the knowledge seekers?" Don guessed.
"Maybe you can help us." Leo spoke to the fox. "Do you know where we can find any information?" The fox nodded and ran off in a certain direction. "Come on guys, it wants to follow."
The group ran after the fox as it lead them through the library. It soon led them to a large, circular door. The fox ran into a hole in the wall. Two minutes later, the door opened and the group walked into a large chamber with a dome roof and a pedestal in the center of the floor. The fox pushed on a lever by the pedestal, causing the room to change; the ceiling shifted into one filled with rotating stars.
"It's a planetarium." Don realized.
"This is truly a mechanical wonder." The professor marveled.
"A planetarium?" Katara asked.
"A chamber that shows what the sky looked like at a certain date and time in the past." Leo explained as the planetarium shifted to a daytime setting.
"This is beautiful, but how is it helpful?" Sokka asked.
Raph looked at the pedestal. "A little help here, I don't read Chinese."
The rest of the group joined him. "Maybe these symbols represent dates and times." Katara speculated. "Sokka, try the date from the parchment you took."
Sokka immediately shushed his sister. "Sshh, Katara. Not in front of the fox, he's with the owl!" Sokka whispered, resulting in the fox whining.
"It's a fox, Pony-Tail." Raph reminded.
"Guys, focus." Leo reminded. "Sokka, put in the date."
Sokka turned the dials to the date on the parchment and pushed down on the lever, causing the room to shift and turn around the entire group.
"Wow." Aang marveled. "I gotta hand it to you Sokka. You picked the best mini-vacation, for sure."
"You clearly haven't gotten out much then, kid." Raph told Aang. The room finally stopped shifting and it appeared that the sun was no longer visible.
"Hey wait, what happened to the sun?" Katara asked.
"Great, you must have broken it." Aang said.
Don looked closer and the purple-clad turtle realized it. "No, it's not broken. Look. The sun is behind the moon; it's a solar eclipse."
"I get it know!" Sokka stated as he began to shake Aang. "It's literally the Darkest Day in Fire Nation history! Something awful happened on that day, I don't know what , but I do know why, Firebenders loose their bending during a Solar Eclipse!"
"Wait, how does an eclipse cause someone to loose their bending?" Leo asked.
"Well the same kind of thing happened before." Katara explained. "There was a lunar eclipse at the North Pole and Waterbenders lost their bending there."
"I think I get it." Don theorized. "The sun is the largest source of fire in the solar system, so maybe it acts as a power source for Firebenders."
"So with the sun blocked out…" Leo began.
"The Firebenders are ripe for a good old butt-kicking!" Raph finished with a grin on his face.
The fox that showed them the chamber gave a whining sound. "Fine, you earned it." Sokka said to the fox before tossing him a piece of food.
The group gathered together. "We gotta get this information to the Earth King at Ba-Sing-Se." Sokka began. "We'll wait for the next eclipse and then we'll invade the Fire Nation when they're totally helpless! The Fire Lord is going down!"
"Uh… Sokka…" Don pointed behind them as a shadow loomed over them.
"Mortals are so predictable, and such terrible liars." Wong-Shi-Tong said.
"Aw shell!" Raph cussed, realizing they we're busted.
"You betrayed my trust!" Wong-Shi-Tong exclaimed. "From the beginning, you intended to misuse this knowledge for evil purposes!"
"We're the evil ones?!" Raph angrily questioned. "You saw what those hot-heads did to your library! You should be thanking us for wanting to beat some sense into them!"
"The Fire Nation is out of control, we need this information!" Don added.
"You think you're the first person to believe their war was justified?!" Wong-Shi-Tong questioned. "Countless others have come here before you! Seeking weapons, or weaknesses, or battle strategies!"
"We had no choice." Aang tried to reason with the owl-spirit. "Please, we're just desperate to protect the people we love!"
Leo stood in front of the Avatar. "Don't bother trying to reason with him Aang, he won't listen to anything we have to say, isn't that right?" He questioned to the owl.
"That is correct." Wong-Shi-Tong confirmed. "And now, I am going to protect what I love." He outstretched his wings and began to flap them, creating a vortex, causing the whole building to shift and rumble.
"What the shell are you doing?!" Don questioned.
"I'm taking my knowledge back! No one will ever abuse it again!" The owl declared.
"He's sinking the building!" Katara realized as sand began to pour into the chamber. "We've got to get out of here!"
"I'm afraid I can't allow that. You already know to much." Wong-Shi-Tong said as he stretched his neck and thrusted his beak forward, which the group avoided by separating. Raph took out a few smoke pellets and threw it into the owl's face, temporarily blinding him.
"Time to go!" Leo announced as the group began to run as fast as they could. Wong-Shi-Tong shook the smoke from his face and cleared his eyes before pursuing them.
Back outside; Appa was sleeping while Toph and Mikey we're sleeping on his side. The tower began to shift, waking Appa up and causing him to roar.
"Hmmm…. Ten more minutes… Master Splinter…" Mikey groaned, as he was still asleep.
"I already told you… I don't wanna snuggle…" Toph groaned as well. Appa quickly stood up, causing both the orange-clad Turtle, and the Blind Bandit to fall and wake up. They saw the building beginning to descend in the ground.
"The library's sinking!" Mikey realized.
"The library's sinking?" Toph questioned before she felt it as well. "The library's sinking!"
Toph quickly ran to the tower and pressed her fists against it, to try and use her Earthbending to keep it up, she sunk a bit in the sand before loosing her grip. Toph dug her hand in the sand and twisted, causing it to solidify, giving her solid ground to stand on. She pressed her fists against it again and was able to slow it down quite a lot.
"Can you hold it up?" Mikey asked.
"I… hope so…" Toph grunted as she tried to keep it up.
Back inside; Leo, Aang, Don, Katara, Raph, Sokka, Momo, and the professor all ran through the library. Raph looked back.
"Guys! Psycho owl spirit right behind us!" Raph exclaimed as he saw Wong-Shi-Tong flying towards them at high speeds.
The group picked up the pace, running faster. Wong-Shi-Tong's extended wings began to tear through the bookshelves, destroying many of the books in the process. The professor saw this with horror.
"Ah!" He screamed. "Great Knowledge Spirit! I beg you! Do not destroy your vast collection of priceless tomes!" He begged as the owl flew closer to him.
Aang turned around and used Airbending to pull the professor back before Wong-Shi-Tong could get to him. Leo used this and ran at fast speeds before giving a fierce kick to the side of the owls' head, knocking him off the bridge. Aang followed through with a powerful air-gust, blasting the owl to the wall, causing him to fall down into the abyss below.
"That won't stop him!" Leo said as he, Aang, and the professor caught up with the rest of the group.
"We've got to get back to the surface!" Aang exclaimed as the group began to run, but Sokka stopped and looked back the way they came.
"Hey, you frozen back there!?" Raph questioned as the group stopped.
"Sokka lets go!" Katara exclaimed.
"But we still don't know when the next eclipse is gonna happen!" Sokka said.
"Don't be stupid, we'll find out later!" Katara told him.
"No, Sokka's right!" Leo said. "We have no way of knowing when the next one is, and if we leave now, we never will."
"I case you haven't noticed bro, the library is sinking!" Raph reminded. "And I don't wanna be trapped here for all eternity!"
"We don't have a choice Raph." Leo said. "Alright everyone listen up; Don, you and Aang go with Sokka back to the planetarium to find out the next eclipse is. Katara, take the professor and Momo and get out of here. Raph, you're with me, we'll hold off Wong-Shi-Tong till we're all set."
"Got it." Aang, Don, Raph, and even Katara all said.
"Whoa, hold on!" Sokka spoke out loud. "Who put you in charge, I'm the leader here!"
"WE DON'T HAVE TIME TO ARGUE SOKKA! DO WHAT I SAY!" Leo yelled.
"Yes, sir!" The spooked Sokka nodded his head as he spoke in a squeaky tone.
With that, the group split up. Katara ran with Momo and the professor towards the exit; while Don, Aang, and Sokka ran back to the planetarium just as Wong-Shi-Tong flew back up and was about to fly after the group heading back to the planetarium; but Leo and Raph quickly appeared in front of him, leaping high and both kicked him in the face as he fell back.
Leo drew his katanas while Raph drew his sais, standing in the owl-spirit's path, both giving him defiant looks.
"You're gonna have to go through us first, bird-boy." Raph challenged.
"As you wish." Wong-Shi-Tong accepted as he charged forward, while Leo and Raph both gave battle cries, charging towards him as well.
Back outside, Toph struggled with all her might to keep the library from sinking completely; Appa and Mikey both noticed something from behind.
"Uh Toph… we got company." Mikey said.
"What is it now?!" Toph questioned.
These we're the boats of the group of raiders that the group recently encountered back at the oasis.
"Sandbenders!" Mikey exclaimed.
"Yeah, as if things weren't bad enough!"
Three Sandbender boats began to circle Appa before the Sandbenders got off.
"Toph, you keep the library up, I'll handle these guys!" Mikey announced as he leaped and kicked a Sandbender in the head, sending him flying.
Mikey pulled out his nunchucks and readied for battle as the Sandbenders readied themselves as well.
Back in the library; Aang, Don, and Sokka made it back to the Planetarium.
"Why are we doing this?" Aang asked as they got to the podium at the center of the planetarium.
"Because if this calendar can tell us about eclipses in the past, then maybe it can project when the next one will be." Sokka deduced.
"We can't possibly check every date!" Aang exclaimed.
"We don't have to." Don told him. "We just need to check every date before Sozin's Comet arrives, because after that, it won't matter when the next eclipse will show up. Game over."
The three then searched all the upcoming dates continuously, over and over. Don and Sokka would try the dates, while Aang pulled the lever so they can see the sun and moon's positions at that date. So far they had found nothing; a few close calls, but no such luck. It looked like it was hopeless for the heroes.
"Come on eclipse!" Aang hopped as he pulled the lever.
The room shifted again, this time, the moon landed in front of the sun. They had found it.
"We found it! The Solar Eclipse!" Don announced.
"And it's just a few months away." Sokka observed as he wrote down the date. "Got it."
"Then lets make like piñatas and beat it!" Don exclaimed as the group ran out of the library.
Back outside; Mikey continued to try and fight off the Sandbenders. He flailed his nunchucks in the face of one before quickly jumping and kicking another in the abs. Two of them sent plums of sand his way and hit him, causing him to fly back. He quickly got up as the Sandbenders threw many lassos around Appa, tying him down.
"Hands off the Bison, Tuskin-Raider-wannabes!" Mikey shouted as he punched a Sandbender and knocked another away with his nunchucks. "Toph, how's it going over there?!" Mikey questioned as he slammed his weapon into the gut of another Sandbender.
"I can't… hold it… forever!" Toph exclaimed.
Four Sandbenders surrounded Mikey and motioned their hands. He was sunk into the sand before they thrusted forward and sent Mikey flying far away. The remaining Sandbenders finished restraining Appa, who struggled in the ropes.
"Don't make me put this down!" Toph said as she briefly let go of the library, sending plumes of sand towards the Sandbenders, but they missed and she was forced hold the library again, to keep it from sinking any further.
Mikey got back up to see the Sandbenders hook the restrained Appa to their sandboats. "No, no, no, no!" Mikey shouted as he ran back towards the action. The boats began to fly away, Mikey tried to run to them, he threw a shuriken, which missed one of the ropes but cut the face of one of the Sandbenders, cutting his mask to reveal a dark-haired young man. He held his right cheek as blood ran down from the cut.
Mikey wasn't able to catch up to them on time as the Sandbenders got away. He stood there with a look of despair on his face.
"Mikey…?" Toph tried but he didn't give an answer, indicating that it was too late. "I'm sorry Appa."
Back in the library; Wong-Shi-Tong was sent flying through many bookshelves. He quickly got up to see the armed Leo and Raph both glaring at him and charging forward again. He lunged his beak forward and into the ground, forcing the two Ninja Turtles to split in two directions; Raph jumped up to a pillar and launched downward from it and kneed Wong-Shi-Tong in the face, sending him tumbling to Leo who charged and twirled straight for him, slashing the owl many times in the chest, causing it to stumble to the ground.
Leo and Raph stood back together to see Wong-Shi-Tong get up once again. He glared once more before they ran forward again; this time he opened his wings and sent a powerful gust of wind towards them, sending both the turtles flying.
Katara and Momo made it to the bridge they first got to and saw the rope leading back up to the surface. She looked to see Leo and Raph both slide on the right side, stopping just in front of the rope.
"Are you guys okay?" She asked as they both got up.
"Well besides fighting for our lives against a crazy spirit in a sinking library, we're just fine." Raph replied sarcastically.
Wong-Shi-Tong began to approach them like a fierce predator; Leo and Raph took combat stances with their weapons while Katara took her own Waterbending stance in between the turtles, standing with them.
"You're Waterbending won't do you much good here." Wong-Shi-Tong said. "I've Northern Water Style; Southern Water Style; even Foggy-Swamp Style."
Before he could react, Don come in from above and swung his bo-staff hard against the back of Wong-Shi-Tong's head and sent him tumbling towards the three. Leo and Raph then jumped towards the tumbling owl and slammed both their feets against his head, sending him flying and falling down off the bride.
"That's called Ninja-Turtle-Style! Learn it!" Don called down the pit.
Aang and Sokka caught up with the group.
"We've got the eclipse date!" Sokka shouted.
"Then its time to go!" Leo declared as they all began to climb the rope; as they did they saw the professor sitting in between bookshelves with a sea of books and scrolls surrounding,
"Professor, we gotta go!" Don called.
"I'm not leaving, I can't!" The professor called back.
"Are you crazy?!" Raph questioned.
"I spent too long searching for this place, there's not another collection like this on Earth. I could spend an eternity in here." The professor said, as though he we're at peace.
"Just go!" Katara told the group, but soon felt a tug on the rope. Wong-Shi-Tong was pulling them down.
Aang however responded by creating a massive Air-Sphere that surrounded him, Leo, Katara, Don, Raph, Momo, and Sokka and they soared straight up with Wong-Shi-Tong close behind them. They all flew through the hole of the tower and outside.
The Air-Sphere ceased and they all fell and tumbled on the ground. Mikey saw they we're back.
"TOPH! THEY'RE HERE! LET IT GO NOW!
Once Mikey gave her the signal, Toph let go of the library, allowing it to sink completely into the ground, leaving only a large crater. They all managed to catch their breaths quite a bit.
"That was way too close." Don breathed.
"But we got it!" Sokka said as he and Katara hugged. "There's a solar eclipse coming. The Fire Nation's in trouble now!"
"Alright, finally some action!" Raph announced as he and Don high-fived.
Leo and Aang both looked around and noticed something.
"Where's Appa?" Aang asked; Toph looked down in shame, while Mikey shook his head. Aang gave a loud gasp as tears formed in his eyes and fell down his cheeks.
"What happened?" Leo asked Mikey.
"Sandbenders." Mikey replied.
"Great, just great." Raph said. "Things can't get any worse."
Somewhere else in the Earth Kingdom, on a grassy plain, near a forest; a metal machine quickly zoomed through the plain. This was the personal transportation of the Princess of the Fire Nation.
Within the moving transport; Mai and Ty-Lee sat in silence, as did Azula, who had a scowl on her face that would give little children nightmares.
"She seems mad" Ty-Lee whispered to Mai.
"I noticed." Mai replied. "It's not every day that four, man-sized Turtles beat you."
They both looked to Azula who got up from her seat. "We're not just hunting the Avatar and my brother anymore." She announced. "We have four more targets. I won't rest until I see those turtles burnt alive!"
As she made that declaration; Ty-Lee noticed something in the right window. "Hey, what's that?"
All three girls looked out the window to see a bright flash of light coming from the nearby forest. The light shined for a few moments before stopping.
"What was that?" Mai asked.
"Whatever it is, I'm going to find out." Azula said. "Turn this thing around."
From a small clearing outside the forest, two figures walked out of the forest and towards a small cliff. One of them was a large bulky man with a Purple Dragon tattoo on his right arm, and a Foot symbol on his left arm. Right behind him was a young woman dressed in black and grey with a Foot symbol in between her armor on her chest.
Karai and Hun turned back to the forest where a third figure emerged; they both kneeled before the figure dressed in silver and intimidating armor. He walked past his two subordinates and to the edge of the small cliff, overlooking this new world.
Shredder than gave an evil and victorious laugh as lightning flashed behind him.
Done.
This isn't good. Not only have the heroes lost Appa, but the Turtles' most dangerous enemy is now on the world of the Avatar. What will happen next? Find out next time on World's Collide.