Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah, I don't own Avatar, Bryke rules, blah blah blah.
Boarding the Peacekeeper
Huang and Max, using an ice elevator, made it up and over the volcano wall. Max shivered at the drastic change in temperature.
"It's freezing out here!" Max exclaimed while hugging himself. "How on earth is the ocean around this volcano not frozen?!" Huang laughed.
"I think your exaggerating a bit, Max. It's summer. You're just not use to average temperatures after being in such a hot place for so long."
"And you're not cold, why?"
"I'm a firebender. I don't get cold that easily."
Max and Huang walked down the slope of the volcano. Max approached the ocean's edge and looked out over the horizon. Still being night-time, Max couldn't tell whether he was looking at land or more water.
"So, are we going to go across this like we did in the volcano?" Huang asked.
"No, I don't think it's a good idea. We have no idea where any land is, nor the distance. It could be the equivalent of crossing a desert." Max looked around. "Hey, over there! It's a ship!" Indeed, a Fire Navy ship was fast approaching a dock to the volcano. "Come on, maybe we could sneak on board." Max gestured towards the ship.
Still slightly shivering, Max led the way to the dock. The dock, as it turned out, was nothing more than the side of the volcano that had stairs up to the gondola. The Fire Navy ship was already unloading future Boiling Rock prisoners accompanied by a three to one ratio of guards. Max and Huang hid behind a hill of hardened lava and laid belly down in an effort to cover themselves up as much as possible. Huang turned to Max as he was watching the guards and prisoners going up the stairs.
"So… What do you have planned?" Huang asked his question with air of excitement.
"Ummm… Ambush a couple of guards and steal their uniforms?" Max said.
"Oh… That's it?"
"What else do you want me to do?"
"Well, I was kind of hoping to see some more of your freakish waterbending…"
"You can see some more of my 'freakish waterbending' in a few minutes." Max said this with a hint of pride.
"All right, well wait until everyone is on the gondola so that we have fewer guards to worry about if we get caught." Huang whispered.
"Don't worry, I have an idea. Follow me." Max stood up and walked to the water. He looked down at the water, then at the ship, and paused, thinking. "How long can you hold your breath, Huang?" Max eventually asked after a few seconds.
"I'm not sure… Twenty to thirty seconds, maybe? Why?"
"Do you think you could swim underwater all the way to the ship?" Huang looked out to where the ship was then looked back at Max.
"Maybe. Why don't we just walk on top of the water?"
"They might see us." Max said immediately. He had already answered that question to himself when he was thinking of the same option.
"Hmmm…. Fine. Can you use some bending to make us swim faster?"
"I'm not sure how I would have to bend the water to do that," said Max after a few moments. "Perhaps I could create a chuck of ice we could hold on to and control it underwater… but we would have to be pretty deep underwater to keep the surface undisturbed-" Max was talking to himself at this point, "and I'm not sure if I could hold on and control it at the same time… Maybe if we strap in our feet… But we might be going too fast for me to move my arms…" Huang stared at Max with increasing impatience as he paced around talking to himself. Finally, Huang said
"Okay, let's just swim to the thing before you give yourself a brain hemorrhage." Max looked at him.
"All right, we'll swim it then. But we can't resurface until we're behind the boat, got it?"
After finally getting behind the ship, Max and Huang resurfaced gasping for air.
"Whew, I was –gasp- about to –gasp- pass out." Huang said between breaths.
"Same –gasp- here." Max replied. They both floated on their backs to catch their breath. When his heart rate returned to normal, Max asked Huang "you ready?"
"Yeah, let's go." Max made a whirlpool of water around the two and extended it out so that it resembled a tornado of water breeching the surface. As they rose up out of the water, the words "U.S.S. Peacekeeper" could be seen painted on the back of the ship. The torrent of water curved and dropped the two onto the ship. As quietly as possible, Max let the water back down into the ocean.
"Now we just need a couple of people to ambush," Max said to himself. He looked at the ship. It was completely flat on the surface except for a large building-like structure on the deck. On the building were two smoke stacks jetting from the back and an even taller building around the front. Max looked over at the open door way on the deck. He ran to it and beckoned Huang to follow. He got on one side of the floor doorway while Huang got on the other. Max bent his head over the door way and yelled "Hey, we need someone to help us out here!" Sure enough, the sound of footsteps pursued the false request.
"What is it that you need?" a Fire Navy soldier asked as he walked up onto the deck, "I'm really busy right noummff!" Huang knocked him out by hitting the back of his head with a tool a careless crewman had left out. Max bent over the entry way again.
"Uhh, yeah. We need another guy up here!" As soon as the other guy stuck his head out, he was also knocked unconscious.
After a few minutes, Huang and Max were both wearing the soldiers' clothing, which consisted of grey clothing under light black armor with red stripes. The soldiers, meanwhile, were both tied up and hanging from the back of the ship, where they couldn't be seen.
"Listen Max," Huang started, "I actually know a thing or two about Fire Navy etiquette. Do exactly as I say so that you don't blow our cover. Also, do you see that my suit has one more stripe on my shoulder pads than yours do?" Max looked at them and saw an extra red stripe parallel to the one tracing the outer edge was on Huang's shoulder pads. "That means I outrank you. So I might yell at you if you aren't doing something right, got it?" Huang said all of this in a friendly tone of voice.
"Got it."
Please be critical. I like compliments, but I can still go back and improve this thing. Point out any inconsitencies or any errors you find.
