Book 1: Discovery

Chapter 7: Lessons Long Forgotten

"Too close." Kory murmured, taking off her headset. The four green dots swiftly moved along her computer screen, away from the group of red dots. The display shown that the people running away were elevated approximately 20 feet above the red dots.

"Get back here safe, guys." Kory whispered to herself in concern.


Jared leapt over a cooling unit that jutted it's way out of the building's roof. He was quickly followed by his company of benders. Ahead of him, a large gap spanning the distance to the next rooftop caught his attention. After a quick call out to the teenagers behind him concerning the obstacle, the White Lotus member pushed off. He grabbed ahold of ladder on the wall of the building, and flipped up over the side. Meanwhile, JB shot his hands down to his sides, creating two long streaks of fire out of his palms. The flames propelled him across the gap.

"Get ready!" Jeremy shouted to the Waterbender next to him. He quickly stopped his stride, landing with his legs bent into a wide and sturdy stance. His arms shot up, and the ground quickly rose up underneath his and Micah's feet, instantly launching the two into the air. The duo landed on the adjacent roof, and rolled simultaneously to a stop.


Drake growled in disapproval, as he began walking back towards the building's entrance.

"Damn it all." He muttered under his breath. He waved a nearby soldier towards him, and she joined him at his side.

"Captain, I want those four, and anyone else they are associated with, brought back here. Get your troops into street clothing and vehicles, and spread out to find them." The two entered the building, followed by the three other personnel. "Be especially wary of RVs as possible spots to look. I'll send out details on what the fugitives look like to your troops soon."

"Yes, sir." The captain responded. She and the three men behind her turned away from Drake, and entered through a doorway to their left. Inside, a vast parking garage spread out, filled with various forms and types of vehicles, ranging from Smart Cars, to armored Humvees. A large number of soldiers, all dressed in the same gray and blue-accented military-grade clothing, were scattered throughout the area, performing various tasks.

The captain hoisted herself up onto the roof of a Jeep, overlooking the space in front of her. She cleared her throat, and the room was quickly filled with the overwhelming sound of her shouting.

"Since it seems that all of you were too busy sticking your thumbs up your asses, and not attempting to make yourselves useful during our most recent situation, I expect absolute cooperation with this upcoming mission." Every person in the garage had stopped what they were doing, and was intently listening to the captain. The door that she had just entered slowly closed as she began explaining the new assignment.

Drake walked to the end of the hallway, and flung open the door at the end. He entered the room, omitting to flip on the light switch, and turned on a desk lamp instead. He seated himself down at a computer monitor, and clicked on an icon near the bottom. A few moments later, a black window appeared on-screen, and the light next to the computer's camera turned on.

"Have the targets been apprehended?" A voice came through the computer speakers a few moments later. The voice was that of a woman.

"We had some...unexpected interferences. I assigned Captain April and her squadrons to go out and hunt them down." Drake responded.

"What sort of interferences?" The woman asked.

"We captured the Earthbender-Jeremy Michaels-late last night. We brought him here, and began interrogating him once he came to." Drake began explaining. "But during the process, he was able to free himself from the restraints, and overpowered our guard."

"So he can Metalbend?"

"Not yet."

"I see." The woman replied in disapproval. "So then how did he escape your base?"

"The rest of his team managed to locate him, and snuck in to liberate the boy. Jared O'Donnell, along with a Waterbender and a Firebender, met up with Jeremy after he broke out of the interrogation room. We were about to capture the whole lot, but they managed to send a high frequency sound to our earpieces, and escaped while we were dazed."

The woman paused.

"There is a fifth team member."


Jeremy bolted through the door of the RV, following Jared and Micah. His Firebender friend slammed the door closed behind. Immediately, Jared sat down at the front of the vehicle, started the engine, and pulled out of the parking lot as fast as he could. Aside from Kory, everyone was collectively trying to catch their breath for quite some time.

For the next 20 minutes after leaving the park, everyone in the vehicle sat in silence. Micah stared solemnly out of the window, watching as the nearby cars drove by on the highway. Kory sat with her head down, focused on the hat she was knitting, which she had produced from her backpack. Jeremy and JB had found some playing cards in a drawer, and were quietly playing double solitaire.

Soon, Jeremy spoke up, saying, "So...why was I captured just now?"

A loud, collective sigh of relief came from everyone else on the team.

"Uh, finally!"

"I was wondering when someone was going to ask."

"I was just about to ask that myself."

The voices of his companions seemed strange now, after the recent quietness, but it also helped Jeremy relax in turn.

"So do you know who that guy was, Jared?" Jeremy asked. He removed a three of clubs from his hand, and placed it on the table.

The right blinker on the dashboard turned on, and Jared navigated the vehicle into the adjacent lane on the highway. "Oh, I guess that you could say Drake is just an old friend of mine."

"An old friend?" Micah chimed in sarcastically. "Are old friends supposed to kidnap your new ones?"

"Ok, 'friend' is a misleading title. 'Former acquaintance' is probably more suiting."

Kory asked, "So how did you become acquaintances with someone who steals Earthbenders in the night?" She had just completed her knitting, and placed the newly created beanie on her head.

"Well," Jared said. "Uhh...Drake...used to be in the White Lotus."

JB's eyes widened. The thought that there was an evil White Lotus member out there was actually frightening to him.

"Ok, quick non-Avatard question. What the heck is the White Lotus?" Micah addressed to the group.

"The White Lotus is an international group of peacekeepers, meant to keep both the customs of the nations in play, and assist and serve the Avatar."

"So, why is Drake bad now?" Jeremy asked. "I mean, why would he leave the Lotus?"

The vehicle began exiting off of the highway. "People always seem to have their own motives that they strive for, no matter who or what they're affiliated with. Originally, Drake firmly believed in what the White Lotus stood for. But over time, he began to believe that bending should not exist, and that we couldn't have a truly united world, one in which the White Lotus tries to achieve, unless bending was wiped out entirely."

Kory solemnly looked down. "Dang. So he's basically a real life Amon."

"No. No, that would have been the actual Amon." Jared shook his head.

Jeremy and JB looked up simultaneously, each wearing a matching expression of shock.

"The actual Amon?" The Firebender reiterated. "You mean he actually existed?"

Jared nodded. "Yes, sir. So did Unalaq, Fire Lord Ozai, Fire Princess Azula, both Team Avatars, and for the most part, anyone else that appeared in either Avatar show."

Jared continued to control the large vehicle. However, with a quick glance backwards, he noticed the four silent and stunned expressions that were facing him.

"Well, I was going to tell you eventually." Jared spoke in his defense.


"How do you know?" Drake questioned the computer screen.

"It's obvious" the voice came from the speakers. "None of the other members have the experience to pull off a feat like that. This then draws to the conclusion that there is another team member that they have recruited."

Drake nodded. "I see. So what are you suggesting?"

"Continue searching for the team. But make certain to use radio and satellite waves as little as possible. If they have a technologies expert, they could easily recognize us, and we could lose their trail."

"Understood." Drake replied. He looked down briefly, then back up to the webcam. "Over and out."

His hand gently closed the laptop, and the whirring of parts inside began to slow. And in three steps, the man was out the door.


"As you've hopefully figured out by now," Jared began explaining. "Bending exists in this world. But more importantly, this is the only world that it has ever existed in." The Wal-Mart parking lot was surprisingly bare as the RV entered. Jared heaved the transmission into park, and swung his chair around to face the teens.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well," Jared continued. "when people think about bending, they assume that the idea only exists in the alternate reality that we see on TV. But long story short, the shows depict true historical events in them."

"Really now." Micah commented sarcastically. "Then why don't we learn about the Legend of Ong or whatever in history class?"

"AANG!" The other teens screamed in unison.

"It's pronounced, 'Aang' Mr. M. Night Shyamalan!" JB shouted at the Waterbender. "Do not desecrate my childhood!"

The silence that followed was awkward to say the least. Micah could feel JB's glare boring into his head, as he averted his eyes away from the Firebender.

"Umm...anyways." Said Jared. "There are a few reasons we don't learn about Aang, or any other bending-related topics for that matter. The cause happened approximately 2,000 years ago."

"As you've experienced firsthand now, non-benders will often feel short handed, or even oppressed, when compared to benders. This idea was portrayed in The Legend of Korra with the telling of the events involving the Equalist Movement. However, the idea of full equality didn't die with Noatak in that boat explosion. Around 300 years after the Airbender Genocide, during the time of Avatar Gurahn, who succeeded Avatar Korra, a new menace to benders emerged, calling himself Jegeo. Jegeo's revolution shared many qualities with Amon's; so much so that he even wore a version of Amon's mask at all times." Jared paused. "Jegeo's goal was simple; to remove bending from the world. But instead of putting on the show of taking away someone's bending like Amon did, he simply wanted to to remove benders from the world, with any means necessary. And he nearly succeeded. For nearly 50 years, a worldwide war raged, putting benders on the chopping block. Borders fell. Civilizations crumbled. And the world was vastly damaged. Any attempts to stop the war failed utterly. Jegeo's followers were too many."

The fact that this was no mere fairy tale caused Jeremy to shake with nervousness.

"During the summer of 351 AG," Jared shared. "Gurahn was in his 103rd year of life. As he felt no longer able to help in the fight against Jegeo, he decided to make one last stand before his time ended. With the help of Raava, he gathered four people from around the world who could be leaders of their respective bending art. When the five met in the Spirit World, Gurahn explained that the war had been lost for benders, and that the time to stop fighting had come. With his final words, Gurahn asked the four benders to find as many benders as possible, and convince them to hide their bending from the world. The Chosen Four, as they came to be called, traveled around the world, and did just as Gurahn had commanded. And in time, every bender would deny their ability to anyone. And with more time, benders even forgot about their powers themselves. And up until recently, bending had merely been a work of fiction."

Silence fell.

After a while, the quiet was finally shattered with a whisper that came from Kory's lips. "So...why are benders suddenly showing up again?" She asked.

"You have Bryke to thank for that." Jared explained. "When the show came out, people of course tried bending for themselves, just for a laugh more than anything. But bending also requires a strong mental being as well, along with the physical movements. A mind that truly believes that you can bend is necessary. Or thinks it can't not bend, at least."

"Who's Bryke?" Micah leaned over, and whispered to JB.

"The creators of the two shows." JB whispered back.

Jeremy ignored the two, and questioned Jared with, "What do you mean?"

"Well, think about it. When you first discovered your bending, you probably weren't thinking about Avatar. My bet is that you were focused on helping JB at the time. So, in that split moment where you weren't thinking that you can't bend, but still tried bending anyways, you were able to do so."

Micah stared at the floor. For so long, he had thought bending to be nothing more than a childish fantasy. Only now did he begin to realize how real and incredible it truly was.

"So...if benders are discovering their abilities again, what's going to happen to the state of the world? Is there going to be a third war on benders?" Jeremy forced the question that had been burning in his mind, out of his mouth.

"I'm not sure." Jared solemnly replied. "But the two shows have a purpose beyond entertainment, and that purpose is to bring bending back. I'm not sure why it's happening now, but whatever the reason, it's going to have a big impact. And we need to be a part of it."

The Lotus moved forward, resting one knee on the floor. The teens in front of him wore faces that mixed fear, amazement, worry, and hardness together.

"So let me ask you one thing, Team Avatar." Jared O'Donnell spoke. His gaze slowly scanned over the teenagers.

"Are you willing to change the world?"

Yes, I'm still alive.

Oh man, I had no idea that I could procrastinate writing that hard. Weird. Sorry for this chapter being a bit boring and lacking of action. And sorry again for another long wait. School has not been friendly to my schedule. To repay the patience that you (hopefully) had for this chapter, I am going to share something with you about A:TFE as a whole. As of right now, I am planning on the story be drawn out over three books, with each one consisting of about 10 chapters each. That's 30 chapters total, for any non-math orientated brains out there, such as myself. But yea. Just keep that in mind for when I go on long streaks without posting. I will not be abandoning this project. I have too much already planned out in my head. And...that's it! Keep doing what you've been doing with the review area, please. ConstellationChaser, out!