Still don't know who the Firebender is? *Laughs because I know and you don't* Like I said, it's most likely not who you think it is. He'll be revealed, soon enough… next chapter if I'm lucky.
No OCs! That's final. Also, the Four Nations will not appear.
I will have shifting POVs, but I won't go crazy.
Chapter 8 (Katara POV)
"Gran-Gran's necklace! It's gone!" I shouted. We just came back from the prison camp, and now-
"You probably just dropped it," Sokka tried to rationalize. "We'll look for it next time we pass by."
I splashed water over him. "It's Gran-Gran's necklace!" I panicked. "That's like… your boomerang, or Aang's arrow!"
Peter grabbed my shoulders. "We can't stop and look for it! The Fire Nation must have caught up with you by now!"
"Zuko must be there by now," said Sokka.
I sighed. Part of me hoped that we'd come back for it eventually, but…
X
That night, we camped out in the forest. When the others were asleep, I woke Sokka up. "Psst. Sokka!"
"Five… more minutes… Gran-Gran…"
"Sokka!" I soaked him in water from my cask.
"Agpth! You didn't have to do that!" he whispered indignantly.
"Yes, I did," I said, and pulled the water from his body, leaving him dry. "Remember out conversation we had the other night?"
"The one about nuts?"
"No, what I found different about Peter and Ravis."
"So what did you find?"
I paused for effect. "Remember the gun?"
"How could I forget?" Sokka replied. "You saved the life of a Fire Nation soldier. I hope that won't ever happen again…"
"Have you ever wondered why they have guns where they're from?"
Sokka gaped. "You woke me up just for that?!"
I nodded. "This is important."
He hit himself. "How can that be important enough to soak a sleeping guy with water in the middle of the night?"
"My point is, what kind of world do they come from, that has weapons like theirs? Why would they make something like a gun? Are Peter and Ravis used to fighting?"
"What about us?" asked Sokka. "You have magic water that attacks people, and I have weapons."
"That's different. Your weapons are tools for survival in the South Pole. And Bending can be used for stuff besides fighting… except for Firebending. Firebending can never be used for anything but destruction."
He thought on this. "Well, I'm going to bed. Good night, and don't even think of doing this again!"
Splash. "Sorry, but you were practically begging for it."
X
The next day, we were flying on Appa, as usual. Peter was concentrating on practicing his Metalbending, turning his gauntlet into a gun, a knife, a potato peeler… wait, what's a potato?
"Look…" Aang said, almost inaudible from the wind. "Is that…"
"A burned forest," confirmed Ravis. We landed without a word. Aang… I'm worried about what this world is coming to…
Aang walked through the scorched earth, so sadly that I couldn't stand it. To help him, I sifted through the sand a revealed a small acorn. "Aang… this may just be an acorn, but it will eventually grow to be an entire forest someday."
X (Meanwhile) (Zuko POV)
"Uncle! We're leaving!" I shouted. What was taking him so long?
"Ah, nephew!" Uncle Iroh called gleefully. "How about a soak in this hot spring? You should relax every once in a while, all this stress is bad for your qi."
I sighed. Uncle was always like this… "Okay, five more minutes."
X
"You're the Avatar, are you not?" an elderly man called. "I am from a nearby village, and we have a problem concerning the Spirit World."
"The… Spirit World?" Aang repeated. "Uh… sir, I may be the Avatar, but…"
"You must come to my village immediately!" the old man said quietly, but with a lot of force. "You will understand when we arrive."
Seeing as we had no choice, we followed him along a long path. "Recently, we have been attacked by a spirit monster known as HeiBai."
"And it is black and white?" asked Peter arbitrarily. (Hei is black, bai is white in Chinese)
"Yes. How did you know?" asked the elder.
"Long story," he covered up. Okay, something was suspicious about this Metalbending, gun-wielding twelve-year old child.
"At sunset, one of our villagers is taken, and our houses destroyed," continued the elder.
We arrived at the village before long. I saw a few houses destroyed, but others right next to it were left standing. If it were fire, it would have spread. "Come in to our head house, and stay the night," the elder asked of us. "Please, Avatar, help us in our hour of greatest need."
"Who are these folk?" a man emerged from the head house.
"This is the Avatar, who will help us in our time of need," said the elder. Wow, he was bossy… but he had a reason to be.
"I am the village chief," the man introduced himself. "Please, help us before the Winter Solstice arrives!"
"The Winter Solstice?" repeated Peter.
"On the night of the Solstices, the lines between the Spirit and Physical worlds are blurred completely," explained the head.
"Like Hallow's Eve in our world," Peter whispered to Ravis so that only the two of us could hear. [1]
"And if HeiBai steals people because you're getting closer to the Spirit world…" Sokka began.
"Tad viņš būs nozagt vēl vairāk cilvēkus prom laikā ziemas saulgrieži," finished Ravis.
"He said that he'd steal even more people during the Winter Solstice," translated Peter.
"Exactly," said the chief.
"But… why me?" asked Aang.
"The Avatar is one who is especially close to the Spirit World and can travel between the worlds at will," explained the elder.
"Right," said Aang sarcastically.
"Aang? Are you sure about this?" I asked.
He shook his head. "Did your brother ever say anything about Spirits?" he asked Peter.
Peter nodded. "I have a record of something that might be important, but we'll have to go where the villagers can't hear us."
"Wow, that sounds completely unsuspicious," said Sokka. "Let's go do it!"
We left the village and ducked behind a bamboo grove, where Peter took a handheld device out of his bag. "Now, this is what we call a tape recorder. It can record sounds, like people's voices. I think that this is the right one."
He pressed a button, and someone's voice came out. "Bzzt- It's just (stupid) I could never come up with the same design," said one of the voices. "I think it's (stupid) very unique."
"Hey, thanks man," another voice said enthusiastically. "It was actually created to help me beat the holy hell out of you, so I'm glad you think it's style." [2]
The tape stopped. "Wh-what was that? Who were those-"
"I told you, it records people's voices," said Peter. "The one who said that it was stupid was jerk-Arthur, and the other was Alfred, who, by a long series of complicated events; is actually my brother."
"You've got a very nice family, there…" said Sokka dryly. "You brother built something to 'beat the holy hell out of' your other brother?"
"Long story," Peter said, as was his excuse for almost everything. "That was the wrong one. I think this might be it."
"Bzzt- ugh…" Arthur groaned from the tape. "Am I Catholic… or Protestant?"
"Wrong one," said Peter, and he used another tape.
"Count off!" a loud voice called. Ravis flinched. [3]
"Uno!" a carefree sounding voice called.
"Ni!" said another, more serious voice.
"It's time to start our training!" the gruff voice called. "Ve vill star with ze sings zat every soldier should know!"
"Yes sir!" replied the carefree voice.
"Eh?!" the more serious voice said, startled.
"That's also the wrong one," said Peter. "The loud one was Ludwig, the girly one was Feliciano, and the confused one was Kiku."
"They're soldiers?" asked Sokka.
Peter nodded. "Ravis is kind of afraid of Ludwig, Feli's afraid of my brother, and Kiku's friends with my brother. Ludwig is also the younger brother of Gilbert, who came with us."
"Um… Peter?" asked Ravis.
"Yes?"
"Is it… legal to record something like this?" he asked shyly.
"Of course it (was when this was taken) is!" said Peter, channeling his brother.
"Hey, can I see?" asked Sokka, and he pressed another button.
There was a knocking noise, like someone was banging on a door. Someone was shuddering from inside the tape, and Ravis was shuddering like crazy. "Big brother, big brother!" a female voice called. "Come on, let's become one!"
Peter stopped the tape before we could get any more grossed out. "That was Natalya, Ivan's younger sister, and the only one he's actually afraid of. She wants to marry Ivan."
"Next," sweated Sokka, and he pressed the button.
"MARRY ME, MARRY ME, MARRY ME, MARRY ME-"
Sokka pressed another button before we could freak out any more.
"POLAND YOU'RE A JERK AND A BAD FRIEND!" someone yelled loudly.
"SHOUTING!" someone new screamed
"WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING?!" someone… Wait, was that…?
"Was that you?" asked Aang. "Ravis?"
He nodded. "That was Toris and Eduard, who used to live with me… They're here, too."
"And all three of you slept in the same bed," said Peter.
Ravis shuddered. "It was cold… and there was only one bed, blanket, and pillow between us…"
Sokka handed the recorder back to Peter. "I guess you'd better handle this."
Peter nodded, and pressed another button. "Bzzzt- Pipe down! Your country once surrendered to a Boy Scout troop on holiday!" yelled Arthur.
"Dat was years ago!" someone responded.
Peter stopped it. "That was Francis, who hates my brother. My brother also hates him, which all evens out."
He tried another one. This one opened with the crackle of a large fire. "Bring on the fire…" chanted Arthur. "Bring on the hell… set everything ablaze so that no trace remains… bring on the fire-"
"I FEEL LIKE WE'RE SUMMONING THE DEVIL!" screamed Alfred.
"Close, but not enough," said Peter. "They were around a campfire," he said, seeing our horrified expressions. "They weren't burning down anything."
"Okay then…" said Sokka skeptically.
"Next!"
"Bzzt- Sealand, if you are ever in a situation where an entire village in on the verge of being taken into an alternate Spirit World, the first thing you should do is-"
Click. "And that's the end of that tape," said Peter.
"Then try the next one!" shouted Sokka.
"BZZT! VEST VON'T DRINK BE~ER! VEST VON'T DRINK BE~ER!" someone loud mocked. Peter shut the tape as quickly as he could. "That was Gilbert, who should be here with us. He's extremely hyperagressive and arrogant, but he fights like a… well, he'd make King Bumi look like a milkmaid."
"He's also… much less mature…" said Ravis.
Sokka hit himself. "So you in fact, don't have any idea about what to do. That's great."
"But I-"
FOOM! "It's HeiBai!"
X (Meanwhile…)
"Uncle!" I called. "Uncle! Where are you?!"
I surveyed the spring where my uncle was an hour ago. "Those spikes… Uncle Iroh's been captured by Earthbenders!"
"Sir!" said one of the soldiers. "We have to leave soon. Like you said, the Avatar-"
"The… Avatar can wait," I said. I couldn't believe I was saying this, but… "I'll go after him. You stay at the ship, and I'll go pick Uncle up." I paused… Someone's there… "Hey, you!" I yelled at the forest.
"S-sveiki…" someone called from behind the trees. A young man, about nineteen or twenty, emerged from the bushes. He was dressed in an Earth Kingdom man's (A/N Chinese kimono-like garment), but it was tattered and patched in several areas. On his left side, there was a long tear, attached by a hastily sewn thread. "I-I mean, hello…"
"Who are you?" I asked. It was one thing to see an Earth Kingdom resident in the Earth Kingdom, but someone who didn't run away when encountering a Fire Nation squadron.
"Th-those soldiers who took your uncle…" the guy began. "Zey… vere chasing me…"
I looked at him with suspicion. "Why?" he asked. "Why would Earth Kingdom soldiers try to capture their own citizen?"
"I…" he began shaking, so I decided not to press the matter.
"What is your name?" I asked instead.
"Z-zere is no time! I- I know where zey might be headed!" the stranger said, trying to distract me. "They always use the same paths when they go searching…Their base is over that way," he pointed to a far off mountain. "Zey… took somesing zat vas important to me… And I can't fight a-lone!"
"So… you want to come with me?" I offered. The man nodded. "Lead the way."
X
HeiBai was… gigantic. It looked vaguely like a spider-panda… But it was terrifying! We had long taken refuge in the head house, since Aang was supposed to go out alone, but…
"Please stop attacking people!" Aang tried to reason with it.
"Aang!" I called. "Be careful!"
"He's not listening to me!" Aang yelled back.
"We need to help him!" Sokka leapt out the window, and threw his boomerang at him.
"N-nē!" Ravis did the first thing he could think of, and grabbed Sokka's ankle after him. His extreme fear froze the ground in front of them, and they slid straight towards HeiBai. Before they could say a word, HeiBai grabbed them, and fled.
"Wait up!" called Aang, and he opened up his staff into a glider. Using Airbending, he chased after them.
"Aang!" I called.
"Ravis!" cried Peter, his face strewn with tears.
"They're… gone…"
X (meanwhile…)
"So… now, if the karma rate was thrust into flux," began Estonia, "Then-"
"…"
"! Wh-what was that?! L-LATVIAAAAAA!"
X
"This is the path that zey use ze most," said the stranger. "They should be-"
"That's Uncle's slipper!" I shouted. "He must have left it here so that I could follow him!"
"Y-yes…" said the stranger, his efforts dashed.
"And look! Chocobo- I mean, ostrich-horse tracks!" I pointed at something else.
"And the base is-"
"It's a message written out in stone using traditional Chinese characters! It says that he's going to the base on the mountain!"
"They should arrive-"
"It also says that they should arrive in three hours, forty-seven minutes, and twenty eight seconds."
X (Aang POV)
I looked at my surroundings. I hit my head on a rock… I was back at the burned forest! "Sokka! Ravis!" I shouted, but to no avail. "You're not here. I failed."
All there was to do was… walk back, and apologize to Katara. How could I fail? I thought as I trudged through the dark woods. It was bad enough that they were being kidnapped, but now… Sokka and Ravis…
Katara and Peter were sitting out at the village gates, crying. "Katara… I'm sorry." I said. "You too, Peter."
Peter looked up. "Aang?" he said, looking straight at me.
"Aang!?" Katara looked up.
"Katara!" I shouted.
"What are you talking about, Peter?!" Katara rounded on Peter. "Aang's not there!"
She… can't see me? Peter gave me a wink, and said, "They'll be all right. We should get some rest." He, Katara, and the villagers entered the head house, and I heard snoring.
Moments later, Peter snuck out of the house. "I couldn't say anything in front of Katara, since it would sound like I was trying to mess with her head," he explained.
"How can you see me?" I asked. "No one else seems to be able to."
"That's most likely because of my family," replied Peter. "Jerk-Arthur could always see ghosts and spirits, and we share the same father."
"Same father? You mean that you don't share the same mother?" I said. "How…?"
"Peter?" Katara called. "What are you doing out here?"
"Er," Peter hastily Bent his gauntlet into a staff. "I'm… practicing."
Katara looked out. "You're waiting for Aang?" she asked. If only she knew…
"Uh-huh," Peter lied. "But let's go in. We can look for them in the morning." They went back to the head house.
"Bye…" I said. FWOOSH! Was that… a dragon?
X
(You should know the story. Aang is taken to Roku, receives instructions to go to his island to talk. This is lazy, but I'm not novelizing here!)
I'm back in my body! But… I was sitting on top of a statue… of a panda? A panda… I got it!
X
"There they are!" I whispered urgently to the stranger. "They have Uncle!"
The stranger scanned the area. "Zere are only five of them, but they have the advantage." He indicated to several tall rock formations. "See those? If we attack them there, they can collapse them with Earthbending. Right now, we have nowhere where we have the advantage, but do not vorry. It is late, they vill stop soon."
He was right. He managed to think keep calm in a situation like this? He thought of a plan, and where the terrain is best? This guy… he's good [4]. "Hey…" I had to ask. "What's your name?"
He regarded me with a surprised look. "C-call me… Lietuva."
TO BE CONTINUED!
Lietuva is Lithuanian for Lithuania.
[1] Hallow's Eve- is traditionally a time where… yeah, the spirit and physical worlds are closest.
[2] All those scenes recorded in the tape recorder came from the anime. I love Hetalia.
[3] Latvia being nervous at the sound of Germany's voice- I think that Latvia and the other Baltics were invaded by Germany.
[4] Lithuania and tactics- It took me literally five seconds for me to figure that out. Then again, I made the landscape.
Lithuania's accent- unlike the other characters, who have a consistent accent, Lithuania occasionally substitutes v for w and z for the th- sound, in the English dub, but not all the time. His foreign-tone-of-voice is always consistent, like the others, though.
Why is Lithuania with Zuko? What about Sokka and Latvia back in the Spirit World? And what is it that the soldiers stole from Lithuania? Why were they chasing him in the first place? Oh, wait, four questions? That won't happen again.
