A/N: I feel SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO bad right now! I have waited over three months to update and this isn't even a really great chapter! Please forgive me! :'( What would Jesus do? Anyways…there was a reason for my hiatus. I did a lot of things during this long break…
1. I went to Disney World for pete's sake, I didn't want to write!
2. My computer has been all screwy lately.
3. Writer's block…
4. (Somewhat like #3) Lack of inspiration…
5. All of these stupid End of the Year projects and such…
6. Stupid tests…
7. Sudden hatred of everything technological.
8. Sudden obsession of Inuyasha
9. Sudden obsession of hatred of a mean girl who's stealing my best friend from me!
10. Sudden obsession of food.
11. Sudden obsession of losing the weight gained by that food.
12. Sudden obsession with guys.
13. Sudden obsession with getting good grades.
14. Sudden obsession with hating how fat I am.
15. Sudden obsession about how mean I have been not updating this.
16. Sudden obsession with finishing this chapter finally
17. Sudden obsession with writing what has been going on in the past 3 months and a day
18. Sudden obsession of writing what I have been suddenly obsessed with
19. Sudden obsession with deciding to stop…
Okay…So that's what's been going on. I will write non-stop for the next week to get the next chapter. And if I don't get it out…well…I am going to get it out. :'(
I'm such a meanie!
Here's the chapter…
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Book 4
Air
Chapter 9:
The Underwater City
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After leaving the library, the gang set out to go once more to the source of the lights. On the way, of course, they stopped by the site of the Sozin's Comet battle sight. Sokka spent about two days looking for his space sword and boomerang before finally finding them. Nobody in all of Team Avatar had ever seen Sokka so happy, not even Katara, who had known him her entire life. When they finally were back in the air, they spent the next few days flying back to the Fire Nation.
They arrived at the palace and switched their stuff back to Appa. Mai and Zuko stayed because Zuko needed to tend to some affairs. This left Suki, Sokka, Aang, Katara, Toph, and the kids, leaving for another mission.
"We should be there in about a day," Sokka said, loosening his grip on Appa's saddle. He laid back on Appa's neck and reached his arms back and around his head to relax. Everyone else laid back as well.
Katara looked up at the sky, and then all around her. She reached up and wrapped her arms tightly around her torso, shivering.
"It's getting cold," She said, scooting closer to Aang, leaning her head on his shoulder. The airbender smiled.
"It's almost the Air season," Aang sighed, breathing in a breath of air, "Ahhh,"
The group smiled at him, also breathing in the slightly cold Autumn air. Sokka climbed over Appa's saddle and plopped himself down next to Suki, looking at her lovingly before gazing out to the ocean, watching a dolphin he saw.
That's how the next hour went. It was spent watching birds or other creatures in the sea and sky. Strangely, no storms were cursing the area. A strange kind of peace was shining down on that place. Lately, the storms and lights were bothering them, but now there were none. No storms. No lights. They journeyed on, eventually reaching the swirling whirlpool.
They flew over and looked down into the spiraling cylinder. They saw the ocean floor at the bottom, glistening with the water that sprayed down on it. Aang took over on Appa and guided the bison closer. The large creature seemed hesitant to go very close.
Aang leaned over the bison's head to look at him in the eye. "Come on, buddy. We have to go in and see what's wrong…It'll be okay," He pet the animal's ear and he groaned with a shy 'okay'.
Aang smiled and jumped back up to his seat.
"Everybody ready?" He asked, turning his head to his friends.
He heard them reply saying, "Yes," and he steered Appa downward, into the whirlpool.
He was still hesitant to go in, but he did what his master told him too. They landed at the bottom and looked around, then up to the sky above.
They heard a loud boom that was accompanied by a jolt in the ground. The gang fell over and Appa laid down to keep his ground. The group looked up in fear as they heard rushing of water above them. They saw the water crashing down from the top of the whirlpool. Everyone screamed. Aang and Katara had a moment of déjà vu as they found themselves bending a bubble around them to protect their group.
Only this time was different.
The water was fighting back.
The couple felt the water pushing them back, making it hard to bend. It was as if it was being bent against them. They fought harder to keep everyone alive, beads of sweat appearing on their foreheads.
While his sister and friend were bending, Sokka noticed shadows coming towards them from the water. At the same time, Toph and Sokka both yelled, "There are figures coming towards us!"
The group turned towards them and then to where Sokka was pointing. They too saw the figures walking towards them and Appa groaned with fear. Suddenly the waterbending couple felt the water stop fighting. They lessened their grip on it but still stood with their hands to the air.
The water where the figures were suddenly divided, revealing three middle-aged men dressed in strange attire. They had purple robes with a strange green pattern decorated into them. A thick gold ribbon was wrapped around their waists and the remaining strands of it lifted up behind their backs, attaching to the shoulder of their robes.
Aang was the first to break the silence between the two groups of people, he felt the three kids grasping onto him from behind in fear, "Uhhmm, who are you?"
Without answering, two of the three men swiftly surrounded them, encasing them in a ring of blue and red fire.
They can bend fire… The group gasped.
"Are you intruders from the world above?" The remaining man asked, getting right in Aang's face. Aang reeled back and the kids behind him squealed with fear.
"Well, we're from the upper world, I guess, yeah." He muttered, pointing up and doing air quotes as he said 'upper world', "But we're not intruders."
The men did not seem pleased and made the flames around the gang flare harder. The group squeezed into a circle in the center of the ring, to avoid the fire.
Katara gently, but swifly pushed Aang aside and explained, "We read some books and scrolls about how people lived down here. We just wanted to see if it was true, and learn more about your people." The group's eyes shown brightly to help their chances of getting in.
The men eyed them and pulled black ribbons from their robes, saying, "We will let you in, but you must be blindfolded until our King decides what to do with you,"
The group looked at each other and nodded, then proceeding to nod at the men, agreeing with their terms. The men proceeded to tie the blindfolds around their eyes, to block their seeing. Toph told them she was blind, but they tied the blindfold on her anyways. They wrapped a large rope around them and guided them through an ice-made tunnel. T hey walked into a cold, large area for about twenty minutes before finally reaching their King.
"Who are these strange people," A low, booming voice said from in front of them.
"They are intruders from the upper world." Their captors responded, from a lower point, obviously bowing to their leader.
Aang annoyedly said, "I told you we're not intruders."
"Silence!" The booming voice commanded. Aang took this opportunity to shut up and listen.
"The upper world you say?" Came a younger man's voice, probably late teens early twenties.
The gang turned in his direction to listen. "Yes, Prince Kang-Dae…They showed up on this giant beast, flying in from the land above." The leader of the three men confirmed.
"I see," Prince Kang-Dae said, he became silent as his father began talking.
The King angrily sighed, "Send them to the dungeon, we do not accept visitors, especially in this time. Our population has gone ramped; we cannot have any more people in our city!"
The gang slightly gasped with fear as they felt a tugging on the rope that surrounded them, most likely to take them to a dungeon.
"Wait, Father," The younger voice of Kang-Dae spoke, "I have always wondered about the Upper World, ever since I was a child. Maybe these strangers can teach us something, something useful to us."
Aang and the gang smiled as they saw their freedom coming very soon.
The booming voice came again, "That is true…We have never had a visitor from the upper world, only from that wretched town of Hue-Dai we had to destroy…" He trailed off. "Very well. Let them stay."
The gang smiled wider as they were untied and unblindfolded. They rubbed their eyes to adjust to the light and looked up at the King and Prince before them. Prince Kang-Dae was a muscular looking man, but he only looked about the age of seventeen. He had brown hair that reached down to the middle of the back of his neck. He had the top part in a formal knot with a supposed royal diadem sticking through it. His eyes were a deep blue color and he had a slightly pointed face. He also had a natural smirking look. He wore lots of chain mail and other armor, as if preparing for a battle. He also had a large sword laying right in front of him.
The group looked over at the king of the city. He was a largely muscular man, with shoulder length black hair. He had a short beard and he was also dressed as if for a war. His eyes were an amber color and his face was long like his son's. His face didn't show either kindness or hate, but seemed to have stress marks. He stood and waved his hand to his son, "Kang-Dae."
"Yes, Father?"
"Give these people a tour of our city. If we are to learn anything about their culture, we shall tell them about ours." He pointed towards a large door that possibly led to a hallway.
"I shall, Father," The teen replied, standing from his seat, taking his sword with him, and walking towards the gaang. He smiled and said, "Your tour starts over here, follow me,"
He led them towards the door and a small boy struggled to open it for him.
"Faster." Kang-Dae commanded the boy. The boy shrunk down with fear and continued to stuggle to get the door open.
"Here, I'll help you," Buyou said, smiling, jogging up to the boy.
The prince stopped him with his staff, "He can get it by himself. If he ever amount to anything, he'll have to build muscle. Leave him be."
Buyou looked at the prince and then to the boy, the boy met his gaze and sadly resumed pulling on the door. He eventually got the door open and the group walked by. Everyone in the Aang gaang looked sadly at the boy. Usagi turned and waved to the boy, smiling. The boy slightly smiled back, also waving.
They walked down the hallway and the gaang saw many slave children running around, doing chores for the different people in the palace. Some looked malnourished and some just looked overworked. They were sweaty and looked like they had never been happy in their life. Katara frowned sadly as she saw the small children do all the work. She couldn't take it anymore, she had to ask…
"Why are there so many slave children? Certainly you have older workers," She said, seeing the children ranging from six to twelve years old. The group stopped and Kang-Dae turned to her.
He began explaining, "Our city is hard to hold up. We constantly have food shortages so we need as many workers in the fields as we possibly can. So, the children are taught discipline at an early age so they can work in the fields earlier. They stay with their parents until they are six, then they go to work here or they go to The School. Once they are thirteen, they go to the fields. After that, once they are twenty, they sort of have the choice to be a fielder, baker, or something like that."
Katara looked down sadly, wishing that they had happier lives. They continued on in their tour to the outside and they gazed out at the huge city. They gaped at the largeness of it and Aang said, "Wow. That's a lot bigger than I thought it would be…"
"Yes, our city is pretty big. But surely you have cities that match to this size." Kang-Dae said, smiling, his arms behind his back formally. He looked to the group for an answer and they smiled at each other.
"Yeah, you could say that. We have a city called Ba-Sing-Se…It's probably ten times this size," Sokka laughed, looking at the underwater city.
Kang-Dae's eyes widened as he looked at the warrior, but then he looked back to his city, "Well, then. I would love to see it someday. It seems like it's an amazing city."
Toph shrugged, "It's not that great, with all their rules and regulations. I can't even see it anyway." She waved her hand in front of her face and frowned.
"We lived in Ba Sing Se for a long time!" Usagi piped in, a wide smile on her face. The group and Kang-Dae smiled at her, and they continued their tour.
The gaang looked up to the 'sky' and saw a team of dragon-horses in the sky. On their backs were men dressed like the guards who found them. Aang saw them and opened his mouth happily, "Hey! Those are dragon horses! The ones we read about!"
Kang-Dae turned to them and said, "Yes, dragon horses are our most obedient animals in our city. They are ridden only by our guards and other police like people. Do they have stories about them on the surface or someything?"
It was Suki's turn to talk, "Yeah, we read about them in Ba-Sing-Se, but then one washed up on the shores of the Fire Nation and we had it stuffed to see what it looked like alive."
Kang-Dae raised an eyebrow, "Fire Nation?"
"Oh, right." Suki said, laughing slightly, "Our world is divided into four nations. Though one of them was wiped out," She looked sadly to Aang and Katara looked at him as well, "They're named after the four elements of water, earth, fire, and air."
"Oh, I see…" Kang-Dae said, looking down in thought, he rose up again and said, "Anyways, you were saying? One washed up on your beach?"
Aang said, "Yeah, a few weeks ago I think."
"Hmm, well, I think I know how it got there," He began to explain, "Last week, we were going through our yearly dragon-horse training day, and we had to get them to obey so we whipped them," Aang flinched when he said whipped, then the teen continued, "One of them went crazy when we did and flung his rider around, dashing for the door. It burst past the guards and the ice wall of our door to the whirlpool, it must have gone into the water and drowned."
He noticed that his head had drooped down and lifted it back up again, "Was there a man on the saddle when you found it?"
"No, but there was a saddle," Sokka replied, shrugging.
"I see…" Kang-Dae said, his eyes downcast, "That man was my best friend, Tyrinn." He spun around slowly on his heels and continued walking. He shook off his sadness that showed and walked at a faster pace.
"I have a question," Toph said, raising her hand. Kang-Dae turned to her and smiled.
"Yes?"
"When you had said fields…what do you grow down here? I thought plants needed the sun to grow." The blind girl continued, shrugging, "Also, I feel like I'm standing on earth like was on the surface, but we're not on the surface."
Kang-Dae smiled and said, "Our city is lucky to have a spirit join us in the real world, her name is Mitsu, because she is a light. She was one of the very first spirits to come into the world. She produces a light when she rolls into a sphere that allows our plants to flourish."
"Is Mitsu the reason it seems like it is daytime down here? I mean, since you're at the bottom of the ocean, the sun can't reach all the way, can it?"
"You're right, Mitsu provides the light in our city. Though as you have probably noticed, it is terribly cold down here. Our spirit, Mitsu isn't a heat spirit…so most of our people must where coats or just bear with it. Mitsu's light gives off some heat, so that we don't freeze, but not much. We do have a small, less powerful light spirit giving us light and heat in the fields, but no where else. His name is Borvo."
"And the surface thing?" Toph reminded him.
"Right. Thousands of years ago, when we had been banished to the bottom of the sea, where we are now, they knew we wouldn't be able to provide for ourselves. So, they broke off a large circle of land and with the help of their many benders, they brought it to the bottom of the sea. This gave us fertile land for farming. Now we plant everything that you probably grow up in the Upper World."
"Could we see the fields?" Katara asked, smiling.
"Certainly." Kang-Dae agreed, waving for them to follow them around a corner of their huge city. They followed him down a large tunnel and they were taken aback by the wave of heat that flashed over them. Kang-Dae walked up to some guards with whips in their hands, taking off his coat and handing it to them as they kneeled to him.
He walked back to the gaang and led them in, showing them the large area that was The Fields. They looked across the large space and saw many teenagers and young adults working. They saw many young girls and boys running with buckets of the water, giving water to the workers. One girl, probably Buyou's age, ran past them with two heavy-looking buckets of water. She looked over and saw the group, thinking they looked strange, how they were dressed. She panted as she continued running and tripped over a misplaced rock. She stumbled to the floor and the buckets fell over, splashing to the ground and soaking her. The guards ran up and scolded her, pulling her to her feet.
They led her away and she had a terrified look on her face. The gaang looked at the girl worriedly and in shock as she was pulled away. They looked from the girl to Kang-Dae as he did nothing to stop them.
"Um…where are they taking her?" Aang felt the need to ask. He walked up behind him to await his answer.
The prince turned around and said, "To be punished, most likely. Like I said before, the children need discipline." He said that very simply.
The gaang looked around at each other as they continued into the large area of fields. They looked up into the air and saw a spinning bright yellow object in the center of it. Kang-Dae raised his arm to present the strange object, saying, "That is Borvo. As I said before, he gives the light and heat needed for our plants to grow." There was a smile in his voice and the gaang smiled too, looking at the spinning spirit.
"Does he ever get a break?" Katara asked, seeing as Borvo spun rapidly in a sphere.
"No, the plants can't be exposed to such darkness. They would have to rely on the light given to us by Mitsu, and even then there would be no heat left for them. We would all starve. Borvo knows this though so he is determined to keep us alive and well." He smiled and showed them all the workers in the fields.
He turned around and they joined him as he walked back into the city, walking around the town itself. They saw a decent sized wooden hut called The Baker Shop and stopped for some food. They went in and suddenly the smell of freshly baked breads waved into their noses. They sighed in pleasure as they took a seat at a wooden table. Katara sat down and Aang scooted over to sit next to her. Kang-Dae sat next to her as well and smiled, looking down at her.
Aang looked at the prince weirdly as he scooted next to her, recommending a certain meal. Aang frowned and recommended a meal to his girlfriend that he thought would taste good. Kang-Dae frowned as well and straightened his posture, trying to make himself more presentable.
Katara looked from Aang to Kang-Dae and back, a weird expression tinting her face. She shrugged it off, looking down at a menu handed to her by one of the bakers. Aang looked down at his as well, looking at a loaf with cheese that he wanted. They gave the baker their orders and Katara settled with a darker brown loaf with salmon on the side. She took a sip of water and set her cup back down on the table. She stared at her cup and turned to Kang-Dae.
"How do you have fresh water down here, you're surrounded by salt water." Katara asked, her eyebrows tilting upward.
Kang-Dae smiled and let out a short chuckle, "Well, like you guys said, you have bending up on the surface, well, so do we. Have you ever thought that salt was earth? Our waterbenders bend water from the ocean and the earthbenders bend the salt and other dirt out, this makes our water fresh enough to drink." To conclude his small speech, he took a sip out of his cup of water.
"Well, that's cool, I never thought of that." Katara smiled, looking up at Kang-Dae.
Kang-Dae smiled back, thinking that they were getting closer and closer together. He smiled and scooted slightly closer to Katara. Aang noticed this and frowned, scooting closer to Katara as well.
Soon enough, Katara found herself sandwiched between the two boys like a sardine. She wriggled her arms free and glared at the two boys, saying angrily, "Okay, guys. Give me some space," She pushed the boys back and they stared at her in slight shock. She frowned but then switched back to a smile as she said, "Thank you,"
After finishing their meal, Kang-Dae asked if he could treat them to dessert, saying that Koulen was the best cake-baker in the city. Kang-Dae tried once more with Katara and suggested a white cake with a strawberry filling. He slowly began reaching his arm up to put around her.
Aang frowned and couldn't take it, he muttered, "Katara," The girl turned her head to him and only had a split second to tilt her head in wonder as he quickly cupped her face in his hands and pulled her into a loving kiss. They held it for a few seconds, leaving Kang-Dae slightly shocked. He pouted a scooted a little bit away from the couple, now knowing that him and Katara would never have any sort of future.
Aang smirked against Katara's lips and pulled away, a goofy smile on his face. Katara laughed, placing her dark skinned hand behind her neck, she asked, "What was that for?"
Aang smiled and looked at Kang-Dae's pouting face, laughing, "Nothing. I'm just glad you're with me."
Katara smiled and kissed his cheek. Sokka, who watched their whole kissing ordeal, glared at Aang. Aang noticed and blushed, silently apologizing with his eyes.
In the end, everyone ordered the white cake with strawberry filling that Kang-Dae suggested. They all took a slice and dreamily ate it. Afterwards, the group took off again and headed back towards the palace. They walked through a large, non-elegant hallway and heard the sound of horses neighing in a room near them.
The gaang looked into the room and saw four dragon horses munching on hay, they smiled at the creatures and Kang-Dae stopped to show them to the group. He walked in and patted one of the creature's backs. The animal turned to him and neighed, a puff of smoke coming from it's nostrils. The smoke flew into Kang-Dae's face, and he swated at the air around him to make it go away. The gaang slightly laughed, but recomposed themselves and watched as the prince jumped onto it's back.
"These are the dragon-horses you had seen earlier," He said from atop the horse's back. He patted the horses head and turned to the gaang, his hands grasping the reigns at either side of the animal's neck.
Still holding onto the horse's reigns, he moved his hands up to cover it's ears, starting to speak. There are different commands that will make a dragon-horse do what you want it too. For example: They fly when you say 'Hae'. Observe." He uncovered the horse's ears and shouted, "Hae!"
The horse stomped it's hoof, but then jumped into the air hovering there as Kang-Dae controlled it, making it fly in a circle, then landing it down, "See?" He said.
The orphans laughed, clapping happily. The older kids smiled as well, clapping.
"Then," He continued, "If you want to make it walk, say- Aruku!," The horse jolted forward slightly before taking to a nice walk in a circle, "And you can just guide it around however you please," He smiled, demonstrating.
"What if you want it to run?" Suki asked, tilting her head slightly.
"Oh, then you just say kouro," Kang-Dae answered. Suddenly, the horse jolted and began running around crazily, catching him off-guard. He swiftly grabbed for the reigns and reared the horse back, waiting for him to stop. He sighed angrily, getting off the animal and walking back to the gaang.
"He's our younger dragon-horse," He turned to it, "Still needs some training I see."
The group replied with 'yeah' and started walking down the hallway again to get to the throne room.
On the way, Katara spotted the little girl from earlier, who spilt the water, walking down the hallway towards them, tears in her eyes as she carried two very heavy-looking bags of rice. She looked at the girl with concern and without everyone else knowing, she ran up to the girl as she passed and said, "I can take one of those if you want."
The girl looked at her in shock and said, "No, no! You don't have to do this…this is part of my punishment, plus, it isn't your job…"
"Well…you just look like you're struggling…"
"Maybe…but I can get it…" The girl responded, painfully continuing to walk down the hallway. Katara looked at her as she walked and saw the girl's neck. She saw about a two inch long one inch wide mark there, and it appeared to be bleeding. She quickly turned to her friends, who hadn't noticed she left, and back to the girl, rushing over to her and grabbing the bags from her.
"Those are mine, miss…I have to deliver them…" The girl had tears in her eyes and her voice was cracking with pain.
"I don't care about it, let me get them, okay? What happened to your neck?" Katara waited for an answer, clear concern in her eyes as she looked at the girl reach back for her neck, to find what was showing. She felt the nasty mark and gasped.
"It's nothing, don't worry…"
"I'm worrying, here, I have healing abilities, I could heal it for you," Katara smiled her and she looked up with wonder.
"You do?"
"Yes, now let's see what happened." Katara said, pointing to the girl's back.
She drew her water out of her waterskin and rolled the back of the girl's shirt up only enough to show the wound. She gasped at what she saw.
"Did they whip you!" Katara asked in shock, turning the girl to face her.
The eight year old sighed and looked at her feet, "Yes…that is the punishment for bad behavior."
Katara looked at the girl sadly and wide-eyed, she proceeded to place the water to the girl's back, noticing that she winced. She saw the bloody cuts fade to pink welts on her back as the healing took place. The little girl sighed with happiness when it was over and her back was almost completely healed.
Katara rolled the girl's shirt back down and turned her to face her, "I'm sorry, that's all I could get healed right now, the rest will have to heal on it's own," She looked sadly at the girl, noticing that she was smiling.
"That's fine," The girl grinned widely, "I feel so much better now. Thank you, Miss."
Katara smiled as the girl hugged her and grabbed the bags she had been carrying, she ran quickly down the hallway as if they weighed nothing and laughed on the way. Katara stood up and turned just in time to see Kang Dae walking angrily towards her.
"Why did you do that?"
"What? Heal her?"
"Yes! Heal her." Kang Dae fumed, "That whipping was the girl's punishment, why would you relieve her of it?"
"Because!" Katara angrily responded, "She was given that punishment because she accidentally tripped! Also, that is no way to treat a child!" Aang started walking up to Katara as the others stared at them as they fought.
"And the way you are treating me is in no way how you treat a prince!" The argument continued, but Aang cut through it-
"Guys! So what if Katara healed that girl, whippings are cruel and painful! We should just continue the tour! It okay if one girl gets to be relieved from her punishment!"
The two stared at her and Kang Dae muttered, "Fine."
They continued down the hallway until they reached the throne room where they saw the king drinking some tea. Kang-Dae sat down at his father's right and motioned for the gaang to sit in the seats presented before them. They sat and watched as the prince stood and walked in front of them.
He began to speak, "There is one last important thing we have to tell you about. Then we expect to hear a lot about your culture." He slightly smiled and called over to the guards, to have them help him demonstrate something.
"There are three ways to energy bend: Energy Stealing, Healing, and just plain Energy Bending," He began, walking towards the first guard. "First, Energy Stealing is the easiest to perform. You place your hands on your victim's forehead and heart and concentrate, looking for their chi paths. Once you find the chi path, focus the energy up through your hands and into your own body. This will give you their power." He placed his hands on the guards chest and forehead, "Like this."
In a few moments, the room was filled with bright orange and purple colors. The purple light emitting from Kang Dae traveled up the man's body and engulfed him. Kang Dae pulled back, obviously worn out, and preformed a complex waterbending move that only the guard had known how to do. Aang looked up at the king and saw him looking strangely into a book. Aang, now confused, looked back at Kang-Dae.
"Now this man has no more bending, it has been stolen by me, but now I will give it back."
Aang questioned, "You can give back bending?"
"Yes, but it is much harder. You have to grasp the energy you stole from your body and focus only it into their body. It takes a lot of concentration," Kang-Dae replied.
He got into the same position and after about five minutes he was able to give the man his ending back. The gaang clapped as Kang-Dae bowed, obviously very tired.
"Now," He breathed, "I will demonstrate with this guard –sigh–how to heal with energy bending…"
"Wait!" The deep booming voice of the king sounded.
"Yes, Father?" Kang-Dae asked.
"You…Bald boy, with the tattoos," He said, pointing towards Aang. Everyone looked at Aang.
"I have just read here that airbenders receive those tattoos when they become master airbenders," He glared at Aang, "Are you an airbender?"
Aang smiled, "Yep. I am one."
Kang-Dae gasped and looked at his father in shock, the king continued, "The last airbender our people have seen was the Avatar. Are you the Avatar?"
Aang looked to his friends hesitantly before saying, "Yeaahh."
The king and prince angrily looked at them, wide-eyed, "SEIZE THEM!" They shouted to the guards, "THEY ARE THE ONES WHO BANISHED US! DO NOT LET THEM ESCAPE!"
Aang reeled back in surprise, as well as the rest of his gaang.
"That may have not been the best thing to say, Aang," Sokka shouted in a slightly scared voice as he saw the men approaching them with spears and swords. Kang-Dae angrily ran towards them, his large sword glimmering in his hand.
"Run!" Aang shouted as he made a dust cloud for cover around his friends. They ran past everyone and into the hallway leading to the dragon horse stables. They rushed in and mounted the animals, holding onto the reigns. Katara had gotten on one with Aang. Usagi, Noboru, and Buyou got on one, and Sokka went on another with Toph and Suki.
Aang hesitantly grabbed tighter onto the reigns and asked, "Does anyone remember how t-,"
"Kouro!" Buyou shouted joyfully, managing to get his horse to swiftly start running down a hallway, leading outside.
Aang and Sokka looked wide-eyed at them as they sped off and joined them by yelling, "Kouro!" as well.
They all made it outside, the shouts of men behind them as they rode off onto a balcony. Then everyone in the gaang's hearts momentarily stopped breathing as they realized they didn't remember how to make them fly.
The horses stopped abruptly on the edge of the balcony, rearing back to avoid falling. The men appeared out of the darkness and charged after them with swords. They started bending earth and fire at them and Aang made a shield of air around them.
Sokka angrily grunted, "Oh, come on! Hey!"
His heart stopped again as he found his horse jumping off the edge and spreading out it's wings. It began to soar forwards and he laughed with joy. "It thought I meant HAE, not hey! Haha!"
Aang and everyone else smiled and shouted, "Hae!" laughing.
After flying for about ten seconds, Aang spotted Appa in a stable on the ground, he dove down and took out his bison whistle, blowing hard on it to get the bison's attention. Appa's ears twitched and his eyes opened as he heard it. He stood up and jumped into the air, meeting everyone in the sky.
Aang thought about jumping off the horses and onto Appa but then thought about how cool it would be if they brought back a dragon-horse. He grinned and led everyone to the entrance of the ice dome. They quickly burst through the thick ice gate, breaking into a large ice hallway and finally breaking through a thinner wall of ice leading to the whirlpool.
For the third time, Aang found himself in the position of having the water of this whirlpool crash down on him. He closed his eyes and pressed his hands together, earning a quick flash of the Avatar State to give him energy. He spun a large sphere of water around everyone for the third time in his life, guiding it to the surface and breaking into the sky. Everyone sighed with relief as they made it outside, breathing in the fresh air of the sky and noticing that their ears began to unpop.
The horses seemed antsy about being in a new world but they adjusted.
Soon, everyone made it to the Fire Nation where they greeted Zuko. They showed him the dragon horses and they completely matched up to the one they stuffed. Hours later, Aang looked into the sky and saw a strange bird with a scaly body with few long feathers on it's wings. He looked at it awkwardly as in hovered infront of him, holding a scroll in one of it's feet, holding it out to him. Aang took it and Katara ran over as he read-
Avatar,
We have finally hit a turning point in our lives. You have returned to us for another battle and we accept. We will return to the surface in one week. Do not forget.
-Prince Kang-Dae Zaolik, Suichuu Shi
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AUTHORS NOTE: Okay…once again…SORRRYYYYYY! :'( I feel so bad…..
Okay, so there were many foreign words in here so here are their meanings.
Mitsu- I forget exactly, but it was something like light or heat in an Asian language
Borvo- I'm pretty sure it was sun…in an Asian language
Hae- A way of saying fly in Japanese
Kouro- A way of saying run in Japanese
Aruku- It means walk in Japanese
Suichuu Shi- Underwater and City looked up in an English to Japanese Dictionary =D
So yeah… I will be working all this week to get a new chapter in by next Sunday, I feel horrible about making you guys wait three months and a day… It will be ten times easier now that I have gotten to the plot line…so yeah… :'(