Chapter 10: Discovery
BlueTiger321: Hi, everyone and welcome to the next chapter. Once again, I apologise for not updating regularly, but it's because I've got lots of more important things to do. Okay, so read on to continue the story. Enjoy!
The city of Ba Sing Se was now bathed in the morning glow to start a new day. All across the vast metropolis, the citizens were unaware of the battle that took place from outside the walls. To each person, it would just be a normal day without worry or cause for concern of the incident.
The only ones who did know were now together inside the Throne Room in the Earth King's palace. The Storm Hawks and the Avatar's group, who now had two new members added to their ranks, stood in front of His Majesty to explain what became of the previous exchange.
Aang was the one standing before the king, saying, "...And so, Azula and the others all took off after we defeated them but now we still don't know what happened to the dimension stone."
"I see," said the Earth King. "Well I'm glad your friend is back safe and sound, but haven't you tried to look for the stone once the battle was over?"
Piper stepped up to answer the question. Holding the crystal scope in her hands, she replied, "I have, Your Majesty. I looked all over the area but I couldn't detect any trace of the dimension stone. The only explanation I can think of is the Cyclonians do have it."
"Oh, great," said Stork worriedly. "Now they'll get back to Atmos for sure."
"I don't think they've used it yet," assured Piper. "If they did, my crystal scope would've detected the sudden flux in energy. So far, it's been quiet."
"But if they do have the stone, why haven't they used it?" wondered Aerrow.
Piper shrugged her shoulders and said, "Beats me." Even she couldn't understand this dilemma.
"Well whatever the reason," said Sokka, "I'm grateful that Suki showed up when she did..."
The aforementioned girl smiled in response to the boy. "You're welcome, Sokka," she said.
Out of curiosity, Katara asked Suki, "What were you doing here, anyway?"
"Ty Lee and I were already on our way to Ba Sing Se by the Earth King's request. We were acting as ambassadors to discuss the relations between the Earth Kingdom and Kyoshi Island. On our way to the city, we noticed that you and everyone else were in trouble so, naturally, we rushed in to help."
While Suki explained her story, Junko looked around, wondering where someone had gone. "Hey," he asked, "where's Radarr?"
Everyone then turned their heads when they heard screeching. The Storm Hawks immediately knew who made the sound since they heard it so many times before while the others all guessed as to what could make that noise. There, they all saw Radarr struggling around in Ty Lee's arms. The girl had picked up the furry co-pilot with a huge grin on her face. Radarr, unfortunately, wasn't sharing the girl's feelings since she had picked him up so suddenly.
"Oh, you're the cutest thing I've ever seen!" Ty Lee said with glee.
Ty Lee was now hugging Radarr so tight that his head was swelling up and turning red while he continued screeching in fear. At last he finally managed to squirm free from her grip, and he wasted no time rushing behind Aerrow's legs. The co-pilot breathed hard after his escape. He had never felt this afraid since the time Junko baby-sat his relative, Tynki.
Aang had a weird look on his face after seeing what just happened while Momo jumped on him to rest on the boy's shoulders. "I hope he's okay," he said.
"He'll be fine," Aerrow assured him. Radarr merely looked up at the red-haired boy to give him an angry look and chirped as if to disagree with what he said.
Suki then got a look at the Sky Knight squadron and realised she never met them. "I don't think we've been properly introduced," she said.
Turning to her, Aerrow said, "Oh, I'm Aerrow, leader of the Storm Hawks." The Sky Knight then turned to his teammates and pointed to them while giving out their names. "This is my squadron – Piper, Finn, Junko, Stork and Radarr." In response, Piper, Junko, Stork and Radarr all smiled and waved at her, and Finn smiled while giving his trademark pistol fingers.
Suki waved to each of them to say hello, but then got the feeling like they didn't belong here. "So... why do you all look so... different?" she asked.
"It's because we're not from this world," replied Piper. "We accidentally came here with our enemies, the Cyclonians. Now we're trying to get back to our world with the Cyclonians so they won't cause any more harm to this world."
Suki nodded her head, understanding what Piper had explained to her. Just then, she felt a nudge and looked down to see Toph was trying to get her attention. The blind girl then said, "That's about as clear as she can make it without going into every detail."
The girl blinked oddly at the statement, but soon turned back to the Sky Knight and said, "Well I'm Suki, leader of the Kyoshi Warriors."
"...And I'm Ty Lee," she said, bowing to the Storm Hawks.
"It's nice to meet both of you," said Aerrow, "and thank you for your help back in the forest."
Finn stepped forward, saying, "Seriously, you were both awesome!" The boy soon shifted his focus on Ty Lee. "I saw how you took care of Lugey. What did you do to him?"
"All I did was block his chi points so he couldn't fight back," the girl replied.
"Believe me," said Sokka, "it really works."
Finn then narrowed his eyes and smiled at the girl, saying, "Well, maybe you could teach me some of your moves... in private?" The blonde sharpshooter then flashed a toothy grin while he was flirting with Ty Lee.
In response, the girl averted her eyes and backed away from the marksman. Finn widened his eyes in shock after seeing she wasn't interested in him, leaving his teammates to laugh at his failed attempt.
The Earth King broke the laughter by adding his own thoughts. "It is good to see everyone getting along," he said, "but now we have more important matters to discuss."
"That's right," said Zuko. "While I was fighting with Azula, she mentioned that she and the Cyclonians are arriving tomorrow to start the invasion. We have to be prepared for them by then."
"But with her combined forces, I'm not sure if we're able to hold our own against them," mentioned Katara.
"We must..." said Aang. "It's for the sake of our entire world. We've done it once before, and we can do it again!"
"Still," said Sokka, "we may need all the help we can get if we're going up against an army of two worlds."
"Then maybe we should seek help from our other allies," said Aang.
"How are we gonna do that?" Junko wondered. "The Cyclonians and those firebendy guys are gonna be here tomorrow. We can't get more people to come here in one day."
Piper put her finger to her lips while she contemplated the situation. Her eyes then lit up as a thought popped into her head. "I think I know how we can do it," she said. "Stork, in my room I have a box under my bed with turbo crystals inside it. I was saving them for a rainy day, and now I think this is probably the best time to use them. You can take Aang on the Condor, and the two of you can head out across the world to gather more help. You should be able to get back here before the day is out."
Stork rubbed his chin and pondered. Upon reaching his decision, he said, "That idea is absolute madness... but, I guess we have no other choice."
"Good idea, Piper," praised Aang. "If this works, we'll be able to stand up to Azula's forces for sure..."
"Don't be so positive, Aang. You haven't faced the Cyclonians like we have." The response from Stork only left a strange look on Aang's face.
Aerrow looked at the Merb and the boy Avatar with a concerned look on his face. He knew this plan was a long shot, but it would help add to their numbers against the enemy forces. "Aang, Stork," he said, "be careful out there."
"We will be," said Aang. Turning to the Storm Hawks' helmsman, he said cheerfully, "Let's go, Stork!" The boy took off so suddenly that Momo was forced to fly away and land on the floor.
The Merb only grunted and rolled his eyes from having been told what to do. The Condor was his possession so he thought he should be the one who gives out the orders. Aang and Stork had now left the group and were now going to perform their task of getting more allies to join their cause.
Once the two were gone, Toph said, "So what're we supposed to do in the meantime?"
"Why don't you all take this time to relax?" the Earth King suggested. "You've already been through many hardships up to this moment, so maybe you should try to relieve some of your stress?"
"Thank you, Your Majesty," said Aerrow. "Let's all head out and explore the city."
Everyone smiled and nodded their heads. They all felt this was a well-earned opportunity to do something other than fighting after all they had accomplished. Everyone bowed before the Earth King to take their leave and so they all headed for the exit, but each of them couldn't help but wonder about what the future might hold with the inevitable battle.
* * *
The Fire Nation army had now made its way onto Earth Kingdom territory. Troops of firebenders were marching down in rows while the massive tanks moved in front of them, crushing anything in their paths. High above the ground troops were the Fire Nation war balloons with their insignia emblazoned in black against a red background, letting all know who was bringing a rain of destruction.
The Cyclonian battle cruiser had positioned itself in front of the war balloons, making its way across the skies to lead the small flying rides towards the Earth Kingdom capital.
The bridge in the Cyclonian's ship was now contained with both fury and terror. Master Cyclonis was displaying her dissatisfaction to Ravess, Snipe and the Raptors for their failure. All of them were shaking before Cyclonis's might for they knew she would show them her true anger. Once again, Dark Ace was being exempt from scorn and Azula was joined with him.
Taking in a deep breath, the Cyclonian ruler relaxed and changed her expression to show she was calm. "Snipe?" she said.
In response, the burly Talon commander stepped forth to obey. After taking in a big gulp, he whimpered, "Yes, Master Cyclonis?"
"I left you in charge of getting the dimension stone from Aerrow, did I not?"
"Uh... yes, you did." Snipe wasn't sure where this was going, but he would rather not keep Cyclonis guessing.
"So you got the dimension stone and then returned his friend. Then what happened?"
"Uh... the Storm Hawks caught us by surprise, and, uh... we got smacked around."
Cyclonis took in another deep breath and asked, "But... do you still have the dimension stone?"
Shifting his eyes back and forth, Snipe said, "Uh... well, you see... the thing is..." Seeing he was only stalling, he lowered his head in shame while saying, "No."
That was the only thing Cyclonis needed to lift her hand and wrap Snipe in a pink aura. The girl then shot her hand outward and made the burly man scream as he was forced to move across the floor. Snipe's massive body smacked against the wall, leaving him with more pain added from the previous battle.
Cyclonis released the aura and turned to her other subordinates. Her look of rage had returned, making all the others quake in fear. "Thanks to your incompetence, we're now further from reaching our goal!" she said. "How is it that I got stuck with such pathetic imbeciles?!"
"But Master Cyclonis," said Ravess, "the Storm Hawks don't have the dimension stone either, so we–"
"No more excuses!" shouted Cyclonis, causing all the others to raise their arms in defence. "I don't want any more hindrances in getting back the stone so I can finally return to Atmos! If you fail me one more time, then I will show you all what kind of pain I'm truly capable of inflicting! Now get out!"
None of the Cyclonian commanders being scolded needed another incentive to leave the bridge. They, along with the Raptors, hurried out of the bridge for fear of receiving more of Cyclonis's fury.
The Cyclonian ruler was now left alone in the bridge with the Dark Ace, Azula and the Talons at the controls.
"Master Cyclonis," said Dark Ace, "if I may, I would gladly see to it that the dimension stone is found without any interruption."
"No," Cyclonis said while waving her hand. "I need you most of all to take down the Storm Hawks once we find them and their new friends."
"You needn't worry," said Azula. "My soldiers are prepared for any kind of situation. They'll be ready to strike down both our enemies when the time comes."
"They'd better be..." grunted Cyclonis. "As far as I'm concerned, you haven't held up your end of the bargain. You've failed to retrieve the dimension stone, and the Storm Hawks are still out there. I'm starting to think that you're only in this for yourself."
Azula only closed her eyes while shaking her head as though she was disagreeing with Cyclonis's accusation. "I can assure you that my intentions are purely to help us both succeed," she said. "It may have taken some more effort than expected, but I will give you the result you want."
"Well then you should stop wasting time explaining it and start working towards it! I don't care how it gets done; I just want you to give me what I desire!"
Cyclonis's comeback caused Azula to narrow her eyes in anger. She was now forced to exit the bridge while taking those words in with great displeasure. The automatic door closed behind her, and the wicked girl saw that she was alone in the hallway.
"Oh, I'll give you what you desire..." Azula said to herself. She proceeded by drawing out the dimension stone from her robe. "But first, you have to give me what I desire."
Azula smirked while staring into the stone, thinking of what she was going to do with it. The crystal's glow turned her face green and made her expression appear more sinister. With this object in her possession, the girl thought there was nothing that could stop her from reaching her ultimate goal.
* * *
The upper ring of Ba Sing Se was bustling with activity to start off the morning. Every person was heading off to do business as usual like it was any other day. The Storm Hawks walked down the street to take in the sights along with their new companions while Aang and Stork went off to complete their task.
Every way the group went, they kept receiving stares from the civilians as though they were an unwanted band of people. The glaring especially made Junko feel uneasy since he was the one most of the people were confounded to see due to his appearance.
"Why does everyone keep lookin' at us?" asked Junko.
"It's probably because we look different from them," replied Aerrow.
"Well, I wish they'd cut it out," said Finn. "They're starting to give me the creeps."
"Don't worry about them," said Zuko. "They don't know who you are, but they will eventually."
Everyone continued walking while attempting to ignore all the staring and whispering going on behind their backs. They all soon came to a stop when a beeping sound was heard. It left everyone in a state of wonder because it had come unexpectedly.
"What's that noise?" wondered Suki.
Piper reached behind her back to pull out a familiar device. "It's my crystal scope," she answered. "It must be picking up some crystal energy."
Finn merely groaned in annoyance. "Come on," he said. "Can't you give that thing a rest?"
Piper was offended by Finn's complaint but she chose to ignore it. "According to these readings," she said, "it's detecting some crystals very close from here. The signal is faint, but we should be able to find out what it is."
Katara soon chimed in, saying, "Well it's better than wandering around while people stare at us. Let's go and see where it's coming from."
The Storm Hawks' navigator pointed the way and everyone followed her in that direction. Aerrow seemed to be the most curious of all to find out the mystery behind this. He knew the dimension stone was in this world for a reason, but why other crystals from Atmos were being spotted here didn't seem to make much sense.
Eventually, everyone arrived on a grassy plain away from the buildings. Piper looked down at her crystal scope to re-check the coordinates, making sure they were accurate.
"Now where do we go?" asked Ty Lee.
"The readings say that we're at the spot," said Piper, "so the crystals must be underground."
Sokka slapped his hand to his forehead in frustration and said, "Oh, that's just peachy! You dragged us all the way over here just so we could dig up some shiny rocks?! How do you expect us to find them, anyway?"
Piper was about to suggest what they do when she was interrupted when someone said, "Ahem!" That's when everyone turned around to notice Toph standing there with her arms folded over her chest and smiling smugly.
"Are you forgetting who's with you?" said the blind girl.
Toph pushed her way past her friends and got into an earthbending stance. Focusing hard, she spread out her arms to make a hole open in the middle of the grass. Everyone watched to see that a path leading down the hole at an angle was made to make it easier to descend underground. Toph was the first to enter the hole so she could continue using her earthbending to create the path while everyone followed behind her with satisfied looks on their faces. Appa stayed on the surface, mainly because he was afraid of going underground.
The path on which everyone walked was going deeper as Toph used her abilities to push more earth out of the way. Zuko had created a small flame in his hand to make it easier for everyone else to see.
"How much farther is it, Piper?" asked Aerrow.
The navigator checked her device and saw it flashing more rapidly. "It shouldn't be too long until we get there," she responded.
At that moment, Toph moved another slab of earth blocking the path and everyone looked on to see what was behind it. There, the Storm Hawks were left in awe as they saw a huge, hollowed out cavern that looked to be manmade. The centre contained a large pool of water with a waterfall as its source and many stone pillars lining the bottom to support the rock above. The most stunning quality about the area was the green crystals glistening in the darkness. The crystals were so bright that Zuko no longer needed the flame in his palm so he extinguished it.
"Wow!" said Aerrow. "What is this place?"
"These are the ruins of old Ba Sing Se," said Katara. "The city used to be underground and was forged by earthbenders until it became what it is today."
Looking at the crystals, Junko said, "Hey Piper, are these the crystals your scope was detecting?"
Piper held her device up to one of the many crystals and saw that her scope wasn't responding to it. "There's no energy signature coming from them," she said.
"Then why else would it go off like that?" said Aerrow.
Piper was about to add her own comment when she noticed her crystal scope was reacting again. This time, she read the coordinates and turned to her right. The navigator then went over to the spot and knelt down to find the source. She grunted as she pushed some rocks out of the way, and what she saw left her speechless. Lying on the ground in front of her was a group of crystals of many different sizes, shapes and colours.
The girl was joined by the rest of her friends when she made the discovery. All the Storm Hawks opened their eyes wide in shock to see so many crystals gathered together in one place.
"No way!" Finn said astounded.
"Are these the crystals you were looking for?" asked Suki.
"Apparently," said Piper while holding the crystals in her hands. "It's just... seeing this much here is... amazing."
"...And weird," added Aerrow. "How could it be that crystals from Atmos ended up in this world? It's like the time Piper found that crystal last night in the forest."
While Aerrow was giving his rant, Radarr wandered away to do some exploring of his own. The co-pilot walked on his hind legs while he looked around the catacombs. He turned a corner behind a boulder and looked upward. The object right before his eyes made him feel like his heart had abruptly stopped. Radarr set his face into panic, and soon he ran on all fours back to the group while chirping wildly.
Everyone else soon got Radarr's attention as they all turned around and wondered what had gotten him so agitated.
"Radarr, what's wrong?" said Aerrow.
The furry co-pilot soon caught his breath and tried to explain as best as he could what he had found. He spread out his arms and started flapping them up and down while bearing his teeth and making weird noises.
"Sorry," said Mai, "but none of us speak..." The girl was having difficulty determining exactly what kind of animal Radarr was. Eventually, she gave up and concluded, "...whatever you are."
"Ooh, I think I know what it is!" Finn said excitedly. "Okay, you... have to go to the bathroom?" Everyone looked at Finn oddly from his guess. "Radarr, why do you need to tell us that?"
Radarr stopped mid-way at what he was doing. Slapping his paw over his face, he chirped and pointed over to the previous spot.
"That's a good guess," said Katara, "but why don't we have a look for ourselves in case you're wrong?"
Everyone except Finn laughed at Katara's comment while they followed Radarr. The co-pilot let out another chirp as he pointed up to the object he had found. There, everyone froze in place at what they saw. Momo looked on and hissed while arching his back. Embedded in the side of the rock were the skeletal remains of a large, winged creature with sharp claws and a set of gnarly fangs set across its jaws. The eyes of the skull were slanted and it looked to have a pointed snout.
The Storm Hawks immediately recognised the creature from its structure, prompting Piper to say, "I don't believe it! It's a Verroc!"
"Yeah," said Aerrow, "or at least... what's left of it."
"What's a Verroc?" wondered Zuko.
"A dangerous creature found in Atmos," replied Piper. "We fought a whole hoard of them to defend people they were terrorising."
Finn calmly walked over and said, "Yup. That was when 'Yours Truly' was the Great Domo of Terra Vapos. Man, those were some good times."
The blonde sharpshooter was acting so egotistic of himself that he didn't notice an obstruction on the ground. Finn banged his foot against it, causing him to cry in pain while hopping around on his other foot.
Piper laughed at Finn's misfortune and said jokingly, "Very smooth, Great Domo." Finn responded by narrowing his eyes at her while tending to his sore foot.
"Wait," said Aerrow. His interest was focused on what Finn had accidentally hit. "That sounded like metal. Junko, can you bring it up?"
"I'm on it!" said the Wallop.
Using his superior strength, Junko lifted the object from the ground with ease. He wiped away what soil was left from it to reveal it was a wide piece of metal rounded at the edge. In its centre was an insignia of a golden swan within a circle.
The Storm Hawks looked at it and were even more shocked to see the symbol on it.
"What is it?" Toph wondered.
"The Rex Guardians?" Junko said bewildered.
"Who are they?" asked Sokka.
"They're another Sky Knight squadron on Atmos," Aerrow answered. "But this doesn't make any sense. How is it that things from our world are found in this world?"
"I don't know," said Piper, "but I've got the feeling that our two worlds have been in contact with each other before."
"I think it's time we left. We've got more important things to do than find any more things down here."
The group then made its way out of the catacombs after making the discovery. All of them were now left perplexed by what they found, but the questions would have to wait until they made sure this world was safe.
* * *
BlueTiger321: Wow! Now things are starting to get more interesting.
Piper: Why did you make us leave? I wanted to look for more crystals.
Aerrow: Take it easy, Piper. We've still got the rest of the story. Besides, don't you think you've got enough crystals?
Piper: Aerrow, there's no such thing as 'enough crystals.'
BlueTiger321: Well folks, stay tuned to find out what happens in the next chapter. Until next time...
Aerrow and Piper: Read and review!