GW: Sorry if I haven't updated in forever. Been busy. Anyways, here's the next chapter of 'Katara.' Enjoy!
Beneath the Jungle
Meanwhile, Zim was driving the airship as Jack Spicer was on the look-out for Katara and her group. Azula, still dazed from her experience, sat in the ship.
"Darn it! It's been TWO hours and the human princess and her friends have not returned!" Zim shouted.
"Hey! Princess!" Jack called as hoards of insects, blinded with rage from the attacks, flew through the clouds.
In a field of gold, a young girl with her brown hair in two hoops sat. When she got up, she saw a few riders coming towards her.
She looked up to see three men riding on ostrich horses and a couple of other men walking besides them. Not only did she see the three men, but she saw a woman riding with them.
"Mother's here?" the small girl asked. As the group continued onward, the girl's eyes widened as she thought to herself, 'Wait! Don't go this way!'
She ran ahead of the riders, yelling, "Stay away!" as the men ran behind her.
The young girl stood behind a tree, as if protecting something, as the men's hands reached forward.
"Go away! There's nothing here!" the young girl pleaded. She looked down and noticed the baby Ohmu that she was protecting had crawled out of its nest and between her legs.
"Get back inside!" the girl told the insect.
"She's got a baby Ohmu," one of the men gasped.
"The insects have bewitched her," another man sighed. "Hand it over, child."
"No! It hasn't done anything wrong!" the girl sobbed.
"Insects and humans cannot live together in the same world. You know that," the man told her.
The hand of the man reached out and took the baby Ohmu from the girl's arms as she yelped.
The men rode off with the insect as they left the girl by the tree. "You know that," the man's voiced echoed as they rode off.
The girl's eyes watered as she yelled to them, "Don't kill it! Please don't kill it!" She fell to the ground and cried for the lost insect.
Katara's eyes had opened from her dream as she blinked a few times. Beside her was Momo and near her were her friends.
"Momo," she said to the flying lemur as she stroked him.
"Katara, are you okay?" Glowworm asked.
"Man, I'd thought you'd never wake up," Jason sighed in relief.
She looked up to see a magnificent forest above her. The trees were gigantic as a thin stream of sunlight filtered through the area. Nearby she could hear water running.
Katara sat up as she asked, "Where are we?"
"Beats us," Winter shrugged. "When we woke up, we were here."
Katara looked around and got up as she looked around. Her friends also got up and followed behind her.
They were standing on a giant platform right by running water as tall trees dotted the area.
"What a strange place," the princess muttered.
"Ditto," Monkeyboy nodded.
The footsteps of an incoming people became louder as Edward, his brother, Alice, Rolf, and Electra came towards the five with Ed holding the möwe.
"Hey, we found your glider and we moved the gunship to a safe spot," Ed told the five. "How are you all feeling?"
The five new kids climbed up on top of the platform as Katara asked them, "Where are we?"
"I should introduce myself and my friends first," Ed said sheepishly. "I'm Edward Elric from Amestris. This is my brother Alphonse, his girlfriend Alice Liddell, Rolf, and Electra."
"It's nice to meet you," Al said politely as he bowed.
"How do you do?" Alice said as she gave a mild curtsy.
"Hello," Electra smiled. "The Son of a Shepard is pleased to make your acquaintance, new friends," Rolf smiled
"We'd like to thank you for saving us," Ed smiled.
"I'm Katara from the Valley of Water, and these are my friends Jason, Glowworm, Monkeyboy, and Winter."
"Hey," GW greeted as the others waved.
Katara looked around and repeated her question. "What is this place?"
Ed laughed as he said, "You're not going to believe this. You're actually beneath the toxic jungle."
Katara and her companions were shocked as Winter yelled, "Beneath the toxic jungle!?"
Alphonse nodded as he told her, "See that?" and pointed upward to a hole in the ceiling. "We fell through that hole up there, along with a bunch of sand."
As the Valley of the Wind kids stared up, GW gasped and said, "How can we be breathing without our masks!?"
"We don't know. Apparently, the air down here is clean," Alice shrugged as Ed said in amazement, "Neither my friends or I could believe it either. I'd never dreamed that the toxic jungles could be like this."
Katara looked at him before she looked around. She then jumped off the log with Momo in front of her and started to walk off.
"Oh, boy, where's she going now?" Jason sighed. "Uh, Katara, don't wander off too far, okay?" Ed told her, but it looked like Katara wasn't listening.
While walking through the strange place, Katara stared up at the tall trees surrounding her with shafts of light filtering through.
What a marvelous place, she thought as she kept on exploring.
She then came to a large tree as she ran her hand along the bark, saying, "What an amazing tree." She leaned her head on the tree and closed her eyes. As she listened, she could hear the sound of water running through it.
"It's dead, but water's still running through it," she said in wonder. Suddenly, a pile of sand fell into the underground jungle and gathered in a spot. Katara, with Momo on her shoulders, walked to the glittering new-fallen sand and picked a piece of it up to examine it.
She pressed to hard and it shattered into tinier pieces. "Just like the sand from the bottom of our well," she mused, gazing up, seeing more sand fall from another hole.
"It looks like these trees die and fossil, then crumble into sand," she explained as she stroked Momo.
Just then, Edward, the Valley of the Wind kids, and Ed's companions came running towards the spot where they saw Katara run off to.
"Katara!" GW gasped as they spotted Katara lying down in the sand. They rushed towards her side as Rolf asked in a worried tone, "Katara-girl, Rolf wants to know if you are alright?"
Ed noticed tears forming in her eyes as he asked in a soft tone, "Are you crying?"
She smiled and nodded, telling them, "It's okay though. I'm happy."
They all sat there, keeping the girl company as another waterfall of sand poured into the underground.
Later, they were all sitting around on top of a platform as Katara told Ed about Winry. He and Al both looked solemn as Ed finally said, "Winry was Al and my best friend. We can't believe she's dead, we should've been there for her."
"I'm sorry, I was too late to save her," Katara told them apologetically.
"No, I should apologize. You took care of her when she was dying, and I shot down your ship," Ed looked at the princess.
"Not exactly a good way to charm a woman, Ed," Electra laughed along with the group while Ed glared at Electra.
"It's okay," Katara told him.
"So, the Giant Warrior's in the Valley of the Wind now," Ed sighed as he ate a nut.
As he chewed the nut thoughtfully, he made a disgusted face and barely swallowed it down.
"What, cat got your tongue or something?" MB joked as Ed regained his composure.
"These nuts taste awful, the hell are they?" Ed asked Katara.
"They're Chico nuts. They're supposed to be good for you," she told him as she ate one herself. Ed put another one in his mouth and tried crunching it up, remarking, "Why does everything that's good for you taste so bad?"
The group laughed while Al just sighed, "Brother, I fear you won't live long the way you eat."
A while later, the gang were in a cave where Ed had stored the gunship and the wind glider. Ed had fixed the glider and was now working on the ship as the rest watched him.
When the work was over, they group was lying on the ground and just talking.
"The origin of the jungle?" Ed asked. "You spend a lot of time thinking the strangest things."
"The trees of the jungle must've evolved to purify the Earth and rid of the pollution we humans have made. The trees absorb the pollution and they die and petrify and crumble into purified sand."
"So, that's how these underground caverns were made," Jason realized.
"So then, the insects evolved to guard this place," Alice also added to the reasoning. Katara nodded, supporting the girl's answer.
"It that's true, then mankind is destined to go extinct," Ed mused. "It'll take centuries for these trees to cleanse the Earth. We can't survive the insects that long."
"Blond Ed-boy is right. Rolf is worried about his poor Nana keeping Ohmus off the farm," Rolf added in concern.
"Somehow we're going to find a way to stop this jungle from spreading," Ed said thoughtfully.
"You Amestrians sound just like the Fire Nation," Katara said bluntly, closing her eyes. "Oh, what!?" the hybrids said simultaneously.
"What!?" Ed shot up and looked at Katara as the other Amestrians looked at her as well. "We're nothing like those bloodthirsty Fire Nation! We'd never use the Warrior as a weapon!"
"You would if you were at war with the Fire Nation," Jason pointed out, getting glares from the Amestrians. "Shutting up now."
"Let's get some sleep, Edward; we need our strength if we are to make it to Amestris tomorrow." With that the Valley of the Wind kids fell asleep. The Amestrians looked at their companions, then fell asleep as well, but not before Ed put his jacket on Katara like a blanket.
GW: Ah, little bit of Ed/Katara at the end. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and read and review until next time!