Glad you guys are loving the fic so much, especially with the meeting of Edward and the Gaang! That will continue in this chapter as well as we'll hear from our baddies once more!
"What do you mean by plan B?" The pale guy asked as Edward smirked. This had to be the best possible get-away yet. All three types of bending on one flying animal in the sky…he wasn't going to consider the fact that they were thousands of feet in the air right now and more on the conversation.
"Well, when the Avatar was struck down I happened to be in the 'right place at the right time' if you will. Apparently this has happened before in times of great crisis in your world with a past Avatar…Avatar Wen if I thinking right. He was originally from somewhere else too but stepped in to fill the gap and became an earthbender to start out with."
"So…" Katara (he was 99% sure it was actually her name) mused aloud, "You're the new Avatar after Aang?"
Edward nodded and snapped his fingers and a flame appeared.
"Correct and FINALLY I get that trick right on the first try!" He exclaimed and only the pale guy smirked slightly. Tough crowd.
"What'd he do?" Toph (and he was totally guessing on that name as well) asked.
"He-he just firebended!" Sokka (process of elimination since Aang told him Sokka and Katara were siblings and they both looked Water Tribe) stammered.
"Well, since you know my secret that I've been covering since I got here, how about some introductions? I may have heard a little bit about your group from Aang, and he says 'hi' by the way, but faces to names would be great." Yes, he sounded a little peppy but seriously. This was the greatest happening yet and now for the first time in weeks he would be able to not lie about his entire existence.
"I'm Sokka, this is my sister Katara. She's also a waterbender." The tan guy said and Edward nodded to both.
"A master waterbender. I've heard about you from Master Pakku as well. His 'most stubborn pupil'. I got second place for that."
Katara's face lit up, "You know Master Pakku?!" Edward shrugged.
"Well, I first showed up in the Northern Earth Kingdom and I was technically 'born' into the Water Tribe so I headed there first. Aang recommended him and I caught him before he had to go to a summons for some order he was in. Travelled with him since I knew I had a time limit on learning elements."
"I'm Toph." The girl in green said and Edward smirked (and he had to break that habit. It seemed that being able to control fire made some people act more arrogant and like an asshole like some certain colonels that he certainly didn't want to be compared to).
"You're the earthbender who can bend metal, right?"
"Heck yeah I am!" She crowed, "And what's up with you? Your arm and leg didn't seem right when I was around you."
"They're made of metal and connected directly to my body. They act like actual limbs."
"Sweetness."
Edward turned to the last guy who he still didn't know the name of.
"My name is Zuko. I was kinda the bad guy until recently." He said sheepishly. Edward stared at him for a moment before shrugging again.
"Eh, I've run into that a lot. Doesn't bug me if we get an advantage the other guys didn't care for."
"So what exactly did you mean by 'not being from here' and being around only a few weeks after…Ba Sing Se?" Sokka exclaimed, sobering at the end of the sentence.
"Well, it's a long story-" Edward rubbed the back of his head with his flesh hand but paused with his eyes widening. "Shit." He quickly pulled back his other hand to start undoing his bandana for the first time in public. There were gasps as he pulled it off and brought it in front of him for inspection. "Crap, they burned holes in it!"
"Your-your hair is gold!" Zuko stammered and Edward looked up at all of their shock.
"Oh yeah, no one in this world has seen blond hair yet. Surprise!" He couldn't help but do jazz hands at the end.
"This world?" Toph asked. She was the only one not fazed for obvious reasons.
"Like I said, the long story so long story short: I'm not actually from this world. I came from a place where my home country was called Amestris with surrounding ones called Xing, Drachma, etc. and was going up against, well, my world's version of the Fire Lord called Father. He controls these things called homunculi who look like people, but devour people's souls, like thousands of them, to stay alive. One of them, Gluttony, swallowed me, a Xingese prince I'm grudgingly friends with called Ling, and another Homunculus called Envy. In order to get out, I had to use our world's version of bending called alchemy, which is more science than anything, and it requires a certain amount of energy in return for doing things. It's a principal called equivalent exchange. So anyway, I had opened a thing called the Gate to get them out and the best I can describe it is like a portal into the Spirit World.
"Now, that requires a toll. In this case it would have been my entire being. The 'spirit' in charge of it was going to collect when another Gate appeared and Aang stumbled out. It was right after what happened in Ba Sing Se. Another long story short: the universe needed someone to fill in as Avatar until the next cycle and I needed to stay alive to try and keep my younger brother alive. So I ended up being inducted into the cycle and I spent three months learning the basics of each element, movements and theory of course, until I left the Spirit World and ended up in the Northern Earth Kingdom about a week in the Mortal Realm's time from when Aang…perished. I've been nation hopping for the past two months or so and changing my cover story and haven't been caught yet."
It was honestly a long explanation but Edward felt it was necessary. Aang clearly trusted these people (well except Zuko but the others trusted him so…) and he had been going a little stir crazy being spy mode for so long. The others just sat there still absorbing the story.
"Soooo…" Sokka drawled and Edward let out a sigh.
"Long story short: Spirit World intervention so the Fire Nation won't take over the world."
"Got it."
"So, if you have been here for two months what bending have you learned? Water obviously." Zuko asked.
"Well, water and fire. I know a little bit of earth and air." Edward replied and Katara looked at him strangely.
"I thought you're supposed to follow the cycle?"
"Well, when a Fire Navy ship attacks your Water Tribe boat, one thinks on their feet and uses neutral clothes colors and a little bit of firebending to convince the soldiers you were captured by waterbenders and not being taught by them." Edward replied and Katara slightly panicked.
"Is Master Pakku alright?!"
"Everyone got out okay. If anything he's worried that his pupil Ling seemingly got captured by firebenders. Firebenders that taught me everything they knew since I was just a kid who ran away from home to fight for the 'glory of the Fire Nation' and snuck on a Fire Navy ship and ended up getting captured."
"Smart." Sokka and Zuko commented and Edward grinned.
"I know a bit of strategy and I've been meditating for advice when I can."
"So you still need to learn earthbending?" Toph asked, finally speaking up again in the conversation. Edward began to nod before realizing his mistake.
"Yes. Willing to take on a student, Master Toph?"
"Know what? I like this kid."
They all laughed and momentarily forgot about their current problems and just relaxed as Appa flew them away from the capitol and towards their hideout, aka Zuko's beach house.
Internally grinning about the pitiful and crushed attempt at an invasion, Ozai sat proudly on his throne of flames. His daughter kneeled before him.
"Prepare yourself and your team for travel. You will be leading the strike on the Northern Water Tribe while I shall take care of the Earth Kingdom. When the comet comes we'll be killing two iguana-parrots with one stone."
"Yes Father."
In his own lair, Father mused about his options. He planned on going after the Flame Alchemist very soon to make up for a lack of sacrifices but still needed one more. The body that he had found for Greed had been useless at first but it didn't take long for his child to grow and flourish. It wasn't the best move to just use a random person but this was becoming a troubling time. The plans were coming together soon and things weren't lined up like they should be.
Ah well. Stage four would begin tomorrow night and he'd have another sacrifice unwittingly ready for the slaughter.
Yeah, Gaang 2.0 is bonding while our big baddies are plotting away. It's certainly going to come together interestingly and Father is finding that he's getting a bit worried so some changes will be made! Plus, what's going to be going on with Mustang? WE'LL FIND OUT~ *dramatic TV voice*