Greetings to all, and Apologies for taking so long with this update. As some of you may know, I've been extremely busy as of late and recently experienced the death of a close family member. For these and many others reason, I have not been able to do much writing as of late. So as a way of saying "Sorry", I've spent the past three days pouring my spare time and effort into writing this 4,700 word chapter. I Hope it was time well spent, and I hope you all enjoy this latest update. For those of you who have followed this story, I apologize in advance, for once I have uploaded this chapter, I will be going back and editing the typos and grammatical errors out of the previous ten. So you will likely receive a hoard of additional updates. For this I apologize, but it must be done. My OCD is killing me here.. lol. Without further ado, here's Chapter 11 : "Bankruptcy". j/k.. As Always, Please Read/Review.. Your feedback is my inspiration.
Sokka sat alone on a wooden deck, up in the treetop hide-away. He leaned against the tree for support, but slouched in dismay.
Aang came swinging down a zipline and dropped effortlessly onto the deck.
"Hey Sokka, look what The Duke gave me!", he exclaimed, pulling a small round object from the bag at his side. Grinning slyly, he threw it onto a plank close by his pet lemur, Momo. It exploded on impact making a loud crack and agitating the resting lemur. Momo hissed in defiance and scurried up Aang's clothing, grabbing a handful of the small nut sized devices on the way, and began throwing them at Aang's feet.
"Ouch! Quit it!" Aang shouted as he danced about, dodging the small explosions.
Katara climbed down a nearby ladder and strode over.
"Hey Sokka, is Jet back?"
"Yeah, he's back, but we're leaving!" Sokka ground out angrily as he turned to look at his sister.
"What?" Aang asked from behind Katara.
"But I made him this hat," Katara said as she produced what was quite possibly the ugliest leaf hat Sokka had ever laid eyes on.
"Your boyfriend Jet's a thug." Sokka said, contempt dripping from his voice.
"What? No he's not." Katara replied.
"He's messed up, Katara."
"He's not messed up, he's just got a different way of life, a really fun way of life." Aang said in his usual playful voice.
"He beat and tried to rob a harmless old man. He may have even killed him, if it weren't for Jayden."
"I wanna hear Jet's side of the story", Katara said defiantly, crossing her arms over her chest.
A short time later, inside one of the many treehouse buildings..
"Sokka, you told them what happened, but you didn't mention that the guy was Fire Nation?" Jet said, his trademark piece of straw sticking out of his mouth.
"No, he conveniently left that part out." Katara said as she turned to look at her brother with indignation burning in her eyes.
Sokka, who was leaning against a wall, stepped forward and raised his arms out to his sides as he said, "Fine, but even if he was Fire Nation, he was a harmless civilian."
"He was an assassin, Sokka." Jet said as he pulled a knife from behind him and stuck it into a stump sitting in front of him. "See? There's a compartment for poison inside the knife." Jet continued as he unscrewed the pommel of the wavy bladed knife, revealing a vial of poison. "He was sent to eliminate me. You helped save my life, Sokka."
Katara smiled at the news. "I knew there was an explanation."
"I didn't see any knife." Sokka spat defiantly.
"That's because he was concealing it." Jet explained.
"See Sokka, I'm sure you just didn't notice the knife."
"Then explain how I didn't sense it." A stern voice came from the doorway. Everyone turned to see Jayden walk into the room. "There was no knife. He's lying."
"Perhaps you just didn't see it." Katara offered.
Jayden stared directly into her eyes, which made her feel strangely uncomfortable for some reason, "I'm a Jedi. I don't need to see. The man carried no weapon of any nature, nor any hint of ill intent. I saw through him like transparisteel."
"But you didn't see that Fire Nation camp before, either, did you?" Jet asked as a small smirk crossed his lips.
"Yeah," Katara said slowly, "and you led us right into it." She pointed at Sokka. "Maybe your Force sense isn't as precise as you think." She said angrily at Jayden.
"Whatever," Sokka threw up his hands, turned, and started walking out, "I'm going back to the hut and packing my things, C'mon Jayden."
Jayden shook his head at Katara, and turned to follow Sokka out the door.
"Please tell me you guys aren't leaving yet. I could really use your help."
"What can we do?" Aang asked quickly.
"The Fire Nation is planning on burning down our forrest. If you both use waterbending to fill the reservoir, we could fight the fires, but if you leave now, they'll destroy the whole valley."
Aang and Katara looked at each other, then back at Jet, "We'll do it." Aang said, "I've just got one question."
"What's that?" Jet asked.
"What's transparisteel?", Aang asked with a puzzled look on his face. Both Jet and Katara just shrugged.
Katara and Aang strode into the hut where Sokka and Jayden were packing their things.
"We can't leave now with the Fire Nation about to burn down a forrest!" Katara exclaimed.
Sokka stood and turned to face her. "I'm sorry, Katara. Jet's very smooth, but we can't trust him." he said, sweeping his hand across in front of him.
"Ya' know what I think? I think you're jealous that he's a better warrior and a better leader." Katara fired back, crossing her arms once again.
"And I think you're so smitten with him that you can't see the forrest for the trees." Jayden interjected.
Katara shot a hellish glare at the young Jedi.
"Katara, I'm not jealous of Jet, it's just that my instincts.."
Katara suddenly interrupted, "Well my instincts tell me we need to stay here a little longer and help Jet." With that she turned and walked out. "Come on, Aang."
"Sorry Sokka." Aang said sympathetically as he followed her out.
The four companions slept sweetly in the dark of the small hut. The sound of Appa's snoring drifted down from high above in the branches.
A stirring outside and a hushed "Let's go" woke Sokka from his usually deep slumber. He peered out the doorway in time to see two figures zipline down from the treetop sanctuary. A look of angry suspicon crossed his face. A quick look backwards told him his three companions were still asleep. Well, two of them definately were. Jayden on the other hand seemed to be lost in his meditative pose, leaned back against the far wall.
Quietly, Sokka slipped out of the hut and ziplined down to a low branch, where he saw Jet motioning to his fellow rebels to follow. The rest of the merry band of Freedom Fighters were pushing a wagon filled with the barrels of blasting jelly they had raided from the Fire Nation camp two days prior.
Sokka slipped down to the ground quietly and carefully followed the procession. Before long they came to a high ledge overlooking a tree filled valley. At one end was a small village on a stream. At the other end of the stream was a large dam holding back a reservoir of water.
"Now listen," Jet was saying, "You're not to blow the dam until I give the signal. If the reservoir isn't full, the Fire Nation troops could survive."
"But what about the people in the town?" The Duke asked, "Won't they get wiped out too?"
"Look Duke, that's the price of ridding this area of the Fire Nation." Jet said as he stepped forward and laid a hand on The Duke's shoulder. Standing straight again he pointed at Longshot and continued, "Now don't blow the dam until I give the signal, got it?"
Longshot nodded.
Sokka was dumbstruck. He'd known Jet was a thug, but a cold hearted murderer? His jaw hung open for moment as he processed this development then clenched in sheer anger.
Just then, he heard the sound of a footstep behind him. He glanced back, too late. Pipsqueak grabbed him by his wolf tail and lifted him up. Smellerbee held a familiar wavy blade to his throat, "Where do ya think you're goin, pony tail?"
"Sokka, I'm glad you decided to join us," Jet was saying as pipsqueak dropped Sokka on the grass in front of him.
"I heard your plan to destroy the Earth Kingdom town." Sokka declared defiantly.
"Our plan is to rid the valley of the Fire Nation."
"There are people living there, Jet, mothers and fathers and children."
"We can't win without making some sacrifices," Jet said plainly, twisting the piece of straw in his mouth.
"You lied to Aang and Katara about the forrest fire." Sokka retaliated.
"That's cause they don't understand the demands of war, not like you and I do."
"I do understand. I understand that there's nothing you won't do to get what you want."
Jet pulled the straw from his mouth and closed his eyes, "I was hoping you'd have an open mind, but I can see you've made your choice."
Pipsqueak and Smellerbee reached for him as Jet grabbed his wrist with the hooked ends of his swords. "I can't let you warn Aang and Katara. Take him for a walk. A long walk."
"You can't do this!" Sokka yelled.
"Cheer up Sokka, We're gonna win a great victory against the Fire Nation today."
A pair of ice blue eyes took in the scene, blinked, then vanished.
Three figures strolled down the bank beside the trickling stream. Jet was leading followed closely by Katara and Aang.
"Jet, I'm sorry about how Sokka and Jayden have been acting." Katara said in a rather sympathetic voice.
"No worries, Sokka already apologized."
"Really?" Aang asked, "Sokka apologized?" he asked as he turned to look at Katara.
"Yeah, I was surprised too. I got the sense that maybe you talked to him or something?", Jet said as he turned to look at them.
"Yeah, I did." Katara replied.
"I guess something you said got through to him. Anyhow, he went out on a scouting mission with Pipsqueak and Smellerbee." he said as he turned and started walking again.
"What about Jayden?" Katara asked, as she followed along behind.
"Haven't seen him." Jet responded with a dismissive wave.
"Come to think of it, " Aang said, "neither have we."
"I'm just glad Sokka cooled off. He's so stubborn sometimes."
Aang stopped a few paces behind Katara and raised his right hand a bit. He could feel warm air rising in front of him, rustling his Air Nomad robes. All of a sudden, there was a powerful gust of air and steam as a geyser of sorts erupted right beneath him. The young airbender was suddenly shot skyward. Doing an airbending assisted flip he came back down to rest on the ground.
"Ok, we're here. Underground water is trying to escape from these vents. I need you guys to help it along." Jet said as he walked back to the spot where katara was standing.
"I've never used bending on water I can't see," Katara said dejectedly pulling a strand of hair back from her face, "I don't know."
"Katara," Jet said as he stepped behind her and put his hands on her shoulders, "you can do this."
"What about me?" Aang asked through narrowed eyes.
"I know the Avatar can do this," Jet encouraged. This brought a smile to Aang's face.
The sound of bubbling and gurgling water could be heard rising from one of the steam vents. Aang and Katara stood on either side of it, slowly breathing as they raised and lowered their arms in unison. With each upward pull the water seemed to feel closer until finaly it emerged from the vent in a thin, irregularly shaped pillar. Slowly, they pulled it further up, then bent it over toward the stream causing it to flow more freely in a consistent gushing fountain.
"Yes! Good job." Jet congratulated the two benders. "This river empties into the reservoir, a few more geysers and it'll be full."
"Look," Aang exclaimed, pointing out to his right, "there's another steam vent!" He rushed off in excitement, Katara following after.
"Ok, you two keep it up, I'll go check on things at the reservoir." Jet suggested, still twisting his piece of straw. He turned to walk away, but was stopped by Katara's voice.
"When we're done, we'll meet you over there."
"Actually, probably better if you meet me back at the hideout after you're done." Jet suggested, looking back at them before turning once again to walk away.
Aang and Katara began working on the next steam vent as they watched him leave.
A short while later, just as another fountain erupted from another steam vent, Aang said "I think that's enough, and I'm not just saying that to be lazy", as he motioned back at the more than half a dozen flowing geysers.
"Let's go catch up with Jet at the reservoir." Katara suggested.
"I thought we agreed to meet Jet back at the hideout?" Aang asked.
"Well, we finished early. I'm sure he'll be happy to see us." Katara offered.
Some distance away, three more figures were strolling along down a well worn path through the forrest. The one in the lead had his hand bound in ropes.
"C'mon, move along!" Smellerbee shouted as she shoved the reluctant captive forward.
"Oomf", Sokka groaned in response, "How can you stand by and do nothing while Jet wipes out a whole town?" Just then Sokka noticed an especially dark patch amongst the foliage.
With all the bright reds, oranges and browns of the forrest, a patch of black stood out more than usual. Just above the the dark patch, Sokka caught sight of a pair of eyes staring at him. Somewhere deep inside him he heard a tiny whisper say "left". He looked to his left and saw two patches of leaves with a pile of lychee nuts in the middle of each of them.
".. We follow what he says and things always turn out okay." Pisqueak was saying behind him.
"If thats how Jet leads, then he's got a lot to learn!" Sokka shouted as he suddenly darted to his left running past the hidden traps.
"Hey!" Smellerbee shouted, giving chase with Pipsqueak right behind her. They both noticed the leaves on the ground and tried to leap over them, but something invisible grabbed both of the Freedom Fighters and yanked them straight down. In an instant, the traps sprung and they were dragged up into the branches above.
"While you two are just hanging around, you might wanna practice your knotwork." Sokka remarked, looking up at them from the ground. His gaze dropped in time to see Jayden emerge from the bushes. "Nice tip."
"I was hoping you'd get it. We can worry above these two later, but first, head to the town and try to warn everybody. I'm heading back to the dam to try to stop the explosion."
"Right." Sokka agreed.
"Ha! You'll never make it in time." Smellerbee laughed from her metal cage.
"Yeah? I beg to differ." With that, Jayden vanished in a blur of motion headed straight toward the dam.
Smellerbee's jaw dropped. "What is he?"
"A Jedi," Sokka replied as he headed off in the direction of the town, "and you shouldn't have underestimated him." With that, he stepped through the bushes and was lost to sight.
"Hey Smellerbee," Pipsqueak asked, "Ya gonna eat your lychee nuts?"
The only response he got was a reddish brown fruit smacking him in the forehead.
Back at the high ledge that overlooked the dam, Aang and Katara stood searching for Jet. As they looked down toward the dam, they noticed several of the Freedom Fighters unloading a wagon.
"What are they doing?" Katara asked.
"Hey, those are the red barrels they got from the Fire Nation." Aang responded.
"Why would they need blasting jelly?" Katara wondered.
Realization suddenly dawned on Aang, "Because Jet's gonna blow up the dam."
"What? No, that would destroy the town. Jet wouldn't do that."
"I gotta stop him", Aang said, flicking open his glider as he prepared to take off.
"Jet wouldn't do that." Katara repeated softly, less sure than she was before.
Just as Aang was about to leave the cliff behind, Jet shot behind him and yanked his glider from his grasp. The young airbender franticly bent a gust of wind underneath him to bring himself back to the ledge.
"Yes I would." he said flatly.
"Jet, why?" Katara asked.
"Katara, you would too if you'd just stop to think. Think about what the Fire Nation did to your mother. We can't let them do that to anyone else ever again."
Astonishment shone on Katara's face as though she'd just been slapped.
"This isn't the answer." she pleaded.
"I wanted you to understand me, Katara," Jet said with a sad look on his face, "I thought your brother would understand, but.."
"Where's Sokka?" She demanded, tears streaming from her eyes.
Jet reached out toward her cheek and she shied away, closing her eyes and clenching her teeth.
"Katara," Jet said just as his hand touched her cheek.
Suddenly a burst of water struck him in the chest knocking him backwards onto the ground. Katara carefully bent the water back into the satchel at her side. "Where's my brother?" She demanded again, "And where's Jayden?"
"Right here." All eyes turned to see the young Jedi standing by the edge of the woods, cloaked in his usual black attire. "Your brother's safe too."
"Then we need to get to the dam." Aang said as he darted forward to grab his staff from the ground. Just as he reached it, the hilt of one of Jet's hook sword stuck in dirt beside his hand, causing him to pull backwards.
"You're not going anywhere without your glider." Jet said as he pulled the staff back to his open left hand. Or would have, had the glider not suddenly leapt away from his grasp of its own accord.
The staff flew toward Jayden's hand instead. Jayden caught the wooden staff with his right hand and twirled it around his wrist. Flicking the hidden release with the Force rather than bending, he caused the staff to open into its glider form. "Aang, Go!" He shouted as he launched the glider high into the air like a child's kite.
Aang nodded quickly and released a massive gust of air, shooting himself straight up toward his glider. He caught it in mid air and took off toward the dam as fast and the wind could carry him.
"Traitor!", Jet shouted. "You'll ruin everything!"
"You, will be the one ruining an entire town filled with people, if Aang fails." Jayden said, turning to face the angry Freedom Fighter. "I knew I sensed some darkness in you, just took me a while to figure out what it was, Anger, Hatred."
Jet raised his hook swords at the dark haired young man. "Hatred toward the Fire Nation."
Jayden shrugged his cloak off his shoulders and let it drop to the ground. "You really don't want to do this."
"Yes, I do!" Jet shouted as he charged forward, swinging his hook swords violently.
Jayden dodged backwards and drew his twin lightsaber hilts, but didn't ignite them.
"Last chance, Jet. Give it up, call off the mission. Or this isn't going to end well."
"You mean it won't end well for you. What are ya gonna' do with those little sticks? Play the drums?" Jet asked sarcastically.
Just then, he charged forward sweeping the dirt with his hook swords in a vicious attack aimed at Jayden's ankles. Jayden leapt up over Jet's head doing a twisting somersault. Jet spun, blades first, to cut the Jedi in half, only to watch the hooked ends of his swords go flying off over the cliff in a boomerang-like fashion. Stunned, he looked back to the smoldering remains of his prized weapons. The ends of the blades were glowing orange where they had been burnt through. His eyes shot to the two glowing sapphire blades protruding from the shiny "sticks" in Jayden's hands. The ones he had joked about mere moments before.
"You're Fire Nation!", He shouted, then turned to Katara, "You brought a Fire Nation soldier into my camp? I should've known. You must be an assassin!"
"Don't flatter yourself, and if I were, You'd be dead by now."
"AAHH!" Jet screamed as he charged at Jayden again.
Aang reached the base of the dam where all the blasting jelly had been placed. Twirling his staff above his head, he set himself down gently on the ground. One by one he tried to tip the barrels over and roll them away from the dam. After a failed struggle to move the heavy barrels, he decided to use airbending to shove the barrels on their way. It worked a lot better, but it was still tiring, and there were several more barrels to go.
Back on the ledge, Jet was pressing a vicious assault on Jayden. Charging in, dashing to the side, swinging left and right, vertical and diagonal, he was sure to land a hit on the dark haired firebending swordsman. But with each and every swing, his blades became increasingly shorter, until there was nothing but the grips and pommels remaining. He watched as Jayden motioned toward him with his hand.
It was then that he felt the sheer energy of an invisible force slam into his chest, throwing him backwards against a tree. He tried to move, but couldn't. It was almost as if an invisible band of iron bound him firmly in place.
"What is this? Why can't I move?"
"That would be the Force, and Jayden's no firebender, He's a Jedi." Katara said as she bent water out of the nearby stream and froze Jet in place against the tree trunk.
Jayden released his Force grip on the Freedom Fighter as Katara continued, "Why Jet? I can't believe I trusted you. You lied to me! You're sick and I trusted you!"
Just then, a strangely out of the ordinary bird call sounded from the valley. Jet answered it with a similar call.
"He's signalling the attack!" Jayden shouted.
"You're too late." Jet said.
"No." Katara murmured.
Jayden closed his eyes, raised his hand, and let himself sink into the Force.
Aang stopped moving the barrels for a moment when he heard a strange bird call come from a tree nearby. A responding call sounded from the ledge far above. Just as a look of utter perplexion crossed the young Avatar's face, he noticed a small ball of flame shoot out of the tree. A flaming arrow! he thought, "I gotta stop it."
Leaping into the air with his staff in hand, he bent a gust of wind that sent the arrow flying wildly off course and into the stream. A moment later, another arrow shot out of the same spot. With another well placed gust he sent this arrow off into the reservoir itself. He landed once again and steadied himself for another attack.
Out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of a bright blue flash. As he tried to follow the object, he realized it was one of Jayden's lightsabers flying though the air. It disappeared into the trees. An instant later, he heard the distinct crackle of the blade striking something, followed by a startled yelp. A hole suddenly opened up in the tree's canopy as a large branch descended and came crashing to the ground.
Aang rushed forward and flicked open his glider, sailing easily over to where the branch had fallen. There, hanging off the treetrunk by a small rope, was Longshot, Jet's expert archer. Apparently, he had been forced to shoot an arrow into the tree itself and cling to the attached rope for dear life.
"I take it you're not gonna send any more flaming arrows at the dam now are ya?" Aang shouted up to the archer.
Longshot simply shook his head in response as he lost traction against the tree trunk and slid a short ways down the tree.
Aang giggled to himself. He looked down at the tree branch laying on the forrest floor, it was nearly as thick as he was tall. The side that had been connected to the tree looked burnt, but luckily it wasn't on fire.
A glimmer of something shiny in the grass caught his attention. As he got closer, he recognized the hilt of Jayden's light sword. He picked it up carefully and stuffed it into his robes. A quick glance told him that Longshot was making his own way back down to the ground. Satisfied, Aang twirled his staff into its glider form, took a few quick steps and launched himself into the air. Catching the wings of his glider with airbending he sailed up and out of the woods and back toward the high ledge.
He set down lightly on the grass in front of Jayden and Katara. Jet was frozen to a nearby tree. "We did it. I don't think we'll have to worry about any more flaming arrows," Aang said as he pulled the silvery lightsaber hilt from his robes and handed it to the young Jedi.
"Just to be sure, we'll go down and destroy those barrels of blasting jelly." Jayden replied.
"Jet, you're a monster!" Katara shouted, causing both Aang and Jayden to look toward her and Jet.
"Today could have been a great victory, if it weren't for your meddling", Jet sneered, "The Fire Nation would have been gone and this valley would have been safe."
"It is safe, without you." A voice shouted from behind the three companions.
"Sokka!" Katara shouted, as they all turned to see the Water Tribe boy sittin atop Appa's head.
"I warned the villagers of your plan."
"What?" Jet shouted incredulously.
"At first they didn't believe me. The Fire Nation soldiers assumed I was a spy, but one man vouched for me, the old man you attacked, the same one Jayden and I stood up for."
"He remembered you?" Jayden asked.
"Yeah, why wouldn't he?" Sokka said.
"Because I used a Jedi mind trick to make him forget what happened. I guess it didn't work. Then again, those never were my specialty," Jayden surmised aloud. Or was it the will of the Force?
"Anyway, he urged them to trust me, and we got everyone out of the town. I take it you were able to stop the attack?"
"Yeah," Aang said, "but Jayden says we should destroy those barrels of blasting jelly."
"Good idea." Sokka replied.
"Sokka, you fool! We coulda' freed this valley!" Jet shouted accusingly.
"Who would be free? Everyone would be dead." Sokka said, as his companions climbed up into Appa's saddle.
"You traitor!" Jet hissed.
"No Jet, you became the traitor when you stopped protecting innocent people," Sokka replied.
"Katara, please, help me."
"Goodbye, Jet" Katara said without even looking back. Tears streamed down her face as she climbed into the saddle.
"Yip, yip" Sokka said, cracking the reins attached to Appa's giant horns.
In moments, they were down on the ground by the dam. It didn't take long with the help of a little bending and Force use to remove the rest of the barrels from the dam supports and stack them a safe distance from the dam.
"Well then, " Sokka asked, after they had gotten themselves away from the volatile substance, "now that we got them away from the dam, how do we destroy them?"
Jayden turned to Aang and asked, "You still got any of those small fireworks?"
Aang quickly rifled through the bag and managed to produce two of the small round devices, which he quickly handed to Jayden.
Holding the two diminuitive balls in the palm of his hand, Jayden said, "Watch yourselves, and cover your ears." With that, the small explosives lifted straight into the air and hovered a few inches above his hand, before shooting straight at the stack of barrels.
The heat from the explosion washed over them and the sound could be heard echoing for miles. A sound that was in fact heard by the town's residents, who had fled the village following Sokka's warning.
When a tidal wave of water didn't immediately follow the explosion to destroy their beloved town, they all sent up cheers of joy and whispered thanks to their unknown heroes.
Once the dust settled and they could be certain that all of the dangerous blasting jelly had been destroyed, the four companions climbed back into Appa's saddle and flew off on their merry way.
Well, you've all requested an update. What'd ya think of this one? To be honest, I kind of stumped myself at the end of Chapter ten, but with the help and feedback of readers like you, I was able to see my way through the details of this chapter. Thanks for reading and as always, Have a wonderful day/night.