Hey everyone.
While I finish up the larger chapter (which I will hopefully have up in a day), here's a mini-chapter regarding something I need to take care of plot-wise before I could advance.
Hope you enjoy and thanks for the patience
"Ok, everyone!" Aang hovered on Appa over the ships. The craggy mountainside jetting out of the water was at Aang's back as he addressed everyone on the boats. Team Avatar, the Keybearers, and the water tribe refugees looked attentively at Aang.
"Hang onto your stuff and keep your hands on the railing at all times! You may experience a little rocking and some intense heat, so be sure that you stay inside the boat. Parents, make sure your kids don't stick their hands outside the boat." A parent quickly snatched up a small child, who was reaching out for a fly hovering nearby the boat.
'Woo hoo! Yeah! Avatar state, yip yip!" Aang sighed in defeat, looking over at the source of the outburst: Makoto, one of his old Fire Nation classmates and a Tsungi horn player among the troop that supposedly played at the festival.
"Yeah…so let's begin," Aang directed Appa to fly closer to land as the ships moved further and further away from the craggy mountains. Once the ships were at a safe distance, Aang then took a deep breath before diving off Appa into the water. Plunging into the water, Appa flew past the boats quickly in anticipation of upcoming events as everyone stared intently at the water. A cleansing glow flashed underneath the surface, the tides parting as Aang entered the Avatar State, bending the water back in all directions with slow, calm, relaxed arm movements. Once Aang parted the water, Aang stomped his foot into the sand, hardening the refined grains into stable earth and connecting them to the steep mountain range, forming a coast. Then, shifting into a horse stance, he slowly brought the earth up to the surface with strong, outstretched, rising hand and arm movements, magma seeping out of the cracks and crevices forming beneath him. Breathing in deeply, he let out a strong, pulsing breath of air to cool down the surface beneath him as the large circumference of earth slowly rose higher and higher.
When the earth finally broke the surface, Aang stopped parting the water, focusing on raising the earth until he formed a wet, craggy coastline nearly a quarter mile long. Aang then jetted out three columns of earth from the rocky cliff-face, creating large enough piers for the bigger, mechanized refugee ships. Next, he then raised himself into the air with an air bubble and firebended the surface of the raised land, drying off the new rocky coastline of water by evaporating all the leftover water. To finish the job, he carved the earth from the sky, flattening the surface as much as he could to make the land even.
Exiting the Avatar state, he called Appa over to him and flew to the eagerly awaiting ships, giving them the OK to return to port and to set up camp. Fortunately, the sun was only about to go down and with the bait Team Avatar collected earlier, they had enough food fished from the ocean and time to set up camp and prepare dinner.
Kairi stood on the ship next to Katara the whole time, and counting the time at the Southern Water Tribe, this was the second time she has witnessed the Avatar's incredible power. She began to understand why Master Yen Sid valued him so much for this upcoming battle…and why he was so important in the grander scheme of things. If this was what he could do naturally, imagine him with a Keyblade…
"He's quite a bender, isn't he," Katara turned to Kairi.
"Yeah…he is…" Kairi looked distantly at the Avatar, her glare hardening.
I'm tired of standing ignorantly on the sidelines or behind him in fear.
One day, I'll become as powerful as that.
Maybe then, I'll finally be able to stand with him.
Stay Golden, everyone!