The Library

I don't own Digimon or Avatar: Last Airbender

Chapter Twenty Nine: The Library

"Why are we all the way out here?" Sokka asked the Gaang as they all stood in a large barren land covered in holes.

"You're asking us, ask Airhead over there," Daisuke said pointing to Aang who was sitting on the ground with a thin wooden flute in his hands.

"What's out here?" Katara asked looking at the holes.

"A lot actually, there's hundreds of..." Toph said before Aang shushed her.

"I know you can see underground, but don't ruin the surprise, just watch this," He told her as he played a note on the flute and a groundhog popped out of a hole and mimicked the note. "Yeah!" He the exclaimed playing another note and another groundhog popped up and mimicked the note. "I'm putting an orchestra together," He said smiling.

"An orchestra? well la di da," Sokka said in annoyance and as he said this three groundhogs popped out and sang descending notes and Momo jumped in after them but he poked his head out of another hole, Aang then played four more notes and four groundhogs popped up and mimicked the notes as Momo tried to catch each one. Sokka then plugged the flute with his finger as Aang went to play another not. "This is great and all, but don't we have more important things to worry about? We should be making plans," He said.

"We did make plans, we're all taking mini-vacations," Toph said.

"This is no time for vacations," Sokka told her.

"I'm learning the elements as fast as I can, I train everyday with Katara and Toph. I've been training my arrow off!" Aang told him.

"What about Firebending?" Sokka asked him with a scowl.

"Daisuke still needs time to heal from Azula's sneak attack," Katara told her brother.

"I'll teach Aang once I am healed, it's hard to teach when you're bandaged up," Daisuke told Sokka.

"Yeah don't you know anything about bending?" Toph asked him before she smirked and said "Oh wait…"

"He doesn't," Daisuke and Toph said in sync and they both laughed and Sokka pouted at them.

"Even if Aang does learn all the elements in time, then what? It's not like we have a map of the Fire Nation," He said. "Should we just head west until we reach the Fire Lord's house?" He asked sarcastically as he knocked on an imaginary door. "Hello, Fire Lord anyone home? I don't think so, we need some intelligence," He said to the others as Aang played a note and a groundhog popped out under Sokka.

"Alright, we'll finish our vacations, and then we will look for Sokka's intelligence," Katara finished mockingly and Aang laughed before he took out a map.

"Okay Katara, it's your turn where do you want to go?" He asked as Katara looked at the map.

"How about the Misty Palms Oasis? That sounds refreshing," She said.

"Oh, yeah, I've been there. It's a pristine natural ice spring. And I usually don't use the word "pristine" It's one of nature's wonders," Aang said smiling. Soon though everyone was standing in front of a small ice spring and were disappointed. "Must have changed ownership since I came here," Aang sheepishly said as he chuckled.

"Gee, ya think," Daisuke muttered as the team all walked through the oasis and past five men covered in dust coloured outfits while one spat at Sokka's feet making him look up at the man angrily but the man just chuckled as Katara pulled him inside the bar which was filled with weary travellers.

"One mango please," A man asked the bartender who took out two swords and he used them to slice a bowl from a large chunk of ice. He cut down some mangos from the overhanging fruit and diced them up. He chopped up a piece of fruit and poured a jug of milk into the bowl, still using the swords. He then three a decorative umbrella and straw into the bowl and served it to the man who tossed him a coin.

"I don't see anything wrong with having one of those frozen beverages," Sokka said as he walked towards the bartender but as he did so the man bumped into Aang and spilled his drink all over him.

"Don't worry, I clean up easily," The Airbender said as he blew the juice off of him.

"You're a living relic," The man said.

"I try," Aang replied.

"An Air Nomad, right in front of me. Professor Zei, head of anthropology at Ba Sing Se University. Tell me, which of the air temples do you hail from?" The professor asked Aang.

"The Southern temple," He answered.

"Oh excellent, now what was the main agricultural product of your people?" Professor Zei asked him.

"Do fruit pies count?" Aang asked nervously.

"Oh truly extraordinary, this is going into the journal," Professor Zei said as he took out a book and started writing in it. A few minutes later the gaang and the professor were gathered around a small table in the bar with everyone with their own juice.

"So Professor you seem like a well-travelled guy. Do you have a more current map?" Daisuke asked him as she sipped on her juice she had bought.

"Yeah, ours are outdated," Sokka said.

"Certainly," The Professor said handing a map to Sokka who unrolled it and examined it.

"What! No Fire Nation, doesn't anyone have a map of that place?" He asked.

"The Fire Nation would be dumb if they just handed maps out with a location of their front door," Daisuke told him as Toph put her foot on the table showing her dirt covered soles.

"You've made a lot of trips into the desert professor," Aang said looking at the map.

"All in vain I am afraid, I've found lost civilizations all over the Earth Kingdom, but I haven't managed to find the crown jewel: Wan Shi Tong's Library." Professor Zei said raising his fist slightly.

"You spent your life searching for some guy's library?" Toph asked him.

"This library is more valuable than gold little girl. It is said to contain a vast collection of knowledge, and knowledge is priceless." Zei answered her.

"Sounds like good times," Toph said sarcastically.

"Oh, it is. According to legend, it was built by the great Knowledge Spirit, Wan Shi Tong, with the help of his "foxy" knowledge seekers," Zei said missing the sarcasm in Toph's voice.

"Oh he has attractive assistants?" Sokka asked.

"I think he meant fox's," Katara said to her brother.

"You're both right, handsome little creatures," Zei said taking out a piece of paper and showed the gaang a drawing of Wan Shi Tong's Library. "Wan Shi Tong and his knowledge seekers collected books from all over the world, and put them on display for mankind to read, so that we might better ourselves," Zei explained.

"If this place has books from all over the world they must have a map of the Fire Nation right?" Sokka asked.

"I wouldn't know, but if any place has a map of the Fire Nation it is in that library," Zei answered.

"Aang, it's my turn to pick my mini vacation, and I want to spend it at the library!" Sokka exclaimed pointing at the picture.

"What about me and Daisuke, when do we pick our mini vacations?" Toph asked.

"You have to be here longer before you qualify for vacation time," Sokka waved her off but Daisuke slapped him on the back of the head.

"Idiot, I've been here since day one just like you have," She told him.

"Of course there is the matter of finding the library, I have ventured out there many times, and nearly died each time, I am afraid the desert is impossible to cross," Zei said.

"Professor, how'd you like to see our Sky bison and dragon?" Sokka asked.

"A sky bison, and a dragon, here?!" Zei asked happily. Outside the bar Flame was snarling at Sandbenders as Appa roared at them. "Sandbenders! Go! Away from the bison and dragon!" Zei shouted running up to the Sandbenders who all looked at Zei before they left on gliders by creating tornadoes of sand. Later Flame and Appa were flying through the air over the vast desert with Sokka looking out of his telescope on Appa while Daisuke did the same on Flame. "Tell me sky bison, are you the last of your breed?" Zei asked Appa laying on his head and the bison roared. "Oh splendid, if only I spoke your tongue, the stories this beast could tell," Zei said before he looked at Flame. "What about you great dragon, are you the last of your kind?" He asked and Flame grumbled slightly. "Ah fascinating," Zei said as Momo chattered. "Shush chatty monkey," He told Momo.

"Shouldn't be too hard to find a place like this, it's huge," Aang said looking at the drawing.

"Some say it does not exist though," Zei informed everyone.

"You couldn't tell us this earlier!?" Toph shouted from Flame to the professor who chuckled sheepishly as everyone sweatdropped. A few more minutes later Toph looked to the right and smirked. "There it is!" She exclaimed and Daisuke turned to see nothing but desert and she glared at Toph. "That's what you'll say once you see it, because I can't," She said waving her hand in front of her eyes and Daisuke smiled and shook her head.

"Very cute Toph," She told the young girl who smiled, Daisuke then looked at the ground where she saw something and she looked at it with her telescope. "What's that?" She asked herself.

"Daisuke?" Aang asked her as he saw Daisuke point at a tower in the desert.

"Is that the library?" Zei asked as Sokka looked through his telescope at the tower.

"No, it couldn't be, it's too small," He then said making the Professor sigh depressed.

"Then why is a fox running up the side of the tower?" Daisuke asked him smugly before she cracked the reins of her dragon. "Let's go boy," She said and Flame roared and flew down and Appa followed the dragon's lead, both then landed as the saw the fox enter the tower through the lone window.

"It's one of the knowledge seekers, we must be close to the library!" Professor Zei said hopefully as Sokka held up the drawing and his expression turned grim.

"No, this is the library, it's completely buried," He said and everyone looked at him shocked.

"The library is buried!?" Professor Zei exclaimed dramatically as he ran to the tower and fell to his knees. "My life's work is now filled with sand," He said as he pulled out a small shovel. "Oh well, time to start excavating," and with that he started to shovel the sand away. Toph then walked up to the spire and placed her hand on it.

"Actually that won't be necessary, the inside is completely intact, and it's massive," She said in awe.

"That foxy thing went through the window, I say we go after it," Sokka said.

"I say you guys go I without me, I've held books before, and let me tell ya they don't exactly do it for me, but let me know if they've got something I can read," Toph told the gaang as Appa growled.

"Don't worry boy, I won't let you go underground ever again, you can stay with Toph," Aang told his bison as Sokka threw his boomerang into the window with a rope connected to it and he started to climb up the rope.

"Same for you Flame, keep them safe," Daisuke told her dragon who nodded as Appa growled at Toph.

"What's up?" Toph awkwardly asked the bison. Meanwhile the gaang and the professor climbed down the rope and dropped down into the inside of the library.

"Oh it's breathtaking. The spirit spared no expense in designing this place, just look at these buttresses," Zei said pointing to a buttress and Daisuke, Aang and Sokka snickered. "What's funny?" He asked them.

"Nothing, we just like architecture," Aang told him.

"As do I," Zei said smiling as he looked at an owl mosaic between two pillars. "My word! The exquisite mosaic handiwork of this tile-rendered avian symbol…" He said as he saw Katara, Daisuke, Aang and Sokka look at him confused. "I mean…nice owl," He said, then they all heard a sound of something approaching and they all hid behind pillars as a massive owl walked over the bridge and he looked at the rope before he turned his heard around.

"I know you are there," He said as Zei smiled and walked out from behind the pillar to the owl.

"Hello, I'm Professor Zei, head of anthropology at Ba Sing Se University," He said to the owl who looked at him.

"You should leave the way you came, unless you want to become the stuffed head of anthropology," The owl told Zei looking at three stuffed animal heads and Zei griped his neck and groaned.

"Are you the spirit in charge here?" Sokka asked.

"Indeed, I am Wan Shi Tong, He Who Knows Ten Thousand Things," Wan Shi Tong answered. "And you are all obviously humans, which by the way, are no longer welcome here," He said.

"What do you have against humans?" Aang asked him.

"Hm! Humans only bother learning things to get the edge on other humans. Like that Firebender who came to this place a few years ago, looking to destroy his enemy. So ... who are you trying to destroy?" Wan Shi Tong asked Sokka who was now sweating heavily.

"What….no…no destroying, we're not into that stuff," He answered as the owl spirit blinked his eyes.

"Then why have you come here?" He asked.

"We came here for knowledge's sake, we're even here with the Avatar. He'll vouch for us, right?" Daisuke asked Aang who looked at her.

"Uh, yeah, I'll vouch. We will not abuse the knowledge in your library, good spirit. You have my word," Aang said as everyone bowed to him.

"Very well, I will allow you to peruse my vast collection on one condition." Wan Shi Tong said as the team looked at him worried. "To prove your worth as scholars, you have to contribute some worthwhile knowledge," He told them as Zei walked up to him.

"Please accept this tome as a donation to your library," He said holding out a large tome.

"First edition, very nice," Wan Shi Tong said taking the book.

"I have an authentic Waterbending scroll," Katara said holding out her scroll.

"These illustrations are quite stylish," Wan Shi Tong said as he took the scroll from Katara.

"Umm…" Aang said before he took out his wanted poster and smiled. "Hah,"

"I guess this counts," Wan Shi Tong sighed taking the poster from Aang as Daisuke took out one of her scrolls on Firebending.

"I have a scroll on Firebending," She said and the owl looked at her quizzically.

"Ah, a rare scroll indeed," He then said taking the scroll from Daisuke as Sokka walked up to the owl.

"Oh great spirit, I present to you this!" He exclaimed showing him a knot making everyone look at him. "What's it's a special knot, that counts," He said.

"You're not a bright one," Wan Shi Tong said as he took the knot from Sokka. "Enjoy the library," And with that the owl left the group alone.

"Bright enough to fool you," Sokka mumbled.

"So you like flying?" Toph asked Appa as she, the bison and Flame waited outside the library for the others. Appa purred gently. "Course, I'm more comfortable on the ground where I can see. Well, I don't see the way you do. I feel the vibrations in the ground with my feet. But this sand is so loose and shifty, everything looks fuzzy," She said picking up some sand. "Not that there is anything wrong with fuzzy," She told Appa who growled while Flame yawned. Back with the team in the library everyone was looking at books.

"Hey check out these weird lion turtle things," Aang said showing an illustration to the others.

"I've seen weirder," Sokka said.

"Aang did you know you were left handed?" Katara asked him.

"I always knew I was special," Aang replied as Zei took another book of the shelf and he added it to his pile of books, Sokka however was looking at a burnt piece of parchment with an inscription on it.

"The Darkest day in Fire Nation history, it's got a date on the top but it doesn't say anything else," He said as he looked to see if anyone was watching him and when he was sure no one was he pried the case open with his sword and he took the parchment and ran off.

"Sokka? Where are you going?" Daisuke asked him.

"I want to know what happened to the Fire Nation on their darkest day. This could be promising," He answered her as the she and the others followed Sokka. "The information on the Fire Nation should be right here," Sokka said as they came to a room full of ash.

"Firebenders, they burnt everything that has anything to do with the Fire Nation," Katara said grimly.

"That is so unfair, just when I think I'm ahead of the Fire Nation I find out they already beat me to it," Sokka said frustrated as something whimpered and everyone turned to see one of the knowledge seekers standing there. "What do you want?" Sokka asked the fox who turned and started to walk off.

"He wants us to follow him," Zei said.

"Now we're following a mystical fox?" Daisuke asked confused as the others all followed the fox. The team then found themselves in a planetarium.

"This room is a mechanical marvel, it's a planetarium that shows the heavens moving," Professor Zei said.

"This is beautiful and all, but how does this help?" Sokka asked.

"Why don't you enter the date on the parchment you took into those dials over there?" Daisuke suggested.

"Shush! Not in front of the fox, he's with the owl," Sokka mock whispered to her as the fox whimpered and Sokka looked at the parchment and then turned the four dials before he then pulled the lever and the planetarium started to move before it stopped with the entire room dark.

"Where's the sun?" Katara asked.

"Great, your first time using this thing and you busted it," Aang said.

"It's not busted, the sun is behind the moon. It's a solar eclipse! It literally is the darkest day in Fire Nation history, something awful happened on that day. I don't know what, but I do know why. Firebenders lose their bending during a solar eclipse," Sokka said in realisation.

"That makes sense. I mean, think what the lunar eclipse at the North Pole did to the Waterbenders. This is huge," Katara said.

"Well yeah, but it sucks for me, that means my bending will be useless on the next solar eclipse," Daisuke said.

"Yeah but still, we've gotta get this information to the Earth King at Ba Sing Se. We'll wait for the next eclipse, then we'll invade the Fire Nation when they're totally helpless. The Fire Lord is going down!" Sokka exclaimed.

"Mortals are so predictable, and such terrible liars, you betrayed my trust. From the beginning, you intended to misuse this knowledge for evil purposes." Wan Shi Tong said as he entered the room and Sokka gulped.

"You don't get it, the Fire Nation are evil, they've done nothing but cause pain and suffering for the last one hundred years, we need this information," Daisuke told him.

"You think you're the first person to believe their war was justified? Countless others before you have come here seeking weapons or weakness or battle strategies," Wan Shi Tong told her.

"Please, we only did this to protect those we love," Aang told the owl.

"And now I shall protect what I love," The owl said flapping his wings and the library shook and sand poured into the room.

"He's sinking the library!" Katara shouted.

"Time to get out of here," Daisuke shouted.

"I am afraid I cannot let you leave," Wan Shi Tong said as he pecked at the group who ran off and he missed as they ran out of the room and the owl followed after them. Outside though Appa and Flame growled and stood up.

"I told you I don't want to snuggle," Toph told them as she heard Flame and Appa move away from the library. "Library sinking? Library sinking!" Toph shouted as she stood up and she buried her fists into the spire and solidified the sand beneath her.

"We need to get back to the surface!" Aang shouted as he and the group ran through the library.

"No we still don't know when the next eclipse is gonna to happen," Sokka said.

"We'll find out later," Katara told him.

"No we won't! If we leave now we will never find the information anywhere else, Aang follow me back to the planetarium, I need cover," Sokka told Aang who nodded at him.

"But…" Katara asked as Wan Shi Tong came in between them.

"Go!" Sokka shouted as he and Aang ran off while Wan Shi Tong followed Katara, Daisuke and Zei.

"Be careful!" Katara shouted at her brother. Meanwhile outside the library Toph struggled to hold it up while Flame and Appa grunted nervously.

"What now!?" Toph shouted as three sand sailors approached and circled the two animals. "Who's there?!" She shouted as a Sandbender jumped off one of the sailors and blasted sand at Appa and Flame who took off and flew above the desert while the Sandbenders circled Appa. Flame dove down and breathed fire at the Sandbenders making them run for cover while Appa slammed his tail at a sand sailor and destroyed it.

"Why are we doing this?" Aang asked Sokka as the two of them made their way into the planetarium again.

"We have to find out the date of the next eclipse, we don't have to look at every date, just the ones before Sozin's comet because after that…." Sokka trailed off as he went about setting the dials up and he pulled the lever, and then this continued several times before Sokka pulled the lever once more.

"Come on eclipse," Aang said as the planetarium stopped.

"There it is, the next eclipse, and it's only a few months away," Sokka said to Aang and both of them ran out of the planetarium. Meanwhile the Sandbenders outside threw weighted ropes at Appa and hardened the sand beneath them to bring him down. Flame roared as he flew down and landed and he swatted Sandbenders away with his tail and he slashed some with his claws, he then breathed fire at another sand sail leaving only one left.

"Take that thing down!" One Sandbender shouted as he bent sand into Flame's eyes making him roar in pain.

"Flame," Daisuke gasped as she stopped running when she heard the roar from Flame and she looked to see she was near the window everyone came in from and she ran towards it but Wan Shi Tong appeared in front of her.

"Don't try to attack me, I have studied all Firebending styles, nothing you try will work," He told Daisuke who smirked.

"What about this!" She exclaimed as she waved her arms around and fired a lightning bolt at the owl and made him dodged it allowing Daisuke to propel herself out of the library with her Firebending and she landed outside to see the Sandbenders dragging Appa away. "APPA!" She shouted as Appa roared in distress and Daisuke threw a fireball at a Sandbender and hit him in the head burning his turban off his face and leaving some of his skin burned. Flame then whimpered and Daisuke ran up to her dragon to see sand in his eyes and he struggled to open them. "It is okay boy, I'm here, you did your best," She reassured her dragon as Toph gave a grunt of effort as she struggled to hold the library up.

"I'm sorry Appa," She said sadly as Katara, Aang and Sokka climbed out of the tower and Toph let it go and it fell into the sand.

"We did it, there is a solar eclipse coming, that's when we can win the war," Sokka said hugging Katara.

"Where's Appa?" Aang asked looking around as he saw Daisuke and Toph look away and he gasped and a tear fell down his cheek.

The end of the chapter

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