First Person's Perspective:
It took several minutes to convince Sokka that I wasn't with the Fire Nation or this Zuko guy he kept bringing up. I told them how respected Minato was and how he wanted me to help Aang win the war... Of course he didn't believe a word I said,but luckily for me, Aang and Katara did.
We were all currently flying on Appa, Aang's pet flying bison (this experience is beyond what words can describe) and we were apparently making our way towards an island in the Fire Nation where Aang would be able to come in contact with the Avatar before him, Roku before the end of the solstice. They also told me about their other adventures before we met; meeting the Kiyoshi warriors, King Bumi and freeing imprisoned earthbenders just to name a few, though they didn't say I was a part of the team yet,which was understandable... Imagine a guy landing out of nowhere and saying he wants to help you!
Even still,they let me come come along to Roku's Temple to see if I was trustworthy,which I readily agreed to.
"Hey, Ares..." Sokka said, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"Yeah?"
"Since we somewhat let you come with us-"
"After you repeatedly tried to attack me with your boomerang" I added. He glared at me before continuing.
"Anyways," he said. "I wanna know if you're a bender like my sister and Aang"
I let out a breath... I knew this would happen eventually,but I really didn't know how to explain this to them. I could control elements but not the same way our two other companions could.
'Just tell them'
I jumped slightly, almost forgetting that Kurama was sealed inside me.
'You think?'
'Yeah,' Kurama said. 'Though you might wanna leave out the part about housing a gigantic Fox... There's no telling how they'll react to it especially the idiot with the boomerang'
I laughed at his name for Sokka.
'Then the truth it is,' I replied. 'Thanks Kurama'
The Fox mumbled something before I tuned him out.
"... Ares? Ares!" Sokka was waving his hand in my face, probably to snap me out of my mental conversation. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah" I responded quickly, noticing that Aang and Katara were also giving me concerned looks. "I'm fine. I guess I should explain my abilities to you guys"
I paused, making sure I had everyone's attention.
"Go on..." Sokka said.
"Alright," I said. "I can't exactly bend,but I use abilities that are pretty similar to bending"
"Really?" Katara asked with curiosity in her tone. I nodded.
"Now watch this,' I quickly placed my fingers into the cross sign.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
A second later,an exact copy of me appeared in a puff of smoke. I turned towards him and smiled.
"Hey," I said.
"Sup?" My clone returned the smile.
Looking at the others,we saw Sokka with his mouth wide open, Aang rubbing his eyes to be sure he wasn't seeing things and Katara with a look of pure disbelief. Sokka was the one who broke the silence.
"How... How did you do that?!" The pony tailed boy pointed at my clone.
"The boss did it with ninjutsu" my clone smiled.
"Ninjutsu?" Katara furrowed her eyebrows.
"What's that?" Aang added.
'This is gonna take a while...'
And so began my explanation on how Chakra works...
"Okay, listen carefully..." I started. "Ninjutsu is basically the use of ninja techniques involving an energy form called Chakra; Chakra is a blend of physical and spirit energy which flows through the bodies of ninjas like me... Ninjutsu is performed when chakra is moulded by using the right combination of handsigns... There's two branches of ninjutsu; nature transformation and shape transmission"
"What's the difference between the two?" Sokka asked.
"The main difference is that shape transformation deals with controlling the shape, movement and potency of Chakra while nature transformation deals with changing raw chakra into an element," I explained. "that's my equivalent of bending"
"So you can do bending" Katara theorized.
"Kinda," I replied, scratching my head. "I can control elements but not the way you can"
"Wait, elements?" Sokka asked. "You can bend more than one?!"
"That's impossible..." Katara almost whispered.
"How... How is that..." Aang was still trying to comprehend my revelation.
"Well,yeah..." I said, remembering Minato's words. "I can use wind,fire and lightning"
"You can bend fire?!" All three of them asked, apparently shocked and probably a little scared.
"Are you related to the Fire Nation somehow?" Sokka asked.
"No, I'm not!" I raised my voice. "For the hundredth time Sokka,I'm not with the Fire Nation"
"But you just said..." Aang started.
"I know what I said and I'm not denying it" I said, trying to calm my companions down. "If you'd let me finish,then you'll understand better"
Everyone agreed,even Sokka who had been looking at me warily.
"Thank you..." I sighed. "now, I know it sounds really weird but my natural elemental affinity is wind... But chakra doesn't limit me to just one element,it just makes the others a little harder to learn and use... Besides I only know one fire release jutsu and I barely ever use it"
"So this Chakra let's you use more than one element..." Aang said.
"Pretty much" I nodded.
"But air is your primary element?" Katara asked. I nodded again.
"And you can use the other two,but they don't come as easily as air does?" Sokka finished.
"That's pretty much it" I said.
"Wait,can I use ninjutsu?" Aang asked,a big smile on his face. "it would make learning the other elements a lot easier"
I smiled. If Aang could learn ninjutsu... Or if he even had Chakra,he could solo the entire Fire Nation.
"Sorry Aang," I shook my head. "but I don't think a bender can learn ninjutsu"
Aang was a little disappointed by my answer but immediately cheered up after Katara whispered something I couldn't hear into his ear.
Third Person's Perspective:
About thirty minutes after Ares gave his explanation, the team was still on their way to Roku's Temple. He looked at the clouds around them as they flew,his hair still being ruffled by the wind.
"Hey guys do you smell that?" Sokka asked. They all sniffed the air to smell what he was talking about.
"Smoke?" Ares asked. Sokka followed the smell and immediately had a fearful gaze on his face.
"Aang,we have company!" Sokka yelled. They all followed Sokka's gaze to see a Fire Nation ship with a man standing on it's bow.
"Wait, who's that?!" Ares asked.
"Zuko" Sokka said.
"That's him?" Ares asked causing everyone else to nod. "He looks completely different from what I expected"
"Aang," Sokka said. "might I suggest we go faster... Now!"
Aang wasted no time in whipping Appa's reins to make the sky bison go faster.
"They're starting to catch up!" Katara yelled. At that moment, multiple fireballs began flying towards the team and Aang kept pulling on Appa's reins to avoid them.
"Dang it,at this rate, we're gonna get hit!" Ares said. "Aang, keep Appa steady!"
"Why?!" The Airbender asked from his position on Appa's head.
"I'm gonna slow them down" Ares had his eyes fixed on the ship. "or at least take out a few fireballs"
"How on earth do you plan to do that?!" Sokka yelled at the boy's ridiculous plan.
"Watch me" Ares smiled and nodded at his clone who already had his palm spread out.
A blue ball of spinning chakra started to form in the clone's right hand and Ares himself grabbed the clone's left arm.
"Ready?" Ares asked his clone who nodded. He immediately three the clone off Appa's saddle, immediately catapulting him towards the nearest fireball which was still behind them, the blue ball still in his right hand.
"Rasengan!" The clone yelled as it came in contact with the fireball, destroying it completely.
The original didn't even need to look at the others to know that they were shocked... For now he needed to focus.
"Aang,can you make Appa go any faster?!" Sokka asked.
"Yeah,but we have a big problem!" Aang yelled back.
"Which is?" Ares asked. Katara crawled towards where Aang sat and looked to see a bunch of boats circling.
"A blockade!" Katara said.
"Can't we just go through it?" Ares asked.
"If we head north, we'll avoid both the Fire Nation and the blockade" Aang argued.
"You said you need to speak to Roku urgently!" Ares said. "Going north would just take more time!"
"This is exactly why I didn't want you guys to come!" Aang groaned.
"You wanted to do this alone?!" Ares asked in disbelief.
"And this is exactly why we came with you" Katara replied.
"Fine," Aang sighed,not willing to argue. "we'll do it"
"Let's run this blockade!" Sokka said as a smile played on Ares' lips.
Aang immediately whipped Appa's reins, causing them to descend at a high speed towards the ocean below. Ares then noticed a few catapults with fireballs readily ignited on them.
"Dang it..." He whispered.
He quickly placed his fingers into the cross sign once more,this time summoning five more clones... Causing Appa to grunt in protest at the weight of the sudden extra passengers.
"Sorry Appa!" Ares apologized as the clones all had Rasengans charged. Seconds later,the clones went flying, thrusting their blue spheres into catapults they came in contact with while appa still dodged the fireballs that the others launched. Ares felt his Chakra reserves reduce due to using two high ranked Jutsu at once. One of the fireballs caused an explosion that sent Ares and Sokka flying off Appa's saddle. Luckily,the bison did a somersault and caught the two dark skinned boys before they plunged into the ocean.
"Everyone okay?" Katara asked.
"I just saw my life flash before my eyes..." Ares whispered, grabbing his chest with his eyes wide from shock. "But aside that... I'm good"
"I'm good too" Sokka said.
Aang takes a glance behind and his eyes widen.
"Ares! incoming!"
Looking backwards,the Jinchuriki noticed the fireball heading directly towards them and his hands quickly went into a blur as he weaves the handsigns: Snake,Ram, Boar,Horse and Bird.
"Wind Release: Gale Palm!"
A gale of wind immediately shot forth from the boy's palms, destroying the flaming projectile. But another one was quickly fired off as well. Ares then dropped to his knees from slight exhaustion.
"Aang!" He called out. "A little help?!"
The bald boy got off his seat and quickly leapt towards the fire ball with his foot extended. A strong gust of wind erupts from his foot, destroying the fireball. Aang was suddenly pushed back on to Appa by the wind,the water tribe siblings catching him immediately.
"We made it..." Ares breathed out.
"We got into the Fire Nation," Sokka said, eyes wide with disbelief. "Great!"
"Now,to Roku's temple..." Ares laid back on the saddle.
"So,where do you think they're going, commander?" The Captain asked.
"I don't know..." The Commander – Zhao, replied. "But I bet a certain banished prince will know..."
Zhao clenched his fists, seeing the Avatar and his friends escape him. But,who was that new boy running around with the Avatar? The boy seemed to be very powerful and also seemed to possess Airbending... But how had he multiplied himself? and what were those blue spheres his copies used to destroy the catapults?
"Commander Zhao, the boarding party is ready to board Zuko's ship" the Captain said. Zhao looked at Zuko's ship before making up his mind.
"Cut the engines!" Zhao ordered.
"Sir?" The Captain said.
"Let them pass..." Zhao said,a smile growing on his face. "I want to see where the banished prince is going"
About an hour later,the group of kids eventually arrived on the island Aang saw during his visit to the spirit world. Ares, who'd taken that time to rest from his chakra usage,snapped his eyes fully open once Appa landed.
After all the kids got off,the bison fell over,tired from the long period of time spent flying.
"We did it,buddy" Aang hugged his flying. "nice flying"
"I gotta hand it to him, he helped us big time" Ares said petting the sky bison himself. "Thanks Appa"
Appa roars happily at his praise and sticks his tongue out. Katara then walks over and rubs his belly.
"Actually I feel fine" Sokka said, stretching and flexing his muscles. "Refreshed and ready to fight some firebenders!"
"Dude,she was talking to Appa" Ares rolled his eyes as he dusted his vest.
"Oh,well I was... Talking to momo" Sokka said, pointing to the flying lemur who was on a tree branch doing what appeared to be pull-ups, causing Ares to laugh.
Walking towards the Fire temple, Ares noticed that there were no guards anywhere.
"If this is a temple dedicated to the previous Avatar, shouldn't people be around?" Ares asked. "You know,to guard it?"
"I don't know" Aang replied. "maybe after Roku died everyone abandoned it"
"I don't know why but I find that very unlikely" Ares said, looking around.
Aang and Ares pushed the doors open, revealing the giant chamber they now stood in.
"Woah..." Ares whispered as they admired the temple's interior beauty along with the rest of the team. Suddenly Sokka spoke.
"Guys, someone's coming" Sokka said. They then heard footsteps that quickly revealed to belong to men dressed in red robes.
"We are the Fire sages" One of them spoke. "Guardians of the Temple of the Avatar"
'They have sages here too?' Ares thought.
"Great!" Aang spoke up. "I am the Avatar!"
"We know" was the sage's only reply before he and the others began shooting fire at the four kids.
"Guess they're not here to welcome us!" Ares said, placing his fingers into the cross sign and summoning two clones, much to the sages' shock.
"Hold them off!" Ares said as he and the others began to run.
"Yes sir!" The clones replied in unison.
"We cannot let the Avatar contact Roku," The elder Sage said. "There's no telling how powerful the buy might become"
"Aang do you even know where you're going?!" Katara asked as they ran down the red lit hallway.
"Nope?" Aang replied.
"We're so screwed" Ares said, pulling his arms backwards as he ran.
Author's Note:
Hey everyone,sorry I didn't do an intro in the first chapter and sorry i left this one on a cliffhanger... kinda. I'll release the next chapter soon but please bear with me. I'm trying to give Ares his own personality while following the plot Tr33zy originally used by making Ares mirror Trey in particular aspects.
I just hope you guys enjoy this chapter till I publish the next one.
Stay safe!
