1 The Lost Benders
Chapter One; A Gleam of Light
The dark night sky looms over the Northern Earth Kingdom. Lying in the open sea lies a graveyard of ships. Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom, any ship imaginable lies in its resting place. Only one large Fire Navy ship leeks light to have its last moments if duty in place. Fire-bender helmets lie in dust and rust as the ship seems the only item, untouched by time. Dried blood lies in the ship. The decomposing bodies and skulls lie in the murk of the eerie fog of the night. Only one person seems alive, a young bender. Sleeping on the cold dust metal, as if nothing happened. The outfit looks like no other, the bandaged arms, legs, and brown footings. Wet sand colored clothing with a gray outline. No sound is heard until a Fire Navy ship crashes into another.
After
an Earth Kingdom ship collides onto the dim-lighted ship, the body
bounces and bangs on the floor. Grabbing the back of his head, he
struggles to his feet. "What the heck was that? How long have I
been out? From the looks of this ship, it seems a few weeks, maybe
years. Oh well. Now I need to find out where I am." Stepping out
onto the slanted deck, he sees the eerie fog and moving ship. "A
graveyard? I never recall a graveyard here. And that of a small Fire
Navy ship." Sitting down on the deck, he watches and waits to see
the battle.
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The trio has landed inside an old Fire Navy ship after falling from the sky into the ship. Fire is the only light fueling to steal the shadows as they hide from Zuko. Sokka pulls out his short sword and steps behind the hole to hide and observe the surroundings. "You just had to take to take the shortcut to get to the North Pole didn't you? Now we're trapped by Zuko and we have no way of getting out unless we want to get hit even more by the catapults." Wiping off the dust from the ship.
Aang grabs Momo and helps Kattara up from the ground. Looking at the old and dead Fire Navy ships. "Well how was I supposed to know that Zuko knew we were heading there? You know... this reminds me of the old Fire Navy ship back at the South Pole."
Kattara looking fo a whole in the ground, stands up and tips over an iron kettle."No time for reminiscing. We need to find a way to get out of here without getting killed." Pausing with fear of the noise, a Fire-bender peaked in, but Momo jumps over his mask and Sokka beats him to subconsciousness with the Water Tribe club. Throwing his body to the side, Aang deepens his thought and prepares an a ball of Air.
" Maybe if we can find a trip-wire, we could get help from the Earth Kingdom." Kattara breaks ger trance and puts her water bag on. "That could work, but we need to break through that ceiling." Aang uses the ball of expanding air to hurl Aapa into a flying start as he breaks through the ceiling. As Aapa flies for cover, the three stand to find the entire crew waiting for them.
"It is about time we find you in this graveyard Avatar. Now come with me and your friends will not die." Advancing toward the three, Zuko steps up and grabs Kattara. Iroh walks up to Zuko holding a tea kettle and a pot of water.
"You know if we just take the three of them, we can get on with our lives and I can finally get my tea done." Iroh sits down and readies his tea. Aang gives a smirk look and uses the air to lift up the tea kettle after Iroh places a cup of tea in. The kettle opens up and lands on Zuko's head. After screaming, Aan kicks him to the side and runs in front of the Fire-benders.
Zuko pulls of the kettle and throws Kattara against a wall. Sokka attempts a valiant charge against the marauding Prince, but Iroh launches a fir kick and places a blow in his chest, the sound of ribs cracking is all he hears as Sokka falls to the ground unconscious. Zuko and some Fire-benders tie up the three and haul them to the stiff deck of the dead ship. "What a waste."
"Yes Prince Zuko, what a waste." Zuko thinking his uncle speaking with him, unfortunately sees him staring over the kettle pot. Zuko plants a fire-shot at the kettle and it melts, blending with the metal below them.
Zuko grabs Aang as the other two awaken and are grabbed by the Fire Nation soldiers are dragging away into Zuko's ship. "Now my honor and rightful place on the throne shall be restored to me." Zuko murmurs under his breath. But a banging sound is heard and the boy stand perfectly balanced on the rusty edge. Losing posture, he quickly regains balance after Zuko giving an embarrassed look."It looks like another Fir raid eh? Well I've seen too many of those. What's your business here?" Stepping onto the deck, the Fire-benders come closer to him, but keep their distance.
"My honor is my business here." Zuko drops Aang but sees Iroh vanished onto the ship.
"Well unfortunately I have to see the Avatar to his haven." Grabbing Zuko's arm, he throws him onto the ground.
Zuko gets up and hurls a fire blast at him. "Enough, now you will perish." Zuko unleashes a wheel of fire at the stranger. He jumps and hides behind the teaming pile of metal that was hit by the fire. As Zuko nears the spot, the stranger steps up. Placing his hands in the air. "You know, One tiny move won't get me to give up."
Zuko's rage was sinking deep. How can he mock me like this. I can kill him in an instant.. But what type of bender is he? Zuko raises his palms and gives a sign of doubt. "The only thing I hate worse than a mocker is a bender. Now what nation are you from?" The stranger only steps forward and stands side-to-side by Zuko. "You would never guess. I am Thunder Vire material."
Zuko runs back as the Fire-benders advance. "Enough of this foolishness. Thunder Vire had vanished!"
"Why do you always think the word "vanish" means gone forever. But we're not gone. You never fought one have you? No? We;; here's a run for your "honor"." Sweeping one foot to the side, a small band of lightning runs across the floor and circles around Zuko. It flashes underneath him and shoots a column of lightning, knocking Zuko in the air and shooting him back. The electricity continuously moves around, forming a bal lightning and it sinks into the ship. The three still awake, watching the battle. The stranger shoots a shot of plasma (energy that makes lightning) it hits, one Fire-bender and splits to hit more until all are down.
As the Zuko begins to grab and pin the stranger, a flare from the Fire Navy ship launches into the sky lighting up the entire area, showing dozens of Fire Navy ships preparing to land. Steel ships creek and steel sparks as Commander Zhao stands at the side, clapping watching them fight. He smiles and grabs the Avatar. "Well as much as it seems to have a lousy Prince and a normal person fight, but the Fire Lord wants the Avatar now."
Zuko curses underneath his breath. "You will not have the Avatar, my father will see me bring the Avatar. Not you."
"You father does not care for you." Zhao proclaimed. "He just wants the Avatar. Even if its you, bring him do you actually think he will give you your honor and position back? He will give it to the one who brings it he can trust. Me."
Zuko and Zhao begin to fight as the stranger unties Aang and he unties the others. Silent, the three run off the ship and find Aapa. As the stranger turns his attention to Zuko and Zhao, the three fly away on Aapa. Zuko is badly wounded and pinned down by a dead body. Zhao laughs at the Prince and readies a finishing blast. "Now you can be out of everyone's hair you little mistake." But as the fire reaches out, two plasma bursts fire and knock back Zhao. "What the hell was that?" Turning to see the bender ready to fight, Zhao kick shots him and knocks him back. "I don't care what you did, both of you are going to die here."
As Zhao lines the two up for one final blast, a burst of plasma and lighting surges from the bottom of the ship, knocking the ship back and Zhao with it. The stranger forwards to a running pace and places a small sack in Zuko's palm. "Listen, that ball lightning's going to destroy this whole area, get everyone out of here now." running to another ship, the stranger vanishes. Zuko calls his men as the run to the ship. The smoke of burning coal empowers as Zuko's ship takes off with the fury to escape. Alone on the other side, the bender waits for the lightning to explode. But as his eyes close with defeat, Aapa appears speeding towards the ship. With Sokka holding the reins, Aang pulls out his staff and uses it as an arm. Having no choice, the stranger grabs a-hold and leaps on board Aapa's back as they pull away at full speed into the sky.
Resting was his only option. Either be questioned again or thrown off. But being unconscious doesn't rely on much sleep. So after dozing off, one word is heard. "Rein." Unsatisfied, Sokka throes a bow to Rein's head with his club. "What the heck was that for." Rein only shouts and turns away from the moronic warrior.
"We saved your life, you help us." Standing over him, Sokka places a club to his head. Rein stands up and grabs his club. "You know even if you try, I could easily break your arm. Easy Vire Tactic." Angered by the two Kattara places her hand and moves his arm away.
"How about you two break it up and Sokka, get back to steering." Rein gives a look of surprise at the two. Kattara makes a closer inspection of him and stares into his eyes. "I've never seen that type or clothing material before. What area did you get it?" Rein takes a step onto Aapa's tail and mutters a tone that only Kattara and Aang can hear. "Its from the Thunder Vire. Unless you know...I'm a thunder-bender, but I can other elements also. But I am a Thunder Vire at heart."
"Uncle what are you talking about. It was no Illusion, he bent lightning.!" Zuko shouted. Twitching in pain from the bandages, Zuko constantly quivers in pain. Iroh stops his wrapping after dropping the vase of Ailments. "So after 400 years they have returned. This is something I thought would never have happened."
Confused, Zuko tears the bandage on his arm off. "What do you mean by all this?"
"Do you understand anything I tell you? Over 400 years ago, a Nation known as the Thunder Vire thrived in the world. The ability was to bend thunder and lightning, and the energy that drives the two. But after Avatar Kyoshi had mastered it, the Fire Nation declared War on them. After slaughtering the soldiers. The Thunder Vire vanishes and have not been seen for 400 years. But they can bend the other elements as well. Air benders are coming again. We have much to discuss."
"You're a Thunder-bender! But I thought they never existed. They were just a legend, a myth."Aang explained. Aang searches through the knapsack Rein carried with him. Aang finds a small board, thin, useless. "Don't touch that!" Rein grabs the knapsack and places it underneath the bags. "Its something I've been saving for awhile." Aang places his thought to the night sky, for his thoughts. "What do you mean by bending more than one element?" Rein walk back to the edge until he hits the back. "Well...uh. Thunder Benders can bend one or two more. But for some reason, I can bend all of them. I have Thunder and Earth mastered. I had lots of extra time to use Earth bending. Where are you guys heading anyways?"
Kattara pulls out a map and lays it on the bottom of the saddle. "We need to get Aang to the North Pole, but we need a faster way to get there. We need sapless so the next port city is where we're going." Rein marks a line on the map. "If we head there, supplies can be restocked, but after that, we stop at these three areas and go here, I can get you to the North Pole. Then the Avatar can master Water."
Sokka looks back with disgust. "We're dropping you off at the city."
"You forget I'm the one who knows how to get you to the area. It may be far off, but we can get to the areas undetected and faster." Kattara places the map in a bag and grabs Sokka. "I say we vote. All against him staying? Sokka raises both hands. "Ok that's two. All in favor? Rein doesn't vote. Aang and Kattara vote once. But instead of tied, Momo comes out of Aang's shirt and raises his hand. Well he stays."
"Are you kidding, Momo doesn't count!" Sokka says this, Mmo leaps on his head and bites him. "Ok. He stays. But we need to head to the city first, then we follow your directions."
Rein grabs Aang and throws him gently on the ground. "This is the start of a beautiful friendship, and maybe you'll see some wicked Thunder bending." Aapa gives a shift in speed and flies straight into the sky. And swops into a dive to head to he nearing city.
