Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar. I don't own Avatar. I wish I did, but I don't. End of story. Goodbye. No suing please.
Author's Note: It's coming along. There will be more action in this one, I promise. Let's get started…
The Spirit of Air
Chapter Three: Duty and Defense
"Vahagan!" Hung-Jin yelled, "Concentrate! We need to focus now. "Kolak is it?" she said turning to Kolak. "I take it you know what's happening now. Firebenders are on our doorstep." She inhaled deeply, and then exhaled quickly, and then continued to talk to the Waterbender, "Its only one ship, but that's not the point. For some reason, they want to attack us."
The morning breeze blew a little stronger, and the sun had just about peeked out over the mountains. The rays of the sun shined over the Northern Valley, and it glistened on the ocean. The ship was getting much closer, and four children, two Earthbenders and one Waterbender didn't know what to do. They were the only benders in the valley, and yet they would be expected to ward off the Fire Nation. No one else was a warrior in the Valley, and because Vahagan, Hung-Jin, Kolak, and Ero were all benders, they would be entitled to do their duty and defend an entire culture!
Perhaps it is time to tell you a little more about the Northern Valley, and Vahagan's family. The Northern Valley was the breadbasket of the Earth Kingdom. The land was fertile and the crops grown there were prized worldwide. They shipped many crops to the Northern Water Tribe, since they could not grow food themselves. The Northern Valley was secluded from most outsiders; the Valley was nestled between a great mountain range and the ocean beyond. The people there had been living in the Valley for countless centuries.
Besides being the agricultural capital of the world, the Northern Valley was also home to the most brilliant mechanists and inventors on the planet. They were geniuses, these mechanists, and their inventions were prized throughout the kingdom and beyond. It was the mechanists who had invented the Iron-Clad Warships used by the Fire Nation, and unbeknownst to the inventors, the ships were then used in mass the following year, in the first year of the war, one hundred years ago.
The chief mechanist at the time was Vahagan's Uncle, Gyro. Gyro was a brilliant mechanist and inventor, but some considered him a bit…odd. He was constantly muttering to himself, poring over maps and blueprints, and although he was experienced, the fruits of his struggle were never…uh…ripe (so to speak). Gyro was like a father to Vahagan, a crazy father. Although Gyro had a son of his own, little baby Teo, he and his wife (Nereana) had taken Vahagan in after his own mother and father had been killed.
Vahani and Frei were Vahagan's parents. Vahagan remembered little of his loving mother and his gentle father. Vahani was an Earthbender; a master Earthbender at that, and had already had taught the infant Vahagan some basic Earthbending. Vahani believed that all people should have a strong connection with their element. He was a very spiritual man, but also quite depressed, since he was the last master in the entire Valley, and there would be no one to teach the next generation, if something happened to him.
And something did happen, to Vahani and his darling wife Frei. Gyro, Vahani's brother, was a younger, stronger and chipper man than later in his life. He had begun testing out his ideas for inventions (he was just as crazy then, too). One thing he prized above all others was his improvement of blasting jelly. Oh, he had tested it out so many times, set fire to a few houses, singed an eyebrow or two off, but nothing serious.
He had finally completed the improved formula, which produced a cleaner, more concentrated explosion. Gyro was literally going mad with his creation. He began to "improve" it even more, tweaking and testing until the villagers became quite fed up with the constant explosions, and Gyro's sudden fits of laughter at random times. Vahani never thought of his brother as crazy, though. He was always ready to help Gyro out.
One day, after another fit of laughter, Gyro wanted to test the blasting jelly underwater, to see if it would produce an explosion. He had assembled the many barrels of blasting jelly and the fuses in a large boat, and was preparing to set out, but he couldn't find a crew. Everyone thought him a crazy, psychotic loon, but not Vahani and Frei. They liked Gyro, and volunteered to man the boat. They left little Vahagan with Gyro's girlfriend, Nereana, and set out at dawn. Once the huge earthen flood wall was out of sight, something happened. The blasting jelly in the boat suddenly detonated.
The explosion was beyond words. Almost the entire ship was incinerated at once, and the rest sank within seconds. Vahani, Frei, and Gyro were certainly dead, for the mammoth explosion was seen five miles away. Kolak's family, who had journeyed North from the South Pole, were passing by in their little boat, and saw the little bits of rubble from the once large ship, and the body of Gyro.
Gyro was an inch from death, if Kolak's father had not healed him, and brought him into a coma-like state. Gyro awoke a month later, head throbbing and body almost fully wrapped in bandages, to find his brother and his brother's wife dead and never found.
Now Vahani's fifteen-year-old Earthbending son was standing on the battlements of the great floodwall, looking out onto the great ocean, the resting place of his parents.
Ero was just coming up the stairs onto the ramparts. "The villagers are all wondering what's going on" He said quickly to Vahagan, panting a little from his long trek up the stairs. "I told them it was nothing."
"Well, it's certainly something!" Kolak said urgently, "We have a situation!"
"Quick!" yelled Hung-Jin, who moved about toward Vahagan and Ero. "Help me!" She began to bend Earth from a nearby hill. She moved her hands and arms in a rhythmic motion, and kept her stance rigid as she formed a small boulder behind her. "Help me!" she yelled even louder.
Vahagan began Earthbending as well, forming the already growing ball of earth into a larger boulder. He moved his hands in the same motion as Hung-Jin, helping her Earthbend the mammoth rock. Ero also began to assist the two other Earthbenders, although he was a very weak Earthbender and wasn't much help. Once the boulder was of substantial size, the three kids began to wave their arms very fast in unison, trying to force the gigantic pile of rock in front of them. Kolak just stood and watched in bewilderment.
Vahagan glanced over at Kolak, who was still standing wide-eyed, looked at Vahagan closely. Vahagan was concentrating very hard, and was almost in sheer pain from the weight of the Earth. The veins in his arms were popping out and a sweat began to form on his face. He squinted in exertion, breathing hard and fast.
"Aim for the bow of the ship," Hung-Jin said calmly. Vahagan looked at the ship, which was getting closer by the second. He could make out little figures on the deck, tending to their business. Vahagan noticed one in particular, a Firebender. The Firebender was masked and heavily armored. Vahagan wondered what lied beneath the mask of a Fire Nation soldier. Was it the face of a brutal savage, thirsty for blood and battle, or a human, merely twisted into the image of pain and destruction?
Vahagan was now sweating profusely, preparing himself to launch the massive boulder at the bow of the metal warship. Under normal circumstances, Vahagan would have noticed how high up he was, for he was almost looking straight down at the Fire Navy ship. Hung-Jin inhaled, which signaled Vahagan and Ero to do so as well. They widened their stances almost in unison, and exhaled sharply.
The massive boulder flew into the air; the sound of the whoosh it made droned out the gigantic pant of relief Vahagan issued once the weight had been lifted. He then gazed upon the rock as it plummeted into the clear ocean a mere two feet away from the bow of the ship. It caused a massive wave, but dealt clearly no damage to the ship. A wave of frustration washed over Vahagan, and he heard Hung-Jin curse colorfully under her breath.
Taking advantage of their miss at the bow, she yelled at the approaching ship, "That was a warning!" Vahagan was startled. Hung-Jin…is yelling?
"Remove your filth from our shores, and I will not single-handedly sink your ship and kill you all!" Vahagan wheeled about, staring at Hung-Jin, whose concentration and anger was focused at the oncoming Fire Navy ship. Hung-Jin, saying she could single-handedly sink a ship? She was most certainly bluffing!
Or was she?
Ignoring her little warning, the crew of the ship laughed a hearty, evil laugh you sometimes hear on cliché cartoons. They looked up at the pretty little Earthbender girl and pictured her sinking their ship. Ha! Fat chance! They simply laughed and laughed and laughed as the ship halted suddenly about a fifty yards from the massive earthen flood wall. They were ready to attack…but not before they laughed some more!
Hung-Jin noticed them stopping, and closed her eyes. Oh, how she hated this Fire Nation scum! How dare they laugh at me! She thought. Calm yourself, Hung-Jin, a voice in her head said. Feel the Earth, feel the life of the World, and bend the powerful spirits to your whim. But Hung-Jin ignored herself. She felt her angered spirit grasp her body, and then she fell into the darkness of enragement.
"You laugh at me, filth?" she bellowed at the Firebenders below. Hung-Jin was mad, angered by the Fire Nation scum below. She had reached a level of anger that brought her on the verge of complete insanity. She shook with rage, and Ero nearly fainted with the sight of her…inhumanity. All on board that Fire Nation ship immediately ceased their laughing at Hung-Jin, and gazed up at the Earthbender.
"Then I shall cast you all into the abyss!" and with that scream she moved her arms with great strength, and a gigantic chunk of the massive flood wall itself broke away with a tremendous crack, and Vahagan and Kolak had to stumble back to avoid being brought along with it. They were in complete and utter shock. Ero almost fainted.
In a matter of a second, the enraged Hung-Jin spun around and pelted the gargantuan earthen chunk of wall at the bewildered Firebenders. It flew threw the air, and its immense weight sent it slamming into the bow of the ship with a thunderous clash of rock and metal. The bow of the warship was damaged to a great extent, and Vahagan could see the damage when the hunk of wall collapsed into the sea after contact. The entire bow was destroyed, the whole ship was pushed back a hundred yards or so from the force of the impact. The crew if the ship was thrown about on the deck and a few were thrown overboard. The gash on the bow was horrific, with the hold exposed and the ship taking on water. Despite these complications, the engine continued to chug along toward the wall.
Vahagan and Kolak rushed towards Hung-Jin, pulling her back and trying to free her from the hard grip her angered spirit had over her.
"Hung-Jin! Hung-Jin! Calm yourself!" Vahagan screamed into her ear. "You must contain yourself! This is not the way!"
But Hung-Jin was in a state of bloodlust. She resisted Kolak and Vahagan's grip on her, and spoke aloud in a feverish drone:
"Let me finish them!" she screamed as she moved her arms upward, and the wall shook and the battlements creaked as she screamed her will into the morning air, "Let me kill them! They are destruction upon the world! I will destroy destruction!"
"Hung-Jin!" Vahagan cried, "Do not be as they! Do not be the savage beast that the Fire Nation is! Earth does not destroy like Fire does! Earth gives, it bring life to all that is hopeless!" Vahagan knew his was talking in metaphors and spiritual phrases, and he knew he sounded corny, but this was not the time to care. Hung-Jin needed them spiritual talk, as she had clearly lost her mind.
"Fool!" she bellowed, still looking out into the sky in her crazed state. "Earth destroys! We are born to this world, and then the world takes us! We die! Whether by the sword or by slow decay if time we die, and the Earth takes our bodies for itself! Earth gives only death, and those that bend Earth can bend the awesome power of death and force it to its knees!"
Who was this girl? Vahagan thought to himself, frantically trying to hold back Hung-Jin who was still shaking the entire wall with her fists. Who was she?
It was apparent that Kolak was thinking the same thing, but it was a different sort of wondering, for Kolak did not know Hung-Jin very well. Vahagan knew her quite well…or did he? Well he knew her name, that she was an Earthbender, that she was rich, that…she…that…once… Oh, how he struggled to remember who she was? Or did he really know that much about her?
Within a split second, Vahagan saw a flashback of almost every contact he had with Hung-Jin, and in this state of remembrance, Vahagan tried to remember…
Author's Note: I know, a little freaky at the end there!