REALITY TRIP 2
CHAPTER 3: AVATAR
In the middle of an open area surrounded by Forest somewhere in the Earth Kingdom there were a small group of young travelers there were just landing. Although they were landing on the ground thanks to a giant white bison that had a giant saddle where most were laying on with a large blue arrow on its head.
This was of course Appa who was their ride around the world. On top of the head was sitting a young monk like boy that was twelve years old with a shaved head and a matching blue tattoo arrow on his head and the back of his hands.
This was Aang the Avatar, mainly the Avatar was the reincarnated soul that would show after the life of the old one would die. The Avatar was also the one that was the link to the spirit world and the only one to learn all four arts of elemental bending, which was part of his quest since he was born as an air bender he was now trying to master water, fire and earth.
With him were his best friends in the world, there was a girl with tanned skin with two little hair loops on the side of her face in a blue robe. This was Katara from the Water Tribe and a water bender who was teaching Aang that skill.
With them was her slightly older brother Sokka he wasn't a bender but was more of a warrior. He had the same skin of his sister and same colored clothing but that was pretty much where the resemblance ended in both physical and personality wise. He had the sides of his head shaved and the hair in a topknot. He was laying down just enjoying the trip.
The other human member of the troop was a young girl Aang's age named Toph with dark hair wearing green and yellow clothing. Only she wore no shoes and liked to go bare foot. She was an earth bender but what was unique about her was that her eyes were totally white a sign of her blindness. But she was anything but helpless and wouldn't mind pounding a person into the ground to prove it.
Lastly of course was a strange animal called Momo who was winged-lemur that was white and black fur with large ears and eyes. Always mischievous and curious he usually got into trouble as well.
As the giant bison landed the group got off him as Aang patted him on his fur, "I think this is far enough Appa is a bit tired and I don't want to take him into town." He said as the others got anything they would take there was a town in the distance.
"Good we need supplies and I could use some meat, we've been eating nothing but fruits and vegetables for the past three days." Sokka complained as he jumped down.
"It's not so bad." Aang told him given that the air benders were vegetarians he never ate meat. Sokka just grunted something kicking a stone.
"Oh come on Sokka it's not that bad at least we're not starving," His sister said as he adjusted her water pouch.
Toph sighed crossing her arms walking ahead, "I swear I've never heard anyone complain as much as him."
"Hey someone has to how else would we ever know anything is wrong?" He told her causing Katara to palm her face a bit.
They were on their way to the town when a blinding light flashed well to most Toph through her earth bending sensed what was around her kind of like sonar in the ground. All she 'saw' was a strange ripple in the ground with a sound and suddenly there were ten people standing before them.
"Great now where are we?" Wanda asked looking around and then spotting the others and the giant white animal. "The hell is that thing!"
The others looked at Appa as he opened his large mouth making a cross between a roar and moan. The others went into ready positions not sure if the large beast was friendly or not and Amara made a small fireball not the best thing to do given that the fire benders of the Fire Kingdom were trying to take over the world.
"She's a fire bender!" Sokka shouted out readying his boomerang as the benders got into fighting stances. Amara blinked not sure what she meant when Katara in movements that looked like Tai Chi controlled the water she was carrying to act like a whip.
"Oh come on not again!" Scott shouted out what was with them? Could they not just go to one reality and not get into a fight?
Toph stomped her foot causing the ground to come up under Blink and Rogue although she was confused as to where Rogue went since she was floating and Toph couldn't 'see' her unless she was on the ground. Blink had created a portal and come up elsewhere leaving the earth bender very confused.
She pushed it aside sending a wave of rock to Wanda but she saw it coming and hex it. This sent it right back Toph as her eyes widened in surprise as she jumped out of the way. "What the hell…Hey how did you do that!" She shouted at Wanda since that was unlike anything she felt. It had been like the earth got a mind of its own for a bit.
Aang sent a force of wind knocking back Jamie causing several clones to appear from his impact as well as Paige she winced as she scrapped her arm on the rough ground. Vincent however wasn't moved at all and was like a mountain as he dug in his feet. He slowly started to walk up to Aang not letting the wind attacks faze him.
The Avatar was at a loss so he took his staff (which also opened up to make a glider) and jumped up using the air to push him high up. But he was surprised and shocked when Vince did the same only he grabbed Aang and smiled at him as they just floated. "You know we're not the bad guys here."
"You're not?" He looked into the older boy's face and he didn't see any malice in him he liked to think he knew people but there was one thought that kind of pushed everything away as he looked down. "Hey are we flying?" He shouted out with a child like joy on his face.
"Well…more like floating but yeah." Vince was a little taken aback by how he just seemed to switch to a more child like personality.
"Wow, how do you do that? Is it some kind of air bending are you some lost air bender tribe can you teach me?" Aang fired off a lot of rapid fire questions leaving Vince a little bewildered.
Katara meanwhile was trying to use her water bending against the tall red head but her water kept hitting something she had never seen anything like it. It was like a shield of air that Aang could make but more solid.
"You know I don't want to hurt you but I'm going to have to stop you as well." Jean raised a hand and Katara gasped as she was floated off the ground. She had no idea how this was being done since this wasn't air bending she was sure of it.
Scott however was fed up and then fired a large between the two groups on the ground making a large scar on the land. That stopped the kids in their tracks at that display of power that was unlike anything they had seen. "Okay this ends here. First off we're not the bad guys and secondly we have no idea what a 'fire bender' is."
Vince flew down and gently placed Aang on the ground. "Guys I think they're okay."
"Are you sure Aang?" Katara asked as she was dropped gently by Jean as well next to him.
"Yeah I think they're just…Different is all," He smiled at the others. That was good enough for Katara she felt Aang had a good judge of character. Toph was muttering to herself dusting off her clothing. She was still a bit miffed at how her own powers were turned against her.
"Oh come on if you guys don't know what a fire bender is then how come she controls fire?" Sokka pointed to Amara.
Magma took a little offence to that crossing her arms at how he was treating her. "I'm a mutant it's my power."
That got a series of blank looks as once again each side filled the other in. It took some time for them to take it all in or believe them. Although when they started to show off a few powers they had to admit the mutants were doing things that no bender could do that was for sure. And the mutants found out why that they went after Amara like that.
Learning that the fire benders of the fire kingdom had done they could relate to that.
Katara saw Paige was injured and went over to the girl, "Hey there I can fix that if you want me to." She had recently learned a few months ago that her water bending could be used to heal and she wanted to make up for this as well.
"Naw it's okay ah can handle it." Paige smiled and ripped the skin right off her. Katara covered her mouth seeing the young girl with skin and hair she had never seen before literally rip off her skin. But under it was perfectly normal skin with no injury.
Sokka was near enough to see this and his jaw dropped as the girl did that, "That…Is just so sick and wrong…"
"What is?" Toph asked only hearing the wound and something hit the ground. "What did she do?"
Jubilee noticed her eyes for the first time and waved a hand in front of her face which was caught in a painful grasp by Toph. "I really, really hate it when people do that."
"I thought you were blind," Jubilee said pulling her wrist back and rubbing it.
"I am," She glared at the taller girl, "I'm not helpless you know with my earth bending I can see well enough. It's not like I don't mind not seeing I just hate it when people think I can't do anything because of it." She turned back a little angry as that just rang up memories of her parents for her.
Elsewhere a tall young man in peasant clothing and a large straw hat who was mostly handsome with the exception of the burn scar over his left eyes leaving the eye somewhat half closed. It was an injury that was an ever constant reminder of his exile from his homeland by his own father the Fire Lord.
He was Zuko the exiled and former prince of the Fire Kingdom. Always at his side was a shorter and very older man Iroh who was his uncle, unlike his nephew who always brooded and was impatient at times. Iroh always carried himself off lightly treating life like a gift and usually had a smile on his kind face.
"Uncle why are we even here? We should be looking for the Avatar," He said to the older man. He wanted to find and capture the Avatar since his father said it was the only way he could go back home. Even though he was now also an outlaw he was hoping that this would totally restore his honor and place in the kingdom.
"Ah nephew you need to be more patient, take time to appreciate what life offers. Besides we need supplies and this is the only village within a four days walk and my feet are killing me," Iroh told him.
He sighed not too happily about this and his uncle patted him on the back, "Remember good things come to those that wait." They walked on and came upon a scene little did they know that their search for the Avatar would take them a lot closer then they thought.
The others had decided to join them into town if just to look around. They had taken one of Blink's portals to just outside the town so not to freak everyone out. Sokka didn't like the thought of that kind of travel. Toph got a bit disoriented but said nothing the other two were fine by it.
As they were looking around everyone noticed the strange looks they were getting. "Great why do ah feel like we are back when mutants just came out to the public?" Rogue asked as they were walking around. She gave a few venders a glare and they went back to their work.
"Well it's just that…You look a bit different then most people." Katara tried to be diplomatic about it.
"She means that your clothing is strange and most of you have a weird look about you." Sokka translated.
By now everyone looked around and noticed that everyone looked to be of oriental decent with matching clothing from a few centuries ago. "Yeah okay I think I can see this is going to be awkward." Vince said wrapping an arm around Rogue's waist as they walked on.
Blink was very self-conscious about this given her own looks were just a hologram so she stayed close to Jubilee and Amara. Jubilee fit in more then the rest of them as she was looking over the stuff. "You know some of this is kind of cool, remind me next time to bring something for trade."
Aang was chatting away with Paige and Jamie given that they were closer to his age and they were kind of nice hanging out with each other. They were joking and having a nice time as Katara was looking for supplies with her brother.
Toph was a bit uneasy with the others but at least the girl named Wanda wasn't too bad. In fact the two of them were very much the same personality wise despite what Wanda did last time Toph got over it. "So does everyone have powers where you're from?"
Wanda shrugged, "Not really although it runs in my so called family."
"Not exactly the loving home huh? I can relate my parents basically kept me a prisoner just because they thought I was weak."
"My father threw me into an insane asylum when I couldn't control my powers for years." She said back.
Toph was surprised by that she knew her parents were misguided at least but they did care in their own warped way. But that was more then her parents would ever do, "Okay you got me there. But I bet you never had to deal with blindness."
"I got an idiot twin brother that close enough?" Wanda smirked as the two tried to one up the other.
It was pretty good then Jamie noticed something, "Hey Aang those fire kingdom guys you talked about. Do they wear a lot of armor that dark with red on it?"
"Yeah why?" He asked the other boy who was pointing at a group of soldiers with three ladies with them.
When Aang saw who was with them his eyes widened. "Oh no."
The three young women ahead of the troops were just walking and then froze when they saw the Avatar.
The leader of the group was a regal looking young woman and she was pleasant to the eyes but once you got up close you would notice that there was a cruelty behind her face and you could see it in her eyes. She was the younger sister of Zuko and Princess of the Fire Kingdom, Princess Azulu. She was on her mission to capture not only the Avatar but her outlaw brother and uncle.
With her were her childhood friends Ty Lee who had joined a circus that is until Azulu made her an offer she couldn't refuse mainly making her life miserable at the circus she as she was always cheerful she never said anything about it.
The other was a taller girl with long hair and with what looked like she always had on a bored or passive face. She was pretty much the total opposite of Ty Lee. She was Mai and she was in this because she was bored with her life and with Azulu she at least knew she would have some excitement.
"Well look what we got here, you know I was just on my way to pacify some village near there that was causing problems and imaging my luck when I saw you," Azulu grinned seeing Aang there, "I guess today is my lucky day. Soldiers take the Avatar!"
Needless to say yet another battle the second of that day took place. The mutants however felt that since they were already standing out there was no harm in doing anything more. One soldier tried to attack Rogue with a sword while she just looked on passively. She caught the blade in her bade hand and then ripped it from his grasp.
She twisted it around like a pretzel and threw it aside glaring at the frozen soldier, "Ya really want ta continue or ya want ta run now and save yourself a major beating."
"Uh…I'll run now," He said before taking off.
Wanda hexed several of the fire kingdom troops into a stand of fruits. "Well that's three down."
"Is that all?" Toph said to her crossing her arms as four were running up behind her. Wanda was about to say something but then Toph pushed out an arm to her side and a wall of dirt came at them like a wave sending them hard against the side of a building. "That's four for me."
While all of this was going on people took notice and were mostly running from the battle that is except for two exiled members of the fire kingdom. "What's going on?" Zuko asked seeing all the trouble.
His uncle was finishing a rice ball at the moment, "Either that is one hell of a street party or most likely the village is under attack and we should be getting out of here since I see fire bending being used."
He was about to agree with his uncle that is until he saw a large gust of wind and this wasn't the usually kind. This was the kind from bending and there was only one air bender left in the world. That was the Avatar, quickly the prince ran towards the battle as his uncle tried to catch up.
By the time they got into the fight it was a total mess of things. Zuko saw strangers with even stranger abilities fighting along side the Avatar but he also saw his younger sister there as well. "Oh boy just what we need, your crazy sister." Iroh sighed and then looked at his nephew, "You are still going to go after him aren't you?"
"Yes," He simply said and ran forward into the fight.
"I'm getting too old for this," Iroh shook his head joining him.
Zuko started to attack a few of the troops himself as they would also arrest him on sight, Scott saw this and looked over to Sokka, "Hey is he a friend of yours?"
Sokka looked at the scared former Prince, "Him? No way, he's been trying to capture Aang for his father to get back in his good books."
"Then why is he helping us?"
"Most likely because he doesn't want his crazy sister the one with the blue fire over there, to get him first." He pointed out Azulu to him. Scott shook his head and then fired another beam at a soldier trying to run him through.
The others were doing pretty good as well, Mai tried to use her throwing knives on Jean and Katara but Jean stopped the blades and held the woman in the air as Katara used water from a near by water barrel to strike at the other woman.
Ty Lee was a bit more of a problem as she was pretty quick and agile but Paige peeled her flesh off for metal for this fight and any time the acrobatic girl tried to attack all she got as sore hands.
Amara was pretty mush in her element at this point and then she just dodged what looked like blue fire and stared at Princess Azulu, "Well now a traitorous fire bender working for the Avatar? You shouldn't have gone up against your kingdom you little peasant."
"Peasant?" Amara growled out at her, "No one calls me that. I am Princess Amara Aquilla of Nova Roma and if you think you can beat me in my element then please…Do so."
Azulu grinned and sent a large blast of fire to Amara but she stood her ground. As the flames engulfed her the evil Princess looked on in triumph but it was short lived as something that was impossible happened. The other girl stepped out of the fire but she wasn't burning she was literally made out of fire.
"So you think you can defeat me with fire now?" Magma said to her and reached out with her powers deep under the ground. She felt the liquid fire there and in a sudden move the ground erupted in hot magma. This sent the other Princess to the ground and gaining the attention of everyone else for a moment.
When the Fire Nation troops saw Magma in her fire form they all froze this was something that no one had ever seen before and would be a story that would be told for generations. One trooper with a spear was shaking as this wasn't what he signed up to do, fighting strange people with strange powers and now this.
There was only one thing he could think of that looked like that, "A fire spirit!" He yelled out dropping his weapon and running. This was the final straw for the troops, the Avatar was one thing but all of this was too much.
Magma pretty much had Azulu on the ropes and her two friends came to picked her up as Amara knocked her down again. "I think it's time we fall back an regroup." A wet Mai said to her.
"Yeah these guys are no fun and my hands hurt," Ty Lee said.
"I suggest you listen to them…Peasant," Amara smiled at seeing the enraged face of Azulu there. But as her troops were leaving and the X-Men gathering around her she couldn't stand her ground against these numbers.
"Another time then," She spat out as the three left the battle as quickly as they could.
Iroh took hold of Zuko's shoulder, "Nephew I think it's time we took out leave."
"But the Avatar…"
"There are times to fight and times to one," He pointed at Amara, "And that is a reason for us to run like air benders." Zuko hated to leave but he would get the Avatar another day.
After things settled down a bit Blink teleported them back to where Appa was they were a bit out of breath. "Does this kind of thing happen to you guys normally?" Blink asked them.
"Actually…I think this was one or our more quiet days usually there is usually more violence or running for our lives or people trying to kill or capture us." Sokka stated leaving Blink a bit surprised but then again it wasn't like their lives were anywhere close to normal. "Well let's see we went into town, ran into fire kingdom troops no surprise there and as a bonus ran into Zuko and his nut job sister. I think that was a full day right there."
"Well at least we're staying in shape in this trip," Vince stated a bit winded he used his speed boost a bit much and was lightly drained. Just then the wrist bands started to beep, "And that's our cue looks like we're getting out of here."
"Do you have to?" Aang asked them he liked these people and the world they came from sounded really exciting and different place.
"Yeah we kind of have to go," Jean said not sure how much time they had left and then she saw Toph and even though she was a lot stronger then she looked Jean felt a bit sorry for her not being able to see anything including her friends. "Toph you said that you didn't mind being blind but I sensed that wasn't the entire truth."
"You were reading my mind?" She asked a bit angry if she was.
"No just a feeling, if you want I could help with that."
"You can make me see?"
"Not…entirely," Jean said and gently walked up behind her not sure how much time they had left and placed her hands on the young girl's temples. Toph gasped at the sudden things she was seeing and not like with her earth bending. Jean was using her mental powers to make a small link so that Toph was seeing what she was seeing.
Jean was feeding her sight past Toph's non-working eyes directly into her brain. For the first time in her life Toph was seeing the world. Jean looked around slowly and Toph was at a loss. It was so different to be able to see there was so much detail and so many strange things. Jean sensed her sense of awe about it all and smiled.
Toph could see the sky, the land, the X-Men and finally her friends. She knew their shapes and with her earth bending was able to pick them out. She actually smiled at the sight of it she felt actually a few tears of joy in her eyes at actually seeing her friends.
As soon as it came though she was once back into her world of darkness but in that one moment she had seen really seen it was a memory she would burn into her mind for the rest of her life as she looked at Jean unable to say anything for this gift.
Jean just smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder there was no need to say anything. Then in the same light they were gone leaving them alone. Aang walked up to Toph who was just standing there, "Toph…Are you okay?"
"Yeah…I'm just fine," She said with a small smile, "Come one we better get going before more of those fire nation goons show up." They started up but as she got to Katara she looked at the older girl, "There is one thing I got to know…what's with those stupid hair loop things?"
NEXT UP CHAPTER 4: CLASS OF THE TITANS
The next is a Canadian Cartoon that is like a mix of X-Men Evo with Greek Myths and Legends. Also the voice actors who did Rogue and Scott also lend their talents into this show. (You'll need to know that to get a joke I'll do in the next chapter)
