They flew for about a day before they reached their next stop. Danny looked over the edge of the saddle to see a dry, yellowish wasteland. On the horizon lay several stone pyramids, packed sturdily together. Danny could just make out small dots -the size of ants thanks to the distance- bustling across the landscape. It must be a city. There was a pathway leading up to the large gates of the city that looked to be raised from the ground out of a large pit that Danny couldn't see the bottom of.
Aang steered Appa down to the ground just a bit off the long winding pathway that led to the city. He jumped off just before Appa's feet touched the ground in his excitement. "Here we are, guys! The city of Omashu. I used to always come here to visit my friend Bumi." Pointed his staff towards the city before taking off running down the hill towards the path. "Come on, slowpokes!", he called back to the other teens, who were still getting down off of Appa's saddle.
"Aang, wait!" Katara called, causing Aang to turn back around with a raised eyebrow. "It could be bad if people find out you're the avatar; word might spread to the Fire Nation."
Sokka stepped forward. "You need a disguise."
Aang put his hands on his hips. "What am I supposed to do, grow a mustache?"
Danny looked back at Appa. "I think I have an idea."
Moments later, Aang and Katara had taken a bunch of Appa's fur and crafted it into a makeshift wig, and a mustache to go along with it. It was held together by some rope they had found in Sokka's bag. Aang kept scratching his head and face. "It's so itchy." As he scratched, some of the hairs fell out, floating to the ground. Aang turned to Appa. "How do you live in this stuff, boy?"
The bison responded with a grumble as he plopped down with a thud on the ground, kicking up loose dirt around him. Sokka stood up from the rock he had been lounging on with Danny. "Great, now you look just like my grandfather."
Katara turned back to face Sokka. "Technically Aang is 112 years old," Sokka responded with a slight nod.
Danny's eyes widened a bit. They had briefly mentioned that Aang was stuck in ice, but he never really thought about for how long. Even then, it could just be that the Avatar gets old slower than most. Danny was still surprised.
"Can we go now? I want you to see the inside of the city. It's twice as fun!" Aang jumped up.
"Twice as fun as what? Standing out here?" Danny said as he pushed himself off of the rock.
Aang didn't acknowledge Danny's comment as he pulled up his staff and started using it like it was a crutch. "Let's get going, young whippersnappers. The big city awaits." Aang changed his voice to be more raspy and deep to give the appearance of an old man. The others just looked at each other and shrugged, starting to follow the energetic 112-year-old.
As they walked up to the gates of the city, for some reason at the end of the path stood a cabbage salesman with his cabbage cart under his left arm. One of the guards called out with a commanding and irritated tone. "Rotten cabbages! What kind of slum do you think this is?" The guard crushed the single cabbage in his hands like it was nothing. As the broken pieces of cabbage fell to the dirt, the guard raised his fists and the ground beneath the cabbage cart in front of him was launched into the air. The man who was holding two cabbages in his arms at the moment ran over to the edge of the ravine as the cabbage cart fell into the abyss.
"My cabbages!", the man cried, dropping the cabbages that were in his hands on the ground as he grabbed onto the edge of the ravine, leaning over seeing nothing but darkness.
The team leaned over the edge seeing the same. Aang straightened his back upright and whispered out the side of his mouth. "Just keep smiling." Sokka and Danny turned to each other and kind of shrugged before they continued walking forward.
The moment they reached the guards, the same one who had launched the cabbage cart, used what Danny assumed was earthbending to lift a large boulder and hold it threateningly over Aang's head. Danny almost felt like he should jump in and push Aang out of the way, but the boulder seemed to be staying in place. "State your business."
Aang quickly sped out from underneath the rock, jabbing his finger in the guard's face. "My business is my business, young man, and none of yours." The guard dropped the boulder in shock, causing it to fall to the ground with a thud. "I've got half a mind to bend you over my knee and paddle your backside." Everyone on the team seemed to be either cringing or worried for Aang, Danny was thinking Aang was going to get in trouble or arrested for this.
The guard put his hands up in a defensive motion. "Settle down, old-timer. Just tell me who you are." Aang closed one of his eyes and moved around, holding himself up with his staff. "Name's Bonzo Pippenpadlopsicopolis, the Third. And these are my grandkids."
Katara stepped forward, holding her hand out. "Hi. June Pippenpadlopsicopolis. Nice to meet you." The guard scratched his chin for a moment, looking Katara up and down. Danny and Sokka were both surprised that she managed to recite the name without hesitation, and were both now hoping that they didn't have to say it next.
The man narrowed his eyes. "You look like a responsible young lady. See that your grandfather stays out of trouble." He turned to the side. "Enjoy Omashu."
"We will." Katara responded, swinging her hand behind her.
The guard gestured to the other guards that were standing at attention on the edge of the wall. They nodded and then proceeded to raise their hands in the air and throw them to the side to bend the walls out of the way to make a large opening into the city. The teen's eyes widened in amazement when they entered.
The place was beautiful. All of the houses were stacked on top of one another and woven around, making the perfect use of space. Around the whole city were long chutes of rock, weaving and dodging around the houses. There were hundreds of people walking around the city, even if the pathways between the houses were small. All of the people only seemed to wear shades of green and gold; Danny assumed that was their national colours.
Aang pointed to one of the shoots. "This is the Omashu delivery system: miles and miles of tubes and chutes." He pointed to another spot, where earthbenders were pulling up containers made of rock that had what looked like foods and goods in them. "Earthbending brings the packages up, and gravity brings them back down again."
Sokka turned to face Aang. "Great, so they get their mail on time."
Aang nodded. "They do get their mail on time. But my friend Bumi found a better use for these chutes." A mischievous grin spread across Aang's face.
Aang dragged them to the nearest chute and grabbed onto a container, dragging it over to the entrance of the chute that looked remarkably like a slide. The moment it was placed at the top Aang motioned for the others to come over. "Come on, one ride. Then we are off to the north pole. Airbender's honor." Danny looked over to the container and then back at Aang. He knew this was a bad idea, but he wasn't going to pass up the chance to try something like this.
All four of them got into the container; it was just big enough to fit all of them in snugly. Aang began to scoot the container closer to the edge with his weight until it was teetering on the edge. Katara spoke up, a waver in her voice. "This sounded like fun at first, but now that I'm here..." Aang scooted the container closer once more, and it started falling down. "I'm starting to have second thoughts—!"
Everyone let out a scream; it felt like they were falling straight down instead of the gradual incline they were expecting. Aang started laughing. It was actually kind of fun, like being on a roller coaster without any safety precautions. But who needs safety, right? Danny was already half-dead.
The cart started to get faster and faster, surprising Danny. It seemed like something like this, with rock on rock, would get slower as the incline evened out, but apparently not. And then there was the problem: Where were they going, exactly? Ugh, Danny needed to think things through more. This was probably a bad idea.
Danny leaned forward and spoke loudly enough that it could be heard over the wind. "Uh… how much weight is this thing supposed to carry, Aang?"
"You don't need to worry about it, Danny! When me and my friend Bumi did this we were perfectly fine," Aang said, putting his hands in the air.
Sokka leaned forward. "There were only two of you then! Right now there are four of us, what happens when we get to a sharp tur-" Just as Sokka spoke the sharp turn he had spoken of arrived. Instead of turning like it was designed to the crate smashed straight through the earthen edges of the slide. The crate, and the four kids along with it, fell onto one of the house roofs, using it as a ramp to shoot itself back into the air.
As it fell back down it hit one of the walls of a house across the path from it. The moment it landed on the wall it fell back down and landed on the roof of a… cabbage cart? Danny could hear footsteps coming up from around the corner; they had big boots on, so he assumed they were guards. Great time to be arrested.
A man was jumping up and down next to them, yelling, "My cabbages! You are going to pay for this!"
As soon as the guards rounded the corner and stopped in front of them. Danny put his hands up. His friends looked at him strangely, and then Danny realized there were probably no guns here, just bending, so they probably wouldn't need to see your hands when you were being arrested. He quickly put his hands back down as he looked up to the guards.
The one in the middle called out, "You're coming with us."
Aang chuckled, an embarrassed look on his face. "Umm, two cabbages please?"
X
To Danny's surprise they were not handcuffed in rock or something, but instead led peacefully to the palace in the middle of the city. Momo was even allowed to jump around. Inside were a lot of tapestries covered with green and gold (there were those colors again). And at the end of the long room was a throne that was carved from rock. Sitting on that throne with two guards on either side of him was an older-looking man whose back was hunched over in a slightly uncomfterble looking position, it was nearly taking a foot off his full height.
Danny could feel his presence in the room, even if he looked old and frail; maybe this guy was more powerful than he looked. Danny liked to think that he was pretty good at assessing situations, but this place was getting harder and harder to understand.
The hunched-back man tilted his head at the sight of the kids, one of the two giant feathers on his cap—crown?— flopped off to the side. The lead guard spoke up while the others gently pushed the teens to their knees. "Your majesty, these juveniles were arrested for, vandalism, traveling under false pretenses, and malicious destruction of cabbages."
Danny quickly noticed that the others had all placed their hands on their knees, so he assumed that was what you did in this world when you got arrested. He guessed it was to show that you were not going to bend anything. "What is your judgment, sire?", the guard asked.
The king's eyes scanned over the group, like he was judging their threat level. He looked at Aang's face for a long while before stopping on Danny. He raised an eyebrow, like he had recognized that Danny was tense and ready to jump up and fight if need be.
Danny recognized that the king had noticed his hidden fighting stance that was disguised by what looked like a more relaxed position, a common stance with experienced fighters to throw off their opponent. That was when Danny knew for sure that this king was smarter than he looked. But instead of relaxing, Danny just stayed the way that he was. Even if the king knew that Danny was ready for a fight that didn't mean that the guards did. If anything happened to his friends, he was ready to fight.
The king slightly nodded at Danny, as if he was saying good job. That surprised Danny; if someone was ready to fight in your palace, the normal reaction wouldn't be to send them a knowing nod. The king stood up and raised his hand to the group. "Throw them… a feast."
Everyone in the room seemed baffled and taken aback by the king's judgment. What is with this crazy place, what was this king trying to do? But as he said, within a couple minutes there was a feast prepared and four chairs placed around one end of a newly placed elongated table and one large throne at the other end for the king.
As the three teens and tween (sort of) sat down at the table, the king walked up behind them, putting his hands on the back of their chairs. "My people have gotten fat from too many feasts. So I hope you like your chicken with no skin." The man held up one for the chicken legs that was on the table, handing it over to Aang.
Aang gently put up his hand to push the king's hand away. "Thanks, but I don't eat meat."
The man held the drumstick out to Sokka. "How 'bout you? I bet you eat meat." He thrust the drumstick into Sokka's mouth before turning to Danny. "How about you? I bet you're hungry."
Danny eyed the man before holding up a hand. "I'm not hungry, thank you." The man nodded before turning away with a smile.
Danny was, in fact, hungry. But he didn't trust anything on that table. He was going to be fine not eating for a little bit.
Katara spoke up, tone hushed. "Is it just me, or is this guy's crown a little crooked?" She spun her finger around her head to make the crazy motion. Danny didn't say anything; this guy could actually be crazy, but also smart. Or he could be playing crazy to get answers. Which one of these was true, Danny didn't know.
The king sat down carefully in his chair before speaking up again, directing his question at Aang. "So, tell me young bald one, where are you from?"
Danny looked from the king back to Aang, who paused on his answer for a second trying to come up with an answer for the king. "I'm from… Kangaroo Island." Danny could easily tell that was a lie, so he assumed that the king could too. What was this king's plan?
"Kangaroo Island, hey! I heard that place is really hoppin." The king leaned forward and looked at the teens. Suddenly, Sokka started laughing. Everyone else looked at him while Danny kept his eye on the 'crazy' king.
Sokka quickly stopped laughing and looked around. "What? I thought it was pretty funny."
The king dramatically yawned and stretched his arms out. "Well, all these good jokes are making me tired. Guess it's time to hit the hay." He slowly stood up from his chair and the guards at the back of the room walked forward. But suddenly the king reached down at his plate and threw a piece of chicken at Aang.
And, to Danny's surprise and a slight bit of disappointment, instead of catching it with his hand Aang impulsively used airbending to catch it mid-air. The king slightly smiled and sat back down as the guards gasped. "There is an airbender in our presence, and not just any airbender… the Avatar."
Aang gasped and dropped the piece of chicken back on his plate. Both Sokka and Danny facepalmed. The king continued, "Now, what do you have to say for yourself, Mr. Pippenpadlopsicopolis?"
Aang stood up, pushing his chair away from him, his eyes darting around the room nervously. "Okay, you caught me. I'm the Avatar. Doing my Avatar thing, keeping the world safe. Everything checks out here." He lifted up the table cloth and looked under the table. "No Firebenders here. So, good work everybody! Respect each other, and don't run with your you next time!" Aang started to back up as the rest of the team stood up as well.
The guards stepped forward and pointed their spears at the teens. Katara crossed her arms and yelled across the room at the king. "You can't keep us here!"
Danny crossed his arms. "I'm pretty sure he can, Katara. He's the king."
Sokka piped in. "And I think we are in some serious trouble. I mean, this guy is nuts."
"I don't think he's as crazy as he seems, Sokka," Danny said. Their heads all shot back up to the king as he spoke again in a much more commanding voice.
"Tomorrow, the Avatar will face three deadly challenges." He rested his head on his hands. "But for now, the guards will show you to your chamber." Danny reached down and grabbed the katana on his hip tightly.
One of the guards leaned over to the king. "My liege, do you mean the good chamber or the bad chamber?", he asked.
The king tilted his head for a second and then looked back up at the guard. "The newly refurbished chamber."
"Which one are we talking about?"
"The one that used to be the bad chamber." He explained. "Until we finished refurbishing it, that is. Of course, we've been calling it the new chamber, but we should really number them."
With this distraction, Danny quickly kicked the bottom of one of the spears that one of the guards was leaning on and pulled out his blade. The guard just about fell over, gripping tightly to his spear as not to drop it. Danny held his katana out, facing the guards. "I think you should let us go."
"I think not," the king said. Three more guards entered the room and aimed their spears at Danny. Danny realized that without his ghost powers, he had no chance in this fight. With a sigh, he slowly slid the katana back into its sheath. Right now he was worried more about Aang than anyone else. He was going to have to go do some deadly challenges or whatever and could be hurt.
One of the guards took Danny's katana away from him, which Danny was not too happy about. Mentally, he was kicking himself; he should have waited for a better opportunity. To try to fight was dumb and impulsive of him. "Take them to the newly refurbished chamber that was once the bad," the king called guards each grabbed one of the kid's shoulders and walked them out.
They were led down the halls of the palace until they reached a dead end. One of the guards raised and lowered his hands and a part of the wall opened like a door. And since none of them were earthbenders (well, not yet in Aang's case), they wouldn't be able to escape.
The guards pushed the four and Momo into the room before closing up the door behind them. Looking around, Danny noticed that the room was large and round, with a tall roof, all made out of stone. There were five beds running along the wall and across the roof were transparent mesh streamers draped around, as if for decoration. Once again with the gold and green colors.
Katara was the first to speak up. "This is a prison cell? But… it's so nice."
Aang added. "They did say it was newly refurbished."
"Nice or not, we're still prisoners. And for some reason, Danny thought he could take on a whole army with a badly made sword." Sokka said, crossing his arms.
Danny sighed and leaned against the wall. "I know that was dumb of me. We could have gotten in even more trouble because of that. I wasn't thinking. I was just worried about Aang having to face those challenges and thought it would be the only chance to get everyone out of there." He laid his head on the back wall.
Aang grabbed his staff tightly. "I wonder what these challenges are going to be," he said nervously.
Katara straightened up and started looking around. "Well, we're not waiting to find out. There has to be a way out of here."
Aang jumped up and ran over to the other wall. "The air vents!" He pointed to a hole in the wall that was about the size of Danny's fist.
Sokka looked from the hole back to Aang. "If you think we're going to fit in there, you're crazier than the king."
"We can't, but Momo can."
Danny looked up to see Momo sitting on one of the beds, eating an apple. "I don't think he'll fit either, Aang"
Aang ignored Danny as he grabbed Momo and tried to lift him up to the hole in the wall. "Momo, go get Appa." The lemur just looked down at Aang with a confused face. Now that Momo was up there, it was clear that the vent was much too small for him to fit through.
Sokka lay down on one of the beds. "Eh, how is Appa supposed to save us anyway?"
Aang turned back around putting Momo down again. "Appa is a ten-ton flying bison. I think he could figure something out."
Katara got into her own bed. "Well, no point arguing about it now. Get some rest, Aang. You'll need it for tomorrow." She looked up to Danny, who was still leaning on the wall. "You going to go to bed, Danny?"
Sokka rolled over and waved his hand at his sister. "Just leave him be, Katara." Katara looked at Danny and then back at Sokka before nodding.
A while after the others fell asleep Danny decided to sit down on his own bed. There was no way he was going to sleep yet. Even if he probably needed the rest, he was sure something fishy was going to happen. It was obvious that the teens he was with were not fighters yet. They were just learning, and so far they seemed to be too trusting.
Even if the trusting bit helped Danny out in the long run, what if he actually had been a spy? Then what? They just let someone into their group and told him their whole plan. And without even a second thought they had eaten the food at the feast the king threw. Danny was getting worried that they were going to keep being trusting until they ended up getting stabbed in the back.
Danny was all hunched over sitting on the bed. He put his hands on the bandages that were on his arm. He hadn't really had a good look at the scar he knew lay beneath yet; most of the time he was unconscious when someone changed them out.
He was glad that he still had at least somewhat accelerated healing. So far, it seemed like with that thing in his neck, he could heal, and use some of his ghostly strength and agility. He could still see and hear a lot better than a normal human, but nowhere near as good as he was without the chip. He had to get the thing off somehow.
In the last couple of days he had been actively trying not to his powers. But it was harder than he thought. He didn't realize how much he used them all on a day-to-day basis. He did realize, however, that if he used some of his ice it wouldn't zap him as much because it was core energy instead of ectoenergy, which he assumed was what the chip ran on.
He closed his eyes and held his hand out, palm up. When his eyes opened again they were glowing blue. Danny reached into his core and pulled some of his cold into the palm of his hand. The blue light was dim in the dark room. It spun around and formed a small blue crystal made out of ice, which floated suspended in his palm.
Danny was very happy when he didn't get zapped. The moment his eyes stopped glowing the blue ice fell down into his clenched fist. Danny turned it over in his hands, looking at it from every direction. At least it was something.
Danny sat on the end of the bed, looking down at the ice in his hand for what felt like hours. Danny didn't feel like sleeping in this place; he didn't trust it. He didn't get that much sleep back home anyway. Between fighting ghosts and schoolwork, there wasn't that much time left in a day for sleep.
Danny's ears suddenly perked up when he heard the sound of more guards on the other side of the wall. They were probably coming in. But it wasn't morning yet, was it? He didn't think Aang would have to face his tests for a while. So what was this?
He pushed himself off the bed to stand up, facing the door he knew they were entering from. Much quieter than before, the rock covering the wall opened, revealing five guards with spears. They quickly saw Danny awake and pulled out what Danny could only describe as some sort of blow-dart gun made out of rock.
Danny jumped out of the way as a shot flew past his shoulder. He quickly dropped the ice crystal he had made before running to the side to avoid more darts. But he was caught off guard when the soldiers shot two of the darts at Sokka and Katara. This caused an opening for another guard to hit Danny with a dart from the side.
Danny quickly yanked the dart out the moment he had felt it pierce his skin, but the damage was already done. Danny quickly turned to look at Aang, who was just waking up. The guards were already pulling an unconscious Sokka and Katara out of the room. Aang's eyes widened when he spotted the guards and Danny just about falling over with two guards ready to grab him.
Aang jumped from the bed and planted his feet on the ground. "What are you doing with my friends!?" His eyes narrowed. The guards grabbed both of Danny's arms. At this point as Danny was fighting unconsciousness.
"You will see your friends again after you finish your challenges," one of the guards stated. Aang seems about ready to fight the guards. "I would not recommend fighting us." He gestured to the door which Sokka and Katara had already been taken through. "You do not want your friends to be hurt in the process."
Aang narrowed his eyes and stood down; he couldn't risk the chance of them getting hurt. His only choice now was to beat the king's challenges. And they couldn't be that hard right?
Danny was dragged from the room by the two guards, but for some reason, even if he was still fighting his unconsciousness they did not stick him with another dart. Did they run out or something? Maybe they needed to talk with him?
Danny's suspicions were proven true when he was being taken to a different room than Sokka and Katara. Not good. The guards put Danny up in a chair that felt like it was made of rock, which it probably was. The room was another nice one. Danny assumed that they didn't have any dark and gloomy dungeons in this kingdom.
Surprising Danny, he was not tied down. Instead, he was injected with a different dart, and the guards left. Danny didn't know what was happening, but suddenly he started to feel less drowsy. Was whatever they'd injected him with the antidote for the tranquilizer?
Danny froze after a second. He could hear someone else in the room. He narrowed his eyes as his vision started to still. He was right, someone was in the room. And it was none other than the king himself. He stepped towards the halfa ominously "Hello, Danny. I have been meaning to speak with you after that feast. How was your stay?"
"As good as you can get while being a prisoner, I guess." Danny shrugged his shoulders but kept an eye on the man's movements. "You know, I was wondering. Are you really crazy, or are you just pretending? I can't tell."
The man smiled. "What is the definition of crazy, truly? Is it just the way you talk, or the way you act? Or maybe it's the way you think; I can never quite remember these things." The man waved his hand dismissively. "Just because you are crazy, doesn't mean you can't be a ruler. Sometimes places like these need a little crazy. People who think outside of the box." He laughed.
Danny shrugged. "Makes sense. I know you aren't dumb. You recognized my stance earlier."
"And you recognized my recognition." He walked forward a bit. Danny stood up from the chair. "You are obviously a fighter, and seem to know too much about this way of life for your age."
"What can I say. I'm a fast learner." Danny crossed his arms.
"You are, and that is important in a warrior. But something else is obvious. You are not from here; you are trying to adapt quickly. And are succeeding in doing so, so I can only guess that you have been thrown into strange situations often?"
Danny scoffed. "If you only knew."
"You are a great ally for the Avatar. You are well trained and suspicious of your surroundings. You can train him with what you know; he will need it for the battles to come."
"What about your oh so deadly tests, your majesty?"
"I am interested to see how he does in those. For I do have a plan. You need not fret. I am not here to hurt your friend, just merely help him on his path." He laughed. "And if the challenges weren't deadly, they would be no fun."
Danny paused, looking the king up and down. "I believe you. Where are Sokka and Katara?"
"You will join them in a moment. Thank you for speaking with me. And remember, you should teach the Avatar. Your training will send him far," the King added.
"I'll put that on my to-do list as soon as possible." Danny walked over to the wall and knocked. He could tell the guards were on the other side. Once the door opened, the guards walked him to the room, and gestured to the hall. Danny followed peacefully.
After that, Danny did not believe that the king had truly bad intentions. He was just going about helping Aang in a very unorthodox way. But Danny thought it would work. It was how he was trained (if you count it as training). Life or death situations thrown left and right. He was going to wait and see what happened. It wasn't like he could do anything in the meantime.
X
It was the next morning, or what Danny assumed was the next morning, as he, Katara, and Sokka were led down a hallway. There were guards standing behind and in front of them.
"I hope Aang will be okay," Katara said worriedly. She was rubbing her hands together.
"I hope we'll be okay!" Sokka exclaimed. "We're the hostages in this situation!" He crossed his arms and glared at the back of one of the guard's heads.
"I am sure Aang will be fine," Danny tried to reassure. They stopped in front of a stone wall. Danny assumed the wall led to were Aang and the king were waiting.
Danny's ears perked up. He could hear the king talking in his crazy tone. "So, Avatar, what do you think of my new outfit? I want your honest opinion." Danny chuckled slightly. Sokka looked back at him with a raised eyebrow. Danny just smiled back at Sokka and continued listening.
"I… guess it's fine," Aang answered, seeming unsure.
"Excellent, you just passed the first test."
"Really?", Aang asked.
"Well… Not one of the deadly ones that is. The real challenges are much more… challenging." The king clapped his hands together.
Danny could hear Aang running across the room. "I don't have time for your crazy games!", he called out. "Give me my friends back, we're leaving!"
"Oh, I thought you might refuse," the king said. "So I'm going to give your friends some very special souvenirs." The stone wall in front of them opened and Danny could now see the king and Aang. The guards holding Danny, Sokka, and Katara each pulled out a ring from a pouch on their sides. "Those delightful rings are made of pure jennamite." The guards grabbed each of the teen's wrists and placed the rings on their fingers.
Sokka got a dark indigo one, Katara got a teal blue one, and Danny got a neon green one. "Also known as creeping crystal", the king continued. The rings suddenly tightened onto the teens' fingers. Katara and Sokka tried to pull off their rings. Danny just looked up at the king with a raised eyebrow. In return, the king just raised his own eyebrow and gave the halfa a crazy, toothy smile.
"It's a crystal that grows remarkably fast. By nightfall, your friends will be covered in it. Terrible fate really, but I can stop it. But only if you corporate," the king explained.
Each of the rings suddenly grew slightly up the kids' hands. "Ahh, it's already creeping!" Sokka yelped.
Aang lowered his head. "Fine, I'll do what you want." The king smiled. Danny was getting less sure about this. But it wasn't like he could do anything now; really, what could he do? He had no powers; the most he could do was make a small ice crystal. And all he knew was that the king didn't want to kill the Avatar, only test him. Danny wasn't sure why. But he got tested hundreds of times by the other ghosts to see if he was a worthy adversary, or something along those lines. It's just a thing that ghosts do to each other. That was probably one of the main reasons Danny was so okay with this king-testing-thing.
The teens were led down a winding path of hallways until they made it to a large underground cave filled with waterfalls and sharp stalactites and stalagmites. It was quite beautiful, actually. Aang was led down a separate path to the other end of the cave.
The king raised his hands into the air. "It seems I have lost my lunch box key, and I'm hungry. Ooh, there it is!" He pointed to the waterfall. Within the waterfall was a ladder, at the top of the ladder sat a key attached to a chain. "Would you mind fetching it for me?"
Aang looked up to the king and narrowed his eyes before leaping forward.
X
After Aang had completed the ladder challenge he was taken to another challenge. He had to bring the king's pet flopsy to him. Aang had gone into the pen and tried to grab a small long-eared rabbit, only for a much larger rabbit-like creature to chase him around the pen. Aang ran away from the large rabbit while chasing the small one for a couple minutes until he seemed to realize something. He had turned around and stopped running, calling out to the large rabbit.
The large rabbit had stopped in its tracks. Aang had discovered that Flopsy was the large rabbit, not the small one. Danny was noticing the pattern in the king's challenges. The challenges were about smarts, having to figure out the challenge even if the answer looked obvious. It was pretty smart, actually.
The team was then taken to Aang's final challenge. It was a battle arena. He had to choose who he was going to fight in a head-to-head battle. The crystal was now wrapping its way around the teens' torsos and legs on the side of the ring. It was getting harder and harder to move. In front of Aang stood the king and two large and dangerous-looking warriors.
Aang was told to choose from the warriors before him. And he made the move Danny himself would have made if not for the fact that he already knew a little more about this situation: Aang chose to fight the king. The king laughed crazily before straightening his back and using earthbending to throw Aang halfway across the arena. This guy was powerful.
"You thought I was a frail old man," the king called out. "But I am the most powerful earthbender you'll ever see." The king was teaching Aang not to underestimate his opponents, Danny realized. The king wasn't just testing the Avatar; he was teaching him lessons!
Aang held his hand up. "Can I fight the guy with the ax instead?"
The king smiled. "There are no take-backsies in my kingdom. You might need this though." He had one of the guards throw Aang his staff.
The two fought for about twenty minutes back and forth. The king with his earthbending, and Aang with his airbending. Nearly the whole arena was destroyed. The fight ended in a draw. Aang had his staff pointed at the king's chest, and the king had a huge boulder held above both their heads ready to squash them any second.
"Well done, Avatar," the king said. "You fight with much fire in your heart." He turned around and threw the boulder against the wall of the arena, breaking it into pieces on impact. "You've passed all of my tests. Now you must answer one question."
"That's not fair! You said you would release my friends after I finished your tests!"
"Aw, but what's the point of tests if you don't learn anything?"
"Oh come on!" Sokka called out. By now he was nearly falling over beneath the weight of the off-balanced crystal.
"Answer this one question and I will set your friends free. What… is my name?" The king smiled. Aang just looked up at him with a very confused face. "From the looks of your friends, I would say you don't have that much longer." The king turned and walked away.
Aang turned to face his friends. "How am I supposed to know his name?"
"Think about the challenges. Maybe it is some kind of riddle?" Katara said.
"I got it!" Sokka exclaimed. Danny raised an eyebrow at Sokka.
"Yeah?" Aang asked enthusiastically.
"He's an earthbender, right? Rocky… you know because of all the rocks."
Danny spoke up. "We're going to keep trying, but that is a good backup."
"Okay, so back to the challenges," Aang said. "I got a key from the waterfall, I saved his pet, and I had a duel."
"And what did you learn?" Katara asked.
"Well, everything was different than I expected. Well… they weren't straightforward. To solve each test I had to think differently than I normally would… I know his name."
Aang walked back over to the king. "I solved the question the same way I solved the challenges. As you said a long time ago, I had to open my brain to the possibilities." The king laughed. "Bumi, you're a mad genius."
The king bent down as Aang ran over for a hug. "Aww, Aang It's good to see you. You haven't changed a bit. Literally."
They were interrupted by Sokka calling out. "Little help!" The king nodded and used earthbending to shatter the jennamite from the teens.
Katara walked over. "So, this crazy king is your old friend Bumi?"
"Who are you calling old!?" The king snapped. "Okay, I'm old."
"Why did you do this if you could've just told Aang who you were?" Sokka asked.
"First of all, it's pretty fun messing with people. Haha. But I do have a reason. Aang, you have a difficult task ahead. The world has changed in the hundred years you have been gone. It's the duty of the avatar to restore balance to the world by defeating Firelord Ozai. You have much to learn. You must master the 4 elements, and confront the Firelord. And when you do, I hope you will think like a mad genius."
Aang bowed to Bumi. "And it looks like you are in good hands," the king said. "You'll need your friends to help you defeat the Fire Nation." Momo jumped up onto Aang's shoulder. "And you'll need Momo too."
"Thank you for your wisdom. But before we leave I have a challenge for you." Aang pointed to his friend.
That day Aang and his childhood friend rode down the Omashu delivery system once more, something that Bumi had not done since his best friend disappeared.
Authors notes
I have worked so hard on this chapter and I hoped you enjoyed it. Very special thanks to watery_melon_baller on ao3 who betta read this chapter and made it so much better than it already was.
I have drawn art for the description of Danny I can't post it on FF but you should be able to find it on my ao3 and Wattpad versions of this chapter. it should be under the same name and account. I also have it posted on my Instagram 'Playedcrowd5610' if you want to check it out there, as well as all of my other art.
I loved all of the comments I get on this story so far, every time I get one it makes me so happy and lights up my day. They give me the energy I need to continue this story. You are all so helpful and nice in your comments thank you :)
Please leave a review and tell me what you thought of this chapter, it would mean so much.