Chapter 5: The Journey on the Drill
Accelerator couldn't help but quietly gawk at the drill as he followed Azula to the front of the machine.
"How long did this even take to build?" the young esper asked, keeping his eyes on the large object.
"two whole years," a faceless voice answered.
Accelerator slowly turned around to face a scrawny looking man who stood with his hands neatly placed behind his back; the man's hair was a dim grey, a color that went well with his thick beard and sleek eyebrows. A red hair band held the top of his hair in a small man bun, revealing an incredibly sharp widow's peak that pointed down to his forehead. The man's face was difficult to describe; it was neither a smile nor a frown, it was just neutral.
"Oh? And who are you?" Accelerator promptly asked.
"hmph, how rude," the man said, puffing his chest out in a huff, "I am War Minister Qin; I will be overseeing this expedition."
"A lot of time and money went into building this contraption," Qin continued, gently touching the outer plating of the machine, "It is my duty to ensure its effectiveness. I suppose you are the one known as 'Accelerator', yes? I was recently told that you will be accompanying us on our journey. Any new hand is welcome, however, be aware, boy – I out rank you."
Before Accelerator could respond, the man adjusted his shoulders and robotically walked past him, his hands still positioned behind his back. The esper gave Azula a confused glance, causing the Fire Nation princes to let out a slight laugh before she gestured for him to follow her as they all walked behind Qin.
"Due to the fact that you are a new member, it is important that you are informed of who exactly our enemies are; therefore, during our travelling to Ba Sing Se, I shall provide all of the data we have collected over the avatar and his allies," Azula said.
For the next few minutes, the group wandered around the side of the giant machine until they finally found the entrance and quickly walked inside of the massive vehicle. War Minister Qin was eagerly describing the mechanical genius and ingenuity that went into the creation of the drill, but Accelerator quickly learned to block him out. The interior of the drill was just as dark and grimy as the outside; almost everything in sight was made out of the same cold, grey metal as the group continued further. At certain points in the vehicle, Accelerator saw thick steam that seemed to leak out of various cracks and crevices from the metallic walls. Eventually, War Minister Qin lead them to a relatively small room (at least in comparison to the drill's overall size) and proceeded to explain that it was the main control room.
Accelerator rolled his eyes, 'well, duh. Of course it's the control room. It's too nice and organized to be anything else,' he thought to himself.
The room had been fashioned with built-in seats that faced the glass to overlook the front of the drill. Dim, red lights flushed the entire room, and the windows themselves also seemed to have a reddish tint that highlighted the rest of the control area. Accelerator absentmindedly looked around, ignoring the monotonous voice of War Minister Qin as he described the technical complexities and functions of the various things in the room. Even though it didn't really feel that long, Accelerator was thankful when the 'tour' that they had been on finally ended. Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee all sat down in their reserved seats in the control room while Accelerator continued to scan his surroundings.
"It can't be that interesting," Azula said, noticing that the esper was still standing, "sit down. I have a few important matters I need to discuss with you."
Accelerator rolled his eyes before he took a seat in one of the chairs; once he sat down, Azula pulled out a small folder full of thin papers.
"These," she began as she held up the folder, "are every file we have on the avatar. These documents detail information like: physical appearance, bending ability, and estimated threat level. It's practically required for every Fire Nation officer to memorize these papers, so you're going to have to do the same before we get to Ba Sing Se."
"How long will that take?" he asked.
"About a day and a half," she quickly informed.
"hmph. Give me five minutes," he said, snatching the folder full of papers from the surprised princess.
He then walked back and sat in the chair once more as he interestedly opened the file, scanning the contents of the page. His eyes rapidly moved over the inked words and made sure to commit the information to memory; each document had rough sketches of a particular individual along with personal data. There were 5 pages in total; four of them were dedicated to the actual members, while the fifth one talked about the animals involved. Purposely glossing over the animal file, which was mainly about the flying bison and a lemur, Accelerator swiftly moved to the first member on the list.
Subject Name: Katara
Gender: Female
Eyes: Dark Brown
Hair: Dark Brown
Skin: Brown
Affiliation: Avatar, Southern Water Tribe
Bending Abilities: Water Bender
Threat Level (out of 10): 5
Additional info: Sister of subject known as – Sokka
Although there was more information on the page, Accelerator mainly looked at the basic info, especially the category titled 'threat level'. A small image of the girl was positioned at the top right hand corner of the page; despite it being a rough sketch, Accelerator could still make out her generic features. After memorizing the contents in front of him, he quickly turned to the next page, hoping that the next person would be a bit more interesting – but he was quickly disappointed.
Subject Name: Sokka
Gender: Male
Eyes: Dark Brown
Hair: Dark Brown
Skin: Brown
Affiliation: Avatar, Southern Water Tribe
Bending Abilities: None
Threat Level (out of 10): 2
Additional info: Brother of subject known as – Katara
After seeing that this member didn't even have any abilities, Accelerator rolled his eyes and checked out the final two members.
Subject Name: Aang
Gender: Male
Eyes: Brown/Grey
Hair: None
Skin: Light
Affiliation: Air Nomads (formerly)
Bending Abilities: Air Bending, Water Bending, Earth Bending, Fire Bending
Threat Level (out of 10): 7, 10(when awakened)
Additional Info: Has blur arrow-like tattoos on his arms, legs, and head. Extremely Dangerous when in 'Avatar State'; approach with caution.
Subject Name: Toph Beifong
Gender: Female
Eyes: Green (glazed over)
Hair: Black
Skin: Light
Affiliation: Avatar, Earth Kingdom
Bending Abilities: Earth Bender
Threat Level (out of 10): 8
Additional info: It has been confirmed that subject is blind.
Accelerator's eyes slightly widened at the final subject's info; this 'Toph Beifong' was blind and yet still seemed to rival the avatar in terms of potential power. There was not that much else in the file that was interesting; the majority of the page was filled out with all of the possible run-ins and interactions the Fire Nation has had with the avatar. Even though it was relatively unimportant information to him, Accelerator still forced himself to quickly memorize the file before he finally stood up. He walked over to Azula and handed her the folder; she gave him a confused look as she slowly took the papers from his hand.
"Have you read them?" she asked in disbelief, to which Accelerator confidently nodded his head as he sat back down in the chair.
"But that wasn't even a minute," she stated, staring at the esper intently.
"I know," he replied, placing his hands behind his head as he comfortably settled further into the seat.
Azula opened her mouth to say something, but instead she sighed and turned her attention to the red window in front of her.
"How long until we disembark?" the Fire princess suddenly asked as she looked around the room.
"We have just finished the final set of procedural evaluations – the drill seems to be in perfect working order. We are ready to leave when you are, princess," War Minister Qin answered with a lowered head.
"Excellent," Azula said with a grin, "then we shall move out immediately."
"Yes, princess," Qin said as he turned to some officers who were seated in front of control panels and raised his voice, "Disembark!" he commanded.
With that being said, the massive drill slowly began to move forward as the sound of released steam and hydraulics echoed throughout the machine. Azula glared out through the red-tinted window at the moving ground; she sat in her seat with crossed legs and absentmindedly taped her index finger on the arm chair. Ty Lee was still looking around curiously while Mai tried to entertain herself by playing with her kunai. 'this is gonna be a long ride,' Accelerator thought to himself as he crossed his arms in front of him.
The trip felt just as long as it actually was; an hour swiftly turned into a day as the drill slowly moved across the terrain. During this time, Accelerator learned as much as he could about the world that he so mysteriously found himself in. The war, for example, was something that confused the esper to the point of irritation – to him, wars were pointless; why would anyone so willingly risk their life or kill for something so meaningless? Accelerator had definitely ended his fair share of lives, but even he had limits. Killing someone who was defenseless was not his style, and he almost always had a reason for his actions. 'The strong should fight the strong' – that's what he believed, anyway; yet, for some reason, it was so popular for powerful people to hurt the weak….why? Is it because it verifies their power? Does it make them feel more confident? Why? Such thoughts would constantly find their way into his head, but he almost always dismissed them.
He also learned about bending during this time as well; the inherent ability to control the basic elements of nature itself. First, he learned about fire bending, something he had experienced up close with Fire Lord Ozai; it granted its users control over fire, allowing them to generate powerful attacks and land devastating blows. Although it was a fairly strong ability, Accelerator quickly realized that the main drawback was the mind set of most of the people who used it; because it was incredibly powerful offensively, most fire benders seemed to neglect its defensive capabilities as well. The next one was water bending; a relatively straightforward ability that allowed benders to manipulate the shape of water. However, it also seemed to be able to control the temperature of water as well, turning it into ice. Earth bending was the next one; it let users control the very ground beneath them, influencing the movement of rocks and minerals. However, given its nature, earth bending seemed to lack a certain level of subtlety, mainly relying on pure strength rather than tactics. The fourth and final form of bending was Air bending; a technique that gave its users the ability to control the movement of air currents and/or wind. After hearing of the various air bending fighting styles, Accelerator concluded that it was an incredibly passive element, almost never being used for attack purposes. Learning about the different fighting styles intrigued Accelerator, although he knew that he would never use the techniques himself.
At the tail end of the trip, Accelerator benignly walked around the drill, examining the various mechanisms and contraptions; he was getting incredibly bored in the control room, often relying on the sight of the working officers to keep him from falling asleep. He walked down the metal-lined corridor until he got to a relatively large room that was almost entirely empty except for a single person in the middle of the room. To the esper's surprise, the person was Azula. Even though she was the one giving orders, Accelerator knew that she didn't spend ALL of her time in the control room – otherwise she would probably go insane.
The Fire Nation princess stood in a pose with her arms outstretched and her eyes closed. She shifted her weight on her toes as she took a step forward, hypnotically waving her palms in circular motions. Accelerator watched as she stood still for a few moments, taking a deep breath in through her nose and releasing it through her mouth. There was an eerie silence for a few moments before the female firebender stomped her foot on the in front of her and pointed both of her hands ahead to nothing in particular. Suddenly, there was a brilliant flash of light as fire erupted from the tips of her fingers and flowed out through the atmosphere. Accelerator widened his eyes, almost immediately realizing that the fire was blue as he watched the flames twist and finally disperse. Azula stepped back into the position she was first in and took a breath once more before releasing it again. In a fury of fire-based attacks, the princess moved again with her arms and legs moving in tandem with one another; her strikes were quick and precise, moving with a surprising amount of efficiency. Transitioning from her hands to her legs, Azula twisted her torso and flipped into the air, allowing her legs to curl and strike with the same precision as before.
Accelerator continued to watch in awe at the display that was both a wonderful combination of both grace and beauty, but he was careful to keep his face neutral throughout the entire thing. Soon, Azula slowed her attacks and eventually stopped, taking deep yet rhythmic breaths to keep herself controlled. She then sat down on the cold, metallic floor with her legs crossed as her breathing continued. Understanding that she had finished, Accelerator approached the princess, although her wasn't quite sure what made him do it.
"Hey," Accelerator said, stopping a few feet away from the fire princess, "what was that just now?"
Azula, who had initially had her eyes closed, opened one of them upon hearing the esper's question, "what was what?" she asked.
"Don't play dumb with me," he said, looking down at her, "your fire was blue. Why? Every other firebender can only create red flames."
Azula opened her mouth as if she was going to answer his question, but apparently decided against it.
"That is for me to know, and for you to find out," she said with a cheeky grin.
"I am quite curious about your powers as well. When I first saw your abilities, I believed that you were a firebender – granted, a very skilled firebender – but a firebender nonetheless. However, when you battled my father and his elite soldiers, you displayed levels of both airbending AND earthbending. You are the first person who is not the avatar to accomplish this feat, so I believe that you are not a being of this world. Given this, I would like to understand just how powerful you are."
At this point, Azula began to slowly stand up, keeping her eyes on the esper.
"I want to know what you can do," she said.
Accelerator stared at her for a few moments, contemplating her words. He knew that she wouldn't keep on asking him if he said 'no', but something about the way she spoke made him nod his head.
"Fine. What do you want to know?"
End of chapter 5
A/N: Hey guys, this chapter was much longer than many of my previous ones, mostly because I had to fit in so much information while still trying to keep the story moving. At this point, I feel like Accelerator's relationship with the other characters in very weak (which kind of make sense), but I want him to develop some sort of connection. Also, I'm not sure when, but I would love for him to go against Toph, mainly because I love the idea of these two characters fighting. Anyway, if you liked this chapter, please leave a comment. So far, the most consistent commenter has been 'awardedall', so I would like to personally thank you for giving be so much feedback. Thanks and Bye!