Chapter 9: On the Run Again
Femke's POV
"Ming? What happened?" I asked shocked as I looked at my friend, who was currently shaking in my arms, after she had fallen from her bicycle for the second time in a row.
"She's fine. I think she passed out. Let's get her inside." Zaheer said as he came to stand next to me and placed a hand on Ming's forehead to check how she was doing. This caused him to touch me once again and made that I felt a strange flutter in my chest, which I ignored. This was not the time or place to think about that. We had to focus on helping Ming to get out of whatever she was in.
"No. I'm not weak. I'm not." I heard her mumble under her breath as we took the bicycles back into the shed, before walking into our home where I placed Ming on the bench like I had done last time, hoping she would snap out of whatever she was in out of her own soon enough.
'Poor girl, she must be remembering her past again. Maybe learning her to use a bicycle wasn't such a good idea.' I thought as I stroked her over her head and sang. 'She couldn't laugh' for her, feeling this would bring her some comfort, and it seemed it did, since it made she stopped squirming in fear of whatever she had been seeing before and most likely fully fall asleep.
'She will be fine. Ming is a strong one, she will wake up soon enough.' I thought as I got behind my pc and turned it on, not noticing Ghazan got right behind me and looked at the screen curiously.
"Never saw that before. What is it?" He asked as he tapped against the screen, laughing a little when a photo of the four of them appeared on my screen, which I saved as my new screensaver.
"It's called a 'computer'. We use it to communicate with people all over the world, play games on it and search for information faster than a library." I explained as I opened Google and typed in 'The Red Lotus' which made all kinds of info appear about them, though most of it came from a cartoon that ran in this reality.
"Neat." Ghazan smirked as I opened a site called ' ' and accessed my account as Zaheer got behind me and P'li got in the seat next to me as they all looked at what I was doing with an interested look.
"That information about us is frighteningly correct. Whoever wrote this had a good source." Zaheer said with a smile on his face as I opened my private messages and searched out an old mail off my beta reader Paranoidgirl, using it to contact her.
Dear Paranoidgirl
i have had the craziest adventure the past few months I was offline. But it gave me an idea for a story: 'The new Lotus' the story will be about my adventures in the Avatar world and how the Voortrix got back together at long last. I will soon send you the first chapter
I hope you have been doing well, and that you're in good health
From Femke-the-lotus
I sent to her, then turned on a game and started to explain the rules of Solitaire.
"So these computers are used a lot in this dimension?" Zaheer asked as he had a go at Solitaire.
"Yes, a lot of people in our world have one. Kind of like radios in yours." I said as he managed to get the last card from the stack, which meant he only needed to clear the last turned cards to win the game.
"Nice. Much better than phones." Ghazan said, I nodded and just as I wanted to give a reply we heard a groan coming from the bench.
"Ming is waking up." P'li said as she sat down with Ming and placed a hand on her forehead.
Ming Hua's POV
"What happened?" I groaned as I woke up, looking slightly annoyed at all my friends, who were worried, which turned into relief when they saw I was awake.
"Are you okay, Ming?" Femke asked worriedly as she sat down by my side and placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Great. Besides all the falling I did." I snapped, still annoyed at their worries. They should know I wasn't going to get killed by passing out.
"You've been out for quite a while, Ming. Also we heard you mumble in your sleep. About not being weak. That's why everyone is worried." Zaheer said, which earned him a foul glare From femke, which was something i was very thankful for.. I hadn't intended to say that out loud at all. My subconscious must have done that.
"I just had another one of those nightmares about my parents horrible training. Nothing special." I said cooly, hiding how much it had affected me. Not wanting to show weakness.
"Ming. It's okay to say if something affected you." Femke said after a short but tense silence as she sat down next to me and wrapped her arms around me.
"I know. It's just that…" I started but stopped as I heard a loud banging on the door, and after that a commotion in the hallway. Femke scooted closer to me and P'li as a dozen White Lotus members ran into the living room and surrounded us.
"You're surrounded, Zaheer! It's over." One of the men called, which made Femke tear up and shake her head, before she got up from the bench and spread her arms wide.
"If you want to get Zaheer, you have to get through me first." Femke said boldly as she looked at the men firmly.
"Through us as well." P'li said as she and Ghazan got before Zaheer as well, who looked at us with a thankful smile.
"Thanks, everyone." Zaheer smiled as he looked at us gratefully.
"How did you even get here?" Femke asked as she looked at the men surrounding them with a stern look, suddenly realizing they had closed the portal after them, which meant there was no way they would have been able to follow us, or track us down.
"A helpful warrior from your world with the glowing wings told us he knew we wanted to arrest the dangerous outlaw Zaheer and he told us he knew where we could find them." One of the man said as he stepped aside to reveal the Paladin, whom smirked before he bowed his head.
"I'm just doing my duty. Having a criminal flee from Justice in another dimension is something I cannot allow." He said, before heading to the door. "I will be outside at the portal. Go ahead and do your duty."
"Avalon? Why would he help the enemy? He knows I am here to gather all the Voortrix and save humanity. Right?" I heard Femke mutter as she looked after this Avalon with a shocked look as he disappeared. "It can't be the real Avalon It has to be that other Avalon. How is that possible?"
"That man is working for the real enemy; Lord Darkar." Femke said firmly as she pointed to where the stranger disappeared. "He wants us out of his way so we can't save humanity." Femke said firmly as she looked at them with a scowl on her face.
"And here I thought you all changed for the better." A voice said as the group of White Lotus man split and saluted as Tenzin and President Raikou walked to our group, looking rather angry.
"We have, Tenzin. Zaheer wants to quite the Red Lotus as well. Right?" Femke asked the last part as she looked at our leader with a questioning look, who nodded in reply as he kept himself behind Femke.
"See, we all want to turn over a new leaf. We changed. Xai Bau busted Zaheer out, he appeared on our doorstep this morning out of nowhere." Femke said with a firm look, though this was a lie, we all took part in his escape. We only weren't visibly there when Zaheer was busted out.
"It's true they weren't there when Zaheer was busted out only the two older people and the three girls were." One of the men confirmed, which made Tenzin pluck his beard in a pondering way.
"And why didn't you send him back to jail to sit out his punishment if you're, as you claim, changed?" President Raikou asked with a firm glare as he got next to Tenzin and looked at Femke before he casted us a glare, not trusting us at all.
"Because he is a Voortrix, Raikou. He is one of us. We need him in order to save the world." Femke said firmly, as she looked at Xai Bau, who nodded and walked past the man in the middle of the circle, which made the the man that had most likely been there when they came to free Zaheer flinch away in a scared way, knowing what he is capable of.
"Listen, they're speaking the truth. I was the one that freed Zaheer and brought him here." Xai Bau said as he placed a hand on his heart to show how honest he was. "And although I might have lied to come close to that goal and threatened a innocent life, it was only because I knew they wouldn't let him out if I just asked politely." Xai Bau said, at which we all nodded. Knowing they had just arrested us if we had come to ask it politely. Because we were still criminals.
"That didn't meant you had to threaten an innocent life to have a known murderer escape his punishment." Raikou said firmly.
"They almost arrested us. We had no other choice." Selvia said out of nowhere, making us all look at the doorway in a surprised way, since I hadn't heard the girl speak to much in the short time we knew her.
"So that means threatening an innocent life is suddenly allowed? But then again, you've helped a known murderer escape. I should not be surprised to see your morals being so terrible." Raikou asked the Vootrix fairy girl as he looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"No. Threatening innocent lives is never justified but if you only have mere seconds to think and act to save yourself, what other options would you be able to come up with?" Selvia asked calmly as she walked past the older man towards us and hugged Femke and me.
"I would have ran. Used my Earthbending like the way you escaped. Not tried to break out a murderer in the first place." Raikou said firmly, making us all look down.
"None of us said we wanted to justify what we did. The six of us knew what we started and we knew it was dangerous. Maybe even that is was foolish." Selvia said as she looked firmly at Xai Bau, who looked like he wanted to make a comment about this. "But like Femke said; we need Zaheer's help in order to take out the darkness that is threatening our world. So please let him stay with us." Selvia pleaded as she looked at Zaheer with a small smile, who smiled back at her in a thankful way.
"This is the biggest speech she has ever given. I'm impressed." I heard Femke whisper to Ilena, who nodded.
"Me to, she never speaks this many words a day." Ilena smirked as she and Dizzana shared a small hug.
"No. We just can't seem to trust any of you. How can we be sure he won't commit any murders again if we would let them go free?" Raikou questioned as he raised his hand, after which guards surrounded us, I saw Femke close her eyes.
"Then I'm sorry but we won't let you take our friend away from us. We won't go through that suffering again." Femke said harshly as she now looked at her friends, who nodded and in a flash everyone had gathered around, just as Anna entered the living room with her groceries.
"Mom, I will be out again. I won't know when or how I will get back." Femke said as she turned to her and the group gathered around and took hands and shoulders as fast as we could.
"Just be careful." Anna smiled as she send a blew kiss to her adoptive daughter who did the same.
"If Grovyle comes back, punch him for me, okay?" Femke called, right before we warped away somewhere. In a flash I saw the White Lotus guards moved to try and stop us, but they were too late.
Normal POV
A moment later the group appeared on the place they had first met Femke, which had been the first place that had popped in the mind of the brunette after that emergency escape.
"We're here. We're back." Zaheer muttered as he looked at the cave with an awestruck look before he turned to Femke who looked at the cave with a smile on her face.
"Why this place?" Zaheer asked her as he looked from Femke to the cave, unable to believe they were standing before the very place they had met after such a long time in which so many things happened.
"Because It was a relatively safe place the last time and it holds some good memories which made it the first place I thought of when we had to make that emergency escape." Femke explained as Ilena and Dizanna went into the cave to look around.
"How come your names are scratched into the back wall?" Ilena asked as she came out of the cave together with Selvia who went into the woods and got her wooden trunk bag after which she started to chop firewood with the hand made axe.
"That's because we have been here before, and we did that to leave behind a memory." Femke called back with a smile on her face as she got her own trunk and got out firestones to start a campfire.
"Cool." Ilena smiled as she and Selvia brought the firewood to Femke, who had made a big circle of stones she got from the riverbank, placing the firewood in the middle in a neat order, so Femke could start a fire with some dry leaves.
"I found some edible plants and fruits, since I don't think a trip to a village would end well." Zaheer smiled as he and Xai Bau brought the fruits and plants they had found to Femke, who smiled at it.
"These will do fine." Femke smiled as she used her Earthbending to make a cooking pot and put everything in.
"Could someone check if we have any oak root nearby?" Femke asked after a while, at which Selvia got some from her trunk, handing it to her.
"Kept some just in case." She smiled as Femke put some in the food, then smelled it.
"Anyone a vegetarian here?" Ilena called as she and Dizanna came back back with a shot animal over their shoulder. No one replied or put up their hand, which caused the girls to disappear somewhere to skin the animal, bringing the meat to Femke a moment later.
Zaheer's POV
A few hours later everyone sat around the campfire, eating the stew Femke had made, which tasted better than I had expected. Femke was an excellent cook. Though I had already known that from the first time we had been sitting around the campfire.
'She's a very special woman. And beautiful.' I thought, shaking my head fiercely when I caught myself. I couldn't think that about Femke. She was just a friend and we both just got out of a relationship.
'But Earthly Tethers can come back and ten times stronger than before in the form of new love.' The voice of my master called in my head as I heard my friends laugh and talk in the distance while I looked at Femke, who was just then laughing at one of Ghazan's jokes and as I looked at her I felt my heartbeat increase as a light started beaming around her.
'She is so beautiful and her laugh sounds so sweet. Too bad she might never fall for someone like me.' I thought, knowing that telling her how I felt would most likely end in a fight between her and P'li or between P'li and me, which was the last thing I wanted.
"You okay, Heer? You have been awfully silent." Femke asked out of nowhere as she placed a hand on my knee.
"I was just thinking." I replied quickly, which earned me a surprised look from everyone.
"You were staring at Femke all the time." Ghazan replied. "Admit it, you were thinking about her." He continued.
"Not at all." I said, as I felt a blush in my cheeks. "I was thinking that now we're on the run again, we could start with Voortrix training." I quickly made up, not wanting to admit i was indeed thinking about Femke.
"I don't know. You're only one day out of jail. You sure you're up for it?" Femke asked worriedly, which made me smile. She was such a caring woman.
"I will be fine as long as we start calmly." I smiled as I got up and stretched. It was a beautiful sunset. Already late though I wasn't tired yet since I just had dinner.
"We'll start after the dishes." Femke smiled as she got up and gathered the dishes, then walked to the river to wash them up.
"No, you go ahead. We'll do the dishes." Ilena said as she took the dishes over with a smile on her face, at which Selvia and Dizanna nodded.
"Okay. Thanks, girls." Femke smiled as she gave her friends a hug, then took me, P'li and Ghazan to the riverside were Femke sat down and gently made a ball of water.
"Okay, so, I have never been a teacher before but water is a relatively easy element. It's a bit like air, it's all about calm sustained movements and concentration." Femke said as she moved the ball of water to me, making it spread my hands hand focusing the same way I would when I am airbending but as Femke let the ball of water go, so I could take it over, it splashed down on P'li, who was sitting in the middle.
"Well, that's a nice sign of things to come." P'li grumbled as she squeezed the water out of her hair, looking at me quite annoyed.
"Sorry. Like I said, waterbending is harder than it seems." I said as I sat down next to them and moved my hand above the water, hoping any reaction would come, but it didn't.
"It's okay Heer, with us the elements don't always follow a sequence." Femke said as she looked at me calmly. "With us it is mostly the elements closest to out personality" Femke explained, just as Ming Hua walked to us and grumbled something about wanting to wash up, before she disappeared from sight.
'Ming doesn't seems too happy about having to learn all the other elements.' I thought as I watched her use her waterbending to keep her head above the water as she swam towards a hidden spot where she could wash up.
"Hey, Ming, I could use some help with teaching here." Femke called with a smile as Ghazan failed as well.
"No." Ming Hua replied from behind the stone as she kept herself hidden.
"Hey Ming, I have been thinking and I think there is a solution for the missing limbs problem." Femke tried as she changed into her swimsuit with her magic, then swam to where Ming Hua was currently sitting.
"I don't see it as a problem. I never had problems going without them." Ming said coldly, hinting to me she was offended by what Femke said.
"I didn't mean it like that but for learning the other elements and using the bicycle…. Doesn't it sort of cause problems?" Femke asked calmly as she sat down close to Ming Hua's hiding place.
"Maybe a little and I know you still think it is our destiny to save humanity and all but I am just not fit to be a hero, it seems." Ming said, after which Femke swam to the other side of the rock and disappeared from sight, but from the sounds I heard Femke got out of the water someplace behind the rock, most likely next to Ming Hua to hug her.
Femke's POV
"I believe we are. All of us, Ming. I never said it was going to be easy but that doesn't matter. No matter how hard things will get or how tough or pointless our fight will seem to get, you guys will always have me. I will always be here to help you." I said as I held Ming Hua close in my arms. The older woman smiled in my arms as she lightly hugged me back.
"Thanks femke. I never saw my lack of limbs as a disadvantage but more as a part of who I was. Something that was always a part of me so nothing to worry about, you know? But I want to hear what you have in mind." Ming smiled as she was seemingly feeling a lot better about herself.
"Well, prosthetics would be a outcome in this situation, you might be a little slower, but you will at least have the limbs necessary to bend and to learn how to use a bicycle." I said, as suddenly an image flashed through my mind of combustion man with his metal prosthetics, glowing in the moonlight at the night of his first attack, then again in the Air Temple where, I shuddered at the last thoughts. Not even wanting to finish it, since that memory still haunted my worst nightmares.
"You think I'd be able to use those?" Ming Hua asked me as she gave me a confused look, at which I nodded.
"Yeah, I remember combustion man had metal prosthetics as well." I said now as I showed a magic image I had made from Combustion Man, at which Ming Hua looked with interest.
"Looks great. Though I would only like to have legs again. I like to use my water arms more." Ming said as she waved with her water arms at me, which made me smile, knowing she liked to use her water arms a lot.
"You know, in Magix they have magic prosthetics you can remove by waving your hand. If you want we can get both arms and legs. In case, you know, bending is harder than expected without." I smiled as I looked at her gently.
"Fine. Just don't expect me to ever use the arms." Ming smiled as she hugged me.
"I won't. And I will not push you to use them. You have to decide that for yourself." I said as I showed her both my hands to show her I was being honest with her.
"We better go to sleep now. It's getting late." I said as I looked at the setting sun with a smile on my face. It was a sight to behold, just like every evening and I was glad we were traveling again. This way I could at least see the sun set and rise every day and hear the wind play with the leaves. The way I liked it best.
"Sounds like a good idea to me, maybe we pick things up better after a good night's rest." Zaheer said as he yawned and stretched, which made all bones in his body crack a little. A moment later everyone was in their sleeping bag as I went to my sleeping bag last.
'This isn't the best time to be on the run but I'm sure we will manage to settle somewhere soon enough where we will be able to both keep ourselves warm and safe during nights and were we can train.' I thought as I laid down in my own sleeping bag, smiling as I watched everyone sleep. It was good to have the whole gang back together.
"If Noatak and Tarrlok were here the team would be complete. Then this moment had been perfect." I thought as I let my mind slowly drift off to sleep after that, smiling as I first had a beautiful dream of my brothers returning to me after being freed from jail by Toph and somehow finding us but the dream turned dark after that, and suddenly I was back in the Air temple, back with Aang and his friends.
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I saw a wide overhead shot of the fountain. I looked at my side and suddenly saw Combustion Man, standing right next to me on a ledge high above Team Avatar. I was standing next to him and could clearly see the look on his face as he looked down and narrowed his eyes at the sight of Aang bringing a towel over to katara who then helped Toph out of the water. I smiled when I saw this, since I still dearly missed my friends. I looked to my side and gasped In shock as I saw Combustion Man inhaled, preparing to Combustion Bend, but right before he could do so Zuko swung towards him and bumped into him, making his blast hit the ledge above fountain instead of Team Avatar. Katara and Toph shielded the group from harm then Sokka picked up Toph and carried her to a safe place as I saw Zuko get up and call out to Combustion Man.
"Stop!I don't want you hunting the Avatar anymore!"A command combustion man just ignored as he looked at Aang helping Sokka to carry Toph to a safe place while Katara and I glanced up at Combustion Man and Zuko, ready for a attack, which didn't happened as I saw Zuko got in front of Combustion Man with his arms spread wide in order to try and stop the man from attacking.
"The mission is off. I'm ordering you to stop!"Zuko called once again but Combustion Man just shoved him to the side and used his Combustion Bending again, this time hitting and destroying the fountain. I saw my other self and the others crouch down behind a ledge and cover themselves up to protect themselves from the blast. As I did the same I suddenly found myself in the place of my other self, covering myself up as I tried to shield myself from the incoming blast.
"If you keep attacking, I won't pay you!" I heard Zuko call and as my vision went around the pillar and up on the ledge, I saw Zuko tried to attack Combustion Man with a fireball, which he blocked with ease, making it hit the ground.
"All right, I'll pay you double to stop!" Zuko called as he swung his hands around in an effort to try and struck him again, but Combustion Man easily brushed him to the side and attacked again. After that he turned around and faced Zuko. I saw a blast coming from the older man's face, which Zuko tried to block by encasing himself in a fireball, like Azula had done before as well and in an instant there was smoke everywhere. When the smoke cleared Zuko was gone.
"Zuko, no!" I heard myself call as Aang bended a giant tornado at Combustion man. I felt another switch and I was above the fight all of a sudden, looking at things happening from above. How Combustion Man easily swung himself of the ledge to dodge Aang's attack, landing on another ledge, before he fired another attack, we all managed to evade the attack after which Katara made a huge wave, she let out a battle cry as she turned it into a thousand icicles which she fired at Combustion Man, who blocked them with his metal prosthetics. He looked away when this happened, which gave us a moment to hide.
"Now what?" I heard my other self ask the team as Combustion blasts started to hit all around the Air Temple now.
"I don't know mom, but he is going to blast the temple right of the cliffside if we don't act soon!" Toph said as her voice sounded panicked.
"I can't step out to waterbend at him without getting blown up" Katara said as she looked around the corner just as another Combustion blast hit near us. "And I can't get a good enough angle at him from down here." She said as she looked at the rest of her team mates seriously.
"I could try and give you a reading on him. Can you get any water to here?" I heard my other self ask as another blast hit the fountain.
"No need, I know how to get a good angle on him." Sokka said as his face lighted up with an idea. He quickly looked around, looking like he was making some calculations in his head as he pointed his boomerang out before him.
"Whatever you're going to do, make it quick! We won't hold this position for much longer." I said as more blasts hit all over the place, signing Combustion Man was ready to blow us of the side of the cliff any second now. Sokka nodded and peeked around the corner some more, using his boomerang to make some calculations before he took a few steps back and made a move like he was going to throw his boomerang, giving it a sideways glance as he did so.
"Okay buddy, don't let me down now." He told the boomerang with a serious look, before he threw it, I looked around the pillar and saw that whatever Sokka had been calculating had been right, the boomerang swooped around the corner of a pillar and hit Combustion Man full in the face, causing the older man to topple over and fall.
"Yay boomerang!" Sokka cheered as he caught his boomerang happily as we all came out of our hiding spot. But our looks turned sour when we saw the knockout had been temporary. Soon Combustion Man got up again and looked rather pissed at getting hit.
"Aw boomerang." sokka whimpered as he looked down at his boomerang sadly, disappointed his plan had failed.
"You tried your best, Sokka, let's hide before he gets us." I called, trying to cheer him up al little as we ran to a safe place. But as we did my vision went up to where Combustion Man was. I saw the man dusted himself of, then inhaled to let out a Combustion Blast once again, but as he did I saw to my great horror how the blasts stayed very close to himself due to Sokka's hit, there was a large explosion and after that the metal arm of Combustion Man landed before my feet, at which I looked, horrified.
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"No!" I screamed as I sat up straight in my sleeping bag, sweat was dripping all over my face as I did so and I felt my piyama was sticking to my body.
"Femke, what's wrong?" I heard zaheer call, as someone lit a candle.
"A nightmare. A horrible nightmare." I said as I held my head in my hands and looked down sadly. As I did so, I fell P'li sat down next to me and wrap her arms around me.
"About what, Femke?" she asked as she looked at me worriedly, most likely seeing I was feeling horrible about something right now, which I was. Combustion Man had died such a horrible death and I had just stood there and watch. I had done nothing to try and stop it from happening.
'Not that stopping sokka had done any good. We would have been blown to pieces but I should have tried to stop him. Keeping Death to a minimum. And poor Sokka wouldn't feel so guilty.' I thought as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes that was stinging there, then looked at P'li, who had the exact same power. P'li who had taught me to use the same power as well. Not just the same power as she has now but also the same power Combustion Man had back in the day.
"About what happened in the Western Air Temple many years ago." I sighed as I looked at the wall of the cave. "I dreamed about Combustion Man attacking us in the Western Airtemple and how Sokka accidentally…" I stammered, trying to get the words over my lips, but I didn't had the power to do so. It still gave me the chills.
"Saved all your lives." Ilena finished my line for me, which I was very thankful for, since I really hadn't been able to say it myself.
"Aang killed someone?" Ghazan commented with a lax smile as he sat up as well, earning a glare from P'li.
"No. Sokka threw the boomerang. But none of us knew that hitting his forehead was going to kill him back then." I said as I thought about this for a moment. Aang hadn't thrown the boomerang himself, nor had he ever made any move with the intention of killing Combustion Man, since that was all against his nature. But he hadn't stopped Sokka from throwing the boomerang, which eventually ended his life. Yet if sokka hadn't thrown it or if Aang had tried to stop him from doing so because he had known what would happen, we had all died there and then, and then the world had been lost.
"I never understood why he didn't stop when Lord Zuko tried to stop him." Zaheer said as he sat down next to me on his sleeping bag as well and looked at me sternly.
"Because he figured that whoever would manage to capture the Avatar would lie in the good graces of Ozai forever." I said, remembering Xin Fu had bragged how he would get a 'hefty price' for the Avatar, right before my little Toph kicked his butt.
"So, if he had managed to get Aang captured he could claim whatever reward he wanted by the Firelord. His own castle, His own holiday. Just called it and Ozai had done it for him. Nice. I would have done the same in his place." Ghazan smirked, which made Ming Hua slap him on the back of his head with one of her water tentacles firmly.
"How about respect? Not only could he have claimed whatever reward he wanted, he would have been the hero of the Fire Nation. The man that caught the Avatar and destroyed the only threat to the reign of the Phoenix King. I think that he might have wanted that respect the most." I said as I looked down. Combustion benders seemed to be feared. P'li had said that herself. If that had been the case back then, Combustion Man had most likely just wanted respect and what better way to earn respect then to capture the Avatar and be the hero of the Fire Nation. The one that brought down the Avatar and ensured the fire nation's victory.
"Femke, I know it only happened three years ago for you but why is what happened to Combustion Man still bothering you?" P'li asked as she hugged me, smiling a little as Zaheer and Ghazan closed in the hug as well.
"I don't know. It has been ever since it happened, always the same four weeks those dreams keep haunting me." I said as I looked at her and held out her arms, at which she shook her head, not wanting to get in the group hug.
"It could mean something if it always happens on the same time." Zaheer said as he pulled at his beard a little in a pondering way.
"Could be. But what?" I asked as I gave Zaheer a stern look, not getting what seeing a Death that happened eighty five years ago in our time could mean.
"I have no idea but Zaheer is right. Maybe Combustion Man's ghost is trying to tell me something. But what?" I pondered as I looked at my sleeping bag sternly. I suddenly heard a call, coming from outside.
"We're under attack!" The voice of Ilena called, which made me look at her shocked, before I ran outside the cave were Ilena, Selvia, Dizanna and Tziza were fighting off a dozen of White Lotus guards while master xai bau tried to fight off another dozen near a portal, were Avalon from last time was standing.
Normal POV
"Girls! Voortrix time!" Femke exclaimed as she used her firebending to strike a few of the guards away then got next to Ilena, Dizanna and Selvia.
"Voortrix. Engage!" All four girls yelled after which a blinding light covered the area, and when the White Lotus men looked up, they gasped at the four fairies that stood before them and blasted the Fake Avalon back into the portal, causing it to close.
"Electric Force!" Femke called as she shot a bolt of lightning into a few guards, then got in front of Zaheer with a shield to protect him from an attack.
"Thanks!" Zaheer called as he smiled at Femke, who waved with two fingers as a greeting then headed on in the fight, striking and kicking anyone in White Lotus uniform who moved.
"Ilena, what were you doing outside?" Femke yelled at Ilena as both girls were fighting the White Lotus, though their opponents slowly got the upper hand.
"Mister Xai Bau, Miss Tziza, the girls and I figured we best got on watch, since none of us managed to go to sleep." Ilena called back as both girls got pushed into a corner, soon followed by the rest of the group.
"Good plan." Femke beamed at her as she tried to kick away the White Lotus guards, which resulted in her getting slammed into a tree trunk, soon followed by Zaheer.
"They blocked my Chi. I can't bend." Zaheer groaned as he got up and looked at Femke who lied half knocked out on the ground.
"When did they get so good at fighting?" Ghazan commented as he was pushed further back into the corner as well.
"Seems Dark Avalon gave them an upgrade with his powers." Femke groaned as she tried to get up, but failed utterly, too weak to go on.
"Upgraded or not, I won't give up." Zaheer said firmly as he got before his team and spread his arms wide to protect them.
Zaheer's POV
"What were you planning on doing?" One of the Guards asked as I got in front of my allies in order to shield them from anymore harm.
"You've been Chi blocked. I doubt you can take us all on." The man said as they brought a chain towards me, at which I looked nervously, knowing they meant hell.
'No. My friends need me. Femke needs me.' I thought as I looked at Femke, who was groaning as she was still struggling to get up.
'Femke said I am needed to help save the world. They need me. She needs me. I can't give up. I won't give up!' I exclaimed the last part as I moved my hand to strike the man, who backed away scared as a ball of fire landed before their feet.
"Fire?" i mumbled as I looked at my hands, unable to comprehend what had just happened. the White Lotus man also looked at me with a gasp. It was impossible for others then the Avatar to bend more than one element but I was no ordinary human from the Avatar world. I am a Voortrix fairy. Though I did wonder how it could be I bended fire instead of water, which would be next in the cycle.
"It's okay, Heer. With us the elements don't always follow the cycle unlike the Avatar, who has to follow it." Femke's voice rang in my head as I saw us all sit by the water side again for our first waterbending lesson.
"Of course! The element closest to my personality will appear first!" A voice rang in my head as a smirk crossed my lips before I started to use my firebending to attack the Guards.
"Good going, Zaheer!" Femke called behind me as she got up and used her own firebending to drive the shocked men away from us before she went over to water, earth, fire again and then air. As she did so I saw a colorful beam started gathering around her, and after bending all four elements she released the beam, causing all man to get knocked out.
"Power of Voortrix!" She called as she released the beam. I smiled when I saw this. she was a powerful bender.
'After I manage to get the last two elements down I will be able to do the same. We share the same power.' I thought as I smiled at Femke as we both took out as many White Lotus guards as we could, then we all got together and before they could do anything we disappeared by Femke's teleportation powers. We were on the run again and spirits let it end better than last time.
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And with that I end the ninth chapter of my story! I hope you all liked it.
A/N:
paranoidgirl is in the story now! I thought it would be a nice idea if Femke there also started to write down her adventures, so people can read about their adventures and what really happened later on and since this is their story I thought it would be fun to use our two writers names in the story as well.
paranoidgirl brought up the idea to let Darkar send Dark Avalon to help the White Lotus get to zaheer, since there was no other way they would have been able to travel between worlds.
I got inspired by Legend of Korra season One when I wrote the scene where Zaheer got his firebending out of the blue because he was determined to save his friends.
Keep the Western Air Temple scene with Combustion Man's death firmly in mind. It's going to play a role in the story.
That was all for now! Thanks for reading and thanks paranoidgirl for doing such a awesome job as beta reader and advisor!
Don't forget to review!