The Avatar Strikes Back

by MegaBob452

A contaminated world, a menaced empire, brought together by mutual interference. A year has passed since the saiyans departed, their actions still leaving their mark on the galaxy at large and one little blue marble in particular. Earth is unprepared for the nightmares ahead, while the Empire finds wonders in an unexpected place.

19. The Other Side

Chapter 19: The Other Side

A few miles to the north of Yu Dao, in a secluded area rarely visited by people in the city, Kori's freedom fighters were taking every precaution for security and secrecy. They had slipped out of the city one by one over the last few weeks, with none of the imperials noticing the disappearances. They gathered underground in a makeshift camp, which had enough supplies to last for a month. Layers of defenses were established around a central area at the deepest spot, all to defend a single person that would be at his most vulnerable.

Avatar Aang was going to enter the spirit world.

Standing next to him was Kori, still not certain with what Aang wanted to do. "You're absolutely sure about this? If something happens out here we don't have a way to pull you back."

Lighting a few incense candles spread out in a circle, Aang was just about ready to go. "It's worth the risk. If I can get the spirits to help us, we just might be able to win this fight."

"You're certain they can help?" Kori asked. "What can spirits do that benders can't?"

Aang sat down in the circle's center, where he planned to leave his body during the journey. "Do you remember when the Fire Nation invaded the North Pole?"

"I heard rumors about it," Kori answered. She crossed her arms and raised one eyebrow. "They say you annihilated the navy singlehandedly."

"Not quite," Aang corrected. "The Ocean Spirit did all the work. I was just a conduit it used to take physical form. If Yue hadn't restored the Moon Spirit that night, I think the Ocean would have flooded the entire Fire Nation."

That was enough to convince Kori. "Okay, did not realize spirits could do that."

"And that was just the Ocean Spirit," Aang said. He crossed his legs and got into position to meditate. "If other spirits are that powerful, they will be the edge we need to win."

That being said, Aang got started with his task. He closed his eyes and cleared his thoughts, difficult though that may be when there were so many things to worry about. Eventually he settled on the calm rhythm of his breathing, putting everything else out of his mind. This would have been easier on the solstice, when the two worlds were close, but Aang had to make do without it. After some time Aang's eyes opened and glowed blue, followed by his tattoos glowing with the same blue light. But the body was now vacant, Aang's spirit having departed from the physical world.

Aang knew he had arrived when the sensations changed, no longer sitting on a cold stone floor but a grassy field instead. He opened his eyes and stood up, seeing expansive plains of tall blue-green grass in every direction. Not a single tree was in sight wherever he looked, just more grass covering terrain that was nearly completely flat. There wasn't even a simple landmark nearby, nothing to remind him of where exactly he had entered the spirit world. Aang could already imagine the difficulty of getting back here, since everything looked exactly the same.

"This could be a problem," Aang muttered. He scratched his head, and then threw both hands up in the air. "Well, better get moving."

Picking a direction at random and starting a walk, Aang journeyed deeper into the spirit world. He kept his eyes peeled for any spirits that might be nearby, but he didn't see any that might be living in the tall grass. The plains seemed to go on forever no matter how far Aang walked, having nothing on the horizon to tell distance or scale. Aang stopped and looked around again, though for all he could tell he hadn't moved at all. They only difference was a gentle breeze blowing through the plains, comforting but useless for him right now.

"Hello!" Aang yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Is anyone there?!"

There was no answer, and all he heard was the sound of the breeze.

"Where are they?" Aang wondered. Now he was getting a bad feeling in his gut, like he knew something was wrong but didn't know what. "Shouldn't the spirit world be full of spirits?"

As if to answer him the wind picked up, ruffling Aang's clothes before forming a small cyclone behind him. Aang turned around to face it, and he saw someone appear. "Yangchen!"

The previous Air Nomad Avatar nodded, looking down at the current one in front of her. "It is good to see you Aang. I trust that you have been well?"

"Well as I can be, given how bad things have gotten," Aang said. "I'm looking for the spirits, I need their help. Do you know where they are?"

Yangchen closed her eyes and focused, feeling for the presence of spirits that should be here. She turned to her right and looked at the horizon. "Over there, a spirit I think you know."

Aang looked that way, and only saw more of the endless plains. "How far is it?"

"Far?" Yangchen questioned. "Here, distance is meaningless."

Everything shifted around them, the plains moving around the Avatars standing still. Faster and faster the plains moved, the grass beginning to blur into itself from Aang's perspective. The environment abruptly changed from plains to a forest, complete with thousands of trees and a thick canopy that blocked the sky. Here the moving terrain slowed down and came into focus, allowing Aang to properly see the exotic vegetation in this forest. At a small meadow the movement came to a stop, with Aang and Yangchen standing at the tree line.

"Did not know we could do that," Aang admitted. He took in the view of the forest and the meadow, looking for any spirits that might be nearby. "So where is this spirit you mentioned?"

There was rustling of bushes in the distance, and Yanchen looked toward the noise. "That would be him now."

At the other side of the meadow a creature burst from the forest, about half the size of a sky bison but a completely different beast entirely. It looked like an ordinary panda, though that was not ordinary in and of itself. This appearance concealed a more monstrous form within, one that Aang new better than this passive state. It had been a long time since he had first met this spirit, nearly two years now if he was remembering correctly. The panda spirit stopped in the middle of the meadow, and Aang approached the spirit like an old friend.

"Hei Bai!" Aang said, stopping in front of the spirit. "Long time no see."

The spirit made a low growl, as if to agree with Aang.

"I'm really glad you're here," Aang said. "I need help in the physical world. Alien invaders have taken over, and we can't drive them out by ourselves. Will you help us?"

Hei Bai grumbled a little, and then shook his head.

"Why not?" Aang demanded. "Please, you have to help."

Again Hei Bai shook his head. He turned to his right and walked to the nearest tree, placing one palm on the bark and making a slight whimper. Hei Bai turned back and stood between Aang and the trees, as if standing guard over the forest.

"You want to protect your home," Aang said. He thought of a forest in the physical world, reminded of when Hei Bai went on a rampage after the Fire Nation burned it down. "It's not safe. The invaders will destroy it along with everything else."

Hei Bai growled at Aang, and his paw dug into the ground. He knew exactly what was going on with the physical incarnation of his forest, that it was untouched by the invaders and not in any immediate danger. Hei Bai showed his teeth and growled some more, and Aang could tell he was not happy.

Still, Aang pressed the matter. "You have to help us. The world is in danger and you can't just stand idly by in your forest. We need you to fight with us."

Instead Hei Bai growled even louder, and promptly changed into his monstrous form. Larger, with six legs, and translucent skin instead of fur, Hei Bai roared with a deeper voice. From his mouth a beam of ethereal light shot out, hitting Aang at point blank range. The beam blasted Aang right off his feet and into the air, launching him far away and out of the forest entirely. Aang couldn't see where he was going, but could hear the echo of Hei Bai's roar the entire way. His ears were ringing when he finally came to a stop, still hearing the lingering echo from an angry spirit.

Aang groaned and got on his feet, noticing that he was in a different place. "Where am I now?"

The forest was nowhere in sight, replaced by a sandy beach along an extensive shoreline. A vast ocean stretched beyond the horizon, its surface covered in endless waves that crashed against the beach in a constant rhythm. Aang didn't see Yangchen anywhere, and figured that she had been left behind when Hei Bai blasted him away. At the edge of the water Aang saw his reflection in its surface, and the image rippled and morphed into someone else entirely. Now there was a Water Tribe man looking back, and he emerged from the water to stand before Aang.

"Kuruk!" Aang said, knowing this past life of his. "I could really use your help."

"I know," Kuruk said. "You are looking for spirits. There is one that I can bring you to."

"It's not Koh, is it?" Aang asked. "I'm not ready to ask him for help just yet."

"No," Kuruk answered, and he could see the relief in Aang. "Koh always knows when I am nearby. He always slips away just before I can reach him."

Aang let out a sigh. "Okay, then take me to this spirit you know."

Kuruk smiled. "You know her better than I do."

And then Kuruk pushed Aang into the water. He made a big splash and sank beneath the surface, yet did not hit a bottom that should have been there. Aang found himself in free fall, the water having disappeared and replaced by an empty void. After spinning around for a while Aang managed to get his body upright, only to look down and see a landscape falling away from him. The blue sky faded to darkness with little specks on light scattered everywhere, and the world Aang saw shrank away faster than he could comprehend.

A sudden impact nearly knocked him out, and when the world stopped spinning Aang got to see where he had ended up now. "What in the world…"

Bleak gray terrain surrounded him on all sides, not a single speck of color to be found in this desolate wasteland. Aang couldn't imagine anything living in such a place, and he could not see even the smallest bit of vegetation anywhere he looked. Only the rocks and the dust welcomed Aang, the latter sticking to his clothes and threatening to drain away the color. Scattered around the land were craters of varying sizes, the newer ones overlapping and erasing the older ones. Aang had no idea what spirit he might find here, until he looked up at the deep black sky.

"Huh…" Aang muttered. "Gaoling, we have a problem."

The moon was gone, and in its place was the Earth. Or rather what the Earth was like in the spirit world, the land and seas in different places than the continents and oceans of the physical world. Though he felt like he had only taken one small step, he had made one giant leap straight to the moon. For a while Aang just stood there and looked at the Earth, wanting this moment to last forever. But he wasn't here to sightsee, and there was still a job to do. Aang surveyed the barren terrain around him, having a feeling that he knew which spirit dwelled here.

Light coalesced around the top of a small hill, quickly taking the form of a young woman. She was wreathed in an aura of the pale moonlight, her long white hair nearly blending in with its glow. Her skin was only slightly darker, a trick of the light permeating her every feature. She set foot on the hill and walked down the shallow slope, the glow around her dimming and fading away. Without the light her true dark skin became clearly visible, along with her sharp blue eyes looked at Aang. She was happy to see Aang here, appreciating the visit from an old friend.

"Yue," Aang said. "It's good to see you."

"It's been a while," Yue said. "You look good."

"Thank you," Aang said, his face getting just a little bit red. But then his gut sank, reminded of why Yue was here at all. "I'm so sorry for what happened."

"I know," Yue said. She remembered when the moon spirit had been slain, when she had given up mortal life to take its place in the spirit world. "It wasn't your fault."

"I keep telling myself that," Aang admitted. "It doesn't really help."

"You did everything you could," Yue said. "And in the end, I think this was meant to be."

"Maybe," Aang said. He sighed and got to the reason he was here. "I need your help again."

"To fight another war," Yue said. She looked up at the sky, to a spot where an armada dwelled in the physical world. "I've been watching. I've seen what these invaders have brought to Earth."

"Good, then you know that we desperately need help," Aang said. "The invaders are just too much. Only spirits have a chance of stopping them. Can I count on you?"

Yue looked away, not able to meet Aang's eyes anymore. "I wish you could."

"What?" Aang blurted out.

"I'm sorry," Yue said. She sat down on the rim of a small crater, arms held tight around her chest. "I have responsibilities here Aang, and the Ocean does too. We are a pair, the push and pull that control the tides. If we neglect our role to wage war, the world will be unbalanced and thrown into chaos."

Aang remembered a night without the moon, the same night the Ocean Spirit fought the Fire Nation. It was a night without the tides, a night without waterbending. It had only lasted a brief time, yet had a catastrophic impact on the world at large. Though Aang didn't see it firsthand he had heard the stories, tales of lives lost when sudden tsunamis struck unsuspecting shores. Then he imagined all the life that depended on the tides, life that would be lost without them. Only through sacrifice was the moon restored and the tides returned to normal, without it the world would have remained broken.

With all that in mind, Aang sighed and sat down next to Yue. "I understand. We do what we have to do. There's no point in saving the world if we have to destroy it along the way."

"I wish it wasn't this way, I really do," Yue said. She turned her head to look at Aang. "I may not be able to fight, but I can spy on the invaders. Let you know if they bring in more ships, where they happen to be, when the bright side of the moon is facing them. I can at least do that much."

"Thank you," Aang said. "At this point, I'll take whatever I can get."

Yue nodded. "When you get back to the physical world, could you say hi to Sokka for me?"

"If I find him, I will," Aang promised. He stood up and faced Yue, who stood up as well. "So is there a shortcut back to the main spirit world, or…"

Yue laughed. "Just look up there, I can handle the rest."

Aang did as she said and looked at the Earth, right before Yue shoved him in the back and sent him hurtling upward. The moon fell away and the Earth grew larger, the gap between seeming like no distance at all. The return trip went by faster than Aang could comprehend, and before he knew it he was plummeting down toward another part of the spirit world. After that long leap and subsequent impact, Aang was feeling fortunate that he didn't have his physical body to feel the pain. It took a moment for him to recover though, eventually getting up and taking a look around.

He was standing near the top of a large canyon, looking down at a small river flowing at the bottom. The canyon's walls were carved out of sandstone, alternating bands of brown and rust red rock from top to bottom. Up and down the length of the canyon were various rock formations, carved out by the river long ago and shaped by wind-blown sand over time. With a solid wall on one side and a sheer drop on the other, Aang was stuck on a narrow path along the canyon. So he started walking downstream, wondering where the narrow path might lead.

By now Aang had a good idea what was coming next. "Okay Kyoshi, you can come out now."

Ahead of him part of the wall cracked and crumbled, creating a dark hole that a tall woman in green stepped out of. "You're learning, Aang."

Aang had to stretch his neck to look Kyoshi in the eye, what with her being considerably taller than him. "I suppose you already know why I'm in the spirit world?"

"I do," Kyoshi answered. "You are looking for help to fight a war."

"Hei Bai wouldn't help, and the Ocean and Moon spirits can't," Aang said. "Do you know of any spirits that might be able and willing? Because I'm out of spirits I know and trust."

"I never put much faith in spirits during my life," Kyoshi admitted. "They were never worth the trouble."

"Yeah," Aang said. He looked around a bit more, seeing that this canyon was devoid of spirits too. "It seems like the spirits are trying to avoid me wherever I go."

Kyoshi looked around and saw the same thing Aang did. "It is rather strange. Normally this place is teeming with minor spirits. They appear to have left right before you arrived."

Aang groaned and threw his hands apart. "Do you have any ideas? I'm all ears."

"I have one," Kyoshi answered. "There is a place where you could learn about the spirits. It may contain the answers you need to acquire spirit allies in the physical world."

Once again the world around them moved while they stood still, the warping terrain taking them down the length of the canyon and out the far end. From there they entered a vast jungle filled with enormous trees, coming to stop near the center and beneath a massive shadow. There Aang and Kyoshi looked up to see a massive building suspended in the jungle canopy, upside down with the foundations tangled in branches and the central spire nearly poking into the ground. But despite the inverted perspective Aang recognized the building, having last seen it in the physical world.

"The spirit library," Aang muttered. It was truly a sight to behold here, now that it wasn't mostly buried in a desert. "Pretty sure I'm not welcome in there anymore. The owl doesn't like me very much."

"What happened?" Kyoshi asked.

"Learned something important, wanted to use it, the owl took offense," Aang described. "Also, Sokka threw a book at it. That made it personal."

"I see," Kyoshi said. She reached into her uniform and pulled out a scroll. "Take this. Wan Shi Tong has been after it since I was alive. I'm sure it will bribe him into letting you use the library again."

"Okay," Aang said, accepting the gift. "I suppose it's worth a try."

Aang looked up at the library again, and felt a sudden case of vertigo. The perspective shifted and the gravity shifted with it, and Aang fell upward toward the tree branches in front of the library. He crashed within crisscrossing branches and quickly got on his feet, finding that the world had flipped to put the library right side up and everything else upside down instead of the other way around. There Aang saw the massive front doors of the library, open just wide enough to let spirit foxes through. Aang squeezed through and entered the library, finding a large antechamber that still had piles of sand in the corners.

A large shadow passed over the floor, and a large owl spirit swooped in for a landing. "You've got quite the nerve to come here. It hasn't even been two years yet."

"Well I am pretty desperate," Aang admitted. He held up the scroll in a tempting fashion. "So I come bearing gifts. How about it? Let bygones be bygones?"

Wan Shi Tong knew what the scroll was, and he tilted his head in an amused manner. "Did you really think you can bribe me so brazenly? You are here to find knowledge to use for war. You know that I will not allow you to abuse my knowledge like that."

"Your knowledge?" Aang questioned. "The price of admission is a piece of knowledge. Those foxes take knowledge from all over the world and bring it here. Everything book and scroll I saw in here was written by human hands. It's not your knowledge, its human knowledge. Humans have every right to use that knowledge, and we need it now more than ever."

"To abuse it now more than ever," Wan Shi Tong said. "You seek the knowledge to compel spirits to fight your war for you. You would have spirits fight and die for a cause that is not ours, a war that we have no interest in fighting. The physical world does not concern us, and I will not let you abuse knowledge that would put spirits at risk just to better humanity."

"And what gives you the right to make that decision?" Aang demanded.

"This is my library," Wan Shi Tong said. "I insist that you leave before I force you out again."

Remembering how he had barely escaped last time, and that he didn't have his bending this time, Aang realized that if he fought the spirit over this he would never leave at all. "Fine, have it your way."

Aang turned around and walked out of the library, not looking back while its doors closed. As he walked the perspective flipped again, dropping Aang back to the jungle floor with the library upside down. From there Aang walked without direction or purpose, just wanting to get away from a spirit that would not help him. Soon Aang had left the jungle altogether and entered another part of the spirit world, one that seemed even more hostile than where he had been before. It got Aang to stop in his tracks, just to get a good look of where he was this time.

He stood at the edge of vast volcanic plains, the land covered in black basaltic rock from a recent lava flow. Hot steam erupted from cracks in the rock, filled with all sorts of toxic gasses in addition to water vapor. In the distance Aang saw molten lava flowing in another direction, adding the volcanic rock that stretched across the landscape. The heat was close to unbearable here, and Aang was certain it would have burned his physical body. Regardless of the heat Aang walked onto the volcanic rock, expecting someone he knew to appear here as well.

Sure enough a pillar of flame erupted ahead of Aang, and when the flames were extinguished an old man in red appeared. "Hello Aang."

"Roku," Aang said, stopping in front of the past life he knew the best. "I don't suppose you have any advice? No one else has been able to help."

"I know," Roku said. "I've been watching, as always. And I understand your frustrations."

"Can you?" Aang questioned. "We're facing an enemy that we simply can't beat without help. The spirits are the help we need, but they either can't or won't help us."

"Haven't we been through this before?" Roku asked. "I recall another time you wanted help from spirits. And there was one spirit that provided what you sought."

"Yeah, Koh," Aang grumbled. He didn't want to ask that particular spirit, but all the others he knew had left him without any other options. "Fine, maybe he'll want some alien faces in his collection."

"Remember, do not show any emotion at all," Roku advised.

"Or he'll steal my face, I remember," Aang said. He took in a deep breath, and he let it out. "I'm ready."

Aang left the volcanic plains and left Roku behind, heading for the one part of the spirit world he had never wanted to visit again. The landscape shifted around Aang and brought him somewhere else, this time a dark brown swamp with large gnarled trees everywhere. The largest tree in this swamp was Aang's destination, the lair of Koh the Face Stealer concealed beneath the massive roots. Surrounding the place were faceless baboons, a warning for those that would tread here lightly. Aang slowed his pace as he approached the entrance, nestled between the two largest roots of the tree.

The lair was in a cave beneath the tree, and Aang stopped at the threshold to prepare himself. He calmed his mind as much as possible, and then walked into the cave at a slow pace. Large stone steps led him down into the darkness, where the only light from the entrance was barely enough for him to see. Smaller roots were buried in the ceiling and walls of the cave, the only thing he could still see clearly. Aang stopped when he reached the bottom of the steps, where the stone gave way to bare dirt, the spot where Aang had met Koh before.

"Welcome back."

That voice was all too familiar, having heard it in his nightmares on several occasions. "Koh."

The face stealer appeared before Aang, the body of a giant centipede currently with the face of a noh mask. "At long last, we meet again. Though much sooner than I expected. I thought you would return to me with a new face."

"Sorry to disappoint you," Aang said, keeping his voice monotone. "I assume you know why I am here?"

"Of course, I have been watching," Koh said. He slowly crawled around Aang on the right, turning toward the airbender's back. "I know what you face, and I know what you want."

"I want help against the invaders," Aang said. "I'm sure you have the power to fight them. But the question is, do you have the motive to fight them?"

"A wise question to ask," Koh said. His face changed to that of an old man, and he crawled around to Aang's left side. "I wonder, how will you convince me that helping you is in my interests?"

"At least you're open to negotiating," Aang remarked. He looked at Koh's face as it changed to a baboon's, but Aang didn't let that shock him. "Last time we met you were interested in adding to your collection. There's bound to be plenty of variety under those helmets of theirs."

"Oh I know," Koh said. He got in front of Aang and chanced his face again, a red face with black markings and several short horns. "I have a few already."

It took all self-control to smother a look of surprise, and still Aang's eyes widened for a split second. "Do I want to know where that one came from?"

"My little secret," Koh answered. He switched to a face that was covered in brown fur. "I have known of these aliens for some time. I've already taken my pick of the lot. The ones they brought to the physical world, they have little to offer me that I do not already have."

Aang clenched his fist, but kept it hidden behind his back. "Fine, if you're not going to help, at least answer one thing. If any spirits are willing to help, who are they?"

"I would think that answer is obvious," Koh said. "None of them will help you."

"What?" Aang blurted out.

Fortunately Koh didn't see that, for he had been crawling away at a sloth-snail's pace. "You see, we have no interest in helping your kind. Threats to you are meaningless to us. To put it in simple terms, the alien invasion you need help against, it is not our problem."

No amount of self-control could contain the look of betrayal, and Aang turned away to keep Koh from seeing it. Aang walked back up the steps out of Koh's lair, keeping his pace slow until he was certain he was out of Koh's sight. As soon as he saw light Aang hurried out of the cave, getting outside and then running as fast as his legs could carry him. He just wanted to get far away as possible, just for the slightest chance that Koh might take his face. Aang didn't know how long he had been running when he stopped, now far away from the swamp and the face stealer.

Now Aang found himself in the middle of a strange desert, one where snow and sand were mixed together in a combination of hot and cold extremes. Aang found a small snow-sand dune and sat down, taking a moment to calm down and clear his head a little. Yet his thoughts kept drifting back to what the face stealer had told him, that none of the spirits would come to humanity's aid no matter how much he pleaded with them. Finally Aang understood why he did not see many spirits in the spirit world, for they were avoiding him so that they would not get tangled up in humanity's war.

It was an infuriating thought, and an unacceptable one, the idea that he would return to the physical world empty handed. Aang stood up, looked at the sky, and yelled at the top of his lungs. "Please! Anyone! If you care at all! We need your help!"

Somehow those words echoed here, despite not having anything for the sound to bounce off. Aang didn't hear anything else, so he threw his hands up in the air. He sat down on the dune again and put his hands on his knees, head hanging down and looking at the ground. Aang was just about to leave the spirit world when he heard something else, footsteps in the distance gradually getting closer and louder. He got back up and looked for whoever was approaching, though it was not anyone Aang would have imagined.

It was an old man, with short grey hair and a short beard, wearing a white robe partially covered by a brown cloak. "Hello."

"Hi," Aang said back. His eyes met with the old man's, not sure what to make of him. "Who are you?"

The old man smiled. "My name is Obi Wan Kenobi."