New chapter up. It's shorter than I was hoping but I'm happy at how I ended it. I hope you guys enjoyed the last chapter and this one as well.
Next chapter will hopefully be longer and maybe more story telling. This chapter opened up a can of worms in my head :).
1/5/19: made an correction to an error I noticed while going back to read it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Chapter 13
Landing
First Quadrant- Security Entrance Tetran
They had finally made it to Eden's security entrance. Sokka had been checking the ships fuel and any problems that came up during their flight while Katara had prepared food and tended to Aang. They both tried to keep themselves busy instead of letting their minds drift to places they would rather keep locked away.
Sokka turned the ship behind a couple other ships that were in line for the security check. To his knowledge they were near the planet Opal. He was honestly hoping they would make it to the planet Oma but he knew their fuel reserves needed refueling.
As they came up toward the gates themselves. An middle aged man projection came onto his ship.
"State your ships binary code."
"0101011-HA" Sokka said without any hesitation.
The older man's eyes turned red and a sensor scanned his ship before his eyes turned green.
"High Chief Hakoda of the third quadrant Anahita. We are honored to have you in Eden. We have not been notified that you were to arrive."
"This is Sokka Prince of the capital planet of Anahita. High Chief Hakoda has sent me on very important business to Eden. I was planning on making it to Oma where I can meet with King Bumi but my ship has run low on fuel so I must stop at the planet Opal."
There was a small pause as the man seemed to process his request.
"Permission has been granted. A message has been sent to the King of Oma that you will arrive in two months time. Our gates will open to allow passage to the planet Opal."
Soon the security lasers turned from red to green to allow passage and Sokka moved ahead.
Planet Opal
Sokka carefully landed the ship onto the planets rocky terrain. Opal was a fueling depot like most planets closer to the security gates. Sadly though it was farthest from the kingdoms control so it was the perfect place for all types of criminals.
Sokka got up from the pilot chair and left the room. He went down the ships corridor before making his way down the flight of stairs to exit the ship. He was almost there until he heard his sister call out to him above the staircase.
"No" he said.
He saw the shocked look on his sister's face before it turned into one of anger.
" You don't even know what I was going to say!" Katara said in annoyance.
"Were you not going to ask me to bring you along?" Sokka replied.
" No I was going to come along ." she said as she made her way down the stairs.
Now it was Sokka's turn to look shocked. He hadn't expected that.
"Well you can't come. It could be dangerous ." Sokka said as he mentally praised himself for thinking of that.
He opened his eyes when he didn't get a response from his sister and then turned around when he heard the ships doors open.
"Hurry up Sokka. No time to look dumb." Katara said before the doors closed behind her.
Sokka looked on in surprise at where she was earlier and wondered to himself how she snuck passed him. He merely shook his head and followed after her.
"What about that Aang kid. Someone needs to stay there with him." Sokka continued to list off the reasons for Katara to head back to the ship.
Katara let out another sigh as her brother continued to talk her ear off.
"One we won't be that long on this planet. Plus I need to get more medical supplies to restock the ship and if something happens to Aang while I'm away I'll be immediately alerted with this transponder. Now please stop with the lame excuses because we're here now."
Sokka looked up and away from his sister to notice that she was right and they were at the entrance of a town called Ocala.
It looked much the same as the planet itself. The building were rock-like and some of the people wore dirt stained clothes . The town seemed to be very popular because there were a lot of people out and about. Sokka told his sister to stay near him as they walked about town.
Sokka asked a couple of Cros where the fueling station was but some either didn't know and point in wrong directions or begged him for money.
He finally managed to get the information from a kind girl who wore decent clothes compared to the dirtier ones that were worn by the previous people they passed.
"If you go down this path then the fueling stations is not hard to miss." said the girl .
" Excuse me miss but why are there so many people who look like this?" Katara questioned.
"They are the poor and unemployed. They refuse to do work or compete in the Magic Games." she said sadly.
"The Magic Games?" Katara asked.
"You are Aras yet you know nothing of the games?" the girl's eyes widened a bit .
They both shook their heads as this was their first time hearing of such a thing.
" The Magic Games is where people from all over the first and second quadrant come to compete and show off their skills in their magic arts. Only mages are allowed but if you have a little magic and can conjure magic through a magic item then you are allowed entry. The Magic Games are based on skill,combat, and endurance. There are also mini events within it like pageants and sporting events." the girl explained.
"Wow that actually sounds interesting . Why don't the people join?" asked Katara.
"There is a risk to joining the games. It is extremely frowned upon but it is far from illegal. Many people fear death to the games and the ones who cause it." the girl said.
"killing is legal within the games?! But why, and who causes the killing if it's so frowned on?" Katara asked .
" Sake-yon and Yuen of the Storm are long time winners of the Magic Games . They mercilessly kill any who is unfortunate to go against them. Their magic levels are on a different level than us normal people . But they aren't the only ones to fear in the games. There are the Holy Knights who won't kill you, but after fighting them you may as well wish you were dead. Then there is the Kyo warriors, an all female mage society who uses magic items. Now using magic items may mean you have a low magic output but these women are formidable in combat."
"How do you know all this?" Sokka asked.
" I go every year to the games. Knowing almost everything about it is kinda a hobby of mine."
"Is there a reward for competing? I can't imagine anyone doing this for free." Sokka said.
The girl nodded her head and a smile appeared on her face.
"Yes there is! First place winners gets over three million dollars and a place in the Hall of Victors. They also receive a villa on the largest planet in the first quadrant Titan which is close to the planet that houses the royal family."
"What about second and third?" Katara asked while her brother went off into la la land as muttered incoherent words along with 'three ' and 'million'.
" Second place receives a digital banner to place onto their home world and five hundred thousand dollars. While third receives a sum of one hundred thousand and a banner as well. Those places aren't bad but the competitors all shoot for first place."
" Have you ever competed?" asked katara.
"Oh heavens no! I just watch. It is way too dangerous to compete in the games. Well at least the combat portion. But even then the other events are just as competitive."
" I see." Sokka said before remembering what they came into town for. " thanks for the information ...um…"
"Song . My name is Song" she said with a smile.
"It was nice meeting you Song. Thanks again for the information!" Sokka said as he and Katara walked away from her in the direction to the refueling stations.
" Bye! Hope to see you at the games this year!"
Katara and Sokka made their way down the street Song had pointed them in. It was much cleaner than the one they entered through and the sidewalks were actually there. They could also see more flying vehicles.
They continue down the street until they finally saw the refueling station like Song said.
Sokka went to talk with one of the workers while Katara ventured off and looked around the station.
She had to admit that the ships in the refueling station were really well made. They looked to be made of some metallic steel. She turned her attention away from the ships when she remembered she had to get medical supplies. She turned to get Sokka's attention but stopped when he looked to be busy in a conversation with a worker.
"I don't need Sokka's permission to go anywhere." she said before leaving in search of a medicine store.
Katara walked down the street that a kind old Cros couple pointed her down towards. She had almost made it to the medicine store when a group of Cros and Ara walked up to her.
"Oo don't cha look might ta fine. You alone sweet thang?" leered the middle Cros.
"No man would let a Ara woman like her walk alone. She must be." spoke a short Ara with a scar along his right eye.
"have some fun with us." said the middle Cros as he licked his lips.
"I'd rather not." Katara said while folding her arms under her chest.
The other men laughed at her defiant pose before the middle man spoke up again.
"I wasn't asking"
He then reached to grab at her arm only to meet air.
"Bad move" Katara said.
Sokka was seriously going to lose it. Where in La was his sister. He took his eyes off her for a measly ten minutes and poof she was gone. He had bargained with the cashier over the price of gas capsules he should sell him. He was happy he had come out on top with a cheap price and wanted to boast to his sister. But his happy mood was immediately crushed when he couldn't find her.
He ran outside the refueling station and asked anyone he saw had they seen an Ara girl pass by. He was directed down a street by an old couple who said they gave directions to an Ara girl a while ago to a medicine store.
"When I find you Katara I'm going to-" he immediately stopped talking as he spotted a group of men surrounding his sister. He was about to rush over to break their noses when the man grabbed for her and she spun out of range.
What happened next, Sokka could only feel sorry for the men. He had never seen his sister or anyone for that matter fight so well. She moved with such fluidity out of the Cros magic attacks and shot her own magic at them from the water in her canisters. The weird thing was that she didn't focus mainly on her magic as he thought she would . She showed different martial art techniques he didn't even know of.
She had knocked out her last man and dusted herself off. Suddenly there was a loud cheering from the crowd that had apparently gathered.
"Thank you young lady." an old woman told her.
"I've never seen someone fight like you." a beggar spoke up.
"You took out the Gruther Gang like it was nothing!" said a younger boy with stars in his eyes.
"An Ara woman? They took that law away huh?" another man said.
Sokka tried to make his way to his sister as she was surrounded by the praising yet questioning crowd.
"Katara!" Sokka yelled over the crowd.
She turned in his direction and yelled back to him.
He finally made it to her and then they both finally got the crowd to disperse.
"We are definitely talking later Katara" Sokka said seriously.
Katara looked up towards him.
" You saw that, huh?"She said.
"Yes, yes I did."
They got the medical supplies they needed and stocked up on food supplies. It was midday when they made their way back to the ship.
Sokka was silent the whole way back and that unnerved her. She'd rather have Sokka thrashing about and screaming at her than him ignoring her.
They finally made it to the ship and immediately stopped short behind some boulders. They turned their heads to get a view of their ship when they saw a couple of cloaked people surrounding their ship holding out their hands with a bright purple huge runic circle floating above their ship.
"The hell are they." Sokka spoke for the first time.
Katara squinted to get a better look at them and noticed they had a lot of dirt on their clothing and old rusty weapons.
"They might be the some of the poor people we passed by earlier." Katara said.
" I won't let them steal off dad's ship." Sokka said as he left the hiding spot and rushed towards them.
"Hold it!" Sokka yelled as neared the cloaked people.
The cloaks soon dropped to the ground as black dust spread all over the place. The black dust soon cleared and no one was there but Sokka. Even the runic circle disappeared.
"What..was that..all about" Sokka said as he coughed the dust up.
Katara made her way over to her brother until she spotted something shiny on the ground.
"Sokka come look at this" she said as she picked up the item.
"What is it?" he said as he now stood next to her.
"It looks like a playing card made of glass."
"Look at the face. It looks like a demon." Sokka said.
"There's something on the back of it. Looks like ancient text."
Katara moved her fingers over the words and the card suddenly began to glow. The card began to float in the air and let out an ominous tune.
[In a slow dark sing-song voice]
Ol Bearers of the Rings
You will rise to fight our King
You will soar above the skies
You will be praised by all that see
Only to fail miraculously
Against our King
You will see…
The card twirled in the air before disappearing in black dust.
Katara and Sokka stood there for a long moment simply too shocked to completely comprehend what happened.
"This day is getting weirder and weirder. First disappearing people then a floating talking card. Why can't things be normal for once?" Sokka said with a sigh.
"That couldn't have been a coincidence Sokka. The card and the people earlier..if they were even people, disappeared in the same black smoke." Katara said.
"The card also talked about the bearers of the Rings.. maybe they weren't thieves but worshippers of The Great One.." Sokka whispered to himself.
"The great what?" Katara said.
Sokka jumped slightly and cursed himself for letting out that information. He had planned to talk to her about it once that Aang kid woke up but the kid hadn't woken up and he honestly forgot to inform her.
" Well…"
It was dark.
So dark he couldn't see a thing. He couldn't tell if he was standing or floating in the air because he couldn't see or feel the ground.
Suddenly a light shone down in the middle of the dark space and there was a man in a white suit sitting in a white metallic chair.
The man rose from his chair and every step he took towards him light followed. He stood before him and smiled.
"Welcome to my realm, young Aang"
A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed! RR appreciate the feedback.
until next time
ooJollyZuZuoo