Chapter 3. I'm going to insert this now: The next chapter does feature Cyborg and Raven. Though it might seem poorly cut because originally I was going to make two separate chapters, but now there's only one. So I ended up just find a place to randomly insert the Cyborg and Raven sections of the chapter. Now I'll reply to those review(s).
Eikyuu the Jellykage- Glad you liked the story. Thanks for reading and reviewing.
PinkPanther123- I'm glad I finally was able to think of a way to do this. Thanks for reading too.
"Augh!" One final shout was quelled by the water as yet another body collided with the freezing substance. Beast Boy grinned triumphantly as two men brushed past him to check if the cargo hold was clear. They were finally victorious in their battle for a Fire Navy ship. The plan had changed from its original course to invade the Fire Nation alongside the Earth Kingdom to one of a smaller scale. The Avatar had been hurt badly, Beast Boy knew. The water benders agreed with the kids who'd taken the changeling in to invade the Fire Nation with a ragtag group of their friends they'd met around the world. Before the raid Robin had made sure they knew not to expose their powers.
"Robin! It is most wonderful to see you again." Starfire said again. She engulfed him in another hug and he blushed deeply. "Hey… Starfire. Good to see you again too."
"Robin!" Beast Boy shouted. He slipped over to the bow of the ship where the two were standing to give him a high five.
"Beast Boy." Robin smiled and returned the gesture.
"Is he alive?" Hakota asked in a low voice. He squinted at the found on Aang's back as Katara and Sokka carried him gently down into the lower decks.
"Barely. The spirit water is the only thing keeping him alive." Katara replied gravely. She focused her attention on inserting a bit more of the water into the wound again as he convulsed for the fourth time. "If this keeps up I'm going to run out of spirit water soon."
"He'll make it, Katara. He's the avatar; he does that kind of thing." Sokka reassured his sister quietly.
"I hope your right…" Katara trailed off, not bothering to finish her sentence. "Come on; let's find him a good place to rest."
3 Weeks Later…
Loud snoring filled the air. The obnoxious sound emanated from a certain changeling lounging lazily on a blanket he'd spread out on the deck under light of the fading day. He jumped up as the door to the lower decks clanked open, almost yanked from its hinges. He spun around to see Aang hobbling out as fast as was possible with his injuries. In short, a turtle could've outrun him.
"Twinkle Toes! That must be you!" Toph was the first to notice it was Aang causing the commotion.
"Aang!" Katara and Sokka shouted in unison. They ran over to greet their friend. Beast Boy watched as they spoke for a second, and then Aang lost consciousness again. Katara caught him before he hit the ground.
"Whoa! Is he gonna be okay?" Beast Boy asked.
"I think so. He keeps falling in and out of consciousness. But he was awake for a while then so I shouldn't have to use any more spirit water." Katara replied.
"That's good. Didn't you just run out of that stuff?" Toph asked.
"Yep, she did." Sokka said, earning him a well deserved glare from Katara. They all looked down as Aang stirred again, blinking his eyes slowly. He sat up and sent Hakota a grateful smile as he draped a blanket over his shoulders. Katara sat down across from him.
"Why are we on a Fire Nation ship?" Aang asked with an unsteady voice, "Why is everyone dressed this way?" Motioning to himself he continued. "And why am I the only one completely out of it?"
"You need to take it easy okay. You got hurt pretty bad." Katara placed a hand on his shoulder. "I like your hair." She dropped her hand back down to her lap.
"I have hair?!" Aang groped over his head for a moment. "How long was I out?" He demanded.
"You've been out for a while." Beast Boy interjected as he slipped past the two to enter the lower deck.
"A couple weeks." Katara glared at Beast Boy as he passed.
"Everything okay?" Hakota walked over.
"We're fine, dad." Katara looked away as she narrowed her eyes.
"I'm Hakota, Katara and Sokka's father."
"Should not we be searching for the others?" Starfire asked. The titans' trio was sitting in Robin and Beast Boy's quarters. There was barely enough room to go around, so they had to share.
"The next move we make has to be plotted out carefully. Cyborg is working on getting his tracking device up and running. Because of the chronoton level in the air, time runs slower in a sense. In other words, he's got a lot of power, and so do our communicators. He should be able to find us before it runs out." Robin replied from the armchair he was situated in.
"So… we can count him as being found, right?" Beast Boy asked.
"Yeah. Now all we need to do is find Raven." Robin said in a preoccupied tone.
"I think…" Starfire thought for a moment before continuing, "These people we are traveling with have helped us to find each other so far. We should continue to travel with them for a little while longer."
"Beast Boy?" Robin raised an eyebrow.
"I agree with Starfire. If it wasn't for them we'd never have found each other. Maybe they'll lead us to Raven." The changeling replied from his position on the floor.
"So it's settled. We stay, for now." Robin raised himself up from the chair. "Let's get some fresh air."
"What?! The whole world thinks I'm dead? That's not good news; that's terrible!" They heard Aang's distressed voice before they opened the door onto the top deck.
"No, that's great! It means the Fire Nation won't be hunting us anymore." Sokka replied with a huge grin on his face.
"No, no no. You have no idea." Aang threw his hands up and shut his eyes for a second. "This is so messed up."
A horn sounding in the distance caught everyone's attention on deck. A Fire Nation ship was approaching from the front. Robin curled a hand into a fist and stepped out onto the deck.
"I'll handle this. The Avatar is back." Aang whipped out his staff, twirling it before smacking it down to morph it into his glider. He gritted his teeth from the energy he'd exerted to carry out the motion, and prepped himself for takeoff.
"Aang, wait! Remember, they don't know we're not Fire Nation.." Katara reached out a hand to stop him.
"Everyone just stay calm." Hakota ordered. "Bato and I will take care of this."
Everybody who wasn't in uniform cleared off the deck. Aang, Toph, Sokka, Katara, and Starfire all crouched beneath the hatch to the lower decks, while Beast Boy, The Duke, and Robin hid in the doorway to the control room.
"I hate not being able to do anything…" Aang grumbled.
"Hopefully you won't need to." Toph replied as they watched the fire benders board their ship.
"Who are you?" Aang asked with a surprised tone as he noticed Starfire with them.
"That's Starfire." Sokka hissed.
"I am very pleased to meet you, new friend." Starfire smiled, and continued observing the exchange with anticipation. The boarding party consisted of three men. Two were wearing skull helmets. The one leading the party across the narrow bridge that extended from the other ship was a bearded man with no helmet. Obviously the one in charge.
"Commander, why are you off course?" The bearded man addressed Hakota as the water tribe chief bowed politely. "All western fleet ships are supposed to be moving toward Ba Sing Se to support the occupation."
"Actually we're from the eastern fleet." Hakota replied, thinking fast. "We have orders to deliver some cargo."
"Ah… eastern fleet. Well, nice of admiral Chan to let us known he was sending a ship our way."
"I'm sure admiral Chan meant no disrespect, sir." Hakota replied.
"I mean, how hard is it to write a quick note and send a hawk our way?" The bearded man continued.
"Next time we'll send two hawks to make sure you get the message." Hakota replied. Bato and Hakota bowed and turned to return to their "duties". Starfire watched as one of the two fire benders leaned in and whispered something to the man in the lead. They started to walk slowly across the bridge, and stopped suddenly as Toph sprang out of her hiding place.
"They know!" She shouted as she gripped the metal deck. A second later due to Toph's metal bending the bridge for the boarding party was ripped off its hinges, and the men themselves were sent plunging into the freezing depths below. Katara was right behind her, creating a wave to separate the vessels. Their ship sped off as the other vessel gave pursuit.
Robin took a four second assessment of the battle. The enemy ship had begun to send flaming rocks at their vessel, and most were either being blocked or narrowly missing. Two men appeared to man two more catapults, prompting Robin to run below deck to where he would be needed most.
"Cyborg!" Robin flipped open his communicator as he bolted down the halls. After a moment their mechanical wizard appeared. "Robin? What's up?"
"I'm gonna need your help." He stumbled forward as the ship lurched from the impact of a flaming rock. Robin could hear the rushing of the water as the hull was breached.
"Alright, what do you need?" Cyborg asked. Robin dashed past a doorway, and then ran back through. "I'm in the engine room of some steam operated ship or something. Don't know what it runs on, but it's gonna need some fixing if we want to stay afloat."
"What do you got?"
"Two valves that read 934-1. I remember hearing that somewhere back in the tower. One's busted. The other I need to know what to do with."
"How bad is it busted?" Cyborg asked. He winced as Robin tilted the communicator to show a set of pipes and a twisted valve. "Alright, you'll need to get rid of the busted valve. Then you're gonna have to improvise. For the one that's not busted, twist it counter clockwise twice, and then push it in. You should hear a whooshing sound.
"Alright. Robin raised his leg and kicked off the busted valve, and followed Cyborg's directions.
"Now all I have to do is find something to improvise with. But what?"
"Starfire!" Beast Boy shouted to get her attention. They watched as rocks and boulders flew between the two ships, until a harpoon gun was mounted on the other side. She nodded and also ran to the lower decks. She pelted by another crew member right as a harpoon pierced through the hull, and flood water rushed in. The man continued running to assist in the battle up top leaving Starfire to deal with the crisis at hand. She reached forward, gripping both ends of the breach. Using her strength she closed it and sealed the breach with her star bolts. After glancing around to make sure no one had seen her super powered display she continued on her hunt for any other breaches.
Beast Boy meanwhile was up on deck. Another rock arched up in the air, and Hakota was dragging an injured water bender to cover. As the rock arched down Beast Boy leapt from his feet, and knocked the two water benders out of the way of the flaming projectile. He grinned as Hakota sent him a grateful glance.
"Not entirely useless, am I?"
"I'm gonna give us some cover!" Katara shouted. She ran over to the edge of the ship and raised her hands above her head. Fog swiftly enveloped the ships and they lurched forward one again to attempt to outrun the other vessel.
"…Just let us handle this." Sokka explained to Aang as he coaxed the air bender back into remaining a secret. Narrowing his eyes Aang nodded and returned to cover. The ships emerged from the fog side by side. Beast Boy groaned at the sight of it. Suddenly the ocean water shook and… a giant sea serpent emerged from its depths. A low growl emanated from its throat and it lunged for their ship. It was interrupted mid-lunge by a rock launched from the Fire Nation ship. It turned its attention towards the enemy vessel, and Beast Boy sighed with relief, relaxing himself from his morphing stance. Thankfully he wasn't forced to reveal his powers as the serpent constricted the enemy vessel, allowing them to escape.
"Thank you the universe." Sokka grinned. As they watch the Fire Nation ship slowly fade from sight. Down below deck Robin had finally found something to replace the valve after searching through four rooms. Starfire had successfully closed and sealed three breaches to the point where it was unnoticeable aside from faint heat marks.
"So…why are you green again?" Sokka asked Beast Boy for the fourth time as they gulped down their soup. It was dark already, all traces of sunlight purged from the sky. Clouds slowly drifted over them foreshadowing an approaching storm. They were gathered out on the top deck finishing dinner and waiting for Aang to come out.
"Well… I can't really tell you that right now. But maybe later." Beast Boy shook his head as a look of sorrow crossed his face for a moment before it brightened.
"Zuko is not a good person after all?" Starfire asked. The time she'd spent with him and Iroh in Ba Sing Se seemed so long ago, yet she could still remember how confused and hurt he was on the inside. She could hardly believe he'd tried to burn down Kyoshi village and hunted the avatar across the world.
"Not even a little bit. He tries to make you think he's a good person on the inside, but then when you finally believe it he stabs you in the back." Katara said in a low voice. The anger she felt was almost palpable.
"Where's Aang going anyway?" Robin sat down in the circle with a bowl in hand.
"Huh?" Toph, Katara, and Sokka all turned their heads.
"He left on his glider about an hour ago. I just wanted to know where he's going. Isn't he supposed to be a secret?" Sokka and Katara exchanged glances. Appa growled and stretched out his legs.
"We need to go after him. He's not supposed to be out right now." Toph said as she rose to her feet.
"Come on, we'll take Appa and start searching." Sokka motioned for them to follow.
"Can I help?" Beast Boy asked. Seeing their skeptical looks he continued. "Come on, you know I can see farther than any of you."
"He's right. We barely avoided those two other fire nation ships when we were leaving Ba Sing Se. Without him we'd be captured by now." Katara said.
"Or worse." Sokka interjected, receiving a glare from his sister.
"Wait a minute. If he goes, we're coming too." Robin's voice was firm as he stepped towards Appa.
"Appa won't be able to support us all at once. Well, he might. But we're gonna have to cut down on our load a little." Katara said.
"If we go after Aang now, we won't be able to find our way back to the invasion force without risking being discovered. It'll be hard work and we'll have to trudge straight through Fire Nation territory." Sokka said.
"You sure you can handle it?" Toph asked with a skeptical voice.
"You don't know what we can handle." Beast Boy gave the three a thumbs up.
"Is everything all right?" Hakota called. Katara ran over to him and Sokka motioned for the group to follow him over and up onto Appa. They watched as Katara exchanged a couple of words with her father, and cried for a moment. He gave a solemn nod and she walked slowly back over to Appa.
"Let's go." Sokka said. "Yip yip." Appa pushed forward and leapt into the air. Beast Boy was sitting next to Sokka on Appa's neck, while everybody else was in the saddle on his back. He struggled and squinted to peer through the stormy weather as they flew. After about ten minutes of flight a lightning bolt lit up the sky.
"Anything yet?" Sokka shouted over the roar of the wind.
"Nope!" The reply came in almost perfect unison from everyone in the search party.
"Wait, I think I see something!" Beast Boy pointed off to their left as another lightning bolt granted them a few more seconds of sight. A crushed log emerged from the water.
"Not him. Keep moving!" Katara shouted. They flew on longer, until the new day dawned.
"There!" Beast Boy yelled again. By this time the storm had quelled considerably, and was all but over. His finger was pointed towards a small island that seemed to have a small volcano. Or, small by comparison to the other ones the titans had seen.
Katara's defeated expression changed to that of a hopeful one. The volcano had not caught her attention, a boy on the shore had. Aang was lying there unconscious, but obviously alive. "Sokka, take us down!" Appa landed nearby Aang's body, and Katara and Sokka were the first off his back.
"Aang!" Katara shouted. Momo jumped onto his face and gave him an encouraging lick.
"Ungh…" Aang groaned, and stirred once again. He opened his eyes and raised himself up into a sitting position.
"You're alright!" Toph grinned as she ran over to join them. Robin, Starfire, and Beast Boy respectfully chose to keep their distance.
"We can't make it back to the invasion force now." Robin said quietly.
"Then we will help our new friends continue their journey until this Day of Black Sun." Starfire said firmly. Seeing Beast Boy's downcast expression she continued. "Do not fret Beast Boy. We have found each other so far, and with their help I feel that Raven is not out of reach." She smiled and took both of their hands. They stood side by side and watched as the group in front of them embraced Aang tightly, until Aang motioned for them to join in the motion from over Katara's shoulder.
"We've been through so much and yet there's still so much to do. I'm supposed to save the world..." Aang looked at the ground for a moment.
"You didn't think you could get out of training by coming to the Fire Nation did you?" Toph teased.
"You're not alone. You have friends at your side." Robin interjected. He gave Aang a warm smile as the sun finally broke through the regressing storm.
End of Chapter 3. The ending was weird to say the least, or at least in my opinion it was. The next chapter will feature Cyborg like I stated previously, and Raven will make an appearance too. Also, if you didn't know this already, by "Gaang" I mean Aang, Toph, Katara, and Sokka. The chapter after that will have a lot less action and focus more on the two groups bonding with each other during their travels.
Other than that, please review. Merry Christmas!