Taken In
There was a stunned silence as both groups took each other in.
The Sokka we will call Gawky Sokka was quick to silence himself in the presence of Buff Sokka. Just his appearance intimidated him to no end.
Sunshine Aang regarded Vampire Aang with awe, safely hidden behind Katara.
Motherly Katara was trying to figure out what the deal was with Coma-state Katara's slouched frame, giving her the illusion of having a hunchback, and if she was really asleep.
Sober Suki watched as Softie Suki struggled to contain her hyperactive twitching, quite disturbed.
All Tidy Toph could make out from Tuff Toph was that she wasn't wearing shoes, and that her posture was appalling. She was frozen to the spot in horror as she felt her reach into her ear and have a good dig around, as if she was searching for a specific object she'd lost in there.
Snazzy Zuko was just itching to do something with Surly Zuko's hair.
The Firelord may as well have been doing a lively Earth Kingdom jig- nothing could have compared to the complete absurdity of this situation.
Buff Sokka was the first to talk.
"So…you guys are fans?"
That wasn't the best start. Each member of the original GAang gave him a version of their own personal scowl.
"I was about to ask if you guys were looking for your care home." Tuff Toph shot back. Buff Sokka winced. This seemed to be the weak point in the Reversed GAang's structure- they had no witty spark to rely on to get them out of sticky situations. Meanwhile, Tuff Toph and Gawky Sokka make the perfect team. The Reversed GAang stood there, exhausted from their ordeal and clueless about how to reply to a sassy remark.
Luckily, this meant that the Original GAang took pity on them.
"What happened to you guys?" Katara asked, eagerly pouncing on the role of the carer as she gestured for them to take a seat around the fire they had been sitting around, although still not being able to take her gaze off of her parallel self.
"We're…not sure." Tidy Toph sniffed, shrinking away from foreign surfaces, longing for her protective fan that she would use to swat away incriminating dust motes that she had left behind, in another Universe.
"We had someone chasing us and I thought it would be a good idea to take all of us into the Spirit World to escape-"
"WHADTT?!" Sunshine Aang interrupted, clawing at his face in dismay, "No way how did you guys survive?"
Silence.
"Wait!" He said, figuring out the priority, "…How did you even take them to the Spirit World! Only the Ava-"
"I am the Avatar." Vampire Aang snapped, folding his arms. Snazzy Zuko poked him excitedly.
"Show them the routine!" He hissed into his ear.
"NO." Vampire Aang snapped, pushing him away with a little more force than necessary, "Look, we basically didn't end up in the Spirit World, which would explain the fact that you can see us, but I think- I think we may be in some sort of…Parallel Universe?"
The Original GAang observed him thoughtfully.
"So you…are us? But different?" Sober Suki asked.
"I'd say in Sokka's case it could be completely opposites." Tuff Toph snickered. Gawky Sokka shrank into the shadows, his self esteem circling the drain.
"Well, it looks that way." Motherly Katara confirmed, nervously fiddling with her hair. Both GAangs stayed firmly together.
"…So how do you plan on getting back?" Surly Zuko asked quietly, slouching back on his palms as he sat with them. Snazzy Zuko bounced up and down with excitement at how COOL he was. The rest of the Reversed GAang exchanged looks of hope that one would have an answer. It didn't look that way.
"We're not sure." Burly Sokka sighed, "Aang, couldn't you just zip us back the way you came?"
"That could include killing a couple of you." Vampire Aang mused darkly, "But I could try, if you'd like."
"Just let it be Suki…" It's unsure who grumbled this, but it could have been from more than one person.
"Do we have to risk our lives just to go back to that DRAGON hunting us?" Tidy Toph squeaked. Tuff Toph sat up in interest.
"Wait- there are dragons hunting you in your world? That's so much cooler than your regular lethal firebenders…"
"Well, I was just referring to the Fire Nation Princess, Azula as a dragon." Tidy Toph blinked, "I'm not good with nicknames…" She added shyly, bowing her head. Tuff Toph was embarrassed by her own self.
"She's SO SCARY!" Softie Suki insisted loudly, nodding her head in such a way it was almost blurred, "But I had my Sokka for comfort!" She snuggled into his arms the way a drill would penetrate a particularly hard surface, and Burly Sokka shot a smug look towards their parallel couple, who were simply holding hands. Gawky Sokka looked put out.
"Wow, we couldn't even escape Azula in another Universe." Tuff Toph mumbled bitterly, "But what's Parallel Azula like?"
The Reversed GAang answered together: "Annoying."
The Original GAang exchanged wistful looks.
"Boy, would we love an annoying Azula instead of the one we have." Surly Zuko muttured sulkily.
"No." Vampire Aang insisted.
"Ya don't." Burly Sokka finished.
"You should stay with us for the night; it's going to get dark soon. We can figure out what to do in the morning." Katara said kindly. The rest of the Original GAang seemed a bit peeved by her independent invitation, but kept their reproachfulness to themselves.
"So...can you guys bend?" Sunshine Aang asked, interested.
"Sure we can…" Coma-like Katara answered slowly, much to everyone's surprise, "Check this out-" She pointed at a pot of water, "I command you, oh liquidities, to FREEZE!"
Silence.
"That was a joke." She said quietly, before lowering her arm, "We probably bend just the same as you do."
"Mmh." They all said awkwardly.
"So it's like this-" Snazzy Zuko simpered, jumping up. The rest of the Reversed GAang tried to grab him, hissing at him to sit down, but nothing could stop him- not when he had an audience.
"WATER!" He cried, performing a series of wiggly movements with his arms and legs, and his lips making silent bubbles to impersonate a fish.
Vampire Aang buried his face in his hands.
"EARTH!" Snazzy Zuko continued, jumping up and down on the spot to make heavy thuds, his face impersonating the scowl of an Earth Wrestler as he mimed digging.
Tidy Toph squeaked as she tried to protect herself from the dirt he was kicking everywhere.
"FIIIRE!" Zuko whirled his hands above his head, his fingers spouting pretty sparks as he puffed steam from his nostrils.
Burly Sokka looked away from the Original GAang, not wanting to see their reaction.
"AIR-" Zuko cut himself off, as he drew in a huge portion of air and blew as hard as he could, red faced and wheezing. Maybe for dramatic effect, but probably out of exhaustion, Snazzy Zuko dropped to his knees and his chin rested on his chest, his arms raised to the skies.
The rest of them simply stared at him, before Sunshine Aang started to clap heartily. His friends joined in, applauding politely as the Reversed GAang looked to them with dismay, unable to believe it.
"Thank you." Snazzy Zuko said graciously, nodding to them and resuming his position close to Burly Sokka, who edged away out of shame.
As they continued to swap life stories and compare their worlds, no one noticed Surly Zuko turn paler and paler until he went behind a tree to throw up, having watched himself perform a particularly camp dance routine.
--
Morning broke, and it took the GAangs a moment or so to register what had happened the day before. The worst thing that happened was Gawky Sokka reaching over to snuggle the wrong Suki, who shrieked and claimed that there was spider-monkey on her, being used to thick bands of muscle cuddling her. He crawled head first into his sleeping bag and stayed there for a long time.
"So…" Motherly Katara began, cooking breakfast. She had noticed that her parallel self still hadn't gotten out of bed, "What are your plans? For getting back, I mean…"
"Weeeellll…" Burly Sokka began, "We're not sure."
"…Well don't you have a Plan Guy?" Tuff Toph asked, her hair sticking up in all directions. Sunshine Aang had just been contemplating the contrast between her and Tidy Toph, who had combed hers into two delightful pigtails.
"No, we don't have a Plan Guy." Burly Sokka said a little snappily, "We have a STRONG Guy." He flexed, which caused the bowl he was holding to snap between his large fingers. He hung his head as Softie Suki fussed over him, like a fly over Appa Dung.
"That's all we need- a Strong Guy." She assured him kindly, stroking his face so vigorously she left pink streaks over his cheeks.
"Yeah- because I heard that you can travel from Universe to Universe by punching yourself a door through the cosmos…!" Tuff Toph muttered.
Softie Suki and Burly Sokka looked thoroughly confused.
"Why do you keep saying these things?" Softie Suki said, cocking her head to the side, "Things that don't make sense…?"
"It's called Sarcasm." Katara explained, "Toph uses it a lot. And Sokka, when he's had enough food to power him up…haven't you ever heard of Sarcasm?"
They both shook their heads.
"Holy crow!" Tuff Toph exclaimed, "There's no sarcasm in your world?!"
"I don't think so." Softie Suki said, confused.
"What about Kyoshi Warriors?" Sober Suki asked, fearing the idea that her heritage didn't exist.
"Oh, SURE," Softie Suki said, beaming, "They were the football team I cheer leaded for!"
There was a horrified pause.
"That's it." Sober Suki said, "You guys are sticking with us- you've got a LOT to learn!"
And that's how it all kicked off.
--
REVIIIEWS!
;D
There's my hint. I'll say no more 'bout it.