Just 1 more chapter after this. And then it's on to Genjitsu; the sequel to Ninjitsu.
Thanks to all of my reviews.
R'nR this chapter too, please.
Chapter 18: Role Reversal pt. 2
"She's steadied." The doctor said to Jake.
Both girls were taken to the medical wing in a trance-like state and either of them seemed to be waking up nor slipping into death, which was an auspicious sign.
"Thank you." Zuko said and followed Jake into the room.
During the time the doctor was trying to steady Rose and Katara's conditions, the two had talked about what they'd done in each other bodies.
It was a good thing that Jake could 'dragon up' and everything else is better left unsaid.
Both girls were on separate cots, eyes closed, bodies still, and barely heard breathing.
Jake only stared at the body of Rose and hoped to death that she would survive. They'd just made up and it would be a blow of cruel fate to let her die gods-know-how-many centuries before she was even born.
"Aww, man. This was just when life was getting good." Jake said sulkily as he sat on Rose's cot. Z
uko stared at Jake as he pulled up a seat and set it near whoever it was in Katara's body.
"What are we supposed to do, just sit here?" he asked the guy.
"You can just run around and do whatever your duties as Fire King are, but I'm—." he broke off as he stared at his hand.
Jake began to stare at his body; what had happened to him?
"What—?" Zuko began to ask, but Jake turned to him.
"What else did you do?" Jake nearly shouted at him.
"What do you mean, what else did I do?" Zuko demanded of the younger boy.
"I mean, if you got Rose and me back together and now made this body buff, what else did you do when you were in my body?" Jake said.
"What does it matter?" Zuko asked exasperatedly.
"It does when I've got people who watch my every move! Wait—can you even skateboard?" Jake asked suddenly.
Zuko pointed to the scrape on Jake's arm.
"What do you think was the result of all of those bruises, cuts, and scrapes on you? Dragon training?" Zuko snapped sarcastically.
Jake clutched his head in despair.
"There went my chances to go to Orlando for the Junior Championship Skate-Off!" he wailed and sank to his knees.
"They have a competition for that kind of sport?" Zuko demanded.
"Of course they do; it's all the rage back where I come from." Jake murmured, still wailing in despair about his lost chance.
"There's always another competition." Zuko offered.
"Next year I'll be too old to enter! And before you know it, I'll be too old to even skateboard at all! And if I'm too old to skateboard, what will I do for a living? I can't be the American Dragon forever! Technically, I've never gone to anywhere outside of NYC! So I'm just the New York City Dragon? Then what will I do for an income, huh? I REFUSE to—." Jake was cut off from his teen life crisis by Zuko when he smacked the back of Jake's head; forcing Jake to fall over.
"You've got to get a new hobby." Zuko told him and went back to sit in his chair.
Jake blew a raspberry at him and, pulling himself up, went back to sit down on the cot holding Rose's body.
"So what else did you do besides show my school that I apparently can't skateboard?" he asked with a scoff.
"I stood up to that crazy teacher of yours."
"Really? All right! Gimme some of that!" Jake exclaimed, holding his hand up.
Zuko stared at the person standing in front of him.
"It's called a High 5." Jake said. Zuko continued to stare.
"It's when 2 people slap each other's hands in midair." Jake elaborated.
Zuko continued to stare at his hand until Jake finally lowered it.
"What do you people do as a show of congratulations in this century?" he grumbled.
"We shake hands." Zuko answered.
"That's for formal old people." Jake said.
"Ok. Oh, and I'm sorry that my ego got in the way." he added.
"What?" Zuko asked.
"You see; when I—you—was in the Earth Kingdom, I kinda sorta…showed off with this ancient-like version of a skateboard and…yeah." Jake didn't really want to finish off with the fact that while he was in Zuko's body, he'd made him a legend and seemingly started a cult of skateboarders who practically worshiped him.
That and, skateboarding was now becoming a popular kids' sport throughout the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation. Zuko said nothing; only stare at the boy whose body he had been switched with for the past week or so.
"I'll show you around the palace." Iroh stood at the doorway and pulled Jake out of the room. Zuko turned from the door and regarded the sleeping form of Katara.
Had they changed back just as he and Jake had? But how could anyone tell with the two bodies in a dream-like state? A niggling voice in the back of his head reminded Zuko what his uncle had said years before when he'd woke from a nightmare involving his mother and how, when Iroh had spoken to him, he was able to wake up from that dream.
'I believe that, even when people are in an unconscious state, they can still hear people around them.' He'd told the young prince when he was 11.
Maybe the same thing would work on the Waterbender. Zuko leaned over the cot until he was a short distance from Katara's face and tried to speak in a clear tone, Iroh had told him that the tone of voice was the key, but couldn't exactly find what words he should say.
"Look—Katara, it's clear that we don't know each other and that we're…different." Bad way to start it, but it was at least a start.
"Like that old man said a few days ago; history said that we'd…well, end up together and we won't if you're dead." Zuko tried to find better words, but nothing much could come to his mind for the time being.
As he looked down, he saw that the body had not moved an inch.
"Forget it; why am I even talking to you like this?" He asked incredulously and rose up.
"Incoming!" a voice shouted from far away.
Raising his head, Zuko felt a large thump against the back of his head; forcing his upper body to lean forward because of the pain.
Reaching at the back of his head, Zuko found a very tender spot, probably where the object (whatever it was) hit, and tried to pull his head up.
Katara also came up with him.
Both of their eyes widened and they pulled back.
"YOU PERVERT!" Katara screamed at him, covering her lips with her hands.
"It's not my fault!" Zuko snapped defensively.
"Oh, so I'm supposed to believe that YOU wouldn't kiss and try to take advantage of me while I was unconscious?"
"I was hit with something in the back of my head and it threw me forward."
"Sure. That's the oldest excuse—!" she began, then watched as Zuko turned and showed her the light bruise already forming on the back of his head.
"Oh." Katara finally said. "Sorry."
"Were you really unconscious?" Zuko asked suddenly; wondering if she'd actually heard everything he'd said.
"I was unconscious?" Katara asked and Zuko shifted his eyes from one corner of the room to another before nodding; he was still a bit suspicious.
If anyone caught wind of what he'd said, he would be made a laughingstock in his country and probably throughout the world.
"The last thing I remember is having this huge headache…" her voice trailed off. It was half true; the last thing she really remembered was having Zuko catch her and begin to say something before the world around her went dark.
"It's a…long story." Zuko replied.
"I'm all ears." Katara insisted, but before he could say a word, Sokka burst into the room; his eyes raving mad.
Without warning, he shot at Zuko and tried to grab him around the neck.
"You think you can kiss anyone you want?" Sokka shouted as the two boys began to wrestle.
"What are you talking about?" Zuko demanded as he twisted Sokka's arm.
"I saw you—you were taking advantage of my unconscious sister!" Sokka shouted back and Katara shot from bed to push Sokka off of him.
"He didn't do anything; your boomerang hit him in the back of his head and he fell forward from that hit! You're seeing things again." Katara insisted as she helped Zuko to his feet.
"How can you stand up for him?" Sokka demanded.
"You're just sulking because you didn't get a girl." Zuko mumbled off to one side. Sokka rounded off to him.
"Coming from you, Scar-boy?" he snapped impulsively.
"Something you want to say about my scar?" Zuko retorted angrily; lunging to attack Sokka.
Katara tackled him before he could do anything and the two collapsed on the cot.
"It's my witness against your protests! Who is anyone more likely to believe?" Sokka said; eyeing the two of them now sitting on the cot.
"I can prove it; I saw the whole thing." A voice next to them said. Looking at the other occupied cot, the 3 teens saw Rose sitting upright and staring right at them.
"The boomerang hit Zuko in the back of the head, and then he reeled forward because of the force of the blow." Rose said and Sokka was still a bit suspicious since she'd repeated what Katara had said.
"Why would I lie?" Rose asked as if reading his mind.
"She'd never lie; she was raised with a code of honor." Sokka said quickly.
Katara and Zuko shifted their eyes from Rose to Sokka.
'Mm-hmm.' They both thought sarcastically.
Just then, Jake came into the room.
"Rose! You're up!" he exclaimed and she smiled as he came over and embraced her.
As they pulled away, Grandpa, Fu, Trixie, Spud, Aang and Iroh joined them.
"Good to see you all back in your own bodies." Iroh said with a small smile.
"Well, now that we are back in our own bodies, how do we get back to our time?" Rose suddenly asked and the 4 teens, 1 grandparent, and 1 talking dog glanced at one another and realized that none of them had a plan to take them back.
"G—please tell me you have some kind of magic device that'll get us back!" Jake slightly pleaded and Long Shu shook his head.
"We can't be stuck here! There's no technology, no hip-hop—nothing to do here!" Trixie shouted.
"Well, we all got here by a magic, so maybe if Jake flies fast enough, we'll end up in the future!" Spud suggested and everyone stared at him with a hopeless expression.
"It…seemed like a good idea." He said after noticing their stares.
"Well, I guess you'll all have to stay here, then." Sokka said; snatching a quick glance at Rose.
All of a sudden, everyone heard something drop onto the marble floor and turned to see something behind Aang. Aang tried to quickly dive for the object, but Long Shu was quicker; snatching it up and examining it.
It was a round egg-like object that glowed in the light and was tied to a ribbon. There were criss-cross cracks going diagonally from the upper left side of the egg and it formed a full circle around the oval stone, if it was a stone.
"Hey!" Aang shouted; trying to regain his possession while Jake came over and examined it as well.
"Is this what I think it is?" He demanded to his grandpa, who nodded.
"The Eucrono hourglass!" the two said simultaneously.
"The what?" Zuko asked.
"The Eucrono hourglass is a magical hourglass that can travel back or forth in time! With this—!" Jake began.
"We can go back to the future!" Rose finished.
"Exactly! I still have to wonder how this object is here right now; where did you find it, young one?" Long Shu asked the young Avatar who immediately stared down at his feet.
"I—I found it at a vendor's stall and purchased it." He mumbled.
"Well, thanks for purchasing that; we'll pay you back. Will…" Spud started to dig into his pockets.
"…a penny, a ball of lint, and a soda tab be enough?" he asked; holding out the objects to Aang.
Trixie rolled her eyes and whipped the hat off of his head.
"Trix!" Spud protested as she shoved the knit hat onto Aang's head.
"That color suits you." She noted; taking in Aang's appearance.
"The timing is set; say your final goodbyes." Long Shu called
. Jake went over to Zuko; holding out his hand.
"Even if you're a stubborn and bossy angst-brat, you're pretty cool after all." He said. Zuko shook his hand.
"And for a dancing-obsessed and klutzy idiot, you…possess a promising character." Zuko improvised; what praise could he honestly say without making it seem like he was cajoling Jake?
"I get it, I get it." Jake laughed and then went to join his grandfather.
Rose and Katara, though they didn't know each other for too long, lightly girl-hugged.
"I know it's going to sound weird, but let me tell you this; you and Zuko might seem too different in both of your opinions, but as I recently learned, you have to be on the outside looking in to see who people truly are. Take that chance." Rose whispered and Katara nodded.
"Trust does take a long time to rebuild, but I'm sure you and Jake will make amends soon enough. But watch out for that Trixie girl." Katara added; eyeing the dark-skinned female from the future.
"Will do." Rose whispered back and went to join everyone. Iroh pulled a small parcel from his pocket and handed it to Long Shu.
"The secret ingredient to the tea." He stated simply and Long Shu took it with gratitude.
"Maybe one day we will come and visit you all again." He replied to the teenagers and bowed low to Iroh, who returned it.
"Fu, what that in your hand?" Jake asked suspiciously. Fu quickly snapped his hands behind his back.
"Nothing." He said quickly, but in his haste dropped it on the ground.
It was a small box.
Sokka grabbed it before Fu dove his body weight upon it and opened it to discover many gold coins.
"What the--?" he demanded; turning to the fat dog.
"Have you been gambling again?" Grandpa demanded. Fu only stood on all fours.
"Woof, woof." He said and scurried to join up with the rest of his 'gang'.
"Goodbye. It was nice meeting you." Rose said as Grandpa activated the time turner.
"Holla." Jake added before there was a bright flash and when Zuko and Katara regained their sight, they were gone.R'n'R.