Chapter Three: Dangerous Roads
The sun rose up over the horizon as the boat Ronan and Aki were on reached Earth Kingdom shores. Aki was struggling to keep her eyes open. It has been a long and tough night for her. Ronan saw that the port had an inn but he only had two copper pieces left; not enough for a one night stay. They traveled for nearly a minute away from the port until Ronan found a good spot to camp. He bended out two thick plates of earth to construct a big tent. He then proceeded to close off the far end with another slab of earth.
"There we go. A fine place to crash for the night." Ronan said with a grin to Aki, who wasted no time entering the structure and laid down on one side. He then entered inside. He pulled out a small blanket from his pack and covered Aki. Before he himself lied down, he partially closed the entrance, just enough in case Aki needed to go out. The night was brisk since they were still far down south. It got to the point that anyone could see their breath when they exhale. Ronan increase his chi energy to release plenty of heat to keep the tent warm. His mind wandered off as he closed his eyes thinking about what the future holds...
It was still early in the morning when Ronan woke up. He felt a disturbance through the ground. It was Aki. She was tossing and turning, and her heart rate was higher than normal. She was having a nightmare. He gently nudged her, calling her name. She woke up with a shock and stared at Ronan, trembling.
"Are you okay?" he asked. She didn't answer. "It'll be alright. Just stay here and rest. I'll fetch us some food."
Aki clutched the blanket and wrapped it around herself, sitting in the back. She didn't stir. For nearly thirty minutes while Ronan was gone, she sat stunned, with the visions of her nightmare, haunting her. As Ronan entered back in the tent, she snapped out of her fright.
"Got ourselves some fresh apples, and I helped out the inn keeper for some bread." he said, handing her some of it. She gladly accepted it and wasted no time digging into it. Ronan contemplated on whether or not he she ask her about her nightmare, but he had a pretty good idea what it was about. Better not keep picking at the wound. "There's a caravan service that usually makes its round from here to Republic City. Goes right up along the coast."
After they finished eating their breakfast, the sun began to rise above the horizon. They packed up what they had, and then Ronan dismantled the earth tent back into the ground. As they walked back towards the inn, the caravan could be seen coming down the road. It was a metal wagon that was pulled by a motor on wheels. The driver sat in front of the wagon with the steering wheel while the contents of the load are stowed away inside the safety of the metal structure. As it approached, they could see the driver was a girl about Ronan's age, dressed in worn ragged clothing with leather armor covering her forearms, shins, and chest. When she parked the caravan and jumped down, Ronan approached her.
"This caravan goes to Republic City, right?" he asked.
"Yeah. You need something delivered?" she asked.
"Yes, actually. I was hoping you could provide transport for the both of us."
She looked at him with an annoyed look. "I don't give lifts to strangers."
"I promise we won't be a bother. We can help you while we are with you."
She looked up in the sky and sighed. "How much money do you have on you?"
"Erm... Two copper pieces." She started to ignore him. "Oh, give me a break. I've been away for nearly two decades years."
"Fine, how about this. Can you bend, and are you damn good at it?"
"Of course," he said with pride. "I'm the Avatar."
She laughed. "Yeah. Right."
"Yeah. Right." he said mockingly. He kicked up a slab or earth and launched it into the woods, sent a large mass of air into an apple tree, formed a stream of water from the nearby well, froze it, and speared the ground, then breathed an inferno out of his mouth and nose into the sky. Needless to say, she was impressed, due to the shocked look on her face. She was at a loss for words. "So, how about now?"
"...Oh my gosh." she said lightly. "Everyone thought you were dead or captured."
"Well, yeah. It was close to that."
"Where have you been?"
"The spirit world. And I get the feeling I may have many more people ask that. I figure that if I can at least talk to the leaders that everything can be cleared up."
"Right, right. Yeah, I can give you two a lift. Is she your sister?"
"Oh, no. I'm her guardian."
"So, where are her pare-" Ronan quickly gestured for her to not finish that question, but Aki already looked away to the ground. "Oh... Well, I can surely get you guys there. It'll be about two days with a few stops along the way."
"Sounds good. We'll wait for you here."
"Alright, My name's Jade by the way."
"Ronan," he said, shaking her hand, "And that's Aki." Jade knelt down to shake Aki's hand, but she just stepped behind Ronan. "It's alright." He said with a smile. Jade nodded her head then went to the back of the caravan to make her delivery. "There, we now have a lift."
"What's going to happen when we get there?" Aki asked.
"I'm not entirely sure, to be honest. The two people, or spirits I should say, said that I should meet the president of Republic City. From there, we'll have an idea."
After a few minutes, Jade dropped off her shipment, and situated the caravan for travel. All three of them climbed up to the top, then they were on their way.
"So," Ronan said, "Why'd you ask if I was a good bender?"
"Recently, the Nonbender army has been at it again with attacks. And along with that, bandits are starting to attack as well."
"Lovely," he said sarcastically, "Have they attacked you yet?"
"Once, but I managed to lose them. Other caravans and travelers told me about it."
Aki started to stare at Ronan with a look of worry. "It'll be okay. I'm sure we'll be fine."
The Next Day...
The final drop off was made. It was time to go straight back to Republic City.
"So, I forgot to ask," Ronan said, "You do this for a living?"
"Yeah. My father was injured fighting it the war, so I do this to keep us on our feet."
"That's very noble. I'm sure he's very proud of you."
"Yeah.." she said, wandering off. Ronan thought nothing of it.
"So, how much longer from here?"
"At this rate, probably night time or early morning."
Ronan looked towards Aki who looked panicked. "What's wrong Aki?" She pointed behind him. He turned back and saw three vehicles, all equipped with large all-terrain tires, speeding through with woods coming towards the caravan. Jade now noticed too.
"Damn it! Bandits!" She punched the accelerator causing the caravan to lurch forward picking up speed. "I'm glad I finished with my loads. We could never lose them with a feel load." The vehicles surrounded the sides of rear of the caravan.
A voice came out through a speaker on one of the vehicles. "Stop the caravan, and we'll let you live!"
Jade yelled back. "There's nothing in it! My trip is done!"
The voice boomed back. "Well then, that's too bad." The vehicle proceeded to ram to caravan on the side. It began to drift, but Jade managed to regain control.
"Aki, hold on tight now, you hear?" Ronan yelled. She held onto the side rail tight.
Ronan stood up, trying to hold his balance as he tried to bend the earth. He bended a thick slab of earth from the ground in front of the one vehicle. It turned had to avoid to avoid the rock wall. Its front side tire hit, and flipped it into the air, causing it to land upside down, but its giant tires kept it going. The cab of the vehicle flipped right side up. Ronan sighed in disbelief. One of the other vehicles rammed into the other side of the caravan. There was a boulder on the hillside along the road. Ronan grabbed a hold of it through bending, swung it around gaining velocity, and launched it into the cab of the vehicle. It only left a dent.
"What are you doing?" Jade yelled. "Aren't you the Avatar?"
"It's kind of hard to fight back on a moving vehicle! I can't really grasp hold of the earth!"
Jade began shooting small bursts of fire from her fists, attempting to take down of the bandits. Her attempts are futile.
"Hey, are their cabs made of metal, not platinum?" Ronan asked.
Jade looked more closely at them. "Yeah, why?"
"I have an idea then." Ronan took a deep breath, held it in, then exhaled. "Aki, I'll be back, alright?" She nodded, worried.
Ronan jumped off the caravan, and landed of the cab of the bandit vehicle leading the rear. In response, the driver flipped the cab. Ronan kicked off hard in front of the vehicle. As the cab went right side up, Ronan landed on it again. He quickly jabbed his hands into the metal cab and ripped his way in. He grabbed the bandit by the collar of his shirt and threw him out, pounding into the rough terrain, rolling until he came to a stop. Ronan hopped into the hood. He floored it and got in front of the vehicle blocking the left side of the caravan. He tore out a chunk of metal, and quickly bended it into a dozen sharp tacks. Through the hole of the cab, and threw them in front of the other bandit, blowing out the tires, causing it to lose control and spin out, breaking the vehicle into many pieces. One more to go. But before he made his move, a monotone voice came though the speaker inside the cab. It was announcing a remote self destruct.
"Shit, these guys are serious!" he screamed. He quickly jumped out high of the vehicle before it erupted into the flames. The force of the explosion made the caravan lose control.
"We're gonna crash!" Jade yelled.
Ronan landed back on the caravan and grabbed hold of Aki. Then the caravan went sideways and hit a boulder, flipping the caravan. Ronan jumped off with Aki in his arms and landed hard on his back, shielding her from the ground. Jade jumped off gracefully, landed on her feet, and slid to a stop. The caravan on the other hand flipped onto the last bandit vehicle. The collision was brutal as both vehicles erupted into flames. Ronan slowly got back onto his feet.
"A-Are you okay?!" Aki asked.
"Yeah," he grunted, "Trust me, I had worse in the Spirit World. Are you okay?"
"Yes, thank you."
Jade dropped down to her knees. "That was life right there." she said blankly.
Ronan and Aki walked up to her. "I'm sorry about what happened." Ronan said. "Do you at least have the money you made from the deliveries?"
She looked down to her side at her pouch. "Yeah, thankfully. But it's not enough for another caravan and the bills back home..."
"I promise I'll help you out somehow once we get back to Republic City. You have my word."
"Yeah, yeah.."
"So then, um, how long will it take to get there now?
She looked down, thinking. "Tomorrow night, if we're lucky."
"Want to get going now, or do you want to wait?"
"No, there's nothing to stay for. I'd rather just get back home." She began running down the road.
"Hop on up Aki," Ronan said, "We're going to be going fast."
Aki hopped onto Ronan's back, and then off they went running to Republic City.