SMST: Earth, Wind and Fire! – By DS Wynne
Disclaimer: "SM", "R1/2", "ST" and other properties belong to their respective owners.
Note: This is a multi-genre story.
Part 2
Meanwhile…
"Ah," says the older, middle-aged gentleman with the knot top and facial hair, as he drank his tea of the deck of a small "cruiser" (called "The Agni"). "There is nothing finer than piping hot tea in the cold, nephew."
An older teenager, dressed in an ox-blood (with red trim) light armor, and sported a "queue" (shaved head with braid), scoffed.
"Uncle Iroh, all you think of is TEA," the boy says, as he turns to face his uncle. The burn over his left eye was shaped like a fiery comet, which enhanced his menacing, yet handsome, scowl. "We're SUPPOSED to be trying to find the Avatar, so that I can reclaim my HONOR."
The man once known as "The Dragon of the West" sighs.
"Zuko, the Avatar has not been seen in over one-hundred years. We do not know if he is alive or not, or if he is a different person now. All we can do is take it easy…and relax."
"Humph! That's easy for YOU to say. Unlike YOU, I WANT my honor back."
The Fire Nation Prince returns his gaze towards the outstretched southern arctic seas.
"Besides, I can almost FEEL the Avatar's presence around here-"
Suddenly, a huge, stream light could be seen shooting upwards into the sky. Although it was far away, the Agni rocked a bit from the force of the display.
"I KNEW it!" Zuko yells. He then turns to his uncle.
"See?"
"So I do," Iroh replied, as he inwardly sighs. So much for having a peaceful exile…
"Good," Zuko says, as he turns to his men. "Everyone, prepare for battle. I do not want to take ANY chances of losing the Avatar."
"Yes, Prince Zuko!" yells the men in unison.
Meanwhile…
"Whoa," Ranma says, as he gets up. Very rarely can one such as he witness power at its purest…and this is coming from a man who routinely engage powerful aliens and gods.
"Pops, are you okay?" Goku says, as he helps his foster-father up to his feet.
"Um, sure," Ranma replied, as he looks over to where Usagi was. She had been checking out the glowing ice block, when Goku began tapping on it.
"I…I'm sorry for that," Goku replies.
"Ah, it's not a problem," Ranma says. Truth to be told, he was glad that Goku's curiosity released whatever it was inside.
"See?" Sokka yelled. "I KNEW these guys were bad news!"
Sokka's sister, Katara, turns to face her brother.
"Sokka, knock it off," Katara says, as she waved off the steam.
"Hey, I'm just putting it out there. It's not everyday that three people—and one of them happens to have a TAIL—fall out of the sky. For all we know, they could be of the Fire Nation."
"You keep on mentioning that name like it's a bad thing," Ranma says.
"Sokka, what is this…Fire Nation?" Usagi asked.
"You don't KNOW what the Fire Nation IS?" Sokka says in disbelief. "It's like this evil empire that is trying to take over the world!"
"Maybe we should focus on the kid," Ranma says, as he points to the kid lying down besides a…six-legged BISON?
"Ranma is right," Katara says, as she goes over the unconscious boy. He was bald, dressed like a monk, and had a blue tattoo that pointed to the front on his scalp. Katara goes onto her knees, and takes a close look at the boy…
And then, the boy opens his eyes.
"Will you go penguin sledding with me?" the boy asked.
"Huh?" Katara says.
"Ah, that's SO cute," Usagi says.
The boy looks over to where the rest of Katara's party was standing. There was only one thing he could say.
"Why does that kid have a monkey's tail?"
Goku hops over to the boy.
"Hi!" Goku says. "My name is 'Goku'. You want to be friends?"
The kid was about to say something when he sneezed.
"AH-CHOO!"
The sneeze caused him to shoot backwards, up and down…though he did land gracefully.
"Wow, that's neat!"
Ranma blinked his eyes.
"I'll say," Ranma says.
"You know, based upon what I've seen, this place has strong ties to 'Elemental Magic'," Usagi says.
"Perhaps, but I see a lot more use of 'chakra' than 'mana'," Ranma says.
"You mean 'bending'?" Sokka says.
"What's that?" Goku asked.
"'Bending' is manipulating the elements as a part of the harmonious cycle," the boy says, as he stretches. "You see, I'm an 'airbender'."
"And I'm a 'waterbender'," Katara says.
"And I'm hungry," Sokka interjects. "And we are stuck in the middle of NO WHERE."
"It's no problem," the boy says. "By the way, my name is 'Aang'."
"And you met 'Goku'," Katara says.
"Hi!"
"And that is my brother Sokka-"
"Yo."
"And these are 'Ranma' and 'Usagi'. They are Goku's parents."
Aang looks at the Saotome couple, noting how young they appeared to him.
"Wow, you two must have been kids to have Goku as parents."
"Actually, we adopted Goku," Usagi says. "But thank you for the compliment."
"Well, we better get going," Aang says. "You all can get on Appa's back."
"NEATO!" Goku says enthusiastically. "I got shot gun!"
"What?"
Usagi turns to Ranma.
"So, what's the verdict on our ship?"
"Well, the engines are shot, and, if the rest of the planet is like this area, we're going to be here for a LONG time."
"But…all we need to do is get the parts for it, right?"
"That's it. We'll need a way to MAKE the parts from scratch, if need be. I don't know where we can at least forge the parts, or if there is any ore to work with."
Usagi puts her hand on Ranma's arm.
"Even if we have to remain here for the rest of our lives, I wouldn't want to be here without you by my side."
Ranma takes Usagi's right hand and squeezes it gently.
"Come on, you love birds," Sokka mocked. "Let's get out here."
"Yeah, yeah," Ranma says, as he presses a hidden button on the side of the ship-
POOF!
Now returning to capsule mode, Ranma pockets the craft.
"How did he-?" Aang asks.
"We've been asking that ALL afternoon," Sokka says.
Curiously, when Usagi was about to get on Appa's back, when the bison began to snort angrily.
"What's wrong with Appa?" Katara asks.
"I'm not sure," Aang says. "What's wrong boy?"
Animals tend to be more sensitive that humans. Thus, to the six-legged flying bison, it sensed a predatory species within Usagi.
"It's okay, Aang," Usagi says sadly. "I'll walk…"
However distrustful Appa was of the thing within Usagi, the soul of the Moon Princess called out to the flying beast.
Appa, in an act of friendship, licks Usagi's entire body.
SLURP!
"Ewww!" Usagi says, as she felt moist all over…VERY moist.
Ranma and the rest of the assembled people merely laughed.
"Well, that's that," Aang says, as Usagi climbed unto Appa back. "Watch what Appa can REALLY do!"
The flying bison gets up, and with one giant leap-
SPLASH!
It found itself in the water.
"Oh, how AMAZING," Sokka says sarcastically.
"Ah, Appa just needs to get used to moving, that's all," Aang says, as Appa paddles forward towards Sokka and Katara's village.
Tbc.