SMST: The Ethereal Path of the Avatar! – By DS Wynne
Disclaimer: "SM", "R1/2", "ST" and other properties belong to their respective owners.
Note: This is a multi-genre story.
Part 12
"Good," the king says. "Now, the test…shall begin."
Aang nods his head. He looks at Ranma, Usagi and Goku, before returning his full attention back towards the king.
"Do I have to choose a person before or after you give me the test?" Aang asked.
The King merely grins.
"It's all up to you, young friend."
"Oh. Okay…then I choose Usagi."
"ME?" Usagi says.
"Sure why not?"
"Okay."
"Good," the King says. He then turns towards the waterfall that was pouring into the middle of the cavern.
"I need to get a key to a lock box."
"Okay…"
"The key is IN the waterfall. Can you get it for me?"
"What?" Ranma and Sokka yelled.
"Yes, I want the lovely Usagi to get that key. If she can, then the first test is passed."
"The let me do it-"
"Sorry, but once Aang has chosen, the test must commence. That's why it is important for Aang to make his choices wisely."
"But-"
Ranma then felt a hand on his right shoulder. He turns towards Usagi.
"Ranma, I can do this," Usagi says with reassurance. "Please have faith in me."
Ranma looks into his wife's eyes.
"Alright, but be careful."
"Thanks," Usagi says.
"Oh, great…we're DOOM!" Sokka laments.
"Be quiet, Sokka," Katara says. "Aang wouldn't have chosen Usagi if he didn't know her capabilities."
"Actually, I just picked at random," Aang says.
"See?" Sokka says.
"Be quiet."
"You may begin at any time," the King says.
"Well, here I go," Usagi says, as she begins rock back and forth. "Okay…alright…here we go-"
"WOULD YOU GET ON WITH IT?" Sokka yelled.
BONK!
"Ow!"
"Show so manners," Ranma says with a smirk. "She's trying, you know?"
Ranma turns to his wife.
"Just do your best, babe," Ranma says with a smile.
Usagi smiles back.
"Thanks," Usagi says, as she suddenly leaps off the balcony, and began to hop from stalactite to stalactite. When she got to the stone formation closest to the waterfall, Usagi locked her thighs at the point towards the top.
"How come Usagi isn't using her power of flight?" Katara asked.
"Because the test has to be based upon resourcefulness," Aang says, as he turns towards the King. "Right?"
"Exactly…though I really didn't know that your friend could fly," the King says.
"And it would be fun to see Ma do her thing," Goku says. He then leans over.
"You can do it, Ma!"
Usagi looks at her adopted son.
'I got to prove myself,' Usagi thought to herself. She looks around to see a stalactite closest to her. She leans back, and braces herself by holding on to the second structure.
"Uhh!" Usagi grunted, as she uses her thighs to snap the top part of the stalactite that her legs were wrapped around.
SNAP!
Predictably, Usagi began to fall. However, as she fell, Usagi curled up, forcing herself to tilt forward as she fell. She then used both hands to propel her upward, even as she continued to maintain her hold on the stone piece. As she leaped upwards, Usagi rolled until she manages to propel the stone object up and away from her. Then she tumbled downwards until she manages to land on the sheared stalactite that Usagi had modified with her thighs.
THUMP!
'There,' Usagi thought to herself, as she catches her piece of long, pointy stone. The piece was thick and long enough to provide cover…
"Here goes!" Usagi yells, as she tosses the piece towards the key ring.
FWOOSH!
At the same time, Usagi leaped after it. However, she moved slightly faster, so as to nearly over take the object. The result was that as the waterfall was deflected by the stone piece, thus shielding Usagi from the water. She also twirled her body like a spinning torpedo, so that her momentum would still be carried through. As soon as the stone piece began to deflect the pouring water, Usagi grabbed the key before the stone shifted it out of reach.
'Yoink," Usagi says, as she grabs the suspended key.
"She did it!" Goku yells.
"See?" Katara says. "She did it."
"She did it?" Sokka asked.
"Yep, she did it," Ranma says with pride.
Usagi sailed towards the far wall, changed her descent pattern with a twist and roll, bounced off the cavern wall, and sailed back to her party on the balcony.
"Ta-da!" Usagi says, as she bows. "Thank you, and good night!"
"Knock it off, woman," Ranma says with a smile. "You did good, but we have two more challenges to go through."
"Indeed," the King says. "Follow me…"
Soon all arrive at the edge of some open pit.
"This is your NEXT test," the King says.
"So, what is the next test?" Aang asked.
"All you have to do is feed my pet 'Fluffy'."
"'Fluffy'?" Katara says.
"What kind of name IS that?" Ranma says.
"Well, I think it's a cute name," Usagi says.
"YOU would."
"So, who do you choose to take your test, young Aang?"
Aang turns to look at Ranma and his buddy Goku, the only ones left who could take the test…
"I choose…Goku," Aang says.
Ranma sighs. Yes, Goku can take care of himself, but he still doesn't want him to be in harms way…
"Yay!" Goku says.
"Good," the King says, as he takes out a bell. "Just go down, and use it."
"Okay," Goku says, as he accepts the bell.
"Well, that seems routine," Katara says.
"Well, think we have more pressing matters," Sokka says, as the crystal that encased both himself and his sister Katara. "And the easier the King's tests…the better."
Usagi turns to Ranma.
"You think Goku is going to be alright?" Usagi asked.
"I think so," Ranma says, as he sees Goku climbing down the pit. "I mean, what could possibly go wrong…?"
TING!
Goku hops down and scans the area. There were rocks and shrubs and the like.
"Hmmm," Goku says, as he rings his bell.
TING!
Goku scans the area, and spots a little rabbit.
"Ah, you must be 'Fluffy'," Goku says, as he squats. However-
THOOM! THOOM! THOOM!
Goku turns around to see something huge, hairy, white and looked like a cross between a gorilla and a rabbit.
"Ah!" Goku yells.
The others see what was going on below.
"Ranma-!" Usagi cried out.
Ranma squints his eyes, and says nothing.
Goku takes out his extendable staff, and leaps over the creature. He then lands on top of him.
"Ha-HA!" Goku yells, as he cries for joy. "This is fun!"
The creature manages to knock Goku off however. He rolls and stands in front of the creature…
SLURP!
"Ew!" Goku says, as the creature licked Goku's face.
"He must be 'Fluffy'," Aang points out.
"And you know this because…?" Sokka asks.
"Because only a weirdo like the King would have THAT for a pet named 'Fluffy'," Ranma points out.
"Ranma…?" Usagi asked.
Ranma turns to his wife.
"I didn't do anything because I didn't sense any bad vibes from 'Fluffy', and neither did Goku."
"Yay!" Goku says, as Fluffy carries Goku to the King.
"This is just great," Sokka smirked "Goku made a friend. Yah for US."
"Alright," Ranma says to the King, who was now rubbing Fluffy's belly. "I'm ready for MY turn."
"Oh, really?"
"Yes, so let's get this over with."
Ten minutes later, Ranma and the crew were with King Bumi and his guard in some sort of underground arena. The Katara and Sokka's respective crystal prisons were now covering their entire bodies. Usagi was prepared to make a dash escape by shattering these coffin-like structures. However, Ranma insisted in seeing this thing through to the end.
"Well, Ranma my boy," Bumi says. "Who do you wish to challenge for the final test?"
Ranma scans the men. They looked tough, and they looked like warriors, but if his senses told him about the king were true…
"You," Ranma says, as he points at the king.
"And why is that, young man?" the king asked demurely.
"In my life time, I ran into enough old freaks to tell me not to underestimate them."
"Why…that's a good idea," the king says, as he suddenly straightens his back, and removes his robes.
"Whoa," Sokka says.
"Tell me about it," Katara interjects.
"He looks a lot healthier," Aang says.
"Wow," Goku says. "He's just like Master Roshi."
"I hope not," Usagi says. "I don't want to deal with any more pervs outside of Chikyuu."
"Get ready to rock…and roll!" the King says, as he suddenly stomps the ground.
THOOM!
The kinetic force sends Ranma harmlessly into the middle of the arena.
"Heh," Ranma says, as he stands from a crouch. "You got to do better than THAT, old man."
"Why, of course, young man," the king says. "And by the way, I'm the most powerful Earthbender in this land. Hootcha!"
THOOM!
The king stomps the ground, forcing large size boulder into the air for him to "fist".
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Ranma nimbly dodges the first volley, but using the Breaking Point to shatter the next volley.
"Breaking Point!"
BOOM! BOOM-!
"Interesting skill," the king says. "But it is NOT Earthbending."
The king stomps the ground, forcing another boulder upwards. However, instead of launching at Ranma with another volley, the king leaps and uses both feet to kick the boulders towards the ceiling, causing rock to rain down on Ranma.
Ranma forces himself back a bit, before moving in to 'tag' the king. However, as the king performs some sort of ground-based kata, jagged earth bursts upward, causing Ranma to use evasive measures.
"You'll have to be a bit more creative than that," the king says.
"Oh, yeah?" Ranma yells, I'll show you creative!"
From his experience with Aang, he knew that elemental benders had to concentrate in order to perform their technique. So, why not divide that concentration?
Ranma quickly cups his hand to form an airball. However, instead of using it to create an air scooter, Ranma decided to create multiple airballs.
THIP! THIP! THIP! THIP-!
However, instead of throwing them at the king, he began to use the walls, the floor and the ceiling to ricochet his attacks at angles. Thus, with these air balls coming from multiple sides, the king could not focus on him.
"Nice try, but while I deal with your attack, you can deal with this," the king says, as he punches into the ground.
THOOM!
Ranma leaps over the ruptured ground, and continues towards the king.
"Ha!" the king yells, as he stomps the ground.
Suddenly, the ground turns into quick sand, slowing his progress a bit.
The king raises a shield to defend himself with one hand, while using another hand to raise a huge boulder. Soon, it was about to land on top of Ranma's head-
"Breaking Point!"
BOOM!
"Time to pull all the stops," Ranma says to himself. Unlike Aang, Ranma learned that he could create a tornado effect without the need to move.
"Dragon Rising Ascension!"
The attack picks up the dirt and dust, allowing Ranma to free himself. He leaps into the eye of the tornado, and allows it sling shot him at the king like a torpedo.
"Ha!" the king says, as removes the stone balcony, and tosses it at Ranma.
"Damn," Ranma says, as he forms a huge air ball to cushion his impact.
BOING!
This forces the king's attack back at the king.
"Oh, dear," the king says, as he phases through the rock.
At the same time, Ranma bounces off his counter-attack, and lands in front of the king.
"Got you," Ranma says, as he pulls back his fist while in a fight stance. "At this range, I can't miss."
"Funny, I was thinking the same thing," the king says.
Ranma squints his eye, as dust fell on his face. He looks up to see that the king had a boulder hanging over his head.
"Heh," Ranma says. "Good one."
"I know," the king says, as he tosses the boulder. "Aang did well to pick his friends…"
Later…
"So, I can't believe that the king turned out to be Aang's old friend 'Bumi'," Sokka says, as he leans on a railing of Omashu's upper terraces.
"Well, Aang did say that Bumi was…unconventional," Katara says.
"I guess so. Say, where are the others?"
"Well…"
Just then, a delivery cart carrying three people slid past them.
"Yeah!" Goku yelled, as he angled the cart for maximum speed.
"HA!" King Bumi yells in glee. "I had forgotten what this was like!"
Using the mail delivery system, Bumi and Aang were having fun in their person super-slide.
"Told you," Aang says.
And then-
"Weeee!" Usagi says, as she and Ranma was sliding past the others.
"Hey, no fair, Pa!" Goku yelled.
"Hey, you snooze you loose," Ranma says. "I am a speed freak you know…"
As Katara and Sokka watches these five slide past them…
"Sometimes, I wonder if WHO is the mature one out of all of us, Katara."
"I know what you mean, Sokka…I know what you mean…"
Tbc.