Book Two: Earth
Chapter Seven: The Sky Dragon
"I was fourteen when I earned the nickname Sky Dragon. Gyatso had taken Aang to see Bumi and Kuzon in Omashu, so another younger monk named Asher had taken me to Drake's. A week after my arrival Tami and Tamsin arrived unannounced. At the time it seemed to be just a normal get together, but an idea brought on by boredom proved the trip to be far more."
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Drake and Xena were in the gardens by the turtle-duck pond, knees touching as they tossed scraps of bread into the water for the birds. Rivon sat behind them, perched on a branch of the cherry-blossom tree. The three of the were trying to decide what they were going to do for the month long vacation, having already visited all their usual haunts.
"We could visit the Sun Warriors' temple," Drake suggested, tossing the rest of his bread into the pond.
"No," Rivon and Xena say at the same time.
"Why not?"
"Because neither of us are interested in seeing a bunch of old crumbling ruins," Rivon answers.
"Then what?"
"We could go to Ba Sing Se," Rivon suggests.
"To crowded," Xena rejects, tossing the last of her bread to the turtle-ducks.
Drake nods in agreement.
"Dragon hunting."
The three turn in surprise to see the Bei Fong twins, entering the garden.
"Tami! Tamsin! What are you guys doing here?" Xena asks happily, standing up.
"We came to visit," Tamsin says, yanking her and Drake into a rib crushing hug.
Tami sat down on the ground by the pond, unconcerned about the dirt that sticks to her green pants. Once Tamsin releases her two friends, she gracefully climbs the cherry blossom tree to sit with Rivon.
"We should go dragon hunting," Tami said again, pulling a knee to her chest.
"That would be awesome," Drake agrees.
"Isn't that dangerous?" Xena asks nervously.
"That's what makes it fun," Tamsin chirped, hanging upside down from the tree branch.
Xena was quickly outvoted and as a punishment for arguing with them has to leave her swords in her room. Tamsin asked Asher to fly them out to the Glass Mountains in the morning, named so because of the shards of obsidian laying everywhere. Asher unable to resist her charm agrees despite Xena's frantic head shaking. The next morning he flies them out, leaving them with their supplies. By this time it is dark outside and Tami setups earth tents at their chosen campsite to sleep before starting their hunt in the morning.
Tamsin woke all of them up the next morning excitedly, pushing packs into their hands so they can start immediately. Xena sighs and takes the pack which seems to be heavier than the others.
"Why do I have to carry the heaviest pack?" She complained, lagging behind the others.
"Because we wanted to hear you complain," Rivon calls back sarcastically.
"Very funny," She says dryly, climbing faster to catch up with them.
They walk for a couple of hours taking a break every once in a while, but never when Xena asks. The wind picks up as they walk and Xena looks up worriedly, taking note of the dark clouds above them. It starts raining heavily and Tami is forced to make them an earth tent again because it's too dangerous to be walking on the slick obsidian. Drake and Xena uses firebending to stay warm while the others wrap themselves in blankets to keep warm.
"This is a great vacation," Xena says sarcastically.
Tami punches her arm hard and Xena winces before glaring at the older girl.
"Calm down," Tamsin orders, shivering slightly.
They sit in silence after that and it's not long before the boys and Tamsin fall asleep, leaving Tami and Xena in silence. Xena scoots closer to the tent entrance, blocked by a triangular slab to keep the wind out. Suddenly she hears something and tilts her head to the side to listen for it again. There it is again. It sounds like a cough mixed with thunder.
"Did you hear that?" She asks quietly, afraid to speak above a whisper.
"No," Tami said boredly. There's a bone jarring thump from outside and a loud howling sound. "But I heard that."
"What's going on?" Drake asked as the others wake up due to the continuous thumping sounds. Xena pushes her heat vision to its limit and closes her eyes. Sensing nothing on the ground besides a couple of mice, she turns her attention to the sky. Something large is circling above us, but its heat pattern isn't hot enough for a dragon and yet it's too big to be anything but a dragon.
"Wing beats," Rivon says, recognizing the thumps.
"A dragon?"
"Is heat signature is too cold for it," She says, opening her eyes.
"News flash for you, Xena, its freezing cold out there," Tami said.
Xena turns and glares at her when suddenly the tent explodes. Everyone screams and Xena duck her head to avoid being hit by the flying debris. The wind tugs at her clothes and the freezing rain quickly soaks through her clothes. She warily stands and looks up as the very large, most definitely a dragon, dragon as it lets out a howl. Gasping, she takes a step back. The dragon is bright orange with a light yellow mane and wings. It lands and creates a circle around them with its long body. The dragon growls and shifts forward tightening the loop until they are all standing back to back, shivering in fear. Its lips rise in a snarl, revealing very sharp fangs capable of biting through flesh like it's butter.
"That is definitely a dragon," Xena says quietly.
"Way to be obvious, Xena," Tami snaps behind her.
The dragon's attention snaps to the earthbender and suddenly it's right paw lashes out, grabbing her. She screams and struggles.
"Tami," Tamsin shouted.
Xena eyes narrow and she crouches low. She might not be be very happy with Tami at the moment, but that doesn't mean she's going to let a dragon take her friend. The dragon uncurls from around them and opens it's mouth to breath fire … or so she thought. A large ball of air hits them, sending them flying backwards. The dragon had just airbended. It lifted off into the air with Tami, heading up the mountain.
"Drake, help me," Xena orders stepping into a stance and begin making a dragon out of fire.
He joins her and they bend their fire dragon in front of the other dragon, unable to do more because of the effort of keeping the dragon in existence with the pouring rain is taking all their effort. The orange beast stops and flaps its wings several times hovering in midair before breathing a large funnel of air at their dragon, dissolving it. It turns towards them again, growling lowly.
"Help!" Tami shouted, reaching towards them desperately.
Xena limps backs into the clearing when the dragon howls a challenge. She echo its challenge with a howl of her own, a battle cry worthy of her title of a wolf warrior.
"Xena, what are you doing?"
She jumps to the side and slaps her hands down on top of the mud, causing the water to freeze and jag upwards in an ice spike. The spike slams into the hard scales on its chest, knocking it back a foot. It snarled and spat another ball of air at her which she jumped over before twirling and slashing fire with her foot. It snaps its tail at her slashing a much stronger blade of air that dissolves her fire and slams into her, throwing her down the mountain side.
"Xena," She hears Drake shout before her head slams into a rock.
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She's woken up by the sun shining directly into her eyes. Groaning, she sits up only to wince. It feels like a herd of rhino had ran her over or like she'd fallen down a mountain. Come to think of it, I probably did. Something scraps the rocks by her ear and she turns quickly. Only to freeze when she meets the gold eyes of the dragon. It snorts warm air in her face, blowing her bangs away from her forehead. She flinched back and gets ready to bend a flame if it attacks. The dragon suddenly touches her forehead with one of its whiskers.
"You are the Avatar's Guardian," It said, voice distinctively feminine.
She pulls back and nods her head warily. The dragon lowered its head and blinked its eyes.
"I see I grabbed the wrong one before. My apologies."
"You can talk," She said numbly.
"Of course I can, you just couldn't hear me because we didn't have an established connection," The dragon said.
"Oh," She says still confused.
"I'm sorry if I scared you and your friends. I just wanted to see if you were indeed strong enough to protect the Avatar and you are. That last attack was unbelievably powerful."
"Last attack?" Xena asked confused.
Her last attack had been blown away her with it.
"Ah, I see you don't remember. You were able to connect to the past Avatar's through the Avatar State. Quite impressive really. You used firebending to fly and used the rain as a battering ram to throw me off the mountain. I barely had enough strength to fly and catch you."
"I can go into the Avatar State?"
"Yes and I think after that you may just be able to do it at will," It said and stood up.
"Huh, where are you going?"
"I must go," It said. "Also don't tell your friends about this. In fact it'll be best if you tell them that you defeated me."
"Okay," She says slowly and unsurely.
"Goodbye, Guardian Xena," The dragon said before taking off.
Xena sighs and stands up, wincing in pain. It could have at least offered her a ride, instead of abandoning her in the middle of nowhere. She turned looking around trying to figure out her bearings so she can walk back to the mansion.
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Xena sighed and slumped. It's already been a week since she started heading back and she's as lost know as she was before. Shaking her head, she drags her feet. Everyone was probably worried about her to. She trips over a branch and lays sprawled on the ground. Why is it always me? She rolls onto her back and stares at the green canopy above her. She's exhausted, sore, hungry, and lost. This is unbelievable; I'm lost in the Fire Nation.
"Xena!"
"Xena!"
She sits up hearing the shouts. That had sounded like Drake and Tami.
"Here!" She shouts back, standing up.
"Xena!" Tami suddenly appears and grabs her in a tight hug. "You're okay."
"Yeah, I'm okay," She says, stepping back.
Drake appears next and he pulls her into a hug as well. She freezes in surprise and then relaxes, her cheeks flushed slightly. Her pulse sounds loud in her ears and she briefly wonders if he can hear it too.
"Let's get you back to the mansion everyone's worried," He said stepping back.
She nods her head and follows them, limping slightly.
"What happened with the dragon?" Tami asked after a few minutes.
"I defeated it," She lied as the dragon wanted her to.
"No way."
They walk in silence for the rest of the time until they arrive back at the mansion. She had been so close. Tamsin and Rivon both hug her and exclaim over her being alive.
"How?"
"I defeated the dragon," She says again.
"You know what that means don't you," Tamsin said excitedly.
"Umm, should I?" She asks in confusion.
"Whenever someone beats a dragon they get a name based on the dragon," Drake explained.
"Oh, well … I don't think I really need-"
"Sky Dragon," Tamsin cuts her off abruptly.
"I like it. It suits you," Tami said happily.
"Thanks," Xena mumbles in irritation.
"Ah, come on Xena it's not so bad," Drake said nudging her in the ribs.
She blushes slightly at the action.
So you find out how Xena got her nickname and how she learned about the Avatar State.