The White Lotus War
Chapter 14: Waves Collide
Hitomi woke up when someone splashed water on her face. She instantly woke up to find Yuko and Yao standing above her. Hitomi smiled at her companions, so they knew that she was okay, and looked around at her surroundings. They were on a rocky terrain, pretty far from the shore, but close enough so she could just barely see the boat that she guessed they used to get off the island. In the distance, there was an oversized canyon that seemed to engulf the entire landscape.
"Is that the Great Divide?" she asked.
"Yep," informed Yao, "I guess we'll be hiking from here on out. No easy modes of transportation this time."
"Please don't say that," Yuko pleaded, "I miss my motorcycle enough as it is." She looked at Hitomi and said, "Although, I guess losing a motorcycle isn't near as bad as losing Ma Gui."
Hitomi was shocked when she realized that Ma Gui was left at the apartment she rented out after the Fire Days Festival. She couldn't believe that she went days without the thought of Ma Gui's abandonment ever coming to mind! She felt awful that she just forgot about Ma Gui and prayed that she was all right.
"I know you two are taking in a lot of pain and sorrow," said Yao, "And I really do feel your pain. But right now, we have to put the past behind us and charge at the road ahead. If this Ma Gui of yours has a strong connection with you, then you two will find a way back to each other. But now we have to keep fighting forward."
Hitomi thought what Yao said was a bit cheesy, but it did make her feel a lot better and gave her the strength to stand up and say, "You're right. We still need to keep fighting. Yuko, you and I still need to get to Tyro Town so we can head to the Fire Nation."
Yao smiled and said, "And I need to head to Republic City so I can start rebuilding my life."
"Well what are we waiting for? Let's get going!" Yuko asked as she charged at the Great Divide with Hitomi and Yao closely following.
Hitomi still had a lot on her mind though. She asked herself a bunch of questions about that Doctor she talked to. "How am I able to talk to him? How does he know so much about me? How did he know I was on the same island as Camero?"
All of those questions picked at her brain as they headed toward the Great Divide.
[Gao]
Gao, Batar, and their men looked down in curiosity at the unconscious and tightly restrained water bending monster of a woman. She appeared to be in a coma, but they strapped her down tightly to the bed just in case. Gao was upset that Avatar Hitomi managed to get away, but he was more fascinated in the power and just bizarre look of their captured beast.
However, Gao ignored all his previous thoughts when he heard the sound of a military ship's horn. Gao knew the horn well from previous training under the guidance of his father.
A voice from the overhead voice box said, "Captain, there's a military ship whose leader wants to board and converse with you. Should we open fire and run, considering we have a prisoner and all?"
Gao went over to a metal box of buttons attached to the steel wall and replied, "That won't be necessary. There's no way anyone would know we have a captive on our vessel. And if I'm asked, I'll just say the woman is an ill stowaway that we've decided to restrain. Allow the captain to board."
"Um, sir, it's not a captain's ship; it's a general's."
Gao was shocked. A general of the United Republic of Nations is requesting permission to be on his ship? That just didn't sound right.
Gao quickly pressed the button again and quickly said, "On second thought, keep the getaway men at their posts, just in case."
"Right away sir," confirmed the voice before the voice box went mute.
Gao and Batar quickly headed to the main deck where they found General Roja, a strong woman with clear Fire Nation origins, and several of her soldiers already on his ship. Her massive battle cruiser was right next to Gao's ship, making his ship look like a toy paper boat compared to the general's. Gao, though keeping good posture, was in complete shock and didn't know exactly what he had done wrong to make a general ship stop him in his tracks.
Gao whispered to Batar, "If she asks me about the Underground Nation or anything relating to it, inform the Boss and use the self destruct mechanism to destroy every piece of evidence we may have on this ship."
Batar nodded and Gao approached General Roja. She didn't give him a chance to introduce himself and quickly got to the point, "Are you aware that you on restricted waters?"
"Pardon me?" Gao asked out of shock at the bluntness of her question.
"We have been cleaning up the remains of an oversea water-tribe smuggling empire. I made sure that every ship in the world was notified that these waters were off limits until further notice. Is there a reason you ignored this worldwide command?"
Batar stood frozen in fear and whispered to Gao, "I-I'm so s-sorry s-sir, I f-forgot to t-tell the navigators t-that this sp-specific area was off l-limits. Please don't throw me overboard!"
Gao would've been angry, but he was currently relieved and even smirked at the fact that General Roja was just inches away from finding out about the Underground Nation and she was about to let it slip through her fingers. Gao poetically apologized to the general and told his men to prepare to leave for different waters.
That's when the sleeping monster awoke.
The vast waters surrounding the ships quickly formed into waves that splashed down onto Gao's ship! Several of Gao's and Roja's soldiers were sent flying off the deck and into the now chaotic oceans! The top of Gao's ship tore open and the monstrous water bender slowly appeared from out of the wreckage and shrieked at Gao.
"Who," General Roja said with shock, "I mean, what is that?"
"She must be a stowaway that found a good hiding spot on my ship." Gao quickly lied.
The monster ran to the side of the ship and dived into the hazardous waters. Almost immediately, she shot up from the ocean, creating a typhoon of water that completely tore General Roja's battle cruiser in half! The general stood stunned as her ship slowly sank into the depths of the sea.
She angrily looked at everyone and commanded, "I don't care who or what that thing is! Take it down now or it'll be the last thing you do!"
Gao's fire benders and General Roja's water and fire benders began shooting fire and water at the monster, but she easily cast aside their bending with minimal effort and continued to swirl her hands, attempting to create a massive maelstrom! Gao, understanding that everyone would die if they were left to their own devices, ordered Batar to send out an SOS to any military ship that could possibly help them.
To their luck, another battle cruiser was already passing by and turned to help them; this one seemed even larger than General Roja's. Fire benders from the battle cruiser shot lightning bolts at the monster, which did a little more damage, but the monster struck back and sent out four enormous typhoons to drown the battle cruiser!
However, the typhoons were destroyed before they hit the ship! A water bender with long black hair and wearing a general's uniform, stood at bow of the ship, easily swatting away the typhoons with a simple wave of the hand! Gao had never before seen such a powerful water bender! The general dived into the ocean and, just like the monster, shot out from the ocean, forming enormous typhoons that he sent directly at the monster; except it appeared that he did it with even less effort! The monster shrieked in annoyance and sent even more typhoons at him! Gao's jaw dropped as he watched what appeared to be two water bending gods having a massive battle within the air over an ocean!
After their typhoons collided, resulting in a massive explosion of water, the monster shot herself at the general, and the general easily water whipped her into the ocean! She was shot down into the water so fast that the splash skyrocketed upward! The general raised his hands, which caused the forming of a wave big enough to drown out an entire section of the ocean! On the now bare ocean floor, the general looked down at the weak and injured monster that lied defenseless, but still glared at the general as if saying she could still win. The general accepted her challenge and sent the world's largest wave surging down onto the monster, causing a splash so massive that Gao's ship flew across the sky for miles and landed back on the ocean with another large splash!
Gao, Batar, General Roja and their remaining men had fallen into the ocean due to the massive crash and just floated in the water, still amazed at how powerful the two water benders were. The battle cruiser quickly caught up with them and the water bending general lightly lifted them all up from out of the ocean and onto the main deck of the ship.
General Roja approached the other general, saluted, and said, "Thank you so much for your assistance. Without your help, we all surely would've been killed by that, thing."
The general nodded and left without another word.
Batar ordered Gao's men to prepare the ship for transportation to a ship repair yard while Gao approached General Roja. General Roja asked, "What was that thing?"
Gao honestly answered, "I don't know. It seemed to be a nightmare made real." Gao asked, "And who was that magnificently skilled general? I never knew that water benders could become that powerful."
General Roja answered, "That was General Akio, the most powerful water bender in the world."
Okay, I've been gone for a while and I'm a little out of practice and this chapter will probably be edited because I've been out of practice for so long, but I'm back and ready to keep this story going with the completion of Chapter 14! Thank you for reading this and I hope you're having a blast! Please leave a review so I know what you think of the story and how to make even more amazing! Goodbye!
