"Equip your Modi again." Jade said, and like a fart, they motionlessly did as they were asked. "Oh. I guess it's fine." She folded her arms and nodded in response. "Sorry for the scare, guys. I was worried your universe might tear itself apart." John and Sokka were instantly hit with a sense of dread, while Jin found herself a little lost…
"By the way… Have any of you seen Davesprite? I need his help with something." She said, but they all shook their heads. "Sorry, Jade." John said. "We haven't seen him since we left the gold battleship." Jade folded her arms, and flew back up, preparing to teleport.
"I should let you know, John. I've teleported the Golden Battlecruiser that way. Turns out we angered a spirit." She pointed generally in the direction of the north. "If you get lost, just return to Ba-Sing-Se." He nods in response.
She looked toward the sky, then focused on the group again. "Thanks anyways, John. Katara and I'll just look around for him ourselves-" She stops for a minute- "OR. I invent the internet." She claps her hands together! "There we go! Then the whole WORLD can find him for me!"
She finally teleports away, and the other two are left to watch as John just sits there and gawks. "The heck is the internet?" Sokka asks, and John sighs, before preparing to explain.
…
A few hours earlier.
Aang was sitting with Nannasprite, and an assorted set of consorts within the common-room of the Golden Battlecruiser.. "So you're all from different worlds?" Aang asked, as Nannasprite laughed and listened to the consorts. "They said: "Yes." And then Casey said she comes from Lowas, she explained how she and her mother used to live together." Aang was surprised-
"Oh, that's so sad- Do you mind me asking what happened to her?" He asked, placing his hand over his mouth. Casey spoke further, but before she could finish, a Spirit enters the room-
"Oh my. Who's this?" Nannasprite asked, guiding everyone's eyes towards them.
To Aang's surprise, what emerged was a Spirit. "There you are, the Avatar. I am the guardian spirit of this land." They greeted Aang with a bow, of whom returned said greeting. "It's an honor to meet you. What's your name?" Aang asked, giving him a smile.
"I am Shah'tu, and I invoke your name, Avatar Aang. Please remove these interlopers, their structure disrupts the land." Nannasprite floats over, surprising the Spirit, a worried look on her face. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Shah'tu. We had no idea, I'll inform my grandchildren as soon as I find them." Aang was relieved, he was ready to request that the ship stay a little longer.
"Thank you, Ma'am. I appreciate your cooperation." He said, giving her a light bow, and she did the same. "You kids have a good day, now." She said, floating off as Aang thought to himself for a minute… "Shah'tu." Aang began, stopping Shah'tu for just a second.
He strode up next to Shah'tu, following him as he left. "Can you tell me if there has been any other disruptions in the spirit world? These visitors, their presence actually concerns the planet." Shah'tu thought about it, as they passed by the modern-art corridor.
"That explains a lot, Avatar Aang." Shah'tu was something akin to a frog dressed like a Samurai. "You see, I noticed waves all across the spirit realm. It must have been those visitors, they've been altering the material realm in strange ways." Aang already had a pretty good idea of what he was talking about…
"I will look into it, Shah'tu. If you find a good chance, I would appreciate it if you could let me know anything else that happens." Shah'tu and Aang bowed one last time, and departed. Aang immediately bolted on his air-scooter! He eventually found Jade and Katara working on that strange device-
Nannasprite was there too, it turns out they'd taken a break from it. "Aang!" Katara called out, motioning him to approach with her hand. "Jade was just about to move the ship, just like you asked." She said, as he felt the ship rise into the sky, and saw the sky behind the window move…
He shudders and realizes she had already teleported everyone- "Jade, your teleporting- It's causing disruptions in the spirit realm… Would you mind only using it when ABSOLUTELY necessary?" He asked, surprising her and causing her to quickly look around-
"You're right, there HAS been disruptions. I can usually fix them on instinct, but your universe is so foreign…" Jade then shrugged and grabbed her hat. "Well, nothing I can do about it now. Suppose I just get outta here as soon as possible, huh?" She asked as she brought it over to her equally weird chair.
She slams it on her head, a new idea in mind- "Since I can't find Davesprite, I figured I would take a collection of different measurements. Then I could produce an average, and that'll reduce the risk." Nannasprite didn't like the look of that device. She especially disliked it as Katara flipped the switch, and it nailed her granddaughter in the head-
Lightning danced between the wires attached to the pistons, and readings appeared on the screen. "Is she-" Aang began, as the pistons disengaged, and Jade stood up. "Okay?..." She stumbled and her head began to bleed. She walked over, and leaned against the table.
"Holy shit…" She said, making Nannasprite instinctively place her hands over Aang's ears- "I don't… I don't feel well." Sweat poured like drops, mixing with the blood as it matted her hair. "Jade, you need to stop doing this- You're bleeding." Katara had NOT realized how bad it was getting.
Jade lifted her face and looked at Katara- "It's fine- I'm fine. I've had worse, Katara." She slowly read the information, and saved it as a document that she placed in a file. "There we go." She noticed a drop of blood hit the table, and it slowly dawned on her that yes: It IS that bad.
A gun appeared in her hand out of nowhere, and everyone's eyes widened as she brought it to her head- A moment later, she got up with a newly un-exploded head. She stretched- "That was a good nap." She said with a nice clear head, as she grabbed the helmet, and made her preparations…
Aang grabbed her shoulder, a look of desperation on his face- "Please. Stop doing this-" She realized that, despite her own mental fortuity, they did not know the same strength… They'd been through war, and witnessed sacrifice, but they were too good of people to ever be okay with someone like Jade outright torturing herself with her work…
"Okay, Aang. I'm sorry. I'll rework the device to use a less dangerous method." The two smiled, while Katara felt a little concerned about how much Aang might have extended their timetable…
Suddenly, a loud, rumbling horn erupted from the distance, reaching all the way into the ship- "What the hell-" Jade disappeared for a moment, then reappeared- "Aang, something just happened to your universe-" She had a deep look of concern on her face, as she focused on the point of interest-
She teleported again, disappearing before anyone could say anything. Eventually she returned, the relieved look on her face letting everyone calm down. "Did you find out what happened?" Aang asked as he stood up. Jade gave him a thumbs up.
"Y-Yeah. I think it's all good. John… accidentally altered a few of your laws of physics. Your people can now use captchalogue cards, among other game abstractions permeated through Sburb's effect on discorporate-reality." These words did not apply to Aang on a conceptual level.
"What?" He asked, prompting Jade to translate. "So you see, we have Captchalogue decks that allow us to pull items from an immaterial space- Well, it more works as a set of reality altering code that distorts the algorithmic structure of mathematical physics. You see it applies a preset value-" Everyone was once more confused out of their minds…
This was what made hanging out with Team Avatar not QUITE as fun as it could have been. They couldn't relate to Jade's understanding of reality like Rose and some of her other friends could. "Sorry- Anyways. You guys should now be able to use Captchalogue Cards, and even access your Echeladders."
Aang and Katara were worried, but Nannasprite seemed pretty pleased at the news. "That's good to hear. How else will they complete the game?" Everyone looks at her, and Jade approaches. "No, Nannasprite. The game doesn't exist here." She said, shaking her head.
Nannasprite was a little disheartened… "Oh…" Jade smiled and gave her a hug- "Don't worry, once we get back to the game, you'll have all the time in the world to regale John with more confusing game riddles." That gave Nannasprite a gentle smile on her face…
Jade released her, and made a single clap, striding to the center of the room. "I've had a wonderful idea, by the way!" Katara and Aang were VERY concerned. They'd spent enough time to be WELL aware that any ideas Jade has will end disastrously-
"I'm going to invent the internet for you! Which requires that I kick your world's technological advancements into overdrive!" Even Nannasprite was a little nervous about THIS one. "H-Honey… Are you sure about this one?" She asks, surprising Jade.
Jade folded her arms. "Of course I am. I don't see why anyone would be against it." She teleported the group to Ba-Sing-Se- "Aang, I need an audience with the leader of this place. I need funding and manpower if I'm going to make any headway." She floated over to Katara-
"And as for YOU, Katara. You will be the spokesperson, I believe YOU can charm the whole world!" THAT was what convinced Katara. Jade hadn't even realized her second-hand manipulations. "Come on. Let's go get you ready." Katara nodded quickly with excitement, and they finally disappeared…
Aang looked at Nannasprite, a look of dismay on his face… Nannasprite nervously shrugged in response.
…
Back to later.
Davesprite and co arrived at another earth-kingdom settlement, and had been grabbing something to snack on. You know, the stuff that wasn't Davesprite's alchemized apple-juice. Zuko had stayed outside, wearing his more casual set of clothing, in hopes of not grabbing TOO much attention.
"What's that one say?" Toph asked, pointing at one of the items on the menu, showing it to Davesprite… "Turtle-Duck soup. Weird." He looks further, and another item catches his eyes. "Sandwiches. You can never go wrong with sandwiches. Let's just get that." Toph nodded in response, and she walked over to order.
"Wh-What are you-" The hostess asked, as Davesprite picked up Toph- "I'm this little girl's emotional-support spirit and guardian-angel." Toph gave the hostess a thumbs up. This hostess was on the larger end, but Davesprite had to assume that was a consequence of her own trust in the taste of her cooking.
"Three sandwiches-" Toph began, but Davesprite interrupted her- "Let's order six, dude. Longer journey." Toph nodded in response. "Six. Six sandwiches." She said, in a cute voice, making the hostess smile. "Well, okay… You're a very kind spirit, to assist this sweet little girl." Davesprite gave her a smile and placed Toph back on the ground.
Toph giggled at the thought, she was anything BUT sweet. "By the way! Do you happen to know anywhere we could pick up some general goods?!" Davesprite called out to her, surprising her. "Oh! You guys just passing through? There's a store on the south-end of town!" He thanked the hostess before flying out, followed by Toph.
"Did it go well?" Zuko asked. "Yeah, dude. We gave her the "sweet-girl" and her "guardian-angel" routine, and she totally ate it up." Zuko just shook his head in disappointment. "You are anything BUT a guardian angel, Davesprite." Davesprite just kind of stared at him.
"Yeah, you're probably right." He then proceeded to follow Toph down the street, as Zuko looked around. The streets were mostly empty, but the walls were well built. There was even the beginning of a castle he could see.
Zuko had stuck to the alleys, afraid that anything relating to the fire-nation could set these people off, and he didn't want to ruin Davesprite and Toph's good time. Besides, he had to get back to Ba-Sing-Se, and oversee the rebuilding of its wall.
Eventually he passed through the gate, and leaned against the wall that encompassed the settlement, since it wasn't quite big enough for an actual gate yet. "Are you the Fire-Lord?" A traveler asked, he was too busy brooding to have ever seen them coming!
"Uh- Yeah. I'm traveling lowkey at the moment, so don't tell anyone." He said, making the traveler gasp in response! "O-Oh! Can I get your autograph? I'm a big fan, you see-" They pulled a strange piece of parchment with writing already on it, and Zuko's likeness…
He was a young man riding on an ostrich horse, wearing a hat with a veil. "You see, I would appreciate it if you could sign RIGHT here…" He slowly said, producing a wanted poster, pointing at the word: "DEAD" unknowingly referencing a dope-ass movie that had come out recently.
Zuko's face hardened, and he bounded backwards, landing on his feet and preparing his style- "A bounty?! Who-" The bounty-hunter swung a chain-blade at him, the blade soaring just about the ground, making Zuko jump over it and catch another blade arching over his head!
The blades either emerged under his veil, or between the opening as it obscured his face- "Well, I knew you were going to be tough." He said, as he forced the blade back out of Zuko's hands, and approached slowly, as calm as the breeze that brushed through the forest and gently jostled the trees…
Zuko stood there in his combat-stance, certain that he should gather information on his attacker's style. That veil made it impossible to discern any kind of shape, so he had to make up for it. "But then, I suppose it would only make sense that the Fire Lord come with armed support…"
Zuko glared at him. "So where are they, Fire-Lord Zuko?" That only achieved more angry looks from Zuko. "I thought so…" With a set of clicks, the bounty hunter soared backwards- "You have a good day, man! I'll be back for you later!" He cheerily said as Zuko just stood up…
Zuko had to stop himself from attacking this man, as he climbed onto his ostrich-horse, and finally disappeared into the settlement. Eventually Davesprite and Toph found him, leaning against a tree deep in thought.
"Thinking up some lyrics?" Davesprite asked, completely unaware of what had previously gone on. "No. I was attacked by a bounty hunter." Their reaction was something akin to a pin-drop. "Holy shit. Why are BOUNTY HUNTERS after you?!" Toph asked, genuinely worried for Zuko's life-
"Hot damn." Davesprite added. "Yes, it is very damning-" Davesprite had to hold down his laughter, so as to not disrupt the mood. "-It only makes sense, really. Taking my father's throne… It's only natural there would be loyalists, and those loyalists would absolutely have money…" Toph grinned and pounded her fists-
"Well don't you worry, Zuko. Team Avatar has always got your back!" Davesprite finally let out that chuckle, and gave him a thumbs up. "So where are we headed anyways?" Davesprite asks, placing a solitary hand on a solitary hip. "I'll separate from you two once we reach Ba-Sing-Se. Whether you accompany Toph to her Metal-Bending-School or not, is up to you."
Davesprite looked at Toph. "So you're also a teacher, AND a cool kid? How do you do it all?" She kind of just shrugged. "That's kind of just how it all came down to. I mean, I invented metal bending, so you know. I had to share it with everyone." Davesprite silently nodded along in thought…
"That shit's gotta be fate, dude. All of space and time has come together to make the coolest girl to have punched a stone. Or wait- Is Space and Time responsible for that shit? I don't fucking know." Toph just kind of laughed at him as Zuko stared in confusion.
They continued on their journey, eventually arriving at Ba-Sing-Se. "Fire-Lord Zuko!" One of the guards shouted, ringing the bells upon their arrival… "Nice posse." Davesprite noted. "Where is Kuro?" Zuko asks one of the men as they bow, and looks over to find the man he asked for approaching.
"Is that a spirit, your highness?" Another one asked, pointing at Davesprite- "Yo." Everyone waved at him politely. "Status report?" Kuro quickly gathered his bearings, and spoke up- "Sir! Shortly after you had left, we were asked to set up camp outside." He began.
"I gave them the order." Zuko nodded to let him know it was the right choice. "They finished repairing the eighth section, and have made good progress on sections four through thirteen." He produced a map of the wall's construction efforts, each instance of major damage was marked with a corresponding number.
"After that… The Avatar and one of the Water Tribe ambassadors had appeared with two of the visitors. They seemed to be discussing something, until the ambassador left with one of the visitors. The Avatar on the other hand let us know he was heading to the castle of Ba-Sing-Se."
"Apparently he had important matters to attend to." Zuko folded his arms, and narrowed his eyes. "I'll head in too, and see what's going on. I'll be taking squad three as a temporary personal guard before I return. If it concerns the king of Ba-Sing-Se, then it concerns me."
Kuro nodded, and quickly walked off to gather Squad-Three. "You're always welcome to head in with me, but either way I need to check on Aang." Toph shook her head, already well aware of what she wanted to do. "Nah, I'm all good. How about you, Mr. Strider?" She asks, having learned that part of his name on the way here.
"I'm kind of interested in this school of yours. I figured I'd see how someone so hot-headed runs a classroom." After that, they all said bye, and left Zuko to go find Aang.
…
Jade and Katara appeared in the Golden Battlecruiser with a flash of green light- "I will NEVER get used to that-" Katara said as she fell on her hands and knees- "Yeah, it's not for everyone." Jade says, helping her up onto her feet. "So what should I write about?" She asked, her face inches away from Jade's-
They backed away from each other. "Right-" Jade began. "We're going to be showcasing our invention to the Earth King. so we're going to need pizazz! I believe I'll start with the light-bulb." Suddenly a pile of sand appeared in her hand, followed by another set of materials.
It was chunks of copper and iron, and other assorted materials. Katara watched as she melted down the metals, coiling the copper, molding the iron, and creating an orb with the sand. She happened to have removed certain pieces from the sand, and discarded them.
Eventually, as it cooled, it formed into a glass orb attached to a metal cylinder. Jade placed it on her finger, and it lit up… "That's lightning?" Katara asked, mesmerized by the device. "With an electric current, I can light up the tungsten filament inside of this bulb, and with Nitrogen, I can make it last considerably longer."
Jade was a mechanic who worked on guns and all kinds of equipment. "Tell me, Katara. Have you ever had trouble finding the time to wash the clothes? Maybe you didn't have the time to go find wood, and get a fire going for cooking. Or perhaps you needed to distill some water." She said, walking around the room as Katara stared.
"I guess, yeah…" Katara could think of a few times that stuff was a problem. "Well. What if I told you that could all be a hundred times more convenient?!" She announced, surprising Katara again- "Well what if EVERY house had one of these? They could spend whatever you guys use to make fire on other more important things! But if they need fire, then that just means they need heat. And that TOO can be automated!" Katara's eyes widened at the opportunity presented to her-
"But wait-" She suddenly said, surprising Jade in return… "Doing this… Is this the MORALLY CORRECT thing to do?" They stared at each other in a contempt of stupor before laughing it off. "Who cares?! I'm gonna make you the most powerful woman on this planet, Katara!"
Katara nodded and quickly got started on that speech!
…
"So it's really okay to let us keep these things?" Sokka asked, making John think about it again… "Well, I suppose it's kind of unfair that I only gave you guys stack and fetch modi to work with between you. Come on, I'll make you guys some wallet-modi too." He said, picking up the boat with his powers. It would have been full of fish, if not for their new equipment!
They flew through the air, Sokka a little worried he might have overfished a little too much getting John and Jin into the practice… "So how do you make more, John?!" Jin called out to John, trying to shout over the rushing wind. "We've got an Alchemizer on the ship!" He called back.
"We make all of our stuff with Alchemy!"
After a good hour of searching, John finally spots the Golden Battleship, and lands the boat on its surface. "Yo, John, hand me your fish so I can take stock!" Sokka said, making John float down and unload the captchalogue card he'd filled- "Wow. Your Wallet-Modi can hold a lot more than ours."
Sokka deployed all the fish in all three of his cards, followed by Jin, just before she left with John to go see the Alchemizer.
"So you have Alchemy. What, do you turn coal into gold?" Jin asked, resting her head in her hands, as they walked through one of the many doors. They were in a checkpoint manned by one of Dave's consorts, since this room lead directly to the command deck-
John was about to walk over the counter, but the crocodile snapped at him- "NAK-NAK" He screamed, surprising the two- "R-Right, sorry, Gale. He was recently promoted." John mildly explained, guiding Jin through the metal-detector that was shut off. Of course they carried metal, and they didn't need Gale confiscating it.
They stopped and allowed Gale to make his little noises, before letting them through. "So they have names. Do they say anything other than, uh- 'Nak-Nak' and 'Glub-Glub' or what?" John chuckled at that, remembering how silly the game could happen to be at times.
"Well, there's a weird low-language all of the consorts use to speak to each other, then there's the medium-language that only I and my consorts understand, and finally the high-language, which only I and my Denizen Typheus understand." Jin nodded along as John guided her through a door and down a ladder.
They found themselves in a huge hanger with strange looking structures that actually happened to be smaller ships. They happened to have just kind of been sitting there unused. "Yeah, we figured we'd set up all the technical stuff in here, since it was the easiest room to get to."
John grabbed a small latch on the Alchemiter, and pulled it to reveal a functioning terminal with all of the items they'd ever used on it. "Jade's been hard at work logging tons of useful stuff. Davesprite made a bunch of Unreal-Airs." John pointed to the ceiling, as that name confused Jin, like most things that have anything to do with John and Jade.
She saw a bunch of boards with wheels stuck to the ceiling… "What… What are those?" She asked. "They're his silly skateboards. They keep going up and never stop. They hate gravity or something." He said, making one and grabbing it, before making another set of cards for Jin, so she would have plenty.
He used his flight to push it against the floor, and rolled around on it to show Jin how it works- "Wait, so if it can fly- Then could I use it?" John rubbed his chin for a moment, and shook his head. "Probably not a good idea to try with one of these, Jin. They only go one way, and that might kill ya'..." He nervously chuckled, jumping off and running back over to the Alchemiter.
He placed his hands on the keyboard, and produced his old Jet-Pack. "Here we are! You strap it onto your back like a back-pack." He explained, handing it to her. She took the item and put it on. "So this thing lets me fly?..." She asked, patting the heavy device.
"Yep. Let's take it outside first, though. The thing's got some kick, and I can't imagine how much fun you'll have living with all the Unreal-Airs on the roof." But then he looked up again, and really thought about it… "But that WOULD be pretty dope, especially by Dave's standards."
"Dave?" She asked. "My best friend. He's like Davesprite, but not a bird, or orange, and not ghostly. Anyways, let's go bring Sokka his item-" He was suddenly interrupted as Jade appeared in the room. "Oh, John. You playing with the Alchemiter again?" She asked, quickly ticking and tacking away at it to retrieve another item of importance. You know, for her project.
Clicks and clacks it went, producing items. "Oh yeah, I was getting Sokka and Jin here their own Wallet Modi. What'cha working on?" Jin stowed away her jetpack, she figured she didn't need the weight if they were going to chill here for a bit.
"I'm going to shove the Earth Kingdoms through the Industrial Revolution, and then supercharge their development into the modern era, so I can find Davesprite easier." John just kind of stared at her, a doubtful look on his face. "Wouldn't it be easier to just… go look for him?"
She looked at him, and kind of jostled her arms up and down in a strange gesture- "What- Nah, he could be anywhere across the planet, John. This is definitely more efficient." Jin was very worried, so she looked to John for an answer. He shrugged and kind of just smiled.
"I dunno'."
…
"Your highness, the Fire Lord requests an Audience." One of his Dai-Li agents informed him. "Well bring him in!" Kuei told them, before Aang could even say anything- The Dai-Li agent immediately nodded in response, and the doors opened.
Zuko was once more formally dressed, not wanting to disrespect Kuei. "Aang. I heard you were here. I felt it wise that I include myself, I hope you do not mind." Aang gave him a smile and bowed in greeting. "No, it's alright Zuko. Jade wanted me to get her an audience with King Kuei here." He began.
"That's strange. What is she up to?" Aang kind of rubbed the back of his head with a confused look on his face… "I'm not really sure… Something about kicking the world into overdrive?" Zuko stopped as he heard laughter erupt from Keui's mouth-
"Oh, Aang, your friend here! She is just the SWEETEST lady I have ever met." He told them, sitting on his throne, he had been talking to Nannasprite all day! "O-Oh. Nannasprite, do you think you could make it more clear what Jade is doing?" Nannasprite looked at them.
She gave them a nervous smile, and thought about it… "Well… Jade comes from a world where humanity has progressed far beyond anything you all seem to have here…" Normally she would have regaled them with stories and riddles, but she also understood that it would probably only serve to anger them.
"Where we come from… Humanity had conquered the globe, and numbered in the billions. We could send information across the planet instantly, and we could go wherever we like. Provided we had enough money for the trip." Everyone grew more and more anxious at the thought…
Everyone but Keui. HE saw this as a great way to expand the Earth Kingdom! "I love it! What else did you have?!" He asked, surprising the group, and prompting Nannasprite to go on with his infectious curiosity! "O-Oh, well… We had shiny cars that could speed down the highway at almost three-hundred miles an hour."
"We had machines that automated a lot of strenuous work. And even little robots that would roll around on the floor, and clean it for you. All you had to do was recharge it." The Earth King, to Aang's and Zuko's dismay, gleefully clapped along as Nannasprite told him all about Earth from Two-Thousand-and-Nine.
…
Davesprite, unknowingly being the impetus for all of this, leisurely rapped along with Toph- "She's cosmological, she's antithetical, she's the supreme earth-bending queen." He said, making Toph struggle to keep up her now quickly improving beat-boxing. "Now you're turn-" He said, surprising her…
He took her place with the beat-boxing, and she nervously tried to come up with words- "Uh- Ah- He's um-" Davesprite kept going as he handed his sword over to her for support, and gave her a thumbs up. "He's aeronautical? Fast and mathematical?" She more asked then sang as she looked at him again-
He had a bright smile on his face, nodding quickly to let her know: YES. You're doing GREAT. Despite the fact that her lyrics didn't really make sense, and eventually devolved into her just coming up with words.
End of Chapter: 6
Thank you for watching.