And here it is! Chapter five all ready my friends!
Now this chapter is a more simple one but it does have some important stuff in them. Including the introduction of the most vital member of the crew! I'm sure you're all aware about who I'm talking about.
As usual thanks to Qazse, Petrus, and Yellowpikmin88 for going over the chapter.
Hope you all enjoy!
The sun was slowly rising over the crews campsite as smoke rose up from their campfire which had went out long ago. Luffy, Zoro, and Sokka were still sound asleep with Luffy laying on top of a sleeping bag and snoring loudly with a snot bubble coming out of his nose. The newest member Zoro was leaning against a rock and quietly sleeping his arms crossed behind his head. Meanwhile Sokka was snoring only a bit quieter then Luffy while bundled up in his sleeping back.
The only people who were awake were beginning to pack up their stuff on top of Appa and getting ready to head out again. After leaving the Marine Base town just like Aang said they started heading to the boys home of the Southern Air Temple. "Wait until you see it Katara," Aang said in an excited tone as he checked on the reins of Appa to make sure they were nice and secured. "The Air Temple is one of the most beautiful places in the world!"
Katara, as she was placed some of their luggage onto Appa's saddle, put on a cautious expression as Aang said this. "Aang, I know you're excited." Katara spoke slowly and carefully to Aang. The poor boy doesn't seem to get that he's the only airbender anyone's ever seen for 100 years. This trip to the air temple might not go like he thinks it will go. "But it's been a hundred years since you've been home."
"That's why I'm so excited." Aang said while smiling broadly. He knew things were gonna be different but how much could they really change other then the people who were there.
"It's just that...a lot can change in all that time." Katara tried to explain to him.
"That's why I need to see it for myself," Aang smiled at Katara, only getting a worried look from her in response. Aang then hoped off Appa and looked at the two sleeping men and Sokka in front of him. "Hey guys time to wake up!" However the only responses he got was the snores from everyone. Aang frowned a bit and scratched his head as he tried to think of ways to get them up. Snapping his fingers, Aang got to work, first he grabbed his staff and used them to pop the snot bubble coming out of his nose.
"Ah! Meat!" Luffy immediately shot awake and looked around rapidly. Suddenly his tiredness caught up with him and the rubber man rubbed his eyes while letting out a yawn. "What time is it…"
"Time to wake up and see the southern air temple!" Aang told Luffy with an energetic smile as he walked over to Sokka to wake him up next. "Wake up, Sokka! Air Temple, here we come!"
"Uuuuugh…" Sokka groaned as Aang started to shake him awake. Sokka's response to this was to scootch away from Aang and lay down on his stomach. "Sleep now. Temple later."
As Sokka closed his eyes and started to sleep again. Aang narrowed his eyes at the water tribe boy but soon gained a mischievous smile as an idea came to his head. "Sokka! Wake up!" Aang yelled out urgently as he moved the tip of his staff around the top of Sokka's sleeping bag. "There's a prickle snake in your sleeping bag!"
"AAAHHH!" In an instant Sokka jumped out while still in his sleeping bag with a panicked expression. "Get it off me! Get it off me! Get it off me!" But after a few hops Sokka ended up falling flat on his face and groaned.
"Hahahahaha!" Everyone, other then the still sleeping Zoro, looked at Sokka and laughed loudly. Especially Luffy who felt all tiredness fade from him as he laughed at Sokka's misfortune. "Man that was embarrassing! Hahah!"
"Great! You're awake!" Aang smiled as Sokka send the airbender an annoyed glare. Aang then looked to Zoro who was still asleep after all the noise that was cause. "Just one more to go." Aang then walked up to the swordsmen and grabbed his shoulders and started to try and shack him awake. "Hey Zoro wake up!"
"…" But Zoro was still fast asleep despite both but Aang's shaking and shouting right into his face. Aang rose a brow at Zoro not even beginning to stir after his attempts. It seems this guy was a heavy sleeper, but luckily Aang had the perfect way to wake someone like that up. Aang grabbed Zoro's nose and squeezed it, preventing him from breathing through it. After a few seconds Zoro started to twitch and cough as he quickly ran out of breath and his eye finally shot open. Aang let go of Zoro's nose and stepped back as Zoro coughed a few more times and took in some deep breaths before glaring at Aang. "What the hell was that for kid?! I was trying to sleep!"
"Yeah I know, sorry about that," Aang apologized with a sheepish smile before pointing to Appa. "But we're ready to head to the air temple! So come on sleepy head get up!"
"Seriously?" Zoro groaned as stood up and let out a loud yawn. "Couldn't wait until later in the day?"
"Welcome to my world," Sokka groaned as he wiggled out of his sleeping bag and rubbed his tired eyes. "Seriously Aang why can't this wait a few more hours? Luffy you're the captain say something."
"We're already up so we might as well just go," Luffy didn't seem to feel tired anymore as he jumped right on top of Appa and got ready to take off. "So come on everyone! Let's set sail and head for the Air Temple!"
Aang grinned widely as Sokka and Zoro let out tired sighs.
FIRE NATION HARBOR
"Are you sure you are alright Prince Zuko?" Stepping out of their ship and onto the harbor owned by the Fire Nation was Zuko and Iroh, the latter of which sending the former a concerned look. After Luffy had sent Zuko flying at the South Pole, it took Iroh and the crew a few hours to find him. Luckily he didn't land in the water but he was still pretty beat up. Although Zuko had seemed to have made a full recovery Iroh was still worried if Zuko should be walked around too much. "You should take some more time to rest and make sure your recovery was complete."
"I told you I'm find Uncle." Zuko said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. He wasn't some child that needed to be coddled, he was a strong prince that was just fine now. "I just want to resupply as quickly as possible. I don't want to stay too long and risk losing his trail."
"You mean the Avatar?" Iroh questioned only for Zuko to shush him.
"Don't mention his name on these docks!" Zuko snapped as he quickly looked around to see if anyone had overheard them. "Once word gets out that he's alive, every firebender will be out looking for him, and I don't want anyone getting in the way!"
"Getting in the way of what?" Iroh and Zuko's eyes widened as they heard a new and familiar voice speaking up to them. Walking up to the prince and his uncle was a middle-aged man with light skin, gray hair with large side burns, and amber colored eyes and wearing a fire nation uniform. "Prince Zuko."
"Captain Zhao," Zuko spoke out the man's name with a glare and venom in his voice.
"It's commander now," Zhao told Zuko with a cocky smirk, causing Zuko to tighten his fist. Zhao then turned to Iroh and bowed respectfully at him. "And General Iroh, hero of our nation."
"Retired General," Iroh reminded Zhao as he bowed back at the commander.
"The Fire Lord's brother and son are welcome guests anytime." Though Zhao's words were welcoming, his tone and expression had an edge to them. Zuko knew he was up to something. "What brings you to my harbor?"
"We're stocking up on supplies." Zuko explained simply. "Food, water, weapons, and other essentials."
"I see." Zhao nodded as he looked to see Zuko's men bringing crates and barrels onto the ship. Nothing seemed to out of the ordinary…until Zhao got a closer look at Zuko. He had a few bruises on him and he had a few bandage wraps around his fingers. "You're looking quite beat up Prince Zuko, gotten into any fights lately."
Zuko glared at Zhao, he was obviously trying to prob for information but Zuko wasn't gonna give him anything. "Pirates," Zuko gave Zhao an excuse that was perfectly believable and was also technically true. "You know the seas completely littered with them these days."
"Tch, ain't that the truth," Though it pained Zhao to do it, he had to agree with Zuko on this one. Ever since the death of the execution of the King of the Pirates and the speech he made about his treasures, it was impossible to not encounter pirate ship after pirate ship these days. They've certainly been an annoyance to Zhao more then a few times. "Well then you must regale me with all the thrilling details, join me for a drink?"
Zhao smirked as he leaned up close to Zuko's face. The two's eyes met and glared into each other before Zuko turned and started to walk away. "Sorry, but we have to go."
Zhao simply smiled evilly at Zuko as Iroh put a hand on Zuko's shoulder to stop him. "Prince Zuko, show Commander Zhao your respect." Iroh told his nephew before looking to Zhao and smiled at him. "We would be honored to join you. Do you have any ginseng tea? It's my favorite." As Iroh started to follow Zhao, Zuko gritted his teeth an anger as he firebends a small arc out of annoyance and turns to walk after them.
Back with the Straw Hat Pirates Appa was currently seen flying towards a mountain range with the crew on his back and Aang on his head. The growl of a stomach was heard as Sokka put a hand to his stomach. "Hey, stomach? Be quiet, all right? I'm trying to find us some food." Sokka's mouth was practically watering as he thought about eating the left over bbq rips from the marine base town. But Sokka's hopes were soon crushed as he was unable to find any of the food they brought with them. "Hey where the heck are our left overs? I can't find any of them!"
"Oh yeah, I was hungry after waking up and ate them all!" Luffy explained causing everyone to look at him in shock. "Hehehe, sorry about that!"
"You ate everything!?" Sokka's jaw dropped in response. Luffy seriously ate all the food they had brought back?! What the hell even was this guys appetite?! Sokka glared at Luffy before turning to Katara. "Hey Katara could I have one of your chocolate bars-AH!"
Before Sokka would finish, moving quicker then when they could all see, Katara grabbed a sword and pointed it at her brother. "Don't touch my chocolate." Katara growled out with a fire in her eye that made Sokka flinch. "Ever!"
"Huh?" Zoro blinked a few times as he saw the sword Katara was holding…it was one of his. Looking to his sheath to confirm it, Katara somehow managed to grab one without him even noticing. "What the-when did you-give that back!" Zoro then took his sword back from the waterbender and sheathed it again.
Katara continued to glare at her brother for a few moments before realizing something. When she was putting her bag of chocolate bars onto Appa it felt…lighter than it should have been. "Wait a minute!" Katara yelled out as she aimed her glare to Luffy, making him flinch. "Luffy, have you also taken any of my chocolates?"
Luffy was completely silent with a blank look on his face as he looked Katara right in the eye. After a few seconds the captain started sweating and quickly averted his eyes from Katara's. "Uuuuh…noooo…." Luffy puckered his lips like he was whistling. "Not at all…"
It didn't take a blind person to tell Luffy was completely lying. "Luffy….." Luffy paled as he saw Katara sending him an intense death glare while gritting her teeth. "YOU BASTARD!" Before he even knew it Katara started to beat down on Luffy causing a dust cloud to form. Sokka then joined his sister and kicking the rubber mans ass for eating all their left over food.
Meanwhile Zoro just sweat dropped at the sight and just scooted back. "Think I'll just stay out of this one…" Zoro then turned to Aang who seemed to be unaware of the fight occurring on top of Appa. "Hey kid how much longer until we're there?"
"Not much longer!" Aang told the swordsman with a smile. "We're at the Patola Mountain Range so we're pretty close."
After Aang said this Katara and Sokka finally let out on Luffy, leaving their captain with many bruises and bumps on his body. "Aang, before we get to the temple, I want to talk to you about the other airbenders." Katara anger towards Luffy turned into concern for Aang as they got closer to the air temple.
"What about 'em?" Aang asked cheerfully without a hint of worry or concern in his voice.
"Well, I just want you to be prepared for what you might see. The Fire Nation is ruthless." Katara explained as she tightened her fist at the thought of that horrid place and everything the people there did. "They killed my mother, and they could have done the same to your people."
Aang's smiled falter as he processed Katara's words. He heard from Katara and Sokka's Gran-Gran about Airbenders being extinct but that couldn't be true…right. "Just because no one has seen an airbender, doesn't mean the Fire Nation killed them all." Aang shook his head and smiled again, everyone was probably just exaggerating. "They probably escaped!"
"I wouldn't really get your hopes up Aang," Zoro spoke up, speaking in a serious tone as he looked Aang right in the eyes. "I've been around a lot of places and I haven't heard anything about any airbenders anywhere. I'm afraid what you've heard about them being extinct is true."
"…..You guys don't understand." Aang tried to shrug off those words, but it was clear they affected Aang a bit. "The only way to get to an airbender temple is on a flying bison, and I doubt the Fire Nation has any flying bison! Right, Appa?" Appa grunts a bit as Aang pets his head, Aang then direct the bison to start flying up the side of the mountain.
"Guess he's gonna have to learn the hard way," Zoro said quietly as Katara lowered her head.
After a few more minutes of flying they finally were able to see the air temple with their own eyes, Aang's sparkling as he stared at it. "We're home buddy." Aang told his bison with a big smile on his face. "We're home!"
Back at the harbor Zhao had led Iroh and Zuko to his personal tent where they were all served tea. All the while Zhao showed them a map of the earth kingdom and was telling the two about the recent war efforts. "And by the year's end, the Earth Kingdom capital will be under our rule." Zhao explained with a smirk, completely sure about their victory. "The Fire Lord will finally claim victory in this war."
"If my father thinks the rest of the world will follow him willingly, then he is a fool!" Zuko snapped angrily, causing Zhao to simply smirk at the prince.
"Two years at sea have done little to temper your tongue." The commander taunted, further angering the prince. "So, how is your search for the Avatar going?"
Before Zuko could say anything clattering sounds were heard and the two turned towards Iroh who had accidentally knocked over knocked over a weapons display. "Eh, my fault entirely." Iroh admitted as Zhao sent him an annoyed look.
"...We haven't found him yet." Zuko lied aggressively right into Zhao's face.
"Did you really expect to? The Avatar died a hundred years ago. Along with the rest of the airbenders." Zhao's expression then twisted in an evil smirk as he glanced at Zuko. "Unless you have found some evidence that the Avatar is alive?"
"No." Zuko lied once more right into Zhao's face, showing no hints that he was being deceitful. "Nothing."
Zhao's expression was on of disbelief as he stood up from his chair and looked down at Zuko. "Prince Zuko, the Avatar is the only one who can stop the Fire Nation from winning this war." Zhao leaned down to get right into Zuko's face. "If you have an ounce of loyalty left, you'll tell me what you found."
"I haven't found anything." Zuko growled out as he leaned closer to Zhao, refusing to give him any info. "It's like you said. The Avatar probably died a long time ago." Zuko then got up and gestured Iroh to follow him. "Come on Uncle, we're leaving."
But as the two began to head out, two soldiers blocked them with their weapons as another solider stepped into the tent and walked up to the commander. "Commander Zhao, we interrogated the crew as you instructed." The soldier informed his commander. "They confirmed they found the Avatar hiding in the South Pole, but they were unable to take him into custody. Prince Zuko was defeated in battle."
Zhao chuckled after hearing this and smirked cruelly at the prince. "Now remind me," Zhao said as he walked up to Zuko. "How exactly did you get those injuries?"
Zuko clenched his fist tightly, struggling to contain his anger towards Zhao. "Like I said, it was from a pirate." Zhao rose a brow at this. Was Zuko seriously trying to keep up this lie? "A pirate that had eaten the Devil Fruit."
"Devil Fruit?" Zhao gasped out as his expression turned to one of shock. Now that…wasn't something the commander expected to hear. He's heard plenty of stories and rumors about the Devil Fruit but he's never actually seen one or someone that has eaten one in person. "Are you serious?"
"It's true Zhao," Iroh spoke up for his nephew, confirming this to the commander. "It was a pirate wearing a straw hat. He had the ability to stretch his body out like rubber, and he was incredibly strong."
Zhao stared at Iroh for a bit after the retired general said that and looked down. "Hmmmmm…" The commander hummed in thought as he crossed his arms behind his back. How should he go about this?
Back the Southern Air Temple, the crew had landed Appa and were walking up a path leading up to the actual temple with Aang leading the way. "So where do I get something to eat?" Sokka asked as he placed his hands on his stomach as it growled with anger again, the water tribe boy sending a side glare towards Luffy.
"Yeah seriously I'm starving over here," Luffy, who had recovered from Katara and Sokka's beating, said as he patted his own stomach.
BONK!
With an annoyed tick on his head Sokka proceeded to punch the back of Luffy's head. "You've eaten enough rubber boy!" Sokka yelled at the guy who literally ate all the food they had by himself. Damn glutton eaten enough food for the next few days.
"You two are lucky enough to be one of the first outsiders to ever visit an airbender temple, and all you can think about is food?" Katara questioned them with an irritated and annoyed look. Why can't they just appreciate having the honor to just be here.
"Hey I'm just a simple guy with simple needs," Sokka defended himself as he rose up his hands. "I wake up, eat my breakfast, and sharpen my weapons, and then go on with the rest of my day. That's the life of Sokka."
"By weapons do you mean that little boomerang of yours?" Zoro asked the young warrior with a smirk on his face. He noticed Sokka sharpening his boomerang earlier while they were on Appa and couldn't help but laugh at the scene. "Hate to break it to you kid, but a boomerang isn't a weapon. It's a toy."
As Sokka sent an annoyed glare to Zoro, Luffy started laughing. "Hahahah! That's what I said!" Luffy stated as he pointed to Sokka.
"I hate you…" Sokka grumbled as he slumped down.
"Which one?" Katara asked. "Luffy or Zoro?"
"Yes." Katara simply shrugged at her brothers answer.
"Hey guys, we're here." Aang called out to everyone as he stopped at the end of the trail. The other caught up with Aang and from where they were they were able to see nearly the entirety of the Southern Air Temple with Aang pointing out various locations. "So that's where my friends and I would play airball, and over there is where the bison would sleep and…and…" However after looking at the temple some more Aang sighed. This place…he almost didn't recognize it. The trees were all dead and decaying, where there should have been beautiful flowers there were large ugly weeds, and everything just looked…abandoned. "I don't get it…this place used to be full of monks and lemurs and bison. Now there's just a bunch of weeds. I can't believe how much has changed."
"We tried to tell you kid," Zoro told Aang as he walked up to the young monk. Aang sat down at the edge of the path and looked down sadly at a dead tree. "You've been gone for a century. Things were bound to change."
Aang only lowered his head more in sadness. After a few seconds of silence Sokka walked up to Aang and put a hand on his shoulder. "So uh, this airball game. How do you play?" Sokka's question seemed to cheer Aang up as he smiled at everyone.
About a half an hour later Zoro cracked his knuckles and smirked as he and Aang stood on the same side of the Air Ball court, which consisted of a series of wooden pillars with two goal rings on the end of each side, with Luffy and Sokka on the other side. "All tied up now," Zoro stated as the current game was three to three. "You guys are going down."
"Hah!" Luffy laughed as he spun his arm around. Sokka simply grinned as he held onto his club like it was a bat. "We'll see about that Zoro!"
"Here it comes!" Aang grinned as he levitated the ball over his hand with airbending. With a strong burst of wind Aang went the ball towards the other side, the ball bouncing against pillars as it went forward. Sokka kept his eye on the ball as it came towards him and at just the right time he struck the ball and sent it back towards the other side.
"Not so fast!" Zoro yelled as he unsheathed one of his swords and jumped onto another pillar and, with the dull side of his blade, Zoro struck the ball and sent it back towards Luffy and Sokka's side.
Luffy grinned as he saw the ball coming towards him. "Gotta do better than that Zoro!" Luffy yelled out as he reared his arm back. "Gum-Gum Pistol!" Stretching his arm out Luffy struck the ball with his fist and sent it back to the other side.
"I got this one!" Aang told Zoro as he waved his hands around and formed a ball of air. Once the ball was in range Aang threw the ball of air at the actual ball and sent it back once more with even higher speed.
"Gum-Gum…" As the ball headed towards them Luffy hoped onto the pillar Luffy started inhaling air causing his body to start inflating like a balloon. "Balloon!" As Luffy inflated he ended up knocking Sokka onto the ground. When the ball came into connect with Luffy's body it quickly bounced off the inflated rubber man and shot right to the other side, going past Zoro and Aang and going right through the goal ring.
"Sokka and Luffy win!" Katara announced as Luffy released his breath and went back to normal.
"Woohoo!" Luffy cheered as he jumped up and down in victory. "Alright!"
"Tch, dammit," Zoro cursed as he sheathed his sword and crossed his arms while Aang only smiled with good sportsmanship.
"Yeah alright…" Sokka cheered while face planting into the ground. As he picked himself back up, he noticed something on the ground next to him. A fire nation helmet. "Katara, check this out."
Katara walked up to Sokka and her eyes widened as she saw the helmet. "Fire nation…" It looks like it was true. They were here. They had to be the reason this place was abandoned now.
"We should tell him." Sokka told Katara seriously.
"Hey Aang!" Katara called out to the young monk. "There's something you need to see." Aang jumped off the pillar he was on and started heading towards the siblings. But as he was coming over Katara suddenly brought up arms out and with one swift moment brough them back down and brought some snow down on both the helmet and Sokka.
"What is it?" Aang asked as he stepped in front of Katara.
"Uuuh…just a new waterbending move I learned." Katara hated lying to him, but she didn't have to heart to tell him the truth.
"Hehehe, nice one." Luffy sent Katara a thumbs up as he put a hand on top of his hat before jumping down onto the ground.
"Good job! But enough practicing!" Aang then ran forward and gestured for everyone to follow him. "But we got a whole temple to see!"
As Luffy began to follow Aang, Zoro walked up to Katara. "Hey Katara." Katara looked up at the swordsmen and flinch as he gave her a hard look. He'd seen the helmet. "You can't keep it a secret from him. You might think it's cruel to reveal the truth…but it's crueler to hide it from him. He deserves to know."
After hearing Zoro's words, Katara looked down in guilt as her brother stood up back. "He's right you now." Sokka agreed with Zoro as the green head started following after Luffy and Aang. "Firebenders were here, you can't just pretend they weren't."
"….I know…" Katara didn't like it, but she couldn't disagree with it.
"Hey guys!" Aang called out to everyone as he stopped in front of a statue of an air nomad. "I want you to meet somebody!"
"Another bald guy," Luffy said as he and the rest of the crew looked over the statue. "Who is he?"
"Monk Gyatso! The greatest airbender in the world." Aang explained to everyone as he looked up at the statue. "He taught me everything I know. He was my caregiver and my master, and the funniest guy too." Aang chuckled a bit but he soon became down casted as he frowned and looked down.
"You must miss him." Katara said sympathetically as she put a hand on Aang's shoulder.
"Yeah…" Aang then looked back up as he started walking away.
"Where are you going?" Sokka asked with a raised brow.
"The air temple sanctuary." Aang told them as he pointed to a corridor in behind the statue that lead right into the temple. "There's someone I'm ready to meet."
"Wait someones still here?" Zoro asked with a confused expression. "Who the hell could possibly still be living here?"
"Well, I don't really know," Aang admitted as he scratched the back of his head. "Gyatso just told me that when I was ready I would meet someone inside the air temple sanctuary that would help guide me on my journey."
"Really? Well then maybe they'll join my crew!" Luffy gained an excited smile as he started running forward into the corridor. "Come on let's go!"
"Hey wait for me!" Aang laughed as he followed Luffy inside. "Maybe whoever's inside can help my with this whole Avatar thing!"
"Or better yet," Sokka grinned eagerly as he, Katara, and Zoro followed them into the corridor. "Whoever's in there might have a medley of delicious cured meats." Katara and Zoro merely sent him annoyed looks. Once inside the corridor they came across a large door that looked like it had trumpet-like pipes on it as well as three large blue shells on it. Sokka ended up running right into the door face first causing him to fall down. This got a chuckle out of everyone as Sokka got up and tried to push it open but to no avail. "I don't suppose you have a key?"
"Just stand back," Luffy grinned as he started spinning his arm around. "Pretty sure I can bust it open easily!"
"No wait! No busting!" Aang quickly got in front of Luffy before he could attempt to punch the door open. "I can open it. The key is airbending!" Aang then turned around and stepped towards the temple doors and took a deep breath as he spread his arms and thrusted them forward while releasing his breath, sending a strong current of wind through the pipes on the doors. As the wind travels through the tubes it traveled to the shells causing them to turn around and reveal the other side of the shell, which was colored red. Once all the shells turned over the doors to the sanctuary opened and allowed them group to step inside. "Hello?" Aang called out as he stepped inside first and looked around the dark room. "Anyone home?"
"You wanna join my crew?" Luffy asked as his voice echoed around as he and the others stepped in the room.
THE HARBOR
"So, are you sure this Straw Hat Pirate is with the Avatar?" Zhao asked Zuko and Iroh in a dead series tone. Normally Zhao would have loved to mock Zuko for losing the Avatar, who turned out to be a 12-year-old boy, but the fact that he was with a Devil Fruit user changed things big time.
"I already told you yes," Zuko explained to Zhao with an annoyed tone. "The rubber guy said the Avatar was gonna join in pirate crew."
"The Avatar becoming a pirate…well now I've heard everything," Zhao muttered to himself as he held his hands behind his back. Never in a million years would he have imaged the Avatar becoming a pirate, even if the world was currently in a great pirate era. "Well the situation certain became a lot more dangerous. If the Avatar becomes involved in people from neutral territory then he'll be all the harder to catch."
"I know," Zuko didn't like it, but he had to agree with Zhao on this one. There was a reason most people, including the great Fire Nation, tried their best to avoid neutral waters and land. "I underestimated them once, and it won't happen again."
"No, it will not." Zhao told Zuko with narrowed eyes. "Because you won't have a second chance."
After hearing this Zuko stood up and glared right at Zhao. "Commander Zhao, I've been hunting the Avatar for two years and I-"
"And you failed!" Zhao yelled right into Zuko's face, cutting the prince off. "Capturing the Avatar is too important to leave in a teenager's hands. And dealing with people from neutral territory is something you're not at all handled for. He's mine now." Zuko tried to jump at Zhao but was held back by two guards grabbing his arms. "Keep them here."
As Zhao left, Zuko gritted his teeth in anger as he kicked the table in the tent down. "More tea please!" Iroh asked with a hint of amusement in his voice.
AIR TEMPLE
Statues.
The room that the big doors of the temple lead into was a room filled with dozens upon dozens of statues. "Statues? That's it?" Sokka asked with a disappointed frown. "Where's the meat?"
"Statues can't join a pirate crew." Luffy pouted as he looked over a few of them. "Although…maybe we can take one to decorate our future pirate ship with!"
"Don't even think about it Luffy." Katara deadpanned at her captain before turning to Aang. "So who are all these people?"
"I'm not sure…" Aang muttered quietly as he looked over a few statues. For some reason they all gave him a strange and strong feeling of déjà vu. "But it feels like I know them somehow." After looking around, Aang saw a statue of an air nomad. "Look! That one's an airbender."
Luffy hummed a bit as he looked at the statue Aang was pointing at. "More bald people." Luffy commented before looking to Aang and eyeing his completely hairless head. "Why are all airbenders bald?"
"It's because we're monks," Aang explained with a small smile. "We monks rid of our hair to have it be a symbol of renunciation of worldly ego and fashion."
"…That's weird." Luffy said bluntly making Aang frown at him. "Monks are weird."
"Mmmmmm…" Zoro hummed as he looked right into the eyes of another statue.
"Something wrong Zoro?" Katara asked as she walked up to the swordsman.
"Something about these statues…it's strange." Zoro said as he refused to break eye contact with the statue in front of him. "They almost feel alive somehow."
"Alive?" Katara repeated as she looked over the statue Zoro was starring at and quickly noticed something. "Hey this ones a waterbender." Katara then looked at the statues to the right of the waterbender statue and was able to pick up something else. "Hey they're lined up in a pattern: air, water, earth, and fire."
"That's the Avatar cycle," Aang smiled as he quickly realized what Katara was talking about. Looking at all the statues they all matched up with this pattern. After an air nomad statue that was a statue of someone from the water tribe, and then after that was someone from the earth kingdom, and then finally was someone from the fire nation.
"So that means all these guys are your past lives," Zoro commented as he looked over all the different statutes in the room. "Sure have been around a long time kid."
"Past lives?" Luffy asked in a confused tone. "What's that mean?"
Everyone then looked at Luffy as if he just asked what two plus two was. "Well…that's how the Avatar works Luffy." Katara tried explaining things to the rubber man. "When the Avatar dies they are reincarnated into the next bender in the cycle."
"Right…" Luffy's face was blank as he didn't understand anything at all.
"Think you're gonna have to dumb it down for him." Zoro said with a sweat drop.
"When the Avatar dies they're brought back to life as someone else," Sokka gave the straw hat a dumbed down explanation of the Avatar cycle.
"Uh-huh…" Luffy still didn't get it.
"…It's weird Avatar magic ok!" Sokka yelled in irritation
"Ah ok!" Luffy finally smiled as it got through his incredibly thick skull. "That makes sense!" Sokka proceeded to face palm in response.
As this was going on, Aang was standing in front of the most recent statue. It was of an elderly looking man wearing fire nation clothing. The young airbender seemed to be in some sort of trance as he looked into the statues eyes. "Aang!" Katara's voice suddenly brought Aang back into reality. "Snap out of it!"
"Huh?" Aang let out in a daze.
Everyone else went to Aang and looked at the statue he was in front of. "Whose this old dude?" Luffy asked as he looked the statue over.
"That's Avatar Roku," Aang explained to them. "The Avatar before me."
"You were a firebender?" Sokka asked as he scratched his head. "No wonder I didn't trust you when we first met."
Katara then looked over the statue to see where Aang read the name but…there was no writing on it at all. "There's no writing." Katara pointed out as she looked to Aang. "How do you know his name?"
"I'm not sure," Aang could only give a shrug. "I just know it somehow."
"You just couldn't get any weirder," Sokka told Aang while crossing his arms.
"Everyone be quiet!" Zoro suddenly snapped as the swordsmen hid behind a statue. "Someones coming." All the others hid behind statues as well as they peaked and saw that Zoro's words were true. They heard footsteps approaching and saw the of some strange figure with long spikes on his head. "Looks like someones about to have a bad day…" Zoro whispered as he got ready to unsheathe one of his swords. Sokka brought his club out and Luffy got ready to throw down.
After a few more foot steps were heard and the shadow of the figure become bigger they heard…chittering? Stepping out from behind the statues instead of being some intruder or firebender like they thought it was a small creature with large ears and primarily white fur with black fur on its face along with big green eyes. It had a few black stripes over its body as well as a monkey-like tail with two black stripes at the tip.
"Lemur!" Aang yelled out excited at seeing the small animal. Looks like there was something still living here after all.
"Dinner!" Sokka and Luffy said in unison as they started drooling as they looked at the lemur.
The lemur crouched down in fright of the two hungry ones. "Don't listen to them," Aang reassured the animal with a kind smile. "You're going to be my new pet."
"Not if I get him first!" Sokka yelled as she started to run after the animal with Lufy quickly following behind.
"Hey I saw him first!" Luffy yelled as Aang started following as well.
All three boys ran side by side through a hallway of the temple with the lemur trying to run away as fast as they could. As they were running Aang started to gain the lead so Sokka tried to use his club to trip him up but Aang smirked as he turned and started running on the walls allowing him to pass Sokka and Luffy. Aang laughed as he briefly turned around and fired a ball of air at Sokka and Luffy causing them both to trip and fall. "Hey no fair!" Luffy yelled after hitting the floor. "He's my dinner!"
Eventually they reached the end of the hallway which led to a balcony outside. The lemur hissed as he saw Aang approaching and spread its arms to reveal membrane wings, and once Aang caught up the lemur jumped up and started flying downward to get away. But Aang continued his pursuit as he started jumping down the cliff. "Aw come on!" Sokka yelled as he and Luffy caught up and watched Aang continuing to chase the lemur.
Luffy however grinned as he proceeded to jump down as well. "You're not getting away that easily!" Luffy began to follow after Aang and the lemur, leaving Sokka in the dust.
THE HARBOR
With the soldiers not allowing them to leave, Zuko and Iroh were forced to wait for Zhao to return. Zuko was growing more irritated by the second and Iroh was content in just sipping his tea and waiting for the commander's return. Eventually Zhao did return to inform the two about what was gonna happen. "My search party is ready." Zhao informed the prince and retired general. "Once I'm out to sea, my guards will escort you back to your ship and you'll be free to go."
"Why?!" Zuko questioned angrily as he got right into Zhao's face. "Are you worried I'm going to try and stop you?"
Zhao merely let out an amused chuckle at this statement. "You? Stop me?" It was honestly pretty cute that Zuko thought that. "Impossible."
"Don't underestimate me, Zhao!" Zuko's anger only continued to raise with every word Zhao said. "I will capture the Avatar before you! It doesn't matter if that pirates with him! I will succeed!"
"Prince Zuko, that's enough!" Iroh spoke up to his nephew in a stern tone. Last thing he wanted was for Zuko to say something he couldn't take back.
"You can't compete with me," Zhao's voice was practically leaking with confidence. "I have hundreds of war ships under my command and you? You're just a banished prince. No home, no allies. Your own father doesn't even want you."
"You're wrong!" Zuko yelled in denial. "Once I deliver the Avatar to my father, he will welcome me home with honor, and restore my rightful place on the throne!"
"If your father really wanted you home, he would have let you return by now, Avatar or no Avatar." Zhao harshly told Zuko as he got right into the prince's face. "But in his eyes you are a failure and a disgrace to the Fire Nation."
"That's not true…" Even Zuko didn't sound sure of his words anymore.
"You have the scar to prove it," Zhao points out with a cruel smirk on his face.
"Maybe you'd like one to match!" Zuko snapped as he got right into Zhao's face, glaring right into the commanders eyes.
"Is that a challenge?" Zhao asked mockingly.
"An Agni Kai!" Zuko officially declared. "At sunset."
"Very well." Zhao accepted with an amused look on his face. This should be worth a little fun at least. "It's a shame your father won't be here to watch me humiliate you. I guess your uncle will do."
As soon as Zhao left the tent, Iroh spoke up to Zuko in a worried tone. "Prince Zuko, have you forgotten what happened last time you dueled a master?"
"I will never forget." Zuko said darkly. It was impossible for him to regret. Not a day went by where he didn't think about it.
AIR TEMPLE
Back at the Southern Air Temple Aang continued to chase after the lemur, making sure he'd get to it before Luffy or Sokka did and could eat him. "Hey! Come back!" Aang called out to the lemur as it crawls into a tent as it landed on the ground. Aang soon landed as well and crawled into the tent the lemur did. "Come on out, little lemur!" Those hungry guys won't bother you anymore."
But when Aang looked up into the tent…his expression morphed into one of horror. Scattered throughout were several skeletons all wearing fire nation uniforms. "Firebenders? They were here?" Aang muttered out in a shocked tone as he looked around and saw more skeletons scattered around. But there was one particulat skeleton that stood out to Aang that was at the very end of the tent. It was a skeleton wearing airbender monk robes and had a wooden necklace on with the airbender symbol. There was no questioning who it was…
"Gyatso…" Aang was completely devastated. Everything everyone said was right. The firebenders were here, and they wiped out the airbenders…including Gyatso…
As Aang fell to his hands and knees Sokka and Luffy caught up with him and entered into the tent as well. "Hey, Aang! You find my dinner yet?" Sokka asked as he looked down at Aang. Sokka looked down and flinched as he saw the young airbender crying as Luffy froze in place and looked forward with his eyes slowly widening. "Aang, I wasn't really going to eat the lemur, okay?"
"Sokka." Luffy spoke up as Sokka put a hand to Aang's back. "Look."
"Huh?" Sokka rose a brow at Luffy before looking forward and seeing everything that was in the tent. "Oh man…" Now Sokka saw the real reason why Aang was like this. The truth just came crashing down on him. "Come on, Aang. Everything will be all right. Let's get out of here."
But suddenly Aang rose his head…and his eyes and tattoos started glowing brightly.
Back in the statue room Katara and Zoro were continuing to look through the statues of the various Avatar's. But suddenly the eyes on the statues all starting glowing brightly, taking the two off guard. "What the hell?" Zoro gasped out as he looked around to see all the past Avatar's eyes glowing brightly, practically illuminating the whole room. "What's going on?
"It's Aang," Katara said with a worried tone as she turned to Zoro. "We need to find him!"
"Right!" Zoro said as he and Katara ran out of the statue room.
Back with Aang his eyes and tattoos continued to glow bright as the boy stood up. Intense winds suddenly started to surround him causing Sokka, Luffy, and everything nearby to be blown away. "Aang! Come on!" Sokka yelled to Aang as the winds only got more intense with each passing second. Luffy continued to hold a blank expression as he firmly planted his feet on the ground to resist being blown away.
Suddenly a sphere of air surrounded Aang and rose him up into the air as he was beginning to create a mini tornado. "Hey!" Katara was heard shouting as she and Zoro finally caught up. Luckily it was easy to tell where they all were. "What happened?!"
"He found out firebenders killed Gyatso!" Sokka explained as she shieled his face from the storm.
"Well what's going on with him?!" Zoro yelled as he shielded his face like Sokka as he watched Aang rise up higher into the air. "This storms insane! He's gonna end up tearing apart this whole place apart if this keeps up!"
"It's his Avatar spirit! He must have triggered it!" Katara said as she tried to step forward and push through the winds. "I'm going to try and calm him down!" But before Katara to try anything…
"HEY AANG!" Luffy yelled out to the Avatar as loudly as he good to make sure Aang would hear him. "STOP THIS RIGHT NOW! WHAT WOULD GYATSO SAY IF HE SAW YOU RIGHT NOW!" Katara and Sokka gasped at Luffy's words while Zoro simply stared with narrowed eyes while keeping a hand on the brother and sister to keep them from getting blown away. "I know what it's like to lose family! It freaking sucks! But you know what?! YOU HAVE US NOW! WHEN YOU LOSE SOMEONE YOU DON'T GIVE UP! YOU KEEP PUSHING ON FOR THEM! SO CUT THAT CRAP OUT AND GET BACK DOWN HERE!"
"…Luffy…" Katara muttered quietly.
Suddenly the winds started dying down as Aang started to lower back down to earth. As the wind died down Katara, Sokka, and Zoro all walked up to Aang as he eventually landed back down and the glowing of his eyes and tattoos vanished. Aang started breathing heavily as he finally calmed down and found a hand being placed on his head. Looking up, Aang saw the rubberman looking down at him with his signature big grin. "You're with us now." Luffy told Aang as he saw down next to the boy. "So you got nothing to worry about anymore!"
Aang gave Luffy a small smile before letting out a tired sigh. "I'm sorry…"
"Don't worry about it kid," Zoro reassured him as he stepped up. Looking down, the swordsman found a fire nation helmet at his feet and with one quick stomp completely broke it. "We'll teach those fire bastards a lesson."
"And that's a promise," Sokka added as he held his club over his shoulder.
"Come on," Katara said as she helped Aang stand back up. "We should just leave now."
"Yeah, ok," Aang nodded his head and the crew got ready to leave, but suddenly the lemur returned and flew up to everyone. Landing in front of Sokka, the lemur then dropped a load of fruit it was carrying in front of the water tribe boy before dashing away. Sokka smiled and quickly started to chow down, Luffy tried to grab some of the fruit for himself but Sokka quickly slapped his hand away. "Looks like you made a new friend Sokka!"
"Can't talk!" Sokka said with his mouth full. "Must eat!"
The lemur then scampered on top of Aang as it looked at Sokka eat something that thankfully wasn't it. "Hey little guy," Aang then looked to Luffy while petting the lemur's head. "Hey Luffy, think we can add this little guy onto the crew?"
Luffy nodded and gave Aang a thumbs up as Sokka looked up. "We're taking in another stray?" He asked as he stuffed his face more.
"The hell's that supposed to mean?" Zoro asked with an irritated look causing Sokka to flinch and for Katara to giggle.
And so the group made their way back to Appa so they could leave and head out to their next destination. But before they left Aang stood next to Appa with the lemur on his shoulder as they looked over the temple. "You, me and Appa; we're all that's left of this place." Aang explained the Lemur as the three of them looked at the place they called home. "We have to stick together. Katara, Sokka, Luffy, Zoro, say hellow to the newest member of our crew."
"What are you gonna name him?" Katara asked as she pulled out a chocolate bar and happily started munching on it.
Sokka was also helping himself to the last piece of fruit the lemur gave him, but before he could bite into it the lemur quickly swiped it away for itself, getting a laugh out of everyone. "Momo," Aang decided as Momo happily ate his peach.
"Well welcome to the Straw Hat pirates Momo!" Luffy happily greeted the flying lemur onto their crew. "Now come on! Let's set sail everyone, time to head to the next island!" Aang nodded as everyone got on top of Appa. The bison let out a grunt as Aang whipped the reins to get him into the air. As they flew away, Aang gave his home one more sad look before looking forward towards the future.
But soon Aangs eyes widened as he looked down and saw a large cloud of fog beginning to surround the air temple. "Oh man…" Aang let out as he felt his heart beat increasing as he looked at the fog. "We got out of there just in time before the fog rolled in."
"The fog?" Sokka asked with a raised brow. "What so scary about the fog?"
"It's not the fog I'm worried about…" Aang explained as he looked back at the fog again. "It's what's lurking inside the fog."
ROOOOOOOOOOOAR!
Suddenly, sending a chill down all their spins, was a faint eerie sound roar coming in the direction of the temple. "W-W-W-What was that?" Katara heavily stuttered as she felt goosebumps appearing on her body. "It felt like…a phantom screaming."
Zoro looked deep into the fog and his eyes widened as he saw a haunting light leaking out of it. "We don't wanna stay around and find out." Zoro said darkly before turning to Aang. "Get us out of here." Aang nodded, not putting up any arguments as Appa sped up to get them away.
THE HARBOR
"You shouldn't have pushed yourself so hard Prince Zuko." After the Agni Kai with Zhao, that Zuko had managed to win, Zuko and Iroh made it back to their ship and were ready to set sail. However Iroh had taken Zuko to the ships infirmary after noticing how exhausted Zuko was after it. He strained himself to much during the Agni Kai. "I told you needed more time to recover."
"I told you…I'm fine…" Zuko said in between breaths, wiping some sweat of his head. "I won, so it doesn't matter anymore,"
"You won, but just barley," Iroh scolded his nephew a bit. "Rest is just as important as training. If you do not allow yourself to rest then your body will become over worked and fall apart on you in the most vital moments. Please Zuko, just take some time to rest."
"…Fine." Zuko reluctantly agreed. "But make sure everyone gets to work on tracking the Avatar, we wasted enough time her already." Iroh, happy that Zuko agreed to get some rest, nodded and bowed to Zuko before leaving the infirmary, allowing his nephew to have some alone time.
And done!
Momo joins the crew!
Everyone rejoice!
Like I said simple chapter but I enjoyed writing it and it had some good moments and it puts me even further to getting closer to the super good stuff that I'm looking forward to.
So make sure to follow, favorite, and leave a review and stay tuned for the next chapter...
"The Warriors of Kyoshi"
