Avatar: Two Brothers

We Meet at Last

Back in the council room, the earth general was going over the reports. The events that took place at the Western Air Temple were of great concern. An enemy that was targeting the avatar was able to take out the entire Air Nomad forces along with a master level air bender.

Fortunately the reports mentioned that the avatar managed to escape with the help of an air bender at the temple and was now in the Ruthar’s care. The general then stopped reading and began to speak his mind.

“Council members, it has become apparent from these reports that the air nomads are not capable of protecting the avatar.” His words caused doubt among the audience. “The protection of the avatar must be entrusted to true warriors, not some meditative pacifists!”

His offensive comment got the one of the air nomad’s blood boiling but he restrained himself. Ruthar just laughed it off as he was used to being called far worse things.

“I think it's pretty clear that everyone but the air benders agree with me. Now Ruthar if you would be so kind as to hand over the avatar.”

Finally, Ruthar had a chance to speak. “I’ve been wondering why you called me to attend this meeting, after all I don't have any position of high standing. You just wanted your hands on the avatar.”

“You thought for a moment you were some hotshot weren’t you, well sorry to disappoint. Now, don’t make me repeat, hand over the avatar.”

“General, I agree with your position that the air benders can’t protect the avatar alone, but I believe that also holds true for any one nation, don’t you think?” Ruthar rebutted.

“Ruthar, stop this nonsense. Do as you are told or this will be considered as an act of rebellion against the King of Ba Sing Se.”

“Last I checked, I never heard the king issue the order himself.“

The general got extremely agitated with the air bender and stomped the ground causing it to shake. “You think you are tough, old man? Well why don’t you prove to everyone here just how strong you are!”

Ruthar remained calm. “I will not fight a senseless battle. We are not enemies, and this would be exactly what our enemies want. To fight amongst ourselves.”

Everyone heard the wisdom that Ruthar was speaking and they agreed but the earth general refused to listen. He ran towards Ruthar filled with rage. Ruthar was ready to counter his momentum and allow him to fall by himself but suddenly, the Earth bender began to spit out blood.

Ruthar and everyone else in the room was confused. “Stupid air bender what did you do to me?” The general spoke angrily towards Ruthar. He tried to get up but he spat out more blood before the rest of his body became extremely weak and he became motionless.

Everyone looked at Ruthar with fear in their eyes. Without even lifting a hand, it seemed Ruthar defeated a general of the Earth Kingdom in such a horrific manner. Upon this sight, some of the leaders were afraid and tried to escape but the door was locked.

Ruthar tried to approach everyone slowly to calm them down but one by one, the closer he got to someone, they fainted on the floor. Even his friend Risensa who tried to speak with him fell to the ground as well. He quickly rushed to check her pulse and was relieved to find that she was still breathing.

Ruthar took a quick look around to find that everyone else in the room had fainted on the floor. Except one other person, the guard who was asked to stand by to protect the king.

“Who are you?” he demanded. Because he was looking down the entire time, Ruthar never saw his face. But once the guard looked up, Ruthar immediately knew who he was.

“What’s the matter brother? You look like you have seen a ghost.”

Outside in the halls, Isabelle was running as fast as she could while holding a baby in her arms. Her two pursuers were closing in and about to catch up to her. After turning a corner she tried to slow them down by throwing a fireball. It was a valiant effort but the two easily dodged the fireball and continued their chase.

Eventually, one of the pursuers hopped over Isabelle and blocked her from running forward. She immediately turned around hoping to find an alternate path but she was cut off by her other enemy. As the two opponents slowly closed in on her, Isabelle held the baby tightly in her arms with her back against a door.

One of the masked men held out their hand, ready to grab Isabelle but the door behind her opened and out of it shot out Chloe, who smacked one of the men hard onto the ground. The enemy’s partner saw what happened and drew out his blade to strike back. However, he didn’t expect Da-Wei to pop out from the door, who used his air kick to disarm his foe.

Chloe then used her earth bending to launch the enemies up into the air and Da-Wei finished him off by sending him bashing against the wall with a strong gust. The two benders had successfully taken out their enemies.

“See Da-Wei, I told you that would work!”

“Yeah yeah okay, you are right, your plan worked.”

“Woohoo! He said it, he totally said it! I’m a happy person now!”

While Chloe was celebrating, Da-Wei turned his attention to the firebender who had the avatar in her arms. “Hey who are you and why do you have the avatar in your hands?”

“What are you talking about?” She was confused at first but then she looked back at the baby, “You mean this baby is the avatar?!”

Now Isabelle had a million questions for Chloe and Da-Wei. However, Da-Wei told her that he didn’t have enough time to explain and that she should hand the avatar back to them. Isabelle had some doubts as she wasn’t sure who the two benders were but as she was contemplating her choice, Chloe pushed both Da-Wei and her down onto the floor.

“Chloe! What in the world are you doing!” He said in anger but he looked at where Chloe was pointing with her finger and saw the razor feathers that she had saved them from. He then looked behind and saw the sister of Ruvnia.

The feathered lady introduced herself as Sonoor and she claimed that she would be the last person any of the three would see. Chloe and Da-Wei were extremely cautious with Sonoor. If she was anywhere as strong as her sister, they were in trouble. They tried to formulate a plan to escape and reach Ruthar but their thought was interrupted by Isabelle who spoke up.

“Where is Ruby?”

“Oh you mean that other fire bender with you earlier. Ha, she was so weak, I had no problem…” Before she could finish, Isabella blasted a fire stream that just missed her face.

Isabelle gave the baby over to Chloe and then charged at Sonoor with a fiery anger. Chloe and Da-Wei watched as the firebender put a tremendous amount of pressure against her winged opponent.

“Whoa, remind me never to get her mad.” Da-Wei told Chloe.

As the fight continued, Chloe told Da-Wei to head to the council room to find Ruthar. She would stay behind to help Isabelle with their current opponent and protect the avatar.

Da-Wei didn’t want to leave his friend behind but he trusted her intuition. They fist bumped each other before Da-Wei sprinted down the halls. Chloe then used her earth bending to create a crib for the baby. Once the baby was secured inside, she turned her attention to Sonoor to fight alongside Isabelle.

Isabelle looked to have the upper hand as she continued to pressure Sonoor up close with her flaming fist but it was all part of Sonoor’s trap. Once Isabelle committed a strong attack, Sonoor flew up into the air and with Isabelle’s back turned towards her, Sonoor shot her feather daggers at the defenseless firebender.

Thankfully, Chloe created a stone wall behind Isabelle to protect her from the attack. “Thanks, but I can handle myself.” She replied with pride. “I know but this bird lady is no joke, we should really work together.”

As Chloe finished, Sonoor created a huge gust of wind that knocked the two of them off their feet and slammed them against the wall. “You do what you want. Just stay out of my way!” Isabelle shouted as she ran back in alone.

This time Isabelle charged up all the fire she had into her right fist, then bent her knees and propelled forward leaving a trail of flames. She was flying towards Sonoor at incredible velocity.

Chloe noticed Sonoor had one of her arms tucked away, hiding something from plain sight and Isabelle was bursting straight into it. She knew Isabelle wouldn’t listen so instead Chloe used her earth bending to make an earth spike appear between the two of them, forcing Isabelle to steer away from her target.

Not knowing she had been saved, Isabelle yelled in anger, “What are you doing? I said get out of my way!” She channeled her fiery rage into her hands again and reengaged against her enemy but Sonoor pulled out the hidden poisonous feather and had it lined up for Isabelle’s abdomen.

Isabelle finally saw Sonoor’s hidden attack but it was too late to dodge. Instead, Chloe flew in and pushed her aside, taking the sting into her abdomen. After the poisonous feather was stabbed into her, Chloe attempted to catch Sonoor off guard by slamming a rock at her but she separated from Chloe and avoided the attack.

Chloe did her best to hold her stance but the poison was already taking effect as her vision began to blur. She was barely standing straight and Sonoor knew this was her chance to strike. She was about to engage but Isabelle quickly jumped in front of Chloe to prevent Sonoor from having an easy target.

“What? You two are working together all of a sudden. Ha, no matter, I can take you both!” She boasted with confidence, preparing to strike down the two benders. She raised her wings up high and was ready to attack but a loud gong sound appeared from the council room.

Her attention turned towards the room for a moment before she faced the two benders again. “Hmph, you two got lucky this time. The next time we meet, I will finish you both myself!” With those words she flew off towards the council room.

After Sonoor disappeared, the adrenaline started to leave Chloe’s body and she began to fall to the ground but Isabelle caught her. “Hey don’t you fall asleep, I’m sorry for not listening earlier, please hold on!”

With her last few breaths, she uttered some words to Isabelle, “Don’t worry about me, just go help Da-Wei and Ruthar, they should be at the council room.” And then her eyes closed.

Isabelle tried shouting and shaking her awake but to no avail. She checked her breathing and her pulse, although they were slower than normal, she could still feel them, meaning she still had time. Putting Chloe’s arm around her shoulder and carrying the avatar in her arms, she made her way to the council room where she hoped to find Da-Wei and Ruthar.