Avatar: Two Brothers

Bagga Bog

After Ruthar was taken away in chains, some of the militia began to assist the injured leaders in the room back on their feet. Some were sent to scout out the rest of the palace to see who else they could find. Once they had all done their assignment, they returned to their general with their reports.

“General Gursehaj! We have searched the entire kingdom and found other soldiers taken down.”

“What of the avatar?” The general asked with a determined voice.

“Nowhere to be found sir.”

It looked as if they had hit a deadend in their search, until another one of the Gursehaj’ soldiers came in with news. “General Gursehaj, pardon my intrusion but we found some vital information in our search.” Gursehaj allowed him to continue. “We found records of all the prisoners that were kept in the dungeon. Everyone is accounted for, except two.”

“And they are?” Asked the general.

“Their names are Da-Wei and Chloe, the record said they were well acquainted with Ruthar, the prisoner we have apprehended.”

Upon hearing the connection, the general commanded a small unit to check the stables and see if they could find the trace of a sky bison. After the unit left, he called for two specific names: “Arsh! Gurshaan!”

Two high ranking earth benders came in response to the general’s voice. Arsh was much taller than Gurshaan but they were both skilled. “I have a special job for you two.” They both listened attentively. “Track down those two benders and bring back the avatar alive.”

He was about to turn away and deal with other matters but Gurshaan asked for clarity. “What about the benders?” he paused. “I will leave that up to you.”

Da-Wei and Isabelle were now far from Ba Sing Se but still in the vast domain of the Earth Kingdom. Mikayla had been a tireless workhorse, carrying them miles away from the big city and into a secluded area known as the Bagga Bog. This place seemed normal during the day but the swamps were rumored to be haunted during the night. Few travelers dared venture here and almost no one had escaped.

The sun was beginning to set and Mikayla was tired from all the flying. They had to land and set up camp to allow Mikayla to rest. Both Isabelle and Da-Wei thanked the sky bison for her efforts. Before they went to gather supplies to set up camp, they placed both the avatar and Chloe on Mikayla’s back.

Once Da-Wei found enough berries he returned to camp and it wasn’t long before Isabelle showed up with lumber for a campfire along with a little companion on her shoulder. It was a BunnyPup, half bunny and half puppy, that followed her back to the camp. With the critter on her shoulder, she placed the wood in the proper orientation before lighting it up and creating a campfire. Da-Wei then passed her some berries and sat on the other side of the fire.

“Hey.” Da-Wei called out to Isabelle which startled her, causing her to hold her companion tightly. “Thanks for saving Chloe.”

“You are thanking me?” She asked in confusion.

“Yeah of course, why wouldn’t I be?”

“I thought you would be mad thinking I was the reason your friend is in her current condition.”

“Oh, well I might have thought that at first, but I realized that you and Chloe were strangers. You had no reason to help us and yet you carried her to the council room. So, thank you.”

Isabelle accepted Da-Wei’s gratitude but after that, she had no idea what to say. For a moment there was an awkward silence so Da-Wei decided to ask another question.

“So you have a thing for cute little creatures?”

“A friend of mine really likes them.” Suddenly tears began to drip down her face.

“Whoa! Are you okay? Was it something I said?”

“Sorry, It's not you. She was a friend I dragged into Ba Sing Se with me.”

“Dragged along? What do you mean?”

“My friend and I weren’t the ones chosen to escort Fire Lord Risensa into the Earth Kingdom. There were more qualified warriors than us but I really wanted to visit Ba Sing Se. I came up with a plan to ambush the guards the day they were about to leave and switch places with them without anyone else knowing. Realizing I couldn’t accomplish the plan on my own, I got my friend, Ruby to help me. She was kind-hearted and absolutely not someone who would do this type of stuff but I need someone I could trust. I convinced Ruby that this would be a chance of a lifetime, and that we would see cute animals all over the kingdom and she agreed to the plan.”

“So where is your friend now?”

“Unfortunately, we bumped into Sonoor back in Ba Sing Se. She stayed behind to allow me to escape with the avatar. And well, you know the rest of the story.”

“So why did you decide to come with me on this journey?”

“Because if I turn back from this, then Ruby’s sacrifice would have meant nothing. I will make sure you get Chloe to the water tribe to find the healer and then take down Sonoor!”

After hearing the fire in her words, Da-Wei was glad that he wasn’t her enemy. “Well you better get some rest then. We have a long road ahead.” As he was about to stand up and take first watch, Isabella stood up first.

“I’ll take the first watch.” Feeling the effects of long travel, he couldn’t resist the offer. He thanked Isabelle for her efforts then made his way to lie down to recuperate his energy.

It was the middle of the night, and Da-Wei was fast asleep. Isabelle was still awake and ever vigilant about her surroundings. Although she didn’t know what to expect from the Bagga Bog, she could sense an ominous presence lurking within the swamp. As she was monitoring the proximity of their camp, she heard a voice crying in the distance.

Isabelle tapped Da-Wei on the shoulder to wake him up. “Da-Wei, I hear someone screaming, I think they need our help.” However, he wasn’t completely awake when he responded. “It's just your imagination, I’m sure it's fine…” and he fell back asleep.

Seeing that Da-Wei wasn’t going to be of any help, she followed the voice deeper into the bog. As she got further, she not only heard a girl crying for help, but footsteps running. It wasn’t just the footsteps of a girl, but something else chasing after her.

When Isabella realized the girl was in danger, she rushed towards the voice, hoping to reach her in time. She made her way through and found the little girl who had fallen down. Unfortunately, she wasn’t alone, as a hippopanther (half hippopotamus and half panther) was about to eat its prey.

Isabelle used her fire bending to draw the attention of the predator away from the girl. The beast ignored Isabelle’s flames, forcing her to engage the animal in close combat. She jumped right at the beast with a fiery kick and landed a direct hit against the hippopanther, knocking it down.

Isabelle waited to see how the creature would counterattack but the beast laid still on the ground. At first she thought the animal was trying to lull her into a trap but it was clear as time passed, the creature was no longer able to move. “That was way too easy.” Isabelle thought to herself, but there was no time to be concerned.

“Are you alright?” She rushed to the girl’s side but found her lying on the ground with wounds that seemed beyond healing. Isabelle couldn’t believe it, she was too late and now the girl had paid the ultimate price. She took a moment to calm her emotions down, before placing her hands on the girl’s eyes to shut them close. However, as her hands made contact against her skin, it felt completely decayed.

“That’s strange…” Isabelle thought to herself. There was no way the girl’s body could be decaying so quickly if she sustained those injuries just moments ago. She then looked at the beast lying on the ground and realized it too was decaying quite rapidly. Nothing made sense, until she noticed how far she had drifted away from the base camp. “Oh no, Da-Wei and Chloe!” She immediately rushed back to them, hoping she wasn’t too late.

In the dark of night with Da-Wei still asleep, a long arm began to reach out to grab Chloe and the avatar. As the palm of the hand was about to close its grip on Chloe, Da-Wei jumped between them and released a huge blast of air around him, knocking the arm away. The arm fell on the ground and then retracted back to where it came from.

It was too dark for Da-Wei to see what was lurking beyond and he couldn’t risk venturing out with both Chloe and the avatar unprotected. He tried to get Mikayla to wake up but she was too exhausted from flying and was still heavily sleeping.

Suddenly, coming out from the dark were multiple long arms, trying to grab its prey. With limited vision, Da-Wei could only see the hands coming when they were about two feet away, which was just enough time for him to react and repel incoming hands. He did his best to protect his friend but after the consecutive strikes, the creature saw an opening to strike the air bender.

The arm came on Da-Wei’s blind side and it was about to hit him. Thankfully, Isabelle had arrived and fire kicked the arm aside.

“Finally decided to come back for guard duty?”

“Hey! I was trying to help someone, give me a break!”

Although Da-Wei gave Isabelle a tough time, he was glad she had returned. “It's way too dark here, can you do something about it?”

Isabelle waited a bit long for Da-Wei to say an extra word. “Sigh, please?” Instantly she used her fire bending to light up the area around them. Once the fire was set, it revealed what they were up against but they almost wished they had never seen such a foe.

The creature had the face of a pale woman with long black hair and six arms coming out from its body. The mere sight of it was unsettling, both Da-Wei and Isabelle had never seen a being such as this before. Then it did something that completely startled them, it spoke.

“How unfortunate, I was hoping neither of you would need to see such a dreadful sight.”

“You can talk!? Okay I’m officially creeped out right now!” Isabelle states in a panic.

Da-Wei was also feeling uneasy but he appeared more calm. “Who or what are you? And what do you want with my friend?”

“I have no recollection of who this body once belonged to. As for what I am, let’s just say I’m a dark spirit, so you humans can understand.”

“A dark spirit? What is that?” asked Isabelle.

“I don’t know too much but from what Master Ruthar told me, they were once innocent harmless spirits but due to being exposed to corruption, hatred, or a negative environment, these spirits turn extremely hostile, crushing everything in their sights.”

“So this is one of those dark spirits he mentioned?”

“I don’t know, something about this one seems off.”

“Haha! You are quite the perceptive one. You are correct, I’m no ordinary dark spirit. That’s because I managed to possess a human body!”

After making that comment, Da-Wei had heard enough. He was ready to battle against the dark spirit but Isabelle asked him to wait.

“What did you do to that girl?” Isabelle was referring to the girl she was trying to save earlier.

The dark spirit lifted up its hands, weaving it around and suddenly the girl reappeared before Isabelle for a moment along with the body of the hippopanther. “As you can see I can manipulate the movement of bodies that are no longer alive. It's quite effective in luring humans away so I can capture my prey easily.”

As it finished, Isabelle threw a fireball right at the face of the spirit but it blocked it with one of its hands. “You are absolutely disgusting, defiling an innocent girl’s body like that!”

She charged straight at the creature with her fist raging with fire. Relentlessly, she threw consecutive fire punches at the unsettling creature's face, without giving it a chance to retaliate.

After Isabelle used up all her energy, she saw the spirit stop moving for a moment, with its face completely burnt and deformed. However, it didn’t take long for the spirit’s face to align back into place, like it had never taken a hit. Isabelle tried to strike it again with a flame charged fist but the spirit grabbed her with one of its hands, holding her tight in its grip.

“Foolish fire bender, your pitiful attacks won’t work against me.” Isabelle struggled but she couldn’t break free from its grasp. “Don’t feel bad, I have taken the souls of many humans. You will join them soon.”

As it was about to put its other hand over Isabelle’s face, Da-Wei used his air bending to swipe away the spirit’s hands and break Isabelle free. Isabelle was gasping for air, so Da-Wei took over to allow her to regain her normal breathing.

“Listen Isabelle, I know you want to slay this thing, but there is no way we can do it. Master Ruthar said dark spirits can’t be harmed with bending or physical damage.”

“Da-Wei, don’t you get it? If we don’t stop this thing, it will continue to cause harm to others.”

When Isabelle made her point, Da-Wei was at a loss for what to do. He wanted to help but he saw no way in defeating the spirit. Isabelle could see that Da-Wei was confused so she made a decision for the both of them.

“I’m sorry Da-Wei. It looks like I won’t be able to keep my promise in helping you. Take care of Chloe and get her to the water tribe.” She then turned her back to Da-Wei, charging head first into an enemy she had no idea how to defeat.

Da-Wei tried to hold her back but he was too late. As he saw his friend running towards their dark foe, he began thinking about the condition Chloe was in. Although he wanted to help Isabelle, he had a responsibility to find Chloe a cure and protect the avatar as well. Then it hit him, an idea that could possibly help them defeat the dark spirit.

Isabelle used the fire jet technique to propel herself towards the dark spirit. Seeing the incoming firebender, the dark spirit reached out with multiple limbs to hold her down. As the hands were coming towards Isabelle, she began to create a circular motion with her kicks to create multiple blazing arcs to repel the arms.

She successfully cleared the arms out of her way and she saw an opening for its face. This time, she shot herself forward like a burning spear, attempting to pierce right through her enemy. The ends of her finger tips began to light up and she spiked through the spirit leaving a hole in its face.

She turned around, hoping this attack would end in a different result but unfortunately, the dark spirit’s face reconfigured back into its normal state. Isabelle’s attack didn’t work and she had used up nearly all her fighting strength. She still held her fist up to fight but with all the dark spirit’s limbs attacking her, she was unable to defend and fell into its clutches again.

The dark spirit held her with a greater grip this time, ensuring she would never escape. It was about to devour her spirit but it suddenly felt a threatening presence in its midst. It turned around to see Da-Wei, with the avatar in his arms.

“You are that scared air bender from before, but something is different about you…”

“Let my friend go or I will show you no mercy.” He spoke with confidence and it gave the dark spirit a small chill. It still held onto Isabelle in one hand and with its other hands that were free it attacked Da-Wei preemptively.

Da-Wei dodged a few of the attacks but it was difficult to move while holding the avatar so he was eventually struck multiple times by the dark spirit. He was bounced around like a pinball between the attacks but he held onto the avatar with all his might. He was left on his knees but still able to open his eyes.

“I thought I sensed a threatening presence emanating from you, but it must have just been my imagination.” It smacked him one more time, sending him hard against the ground. When he landed on his back, the baby was now exposed to the dark spirit.

It plucked the baby from his arms. “Humans are so strange. Why would you hang on so tightly to something so puny and weak? Well, I guess I will devour it as well.”

The dark spirit was about to place the baby within its jaws but suddenly, the baby began to glow. The baby’s eyes opened wide and turned bright white. Its entire body was surrounded by the four elements, wind, fire, water, and earth.

Instantly, the dark spirit knew the baby it was holding was the avatar. The light emanating from the avatar was overwhelming to the dark spirit. It tried to fight back by reaching out to attack it with its arms but they disintegrated when it came too close to the avatar.

The baby with all the powers of the previous avatars before it, surrounded the dark spirit in a circle of light, causing it extreme pain. “No! This can’t be happening! It wasn’t supposed to end like this!” Within seconds, the dark spirit became dust that dispersed into the air.

With the dark spirit dealt with, the power of the avatar state disappeared, leaving the baby asleep and falling. Thankfully, Da-Wei was able to catch the infant with his airbending before the baby could hit the ground.