Avatar: Two Brothers

Unlikely Ally

Back inside the rock dome, the battle raged on between the earth and air bender. Arsh thought he would have an easy time handling a teenage air bender but Da-Wei proved to be a difficult challenge.

“How? Why am I having such a difficult time against an inexperienced air bender!” He yelled in frustration. Arsh gathered all the strength he created the largest rock he could possibly make. Then he swung the boulder right at Da-Wei, but the air bender increased his speed, allowing him to evade the giant boulder and strike his target rapidly at all his joints.

His attack didn’t require much strength but because of the rapid precision of each hit, Arsh felt immense pain at his joints and wasn’t able to earth bend for the moment. Da-Wei then leapt into the air and was about to hit Arsh with a full momentum dive kick. However, not wanting to injure his opponent too severely, he lightened his attack on impact and Arsh took the hit and fell on the ground without any major injuries.

With the battle clearly over, Da-Wei dusted off his hands and began to walk away. Arsh on the other hand was not satisfied. He pulled himself back up and shouted to get the air bender’s attention.

“There is no way some punk air bender could beat me, an elite guard of the Earth Kingdom! You must have cheated. Tell me your tricks!”

Da-Wei stopped walking to reply to him. “There isn’t really a trick. Earlier you mentioned that I was an inexperienced air bender. I am young but I have always had to fight opponents far stronger and larger than me. Master Ruthar taught me how to battle against them all.”

What Da-Wei also didn’t mention was all he had been through the past while. He battled against fierce opponents whose strength was unmatched by many. The assassin back at Ruthar’s quarters, the giant snake shark, Ruvnia, and even his encounter with Laghima. All those fights significantly improved his battle sense.

“Also, I have a lot of practice battling earth benders because my best friend is one. And I have to say, you are far weaker than her.” Da-Wei added.

Arsh heard his words and began to laugh.

“What’s so funny? Did losing this fight also make you lose your mind?” Da-Wei questioned.

“Haha! You think you have won? You have a lot to learn. Look around.”

Da-Wei surveyed his surroundings and saw that the dome was still standing. He tried to attack the walls with his air bending but again he couldn’t break through. He began to panic as he remembered both Isabelle and Chloe were outside and there was still that other earth bender out there.

“Keep wasting your energy but you will never break through. The only way for this dome to come falling down is for you to make me! But guess what, I ain’t ever listening to you so there is no way you can get this wall down!”

The pressure was mounting on Da-Wei. He needed to break free to get to his friends but he couldn’t find any way of escaping. Then it hit him, he remembered earlier when he knocked Arsh to the ground, he felt the dome crumble a bit. Theoretically, if he could knock out Arsh without injuring him too severely, the dome would crumble.

“Ha, I know what you are thinking. You think if you can knock me out, this dome will collapse. Well then, I would like to see you try it.” He stood with his arms open leaving himself open.

“What are you doing? You are completely defenseless!”

“Exactly! You air benders never had the guts to hurt anyone! So how about now? If you don’t hit me with everything you got, your friend will be in danger. But if you hit me too hard, can you live with that on your conscience?”

Caught in a tough dilemma, Da-Wei struggled to figure out what to do but suddenly, he heard an impact coming against the wall from the outside. The sound had both Da-Wei and Arsh turning their attention to the noise. They heard another impact coming from the other side of the wall and it was beginning to crack the dome.

After another massive impact, an opening was created and light rushed into the arena. Da-Wei covered his eyes and once his eyes adapted he could see the person on the other side that had broken down the barrier. It was someone he didn’t expect to see, Ruvnia.

“You look like you have seen a ghost!” She directed her comment to the air bender. Da-Wei stood motionless so she grabbed him by the collar. “Are you daft? I just broke you out, so go get your friends and get out of here!” After finishing her sentence, she threw Da-Wei out of the dome and he landed on the ground near Chloe who was unconscious.

“Hey! Who do you think you are? How did you break through my indestructible earth dome?!” cried Arsh.

“Indestructible? That weak thing?” Her comments left Arsh in anger as he used his earth bending to launch a fury of stones at Ruvnia. Seeing the attack coming, she jumped back and landed near where she threw Da-Wei.

Before she went back into combat, Da-Wei interrupted. “Why are you helping us?”

“Don’t get the wrong idea! My master just doesn’t want those corrupted earth benders getting their hands on the avatar. Now if you’ll excuse me, I got to get my workout in!” She pounced back into the fight, not only battling Arsh but also Gurshaan who had recovered after his initial bout against Ruvnia.

Da-Wei quickly checked Chloe’s vitals to find that her condition was getting worse. Da-Wei knew they had to leave now. While he got Chloe onto his back, Isabelle ran towards him.

“Isabelle! Are you alright?”

“I will be fine. What in the world is going on? Why is that woman helping us?”

Da-Wei couldn’t explain it himself but he knew this was their chance to escape. They were about to make their getaway when they saw both Arsh and Gurshaan combine their earth bender to create a massive earth boulder that was well over ten feet tall.

Both benders stood mesmerized by the sight, as the elite earth guards directed their meteor-like object at Ruvnia. “It's going to crush her!” Isabelle cried but there was nothing she could do. Da-Wei and Isabelle could only watch as the meteor was about to strike.

Without flinching, Ruvnia held out her hands to stop the meteor from crushing her. Her heels dug deep into the ground but she held off the giant rock by herself. Eventually, she found a weak point in the rock and smashed through it with her fist. She successfully stopped the earth bender’s strongest attack and she still had plenty of energy to spare.

Arsh and Gurshaan were stunned by the results but they continued to press the attack against Ruvnia. Isabelle was still star-struck so Da-Wei tapped on her shoulder, “We got to go now!” and they both made their way towards Mikayla.

When they reached Mikayla, the sky bison was still trapped in the cemented pavement. She tried to break free but was still unable to do so. Da-Wei and Isabelle both tried to use their bending to help her but their techniques were not designed for such a task. “We need Chloe for this!” Isabelle exclaimed, but she was out cold.

As they were still trying to figure out a way to help Mikayla, they heard the sound of footsteps coming their way. That was when Isabelle remembered her conversation with Gurshaan. “Oh no, that’s the reinforcements of Earth Kingdom soldiers that Gurshaan was talking about!”

Da-Wei knew that there was no way they would last another battle in the state Isabelle and Chloe were in. They were running out of time, when suddenly the little bunnypup that was with Isabelle earlier returned.

“Niall! You came back!”

“Who is Niall?” asked a confused Da-Wei.

“This little guy! I named him back at the camp. I think it wants us to follow him.”

“We are going to trust that little furball?”

“Do you have any better ideas?”

Da-Wei knew there was no other option and he also knew this was going to be a tough choice to make. He turned around to the sky bison that had carried them so far along their journey and placed his hand on her forehead.

“I’m sorry Mikayla, we can’t take you with us.” There was no struggle coming from the sky bison, she knew there was no other choice. After a final embrace, Da-Wei promised that he would come back to save her, but that did not make the separation any easier.

With Chloe on his back, Da-Wei and Isabelle followed the bunnypup named Niall out of the area. Behind them was a squadron of earth benders pursuing their trail. Although Mikayla was unable to move, she was still able to unleash a devastating roar that forced the guards to stop and plug their ears.

Mikayla successfully stalled for Isabelle and Da-Wei but eventually, her strength wavered and the earth benders were able to overpower and silence her.

Meanwhile, Isabelle and Da-Wei continue to run. They followed Niall out of the swamp into an open body of water without another path of land to travel on. Both the benders looked at the bunnypup to see what it would do next but it just sat there staring at them.

“Niall? Where do we go now? Please, don’t do this to us!”

“Great. Follow the silly animal, what a great idea!” Da-Wei shouted sarcastically.

“Hey, I know we are in a terrible situation but…” Suddenly, Isabelle began to feel light headed and was about to faint. Lucky, Da-Wei reacted quickly and used his airbending to catch her before she could fall.

“Hey, what’s wrong? Isabelle?” But there was no response. Her body finally gave out after staying up the entire night compounded with all the battles she had been through. Da-Wei put her down gently so she could rest comfortably but he also heard voices in the distance. The earth kingdom forces were coming.

With nowhere to run and both his comrades, unresponsive, Da-Wei figured this was where he would make his final stand. He put Chloe down on the ground gently and was ready for what was approaching. But before a single earth soldier appeared, he heard someone approaching from the water.

“You looked like you could use some help.” Da-Wei saw a person wearing a bamboo hat on a boat. Da-Wei had no idea who this man was.

“You should probably get your friends on board. The earth soldiers are coming and they don’t sound very happy.” Da-Wei nodded and got both Isabelle and Chloe on board before hopping on himself. The man was about to paddle them out but he had one question to ask.

“So that little critter over there, is he coming too?” Da-Wei looked at Niall. He was the one that led them here to the mysterious oarsman. He grabbed the little fellow into his hands and once he was on the boat, the man guided them away from the Bagga Bog.