When Worlds Collide: Book Two, Earth

We were on a boat, the Water Master was taking us to some Earth Kingdom general guy who was going to give us an escort to Omashu.
It was a bright and sunny day, and I was testing my wits, leaning up against the rail of the boat. I looked down, watching the water rush by. I sighed. Now that Zuko was gone, my fear of water was back, though not as bad as it was before.
Zuko.
What was he doing right now? Was he thinking about me? They say that when someone is thinking about you, your nose itches. Was it true?
The water master beckoned me over to the rest of the group, and I silently walked over.
“Here,” he said, handing Katara a small bottle. “I want you to have this. This amulet contains water from the spirit oasis. The water has unique properties. Don’t loose it.”
“Thank you Master Pocku,” Katara said, giving him a hug.
“Aang,” the Master said, turning to the monk. “These scrolls will help you master water bending. But remember-they’re no substitute for a real master.”
Aang smiled and bowed before walking away.
“You,” Pocku said, facing me. He had a distant look in his eye as he studied me. “You seem familiar. I would be very careful if I were you.”
I furrowed my brow and nodded.
“Sokka,” Pocku said, and Sokka stepped forward. “Take care son,” he said and patted his shoulder.
I chuckled at Sokka’s face.
“Fly straight to the Earth Kingdom base to the East of here,” he said. “General Fong will provide you with an escort to Omashu. There, you’ll be safe to begin your Earth Bending training with King Bumi.”
We climbed onto Appa and thanked him before taking off.

“There it is!” Sokka shouted after a few hours of flying.
I sat up and groaned. I was stiff, and wasn’t use to sitting still for so long. I looked over the side of the saddle, and saw a small fortress.
When we landed I jumped off, and began stretching. At least on the ship I could walk around.
A man came up and greeted us. “Welcome, Avatar Aang!” he said. “I am General Fong, and welcome to all of you great heroes- Appa, Momo, Brave Sokka, The Mighty Katara, and The Courageous Sam.”
“Mighty Katara? I like that,” Katara mused, and I chuckled at her.
But ‘Courageous Sam’? Really?
We turned as fireworks started to go off. It looked like the finale for the Fourth of July.
“Not bad,” Sokka said, admiring the show.
General Fong chuckled. “Come, follow me,” he said, and lead us inside.
Once inside the foyer, the general went up behind a desk. “We are all amazed at the stories of how you single handedly took out an entire fleet of Fire Nation ships,” he said. “I can’t imagine how that would feel, to have such devastating power. It’s an awesome responsibility.”
“I try not to think about it too much,” Aang said.
“Avatar,” Fong said, “you’re ready to face the Fire Lord.”
“What?” Aang asked, looking shocked. “No I’m not!”
“Aang’s still needs to master all four elements,” Katara said.
“Why?” Fong asked. “With that much power, he could defeat the Fire Lord now!”
“But, sir,” Sokka said, “Aang can only do those sort of things when he’s in the Avatar State.”
“See,” Aang said, “it’s this special state where-“
“I’m well aware,” the general interrupted. “Your eyes and tattoos glow, and you can summon unbelievable power. With out you, we’d be slaughtered before we even reached their shores. But with you leading the way, as the ultimate weapon, we could cut straight to the heart of the Fire Nation.”
“Right, but,” Aang said, still unsure, “I don’t know how to get in or out of the Avatar State. Much less what to do when I’m in it.”
“So it’s decided then,” General Fong said, turning to face us. “I’ll help you figure out how to get into the Avatar State, and then you’ll face your destiny.”
We stood. “No,” I growled. “Nothing has been decided, and we won’t put Aang through that.”
“Besides, we already have a plan,” Katara said, “Aang’s pursuing his destiny, his way.”
“Well,” Fong said, “while you take your time learning the elements, the war goes on. But may I show you something?”
We followed him to a window, where men were coming in, with injuries. “That’s the infirmary,” Fong told us, “and those are the lucky ones. They came back. Everyday the Fire Nation takes lives, people are dying Aang!”
Looking at the men, a tear slid down my cheek. I remember when Ali’s older brother went off to work in the service. She was freaking out for months.
“Think about it,” Fong said, and left us.

Later that night, when we were in bed, Aang went out for a bit.
“So,” Sokka said, turning around on his bed to face me. “How was life aboard the ship?”
I raised my eyebrow. “Why?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Well, you’ve been gone a while, and you know, you were with Zuko and all.”
I sighed. “It was... weird,” I said. “Like, you know how hard it is to see someone obsessing about something? To the point where it’s just so unhealthy it makes you want to cringe?”
“Uh... no. I don’t,” Sokka said.
I chuckled. “Well you’re lucky. It’s kinda scary to be honest.”
Sokka sighed. “Did you really try to get him off our tail?”
I nodded. “Yea. It didn’t always work though. Somehow he always found out.”
Sokka was silent for a while. “I still think we can trust you. I mean, it’s not like you’re fighting with the Fire Nation, right?” he joked.
I smiled. “Of course not.”
“Wait,” Katara said, coming into our conversation. “You’re trusting her?”
Sokka shrugged. “I really don’t see why not.”
Katara glared. “I cannot believe you!” she shouted. “She’s been with Zuko for weeks, and is obviously friends with him! She’s a fire bender!”
“Iroh’s a fire bender,” I stated. “And he helped revive the Moon Spirit. You don’t hate him, do you?”
“He’s an enemy,” Katara said.
I shook my head. “Believe what you want. Iroh’s a good man though.”
She huffed and laid down in her bed.
I sighed, lying down also.
“You girls,” Sokka muttered. “There’s so much drama.”
I smiled. “Just be thankful that you haven’t met my other friends from my world. You’d be listening to nothing but gossip.”
Sokka chuckled. “You’re a strange one, you know that?”
I laughed. “Believe me, I know.”
He started to say something else, but Aang came in, going straight to his bed. “I told the General I’d help him. By going into the Avatar State.”
Katara sat up. “Aang, no,” she said. “This is not the right way.”
“Why not?” Sokka asked. “Remember when he took out the Fire Navy? It was incredible.”
“But there’s a right way to do things, and a wrong way. You can’t just skip the homework and expect to pass the test,” I said, also sitting up and glaring at Sokka.
“Homework?” he asked.
I sighed. “Other world thing,” I said.
He nodded. “You could still just glow it up and stop that Fire Lord,” Sokka said.
“If you two meat heads wanna throw away everything we’ve worked for, fine!” Katara shouted, grabbing my arm. “Go ahead and blow it up! But apparently Sam and I are the only responsible ones here!”
I turned in Katara tight hold. “Help me!” I mouthed. I really didn’t think that Katara was pulling me out for a friendly chat.
And I was right.
Katara sat me down on a bench that was outside of our room.
“I still don’t trust you,” Katara growled. “Even if we agree on this one thing, it doesn’t mean I trust you.”
I sighed. “And I don’t expect you to for a long time. To be honest, I totally expected all three of you to toss me off Appa the second you got a chance.”
She glared. “I know last time I decided against my better judgment to trust you, but I will not make that mistake again,” she seethed. “And that’s a promise.”
I gulped as she walked away.

That next morning, General Fong was explaining about some herb that the soldiers drank to give them more energy.
“Wait... more energy?” I asked.
Fong nodded. “By a ten fold.”
I groaned, and sat down.
Sokka gave me an odd look, but I ignored it.
Aang took a drink and in seconds, he was on an air ball, talking rapidly.
“Is it working, is it working? Am I in the Avatar State? I don’t know because I can’t tell! Am I talking to loud?”
“I guess he could talk the Fire Lord to death,” Sokka said.
“He could talk Ali to death,” I muttered. “And she’s the most talkative girl in the world!”
Sokka chuckled.
Aang slammed into a poll behind us, and I jumped.
Oh, Aang...
Next, Sokka had an idea. “Maybe I can shock you into the Avatar State,” he said.
“I love surprises!” Aang said, and Katara covered his eyes.
I raised my eyebrow at Sokka who was putting poor Momo into his shirt, making it look like Sokka’s body with Momo’s head.
When Katara removed her hands, Aang yelped, then looked at his hands. “Still not glowing.”
I rolled my eyes. This is going nowhere...
We were now in some room, where Aang was wearing some sacred clothing from each of the Nations. A crazy looking old man was throwing the four elements into a bowl, and then threw it at Aang.
“This is just mud,” The monk observed.
“So... do you feel anything?” the old man asked.
Aang held up a finger, and got this weird look on his face. We all leaned forward expectantly, and he sneezed, getting mud all over us.
I wiped the mud off my face, and just sat on the ground in defeat.

“The thing is,” Aang said, “I don’t we can trigger it on purpose. So I guess that’s it.”
“Sure I can’t change your mind?” Fong asked.
“I’m sure,” Aang said, looking at the ground. “I can only reach the Avatar State when I’m in genuine danger.”
“I see,” Fong said, “I was afraid you’d say that.” then used Earth Bending and attacked Aang.
Sokka and I made a move to help him, but three guards stopped us. We heard Fong order the men to attack him, and we struggled harder. Sokka used his feet to knock out the guards that were holding him, and I kicked the guy holding me where the sun don’t shine.
The men fell to the ground and we smirked, giving each other high fives before running down to help Aang.
We met with Katara at the base of the stairs leading to the courtyard. “What’s going on?” she asked.
“The generals gone crazy!” Sokka shouted. “He’s trying to force Aang into the Avatar State.”
Katara set off to help with Water Bending, and Sokka pulled out his boomerang and threw it.
I grabbed my fans, and took off. I snuck up behind a man, and shot fire at his head.
He turned and dodged, and we began to duel. In less than a minute, he was on the ground, unconscious. I happened to get a few more men down, and I saw Katara helping Aang, and Sokka walking towards the weird bird-horse thing-y.
“Maybe you can avoid me,” General Fong said, “but she can’t.”
I looked and saw that Katara was trapped. Fong did an earth bending move, and Katara sunk into the ground, almost to her waist.
“Don’t hurt her!” Aang shouted.
Another second, Katara sunk even more into the ground.
“Katara!” Sokka shouted. “No!” he was riding the bird horse thing, and charged at Fong. Suddenly the bird jerked, and Sokka was thrown off.
I glared at the general, and shot fire out of my fist. “Let her go!” I screamed.
“You’re... a fire bender?” he asked, avoiding the fire ball.
I ignored his question though, and just shot more fire.
I saw him grit his teeth, and then I was surrounded by four walls made of rock. “Hey!” I shouted, and used my fist to bang on the rocks that imprisoned me. “Help! Get me out of here!”
After a while, I heard Fong yelling. Then, I could feel wind breaking through the rocks that surrounded me, and in seconds, I was free.
I saw Aang rise up into the air, and I backed away, heading back towards Sokka.
Aang suddenly shot down towards the ground, sending everyone but Katara, Sokka and I backwards.
When Aang fell to his knees Katara ran towards him. Sokka and I went over to the bird horse thing, and Sokka helped me up on after him.
We came up behind the general to hear him talking about having to control Aang when he was in the Avatar State, and something about going to the Fire Lord. Sokka just rolled his eyes and hit him on the back of the head, and he fell to the ground.
“Anybody else gotta problem with that?” I asked, daring them with my eyes to step forward. Everyone shook their head, and I smirked.
“Good,” Sokka muttered. We hopped off and stood by the other two.
“Do you still want an escort to Omashu?” a man asked.
“I think we’re all set,” Katara said, and we all smiled.
In no time, we were back on Appa, and soaring through the skies.