Avatar The Last Airbender Fan Fiction ❯ Avatar: Doomsday ❯ Reunions, Part 1 ( Chapter 9 )

Standard Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story aside from my own original characters and concepts. Avatar: The Last Airbender and all of its characters are property of Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. I own nothing and make nothing from this work.

Summary: Takes place shortly after The Boiling Rock, Part 2. Ever wonder what happened to Mai and Ty Lee during Sozin's Comet? Prison escapes, chimera monsters, freakish firebenders, secret takeovers, dragons, sibling rivalries, and evil spirits. It's all here.

Well, the moment everyone has been waiting for is here. It is time for a convergence point! This is also the hardest chapter to write up to this point. It is the only chapter that I wrote and then decided to trash it and start from scratch again, and again, and again. Six total rewrites…blah.

Enjoy!

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Chapter 9: Reunions, Part 1

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They had been flying for hours, following that accursed beast and her half mad owner. They were tired, they were hungry. It was dark and they were in no mood to go searching for a lone man in the largest city in the world.

“It's been a long day,” Zuko spoke to the group. “Let's rest here and we'll start searching at dawn.”

A chorus of nods and agreements answered him. Sokka, Zuko, and Katara quickly unpacked Appa while Suki and Toph scanned for anything dangerous. Toph could not sense vibrations from anything larger than Momo and Suki reported that the skies were clear.

Within minutes, each of them was completely comatose in slumber. Even Toph, with her bizarre method of sight, was too exhausted to note the faint trace of footsteps from the ridge of stones that they were settled next to.

It had taken her quite a while, but Toph had trained herself to still sense the vibrations in the earth around her as she slept. The difficult part had been training herself to not wake up at every vibration, but to only wake at the ones who held the possibility of a threat. She managed to get to the point where the scurrying of a mongoose-skunk wouldn't wake her but anything that weighed heavier than that would.

So it was natural when she bolted awake the moment she felt four solid vibrations surrounding their encampment. She burst from her rock tent but felt the searing heat of fire before she could even utter a sound. The bright blaze, along with the sound of her shattering tent, quickly awoke the others but there were clearly unprepared for a fight.

Four older men peered down at the group, each dressed in regal robes. One of the robed men leaned closer towards them, the flames circling them bringing light to his face. Sokka and Katara both gasped in surprise.

“Well,” Bumi cackled. “Look who's here!”

The four men quickly proceeded to head down to meet the group face to face. Toph raised an eyebrow in confusion. “What's going on? She asked. “We're surrounded by old people.”

“Not just any old people,” Katara said as she approached an older man with long white hair. “These are great masters and friends of ours. Pakku,” Katara bowed to him.

Pakku mirrored her and spoke when the rose. “It is respectful to bow before an old master,” he smiled. “But how about a hug for your new grandfather?”

Sokka gave a squawk of surprise as his jaw dropped. Katara laughed and wrapped her waterbending master in a tight hug. “That's so exciting! You and Gran-Gran must be so happy to have found each other!”

Pakku smiled wider as Katara stepped back. “I made her a new betrothal necklace and everything.”

The older man's smile twisted into an annoyed frown as Sokka slammed into him with another hug. “Welcome to the family, Gramp-Gramp!”

Pakku pealed himself away from the teen. “You can still just call me Pakku.”

“How about…Gran-Pakku?” Sokka asked with a wide smile. Pakku stared at him.

“No.”

“And this was Aang's first firebending teacher,” Katara told the group as she gestured to one of the men.

“Jeong Jeong,” he announced with a small bow.

“Master Piandao,” Sokka said as he bowed deeply to his own master.

“Hello Sokka,” Piandao smiled.

“So wait,” Suki said with confusion evident in her voice. “How do you all know each other?”

“All old people know each other. Don't you know that?” Bumi asked with a wink and a cackle.

“We're all part of the same ancient secret society, a group that transcends the divisions of the four nations.” Piandao answered.

“The Order White Lotus,” Zuko breathed.

“That's the one!” Bumi agreed.

“The White Lotus has always been about philosophy, and beauty, and truth. But about a month ago a call went out that we were needed for something important.” Jeong Jeong stated.

“It came from a Grand Lotus, your uncle,” Pakku told Zuko. “Iroh of the Fire Nation.”

“Well that's who we're look for!” Toph said excitedly.

“Then we'll take you to him.” Piandao said with a smile.

Bumi shoved Piandao and Jeong Jeong out of the way. “Wait, someone's missing from your group…someone very important.” He leaned in close to Sokka's face. “Where's Momo!?”

“He's gone…and so is Aang.” Sokka answered sadly.

“Oh well,” Bumi shrugged. “So long as they have each other I'm sure we have nothing to worry about! Let's go!” the man cackled as he shot off into the distance on a rock.

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“Rai,” a whisper called.

Raijin heard a voice trying to pull him from his peaceful slumber. He studiously ignored it and rolled over in his makeshift bed.

“Rai,” the voice called again, louder.

The swordsman groaned slightly. “Sorry, I'm asleep. Can't hear you,”

There was a slight pause and Raijin smiled into his pillow. Then, “You can't answer me if you're sleeping!”

Raijin growled and slammed a pillow over his head. “Go away, Ty Lee,”

A few seconds later he felt something poke against his shoulder. “You have to get up Rai. Something really big just happened!”

Reluctantly, Raijin sat up and looked at the normally bubbly girl. Her hair was completely down and she was still in her sleep clothes as well, both top and bottom a bright pink color. He sighed. “Fine, I'm up. What's going on?”

Ty Lee glanced at the scars across his bare chest and frowned but quickly responded. “A group just arrived at the camp and you won't guess who's with them?”

“…your sisters?” he asked sarcastically.

The petite girl glared at him, though its effect was weakened by the gaudy pink outfit. “No! It's the Avatar's group, and they have Zuko with them!”

That got Raijin's attention. “Zuzu's with them, huh?” he grinned. “Guess we'd better go say hello then…though I would like to get dressed first if that's okay with you?”

The girl's blush matched perfectly with her bed clothes. Raijin smirked and pushed himself out of bed. “Meet me back here in five minutes,” the girl nodded and quickly left.

Shortly after, Raijin and Ty Lee marched out to meet the newcomers who had made their way into the camp. Raijin eyed the group skeptically. These were the fighters that traveled with the Avatar, the supposed savior of the world? There were four that were visible and Zuko was not among them. Two of them were older girls, probably around Mai's age. Along with them were a shorter girl and a lone boy with a sword strapped across his back.

One of the elder girls was speaking to Pakku about something and the younger girl seemed to be talking to Bumi as well. The last two newcomers seemed to be just waiting for the others.

One of the two older girls saw Raijin and Ty Lee coming for them and her body instantly tensed. Without hesitation she marched directly up to Ty Lee and took a fighting stance that Raijin hadn't seen before. Beside him Ty Lee silently shifted into a defensive position.

“What are you doing here?” the girl hissed.

Ty Lee's mouth shifted into a dark frown. “I should be asking you that. We were here first anyway,”

“Like that matters. You just stay away from Sokka, Pinky.”

An angry fluster turned the acrobat's face a light red. “Pinky?!”

Raijin calmly laid a hand on Ty Lee's shoulder. “Relax Ty; they're here to stop Ozai just like everyone else…aside from me anyway.”

Ty Lee glanced over her shoulder at him for a moment before relaxing from her stance. “You're right,” she admitted before she looked back over at the other girl. “Beside Suki, you can have Sokka. I'm over that little crush; he's not that cute anyway.”

“Hey!” an angry cry came from behind Suki. The sword wielding boy stomped over. “I heard that!”

He drew his straight sword at the sight of Ty Lee and leveled it at her with a firm hand. “You! You better not be causing any trouble, Ty Lee.”

Raijin chuckled slightly at his defensiveness. The boy, Raijin believed his name to be Sokka, quickly shifted the sword's point at him. “What's so funny, cyclops?”

“Cyclops, huh? Cute,” Raijin smirked.

The expression quickly vanished as Raijin spun around the blade's point and slammed the back of his right hand into the wrist that held the sword. The weapon instantly dropped from his hand and Raijin snapped it from the air with his free hand as he finished his full circle spin. Within seconds he had the tip of the sword pressed lightly against Sokka's throat.

Raijin examined the blade as Sokka gulped loudly. Toph shifted into a fighting stance herself and Suki tensed again. “Let him go now,” she demanded.

Raijin ignored her at glanced up from the sword at Sokka. “I recognize this style of sword. You trained under Master Piandao, didn't you?” he asked and lowered the blade from the teen's throat.

“Uh, yeah,” he said nervously as the girls relaxed next to him. “I trained with him for a few days.”

Raijin spun the sword around and handed it to Sokka, hilt first. Before he could say anything Piandao himself walked over to the group. “Ah, Sokka, I'd like you to meet a fellow pupil of mine. This is Raijin; he trained under me for a few years. Best student I ever had,”

Raijin grinned widely as Sokka snatched the sword and jammed it back into its sheath. He glared at Raijin, even as Toph chuckled lightly beside him. “I don't like you,” he muttered as he stomped away, Suki following him after giving Ty Lee another hard glare.

Piandao glanced at Raijin curiously before walking away, muttering, “I've created a monster.”

Raijin chuckled lightly before he felt a pair of eyes burning into his back. “What?” he asked as Ty Lee's icy glare. “I like to mess with people.”

“By the way, I'm Toph,” the youngest girl said.

“I'm Raijin, and I'm guessing you already know Ty Lee?” he said and held out a hand.

Toph stared at it blankly. “Uh, I appreciate the gesture but I'm kinda blind.” She waved a hand in front of her face for emphasis.

Raijin withdrew the hand and scratched his head. “But how can you…”

“I can see vibrations in the ground.” Toph answered the question before he could ask it.

“Whoa,” the teen muttered. “That's pretty epic.”

“Yep, it tends to come in handy.” Toph said as she spit on the ground. Behind him Raijin heard Ty Lee squeal in disgust and smirked.

“Oh and you should probably know something else too,” Toph said.

The blind earthbender's arms flashed upward as she slammed a foot solidly into the ground. Before Raijin could even blink he was incased up to the neck into stone and dirt. Toph grinned up at him. “I like to mess with people too.”

Raijin struggled for a moment before chuckling lightly. “I think we're gonna get along just fine, Toph.”

The young girl smirked as she bended the earth away from him and walked over to the girl who was talking to Pakku.

Brushing a bit of dirt off his clothes Raijin glanced over at Ty Lee. “So what all do you know about these guys?”

“Well,” she scrunched up her face in thought. “Toph is really sarcastic and tough and can bend metal, the boy, Sokka, is funny and I used to have crush on him. He can't bend though. The other girl, Suki, is from Kyoshi Island in the Earth Kingdom. She's a good fighter but I can take her. The girl in the blue is Katara, she's Sokka's sister. She a master waterbender and can hold her own against Azula. And you already know Zuko.”

Raijin raised an eyebrow at her. “Did you do a study on them or something?”

Ty Lee shrugged. “Azula made us learn everything we could about them. Know thy enemy or something like that, I don't really remember.”

Raijin nodded and scanned the group again. “Sounds like her. So…which one's the Avatar?”

“The short bald one with arrows tattoo all over him.” she answered.

“Uh-huh…I don't see any tattooed people, Ty.”

The girl jumped on Raijin shoulder and scanned the area. “That's funny, he's not here. And Zuko is missing too.”

“Fantastic. Can you get down now?” Ty Lee giggled as she flipped down.

“Zuko went with Jeong Jeong to see his Uncle.” Katara answered as she walked over to them. “So what are you doing here, Ty Lee? I thought you'd be with Azula or in prison with Mai.”

Ty Lee opened her mouth to explain but Raijin cut her off. “Zuko went to see Iroh?”

Katara looked at him strangely. “Yes, and who are you?”

Raijin waved a hand dismissively. “That's irrelevant right now. We need to hurry if we're going to catch the show.”

“Show?” Katara and Ty Lee asked, even as the rest of the large group slowly made its way over to them.

Raijin grinned evilly. “Guess whose tent is next to Iroh's?”

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“Your uncle's tent is directly ahead, Prince Zuko. You cannot miss it.” The Fire Nation deserter yawned loudly. “Now I must retire to bed. I do not have the energy to keep up with you kids anymore.”

“Of course, Master Jeong Jeong. Thank you again for your help.” Zuko bowed deeply as the older man disappeared into his tent.

Zuko walked up to the tent but hesitated before going in. My uncle hates me…I know it.

“Hello Zuko,” a monotone voice asked from behind him. Zuko felt ice water shoot through his veins as he turned around to face the speaker.

“Mai…” he whispered.

The girl stared at him. “I think we need to have a little talk, Zuko.”

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And so ends part one of Reunions. Part two should pick up the pace a little bit. And after this will be the epic area of Sozin's Comet.

I'm sorry about the time it took to update. This went through seven full rewrites before the final edition. Again, if anyone is well versed in Avatar and a good beta-reader then I'll gladly take the help.

Also, the next update should come faster. My classes are winding down and I'm going to try and force myself to find a writing rhythm and write for at least an hour a day. Hopefully, that'll help with the writing speed.

Ah, one thing I can explain during the story: the interaction between Raijin, Sokka, and Toph. I like Sokka a lot but the guy only served under for Piandao for a few days whereas Raijin was under him for years. Raijin is arguably the best swordsman in the world so he can waste Sokka without a thought really.

As for Toph, I added it in for three reasons. One, Toph and Raijin are a lot alike, except for Raijin being a lot more malicious. Two, I wanted to show Raijin's weakness. He can talk firebenders and, to a degree, waterbenders. He'd be in big trouble if he had to fight Toph though. And three, I don't want Raijin becoming a Gary-Stu; he can't be able to beat everyone. That'd just be boring.