The Honeymoon Trips
Chapter 15
Written by rachel76m
Edited by Don Kaufman

The list of characters mentioned in this story belong to the various authors that created them. This is a fan-fiction story.

~~~000~~~

During the night, all of us get the same dream from the Creator. We appear in the heavenly garden together. We look around to see who is going to meet us.

“Why are we here, father?”

“The last time this happened, we met someone important. I think we’re going to meet someone here, Tiger. We’ll just have to be patient until they come.”

Then over the horizon we see a beautiful lady floating toward us. She is being escorted by the four previous Avatars. They are Roku the Fire Bender, Kyoshi the Earth Bender, Kuruk the Water Bender, Yangchen the Air Bender.

I whisper to everyone, “Hold your ground, everyone. Show your respect to them first.”

We all give the handclasp and bow to them. They stop before us and smile. “You all may rise up. Thank you for showing your respect.”

We rise up and face them.

“My name is Tui. I was the previous Water Spirit in the Oasis Pool. Thankfully, Princess Yue fulfilled her promise so that peace may reign once more on our world. We have been watching you from the heavens. In fact we met a lot of people who have been watching every one of you.”

“My name is Roku. I am the previous Avatar before Aang. We now see what the Creator intends for his Creation. We also had a talk with your family, Richard. They told us of you and your wife’s importance to be king and queen in the future.”

“My name is Kyoshi, the Avatar before Roku. We are all deeply impressed with the skills you have learned so far, Richard. It is amazing to find other element benders on other worlds and no Avatar. Now we plainly see why the Creator took the magic from your world so it won’t be abused. We also discovered there is an Anti-self version of your family. You will join forces to do the Creator’s will. The enemy, King Azazel has no idea what you both are capable of. He will hear only rumors about you. It has also come to our attention, on the fifth day you will meet the Earth King before you leave. The Earth King asked Fire King Zuko why he went to see Aang. Fire King Zuko mentioned your name to him.”

“I understand, Kyoshi.”

“Earth King Kuei wants to meet you. He is intrigued to meet someone who can bend the elements and not be an Avatar.”

I smile, “More than likely I will be tested again. Since I know only air and water for now. That will have to be enough to face their champion.”

“Yes, you will meet Toph. You will have to do the unexpected.”

I smile, then the rest of my family smiles. “Hmm . . . the unexpected? Then I will have to confuse her and make her guess where I am.”

They all smile back.

“We expect nothing less, Richard.”

“My name is Kuruk, the Avatar before Kyoshi. As you know, I had an encounter with Koh, the Faceless One. He still has my wife’s face. While I was up here, I asked many questions and did a lot of searching to find his weakness.”

“Did you find it, Kuruk?”

“I found only one clue. Koh gave up his face to someone in exchange for his.”

“So, if he can show his first face, I will then know who did it. Then it is a matter of finding the other person who has Koh’s face.”

“That’s right, Richard. But you must do it without showing any emotion at all.”

“That sounds like a game of poker to me. I never could show a cold stone face without showing some emotion. My face twitches when I try that.”

“Then there is no hope in undoing Koh’s thievery.”

“However, I think that is the answer for me, Kuruk. I let my face twitch like this. It hides my emotions more easily.” I quickly change my face to a quick smile, a pout, mouth open, jaw from side to side, sad face, squint my eyes while I smile. I create as many different kinds of faces as fast as possible. I then stop and look at them with a smile.

“Is it possible, Tui?”

“It’s possible, Yangchen. We can only hope that he reveals his first face.”

“Where did you find that clue, Kuruk?”

“I found it in Wan Shi Tong’s Library before he sank the Library into the sand, Roku. I found no other information associated with it.”

“Then it must have been one of the earliest writings in the Library. Whoever wrote it, must have put it there for someone to find centuries later. Richard, do you have any ancient writings pertaining to something like this?”

“Well, I do remember reading of stories of evil spirits or demons with a combination appearance like a human body with an animal head. I know there is a story about a Minotaur. He has a human body with a bull head with horns. He is associated with the Greek Gods.”

“We know who they are. Koh is represented by a millipede. That means, someone among King Azazel’s minions has Koh’s true face. I’m certain of it now. He gave him the ability to steal faces. If Koh can get his own face back, he will have to relinquish the other faces he has stolen.”

“So, a demon angel has a millipede face. That is very interesting, Tui. It might be easier to find him first and bring him to Koh to undo the exchange.”

“If we can find him. He could be anywhere, Richard. Well, we have talked enough. We have come here to offer our advice to you and insight in handling the elements. Indeed, you are chosen to do great things for the Creator. We have also met Goku and Yusuke as well. They told us that your use of the spirit energy will be different from our use of it.”

“That is right, Tui.”

“Now we are going to do something for you. This touch is providing a mental link to us. You can call us anytime if you need insight to the element bending that you are learning and going to use. It won’t make you more powerful. You already have the potential to do the impossible.”

Then each one walks up to us. The four Avatars touch their index finger upon our foreheads. Four different colors appear when they touch our foreheads. Kyoshi’s touch is a green glow. Roku’s touch is a golden glow. Yangchen’s touch is a white glow. Kuruk’s touch is a blue glow. Then all of the glows disappear from our foreheads.

“Thank you very much, Avatars and Tui.”

“We are also told that your fairies will teach the other fairies that are hidden on your world. There are also other hidden secrets on your world to discover. Take care until we meet again.”

We all bow toward each other with our hand clasps and rise back up with smiles on our faces. Then we sink below the ground and return back to our beds on the Avatar world.

~~~000~~~

We wake up fully rested to finish our fourth day in the Northern Water Tribe.

“Well, at least we know what is going to happen tomorrow.”

“Yes, we do, my love.”

After we have our breakfast, we walk over to Master Pakku’s study room. We see Hahn come out again. We give each other a quick nod of the head while he walks past us.

Master Pakku greets us, “Come, it is time to put it all together.”

“Yes, Master Pakku.”

We follow him to a large clearing area. We see there are other people gathered around to watch this demonstration. “Richard will now show us what he has learned so far. He will combine it with his own fighting capability. After that, we’ll see what Brianna and the fairies can do.”

Aang is ready with his scroll and pen. He gets to ready write down the tactics used. There are several other scroll writers with him as well. Among the crowd are the council members, Hahn, some soldiers, buffalo yaks, koalaotters and about fifty people watching.

We stare at each other intently. We both start at the same time doing the graceful arm, hands and leg movements. We each bring up multiple streams around us. We look for the right opportunity to strike at the other person.

I’m going to have to do something new, Croin. He has seen the animals I’ve used.

He hasn’t seen all of the animals, Richard. He hasn’t seen the unicorn, yet.

Thank you for the reminder, Croin. I can have the dragon memories shoot out water instead of flames this time.

Yes, you can, Richard.

I then think of Blacklaw, Belgaron, Agaroan, Marcon and Croin. Shoot out water streams at Pakku. Freeze it into ice as it leaves your mouth. I will then do a sneak attack in the confusion.

All of the dragon memories respond together in one voice. Yes, Richard.

I then launch my attack at Pakku by swinging my arms and hands in the air. Five dragon memories appear from the water streams. They shoot out water streams at Pakku. They quickly change the water to ice as comes toward Pakku. I then swing my right arm and fist from right to left. An almost invisible air fist is curving around toward Pakku. I then do the same for my left arm and fist from left to right. Another air fist is traveling around in an arc toward Pakku.

Pakku quickly sets up the water streams to create several water shields. He quickly absorbs the ice stream blasts with ease. “That was too easy, Richard!”

“Or is it, Pakku!”

“What?!” Then all of a sudden he gets a double hit by my air fists on both sides of him. He tries to stay standing up while the air fists pummel him from both sides. “Where did those come from?”

Aang is snickering and laughing that I pulled something like this again. Some of the soldiers and people are giggling and laughing as well. The animals are grunting and nodding their heads up and down.

“I knew you would block my first attack, Master Pakku. So, I sent a second attack right behind it.”

Master Pakku smiles, “That’s very good, Richard. Multiple attacks are a very good ploy.”

We bring up the water streams around us again. This time, Master Pakku sends multiple ice daggers at me. There are twenty ice daggers coming toward me in a spread formation.

There is no way to dodge them all. I quickly create an air wall in front of me by moving my arms about quickly.

Then Pakku quickly has the twenty ice daggers join together and grow out to become an ice net.

I catch the ice net just in time. I concentrate on them to melt and become twenty ice water balls. I send ten of the ice balls in front of several water streams toward Pakku. I send the other ten ice balls to roll along the ground toward Pakku’s feet.

As soon as Pakku intercepts the ten water balls and streams in front of him. He stops the ten ice water balls before they get there at his feet. Then I spring my trap. With another motion of my hand, the ten ice water balls quickly sprout up to cage him. While he concentrates on that new development, I concentrate on the water balls and streams I sent him from above. They quickly spread out to create a thicker cage around him. I am able to pin his arms to his side.

“That’s very good, Richard. Deception is a very good tactic as well.”

“Thank you, Master Pakku.”

He quickly concentrates on the ice cage around him. He quickly melts the ice cage around him. He gathers up the water and creates several water streams around him like before.

We have another round of testing of each other.

Croin, I can’t show him the unicorns. If I did that, then someone from here might tip off Toph tomorrow.

I understand, Richard. Then mix up the animal attacks.

Okay, Croin. I then swing my arms, hands and legs in a graceful motion. I quickly bring up several streams swirling around me. Master Pakku does the same as well. Once I feel my chi is at a maximum, I launch my attack.

I create a roaring tiger. It flies through the water streams. It picks up some droplets of water. It rushes toward Master Pakku. I then create a flying crane. It does the same thing as well. I project out a snake to slither along the ground and avoid the water streams. It moves around in an arc toward Master Pakku. I project out a black panther to follow the tiger quickly. I project out a rooster flying right behind the crane. It is ready with its short leg kicks. I project out a praying mantis. I make it life size. It doesn’t pass through the water streams. It sneaks around in an arc toward him from the left side. I concentrate on my moves to make sure each one attacks at just the right moment.

Everyone who is watching is amazed I’m doing a big attack like this. “Gasp! Look out Master Pakku!”

Master Pakku quickly brings his streams around him to block and absorb the attack. However, he doesn’t see the praying mantis and the snake coming in from both sides. The snake quickly raises itself to strike him on the side.

“Ooof! I didn’t see that coming.”

Then the praying mantis quickly jumps up and hits him square on his jaw.

“Owww!” He puts his right hand to his jaw. He smiles. “That’s very good, Richard. You did multiple attacks with two deceptive moves. That is very good.”

I smile back, “Thank you, Master Pakku. If I moved in closer for hand to hand combat, I could find myself in a disadvantage quickly.”

“Yes, you would. But, since you know how to transport out of trouble, you would have gained the advantage just as quickly. I applaud you, Richard. We’ll practice some more when you come back again. Now, lets see how Brianna and your fairies handle themselves.”

Brianna steps up and takes my place.

“Try to stay calm, Brianna. Think clearly. Don’t let him rattle you.”

“I’ll try, my love.”

Brianna and Master Pakku quickly brings up several water streams moving about themselves. Master Pakku quickly sends several water balls toward Brianna.

Brianna collects the water balls into her water streams. Then Pakku sends four ice balls toward Brianna.

Out of Brianna’s water streams she sends four ice balls to meet the four ice balls from Master Pakku. They crash into each other and break apart into many pieces as they fall to the ground. Quickly, Brianna brings up the pieces and hurls the ice pieces toward Master Pakku.

Master Pakku quickly stops the flight of the ice pieces coming at him. He brings them around and shoots twenty ice daggers at Brianna. Quickly, Brianna brings her water streams around to protect herself. The ice daggers quickly joins together to create an ice net.

She stops the ice net in mid-flight in front of her. She then sends the ice net back toward Master Pakku. However, behind the ice net are several small ice stars. The ice stars are hiding behind the net so that you can’t see them directly.

Master Pakku stops the ice net, but he doesn’t see the ice stars still coming at him. “What?!”

Brianna smiles. We all smile with Brianna.

Master Pakku tries to stop the ice stars before they slice him up. He is able to stop them all, except for two ice stars. The two ice stars slice his outer clothes at the shoulder.

“That is very good, Brianna. You did a very nice deception tactic. You hid the stars behind the ice net so that I couldn’t see them until it was too late.”

Brianna smiles, “Thank you, Master Pakku. I have to thank my Richard for that tactic.”

“Yes, you do, Brianna. I am satisfied with your abilities to do water bending. Let’s see how the fairies do. I surmise, I will surely get tested by them.”

Brianna comes over and stands by side. She takes hold of my hand and holds it tightly. My fairies fly forward to take their position. They evenly space apart in three rows and four columns.

Pakku sees how they are set up. This is good. They have divided themselves up evenly. I will be hard press to take them by surprise from any direction. Well then, let’s see how they do with multiple attacks.

The fairies quickly bring up multiple water streams swirling about them as a group. Master Pakku does the same thing as well.

Master Pakku quickly goes into multiple attack mode. He comes in from all of the directions to catch them off guard. He sends ice daggers, water balls, ice spears, ice balls of various different sizes at them. He comes from all sides at them from below, from the sides, from up above and behind them.

My fairies quickly defend themselves easily. But then, I noticed something about who is controlling the water streams. It is Tiger and Tigress who have control of the water streams that are protecting them all in the middle of the group. The other fairies are taking control of the objects being thrown and hurled at them.
Did you see what they did, Brianna? Tiger and Tigress are protecting them as a group. While the rest of the fairies are taking control of the objects coming at them.

You’re right, Richard. That is very clever of them to do that. Tiger and Tigress are doing a beautiful job of it.

Then the fairies return the objects back at Master Pakku. However, Levi and Shiri are flying closely behind a shield of ice around them. At the last moment, they quickly change into dragon butterflies.

Once Master Pakku takes control of the ice coming at him, Shiri and Levi quickly blow out two very hot streams of flames right at Pakku’s face.

“Aaaaagghh! I forgot about them!” He quickly brings up a water shield to block their attack. The smoke and steam quickly erupt in front of Master Pakku’s face.

Shiri and Levi quickly fly back to the group to get ready for another attack.

We all see Master Pakku’s face is now blackened with soot and ash as the smoke clears. Everyone begins to laugh out loud at seeing the expression on his face. He is a bit upset that his face is now dirty.

Master Pakku then laughs right back at us. “Hah, hah, hah, . . . I love it! I got taken surprise by the two smallest fire benders I have ever seen.” Then Master Pakku smiles and begins to clap his hands.

We all clap our hands and cheer my fairies on.

“That was a great deception attack. I’m sure you will be very difficult to defeat once you have learned the rest of the elements. Now, for the last lesson. It is the power of the moon.”

We gather around and stand in front of Master Pakku. “The moon travels around the world every thirty days or so. It waxes and wanes as it goes through its phases of light and darkness. When there is a full moon at night, the water bender is at their strongest. The same could be said when there is a new moon during the day. However, the exceptions are the eclipses. When there is a lunar eclipse at night, we can not do any water bending at all at its full phase. When there is a solar eclipse of the sun, our strength is at the maximum. But, the fire bender’s power does not exist at its full phase. Only the earth bender and the air bender are not affected by the phase journey of the moon. Does everyone understand that?”

We all shout out loud together. “Yes, Master Pakku!”

“Come, it is time for the noon repast.”

My fairies quickly gather to Brianna and me. They land on our heads and shoulders to rest.

“That was a great idea, my fairies.”

“Thank you, father, mother, Omega. So were you and Brianna. You both did an excellent display of the element bending.”

“Did you get all of that, Aang?”

“I sure did, Richard. You all did an excellent job to get to Master Pakku. Your idea of hiding one attack behind the other is very good. I have it all written down on these scrolls.”

I whisper to Aang, “Aang, tomorrow morning we’ll be going to see the Earth King. He wants to meet me.”

“How do you know about that?”

“While we slept last night, we found ourselves in Heaven. We met Tui and the last four Avatars from your world.”

“I’m sure that was an interesting meeting. I can only meet them in the spirit realm here. What did they talk about?”

“First, they are mind linked to us. We can talk to them if we need any advice on the four elements.”

“That’s good. Go on, Richard.”

“Kuruk found an interesting clue about Koh in Wan Shi Tong’s Library. He found that Koh exchange his original face with someone else. We discussed the possibilities.”

“What are the possibilities?”

“It is a good possibility that it is one of King Azazel’s demon angels who did the first face exchange. If I can find him and bring him to Koh. Then the faces Koh has collected will go back to their rightful owners.”

“Let’s hope you can do that, Richard.”

“They told me that I will be facing Toph when I get there.”

“I’m coming with you, Richard. You’ll need me to see the Earth King. Toph is very good.”

“I know, Aang. They said I should do the unexpected.”

Aang smiles, “Yes, you must do the unexpected.”

We have another lunch in Bran-li’s Fish House. After the lunch, we walk over to Regina for one more session. Aang has another meeting with the council. He tells them what is going to happen tomorrow before I leave.

What they don’t see, that one of the guards takes notice of the meeting they are having. After the meeting, he quickly sends word to warn his earth kingdom friends about Richard. He writes down as much as he can from what he saw the last few days. It is passed off to his underground network. A boat slips out of the harbor and sails all day and night to reach Ba Sing Se.

They agreed that Aang and Master Pakku must be present to witness this face off between Toph and me.

Regina begins her teaching of healing sickness in the body. “The first thing to do is determine what is wrong with the patient. First, you get your hand wet and bring it to the person’s chest. Then concentrate on the body. Search for the anomaly within the body. For us, the biggest threat to our body here is the soot from the Fire Nation engines on the ships and the power plants in the cities. The soot from those devices really pollutes our air to breathe and water to drink.”

“We have the same problem as well, Regina. It is nothing new on my world.”

“Then perhaps someday that will be resolved and solved quickly. But, I surmise it will be hundreds of years before that happens. We need to get the world’s attention of what they are doing to both of our worlds.”

“We hope as well, Regina.”

“Once the problem is determined within the body, then you can focus on what is needed to heal the body. For the body that is damaged by the black soot, we found that the use of earth benders is needed to remove the black soot from the body. It takes awhile to wash out the black soot from the body. Most of it is found in the lungs. Sometimes, there is too much damage, it is beyond repair.”

“We have seen it as well, Regina. We call that condition a black lung. Hopefully, cleaner energy sources can be found so it won’t pollute the air, the water and the land.”

“That’s a good name for the condition. We hope as well cleaner energy sources can be used, Richard.”

“What about the common cold?”

Regina smiles, “Cure the common cold? I see that hasn’t changed on other worlds. That is the easiest to heal. You concentrate on the location where the cold bug has attached itself to. It is usually found just inside the mouth. Once it is found, then it can be removed from the surface inside the mouth with some water. Then toss the infected water ball into a fire pit to destroy it.”

“How many times do you do that, Regina?”

“Anytime we get someone traveling to us from the south. They quickly are not adaptive to our colder environment. We average about five sick cases a day sometimes, Brianna.”

“Can you do the same for animals as well?”

“We can, Tiger. However, it is tougher for us since we don’t see them coming to us for help. They stay away from us as much as possible. We have only the animals among us. The ones that are near to us we see each day. We check out the soldier’s buffalo yaks about once a month. There are very few others that we see. The koalaotters and the other sea animals don’t see us at all. They find their own healing in the waters nearby.”

“I know of a reptile species that is very unique on my world. It is called the alligator. It would spend time in the fresh or brackish water mainly. But, it is not unheard of if they get sick, they would seek out the saltier water to heal their own bodies.”

Regina smiles, “I’m not surprised by that tactic. Salt is always a good cleansing agent on cuts. It might sting, but it does help the body heal faster.”

We then do some more practice with healing cuts and pin pricks until we are very comfortable with it. We also rejoined several more broken wooden branches back into one piece.

“Regina, I have an idea for you. It is about unknown diseases that you might encounter.”

Regina smiles, “I would greatly appreciate any ideas on that subject.”

“On Twainor, they use a white light to bathe the person in. That white light will destroy any unknown illness residing within the body. It helps them when they get visitors from other worlds.”

“Hmm . . . that’s interesting. So, for me, if I cover the body in water. Then I put both of my hands on the body and get the water to light up. It should destroy that unknown disease or illness within the body.”

“That’s right, Regina.”

“I’ll have to give it a try to see if it does work. Since the body contains water, I could concentrate on that water to light it up and do it from within. But, that is approaching the topic of blood bending. Blood bending is a terrible practice. If used, you would end up in controlling the muscle movements of the body.”

“Ugh . . . we wouldn’t want to do that. Let’s hope the external use of the healing arts provides a better solution, Regina.”

“I agree, Brianna. Well, I have taught you the basics of healing. The rest of it is left up to your imagination. Remember, use your chi to heal, not your own body energy. I don’t want to see someone give their life to save another life. Life is a very precious gift from the Creator. Seeing your fairies here is proof of that. Don’t forget to have a container of water with you on your journeys. It will help you when there is no water available.”

We all smile at her. “Yes, Regina.”

I pay her one gold piece for the time she spent with us. She greatly appreciates the payment from us. We hug her one more time before we depart.

We walk back toward the eatery to have our last evening meal. We are joined by the council and Aang during this last meal. We talk about many things that we have learned while we have been here.

“Richard, be on your guard. There are still some people who resent having element benders in their midst. From what Aang has told me, the next Avatar will have their hands full in dealing with them especially. We must be prepared as well when the anti-element benders make their move against us. Little do they realize that an element bender could be born to one of them in any generation.”

Then a messenger comes to Tribal Chief Ratook. He hands him a piece of paper. Ratook opens it and reads it out loud. “This is the formal request from the Earth King, Richard. He wants to meet you tomorrow.”

“Then let’s meet him.”

“We’ll do a direct flight with the air bisons to Ba Sing Se.”

We do some more small talk while eat our evening meal. Once we get done, we go our ways back to our rooms. We get another good night of sleep during the night. I get an idea about how to surprise to Toph tomorrow. I go through the possibilities and tactics in my mind. Once I get it hashed out in my mind, I finally fall asleep.

Then Brianna mutters to me, “It’s about time you finished talking to yourself. You kept us all up.” She then pinches my ticklish side of my body.

I jerk my body quickly. I mutter back, “Okay, okay, I hear you. Let’s get some sleep.”

Then everyone giggles and laughs in the room before we fall asleep finally.

~~~000~~~

In a secret room in Ba Sing Se, three men are talking together. They are reading the note from the Northern Water Tribe.

“If this note is correct, this Richard is very powerful.”

“That may be true. But it also states that Richard is not an Avatar on his world. He is just an element bender who has some very good martial art skill. I say we leave him alone and let him go away from here.”

“But, it also states they are aware of our anti-element movement. We must be more discrete in our movement to gain control of our world.”

“It will take time to recruit more people to our movement. We must plan ahead when that happens.”

“Yes, we must plan ahead. It could be one or two hundred years before our movement is strong enough to eliminate the element benders.”

“But, it is because of them, we have peace on our world.”

“Whose peace? Their peace movement has not brought me any peace. I’ve got two children who are not element benders. The last family member who was an earth bender, was over two hundred years ago. I say we go through with our plans to build up our chi-blocker numbers. We’ll need them for our plan to work.”

The other two men quickly agree to the plan and meet at the city where they will stage their coup. They get up and leave the secret room by opening a door.

The last man stands there very mad. “Grr . . . I hate the element benders!” Then when he looks at a pebble on the ground, the pebble shoots across the floor and hits the wall shattering into pieces.

He sits back in the chair and sobs, “What have I done! In my anger, I discover I’m an earth bender. That means the gift can skip a generation or two.”

He takes a cloth from his pocket and wipes the tears away. “I must go through with it now. I wasn’t the only one who harbored these feelings. Hopefully, the next Avatar will find a way to end this madness of jealousy.”

He enters a hallway and exits through a store front in Ba Sing Se.

~~~000~~~

The next morning we all get up and get ready for the flight to Ba Sing Se. We have a small breakfast in the fish house like before. We then put our winter coats on. My fairies fly into the coat pockets to get warm before we button up the coats. We put our satchels on our shoulders. We walk over to the building where the air bisons are kept. Appa sees Aang walking toward him.

“We need to fly to Ba Sing Se. Land in the royal court yard where Fire Lord Zuko has his air bison kept.”

Appa nods his head up and down. A smaller air bison comes out of the building. Master Pakku mounts him and sits in the saddle on top of the air bison. We do the same in sitting on the saddle on Appa. Once we are given the signal, the air bisons rise up in the air. They fly to the south, toward Ba Sing Se.

We huddle together on the saddle. Aang talks to me.

“I’m sure you went through a lot of tactics last night. You know Toph is very good.”

“I know Aang. I know she is blind. She has trained her mind and ears to do the impossible. That will be my greatest challenge. I think I know of way to confuse her.”

“Will you go invisible?”

“I hope not. The tactic I have in mind is to confuse her sonar ability. There is a way to overwhelm her sensory perception.”

“If you can do that, everyone will be impressed.”

“When she challenges me, I will stipulate the rule that we try to knock each other off our feet and land on our butts laughing.”

Aang smiles, “Now, that I would like to see happen. I would love to see a smile on her face again.”

We then sit in silence as the air bisons fly southward to Ba Sing Se. The air gets warmer as we fly southward. Soon, we see the mega-city of Ba Sing Se. We see the two concentric walls circling the city. The air bisons fly toward the royal compound where Zuko keeps his air bison. We see a group of earth bender guards waiting for us. Zuko and Iroh are standing there with them. Once the air bisons land, we disembark and climb down from the air bisons. We walk up to greet our escorts and co-hosts.

An earth bender guard steps forward and speaks. “Welcome to the Earth Kingdom. You are invited to meet King Kuei. Please, follow us.”

The guards form two columns. Zuko and Iroh take the lead with us following behind them. We enter the royal complex together. We walk down several hallways until we arrive at a pair of very large doors. The earth benders quickly use their element bending technique to open the doors easily. We see that the doors are two feet thick. We walk inside and see the Earth King sitting in his throne chair.

To his left, sits Toph. To his right sits his wife. There is another chair to the right of his wife. A man gets up to greet us. He steps forward to give greetings.

We arrange ourselves by standing side by side to each other. My fairies quickly fly out of my pockets and sit on our heads and shoulders. Zuko and Iroh smile when Levi and Shiri land on their shoulders respectively.

“Welcome to the Earth Kingdom. It is good to see you Aang, our Avatar. It is good to see Master Water Bender Pakku as well. Who are these two people with you, Aang? Who are these winged people? We have never met them before. What are their names?”

Aang steps forward. “His name is Richard Moore. The lady is his wife, Brianna. These winged people are fairies. They are part of Richard’s family. They came to our world to learn the element bending techniques from us. He had to prove to us he is telling the truth of where he comes from and his abilities.”

“So, you are from another world. Is that correct?”

I step forward. I give a formal bow by swinging my arms around me as I bow forward and rise back up. I then give the handclasp and bow toward the Earth King. I take off my helmet to show my face. I hold it in my left hand.

The Earth King smiles as he nods his head up and down.

I look at King Kuei while I speak. I don’t look at the minister who is speaking to me. “My name is Richard Moore. I am from another world. There are element benders on our world, but no Avatars. A long time ago, we used to have magic on our world. But it was abused by certain people when they tried to control the people against their will. So, the Creator caused a major earth shattering event to remove the magic from our world. However, there are still traces of magic left on our world. People have sought it with great perils to their own lives, whether by finding it or achieve it by stealing it for themselves.”

“What about your martial art skill? What level are you?”

“I have been studying the martial arts for over twelve years now. I am now on the path to earn the final ten black sashes. When the tenth black sash is earned, I will have earned the title of Shaolin Dragon Master.”

The minister speaks up quickly, “Dragon Master? How is that possible? There are only two dragons here!”

“We also have dragons on our world. In fact I have met the Great Father Leviathan and the Great Mother Eingana. They gave birth to all dragons found through out Creator’s Creation.”

“Prove it! If you can!” Exclaims the minister.

I wave my arms, then Leviathan and Eingana images appear in the room.

Everyone is astonished at their size. Except for one, Toph.

Toph speaks up, “I’m sorry, I can’t see them! How are you going to solve that! I’ve felt the red and blue dragons at one time.”

“Then they will pass through your mind. Then you will know I’m telling the truth, Toph.”

Leviathan and Eingana shrink down to her size. They quickly pass through her mind. She quickly sees them in her mind in full detail. “Gasp! They are huge! Forgive me, Richard. You are telling the truth. I still want to fight you right now.”

“I know, Toph. I have agreed to it.”

“That’s fine. I’m going to do it right now. Is that okay, King Kuei?”

“You may go ahead, Toph.”

I take off my winter coat and pocket jacket and hand it to Brianna. I show them that I have my armor on. I put the helmet back on. Toph and I walk over to a small fighting area. There is a large circle with the square Earth Kingdom symbol in the middle.

“I see you are wearing metal armor. I can easily bend that and make it a prison around you.”

“You can try, Toph. But I doubt you will have the time to focus on it.”

“Oooh . . . a challenge on speed as well. I heard from Zuko you’re an animal fighter. You let the animals fight for you.”

“Well, not exactly, Toph. I learn how they fight their own way. I apply their moves to my martial art skill.”

“That’s interesting, Richard. So, what is the goal, Richard?”

“How about we try to knock each other off our feet and land on our butts laughing.”

Toph laughs, “You are going to make me laugh? I haven’t had a good laugh in a long time. I haven’t had a good laugh since my time with Aang during the War. Fine, let’s begin.”

We square up and get ready. As soon as I see her move her foot up, I run to my right as fast as I can. I race in a circle around her.

“Whoa! You’re a fast runner, Richard.”

“I know, Toph.” I then project out the twelve unicorns from me. I space them out around her. I jump up onto Avel and ride his back.

Toph has a look of confusion. She places her foot down to the ground to sense where I’m at. She sees twelve unicorn images running around her. “Where did you go! I can’t find you! Where did these horses come from?”

“They are not horses, Toph. They are unicorns.”

“I’ve got you!” She quickly stomps her foot. A two foot square pillar of earth shoots out of the ground ten feet high. It misses me by three feet as the square earthen pillar goes through Avel’s rear body. “Darn it. I missed you. You must be riding one of them. I don’t sense two feet running on the ground.”

Aang, Pakku, Zuko, Iroh, Brianna and my fairies have big smiles on their faces. The minister, the guards, the King and his wife are astonished with mouths wide open. They can’t believe it. Someone has found a way to confuse Toph.

I look at my cloak and see a loose thread. I take it off and hold it in my hand. Set freeze spell on thread. Hit Toph on the neck. Freeze the body from the neck down. I blow the thread from my hand toward Toph. The thread floats through the air until it hits her neck.

Then all of sudden she gets frozen where she stands. “What did you do, Richard? I can’t move!”

Aang, Pakku, Zuko, Iroh, Brianna and my fairies are giggling and laughing. They try to keep it under control. The minister, the King and the wife are astonished that I was able to stop Toph.

I dismount from Avel. As I step closer to Toph, my unicorn images follow in closer and still keep the circle around her.

“I put a freeze spell on a piece of cloth thread.”

“You used magic on a cloth thread? Earth benders can’t detect cloth. There is no earth ore in them.”

“That’s right, Toph. I knew that because your world’s story is told on my world.”

“Then that means you know a lot about us.”

“That’s right, Toph. In a few years, I hope to be back to learn the other element bending techniques.”

“So, you’re hoping to learn the earth bending from me.”

“That’s right, Toph.”

“Well, you still haven’t put me on my butt laughing.”

“I will now, Toph, end freeze spell.” I quickly do the moves to create the horse foot stomp. All twelve unicorn images quickly return to me. An image of Avel appears around me. When I lift my right leg and foot, Avel’s right front leg and hoof lifts up as well. When my right foot lands, Avel’s hoof hits the ground at the same time. I send out the biggest horse foot stomp ever. “Stomp!” The vibrations are so big, everyone feels it. Then Toph loses her balance, “Whaaa . . . !” and lands on her butt, “Ooof!”

She immediately starts to laugh out loud. “Hah, hah, hah,. . . . that is the best foot stomp that I have ever felt in a long time!”

I walk forward and bring my hand toward her. She takes it to help stand up.

“I love it, Richard! When you are ready to learn the earth bending element, I’ll be here.”

“Thank you, Toph. There is one more animal foot stomp that is strongest on my world. It is the elephant.” Quickly an image appears from my hand. It goes through her mind to see it. She sees the comparison with our height in the mind picture.

“That elephant is huge, Richard. I can imagine a much stronger foot stomp from that one.”

We walk up to rejoin the group before the throne.

The minister quickly objects to what he saw. “I object, King Kuei! This test is not valid!”

Toph gives a quirky smile and shakes her head from side to side. She mutters to herself, “stupid minister.”

The King smiles when he sees Toph give her quirky smile, “How is it not valid, minister?”

“He didn’t use any element bending technique on her. He didn’t use air or water bending.”

“He used the foot stomp from those unicorns, minister. I see no problem with that tactic.”

“A . . . a . . . foot stomp! That’s crazy!”

“You want a demonstration from me? It will be very accurate!” I quickly do the motion for a foot stomp aimed right at the minister. As soon as the foot touches the ground, the sound wave travels under several people.

Quickly, the minister loses his balance, “Whhaa. . . . !” He falls to the ground and lands on his butt. “Ooof!”

Everyone is laughing out loud when they see the spectacle.

Toph is laughing out the loudest. “Hah, hah, hah . . . You deserve that, Minister! Thank you, Richard! I would have done the same thing!”

The minister looks very red face and embarrassed right now. He slowly gets up and dusts himself. “I . . .I . . .”

“Be quiet, minister. Please don’t embarrass yourself anymore.”

“Sigh . . . . yes, my king.”

“I would like to do this right now, King Kuei. I would like to do a demonstration match with Aang. We already have tested each other once. This will be more practice for both of us.”

Aang smiles greatly upon hearing my offer. “I accept the offer, King Kuei.”

Everyone smiles, including King Kuei.

“Then go ahead and have your demonstration match. I want to see more of Richard’s abilities.”

“Yes, King Kuei.”

Aang takes off his winter coat and hands it to Master Pakku.

Aang and I walk out to the fighting arena, opposite from each other. Then we see two water basins being brought over by two Earth Bender guards. They place it near us. I push the buttons on my helmet to close the mouth piece and put the visor down.

We quickly spin in a circle. We both create a dusty tornado around us. I quickly launch my attack at Aang. I quickly shoot out several animal images at him.

A dusty tiger comes out roaring at Aang with two claws on either side.

“What was that animal?”

Brianna speaks up, “That’s a tiger, King Kuei. It has very vicious bite and claws to shred.”

“Incredible.”

“He can also do the attacks up close and personal if he wants to. It depends on the situation.”

“I’m sure you’re right, Miss Brianna.”

Aang quickly absorbs the dusty tiger into his own dusty tornado. I follow it up quickly with several more animal attacks. I shoot a flying crane, a black panther, a snake. Each time, Aang absorbs the dusty image into his tornado.

Then we both lift our arms up. We both create two helix tornados around our arms. We bring them down the through the tornados. We shoot out spinning dusty air fists at each other. They meet in the middle and explode on contact. I keep my dusty tornado spinning while Aang stops his. He sends out flames from his hands right at me. I absorb the flames into the dusty tornado. I let the flames crystalize the sand into glass shards and put out the fire at the same time.

Then I shoot out the glass shards at Aang. He quickly brings up a shield of earth one foot thick in front of him to protect himself. He lets the earth shield fall to the ground once I get done shooting the glass shards at him.

This time he takes control of the water in the basin near him. I end my dust and glass shard tornado. I go for the water in the basin near me. He aims his other hand at me and shoots out a lightning bolt at me. I drop the water back into the basin and get ready for the lightning attack. However, the lightning reaches me before I can get my sword out. Sparks are sparking all around me. "Crr . . . Crraa . ..ckle!" I continue to bring out my sword in front of me.

I transfer the lightning from the armor to the sword.

The Earth King and all of the Earth benders are astonished that I am able to control the lightning hit.

“What?! He controlled the lightning!”

I take aim at Aang with my sword. As soon as I launch my attack, he tosses the water ball at me. The lightning gets absorbed into the water ball and lights up inside it. "Crackle!!!" The water ball falls to the ground. The lightning gets discharged into the ground as the water splashes outward on the ground.

We are both smiling greatly as we test each other some more. Aang reaches for more water and the water in the dirt in front of him. I bring up several water balls in front of me. I get them swirling around me in long streams, I wait for his attack.

He moves the muddy water around him in a circle. It is about twenty feet out from him. He sends multiple ice balls and ice spikes at me. I quickly launch several animal attacks. His attack gets absorbed into my animal attacks. Aang absorbs the animal attacks that I sent at him. I send out a snake at Aang’s feet, I get a nice surprise. As soon as the snake crosses the muddy circle. It creates a splash. Aang sees it and stops my ground attack.

I smile, “You’re learning, Aang.”

Aang smiles back, “I should hope so, Richard.”

This time I do several air attacks and not let them pass through the water streams. I send a rooster and a crane at Aang from both sides of him. I also send an air punch right at his mid-section. Then several dragon memories appear. They shoot out hot flames at Aang. He quickly gets his water shield to block the flame attacks. He sees the steam rise up and sees the two birds flying from the sides. The wings come close to his face before he is able to block it. Then he gets hit in the stomach from my air punch.

“Oooof!! That’s very good, Richard. You snuck in another attack before I could react to it.” He returns the water to the basins.

I return the water to the basin.

Then everyone claps and cheer for the demonstration they just saw.

“That was an excellent demonstration!”

We walk back to them. We get hugged and pounded on the back by everyone. They congratulate us on an excellent demonstration.

“I’m impressed, Richard. You will make an excellent earth bender. I’ll be ready once you have learned the basics.”

“I’ll be ready. Thank you, Toph.”

Then a circle of light appears before the throne room. We see two Emissaries appear in a blink of an eye. The two Earth Guards quickly bring their lances forward. The Emissaries quickly move their hands. The Earth Guards move back and hold up their lances.

“We are sorry for the intrusion, King Kuei.”

“Whom are you two? You have the appearance of not from our world.”

“We are not from your world, King Kuei. We are the Emissaries from the Creator himself. Another word that is used to describe us is an angel.”

“Angels? Emissaries from the Creator? I’m greatly honored to see you with my own eyes.”

“Yes, it is, King Kuei. We are here to take Richard, Brianna and his fairies back with us. He still has more worlds to visit and warn them about the Ultimate Last Battle on his world.”

“I haven’t heard about that yet, Emissaries.”

“Aang, Zuko, Master Pakku and Iroh will tell you all about it. Your world will be tested again when the next Avatar appears here.”

“Sigh . . . I understand that all too well.”

“Oh, Richard, before you go. I have a gift for your family.”

“What is it Iroh?”

Iroh takes out a bag from his pocket and hands it to me. “It is the house favorite, jasmine.”

I hand it to Brianna. She takes it and takes strong whiff from the package. “Hmm . . . it’s the real thing, Richard. I like it already. We have the same plant on our world.” She opens the package a bit and sees there are not cut stems, but actual vine seedlings. Each seedling has a cloth bag around the roots to keep safe. She wraps it back up tightly with a big smile on her face.

Iroh smiles, “That’s good.”

“Then allow me in exchange for that bag, a gift from me.” I hold my hand out. A small pot of marjoram appears in my hand in a blink of an eye. It is in full bloom with small purple and white flowers. I hand it to Iroh. He takes it from me. “It is called marjoram. It is from my own balcony. I have another one on the balcony. You use the flowers, green leaves and the stems near the flowers from the plant. It has a very good calming effect for the nerves and sleeplessness as well. It is good to increase the appetite and absorb gases in the stomach. It also has two vitamins that are good for the body’s overall health. It can be added to foods as an herb supplement. However, don’t drink it on very hot days, or give it to people who have a ruptured blood vessel near the brain or for people who are hyper nervous. There are a few more benefits as well for you to discover. It can withstand the higher land temperatures with ease.”

Zuko and Iroh take a whiff from the plant. They smile greatly. “I’ll be sure to cultivate it and add to the selection. Thank you, Richard.”

King Kuei smiles. He makes a mental note to stop by the Jasmine Dragon at least once a month.

Once I get my multi-pocket jacket on, my fairies fly into the pockets to get comfortable. Bianca and Lavan fly into Brianna’s coat pocket. We put our satchels on our shoulders. Then Brianna and I stand next to the Emissaries.

“I don’t know when we’ll back. Take care my friends.”

“Take care, Richard, Brianna and to your special family.”

A circle of light appears around us. We disappear in a blink of an eye.

“Well, that was an interesting visit. Now tell me about this test that a future Avatar will face. Is there anything we can do to help?”

“First of all, I don’t know if you noticed the people on the streets, King Kuei.”

“What have you seen and heard, Iroh?”

“I have seen a lot of people with jealous looks on their faces. These are people who can’t element bend. There is a subtle anti-element movement brewing around our world.”

“An anti-element bending movement? Are they crazy? We need them for the future of our world. It is known that element benders skip a generation or two.”

“We know that as well, King Kuei. We must make every effort to provide support for the element benders. They will need help in their time of need.”

“That might be true, Iroh. Have you heard where the movement is the strongest?”

“In Republic City.”

They all shout out together, “Republic City!”

“That’s supposed to be a model city where element benders and non-element benders can live in harmony.”

“Well, something happened there to change some non-element bender minds.”

“Yes, something happened.”

Everyone ponders on it. After thinking about it some more, they decide they need more information from Republic City.

~~~000~~~

We appear in the Emissaries star ship.

“We are flying back to Twainor. You will get two nights of rest. You two know what you must do during that time.”

We look at each other with big smiles. “Oh yes, we know what to do. Is that right, Richard?”

“How can I forget? You’re ready to have a great night of sex to consummate our marriage properly.”

All the fairies poke their heads up with big smiles. “Yeah! It is time!”

We all giggle and laugh together. Once we calm down, I ask the next big question.

“So, where do we go next, Emissaries?”

“You’ll be going to Christmas World.”

The fairies shout out loud again, “We’re going to see Santa Claus! Yeah!”

Everyone smiles again.

“So, what is the purpose of that meeting? I would assume he already knows what is going to happen in the future.”

“He does, Richard. You will be meeting several important people there. It’s an introduction to each other so that you are aware of each other.”

“Okay, I think you are hiding another person of interest from me when I get there. Is it my Anti-self?”

“It is, Richard. You’ll be meeting your Anti-self there. That includes the anti-Brianna and the anti-fairies. Please, by all means don’t touch each other. You must be in opposite nature to be near each other.”

“So, that means my Brianna and I have our feathered wings out and they have their dragon wings out.”

“That is right, Richard. Then you can shake hands or hug each other. Your fairies must remain in your coat pockets during this visit. They are not fully able to greet each other safely.”

“Will we be spending the night there?”

“No, Richard. You will be there for about three to four hours. You will all be planning out some strategy together. For example, you will be covering six of the twelve multi-verses while the anti-versions are covering the other six multi-verses.”

“I see. That seems to make sense. So, it is up to us, which one we want to handle.”

“That’s right, Richard.”

We stand in silence. Then the star ship engines come to a stop. We look at the monitors and see Twainor on the screen.

“We’ll put you down in front of the Grand Castle. What seemed like over a week, you left here about a half hour ago.”

“Oh boy, talk about jet lag. Or in the case, an Einstein time slip problem. At least we’ll get some sleep the next two nights.”

“That’s right. We’ll pick you up in the morning like before, at the third mark in the morning.”

“Yes, Emissaries.”

One of the Emissaries pushes a button. We disappear in a blink of an eye. We appear near the Grand Sundial in the court yard.

We look around as people are walking around. They quickly notice us.

“You’re back! Welcome back to Twainor!”