We carried on, but we were still unable to find a teacher for Aang. We now happen to be flying above a huge swamp. Katara was reading, Sokka was sharpening his machete, and I was lying down, admiring the sky. We began to feel as though we were slowly falling.
Sokka noticed it, and stopped sharpening his machete."Hey, are you taking us down for a reason?" he asked, but Aang didn't respond. "Aang, why are we going down?" he yelled for Aang to hear him."What? Oh..I didn't even notice." Aang said, coming back to his senses. "Are you noticing now?" Sokka said. Katara stood, worriedly walking near Sokka."Is something wrong?" Katara asked. "I know this is gonna sound weird, but I think the swamp is...calling to me." Aang said. "Is it telling you where we can get something to eat?" Sokka asked. "No, I..I think It wants us to land there."
Sokka looked down, trying to find somewhere to land on. But there wasn't."No offense to the swamp, but I don't see any land there to land on."
He said, shrugging, probably worried about Aang because he might be losing his marbles. "I don't know. Bumi said to learn earthbending, I would have to wait and listen. And now I'm actually hearing the earth." He explained. "Do you want me to ignore it?" He said, as we all looked down at the eerie and an unnerving looking swamp. "Yes." Sokka said with no hesitation. I have a bad feeling about this. "...There's something ominous about this place." I said, as Appa roared while Momo hid. "See? Even Appa and Momo don't like it here." Sokka said.
"Okay, since everyone feels so strongly about this..bye, swamp. Yip yip." After he said that, A tornado suddenly appeared and started to chase us. Sokka saw it and started panicking."You better throw in an extra yip. We gotta move!" He shouted, as we tried to avoid getting sucked in the tornado. Sokka almost got sucked in but Katara and I quickly held Sokka's hand to prevent him from being sucked into the tornado. Aang then formed a large sphere of wind to shield us. However the tornado was just too strong for Aang to manage, causing the ball of wind losing its power. Then the ball of wind vanished, making us spin with the tornado. It then threw us away. But we all landed safely on the lake.
We all got up, might broke a few of our bones but we're fine. "Where's Appa and Momo?" Aang asked, worriedly. He then climbed up to a tree and yelled for their names, hoping to find them. I looked around for a moment, then I noticed a leech on Sokka's elbow! "Sokka! You've got an elbow leech!" I said, pointing at his elbow."WHERE!? WHERE?!" He screamed. "Where do you think?.." Katara said, crossing her arms. "Why do things keep attaching to me??!" He screamed, trying to get the leech off his elbow. Aang got back down, sighing. "You couldn't find them?" Katara said. "No. And the tornado..It just disappeared." He said, looking deep at the eerie forest.
"We better speed things up." Sokka said, as he cut the vines with his machete, to clear the way. Although, Aang seemed worried about this. "Maybe we should be a little nicer to the swamp." He said, doing a "slow down" gesture. "Aang, these are just plants. Do you want me to say please and thank you as I swing my machete back and forth?" He says, as he slice the vines. "Maybe Aang is right. These place seems..alive somehow." I said. "I'm sure there are lots of things that are alive here. And if we don't want to wind up getting eaten by them, we need to find Appa as fast as we can." He said, as Sokka sliced the vines.I felt someone watching us, I immediately pierced my shadow, way through the bushes in the direction where I felt someone watching us. But there wasn't anything in there. Weird..
"Did something happen?" Katara asked. "No..I just felt like someone was watching us." I replied, rubbing the back of my neck. "There's no way someone would be watching us, we're the only ones here." Sokka joined the conversation. "I best suggest we should hurry up." We've already gone deep into the woods, the sun had already gone, but still no sign of Appa and Momo. "Appa! Momo!" I yelled. "Appa!" Katara did the same. "There's no way they can hear us and no way we can see them. We'll have to make camp for the night." Sokka said, as a fly got into his face, making him swing his sword trying to kill the flies. The bubbles in the water suddenly popped up gas. "What was that!?" Katara blurted. "Nothing, just swamp gas." He responded. "Look, there's nothing supernatural going on here." Sokka said, disgusted by the smell of the gas. He got interrupted by a human-like scream, we all froze and hugged each other, but It was just a bird.
"I think we should build a fire." he suggested, as he quickly ran to the nearest branch and cut it down.
"Sokka, the longer we're here, the more I think you shouldn't be doing that." Aang said, worriedly. "No, I asked the swamp. It said it was fine." He stated. "Right swamp? No problem, Sokka" he said in a squeaky voice. Sokka finally completed building the fire after some time. But, I still have the feeling that someone is still watching us. "Does anyone else get the feeling that we're being watched?" I whispered, looking at Sokka. "Please.." he scoffed. "We're all alone out here." He said, as a fly suddenly shone brightly and went deep into the woods, making a bunch of eyes appear that are watching us. "Except for them.." Aang said, terrified. "Right, except for them." Sokka trembled, as we all hug each other.
...
They all went asleep except for me, I couldn't sleep since I have to keep an eye out for any threat. I'm very tired, though, and I can feel my eyelids becoming quite heavy, yet I can't fall asleep. I dozed off for a sec, but I felt something wiggling around my body. So, I woke up, finding vines covering our body. We abruptly parted ways after being pulled away. I used my shadow to cut the vine while I was being dragged in order to escape. "Aang? Katara!...Guys?! I yelled, as I got up. In the distance I saw someone. So i went towards it. "Aang? Sokka?" I said. But as I get closer It started to look like my younger brother. "Bo?.. Bo, is that you?" I said as I chased the familiar figure, but as I got closed he started running away."Wait! It's me! Your sister!" I yelled.
He started jumping over to the large branches so I did the same. "Bo, where are you going?!" I shouted, as I chase my brother. But suddenly, he stopped. I came closer and tried to place my hand on his shoulder "Bo..I finally found you." But he suddenly put my hand away. "Where were you?! I was all alone and scared, hoping that my sister would find me." He snapped. "It's okay Bo.. I found you now." I said, as tears filled my eyes. "I missed you." I sobbed, hugging him and closing my eyes. I opened my eyes, only to find that I was just hugging myself. "Bo?!.." I yelled, looking around me.
But suddenly, something pushed me. It was Aang, Sokka and Katara! "What do you guys thing you're doing?" Sokka yelled. "I've been looking all over for you." Sokka said, spreading his arms wide. "Well, I've been wandering around looking for you!" Katara said. "I was chasing some girl." Aang mumbles, as he stood. "What girl?" Katara asked.
"I don't know. I heard laughing, and I saw some girl in a fancy dress." He replied, as he offers a hand to Katara to help her get up. "Well, there must be a tea party here, and we just didn't get our invitations." Sokka said, sarcastically.
"I thought I saw mom." Katara said, sighing.
"I thought..I saw my brother.." I said, looking away.
"Look, we were all just scared and hungry, and our minds were playing trick on us." That's shy we all saw things out here." He said, worrying about what's going to happen. "You saw something,too?" Katara asked. "I thought I saw Yue.." he responded, turning around. "But that doesn't prove anything. Look, I think about her all the time. You saw your brother and you saw Mom, someone you miss a lot."
"What about me?" Aang asked. " I didn't know the girl I saw. And all our visions led us right here." He added. "Okay, so where's here?.." Katara asked. "The middle of the swamp?" I said.
"How'd you know?"
"Just a hunch."
"Yeah.." he said as he looked up. "The center...It's the heart of the swamp. It's been calling us here. I knew it!" He smiled. "It's just a tree. It can't call anyone.For the last time, there's nothing after us, and there's nothing magical happening here-" he said, as a huge monster made of...vines started grabbing for Sokka, dragging him all over the place and pulling him. Aang bended air to slice it's arm. Then I repeatedly cut through the monster's body using the water. But it sprinted in that direction and struck Aang, sending him flying. The creature's arms began to come back. He then abruptly took Sokka away. Katara shot it in the shoulder with water, causing him to stumble, and I made a large wave to push him away. Katara cleared the way to approach the monster, but she was pushed as well as Aang. The monster began to trap Sokka with the vines. When Katara saw that we were close by, she froze the area where Sokka is and I fired a huge stream of water, allowing it to pass through and saving Sokka.
With the help of Katara, we kept slicing it's body. Then suddenly we saw something "There someone in there! He's bending the vines!" As I saw an opening, I tried bending the man's shadow as Katara sliced through its body. I took control of the man's shadow, which allowed me to take control of his body as well and stop him from moving. He was under my control, and I managed to stop him from bending the vines. Aang came towards the man, pointing his staff at him. "Why did you call me here if you just wanted to kill us?" He asked, preparing to attack."Wait! I didn't call you here." he said, as he tried to move, but he couldn't. "We we're flying over, and I heard something calling to me, telling me to land." He explained, still on his fighting stance."He's the avatar..stuff like this happens to us a lot."Sokka said.
"The Avatar?" He asked. "Come with me. But first..can I move now?" He said, looking at me. I did what he told me and followed him. We went towards a huge tree. "Are you kidding me? Do we have to climb it?" Sokka groaned. "So who are you, then?" I asked. "I protect the swamp from folks that want to hurt it." He stated. "like this fellow with his big knife." He looked at Sokka. "See, completely reasonable--not a monster, just a regular guy defending his home. Nothing mystical about it." He said, putting his machete away. "Oh, the swamp is a mystical place, all right. It's sacred. I reached enlightenment right here under the banyan grove tree." He said as he sits down. "I heard it calling me, just like you did." "Sure you did. It seems real chatty." Sokka said, as he raised a brow.
"You see.. this whole swamp is actually just one tree spread out over miles. Branches spread then sink and take root and then spread some more..one big, living organism, just like the entire world." He explained, spreading his arms. "I get how the tree is one big thing, but the whole world?.." Aang asked, confused. "Sure. You think you're any different from me or your friends or this tree? If you listen hard enough, you can hear every living thing breathing together. You can feel everything growing. We are all living together even if most folks don't act like it. We all have the same roots, and we are all branches of the same tree." He explained. "But..what did our visions mean?" I asked. "In the swamp, we see visions of people we've lost, people we loved, folks we think are gone. But the swamp tells us they're not. We're still connected to 'em. Time is an illusion and so is death."
People we've lost?..does that mean?.. No. He couldn't be. I just know it. He knows how to take care of himself, I'm sure that he'll survive out there, I hope..Don't worry Bo, I promise I'll find you.
"But what about my vision?" Aang asked. "It was someone I had never met." Aang said as he sat down. "You're the Avatar. You tell me." Aang thought about it, but he figured it out. "Time is an illusion, so it's someone I will meet." He said, as the man nodded. "Sorry to interrupt the lesson, but we still need to find Appa and Momo." Sokka said, as he stood, stretching. "I think I know how to find them. Everything is connected." He said, as he touched the tree that started to light up showing the path where Appa and Momo is. "Come on, we've gotta hurry. They're in trouble."
...
I bended the water, slicing one of the boats. The man started to bend the water as well, sending a big wave toward us. But Katara and I managed to stop it from hitting us. "Hey, those guys are Waterbenders." Katara said, as she bends the water."You, too? That means we're kin!" He smiled, making Katara ick. The waterbender saw the man. Seems like they know each other."Hey, Huu! How you been?" He asked."You know, scared some folks, swung some vines..the usual." He replied, shrugging.v"You guys know each other?" Aang asked. "Yeah, we're close." He replied.
"It been so long since I've seen ya. Want to come join us? We're cooking this big ol' buffalo." The waterbender said, rubbing his two hands together and sticking his tongue out. "What?! We can't let you do that. And by the way, he's a flying bison!"
Aang said. "Woah there..I'll go talk to him." Huu said, trying to calm down the angry boy. After some talking, Huu convinced his friend to not eat Appa. Thank goodness, if not there'll be a massacre here. "How you like that possum-chicken?" The man asked, looking at Sokka."Tastes like arctic hen."
So why were you guys so interested in eating Appa? You've get plenty of those big things wandering around." I said, pointing at the creature laying behind the two men. "You want me to eat ol' Slim? He's like a member of the family." The man said, as he fed it with a fish. "Nice Slim." He said as he threw a bug to feed Slim but it growled at him.
"Oh, he don't eat no bugs. That's people food." He laughed. "Where'd you say you was from?" Huu asked Katara. "The South Pole." She replied. "Didn't know there was Waterbenders anywhere but here. They got a nice swamp there, do they?"
"No, it's all ice and snow." She smiled.
"Hm..No wonder you've left."
"Well, I hope you realize now that nothing strange was going here. Just a bunch of greasy people living in a swamp." Sokka said, gesturing. "What about the visions?" She asked. "I told you we we're hungry. Im eating a giant bug!" He says as he lifts the bug and eat it. "But what about when the tree showed me where Appa and Momo where?" Aang asked."That's Avatar stuff. That doesn't count. The only thing I can't figure out is how you made the tornado that sucked us down." Sokka asked Huu.
"I can't do anything like that. I just bend the water in the plants." He explained. "Well, no accounting for weather. Still, there's absolutely nothing mysterious about the swamp." He shrugged, as we heard another human-like scream.
...
I leaned on Appa, hoping to get some good sleep, but I couldn't. I kept changing my position to figure whats the best one by I still couldn't sleep. "You okay? You're moving too much." Katara asked, sitting beside me. "Oh sorry. It's nothing, just couldn't sleep." I replied, not looking at her."I know something's bothering you, You know you can tell me anything." She said, as she rubbed my shoulders. I took a deep breath, as I rest my head on my knees. "It's just..what if my brother is..gone?" I said, as tears welled up in my eyes.
"Y/n, don't say that. Are you giving up already?"she said."No, I'm not! it's just what if he is?" I continued sobbing. "Y/n, we will find him. I know we will." Katara said, hugging me. I hugged back. "The visions really made me worry, Katara. Huu said that those people in our visions, were the people we've lost, and I just saw him in my vision." I said, as Katara let go. "Aang also said that it could be someone you will meet. So there's a chance that you'll find him one day on our journeys." She said, smiling. "You really think so?" I asked, wiping my tears."Yeah, I know you will."
"Thanks Katara."
To be continued