Chonglin felt something turn in his stomach as he slept. Bohei was in danger, or he would soon be in danger. His eyes shot open, and he realized the sun was just barely rising. Something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it. The sense of Bohei being in danger increased, and he made his way out of the boat, seeing a fleet of twenty ships across from the three ships slowly moving towards them. The ships were aligned horizontally, so they created a barrier that blocked the three ships and then layered. He bent the air so that he could hear the people on the other ships while looking at the flag. The flag was a black Lotus. "Fire!" he heard the men yell. There were now three massive boulders from the front of the barrier ships flying at the White Lotus ships. "The Black Lotus are attacking." Chonglin jumped into the air, putting his hands together, creating a sphere of air around him, and then quickly expanding and compressing it, creating a sonic boom with how fast the air was traveling. It created a shock wave strong enough to throw the boulders away. The thunder woke Bohei up, and Chonglin turned to see his brother running out of the ship wearing nothing but his sweatpants. Three more boulders were thrown, and Chonglin and Bohei worked in sync, with Bohei launching a rainbow wave of fire at the boulders that was further enhanced by Chonglin, allowing the boulders to be stopped by a wall of flames. Bohei jumps off of the ship, creating a large wall of ice and preventing the White Lotus ships from advancing. He put his hand up, and a giant spike of ice shot through a ship. He rotated her body, and the ice turned into water, beginning to wrap around the ship, freeze, and then pull it underwater.
ㅤ"Where are the White Lotus sentries?" Bohei looked at Chonglin, who shrugged.
ㅤ"I'm here!" Jin yelled, pulling pieces of metal from the ship he was on and launching them at the ships in the distance. Given that Jin could control earth from very far, the metal simply wouldn't do much damage other than begin to sink the ships.
Bohei jumped, rainbow jets shooting from his fists and feet as he charged towards a ship, moving so fast that Jin and Chonglin only saw him as a blur. Bohei flew above a ship, encasing himself in fire and dropping down onto it, creating an omnidirectional wave of fire. Black Lotus soldiers began to surround him, shooting fire at him, but Bohei absorbed the heat from them, causing the air around him to ripple and his body to release steam. The metal under him began to become molten as he vanished from sight. He reappeared in front of one of the soldiers, punching them in the neck and releasing a shockwave of heat, staggering the soldiers beside him. Bohei pushed his hands into a clap, causing water to shoot up and freeze the ship in place. The soldiers continued to launch fire at Bohei, and he was hit in the back. He couldn't absorb flames he didn't know were there. The soldier who knocked him down started charging at him, forcing Bohei to shoot air from his palms to throw the man off the ship. He pulled water from the ocean, hitting the boat with all of it and covering the ship in water as he flew in the air with his jets. He flipped while in the air, creating a slice of fire that cut the ship in half.
Chonglin was already on another ship, bending a sphere around it. The men on the ship tried to shoot fire at Chonglin but realized that they could not bend, and soon they realized that they couldn't even breathe. Many grabbed their throats, realizing that the airbender was restricting airflow to them. Yet Chonglin breathed perfectly; he was taking their breath and allowing himself to breathe. Their bodies fell, and Chonglin continued, "Four minutes," and he waited those four minutes. Ripping the leftover air from their bodies and launching it under him, flinging him from the front of the boat. He started flying, hitting the boat with a blast of air and sending it backwards. He watched firebenders throw flames at him, and as they got close to him, they extinguished, no longer having oxygen to fuel them. He jumped onto another ship, pushing his hands out and creating a sphere around himself that repelled the fire being launched, and then it burst, launching the men on this ship either off or onto metal strong enough to knock them out.
Jin jumped off of the White Lotus ship, pulling plates of metal off of the ship and creating steps to one, jumping on a ship and beginning to pull all of the metal on the ship off of it, turning it into liquid metal. He sighed in relief as the non-metal parts of the boat fell. Jin wrapped the metal around his body to create armor. A wire shot from the wrist of his armor, attaching to a ship, and he pulled himself onto it, turning it into metal and adding it to his armor. He noticed Jin and Bohei had taken out three more ships. "I need earth!" He announced this to Bohei, flying above him. Bohei nodded, diving down, using fire to enhance his flight, and bending water around him to speed up his descent. Jin began to pull earth from the bottom of the ocean, and Bohei helped. A set of large columns shot out of the water, knocking into one of the ships. "Thanks!" Bohei jumped off, latching onto the side of one of the ships, running along it, and pulling the metal with him. Jin used his wire to jump onto the largest column. He punched the column; all of the column that was above the water began to turn into lava and shot upwards, turning into a wave. He hardened the lava under him so that he could ride the wave. Launching it at a ship and encasing it in lava, drowning everyone on it, creating a large hill of solidified. Jin stomped on the obsidian, two chunks flying up and beginning to compress. They flew at two ships, exploding in a flurry of shrapnel-like fragments of obsidian, moving so fast and with such ferocity that they shot through the ship and anybody that was hit. "Jin!" Genji yelled, calling to his son. Jin nodded, launching a wire at his father and pulling him to the hill. They began to bend together, moving in sync and forcing a farther ship to turn into molten metal, using Jin's lavabending to heat the metal and Genji's metalbending to liquify it. Genji continued to earthbend, launching chunks of the hill to protect the airbender and waterbender attacking ships.
Jin ran and jumped from the hill, making it protrude to push him forward. He began to step on dust, running to another ship. Bohei was flying above him and pointed to a ship farther ahead, beginning to prepare something that looked like Jin's shrapnel technique. Jin ran towards them, stepping as if he knew what that technique could do, and then there was a very audible boom.
Bohei felt something moving towards him and looked towards the ship, "What?" and then he felt something hit his chest. Bohei's body began to fall, slamming into the water and sinking. The water around his body immediately started glowing. "Bohei!" Jin looked at Chonglin, who seemed to be distracted, meaning it was up to him. Jin jumped and dove into the water, pushing himself towards Bohei as fast as he could. Bohei's eyes closed and opened, but he was back in the black void.
ㅤ"It's so cold... Am I dying?" There was nothing but silence, and he nodded. "I guess I am." Another Bohei appeared across from him with glowing white eyes, and he smirked, "But I can't die; I'm the greatest avatar in the world!" The other white-eyed Bohei looked to the right.
ㅤ"So, we cannot allow that." A third Bohei appeared with glowing orange eyes.
ㅤ"Oh, I know exactly who you two are, and I'd rather die than..." Normal Bohei sat in silence for a few seconds. "Well, I'd die if I used you guys." He crossed his arms. "I'll do it myself."
Jin grabbed Bohei's body and began to sink. The metal armor was holding him down; granted, it was the metal of two ships compressed into armor. Jin wrapped the metal around his arms and bent it upwards so that if he was bending it normally, it would launch up through the water, allowing him to float in the air. Genji saw the boy floating and holding Bohei by the shirt in one hand. Overpowering Jin's control and pulling Jin onto the White Lotus ship. Meihua was on one ship, having frozen everyone around her, when she saw her son hit the water. "Bohei!" she shrieked, pushing her arms up and encasing the bottom of the ship in ice, freezing it in place. She jumped off of the ship, mist-stepping across the ships to get to Bohei. She began to check on him and looked around for Chonglin.
Chonglin floated in the sky. The sky became dark as Chonglin had summoned a powerful storm. The wind swirled around him, forcing him to act as the center of the storm. Seventy-foot waves shot up and slammed against the leftover ships, pushing away some and sinking others. As an airbender, Chonglin was taught peace and mercy, but as the brother of the avatar and the son of Meihua, he was taught torture and interrogation. He bended a tornado around himself, pulling leftover members of the Black Lotus onto the White Lotus ships, where Genji shot metal plates onto them.
Chonglin floated onto the ship and nearly fainted, falling into Genji's arms, who sat him down. Chonglin looked at Bohei while Meihua had her ear to his chest. "He's not breathing, but I can feel his spirit; it's still there." Chonglin pushed himself up to stand and began to move his arms in a rotation. A bubble of air formed around Bohei's head, forcing air in and out of his lungs to force him to breathe.
ㅤ"His body is so cold." She pulled water from her necklace. It wasn't the same as water from the ocean, and everyone knew this. She placed the water over Bohei's chest. "He's lowering his body temperature down so that he'd be slowing death itself."
ㅤ"While unconscious?" Jin looked at the woman.
ㅤ"He's not totally unconscious. He's still awake, somewhat." Chonglin confirmed.
ㅤ"There's earth in his chest; I can feel it." Genji walked over to Bohei's body and sat down beside Meihua.
ㅤ"Can you bend it out?"
ㅤ"No, it's too small; trying to earthbend earth in someone's body is too delicate for me."
ㅤThe family of Bohei frowned, and Chonglin looked at Jin and said, "You have to do it."
ㅤJin's eyes went wide. "I don't think I can."
ㅤ"Of course you can; your seismic sense is more precise than your father's; if you let that lead you, you should be able to do it." Chonglin assured him.
ㅤ"I don't wanna be the reason he dies." Jin looked at Meihua, healing his chest.
ㅤ"Then bend the earth out of his heart." Chonglin demanded.
Jin agreed reluctantly, and Meihua moved her hands, allowing Jin to place his hand over Bohei's heart. "Some of the pieces are too small for me to pull out but not too small for me to bend." Jin moved his hand up and down, moving it to close when his hand rose and open when it fell. He closed his eyes, allowing his seismic sense to control his perception. Large chunks of earth shot out of Jin's chest—small chunks but large enough for bullet-like fragments. "I'll have to do something for the smaller ones." Jin made his hand into a fist; all of the miniscule-sized fragments were crushed, turning into dust that began to flow out of Bohei's heart. "I did it." Jin leaned on his hands and sighed. Tears streamed down Meihua's face, and Chonglin hugged Bohei. Meihua continued to heal Bohei, closing the wounds in his heart with help from the unconscious Bohei doing it himself. "It's pumping again!" Meihua released a deep sigh of relief and placed her forehead on Bohei's torso. Chonglin released the bubble from Bohei's head, as the boy was now breathing on his own. The avatar stopped healing himself, and Meihua's eyes went wide. "It's okay, he's fine." Chonglin reassured her.
ㅤBohei laughed in his mind. "Did you see that? Past lives, spirits—anything to say? I'm the only one of you who could not die after being hit with something like that." the other two Bohei had long vanished. "I'm amazing!" He giggled more. "Whenever I announce that I'm the avatar, I'm demanding gifts for having to deal with these dumb Black Lotus members, fighting off the Avatar State, and fighting off death. Who else is doing it like me?" He continued to boast, "Aang couldn't survive lightning, Roku couldn't even beat his closeted gay lover, Kyoshi could barely beat Yun, Kuruk died to a spirit, couldn't be me, and Yangchen neglected the spirit world! I am literally the best avatar!"
ㅤ"Why are you bringing up past lives you have no connection to?" Bohei turned around, and there was avatar Geun. The blue-eyed man looked at Bohei with his eyebrows raised.
ㅤ"You're right; let's bring up the ones I do have a connection to. Geun, who can't take a lightning bolt either; Son, who can't even live past sixteen; and Dawa, who can't keep the avatar spirits down."
ㅤ"If you're so great, wake yourself up." Geun challenged.
Hours passed, and Meihua sat at a table. Genji was interrogating the men, and Jin and Chonglin were watching Bohei's body. Meihua stood up from the table, walking from the inside of the boat to the outside of the boat. Genji was interrogating the men with skills he knew as an officer of the law.
ㅤ"You're not doing it right." Meihua crossed her arms, knowing her son was okay, which allowed her to calm down a bit.
ㅤ"How would you know?" Genji looked back at her.
ㅤ"Because you were taught interrogation through conversation." Meihua put her arms up.
Water from the ocean, wrapping it around the heads of the men, forcing itself into their lungs and then out. Genji was shocked at her forcibly waterboarding them and then dropped the water. "Maybe I should be the one asking. Talk or one of you will not survive that." She did it again: "Or maybe you all would prefer that." There was silence, and she got no answer. "Fine. I have made an example out of one of you." Meihua pulled water from the ground around the heads of one of the men. "I should show you what it's like to have watched my son die; I should allow at least one of you to experience that!" Meihua pulled water from the atmosphere, wrapping it around her fingers to make claws that shot into one of the men. Genji sat in silence, knowing that if he tried to stop her, he'd be in the face of her wrath.
Bohei's eyes shot open, and he gasped, inhaling as he sat up. The avatar panted as he felt the life entering his body. He looked around and saw Jin staring at him with wide eyes.
ㅤ"Hi..." Bohei furrowed his eyebrows.
ㅤ"I wasn't watching you sleep!" Jin blurted, "I mean, I was, but that was to make sure you were still breathing."
ㅤBohei stared at him silently. "I can feel you judging me. We just arrived at Hari Bulkan, and I didn't want to leave you on the ship."
ㅤ"So, everyone went ahead without me? Again?" Bohei frowned, and Jin tried his best to reassure him.
ㅤ"No, I don't think it's on purpose; we weren't sure when you'd wake up, so I told them to go ahead, and I'd be here if you woke up." This made Bohei smile, and he hugged Jin.
Jin immediately pushed him out; this reminded Bohei of the day Jin taught him earthbending. He pulled water from the nearby bucket, imitating the day, and wrapped his naked torso in the water. Jin questioned the waterbender about what he was doing, and Bohei answered that he was checking to make sure he was uninjured.
ㅤ"I used bloodbending to force myself to heal after you pulled me from the water." Bohei put the water back into the bucket.
ㅤ"How'd you do that? Bloodbending has only ever been destructive."
ㅤ"Bloodbending and healing have very similar principles. I simply reversed the destructive principles of bloodbending to increase the flow of my chi and heal me. I froze every bit of moisture in my body while healing me so that death would slow down. It's a technique Kyoshi knew that I started teaching myself immediately as I learned it." Jin nodded at Bohei's explanation. "And once my body could live without me healing it, I went into this coma."
ㅤ"For two days."
ㅤ"Yep. and I'm the strongest avatar ever. I'm asking everyone for flowers, gifts, and rewards just for this specific event."
ㅤ"Isn't that mean?"
ㅤ"I'm keeping balance, aren't I?"
ㅤ"Fair point."
Bohei rubbed his hands, and his face became serious. He immediately demanded to know where the Fire Nation Capital was, along with where in it is the palace of the Fire Nation.
ㅤ"You know I saved you, right?" Jin commented.
ㅤ"Did you?"
ㅤ"Yeah, I pulled the earth from your chest."
ㅤBohei was shocked, placing his hand on his heart. "I don't feel any leftover pieces."
ㅤ"That's because I removed them all; I wouldn't let even the smallest piece stay."
ㅤBohei started to tear up and hugged Jin, bending his tears away. "Now, where's that palace?"
ㅤ"Why do you want to go to it so badly?"
ㅤ"I'm bullying that Fire Princess." Bohei stretched, cracking his knuckles.
ㅤ"Why?" Jin was confused.
ㅤ"She thinks she can match an avatar, let alone match me. There's not a bender on this planet who can match me." Bohei pushed a finger onto Jin's chest.
ㅤ"Didn't I overpower you... with the bou-" Water shot up, wrapping around Jin's mouth, and he gave a thumbs up, understanding to shut up.
ㅤ"I will kill you." Bohei threatened.
ㅤ"No, you won't. And if you're going to the capital, I'm coming with you." Jin put his hands in his pockets.