Avatar: The mystical tale of Asuna

B1: Mist Ch 5: The Shadow

     "Alright I'm ready," Akemi says as she finally joins us. I nod as I approached the clouds I only have a few seconds. Black clouds take a few seconds to recharge after being struck with lightning. And it leaves an opening wide enough for us to see the kids and grab them one at a time.    

     I crack out my vine whip and prepare for such a moment. I give my sister, Chyou the signal. Nodding, she swiftly blows a gust of wind to attract the clouds' attention. And as expected, it was successful. Creating an opportunity for me to grab the children. Her wind cut right through the clouds. Before it closed I used my whip to grab the first child I saw who could wiggle their foot out through the clouds.   

     She held onto two other children, but that wasn't enough. The dark clouds collected many children. Even on its way to the festival. That's why the clouds are thicker now. As it grows, the children will become dusk and bones. But I pulled her and the other two children as quickly as I could and sat them by Kanna. Kanna handed them over to her brother Kou and he ran before the dark clouds could harm them.

"Good job Kanna," Akemi praised. "Now, my sister is about to grab more children. Get your hands ready." Chyou attacked again. And I grabbed 4 more children. They took off after Kanna handed them over to a sibling of hers. The process of getting  the children out was effective, but it was too slow. The more the children stayed inside the clouds the more we might lose them.

"We have to find the shadow," I said. "Yes," Akemi agreed. "Well it can't be far," Benika said. "The clouds seem to come from the shrine." That's where I'll look.I thought. The quicker we take out the shadow the quicker this will be over. But I need the children out before that happens.

     We need a distraction. I thought. I glanced over at Kanna and her family. There's only a few that I know that are water benders. And I don't know if they know how to purify sea water but it will have to do. "I need all the water benders front and center!" I shouted. A few came forward. One of them stayed with Kanna just in case someone needs healing. I took a deep breath. "Listen to me carefully, the clouds hate purified water," I said. "If you don't know how to purify then get ready to grab the children and run." "But I have to go after the one who's controlling them."

     "What if you need help?" Kanna's siblings asked. He was a tall boy with short black hair and ember eyes. I think it was her older brother. "I'll be fine," I assured him. "But you're not a water bender." He shakes his head. "But I can still help. They still use lightning attacks. "I can fend them off along with the water benders." He argued. There was no time to argue back so I nodded to him and concentrated on the clouds.

     I took a deep breath. Focused all my energy. I've pictured the sea water surrounding Republic Villa. The sea is large, but water bends gracefully. And it's also the bending of change. What is salty and deadly is now pure and healing. The water came in a form of a large bubble. With a color almost similar to the moon's. I distributed the water to the water benders and instructed them to keep their minds pure and aim at where the lightning strikes.

    The water benders were shocked and I knew they wanted to ask questions. However, I quickly silenced them and kept them focus on the clouds. "As soon as the water hits the clouds the children will fall," I said. "Catch them as quickly as you can and run!"

     The water benders got to work and only a few clouds were purified and the children were free. But there were so many. And very few of us. "Don't worry," Akemi says. "I'm a water bender too. If anything, I can grab the children and have them run away. Right now we need to make a path for you to get to whoever is causing this."

     I nodded in agreement. Akemi smirked and uses all the water around and purified it. "Just wait for my signal," she tells me. "And take Chyou with you for backup." I look over at Chyou. She nodded and was ready to move. "Let's go," she says. We fought off a few clouds before clearing. I look at Akemi. She gave the signal and then Chyou and I ran up the stairs.

We reached the top and all we saw was a doll. Dark aura surrounds a doll. "Come on out shadow!" Chyou demanded "It's time to go back to where you belong!" I cried. The doll's eyes glow white and the dark aura slithers its way out of the doll.

The shadow was a woman. The aura radiating off her was intense. I could tell she was trying to use it against us but Chyou and I knew better. Chyou attacked to throw the woman off. And as expected, she dodged it and got angry.

"How dare you?" She roared.

"How dare we?" I roared back. "How dare you?! What were you planning to do with those children?!?"

"They are mine children," she hissed. "They belong to me. Their mother!" The shadow used her dark aura again to push Chyou and I away from the shrine. Chyou used her air bending to reach the second level of the stairs. "She's strong," Chyou noted. "She's not like the others,"I noticed. I thought. The others we faced were nothing like her. Her aura was overwhelming. But we needed to get rid of her for the children's sake. Otherwise, all children will be doomed.

"We gotta get past her defense somehow," I said to Chyou. "She's obviously using her aura to fend us off. So she wasn't a bender when she was alive." But I stood corrected. She then used earth bending to make the doll she came out of attack us with earth bending of its own!

The doll first used the stairs that we were standing on to crumble but Chyou quickly lifted us into the air before we were to fall through. But it was short lived when the doll started throwing pieces of the shrine towards us. And most were sharp objects!

To avoid getting hit by some Chyou used her air spout to maneuver around but the doll didn't let up.

"Oh no you don't," I said. Now it was my turn to attack! Water bending wouldn't work this time around. So I decided to use firebending. With every sharp object that the doll threw, I attacked with a couple of fireballs to melt or destroy them completely.

"Fire!" The shadow roared fiercely. "I'll destroy your fire bender! Stay away from my children!"

The shadow grew angry, but also bigger! She was bigger than the shrine and her eyes turned red!

"I will never forgive you for your fire bender!" "You took me away! You took me away from my children!"

Uh oh. I thought. "We must've triggered her memory when she died!" I cried to Chyou. " Chyou stared at me worried. "So what can we do?"She asked. I thought for a moment and then suggested, "Maybe we can find a way to restore her memories. And see what happened when she died." We both looked around, but it seemed impossible. Chyou had an idea. She suggested, "Maybe we can use the doll to look. See if that helps." I nodded and we quickly approached the doll.

However, before we could touch it, the doll shattered into pieces! "No!" I cried. The shadow then pushed us deeper into the forest surrounding the shrine. I felt my body hit a tree. And I couldn't move. Chyou was thrown against the ground and knocked unconscious. I struggled to stay conscious, but my vision blurred. I felt my eyes close and everything turned dark. Suddenly, I heard a voice. "Please wake up," it said. I slowly opened my eyes and saw the doll in front of me, back together and in one piece. I looked around and saw that Chyou was awake and standing next to me. We both looked around in confusion, and then the doll started to move and speak to us.

"I know a way to defeat her," the doll said. "But we have to hurry." Chyou came and helped me off the ground. Once I regained my wits, I looked at the doll curiously. "Who are you?" I asked. "That's not relevant now. You two have been out for a couple of minutes and your friends are trying to hold her off. I got the children to safety but we really should hurry." Chyou and I quickly followed the doll, running as fast as we could. We had to save our friends before it was too late.