Dawn of a New Prince (Star Wars/Avatar Crossover)

"Yeah, well, I already knew, but it's good to hear it," Sokka told her before grinning mischievously. He gripped something in his pocket, "I wasn't planning on dying either. I managed to take something of mine from Mara's belongs. Oh, and I put one of her bras in Azula's bag."

He smirked, pleased with himself.

She laughed. "That should be interesting. I would've buried it somewhere, along with some of Mara's stuff. Since she can use her mind magic, I'm sure wouldn't mind going on a little treasure hunt, huh?" Toph snickered. "So... you got your new weapon back?"

"Yeah, but then she'd know it was me," he told her with a grin. He nodded, "Yep. I can't really fight Vader with a club or a boomerang."

"I'm sure you could figure out a way," she said. "You're pretty smart like that. Still... I'd keep that blaster thing on me anyway. It's come in handy before."

Though she would never use it herself.

"Yeah, I did save the maiden-in-distress," he teased, "And my genius does go unappreciated by the others..."

"The life of an unsung hero," she said, with mock severity. She could tease, too. "How sad."

It felt good, to be this way with him. She could feel something dark and dangerous on the horizon, but it was nice to know that this had not changed, that she could depend on it and him.

Sokka grinned, already feeling better. It was nice having some stability in his life. He could always trust Aang to be naive but determined, Katara to be the Group Mom, and Toph to joke around with him.

"Yeah, well, what can I say? I bear it the best I can," he told her.

"And there's the mark of a tried and true champ." Toph slugged him in the arm with her fist. She grinned at him. "We're all awe-struck by ya, Snoozles."

"Yeah, I know," he told her with a laugh as he rubbed his arm. Somehow, Toph managed to hit the exact spot everytime. He swore that there would be a permanent bruise there one day.

She laughed again. "Well, good. Hero worship can be fun every once in a while, huh?" Toph drew in a deep breath of the cool air again. "You know... It's really peaceful up here."

((No offense, but it seems that conversation is going nowhere. And I'm not in the mood for some pointless filler before the final battle while we wait for things to move along. No offense.))

(None taken. Just like this roleplay and excited about the battle to come. Sorry, Magus.)

((It's ok. You are welcome to finish that conversation, however. Just make sure it only takes one more post or two.))

Azula

Azula sighed in boredom as she sat on top of a damaged spire. Gray clouds floated by above, much too slowly, leaving a sleepy and, quite frankly, rather depressing feeling to the area below them. Not that Azula could tell how the landscape below looked either. There were even more clouds below the temples, wispily blowing about the mountains that the three Temples sat upon.

The disgustingly calm environment made Azula miss the Fire Nation even more, which was hard to believe. The intense heat, rough sand, exquisite architecture of the Fire Nation Capital, it all seemed wonderful to Azula, surprisingly enough. It was sentimental in the worst way possible, but it was certainly better then thinking about Zuko. That traitorous, filthy, weak, disappointment. Father could kill him if he wanted. If Zuko was stupid enough to get near the Fire Lord.

But no, it was Azula's job to kill Zuko, to get her revenge. Even if she had to use Uncle and the Avatar to do it. Admittedly, Azula couldn't just attack the both of them and kidnap the Avatar as soon as the battle was over. Unless everyone excluding Azula was horribly injured after Vader died, that would be a very foolish plan, despite how tempting it was to just attack the Avatar's companions, specifically the obnoxious Water Tribe boy.

What was his name again? Sohka? Sokka? Well it didn't matter much, besides the angry and accusing rhetoric on his part, and the condescending teasing from her, they had barely spoken to each other since Azula arrived at the Temple with Zareal and Uncle. Then again, Azula had hardly spoken with anyone since she had arrived, not even with Uncle or Zareal. And, though Azula didn't realize, she missed human company. Well, more specifically, she missed Ty lee's incessant praise and naivete, though Azula didn't realize this. Being rather thick-headed in these situations as usual, biased as she is.

"That Water tribe girl should be preparing some sort of meal about now," Azula thought as she suddenly rose. The Avatar's affectionate and at times overbearing (to the Avatar, her brother, and the earthbending brat) always made the food at the camp, and she always made it at specific times, Azula knew based on the past four days of having been at the temple. And Azula certainly wasn't going to make food for herself (she did not know how, being royalty). So with that fact in mind, Azula jumped off of the damaged spire she had been sitting upon and began her way down.
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Mai

"Are we there yet?" Mai asked with just a hint of intentional disgust in her tone. The Assassin, now Bounty Hunter, was sitting in the co-pilot chair beside Zahanna on the Alien's ship. Mai's question was rhetorical, simply meant to convey her boredom with the entire situation. Luckily enough for Mai, Zahanna was smart enough to get this most likely, and probably wouldn't respond. Few people would have though. Only the well humored or naive would have, such as Ty lee or Zuko... well, the old Zuko anyways.

Helios was different then the Zuko she had known, the Zuko Mai had fallen in love with. Without his Mother or his Uncle there to guide him, as much as Mai hated to admit this to herself considering how annoying she had thought Iroh and Ursa were, Zuko wasn't easy to love. He was similar to Azula, just less prideful and more stable in his hatred. And that was pretty boring to deal with. And sure, Helios loved Mai, or at least seriously cared about her. Mai could tell. She cared about Zuko as well, enough to risk her life without question. At least, originally she had. With this Zuko, this Helios who acted more like his Father and Grandfather then Mai thought possible, she simply didn't feel safe.

After all, he had ditched Iroh, the lazy bat that had stuck by him for three years. He had done it just for power, with a better incentive, who's to say he wouldn't do the same with me? Mai thought to herself, despite how much she hated to think about the idea of Zuko being able to do that. Especially to her.

At first Mai had supposed that maybe Iroh had betrayed Zuko first, or done something unforgivable. But as she gleamed information off of her boyfriend, Mai began to realize that that was definitely not the case. And from what some of the stormtroopers, and Dai lee had said, apparently there were rumors about Mai's loyalty to Zuko and his master as well.

At first that sounded ridiculous and boring to Mai, not even worth a second thought. Now... those thoughts were on her mind constantly, nagging at her whenever she had free time to think.

Zareal

The Jedi Knight meditated as high as he could at the temple, finding peace within himself, in preparation for the coming battle. After the crew was seen to, he had cut himself off from the others, even Aang and Mara. Now he needed to find his inner strength, he had united all the forces he could manage, it would have to be enough, but now he needed to find his own strength, to defeat Vader. He had only come down to eat and drink, then returned back to his solitude, opening himself up to the Light Side.

Iroh

Iroh sat around the fire, feeling calm. He knew it was too good to last. The past four days had been beneficial, he had gotten to know these children better, and felt the future would be good in their hands. And they would have a future, if Iroh had anything to say about it. It was time to stop feeling guilty over Zuko, he had made his choice, and now he had a duty to the world to stop this threat, even if it came from family.

Katara gave the stew one last taste before she deemed it ready for consumption. There was no meat to it; she knew Aang was vegetarian, so the base for the stew was mostly the herbs and wild vegetables she had found growing around the Temple. It was still tasty, and if anyone wanted meat they could add it to the stew once they had it in their own bowls.

"Come and eat," she called.

Darth Vader

"Good. We leave now. Make sure that none of you fail me." Vader told his apprentice and the other pilots. He glanced them over one more time before going over to his own TIE fighter. He prepped the ship for launch, and let Zahanna know that they were launching now. After a moment the Dark Lord lifted the ship off of they ground and flew into the sky. The rest of his small fleet quickly joined him, and they set in the course for the Avatar's current hideout.

Zahanna

"We haven't even left yet, Mai. Vader hasn't given the order to fly off yet." Zahanna replied with a chuckle. She looked over to the main area of the ship where the five Dai Li agents and Ty Lee all milled about. The Twi'liek noticed the young girl trying to make some conversation with the Dai Li, but they all remained silent.

"Everything is prepared now. We are ready for launch." Vader reported in over the comm. Zahanna nodded and started to bring the ship back to life.

"Looks like we're leaving now. Hold onto your seat, Mai!"

Zahanna engaged the thrusters and the ship lifted off of the ground, zooming toward the sky.

((Hey AI, still willing to play Ty Lee for the final battle?))

Azula

Azula walked into the camp calmly, not showing a single sign of apprehension or shame. After all, they were just peasants, and she was royalty. No matter how far she had fallen.

She grabbed a bowl of whatever it was the water tribe girl had made, noticing that there was no meat in it. No matter, Azula wasn't that hungry anyways; nevertheless, the Princess grunted in amused annoyance. Not an easy thing to do, but Azula was quite skilled with smug, annoying, or condescending expressions.

Not saying a word to anyone, Azula walked towards the edge of camp and sat down, prepared to eat in silence.
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Mai

Mai shrugged in response to Zahanna's amusement, but felt anxious for some reason despite her cool and calm exterior. If only this day was over and done with already, she thought.
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Lilith

Lilith started up her TIE Fighter and followed Vader and the others into the sky. The Stormtrooper was still extremely apprehensive about fighting this world's protector. It felt unnecessary, wrong, essentially. Was this how it felt every time a planet was colonized for the Empire? If so, Lilith regretted ever becoming a pawn of the Empire. Not that that matted much now.

Iroh

Iroh took a bowl of the stew and added some cooked meat to it. He ate quietly, along with drinking some Jasmine he had brewed.

Zareal

Hearing the summons, Zareal stood and, using the Force, jumped down to the ground, and began the walk down to the camp. After a few minutes he arrived and took a bowl of stew when offered.

Helios

Helios got into his TIE Fighter, and flew it along with the others. Using the Force he kept it steady and from listing into anyone else, though it was able to help with it itself.

Darth Vader

After fifteen or so minutes of flying, the Eastern Air Temple now became visible on the view-screen Vader was looking at. He noticed three temples in total that made up the place, but the two adjoining temples were dilapidated. Most likely, the Avatar was in the center temple, which looked relatively sturdy and stable. Though that temple wouldn't remain that way for long...

"All ships, open fire." Vader commanded over the intercom. He fired the TIE fighter's turbo-lasers at the temple. Darth Vader briefly noted the other ships doing as he ordered. The fire from all the ships struck seconds between each other. The Eastern Air Temple shook violently as it reacted to the blasts, causing many already decaying pillars and other structures to collapse, including a few balconies.

The Sith Lord passed the temple and turned around to fire at its back a few more times. After another round of firing, he decided to end it and Vader began circling to locate a good place to land. After a moment he found a safe looking place to land his craft amongst the rubble.

"All units, report."

"Trooper Fi reporting in, sir. I have landed safely in the temple."

"Zahanna here. We landed safely too, Lord Vader."

Lilith

Lilith's hands were shaking as she saw the Temple come into view. The Girl made sure to follow Vader's orders and shoot at the temple, but towards an area where there would most likely be little damage to the building's structure. It just seemed easier that way.

Still, Lilith didn't have much time to think about what she was doing. She had to land, and soon. The main temple didn't have any landing spots left, considering all the ships hovering towards it.As Lilith hovered above the area and looked for a landing zone, a lightning bolt flew up from the temple heading right for Lilith's Fighter!

"What the!?" She asked quietly and emotionally, managing to just barely dodge the blast. The area was too chaotic for Lilith to land in now, she realized; so, Lilith took a different route and landed at the more damaged temple to the east of the main one. It would have to work for now.

There was a bridge Lilith had seen that she could cross, but it would take her a few minutes to get to everyone. Possibly a few minutes too late. Maybe that was exactly what she wanted.

"This is Trooper Fahim. I have landed successfully." She stated over her intercom system before getting out of her ship.
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Azula

Azula jumped up as a loud crashing and rumbling noise came down from above, rubble falling everywhere. They were being attacked. By Vader most likely, Azula knew. The Princess felt like smiling as she realized that she would no longer have to wait for her revenge, that perhaps she would get it by the end of today.

Ships were landing all around, but Azula didn't wait to hear the Avatar and his friends make some sort of plan. Azula instead ran out towards one of the visible openings of the temple, and, seeing a ship that was still trying to land, Azula created a lightning bolt and shot it at the ship. The bolt was different then anything Azula had created before, instead of the energy resting inside her before the bolt was launched, it rested around her body instead. That didn't seem right, Azula would have realized if she had been paying attention to the inverted bolt.
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Mai

Mai stood up after Zahanna was finished landing the ship, and after checking them over once again, was satisfied to see that her weapons were working just fine.

"Well, should we send out the Earthbenders to get killed first or what?" Mai asked Zahanna as she glanced towards the Dai lee, not enjoying their presence at all. With their quietness and Mai's dour attitude, not even Ty lee could make the mood seem pleasant in here.

Katara screamed as the Temple's very foundations seemed to shake. Great shapes hovered in the air, and bright bursts of light illuminated the cloudy sky. More booms cracked against the ancient stone, and still more quakes sent pillars and rubble crashing all around them.

Fear climbed up into her throat. She just knew... They were under attack, and that Vader and his allies had found them.

"We have to get out of here!" she shouted, frantically searching for Aang, as well as her brother and Toph. She coughed as dust, disturbed from its resting place by the blasting attacks, hovered all around them. "Try and stay together!"

***

Toph clung to Sokka as she struggled to stay standing. She could feel the Temple shake and moan close by, and she could hear a roar in the sky.

Had what she sensed come to pass already?

"We need to get back to everybody else..." she said, tugging on Sokka's arm. She whipped her head from side to side. "They're all around us..."

Zareal

Zareal knew as soon as he heard the engines, TIE Fighters. Sure enough they attacked, and rubble soon started falling as the structure shook violently. Reaching out he attempted to grab one of the fighters with the Force, and threw it to the ground and it crashed.

Iroh

Iroh took a similar course of action to Azula, he prepared a lightning bolt and shot it at one of the strange ships in the sky. It dodged, but seemed to be shaken, it wasn't as smooth as the others. They began to come down, though, and he had a bad feeling that destiny was about to reveal what it had in store for them.

Helios

Helios saw the lightning bolt coming for his ship and made a sharp angle down to avoid it, but had trouble straightening out. He still made some attack on the temple before setting down where he could. "I, Darth Helios, have landed safely," he reported in.

Erv frowned as he flew the ship, careful to dodge any lightning or projectiles that the natives might have used. Dutifully, he had fired upon the Temple at its foundations. He did feel a little regret about destroying such an ancient structure, but the natives left them no choice. He set his ship down some distance away from Lord Helios' ship and reported in his comm, "Lieutenant Erv Lekauf reporting in. I have landed safely and will regroup with the others."

*

Ty Lee gulped upon seeing the lightning. Azula was obviously there. The one person Ty Lee had feared most in her life, only for Vader to take her place easily. He had changed Zuko, she knew. Zuko's aura used to be golden with kindness and honor. Now, it changed constantly between crimson and gold. She shivered.

"I hope that cute guy with the Avatar is okay," she stated in concern.

*

Guru Pathik held up his hands, gathering Force energy around him. It had been a long time since he had done this, but one never forgot how to use the Force. He nodded in satisfaction as the rubble stopped in midair before slowly falling harmlessly to the ground.

"They will be here soon," he announced. He looked around and found his staff on the ground, picking it up. He knew that he would need this in the battle to come.

Sokka gripped Toph protectively and nodded, "We need to get out of here and quickly!"

Pathik nodded, "There is a system of caverns beneath this Temple, old and strong. They would have survived the attack. There is also the jungle outside the Temple, strong with the Force and connected to the Spirit World."

"I think I can feel the caverns," said Toph. "But..." Her brow furrowed. "What about you, gramps?"