Percy Jackson and The Fire Prince

Introduction: Arrival

Percy really didn't know how he ended up in the middle of the ocean, but he swore up and down that it wasn't his fault. He didn't do anything bad this time! Not to mention—which ocean was this?

Our hero, Perseus (Percy) Jackson, was floating in the middle of the sea, wearing his Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, and some faded, straight jeans. As the son of Poseidon, he knew his coordinates, but it definitely wasn't anywhere near America. In fact, it didn't even seem like Earth.

Even the water behaved oddly. Rather than the rolling waves, raging storms, and churning seas he was used to, it seemed almost . . . compliant. As his hands drifted through the clear water, it bent easily at his command and flowed so much more smoothly than ever. It almost seemed eager to follow his motions—if that made any sense.

Percy lifted his hand from the water and clenched it into a fist, watching as the water followed quickly and imitated his fist, just ten times larger. He let it fall and thrust both hands into the air this time, the tug he usually felt in his gut was weaker than usual, but the water rose and formed a huge, swirling vortex.

His eyes wide, Percy let himself relax into the water once more and just float. He still had no idea where he was or how he could get back home. He knew that he was nowhere near America. Thanks to his freaky water-compass, he knew his exact coordinates. Weirdly, the landmasses felt completely off. If this was the right coordinates, he should be right in the middle of Camp! He could also tell that there was a large land mass (probably an island?) to the North, something that felt like the mainland to the East, and a long way to any type of land to the South and West.

He tried to dive under and look for fish, but found odd creatures instead. They were weird combinations of regular sea life. Most he would never have imagined could combine. Turtle-dolphins, tuna-horses (though he supposed those could be related to Hippocampi), and even a gigantic lion-turtle floated by. He could hear their thoughts, but instead of the repetitious, almost childlike words he was used to hearing from sea life, there were intelligent conversations and sarcastic comments.

Who's the new guy?

Who cares?

He seems important. Plus, he's breathing underwater. Other humans don't do that.

Maybe you should go ask him.

Hahaha!

Maybe you should swim right into the Fire Nation's giant nets!

More confused than ever and not sure where to go, Percy resigned himself to rest for a little while. He was pretty tuckered out from the fight he had gotten in before getting here . . . fight? Oh, right.

Just before our hero found himself in this predicament, he had been fighting against the primordial goddess of the Earth--the Earth incarnate--Gaea. The battle had come close, but he and his friends were able to defeat her. After the war, they just barely managed to divert the civil war crisis back at Camp thanks to Zeus' mighty flick.

He snickered, it was one of the worst ways he had ever traveled, but it got the job done. As his thoughts continued, Percy slowly slipped into unconsciousness, not realizing when the currents started to push him Westward.

---

Prince Zuko was grumpily traveling through one of the Earth Kingdom's rare forests on his Ostrich-Horse when he spotted it.

A person, one who was still breathing, was lying on the shore of the riverbank. Zuko was sorely tempted to leave the guy there. Why should he care to help some random dude who was sleeping by a river? Who even sleeps by a river anyway?

Just as he started to trot away, the boy groaned and rolled over, eyes cracking open to reveal an expressive glow that Zuko had never seen before.

Green met gold in a fiery clash as they made eye-contact, but the guy's hold on consciousness slipped away, leaving him at the mercy of the Fire Prince.

Zuko looked back and forth between the boy and the path he was traveling on before resigning himself to his fate and walking over to the boy. He knew what he needed to do.

That didn't mean he had to like it.

---

Up North, the Avatar's friends wandered Kiyoshi Island, trying to find out what really happened to separate Kiyoshi from the mainland while the Avatar himself shuddered in his jail cell.

He felt a rush of power ripple across the land and knew it came from something that didn't belong to the Spirit World. He gazed up at the sun curiously. When he had awoken from the iceberg, he recalled momentarily sensing a similarly strange power, before it had disappeared. He hadn't thought too much about it until now.

Even though he was locked away and couldn't really put his finger on it, Aang knew that something had just come to their world. Whether it was a friendly power or an enemy, he did not know, but he was definitely going to find out. He was the Avatar, after all.