I Belive Aang Can't Save This Fic: Avatar The Last Airbender, Legend of Skye (Part 1)

Welcome back to Fanfic Masochism.

After the pain I suffered last week, I decided to avoid Harry Potter for a little while. I consider this a somewhat logical choice, and if I spent too much time on Harry Potter I’d miss so many opportunities.

So I decided to go to the fandom of one of my favorite animated series: Avatar: The Last Airbender. As it’s a little bit more recent than Harry Potter, perhaps it hasn’t suffered the large amounts of badfics that the former franchise has. Even then, the adventures of Aang and his friends would be enough to lift me up out of the madness of Ebony and her goffik nightmare, right?

Yeah, I know Jameson. This is called Fanfic Masochism, after all; why should I have a chance to recover and enjoy myself? And for your entertainment, I had to suffer through a fic that proceeds to violate Avatar Canon in more ways than one; Avatar the Last Airbender The Legend of Skye by AvatarAvani.

For those of you that haven’t seen the original series (or want to read this fic without my opinions): spoilers.

After a bit of backstory explaining that Sozin’s armies destroyed the Northern and Southern Air Temples, but missed the Avatar as they did in canon, our story opens at the Western Air Temple, and we are introduced to Aang’s best friend in the whole world, Skye.

It too me almost an hour to get through the first chapter. Why? I had to keep closing out of this from sheer stupidity.

For one, in the show Sozin destroyed all the Air Temples when he launched his war, so that he would wipe out an entire faction and kill the Avatar in one stroke. Aang only survived because he and Appa happened to be frozen in ice at the time. Two, the Western Air Temple would be the first target the Fire Nation attacked, because it’s right next to the Fire Nation! Logistically, the Western Air Temple would be where the Air Nomads and the Earth Kingdom armies could and probably would launch a counter strike if it was ignored, sweeping in from the north while Sozin’s armies are distracted at the other Air Temples. And if Sozin only took out two Air Temples, that still leaves hundreds of children at the East and Western Temples that could be the Avatar, therefore dooming Sozin’s plan for empire.

And I thought Shyamalan’s Dancebenders were incompetent.

Anyway, let’s move on to the next target of criticism, Skye. She is describes as a short girl with black hair and blue eyes (which is noted as an oddity) and yet she doesn’t have her Airbending Master Tattoos yet, unlike Aang. Oh, and she’s eight. And the Avatar.

You see what my problem with this is? If Skye is the Avatar, what’s the point of having Aang? To show that he’s not the Avatar? And if you’d just said she was blue eyed, I would have been fine with that since the people of the Water Tribes have blue eyes, but pointing out that this is odd automatically screams “Mary Sue”. And then there’s her name; “Skye” is a very Western sounding name for a universe that draws heavily from East Asian cultures. I know this is nitpicking, but if the name doesn’t fit the universe, it’s not going to go over well.

And you’re not doing a good job at convincing me that this girl is the Avatar if Aang is a master before her, since as we see in the show Aang was a master at age 12 while all of his friends were not. I took this as hinting at his power as the Avatar, since the Avatar would be a more powerful than normal Bender no matter the discipline. Heck, Korra was Bending three Elements with surprising skill at age four. If your character is supposed to be a physical god who can channel the Four Elements with more power than any other person alive, at least give us hints that THAT IS A FACT!

Anyway, back in the story… everything is in italics for a while. Eh, I write dream sequences and flashbacks in italics, I’ll let it slide. It’s the day where all the young Airbenders get their Sky Bison, and our heroes are really excited for that. But on their way there they almost crash into some cranky old monks.

I’m guessing these monks are refugees from the North and South, since Word of God has said that the Eastern and Western were populated by nuns.

And now I’m sensing sexism.

“‘Stay out of trouble you two! I don’t want what happened last week to happen again!” the monk waited for a response.

Skye was the one who spoke up. “Don’t worry, we’ll be perfect little airbenders, won’t we Aang?” she looked at him with accusing eyes.”

Well, the dialogue’s a bit clunky, and… is she glaring at Aang or the monk? I’m just a bit confused.

But once the monk leaves they laugh about it and how Aang had dyed the monk’s robes pink… Um, that doesn’t seem like Aang to me. In the show, we don’t get a lot of indication that Aang is in to those sorts of pranks. I mean, the closest thing to a prank would be the flashback when he and Gyatso pie the other monks and when Aang wakes up Sokka by convincing him that there’s a snake in his sleeping bag. Yes, Aang likes to have fun, riding penguins and giant koi, but I don’t remember him ever being a prankster.

Although, it’s been some time since I’ve seen Season 1, but still.

So, after this they find Monk Gyatso and he takes them to choose their Sky Bison…

In the show, Aang first met Appa at the Eastern Air Temple. It’s implied that Appa was born there, and that’s why he went back during Appa’s Lost Days and started gnawing on that teething ring thing he found; he was so traumatized from all the crap he’d been through that something familiar was needed to calm him down. Also, it was an unnamed nun that introduced the kids to the Bison, not Gyatso, and Aang did not have his tattoos when he met Appa. Even the dialogue is wrong:

Show: (After Appa accepts Aang’s offering of an apple and starts licking him) I guess this means we’ll always be together! (Laughs as Appa keeps licking him)

This thing: (After Appa accepts Aang’s offering of an apple and starts licking him) I guess you are my sky bison, buddy! I’m going to name you Appa. (Appa lets Aang get up so Skye can get her turn)

For whatever reason, the second version makes Appa seem more like a pet than Aang’s best friend and lifelong companion. Now, you can argue that this is an alternate universe, so things might have changed, but it still feels off.

So, Skye takes her turn and picks the runt of the little, a poofy little thing that she names Ellie. Ignoring the Western name for a moment, this whole scene seems… bland. This is supposed to be our main character meeting what will be their lifelong traveling companion and best friend, and yet we don’t see any real emotional connection between Skye and her Bison, much less Aang and Appa. Would you expect a character whose interaction is this:

“ ‘You are a little cutie!” Skye gave the baby the apple and she licked Skye’s face again. “I’m going to name you Ellie!’”

To do this?

Because I don’t.

After this “heartwarming” moment, Monk Gyatso explains that they have to wait four years before they can ride their bison, which makes sense considering that the Bison are still babies and need time to grow strong enough to support a rider. Skye complains.

“‘Awwwwwww! We have to wait 4 years to ride them!’”

First rule of writing: numbers smaller than ten are usually spelled out in dialogue, unless…

Tara Gillespie did that same thing, substituting “2” and “L8” for “to” and “late”.

GOD NO! MY IMMORTAL IS FOLLOWING ME!!!

Actually, Gyatso does the same thing for the time period of four years in the previous sentence, so Tara’s writing isn’t contagious as far as I know. Oh, and he “turns to go to room”. MAKE SURE ALL YOUR WORDS ARE THERE BEFORE YOU HIT PUBLISH!

So, after getting the bison the kids are separated so that girls and boys can each have their own training sessions… why? The series never said that there was a specific way boys and girls Bent the Elements that was different from what the other sex did, and throughout the series Aang had several teachers including the very female Katara and Toph.

But Skye is having a problem and goes to the head monk to explain what happened that morning; she had been meditating when a column of water started levitating in front of her. The monk reveals to her that she is the next Avatar, and she must master the other elements before the war escalates any further.

YOU’RE TELLING HER THIS NOW?! AFTER TWO AIR TEMPLES AND HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE HAVE BEEN WIPED OUT BY THE FIRE NATION?! Oh yeah, or did you forget that the Fire Nation is in the process of trying to conquer the world and had launched a major genocide of your people until just now?! I’m sorry, but that is one of the worst leadership decisions I have seen in my life. If you know that someone has the power to end a major conflict, make sure that they know it and are on the path to stopping it. This decision is like if Churchill decided to declare war on Germany by the time the Nazis were at the gates of freaking MOSCOW!

And I know they did just that in the show proper, but there was one major difference: the war hadn’t happened yet. The reason the monks told Aang he was the Avatar at age twelve instead of when he was sixteen was because they knew that something was going to go down, and Aang needed to be ready to deal with this. It was a dumb idea and put way too much pressure on Aang, but they had good intentions.

I cannot find any justifiable reason why they would hide Skye from her destiny with a freaking war already in progress! People have been dying for nearly eight years already, and what have the Air Nomads done? Sat on their asses and kept their precious Avatar hidden from the world.

And now I realize that the Asari from Mass Effect did the same thing with the Prothean beacon they had. Oops, spoilers.

So, Skye learns she’s the Avatar, that she’s the Great Mediator between the Nations and the Bridge to the Spirit World. Thousands are going to be watching her every step, and if she screws around too much more people will die. And she learns all this at the age of eight. How does she react to this?

“‘That explains a lot.’”

…

What.

“That explains a lot”? Kid, you were told you were this universe’s equivalent of Jesus and all you can say is “that explains a lot”? You were just told you have to end a war that has already killed thousands and all you can say is “That explains a lot”?! At least Korra was like “Hell yeah! Who do I set on fire first?” and she was only four (and it was an era of peace, but whatever)! Aang’s reaction to the pressure (combined with the fact that the monks were going to take him away from the closest thing he had to a father) was to run away. But just saying “that explains a lot” makes you seem apathetic to your situation. Can you imagine what other powerful characters would be like if they had the same reaction?

Pa Kent: Son, it’s about time we told you the truth; you’re really an alien.

Clark Kent: … Oh, okay.

So Skye accepts her fate and we jump ahead eight years to her final Waterbending Exam, where she easily trounces her master Pakku in a duel.

Pakku’s in this fic? Unless he was over a hundred years old by the time we meet him in the show, there’s no way he was alive when Sozin started his war. Granted, the opening narration for the series says that Katara was told by Gran-Gran about how the world used to be at peace until the Fire Nation attacked, and Avatar Kyoshi is confirmed to have lived to be 230 years old, but the narration could be seen as Gran-Gran having been told of the good times by her own grandmother, and then relating it to her grandchildren as grandparents are wont to do.

Also, why is Pakku teaching her? Pakku was a chauvinistic douchebag in his initial appearance who wouldn’t train Katara because she was a girl and it was against tradition, even if the Avatar recommended her, and he only softened after he saw his old love’s engagement necklace and realize what an asshole he’d been all those years. Unless Skye somehow convinced him to buck tradition for her sake, I don’t see him being the one to teach her.

You know who I think would be a better, more in line with canon teacher for Skye? Hama. Because it’s suggested that the Southern Water Tribe doesn’t have the same restrictions as the North, and she was actually really nice before the Fire Nation came and hauled her off to prison where she invented Bloodbending.

So, Aang comes over and congratulates Skye on mastering two of the Four Elements. They hop on their Bison to fly south to the Southern Air temple (which got destroyed at the beginning of the fic!) and the Southern Water Tribe.

Do we actually see this? Nope. Their journey is completely ignored and we just move to them landing at the Southern Water Tribe, which is identical to what it was at the beginning of the show, when it would really have looked like this at the time the fic takes place:

Pretty, ain't it?

Unless the Fire Nation has already taken all the Waterbenders while Skye was in the north. SKYE, YOU’RE THE WORST AVATAR SINCE KURUK!

But as they run off to go Penguin Sledding, we are treated to a scene with Avatar’s second favorite punching bag after Asami Sato, Zuko.

WHAT THE HELL IS ZUKO DOING IN THIS FIC?! This takes place at the beginning of the Hundred Year War; Zuko shouldn’t be born for another eighty four years! The only character that is confirmed to have lived before the war (not including Aang) is King Bumi (oh, and Guru Patik but he barely shows up anyway), and yet here’s Zuko, on his mission to capture the Avatar. Does this mean that Ozai’s already Fire Lord, despite the fact that he too shouldn’t exist yet? Who’s going to show up next, Amon?

So, Zuko orders his ship to increase speed and head for the Southern Water Tribe so he can capture the Avatar. Next scene.

…

No, I’m not joking. Zuko’s scene is all of three lines before we transition back to Skye and Aang. They enter the village and are greeted by Gran-Gran, who introduces them to Katara (age 14) and Sokka (age 16).

See my rant about Zuko for my opinions on this.

Also, this means that the Fire Nation killed Katara’s mother and captured all the Waterbenders sometime between the beginning of the fic and now. So yeah, Skye is officially the worst Avatar ever.

So before we can get any real interactions between Worst Avatar and the Water tribe, Zuko shows up to capture the Avatar. The Airbenders prepare to take on the Fire Nation and… don’t. They stop four feet in front of the Fire Nation soldiers and just stare them down. They don’t try to defuse the situation or set up something so the people of the Southern Water Tribe are unharmed, they just stare at each other. Most of the canon Avatars (especially Korra and Kyoshi) would have opened fire and smashed the soldiers into the ice, or at least tired being diplomatic about it first, but no our heroes just stand off against the villains.

Are you seeing why I think Skye is the worst Avatar ever?

We get a really lazily planned out fight scene and a cheap attempt to reestablish Sokka at the Butt Monkey as Aang scooters around the camp while Zuko chases him, since Skye is in Water Tribe garb and the Avatar is an Airbender, so Aang must be the Avatar… although since Airbenders are tattooed once they become masters should she have her tattoos? Zuko decides to do something smart and grabs Skye, threatening to kill her if Aang doesn’t surrender.

SKYE IS THE FREAKING AVATAR! WHY HASN’T SHE DONE ANYTHING YET?!

But this works and as Aang tries to save THE FREAKING AVATAR he’s captured and the two are hauled onboard to be taken back to the Fire Nation. And all this time Skye does JACK SHIT and lets this happen!

Korra is ashamed to be your successor

So, the two are separated and Zuko goes up on deck to speak with Uncle Iroh (guess he woke up from his nap) who’s skeptical that the kid (Aang) is the Avatar. And right now, Iroh is the most intelligent of the characters we’ve met, and like most of them he shouldn’t exist! Eh, who cares, Iroh’s awesome.

“ ‘Are you sure he’s the Avatar?” Iroh questioned. “Just because someone is an airbender, doesn’t mean that he is the Avatar.”

Zuko didn’t like being questioned. “Well, he had two sky bison! That has to mean something!’”

It does: it means you’re a bigger idiot than usual, Sozin did a lousy job trying to take over the world, and Skye is a TERRIBLE AVATAR!

And where is Skye, you might ask? Chained up to a pipe on the bridge. Why? If you have a prisoner, you are not going to put them in the most important part of a warship, because if they break free they can cripple your ship or worse hijack it. They give the justification that if Aang causes any trouble, they’ll hold her hostage.

And SKYE HAS DONE NOTHING ALL THIS TIME! Actually, she bit a guard, and that’s why she’s gagged.

…

Okay, that was kind of funny.

Iroh thinks that no harm will come of this and has Skye unchained. Zuko objects, and rightfully so; this is a prisoner they know nothing about, and yet here’s Iroh unchaining her.

Although he does offer her tea.

Aang escapes, and in the distraction Skye takes this moment to escape as well…

Master of two of the four Elements, ladies and gentlemen.

“‘By nice tea guy! By Cranky Prince!’”

What are you, six?! Not even Aang at his goofiest ever said anything like that (except for the time when he taunted Zhao into torching his river boats in Apocalypse Now “The Deserter”). Also, it’s the wrong spelling of “bye”.

To make sure they get away, Sokka and Katara have arrived with Appa and Ellie.

WHY?! They have no emotional connection to the Avatar! They barely even interacted with Aang and Skye?! Even Shyamalan got more interaction in his piece of crap movie than this fic!

Oh God, I defended Shyamalan! That’s another Penitence Crusade I need to perform.

In the name of the Emperor, we shall be absolved of our sin of defending awful movies and books!

So, they try to escape, but Skye is attacked by Zuko. She defeats him by kissing him, which shorts out Zuko’s brain long enough for them to fly away.

Why didn’t you, oh I don’t know, USE YOUR POWERS AS AVATAR TO DEFEAT HIM?!

Skye rejoins the others and they fly off, after Aang confesses that he’s not the Avatar, Skye is. But as this happens, Zuko regroups and he and Iroh try to shoot the heroes down. Aang bats away the fireball as he does in canon.

WHY DOESN’T SKYE DO IT?! SHE’S THE FREAKING AVATAR!!!!

So, after that scene the gang decides to go to the Southern Air Temple, saying that they have some important business to attend to. Apparently this takes place immediately after the previous scene because Sokka brings up that he’s still confused why Skye is the Avatar and not Aang.

I’m just as confused as Sokka. This is Skye’s explanation

“‘We travel together so he can protect me and I can protect him. And, people suspect the Avatar to be a boy because most of the Avatars before me were guys.” Skye looked at them.”

…

…

Have I ever introduced you to my favorite Avatar, Kyoshi?

Or perhaps Yangchen:

You know what they have in common? THEY’RE GIRLS! I mean sure, we don’t know about most of the Avatars before Yangchen, but the way that is phrased makes it seem like only a handful of Avatars in the last TEN THOUSAND YEARS have been girls. And obviously you haven’t been doing a great job at defending Aang, considering HE’S the one doing all the work.

I hate this fic.

So, they arrive at the Southern Air Temple and Skye has some bad memories of what happened when the Fire Nation attacked. She, Aang, Bumi and Kuzon had been playing around when they were split up, Aang and Skye being taken away by Monk Gyatso while Bumi was taken back to the Earth Kingdom and Kuzon and Skye’s guardian Saisai were captured by the Fire Nation… who’s Saisai? We know nothing about this person, so how are we supposed to know how close the two were. Also, wouldn’t the Fire Nation have a “No Prisoners” order?

Congrats, this author just condemned a six year old to death.

And more importantly, this happened when Skye was six. HOW IS THIS GIRL NOT TRAUMATIZED BY SEEING HER GUARDIAN AND CLOSE FRIENDS GOING OFF AND NEVER COMING BACK?! Furthermore, the Fire Nation supposedly attacked when Skye was a baby, according to the first paragraph. THIS STORY CONTRADICTS ITS OWN ESTABLISHED CANON!

Oh, and the story tells us when the flashback ends. Literally, it says (End of Flashback), just like that. That’s just sloppy.

Anyway, enough of this, there need not be emotional trauma for our Avatar! The others come in and comfort Skye, and she gets over it rather quickly. She rummages around and opens a chest.

Congratulations, Skye! You have found (1) Flying Lemur! Let’s name him Momo!

Also, Katara acts rather out of character and goes into full Cuteness Proximity when she sees Momo. I’d expect something like that from Ty Lee.

Also within the chest are a bow and arrows, extra clothes, a wooden box and five silver whistles. No way those will be important, amiright?

We cut back to Zuko, who’s still confused as to why the girl kissed him. When Iroh comes in to see how he’s doing, Zuko blurts out if there’s any information on the girl… err, the new Avatar.

Oh.

Oh SHIT! It’s one of those stories!

Anyway, they get off the boat and meet with Commander Zhao, just like in canon. Actually, the entire scene is just like it was in canon, and it reveals a few things:

1)      Ozai is Fire Lord

2)      The war did start ten years ago

3)      The airbenders were wiped out

THEN WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE WESTERN AND EASTERN AIR TEMPLE, WHICH WERE CLEARLY STILL INTACT AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS STORY?!



WHY AM I AGREEING WITH FREAKING DOOMSDAY?!

Anyway, it goes down as it does in canon, with Zuko getting angry and challenging Zhao to a duel, which he wins. Except there’s one change: instead of saying that a) Zuko has more honor than Zhao, b) thanking him for the tea, and then c) telling Zuko later that yes, he was telling the truth: ginseng really is his favorite, Iroh just comes right out and says he does believe Zuko has more honor.

That’s… actually kind of sweet.

Anyway, back in the fic proper the gang travels to Kyoshi Island, their first stop on their way to the North Pole… Why are they going back to the North Pole? Skye’s already a Waterbending master? Actually, she believes that Katara needs a proper master from the North Pole to teach her Waterbending.

Except that the big problem is mastering the Elements and DEFEATING THE FIRE LORD!!! OR DID YOU JUST FORGET ALL ABOUT THE WAR GOING ON?! Go find Toph and start working on your Earthbending already!

And now I realize my biggest problem with this fic; Skye is completely pointless. She hasn’t helped the group out in any way whatsoever besides providing transportation (they all fly on Ellie instead of Appa), was completely useless in that first fight, and the only thing she has contributed is flustering Zuko. THAT’S IT! You could just cut her out and you’d get the original series. Canon is progressing, and Skye has done nothing to alter anything! This isn’t her story, it’s a retelling of Aang’s story but with him released from all his emotional baggage and pressure.

Listen, I think this story could be good. It could be great; a female Avatar romancing Zuko and causing his Heel-Face Turn through their love. A female Avatar struggling against the stigmas of places like the Northern Water Tribe. But this story is so poorly executed that it ruins the entire idea. My advice, if the author were reading this, would be to go back and make this story more unique instead of having it be a rehash of the series BUT WITH A NEW CHARACTER! Some ideas:

1)      Get rid of Aang- I love the kid to bits, but here he’s just unneeded

2)      Make Skye act like a sixteen year old- Maybe a more mature outlook could cause some issues with Sokka’s goofiness or some of Katara’s more emotional actions

3)      Show us more of her backstory instead of just telling it to us- I really want to know what happened in a character’s backstory, and how that has helped them become who they are.

4)      Show us more of what’s going on in Zuko’s head. He’s obviously conflicted over what the heck happened, so show us more

5)      Change canon up a bit- maybe instead of going to Omashu, they head to Gaoling and pick up Toph early. That would make sense if, as in this story, the Avatar already has mastery of Air and Water.

6)      Or, failing that, keep Aang and make Skye a new character, maybe another Badass Normal who hitches a ride with the Gaang somewhere in the Earth Kingdom.

There, all this story’s flaws ironed out.

But I still have 21 more chapters to go… ow.

So, they land on Kyoshi Island and Aang goes to swim with the fishes.

Wow, that got dark all of a sudden

While Aang fights off the mafia (Legend of Korra several years earlier), Skye opens up the box and reveals a necklace that her friends had chipped in money to buy for her.

Because six year olds have access to money!

Anyway, they get captured by Suki and her friends, Zuko hears that the Avatar is on Kyoshi Island and prepares to go there to capture him and see his new girlfriend.

Anyway, the day goes by, and I bring up another problem I have with this fic; it’s incredibly rushed. Here, check this out:

“‘For the rest of the day, Sokka learned how to be a warrior. Suki taught him many things, and at the end of the day, Sokka learned a lot about being a true warrior.’”

There are endless possibilities to be had here; Sokka could impart some of his Sokka-brand goofiness to training, we can get a montage of him failing miserably at trying to perfect the fan technique, we can see him and Suki bonding for when they get all lovey-dovey in Season 3. But no, we don’t get to see any of that.

This is telling, not showing.

So, Zuko shows up and demands that the Avatar surrender… and that the girl come out and jump his bones.

Well, he doesn’t actually say that second part, but he was thinking it.

So, fight scene, and Skye comes out to shoot Zuko with arrows… the Avatar, shooting at people with arrows.

Why didn’t the author just make Skye a rogue archer like Longshot, or better yet a Yu Yan archer who decided to desert and join Team Avatar? That would fit this fic rather well, but this girl is the FREAKING AVATAR! USE YOUR POWERS TO PWN ZUKO!

Wan is sad because he reincarnated into you

So, Team Avatar runs away and Skye does Aang’s “Harness the Unagi” scene.

Really? I would like to have seen what that thing DOES instead of having everything RUSHED!

Oh, and in the confusion Zuko finds Skye’s necklace and vows to find her.

YOU’RE GIVING HER THE NECKLACE SUBPLOT FROM “THE WATERBENDING SCROLL”?!

So they continue on to Omashu and Skye passes out disguises since Aang’s Airbending outfit stands out too much.

You know, for someone who claims to also protect him, you’re doing a lousy job.

“Oh Aang, go out there and distract those evil Fire Nation Soldiers so I won’t have to fight them!”

“But aren’t you the Avatar?”

“We’re protecting each other! Now go, or else you’ll have no energy to fight off pirates, spirit monsters, or the Fire Lord and his insane daughter.”

And people say Korra is lazy (for the record, I don’t think so).

Also, Airbenders are still around, since Sozin did an absolutely terrible job at killing them off. Why would anyone be alarmed at the sight of another one?

So, Omashu, Cabbage Merchant (that scene got ruined, by the way; instead of going “My Cabbages!!!” he just lets out a Big “NOOOOOOO”.) The guard asks the group what they’re doing and Skye improvises, saying that they’re there to go into real estate. And this being the Avatar universe, where soldiers think lemurs can Earthbend, he buys it.

… Okay, that was clever. Kind of.

So they go in, ride the mail slides and get arrested. They are brought before the king of Omashu, who identifies himself as Bumi.

Hasn't aged well, has he?

Actually, Bumi’s about sixteen in this story, and is only acting king as his father is off fighting in the war. Remember how this takes place at the beginning of the war? Oh, and remember how THERE’S A WAR GOING ON?! SKYE, WHY HAVEN’T YOU ADRESSED THAT ISSUE?!

WHY AREN’T YOU DOING YOUR JOB?!

So Bumi act like a good host (instead of the Crazy Awesome King I know and love) and during the meal Aang teases Skye about how she snogged Zuko for about six seconds, which Skye vehemently denies doing for any reason other than self-defense.

Sure, and I’m the God Emperor of Mankind.

So they leave Omashu and we get an Author’s note that we’re skipping the “Imprisoned” episode for something new.

Did I just hear that right? Something new?!

FINALLY! ORIGINAL CONTENT! Maybe Skye will actually DO SOMETHING!

They land outside a Fire Nation colony to let the Bison rest. They decide to go into town in disguise, with Skye revealing a super special temporary hair dying method. Okay, that’s interesting, so what color does she decide to dye her hair to blend in?

Blond.

…

BLOND?!

That is the worst choice to dye your hair in the Avatar universe. Why? 99% of all people have black or brown hair, not including those who are older and have grey hair! THIS IS BASED OFF OF EAST ASIA, NOT NORTHERN EUROPE! Yue had white hair because she had been touched by the spirits, and Ginger from Season 2 of Legend of Korra is not a natural redhead. You go into a hostile town with a hair color that is out of the ordinary and people will think “Hey, what’s with that girl? Maybe I should report this.” YOU’RE PRETTY MUCH ASKING TO GET CAUGHT!

DOES ANYONE STILL THINK SKYE IS A GOOD AVATAR NOW?!

… Anyway, they go into town. It’s a festival, so there should be ample room to blend in. And guess who else is there? Why, Angry Jerk himself, stopping by to gather supplies. They do run into each other at a necklace stall, and Zuko decides to be creepy and buys a necklace that Skye… sorry, blond chick turns down and then he proceeds to stalk her through the festival.

They're so cute when they don't hate each other

I have never shipped Maiko harder in my life. Also, this is Season 1 Zuko, right? He who would marry his honor if it were made flesh? He wouldn’t give a damn about some girl and would probably just storm off to the local supply sergeant for extra coal and rations before returning to his cabin for his nightly brooding session. Also, Zuko doesn’t seem like the stalker type. Besides, he’d be terrible at it, although he does have the ability to be sneaky.

So Zuko tracks Skye down to a restaurant and they sit down for a meal. He introduces himself as Lee and she introduces herself as Ming.

How does no one know what Zuko looks like? This is a Fire Nation Colony, and any good Fire Nation citizen probably knows about how the Prince got his face barbequed for speaking out of turn. Unless this is the Movie universe in which Zuko’s scar was barely noticeable, it’s kind of hard to hide the fact that half of his face is horribly burned!

So he gives her the necklace, she notices hers is missing, part ways dreaming about each other, end scene.

And I’ve still got 20 more chapters to go… for rushing through the series so fast, this fic is really slow.

So, now we move on to the “Waterbending Scroll”; Skye spots a lake and decides now is a good time to teach Katara some moves. Finally, get off your lazy ass and do something useful, why don’t you?

Again, we get no real description of this training, just a rushed piece of telling over showing until all of their supplies go down the river, along with Sokka’s resupply of seal jerky.

… Should I be laughing, ‘cause I’m not.

So, we get Iroh changing Zuko’s hunt for the Avatar so he can get a new lotus tile (although it’s probably so he can talk with his contacts in the White Lotus, the pirates get their scroll stolen, except not by Katara, but by Skye, who says that since they stole it, it was only fair she steal it back.

… Okay, but it makes more sense that Katara steal it, since, y’know, she’s Water Tribe and would have a better connection to the scroll. DIDN’T YOU SAY THAT WAS THE REASON WHY YOU WERE GOING BACK TO THE NORTHERN WATER TRIBE, SO THAT KATARA WOULD BE BETTER CONNECTED TO HER PEOPLE?!

Whatever, I’m speeding through this story as fast as I can. They keep practicing and Skye sees a move she doesn’t know and decides to practice it that night. Those of you that have seen the original series know what happens next; Katara Skye goes out and gets all frustrated, the pirates and Zuko see her, she gets captured.

AND SKYE IS THE AVATAR!!!

The others get captured. Fight, blah blah blah. NEXT CHAPTER!

Oh, and Skye is weirded out by Zuko being overly protective of her during the fight.

Shown here: Love, not whatever the heck is going on in this fic

I think I’ll keep posting cute Maiko pictures until this story is over.

So, Winter Solstice time! Skye receives a vision that the needs to go to the crescent island and speak to Roku. She doesn’t go on a journey through the Spirit World, Roku just shows up in her dreams and tells her “Hey, we need to talk.” And then she decides to do another stupid thing and heads off alone. Zuko chases her, and Skye is shot down by Zhao’s fleet but lands close enough to the island that she can swim.

But it turns out that the others are already there!... How’d they get there?


They get captured, first by Zuko and then by Zhao. Skye starts trying to convince Zuko to help them out and… now I really don’t like this character. Skye says she isn’t perfect, Zuko retorts that she certainly acts like she is, and then:

“‘I know. I just wanted to feel perfect because I’ve never really had any friends. Sure, there’s Aang and Bumi and I don’t know what happened to Kuzon. Sometimes I just act like it so other people will pay attention to me.’”

…

…

…

…

Why… you self-centered… attention whoring… stuck up… worthless piece of SHIT!!!

I need to vent for a moment. Your attempt at generating sympathy is that YOU’VE NEVER HAD ANY FRIENDS, AND AANG AND BUMI DON’T COUNT?!?! Don’t get me wrong, a friendless background can be compelling motivations for a character, but it falls flat when it’s been established that the character already had friends! Even if she is lying through her teeth, that is the stupidest, most self-centered reason I can think of to generate sympathy. I would get on my hands and knees and beg Nickelodeon to let Shyamalan have a second chance at The Last Airbender, THAT’S HOW MUCH I HATE THIS CHARACTER! SHE IS A POINTLESS, USELESS, ANNOYING, EMOTIONLESS, NEEDY, INCONSIDERATE, LAZY BITCH WHO DESERVES TO BE CAPTURED AND TORTURED HORRIFICALLY BY THE FIRE NATION! EBONY DARK’NESS DEMENTIA RAVEN WAY IS A BETTER CHARACTER THAN THIS DUMBASS! SHE HAS DONE NOTHING BUT GET HERSELF CAPTURED, FAWN OVER ZUKO, IGNORED THE FACT THAT THERE’S A WAR GOING ON, AND SHE CONSIDERS THE IDEA OF FRIENDSHIP TO BE A CHEAP JOKE THAT SHE CAN JUST DROP WHENEVER IT SUITS HER NEEDS!

I. HATE. THIS. CHARACTER!!!

(Review has been stopped for catharsis)



I feel better now.

Let’s just get this over with.

Skye reveals she’s the Avatar and meets with Roku. He tells her that she needs to master the last two elements by the end of summer, and has already gotten a start on learning Fire (what happened to Earth). The Gaang breaks out and heads back to the Earth Kingdom.

End chapter.

They stop at a village and Katara meets Haru. Do we get to see this? No, it’s all implied.

The rest of this chapter is an author’s note, where she attempts to defend her choices:

Skye is very Mary Sue to almost all you readers and I am working on that and if you had been awesome enough to read all the chapters so far, you would have come across Skye talking about her life to Zuko.

Go back a few paragraphs for my response.

Yes, this story does take place ten years after the war. This person [a kindred spirit who pointed out these flaws] was wondering how they could exist. I want to point out that maybe this is a Fanfiction and that the war could start at any time and these people could be born during that time.

That is a lazy excuse that rapes canon in so many ways. Also, it’s insulting to us that you speak like this, because you essentially say “I’m the author, I do what I want”, and that you don’t care much for what the original showrunners labored over.

People assume that the first airbender they see is the Avatar because the airbenders went into hiding and some of them traveled to the western or eastern Air Temples.

Okay, I can agree with the former point, but the latter is still stupid. Why did Sozin completely ignore two whole Air temples full of potential Avatars?

Does anyone want to read about how two people traveled in the air for a week stopping a couple of times?

I do, it’s called WORLDBUILDING! And you don’t have to detail all the minor stops like food shopping or bathroom breaks, only the major ones like coming across an old battlefield or being chased by the Fire Nation or running into important characters like Jeong Jeong.

You know, EXACTLY WHAT THE ORIGINAL SERIES DID!

There are other things, like justifying Skye being a girl by breaking up a perceived pattern of boy, boy, girl, boy, boy, when if you look closely at this picture:

You see that pattern was broken a few times (although that could have just been because of lazy animation). All in all, I get arrogance and a bit of pouting.

So, we get to the episode with Jet. They save the hogmonkeys and decide to go on foot, and we get this nice line:

“‘Well you don’t need an arrow because the whole world knows that the Avatar has black hair and blue eyes! You are just as noticeable.’”

BEHOLD! THE AVATAR!

And yes, Eska does have blue eyes

And how is eye color as noticeable as a giant arrow on one’s forehead? And considering how many Water Tribe citizens might match that description, who’s to say that the Fire Nation hasn’t captured dozens of them mistaking them for the Avatar.

Fridge Horror much?

So, just like before, it plays out as it does in the original series, but with a dumbass named Skye instead of Aang as the Avatar. All rushed, except during part of this Skye takes a nap and has a nightmare about Zuko being trapped, and when she goes to save him she herself is captured (big surprise there) by a character with a deep voice.

I KNEW IT! AMON DOES SHOW UP!

Next up: The Blue Spirit! Prepare for the worst, ladies and gentlemen, because the last author’s note implied major Zuko/OC shipping.

Even when he's grumpy they're still cute

As you can expect, things go down as they do in canon, except this time Skye takes a moment to make out with Zuko before running back to her friends. Instead of Aang asking, in a rather deep moment, if he and Zuko could have been friends under different circumstances.

Lesson to up and coming writers: do not let romance get in the way of dramatic scenes such as that one. I liked “The Storm” and “The Blue Spirit” because 1) it tells us just what happened that made Zuko so grouchy and honor bound and why Aang’s reluctant to be the Avatar, and 2) it shows that Zuko really isn’t all that bad, just confused. Throw in a half-hearted love subplot and it becomes clunky and loses the charm of the original series.

And to top it all off, we have little real interaction between Skye and Zuko that convinces me that they are in love. I like Zuko and Mai as a couple because we see them interacting with one another beyond just chance meetings: they talk about mundane things, they cuddle, they have their arguments and make up. Here, Skye and Zuko have seen each other all of five times, and other than a small bit of talking that happened OFFSCREEN they haven’t interacted beyond trying to fight each other… or things like this. They haven’t talked about what they’re interests are, they haven’t really done anything like go on a real date, they have done NOTHING but occasionally kissing one another. I’m not saying that I know how to write the best romance stories of all time (I actually think my romance scenes need a lot of work), but I would like to see the relationship actually grow at a reasonable rate.

Next scene: The Fortune Teller! Aang’s treated like a child despite the fact he’s older than Katara, fortunes, volcano, I don’t really care anymore.

Oh, and Aunt Wu says that Skye’s got three guys fawning over her: One who’s been lost for some time (guessing Kuzon), one who’s confused and hasn’t found his path yet (Guess who? Hint, he loves his honor), and one who’s had a crush on her for some time (Could be either Bumi, Sokka or Aang. My guess is either Aang or Bumi).

Okay, another point to the author; the foreshadowing is as blunt as a sledgehammer, but it’s still better than most obvious prophesies. Example:

“‘Very well.” Dumbledore said angrily. “Butt we cannot do this. We can’t close the school. There is only one person who is capable of killing Voldemort and she is in the school. And her name is…………………………………………………………………..Enony Dark’ness Dementia Raven Way.’”

Next, we get a dream. It apparently takes place in the future, as Kuzon is there and he is now twenty eight. So is Skye, and they have kids (two, with a third on the way). But then she wakes up and finds herself in bed with Zuko (not in an icky way, they were just sleeping), and then she wakes up and finds out she’s dating Bumi (YAY! AANG AND KATARA ARE STILL TOGETHER!).

Then she dies. The end. She wakes up for real this time. The others ask what’s wrong, but she just dodges the question.

And this dream sequence just undid all of the “foreshadowing” of the previous chapter. We know who the three guys that have a hard on for Dumbass Avatars are (Kuzon, Zuko and Bumi, if the first two weren’t obvious already), so any fun that can be had from Wild Mass Guessing is lost.

Speaking of dreams, Zuko has one where he gets his honor back and brings Skye to Ozai. She’s thrown in jail, starved, and dies in about a month.

OZAI, YOU’RE MY HERO! (Four words I never expected to say).

Except we get another backtracking sequence where Zuko starts feeling bad for Skye and brings her some food and water while she’s in jail. She angrily tells him to piss off, and since this is Zuko trying to be good he’s confused by all this; he’s trying to be nice, and yet people still hate him.

And when Zuko tells Ozai about this, he feels sympathy and gives Skye over to Zuko so he can take better care of her.

Are we still talking about the same Ozai? You know, the guy who wanted to burn the world to the ground and named himself God Emperor Phoenix King? The guy who burned half his son’s face off because he spoke out of turn?! THE GUY WHO WAS PERFECTLY FINE WITH MURDERING HIS SON WHEN HIS FATHER TOLD HIM TO?! AND DIDN’T BECAUSE HIS WIFE SAID SHE WOULD MAKE HIM FIRE LORD IF HE SPARED ZUKO?

OZAI, I HATE YOU AGAIN! (And all is right with the world).

Getting back to the heroes, they travel to the Northern Air Temple and find a bunch of monks hiding out there (wasn’t the Northern Air Temple destroyed by Sozin’s armies? CONSISTENCY!).

“And older girl monk walked up to Skye. She looked into her eyes. “Is that really you Skye?” she asked.”

I believe the proper terminology is NUN!

As it turns out, this is Saisai, Skye guardian who was captured by the Fire Nation when they launched their attacks. I really wish I knew more about how the two were connected, but I see this as kind of like “Bato of the Water Tribe”, where a new character from one or more of the main cast’s past is brought in and we get backstory and such… Although I would have liked this more if we had learned more about Saisai when she was introduced in that flashback wayback when.

But we don’t get a lot of backstory and such (no surprise there), because Skye decides that, since the airbenders are tending to two sick people, Aang take them to the Eastern Air Temple while she, Katara and Sokka continue north.

Does this mean Skye will actually do something for once? God I hope so.

And thus we reach the middle of this god awful fic. Because I want to spare by brain from some pain, and because I have some fics of my own to work on, I’m going to stop here and give you part two of this review next week.

Hope you all are enjoying this.

(Spider Man, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra, Superman, Justice League, The Emperor's New Groove, The Godfather, The Legend of Zelda and Warhammer 40K all belong to their respective owners, and I do not own any of them. Thankfully, the same can be said for Avatar The Last Airbender, Legend of Skye)

(That picture of the Space Marine is from my collection, though... so we have that)