Chapter 4: The Vashta Nerada

The Doctor bit his lip as he tried to think of something—anything—that would buy them time to escape the shadows. Everyone crowded closer together as the shadows closed in on them. The Doctor found himself sandwiched between Jeong Jeong and a panicking Captain Zhao. Around them, the other men cried or whimpered.

"Any ideas?" the Doctor whispered to Jeong Jeong.

"Just one," Jeong Jeong replied. "In my next life, never trust badly dressed men in blue boxes!"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "You're not known for your optimism, are you?"

"Is there anything left here to be optimistic about?"

Zhao groaned. "My last moments have to be spent listening to a traitor and a clown bickering? How about we just focus on getting—AAAAUUGH!" He yelped as what looked for all the world like a tendril of shadow leaped out at him. Instinctively the captain blasted a fireball at the shadow, causing it to retreat several feet.

The Doctor's eyes widened and he slapped his forehead. "Of course! As living organisms the Vashta Nerada would be as vulnerable to fire as any other carbon-based life form, and in this world, people can produce fire! Everyone who can firebend, drive the shadows back until we can clear a pathway out of here!"

"You don't need to tell me twice!" Zhao said, shooting several jets of flame at the shadows around him. Jeong Jeong followed suit, as did Zhao's men. The remaining sandbenders cowered within the ring of firebenders, waiting for their opportunity to make a break for the entrance.

The Vashta Nerada retreated quickly as the aisles became lit with flames. Books and scrolls caught fire, producing dark gray smoke that threatened to smother the occupants.

"Don't burn the library down while we're in it!" the Doctor snapped.

"Zhao!" Jeong Jeong cried, snuffing out a nearby burning shelf. "Restrain yourself!"

Zhao gave his old master an incredulous look as he continued to blast fire at the shadowy predators around him. "We're fighting for our lives and you're choosing now of all times to pull out one of your tired lectures on self-control? This isn't candles on a birthday cake, you idiot!"

"If you set the shelves ablaze, the smoke will suffocate us and douse the light of the fires, covering us in shadow again! You must control your flames so that we don't simply trap ourselves further!"

With a frustrated growl, Zhao doused the fires he'd set on the shelves nearby. He and the other firebenders continued to drive the Vashta Nerada back until the way to the entrance of the library looked clear.

"Excellent!" shouted the Doctor. "Now, keep a flame in your hand and make your way out of this wing!"

The men did as told, and the group began stumbling toward the main lobby. Once free, the sandbenders immediately scrambled for the door.

Jeong Jeong and Zhao were among the last to back out of the wing, each holding a flame as menacingly toward their pursuers as they could manage. Once back in the much more illuminated lobby, they each released the breath they had been holding.

"We'd best follow the example of your desert guides," the Doctor said.

Zhao's men looked to him, hoping he would agree. Zhao nodded. "We got what we came for. We can leave this place now."

"I'm afraid it's a bit too late for that."

Zhao's men gasped and shrank back toward their commanding officer as Wan Shi Tong alighted in front of the group.

"Ah, yes, the barn owl who knows a few things, but not nearly enough," the Doctor said snidely. "Were you aware that you have Vashta Nerada in your library?"

Wan Shi Tong's feathers visibly ruffled. "I was well aware of the flesh-eating shadows. This was to be their only place of safety."

"You mean to tell me you let them congregate here, in numbers you knew full well would be fatal to visitors?" the Doctor asked, disbelief and indignation written on his face.

"Is that what we are to you?" Jeong Jeong said. "Food for your pets? Is this library nothing more than a baited trap?"

"Silence, vandal!" Wan Shi Tong screeched. He opened his wings, casting his own shadow over the group. Several men cowered and lit flames in their hands again. The bird folded his wings again and continued.

"The books you so carelessly burned were made from the trees of a forest in the Fire Nation that was plowed over to make room for some factory. For the last 20 years, my knowledge seekers have been bringing the books made from that forest here, to my library. Most of what they brought was drivel, but the pages of the books housed a life form similar in many ways to the spirits of my own dimension."

"Spores of Vashta Nerada," the Doctor supplied. "They live most of their lives in and around wooded areas, spawning in trees."

"And 20 years or so ago, a factory was put up where the Phi Sing Jungle once stood in the western part of the Fire Nation," Jeong Jeong said. "I used to hear and tell ghost stories of that forest as a boy. Not a year went by when we did not hear of someone wandering into the forest and disappearing. When they cut the trees down, they supposedly found dozens of skeletons, some of which were still completely clothed. By that point, I had grown old enough to disregard the rumor as mere childish superstition."

"Your destruction of that forest rendered the Vashta Nerada, as you call them, homeless," Wan Shi Tong said. "I gave them a home here, in my library. I thought it was only appropriate to house them in the wing named for the nation of their origin."

"And in so doing you've made this library a death trap for anyone who visits," the Doctor said.

"That is their own folly," the owl retorted. "They can take the same risks perusing books made from those trees that they knew they were taking by journeying into that forest."

"That's just asinine!" the Doctor said. "You can't subject innocent people to such a brutal death just because some foolhardy developer cut down a wood!"

"Oh? Can't I?" Wan Shi Tong spread his wings again and puffed himself up to look bigger. "And who are you to judge who in this world is innocent? You who bear the weight of crimes committed by all your people over the eons, in this and a host of other universes. You who claim innocence, but whose hands have borne and are still to bear the blood of billions. I know what you are, Time Lord. And I am older than even your society. You cannot dictate what I do in my realm."

The Doctor glowered at the bird. "No, I can't dictate what you do," he said. "But I can do my part to stop you when your actions threaten the people of this world. I'm not like other Time Lords. I am the Doctor!"

"I don't care who you are. As far as I'm concerned you're the same as humans."

"I shall take that as a compliment."

"Then you won't mind dying along with them. And don't think regeneration will save you. The Vashta Nerada are quick to kill."

With that, Wan Shi Tong stretched out his neck and plunged his beak into the ground at the Doctor's feet, causing the Time Lord to jump back. The owl did the same to the others present, driving them back toward the Fire Nation wing. The firebenders responded with yelps, blasting fire at their attacker, but the bird dodged the flames with practiced ease.

Jeong Jeong took up a position next to the Doctor, raising his hands in a firebending form. "You will not drive us back!" he shouted at the owl.

Wan Shi Tong began flapping his wings, and the resulting wind caused some of the firebenders to step back, pushed closer and closer to where the Vashta Nerada now gathered, waiting.

The Doctor and Jeong Jeong found their feet sliding on the marble floor as Wan Shi Tong increased the speed of his wings. The wind became so forceful it became difficult for even Jeong Jeong to firebend.

"Wan Shi Tong!" the Doctor shouted. "Don't make us defend ourselves at the cost of your library and the creatures you're trying to preserve! Release them and us! We'll all go our separate ways and leave you in peace! No one else need be hurt!"

"It's too late, Doctor!" Wan Shi Tong said, his voice dripping with malice as he kept up the beat of his wings. "You and your firebending allies have come to this library for no other purpose than to steal and destroy. Your captain friend wants nothing more than to harm the spirits of the Water Tribe, and you seek only your own gains here. The world is better off without you, and my 'pets' must feed!"

"Zhao, what have you done?!" Jeong Jeong shouted over the gale.

"Never mind him!" the Doctor replied to his companion. He glanced over at the fugitive, then beyond him. Attached to the wall at the entrance to the Fire Nation wing, shuddering with the wind, was a crystal light fixture. He made a dash for the wall, leaping up and grabbing hold of the torch.

"What are you doing?" Jeong Jeong cried. "This is no time to be worrying about your ship's crystals!"

"I have an idea!" the Doctor called back. He tugged hard on the torch, eventually tearing it away from the wall.

"And how is a glowing rock supposed to help us?" Zhao cried. He and several of his men were dangerously close to where the Vashta Nerada patiently waited. The men's attempts at firebending were engulfed by the darkness with little effect.

"There are too many Vashta Nerada now for firebending to leave a lasting impression," the Doctor explained, making his way to Zhao's side. Jeong Jeong joined them, tucking and rolling to dodge Wan Shi Tong's beak when the bird took another stab at him.

"So what is the crystal supposed to accomplish?" Zhao probed.

The Doctor smirked, then turned his attention to Wan Shi Tong. He pulled out the device he'd been using to locate the Zeiton. "Oi! Barn owl! What do you know about Zeiton?"

"I know it's nothing more than a pointless trinket to you now, Doctor!" the bird responded.

The Doctor began tearing his tracking device apart, pulling out a metal coil inside. "Did you know that when combined with magnesium and heated to 5,000 degrees, Zeiton burns rather explosively?" In one swift motion, the Doctor wrapped the coil around the fist-sized chunk of Zeiton. He glanced over at Jeong Jeong and nodded. Jeong Jeong's eyes widened a bit in understanding, and he nodded back, jaw set. The whole exchange took less than three seconds; enough time for Wan Shi Tong to screech at them as he began to realize what they were planning.

The Doctor turned toward the Vashta Nerada, glancing back over his shoulder at the owl. "We tried to warn you," he said. With that, he lobbed the Zeiton into the shadows before Wan Shi Tong could respond. "Jeong Jeong, now!"

Jeong Jeong leaped forward and fired a precise blast of the hottest fire he could manage at the Zeiton projectile. The blue flame struck its target, setting the magnesium wire ablaze. It flickered for the briefest of moments before the rock exploded, funneling green fire down the hallways. As the inferno roared toward them, Jeong Jeong slammed into the Doctor, knocking him to the ground and shielding him from the flames. The ex-admiral directed the fire harmlessly around himself, preventing himself and the Doctor from being scorched. Once the blast had passed, Jeong Jeong glanced back at the Fire Nation wing to see it burning brightly, the flames cooling to their familiar orange shade.

The blast was enough to knock Wan Shi Tong back several yards. Taking quick advantage of the bird's fumble, the men scrambled to their feet and bolted for the door. Wan Shi Tong's screech echoed off the walls of the library as the great bird raised himself up and once again began flapping his wings. But this time, instead of filling with wind, the building began to shudder.

"He's submerging the library in sand!" the Doctor cried.

The men cried out in fear as they reached the door and began pulling at the handles.

"It won't open!" one of the firebenders cried. "We're still trapped!"

"Move!" Zhao barked, shoving his men aside. He began hammering at the door with his firebending.

"That won't work!" Jeong Jeong snapped. He ran up to the doors, studying them for a moment. "If we sent a precise line of flame up this seam, we may be able to burn enough of the wood away to pull the doors open."

Zhao grimaced, taking a moment to decide whether or not to heed his old teacher's advice.

"Just do it, you bull-headed imbecile!" the Doctor shouted, his patience clearly at an end.

"Men, line up and get ready to pull on my command!" Zhao called. The men scrambled to obey, each grabbing a part of the enormous handles on each door.

The Doctor joined them. Once in position, he nodded toward Jeong Jeong and Zhao. In perfect synchronization, the two officers sent blasts of fire up the seam between the doors. Zhao gave the command, and the men pulled with all their might.

Debris began cascading down from the walls as Jeong Jeong and Zhao kept up their assault on the doors. Finally, the doors began to give way. The Doctor gave one last mighty tug at his door, causing it to swing open with such force that everyone was knocked away from it.

Sand inundated the library. The men scrambled up the sandy slopes to freedom, running for the pack animals the sandbenders had left behind in their escape. Once clear of the building, they watched as it sank into the ground. Eventually the rumbling stopped, leaving only the tallest tower of the library protruding from the desert floor.

Everyone heaved a sigh of relief. Zhao's men passed water around to one another. A few danced in the fading desert sunlight.

"Well, that's enough excitement for one day, I think," the Doctor said, tugging at his lapels. Jeong Jeong merely rolled his eyes at the Time Lord.

"Not quite," Zhao said with a grin. "We still have to get this traitor back to the Fire Nation."

"You are very welcome," Jeong Jeong snapped. "We only saved your life!"

"Yes, and I'm grateful," Zhao replied snidely. "Now to continue with my duty as an officer of the Fire Navy."

Jeong Jeong sank into a firebending stance. Zhao followed suit. The Doctor backed away, making his way toward a nearby camelephant while the two combatants squared off. Zhao's men watched in anticipation of the showdown.

Jeong Jeong kept the Time Lord in his field of vision while he waited for Zhao to throw the first punch. When the younger officer finally did, Jeong Jeong easily dodged the assault and threw a few half-hearted fire blasts of his own, placing himself between Zhao and the pack animals.

"Is that all you've got?" Zhao taunted.

Jeong Jeong merely shrugged. "It's been a long day without food and water. I'm tired." He smirked as he saw in his peripherals a camelephant headed straight toward him. "So I'm leaving."

With that, the firebending master produced a spectacular shell of flame around himself just as the Doctor reached him on the camelephant. Once the flames dissipated, the Doctor, Jeong Jeong and their beast of burden were several yards away, moving at a full gallop.

"Stop them!" Zhao cried. He leaped onto the nearest camelephant and urged the beast into a sprint.

Jeong Jeong chuckled as he watched Zhao and his men clumsily attempting to catch up with them.

"Here," the Doctor said, passing a water skin to Jeong Jeong. The firebender took it gratefully and drank his fill before handing it back to the Doctor. Suddenly his face fell as he remembered their original predicament.

"Doctor, what will we do when we reach your ship? Zhao will not stop until he has broken down the doors."

"He couldn't get through those doors no matter how he tries," the Doctor responded. "Genghis Khan himself couldn't break through. I'm not worried about Zhao."

"Alright, but what will we do? Without your Zeiton we're still stranded."

"Ah, that's where you're wrong, my friend." Grinning, the Doctor reached into his coat pocket and pulled out several pieces of green crystal, still glowing in the twilight.

Jeong Jeong laughed. "Very clever, Doctor. Good sleight of hand. I hope it will be enough to make that 'jump' you wanted."

"Just enough to get to a place where we can stockpile more Zeiton, for future emergencies."

"Then we will want to go to the catacombs beneath Ba Sing Se. That is where the largest deposit of Zeiton in the Earth Kingdom is."

"Ba Sing Se it is, then."

The Doctor and Jeong Jeong easily outpaced Zhao and his men, making it back to the TARDIS in less than half the time it took them to reach the library. The Doctor quickly installed the Zeiton, then retreated into the TARDIS just as Zhao and his troops reached the box. Predictably, the irate captain immediately began blasting the TARDIS with fire.

"Come on out, deserter! You can't hide in that box forever!"

The Doctor and Jeong Jeong just chuckled.

"Shall we?" the Doctor said, his hand on the lever that would dematerialize the ship.

Jeong Jeong nodded. The Doctor threw the switch, the column in the center of the console began moving up and down, and that now-familiar wheezing replaced the sounds of Zhao's firebending and cursing.

Reaching the catacombs of Ba Sing Se and collecting enough Zeiton crystals to continuously support the TARDIS's journeys through time and space proved to be uneventful. Soon the TARDIS had rematerialized back in the western part of the Earth Kingdom, not far from a Fire Nation colony, at Jeong Jeong's request. He'd explained to the Doctor that he was actually more comfortable living on the edge of Fire Nation territory, for a variety of reasons. And it was time to depart the TARDIS and return to his life on the run.

"You don't have to stay here, you know," the Doctor offered. "The universe is full of adventure, but you wouldn't be considered a criminal in most of it."

Jeong Jeong shook his head. "I am not as young as I used to be, Doctor. I don't think I'm suited to your lifestyle. But I thank you for your encouraging words, and I wish you the best of luck on your journey." He clasped his hands together and bowed deeply to the Doctor, who returned the gesture.

"Thank you, by the way, for your help," the Doctor said. "Particularly saving my life—or my current face, at least—from that explosion we set off."

Jeong Jeong gave the Doctor a warm smile. "Of course. It is not often I get to use my firebending to preserve life instead of merely destroy or attack. You've helped to remind me that my curse is also a gift."

"It's all in how you choose to use it," the Doctor said. He pressed a button on the console and the TARDIS doors swung open. "Good bye, and good luck."

"Good bye," Jeong Jeong replied, turning to leave. Suddenly he paused. "Do me a favor, should you get the chance. Wan Shi Tong said something about Zhao wanting information on the spirits of the Water Tribe. Check to see that they remain unharmed by Zhao."

"I'll be sure to," the Doctor said.

Content with the Doctor's response, Jeong Jeong stepped out of the TARDIS, turning to watch as the doors closed and the box vanished. He smiled to himself, then turned to head into the forest.

As the firebender traveled through the pines, he suddenly became very aware of the shadows around him. He lit a flame in his hand, feeling a bit embarrassed at his nervousness, no matter how justified. He heard a rustling in the bushes and spun around, the flame in his hand growing bigger until it cast light on the disturbance. A jackelope. Jeong Jeong sighed and returned to his path, but suddenly found himself face to face with the business end of a spear.

"State your name and intent, stranger," the spearman answered. "And no tricks. We have you surrounded."

No sooner had the words left the spearman's mouth than Jeong Jeong found himself surrounded by a dozen men, each clothed in the same primitive outfits as their apparent leader, and each brandishing a spear.

Jeong Jeong put his hands up. "My name is Jeong Jeong. I am a traveler, and I am simply looking for a place to camp for the night."

The tribal warrior relaxed, recognition clear on his face. "I am Lin Yee," he said. "You are a legend in these parts, having evaded the Fire Nation successfully for so long. The last time anyone saw you was in a desert nearly a year ago. You may stay with us for the time being. Come."

Jeong Jeong tried to hide his shock as he followed the warriors back to their camp. Nearly a year? Doctor, what have you done?

Although, after a moment's thought, Jeong Jeong found himself to be grateful to the Doctor yet again. He allowed himself a smile as he made his way through the forest to what would become his own home for the next few years.

The End.

AN: Shout out to the DeviantArt fan group for Zhao, No Self-Control, which gave us cake-loving Zhao. A shout out in particular to Rufftoon (aka story board artist and cartoonist Johanne Matte), whose short birthday comic is referenced in this chapter. Zhao never did learn how to light birthday candles.

I'd also like to thank Rebecca HB, whose story "Windago" inspired this crossover, as well as several more Doctor Who/AtLA crossovers I have yet to begin.

Finally, this marks the first multi-chapter story I've ever successfully completed. It can be done!