Binas: Hello folks! Yes, I decided to try my hand at ANOTHER A:TLA and Naruto crossover. But here's the catch... Naruto's not going to the Four Nations this time... Nope, it's Pre-Akatsuki Deidara. Didn't see THAT one coming, didn't ya? If you had read Code: Half Demon, then you had the heads up about this one comin'.
Side notes: No C0/C4. That would defeat the ENTIRE purpose and plot of this story and the story would end before it needs to be ended... So no chest mouth usage (it's still there), but hand ones will be used. I mean come on, he just a kid that has only using the Kinjutsu for about six months (in my story this is the case since we don't much background other than the fact he left the village after blowing it up). Yes, he will still blow stuff up. Maybe Sokka's behind a few times like he does to Tobi/Obito when he insults or be's down right annoying *cough*like when he fell asleep on the Three Tails*cough*.
Sorry for any OoCness... I am trying to learn the ropes of writing characters I have NEVER wrote before and trying to keep up my usual humorous/some what serious undertones. As others have said, I have been able to turn the most serious things into something hilarious with my comedic geniuses in writing. If anyone has any useful help and tips, drop a line in the reviews or PMs. ;)
Deidara is 12½ in this story so, we get some chibi goodness. Well, sorta in a sense...
Fave quote so far:
"I'm hiding my body, but not my butt!" ~ Tobi trying to pester Deidara
.
A middle aged, graying, man was behind a desk was reading through reports. He was about to finish reading the last report, which was sadly, long winded and filled with hammy boasting and facts that were a bit out of place. He sighed.
"Why must we give rouge kids with super-sized egos these S-Rank missions?", The man sighed to himself.
Suddenly, the door was slammed open with brute force. That could only mean ONE person, or tween...
"HEY WRINKLES!"
The man sighed in disdain.
"What now?", The man asked in slight annoyance.
"I got my report done! Hm!"
It was ANOTHER over written report. The man had a visible tick mark. While the report got into the technical aspects of the mission, it was no saving grace from the boasting that littered the entire thing.
"What is with you?! I asked for a report, not a paper about your show boating!", The man shouted.
The tween's smirk was prominent through the unyielding shadows. The kid had A LOT of nerve.
"Can't take a joke, Makito, hm?"
"You call making obnoxious reports a JOKE?!", Makito screamed.
"At least I got it done!"
"You might have but it is one week LATE, YOU SLACKER!", Makito fumed.
"So what? Are you just ticked off that I made an artistic report?", The shadowed child taunted.
"You call FIVE PAGES of nothing but BOASTING ABOUT BLOWING UP unnecessary things ARTISTIC?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!", Makito shouted, slamming his hand onto his desk.
The shadowed kid's eyes narrowed dangerously. Suddenly, hundreds of small white spiders skittered across Makito. Makito glared at the shadowed kid.
"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?! I HIRED YOU, YOU LITTLE SCOUNDREL!", Makito raged as he tried to remove the spiders.
"Feel the art of my explosions, you old artless sack of wrinkles!"
That was when the spiders blew up. After the dust and debris settled, Makito coughed violently. He was ticked off that his contracted bomber decided to blow him up.
"I WILL KILL YOU FOR THAT, DEIDARA!", Makito screamed into the sky.
A small distance away from the wreckage, a small blond kid with a small ponytail with long side sweeping bangs covering the left side of his face scoffed.
"Like you could, hm!", The kid muttered as he brushed the dust of his gray shirt, gray capris, and green shawl before fixing his scratched headband.
"OH I WILL SHOW YOU!"
Deidara jumped at the hollering. He turned around to see Makito right there, covered in massive sized scorch marks. Deidara quickly pulled a sheepish look as he rubbed the back of his head.
Makito was not buying it. Not one bit.
"You think this is funny?! DO YOU?!", Makito said, raising his voice a bit with each vowel.
"Uhhh, yeah...", Deidara said.
"YOU HAVE SHREDDED THE LAST OF MY PATIENCE FOR THE LAST TIME, DEIDARA!", Makito screamed.
"Like I care!", Deidara smirked, "I can beat you any day!"
Makito groaned viciously and pulled out a scroll. Now it was Makito's turn to smirk a poop-eating grin.
"Like the time you ran out of clay and was forced to use a kunai to fend of two Jonin? Fat chance shrimp!", Makito said as he bit his thumb and smeared a small bit of blood on the scroll, "You will see why you should never backstab your coworkers or mess with your superiors!"
"Oh I am so scared! Not, hm! I'm a Missing Nin! I'm not afraid of anything!", Deidara mocked.
"You won't be smirking around me after this Jutsu is done! There is a reason why this Forbidden Jutsu was kept a secret for hundreds of years!", Makito said running rough the long set of hand signs.
"I'd like to see you try! I can blow up YOUR smirk any day!", Deidara shouted as he gave an impish grin as he lifted his hands up, allowing his hands to give raspberries as he too gave a raspberry at Makito.
"Real mature! You think you are so funny huh?", Makito snapped, "NINJA ART: ONE HUNDRED YEAR OLD SECRET JUTSU!"
Makito's palm slammed into Deidara's stomach. Massive amount of Chakra surrounded him. In a blinding light, Deidara was gone.
"Good bye, brat!", Makito said and chuckled darkly in victory.
In the world of the Four Nations; in the Earth Kingdom desert...
Deidara's world faded back into existance. His head spun wildly as he felt an exploding headache split through his head. He wanted to drift back into the unconscious world to escape the pain. It didn't help that he felt like he was roasting.
'Wait? Since when was it this hot?', Deidara thought and cracked an eye open.
He looked around, squinting as the heat of the sun simmered onto his fair skin. His eyes searched the wide range of his surroundings. Sand. Nothing but fine particles of sand and very few cacti with sparse dried out shrubs. Sandy dunes stretched for miles around Deidara, showing no end anytime soon. Some strange giant wasps circled above him, most likely scavengers, waiting for him to die so they could feast on his corpse. No clouds in the sky, which meant no shade anytime soon.
Deidara got up and put his right hand in one of his pouches. Both pouches, unfortunetly, had about one half of the original amount of clay left in them. The little mouth on said hand took some clay and began molding it. When it was done, a bird popped out.
'Why didn't I stock up earlier? I wasted too much of what little I had on that old sack of wrinkles!', Deidara groaned in his head.
He made a hand sign, causing the bird to come to life and grow to a large enough size for a passenger. Deidara hopped on to the bird and took off into the never ending blue sky of the unforgiving desert.
"This desert is almost as big as the one in the Land of Wind. Maybe even bigger... hm...", Deidara mused.
Hours of flying didn't help Deidara at all. The blazing heat slowly siphoned his energy, forcing him to use more Chakra to keep his bird flying. His hair and clothes were drenched with sweat.
"This desert is more unforgiving than any other desert I have ever been in!", Deidara moaned in aggravation.
Deidara lifted up his bangs. Using the eye scope over his left eye, he scanned the desert. In the distance to the northeast, he saw a small settlement made of sand. Way too small to be the Village Hidden in the Sand. He begun steering his clay bird to the settlement, glad he could finally get out of the merciless heat.
He landed the bird outside the settlement to see a what used to be a giant crystal of ice and men dressed in strange robes. The robes looked well suited for the environment from one glance. The robes were mainly baggy and off white, thus reflecting the sun rays. Some of the men had turbans on their heads, and some of those said men had lost a few teeth. He learned that when one of them spit at Deidara's feet and gave him a not so sincere smile. Deidara frowned and continued his way, wanting to save his clay for someone who was actually worthy of getting blown up.
He walked into what seemed to be a small tavern. He saw a bunch of people there. Some looked like the scholar type, others looked like thugs. One man behind a counter wielded a pair of swords, using them to slice and dice fruit and serve them as a beverage in a large cup made of ice. Deidara walked past several tables before coming up to the bar tender.
"Excuse me sir, can you tell me where I am, hm?", Deidara asked.
"Sure, kid. You are in the Si Wong Desert in the Earth Kingdom.", The bartender said.
"Earth Kingdom? I never heard of it.", Deidara said.
The bartender let out an amused chuckle.
"You hit your head or something, kiddo?", The bartender asked.
"I did wake up in the desert and I remember fighting Makito, one of the guys who have hired me, hm.", Deidara said, spatting Makito's name as if it were venom.
"Hired you for what kid?", The bartender asked in concern.
Deidara faced the bartender with a small glare.
"You ask a lot of questions, hm.", Deidara said.
"Ah, I see. This war has brought many unpleasant things to the world. Kids are now being put on the front line as well. I can understand why you don't want to talk about it.", The bartender said.
'You don't understand anything...', Deidara thought.
"So what kind of fruit do you want? It's on the house.", The bartender said.
Deidara took a look at the selection that was behind the bartender. Some of the fruits he had never seen before. He pointed at the fruit that looked like a peach. The bartender got to work, grabbing a few peach like fruits, slicing them until they were mush, and put them in a large cup. An small umbrella and straw was added. Deidara grabbed the beverage.
"Thank you. Hm.", Deidara said and began to slurp the beverage.
The beverage was not like anything he had tasted before. While it tasted like a peach, it tasted like a whole different kind of peach. He went and sat down at a table.
After a few moments passed, heard something spill. He turned around and saw four kids, two girls, two boys. The pale bald boy in the orange and yellow had a large spill on him. The other boy was tan and was wearing a blue outfit. One girl had a similar shade of skin and wore a strange blue dress. The other girl was pale and was wearing a yellow and green robes that was covered in dirt and wore no shoes. In front of the kids was a man wearing robes and a large hat with a veil in the back.
"No worries. I clean up easy.", The boy in the orange said.
The boy took a stance and the air around him began to move, effectively drying off his clothes. Deidara was surprised that no hand signs were used.
'How is that possible? I have heard of ninjas using one hand for hand signs, but no hand signs is completely different.', Deidara thought as he got up to get a closer look.
The man in front of the kids was amazed. You didn't need to see his face to know he was amazed.
"You're a living relic!", The man said.
Deidara was confused by those words but decided to listen closer, hopefully to get some information.
"Thanks, I try.", The boy said with a casual shrug.
"An Air Nomad is standing right in front of me.", The man thought out loud and immediately gave a respectful bow, "Professor Zei, head of anthropology at Ba Sing Se University."
Zei grabbed the bald boy's arm and began studying what appeared to be arrow tattoos on the kid's arms, head, and legs. He even pulled out a pair of calipers to measure the kid's head.
"Tell me, which Air Temple do you hail from?", Zei asked.
"The Southern Air Temple.", The bald kid said, surprised by Zei's antics.
"Oh, splendid! Now tell me: What was the primary agricultural product of your people?", Zei said and begun writing on a notepad.
"Are fruit pies an agricultural product?", The bald kid asked with a hint of uncertainty in his voice.
Deidara mentally face palmed.
'What a dumb question...', Deidara thought.
"Oh, truly fascinating. That is one for the journal.", Zei said, jotting down even more notes.
"So Professor, you're obviously a well-traveled guy. Do you have a more current map? Ours seems to be a little dated.", The tan boy said.
That perked Deidara up. A map would tell him where he was and in worse case scenario, if he even was still in his world.
"Certainly.", Zei said and pulled out a map.
Deidara walked forward. It was now or never. He tugged at Zei's robes lightly. Zei looked down to see Deidara.
"Can I also have a look at the map too, hm?", Deidara asked.
"Sure. I have never seen such a shade of hair color before. You must have been blessed by the spirits to get such a color.", Zei said and looked at Deidara's hair in awe.
'You're weird.', Deidara thought.
A few minutes later, the tan boy studied the map that was now on the table. The boy groaned in frustration as the pale girl took sips of a mango beverage.
"What, no Fire Nation? Doesn't anybody have a good map of that place?", The tan boy whined.
Deidara took a look. The map was definetly different than any map he has ever seen. It was safe to say, he was no longer in the Five Great Shinobi Nations.
"You've made a lot of trips into the desert.", The tan girl said as she studied the map.
"All in vain, I'm afraid. I've found lost civilizations all over the Earth Kingdom, but I haven't managed to find the crown jewel: Wan Shi Tong's Library. ", Zei said.
Deidara then knew what would help him really get information on this world. A library.
"You spent years walking through the desert to find some guy's library?", The pale girl asked.
"This library is more valuable than gold, little lady. It is said to contain a vast collection of knowledge, and knowledge is priceless.", Zei said.
Even better. If the hand gestures weren't enough to describe how vast it possibly could be, then only seeing it could tell.
"Sounds like good times.", The pale girl mused sarcastically.
"Oh, it is. According to legend, it was built by the great Knowledge Spirit, Wan Shi Tong, with the help of his 'foxy' knowledge seekers.", Zei said.
"Oh, so this spirit has attractive assistants, huh?", The tan boy mused with a sly smile.
The tan girl next to the tan boy whacked him.
"I think he means they look like actual foxes, Sokka.", The tan girl said.
"You're both right. Handsome little creatures. Wan Shi Tong and his knowledge seekers collected books from all over the world, and put them on display for mankind to read, so that we might better ourselves.", Zei said.
"So it even holds the history of everything in this world, hm?", Deidara asked.
"Yes, young lad. They even say, it holds records from the era before the Avatar.", Zei said.
Deidara had no idea what an Avatar was, but one thing for sure, he was definitely going to that library.
"If this place has books from all over the world, do you think they've got info on the Fire Nation? A map, maybe?", Sokka asked.
"I wouldn't know. But if such a thing exists, it's in Wan Shi Tong's Library.", Zei said.
"Then it's settled. Aang, I do believe it's my turn. I'd like to spend my vacation: AT THE LIBRARY!", Sokka said pointing to the ceiling dramatically.
Deidara rolled his eyes at the unnecessary drama. Even his explosions didn't have THAT much drama.
"Uh, hey, what about me? When do I get to pick?", The pale girl asked, slightly annoyed.
"You gotta work here a little longer before you qualify for vacation time, Toph.", Sokka said, making the girl slam her drink onto the table in anger.
"Of course, there's the matter of finding it. I've made several trips into the Si Wong Desert and almost died each time. I'm afraid that desert's impossible to cross.", Zei said sadly.
"Professor, would you like to see our sky bison?", Sokka asked.
Deidara was confused. How would a bison help cross a desert?
"A sky bison?! You actually have one?", Zei asked in amazement.
Deidara's jaw dropped. Right in front of him was a six legged bison. He had never seen such a thing.
Next to the bison, other than Deidara's clay bird, was a group of those mummy-looking people.
"Sandbenders, shoo, away from the bison!", Zei shouted.
The Sandbenders backed off, having that look of a possible second encounter maybe inevitable. Deidara was not amused when the Sandbenders tried hijacking his clay bird.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, hm.", Deidara warned, "Nobody has gotten away from stealing my art without punishment."
The Sandbenders laughed at Deidara, unable to take him seriously. Deidara frowned, getting aggravated. He reached into his pouch and pulled out a small chunk of clay. He then let the mouth on his hand mold it. The Sandbenders were a bit disturbed by the sight of the mouth regurgitating the clay in the form of a centipede. Deidara then launched the centipede at the Sandbenders. The centipede grew in size, making it able to strangle a person. The centipede wrapped around one of the Sandbenders. The one bounded struggled as the centipede constricted his torso.
"Good luck getting that off, hm.", Deidara chuckled darkly.
The Sandbenders began tugging at the clay centipede, trying in vain to remove it. Little did the Sandbenders know, that when the centipede was removed, it would blow up.
Deidara turned around to see that the kids, Zei, and the bison had left.
"Aw man!", Deidara said in frustration and quickly got onto his clay bird and took off.
He scanned the area with his eye scope, to search for the bison. He eventually found it.
"Bingo!", Deidara said and made the bird speed up a bit, to catch up with the bison.
The bison was a relatively slow flier. This made it much easier for Deidara to catch up to them. What he wasn't counting on was Sokka to spot him and freak out like a little girl. Deidara rolled his eyes, wishing that Sokka would cut the drama back a bit. He steered the bird next the bison just to be met with the annoying screaming he has ever heard.
"HOW THE HECK IS THAT THING FLYING!?", Sokka screamed, "IT'S NOTHING BUT CLAY!"
Deidara winced at bit at the volume of Sokka's voice.
"It's Ninjutsu, moron.", Deidara said with an annoyed look.
"Incredible! I have never seen such abilities! You are truly very special young one.", Zei said in awe.
"Now why are you following us?", Sokka asked sternly, "Are you trying to capture Aang?"
"I am going to the library. And who's Aang, hm?", Deidara said.
"How could you not know who Aang is? He's practically on almost every wanted poster! He's the Avatar!", Sokka said pointing at the bald boy.
"Sokka! No need to advertise him! The wanted posters are doing their job so you don't need to.", Toph remarked.
"What do you mean by Avatar? I never heard of that term before, hm.", Deidara said.
Sokka blinked a few times before face palming.
"And you are the one calling me a moron.", Sokka said, "The Avatar is basically the only one who can bend all four elements and is reincarnated every time he or she dies."
"Sokka!", The tan girl scolded.
Sokka turned to the girl with a slightly annoyed look on his face, equally matching the one on the girl's face.
"Hey, how else am I suppose to explain it without confusing him?", Sokka asked in annoyance.
'Siblings... Of course.', Deidara thought.
"Hey, while you're at it, can someone tell me what bending is, hm?", Deidara asked.
Zei became eager to tell Deidara.
"Bending is the ability to manipulate one of the four elements: Water, Earth, Fire, and Air. It can be be done when one extends their chi to interact with their environment. It is considered a form of art in many cultures and not everyone can bend.", Zei said, "But those who can, can only bend one element. And as Sokka put it, only the Avatar can bend all four of them."
"What about Lightning?", Deidara asked.
"Lightning is considered a part of Firebending. It's currently only known to very few Firebenders like The Dragon of the West.", Zei said.
"I'd like to see if this bending can compare to my art!", Deidara said in a challenging tone.
"Maybe later if you stick around.", Sokka said, "If you do happen to, I got my eyes on you!"
Sokka gave the 'I'm watching you' gesture. Deidara returned it with the same gesture but with a stink face. Sokka gave a confused look in return to that. Deidara, being the smart aleck he was, raised both fists. As if it were synced, Deidara opened his palms and gave three raspberries at once. Sokka recoiled in disturbance.
"For the record, I am sticking around, hm.", Deidara said.
"I am going back to my watch now...", Sokka said and picked up his telescope, and began to search the desert.
After a few minutes of searching the desert and exchanging names, Toph groaned as she shifted her head on the saddle's edge.
"Does this place even EXIST?!", Toph moaned.
"Some say it doesn't!", Zei chimed.
Toph's eyes widened before narrowing them.
"Shouldn't have you mentioned THAT before?", Toph said, highly irked.
A few more minutes past. Still no luck in finding the legendary library. Toph grew a small devious smirk from her increasing boredom.
"THERE IT IS!", Toph said 'excitedly' as she pointed in a random direction.
Everyone looked in that direction. Nothing but boring old sand. They all gave small glares to the young girl.
"That's what it will sound like when one of you spots it.", Toph said and waved her hand in her face with a wide, blank grin and non-moving eyes.
'Does that mean, she's blind?', Deidara thought.
Deidara took a closer look into Toph's eyes. While Huyga eyes were pale, they were never on the level of paleness that were in Toph's. The pupils were visible, but were pale. She was indeed blind.
"It shouldn't be this hard to spot an ornate building from the air.", Katara said as she studied a drawing of the library.
"No dip, Katara, hm.", Deidara muttered in annoyance.
Sokka continued to scan the horizon with his telescope. Sand. More sand. Nothing but sand. A strange thing poking out of the sand.
"Down there, what's that?", Sokka asked.
Aang steered the bison to the strange thing poking out of the sand. Deidara followed the suit on his bird. Once they landed, it turned out that the strange thing was a partly buried tower. Deidara frowned. Definetly not a large ornate library.
"Forget it. It's obviously not what we're looking for. The building in this drawing is enormous.", Katara said.
A small sparkle caught everyone's attention. It was a fox holding a scroll in it's mouth. Finally an animal that looked normal and not like a chimera!
"What kind of animal is that?", Sokka asked as the fox ran up the side of the tower and into the tower.
"I think that was one of the Knowledge Seekers. Oh, we must be close to the library!", Zei said eagerly.
Sokka grabbed the illustration of the building at examined it closely. Deidara studied it too.
"No, this is the library- look! It's completely buried.", Sokka said.
Zei was shocked beyond belief. He fell to the ground dramatically.
"The library is buried?! My life's ambition is now full of sand.", Zei said then with a smile, pulled out a puny hand shovel, "Well, time to start excavating!"
Zei began to dig. Deidara face palmed, ignoring the saliva coming from his hand mouth, in irritation. Toph walked up to the tower and with force, placed her hand on it.
"Actually, that won't be necessary. The inside seems to be completely intact. And it's huge.", Toph said.
"How do you know, hm?", Deidara asked.
"Alright newbie, since I am blind, I use my Earthbending to see.", Toph said, "And before you even say anything, yes, I 'saw' those hand mouths back in the tavern. So Sokka, any speculations on how to get inside?"
"That fox thingy went in through a window. I say we climb up there and give it a look.", Sokka said.
"I say you guys go ahead without me.", Toph said.
"You got something against libraries?", Katara asked.
"I've held books before. And I gotta tell you, they don't exactly do it for me.", Toph said.
"Oh. Right. Sorry.", Katara said.
"Let me know if they have something you can listen to.", Toph said.
"I have something you can listen to, hm!", Deidara said, "Prepare to hear my art! Katsu!"
With that, Deidara's clay bird blew up. Sokka stared in massive shock, everyone else was surprised and gave each other unnoticeable questioning looks. Toph was the only one who blinked for a few seconds before frowning.
"Did I miss something or what?", Toph asked as she folded her arms.
Deidara was not amused by the question. He was a bit ticked off.
"What is that suppose to mean, hm?!", Deidara asked in anger.
"Well if you ask me, how can you enjoy art if your BLIND?!", Toph asked as she tugged on her eye lids for emphasis, "If there was something about it that was so special, then obviously I missed it because I am BLIND!"
Deidara cooled off a bit. Toph DID have a point. That was something he couldn't argue with.
'How could I have forgotten she was blind? What kind of mockery of Ninjutsu caused this?', Deidara thought.
"I thought it was kinda hot...", Sokka said, hoping to help put out the metaphorical fire.
That was a bit better than what most people said about Deidara's 'art'.
"Just drop it, Sokka.", Katara sighed.
Sokka tied a rope his boomerang and threw it at the window. Everyone, minus Toph and Deidara, lined up to grab the rope and began to climb the wall. What they weren't counting on was Deidara just to walk up the wall without the rope like it was nothing. Not even using his hands to climb. Sokka was once more shocked.
"Could you stop upstaging us, Deidara?!", Sokka snapped.
"Talk to the hand.", Deidara said coolly and held up his hand, which gave Sokka a raspberry.
Sokka groaned in frustration. He had fumes coming out of his ears. He grumbled incoherently as he continued to climb up. Everyone then went inside the window and began to climb down. Deidara leaped onto the rope, seeing how pointless it was to walk completely down to the ground with the walls curving at a ninety degrees before even getting close to the nearest piece of ground.
"Oh, it's breathtaking! The spirit spared no expense in designing this place. Look at those beautiful buttresses!", Zei said and pointed to a buttress.
Aang and Sokka snickered at the word 'buttresses'. Deidara rolled his eyes.
"Grow up you two, hm.", Deidara said, a bit annoyed at how immature Sokka and Aang were being.
"What's funny?", Zei asked.
"Nothing. We just like architecture.", Aang said.
"As do I.", Zei said.
Once they reached the ground. Zei lost his breath to the sight of the mosaic of Wan Shi Tong.
"My word! The exquisite mosaic handiwork of this tile-rendered avian symbol-!", Zei rambled then noticed the lost looks on Aang, Katara, and Sokka's faces, "Eh, nice owl."
Suddenly, everyone heard the sound of rustling feathers. Everyone hid behind the pillars, holding their breaths. Hoping whoever was there would not notice. Sokka's forehead began to produce sweat from the building suspension.
From the shadows, came a ginormous black and white owl. It approached the rope, noticing that it was not there before. The owl then turned around to the pillars.
"I know you're back there.", The owl said.
Busted. Despite the protests, Zei rushed from out behind the pillars.
"Hello, I'm Professor Zei, head of anthropology at Ba Sing Se University!", Zei said.
"You should leave the way you came. Unless you want to become a stuffed head of anthropology.", The owl said, gesturing to the many stuffed heads of animals and a few people.
Zei rubbed his neck in discomfort. Deidara gave a cocky look that said 'you can't get mine'. Everyone else, realizing that the gig was up, decided to come out too.
"Are you the spirit who brought this library to the physical world?", Sokka asked.
"Indeed, I am Wan Shi Tong, 'He Who Knows Ten Thousand Things'. And you are obviously humans, which, by the way, are no longer permitted in my study.", The owl said.
"What do you have against humans?", Aang asked.
"Yeah!", Deidara added, gaining looks, "What?"
"Humans only bother learning things to get the edge on other humans. Like that firebender who came to this place a few years ago, looking to destroy his enemy. So...", Wan Shi Tong said and leaned towards Sokka, "Who are you trying to destroy?"
Sokka sweated as if he were Niagara Falls. He gulped before getting his act together.
"What? No-no-no-no destroying. We're not into that.", Sokka said, trying to act innocent.
"I like showing off my art!", Deidara said, knowing Wan Shi Tong would never suspect that meant 'blowing stuff up for the heck of it'.
Sokka sweated even more, hoping Wan Shi Tong would not figure out that meant 'blowing stuff up for the heck of it'.
"You do realize how misplaced that sentence was, human?", Wan Shi Tong asked getting up in Deidara's face.
"I guess.", Deidara shrugged before showing a stern look, "But my name's Deidara, not human, hm!"
Wan Shi Tong backed up from Deidara's face and returned to Sokka's.
"So then why have you come?", Wan Shi Tong.
"Um... Knowledge for knowledge's sake?", Sokka more or less asked.
"If you're going to lie to an all-knowing spirit being, you should at least put some effort into it.", Wan Shi Tong said.
"I'm not lying, I'm here with the Avatar, and he's the bridge between our worlds. He'll vouch for me.", Sokka said, dragging Aang forward and nudged him.
"Ow! Uh, yeah, I'll vouch. We will not abuse the knowledge in your library, good spirit. You have my word.", Aang said.
Wan Shi Tong unstretched his neck back into place.
"Hmm, very well. I'll let you peruse my vast collection on one condition. To prove your worth as scholars, you have to contribute some worthwhile knowledge.", Wan Shi Tong said.
Zei came forward, holding a large book.
"Please accept this tome as a donation to your library.", Zei said as he got on his knees to present the book.
"First edition. Very nice.", Wan Shi Tong said and took the book under his wing.
Zei backed up as Katara came forward with an open Waterbending Scroll.
"I have an authentic Waterbending scroll.", Katara said.
"Ooh, these illustrations are quite stylish.", Wan Shi Tong said and took the scroll under his wing.
"Uhhh... I know!", Aang said and pulled out his Wanted Poster, "Hah!"
"I suppose that counts...", Wan Shi Tong said and took the poster under his wing.
Deidara came forward with a scroll, which at one point he stole.
"I have a scroll on the Hidden Stone Village, hm.", Deidara said.
"Truly one of a kind.", Wan Shi Tong said and took the scroll under his wing.
Sokka came up to Wan Shi Tong with a piece of string. Deidara gave a confused look, not seeing how string would help out here.
"Oh, great spirit, check this out!", Sokka said and tied the string rapidly into a butterfly knot, "Ta-da!"
Aang, Katara, and Zei gave Sokka questioning looks. Wan Shi Tong stared at Sokka in silence. Deidara looked very irritated.
'You better not be insulting art!', Deidara thought as an anger vein popped up on his forehead.
"It's a special knot. That counts as knowledge!", Sokka protested to the silence that dawned the room.
"You are not very bright, are you?", Wan Shi Tong asked, making Sokka frown, bu none of the less, took the butterfly, "Enjoy the library."
Wan Shi Tong flew off as everyone began to wonder around the library.
"Bright enough to fool you.", Sokka said under his breath.
Deidara saw a sign that read 'history'. His eyes gleamed, knowing he hit the jackpot on finding out more on where he was. He pulled the first book he saw off the shelf and began to read it. The book was about the time of Avatar Kyoshi's existance. He scoffed at some parts, but overall, was impressed by how she managed to form Kyoshi Island by herself and the modern Dai Li. His next book happened to be on Avatar Roku. Like the one on Kyoshi, this one was also rather interesting.
To his extreme pleasure, there happened to be a book on explosives in the science section. He grabbed all of those books and began reading those, seeing if they could come to par with his art. There was even a book on how to make different types of clay, which Deidara slipped into an empty compartment in one of his pouches. He even tossed one of the books when he realized it was a book about how to get rid of bombs.
"Disgusting!", Deidara said in offence tone and placed a clay spider on the offending book, "Katsu!"
With that, the book blew up. All that was left with a thoroughly scorched book.
"Much better.", Deidara said and crossed his arms and left the isle before Wan Shi Tong could find out he blew up a book.
Deidara kept wandering around and eventually found Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Zei. Aang was sitting on the floor reading a book which had diagrams of strange animals. Sokka was looking at different books parchments, and scrolls and taking those that caught his interest and placing them in his large shoulder bag. Katara was reading a scroll herself and she seemed quite interested in it. Zei had an ever growing stack of books in his hands, which threatened to topple over at any given moment.
Aang eventually flipped to a page that sparked his curiosity and showed it to Sokka and Katara.
"Hey, look at these weird lion turtle things.", Aang said.
Sokka pulled a book off the shelf as he looked at the drawing.
"I've seen weirder.", Sokka said and walked off.
Katara came up to Aang with an open scroll.
"Aang, did you know in a past life, you were left-handed?", Katara asked.
"I always knew I was special.", Aang said.
Sokka continued looking around. He skimmed through a few scrolls and start charts and placing them in his bag. After taking a few books and scrolls, Sokka came to a podium with a burnt piece of parchment rest on it behind a glass plate.
" 'The Darkest Day in Fire Nation History'. It's got a date on the top, but doesn't say anything else.", Sokka mused but none of the less, used his machete to pry the glass off and took the parchment.
Sokka walked past everyone in haste. Everyone looked at him, wondering what he was up to.
"Sokka, where are you going?", Katara asked.
Sokka turned around holding up the parchment.
"I want to know what happened to the Fire Nation on their darkest day. This could be promising.", Sokka said and everyone began following him through several isle and shelves, "The information on the Fire Nation should be right up here."
The section was not in their expected condition. Everything was obliterated and burnt.
"Firebenders.", Aang said, breaking the pregnant silence.
"They destroyed everything having to do with the Fire Nation.", Katara said.
Sokka collapsed to his knees in distraught. He was so close, yet the answers were so far away.
"That's so unfair! Just when I think I'm one step ahead of the Fire Nation, it turns out they beat us here a long time ago! I need to know what happened on the darkest day!", Sokka said.
A whimper or two sounded behind the group. It was a Knowledge Seeker.
"Hello, little weird fox guy.", Sokka said.
The Knowledge Seeker got into a pointed stance as if it were showing the way. If it weren't for current circumstances, Deidara would have mistaken the Knowledge Seeker for a summon or a Ninja Fox due to it's level of understanding.
"Seems it's trying to assist you.", Zei said.
"Um, sure, I guess I'll follow you.", Sokka said.
The Knowledge Seeker took off. Everyone followed it through the long corridors. Eventually they came to a large doorway blocked by a large slab of stone. The Knowledge Seeker crawled through a small vent like opening. Once on the other side, opened the door. It sat in the door way as the Knowledge Seeker sat in the middle of the doorway.
Everyone entered the room. The Knowledge Seeker found a lever and pulled it, causing the room the light up. The rounded ceiling began to change between night and day as the room turned on. The Sun and Moon Disks raced across the ceiling, representing night and day. The sight of it took everyone's breath away.
'No! It's not art! Pop Art's DEAD! A DUD!', Deidara thought as he 'composed' himself.
"Uh, this is beautiful, but how is it helpful?", Sokka said as the ceiling stopped on the daytime setting.
Katara approached a large compound dial and studied it.
"Maybe these dials represent dates and times. Sokka, try entering that date from that parchment you took.", Katara suggested.
"Shh, Katara, not in front of the fox, he's with the owl.", Sokka whispered a little too loudly.
The Knowledge Seeker whimpered.
Sokka shifted the dials on the compound dial to the date on the parchment. Once he was done setting it up, he pulled the lever. The ceiling began to shift once more. The Sun and Moon Disks raced across simultaneously.
"Wow, I got to hand it to you, Sokka. You picked the best mini-vacation for sure.", Aang said in awe.
The Sun and Moon Disks came to an abrupt halt once the moon was over the sun. The room darkened. Everyone frowned, well almost everyone.
'TAKE THAT!', Deidara thought in glee, glad the 'offending art' was seemingly broken.
"Hey, wait. What happened to the sun?", Katara asks.
"This art dud went out, hm!", Deidara said, showing his glee the planetarium was 'broken'.
Katara glared at Deidara in annoyance. The glare said 'You're not helping'.
"Great, you must have broken it.", Aang said as his eyes narrowed.
Sokka took a closer look at the mechanics of the disks.
"It's not broken. The sun is behind the moon. It's a solar eclipse! It's literally the darkest day in Fire Nation history. Now I get it!", Sokka said and grabbed Aang and shook him a bit too much out of excitement, "Something awful happened on that day! I don't know what, but I do know why. Firebenders lose their bending during a solar eclipse! Sorry."
Deidara groaned inwardly at the revelation that the Planetarium wasn't broken.
"That makes sense. I mean, think what the lunar eclipse at the North Pole did to the Waterbenders. This is huge.", Katara said.
The Knowledge Seeker got on it's hind legs and began to beg with the 'Sitting Pretty' pose.
"Fine. You earned it!", Sokka said with a smile and gave the Knowledge Seeker a treat before facing the others, "We've gotta get this information to the Earth King at Ba Sing Se. We'll wait for the next eclipse, then we'll invade the Fire Nation when they're totally helpless. The Fire Lord is going down!"
Just as Sokka was celebrating, Wan Shi Tong got behind Sokka, making the young warrior frown. Busted again.
"Mortals are so predictable, and such terrible liars.", Wan Sh Tong said, causing Sokka to gulp, "You betrayed my trust. From the beginning, you intended to misuse this knowledge for evil purposes."
"You don't understand. If anyone's evil, it's the Fire Nation. You saw what they did to your library. They're destructive and dangerous. We need this information.", Sokka said.
"You think you're the first person to believe their war was justified? Countless others before you have come here seeking weapons or weakness or battle strategies!", Wan Shi Tong said with building rage.
"We had no choice. Please, we're just desperate to protect the people we love.", Aang said.
'I'm not! I just stole knowledge for my artistic Jutsu like the time I robed that art-hating sack of wrinkles of a Tsuchikage blind of the Hidden Stone Kinjutsu!', Deidara thought in smug way.
"And now I'm going to protect what I love.", Wan Shi Tong said and begun flapping his wings causing sand to enter the now vibrating room.
"What are you doing?!", Aang asked in horror.
"I'm taking my knowledge back! No one will ever abuse it again!", Wan Shi Tong declared.
"He's sinking the building! We've gotta get out of here!", Katara said as everyone got ready to mobilize and escape the library.
However it was not meant to be. Wan Shi Tong's neck stretched as he got closer to everyone.
"I'm afraid I can't allow that. You already know too much.", Wan Shi Tong said.
Wan Shi Tong dove in, trying to peck everyone, but they all dodged. They all ran out of the Planetarium with an angry Wan Shi Tong in pursuit. They rounded several corners, hoping to lose him, but Wan Shi Tong always found them.
"Great Knowledge Spirit, I beg you, do not destroy your vast collection of priceless tomes!", Zei begged.
Aang turned around and used air suction to get Zei out of the way of Wan Shi Tong's beck. He then fired an air blast, knocking Wan Shi Tong off the bridge.
"We've gotta get back to the surface!", Aang said.
"Sokka, let's go.", Katara said, noticing Sokka wasn't moving.
Sokka at that moment began to go in the wrong direction.
"It's THIS way moron, hm!", Deidara said pointing to the rope.
"But we still don't know when the next eclipse is gonna to happen.", Sokka said, freezing in his tracks.
"Don't be stupid! We'll find out later!", Katara said.
"No, we won't. If we leave this place, we'll never get the information. Aang, come with me to the planetarium, I need cover. Katara, Deidara, take Momo and get out of here!", Sokka said.
Aang ran up to Sokka in haste.
'Who are you? My mother?', Deidara thought sarcastically.
"But...!", Katara protested.
"GO!", Sokka said and took off with Aang.
"HURRY SOKKA!", Katara called out.
Zei avoided getting pecked by Wan Shi Tong by diving into a small isle. He landed right next to an interesting book. He grabbed it with a large grin.
Since Wan Shi Tong lost Zei, he went straight after Katara and Deidara. He swooped in at blinding speeds. Deidara grabbed Katara and Momo and jumped out of Wan Shi Tong's way.
'He's fast, I'll give him that. Maybe I could use it against him...', Deidara thought.
"Go hide. I'm going to create a diversion.", Deidara said.
Katara ran off with Momo, making a bee line for the shelves.
Deidara turned around and faced Wan Shi Tong with a smug smirk. He made a mad dash to one of the bridges and before turning around.
"At least I'll have one specimen to add to my collection.", Wan Shi Tong said as his neck once more stretched, ready to peck the little mad bomber.
"I am not so sure about that, hm.", Deidara said and formed a hand sign, "Katsu!"
The ground underneath Wan Shi Tong began to explode. Wan Shi Tong let a shriek as he went into the air to avoid getting completely blown up. The bridge was now smithereens. Wan Shi Tong landed on what was left of the bridge.
"I see you never fought someone who uses art like I do, hm. When you first made an appearance, I secretly made a clone and hid it in the ground to plant explosive clay. I merely lead you to the spot they were. The mines still could use some work, but a worthy prototype for you to experiance.", Deidara said with a thought cloud that had a chibi representation of what happened at each stage; there was even the chibi clone of Deidara hugging clay that was in the shape of a classic bomb underground with a big grin.
"You are quite clever for a child. It's a shame that such knowledge has to be destroyed.", Wan Shi Tong said.
Wan Shi Tong lunged for Deidara again. Deidara dodged him with ease and ran down Wan Shi Tong's back. This made Wan Shi Tong accidentally peck himself. He quickly preformed a Substitution Jutsu and swapped himself with one of the clay mines. Once Wan Shi Tong noticed Deidara had replaced himself with a clay bomb, it was too late. Wan Shi Tong had already pecked the clay, thus detonating it. Wan Shi Tong shrieked in agony again.
Katara stepped out in a Waterbending stance. If Wan Shi Tong was in the mood for chuckles, he would be chuckling. Wan Shi Tong recovered from the surprise blast and faced Katara.
"Your Waterbending won't do you much good here.", Wan Shi Tong said as he unfolded his wings, ready to attack, "I've studied Northern Water style, Southern Water style, even Foggy Swamp style."
"HHHHHIIIIIIIYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAA!"
Sokka came out of no where, with a heavy book in hand. He slammed the book into Wan Shi Tong's head, knocking the Knowledge Spirit out. At that moment, Deidara poked his head out of the ground, just to blink at the scene.
'Oh so my art couldn't defeat you, but A BOOK could?! THE MOST ARTLESS THING THAT I ACTUALLY RESPECTED! GAH! I hate books now...', Deidara thought in irritation.
"That's called Sokka Style.", Sokka said and got into Wan Shi Tong's unconscious face with a daring smirk, "LEARN IT!"
Deidara got out of the ground and joined with the others in climbing the rope up to the surface. In Aang's case, gliding up on his glider. Sokka turned around to see that Zei was the only one left out. Zei was sitting in an isle, reading several books as sand surrounded the professor.
"Wait! Professor, let's go!", Sokka said.
"I'm not leaving. I can't. I've spent too long trying to find this place. There's not another collection of knowledge like this on earth. I could spend an eternity in here.", Zei said, feeling at peace and content with his accomplishments.
"Just go!", Katara said.
Wan Shi Tong let out a furious call as he woke up. He shook the rope violently, causing Deidara, Katara, and Sokka to fall. Aang swooped in and caught all three of them on his glider. He flew them all to the surface as Wan Shi Tong pursued them.
"I have had just enough out of you, hm! ART IS AN EXPLOSION!", Deidara shouted in anger and threw a small swarm of crickets at Wan Shi Tong right into the eyes, "KATSU!"
Wan Shi Tong shrieked as his vision was temporarily disabled. He flew in random directions with no sense of directions due to his temporary blindness.
Aang managed to fly everyone outside the building. At that moment, Toph lost her footing and released the tower portion of the library. The tower sunk in rapidly before disappearing in the sand. Forever.
Sokka, Katara, and Deidara jumped off Aang's glider and got to the ground safely. Sokka hugged Katara in joy.
"We got it. There's a solar eclipse coming. The Fire Nation's in trouble now!", Sokka cheered before facing Deidara, "Which reminds me! We have to get you up to speed when we have the time, pal!"
"What changed your opinion about me?", Deidara asked in confusion.
"If you were some Fire Nation baddie in disguise, you wouldn't have blinded the giant owl! Heck, you even protected my sister! Not a scratch on her!", Sokka said enthusiastically, "Sure, you maybe be a bit crazy, but that. Was. AWESOME!"
Deidara felt his cheeks flare up in embarrassment. Even though Sokka got on his nerves, Sokka was actually the first person to ever actually acknowledge him for doing something good and for his artwork.
"Quit it Sokka, you're embarrassing him.", Katara said, slightly amused, "Since Sokka gave you the okay, I guess you get mine as well."
Deidara felt like he was going to faint from the praise. His face reddened even more.
But the cheery atmosphere didn't last. Toph was sitting down in the sand in sorrow. Aang looked around. Appa was nowhere in sight. All traces of him vanished with the wind crashing against the sand.
"Toph, where's Appa?", Aang asked.
Toph shook her head, refusing to talk. This was all Aang needed to assume what happened. Appa was stolen. Aang began to shed some tears at realization.
.
Binas: Never thought I's pull this again, huh? DOUBLE CHAPPIE TIME! :D Hope you loved the Moment of Heart Warming before the Tear Jerker. Deidara needs a hug sometimes, right? He was rejected for his views after all, so he needed Sokka's enthusiasm.
.
A sand storm formed within the vicinities of the former library's position. Everyone looked into the desert for Appa. Calling his name too. Toph stood around, waiting for signs of Appa's vibrations. The once cheerful atmosphere was gone due to the loss of a friend. Appa.
"How could you let them take Appa?! Why didn't you stop them ?!", Aang shouted at Toph.
"I couldn't! The library was sinking! You guys were still inside and-!", Toph said in defense but was cut off.
"You could've come to get us!", Aang shouted.
"I can hardly feel any vibrations out here! The Sandbenders snuck up on me and there wasn't time for–!", Toph argued.
"You just didn't care! You never liked Appa! You wanted him gone!", Aang spat, losing control of his emotions.
Katara came over and put a hand on Aang's shoulder, hoping to reassure him.
"Aang, stop it. You know Toph did all she could. She saved our lives.", Katara said.
"Who's going to save our lives now? We'll never make it out of here.", Sokka said.
"Dang it!", Deidara griped in annoyance as he checked his clay pouches, "That stupid owl made me waste majority of the clay I had left! I don't have enough made enough birds for us to ride out of this desert! I am so glad I stole that book on how to make clay! The scoundrel of an owl deserves it!"
Aang walked away in irritation.
"That's all any of you guys care about, yourselves! You don't care whether Appa is okay or not!", Aang said.
"We're all concerned, but we can't afford to be fighting now.", Katara said.
"I'm going after Appa.", Aang stated and flew away on his glider.
"Aang, wait!", Katara called out but Aang had already left, "We'd better start walking. We're the only people who know about the solar eclipse. We have to get that information to Ba Sing Se."
Everyone who was left began walking in the direction Aang flew off in.
"You think if we dig out the giant owl, he'll give us a ride?", Sokka asked.
"I doubt it, hm.", Deidara said.
A few hours later...
Once more the unforgiving desert was taking it's anger out on Deidara. This time it was on full blast. Without his bird to keep him at higher altitudes, he felt even worse than before. Everyone around him was suffering the same effects. Toph was wobbling a bit, possibly a minor case of heat exhaustion. Sokka was getting a bit irritable as the sun siphoned his cheery tune. Katara was struggling to keep everyone together and keeping everyone from killing each other.
Toph crashed into Sokka. The sweat that was on their clothes stuck them together.
"Can't you watch where you're...", Sokka said then realized who he was talking to.
"No.", Toph said blandly.
"Right. Sorry.", Sokka said.
Katara turned around, her cheeks pink from the oven like heat.
"Come on guys, we've got to stick together.", Katara said.
"If I sweat anymore, I don't think sticking together will be a problem.", Sokka griped as he tried to free himself from Toph's sweaty clothes.
Toph knocked Sokka over in irritation, effectively separating them from each other.
"Katara, can I have some more water?", Toph asked.
"Okay, but we've got to try to conserve it.", Katara said and grabbed her Waterbending pouch.
Four blobs of water came out of the pouch. Each one entered Toph, Momo, Sokka, and Deidara's mouth.
"We're drinking your bending water.", Sokka said.
It didn't take long for Sokka to gripe about the taste and for Deidara to start gagging on the awful taste.
"YOU USED THIS ON THE SWAMP GUYS! UUUURRRRCCCH!", Sokka shouted in disgust.
"GROSS!", Deidara gagged, trying to remove the nasty taste of sweaty swamp men from the tongue in his actual mouth with his shirt.
"It does taste swampy.", Toph said as if it didn't really matter.
Momo made a cry of sad protest of the flavor of the water. Katara sadly closed her Waterbending pouch.
"I'm sorry, it's all we have.", Katara said sadly.
"Not anymore! LOOK!", Sokka exclaimed.
Sokka had found a cactus and with Momo, rushed straight for it. He hacked off a padded leaf of the cactus plant and began happily slurping the fluids within the cactus with Momo.
"Sokka, wait! You shouldn't be eating strange plants!", Katara exclaimed as she dragged Toph along.
Sokka ignored Katara and grabbed one of the pads and held it out to Katara and Deidara.
"There's water trapped inside these!", Sokka exclaimed as if he hit the jack pot.
"I don't know...", Katara said.
"You don't even know if there's hallucinogens in the cactus juice, hm!", Deidara said, "Heck, it could have even been fermented by the heat!"
"Suit yourself. It's very thirst quenching though.", Sokka said.
Sokka's eyes then dilated. He shook a bit and began to drool. Deidara backed away, wanting to keep his distance from the now drunk Sokka.
"Drink cactus juice! It'll quench ya! Nothing's quenchier!", Sokka said and began to crawl all over the ground like a caterpillar and jumping into everyone's faces with a big stupid grin, "It's the quenchiest!"
Katara and Deidara gave him a look. Deidara's was more of a 'I told you so'.
"Okay, I think you had enough.", Katara said taking Sokka's cactus juice and dumping it out.
"Who lit Toph on fire and why is Deidara a lady?", Sokka asked.
Deidara's eyebrows knitted together in annoyment, causing the sweat on his face to cascade a bit more.
'Great... Now he's stone drunk.', Deidara thought.
Sokka looked to the sky like he was in a catatonic state. Momo flew in rapid circles in the sky. He made a nose dive right into Deidara's head. He caught Momo and sighed.
"I'm gonna have to deal with this now, hm?", Deidara asked.
"Can I get some of that cactus juice?", Toph asked.
Katara placed a hand on Toph's shoulders as she grabbed Sokka and dragged him along.
"I don't think that's a good idea. Come on, we need to find Aang.", Katara said.
Everyone began to walk. Sokka continued to look at the sky.
"How did we get in the middle of the ocean?", Sokka asked causing Deidara to groan and Katara to sigh.
Just before they had reached a kilometer from the cactus that Sokka and Momo had, a mushroom cloud formed in the far off distance. The wind from the mushroom cloud was immense. Everyone was lucky they weren't blown away.
"What is that?", Katara asked.
"What is what?", Toph asked.
Sokka stared at the mushroom cloud in awe. He staggered a few steps towards it. Momo leaped out of Deidara's arms and landed on Sokka's shoulder.
"It's a... Giant... Mushroom... MAYBE IT'S FRIENDLY!", Sokka said raising his arms into the air before lowering them.
Deidara face palmed. He muttered some incoherent words in annoyance to the idiotic phrase.
"Let's just keep moving. I hope Aang's okay...", Katara said.
Katara, Toph, and Deidara continued forward. Sokka raised his arms into the air, and with Momo hanging on for dear life, began waving his arms back and forth and side to side like a complete lunatic.
"FRIENDLY MUSHROOM! MUSHY GIANT FRIEND!", Sokka shouted in a deranged tone.
Deidara didn't need to be right next to Sokka to hear those words. He tried to restrain himself from blowing up the drunk idiot. Mainly because he barely had any clay left.
At dusk...
Aang flew over head of the weary group. He landed with a thud into the sand. Sokka, Katara, Toph, and Deidara stopped. Katara ran walked over to Aang.
"I'm sorry, Aang. I know it's hard for you right now, but... We need to focus on getting out of here.", Katara said as she got closer to Aang and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"What's the difference? We won't survive without Appa. We all know it.", Aang said.
"We may if we can keep from killing each other, hm...", Deidara said as he glared at Sokka and Momo.
"Katara, the pretty lady is staring at me!", Sokka said, "SHE MUST LOVE ME!"
Deidara's eye winced. He hated being mistaken for a girl.
'Don't kill him... Don't kill him...', Deidara chanted in his head.
Sokka came up to Deidara on one knee. He grasped the bomber's hand and looked Deidara into the eyes.
"Pretty lady... WILL YOU MARRY ME?!", Sokka slurred in his drunken state.
Deidara's face lost all color as his jaw dropped in shock and horror. After a short moment, his face then scrunched up darkly. That was it... The last straw...
"Sokka...", Deidara groaned in anger.
Sokka's face lit up like a light bulb. He smiled a big goofy grin.
"Yes, honey poo?", Sokka slurred.
"YOU'RE DEAD!", Deidara shouted.
"How?", Sokka questioned dumbly, "By kisses, snookums?"
Deidara jumped into the air, landed on Sokka, and began strangling him.
"BY SUFFOCATION, HM!", Deidara shouted.
Katara quickly split the two apart. She restrained Deidara from killing her brother. Sokka merely fell over into the sand.
"COME ON! LET ME ROUGH HIM UP A BIT!", Deidara shouted as he fought Katara's tight grip.
"Enough you two! Stop it right now!", Katara said sternly as she let go of Deidara and pointed to a spot on the sand.
"Fine, hm...", Deidara mumbled and sat in that spot.
Katara returned her attention to Aang now that the fire was smothered.
"Come on, Aang. We can do this if we work together. Right Toph?", Katara said.
"As far as I can feel, we're trapped in a giant bowl of sand pudding. I got nothin'.", Toph said kicking the sand.
"Sokka? Any ideas how to find Ba Sing Se?", Katara asked.
"Why don't we ask the circle birds?", Sokka asked pointing to the sky.
Deidara looked up, it was the giant wasps again. They were once more waiting for them to drop down dead. Katara also saw them. She observed everyone. Aang was sulking, Sokka was unable to function properly due to the cactus juice, The sand messed with Toph's Seismic Sense, and Deidara looked ready to kill anyone who dared to set off his temper. The desert was turning everyone against each other. Katara held her head in annoyance.
"Ugh... We're getting out of this desert, and we're going to do it together! Aang, get up. Everybody, hold hands. We can do this. We have to.", Katara said.
She plucked Aang and Deidara off the ground. Aang latched on to Katara and Deidara's hands, Toph latched onto Deidara's other hand, and Sokka was being dragged along by Toph. Sokka, in a goofy manner, grasped Momo's tail as Momo lazily flew in the wrong direction. They all began walking once more, single filed holding hands.
This continued for a few hours. Dusk turned into night. The unforgiving heat eased out, leaving behind crisp and cool air. It was a sudden shift, but was welcomed by everyone with open arms. Everyone was exhausted from the consent moving and the energy stolen by the heat of the day.
"I think we should stop here for the night.", Katara said as everyone slowed down.
"Katara, is there anymore water?", Toph asked.
"This is the last of it. Everyone can have a little drink.", Katara said and bended out some water.
Momo took a face dive into the water, splashing the water everywhere. Deidara glared at the high lemur as the water splashed into the sand. Sokka fell to his knees.
"Momo, no! You've killed us all!", Sokka wailed theatrically.
"No, he didn't.", Katara sighed and began to bend the water out of the sand and into her pouch.
"Oh right. Bending...", Sokka said.
Katara handed the pouch to Toph, who accepted the water.
'At least Shinobi were trained to be able to survive with little to no water and sleep.', Deidara thought.
"Sokka, let me see the things you got from the library.", Katara said.
Sokka in haste grabbed his bag and hugged it with an offended look.
"What?! I didn't steal anything! Who told you that?", Sokka shouted in defense before pointing an accusing finger at Momo, "It was you! You ratted me out!"
"Sokka. I was there.", Katara said and took the bag.
Katara rummaged through the bag. Indeed it was a gold mine of information. Stolen information. She eventually found what she was looking for. A star chart.
"It doesn't matter. None of those will tell us where Appa is.", Aang said.
"No, but we can find out which way Ba Sing Se is. We can use the stars to guide us. That way we can travel at night when it's cool and rest during the day.", Katara said and examined everyone, "Just try to get some sleep. We'll start again in a few hours."
Everyone complied to that and laid down in the sand. They all, minus Aang, drifted into dreamless sleep.
A few hours later, Katara got up. She walked to Sokka and began to nudge him awake.
"Come on, get up. We need to go.", Katara said.
Toph sat up and smacks her lips.
"Yesterday my mouth tasted like mud. Now it just tastes like sand. I never thought I'd miss the taste of mud so much.", Toph said.
Deidara got up, and rubbed his right eye to free it from the sand that traveled there. He removed the eye scope from his left eye to rub it as well. He put the eye scope back in it's spot once he was done rubbing.
Katara approached Aang to shake him awake. But that was not what happened.
"I'm awake. I couldn't sleep.", Aang said.
"Well, we need to get moving if we want to get out of this sand pit.", Katara said.
Both Aang and Katara looked to the sky. Something big and fluffy caught their attention.
"APPA!", Aang cried out happily just for the idea to become crushed.
"Appa ? But why would Princess Yue need him ? She's the moon!", Sokka said and grabbed Momo's tail to rub against his face, "She flies by herself!"
"That has to be the most senseless thing you have said since you got high on that cactus.", Deidara stated dryly.
"It's just a cloud. Wait! A cloud!", Katara said and handed Aang her Waterbending pouch, "Here, fly up and bend the water from that cloud into my pouch."
Aang took the pouch with a mildly angry look. He opened his glider and took off the the cloud. The cloud however was not giving him what Katara needed, thus only passed through it two times before it dissipated. He landed on the ground and gave the Waterbending pouch to Katara. She took a look in there to see how little was in there.
"Wow... There's hardly any in here.", Katara said sadly.
"I'm sorry, okay! It's a desert cloud; I did all I could! What's anyone else doing?!", Aang lashed out and pointed his staff at Katara, shocking her, "What are you doing ?!"
"Trying to keep everyone together.", Katara said, "Let's just get moving. We need to head this direction."
Everyone began to travel once more. Before they knew it, Toph's foot struck something.
"Ow! Crud! I am so sick of not feeling where I'm going!", Toph shouted as she rubbed her foot and gestured to the offending object, "And what idiot buried a boat in the middle of the desert ?"
"A boat?", Katara asked.
"You have to be kidding.", Deidara said rubbing his temples.
"Believe me, I kicked it hard enough to feel plenty of vibrations.", Toph groaned in irritation as Katara began to examine what Toph found.
Sokka swung himself like a string bean to see what Katara was doing. Katara rubbed the object in curiosity. It was made of wood. With a swing of his staff, Aang Airbended the sand off the 'boat' to reveal a desert glider.
"It's one of the gliders the Sandbenders use! And look! It's got some kind of compass on it! I bet it can point us out of here! Aang, you can bend a breeze so we can sail it. We're going to make it!", Katara said.
No one failed to notice Sokka trying to bury Momo in the sand with a childish laugh. Deidara rolled his eyes at the stupidity.
"I think I lost a few intelligence points.", Deidara muttered under his breath.
After sailing a few kilometers in the desert. Katara noticed something off about the compass.
"The needle on this compass doesn't seem to be pointing north according to my charts.", Katara said.
"You're right. It seems to be pointing at something else instead of north.", Deidara said examining it.
Sokka, who was on the edge of the sailer, held on to Momo's tail once more as the crazed lemur tried to fly away.
"Take it easy little ladies. I'm sure the sand folks who built this baby know how to get around here.", Sokka said in a dreamy voice, annoying both Katara and Deidara.
"Sokka, even the most patient of mankind lose their patience. One more word and there will be no doubt about me kicking you off this glider.", Deidara warned, trying to keep his head.
That got the drunken Sokka to shut up for once. Well sorta...
"Okay my friend!", Sokka said in a dreamy voice, "Let us fly to the land of milk and cookies, Sir Momo!"
Deidara turned around, scanning the desert with his eye scope. He blinked a bit when he saw something to make sure it wasn't a mirage. It was real.
"Katara, I see something up ahead.", Deidara said.
Katara looked up to see what Deidara was talking about.
"That's what the compass is pointing to! That giant rock! It must be the magnetic center of the desert.", Katara said.
Toph perked up in glee.
"A rock?! YES! LET'S GO!", Toph said excitedly, glad she would be able to see once more.
"Maybe we can find some water there!", Katara said with hope.
"Or maybe we can find some Sandbenders...", Aang said darkly.
The sun began to rise as they parked the glider at the base of the giant rock. Everyone climbed to the top on the natural walk way. Once at the top, Toph fell backwards and began making a rock angel.
"Ahhhh! Finally! Solid ground!", Toph said happily.
After that, everyone entered the cave that was at the rock. The walls of the cave were coated in a thick, yellow, slimy liquid. It dripped and oozed from the walls as if it were sweat. Sokka took a deep breath.
"I think my head is starting to clear out the cactus juice. And look!", Sokka said as he grabbed the yellow slime from the walls and munched on it, disgusting Deidara.
Sokka spat out the slime. He coughed and gagged as he tried to remove the foreign substance from his mouth.
"It tastes like rotten penguin meat! Awww I feel woozy.", Sokka said and slumped over.
"Disgusting! You have no common sense do you, hm?", Deidara gagged.
"You've been hallucinating on cactus juice all day and then you just lick something you find stuck to the wall of a cave ?!", Katara asked in extreme irritation.
"I have a natural curiosity.", Sokka stated simply.
"Good thing you're not thinking I am a girl who you want to marry, again.", Deidara said in irritation.
"Wait... WHAT?! I did WHAT?!", Sokka asked in horror and looked away in disturbance, "Okay! Just, ew! That was the cactus juice talking! Not me!"
Toph felt the wall. A light buzzing vibration flew through the walls.
"I don't think this is a normal cave. This was carved by something.", Toph said.
"Yeah... Look at the shape.", Aang said noticing the hexagonal shape.
"There's something buzzing in here. Something that's coming for us!", Toph said.
Everyone dashed out of the cave screaming. The cave was really a hive. A hive for those giant wasps. The wasps flew out in large swarms. Aang pulled Toph to the ground as one flew over head. Aang blasted one wasp, sending it flying. Toph did a similar thing by using her Earthbending. She heard another wasp approach and used her Earthbending to launch a large boulder at it. Sokka unfortunetly was a hair away from being crushed by the boulder.
"What are you doing? That rock almost crushed me!", Sokka said.
"Sorry, I can't tell where they are in the air!", Toph said.
Another wasp came closer to them. Sokka pulled out his machete and ran forward without fear holding him back.
"I got this one!", Sokka shouted then unleashed a battle cry, swinging his machete wildly.
"Sokka! There's nothing there!", Katara said.
Sokka looked around. The wasp was only a figment of his imagination.
"I guess my head's not as clear as I thought.", Sokka said sheepishly.
Deidara checked his clay pouches. He calculate dhow to use his clay effectively.
'Not enough clay to make a bird and take out every one of these things, but maybe if I can gather some wasps in one area I could take out several with one blow.', Deidara thought.
Deidara ran close to every single wasp he could, drawing their attention in various ways. He lead them all far from the group and stuck a hand into one of his near empty pouches. He made a misshaped figure out of the clay. The figure grabbed as many wasps as it could from the attracted wasps, trapping them. Deidara made another figure, and the second figure did the same thing as the first. Once all the wasps that Deidara lured were trapped, Deidara made a hand sign.
"Katsu!", Deidara said, blowing up the figures and the wasps.
He looked into his pouch and saw he was now out of clay.
'Dang it!', Deidara thought, 'I have to be careful now.'
"We have to get out of here! I'm completely out of water to bend!", Katara said.
A wasp flew past Deidara. Deidara jumped back. The wasp missed him, however Momo wasn't so lucky. The wasp plucked Momo from the sky and flew off. Aang was furious when he saw Momo being carried away by the wasp.
"Momo! I'm not losing anyone else out here.", Aang said and took off after the wasp on his glider.
"Come on, we're going down.", Katara said.
Everyone dashed down the ledge. Katara was guiding Toph so Toph could take out the wasps.
"Toph, shoot a rock right there. Fire!", Katara said.
Toph levitated a few boulders and launched them in the direction Katara told her, effectively taking out a wasp. Sokka cheered.
"Yeah! You got it! She got it, right ?", Sokka said.
"Yes, now let's move.", Katara said.
One wasp got too close to Deidara. He punched the wasp into the dirt, killing it.
Aang sped after the wasp with Momo. Momo chattered for help. With a blast of air, Aang freed Momo. Momo flew with Aang once he regained altitude. Aang snapped his glider closed and with a swipe of air, sliced the wasp in half with Airbending. Momo was startled by this merciless action, but none of the less, returned to the rock with Aang after the deed had been done.
Katara continued to guide Toph and her Earthbending. The two making a perfect team in this dire situation.
"On your left.", Katara said.
Toph launched several rocks to the left, beating the lights out of a wasp. May have been overkill if it weren't for the fact she was blind. Once everyone, including Aang and Momo, were back to the base of the rock, sand pillars formed and blasted the wasps away. Sandbenders. Deidara, Aang, Sokka, Toph, and Katara put up their guard, ready for whatever the Sandbenders dish out.
One of the Sandbenders came forward. He appeared to be some sort of leader.
"What are you doing in our land with a Sandbender Sailer? From the looks of it, you stole it from the Hami tribe.", The leader said.
Katara relaxed a bit, but kept herself on guard. She stepped forward a bit too.
"We found the Sailer abandoned in the desert. We're traveling with the Avatar.", Katara said and gestured to Aang, "Our bison was stolen and we have to get to Ba Sing Se."
Another Sandbender came forward. He appeared to be the youngest of the group.
"You dare accuse our people of theft while you ride in on a stolen Sand Sailer ?!", The boy snapped.
"How can it be stolen when it was abandoned and completely buried, hm? Explain THAT.", Deidara said rather smartly.
"Quiet, Ghashiun. No one accused our people of anything. If what they say is true, we must give them hospitality.", The leader said.
"Sorry, father.", Ghashiun said in a low voice.
Toph's unseeing eyes widened before narrowing.
"I recognize the son's voice. He's the one who stole Appa.", Toph said.
"Are you sure?", Katara asked.
"I never forget a voice.", Toph said.
Aang charged forward and pointed the end of his staff at Ghashiun in an enraged manner. His shawl flustered as he moved.
"You stole Appa! Where is he?! What did you do to him?!", Aang demanded.
Ghashiun coward back in fear.
"They're lying! They're the thieves!", Ghashiun said in haste.
Aang in an angry burst of frustration and a smash of his staff, took out one of the Sand Sailers with Airbending. The Sailer flew several meters into the air before crashing down.
"Where is my bison?!", Aang asked in fury, "You tell me where he is now!"
Deidara, backed away slightly, not wanting to be caught up in the next burst of air that was to come.
'And they say my temper's bad.', Deidara thought.
Once more, Aang destroyed another Sand Sailer to justify his anger. The atmosphere was sucking on more lemons now.
"What did you do?", The leader asked.
"It wasn't me!", Ghashiun stuttered.
"You said to put a muzzle on him!", Toph shouted pointing her finger right at Ghashiun.
"You MUZZLED Appa?!", Aang asked in pure rage.
The next thing that Deidara witnessed happen was Aang's tattoos starting to glow, same with his eyes. The wind picked up around Aang and became a very strong gale force wind sphere around him. Deidara quickly made a hand sign and gathered Chakra to his feet to anchor himself from being blown away by the wind that came from the air sphere.
With a nasty surge of wind, Aang demolished the last Sand Sailer in the Sandbender's possession.
"I'm sorry! I didn't know that it belonged to the Avatar!", Ghashiun shouted in fear.
"Tell me where Appa is!", Aang demanded with his voice mixed with several others.
All of the Sandbenders raised their hands as if they had been caught for stealing and were being arrested.
"I traded him! To some merchants! He's probably in Ba Sing Se by now! They were going to sell him there! Please! We'll escort you out of the desert! We'll help however we can!", Ghashiun said in panic.
This didn't calm down Aang at all. The air sphere gained more power and became a small vortex. Aang rose off the ground, hands and teeth clenched in furious rage, dropping his staff in the process. Sokka rushed to Toph and grabbed her hand and began to get her away from the possible carnage if things didn't stop.
"Just get out of here! Run!", Sokka shouted.
Deidara took a look at Sokka. One look at Sokka's face told the story. Whatever this power was, he had seen it several times before and they weren't pleasant experiences. With Chakra still pumping to his feet, Deidara decided it was best to get out of harm's way before things got worse. He didn't have any clay left, thus making his vulnerable to almost anything.
He then saw something happening in the vortex. Katara in the vortex and was reaching out to Aang.
'Are you crazy?!', Deidara thought.
Aang looked down to see Katara's saddened face. A face that was pleading for the young Avatar to calm down. The winds slowed down as Aang descended. Deidara watched in surprise as this happened. He was not expecting that.
Once Aang was in Katara's gentle embrace, Aang shed a tear as the light receded from his tattoos.