Author: Okay! Time for chappie number 2! Yay! Thank you for reading, everyone, sorry I took so long, and please review!
Oh, and the Gaang come in this chapter for anyone that was wondering. Zuzu will come in next, I promise!
Aang: Yes! ^o^ *flies around on little air ball thingie*
Author: Wait a second. I rephrase that: It should be the Appang… Gaappa?... Either way, the insane, hyper, arowheaded, flying monkey does not deserve a gang of groupies in his name! Appa does! Because, everyone, is Appa not awesome? I dare you to say he isn't…*steals Aang's flying kite and holds it threateningly*
Aang: Awww…*pouts*
Author: Nope! Not gonna give in!
Sokka: Oh, just give his the flying kite back… And restore his 'Gaang' I don't like it anymore than you but I can't stand his super pouty face.
Toph: I can! I don't know what you're complaining about.
Author: How do you—Hey no fair! You're immune to the powers of the super pouty face because of your blindedness!
Toph: Hmph. You're just jealous.
Author: And you're—
Katara: Shut up!
Author: Grrr… Anyways! Enjoy the story! ^o^
Ch. 2: Arrowheads, Loopies, Ponytails, and Fluzziness, oh my!
Ouch! That hurt! The wagon I was being transported in rattled violently on the presumably royally crappy road. I'd been on the road for ages… well, two days, but come on! Cut me some slack! Oh, sweet Agni, I'm gonna be so sore… darn that Fire Lord Zuko…
"Hey! Psycho driver man! Do you mind not driving on the bumpy part of the road?" Grrr… Ignored yet again. I was, understandably, pretty mad at this point. It's all fun and games till someone gets dragged along in a horrible wagon on the mother of all bumpy roads. I mean, come on. After I had pissed off a very important person, aka Bunkichi/Angry Storm Cloud, he had me carted off in a wagon bound for Fire Lord Zuko's palace. And what was one supposed to do for three or four days in an almost completely empty wagon. Nothing? I think not. For the past couple of days, I had amused myself by experimenting with my flower powers and making a huge variety of flowers.
*gasps* Idea! *imaginary light bulb goes off above head* Hey… I could use my newly acquired flowerbending ability to bust outta here! Maybe, I could get some special flowers whose smell causes you to pass out… Yes! Oh! Random psychic moment… All of you readers are like, WTF… this chick can actually think? And come up with ideas? No way!
And yes, thank you very much, I can think, and I can come up with ideas! Geez… Thanks for the lack of confidence, people! Though, I do admit, that was an amazing stroke of genius, especially for me!
Anyways, on to phase one of my genius plan. First, I needed to get the driver's attention. Heehee… I had an idea of how to do that…
"HEY! Driver man! I need to pee!" The wagon stopped with a jolt and the momentum threw me forward from my sleeping position, smashing my nose into the bench across from me. Ouchies. Did not anticipate that…
The door slammed open and a huge-and I mean huge-man with a goatee filled the doorway. He looked down at me and said in a deep, gruff voice, "Well than, get your butt up and go pee."
I stood up and flashed him a blinding smile. He should really invest in some sunglasses to protect himself from the powers of shiny teeth. I then danced/skipped my genius self over to the bushes, wandering farther and farther out into the brush. Growing up in the Academy, I had never set foot in the outside world, and was therefore amazed at the vast change of scenery. Back home, the area was densly forested, moist, and cool. Here, though, it was very desert-like; dry, arid conditions with sandy ground and only a few scrubby bushes. After a while, when I was sure I was far enough out of site for privacy, I found what I was looking for: a nice, fat little bunny rabbit.
Sweet! Now for phase two: trying out my new skill. I kinda felt bad for the poor guy, but hopefully, he wouldn't die from the flowers, just pass out. Okay… just think of a flower that makes you pass out while executing a firebending technique. I had used the same technique to make flowers that had huge, foot-long thorns on them! Awesome, right? Right. This would be easy as pie. So, I executed the plan flawlessly… Well, I would have if not for that stupid little rock that conspired to trip me! What? It did!
Okay, so I tried it again, thank Agni with no tripping, and was much more successful. A ton of flowers sprung up in front of me, and , taking care not to breathe the potentially dangerous aromas, chucked them at the unfortunate, fat bunny in front of me. Heh. This is easy!
His ears went up and he started hopping away in the classic bunny fashion, but not before my flowers landed right in front of his adorable little bunny nose! So cute… Hey, I like bunnies! Anyways, score for me! That, my friends, was a perfect of my sometimes *coughs* impeccable aim. The result of my epic skill was that he took on sniff, sneezed (squeals at cuteness!), then dropped dead. Well, hopefully, he wasn't actually dead, because that would be terrible!
"Bunny!" I sprinted, a very slow sprint, in case you were wondering, over to the collapsed ball of fluffy adorableness and checked its pulse. Any yes, I do know what a pulse is and how to check it. Well, the general area, anyhow; after a few tries I found the right spot. But geez, people, your lack of trust in my abilities is just plain infuriating now! Grrr…
Anyways, drum roll please… The bunny rabbit of fluffy cuteness had… a pulse! Phew… At least this stupid flowerbending had a use besides making pretty bouquets, which, honestly, held absolutely no appeal for me. As I was staring at the little collapsed bunny, it actually started snoring! Ha!
"HEY!" Darn it! It was the gigantic, evil guard/driver man. "I don't care if you're done or not, if you don't come back now, I'm gonna come get you, and that will not be pleasant for you!" *sighs* Oh well. No more time for experimenting I guess… Oh geez—I just sounded like a crazy, demented scientist! That experiments on bunnies! But I swear, I'm not! At least not the scientist that experiments on bunnies part; I fully admit I am crazy and somewhat demented.
I sprinted back to the road, which was a lot farther off than I thought. Am I even going in the right direction? How far did I wander off? Stupid. I was so not built for any type of exercise! After about five minutes of slowly sprinting, sweat was pouring down my face. I know, pathetic. But, like I said, I was not built for exercise, let alone the sprinting and running type. I slowed down to a walk for a while, then once the road was in view, I started running again. As soon as I got there, I collapsed on the dirt road in front of the wagon, hyperventilating and utterly exhausted. After a good five minutes of some good old R&R on the dirty ground, I crawled back onto my feet. My hyperventilation had slowed to short, gasping breaths as I crouched down, looking around to see where the huge bear of a man ended up.
"Teddy!" With a burst of energy, I jumped up to huge the big, giant, non-cuddly Teddy Bear. "I was worried I'd never make it back alive! But you would've come to get me, right?"
He regarded me with an expression that could only be described as exasperated and lost, completely lost. "Oh, sweet Agni… What did I do to deserve this?" He lifted his eyes to the heavens and slowly shook his head. It looked like he was already worn out… My skills have improved… "Okay… You're gonna get back in the wagon now, and I'm gonna try not to strangle you. I don't really feel like gettin' fired fright now…"
"You betcha, Teddy!" I unlatched myself, and seeing as my previous burst of energy had miraculously stayed with me, I unlatched myself and skipped/happy danced over to the door. I hopped up into the small space inside, much like my unconscious bunny friend, and as I did so, I heard Teddy mutter something along the lines of, "Kill me now… a whole day to go…"
Okay… Another day? I would go crazy! I couldn't even use my awesome escape plan because we were most likely in the middle of nowhere! I mean, what was I supposed to do in this tiny cramped space that only had two wooden and very uncomfortable benches. So far, I had managed to keep myself occupied by making little patterns with flowers and humming annoying songs, but it wasn't enough to keep me occupied for another day. I was left with only one option: sleep… That's impossible! There's no way I'm gonna be able to… *yawns* I'm so hyper after running… *eyes droop closed* Never gonna fall asleep… *yawns hugely* Be up for hours… *starts snoring*
"Ahhh!" I was thrown from my sleeping position face-first into the bench opposite me. "Oh, crap! I think my nose is broken…" Or at least it was bleeding heavily. Ah! Okay! Time for first aid! First step: tilt your head up to stop the blood flow… "Ach!"
I was now coughing up blood and hacking violently as a result of my sorry attempt at first aid. It was a mandatory class at the Academy, but I mean, who needs stuff like that, right? The first day, I tried to pay attention, and that was the day they taught us what a pulse was and how to fix it… and I kind of understood that… The rest of the time I only heard a few words of what the teacher was saying. I heard "Tilt your head up to stop the blood flow, but that was probably taken out of context. It was probably more like, "Do not, whatever you do, tilt your head up to stop the blood flow, it can be hazardous to your health. Geez… Try to learn from my mistake, people, and pay attention in class.
"Teddy! What in Agni's name is going on out there?" I could barely speak, and any words I go out sounded nasally and gross.
"Hey you there! Punks!" Teddy's voice was loud, even through the walls, and I could tell he was mucho angry. Hand plastered to my bleeding nose, I stumbled out the door, and when I came 'round the corner of the wagon, I was pretty darn sure I was hallucinating, probably from my experimenting on what side-effects different flowers caused…
"Oh, sweet Agni!" I dropped to my knees in terror, then proceeded to crawl into a little ball and rock myself back and forth on the dirty ground. The cause of my distress was a gigantic, and when I say gigantic, I mean FREAKING GIGANTIC, sky bison sleeping in the middle of the road. Thing is, though, I hadn't the slightest clue what a sky bison was, what one looked like, or that one existed at all. So, hopefully you can understand my freaked-outedness.
I had been at my curl-into-a-little-ball-and-pretend-there's-not-a-huge-freaking-moster-in-front-of-me mode for no less than ten minutes when a cheery voice basically screamed at me right next to my ear, "Hello, there! I'm Aang!" If I were not in the, you know, scariest time of my entire life, I would have probably stood up, slapped him, then kicked him where it hurt, because despite the high pitched voice, I was pretty sure it was a guy.
Oh, sweet Agni, the monster is going to eat me… Then another, female voice: "Aang! Give her some space!" I heard the sound of a scuffle and then there were two small hands on my shoulders. The gentle voice spoke out again, this time directly in front of me. "Sorry about Aang. He can be a little… overenthusiastic sometimes. By the way, my name's Katara."
I looked up to see a girl who must have been a couple years younger than me. She had dark tan skin, clear blue eyes, and dark brown hair that had little 'loopies'—I didn't know what else to call them—on either side of her face. I was oddly comforted by the sight of her and slowly uncurled myself from the tight little ball I was in, which proved to be quite difficult.
"Ummm…. Hi. My name's Hana… And uh…" I gulped and steeled myself to look at the big, white, fluffy, fuzzy sleeping monster. "What is that thing?"
"Oh, Appa?" He's a sky bison." The person who spoke was not Katara, but a guy who looked close to my age. He shared Katara's blue eyes, tan skin, and brown hair, except his was pulled back into a short ponytail.
"Sokka! Can't you see she's afraid?" Katara stood up, leaning forward slightly as she yelled at Mr. Ponytail, who I guessed was her brother.
"Guys, guys, calm down. A wise monk once told me that violence is not the answer…" I recognized the voice and turned to see a shrimpy, young, bald, grey-eyed boy who had an arrow on his head. Turning to me, he said in his bright voice, "Sorry about Appa. He got really tired and needed to rest, but we couldn't get him to move out of the middle of the road."
"Oh…Ummm…its okay, I guess." My head was spinning from all the new names, people, and white, fluffy monsters. "Hey, Loopy Girl?" Katara looked indignant and Sokka started bustin' up at her new nickname. "Question for ya. Where'd my ride go?"
At that, everyone looked around, but the wagon with its Teddy Bear driver man was nowhere to be seen, except for a cloud of dust that was slowly fading into the distance. "What? Really? I thought the whole point was for Teddy Bear not to get fired…"
Katara asked, "What?" at the same time as Sokka asked, "Who?" Both of them were giving me equally confused and worried looks like I needed "help!" Psh… Why would anyone think that? Am I right? No? Oh, bite me.
"Oh, um, well Tedd—I mean the driver dude was supposed to take me to Fire Lord Zuko for, like, a job interview or something."
"That's great!" Arrowhead exclaimed. "We were just on our way there, and as soon as Appa gets—" A huge roar vibrated through me and ginourmous steps were like mini earthquakes as Appa got to his feet. Aang jumped up, and, using a little airbending, was standing up in the "saddle" in a flash. "Come on! We're still about a day's flight away from the palace.
Flight? What in Agni's name is he talking about? You see, life at the Academy was pretty sheltered. We ate, slept, trained, and talked, but we knew next to nothing about the outside world. Namely, the Avatar and his sky bison were nothing but words, no meaning attached. I knew that Fire Lord Ozai had been defeated, and Prince Zuko had taken his place, but I didn't know even the most basic details. It was sad, really, how clueless I was. But for now, I remained blissfully ignorant.
Before I could voice my concerns, Sokka had picked me up and tossed me over his shoulders. "Hey, Ponytail! Ever heard of personal space? Put me down!" He made a small noice protesting his new, but I must say, very appropriate name, and soon, I was on my own two feet in Appa's saddle. A fit of dizziness came over me and I kneeled down, hanging my upper body over the edge to burry my face in Appa's fur. Heavenly. Fuzzy. Fluffy. Fluzzy. All words to describe Appa's indescribable fur. Medically speaking, it was probably not the best thing to do when sickness was threatening, but the feel of his luxurious fur did away with all nausea. Fluzzy, as I decided to call him from now on, grumbled and then Aang yelled, "Yip, yip!"
Oh. Ehm. Gee! Fluzzy started—Sweet Agni save me—he started flying! I started falling off when a rough hand reached out to grab my flailing arm and yank me back into the saddle. I turned around to see who had so kindly saved my life, and was greeted by yet another new person. She was short, had choppy black hair, and what appeared to be blind eyes.
"Nice one, Princess." The girl had already laid back down, presumably to resume her nap.
"Who are you calling a Princess, little Miss Spunkmeister? I'm sorry to have so rudely interrupted your nap? How dare I disrupt the rest of your Holiness?"
"Hn. Well you should be." With that, she closed her eyes and promptly fell asleep. No one seemed to notice our little exchange except Aang.
"Oh, that's Toph. I'm sure you two will get along great!" Damn. I'm really starting to hate optimists, especially arrowheaded airbending monkey ones such as someone I know, *coughs* Aang. Said flying mokey then hopped onto Appa's neck as Sokka and Katara followed Toph's example. Well then. It seemed the Arrowhead Monkey was ignoring me, and everyone else was fast asleep. I, however, felt my face turning green as I hunkered down, rocking back and forth. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts. I am standing on the most solid surface in the world, it extends in all directions for miles and miles, and it is most definitely not moving, especially not flying.
Okay… How many bet that actually worked, huh? No one? Haha! I win! It worked! Only for a while, probably, but still! For the moment however, I was most certainly going to take advantage of this time. Now... where'd the hair ties, dye, face paint, and ropes go… *rummages through pack* Aha! Hehe… This is going to be a fun night…
Author: Oh, man! They are so screwed… Haha!
Sokka: NO! Let us out of your mind so we can go and save ourselves!
Katara: Oh, Agni, what the hell are you planning to do with my precious loopies?
Aang: What? Are we gonna play a game or something? ^o^
Toph: Well, whatever you do, it's not gonna affect me—I'm blind and therefore do not affect what you do to my appearance!
Hana: Dammit! Hey Toph, how do you navigate if you're blind?
Sokka: *you continue to amaze me with your intelligent language but still totally idiotic mind*
Toph: I use my feet to sense vibrations in the ground!
Hana: YES! I have found a way to outsmart you, Spunkmeister! As for you, Princess Sparkle Pony, I have something special in mind for you. Oh and Aang, this is gonna be the greatest game ever.
Katara: Who's Prince—NO!
Aang: YES!
Author: Heehee! ;D
While we continue this heated discussion in my genius brain, I will thank everyone for reading. Zuzu's gonna be in next! Yay! *puts ducktape over said person's mouth to keep him from throwing a hissy fit* Until next time! Please review!
