Kuseron grumbled incoherently under his breath. They were on a freaking island, in the middle of some random lake. In the middle of freaking nowhere! The Shadowbender huffed and stood, throwing his hands into the air. "Please tell me we are leaving this Spirit forsaken island!" He cried.
Aang looked at him, "Well, we have to decide if we are going anywhere first..."
He rubbed both his hands down his face, groaning. Why me? WHY?
Katara, Toph and Sokka were talking plans. He moseyed on over, listening to them talk. "—you think we'll get it? If you haven't noticed things don't always go so smoothly with our Gang." Toph grumbled half-heartedly.
Sokka was looking at her with his shoulder hunched forward. "I know, but I got a good feeling about this. This time will be different." The Water tribe boy smiled a bit.
Katara though, had a good point. "Sokka, Long Feng has control of the city. His conspiracy with the Dai Li is too powerful," She pointed back at Ba Sing Se. "I just think we should leave this horrible place behind."
Toph spoke up again, "I'm with sweetness. I've seen enough of Ba Sing Se..." She trailed off, throwing her hands into the air. "And I can't even see!"
Kuse stepped into the conversation. "I hate to disrupt, but if you guys aren't going back to Ba Sing Se, can you at least do me a favor and drop me off there, or at least at the gates?" Katara, Sokka and Toph turned their attention to him. They seemed confused. They really didn't expect him to stay, did they? Sure, he had fun, but... This wasn't his life. His life was in Ba Sing Se.
"You're not staying?" Toph asked, frowning at this. Kuseron shifted, shuffling his feet and kicking up a small cloud of dust. He didn't want to say that he wasn't, he really didn't. He knew little about everyone and well, even if he knew little about Toph... He liked her.
"I don't know. Ba Sing Se is like home to me." He replied, staring at the ground.
Aang flew over, landing beside him. "It's alright if you can't stay Kuseron," He turned to the others. "But now that we have Appa back, there is nothing stopping us from telling the Earth King the truth about the conspiracy and the war." The Avatar was siding with Sokka on this matter.
Kuseron shook his head when they looked at him. "This is your matter, not mine."
Sokka smiled slowly, placing an arm around the monk's shoulder. "See? Aang's with me." He stepped away from his friend. "It's the whole reason we came here in the first place, we have to try."
Katara grew thoughtful here. She frowned a bit, but spoke. "Well, I guess if the Earth King knew... things would change."
Toph stood up slowly, "I don't trust the new positive Sokka..." She trailed off, pointing at him. "Long Feng brainwashed you, didn't he?" She accused, her eyes narrowing.
Kuseron chuckled a bit. This was petty, but quite hilarious. Sokka looked out across the water, running up close to shore. "That's probably the Dai Li searching for us!" He looked at his sister. There were boats gliding across the water. Katara thought quickly before nodding, "Let's fly!"
Everyone hopped onto Appa quickly, except him. They looked at him in anticipation. "Aren't you coming?" Katara asked.
What am I to chose? Did he want to go with them? What would be the consequences of this whole matter in the end? "I..." He gasped as he flew up onto Appa, "We have no time!" Aang said quickly. The Shadowbender reluctantly sighed.
"Drop me off at the wall!" He cried. They looked at him, frowns. Frowns everywhere... Kuseron shook his head. "I can't do this. If Long Feng wins in the end, you'll be thrown in Jail or expelled from the city. If I get caught, I'll be imprisoned, then hung!"
Aang nodded quickly, "Appa! Yip Yip!" They took off into the air.
Kuse held on for dear life, this bison could move! He was faster than he had originally thought! Toph screamed into the air, "Can we please buy a new saddle? Riding bareback is terrifying!" She buried her face into the creature's pelt. He managed to scale over to Toph, placing an arm around her waist.
"You'll be alright." He said as loud as he could without letting the others hear. Toph lifted her head slightly, looking the wrong way but nonetheless, he could see her color a bit. Chiel bayed into the air, clearly enjoying the ride.
"There it is. That's the whole palace right there. The King's chamber must be in the center." Sokka said over the deafening roar of air in their ears. Appa though, landed on the wall. Kuseron stood on Appa, leaping off and looking at them. They gave him sad smiles. "I'm sorry guys. It's been fun, but I can't do this." He muttered, looking at the ground.
Katara spoke first. "It was fun while it lasted." She waved slightly.
Sokka tipped his head to him, "You're a good fighter, sad to see ya go man."
Aang waved to him. "Have a good life Kuseron."
Toph looked in his direction, but said nothing to him. She had anger written in her blind eyes and she seemed a bit, worse off than the rest. He saluted them. "You guys... Ya know, save the world." He replied.
Kuse turned away beginning to walk away.
What are you doing? You've always been asking to have more action in your life! This is it!
Don't go with them Kuseron. You'll get into deep trouble, then who's going to bail you out?
You idiot! This is your chance! Embrace your destiny!
Internal wars were being waged, he turned his head and slipped on his mask and hood. He couldn't abandon them. His better side had won. Kuseron flipped off the wall as Appa began to take off, throwing his hands to his side to give an extra boost with his shadow. He landed beside Aang, who gave a startled gasp. "If anyone in the Undercity gets word of this, I will personally make sure the Fire Nation wins the war." He hissed.
"We welcome the help." Aang said.
They returned to their conversation earlier about the King's Palace. "We have to be careful, Long Feng has probably already warned the King that we are coming." Katara said quickly.
"Why would you say that?" Sokka mused. "If you ask me, I think we'll sail in right unnoticed—" He broke off in a yell of surprise.
Way to go, Mr. Positive. Kuseron didn't believe in jinxes, but what Sokka just did, was really a jinx.
Appa quickly dodged out of the way of a boulder. "What was that?" Toph wailed into the air.
Kuseron slid backwards, coming to hold on again by her, his hand wrapping firmly around her waist. Truth be told, he kind of liked this, but... I'm also doing this to make sure she doesn't get hurt. He chided himself calmly.
Sokka lifted his head a bit. "They're surface rocks! More incoming!" He broke off in another yell.
Appa dodged three of them before Aang seemingly broke one in midair. Kuseron made sure he was gripping onto Appa tightly and Toph was still secure. Aang used his staff to cut one boulder in half, intent on landing. The avatar flew off his bison, landing on the ground with a forceful impact. Earth Kingdom soldiers flew into the air as the ground underneath them shifted and sent them flying. Appa had landed and was now walking forward towards the General on his ostrich horse, letting out a thunderous growl that made the ostrich horse back up and made the General fall of his mount. The ostrich horse ran off quickly.
He hopped off when everyone else did, running forward alongside them. Toph and Aang went to blocking Earth that flew at the from Soldiers. Kuseron moved his left hand diagonally towards the ground and brought it up. His Shadow becoming his own puppet. He ducked under a brick, thrusting his right hand forward and watched his shadow puppet knock down a few soldiers. He swiped his hands down in an 'x'. His puppet zoomed forward, the earth bricks flying threw it without doing any damage. This was just a Shadow after all. He followed everyone as they moved along, Katara took down soldiers with her water whip.
"Sorry!" She said to some of the as they yelped in shock and agony.
Katara flinched when she hit them. Kuseron rolled his eyes and darted forward, his shadow followed him immediately. He jumped into the air and landed on the ground, swiping his hands to his sides. A small platoon of soldiers fell and he stood, angling his hands in a certain way to almost look as if he was summoning a ball of darkness, but instead he muttered. "Puppet thrust." The darkness flew forward. He had no shadow at the moment. Soldiers fell promptly and his shadow returned to his side. Toph speedily Earthbended to where the soldiers that were running across these large tiles were half crushed by the giant tiles. He floated over them on his shadow, keeping his mind ahead. "Sorry, we just need to get through to see the Earth King!" Katara tried to apologize to them.
Shut up. He thought hastily to himself, eyes widening when he saw the soldiers earthbend two large statues at them. Kuseron heard Chiel whimper and he dodged out of the way of the statues, his shadow giving way under him but thankfully he landed on Appa's back. Thankfully.
He watched Katara swiftly clear out the soldiers by the small bridge. Aang froze the water to where the soldiers couldn't move. The girl was smart, graceful in her movements, but he liked head-on girls. Namely Toph... But he was not going to say that to anyone, nor was he going to admit it.
Kuseron looked up as they got to the stairs. That was a whole new challenge to conquer. What were they going to do? Toph stepped forward, dramatically waiting a few moments as she raised her hands into the air. What was her plan? Toph drew back into the horse stance, bringing her hands into fists. He lifted his blood red eyes, watching as the stairs turned to flat nothingness under the soldiers. She and Aang then began to bend the earth beneath them, making an Earth elevator.
Nice... He hummed in his head. He landed down beside Sokka, who shouted at the soldiers. "Seriously, we are actually on your guy's side!" Sokka looked off to his left, muttering. "Sorry."
Kuseron grinned. Aang and Toph pushed away a few soldiers with earth as they tried to come up on their sides. "In there!" Sokka cried.
They ran forward into the Palace, coming to a room that separated into three different halls. Guards ran in to confront them, but Toph sent them into the air, pinning them to the ceiling with large rock pillars. "Toph! Which way to the Earth King?" Sokka asked. The Girl kept her focus on the soldiers. "How should I know? I'm still voting we leave Ba Sing se!" She kept the guards busy, while Sokka, Katara and Aang looked around in the nearest rooms.
Kuseron helped quietly to block any rocks thrown at Toph, manipulating the shadows into doing his will. He heard some woman scream, "Burglar!" and Sokka replied, "Sorry! Wrong door!"
They ended up bringing down a few walls and messing up hallways, but in the end, they found the door.
Sokka proclaimed it to all mankind... "Now that's an impressive door! It's got to go somewhere." He took off over the rubble pile.
Kuse huffed. "Cue the angelic music."
Sokka ran full sprint at the door, and leapt into the air, trying to kick it open, but he only fell to the ground... Epically. He then tried to push the door open. Toph and Aang jumped forward, earthbending the door down. Sokka flew forward, face first into the King's throne room. He ran in as everyone else did, Sokka decided to complain at that point in time. "A little warning next time?" He rubbed his head and stood.
They stood in a line, coming to face the Earth King. Kuseron pulled shadows around him, ready for the fight that would come.
Aang spoke, diplomatically of course. "We need to talk to you."
Long Feng turned to the Earth King. "They're here to overthrow you."
Sokka spoke up next, "No, we're on your side. We're here to help."
"You have to trust us!" Katara said.
The Earth King stood, "You invade my palace, lay waste to all my guards, break down my fancy door and you expect me to trust you?" He yelled furiously.
Kuseron frowned a bit. "His earthliness has a point. We did kind of act like we were here to overthrow him..."
Katara turned her heard, glaring silently at him. "Not helping."
Although, Toph agreed with him. "He does have a good point."
"If you are on my side, then drop your weapons and stand down." The Earth King commanded. Kuse had already dropped his darkness. He did not want to be thrown in jail. It may be a good time to run. A very good time. Before he was thrown away to rot. Slowly, the gang stood down. "See? We're friends, your earthiness." Kuseron almost strangled Aang.
The Shadowbender was ready for the stone hands but he let them catch him. He didn't like it, not at all... He just hoped that the Avatar had something up his sleeve. Long Feng smirked, "Detain the assailants." Spirits... This was the end for him. He was going to be hung, and he would be dead. Lifeless. Gone. Dai Li agents zoomed forward on their stone feet, taking up positions behind them. "But we dropped our weapons. We're your allies." Sokka muttered.
Long Feng made a mistake when he spoke. "Make sure the Avatar and his friends never see daylight again."
The Earth King questioned, "The Avatar? You're the Avatar?" He pointed at Sokka, who responded. "Uh, no. Him." He pointed at Aang but the Earth King's gaze fell on him.
Kuseron shook his head. "Sorry to confuse you, your majesty. Another over." He mused.
Aang smiled. "Over here!" He bended the rock on his hands, to where he could outstretch his arms before putting it back into place.
Long Feng was not giving in yet. "What does it matter your highness? They are enemies of the state." Him and his honey-slick words.
The Earth King looked away from Aang. "Perhaps you're right."
Bosco came trudging over, sniffing at Aang before he licked him. The Avatar laughed lightly. The King smiled a bit, "Although, Bosco seems to like him. I'll hear what he has to say."
Aang walked forward. "Well, sir. There's a war going on right now. For the past one hundred years in fact. The Dai Li has kept it secret from you. It's a conspiracy to control the city and to control you." Aang said calmly to the King.
The King blinked in surprise. "A secret war? That's crazy."
Long Feng glared at the Avatar. "Completely."
"Long Feng didn't want us to tell you, so he stole our sky bison to blackmail us and blackmail is the least of his crimes! He brainwashed our friend." Aang kept calm while he spoke.
Long Feng turned to the King. "All lies, I've never even seen a sky bison, your majesty. Frankly, I thought they were extinct."
The Earth King slowly sat down on his throne, frowning. "Your claim is difficult to believe. Even from an Avatar."
Long Feng walked over to the Earth King, speaking into the man's ear. The King spoke up. "I have to trust my advisor."
The Dai Li agents swooped in on them, Kuseron struggled for a moment in their grasp but Sokka shouted, "Wait! I can prove he's lying. Long Feng says he's never seen a sky bison. Ask him to lift his robe."
Long Feng looked a bit nervous, but hid it well in his outrage. "What? I am not disrobing!"
Aang inhaled sharply before exhaling. Long Feng's robes billowed up and Aang shouted. "Right there! Appa bit him!"
Sokka grinned. "Never met a sky bison, huh?"
Long Feng huffed as he pressed his robe back down. "That happens to be a large birthmark. Thanks for showing everyone..." He looked at them disgruntled.
The Earth King looked confused. "Well I suppose there is no way in proving where it came from."
Sokka was positive, maybe a little too positive. "Of course there is!"
The next thing that Kuseron knew was that Appa was in the throne room, showing off his large teeth to the King. You have got to be kidding me... Aang pointed to Appa's teeth and then to Long Feng's leg. The Earth king nodded slowly. "Yep. That pretty much proves it."
Everyone was suddenly cheering, except him. He knew what was coming next... "But it doesn't explain this crazy conspiracy theory." The gang all moaned in displeasure. Kuseron shrugged slowly.
"Although... I suppose this matter is worth looking into." The King mused.
Everyone was a bit hesitant but they muttered things happily. Kuseron could tell that Long Feng was clearly pissed off, he walked away sulking.
Kuseron later found himself on a train. The Earth King was curious albeit, he was going nowhere. "So this is what a train is like?" Everyone was staring at them. "I didn't realize it would be... this public."
Katara spoke up. "So you've never been outside the Upper ring before?"
The Earth King shrugged a shoulder. "I've never been out of the palace." He pointed outside, at Aang and Appa. "Now that's the way to travel."
"So. May I ask where we are going?"
Kuseron shook his head and pulled his hood up. They shouldn't be heading for Lake Laogai. There would be nothing left there... The Dai Li were smart, not idiotic like the guards.
Sokka replied, "Underneath Lake Laogai, your kingliness. To the Dai Li secret headquarters, you're about to see where all the brainwashing and conspiracy took place."
When they arrived at their destination. It wasn't good news.
"There isn't going to be anything here..." He whistled, shaking his head as everyone ignored him. Again.
Toph walked forward, ready to earthbend the entrance up. She pulled the entrance up, before speaking. "It's gone."
Sokka put his hands to his face. "Aw. Don't tell me—" He stopped mid-sentence. "That's ok. Still got my positive attitude."
Yay. Kuseron thought, shaking his head. "You guys should listen to me more often." He grumbled, crossing his arms.
Katara spoke. "The Dai Li must have known we were coming and destroyed the evidence."
They were now losing the King's support. "Hm. That seems awfully convenient."
Sokka tried to win back the King. "Hey, if anything this should at least prove that the conspiracy existed even more."
The Earth shook his head, "Long Feng was right. This was a waste of time."
The Shadowbender clicked his tongue. "Shucks."
"If you'll excuse me. I'm going back to the palace." The King began to walk away.
Katara turned to Sokka. "The wall! They'll never be able to cover that up in time!"
"Oh yeah." Aang jumped over in front of the King. "If you come with us to the Outer wall, we can prove to you that the secret war is real."
Kuseron narrowed his blood red eyes. What were they talking about? What was out by the outer wall? Did something happen?
"No Earth King has ever been to the outer wall." His earthliness muttered.
There's always a first. Kuseron mused in thought, kicking a stone across the ground. What was out there? Had he really missed something since he had left to the Inner ring?
"I don't have anymore time for this nonsense." The Earth king walked past Aang. Sokka ran forward after the king. "If you come with us, this time you can ride on Appa."
Ah... bribery. So many good things could come out of it. Kuseron was holding on by Toph, while the Earth King screamed his lungs out. He had his arm wrapped around Toph's waist. Who still was gripping blindly into the fur of the beast. She still did not like flying.
"First time flying?" Toph grumbled.
The Earth King looked at her. "It's both terrifying and thrilling!"
"Yeah. I hate it too." Toph grumbled, she buried her face back into Appa's fur. Kuseron smirked a bit. "You got nothing to worry about." He muttered in her ear. Toph jabbed him sharply in the ribs. He didn't flinch. "Seriously?" He asked. She didn't respond to him.
"I have to be honest with you, a part of me really hopes what you are telling me about this war, isn't true." The Earth King piped up.
Aang agreed with him. "I wish it wasn't."
When they reached the wall, Aang cried joyfully. "It's still there!"
"What is that?" His earthliness asked, looking astonished at the drill.
Spirits, he was amazed too. What was that thing? And why was it sticking into the outer ring wall?
Sokka spoke, explaining everything. Or so Kuse hoped. "It's a drill. A drill made by the Fire Nation to break through your walls."
They landed on the wall above the drill and stared down at the mechanism. It was so huge! Kuseron was amazed it hadn't broke through into the outer ring!
The Earth King looked miserable as he stared down at the Fire Nation drill. "I can't believe I never knew."
Kuseron turned, looking at Long Feng as he appeared with two agents by his side. "I can explain this your majesty."
Oh really now. Kuseron lifted a brow at him, listening to his oh-so-perfect excuse.
"This is nothing more than a construction project." Feng mused.
Katara stepped forward. "Then perhaps you can explain why there is a Fire Nation insignia on your construction project."
"Well it's imported of course. You know you can't trust domesticated machinery." Long Feng was growing nervous. "Surely you don't believe these children instead of me, your most loyal attendant."
There was a long pause as the Earth King thought, his gaze flickering repeatedly from Long Feng to the rest of them.
He finally decided, "Dai Li, arrest Long Feng. I want him to stand trial for crimes against the Earth Kingdom."
Everyone was surprised. The Dai Li agents quickly put the man in chains. Long Feng protested, "You can't arrest me. You all need me more than you know!" He was dragged away quickly.
"Looks like Long Feng is Long GONE!" Sokka jeered.
They were taken back to the palace. Kuseron had done so much walking, he wasn't sure how much longer he'd be able to stand. He was literally about to pass out...
"I can't thank you enough young heroes, for opening my eyes. All this time when I thought, this was a great metropolis it was merely a city of fools." Bosco grumbled a bit in his own bear way. "We're at war, with the Fire nation..."
Sokka stepped forward. "That's why we came to Ba Sing Se, your highness. Because we think you can help us end the war."
"We don't have much time. There's a comet coming this summer and its energy will give the Firebenders unbelievable strength. They'll be unstoppable." Aang continued on.
"But there is hope. Before the comet comes, we have a window of opportunity, a solar eclipse is coming. The sun will be entirely blocked out by the moon, and the firebenders will be helpless." Sokka muttered.
"What are you suggesting Sokka?" The King inquired.
"That's the day we need to invade the Fire Nation." He paused. "The Day of Black sun."
The King looked at the ground. "I don't know. That would require moving troops out of Ba Sing Se, we'd be completely vulnerable."
Sokka shook his head. "You're already vulnerable. The Fire nation won't stop until Ba Sing Se falls, you can either sit back and wait for that to happen or take the offensive and give yourself a fighting chance."
The King looked away, thinking to himself before he nodded in agreement. "Very well. You have my support."
Kuseron smirked as everyone danced a bit, happy that they now were on the King's side. They were good. They had it all good...
"Your majesty..." Another man spoke, a General by the looks of it as he walked forward. "I apologize for the interruption."
The King explain who he was. "This is General How. He is the leader of the council of five. My highest ranking Generals..."
How spoke. "We searched Long Feng's office, I think we have found something that will interest everybody."
They moved onto the library, where General How went to explain. "There are secret files on everyone in the city." He looked at Aang, Katara, Toph and Sokka. "Including you four."
Kuseron lifted his head, "What about me?"
How shook his head. "There was nothing on anybody named Kuseron in the files."
Everyone looked at him expecting anger or sorrow, but he only smirked. "I'm too good for them."
"Secret files?" Aang asked as the Earth King pulled out scrolls from a box.
"Toph Beifong." He held out a scroll to Toph, who handed it to Katara. She read it quickly. "It's a letter from your mom. Your mom's here in the city and she wants to see you!"
Toph looked surprised. "Long Feng intercepted out letters from home?" She shook her head. "That's just sad."
"Aang." The Earth King handed the avatar a scroll. General How muttered, "This scroll was attached to the horn of your bison when the Dai Li captured it."
Aang smiled a bit. "It's a letter from the Eastern Air temple."
Katara and Sokka looked at one another before they turned to look at the Earth King. "Is there perhaps a letter for us by any chance?" Katara asked.
The Earth King frowned. "I'm afraid not."
"Oh..." Sokka muttered.
General How brought their spirits back up. "But there is an intelligence report that might interest you."
Katara took the scroll and unrolled it, "A Small fleet of water tribe ships?"
Sokka leaned in. "What? That could be Dad!"
"Protecting the mouth of Chameleon bay, led by Hakoda? It is dad!" They hugged each other in their joy.
Kuseron smirked. Everyone was happy. This was nice...
Afterwards, they all sat down in the Library, talking between one another. Kuseron ignored them, quietly trying to rest a bit before he actually did pass out. There was something about some Guru, and a blowfish, and a Spiritual guy and Avatar state... Blah. He was hardly listening. "This is all such big news!" Sokka mused.
Kuseron cracked open an eyelid, everyone was looking at him now. "What?" He muttered, scratching Chiel behind the ears.
"Are you going to do anything special?" Katara asked. "Or have anyone special?"
Kuse shook his head. "Nah. I don't have anyone..." He didn't look at them. There was silence. He was not going to speak of his past, he never wanted to relive it. He didn't want to know anything. It was all so fuzzy. Everything.
Sokka tried to bring the happiness back. "Where do we all start?"
"I hate to say it but, we have to split up." Katara muttered.
Kuseron tuned them out again, grumbling under his breath about the stupidity of this situation.
They had all decided on what they were going to do, Sokka was going to head off with Aang and Appa to only be dropped off at Chameleon bay. Toph was going to go see her mother. Aang was going to go master the Avatar state and Katara was staying here, to help the King.
Kuseron? He was going to help Katara. She had come to ask him to help her in planning in the invasion, but tomorrow... He was going to walk with Toph first.