Waving goodbye to their new waterbending friends, Aang, Sokka, and Katara climbed onto Appa's back with bright grins on their faces. It always warmed their hearts to know that there were still benders out in the world standing up against the Fire Nation. "Yip-yip!" Aang called at the top of his lungs so his flying bison would hear him over the Waterbenders' cheering voices.
Once the heroes were up high in the air, floating along with the white wispy clouds over the coast of the Earth Kingdom, Sokka and Momo immediately began searching for something to snack on. Rolling her eyes at her brother's actions, Katara sat next to Aang at the front and happily watched the fluffy clouds pass by them.
"I hope Kalas and his family stay safe," Katara commented in a nonchalant tone of voice. "I really liked them...they were wonderfully generous people, huh?"
The Avatar simply nodded in reply to her comments.
Katara frowned at Aang for a moment, "Is there something wrong Aang?" she didn't like the fact that he was giving her a cold shoulder.
"I was just thinking about what Kalas and those Earthbenders were talking about the other night..." he gave her a fleeting glance to prove that he wasn't angry with her whatsoever.
"About Prince Zuko capturing the Earth Kingdom's general?" she watched him nod in reply once more. "It doesn't seem that would be something he would do though...unless he thinks you will come and rescue the Earthbender...?"
Aang shrugged his shoulders, "I don't even know the general..." He lowered his head for a second and stared at his leather shoes, "Zuko does even care for the war right now. All he wants is me..."
Eavesdropping on their conversation, Sokka sat down behind his sister and poked his head in-between Katara and Aang. "Maybe Zuko is using the Earthbender to help track you down," he said in a thoughtful voice before he ripped a piece of bread off with his teeth. Sokka then handed the rest of the bread to Momo, the flying lemur, who was sitting on his shoulders.
"An Earthbender would never help the son of the Fire Lord in capturing the only person who can save their people now!" Katara slapped her brother on the back of the head. "It's insane! It's-" her brown eyes went wide with fear when she spotted something coming in their direction. "AANG!" she jumped to her feet and ran to the end of Appa's back with her leather pouch of water in her hands.
While the three of them were busily chatting away, three gigantic fireballs were soaring towards the sides and the behind of the flying bison. Katara was not quick enough to stop the first fireball from striking Appa's hind right leg, but she managed to freeze the next incoming fireball.
Crying out in pain, the flying bison began to dive down towards the ocean water to put out the fire that was currently burning its hind leg. "No Appa! Not the ocean!" Aang pulled on Appa's horns to steer him away from the ocean, "Back into the Earth Kingdom Appa! There are waterfalls there!" Once he had convinced Appa to fly back towards land, Aang ran back with Katara and Sokka to stop the rest of the incoming fireballs. "Where are they coming from?" the Avatar frantically looked down to see what was attacking them but there were too many clouds in the way.
"I don't know but here come three more!" Sokka pointed at the balls of fire.
Katara used a water whip to doze the growing fire on Appa's leg; she could see that the flying bison had already been burned badly. "I don't have enough water to stop all of those fireballs and heal Appa's leg-" she nervously glanced over at the Avatar.
Grabbing his faithful gliding stick, Aang used his airbending skills to blow the fireballs off in different directions. "I'll take care of the fireballs, just help Appa land!" the Avatar could already see three more fireballs swiftly moving towards them through the translucent clouds. As he blew the fireballs away from Appa, the clouds finally parted to reveal a long metal ship following them at full speed. Zuko...
"Look-there is waterfall over there!" Sokka ecstatically poked his sister several times in the shoulder to make sure that she would pay attention to him.
"I see it Sokka! Stop poking me in the damn shoulder will ya!" Katara barked at him as she steered Appa towards the waterfall which was only two miles from the coast.
"It looks like they are landing only a few miles inland," Uncle Iroh scratched his bearded chin as he kept his bright eyes locked on the flying bison.
Zuko grinned, "Perfect. I will finally be able to catch the Avatar," the Fire Prince cracked his knuckles in anticipation.
"I'm not letting you go on your own Prince Zuko," muttered a voice from behind Iroh. "You can't take on the Avatar and his friends all by yourself..."
You are not my damn mother Xhela, Zuko wanted to yell at her before he turned around to glare at her. His hardened dark eyes grew soft for a split second when he saw her broken smile; he could tell that she was worried about him.
"I can take care of the Avatar's friends while you go and capture the Avatar in a fair fight..." the Earthbender General suggested in a soft voice. "Besides...I know which waterfall they are heading to," she added slyly.
Momentarily looking at his uncle for help, Zuko spotted a twinkle in his uncle's eyes-like he had already approved Xhela's plan. Biting his lip as he thought long and hard about the consequences of having the general tagging along with him, he finally decided that she could be of some use to him this time around. "Alright," he sighed loudly, "you can come along."
Steam was slowly rising in the air from Appa's burned leg as the flying bison carefully dipped its leg into the waterfall. It let out a long growl of relief once it had settled into the cold pool of clear water. "Good boy," Aang gingerly patted his old friend on the top of his furry head, "Rest for a while."
"I knew it was too good to be true," Sokka grumbled under his breath as he kicked a stone across the dirt. "The minute we thought we were done with being bothered by Zuko-he shows up and nearly burns us out of the sky!"
"How did he even find us in the first place?" Katara bended water over Appa's singed leg, healing the wound using her special ability.
Aang stood in front of his friends with his gliding stick in his nimble hands; he was ready for Zuko to attack them this time. "I don't know...but he will probably find us again..." he narrowed his eyes towards the dark shadows in the tall forest trees and shrubs which surrounded the waterfall. He could be anywhere...
Crouching down in the thorny bushes next to the Earthbender, Prince Zuko waited with her for the exact moment to attack. He had some trouble holding himself back; Zuko was so close to the Avatar now-he could see Aang sweating. This is it-the moment I've been waiting for! I have the Avatar right where I want him! The Firebender's hands twitched as he impatiently waited for Aang to let his guard down just for only a second. He froze when he felt something soft touch his hand, it was Xhela's hand.
"Don't worry," she whispered to him with the same broken smile on her sweet face, "Just a few more seconds and he is all yours."
Forcing himself not to look into her eyes like he always stupidly does, Zuko curtly nodded in reply and kept his attention focused on the Avatar. When she moved her hand away from his, he felt a pain in his heart-like she had left a poisonous void deep inside of him when she wasn't near. He did not have much time to think about it though, for the Avatar had finally lowered his gliding stick to help Katara bend more water over Appa's leg. "Let's go," he hissed to Xhela.
Seconds after leaping out from his hiding spot, the Fire Prince immediately shot several scorching flames towards Aang. This time Zuko had the advantage over the Avatar and his friends. "Did you miss me?" he sneered at Aang as he kicked up flames into the air to blind him for a moment.
Quickly twirling his gliding stick, Aang blew away most of the burning flames away from his flying bison's furry side. "You came alone this time?" the young Airbender was befuddled by this; usually Zuko would bring in several reinforcements to keep his friends busy.
"That was a mistake," Sokka growled as he reached for his blue boomerang in his waist pocket. "Are you getting that desperate to capture us?" he taunted in his characteristic egotistical tone of voice. Swiftly throwing his boomerang towards Zuko's scarred face, his preferred weapon suddenly struck solid rock which had rose up from the ground without any warning in front of the Fire Prince. "When did he learn how to earthbend?" Sokka shrieked in fear.
"He didn't," Katara pointed to the armored female Earthbender who was standing behind Zuko.
Xhela laughed at the heroes' shocked expressions, "Two against three," she glanced over at Zuko with a smirk on her lips. "We have them out numbered now, don't you think Prince Zuko?" In a solid, forceful movement, the Earthbender General sent a line of spiked rocks towards the two siblings to separate them from Aang and Zuko. "You two can come and play with me," she growled as she sent another line of spiked rocks directly at them.
Slipping out his old-fashioned blade, the warrior from the Water Tribe ran at Xhela yelling at the top of his lungs. Swiftly, Sokka started to swipe his blade at her in every direction to keep her attention on him while his sister attacked her from behind.
The Earthbender had expected this all along. Smoothly dodging his blade like she was dancing with him, she ducked down when she could hear the waterbending sister sending a water whip her direction. As Katara's water whip accidentally struck Sokka in the face, Xhela kicked the warrior off his feet to deal with the Waterbender for a second.
Katara was more than ready for the Earthbender this time though, she sent a powerful wave of water at Xhela to knock her down on her back. "Are you sure you want to play with us?" she mocked a bit too early.
Pushing herself back to her feet in a matter of seconds, Xhela grabbed a handful of sand and threw it into Katara's face to temporarily blind her. "Don't get so cocky yet Waterbender," she snarled as she heard Sokka running towards her again. Standing completely still, she waited for Sokka to make a swipe at her before she attacked him.
Sokka's blade barely missed Xhela's right ear as she bent down to dodge his sloppy and overly-loud attack. Elbowing the warrior dead center in the chest, which knocked the wind right out of Sokka, Xhela then flipped around to kick him hard in the face. He fell face first into the dirt unconscious.
While Xhela was exhausting Katara out, Zuko was busily trying to find Aang's weakness so he could finally gain his honor back. "You should give up Avatar," he growled as he sent a burst of flames to block the water that Aang was splashing at him, "The Earthbenders are even beginning to turn on you!"
A few minutes later, Xhela was placing a blanket of solid rock over the two Water Tribe siblings to keep them from interrupting Zuko from capturing the Avatar. Brushing the dust off her hands, the Earthbender turned her attention to her savior and the Airbender. She could tell that Zuko needed a little help, so she decided to give Aang a little "lift."
Growing right between Aang's feet were sharp stone spikes which made him fall backwards so the spikes wouldn't pierce his nimble feet. As he was leaping back to his feet, Xhela pelted him with a dozen pebbles to keep him still long enough for Zuko to make the final blow.
Once Aang was down on his back, Zuko knocked the Avatar's gliding stick and main weapon out of his hands with a triumphant expression on his scarred face. "Looks like this is the end of the line for you Avatar," the Fire Prince glanced over at Xhela to see the same broken smile on her lips. As he was ready to knock the Airbender unconscious, he spotted Xhela suddenly falling forward out of the corner of his eyes. "Xhela!" Zuko tore his eyes away from Aang to see that there was a red arrow sticking out of Xhela's back. She's been watching my back this entire time and I never watched hers!
Using this to his advantage, the Avatar conjured a ball of wind and threw it at Zuko; the Fire Prince flew back and slammed into a tree unconscious. Aang slid across the dirt to get his gliding stick just as he caught sight of a volley of arrows soaring high in the air down upon him. He rushed over to help protect the Earthbender from the arrows as she was trying to pull the arrow out of her back. Spinning his stick around in a circle as quickly as he could, he used the wind to push the volley of arrows back into the dense trees where they had come from.
Fire Nation archers... the Avatar turned his head to see how the Earthbender General was, Where are they hiding? What Aang wasn't planning on was having the Earthbender still fighting him-like the volley of arrows had never happened. Performing a back-hand spring, the Avatar moved out of the way of Xhela's powerful kicks.
"I don't ever need your help!" she snarled at Aang, "Do you hear me! My people haven't had your help for one hundred years-and we certainly can't use it now!" Breaking the wooden arrow in her tightened fists she went after the Avatar with everything she had left; she would capture the Avatar for Zuko if it was the last thing she did for him.
Hiding up in the trees, the tattooed Firebender bounty hunter signaled to her archers to shoot another volley of arrows at her prey. "Try not to hurt the Avatar," June hissed between her teeth.
Aang and Xhela quickly caught sight of the second volley of arrows and they ceased fighting to protect themselves. The Avatar blew the arrows away from him while Xhela created a protective cave of rock and dirt around her to stop the arrows from piercing her body again. Breaking out of her dirt cave, the Earthbender took Aang by surprise and she managed to kick his stick right out of his tiny hands.
"You men are useless!" the bounty hunter scowled at the Fire Nation's top archers, "Never leave a woman's job to a man," she muttered sourly under her breath. "Just stand by," June snapped to the archers as she jumped down from her hiding place up in the trees. I'll take care of this myself...
"We don't need this anymore, now do we?" Xhela covered his stick up with rocks and dirt so he could not retrieve his weapon a second time. "Now surrender before I actually hurt you," she growled in a dark tone as she took a step towards him. Her ears twitched when she heard something hissing through the air; it was another arrow. Rising up a mound of dirt just in time, the tip of the arrow struck the mud and stopped just centimeters from Xhela's unprotected throat.
Narrowing her eyes, Xhela stared curiously at the tattooed female Firebender as she threw her bow down on the ground. My brother has spoken of a tattooed bounty hunter from the Fire Nation before...is this her? "The Avatar is mine," she kept her honey-colored eyes locked on the new competition.
June laughed at the Earthbender's comment, "The Avatar is not the reason I am here...but...he is a bonus for Zhao." The bounty hunter bowed before Xhela, "I have heard of your skills from numerous warriors in the war. Your name is almost legend in the Earth Kingdom, am I correct?"
While the two girls were trading insults back and forth, Aang silently crawled along the ground and slowly inched his way towards Sokka and Katara. If he could free them, then he would have a chance against the two benders who were so determined to capture him.
Hearing the hint of mockery in the bounty hunter's voice, Xhela bit her lip to keep her raging anger in check. "Names mean nothing to me..."
"Oh," the bounty hunter gave Xhela a sly smile, "My name is June, by the way. I just wanted you to know it before I cut your head off and send it back to Zhao."