Book 4 - Air

Episode 4 "The fire colonies"

Part 2

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Nothing much to say, except keep reviewing, it's always appreciated… ^^

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- Back at the ruined building where the gang had first met, a camouflaged Aang flew into view on his glider from the surrounding forest canopy.

Landing with a flourish on a ruined wall near some shrubbery, he looked around animatedly for Toph.

Two hands suddenly appeared from the greenery behind the Airnomad and pulled him into the bush.

"Waa!" yelled Aang as he disappeared into the greenery.

Looking inside the bush you could see Toph squatting next to a struggling Aang, who had been buried up to his neck by the earth bender.

"I changed bushes" said Toph with a devilish grin.

"Toph! Get me out of here!" said a disgruntled Aang.

"First tell me what you found" said Toph, sitting down.

Aang huffed a bit but then gave in.

"Nothing much, Mai and Katara are out on patrol, no one else has left the Firenation barracks, and after scanning around I couldn't find anyone else."

"Same on my end" confirmed Toph, "though there were a couple of times when I thought I could feel someone else moving around out in the forest, but I was never able to confirm it."

"Now that you mention it," said Aang, "I also thought I saw something a few times, but every time I went to check it out, I couldn't find anything?"

Toph looked like she was contemplating…

"If they're moving through the trees, I have almost no chance of spotting them" admitted Toph.

Aang nodded, which looked comical considering his almost buried state.

"We'll split up and swing back by the two bases to make sure no one else has headed out, and then head back into the middle. If there really is an ambush we'll be able to notice it and go straight in to help" said Aang, "fire benders and earth benders make a lot of noise after all."

Toph nodded her approval.

"Sounds like a plan" she confirmed.

Toph then got up, grapping her mobile living cover in preparation for heading off.

Aang looked irritated at being forgotten.

"Ahhh Toph?" he questioned

"Oh yah" replied Toph, her tone clearly indicating that she had deliberately forgotten.

With one stomp of her foot, a column of earth shot out of the ground, sending the air bender flying high into the air.

"Now we're even!" called out a grinning Toph after the still rising Aang. Having said her piece, she promptly returning to her plant-disguise and slid off towards the forest. Aang fell back to earth in the forest in the background.

- Zuko and Sokka were looking board, they were both not used to walking so far on foot.

"Man, I wish we had Appa here" whispered Sokka to Zuko, stopping for a second to rub his sore foot. Zuko stopped as well, causing the column to falter.

In front, Suki and the Earthkingdom officer turned to see what the holdup was.

"What's the problem?" asked the officer angrily.

Ahead on the path, a barrel suddenly rolled into view exactly where the leaders would have walked had they continued.

Turning back forward to see what the noise was, Suki reacted quickest, diving to knock the older officer away from the barrel and behind a tree. A second later the barrel exploded, sending a massive fireball towards the troops. Zuko and Sokka raised their shields just in time, the shockwave sending them flying back into the other soldiers. A second explosion came from the side, sending a large tree toppling down on the troop column, and causing them to scamper to avoid being crushed.

"Blasting jelly!" yelled Sokka through the ruckus. He and Zuko were already scanning the surrounding forest for the next attack, moving in front of some Earthkingdom troops who were still recovering. Around them the small patrol tried to reassemble. Looking into the surrounding forest Zuko suddenly saw a flash of light.

"Fire!" he called out.

An earth bender next to him raised a small defensive wall to defend himself. Zuko and Sokka kneeled into their angled large shields to deflect massive amount of incoming flame. There were too many Earthkingdom solders who had dropped their shields however, and Zuko used his free hand to fire bend some of the intense flame upwards and away from his fallen comrades. No one noticed however as everyone was shielding their eyes from the intense heat and light.

No sooner had the intense flame stopped then what appeared to be Firenation troops emerged from the forest, all of them were armed with weapons, and none appeared to be fire benders.

Numerous stunned Earthkingdom soldiers were immediately caught in nets as the group of twenty attackers descended on the patrol. Suki used her drawn sword to cut through a flying net aimed for her and charged forward. Zuko and Sokka also went into the offensive quickly, engaging in furious close combat exchanges using their swords and shields.

- Over with Mai and Katara, all appeared to be going well. Katara and Mai had started to hang back a bit, seemingly enjoying the lovely day.

Suddenly the lives of the Firenation solders turned upside down, for some of them, literally. The ground underneath the main column seemingly gave way and most of the solders had to dive and scamper to avoid falling into the sudden pit, though four unlucky men found themselves suddenly half buried.

The officer and his men up front had to use fire bending to deflect a series of flying rocks coming in from various directions. It didn't take long for men in Earthkingdom uniforms to appear from the surrounding forest, a few benders, but mostly non benders descended on the petrol.

Caught at the back, Katara automatically grabbed for her only water source, her large amount of healing ointment. Seemingly flicking the lotion, she actually water bended into the eyes of two attackers.

Mai had fired an arrow and flung a surprised attacker back into the forest from where he came, she then despatched another using some daggers.

Preparing another arrow, Mai looked around and saw that the two were out of immediate danger. However, the rest of the column was fighting desperately.

"Lets go!" said Mai turning to Katara, "and use your sword!" she added,

Katara suddenly remembered her sword and drew it a little clumsily while running. Her expression became determined however and she held it more solidly, the two girls descended into the Mêlée.

- Travelling through the tree tops, Aang suddenly herd a large explosion; a second later he saw a fireball rise into the air followed by smoke some distance away. Quickly he changed course to head towards the trouble.

- In another part of the forest, Toph also heard the explosion of rock, followed by the sound of numerous fireballs. Quickly she slid off in the direction of the combat.

- Zuko, Sokka, Suki and the remaining able Earthkindom troops fought a hard close quarter battle against a strong and aggressive opponent.

Zuko locked swords with an attacker, getting a close look at an unshaved and very rough looking man in a Firenation uniform.

After knocking down the attacker Zuko noticed that the few comrades on the other side of the toppled tree were quickly loosing the fight, some were already being carried away in nets.

"Sokka!" called out Zuko, indicating the unfortunate comrades.

Sokka tripped up his opponent and ran after Zuko. In the background the remaining attackers on that side of the tree began to crumble in the face of a rallied force, lead by a skilful Suki and the Earthkingdom officer. Zuko and Sokka dropped their shields and vaulted the trunk of the large fallen tree, quickly taking on the ambushing troops who were trying to carry off the captured. After a quick exchange the attackers realised they were facing capture themselves and withdrew, leaving the netted soldiers behind.

Breathing heavily, Sokka quickly cut the nets of the captured.

Looking around, Suki could see that about half the force, roughly fourteen men in total, were still battle ready, the rest were not badly injured but still dazed.

"Don't let them get away!" shouted Zuko suddenly, coming to a snap decision. Only a moment later, he snatched a discarded shield and quickly dashed into the forest after the fleeing enemy, a split second after that, everyone else followed with a combined roar, obviously caught up in the moment.

The hapless Earthkingdom officer had little choice but to follow his men.

- Katara flung some more ointment into the eyes of an attacker that had downed a Firenation comrade. She just had time to raise her sword as another sword come down. Out-powered, Katara desperately deflected the blow, doing similarly with the next few thrusts in water-bending-style fluid body motions. Quickly out positioning the attacker with her footwork, she was able to push him over when he was off balance.

Mai deflected a spear thrust with a large dagger, back flipping into the centre of a group of Firenation solders fighting back to back. In a blindingly fast sequence, she sent an attacker flying back with her dagger, intercepted a flying rock heading for a comrade with an arrow shot, destroyed another flying rock with another withdrawn smaller dagger in her hand, and then sent that dagger flying at the earth bender who had fired the rock. The earth bender was barely able to raise a protective wall, the point of the dagger however making it through to the other side, causing the attacker's face to fall in fear.

"Retreat!" the surprised earth bender called out.

The attackers immediately broke off and disappeared into the forest.

On the Firenation side about twelve solders were left standing. The rest seemed to be mostly uninjured and only lightly dazed.

"Don't let them get away!" shouted Mai suddenly, echoing Zuko's call.

The rest of the solders were seemingly only waiting for the order, the remaining troops launching themselves after the attackers as one.

- Aang stopped his travels through the trees, launching himself high into the sky to get an overview. From one side, he could see fireballs and dust explosions, from the other side the occasional rock came flying out from the canopy, accompanied by shouts, the two pitched battles were approaching each other rapidly.

Coming back down, he thought he could see shadows travelling through the trees nearby coming from the direction of both battles, another explosion up ahead however kept him moving forwards.

Toph was on the other side of the soon-to-be colliding battles, and stopped to put her hands on the ground. The silhouettes from the acoustic vibrations told her that the two groups being chased were about to meet up just ahead of her. Suddenly, it was as if the two groups disappeared one by one. Confused, Toph concentrated, but her ears soon picked up rustling from above, people were moving through the canopy above her, up ahead there was a shout, the two chasing groups were about to meet up.

- Zuko and the other Earthkingdom troops appeared in a small clearing. Opposite them, Mai and Katara's Firenation patrol suddenly appeared.

"There they are!" came two almost simultaneous shouts from each group. Not noticing that their opponent suddenly looked different, the two groups clashed.

Zuko, still wearing his Earthkingdome military hat had turned to duel with a helmeted Katara after fending off a separate attack, the two exchanging a very unusually fluid bending style of sword fighting with a few slashes and blocks.

Mai fired an arrow at Sokka, who barely got his shield up in time. The young Firenation lady then saw Suki in her very noticeable combat gear.

"Suki?" said Mai in confusion.

"Mai!?" said Sokka loudly, then looking at the arrow that had half penetrated his shield with concern.

"Katara?" said Zuko, suddenly realising who his unusual sword opponents was.

"Zuko?"

The youngsters all took a step back from the combat, looking at each other in concern.

"What are you doing?!" said the angry Firenation soldier near Mai, he was locking swords with an Earthkingdom soldier.

Before Mai got a chance to reply, Aang suddenly appeared from high up in the nearby forest canopy.

Leaping through the air, he brought his staff down in a wide arc as he landed on the ground. A massive gust of wind travelled through the middle of the battlefield and sent the combatants flying away from each other.

The youngsters had taken enough of a step back to remain on their feet, simply raising their hands to shield their eyes.

"That's enough!" said Aang commandingly.

The dust settled to reveal Aang standing in a very authoritarian manner, unfortunately it was not helped by the fact he was covered in leaves and mud.

One of the soldiers, who was quicker to recover, got to his feet.

"Who are you?" he asked, honestly baffled.

Aang looked dumfounded for a second, he then seemingly noticed his own condition for the first time. Raising his hand, he wiped the camouflage free of his forehead, revealing the very recognisable blue arrow.

"The Avatar!" came a disbelieving shout from another trooper.

"Damn straight!" said an approving Sokka, "and now its time to solve this little mess and find out which side are the bad guys."

As if already making up his mind on the matter, Sokka took an aggressive stance towards the Firenation troops. This was quickly mimicked by Zuko and Suki.

Katara and Mai also took defensive stances, but towards the Earthkingdom troops, affectively causing a faceoff between the friends, much to their own surprise a second later.

"But your side attacked us?" said Katara suddenly.

"No, it was you who attacked us" replied Suki, also confused

From the other side of the clearing, a bush suddenly slid elegantly into view and moved in-between the stunned troops until it stopped in the middle of the clearing. All looked on in a mixture of confusion and worry.

Suddenly Toph's head appeared out of the bush, with a quick flick of her wrists she earth bended much of the dirt and camouflage off of her until she was mostly free, though still very dirty.

"Sorry Sokka" said Toph solemnly, "it's not going to be that easy this time."

- A small campfire shone its limited light around the dark ruins of the deserted building the gang had first arrived at.

Appa lay near the fire, contentedly dozing. Momo lay on Katara's Lap, enjoying some attention. Toph, Aang, Sokka, Suki and Katara were all situated around the fire, staring at the flames in thought.

"Why do all of your plans recently involve us dressing up?" asked Toph sceptically after a few seconds.

"I just point out the best plan, it's not my fault that it involves going undercover again" replied Sokka, raising his arms in defence.

"It was a lot easier when the bad guys announced themselves beforehand" said Toph, crossing her arms and leaning them on her knees.

"Now that the Avatar is back" Katara said, nodding towards Aang and causing the young Airnomad to grin goofily, "they're not going to be many people left who advertise their bad intentions."

Sokka frowned for a second before leaning back with his hands behind his head.

"What ever happened to good old evil kings and crazy warlord?" he said.

"There were never any evil kings" said Suki from next to her boyfriend.

"You know what I mean" dismissed Sokka, waving his hand around.

"The crazy warlord may be gone" said a voice from behind the group, Aang, Katara, Suki and Sokka turned around, startled by the sudden appearance of Zuko and Mai from the night's darkness.

"But he left a big mess for us to clean up" Zuko continued.

Toph, who didn't look at all surprised, suddenly spoke up.

"Oh ya, Sparky and Sunshine are back" she announced to the group, a little too late.

All of Toph's seated companions turned to give her an evil look, for letting them by surprised like that.

"How did you know it was them?" asked Suki sceptically.

"Sunshine walks almost as lightly as twinkeltoes, and Sparky stomps around like a sabre-toothed-moose" Toph replied kindly.

Mai took a seat close to the fire.

"Well spotted, dusty" Mai said sweetly, smirking towards the earth bender.

"Dusty?" said Toph, trying out the nickname for herself "I like" she added with a grin.

"So, did everything work out at the Firenation base?" asked Aang with interest.

"Where were you for so long?" added Katara.

Zuko removed his travelling cloak before taking a seat next to Mai.

"Everything 'seemed' to go fine" Zuko said solemnly.

"Seemed?" questioned Aang.

"The General accepted the order to keep his men in the base for the next few days until we have had a chance to try out Sokka's plan" Zuko said.

Mai continued on behalf of her boyfriend.

"But no matter what we said, he wouldn't believe that the Earthkingdom soldiers were not involved somehow. He insisted that if we do not return in a few days that he would come looking for us."

Aang looked a little worried.

"You're the Firelord, can't you just order him to stay?" asked Sokka.

"As the Firelord, I shouldn't be undertaking missions to root out phantom soldiers" replied Zuko, "so yes and no, I can't really blame him for wanting to ensure I am safe."

"We have two days" said Mai, placing a reassuring hand on Zuko's lap, one he covered with his own a moment later.

"How did it go at your end?" asked Zuko, facing Aang.

"Unlike you, I'm not the head of state" said Aang, "I can't really order the Earthkingdom general to stay in his base… but I think I convinced him to give us a bit of time."

Aang turned to Toph, "what do you think Toph?" asked Aang to the small earth bender, "Do you think he was lying when he said he would wait for us to return?"

Toph thought about this for a second.

"I don't think he was lying directly," she said eventually "but there is a lot of anger and frustration amongst him and his soldiers, I think he will maybe keep his word for a few days... but after that, who can say."

Aang looked back towards the fire, contemplating for a few second.

"A few days is all we have then" he said determinedly.

"Ya" agreed Zuko, his voice sounding further away.

Reaching into his pocked, Zuko brought back out a small scroll, obviously from a messenger hawk.

"The reason we took so long was because I got a letter from my Uncle" Zuko stated to the group.

"What did he say?" asked Aang, his head coming up.

"He just said that he might be able to get us some more help soon."

"What kind of help?" asked Katara.

"He didn't say" replied Zuko, "But I wrote him to say that it better be a lot of help, and quickly."

"Don't worry so much Zuko" said Aang, trying to be cheerful, "we'll have this sorted out soon enough."

Zuko didn't let Aang's cheer influence him, frowning again before speaking once more.

"There are now a lot of shared boarders… and it will be some time before the Firenation has fully withdrawn… or security arrangements have been settles. If this is what we think it is, it could happen again anywhere along the boarder… and as we saw today, neither side needs much of an excuse for something like this to tern from a little spark, into something really nasty."

All of the youngsters turned to watch the fire, which crackled loudly to punctuate Zuko's analogy.

"So we play dress-ups again tomorrow" said Toph, filling the silence, "your plan better work Sokka."

Sokka nodded confidently.

Suddenly the small group was lost in their own thoughts under the dark, star filled sky above.

End part 1

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Don't worry all, I should have the next episode up in a week or so... nice to have regular updates I hope ^^

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