Mako reached Air Temple Island and searched for Jinora. He saw an airbender, training several students. Mako slowly crept towards the training session.
"Don't think of me as if I don't feel your presence." The airbending master smiled.
The Chief scratched his nape "It's good to see you too, Jinora."
They stood there for a while when Jinora broke the silence. "So...what brings the Chief of Police up here?"
"I...uhh...well, I wanted to borrow 2 Sky Bison from you." He answered.
"Okay, I'll ask one of the nomads to get a saddle for Hoochi and Ginna. These Sky Bison are for touring, so they'll make great travel companions." Jinora tapped Mako's shoulder
Mako was surprised with her agreement "Wh-what? Its okay to borrow?"
The Master giggled "Don't be silly! Of course, I'll do anything for help"
Mako gave Jinora a bow before riding on the Sky Bison. Ginna followed Hoochi in the air and landed on the Police Station. A giant armadillo-lion and 3 children greeted him.
"Good morning" the Chief said as he dropped from the saddle. Several men stood by his sides and saluted the Chief. He signaled for them to form a circle "Okay, we have recently identified the Xhu Fu's headquarters. Today is the day we go there and check it out for ourselves. I do not want anyone killed or injured, but prepare yourselves for the worst. These men are highly armed with artificial firebending machines. As of now, we do not know how they would harm the city but, we need to stop whatever they are trying to plan. Several shipments of brass and coal are being delivered to Warrior's Isle. Ready yourselves and we shall head out to the HQ! MOVE!"
Every Police Officer beside him quickly saluted "ROGER, SIR!" they packed their things and hopped on the 2 Sky Bison, waiting for them.
"Okay, kids. Stay behind me always and protect yourselves at all times. Are we clear?" The Chief asked.
The 3 kids looked at each other and smiled "YES, SIR!"
After several hours of flying, Kurana looked around at the sleeping officers and noticed something moving inside of the food packs. She slowly placed her hand over the moving bulge when suddenly it stung under her hand.
"YOW! What was that?!" she tugged on the drooling waterbender beside her.
"Ugh...what is it, 'Rana?" the Avatar was surprised that she was called by a nickname, only her mother knew.
"Th-there was something that stung me! Right there!" she pointed towards the bags.
Tokku removed the sheets and a certain porcupine-squirrel crawled out. It held bread inside it's cheeks while staring at the 2 benders. It ran towards Tokku and jumped on his head.
"What?! Marru?! What are you doing here?!" he quickly grabbed the small creature off his head.
"MARRU!" Lu Mei grabbed Marru out of her brother's hand.
"I've been looking everywhere for you, buddy!"
Kurana stood there shocked "That's your pet? It stung me!"
"I'm so sorry! He gets a bit startled sometimes." the girl was petting Marru's head.
"SIR! You have to take a look at this!" an officer yelled.
Mako stood up and by his eyes, he saw a fiery of flames surrounding the island's town. Hundreds of people running and screaming in pain. He noticed several familiar figures by the distance. Xhu Fu footmen were burning down the area. The Chief signaled the Bison Rider to land by the bay.
"HURRY! WE HAVE TO HELP THEM!" He ordered his men to lead the civilians out of the island while Kurana and the others helped him put out the flames. Kurana's eyes filled with fear as she watched the flames crawl behind the backs of the helpless civilians. A cold hand gripped hers and as she looked, she saw the waterbender boy hugging her.
"Stop crying. It's going to be alright. We're going to stop this, okay?" He said as the young girl weeped in his arms.
Kurana immediately wiped her tears and stood bravely "Okay, let's do this."
Mako, Kurana and a few firebenders quickly bent the fire out of the houses. Tokku threw water over the whole town to put out most of the fire. They all stood in awe. Several men cooed.
"I get that a lot." He boasted
"Okay! Pursue the Xhu Fu!" Mako commanded
The masked men ran around the buildings and houses to jump over the officers. They blasted their artificial flames throughout the area. When the flames faded, a hooded masked man slowly walked out from the flames. He held a long thin brass bar. His mask was like the others but the 'X' was painted with red.
"Nice to see the whole gang here." He said as he lit the brass bar with fire
"They call me, Reinju and I am here to rid all of those in our way." He cracked his neck and ran towards a police officer. He threw several fireballs towards him but was absorbed by a short-haired woman.
"Go after the others!" Lu Mei yelled and held a dark blood-red flame in front of the hooded man "I got this one."
"No, I'm with you this time." Tokku placed his hand on his sister's shoulder
The others chased the fleeing men and the metalbenders cuffed them up. Kurana saw a shining object by the distance and broke off with the group to run after it. She noticed that it was Hakoro's goggles, glistening from his eyes.
"Ahh, I see you've come. What business do I have with you, little girl?" He provoked Kurana as he held the bright green flame from his palms.
"Do you know who I am?" The young girl growled and clenched her fists
"And what would change if I did?" He spat out
Kurana rose a boulder beneath his feet and encased him in rock. She the threw several kicks of fire to the base of the boulder to heat it up. Hakoro's eyes widened as he watched 2 elements being bent by a young girl.
"Impossible?! Th-there can no longer be an Av-"
"Well, the Avatar's back, honey." Before Kurana could kick flames towards him, several footmen stood beside the Avatar. They immediately threw fire at her as she jumped and dodged the incoming attacks. She let out a fury of rocks and followed it with a shower of flames. The men fell unconscious on the ground. As she focused her sights on the boulder encasement, Hakoro escaped and was nowhere to be found. She growled in defeat and dragged the men to the officers.
Tokku and Lu Mei continuously fought with Reinju when suddenly, 4 dark figures sprang out of the ground and wrapped the 3 of them with ropes. They struggled to get out but Reinju broke free and ran away with a trail of fire leaving his path. The 4 dark figures walked closer to the siblings. Tokku noticed a familiar emblem on the bandana covering their mouths. The emblem consisted of a violet serpent spinning in a spiral.
"Its th-them! Lu! ITS THEM!" the waterbender shot out icicles from his loose feet.
The figures looked womanly and they held a whip as their weapon. They crushed each ice shard incoming to them. Lu Mei puffed out an enormous cloud of smoke to cover themselves from the attackers. Marru crawled out of Lu Mei's strapped bag to bite off the ropes and the siblings began to throw fire and ice around the unknown women.
They successfully brought down 2 of them. The other 2 grabbed their teammates and went underground in a blink of an eye. The siblings only noticed a deep hole from where the women were standing.
The firebending girl's eyes filled with anger and fury. Before she could jump in the hole, a hand grabbed her shoulder to stop her.
"Don't. We'll have to deal with them some other time. For now, let's head out to the rendezvous point." Tokku tried to calm his sister down.
"Are you serious?! These people murdered our parents! And you're just gonna let them go?!" The firebender slapped her brother's hand.
"Lu, come on. Don't let the anger take you over."
She turned her back from Tokku "It already took over when they died."
Lu Mei jumped in the hole to follow the attackers. Tokku couldn't stand to leave his sister alone, so he followed to where the hole will take them.
"Okay! Put them on the Bison!" and officer yelled as the others dragged the captured men on Hoochi and Ginna.
Another officer shouted "Chief! WHERE'S THE CHIEF?!"
Mako was searching for the 3 teenagers when he stumbled across a young woman walking with a giant floating earth slab beside her. The slab had 5 masked men unconscious on top of it.
"KURANA!" He ran towards the woman, who smiled at him
"I've been searching around for you guys! I thought we had an agreement to stay behind me?!" the Chief said
The Avatar just laughed "Don't worry, Sifu. I can handle myself now" she flexed her arms "Ohh, by the way, Hakoro was here. I already got him encased in rock but, he got away when these guys showed up."
"WHAT?! Where is he now?!" Mako began looking around
"He's gone. They already know I'm the Avatar."
Mako hugged his student "Its okay. At least, they have something to be afraid of."
Kurana looked up and smiled at her Sifu but immediately gave him a quizzical look "Hey, where's Lu and Tokku?"
