I am so, so sorry. I checked as I was finishing this chapter and it has been a whole two months since I posted anything for this story. I realize that this isn't exactly anything y'all should be checking daily for updates from, it's just a two bit story, but if any of you were looking forward for a new chapter that never came I am sorry. I can blame writers block, business, other chapters, and all the other things in the world, but it still doesn't change the fact that I let you guys down. Buuuuut its here now, so enjoy!

Chapter 14

"Go!"

The whole group of teenagers took off like a herd of ostrich horses that had caught scent of a predator. Iroh weaved in between people, trying his hardest not to get trampled. It didn't seem as though any of them cared if they injured anyone in pursuit of their goal.

They all knew the stakes. The bald Fire Nation soldier had said that anyone who made it would be accepted, but they weren't stupid. This was a race, plain and simple. The ones who showed up first would be the ones their superiors would be impressed with the most, and the slower ones would have to struggle to win their favor. Winning meant a good first impression with the people in power while losing meant shame and obscurity in their eyes. Iroh couldn't blame his peers for wanting to win so bad.

Iroh, however, didn't care about winning. As the Prince, even if he lost it wouldn't hurt their interest in him. He would be valuable to his commanders no matter how bad he did here. He had a very long leash compared to the rest of the cadets. He might as well put it to good use and help his friends get to the end quickly instead of solely trying to help himself. He had a feeling they might need it.

Iroh got to the outside of the small crowd, closest to the edge of the small road and the forest that surrounded it. He quickly scanned, trying to find his friends. He saw Nile ahead and called out to him. The tall boy turned at his name and saw Iroh. He shoved through the smaller teens and made his way to Iroh. Iroh quickly spotted Satsudi at the back of the crowd. He had taken care not to be swept up by the others' frantic sprint. Iroh looked for Mylo, but couldn't see her anywhere. As Satsudi joined Nile and himself, Iroh asked, "Do you guys see Mylo anywhere? I can't find him."

"I'm back here." A voice said right into his ear.

Iroh cried out and jumped away, surprised. Mylo was standing right behind him laughing. Nile and Satsudi joined in, all laughing at him.

Red faced, Iroh said, "That's not funny!"

"It kind of is." Mylo said, grinning.

Iroh sighed. "Whatever. Let's just get on with this."

Nile started jogging ahead, the others following along with him. "Don't go too fast." He told the others. "This is going to take awhile, and we don't want to waste all of our energy. We should alternate between jogging and walking."

"Who decided you could give the orders around here?" Mylo said, annoyed. She stopped, and Iroh quickly stopped too, not wanting to leave her behind.

"If you want to take over, be my guest." Nile said, doubling back. "But I'm willing to bet I know more about survival situations than you do. My parents have been training me to be a soldier since I could walk, and I have been doing hiking exercises like this for years. So if I were you, I'd listen to me."

Mylo turned to Iroh, and he shrugged. Nile probably did know best what to do. Iroh personally wasn't an expert on distance running or traveling in the wilderness. He had spent almost all of his life within the walls of the royal palace. "I'd say we trust Nile on this. Satsudi?"

The quiet boy just nodded.

"Mylo?"

"Fine. Whatever gets us there sooner."

Nile waved them forward. "Let's go then. We will jog for a while, then we can walk and regain our strength again, then more jogging. You all ready for that?"

They started their jog.

At first Iroh was fine with it, but within a few minutes he began to hate jogging. Was this what would await them at their new home? Just endless marching and training? Iroh suddenly felt a lot worse about his future.

The only thing that made him feel better was that they quickly passed up several other cadets on their way. Most of them glared resentfully as Iroh and the others passed. Iroh wanted to laugh at them. Served them right for sprinting and wearing themselves out so quickly. Of course, Iroh reflected, his group wasn't doing much better.

Right as Iroh felt he was going to break from all of the running Nile finally let them stop. Iroh, Mylo, and Satsudi promptly took the chance to plop down in the grass by the road. Nile wouldn't have any of it. "Wha- what are you guys doing? You can't just lay down!"

"Of course we can. We just did." Iroh muttered. He tried to hug the ground, but unfortunately he wasn't big enough to wrap around it. He didn't want to leave.

"We have to keep walking or else we aren't going to get there before nightfall." Nile pointed out.

He was right. Even now the sun was moving quickly through the sky and Iroh knew they still had a long way to go. Damn.

"We won't make it before then." Satsudi said quietly.

"He's right." Iroh said. "We can't go fast enough, and even if we could we are too tired to move quickly."

"Then should we just go back?" Nile asked? "That soldier said that it would be dangerous in here at dark. Earthbenders and strange creatures and such come out at night. Should we go back to the dock?"

"Maybe." Iroh said. "We don't know what we're dealing with out here and if its more than we can handle then it could cost us our lives. But if we do go back then we are guaranteed to not make it until tomorrow. We could be kicked out because of that."

Mylo got up. She started walking down the trail, but towards the Fire Nation base, not the dock. "You guys can choose what you want, but I'm going to keep it up. I would rather make it at midnight than tomorrow and I'm sure our superiors would agree."

Nile, Satsudi, and Iroh all exchanged looks. It seemed that their choice had been made for them.

They got up and followed Mylo. Now they were only walking. Iroh refused to do any more jogging.

Minutes passed, and they soon turned to hours. Soon enough the day was passing and sunset arrived. Iroh began to feel more worried about their chances. There could be all sorts of beasts hidden in these woods. Sure, he and Nile happened to be capable Firebenders, but that didn't mean they were invincible.

As the sun was dipping and the forest was starting to get dark Lieutenant Wu rode by on his komodo rhino.

"Still going at it, huh?" The Fire Nation soldier said with a grin, reigning in his ride. "If you were smart you would head back. I dont like your chances out here at night."

"We'll be fine." Mylo said confidently. "Nothing will stop us from getting to the base."

The soldier laughed. "You can say that now, when you are safe. But when the monsters start coming you might think differently."

"Mylo is right." Nile said. "You can't scare us into going back."

Lieutenant Wu shrugged. "If you really are that stupid, then go ahead. We'll search for your bones tomorrow morning. If you're smart we should find then still in your body back at the dock, but that's up to you. Either way, see you tomorrow. Or maybe not." He laughed and his komodo rhino sped off deeper into the woods.

"What is that guys problem?" Mylo asked crossly.

"He's just trying to scare us, I think." Iroh answered. "Trying to weed out the cowards and quitters from the ones who will try to make it."

"That, or he's telling the truth." Satsudi said. He glanced at the trees, which grew darker and darker. "I'm not sure I wanna find out."

"Hey, even if something does attack, me and Iroh will defend you." Nile assured him. "You'll be completely fine. Nothing in here will want to face Firebending."

Satsudi didn't seem convinced, but didn't say anything against it. "Okay, then lets go. I'd rather get out of here as soon as we can."

Iroh couldn't blame his friend for wanting to go back. Now in near darkness, the trees looked quite creepy. It wasn't hard to imagine some terrifying beast leaping out of the shadows. Iroh shuddered. They had enough problems without him imagining more. It would do him good to put those thoughts away.

They continued their trek through the dark woods. Time kept passing, but they seemed no closer to their goal. By now it was dark enough to make out a distant light over the treeline, which Iroh assumed had to be the torches that lit the base at night. But even after hours of walking that light seemed no closer to them than it had before. Iroh started getting worried that they would never reach it, and all the while he could feel his energy draining away.

He didn't know which hurt more, his tiredness or his thirst. Both felt they would consume him if they weren't attended to soon and the worst part was that part of him wanted them to. Anything to end this ridiculous walk.

As they walked Iroh could just feel eyes on them. Dozens of pairs of eyes, just watching the teens walk, watching to see if they would tire and grow weak. Iroh had no doubt now that the lieutenant had told the truth about the animals out here. Iroh could hear howls, most distant but some eerily close. Iroh hoped that the creatures that produced those howls chose not to show themselves.

It didn't help that after the hours of walking Satsudi, completely exhausted, collapsed on the road. Iroh and the others rushed to his side and helped him lean against a tree.

"Are you OK?" Mylo asked, although she wasn't doing much better. Iroh noticed a slight wobble and sway to her movements and didn't think she could keep it up much longer either.

"I-..." Satsudi mustered before he coughed violently. With tears in his eyes, he croaked, "I can't do this. This is too hard." He sobbed into his knees.

Iroh didn't know what to say. He wanted to comfort his friend, but he wasn't sure how he could support him. Satsudi didn't believe he could make it, and honestly Iroh agreed. He wasn't sure if any of them could make it.

"Don't give up so easily!" Mylo said. "You can do this, I know you can. You just need to get up and keep trying."

Satsudi glared at her. "I'm not like you three!" He yelled. "I can't do this kind of thing. Fighting, working, hiking, that's not me! That's not what I'm good at, that's not what I like! I don't want to be here. If you three want to be soldiers, fine, but that's not for me. Just leave me out of it! I'm done!" He lowered his head so he was looking at the ground instead of them. He sobbed once more, gripping the grass with his nimble fingers as though it was all that was holding him there.

Mylo looked to Iroh. He just shrugged. He had no idea how to comfort the poor boy. Nile sighed and said, "You two, give him some space. I'll talk to him."

As he and Mylo walked off, Iroh heard Nile say, "Look at yourself, Satsudi. Would your mother be proud of you? When you left she said to go be a good soldier and make her proud. You aren't going to make anyone proud sitting here feeling sorry for yourself. You don't want to be here, I know, but you are. Make the best of it. You need to..." Iroh couldn't make out any more as he and Mylo got too far away.

He and Mylo sat down a little bit farther down the road and waited for them. "Do you think he's going to be ok?" Mylo asked.

"I don't know." He answered. "I hope so."

They waited. Iroh tried to avoid looking at Mylo, but there wasn't much else to see in the dark forest. Iroh thought that at one point she caught him looking, but if she did she didn't say anything. Iroh hoped that they would get back soon. He found sitting here with her very, very awkward.

A few minutes later Nile and Satsudi returned. Neither said a word but Nile nodded to Mylo and Iroh. Iroh would just have to assume the problem was resolved for now.

They continued walking. Iroh felt a little better after their brief rest, but it didn't last long. Soon enough he and the others were as tired as before and it didn't seem like they were much closer to the base.

Satsudi stumbled again, and Nile was forced to carry his friend. Satsudi put an arm over Nile's shoulder and leaned on his friend for support. They continued like this, and Iroh and Nile would take turns supporting Satsudi. It got worse when Mylo, about an hour after Satsudi fell, also failed to keep going. Nile carried Satsudi from then on while Iroh carried Mylo. He remembered all of a sudden as he carried her that Mylo happened to be a girl. Iroh was glad it was dark so the others couldn't see him blushing. At least she didn't have much in the area of the chest; that would have made carrying her even more distracting.

Suddenly Iroh saw movement up ahead. It was hard to see what it was in the darkness, but it kind of looked like another one of the cadets running their way. Iroh was kind of surprised. They hadn't seen anyone else in hours.

"Nile!" Iroh said. "Look ahead."

"I see him." Nile answered. "Who is it?"

"I don't know." Iroh said, peering ahead at the person. As he got closer, the running cadet shouted, "Run! Run away! They're coming!"

Iroh set Mylo down, who was watching the events unfold with wary eyes. Iroh shouted to the teen. "What? Are you alright?"

The other cadet, who Iroh now recognized but did not remember the name of, waved his arms. "No! Stay away! Run! Get out of here! They're coming!"

"Who's coming?" Nile yelled.

Several howls rang through the night from up the road. They sent chills down Iroh's spine. Something was coming.

Iroh wished they had heeded the lieutenant's warning. The dock seemed a good place to be right now.

Thanks for reading! I'll try to update faster, but juggling three stories means that it might not be THAT soon. Sorry. Let me know what you thought in the reviews and be sure to join the dark side, because we have these excellent chocolate chip cookies that are to die for(They aren't poisoned or anything *wink wink*).