Previously on Escaping the Fire…

Zuko had finally summoned his guardian, Ryu…Mean while at the same time Azula keeps on talking about the Duel of Destiny.
What is the Duel of Destiny?
Is part of the Guardian's Quests as well?

Chapter 24

The volcano continued to erupt violently.
The rocks and ashes that were thrown about were either burning flames or just dangerous dust released from the volcano's mouth.

On the other hand, the rough battle between the two royal siblings and their guardians continued without any sign of stopping any time soon.

However, for the villagers who had not evacuated the island, were close to having no choice but to swim after the other boats and hang on to something that'll float, and cling for their lives, just like that.

Aang and Katara hurried up the steep slope towards the cottage.
What they were doing was pure stupidity, but also selfishness of trying to save the Avatar's last friends alive from the Air Nomad.

A loud groan of a cry was heard from inside a shed not too far from the cottage itself, which was made for either the Dragon Lizards or for a few Rhinos.
The shed itself made things very convenient as a shelter for Appa, since after all; the flying bison was a giant beast.

"Katara, you grab the main supplies that we need! I'll get Appa and Momo!" the airbender shouted as he zipped away from the cottage's entrance and off towards the large shed.

The waterbender didn't bother to answer with a reply; instead simply she hurried into the house and rushed to her room, where most of the important supplies remained.

"So this is your almighty guardian, Zuzu…" the princess sneered, with a disgusted look on her face, "He looks rather…Too old." She paused to recall something in the back of her mind before replying almost too soothingly, with a hint of venom lingering at the edge of her words, "He reminds me of, don't laugh now; Uncle." Her eyebrows rose as if it had interested her, but had slowly changed into a nasty, eerie, yet cold glare.

Her brother swore that he felt shivers run down his spin. His younger sister was a pro playing with words. Her expression would match with her tone and the sentence that she would say, almost too perfectly…

"Why, isn't that a little harsh?"

The two siblings and Yuuko suddenly all glanced at Ryu who spoke out and startled them all as he had broken the intense atmosphere.

Ryu simply had waited patiently to startle all three of them, which was including his own master. He was certain that Azula, and Yuuko weren't expecting his voice to suddenly be tacked into their minds.

He eyed his younger twin with a twinkle of humor in his eyes.

"Yuuko isn't that much younger than me," he stopped as he dodged another vomit fit from the volcano, missing him by several meters.
He had just made it clear, with that simple, sudden example to his foes to not underestimate him by his appearance.

There was a snicker from the red beast, "Maybe by a few seconds or a minute." There was a smirk that had quickly grown upon his lips, "So if you would consider me old, then my handsome brother would be just as old, by a second or a minute that is." His smirk grew even wider, "Not mention, that we are twins."

Azula's calm and emotionless face had vanished, instead; her face expressed annoyance and irritation. She huffed and tossed her bangs out of her face, the hot, burning breath from the volcano made the air hot and dry. The beads of sweat that were on her forehead had already been evaporated from the volcano's heat.

The volcano itself was making the scene between the two siblings and the astonishing Ancient Guardian Dragons.

The thick, puffy cloud of smoke began to arise around them.
The smell was toxic gas from the cloud brought immediate attention to the twin dragons.

Ryu's wide smirk had fallen into a frown, "The duel of Destiny…" he said it almost mockingly, "Will have to wait till another day." He eyed his younger twin, "Farewell my dear brother." their eyes met directly, as if they were trying to read each other's mind, "The next time we meet, may be our last." After he broke the eye contact with his brother, he said nothing more, but had already immediately launched himself higher into the air, and disappeared among the clouds that had hovered over them in a high range.

Yuuko could not argue with the solid fact that he elder brother had just stated to him. Eying the violent volcano once more, he too launched himself up high into the sky, and began to fly away from Ember Island.

Azula was furious in response, "Yuuko! Where the hell are you going!? I never ordered you to leave the island! Chase them! CHASE THEM! WE MUST HUNT THEM DOWN UNTIL WE SPILL THEIR BLOOD!" there was a wild cry of frustration, "You damn useless Dragon! Do as you're told! I'm your master! You must follow my orders-hey! Why are you not listening to me!? What are you now-deaf?" she scowled angrily, "You are absolutely pathetic."

Yuuko did not reply. Instead he sighed inwardly as he tried and deal with the princess who had obviously lost her mind, and is now a blooding shedding manic, who is so desperate to kill her brother.

A large fluffy white dot in the distance caught his attention. His eyes widen, and then his facial expression turned into a frown, 'The Avatar…' he peeked a glance towards his master, praying that she wouldn't notice him looking at her or spotting the Avatar. He growled deeply as the voice of his brother echoed back to him, 'The next time we meet, may be our last.'

His claws clenched from the thought, 'I fear having to encounter you again.'

Katara and Aang, along with Momo and Appa, had successfully escaped the danger zone where the previous, gorgeous Royal Cottage, that now burning to the ground almost too quickly.

In the mean time of their escape; they managed to pick up the others and get everyone off the island, in just about time.

Unfortunately, while Toph had been running back down the burning mountain, she had run into a few small fires that had already grown into disastrous, chaotic monsters; she had received a few burns in result. Luckily, it was not severe.

Haru and Sokka decided to call a truce between each other for now until they find out what the next plan will be.

However, on the other hand; Teo was the only one who had noticed Zuko's absence, and was quite concerned after witnessing a large eruption and two large dragons.

The waterbender sighed as she healed the last burn that was on Toph's arm, and turned to look over at the others, she couldn't help but noticed the worried look on the young inventor's face, "Hey, Teo; what's wrong?"

The handicap teenager glanced over at her, his eyes shifted away and into the smoky sky, "I was wondering what happened to Zuko-,"

"WHAT THE HELL!?"

Everyone jumped as they all turned to Sokka who just was just looking over Appa's saddle, had jumped to the opposite side, nearly knocking Haru off as result.

A large red beast rose beside Appa, who had groaned a welcoming, which made Aang just stare at his bison strangely, then shot a look at Momo who a chirping almost too…much.

"So for startling you guys."

Everyone turned to the beast that was now evenly beside Appa, though its long body was still at least twice the length of Appa's.

The beast's head was definitely half the size of Appa's body.

Everyone, except Toph had a chill down their spine.

"Guys?"

Everyone glanced at Zuko who was sitting on the large beast clutching to the warm fur, "Are you guys okay?"

Sokka's jaw dropped as he had swung his arm up and pointed directly at the creature, "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING!?" he shouted almost too exasperatedly.

"A Dragon." Katara said in an obvious, bored manner. She was expecting Sokka to at least know what that beast was to begin with since after all, he is a genius, right?

Zuko shook his head, "He is not a dragon. However he is somewhat related to them by blood and the shape of his figure." The former prince stopped and somewhat had a silly grin on his face, "Everyone, this is Ryu." He paused, "My guardian."

"Guardian?" everyone turned to Haru, "Is that all part of the Royal Blood or something?" the earthbender had a sarcastic tone to his voice. He unfolded his arms and hit his palm with his left balled up fist, as if he just gotten an idea, "Oh, now everything are starting to fall into place!" he turned to Katara, expecting her out of all people to support his theory, "Now since Zuko got this 'guardian', they will have to travel frequently back and forth to places for their little missions or whatever might come up!"

Everyone glare at Haru with annoyed expressions on their faces, Katara out of all people was starting to twitch and ball her fists to try and hold back her fury, "So wouldn't make so much sense that they are actually plotting against us?"

"His theory makes no sense at all." Toph whispered into Teo's ear, who nodded as a reply.

Ryu arched an eyebrow and glanced at the earthbender with the corner of his eyes, 'Who is this stupid kid in your group?'

"That is Haru…An earthbender from a village that was previously taken over by the Fire Nation." The firebender answered quietly as Haru continued his ridiculous speech.

'Was?' Ryu looked away from the earthbender and glanced at Appa, and Momo who happened to be waving at him, his lips curled slightly.

"They got it back afterwards." Zuko answered, he looked back at his guardian before adding, "They must have formed a rebellion."

"Hey Sparky, who are ya talking to?" Toph shouted almost too loudly, obvious trying to cut off Haru's theory speech, "According to my ears, you're talking to your guardian buddy…" she trailed off and began tapping her chin with her right second finger, "Nickname…nickname…" she muttered to herself as Zuko replied, "I'm talking to-,"

"Spirit!" she said suddenly, which made everyone including Ryu look at her with confusion on their faces, "What?"

"No…hm…this one is difficult…" she continued to ponder with herself which quickly made the gang lose interest in whatever she was talking about.

Aang glanced at Ryu and Zuko and grinned widely, "Well, now Appa doesn't have to carry that many people anymore." He laughed as Zuko cut in, "Though, I doubt Ryu is the type to carry traveling supplies." He looked into the dark sky and glanced back at Aang, "We need to find a place to rest."

The two Water Tribe siblings shifted their gaze to the Avatar and the former prince before exchanging looking between one another. Sokka was first to cut into the conversation, "It's difficult to look at a map without light." His eyes studied the dark clouds that had began to form above them, a worried frown appeared on his face as he furrowed his eyebrows, "And it happens to look like there's a storm coming."

Haru looked at the Water Tribe warrior sharply, "You mean like a major battle, or with the weather?"

Ryu frowned, 'It's both actually.'

Zuko glanced at his guardian with wide eyes, "What do you mean by that?"

"Mean by what?" Katara glanced at him with a frown, "Care to share your little secret conversation between the two of you?" she eyed Ryu briefly before glancing back at Zuko who sighed, "He says that both will happen."

"Both?" Haru looked at Ryu suddenly, forgetting about his theory he then suddenly asks, "How does he know that?"

Zuko shrugged, "To be dead honest, I have no clue."

Aang sighed heavily before turning to face the gang on Appa's saddle, "Does anyone know where we are now though?"

Ryu eyed Appa, who was eyeing him back, before answering to Zuko, 'I know the world by heart.' He glanced back at the bison who had groaned in response, 'It seems that the closest place to land and go for shelter is the Abandoned Tomb."

"Abandoned Tomb?" Zuko looked at Ryu, "What's that?"

"A forbidden place." Teo said in a shallow cold tone, causing everyone to look at him in surprise. He shifted his eyes away from the group for a second before explaining, "It's an ancient place in the past where benders or warriors would take a test." He stopped, "I don't know much about it though, but however; I had read that most people who had taken the test, never came out…" he trailed off for second, "…which in most cases would be considered dead." He eyed everyone before adding, "In the records…no one came out alive."

'That's a fact by the way.' Ryu said seriously, causing Zuko to shift his body suddenly leaning over to look at Ryu, "Are you serious!?"

'I don't joke about these kinds of things.' He said sharply.

Everyone looked at each other with worried looks on their faces, however Sokka who was the only one frowning was debating whether or not they go to the island, he glanced at Ryu, "Is the island itself, a tomb?"

'Literally.' The guardian answered simply as Zuko repeated what Ryu said and studied the expression Sokka had on his face.

The Water Tribe warrior folded his arms and leaned back against the saddle and sighed heavily, eyeing the sky with a frown, "It's better to take precautions…" he trailed off, "However; precautions also can be included with risks." He eyed everyone to make sure they understood what he was saying then he stood up, "We will go to the Abandoned Island, however; we must spend the minimum amount of time there." He pointed to the waterbender and the airbender, "Katara, Aang. You will be first to take the lookout shift." He eyed Aang seriously, "I am depending on your earthbending Toph taught you."

"Wait, and listen…" The blind bandit echoed in a whispered tone of voice with an amused grin on her face, "Feel your surroundings…"

Aang glared at her, "Toph! Quit it! You're creeping my out already!" he shuddered consciously as Katara nodded as an agreement.

The warrior then pointed to Zuko and Toph, "You guys will take the next shift." He pointed to himself and his sister suddenly, "Katara and I will take the third." He then pointed once more at Toph and Aang, "You two will take the last shift."

"Wait! Wait a minute!" everyone turned to Haru who had his two arms up as if he was surrendering, "Hang on a second," he glared at Sokka, "How come I don't have a shift?"

Sokka frowned, "We can't rely on someone who will only have his eyes on Zuko."

"Or who is too weak." Toph echoed eerily again like she had done to Aang but to Haru this time, who had shoved her away, "Shut up! Look I am strong enough but if-,"

"Haru." He glanced at Katara who was looking at him seriously, "This Island is not worth taking a risk. We need to keep up our guard, and not set up a weak team." She pointed to Sokka with her thumb just as Haru was about to protest she added, "However, the reason why Sokka and I are paired up as a team; even though he is not a bender, he's strong enough to fend off one." She paused, then quickly added, "Not to mention he has a loud enough scream to wake everyone up." The group except for Haru stifled into giggles.

Sokka nodded, "That's right-HEY!"

Ryu closed his eyes, then opened them again as there was a rough, loud sound of thunder within their distance. He looked at the gang then at Zuko, 'Rather than the weather we have to worry about…' he wanted to sigh but somewhat couldn't. He knew this was not a time to be laidback. Especially, when he knew something that everyone else, including his brother did not know. However, there was one person that he could tell…that is, if he can find that person with so little time left.

'Something wrong?'

Ryu lips curled at the sight of his prince's worried face, 'Nah, it's nothing.' He glanced back forward and shifted his eyes to Appa, whom also was looking back at him. The two beast somewhat nodded without any physical action and had suddenly both darted forward in high speed, surprising everyone who were riding them.

"APPA!? WHAT-, WHERE ARE YOU GOING!?" the young air monk yelled as he climbed on to the bison's head trying to get the hold of the reins.

"Let him Aang."

Everyone, except Zuko who was too busy trying to hang on to Ryu's fur, all turned to the waterbender who had a serious look on her face, "Appa and Ryu must've spoke to one another. Otherwise, there would be no way Appa would maintain the same amount of speed as Ryu." She paused, "I believe they are bringing us straight to the island…" a roar of thunder cut her off, as sheet lightning brewed upon the black clouds not too far above them.

Rain began to pour down heavily. The group was too busy hanging on to Appa's saddle to prevent themselves from flying off, to get their raincloaks.

It was in a matter of time before the eye of the storm would appear before them.

And if they were lucky, they would be at the island by then.

End of Chapter 24

A/N: Whoa, not so long as I planned it to be, but since I have been extremely busy lately. (I'm dead serious guys…T_T it's brutal) I have no time to do creative writing unless I absolutely have no homework. (This chapter was too short…Mental Note: MAKE NEXT CHAPTER LONGER!!!)

The week days are busy, busy, busy. Well, I have written a brief brainstorm sheet of what to happen next during some of my classes that I get pretty bored in. So I pretty much have a layout of what to happen next.

Thank you for your patience everyone. I KNOW I have been KILLING you from the wait, especially since there are only 129 right now (reviews). I read that last one and laughed saying to myself, "I got to add the next chapter-I can't bare to make them wait any longer."

*Laughs* Anyways yes, because I am VERY busy, it will take some time to update the next chapter (which I'm working on already.) The next goal will be 135 Reviews (that way I don't kill you guys)

Reviews, Reviews, Reviews…

Ever wonder why reviews are so important to me?
Well, rather why I am pretty obsessed with them?

Well to answer why:

I love it when people comment on my stories/fanfictions because…
I want to know my strengths and weaknesses.
(I'm pretty aware that my grammar isn't great)

I like to know what people think.
I like to be encouraged (Doesn't that sound childish? :P)
I enjoy knowing the fact that people enjoy the story and want me to write more.
I dream to be an Author, but I want to learn just how much I can do. You need a crazy mind, okay…not crazy, but a mind that is OUTSIDE of the box, not inside (inside won't get you anywhere)

Anyways, that's pretty much it for now; I've killed a page for the Author's Note…lol. (Sweatdrop)

Anyhow please REVIEW!
Oh and if you are interested, check out my blog! It had become a daily journal for me. Though there isn't much….Maybe some things will entertain you, who knows…I don't exactly have anything else to entertain myself with so, I enjoy writing my "blog"/livejournal, even though nobody reads it. Oh well, it exists to tell me more about my last year of high school and will bring up some interesting memories. :P
Well, other than that, it's easier to type than to write for me (it's faster in my case) Zutarian4eva