Susie watched the evening sky. Her eyes eagerly followed the large dot off in the distance that steadily grew larger. As it drew closer, the dot morphed into the familiar shape of Appa. Susie trotted along as the great bison swooped in for a landing. He touched down by the side of the large lake and Susie could discern the figures of Katara and Zuko as they disembarked, then conversed with Aang. Susie paused, still a fair distance away - she wouldn't want to intrude on their private conversation, after all. Still, the wait was quite trying - it had been nearly a week since Katara and Zuko had suddenly departed in the night, and she was anxious to find out what her friend had been up to.
So, she waited… as patiently as she could.
Suddenly, something made her do a double take! Did… did Katara just hug Zuko?! She blinked, but no, it wasn't a trick of the light. Katara had definitely just hugged Zuko!
After that, the Water Tribe girl walked off, heading right in Susie's direction. And Susie, spirits soaring from what she had just seen, dashed off to join her friend. "So, did you get what you needed?" she asked.
Katara looked off in melancholic thought for a moment before seating herself on a large rock. "Yeah… I found him - I found the man who killed my mom."
Susie was taken aback - true she had surmised that Katara's mother was… no longer in the picture, but she didn't know the details of what had happened. Taking her own seat, she leaned in and asked "What did you do?"
Katara's gaze drifted toward the ground. "I've thought about this moment for years…" she started. "When I would find the man who took my mother from me… what I would say to him when I found him - how I could make him feel the pain he put me through!...
"I thought I would find some ruthless, bloodthirsty monster or a cold, calculating killer… Instead, I found a spineless, empty shell of a man!" Her hands clenched into fists as she continued."Every time I thought back on that moment, I wanted to hurt him - to make him feel every ounce of pain he caused me… I wanted to hate him… but when I finally saw him… all I could feel for him was pity! He was nothing but a pathetic, begging coward… He actually had the audacity to offer up his own mother, thinking it would be a fair trade!"
Susie gasped at hearing that. "So,... what did you do with him?" her voice hitched a little as she asked.
"There was nothing I could do to him that was worse than what he had become." Katara answered. "In the end, we just left him there…"
Susie got up and placed a hand on Katara's shoulder. "Well, for what it's worth, I think you made the right decision. After all, hurting this man wouldn't bring your mom back."
Katara let loose a long sigh. "No,... you're right."
Susie smiled warmly at the Water Tribe girl. "And… Zuko?" she prodded.
Katara's eyes darted to the side in embarrassment. "Yeah." she said "You were right, I was projecting my anger onto him." she noticed Susie's warm smile shift into a self-satisfied grin. "But I've forgiven him, now. I'm ready to move forward."
"Good." Susie said. "I'm glad to have this whole sordid business behind us."
"So, back from your little side quest, huh?"
Zuko gave Calvin a sideways glance, eyeing him warily. It wasn't like the blonde earthling to start a conversation. "Yeah." he said.
"Mmm-hmmm, so uh, whaddid you two do, exactly?"
"We went looking for the man who killed Katara's mother."
"...Aaand…?"
"And we found him. Katara got the closure she needed and there's no more bad blood between us."
"Good, good. So what else did you get up to?"
Zuko blinked numbly at him. "That's it." he said.
"... Are you suuure that's it?" Calvin asked.
"Yes." Zuko answered in an irked tone. "What else would we have done?"
"Well y'know, a guy and a girl... out in the wild… alooone…"
Catching his implication, Zuko scoffed. "Oh sure, with a girl who up 'till now hated my guts! Right."
"I dunno… you two looked pretty cozy when you got back." Calvin crooned.
Zuko rolled his eyes. "That hug was strictly platonic!" he insisted.
"Okay, okay, you didn't hook up! But are you sure you didn't get up to any hijinks or shenanigans or anything that could be interpreted as romantic and-or erotic…?"
Zuko reflexively began to respond with a 'no' - then he thought just how peculiar it was for Calvin to be so persistent with this line of inquiry. Usually, Calvin didn't speak to anyone any more than was strictly necessary. Zuko narrowed his eyes at the earthling and pointedly asked him "Why?"
Calvin seemed to wilt a little under the prince's glare. Tapping his index fingers together, he said "'Cause I bet Susie a weeks worth of dish duty that's what you were doing…"
"So Aang," Sokka roused the young monk from his musings. "Summer's end is coming up pretty quick. Sozin's Comet will be here before you know it! Do you have a strategy?"
Aang turned his gaze to the ground, a hangdog frown on his face. "I… I don't know." he admitted. In truth, he had been trying not to think about it too much. Everyone was expecting him to kill Fire Lord Ozai. As the Avatar, he knew it was his responsibility to put an end to the Fire lord's tyranny… but the prospect of ending another person's life just didn't sit well with him.
"Well, c'mon!" Sokka said, grabbing him by the elbow and tugging him along. "We'll get everyone together and see if we can come up with a plan!"
The two of them walked along until a sudden shout from Zuko blasted through the air, sending every bird in the area flying away in panic.
"WHAT WOULD EVEN GIVE YOU THAT IDEA?!"
Early the next morning, the team was on the move again. Zuko informed the group that he knew a place where they could lay low. He led them to Ember Island, to a grand beachside house, lavishly decorated with fancy latticeworks, wide, ornate windows and intricate tapestries. While it looked grand and stately from the outside, they found the interior was coated with a fine layer of dust, a spattering of cobwebs and other signs of disuse.
It was then that Zuko informed the gang that this was the Fire Lord's old summer home.
Naturally, there was a great deal of protestation and objections, but Zuko assured the group that his father hadn't been there years.
It was the last place anyone would think to look for them.
So it was here that they would spend the next couple weeks preparing for the final showdown with the Fire Lord.
So the days were spent training and honing their skills. Nothing of any real importance happened during those final days of relative tranquility. Well, there was a day when Sokka had found a flyer advertising a play about Team Avatar's exploits over the past months - but, the gang had mutually agreed that the less said about that night, the better.
The day was bright and sunny, vibrant rays glistened off the rolling waves. The sand was hot and dry, the water cool and refreshing. As one of the last days of summer, it seemed the perfect time for a beach party.
The whole gang got into it, each reveling in various beach activities. Susie had opted to lie on the beach, soaking up the warm sunshine while she watched Calvin and Hobbes frolicking and wrestling through the surf.
Nearby, Aang was putting the finishing touch on the piece of art he'd been working on for the past half hour. "Check out my Appa sand sculpture!" he proudly cried.
The real Appa lowed toward the sculpted sand pile, apparently unimpressed with the likeness.
"Not bad, Baldy." Toph said, striding over. "But I've been working on my sand bending - you're gonna love this!" And with a single flex, a cloud of dust arose from a large circle before her. And when it cleared…
Susie gawked at what she saw. She scrambled up to get a better view at what the younger girl had done. Calvin and Hobbes had also decided to get a closer look. What they saw was a complete miniature replica of the inner circle of Ba Sing Se - the buildings recreated with intricate detail.
Leaning in to get a better look, Aang let out an awed gasp. "Wow, you even made a little Earth King and Bosko!"
"And all without even looking!" Calvin added.
Susie tsked, glaring at the blond boy out of the corner of her eye. She knew he genuinely meant it as a compliment, but it was still such a crass way to say it.
Toph, however, didn't seem to notice or care. "Try an' top that, Sokka!" she said, turning to where the Water Tribe boy was busily working on a sculpture of his own.
Aang, Hobbes, Calvin and Susie all gathered 'round as Sokka revealed his masterpiece. "Ta-dah!"
"Wow, I didn't know you had blobfish on this planet." Calvin remarked.
Susie figured that wasn't what it was meant to be, at all. But she couldn't deny, blob was a very apt description. A shapeless mound with various seashells arrayed in some imitation of a face with a loose collection of seaweed on top.
"Is that some sort of blubber monster?" Aang asked.
"NO," Sokka replied in outrage. "It's Suki!"
"Ooh, SOMEone's in the doghouse." Calvin quipped as everyone started laughing at Sokka's pitiful endeavor.
"Suki, we'll all understand if you break up with him after this." Toph said to the Kyoshi Warrior.
"I think it's sweet." Suki replied, earning a kiss and embrace from Sokka.
Aang started to refute that it didn't even look like her when a sudden blast of fire blew the mound of sand to smithereens. Aang turned in shock to see Zuko on the rocks above him charging after him with fists ablaze.
Aang leaped over Toph's miniature city and scrambled to hide behind his Appa sculpture. "What are you doing?!" he yelled.
"Teaching you a lesson!" Zuko shouted back before shooting forth a swath of flame that decapitated the sand bison.
Aang quickly fled the scene with Zuko shooting fire as he went, then furiously chasing after him when he was out of sight.
It was then that Katara surfed onto the scene. "What happened?!" she demanded.
"Zuko's gone crazy!" Sokka yelled. "I made a sand sculpture of Suki and he destroyed it!... Oh, and he's attacking Aang."
The rest of the team then took off after the Avatar and the Fire Prince. They headed toward the beach house - the direction Aang had last been heading. Soon enough, they found them, facing each other down on the roof. They caught the faintest hint of Aang saying something to which Zuko responded with a blast of fire. Aang then flipped into a window with Zuko hot on his tail. There was a brief moment of silence - then massive flames could be seen through the windows.
Then it all ended when a huge gust of wind blew a massive hole out of the wall… and Zuko along with it.
As those on the ground dashed over to where Zuko was pulling himself up, Katara yelled "What's wrong with you?! You could've hurt Aang!"
"What's wrong with me?! What's wrong with all of you?!" Zuko countered. "How can you sit around having beach parties when Sozin's Comet is only three days away?!" He looked from one face to the next but… no one was saying anything. They all simply stared at him with blank faces. "Why are you all looking at me like I'm crazy?!" he asked.
"About Sozin's Comet…" Aang started. "I was actually going to wait to fight the Fire Lord until after it came."
"After?!" Zuko was incredulous.
"I'm not ready." Aang explained, eyes downcast. "I need more time to master fire bending."
"And frankly, your earth bending could still use some work, too." Toph added.
"So, you all knew Aang was gonna wait?!" Zuko asked.
"Honestly, if Aang tries to fight the Fire Lord right now, he's gonna lose." Sokka said. "No offence!"
Katara then spoke up "The whole point of fighting the Fire Lord before the comet was to prevent the Fire Nation from winning the war!... But they pretty much won the war when they took Ba Sing Se. Things can't get any worse!"
"You're wrong." Zuko said, turning from them. "It's about to get worse than you can even imagine!"
Then Zuko told them. He related to them the events of the war meeting he had attended the day before the eclipse; wherein the Fire Lord had revealed his new plan to decisively end the war once and for all. How, by utilizing the power of Sozin's Comet, he and his airship armada would burn the Earth Kingdom to the ground. How a new, entirely Fire Nation world would arise from the ashes. And how he, Fire Lord Ozai, would take his place as the supreme ruler of all the world.
No one slept well that night. The threat of what they were facing weighed too heavily on their minds. Taking back the Earth Kingdom was no longer an option. The Fire Lord had to be taken out… and they had only three days to do it.
And in the morning, their problems would only be compounded.
"Wel'p, that's everything!" Sokka declared, securing the last bit of luggage onto Appa's saddle.
"No it's not." Toph refuted, prompting everyone present to turn and look at her. "Where's Aang?"
It took a second to realize that no one had seen the Avatar at all, that morning. When the information finally processed, everyone frantically charged back into the beach house, calling his name as they frantically ran. The gang split up to cover more ground, but the search ultimately proved fruitless. That is, until Sokka searched the room Aang had slept in the previous night - and made a startling discovery.
"He left his staff." Sokka said, gingerly picking said staff up for Katara, Suki and Susie to see.
"Aang's not in the house." Zuko announced as he and Toph stepped into the room. "Let's check the beach."
So the group made their way down to the shore. Once there, it didn't take long for them to find a set of tracks leading straight off into the water.
What was more surprising was that they weren't the first ones there.
"Calvin! Hobbes! You guys are down here, already?!" Susie called out.
Indeed, the boy and tiger were standing on the shore, staring out to sea in the exact direction the tracks led off into.
Calvin made no indication he heard Susie until she had trotted up behind him; at which point he jolted, as if suddenly woken. "Huh?... Oh… Yeah, Hobbes caught his scent about ten minutes ago…" he said, as Hobbes put on a self-satisfied smirk.
"... And you didn't think to TELL anyone?!" Susie snapped.
Calvin blinked. He stared at her, then glanced at the track, then at the rest of the gang, then stared off into some point in the distance. "...Oh." he said.
Suki crouched down, examining the footprints trailing off into the sea. "So… Aang went for a midnight swim and never came back?"
"Maybe he was captured." Katara suggested.
"I don't think so, there's no sign of a struggle." Sokka replied.
"I bet he ran away again." said Toph.
"Ah-ah, he left behind his glider and Appa!" Sokka said, shutting down the idea.
"Then whadda you think happened to him, oh sleuthy one?" Toph groused.
"It's pretty obvious." Sokka said, rising to his feet. "Aang mysteriously disappears before an important battle? He's definitely on a Spirit World journey!"
Zuko blinked at that. "But if he did, wouldn't his body still be here?"
"Oh yeah." Sokka slumped. "Forgot about that."
"Then he's gotta be somewhere on Ember Island!" Katara vehemently declared. "Let's split up and look for him!"
"I'm going with Zuko!" Toph immediately announced, glomping onto the Fire Prince's arm.
The blind girl's excitement earned quite a few stares from everyone else.
"What?" Toph asked, no doubt perturbed by the awkward silence that insued. "Everyone else went on a life-changing field trip with Zuko. Now it's my turn!"
Susie blinked in confusion at Toph's statement. Then, thinking back on it, she realized Toph was right. True, neither she nor Hobbes had gone out with Zuko, but first Aang had gone with Zuko to find the Sun Warrior's civilization, then Sokka and Calvin had gone with him to the Boiling Rock and finally, Katara had gone with Zuko to find the man who killed her mother! "Oh! That's right!" she said. "Isn't that interesting?"
"Riveting." Calvin replied in a bland monotone, still gazing into the distance.
So the group split up; Sokka took Appa and flew along the coast, Suki and Katara went to search the village, leaving the rest to search the woodlands of the island. - Zuko and Toph took one half while Calvin, Hobbes and Susie took the other.
Susie called Aang's name for what felt like the hundredth time. They had spent hours traversing every gnarly tree, every mossy stone and every grassy knoll in this spirit-forsaken forest - all the while rending the air with repeated calls of Aang's name (occasionally punctuated with a roar from Hobbes.) And all they had to show for it were grime coated hands, scratched up arms and sweat soaked clothes.
At length, they found a small pond with calm, clear water sitting still amidst a scenic glade. "Oh, thank goodness!" Susie cried upon seeing it. She dashed to the water, taking a big handful and splashing it on her face, then across her blazing neck and up and down her gritty arms.
Hobbes excitedly trotted over, splashing straight into the pond and laying contentedly in the cool shallows.
Calvin simply trudged over to the water, wet his hand and wiped it across his face, then hunkered down by the pond's edge with that same stony expression he'd worn all morning.
Susie looked at the blond boy with concern. All morning, Calvin had barely spoken - just staring off into the distance as if he were trying to figure out some frustratingly difficult puzzle. Susie knew he had to have some theories of his own as to what had happened to Aang, yet he just drifted along - as if on auto-pilot. "Calvin… are you okay?"
The only response he gave was to turn his head and blink at her quizzically…. But at least it was something.
"You just seem a little… distracted, today. Is something wrong?"
Calvin hummed in thought. Then he said. "I thought I… heard something last night."
"'Heard something'?! Like what?"
"That's the thing, I can't really describe it!"
"Perhaps you could hum it…"
"No. No, I can't even recall what it sounded like. But I know I heard something!"
"Do you think this… thing you heard has anything to do with what happened to Aang?"
Calvin was silent for a long moment. Then said. "I mean, I guess the Avatar does get involved in some pretty weird stuff, so… maybe?"
Susie gave him a long, hard stare. "SO,... You've been exerting all your energy into figuring out the origin and-or meaning of some noise you heard in the middle of the night on the day when the single most important figure to the freedom of the entire world up and disappears a mere two days before the battle that will determine said freedom? A noise that may or may not have any connection what-so-ever to the afore-mentioned battle or the freedom that hinges on its success?!"
"Erm,... more or less."
"Well, when the Fire Nation razes everything to the ground, I hope your curiosity is at least satisfied!"
"Hey, if I'm still wondering after that, I'll at least know there is life after death!"
Susie rolled her eyes and pulled herself to her feet. "C'mon, we better get going. And would you focus on the task at hand, now? We really need to find - ACK!"
Calvin, assuming Susie had stepped in something unpleasant, turned to face her with a ready quip on his tongue - it died in his mouth when he saw what happened to her. Susie was shoved against a tree and a small net held her bound. Each corner of the net had been anchored to an arrow - each of which had been driven deep into the flesh of the tree.
"SUSIE!" Calvin yelled, running to her. But the instant he took a step, he felt his feet fly out from under him. His face slammed into the loamy soil and in an instant, he felt rough hands grab his arms and force them behind his back.
Within minutes, the two teenagers had been bound and gagged. Two men leaned down on either side of them and hoisted them up to their feet.
"Good work, men." a voice growled out as one more figure stepped out of the foliage. The earthling's eyes widened when they saw the man before them. They recognized that armor, broad, heavyset figure, that cruel face that smiled down maliciously at them.
"I told you kids, you haven't seen the last of the Rough Rhinos!" Colonel Mongke spitefully sneered. Then to his men said "Load 'em up! Let's move out!"
Now, you're probably wondering where Hobbes was when all this happened. So let us go back a few minutes, back to when the two humans began discussing Calvin's mysterious nighttime noise.
Hobbes sat languidly in the pond, his gaze darting back and forth between Susie and Calvin - hearing their words, but not really paying attention to them.
As the humans spoke, a sudden sound caught his attention - a rustling in the bushes off in the distance. Reasoning that the humans weren't going anywhere, Hobbes figured he could investigate the sound and be back before his absence was even noticed.
He slinked away, prowling through the undergrowth with a silence only cats could achieve. Through the brush he stalked creeping up upon the spot where the sound had come from. He poked his nose through the bush - only to be met with a flurry of feathers that made a mad dash for the canopy.
Just some bird, then.
Hobbes could hardly say he was surprised - it wasn't likely Aang would just show up in some random wood, after all. Still, if the Avatar was going to be found, they had an obligation to search every possible lead.
It was then that a panicked yelp from Susie caught the tiger's attention.
He raced back to where he had left his companions - arriving in time to see a large chain whip out of the foliage, wrapping itself around Calvin's legs, causing him to faceplant on the ground. Hobbes came to an abrupt halt when the man holding the chain and three others came out into the open. Immediately, the four men pounced on the incapacitated teens - two men taking on each earthling.
Hobbes concealed himself in the underbrush, only able to watch in horror as his friends were ruthlessly bound and gagged. When the job was done, a fifth man stepped out into the clearing, looking smug and condescendingly talking down to his two captives.
Hobbes recognized these men, now. They were those thugs who rode around on their komodo rhinos - the ones who had been sent to apprehend Ty Lee. And now they had come for the displaced earthlings. Had someone paid them for it? Or was it a simple case of revenge?
Regardless, Hobbes followed along, watching from the shadows as the men hoisted their captives onto the back of the leader's rhino. As they were preparing to leave, one man with a bow strapped to his back rode up to the colonel and said something that sent a chill down Hobbes' spine. "Sir, last time we fought these brats, didn't they have some kind of animal fighting along side them? Shouldn't we look for it?"
The colonel scoffed at the idea. "Don't worry about it! What's one mangy beast gonna do against the five of us?! We got what we came for, we don't need to waste any more time! Now, move out!"
Hobbes had to concede that the colonel had a point. He was grossly outnumbered. He considered going for help, but shut the idea down almost immediately. There just wasn't time! By the time he had found the rest of the gang and managed to communicate the problem, the Rough Rhinos would be long gone. Even writing wouldn't work as Hobbes had always communicated with Calvin and Susie in English. No, Hobbes' best and really, only advantage was that the Rough Rhinos were currently unaware of his presence.
So what other choice did Hobbes have, but to follow them.
He followed the Rhinos to the village until they arrived at the docks where a barge was being loaded. The colonel rode his rhino right up to the man in charge and entered a heated discussion with him. It seemed the man was in no mood to accommodate the Rhinos, but when the colonel showed him what looked like an official document of some kind, the man gave a stiff, resentful bow before barking orders at all the dock workers. The workers then got back to work, uttering begrudging grumbles - not happy in the slightest that they would have to make room in the hold for the huge komodo rhinos.
Hobbes looked out across the water and despaired. There was no sign of the other shore in sight. The barge would likely take until the next day to reach land - there was no way he'd be able to swim that distance. One way or another, he had to get on that boat!
As Hobbes observed the dock workers scurrying about, an opportunity presented itself. He spotted a large crate whose lid appeared to be loose. When the workers all had their attention elsewhere, Hobbes slunk down to the crate and, with a bit of heaving, managed to pry the lid off. As it turned out, the crate was full of… furs…. Which hit a little too close to home for the tiger. But the sound of approaching footsteps told him there was no time to dwell on that. He dove into the pile of pelts, burying himself under them. There, he tried not to move, not to make a sound as the lid was hammered back onto the crate, accompanied by irritated muttering. He tried to still his breathing as the crate was loaded into the barge's hold.
Now, he simply had to wait.
If Calvin were asked what the absolute worst sleeping position was, he would call it a toss-up between sleeping while tied up and sleeping on a boat. As it happened, he had had to do both last night and he was hard pressed to say which part he hated more. However, he didn't have long to think about it before the Rough Rhinos had unceremoniously grabbed him and Susie and hauled them onto the barge's deck. The sun had just peeked over the horizon and land was in sight.
Once the barge made landfall, the rhinos were brought out of the hold and loaded up. Calvin spared a glance at Susie; she had a look of deep worry on her face. Though, if Calvin had to guess, he'd say she was more concerned about how the rest of the gang was reacting to their absence, rather than for her own safety. Calvin didn't have such concerns - on the one hand, there was a missing Avatar, the most powerful bender in the world and bridge between the mortal and spirit planes; on the other hand, two lost teens who weren't even native to this world. He was pretty sure he knew who the gang would prioritize.
Soon, they were on the move once again.
As the Rhinos rode away from the dock, a sudden commotion caught Calvin's attention - a chorus of panicked shouting accompanied by the sound of smashing wood. Sparing a glance back, Calvin caught a quick look at the dock workers gaping in bewildered awe. And then… then he caught a sight of a streak of orange darting out from the shadows before vanishing just as quickly.
Calvin's heart swelled within him. He had caught snippets the previous day - quick little glimpses he couldn't even be sure he had actually seen. So fleeting that he dared not get his hopes up. But at last, he knew it to be true; somehow Hobbes had managed to follow them all this way. How he had managed it and what he hoped to accomplish, Calvin had no idea. But even if the odds were stacked against him, it was at least comforting to know they had at least one friend on the outside.
The journey continued nearly the entire day.
The landscape was bathed in the red hues of twilight when Colonel Mongke brought the Rhinos to a halt. They dismounted, pulling their captives to the earth before removing their gags and marching them forward. They marched them into a large camp full of Fire Nation soldiers who watched the procession with keen interest.
The colonel drove the two teens into the very heart of the camp where a great bonfire blazed. There, he shoved them onto their knees. In a booming voice, he proudly declared. "We've brought the bounty as you requested, Princess!"
At that statement, Calvin and Susie turned their shocked faces upward. Sure enough, standing before the fire, leering dawn at them with her wickedest gleam, stood Princess Azula, in the flesh. "Excellent work, colonel." she said in the silkiest tone manageable.
"YOU?!" Calvin snarled in incredulous outrage.
"Me." She replied with sinister simplicity. "You didn't really think I'd let this go so easily, did you?"
"But, Zuko!" Susie sputtered. "You promised!"
"My brother made me promise not to hunt the Avatar!" Azula hissed, her smug smirk morphing into a scowl, before lifting into a faux innocent smile. "Unfortunately, little Zu-zu forgot to include the Avatar's friends in that promise."
"But… Ty Lee, Mei!" Susie cried. "Weren't they going to -"
"Ah yes, those traitors are around here… somewhere." Azula snapped. "Yes, putting up with them was quite the nuisance. I don't know how much longer I could've tolerated those talks of friendship and goodness and other such idiotic ideals.
"Fortunately, it wasn't long after your departure, that our path crossed with this helpful troop of soldiers - who were all too eager to lend a helping hand!"
"We are honored to serve our princess." A new voice spoke up.
As the figure stepped up next to Azula Calvin and Susie each made surprised gasps. They recognized that tall, lean build, that hawk-like face and that stone cold stare.
"Colonel Izo!" Susie squeaked.
"It's General Izo, now." was the response.
"Un-freakin-believable!" Calvin roared. "You're tellin' me that of aaall the platoons she could have come across, it just had to be YOURS?!"
Izo's lip curled into a distasteful scowl. "I see your time in the wilderness has done little to temper that attitude of yours."
"It's just uncanny!" Calvin continued. "First, Conan and his barbarians, then the royal snake and now YOU?! I suppose Gaan and Zhu are gonna pop outta the woodworks, next!"
They waited, but no new voices spoke up. There was only the crackling of the bonfire, the occasional shuffling of feet and the creaking of armor as several soldiers looked around.
"... I don't think they're here." Susie said at length.
"Huh. I'm genuinely surprised." Calvin admitted.
A/N: Here you are, my last upload of Twenty-Nineteen. Man, seems like only a couple chapters ago I was making my last upload of Twenty-Eighteen, which is... kinda depressing.
Anyway, you may have noticed that two whole episodes were glossed over at the beginning of this chapter. There's two reasons for this: one, 'cause I'm ready to get this story finished, already and two, 'cause there really wouldn't be a whole lotta difference from canon. Just imagine Calvin heckling the actors and that's about all the difference you'd get.
Speaking of difference from canon, you'll notice that, much like the beginning of this story, the earthlings are separated from the Gaang. Calvin, Hobbes and Susie have always been the focus of this story, so I wanted to do something other than wedge them into the ending of the original show. So, as you can probably surmise, what isn't shown in the climax will mostly be identical to the original cartoon - the only real difference is that the royal siblings won't get their climactic showdown.
Anyway, I'm sorry this took so long; I was finding it real hard to get motivated for this.
But oh well, the end is in sight. Until next time, Blu Taiger, out!