Sokka ran like mad. He was sure that someone was behind him. If he even stopped to breathe he'd be done for.
Sure enough, at just several hundred meters away from him two tributes with fans chased him down. He had to shake them off. He certainly didn't like his odds taking on two opponents at once.
He dashed through the brush and trees in the hopes of somehow losing them, running erratically to throw them off, but to no avail. He couldn't keep his pace for much longer. Sokka was already panting hard and his legs felt close to giving out.
Suki and Foamy stayed on his tail as best they could. The bushes they chased him through slowed them down, their clothes getting caught in the sharp and thorny twigs.
Bit by bit their target grew more distant, his silhouette fading into the thick bushes until he suddenly vanished. Whether he'd given them the slip or simply outran them they could tell, but it forced them to stop and evaluate their surroundings.
"He couldn't have gone far! He must have stopped to hide. Watch out and keep your guard up," Suki ordered, slowing her pace as Foamy came to an abrupt stop beside her.
"Damn it… all right, I'll watch your back," he said.
After half an hour of searching Suki noticed something near a clump of bushes near some trees. She moved carefully to investigate. She thought she saw an arm or perhaps a leg. Someone was most likely hiding near a tree. She extended her fans and moved in, finding that someone was indeed hiding in that direction.
But it wasn't their intended target. It was a girl, sleeping under the shade.
An easy kill, Suki thought.
As Song was soon roused awake by the crunching of leaves beneath feet and noticed that a boy with strange red markings crept warily her way. Getting up and moving slowly in the opposite direction away from the boy Song unfortunately came face to face with Suki. The Kyoshi warrior swiftly punched her in the stomach for her mistake, forcing her to fall to the ground ground. After she recovered Song tried to stand up, but two arms swiftly wrapped around her neck, slowly strangling her.
Suki was very efficient when it came to disabling her opponents. This girl was no match for her. She tightened the chokehold around the girl's neck. Several seconds later there was sickening crack and a lifeless girl's body fell to the ground.
Suki was quite happy about her handy work. That was one less tribute to worry about.
"That guy we were chasing most likely got away by now. We should leave now, I don't want to stay here any longer than we have to," Foamy said.
"Right. Lets go," Suki agreed, dropping the corpse as they rushed away back into the open fields beside the forest.
o0o0o0o
As Suki and Foamy made their way out of forest they were suddenly greeted with a hail of knives. Soaring through the air several of them hit Foamy, forcing him to fall. Suki instantly extended her fan and prepared herself for a fight. She didn't need to wait long for her opponents to show.
Popping out of cover Jet and Mai moved at a deliberate pace. Jet had his hooked swords drawn while Mai casually spun knife in her finger.
"Hey there you two. You look lost. Maybe we can help you," Jet smiled, just before dashed toward Suki and took a swipe at her.
Suki jumped to the side to avoid the hit. Foamy tried standing up to help Suki, but he had no such luck, not with Mai throwing knives at him. Mai, for her part, looked incredibly bored with the whole ordeal, seeing Foamy as no challenge to her.
Suki had to dodge another attack and quickly ducked as the hooked swords threatened to decapitate her. Jet stepped forward and attacked her once more. Minutes passed as they danced around each other, weaving in and out each other's strikes.
And then Jet made a wrong move. Suki managed to score hit on him. Finding a brief opening she slashed him across face with her fan, blood oozing from the sudden wound.
Jet was absolutely livid. With a great cry he swung his swords at Suki, putting her on the back foot as he attacked recklessly. He'd make her pay for marking his face.
With her opponent swinging wildly, Suki took her chance. He was leaving himself open to attack. She needed to end this fight. With great precision Suki was quickly able to slice Jet across chest, but unintentionally herself open, allowing Jet to hit her shoulder. Seeing that there was no way out Suki and Foamy decided to disengage from the fight, with both running in different directions as they forced Mai and Jet to separate.
"Wow, what a fight!" exclaimed Xin Fu, "Two of the strongest non-bender tributes duking it out! Looks like neither of them managed to beat the other, but Pretty Boy Jet is certainly coming out of this fight with a scar. And it's all thanks to Suki and her fans! Don't worry ladies you still have my pretty face to look at! Unscarred and perfect for your viewing pleasure!"
o0o0o0o
Mai walked toward Jet to see how he was doing. For a brief moment during their fight she was aware Jet took a hit to the chest and head. She didn't know how bad they were, but the fact Jet was still standing must have meant they weren't too bad.
But as she walked beside him she realized the cuts looked much worse than she imagined.
"Damn, Jet," she said, "You look ugly with that cut on your face."
Jet turned toward Mai, trying to focus on her with his one good eye. He could barely see out of the other, let alone feel it. He was in no mood to listen to her. He wanted to curse her out, but held his tongue. She might give him a second cut if he did so.
"Don't give me that look, Jet. I didn't do that to you. If you're that mad, go after her and get some payback."
"Oh don't worry about me. I'll make sure that clown-faced Kyoshi bitch gets it good. Run down her friend and finish him off. The girl is mine."
With those words both Mai and Jet rushed off in pursuit of their targets. The hunt was on.
o0o0o0o
Foamy ran deeper into forest, looking for good place to hide. He was sure that knife girl would find him, so he needed a good place to lay low and ambush her if need be. He ran for what seemed to be an eternity, through a hellish landscape of burned trees and charcoaled twigs. He couldn't hide in the deepest parts of the forest, not unless he wanted to burn. He settled on hiding that the edge of the forest, where concealment was at adequate.
Thinking he was safe Foamy decided to bind his wounds. If he didn't treat them now then he would never get a chance. This proved to be a fatal mistake as two pairs of eyes were watching him from safe distance.
Before Foamy got there Smellerbee and Longshot were sitting in a nearby tree kissing. They had gotten bored while waiting in ambush for any unsuspecting tributes. They were sure, however, that of anyone was going to come out of the forest it would be Jet, Mai, and two fire siblings.
And so they decided to pass the time basking each other's company, getting as intimate as they could.
Only one person was going to make it out of the games alive. They had no illusion that either of them would survive. Better to savor the brief moments they had together than worry about an eternity of death.
They were sorely interrupted when Smellerbee broke the kiss, leaning her head over to peek down below. A boy was resting beside their tree. It was a perfect opportunity to thin out the herd.
She gave a Longshot a knowing smile before suddenly leaping down to strike. Though reluctant Longshot followed her lead, fearing that the boy's partner or pursuers were nearby.
In no time Smellerbee landed on top of helpless boy. Strong and swift she prepared to deliver the killing blow, her dagger glinting in the pale orange light. Down it plunged into the boy's chest, before he even had a chance to scream. It was quick work.
"Too easy," she muttered.
Moments later Smellerbee felt sharp, excruciating pain emanate from her back. It forced her to stumble, tripping over her victim's lifeless body. Panic and doubt crept into her mind. Had she fallen for a trap? Was this boy bait? It seemed her foolishness would cost her own life. So be it, she thought.
Yet nothing came.
There was no second hit that threatened to claim her life. Nothing.
She dared to open her eyes, shaded under a great mass. She expected to see a tribute standing over her waiting to make the killing blow. Instead it was Longshot, his bow dangling by his side in a loose grip. When she reached for his hand he fell over, seeing the cluster of knives embedded in his chest. He used himself as a shield.
Her sight became blurry, swollen with sorrow and rage. "No… no!"
Smellerbee got to her feet, looking desperately for the enemy. None came, putting her more on edge.
She checked Longshot again for a pulse. All she felt was the warmth of his body slowly draining away. He was really gone.
Fighting back tears she reached for the few knives lodged in his chest wrenched them free. "If I'm gonna die, I'll take one with me!"
She scanned the treetops and vaulted over fallen trees. There was still no one in sight and still no one for her to get revenge on. Did they decide to leave?
That's when her eyes fell upon another body close by, partially hidden in the tall grass. Cautiously she moved closer to get a look. When she finally parted some of the dry grass she was surprised to find a girl slumped in the dirt. Several arrow shafts jutted out from her chest, all hitting their mark. The dirt around her was soaked in blood.
When she finally got close enough to see the body, Smellerbee gasped. It was Mai, her eyes gazing lifelessly toward the smoke choked skies. It was a shock to be sure. Why would Mai, her former ally, do this? Were Jet and the fire siblings willing to betray them?
A thousand questions swirled in her head no easy answers. Only a sharp pain in her back was left when she tried to move. Smellerbee sat down and reached for the source of pain. Her finger traced up the edge of a knife and with careful grasp of the handle wrench the knife free. She sucked in air through her teeth, trying not to scream from the pain. After taking a breath she reached for the cloth on her sleeve and ripped it away, attempting to use it as a makeshift bandage to stop the bleeding. She thought about using Mai's or Longshot's clothing for bandages, but something about unnerved her.
She needed to get away before the others caught up. As she fled she made a solemn promise to herself find out what was going, if not for her sake than for Longshot's sake. She owed him that much.
o0o0o0o
Suki ran like mad along the edge of the forest. In the distance she could hear how someone called her name and shouting obscenities at her. She was sure it was that jerk that ambushed her just a while ago, wanting payback for what she did to his face. Again the voice egged her on, taunting her. It was so distracting that she didn't have time to react to a hand grabbing her wrist, completely catching her off guard.
"Don't worry. I'll protect you from him," stated the boy.
Suki caught a glimpse of massive burn scar on his face. It was the last thing she would see. Zuko thrust his sword into her, piercing her thin armor and running the blade through her body. He twisted the handle hard. Suki's screams mixed with choking breath. Her hands tried to wring his neck like a chicken, but her strength was fast leaving her. With one final gasp she grew limp and silent, slumping forward into Zuko's shoulder.
Gently he laid the body down, closing her eyes with his hand.
"Good night," Zuko whispered.
o0o0o0o
"Wow, that sword attack was brutal! Suki really should have looked where she was going, she ran right into that one! I could hear her screams from up here. That plan worked out perfectly!"
"Right you are Xin! And during that little spat there were several more deaths. Tributes Mai, Longshot, and Foamy died within seconds of each other! It still amazes me as to how that happened! The timing is extraordinary!"
"Wait a minute… we have confirmation from our technical staff that the other tribute, Smellerbee, was also there. She most likely killed anyone that survived the fight. According to the predicted movement course she is traveling to meet up with her former teammates. We're unsure if she's going to help them or kill them."
"They were all nonbenders too, so their deaths must have been brutal. Too bad we couldn't see them. Surprisingly there are also two Water Tribe tributes still alive."
"What? You gotta be kidding me!"
"I'm not! We have a new record for the longest lasting time a tribesman has been alive. Now whether they will survive until the end of the games is still uncertain. In the meantime stay tuned for more cabbage news and know that a cabbage a day makes you healthy and less likely to be chosen for the Kyoshi Games."
o0o0o0o
Jet took his sweet time trying to find the girl who ruined his face. He had to on account of his sight. Seeing through one good eye while the other hung by a tendon would do that to a fighter. The blood running over his good eye made it hard to see and no matter how much he wiped it away more trickled down. He was going to butcher that girl for what she did to him.
Just as Jet reached the edge of the forest he heard a girl scream. The sound was close by. He was sure it was that crazy fan girl he was looking for, he was sure of it. She was going to suffer for what she did to his face. He'd take joy in making it slow.
As he rushed toward the source of the screams he was surprised to see the girl lying on the ground, a tribute standing over the body. It was Zuko, his sword coated in blood.
Anger and satisfaction swept over him like a wave. The Kyoshi warrior was dead, but Jet was furious that he wasn't the one to strike the killing blow.
Feeling cheated, he kicked the girl's lifeless head as hard as be could, smudging the make up. "Is this bitch really dead?"
"Yes," Zuko replied solemnly.
The answer only made Jet angrier, prompting him to kick the body even more. Zuko flinched at his friend's unbridled rage and saw just how ragged and bloodied he was.
"I assume your face was her handy-work?" Zuko asked.
Jet shot Zuko with a murderous glare with the only good eye he had left. "Doesn't take a fucking genius to figure that one out!"
"Would you stop kicking her?"
"I'll kick your head in if you tell me what to do one more time, you fucking prick!"
Zuko's eyes narrowed, nostrils flaring. "I said stop it! She's dead already leave her alone!"
In a flash of unbridled, uncontrollable rage Jet raised his swords to attack. He wasn't going to let this prince tell him what to do, not when he was the one that took his chance for revenge from him. Within seconds Jet brought his swords down onto Zuko, viciously slicing his chest into bloody ribbons. Zuko didn't even have time to react before he started to scream in pain.
As Jet went about his bloody work, a shrill cry pierced his ears, seething with rage. "Brother, no!"
o0o0o0o
"What a stunning betrayal! Jet must have been really angry to turn against his ally like that!"
"Who would have thought this alliance would last less than day!"
"Looks like it was a bad idea to trust Jet! Perhaps Zuko should have chosen his allies more wisely. And now he joins the ever growing list of dead tributes!"
"Good thing we had a good view of it all! Boy, Jet really did a number on Zuko! His sister is not going to be pleased about that!"
"Right you are! In fact she looks absolutely livid! Oh boy there she goes, its looks like she's ready to set the forest on fire again!"
"Whoa, two quick bursts of fire there! Looks like Jet managed to dodge them though! He's in a bad situation now and looks to be getting worse!"
"Indeed! Oh there he goes, dodging to the right, that fire blast barely missed him! He's really trying to stretch out his life here! And here we go, more fire blasts! He rolled out of the way of that one, boy, look at him go!"
"Azula's really putting on the pressure here now! Another jab, and another, and another, she's really pumping out the fire here folks!"
"Hang on a minute… well! It looks like Smellerbee is on her way to the fight! Will she help Jet or help end his life! Your guess is as good as mine! She's really rushing to the fight now!"
"Oh, there she is, there she is! Breaking out of cover!"
"Whoa!"
"Oh my goodness folks look at that mayhem down there!"
"Azula's like a barrel of blasting jelly, she is just going off now and making everything explode! She does not care whether it's Smellerbee or not, its all the same to her!"
"Way to much smoke down there though. We'll have to wait on our technical staff to confirm any kills."
"Wait… wait a minute its clearing up now. Oh, the technical staff has just got a hold of me here… yes… yes, I see it now! I don't believe it folks! Smellerbee is gone! She is dead! No confirmation yet on Jet or Azula yet."
"Oh but just look at that mess down there! There are body parts everywhere! Its beautiful folks! It's a truly bloody day!"
o0o0o0o
Azula made her way out of the forest and saw her brother standing with Jet. They merely talked amongst each other as they stood around a body, a tribute that tried to escape their trap.
She was puzzled as to why Jet was there with her brother. He was supposed to be somewhere else, just as he planned it. Perhaps he chased a tribute and ended up here. Things seemed off to her. This wasn't apart of the plan.
As she drew closer the unthinkable happened. One moment Azula saw her brother standing beside Jet. In the next moment, as if she had blinked, her brother was cut down by Jet as his swords slashed open Zuko's body. Red sprayed into the air. She could hear Jet hacking away at Zuko. It all happened so fast. Her mind struggled to process what had happened. She didn't know what else to feel in that moment.
All she felt was rage.
"Brother, no!" Azula screamed.
Fire seared the air and sailed toward Jet. Her worst fears came true. Her blood seethed with anger, going into a reckless frenzy. Fire steamed from her fingers and blossomed into great explosions as they hurled toward her target, setting the ground ablaze. She wasn't going to show Jet mercy.
Jet heard the terrifying scream. He turned, only to curse his own luck as blue fire raced toward him. She truly had the worst timing.
Fireballs after fireball whirled through the air and Azula was set on watching the forest around her set ablaze. With desperate courage Jet weaved and dodged with as much strength as he could muster, counting on sheer luck to save him. His hands and clothes were already burned by Azula's fire. He was just lucky the rest of his body wasn't.
As he rolled to cover, his left eye finally wrenched free from its socket. He could hardly feel the pain as it flopped into the dirt. He had every intention to get away, to slip out of Azula's vengeful grasp and save what body parts were still attached to him. Covered behind a pile of fallen trees he crouched with some difficulty, his wounds wrapping him in pain, trying to flee.
Just over a small berm he saw Smellerbee standing at the top, as if taking in the destruction of the forest. Jet could manipulate her. She might still be useful.
Smellerbee stood awe-struck. The fires spread and among the flames fought Jet and Azula. She refused to move, afraid to be consumed by the hell of smoke cinders swirling around the two battered and charred fighters. Jet was already weaseling his way out among the fallen trees toward her it seemed. It was a miserable sight to see.
But if Jet made his way toward her, it would only be a matter of time before Azula found her way toward him. Smellerbee would be next on her chopping block.
In the blink of an eye Jet closed the distance between them and was only several steps away from her. As the flames followed him and Smellerbee could already feel the heat on her skin. Jet's arms moved toward his belt and took two small bags from it. He threw them toward her before dashing to the side.
"Catch!" Jet shouted.
Smellerbee caught them, but blue flames consumed her only seconds later. As a loud explosion echoed across the forest, ashes, dust, and blood were all that were left of her.
o0o0o0o
In the sudden confusion of noise and light, Azula's face and clothes were smattered in a thick coat of blood. It got in her mouth and eyes and she strained under the sudden loss of her hearing, bells ringing in her ears from the explosion. She could hardly understand what had happened when she regained her senses minutes later, only that a pool of blood and organs were left where Jet's remains was supposed to be.
As Azula wiped the sting of blood from her eyes she was severely enraged that Jet's head wasn't staring back at her as her eyes drift to the ground. It was a girl's head. Smellerbee, if she could recall the name correctly. Her body was torn asunder into a dozen red pieces. There was an arm there, a foot near her, and a shredded leg farther off. Azula's stomach churned at the sight.
As she limped away, with the fires burning around her, her anger quieted for the moment, she cursed herself under her breath. Jet had gotten away and used his last friend as a meat shield.
She'd kill him before the game was done.
o0o0o0o
"Wow! Just look at that mess! Beautiful stuff!"
"Well that's what you get when you mix fire with explosive jelly! A huge boom! That was some quick thinking by Jet. Good thing he had that on him."
"Maybe it's good that our listeners can't see it, because I'm sure they would lose their lunch over the sight. That being said another tribute is dead and this one went out with a bang! It was Smellerbee from District Five. The Explosives girl!"
"Its been a long time since we saw such bloody mess. Correct me if I'm wrong but the last time we saw something like that was when the Combustion Man was sent out to clean the field because that year's tributes were lazy and didn't die fast enough. The games were way past their deadline."
"Yes, they were. Things like that are rare in the games. Guess the tributes didn't have it in them to kill each other. After that little hiccup though the next batch were perfectly motivated to kill each other!"
"Eat a cabbage a day and you will not need to worry about your body exploding for no reason! Its what the scientists proved in Cabbage Corp labs."
o0o0o0o
Azula knelt by her brother's corpse, unsure of what to do.
She knew now that Jet had a mind to betray them all, to use the fire as cover and ambush her when the time came. She made it that much more difficult to pull off.
Perhaps setting the last of the forest ablaze might snuff him out or burn him alive in his hiding hole. Either way, Jet proved to be a stubborn prick. It would take more than a forest fire just to kill him, more than just herself too.
She stood up, grief welling in her eyes. "Stupid, Zuko… I told you something like this would happen, but you didn't listen to me, did you! Now look at you…"
She wiped her nose with a dirt-covered finger and took the jian sword from her dead brother's grasp. No sense in leaving good sword with a dead man.
She kicked the corpse, a tear trickling down her cheek. "I won't let mother know how her foolish son died! At least father might be happy with it! You stupid, naïve little fool!"
With one last kick Azula could stand it no more. She had to leave, to get as far away from his body as possible. There was no sense in arguing with a corpse.