Things were not looking good for Aang, Sokka, and Toph. Someone was chasing them, although they didn't know who. All Toph could tell with her awesome seismic sense was that it was a big metal machine. It was relentless, always close behind no matter how much distance they put between them and whoever was following them.
It was cutting into their sleep, forcing them to flee from whatever makeshift camp they'd managed to set up. No one had gotten any reprieve, including Appa, who was starting to lag now, exhausted. Tensions were high, but they still had no idea who or what it was.
"It could be Zuko," Sokka remarked as they fled once again. "We haven't seen him since the North Pole."
"Who's Zuko?" Toph inquired curiously.
Sokka rested his head on his arms, exhausted. "Oh, just some angry freak with a ponytail who's tracked us all over the world."
Toph reached over and yanked on his hair. "What's wrong with ponytails, Ponytail?"
Sokka ducked out of her grip, shooting her a disgruntled look even though she couldn't see it. "This is a warrior's wolf tail."
"Well, it definitely tells the other warriors that you're fun and perky!" Toph teased him with a grin.
"How did you even know I had a wolf tail?" Sokka demanded indignantly as he smoothed his hand over his wolf tail, miffed at her poking fun at his hair.
"I might not be able to see with my eyes, but my feet paint a decent picture," Toph replied with a snicker.
Aang deemed that they had to have given the metal machine the slip and brought Appa down to sleep on a small plateau atop a craggy mountain. No one bothered to set up camp, instead opting to just lay out their bedrolls (or in Toph's case, pitch an earth-tent), and collapse. They had gotten maybe twenty minutes of sleep when Momo's nervous chittering woke them up.
Sokka lifted his head as he let out a groan. "Oh, don't tell me…"
"That's impossible!" Aang shouted, irritated. "There's no way they could have tracked us!"
Toph collapsed her earth tent, her expression grim. "I can feel it with my own two feet!"
Sokka started for Appa. "Let's get out of here then."
Aang went to the edge of the plateau and looked down at the dust cloud steadily chugging towards them. "Maybe we should face them and find out who they are. Who knows? Maybe they're friendly."
Sokka sighed and rolled his eyes. "Always the optimist."
"Somehow, I don't think they want to have sing-alongs and braid Sokka's ponytail," Toph remarked.
He glared at her. "It's a warrior's wolf tail!"
Aang shushed him as they all watched the tank train chug up the side of the mountain, nearly defying gravity. A door on the machine opened, and suddenly, the three ferocious girls that they had encountered in Omashu appeared. Aang's jaw dropped open as they mounted three eel hounds and began to climb the mountain at a fast pace.
"It's those three girls from Omashu!" Sokka yelped.
The three of them assumed fighting stances, their expressions set in fierce determination.
"We can take them," Toph said confidently. "Two on three, but one of us is the Avatar? I think we've got this."
"Toph, there's three of us," Sokka pointed out.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't count you." The small girl shrugged. "You know, no bending at all."
Sokka gritted his teeth. "I can still fight!"
"Okay...two on three, plus Sokka."
He swore steam curled out of his ears, but he focused on their attackers instead of getting into it with Toph. But after a brief scuffle, it was clear that they weren't going to win the fight against those crazy girls.
"Well, we wanted to find out who they were, and we found out," Sokka said as he sheathed his boomerang. "Now let's get out of here."
Toph quickly bent a huge wall of rock in front of the trio of girls. Suddenly, a bright bolt of lightning lit up the night, and the crazy firebending girl blew a huge hole through their defense. Aang saw the shock on Toph's face as she realized that they were truly outmatched.
They quickly fled on Appa, flying away into the night.
Dawn found the trio slumped in Appa's saddle, thoroughly exhausted. Appa wasn't in much better shape. None of them had gotten much sleep, too afraid to land in case those girls tracked them down again.
"I can't believe those girls followed us all the way from Omashu," Sokka remarked in disbelief.
Toph picked her toes. "I still think we could have taken them."
"Are you kidding me?" Sokka pantomimed the firebending girl's display of lightning, completely forgetting that Toph couldn't see it. "The crazy blue firebending and the flying daggers are bad enough, but one of those girls did something to my sister that took her bending away."
"That's scary," Aang agreed.
Sokka looked at the horizon, tinged gold. "Oh no, the sun is rising. We've been up all night with no sleep!"
"Sokka, we'll be okay," Aang told him reassuringly.
Sokka looked around frantically. "Are you sure? I've never not slept before! What if I fall asleep when something happens? And something always happens!"
"Every time we land, those girls are there," Toph remarked. "So we'll just have to keep flying."
Aang looked at his bison, his brow knitting. "Appa can't keep flying forever."
Eventually, they landed in a field in a small forest. They needed a break, especially Appa, who looked even more miserable than Aang felt.
"So what's our plan?" Aang asked around a yawn.
Toph leaned against Appa's side. "Don't know. Too tired to think." She ran her fingers over Appa's fur. "But I think this is how they're tracking us."
"You're blaming Appa?" Aang demanded incredulously.
"He's leaving a trail of fur everywhere we go!" Toph replied defensively. "If we want to ditch those girls, we need to cover our tracks better."
"How do we do that?" Aang asked.
Sokka looked determined. "I've got an idea."
And that was how Aang found himself in an abandoned town as the sun sank towards the horizon, waiting for those girls to show up after laying a false trail. He'd sent Toph and Sokka away on Appa after giving the bison a bath to help clear as much of his loose fur as possible. He felt confident that he could take the girls on, even though he was absolutely exhausted.
Suddenly, the firebender rode into the village on her lizard mount. As far as Aang could tell, she was alone. She slid gracefully out of the saddle when she had drawn closer to him. Aang watched her carefully, ready to flee at a moment's notice.
"You've caught up with me," Aang called out to her. "Now, who are you and what do you want?"
She actually looked affronted.
"You mean you haven't guessed? You don't see the family resemblance?" The girl drawled with a look of mock-surprise. "Here's a hint." She covered her left eye and deepened her voice as she said, "I must find the Avatar to restore my honor!" Aang watched her flatly. The girl chuckled. "It's okay. You can laugh. It's funny."
Outwardly, Aang didn't respond. But internally, he felt a shiver of panic jolt through him. This girl was related to Zuko, which could only mean trouble.
"I'm Princess Azula of the Fire Nation," the girl went on, as if Aang cared.
He sighed tiredly. "What now?"
The girl looked at him coldly. "Now? Now, it's over. You're tired and you have no place to go. You can run, but I'll catch you."
Aang stood up, brandishing his glider. "I'm not running."
Her lips turned up in a cruel smirk. Aang wondered if he had just made a mistake. He hoped not.
Sokka burst into the burning building and saw Aang pinned beneath collapsed beams. He quickly moved one out of the way before Aang pulled himself free.
"Sokka!" Aang said, clearly surprised.
But then he shoved Sokka out of the door as Azula coated the room with more blue flames. Then the girl ran out after them, narrowly dodging a blow from Sokka's club. She gave chase, sending jets of blue fire after them. She backed Aang and Sokka against a building, and the two were hard-pressed to deflect her attacks. Suddenly, the ground shifted and the princess toppled over. Toph appeared in the alley behind her, a smirk on her face.
"Thought you guys could use a little help," she said.
"Thanks," Sokka said.
The three of them chased after Azula as she began to flee, clearly realizing that she was outmatched. Sokka, Toph, and Aang attacked her in unison, but there was a sudden explosion as she retaliated, and soon, a thick fog of smoke filled the street. The three of them coughed on the acrid smell before Aang blew it away with a strong gust of wind.
But Azula was gone.