Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Earth.

Fire.

Air.

Water.

Only the avatar can save us all.

Previously on Legend of Katherine!

After narrowly escaping from the clutches of Princess Lizzie, the trio board an airship to Spark City to find the Water Tribe outpost there! But on the way, mysterious black creatures attack the ship and now the avatar and her friends are stuck in the middle of the Fire Nation, with no easy way out! But with Kiaria, the newest member of the group, Kat is certain that the rest of the trip will be easier on them. Will that stay true?

Book 1: Water

Chapter 10: Ambush

In a small, but rapidly developing village near the capital, everything seemed like normal. The civilians were going on with their everyday chores, the children were playing hopscotch and jump-rope out on the streets, and the soldiers were helping and supervising the construction of the statue in town square and the third grainery.

Nobody had any idea that the Fire Nation Princess was in town.

Lizzie walked briskly down the cobblestone street, glancing occasionally at a street sign. Her signature pink hair and o so familiar face was hidden by a dark red hood, which she used to disguise her identity to remain unnoticed.

She made her way to the grainery construction site where many dutiful builders were already hard at work, continuing to lay out the frame of the storage. There were two girls that stood out from the sea of uniform workers; the two girls that Lizzie was looking for.

One of them had curly strawberry blonde hair and chocolate brown eyes. She had a cheerful, energetic personality, as portrayed by her overeager bouncing and squeals every two seconds. The second girl had midnight black hair dyed indigo-violet at the tips, and was a bit more calm, listening to the first girl's ideas with mild enthusiasm. They were Meghan and Lauren, Lizzie's best(and only) friends.

Lizzie entered the plot, and took down her hood. Meghan and Lauren immediately caught sight of her, and they both immediately dropped into a deep bow. Although that lasted shortly, as Meghan instantly sprang back up and gave Lizzie a giant hug.

"Lizzie!" Meghan squealed. "Oh my gosh, it's soooo good to see you again! It's been like, forever since we got assigned to oversee construction on this village! How's things back at the capital? Did anything interesting happen with the bending test?"

"It's good to see you too, Meghan, Lauren," Lizzie smiled, moving on to give Lauren a hug as well. "And about the bending test; that's why I'm here."

"What is it?" Lauren asked, a frown forming on her face. "Was there an interruption?"

"To say the least," Lizzie winced, thinking back to the chaotic events of the test. "Turns out, one of the girls was actually the avatar, and then there were infiltrators that broke into the palace, and then she entered the avatar state…it's a long story."

"You're gonna have to try and explain it." Lauren hummed, looking both absolutely shocked and unsurprised at the new development.

So Lizzie had to sit down with her two friends, grab a couple hotcakes and cups of jasmine tea, and explain the whole situation to them. An hour and a half later, Lizzie was absolutely exhausted from all the talking, and Meghan and Lauren's jaws were dropping.

"So wait. The avatar got…possessed? And then another one of the girls was actually a waterbender?! Whaaa?" Meghan gaped, before dramatically falling to the ground from shock overdose. Lauren looked just as stunned.

"And now you need us to try and track the avatar and her friends down." Lauren concluded. "This is…a lot to take in."

"You're telling me!" The pitiful, whining voice of Meghan rose from the ground. Lizzie facepalmed.

"Yes. And it's best if we leave as soon as possible. I know for sure that the avatar will be heading to the Northern Water Tribe to master waterbending, so the most ideal location to take off from would be Spark City." She explained. "We've caught wind of a Northern Raider outpost there, but it has yet to be uncovered. It's the best lead we have so far."

"I guess this is gonna be a long journey, huh?" Lauren sighed.

*Timeskip to Later*

"I hate flying!"

Lizzie felt the urge to bang her head on the wall, as Meghan slumped out of her seat, complaining for the fifth time since they took off. Which had only been ten minutes ago.

"I know, Meghan," the Princess seethed, barely keeping her annoyance under control. "but this is the fastest way to Spark City. Or would you rather ride a train for three days through potentially unsafe swamps and forests and volcanic mountain ranges?"

Meghan immediately sat back up, shuddering. "Volcanic mountain ranges? Sheesh, no thanks."

Lizzie let out a deep sigh, before refocusing her attention on what was going on in front. "Captain, how much longer until we get to Spark City?" She commanded.

"In approximately five hours, your Highness," the captain responded, his eyes focused on the steering wheel and the front window. Lizzie let out a mix between a scoff and a sigh. Lauren chuckled at that.

"Maybe you should let Meghan explore the ship instead?" She suggested warmly. Lizzie gave her a deadpan look.

"And let her destroy everything? No thanks." She crossed her arms, looking to the other side, only to see Meghan lying on the ground, eating a platter of mini ice-cream cakes. Lizzie sighed, facepalming.

"Oh the other hand, it might just get her out of here and give us some peace and quiet." Lizzie muttered. Suddenly, the captain turned to look at her, which was unprecedented so far.

"Your Highness, we've spotted some weird flying creature up ahead." He reported. "And an…eel-hound…with riders chasing the volant animal."

Lizzie stood up, walked over to the front window, and narrowed her eyes, squinting at the blurs down below. "Bring us down," she commanded. "let's see what this is all about."

*A few minutes earlier*

"We need a team name."

Vixella groaned from the back of Kiaria's saddle. Again. "I thought we were over this?"

"But if we don't have a team name, what are we?" Kat argued. "Team Avatar 2.0? That's soooo unoriginal."

"But every time we try to come up with a team name, we just end up arguing and sulking for the next hour!" Stacy sighed. "Plus, The Froggo Flippers is just weird."

"Oh, that wasn't me." Kat reeled back, laughing nervously. "I think Vixella came up with that one."

"No, you're the one who thought we should call ourselves the League of Fire Nation Butt-Kickers," Vixella grumbled.

"No seriously, guys, we need a name." Kat frowned, a look of seriousness flashing across her face for a moment. "See, even Kiaria agrees! Right, Kiaria?" She glanced down at her eel-hound, who let out a snort of indignance.

Stacy groaned. "How much longer is it to the next village? I don't think I can take this much longer."

"It's almost like this area is cursed to make us get all riled up," Vixella observed, before her eyes widened mischievously. "orrrr maybe it really is."

"It's not haunted, Vixella," Stacy responded monotonously, having given up dealing with the others. "It's just another completely normal forest, like every other forest we've traveled through." She glanced up at the towering oak and pine trees lining the side of the road. They grew in a straight line, either with curving branches or straight, pointing sticks. Stacy frowned. It looked almost too normal…

"I got a new idea!" Kat exclaimed suddenly. "We can call ourselves the Demon Slayers! It's perfect—" She was cut off by a series of high pitched, squeaky noises from the surrounding forest. It sounded almost like a mix between a rat and a snake.

"I think we have guests," Vixella frowned, unsheathing her rapier and eying the surrounding forest sharply.

There was rustling in some berry bushes nearby, and then the odd shrieking came again. Kat and Stacy uncapped their waterskins, armed and ready.

Then the weirdest creatures burst out. They looked like goblin-fishes, with their large pointed ears and chin, pointy body shape and tiny arms, but eventually the limbs gave way to a large, slimy fish tail at some point. And they were floating.

"What…are these creatures?" Stacy asked, indignation and disgust evident in her voice.

"I don't know." Kat responded, her blue eyes narrowed at the pack. "But, I think maybe…spirits?" There was no other viable explanation for what these things were. Plus, they did radiate a mysterious energy…

"Dark spirits, to be precise." The Other Self informed unexpectedly. "Spirits corrupted by darkness and negativity. They're very uncommon as well, which'll make this battle more interesting to watch!"

Kat didn't get a chance to tell that to Stacy and Vixella, before the group attacked. Their amber eyes glowed, along with their claws of the same color, as they lashed out against the trio.

Kat blocked a strike with a little bit of ice, before breaking the wall up into icicles, firing them with diligent aim at a group. They cawed out in pain, as they dissipated into a puff of magenta smoke upon impact. Kat smirked. These things weren't so hard to fight!

Stacy and Vixella weren't having much trouble either. Each of the creatures vanished into a puff of smoke with each chop and every swipe from a water whip. Too easy!

"I think that's the last one!" Kat called out as she vanquished the last spirit in sight with a water tentacle. Her gaze scanned the area one more time, before shrugging and walking towards Kiaria, who had backed herself next to a tall birch whilst the battle had been ongoing.

"Welp, that's probably the easiest challenge we've come across so far," Vixella remarked, blowing some dust off of her rapier. Who she also yet had to name, to Kat's disappointment and outrage.

"Wait!" Stacy froze in place, her senses keen on picking up the smallest vibrations. "I don't think we're done yet. There's more."

As if on cue, another trio of the spirits burst out from the treetop canopy, baring their teeth and snarling.

"Oh come on!" Kat complained, heaving a sigh as she uncorked her waterskin again. "I thought we were finished here!"

The three spirits burst forward, eyes filled with hatred and thirst for blood. But suddenly, all of that negativity was replaced by pure, undoubted fear. The creatures paused in midair, and immediately scrambled back into the forest, their tails between their legs. Kat frowned.

"Is that normal?" She questioned, slightly confused and worried. Stacy and Vixella looked just as perplexed, and the Other Self only let out a small, excited giggle. Not helpful at all.

"They ran away out of fear." Stacy noted as she cautiously walked back towards a startled Kiaria. "But what were they afraid of?"

"I—" Kat was cut off by a weight that suddenly landed on her, knocking her down to the ground, dazed. It was like someone had thrown a boulder at her head! In the back of her mind, the Other Self cackled maniacally.

"KAT!" Kat heard Stacy and Vixella scream in unison. But she had no time whatsoever to comprehend what was going on, as the entity seized her arm and slammed her down onto the ground.

Panic flooded Kat's body as she kicked frantically at whoever—whatever—was attacking her, alarm bells ringing. It proved to be in vain, as it grabbed her again, and flung her towards a tree like a ragdoll. Black spots started to cloud her vision.

"She's here!" The Other Self sang cheerfully at the back of Kat's mind.

"Who?" Kat thought dazedly as she started to lose consciousness.

"You'll find out soon enough." He chuckled quietly, strength returning to his voice for a second before everything faded out into nothingness.

Lizzie had no idea what to do when her mother announced that she was getting a fiancé on her fifteenth birthday.

The Fire Nation heiress had lots of ambition. Dreams of a beautiful world, where the Fire Nation controlled every aspect of this planet and provided every single one of its citizens with grand amounts of wealth and prosperity.

Lizzie wanted to protect, conquer, share their great country's wealth with the rest of the world.

She had never once considered the idea of marriage.

Yet here she was, hearing the exact same words that she had dreaded.

"Marriage?" Lizzie echoed, still a little shocked, but immediately hiding it in a facade of mild interest. "To whom, Mother?"

"I've spoken with your grandfather, and we've decided on a wonderful young man from the Weng family." Azula answered coolly. "He is exactly your age, and is extremely gifted and knowledgeable in the art firebending and the history of our glorious nation. Although his attitude could use some work."

Lizzie never knew how badly that sentence meant for her future.

"I've already contacted the Wengs." The Fire Lord went on, walking to the bedside mirror in Lizzie's room. "They are ecstatic to have their son marrying a member of the Royal Family. It will bring great honor to them—and great benefit to us."

Lizzie swallowed her simmering anger and frustrations, before speaking. "When will I meet him, Mother?"

"Soon." Azula turned away from the mirror, heading towards the closed doors leading outside instead. "And Lizzie." She turned back one more time, a cold, calculating look in her deep amber eyes. "You're a member of the Royal Family. Do not disappoint me."

Lizzie bowed again. "Yes, Mother."

She had originally been slightly curious about meeting her new fiancé. Who knew what he was like? Mother might've just been bluffing about his attitude and attributes to get her to comply. So Lizzie made sure to take extra care on possibly impressing her future husband the day they were scheduled to meet.

And boy, was he. a. JERK.

Duye Weng, the supposed 'angel son' of the Weng family, was nothing but a wolf in koala-sheep clothing! He appeared formal and nice enough, but on the inside, he was the EXACT. OPPOSITE.

Lizzie wanted to do nothing more than go to her mother and grandfather, and beg for them to change their mind about Duye after the meetup.

It only added salt to the wound that Lizzie met the true love of her life that day as well.

That night, Lizzie had been sitting at her bedside table, wanting nothing more to do than bang her head on the wood. Duye. Was. Such. A. Nuisance.

Lizzie took a calming deep breath, before deciding that a stroll through the streets of Capital City would help her relax a little. Forget about Duye, and that he even existed.

Capital City was beautiful at night. Flaming lanterns were strung across buildings, creating a beautiful dappling effect with its light. Late night street vendors were still outside, selling their fiery treats to bypassers. Most of the people out at this time was to get to the Town Square, where there was a popular circus performer that staged his shows late at night.

But instead of walking amongst the street-goers, Lizzie slunk along the rooftops, watching the commotion from above.

And that was how she met him.

It appeared at first to just be another shadow. But as Lizzie got closer, she managed to make out a faint silhouette, draped in a…forest green cloak, of all things. Alarm, confusion, and wariness immediately surged through her body, as Lizzie slowly backed away from the mysterious figure.

But it was too late.

The person had already spotted her, and turned his head towards Lizzie. He unveiled his hood, and smiled at her.

"Hey," he had said. "it's beautiful up here, isn't it?"

"Who are you?" Lizzie demanded. "Are you from the Earth Kingdom?"

"Does it really matter?" He sighed, looking away again. "Why can't we just all be friends? Does wearing a color that is not red make you a traitor immediately?"

Lizzie hesitated, considering his words. But why else would he be here, sitting on the roof instead of down with the other folk, disguising himself in a green robe?

"Come sit with me." He offered. "The fireworks are about to go off."

"Why should I trust you?" Lizzie narrowed her eyes at the stranger.

"Why shouldn't you?" He responded.

Lizzie nearly sputtered. That's right, sputtered. But without a good excuse, she begrudgingly sat down beside the figure.

The two watched the happy residents of the city walk past on the streets in complete silence. Lizzie's attention kept darting towards the stranger, who was completely focused intently on watching those below.

"What are you planning?" Lizzie snapped, finally having enough of this nonsense.

"Nothing." The stranger responded nonchalantly. "Really! Not everything has to have an ulterior motive. Sometimes, you do it out of the kindness in your heart."

"What's your name?" Lizzie asked, narrowing her eyes.

"What's yours?" He replied.

Lizzie wanted to melt this stranger out of frustration.

Yet oddly enough, that was the seed that blossomed into a beautiful relationship.

*Switch to Stacy & Vixella POV*

"KAT!" Stacy screamed, terror filling her body as she watched in horror as the…beast…slammed her best friend onto the ground, before throwing her at a tree.

The spirit that was attacking Kat had appeared out of thin air. And it was…massive. Twice the size of a platypus-bear! It had silky dark indigo fur with poison green horns and a mosquito-fly's beak. It was also…dripping? Some kind of weird clear liquid.

Stacy pulled out a stream of water from her waterskin, and slashed it at the beast. It didn't even flinch at the sharp sting. Instead, it clambered over to a now unconscious Kat, grabbing her with its jaws, and then started to twitch uncontrollably. Stacy's eyes were huge, and her hands were shaking as the spirit continued to shake. Two large bumps was starting to form on its back.

Then,

It sprouted wings.

Clear, dark blue wings with spiderweb patterns inside tore themselves free from the skin of the spirit, splattering clear liquid all around the place. Stacy leapt back as a puddle landed right where she had been standing, which was now making some odd sizzling sound.

"Give us back our friend!" Vixella roared, charging at the spirit with her rapier raised. The spirit…scoffed, batting her aside with one paw. Then it leapt off the ground, it's wings flapping hard to keep it flying in the air. It flew rapidly away from the two of them, further along the trail.

"No, no, no!" Stacy shouted, leaping onto Kiaria as fast as a bolt of lightning and pulling on her reins. "C'mon, girl! Let's go!" Kiaria sensed that something was terribly wrong, and immediately sprinted after the spirit. Stacy grabbed Vixella while cruising along, swinging her onto Kiaria.

It was a pretty even chase for the first part. The spirit couldn't get ahead, but Kiaria couldn't catch up either. It was when the trees started to thin and they entered a more mountainous area that had Stacy worried. So she let go of the reins, drew a blob of water, and fired icicle shingles at the spirit. To her dismay, it did nothing to damage or hinder it. The spirit swallowed the icicles upon impact and immediately closed up the wound like nothing ever happened.

"It's gonna lose us in the mountains!" Stacy cried, visibly distressed.

Vixella glanced down at Kiaria, who was panting heavily. "I don't know how much longer Kiaria can keep up!" She frowned. Stacy furrowed her eyebrows, deep in thought, before an idea came to mind.

"Wait!" She exclaimed. "Vixella, I'm gonna get you up there." Vixella shot her a slightly doubtful look, but nodded anyway.

Stacy steered Kiaria up a seperate, narrower path that got them to about the same height as the spirit was flying. She then grabbed Vixella with a water tendril, and flung the girl at the spirit. Stacy made sure to wrap the water around the spirit's leg, ending up losing a lot of her water supply and freezing Vixella to the creature's back leg. Interesting.

The spirit glanced back at the girl clinging onto his leg, scoffing again. It then veered slightly left, smashing her into the side of a cliff wall. Most of the ice shattered into pieces(which Stacy then recollected below), leaving Vixella literally hanging on for dear life, with nothing but her bare hands to stay on.

Vixella then grabbed her rapier with one swift movement, and stabbed it into the spirit's side. It didn't open up and close the wound immediately, letting the blade stick inside. Vixella and Stacy let out a sigh of relief, knowing that she was less likely to fall now.

As they chased further up the mountaintops, splotches of snow became common in the scenery speeding past. Stacy grabbed a particularly large pile of it and threw it at the creature.

The creature growled in annoyance, before dropping Kat out of its mouth and onto its front paws. It transformed its head into one of a lion, and let out an earth-trembling roar that rang crystal clear across the entire mountain. Then the peak actually started to rumble, as more of the goblin-fish from earlier burst out from the rock, these ones covered in ice at the joints. They also looked tougher, Stacy noticed with a wince.

*Insert The Sky is Falling here*

Stacy steered Kiaria past snarling and screeching goblin-fish, some still half buried in the ground, her mind both panicking and groaning in exasperation. Seriously?!

"Did it just mutate its head into a lion?" Vixella shouted from on the now-manticore. Stacy shrugged helplessly. Sure it did, but how?!

Stacy took half of the remaining water in her waterskin, and formed a long icicle spear out of it. As they zoomed along the mountaintops, she slashed it fiercely at any goblin-fish that dared to attack, even butchering one in half. Still, there were even more spirits than ever now, even some new mini-dragon spirits flying above. Just another day in paradise!

Here comes another nightmare, another fever dream

Meanwhile, with Vixella, she was having some trouble hanging onto her rapier, with the manticore swinging left and then veering right all the time. She caught a glimpse of an unconscious Kat hanging in the spirit's arms, before it blocked her vision with its wings again. Vixella then had to swing sharply left, to avoid one of the dragon spirits from chomping her foot off.

The horror just won't stop; an endless scream

On the ground, Stacy could tell Kiaria was getting tired. Her pants were becoming more audible and heavy with every step, and she barely managed to dodge a swipe from one of the ice goblin-fish at one point. Stacy glanced around concernedly, then noticed a river that veered onto the trail. An idea came to mind.

But this is not subconscious, we're not imagining

Stacy pulled on Kiaria's reins, wielding her to the right. The eel-hound seemed very relieved as she plunged into the river, riding along with the river currents. Stacy helped her out a little by bending the water to their advantage.

We're wide awake, this is reality

But all of a sudden, another spirit lunged out from the water, this looking like an actual eel with sharp claws and a row of spikes on its back. Stacy gasped as it headed straight for Kiaria, and barely managed to deflect it with a blade of water.

Our world's lost without a soul

Back on top of the spirit, Vixella was very close to falling off. The manticore was constantly smashing her into walls, and she was losing grip of her rapier. It also seemed to be slowly healing the wound, pushing her blade back out.

We're losing all control, not getting closer

Suddenly, one of the dragon spirits charged at her again, this time butting its head right into her rapier, causing both to fall out. Vixella let out a scream as the spirit above slowly became smaller and smaller.

Every step is just another dose of torture

"Vixella!" Stacy cried, quickly sending a stream of water turned ice slide to catch her fall. Vixella slid down the slippery ice slide, before falling into the rapids of the river. Stacy grabbed her friend's arm, and swung her over to the back of Kiaria.

"Thanks." Vixella flashed a small smile quickly, before turning her attention back to the spirit, which was slowly gaining an upper hand now. "Now what? How do we get up there?"

"Maybe we don't have to," Stacy said out loud, another idea forming. "Maybe we just need to ground it!"

"How?" Vixella cried, very confused at the new possibility.

"Give me your rapier, Vix," Stacy ordered. "We're gonna cut off its wings."

Better cover up your eyes my friend the sky is falling

Vixella tossed her rapier hesitantly to Stacy, who pulled out a vine rope she had been making earlier. She tied one end to the handle of the rapier, and gave the other to Vixella. Stacy then aimed, and threw the rapier up towards the spirit, striking it right at the joint where the wings met the body.

Can't outrun the ruin of our lives

Stacy then created another tendril of water, and wrapped it around the other joint of the manticore's wings. She then froze the tip, cutting it into the flesh(or is this flesh? This is a spirit, so idk lol). The spirit screeched in pain, but continued to flap its wings even harder.

Be prepared, we're near the end, the final days are calling

"Stacy! Look out!" Vixella suddenly screamed. Stacy snapped her attention towards the front, and noticed a dragon spirit that had landed on a rock right in the middle of the river. Stacy gasped, letting go of the water tendril, and quickly formed an ice ramp for Kiaria to jump over the dragon.

Hold on now

Stacy and Vixella let out a breath of relief as they completely soared past the spirit. But in the moment, Stacy had let go of the spirit's other wing, and Vixella's rapier was slowly coming loose as well. But then she noticed what was in front of them.

The sky is falling down

"Huh?" Stacy murmured, then her eyes widened. The mountaintop cut away abruptly right at the edge, revealing a large, gaping ravine that they were approaching very quickly.

"HALT!" Vixella yelled frantically, grabbing Kiaria's reins and pulling on it sharply. Kiaria let out a screech of surprise and panic, trying desperately to come to a stop before the fall. But she fell sideways as they stopped, and sent Stacy and Vixella tumbling rapidly towards the fall. Vixella stabbed her rapier into the snow, but in vain as she lost her grip and the two of them descended down, down, and down into the rocky crevasse.

End of Song

As the airship descended down onto the mountaintops, the first thing Lizzie noticed was all the odd marks around the place. There were white scratch marks all over the rocks surrounding the trail, and the small river that ran along the path was sloshing and much of the water had spilled over its banks. As if something had plowed through its waters carelessly. Interesting.

"Woah, what happened here?" Meghan mused curiously as she and Lauren stepped off the platform. Lizzie inspected one of the rocks with a lot of scratch marks more carefully, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't have the slightest clue either," Lizzie responded. "But it's best we should travel further down to the trail to see where it leads to. And also, be on your guard. We don't know what left these marks, it could possibly be something very dangerous." As she spoke, her mind sifted through the possible suspects who left this mess. Earthbenders? A pack of saber-wolves? Not very likely, as saber-wolves preferred temperate forests to alpine mountain ranges, and who knows why a band of earthbenders would be doing out here, out in the middle of nowhere in the Fire Nation.

"Your Highness, there are shattered fragments of ice up ahead." One of the scouts reported as he came running back. "They look too perfect to have been naturally formed."

"Waterbenders?" Lizzie raised an eyebrow, humming inquisitively. "Certainly unusual." Maybe there were Northern Raiders setting camp here, on their back to the North Pole, or, if she were very lucky, the avatar herself.

"What does that mean?" Lauren asked as they paced along the rocky trail.

"It means we are going to find something worth the trouble at the end of this path." Lizzie smirked.

Lizzie, Meghan, and Lauren, plus a dozen or two of accompanying soldiers, made their way down the road. This was not a very commonly used road, and only the occasional merchant or traveler made their way through here to a remote hamlet. These mountains were also said to be filled with unknown dangers that had yet to be charted, as every explorer sent here never came back. It gave Lizzie some chills at the thought of what could possibly have killed so many experienced firebenders.

"We're approaching a ravine, Your Highness," another scout reported. "and there's a female eel-hound at the edge. It has a saddle on it, which could possibly mean it is tamed."

"An eel-hound?" Lizzie hummed. "Very interesting. Let's see what exactly is going on here."

The group made their way to the edge of the ravine, where, sure enough, a small, juvenile eel-hound was pacing at the edge of the deep, sudden drop. Trained eel-hounds were extremely expensive and hard to find, and nonetheless also very dangerous when upset or untamed. But this one looked more…distressed. It was letting out worried sounding whines, and also kept nodding its head towards the ravine.

"Should we detain it, ma'am?" One of the captains asked. Lizzie raised a hand.

"No." She responded coolly. "I think it might be useful after all." Lizzie walked over to the edge, where the eel-hound was pointing, and took a look down. The ravine was certainly intimidating, with its yawning drop and jagged cliffs. But that wasn't what caught her attention. It was the two bedraggled, unconscious girls lying on an outcropping a couple meters below the top.

Surprisingly enough, it was the same two girls who had been accompanying the avatar. Though Lizzie didn't see Kat anywhere around the place, they could provide some very useful information for her hunt.

"Pull those two up, and bring them back to the airship for questioning." Lizzie commanded, before narrowing her eyes and smirking. "They could be the keys to our hidden treasure chest."

Stacy awoke to a throbbing headache.

It wasn't even funny. It felt like a hundred drums banging against her scalp, making her ears ring louder than ever before. Stacy let out a groan, trying to press her hands against her ears.

But…they wouldn't budge.

Stacy snapped open her eyes, and the first thing she saw was the abundance of red.

That alone immediately started up her alarm bells, with panic steadily rising inside her. Stacy's eyes darted around frenziedly, taking in every little detail about the room.

Nothing she saw boded well for them.

The only good thing about their situation was probably that Vixella was still there, right next to Stacy. But…everything else was just…UGH.

They were in a large metal room lined with red banners and velvety red carpet. There were glass panes lining the front of the room, as well as an assortment of different complex machines filled with buttons and levers and switches that Stacy knew nothing about. A single man wearing heavy red armor was controlling the steering wheel in the center.

On the opposing wall, there were three black and crimson thrones lined up against the wall. The ones on the side were smaller and less lavishly decorated than the center one, and there were two guards on either side of the trio of thrones.

Two girls were seated on the side thrones. One had curly bubblegum pink hair and a very excited demeanor, while the other had straight bright violet hair, and was calmly reading a book.

But it was Princess Lizzie herself who sat in the center throne, staring straight at Stacy and Vixella.

Stacy let out a loud sigh. Again? Seriously? Why couldn't they go more than two days without running into their nemesis? And judging by their positions and clothing, the two girls on her side were Lizzie's henchwomen.

"So the sleeping beauty has finally decided to awaken," Lizzie proclaimed loudly, a smug grin on her face. "although the other is still snoozing."

"What do you want?" Stacy narrowed her eyes, hissing mistrustfully.

"I think you know already." The princess giggled, before straightening her demeanor. "Where is the avatar?"

"Well, unlucky for you, we don't know either!" Stacy retorted hotly. "She got carried away by a spirit. We don't know where Kat is now, or who kidnapped her."

"Isn't it the spirit?" The other pink haired girl questioned curiously. "You could find it, and along with it, Kat!"

"I doubt that spirit kidnapped Kat just for itself," Vixella cut in unexpectedly(Stacy hadn't even noticed she had awoken!). "someone else most likely sent it."

"Geez. I wonder who would want to capture the avatar at this time." The other purple haired girl said sarcastically. "Oh wait. Practically the entirety of the Fire Nation."

"Meghan, Lauren," Lizzie said in a 'don't test me now' tone. The two other girls immediately went silent. The Fire Nation Princess then turned to Stacy and Vixella. "This is…concerning, to say the least. Whoever kidnapped the avatar has a very strong connection with the spirits, first of all, so it most likely isn't just any other bounty hunter. We need to find who they are—and outsmart them."

"Well, now that we've told you what you want to hear, can we yet?" Vixella grumbled. Lizzie snorted.

"Of course not. I can't have such powerful pieces on the board just let loose like that." Lizzie clasped her hands together, a calculating smile forming on her face. "Instead, I have a proposal for you."

"And what is that?" Stacy growled, still a little salty from last time.

"None of us have any idea where the avatar is. But, we share a common goal and each have unique skills and information to offer to one another." Lizzie went on, standing up from her throne and walking slowly towards the front of the room. "If we come together, we have a better chance at locating the avatar. It would be a temporary alliance that benefits both parties. Fair enough, isn't it?"

"But we all know what you're gonna do with Kat once we do find her." Vixella spat. "And we can't let that happen. Even if we have the same short-term goal, our long-term goals still divide us."

"We'll cross the bridge when we come to it," Lizzie dismissed offhandedly. "What matters now, is finding the avatar."

As much as Stacy hated to admit it, Lizzie had a point. As the Crown Princess of the Fire Nation and Phoenix Empire, she had access to a lot of open resources to easily locate Kat. Nobody would question her for it either, as it was an assignment from the Phoenix King himself to find the avatar. With their help, they could get out of their pinnacle very easily.

Another way to say it, they were practically stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"...oh, she's here, she's here, the queen of my heart!"

"And so is the king, I can surely tell!"

"It was such an honor to be planted inside such a special soul."

"Beware, little kitty-kat, your time here will be a show."

The first thing Kat heard was the Other Self cheerfully singing praises inside her head. That was before she had regained full consciousness as well, so it just sounded like a lonely echo in the empty void of her mind.

Soon, the line which formed the edge of Kat's consciousness began to sharpen as she drew closer to awakening. She could feel her emotions starting to become panic-stricken, as Kat recalled the previous events. Did they do it? Had Stacy and Vixella managed to rescue her?

Sound and scent were the first of Kat's senses to return. She smelled something acrid and…soot? Something charred, or burning. The sharp click-clack of heels slowly focused as her ears reawoke(is that a weird way to describe it?).

A sense of touch came next. The first thing Kat noticed about that was that she couldn't feel the ground. Secondly, she felt that her arms were suspended above, on some kind of hook, which probably meant she was left dangling in midair. Kat already had a bad feeling about this.

If taste returned, Kat didn't notice it. It would only strengthen her sense of smell, which only made the charred scent stronger. Something was definitely burning.

Finally, Kat felt her sight return, as she very slowly began to blink open her eyes. The first thing she saw was a dark gray flooring, as well as her soot-stained clothes from the battle against the goblin-fish earlier. Judging by the smoothness of the ground, it was probably metal.

The alarm inside continued to accumulate, Kat barely managing to retain it back. "Other Self? Any info you might wanna provide?"

"I'll leave this to you to discover." He giggled back, quiet for once, despite all the commotion he had been making earlier.

Kat blearily lifted her head, squinting as everything came into focus. Red, black and gray decorated the room, and…oh no, OH NO.

Her eyes immediately shrunk into tiny pupils filled with fear. Oh Yue and La, this was…

She was wearing heavy black armor with gold and red trimmings, her midnight black hair tied in a neat topknot with the Royal Headpiece tucked behind. Her bangs were barely visible from this angle, only the tips peeking out. And in her left hand, a burning blue flame.

"The long lost avatar, found at last. Took you long enough, Aang."

The most manipulative, cunning, selfish, and deceiving person in the world.

Fire Lord Azula.

Basically no longer bothering to edit chapters anymore.

So if you've watched RWBY volume 8, then you might be able to guess where I got the inspiration for this arc of Book 1 from. Well, maybe not so hard to guess, haha...I don't know if I should be happy about how good this turned out, or ashamed of myself for even writing this lol. Originally, I was intending to skip next week's update, but since I only have one more chapter to upload after this one, I don't wanna bother with that. Also took a little inspiration from phoenixqueen's story 'Back From the Future' for the last part.

Anything else to say? Not really. I'm making good progress on the project I want to upload after next week. The hardest part is getting myself to get around to drawing the cover art lol. Like always, constructive criticism is very welcome! –Frosted Petals