Korra was out practicing with the girls whilst I helped Pema in the kitchen, also keeping an eye on Meelo who was racing around outside chasing lemurs, however when he got one stuck between two branches, I quickly dropped the bowl I was washing up. "Meelo! That is not how you treat the lemurs! Meelo!" Pema chuckled as I leaped out the window and raced over to the tree where he was sitting perched on the branch, pulling at the tail to try and free the lemur. "Come on Meelo get down, I'll help the lemur." I said sternly, climbing up as he grinned at me.
"Look Kanna, I caught a lemur!"
"Well, I'd say the tree caught him." I mused as I reached behind him and pulled the lemur out carefully from where it was stuck, smoothing down the fur and scratching its head. "There we go little guy, I'm sorry about Meelo, he didn't mean to scare you." I apologised and the lemur squeaked at me, nuzzling my face before flying off. "Get down now Meelo, you shouldn't be climbing about the trees like this, they're not all that strong."
"Okay!" Suddenly he leaped from the branch and I freaked, yelping as I tried to reach out and grab him before he could get himself hurt however I lost my balance and with a cry, I was the one who went tumbling to the ground, landing flat on my back as Meelo used a gust of wind to land safely on the ground. Right. Air-bender. "Hey Kanna, did you fall out of the tree? Why didn't you just make an air-ball like me?" Meelo asked as I groaned, rubbing my head.
"Because I'm not an air-bender you rascal." I answered, sitting up as Korra, the girls and surprisingly Mako came running over.
"Kanna! Oh Kanna are you hurt? That was a nasty fall." Ikki worried as Jinora placed her hand on my shoulder so I grinned at them.
"I'm fine, I've had worse from this from Korra. We used to wrestle all the time and once, she got so angry with me that she dropped a boulder on my head." I said and Korra laughed at the memory. We were eight at the time and we were arguing over who should get the last dumpling. Unsurprisingly, Korra won. "Hey Mako, what brings you here?" I asked as I got up, the two girls hugging themselves against me whilst Meelo ran around us in circles.
"Bolin. I thought he might have come to see you guys, guess not." He shrugged, glancing me over before shrugging however before he could make to walk off, Korra grasped his shirt at the shoulder and held him back, looking at me with a grin.
"He thinks Bolin might be in trouble so I suggested we take Naga and go look for him."
"That's a great idea, if anyone can track Bolin down it's Naga." I smiled, dusting myself off. "I'll come help you look. The more people we have searching, the faster we'll find him, right?" I reasoned before turning to the kids. "We'll be back soon, okay? Make sure you stay out of trouble, especially you Meelo, Meelo? Agh! What did I tell you about peeing on the trees?!" Korra laughed as I rushed to take care of Meelo before then going with them to get Naga who happily leaped up as Korra and I approached. "Hey girl, we're going to need your nose for today."
"That's right, time for a hunting trip!" Korra grinned as we both saddled her up whilst Mako just frowned.
"Your best friend is a polar bear dog. Somehow, that actually makes perfect sense." I shot him a look however Korra merely grinned.
"I'll take that as a compliment city boy." She said before mounting up. I took the seat behind her before I then held out my hand towards Mako who looked at Naga with caution and uncertainty so I stretched out further to him.
"Don't worry, she's only dangerous if you piss her off. Come on, I'll keep you safe." I teased him slightly and for once, I saw him crack a smile before he grasped my hand with his and I pulled him up behind me. "You might want to hang onto something." I suggested and Mako looked slightly alarmed as Naga darted forwards with a spring, making him yell in shock and his arms quickly snatched around my waist instinctively, making me laugh as I reached back and helped him find his seat again. "You'll get used to it, just remember to grip on with your legs to keep yourself anchored." I directed him as Korra took us to the pier before I then began to bend, creating a huge ice raft which Naga jumped onto before Korra and I propelled us towards the city.
"This is actually pretty neat." Mako admitted as he glanced around, watching the surf as his grip slackened on my waist and I glanced down. Immediately he snatched his hands away and I could almost feel him blush in embarrassment. "Ah! Sorry. I didn't mean…"
"It's fine, you hold onto me if you need to." I chuckled, turning my head back slightly. "Let's just focus on finding Bolin, okay?" And so we searched, Naga using her nose to catch Bolin's scent after we presented her with some of his clothing which Mako fetched from the attic of the arena, letting her sniff it before she then barked, signalling she had something so as she sprung forwards I grasped Mako's hand and pulled him up behind me again. He wasn't so bad after all, I guess. He just took his time warming up to people. We carefully navigated the city, Korra now more used to how the street system worked and soon enough we were outside the train station where Mako slid off the saddle.
"Well, this is his usual hangout." He said, looking around before he then went over to a group of children. Korra and I looked at one another before she too got down and led Naga over whilst I stayed on her back, using the height advantage to look around. "You guys seen my brother around here today?"
"Perhaps." One of the boys said, however as he sidled up to Mako I watched a greedy gleam arise in his eyes. "My memory is a little…foggy. Maybe you can help clear it up." With a raise of his hand Mako rolled his eyes before reaching into his pocket.
"You're good, Skoochy. A real pro." Pressing the bill into the boy's hand he quickly tucked it away before starting to talk and I listened intently, growing increasingly worried for Bolin. I hope he's okay, it's past noon so he must be starving by now.
"Yeah, I seen him. About noon, performing some kind of monkey-rat circus, and then…" The kid held out his hand for more money which Mako obliged to give him, asking to know what happened next. "Shady Shin showed up and flashed some serious cash. Bo took off with him in his hot rod. The Triple Threats, the Red Monsoons, the Agni Kais, all the triads are muscling up for something real big. Now that's all you're getting outta me!" Without warning the kids all dashed out of there, escaping as Mako stared after them with a look of distress on his face. This doesn't sound good, we've already had a run in with the Triple Threats, if there were more gangs out there all gathering together then it spelled trouble.
"What's he talking about?"
"Sounds like there's a turf war brewing. And Bolin's about to get caught right in the middle of it." I smacked a hand to my face. Way to go Bolin. You're cute and really sweet but sometimes you don't really think with your brain, do you? Aw man, this is bad. "I know where to look for him first. Let's go." Korra nodded her head and swung back up onto Naga and Mako climbed up behind me once more, a hand at my shoulder for balance as he still wasn't used to Naga's lolloping gait yet. He directed Korra on which way to go so as she took off, I lifted my hand to rest it over his.
"Don't worry about Bolin. We're going to find him and bring him back safe, okay?" I said to him, giving a determined and deadly expression which meant that if anyone messed with Bolin, I was going to turn them into a popsicle and feed them to Naga. Mako seemed to appreciate my words as he nodded his head and squeezed my shoulder slightly, relaxing into a friendly smile which I returned. Hey, I'm breaking down walls here, this is good progress.
"So where are we headed?" Korra called back over her shoulder as we ran, leaping over a main street to cut a corner and headed down an alley.
"The Triple Threat Triads' headquarters. Hopefully Bolin's there and nothing's gone down yet." Yeah me too, otherwise these Triple Threats will be in triple trouble. Suddenly Naga barked and changed course, making me yell as I gripped onto Korra and Mako freaked slightly and gripped onto me tightly for balance as he almost lost his seat.
"Whoa, Naga!" Korra yelled, pulling up on the reins as Naga chased something down the street and chased it up a lamppost, the bright red fur standing out as all of us instantly recognised the fire ferret. "No, Naga! Pabu's a friend, not a snack." Korra instructed sternly as I exhaled with relief. That had been close, guess Naga is as hungry as the rest of us if she was considering eating Pabu. The two animals sniffed one another, however Pabu, still a little affronted, leaped onto Naga's head and raced over to Mako where he curled up around his neck and settled there whilst shivering. The poor thing, he must be cold and terrified without Bolin.
"We gotta hurry." Nodding her head, Korra pushed Naga forwards. We travelled all the way to the Triple Threat Triad headquarters where instantly I sprung off of Naga's back and held up my hands, circling in ready for any attack however the place was empty, completely bare. Odd. "Something's not right. There are usually thugs posted out front. We better be cautious." He said as he carefully approached the door, however Korra, not one for being inconspicuous, merely walked up to the door and kicked both doors down with a single strike. I followed behind, winking at Mako as I looked around. "Bolin? You in here?"
Without warning we all heard the roar of an engine from behind the building and I was the first to move, sprinting forwards as my pulse quickened fearfully for Bolin. We burst through the door to find a group of strange guys on motorcycles and a truck out the back. They were hurryingly throwing the last person inside the truck, probably having heard Korra bring down the front door but as they then slammed the doors shut but not before I saw Bolin tied up and locked down along with a group of other benders. "Bolin!" I cried out, staring in horror
"Bo!" Mako yelled, growing angry and scared as the truck pulled off and before we could make chase, the two guys on the motorcycles released canisters which spewed out green smoke, making me cough as it flared in my face.
"Naga come!" Instantly I was turning around and grabbing Mako, waiting for Naga who barked to signal where she was as she rushed forwards, catching all of us as she leaped and with a burst of speed, gave chase to the kidnappers with all three of us safely on her back. Mako attempted to shoot them down with fire however they dodged all too easily. Even when Korra propelled one of them into the air with earth-bending they landed again whilst maintaining complete control. Who were these guys? That was a crazy move they just pulled there.
We darted into a square where the back two motorcyclists skidded to a halt, turning to face us and before we realised it, a bola flew forwards and trapped Naga's legs and took her to the ground, meaning that the three of us were all tossed from the saddle. "Korra!" I yelled, flying overhead and instantly she twisted before then lifting her legs, our feet meeting together before she pushed with her powerful muscles to send me shooting forwards. With my position corrected I uncapped Gran-Gran's water canteen and a lance of ice appeared in my hand which I used as a javelin to throw at one of the kidnappers, forcing them to leap back and away from Mako as he still recovered on the ground.
Landing on my feet I gasped for breath, pulling the ice back before then breaking it into shards which were sent like a storm at the other attacker, distracting him momentarily so that Korra could knock him out however he was too quick. Suddenly he had punched Korra on her arms, making them go loose and gangly before she was kicked to the side, Mako receiving the same treatment before both then turned to me. Oh crap. This is bad, what the hell did they just do to my friends?!
Summoning back the ice that I had spare I readied myself into a defensive stance, hands held upwards as I shifted my weight from foot to foot. They both attacked at once but not directly, springing over me and tried to attack from behind however I managed to twist away, gasping in alarm but before I could do anything one had rallied a series of punches to one arm even as I blocked with an ice shield with the other. I felt a strange numbing sensation flaring up my arm and my eyes widened in horror as my other arm was also attacked in the same manner before a final blow to the back of my neck sent me down onto the ground, crying out in pain as I lay completely limp.
"What…what was that?" I gasped, feeling weak and vulnerable and it was terrifying. I couldn't move even though I tried my best, it were as if my muscles were completely locked down. It was only because of Naga that nothing worst happened as she chewed herself free and bellowed at our attackers, sending the running as she stood over me to ward them off, Pabu also screeching angrily as they disappeared in a cloud of green smoke. "Good girl Naga, you too Pabu." I praised, still unable to move though Pabu licked my cheek before running over to Mako. Naga picked me up by pushing her nose under my waist and sliding me down her neck before then going to Korra and helping her to stand.
"I can't bend." She said in alarm as she got back to her feet. "I can't bend!"
"Relax, it'll wear off. Those guys were chi blockers. They're Amon's henchmen."
"Amon? That anti-bending guy with the mask?" Just great. I heard about chi blockers from my grandmother when she talked about her old friend Ty-Lee. She'd died a couple of years ago but I did hear that she had actually opened up a school for non-benders to learn how to protect themselves. Guess they've now taking things to extreme.
"Yeah, he's the leader of the Equalists."
"What do they want with the Triple Threats?"
"Whatever it is, it can't be good." Mako said as he walked over and actually picked me up off of Naga's neck as I groaned, feeling dizzy and still numb. "You'll be okay, they just momentarily paralysed you." He explained so I grit my teeth.
"Well next time I won't be so unprepared. I'll give them a butt kicking they'll never forget." Mako gave me a small smile before he settled me a little more comfortably on Naga's back, letting me lay flat against her as my arms hung limp, his face now contorted with frustration.
"Ugh, I can't believe Bolin got himself into this mess!"
"Mako." Korra spoke sincerely as she rested her hand on his shoulder and as I began to feel my fingers again, I managed to brush them against his shoulder as well. "We are going to save your brother. I promise you that." He calmed down a little after that and we got ourselves back onto Naga to continue tracking Bolin. It took a while for me to regain my body functions though Mako kindly had an arm around my waist the whole time so that I didn't fall off. I even fell asleep against him at one point, head resting against his shoulder as we searched the city all night until I woke up and took over for Korra so that she could have a nap, the both of them now crashed against me and I almost suffocated.
By morning, we were out of leads, were hungry and exhausted. Naga had completely lost the scent, meaning that we were back to square one. "We've been out all night. No sign of him."
"We've got to keep looking. But where?" Just as we were passing the park, Korra suddenly sat up straight and I groaned, waking up a little and rubbing my eyes but I only partially heard her say that she had an idea as I fell back asleep again. Mako held me securely as Korra explained about that announcer guy we met on our first day here though I was quite happily sleeping away, resting with Naga as she quickly went to sleep as well with Pabu curled up on my back. I was quite happy, until I was rudely awakened.
"Equality now! Equality now! We want equality now!" That damn guy, I'm trying to sleep. Korra and Mako yelped at one another, scrambling away and I frowned down at them. What the heck is their problem? "Non-benders of Republic City, Amon calls you to action! Take back your city! It's time for the…" When he saw Korra approaching him, however, he shrieked slightly and pointed accusingly. "It's you again! You cannot silence me, Avatar!"
"Jeez, it's way too early in the morning for you to be spouting this crap." I complained, rubbing my face as I parted through the crowd with Korra then together we slammed our hands down onto his table. I hated being woken up early from sleep.
"Shut your yapper and listen up. My friend got kidnapped by some chi blockers. Where'd they take him?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Bad answer. With a step backwards I lifted my leg and with Korra doing the same, the both of us crushed the stage and flyers went flying everywhere, Mako blinking in surprise at our violence as I grasped the guy by his collar.
"How about you try answering that again, only this time tell us the truth. As you can see, we're in a foul mood." When I let go of him, however, he immediately started to scramble around and pick up his flyers as if they were the most important thing to him. Strange. I picked one up as Mako did the same, the both of us examining it closely though I couldn't see anything special about it.
"Witness the revelation, tonight, nine o'clock. What's the revelation?"
"Nothing that concerns the likes of you three!" He accused, glaring at the three of us however I merely frowned.
"You shouldn't judge people you know, who's to say that we're benders at all? We might be ordinary people pissed off by the fact that your chums have kidnapped our friend." I reasoned with him however he just sneered at me. Not very equal behaviour, is it?
"Exactly, so you better believe it concerns us. Spill it." Korra ordered, capturing him once more and lifted him completely off the ground where he finally realised just how much trouble he was in.
"No one knows what the revelation is and I have no idea what happened to your friend but if he's a bender then my bet is he's getting what's coming to him." That slimy little…before I could even throw a punch a whistle blew and that same patrol officer from before shouted at us, making us look towards him in alarm.
"What's going on over there?"
"The Avatar is oppressing us! Help!" The protester yelled and I grit my teeth, forcing myself not to knock his teeth in as I grabbed Korra's wrist and pulled her away.
"Time to go, Naga!" Our faithful friend leaped to her feet and bounded towards us, pausing so that we could all mount up before we could dart away and escape being arrested. Once we were out of the park Naga slowed down and we stopped by a shelter to rest for a moment. We each had grabbed a flyer, however there was no location on the front that told us where this big revelation was supposed to be going down.
"Why didn't the Equalists put a location on these?" Korra questioned as we inspected them carefully, trying to figure out what the posters meant.
"Probably because they don't want just anyone walking in on their big revelation, whatever that is. I bet the information is hidden on here somehow. Look at the backs." Mako suggested as he turned them over, revealing a very faint map had been printed there. "There's four different images."
"And this one has a red marker. Could it be a map?" I questioned, picking one up and matching it to another.
"You're right!" Korra agreed, grinning as Mako also picked one up and began to move it over the city map of the shelter, trying to fit it together until finally he found where the piece slotted in. "That must be where it's going down." Grinning I punched a fist into my hand, cracking my knuckles and my neck at the thought of a brawl.
"Then that's where we're going." My stomach suddenly cramped and howled hungrily, making me groan as I quickly hugged it. "But first, can we please get some breakfast? I haven't eaten since yesterday morning…" I complained, making Korra laugh and at the sound of the word food, both Pabu and Naga lifted their heads from their nap. Hey, if we're going to be going into enemy territory tonight then we need to have our stomachs full for energy. We're going to get Bolin back, no matter what happens. I'll make sure of it.