Avatar: the Last Airbender: Yin and Yang
Chapter 13
By Mdalia and RebLaw
"Admiral!" a nondescript Fire Nation soldier called over to his commander. "I found something!"
Admiral Zhao strode over to the sailor with the telescope and snatched it from him to look. He saw a village, a water-bender tribe village. This must be where the Avatar was hiding. The Admiral barked orders to his crew and before too long they were docking on the shore.
"Hmmm, this is a small tribe," Zhao assessed. "It shouldn't take too much, we out number them significantly."
Admiral Zhao and his men surrounded the tribe fairly easily. It was a small tribe. Unfortunately it was after dark, most of the villagers were asleep. The guards were joking by a fire.
This village must not get many 'visitors', Zhao mused. To have the luxury of relaxing at night; with such a weak defense.
Unfortunately, it turned out Zhao was correct. It seemed almost too quickly that he had all of the villagers rounded up and taken prisoner under his men.
There were only two resisters. A young man and his sister. The young man was somewhat skilled as a warrior. And the girl, she appeared to possess some water bending abilities. Fortunately for Zhao, they knew enough to give up when they were outnumbered.
The admiral had the leaders of the tribe assembled before him. For a couple hours he repeatedly questioned them about the Avatar. They denied knowledge of him, at first, eventually they admitted that the boy had been there but that he left a couple days ago and had not been seen since.
Eventually he got wind of Sokka and Katara being the Avatar's friends. By the time he had gone around in circles with them about where the Avatar was, it was apparent that they were not going to tell him where the Avatar was, his men were finished searching the village. The Avatar was not being hidden anywhere in the village. Zhao and his men angry departed, after telling the villagers that they would be back and if they see the Avatar to hold him for them.
- - - - - - - - -
"So nephew," Iroh asked his nephew, once they had a moment without that questionable Fe character. "Where did you go?"
"Uncle," Zuko said exasperatedly. "Even if I told you, I doubt you'd believe me."
"Oh?" the prince's uncle replied. "You think your uncle who is on a ship with an alternate world version of himself won't believe what his only nephew tells him?"
"Fine," Zuko conceded, he brashly explained. "I went to a place called 'the Fire Nation' it was ruled by a soft man named 'Ozai' who wondered where I got this scar."
"Oh my," Iroh commented. "And that Fe character was known as Iroh there?"
"Yes," Zuko affirmed. "And I found the Avatar playing Pai Gow with 'Ozai' while 'Iroh' or 'Fe' was up to something. I couldn't figure out what exactly thought. He was the one who helped me escape with the Avatar."
"Oh my," Iroh said, devastated; his nephew should've brought that Ozai with him. "I guess there goes my dream of finally having a worthy opponent for Pai Gow!"
Fe, who was behind the corner chuckled at that. While he was disappointed at Zuko's lack of trust in him, everything else seemed to be working rather well. Zuko trusted him enough, maybe not as much as he'd like, but enough for his plan.
- - - - - - - -
After several days of searching Admiral Zhao was beginning to wonder if perhaps the Avatar had left the region. It was possible; the Avatar could flee very quickly. However, Zhao did not want to admit it, that he had failed again.
In a desperate final attempt Zhao sent him men scattered in different directions in groups of three. Zhao, himself, stayed in a central location, with a large bonfire and warm robes.
One set of three, consisting of a large guard named Gobu, a young guard named Eriko, and a short guard named Chiku set out northward. None of them particularly pleased to be on such an unpleasant assignment. They tried to walk at a quick pace; however, the snow was deep and their make-shift snowshoes limited their rate significantly.
"How far have we gone?" Eriko asked Gobu, who was the eldest. He felt as thought he must have walked at least 20 miles, his feet were sore, his throat was dry and he felt exhausted. He was hoping that it would be time to turn around and walk back soon.
"See the sun?" Gobu answered, pointing to the sun which was not far off the horizon. "As soon as it gets to be at its highest point, then we can turn around and walk back."
Chiku sighed. He was used to marching and such, but it was always worse when it was pointed out how much it sucked. The seasoned soldier grimaced and rolled his eyes, only to have something brightly colored catch them. It was a boy, about 11 or 12. Wearing a yellow and red outfit. It must be Avatar, Chiku realized.
"Hey," Chiku barked, pointing in the brightly-clothed child's direction. "It's him! It's the Avatar!"
Eriko sprinted the fastest towards the unaware boy, unfortunately, he was not a very quiet running, nor is running on snow very quiet by its nature. The Avatar heard the commotion and turned around to see the soldiers trying to charge towards him in make-shift snowshoes that were about to fall apart.
This could be fun, Aang the Avatar of War thought to himself mischievously. A wild goose chase is always a fun thing to do with soldiers. Especially when they're as pathetic as this lot appears to be.
When Eriko was about ten feet from the lad, Aang jumped up and whirled around on a summoned ball of air, zig zagging fairly slowly away from his pursuers.
Unfortunately sprinting wore Eriko out fairly quickly and Chiku and Gobu were able to catch up to him. None of them were able to catch the Avatar, who using his airbending skills, was able to keep just out of their reach. They knew he was just taunting them. But they also realized that it would just take one miscalculation on the Avatar's part and Zhao would promote them.
The sun moved from the east to the middle of the sky to slightly west while they were chasing the Avatar of war. They stopped in their tracks when they saw Zhao. Had the Avatar been leading them south? No, Gobu thought, they had been going north the whole time. What was Zhao doing here?
Gobu ran over to Zhao, after telling Eriko and Chiku to follow the Avatar. He saluted Zhao and said, "We've got the Avatar spotted, and we're in pursuit of him, sir."
Zhao raised an eyebrow and frowned. This was not the Zhao was who looking for the Avatar, but the one from the world of the Avatar of war.
"Sir?" Gobu asked after a moment. He was expecting a pat on the back or something. Zhao had only been after the Avatar ever since before he was assigned to his ship.
"Carry on," Zhao sighed after considering it for a moment. It must be the other Zhao, he figured.
Gobu saluted Zhao and then ran to catch up with the other guards. His joints were going to be very painful tomorrow, he realized as it took him a while to catch up. The Avatar switched directions and started southward. Gobu wondered if perhaps he was going for the ocean.
The patience of the three soldiers finally paid off. Aang, the Avatar of war, made a mistake and cut it too close when zigzagging around a forest and slammed into a tree, rendering him unconscious. As Gobu secured the net to hold the Avatar during the trip back, Eriko and Chiku discussed what positions they had their eyes on for their upcoming promotions.