THIS CHAPTR WAS EDITED AS OF 1/19/06
11/11/05
Hello one and all!
Ouch. I am SO stiff after playing basketball yesterday for two and a half hours…which is why I had more time to write this chapter because I was lying on the couch and my bed for a while! Okay I decided to post this before tomorrow so it might not be as good as it might have been if I waited for another two days.
All right, as most of you know from reading my tabs, I have been struggling with this chapter. There's always one point in each of the chapters where I just wanna pull my hair out and start screaming. Once I get past that after a couple days, BAM I finish the chapter. So, I need you guys to tell technical goofs, Characters acting OOC, it needs a little more detail in some parts, etc. And I have to say I barely put any Jet POV in here at all, because things just were a lot easier to write from the other characters POV. That was another thing that slowed me down. The fight scenes are a doozie to explain and I hope I did a good enough job to not make you guys cringe. This chapter leads straight off of last chapters cliffhanger so be prepared, you're about to dive into one of this stories most fast paced chapters EVER. It jumps around a lot to so let me know if I need to be more specific about the time or something. And to my reviewers, I could NOT do this without you, thank you so much for taking the time to review!
Lensgirlfriend: HUH? Katara isn't going to DIE! DO you have ANY idea what people would do to me if I killed off Katara? I hope you were joking……
Titanwolf: Thanks, I'm glad that you love my story and it seems to me that you love AxK fluff… (Wink)
SilverStorm106: This is NOT updating soon, I know! But I'm serious, those fight scenes were KILLING me!
Jalapeno1011: You think THAT was intense? Wait until you read this one….
Crimson Requiem: Yep, I just about have cliffies at the end of every single chapter. Thanks about the peck on the cheek comment!
Dragonsfire867: Now, you finally get to know what happens! Thanks for thinking my pen name's clever…naw, you didn't sound pathetic! And do you really think last chapter was the best? Wow. I thought it had a lot of ups and downs. But hey, if my reviewers like it then I can pat myself on the back like you told me to!
Sasscreech: Wow, original name. Thank you for taking the time to read my story, I'm excited that you like it!
TheDashLikes: I can ALWAYS count on you to review and give an honest one at that! I really appreciate honesty! I'm sorry; this is NOT a fast update! And thank you so much for pointing out that "flu" thing. I can't believe I missed that, lol! Thanks for trying to give me another way to find Avatar stuff but the website name didn't show up on the review. But thanks for trying! And for telling me I did a great job; you always encourage me!
Franny: No, I'm sorry I didn't update fast on this one. Bad me. And I'm glad that you agree with that philosophy because that's why it took so long!
Sk8erchick121: Really? Another person thought last chapter was the best? Well, let's see how this chapter's reception is….and AGAIN I'm SORRY people for not updating soon! At least I'm consistent with updating once a week…right? (Dead silence) okay lame excuse. Moving on.
Mystic Water Bender3: EEK! I can't believe you actually read my story and LIKED it! Wow, that's SO cool that you liked it….thank you SO much for reviewing! And YES! I'm so happy I caught your attention and that you updated your profile! You're welcome very much! I'm thrilled that your writer's block is going away!
Disclaimer: Okay, let's just insert a witty comment about me not owning Avatar: The Last Air bender so we can quickly skip over this and get on with the story.
Chapter Five:
Jet Returns Part Two
What happened next was pure instinct.
Katara brought up her knee and hit Jet as hard as she could between the legs. With a low hiss of pain, Jets hold on her wrists loosened enough for Katara to wretch free and bolt for the river.
"After her!" She heard Jet roar as Katara crashed through the underbrush.
"Aang!" She screamed. "Sokka! He-elp!"
Sokka:
Sokka opened his eyes, moaning through his gag. He must have hit his head on that stone nearby. His mind cleared quickly and in an instant Sokka remembered what had happened. Growling, he rolled onto his stomach and crawled out of the thorn bush like an inch worm.
Seeing a particularly large thorn, Sokka paused and turned his head towards it. Once it was in front of the cloth gagging him, Sokka grit his teeth and jerked his cheek across the thorn, ripping the thin piece of cloth off his face. Ignoring his smarting cheek and the numerous other cuts on his body Sokka continued inch worming out of the bush. Once he was clear of the thorny plants he made his way back into the camp site as fast as he could with his hands and feet tied. Once he reached his knife, which one of the Fire Nation soldiers must have dropped turning their scuffle, Sokka struggled up to a kneeling position and began furiously rubbing his wrists against the blade. He glanced around the campsite and his heart pounded when he saw the four men he had attacked earlier gone.
"C'mon, c'mon," Sokka hissed, sweat pouring down his face. He had to hurry! Each second wasted meant Jet getting closer to Katara!
Suddenly a blood curdling shriek spilt the air and almost made Sokka's heart stop.
"Katara…" He whispered in shock as he froze for a millisecond.
"Shoot!" He roared as he began rubbing even harder. "Break—you—stupid—rope!"
As if on cue the rope broke with a loud snap and Sokka immediately picked his knife up and then began cutting the thick ropes around his feet.
Aang:
"Katara….!"
Aang bolted towards the scream, unmindful of the men chasing him. The Fire Nation soldiers attacking Aang took advantage of his distraction and sent a large, boiling mass of fire at him.
Seeing the fire coming towards him out of the corner of his eyes, Aang spun around on his heels and held his hands out to block the attack with a shield of air.
The attack was powerful and Aang slid backwards a couple feet, digging a deep skid mark in the grass. Without giving the Avatar a chance to recover two of the men began throwing out long lashes of fire while the third backed up a couple feet and started shooting arrows at Aang.
Looking up, Aang barely had time to block the two long whip lashes and the arrows that were being fired at him at a rapid rate.
The two fire benders kept a hold of their fire lashes, and using them like a long whips, kept Aang solely concentrated on defense.
The whips were fast, strong and unpredictable. Aang barely managed to dodge them a couple of times. Growing frustrated with the flying arrows, fire whips and the knowledge that Katara was being attacked, Aang lost it.
Giving out a terrifying battle cry the Avatar knocked both whips to the side with a gust of air. A spilt second later Aang sent a very powerful blast of wind at the men, knocking them off their feet while at the same time throwing them deep into a large cluster of bushes.
Spinning on his heels, his eyes burning brightly, Aang turned around and parted the air in front of him and raced as fast as he could towards the scream, hoping desperately Katara was okay.
Katara:
Gasping for breath, Katara looked behind her to see if they were following her.
No one was there.
Incredulous, Katara slid to a stop and stared behind her for a few seconds before it hit her.
Idiot! Don't stand still they're in the tree tops!
Turning around Katara ran to the river. It had never seemed so far away!
Suddenly she heard the sound of leaves being thrust aside roughly. Looking up above her, Katara's eyes widened when she saw Jet and three Fire Nation men leaping from tree to tree. They were easily keeping up with her, and Jet was even getting ahead.
Looking ahead of her Katara's heart raced when she saw how close she was. Five more steps and she'd be in the meadow in front of the river!
Suddenly the men and Jet dropped from the trees, the men behind her and Jet in front of her. Screaming again, Katara swerved and narrowly missed crashing into one of the giant tree trunks.
She heard Jet cursing and the others crashing through the bushes behind her. She felt a tug on her elbow. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jet snag it again with the hooks of his Twin Tiger swords. Yanking her elbow away viscously Katara gave a short spurt of speed. Her breathing became labored and she had a very painful stitch in her side.
"Whoa!" She yelped as she slid on a patch of moss.
A Fire Nation man with a long black mustache lunged ahead and to the side of her, cutting off her escape into the meadow where the river was.
Katara's heart sank as she realized the men were herding her away from her only source of water in the forest. Suddenly the hooks of Jet's Twin Tiger swords snagged her shoulders and Katara felt herself being thrown back roughly.
Crying out, Katara stumbled to regain her balance but Jet's arm came up around her waist and locked her there while he held one of his swords to her throat.
Breathing heavily and trying desperately not to cry, Katara felt the heat of Jet's breath on her neck as he stood there panting. She put both of her hands up over the wrist that held the knife and tugged desperately, but Jet's arm remained unmoving.
"Get—the—ropes!" He snapped to the soldiers who had their hands on their knees as they bent over trying to catch their breath.
"If you cooperate, I won't hurt—" Jet started to say but was cut off by Katara throwing her head back and smashing it against his chest.
With a low hiss of pain Jet tightened his hold on her waist until she could barely draw a deep breath. The sharp edge of the knife was now touching her skin and if she leaned forward a fraction of an inch she would slit her own throat.
What do I do? Katara thought wildly as she watched one of the men approach her, carrying thick, sturdy ropes.
"Tie her feet!" Jet ordered. Katara helplessly watched the man kneel down in front of her.
Setting her teeth and feeling rage rise up within her Katara lashed out viscously with her foot and caught the man in the nose and mouth. Shouting in pain, the man fell on his back and clutched his bleeding nose. Without wasting a second Katara yanked hard on Jet's wrist, pulling the blade away from her throat enough so that she could lean forward and then body slam Jet into the back of the tree he was standing in front of.
Jet shouted words that were unrepeatable as Katara leapt forward, freed from the rebel's powerful grip.
Katara quickly grabbed a rock from the ground and hurtled it at the second soldiers head to delay him. Ducking to avoid the large stone the man stumbled over a stump, lost his balance and fell down cursing. Hearing Jet scrambling to his feet, Katara ran faster, hoping she could get away and hid in one of the trees.
But she underestimated the Fire Nation soldier she had kicked in the mouth.
He reached out and grabbed her ankle, knocking her to the ground. Immediately crashing to the ground, Katara began rolling down the steep slope until she crashed into a bush half way down the hill.
"Don't let her get away!"
Katara stood up, her heart pounding painfully, and when she saw what was in front of her she almost cried in relief.
A small stream that joined the river was in front of her!
Hearing footsteps behind her, Katara acted on instinct and with one rough movement sent the water flying through the air, knocking the man behind her to the ground. Jumping over the bush, Katara landed in the shallow stream and turned back to Jet and the man she had kicked in the mouth.
Katara smiled grimly at Jet before knocking him to the ground with a powerful move from the scroll.
"Fire!" She heard Jet roar as he stumbled to his feet.
In the blink of an eye Katara was frantically trying to remember her defense moves as the skilled fire bender that had been behind Jet closed in on her, soon joined by his companion.
"HELP!" Katara shouted as loud as she could, barely managing to see through the mist in the air.
Sokka, Aang, where are you?
Sokka:
Sokka cut through the ropes binding his feet and stumbled up, swaying a little from the numbness in his legs. Shaking his head forcefully Sokka ran over and grabbed his boomerang and club. Breaking into a dead run Sokka bolted in the direction he had heard the screaming.
"Katara!" He shouted. "Where are you?" When there was no answer Sokka ran even faster. He had been running for about ten minutes when suddenly he heard Katara scream his and Aang's name.
"Crap!" Sokka yelled and ran faster. Jet must be closing in on her!
The thought of that insane maniac capturing his sister gave Sokka such an adrenaline boost that he ran began running faster then he had ever run in his entire life.
Leaping over rocks and fallen logs, Sokka's heart felt like he was beating twice its normal speed as he raced to the spot he had heard his sister's voice.
Aang:
His heart was beating wildly as he crashed through the forest. She wasn't there, wasn't there—where was she? He couldn't find her!
Aang started to panic.
"Aang! Sokka! He-elp!"
KATARA!
Aang rushed forward in the direction of the voice. He was beginning to hear the sound of other people crashing though the brush before he fell to the ground with a sharp, pain filled cry.
Wincing, Aang kneeled on his knees and pressed his hand on his arm. An arrow with red blood covering its tip lay a few feet away and he heard the shouts of fire benders closing in on him.
Looking up he saw the foremost of the fire benders, the one who had shot him with an arrow, fit another barbed arrow to his bow.
Aang didn't have time to react as the soldier sent the arrow flying.
Suddenly the arrow was knocked to the side by a spinning blue blur.
Scrambling to his feet while clutching his bleeding arm, Aang saw Sokka catch his boomerang.
"Run!" Sokka shouted as the other two crashed through the brush. "I can take them go find Katara!"
"Are you sure?" Aang called back in a concerned voice as he blocked a fire attack.
"Get out of here!"
Sokka lunged forward at the man who was shooting the arrows. Without allowing him time to fit an arrow to his bow or draw his sword, Sokka hit him over the head with his club, knocking the man unconscious.
Just then the four men Sokka had attacked earlier walked on the scene.
Aang had run away after Sokka had shouted and didn't see the six men closing in on the lone Water Tribe warrior boy.
Katara:
The fire attacks were coming faster and fiercer with each passing second. Katara was breathing heavily as she kept repeating the same defensive move to block the attacks as the fire benders slowly, but surely crept nearer.
Seeing a brief opening, Katara lashed out and knocked one of the men against a tree, effectively knocking him.
The second fire bender shot at her. Blocking the attack, Katara barely had time to react as Jet strategically jumped over the bush a spilt second after the attack and skidded to a halt in front of her.
Crying out in fear, Katara jumped back and narrowly escaped the swinging Twin Tiger swords. Jet drove her down the stream, delivering a terrifying onslaught. Katara kept jumping out of reach, not having any time to attack him.
Just after Jet had lunged at her Katara jumped back and in one smooth move yanked the water out from under Jet's feet so that the teen flipped back wards and hit his head on the rocky bed of the shallow stream.
The fire bender had been following behind Jet and the instant Jet fell over he sent a fire ball flying towards Katara.
Yelping, Katara shot a column of water at the fire ball, effectively extinguishing it and drove the water on until it reached the fire bender. Katara quickly froze him as she saw Jet quickly get on his feet, his body tensed and eyes glittering like a predator intent on his prey.
Spinning around on her heel Katara ran down the stream, but not as fast as before. She was getting dangerously tired.
She heard a strangled cry from Jet. Looking fearfully behind her Katara barely had time to see Jet throw his small hand knife at her. Acting on blind instinct Katara jumped to the right and scrambled up the sloping bank. Without looking behind her, Katara raced up the rocky hill. She heard the clatter of stones behind that meant Jet was chasing her. Gasping with the effort Katara pushed herself hard and ran faster.
She had almost reached the top when she felt a rock hit her hard in the shoulder. Give a short cry of alarm Katara lost her balance and fell down the sloping bank, hitting her head on one of the many stones.
Closing her eyes to the intense pain in her head, Katara heard footsteps walking up to her before she lost consciousness.
Sokka:
He swallowed hard as the men approached him. The four he had knocked out earlier now had nasty, discolored bumps on their heads and the expressions on their faces made the fine hair on the back of Sokka's neck stand straight up.
In the few seconds of when nobody made a move, Sokka went into a ready position when all at once all six fire benders hurtled fire attacks at him.
Sokka dodged the first, got in the way of the second, fell to the ground and stayed there until the other attacks had flown over his head. Leaping to his feet he barely had enough time to jump over a thin stream of fire directed towards his feet.
The men were closing in and Sokka decided to get close enough to where they would be forced to use their weapons instead of their fire.
Sokka rushed attacked the nearest soldier.
Keeping the soldier between him and the other fire nation men, Sokka ducked the small, close range fire spurts and in one clean, lucky move hit the guy upside the head and he blacked out, just like Sokka wanted him to.
Unfortunately, once the man had fallen it had left him without a shield…
Sokka's brow furrowed when they didn't immediately begin attacking him. Glancing to the side he saw all of them perform identical steps and then suddenly a fire wall appeared behind him to cut his escape off—just like they did last time at the campsite. If he didn't act fast they would roast him alive.
Aang:
Aang ran in the direction he had last heard Katara, feeling uneasy leaving Sokka alone to face the Fire Nation soldiers.
Glancing down at his arm, he saw that it had stopped bleeding; Aang's head shot up when he heard the sound of shouting.
Yes! Aang thought in relief. He must be getting close!
Jet:
Breathing hard, Jet lowered his knife and walked up to Katara's limp form.
Jet nudged the girl's leg with his foot. When she didn't stir he grinned in triumph. Glancing over his soldier he saw the frozen Fire bender slowly having the ice melted from him by Shen.
Jet sheathed his knifes and bent over to pick up Katara. He held her bridal style and the girls head leaned limply over the edge of his arm.
Nasty little wrench, Jet thought in disgust as he turned around to walk away.
"Put her down NOW!"
Jet's head snapped up to see a small bald monk standing on the opposite side of the stream, his face livid.
Jet stood still for a moment, surprised that Aang had snuck up on him like this. He couldn't escape with Katara unless he took Aang out first.
With one quick movement Jet dropped Katara down and drew out his swords as the girls body slammed onto the rocky surface.
Leaping over the bank before Aang could react, Jet swung his swords at the Avatar's feet as he stood on the grassy bank.
Just as he had expected, Aang leapt into the air and began sailing over his head.
Using the hook at the end of his swords, Jet snagged both of Aang's feet and snatched him out of air and threw him into the shallow stream. A short hiss of pain exploded from the Avatar as his body connected with the hundreds of pointy rocks. Jet, wanting to get him out of the way but not kill him, swung the flat of his knife at the side of Aang's head.
But he hadn't counted on how fast Aang's reflexives were.
With an angry shout the Avatar knocked him back with a blast of water, knocking the wind out of him as Jet slammed onto the ground. Jet gasped for air as the Avatar scrambled to his feet, his eyes gleaming dangerously.
At that exact moment, two fireballs hit Aang square in his injured arm.
Giving out a scream that chilled Jet's blood, Aang doubled over in pain. Jet jumped at the Avatar and swung his swords for the final strike.
Aang looked up, his face contorted in pain and with the flick of his wrist knocked Jet out the air.
Growling in frustration, Jet scrambled to keep his feet as his two fire benders closed in on Aang. Right after Aang had deflected a strong blast of fire, Jet swung his knifes as him. Anticipating the gust of air, he ducked and gave the Avatar a shallow cut on his side.
Aang whirled around and began delivering a fast relay of air attacks, keeping Jet on his toes. Aang would throw a gust of wind; Jet would deflect it by placing his knifes in an "X" in front of his body.
Knifes flashed through the air so fast that they were barley visible. Aang's attacks weren't as strong as they were to begin with; he was weakening some, due to the loss of blood flowing through his injured arm.
Jet grinned when he saw the Avatar's limp right arm. Aang was handicapped!
This is only a matter of time, Jet thought smugly as he and the other fire benders started driving Aang away from Katara and deep into the forest.
Sokka:
Taking a deep breath Sokka dodged a flash of fire and bolted towards the forest to escape the fire wall. If he tried to fight his way out the Fire benders would trap him in that wall of fire and burn him alive.
Catching on to Sokka's idea, the fire benders who hadn't been helping decide to collaborate. They helped speed the wall up, closing it on both sides of Sokka instead of one.
Gritting his teeth as he watched the two fire walls speed towards each other, Sokka knew he wouldn't reach the gap in time.
He would have to go through the wall, or else turn and fight a losing battle.
A shout escaped from Sokka lips as he threw himself forward in a gigantic leap to clear the gap, covering his face with his arms. Coming out onto the other side of the crackling fire, Sokka couldn't resist whooping in relief. He had made—OW!
Still running, Sokka swatted frantically at the flame licking at the edge of his tunic. Glancing over his shoulder Sokka's stomach lurched when he saw the line of fire chasing him down.
Finally putting out his tunic, Sokka ignored his smarting hand and darted to his left and began zig zagging to confuse the fire benders who were frantically trying to keep him in their sights in the dense forest.
Suddenly Sokka jumped and grabbed onto a low branch on one of the trees and pulled himself up into the dense foliage. If the fire wall kept coming he would jump and make a run for the river.
But just as he had hoped the wall's great height shortened until it was hovering only two feet off the ground.
"Where's that brat gone to?" He heard one of the men yell, his words slurring.
"Look around! He must be hiding in the trees!" his comrade answered.
At those words Sokka climbed higher into the tree, intent on concealing himself.
He had only gotten half way up, snapping small twigs and brushing leaves aside when he froze, his heart pounding.
The footsteps he had been hearing earlier were closer now.
Shoot, Sokka thought desperately when he saw the two soldiers pause under his tree. If they looked up they would see him and then set the tree on fire!
I'm dead meat. Sokka thought weakly.
Sokka thought he was done for when something unexpected happened.
The sound of clashing swords and the roar of wind and fire distracted the soldiers under Sokka's tree.
"What's going on?" He heard them muttering to themselves.
Sokka peered out between the leaves and looked down from his lofty perch. Suddenly Aang, a fire bender and Jet burst out of the trees, locked in an intense fight. With a soft gasp Sokka watched with wide eyes as about five fire benders began attacking Aang alongside of Jet and the tall, dark haired fire bender.
"Aang!" Sokka shouted when he saw his friend lifeless arm hanging limp at his side. Straddling the branch he was on Sokka yanked out his boomerang and sent it flying, without thinking twice.
After it knocked the helmet off a soldiers head, the soldier turned around and pointed to the tree.
"The boy's in that tree!" He shouted, running over to Sokka's tree.
"Man!" Sokka exclaimed, slapping his forehead as his boomerang swung back and then lodged high up above Sokka's head into the trunk. He so stupid!
Seeing the fire bender nearing his tree Sokka had no choice but to leave his boomerang. He had almost reached the bottom when the fire bender reached the foot of the tree. Sokka spat a large glob of spit down at the fire bender to give him a chance to scramble back up into the tree.
He heard a howl of rage mingled with disgust erupt from the soldier.
With a thrust of his arm, the fire bender set Sokka's tree on fire.
Aang:
Jet was driving him back wards and Aang was trying desperately to hold his ground, but his injured arm inhibited him. Jet was fast and when Aang tried to knock him over with air, the rebel either dodged him, or clung on tightly to a nearby branch.
The well trained fire bender didn't help matters at all either.
Aang blinked the sweat out of his eyes in order to see. Before allowing Jet to swing at him and snag his clothing or worse, Aang jumped back about four feet and leapt high into the air, landing on a tree branch.
Jet darted under the tree to start climbing while the fire bender sent a large mass of fire at Aang. Frowning, Aang lifted his good arm and using a shield of air, stopped the fire from attacking him.
Instead, he sent it back flying to its owner with great force.
The fire bender staggered back just as Aang heard the whizzing of Jet's swords and jumped up the next branch in time to avoid Jet's Twin Tiger swords. Without wasting a moment Jet used his hooks to swing his body up onto the branch Aang was standing on in the matter of a couple moments.
Aang jumped out of the tree and back onto the ground. Hitting the ground before Jet Aang spun on his heel to avoid the attack from the fire bender who had been waiting for an opening.
Just as Aang sent the fire flying back at the soldier like he had before, Jet jumped down almost on top of him and nearly slashed his head off.
Aang jumped back and knocked Jet against the tree with an angry blast of air.
"What are you doing here?" He shouted at Jet. His answer was a series of lightening fast attacks.
They ended up moving backwards; Aang and Jet were spinning every which way to avoid and hit the other. At this point it was a close range fight, and neither Jet nor Aang were landing any hits.
The fire bender, his hair flying loose from his top knot, was following close behind, but it was impossible to try and attack the Avatar without striking Jet.
Just as they burst into a clearing, Aang heard men shouting. Out of the corner of his eye he saw more fire benders coming on the run.
Deciding that close rang attack wasn't working Aang avoided Jet's sword slash and tripped him with his foot.
As the teen fell to the ground with a crash, Aang backed up. The men were approaching him in a half circle and Aang quick a fast one-eighty and then slammed his foot on the ground, causing an arc of air to explode from his foot and knock down the foremost of the fire benders.
Immediately the ones behind began firing. Too busy to wonder where Jet was Aang blocked every move, careful to keep his injured arm out of the way.
"Aang!" he suddenly heard Sokka's voice shout from somewhere in the tree tops. Aang glanced around and the fire bender closest to him drew into an attack stance.
A low zing was heard and the soldier's helmet flew off of his head.
Aang didn't know where Sokka was, and was busy frantically blocking the fire attacks, sometimes even sliding backwards a couple feet when a particularly powerful one would damage his air shield.
Where's Jet? Aang thought in alarm, looking around wildly. To his horror he couldn't see the teen anywhere.
Through the sounds of the battle Aang suddenly heard Sokka cry out in alarm. Aang glanced up and to his horror saw one of the hundred foot trees on fire and a blue clad boy scrambling to the top of the tree to avoid the angry flames.
"Hang on Sokka!" Aang shouted as he deflected two combined attacks.
But the men closing in on him heard his shouting and began fighting with renewed intensity, forcing Aang away from the burning tree.
Sweat was dripping into his eyes as Aang used every muscle of his body to avoid his enemy's blows. Aang started to panic when only after a few minutes of combat the fire consuming the tree Sokka was in was already more then half way up the tree.
Suddenly Aang heard Jet's voice cry out from somewhere in the tree tops.
"I HAVE THE GIRL FALL OUT!"
"No!" Aang exclaimed through gritted teeth. With a sweep of his arm he sent three men sprawling. Aang spun around to attack the soldiers to his right but one well aimed spurt of fire to his already burned and bleeding arm caused Aang to scream in agony and fall to the ground.
Aang was dimly aware of the fire benders stampeding past him as he fought for consciousness. Suddenly Sokka's panicked voice broke through his fuzzy thoughts and Aang looked up and saw the flames almost to the top of the tree, where the Water Tribe boy was perched, waving one arm madly.
Gasping for breath Aang ran over to the tree. He hated losing Jet's trail but he couldn't and wouldn't let Sokka be roasted alive.
"Sokka you have to jump!" Aang screamed so that the older boy could hear him.
"Are you crazy? It's a hundred feet to the ground!" Sokka shouted back, looking apprehensively down at Aang.
"You have to trust me!" Aang shouted.
Just as the fire reached the top Sokka threw himself in the air, arms failing wildly while he shrieked in undisguised terror.
Aang took a deep breath to study himself from the pain, and air bended the air around Sokka, having the boy drift to the ground like a leaf until firm land was under his feet.
"Come on!" Sokka gasped his face pale and slick with sweat as he ran past Aang in a flurry of singed clothing. Aang ran at Sokka's heels but it seemed each time one of his feet would hit the ground his arm would jolt and began bleeding.
They had only run about twelve feet when they were forced to stop. They were physically exhausted but that wasn't what made Sokka's face turn white or Aang drop his head and moan. They was no trail of Jet or his men.
Suddenly laughter reached their ears and they looked up, spinning in a circle in an attempt to locate the hidden person. Sokka bared his teeth at the sound of Jet's mocking laugh.
"Show yourself!" He shouted, clutching his fists together.
The laughter stopped abruptly. Aang and Sokka stood rooted to the same place for the next few moments, still unsure of where the laughter had come from when Jet's voice drifted back to them, far away and hardly discernable.
"Look for fire works when you want to find us!"
Sokka bolted towards the direction the voice had come from. Aang had tried to follow but the pain in his arm overwhelmed him to the point of screaming.
"Sokka…" Aang gasped, sliding to a stop.
Aang doubled over in pain, breathing hard and fighting back tears.
Through blurred vision Aang saw Sokka slid to a stop and look back at him.
When Sokka saw Aang's condition he knew they couldn't go further. Aang heard Sokka give an enraged shout when only the sound of birds singing, the roar of fire and Aang's heavy breathing met his ears.
Aang closed his eyes in pain, his heart breaking.
It was too late to save her. Precious minutes had been lost, and now Jet and his men were gone without a trace, along with Katara.
Authors ending notes…..
Yep, I'm evil for breaking off like that but this chapter is so long already! And I know, a "fire whip" is like, SO corny but I mean what else was I supposed to call it when the soldiers were using the fire like that? If you have a better idea, TELL ME PLEASE. Oh and here's something random I have to comment on. WHAT is UP with all of those fan fictions that always have the line: "Sokka: I'm hungry! A&K: You're always hungry" Man that is getting SO old it's one of my pet peeves, along with every one saying something about Katara water whipping someone or thing. You'd think it's the only move she knows……
PLEASE review and tell me what you think because after hassling with those fighting scenes all week long I'm STILL not sure if I got them down! I NEED other people's opinions! Thanks for reading this story! (oh, and Sokka got his boomerang back as he scrambled up the tree to avoid the fire--stupid maybe but it was from his Father and we all know how much Sokka loves that thing...)
Sincerely,
1bzwriter!
P.S. Who is VERY happy to be done with this pesky chapter...