Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN AVATAR!
Chapter 1- Unexpected Company
Aang had the others had been traveling for days. They were struggling to reach Ba Sing Se, hoping to find Appa still in captivity there. They had been wandering deep and thick forest, hoping to reach their destination soon. Aang was still furious over how the sandbenders had ruthlessly and muzzled Appa and sold him to someone who was going to use him for things he could not bear to imagine. Though the avatar was a compassionate being, he was still only human.
"How long do you think before we reach Ba Sing Se?" Aang muttered. Sokka, who was fiddling with a map, replied "Uh. I think it should be a few more days before we get there." Aang muttered angrily under his breath. "Yeah, nice to see you in your usually cheery mood Aang. It's making us all happy campers." Sokka said in one of his usually sarcastic tones. It was true though, ever since Appa had been taken, none of them were feeling rather happy.
"Wait! Hold on you guys. I feel something coming. A LOT of somethings." Toph said, listening to the vibrations in the ground. "There!" She yelled, pointing far ahead of them on the path. In the distance, Aang, Katara, and Sokka could a strange man running along the path, and from the looks of things, he was in trouble.
"Help! Somebody please! HEEEEELP!" the old man cried. He had snow white hair and deep brown eyes, and was traveling in flowing, yet somehow flexible red robe.
Soon, the gang realized what he was running from. Not far behind the stranger, a group of fire nation bandits astride rhinos were pursuing him. Before they realized it, the strange man reached Aang and his friends. "Please kind strangers, I beg you for mercy! Please help protect me! I'll do anything in return!" the man begged. "Can you help us get to Ba Sing Se?" the avatar asked him. "YES! I know the way there just help me!" he said as he ran behind them.
"Okay, we'll fend them off." The avatar said, getting out his staff. Sokka had removed his machete, and both Toph and Katara got into their specific bending positions. "Thank you so much." The man cried…from a high tree branch. "How did he get up there so fast?" Katara wondered. "You'd be surprised how good a motivator cowardice can be!" he yelled replied.
The bandits were drawing closer and closer. Without warning, they simultaneously launched their fire blasts. Aang used his airbending to create a shield from the blasts. Then, Toph moved her foot and shook the ground from underneath the rhinos' feet. The shock from this force caused the bandits to fall of their rhinos. The fire bandits prepared to strike again, but Katara, moving her arms in the proper sequence, knocked two of them out with the water whip. Sokka whacked some of the others with machete, and Aang, for a finishing move, used his airbending to blow the bandits deep into the forest.
"There, they're gone." Aang slightly grunted. "Happy?" Suddenly, the heard a thud from behind them and turned around to see that the branch the man had been clinging to had given out due to weight and fallen off. The man stood up, obviously dizzy from the long fall. "Much you very thank!" the stranger babbled, tumbling backwards in his disoriented state. The group paused for a second.
"Weirdie." Toph said flatly.
"Are you okay?" Katara said as the group rushed towards the stranger. "Who are you?" asked Aang.
The man began to shake his head, trying to regain his sense of balance. "Uhhh….whew. My name is Faiye; Zohar Faiye. Thank you very much for your help. I was traveling through the woods when those bandits ambushed me. I wouldn't have survived if it wasn't for you. I am completely in your debt."
"You said you know the way to Ba Sing Se. Can you guide us there? We're going there to get back a….friend." Katara said while looking at Aang, who had a slight grimace on his face. "I would be most honored to so." Zohar replied.
And so the five travelers continued on their journey.
Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away in the fire nation.
"All is going as you were expecting master." Arnay said with smile on his face.
"Yes, soon the pieces will be in their places on the board. Then the endgame strategy will be put into motion." The hooded figure stated. "It is time to summon the others." The hooded man snapped his fingers, and almost immediately two spheres of light appeared, which morphed into two more hooded beings. One was a woman, who was clad in slender emerald green robes and hooded cloak, and the other was a man who, like his master, wore voluminous black robes and a hooded cloak to disguise his face.
"Status report." The master said. The man spoke up "The latest position of the avatar shows him heading towards Ba Sing Se. At their current rate, they will reach there in a little over a week." "And what of the other target?" the master asked the woman. "Princess Azula seems to be in the nearby vicinity. She has temporarily abandoned the search for her brother to pursue and capture the avatar. Currently, she is traveling by boat again on the river surrounding the forest where the avatar is located." The woman stated.
"Arnay." the master beckoned. "Take this and go track Azula with her help." He handed a medium size object to his apprentice. "As for you," he said, pointing to his other hooded apprentice "continue to track the avatar. I want Azula and Aang to cross paths one more time. Understood?"
All his apprentices bowed in compliance and one by one vanished, leaving the master alone. All according to plan. He thought.