Chapter Eleven – Escape
Avatar: The Last Airbender
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Meng was set down on the ground with her hands and feet tied. She glared up at her captor, brave as she had seen Aang notice her as she was carried off. (Is it just me, or is every time a girl captured by this dude, there's a guy to see?) "Who are you?"
"My name's Jet. Now shut up! I'm waiting for someone!"
"You know, that's not a very nice thing to say to a lady." A voice came from behind her. Meng turned around as best as she could and saw…everyone who was at dinner, though the girls weren't wearing their kimonos, but a one-piece suit.
"Ah, Katara. I knew this girl was a friend of yours. I offer to trade something for her." The boy named Jet said with a smirk.
Katara rolled her eyes. "Do you need another taste of what I can do now?"
Jet scowled. "Not if you don't want the girl to die." He snapped his fingers and about fifteen boys surrounded Meng, one putting a knife to her throat. Her breath hitched.
Katara looked at her with wide eyes before glaring at Jet with a look at would melt ice. "What do you want?"
The leader of the Freedom Fighters laughed. "I had thought that would be obvious…I want you."
Sokka shook his head. "No way Jerk."
"Very well." Another snap and the knife made a small cut on Meng's neck, blood making a trail down her throat.
"No!" The pressure of the knife loosened. Katara sighed. "I'll go with you."
"Alone."
The waterbender frowned but agreed. "Alone."
"And you can't bring any water with you, or fight us."
"What? No water? Why I–" Jet's hand came up again, causing Katara to cut herself off. "Fine! Just let her go."
Jet nodded and Katara stepped forward from the group. Another batch of kids surrounded her, much larger then the one around Meng. She was forced to walk into the woods, looking back into the golden eyes of Zuko before vanishing in the shadows. They waited for a while until one of the boys came back.
"She's locked up." Jet nodded and walked out of the clearing. The only reason that the others didn't attack was the fact that they still had a knife to Meng's throat. When everyone had melted into the darkness except for the boy holding Meng, she was set free and pushed towards the group. Aang made a small ball of air to slow down her fall, but it didn't do much.
Everyone came forward to see if she was alright except for Zuko. He was watching the shadows intently. There was a movement, then a twang. He ducked on instinct, which was a good thing, as an arrow flew right where his head used to be. "Arrows!"
Sokka growled. "Long-Shot." Just after, they were each fighting a small group of kids, all except Meng, who no one had noticed had gone missing again.
The blood had dried quickly on her neck, but it still hurt. Pausing for a moment, she tore off the hem of her kimono and tied it around the cut, tight enough to stop some of the pain, but loose enough to not choke her. Actually, with that part of her hem gone, it made it easier to move.
She quickly caught up to a group of kids who were walking. Their loud footsteps easily drowned her own soft ones. Pausing for just a small bit, she tied a bendy twig in a knot as she had done before to keep track of where she was going.
Back at the battle, Aang was the first to see that Meng was missing. He quickly trapped the group he was fighting in a globe of ice. Looking around, he saw that the others were holding up pretty well. Zhike pushed her way out of her group and Aang told her about Meng. She told him to go find her, which he promptly left to do.
After circling the clearing, he came across a twisted branch. Taking his chance, he followed them until he came to another clearing. Being smart and not going into the middle, he saw a rope hidden on the trunk of a tree. He was about to circle around to it when he noticed a patch of purple on the bushes. Aang scowled. They had her again.
Again doing the smart thing, he went back to the battle and saw that it was fairly almost over. Sokka and Zuko had few cuts, but the girls were free from injuries. Once the last person was unconscious, he showed them the twisted branches and they made their way to the clearing.
Katara looked up when another cage came up next to hers. Surprised to see Meng, she frowned. "I though Jet would have let you go when I left."
"He did, but I followed them and they found me. I tied some branches together to keep track of where I was going too. I hope someone finds them."
Katara smiled. "Good thinking Meng, but I take it you weren't planning on getting caught?" the younger girl shook her head. "It doesn't matter, if they can't come soon, I might be able to get us out of here…" She saw the cut still on Meng's bare neck. "If I had some water, I'd heal that for you."
"You can heal?" Meng asked, surprised.
Katara nodded, but didn't say anything as there was a loud chaos far beneath them. They looked as best as they could through their bars and saw the group of seven were taking out all the Freedom Fighters. Katara set her face in determination and closed her eyes. She hoped to summon enough water to both heal Meng, and set them free. It worked, and soon both girls were falling.
Aang noticed the two falling prisons and caught them with the air. They landed gently and Katara bust out of her cage. Instead of going for the fight, she let Meng out too. Aang noticed her cut free neck at the same moment that Zuko realized Katara was still weak.
The Avatar motioned them to both get out of there and they did so, stealthily melting into the shadows. The rest of the group put all they had into the fight, and it soon ended with many prisoners once more. On the way back, Aang informed his friends that he hated Jet. They all laughed at that until they reached where Katara and Meng were sitting, watching them oddly as they filed out of the forest with bunches of tied of kids.
Zhike glanced around at the battered teenagers. "Well, that was a good day's worth of excitement."
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HELP! I have no clue what to do next! PLEASE! Send me IDEAS! Or you might not read the next chap for a LONG time!