Back on Earth, Caleb was going crazy. He had just escaped from Cedric and Phobos, and had made it through a portal in the nick of time. He needed the Guardians' help, but could not seem to find them anywhere. He went to Yan Lin's restaurant, Will's apartment, and all the other guardian's houses. He even tried Will's new boyfriend's house, although he didn't think any of the other guardians would be there. In desperation, he went back to the restaurant, hoping Yan Lin could help him
"Have you seen any of the girls?" he asked her frantically.
"No, why?" she replied. "Is something wrong in Meridian?"
"Well, not exactly. I just escaped from Phobos and Cedric again. Nothing unusual. Have you seen the girls? I could really use some help fighting off Cedric for once!"
"I haven't seen them. You know, they might be at school for once, Caleb." He hit his head.
"Of course. Am I allowed to pick them up?" Yan Lin shrugged. Caleb sighed, and grabbed his skateboard, heading for their school. When he arrived, he learned that not one of them had shown up for class that morning. When he had gone all the way back to the restaurant, he met up with Blunk in the Dumpster.
"Blunk," he sighed, reluctant to ask the stupid pasling (sp?) for help, "Do you smell any portals nearby? I can't find the girls."
"Oooh, Blunk find girls!" he said eagerly.
In Aang's world, Appa had just landed and the tired guardians fell to the ground, exhausted by the flight. The only one who seemed alright was Hay Lin, because Aang made sure she got off the flying bison the least. She was always chipper anyway. Taranee's light had finally faded, but Appa knew where land was, and touched the ground lightly. As soon as everyone was off, Aang showed Hay Lin the air scooter, and they ran around laughing, trying to catch each other. She had gotten it much more quickly than the boys at the Southern Air Temple. Sokka sighed, and started setting up their camp. He was the only one without any "special powers" and that meant he had to work while the others played. Katara, of course, was sitting on the beach with Irma, learning some new waterbending moves.
When Sokka was done setting up camp, he and Katara turned in, but Aang swirled some leaves around and made beds for the Guardians, making sure that Hay Lin's was closest to his.
"Good night!" he said, in his cheerful way. The girls were too tired to say anything, and just rolled over on their beds of leaves, trying not to sleep on their wings. They all slept peacefully, unaware of Prince Zuko and his ship drawing ever closer.
"Aaaah! You stupid pasling!" Caleb yelled as he fell from the sky. "Where are we?"
"Blunk not know!" the dirty little creature replied. "I smell portal, think it to Meridian!" Caleb sighed. They were in big trouble, especially if they fell any faster and hit that ship traveling beneath them. So far, however, this didn't look like Meridian at all. It was much brighter and more peaceful, for one thing. He silently braced himself for impact, reaching out to the pasling in his last minutes of life. The ship was drawing closer, but the pair missed it by inches, landing hard in the water. Zuko looked over the railing, trying to decide if the two were important enough to save.
"Nephew! Aren't you going to try to save them?" his uncle Iroh asked him. He shrugged.
"Well, I guess I could interrogate him and that animal about the other Airbender and her friends," he sighed. "Give me a rope." He shrugged off his shirt, tying the rope around his waist and dove perfectly into the clear blue water. He swam quickly over to them grabbing them tightly. He gave the sign back to his ship, and they hauled them all in.
"Take them to a cell," Zuko said flatly. "And can't this ship go any faster?"
On the island, everyone except Sokka had finally awoken to a bright blue day, perfect for flying, whether it was on a huge bison or otherwise. Katara was left to try to wake her brother up while everyone else searched the island for food for breakfast.
"Hey Sokka! Wake up! Everyone else is gathering food!" Hearing the word food, Sokka jumped up at once.
"Well, where's my breakfast?" he asked, looking around their campsite.
"You have to go help them gather it." He sighed, and got up slowly, stretching.
"Well, maybe I'll find Cornelia!" Katara shook her head.
"Just go find food! And no nuts!" He left, and Katara was left by herself, cleaning up the campsite. She had just finished spreading out the leaves when she noticed a tiny ship on the horizon.
Zuko's ship, she thought, scared. I need to find Aang! She jumped onto Appa, flying over the forest in hopes of finding her friend quickly. She found him not too far away playing the air scooter game with Hay Lin instead of gathering food. She landed close to them, disrupting their game.
"Aang! We have to find the others! Prince Zuko is coming!" she said frantically. Aang immediately jumped off his air scooter, followed by an alarmed Hay Lin. She flew off to find the other guardians, and the Avatar leapt onto Appa's back, guiding the huge bison in the other direction.
They quickly found Sokka, who was currently stuffing his face with a coconut.
"Sokka! You were supposed to gather food for all of us!" Katara reprimanded him. He shrugged.
"What can I say?" he said through a mouthful of coconut. "I was hungry!" Katara shook her head, infuriated.
"Well, that's not important right now anyway. Zuko is back on the trail, and we need to leave, now!" Her brother looked up, suddenly serious. He gathered the remains of his coconut and put it in his bag for later, taking a few more for everyone else. They hurried back onto Appa, searching the entire island for the rest of the Guardians. They found Irma and Taranee, and sincerely hoped that Cornelia, Will, and Hay Lin had met up.
Luckily, they had, and Irma spotted the three of them low to the ground. Appa swooped in, and everyone flew on. The huge, furry bison put on speed, and soon they island was a tiny dot behind them, just like Prince Zuko's ship. Katara looked sadly behind her, but didn't say a word. Sokka scooted closer to Cornelia, and she flew off to take her turn behind Appa. Taranee flew off with her, not wanting her to be alone. Sokka just slumped back, muttering something about her being the friend of a Firebender and him not liking her anyway. Irma splashed him and he muttered that he didn't like their "magic" anyway.
Back on Zuko's ship, Caleb and Blunk were groggily awaking in a damp, dark cell.
"Caleb save Blunk!" the smelly little pasling said happily. "Caleb like Blunk!" Caleb nodded. Sometimes it was best to just let the little animal think what he wanted.
"But where are we?" he asked Blunk. The guard, noticing that they were awake, ran and got the banished Fire nation prince. The guard came back quickly, bringing back the prince.
"Who are you? Where are we?" Caleb asked him.
"I am the one asking the questions," Zuko replied. "Who are you? And who were those flying girls with the Avatar?"
"I don't even know who the Avatar is! And what happened to the Guardians?"
"Who are the Guardians?" Zuko asked angrily.
"The Guardians of the Veil, the protectors of Earth!"
"They are all from the Earth nation?"
"No, America!"
"Where is this 'America?"
"On the west continent. Where am I?"
"You are on my ship. I am Prince Zuko, from the Fire nation. Where is America?"
"I just told you! Where is this Fire nation?"
"Who are the Guardians?" Zuko sighed. "We are back where we started. You can rot in this cell until you're ready to actually tell me useful information." He stalked off, motioning the guard back to his chair.
"Prince Zuko! How did the interrogating of the prisoners go?" his Uncle Iroh asked.
"Not well," he replied. "They made up this nation called 'America', and would not tell me who the girls flying with the Avatar are. All he said was they were the Guardians of the Veil, the protectors of the Earth. And he said they're not Earthbenders, either. He confuses me, Uncle." Iroh sighed.
"Well, at least we are catching up with the Avatar. Our men have seen his huge bison."
"Good. Make this stupid boat go faster!"
"Nephew, I will try to talk to the prisoners, do not worry."
"They are my prisoners, Uncle! And besides we are catching up to the Avatar, there is no need to question them anymore." He gave his uncle a look that clearly meant not to go near them, but his uncle pretended not to see it. When Zuko had calmed down and went to his room to meditate, Iroh slipped by him and went to the cells. He motioned the guard away, and bowed to the prisoners in the cell.
"Good afternoon. I am Prince Zuko's uncle Iroh. And who, may I ask, are you two?"
"I'm Caleb and this monster is Blunk. Where are we?"
"Excuse me; I understand this is the same conversation you had with my nephew a few minutes ago. Let me explain and then you must answer some of my questions. You are being held captive on a Fire nation ship, my nephew Prince Zuko's to be exact. You fell out of the air like those five other girls, yet you could not fly, and you did not land with the Avatar like they did. My nephew saved you."
"Who is this Avatar? Where is Prince Phobos and Elyon?"
"I do not know of whom you speak, but the Avatar? How could you not know who he or she may be? The Avatar is the only person in the world who can bend all four elements; water, fire, earth, and air. When the Avatar dies, he is reincarnated into the next nation in the cycle. Where did you say you were from?" Caleb quickly realized that whoever the Avatar was, he was well-known, and he had just made a big mistake by admitting he did not know who he was.
"The…Air nation?" he said tentatively, hoping that would cover for his falling out of the sky.
"But you from Mer-" Blunk started, cutting off when Caleb kicked him in the shin.
"Ah, I knew it," Iroh muttered, mostly to himself. Caleb was relieved for a second, thinking that he had believed him, but Iroh spoke again, addressing them both.
"You are not from this world. There are no more Airbenders left besides the Avatar. Now tell me truthfully where you did come from, or I shall inform my nephew, who, I might say, has a more painful interrogations process."
"No! Tell me where the Guardians are! I never ratted out the rebels to Phobos and I will not do it for a man half his size and power." Iroh sighed, knowing that he would have had to inform his nephew anyway, called the guard back and walked to Zuko's room. He knocked lightly and went in when he heard a slight grunt of acknowledgement.
"Zuko, there is something you need to know about your prisoners," he started.
"Uncle! I told you not to go near them!" The candles he was meditating with flared, and Iroh stepped back carefully.
"They are not from this world, Zuko! They did not know who the Avatar was and claimed that they were from the Air nation!"
"Uncle, I do not have time to listen your crazy stories! And I thought it was bad when you sputtered proverbs every few minutes," he muttered to himself. "Stay away from my prisoners!"
His prisoners, who at that very moment, were trying to find a way to escape.
"Higher! Blunk no reach window!"
"I-can't get-you any higher," Caleb grunted as he collapsed onto the floor. "This cell is airtight. I don't think there is an escape from here, Blunk." The little pasling curled up in a corner to sleep, and Caleb sighed. They were going to be there for awhile, and they already had been. No one had even brought food, although Caleb had to endure watching their guard eat. He noticed, however, that the irritable Prince had not come back down, and thought he was right about the old man's bluff. He hoped the Guardians would find out where he was. Sometimes they were his only means of escape. He started thinking about Cornelia, and smiling, drifted off into sleep.
Caleb was awoken by a loud rapping on their cell door. The banished prince had finally come back, having realized that his uncle was right.
"Wake up!" he yelled loudly.
"What do you want?" Caleb snapped back. Prince Zuko motioned to the guard next to the door, and he unlocked it. The pair entered, holding ropes to tie Caleb with, who was then brought up to Zuko's room for an interrogation.
"So tell me, who are these Guardians? I want answers, and if you give them to me quickly I will not hurt you or that filthy little animal back in your cell."
"I will not help you, whoever you claim to be!" Zuko's hands flared, and Caleb shrunk back.
"I just want to know what they are, and I will not burn you! Tell me!"
"No!" Zuko held his flaming hand up to Caleb's face, scorching it.
"Tell me! You will not have to endure the pain!" Caleb wouldn't cave, even though his face was scorched, and Zuko had to bring in the little pasling.
"Now tell me what you know about them or this animal gets hurt!"
"Hey Blunk no animal! Blunk a pasling!"
"Alright, alright! The Guardians protect Earth, our world, against the ruler, Prince Phobos, of Meridian, another world. There are five, Will to turn them into the guardians, Irma who has control over water, Taranee who can control fire, C-Cornelia who controls earth, and Hay Lin who has power over air." Zuko didn't miss the stuttering of Cornelia's name like Caleb had hoped he would; the prince stored it away to use against him if he were ever to battle the Earthbender.
"So they are benders, then. They will be easy to take care of. Take the prisoners back to their cell!"
Appa was getting tired, and so were the Guardians, so Aang decided to land them on an island not too far away, hoping that the Fire nation prince wouldn't know they had landed.
"OK, we're just going to rest here until Appa can fly again," he said in the most important Avatar voice he could muster, only managing to be serious for a few seconds. He started laughing, and Hay Lin did too, both jumping onto an air scooter and chasing each other around. Irma thought it was cute, and tried making one out of water, but all it did was make her very wet.
"Ugh! Well, that's one thing I'm never trying again!" she said lightheartedly. Taranee knew only too well not to try it with fire, and Cornelia missed Caleb too much to have fun now. But she tried it to get away from Sokka, who was kind of creeping her out now.
"Hey this is fun!" she cried, circling Hay Lin and Aang.
"You guys should race your scooters!" Irma joked. "Air versus Earth! See who wins!"
"Yeah!" Aang said excitedly. "I haven't been able to play with other scooters for over 100 years!" Hay Lin and him started begging Cornelia, and she caved in easily.
"Alright, alright!" Cornelia moved the earth in front of them away, leaving a single straight line, then flew forward about 100 yards and did the same. Irma acted as referee since it was her idea, and had to give the signal to go.
"On your marks, get ready, get set, go!" she yelled, and the three took off, trying desperately to make their scooter go the fastest. The three were neck and neck until Cornelia managed to pull ahead, right at the finish line, winning the race. Even Hay Lin and Aang were happy because it had been such a relief to do something fun. They stayed all day, racing and playing tag, letting Appa catch up on his sleep and finding some food for the whining Sokka, never noticing the black Fire nation ship growing steadily closer. Zuko had seen them land, and he wasn't going to let them get away again.
His crew landed the ship near the campsite, wanting not to be seen, but not wanting to be too far away either in case they were defeated. Luckily for Zuko, none of them had thought of setting up a guard, and he snuck into their camp undetected. He grabbed the Avatar first, putting a cloth around his mouth, and on an impulse grabbed Katara too. He told himself she was leverage to make the Avatar do what he wanted, but he wasn't so sure himself. Unfortunately for him, she woke up and sounded the alarm.
A/N: Sorry about the cliffie! I'll try and update as soon as I can, but since I'm going on vacation in two days, it may be difficult. And I know Caleb being scared is a little OOC, but he loves Cornelia, and doesn't want this weird guy hurting her.