THE SECRET OF ANIMARU ISLAND

Chapter Four: Ominous Warning

"I wonder what's taking Tora so long," the seal muttered worriedly as he crawled out of the water onto the beach. He looked back at the massive black warship, which was now more than halfway into the island's bay.

"There's no doubt about it now: the ship is definitely approaching our island," the seal stated as he made his way toward a thick cluster of brush.

Concealed by the brush, the seal transformed back into his human form of a young boy with thick dark brown hair pulled back into a small bushy ponytail, and hazel eyes. He was wearing a short-sleeve tunic made of animal skins, light tan leggings, knee-high brown boots, and a tan headband around his head.

Suddenly, Gokuin was a bit startled when he heard a noise coming from behind him. He quickly turned around, prepared to fight off any potential attacker. Gokuin let out a soft sigh of relief when Tora stepped out from the forest.

"Oh, Tora! It's you!" he gasped.

"So, what's going on here, Gokuin?" Tora asked curiously. "Uma said there was a Fire Nation ship heading towards the island."

"Unfortunately, that's true, Tora," Gokuin reluctantly admitted as he pointed out the warship in the distance. "There's no question in my mind now that they're coming here. I doubt that they're here to gather food; that's not the Fire Nation's style."

"I know, Gokuin," Tora replied. "They must be here to search for Aang. It's no secret that the Fire Nation has been searching for the Avatar since he disappeared one hundred years ago. They know he's the only one who can bring this war to an end; that's why the Fire Nation's so desperate to catch him."

"What would they do to Aang if they ever did catch him? You don't think they would…?" Gokuin trailed off.

"No, they wouldn't do that, Gokuin. If Aang died, the Avatar Cycle would start over, and the Fire Nation would have to resume their search all over again," Tora explained. "Let's go up on the cliff, Gokuin. That way, we can keep an eye on them without them seeing us."

"Yeah, good idea, Tora," Gokuin agreed as the two ran through the brush…

By the time the two animal benders had reached the top of the small cliff, the Fire Navy warship had reached shore.

"Look, they're disembarking," Gokuin announced as he pointed down at the warship, which had lowered a large ramp onto the beach.

Tora and Gokuin watched intently as six rhinos climbed down the ramp one at a time, each one carrying a rider dressed in the traditional black-and-red metal armor of the Fire Nation. When the last rider, a teenage boy, left the warship on his rhino, Tora sniffed the air a bit.

"That one…his scent is different from the others," Tora muttered out loud. "Not only is he a firebender, but he possesses the slight odor of burnt flesh. My guess is that he has a large burn scar somewhere on his person that's at least a year old, perhaps even two."

"I heard from the fishermen once that the prince of the Fire Nation has a large burn scar over his left eye that he obtained two years ago. Do you suppose that's him?" Gokuin asked curiously.

"Possibly, Gokuin. He appears to be the one in charge of the group of soldiers, and I doubt the Fire Lord would allow someone so young to lead any sort of battalion, unless it happened to be his own flesh and blood," Tora muttered out loud. "Gokuin, you go rejoin everyone back in the village. I shall return shortly."

"Okay, Tora. Be careful and good luck," Gokuin replied before running off into the brush.

"Now, to take my plan into action," Tora muttered out loud as she changed into the form of a tiger and started to slowly make her way down the cliff towards the beach…

"I want every inch of this island searched for any sign that the Avatar was here," Zuko told the five soldiers who disembarked from the warship with him, each riding their own rhino. "We'll start by looking for any tracks on the shoreline, and then we'll move further inland."

"Yes, Prince Zuko!" the five soldiers agreed simultaneously.

As the six rhinos and their riders walked along the sandy shore, Zuko had a strange feeling that someone or something was watching him. Upon looking around, Zuko soon noticed a pair of large green eyes watching from the top of a high tree. Within moments, the eyes disappeared from sight.

Those eyes…they couldn't possibly belong to a person. They look like they belong to some sort of animal, Zuko thought to himself as his rhino continued to lead him down the sandy shoreline. Suddenly, all six rhinos abruptly stopped in their tracks.

"What's going on?" Zuko demanded.

"I'm not sure, Prince Zuko," one of the soldiers announced uncertainly. "The rhinos refuse to move for some reason."

At that moment, Zuko noticed some movement out of the corner of his eye. He looked over at the thick forest to his right and gasped when he saw a large orange tiger with black stripes emerge from some bushes. The tiger growled menacingly as she slowly approached the six rhinos and their riders. Zuko watched cautiously as the tiger paced past him and down the line of rhinos, then back again.

"Stay perfectly still, Prince Zuko. We don't want to upset the beast. Tigers are said to be excellent hunters and jumpers," one of the soldiers closest to Zuko whispered loudly as the tiger stopped at the young prince's steed.

"Steady now, men," another soldier instructed as all five soldiers held up their spears and aimed them at the tiger. The large cat seemed to sense what they were up to, for she glared angrily at them with her green eyes and growled threateningly before returning her attention to Zuko.

"Tell your men to hold their ground!" the tiger growled loudly, much to Zuko's surprise.

"Prince Zuko?" the soldier closest to the prince asked curiously when he noticed the stunned look on Zuko's face.

"I…I must be hearing things. I could have sworn that tiger just spoke to me," Zuko hesitantly confessed.

"Then, you're not the only one, Prince Zuko, for I heard the beast speak as well," the soldier revealed.

"We all heard it, my lord," another soldier added, with the remaining three soldiers nodding their heads in agreement. Zuko carefully watched the tiger as she paced around the rhino he was riding on. She soon crouched down and jumped up onto the backside of Zuko's rhino.

"What are you humans doing here on my island?" the tiger questioned as Zuko swung around in his saddle so that he was now facing the large wild cat.

"We're searching for someone: a young monk with an arrow on his head. He travels with two children from the Water Tribe, one of them being a waterbender," Zuko replied as calmly as he could, knowing that the tiger could easily knock him off of his steed with a single swipe of her paw.

"There have been no monks here for many years, nor have there been any other human that has set foot on this island…with the exception of you and your men," the tiger explained. "Unless you have any other business here, then I suggest you leave."

"Fine, then. We'll be on our way," Zuko replied, much to the five soldiers' surprise. He looked over his shoulder at the soldiers and announced, "You heard me right! We're leaving!"

"That's good, and I suggest you leave right away," the tiger growled as she leapt off of Zuko's rhino and headed back into the brush.

"Come on," Zuko ordered the five soldiers as he turned his rhino around and headed back to the warship, soon followed by the others.

"Are we really going to leave here, Prince Zuko?" the soldier right behind the young prince whispered loudly.

"Of course not!" Zuko snapped. "I don't care that the tiger can talk. Why would that beast decide to talk to us in the first place, unless it was hiding something or someone that it doesn't want us to find? We're coming back to this island at nightfall on the riverboat. No one orders me around, especially not some talking tiger."

As Zuko lead his men back to the warship, the tiger watched them intently from the top of the cliff. Satisfied that they were finally leaving, the tiger turned around and headed deeper into the forest, unaware of Zuko's plans…

"Go faster, Rini! Faster!" the young girls cheered on the rabbit, which was running away from a fox.

The fox was about the same size as the rabbit, with an elongated body, golden yellow eyes, and two long bushy tails. He was covered in reddish-orange fur, with long pointed black ears, black paws, black fur on the tips of his tails, and white on his chest.

"You'll never catch me, Kitsune!" the rabbit shouted back to the pursuing fox.

"We'll see about that, Rini!" the fox shouted as he put on an extra burst of speed.

Aang, Sokka, Katara, and the other younger children watched as the rabbit was playfully chased around the fire pit by the fox. The two small animals continued to run about in circles around the fire pit, occasionally weaving around the huts.

"Come on, Kitsune! You can catch her!" the young boys cheered on the fox. Just then, Sai emerged from the surrounding forest.

"Sai, any word from Tora yet?" Uma asked curiously when she noticed that Sai had returned.

"No, not yet," Sai reluctantly admitted as he made his way through the crowd surrounding the fire pit. Suddenly, the rabbit ran into Sai, soon followed by the fox.

"Rini, Kitsune! Stop playing around! This isn't the time!" Sai complained as the rabbit and fox changed back into their human forms.

Kitsune was the same age as Rini, with short brown hair with a long braided rattail running past his shoulder blades, and golden brown eyes. He was wearing a tan short-sleeve tunic, tan leggings, brown boots, a brown leather headband, and a thin brown cord around his waist.

"We weren't just playing around, Sai!" Rini remarked.

"Yeah, we were entertaining the Avatar and his friends," Kitsune pointed out.

"That was fun, watching you guys!" Aang openly admitted.

"Thanks, Aang!" Kitsune and Rini both responded cheerfully. Just then, there was a rustling sound coming from behind a small cluster of bushes.

"Tora, is that you?" Aang asked curiously as everyone turned their attention towards the bushes.

"Yes, it's me, Aang," a familiar voice replied as the tiger emerged from the bushes.

"So, what's going on with the Fire Nation, Tora?" Sai asked curiously as the tiger changed back into her human form.

"Prince Zuko and his troops have left our island," Tora announced. "I stuck around to make sure of it. Their ship is back out in the ocean, where it belongs. They won't set foot on our island ever again!"

"Yeah! All right!" the children all cheered enthusiastically.

"All right, everyone, calm down," Tora replied as she held her hands up for silence. Once everyone had settled down, Tora cleared her throat for a moment.

"Now, let's eat, everyone. We have a lot to celebrate today…the most important thing, of course, is having the Avatar and his friends here with us." Aang blushed a bit upon hearing Tora's compliment.

"Okay, we need to start the fire, so we can roast the fish and vegetables. And bring up the fruit, too. We can start eating that while we wait for the fish and vegetables to cook," Tora announced…

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DC: You've probably noticed that I didn't provide a description of Uma's human form. I've decided against providing a physical description of each and every single animal bender that I gave a name to. You probably already have a general idea of what an animal bender looks like: clothes made of animal skins and furs, hair that is some shade of brown, and eyes that are usually some shade of brown in color.