Nee, chapter two already? I'm sooo annoying :P
Anyway, today was a half day and I had some times to whip up another chapter. Hey, don't worry, there will be some real action soon
In the entire span of her short, uneventful life, Mai had learned a few important things.
1. When living with a psychotic manipulative princess who had the power to fry your internal organs with the flick of her finger, it is best to agree with everything she says, even if you know it's complete bullshit.
This rule, Mai had been following quite well that evening, as she nodded and shook her head and sometimes even smiled slightly whenever Azula asked her a question.
"I'm sure my most beloved comrades agree with me-"
"Mhmm, yes!' said Ty Lee enthusiastically, giving Azula the thumbs up, trying desperately to mask the look of insecurity that her eyes were conveying.
Mai shuddered. Azula was being particularly creepy tonight, at dinner she was all smiles and sugar and talking about how much she 'loved' her 'best friends' which probably meant that she was planning on having them killed in their sleep.
"What do you think, Mai?"
Mai shook herself to attention, her normally blank stare trying to remember what Azula had been talking about.
"I think…whatever you say is best" Mai worded carefully.
"Oh, but really Mai, I want to know what you think!"
Azula's smile could've poisoned the fire lord himself.
2. In the instance you forgot what said bitchlette was talking about, find a casual way to draw the attention away from yourself.
"Nothing I could say could possibly match the cunning of your plan, Azula. You are, after all, the most brilliant person I know" Mai droned robotically.
Azula laughed haughtily.
"Very well then, firstwe handle the Avatar and his party. Intercept them at Yemin, theonly town in their path for miles.Then we move in to capture my idiot relatives and put them to their rightful death.Cheers!" Azula raised her glass with a smile that would make a rampaging gatorcat's eyes drop out.
Shit. Zuko.
Mai's gaze hit the table, knowing very well that Azula was doing this to make her miserable. To test her loyalty.
"Well?"
3. In the event Azula does something to hurt you, detune yourself and forget you care. Your life is the main priority.
"Cheers." Said an unexcited Mai, averting her eyes from venom girl and her nervous friend.
"Cheers" Ty Lee agreed.
Their glasses clinked, and the roaring of their machine continued to blaze a trail into the night.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"I wish we didn't have to leave so soon" the aged firebender said sadly. "I was almost beginning to like that town. Quiet. Peaceful."
"We both know it was best that we keep moving. Azula knew our location. It's only a matter of time before she comes back to finish us off."
As their steer steeped haphazardly on a rock and shook violently, Iroh groaned and grabbed his chest where Azula had burned him.
Zuko looked back with worry.
"Gas" he lied with a cheesy smile. The look on his nephew's face certainly said he'd fallen for it.
"At least you're sitting behind me."
"Heh heh…"
Silence passed between them and Iroh looked up at the moon. He began to hum in his hoarse voice, which Zuko ignored, pressing the horsebird on.
"I think it's safe to camp here for the night" Zuko said softly, pointing to a spot by the woods. They'd put a minor distance between the ghost down and themselves, but Iroh was obviously in no shape to travel right now. Zuko hopped off the animal, holding his hand out respectfully for his uncle.
Iroh made a pained face again as he jumped down.
Zuko ignored it. He hated to see Iroh like this.
"Do me a favor, Zuko and gather some firewood" Iroh requested, unwrapping the bundle of their sleeping bags and other materials.
Iroh's younger companion nodded, pulling his own bundle out of the pile. The old man's eyes watched him with undetectable suspicion.
What is in that bag that he doesn't want me to see?
It hurt Iroh, knowing that Zuko kept secrets. His thievery and attitude were enough, but dishonesty…
The old man sighed, laying out his sleeping matt and a few other supplies.
Zuko's figure disappeared into the woods.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"My father told you to protect me."
"I did the best I could!"
"It wasn't good enough. You failed, you failed the northern water tribe, and you failed me."
Sokka gasped as he woke up, surprised by the sudden breeze surrounding him and the strangest sensation he had that his furry sleeping bag were flying.
Wait- furry? Flying! Sokka realized a second later that he was supposed to be directing Appa. They'd left the valley almost ten hours ago, he'd promised to take them to the nearest town for supplies. And he'd fallen asleep.
Looking anxiously at his companions, he realized that they too were asleep. No one had bothered to direct the buffalo, and they were going backwards.
"Shit. Shitshitshitshit" Sokka cursed to himself.
He looked down.
That river…looked oddly familiar.
He slapped his forehead and directed the buffalo downwards. They needed to make camp somewhere, and he knew that the next 20 miles at least were desert.
If we make camp here, we'll at least have water and I'll be able to fish.
Appa's feet hit the ground. Immediately Aang woke up.
"Are we there already? Great! Let's make camp!"
How did a kid who was fast asleep five seconds ago wake up so quickly! It was two in the morning!
"Ughh" Katara moaned, rubbing her head. Her meticulous braid was frazzled and she tried to smooth it out, her eyes looking baggy. She had rolled on top of Toph during the trip and Katara's movement woke the young earthbender up.
"Morning, beauty queen. Mind getting off my leg?" Toph snapped at the sleepy girl, who obeyed with a snide look and jumped off Appa, stretching and yawning.
"A river? I thought you were going to take us to the nearest town…"
"yeah…funny thing about that."
"Hey- this is the place where we washed Appa five days ago. Look at the clumps of buffalo hair…" Aang said in a confused voice.
"SOKKA?" Katara shouted, hands over her ears.
"Appa went the wrong direction. Geeze, I fell asleep, whad'you expect!"
"I expected you to stay awake on account of YOU SPENT THE LAST DAY SLEEPING."
The furious waterbender threw her bundle down. Toph grinned, thoroughly enjoying watching Sokka get reamed out.
"Way to go, metalhead" she tittered.
"HEY, HEY, guys!" Aang shouted in exasperation. "CALM DOWN."
"CALM DOWN? WE HAVE NO FOOD, NO SUPPLIES, AND THE NEAREST TOWN IS MILES FROM HERE."
Katara, uncharacteristically upset, stormed off towards the river.
"Hey, Katara, it's OK!" said Aang brightly. "I don't mind."
"Yeah, but I DO. Sokka, we're all supposed to do our part to help Aang, and here you are, messing us up because you're LAZY!"
"YEAH WELL I GUESS I JUST FAIL AT LIFE, DON'T I. ugh."
"UGH!'
Katara vanished into the woods, water jug on her back.
…
"So…" Toph started in awkward sarcasm. "Anyone up for a game of twiddleplunks?
"Nope, I'm good!" Sokka spat back.
"Just give her some time, Sokka" the Avatar said calmly, putting his hand on Sokka's back. "She's just tired, give her some time to chill out."
The rest of camp prepared to go back to sleep.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Using his broadswords to hack away at the branches of unsuspecting dead trees, the Blue Spirit completed his task of woodgetting valiantly.
Far too awake to head back to camp and listen to said Uncle ramble in metaphors, the creature placed his pile of flammables on the ground and headed off towards the gurgling of water that was all too tempting.
Entering the clearing around the river, the beast bent down and lifted his mask, revealing the thinning face of prince Zuko, who bent down to take a drink.
Perhaps I should bring some water back to Iroh…
Suddenly the sound of crunching branches on the other side of the river reached the firebender's alarmed ears. Retreating to the woods he started to make out angry female vocals approaching.
Please…anyone but-
"THE NERVE OF THAT-"
Waterbender? That girl, what was her name? He'd heard it spoken hundreds of times…
Zuko pulled down his mask and became the Blue Spirit again.
Perhaps I can follow her and find where their camp is. Then I can attack and capture the Avatar and-
Carry a dangerous noisy kid on the back of a starving Horsebird with your Injured Uncle for fifty miles into the nearest earth-kingdom city where you'lll promptly be caught and executed?
You got any better ideas, pasteface?
No…
Just wondering…
While the Spirit's thoughts became increasingly hopeless, Katara ceased her screaming and took her shoes off.
Oh god…please don't strip down the Blue Spirit thought in alarm. Not that there would be anything wrong with her taking her clothes off, I mean, she's probably really stuffy in that dress…
But no, the girl rolled up the bottom of her pants and stepped into the river, starting to waterbend.
Great. If that's all she was going to do for the next hour…he probably would have preferred her to take her clothes off.
Spirit-boy might as well head back to camp now.
Just when he was ready to do just so, a splashing sound caught his attention and on the bank of the river, he saw a large, fat fish flopping back and forth.
The girl took a sharpened stick out of the container on her back and stabbed it through the gills, so that it ceased its flopping and hung limply.
Ouch.
She repeated the motion of waterbending about several times and soon she had ten fish in a neat pile.
The Blue Spirit's stomach growled. He hadn't eaten for two days.
Perhaps he could steal one from her when she wasn't looking.
How would he cross the river?
His stomach growled.
Food. Avatar.
Food…Avatar
But- food!
Avatar.
The spirit shook his head. The answer was obvious.
The wanted criminal used his strength and cunning to scale the surface of a nearby tree that's upper branches crossed the river.
Katara didn't notice.
With the skills of a tomcat, he leapt from the branches to another tree across the river, causing the leaves to rustle violently.
Katara didn't notice.
With top-notch stealth and utmost cunning, the Spirit crawled his way through the leaves and sprung out onto the little shelf of sand where the girl was fishing. Hiding behind a rock, he waited until she turned her back and darted forward silently.
Katara didn't notice.
The grinning masked man put his hand on one of the fish.
Katara slammed him into a tree with a violent whip of water.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
At approximately 3:00AM, Katara had not yet returned, and the other three campers were asleep.
Well…so it seemed, until the rock teepee under which Toph was sleeping slammed itself back into the ground and she stretched, 'eyeing' the sleeping airbender and buffoon with boredom.
One of them was sleeping like a rock. She could hardly even pick up his essence…
Toph followed her earth sense to the edge of the woods, and was ready to pull her pants down and take a crap before-
"Do you MIND?"
Sokka.
Stifling an indignant scream, Toph turned to where the voice was coming from.
"Alright Foofoocuddlypoofs, where the hell are you?"
Sokka hopped down from a tree, and Toph turned towards him the second his feet hit the ground.
"Oh, SORRY, didn't know this forest was your personal wastebin, princess"
"Well, it IS, and you'd be best off to warn people when you're staring at them while they're trying to take a shit."
The water-tribe boy was silent for a few seconds, obviously astonished by the deceptively small, childish earthbender's rather offensive vocabulary.
"What are you doing up anyway?" Toph asked, her anger softening to a questioning curiosity. Which was still rather blunt sounding.
"Why do you care?" The warrior sounded a bit defensive.
"I just DO, OK?"
…
"Well for your information, I was looking at the moon before you came to take a crap on my tree."
"Oh.'
Toph looked up at the sky, trying to 'see' the moon and faced in the wrong direction.
"It's actually behind you" Sokka said, feeling a bit bad for Toph.
"I KNEW that" Toph said defensively.
Sokka sat down on a rock.
"So…what does the moon look like?" he asked her softly, not in the mood to be the stupid one.
"It's…a big rock" she said.
"What color?"
Toph tried to remember what her mother had said to her when she was younger but failed.
"Why should I care?" she said, failing to think of further facades for her blindness. "You can see it, you tell me!"
Sokka sighed. He tried to steer the subject away from her blindness.
"Legend says that the phases of the moon are the faces of the people you love, dead or alive."
"That's completely stupid" the earthbender retorted.
She then sensed that Sokka was offended.
"I mean…sorry…" she apologized quickly.
"It doesn't matter."
A few minutes passed and the two acquaintances stared at the glowing orb in the sky. Sokka sighed again, and Toph looked at him.
"What color is it?" she asked.
Sokka stared back into her faded, almost white eyes and shook his head, standing up and walking back to camp.
"It doesn't matter."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Katara turned and faced the attacker of her meal with a vehement look of anger on her face.
"I am REALLY not in the mood for this right now."
The 'attacker' sat dully against the rock. She couldn't tell if he (she assumed by his build shape that he was male) was in shock or just mocking her, because his masked face continued to grin hideously in the moonlight.
"Who or…what are you?" she demanded, pointing her finger at the Blue Spirit, trying to remember where she'd seen his 'face' before.
The Blue Spirit said nothing, getting to his feet.
"why were you taking my fish?" she demanded after he failed to answer.
Still nothing. Katara was getting really annoyed now.
"ANSWER ME!" Water from the stream began to gather around her protectively. Still, the Spirit did nothing.
The silence frightened her. What if he was dangerous?
Not that she couldn't handle herself but that idiotic clay grin and the silent, stillness of his prescience was beginning to make the water-tribe girl uncomfortable.
Or maybe he was just hungry? He had, after all, stuck all the way across the river in attempt not to draw attention to himself.
Katara sighed irritably, defeated. She had no reason to threaten someone who wouldn't attack or speak to her.
"Fine. Just take one."
The spirit did nothing.
Katara lunged forward and picked up a particularly large fish, walking to where he stood and dropping it in his hands.
I'm being awfully bold tonight…I still don't know if he's friendly.
The spirit caught the fish, it's masked face looking from the dead animal, to Katara, to the dead animal, still saying nothing.
"No need to thank me" she said, quieter now, but still impatient.. "It's a gift. My name is Katara. Nice to meet you. Take the fish and leave."
The Blue Spirit bowed. Katara blinked. When she opened her eyes, he was gone.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
INFURITATING! This is just…agh!
Princess Azula felt the urge to rip her own hair out, but instead aimed a lightning bolt directly above the head of the town leader.
"YOU MEAN TO TELL ME" Azula said through gritted teeth.
"That you haven't seen any of these people. ANY OF THEM!"
Azula flashed a picture of Aang, followed by the two water tribe kids and the blind bandit.
"P-please, your ma-majesty, the A-avatar and his friends have not been through here" the man stuttered nervously.
"Bullshit. BULL SHIT. This is the only town for MILES located in his path!"
The man bowed to the fire nation princess.
"P-perhaps h-he turned around and went the other way!" he tried desperately.
"Why on EARTH would he do that?"
"I-I don't know y-your majesty."
Azula stoped shouting and smiled sweetly. Ty Lee, flanking her left side, cringed, knowing something bad was going to happen.
"It's no matter" Azula said, turning around, gesturing for her two friends to follow. The obeyed.
As they neared the machine which they were using to track the Avatar, Mai turned to her.
"Perhaps he was right. If those kids have an ounce of sense, they would've gone off course to throw us off."
Azula contemplated this, furrowing her eyebrows.
"Perhaps this changes our plans." She rubbed her chin manically.
Two fire-nation soldiers bowed to the girls as they readied to step aboard the machine.
"Anything we can do for you, your majesty?"
"Why yes, yes there is" Azula said sweetly. "Burn this town to the ground."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Hello, Zuko" said Iroh quietly to his nephew.
"Uncle! I'm surprised you're still awake."
"I was worried about you, Zuko. That was an awfully long time for some firewood."
"I brought you some fish" Zuko said, dropping the firewood and placing it on a flat piece of wood.
"Nice…aren't you doing to have some?" the old man asked curiously as the tired warrior retreated to his sleeping bag.
"No thanks. I'm not hungry."
OK, just to clarify- Sokka and Toph talking does NOT mean he's in love with her. I'm stating this because people tend to think that when two characters actually attempt to get to know each other it means something romantic.
It doesn't. I just want them to earn a sense of respect for each other.
bwa, sokka's idiocy saved them all XD
And yes, the real action will begin next chapter!