Author's note: To My sister/''manager'', SilvrImage, AvatarianSweetPea, FrozenHeat, Nori12, and Guardiangirl1, thanks a bunch for the reviews. I get lazy sometimes and I guess it just takes some reviews for a little encouragement.

This is when the stories going to pick up a little. Remember, If you have any suggestions (rather than just being a butt in an annoying way) Please e-mail me at ONCE AGAIN do not try to get me to change what I'm about to write. And please don't beg and say, "PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make ………. happen it would be such an awesome twist! Please-" NO. That's not the way things work. That just gets the writer to hate you because you don't think the story is good enough the way it is.

Happy reading .


Chapter Three

Jing-Mei inhaled. It was enough that it was over ninety degrees out and the fog was enough to give anyone respatory failure, but she didn't feel hot at all. She could never hate anything more than cold weather. The air was dry and deadly when it stung the throat and lungs. That was when she thought she was going to choke. Not to mention all the times she'd woke up at night to find her mouth tasted like blood from all the dryness in the air.

She walked up the side of their tired house then up to the front. Then up the walk, then climb the first stair, then the next, then the next. She reached for the knob. BOOM. She felt the earth shake. A huge cloud of dust flew into the air not to far away from the market place. She stared off into the distance and through the dust, concentrating all her spiritual energy on trying to find where the blast was coming from. There. She saw two bandits, a girl with braided hair, and….something-someone else. She tried concentrating her eyes more until... "AUGH!" Her hands flew to her face.

Aang looked at Katara who was wearing the same terrorized express he was. The bandit stood tall with a huge blade as big as MoMo and almost twice as wide. He had to think fast. What was he going to do? If he threw any more windblasts, he was sure wasn't going to be able to breath anymore, nonetheless run back to where Appa was. As long as the air was as thick as it was, he was powerless without his bending. That's it! Sokka! Sokka hadn't been with them even before the fight. He hadn't even taken a single blow. He needed to get Sokka's attention, it was clear he and Katara couldn't win this fight alone.

"Sokka! We need help!" Aang shouted. Surprisingly, Sokka wasn't as far away as he'd thought. Even if Sokka didn't knock the bandit out, he could still be a distraction long enough for them to get Appa to get them away from this mess.

"Aang! I'm right here, where are you!" All Sokka could see was the dark outline of the bandit.

"Don't worry about us, get the bandit!"

Sokka ran towards the bandit. He reached into his side and grabbed his machete, swinging it towards the bandit's shoulder. The bandit blocked his blow with the blade and stepped backwards. It was like fighting underwater. Each breath only made it worse. All he had to do was keep fighting the bandit off until he fainted. That would give them time to get to Appa. But the air was worse than he thought. The heat had everyone loosing enough fluids and the fog made it so they couldn't breath. Neither them nor the bandits would win this fight. But why was the bandit so steady? What was keeping him from fainting or at least wheezing? He stared hard then found his answer. The bandit's face was covered by a mask. Each time he inhaled, all the moisture and dust stuck to the surface of the mask and only oxygen made it through to his face. He had to do the same. He un-did the sash from his waist and wrapped it around his nose and mouth. It didn't help a lot but it was much better that breathing in the foul air directly.

His thoughts took him back to the bandit in front of him. He knew how the bandit was still standing; now he had to figure out how to knock him down. His mind raced looking at all the possible answers to his question. Then he remembered his training at Kioshi Island. To use his opponents' strength against them. He thought about the huge blade the bandit had. Without it, there wasn't much to fear about him. That was his answer: he had to take his blade away. Cornered three to one, the bandit would see he was outnumbered and stop trying. Now there was just the matter of doing it. If he attacked directly, the bandit would still have the blade in his hand. He had an idea.

He ran up to the bandit and swung his machete at him. The bandit blocked it again. Sokka then let out a groan of pain, and got down on the floor. Sokka got up and ran backwards where he was out of sight, keeping in mind where the bandit was standing. He then inched closer to the bandit, step by step. He turned his gaze towards his sister and Aang. He signaled them and then made a circling motion with his arms. They each stood at a different position around the bandit but still out of sight and hidden in the fog. Sokka ran up behind the bandit and swung the blade out of his hands in one swift motion. Aang and Katara then can in closer to where the bandit could see them and the fact that he was outnumbered. They could taste victory now. The sun was starting to advance past its position in the middle of the sky and was sinking lower and lower. It got a little bit easier to breath as the fog was starting to subside. At this point, the bandit should've been as terrified as they had been. But on his face instead was an evil grin.