Spirit Oasis, Northern Water Tribe
Finn fell onto an icy ground, completely catching him more off guard than he already was. April and Danny immediately helped him back up.
"What the heck was that?" Finn asked.
"Someone pulled us over from the Ghost Zone," April explained.
"That someone is me," a bald monk responded as he seemed to come out of nowhere. "And that wasn't a ghost zone. That's the Spirit World. How did you guys even manage to get through to the Spirit World, anyway? I didn't think you guys had access to any spirit water."
"That would be my doing," Danny chimed in. "I opened up a portal that would let us through to the Earth Kingdom, but I'm guessing that only let us go as far as the Spirit World, which seems to have led us here instead of the Earth Kingdom."
"That's because the only spirit portal we have leads here to the Northern Water Tribe," the monk explained. "I pulled you guys out through that oasis there." He then pointed to a large pond of glowing water.
"So you're the one who kidnapped us just now!" Rainbow said.
"I wouldn't exactly call it kidnapping," the monk tried to explain. "I helped you guys out of there."
"Well, thanks for the help, but I think we'll be fine from here on out. We just gotta find our friends and we'll be out of here as soon as possible."
"Speaking of which, you wouldn't happen to have heard about recent kidnappings by robotic animals, would you?" Danny inquired. The monk suddenly looked in the group's direction in utter shock.
"Did you say robotic animal?"
"Uh, yeah. So I'm guessing you have heard about it," Danny commented. "What can you tell us?"
"These wouldn't happen to be the same robotic animals that kidnapped a news reporter, would it?"
"News reporter?" Rainbow butted in, now making her way to the front of the crowd. "Did they happen to tell you their name?"
"I think so," the monk told her as he tried to remember. "I think it was Sunlight Something." Rainbow then cupped her mouth in horror.
"Oh no! Is she at least okay?"
"I don't know," the monk responded. "I tried stopping whatever it was that kidnapped your friend, but I just wasn't fast enough."
"Not fast enough? What do you mean, 'not fast enough'?" Rainbow now looked furious. "So then you didn't try stopping that...thing hard enough."
"Look, I'm sorry I couldn't save your friend in time, but I swear I did everything I could."
"Then why did Sunset still get kidnapped?" Rainbow was now visibly furious.
"Rainbow, calm down," Danny said. "You don't know exactly what he did to find your friend."
"How can I calm down when I don't know what he did?"
"Look, if you want, I can take you to the Earth Kingdom. My friends and are there searching for your friend as we speak."
Rainbow looked hesitant at first, but eventually conceded. "Fine. We'll go." She then approached the monk with an intimidating look. "But if you try to double cross us, you'll be sorry."
"So, how do we get to the Earth Kingdom, anyway?" Finn asked. The monk then pulled out what appeared to be a whistle and blew on it. The rest of the group looked confused as no sound came out. Soon enough, though, a giant bison came flying in, surprising everyone but the monk.
"Woah, is that a flying bison?" Rainbow asked.
"And I thought talking dogs would be the weirdest thing we'd see today," Danny commented.
Nonetheless, everyone boarded the huge animal. Once everyone was on, the monk then flicked the reins and spurred the bison on with a single command: "Yip yip, Appa!" And just like that, they were soaring through the air. After a brief moment of silence, Danny finally spoke up.
"By the way, we never did get your name," he said. "Who are you?"
"My name is Aang," the monk finally told everyone. "Avatar Aang."
Jasmine Dragon - Ba Sing Se, Earth Kingdom
The group finally touched down in the Earth Kingdom. They each got off Appa one by one as they admired the beauty of the city they were in. The city appeared to house wealthy residents.
"Everyone, welcome to Ba Sing Se," Aang announced. He then guided into the nearby building, a tea shop named the Jasmine Dragon. "And this is where my friends and I have been meeting to find your friend."
"This is it?" Rainbow mockingly asked. "This is your meeting place? For the chosen one, you really don't seem to have access to a better spot."
"Hey! This spot is where I had all my good ideas," came a voice from behind a large stack of papers. The man pushed the papers aside and revealed his face.
"It's true, you know," Aang agreed. "Without Sokka's help, I probably wouldn't be where I am today. Without any of my team's help, who knows where I'd be by now?"
"Probably still stuck in that iceberg," Sokka commented as chewed on what appeared to be a sausage. Aang then nodded his head in agreement before one-arm hugging him. "So, what brings you and your...," Sokka gave Aang's group of friends a quick glance, "...merry band of weirdos here, anyway?"
"Aang here says you guys have been looking for my friend," Rainbow explained. "How close are you guys to finding her?"
"Well, after your friend was kidnapped, Aang managed to find a piece of her clothing nearby." Sokka then handed Rainbow wool fabric. "A friend of ours has a pet that can track her scent, so we've sent her to go find her."
"And how long has that been?" Rainbow asked.
"It's been hours at this point. We sent out a few other search parties, but we haven't gotten any messages back yet."
"Maybe I can speed up the search," Rainbow offered as she ran off out of the tea shop. She then returned just as quickly. "Uh, you wouldn't happen to know which way I should go, would you?"
Yu Dao, Earth Kingdom
It didn't take long for the group to reach the scene of the kidnapping. As soon as Appa landed, Aang and his new friends dismounted and started looking for answers.
"Alright. This is where your friend was captured," Aang reiterated. "Now what?"
"Which way did you say that robot went?" Rainbow asked.
"That way," Aang told her as he pointed south, "but we already have search parties in that area. I don't know exactly what you hope to find that they couldn't."
"Maybe you missed something the first time," Rainbow insisted. "What else did you guys find here?"
"My friend Toph said she interviewed the settlers here, but they only confirmed what we already know. All they saw was Sunset getting kidnapped by that robot creature."
And then something occurred to Jenny.
"How long ago did you say this happened?" Jenny asked.
"It's been about two hours," Aang told her. "Why?" Jenny then activated her pigtails.
"They probably didn't get too far," Jenny explained. "If I can track Dr. Gross' location from here, we should be able to catch her in no time." Her pigtails then transformed into small satellite dishes and beeped as they oscillated back and forth. Meanwhile, Rainbow paced back and forth, clearly impatient.
"I know this must be stressful for you," Aang said in an attempt to comfort her, "but I guarantee that we will find her."
"It would go a lot faster if I could just go after her kidnapper myself."
"Except you don't know your way around here," Aang reminded her. "If you'd just let us help you--"
"Well, I don't need your help, okay?" Rainbow blurted out. "If it weren't for you, my friend wouldn't be missing in the first place!" As soon as she got that off her chest, she jetted off in a random direction. Aang then pulled a staff from his back and unfolded it into a red glider. He then mounted his glider and took off after Rainbow.
"I'll go after them," Danny told the rest of the group. He then transformed into his ghost form and followed the other two.
"So, what now?" Finn asked April as Jenny continued to scan the area.
"I guess we wait," April answered half-heartedly. "As usual."
"What's got you down?"
April hesitated to answer for a bit.
"C'mon," Finn prodded. He smiled encouragingly and gave April a light punch on her shoulder. "You can trust me." April ultimately conceded and.
"I dunno. I guess I'm just tired of being someone else's sidekick or waiting around for someone else to save the day," she explained. "Even within my own circle of friends, it always feels like I'm put on the B-team."
"Well, believe it or not, I actually know how you feel," Finn told April, who now lifted her head up from sadness. "Where I'm from, I sometimes felt like I was nothing more than the little kid. I mean, I was the youngest one in my group of friends, but I still always felt like I could've been doing more as a hero, you know?"
"So then what did you do about it?" April asked.
"I just kept on doing the right thing either way. I messed up...like, a lot...but I never let that stop me."
April thought on that for a moment and ultimately nodded her head in agreement.
"You know what? You might be right. Thanks."
"Anytime." Finn then wrapped his arm around her. All of a sudden, a pinging sound started going off. Both Finn and April looked Jenny's way.
"I think I know where Dr. Gross is hiding out," Jenny told them.
Yue Bay, Earth Kingdom
Danny and Aang continued to fly side by side in search of Rainbow Dash. They eventually found her running towards the coast and touched down on land as soon as they saw her stop.
"Hey, Rainbow!" Danny called. "What the hell was that all about? You ditched us back at the tea shop."
"You guys were taking too long," Rainbow responded. "The sooner I find my friend, the sooner we can get out of here."
"You said that already," Danny reminded her. "Look, I know you really want to find your friend as soon as possible, but things would go a lot faster if you'd just let us help you."
"Except I'm already fast on my own!" Rainbow exploded. "I don't need you guys here, so if you guys can just go, that'll be great!"
Danny and Aang both looked looked slightly deflated after Rainbow's outburst. Rainbow, after realizing what she had done, then stood back up and faced the other two.
"Look," she started. "I'm sorry I snapped just now. I just don't want anyone else to get hurt. My friend is already in danger, and if something worse happens to her, I could never forgive myself."
"Rainbow, you don't need to worry about us," Aang consoled. "We're not exactly defenseless ourselves, you know. In case you haven't noticed, Danny here is a ghost and I can master all four elements."
"Exactly," Danny added. "Plus, there's also that robot girl and that psychic."
"And whatever Finn can do."
"Basically, what we're saying is, you don't have to do this alone," Danny reassured her. "We've got your back."
Rainbow sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right." She then stepped away from the coastline and started walking back the way she came from. "Let's get this done together so I can get to my girlfriend sooner."
Just as the three of them were about to leave, though, Jenny came flying in with April and Finn hanging from her extended arms.
"There you guys are!" Jenny exclaimed as she set the other two down and landed.
"How'd you guys find us?" Danny inquired.
"I...may have tracked your phones," Jenny sheepishly confessed, prompting Danny and Rainbow to check their pockets.
"She also managed to track Dr. Gross' location," April told everyone.
"I picked up a signal about southeast of here," Jenny explained. "My sensors are getting similar readings to when we were stuck in the Ghost Zone."
"Well, that doesn't make any sense," Aang said. "You shouldn't be able to detect anything from outside the Spirit World. Unless..." Aang's eyes then grew wide as he realized what was going on. "Oh no!"
"What is it?" Jenny inquired.
"I think I know where you picked up the signal!" He then reopened his glider and took off. "Follow me!"
