Yo, How's it going!
Mornings were hard on Trinity now and days. With the purple lady's frequent visits, she didn't sleep very well. If she wasn't awake all night anticipating being teleported to who knows where she actually was teleported to who knows where and stayed up all night. On the rare occasion of sleep in the other world, it didn't seem to register when brought back, being just as tired as if not sleeping at all. Regularly, Trinity would only get two to four hours of sleep a day. Despite her weary body and mind, she started her morning routine as usual. This began with a morning run. Before her sophomore year, she wouldn't be caught dead running; in fact, she hated doing it even now. Unfortunately, it was the only way for her to stay awake until lunchtime without to much trouble. Coffee gave her the jitters than a crash a few hours later. Energy drinks caused the same reaction if not worse and sooner. Trinity found that getting her body moving and eating a light breakfast helped. Though jogging was an undesired activity, it did have its benefits. She was faster than anyone on the track team at her school easily with the stamina of a champion. Her father had told her for years to join the track team, get a scholarship for college, but she had made her decision on that a long time ago.
College was not in her future, and honestly, it was hard to see much of a future for herself past these next several months. Trying to think of something to do with her life always led to a blank canvass. Nothing she could think of didn't involve her passing out or following a ghost around. Her time was running out. She was headed straight for a cloud of unknown darkness, not knowing if she was going to survive the journey. Though dark thoughts passed through her brain every day, she pushed them back. It would be dealt with that when it came.
Trinity's day at school was going rather smoothly today. She had only seen the purple lady twice, talked to Allen for half of one of her classes before getting caught. The rest of the student body acted like she didn't exist, including the regular teasers. This was nothing unusual; even they had to give it a rest sometimes. All she had left to do was tutoring. Hopefully, it wasn't going to be that bad with just her and Mrs. Wolfe. By day's end, all the students shuffled their way out of the school except for sports teams and after-school classes. Trinity made her way to her dull grey locker to get her giant math book when two shadows appeared behind her.
"Hey, freak." Two boys in school uniforms stood next to her locker. Trinity slowly turned around to see the two intimidating males in front of her. She recognized them instantly. Bryan, the one in front, was lean with brown hair and eyes filled with hate. The other, Josh stood further back but was burlier with red hair and blue eyes. They both were the two main, and quite generic, tyrants of the school. Both were on sports teams, threw parties, dated cheerleaders, and liked to pick on the less fortunate. They were a pretty good tag team, Bryan being the skinny and smart one while Josh was the huge, dumb one. Getting caught by these two could lead to a dangerous situation.
"Hey, guys! Brandon, right?" She joked, trying her best to act friendly, hoping that this would just blow over like any other time.
"It's Bryan dumbass," Josh remarked with a smirk.
"Shut it, Josh! This is between her and me," he growled, looking at Trinity with fire in his eyes. The look made her want to shrink away.
"You know, I think Josh would have some pretty good input on what going on here. He's so smart." Unfortunately, her version of friendly was sarcastic, and it was getting her nowhere.
"Quiet!" Bryan yelled.
"Well, I don't see how we can have a decent conversation if I don't tal..."
"I said, shut the fuck up!" Bryan slammed his fist into the locker next to her head, causing her to flinch in the opposite direction. Joking around made the situation worse. Her heart rate went up quickly as a slight feeling of panic settled in. It had been a long time since she has had to deal with anyone physically violent.
"Normally, it's against my morals to beat on a girl. Especially one who's fucked in the head, but I know what you and your little stuttering friend have been up to," Bryan growled, glaring at the girl in front of him.
"I honestly don't recall what on earth you're talking about." Her voice shook slightly, the calm leaking from her body.
"The stink bombs. I know you are the one that makes them, and your little buddy plants them," Bryan hissed in her ear, staying uncomfortably close to her face.
"Those stink bomb pranks have been happening for years, not to mention some of them go off when neither of us is in school," she informed. It was a calculated response formulated a long time ago. She and Allen had fine-tuned a plan to initiate if they were ever caught. As long as Trinity followed the set dialogue and tried to get away from the situation, she should be fine. Moving away from Bryan slowly, Trinity hoped slipping away would work. Every time she moved, he would follow with her.
"Jessica saw your friend putting something in my bag during the second period."
"What, friend?"
"It went off in my car," he growled, ignoring her question.
Trinity couldn't help but cough out a snicker, "Man, that sucks, really it does, but I don't know what to tell you. You've got the wrong, insane person. Now, if you'll excuse me..." She tried to walk away, but the larger of the two grabbed her shoulder, slamming her back into the lockers.
"You're not going anywhere," Josh chuckled.
Trinity closed her eyes to gather her thoughts. The situation was going sour quickly; she needed to think fast. Staying be the lockers was a bad idea. Whatever they wanted to do, it could be done with ease if they stayed stationary. She had to get them moving, somehow.
"Okay, okay. Listen. I'm not the one who makes the stick bombs...," Trinity sighed, looking away from the boys.
"Bull shit."
"Let me finish. I'm not the one that made the stink bombs, but I know who does. They're still in the school."
"I don't believe you."
"You really think someone like me would be able to make bombs?" If there was one thing the entire student body thought of her, it was that she was incapable of doing anything. Bryan thought for a moment considering his options. "Fine. If you take me to them, then you'll get off the hook, but if you're lying." Bryan got uncomfortably close to her face again. "I will make sure the rest of your school year will be the worst thing you've experienced in your life."
"I'll take you to him, no problems," Trinity spoke with confidence, but in reality, she had no idea what her next step was. Usually, the set dialogue could always get her way out of a bad situation. Then she could make a break for it, but this time was different. They were following her too closely, almost expecting her to make a move.
"Josh, stay behind her. Make sure she doesn't run, and you stay next to me. If you even try to run, I'll..."
"Yeah, yeah, the worse experience of my life. I get it," she droned back.
The three began to walk out of the locker area, down the hall. Trinity stayed silent as they walked. She was glad they started moving but still needed a way to escape from the two of them. Running was an option, but she needed a head start, or they could catch her. As they walked, Allen walked in their direction with a few props from the drama club in his hands. He almost dropped everything when he saw Trinity being escorted by, in his opinion, the worst two guys in the school. Trying his best not to draw attention to himself, he looked at Trinity, trying to signal whether she needed help or not. The sight of Allen almost made her sigh in relief. He wouldn't leave until she was safe again, she knew that.
Thankfully, they both had come up with alternative plans just in case something like this happened. Trinity raised her hand and scratched behind her neck. The two escorting her didn't think anything about the move, but Allen knew what to do. He walked past the group silently, making sure to hide his face with one of the props. Once Allen was passed, he waited, only moving toward them when they got more than ten steps away. Keeping his ears and eyes open, he waiting for the next signal.
"So um, what are you going to do anyway? I could just go to a teacher right after this, you know," Trinity stated.
"Does it even matter," Josh claimed, pushing her by the shoulder, almost knocking her down. "You won't remember anyway."
Trinity pushed down any anger that boiled up with the shove and gave a confused look. "Why would I not remember?"
"You forget things cuz your brains all fucked up, right?"
"Mm, no sweetheart, that's not how that works at all," Trinity explained with a bit of humor in her voice. Bryan turned his head to Josh with a scowl, "She's a Schizo, Josh."
"Wha does that mean?" Josh responded, scratching his chin.
Trinity barked out a laugh while Bryan explained rather slowly, "It means she sees shit and thinks it's real."
"Whoa, that's crazy! What do ya see?"
"Unicorns, mostly unicorns," Trinity responded flatly, scratching at her neck again. Allen took the signal, looking around to see if someone was walking by while still keep ten paces away from the group.
"Those exist?" Josh gasped, his face genuinely astonished.
"Yup, I see them all the time. If you want, I can show you one?"
"What? Where?"
Allen looked around frantically. He had to find someone quick, or this wouldn't work. Just when Allen was thinking no one would show, a girl turned into the hall. She would do, but he would have to walk quickly.
"If you look carefully..." Trinity turned toward Josh, walking backward just as Allen was passing by the group heading for the girl.
"There's one right over…" She pretended to look around Josh like she was searching for one. Bryan also turned his head to see his idiot friend's reaction when he didn't see anything. While Josh looked around confused, Allen braced himself for impact.
"There!" she shouted loud enough so Allen could hear her. Josh looked to where Trinity was pointing while Allen crashed into the girl, causing her to scream and loud crashing noise. Bryan stopped looking over at the small accident that had happened to the left of him. By the time he looked away from the crash, Trinity was gone.
"Hey, get back here!" Bryan chased after her without Josh. "Josh! C' mon she tricked you, man." Josh's eyes shot open and saw the two running off.
"Hey, wait for me!"
Allen looked on as the three took off. Trinity was fast, very fast. She should be able to get away from the two of them quickly. He turned to the girl in front of him and gave a weak smile. "I-I'm s-so sorry about tha-that. Seems I-I tried t-to carry t-to mu-much."
Trinity bolted through the school building like a racehorse. Running from others wasn't unfamiliar to her. This time was a bit different, though. The two following her were athletes, and Bryan, in particular, was catching up. To get away, she made her way outside, where she could hopefully hide. That's when it appeared. The glowing purple woman appeared behind the setting sun a few feet in front of her, staying equidistant from her as she ran. It beckoned her to follow, holding her hand out. "Come, it's time," the woman called out. Her voice echoed in Trinity's brain.
Trinity looked behind to see the boys catching up fast. She looked forward again, the woman was still there, leading her into the nearby woods. Feeling herself turning toward her, almost in a daze, she shook her head. Trying to focus on getting away from her pursuers, but focusing was becoming harder and harder. "One, two, three…gah," she growled. Too much going on to count. The running, the panic of getting caught, and trying to stay away from the woman heavy on her mind. It became impossible to look elsewhere as she ran. She was calling her. With Bryan was only a few paces away, the woods became the only option.
"I feel like this is a really, really bad idea, but to hell with it," Trinity panted as she jumped over a log and ran into the trees. She unconsciously followed the purple woman into the woods farther and farther away from the school like a beacon. When they were far in the woods, and could no longer hear the boys yelling after her, they stopped.
"Come, it's time," the purple woman beckoned, holding her hand out to the exasperated girl.
"Time for what? I don't know what you mean," Trinity panted back, still looking back to make sure the boys weren't catching up.
She reached her hand out toward Trinity again, "It's time to go." Her voice sounded sad and longing, somehow familiar.
Trinity sighed, looking away from the woman. She could start to hear the two boys in the distance, yelling for her. Taking in a deep breath through her nose, she closed her eyes to weigh her options. Calling for help was one, but then it would take a while for them find her. In that amount of time, the boys would catch up to her. Running was another, but running further would only get her lost. Passing out and being lost did not go together at all. Climbing a tree could work to hide, but if the purple woman touched her, she could blackout in a tree. Any fall from that height would cause some damage. There was the option of just getting caught by the two boys. The 'worst experience of her life' as Brain put it might not be that bad. Then there was the last and final option, one she didn't like one bit. Following the purple lady. She looked up to the glowing purple light. The woman stood with her hand extended like it was before. Trinity couldn't look for too long, or she would be drawn in again. She walked deeper into the woods, knowing that the glowing light was following right behind her. Maybe walking in a straight line long enough would make the woman go away. In the back of her mind, she knew that wasn't true.
"Trinity…" The woman's sad, soft voice called out to her again, causing her to stop walking.
"Why?" Trinity didn't turn toward her as she spoke, "Why now. What could possibly be the difference between now and the past twelve years?"
"Time, it's short."
"What does that mean? Why do you have to be so cryptic!?" she yelled, finally turned to face the woman. Her hand was down, but she looked into Trinity's eyes. They were somber, almost like she regretted asking to come with her. Trinity thought of what Allen said to her yesterday. "If I go with you, will you go away. If I do whatever it is you want me to do, you'll leave."
The glowing woman's only response was her extending her hand out once again for Trinity to touch. She glanced down at the outreached hand, slowly stepped toward the purple woman. "That's not much reassurance," she grumbled to herself. "Okay, I'm just going to figure out what you want, and that's it."
She slowly reached for the purple lady's extended limb, still hesitating slightly. As soon as her skin barely touched the glowing hand, everything went black. Trinity's head slammed against cold hard ground covered in green leaves and pines. She hissed as she sat up and rubbed her head.
"That was a hard landing. You couldn't have put me down gently?"
Standing up, she looked around. The sun was setting, surrounded by recognizable pine and bamboo trees. "Okay, well, everything is the same so far. Though it does look a bit different with some sunlight," she mumbled to herself, walking in the direction of the temple. The walk seemed longer than it usually was, but she continued on until she heard a weird gurgling noise quite close by.
"Okay, that's new," she whispered to herself, stopping to look around. There had never been any sort of life so close in the forest other than the old lady. Slowly, Trinity walked forward until another growl and rustle came from in front of her again. Her eyes widened as she stopped again, "O-okay, who's out there?"
The rustling continued getting louder and louder until a giant brown bear with a duckbill and beaver tail came out from the bushes. Trinity stood there, eyes wide, mouth agape.
"That's not normal," she gaped as the bear stood on two feet and let out a roar.
"Okay! Okay! Is it a bear? You're supposed to play dead?"
The bear roared again, slamming back down on four feet charging. Trinity screamed, taking off away from the bear. "Not dead, don't play dead!" She yelled, running as fast through the forest. Though the girl was fast, there was no possible way to outrun a bear; she needed to hide. Spotting a thicket to bamboo off to the left, Trinity made a quick turn toward it. There was no possible way the bear could fit through the thick bamboo. Quickly squeezing her way through the woody grass, she reached a clearing of spread out bamboo and pine trees. Turning around, she slowed looking for the bear until suddenly the back of her legs hit some rock, plunging her in some lukewarm water. Instincts immediately kicked in as she struggled to get out of the water, hitting something on the way up. As soon as her head breached, she turned, finding an old man just as shocked as she was.
"Ahh!" Trinity screamed, trying to crawl her way out of the rock tub.
"Wait, there is no need to be alarmed," the old man said, putting his arms up.
"No need to be..." she fell out of the tub on her back, immediately standing up, facing the man. "No need to be alarmed! I just ran from a half bear half duck and then fell into a naked fat man's rock tub thing! This is the perfect time to be alarmed!"
The old man gave a blank look them looked down at his belly, poking it "Am I really that fat?"
Trinity's face flattened. "I don't think that's the main issue here," she uttered, crossing her arms, tapping her foot. She wiped some of the water off her face, "Listen, I'm sorry I intruded on, whatever you're doing, but can you point me in the direction of a big stone temple. I normally head straight there, but the…bear with a duckbill started chasing me." She stopped for a minute and thought about what she said. "I'm sorry this must sound like absolute gibberish."
"Hmm, I didn't know platypus bears were common in these areas. It must have been frightening being chased by one."
"A platypus...bear? Wha…" Trinity stopped when the earth began to shake and rumble like an earthquake behind both of them.
Trinity turned to see a dust cloud snaking its way through the trees. Before she could think about running again, she felt something hard and rough graze up her skin. Droplets of water hit her in the face as she turned to see the old man was surrounded by sharp rocks.
"The hell!" She struggled a bit but couldn't move. "Is this rock?"
Three men dressed in all green jumped out from the trees, two with fists pointed at the old man, one man aimed at her. Two others dressed in the same outfits walked out from the trees, observing the scene. "A fire nation soldier," one of them said, picking up the old man's clothes off of a tree branch.
"He's no ordinary soldier. This is the fire lord's brother, the dragon of the west. The once-great General Iroh, but now he's our prisoner."
The other man chuckled, "What about this one over here?" Pointing to Trinity.
"If she's not tied up, then she must be an accomplice of his, take her prisoner to."
Her eyes widened, "Wait, what? Listen, I just need directions. I don't even know who this guy is?"
"How disgraceful; you fire nation scum are all alike. You'll do anything to save your skin."
"What are you talking about? I don't know what a fire nation is."
The rough surface was binding her down suddenly fell only to be grabbed by the man closest to her. He grabbed both of her arms, shackling them together across her chest, then tied her feet with rope.
"The hell is wrong with you people?" She looked to the side to see the old man was getting the same treatment. "What did you do?" she whispered the older man.
Iroh didn't say anything. By the time it turned dark the both of them were loaded onto, what Trinity could only describe as giant emus and were on their way. Before Trinity could ask anything, Iroh spoke up, "Where are you taking us?"
"We're taking you to face justice," the man on the same ostrich horse said darkly.
"Right. But where, specifically?"
"A place you're quite familiar with, actually. You once laid siege to it for 600 days, but it would not yield to you."
"Ah! The great city of Ba-Sing-Se." Iroh said wistfully.
"What's Ba-Sing-Se?" Trinity interjected but was ignored.
"It was greater than you were, apparently."
"Being ignored, great," she grumbled, wiggling around.
"I acknowledged my defeat at Ba-Sing-Se! After 600 days away from home, my men were tired, and I was tired," Iroh yawned, "and I'm still tired." In a loud thud, Iroh fell off of the horse, appearing to fall asleep.
"Hey, uh, guys, he fell off the emu," Trinity pointed out flatly.
All of the soldiers stopped, two of them hopping down off the horses to pick the man up and put him back on. Trinity looked down to see Iroh's sandal lying on the ground.
"Hey, you dropped your..." Iroh made a motion for her to stay quiet, but the solider on her horse heard her.
"What was dropped?"
"Uh, Nothing?" Trinity looked around and shrugged.
The soldier growled, "Keep quiet, or we'll gag you as well."
"Well, that just seems inappropriate, we did just meet."
"Quite!"
The ride, after that, was relatively quiet until daylight. Trinity was almost falling asleep until she heard Iroh gasp. She looked in the same direction to see a dragon flying above her head with someone riding on top.
"What the hell is that?" She yelled out.
"What's the problem."
"Nothing," Iroh spoke up.
"What do you mean nothing? Did you not see that!?"
"Actually, she's right. There is a bit of a problem. My old joints are feeling sore and achy, and these shackles are too loose."
"Too loose," one of the soldiers spoke up?
"Too loose? What's that got to do with the thing that just flew above our heads?"
"What thing is she talking about," a soldier demanded?
"It was nothing, just a large bird that I haven't seen before. I've done my fair share of bird watching in my old age, you know."
Trinity was speechless.
"As I was saying before, the cuffs are loose, and they jangle around and bump my wrists. It would help me if you would tighten them so they wouldn't shake around so much," Iroh asked, giving a very goofy grin.
"Very well. Corporal, tighten the prisoner's handcuffs."
They all came to a halt. The Corporal got down from his horse and turned to Trinity. "Do yours need tightening as well?"
"What? No, but I wouldn't mind you loosening them," she requested, giving off the same goofy grin. The man gave a glare turned his attention to the Iroh. "Hey, don't ignore me! That was an earnest request," she shouted.
Right before the Corporal touched Iroh's shackles, Iroh breathed out hot steam from his nose, causing it to turn red hot. Trinity's eyes widened then blinked rapidly, thinking her eyes were playing tricks on her. Iroh pressed the Corporal's hand into the hot metal, causing him to scream then jumped off of the horse shooting fire out of his feet. At that point, Trinity knew she was dreaming, but she still stared eye's wide and jaw dropped from what she just saw.
"I have to be dreaming. I have to be dreaming. I have to dreammahh!" She couldn't finish her sentence as the horse freaked from the fire, causing her to go tumbling down into a giant canyon along with Iroh. A barrage of rocks and dust followed them down the canyon, burying them from the neck down when they reached the bottom. Their captures slid down the cliff after them, catching up quickly.
"They are too dangerous, Captain. We can't just carry them to the capital. We have to do something now."
"I agree. He must be dealt with immediately and severely."
Trinity was too much in a daze to hear what they said. She felt the rock lift off of her body and being dragged forward somewhere. She was startled back to full reality when she heard a boom of a boulder breaking into pieces. Another man with a ponytail and pointed armor stood in-front of Iroh. He kicked the chain holding the two, freeing Iroh but leaving Trinity halfway tied to the rock. She didn't hear whatever was said, she was too busy trying to free herself from the shackle holding her down. Suddenly, there was shots of heat and the sound of large boulders being thrown and broken. She looked up to find all of the men throwing rocks or fire at each other in some sort of magical battle.
Trinity continued to struggle with the shackle, "Didn't your mothers ever teach not to throw rocks or play with fire," she shouted but was unheard! A piece of rock whizzed by scraping her cheek as she became more desperate to free herself.
"Oh come on, I just want to get out of here." As soon as she finished her plea, the rock lifted up on its own, freeing her.
"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you." Trinity made a break for it when something hard hit the back of her head, knocking her out cold.
"Hello, young lady," Iroh's voice echoed in her head as she began to wake up. Her eyes fluttered open as he started to speak again. "Are you alright?" Trinity's head bobbed up and down as she recovered her bearings.
"What happened?" She groaned, her head pounding.
"You were injured in the battle. Prince Zuko and I helped you out of the canyon."
"Battle?" She hissed blinked, trying to straighten out her vision.
Another voice began to talk a little farther away. "Uncle, we don't have time for this. I saw the Avatar's bison fly to the west. He'll be gone if we don't hurry."
"Prince Zuko, it is my fault this girl was captured, and now she is injured. It is my responsibility to make sure she is safe enough to go home."
"This girl is probably from one of these earth kingdom villages. As soon as she wakes up, she'll run to find more soldiers. We should leave someone will find her on the path."
"No, it is too dangerous. We will take the girl to the village that is west of here. If she is earth kingdom, then she will stay with them."
"What do mean, if? She has to be..."
"I do not think this girl is from here. She was quite lost when she ran into me, among other things."
Her head couldn't really process the conversation or what was going on. She felt herself being carried then plopped in a sitting position on something scaly and rough. When she touched her head, there was a rough bandage wrapped around her forehead that was slightly wet in the back. The two men got on next, one in front and one behind her, making sure she didn't fall off. Trinity slowly began to regain control of her movement and mind as they trudged on. She blinked a few times before setting her head up completely.
"What's going on?"
"Ah, you are awake. I'm glad to see you are alright," a familiar voice behind her said.
"Old man?"
"Please, call me Iroh. If you do not mind me asking, what is your name?"
"Trinity. Trinity Hale and if you don't mind me asking, where are we going?"
"We're dropping you off at the earth kingdom village up ahead," the man in front of her said.
"Okay, so what's the earth kingdom?"
The price scrunched his face, confused at the question. He didn't bother asking or answering as they approached the village in front of them. She would be gone soon anyway. He had more important things to think about. As Zuko hopped off of the rhino to interrogate the villager, Iroh took the time to ask some questions.
"Do you mind if I ask where you came from?" Trinity didn't respond immediately. She was to busy watching the younger male threaten some random guy dressed in green.
"Your partner there is shoving people around pretty hard," Trinity said wide-eyed.
"Ah, yes, Prince Zuko's methods are a bit excessive," Iroh chuckled, scratching the back of his head.
"I mean, I guess if it gets the job done but jeez...Did you ask me something?"
"Ah, yes, before you ran into me, where did you come from?"
"I'm from Northborough, Mass. but I'm starting to think you don't know where that is," she replied, carefully looking back at Iroh. "Ah, man, you're still naked, c'mon," quickly turning back around.
"Hmm, I have not heard of that area. You have never seen this village before or its people?"
"Nope, honestly, I've never been out of that forest when I come here. That temple I asked about earlier is where I always stayed when I come here."
"I know nothing of a stone temple being in this area, but I can ask the villager. If you will excuse me for just one moment." Iroh hopped off of the rhino and walked over to Zuko, who was threatening the poor villager with fire in his hand.
"Uncle, the Avatar is headed to the crescent island. We need to leave now."
"Right, I would like to ask him one thing."
The villager was cowering in the corner, his arm covering his face. "Can you tell me if you recognize that girl?" Iroh pointed over to Trinity, who had hopped off the rhino, staring off into the woods. The villager put his arm down for a second to look at the girl.
"N-no, no, I've never seen her before."
"What about a stone temple."
"N-never. There is only forest around here," the villager stuttered, shaking.
"Hmm," Iroh turned to Zuko, stroking his beard. "I would like to take the girl with us."
"What why? There's no reason to…"
"Listen to me, Prince Zuko. This girl does not come from here, and she seems to have some connection to the spirit world."
"So what?"
"I do not know where she comes from, but she seems to be able to sense, even see spirits."
"I'm still not understanding why we should bring her." He glared, crossing his arms and tapping his foot. Time was running out, and his Uncle was drabbling on about some girl.
"Because, if she is a link to the spirit world, then she is a link to…"
"The Avatar," Zuko growled with wide eyes. He marched over to Trinity, who was still staring into the woods.
"You, you're coming with us."
Trinity didn't divert her attention, "Do you know that a giant panda bear is walking around in there."
"What?" Zuko looked for a second only to turn back around. "Stop talking nonsense! You're coming with us to find the Avatar."
"Sure thing but, ah two things. One: I don't know what an avatar is, and two no," Trinity responded, looking at him.
"What do you mean, no?"
"I mean no, as in, not gonna happen. Unless you know where the stone temple is, I have no reason to follow you. I will thank you for saving me and wrapping my head, but that's as far as I can go."
Trinity tried to walk off. Maybe one of these people knew how to get back to the temple. Zuko had other plans. He grabbed her wrist, pulling her toward him.
"You're coming with us, whether you agree or not."
"You're not about to capture me, are you?" Zuko grabbed her other wrist and began to tie them together.
"I'm really being captured again, great. This is awesome. I love being captured!" Trinity wailed, sarcastically as she was thrown over the rhinos back.
"Uncle, hurry up, we're leaving." Iroh hurried over to the beast and climbed on as well as Zuko, and they rode back into the forest.
Far away from the group stood the stone temple covered in green moss and vines. Two tall figures stood at the top of the steps staring out into the forest. Black clothes covered their entire bodies with hoods and gloves. The only color that could be seen was in the masks that covered their faces. The male on the right was wearing a long red sorcerer's mask with two wide eyes, defined cheeks, and pointy teeth were protruding out its gaping mouth. The woman on the left wore a green exorcizing mask with three wide eyes and five mini skulls lining the top. Gold trim lined the eyebrows, cheeks, and around the gaping mouth with large teeth sticking out. "It's been two nights, something must have happened. We need to find the girl," the woman grumbled impatiently in a raspy voice.
"Stay calm, Zheng. We'll wait for our orders as always," the male stated, crossing his arms.
"Orders smorders. We've been waiting seventeen years for orders, and now that she's finally ready, we can't just go snatch her up. Maybe it's time for us to break the rules a little."
"Rule-breaking leads to chaos, chaos leads too..."
"Irreversible damage to me and the things around me."
"And?"
Zheng sighed, "And a furious Shen."
"Yes, rules are there for a reason and aren't meant to be broken."
"Except when you play Pai sho," Zheng grumbled.
"I do not cheat at Pai sho!" Shen shouted, utterly losing his composure, stomping his foot on the ground.
"Sure you didn't, that white dragon tile just came out of nowhere," Zheng taunted, poking at Shen's shoulder.
"I told you the white dragon can land anywhere and steal enemy pieces!"
"Says who?"
"The rules!"
"Here we go again with the rules thing."
Shen screamed out in the air in frustration, almost lunging at Zheng when a messenger hawk landed on the top step.
"A message," Shen said, stopping his assault, grabbing the letter.
"Finally, what is say?" Shen took a second to read the letter in full
"She's been captured by the prince of the fire nation."
"Well, isn't that convenient." Zheng said sarcastically, "So, we going to get her?"
"No"
"No?"
"We are to observe her from afar and not interfere unless she is in life-threatening danger." Silence befell both of them as slowly turned to face each other.
Zheng grumbled, "Well, that sucks."
"I agree."
Alright, the train is in motion. We're finally in the avatar world and have met some familiar faces. However, just because we're in the avatar world now doesn't mean the real world is no longer critical. Thanks for reading :)