Book Two: Earth
Chapter 8: The Chase
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Throughout the ages it been said is nothing better than a good hunt. The tribes of man would go on hunting parties that would last for days even week's end. In such times man would pray the ancient gods and goddess of the wild hunt. One in particular was the lord true lord of the hunt for he supported both sides of the hunt: Man and the animal he hunts. The great chase would happen in his realm and he partakes in it with his worshipers. But his sway isn't just for his human subjects for the animals can turn the hunt around and man will become the hunted. The god of the wild hunt even watches over the hunts during war and strife. For is a warrior or a criminal who has caught the eyes of a true hunter that he will hasten to pursue. For mankind are truly the greatest hunter to be pursued by and the greatest game ever to be hunted.
Over the thick woodland region Team Avatar onto of Appa searched for a place to camp. As they did the newcomer Toph was surprised to meet the famous Dante.
"So you're one called 'the Strider'?" Toph inquired toward Dante who sat across from her.
"Yep." Dante confirmed with close eyes as he enjoyed the air in his hair.
"Strider?" Sokka asked.
"It's a common name for Dante in the Earth Kingdom. He's very famous and or infamous depending on your point of view." V answered for Dante.
"Infamous, how?" Katara asked.
Before V answered he looked over to Dante to see if he was okay with it. "Do you mind if I ...?"
"We're here." Aang said as he took Appa down for a landing in a clearing.
"No, but stories are for the riding on Appa or whenever I don't need to take a leak – like now."
Dante leaps off Appa who is several feet of the ground and ran off into the woods. When he returned everyone was preparing to set up the campsite. Aang hands Sokka a sleeping bag. Toph now stands on the ground near Appa and feeling the ground under her feet. "Hey! You guys picked a great campsite. The grass is so soft."
This directs everyone's attention to her concerning the nature of the 'grass'. "That's not grass. Appa's shedding." Sokka informed Toph in a displeased tone. Toph wriggles her toes in the thick mat of fur covering the ground around the bison.
"Oh, gross!" Katara raises foot warily being totally grossed out.
"That's not gross; it's just a part of spring! You know, rebirth, flowers blooming and Appa gets a new coat." Aang reminded cheerfully.
"Ah, the beauty of spring." Katara replied sarcastically.
Appa, who had currently been grooming himself, sneezes, releasing a thick cloud of fur that snow over everyone, "Stop! Appa, stop! Ugh!" Katara cough in protest.
Sokka then gets an idea. Bending over, he gathers up the fur. "It's not that bad, Katara. It makes a great wig!" He turns to reveal a wig made of fur, done up in a towering beehive.
"And a great beard!" Aang agrees wearing a beard of fur.
"And awesome chest hair." Dante adds with fur sticking out of the collar his tunic green.
The three laughed while pointing at each other. Katara wipes fur off her clothing. "I'm just glad we finally have another girl in the group, because you three are disgusting."
Then Toph walks up from behind the guys. "Excuse me, does anyone have a razor? Because I've got some hairy pits!" She raises her arms, revealing that she had stuffed fur in her sleeves. The three laugh; Aang sneezes, sending himself flying backward. The big sneeze causes him to crash against Appa's leg and for fur to blow off his friends and himself. The impact leaves some fur on his back. They continue to laugh joyfully, causing Katara to chuckle slightly.
'When was it last when we laughed in joy?' Katara asked herself.
Later that evening the group is setting up camp. Aang sets up the tent while Sokka and V throws down a pile of firewood they collected and Dante returns with water he collected. Katara, who spends her time stirring around water in a pot, notices Toph slumped lazily against a rock, chewing a piece of wheat. She approaches her to trying to get her to help out with the camp. "So Toph, usually when setting up camp, we try to divide up the work."
Toph shrugged casually. "Hey, don't worry about me. I'm good to go."
Katara once more tried to get Toph to see what she meant. "Well, actually what I'm trying to say is, some of us might fetch water, while someone else might set up the fire pit, or put up the tent." Momo flies over to her, dropping several berries he had collected into her hands. "Even Momo does his fair share."
Toph breezily reassures her that she did her part. "Katara, I'm fine. I can carry my own weight. I don't need a fire, I've already collected my own food and look," Earthbends a rock tent over her. "My tent's all set up."
Katara was slightly irritated that message wasn't received and understood. "Well, that's great for you, but we still need to finish –"
"I don't understand what's the problem here!" Toph said angered.
"Never mind." Katara gave up and walked while Toph earthbends herself into her tent.
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Standing on top of Appa, Aang uses airbending to lift the saddle. He mistakenly causes it to land directly on top of Sokka, who had been standing on the ground beside the bison.
Katara, who sets down a jug of water, looks over at Toph, sitting comfortably beneath her earth tent. Her dull expression changes to one of slight happiness. She approaches Toph who is eating her food. Rubs back of head sheepishly. "Hey Toph, I wanted to apologize for earlier. I think we're all just a little tired and getting on each other's nerves."
"Yeah, you do seem pretty tired." Toph responded casually.
"I meant all of us." Katara corrected.
"Well, good night." Toph said as she lazily tosses the food onto the ground and lays her head down to rest.
"Good night." Katara replied giving up again.
It's nightfall and everyone is asleep. Dante turned over in his sleep trying to get a better position. Then he sensed something he hadn't sensed in a long while forcing him to shot his eyes open. Toph is suddenly startled awake and presses her left hand to the ground to feel the vibrations within the earth. She hears something. She rises to her feet and runs out of the tent.
"There's something coming toward us!" Toph shouted.
Everyone got up wondering what is up. "What is it?" Aang asked.
Toph pressing hand to the ground. "It feels like an avalanche, but also not an avalanche."
"Your powers of perception are frightening." Sokka answered sarcastically.
"Should we leave?" Katara asked worriedly.
"Better safe than sorry." Said Aang.
The Team Avatar packed up quickly and got on Appa. Once they cleared the tree line they saw a cloud of smoke billowing toward them in a clearing in the distance.
"What is that thing?" Katara asked.
V narrows his eyes as he peered below at the object. It was a tank train mechanism that is racing speedily along the ground. These vehicles are used by only one source of origin: The Fire Nation.
In the night sky, the moon partly obscured by clouds, Appa flies. Aang yawns sleepily, dark circles beginning to form under his eyes. Sokka is ready to fall asleep as he leans his head on his hand. Toph and Katara sitting on Appa's saddle idly. V reads his book and Dante plays a soft tune of his pipa by the light of the bright full moon. Appa finally flies over mountainous terrain and lands on a smooth, rocky surface.
Toph leaps off Appa and lying on the ground, relieved that she could see again. "Ah, land sweet land!" Toph then bends the dust making her rise to her feet with a cheerful smile. "See you guys in the morning!" she says.
"Actually, can you help us unload?" Katara asked politely.
"Really? You need me to help unload Sokka's funky-smelling sleeping bag?" Toph said sarcastically.
Aang hands Sokka his sleeping bag which he proceeds to smell. Sokka turns away, his disgusted face growing red, and falls backward, passing out.
"Well, yeah. That and everything else. You're a part of our team now, and –" Katara said on the offhand.
"Look! I didn't ask you to help unload my stuff! I'm carrying my own weight." Toph points a finger at Katara in irritation, without even looking directly, then turns and walks away.
"That's not the point." Katara said angrily and approached Toph. "Ever since you joined us, you've been nothing but selfish and unhelpful!"
"What? Look here, sugar queen, I gave up everything I had so that I could teach Aang earthbending. So don't you talk to me about being selfish!"
Toph concludes by sitting down on the ground and earthbends an earth tent over her. "SUGAR QUEEN"?!" Katara exclaimed furiously. Toph uses earthbending to close the door of the tent. "D-did you just slam the door in my face?! How can you be so infuriating?!"
Dante, V, Griffon, Sokka and Aang stood several feet away. Katara angrily bangs her fists against the door of the wall and kicks the tent's walls with her feet.
"Should we do something?" Aang asked.
"Hey, I'm just enjoying the show." Sokka said amused.
"If it gets out of hand I'll create a mud pit for them to duke it out." Dante said.
"Nonsense you need a arena surrounded by a spiked pit." V added.
Aang went over to be a referee. "Okay, okay, you both need to calm down."
"Both"?!" Katara quickly turns to face Aang, her expression crazed and her eyes bloodshot. "I'M COMPLETELY CALM!" she exclaimed.
"I ... can see that." Aang acknowledged awkwardly and backed off.
Later at night in the dark forest. Aang, Sokka and Katara lying on the ground. Aang is lying on the ground with Momo beside him while Sokka and Katara lie in sleeping bags. Dante was slept on top of Appa while V leaned back against Appa's arm. They all waited to fall asleep but Katara wanted to add on last jab at Toph before sleeping. "The stars sure are beautiful tonight. Too bad you can't see them, Toph!"
Toph uses earthbending to release a fissure that channels underground and sends Katara flying into the air and landing on top of Sokka, startling him. "Hey, how's a guy supposed to sleep with all this yelling and earthquaking?"
Toph reopens her tent to say something else more upsetting. "That thing is back!"
Dante opens his eyes with a not-so surprised expression in his face. "Well, speak of the devil."
"Well, how far away is it? Maybe we can close our eyes just for a few minutes." Sokka said lying back down and pulls covers of his sleeping bag over his head.
Aang looks around and notices smoke billowing from behind the treetops. "I don't think so, Sokka."
Once more Appa soars away and over the mountainous terrain with the tank train speeding across the land.
"Seriously, what is that thing?" Katara asked.
"And how does it keep finding us?" Toph added.
"I don't know. But this time, I'm going to make sure we lose it." Aang stated.
Appa flew past a mountain, over smooth slopes and jagged cliffs before finally landing on his side on a flat-surfaced rock bed, throwing everyone onto the ground along with their belongings.
"Okay, forget about setting up camp. I'm finding the softest pile of dirt and going to sleep." Sokka crawled along the ground in sleeping bag like an inch worm.
"That's good because Toph wasn't going to help anyway!" Katara informed angrily.
"Oh, I didn't realize the baby still needed someone to tuck her in bed." Toph replied irritated.
Aang pulls the top part of his shirt over his head. "Come on guys, there's something after us and we don't even know what or who it is."
"I know that that vehicle." Dante said he leaned back on the ground to look to the stars. "That is a heavy transport vehicle of Fire Nation's panzer divisions. Troops and equipment are loaded onto it and can be sent over long distances in high speeds. I remember when I in the campaign that lead to the Siege of Ba-Sing-Se I saw them a lot traveling with the main armored spear head. But if this one is traveling alone away from the Fire Army here in the Earth Kingdom its purpose is solo; I don't know who's on it though." Dante said.
Katara rolls over on her side toward Dante. "It could be Zuko. We haven't seen him since the North Pole."
Dante highly doubt it. "Impossible. He lost contact with us when Fire Navy lost at the North Pole. He and his uncle have probably given up and went off to live somewhere else, I hope."
"Who's Zuko?" Toph asked.
"Oh, just some angry freak with a ponytail whose tracked us all over the world?" Sokka puts his head face down on the ground.
"What's wrong with ponytails, Ponytail?" Katara mocked her brother.
Sokka points to his top-knot. "This is a warrior's wolf tail."
"Well, it certainly tells the other warriors that you're fun and perky." Katara continued to joke at her brother.
Unamused at this point Sokka decided to call it quits. "Anyway, whoever's chasing us couldn't have followed us here, so, now would everyone just shhh?"
Momo hops onto his sleeping bag and chitters excitedly. Sokka hold up finger to silence the lemur reminding him of what the word for the day is. "No Momo, shhh. Sleepy time."
Momo hops off Sokka and over to the ledge of the rock. He continues to chitter and raises his ears up in alert. Aang rises, followed by Toph and Katara.
"Lemur senses tingling?" Dante said as he sat up and picked inside his ear.
Sokka buries face in hands in misery. "Oh, don't tell me ..."
"That's impossible. There's no way they could have tracked us." Aang said.
"I can feel it with my own two feet!" Toph said.
Aang runs to the edge of the cliff next to Momo and notices smoke rising from the far end of the rocky pathway. The tank train as it rumbles up a slope and onto level ground.
"Let's get out of here." Katara said nervously.
"Maybe we should face them. Find out who they are. Who knows, maybe they're friendly." Aang thought of calm solution.
"Always the optimist ..." Sokka stated hopelessly.
The tank train as it slows to a halt. The door to one compartment opens, releasing a burst of steam. From the mist emerges three Mongoose Lizards. Ty Lee, Mai and Azula rode on the lizards as they began racing toward the group.
"It's those three girls from Omashu!" Katara was alarmed to see them.
Everyone assumes fighting stances. "We can take them. Three on five." Toph said with determination.
"Actually Toph, there's six of us." Sokka corrected him.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't count you. You know, no bending and all." Toph answered sheepishly.
"I CAN STILL FIGHT!" Sokka shouted with his face distorted with rage.
"Okay, three on five plus Sokka." Toph concluded smugly. Sokka steamed for a bit at that response.
Toph earthbends three columns in an attempt to hinder the girls, however, the Mongoose Lizards merely leap over the pillars and continues on their way.
"Well, we wanted to find out who they were and we found out. Now let's get out of here." Sokka flees toward Appa.
"You cocking-sucking coward! Stand your ground and fight!" Griffon said and swooped at the trio sending blasts of lightning at them. The Mongoose Lizards evaded the attacks smoothly. Toph earthbends a huge rock wall in front of the trio to stop them. Azula moves her arms in a circular motion, generating lightning. She fires the bolt at the wall, blowing a huge hole in it. The lizards clamber through the hole with ease.
Toph is shocked at this; she knew the sound of lightning went she heard it. Normally if it was far away it didn't bother, but to have it shot at you was something else. Mai swings her arm, releasing a flurry of stilettos. Toph launches herself off a pillar. The darts strike the pillar and she lands on Appa. Azula repeated the technique to generate lightning and fires it at them at them.
Dante saw this just in time to go to the edge of Appa's saddle and stretch out his right arm with his hand turned to the vertical side. The incoming lightning suddenly split before it touched him and impacted safely behind him in two directions.
"Appa, yip yip!" Aang instructed and they manage to escape successfully, narrowly avoiding a blue fire blast. Azula lowers her arm and looks up at the retreating group. The more she hunts the Avatar and her brother and uncle the more intriguing the hunt becomes.
Iroh redirected her lightning. Now Dante separated her lightning. She will like to know how they did this.
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"I can't believe those girls followed us all the way from Omashu." Katara said as she was still shocked.
"I still think we could have taken them." Toph grumped.
"Are you kidding me? The crazy blue firebending and the flying daggers are bad enough, but last time we saw them, one of those girls did something that took my bending away. That's scary."
Slowly but surely the first light of morning rose over the mountains sending its warm light, "Oh no, the sun is rising. We've been up all night with no sleep!" Sokka complained.
"Sokka, we'll be okay." Aang reassured his friend calmly.
Sokka holds his hands up to his head nervously. "Are you sure? I've never not slept before! What if I fall asleep now and something happens? And something ALWAYS HAPPENS!" Sokka exclaims freaks out with his eyes bugging out.
"If I can survive an ambush from Earth soldiers in the jungle, with hungry animals and diseases all around me, then you can too Sokka. Get a grip." Dante said as tried to take another slip of wine from his drinking gourd. To his disappointment he found it to be empty. They have to run so much he didn't have time to make more.
Katara sighed. "Every time we land, those girls are there. So we'll just have to keep flying." She saw no other option.
"We can't keep flying forever." Aang said.
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Through hills and valleys the tank train speeds rapidly through a field of flowers leaving behind indentation marks the ground. Zuko found the trail and followed it. He knew what it was and he had a strong guess who riding aboard. And he's right that person may lead him to straight to the Avatar.
Elsewhere Appa continues to fly but the effort of staying awake with no rest was slowly getting to him as did the others.
"So what's our plan?" Aang asked if anyone had an idea.
"Don't know ... too tired to think." Toph replied slumped against the saddle, exhausted.
"I'm sure we'll come up with something after a short nap." Katara said as she finally smiles in giving to a much needed rest.
"Yes ... sleep." Sokka agreed and followed suit.
The two begin nodding off before slowly rising into the air, wind blowing through their clothing as they lose altitude. Griffon saw himself floating off the saddle. "Uh … GUYS?"
Toph opened her eyes as she couldn't feel anything but the wind rushing past her. "What's going on?" she shouted frantically.
"Appa fell asleep!" Aang exclaimed hanging in the air, gripping Appa's reins tightly.
Appa, whose eyes are closed and legs are sprawled out, falls through a cloud toward the ground. Katara hangs onto her brother tightly. Dante grabbed hold of Toph's feet and V grabbed Griffon while hooking his cane through one the saddles strap holes. Aang crawls over to Appa's head and leans over to face the bison trying his best to wake him. "Wake up, buddy!"
"Oh, you lovely Western Forest. Eucalyptus candy. Over your heights the wind whistles so cool. However, the smallest sunshine. Thrusts deep into the heart!" V sings the famous poem about the Fire Nation's western forest.
Appa's eyes as it slowly creaks open and widens in realization of the current situation. Having awakened, he resumes his normal flight, soaring just above the treetops. Everyone sway to the side still tightly gripping the saddle. Appa soars through the trees, colliding into and snapping several branches. The team members brace against the impact.
Appa's impact created a channel way behind him from the impact. Now on the ground Appa falls asleep once more; Aang slides off his head and onto the ground as they finally landed safe and sound.
"Appa's exhausted." Aang informs everyone.
"Okay, we've put in a lot of distance between us and them. The plan right now is to follow Appa's lead and get some sleep." Sokka informed everyone while trudging across the ground, carrying his sleeping bag.
"Of course, we could've gotten some sleep earlier, if Toph didn't have such issues." Katara stated as a matter-of-fact.
Toph, who lying on the ground sleepily, Wakes up and slams the ground. "WHAT!?" she screamed.
Aang tries to calm the tension down. "All right, all right, everyone's exhausted! Let's just get some rest."
"No, I want to hear what Katara has to say. You think I have issues?" Toph said with one hand on her hip.
"I'm just saying. Maybe if you helped out earlier, we could have set up our camp faster and gotten some sleep and THEN MAYBE WE WOULDN'T BE IN THIS SITUATION!"
Now Toph was irritated. "You're blaming me for this?"
Katara tosses aside her sleeping bag and gestures with her hands, challenging Toph to move closer. Aang jumps in between the two. "No! No, she's not blaming you."
"No, I'm blaming her!" Katara replied angrily.
Toph shoves Aang out of the way. "Hey, I never asked you for jack-shit. I carry my own weight. Besides, if there's anyone to blame, it's Sheddy over here!"
Aang was shocked. "What? You're blaming Appa?"
"Yeah, you want to know how they keep finding us?" Toph a handful of Appa's fur and lets the shedding blow away in the wind. "He's leaving a trail everywhere we go!"
Aang jumps down to face. "How dare you blame Appa! He saved your life three times today! If there's anyone to blame it's you! You're always talking about how you carry your own weight, but you're not. He is! Appa's carrying your weight. HE NEVER HAD A PROBLEM FLYING WHEN IT WAS JUST THE THREE OF US!"
Toph then came up with a solution to that problem. "I'm out of here." Toph mutters and stomps the ground, launching her pack into the air which she catches, and leaves.
Sokka moves in front of Toph, his arms outstretched to halt her. "Wait!"
Toph uses earthbending to shift Sokka off to the side, leaving him surprised.
"Toph!" Dante called after her but she refused to acknowledge she heard them.
Elsewhere the tank train was following the trail of fur drift on the wind. In no time they will have caught up with the prey in no time.
Despite this there was just one question that Aang could ask: "WHAT DID I JUST DO?! I can't believe I yelled at my earthbending teacher. Now she's gone." Aang slumps in misery.
Katara now regretted the words she said over and over again. "I know. We're all just trying to get used to each other. And I was so mean to her."
"Yeah, you two were pretty much jerks." Sokka commented from afar, drinking from a cup of ginseng tea Dante hand in his sack.
"Thanks, Sokka." Katara replied sarcastically.
"No problem."
"We need to find Toph and apologize." Said Katara.
"Okay, but what are we going to do about the tank full of dangerous ladies chasing us?"
"I'll stand by a tree with a sign that says "free massages" and see if they bite." Dante said taking a drink of the tea.
Aang grabs a handful of fur and watches as it blows away in the wind. "I have a plan."
Appa lies in the water; lounging in the Nan Shan River, two arched streams of water showering him on either side. Momo lands on top of Appa's head holding a brush where he scrubs the bison's head and is forced to hastily take flight when a stream of water is bent his way. Sokka and Dante are standing in the river several feet away, holding a brush. Dante hold his hand up to bend the water over him and Sokka groans as he becomes drenched by the stream of water.
Appa stands on the ground, his fur still wet from the bath. "Toph was right. The fur was leaving a trail right to us. But now that he's clean, no more trail." Aang said.
"Are you sure he's okay to fly?" Katara asked.
"He'll be fine as long as we leave his saddle and all our stuff here. I'm going to use Appa's fur to make a fake trail to lead the tank off-course." Aang kneels down and places pieces of Appa's fur into his satchel.
Appa grunts and takes flight, V, Sokka and Katara riding atop him. As he flies away, his body accidentally brushes against the treetops, snapping the topmost limbs off and causing them to fall to the ground. Aang and Dante watches as the bison flies away and turns. Dante uses his powers to transform into eagle and take to the air. Taking a running start, Aang flies away on his glider, releasing patches of fur from the bag along the way, creating a misleading trail.
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Near a mountain range, fog partially obscuring their peaks Toph walking slowly along a pathway on her own on a path with tall thick pines about. Toph stops in her tracks as she senses movement. She turns her head swiftly and uses earthbending to send a stream of earth toward the unknown source. The stream of earth travels its way to a large rock ahead and a dust cloud erupts in the air from the impact. A grunt of pain is heard from behind the rock.
Toph who approaches the rock still assuming a fighting stance. She struck an old who is now kneeling over and rubs his rear in pain.
"Ow ... That really hurt my tailbone." Iroh says with a grimace in his face.
Along the Nan Shan River Azula drips her hands into the water grabs hold of two patches of fur and lifts to examine them.
"Wads of wet fur. How delightful." Mai said dryly.
"Hmmm ... they're not wads, they're more like bundles, or bunches? It's got an "uh" sound." Ty Lee s scratching her head thoughtfully.
"Clumps?" Mai answered.
Ty Lee clasps her hands together and says brightly, "Clumps! They're clumps!" and hugs Mai.
Mai, still being embraced by Ty Lee, who peers down to see a fur trail in the direction in which it is traveling. "The trail goes this way." Mai points out.
Azula, who had been bending over, examining the fur, rises and looks in the direction of the trail. She averts her gaze upward gazing at the broken treetops in a different direction.
"The Avatar's trying to give us the slip. You two head in that direction and keep your eye out for the bison. I'll follow this trail."
Mai and Ty Lee ride away on their mongoose lizards. As they disappear from sight, Azula's mongoose lizard follows the trail to the Avatar.
Aang and Dante fly over a cluster of trees growing on a rocky ledge overlooking the rest of the forest, the river channeling right through the landscape. Mountains are seen in the distance. They flew on with Aang continuing to release the fur from his satchel. They exit the lush, green landscape area and soars over a more arid, rugged terrain.
In the distance was an old abandoned town, Tu Zin, similar to historical Western towns Dante had seen back on Earth. They land on the ground and enter inside; the shutters creaking and a bell tolling in the wind. This place was a genuine ghost town.
The two look advert their sleepy eyes side-to-side as they observe the emptiness of the town. The remaining fur dropped out satchel indicating it was at last empty. Aang he opens his glider and turns to face the horizon was about to take off. But He didn't after some time deep in thought. Standing at the end of the town as he twirls his glider closed and sits down on the ground cross-legged. Dante remained silent as he and Aang stared out into the horizon.
::
Meanwhile Sokka surveys the woods below. "Toph couldn't have made it too far." Momo begins to chitter and rears up defensively. "What is it, Momo? Ooooh, no! Katara!"
Mai and Ty Lee following the bison in hot pursuit, mounted on mongoose lizards.
"How did they find us?" Katara urges Appa forward.
"Fly, you fools" V said.
Appa flies dangerously close to the tree line, growing more and more tired.
"Appa, come on, we need to go faster!" Sokka urged for his life.
"He's too tired!" Katara said.
"We just need to make it across that river!"
"Come on Appa, just a little further ..." Katara pleaded.
Appa continues his descent, snapping off several treetops in the process. Mai swings her arm, firing a flurry of stilettos. Sokka narrowly avoids the weapons by ducking. Appa skimmed the surface of the Nan Shan River before crashing into the ground on the opposite side of the river.
"You did it Appa!" Katara cheered.
The siblings embrace but Katara opens her eyes and gasps. Sokka turns around and becomes horrified; the mongoose lizards paddling the water rapidly, allowing for them to walk over the surface of the river. Katara steps forward and spins around, sending a wave of water crashing into Ty Lee's mongoose lizard. Ty Lee leaps off the beast just in time and emerges from the water. She lands near the treetops where she gracefully dodges from tree trunk to tree trunk in pursuit of Katara, who opens her water skin.
Ty Lee somersaults onto the ground. Katara attempts to lash a water whip in her direction, however, is forced to quickly dodge several of the acrobat's blows. She narrowly avoids having her chi blocked and fires several sharp discs of water at her enemy, who cartwheels repeatedly to escape. Mai still mounted on her lizard turns around and fires several stilettos from uploaded holsters in her sleeves. Sokka steps in knocks the stilettos off-target with his machete and boomerang.
He throws his boomerang in Mai's direction, however, the knife thrower merely leaps off her lizard, avoiding the attack. She spins around and fires stilettos from a holster in her leg. Sokka knocks them away again with his machete. Katara turns around and is forced on the run when Mai comes charging toward her. Ty Lee somersaults and leaps into the air where she flips and lands on the ground near Sokka.
She lands several quick blows on Sokka, using chi blocking to incapacitate Sokka's right arm. Sokka drops his boomerang as a result of this. He swings his left arm toward Ty Lee who merely incapacitates that arm, resulting in him dropping his machete. Sokka looks about him nervously and resorts to kicking his leg in order to fend off the acrobat who proceeds to render his leg useless. Sokka proceeds to use his forehead as a shield. Ty Lee strikes his skull and injures her hand in the process. She backs away and shakes her fist in pain before turning to glare at Sokka.
"Good try, but no." Sokka states as his body is well off-balance.
Katara halts in front of a tree. She begins to draw a stream of water with which to attack Mai, however, the knife thrower hurls two shuriken knives her way. Each of the two knives pins her wrists to the tree trunk. Katara gasps in horror. Sokka hobbles to his sister as a result of the paralysis. He falls to the ground.
"How are you doing?" Sokka asked.
"Well, you know ..." Katara replied as if she had a good answer.
"I thought when Ty Lee and I finally caught you guys, it would be more exciting. Oh well, victory is boring." Mai commented dryly.
V stepped in front if the tribal sibling and with both hands resting on his cane. He was ready to intervene.
"You are just NOW stepping in to help?" Sokka asked V.
"Didn't feel if it was okay to intervene." V replied to Sokka.
"Any time is a good time to intervene!" Sokka shouted.
V laughed quietly. "True. But 'you never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.' Appa, if you please . . ."
Mai and Ty Lee are suddenly swept off their feet by a powerful gust of wind conjured by Appa's tail. They incidentally somersault into the air and land several yards away in the water.
"That is more than enough for me." V twirled his cane with a smile.
"Thanks Appa, I don't know what we'd do without you."
Appa sweeps his large tongue over Sokka's face, covering him in drool. Sokka expresses irritation at this, his eyebrow twitching.
On the opposite side of the riverbank Mai and Ty Lee arrive at its edge, drenched. Ty Lee just realized something very important while wringing out her braid.
"Was it just me, or was those guys kind of cute?"
Mai casts an annoyed glance off to the side. However she would silently agree that the guy with the tattoos and cane was handsome fellow.
::
TU ZIN
Aang still sits cross-legged, awaiting his enemy. Dante went inside to see if there anything left he could find. He walked into a saloon that was dusty with overturned chairs and broken glass on the floor. He went behind the counter and saw one green glass bottle on the upper shelf. He felt it was half full and proceed to pull off the corked and smelled the contents. He couldn't place what it was but it was familiar. He walked back out to see how Aang was doing; Aang was focused intently on the horizon. Dante went over and stared at the setting sun.
There she was riding on her mongoose lizard in a cloud of dust - Azula. Dante took a taste of the strong drink as to be ready to for what is to come. Azula finally closed in and dismounts.
"All right, you've caught up with me. Now, who are you and what do you want?" Aang asked getting to the point.
"You mean you haven't guessed? You don't see the family resemblance? Here's a hint." She then covers her eye and deepens her voice to imitate Zuko. "I must find the Avatar to restore my honor!"
Aang remains silent too tired even come up with a response while Dante to another gulp from the bottle.
"It's okay, you can laugh. It's funny." Azula said.
"No … it's not. I'm disgusted to see you still reveling in your brother's disgrace." Dante said with a serious tone.
"Why should I not? It's always laughable."
"Yeah, I remember you're since of humor. I bet the Fire Nation's weight in gold that you betraying me when Operation: PHOENIX went into effect was laughable."
"Someone's gotta to have the last laugh. Or in this instance the last Airbender."
"So what now?" Aang inquired.
"Now? Now, it's over. You're tired and you have no place to go. You can run, but I'll catch you."
Aang rises to face her "I'm not running."
Azula smirks, hoping there would be no retreat, or no surrender.
Dante realized why Aang didn't leave the town. Aang wants to face Azula who was chasing them across the country. Like a bully that will stop at nothing to pick on the meek just for their own personal enjoyment. Of course Aang could run away, he done lot of that when Zuko was after him. Dante knows Aang is a fast runner but sooner or later Aang's gonna stop running and faces his problems head-on, especially if he's cornered.
::
Elsewhere in a rocky outcrop Toph and Iroh sat down in a small camp to rest. A tea kettle was heating over a fire; when it was hot enough Iroh poured the tea into two tin cups. He offered one of them to her. "Here is your tea."
Iroh noticed that the girl had cataracts and was mostly blind. Though she was an earthbender that literally kicked his butt he was concern about her well being out in the wilderness alone. "You seem a little too young to be traveling alone."
"You seem a little too old." Toph replied back taking the tea from his hand.
Iroh laughs. "Perhaps I am."
"I know what you're thinking ... I look like I can't handle being by myself."
"I wasn't thinking that."
"You wouldn't even let me pour my own cup of tea!"
"I poured your tea because I wanted to and for no other reason."
Toph realized that this man was no one to judge some based on their appearance and decided relax a little. "People see me and think I'm weak. They want to take care of me, but I can take care of myself, by myself."
Iroh nodded understandability. "You sound like my friend and nephew, always thinking you need to do things on your own, without anyone's support. There is nothing wrong with letting the people who love you help you. Not that I love you, eh I just met you."
Toph laughs at Iroh's joke. "So where are your nephew and friend?"
"I've been tracking them actually."
"Are they lost?" she asked curiously.
Iroh looks away in sadness. "Yes, a little bit. My nephew's life has recently changed and he's going through very difficult times. He's trying to figure out who he is and he went away. As for my friend he believes to be responsible for a tragedy that happened in the family. He believes he failed and now he is plagued with guilt."
Toph frowned at the sadness of these two people this man is trying to find. "So now you're following them."
"I know they don't want me around them right now, but if they need me, I'll be there." Iroh said sincerely.
"Your nephew and friend are very lucky, even if they don't know it. Thank you."Toph gets up to leave, feeling better.
Iroh smiles."My pleasure. Sharing tea with a fascinating stranger is one of life's true delights."
"No, thank you for what you said. It helped me."
"I'm glad."
Toph rises to leave, but turns around briefly. "Oh, and about your friend tell him that it he should forgive himself for something he failed to do. And your nephew … maybe you should tell him that you need him, too."
Iroh remains silent and sips his tea. Sometimes both the young and old need help from folks to get through tough places in live.
::
TU ZIN
Dante tossed the bottle of away where it shattered to the side somewhere. He the snorted some mucus in his mouth and spitted it out before popping his neck. He was tired, pissed and he wanted payback.
Azula smiles smugly. "Do you really want to fight me?"
Zuko suddenly appears from an alleyway, leaping off his ostrich horse onto the ground, creating a cloud of dust. He stands up straight and throws his conical hat aside. "Yes, I really do."
"Zuko!" Aang said alarmed.
"Oh this is going to be FUN." Dante commented with smirk while popping his fingers together.
"I was wondering when you'd show up, Zuzu." Azula said calmly.
Aang Covers mouth to suppress his laughter. "Zuzu?"
"Oh yeah. I almost forgot that name." Dante shook his was trying to not laugh out loud.
"Back off, Azula! He's mine!" Zuko warned while taking a fighting stance between his sister and the Avatar.
Azula assumes a fighting stance. "I'm not going anywhere."
"Well, I'm acting sheriff of this crap town . . . and if you six of youse don't vacate immediately . . . I'm going to kick your ass so hard you both are going to be throwing up my toe nails." Dante warned walking a little bit drunk and taking a fighting stance straight across from Zuko.
Four opponents stand, prepared for battle. Azula, confident as ever. Dante talking a drunken style. Zuko caught in the middle. Aang assumes a fighting stance, pointing his glider at Zuko in fright. This was a now a southern Earth Kingdom standoff and the first one to draw commences the long awaited showdown. Zuko shifts his gaze between his sister, the Avatar and Dante. He has fought each one of them at one point or another.
Azula was a quick and deadly as viper. Calm and collected. Precise as the lightning she throws. She will strike first when she gets the chance but only to lure her foe in a struggle to the point where she can deliver the final blow in true perfect.
Dante was like his firebending peers in the Nation. Volatile and unpredictable by nature; But Dante was a Wild Storm personified. Calm, collected with a few insults and curses to an opponent's face. Then the air would shift, and the fury of his storm would unleash. Importantly never corner him in any way. Sadly Azula did just that.
The Avatar has not learned firebending, yet his airbending was not to be underestimated. However he will run when he has the chance but he's a slippery he may not fight and just bolt for the hills.
Zuko shifts the position of his fingers a bit to signal to the avatar that he may not chase him first. Aang, who looks about him nervously ready for whatever happens when whoever makes the first move.
Azula, moves her arm forward, firing a blast of blue fire at Zuko! Zuko conjures up a fire shield to deflect it. He flies backward onto a front porch. Dante rakes his finger across the ground kicking up dust towards Azula before clicking his tongue to create a spark igniting the dust particles causing a series of fireworks like explosions toward Azula. Aang, upon seeing this, expresses horror and attempts to flee the town on his glider. He begins soaring toward the back end of Tu Zin. Azula swings her arm downward sending a stream of fire at Aang, who turns over mid-air and closes his glider, twirling the object to deflect the flames.
Dante swings his arms around creating a pair of fire whips. Azula leans backwards narrowly evade the attack and jumps out of the way of one of the whips coming down on her. Azula running along the beam of a rooftop, prepared to strike him. Aang rolls over, grabbing hold of his glider just as Azula lands nimbly on the ground, sweeping around, sending a stream of fire his way.
Azula rises and turns around to see Dante coming at her with fury of a tiger. Azula kicks Dante back a little with Aang lands on the ground in between them Zuko fires a blast at Aang who steps to the side, managing to avoid the attack. Aang trying to escape toward the back end of town, Azula turning to face him and Zuko firing blasts of his own. Aang rounds a bend and runs past Azula once more, this time heading toward the front of town. Azula fires another blast at him, only to miss. Azula fires several more blows at Dante and Zuko who defected them.
Azula then returned her attention back to Dante and the two engaged in a close combat with Zuko and Aang on either side. Every other moment Dante and Azula would break from the clash and turned the ones behind them. Azula strikes and Aang while Dante would back kick fire blasts at Zuko. Azula the roundhouse kick to the ground. Zuko leaps into the air and striking the ground, unleashing a firebending attack in the process.
The two siblings as two walls of fire, one blue and one orange are created as a result of the impact. Azula fires a blast at Zuko, who ducks and attempts to knock her off her feet. He fires a blast her only for the princess to duck. She sweeps her arm upward, sending a stream of fire his way. Zuko leaps into the air to avoid the attack. Dante had taken this time to leap into the air with his Eryx gauntlet comedown like a meteor causing an explosion of dust. Azula jumped backwards and turned around and fires at Aang who leaps into the air and lands onto an upper outdoors level of a nearby building.
Azula runs up the stairwell leading to the upper level, forcing Aang to run through the open doorway. Dante started after them but Zuko grabs him from behind. Dante quickly summoned the katana from the shine. He spun around unleashing it's blade to get Zuko to let go. Zuko did when he saw the blade had red glowing symbols on it. Instinctively Zuko dodge it and ran up the steps with Dante in hot pursuit. Azula became alarmed as halts in her tracks and nearly stumbles. The entire inside of the building has no floor save for some merely some jagged wooden paneling lining the edges of the wall!
Aang perched atop an air ball, smiling gleefully and waving to her. She windmills in an attempt to steady herself. After leaping about a few times, Azula manages to prop herself against the wall and regains her balance. Zuko suddenly appears in the doorway; He has the misfortune of inaccurate timing and falls roughly onto the first level floor with a yell, sending up a cloud of dust. Aang grimaces in sympathy.
Dante appears in the doorway next but halts when he sees the hole. He struggles to stay up until he sees Azula and tries to cut her head off with a wide horizontal swing. The air ball Aang is riding suddenly begins to dissipate. Azula, who nimbly evades Dante throwing him to the ground floor on top of Zuko, sends a blast of fire at Aang. Aang, who leaps out of the way just as the air ball has vanish. He runs along the edges along the thin floor paneling and knocks Azula onto the first floor in the process. Azula lands nimbly onto the ground near Zuko, who is still recovering from his fall and having Dante land on him.
Dante sees Azula and twirls his Katana and runs forward to run her through. Outside of the building Aang exits through the doorway, lands onto the ground just as Azula burst through the wall of the building through the use of firebending. Zuko lands on the ground unconscious. Dante rolls on the ground but is on his feet shaking his head from the surprise move from Azula. Aang sees Azula heading straight toward him. He flees and leaps out of the way just as Azula sends another blast at him.
Azula had an expression of pure joy on her face. She really was enjoying this battle so much that one could say Azula was almost at her climax.
Aang begins alternately jumping between two buildings, with Azula firing blasts at each spot he lands on. Aang finally reaches the rooftop of the left building and scrambles to prop himself up. Azula sends a consecrated blast of fire, slicing a portion of the rooftop off. Aang leaps off the crumbling portion onto another spot on the roof, only for Azula to repeat the same action.
Aang, who scrambles to prop himself up only for the ceiling to cave in. He lands on the ground inside the building, trapped beneath a pile of wooden planks. Azula enters the building through the doorway and sends two streams of fire along the sides of the wall. The blue fire spreads around the perimeter of the room and turns an orange hue.
Azula, who smirks and holds up one hand, two fingers pointing outward, her typical lightning generation pose. Katara suddenly appears in the doorway and sends a water whip at Azula, guiding her hand off course. Katara bends the stream of water around her and slices the wooden planks, thus freeing Aang.
"Katara!" Aang exclaimed in joy.
Azula swiftly turns around and fires a blast at the waterbender, who races out of the building along the porch. Azula follows her in hot pursuit, only to be halted by Sokka, who emerges from another doorway and swings his machete her way. Azula duck out of the way and finds cornered by Sokka, Katara, Aang and now Dante who jump back in and is ready to go.
Zuko regain consciousness and see Iroh kneeling over him.
"Uncle . . ."
"Get up!"
He helps Zuko get up. They turned to see the battle continuing with new combatants. Aang runs straight toward Azula and leaps over her just as Azula fires a blast at him. She turns around and blocks a water whip Katara sends at her. She fires a blast at Sokka and swings her arm outward to prolong the blast. She blocks a couple of blasts from Dante that swirled around to confuse her. She turns around and catches it to strike Aang with another blast. Azula swings her arm outward sending an arched fire blast at the three before pausing standing poised for attack. She suddenly falls over to the side; Toph appears from an alleyway, having just shifted the ground beneath her feet.
"I thought you guys could use a little help." Toph said with a smile.
"Thanks." Katara accepts happily.
Azula realizes she is out numbered without Mai and Ty Lee. She rises to her feet and begins to running away. Azula runs through the alley. Suddenly right in front of her a meteorite crashing and forms into a gargantuan demon of dark rock. Nightmare sluggish movements belie his unsurpassed strength and nigh-invulnerability. Griffon and the panther Shadow appear beside it with V climbing atop it and piercing it with his cane to control Nightmare directly.
"Here's … JOHNNY!" Griffon exclaims.
Azula runs the other way being not ready for this kind of crazy. However, Iroh intervenes, using his rotund belly to knock her off her feet. Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Dante, V, Zuko and Iroh are all cornering Azula against the ruins of a stone wall.
Now the hunter has now corner by her own prey. Coolly, she backs up as her enemies surround her. "Well, look at this. Enemies and traitors, all working together. I'm done." Raises her hands in surrender. "I know when I'm beaten. You got me. A princess surrenders with honor."
And like that the hunt seems to reaches its inevitable conclusion. But that was the point; the hunt is only truly over when the prey is killed or it gets away. In Azula's case she teaches all of them an important lesson: just because your cornered, doesn't mean you're beaten yet.
With a smirk Azula, takes a step forward and quickly fires a blast at Iroh who gets hit. He screams in pain and falls to the ground. Zuko is horrified while Dante's eyes widened in shock. The remaining seven turn to face Azula, five of them bending their respective elements, V commands Nightmare to unleash a powerful laser beam and Sokka throwing his boomerang straight for her.
Azula quickly created a dome of blue fire to protect herself from the impact of the elements and raw energy which creates a minor explosion, sending a thick cloud of smoke everywhere. The smoke clears to reveal Azula having vanished from the scene without a trace. She used the Firebending technique that was popular for quick escapes.
Buildings in the town now set alight, burning embers falling from the sky. An immense all this ruin Zuko who kneels before his uncle, dismayed at the turn of events.
"IROH!" Dante screamed as he ran over dropping to his knees. "Not him …" Dante muttered as the image of Lu'ten's death flashed in his mind. He put his finger to Iroh's neck searching for a pulse. There was one, it was weak, but it was there.
Team Avatar approaches Zuko who turns around glaring at them angrily. Azula escaped and there was no one around for him to direct his anger at saved for the Avatar and his friends.
"Get away from us!" Zuko shouts.
Toph shifted her foot to detect the vibrations using seismic sense. He is still alive. Her eyes became like glass as she discovered that it was the same stranger from before who gave her good advice.
Katara approaches Zuko. "Zuko, I can help." She said sincerely.
Zuko heard this but was too enraged at Azula to accept any help from anyone. Dante wasn't a foe to him of Iroh but the Avatar and his friends weren't his allies. He blasts an arc of fire over their heads to make them leave. "LEAVE!" Zuko screamed at the top of his lungs with tears in his ears.
Team Avatar ducked to avoid the fire but Dante who back at them with blood running out of his nose from the dryness of the air. His eyes were red with demonic energy.
"Run. Get back into the tank." Dante said softly as if his mind was somewhere else.
The remaining Team Avatar runs away leaving Zuko and Dante still kneeling over Iroh, in defeat.
Night falls over the somewhere in the mountains at where Appa lands. Team Avatar sleeping on the saddle; Aang sleeps peaceful with their arms behind their heads, Momo and Sokka sleep in an odd position, Shadow and Griffon rest near V who fell asleep while reading his book and Toph and Katara resting next to each other with their issues finally resolved.
The wild hunt is over, for now.