I Do Not Own Avatar or Miraculous.
Seven. Return to Omashu. Part One.
Aang, Sokka, and Katara crept through the streets of Omashu. Fire Nation soldiers were everywhere. To think. Things had actually started well. They had been coming over the hill, finally at their destination. Poor Sokka was still trying to get that awesome secret tunnel song out of his head. Life was looking up. Nothing seemed to be going wrong. Of course, fate had to have a twisted sense of humor, because the second the city came into view, all good things ended. There was only the fire nation. After trekking through the sewers of the city and Sokka getting 'pentapox.' They were uncertain the city was even savable from their Fire Nation conquers. They each wondered how the heck the city had gotten captured in the first place. The place was a fortress full of talented Earthbenders. Sure, it was no Ba Sing Se, but it seemed untouchable. The very essence of the Earth Kingdom's famous stubbornness. Now, it was just another Fire Nation colony.
As they continued forwards, Aang noticed a Fire Nation family walking past one of the chutes. He then looked up the chute to see a large boulder and two Earth Benders preparing to launch it at the unsuspecting family. His eyes widened and he raced towards the boulder, blocking it with his Airbending and saving the family. A girl in that family, probably sixteen years of age, narrowed her eyes upon seeing him. She reached into her sleeve and brought out a small, red and silver-throwing knife and aimed it at him. He dodged, panicking as she continued her attack. The Earthbenders noticed his distress and rushed to help him. Before they could, a new person appeared, landing in front of him without a sound. The new person was a girl. Her age was indistinguishable due to a red mask she wore on her face. She wore a red gi with black spots on in. Her clothes were all fire nation style and she wore her dark hair up into two pigtails. She had eyes that where blue in color, but seemed to be like a storm as she stared at the attacking girl in thoughtfulness. She had black pants and red boots. Her gantlets were red and gold. Her arms were bare.
"Mai, stop." The newcomer ordered the attacking girl.
"Move, before I make you." Mai growled.
"This young man just saved your life. Can't you appreciate that?"
"All I saw was a bunch of Earthbending rebels attacking my family." Mai monotoned.
"And I saw this kid save your life." The girl replied. Mai rolled her eyes.
"Fine, take their side, but you know that makes you a traitor."
"That's cool, because I wasn't Fire Nation to begin with." The girl unhooked a… yo-yo? She unhooked a yo-yo and began to twirl it like a shield.
"Go, I'll cover you." she ordered Aang, Sokka, Katara, and the two Earthbenders. The Earthbenders nodded. One grabbed Aang by the arm and led him and his friends through a construction sight. The yo-yo girl followed them. Blocking all of the knife's Mai aimed towards him. Suddenly, the yo-yo girl through the yo-yo in the air and yelled 'Lucky Charm!' A staff, much like Anag's materialized out of seemingly nowhere. The girl looked back at him.
"Aang! I need you to listen very carefully." How did she know his name? Regardless, he nodded.
"See the scaffolding over there? Could you, uh, use your staff on it?" Aang realized what she meant. The scaffolding was right where Mai was running. He could create an obstacle in her path. He did just that, knocking the construction area down and blocking Mai's attack.
"Now." Yo-yo girl ordered the Earthbenders. They nodded and the ground opened under them. They fell, only to find themselves in a tunnel. There a bearded man stood. The two Earth benders went to his side.
"Ladybug. We told you not to interfere." The man scolded.
"You wanted to kill that family." She growled, "The governor's family. Tell me, how exactly does that help our cause? Any man with a brain knows that killing the leader's family isn't going to get him to surrender, it's just going to make him angry and a lot more violent." The man sighed.
"You honestly don't understand how war works young lady." The man turned to Aang.
"I'm Yung. King Bumi's right hand. You must be Avatar Aang. We've been told to search for you. Come on." Yung led them through the tunnels to a cavern where a lot of Omashu citizens had gathered.
"...So, is King Bumi with you? Is he leading the resistance?" Aang asked hopefully. Yung growled, balling up his fists in rage.
"Of course not! The day of the invasion, we readied ourselves for battle. We were prepared to defend our city… to fight for our lives and for our freedom. But before we even had the chance, King Bumi surrendered." Yung snapped. Aang stepped back in surprise. That couldn't have been right. King Bumi wouldn't do that, would he?
"Yeah, I know. I found it odd he wanted to do that to." Ladybug chuckled, "A wild man, Bumi. Crazy… but he's been right so far, so I think I trust his judgement." Yung glared at her.
"The day of the invasion, King Bumi introduced this… spirit… to me. Then, I asked Bumi what he wanted us to do. He looked at us in the eye and said, 'I'm going to… do nothing!'" Yung sighed, "I suppose it doesn't matter now. Fighting the Fire Nation is the only path to freedom. And freedom is worth dying for." Ladybug shook her head like Yung was an idiot.
"Actually," She said, "There's another path to freedom. You could leave Omashu. Your directing all of your energy to fight the Fire Nation. But you are outnumbered. You can't win. In my experience, I had to learn when to retreat so I can live to fight another day."
"You don't understand. They've taken our home, and we have to fight them at any cost!" I cried, raising his fist in the air.
"Uh," One of the Earthbenders said uncertainly, "I dunno, Yung, living to fight another day is starting to sound pretty good to me."
"Yeah, I'm with Ladybug." The second agreed. All around the caverns, mutters could be heard. Aang had to admit, Ladybug had a point. He would have suggested it himself if she had not beaten him to it. Yung glanced around at all of the people who seemed willing to leave Omashu. He turned back to Ladybug.
"Fine. But there are thousands of citizens that need to leave. How're we going to get them all out?" Yung asked. Ladybug hesitated, before she had a chance to reply Sokka grinned.
"Suckers!" He exclaimed. Ladybug and Katara gave him a confused look. Sokka just smiled excitedly.
"You are all about to come down with a nasty case of pentapox!" Sokka explained his plan, which, like many of his ideas, was brilliant and full sheigans. As the citizens began preparing to leave Omashu, Ladybug pulled Team Avatar aside.
"I think I should formally introduce myself. I'm Ladybug, but you can just call me Rin. Tikki, spots off." Aang watched in awe as a wave of pink light.
"What the heck?" Sokka exclaimed. A tiny red spirit-like creature appeared. Rin's clothes remained pretty much the same, only the spots were gone, along with the mask. Aang now saw she was a girl around sixteen years of age.
"This is Tikki, the spirit of good luck and creation and the one who gives me my special powers." Rin explained.
"Hi!" Tikki said happily. Katara instantly fell in love with the tiny creature.
"Oh my gosh you are so cute!" The spirit giggled.
"Thank you, and you are very pretty." Tikki replied.
"Wait. You are traveling and using the powers of a spirit? But how?" Aang asked in awe.
"It… It is complicated. Tikki and I have a mutual cause. But that's not exactly why I wanted to talk to you. You are the Avatar Aang King Bumi told me about? Correct?"
"I am." Rin sighed.
"Oh thank goodness. I… I know you don't really know me, but I need help. See, I have a partner named Cat Noir. He and his spirit friend, Plagg went missing a few days ago. I can't find them."
"Are they in the city?"
"No. I checked… see… something happened. We got separated. He could be anywhere in the Earth Kingdom… maybe even the world. Frankly, I need help. I… I didn't want to ask, but Bumi insisted you would let me. I want to know if I could come with you on your travels through the Earth Kingdom. Bumi told me you'd be searching for an Earthbending teacher."
"Wait…" Sokka asked, "You want to travel with us?" Rin nodded.
"Yes."
"But we don't know you, and you are running around in Fire Nation clothes." Sokka pointed out. Rin laughed.
"Yeah, Bumi thought that let me search the city easier, and he was right." She replied, "But you can trust me."
"How?" Katara asked.
"You just need to open your mind to the possibilities." Rin said with a sly grin. Aang smiled. She had been friends with Bumi.
"Of course you can come with us. If Bumi thinks you are trustworthy, then I don't see why not." Katara gave Aang a concerned glance, as did Sokka. Neither objected though. Rin smiled widely.
"Oh, thank you!" She wrapped Aang in a hug before realising what she'd done and pulling back, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.
"Sorry." She apologized. Aang laughed.
"You are fine… now about the pentapox…"
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