I Do Not Own Avatar of Miraculous.
Eight. Return to Omashu. Part Two.
"Okay! The marks make you look sick, but you gotta act sick too. Ya gotta sell it!" That's when an older man walked out of the crowd, moaning and groaning as if hurt. Sokka had to admit, he was impressed by the man's performance. Eagerly, he grabbed the closest man to him and pointed at the old man.
"See! Now that's what I am talking about!" He exclaimed. The man he grabbed gave him quizzical look, as if to say, 'really dude?' The old man just smiled and tapped on his wooden leg.
"Years of practice.!" Sokka nodded before getting back in front of the crowd.
"Okay everyone! Into sick formation!" He ordered. The civilians nodded eagerly, filing behind him like a giant, zombie parade, moaning and groaning dramatically as Sokka proudly led them through the streets of Omashu. After a few moments of the act, a cry was heard from the Fire Nation guards.
"Plague! Plague!" The guards were running in fear, trying to get away from the 'infected' Earth Kingdom citizens. Then, as they neared the gates of the city, an alarm was rang and the gates were opened. Everyone filed out one by one, going to a rondevu point Rin had prepared. Sokka frowned. Though pleased with his plan working so perfectly, he was a tad concerned about the new girl Aang had promised to travel with. The girl was in Fire Nation clothes and using some sort of spirity magic to get powers. If that wasn't suspicious, nothing else was. Aang was probably the most carefree, trusting person he knew. Heck, he had trusted Sokka and Katara the second he woke up from a hundred year nap. Sokka didn't doubt the younger boy's judgement seeing as Aang was also one of the wisest kids he knew, but he still felt a need for caution concerning the red clad stranger they'd agreed to help.
They got to the rondevu point easily. There, Rin had already cleared the area for the citizens to camp. Sokka had to wonder how the girl got out of the city without being detected. Perhaps the Fire Nation clothes she wore had some use after all. He was a fan of disguises.
The citizens set up camp. That's when he realised Aang was gone. He found his sister and asked her where he was.
"He went to find Bumi." Katara said sadly, "I don't even know if he's even around anymore… I just hope…" Sokka put a hand on his sister's shoulder.
"Don't worry sis. That guy? He's crazy, but he's pretty smart. I'm sure he's fine and having the time of his life messing with people." Sokka assured her. She smiled.
"You are probably right." She agreed. She looked up, noticing Aang and Flopsie, who was King Bumi's pet. Sokka wonder how he'd managed to find Flopsie, but not Bumi.
"We looked everywhere." He said sadly, "No Bumi." Katara hugged the young monk. Then Flopsie looked sad, so Sokka hugged him. General Yung, who'd watched the entire counter interrupted.
"We've got a problem. We just did a head count." Katara looked concerned.
"Oh no. Did someone get left behind?" She asked in concern.
"No. We have and extra." He pointed back at the camp where Rin was hopelessly attempting to keep a small toddler in Fire Nation clothes from capturing poor Momo.
"No! Tom-Tom! Stop it! The flying lemur is not a toy! Agh! Why are all kids this hyper? Oh, well. I guess he's better than Manon." Rin said, prying poor Momo out of the toddler's grip. She then picked the boy up and walked over to the group.
"How did Tom-Tom get out here? Do any of you know?" She asked in concern.
"You know this kid?" Yung asked.
"He's the governor's son. He couldn't have just walked out here. Does anyone know where he came from?" Rin replied.
"We have no idea."
"We should probably bring him back, if the governor finds out his son is missing, our little escape trick will be discovered." Rin warned.
"They probably already know, Ladybug. They'll be on high alert now. I doubt even you will be able to bring him back without putting you both in danger." Yung said, shaking his head.
"Well, we can't just leave him here. His parents will worry."
"Yes, because our first concern is that a Fire Nation family can't corrupt their infant son because he's with us." Yung said with an eyeroll. Rin scowled.
"Fire Nation or not, they are still people, Yung. How would you feel if you had a son and you found out your enemy captured him? You'd be devastated. The Fire Nation might be bad, but does that necessarily mean all Firebenders are terrible people out to destroy the world? No. Every war has two sides. Both sides think they are right. The Fire Nation is just mislead by and evil ruler. That doesn't make all Firebenders bad. Just a few. Those few just happen to be in charge and are ordering around everyone else." Yung frowned.
"You are ignorant, Ladybug. You keep on talking like you've fought before, but you clearly don't understand war the way we do." Rin scowled..
"I've been fighting a two man war against a very dark force of magic for the past two years. I'm a lot of things. Ignorant is not one of them. In my experience, I have had to learn to look at things from my opment's point of view. Figure out why they are the way they are. Then, use that to defeat them. Looking at things from the Fire Nation's point of view is a very smart thing to do." She replied, "And what do you know about war? You've never even left Omashu. So don't ridicule me." Sokka raised an eyebrow. He had never heard anyone talk that way about the Fire Nation, though she did have a point. Knowing more about the enemy usually did help someone defeat them. Rin sat Tom-Tom down and he went back to running around Rin happily as if he'd taken a liking to the girl. Then, he zeroed in on Sokka's boomerang pouch and hobbled over to the water tribesman stanched the boomerang out before Sokka could stop him. In a panic, Sokka reached over and grabbed the boomerang, causing the toddler to burst into tears.
"Bad Fire Nation baby!" Sokka scolded. Katara gave Sokka a glare before comforting Tom-Tom. Sokka had to admit. He was insanely cute.
"Oh… all right." He handed the boomerang back to Tom-Tom who gladly played with it.
"Oh, you are soo… cute!" Katara cooed. RIn chuckled lightly shaking her head. Then, the cry of a bird was heard. A messenger hawk landed on a nearby rock. Aang, who was cirous about the bird, walked over to it and unfastened the message it held. His eyes widened upon reading it.
"It's from the Fire Nation Governor. He thinks we kidnapped his son. So… he wants to make a trade. His son, for King Bumi.
That's how he, Rin, Katara, Aang, and Tom-Tom wound up standing near the construction zone inside the city. Sokka was opted to hold Tom-Tom because he couldn't bend or respond as quickly to a surprise firebending attack and Rin was apparently liked by children that she couldn't control. Rin had transformed into her Ladybug costume and held her hand slightly above the magic yo-yo incase something went wrong. Three girls approached. Each garbed in Fire Nation clothes. One wore pink and had braids in her hair, bouncing up and down as she walked as if excited by the whole ordeal. The other was the governor's daughter Mai. The last girl had her black hair pinned into a ponytail and had a malicious grin painted on her face. The last girl gave Sokka the chills. That's when they spotted King Bumi. He was imprisoned in a coffin-like box made entirely out of metal. A crane was lowering him down. He was snorting and grinning like his usual manic self.
"Hi, everybody!" He cackled.
"You brought my brother?" Mai monotoned. Aang nodded, motioning to Sokka.
"He's here. We are ready to trade." Suddenly the black haired girl interrupted the conversation.
"I'm sorry, but a thought just occurred to me. Do you mind?" Mai raised an eyebrow and looked over at the girl.
"Of course not, Princess Azula." Princess? Huh. Princess of what?
"We are trading a two year old for a king. A powerful, Earthbending king?" Bumi nodded eagerly, as if following the princess's trail of thought.
"That doesn't seem like a fair trade, now does it?" Mai looked back and forth between Tom-Tom and Bumi, contemplating the princess's words.
"Your right." Mai agreed, "The deals off." With the motion of her hand, Bumi was raised back into the sky.
"Whoa! See you later!" He said gleefully.
"Bumi!" Aang cried, using his glider to Airbend up as the princess bended… Blue fire? What the heck? Aang's head covering fell off, revealing his arrow.
"The Avatar!" the princess exclaimed, then she grinned madly, "My lucky day." She chased after him as Aang freed Bumi. Sokka quickly lost sight of the two. Rin, Katara, and Sokka then narrowed their eyes on their new enemies. Mai and pink braids.
"Get Tom-Tom to safety." Rin ordered Sokka, "This is no place for a kid." Sokka nodded.
"I got Mai." Katara volunteered, "You get the other girl." Rin nodded, spinning her yo-yo as she charged the braid girl. The girl proved to be an amazing dodger, frustrating even Rin, who proved to be insanely acrobatic. Meanwhile, Katara struggled to deflect Mai's knifes, which she seemed to pull out of nowhere. Sokka blew the sky bison whistle in hopes to get Appa. Then, she heard Rin let out a cry. He turned and realised the braids girl had somehow paralyzed Rin and forced her to transform back. The girl stared wide eyed at Rin, startled by the magical transformation and the tiny spirit that appeared in its wake. Katara noticed the distraction and used her waterbending to freeze braids into place. Mai then tried to use a sai on a distracted Katara and went to attack from behind. Sokka notice and pulled out his boomerang, nocking the sai out of Mai's hand and allowing Katara to freeze Mai in place. Appa then showed up. Katara helped Rin up and got her on board. They then flew around the city searching for Aang and Bumi. They spotted him being chased by the princess. Suddenly a rock blocked the princess's path and Aang and Bumi were lost. Once more, they set out searching for Aang. They found him standing alone with Momo perched on his shoulder, grinning like an idiot.
"Where's Bumi?" Katara asked.
"He's gonna be fine. But we've got to go."
"Aang." Rin said from where she lay, "We are in the city. You can get Tom-Tom home. If I tell you where the governor lives, will you take him?" Aang nodded.
"Of course." Aang took Tom-Tom and left. Much later, he returned.
"Let's go. I have someone I need to find." Aang ordered.
Sorry I didn't post yesterday. I have been working backstage in my school's musical, so I was pretty distracted yesterday. I hope you liked the part one and part two chapters of Return to Omashu. wasn't to sure how I wanted to introduce Mari to Aang. Her name in this comes from Mari-RIN-nette. Anytime the story is written in the POV of a Team Avatar member, they will refur to her as Rin. Adrien and Marinette call her by her real name. Remember to review and give me constructive feedback!