Chapter Eighteen:

After a few days of searching, Yuzin told us he had a lead. "My men believe they spotted a mysterious airship. We believe it is heading towards the Earth Kingdom." he said. "From here on the Fire Nation can no longer directly support you, but we have resupplied your airship. Good luck."

We flew out of the Fire Nation and across the ocean. The trip was long and monotonous with nothing but water below. I practiced bending with Kaze and Tetsu, and hand to hand combat with Sela and Genji.

Sela aimed precision punches at my Chi spots. I dodged quickly as I could but I still felt weaker with every blow. I pushed on, countering with punches of my own. Sela dodged a few, but I got her with a blow to the gut. "Don't go easy because I'm a g..."

Before she finished I slammed her with an uppercut to the jaw. She reeled back, squinting in pain. "Had enou..."

Sela pointed her finger and poked me repeatedly in the gut. Suddenly my muscles locked up and I collapsed to the floor. I felt sore all over my body. I tried to move but I could barely twitch. I tried to talk, but I only groaned. "I'll get Tetsu." Sela said and she walked off.

Sela came back with Tetsu who looked down at me. "You hit him really hard." he remarked.

"Precision chi blocking." she replied.

Tetsu picked me up and took me to bed. "Sorry if I went to hard." Sela said.

"No don't" I replied. "Tsume would kill me."

"Let me help loosen you up." she said.

Sela reached over and pinched me. My muscles relaxed. She did a few more pinches, and my stiff limbs were able to move.

After a long flight, we started to approach the city of Omashu. '"I was here before." exclaimed Kaze. "I slid on the delivery chutes. It was fun"

"Sounds pretty fun, but we have business to do." I replied.

We travelled around the city, looking for people we could speak too. Anytime we saw a guard, we would pull them aside. "Have you seen this man." I said pulling out a picture of Tsume.

None of them had sighted him. But two guards recognized Kaze. "Your that girl looking for the Avatar."

"Yup, found him." she replied.

We moved on and continued walking. "Hey guys!" a voice rang out.

We ignored him and continued walking. "Hey guys!" the voice came again.

We tried to ignore him but he came closer. We looked a saw a weird pink haired guy. "Your the Avatar." he said. "Can I join your team?"

I stared at him, briefly breaking contact to look over to my friends, they were confused too. "No" I said.

"But I want to..."

"I said no!"

"But I really want to..."

Sela walked up to him and pointed at me. "He said no. Do you want me to make that more clear!"

"But I am a firebender" he complained.

"Go flame off you little flamer." Sela growled.

We walked away from him. "You didn't have to be so harsh." Genji said.

"Yeah maybe he could have joined us." said Kaze.

"That little pest needed to be told what's good for him." Sela said, and I nodded.

"What we are doing is dangerous." Tetsu added. "We would not want to put him at risk."

We continued to walk the streets and Tetsu gave an occasional stomp to feel underground. Suddenly he stopped. "I feel something."

Tetsu and I made a tunnel and we all crawled into it. Inside was a feel people sitting on chairs. Stacks of books lined the walls. "What is this?" I asked.

A man stood up. "I don't know how you got here, but welcome." he said. "We've got a lot of interesting books to read."

"Uh, what kind of books?" I asked.

"Historical ones." he replied.

"Really I can't wait to read more about history". Kaze exclaimed.

"Not quite, a bit naughtier." He held up a stack. "We've got a Zutara here, here's a Tokka, a Juko, a Linzin, a..."

"Yeah not interested." I said. "Let's go."

We headed back to the tunnel and climbed to the surface. "That was a waste." I complained.

"Still no closer to finding Tsume." Sela added.

We continued down the streets of Omashu. "Do you think Tsume is here?" asked Genji.

"Not sure, but this is a big city. We should search thoroughly."

Gansu also roamed the city without any particular goals. He wandered the various alleys of Omashu. Most people were afraid of these parts, but he wasn't.

He walked through various tunnels in and out of the pale moonlight. Not to many people walked the streets, the few weren't the savory type. Still they would not mess with him. Most of them would not even make eye contact.

Which made it all the funnier when a he bumped into a strange man just glaring it him. He saw faint glints near the man's eyes.

"Who are you?" he asked.

The man did not reply.

"I haven't seen you around. Better get moving."

Gansu stomped the ground and a rock flew up. This did not deter the strange man. He instead lunged at him. The Gansu threw the rock, but it exploded midair. He threw more rocks, but the strange man casually redirected them.

The strange man grew closer. Before the Gansu knew it, he was right in front of him, and took a swing at his face.

Gansu felt nails go into his eyes. He felt more pain then he held ever did in his life. Every punch, kick, and rock throw from various street brawls were nothing. He eyes were burning in pain. He collapsed in the sheer agony.

He looked up and saw nothing. Nothing but darkness. He felt the strange man drag him. He did not know where he was going, and didn't want to go, but was far too scared and in pain to resist.