Previously, on Avatar...
"What's happening?", Aang asked, hoping for an answer from the previous Avatar.
*FLASH*
"What is it?" Aang asked, still thinking Roku might know.
I have no idea. It appears to be a vessel of some sort.
*FLASH*
...Aang, you must return to your body so that you may resume your duties. Prepare for anything, for whatever this entity is, it may very well be here to upsurp the balance of the world, or even balance itself.
*FLASH*
Aang sat up."It wasn't a bad dream", he said,"it was a vision. I was talking to Roku, and there was this big flash, and then this giant, round, pointy thing came out of nowhere. Then Roku was gone, and then a meteor..."
*FLASH*
"...You just got through telling everybody specificly that Mount Makapu wouldn't go off for the next three years! You had no idea that was gonna happen just like the rest of us! Ergo, your not real! I was right, and you were wrong, so HA!"
"You better hope I'm not a real fortunteller," Aunt Wu defended herself, resting her old hands on her old hips,"otherwise, that little fluke could have been a sign that the universe has been altered..."
*FLASH*
"...It's probably nothing," replied the fortuneteller sarcasticly,"it could be just a change of weather, or a powerful, destructive force has manifested itself and is intent on consuming the universe and everything in it."
*FLASH*
"Do you know what you've done?!" Katara yelled, spinning her head to her brother,"Because of you, no one believes her anymore! Maybe you should think what happens when Aunt Wu actually does forsee something terrible, and everybody ignores her all because of one little fluke!"
*FLASH*
"I can't help it, Katara," Aang replied,"The cosmic order has been compromised. Even if it's nothing bad, I just know this isn't the end of it..."
*FLASH*
Book Four:
Metal
Chapter Three:
The Beseige
Silence...it was all that was there.
No dancing flames to conceal his mortality, no peons that wouldn't so much as dream of looking upon his face, not even a redish metallic shade to ever remind him that he was still home. He just sat there, more or less lay there, aganst the even-temperatured, grey stone wall, his arms crossed against his bare chest. They offered him raggs to wear but he rectracted, not surprising many.
Ninety-seven days - yes, he counted - he had been here, festering in this cell for ninety-seven long, solid days, and still the most unbelievable factuality to comprehend was ringing out all over the map: he lost. Not to some sort of great warrior, but to a boy; a good-natured little vegetarian, a boy that didn't even wish to harm him to begin with. And not only was he over-powered by an individual three quarters of his own height in every manner he could think of, not only did that same child deny him the most commendable of deaths, that the Avatar, the most powerful mortal there ever will be, would have absolutely no other option but to put forth every ounce of power against him and slay him like the heathen god he should have been, to be recorded in history as one equal, if not over-shadowing, to such men as the great Chin the Conquerer, or even his own grandfather, who hunted wild dragons for sport...
That boy, that infant, thought it best to strip from him what was practicly his very essence: his very bending, and toss what was left in a prison, a mere prison; forced to endure the relentless jokes and murmurings of the worthless guards that patroled the halls about his failure, dubbed with such degrading monikers as "The Phoenix Louse" or "The Oven Lord".
A child didn't deserve to weild such a gift, a gift that should've been his. And he was going to get it to; he didn't care how or when this miracle would take place, but he knew he couldn't just sit here for the rest of his life with these lowly morons; this simply couldn't be his destiny, not his destiny...
Suddenly, the silence was supplanted with echoing footsteps that slowly neared his cell, along with rather pleasant scent that penatrated through the usual unspeakable odors; he had a feeling those footsteps and scent were for him.
During his "stay" in prison, he had made it a point to memorize every footstep that had the audacity to pass his cell. These in particular were somewhat soft, possibly attempting to resist any added weight the person's legs had the unbarrable burden to support. Unforunately, the footsteps were only few yards from his room before he recognized the previously unfamiliar scent: Ginseng tea.
Oh, Agni, just kill me now...
The rusty metal door squeaked open, and in came former General Iroh in his old Fire Nation attire, holding a steaming teapot resting on a saucer along with two tea cups on either side. He was wearing mittens, of course.
"Ah, there you are, my brother," the former general beamed.
Ozai simply stared, sucking as much subtle hatred into his haggard face as physicly possible, which would be saying a lot for a former Fire Lord.
Iroh sat down cross-legged before the cage bars, carfully setting his Earth Kingdom tea set atop a table cloth on the floor."You know," he began, pouring some piping hot tea into his cup. Ozai wondered how his brother managed to keep it that hot for so long, but he'd rather not get into another elongated dialougue over some hot-leaf juice, "I was drinking this very same tea one day at my apartment, and it just occured to me: we have not spoken to eachother in over three-and-a-half years," Iroh began pouring into the second cup,"I just sat there and thought,'How could this happen?' We used to talk or at least write to eachother about nearly everything; in fact, I don't think we've been able to hold a decent conversation ever since you were crowned the Fire Lord, right when-" he stopped,"...well, you know happened...I suppose it was not a very benevolent six years for any of us," he concluded with a smile, extending the second cup beyond the bars for his younger brother to take it.
Of course, the former tyrant deduced. That fat hedonist clamered all the way across the planet just to exploit the perfect (and virtualy immortal) opportunity to finally force that accursed liquid down the former ruler's gullet. It wasn't the fact that the tea in question was from the Earth Kingdom that got to him, though; it was that, after an entire season's worth of inedible grule and astronomicly unpleasant odors, a peasant's drink didn't sound so bad, though he still kept his still, exerting all his willpower to resist the pungent fragrance.
To his relief, the Dragon of the West got the message: Ozai didn't want any (though his taste buds certainly did). The retired general frowned as he pulled his hand away from the rusty bars, setting the cup on the saucer."I suppose you wish to know the reason behind denying the throne that was meant to be mine to begin with?" he inquired, though it was a retorical question: he didn't expect his brother to say anything during this visit,"Well, I guess you deserve to know..." Iroh sipped his tea,"The truth is, I was never a very appropriate choice for such a role; a general, certainly, but that was as far as it went. In my youth, I was stubborn, prideful, and thick-skinned; these traits are usually ones that define an earthbender, though that is not to say you were ever very humble..."
Ozai knew any reaction at his brother's cheap shot would only support his point.
"...but I am getting ahead of myself," Iroh continued, staring at his reflection in the tea-filled cup,"In heinsight, I suppose I reserved every right to seize the throne, but what would that of proved?" he asked, looking into his brother's eyes,"Where is the honor in taking advantage of my own nation's moment of weakness?"
Oh, so the Fire Nation is your home now?
"The War would eventully rekindle, and no one would have learned anything...But Zuko is new; he is innocent. And it is this innocence that must be preserved, and developed, so that the potholes of contention may be filled up, and forgotten."
"The pot holes of contention"? Honestly, Iroh, where do you come up with these metaphors?
Finishing his tea, the self-exile put on his mitten, picked up the set, and stood up."Well, this was a good talk. I hope that one day, your incarceration will help you to realize that the weight of the world was not meant for your shoulders."
Just before Iroh left, he removed the second cup and placed it before the bars, as a sign of no hard feellings.
Ozai listened as his elder brother's footsteps inevitably faded away with their echos. He then turned his attention down to the full teacup. He slowly brought it within the cage, stared at it for a few seconds, and took a content-full sip, as the Phoenix King had very strong sensation that, soon, there wasn't going to be an Earth Kingdom or Avatar at all.
Meanwhile, in Gaoling...
A familiar earthbending champion crashed head-first onto the unmerciful ground below the stage.
"And the Boulder has been crumbled once again!" announced Xin Fu to the roaring audience.
"HO Yeah! Third time in a row, baby!" Toph vocalized, embracing her thunderous fans.
"The Boulder is seriously reevaluating his career..."the champion grimaced in third-person before allowing his head to fall back against the perforated floor.
"Hurray, Toph!" Poppy cheered for her daughter."Oh, Lao, I'm so happy we decided to come; look how happy she is!" she beamed, said girl flaunting an evil laugh.
Lao had his chin rest against his palm."I know; I just wish our daughter would be more dignified about the whole thing..."
Indeed, it was the latest Earth Rumbler tournament, and Toph Bei Fong, publicly known as the infamous Blind Bandit, had just smacked down her supposed rival, the Boulder, into a never-ending river of humiliation for the third time in a row (the second time was a private match, so it was unofficial), thus retaining her consistent title as the greatest earthbender in the world.
Xin Fu dropped down to the stage."And there it is, folks! All bets are final, and the Blind Bandit reigns supreme! Although, I'm not gonna lie here, people: anybody who's been here before, whether on the seats or in the ring, could've seen this a continent away. For there was only one man who ever bested her in combat, one man who put this trash-talking brat in her place! And that man...was the AVATAR!"
The audience agreed with another wave of screams and cheers. Toph was simply loving her new reputation as a result of her adventures with Aang; she did, however, have several mixed opinions about being labeled as "second to the Avatar" in terms of earthbending skill.
The former champion continued,"But it really makes ya think, folks: Could there be anyone else?"
"NOOOOOO!" the devoted fans replied.
"Is there anyone else man enough to take on this little girl?" Xin Fu inquired, gaining several more booooo's.
"Maybe your right! Maybe there is no other man that can best The Blind Bandit of Goaling!"
The audience cheered at this powerfully, but Toph raised an eyebrow. To her, it sounded as if Xin was about to introduce a new fighter that was a girl just like her. That actually sounded neat.
"But if a man can't defeat her, my brothers and sisters...what about a BEAST!? That's right, folks: the next opponent to challenge the Bandit...isn't even human!"
Now the audience and Toph were the right amount of confused.
"Oh my goodness, he's not going to force her to fight a badgermole, is he!?" Lao exclaimed clutching his hair.
"pfft, What, another Badgermole? I eat those for breakfast", Toph crossed her arms in contrast.
"The creature has come from a far away land, where the ancient monsters of legend still reign!" Xin Fu trumpeted, swinging his arm in a wide dramatic arc."And now...The Blind Bandit will have to face a being the likes of which she has never seen before!"
"Well, I've never actually seen anything, so..." Toph mumbled.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you...!" he swung his finger to the sky. At the same time, a figure lept from below, over his finger, and landed in the center of the stage on his over-sized sneakers."THE GREEN DRAGON!"
Vector pumped his fists in the air. "YEAAAAH BABY!"
Topics blind eyes shot open. "What in the...?"
The audience exploded with cheers at the sight of the talking animal.
"Is that a talking alligator!?" Lao vocalized.
"Actually, he's a crocodile," Espio corrected.
The rich man jumped in fright at the purple chameleon on his left.
"And he's our friend!" Charmy jolted into the human's face.
"He's Charmy's friend; he just signs my paychecks." the lizard specified.
"WHAT IS HAPPENING!?" Lao screamed with clawed hands.
"WOOOOOOOOHHH!" Vector went, embracing the crowd's cheers.
Toph was impressed, not just by the talking lizard in front of her, but the lengths Xin Fu must have gone to find this thing - he really must be desperate to take the Blind Bandit down a peg.
"What do you think, people of Gaoling?" Xin Fun went on."Do you think this beast will be the one to push this little girl down to third place!?" The audience booed faithfully."I guess we'll just have to find out!"
Upon hearing this, Vector stopped cheering himself on."Wait a second..." his long face swung between Xin Fu and the aforementioned little girl, "I'm s'pose to fight a little girl?" The crocodile vocalized
The announcer threw his finger dramatically,"Oh yes! But not just any little girl: The same little girl that taught the Avatar the art of earthbending in the the first place!" the masses cheered as he spoke,"The same girl whom not even the Fire Nation Elite could bring down! The same girl that tore apart an entire air fleet with nothing but her bare hands and feet! The same girl that drove a path of destruction, all the way to the...Fire...Nation...capital..." Xin Fu trailed off, staring up at what was definitely the most bizarre sight of his life; and, as always, audience was in complete agreement.
"Is that what I think it is?" Espio grimaced, as the petrified Charmy dropped his bag of fire flakes.
The Blind Bandit was curious as to why the whole arena, including her parents, suddenly fell dead silent; she was beginning to assume everyone had left in a hurry, until the girl sensed a mysterious gust of air pressing against the stage floor behind her, along with an erie hissing noise. She took a wild guess and speculated it to be from an air-scooter, and there was only one individual capable of such a technique...
"That you, Twinkle-toes? Well, what're the odds! Xin Foo Foo was just talkin' about ya. I'm glad you're here actually, cause' now I can settle that score with your little butt back in spring; ya know, when you ruined my record?"
Unfortunately, the young handicap was utterly oblivious to the enormous, black, metal upper-half hovering opposite of her. The span of its huge, shield-like arms were equivalent to the length of a full-grown kommodo rhino, with white claws and a strange green luminessence emmitting from its palms. It seemed to be propelling itself upwards via dual blue flames shooting out from its backside, along with some sort of tail to stabalize its flight. Its most erie feature was its single, green, squinting eye with a horizontal groove behind it, most likely for allowing the eye to shift left and right; along with strange, unfamiliar markings on the lower right side of its midsection, although if properly translated, would have most certainly read "E-101".
"...Hello? Are you sleep-scootering again?" Toph inquiried, turning toward her "friend".
Even futher strange, the legless creature extended both its arms at the unsuspecting Toph. Suddenly, a yellow ball of pure light manifested between its palms.
"...Aang?..."
"What's it doing?" Lao inquired.
"KID, LOOK OUT!" Vector whaled.
"What?" Toph queried.
Without warning, the monster released the ball, which barreled straight for the girl as if fired like an arrow.
Toph gasped, and quickly jerked up a rock slab at the last second. The entire stage was engulfed in fire-born smoke, then everything went black...
Meanwhile, in the newly established "peace council" room at the aformentioned capitol...
"What is wrong with you people?" demanded one Earth Kingdom commander,"The War is over! You have no right to use all of those factories and installations on our soil!"
"For your information, Commander..." began a Fire Nation admiral,"the Fire Nation requires these installations for sufficient energy resouces and proper transportation."
" 'Transportation'?" inquired another Earth Kingdom official,"I thought the airships were meant to partially solve your fuel problem. With all due respect, what excuse does the Fire Lord have for mining an estimated eight-percent more coal since Sozins Comet?"
"Our airships are inflated with steam, steam which originates from heat, which, for the moment, can only be generated by burning coal! Besides, those are are merely your Earth Kingdom estimations! Our national archive's statitics clearly state that..."
And that's the kind of dialogue that Fire Lord Zuko has been listening to since the War ended; and, frankly, the young monarch was deeply considering any other possible reasons on why his uncle turned down the throne. He couldn't completely blame Iroh, though; it was in fact Sokka's idea to pass a new law that required the Fire Lord to stay silent during council meetings until a simple ultimatum was derived out of the seemingly endless bickering for the Fire Lord to decide, which would then end the dicussion, and from were the scarred teen sat, said scenario was about to take place. That is to say, as long as no one changed the subject...
"And while we are at it, the Earth Kingdom charges far to much for produce. What is it with you people and cabbage?!"
The Fire Lord released a frustrated breath, clamping his hand around his face. If only he'd of known of the precious silence he possessed as a banished prince...
Out of nowhere, the entrance drapes flapped open as a servant skidded into the room."WAIT! STOP THE MEETING! I HAVE AN URGENT MESSAGE!"
"Really!?-I mean uhh...How dare you burst in here like that! You could really scare somebody!" Zuko pretended to complain.
The messenger tried to catch his breath."A thousand apologies, my lord..." he panted, bowing in respect,"...An unofficial report has come from the Boiling Rock. The facility has just been..." he panted still,"...raided."
The flame-lite room went wide-eyed in a fraction of a second.
"Raided? By who?" The Fire Lord demanded.
The Fire Nation nobles threw a suspicious glare in the direction of their new Earth Kingdom colleagues.
"They're were no confirmations," the servant explained, still facing the floor,"What we do know is that apparently, the Boiling Rock was stormed by a band of elite soldiers, whom the trained personel were no match for. They might of even had their own airship..."
"Go on," the nearest official urged.
"...er...There is considerable damage to the inner walls and outer sections; no casulties so far. All inmates are accounted for, mi-..." the messenger haulted, then forcefully swallowed his fear,"...minus one..."
While one prisoner out of hundreds seemed more of a blemish than an emergency to most, Fire Lord Zuko knew full well that it might as well have been every other inmate that disappeared instead. A gallon of horror played all over his face, for no one had to inform the young monarch that the one in question was not simply some random theif, arsonist, or even a former terrorist: it was her.
"Get out..." he hissed, in a tone that would've caused even his father to turn his head.
"But, your majesty, you didn't even give him a chance to tell-"
"GET OUT!" The Fire Lord thundered as he arose to his feet, the flames suddenly surpassing his height.
The officials understood; everyone slowly walked (aside from the messenger, who fled for his life) out of the council room, leaving the enraged teen with nothing but the flames that surrounded him.
The monarch sunk to his knees, breathing heavily as he wiped the drips of sweat from his forehead. Even in her absence, she still manages to bring out the worst in him.
Katara and Aang were outside in the royal secret garden in the man-made pond performing their usual dual waterbending exercise; the turtleducks didn't seem to mind.
The young Avatar had grown significantly more sane since Mount Makapu's final eruption, what with Sokka's uncharacteristic reassurance that his waterbending was starting to mysteriously vanish, perhaps due to the universe apparently fixing itself (Katara simply couldn't restrain herself from bursting unto a frenzy of joy at the news). This assurance proved effective enough to a degree where the Air Nomad was able to think about something of a lesser claimed importance than that of his vision; like the truth for example...
"Um, hey, Katara?" he began,"You know how I always say that every day should be treated like a holiday?"
"Uh, sure, I think I remember something like that..." the young master replied, focusing on the large circleing drip she was partialy controlling.
"Well, today might be kind of one of those days that should be...er... extra-treated?"
"Why? Is today some sort of Air Nomad holiday?" Katara inquired.
"Well, yeah, I guess-well, no, I mean, it's not like one o' those, ya know, huge celebrations, it's more like, kind of a-I guess, more of a local kind of-well, it's a bit smaller than that, actually-unless, well, if you know alot o' people, that is. See, it's really more to those, I think, kinda' personal traditions where-well, it's not exactly Air Nomad-exclusive, I mean, everybody has one-er-once a year would be a-...Look what I'm trying to tell you is-"
Suddenly, the bended drip plopped back into its origin, slightly disturbing the turtleducks.
"Today's your birthday?!" Katara vocalized rather loudly.
The Avatar immediately shot his hands toward her as a sign to lower her voice."Sssshhhh! Will you keep it down?! The whole world doesn't have to know!" he yell/whispered.
"And why shouldn't it?" the waterbender inquired,"You, the Avatar, the protector and overseer of the entire planet has just turned thirteen! How much greater symbolism for a new beginning could there be other than the knowledge that you're actually growing up?!" she demanded.
"I know where you're getting to, Katara," the protector and overseer explained,"but don't you think we've all had enough jubilation for one season? A couple days ago, we were gallevanting aross the map pretty much just telling everybody how awsome we are. Maybe it's time to actually start healing the world of its wounds rather than just mask them all with pretty rugs."
"That's easy for you to say," Katara criticized,"you're one of the only two people that didn't live their whole lives through a century of war..."
"One of four, actually..."
"What?"
"Er...it's not important; move on..."
"...Well, my point is, don't you at least want a present or something?" she asked.
"Why do I need any?" he counter-asked,"I already have the best gift an Avatar could want: the world is at complete tranquility," Aang explained, gazing into the clouds,"Thanks to our efforts, now pretty much anybody can be pretty much anybody's friend; and not only that: the celestial imbalance I sensed has apparently been rebalanced, atleast according to what Sokka told me..." he finished, turning to his safe-to-call girlfriend, only to be met with an expression of total awe.
"...What? It's okay to listen to Sokka once in a while..."
"...aa...big...met...tur..." Katara impulsively whimpered.
"I'm not catching you..." the Avatar replied a second before a large, leather mitten on a cord shot down from behind him, gripping around the waterbender's mid-section, and then yanking her back with a scream as fast as it came.
Not enough time to gasp, Aang spun around to see his teacher-friend in the left arm of a big, green, legless monster that vaguely fit Katara's description, floating
The thing lowered Katara to eye-level "scanning ... target acquired: requesting immediate extraction"...it analysed, pointing its free palm at her.
"Wait, what are you..." the girl attempted before being sprayed with a puff of purple mist, losing consciousness almost instantly.
"LET HER GO!" Aang roared, spinning a full three hundred and sixty degrees and sending a liquid missile straight for its head; however, in the blink of an eye, the thing vanished in an almost imperceptible flash of bluish-green with his girlfriend altogether, the projectile slamming into the roof shingles instead, followed by an abrupt silence...
"...k...Katara...?" the pre-teen asked weakly, his last glimmer of optimism throwing its voice out before fully embracing the truth: she was gone.
"KATAARAAAAAA!"
At first, total blackness; a moment after, colors gradually un-blurred into a nearly clear image. She groaned as she regained consciousness.
As soon as Katara had, she hauled herself up from the covers of the apparent bed she was sleeping in, and looked around. The room she was in was poorly lit, with only one small dim light off the ceiling, so any details were at first difficult to make out. From where she sat, the waterbender observed a completely metal room with one, big, hatch-less door to her right, and no windows - hence the darkness.
"Where am I?" Katara asked rhetorically, assuming she was alone; she soon found out she wasn't
"Guuugh... Who's talking...?" grumbled a familiar, smaller voice.
"Toph?" Katara asked, shifting to her left to barely see another bed to her left, its blankets repeatedly unleveled.
"Sugar Queen? What the heck are you doin' in my roooo-oof!" the blind girl grunted as she tumbled off of the bed, landing painfully on the metal floor. This of course caused a series of echoing vibrations, inadverdantly enabling the bandit to sense the labrinth of endless hallways below her. A subtle "woah" escaped her lips; she then gained the awkward sensation this wasn't her room.
Katara rushed to her friend, helping her up."Toph, where are we?" the Water Tribe girl asked literaly.
"How should I know? I just woke up!" replied the Earth Kingdom girl.
Out of nowhere, the room rang with an elongated moan. The two turned their attention to a third bed opposite of thhe one Katara had awaken from. They approached the bed, and (Katara) looked down upon a pale-skinned, dark-haired unfamilair girl around her age. The girl slowly open her eyes and gazed up at brown-haired, dark-skinned girl hanging above her."...w-What happened?" she mumbled meekly, looking as if attempting to recall a familiar face.
"er-Oh, sorry," Katara apologized,"I wish I could tell you but, I guess I'm just as confused as you are..."
To the young waterbender, this mysterious girl seemed harmless enough, but then again so does everyone else in a morning daze; for just as Katara had finshed her apology, Toph ran the voice through her head until an instant match was derived...
"Um, Katara... MOVE!" she shouted, jerking her friend out of the way a mere half-second before nearly being consumed within a plume of blue fire, which incinerated Katara's bed in place of her.
Azula attempted to strike at her again, but Katara froze the princess in her tracks via blood bending; Katara swung her arms to the side, sending Azula against the wall. Toph pried the bed's frame to pieces and used some of those pieces to wrap around Azula's wrists and ankles, pinning her to the wall.
The two breathed heavily in relief.
"Hurray, teamwork..." Toph weakly attempted to cheer.
Meanwhile, in Chief Hakoda's apartment...
The renound sword maker and sword master Piandao was taking time out of his routine to give his latest apprentice, Sokka, proper lesson in calligraphy via canvas. Chief Hakoka was utilizing his own free time to witness the lesson while seated on the couch, trying a bowl of eelhound soup (and deeply regretting it; this endeavor was simply not to offend his son's qutie clearly Fire Nation teacher). Suki was also on the couch, brushing Momo's fur.
"Remember, Sokka," Piandao intsructed,"Don't focus on what you're painting right now, focus on what you're about to paint. Imagine a whole image, and then create it; creativity is a core element on the battlefeild. Concentrate, cancel out all other distractions: it's just you, and the canvas..."
As expected, Aang literally blasted into the room."KATARA'S BEEN KIDNAPPED BY ANOTHER METAL MONSTER!"
"METAL WHAT?!" Sokka screamed, spinning around and accidentally whipping a glop of paint onto Momo's back, causing the lemur to go berserk and knock over Hakoda's soup, tip over the canvas, and soar out the window, followed by silence...
"...Now, you see how yelling upsets the mood of a room?" the sword master calmly lectured.
"What's going on!? Where are we!?" demanded the young waterbender,"Thank you, by the way..." she murmured to Toph.
"Eh, it's a living..." replied Toph.
The former princess scowled at them for a moment, but sighed as she let her fingers go limp."Of course," she muttered,"Just go right ahead and assume that I have somehow kidnapped you out of the clear blue sky, and imprisoned you within some random fortress; I mean, why else would I be trapped in here as well, right?" she inquired sarcastically.
Katara was momentarily thrown off guard by her comment, logic sinking in a second and a half later,"...Oh, well sorry, I didn't-"
"Well, you should've," Azula snapped,"There are other bad people in the world besides me, believe or not..."
"Was it not you who tried to blow Katara's head off thirty seconds ago?" Toph interjected.
"Oh, that; I thought I was having that nightmare again, only in the dream, you try to kill me, and that's when I realized my pillow is actually Uncle's bare stomach, and then he starts telling me how he's going brew me into tea and..."
"I think I'munna' stop you right there..." the Blind Bandit interrupted, having gained far more information than she'd hoped.
"Well you could atleast apologize..." Katara mumbled loudly.
"Are you refering to the dream or my trying to kill you?" Azula inquired for confirmation.
"Which do you think!?"
"Uhh, I just had an epiphany:.." Toph vocalized,"If the Fire Nation didn't capture us," she pointed to Azula,"and I know it wasn't the Earth Kingdom," she gestures to herself,"theeen, where are we, exactly?"
"A MACHINE!?" Hakota exclaimed.
"And it did kidnapped Katara?" Piandao demanded for confirmation.
Aang allowed the river to flow once more, resting his arms on his lap, sighing,"Yes..." he confirmed,"It took her, and I was too overcome by my own shock do anything about it," he mourned, placing his face into his palms.
The rest of the group had only silence.
Except for Sokka, he continued to scream.
Suki slapped him quiet."SOKKA! Calm down!"
"CALM DOWN!?" Sokka screamed in her face."How can I calm down when my sister's been kidnapped by a third machine monster and then vanishes into thin air!? YOU WERE RIGHT THERE, AANG! WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP IT!?" He shrieked, gripping the airbender by the neck and throttling him.
"STOP IT!" Hakoda pried the teen away from Aang and pushing away."Listen to me!," he began, then breathing,"He already said there was nothing he could do. Now...Katara will be okay for the time being, she's a strong girl, even stronger then me..."
"But she's NOT stronger the me! I could have done something! I'm stronger than her now! I'm a...!" the words were stuck in his mind. He froze.
"It's alright, Sokka..." Hakoda rested his hand on his son's shoulder,"You just found out you're a waterbender a few days ago; don't prop yourself up like everyone else is."
Sokka found great comfort in his father's words, despite the fact that he stopped mid sentenced for a completely different reason.
"...We need to look further into this," Aang announced to the group, getting up from his seat and facing them,"Katara's somewhere in trouble, and we can't stop the search no matter what, not for any other emergency."
With timing so perfect, it was almost like a sitcom, Fire Lord Zuko violently reopened the entrance with his foot,"AZULA'S ESCAPED FROM THE BOILING ROCK!"
In stark contrast to the Avatar's entrance, the group became wide-eyed with horror.
"Oh, and apparently, it's Aang's birthday," he added quickly.
"Let's have a look-see..." Toph began, in a tone reminiscent of a dentist as she rubbed her palms together. The Bandit preceded to press her hands against the wall east of the supposed door. As she did so, Katara and Azula observed her expressions, which appeared to be indicating more bewilderment with each passing second, constantly mumbling such phrases as "wow..." or "wait, what?..." as time went by, almost as if the blind girl was engaging in communication with an some sort of ethereal figure; it failed to improve the former princess's mood.
"Oh, for Ran's sake, is that all you can say?!" the still restrained Azula inquired, filled to the brim with irritation,"I mean really, if you can't come across anything other than more confusion, you might as well take your hand off that wall and go back to bed!" she snapped, though the source of annoyance was far to engrossed in her activity to hear her.
"She's doing her best," Katara defended,"You should be thankful she can bend metal at all."
"And why, pre-tell, should I be thankful for something that doesn't rear results?"
"Oh, whatever! It's not like you have the power to do anything about it, anyway..." the young waterbender replied, dismissing the young firebender as she walked over to her friend."Any luck?"
"I wish you could see it," the human metal detector started quietly,"It just goes on and on. Endless rooms and halls, all sorts of pipes and wires and little parts moving by themselves; by themselves, Katara. And if that's not enough, this whole place, as far as I see it - and that's pretty darn far - is...how do I put it into words? Buzzing? Yeah, buzzing! Everything is buzzing with some kinda' energy."
" 'Buzzing with'...? I'm sorry, Toph, I don't think I..."
"I know I'm making less sense as I go, but 'buzzing' is the closest word I can think of," the just as confused earthbender explained.
"Are there any other prisoners here besides us?" Katara wondered.
"No, there's no one else; in fact, as crazy as I already sound, I'm pretty sure we're the only living things in this place..."
At this news, even Azula had to get up and stare at the girl."No one else? That's impossible! If we're the only ones here, then who's monitoring all of those machines you were talking about? Who's running the facility?!" the former princess demanded.
"I...don't know..."
A haze of anxiety fell upon the three girls; but, as usually, the earthbender broke the eerie silence she created.
"...But we're gonna find out..." she declared, in true Earth Kingdom fashion, proudly trekking toward the speculated entrance; the young champion rooted her feet against the floor, and with a mighty roar, pounded her fists into the door... immediately causing the girl to balk away in pain, chanting "ow!" with a short frequency.
"Well that was forseeable..." was Azula's instant reaction.
"Toph, are you alright?" Katara asked, dashing to her friend and checking for bruises.
"Odd, I thought metal was simply a purified form of earth; isn't that how you can see through it?" the firebender teased, gaining another glared from the waterbender.
"...ow...First of all..." Toph began, illuminating the former princess between her throbs,"I don't-ow- 'see' through metal or earth, I-ouch-sense the vibrations-eep- that travel through the earth or metal-hurt-which I can decipher-pain-into a clear, three-dimentional shape...whew! worst part over...Second, to anwer your question, yes, metal is just purified earth; it's just that, apparently, this particular metal is a bit purer than what I'm used to. Otherwise, my knuckles would be broken right now,"she finished, walking back over to the door with far less confidence, and feeling it.
"Yep, it'll definately be a while before I get the swing o' this door; probably be like learning how to metalbend all over again," she confirmed.
The other two seemed somewhat dissappointed; it took a second before the full situation sank in.
"So...we're trapped in here?" Azula inquired for confirmation, though she didn't care for an answer,"Fine, I suppose as long as I don't have to do anything..." the former princess moaned , inadvertently imitating Mai with her pessimism.
The waterbender decided to do so as well, sitting on the bed Toph woke up in (as Katara's bed was still clearly on fire). As Katara watched her friend search for impurties in the door, she couldn't help but wonder just where she was. According to what the Bandit had just explaned to her, they were all alone in some sort of abandoned base with no other signs of life aside from machines being propelled by a mysterious "buzzing" force; but what kind of force buzzes? But more importantly, Aang is with little doubt looking for her; if the three girls have no idea where they are, how on earth would Aang find them?
Appa soared through the sky, carrying the group to the Boiling Rock to find answers behind the recent raid; though Chief Hakoda and Master Piandao chose to stay at the capitol, the palace put on high alert in case of a possible invasion.
"I'm confused; what happened to not stopping the search FOR MY SISTER no matter what!?" Sokka inquired.
"There's gotta be a connection between Katara's capture and Azula's escape; the Boiling Rock was invaded on the same day Katara was kidnapped, there's no way this is a coincidence " the young Avatar explaned.
"Right, so, this other machine...what'd it look like exactly?" the warrior inquired.
"I already told you: it was like a big, floating cylinder with arms but no legs," Aang re-explained.
"Was it red?" Zuko asked.
"What?...No, it was green but...why is that important right now?" the airbender demanded.
"Because color makes all the difference," Zuko suddenly followed up.
"How's that?" Suki asked.
"Even before the War, the Fire Nation has always been the most advanced of the for nations in terms of engineering. Think about it, what would the masses think if there was so much as a rumor that the Southern Water Chief's daughter was captured with a red device? You know, as in: red like the Fire Nation?"
A chill enveloped the group's bodies at the prospect of the Fire Lord's implication.
"Four sea-sons: Fooouuur loves..."
Katara rested atop the cover of the bed; her arms cross, and her face drenched with irritation - an expression the young waterbender wasn't normally aquainted with; though the girl was thoroughly justified, as Azula had now been singing "Four Seasons" - supposedly one of General Iroh's favorate songs - for roughly ninety-one minutes in an awfully dull tone, as if beckoning the nearest hard object to her forehead. Any average-tempered individual might have gone off after the first few minutes, which would imply the Water Tribe girl had accomplished a record by not saying anything until now...
"...Would... you... please... SHUT. UP!" Katara finally roared, silencing the former princess.
"...I was just singing..." the firebender replied quietly.
"Yeah, 'just singing'; 'just singing' for about an hour and a half!" the waterbender reminded,"I mean, isn't it enough that I'm trapped in here with someone who's out for my blood?!"
"She was just singing, Katara, there's no reason to go overboard about it," Toph interjected, still feeling the door.
"You're not actually standing up for her, are you?" Katara inquired,"I thought you hated noise because it interfers with your bending!"
"What? I never said that," the Bandit contradicted,"in fact, more vibrations help me see clearer, so to speak. And besides, Azula wasn't making any noise, she was singing; and if ya don't like singing, you could've just said so."
"I most certainly do not not like singing!" Katara defended herself, shooting up from her/Toph's bed, "In fact, I love 'Four Seasons', it's the way she sings it that makes it sound annoying..."
As the Water Tribe girl ranted, the Earth Kingdom girl gave the door one more good double jabb; and to her over all relief, created a large dent."...Hey, I got it!" she beamed.
"Oh, I get it, so it's just me you don't like?" Azula inquired, completely missing Toph's announcement.
"Umm, Guys?"
"Ooh! Ya think so? Just because I date the the most hospitable namby pamby on the planet doesn't neccessarily mean I'm willing to be best friends with the same psycho that almost killed him..." Katara retorted.
"Hellooo. I just solved the door problem? The one that's keeping us in here?"
" 'Namby pamby'?" Azula repeated,"Don't you so much as mention 'namby pamby' in my presence! And I'm not just talking about Ty Lee, I'm talking about Ty Lo, Ty Lei, Ty La, Ty Lu, I-I can even remember the other ones! It's no wonder that poor girl left for the circus; it's complete madness!"
Toph sighed."Look, I'm not waitin' for this to end; just please remember to use the me-sized hole I just made when you two're done?" she suggested, exiting through said hole.
"Hole?" the bickering benders inquired simultaneously, turning to the Toph-sized exit.
Katara darted for the exit.
"Um, excuse me..." Azula's voice stopped her.
Katara looked at her.
"Aren't you forgetting someone?" the firebender reminded.
The waterbender's lips sank at the idea."You're not serious: you try to kill me the moment you see me, and you expect me to let you go?"
"Seriously, I'm not slowing down for you two...!" Toph called from down the hall.
"Listen, we've already established that whomever has captured us is not on either side. Do you see? We have a common enemy, and the only way for us to defeat this unknown enemy is for me to cast aside my petty grievances toward your people and help you escape, and judging by the look of things, you two certainly need all the help you can hold on to at the moment. Do we have an accord?" the firebender raised an eyebrow.
The waterbender tightened her mouth and scowled at the girl; she had no reason to disagree.
Katara shut her eyes."Toph! Come back, I need you for a second...!"
After a long, anxious flight, the group were now sailing over the ring of earth that surrounded the Boiling Rock, presumably the most impregnable prison on the planet - in or out - all the more reason to be anxious to know what military force could achieve what the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes could not.
"Uh, guys, I know I'm a little late on the mark but, are we still sure this is a good idea?" the team's chief skeptic queried; Appa entering the cloud of steam.
"What are you talking about?" Zuko demanded,"How else are we supposed to find out what happened to the Boiling Rock if we don't actually go in there?"
"I know, I know," Sokka replied," I just keep thinking what would happen if whoever invaded the place is still, ya know, there, and that message you got was actually a trap..."
"I don't think will have to worry about that..." Suki announced nervousely, pointing out in the distance.
The group faced forward, expecting to see a prison complex in ruins, but as far as the outside walls were concerned, the place was virtually unscathed; the other side on the other hand, as the children soon found out, was completely devastated. The court yard was riddled with debris and scorch marks, several watch towers collapsed; the inner walls were perforated like a prairie hog field, and Zuko could've sworn there was once a giant harpoon ballista where a crude hole lay, the battlement probably boiling at the bottom of the lake right now...
The staff was still clearly active, substituting repaires for the less extreme damages.
Appa landed on the gondola port, two parralel rows of guards immedietely assembling to greet them.
"Oh yeah, I keep forgetting: we're pretty high up in the world, aren't we?" the Southern Water Prince realized as the Fire Lord, Kyoshi Warrior captian, and Avatar climbed off the last flying bison in existence.
A man appeared at the end of the double row."Thank you for responding to my message, my lord," the man said in the humblest of tones, naturaly bowing down,"It is a great honor that you would be willing to personally..."
"Yeah, it's nice to meet you too-What happened here?!" said lord interrupted, not in the slightest interested in formalites.
"And where's the warden?" Sokka wondered.
"Actually, the warden you know is no longer here," the man explained,"he could never really recover from the loss of his record, and decided to jump off a high place..."
The group froze.
Aang couldn't find his lungs "...you mean he..."
"What?" he paused, soon after realizing how his words could be misread,"Ohhhh-er- of course not! What I meant to say is that he recently retired and is probably living with his family. I'm the new warden, the 'high place I was refering to," the new warden hastily explained, pointing at himself at the end.
The teens let out sighs of relief.
"Oh...heh heh...of course..." the Fire Lord giggled, relieved of the possibility that he had played a part in suicide,"...But seriously, what happened? This place looks like it was in the path of a tsunami!"
"Right...that's what you came here for..." the new warden grimaced, rubbing the back of his neck "...Well, there's really no rational way of explaining this; and I pray, my lord, that you believe me; this ordeal is just as serious as it is unbelievable..."
"Well spit it out already! Who invaded this place?!" the Avatar demanded loudly.
"I-it wasn't so much as who but more of a what; and the what in happens to be..." he took a deep breath "...a giant, mechanical dog."
If the group were auditioning for a role at that very moment in which they would portray flabergasted teens, they would've won an award.
"Are we there yet?" Toph peeped immaturely as the girls paced down another dark, seemingly endless hallway, lit by Azula via firebending, Katara at the front. The three had their heads hung in exhaustion, not really paying attention to where they were going: they were all certain after five minutes of not running into a random guard, sentry, any other living organism that the building was truly abandoned.
"I don't know; you're the one with the feet," Azula replied.
"Well, my feet say we're lost. This is knda' the part where one of you sees a special shortcut; ya know, with your eyes?"
The firebender moaned."What's the point of being able to pick up vibrations from any given direction if you don't even know where you're going?"
"Hey! I know a heck of a lot more about what's going on around me than any instrument you got!" the earthbender cried, throwing her finger in the former princess's direction,"I can spring ambushes, counter an attack before it's performed, tell when people are lying..."
"Minus anybody with an ounce of self-control..." Azula finished,"Really, if you're as perceptive as you make yourself out to be, I fail to see why you can't simply look into someone's eyes and...oh, that's right; nevermind..." she remarked in way that Toph didn't even want to respond.
"Was that really neccessary?" Katara inquired.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Why is it that you absolutely have to step on any one in the same room as you and make them feel useless?" the waterbender demanded.
"Well, I don't how else I'm to supposed to win an arguement; especially between an enemy..." the firebender replied.
" 'Enemy' ?" Katara repeated,"Can you hear yourself? The War is over! Aang I understand, but how could you hold anything against Toph? You barely know her!"
The former princess released an overwelmingly condesending sigh."I wouldn't expect you to understand; you having lived your entire life within an impaired society founded upon substance and being totally devoid of any form of of political establishment whatsoever..." she patronized, thoroughly geared for a spontaneious burst of fury from her target.
While preasure was indeed building up within the young waterbender, the "savage" chose to vent her frustration in a more passive form."Your right," she humbly consigned,"Compared to you, my people's education is just above the training of pets. I guess that's why it'll forever escape me why the third greatest firebender on Earth could ever - during Sozin's Comet - be over-powered and out-smarted by a random fourteen-year old girl who didn't even expect to survive beyond that point and, the following morning, disposed of like a pile of komodo meneur by her own nation. It shall eternally elude me..."
Dead silence...
"...dang... wait, that actually happened?" Toph inquired, having never knew how she and Zuko defeated Azula. The Bandit had assumed it was a combined effort, but this? This was just...unfair.
As expected, the blind-sided firebender was frozen in her tracks; Katara realized this as their only source of light dimmed with he movement. The waterbender turned to her.
"Not as playfull as you thought it was, huh?" Katara taunted, though Azula was still motionless. After a second or two of further silence, the Water Tribe girl continued her trek."Well, you had it coming; at least now you know what it's like on the receiving eeehh!-" she yelped as she tripped over an unseen object "ow..."
Katara slowly turned on her back to view the cause of her fall: a disembodied head.
The girl gasped/sreamed the instant she laid eyes on it, shooting back onto her feet and backing away a few feet. "HEAD!" she involuntarily announced.
"It's a head?" Azula inquired rather calmly,"Interesting; I was trying to make it out seconds before...I'm sorry, but could you repeat your sentence from earlier?"
"You didn't hear what Katara said?" Toph asked,"That was by far the coolest thing that ever came out of her mouth!"
"Who cares what I said? I just tripped over a human head! Ew!" Katara muttered, frantically whiping off her ankles.
"Wait a minute..." the blind one mumbled, walking to and picking it up.
"EW!" Katara protested.
"Calm down, Suger Queen, it's made of metal," Toph explained.
"Made of...? Let me see that..." Azula asserted, as she was apparently the only girl out of the three with some degree of memory just before being kidnapped. She paced over to the object, allowing her blue flame to expand for a brighter picture.
As she did so, another object caught the corner of the eyes of both herself and Katara. The fire and waterbenders gaze traveled beyond the "head" until, finally, they came upon a sight that made their eyes grow so wide, they were almost circular.
"What're you guys gawkin' about n-...oh..." she uttered, shifting her right foot slightly for a perspective of her own.
As far as the flame luminated, the rest of the hallway was littered with a massacre of machinery. The three hesitantly continued down the wide hallway, hoping to find an end to the destruction; though they only found more and more as they walked.
There were all sorts of ravaged mechanizations, parts, and pieces of parts everywhere; it was a challenge for the girls not to step on any of them, though Toph had little difficulty. The realization that got to them the most, was that the majority of fragmented components in the dark tunnel, to a degree, bared a stomach churning resemblance to human appendages. Arms, legs, heads, and even some weapons of all shapes and sizes; from appliances around the stature of pumkinapples to gargantuan giants evisorated from the inside out.
"Look at all this," Katara squirmed,"I feel queezy almost..."
"If you think you're on the verge of it now," Azula began in a similiar tone,"what do you think destroyed them all?"
The girls attained a whole new sense of fear.
"...Man, where are we?!" Toph inquired, though under her breath as not to awaken some kind of metal-eating beast that might still be near by.
The new warden was leading the teens through one of the prison's huge corridors, which had also sustained a bit of damage. According to multiple eye-witnesses, the giant dog was merely a distraction while a band of much smaller metallic creatures stormed the building and captured Princess Azula, or Former Princess as Zuko corrected aggressively, then vanished without a trace. These creatures were discribed as being atleast six feet tall with white and black armor, mostly white; flat, wide heads with a single, luminous, horizontal blue light where eyes should be; long, slender legs with inverted joints, simliar to that of a bird's legs; they all had miniature cannons in place of forearms, ones that released continuous rounds of hot pellets that flew with lethal velocity: so fast they were comepletely invisible, and on the right arm, much larger cannons that fired explosive rockets that, according to a few inmates, were able to maneuver through air on their own; and strange attachments with two dish-shaped mechanisms that hung just above thier back that allowed the creatures to fly around themselves.
This general description seemed to severely unnerve Sokka, who managed to mask his inward horror by focusing on the pending rescue of his younger sister.
"Did anyone get a good look at the airship they used to invade?" Zuko asked the warden.
"Well, that's the thing, your Majesty, no one ever actually saw an airship..." the warden replied.
The group looked at him.
"No airship?" Aang inquired,"Then how did they get in here? There's no way it was by boat..."
The warden sighed; he forgot to mention this part."I'm afraid it's exactly the way everyone else has been saying it..."
The children slowed down in their pace. As every witness, prisoner and prison guard, explained the event, they all agreed that the creatures had appeared out of nowhere, did whatever they came to do, and left in the same instant as they appeared, with the lack of any prominent means of entry or exit.
"Are you saying that," Suki began,"they literally just manifested themselves, destroyed the place, then dissappeared into thin air?"
The warden nodded,"...both times in a breif flash of light; greenish I think..."
"Just like Katara..." the young Avatar mumbled,stopping comepletely,"I knew it! There is a connection!" he shouted, walking off and leaning on the rail.
The group threw a conserned glance toward the boy, even the warden.
"It would also explain why the outside is clean while anything behind was anninilated," Zuko realized," As crazy as it sounds, there's no other explanation..."
The girls continued their journey through the mysterious building, barely recovering from the sight they had seen. They tried to convince themselves they'd seen stranger; but then again, so did the last group that was up here...
Suddenly, Toph halted. The other girls turned to her.
"What's wrong?" Katara asked, trying not to think that they were about run into something that was still alive. That notion faded quickly, as the waterbender saw the big smile on the Bandit's face.
"I found a way out!" she announced.
Azula spun around with surprise,"Seriously?!"
"It has to be; I'm not sensing anything beyond that point! Com'on!" she explained, dashing away.
The fire and waterbenders followed in close pursuit.
Zuko joined his nomadic friend against the rail, partially in an attempt to comfort him. "You do know there's no way spirits would need an army to overtake an earthly prison complex, let alone one made of metal," the Fire Lord quietly reminded the boy with out looking at him,"Last time I checked, metal is something that humans invented..."
"That would have to mean they weren't spirits," Aang replied, glancing at some holes in the wall behind him,"Spirits can do a lot more than this..." his voice contained some angst.
"And if my sister and Katara weren't kadnapped by spirits, that means there not in the Spirit World."
The girls packed up their speed, hoping to find the exit they were searching for.
"In other words," Zuko continued," even if the ones behind this did just disappear, they would have to reappear somewhere else in the physical world; a special location they can go to to collect on their victory... an island, a cave...a vessel of some sort..."
It was at that very second that the young Avatar had recalled his vision from nearly a week ago, where his predecessor had used the exact same words.
The airbender clasped his hands around the rail, making a clapping noise and gaining everyone's attention."I know where they are!"
The doorway was in sight: they were almost there.
In the heat of the moment Azula rushed pass the other two, leaped up, and with a somersalt, jabbed both her legs forward, creating a huge fireball that blew the door open, forcing it to buckle upwards like curtians exposed to wind, succeeded by silence.
The girls slowly entered through, into a spacious room made mostly of glass, and just outside the window, was the night sky.
A smile of releif eveloped the fire and waterbender's faces...before they realized one crucial flaw in logic: the night sky was in front of them. Their gaze eventually slipped down toward the soft bluish glow beneath the glass floor that provided light for the room, attaining their most horrified expressions yet, their already exausted minds questioning reality itself simply in order to find any at all basis of perspective.
Toph had a similiar sensation as well, sensing a void of infinite nothing below the glass under her feet as well as beyond the window she faced; although her reaction was far less hysterical:"Okay, I give up, WHERE ON EARTH ARE WE?" she fumed.
"That's just it, Toph..." Katara replied with no emotion whatsoever, her blue irises quivering,"...we're not on Earth..." she revealed as she stared down at the planet itself...from one of the countless balconies aboard Space Colony Ark.