Chapter 7: The Blue Spirit

Looking back on it, Kaiden found himself really glad he didn't go into that storm. The next day, Sokka came down with a cold. They could tell because he was blabbering nonsense. Soon, Katara began coughing and Aang went out to find some medicine.

It was taking quite a while though. Kaiden walked out of the cave to get Katara and Sokka some water for the second time that night. After filling up the pouch, he turned to leave. But he only got two steps in before he felt something hard hit the back of his head.

The last thing he heard before blacking out was, "We've found someone! Take him to Admiral Zhoa!"

When Kaiden woke up, he found himself tied to two pillars by ropes. To his right, he saw Aang in the same situation. But in front of them both, Tyler saw a man with large sideburns and was obviously from the Fire Nation. This is Admiral Zhao. He looked at Aang with an evil grin.

"So this is the great Avatar?" he said, "Master of all the elements. I don't know how you've managed to elude the Fire Nation for a hundred years, but your little game of hide and seek is over. And your friend here isn't going anywhere either."

"I've never hidden from you," Aang retorted, "Untie me and I'll fight you right now!"

"Uh, no. Tell me, how does it feel to be the only airbender left? Do you miss your people? Oh, don't worry, you won't be killed like they were. See, if you die you'll just be reborn and the Fire Nation will have to being its search for the Avatar all over again. So, I'll keep you alive – but just barely."

"I hope you realize that we'll escape here," Kaiden smirked.

"Oh really now?" Zhao got up in the Image's face, "I'd love to see you try. Even if you could somehow get loose from those bonds, you'd never make it past all the guards. So drop the confident act."

Zhao turned and walked for the doors. Now angry, Aang blew a gust of wind, knocking Zhao into the wall where he collapsed in a heap. He shook his head and stood up.

"Blow all the wind you want!" Zhao snapped, "Your situation is futile. There is no escaping this fortress. And no one is coming to rescue you."

With that, Zhao exited the room.

"You know," Kaiden said, "I don't think I like that guy."

"Are you gonna try to break us out?" Aang asked.

"I'm thinking, but considering all the guards and I don't know where we are, it's gonna take a while."

"Great..." Aang grumbled, "So we just stand here?"

"Pretty much."

Suddenly, frogs started leaping out of Aang's shirt and hood.

"What? No!" Aang panicked, "Don't leave frogs! My friends are sick and they need you! Please go back to being frozen!"

"...Not even gonna ask."

Then, there were noises of violence coming from the other side of the door. They stopped abruptly and were replaced by the sound of a lock turning in the door. The door opened and a man wearing a weird blue mask enters. He brandished two curved swords and runs forward to Aang, who screamed in fear.

But the man didn't cut Aang into pieces. Instead, he sliced the ropes holding Aang to the pillars, then quickly sliced Kaiden's.

"Who are you?" Aang asked, "What's going on? Are you here to rescue us?"

The Blue Spirit opened the door and motioned for them to follow.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," Kaiden shrugged.

They followed him out past the gagged and tied guard at the door to his chamber. Aang suddenly heard frog noises and turned to see his frogs on the floor.

"My frogs!" he exclaimed, "Come back! And stop thawing out!"

The Blue Spirit came back, picked Aang up by the collar, and carried him out.

"Wait!" Aang continued, "My friends need to suck on those frogs!"

"Still not asking," Kaiden muttered as he kept running.

The group then made their way to the innermost wall of the fortress, where they began scaling it with a rope. A soldier appeared at the top of the wall and cut the rope. They fell, but Aang used airbending to cushion the landing.

When the dust cleared, the Blue Spirit unsheathed his swords and they took off.

"Stay close to me!" Aang yelled.

The third gate was closing in front of them, as were the two beyond it, and were blocked by soldiers. Aang blew a blast of air that tossed them out of the way. Aang and Kaiden made it to the gate, but the Blue Spirit got involved in a melee and had to stop.

Kaiden grabbed a spear from a guard near him, kicked him out of the way, broke the head off the spear, and launched back into battle to save his new friend. The gate closed behind the two though. The Blue Spirit was surrounded, but Aang airbent them all out of the way.

With a mighty effort, Aang then catapulted his liberator to the top of the third wall, quickly followed by Kaiden, who was on his board. They were instantly surrounded, but Aang appeared, using his staff as a helicopter blade. He plucked the Blue Spirit off the wall and heads into the next courtyard, followed by Kaiden. Aang struggled to keep the two of them aloft, while the Blue Spirit and Kaiden used their weapons to knock away the spears sent up at them by the guards. They barely get next to the top of the next wall as they crash onto the battlement. Aang's staff goes spinning away as guards instantly rush them.

Aang ran for his staff, but a guard stopped him, taking several swings at Aang with his sword. The Blue Spirit threw the guard over the wall, Aang then blew the other guards off the wall, and Kaiden simply knocked the guards back with his pole. More soldiers brought scaling ladders and the trio knocked off the soldiers as they reached the top. With two mighty blasts, Aang depopulated the two scaling ladders nearest to him as the Blue Spirit and the Image knocked the one final soldier off theirs. Aang brought over his two scaling ladders and steps onto the one the Blue Spirit had just emptied. He handed one ladder to the masked man.

"Here, take this," Aang said, "Jump on my back!"

The Blue Spirit complied and Aang began to use the ladders as massive stilts, shedding one each time a step is taken. Kaiden just casually flew alongside them.

"You know," the Image said, "You could've just asked for a ride."

A Fire Nation soldier sent a gout of flame up the ladder. It was too late though, as Aang and the masked man jump from the stilt and just managed to grab the edge of the final wall. They are unable to hold on and Kaiden wasn't fast enough to catch them, however, and fell to the ground.

The Blue Spirit drew his swords. Four firebenders unleashed their flame on them, but Aang put the masked man and Kaiden behind him and blew the flames away. Then something unexpected happened.

The Blue Spirit instantly came up behind Aang and crossed his swords in front of Aang's throat. Kaided was about to charge him, but the Blue Spirit looked at him. The Image saw that his eyes had the exact same look that his own sometimes had: the look that he had a plan. Then Kaiden immediately understood and nodded.

The gate opened and the Blue Spirit backed out with his captives, swords still at Aang's throat. Then, as they reached the end of the path, an arrow hit the Blue Spirit in the head. It only bounced off the mask, but he was knocked unconscious. Aang turned in horror, his eyes glazed. He recovered, turned around, and airbent up a huge cloud of dust around him, Kaiden, and the Blue Spirit. And inside the dust cloud, Aang knelt down next to the Blue Spirit and removed the mask. He scrambled back in shock as he saw it was Zuko. Kaiden just looked at him in confusion.

"Who's that?" he asked.

Aang didn't answer the question, "We need to go."

"Wait! We can't just leave him here!"

Aang stopped himself from running, "...You're right."

Grabbing Zuko under the arms, the two took off.

Once they were out of range, Kaiden and Aang laid Zuko down on a root and waited for him to wake up. While waiting, Aang told Kaiden what Zuko's deal was. He was the banished Fire Nation prince and the only way to restore his honor was to capture the Avatar. Not long after the explanation, Zuko's eyes began to open. Zuko turned and looked directly at Aang.

"You know what the worst part about being born over a hundred years ago is?" Aang asked him, "I miss all the friends I used to hang out with. Before the war started, I used to always my friend Kuzon. The two of us, we'd get in and out of so much trouble together. He was one of the best friends I ever had, and he was from the Fire Nation, just like you. If we knew each other back then, do you think we could have been friends too?"

Zuko stared at him for a second. The he let loose a huge gout of flame at the two, but they dodged and flew away on a current of air and a metal board.

When they got back to the cave, Aang put a frog in each mouth.

"Suck on these," Aang said, "They'll make you feel better."

They began to suck as Kaiden grimaced, "I'm glad I didn't ask..."

"Aang, how was your trip?" Sokka asked, his voice muffled by the frog, "Did you make any new friends?"

Aang frowned, "No, I don't think I did."

Kaiden joined in with the sad expression. What was with that Zuko guy to just save them and then attack them? It was confusing.

Then Sokka and Katara realized exactly what they were sucking and spit the frogs out of their mouths, hacking. At least it lightened the mood.

Man, this took longer than expected to finish. Oh well, it's finished. Till next time guys!