Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar.
Chapter 3: Chameleon Bay
On the flight to Hakoda…
The entire group is hanging on for dear life as Appa is flying very near to the earth and the wind is picking up slightly. He has already grazed the mountain side a few times.
"What is he doing!" shouted a very frightened Toph.
Sokka replied, "We have to stay near the surface so we don't/" Sokka's was cut off quickly by a gust of wind that blew him nearly ten feet in the air, luckily, he was still holding on to Appa's reigns so he soon dropped back down to the Bison's head.
"Are you okay?" gasped Katara, she's only seen the wind be this chaotic once before.
"Yeah, I'm fine, anyway, we need to stay near the surface Toph so we don't get spotted by a Fire Nation camp and there's also no clouds to keep us covered in the sky either." Sokka finally replied back to the blind girl. "How's Aang doing?" Sokka asked Katara.
"He's fine, he's still asleep, or in a coma, I don't really know." she replied back holding on to him. She really wanted to know though how Aang was doing, she wanted to know if he'd get through this.
The bison finally flew across the last of the Eastern Mountains, the wind also appeared to die down too. Everyone let out sighs of relief except for Sokka who was scouting the bay for any Fire Navy ships. There appeared to be none, he figured that it was still too early for them to arrive to siege Ba Sing Se, but that will change soon enough.
Sokka assured, "We're all clear guys, let's keep flying until we get to where I last saw my dad."
Katara then questioned him, "Are you sure that we're going to find him right where he last was?"
"Not really, just figured it was a good place to start. I haven't told you this yet but when Aang flew down to get me, my dad was commanding his men and I to get ready for battle. His scouts spotted four Fire Navy ships and we were going to ambush them with tangle mines. I have no idea if they succeeded or not…" replied Sokka wondering about the welfare of his father. "I really wanted to show him that I was able to fight too."
"Come on Sokka, you know that dad knows you're a good warrior. Why else would he let you and I take care of the village by ourselves?" Katara asked.
Sokka chuckled slightly, "It's funny, that's exactly what he said to me before I had to leave." Sokka remembered, "Thanks little sister."
"Would you two be quiet already, we still need to find help for the world's only hope here!" scoffed Toph, she didn't like hearing about other people's parents all to much. Katara and Sokka glared at the blind girl, which didn't affect her at all, so they soon brushed the comment off their shoulders.
"We should be at Chameleon Bay Beach in a few minutes, we should probably stop for lunch, and then start searching right away afterwards." reported Sokka, "How are you doing back there your Kingliness?" He looked back and found the king leaning against his bear Bosco, smiling slightly in his sleep, "Wow, let's not wake him." Sokka joked.
Eventually, Sokka found the beach and signaled Appa to land there. The beach still had marks from Hakoda's ships leaving. "They must have come back after the attack, and left a little before we got here." Sokka claimed, "They can't be too far from here, do we want to still keep going, or attempt to hunt and gather our lunch like cave people?" with a hint of sarcasm asked Sokka to the group.
By this time, everyone was all getting down off of Appa, including the Earth King. They were almost famished for not having any decent food for the past two days. The Earth King was especially hungry.
But then Katara suggested, "What if we just got by with a little food to keep us going until we find dad? I'm sure he'd have us something to eat when we find him."
"I guess I'm with sweetness on this one, we need to get Aang to safety." stated Toph.
The rest of the group agreed and went out over the cliff side to find berries or various plants they could snack on. They returned back in 15 minutes and got up on Appa. "Are we all here?" amusingly asked the Earth King.
Sokka made sure and counted "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and Aang, so we're all good. Yip Yip!" With that, Appa was soon soaring over the bay with Sokka scanning the horizon for his dad's ships. Katara was tending to Aang's wounds just starting to show signs of success. Meanwhile, Toph and the Earth King were talking of something concerning how bears can be good pets.
Sokka planned to make a kind of W sweep of the bay. He was scanning the bay frantically and was even shaking with anticipation sometimes. It seemed as though hours have gone by for him, when in reality was only 50 minutes when he spotted a ship. "Hey guys! There's ship ahead!" everyone looked up, "With a blue sail! No… 2, no… 4 ships! That's got to be dad!"
At this time everyone was looking towards the horizon, except for Toph, and was trying to spot the vessels. The team was happy that they have finally found Aang safety. Katara and Sokka were also glad to reunite with there father. Katara spotted the ships below them and told, "Sokka, what are we still doing up here? Let's get down."
He shook his head, "Oh… right! Down there Appa!" Sokka lifted the reins up and Appa flew down getting closer to the sea.
There was quite a few Water Tribe Men already out on their decks looking up at the flying bison. All were asking, "Why has the Avatar come here?" no one knew of what has really become of Aang. A few motioned for Appa to land near a ship in the center of the cluster, this must have been where their leader was.
Once Appa landed in the water of Chameleon Bay, the two water tribe siblings jumped off on to the Water Tribe ship. One of the warriors commented, "Well, if it isn't Sokka and Katara." Another commented, "Looks like you could use some help."
Sokka replied to them bowing his head slightly, "Greetings Rana and Girosa. It's been to long." The men walked up and ruffled his hair, "Hey!" Sokka expressed backing away. "Anyways, where could I find my father, Hakoda?"
"Oh, he's down in the barracks taking a snooze, you should be able to find him." Rana said.
"Thanks, let's go see wake him up Katara!" declared Sokka making a devious smile. He walked down some stairs leading to the barracks.
Katara asked, "Wait… aren't we forgetting something?" Sokka continued walking ignoring her and opened the door leading to the barracks.
"Yeah Sugar Queen! I'm kind of blind here! Help us out!" Toph yelled from atop of Appa wanting to get down, but more importantly, wanting to get something to eat.
"Sorry!..." Katara apologized as she ran towards the bison aside the boat. She gave Toph a hand and helped her down to the wooden boat, followed by the Earth King and Bosco. She then had to climb back on Appa and carry the light Air Nomad down to the boat.
"Great… a Wooden ship…" Toph grunted, "Everyone just loves messing with the blind girl…"
Katara ignored the even blinder than normal girl who was now hunched against the edge of the boat with a disgusted look.
The Earth King stated and asked, "Well that was quite a trip, do you guys do that all the time?"
"Yeah, things like this kind of happen to us a lot." Katara paused, "But we usually had Aang to help us through it." looking down at the boy in her arms, she shed a tear hoping that Aang was going to make it.
Just then, a young man clad in Water Tribe clothing with various medical utensils coming out of his pockets ran to Katara, he spoke with urgency, "Excuse me Master Katara, could I have the boy and help him with his injuries, it looks pretty serious." He held out his arms asking for Aang.
"Yes, you can help him, but I'm not letting him out of my sight though," Katara expressed while handing him Aang.
"Yes ma'am." he said as he turned around, Katara had some trouble keeping up with him as he went down to medical room down the stairs. The room was small with a lone bed in it and also had many shelves with books detailing some ancient medicine and herbal remedies.
Once the medic and Katara walked in she stated, "Wow, it's kind of cramped in here. Do you live here?"
The medic laid down the Avatar on the bed and responded, "Yeah, at least for now. It was the only room available when the Water Tribe picked me up… it's kind of a long story." He whipped out a small knife from his pocket.
"Hey! What are you doing with that?" Katara shouted almost knocking the man over.
"Relax, it's just to slow the infection." He quickly reported. He turned Aang over then lifted up his shirt and dipped the knife in a jar labeled "Antiseptic." He next gently glazed the knife over the lightning wound.
"How did you know what to do before you even saw it?" Katara asked the man working on the only hope for the world.
"It's a long story." the man said staying focused on his work.
Katara was startled by this but she knew she had to stay with Aang to keep him safe and offer any assistance if the man asked for it, even if he was a little bizarre. He continued working on Aang in silence for a while.
The door to the medical room opened and Katara's brother was standing there smiling. "What do you want Sokka?" she asked. He subsequently moved to the side allowing Katara to see her father, the father whom she hasn't seen for so many years was standing right before her.
"Katara…" Hakoda greeted her opening his arms for a hug.
She ran to the arms of her father, "Hi dad…" she said with tears already in her eyes.
Well, I think this one turned out quite alright! I'd like to thank my new Beta AvatarBeau96 for some ideas. Anyway, please review. Also, keep in touch with my new story if you want to find out who the medic really is!