"INTRUDER ALERT. INTRUDER ALERT. INTRUDER ALERT. INTRUDER ALERT."
"What's going on?" asked Toph frantically.
"Well, apparently there's an intruder alert," said Sokka.
"Heyyyyy, Kids Next Door!" came a nasally, high-pitched voice from behind shortly followed by an evil, snort-filled laugh.
They all turned around, and before them was the figure of a man suspended by toilet paper, and dressed in a toilet-themed costume. They all (except Toph) looked at him with faces of utter confusion saying flat-out "What."
"Bet you didn't see me coming, hahaahaaha!" the man said. "What, cat got your tongue? Normally this is the part where you guys taunt me!"
Still staring blankly and blinking in sheer astonishment, Aang was the first to speak. "Um..." was simply all he said.
The man swooped down to the ground, and looked at them questioningly. "Hey, uh, you guys all right? Why aren't you trying to kick my butt? Hello? I'm in your Treehouse!" He waved his hand in front of Aang's face. "Hello? Numbuh One? Hellloooo?"
Finally catching on to what was supposed to be happening, and just barely getting over the absurdity of the moment, Zuko shook his head and ran over to where the man was standing. He may not have his firebending anymore, but he delivered a swift and hard-packed punch straight to the intruder's face. Goggling backwards for a moment, the man straightened up, "This is more like it! BEWARE THE POWER OF...THE TOILETNATOR!" The kids all came out of their haze and were ready to fight, even if they weren't quite sure of the situation. The Toiletnator proceeded to send a whip of toilet paper straight in Toph's direction, and Sokka quickly broke it with a karate chop before it could reach the blind girl.
Katara spotted some weapons hanging on the wall, and ran over to them. She wasn't familiar with this style of weapon; there was no need for guns in a world where people could shoot blasts straight from their fingertips. Nevertheless, she picked up all of them and threw them to her teammates. "Guys, catch!"
They did, and, not knowing how to use them, began hitting the Toiletnator with them. While doing so, Toph's finger slipped and accidentally pulled the trigger. Out of the barrel shot an egg at tremendous speed that hit the Toiletnator in a spot that hurts. A lot. Cringing and crying he crumpled to the floor. "Owwwwwww..."
"Yikes," "Ooooh," "Ouch," the boys of the team felt somewhat sympathetic, but not sympathetic enough to restrain from getting him the heck out of there.
"I-I-I'll just be on m-m-my way..." said the Toiletnator weakly as he crawled his way out of the Treehouse.
Toph smiled. "Wow, what is this thing?" she asked, handling the shiny weapon and feeling it.
Sokka took it from her hands and examined it. It had light green tiger stripes on it, a large back compartment for storing ammunition, and a funnel-shaped barrel. He disengaged the back compartment from the rest of the gun, looked down it for a second, and took one of the eggs out. He closely inspected the egg while twirling it around in his hands. He finally made his conclusion. "It shoots eggs."
"Why would someone need a weapon that shoots eggs?" asked Katara.
"I don't know, but they'd have to have eggcellent aim!" replied Sokka, who continued to laugh out loud in response to his own pun.
Zuko just rolled his eyes. He then remembered something, "Hey, Aang, what was it that Toilet-Freak called you? You know, when he was trying to get us to fight him?"
"I don't remember, wasn't it like...Nergal Run or something?" Aang replied.
"No, it was something else. It was right before I punched him."
"'Number One', that's what I heard," offered Toph. "My hearing's pretty good, you know. 'Missing one sense sharpens the others.' Don't miss much when it comes to that."
"Why did he call you Number One?" asked Katara.
Aang went back into that bathroom which in which he had first discovered his missing arrow, and looked himself up and down. "Guys, I don't think that here, wherever we are, I'm Aang."
"What do you mean, Twinkletoes?" asked Toph.
"I mean, I think I'm someone else. I mean, I'm still me, but I'm not me at the same time." He walked back out and looked into the confused faces. "This making any sense to you?"
"Not a bit," said Sokka. "But, hey, if it's what the Avatar says then it's as good as right to me. I just need SOME sort of an explanation."
"So...what do we do?" asked Katara.
"Wait," said Aang. "Do what we're told until we can figure something out. Like, why there's a guy running around calling himself the Toiletnator or why he called me Number One or why a treehouse needs to be this big and fancy or why it's stocked with egg shooters."
At first people argued that there was something they could do to get back home, but they all eventually realized Aang was right and that nothing could be done but wait and observe.
And so that's what they did.
"All right, all right, look at this one. It's the most recent thing Numbuh Five's found so far," Numbuh Five cleared her throat, and began to read the newspaper. "'Prince Wallabee was crowned Fire Lord yesterday after overthrowing his father, Ozai, and putting him in jail along with his sister Princess Azula for their crimes against humanity. He was officially crowned by Avatar Nigel in an extravagant ceremony that reestablished the bond between the Fire Nation and the rest of the world, and letting all the land of the Fire Nation colonies return to their rightful nations. The ceremony was attended by many, and the cake was really good.' It's from a few months ago."
"I still can't get over that. Fire Lord Wallabee! I hate being called by my full name!" Numbuh Four complained.
"I'd worry more about the 'Fire Lord' part, Numbuh Four. And what about me? 'Avatar Nigel?' What's an avatar even supposed to be anyway?!" asked Numbuh One. All were completely confused and frustrated at what was going on. They had made their way into the royal library to see if any of the books could shed some light on what was going on. So far, they knew that they had all apparently just stopped some big war, Numbuh Four was the ruler of a nation, Numbuh One was some mighty powerful being called the Avatar, Numbuh Three was a rich girl from some place called the Earth Kingdom, and Numbuhs Two and Five were both from the South Pole.
"I found another one about 'our adventures,'" said Numbuh Two.
"Read it and see if it says anything new," instructed Numbuh One.
"'Avatar Nigel and Prince Wallabee-'"
"AAAARRRRGGGGHHH CRUD!"
"Ahem. '...along with friends Kuki Bei Fong of the Earth Kingdom and brother and sister Hogarth and Abigail of the Southern Water Tribe...'" he trailed off. He looked to Numbuh Five worriedly and said, "Abby...in this world...we're brother and sister?"
She looked just as shocked as he did. "Guess so."
"But we don't even look related! AT ALL! What's wrong with these people?"
"Apparently, something bad enough that they let Wally be the king."
"Hey! I could be a good king!" protested Numbuh Four.
"Look, we just need to play the parts until further notice," said Numbuh One. "Can we do that?"
"Yeah, okay" was the initial response.
Having gotten bored, Team Avatar was exploring all the reaches of the Treehouse. It was pretty cool, actually. They had to at least admit that. At the very top, all five (once again, except Toph) were gazing about the neighborhood, taking in the view.
"It's a really tall treehouse," Aang commented.
"Yeah, but it's not like you're not used to being in the air all the time, Twinkletoes," Toph pointed out.
"True, I'm just surprised that a tree could even grow this tall," he said.
They were suddenly interrupted by a yelling. A female voice that was yelling, "ZUUUUKOOOOO!" from down on the ground. The kids exchanged glances, wondering what was going on. Zuko just shrugged his shoulders and they all went down. However, they did so carefully, just in case another crazy person was waiting to attack them. They eventually reached the source of the voice, a tall, cheery, blonde woman who spoke with some strange tint to her voice. "Ah, there you are, Zuko!" she said. "Listen, I'm stepping out for a bit and I need you to babysit your brother."
"My brother?" asked Zuko.
"Don't worry, it will only be for a short time. And I'm sure little Joey will be just perfect for you!" The woman handed him a tiny little baby with only one tooth come in and blonde hair like her own. "Oh, I see you're with your friends. Well, they can help, too, if they want,"
"Joey?" asked Zuko again, looking down at the child in his arms.
"Tootaloo! I'll be seeing you in thirty minutes, my little kangaroo!" She then planted a quick kiss on his forehead, and got into some strange metal machine resembling a horseless carriage.
All but Zuko began to laugh at the embarrassing moment. Well, now they knew who his family was in this place. His face was steaming red, and, had he been in his old life, he would have literally steamed.
"Awww, wook at duh big bwoder Zuko!" Toph mockingly said.
"Mommy wuvs Zuko! Oh, Zuko, will you babysit baby bwoder for Mommy?" Sokka joined in.
Aang and Katara couldn't help but giggle.
Trying to hide his anger, and how much their words actually hurt, considering his what had happened to his real mother, Zuko tried to change the conversation a little. "Please, I'd trade Azula for this little guy any day."
"True," said Sokka. "Your sister is nuts."
"Besides, how hard can it be?" asked Aang.
"You know, I wonder if any of the rest of us has siblings here," said Katara.
"We should find out," said Aang. Honestly, he really wanted to have a brother or sister. Being an only child was kind of lonely in his experience- despite always having his airbender friends around. He wanted the kind of relationship that Sokka and Katara had.
"Well, I sure hope I don't," said Toph. "I'm an only child and I like it." Obviously she had the opposite view of Aang.
"Well, first we'd need to know who lives where," said Katara. "Shouldn't be that hard, in fact I bet we're all neighbors."
"Hey guys, does the Moon feel...different...to you, anyhow?" questioned Numbuh Five as she and her four best friends looked upon it. The five of them had been cautious, exploring their new surroundings in this dimension and learning more about themselves. Yet there was one thing, one really big thing, they did not yet understand.
"No. Why, does it to you?" asked Numbuh Three.
"I mean, it just looks, like, bigger, and more important. And it feels like...it's tryin' to tell Numbuh Five somethin'." This earned her a few strange looks, but they couldn't help but understand what she was talking about it.
"I sort of feel it," said Numbuh Two, "but it's not all that huge. Real subtle, but I do feel something."
"I think it's trying to say, 'hey! Where'd the main KND base go? Didn't it use to be RIGHT ON TOP OF ME?'" said Numbuh Four. "Anyways, I don't think the Moon is any special...but..." he looked down nervously, "I did feel something kinda weird earlier, like during the daytime. It was like what you're saying, but with the Sun."
"You guys have no idea," said Numbuh One, "both the Moon AND the Sun are affecting me. I'm not sure what it is but it's like some crazy headache that no medicine can stop." He rubbed his temples to illustrate his point.
"Maybe you're just so used to those sunglasses that any large amount of light hurts your eyes," offered Numbuh Two.
"Maybe, but I don't think so..." said Numbuh One.
"Yeah, well, I just want to go home already and play video games and drink soda. What's with all this tea around here, anyway?" asked Numbuh Four as he grumpily crossed his arms and huffed.
"You don't like tea?" asked Numbuh Three.
Numbuh Four's eyes slitted and he slouched even more. "No, I don't."
Numbuh Three gasped. "How can you not like tea? It's so warm and nice and perfect for when you're out in the cold snow and need something to warm you up well hot cocoa works too boy do I love hot cocoa it's so yummy but anyways like I said tea is really good too and-"
"I DON'T LIKE CRUDDY TEA!" exploded Numbuh Four. And, as did his tone, he literally exploded. He flung his arms in the air when he shouted this and, to the ultimate surprise of everyone around him, ginormous flames burst from his arms and shot up into the air. Fireworks of red, orange and yellow shot up from the little boy. Everyone just stared blankly. How did he do that?
"Well, geez, you didn't have to yell about it!" said Numbuh Three.
"N-N-N-N-Numbuh Four...?" stuttered Numbuh Two, completely in shock of what he had just seen his friend do.
Calming himself down a bit, Numbuh Four turned towards him. "Yeah?"
"You're...you were on fire," the boy exclaimed.
"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry, it's just she was talking really fast and it was really annoying me-"
"No, you were literally on fire."
"Wait-what?" Four asked. "What do you mean literally? No, really, what does that word mean again? No- wait, wait, don't tell me..."
"YOU ACTUALLY BURST INTO FLAMES! FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, YOU SHOT ACTUAL, REAL FIRE FROM YOUR HANDS!" Numbuh Two couldn't hold it in.
"I did?" He looked at his own hands in disbelief. "Did I...?"
"Yeah," came the voices of his friends, all shaking their heads in affirmation.
"Well...I think we know how you got that scar..." said Numbuh One.
"Guys! Remember that old man we saw? The one who could breathe fire? What if...what if in this universe, the people having crazy-like powers is a normal thing!"
"Don't be ridiculous, Numbuh Three-" Numbuh One stopped in his tracks. "Wait, I think you're onto something. Guys, Numbuh Three is actually onto something!"
"Yeah, and that would explain why Numbuh Four's the 'Fire Lord' he's the ruler of the fire people!" exclaimed Numbuh Two.
"That would also explain all those 'Four Nations' books in the library..." Numbuh Three stated.
"What?!" asked Numbuh Four, "You found a book actually explaining all this and you didn't tell us?!"
"Tons, actually. I just thought they were storybooks! Like the ones mommy used to read to me and Mushi when I was little. There was all sorts of stuff like that in Japan," she explained.
"I wanna shoot fire from my fists!" exclaimed an excited Hoagie. "FIRE ATTACK!" he shouted, punching his fist in the air. Anticlimactically, nothing happened. He tried again. "I said, FIIIIRE ATTACK!" Again, nada.
"Maybe there's a form to it," said Numbuh One. He began to try, so he took a step back, took a deep breath, and lunged forward in a way that he had learned to in KND basic training karate class five years ago. He thought to himself; fire, fire, fire. And, for him, it actually worked. Out of his hand came a wisp of flame. Normally he wasn't one to get overexcited, but this time he did, and, with a "Woohoo!" leapt up twenty feet in the air, and did a floating flip back down.
"What was that?" Numbuh Five asked.
"I don't know," said Numbuh One. "Numbuh Three, what are the...um...what's the word...elements?"
"That's easy, silly! The four elements are earth, air, water and fire. Don't you have the Special Edition Four Elements Rainbow Monkey Set back home?"
"Uh, no," he replied. "Maybe that flying bit was air. I didn't know you could do more than one..."
"Hold on, let Numbuh Five have a try," said Numbuh Five. Taking a step back as Numbuh One had done, she swept her arm forward in a hard punching motion. No fire. Instead, however, the small stream laid in front of them suddenly rose up out of the bank and a massive wave crashed majestically and washed every little thing out of the flowerbed just behind it.
"...I think you're water, Numbuh Five," said Numbuh Four.
"No, really?" sarcastically replied the girl.
"Wait, how come I-" began to complain Numbuh Two before he was cut off.
"MY TURN! HEHEHEHEHE!" the excitable Numbuh Three tried punching a fist in the air, and as was for her exuberance, did a little hop as well. Instead of fire shooting out or flying high or making the water go crazy, the very ground beneath their feet extended out in a hard wave and ended up sticking up unnaturally in jagged positions. She gasped extremely happily. "Earth! Yaaaaay!"
"But it's not fair that-" Numbuh Two was cut off once more.
"Look, let's go back into that library and read these 'storybooks' Numbuh Three found," instructed Numbuh One. And so they did, dragging along a reluctant and disappointed Numbuh Two with them. They read through the pages for hours, and found out some immensely valuable information. Apparently, this power was called "bending" and not everyone could do it, thus explaining Numbuh Two's disability to do so. Also, the "Avatar" was the spiritual being reincarnated into different nations every time, and he or she was able to bend all four elements, thus explaining why "Avatar" Nigel could find himself performing both fire and air. Everything begun to make sense to them, finally. But, as with any life-switching story, it's a bit more complicated than that.
The thirty minutes had almost passed. There was Zuko, standing in "his" backyard and cradling in his arms a small baby who was drinking from a bottle. From the looks of his outfit and hair, you'd assume that our prince had one extremely rough time doing this simplistic task. And you'd be right. Through the fence stumbled Toph, who from the looks of her clothes and hair you'd assume had five times as much of a rough time as Zuko did. Again, you'd be spot on with that. "What happened to you?" groaned the boy.
"My sister in this world. She's evil!" huffed Toph. "I really hope no one else had worse. You know what, forget that. I hope everyone else had even worse than me. That, for all intents and purposes, sucked."
"That bad, huh?" asked Zuko. "Well, hate to burst your bubble, but he's not really evil. Just...extremely badly behaved."
"Worse than your sister?"
"No one's worse than my sister. But in a sense, yeah. I mean, she may be clever and cunning and, well, outright murderous, but at least she has manners."
"Dude, he's 1."
"I know..."
Out of the fence on the opposite side came strolling a figure in an aviation cap and goggles marked with the number "2" on the front.
"Sokka?" asked Zuko.
"Oh, hey Zuko," replied Sokka.
"What...where'd you get that hat?"
"Whoa, Sokka's wearing a hat?" asked Toph, smiling.
"For your information, my new little brother gave it to me," answered Sokka.
"You too?" asked Zuko.
"Yeah, but he's not as young as yours. He's like, seven or something. I walked in and he was all 'Hey Sokka! Why aren't you wearing your hat?' and he gave this to me and I rather like it, as a matter of fact."
"You look ridiculous," said Zuko.
"I do not!" retaliated Sokka.
"Well, I think it looks fantastic!" exclaimed Toph playfully.
"Why thank you, Toph! Good to see that someone around here has a sense of fash-OHHH! I am so going to get you!" Sokka angrily interrupted his own comment at the realization of what she was doing.
Breaking the moment as he drearily stepped into the yard, Aang seemed in a different state of mood. He slumped down against the house, and, looking at Sokka his spirits seems lifted for a moment, but were then drawn back down again. "Nice hat, Sokka."
"Thanks, Aa-wait, was that sarcasm too?"
"No, I really like it," said the airbender, "quite pizzazzy."
"Hey, why the long face?" asked Sokka as he sat down next to his friend, who was now picking out the blades of grass one by one. "Younger sister? Older brother? Paging Doctor Aang, what's the diagnosis here?"
"...None."
"What?" asked all three of his comrades at the same moment.
"I'm still an only child," repeated Aang. "And my dad here...glad to have a dad at all, you know, but he's crazy. I mean, all this talk about 'bonding' and 'what the newspaper says' and 'fishing' and 'sousaphones.'"
"What's a sousaphone?" asked Toph.
"It's like a giant golden tsungi horn," replied Aang.
"Hey, maybe Zuko over here can play us a concert! Eh? Eh, Zuko?" said Sokka, trying to lighten the mood. It did work a bit, as all remembered the day Iroh had gone into a little too much detail concerning Zuko's first performance when he was six and how he was so nervous he had wet his pants.
"I would so burn that hat right off your head right now if I could," muttered Zuko.
"I guess it's all right, though," said Aang, standing up. "I mean, from the looks of you guys, it's not all it's cracked up to be."
"You got that right," said Toph, resting her face in her hand.
Suddenly, Katara came running as fast as she could into the yard. Panting and sweating, her clothes were slightly singed and torn, and though that was so, it did not catch their attention as much as did the large, red cap upon her head.
"SEE?" exclaimed Sokka, "SHE HAS A HAT TOO!"
"Katara! What's wrong?" asked Aang, rushing to her help.
"It's...it's..."
"What is it?"
"C...Cree."
"Who?"
A loud BOOM, followed by a CRASH, and there was a huge mecha standing above all of them.
"...My big sister."
Laughing came from the cockpit of the machine. "Isn't it just like you, Kitty-Kat? To come crying back to your little friends when the going gets too tough on your own!" Katara's face came into a snarl, something that only made Cree smile more.
Immediately all of Team Avatar got into their fighting positions. Zuko handed Joey to Toph, "Take the kid," he said.
"What? Why me?" she asked.
"Just do it!"
"But I want to fight!"
"JUST DO IT, TOPH!" Again, a moment that would normally have resulted in a bonfire.
Sokka pulled out some 2x4 guns from some invisible area behind his back that can only be described as hammerspace. "Guys, here!" he shouted, tossing them to his friends.
They all caught them, and, knowing what to do with them by now, began shooting at Cree's mecha. She laughed again, and took a swing with one of the long, robotic arms at Sokka. He jumped up in the air, landing just behind it. About a zillion rockets emerged from the shoulder area of the mecha, and aimed themselves at the kids. Explosions rattled the yard all around as each one plunged itself into the grass. They all seemed to be able to dodge, but they didn't know for how much longer. At this, however, there came an opening as a soft spot was momentarily revealed on the monstrous machine. Katara aimed her gun and shot it. A seemingly never-ending stream of giant marshmallows shot from it, and straight into the shoulder socket of the robot. The gooey substance oozed all about the machinery and was soon stuck in every last crevice, and left that arm puffing steam and incapacitated. With a growl, the teenage girl hit a button that dislodged the entire appendage from the rest of the machine. Cree lifted one giant metal foot up, and stomped it down in attempt to crush her "sister."
"Katara! Look out!" called Sokka as he jumped to the rescue, pushing her out of the way just as the metallic boot came down.
"Aw, poor thing fell. Mind if I give you a hand?" Cree, with that soft yet evil tone of voice, somehow actually managed to make that statement work as she swung the other robot arm straight towards them.
"Duck!" called Sokka, and the real brother and sister both did as the hand flew straight over them.
It didn't stop swinging, though, and was headed straight in Aang's direction. Nearly shaking in his shoes, he brought up his gun. Well, he obviously was shaking in his shoes a little more than just nearly, because him tapping his heels together in that way had caused the rockets in them to activate, sending him straight up into the skies. For a moment, he was overjoyed as he thought he may have gotten his bending back, but then realizing what had really happened, he settled for swooping down back into the fight. He flew right in through the window to the cockpit of the mecha, and tumbled down to the back.
"Ugh, why do I always have to deal with you?" said Cree in annoyance. She set the machine to auto-pilot, and turned towards Aang. "So, Numbuh Dumb, what have you got in store for me today?" He just stood up and raised his gun in a determined way. "Oh, a T.H.U.M.P.E.R.! I'm so scared! What, no cute little remarks for me today? I can live with that," she sprung forward and attempted to seize him, but he leapt out of the way, "Question is, will you?"
"I'm not scared of you," he thought for what Katara had said her name was, "Cree."
"Of course you're not; kids never know what to be afraid of. They always choose stupid things like the dark or fairy-tale ghosts." She tried once again to grab him, but instead, he turned and grabbed her by the arm, and quickly brought her into a helpless position, T.H.U.M.P.E.R. pointed straight at her head. She, trying to keep her cool even though she'd somehow been subdued by a ten-year-old, choked out a chuckle. "The thing shoots teddy bears! Our own scientist of the group invented it back when I was a Kids Next Door."
"Yes, but how will that feel? Taking a teddy bear to the head at this speed, at this distance and angle?"
He all but had her now, and she knew it. She slid her leg backwards, about to perform the turn-flip-kick that she hoped he wouldn't remember from his own training, when Zuko hopped into the picture. "You got her?"
"Yeah," said Aang.
Zuko pointed his own weapon at her, just in case. "Relax," she said. "A girl knows when she's beaten." Where had Zuko heard that before? It sounded so familiar...Aang stood Cree up, and began to walk her out of the massive hole he had opened in the piloting area.
Now or never. She performed the turn-flip-kick, and once regained her balance, sent the other foot straight in Zuko's direction. POW! He was sent flying straight out of the machine. Before he had time to fight back, she picked up Aang and, easily overpowering him now, threw him out as well. Toph, wanting to get in on the action, ran towards the mecha. She slung Joey around her back, who happily hung on there all while shouting "WEEEEEEE!" Ready to fight, the girl made her way up to the enormous machine. Cree took advantage of this. She pressed a switch that caused a net to come out of the one remaining arm of the mecha, and aimed it straight at Toph. The small girl was completely covered by the net in seconds, and she, along with the baby she was holding, were both taken hostage by the teenager as Cree made the machine drive away swiftly. And just like that, Cree, Toph, and even little Joey, were gone.
"What just happened?" asked Aang, dozily getting up from his moment of unconsciousness.
"...Cree took Toph," said Zuko, "And that poor kid called my brother." Suddenly, his face rose up in revelation. "It was Azula. That's where I heard it before. When Cree said, 'a girl knows when she's beaten.' That was something Azula said once... right before she shot Uncle down...and then disappeared." And of course, he was right. Terribly, completely right and all the others could see it.