A.N/ It's finally here! It took me a while, so I hope you like it. Please Review!
Chapter 5: The Painted Lady
"It's been great seeing you kids again," Hakoda said to his children. "And it was nice meeting your friends, too."
"I wish we could have seen you longer," said Katara
"Yeah," Sokka agreed. "We're gonna miss you, Dad."
"Don't worry my son," said Hakoda. "If all goes well, which it will, we'll be seeing each other by summer's end." He smiled at Aang. "I have full faith in you, Aang. I know that you will be able to defeat the Fire Lord and bring balance to the world."
"Thank you Mr. Katara and Sokka's Dad," Aang said brightly
"Please," Hakoda responded. "Just call me Hakoda." As they talked, Iroh walked to the center of the group along with Kuei.
"Well, The Earth King and I-"
"Ex-Earth King," Kuei corrected bitterly once again.
"Fine," Iroh said. "The Ex-Earth King and I have decided to stay here at the South Pole. Kuei says he is not accustomed to all of this traveling, and I am getting to old to keep up with you kids."
"Besides, there aren't many places to stay that permit bears." Kuei interjected while stroking Bosco.
"But Uncle, who will teach the Avatar?" Zuko asked Iroh. "I haven't mastered firebending yet."
"Nephew, do you remember what I told you yesterday? Do you remember the one thing you have not yet mastered?"
"Yes, it was lightning. But what does that have to do with anything?"
"You could not learn to control lightning because you had yet overcome your inner turmoil. But now, by accepting your true destiny, you have reached peace with yourself."
"So are you saying I can shoot lightning?"
"Yes," Iroh answered. Zuko bent his legs, raised his arm, and pointed his fingers towards the skies. He his hand heat up to high temperatures, and continued to clear his mind. Suddenly, he felt a surge travel through his body, and a flash of lightning explode his finger tips, like a thread of pure energy,"
"Congratulations, my nephew," Iroh said to Zuko, who was beaming uncharacteristically. "You have just mastered Firebending."
"Thank you, Uncle," Zuko responded. "I had a great teacher."
"I have something to give you," said Iroh. He then took out an envelope with a white flower on the seal and handed it to Zuko.
"What is it?" asked Zuko
"You will soon find out," Iroh told him. "Anyway, you should brush up on Pai Sho for our next encounter."
"I will," Zuko said. "I will see you again soon, Father."
"And the same to you, my son."
"What do we do now?" The Duke asked his fellow Freedom Fighters. By now they had passed by the the receptionist and exited the village.
"What else would we do?" Pipsqueak answered. "We're going to find Longshot."
"Really? Oh, thank you so much!" Smellerbee exclaimed gratefully. Her expression instantly turned serious as she began to plan. "He's being held in the royal prison chamber in Ba Sing Se. We have to act fast if we're going to save him."
"How will we do that?" Sneers questioned. "It took the Fire Nation 100 years to penetrate Ba Sing Se. How can we get into the city in a matter of days?"
"Because it's not the same situation." Smellerbee answered. "The Earth Kingdom wanted the Fire Nation out of the city. But now, The Fire Nation wants us in the city."
The vast skies were dark as Appa glided through the air, with Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Zuko, Ty Lee, Mai, and Momo sat atop. Sokka was steering the massive bison, with Ty Lee sitting dangerously close to him, making him feel uncumfortable and effecting his already poor steering. Toph was sprawled out to one side of Sokka. Mai was resting her head on Zuko's shoulder, with Zuko's arm wrapped around the back of her neck and rested on her shoulder. All, excluding Momo, were tense, especially Aang and Katara. They were staring out at the land below on opposite sides of the bison, deep in thought. They knew that kiss should not have happened. Sokka was so overprotective of his sister. If he found out about the kiss, he'd kill Aang.
"How far until we reach Kyoshi Island?" Toph asked.
"I'm not sure," Sokka responded. "Lets just hope it's close." For what seemed like the longest few hours ever, the group found themselves at Kyoshi Island. In the lake below, several Elephant Koi were flopping in and out of the water.
"Oh, What's that?!" Ty Lee asked, pointing at an enourmous fin slowly moving toward the Koi. "It has to be like 200 feet long!" Before anyone could even respond the creature rose from the water and lashed out at the bison.
"Dive!" Aang ordered to Sokka. The bison was brought down just in time to avoid the beast. Momo then opened his wings and flew up to the creature's snout. Momo then started to pull on the whiskers, disorienting the serpent and allowing Appa and the group to escape to shore.
"Good job, buddy!" Aang said as Momo flew over to him and landed on his shoulder.
"What was that?" Ty Lee asked again, now that they were on land and everything had calmed down.
"That was the Unagi," Sokka responded. "We've had a few run-ins with that monster before."
"We have to move on," Katara pointed out.
"You're right Katara," said Sokka. "We need to find Suki." As the group passed by the lake, Aang and Katara stayed behind.
"We need to talk," Katara said. "How are we going to tell Sokka. He's so over protective. If he found out about… you know, he would be furious."
"This Suki thing doesn't help the situation either." said Aang. "He's already stressed as it is. When he finds out, he'll freak."
"I'm not sure he can find out,"
"So what are we gonna do? Keep it a secret?"
"What else can we do?"
"You remember the plan?" Smellerbee questioned as she and the other Freedom Fighters neared the great walls of Ba Sing Se. They were ready to fight for Ba Sing Se and save their teammate. They affirmed, and the group of four sped their way to the gates
"What the hell?" said a Dai Li agent as they arose from the horizon. It was the same agent who had been threatened by Smellerbee not long ago. "She's… back?"
"Seize them!" another agent said, who seemed highly ranked. Instantly, a large horde of Dai Li agents surrounded the fighters. "Surrender! There's no escape."
"We don't want to escape," said Sneers, dropping his weapons. All the others did the same, leaving their attackers confused. "We won't put up a fight, so long as we are put in the same cell as Longshot."
"You expect us to believe that?" the agent spat. "Why would you want to be captured?"
"Look," Smellerbee said. "You can take our deal, or you can try to capture us by force and end of losing half your men. It's your choice."
"Argh, Fine," he said reluctantly. "Agents, take them." The guards each bound the Freedom Fighters by their limbs, and pulled them along until they made it to the prison. What they did not notice was the knife concealed behind Smellerbee's back. When they reached the keys, she swiftly pulled the knife to her captor's neck. It was held so close a trickle of blood dropped from the agent.
"The Avatar!" one the Kyoshi natives shouted. This attracted the attention of everyone else around, and pretty soon, there was a huge mob of people all crowding around Appa. One of the men began to scream, followed by spasms and foaming at the mouth, before falling to the ground unconscious.
"Aangie!" A young girl said, running up to Aang.
"Nice to see you again, Coco," Aang responded.
"Oyajii," Katara said as she spotted the mayor of Kyoshi Island "We needed to talk to you about something,"
"Ah yes," Oyajii responded. "How did that case go in Chin?"
"Not so well. Aang was proven guilty. It still worked out fine in the end though."
"What! How could that-
"Where's Suki?" Sokka interjected.
"I'm not sure," Oyajii responded. "We haven't seen her or the other warriors since they left to fight in the war."
"You mean she's not here?" Sokka's anxiety turned to pure despair. "Oh my God." Meanwhile, Ty Lee was feeling increasingly guilty. Looks from Zuko and Mai weren't helping either.
"What happened with Suki?" Oyajii asked in concern.
"Well, there were some Fire Nation girls posing as posing as her and the other warriors," Aang explained. "Actually, it was those two." He pointed to Ty Lee and Mai.
"Why are you traveling with them?"
"They're not that bad. They left the Fire Nation to join us, and we know we can trust them." Ty Lee had had enough of this guilt. Hesitantly, she walked up to Sokka.
"Um, Sokka," she said nervously.
"What is it?" Sokka snapped.
"Well," Ty Lee said. This is it, She thought. He's going to hate me. But I have to do it. "We were the ones that attacked the Kyoshi Wariors. Azula has Suki captured right now. She's…" Tears began to roll down her cheek. "She's going to be executed in 5 days."
"What!" Sokka shouted. His eyes filled with rage. "I knew we shouldn't have trusted Fire Nation!"
"Calm down Sokka," Katara said calmly.
"No! Suki could die because of them!" Sokka then turned back to Ty Lee, Mai, and Zuko. "All of you, Leave! From now on, you're on your own!" Tears were now flowing freely from Ty Lee's beautiful eyes. Before she could break down though, Zuko pulled her up and helped her gain her composure.
"Come, Ty Lee," he said. "if they don't want us here, then we should go." All three of them walked off into the distance until they were no bigger than tiny ant-beetles. For the first time in a long, long while, Sokka fell to his knees, and began to cry.
"Let us go if you want to see your friend alive." Smellerbee threatened. This did not seem to faze the leader, who moved his hand forward to launch the earth from his hands and pin Smellerbee. However, Smellerbee was too quick, and she threw the agent to the ground and flipped into the air. Pipsqueak, who was chained to the Duke, swung him around and launched him at the leader. The Duke held out his leg and kicked the agent into the wall. With many of the agents knocked out, Smellerbee cut her chains with the knife, along with the others. When they were all finished, the rest of the agents were tied up.
"Okay, we have to go find Longshot," Smellerbee said. She took one of Longshot's spare bows and knocked a shining, golden key off the wall. It was labeled, Cell 298: Freedom Fighter and Kyoshi Warrior. She took the key in her hand and ran down the long hallway.
"Hurry Up!" Pipsqueak shouted. "We have to find Longshot before more agents come!" They dashed through the hallways twisting and turning between the winding walls.
"He should be right up ahead," said Smellerbee. "Come on!" Soon, after dodging walls, torches, and other obstacles, the group found themselves in the cell room. The room was dimly lit, the only source of light being a blue fire torch in the back of the room, remincent of those abandoned cellars you see in scary movies. Worriedly, they ran over to the cells, looking for Cell 298. They were startled to find that all of the cells they saw were completely empty. When they finally found the cell, they realized this one was empty as well.
"He's gone!" Smellerbee gasped. "We have to get out of here before the Dai Li find us." They all dashed toward the door. However, before they could get out, a wall came down in front of the door, blocking their exit.
"Damn it!" she said. "It's a trap!"
"Sokka, you're being stupid," said Katara to Sokka, who was pacing around angrily.
"You think I'm stupid, huh?" he said. "Well, I don't care. All I care about is finding Suki."
"And banishing our allies is going to help do that?"
"Don't talk to me like you're my mother. I don't have a mother."
"Sokka, we all want to find Suki as much as you do. So let us help."
"I don't need any help! I can do this on my own!"
"But that doesn't mean you have to," Katara said, her tone softening. "Don't shut out your friends, Sokka. We all want to help. Though it may not seem like it, I'm sure Ty Lee, Mai, and Zuko want to help too."
Sokka began to calm down. Realizing Katara was right, he sank to the ground and let tears well up in his eyes, with Katara comforting him.
"You had to know this was going to happen," Zuko said to Ty Lee sat hunched over against a rock, and Mai. "If you had told them sooner, this wouldn't be happening. I can't say I care that it did, though.
"Are you saying that you don't care at all about what happened?" Mai asked in disbelief.
"Yes," he replied with anger in his voice. "Who needs the Avatar anyway?"
"You're lying, Zuko"
"What are you saying?" Zuko said, raising his voice.
"Please, Zuko," Mai pleaded softly. "I love you Zuko, and I can't bear to see you get so angry. They'll come around. Besides, you can't blame them. It was mostly Ty Lee's and my fault."
"Argh," Zuko grunted. "You're right, Mai." He knew there was something he wanted to say, but he was not sure how to say it. But he did. "I love you, Mai."
"I love you too, Zuko." Before either one of them new it, they were less than an inch apart from each other, wrapped in each other's arms. Mai's arms were wrapped lovingly around Zuko's neck, her lips on his. The passionate kiss lasted for many long minutes, until an increasing uncomfortable Ty Lee saw a large creature loom overhead. She walked up to the two lovers and tapped Mai on the shoulder.
"May I help you, Ty Lee?" Mai asked her sarcastically as she broke away from Zuko.
"Sorry to interrupt," Ty Lee answered. "But there are some people to see us." She pointed over to Appa, who was just landing to the ground. She glanced toward Sokka, who seemed to have a reluctant look on his face.
"Get on," he said. "If were going to find Suki, we'll need all the help we can get." Instantly, Ty Lee's face brightened with happiness, and although they tried not to show it, Mai and Zuko were grinning slightly as well.
"So, is there anything else you forgot to mention?" Sokka asked Ty Lee as she boarded the gargantuous
"I don't think think so," she responded. "I'll let you know, though."
"Hey, Zuko?" Mai asked. "What was in that letter from your Uncle?"
"Oh, I forgot about that," Zuko replied. He started fumbling through his pockets, looking for the letter. He then pulled out the same envelope with the white flower. He slit the envelope open and beganto read the note aloud.
Dear Grand Master Iroh,
This is G.P., Supreme Patriarch of The White Lotus. Today, present you with good news. We have just made contact with your sister-in-law, Grand Mistress Ursa." "She has requested a meeting with her son, your nephew Zuko. However, it is not safe for me to give her location in this letter, for fear of interception. The order suggests that you train young Zuko in our methods before he is sent to me. When he has finished training, then you should give him this letter and send him to find me at the Palace of Lotus, which is located on an island in the Eastern Ocean, near the Eastern Air Nomads. You should stay at The Southern Water Tribe, where you will meet with Grand Mistress Kanna. I look forward to seeing your nephew someday soon.
Sincerely,
G.P., Supreme Patriarch for the Order of the White Lotus
"I…" Zuko stammered. "I'm going to see my mother." Soon, Appa flew into the skies, leaving no one else around. Except for one.
"The Avatar and his friends are looking for the Kyoshi warrior." A man said into a pair of headphones. "They wish to save her."
"I see," said a calm, yet vicious female voice. "This could work to our advantage. With this bait, it will be simple capturing the Avatar, and my brother. You have fulfilled your duties admirably, Lieutenant Kai."
"Thank you, Princess Azula."
A.N./ In case you didn't notice, Mai is becoming extremely OOC. Just wanted to let you know that she's supposed to be like that, and she loses the wholegoth thing when she got together with Zuko. The story gets more interesting from here on, so i hope you people keep reading! This one is also going to take a while though, since i have testing, not to mention my Bar Mitzvah! Plz R&R!