A Wish Gone Wrong Chapter 8: Water and Lightning, an avatar: last airbender fanfic

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Chapter 8) Water and Lighting

"What!" I exclaimed as I dropped the candle I had used in the night.

"It seems that the avatar and his little group have been outside our walls for quite some time now. One of our scouts found them and scared the group away before we could capture them. They were headed east; for Ba Sing Se," said Azula, glancing to her nails again. She seems to do that a lot, I thought to myself.

"I need some of my stuff back at my house, can I go to get it before we leave?" I pleaded. Azula sighed.

"Fine," she said, "Be at the dock ready to board the ship in ten minutes." I thanked her and fled from the room. I seriously regarded escaping and trying to get back to my world. No, you taught Azula new techniques, you have to warn Aang about what he's up against; my brain commanded.

I raced back to my house, pushing past the shoppers by the fountain. I rushed into my room, grabbed three full sets of clothing from my dresser, and stuffed them into the first bag I found. As I glanced around the room I noticed a small brown box on my bed with a purple ribbon. I packed it in the bag on top of everything else and fought the gathering crowds to get to the ship.

Azula smiled her sly grin and made her way aboard, me at her heels. When me feet reached the ship the engine ignited and we set sail. The ship was the same one as the one Azula used in the "Avatar State", but my viewing was cut short as I was led into a room on the boat.

"This is yours, I'm across the hall," Azula told me. I nodded and started to dump my bag's contents on the bed in the ship. The box tumbled out first; Azula saw it, grabbed it up, and asked, "Oh a present who's it from? I snatched the box back and untied the ribbon. A note fluttered down.

"To Niki," I started to read as Azula picked up the box again, "I'm sorry for the other day, I really do like you. I had to win in front of the guys; sorry for the bump I gave you, sincerely Tayo."

"Wow, Niki you have yourself a boy friend," cooed Azula as she withdrew her fingers from the box. Hanging from them was a thin gold chain with a blue flame charm attached to it. I took it from her and slid it over my wrist. The gold was cool against my burn, it had a soothing quality.

"We need to practice now," Azula said, breaking the peaceful silence. I removed my new bracelet and followed her on deck. I took her through a little review, but she had remembered everything. As I showed her more advanced moves and stances I wondered what she would use these for.

"Azula, how are you going to use these moves. I mean you can't waterbend," I asked.

"It's a surprise," was here answer. I dropped the topic, knowing she wouldn't tell me more. Azula had me show her more and more stances, positions, and hand movements. I expected to spend a whole day working with her, but when noon came around Azula dismissed me. I gladly disappeared and left Azula to herself.

I walked to the back of the ship and watched the ocean water move around the ship, happily letting it glide by. I wondered to myself if I could bend the water around the ship to make it travel faster. I took my stance to bend, but was interrupted by a blinding flash of light. A large flash of lightning had erupted from the bow of the ship. I felt my legs wobbling under me ready to give way.

My water bending movements must have made her lightning stronger and better aimed. My mind pondered over this a second more. Fire and Earth need to be commanded to be bent, while air and water only need to be persuaded. Lightning must not like to be forced, so if Azula used the stances when she uses lighting, it would listen to her better, making it stronger.

Worry crept through my body, I did not want to teach her more then I already had. I focused on the ocean and pulled a huge wave under the boat. I adjusted my stance slightly and sent the wave forward, the boat neatly balanced over it like a cherry on an ice cream sundae. After a few minutes I got used to the feeling and sped the ship through the water. In only a half an hour the other ships had disappeared from view. I relaxed when a blurb of land came into view.

I retired to my room, but passed by Azula still practicing on deck. I slid the bracelet on my wrist and flopped down onto my bed. The practice had worn me out, and my intended cat-nap turned into a deep sleep. I dreamt of never being able to return to my home in my world. I woke at dawn and walked out onto deck. We had docked during the night and a small scouting party was setting off. I felt someone come up behind me and watch the commotion below.

"We'll be leaving soon," Azula announced. The scouts disappeared into the forest and the one remaining soldier walked on board, tugging at the lead of an ostrich horse.

"What is that filthy thing doing aboard my ship?" questioned Azula.

"Your companion needs a way to travel, she can't walk all day without resting," the soldier said. I expected Azula to silence him, but she just turned up her nose at the creature and commanded it to stay off her clean ship. I ignored her and followed the creature back down the plank to the earth and took its lead. The soldier tossed a red saddle blanket over its back, along with two saddle bags. I hope this is just like riding a real horse, I pleaded in my head. The man gave me a leg up onto the animal; it squirmed around under me, clearly annoyed.

"It's ok, this old boy has never thrown a single person," he assured me. I gave him a small smile and walked the creature in a circle to calm my nerves. A while later Azula appeared in her sedan chair. I urged my mount up along the side of it. The army and cavalry followed our lead and marched out of the ships into the forests beginning our journey to Ba Sing Se.

"Azula, where are Mai and Ty Lee?" I mused.

"Didn't I tell you? They're doing some spying in the city. They'll meet us in camp in a day or two," Azula responded, "There are so many refugees in that city, who would notice a few more?" I wondered how big the city truly was; could it hold until Aang defeated the fire lord or until after the comet? I hoped it could, but I looked back at the massive army which followed us and felt my hopes dwindle.

My mount knew to follow the procession, and that freed my hands up to practice fire bending. Luckily my burns had healed quickly and only my elbows were blistered. We marched slowly, eating through forests, plodding over hills, and avoiding large rivers. When we stopped it was well after dark. A large tent had been raised for Azula and a smaller one for me.

Azula quickly disappeared into hers, as did the soldiers; into tents of their own. Soon I was the only one awake in the camp. I decided to go for a walk back to the last stream we past. After walking only one hundred steps away from camp, I knew I had gone the wrong way. I turned and saw the forest had swallowed up my path. I froze, a single flickering light had found me, and then I was ambushed.

There seemed to be dozens, but in reality only three earth kingdom soldiers captured me. One shoved me to the ground, his hands gripping my wrists behind my back, the second knelt near my head watching my movements, and the third held the lantern.

"What are you doing here, you spy?" asked the second man. The largest of the three men, the first man, pulled me up until I stood before them.

"So, answer me, what do you want, you rotten little fire nation spy!" roared the second man. My mouth had frozen shut in terror; I could not speak a word.

Oh... cliffe. I'm kinda stuck now that school has started. It might be a while until the next update, hang in there.