Hurray! It's finally here! Number six--the penultimate chapter of my story :-D. Enjoy
--M
Suki
"He kissed you!" squealed Lia excitedly as soon as Suki returned and told the others what happened.
"Yep," answered Suki happily.
"Girls, back to work!" shouted one of the other workers as he walked by. Then he stopped. "If you girls aren't doing anything, I have a job outside of here that you could attend to."
"What is it?" asked Suki.
"There have been some reports of fire attacks in a village not far from here. You girls could go investigate it." Suki shrugged in response.
"Well, we're not doing anything here, so why not go?" suggested Sima. The man handed them a map and they were on their way. They had only been in the area for a day when they discovered Appa…
Jet
Jet opened his eyes drowsily. Everything was foggy and had a dreamlike quality about it. Where were Smellerbee and Longshot? Where was he? He tried to move but he felt stiff. How long had he been there? Questions flooded his brain as he regained consciousness. He struggled to sit up, but then noticed that his arms and legs were strapped down to the thin cot he had been asleep on. Suddenly, he heard voices.
"But sir, what do you intend to do with it here?" asked one voice. It sounded tense.
"Hide it of course," replied the other voice irritably.
"But sir," urged the first voice, "this is Lake Laogai, not a zoo!" Jet heard their brisk footsteps stop.
"Are you questioning my judgment?" hissed the second voice, so quietly that Jet could barely hear. When Jet didn't hear a response, he could only assume that the first man had merely shook his head, then the second man continued. "I have some other business to attend to. Good day." Jet heard the footsteps coming towards his room, and feigned sleep again. The second man, was definitely in the room, but Jet did not dare to open his eyes. He heard papers shuffling, and curiosity got the better of him. He opened his eyes a tiny sliver.
The man was reading papers from a file. His back was to Jet, and he was talking almost silently to himself. Suddenly, the man turned around.
"So," he said to no one in particular, "you were acquainted with the avatar…" He pulled a lever and Jet felt the cot sitting up. He pretended to wake up.
"What? Where am I?" he mumbled. The man smiled.
"I have a special mission for you Jet." Said the man smiling. "The Earth King has invited you to Lake Laogai…" Then Jet could remember no more.
Azula stood over her victims, smiling, as she always did, when she was victorious.
"Ty Lee, Mai, gather up the warriors' clothes." She ordered.
"Why?" asked Mai.
"Don't question, just do it!" snapped Azula. Mai shrugged and she and Ty Lee stole the clothes quite literally, right off the unconscious warriors.
"This is so weird!" giggled Ty Lee.
"Get their makeup too." Added Azula. She crouched down next to Suki. She knew Suki was their leader. One zap of lightning and she could be finished. She took a breath, then noticed something. Something had fallen out of Suki's pocket when Mai and Ty Lee had stolen her clothes. She picked it up curiously. It resembled a small carved stone; it was some sort of strange talisman. She was about to throw it away when a thought struck her: was it necessary to kill the warriors? What harm could they do? She squeezed the talisman in her fist, then threw it down next to Suki.
"Girls, let's go." She said standing up.
"Where are we going, Azula?" asked Ty Lee as she followed.
"Ba Sing Se." answered Azula. The three girls, with bags of clothes and makeup, left the Kyoshi warriors far behind.
Suki
When Suki opened her eyes, nearly three hours after Azula had left her, the first thing she noticed was the talisman lying next to her. Then she noticed that she was only in her underwear. Shock and confusion seemed to engulf her and she let out a bloodcurdling scream.
Ten minutes later, when the others had woken up, they tried to regroup.
"What happened?" asked Lia. "All I remember is the lightning, and the daggers, and…"
"I know!" said Suki. She had not let go of the talisman. "We were attacked, by those three girls, after that everything just seems to go blank!"
"Is anyone hurt?" questioned Tashi.
"Sima is cut up pretty bad, and Mian has some pretty bad burns," reported Keya, quietly as always. "But we're all in one piece."
"Well, except for all of our clothes!" grumbled Tashi. "Why would they just steal our clothes? And who were they anyway?"
"They were obviously Fire Nation, whoever they were." Added Lia. The others agreed. Out of the blue, Suki thought of a crazy idea.
"What if they took our clothes, and they're going to try to get into Ba Sing Se…as us?"
"Why would they want to do that?" asked Mian speaking for the first time. Of all the girls, she had gotten the worst injuries.
"Because, Fire Nation has been trying to get at Ba Sing Se for awhile, right? The Earth King would be more than glad to allow a couple more great warriors in, so if they disguised as us, it would be like a free ticket in!" In her excitement, she threw her arms up, causing the talisman to fly out of her hand.
"Suki, what was that?" asked Lia, picking up the talisman and looking at it curiously.
"It's a talisman." Answered Suki. "Oyaji gave it to me right before we left. He said it belonged to Avatar Kyoshi."
"Wow…" commented Tashi.
"And I know this sounds weird," continued Suki, "but I think it saved my life."
"How?" asked Keya, curiously.
"I—I'm not sure." Replied Suki honestly. "But, when I woke up, it was there next to me." The girls were silent for a moment, thinking.
"Well, it's obvious what we have to do now, right?" said Tashi, breaking the silence.
"What?" asked Lia.
"We're the only one's who know about the imposters, so we have to go to Ba Sing Se and warn them!" exclaimed Tashi standing up. "The fate of the Earth Kingdom could be in our hands!" She looked to Suki to for support.
"I agree." Said Suki. "Let's go now!" She started to go, then stopped and looked around at her fellow warriors. "Well, let's get some clothes first and then go." They all laughed, then followed Suki to their destiny.