Kyuri was a hard person to surprise. Between her own keen senses and the even keener senses of Sangilak, one of them always noticed anything sneaking up or trying to startle them. Kyuri was highly skilled at analyzing a fight, so her opponents moves rarely startled her either.

But when they looked down on Omashu and saw the crest of the Fire Nation, Kyuri was surprised. No she was floored.

Smoke rose from the magnificent tiered city. Even from the distance they were away they could see that some buildings had been torn down and destroyed, either to flush out rebellion or in the conquering of the city. A huge red banner bearing the Fire Nation symbol, a three-tongued flame, hung over the gate in an almost mocking way.

"I don't believe it," Aang whispered. "I know the war has spread far, but Omashu just seemed… untouchable."

"Up until now it was," Sokka said, looking grimly at the city. "Now Ba Sing Se is the only great Earth Kingdom city left."

"Aang, this is horrible," Katara commiserated. "But… we have to move on."

"No," Aang said determinedly, squaring his jaw and shoulders. "I'm going in to find Bumi."

"Aang, stop," Sokka demanded. "We don't even know if Bumi's still…" He paused, shooting hesitant looks at Katara and Kyuri.

"What… alive?" Aang filled in sharply.

"-around."

"Aang, I know you had your heart set on Bumi, but there are other Earthbending teachers around," Katara said.

"This isn't about finding a master Katara," Kyuri said calmly. She read Aang's face. He held a duty to become a fully-realized Avatar, and that he had never shirked. But neither had he ever greeted it with such determination and anger in his eyes.

"This is about finding my friend," Aang agreed.

Sokka and Katara exchanged nervous looks. "Lead on," Sokka finally said.

"A secret tunnel? Why didn't we use this before?"

Aang pried the cover off the exposed end of the pipe jutting from the plateau on which Omashu stood. Green sewage poured out, sloshing over Sokka's feet and releasing an unholy smell.

"That answer your question?" Aang said drily as he hopped into the tunnel. He'd lead them down under the bridge leading into the city and to the pipe, explaining as he went that he and Bumi had found this nearly a century before and had used it to sneak out and explore the surrounding countryside when Aang decided he needed a break from the monks.

Aang, Katara, and Kyuri all had an easy time of it. Because the sludge was just, in essence, really gross water, they were able to move it out of their way with relative ease, emerging from a manhole and into the city with barely a spot on them. Sokka, however, didn't have the advantage of bending, and he emerged covered in green slime, his features indistinguishable under the thick layer. It took the combined talents of Katara and Aang to free him from the scum and get him dried off, upon which he realized that several tiny purple creatures had attached themselves to his face and started screaming and tugging on them.

"They won't come off!" he yelped.

"Shh," Aang said, tackling Sokka into a wall. "Not so louder. It's just a purple pentapus. You're probably frightening them." Aang placed a finger on one of the pentapi and stroked it soothingly. It let out a small coo and its suckers released as it relaxed. Sokka saw and copied Aang's method, removing the other pentapi that had taken up residence on his face.

"Hey!"

The quartet whirled, Aang quickly ducking behind Katar to take a moment and arrange his sash on his head and cover his arrows. Kyuri had taken to wearing a scrap of fabric over her rather distinctive hair and wearing her swords at her hips covered by a cloak, so she had nothing to hide.

"What are you kids doing out after curfew?" demanded the leader of a trio of night watchmen.

"We were just going home sir," Katara said, ever the respectable-looking one in their group. The guard nodded, as if acknowledging he believed them, and they quickly turned and walked away.

"Wait!" he called suddenly and they paused, wondering if this was going to end in a fight. But then the watchman asked, "What's wrong with him?"

Katara glanced at Sokka's neck and saw the red marks left behind by the pentapi and their suckers. They did look a bit like sores in the dim lighting. Quickly coming up with a plan, Katara turned Sokka around to face the suspicious guards, showing the marks on his face.

"He has pentapox, sir," she said sadly, shaking her head. The guard moved forwards, one finger extended as if to poke one of the marks. "It's highly contagious-" she added hastily.

Sokka picked up the lie and played his part admirably. Drool dripped from the corner of his mouth and his eyes rolled under half-closed lids. "Oh, it's so horrible, I'm dying," he rambled as he stumbled towards the watchman.

"- and deadly."

"I think I've heard of that."

"Didn't your cousin Chang die of it?"

"We'd better go wash our hands!"

"And burn our clothes!"

The three watchmen fled in fear, and Kyuri had to hide a smile. Plague wasn't funny at all, not in the slightest. In a crowded city like Omashu a sickness could quickly turn into plague if not properly addressed, and the casualties could be disastrous. But still, there was also the fact that Sokka had just drooled all over a Fire Nation soldier and gotten away with it…

Aang lead them through the streets of Omashu, being the only one familiar with it. Still, the Fire Nation was already making its own changes. Some things no longer stood, and scaffolds and piles of building materials abounded, which provided convenient cover almost anywhere they went when they had to dodge guards.

A pile of planks provided a convenient place to hide as two guards passed, chatting about nothing in particular as their made their way through their rounds.

"Where would they be keeping Bumi?" Katara asked softly.

"Somewhere he can't Earthbend," Aang reasoned. "Somewhere made of metal."

They emerged from behind the pile and made their way along a ledge. Suddenly, a rumbling sound split their air. They all looked up to see a few rocks sliding down the mail system chute just in front of them. Torchlight down bellowed showed that a party was passing one tier lower, obviously the target of the rolling rocks.

Aang sprang into motion, blasting the rocks out of the chute with a burst of air from a hastily-swung staff.

"The resistance!" screamed a woman. Now that Kyuri paused to look, she saw there were four soldiers forming a box around two women, one their age and the other considerably older, probably her mother, with a baby in her arms. They were without a doubt Fire Nation aristocracy.

The soldiers rushed forwards, climbing up ladders to try and get at them. The younger girl thrust her hands in her sleeves and withdrew them, weapons flying. Aang jumped out of the way as a spray of small arrows thunked into the wooden wall behind him. Opening volley released, the teenager made to join the fray.

Katara smacked a soldier aside with a stream of water before hastily forming it into an ice shield to counter another volley from the knife-wielding girl. Kyuri had immediately engaged two soldiers, tripping the first with a dive and a skillful twist of her strong legs before flipping the second over her shoulder to land on top of his counterpart. Aang took out the last, throwing him over the side of the tier with a wave of air from his staff.

They all turned and raced back the way they had come, the girl chasing after them. Aang and Kyuri both paused, looking back. The girl had her hands in her sleeves, doubtless preparing another spray of projectiles. Aang flicked his staff, a skillfully twist of air bringing down a scaffold just in front of the girl, who recoiled and stretched out a hand with another knife ready. Kyuri drew a blade and threw, aiming for the voluminous sleeves of the girls robes. The added weight would throw off her aim. Unfortunately, the girl released a second before Kyuri. The blades hurtled past each other in mid air. Kuyri's knife struck and dangled from the girl's sleeve. Kyuri raised a sword and the projectile reflected off of it. She stared down at the small stiletto on the ground in front of her before bending to pick it up. She had just stowed it in her sleeve, thinking it was a well-made weapon to add to her arsenal, when the floor dropped out from under her.

Kyuri twisted violently in midair, nearly wrenching her back in the process, but it meant she was the only one who landed upright when their little group landed in a tunnel below street level, a group of Earthbenders standing around them all and looking none too amused.

Kyuri had to admit that while Aang's arrows were distinctive enough to get them in trouble often, they were also good for getting them out of trouble quickly. All he had to do was uncoil his turban-like hat and the Earthbenders were immediately accommodating, explaining that they were part of the resistance and that it was they who had set the stones rolling towards that family, the wife of the governor and his daughter and infant son.

"So, is King Bumi with you?" Aang asked eagerly. "I mean, is he leading the resistance?"

"Certainly not!" the man in charge snapped. "The day of the invasion we were prepared to defend our city, to fight for our lives and freedom, but before we could even begin, King Bumi surrendered. The day of the invasion I asked King Bumi what he wanted to do. He looked me in the eye and said, 'I'm going to do nothing.' But that's over now. Fighting the Fire Nation is the only path to freedom, and freedom is worth dying for."

"Actually, that's not entirely true," Aang said softly. He was visibly slumped, his eyes down and depressed at news of Bumi's surrender. "You could leave Omashu. You're directing all your energy to fighting the Fire Nation, but you're outnumbered. You can't win. Now's the time to retreat so you can live to fight another day."

"No, we must fight to defend our home at all costs!"

"I don't know Yang," one of the other Earthbenders spoke up. "Living to fight another day is starting to sound pretty good."

"I'm with the kid!"

Murmurs spread from the watching crowd and approving voices lifted, agreeing with Aang's plan. It was clear that these people were tired and demoralized, many of them also clearly suffering from starvation. In a city where all trade went through the enemy, it was hard for a rebellion to get enough food to feed all its members without outside help, which was impossible given the way Omashu was laid out and guarded.

"Fine," Yang submitted. "But there are thousands that need to get out. How are we supposed to leave?"

"Suckers!"

Predictably, all eyes turned to Sokka, clearly asking if he was insane.

"You're all about to come down with a nasty case of pentapox," he explained.

In no time at all the plan was explained and volunteers were wrangled to venture into the sewer and procure buckets filled with purple pentapi. People assembled in groups, sticking the pentapi to their faces and arms and then peeling them off and passing them to others before reporting to what Sokka had dubbed 'Playing Sick 101.' He had taken up classes explaining how to act as if you were sick, displaying how to 'drool believably' and 'moan like an old, arthritic man.'

"Alright people, into sick formation!" Sokka finally said. The citizens shuffled off and they made to followed them, only for Aang to turn and start down an alley. Kyuri made to go after him but Katara caught her eye and shook her head, gesturing to herself before following Aang. Shrugging, Kyuri turned and claimed a spot next to Sokka in the shuffling mass.

Kyuri pondered as she staggered and groaned, taking a small delight in tricking the Fire Nation into doing exactly what they wanted. The soldiers banded together and drove the 'diseased' people from the city, never getting close. She couldn't really blame them. Disease was a funny thing. It would strike the young and the old, the hale and hearty and the weak and infirmed. It had claimed more lives than any war or massacre. There was no knowing when or if it would strike. Someone could just as easily be immune to a disease as horribly susceptible to it. Illness was something no one treated lightly, and for good reason. It could take a perfectly healthy person and turn them into just what they were pretending to be, a moaning, groaning mass of sores that could barely walk.

They escaped the city with little trouble and made camp in the valley, far enough away from the city that fires and the resulting smoke wouldn't be noticed. Those who were clever enough to smuggle food out under their clothes parceled it out around the camp and everyone sat down for a meager dinner. Sangilak caused a stir when he flew into camp and dropped five dead hogs by the largest of the fires. The citizens gratefully dug in, a few butchers coming forwards to cut up the animals and cook them.

Night had well and truly fallen, the plate of meat Katara had saved for him cold, before Aang trooped into camp with Flopsy at his side, a dejected look on his face.

"I couldn't find Bumi," Aang said. Katara threw her arms around him, Kyuri opting for a comforting hand on his shoulder as Sokka embraced a grumbling Flopsy.

"We have a problem," Yang said, coming forwards and interrupting their reunion. "We just did a head count…"

"Oh no, did we leave anyone behind?" Katara fretted.

"No, actually we brought and extra along," he said, pointing. They all turned to see Momo struggling under the weight of a baby dressed in rich clothes with a distinctly Fire Nation color scheme.

"The governor's son," Kyuri said grimly. "This is potentially problematic."

As it turned out, the situation actually suited their purposes. It was not long before a messenger hawk appeared. The Fire Nation governor seemed to think his son had been kidnapped by the resistance. His message was simple: a trade. His son for King Bumi. The trade was to take place at noon on the top of the scaffolding where they were building a monument to Ozai.

They were all four there at the designated point, Aang holding the toddler protectively. Kyuri stood directly beside him on the right, Katara on his left, and Sokka slightly behind them, holding the baby protectively. Opposite was the governor's daughter, flanked by two girls. One looked very bubbly in a midriff-baring pink shirt and a long, swishy braid. The other was dressed in no-nonsense armor. Kyuri kept a special eye on this girl. She didn't like the conniving, serpentine glint in her eye. Familiar snorting laughs echoed through the empty town as Bumi was lowered from above, encased in a metal box but for a whole where his face was.

"Hi everybody!" he called as he hit the ground behind the three girls. Aang smiled up at his old friend.

"You have my brother?" asked the knife-throwing girl in a bland, dispassionate voice.

"He's here," Aang said, stepping aside and gesturing towards Sokka, who was holding the infant and looking none too pleased about it.

"I'm sorry, a thought just occurred to me," said the armored girl. "Do you mind?"

"Of course, princess Azula," the dead-eyed girl said and Kyuri inhaled sharply. Katara looked over at her.

"What?" she hissed.

"Princess. Look at her armor. Fire Nation. She's Zuko's sister," Kyuri replied in short bursts under her breath, her lips barely moving. Instantly, Katara straightened, eying the girl with a new caution.

"We're trading a two year old for a king," Azula pointed out. "A powerful Earthbending king. This hardly seems fair."

"You're right," the governor's daughter agreed. She stepped forwards. "The deal's off!"

"Whoa! See you later!" Bumi cackled as his metal coffin was lifted off the ground and up into the air. Aang watched the rising box.

"Bumi!" he shouted, running forwards. Azula stepped forwards, blue fire rushing from her fingertips and heading towards Aang. He jumped, repelling off the scaffolding and leaping high over the blast, his glider snapping open as he soared over the platform. In doing so, his head covering came loose, revealing his blue arrows.

"The Avatar," Azula whispered, staring up at him. "This must be my lucky day."

"I agree," Kyuri said, stepping forwards. Her hands went up, gripping her blades and drawing them. She ran through her habitual twirl and stopped in front of Azula.

"Sorry, but I don't have time for commoners," she said casually, lunging for a wench and burning through the ropes, seizing the end and riding it up.

"I do," the governor's daughter said, stepping forwards. Kyuri paused, a hunch forming in her mind. Her blades flashed, deflecting every missile that came towards her, steadily advancing until she was in close enough to give her own volley of blows. The girl dodged, eyes wide in surprise, and Kyuri' hunch was proven correct. This girl specialized in long-distance combat. As far as close-range went she was woefully unprepared compared to her staggeringly good knife-throwing skills.

"Specializing only does you good if it prepares you for everything," Kyuri muttered absently as she sheathed her blades and dropped, one foot flying up and catching the girl in the stomach. She bent over and Kyuri popped up, channeling that momentum into a snap-kick to her face that sent her reeling.

"Mai!" cried the pink girl, who came rushing towards her. Kyuri watched, a grudging respect rising as she watched the girl bend easily through a series of acrobatic moves, crossing the distance between them in the blink of an eye.

"You're unarmed," she realized. "Or are you a bender?"

"Nope!" the girl chirped. Her hand knifed for Kyuri's shoulder and she allowed the hit, bringing her arm in for a punishing blow to the girl's stomach. Only, halfway there the girl connected with her shoulder and her arm went dead. Her sword clanged to the ground, her limb dangling uselessly. Kyuri stared at her motionless hand in shock as she willed her fingers to move, to twitch, and nothing happened. Kyuri sheathed her other sword, executing a mirror turn and grabbing her other, sheathing it and using her raised leg to catch the girl under the chin and send her flying back.

Kyuri straightened and stared at the girl. She didn't fall to the ground, instead flipping twice, landing on her feet again, and coming back towards Kyuri, who tried her hardest to stay away from every strike that came her way. The problem was, any defense she made would expose a spot riddled with pressure points for the girl's use, so Kyuri was stuck staggering backward, something she really wasn't used to.

Kyuri instinctively raised her leg to block a strike and knew the instant she did it that it was a mistake. The girl seized her ankle and struck three points on her leg, deadening it all the way up to her hip. Kyuri staggered at the girl let her foot drop, unable to use it to support herself. She let it dangle uselessly, the entirety of her weight on her left leg and half her limbs out of commission. She was completely distracted trying to stay upright as the girl swept behind her. Kyuri thought she was going for Katara and opened her mouth to shout a warning, but more stiff fingers knifed into three different places along her spine.

Kyuri collapsed.

Katara saw and froze.

Sangilak roared and swooped into the battle.

"No way," Katara whispered.

Kyuri felt strong claws scoop her up, her swords pressing against her sides. She was completely limp, hanging like those dead hogs in Sangilak's grasp. Her mind was working frantically. She couldn't move, no matter how much she willed herself to. Her body simply wouldn't respond. No a twitch, not a flutter.

Logically, Kyuri knew what had happened. She knew very well about pressure points. However it was such a rare style of fighting she had never though the girl in pink would employ it. To use pressure points was to turn the body against an opponent. You could deaden limbs, cause fatal blood pressure fluctuations, even force someone to throw themselves backwards into a wall or off a cliff. It was a powerful yet subtle skill.

Kyuri was not so much of a fool as to think she was unbeatable. No one was unbeatable in the right circumstances, which was why she held out such faith that Ozai could be defeated. She knew that one day she die. The way things were going now, it would probably be on the end of a Fire Nation soldier's sword.

However, while she didn't think she was unbeatable, she knew her strengths and weakness. Her strength lay in the control she so cherished. She was able to take in her surroundings and use them resourcefully in a fight. She could find the smallest of gaps in an enemy's defense and slip inside, dealing a final blow before they even realized they'd been open. In short, so long as she could control the situation, she could win.

However, as soon as that control was gone, she was weak, which was why it was her greatest fear. When the situation was taken out of her hands, when she could no longer even control her own body, the one thing she had carefully cultivated control over, then she would most certainly lose. That girl and her pressure points had taken her control away from her, and shoved that fact abruptly in her face.

"Kyuri, you couldn't have known where her strength lay," Sangilak said as he laid her down on one of the many rocky outcroppings outside of Omashu. Kyuri could still not move, but her mind was racing.

"I should have guessed. She didn't move like a bender, there was no sign of a weapon, and there was no way she was an incapable fighter, what with the two other girls she was with being as good as they were-"

"Kyuri…"

I couldn't move, Sangilak. I wasn't sure… I couldn't get my leg under me, and my hand was numb. I couldn't even raise a sword-"

"Kyuri…"

"I've never fought anyone who actually used pressure points. They're usually not reliable as a main form of attack. I just never dreamed-"

"Kyuri!"

Kyuri's rambling abruptly stopped. She stared up into large yellow eyes, warm breath washing over her comfortingly. She desperately reached out to her deadened limbs, willing them to move, and her spirits soared as her toes and fingers wiggled. The movement was returning…

"Kyuri, calm down," Sangilak soothed. "It's alright. You knew you weren't unbeatable."

"I know. It's just that… I never expected a girl like that would be the one to do it…"

"A girl like what?" Sangilak pressed.

"Giggly and girly… and wearing pink."

"If you acted giggly and girly and dressed in pink would you be any less dangerous?"

Kyuri's eyes widened. She'd made a dangerous mistake, underestimating that girl. She'd seen nothing more than an air-head and anticipated an easy victory. What if it had been that girl with the knives? Would she have been just as stunned?

No, Kyuri decided. She wouldn't have. It was something about the deeply personal way she'd been taken down, and the ease with which it had been done. With a few deft jabs with her fingers this pink girl had reduced Kyuri to a useless lump. Her own body had been turned against her, taken from her control and manipulated as if the girl were a puppet master and she the puppet.

"That won't happen again," Kyuri swore.

"You assume you won't ever see this girl again? If princess Azula is anything like her brother, then she'll begin tracking us too, and her companions may come with her."

"No," Kyuri said, her lips twisting into an ugly, self-depreciating smile. "Because I will refuse to. I don't think my pride could take it if she beat me again."

"Your pride," Sangilak huffed, shaking his great head. He lowered it to the ground beside her. Kyuri reached up, grabbing a hold of the long, spiraling horn that jutted from his brow and using it to haul herself up. She used his spikes for support as she dragged herself along towards her seat, her legs still mostly numb. With great effort she dragged herself into her seat on her stomach. She reached back and had to physically move one leg into place over Sangilak's shoulder. Grabbing a spike she twisted around and propped herself up.

"Let's find the others."

"And hope they've freed Bumi."

So, sort of a short chapter, but pretty important. I know people have been saying that Kyuri's a Mary Sue and she's unbeatable but that's not true. I've had this planned the whole time. Since Kyuri's strength in fighting lies in maintaining control of the situation and Ty Lee's lies in taking control away from her opponent, literally and figuratively, that made her ideally suited to be the person Kyuri really couldn't come up against and beat every time. Not so much Azula, who uses brute force, or Mai, who uses accuracy and a sheer number of projectiles to overcome their opponents. Not to say Kyuri wouldn't struggle with Azula, because anyone would, but Ty Lee is the one she's really susceptible to attacks by.

By the way, get ready for a bit of a time skip. I've been struggling with Book 2 mostly because up until Toph it's really just a lot of filler. Yes there are a few important things, like Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee's introduction, and Bumi's 'find a teacher who waits and listens' speech, but those few bits really aren't worth retyping a whole episode, so after this, prepare for Toph, cause she's going to come in with a vengeance! God I love Toph...