MAN I'M QUICK TODAY! TWO CHAPTERS IN ONE DAY! DISCLAIMER: TRANSFORMERS IS OWNED BY HASBRO AND AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER IS OWNED BY NICKELODEON
Transformers: Avatar Chronicles
Chapter 9: The Painted Lady
In a sludge infested river in the Fire Nation, the Gaang and the Bots trailed through the polluted water. Sokka, was fishing on Appa's saddle while Aang, who was in the putrid water, was playing hide-and-go-seek with Momo.
"Momo!" Aang said as he shot out of the sludge before going back under. Momo flew to where he heard Aang call his name, only to find no one there. Suddenly, Aang shot up behind Momo.
"Oh Momo!" he called before going back under. Momo once again flew to where he heard Aang when Aang shot up from where Momo already was, only for Momo to fly up to him, surprising Aang.
"You found me buddy!" Aang said while chuckling, but then he looks down at the water and finally seems to realize the horrid condition it was in before airjumping back to Appa's saddle.
"Hey guys, I think this river's poluted," he said to his friends before bending the goop off him, sliming the rest in the process. Even Toph thought it was disgusting. Seeing this, Aang uses his airbending to blast the sludge off and clean his friends.
"Well that explains why I can't catch a fish around here," Sokka added. "Becasue normally my fishing skills are 'Off the hook!' Get it!? Like a fishing hook?" The joke obviously flooped seeing as though even Warpath didn't even chuckle at that.
"Too bad your fishing skills arn't ON the hook," Toph remarked, this time getting everyone to laugh, except Sokka, who scowled in response.
"It looks like we'll need to go somewhere else to get food," Katara claimed before Sokka unrolled a long scroll of paper in front of her. "Assuming that'll fit into Sokka's 'master' schedule.
"Hmmm, it's doable," Sokka said while observing the schedule. "But that means only two potty breaks today."
"Maybe you can get some food over there," Ironhide said, pointing to a small village, just down the river.
They obviously needed to hide Appa and Momo, so they first stopped in a secluded area and hid Appa and Momo each under patches of grass.
"Now you'll look just like a little hill with horns! Bye buddy!" Aang remarked to his pet sky bison after covering him. Appa grumbled in response as Aang left to join the others.
"I don't feel anything, where's this village?" Toph said as they looked upon the village from a cliffside.
"Looks like it's in the middle of the river," Breakaway answered.
"Sure is!" replied an old man under the Gaang on a boat in the river. "My name's Dock. Mind if I ask who you are?"
"We're, um, from the Earth Kingdom colonies," Katara answered.
"And we're a group of Cons that are trying to get to the Fire Nation," Ironhide added. "My name's Barricade."
"I'm Demolisher," Warpath said.
"I'm Ramjet," Breakaway said.
"And this is Wasp," Ironhide said while pointing to Bumblebee, who obviously couldn't speak to tell Dock his codename.
"Then hop on!" Dock said. "I'll give you a ride into town."
*QUE TRANSFORMERS PRIME OPENING THEME*
Once the Gaang was on the boat, Dock rowwed through the river while the Autobots walked beside the boat.
"So, why do you live on the river?" Ironhide asked.
"Because we're a fishing town," Dock answered. "At least, that's how it was before the mining facility moved in." Everybody looked to their right to see an ominous building, visible through the gap in the cliffs, and bearing a symbol that appeared to be a Decepticon insignia fused with the Fire Nation symbol.
"Use to be a factory where the Army make their metal til the Cons came around," Dock added. "It already gunked up our river from when it was a factory, but now it's making things even worse. Now our little village is struggling to survive."
"What exactly are they mining for?" Sokka asked.
"Some kinda substance the Cons call 'Energon,'" Dock answered, which immediately got the Bots' attention. They were about to say something when Dock pulled into town and everyone got off.
"Thanks for the ride!" Aang said while waving goodbye to Dock before the Gaang headed out to explore. What they saw was anything but a pleasant sight. The twon was stricken with poverty and most of the inhabitants were either sick or dying. Katara and Bumblebee looked in absolute horror.
"Look at this place," Katara said. It's so sad. We have to do something to help." Sokka, however, objected.
"No, we can't waster our time here!" he exclaimed. We have a bigger mission that we need to stay focused on. These people are on their own."
"These people are starving, but you turn your back on them!?" Katara responded in shock. "How can you be so cold and heartless!?"
"I hate to say it Katara, but Sokka's right," Ironhide replied. "There are more important things we need to stay focused on."
"Besides, we'll be helping them all by taking out the Fire Lord!" Sokka exclaimed, though a little too loudly. Toph responded by slapping her hand over Sokka's mouth.
"Hey loudmouth! Maybe we should be a little quieter when we talk about taking out the Fire Lord," Toph remarked. Sokka got the message and talked a bit quieter.
"Come on Katara, be reasonable about this," Sokka said to his sister.
"(I don't know Sokka,)" Bumblebee replied. Sokka, who obviously couldn't understand what Bumblebee was saying, was handed Katara's translator so he could understand him.
"What do you mean B-I mean Wasp?" Sokka said, almost forgeting Bumblebee's codename.
"(When Dock said that the mine was for Energon, that instantly got me worried,)" Bumblebee said.
"Why? And for that matter, what IS Energon?" Sokka asked.
"Energon is the lifeblood of all Transformers, as well as our energy source for our technology," Ironhide answered.
"(And that's not all,)" Bumblebee added. "(There are many differant kinds of Energon. Dark Energon, Red Energon, and Tox-En just to name a few. Not only could ANY type give the Decepticons a huge advantage in the war, but it could poison the water to unbelievable measures. Imagine if they found Tox-En and it gets into the water. These people wouldn't survive two days!)"
"But we can't spend time here if we're going to get to the Fire Nation in time for the eclipse!" Sokka argued. "You all know our mission has to come first." Katara thought all of this through and reluctantly gave her answer.
"I guess so..." she says sadly.
"Let's just get what we need and go," Aang said before they walked off further into the town.
They approach a counter of an outdoor market stall, only to see, of all people, Dock, running the stand.
"Hey Dock, you work here too?" Sokka asked.
"I'm not Dock, I'm Xu." Do-or Xu, responded. "Dock's my brother." The Gaang and the Bots just looked at him, confused at his actions.
"But we just saw you," Aang argued.
"Yeah, you're even wearing the same clothes!" Warpath added. "Only difference is you're wearing some kind of hat!"
"Dock works on the docks, that's why they call him 'Dock,'" Xu replied. "And I work in the shop, that's why they call me 'Xu.'"
"I don't get it," Aang responded.
"Me nether," Xu, for some reason replied before dropping to the floor and coming back up with a crate. "What can I get ya?" The Gaang looked into the crate to see that the crate was full of rancid sludge infested seafood.
"Hey, I'll give you a special deal," Xu added. "If you buy three fish, I'll throw in a clam for free." The Gaang looked down at the seafood, and even the Autobots were revolted at their condition. Sokka even pushed down on one of the clams and saw more sludge gush out of it. Everyone was disgusted, but they needed to eat, so they had no choice.
"We'll just take the fish," Sokka said as Xu took the fish from the crate. "Mind telling your brother we need a ride back to shore?" Xu replied by ducking under the counter again and reappearing without the hat and with the headgear that 'Dock' wore.
"Hey colonials, my brother says you need a lift," X-or Dock said, before hopping over the counter and walking to the docks. As they followed him, a young boy came up to Katara and pulled on her clothing.
"Can you spare some food?" he asked. Katara responded by kneeling to his level and giving him some of the fish.
"I wish I could help more," Katara said sadly as the kid took the fish and bowed to her before running up to a sick woman, persumably his mother. Katara looked upon the sight and almost cried, really wanting to do more to help this village. Bumblebee, who saw everything, looked down sadly, commending Katara's efforts and generosity, but sad that she couldn't do much else.
Back at the campsite up on the cliffs, Aang and Katara were busy bending the sludge out of their cooking water while Sokka ponders his schedule.
"Our detour into town today has completely thrown off our schedule," he said. "It's gonna take some serious finagling to get us back on track."
"Finagle away, O schedule master," Toph sarcastically remarked.
"Well, for starters, it looks like we'll need to wake up fourty-three minutes earlier every day," Sokka began, which obviously didn't gain the approval of the other kids.
"Fourty-three minutes?" Katara asked in disbelief.
"Look, we only have a few weeks to get to the Fire Lord in time for the invasion and the eclipse, which, by the way, only lasts for eight minutes, and we just lost a whole day," Sokka replied. "So if we want to make up the time and stay on schedule, we have to wake up early!"
"That doesn't sound like a bad idea," Warpath said, defending his friend.
"Easy for you to say Warpath, you don't sleep like we do!" Katara argued.
"Or we could just cut out all of our eating breaks," Sokka said.
"What!?" Aang exclaimed.
"No way!" Katara added.
"Forget it!" Toph said.
"I got it, how's this from now on, we'll take food breaks and potty breaks, at the same time," Sokka said, which earned the disgust of the Gaang. "Hey, it might be gross, but it's efficient. Either way, we have to leave here first thing tomorrow morning." With that, Sokka took the schedule and left to go over it some more while Katara can't get the starving people in the village out of her mind.
The next morning, Appa was lying on his side, groaning, while Katara went up to check on him. Everyone else heard Appa groaning and went up to see what was going on.
"(What's wrong Katara?)" Bumblebee asked.
"I think Appa's sick," Katara answered, much to the shock of Sokka.
"What!? Appa's sick!? That's awful!" he exclaimed.
"Wow Sokka, I didn't realize you cared so much," Toph remarked while rubbing her eyes.
"Of course I care!" Sokka replied, although he didn't really care for the right reason. "I might as well just throw away our schedule now!" The rest of the Gaang, even Warpath, glared at Sokka in response. Quickly realizing what he just said, he then ran up to Appa's side.
"AND I'm concerned because my big, furry friend doesn't feel well!" he added.
"He must have gotten sick from being in the polluted water," Toph suggested.
"Well that would explain things, but he doesn't look sick to me," Ironhide said.
"You okay buddy?" Aang asked his friend, while pulling his tongue out, revealing that it was purple.
"Okay, I might not know much about this planet's biology, but I know that that's suppose to be red," Breakaway said.
"(Think you can heal him Katara?)" Bumblebee asked as Katara went up to look at the sky bison's tongue.
"It looks like he needs some medicine," Katara answered. "Maybe we can find the right herbs in town."
The Gaang decided that that was a good idea as they walked back into town, however, the town was much more bustling and filled with life as opposed to depressing and hopeless.
"Is it just me, or does this place seem different?" Toph asked.
"Yeah, everyone seems, happier," Warpath added. They soon saw the boy from yesterday running by, bouncing a ball, while Katara smiled to herself. Then the Gaang walked up to the market stall where 'Xu' stood behind the counter.
"Hey, Xu, what's going on with everyone today?" Sokka asked while 'Xu' took a sip of...something.
"Ah, something amazing happened last night," 'Xu' answered. "Food was delivered to our village by a mysterious and wonderful person...the Painted Lady."
"The Painted who?" Breakaway asked.
"The Painted Lady," 'Xu' answered as he places a statue of a heavily draped lady wearing a large robe as well as a wide-brimmed conical hat and had painted syembols on her face, giving her a mysterious but gentle look. "She's part of our town's lore. They say she's a river spirit who watches over our town in times of need. I always thought she was just a legend. Until Now."
"See, we don't need to help these people, they already have someone to help them," Sokka claimed to his friends before turning back to 'Xu.' "All we need is medicine for our sick friend."
"Medicine?" 'Xu' asked. "Sorry, all the medicine we have goes to the mine. That's why there's so many people sick in our village.
"Looks like we need to stay another night so Appa can rest," Katara suggested. Sokka just sighed and hung his head down, realizing she was right.
"I guess you're right," he said before turning back to 'Xu.' "You got anymore food to sell?" 'Xu' responded by grabbing a sludge covered fish in each hand, but the one on his right hand was especially disgusting.
"Would you like the one-headed fish, or the two-headed fish?" he asked. Sure enough, one of the fishes had mutated a second head. Sokka mulled it over for a bit before deciding.
"Two-headed!" he answered, much to the shock and disgust of his friends. "What? You get more for your money that way!" It didn't help though that he held the disgusting mutated fish close to his friends, who groaned in disgust at it and ran away.
Later that night, a mysterious fog starts to aproach the town, and a figure that resembles Xu's statue starts to levetate towards the village, and closes into an infirmary, where several patients lied on the floor, sick beyond belief. The figure enters and walks to one of the patients, kneels down, and a glowing blue light illuminated the room. She continues to heal all that were in the building until she comes across the mother of the boy, who was sleeping next to his mother. Once the light had engulfed the room one more time, the figure stood up and turned to leave, not knowing that the boy had awakened and started to follow her.
"Thank you Painted Lady," the boy said to the figure. Startled, the figure stopped at the dock and nodded to acknowledge him before gliding away to the night.
The next day, Dock, not Xu, is polishing his Painted Lady statue with a rag as the Gaang stepped up to the counter.
"Hi Dock, is Xu around?" Sokka asked.
"Let me check," Dock replied as he tossed his rag aside and runs around the shop, whistling. He then ducked beneath the corner to switch his hat and ran back to the counter.
"Hey there!" 'Xu' said. "Back again are ya?" Before Sokka could say anything though, Toph pushed him aside to make sure they didn't get anymore two-headed fish.
"We need more food," Toph answered. "Our friend is still sick and we can't leave until he's better." Toph's attempt to get them more edible food didn't help much though as 'Xu' provided a platter of sludge filled clams.
"Oh, well, that's too bad," 'Xu' replied. "Maybe if you guys are lucky, the Painted Lady will visit you in the night, and heal your friend."
"Yeah, and maybe she'll cook you fleshies a midnight snack and you'll all have a fraggin sing-along!" Warpath sarcastically remarked. Breakaway then turned to Ironhide, confused at his behavior.
"We're disguised as Cons, don't you think we should look like Cons?" Ironhide whispered.
"You know, last night she visited us again," 'Xu' added. "Healed most of our sick folks.
"Is that why this place seems so festive?" Aang asked. Sure enough, there were townsfolk cheering when a Painted Lady statue was being put up in the center of the town.
"Yep, it's all because of the Painted Lady," 'Xu' replied.
"Can you believe how much an entire village can be affected by one lady, I mean...spirit?" Katara asked.
"Well, I hope she returns every night," Sokka said. "Otherwise this place would go right back to the way it was."
"Why would you say that?" she asked. "Look how much better these people are."
"Yeah, NOW, but with out her they wouldn't be able to fend for themselves," Sokka argued.
"Yeah, if she really wanted to help out, she would use her spirit mumbo-jumbo to blow up that mine," Warpath added before making an awkward gesture to indicate explosive spirit magic. "Oooooooo...kapowwe!"
"Spirit magic doesn't work that way Warpath," Aang replied. "It's more like-" He then does an elaborate dance to one-up Warpath. "Woooooo..." Katara's reaction was to walk off angrily as Sokka joins Warpath and Aang to ham it up.
"Wooooo..." The three of them went. Katara on the other hand walked off to the dock and looked upon the mine and all the damage that it had caused to this village.
Later that night at the campsite, Katara slipped out of her sleeping and stuffed dried grass into it, then dons a Painted Lady outfit, confirming that she was the one who was responsible for all the good deeds that the village people believed the Painted Lady was responsible for. She begins quietly gliding towards the village, but was unaware that she had awakened Bumblebee from stasis. He then sees Katara just before she slipped out of sight.
"(It's her!)" Bumblebee beeped as he started to run after her, grabbing Katara's translator in the process so he could communicate with who he assumed was the Painted Lady, however, she noticed Bumblebee running after her and starts to run away, but Bumblebee soon caught up to her and Katara, realising that she couldn't run faster than Bumblebee, stopped. Bumblebee then tossed her the translator and motioned her how to use it. Katara then activated it and Bumblebee began to speek.
"(My name's Bumblebee,)" he beeped. "(I apologize for bothering you, but I needed to speek to you.)"
"Well, hello Bumblebee," Katara answered in an obviously fake voice while attempting to hide her face. "I wish I could talk, but I am very busy." However, her attempt to hide her voice didn't succeed, as Bumblebee's optics widened when he recognized her voice.
"(Katara?)" he asked. Katara, admiting defeat, took off her hat and vail and looked down.
"Hi Bee," she said.
"(You're the Painted Lady?)" Bumblebee asked.
"I wasn't at first, I was just trying to help the village, but ever since everyone thought that's who I was anyway...I guess I just kind of became her," Katara answered.
"(Wait a minute, is Appa even sick?)" Bumblebee asked.
"He...might have been sick of the purple berries I've been feeding hum, but, other than that, he's fine," Katara answered.
"(So you've been lying to everyone so you could help these people?)" Bumblebee asked.
"I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have," Katara began, feeling ashamed of her actions, only to be interrupted by an unexpected response from Bumblebee.
"(No no, I think that's wonderful,)" he beeped, much to Katara's surprise.
"Really Bee?" she asked before Bumblebee kneeled down to her level.
"(What you're doing here is an act of generosity of which I've never seen the likes of before,)" he answered which got Katara to smile slightly, not as ashamed of her actions as she was before.
"Well, if you want to help...there's one more thing I have to do," she said.
"(You want to destroy the mine?)" Bumblebee asked as the duo walked over to the mining facility, Bumblebee out of his 'Wasp' deco, and Katara in her Painted Lady outfit.
"I know Warpath was just kidding, but he was right," Katara answered. "Getting rid of this factory is the only way to help these people permanently. We don't know what the Energon, if they find any, could do to the water in the river, you said it yourself!" Bumblebee thought this over for a few seconds before deploying his wrist blasters.
"(It's risky, but you're right,)" he replied before the two of them ran into the mine.
The two of them started with the drills. Katara slashed them with her waterbending while Bumblebee blasted them to bits. Then Bumblebee placed a mine on a system of pipes that dumped the waste into the river and ran off before it blew up, destroying the pipes. Then Katara used her waterbending to have a flood of water crash through the windows and start to flood the mine. Finally, Katara bended some of the flamable liquids into the center of the mine and Bumblebee used his blasters to ignite it and destroy the support beams that held the mining facility together. The duo quickly ran away from the facility before it completely collapsed in on itself and the waste stopped flowing into the river's water.
Meanwhile at Ba Sing Se, the entire city, now under Knock Out's control, had been turned into a giant mining facility where earthbender slaves mined for Energon under the supervision of firebender guards and Vehicons. The conditions were horrific for the slaves, but 5-star quality for Knock Out as he lived in the former Earth King's palace. Said Decepticon was busy trying to detail himself, though finding it to be quite difficult.
"Nyg, mmph! Ugh! Detailing was so much easier when Breakdown was around!" Knock Out complained before he heard the door open, spooking him slightly and dropping the buffer, before furiously turning to the Vehicon that opened the door.
"WHAT!?" he shouted.
"Governor Knock Out, the mining platform on Jang Hui has been destroyed," the Vehicon reported. Knock Out's optics widened when hearing the news, surprised, and afraid of what Megatron will think when he hears this.
"Shall I force the villagers to build a new one sir?" the Vehicon asked.
"No, they've been far too much trouble," Knock Out answered. "First they steal the slaves' rations, then they steal the medicine, and now they blow up our facility! If we're going to mine for Energon there, first we must destroy the village."
"I'll assemble a strike team to-" the Vehicon started before he was interupted by Knock Out.
"No, I already have one in mind," he said before he turned to the left. "Scrapper!" On que, the Constructicon leader Scrapper, along with the other five Constructicons, "Long Haul," "Bonecrusher," "Hook," "Scavenger," and "Mixmaster," walked forward.
"We'll leave no trace of their existance," Scrapper replied.
The next morning, Bumblebee, back in his 'Wasp' deco and Katara very quietly went back to the campsite.
"We need to be quiet, we don't want to wake up Sokka," Katara explained. Little too late for that though since Sokka, Toph and Warpath were waiting there for the duo.
"Oh, Hi Sokka!" Katara said, trying to act innocent. We were just...out on a...morning walk!"
"Oh really?" Warpath asked, obviously not believing her. "A morning walk?" With that, Warpath dumped the dry grass from Katara's sleeping bag onto the ground, much to Katara and Bumblebee's dismay.
"I know you're the Painted Lady, I know you've been sneaking out at night, and I know you've been lying about Appa and feeding him purplizing tongue berries!" Sokka said, while Toph stuck out her now purple tongue and held a bag of berries as evidence. "Katara, what you did put our whole mission in jeopardy. We're leaving right now." With that, Katara, with her head down, sadly walked away.
"And how long have YOU known about this?" Warpath asked Bumblebee.
"(In all fairness I only found out last night,)" Bumblebee answered. Just then, an explosion was heard in the distance. The Gaang all went to a cliff to see the Constructicons attacking the city.
"Constructicons!" Ironhide exclaimed in shock.
"What's going on?" Toph asked.
"A group of very dangerous Decepticons known as the Constructicons are blowing the city to bits!" Ironhide answered.
"What did you do!?" Sokka asked Katara angrily.
"I...kind of destroyed the mining facility," Katara answered in guilt.
"YOU WHAT!?" Warpath exclaimed.
"It was your idea!" Katara argued.
"Hey, I was joking! What part of those funny noises didn't you get!?" Warpath asked while Sokka face palmed himself.
"Did you even think this through!?" Sokka asked Katara. "The Constructicons' gonna blame the villagers!"
"Well, what was I suppose to do?" Katara asked.
"Leave! Do nothing!" Sokka answered. To Katara, that was the final straw. She had had it with Sokka's selfish remarks.
"No! I will never, EVER turn my back on people who need me!" she retaliated before getting up to leave. "I'm going down to the village, and I am gonna do whatever I can." As she started to leave, Sokka contemplated this to himself before getting up and following him.
"Wait, I'm coming too," he said.
"I though you didn't want to help," Katara replied while turning to face her brother.
"You need me, and I will never turn my back on you," Sokka responded.
"Sokka...you really DO care," Katara said before hugging her brother.
"He really does have a heart, doesn't he?" Aang asked while in tears before turning to Toph for her remark. The answer: Toph socking him in the chest and Aang falling to the ground.
Meanwhile, in the village, the Constructicons were tearing apart everything they saw. Bonecrusher was in his bulldozer mode tearing down houses, Mixmaster was going ballistic, shooting everything that moved, and the others were busy knocking down buildings except Scrapper, who was addressing the villagers.
"I don't know how you fleshlings destroyed our mining facility, but somehow you did, on top of stealing food and medicine, and now you're all gonna pay," he said to the crowd.
"We didn't do any of that," Dock said while popping out into the crowd before popping out in a different place as Xu. "Yeah, the Painted Lady brought us food. She's the one who healed us, not your medicine."
"Oh, right, the mysterious 'Painted Lady' did it," Bonecrusher replied while turning into his robot mode and knocking over the statue in the middle of the city.
"So, where's your Painted Lady now?" Scrapper asked the villagers, before firing his blaster at a house, destroying it. "Constructicons, finish this village!" However, just as Long Haul and Mixmaster prepared to attack, a large gust of wind tossed them away and sent them screaming into the polluted water.
"What the slag!?" Scrapper exclaimed while eerie flute mustc began playing through the town.
"Boss, look!" Hook exclaimed, pointing to a heavy fig rapidly pouring in and engulfing the village.
"Where's it coming from?" Scavenger asked as a growling noise was heard.
"It's the Painted Lady!" answered the boy who first saw the 'Painted Lady.' "Sheeee's coming!"
"Constructicons, form up!" Srapper commanded. With that, the five other Constructicons formed up behind Scrapper. "If you truly are this 'Painted Lady,' then come out and face us you coward!"
"Boss, what's that sound?" Long Haul asked as a repeating thudding noise, sounding like giant footsteps. Back with the Gaang, it turns out that Toph is elevating and dropping a boulder, Appa was growling, and Sokka was playing the flute, all hiding from the sight of the Constructions. Then, they see the fog parting dramatically to reveal Katara in her full Painted Lady outfit.
"Come on!" Scrapper called out, daring her to attack. For a few seconds, nothing but silence and tension building. Then, suddenly, she rushes to the Constructicons in a burst of waterbending and hops onto the dock.
"Kill her!" Scrapper commanded to the Constructicons. Long Haul and Hook responded by advancing to Katara with their weapons drawn, but before they had the chance to fire, a sudden air blast, which came from Aang, from under the dock sent them flying into the polluted water.
"You three, stand your ground!" Scrapper commanded to Bonecrusher, Scavenger and Mixmaster who advanced to her as well, but Katara motioned her arms and waterbended three flamable barrles to them as they fired, and they hit the barrels insted and sent them flying backwards. Scrapper was in absolute shock as he saw his comrades being taken out like insects, but then glared daggers at Katara from behind his visor.
"Alright, you asked for it fleshling," Scrapper growled. "Constructicons, merge and f-" He didn't have time to react though as a sharp piece of metal flew into his abdomen area and he fell backwards, sparks flying.
"Boss!" Long Haul exclaimed as he and the other Constructicons ran up to their leader.
"Gah, she damaged my t-cog! We can't merge!" Scrapper exclaimed in horror as he looked up and saw Katara raise up her arms and waterbend the water upward.
"Leave now and never come back!" she ordered.
"I think we better do what she says boss," Hook said to his leader as they retreated and left the village. Meanwhile, the rest of the Gaang, minus Aang, rowed to the village as the people applauded Katara.
"I knew you'd come," the boy said.
"Thank you!" Dock said as he walke dup to her.
"Painted Lady, you're the best!" a random villager prclaimed.
"Me and my brothers really owe you a lot," Dock started before getting a better look at her, and shocked at who she really is. "Hey, wait a minute! I know you! You're not the Painted Lady, you're that colonial girl!" Katara just stood there in shock as she wiped a bit of paint off her face.
"Yeah, you're the lady that gave me a fish," the boy added.
"You've been tricking us, you're a waterbender!" Dock exclaimed.
"She's a waterbender!" the random villager shouted. "How dare you act like our Painted Lady!?" The crowd only grew angrier until Sokka ran up and intervened.
"Maybe she is a waterbender, but she was just trying to help you!" Sokka argued. "Because of her, that mining facility won't be polluting your river and the Constructicons are gone! You should be down on your knees thanking her!"
"Sokka, it's okay," Katara said as she removed the hat and vail and walked up to the villagers. "I shouldn't have acted like someone I wasn't, and I shouldn't have tricked you, but I felt like I had to do something. It doesn't matter if the Painted Lady is real or not, because your problems are real, and this river is real. You can't wait around for someone to help you. You have to help yourself."
"She's right, but what should we do?" Dock responded before Toph, hidden in the crowd, pops up and makes a suggestion in a deeper voice.
"Maybe we can clean the river!" she suggested
"Yeah, we can clean the river!" Dock proclaimed, and the crowd cheered in response before Dock walked up to Katara again. "Thank you. You know, you're not half bad for a waterbender."
"You wouldn't mind keeping that a secret, by the way, would you?" Sokka asked.
"No problem," Dock answered. "Keeping my mouth shut is a personal specialty. My brother Xu, on the other hand, hoo! He's a blabbermouth." Sokka just groaned and slapped his forehead in response.
"So, Dock, are you gonna help us clean?" Katara asked.
"No, ma'am, I'm going to get my other brother, Bushi. He loves cleaning rivers," Dock answered...only for him to change hats right in front of them. "Alright, I'm Bushi! Let's get some river cleaning done!"
"Aha, I knew it!" Aang proclaimed, thinking he finally outsmarted him. "I knew you were the same guy. You're the shop owner AND the boat guy."
"Oh, you must be talking about my brothers, Dock and Xu," Do-or X-or, screw it, crazy old man, replied, much to Aang's disbelief.
"No, I just saw you!" Aang argued. "You switched hats and called yourself a different name!"
"Oh, you know who does that?" crazy old man asked. "My brother Dock...he's crazy." The old man just laughed as Aang just fell to the ground in disbelief. Unknown to them though, Buzzsaw saw the entire scene and flew off, back towards the Fire Nation.
After an afternoon spent cleaning the river, with extensive help from the kids, Katara went down to the river at nightfall as the others sleep, when suddenly, an apperition appears before her, and out of the fog, emerged the REAL Painted Lady. Katara just looked up at her in disbelief as the Painted Lady looked down upon her with a gentle smile on her face.
"Thank you," was all she said before dissapearing into the fog.
Back at the Decepticon base, Megatron was baffled that Scrapper had reported back, claiming that one human female defeated all six Constructicons.
"How, can ONE miserable human, defeat SIX of my finest warriors!?" Megatron shouted in anger before Airachnid emerged from the doorway.
"It wasn't just ONE human my liege," Airachnid said, which got Megatron's attention. "Buzzsaw has reported back from Jang Hui and he saw the whole thing. Apparently this 'Painted Lady' is a waterbender, yet still he was capable of AIRbending." The last word surprised Megatron as he started to piece together the puzzle.
"Meaning that the only logical outcome, is that it was the Avatar and his friends," she finished. Now knowing the information Buzzsaw had came back with, Megatron activated his comlink.
"Dreadwing, set a course to Jang Hui," he commanded the seeker through the comlink.
Back at Jang Hui, the villagers were starting to get back to a normal life when a Cybertronian jet flew down and transformed into Dreadwing. The villagers were in shock as the mammoth sized seeker walked to the market stand as 'Dock' turned into 'Xu.'
"What can I do for y-WHOA!" he didn't have time to finish as Dreadwing grabbed him and raised him to his face.
"Tell me where the waterbender and her friends were heading when they left here, or I'll skin every man, woman and child in this village," Dreadwing threatened.
"S-she said s-s-something about heading west," the crazy old man replied out of fear before Dreadwing dropped him and transformed and flew west.
"Soon my brother, soon, you may rest in peace knowing your death has been avenged!" he declared as he flew west in super sonic speed.
*QUE AVATAR ENDING THEME*