**thanks for the reviews/story alerts. it really does mean a lot. BUT, i would looooooooove more reviews. and sorry for the delays in adding chapters. our county fair is this week and i've been busy!!! but i hope you enjoy the new installment!**
Katara, Zuko and Sokka were sitting down to enjoy their breakfast, when Toph rushed into the kitchen.
"Iroh's been kidnapped!" She informed them. Zuko stood up abruptly.
"What?! But I was just there last night! What happened?" His golden eyes were clouded with worry.
"I don't know. Come with me." Everyone rushed out of the room behind Toph. She took them to the Great Hall, where the Earth King, Aang and a boy were standing. Katara and Zuko recognized the boy as the same one that came in to the shop and asked for work a couple days ago. He was very pale and looked like he was having a hard time standing.
"What happened to Iroh?" Zuko asked.
"He was kidnapped last night. Riley saw it happen." Aang turned to the orange-haired boy.
"They came after closing. I don't remember much, except… pain. A lot of pain." Riley choked out.
"Where did they take him?" demanded Zuko
"I have no idea."
"Who's behind it?"
"The hybrids." Sean walked out from behind the corner. He approached Riley and gave him a confused look, before explaining. "If you don't mind sir, could you lift your shirt?" He asked calmly. Riley looked confused, but lifted his tattered shirt to reveal burns similar to Sean's, but smaller and less severe.
"You're lucky to be walking right now. They obviously didn't want you dead."
"They're already in the city?" Katara asked.
"It would seem so."
"If you don't mind, I need to-" Riley collapsed on the ground, unconscious. Sean knelt down next to him.
"I've seen him before… but I can't remember where." He shook his head, confused and then picked Riley up swiftly.
"Where should he go?" He asked the Earth King.
"He can go to any bedroom. I'll send word to my doctor to come here immediately."
"No need. My father and I know how to handle this." Sean left with Riley.
"Now what?" asked Katara.
"I can't imagine they're still in the city. They must have snuck in to capture Iroh and then fled." said Sokka thoughtfully.
"But why Iroh? They could have captured any of us, but instead they choose Iroh." said Zuko.
"He's just bait. They chose someone that's not necessarily important, but he's important enough that they know we'll do anything to get him back." explained Sokka.
"They didn't leave a note or anything though." said Katara.
"We don't know that. Let's go visit the shop and see if we could find out more about our sneaky little friends." suggested Sokka.
"Wow. They certainly wanted it destroyed, didn't they?" said Katara as they entered the front door to the shop. They had a hard time walking around at all because there was so much debris and trash on the floor.
"Katara, you and Zuko search the kitchen for any clues. Aang, look in the alleyway outside and Toph and I will look in here."
"Yea, cause I'll be a whole bunch of help." Toph said sarcastically. They went to their designated rooms and began their long search for clues.
"Katara, I hope you don't mind me asking, but why did you and Aang break up?" Zuko asked after a half hour of searching. The question surprised Katara and it took her a minute to answer.
"We have different dreams… and when he left to visit the Air Temples we realized this."
"Oh… what do you mean "different dreams"?" Katara sighed as they picked up a broken board.
"Aang's only 14. I'm 16. Two years doesn't seem like a big difference, but with Aang and me it was. In my village, I'm nearing the age that I should get married. Aang is still too young and… I guess over time I realized we're just better off as friends. I still see him as the little 12 year old boy I found in the iceberg. I can't see him as a husband or a lover. It's just… weird. I mean, when he first broke up with me, I didn't see that. I was devastated. But after spending a year away from him, I can finally see that. Especially now that I've seen him and Jessa together." Zuko nodded.
"That makes a lot of sense." They got quiet again.
"You and Mai…?" Katara asked hesitantly.
"We've been done for about a month now. It was mutual... I guess we just drifted apart." Zuko shrugged. "Nothing too complicated really." Katara smiled.
"Relationships can be really complicated sometimes." She commented. Zuko laughed.
"You have no idea…" He said absently, giving her a look that made her blush.
"Guys! I found something!" Aang yelled. They rushed out of the kitchen and saw Aang holding a map. It was a very detailed map of the Earth Nation, with almost every village on it.
"Why are there large X's over those 3 villages?" asked Katara.
"Those are the villages they've attacked so far. And the ones circled are the ones they're planning to soon. And the blue line is the path they're on right now." Sokka studied the map intensely.
"What are we going to do now?" asked Toph.
"We need to rush the plan. Let's get back to the palace." said Sokka.
A week later, everyone that Sokka had sent messages out to, asking for help, had arrived at the palace. Suki had arrived with all of the Kyoshi Warriors and Mai, Jeong Jeong and Master Piando came with the White Lotus society, including King Bumi, The Mechanist and Teo arrived in a hot air balloon, and Andreea and Ashley came with some new friends.
"Thank you all for coming. As you know, we have a major problem with the discovery of the hybrids. We have yet to actually meet one, so we don't quite know what they are capable of, which makes the situation even worse. But we have to move quickly, because we can't let them destroy any more villages. There was another yesterday, making the total four attacks so far." Aang informed them. Sokka stood up next to him and pointed to the map they found in the shop.
"As you can see, they're planning to attack all the villages surrounding Ba Sing Se. They're playing with us; they want to see how many villages they can attack right in our own backyard, until we attack. Our only hope is to attack them, despite the lack of knowledge we have about them."
"We can't quite tell which village they're going to attack next, which makes it difficult to pin down exactly where we make our first move. So, our plan is to send out a couple spies to the villages and watch out for any signs of the hybrids. Then we'll know where they are, how many there are etc." said Aang. "Who would volunteer to be spies?" Andreea stood up.
"Don't worry about it Aang. We got it covered." She nodded to Ashley and the others they had brought with them.
"Excellent. Well, I guess that's it for now, until we know more information." Everyone stood up and began greeting each other, since it had been quite awhile since they had seen each other.
"Aang, this is Matchu, Tonya and Kiven. Guys, this is Aang." Ashley introduced the three people they had brought wit them. Matchu was a broad, tall man with short, curly brown hair. He smiled cheerfully, telling Aang he was generally a very happy person. Tonya was slim and only a little bit shorter than Matchu. She had very curly, dark blonde hair and seemed almost shy. Kiven was the tallest, and the most muscular. His light brown hair hung in his face and he greeted Aang with a cool nod of the head.
"When would you like us to leave for your "spy mission"?" Andreea asked.
"As soon as you can." Ashley smiled.
"Then let's go."
**well?? let me know what you think!!**
