Book Two: Earth
Chapter Three: Return to Omashu
"I can't believe it," Aang said in disbelief. "I know the war has spread far, but Omashu always seemed…untouchable."
"Up until now, it was," Sokka stated, crossing his arms over his chest. "Now Ba Sing Se is the only great Earth Kingdom stronghold left."
"This is horrible," Katara whispered. "But we have to move on."
"No," Aang said in determination. I'm going to find Bumi."
"Wait." Xena grabbed his arm before he could take off.
Aang, we don't even know if Bumi's still-" Sokka started
"What?" Aang demanded turning to glare at him. "If he's still what?"
"A-around." Sokka stuttered in response.
Xena glanced down at Omashu, hand tightening on Aang's arm. Bumi had never been a good friend of hers, but he and Aang had always been close. There was no way they were leaving until they knew Bumi was safe.
"I know you had your heart set on Bumi, but there are other people who can teach you earthbending," Katara said reassuringly.
"This isn't about finding a teacher," Aang snapped. "This is about finding my friend."
"We'll find him," Xena declared, grabbing his shoulder. "But we need to get in Omashu first.
"We'll use the secret tunnel."
"Tunnel? Since when has there been a secret tunnel?" She asked as they climbed onto Appa's back.
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"A secret passage?" Sokka muttered as Aang used his glider to pop off a grate. "Why didn't we just use this last time."
"It's not a secret passage," Xena mumbled in disgust, a small flood of sewage flowing out onto Sokka's feet.
"Ugh!" The Water Tribe warrior groaned.
"Does that answer your question?" Aang said sarcastically as he ducked into the sewer tunnel.
Xena followed, lifting her feet in disgust before waterbending the sludge to the sides. Aang used airbending to clear a path while Katara copied Xena. She glanced back at Sokka and snickered. Without bending to clear a path he was already getting soaked with the foul sewage, but Katara's waterbending redirected it into his face.
"Just to let you know this doesn't count as a secret tunnel," She told Aang.
"Do you think you can light a flame so it's easier to see?" He replies over his shoulder.
"Maybe, but only if I won't get soaked by this gunk in the process."
Aang slows down slightly so his airbending pushes some of the water away from her and she stop waterbending with one hand to light the requested flame. She regrets doing so immediately ase it reveals the slime and mold on the walls.
As soon as they reach a spot where they can climb out, Aang uses a blast of air to loosen the sewer lid which he held up slightly so that he could make sure the coast was clear. He pushed the lid to the side and jumped out of the sewer using airbending. Xena jumped up soon afterwards and Katara follows
"That wasn't as bad as I thought," The younger waterbender commented.
Momo suddenly screeched as Sokka appeared ,completely coateded in the sewage slime. He groaned and shuffled towards us with his arms outstretched. Katara quickly waterbended some water from a barrel and launched it at him, washing away the slime then Aang swung his staff and dried him off. Purple pentapi were attached to Sokka's face. He started screaming when the pentapi began sucking on his face.
"Ahh! They won't let go!" Sokka shrieked as he tried to yank the pentapi off his face. "Help!"
Xena lunged forward, knocking him into the wall and putting her hand over his mouth. "Shut up, do you want to inform the whole city we're here?"
"Yeah, relax it's just a purple pentapus," Aang added, tickling a pentapus's head till it let go leaving behind red welts. Sokka sighed in relief and quickly removed the pentapus on his neck in the same way.
"Hey!"
They turned quickly as Fire Nation guards approached. Xena pulled Sokka to stand next to her, so Aang could cover his tattoos behind the shiled of their bodies.
"What are you kids doing out past curfew?" The lead guard demanded as he and the other two stopped a few feet away.
Aang appeared at Xena's side between Katara and her, his shawl wrapped around his head like a hat.
"Sorry," Katara apologized and gave the guards innocent smiles, her head tilted slightly and her hands tucked behind her back., "We were just on our way home."
They turned and started walking down the street. Please, please let us go.
"Wait!" The lead guard said suddenly to Xena's bitter disappointment., "What's the matter with him?"
"Uh…" Katara stuttered and she leaned back slightly to look at the welts on Sokka's neck.
"He has pentapox, sir," Aang lied smoothly.
"It's highly contagious," Katara added when the lead guard leaned forward to look at the red spots on Sokka's face.
Sokka blinked up at the guard before changing his expression into one of agony as he clutched at his face. "Oh, it's so awful. I'm dying."
"And deadly," Xena added as the guard backed away from Sokka quickly.
"Hey, I think I heard of pentapox!" A second guard said as he took a slight step back. "Didn't your cousin Chang die of it?"
"We'd better go wash our hands and burn our clothes," The lead guard stated as they rushed away.
Aang grinned and tickled the head of the pentapus he still had in his hand. "Thank you, sewer friends."
"I can't believe they bought that," Xena mumble in disbelief.
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They ducked behind some metal beams used for construction as a patrol of Fire Nation guards passed by.
"Let's find Bumi and get out of here." Katara muttered quietly.
"Where would they be keeping him?" Sokka asked softly.
"Somewhere he can't earthbend," Aang said looking around.
"Somewhere made of metal," Xena said, tapping the metal beam with her hand.
Aang looked over the beams and seeing that the patrol had passed, waved them forward. They continued to creep around the construction material, following behind Aang, who knew the city better than any of them. Xena looked down towards a procession of people, walking below and several steps behind them. She kept an eye on them for a minute and then looked up, sensing another heat source above them.
"Look!" She hissed, pointing at a bunch of rocks, rushing down towards the procession. Aang looked at them in distress and reacting on instinct, slammed his staff down. The blast of air destroyed and knocked away the rocks. The explosion alerted the party below and despite the fact that their lives had just been saved by them, blamed them for the assassination attempt.
"The resistance!" A woman shouted pointed towards us.
A girl in black swung her hands up towards Aang, sending tiny arrows flying at him. Aang quickly jumped up to avoid the arrows, landing on a stack of construction materials.
"Come on let's get out of here," Xena shouted.
Two of the Fire Nation guards began climbing up a set of ladders to reach them. Katara whirled around and used water from her flask to create a water whip, pushing them off just as the girl in black reached us. She extended her right arm as she ran at Katara, shooting off more small arrows at her, but Katara raised a shield of ice to protect herself. She turned and ran after Sokka and Xena. The girl jumped over the ice shield in pursuit. Aang swung his staff down, destroying construction scaffolding as Katara ran past. The girl skidded to a stop and launched two throwing stars at Aang. Xena jumped in front of him, drawing her swords and knocking them out of the air. She glared at her, but the girl sneered and threw more of the small arrows at them. How many of those things does she have? Xena shifted to cut the new batch of arrows, but the ground opened up beneath the four of them suddenly. She screeched in surprise and twisted her swords up against her forearms to keep from stabbing anyone as they slid down the chute. She rolled forward as they hit the bottom and shot to her feet. Three men in Earth Kingdom military uniforms stood in front of her. The others lay on the ground behind her in a jumbled heap.
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Xena crossed her arms as they followed the guards into a large underground cave.
"So, is King Bumi with you guys?" Aang asked the man in charge. "Is he leading the resistance?"
"Of course not!" He snapped angrily as he clenched his fists. "The day of the invasion, we readied ourselves for battle. We were prepared to defend our city…to fight for our lives and for our freedom. But before we even had a chance, King Bumi surrendered! The day of the invasion, I asked King Bumi what he wanted to do. He looked me straight in the eye and said, 'I'm going to do…nothing!'"
"Nothing?" Xena repeated in shock.
"Nothing," He repeated bitterly. "It doesn't matter now though. Fighting the Fire Nation is the only path to freedom. And freedom is worth dying for."
Aang leaned against his staff beside Xena. "Actually there's another path to freedom. You could leave Omashu. You're directing all your energy to fight the Fire Nation. But you're outnumbered. You can't win."
"Now would be the time to retreat," Xena added, dropping her arms to her sides. "So you can live to fight another day."
"You don't understand!" He retorted, throwing his hands up. "They've taken our home, and we have to fight them at any cost!"
"I don't know, Yuang." One of the resistance fighters disagreed. "Living to fight another day is startin' to sound pretty good to me."
"Yeah!" Another fighter agreed pointing at himself. "I'm with the kid and his friend!"
Yuang looked at all the people who had taken refuge in the tunnels under Omashu as they whispered quietly to themselves.
"Fine," He consented reluctantly. "But there's thousands of citizens that need to leave. How're we going to get them all out?"
Sokka put his hand on his chin as he thought then smiled, pointing at the resistant. "Suckers!"
"What," Xena started, "are you talking about?"
"You're all about to come down with a nasty case of pentapox."
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"The marks make ya look sick, but you gotta act sick too," Sokka explained to the people of Omashu as they used the pentapi to create little red marks on their skin. "Ya gotta sell it!"
An elder man hobbled past us, leaning heavily on his cane as he clutched his back and moaned in pain.
"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Sokka exclaimed, grabbing a guy standing next to him as he pointed at the old man.
"Years of practice," The old man said with a grin, tapping his leg with his cane.
Xena chuckled under her breath and turned as Sokka called yo everyone.
"Okay everyone! Into sick formation!"
"Take care," She whispered to Aang before joining the ranks of shuffling and moaning citizens as they moved towards the gates of Omashu.
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Sokka groaned in pain and grabbed at his face in theatrical agony then reached out towards the guards, who began to back away hurriedly.
"Plague! Plague!" One of the guards shouted as they ran away from them and the gate.
Another guard at the top of the wall began ringing the gong. A few minutes later the gates opened and they moved out, heading to the large field area outside of the city where some earthbenders had already began to set up camp. Xena slapped Sokka's back.
"Way to go, smart guy."
"I know, I know. I'm awesome," He bragged.
"She didn't say that," Katara said, joining them.
"I'm going to go fetch Appa. I'll see you guys soon," Xena told them before running off.
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When she arrived back at camp with Appa, Aang had returned and Katara was holding a baby up to Yuang.
"Does that look like the face of a killer to you?"
"What's going on?" Xena asked while Appa groans.
"It's a Fire Nation baby," Sokka grumbled in reply just as there was a loud screech.
"A messenger hawk!" Yuang exclaimed as the bird landed on a rock a few feet away.
Aang pulled a small scroll out of the canister on the messenger hawk's back.
"It's from the Fire Nation governor. He thinks we kidnapped his son. So…he wants to make a trade. His son…" Aang explained as he read it then his eyes widened dramatically. "For King Bumi."
"Let me see that?" Xena demand, jumping down from Appa's head.
She took the scroll from him, reading it. It had an official seal next to the governor's name. She rerolled it and handed it back to Aang without a word. By this time she knew it was pointless to state that it was most likely a trap because Aang would go ahead and do it anyways.
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Aang stared at Omashu from atop one of the hills surrounding the city with the baby in his arms. Xena touched his shoulder gently and he gave her a weak smile before leading the way over to Katara and Sokka, who were waiting with Appa.
"You realize we're probably walking right into a trap." Sokka stated matter-of-factly with his arms crossed.
"I don't think so. I'm sure the governor wants his son back as much as we want Bumi," Aang replied, handing the baby to Katara. "It's a new day. I have a good feeling about this."
"I don't," Xena whispered as they climbed on Appa before jumping up after them.
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Sokka stood behind the three benders, holding the baby as they faced four teens. The one in black that they had met earlier, a girl in Fire Nation armor, a girl dressed completely in white with a matching cloak, and a girl in pink that looked a whole lot like Tamsin. Xena grabbed Aang's hand in surprise. He glanced over at her and then up as a crane began to lower a metal cage behind them.
"Hi, everybody!" King Bumi called out with a chuckle.
"You brought my brother?" The girl in black asked blandly.
"He's here," Aang replied, gesturing to the baby in Sokka's arms. "We're ready to trade."
"I'm sorry, but a thought just occurred to me," The girl in Fire Nation armor asked stepping forward. "Do you mind?"
"Of course not, Princess," She replied evenly.
"We're trading a two year old for a king," The other girl stated, looking up at Bumi, "A powerful, earthbending king?"
"Mm hmm!" Bumi agreed, nodding his head with a grin.
"It just doesn't seem like a fair trade, does it?"
"You're right," The girl agreed and the princess smiled as she took a few steps forward. "The deal's off."
Bumi's cage began to rise.
"Whoa!" King Bumi exclaimed, chuckling and snorting to himself. "See you all later!"
"Bumi!" Aang shouted, running forward and avoiding a burst of blue fire from the girl in Fire Nation armor.
He began to scale the scaffolding with airbending and his shawl fell off his head. He caught it as he continued up to Bumi
"The Avatar! My lucky day," The firebender shouted, using the pulley system to head up the scaffolding.
Xena sighed and started to charge forward to intercept her when the girl in black launches a flurry of arrows at her. She whips her swords out to deflect them, losing the chance to intercept the princess.
"We've got to get the baby out of here!" Katara shouted behind her.
"Way ahead of ya!" Sokka replied.
Suddenly the girl in pink moves down under the scaffolding and Xena can sense her below, working her way to Sokka. Before she can turn to join the Water Tribe siblings, the girl in white charges at her with a pair of drawn butterfly swords. She jumps backwards and slip into a defensive air stance. Her swords crash into the metal supports of the scaffolding as Xena twists behind her, ducking and weaving to avoid her strikes. Eventually she hardens her stance, switching styles and knocks the butterfly swords to the sides and lunges forward.
The other girl ducks and twists to her side before dropping and swinging a leg out. Xena jumps over it and then feints a slash before twisting behind her and swinging her sword at her shoulder. Their swords collide in a flurry of sparks as she brings her sword over her shoulder behind her back. Xena leans back when she spins suddenly, the tip off her sword scratching shallowly against her cheek. Hissing a breath between her teeth in surprise, she skips back a step.
"You're good, I'll give you that," She says, sliding into another stance. "But I'm better."
"Cocky much," The girl taunts, slashing at her.
Xena ducks, flipping her up against her forearms as she pops back up with an uppercut that sends the other girl reeling backwards. She regains her balance and takes the guardian's sudden charge for what it seems and not what it is. She flips over her head, landing on her hands and kick backwards, releasing a concentrated blast of fire that sends her flying and flips her back onto her feet. The Dragon whip, her specialty. The girl skids over the edge of the scaffolding and barely manages to grab onto a support beam.
Xena turns to help Katara just in time to see the pink acrobat chi block her. So she really is related to Tamsin. She moves forward just as the girl in black taunts Katara.
"How are you gonna fight without your bending?"
She pulled a knife from her sleeve when Sokka's boomerang suddenly knocked it out of her hand.
"I seem to manage!" Sokka snapped as he caught the boomerang in one hand, landing Appa between Katara and them.
"And so do I!" Xena growls, tripping the girl in black.
The chi blocker recoils in surprise as the older girl lands a hit to one of the pressure points in her abdomen and then to her arm. A quick spin quick sends the pink girl flying into her ally just as she regained her feet. They hit the ground a few feet away and lay in a jumbled pile as Xena jumps on Appa with Sokka and Katara.
"Sky Dragon," The chi blocker said in surprise, staring up at her.
The girl in white ran up beside her fallen companions. The hood of her cloak had fallen and Xena barely had time to wonder over the fact that like Yue's it was pure white as Appa slapped his tail down and took off, hitting the trio with a blast of air.
"There's Aang!" Katara exclaimed as she pointed to where the airbender was sliding down one of the stone chutes on Bumi's metal cage with the firebender right behind them.
"We can catch them!" Sokka says determinedly as he changes their course till they're flying right beside them.
"Hang on, Bumi!" Aang shouted. "Our ride's here!"
Appa swerved to avoid a blue fireball that was launched at him. Aang lifted the metal cage by hitting the side of the chute with a blast of air from his staff. The three teens reach upwards to grab hold of the metal cage, but it overshoots and sails over their heads and to the other side. Appa suddenly has to swerve to the side to avoid scaffolding and they lose sight of Aang and Bumi. When they finally managed to right Appa's course and find Aang again, he was alone without Bumi. He jumped onto Appa and Xena hugged him, understanding for whatever reason Bumi had decided not to be rescued.
"Let's go," She tells Sokka.
As they fly back to the camp, she can't help looking back at the city. That chi blocker had to be Tamsin's granddaughter to know chi blocking as well as the nickname Tamsin had bestowed on her so long ago.
"Xena, why did that girl call you Sky Dragon?" Katara asked suddenly.
"It's complicated," She says, smiling slightly at the memory.
I hope you guys loved this chapter. Many of you are probably wondering who my OC character is, but I can promise you'll find out soon through flashbacks from Zuko's PoV. Speaking of which no Zuko PoV in this chapter sadly, but I'm trying to stick to the real episode as much as I can. Anyways please review.