Oh man guys! It feels good to be backkk(again!)! Thanks for the reviews it always feels good to see people actually appreciate my random crazy story thoughts. More at the end of the chapter guys!
To catch everyone up...LAST TIME ON HOMECOMING AND PARTIES: Appa is gone guys! Jet got is super jealous of Aang so beat him up with Random Cronie A (thank you Katsumara)! Also Iroh is still the cool Uncle as always and is friends with all old people including Jeong Jeong. They visited his Chinese Restaurant 'The White Lotus'. If you've forgotten, Zuko is living with Katara and Sokka because his family is a bitch to put up with. And that's what you've missed on H&P!
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Kyoshi stormed away with Jet in tow. Aang, Katara, Sokka and Suki looked after them in shock.
"Man, I can't believe what just happened. Dude, are you okay?" Sokka asked Aang as Katara dabbed at the blood on his face with a tissue pack she kept with her.
"You're so handy, Katara." Aang grinned underneath the blood.
"You'll be okay," Katara breathed a sigh of relief as she held him in a hug.
"Katara, I'm probably still bleeding and getting blood on your shirt." Aang mumbled into her shoulder, trying to keep the blood off of her.
"I don't care!" Katara squeezed him tighter. "I was so scared something bad might happen to you!"
"Katara, he wasn't going to be killed on the school grounds." Sokka rolled his eyes.
"You don't know if that guy had a knife on him! He could have had a gun for all I care!" Katara screamed at Sokka hysterically. Sokka gave up talking any sense into his frantic sister as Zuko's car pulled into the parking lot. It zipped up to the curb and Zuko sprang open the door, as Mai and Toph followed closely behind.
"Posters are up, what's going on out here?" Zuko asked as he realized something was wrong. He ran over to where they were standing. "Why the hell is my little freshman covered in BLOOD? Did he get too excited with the stapler or something?" Zuko asked a little sarcastically.
"Thanks for being concerned, Zuko!" Katara yelled. "And he's MY freshman!"
"Look, Zuko. Try to chill out a little. Jet just went crazy and locked Aang in a shed with one of his buddies, to beat him up. Apparently Jet hasn't gotten over Katara and this is some poor attempt to try to win her over." Sokka explained.
"That preppy emo-wannabe douchebag who was dating my sister?" Zuko asked.
"Wait…wannabe douchebag?" Sokka puzzled, "That doesn't make sense, who would want to be—"
"Yeah, that'd be the one." Suki folded her arms.
"Damn, what happened? Where is the dickface? I'll beat the shit out of him right now." Zuko cracked his knuckles.
"He was taken into the office to discuss discipline measures with his guardians." Sokka explained.
"Good, I hope he's expelled." Zuko nodded.
"Well, for now, Jet and I have detention." Suki rolled her eyes.
"What? You? Why?" Toph asked.
"I was defending Katara and Aang, so I used my self defense. I got in trouble for using violence against him." Suki sighed.
"That's lame! What's with that? You stick up for your friends and you get detention? We should start a picket line in front of detention!" Toph exclaimed.
"Excellent! I'll organize it and make the signs!" Sokka slammed his fist on his open palm. "We'll have a sit in! Or whatever those things are called!" Sokka's mind began to work a million miles an hour.
"Sokka, I'll be fine." Suki rolled her eyes at him. "It's only a week."
"Then I'll try to get detention too! I won't let you go alone!" Sokka exclaimed, determined to help in someway.
"That's ridiculous, Sokka. Whatever…" Suki groaned.
"Did you guys get the posters up?" Katara asked Zuko.
"Yeah they're on every street corner. No one will miss them. If they see the dog they'll know just who to call." Zuko nodded proudly.
"Ghostbusters?" Toph grinned, not being able to resist the corny joke.
"What?" Katara furrowed her brows, confused.
"You know…who you gonna call? Ghostbusters…!" Toph tried to explain the joke. "Never mind. To tense of an atmosphere or something. What's wrong with you people?"
"Anyway, so when do the calls start coming in?" Aang asked excitedly.
"When someone sees your dog?" Zuko suggested.
"That makes sense," Aang nodded. Zuko rolled his eyes.
"Okay, back to our place for a poster hanging refreshment party!" Zuko declared as he started towards his car.
"You can't do that! It isn't your place!" Katara screamed at Zuko.
"Whatever, I figured I'm bringing Mai back to the house for a little and you guys would want to bring your…significant other for a little while so why not make it a party?" Zuko shrugged.
"What are we married? Who the hell says significant other?" Sokka rolled his eyes.
"What about me?" Toph asked.
"Of course you're invited, you live next door don't you?" Zuko rolled his eyes. "Now let's go!" Zuko ran back to his car and jumped in. "Come on, slowpokes!" Mai sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Are you coming with us, Toph?" Mai asked.
"Hell yes, she's coming with us! Come on!" Zuko honked the horn.
"Chill out, Zuko." Mai growled as she helped Toph down the steep hill.
"See you guys there I guess." Katara waved with a sigh. They headed towards Sokka's car, as Katara fussed over Aang the entire way.
"Leave the poor kid alone, Katara!" Sokka arrived at his car and unlocked it.
"It's natural for her to be worried, Sokka." Suki shrugged, as she got into the car.
"Do you want him to get blood all over your back seat?" Katara asked.
"I doubt he's bleeding that much." Sokka adjusted the rearview mirror to look at them. "Nope, just fine to me." Sokka shrugged.
"What am I going to tell Uncle Gyatso when he sees my face?" Aang sighed looking in the mirror.
"You fell over. It's a believable story." Sokka laughed as he pulled out of the parking lot.
"I don't think all of that would happen from tripping." Suki rolled her eyes, glancing back at the beat up freshman.
"Aang's more graceful than that, Sokka." Katara growled.
"All right then, tell him you got in a fight over Katara and you fought gallantly for her. And if that's all you got, you should see the other guy." Sokka told him. "Gyatso would like that you're sticking up for your girl, right?"
"He'll say that I should have avoided the fight in the first place." Aang sighed.
"He can't say too much! You lost your dog, you're already miserable. He can't punish you too much. Just give him those big eyes of yours and act like you'll cry." Sokka shrugged.
"Sokka, not helping." Katara growled as she cuddled Aang on her shoulder. "If you want, I can try to cover some of this up with make up? That way it's not noticeable?"
"Ah, Aang wear it like a man." Sokka fought Katara's solution.
"I should just tell Gyatso the truth…he wouldn't want me to lie on top of everything else." Aang came down to his decision.
"Well, come and relax at our place for a bit. You never know…we may hear something before you have to leave." Katara suggested.
When Sokka pulled into the driveway Zuko's car was already there.
"I wonder if Gran's home…" Sokka muttered.
"How else would they have gotten in?" Katara jumped out of the back seat.
"Knowing Zuko he would have picked the lock…or Toph would have kicked the door in or something." Sokka shrugged.
"Well the door is still there." Suki notified them. Sokka tried the door and it was open.
"Hello?" Sokka called as they walked in.
"In here!" Zuko replied.
"How long have you guys been here?" Katara asked.
"They walked in five minutes ago, ice cream?" Gran offered.
"Heck yeah!" Aang exclaimed. He ran into the kitchen and sat next to Mai and Zuko who were sitting at the breakfast bar. Toph was standing at the kitchen counter. Katara, Sokka and Suki sighed and followed. Gran stopped in the middle of scooping ice cream and glanced at Aang's face.
"Aang, what happened? Your eye…an-and your lip…what happened today?" Gran asked.
"Oh, this is nothing." Aang shrugged. "Ice cream?"
"Not until you tell me what happened. Katara, what happened today?" Gran asked. Katara shifted anxiously in her seat.
"You did say you weren't going to lie about it." Zuko smirked at Aang.
"Appa ran away from home last night and we were trying to find him when a couple guys gave us a hard time…but justice got served so no harm done right?" Aang shrugged. "So, ice cream…?" Aang asked.
"All right…as long as no one was seriously hurt." Gran continued to scoop the ice cream. Aang grabbed his bowl as Gran finished scooping.
"You want to be a gentleman there, Aang?" Sokka asked, nodding to Katara.
"Oh…I don't want any, thank you though." Katara smiled. Sokka reached over to grab the bowl.
"Yeah, some gentleman." Aang protected his ice cream. Zuko's cell phone started to vibrate in his pocket as he swiftly pulled it out.
"IS IT SOMEONE CALLING ABOUT APPA?" Aang screamed jumping out of his chair. Sokka snatched the ice cream. Katara smacked Sokka as Gran handed him a bowl as she rolled her eyes.
"No, Uncle." Zuko mumbled as he picked it up. "Hey, Uncle…what is it? Yeah…oh I was wondering where that jacket went…I'll pick it up next time I'm over. Uhm, I'm over at the freshman's house. He lost his dog and I was helping him out. What kind of dog? Uncle…I actually need this line in case some one is calling about him. You're not saying you saw the dog…" Zuko raised his eyebrows skeptically. "Okay, okay…speaker…Aang, explain your dog." Zuko put his cellphone on the counter.
"Uh…he's big and fluffy. He reaches about my waist and has long hair that's like a dingy white with tan or brown patches. I don't know about a breed…" Aang continued on. As Aang finished the house phone rang.
"Oh, my goodness…" Gran abandoned the ice cream and quickly headed over to the phone so it wouldn't disturb Aang.
"How was your dog taken? Did you see?" Iroh asked.
"Your asking a lot of questions…do you know anything, Uncle?" Zuko asked.
"I saw something…but I can't be sure…how did your dog disappear?" Iroh repeated.
"I-I'm not sure. I got home and he was gone. Uncle Gyatso said he let him out side for two minutes to do his business and came back and he was gone! He looked everywhere in the neighborhood but couldn't find him anywhere." Aang explained. "What do you know…?"
"Well I went back to Jeong Jeong's place again last night…I remembered we had our weekly meeting last night…" Iroh started. Aang looked at Zuko.
"Old man club." Zuko muttered shrugging his shoulders. "They play cards or something."
"And as we were finishing up the Chinese Antique shop across the street had its lights on. It was pretty late and the shop closes pretty early so we were curious what was going on, so we stood outside and talked as we kept an eye on the place for about twenty minutes. I was about to call it a night and say the shop owner forgot to turn the lights out when the owner came out of the shop and unlocked the gate to the alleyway and came back as a van pulled up. Two men got out of the van and opened the back and a dog was pulled out. I could tell it was muzzled but it was making a lot of noise…and struggling! So I knew something wasn't right. They took him into the alleyway next to the shop and I didn't see him after that, but it definitely looked like your dog." Iroh explained over the phone.
"That's a weird coincidence." Mai sighed.
"Who is this shop owner? Did Jeong Jeong know him?" Katara asked.
"Jeong Jeong said the shop owners name was Long Feng and he likes to collect rare Chinese artifacts and sell them at outrages prices." Iroh explained.
"Your dog isn't rare is he?" Sokka asked with his mouth full of ice cream.
"N-no. At least I don't think so. Gyatso had him when I came to live with him when I was real young. Appa was a puppy too. I think Gyatso said he got him from a rescue place or something like that." Aang shrugged.
"Uncle, get any information you can…we'll be up tomorrow after school." Zuko told him.
"Right, I'll do my best." Iroh agreed. "I'll see you tomorrow then."
"Bye," Zuko said goodbye to his uncle.
"Goodbye!" Sokka and Katara shouted.
"Thank you!" Aang called.
"See you tomorrow!" Toph shouted.
"Bye," Mai said to the phone.
"I didn't know you all were coming…the freshman and I can take care of it by ourselves." Zuko shrugged as he closed his phone.
"No way we're letting you guys go by yourself and get all the glory!" Toph grinned.
"Besides, I'm not letting my Aang face a creepy antiques dealer who steals dogs by himself." Katara grabbed Aang's arm.
"All right! We'll all go…again." Zuko rolled his eyes. "But we all meet after school…no one better be late."
"Are you coming Suki?" Sokka asked.
"I have detention, remember?" Suki smiled, "But you guys go and get Appa back okay?"
"Besides, my car does not hold that many people." Zuko told the two. Gran emerged from the other room holding the home phone.
"Aang, your Uncle Gyatso is on the other line. He's worried since you haven't been home yet and he was expecting you." Gran handed the phone to Aang.
"Uncle Gyatso?" Aang asked as he picked up the phone.
"Aang, I just wanted to check in because I'm worried about you after loosing Appa." Gyatso's voice came over the phone.
"Yeah, well we stayed after school because Zuko wanted to put up posters for Appa. Isn't that a great idea? And we came back to Katara's house and had ice cream! And Zuko's uncle called and said he thought he saw Appa." Aang explained excitedly.
"Kanna was explaining a little of this to me…doesn't Iroh live farther up north? Like an hour? How could Appa get all the way over there?" Gyatso asked.
"Zuko's uncle said that he saw men in a van pull up to an antiques store across the street from his friends Chinese restaurant and pull Appa out of it. They had him muzzled and everything, Uncle!" Aang exclaimed. "Do you know if Appa's rare enough to be dognapped?"
"No, I'm not sure. I only found him at a rescue when he was a puppy. They didn't have any information on his breed or anything either." Gyatso sighed.
"Well we're going to go check it out tomorrow." Aang told his uncle.
"Do you need someone to drive you up there?" Gyatso offered.
"No, Zuko will. He drives that way all the time. So we're safe with him!" Aang explained already knowing what his Uncle was thinking.
"If you're sure. Maybe I should send you with some gas money to provide…it is a long way to drive and that's the second time you guys have gone in the past three days."
"Yeah, I guess so." Aang shrugged.
"How are you getting home?" Gyatso asked.
"I don't know…anyone driving me home?" Aang asked in general to the room.
"I can take you." Zuko and Sokka volunteered.
"Yeah, I have two rides if I need them so I'll be okay." Aang told his uncle. "Do I need to be home now?"
"No, just be home by dark." Gyatso told him.
"Okay, bye!"
"See you later, Aang." Gyatso hung up.
"Okay, but Mai's house is that way and Aang's house is further up by ten minutes it won't take me that long." Zuko argued.
"But Suki's house is fifteen minutes that way and Aang's is on the way back!" Sokka rebutted. "It's not out of my way."
"I'll just take him!" Zuko shouted.
"No it's easier for me!" Sokka yelled.
"GUYS! Rock-paper-scissors." Katara rolled her eyes. Sokka and Zuko whipped towards each other fists at the ready.
"RO-SHAM-BO!" they screamed at each other. Zuko's hand was clenched in a fist and Sokka's hand displayed two fingers.
"Rock beats scissors!" Zuko called.
"Best two out of three!" Sokka demanded.
"No way, you sore loser." Zuko laughed.
"So what time do you have to be home, Aang?" Katara asked, ignoring the immature boys.
"Gyatso said by dark," Aang replied.
"So what do we do until then?" Toph asked, "I'll probably have to be home by then too or else the baby sitter really will start to wonder."
"Can we get dinner or something?" Zuko asked.
"Ice cream!" Sokka declared. Aang shouted in agreement.
"You just had ice cream, you idiot. That's not a dinner anyway." Katara scolded.
"Thanks, mom." Sokka rolled his eyes.
"Mai and I can run out and grab some fast food." Zuko suggested.
"No, dude. You're already driving Aang. Suki and I will go grab dinner. Everyone give us your orders and throw in some cash." Sokka offered.
"If you're sure." Zuko dug in his pocket for some extra money to pay for his and most likely Mai's dinner. Sokka found a small pad of paper as people started throwing food orders at him for the nearest fast food chain, which happened to be a McDonalds.
"I want a Happy Meal!" Aang declared.
"Really? You're how old now? Twelve? You're too old for that." Zuko rolled his eyes.
"I'M FOURTEEN." Aang growled.
"Excuse me," Zuko sighed sarcastically.
"This greasy food is so bad for your skin," Katara sighed after giving her order.
"You don't have to eat it you know." Zuko told her.
"Yeah, Katara, quit complaining." Sokka rolled his eyes.
"No, I'll eat it." Katara shrugged, complacently.
"All right," Sokka gathered the pile of singles and fives that had gathered on the counter. "We'll be back in a bit!" Sokka called as he and Suki headed out the door.
"So now what?" Aang asked.
"We create a plan of attack for tomorrow!" Zuko declared.
"A what?" Katara raised her eyebrows, skeptically.
"Plan of attack! To get the dog back!" Zuko repeated. "You wouldn't happen to have a Risk board game around would you?" he asked.
"Uhm, yeah. In Sokka's room…what?" Katara realized what he was asking.
"Get it!" Zuko demanded. "Clean off the table!" he ordered.
"Whatever, if it'll keep everyone busy." Katara shrugged. She ran upstairs to her brother's room. Katara had a pretty good idea where it was at, but it looked like a bomb had gone off…it could be anywhere. But really where could you keep a board game that you never play? Her eyes shot to the highest shelves of the bookcase in the corner of the room and she caught a glimpse of the dusty box. "There you are," she muttered as she stood on tiptoes to slide it down. She hurried downstairs where everyone else was pushing things off the table onto the kitchen counter and the living room couch and even the floor. "You do a lovely job of cleaning the place up." Katara complimented as she set the box down.
"Excellent." Zuko set the box down. He opened it and unfolded the board and spilled out all the little army men that represented the troops. "Okay then! Hmm…what the hell? This isn't even a normal map!" Zuko exclaimed.
"They're territories…when was the last time you played Risk?" Katara asked him.
"Never. I just figured you would have a normal map if you wanted to take over the world…" Zuko shrugged.
"Be lucky it's not like Lord of the Rings edition and the map wasn't of Middle Earth." Katara shrugged.
"They have those?" Zuko asked.
"Yeah…" Katara nodded, unsure of what Zuko's alarm meant.
"I need to start playing Risk." Zuko replied thoughtfully. "Anyway…" He separated all the small army men. "Okay, this is how it's going down." Zuko grabbed a small black figure on a horse. "Here's the enemy. He's situated in China…otherwise known as Long Feng's Chinese Antique's Emporium or what ever the hell his shop is. Uncle Iroh," Zuko grabbed a white figurine with a gun. "Is somewhere in Mongolian territory. Since he's close. Here we'll add a couple more of these guys since Uncle's card group was there getting intel on Appa." Zuko spread a couple more of the infantrymen on the Mongolian area. "Okay, next is us. We're the artillery based in…England. Because the British are so much cooler…and they pretty much pwned in every war!" Zuko spread the blue artillerymen out on the United Kingdom island.
"Except the Revolutionary War!" Aang declared. "We pwned them!"
"All right you little—I was talking twentieth century." Zuko rolled his eyes.
"That's a tiny island for us all…" Katara pointed out. "We would fit better on America."
"Or just occupy Europe for all that trouble." Toph shrugged.
"Or Africa…" Mai pointed. "No one's using Africa."
"Australia is beautiful this time of year!" Aang pointed out.
"It is almost winter there you know." Katara corrected Aang.
"Oh, right."
"IT DOESN'T MATTER WHERE WE ARE. We're floating in the damn Pacific okay?" Zuko growled.
"Don't you mean, Atlantic?" Mai asked.
"YES. Shush." Zuko growled. "Okay, so we get out of school—"
"In Atlantis." Katara quietly added.
"YES! IN ATLANTIS IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN." Zuko yelled. "Now, please. Let me finish my briefing."
"Zuko needs a career in the military." Aang whispered to Katara. Katara stifled giggles as she saw how serious Zuko was bent over his Risk map and figurines.
"SILENCE!" Zuko called. "Now! We leave school, and meet at my car!" Zuko explained.
"What about Sokka? His car will still be there…" Katara asked.
"You guys just get a ride from me…how stupid are you? Can I please finish?" Zuko asked.
"Yes, please, Captain General, sir!" Katara saluted.
"Don't mock me!" Zuko growled. "We leave from school." Zuko pushed the artillerymen across the board. "To Uncle's house…" The figures arrived in Mongolia with the infantrymen. "We receive intel on Appa. And then we proceed from Uncle's, to the antique emporium shop thing." Zuko moved all the artillerymen and one of the infantrymen to China to confront the black horse figurine. "AND WE DO WHATEVER THE HELL IT TAKES TO GET THAT DOG BACK!" Zuko declare as he flung the black cavalry horse across the room.
"YAY!" Aang shouted.
"Did you REALLY need a Risk board for all of that?" Katara asked.
"Let him feel important." Mai sighed.
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They need to have Avatar Risk guys! I'd play that version. Y'know with the Fire Nation and you can take over the world! -imagines Zhao sitting and playing for hours- (Thank god for Wikipedia for all Risk references! I never play that game...D:)
Ugh...going back I feel so embarrassed by lack of story development and SO MANY GRAMMATICAL/SPELLING MISTAKES (this chapter is probably wrought with them). But it's like I didn't even go back and read the chapter before posting it! Well I hope my writing has improved a little. I suppose when I take years to update my writing will change. Maybe someday I'll go back and change the little things...of course when I start changing those things I'll start rewriting chapters.
All right, thanks for hanging with me for this arc here...I don't know why but if I have an AU fic it HAS to correspond someway to the series. So I wanted to do some kind of story from the series...and Aang defeating Zuko's father wasn't quite what I wanted to go for. A lost dog seemed doable. And an AU Long Feng seemed like a creepy character who would be in the Black Market right? (Whohoh...spoilers for next week!)
So yes, Dylan...I may be stretching it a little bit with some things...but my imagination can run a little wild. And YES, MORE KATAANG. Hahahahaha...
A little off of this...but I was also just reminded: Remember how much I used to write on Zuko and that's why I strayed away from Kataang? (Well that was part of it...) As I'm getting back on my Avatar craze after the movie and the announcement of the new miniseries and I'm rewatching the series like over and over again I REALIZE HOW MUCH I LOVE ZUKO. I don't think that helps my Kataang writing. So watch out for my love of Zuko continuing on a rampage. I've rewatched the fluff episodes and I'm like 'Aww I remember why I love this so much...' and then I watch Zuko-centric episodes and I'm like 'HELLZ YEAH ZUKO MAN!' Just warning ya'lls. I don't know why I'm ranting about this on a Kataang-centric fic. Just a warning to everyone hahaha.
Anyway...-coughhhh-
Katsumara, I'm trying to get my fluff in here as much as possible! And yes, Zuko and Toph are so much fun...I probably have so much fun writing them because they are my favorite characters, (exactly, not as a pairing!) But thanks! :D
Kataang 51, thanks! When I started this I never thought I could ever write AU because of all the cliches...but it's been incredibly fun!
Kitty Into Avatar, I'm so glad you like my fic! Even though your review was ages ago (as was everyones) I hope your sister is okay!
Okay...so anyone want to review and tell me how much you missed me?