What Was The World Coming To?
Chapter 14
The Crew
"Alright crew," Nadra clapped her hands together earning the people's attention, "Addi and Aiden came to me and told me, Envy is participating."
"Aw shit." The girl who looked like Nadra, a.k.a. Petula, facepalmed.
"And since Zuko is subbing in for me because of my feet, we won't be able to beat her in the sense of 'sexiness'." She explained as everyone looked over at him.
"And, so that means we'll have to beat her with how fresh we are, right?" Dwight clarified. Nadra nodded, "Right, but Zuko can't do the dance that we choreographed…"
Zuko hid his face underneath is hair as everyone sighed.
"So, I've created a whole different routine. I think Zuko's pretty capable of it. And if we can't win over the judges with our 'freshness' we might as well put on a good show." Nadra shrugged with a small smirk as everyone agreed.
One of the girls looked at Zuko, "Since you'll be dancing with us, you gotta know our names right?" she didn't wait for a response, "I go by the name of Kookie." Her skin was cappuccino colored and her hair a light brown. She wore teal sweat pants and a baggy white shirt with a see able blue sports bra.
Zuko shook her hand, "Nice name…?" he asked. Kookie laughed, "If you prefer it, my real name is Aileen." Zuko nodded and cracked a smile.
"I'm Anna." Zuko stuck out his hand for her to shake out of courtesy, but all Anna did was lean back in the couch with a smirk. She would have been all courteous but she just didn't feel like it at the time. She had neck length wavy brown hair, blue eyes, about 5' 6. Anna wasn't one of the dancers, she pulled the strings, managed the lighting and the music with Dwight.
"And you know me, I'm Petula." She smiled and twirled her hair around her fingers.
Nadra grinned and sat beside Dwight, as the girl beside Kookie stuck out her hand, "The names' Simone, don't wear it out." She smirked as they shook hands. Simone had a French accent and had icy blue eyes. She wore black booty shorts and a skin tight tank-top. Her dark blonde locks went down to her hips when she didn't tie it up.
"Potpourri, but everyone just calls me Pop." She smiled warmly and waved instead of shaking hands. Her hue a dark brown- her hair was a kind of an orange brown; she tied it in two low pigtails and stopped a couple inches below her shoulders. She wore brown khaki pants and a tube top.
"And I'm Esther." She high fived Zuko with no warning and grinned. Her curly hair was dyed a dark purple and was tied messily into a ponytail. Her eyes magenta and her skin pale. She wore grey leggings with beige short-shorts and a skin tight blue tank top.
"And that's all of us basically." Nadra shrugged as Dwight coughed into his fist. Esther held back a laugh and Anna introduced him, "That's Dwight. He's gay." Dwight waved and smiled flirtatiously.
Pop laughed at Zuko's expression.
"Cut it out Dwight, you're scaring him!" Simone threw a pillow at him, giggling. Dwight laughed as well, "Don't worry, I know you're straight. I just playin'." He smirked and patted Zuko on the shoulder. This made Zuko feel slightly uncomfortable as he inched as far as possible into the arm of the couch.
"Alright!" Kookie yelled gathering everyone's attention, "I believe Nadra as a new dance routine to show us."
The original gaang which consisted of Aang, Katara, Sokka, Momo, and Appa were sitting outside pulling grass out of the dirt discussing what their next move was.
"When are we going to tell her?" Aang asked aloud. Sokka shrugged, "We can't tell her now, probably after the dance competition." He suggested.
Katara nodded, "I agree, she's handling some stress right now, so probably after the dance competition."
"But, what if we don't have enough time? Each day we're here, our world gets worse. People are dying!" Aang exclaimed.
"Aang, we all know that, but we have to wait. Better late than never, you know that." Katara offered a comforting statement.
Aang exhaled, "Yeah, I guess you're right." He smiled, "Thanks Katara."
"And besides," Momo perched himself on Sokka's shoulder, "Toph and Iroh got here, right? They must've done something in order to do that. So, now we have a way home." He grinned.
Aang shot up with a face splitting grin, "Hey! That's right! You're so smart Sokka!"
Sokka grinned, "Well, you know how I do."
Katara sighed with a smile on her face as she watched her brother boast and Aang spin around on his air ball.
They were finally going somewhere.
Azula had to admit, she liked Zita. Her personality was quite unique; it was nice for a change. Though she would never trade Mai or Ty Lee for her, that was just going too far, perhaps she would make her join her.
As Azula got into her carriage she thought of what her father said. Azula pursed her lips; her chi was different if you thought about it. It flowed different in her body- everyone's chi flowed in the same direction and counter-clockwise. Zita's chi flowed in two different directions, one flowed counter clockwise and the other didn't. It was strange.
As the carriage lowered signifying her arrival at the palace she got off and decided to go to her father, report her findings.
Azula entered the throne room and knelt down in front of him, "As you said, her chi is different."
Ozai nodded, "Yes. Anything in particular, she wasn't here for long so I couldn't study deeper into it."
Azula nodded and looked at her father, "As you know, everyone's chi flows in the same direction- counter clockwise. Her chi goes in two opposite directions."
Ozai's lips curved upwards, "We've found our match Azula."
"Just out of curiousness," a girl with dark brown hair bent down and stretched, "What's your beef with this 'Nadina' chick?"
"Emma, it's Nadra not Nadina," Envy paused and shook her head, "Not like I care, you know?" she did 'the bridge' and then stood on her hands, "My beef with her is like a really bad fairy tale." She sneered.
"We've got time; we know this routine like the back of our hand." Another one of the girls scoffed, she went by the name of Jessica.
Envy shrugged, "I guess you guys are right. And the others aren't even here yet." She thought the idea over, "Alright, listen up then." Envy sat on the hard wood floor and motioned Emma and Jessica to come sit with them.
"Alright, so what's the story?" Emma asked, pulling a nail filer out of thin air.
"When Nadra and I were kids, we were, believe it or not, best friends." She explained. Jessica gasped, "Ewwwww, she only where's sneakers, it's disgusting!"
Envy nodded, "Ugh, I know right! But anyway, Envy's speaking. Hush. Anyway, then one day her dad took her to some dance academy." Her voice lowered, "After that, she became really busy with dancing, and I became really lonely with my free time. So in my free time, I decided to do some dance too. I thought 'maybe, if I dance too, I can spend time with Nadra again'." She paused and looked at them to see if they were following. "When we saw each other after that we ended up being rivals in dance. At first it was playful, and then high school started."
Jessica 'oh'd, "Mhm, I know what high school does to people."
"Yeah, exactly." She yawned, "We split up, I found my friends and she found hers. That 'playful' dance rivalry, yah not too playful anymore. As you guys know, I got sponsored by 'Fred Astaire' and got kind of famous, and I'll admit the fame got to my head."
Emma nodded, "Mhmm, no offence."
Envy waved her hand, "None taken, anyways, I challenged Nadra to a dance competition and beat her. We've been enemies ever since."
Jessica played with her hair, "Intense."
Envy shrugged, "I really don't care because I know I'll beat her tomorrow and prove that I am the best."
Emma exchanged glances with Jessica, "That competition tomorrow is not only to see whose better but it has something to do with your friendship right?"
Envy got to her feet, "You're smarter than you look Emma." She turned her back to them as all the rest of the girls came piling in, "Alright girls!" she pressed 'play, "Five, six, seven, eight!"
Emma and Jessica sighed as they thought of the situation.
After Spade's mini sandbending lesson, the three of them took the skytrain home. When they got home, Iroh and Toph packed away their clothes and Spade went to work with dinner.
Spade took out some chicken cutlets from the freezer and began seasoning them. She began whistling then shakin' her bootey.
'HEEEERRREEE'S JOHNNY!'
Spade flinched and giggled. Her home phone had rung. She had recorded that small sentence from that old horror movie, in which a guy with a chainsaw hacks through a door, but instead of sticking his hand through to open the handle, he sticks his head in and screams, "HEEEERRREEE'S JOHNNY!" all maniacal-like.
She quickly wiped her and then jogged over to the phone, "Hello?"
"Hey, is this Spade? It's Nadra."
"Oh! Hey, Nadra. Why're you phoning?"
"Oh, well tomorrow there's a dance competition and Zuko is participating. So I wanted you, Toph and Iroh to come. Around 2p.m just come over and we'll drive over to the venue."
"Excuse me? Did I hear you right? Zuko is dancing?"
"We'll explain everything if you guys come, deal?"
"Yeah, we'll see you there, thanks Nadra."
Spade hung up the phone and squealed. She would see Zuko! Sokka! CUTTEEEE BOOYYYSSSSSSSSS. Yeah….so calm right now. YEAH BABY! Alright, done now.
Spade happily skipped back to the kitchen and continued to season the chicken and waited until Iroh and Toph the great news.
"Azula likes me way more than you." Zita laughed. Will shrugged, "Whatever, personally I don't care. I only care for Fire Lord Ozai's judgement."
"But, he likes me better than you too." Zita pointed out. Will rolled his eyes, "Oh yea…."
Zita laughed, "Dude! That's messed!"
Before Will could answer, someone bust through the door. The door flew off it's hinges and crashed into Will's sitar.
"What the-?" Zita jumped off of her chair and ran beside Will, "Look's like your sitar is broken."
Will sighed, "Why does my life suck so much?" Zita shrugged, "Whenever your life sucks, something good always comes after, you know."
Three soldiers piled into the house. Will, thinking it had something to do with him and his work e stood forward, "Is there a problem, gentlemen?"
"Fire Lord Ozai needs the girl." One of the guards with a husky voice told him. Will nodded, "Well, that was unexpected. We'll get read in a jiff."
"Only the girl. You're required to stay here." That husky voice was replaced by another one. "Oh." Will's face fell, "Alright." He nudged Zita, "Go with them. I'll prepare dinner."
Zita shrugged, "Alright." She walked to the guards, "Let's go and I have a name you know. It's Zita." She glared and pushed past the guards.
Zita knew it was some kind of messed trap. Though, sometimes she couldn't trust her instincts. Azula and Ozai liked her, but they lied very easily. The guards came out of the house and walked behind her pushing to towards the palace. Zita earned some strange looks from the people on the streets but she didn't really give a rat's ass.
She thought back of her first day at the palace. Ozai had told her she had something he wanted or needed or…weren't those things the same? No matter, none the less it sounded like she was some kind of item or prize. Zita scowled; she let her guard down much too fast.
Just like in the show, the Fire Nation was never how it seemed.
"So, when will we be docking at the Fire Nation?" Cindy popped a piece of salmon in her mouth.
Yew-Ta swallowed and shrugged, "Eh, a day or two at the most." Cindy nodded, "I see."
The two of them ate in silence and when Cindy ran out of food to eat, she decided to strike up a conversation, "So, seriously, why're you so nice? Aren't you supposed to be all….nasty and mean and stuffs?"
Yew-Ta shrugged, "Not all of us are 'nasty and mean and stuffs' you know." He rolled his eyes playfully. Cindy stuck her tongue out, "I'm sure, I mean, hell! Look at you!" she threw her hands up with a laugh.
Yew-Ta laughed with her and then grabbed her tray and set it on a small table along with his. "You want to know why I'm not a flaming bag of douche like everyone else on the ship?"
Cindy took a sip of her tea and nodded, "Yes please." Play time was over. Yew-Ta took a sip as well then began, "A couple years ago, so when I was your age. I was taken by some warriors to fight on Admiral Zhao's ship. When I refused I was thrown in the same cell you were thrown in. I think you can piece together this and tat and figure out why I'm so nice."
Cindy nodded, "Wow, that must've been hard, eh?" she asked quietly. Yew-Ta shrugged, "Trust me, you took being away from your home and parents and friends much better than I did. You didn't like anything bring you down." He chuckled.
Cindy grinned, "Hell yah, but I mean, atleast you were in the same nation. I just moved from earth to fire." She frowned. Yew-Ta nodded, "I get what you're saying."
Cindy took another sip, "Yah, so are you going to give me a tour of the ship? Or do you just wanna lock me up in your room?" she smirked.
Yew-Ta chuckled and with his free hand, he ruffled her hair, "Sure, c'mon shawty."
"Pfftt! Shawty! Aww, hell naw!"
TBC
Me: is everyone still in character? I think I've gotten used to writing you guys ;DDD YAYYYY so, the climax is coming and stuffs. So until next time!