Author Notes: While the progression of the story roughly follows that of the show, many events are changed, arranged in a different order or omitted. This is fan fiction, after all.
"Are we there yet?" Kuei was practically lying on his Ostrich Horse.
"No, not yet, the Rock is in the middle of the desert," Mitsu took a swig at his water bottle and spilled the rest on his head. It seemed to disappear as soon as it touched his skin, offering but a few seconds of cooling.
"We have to be careful," the Sand bender guide turned towards them. "There are many stories of caravans being attacked by marauders. Hopefully we're not too large a group."
"What kind of marauders?"
"The Fire Nation has some animal trainers, it's said that they found some beasts that run wild over the desert sands. They feed them the insides of cactus plants and make them hallucinate and run wild. When all is in disarray they rob the survivors."
"That's not just the Fire Nation, that nut job with the hammers also did that when he was bored," Mitsu took out his staff. The sand roof borne by the wind precluded him from flying up, while it was only the combined efforts of Kuei, Bosco and the Sand Benders that kept it from settling on them and sweeping them into nowhere.
"No one usually takes this direction," the lead Sand Bender called out as he shielded his mouth with his scarf. Why are we avoiding the usual route?"
"Someone was watching us at the oasis," Mitsu turned round as he covered his mouth as well. "Anyone who watches us is trouble," he squinted but couldn't see past Bosco, who was hindmost of the caravan. With them were a small party of three Sand benders, seven Ostrich horses and one donkey mule powered wagon laden with the Sand Benders' goods.
"How do you know that?" Kuei put his cap over his mouth and pushed more sand over their heads with his bending.
"No one sits alone in an inn like that. Three seats, no company but set tables. No dirt on his clothes, either. We might have one of Chan's Commandoes here."
"Chan, the guy who almost burned us to a crisp in the city?"
"One and the same, he actually had the bones to attack me at the Rock. He's trouble…people sometimes called him the Green Phoenix because of his flames." Mitsu narrowed his eyes.
"Can this 'commando' follow us this deep in the desert?" a Sand bender pulled a dune apart for them.
"They are overhead," Mitsu noticed a balloon through a tear in the sand curtain and pointed up.
"How many?" the leader pulled a dune over their heads.
"I see about four," Mitsu noted. Bosco howled as his Ostrich Horse had its legs yanked out from under it, a hulking vehicle appearing behind him. Two grey-uniformed men held the ropes that had felled the Ostrich Horse, with one parting the sand shield. The bear angrily got up and roared.
"Collaborators, Chan's favourite kind of Earthbender," Mitsu assumed fighting pose. These were not Firebenders but Earthbenders who swore loyalty to the Fire Nation, born in its century-old colonies or mercenaries who loved Fire Nation currency. The balloon hovered over the battle, the Fire Nation regulars onboard waiting for one sign to jump in.
"More traitors! Bosco, let's get 'em!" Kuei sent a wave of sand at the Earthbenders, turning it into glass instantly and forcing them to hide behind their vehicle, now moored in sinking sand.
"No one told us the King could bend earth and sand!" one of them howled. A pair of glowering eyes were what they saw next, and last before passing out from the blow of a giant paw to their faces. One more man poked his head out of the vehicle, only to receive a titanium rod to the head and fall back into the vehicle.
"He's the King, you idiot of course he can Earthbend!" another one of the commandoes formed an earth glove form stones in his pouch. "Attack, send up a flare!"
His colleague, leg trapped underneath the sinking vehicle reached for the flare release and with his last effort pulled down the red lever, launching a blue flare high into the desert sky as sand filled his lungs.
"They're coming!" the sand benders rustled up a loose Ostrich horse. "There are more than one of these metal things!" he pointed to the horizon, where more steam-powered vehicles roared over the sands. The flare had apparently alerted an entire division of the Commandoes with their supervising Fire Nation officials safely on their balloon. The group dodged stream after stream of sand, some jets twenty feet tall and cutting like buzz saws across the sand. One of the caravan's sand benders fell on his back, slamming into the mule-less wagon.
"We're being overwhelmed!" Mitsu hurled an empty vehicle at two others.
Kuei looked up. "We might have a chance, everyone cover me!" he put his hands on the sand and it began to swirl around him, with rocks deflected by Bosco, a giant shadow over his master.
"What is that geek doing?" the commando sergeant peered out the view port of his vehicle. The Fire Nation officers on the balloon also looked over the ship's balcony, bemused at the odd activity of swirling sand. They were promptly blown back by a sudden rise in the sand, one barely holding on to the railings as the sand rose in a great big spout that tipped the balloon to one side. The Earth King washed up on the deck of the ship, amazed that his stunt actually worked.
"Get him!" The Fire Nation officers lit up their flames and formed fire whips. Fireballs were too dangerous as the balloon was directly over their heads.
"No earth up here, Ba Sing Scum," the pilot held the wheel as his men approached Kuei with drawn fire weapons.
"No Earth, but there's a bit of stone," Kuei shot his hidden Earth glove up into the balloon, the rock hand going clear through the fabric of the Fire Nation vessel.
"Are you crazy? We're going to crash!" the pilot felt the wheel rebel against him and snap off altogether. "Patch the roof, quickly!" he threw his first mate onto the deck.
"I hope you can swim in the sand," Kuei was about to leap off but tripped and fell head first as the balloon plunged towards the mêlée down below. The Earth King fell into his bear minder's arms, the sand softening under the hulking animal.
"Care to tell me what you just did?" Mitsu flung a commando into a sand pit. The other commandoes turned round, lest they be caught in the war balloon's demise. The balloon was meant for Firebenders and non-Firebenders alike, hence there was a small gas reservoir on board. Although it had no buoyancy the balloon was still faster than the heavy commando transports, hovering an inch above the heads of the traitor Earthbenders.
"Get down!" Mitsu leapt over an improvised sand wall and pushed Bosco's curious head down. The balloon exploded with a fierce bang, the debris from the explosion flying over everyone's heads. "Damn it bro, how did you think of that?"
"Actually, err…" the King looked around at the amazed party, "That was nothing like I planned!" When Kuei explained that he wanted to use his earth glove to capture the Fire Nation captain and make him order them to back off, they all broke into laughter. The king meekly blushed in embarrassment but subconsciously sunk into the ground.
"They are gone or burnt to death," the lead sand bender lowered the wall. "We will take what we can and move on. We will reach the Rock before sunset if we hurry."
"With what? Our Ostrich Horses are gone and the wagon's got nothing to pull it!" Mitsu sifted through the burnt remains of the Ostrich Horse that carried him. "Got any sand sails?"
"Sand sails are useless here, the sand fights even benders near the Rock, and you know that."
One of the transports hummed to life, lurching towards Kuei who barely Earthbended his way out from a certain crash. Mitsu was prepared to tear it in half when he heard
Bosco's confused howl instead of a Fire Nation war chant. The bear had found his way to the controls of the six wheeled all - terrain vehicle but naturally had no clue how to stop it.
"Hang on, Bosco!" Kuei grabbed a boarding rail but found himself hanging off the edge of the vehicle like a flag. Bosco whined and howled as he tried controlling the vehicle, his small feet pushing every pedal he could.
"Calm down, Bosco! That thing is powered by Earthbending!" Mitsu pulled at the vehicle while the Sand benders raised a ramp to try slow Bosco down. "Stop thinking about moving!"
Kuei opened the vehicle's hatch and slid in to soothe sweaty animal friend, the bear shocked out of its wits and nearly crying. Mitsu stuck his head into the vehicle, noticing two exposed pieces of rock adjoining the first set of wheels, while there were four seats plus some rations. Fire Nation emblems covered a wall, which Mitsu peeled off with his Force Bending.
"We claim this vehicle for the Earth Kingdom," Mitsu crushed the metal like it was paper. He remolded the metal into the Earth Kingdom's Badger Mole Seal and slammed it into the wall of the transport. "I'll let His Majesty name it."
"Hmm," Kuei looked at Bosco. "The Sand Warrior, maybe?"
"Might I suggest, Desert Sword?" the lead Sand Bender dropped into the compartment.
"No argument there, now let's ride this Desert Sword to the Great Rock," Kuei placed his foot on an earthen pedal and the vehicle creaked forward. Bosco followed likewise as the other two Sand Benders hooked the wagon onto the vehicle and sat on it, pushing oncoming sand apart while the three Earthbenders inside rotated the wheels of the transport.
"One more thing," Mitsu jammed his finger into the wall, force bending the vehicle's name in characters. "Now we're rocking."
"Bro, you just made a bad pun," Kuei pretended to bite his nails.
"Shut up and drive."