Only slighter later then I wanted it, hurray!
I own nothing in this story. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and Avatar the Last Airbender toMichael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko
Lakeside Holiday
Aang burst through the door. The hinges giving a groan before the wood slammed into the stone of the wall. "Any news guys? I've just finished dropping today's batch of leaflets!"
He looked expectantly at the crowd before him. Lee was off training again, having gotten up at the same time as Aang to do his training, apparently more pumped with the vigour of youth after helping another. He had promised to keep an eye out for Appa or any information whilst training however and after Aang had seen his training route whilst flying high above the city he had no complaints… He was almost convinced that Lee was covering more ground on foot then he was in the air. Sokka pouted at the mention of leaflets, still sore over the fact that they hadn't used his drawings. The rest shook their heads.
"We should have heard something by now" He said, some of his excitement fading away.
"Well it's been a month, but maybe we've been looking in the wrong areas?" Katara replied.
"But we've checked all the animal shops and zoos" Aang pouted.
"The legal ones" Tenten said, almost flinching when everyone's gaze turned to her, and by association Neji. Though there were so focussed on what she was saying that they didn't notice their hands loosely held together.
"I'm just saying, a city of this size and at war will likely have a black market of some sort" She paused thinking for a moment. "Come to think about it the lower ring must be crawling with them due to all the refugees and poverty down there.
Neji nodded. "We must also assume that Dai Li and acting against us, they could be convincing people not to come forward."
Their conversation was interrupted by a knock at the door.
"Finally!" Aang exclaimed, running to the door and wrenching it open, the hinges vocally complaining at him again with a screech and a squeal.
His face dropped, along with the group's collective jaws at the person standing in the doorway. "Hello Aang, and Katara, and Sokka, and Toph, and Tenten, and Neji" Neji and Tenten frowned whilst Joo Dee carried on. "I believe you dropped these"
"What happened to you? Did the Dai Li throw you in jail?" Sokka asked approaching her.
"What? Jail? Of course not. The Dai Li are the protectors of our cultural heritage."
"But you disappeared at the Earth King's party."
"Oh I simply took a short vacation to Lake Laogai, out in the country it was quite relaxing."
"Can't say I've missed her voice" Tenten muttered, getting a giggle from Toph.
"But they replaced you with another woman who said her name was Joo Dee"
For perhaps the second time she displayed some emotions, the first being fear and this second time shock. "But I'm Joo Dee!"
"What do you want?" Neji asked, narrowing his eyes at her.
She gestured to a cart behind her, containing every single flyer and poster that they had produced.
"You are absolutely forbidden by the rules of the city to put up these posters and drop these flyers. At least not without the proper clearance."
"We don't have the time to wait around anymore…"
The monotone of her and Sokka's reply was broken by Aang's raised voice.
"We don't care about the rules, we're not asking for your permission! We're finding Appa. on our own. You need to just stay out of our way!" He punctuated the last comment by slamming the door on her.
"Well that might come back to bite us in the blubber" Sokka commented casually to break the silence of the room.
Aang let out a deep breath. "I don't care. From now on we do whatever it takes to find Appa!"
"Yeah let's break some rules!" Toph cried, one side of the house collapsing in a cloud of smoke as she demolished it. The door didn't last much longer as it smashed in itself, Lee landing in the wake of the dust and wood splinters.
"Sorry guys, but I just had to make a dynamic entry! I found some news about a black market in the lower ring that might have some information!" His voice was strained. Like he wanted to yell it out loud, but his ninja training and the fact he was sure he had just seen a couple of Dai Li agents on his way back to the house stopped him from saying anything at his usual volume. Kicking the door down had also helped to hide what he had said.
He noted their sombre expressions and paused slightly.
"What did I miss?"
It was the smell that hit them the most as the GAang walked into the lower ring, passing through the gate without much issue. The scent of dung and sweat and poverty was almost like a wall itself however, with no gatehouse to allow easy access to pass through it. Being in the middle and upper rings had made the scent of this ring even worse. After a few minutes however they had managed to reacclimatise and the more earth smells made it through to them. They almost enjoyed it now that they were getting used to it, instead of incense and floral fragrance it was now meat and spices. A few youths pointed out Neji and waved to him as they passed and Neji nodded back, a slight smile appearing on his face as he did so. They followed Lee's lead, moving swiftly through the streets, noticeably dirtier and more cluttered then those of the upper and middle rings. Animals moved close by and they made sure to be aware of their surroundings as the mob of people milling around and bumping into them would make for a haven of thieves.
Lee brought them towards the docks, before ducking away and down a backstreet, pushing his way quickly through the crowd. The others followed suit, making sure to keep up with their emerald guide. They followed the alleyway down and round, navigating their way through several twists and turns before the alley opened out revealing a warehouse with several tough looking Earth Kingdom natives milling about outside.
"Lee not that I'm not grateful, but how did you find this place?" Tenten asked, the area not matching with Lee's usually cheerful attitude.
"I found it when doing my laps!" Lee replied. "I decided to do a long run around all the rings and ended up house jumping through here". Whilst Tenten and Lee conversed Aang had already strode up to the workers.
"Have you seen this Bison?" he asked thrusting a flyer with him. "What do you know of the black market?"
"We don't know anything about a black market" Came the reply from the nearest worker. His companions guffawed at the outraged look on Aang's face. Sokka Katara and Toph moved to back Aang up and the worker's grabbed nearby tools and chains and moved to stand behind their leader. The wind started to pick up, spinning round so that soon dust clouds where assailing their feet and the chains started to sway in the breeze. The fabric of their trousers rippled as Aang glared the worker boss in the eyes again.
"I won't ask nicely again, tell me what you know." Aang spoke calmly, surprising considering his glare at being held up from possible Appa information yet again. The wind was controlled as well. Despite spiralling threateningly, it never advanced past that.
The leader of the workers still looked like he was ready to fight, but his men were starting to back down as the elements themselves were raising against them. They were not helped when the apparent earth bender of the group suddenly shot down into the ground, only his head visible. His hair now whipping him in his face, the sudden decrease in height not working out well for him. Toph grinned at him.
"Not going to happen" She announced pointing at him. "Very sneaky of you to try and trip up my friend, but you can't beat the master". The leader looked around him and relented.
"Fine, but you better not mess it up." He paused to pull out a roll of parchment and he flung it at Aang as the wind died down.
"Go to the east side warehouses and say 'The shadows of the walls protect us'. They'll let you in."
"This better not be a trap…" Katara said, raising her hands as water started to seep out of her container.
"It's not, look the instructions are written on that as well" he gestured to the parchment on the ground. "
"I'm more surprised that you would operate during the day" Neji said walking over to scoop up the parchment, looking it over carefully.
"Well the walls protect us as much as they protect the higher ups." The leader muttered. "And the authorities never bother with trying to enforce law around here."
"Or they have a share in the market" Tenten muttered under her breath.
"Either way I think we're done here" Sokka announced moving to push the group away from the workers. "Thanks for the information, was nice meeting you, don't come after us we'll come after you bye" His jaw nearly blurred as he rambled on as they left, moving out and away from the waterfront.
Toph thought the warehouses certainly looked like they could house a sky bison. As well as a large number of other animals and businesses of both reputable and dubious nature. Smaller wooden stalls and shacks surrounded the stone behemoths, one of which appeared to be built up to the wall and was surrounded by stone pillars holding up a green roof to provide some cover above the heads of the stalls hiding in its wake. Toph was suspicious of it and after checking with her bending announced that the warehouse was actually connected to the wall, with tunnels running underneath the ground to the other warehouses from that one large one. Seconds later Neji confirmed it as well and the group let out a gasp at the admittedly impressive operation.
They made towards the largest warehouse, the one nearest the wall and as they did so they soon found themselves weaving through the smaller wooden market place outside.
The stall owners nearby all smiled at them as they walked around, trying to find the way in. The smiles were unnaturally sweet and gave away that they were, in reality, being checked to see who they were.
"Over there" Toph said suddenly. "That area of the warehouse has less earth in the wall then anywhere else. The group heeded her advice and they approached a stall nearby with bread and other baked items.
"Can I interest you in a sweet roll?" The woman behind the stall asked.
"No thanks, we'd rather have entrance to the other market please" Toph said smiling up at her.
"What market, there is no other market" came the response. Calm, but Toph could tell she was lying.
"Oh of course not how silly of me. It's a good thing no one will judge me after all the shadows of the walls will protect me from any unwanted attention" She slipped the code phrase in casually and looked expectantly at the woman. As she and the group looked on the woman nodded her head.
"Yes of course, well I'm glad you understand" she said before shifting her arms and feet slightly. The stalls nearby suddenly found cloth covers to display and without knowing better Toph would have sworn that the cotton and cloth vendor was making a killing. Her attention was brought to the wall as the bending attracted her attention as it started to move. The stone pillars started to move as dust and earth shook and the pillars shifted slightly. One at a time as their pattern changed to suddenly fit two more in, the cloths hung up hiding all this from unwary eyes. The group were quickly moved in before the rumbling of earth signalled the return of the pillars to the wall.
The inside was surprisingly light, lit up by strange green crystals lining the wall. The illumination was lost on Toph, however she could make out the stairs going up at the corners of the room to allow for a balcony to hug the wall. More stalls lining it, shops built into the walls of the warehouse sold everything from food to weapons and a rather vandalised one even sold Fire Nation clothing and items. The stairs in the corners also lead down, into tunnels leading towards the other warehouses, but a quick check of the signs by the rest of her team gave them away to generally be just warehouses where the goods were stored.
They moved towards the back, Toph directing them towards a stall filled with cages that she knew was near the wall. They had to pause to drag Sokka away from some food and he was fixated upon a dark green bag for some time. They soon arrived at the store and could clearly see the animals in the pens and cages. A variety of livestock animals could be seen with a Donkeygoat leaning its head over its enclosure to nibble at and grab the cabbages of the stall next to it.
The cries of the neighbouring stall owner were roundly ignored however by the GAang as they set about asking the stall owner about Appa. His face dropped as he realised he wasn't going to be able to palm off any of his animals on them.
Toph listened on as the rest of her companions questioned the man, some of them, namely Aang, getting irate at his ignorance. Toph butted in to prevent the young avatar from venting his frustrations by announcing that the man really wasn't lying when he said he had no knowledge of a flying sky bison. And he would know as he gave away, under duress, that he knew of all animal traders movements in the city, both legal and otherwise and if he knew of an animal that rare he would have found a way to acquire it.
The team left dejected. Not even Sokka's discovery that the sweet rolls provided by the market vendor outside being one of the best things he'd ever eaten could perk the group back up.
The group trudged their way back up to the middle ring. Passing through the gatehouse, barely reacting as they showed the guards the required documentation to pass back up through the walls.
As they approached one of the central courtyards, near one of the many luscious parks they paused, slowing to a halt in the middle of the stone street. A fountain nearby send water crashing down into a water feature separating the monotony of the stone road.
"So what now?" Sokka asked, eating another sweet roll.
"What can we do, we've tried all the legal places, we've tried the black market, we've tried flyering and postering and that got us nowhere" Aang muttered looking down.
"Maybe that guy was lying! He seemed pretty shady to me" Katara spoke up. "Maybe we should try asking around again, now that Joo Dee isn't with us we might have more luck"
"She has a good point about Joo Dee" Tenten muttered. "Without her or the Dai Li meddling with us we probably would have more luck."
"True, but that guy at the market seemed pretty convinced" Toph said in response.
"We have to try" Katara said, trying to remain determined for Aang's sake.
"That's true" Neji spoke up. "No point giving up now. But whilst I agree that the traders might not have been lying and really don't know anything about Appa…" He trailed off looking up at the higher ring. The rest of his sentence remained unspoken, but the glance gave away what they were all thinking. What secrets was the upper ring hiding from them still.
Their musing was interrupted by a shadow appearing near them. The shadow leading up to a young man with messy brown hair.
"Hey Katara! Guys" He spoke confidently. They looked up to see a, for some, familiar face. Katara, Aang and Sokka immediately jumped into action. Jumping up from the fountain, air whipping around the courtyard as the fountain's water no longer poured down into the basin. Sokka grasped his boomerang tightly.
"Guys wait I've changed!" He announced raising his hands in a peace making manner.
"Yea tell that to someone else" Katara replied, the fountain now changing to send a gushing torrent of water at the man. He crossed his arms in front of him as the water cascaded into him, pushing him back across the courtyard. He ducked and weaved out of the way as Aang sent air blasts at him and he drew one of his hook blades only to knock Sokka's boomerang out of the air. Katara's ice spikes were interrupted by earth raising up. A large block emerged as a shield, the ice impacting and cutting chunks out as they quivered in the solid structure. More earth erupted around the man holding him hostage as Toph appeared inbetween her friends.
"Would anyone mind telling me what is going on?" she asked, her voice loud.
"He's Jet, a freedom fighter who tricked us into helping him." Katara replied. "He almost made us flood a village of both Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom innocents" She carried on, moving to draw more water around herself. "Now out of the way."
Toph didn't budge. Merely looking over at Jet. "Is this true. "Yes, but I've changed, I really do want to help you, not fight you." The earth shifted as Toph regarded him.
"He's telling the truth" she announced letting him go. Collapsing onto the ground as his earth prison re-joined the ground again.
"Are you crazy!" Katara nearly shouted, the plaza now near empty as everyone had retreated for cover. "We can't trust him or anything he says!"
"But we don't know why he's here" Neji said, the voice of reason. "Whatever differences you had in the past he's clealry not here to fight now."
"I don't care, no matter the reason, it won't be good" Katara shot back hostilely.
"Neji wasn't saying we should trust him" Tenten spoke up. "Just that since he hasn't approached us as an enemy we should at least find out if he has any useful information, before just getting rid of him."
Aang pondered for a moment. "They're right Katara. We may as well hear what he has to say before deciding if he's lying. Besides we could use the help right now since we have no other leads on Appa."
"That's exactly why I'm here!" Jet announced. "To help with Appa!"
"I still think we should ignore him" Katara said bitterly.
"Please, I've changed! I was troubled and angered I know. But I've gotten over that now! I don't even have the gang with me!" He spoke so earnestly they had trouble not believing him. All of them but Katara at least.
"You're lying!"
"He's not" Toph said looking up. At the quizzical looks she was getting she carried on. "I've been using my earth bending to feel his heart beat. When someone lies there's a physical reaction."
"We don't have any other leads, we have to check out anything he can tell us" Aang said, almost begging.
"What if it's a trap?" Katara asked.
"Then we spring it!" Lee exclaimed. "It will be a refreshing challenge! Besides, we are really good at getting out of traps!" He finished up with.
"Alright fine" Katara said, stabbing a finger at Jet. "But we are not! Letting him out of our sight.
Unhelpful. That was the first thought of the GAang as they entered the warehouse Jet had shown them to. They started to look around, moving past the rope and straw and cloth sacks.
"There's nothing here" Katara spoke menacingly and Jet found himself taking a step back involuntarily.
"Wait no, I was working nearby and I swear I heard two guys talking about a giant furry creature they were keeping here!"
"He was here!" came the interrupting cry of both Neji and Toph. Pointing to a corner where some white fur was lying, almost innocently.
"We missed him!" Aang muttered in despair.
It was at that moment that an old man sidestepped into the room. Humming lightly as he brushed sporadically around him.
"If you're looking for that big thing he was moved yesterday." He mentioned it almost too casually. "Shipped him out to some island and about time too, that fur is the most impossible thing to clean up." He went to leave, but Aang sprinted up to him.
"What do you mean? What island? Where's Appa?"
"Foreman said some rich royal type on Whaletail Island bought him up, for a zoo I'd reckon. Could be the meat though.
Aang spun around. "We need to get to Whaletail Island" He spoke decisively. "Where is it?"
"Far, like really far" Sokka muttered glumly. He moved to show everyone else the map he was looking at. "See it's down here, near the South Pole, we'd essentially have to go all the way back ome."
"It would take us weeks to get to the tip of the Earth Kingdom, let alone find a boat and then to sail home." Katara chimed in.
"I don't care, we have to try" Aang said determined, the janitor muttering something about vacations in the background.
"Oh go sweep up some more hair" Katara shot at him, causing him to flinch back and start to move.
"I'll come with you to help" Jet spoke up. "I know the Earth Kingdom"
"The last person we want with us is you Jet" Katara replied with.
"What was this guy? Your boyfriend Katara?" Toph mentioned, almost too gleefully.
"W-what, no!"
"I can tell you're lying!"
"Let's get going" Aang brought their attention back to him. "We have a lot of ground to cover, besides at least we'll be flying on the way back!"
"Before that" Neji mentioned, stopping the GAang from moving off. "Whilst we have a lot of ground to cover in not a lot of time, I think we should still find out why that janitor is lying to us" The janitor stiffened, sweet covering his brow.
"W-why would you say that young man?" he asked, trying to play innocent.
"Well we know that the black market has heard nothing about a Sky bison sale. And I am inclined to believe them" Neji mentioned walking towards him.
"And this has been all too convenient for the Dai Li and Long Feng to get rid of us." Tenten carried on.
The janitor felt more and more sweat on his brow.
"They is not even much evidence of sweeping and fur cleaning having taken place here" Lee joined in.
"But don't worry. We have a very good way of telling if you're lying don't we Toph." Team Guy cornered the man before beckoning Toph over.
"And I was so glad to be out of Ba Sing Se" Toph mentioned walking over, a grin appearing on her face as Katara and Jet bickered in the background.
Further interrogation of the janitor was stopped however as a couple of new people appeared outside the warehouse.
"JET!" they shouted, before running over. Jet made a move to walk past them as they ran to try and hug him, but Katara flicked her arms, water rushing out of her pouch to wrap around Jet's wrists
"I thought you said you didn't have your gang anymore!"
"I don't?" came the bewildered reply.
It was at this point that the girl, who would later introduce herself as Smellerbee, reached Jet and she promptly flung her arms around him and hugged him tightly.
"We were so worried!" she cried, burying her face in his chest. "It's been weeks, how did you get away from the Dai Li?" she asked looking up at him.
The other young man with a bow, who in turn would be later introduced as Longshot, soon made his way to their side to look anxiously at their leader, as well as the GAang.
"The Dai Li!" Katara cried aghast, previous animosity ignored.
"I don't know what she's talking about!" Jet cried, the janitor using this as an opportunity to try and slip out. Tenten casually flung a bolo at him, binding his legs and arms together before joining the others surrounding Jet.
"He got arrested by the Dai Li about a month ago" Smellerbee clarified. We watched as they dragged him away."
"Why would I be arrested?" Jet asked. Genuine confusion in his voice. "I've been living here peacefully"
"This is… this makes no sense!" Toph cried, pointing at both Jet and Smellerbee. "They are BOTH telling the truth!"
"That's impossible" Katara spoke up decisively.
Sokka shared a muttered conversation with Tenten and Neji for a moment as Lee moved to secure the janitor, not wanting a possible Long Feng agent to get away.
"No… no it's not" Sokka said emerging from the conversation. "Toph can't tell who's lying, because both of them think they're telling the truth!" he announced sounding happy.
"Jet is brainwashed" Tenten said. "Like with Joo Dee, it makes the most sense from what we've heard and know.
"N-no get away from me! It's crazy! It can't be!" Jet started to panic. He tried to back away, but the group was too large and they quickly prevented his escape.
"The only question left now is what to do with this guy" Lee asked, hoisting the janitor up as if he was nothing.
The lake glistened in the night, the moon casting an ethereal glow on the water's surface. A fine mist had rolled in and had coated both the GAang's and freedom fighter's clothes and weapons in water droplets. On the flip side however, it had hid their presence very well. They had spent a tense afternoon trying to cure Jet of his hypnosis. The propsed kiss solution had been a favourite of Sokka and Toph's, but Aang, Katara and Smellerbee had been very vocal in their disapproval.
"So where's this secret headquarters?" sokka asked, looking around.
"Under the lake I think" Jet said, his head cocked and a hand scratching at his neck.
Neji was about to activate his Byakugan, when Toph interrupted him. "He's right, there's a tunnel right there near the shore"
As everyone walked towards the mentioned tunnel Tenten turned to Neji and gave him a teasing "Looks like our tracker might be out of a job".
Momo flew away nervously as Toph adopted an earth bending posture. Earth slabs soon emerged from the water, forming a pathway as the water rushing off the wet stone and back into the pristine lake. The walked along towards the centre where a stone disc stood. The mountains towered over them and the trees at the lake edges whistled in the wind as they composed themselves before Toph effortless bent the disc out of the way. It revealed a stone passageway down with a ladder leading into emerald green light. The group quickly descended down and into the depths of the Dai Li hideout.
As they got to the bottom a criss cross of stone passageways spread out in front of them. All lit by eerie green lanterns, some held worryingly by patrolling Dai Li agents.
"It's all coming back to me" Jet mentioned as he looked around. He edged forwards, taking point and leading them through the labyrinth that spread out before them. After a few minutes walking they came to a door slightly ajar and they peered inside to reveal a room filled with women all looking the same.
"Oh my God, it's an army of Joo Dee's" Tenten muttered as a Dai Li agent waved a green lantern in front of them whilst saying "I'm Joo Dee. Welcome to Ba Sing Se."
Jet turned their attention away from the Joo Dee zombies.
"Come on this way, there should be a cell big enough up ahead to hold Appa." He passed through a doorway and into another black stone corridor. "I think it's this way."
The group broke into a run, using Toph and Neji to avoid the Dai Li patrols as they speedily made their way through the caverns. They eventually made their way to an impressively ornate stone door. Shifting it out of the way they quickly made their way inside. Pausing to take in the scale of the room. The door slammed shut behind them, casting everything into darkness and making them spin around into guards.
Green light soon erupted around them as the green lanterns were lit and the light flared into their eyes, causing them to shield themselves. When they could see again as their eyes adjusted shadows were now dancing on the ground, and looking up revealed Dai Li agents, suspended from chains on the roof, the light and lack of connection to Earth giving away how they had manged to counter both Toph and Neji. The dropped down to surround the group as a certain, hated figure landed directly in front of them.
"Now that's something different" Sokka idly commented, as if they had gone round to a neighbour's house and they had changed the shade of green used for decoration.
Long Feng's reply was anything but jovial. "You have made yourselves enemies of the state" He lifted an arm to motion towards them. "Take them into custody."
The Dai Li didn't need any more encouragement then that and the agents rushed towards them. The group rushed back and the fighting soon broke out. Jet easily cleaved through an agents stone gloves before ducking under another pair to close on an agent. He drove his blades up sending the agent flying up before jumping forwards to dispatch the agent behind him. Aang wasn't going to be outdone when he was so close to Appa. Using air bending to propel him forwards he created a current around him and sped through a group of agents in his way. He released the air as he passed, sending the group flying away, some righting themselves in mid-air, sliding back as they used their earth bending to recover. Others were not so lucky and flew back into walls.
"We're going on ahead!" Aang shouted as he rushed forward with Jet, chasing after a now fleeing Long Feng, leaving the rest of the group to deal with the now reforming Dai Li.
They pursued him through the door and down after him moving through corridor after corridor. Aang easily smashed away the earth walls Long Feng formed after him as he fled. As he approached the next room he jumped and span, the heavy rock doors crashing together behind him. Aang merely blasted them out of the way and into the room in response. Crashing through with Jet, sliding along the ground before coming to a stop and looking up at their opponent.
"Alright Avatar, that's far enough" Long Feng suddenly sounded a lot more menacing. "You've caused me enough problems, this is your last chance if you want your bison back."
"I knew it!" Came Aang's yelled reply. "You do have Appa!" He lowered his staff threateningly. "Tell me where he is, now!"
"Agree to exit the city now and I'll waive all charges against you and allow you to leave with your lost pet." Long Feng's calm voice was the complete opposite of the young Avatar's
Jet raised his swords and made to move towards Long Feng.
"You're in no position to baragin" he said menacingly.
Long Feng nearly laughed in response. "Oh? Am I not?" he asked haughtily.
"It's two on one" Aang replied. "You're definitely not."
"Well in that case…" Long Fend started addressing the Avatar before swapping over. "Jet, the Earth King has invited you to Lake Laogai"
Aang looked on, horrified as Jet stopped. "I am honoured to accept this invitation." He turned on his heel and leapt forward, his dual hook blades aimed for Aang's neck. Aang jumped back nimbly and used air bending to propel himself away and out of range of Jet's follow up attack. He carried on backpedalling away from Jet as angry slash after slash was launched after him. Aang's nimble footwork always kept him one step away from Jet, but he was too hesitant to attack his comrade. He kept pleading with Jet as he was forced back and away, further and further from Long Feng. His back suddenly hit the wall and he ducked under a neck cut and jumping up as Jet's second blade made a vicious sweep for his legs. He planted both his feet on Jet's chest and sent him barrelling away from him.
"Jet! It's me Aang! You don't have to do this!"
"I'm afraid he no longer has a choice" Long Feng stated, almost happily. His voice carrying all the way over to Aang who was forced to dance away from Jet's next set of whirlwind of slices. Aang back flipped over and away from a cruel cross slice directed at his chest before jumping over the following rising attacks. He tried to make a run for Long Feng, but Jet pursued and he was forced to dive away and to the side as Jet launched a neck and chest blow at him. Long Feng used earth bending to grab Aang's legs and pin him as Jet moved in, launching one blade towards his neck and one towards his stomach. Aang used his staff to sweep the neck blow over him, ducking under it and quickly driving his staff down to knock the second slice off course. He then sent a blast of air into Jet, knocking him back and causing him to drive his hook blades into the ground to steady himself. Aang proceeded to freeing himself and create distance between himself and Jet.
"Jet I'm your friend! Look inside your heart!" he cried, seeing sweat starting to form on Jet's brow.
Jet gasped in return, looking conflicted.
"Do your duty Jet!" Long Feng commanded powerfully.
"He can't make you do this!" Aang replied. "You're a freedom fighter.
"Do it! Do it now!" Long Feng dictated, causing Jet to unleash a snarl of rage and hurl one of his swords towards Long Feng's head. He swiftly ducked under the soaring blade and before the blade could even start quivering in the wall behind him a return blast of earth was rocketing towards Jet, the sheer scale of earth being moved a cause for panic, even without the sturdy stone tip, almost like a lance aiming for Jet's chest, his metal armour no use for protection against it.
"You've chosen your own demise" Long Feng shouted as dust filled the room and after a sickening crunch the room went quiet.
The Dai Li didn't look pleased. Least not to Sokka, though he figured they didn't have reason to look happy. Their leader had just turned tail and fled with Aang and Jet in pursuit. Sokka was happy to notice that their failure to stop that was causing them a fair amount of anger. The remaining Dai Li agents had broken off from the melee and a great deal of them were now blocking the way out of the room, though there was still enough of them to have them surrounded.
"Give up now" One of them spoke up. "Our leader will soon see to those two so if you give yourselves up now we will be more lenient.
"They want us to surrender?" Sokka heard Toph ask. "When they can't promise anything even if we did believe them?"
"True, so which one do you want?" Tenten replied.
"I'll take the stupid one who decided to quit fighting to talk to us." Toph replied, even without looking Sokka could almost feel the grin on her face.
"I'm warning you you're outnumbered" The Dai Li spoke again, though this time he seemed to bristle with anger.
"He has a point" Neji stated. "This isn't really fair" Sokka was about to turn to shout at him for not helping when Lee interrupted.
"Yes Neji! Perhaps some of us should step out of this fight to give them a fair chance!"
Sokka laughed and he heard the group laugh with him.
This only seemed to infuriate the agents opposing them more. Sokka didn't have more time to think however as the agents re-engaged. He used his club to smash through one of the stone hands sent to him and ducked quickly under the next. He grabbed and threw his boomerang and it soared through the air, knocking another stone fist out of the air before it could hit longshot in the back, before reaching its final target. It slammed into the side of a Dai Li agent's head, knocking him out cold. Sokka didn't give boomy time to return as he was already running. He slid under a Dai Li's precision attack and grabbed his boomerang before leaping up and jumping on the agent standing behind him, bringing him crashing down to the ground.
"Good work Sokka!" Toph cried from behind him and he whipped his head around to see Toph surfing along on a pillar of earth, Dai Li agents being thrown to the side as she passed. She hopped off it at the end and shattered the pillar into several lances of earth before, with another earth bending strike, she sent them raining into the bigger group of Dai Li agents near the door. They scattered, but Sokka was brought back to his own fight when dirt and pebbles hit him from behind. He turned and saw Longshot shoot down a Dai Li agent who had been trying to get behind him. Longshot gave him a thumbs up and Sokka replied with a wave. Looking around he could see more Dai Li agents falling to his comrade's attacks.
Tenten sprinted up a wall, smoke dragons following her before the agents under her faced a barrage of throwing weapon attacks. They rose up a stone shield to protect them and it worked… for about three seconds. A hissing noise ran through the air before the shield exploded into so much rubble. The remaining Dai Li barely had time to react before Lee appeared out of nowhere, striking them down quickly before reappearing elsewhere, sometimes just above them and punching down, sometimes behind them where he quickly swept out their legs and some he just punched in the front, sending them rocketing away. Smellerbee and Longshot seemed to be holding their own as well. They launched a barrage of attacks, and works together flawlessly. So much so that it was almost beautiful to watch as Longshot rolled over Smellerbee's back to launch an arrow to take down earth gauntlets as she would tackle the agent about to grab them. Katara's water whipped around her, striking down any agent who got to close and he almost pitied the agents trying to gang up on Neji. He moved like he was merely flowing around them, his arms a blur, but everywhere he struck a limb went numb or an agent fell.
A resounding crash sound from the corridor Aang and Jet had run down distracted them. Everyone casting a look over.
"They've breached the door, they're close!" An agent cried and they tried to move to protect the corridor even more fervently.
"Come on!" Sokka cried. "If they want to protect that even more, then that means we need to get someone else through even more!" The group agreed and Lee jumped up into the air before Neji span, his air shield forming as the cry of "KAITEN!" echoed around the chamber. The Dai Li paused, even with their extensive information network, seeing this was still impressive. The wall of chakra and air hit Lee and propelled him even faster. Sokka didn't see him connect, but rather all he saw was an explosion and the Dai Li agents and the wall they had been trying to build to cover their leader were now strewn about randomly. Lee was almost a distant memory down the corridor. A group made to chase after him, but a trio of throwing knives soared past them, paper behind them fizzing. The Dai Li barely had a chance to realise their peril, before there was a tremendous explosion. The tunnel shook and rubble fell down closing off the pursuit as they couldn't dedicate their time to bending it out of the way.
Sokka grinned as they turned and tried to adopt battle positions, the losses in numbers taking a heavy toll on them.
"Going somewhere?" he asked. He chose to ignore the sounds of palms hitting faces from behind him.
Lee smashed through the Dai Li blockade. Their wall no match for his dynamic entry. He heard the explosion behind him, but kept running, knowing that Tenten would have sealed the way behind him so no Dai Li could get through to pursue him. He wasn't concerned, he knew his friends could easily beat the Dai Li and Toph would have the rubble cleared in no time.
He focussed instead on sprinting down the corridors, weaving through rubble left from obvious earth bending attacks He ducked under a lowered ceiling and jumped over a green crystal erupting from the ground. He was aware of more Dai Li trying to pour into the main corridor from the sides. They were too slow for the most part however and he left them in his dust, not even giving them a target to launch their stone gauntlets at.
The Dai Li were starting to build up however, and his keen senses picked up the sounds of Aang and Jet fighting up ahead. It sounded like Aang was pleading with Jet which worried Lee greatly, as friends should not fight each other on the battle field. Fearing the worst he made up his mind, knowing that he couldn't afford to be held up he channelled chakra to his feet and legs and his speed suddenly shot up. He barrelled through a hastily forming group of agents and the door was almost insight when suddenly rock walls shot up from the ground and down from the ceiling. He ducked and jumped and soon all he could see was green crystal and brown stone walls forming in front of the door.
"We won't let you pass!" An agent shouted, emerging from a hidden corridor to the side. "Long Feng is dealing with two enemies of the state right now so we'll be enough for you."
"I do not have time for your challenge!" Lee replied with and flew into one of the green crystal walls. His blow was powerful and the Dai Lee felt the wind rushing past them as it connected. The green crystal however did not move.
Lee jumped back looking at the wall with new eyes, wondering how much time he had.
"You see men! We can stop him!" The agent cried victorious. "This crystal is so much harder and denser than the stone you've been charging through!" He paused to tap against it. "You'll never crack through this.
"Do it! Do it now!" echoed down the corridor, Long Feng's voice somehow getting past the crystal.
"I told you I do not have time for this!" Lee announced, sliding one leg behind the other and raising one hand, palm up towards them. "So I will show you something interesting."
The Dai Li were silent for a moment before moving in to accept Lee's challenge. The world seemed to stand still before there was a green flash.
"2nd Gate, Gate of Healing! Open!"
Lee sped forwards, towards the attack now approaching a fatigued Jet.
Su enjoyed his time in the Dai Li. He got power, respect and usually no one could ever stand in their way.
This was not usually.
He turned his head, his target was not only no longer in front of him but was in the next room. The green crystal walls which had taken them a great deal of effort to set up and reinforce was shattered, pieces strewn around haphazardly. The rest of the agents with him were out cold, simply being near the attack had wiped them out. He gazed mouth open, along with Long Feng who would later deny everything, at the sight in front of him. The intruder dressed mostly in green was in the middle of the room. When the dust fully cleared Long Feng's powerful attack lay shattered on the ground, the enemy of the state he was trying to dispatch was staring at Lee's back in similar shock to Su and Long Feng. He had a cloak of green surrounding him and his veins were standing on end. One arm was held up in a guard, clearly the culprit in annihilating Long Feng's finishing blow.
Perhaps more worryingly was the shattered ground where the youth stood, and he wasn't even directing any energy down there.
Su didn't have any more time to think as he felt something hit the back of his head and everything went black.
"Jet!" Katara cried, rushing in to check on the weakened Jet. Rushing past the Dai Li agent Sokka had just clubbed in the back of the head. The rest of the group followed, mouths agape as Lee stood there calmly. Jet chose that moment to collapse from fatigue and from the effort required to fight off the hypnosis and Long Feng took that as his time to leave, bending up a pillar of earth quickly and trying to disappear down a corridor. The group crowded around their comrade who gave them a weak smile.
"He's wounded!" Katara announced, going to get her water from her pouch.
"I'm sorry Aang" Jet announced rapidly. "But I beat him!" Aang nodded.
"You did, and don't be sorry, you need rest"
Smellerbee interrupted the hushed conversation.
"You guys go find Appa, we'll take care of Jet."
"But…" Katara started
Longshot joined in, talking for the first time.
"We'll make sure he gets rest and is ok. Just go, he's our leader and he'd hate if you let Long Feng get away."
"Damn straight" Jet said, his strength already starting to return. "Don't worry Katara I'll be fine"
The GAang nodded and quickly made their way towards where Long Feng had disappeared. Aang bending an earth platform up to carry them as Lee panted slightly, the green aura disappearing as the fatigue of opening a gate set in.
"I'm glad Lee got there in time" Toph announced as they closed on the door Long Feng had disappeared into. "I'd hate to think what would have happened if he hadn't."
"Appa's gone, Long Feng beat us here." Aang announced, looking round glumly.
"Let's keep moving, maybe we can catch up to him" Sokka announced, already moving on from the dark room, now complete with six empty manacles and some straw.
They moved quickly and soon burst out of the underground lair. The sight of the beautiful lake was marred slightly by the presence of Dai Li agents waiting for them near the shore. They turned and a group of agents appeared behind them, a shackled Jet, Smellerbee and Longshot with them. A few seemed to be nursing arrow wounds however which the group would chuckle about later.
"Think if we're quick we can grab them and run?" Sokka asked, pointing at the freedom fighters.
"I don't think that's going to matter" Aang replied, pointing to the agents now starting to box them in with earth bent walls from their flanks. Long Feng was approaching them as well. Jumping off one of the walls and making his way over to them. He grinned predatorily as he saw them trying to consider their options.
"It's over Avatar." He announced, somewhat calmly considering what had happened.
It was at that moment that Momo re-joined the group. Swooping down to land on Aang's shoulder.
"What is it Momo?" Aang asked, Long Feng muttering something about the pet not being able to help them in the background. Momo launched himself back into the air and the group looked up, seeing a silhouette growing larger and larger. As it got closer the groups faces broke out in grins as they saw the familiar shape of,
"APPA!" Aang cried, watching happily as his beloved companion swooped down, smashing his way through the walls surrounding the group.
The Dai Li were already shaken from having to fight the group more, but the sky bison returning was the straw that broke the possum – camel's back. They broke along with their walls and started to flee.
Long Feng himself looked shaken, but stared down the sky bison, now glaring at him.
"I can handle you by myself!" he cried and tried to launch a kick at Appa. Appa merely grabbed his leg in his mouth and sent his soaring across the lake, like a kid trying to skip stones across the water's surface. The Dai Li now routed allowed the Konoha group to free the freedom fighters and they rejoined the original GAang in hugging Appa tightly.
"I missed you, buddy" Aang muttered happily. His head buried in Appa's fur.