7
The group stared at the city of Omashu. Aang stepped forward and looked at the city sadly.
"I can't believe it." Aang said, he turned to them, "I know the war has spread far, but Omashu always seemed… Untouchable." He looked back at the city sadly.
"Up until now, it was." Hoshiko said, "Now Ba-Sing-Se is the only great Earth Kingdom stronghold left." She crossed his arms over her chest as she looked at the city, glaring slightly.
"This is horrible." Katara said, walking up next to Aang, "But we have to move on."
"No." Aang said firmly, "I'm going in to find Bumi." He started walking towards the edge of the cliff.
"Aang, stop!" Sokka called, Aang stopped, "We don't even know if Bumi's still…" He trailed off, unable to say the words.
"What?" Aang asked, facing him, "If he's still what?"
"A-Around." Sokka said, not wanting to say that Bumi might be dead.
"I know you had your heart set on Bumi," Katara said, "But there are other people who could teach you earth bending."
"This isn't about finding a teacher." Aang said, looking back at the city, "This is about finding my friend."
"A secret passage?" Sokka said, looking at the tunnel that Aang was banging on with his staff. Sokka, Katara, and Hoshiko all wore black cloaks over their clothes. The tunnel was seventy feet below the city, and Hoshiko had a sneaking suspicion as to what it actually was, "Why didn't we just use this last time?" Aang's staff finally popped the grate off of the tunnel and a slimy, green substance burst out, covering Sokka's feet. Katara wasn't in the tunnels line of fire, and Hoshiko's quick reflexes allowed her to avoid it. Sokka let out a moan of distress as he looked down at his shoes.
"Does that answer your question?" Aang asked jokingly as he jumped into the tunnel. Sokka went after him, making a sound of disgust and holding his nose, trying not to puke from the smell. Katara followed him and Hoshiko after her. As they traversed through the tunnel, Aang used his air bending to clear the pathway in front of him, behind him, Katara used her water bending to bend the sewage away from her, Hoshiko used her shadow bending to scoop the sewage out of the way, making blocks for when it was about to hit her face or clothes. Sokka, who was at the end of the line, was continuously hit with the disgusting sludge as they traversed up the tunnel.
When they finally reached the end of the tunnel some few hours later, Aang took a quick look around through a crack in a man-hole. Seeing no one around, he flew out, Katara and Hoshiko climbing out after him.
"That wasn't as bad as I thought." Katara said as she brushed off any remnants of the sewage on her clothes.
"No kidding." Hoshiko agreed, wringing out some sewage water in her cloak. They heard squishing sounds and saw a green, sludge-covered being come out after them, moaning and holding out its arms. Katara quickly bent some water out of a nearby barrel and washed all the slime off of her brother, Sokka yelped when the water hit his skin. Aang sent a wave of air to dry him off, and Sokka cried out as his limbs flew back. When he stood still, the group could see three purple balloon-like creatures on his cheeks and on the back of his neck. Hoshiko almost squirmed in delight when she realized they were purple pentapi. They were her favorite aquatic creature because of their big, adorable eyes and tiny, squishy tentacles. They also tasted really, really good in the right sauce. Sokka shouted when he felt them sucking on his skin, trying to tug them off his face.
"They won't let go!" He yelled as he began to panic.
"Shh!" Aang hissed, blowing Sokka against a wall, "Stop making so much noise. It's just a purple pentapus." Sokka looked fearfully at the cephalopods as Aang and Hoshiko reached up gently tickled the heads of the pentapi on Sokka's cheek and neck. The two pentapi squeezed their eyes shut happily and curled their tiny tentacles up in their animalistic mirth, letting out a small squeal. Sokka rubbed at the red spots left from when they sucked on his skin. He got the last one off himself.
"Hey!" A deep voice called. The group looked to see three guards approaching. They quickly grouped together to hide Aang as he pulled the sash off from around his waist and turned it into a make-shift hat to hide his arrow tattoo. "What are you kids doing out past curfew?"
"Sorry." Katara said, "We were just on our way home." The four of them turned around, not noticing how the guard narrowed his eyes at the spots on the back of Sokka's neck.
"Wait! What's the matter with him?" The group stopped and realized the spots from the pentapus made it look like Sokka was sick.
"Uh… He has pentapox, sir." Katara said, turning her brother around to face him. The guard stepped forward to get a better look at Sokka, sticking out his hand to try and get a better look at the spots. "Um…! It's highly contagious!" The guard pulled his hand back. Sokka, suddenly getting the idea, began to moan and groan as if he were in pain.
"Uweh! I'm so awful, I'm dying!" He moaned out, walking towards the guards, making them back away, covering their faces with their hands.
"A-And deadly!" Hoshiko supplied, seeing his performance.
"Hey, I think I've heard of pentapox." The guard said, turning to another, "Didn't your cousin Chang die of it?" Sokka got closer to them and began coughing harshly. "We'd better go wash our hands, and burn our clothes!" The three of them ran off.
When they were out of sight, Aang pulled out a pentapus he didn't have time to put into water, "Thank you, sewer friend." Aang said, rubbing the top of its head. The pentapus gave another squeak as it curled up its tentacles. Hoshiko let out a girlish squeak as she looked at the creature.
"It's so cute!" She squealed, squirming a little. She looked down at the little creature, before looking back at Aang, "Are you going to eat it?" Aang looked at her in surprise.
"No…" He said slowly, Hoshiko smiled.
"Then can I have it?" She asked eagerly, Aang nodded and handed her the cephalopod. She rubbed the top of its head and let out another squeak as it curled up its tentacles.
"We can't keep it with us." Katara said, "We have enough pets as it is already."
"I know." Hoshiko said, "I just can't get over how cute these things are!" She kissed the top of its head. When she pulled back she smacked her lips together, tasting whatever the creature had secreted onto her lips, "But, I guess you're right. We can't keep these things around." She opened her mouth and ate it head first, sucking in its tentacles quickly after with a loud slurping noise. She licked her lips happily once she felt it go down her throat. Aang, Katara, and Sokka all gave her incredulous looks. Hoshiko tilted her head to the side, one ear pointing up, the other sideways, as she looked at them in confusion. "What?"
The four of them ran through streets where the only people walking them were Fire Nation guards. They ran down one way and hid behind some construction supplies as two guards went by.
"Let's find Bumi and get out of here." Katara said, wary of all the guards around them.
"Where would they be keeping him?" Sokka asked.
"Somewhere he can't earth bend." Aang said, looking around them, "Somewhere made of metal."
"Well, that makes about half of this city." Hoshiko muttered sarcastically, "But, my guess is, they're probably keeping him in a metal coffin suspended high up from the ground."
"So we should check places up high?" Aang asked, Hoshiko nodded curtly.
"Our best chance would be to check the highest place in the city, at the very top." She said.
"I know where that is." Aang said, "Follow me." They did so, weaving around corners and walls to avoid any guards. They came near a wall that overlooked a small group below where four guards carried lanterns to two people. Hoshiko cautioned them to be quiet as they went by.
Her sharp ears picked up a tidbit of their conversation, "I thought my life was boring in the Fire Nation, but this place is unbearably bleak." A voice sounding like a teenage girl's said, "Nothing ever happens." Then she heard a rumbling sound and looked to see two large boulders coming down a slope, heading straight for the two people. Aang, not wanting to see them smashed to bits, used his air bending to turn the rocks into rubble, making a huge cloud of dust in the air that caught their attention.
"The resistance!" A voice called, instantly a teenage girl with long black hair ran forward, shooting knives out at them. Aang dodged it and the group ran from them. Two guards came after them and Hoshiko knocked them over the side of the wall with her shadow bending. The girl came up after them, shooting knives from her sleeve. She made a wall with her shadow bending to block it before she ran after the others. The girl followed her. When they had gotten a bit further from her, Aang brought down the wood for a piece of construction nearby. It stopped her from going any further, but didn't stop her from throwing her knives at him. She threw a spinning blade at him, and Aang blocked it by having it hit his staff instead of his body and ran. She threw out three more projectiles at them, but before they had a chance to hit, the floor beneath them fell, sending out more stone to replace what they had ridden on.
They looked up to see they were underground and surrounded by people clad in Earth Kingdom clothes. One man stepped forward, he was middle aged and a little tubby with a rounded face and dark beard. He wore an Earth Kingdom uniform and greeted them with a bow.
"Welcome." He greeted.
"I got five silver pieces that says you're the resistance." Hoshiko said, dusting herself off as she stood. The man nodded.
"And you would be right." He said, "I am Yung, of the Omashu resistance. We welcome you, avatar and friends."
"How could you tell?" Aang asked, taking the sash off his head and tying it around his waist.
"You're the spitting image of your wanted poster." A younger, taller man said with a smirk. Aang smiled sheepishly, "We'll offer you stay for the night if you wish."
"Thank you." Katara said, bowing. Yung began to lead them down the halls, taking them to where they kept the beds. As they walked to the room where they were, Aang looked up at Yung.
"So, is King Bumi with you guys?" He asked, silence fell upon the room they entered, "Is he leading the resistance?"
"Of course not!" Yung snapped, "The day of the invasion, we readied ourselves for battle. We were prepared to defend our city. To fight for our lives and for our freedom. But before we even had a chance, King Bumi surrendered." Aang's eyes widened at the thought of his friend surrendering to the Fire Nation, "The day of the invasion, I asked King Bumi what he wanted to do. He looked me in the eye and said, 'I'm going to do nothing!' and laughed. It doesn't matter anymore now, fighting the Fire Nation is the only path to freedom. And freedom is worth dying for."
"Actually, there's another path to freedom." Aang said, "You could leave Omashu. You're directing all your energy to fight the Fire Nation, but you're outnumbered, you can't win. Now's the time to retreat so you can live to fight another day."
"You don't understand!" Yung said, "They've taken our home, and we have to fight them at any cost!"
"I don't know, Yung." Said a portly man beside him, "Living to fight another day is starting to sound pretty good to me."
"Yeah, I'm with the kid!" Said the young man from before. Yung looked to see everyone in the underground base turn to one another, giving murmurs of agreement to fighting another day.
"Fine." Yung consented, "But there's thousands of citizens that need to leave! How're we gonna get them all out?"
"Suckers!" Sokka exclaimed, everyone gave him confused looks while he looked at them slyly, "You're all about to come down with a nasty case of pentapox."
"EEEEEEE!" Hoshiko squealed when Sokka and some other soldiers came back from the sewers with buckets of purple pentapi, "So cute!" She stared at the pentapi in Sokka's bucket before he quickly snatched them out of her gaze.
"These are not for eating!" He told her, sounding like a man scolding his puppy for going on the carpet.
"Not yet, anyways." Hoshiko said with a sly grin that showed her elongated canines. Sokka gave her a disappointed look and set the bucket down.
"Okay, you know what?" He said as he pulled out a pentapus, "You get to be sucked on first." He planted one on her cheek then another two on her arms and one on the side of her neck.
"Ew! That feels weird!" Hoshiko squealed delightedly. She looked at the ones on her arm and smiled at them, "It's like a sloppy kiss, except with tons of tiny mouths."
"It just feels like they're sucking on me." Katara said, sounding somewhat disturbed as the creatures sucked on her skin. Hoshiko looked over to see her pentapi were in similar spots to her own.
"Obviously, you've never had a sloppy kiss." Hoshiko said, then a thought occurred to her and she looked at the young water bender, "Wait, have you ever been kissed?" Katara blushed.
"O-Of course I have!" She stuttered.
"Who, when, where, and how was it?" Hoshiko asked, leaning in with a sly smirk on her face. Katara's blush deepened.
"Well…" She muttered, looking down at her fingers.
"Well?" Hoshiko egged.
"Well…" Katara sighed, "It was with this… guy. Sokka doesn't even know about it, yet."
"Who? Who? Who?" Hoshiko encouraged, wondering if she would make up a lie or not.
"His… His name is Jet." Katara said blushing, "It was on the lips when no one was looking. I had a big crush on him when we first met."
"Did the kiss last more than two seconds?" Hoshiko asked.
"No." Katara said, "It was just one second."
"So, it was just a peck." Hoshiko said, sounding somewhat disappointed. "Were you two together long?"
"He wasn't who I thought he was." Katara said darkly, "He tried to wipe out an entire town just because there were Fire Nation soldiers there."
"Oh, so you go for the bad boys, huh?" Hoshiko asked, her sly grin back. Katara gave her an incredulous look.
"Hoshiko!" She hissed abashedly, Hoshiko laughed and patted her shoulder.
"I'm just kidding, Katara." She said, "Relax." After an awkward pause, Katara spoke.
"So, have you ever been kissed?" She asked, sounding a little shy.
"Yeah." Hoshiko said, "Lots of times."
"By different guys?" Katara asked, Hoshiko shook her head.
"No, just one." She said, "Just on lots of different occasions."
"Who was it?" Katara asked, she noticed how Hoshiko looked down sadly.
"His name's Kotaro…" She murmured, "Tell me, Katara, what do you know about Shinjun traditions and ceremonies?"
"I know about a few…" Katara answered unsurely, "But, what does that have to do with-"
"Hey, Hoshiko!" Sokka called, "Come here, I think you've been sucked on long enough!" She nodded and went over to him, Katara following. Sokka gently tickled the tops of each pentapus and pulling them off to reveal the red marks they left on her skin in little star-like designs before doing the same for Katara, "Yep, you guys look real sick."
"No kidding." Hoshiko said, stretching the skin on her arm to look at the red marks. Sokka smacked her hand away.
"Don't mess with it! Your spots might disappear faster!" He said, Hoshiko rolled her eyes.
"Fine." She said, she looked over as the portly man from before came over to them.
"Everybody's got pentapox now." He said, a small smile on his face, "Should we get going?"
"Not just yet." Sokka said, "Let me talk to them first." The man nodded and had everybody gather around Sokka so they could hear what he has to say, "The marks make you look sick, but you gotta act sick, too. You gotta sell it." An old man with a wooden leg and cane started walking by, moaning and groaning as he held his back. When he had passed, Sokka tossed his arm around a boy near his age that was standing next to him and pointed at the old man, "Now that's what I'm talking about!"
"Years of practice." The old man said with a grin, tapping his wooden leg with his cane.
"Okay, everyone!" Sokka called out, "Into sick formation!" Hoshiko followed him and the others as they started walking out to the gate, resembling something like zombies. When the guards saw the large group, they kept them back with their spears.
"Plague! Plague!" One of the guards shouted before all the others followed him inside the walls around the city gate. Another guard began banging a bell, signifying an emergency and that all guards needed to get indoors. A few minutes later, the gates opened up and the guards began to drive them out of the city, holding cloths to their faces as they ushered them through the gates. When they were about a mile from the city, everyone stopped the sick act and began walking and talking normally.
Hoshiko turned to Katara as they walked, "So where's Aang?"
"He said he wouldn't leave until he found Bumi." Katara said, "I'm sure he's fine." Hoshiko nodded once and they kept walking in silence, "So, what were you saying before?"
"About what?" Hoshiko asked.
"About Shinjun ceremonies and stuff." Katara said.
"Oh, right." Hoshiko said, "Do you know of the hanbun tamashi ceremony?"
"Isn't that the second most sacred tradition for Shinjun tribes?" Katara asked, "It's where two souls are bonded together for eternity, right?"
"Yes." Hoshiko confirmed, "The boy I kissed… He's my hanbun tamashi."
"Oh." Katara said, "Did you like him?"
"A lot." Hoshiko said, "But we weren't old enough for marriage, the holiest of all holies, so we decided having our souls bonded together for eternity was just as good."
"Then why isn't he here with you?" Katara asked, "I mean, if you're bonded together for eternity…"
"I think that should be obvious." Hoshiko said, when she looked at the pitiful expression on Katara's face, she snapped, "He's not dead!"
"Oh." Katara looked relieved, "Then, where is he?"
"I don't know." Hoshiko said, "We were sold to different masters. As far as I know, he's still somewhere in the Fire Nation." She sighed and looked down at the terrain beneath her feet as she walked, "There's not one day that goes by that I don't pray to see him again."
"You will." Katara said, Hoshiko snapped her head to her to see the encouraging smile on her face, "I'm certain that you will, if your souls are bonded for eternity, then you will find each other again." Hoshiko smiled gratefully at her.
"Thank you, Katara." She said.
Hoshiko, Katara, and Sokka rested around a fireplace in the camp the Omashu resistance had made for all their people. They looked up as Aang, alongside a gorilla goat, came forward. They all ran up to him and he looked at them sadly.
"We looked everywhere." He said, "No Bumi." Katara wrapped her arms around the young air bender to comfort him. The gorilla goat gave a sad whimper, and Sokka hugged its face, since it was the only thing his arms could remotely fit around. Hoshiko looked at the creature warily, and Aang saw her confusion, "Don't worry, Hoshiko. This is Flopsy, he's Bumi's pet."
"Uh-huh…" Hoshiko said, nodding slowly. She shrieked when Flopsy licked her with his large, pink tongue, "Eeyuch! Gross!" She glared at the creature as she wiped off the slime, but when his big, green eyes looked back at her, she couldn't help but feel sorry for the animal. She reached out and petted his head, "I guess you could be worse." The gorilla goat, obviously happy with her answer, swept her up in his big arms and licked her again, "Okay! Okay!" He put her back down and she wiped the saliva off of her.
"We have a problem." Yung said as he came up to the group, "We just did a headcount."
"Oh, no. Did someone get left behind?" Katara asked worriedly.
"No." Yung replied, "We have an extra." He pointed his finger in the direction of Momo, who was dragging a two-year-old boy around as he latched onto his neck. The boy was obviously Fire Nation.
"Oh boy…" Hoshiko muttered, she pulled the child off the lemur's neck and pulled him into her arms, "Where'd you come from, little guy?" The baby laughed adorably and pulled his arms above her head, latching onto her ear and tugging, "Ow! Hey!" He pulled away and laughed again, Hoshiko sent the baby a dry look before holding him out at arms length to Katara. "Katara, you take him. I'm not good with kids under age five." She took the boy out of his arms and held him as they walked back to the fire they made. Flopsy lay down near Appa and rested by the warm fire. Katara put the boy down on the ground and he started walking after Momo, who obviously didn't like the baby. He flew onto Aang's shoulders and as the baby fell on his bottom. He had landed in front of Sokka's club and took an interest in its unusual design.
He stuck it in his mouth and Sokka snatched it out of his hands, "No!" He scolded sharply, "Bad Fire Nation baby!" The baby began to cry because he couldn't play with Sokka's weapon. Katara sent him a glare and slapped his head, "Oh, alright." He consented, he handed the baby back his club and he instantly stopped crying and began to fiddle with it. Katara bent down and hugged the baby's shoulders.
"Oh, you're so cute!" She cooed in a baby voice before kissing his pudgy cheek.
"Sure, he looks cute now." Yung said as Katara held the baby up and he began to practice walking as his feet brushed against the ground, seemingly perfectly comfortable. "But when he's older, he'll join the Fire Nation army. You won't think he's so cute then." He'll be a killer."
Katara held up the baby to him, "Does that look like the face of a killer to you?" She asked, not noticing the baby's discomfort at being held that way. Yung looked at Katara, his eyes sad.
Hoshiko looked up as a screeching sound was heard above them and saw a brown hawk land a few feet away from the campsite. "A messenger hawk!" Yung said. Hoshiko went over to the hawk and it jumped on her arm. She took the letter out from the cartridge on its back and was surprised to see a Fire Nation insignia on it. She unrolled it and walked back to the group.
"It's from the Fire Nation governor." She said as she read the letter, "He thinks we kidnapped his son. So, he want's to make a trade… His son for King Bumi." She looked up at Aang and saw his eyes wide.
Hoshiko looked up as the light of dawn began to pour in from the skies. Sokka and Katara were standing next to her as they waited by Appa. Aang came down from the hill that led to the campsite, the two-year-old baby boy asleep in his arms.
"You realize we're probably walking right into a trap." Sokka said as he came down.
"I don't think so." Aang said, shifting the baby's weight in his arms, "I'm sure the governor wants his son back as much as we want Bumi." He looked down at the baby's sleeping form and smiled, "It's a new day. I have a good feeling about this."
"I don't." Hoshiko said, "This just seems way too easy, something's bound to happen."
"Don't say that." Aang said as he flew up onto Appa's saddle, the others following him, "Starting off on a journey when you're miserable isn't what we normally do around here."
"I'm just saying I agree with Sokka." Hoshiko said as she put her hands up defensively, "It's probably a trap, so I think we should at least be cautious."
"Okay, we will." Aang said, "Yip yip!" He snapped Appa's reigns and he flew into the air.
"You know," Sokka began, "I bet you just jinxed us." Hoshiko rolled her eyes.
"Shut up."
The four of them stood at the meeting place designated in the letter. It was the highest point in the city, a place where a giant statue of Fire Lord Ozai was being built. They looked as they saw three girls come forward. The one on the left was a slim, cheerful looking girl with long brown hair in a high braid and dressed all in pink. In the middle was a girl with black hair with two buns on each side of her head and long hair being let down from each of them, she was dressed in dark Fire Nation attire and looked very gloomy. The one on the right was a girl dressed in traditional Fire Nation garb, with her brown hair in a high topknot with some loose hairs coming down and framing her face, her eyes were sharp, and Hoshiko decided she immediately didn't like her.
They looked up as a metal coffin was lowered down from up top. Inside was an old man, who laughed and snorted at the same time as he came closer, "Hi everybody!" He called. Aang smiled at the sight of his friend. The coffin was lowered behind the gloomy girl where he stayed put for the time being.
"You brought my brother?" She asked.
"He's here." Aang called back, "We're ready to trade." The baby boy, who was held by Sokka at the moment, was reaching up and patting Sokka's face. The next few words were spoken as only incoherent murmurs to everyone but Hoshiko.
"I'm sorry, but a thought just occurred to me." Said the girl in traditional garb, "Do you mind?"
"Of course not, Princess Azula." The gloomy girl said. Hoshiko stiffened at once. She was the princess of the Fire Nation! She was supposed to be a fire bending prodigy, the only bender in the nation that has enough 'oomph' to her bending that the fire is blue. She had never seen her before, so it's no wonder she didn't recognize her, but still…
"We're trading a two-year-old for a king." She looked up at Bumi, "A powerful earth bending king?" Bumi nodded in confirmation, and Azula turned back to the other girl, "It just doesn't seem like a fair trade, does it?" The gloomy girl looked to the group, eying her brother as she took the princess's words into consideration.
"You're right." She said finally, making a satisfied, yet malicious, grin come to the princess's face. The gloomy girl stepped forward and called, "The deal's off!" She lifted her hand and the coffin that held Bumi went back up into the air.
"Whoa! Heh heh. See you all later!" Bumi called as he was reeled back up, laughing.
"Bumi!" Aang exclaimed and began to run after him. Azula shot out blue flames his way to stop him, but he used his air bending to jump up and land against the walls of the construction site. As he jumped off, he opened up his glider, but his sash/hat came off in the process, so he caught it in his mouth.
"The avatar!" Azula gasped, seeing the arrow tattoo on his forehead. As Aang glided up to the rising coffin, she smirked wickedly, "My lucky day." She ran into the construction site, using her fire to cut a rope that held a heavy weight. She grabbed onto the rope's end and began to ride it up to the top where she would meet Aang when he landed on King Bumi's metal coffin.
The two other girls started to run toward them, one disappeared under the boards, the other brought some knives out of her sleeve. Katara and Hoshiko took defensive positions against the two.
"We've gotta get the baby out of here!" Katara said. Hoshiko looked to see Sokka blowing a whistle in the shape of a bison.
"Way ahead of ya." He said. They began to run toward the ladder they had come up, when Sokka suddenly fell and landed on his back with a yelp as he skidded towards the edge. He stopped just short of the end with the baby still clutched in his arms. It turns out, the pink girl had punched his foot from a hole in the boards they stood on. She began to cartwheel towards him, but Hoshiko pulled up an inky stream from the ground and wrapped it around her ankle, making her fall so Sokka could easily escape down the ladder nearby. The pink girl turned to Hoshiko and began to run at her. Hoshiko kept the stream up as she used it like a whip to hit the pink girl in different places on her exposed skin.
She was hit several times, but still came running. Hoshiko had some shadow go down to trip her, but she jumped and flipped over her head. When she hit the ground, she grabbed Hoshiko's tail and tugged to try and get her off her feet. Hoshiko shrieked when her tail was pulled, because it was a very sensitive part of her body. She whirled around, her cheeks red with fury and tried to bring down a stream of shadow on the pink girl, but she rolled away. Hoshiko brought up more black shadow and started trying to stab her, but she dodged agilely.
The girl squatted and tried to sweep her feet under the Shinjun, she dodged, but she still fell over. Hoshiko's anger at the girl finally got the best of her, and she began to see red. She wasn't aware that her eyes began to change from their normal blue to a bright white, and the rest of her eyes turned black. She let out a roar, showing her elongated canines, and the girl faltered, slightly afraid at this new show of power. Hoshiko brought up a gigantic wave of shadow and shot it at her. The girl, seeing no way to dodge the wide, inky black wave, began to run in the opposite direction to the edge. She yelped as the shadow pushed her over, but she nimbly grabbed onto a pole beneath her and swung herself up so she wouldn't fall.
Once she was gone, Hoshiko's eyes changed back to their original color and she groaned, putting her hand to her head as she felt the beginnings of a headache. She looked over at Katara, who was fighting the gloomier girl. Katara shot a stream of water at her, and she bent backwards, lifting her leg in the air and shooting a knife out of a cartridge on her ankle. Katara brought up some water and froze it so the knife wouldn't hit her. She ran at Katara, about to fire another knife from the cartridge in her arm, but Katara shot out another stream and enclosed her arm in it and froze the water. She tried to break it with her hand, but it was no good. Neither of the two benders saw the pink girl from before climb up the pole and jumped to the other and pushed off so she could reach Katara in fewer footsteps. She jabbed two places in her shoulder, and one place in her arm before she did the same to Hoshiko and jumped back. Katara's ice turned to water and fell to the ground and Hoshiko's shadow disappeared. They both tried to bend it back up, but no shadow approached Hoshiko and only lumps of water came up for Katara and they both realized they couldn't bend anymore. The gloomy girl smirked at them.
"How're you gonna fight without your bending?" She taunted and released a three-pronged knife from her sleeve. She held it up, about to throw it at them, when a boomerang knocked it out of her hands.
"I seem to manage!" Sokka said from his spot on Appa. He landed Appa in front of Katara and Hoshiko and Appa brought his tail down, making a powerful wind to blow back the two girls they had been fighting against. Katara and Hoshiko climbed on and they began to fly down to find their air bending friend. Katara looked at the chutes and saw two streams of dirty dust from two people sliding down it. One was Aang lying on top of Bumi's metal coffin, and the other was Azula on a container that was normally used for mail.
"There's Aang!" Katara shouted, pointing at him.
"We can catch him!" Sokka said, he had Appa go faster so they could catch up to him as Azula shot blue fire at the avatar, and he blocked it with air bending.
"Hang on, Bumi!" He said to his friend, "Our ride's here!" Once they got close enough, while dodging Azula's fire, Aang air bended the coffin up so it would land on the saddle, but it went too high and it went over the saddle instead if in it. It flew over them and landed on another chute. Azula went after them, shooting a ring of fire at the avatar, but Bumi saw it coming, and lifted his head as a rock shot out of the ground to stop the fire. Azula gasped and jumped off the container as it crashed into the rock and glared down at the metal coffin as it kept going down the chute.
"You could earth bend?" Aang asked, "All along?"
"Well, they didn't cover my face!" Bumi said, he brought up his head again and another rock appeared at the end of the chute. The metal coffin went upright as it landed on it and Aang jumped off and faced him.
"I don't understand." He said, looking up at the earth bending king, "Why didn't you free yourself? Why did you surrender when Omashu was invaded? What's the matter with you, Bumi?"
"Listen to me, Aang." Bumi said in a calm voice, "There are options in fighting called 'Jin'. It's a choice of how you direct your energy."
"I know!" Aang said, holding up fingers as he listed the two Jins. "There's Positive Jin when you're attacking and Negative Jin when you're retreating."
"And Neutral Jin!" Bumi added, "When you do nothing!"
"There are three Jins?" Aang asked, confusedly adding an extra finger to his list.
"Well, technically there are eighty five, but let's just focus on the third." Bumi said, "Neutral Jin is the key to earth bending. It involves listening and waiting for the right moment to strike."
"That's why you surrendered, isn't it?" Aang asked.
"Yes, and it's why I can't leave now." Bumi said, Aang turned away sadly.
"I guess I need to find someone else to teach me earth bending." Aang said.
"Your teacher will be someone who has mastered Neutral Jin." Bumi said, "You need to find someone who waits and listens before striking." Momo flew in and landed on Aang's shoulder. Aang turned happily and grasped his hand around Momo's tiny paw.
"Hey Momo!" He greeted happily.
"Momo's mastered a few Jins himself!" Bumi said, Momo's only response was a loud screech. "Goodbye, Aang. I'll see you when the time is right." Using earth bending, he brought himself down and rolled back up the chute, laughing and cackling the whole way. Aang watched him with a sad smile.
He turned around when he heard Appa give a low grunt and saw Hoshiko, Katara, and Sokka waiting for him on a flying bison. Sokka still held the baby in his arms when Aang got on.
"Where's Bumi?" Katara asked.
"He said I needed to find someone else to teach me earth bending." Aang said, he looked down and saw the baby in Sokka's hold.
"What're we gonna do with this guy?" Sokka asked, "'Cause we are not traveling around with a baby."
"The only thing we can do." Hoshiko said, gently taking the baby into her arms, the baby looked up at her and patted her cheek before laughing happily. She smiled softly down at the child, both at his cuteness, and at the happiness that he wasn't tugging on her ears.
Aang looked over the rooftop of the governor's house. He and his wife held each other and were looking out at the dark city, obviously worried about their son. Aang quietly flew down from the roof with air bending and landed behind them where they wouldn't see him. He lifted the baby out of his arms and the baby cooed happily at the sight of his parents. He put the baby on the ground and let the baby waddle towards his parents. His coos got their attention and they turned around, their faces beaming at the sight of their baby boy.
"Tom-tom!" The mother said joyously, sweeping her son into her arms and crying happily. Aang smiled at the sight of the family reunited, and flew back up into the air, where everyone waited for him on Appa.
Chapter 7! I felt like I've kind of been rushing through chapters lately...
Maybe that's why I haven't gotten any reviews on this story?
If I got at least ONE REVIEW I would be very happy and would finish the next chapter faster.
If this story has any suckishness, I want to know about it.
ONE REVIEW!
Pretty please?