12
Hoshiko looked up at the sky as the sun began to sink closer towards the horizon. She looked over at Appa's head and looked over at Aang.
"It's almost sunset." She said, "We should probably make camp soon." Aang looked to see the sun setting and nodded in agreement.
"I'll find us a good spot." He said, looking at the ground below them for a clearing to land Appa. Hoshiko leaned back in the saddle and looked over at Toph, who gripped onto Appa's saddle with a steel iron hold.
"Still not used to flying?" She asked the earth bender. Toph shook her head.
"Nuh-uh." She replied. Hoshiko looked back up at the sky.
"Took me a while to get used to it, too." She said, "Don't worry, eventually you'll see what a convenience it is."
"Sure." Toph replied, sounding somewhat sarcastic.
Eventually, Aang found a clearing in a forest that would make for a good campsite. He had Appa land there, and Hoshiko noticed that some of Appa's fur had come off, and in a huge amount that surrounded the ground beneath him in a way that looked like he was standing in a furry, bison-sized puddle. Toph was the first one off once they landed, Katara and Sokka doing the same. Hoshiko grabbed her bag and jumped off the saddle, walking next to Sokka to help him take some of the bags down.
"Hey," Toph said, walking over to where they were, "You guys picked a great campsite." She wiggled her toes in Appa's fur, "The grass is so soft."
"That's not grass." Sokka said, "Appa's shedding." Katara looked down at her feet and saw that some of Appa's fur had stuck to her shoe.
"Oh, gross!" She groaned.
"That's not gross, it's just a part of spring." Aang said from his spot on the saddle, "You know; rebirth, flowers blooming, and Appa gets a new coat." Katara looked over at Appa as he was biting at himself to get rid of an itch.
"Ah, the beauty of spring." Katara said sarcastically as Appa made a sound of disgust and showed that his tongue was covered in clumps of his own fur. Appa let out a ferocious sneeze, making some of his excess fur go flying into the air. The fur floated over the group and landed on their clothes. Appa shook his head to try and get rid of as much as he could and Katara held her hands out to try and make him stop. "Stop! Appa, stop!" She coughed as some of his fur landed in her mouth.
"It's not that bad, Katara." Sokka said as he gathered up some of Appa's fur, he turned around to show he had piled it on his head and made it look like he had white hair, "It makes a great wig!"
Aang jumped down from the saddle, wearing a large, fluffy white beard, "And a great beard!" He agreed, gesturing to it. Hoshiko came around Sokka and they saw her ears and tail covered in Appa's fur.
"And look!" She said, "My fur is white now!" Everyone laughed at how the others looked. Katara just sent them an annoyed look.
"I'm just glad we finally have some more girls in this group because you guys are disgusting." She said as she brushed off some of the fur on her shoulder. Toph walked over to the group, her hands behind her back.
"Excuse me, does anyone have a razor?" She asked, she lifted up her arms and put her hands behind her head to she the white fur stuffed into her sleeves, "Because I got some hairy pits!" Everyone but Katara burst into laughter at the sight. And they kept laughing until Aang let out a powerful sneeze that blew all the fur away and pushed him back into Appa and making him fall flat on his face into the ground, Appa's fur now attached to his back and everyone laughed again. Even Katara let out a giggle, even if she did hide it behind her hand.
Hoshiko looked up as Katara approached her. "Hoshiko, do you think you could set up the fire pit?"
"Sure." Hoshiko said, she got up and saw where Aang was setting up the tent. She marked a good spot for the fire pit by making a circle with her foot. She looked over at Aang as he used air bending to set up the tent faster. Someone tapped her shoulder and she saw it was Sokka, holding out some logs for firewood.
"I went ahead and got some for ya." He said, Hoshiko took them from his grasp and dropped them in the little circle she had made.
"Great, thanks." Hoshiko said, "Why don't you go and gather some food so we can cook something over this fire?"
"Sure thing." Sokka said, walking back into the forest. Hoshiko maneuvered the logs so they would be able to be burned without having to worry about whether or not the starter flame would go out. She looked over at Katara as she saw her mixing up some of the water that they would drink. Katara looked over at Toph and saw her leaning against some rocks in a relaxed sort of way, a green bag next to her, and a wheat stalk being moved back and forth was in her mouth.
Katara's face turned into a small scowl and she walked over to the earth bender.
"So, Toph," She began once she reached her, "Usually when setting up camp we try to divide up the work."
"Hey, don't worry about me." Toph replied, "I'm good to go."
"Well, actually, what I'm trying to say is," Katara continued, "Some of us might fetch water while someone else might set up the fire pit or put up the tent." The entire time she spoke, she gestured to Hoshiko, Aang, or Sokka as they did work. She looked up as Momo flew over, dropping a few nuts in her hand and she smiled, "Even Momo does his fair share."
"Katara, I'm fine." Toph insisted as she pulled the wheat stalk out of her mouth, "I can carry my own weight. I don't need a fire," She patted the green bag next to her, "I've already collected my own food, and look!" She sat up a bit straighter and bent up two slabs of earth that made a stone tent over her head. Katara dropped the nuts Momo had given her in surprise before she glowered down at the young blind girl, "My tent's all set up!"
"Well, that's great for you," Katara said, "But we still need to finish-"
"I don't understand!" Toph interrupted, "What's the problem here?" The two girls glared at each other, fists clenched tightly, for a moment. Then Katara turned her back on Toph and began to stalk back to her spot where the drinking water was.
"Never mind." She muttered as Toph pushed herself into her tent. Hoshiko looked upon the two in a mixture of surprise and curiosity. She thought maybe Katara and Toph might be able to get along, but they never really spoke to each other so they never really knew one another…
She shrugged it off as she lit the bunch of leaves she placed underneath the logs of wood to help start the fire. They just need time to get used to one another, that's all.
A few hours later, once the sun had just sunk beneath the earth and the sky had turned a lovely purple shade, everyone was still doing their work, except Toph, who still sat in her earth tent. Hoshiko sat next to the fire as food was cooked over it, a few fish were turning to a lovely golden color, and a bag of fruit had been set aside for Aang. Hoshiko looked over as Sokka made gestures for Aang to take off Appa's saddle and give it to him. Aang moved it up with air bending and the saddle fell on top of Sokka, who couldn't move under the weight of it. Hoshiko laughed, pointing her finger at him as he squirmed underneath it. Aang jumped down from atop his bison, saying quick apologies as he helped him out from under the saddle.
Katara looked over at where Toph was munching on some of her food. Katara looked down, feeling bad about what she had said before, and waked over to Toph with a friendly smile.
"Hey, Toph." She greeted, "I wanted to apologize for earlier. I think we're all just a little tired and getting on each other's nerves." Toph gulped down the bite she was eating.
"Yeah, you do seem pretty tired." She commented mildly. Katara scowled.
"I meant all of us." She said pointedly. Toph said nothing as she crumpled up the remains of her food.
"Well, goodnight." Toph said as she crawled into the earth tent and snuggled into the dirt.
"Goodnight." Katara said with resignation, figuring out that Toph was convinced that she could carry her own weight and nothing she could say would get through to the young earth bender. She walked over to where Sokka and Hoshiko were sitting, munching on the fish that had been caught while Aang ate a moon peach. Hoshiko handed one fish to Katara and she accepted it. The group ate with the occasional conversation topic floating over their heads. Hoshiko teased Sokka relentlessly about the fact that he had kept the women's bag, and he argued that it was only for convenience's sake that he kept it around. The group laughed when Hoshiko had made a comical retort about Sokka's manhood, and Sokka almost screamed his retort to her and everyone laughed even harder.
Hoshiko stood, alone, in darkness. She could see only herself, but she knew she wasn't safe.
"Well, well, well…" A voice drawled, "Come to me again, have we?" Hoshiko turned and saw a figure floating around in the blackness surrounding her. She had the same form as Hoshiko, and the same shape, but everything about was black. Her clothes, her hair, her skin, her ears and tail, they were all black. She seemed to have her legs attached to the wall of darkness surrounding her. Her eyes had white pupils and irises, and that was the only way to see her face, other than the rows of sharp teeth that showed in her mouth when she grinned maliciously at her. "How pathetic."
Hoshiko glared at her as she floated around her, "You say you don't need me, but we both know that's a lie." She said the grin still on her face as she moved around, her body looking like a slithering snake, but with Hoshiko's arms and head, "Why don't you just give in forever? You know I can get you to what you need."
"Never." Hoshiko growled, glaring at the shadowy figure, "Tempt me all you want, Kagemi. I will never give in to you." Kagemi's grin disappeared and a frown showed on her blackened face.
"But you know what I'm capable of." She said, "What we're capable of." She moved behind her, putting her hands on Hoshiko's shoulders and speaking directly in her ear, "Like that bastard general in Chin. We could've finally taken his life. He would have finally understood the pain of slavery under him. He would choke on that pain and die."
"And what good would that do?" Hoshiko asked, snapping her head towards Kagemi, who had disappeared into the darkness again, "Nothing good will come of death! Nothing!"
"Oh, Hoshi…" Kagemi cooed, "You still believe such lies?" She materialized in front of her, "Dearest Hoshiko," She placed her hand on Hoshiko's cheek, "That is only your sorrow talking. Great things can come of the enemy's death." Hoshiko pushed Kagemi's hand away, glaring, "If the enemy dies, the war is as good as over. I say we destroy the fire benders that took our freedoms from us." She began to circle Hoshiko like a prowling lion, "The fire benders that took our homes, our happiness," She leaned in and murmured in her ear, "Our families." Hoshiko's face saddened and she placed her hand over her heart as she thought of her parents. Kagemi's hand covered hers and she looked to her sympathetically. "They were my family as well. If you simply let my power take over, we can avenge them. Give them the joy of knowing the ones that slain them have suffered." Hoshiko scowled and she moved her hand away.
"No." She said, "My mother and father were good, kind people." She glared at Kagemi, who frowned, "To avenge them, to take the lives of the ones who killed them… It would make their spirits cry. As much as I want to take them down, those fire benders have family and friends who love them. They are still human. Avenging my parents would be no different than senseless murder." As Hoshiko kept speaking, she saw the dark world around her shake as Kagemi seemed to grow more and more infuriated.
"You naïve child!" Kagemi hissed angrily, "You are a fool! And you shall die a fool's death!" Kagemi raised one claw in the air and got ready to bring it down upon Hoshiko's head.
"There's something coming toward us!" Toph shouted. Hoshiko jolted awake, seeing that her conversation with her alternate self was only a dream. Sokka and Katara stuck their heads out from the tent, while she raised her head from her sleeping bag. Aang jumped off his bison's paw to see what the problem was.
"What is it?" Aang asked. Toph knelt down and put her hand on the ground, feeling the earth's vibrations.
"It feels like an avalanche." She said, "But, also not an avalanche."
"Your powers of perception are frightening." Sokka said sarcastically.
"Should we leave?" Katara asked.
"Better safe than sorry." Aang replied. The five of them quickly gathered their things and got on Appa. As they lifted up into the sky, they saw the cloud of dust that was brought up by whatever was following them. The group stared at it as they flew away.
"What is that thing…?" Katara asked quietly. No one on the saddle could answer her.
After flying for about two and a half hours, and the group was sure they had lost the thing that had come after them, Aang landed the bison in a clearing. Toph was the first one off the bison jumping down happily to the ground below them and lying down in the dirt.
"Ahh!" She sighed in relief, "Land, sweet land!" She jumped up, grabbing her bag of things she had pulled off the bison, "See you guys in the morning!"
"Actually, can you help us unload?" Katara asked, making Toph stop in her tracks. She turned to Katara, her nose wrinkling in disgust.
"Really? You need me to help unload Sokka's funky-smelling sleeping bag?" She asked. Sokka looked down at his sleeping bag and sniffed at it. He grimaced at the horrible odor and held it away at arms-length before falling over. Hoshiko allowed herself a small giggle.
"Well, yeah." Katara said, ignoring her brother and walking over to Toph, "That, and everything else. You're a part of our team now, and-"
"Look!" Toph interrupted, jabbing her finger at Katara, but not looking at her, "I didn't ask you to help unload my stuff. I'm carrying my own weight."
"That's not the point!" Katara said, scowling. She marched over to the blind earth bender as she spoke, "Ever since you joined us, you've been nothing but selfish and unhelpful!"
"What?" Toph growled, "Look here, Sugar Queen," She pointed her finger at Katara's face again, making her shake in fury, "I gave up everything I had so that I could teach Aang earth bending, so don't you talk to me about being selfish!" Toph sat down and bent up two slabs of earth to make her earth tent again.
"Sugar Queen?!" Katara repeated angrily. Toph bent up two more slabs of earth to cover the open ends of her earth tent. "Di- Did you just slam the door in my face?" Katara began pounding against the earth angrily, "How can you be so infuriating?" She kicked and punched at the earthen walls she couldn't break away. Hoshiko, Aang, and Sokka stood together, watching the spectacle. Aang and Hoshiko had blank looks on their faces while Sokka was looking mildly pleased.
"Should we… do something?" Aang asked after a moment.
"Hey, I'm just enjoying the show." Sokka said with a grin.
Hoshiko walked over to Katara, deciding to stop this now, "Okay, okay." Katara stopped hitting the earth tent and looked at Hoshiko out of the corner of her eye, "You both need to calm down."
"Both?" Katara repeated, "I'M COMPLETELY CALM!!" She turned to her, her eyes wide and bloodshot from going without sleep. The sight was actually quite terrifying. Hoshiko stared at her as Katara heaved in breaths of air. One of her ears drooped slightly as she looked at her with wide eyes. She began to back away slowly from her.
"I can see that…" She said, scooting over back to Sokka and Aang. After taking a few deep breaths, Katara calmed herself down a little and they began to set up camp. They didn't start a fire or set up a tent because they were all too tired, so they got out their sleeping bags, except for Aang, who preferred to sleep on the ground, and lay down underneath the starry sky. Hoshiko, Aang, and Sokka were ready to fall asleep at that very moment, but Katara had other plans.
"The stars sure are beautiful, tonight." She said, loud enough for Toph, and everyone else, to hear. Sokka yanked his sleeping bag above his head to try and get rid of the noise of his sister, and Hoshiko yanked her ears down to her face, "Too bad you can't see them, Toph!" Hoshiko heard a grunt from Toph's earth tent and Katara went flying up into the air and landed on her brother. Sokka pushed her off him with a grunt.
"Hey, how's a guy supposed to sleep with all this yelling, and earth-quaking?!" He demanded of the two girls. The 'door' to Toph's tent descended into the earth and Toph poked her head out, her hand on the ground.
"That thing is back!" She said. Aang, Katara, and Hoshiko exchanged worried looks.
"Well, how far away is it?" Sokka asked as he pulled his sleeping bag over his head again, "Maybe we can close our eyes just for a few minutes…" Aang looked in the direction they had come from and saw a smoke stack making its way through the dark sky towards them.
"I don't think so, Sokka." He said, "Let's get out of here." Sokka gave a groan in return but did as he said as they all boarded Appa. As they flew into the air, they saw the dust cloud of the thing that was following them. Katara and Hoshiko looked at it from the back of the saddle.
"Seriously, what is that thing?" Katara asked, rubbing away some of the sleepiness in her eyes.
"And how does it keep finding us?" Toph asked, leaning over the saddle.
"I don't know." Aang replied, "But this time, I'm gonna make sure we lose them." He whipped Appa's reigns to make him go faster. They flew over so many things. Crevices in the earth, over large hills, and even larger forests. They flew for hours until they finally reached a mountain. Aang had Appa descend on a small plateau and he landed. Appa was so tired, he fell to the side once his feet touched the ground and basically had everyone pour out of his saddle onto the earth below them. Sokka grabbed his sleeping bag, which he hadn't bothered to roll up, and wiggled himself in.
"Okay, forget about setting up camp." He said, moving around in his sleeping bag like a worm on the ground, "I'm finding the softest pile of dirt, and going to sleep."
"That's good because Toph wasn't gonna help anyway." Katara said, pulling her rolled up sleeping bag to her head and using it as a pillow, Hoshiko did the same.
"Oh, I didn't realize baby still needed someone to tuck her in bed." Toph shot back.
"Come on, guys." Aang said sleepily, "There's something after us and we don't even know what or who it is."
"It could be Zuko." Katara said, "We haven't seen him since the North Pole."
"Who's Zuko?" Toph asked.
"Oh, just some angry freak with a ponytail who's tracked us all over the world." Sokka said before placing his face in his sleeping bag. Hoshiko smirked and she looked over at him.
"What's wrong with ponytails, Ponytail?" She teased.
"This," Sokka said, his voice muffled by the sleeping bag as he pointed to his ponytail, "Is a warrior's wolf tail."
"Well, it certainly tells the other warriors that you're fun and perky!" She said with a grin, not seeing Sokka's glare towards her.
"Anyway, whoever's chasing us couldn't have followed us here." Sokka said, rolling over on his back, "So, now would everyone just shuush?" He lay back on his sleeping bag, his arm over his eyes. Momo suddenly ran over to him and jumped on his stomach, making all kinds of chirps and screeches. Sokka stopped him by placing his hand on the lemur's head, "No, Momo." He said tiredly, "Shuu… Sleepy time." Momo jumped off his stomach and walked over his head as he went to the edge of the plateau and screeched, looking back at them. Suddenly realizing what it might mean, Sokka thunked his head against the ground, "Oh, don't tell me."
"That's impossible." Aang said, looking at the rest of the group as he and Toph stood, "There's no way they could've tracked us."
"I can feel it with my own two feet!" Toph said. Katara and Hoshiko stood up and they all ran to the edge of the plateau that Momo had been, and was still screeching at. They all saw a large, metal train-like tank come up over the hill and closer to them.
"Let's get out of here." Katara said.
"Maybe we should face them. Find out who they are." Aang said, "Who knows? Maybe they're friendly."
"Always the optimist." Sokka sighed out. The train/tank came closer to them and stopped. One of the hatches opened and revealed three figures that, in the dark, appeared to have slithering bodies and large growths on their backs. As they got closer, the group realized the growths were actually people riding on mongoose dragons. One was a pretty girl, all dressed in pink with a long braid. Another was a gloomy looking girl with dark hair and red and black clothing. The third was a girl with brown hair in a traditional Fire Nation top knot and clothes with sharp eyes and her brown hair framing her face. Hoshiko recognized them immediately as Princess Azula and her two friends. They rode closer to the group on the part of the mountain path that was too narrow for the train/tank to go through.
"It's those three girls from Omashu!" Katara said, everyone got into fighting stances, ready to face them.
"We can take 'em." Toph said, "Three on four!"
"Actually, Toph, there's five of us." Sokka said.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't count you." Toph said, "You know, no bending and all."
"I can still fight!!" Sokka shouted.
"Okay, three on four plus Sokka." Toph said, amending her statement. Sokka growled angrily at her but decided now was not the time to beat up the blind earth bending master and turned back to the three Fire Nation girls. Toph bent up jagged rocks of earth to try and block their ascent towards them, but the mongoose dragons easily maneuvered around them and got ever closer to the group.
"Well, we wanted to find out who they were; we found out." Sokka said, "Now let's get out of here!" Everyone but Toph headed for the bison. Toph stayed behind to make a six foot wall of earth to stop them. Hoshiko watched in horror as Azula began moving her arms and shooting out a lightning bolt to blast the wall open, the bolt went straight through and hit the part of the plateau that Toph stood over, making it crumble.
"Shit!" She cursed, "Toph, move!" She ran away from the bison as Toph began to fall. She reached out for her and an inky tentacle extended from her arm as it shot out and wrapped itself around Toph's waist and pulled her onto the stable surface of the plateau. She pulled Toph to herself and she grabbed onto her shirt sleeve and pushed her towards the bison. She looked back to the three girls and met eyes with the princess. To have mastered lightning when she's so young…! She thought to herself, she had heard that the princess was a prodigy, but lightning bending was something even most fire bending masters couldn't accomplish in their life time. Azula was truly a woman to be feared.
She was pulled out of her thoughts when she saw the gloomy-looking one shoot daggers out of a holder in her sleeve. She brought up a small shadowy circle to block them. One, however, wasn't caught by the shadow and grazed her shoulder, ripping the sleeve. She cringed at the sudden sting but let it be as she ran towards Appa, trying to avoid the princess's blasts of blue fire. Sokka held out his hand to her and she grabbed onto it as they took off. He quickly pulled her onto the saddle as they flew away from the girls.
"You okay?" Sokka asked once they were a safe distance away. Hoshiko nodded, holding the shoulder that had been injured.
"Yeah, it's just a scratch." She said, pulling her hand away to look at it. To her surprise, the wound was actually much deeper than she had originally thought, and a small trickle of blood was leaking out from the two inch cut. Her hand was stained red with blood and she quickly covered it back up so the others couldn't see. "It just needs a bandage."
"Here, let me see it." Katara said, scooting over to her and pulling her water out of its container. Hoshiko moved her hand from her sleeve and everyone saw how deep the cut was and that it had already stained her kimono top, "You call that a scratch?" Katara asked as she began to heal it.
"Sort of." Hoshiko said, shrugging her uninjured shoulder. After a moment, Katara pulled her hands away and all that was left of the cut was a small, pinkish scar. Hoshiko inspected the new scar on her body, "Tiny little thing, innit?"
"Yeah, well the next scar you get might not be so tiny." Katara said, "You should be more careful." Hoshiko rolled her eyes as she leaned back against the saddle.
"Whatever." She dismissed. Katara huffed out a breath and looked over the side of the saddle.
"I can't believe those girls followed us all the way from Omashu." She said in mild shock.
"I still think we could've taken 'em." Toph said, pouting slightly as she held onto the saddle and looked over the side.
"Are you kidding me?" Katara asked, "The crazy blue fire bending and flying daggers are bad enough! But, last time we saw them, one of those girls did something that took my bending away. That's scary."
"It is a pretty terrifying position to be in." Hoshiko said, picking at the scar on her shoulder. Everyone but Toph looked up as the sun began to peek over to the hills they flew by.
"Oh no, the sun is rising!" Sokka groaned as he looked at it, "We've been up all night with no sleep!"
"Sokka, we'll be okay." Aang said, not looking at him.
"Are you sure?" Sokka asked quickly, "I've never not slept before!" He grasped at his face, "What if I fall asleep now and something happens, and something always happens!" Hoshiko quirked an eyebrow at his odd behavior, and then she came to notice something she hadn't seen in the dark cover of night. Everyone had little, dark circles under their eyes from their lack of sleep. Everyone was tired and exhausted and needed to rest. Sokka was just going through a stage of paranoia due to sleep depravation. Give everyone else a few hours and they'd all be paranoid as well, she realized. Hoshiko grabbed the back of Sokka's shirt and yanked him down onto the saddle away from Aang.
"Every time we land, those girls are there." Katara said, "So, we'll just have to keep flying."
"We can't keep flying forever." Aang said. Hoshiko was about to ask 'why not?' when she came upon another realization. They were flying because of Appa, and he was just as much a living being as they were. He needed rest, too. The only one who had gotten any rest at all was probably Momo. She felt like smacking herself for realizing something so much later than she should. Sleep had muddled her thoughts, and she couldn't think as clearly as she normally would. She figured things out slower than normal, and she could barely think anything as quickly as she should have. With a start, she figured out the princess's plan, she was tracking them as quickly and as often as she could, making sure they were exhausted and unable to fight back when she caught them.
Aang yawned, "So what's the plan?" He asked sleepily.
"Don't know." Toph mumbled, "Too tired to think." She sunk further down into the saddle, her grip still holding on it as she did so.
"I'm sure we'll come up with something after a short nap." Katara said, leaning against the saddle's back. Hoshiko was delighted at the idea of sleep, and she curled up in a corner on the opposite side of the saddle and shut her eyes without another word.
"Yes…!" Sokka agreed happily, "Sleep." Everyone laid still, eyes shut, as they began to nap, not realizing the sudden speed they were picking up in the downward direction until they were flying away from the saddle. Everyone awoke with a start when they lost their spots on the saddle in exchange for the air above it. Everyone quickly grabbed onto a part of the saddle, or each other as they fell.
"What's going on?" Toph shouted over the wind in her ears.
"Appa fell asleep!" Aang exclaimed. Everyone screamed as they plummeted toward the earth. Aang pulled himself closer to Appa's face, crawling to the front, "Wake up, buddy!" With a shriek Hoshiko lost her grip on the saddle and began to fly in the air. Katara tried to reach for her, but to no avail. With a start, Appa's eyes opened and he pumped his tail to stop falling. Hoshiko tried to grab onto the saddle at that moment, and she landed on the outside of the saddle instead of inside it. Appa glided through the trees, Hoshiko felt the needles from the pines pricking against her skin as she flew by, she howled out in pain when one of her legs banged against the trunk of one of the trees. The bison landed with a crash next to a river. His eyes shut as he took in soft breaths, or what could be soft breaths for a ten ton flying bison. Hoshiko released the saddle and fell to Appa's side with a thud.
Aang slid off the sleeping bison's head as everyone got off the saddle, "Appa's exhausted." Aang said, sounding rather tired himself. Hoshiko carefully sat up, wincing as she felt a sharp pain in her ankle.
"Okay, we've put a lot of distance between us and them." Sokka said as he and Katara carried their sleeping bags off and away from the bison, "The plan right now is to follow Appa's lead and get some sleep."
"Of course, we could've gotten some sleep earlier if Toph didn't have such issues." Katara said, glaring at the earth bender who lay on the ground. Toph's eyes shot open, she gripped the ground so hard, large cracks came through the dirt, bending out some of her anger without realizing it.
"WHAT?!" She almost screamed it out.
"Alright, alright, alright!" Hoshiko said, leaning against the bison so as not to put any weight on her hurt leg, "Everyone. Is. Exhausted. Let's just get some rest."
"No!" Toph said stubbornly, turning to Katara, "I wanna hear what Katara has to say. You think I have issues?"
"I'm just saying," Katara began, "Maybe if you helped out earlier, we could've set up our camp faster and gotten some sleep. And then maybe we wouldn't be in this situation!!"
"You're blaming me for this?" Toph asked angrily as she stomped over to Katara. In response, Katara threw her tent away and made a gesture at Toph as if to say 'Come on!' Aang quickly moved in front of Katara, his arms up defensively as he tried to give the blind girl a friendly smile (Though it came out as nervous).
"No, no!" He said, "She's not blaming you!"
"No, I'm blaming her!" Katara corrected.
"Hey!" Toph grabbed Aang's shoulder and pushed him out of the way, so he landed next to Hoshiko, "I never asked you for diddly-doo-da! I carry my own weight! Besides! If there's anyone to blame, it's Sheddy over here!"
"What?" Aang gasped, "You're blaming Appa?"
"Yeah! You wanna know how they keep finding us?" Toph walked over to the bison and pulled out some of the fur he was shedding, "He's leaving a trail everywhere we go!"
"How dare you blame Appa!" Aang said, glaring at her, "He's saved your life three times today!" He marched over to Toph, "If there's anyone to blame, it's you! You're always talking about how you 'carry your own weight' but you're not! He is! Appa's carrying your weight! He never had a problem flying when it was just the four of us!" Toph's face was unmoving and unemotional as she walked away from Aang and kicked her bag up into her arms with earth bending.
"I'm outta here." Toph grumbled as she slung the bag over her shoulder.
"No, Toph!" Hoshiko called. She tried to move after her, but pain shot up through her body the second her injured foot touched the ground. She couldn't have broken it, could she? No, it was just a sprain, maybe a little bruise. She should be fine.
Sokka walked out in front of Toph, holding out his arms to stop her, "Wait."
Toph didn't listen to him as she moved the earth underneath him to move him out of her way as she kept walking. Everyone stared after her.
"Good riddance." Katara said once she was out of sight. Hoshiko stared up at her incredulously.
"Are you nuts?!" She demanded of her, "Don't you realize what's just happened?" Katara and Aang stared at her curiously, "Augh! You idiots! Who the hell is Aang supposed to learn earth bending from now?!" Both their eyes went wide when she told them this, "I can't believe you sent her away! This is exactly what those girls want! They want us to get tired and irritable and argue with each other, so that when she faces us, she won't have any problems taking us down!"
"What did I just do?!" Aang lamented as he collapsed next to Hoshiko's limp form against the bison, "I can't believe I yelled at my earth bending teacher. Now she's gone."
"I know." Katara said sadly, "We're all just trying to get used to each other. And I was so mean to her…"
"Yeah, you two were pretty much jerks." Sokka said from his place on his sleeping bag. Katara scowled.
"Thanks, Sokka." She said sarcastically.
"No problem." Sokka replied, obviously not awake enough to hear the sarcasm in her voice. Katara turned to Aang.
"We need to find Toph and apologize." She said, Aang nodded his head in agreement.
"Okay, but what are we gonna do about the tank full of dangerous ladies chasing us?" Sokka asked. Aang looked over at the bison and pulled out a handful of shed fur. He smiled a little to himself.
"I have a plan." He said, "First, we need to get Appa in that river and clean him up."
"Seriously?" Sokka whined.
"Don't worry, if we all work together, we should finish quickly." Aang said, he looked to Hoshiko, who was still having trouble getting her leg on the ground without feeling pain, "Come on, Hoshiko."
"Just a sec." Hoshiko said. She took a deep breath, There's nothing wrong with me, she thought to herself, I'm fine. I'm worrying too much. There's nothing wrong with me. I can walk this off. She had her foot touch the ground lightly and then she put all her weight on it. She cried out and fell to her side.
"Hoshiko!" Aang exclaimed, Hoshiko hissed through her teeth in pain, "What happened?" Everyone rushed over to her.
"I hit my leg against one of the trees in Appa's crash." Hoshiko said, "I think it might be broken."
"Let me see." Katara said, pulling out her water to try and heal the leg. Hoshiko felt no pain as she manipulated the water around her injury. She moved it gently, feeling through her skin to see the damage. She pulled her hands away, "It's not broken, but it is pretty close. You shouldn't use it for a while."
"Wonderful." Hoshiko groaned, "I'm going to need a splint, aren't I?" Katara nodded ruefully.
"I think so." She said. She turned to her brother, "Sokka, help her make a splint while Aang and I clean up Appa."
"Got it." Sokka said. He got up and went to find the materials to make a splint while Aang and Katara pushed the bison into the river. He came back with two broken branches and tied them to her leg to help keep it straight. When he was done, he told her to stay there while he helped the others.
"Not like I'm going anywhere…" Hoshiko grumbled to herself as she stayed against the tree. She watched as everyone washed the bison clean, making his fur come off his body and into the river. Once they were finished, they pulled the wet creature out of the river.
"Toph was right." Aang said, "Appa's fur was leaving a trail right to us, but now that he's clean, no more trail!"
"Are you sure he's okay to fly?" Katara asked worriedly.
"He'll be fine as long as we leave his saddle and all our stuff here." Aang walked away from Appa and picked up Sokka's bag and began filling it with some of Appa's fur, "I'm gonna use Appa's fur to make a fake trail and lead the tank off course. You guys get on Appa and go find Toph." Katara and Sokka nodded.
"At least I'll be able to be a pair of eyes for you." Hoshiko said, pushing herself up.
"Careful!" Katara warned, running over to help her stand up. She pulled her arm around her shoulders and helped her up on Appa. When they took off, Appa's belly brushed against the tops of some trees, knocking them down. Aang went off in the opposite direction, dropping fur the whole way.
They had only been flying for about twenty, maybe thirty minutes. No one had spotted Toph or any sign that she had been there. Hoshiko had insisted earlier that if they put her on the ground she could track Toph (If they were Toph's footprints) and find her, but Katara said it might hurt her leg more than normal to do so.
Sokka looked out on the side opposite Hoshiko's as they scanned the trees for the blind earth bender. "Toph couldn't have made it too far." Sokka said. Momo saw something that made his fur bristle and he hissed threateningly at what he saw. Sokka noticed and scooted closer to the lemur, "What is it Momo- OH NO!" He saw what had made him hiss, and saw the gloomy girl and the pink girl riding closer to them on their mongoose dragons, "Katara!" She looked over at the sound of her name and saw the two girls.
"How did they find us?" She asked, she whipped the reigns to tell Appa to go faster, but their speed didn't increase by much.
"Appa c'mon, we need to go faster!" Sokka said.
"He's too tired!" Katara told him.
"Oh, not good! Not good!" Sokka moaned, he looked and saw a river up ahead. And since lizards couldn't swim, they should be safe on the other side, "We just need to make it across that river!"
"Come on, Appa!" Hoshiko urged, "Just a little further!" The bison's stomach brushed against the tops of many trees and knocked them off. He gave a loud grunt at the effort he was making to fly. Sokka looked over the edge at the two girls and the gloomy one shot her daggers at him. He flew back to avoid the blades hitting his face. When they reached the river, Appa skimmed across the water before finally skidding to a stop on the other side of the river. Everyone looked up and saw the girls and their lizards on the other side.
"We made it! We're safe!" Sokka cheered joyously, he pulled Hoshiko into a tight hug and she pushed him away, making him fall over.
"You did it Appa!" Katara cheered, hugging the bison's face. Hoshiko looked and saw the two girls were still coming towards them at top speed.
"Uh, guys?" She pointed to the two girls as their mongoose dragons came onto the water in the river, their feet moving in fast, elliptical motions to keep them above the water to travel across. Katara bent up a wave of water to push one of the creatures back, but the girl, the pink one by chance, jumped off her dragon to land on the bank of the river while the gloomy girl moved her dragon to the side to avoid it. The pink girl leapt from tree to tree before landing in front of Katara, who whipped out her water to attack, moving back to avoid the girl's jabs. Hoshiko looked and saw the gloomy girl coming onto the shore, she fired three arrows at Katara and Hoshiko brought up a wave of shadow to absorb the attack. She turned and fired at Hoshiko, and Sokka came in front of her knocking away the arrows with his weapons. He threw his boomerang at her and she jumped off her dragon to avoid it. She moved her feet against the ground in a sweeping kick and shot out more arrows from a cartridge on her ankle. Sokka knocked those away as well. The gloomy girl then charged toward Katara, while the pink one went after Sokka.
Hoshiko, at this time, was struggling just to move. She still felt a terrible amount of pain in her leg when she moved, although it wasn't as much as before because of the splint on her leg, but it still hurt. She watched as the pink girl jabbed Sokka's limbs a few times, making them go limp and no longer moving. The gloomy girl went after Katara, and just as she began to bend some water out of the river, she pinned her hands to the tree behind her with her knives. Sokka hopped over to her and fell to the ground, unable to get back having only one leg that could be used.
"How you doing?" Sokka asked.
"Well, you know!" Katara replied. The looked up as the two girls came closer to them.
"I thought when Ty Lee and I finally caught you guys," The gloomy girl began, "It would be more exciting." She sighed, "Oh well, victory is boring." Hoshiko finally stood up straight and shot out a huge wave of shadow that pushed the two girls into the river, making them be washed away with it.
"Just because I only have one good leg, doesn't mean I can't still kick your ass!" Hoshiko called to them as they disappeared with the current of the river.
"Thanks, Hoshiko." Sokka said. Hoshiko looked down at him and smirked.
"You owe me one." She said, she limped over to Katara and yanked the knives out of the tree and unpinning her wrists. "Come on, we need to get back to Aang."
"And why would that be, exactly?" Sokka asked as Katara walked over to him and began trying to heal him with her water. When the efforts proved useless, Hoshiko rolled her eyes and limped over to him.
"Here let me." She took his arm and twisted it painfully in the air until a sickening crack! was heard.
"OW!" Sokka yelped, quickly moving his arm back to his chest. Then he looked down at it, realizing it was moving and working perfectly, "Oh." He moved his fingers experimentally as Hoshiko did the same thing with his other arm and bad leg.
"In case you didn't notice," Hoshiko said as she tried to push herself up, "There were only two girls following us, Princess Azula is probably after Aang." Both of the Water Tribe siblings looked up at Hoshiko in surprise.
"Princess Azula?" Katara repeated, "Of the Fire Nation? How do you know that was her?"
"Didn't you hear what those girls said in Omashu?" Hoshiko asked, "That one with the buns in her hair, she called her Princess Azula."
"In case you forgot, Hoshiko," Sokka said, "We don't have your super hearing skills! We're human!" Hoshiko blushed and smiled sheepishly.
"Oh yeah, forgot about that…" She muttered, then she became serious again, "But still! Princess Azula is a fire bending prodigy, and Aang only knows air bending and water bending!" The two siblings shared worried looks before they jumped up and they all began to run to Appa.
Aang looked at his opponent, the girl dressed in traditional Fire Nation clothing from Omashu.
"Do you really want to fight me?" She asked him. He never got a chance to answer, for at that moment, the squawks of an ostrich horse reached their ears and the actual creature ran past them, its rider jumping off in front of them.
"Yes," The rider said, removing his straw hat to show his face, revealing the face of a young man that had been mangled by a large scar sweeping across his left eye and going to his ear, "I really do."
"Zuko!" Aang gasped. He almost hadn't recognized him. Zuko now had a full head of hair instead of the one ponytail on his head, and he wore Earth Kingdom clothes, pretty dirty ones by the looks of it.
"I was wondering when you'd show up, Zuzu." Azula said.
Aang snorted behind his hand, "Zuzu?" Zuko stepped in between him and Azula, making the same form for the both of them.
"Back off, Azula!" Zuko ordered, "He's mine." Azula smirked as she got into a fighting position.
"I'm not going anywhere." She said. Aang realized this was going to be a three way fight and readied himself, he held out his staff, ready to air bend when he had to. The three of them stood there in their fighting positions, waiting for someone to make the first move. The tension was almost unbearable, two seconds seemed to be two hours, or longer. Aang looked between the two fire benders, waiting for one of them to strike, because he knew he wasn't going to strike first. Zuko, who stood in between them looked at each one carefully, unsure of who would strike. He looked over at Aang, seeing his tired eyes but not caring about them, then he looked to his sister, still smirking arrogantly like always. At the last second, Zuko saw his sister's smirk grow larger and she shot out a blast of blue fire at him. He managed to block it but the force of it was enough to send him flying back.
Aang instantly turn and ran, opening his glider to fly away. Azula created a pillar of fire above him and brought him to the ground. He looked up to see Azula running along the rooftop of one of the houses in the ghost town they were in. She jumped off to strike at him, and Aang rolled out of the way. She did a flaming sweep of the feet to try and burn him, but he ran away from that as well. He dodged as Zuko sent a blast of fire at both of them, and Azula blocked it. He fired off a few more blasts at both of them, Azula sent blasts back, and Aang sent waves of air in return. Suddenly, Zuko jumped up and tried to cover his sister in flames but she blocked that as well. Now that they were closer, their blasts would be much more powerful than before, so they fired. She sent a blast at him that sent him back, like before, and a similar one at Aang that made him run up nearby stairs and into one of the abandoned homes. Azula followed him and almost fell over when she realized the second floor of the abandoned house had no second floor. Aang sat on a whirling ball of air and waved at her with a smile from ten feet away. Quickly regaining her balance, she jumped out of the way from the door and put her back against the wall. Zuko, not quite as graceful as his sister, ran straight into the building and fell straight down into the first floor. Azula laughed and Aang winced a little. He looked back to Azula as she shot a fire blast at him and he jumped off his air scooter. He ran along what was left of the second floor quickly and pushed her off of it and onto the first floor to join her brother while he ran out the door and into the streets again.
The door to the house blasted open, throwing Zuko onto his back and losing consciousness. Azula then shot at Aang, who quickly dodged her blasts by jumping between the two walls of a building as swiftly as he could. When he reached the corner of one of the buildings, Azula sliced it off with her fire bending so he would fall. Aang grabbed onto the remaining building and she cut that off as well. Aang fell into the house, and grabbed onto a lone shelf, or possibly leftover flooring for the second story, and it fell upon him as he kept going down. He trapped himself underneath the rubble of the house. Azula came into the house and set the walls ablaze the blue fire cooling as it turned orange. Aang struggled to get out, but he found he could not. Azula walked closer to him and lifted up her hand to shoot fire at him, when Aang's eye caught someone in the doorway behind her. A watery stream shot out and wrapped itself around Azula's wrist, pulling her back. Then she used that same stream to break the rubble enough so Aang could get out.
"Katara!" He cried, joyous to see his friend. Azula shot a blast of fire at her and she ran out of the house before it could hit her. She followed her, prepared to fight, but suddenly tripped. She looked to see an inky tentacle had wrapped around her ankle and pulled her down. She saw the Shinjun responsible and glared at her, sending a blast of fire. She blocked it with shadow bending, then her face twisted into one of pain as she jumped back and Azula noticed the splint on her leg. Taking the advantage, she ran over to her to strike, but stopped when Sokka stepped out in front of her and knocked her hand away with his weapon. She jumped back to avoid him and looked around, seeing the four of them begin to advance on her. She sent blasts at them, alternating between each one, and blocked the water, shadow, and air attacks as best she could. They began to advance on her again, and she sent a wave of fire at them. Suddenly, the earth underneath her pushed her off her feet, making her fall to the ground. The four of them looked to see a blind girl in an earth bending pose, smiling at them.
"I thought you guys could use a little help." Toph said.
"Thanks." Katara said. Azula jumped up and ran from the group, throwing fire blasts at them before she ran into a nearby alley. She seemed to have escaped them, but was pushed back when she met the belly of her uncle. Iroh and Zuko joined the five of them as they advanced on Azula, backing her into a corner.
"Well, look at this," She said, observing the seven of them around her, "Enemies and traitors, all working together." She raised her arms into the air in a motion of surrender, "I'm done. I know when I'm beaten. You got me. A princess surrenders with honor." Nobody made a move, still holding their fighting positions in case she attacked again. She looked around the group and smirked, suddenly shooting a blast of fire at her uncle's chest and knocking him to the ground. A look of utter horror passed over Zuko's face for a single second, and then everyone fired at her. Air, water, earth, boomerang, shadow, and fire all went towards her and she blocked it by making a whirling orb of blue flame. The reaction was a huge explosion, sending rubble flying everywhere, covering just about everything stationary nearby in flames. When the smoke from the explosion had cleared, they looked to see that Azula had disappeared. They looked around them, not seeing Zuko either, and saw him kneeling next to his injured uncle, grasping at his hair seemingly in frustration.
The five of them got closer, but once they were four feet closer to him, he turned around and roared, "Get away from us!" They all froze at his sudden fury for a moment, but Katara stepped forward.
"Zuko, I can help." She told him, she was about to explain her healing abilities but Zuko shot a wave of fire above their heads.
"LEAVE!" He commanded. The group all shared looks, deciding to obey him and ran. They ran to Appa and took off into the air. Everyone leaned against the saddle as they flew, exhaustion tugging at their eyes. They had spent the entire day running from Azula and her little posse, and fighting them as well. As the night sky began to fall upon them, Aang landed the bison on a small mountaintop and everyone curled up in the saddle, instantly falling asleep for the first time in over twenty four hours. Hoshiko was so tired, she didn't even meet with Kagemi, instead, she dreamed of her family and friends.
Hey guys!
So, I have been doing this for a while, and I haven't gotten a whole lot of reviews...
It makes me very sad.
I really want some more reviews. The fact that you guys don't give me any tells me that you don't care about the story or the plot line or any part of this story at all. The only reviewer of these stories, as embarrassing as it is, is my MOTHER.
Do any of you know how SAD this is?
SERIOUSLY! I WANT MORE REVIEWS!
Flames are fine, I just want reviews!
Please!
I'm, like, dying over here!
PLEASE REVIEW! PLEEEEEASE!