Chapter 10: Aerial Pursuit
The flying bison rose above the Western Air Temple as Katara searched the skies.
"Do you see them?" She asked anxiously.
Zuko scanned the clouds until finally spotted a group of objects in the distance. "That way!" He pointed.
"Appa, Yip-Yip!"
The bison growled and with a flick of its massive tail, increased its speed.
As they drew nearer, Zuko saw the three komodo-condors in a triangular formation. Each was about the size of the bison but with an enormous wingspan. Aang's smaller frame was weaving between them. Toph and The Duke were still clutched in the claws of two of the beasts.
The Avatar came up alongside one of them and rammed the glider into its side, trying to make it release The Duke. The creature swung its head wildly around, almost knocking Aang out of the sky.
Appa let out a resounding growl, and by his own accord, raced towards his master.
The three creatures abruptly broke formation. The two carrying Toph and The Duke, swooped down towards a forest of giant trees that grew in the valley between the two steep mountain peaks. The third turned on Aang.
As Aang flew by, the creature screeched and tried to grab the glider in its massive claws. The Avatar circled under it and then came out above on the other side. Snapping the glider back into a staff, Aang airbended it sharply down on top of the reptile-bird's head.
With the beast momentarily stunned, Aang dove towards the canopy of trees, straightening his body out like a torpedo, his staff pointed straight in front of him.
Before he reached the canopy though, the first two creatures re-emerged, this time without their captures, shrieked, and then headed for Aang.
The Avatar started spinning in the air creating a vortex with his own body. As the first tried to attack, he slammed the funnel of wind against it. The creature was spun wildly about, feathers flying everywhere.
The second lunged for him, snapping its powerful beak. Aang barely avoided the sharp maw. He dove downward, flicked the glider back open, and veered sharply off to the side. But the beast was right on his tail and closing fast, nipping at his heels.
To the right, the one Aang thunked in the head earlier, had now recovered and was joining the chase.
Appa growled as they entered the battle. Katara opened her satchel and bended the water into a whip. As the reptile-bird lunged for Aang, Katara brought the water whip sharply across its muzzle.
Aang's sigh of relief was short lived however, as he had to bank wildly to avoid the one right behind the first.
As Katara brought the water whip out to deflect the creature's attack, the third one was now approaching fast from slightly above and behind. Its two massive claws were spread out reaching to snap up its prey.
"We've got more company!" Zuko shouted.
"I'm a little busy right now!" Katara snapped.
Trying to maintain his balance in the back of the bison, Zuko did several quick punches in rapid succession creating a series of fireballs. The creature flapped its massive wings backwards to avoid the flames. It then flew off to the side and then down out of Zuko's sight. Katara spun Appa about, still trying to keep her sites on the first one as it circled back around.
"Where's Aang?" she shouted over her shoulder.
"I don't know. I've lost track of him!" Zuko searched the skies until he spotted the Avatar dodging one of the creatures and again trying to aim for the trees below.
Suddenly Appa was jolted from beneath. Zuko was thrown backward in the saddle, and he heard Katara's cry of alarm. Appa growled fiercely and spun instinctively about. Zuko grabbed the edge of the saddle and hung on tight as the bison reared up and, using its massive tail, airbended a huge stream of air at the creature that had struck from below. The komodo-condor was catapulted head over claws down into the forest.
Zuko looked over the side and saw Katara now dangling in midair by the bison's reins. He moved quickly to the front as Katara struggled to climb back up. Laying on his stomach and grabbing a fist full of fur in one hand, he extended his other arm as far as he could reach. "Grab on!"
From behind the Waterbender, one of the two remaining creatures was approaching fast. "Hurry!"
Katara glanced behind her and then tried to climb the remaining distance towards Zuko.
Two massive claws reached out. "Look out!" Zuko shouted.
Katara swung her body to the side, almost avoiding the beast completely, but one of its claws still managed to snag onto the strap of her water satchel and started to pull her straight up.
As she let out a cry of alarm, Zuko grabbed the other end of the reins, attempting to pull her back down.
Just then something struck the creature in the foot, and it let out a shriek of pain. A second later, Katara fell back, colliding into Zuko and flipping them both backwards into the saddle.
"Yeah!" Zuko heard an excited voice ring out.
Through a mass of tangled arms and legs, Zuko saw Sokka. He was standing on the back of Teo's wheelchair glider, and leaning out to the side, caught his boomerang as it returned.
"Take that you overgrown lizard!" Sokka shouted.
As Sokka and Teo zoomed past, Katara stared speechlessly down at Zuko. For the moment, Zuko could do nothing as he tried to catch his breath, the wind completely knocked out of him from Katara falling on top of him. Her right knee was currently crushing his stomach.
Katara awkwardly untangled herself as Zuko rolled to the side coughing. "Oh…uh…sorry." She blurted out.
Zuko grimaced. "It's okay," he managed to say.
Neither had much time for further conversation however as the two birds regrouped and started moving in again. One of the creatures expanded its claws towards them.
Katara reached for the water in her oilskin pouch. "Oh no! My satchel. It's gone!"
"Then duck!" Zuko shouted. He brought up a fire shield. The reptile-bird shrieked and recoiled away.
The Avatar appeared alongside them. "Aang, I'm out of water!" Katara shouted.
The komodo-condors circled around again.
"You and Zuko see if you can find Toph and The Duke, while Sokka, Teo and I try to hold these things off!"
Katara nodded, and swung Appa down towards the trees, while Zuko watched their backs.
As one of the creatures started another dive towards them, Sokka threw one end of a piece of rope to Aang.
Aang and Teo then both banked away from each other, bringing the line up taut. As the reptile-bird zoomed past, the rope caught across its chest and left wing.
In unison they circled the beast in opposing directions, effectively entangling it, and then they let go of both ends. The komodo-condor fell from the sky in a slow spiral, screeching.
But there was still one left and it began to chase Teo and Sokka until they all disappeared from Zuko's sight.
Katara descended to the vicinity Zuko had seen the two birds re-emerge from earlier. The forest of giant trees was densely packed in places, with trunks nearly the size of Appa, and each one growing over a hundred feet tall. Their thick branches sometimes merged with the tree next to it, almost as if forming a giant living chain. The trees were covered in a jungle of criss-crossing vines that looped from branch to branch and sometimes clumped together in masses making it difficult to see within the interior. Katara called out to Toph and The Duke.
"Over here!" They finally heard The Duke shout.
Zuko spotted him clinging to a branch near the top of one of the trees waving his hand.
Katara brought the bison down as close as she could get as the boy agilely made his way towards the outer portion on the branch.
As Appa hovered, Zuko leaned over the side with an outstretched hand. The Duke's smaller hand grasped his, and Zuko hauled the boy safely aboard.
"Where's Toph?" Katara asked The Duke.
"She's in the other tree, I think, over there!" The boy indicated.
Above Zuko heard more screeching sounds and glimpsed the tip of a wing as it zoomed past. A second later he smelled a horrible stench. "What is that?"
"Teo must be using one of his stink bombs!" The Duke remarked. "Go, Teo!" The boy shouted.
As Katara maneuvered Appa between the trees calling out to Toph, Zuko noticed two more reptile-birds roosting on one of the giant limbs. They appeared to be juvenile versions of the adults, their feathers not fully in but their claws and serrated beaks fully functional. They were scratching and pacing agitatedly. He then heard Toph's screams and spotted her on the next set branches below the birds.
"There!" He indicated to Katara. The blind Earthbender was clinging to the underside of a gnarled limb.
"Toph, hang on! We're coming!"
"Get me out of here!" She screamed.
One of the juveniles jumped down onto the thick limb below and began to claw at the bark. Startled, Toph shifted and she lost her grip. The Earthbender screamed as she fell, and only by sheer blind luck managed to grab onto a mass of criss-crossing vines about twenty feet below. She was now clinging precariously about eighty feet above the ground.
The second juvenile reptile-bird jumped down next to its sibling, each now trying to figure out a way to reach the girl.
Katara tried to move Appa in underneath the Earthbender, but the thick branches grew too close together for the large bison to maneuver.
She called out to her, but Toph didn't answer this time. And Zuko understood why. Without the ability to touch solid ground, the girl was truly blind and now very disoriented and petrified.
Zuko leapt off Appa onto one of the thick limbs.
"What are you doing?" Katara asked.
"I'm going after her."
Katara looked at him with nothing less than shock. But then handed Appa's reins over to The Duke and followed.
They both made their way along the gnarled tree branch. It was thick enough to walk on, but slippery with patches of moss and vines wrapped around it. The two juvenile creatures were about twenty feet diagonally above them on the next spoke of branches coming off the main trunk. Toph dangled between in the tangle of crossed vines.
The juveniles screeched and hissed, bobbing their heads agitatedly as they spotted Zuko and Katara. One of them started moving along the branch towards the main trunk, no doubt in an attempt to cross over to their side. Zuko fired a warning blast of flame at them. The juvenile ducked its head and the flame singed several leaves behind it.
"Careful or you'll set the whole tree on fire!" Katara warned.
The juvenile started to advance again.
Katara was busy examining the numerous vines snaking along the trunk of the tree and looping down from the branches. She grabbed one of the thicker ones and concentrated. The vine started to dry up and whither and a sizable ball of water appeared in her hands. Forming a set of ice daggers, she lobbied them at the juvenile, forcing it back.
Zuko reached the tangle of vines which extended to the mass Toph was clinging onto. Straddling the limb, Zuko reached out and gave one a tug, testing its strength. Then he grabbed a hold of it with both hands and swung down until he was hanging in midair. "Keep those things away while I try to reach her!"
Katara nodded as she grabbed another vine and withdrew the water.
Zuko tried his best not to look down as hand over fist, he crossed the distance, trying to offer words of reassurance. "Toph. It's Zuko. Just hang on, I'm coming."
He could see one of the juveniles attempting to cross over and was forced back again by a water whip.
Zuko finally reached the blind bender. Wrapping his legs around the vine, he reached out and touched her wrist. "Toph. Let go of the vines and grab a hold of me."
Toph shook her head. "I can't. I'm scared. I can't tell which is up or down anymore!"
"I know. But I'm here now to help you. Just trust me. Listen to my voice and do as I tell you."
The blind girl nodded. Tentatively she released her grip. Zuko grabbed her hand and guided it to his shoulder. "Now wrap your arms and legs around my shoulders and waist and then just hang on tight! I'll do the rest."
Toph did as she was told, tightening her hold around Zuko's neck until she was practically strangling him.
"Not that tight!"
"Uh…sorry." She grabbed him around the shoulders instead.
"Now hang on!"
Zuko started back. About halfway across though, the vine jerked violently and they dropped several feet.
Toph let out a scream and buried her face into his back. Zuko looked up to see one of the juveniles had bitten clean through one of the support vines wrapped around the limb diagonally above them.
A ball of ice hit the creature in the eye and forced it back. "Hurry up! I don't know how much longer I can hold them off!"
"What's happening?" Toph said in a panic, tightening her hold on him until she was nearly choking him again.
"Never mind. Let's just be quick about this," Zuko replied. Gritting his teeth, he continued to make his way along the vine, his muscles bulging under the strain. For such a short thing, he found the Earthbender to be solidly packed. He finally made it back to the main branch where Katara was already reaching out and grabbing Toph by the shirt, pulling her to safety.
As Zuko went to follow, the supporting vine snapped. He tried to hook his arm around the tree limb, but only managed to grab hold of a chunk of slippery moss instead. With a cry, he started falling backwards. Twisting his body, Zuko reached out and grabbed onto one of the vertical vines, but it was slippery. Sliding rapidly downward, he desperately tried to tighten his grip and wrapped his legs around the vine to slow his out of control descent.
He heard Katara shout his name.
Finally he jerked to a stop as his fist came in contact with a knot in the vine. As he dangled in midair, Zuko looked down to the sixty foot drop and cringed. Though he wasn't terrified of heights, he wasn't exactly thrilled with them either.
Above, Katara managed to guide Toph back along the branch towards the awaiting bison. The two juvenile creatures had now successfully crossed over and were slowly advancing.
Zuko assessed his situation. Spotting another large branch about twenty feet away, he started swinging towards it. With each swing he got closer but not close enough to grab hold.
The first creature advanced on Katara and Toph. Katara whipped the creature in the eye before grabbing Toph by the collar. "Jump!" She shouted as they leaped aboard Appa.
The second beast stopped to look down at Zuko. And to his dismay, it started scratching at the vine he was swinging on. "Oh, great!" He muttered under his breath, kicking his legs even harder.
As he swung forward, the remaining vine snapped and as Zuko shot through the air, he made a grab for the limb. His chest impacted solidly with the wood, making him grunt in pain. He wrapped his arms tightly around the branch, and then managed to swing his leg over the top and leverage himself up. Wasting no time, he moved toward the outer edge of the tree looking above for the bison. But it was no longer there.
Once Toph was safe, had Katara left him behind?
Appa then appeared from below. "Down here!" The Duke shouted.
Zuko slid down a shorter vine to a much narrower limb and used it to push himself off and jumped aboard the bison. He noticed Katara once again had control of the reins, while Toph clung to the saddle, her face still white while The Duke sat next to her in reassurance.
"Appa, Yip-Yip," Katara shouted. The bison shot upward, clearing the trees in seconds.
A few minutes later Teo and Sokka came up alongside them while Aang glided above.
"Way to go, Sis!" Sokka cheered. "Now let's get out of here!"
"I think that might be a little bit of a problem," Teo said, pointing ahead.
Directly in front of them, three more of the creatures appeared.
"Oh, man!" Sokka groaned. "Where'd they come from?!"
"I don't know, but we know where they're headed," Teo said.
"I've got an idea," The Avatar said. "Katara, follow behind me with Appa. Teo and Sokka, take up the rear and get ready with the last of those stink and smoke bombs!"
"Gotcha covered," Sokka said.
The group of flyers formed a straight line with the Avatar in the lead. The three creatures were fast closing the distance flying side by side, almost wing tip to wing tip.
Suddenly Aang flipped the glider completely over and was now standing on the staff portion of the frame, riding it like a board.
"What is he doing?" Zuko asked.
Katara grinned in awe. "He's windsurfing."
Aang kept his arms outstretched as he balanced on the frame and used his airbending to propel the glider forward even faster. Zuko had no idea how this maneuver was going to help matters, but continued to watch, having already discovered in the past the Avatar was full of surprises. The boy waited until the creatures were almost on top of him, their razor sharp beaks open to attack. The Avatar suddenly thrusted both arms forward. A huge jet of flame shot out in front of him.
The three creatures shrieked as they had to wildly veer away from the intense torch of flames.
The three groups of riders shot through the broken formation. "Now, Sokka! Now, Teo!" Aang shouted.
Sokka grinned with understanding. He chucked the last of the stink bombs down on the creatures as they zoomed past. Then Teo pulled a lever on his chair. The air was soon filled with thick dark gray smoke and the stench of skunk weed and rotting fish causing Zuko to nearly gag in the process.
The Duke was jumping up and down in the saddle. "Whooooo-haaaaa!"
Zuko grabbed The Duke by the leg before he fell out in his excitement. He looked back, but apparently the creatures had enough and weren't following.
"Way to go, Aang!" Sokka shouted. "Now that's what I call flaming!"
The Avatar flipped back around on the glider, once again holding onto the framework, his boyish face grinning widely as he led the group safely back to the Western Air Temple.