As Rangi felt herself sliding off her saddle, she jerked awake and stopped the ostrich horse for a small break. It had been nearly two days since she began her journey, and nearly two days since she had a full night's rest. She'd forgone sleep so she could catch up to Kyoshi.

She'd taken a moment to stop off at Tu Zin after Gaoling to swap ostrich horses, realizing it was probably more efficient than waiting for her original one to rest.

She took a sip from her water skin, before splashing the cool contents on her face, hoping the chill would wake her up.

I'm so close, just another hour or so and I'll be at Chameleon Bay. Chameleon Bay was the primary place of operations for the Daofei group Kyoshi was a part of. It seemed they also had locations in Ba Sing Se, Omash, Gaoling and the like.

One of the reasons Rangi had wasted a night and part of the day in Gaoling was to scope out any daofei activity. Especially ones that would lead to Kyoshi. Unfortunately, nothing came from the fruits of her labors, so she left.

However, out of all the locations listed, it made the most sense for Kyoshi to go to Chameleon Bay first, it was isolated and no one would know about it unless they had her journal due to how small it was. And, again, it was listed as the main base of operations.

Rangi slapped both of her cheeks and mounted her steed again.

Just you wait, Kyoshi. I'm coming for you.

Rangi hid her ostrich horse in the deep forested area outside of Chameleon Bay, from there she entered the dilapidated town.

As she strolled through the streets, she noticed barren fields, starving dogs deers, and malnourished people young and old.

No one should live like this. Her heart panged, almost the same way as when Auntie Mui told her about what happened to Kyoshi when she was younger. She remembered how sickened she felt, and how much she wished to send fiery retribution upon the townsfolk that'd hurt Kyoshi like that.

Rangi shook her head in disgust. Disgust for the systems that put people in that situation. Disgust for the villagers who harmed Kyoshi. But most importantly, disgust for herself, for still giving Kyoshi any of her pity.

As she walked towards her destination, she passed an alleyway, with a child huddled against a wall. They were just staring blankly at the ground.

Rangi had just walked past the entry when a new wave of disgust hit her. She had no room to judge nor talk. She was part of the problem. She was just about to turn a blind eye, just like the villagers had done to Kyoshi.

Rangi may not be the Avatar, so she couldn't solve the world's problems. And Kyoshi may have robbed the world of the Avatar, but Rangi could at least be better than Kyoshi, couldn't she? If Rangi couldn't change the world, maybe she could at least change this child's world?

She rummaged into a hidden pocket in her armor as she made her way to the child. She took the child's frail hand, and put a gold piece into it. "I'm sorry, this is all I can spare at the moment."

The child finally picked their head up, their dull eyes vaguely looking at Rangi, then at what Rangi put in their hand. They looked back at Rangi, their dull eyes started gleaming with new light. The child started to scurry away, maybe afraid of their new precious treasure being taken from them, and then ran out of the alley and out of Rangi's sight.

"Spirits above," was all Rangi could say when she finally arrived at her destination. Rangi stood in front of Madam Qiji's Teahouse, or at least, what remained of it. The half that remained upright, looked about as broken-down as the rest of the town, while the other half stood in ruin from obvious earthbending foul play.

Well this isn't good. Rangi clicked her tongue, briefly wondering if the carnage was recent or not. Was I wrong? Did she choose one of the other locations?

Rangi knelt beside the ruins, and picked up some dirt. She let it shift and fall through her fingers.

No, this is new. It was probably Kyoshi, the timing was too convenient. Rangi was most likely on the right track.

A stumbling sound from behind got her attention. She turned around to see a burly drunkard meandering in the street.

Rangi sighed, knowing what irksome interaction waited for her, but she needed a lead. She walked over to the man. "Excuse me, sir. What happened to the teahouse?"

The burley drunk spun slowly around, eyes refocusing as he looked at Rangi. "Welllll heeeeey cutie! You wanna hang out with *hic* me?"

Rangi instinctively formed her face into a deadpan expression. "No."

The man hiccuped again, and took another swig of whatever filled his bottle. "Then why are you talking to me, if you don't want any fun?"

He attempted to put his arm around Rangi's shoulders, but she backed away. Rangi sighed to herself. She was used to this kind of interaction. Unfortunately for her, she had been getting marriage proposals since she was twelve, from suitors of various ages. So she knew how to handle people like him. However, this guy was just a bit more direct than most others.

"Can you please tell me what happened here?" she repeated her question, resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose.

"I can, for a kiss."

Rangi resisted the urge to vomit.

She used to pride herself on being able to repress her urges to melt skulls with just her eyes, especially when she was thrusted into these situations. This was something she should be able to deal with on any normal day. But it wasn't a normal day. It wasn't even a normal week. She could feel her self-control slipping a bit.

"Well if you insist," was all she said, as she swept her leg, knocking his ankles out from underneath him. His face landed right into the dusty dirt.

The man spluttered, nursing his jaw and nose. "T-that wasn't a kiss!"

"You never said it had to be me," she batted her eyes innocently. "I thought the ground might be more your speed."

The man glared at her, before taking another swig from his bottle. Rangi had no idea how he maintained his grip on that thing, nor how it didn't shatter when he fell.

Just as she was about to leave, assuming she'd upset him to the point he wouldn't want to talk to her after what she did; the man started laughing so boisterously, it caught Rangi off guard. She decided to just chalk it up to the alcohol messing with his head. Or perhaps she concussed him.

"You're funny," he chortled. "Ok I'll help you. What did you need again?"

"What happened to the teahouse?" Rangi repeated, trying not to let the exasperation into her voice.

"Teahouse? Hmmmm, oh! You mean Madam Qiji's?"

"Yes!"

"Oh, some girl came up, yelling all kinds of daofei code at some lot. The guardsmen were called, and well…." he gestured to the teahouse.

Rangi's heart began to pound so hard it rang in her eardrums. Kyoshi had been here! "What happened to them? To the daofei? The girl?"

The drunk scratched his neck, uninterested. "Girl? Oh, you've got girl troubles?"

That is a vast understatement. Rangi shook the intrusive thought away.

The man eyed her suspiciously. "Hm, wait a minute…. you look too pretty to be a boy. And if it's girl troubles, then-gasp! Are you….you know? A Maizu-nese?"

Rangi rubbed her temples. She did not want to get into the Earth Kingdom's behind-the-times politics on marriage and other such related matters, especially with a belligerent drunk. It was something that had been the bane of her existence for the past two years, and she didn't need that freshly scabbing wound to be reopened up.

"She's my brother-in-law's sister," she lied quickly. "She ran away from home, and I've been tasked to bring her back."

The drunk dropped his suspicious eye, and turned his attention fully towards his bottle, his eyes in a distant place. "Ah family troubles, I understand. I ran away once-"

"The girl!" Rangi interrupted, unable to contain her annoyance. "What happened to the girl?"

The man scratched his chin. "Well there were two. One flew away like a spirit in the night." He sighed dreamily. "She was so graceful."

Rangi continued to stare deadpan at the man.

"The other, wrecked half the town with her body."

Rangi blinked at him. "Her….body?"

"Yeah she was like a bull pig in a ceramic shop," he started laughing. "Not the most graceful exit you could say! Never seen earthbending like that before!"

Rangi clenched her fists and a low growl escaped her lips. She really can earthbend… It didn't matter how many times she heard it, or the one time she saw it, it still frustrated her all the same.

The drunk flinched at Rangi's change in demeanor.

"So what happened?! Did she get away?" she growled.

"Ah, no they caught that one. Amazing what a swift rock to the head will do to some people!"

Rangi's eyes widened, and she grabbed the man by his tunic. "She was captured?! Where? Where did they take her?" Please tell me it's the jail and not the morgue!

"P-probably to the nearby jail or sumthin'- aaaagh- I dunno!" he choked out.

"Where is it?!"

"I dunno! I really don't!"

Rangi dropped the man, and took off. There has to be a guardsman or some lawman still meandering around.

Rangi raced down alleyways, trying to find someone nearby. When a loud explosion rang in the air and shook the ground, causing Rangi to trip and fall.

People who were hiding in various crevices in the street, got out and started running past Rangi in a panic.

Rangi looked up and saw a giant dust plume in the distance, and began sprinting towards the disaster.

As Rangi ran towards the growing dust bowl the image of what looked like a jailhouse came into view. People were panicking and running in the streets, and the sound of combat could be heard but not seen.

The source of the dust storm was at the front of the building where a giant hole was ripped out of the jailhouse, and where earthbenders were kicking up earth in some kind of scuffle. It appeared to be a prison break.

Rangi futilely put her arm up, as if trying to catch the dust before it blew into her eyes and lungs, but she coughed all the same. Through her teary eyes she saw a familiar shadow emerging from the dust, and Rangi's eyes locked with Kyoshi's.

Kyoshi wore the green armor she'd received from Jianzhu back when they faced Tagaka, the only difference from back then were two gold items that were tucked into her sash. Rangi looked at Kyoshi's face, besides the dust and grime, she didn't look worse for wear. No injuries that she could see.

She's fine! Rangi felt her heart thud in her chest, constricting and singing with relief against her wishes. She's ok, she's not hurt!

Kyoshi turned to her with a familiar smile donning her lips. Rangi could feel her eyes watering for a different reason besides the dust. She gritted her teeth. Don't look at me like that! Don't look at me like-like I'm- like I'm the only-!

Before she could finish her thought, her vision swayed and the smile Kyoshi had started melting into the one from her dream a few nights ago. A monstrous grin.

Rangi could feel her breaking out into a cold sweat, her heart pounding for two different reasons now. Her thoughts were spiraling.

She's fine!

She's fine?!

Thank the spirits, they didn't hurt her!

She's unharmed, while we're all picking up the pieces she destroyed!

How can you smile in a time like this, you idiot?

She's smiling, and our friend is dead!

Rangi felt something constrict around her, as if squeezing the air out of her lungs. The last thought was festering and taking hold of her. One side of her overtaking the other.

She's messing with me, she's trying to bring my guard down! She's trying to use me- I- I-!

An image of Rangi and her mother, and the rest of the estate laying dead on the ground flashed into her mind.

What if I'm next?

The constriction finally snapped, and she felt a wave of uncontrollable fury and fear coarse through her, she focused it all into the palm of her hand. Kyoshi's smile faltered, and she took a step back as she witnessed the fireball form in Rangi's hand.

Rangi began running at Kyoshi at a breakneck pace, hurling the fireball at her once friend.

Kyoshi responded instinctively with her native element, hoisting up a very, very large wall of earth. But that wasn't going to stop Rangi, she knew exactly how to deal with tanky objects. She took a page from her Fire Academy days, from when she needed to brawl after curfew without fists or fire.

She gathered energy into her hand and arm, and right as she approached the wall, she let out a concussive and combustive force, blasting the wall in front of her and barreling right in front of Kyoshi.

Kyoshi was quick on her feet, she started running right before Rangi could get her footing back. Rangi let out a wave of fire at the ground, hoping to disrupt Kyoshi's root and slow her down, but it was cut off by another earth wall.

Rangi growled and began her pursuit, shoving random guardsmen and freed criminals out of her way. As she chased Kyoshi through the chaos, Kyoshi would try to slow Rangi down with various earth walls. But Rangi would either nimbly dodge them, or blunted her way through with a concussive blow.

"You're just so good at earthbending all of the sudden!" Rangi accused Kyoshi, as she blasted through another earth wall, following Kyoshi through a Kyoshi-sized hole she had made into a nearby building.

"Rangi please! I can explain!" Kyoshi looked back just in time to dodge the fireball that was being hurled at her face.

"Silence! You can 'explain' all you want back in Yokoya! Where we'll deal with the likes of y-!"

Rangi was just barely able to dodge to the left, just avoiding Kyoshi's arm as it grabbed for her.

Going on the offensive, huh? A grapple? Rangi wasn't exactly sure what Kyoshi's fighting prowess was, considering how much she'd hidden until then, it was best if she stayed cautious. The only thing Rangi knew about Kyoshi, is that she was strong. Good thing Rangi had ways to deal with people in a different size class than herself.

Kyoshi had her hands out in front of her, almost like a wrestling stance. "Rangi, I can't go back to Yokoya!"

Yeah, no shit. "Then you should've thought about that before you did what you did!" Rangi put her fists in front of her face and crouched low, and sprinted towards Kyoshi's right side. She ducked Kyoshi's attempts at grabbing her, and landed a destructive blow to Kyoshi's side. The combustive fist radiated right through Kyoshi's armor.

Kyoshi instantly doubled over onto her knees, hacking and wheezing from the punch to her liver. Rangi slowly walked around Kyoshi to her back, giving her a wide berth. That was….a bit too easy. Rangi frowned, unsure of her own victory. Was this really the girl who killed the Avatar?

But as soon as she started to question herself, Kyoshi stood up. That's impossible, she shouldn't be able to get back up for at least five more minutes!

Rangi, thinking quickly, jumped on Kyoshi's back, almost like a rucksack, and then wrapped her arms around Kyoshi's neck into a chokehold and flexed. Fine if you won't stay down, then I'll just knock you out!

As she counted down the ten long seconds, Rangi could feel Kyoshi getting back up and standing at her full height, all while clawing at her arm.

Just four more seconds! She thought, as something cool wrapped around her waist and yanked her upwards with so much force, she lost her grip on Kyoshi. What?!

"Hey Topknot! Leave the kid alone!" A voice rang out from above. Rangi looked up, to see a woman with sapphire eyes and wolf-like features. She held a stance like a waterbender, except she floated on air! No, not air, Rangi could see pools of mist spilling from beneath her feet. Rangi looked down at her waist and saw she was trapped in a water whip.

A waterbender? Here?! Of all the lousy-

"Why don't you pick up on someone your own size?" the waterbender yelled cooly, and then she whipped her arms upward, and the water followed her command. It shot Rangi up into the air with such force, the only thing she could hear was the wind whistling in her ears. She ascended higher and higher, and when she got to the top of her ascent, Rangi looked down.

She blanched as she looked upon what she almost mistaken as beetle ants, except those were no mere bugs. Those were people.

Rangi's mind went blank, except for the memory of her encounter with Aoma from a few weeks ago. How Aoma shot the pot of goods up into the air with no regard. Except this time Rangi was the pot, and Yun wasn't there to catch her.

Rangi started to descend, spiraling in the air, if she didn't do something she was going to die!

Her mind flashed to the waterbender woman, how she floated in the air with her water.

Yes! Something like that! Maybe if I do that then-

Rangi started focusing her energy to the soles of her feet as she took what controlled breaths she could, and then shot the energy out of her feet! Small jets of fire sprung from her feet, and she began to spiral even more.

Rangi cursed to herself. It's ok, we're halfway there. I just need to get it under control.

She controlled her breathing, this time she aimed the energy at her hands. She let small controlled jets out of the palm of her hand, and alternated between her hands and feet.

Slowly but surely, she got herself into an upright position, but she was heading to the ground fast! She did her best to breathe deeply and then put all her energy into shooting the flames out of both her feet and hands.

The result was a giant blast of fire that slowed her down just enough, she stopped right above the roofline of the buildings. Hovering in place like a sitting turtle duck. Breathing heavy, she looked around, there was a pool of water right below her, with Kyoshi right underneath it. A water trap?

But before she could react, the water shot up and doused the flames she created, and she fell to the ground. But she didn't hit it.

Rangi wiped the water away from her eyes and looked up, Kyoshi had caught her bridal style.

"That was am-" was all Kyoshi could get out before Rangi headbutted her jaw, causing the two to tumble to the ground.

As Rangi scrambled to get up, she felt her clothes, or rather, the water in them, being tugged on. In an instant she was hurled into a nearby wall.

"That's what you get, you big softie," Rangi heard a voice yell. When she looked up, she saw the waterbender pulling Kyoshi to her feet and sprint away.

Rangi clawed at the ground and began sprinting after them.

"Tui's gills! She just doesn't give up does she?!" the waterbender yelled, as she yanked Kyoshi around a corner. "Quick this way!"

The three women ran down a main drag, dodging lawmen and outlaws fighting amongst themselves.

When Rangi looked ahead, she forced herself to pick up her pace. She didn't need a shirshu to figure out where Kyoshi was running to. Up ahead, there was a large white, furry mass hovering just in the air. It was Pengpeng, Kelsang's bison.

Rangi attempted to conjure up a fireball to hurl at Kyoshi's legs, but nothing sparked. Perhaps she was still too wet? Instead of firebending, she pushed and dodged her way through various swords and knives.

When the waterbender and Kyoshi reached Pengpeng, the waterbender expertly climbed the side of the animal with her strange mist-stepping. While Kyoshi grabbed its tail, as soon as she did, the bison started to rise into the air.

Rangi pounded her legs into the ground, running faster than she ever did before, and launched herself into the air. Her hands hit something hard, and she clung onto it, it was Kyoshi's foot. Rangi closed her eyes, bracing herself for Kyoshi to stomp her face with her other foot, but it never came.

Rangi opened her eyes and looked up to see Kyoshi staring down at her with pure terror. But before she could question why, she felt something cool and hard hit her face. And she lost her grip.

"Rangi! No!" she heard Kyoshi scream.

"Will you just GIVE UP?!" another voice yelled.

Rangi felt her vision go dark, but she knew she was falling. With one last mercy throw, she attempted to force fire out of her hands and feet. After a desperate pushing feeling, she got her flame to spark again, and was able to stop herself from hitting the ground in the nick of time. Her hands and toes made scorch marks on the dirt, as her face hovered inches above the ground. Blood from her nose and mouth dripped onto the ground below her.

She plopped herself on the ground and looked up to the sky, as her vision started to straighten out, she saw the bison and Kyoshi growing smaller into the distance.

"Don't think you can run from me, Kyoshi! I'm going to get you if it's the last thing I do, I swear!" she yelled as loud as she could, the blood pooling from her mouth turning her words into a blood oath along with it. All her anguish and rage seeping into her voice, a declaration being made to the heavens. "Where you go, I go!"

A/N: Who else has hallucinated things due to lack of sleep? No? Just me? Tbh I could never make it past 3 days before some loopy stuff started happening.

I think the drunk guy deserves a name! I don't know what to name him tho. u_u

Honestly, if I can agree with Jianzhu on anything, it's us wondering/marveling at how Hei-Ran and Rangi haven't killed some of the people who harass them at parties. TT0TT

Ch 5 should be mostly good to go, just working on 6/7 now. I like to create a lil buffer between chapters.