A/N: Hello, everyone! I'm going to be honest, this chapter definitely isn't my best. After showing my more recent work, I'm starting to realize that these early Book 2 chapters aren't as good as I thought. Good stuff is coming soon, I promise!
Response from chapter 22:
Vapor23: Thank you for your review! I was beginning to worry that you wouldn't review in time for me to respond :) I can completely understand why you couldn't, though. Fanfiction obviosuly isn't first priorty when you're sick, I hope you feel better! Actually, that wasn't my intent for Aang and Akira's convo, but I definitely see the connection! It was more of a way for her to find out that Sokka and Katara knew about Aang's anger issues, but I like your interpretation better :) I don't exactly hate that episode, it's a good beginning to Book 2, but I agree, what Fung did to Aang was absolutely cruel and unforgivable. You no longer have to wait for the cave! I hope you enjoy :)
We were by a river. Katara and Aang were practicing their waterbending, while Sokka was lazily floating on a leaf, Momo perched on his stomach. I was trying to calculate the best place to jump into the water from, where I wouldn't get hurt, but I also would have enough fun on the way down. I figured out my place, and ran up quickly, being boosted by airbending. I jumped down into the clear blue water below, laughing as I did. When I landed, I ended up in a deep enough spot in the water that I went under. When I came up to the surface, my bangs were wet and in my face, and I had to push them away. They weren't something I was very proud of, as I had cut them myself and they were the reason I wasn't allowed around scissors at home. I sighed, thinking about what had felt like only seven months ago had actually been 100 years. As I waded over to my friends, my bangs still annoyingly being in my face, I began to hear music.
"Don't fall in love with a traveling girl," A voice sang from the distance, "She'll leave you broke and broken-hearted,"
The music then stopped when the people noticed us. There were two women and three men, all dressed in vibrant colored clothing.
"Hey, hey! River people!" A man with a guitar said.
"We're not river people," Katara responded.
"You're not?" The man asked, "Well, then what kind of people are you?"
"Just people," Aang replied.
"Aren't we all, brother?" The guy asked, "Hoo!"
I gave him a puzzled look, questioning his sobriety.
"Who are you?" Sokka asked, pointing at the people.
"I'm Chong," The guy replied, "And this is my wife, Lily,"
"We're nomads," He finished, "Happy to go wherever the wind takes us,"
He then strung his guitar, singing fast gibberish as he did.
"You guys are nomads?" I asked, "That's great! My brother and I are nomads!"
"Hey! Me, too," Chong replied.
"I know," I stated, annoyance sprinkled into my tone, "You just said that,"
"Oh," Chong said before turning to Sokka, "Hey, nice underwear,"
Sokka put Momo in front of him and walked away, causing me to snicker.
Later, we had gotten dressed and were sitting around on Appa with the nomads. Katara was getting flowers braided into her hair by Lily, and Appa was getting his fur braided by another woman. Chong was telling Aang, who had a flower crown on his head, stories of the places of the places they had gone. I had decided to make myself flower everything. I had a crown on my head, bracelets on my wrists, and a necklace around my neck. All of which I had made myself. Just then, Sokka walked up to us.
"Hey, Sokka," Aang greeted, "You should hear some of these stories, these guys have been everywhere,"
'Well, not everywhere, little arrowhead, but where we haven't been, we've heard about through stories and songs," Chong said.
"They said they'll take us to see a giant night crawler," Aang said, his tone full of wonder.
"On the way, there's a waterfall that creates a never ending rainbow," One of the men stated dreamily.
"That sounds amazing," I gasped, just imagining the beauty of a rainbow with no end.
"Look, I hate to be the wet blanket here, but since Katara is busy, I guess it's up to me," Sokka stated, earning him a look from Katara.
"We need to get to Omashu," He stated, "No sidetracks, no worms, and definitely no rainbows,"
I frowned in response.
"Come on, Sokka, can't we have fun for once?" I asked.
"We don't have time for fun, Akira," Sokka argued, "We need to get to Omashu so Aang can learn earthbending,"
"Whoa!" Chong exclaimed, "Sounds like someone's got a case of destination fever,"
"You're worried too much about where you're going," He stated.
"You gotta focus less on the where and more on the going," Lily added.
"Oh…Ma…Shu!" Sokka exclaimed.
"Sokka's right," Katara stated, "We need to find King Bumi so Aang can learn earthbending somewhere safe,"
"Well, sounds like you're headed to Omashu," Chong said, causing Sokka to smack his forehead.
"There's an old story about a secret pass, right through the mountains," Chong stated.
Aang looked to me, and I looked to Katara.
"Is this real or a legend?" She asked, skeptics in her tone.
"Oh, it's a real legend," Chong replied, not exactly answering her question, "It's as old as earthbending itself,"
He then began to play his guitar, and I felt like there was going to be a song about this secret passage.
"Two lovers, forbidden from one another," Chong sang, "A war divides their people, and a mountain divides them apart, built a path to be together,"
He then stopped singing and began to speak
"Yeah, I forget the next couple of lines, but then it goes…"
"Secret tunnel, secret tunnel, through the mountain," He sang, the tone and overall mood of the area joyous, "Secret, secret, secret, secret tunnel!"
When the song ended, everyone began to clap, save Sokka, happy looks on their faces.
"I think we'll just stick with flying," He stated monotonously, "We've dealt with the Fire Nation before, we'll be fine,"
"Yeah thanks for the help, but Appa hates going underground," Aang added, standing up.
Katara and I quickly stood after him.
"And we need to do whatever makes Appa most comfortable," He said.
When we tried flying, we were immediately attacked by Fire Nation soldiers. With our clothes sooty and our pace slow, we made our way back to the nomads to tell them about our journey through the tunnel.
"Secret love cave, let's go," Sokka deadpanned, pointing forward.
"How far are we from the tunnel?" Sokka asked.
We had been walking for about ten minutes now, but being himself, Sokka had already found a way to ask a lot of questions and complain. I found it funny and endearing though, every time he spoke leaving me with the urge to laugh and a slight pink tint on my cheeks.
"Actually, it's not just one tunnel," Chong replied, "The lovers didn't want anyone to find out about their love, so they built a whole labyrinth,"
"Labyrinth?!" Sokka repeated, disbelief in his tone.
"I'm sure we'll figure it out," Chong stated.
For as confusing as he was, I had to admit I liked Chong's outlook on things.
"All you need to do is trust in love, according to the curse," Lily stated.
Sokka then stopped walking, causing me stop as well.
"Hey, are you okay?" I asked, concern in my tone.
Sokka then began to move frantically, a growl escaping his lips. My eyes widened as my face morphed into an expression of confusion.
"Just dandy," He stated through gritted teeth.
"Hey, hey! We're here!" Chong exclaimed.
I realized how far the rest of the group had gotten from us, and grabbed Sokka by his arm, a blush coming to my cheeks. I raced toward the rest of our group, Sokka in tow. When we got to them, I let go of his arm, although I didn't want to.
"So, what exactly is this curse?" He asked.
"The curse says that only those that trust in love can make it through the caves," Chong explained, "Otherwise, you'll be trapped in them forever,"
A blush came to my cheeks as I imagined Sokka and I making our way through the cave, trusting in love to make it through.
"And die," Lily added.
"Oh, yeah, and die," Chong said, "Hey! I just remembered the rest of that song,"
"And die!" He sang.
"That's it!" Sokka exclaimed frustratedly, "There's no way we're going through some cursed hole!"
"Hey!" One of the male nomads exclaimed, "Someone's making a big campfire,"
"That's no campfire, Moku," Katara stated, fear in her tone.
"It's Fire Nation," Sokka added seriously, "They're tracking us,"
"So, all you need is to trust in love to get through these caves?" Aang asked.
"That is correct, master arrowhead," Chong replied.
Aang then looked at Katara, and although her face wasn't even in view, a blush still came to my brother's cheeks.
"Ooo," I quietly teased with a giggle, earning myself a light shove.
"We can make it," My brother stated, turning to Chong.
"Everyone into the hole," Sokka said, gesturing for us to follow him as he walked into the tunnel.
Appa began to snarl, and I walked over to him, my voice soft and gentle as I spoke.
"Listen buddy, I know you're gonna hate this, but unless we want the Fire Nation to be on us, we've gotta go through this tunnel,"
Appa began to visibly calm down, and I gave him a smile, petting his fur. Suddenly, the tunnel began to shake, and it went completely dark. When Chong lit a torch, we got some light, but it seemed that my attempts to subdue Appa had gone to waste. The bison was attempting to crawl up the walls, desperately attempting to escape the labyrinth. It saddened me to see him like this, as I could tell how scared he felt. I walked over slowly, my voice once again soothing as I talked to him.
"It's okay, Appa," I said reassuringly, "We'll be fine, I hope,"
"We will be fine," Sokka stated, "All we need is a plan,"
"Chong, how long do those torches last?" He asked.
"Um, about two hours each," Chong replied.
"And we have five torches, so that's ten hours," Lily added, lighting the rest of the torches in her hands.
"It doesn't work like that if they're all lit at the same time!" Sokka exclaimed, taking the torches from her and stomping on them, snuffing the flames out.
"Oh, right," Lily said, seemingly amazed by basic logic.
"I'm gonna make a map to keep track of exactly where we've been," Sokka stated, grabbing supplies from Appa's saddle, "Then we should be able to solve it like a maze and get through,"
We then continued through the tunnel, my worry high but my hopes higher.
We had encountered at least fifty dead ends during our time in the tunnel, and my optimism and hope had wavered significantly.
"Sokka, this is the tenth dead end you've led us to," Katara stated.
"This doesn't make any sense," Sokka said, "We already came through this way,"
"We don't need a map," Chong stated, "We just need love,"
"The little guy knows it," He added, pointing to Aang.
"Yeah, but I wouldn't mind a map also," Aang said.
"There's something strange here," Sokka explained, pacing around the area, "There's only one explanation,"
"The tunnles are changing,"
Suddenly, the labyrinth began to rumble again, and fear began to course through my mind. Momo leaped into Aang's shirt in fear, reappearing in his neck whole.
"The tunnels…" Chong began worriedly, "They're a-changing!"
"It must be the curse," He said, "I knew we shouldn't have come down here,"
"Right," Sokka replied sarcastically, "If only we'd listened to you,"
"Everyone be quiet," Katara said, "Listen!"
We heard a faint, strange noise that caused Momo to fly off of Sokka's shoulder. Suddenly, a wolf bat swooped down, going after everyone. Aang held me close, protecting me from the flying creature.
"A giant flying thing with teeth!" Chong exclaimed, fear evident in his tone.
"No! It's a wolf bat!" Moku corrected hurriedly, fear in his voice as well.
The wolf bat flew not too far above our heads, and Sokka began swatting at it with the torch in his hands. The wolf bat snatched the torch on its way down, throwing it at Appa's feet. The bison began to roar, running around the area frantically. Suddenly, the wolf bat ran away, and Appa chased after it, crashing into things as he did. Appa's frantic running and bumping into things caused the tunnel to nearly collapse. Rocks began to fall from the ceiling, and Aang quickly pushed the nomads, Sokka, and I away. The rocks fell in front of us, and I prayed to the spirits of air that my brother and Katara were safe. I noticed that there were still some rocks falling from the ceiling, and I quickly formed an air bubble around our group. After the rocks had cleared, I got rid of the air bubble, and Sokka began to frantically try to get to the other side of the rocks.
"Yeah, it's no use," Chong stated, "We're separated,"
"But at least you have us," He added, causing Sokka to scream and try to get out again.
Suddenly, rocks fell on top of him. I pushed them away with a gust of wind.
"Thanks, Akira," He said sheepishly, his eyes widening after he spoke, "Wait, Akira?"
"Yeah?" I asked, a puzzled expression on my face.
Sokka's eyes brightened and he ran up to me, pulling me into a hug.
"Thank goodness you're here!" He exclaimed, "Maybe I won't go crazy, after all!"
He shook me by my shoulders, and I felt the deepest blush I had ever gotten on my cheeks, my heart beating extremely fast.
It had been a while since our group had split, and we were running out of ideas on how to get out. An idea popped into my mind, but I didn't know if it would work.
"Hey, Sokka," I said, walking up to him, "Can I talk to you for a second?"
Sokka nodded, putting his map down and following me as I lead him to a corner away from the nomads.
"So, the legend says that to get out of here, we have to trust in love," I stated, blush coming onto my cheeks.
"Come on, don't tell me you believe in that stuff, too," Sokka sighed.
"Well, it's better to be safe than sorry," I said.
"So, where are you getting at with this?" Sokka asked.
I took a deep breath, composing myself before responding.
"What if we…kissed?"
Sokka's eyes widened, and he slightly stepped back, seemingly uncomforted by my suggestion.
"Listen, Akira, you're great and all…" He began with a sigh, "But, I just don't see you that way,"
I felt my heart break, every hope of Sokka liking me back crashing down on me. Knowing I couldn't break down crying in the middle of a cave, I bit back the harsh tears that were threatening to fall and smiled, although it didn't reach my eyes.
"I understand," I said, although my tone proved otherwise.
Sokka, seemingly not being the best people reader, nodded.
"Well, I'm gonna look at the map again," He said, his tone full of awkwardness, "See you later,"
He then walked away.
"See you," I said, my voice quiet as my eyes filled with tears.
"Why did I do that?" I thought, "He was obviously gonna say no, he's five years older than me and his girlfriend just died!"
I quietly sobbed into my hands, not wanting to be heard as I wept. What was wrong with me? Why did I have to ask him to kiss me?!
As we trudged through the cave, the nomads continued to play their songs. I could tell Sokka was getting increasingly annoyed by the second, but I didn't care. I wanted to get out of the tunnel as fast as possible and find a nice place to soak in my sadness.
"Oh, don't let the cave in get you down, don't let the falling rocks turn your smile into a frown," Chong sang in an upbeat tune that I really wasn't in the mood for, "When the tunnels as dark as that's, when you need a clown, hey!"
"Don't let the cave in get you down, Sokka and Akira," Chong finished.
I didn't respond.
"Oh, great!" Moku exclaimed enthusiastically, "Your plans have led us to another dead end!"
"At least I'm thinking of ideas and trying to get us out of here, Moku," Sokka snapped.
"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute," Chong said, "We're thinking of ideas?"
"'Cause I've had an idea for, like, an hour now," He stated.
"Yes!" Sokka exclaimed exasperatedly, "We're all thinking of ideas!"
"Well, then listen to this," Chong said, "If love is the key out of here, then all we need to do is play a love song,"
He then began to strum his guitar, and I internally groaned. We then continued to move along, the nomads singing along the way.
"Even if your lost, you can't lose the love," Chong sang, "Because it's in your heart, oh, oh, oh,"
While my feelings before were of general liking to these people, I was beginning to lose my patience with them. As we walked, I suddenly heard growling coming from the darker parts of the cave. Momo hopped off of Sokka's shoulder, and I knew what the growling was, worry seeping through me. A whole bunch of wolf bats starting coming toward us, specifically Sokka. The wolf bats didn't seem to be attacking him, though, rather that they were running from something.
"Hey!" Chong exclaimed, "You saved us, Sokka!"
"No," Sokka stated, "They were trying to get away from something,"
"From what?" Chong asked.
Suddenly, the cave began to rumble, and I was expecting rocks to begin falling from the ceiling again. Instead, giant badger moles came from holes in the wall, moving the earth around them to close the nomads and I in. Sokka, who had been left out of our area of land, was being slowly approached by one of the badger moles. It slammed its paw on the ground, sending him flying backward onto the ground. The badger mole slowly inched closer, and as Sokka backed up, he accidentally hit Chong's guitar with his hand, strumming it. The badger mole seemed interested in the sound of the guitar, and Sokka held it, playing a small tune.
"Hey, those things are music lovers!" Chong exclaimed.
"Badger moles, coming towards me," Sokka sang hurriedly, "Come on, guys, help me out,"
The group of nomads stood, beginning to add on to Sokka's song.
"The big bad badger moles, who opened the tunnels, hate the wolf bats, but love the sounds," Chong sang.
We had ended up hopping onto the badger moles, using them as our way out of the cave. When we emerged, we saw Aang, Katara, and Appa.
"Sokka, Akira!" Katara exclaimed.
I hopped down from the badger mole that I had shared with the nomads, running over to Aang and Katara.
"How did you guys get out?" Sokka asked.
"Just like the legend says, we let love lead the way," Aang replied.
My eyebrows furrowed as jealousy burned hot in my chest. Aang and Katara had gotten to "let love lead the way", which I assumed meant they kissed, while I had to get my heart broken!
"We let huge, ferocious beasts lead our way," Sokka said.
He then waved to the badger moles, who went back into the tunnel. Sokka and Katara then hugged, while Aang ran over to the nomads, me following close behind.
"So, are you guys gonna come to Omashu with us?" My brother asked them.
"Nope," Moku replied.
"Okay," Aang said, "Thanks for everything, Moku,"
We were making our way over the mountain to Omashu. I decided to avoid speaking to Sokka, as I didn't want to become a crying mess.
"The journey was long and annoying," Sokka stated, "But now you get to see what it's really about, the destination,"
"I present to you, the Earth Kingdom city of-" He began.
I looked at Omashu. The once beautiful sight being polluted by that of the Fire Nation flag.
"Oh, no," Sokka gasped.
"I can't believe it," Aang stated, "I know the war has spread far, but Omashu always seemed…untouchable,"
"Up until now, it was," Sokka said, "Now, Ba Sing Se is the only great Earth Kingdom stronghold left,"
"This is horrible," I stated glumly.
"But we have to move on," Katara said.
"No," Aang protested, "I'm going in to find Bumi,"
"Aang, stop!" Sokka exclaimed, "We don't even know if Bumi's still…"
"What?" Aang asked, fire in his tone as he turned around, "If he's still what?"
"Around," Sokka finished sheepishly.
I recalled back to the conversation Aang and I had at General Fung's base, wondering if Sokka had backed down so quickly due to knowing how intense my brother's anger could be.
"I know you had your heart set on Bumi, but there are other people who can teach you earthbending," Katara said, her voice soft and soothing.
"This isn't about finding a teacher," Aang replied, fierce determination in his tone, "This is about finding my friend,"
"A secret passage?" Sokka asked, "Why didn't we just use this last time?"
We were near a sewer, and Aang was using his staff to pry open the covering. When he got it open, sewer water began to pour out, causing me to step back in disgust.
"Does that answer your question?" Aang asked annoyedly.
He then hopped into the sewer, and we all followed after him, the gross smell filling up our noses. I stuck out my tongue in disgust as I used airbending to move the sludge out of the way. When we got to the end, Aang climbed up a ladder and opened the top, checking to see if there was anyone nearby. When the coast was clear, he hopped out, the rest of us following after him. I noticed that it was nighttime when I emerged from the sewer, and I wondered how long we had been in there for.
"That wasn't as bad as I thought," Katara stated.
Sokka came out looking like a gross sludge monster, and I would've laughed if it wasn't for my earlier heartbreak. Katara bent the water from a barrel at him, and Aang dried him off with airbending. When Sokka was clean and dried, it revealed that he had two purple pentapi on his face. He screamed, which I once again would normally laugh at, aggressively trying to pull them off.
"They won't let go!" He exclaimed, "Help!"
Aang then tackled him against a wall.
"Stop making so much noise," My brother whispered, "It's just a purple pentapus,"
He then tickled one of the pentapai and it immediately came off of Sokka's face. Sokka then tickled the other one, and it came off as well.
"Hey!" A male voice exclaimed.
I turned my attention to the direction the voice was coming from, seeing a group of Fire Nation soldiers walking toward us. Aang quickly turned around to cover up his arrow, and Katara, Sokka, and I covered him. When Aang turned back around to face the soldiers, his arrow was covered up by his belt, which he had put on his head. Creepy, uncanny smiles came to our faces as we tried to look as normal and unsuspecting as possible.
"What are you kids doing out past curfew?" The soldier asked.
"Sorry," I said, "We were just on our way home,"
We then promptly turned to leave.
"Wait," The soldier said, making us stop in our tracks, "What's the matter with him?"
"Uh…" Katara stuttered nervously, "He has pentapox, sir,"
The soldier stepped forward to examine Sokka.
"Um, it's highly contagious," Katara stated.
"And deadly," I added.
Sokka's eyes darted back and forth between us, I didn't feel the usual flutter in my chest when they darted to me. Instead, I felt a tightening sensation, the memories of my heart breaking playing in my mind.
"It's so awful!" He groaned, "I'm dying!"
"Hey, I think I've heard of pentapox," The soldier stated before turning to another next to him, "Didn't your cousin Chang die of it?"
Sokka began to walk up to them, coughing violently in their faces.
"We'd better go wash our hands," A soldier stated.
"And burn our clothes!" Another added as they all ran away.
"Thank you, sewer friend!" Aang said happily, giving the pentapus a tickle.
We were sneaking around Omashu, making sure to not be seen by the Fire Nation soldiers patrolling the city.
"Let's find Bumi and get out of here," Katara whispered.
"Where would they be keeping him?" Sokka asked.
"Somewhere he can't earthbend," Aang stated, "Somewhere made of metal,"
We then got up and continued to walk. Suddenly, rocks began to roll toward some people below us, and Aang pushed them away.
"The resistance!" An older woman gasped from below.
Suddenly, a teenage girl threw knives at my brother, who effectively dodged them by jumping up. We began to run as Fire Nation soldiers started chasing us. The teenage girl started following us after Katara had taken out a few soldiers, throwing knives with precision. Aang stopped running, pushing the rest of us along. I watched as he brought down some construction with airbending, getting the girl off of our trail. She threw a knife, to which Aang caught with his staff. She then threw two more, but before any of us could block it, we were brought down with the floor, screams echoing throughout. When we landed, we were surrounded by Omashu soldiers.
"Avatar?" One of them asked, "What are you doing here?"
"We're looking for King Bumi," Aang explained, "Is he with you guys?"
Suddenly, all eyes became on my brother, but he didn't seem to notice.
"Is he leading the resistance?" He asked.
"Of course not," The soldier replied bitterly, "The day of the invasion, we readied ourselves for battle,"
"But when we asked the king for orders, he said he was going to do nothing about it, and let himself get captured," He finished.
Aang looked down sadly, I gave him a reassuring look. I just couldn't wrap my head around the fact that Bumi had given up like that, not even trying to defend his city.
"It doesn't matter now, fighting the Fire Nation is the only path to freedom," He stated, "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," My brother stated, "Now is the time to retreat so you can live to fight another day,"
"You don't understand," The soldier grumbled, "They've taken our home, and we have to fight them at any cost!"
"I don't know, Yalo," The soldier next to him said, "Living to fight another day is starting to sound pretty good to me,"
"Yeah, I'm with the kid," Another stated.
Just then, all the other soldiers began to mumble in agreement.
"Fine," Yalo sighed reluctantly, "But there's thousands of citizens that need to leave,"
"How are we gonna get them all out?" He asked.
"Suckers!" Sokka exclaimed, causing me to look at him in confusion.
Apparently, my mind had forgotten about the fact that he had rejected me, so the pain didn't hit until a few seconds later. I looked away, not wanting the tears that were forming in my eyes to fall.
"You're all about to come down with a nasty case of pentapox," He stated.
Our plan was to stick purple pentapai all over the citizen's and soldier's bodies, then to take them off to give off the pentapox look.
"The marks make you look sick, but you gotta act sick, too!" Sokka explained, "You gotta sell it,"
Then, an old man with a wooden foot walked by, groaning as he did, a walking stick in his hand.
"Now, that's what I'm talking about," Sokka stated, pointing to him.
"Years of practice," The old man stated as he tapped on his wooden leg with his cane.
"Okay, everyone, into sick formation!" Sokka commanded.
He, the citizens, Katara, and I all began to walk away. I expected Aang to be walking with us, but when I turned around, he wasn't.
"Aang, what are you doing?" I asked, "Aren't you coming with us?"
"No," My brother replied flatly, "I'm not leaving until I find Bumi,"
I nodded, a look of determination on my face.
"Then, I'll come with you," I said.
Aang nodded. Just as he was about to open up his glider, Momo attached his fingers to his lips, pulling on them.
"Sorry, Momo, I'll feed you later," Aang stated, putting the lemur down.
He then leaped into the air, climbing from rooftop to rooftop, and I followed closely behind. We raced through the streets of Omashu, seeing Flopsy chained to some weird contraption.
"Flopsy!" I gasped, jumping down from the roof Aang and I were standing on.
My brother quickly followed, putting out his arms to give the giant rabbit a hug. Due to Flopsy being chained, he couldn't hug him. Aang hopped over to the contraption and bent the water from a nearby bucket, freezing the chain. He broke it with his staff, freeing Flopsy. Aang was pulled into an embrace by the fluffy creature, laughing as it licked him on his face.
"Come on, Flopsy," He said, "You've gotta help Kiri and I find Bumi,"
He crawled onto Flopsy's head, positioning himself as if he were about to ride Appa. I did so as well, climbing onto Flopsy's back.
"Yip-yip!" My brother exclaimed, causing me to give him an exasperated look.
"Oh, I guess that doesn't work with him," Aang said sheepishly, "Let's go,"
Flopsy then took off, and we continued our search for Bumi.
That night, we arrived at the camp where the citizens and soldiers were staying. Our spirits were at an all time low, especially mine. The mixture of not being able to find Bumi and Sokka's rejection made me feel extremely down. Sokka and Katara walked over to us, concern etched on their features.
"We looked everywhere," Aang stated, crestfallenness heavy in his tone, "No Bumi,"
Katara pulled him into a hug, which he tiredly rag-dolled into, not putting his arms around her.
"Hey, whose baby is that?" I asked, noticing a baby playing with Momo on the ground near me.
"He snuck in with the citizens as they were leaving, we think he's the governors son," Katara explained.
Suddenly, I heard a squawk behind me, and turned to see a messenger hawk. Aang took the scroll from the hawk and unfurled it, reading the calligraphy carefully.
"It's from the Fire Nation governor," He stated, "He thinks we kidnapped his son, so he wants to make a trade,"
"What's the trade?" I asked.
"His son…" Aang replied, reading the words throughly, "For King Bumi!"
The next day, we went back to Omashu, the baby in tow.
"You realize we're probably walking right into a trap," Sokka said as Aang walked down the hill with the baby.
"I don't think so," Aang replied, "I'm sure the governor wants his son back as much as we want Bumi,"
"It's a new day," I stated with an optimism that had recently come back, "I have a good feeling about this,"
When we arrived at the location, we stood, waiting for the people who had Bumi to appear. The people who walked up weren't the governor, or even any soldiers, but the girl from the night before. There were two new faces as well. A girl with golden eyes, raven hair, and red clothes. And another girl with big, grey eyes, a long brunette braid, and pink clothes. They lowered this metal coffin thing, revealing Bumi.
"Hi, everybody!" He exclaimed, no worry or fear in his tone. I smiled at my old friend, optimism bright in my mind.
"You brought my brother?" Knife girl asked, her voice monotone.
"He's here," Aang replied, "We're ready to trade,"
"I'm sorry, but a thought just occurred to me," The girl in red clothes stated, turning to knife girl, "Do you mind?"
"Of course not, Princess Azula," Knife girl replied.
"That girl's a princess?" I thought.
"We're trading a two year old for a king," Azula said, "A powerful, earthbending king,"
She turned to Bumi, who nodded in response.
"It just doesn't seem like a fair trade," Azula finished, "Does it?"
"You're right," Knife girl agreed.
My eyes widened in shock. Was knife girl really not going to give us Bumi for the baby? I mean, he may have only been a toddler, but that kid was still her brother!
"The deal's off," Knife girl stated before lifting Bumi into the air.
"Whoa!" Bumi exclaimed, "See you all later!"
"Bumi!" Aang gasped.
He began to run extremely fast at Azula, who blasted blue fire at him. My eyes widened in shock at the sight of her flame, as I had never seen anything like it. Apparently, she had never seen someone jump as high as my brother had, because she froze for a moment. Aang lifted up onto his glider, his belt falling off his head. I gasped as I realized the girls would now probably know who he was, and start relentlessly attacking.
"Spirits, Aang! Why'd that have to happen?!" I thought.
Azula used firebending to turn the wheel of a weird contraption that sent her up, and got on. Azula leaving the fight left Katara, Sokka, and I with the two other girls.
"We've gotta get the baby out of here!" I exclaimed as they began to run at us.
"Already on it," Sokka said, blowing into Appa's whistle rapidly.
As we began to run, something tripped Sokka, causing him to almost fall all the way down. It turned out that what tripped him had been the pink girl, and I saw as she came closer to him. When Katara took water out from her pouch, knife girl threw some knives from behind her, to which she blocked by using the water to bring up the wooden floor, which caught the knives. I set my focus on pink girl, pulling her backward with an air vortex. When I stopped, she was near me, clearly confused by the way I had pulled her back. She tried to hit me with some sort of jabbing, but I dodged every one of her attacks effortlessly, using my airbending and natural agility. I ended up flipping behind her, catching her off guard and pushing her out of my way with airbending. While Katara was busy fighting knife girl, jabby had come up behind her. Jabby hit her with her famous jabs, making Katara unable to bend. I hadn't done anything to prevent this because I had been closely watching Aang and Azula duking it out in the distance, blue fire and powerful air blasts coming from all different directions. When jabby came up behind me, I turned around and ducked, avoiding her jabs. I recognized her movements as chi-blocking, something that had been taught to some airbenders at the temple. We weaved through each other's limbs due to our similar fighting styles, and eventually, I landed a hit on her that gave us some time without the extra challenge. I turned over to knife girl, dodging the knives she threw at me quickly before pushing her out of the way as well. Just then, Sokka swooped down on Appa, and Katara and I quickly hopped on, heading for Aang. When we got to him, my brother was talking to Bumi, who was still in the metal coffin.
"Aang, come on, let's go," Sokka called out.
Aang sighed, looking back at Bumi sadly. He trudged onto Appa's tail, a look of crestfallenness on his face. I watched as Bumi went back up the delivery system, laughing manically as he did.
"It's okay, Aang, Bumi will be fine," I stated.
Aang nodded sadly, and we rode off back to the camp.
That night, Aang returned the baby to its family, and we set off to look for a new earthbending teacher for him.
A/N: I am so, so sorry for the rushed ending! October Maddy just decided to get lazy, and rushed it :( Now January Maddy has a bad chapter! Thanks alot, past me! :(