A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the late post, I had some family stuff going on and I ended up almost forgetting to post this chapter. I hope you'll enjoy this one, it was very fun to write! I'm currently working on another large project, but I'm not sure when I want to release it because this fic is going so strong. Maybe I'll come out with some one-shots first, I don't know.
Response from chapter 24:
Vapor23: Hello, my friend! I'm glad that I could make an episode that you don't particularly like into something better. I agree, it was definitely neat to see who Akira envisioned in the swamp. Before writing the chapter, I had thought alot about who she would see, and what would happen. I'm really glad that your favorite scenes are the extra ones with Aang and Akira, as those are my favorites to write :) You're right, he is such a great older brother. And yes, Katara is stepping up and helping out more, too. I really like writing her to be sort of a mother figure to Akira, so don't worry, that'll happen more as the story progresses. I agree, the first few episodes of Book Two are tough, but I hope this chapter will be good enough to hold you over until we introduce Toph!
I was pulled out of my slumber from the sound of stomping. My eyes shot open, my exhausted brain sensing danger. Suddenly, I saw a tough looking warrior guy on a komodo rhino trudge in, and all traces of tiredness escaped my mind. I gasped as more tough looking guys on rhinos came in as well, my eyes darting back and forth between them all.
"Give up," One of them said, his voice gruff and threatening, "You're completely surrounded,"
The rhinos were now circling our camp, and I quickly jumped up, bun-bun falling out of my arms and onto the ground.
"Come on! Come on, Come on!" Sokka exclaimed as we all raced toward Appa, who Aang was already on top of.
"My scrolls!" Katara exclaimed, looking back to see that her scrolls were left on a tree stump.
One of the rhino guys spun his scythe in the air before planting it on the stump directly next to the scrolls.
"My staff!" Aang exclaimed, seeing that his staff was still perched on a pile of our stuff.
I scanned the campsite for any belongings I had lost, and noticed that bun-bun was on the ground.
"Bun-bun!" I exclaimed, hopping off of the saddle and running toward the stuffed squirrel-rabbit.
Since there were no rhino guys in my peripheral vision, I thought that I would just be safe to grab bun-bun and hop back on Appa. I was wrong, though, because a rhino guy was spinning a ball and chain right above my head when I got there. I internally groaned, using airbending to spin his chain faster and catching him off guard. Eventually, I got the chain wrapped all around him, and as he was struggling to keep his balance, I helped by pushing him over with a gust of wind. I grabbed bun-bun off the ground and began to sprint back toward Appa. When I got there, Aang and Katara were also on, and I was glad to know we could leave as soon as possible.
"Yip-yip!" Aang exclaimed, causing Appa to lift off the ground and leave the rhino guys, alongside their destruction behind.
A fire ball flung above our heads, barely missing Sokka, Katara, and I.
"Wait, my boomerang!" Sokka shouted.
I looked down to see that his boomerang was on the ground, near some of our supplies.
"There's no time!" Katara replied, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Oh, I see," Sokka stated annoyedly, "So there's time to get your scrolls, your staff, and your stuffed animal," He gestured to each one of us as he spoke, "But no time for my boomerang?"
"That's correct!" Katara replied cheerfully.
"Oh," Sokka sighed, the annoyance in his tone replaced by glumness, and his head hung low.
Suddenly, the adrenaline of the chaotic prior events faded, leaving me with a sense of exhaustion. My eyes began drooping as I lie down, bun-bun secured tightly in my arms as I drifted off.
When I awoke next, it was to Aang jostling me awake.
"Kiri, wake up," He said softly, his quiet tone an attempt to not startle me.
I blinked awake, my eyes still heavy with sleep. I slowly sat up, my movements sluggish to match my tiredness.
"Where are we?" I asked as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes.
"We just made it to this village," My brother replied, "Come on, we're buying supplies since we had to leave ours back at camp,"
I nodded slowly before standing up and hopping off of Appa's saddle, being greeted by the sight of Katara at a stand talking to a merchant, and Sokka sitting glumly on the ground nearby.
"Sorry about your boomerang, Sokka," Aang said sincerely, walking up to him.
I noticed that he was wearing the hat he had traded nuts for, and wondered why he was concealing hisa arrow.
"I feel like I've lost part of my identity," Sokka sighed sadly before standing up with a start.
"Imagine if you lost your arrow," He stated, lifting up Aang's hat and pointing to the blue arrow on his forehead, "Or if Akira lost her bag," He pointed to me.
I looked down at my brown crossbody bag. It wasn't anything special, just something to hold my stuff. I usually even left it at whatever camp or inn we were staying at, sometimes just on Appa's saddle.
"Do you really think that this bag is part of my identity?" I thought, my brow raising in confusion and exasperation.
"Or if Katara lost her…" Sokka continued, gesturing to Katara, "Hair loopies,"
He then walked over to his sister, who pulled him into a hug, causing Sokka to become visibly happier. The merchant put a basket of produce on the counter, a happy look on his face.
"Here's your produce, ponytail guy," He said, handing the basket to Sokka.
Sokka looked down glumly, turning to the rest of us.
"I used to be boomerang guy," He sighed, crestfallenness heavy in his tone.
The merchant walked up to Katara, who handed him a Water Tribe coin.
He took a closer look at it, his eyebrows furrowing in focus.
"Hey, Water Tribe money,"
"I hope that's okay," Katara said.
"So long as it's money," The merchant replied, closing up his stand.
Katara and I began to walk over to Aang and Sokka. Sokka was sadly drooping over a box of produce, and Aang was leaning over him, a supportive hand on his shoulder.
"Have a nice Avatar Day!" The merchant called out.
This seemingly struck Aang's attention, because he lifted his head, a look of confusion and interest on his face.
"Avatar Day?" He repeated.
Sokka picked up his head as well, his cheeks stained with tears.
"You guys are going to the festival, right?" The merchant asked before walking away.
"A festival?" I thought, "Maybe we should check it out,"
I then remembered what happened the last time we went to a festival, and began to reconsider. I heard a sniff near me, and looked down to see Sokka sniffling about his boomerang, tears silently rolling down his cheeks. My eyebrows furrowed in concern as looked at him, trying my hardest to swallow the flutter that rose in my chest.
"Maybe we should check out what this festival has to offer," Aang stated, cheeriness in his tone.
"Yeah," I replied, "And maybe there'll be something there that Sokka can use to replace his boomerang,"
"Good idea, Akira," Katara said, "How do you feel about that, Sokka?"
I then looked back down at Sokka, who seemed to have calmed down.
"That sounds good," He stated, his tone lighter, but the sadness still lingering.
When we got to the festival, it was a nice sight to see. There were green and yellow banners hanging from building to building, and the whole village seemed to be bustling with festivities. People were everywhere, and they all seemed to be wearing the same yellowish-green robes, the men wearing weird hats that matched their belts.
"There's a holiday for the avatar," Aang stated, "Who knew?"
"I wouldn't have guessed there'd be an Avatar Day, but it makes sense," I replied.
"Look!" Katara exclaimed, making us all turn around to see a giant float of Avatar Kyoshi, "They made a giant Kyoshi float,"
We then all raced to an area where we could get a better view of this parade, and found ourselves standing in a crowd with a group of villagers.
"And here comes Avatar Roku," Sokka stated as a float of Roku pulled up and stopped next to Kyoshi.
"Having a huge festival in your honor is great, but frankly, it's just nice to be appreciated," Aang said, humble as ever.
"And it's nice to appreciate their deep-fried festival food," Sokka added, his mood seemingly much better.
I looked up to see a float of Aang rolling in, and honestly, it was kind of inaccurate. The float was tanner than my brother, and it had tassels at the bottom of its shawl. There were other small details in the clothes that were inaccurate, but I figured they were like that due to the fact they couldn't give a float regular clothes. It also made me question the accuracy of the other floats. Recalling back to our time at Kyoshi Island, which despite being only four months prior, was so far back in my mind, I thought about how inaccurate the Kyoshi float looked as well. I made a mental note to ask Aang if the Roku one was actually how he looked. Nonetheless, it was still nice to see some avatar appreciation.
"Aang, look!" I exclaimed, tapping him on his shoulder.
"That's the biggest me I've ever seen," Aang stated in amazement.
When the Aang float finally rolled in, a guy with a torch began running toward the floats. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion as I wondered what he was going to do. Sokka, on the other hand, didn't seemed phased by the sudden running guy with fire, because he began to talk about the possibility of using a torch for a weapon to replace his boomerang.
"They have a torch," He stated amazedly, "That's a nice prop,"
"It's bright, dangerous…" He then sniffed the air, the warm sent of flame filling his nostrils, "Smells manly,"
"But I'm not sure I could carry it off," He finished before taking a bite out of his deep-fried food.
"Yeah, imagine having to carry that around all the time," I said, "What would you even do with it when you weren't fighting? How would you fight with it?"
"Hey, what's that guy doing?" Katara asked.
I looked to the torch guy again, seeing that he had jumped through the Kyoshi float, burning it as he did. Just then, the crowd began to chant, the words loud, clear, and full of hatred.
"Down with the avatar! Down with the avatar!"
The torch guy then set Roku ablaze, and my eyes widened in shock at the sight. This holiday wasn't about appreciating the avatar, it was about hating them! When torch guy got to Aang, rather than burning a hole through him on the spot, he decided to throw the torch at him, which landed on his left eye. I grimaced at the sight of my burning brother, even if he was a float. Honestly, I was pretty glad Aang had concealed his identity. Katara ran out from the crowd and pulled the water out of two pots that were conveniently placed not too far from her, using it to put out all of the avatar fires.
"That party poopers ruining Avatar Day!" A guy in the crowd shouted.
Aang's eyebrows furrowed in frustration and he quickly jumped high into the air, landing on the shoulder of his float.
"That party pooper's my friend," He announced, his voice loud and clear despite how high up he was.
He then snatched the straw hat off of his head, revealing his distinctive blue arrow to the avatar hating village. I resisted the urge to facepalm, my expression full of exasperation.
"So much for concealing your identity," I thought annoyedly.
"It's the avatar himself!" A man with a distinctively headache-inducing voice exclaimed.
When I looked at him, I saw that he was wearing a darker, less yellowish version of the village robe, the weird hat still on his head. I figured he was some sort of noble or person of high status in this irritating village, the head avatar hater.
"It's gonna kill us with its awesome avatar powers!" The man from earlier shouted.
I raised an eyebrow as I looked at him, puzzlement and frustration evident in my expression.
"It?" I repeated in my thoughts, "Man, I know you guys hate Aang, but calling him an 'it' is just dehumanizing,"
"No, I'm not, I-" Aang began, raising a hand with worry and confusion in his tone.
The village began to erupt in terrified screams, some people even running from the crowd in pure fear of my brother. The guy with an extremely ear-splitting voice shrieked, falling over like a stunned koala-goat.
Aang looked at his hand before quickly putting it behind his back.
"I suggest you leave," Annoying voice guy stated, standing up from his childish fall, "You're not welcome here, avatar,"
"Why not?" I asked, annoyance and frustration heavy in my tone, "Aang helps people,"
Aang leaped down from the float of himself, walking up beside me.
"It's true," He stated, "I'm on your side,"
"I find that hard to swallow, considering what you did to us in your past life!" Annoying voice guy exclaimed, his screeching making me want to cover my ears.
I wondered what past life had done something to this village, and how bad it was considering how much they hated Aang.
"It was Avatar Kyoshi," Mayor Aang Hater stated, answering my mind's questions, "She murdered our glorious leader, Chin the Great,"
"You think that I…" Aang began, concern and confusion etched on his features, "Murdered someone?"
"We used to be a great society before you killed our leader," A strikingly ugly old guy stated, "Now look at us!"
Aang gasped and jumped back, the sheer homeliness of this dude scaring him.
"I think that's just a you problem, bud," I thought.
"Aang would never do something like that," Katara said, putting her hands on my brother's shoulders, "No avatar would,"
"And it's not fair for you all to question his honor," She added, fire in her tone.
"Let's tell her what we think of the avatar's 'honor'!" Loud Crowd Guy exclaimed before turning around to show us his backside and making a farting sound.
The entire village began to cheer, and I rolled my eyes, the childishness of the place making me annoyed. Aang's eyebrows furrowed in a mixture of frustration and concern as he stepped closer to the crowd, raising his arms as he made an announcement.
"Give me a chance to clear my name," He said loudly, his voice booming over the crowd's loud cheers.
The cheers dissipated, and the Mayor of Aang Haters spoke again, much to my chagrin.
"The only way to prove your innocence is to stand trial,"
"I'll gladly stand trial," Aang replied, determination in his tone.
"Fine then," Mayor hater said, "But before we begin the trial, you have to pay bail,"
Aang nodded before pulling Water Tribe coins from his belt and handing them to him. The mayor looked down at the coins, his eyebrows furrowed in deep concentration as he evaluated it.
"This is Water Tribe money!" He exclaimed, "Only Earth Kingdom coins are allowed!"
Aang searched through his belt, but was unable to find a singular Earth Kingdom coin.
"Well, if you can't pay bail, then we have no choice but to imprison you," Mayor Hater stated.
I gasped as two soldiers came up behind Aang, cuffing his hands and leading him to the local jail.
It was official, my brother was a felon.
"I can't believe they locked you up," I grumbled into my hands as I paced around outside of Aang's cell.
"How was I supposed to know they wouldn't take Water Tribe money?" Aang asked.
Not only was he locked up inside of the cell, he also had a pillory around his arms and neck. Albeit, a too large pillory, obviously not meant for a child.
"I wish that these people didn't hate my guts," Aang sighed sadly, looking down, "If I wasn't in this cell, maybe I could make things right somehow,"
"So some people don't like you, big deal," Sokka said dismissively, "There's a whole nation of firebenders who hate you,"
"Now, let's bust you out of here," He finished.
"I can't," Aang said.
"Sure you can!" Sokka exclaimed, "A little, whoosh, swish swish swish, airbending slice!"
He performed "airbending" movements as he said this, causing exasperated expressions to come to Aang, Katara, and I's faces.
"And we're on our way!" He finished.
"I think what Mr. Airbending Master over here means is that we have a war to end, and you can't spend the rest of time rotting away in a jail cell all because some stupid village blames you for something your past life did," I said, annoyance and sarcasm heavy in my tone.
"I can't end the war with people thinking I'm a murderer, either," Aang retorted, his head still hung low, "I need you guys to help prove my innocence,"
"How are we gonna do that?" Sokka asked, "The crime happened over three hundred years ago,"
"That's okay, Sokka," Aang sighed in a way that only I could spot as fake dejection, "For some reason, I thought you were an expert detective,"
"Well played, Aang," I thought.
"Well, I guess I could be classified as such," Sokka said, his tone carrying a sense of pride.
"Yeah, back home, he was famous for solving the mystery of the missing seal jerky," Katara added with a sarcasm Sokka couldn't sense.
"Everyone wanted to blame it on the polar leopard, but I figured out it was old man Jarco wearing polar leopard boots," Sokka explained boastfully.
I rolled my eyes before looking over to Aang, who was mocking him. I snorted, covering my mouth with my hands to keep myself from laughing.
"Okay, I guess I'm pretty good," Sokka finished, his tone lacking humbleness.
"So, you'll help me with my case?" Aang asked expectantly.
"Fine," Sokka agreed, "But I'm gonna need some new props,"
"Oh, yes, how could we forget?" I asked sarcastically, "The most important and vital thing for solving a murder case, props,"
"Hey, don't underestimate the power of stuff," Sokka replied matter-of-factly.
I lightly chuckled, turning to Aang.
"We'll be back once we've gathered all the information we need to plead your case," I explained.
Aang nodded, and we all walked out of the jail.
"So, where do you plan to buy your new props?" Katara asked Sokka as we walked through the village.
Instead of doing something important like searching for clues on how to prove Aang's innocence, we were searching for a shop to buy Sokka stuff at.
"There," Sokka replied, pointing to a shop.
As we walked in, I read the sign above the door. The calligraphy read, "Rishu's random props," A very fitting name for the type of store we needed for Sokka's desires. Sokka raced inside giddily, zooming around the shop to find whatever props he saw fit. Suddenly, his eyes sparkled with joy as they laid upon some sort of detective kit that consisted of a weird hat with a magnifying glass attached and a dragon bubble blower that imitated a pipe. Sokka quickly yanked it from the shelf it was sitting on and ran to the counter.
"That'll be ten copper pieces," The merchant stated.
Sokka reached inside of his bag, pulling out Water Tribe coins that equaled just as much as ten copper pieces. My muscles tightened as I remembered what happened the last time someone tried to pay for stuff with Water Tribe money in this village.
"That works," The merchant said, making my worry wash away, "Have a nice day,"
Sokka smiled and took the detective kit. As soon as we got out of the shop, he put on the hat and looked to Katara and I.
"Are you ready now?" I asked with urgency and mock annoyance in my tone.
"Yes," Sokka replied, "Just call me, Detective Sokka," He then struck a pose, making me snort.
"This is the crime scene," Mayor hater stated.
We were looking for clues on how to plead Aang's case, starting with the scene of the crime. I knew we wouldn't find much, because the crime was committed 300 years ago, but it didn't hurt to try. Sokka, using his totally useful magnifying glass, was seemingly evaluating the marble floor of a temple. I wondered why he was doing this, but figured I'd be, "Ruining his thought process," If I asked.
"This is the footprint of the killer, Kyoshi," Mayor hater said, causing Sokka to scurry over to evaluate the footprint, "It was at sunset, 370 years ago today, that she emerged from the temple and struck down Chin the Great,"
He then proceeded to walk over to a statue of a powerful looking man, a look of sorrow on his ugly face.
"After that tragic day, we built this statue to immortalize our great leader," He said, "Feel free to appreciate it,
I rolled my eyes before looking at the statue. Sokka scurried over to it, evaluating it closely. He then ran back over to the temple, and evaluated the floor again.
"This temple and this statue were cut from the same stone," He stated, turning his head to Katara and I, "And we know that the statue was built after Chin died,"
"So if they were built at the same time, that means-" Katara began before being interrupted by Sokka shushing her.
"I wanna solve it!" He exclaimed, "That means, Kyoshi never set foot in this temple,"
"That's a big hole in the mayor's story, but it's not enough to prove Aang's innocence," I stated.
"You're right," Sokka replied, blowing on his dragon bubble blower, "We need to go to Kyoshi Island,"
"Good idea, Sokka," I said, "Where to go other than the place literally named after Kyoshi? Oyaji must know something,"
As we came upon the beautiful, welcoming sight of Kyoshi Island, I got filled with a sense of nostalgia. The cool spring air blew in our faces as we guided Appa toward the island, a bell ringing as we came closer to announce our arrival. When we landed, Aang's fangirls came racing from a building, their joyous giggles echoing throughout the village. I remembered how I had felt about these girls before, how annoyed I had gotten with the fact they only had eyes for my brother. So much had happened since then, and we had all changed in some way. Sokka was a woman hater, Katara was a novice waterbender, Aang was a silly kid, and I was an annoying one. We had all changed so much since then, some things for the better, and some things for the worse. I felt a sense of pride for my friends and I. Our regular crowd of people filed in, cheering for us. It felt nice to know how much of an impact Aang's deed for this island really had on people. One guy even started screaming so much that he began to foam at the mouth.
"Where's Aangie?" Coco asked, stomping her foot in demand. Apparently, some people hadn't changed as much as others.
"He couldn't be here, Coco," I said calmly.
The crowd began to erupt in groans, even the foaming mouth guy stood up and collected himself before running away in embarrassment. Everybody then walked away. Then, Oyaji, the island's leader, walked up to us, a warm and welcoming smile on his face.
"Oyaji, Aang is in jail, the town of Chin says he murdered their leader in a past life," Katara stated, walking up to him.
"They say it was Kyoshi," Sokka said, a hint of fanciness in his tone.
"Kyoshi?" Oyaji repeated in disbelief, "That's crazy talk,"
"I'll take you to her shrine," He stated, "Maybe something there will help you clear her name,"
"Thank you for your help, Oyaji," I said with a bow.
We were walking through Kyoshi Island. It was a long path from where we had landed to the shrine.
"So, uh…" Sokka began, "What's Suki up to?"
"Is she around?"
"Who's Suki?" I thought, a look of confusion coming to my face. I fought the jealousy that crossed my mind, Sokka's words of rejection crossing my mind.
"Actually, she and the other warriors left to fight in the war," Oyaji explained, "You kids had a big impact on Suki,"
"She said you inspired her, and she wanted to help change the world," He finished, his tone full of pride.
I remembered the Kyoshi warriors from the last time we were there, and figured Suki was that teenage girl that was leading them.
"Oh, well…that's great," Sokka said hesitantly, his tone lacking happiness despite his words.
Then, we came upon the shrine. It wasn't anything too special, just a regular temple surrounded by trees.
"This temple was converted into a shrine to Kyoshi," Oyaji explained, "The clerics tell us these relics are still connected to her spirit,"
When we walked inside, we were greeted with the sight of Kyoshi warrior items, all of which were very large. Katara walked over to a green kimono, her expression full of awe.
"She had exquisite taste," She stated.
I had been over by the fans, which I had been interested in using ever since I saw how powerful it made airbending for Aang, when he used them to fight Zuko. I picked up the fans and lightly spun with them, accidentally flinging Sokka across the shrine.
"Akira!" Sokka groaned, readjusting his weird detective hat.
"Please don't touch the items," Oyaji said urgently.
"Sorry," I replied sheepishly, setting the fans back down.
"These were her boots?" Katara asked, looking down at some giant brown boots under the kimono, "Her feet must have been enormous,"
Then, Momo emerged from the boots, causing Katara's expression to turn into that of surprise.
"The biggest of any avatar," Oyaji stated.
"Wait a minute, big feet?" Katara asked, "Little footprints?"
I then realized what she was getting at, remembering the size of the footprint that was supposed to be Kyoshi's back in hatertown, and comparing them to the size of the boots there.
"There's no way!" I exclaimed before being interrupted by Sokka clearing his throat loudly.
"Special outfit, hat and pipe, these things mean anything to you guys?" He asked accusingly.
"You're right, I'm sorry," I sighed in annoyance, "Please, Detective Sokka,"
"AHA!" He exclaimed, "There's no way Kyoshi could have made that footprint,"
"And therefore there is nothing linking her to the crime scene," He continued.
"Brilliant, Sokka," Katara deadpanned, which caused me to laugh quietly into my hands.
"Oyaji, do you have anything else that could help us with the case?" I asked, turning to the village leader.
"This piece is called, "The Birth of Kyoshi," Oyaji explained, turning to a painting on the end wall, "It was painted at sunrise on the day this island was founded,"
"Why, it was today in fact, 370 years ago," He stated.
"Wait, are you sure it was today?" Sokka asked quickly, grabbing Oyaji by his shirt.
"Well, seeing how it's Kyoshi Day, yes I'm sure," He responded, pulling Sokka off of him.
"This ceremony didn't take place at sunrise, it took place at sunset," Sokka explained, "Look at the shadows,"
"They point east, so then sun must have been in the west," Katara added, coming closer to the painting.
"So what?" Oyaji asked, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
Sokka then pushed Katara out of the way, an ecstatic look on his face.
"If Kyoshi was in the ceremony at sunset, she couldn't have been in Chin committing the crime," He said, "She has an alibi,"
Katara snatched the dragon pipe from his hand, bonking him on the head with it. Sokka dropped to the ground with a thud, his hands on his head as he winced in pain.
"Katara…" He whined.
"That's what you get for pushing me," His sister replied, fire in her tone.
"Thank you for all of your help, Oyaji," I said, pretending like the bickering siblings weren't behind me, "I think we have enough evidence to plead Aang innocent,"
When we got back to Chin Village, it had become completely dark outside. We had grabbed the mayor and taken him to Aang's cell to explain our evidence. My hopes were high that the mayor would listen to our words, and let Aang out of jail, but there was still a lingering feeling of deep dread that was quietly telling me there would be some sort of crazy catch.
"Honorable mayor, we've prepared a solid defense for the avatar," Katara stated, "We did an investigation, and found some very strong evidence,"
Sokka turned to Aang, a goofy smile on his face as he put a thumbs up.
"Evidence?" Mayor Hater repeated, his tone full of amusement, "Ha!"
My eyebrows furrowed in confusion and annoyance as I looked at him.
"That's not how our court system works," He stated.
"Then how can I plead my innocence?" Aang asked.
"Simple," The annoying mayor said, "I say what happened, and then you say what happened, and then I decide who's right,"
Everyone, save Mayor Hater, gasped in shock, our mouths agape.
"That's why we call it justice, because it's just us,"
He then laughed and walked away, every step he took making me more and more angry. I gritted my teeth until the sound of his cackling had died out, only then deciding to release my rage. I picked up a rock that was at my feet and threw it at the doorway that he had exited through, my expression radiating with anger.
"That's not the way justice works, idiot!" I shouted as I chucked the rock, my voice echoing loudly through the jail.
"What do we do now?" Aang asked dejectedly.
"I say we go back to Plan A and just bust you out of here," I stated, "This village is stupid, we don't need to waste any more time here,"
"No, I'm not leaving without proving my innocence," He replied.
"I hate it when you get like this," I sighed, pinching my nose bridge in annoyance.
"It's getting late, we'll pick this up in the morning," Katara said, "We'll find a way to prove your innocence, Aang,"
My brother, who had been looking worried, looked up at her, his expression softening as a slight blush came to his cheeks.
"Thanks, Katara," He said, a smile on his face.
The next day…
We were sitting in the court area, watching the trial take place. I was nervous for Aang, as this village all seemed on board with the avatar hating belief.
"Everyone loved Chin the Great, because he was so great," Mayor Hater stated, his ear splitting voice echoing through the court area, "Then the avatar showed up and killed him, and that's how it happened,"
He then walked away, his steps carrying a large amount of pride.
"The accused will now present its argument," The prosecutor stated, his voice low and emotionless.
"You can do it, Aang," I said, turning to my brother, "Just remember the evidence,"
"Right…" Aang began, his tone lacking certainty, "Evidence,"
"Please don't tell me you forgot the evidence…" I thought.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm about to tell you what really happened," He said, his words obviously being used to stall time as his brain tried to remember what we had told him to say, "And I will prove it with facts,"
"Fact number one," He began, "Uh…"
I resisted the urge to facepalm. Somebody needed to lend Aang some braincells, and fast.
"The footprints," Sokka whispered urgently.
"Oh, yeah," Aang whispered back.
"You see, I have very large feet," He stated, pointing to his regular child sized feet.
Everybody's faces were blank, utter confusion surrounding the court area. I resisted the urge to facepalm once again.
"Furthermore, your temple…matches your statue," He continued, obviously not knowing what to say.
"But I was in a painting at sunset," Aang added, "So there you have it, I'm not guilty!"
"He's dead," I stated blankly as Sokka, Katara, and I plastered fake smiles onto our faces.
"Hold on, guys, I have an idea," Katara said.
Sokka and I gave each other a look of puzzlement before listening in eagerly to Katara's plan.
"Mayor Tom, I'd like for the court to hear one last testimony," Katara stated, turning to the mayor of Hater Village.
"I've already told you!" He exclaimed, "It's just me and the accused, you can't call any witnesses,"
"This isn't just any witness," Katara said, "I'm going to call…Avatar Kyoshi herself!"
I had my doubts about this idea, but at this point, I would do anything to get us out of this mess. Just then, Aang walked in wearing Kyoshi's clothes and makeup, the clothes being much too large for him. The crowd broke out into a whisper as my brother was revealed, and I struggled to stifle a laugh.
"Katara, I'm seriously doubting the probability that this will work," Sokka whispered urgently.
"Kyoshi is Aang's past life, maybe wearing her stuff will trigger something," I stated, "Even if he does look ridiculous,"
"I do believe in the power of stuff," Sokka replied, pulling on his magnifying glass.
"This is a mockery of Chin law!" Mayor Hater shouted, standing up as he did.
"Please, if you could just wait one more second!" Katara replied urgently, "I'm sure Kyoshi will be here,"
Mayor Hater plopped back down in his seat, and the court area fell into an awkward silence as everyone stared at Aang.
"Hey, everybody, Avatar Kyoshi here," Aang said in a fake high-pitched voice, batting his eyelashes.
"This is ridiculous," Mayor Hater stated, walking over to Aang, "For the murder of Chin the Great, this court finds the avatar…"
Suddenly, he was interrupted by a tornado forming around Aang's body, the sky becoming dark with clouds as people huddled together in fear. When the tornado dispersed, a beautiful, tall woman replaced my brother. Instead of a blue spirit like Roku had been in the temple, she was so vividly realistic that it was almost impossible to imagine that she had died many years ago.
"I killed Chin the Conqueror…" She stated, her voice as chilling as her aura, "A horrible tyrant, Chin was expanding his army to all corners of the continent,"
"When they came to the neck of the peninsula where we lived, he demanded our immediate surrender," She continued, "I warned him that I would not sit passively while he took our home, but he did not back down,"
"On that day, we split from the mainland," She said, "I created Kyoshi Island so my people could be safe from invaders,"
Then, the clouds of the tornado formed again and the sky cleared, my brother revealing once again from the winds. As Aang stumbled, Katara caught him in her arms, helping him stand back up as the power of past avatars was too much for his body to handle. I ran over to the pair, the memories of Avatar Kyoshi in the flesh playing through my mind as I pondered the reality of it all.
"So…what just happened?" Aang asked quietly, his voice strained with exhaustion.
"Uh…" Katara began, seemingly not knowing a way to explain the whole ordeal to him, "You kind of confessed,"
"Sorry," I added blankly.
"And I find you guilty!" Mayor Hater exclaimed accusatorially, standing up from his cowering mere moments before, "Bring out the wheel of punishment!"
The crowd began to cheer, and fear filled my heart as I wondered what the wheel of punishment could be. The prosecutor rolled in a giant wheel, filled with punishments for Aang, and from the poorly drawn descriptions of them, I could tell there was a low chance he could survive most. There was one slice of the wheel that looked to be someone doing community service, and I prayed that was what it would land on when the wheel was spun. Katara and I returned to our seats, worry settled like a pit deep in our stomachs.
"The accused will now spin the wheel of punishment to determine his sentence," The prosecutor stated.
Aang looked back at us, his expression full of fear as sweat dripped down his face and smeared the Kyoshi makeup. He looked down and began to speak, his tone somber but full of determination.
"I said I would face justice, so I will," He stated.
"This isn't right," I thought, the bitterness of my thoughts shining through on my features.
Aang walked over to the wheel of punishment, taking a deep breath before spinning it.
"Come on, torture machine!" A person in the crowd shouted, making me worried and even angrier than before.
How dare this guy say that Aang, who did absolutely nothing wrong, be put in a torture machine?!
"Eaten by bears!" The ugly old guy exclaimed.
"Razor pit!" Another person hollered.
"Community service!" I shouted, way louder than the others, "Please stop on community service!"
The speed of the wheel's spinning wavered immensely, stopping completely at a picture of a guy being boiled in a pot.
"Looks like it's boiled in oil," The prosecutor stated, his voice still lacking emotion.
The crowd began to cheer, the sounds ringing my ears as I sat frozen in shock. Suddenly, I found myself running up to the mayor, who was standing next to the wheel, my steps angry and filled with frustration.
"Listen here, buddy!" I shouted angrily, pointing a finger into his chest, "Aang has done nothing wrong, and since we've been here, all you people have done is dehumanize and insult him!"
"Your justice system is absolute nonsense garbage, and so is your whole village!" I reprimanded, "Sorry that Kyoshi killed your conqueror 370 years ago, but that is not any of Aang's business!"
Before he could get a singular word in, I quickly smacked him in the face with air, my rage powering the gust rather than my own thinking. I stepped back, feeling no shock or remorse for my actions as I panted heavily, the silence around me so thick you couldn't even cut it with the strongest of knives. Suddenly, something dropped near Aang's feet, causing an explosion that nearly blew the cliff off the map.
"We've come to claim this village for the Fire Lord!" A voice that I could only remember hearing once before exclaimed, "Now show me your leader, so I may…"
The scythe guy of the rhino soldiers cut up the statue of Chin, to which I would have been relieved by if they weren't horrible attackers.
"Dethrone him,"
"That's him over there!" A person in the crowd shouted, pointing to Mayor Hater, who ran and hid behind the punishment wheel, his cowardly actions almost amusing to me.
"You, avatar, do something!" He shouted frantically.
"Gee, I'd love to help, but I'm supposed to be boiled in oil," Aang sighed sarcastically, his tone filled with sass and annoyance.
"There, community service," Mayor Hated said, turning the wheel so it would land on the least deadly slice, "Now serve our community and get rid of those rhinos!"
Aang smirked before hopping into the air, leaping out of Avatar Kyoshi's clothes but keeping on the makeup and headpiece. Using the Kyoshi fans, he knocked scythe dude off his rhino and off the side of the cliff, initiating the start of a battle. He turned his head to the leader, an unimpressed look on his face.
"Rough rhinos, to the town!" The leader shouted, pumping a fist into the air as he led the rest of the soldiers into the village.
They began to move toward the village, destruction following wherever their rhinos trekked. Burning buildings sent a scent of flame throughout the air. My friends and I turned to each other, knowing that despite how horrible the villagers had been to Aang, we needed to help them. We headed for the town, following behind the rhino soldiers. I ran through the town, helping any people that I could get into safe spaces. Suddenly, the ball and chain guy came up behind me, and I quickly turned around, blocking his strike with airbending before slicing the saddle off of his rhino. When I came across Katara, I saw that she had been doing something similar, but with waterbending, to the rhino soldiers, sending them flying off of their creatures. After they had retreated, we met up with Aang, whose headpiece had fallen off and makeup was now dripping off of his face. We felt a sense of pride and relief, knowing that we had saved a village from being claimed by the Fire Nation.
"From now on, we'll celebrate a new Avatar Day," The mayor stated, "In honor of the day Avatar Aang saved us from the Rough Rhino invasion,"
There were fireworks exploding in the sky, and we were all holding bowls of some weird mush looking stuff. I wasn't sure what it was since I hadn't really had the time to take a closer look at it. Aang was smiling brightly, seemingly happy that this village no longer despised him. Katara and Sokka were giving each other a glance, while I was still trying to figure out what was in the bowl I was holding.
"What is this?" I asked, picking up a piece of mushy dough from the bowl and watching as it stretched back down to the bottom.
I noticed that it was in the shape of a person, but not just any person. It had a blue arrow on its forehead, and I realized that these weird mushy things were supposed to be Aang.
"That's our new festival food," The mayor explained, "Unfried dough,"
"May we eat it and be reminded of how on this day, the avatar was not boiled in oil,"
The crowd began to cheer, we all bowed before Sokka and I gave each other a confused look, as well did Katara and Aang.
"Happy Avatar Day, everyone," Katara said apprehensively, picking up an unfried dough Aang and putting it in her mouth.
My brother put one in his mouth, but didn't know exactly know how to chew it, so it kept drooping out and he had to suck it back up. Sokka shoved one into his mouth as well. I tried to take a bite, but I ended up stretching the thing so far that my arm was completely outstretched, and I couldn't break the dough off.
"This is by far the worst town we've ever been to," Sokka stated blankly.