A/N: I hated writing this episode, but I still hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own avatar

Responses from chapter 5:

Vapor23: It always makes me happy to see your name come up c: Aang really is so immature in s1, but I love him either way. Thank you for your continued support!

Eagle-Eye2029: Thank you for your kind review! I also feel like Akira will be jealous of Suki for kissing Sokka.

As we came up the mountain, my excitement grew more and more. We were finally going back to Omashu! I was so excited to figure out how much the city had changed over the past hundred years, that I raced ahead of everyone else.

"Someone's excited," Aang said to me.

"How could you not be excited when you're gonna go on the biggest super slide ever!" I exclaimed.

"Shhh!" Aang whispered, "Sokka and Katara don't know about the slide yet!"

"Right, sorry!" I whispered back, still radiating with excitement.

"The Earth Kingdom city of Omashu!" Aang exclaimed when the city was finally in view, throwing his hands up in the air. Surprisingly, it had not looked any different from when we had last came here 100 years ago.

"It looks the same!" I exclaimed, grabbing Aang's arm and shaking it,"None of the places we've been to have looked the same!"

"Isn't it great!?" Aang excitedly asked, to which I violently nodded in response.

"Kiri and I used to always come here to visit our friend Bumi!" Aang explained to Katara and Sokka, who were right behind us.

"Wow! We don't have cities like this in the South Pole!" Katara exclaimed.

"They have buildings here that don't melt," Sokka said breathlessly.

"Well let's go, slowpokes!" Aang said, "the real fun is inside the city!" He quickly took off before being stopped by Katara.

"Wait, Aang," she said, "it could be dangerous if people find out you're the avatar,"

"You need a disguise," Sokka added.

"Great idea!" I exclaimed,"but, how are we supposed to disguise him?"

"Yeah, it's not like I can grow a mustache or something," Aang said.

"Actually, you can," Katara said slyly while turning to Appa.

A few minutes of brushing Appa later and Aang was disguised. We had made him a head of hair and a mustache out of Appa's fur, and it looked perfect.

"Ugh, this is so itchy!" Aang groaned, scratching his fur wig,"how do you live in this stuff?" He turned to Appa, who roared in response. Aang sighed and began scratching the wig again, making little pieces of fur fall out.

"Hey, stop scratching!" I exclaimed, slapping my brother on the hand. Aang nodded reluctantly.

"Great, now you look just like my grandfather," Sokka said, making me laugh.

"Technically, Aang is 112 years old," Katara replied.

"I never thought about that," I said.

"Really?" Aang asked in response, "It was the first thing I thought of when I learned it had been 100 years," I noticed he was scratching at the wig again, earning him another-albeit harder- slap on the hand.

"Ow! Kiri!" Aang whined.

"Sorry, I didn't mean for it to be that hard," I replied sheepishly.

"Now let's get to skippin' young whippersnappers!" Aang said in a grandpa-like voice, "the big city awaits!"

"You guys are gonna love Omashu," Aang said in his normal voice as we walked up the long path to the city,"the people here are the friendliest in the world,"

"Yeah!" I added,"I don't think I ever met an unfriendly person from here,"

"Rotten cabbages!? What kind of slum do you think this is!?" A man yelled at the gate to the city. He knocked the two cabbages the old man in front of him was holding out of his hands, then used his earth bending to send the whole cabbage cart flying off the mountain.

"No! My cabbages!" The old man shouted, looking over the mountain at his fallen cabbages. All four of us looked down in shock at how long the drop was.

"Just keep smiling!" Aang said through gritted teeth. I put on my best fake smile as we continued walking. When we got up to the gate, a soldier lifted a rock and hoisted it above Aang's head.

"State your business!" The man yelled. Aang quickly slid over to the soldier, luckily far enough to eliminate the possibility of being crushed by a rock.

"My business is my business young man, and none of yours!" My brother exclaimed in his old man voice, making the soldier drop the rock in shock.

"I've got half a mind to bend you over my knee and paddle your backside!" Aang continued. Katara, Sokka, and I all looked at each other in disbelief.

"Settle down, old timer," the soldier said, "just tell me who you are,"

"Names Bonzu Pippenpadlopsicoplis the third!" Aang said.

"Why did he have to come up with the hardest last name ever?" I thought as I smacked my forehead.

"This is my granddaughter and these are her friends," Aang said as he gestured to me and then Sokka and Katara.

"Hi, April Pippenpadlopsicopolis, nice to meet you," I said, "these are my friends, Rue and Cairo," I pointed to Katara and Sokka, who waved.

"You seem like a fairly responsible little girl," the soldier said, "see that your grandfather stays out of trouble,"

"Will do!" I said happily, "have a nice day!"

We were just about to enter the gate when we were suddenly stopped.

"Wait a minute!" The soldier said, looking at Sokka. My heart started pounding in my chest as I wondered if we had been caught.

"You're a strong young boy, show some respect for the elderly and carry the old man's bag!" He exclaimed. I sighed in relief.

"Good idea!" Aang said in his grandpa voice before he threw the bag at Sokka.

Once we were inside the city, I remembered how beautiful it was.

"Even on the inside, it still looks the same!"I happily exclaimed, knowing at least one part of my childhood was the same after 100 years.

"This is the Omashu delivery system," Aang explained to Katara and Sokka, "miles and miles of tubes and chutes,"

"Earth bending brings the packages up, and gravity brings the, down," he continued.

"Great, so they get their mail on time," Sokka sighed sarcastically.

"They do get their mail on time!" Aang said gleefully.

"But Bumi found a better use for these chutes, he thought of a crazy idea to use them as the world's biggest super slide!" I explained excitedly.

"One ride, then we're off to the North Pole," Aang said when we got into our cart. I had to sit in his lap since there wasn't enough room for all of us to have our own space. Katara and Sokka were behind.

"This sounded fun at first, but now that I'm here, I'm starting to have second THOUGHTS!" Katara said, ending her sentence with a scream due to us dropping down. As we rode on the mail system, I was giggling uncontrollably. There was apparently something behind us, something that caused Katara to scream. Aang turned his head.

"I'm on it!" He said before pushing us off of the slide.

"AANG, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" I shouted as we flew down to the roof of a house. Suddenly, I was flying out of the cart, and felt Aang's leg kick me in the back. I ended up landing back in the cart, but not without my back feeling sore. We flew off another roof and landed back in the chutes. I then noticed that Aang had his arms wrapped around my shoulders, and he was holding me tight.

"I'm fine, you don't need to hold me!" I exclaimed.

"Kiri, you flew out of the cart earlier!" Aang exclaimed back.

"HATE TO INTERRUPT YOUR BICKERING," Katara screamed, "BUT AANG NEEDS TO DO SOMETHING! USE YOUR AIR BENDING!"

"Good idea!" Aang replied, "that'll make us go even faster!"

"I don't think I wanna go faster!" I yelled. We were almost about to crash into another cart, but the earth bender who was moving it got it out of the way. We all sighed in relief. Then another cart came and we were all screaming again. We crashed into the other cart and began to fly out of ours. Aang used his air bending to put us all back into the cart, and we ended up going through a house.

"Sorry!" Aang called. We crashed into a lot of places. At some point, there was a cat in Aang's wig that was fighting momo, but luckily the lemur pushed it off. We then crashed again, this time landing on top of a cabbage cart.

"My cabbages!" The old man at the cart exclaimed, "you're gonna pay for this!" Suddenly, soldiers came in.

"Two cabbages please," Aang said sheepishly.

We were in the kings place. Anxiety was bubbling in my body as I wondered what type of punishment we would get. Would it be community service? Jail time? Or worse…

"Hmm?" The king said when he took a look at my brother and I. We all dropped to our knees as the soldiers instructed by putting their hands on our shoulders.

"Your majesty, these juveniles were arrested for vandalism, traveling under false pretenses, and malicious destruction of cabbages," one of the soldiers explained.

"Off with their heads! One for each head of cabbage!" The cabbage merchant exclaimed.

"Please don't have that be our punishment…" I thought with a gulp.

"Silence!" The soldier snapped, "only the king can pass down judgement, what is your judgement, sire?"

"Hmm," the king responded, taking another close look at Aang and I. Looking at the king, I noticed he seemed familiar too. Perhaps someone I had seen visit the air temple, or somebody we had passed during our recent travels.

Sokka was making weird stammering noises, Katara was doing her best innocent look, Aang was looking glumly at the floor, and I was anxiously looking around the room, trying to avoid eye contact.

"Throw them…" the king started, making us all gasp, "a feast!" The soldier gasped and the cabbage merchant put his hands over his face.

"Huh?" Aang said.

"The people in my city have gotten fat from too many feasts, so I hope you like your chicken with no skin," the king said to Aang at the feast.

"Thanks, but my sister and I don't eat meat," Aang replied.

"How about you?" The king asked, turning to Sokka, "I bet you like meat," he then shoved the chicken he was holding into Sokka's mouth.

"Is it just me, or is this guys crown a little crooked?" Katara asked, moving her finger in a circular motion around her head.

"It's not just you," I responded quietly.

"So, tell me young bald one, where are you from?" The king asked.

"I'm from…" Aang began.

"I hope he doesn't mess this up…" I thought.

"Kangaroo island," he finished. I resisted the urge to smack my forehead.

"Oh, kangaroo island eh?" The king replied, "I hear that place is really hopping!" He was met with silence from everyone aside from Sokka, who was laughing. Katara, Aang and I all looked at him, which made the water tribe guy stop laughing.

"What? It was pretty funny," he said. The king proceeded to yawn.

"All these good jokes are making me tired," he said, "guess it's time to hit the hay," once he finished saying this, the king threw two chicken pieces. One at Aang, and one at me. Aang responded by putting his piece of chicken in a ball of air, whole I just pushed mine away with a gust of wind.

"There are airbenders in our presence!" The king exclaimed, "and the boy isn't just any air bender- he's the avatar!" I gasped, my brother stopped airbending next to me, making the chicken fall onto the plate.

"Now, what do you have to say for yourself Mr. pippenpadlopsicoplis?" The king asked.

"Okay, you caught me, I'm the avatar," Aang said, "doing my avatar thing, keeping the world safe,"

"Everything checks out!" He continued, looking under the table, "no fire benders here! So, good work everybody,"

"Love each other!" Aang pulled Sokka and I, who were in between him, into a group hug.

"Respect all life, and don't run with your spears, we'll see you next time!" Suddenly, Aang's yapping was stopped by two soldiers blocking the door way.

"You can't keep us here," Katara stated.

"Let us leave!" I added.

"Lettuce leaf?" The king asked as he picked up some lettuce from his plate.

"We're in serious trouble, this guy is nuts!" Sokka whisper-shouted.

"Tomorrow, the avatar will face three deadly challenges," the king explained.

"Deadly challenges?" I thought.

"But for now, the guards will show you to your chamber," he continued.

"My liege, do you mean the good chamber or the bad chamber?" One of the guards asked.

"The newly refurbished chamber," The king replied.

"Wait, which one are we talking about?" The guard asked.

"The one that used to be the bad chamber, until the recent refurbishing," the king said, "of course, we've been calling it new chamber, but we really should number them,

"Take them to the refurbished chamber that was once bad!" The king exclaimed as the guards pulled us away.

When we finally got to our chamber, we were immediately pushed in.

"This is a prison cell?" Katara asked, "but it's so nice!"

"He did say it was newly refurbished," Aang said.

"Nice or not, we're prisoners," Sokka sighed.

"I wonder what challenges that crazy king has in mind for Aang," I said.

"We're not sticking around to find out," Katara stated, putting her hands on her hips, "there's gotta be some way out of here,"

"The air vents!" Aang exclaimed, pointing to the tiny air vent across from us.

"If you think we're gonna fit through there, you're crazier than that king," Sokka said.

"We can't, but Momo can," Aang replied. The lemur was lying on one of the beds, licking an apple.

"Momo, I need you to find Appa and bust us out of here," Aang said. Momo only groaned in response.

"Go on boy, get Appa!" Aang exclaimed as he tried to put the lemur in the air vent.

"This isn't working! We're gonna be in here forever!" I groaned, flopping onto my bed.

"Eh, how was Appa supposed to save us anyway?" Sokka sighed.

"Appa is a ten-ton flying bison, I think he could figure something out," Aang replied.

"Well, no point in arguing about it now," Katara said, "get some rest,Aang, looks like you'll need it for tomorrow,"

"Aang?" I asked out into the darkness. It had been a while since the lights were cut out and both Sokka and Katara had drifted off into sleep.

"Yeah?" My brother's voice called back. My mood lifted upon hearing his voice, as I was worried that I had been awake alone.

"Being in Omashu had me thinking, what ever happened to Bumi?" I asked. Aang was silent for a moment.

"He most likely died, alongside everyone we knew from 100 years ago," he sighed sadly.

"Yeah, you're right," I sighed back, not knowing how to respond.

"Why did everyone have to die?" I asked after a few seconds of silence, tears forming in my eyes.

"I don't know, Kiri," Aang admitted, sadness evident in his voice, "I lay awake at night sometimes, thinking about all of the people that died while we were gone, especially Gyatso,"

As memories of the past flooded my mind, tears began to run down my cheeks.

"I-it's not fair! W-why did t-they have to d-die?!" I asked through choked sobs.

"Hey, it's okay," Aang said softly. He sat up and walked over to my bed.

"Do you need me to be with you?" My brother asked. I nodded in response. I moved over, and Aang climbed into my bed.

"I miss t-them so m-much," I whispered before crying again.

"Shh, it's okay, don't cry," Aang cooed. I wiped the tears from my cheeks before looking up at him.

"Go to sleep, Kiri, you need it," Aang whispered.

"Will you stay with me until I wake up?" I asked.

"Of course," he replied before kissing me on the forehead.

I awoke to the sight of one of the soldiers picking me up. I wanted to scream, but I decided not to because I wanted to know what the soldier would do. I kept my eyes open, but just barely because I didn't want the soldier to notice I was awake. As I was carried away, I noticed that Aang was still on the bed, while Katara and Sokka weren't in theirs. I figured they were being taken to the same place as me and closed my eyes.

"Hello kiddies!" The king exclaimed happily. I looked over at Katara and Sokka, who were both half asleep.

"Where are we? Where's Aang?" Katara asked groggily.

"Don't worry, the avatar is fine," the king replied.

"Why are we here?" I asked.

"We didn't want you kiddos to get in the way of the avatar's deadly challenges, so you're here until he finishes them," the king explained.

"Can we at least get some food?" Sokka asked. Suddenly, my stomach growled. I didn't notice that I hadn't eaten anything since yesterday.

"Sure! Hope you're hungry for left over chicken!" The King exclaimed.

"Uhh…do you have anything else?" I asked shyly.

"Nope!" The king exclaimed with a smile. I groaned.

"Guess I'm going hungry…" I thought.

"So I will give your friends some special souvenirs!" The king exclaimed as the walls opened, revealing Sokka, Katara, and I. I noticed that Aang was standing there too, which at least made me feel a bit of relief. Suddenly, soldiers began to put Little Rock rings on our fingers.

"Those delightful rings are made of pure genomite, also known as creeping crystal," the king said, "it's crystal that grows remarkably fast, by nightfall your friends will be completely covered in it,"

"Terrible fate, really," he added.

"Terrible fate? We're going to die?" I thought. As panic filled my mind, I noticed that the crystal on Sokka's finger was already beginning to grow.

"Agh! It's already creeping!" He exclaimed.

"I'll do what you want," Aang said coldly.

"Hmm!" The King responded.

The crystal was already encasing half of my arm, and my panic began to grow as I thought about how fast it was crawling up my body.

"At this rate, I'll be dead in an hour!" I thought worriedly.

"It seems I've lost my lunchbox key, and I'm hungry," the king said.

"Ooh, there it is!" he pointed to the key, which was inside of a waterfall.

"Would you mind fetching it for me?" The king asked. This began challenge one. Aang quickly hopped from spike to spike, making his way into the waterfall.

"Ooh! Climbing the latter, no one's thought of that before!" The king said sarcastically.

"Hey, he's trying his best!" I snapped. Just then, Aang flew from the waterfall, and landed in between two spikes. He then went up to one of the highest spikes in the cave, and stared at the waterfall below. Aang then dove straight into the waterfall, but got flung again and smacked his face against a spike.

"That's right, keep diving head in, I'm sure it will work eventually!" The king said mockingly. Then, Aang pulled off the sharp part of the spike he was on, and stood up on the flat part. He threw the spiked part into the waterfall, using airbending to make it go farther. The spike hit the key and sent it over to the king.

"Huh!?" The king exclaimed.

"There, enjoy your lunch! I want my friends back now!" Aang yelled.

"Uh, not yet, I need help with another matter," the king said, "it seems I've lost my pet flopsy," this started challenge two.

"Okay, found him!" Aang exclaimed after finding a small rabbit.

"Bring him to me!" The king demanded, "daddy wants a kiss from flopsy,"

"Come here flopsy," Aang said, inching closer to the rabbit. Suddenly, a large creature came behind him. The creature began to attack my brother, scaring the little rabbit. Luckily, Aang had backflipped out of the way, so the giant creature didn't crush him.

"Flopsy, wait!" Aang called out to the small rabbit. The king was maniacally laughing.

Aang continued to chase after the rabbit, the giant creature close behind. The rabbit ran into a small whole, and Aang tried to reach his hand in to get it.

"Wait a minute…" Aang said as the giant creature inched closer and closer.

"Flopsy?" Aang questioned. The creature picked my brother up and began to lick him. I sighed in relief as I realized Aang wasn't going to die.

"Guys, are you okay?" Aang asked Katara, Sokka, and I.

"Other than the crystal slowly encasing my entire body, doing great!" Katara responded. More crystal began to grow on Sokka, making him fall over. Aang walked over to the king, who was now scratching the creatures belly.

"Come on, I'm ready for the next challenge," he said. This started the third and final challenge.

At this point, the crystal almost covered my entire body. I was beginning to get worried that if Aang didn't finish this final challenge soon, I'd be gone.

"Your final test is a duel," the king explained, "and, as a special treat, you may choose your opponent," Suddenly, two big scary men appeared behind him.

"Point and choose," the king said.

"So you're saying whoever I point to…that's the person I get to fight?" Aang asked.

"Choose wisely," the king said.

"I choose…" Aang began, "you," he pointed to the king.

"Wrong choice," the king said with a laugh. He began to stand up straight, revealing his muscular body. I gasped. Suddenly, the king stomped his foot on the ground, and Aang was sent flying. He landed on the rocky ground below with a grunt. The king landed before him, laughing maniacally.

"You thought I was was a frail old man, but I'm the most powerful earth bender you'll ever see,"

"Can I fight the guy with the ax instead?" Aang asked.

"There are no take-backsies in my kingdom," the king said, "you might need this," a soldier tossed Aang's staff, and my brother caught it. The king quickly lifted a rock and threw it at Aang, who was trying to avoid them as much as possible.

"Typical airbender tactic- avoid and evade," the king said, "I'd hope the avatar would be less predictable," He pulled up another boulder from the ground and threw it at Aang, who jumped over it quickly

"Don't you have any surprises for me? Sooner or later, you'll have to strike back," the king said. He sent another boulder, this time using his feet to send it into the air. It hit a wall, and the remnants began to come down on Aang. I was getting worried. The king sent a ton of pointed rocks my brothers way, to which he narrowly dodged.

"Oh, you'll have to be a little more creative than that," he said. Aang then went on an air scooter and the king continued to send pointed rocks. Aang tried to send a blast of air at the king, but the old man created an earth wall to cover himself from it.

"Did someone leave the windows open? It feels a little drafty in here," the crazy old man said, "Are you hoping I catch a cold?" He kicked over the rock, then proceeding to send it towards Aang. My brother was smacked by the giant rock wave and sent back several feet. The king sent more rock at Aang, which he dodged by bouncing off of a wall. Katara and Sokka both gasped while I just gaped. Aang grabbed his staff, which he had dropped earlier in the battle, and took his fighting stance.

"How are you going to get me from way over there?" The king asked. Aang started running with the assistance of airbending, but the king trapped him in quicksand. He proceeded to bend two rocks, bringing them close together as an attempt to crush Aang. Luckily, my brother reacted in time and ended up coming out of the conjoined rocks. He struck a large amount of air at the crazy king, sending him, flying backwards into the wall. Then, the king bent a rock that was behind Aang, sending it towards him. Aang jumped just in time to not get crushed by the big boulder. The rock began to fly towards the king, who blocked it with a powerful punch. Suddenly, the ground began to shake as the king bent the huge slab of earth behind him. Aang screamed and quickly began to run around in circles, forming a tornado. The king threw the giant earth slab into the tornado, only for it to be sent right back at him. He split the slab in half and Aang emerged from the smoke that followed. Apparently, my brother didn't notice that the King was bending a giant boulder right above his head. "Well done, avatar, you fight with much fire in your heart" the king said before throwing the boulder back. He then submerged into the ground, leaving everyone very confused. The king came back up near those of us stuck in crystal, Aang quickly following using his staff.

"You've passed all my tests, now you must answer one question," the king said.

"That's not fair!" My brother exclaimed angrily, "you said you would release my friends if I finish your tests!"

"Oh, but what's the point of tests if you don't learn anything?" The crazy old man asked.

"Oh, come on!" Sokka moaned.

"Let me out of this stupid crystal you crazy old guy!" I exclaimed.

"Answer this one question, and I will set your friends free," The king continued, choosing to ignore our comments, "what is my name?"

"His name?" I thought, "How could Aang possibly know his name?"

"From the looks of your friends, I'd say you only have a few minutes," he said as he walked away.

"How am I supposed to know his name?" Aang asked.

"Uhh…let's start thinking of ideas!" I said.

"Think about the challenges, maybe it's some kind of riddle," Katara stated. I began to think about how familiar the king seemed, and my brain started putting the pieces together. Those eyes…that laugh, they all led to one person.

"I know his name," Aang said, pulling me back into reality.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" I asked. My brother nodded and we both giggled.

"I solved the question the same way I solved the challenges," Aang explained to the king, "As you said a long time ago, I had to open my brain to the possibilities," happy tears began to well up in my eyes. One of our friends from 100 years ago was alive after all.

"Bumi, you're a mad genius!" Aang said before giving our old friend a hug.

"Oh, Aang, it's good to see you," Bumi said, "you haven't changed a bit…literally,"

"Uh, over here!" Katara exclaimed.

"A little help," Sokka added.

"I'd like to get out of here!" I chimed in. Bumi removed the crystal from our bodies.

"Genomite is made of rock candy, delicious!" He said as he took a bite. I ran up and hugged my old friend.

"You haven't changed either, Akira," Bumi said. I smiled and stood next to Aang.

"So this crazy king is your old friend?" Katara asked.

"Who you calling old!?" Bumi exclaimed, "okay, I'm old,"

"Why did you do all this instead of just telling Aang who you were?" Sokka asked.

"First of all, it's pretty fun messing with people," Bumi responded, "but I do have a reason, Aang, you have a difficult task ahead, the world has changed in the 100 years you've been gone, it's the duty of the avatar to restore balance to the world by defeating fire lord Ozai, you have much to learn,"

"You must master the 4 elements and confront the fire lord, and when you do, I hope you will think like a mad genius," Aang bowed to our old friend.

"And it looks like you're in good hands, you'll need your friends to help you defeat the Fire nation,"Bumi explained. Momo then landed on Aang's arm.

"And you'll need momo too!" The king added.

"Thank you for your wisdom, but before we leave, I have a challenge for you," Aang said. The old man and my brother went down the super slide together, and it made me happy to see Aang reconnecting with our past.

A/N: chapter 7 coming next week :3