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The fire colonies

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Book 4 - Air

Episode 4 “The fire colonies”


The midday sun shone brightly in a blue sky. It was a comfortably warm day and a few insects buzzed between the abandoned, ruined buildings located in a small clearing in an otherwise hilly and forested landscape.
Zuko was just finishing placing a message in a messenger-hawk’s leg pouch before letting the bird go.
Watching the courier fly away for a moment, the young Firelord then put his writing implements away into a travelling bag, which was slung over one of two large eel-hounds sitting nearby.
Zuko walked back towards the rest of the group, Suki, Aang, Toph and Katara were seated on some ruined masonry listening to Sokka talk to Mai.
“The bounty-hunter from the Firenation said that she was never able to fire bend because of her detached nature, or something. But apparently this special master saw in her some mumbo-jumbo potential thingy, and was able to show her how to generate lighting in some form or another” informed Sokka to Mai, waving his arms in the air in way of explanation.
“They were quite open and friendly, once they had stopped trying to capture me” added Toph happily.
“It goes to show what can happen when people from different nations work together” said Aang.
“Interesting” said Mai, “I’ll have to look up this master when we get back home.”
Zuko walked up to Mai’s side.
“So did you decide on what you want to do?” asked Katara towards Zuko.
“I’ve sent the information onto Master Piandao and my Uncle” replied Zuko calmly.
“Don’t you want to go searching for your mother straight away?” inquired Sokka.
“No, the description of this large sand Island is too vague. I haven’t seen any reports of such a camp.”
“It’s a pity the bounty-hunters were never able to see where they were going all those weeks they were hiding-out in the Firenation ship” contemplates Suki out aloud.
Zuko nodded in agreement.
“Did your father not give you any clues to her whereabouts?” asked Sokka.
Zuko’s face took on a decidedly nasty expression as he remembered back to his conversation with his father.
“No. He seemed to take pleasure in not knowing were she was, he said she was now too unimportant to care about.”
Zuko’s face lightened as he came back from the memory.
“Information will show up eventually, and when it does, I’ll act. But in the meantime we have other problems to solve” Zuko continued, “the situation here is really tense, both sides are claiming to be regularly attacked be the other, it could become a flashpoint really quickly if we don’t do something.”
Aang nodded in determined agreement.
“So what’s the plan?” the Avatar asked, to the group in general.
“We have an official, signed, blank order document from the Earthking which we can use to control the Earthkingdom troops” informed Mai.
“And I can command the Firenation troops directly,” said Zuko.
“Wait a second” said Sokka, stroking his chin, “if both sides are claiming to be attacked to by the other, one of them is obviously lying.”
“What’s your point?” asked Toph.
“If we just go in and throw around orders they’ll obviously stop whatever it was they were doing until we’re gone again. They must have a reason for lying, and we have to figure out what that is.”
Sokka thought a moment longer.
“Can I have a look at the Earthkingdom document?” he asked.
Mai retrieved the scroll from a small bag nearby, handing it to Sokka, who inspected it for a second.
“So what would you suggest?” asked Zuko.
Sokka smiled broadly, obviously reading what he had hoped for.
“We only have one chance to uncover the truth, go undercover.”
The rest of the gang looked on questioningly.


The sceptical Earthkingdom General looked at the official looking scroll he held up in front of him, lowering it slightly to look the three people facing him patiently. Suki was in full Kyoshi warrior kit and was flanked on either side by Zuko and Soko, both wearing Earthkingdom Military uniforms, including wide brimmed hats and with their swords slung to one side.
“So you’re my reinforcements?” said the General sceptically.
“Special reinforcements” corrected Suki, “We’re here to get experience in patrolling areas where Firenation troops are deployed. We are to go out with every patrol, be part of every deployment.”
The General stroked his long, grey beard calmly, seemingly unperturbed.
“Oh, you’ll get experience enough” he said casually.
“None of you are benders are you?” The older man asked off-hand.
“No Sir!” replied Zuko sharply, a little too eagerly. He then cringed sheepishly, aware of his outburst.
The general raised a thick eyebrow.
“You’ll need shields and spears then” the General continued, “you can equip yourself from the armoury.”
“Shields?” questioned Sokka.
“Swords don’t block fire young man” the general said calmly. He then gave Suki a questioning look.
“Kyoshi warrior ha?” he voiced, seemingly unimpressed.
“I’m afraid we don’t have any shields that match your outfit” the General said mockingly, with a chuckle. The two soldiers behind him also laughed.
Suki frowned for a moment at the demeaning comment, then quick as lightning, the young female warrior deployed her fan into a shield, so that its edge was only millimetres from the generals neck. The general’s eyes bulged in disbelief, not having a chance to react.
“Don’t you worry” said Suki sweetly, “I brought my own.”
The older man took a hasty step back, trying to regain his composure, his hands going to his neck automatically.
“Send them out on the next patrol” commanded the General, a little flustered, “dismissed!”
The old Earthkingdom soldier turned away in a huff.
Suki simply smiled.


An old Firenation General was looking at a very similar official document to that of his Earthkingdom Colleague.
Looking over the scroll he saw Katara and Mai, both dressed as Firenation soldiers. Katara had a sword on her side and Mai was armed with a composite bow and accompanying arrows.
Katara was looking particularly out of sorts.
“You’re meant to be reinforcements?” the General asked sceptically.
The three were in the middle of the Firenation barracks, around them, Firenation troops were all looking on with interest while eating lunch.
“Special reinforcements” corrected Mai, in her normal calm tone.
“We have orders to go out with every petrol Sir” said Katara quickly, her voice still not 100% confident, “um, to gain experience… Sir.”
Katara cringed slightly at her own voice it seemed.
“Aren’t you a bit young?” The General asked sceptically, referring specifically to Katara.
“We’re from the Firenation academy” said Mai, leaning forwards, “we follow our orders, and so should you.”
The general frowned at the challenge, not liking Mai’s confrontational tone.
“It’s very unusual to have female soldiers in the occupied territories, and orders or not, I am not sure you can handle yourselves out there. I’m still responsible for the safety of my soldiers.”
Mai pulled one of the many visible daggers from her belt, flicking the weapon in one swift move. The dagger flew through the air, hitting an apple a soldier was about to bite into almost fifty meters away, pinning it to a tree just behind the unlucky soldier.
The Generals jaw dropped as a reflex. Turning his head back to the two young women, the General found Mai playing with another dagger.
“Any other concerns, General?” asked Mai calmly, a half smile appearing on her face.


Aang was flying low over the trees on his glider. Approaching a clearing, he quickly descended to an abandoned and half destroyed barn.
Opening the remains of a pair of large old doors, the Airnomad peeked inside. He was greeted by a low roar.
“You comfortable in there buddy?” asked Aang towards his bison.
On either side of Appa the heads of the two eel-hounds appeared, they had surrounded the ski bison in the hay to take advantage of the warmth.
“You’ve earned a good rest after all that flying recently” said Aang happily.
On his shoulder appeared Momo.
“You to Momo, I’m afraid you’re just going to have to keep watch here, otherwise you’ll give me away.”
Walking back away from the barn, Aang looked around.
“Where’s Toph?” he asked Momo, while scratching his head.


A few minutes later, Aang had completely transformed into camouflage gear and was testing it out in a tree nearby. Large clumps of leaves were stuck all over him, and his clothes and skin were either brown or green.
Standing perfectly still, he suddenly noticed Toph approach. She was sliding along the earth in her bending form elegantly. The young earth bender stopped just below Aang’s branch.
“Where is he?” said Toph to herself.
Grinning evilly, Aang stood on his tippy toes before letting himself fall forward. Keeping his feet wrapped around the wood, he looped around the branch, picking Toph up under the arms while himself upside-down, before using air bending to swing the two back up. On the upswing, he elegantly cart-wheeled the now upside-down Toph onto a nearby branch so that she landed on her feet.
Toph let out an uncharacteristic Yelp in surprise, then instantly clung to the branch with all fours
“Damn it Aang!” she said angrily, “You know I’m blind on wood.”
Aang simply laughed at his friend’s predicament.
“You won’t be laughing when I get back down” threatened Toph.
Aang’s face suddenly froze, and he quickly zipped-off to one side.


Toph’s angry face could be seen surrounded by leaves. Panning back, you could see that she had also donned a camouflage and was suddenly giving a very credible impression of a small bush.
“Can’t I just tunnel around?” moaned Toph, “I would rather have dressed up as a Firenation soldier then be a bush.”
“We both still look too young to be conscripts” replied Aang, applying some mud too Toph’s face, “and you know that if there are any decent earth benders they’ll notice you tunnelling around.”
Toph still looked sour.
“We’ll just shadow the patrols going out from the two camps and see if we can’t spot anything suspicious,”
“Stupid Sokka” mumbled Toph, “stupid plan.”
Toph eventually accepted her fate, crossing her arms from within her mobile disguise.
“What took you so long before anyway?” asked Aang suddenly. “I was expecting you back before me.”
“If you haven’t noticed, there aren’t many female Firenation soldiers around these parts, we were lucky we found any uniforms to borrow at all, let alone find ones that fit” said Toph with a huff.

Toph suddenly remembered back to an image of Mai in a uniform that was way to tight for her and Katara in a uniform that looked like it had been thrown on her.

“You had it a lot easier just having to find something for Zuko and Sokka.”
Aang simply smiled, applying some more mud here and there.
“There you go” said Aang suddenly, satisfied with his efforts.
Toph’s was now completely covered in mud and twigs, and was quite well camouflaged when she didn’t move.
“Even though I normally don’t care about my appearance” said an unhappy Toph, “even I know I look ridiculous.”
“You look fine,” said Aang, “you just have to make sure you don’t get too close, otherwise someone could see you moving.”
Toph suddenly looked resigned to her fate.
“OK, so I’ll head off to cover the Firenation soldiers, and you go keep track of those Earthkingdom troops” said Aang, taking a step back.
Toph simply nodded her head in approval.


Zuko and Sokka were walking side by side down a small path leading a column of about twenty other Earthkingdom solders. Only a few of the soldiers appeared to be benders. Some way in front of the small column was Suki, walking next to a very weary looking Earthkingdom officer.
“So, have there been many attacks?” asked Suki to the officer.
“Often enough” said the sceptical older man, “we normally go out in bigger patrols now. We’ve lost a few of our men captured in smaller groups; but those Firenation guys mostly do hit and run attacks,”
Suki looked stunned at the level of hostility.
“And you’re sure that they’re fire benders, I mean the war is over?” asked a sceptical Suki.
“No one seems to have told them that” said the officer. He loosened his longer shirt sleeve, revealing a bandage underneath. He briefly lifted the bandage to reveal a nasty looking fresh burn mark down one arm.
“Perhaps that will convince you,” he said with conviction.
Back in the main column, Zuko and Sokka looked at each other in shock, seeing what was going on in front. Just behind them, a gruff looking man noticed their expressions.
“You wanted experience ha” he said sternly to the two youngsters.
Both of them turned back to look at him, the soldier looked a little shocked when he saw Zuko’s scar.
“Looks like you’ve already had a few battles with the Firenation” he said approvingly, nodding to Zuko.
The young Firelord raised his hand automatically to his face.
“You could say that” confirmed Zuko.
“Well, you’ll get your chance at revenge” the older soldier continued, “the war may be over everywhere else, but not here. They captured my brother only a few weeks ago, the scum. He was part of a supply column.”
Around them, there was a general murmur of solidarity from the battle weary soldiers.
Both Zuko and Sokka were looking decidedly angry at the injustice.
“Well get your brother back” said Sokka angrily, seemingly convinced by the mounting evidence against the Firenations soldiers, “those Firenation troops are in for a nasty surprise.”
“A very nasty surprise” added Zuko looking equally unhappy.


A few hundred meters away from the Earthkingdom patrol, deep within the forest that surrounded the small path, there came a rustling from a bush. Suddenly a hand appeared from underneath the suspicious foliage. Toph felt the ground to gather her bearings. She could see the ‘shadows’ of the column of soldiers from the vibrations rippling through the ground. Raising her hand again, the bush seemingly slid off in one direction, following the soldiers.


In another part of the forest a shadow was gliding soundlessly through the forest canopy. Aang stopped suddenly, leaning on a trunk and looking through a gap in the foliage. In the distance he could see the Firenation patrol making its way through the forest. A Firenation officer and two soldiers where out in front of the main column of fifteen non-benders who trailed behind, with Mai and Katara lagging still further back bringing up the rear. Satisfied, Aang quickly disappeared onwards into the forest.


Katara was walking beside Mai, deliberately having lagged back to talk to her without being overheard.
“I’m not sure I can do this” said Katara sceptically, “by the sounds of it there is a good chance we’ll be attacked, and I have no idea how to use this thing.”
Katara pulled out her sword and held it limply in one hand to emphasise her point.
Mai reached over and stiffened Katara’s hold.
“Just do as Zuko instructed you,” said Mai “Think of it as an extension of yourself, like a very short water whip. But this time make sure you keep a hold of it.”

Mai remembered back to Katara trying a few experimental swings with Zuko’s sword.
The water bender seemed to be getting the hang of it, using water bending forms to imitate slashes as instructed.
Zuko was standing nearby, arms crossed. He began to smile as Katara seemed to get the hang of it, using more energetic forms. His expression suddenly froze in fear, however, as Katara lost her grip of the sword during a flick, sending it close by Zuko’s head, before the sword imbedded itself into a tree nearby.

Katara blushed at the memory, putting the sword away again.
“I wouldn’t worry about it, no one expects you to fight, you’re meant to be a battlefield healer after all” said Mai, indicating to the large satchel slung over Katara’s shoulder with a small red cross on the side.
Katara patted the side of the large bag.
“And after your little excursion into the infirmary, I’m quite sure the boy’s will do everything to keep you safe” continued Mai with a smile.

Both of the girls remembered back to a room full of injured Firenation troops, all freshly bandaged and with big smiles, all looking straight at Katara.
“Thank you miss healer lady!” they all sang in happy chorus.

Back in the present, Mai taped the side of the bag with her bow.
“What have you got in there anyway?” she asked.
“Just some simple ointment and herbs, a basic healing balm, just with a little more moisture so I can do my healing underneath without it being seen.”
The two girls walked on for a moment.
“What about you, do you know how to use that thing?” asked Katara, referring to the composite bow.
“I trained a lot with composite bows during my time at the academy under a former Yu-Yan archer, I just prefer daggers and blades because there less conspicuous” answered Mai.
Up ahead, the Firenation officer had momentarily stopped, looking back over the column.
“Pick up the pace! No stragglers!” he called back, before moving on.
Katara and Mai dutifully picked up the pace.
Reforming at the back of the column, the two girls received some goofy grins from the two young Firenation soldiers in front of them.
“Why is he so high strung?” asked Mai to one of the two young men.
“He’s just a little nervous because it’s his first patrol again after being injured” said one soldier.
“Those earth benders love to target the officers” added the other soldier, “you saw all the injured back at base, those cowards never commit to a real fight, they’re just trying to scare us out of the forest.”
“Why would they do that?” asked Katara.
“Who knows?” said one of the men, “but because of their continued hostility against us this whole area is not secure, there are constantly bandit attacks on our supply columns and on civilians and travellers,”
Katara looked distressed at the news.
“I heard a trade caravan was attacked by earth benders and looted, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Earthkingdom troops are doing it themselves” said a third soldier further forward.
“Or at least part of it” added another soldier.
Mai was also now looking particularly un-pleased.
“Dishonourable pigs! Helping to put the lives of women and children at risk” said one of the first two solders, spitting in disgust, “would I love to get my hands on them.”
“So would I” agreed Katara, becoming increasingly angry at the mounting evidence.
“You may have the opportunity to pin them down sooner then you think” said Mai with a dangerous smile, her fingers running along the row of daggers in her belt.


Back at the ruined building where the gang had first met, a camouflaged Aang flew into view on his glider from the surrounding forest canopy.
Landing with a flourish on a ruined wall near some shrubbery, he looked around animatedly for Toph.
Two hands suddenly appeared from the greenery behind the Airnomad and pulled him into the bush.
“Waa!” yelled Aang as he disappeared into the greenery.
Looking inside the bush you could see Toph squatting next to a struggling Aang, who had been buried up to his neck by the earth bender.
“I changed bushes” said Toph with a devilish grin.
“Toph! Get me out of here!” said a disgruntled Aang.
“First tell me what you found” said Toph, sitting down.
Aang huffed a bit but then gave in.
“Nothing much, Mai and Katara are out on patrol, no one else has left the Firenation barracks, and after scanning around I couldn’t find anyone else.”
“Same on my end” confirmed Toph, “though there were a couple of times when I thought I could feel someone else moving around out in the forest, but I was never able to confirm it.”
“Now that you mention it,” said Aang, “I also thought I saw something a few times, but every time I went to check it out, I couldn’t find anything?”
Toph looked like she was contemplating…
“If they’re moving through the trees, I have almost no chance of spotting them” admitted Toph.
Aang nodded, which looked comical considering his almost buried state.
“We’ll split up and swing back by the two bases to make sure no one else has headed out, and then head back into the middle. If there really is an ambush we’ll be able to notice it and go straight in to help” said Aang, “fire benders and earth benders make a lot of noise after all.”
Toph nodded her approval.
“Sounds like a plan” she confirmed.
Toph then got up, grapping her mobile living cover in preparation for heading off.
Aang looked irritated at being forgotten.
“Ahhh Toph?” he questioned
“Oh yah” replied Toph, her tone clearly indicating that she had deliberately forgotten.
With one stomp of her foot, a column of earth shot out of the ground, sending the air bender flying high into the air.
“Now we’re even!” called out a grinning Toph after the still rising Aang. Having said her piece, she promptly returning to her plant-disguise and slid off towards the forest. Aang fell back to earth in the forest in the background.


Zuko and Sokka were looking board, they were both not used to walking so far on foot.
“Man, I wish we had Appa here” whispered Sokka to Zuko, stopping for a second to rub his sore foot. Zuko stopped as well, causing the column to falter.
In front, Suki and the Earthkingdom officer turned to see what the holdup was.
“What’s the problem?” asked the officer angrily.
Ahead on the path, a barrel suddenly rolled into view exactly where the leaders would have walked had they continued.
Turning back forward to see what the noise was, Suki reacted quickest, diving to knock the older officer away from the barrel and behind a tree. A second later the barrel exploded, sending a massive fireball towards the troops. Zuko and Sokka raised their shields just in time, the shockwave sending them flying back into the other soldiers. A second explosion came from the side, sending a large tree toppling down on the troop column, and causing them to scamper to avoid being crushed.
“Blasting jelly!” yelled Sokka through the ruckus. He and Zuko were already scanning the surrounding forest for the next attack, moving in front of some Earthkingdom troops who were still recovering. Around them the small patrol tried to reassemble. Looking into the surrounding forest Zuko suddenly saw a flash of light.
“Fire!” he called out.
An earth bender next to him raised a small defensive wall to defend himself. Zuko and Sokka kneeled into their angled large shields to deflect massive amount of incoming flame. There were too many Earthkingdom solders who had dropped their shields however, and Zuko used his free hand to fire bend some of the intense flame upwards and away from his fallen comrades. No one noticed however as everyone was shielding their eyes from the intense heat and light.
No sooner had the intense flame stopped then what appeared to be Firenation troops emerged from the forest, all of them were armed with weapons, and none appeared to be fire benders.
Numerous stunned Earthkingdom soldiers were immediately caught in nets as the group of twenty attackers descended on the patrol. Suki used her drawn sword to cut through a flying net aimed for her and charged forward. Zuko and Sokka also went into the offensive quickly, engaging in furious close combat exchanges using their swords and shields.


Over with Mai and Katara, all appeared to be going well. Katara and Mai had started to hang back a bit, seemingly enjoying the lovely day.
Suddenly the lives of the Firenation solders turned upside down, for some of them, literally. The ground underneath the main column seemingly gave way and most of the solders had to dive and scamper to avoid falling into the sudden pit, though four unlucky men found themselves suddenly half buried.
The officer and his men up front had to use fire bending to deflect a series of flying rocks coming in from various directions. It didn’t take long for men in Earthkingdom uniforms to appear from the surrounding forest, a few benders, but mostly non benders descended on the petrol.
Caught at the back, Katara automatically grabbed for her only water source, her large amount of healing ointment. Seemingly flicking the lotion, she actually water bended into the eyes of two attackers.
Mai had fired an arrow and flung a surprised attacker back into the forest from where he came, she then despatched another using some daggers.
Preparing another arrow, Mai looked around and saw that the two were out of immediate danger. However, the rest of the column was fighting desperately.
“Lets go!” said Mai turning to Katara, “and use your sword!” she added,
Katara suddenly remembered her sword and drew it a little clumsily while running. Her expression became determined however and she held it more solidly, the two girls descended into the Mêlée.


Travelling through the tree tops, Aang suddenly herd a large explosion; a second later he saw a fireball rise into the air followed by smoke some distance away.  Quickly he changed course to head towards the trouble.


In another part of the forest, Toph also heard the explosion of rock, followed by the sound of numerous fireballs. Quickly she slid off in the direction of the combat.


Zuko, Sokka, Suki and the remaining able Earthkindom troops fought a hard close quarter battle against a strong and aggressive opponent.
Zuko locked swords with an attacker, getting a close look at an unshaved and very rough looking man in a Firenation uniform.
After knocking down the attacker Zuko noticed that the few comrades on the other side of the toppled tree were quickly loosing the fight, some were already being carried away in nets.
“Sokka!” called out Zuko, indicating the unfortunate comrades.
Sokka tripped up his opponent and ran after Zuko. In the background the remaining attackers on that side of the tree began to crumble in the face of a rallied force, lead by a skilful Suki and the Earthkingdom officer. Zuko and Sokka dropped their shields and vaulted the trunk of the large fallen tree, quickly taking on the ambushing troops who were trying to carry off the captured. After a quick exchange the attackers realised they were facing capture themselves and withdrew, leaving the netted soldiers behind.
Breathing heavily, Sokka quickly cut the nets of the captured.
Looking around, Suki could see that about half the force, roughly fourteen men in total, were still battle ready, the rest were not badly injured but still dazed.
“Don’t let them get away!” shouted Zuko suddenly, coming to a snap decision. Only a moment later, he snatched a discarded shield and quickly dashed into the forest after the fleeing enemy, a split second after that, everyone else followed with a combined roar, obviously caught up in the moment.
The hapless Earthkingdom officer had little choice but to follow his men.


Katara flung some more ointment into the eyes of an attacker that had downed a Firenation comrade. She just had time to raise her sword as another sword come down. Out-powered, Katara desperately deflected the blow, doing similarly with the next few thrusts in water-bending-style fluid body motions. Quickly out positioning the attacker with her footwork, she was able to push him over when he was off balance.
Mai deflected a spear thrust with a large dagger, back flipping into the centre of a group of Firenation solders fighting back to back. In a blindingly fast sequence, she sent an attacker flying back with her dagger, intercepted a flying rock heading for a comrade with an arrow shot, destroyed another flying rock with another withdrawn smaller dagger in her hand, and then sent that dagger flying at the earth bender who had fired the rock. The earth bender was barely able to raise a protective wall, the point of the dagger however making it through to the other side, causing the attacker’s face to fall in fear.
“Retreat!” the surprised earth bender called out.
The attackers immediately broke off and disappeared into the forest.
On the Firenation side about twelve solders were left standing. The rest seemed to be mostly uninjured and only lightly dazed.
“Don’t let them get away!” shouted Mai suddenly, echoing Zuko’s call.
The rest of the solders were seemingly only waiting for the order, the remaining troops launching themselves after the attackers as one.


Aang stopped his travels through the trees, launching himself high into the sky to get an overview. From one side, he could see fireballs and dust explosions, from the other side the occasional rock came flying out from the canopy, accompanied by shouts, the two pitched battles were approaching each other rapidly.
Coming back down, he thought he could see shadows travelling through the trees nearby coming from the direction of both battles, another explosion up ahead however kept him moving forwards.
Toph was on the other side of the soon-to-be colliding battles, and stopped to put her hands on the ground. The silhouettes from the acoustic vibrations told her that the two groups being chased were about to meet up just ahead of her. Suddenly, it was as if the two groups disappeared one by one. Confused, Toph concentrated, but her ears soon picked up rustling from above, people were moving through the canopy above her, up ahead there was a shout, the two chasing groups were about to meet up.


Zuko and the other Earthkingdom troops appeared in a small clearing. Opposite them, Mai and Katara’s Firenation patrol suddenly appeared.
“There they are!” came two almost simultaneous shouts from each group. Not noticing that their opponent suddenly looked different, the two groups clashed.
Zuko, still wearing his Earthkingdome military hat had turned to duel with a helmeted Katara after fending off a separate attack, the two exchanging a very unusually fluid bending style of sword fighting with a few slashes and blocks.
Mai fired an arrow at Sokka, who barely got his shield up in time. The young Firenation lady then saw Suki in her very noticeable combat gear.
“Suki?” said Mai in confusion.
“Mai!?” said Sokka loudly, then looking at the arrow that had half penetrated his shield with concern.
“Katara?” said Zuko, suddenly realising who his unusual sword opponents was.
“Zuko?”
The youngsters all took a step back from the combat, looking at each other in concern.
“What are you doing?!” said the angry Firenation soldier near Mai, he was locking swords with an Earthkingdom soldier.
Before Mai got a chance to reply, Aang suddenly appeared from high up in the nearby forest canopy.
Leaping through the air, he brought his staff down in a wide arc as he landed on the ground. A massive gust of wind travelled through the middle of the battlefield and sent the combatants flying away from each other.
The youngsters had taken enough of a step back to remain on their feet, simply raising their hands to shield their eyes.
“That’s enough!” said Aang commandingly.
The dust settled to reveal Aang standing in a very authoritarian manner, unfortunately it was not helped by the fact he was covered in leaves and mud.
One of the soldiers, who was quicker to recover, got to his feet.
“Who are you?” he asked, honestly baffled.
Aang looked dumfounded for a second, he then seemingly noticed his own condition for the first time. Raising his hand, he wiped the camouflage free of his forehead, revealing the very recognisable blue arrow.
“The Avatar!” came a disbelieving shout from another trooper.
“Damn straight!” said an approving Sokka, “and now its time to solve this little mess and find out which side are the bad guys.”
As if already making up his mind on the matter, Sokka took an aggressive stance towards the Firenation troops. This was quickly mimicked by Zuko and Suki.
Katara and Mai also took defensive stances, but towards the Earthkingdom troops, affectively causing a faceoff between the friends, much to their own surprise a second later.
“But your side attacked us?” said Katara suddenly.
“No, it was you who attacked us” replied Suki, also confused
From the other side of the clearing, a bush suddenly slid elegantly into view and moved in-between the stunned troops until it stopped in the middle of the clearing. All looked on in a mixture of confusion and worry.
Suddenly Toph’s head appeared out of the bush, with a quick flick of her wrists she earth bended much of the dirt and camouflage off of her until she was mostly free, though still very dirty.
“Sorry Sokka” said Toph solemnly, “it’s not going to be that easy this time.”


A small campfire shone its limited light around the dark ruins of the deserted building the gang had first arrived at.
Appa lay near the fire, contentedly dozing. Momo lay on Katara’s Lap, enjoying some attention. Toph, Aang, Sokka, Suki and Katara were all situated around the fire, staring at the flames in thought.
“Why do all of your plans recently involve us dressing up?” asked Toph sceptically after a few seconds.
“I just point out the best plan, it’s not my fault that it involves going undercover again” replied Sokka, raising his arms in defence.
“It was a lot easier when the bad guys announced themselves beforehand” said Toph, crossing her arms and leaning them on her knees.
“Now that the Avatar is back” Katara said, nodding towards Aang and causing the young Airnomad to grin goofily, “they’re not going to be many people left who advertise their bad intentions.”
Sokka frowned for a second before leaning back with his hands behind his head.
“What ever happened to good old evil kings and crazy warlord?” he said.
“There were never any evil kings” said Suki from next to her boyfriend.
“You know what I mean” dismissed Sokka, waving his hand around.
“The crazy warlord may be gone” said a voice from behind the group, Aang, Katara, Suki and Sokka turned around, startled by the sudden appearance of Zuko and Mai from the night’s darkness.
“But he left a big mess for us to clean up” Zuko continued.
Toph, who didn’t look at all surprised, suddenly spoke up.
“Oh ya, Sparky and Sunshine are back” she announced to the group, a little too late.
All of Toph’s seated companions turned to give her an evil look, for letting them by surprised like that.
“How did you know it was them?” asked Suki sceptically.
“Sunshine walks almost as lightly as twinkeltoes, and Sparky stomps around like a sabre-toothed-moose” Toph replied kindly.
Mai took a seat close to the fire.
“Well spotted, dusty” Mai said sweetly, smirking towards the earth bender.
“Dusty?” said Toph, trying out the nickname for herself “I like” she added with a grin.
“So, did everything work out at the Firenation base?” asked Aang with interest.
“Where were you for so long?” added Katara.
Zuko removed his travelling cloak before taking a seat next to Mai.
“Everything ‘seemed’ to go fine” Zuko said solemnly.
“Seemed?” questioned Aang.
“The General accepted the order to keep his men in the base for the next few days until we have had a chance to try out Sokka’s plan” Zuko said.
Mai continued on behalf of her boyfriend.
“But no matter what we said, he wouldn’t believe that the Earthkingdom soldiers were not involved somehow. He insisted that if we do not return in a few days that he would come looking for us.”
Aang looked a little worried.
“You’re the Firelord, can’t you just order him to stay?” asked Sokka.
“As the Firelord, I shouldn’t be undertaking missions to root out phantom soldiers” replied Zuko, “so yes and no, I can’t really blame him for wanting to ensure I am safe.”
“We have two days” said Mai, placing a reassuring hand on Zuko’s lap, one he covered with his own a moment later.
“How did it go at your end?” asked Zuko, facing Aang.
“Unlike you, I’m not the head of state” said Aang, “I can’t really order the Earthkingdom general to stay in his base… but I think I convinced him to give us a bit of time.”
Aang turned to Toph, “what do you think Toph?” asked Aang to the small earth bender, “Do you think he was lying when he said he would wait for us to return?”
Toph thought about this for a second.
“I don’t think he was lying directly,” she said eventually “but there is a lot of anger and frustration amongst him and his soldiers, I think he will maybe keep his word for a few days... but after that, who can say.”
Aang looked back towards the fire, contemplating for a few second.
“A few days is all we have then” he said determinedly.
“Ya” agreed Zuko, his voice sounding further away.
Reaching into his pocked, Zuko brought back out a small scroll, obviously from a messenger hawk.
“The reason we took so long was because I got a letter from my Uncle” Zuko stated to the group.
“What did he say?” asked Aang, his head coming up.
“He just said that he might be able to get us some more help soon.”
“What kind of help?” asked Katara.
“He didn’t say” replied Zuko, “But I wrote him to say that it better be a lot of help, and quickly.”
“Don’t worry so much Zuko” said Aang, trying to be cheerful, “we’ll have this sorted out soon enough.”
Zuko didn’t let Aang’s cheer influence him, frowning again before speaking once more.
“There are now a lot of shared boarders… and it will be some time before the Firenation has fully withdrawn… or security arrangements have been settles. If this is what we think it is, it could happen again anywhere along the boarder… and as we saw today, neither side needs much of an excuse for something like this to tern from a little spark, into something really nasty.”
All of the youngsters turned to watch the fire, which crackled loudly to punctuate Zuko’s analogy.
“So we play dress-ups again tomorrow” said Toph, filling the silence, “your plan better work Sokka.”
Sokka nodded confidently.
Suddenly the small group was lost in their own thoughts under the dark, star filled sky above.

End of Episode 4
Episode four.

So, where do we go from the last story? Why onto the main story ark naturally. ^^ Plenty of material for the entire gang to continue to develop… I hope you enjoy. ^^
(Let me know)

Alternative title for this episode is “No man’s land”.

Also, at the end of Episode 5, I’ll be giving out the tittles of the next five episodes… just a little something for Christmas.

Biz

A link to the appropriate cover art: [link]

A link to the next Episode (The blossom of the White Lotus): [link]

Last episode, Toph’s home coming: [link]

First episode, Unfinished business: [link]
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firewyrm2018's avatar
this one i dont really get