Big Trouble in Little Gaoling <Gaoling, EK>

[meatandsarcasm]

Absorbed in his shopping, it was not until he heard a familiar voice shouting questions and commands that he realized exactly what was going on out in the streets. Before he could do anything about it, though, his sister had pulled him behind a large rack of hats. Peering out from behind them, the two siblings saw their fears confirmed: a cadre of Fire Nation soldiers, some on komodo-rhinos, and in the middle of them, none other than the scarred prince that had been chasing them around the world.

“Zuko,” Katara breathed, with more than a little malice in her voice. “We have to go warn Aang.”

She started to move, but Sokka grabbed her by the arm, “Hold on a second. We need to be careful. If they see where we’re going, we’d be putting Toph’s family in danger. We can’t be seen going that way…”

He peered out from their hiding place and looked around. Fire Nation soldiers were swarming the area. There’s no way they’d be able to just walk away. He grimaced. They needed a distraction, and as the self proclaimed leader of the group, that meant it was his duty to provide that distraction.

“Start to head out the back,” he whispered. “I’ll give us a distraction, then you can go get Aang.”

Katara frowned worriedly, “Sokka…”

“Trust me,” he said, giving a small smile.

With a small bit of hesitation, Katara nodded and complied. After watching her go for a moment, Sokka reached over his shoulder with his right hand and pulled out his boomerang. He took a deep breath, and peered out between the hats one more time. It was time for a little payback. He rose his arm in preparation, pivoted out from behind the hat rack, and let his boomerang fly into the street. He had planned to hit Zuko with it, but much to his dismay, the whirling boomerang was instead heading towards the noggin of a young Fire Nation soldier walking in front of the Prince’s rhino. Oh well. Even if he didn’t get a pot-shot in at Zuko, hitting the head of one of his lackeys would serve the same purpose…

[zuko]

Zuko sat atop his komodo-rhino, his eyes darting back and forth at all the faces that seemed to rush past him while his soldiers began tearing through the town. Doors crashing open, an angry yell directed at him and his troops, people shoving their way through the town to get to their homes that could very well be broken into by the prince’s soldiers – all of this added to the chaotic frenzy that now surrounded him. That Avatar had to be here somewhere; Zuko refused to believe otherwise.

The prince was so distracted by turning around and looking for a boy with an arrow on his forehead, that he just barely missed a weapon come flying towards his own head. At the last second, Zuko had caught sight of this weapon at the corner of his eye and swiftly moved out of the way before it could hit him. It was a boomerang, he noticed. But by the time this realization came to the prince, the boomerang had come down and whacked Sho upside the head.

It would have been funny if Zuko was not so distracted by finding the person who threw the boomerang. That didn’t take long, though. Once he recognized the weapon, Zuko knew who threw it: it was that water tribe peasant’s. If anything, Zuko had to give the peasant credit for stupidity, because if the water tribe kid was here….then so was the Avatar. And boomerangs always came back to their thrower…

“There you are…” Zuko murmured, his eyes catching sight of the water peasant with a gleam of triumph as the boomerang came flying back to its master. Zuko was right – it was him.

Immediately, without caring who got in his way, Zuko stood and jumped off his komodo-rhino. He landed just feet away from the peasant – and without seeming to care what else was around him – Zuko swiftly took a stance and punched a wave of fire into the boy’s direction…

[sho]

Sho had been completely enwrapped in the chaos. Whether it was people running, shouts ringing out from both soldiers and innocent townspeople, or the clink of readying weapons, it reached Sho’s suddenly sharp focus. He was going to be alert at all times, he promised himself as he glanced around his surroundings. Nothing would escape his notice, and he would be a useful asset to the group. Sho felt his fists tighten at his sides as he considered what he might have to do in a worse case scenario and, because of this, bit his bottom lip. Sho was not used to using his firebending for strictly offensive purposes in battle.

Marching dutifully alongside the prince’s rhino, Sho took a routine scan of his surroundings. To his surprise, he noticed a faint, swiftly approaching shape come nearer and nearer… He narrowed his eyes as he tried to understand the odd figure… And then it hit him.

“AH!”

Sho stumbled back and quite promptly fell to the ground as a stinging pain suddenly shot through his entire cranium and soon his spine. As his back hit dirt, all his breath seemed to be knocked from his lungs, and Sho gasped before groaning in pain, his thoughts completely scattered. He could only focus on the misery that consumed his very being at that moment, and for several seconds then it was hard for him to open his eyes, let alone comprehend exactly what had happened to him. However, when his eyes soon opened, the first thing Sho saw was Zuko’s foot hitting the ground, and it sprinting away. He was being deserted.

Well, that was just perfect.

After many grunts and groans, Sho finally managed to get to his feet, using the nearby komodo rhino for support. His forehead creased as pain continued to shoot through his head, and he dazedly wondered how he was going to stay in the fight when he could barely stand…

And that’s when Sho realized that the rhino he was using as a leaning post had no rider.

Using the reins, Sho pulled himself up into the saddle. After rubbing his head once and muttering a small curse, Sho grasped the straps with renewed intensity before snapping them tight and nudging his heels into the rhino’s side. Soon, Sho was in route behind the prince...

[airnomad]

Aang was a little surprised by Toph's diction as she instructed him to write. He hesitated in writing down her exact words, thinking they seemed a little calloused. "Ummm..." he stalled, wanted to ask if perhaps she could rephrase it a little. Even if it wasn't him saying these things, he still had to write them, and he felt strange leaving such a terse note for her parents. He also wanted to ask exactly where she was going since, thusfar, there had been no formal arrangements for her to travel with their group.

However, as Toph left the room swiftly and announced she was going to change, it left the Avatar no real chance to ask questions. Instead he just decided to soften the impact of Toph's statement by adding a little touch of his own to the letter.

Dear Mother and Father,
I made it home safely, but am not staying. I will be travelling for a while, and promise to return as soon as I can. Please don't worry. I will be in good company.
Love,
Toph

Aang blew a strong, bending-aided breath over the parchment to dry the ink and then held it up at arm's length to observe his handiwork. Everything seemed to be legible, and the note sounded much better to his ears. The air nomad placed it back down on the table and positioned the paper weights on the corners to hold it open.

Aang strolled around the room idly for a moment, not wanting to try and find Toph again lest he stumble on her room while she was still getting change. Instead he contented himself to whistling some happy tune for a few moments while he wandered over to a window.

Through the open panes he could see the mansion's elaborate garden and once more he was smitten by its beauty. He wasn't sure just how rich Toph's family was, but they had the services of an impeccable landscaper. However, his attention was drawn away from the garden after a little while by the appearance of a thin column of smoke rising up from somewhere over the wall. Aang watched it curiously, wondering if there was a bonfire somewhere in the city.

[meatandsarcasm]

Sokka couldn’t help but smirk with satisfaction as he saw his boomerang send the young Fire Nation soldier sprawling. It was satisfying, but he would have rather hit Prince Angry-Jerk, especially considering that was who was leaping towards him at the moment. Sokka barely had time to snatch his boomerang out of the air before he was forced to hop out of the way as the scared firebender sent a wave of flame right at him. The flames caught a display of handbags instead, and Sokka stumbled to a halt. His lips tightened into a frown and he crouched into a fighting stance, his boomerang raised as though prepared to strike.

“I’ve got a score to settle with you, scar-face,” he growled at the young man before him.

Before Sokka spoke further, he noticed that every Fire Nation soldier in the area was heading towards him, including one with a komodo-rhino. Damn it all. He was looking so cool, too…

“So, uh, you remember that!” he quickly finished, and with that, promptly turned tail and ran.

Hurdling over a display table and out of the booth, Sokka placed his boomerang back in its holder, and fled at an all out sprint. However, while he was running away, he was still doing what he’d set out to do, for he was fleeing in the opposite direction that Katara had left in, and away from the Bei Fong estate.

Meanwhile, Katara had managed to escape the area without being noticed, and was now headed towards the Bei Fong estate to warn Aang…

[blindgirl]

The trip to the attic was a quiet one, she carefully fetched her blind bandit uniform, folded in a crate with bags of her rewards lined in the trunk. Lifting the lot of it out she kicked the wooden container shut heading down to her room to change and pack, it wouldn't take long. Time was short enough, no need to dawdle...

Even with her sore straight laced attitude Toph couldn't help but feel nervous as she packed away her items into her back. A few shirts, her loot, a comb, some pants and other things she figured she'd need. Softly she let out a small sigh, would her parents worry about her? She told them not to bother her. Her fingertips went to her head bands her finger tips grazing over the familiar feel of the fabric. It seemed everything was in order now. Tugging her shirt into what she imagined was it's proper place she stood up struggling the back over her shoulder. Her hand rested it's self on her dresser, the smooth polished wood so natural under her finger tips. Would it be here if she ever came back home?

Knowing that if she thought about it for to long she'd back out, Toph moved out of the room quickly bending her door out of her way stepping through the frame into the hallway. She needed to get out of here before the "avatar" noticed she'd been gone a while, she used him now she was finished with the lot of them. Quietly she walked through the estate heading to a separate back door. Perhaps she could attend one last rumble, if only to bid her loser whipping boys good buy and get a bit more to finance her trip.

With that thought in mind a small smile tugged at the corner of her lips, when she reached the last door separating her from freedom she stopped though. Her blind eyes closed and her head drooped a bit as tears threatened to fall. She was doing the wrong thing, but how would her parents react to her bending? She had to admit she was afraid, afraid to know what they thought, to see she wasn't so helpless, they might not accept her. It was frightening.

Just as the salty streams began to run down her pale cheeks her head bucked straight up, her mouth slightly agape. What was going on in the town? Her eyes were open wide as she attempted to decifer the faint rumbling from the streets, it was too big to be another bar fight in the shadier districts. Straightening herself up she took a breath, hardened her expression and wiping her tears away. Reaffirming her resolve she knew what she had to do. She'd take care of the interlopers and then get out like she initially planned.

[airnomad]

Fingers drumming absently on the windowsil as he occasionally glanced across the room to where he had last seen the blind girl, Aang was growing just a little bored with waiting. He turned his attention once more to the room itself, picking out some of the smaller furnishings and details that he'd managed to overlook before. Eventually his gaze wandered back toward the town and the curious trails of smoke rising in a few spots. What were they cooking?

"Aang!"

The young Avatar's eyes snapped away from the sky and towards the far end of the garden. He'd heard Katara's voice, and within moments he saw the Water tribe girl running with all speed toward the mansion. Aang hardly gave it a moment's consideration before he picked his staff up from its leaning position against the wall and hopped right out the window. The bending-aided jump caried him over the flowerbed that lined the mansion and onto the gravel pathway where he popped back up to his feet immediately. "Katara! Over here!" he shouted back to the waterbender.

Katara caught sight of him and altered her course. After a few moments she reached him, breathing heavily from her full out sprint to reach him. "Prince Zuko... He's in the town. We need to get out of here."

Aang's eyes widened significantly at the news. But after only a moment the shock subsided and he nodded with Katara's suggestion. "What about Toph?" Aang asked, gesturing at the mansion.

"I'll warn her about what's going on," Katara replied. "You need to call Appa and find Sokka."

"Here," Aang said as he fished the bison whistle out from the inside of his shirt. He sucked in a deep breath and blew a loud blast on the whistle, though its pitch rendered it inaudible to human ears. After making the call to get Appa's attention, he handed off the whistle to Katara. "Keep calling Appa and catch up with us in the town.... And see if Toph will come too. I don't think she has anywhere else to go."

And with that, surged a current of air through his fingertips and into his glider, popping the wing supports out from the body of the staff. Pulling them out to their full wingspan, he tossed the glider ahead of him to get some altitude and then ran along underneath it. With a high jump, he propelled himself up within reach of the glider and grabbed on tight. With his airbending he circulated a current under the wings and darted over rows of buildings, skimming just above the rooftops.

Aang eventually crossed over a street that opened up into a slightly wider plaza and came into view of a handful of rhino-riding firebenders who were terrorizing the town. Shouts sounded among the men and the focus went almost immediately toward him. Fire blasts began rocketing at the glider, which Aang avoided by veering upward sharply and pushing as hard as he could with an air current to give him some altitude. He evntually flipped over in the air and came down at a more shallow angle, searching for some sign of Sokka.

"Sokka!" he yelled, hoping to find Katara's brother and be out of there before Zuko and his men could organize any sort of trap to prevent escape.

[blindgirl]

Katara watched Aang head off with a small pit forming in her stomach, she was supposed to get Toph to come? Surely Aang could find some more worthy allies but given the time crunch it didn't seem like arguing would help the matter at all. With a brisk nod she head into the home her hands on either side of the wooden framed entrance with her body leaning into the room as her head whipped back and forth allowing her a good survey of the room. No Toph in here, there was no time to waste in finding the girl.

Zuko was nothing they hadn't been able to handle before and yet all the same she was worried. The persistent prince had been getting rather close lately... " Toph there's firenation invading the village! We need your help!." There was no response, not a thing, maybe Toph had already packed up and left town, that brat dragging them around and requesting a ride, they could have found Aang a decent teacher by now. That little girl didn't think of anything but herself.

From behind the water bending teen the earth bender scoffed forcing the older to turn around in mild surprise. Toph now seemed to look rather boyish, a far cry from her robes before. Still she had the appearance of a child though Katara had learned that it was merely a guise for her bending prowesses. Toph's bangs held in her face obscuring the view of her eyes at they normally did but the slight flush and tear stains she didn't manage to wipe away caught the teens eyes. Was Aang serious when he mentioned her not having a place to go. It couldn't be easy, she didn't know the entire story, the stuck up girl was about as open as a bolted door.

" We should probably move then unless you'd rather we invite the soldiers over for tea." Toph barked out with her usual sarcastic edge cutting the words. The girl then shook her head and ran off towards the commotion with Katara quick behind her fuming over any pity even momentary she may have granted the girl. This would be the second time she'd get to face actual fire benders, Toph's hands flexed in excitement, it was nice to honestly let loose and fight, she didn't have to worry about hurting little actors feeling after giving them a boulder to the face.

The blind girl clenched her jaw trying to judge how long it'd take to reach the scene, running wasn't fast enough to make a difference, the city was too populated to do any major bending in. She''d ride a surge of earth under her to cut time nearly in half but the damage done would be costly, she'd have to hold herself back a little bit at least. Either way she was almost there and the fire benders were about to get a pretty big surprise from her with love. Katara wasn't as focused as Toph was though, at least not in the same terms. " Must you always have such a big mouth?"

Toph grimaced, was she gonna start this again, her head whipped to look behind her where the water teen was loping nearly instep with her. It didn't take much to make the girl snap at someone " Save it sugar queen, the adults need to handle this."

"Sugar queen!?" Came the outraged response before Katara competitive as she was rushed past Toph urging the younger girl to keep pace and over take the teen.

" SUGAR QUEEN!" It wasn't much longer that they reached the outer stretch of street on which the fight was winding up.

[zuko]

The prince’s troops had already seemed to make quite a surrounding of the town. However, once some of the soldiers caught sight of the airbender on his glider, some had already taken off in pursuit. They were just as eager to catch the Avatar as the scarred prince was – they’ve been waiting forever to get home too. Iroh sat atop his own komodo-rhino and watched as the chaotic frenzy of the town surrounded him. As most of the citizens began to run away from his nephew’s on coming troops, the old firebender simply shook his head. His nephew had no care for organization – he just simply always rushed into things too quickly. And now, of course, the prince’s uncle couldn’t seem to find Zuko anywhere. Perhaps he found a lead, but Iroh wasn’t going to go after his nephew in pursuit; he knew the prince always hated it when his uncle would get into his affairs. So, quite calmly, Iroh sighed and continued to sit, waiting out for what would soon happen next.

Meanwhile, Zuko still had the water peasant in his view. After the coward had up and ran, Zuko raced down the central plaza of the town after the boy, taking wild turns into alleyways, backyards, and behind shops. As the chasing continued down another street, he wondered why he was even bothering with this peasant. But, no…if the prince could catch the Avatar’s friend (for he didn’t seem like much of a challenge) perhaps a little trade could be in order; a hostage could work just as nicely as catching the actual thing the prince needed. He wasn’t going to lose this time empty-handed; he was in absolute denial at the chance of never going home again and never having what rightfully belonged to him. If it was going to be any consolation, having this peasant as a prisoner would at least give the Avatar a reason to follow the prince for once.

The teen growled at his growing impatience with this chase – he was getting closer now, but he had to stop the kid at some point, perhaps even corner him. With this, Zuko’s scowl firmed as he reached up and grabbed an oncoming awning that hung over a doorway. He grabbed the supporting posts of it, swung himself atop it, and then used the awning as a step onto the rooftop of a home. Zuko fiercely ran on, gaining speed as he jumped from one rooftop to the next rooftop, criss-crossing his way until the boy continued down the same alleyway, only to end up in front of the prince.

Zuko jumped down from the overhanging rooftop at that moment and landed – quite forcefully - in front of the water tribe peasant, completely cutting him off from going any further into the alley.

“Nowhere to go now,” he scowled at the boy. Zuko clenched his fists then, causing two blow-torch-like flames to appear between his knuckles. The prince figured the peasant had two choices: give up or be scorched.

[sho]

It was quite difficult to maneuver a bulky komodo rhino in the first place, let alone through small alleyways. As a matter of fact, it was completely impossible to fit a rhino and himself through some of the places the prince’s chase had taken – such as narrow roads and backyards – and, therefore, Sho had been forced to improvise.

Brow furrowing, Sho glanced around frantically as the prince and his prey disappeared through a narrow street, trying to find another productive path. The others were heading deeper into the city now, in one direction. Perhaps he could even cut the boy off if he took another route. Satisfied with this idea, Sho urged the rhino forward, and the two of them rushed through the streets, hectically knocking over food carts, trashcans, and sometimes narrowly avoiding people….

As they moved down a never-ending strip of pavement, Sho wondered who the boy Zuko was chasing was and what significance he held… He really should be more informed, Sho thought. If Sho did indeed succeed and cut him off, he wouldn’t be sure how to confront him… Hopefully Zuko would take charge of the intimidating.

Gritting his teeth, Sho swerved the rhino, which let out many tired and irritated grunts now, down a street, along the outskirts of what appeared to be a rather nice neighborhood. Sho slowed his ride down now, sighing a little as he realized he was quite lost now, though he could hear the chaos caused by the other soldiers moving ever closer to where he was now… Otherwise, he seemed quite alone, which made it easy to hear the shouts nearby.

Sho turned around instantly, quickly spotting two sprinting figures – neither clad in red, and one female, with dark brown hair and braids. He did not know much about the Avatar’s crew... but these two were certainly suspicious.

With that, Sho turned his animal around in an all heated chase, soon cutting through another road that led to the street that the two running figures were on. He almost grinned in satisfaction – he was about to cut them off!

“Stop!” Sho shouted in the most masculine voice he could muster as he neared the two. In retrospect, he probably could of thought of something more intimidating. To make up for it, he took a deep breath, and punched his fist into the air, shooting a straight line of fire right into their path.

[meatandsarcasm]

Sokka did not like running long distances. However, he had a greater distaste for being burned to a crisp, so he had kept running well beyond his normal comfort zone. The Prince was pretty quick, Sokka had to admit that, but Sokka’s long stride (and perhaps his lack of armor) had kept him out of reach thus far. After turning a sharp corner, Sokka glanced over his shoulder and grinned as he noticed his lack of pursuers. He’d finally outpaced him. However, when he turned his head back around, that grin disintegrated immediately, for Zuko had landed right in front of him. Skidding to a halt, he turned his head in preparation to turn right around, but two Fire Nation soldiers blocked his escape.

He panted heavily as he glanced back in forth. Much as he was loathe to admit it, Zuko was right: he had nowhere left to run. Still, he’d done even better than expected. Surely Katara had found Aang by now, and they were on their way back for him, maybe even with Appa. All he needed to do was somehow signal where he was, and they could sweep in to deliver a surprise attack to the unaware Fire Prince before quickly leaving town. But how was he to signal them? Suddenly, he recalled how this whole thing had started in the first place and got an idea.

Sokka’s right hand flew up to grab his boomerang, and in one swift motion, let it fly – at least a dozen meters over Zuko’s head. The sun glinted off his weapon as it flew high into the sky, far above Gaoling’s buildings to where anyone in the area would be able to spot it. His boomerang still in the air, Sokka smirked and pulled out his machete from its sheath at his waist, eyes glancing between Zuko and his lackeys. All he had to do now was hold out for a minute…

[blindgirl]

Toph stopped once they reached the first building, her back pressed against the building and she ground her feet into the cobblestone street, she frowned, there were a lot more fire benders then she had planned for, still there weren't as many as there were in Omashu, at least here she knew there would be no backups coming, or at least thats what she had hoped.

Katara came up behind Toph and glared at the girl, " Why are you stopping we need to help So-mph!" Toph's hand was firmly pressed against the water teens mouth, she didn't even bother turning to look at the girl, her head was tilted down and her brows were furrowed, her eyes distant. The older girl flushed with indignation, how dare that brat act so stuck up to her. She quickly shoved Toph's grimy hands away from her face dropping her voice to a harsh whisper. " What are you doing?!"

The blind girls head tilted towards the other girl and she scowled, her voice was also kept to the level of a huffed tone. " I'm sorry but I didn't think you'd want to be a sishkabob." With this Katara closed her mouth, there would be no getting through to the girl, she wouldn't waste her breath. Toph's attention went back to what she felt, there were a large group of people searching about, a large beast was headed their way but with the way it was moving there didn't seem to be a rider, or if there was it was a poor one.

She didn't give the teen more than a nod before she shot off running across the street to the next line of buildings where they could get a better handle on the location of Sokka Aang or a possible leader of the group. Katara trotted along behind Toph, her head whipping around to see that the rhino did indeed have a rider. The teen stopped before the girl and immediately her hands went to uncork her water skin, a thin stream of water lashing out, a simple water whip hit the front legs of the animal enough to spook it.

Toph skidded to a halt a few seconds after Katara, she turned towards the komodo-rhino, if that guy went for help, there would be trouble, she'd need to make sure the rest of the troupes didn't find out that they were there. Her arms trust out in front of her with her feet sliding into a wide stance, a small barely recognizable tremor slipped through the ground and with a final trust the earth behind the soldier and his mount rose making a makeshift wall cutting off the rest of the town. Her lips pursed, no firenation invaded her home town and got away with it.

[airnomad]

With his eyes peering at the ground for some sign of Sokka, Aang almost missed the glint of a steel boomerang rising from the rooftops. The young avatar had missed where the boomerang orginated from, but he veered sideways to follow it. As the weapon looped around in its flightpath and started to return towards its thrower, Aang followed that trajectory with his eyes and managed to isloate a little spot of blue between the rooftops.

Without another moment of hesitation, Aang tugged down on the right wing of the glider and turned into a steep dive. As he veered toward the ground, he spotted the easily recognizeable form of Appa soaring over the rooftops of the city, looking for whoever had blown the bison whistle.The sight put Aang a little at ease, as he hoped that his animal friends could get Katara, and possibly Toph, out of the city safey.

Turning his attention back to helping Sokka, Aang turned out of his dive shortly before reaching the rooftop level. He pulled up hard, flaring the wings of the glider to turn his downward momenum into horizontal momentum. Then, right as he felt a moment of weightlessness, the skilled airbender closed up the wings of his glider and rotated the staff around in his hands to grip it close to one end.

"Heads up!" he called below him, mostly a warning to Sokka as he skimmed just over the Water Tribe boy's head and landed with some speed just a few steps behind him. Aang brough his staff around in a wide arcing swing, unleashing a powerful blast of air that was only amplified by the narrow streets right at the pair of Fire Nation soldiers blocking his escape. The two men lifted right off the ground and tangled in the air briefly before landing with a few rough bounces several yards from where they originally stood. A grin spread over Aang's features as he wheeled around immediately, pointing his staff at Zuko.

"I'll handle Zuko," he said to Sokka. "Get to the rooftops and flag down Appa!" Hopefully by now Katara was airborn and could pick up her brother. the sooner they could get out of this town, the sooner Zuko would leave and the collateral damage would be minimized.

[sho]

Sho gasped, undoubtedly horrified as the earthbender made her move. He was not used to combat; he had minimal firebending training and absolutely no military knowledge. And, worse yet, he wasn’t the only one spooked by the sudden wall of earth that jutted from just behind them.

Sho’s rhino reared and snorted, shaking violently from side to side for a moment before taking off in full speed in fright. As much as he shouted and reached and gripped, Sho could not keep a hold of his ride, and soon his back was slamming against the hard ground. With this, Sho moaned, his ears ringing as he lay there, turning in discomfort as he listened to and felt the rumbling thump of his departing rhino.

However, he eyes soon opened; there were benders about and not the firebending kind. And, judging by the sheer mass of rock that now jutted out behind him, at least one was certainly not a novice. Silently, Sho cursed. He was so outmatched, and there was no way anyone could come save him right now.

Sho staggered to his feet, using the new wall of earth to support himself for several moments. He breathed heavily before suddenly jerking his head to glance at the ones who had done this. As much as he hated to think about it, he was going to have to defend himself.

He shifted into a stance, ready, and paused before jutting out his palm and then his leg, sending two tongues of fire towards his opponents.

Maybe he'd get lucky.

[zuko]

Zuko looked towards the sky at the sound of a kid’s voice becoming ever nearer. Yes, as if it was a calling, the gliding Avatar had arrived. However, the prince’s smirk was short-lived.

As soon as the boy landed – and in what should have been expected – an invisible gust of air, only able to be seen by the sand it picked up, came rushing toward him. With the narrowness of the alleyway, the gust had been strengthened to the point where it socked the prince in the chest and sent him flying backwards along with his troops. Dust and sand irritated Zuko’s eyes when he roughly landed on his back, but not wanting to give the Avatar any chance of escaping, he quickly wiped away the dirt he could and sprang back to his feet.

As soon as he stood, he could already see that the Avatar’s friend was having a chance to escape. It felt like no matter now, though. He didn’t think about going after the weaker one; he didn’t think about having a hostage right now. His eyes were already locked on what he needed.

As Zuko stared upon the small monk dressed in that familiar bright orange, that arrow upon his forehead, he could feel that anxiousness returning to him. Now was his chance – again, even – to capture his goal. And that goal was standing right in front of him, waiting.

‘Hurry!’ he thought, ‘Hurry before it’s too late!’

Before Zuko could feel like his chance would be lost, he rushed towards the Avatar. With quick agility and a growl of determination, the prince jumped; as he did so, Zuko quickly spun in mid-air, bringing one leg around and released a wave of burning fire back down the narrow alleyway. It seemed to happen so fast that Zuko hardly had time to land back on his feet before the fire was already in close way of the boy.