Wake Up <Ba Sing Se, Earth Kingdom>

[ikeru]

Ikeru stared in silence, the fainest ghost of a smirk present on her face, as Jochi flipped his BAD! for the umpteenth time that day and cursed at her like a spoiled child throwing a temper tantrum. She blocked his rushed attack of soil with an earthen wall and stood her ground, hands planted on her hips and her jaw jutting out defiantly. She sneered. "Fine!" she barked. "Get the BAD! out! Who needs ya! Me and What's-His-Face here"--she pulled Bao Li closer to her--"are leavin! I'll be watchin and laughin from the other side of the wall when you're caught and killed, you crazy dwarf!"

With that, she turned back to the crater-in-progress and folded three fingers into her palm, leaving the remaining two, her index and thumb, sticking straight up, while the other hand curled into a fist at her side. Ikeru speedily punched the fist through the air, stopping it just a few inches from the solid rock. The ground rumbled and shook, and the boulder at the end of the tunnel shot through the ground, as if yanked by an invisible rope, and carved a path for the two to walk. She stepped into her tunnel, impatiently waiting for Bao Li to follow, and easily sealed the entrance with a lazy wave of her hand...but not before flicking the back of her fingers under her chin with a tinge of aggression: the final "goodbye and BAD! you" to the very bane of her existence.

It wasn't until Ikeru re-focused her attention back on cutting out the tunnel did she realize she would have to do it in complete darkness. Crap.

"Great," she murmured testily, and blew a sweaty lock of hair out of her eyes. "You didn't happen to bring a light or anything, did you?" The question, of course, was for Bao Li--he with a million and one plans. Would he think to bring a lamp or torch or something?

[jochi]

To hell with her. After Jochi finished bombarding that skinny woman with fragments of earth and rock, he knew at that moment it was, one again, every man for himself. Gender politics be damned - Jochi was only thinking of himself! Besides, he knew without that stupid kid by his side, he'd make it out safe in no time compared to the woman. In fact, she'd probably be caught and executed on spot. Oh, well. Jochi knew she deserved it anyway, especially after her flurry of insults. Though before he left, he had to retaliate in typical Jochi fashion. "You rot in prison for all I care!"

In no time at all did he take his cue, burrowing through his surroundings like a badgermole. Each swing of his short, muscular arms quickly brought him closer and closer to his goal, despite his lack of finesse bending solid earthen constructs. He didn't quite know what he would do or where he would go after he was out of Ba Sing Sei, but if the rest of the Earth Kingdom was that way, he may as well return to the mighty Si Wong as fast as he could. Then he could put an end to that nightmare.

[baoli]

Bao Li fumbled with the small bag on his back as the light disappeared, searching desperately for something that would help. Anything, really. The light completely disappeared from view, sealing him and Ikeru in her dirt-tunnel again. Somewhere in the distance, Jochi was digging his own. The walls near Bao Li shook a bit. His small hand wrapped around various objects - none of them flammable, or capable of holding anything flammable. No fire rocks, no oils, nothing.

"You didn't happen to bring a light or anything, did you?" She queried angrily in his general direction. He was kind of glad she was as blind as he was in this cave. Not for the first time since he had met Ikeru, he swore.

"I..I got nothin', lady. I wasn't thinkin' of getting pulled into a big underground handmade dirt cavern with no light any time today," He said, trying to keep his voice from wavering. He could almost feel her eyes boring into him with that death glare. He backed up a little, just to make sure he was out of smacking distance. He kept a few paces behind her from then on, trying to avoid being any more of a dead weight than he so clearly already was to their escape.

He just hoped she could make the tunnel walls blind with no problem. One false move under this mass, and they could both die in here.

[ikeru]

At Bao Li's foolish admittance of his own stupidity in forgetting to bring a light (what an asshole), Ikki halted in the middle of her bending to let the hunk of earth in front come to a complete stop. Her hands flew to her filthy, sweaty face as she screamed into her palms, angry and annoyed and generally worn-down. It had been a tough, long day, and the fact that she couldn't even have the simple comfort of a BAD!ing light to guide her in the dark cavern? Unbearable.

She took a few deep breaths, shoulders hunching skywards as she inhaled, and dug the heels of her hands into her eyes before, finally, calming down. "Fine," she said, her voice taking on more than a tinge of anger, "whatever. We'll just do this. In the dark." Nevermind carving an underground tunnel would take quite a while.

LOL TIMESKIP

Finally. Good Gods almighty, finally. It had taken her hours and here arms were so sore it felt like they were going to fall off, and she was pretty sure she had actually suffocated a few times, but finally she was done. Ikeru waited for Bao Li to stand next to her, then thrust an open hand, fingers pointing straight up, into the darkness above, creating a dais that carried them up and out of the cavern. She fell backwards, a rare smile of content on her face, as she breathed the deliciously cool air and felt a sweet breeze cool off her hot, sweaty face. "Well, that didn't take forever," she joked. Was the sky falling? Maybe! Ahh, to be in fresh air again.

[jochi]

Why?
Why...?
Why?!

Why did it have to take so long burrowing his way out of there? Sure, at first he moved at a quick pace, but sporadic periods where he felt utterly exhausted surfaced more often than he anticipated. Of course, he could channel his anger into sandbending skill quite easily and effectively, but to feel so frustrated left him feeling utterly weak. In a way, he was ashamed in himself for tiring out. It was just stupid solid earth! How hard could it be to move? Apparently, worse than he thought compared to sandbending. Silently, he hoped he'd never have to bend that much earth ever again. Yet still, the indomitable Jochi kept at it despite the ache of his arms he kept feeling.

Until...!

It was the end at last. Hours upon hours of digging brought him outside that accursed city, and sweeping the area with his eyes, he concluded there must not be another wall in view. So many walls started to make him feel boxed in, no matter how far apart they were. There was nothing of the sort in the mighty desert, where sand billowed forever. But now he was free, not only of crowds, stupid guards, and cramped spaces, but also of those two idiots who dared follow him around. As he hoisted his diminutive body fully from that hole in the ground, Jochi was more relieved than he had ever felt. Sunshine again, without clamor and noise everywhere else.

Accustomed to layers of dust clinging to his skin and clothes, Jochi didn't bother to dust himself off when he emerged from the ground. It left him a bit filthy, but he didn't care. However, what made him care about a totally different problem was the very sight of that acerbic woman and that annoying kid out the corner of his eye. Creaking his head their way, he mumbled something obscene about fate. If there was a time and place to really show them his threats weren't mere hot air, now would be it. Jackpot.

[baoli]

Bao Li stretched in the breeze, his braid flapping behind him and his bangs toussling in his face. He shooed a wisp of hair from his eyes and blinked, trying to become accustomed to the light again. He hadn't minded the tunnel, he was used to hiding in dark, cramped quarters for long periods of time. What he did mind was that he couldn't see a damn thing when he finally re-emerged. He shaded his eyes and squinted, trying to focus on something. Anything.

"I gotta admit, lady, you're good," he said, unsure as soon as it had left his lips if she'd consider it a compliment or smack him one for being patronizing. He winced a bit, in case the second happened. He decided not to look at her directly - he'd heard somewhere that angry animals consider that kind of thing a threat, and she was one angry animal - but instead tried to focus on a blob off to their side.

As he blinked at it, the blob redefined itself as a person...then as Jochi. And he looked mad. This was not going to go well. Bao Li shifted to the balls of his feet, ready to run or dive for cover, as the case my require. He whispered out of the corner of his mouth to Ikeru, not making any moves to give away the fact that he'd spotted Jochi to the sandbender himself. "Hey lady - that short guy's back, and he doesn't look happy," he managed.

His whole body tensed like it always did right before he was forced to confront authority. He was ready to go.

[ikeru]

Content with just basking in the warm sunlight for the rest of the day, enjoying new-found freedom and even possibly considering removing Bao Li from the top of her BAD! list, she couldn't help but huff angrily when the boy alerted her to Jochi's presence. Annoyed, she rolled over on her side and folded her knees up to her chest, possibly as a last ditch effort to deal with that...problem. Maybe if they ignored him, he would go away? Turning her head to peer over her shoulder, she saw the painfully short man advancing towards them, and climbed to her feet with a long-suffering sigh. It didn't seem likely that he would just go away. No, he seemed like more of the type to confront problems head-on. Stubborn little asshole.

Standing tall, Ikeru bent backwards until her back cracked, then balled her hands into fists and twisted her spine from side-to-side, working out the kinks and generally loosening up. By the look on Jochi's face, he meant business. Well, so did Ikeru. Her minute observations during the times she had fought with him had revealed some thing possibly crucial for her victory: he could not bend solid earth as well as he could bend soil. Indeed, pretty much every time she sent an attack at him, he pulverized it to smaller chunks and sent it right back at her. What did that mean? Well, right now, it meant she had a few tricks up her sleeve, and so that meant Jochi was BAD!ed.

Ikeru dropped into stance before Jochi could get any closer and attack. She lurched forward, sweeping her fist in a tight upwards arc from her side and stepping down hard. A squat block of earth retched out of the ground and raced for Jochi, meant to knock him off his feet more than actually hurt him. The thick stone pillar, taller than Jochi himself, that followed the first attack was meant to hurt.

[jochi]

Jochi's indomitable spirit stopped him from fearing many things; many things that could be considered very wise to beware, particularly how much better the woman was at bending solid ground that was sure to fly into his face. But did that stop him? Would that stop him? The fact that Jochi kept advancing toward the woman showed it didn't deter him one bit. There were only a handful of valid questions that could be asked now; did Jochi care? Would he stop at nothing to defeat that woman? Would he ever even know the name of the lady who earned his enmity? How quickly would Jochi get stomped? Did he care?

He'd go out kicking and scratching if necessary!

Now for the problem of that large stone pillar heading straight toward him. It wasn't his favorite site, but at the moment, he wasn't inclined to worry. It may be hard to crack it to pieces, impossible even to do so in time, but that was one perk to being an earthbender - it was second nature to stand your ground. Piece of cake. Or not.

Jochi could only swing up his arms, palms straight out ahead of him, shifting low into a classical horse stance. He was going to stop that flying pillar no matter what. When it hit his hands, he quickly swung his foot out to the back, strengthening his stance and trying to stay put. He failed miserably...

He may have been able to push the rock over his head and into the air with a scream and a toss, but the sheer force at which it flew toppled him onto his back within seconds. As he heard the rock crash into the wall behind him - falling to thirds from his attempts to weaken the granite chunk - he reflected on how laying flat on the ground was not a good place for 'poor, defenseless Jochi' to be at all. He tried his best to scramble to his feet quickly, even trying to bend a violent wave of earth at the woman before him. His hands and feet never strayed far from the ground, though.

[ikeru]

A pleased, deviant little smile settling on her features, Ikeru watched in amusement as Jochi failed to evade her attack, failed to block her attack, and pretty much failed all together at being a fighter. What a BAD!ing loser. She placed her hands on her hips and howled with laughter as he went skidding across the ground, landing on his back and generally looking like the miserable bastard he was. "You suck at this," she taunted, twisting her feet into a pile of solid stone to ride out the pathetic earth wave, "you should just give up now."

Once the wave had settled and her feet were free from their restraints, she swung her foot forward, dragging her sole through the ground, and creating small binds aimed for Jochi's ankles and, if he was close enough to the ground, his wrists. They were designed to slow him down, maybe even stop him all together, and the fact that he had a hard time bending solid earth only capitalized on this idea. If he tried to run away or evade it, she would merely kick up more restraints, more binds, until, at last, he was pinned to the floor. And if that failed, then, well, there was always ripping out a huge chunk of earth and throwing it at him, right? Right!

[jochi]

Jochi knew right there he should have moved quicker than before. It wasn't wise to underestimate this woman once again, since her frail appearance belied her strong abilities. He was a fool to misjudge her powers of strength and cunning. He'd be sure never to make that mistake again, should he escape with his tiny body intact. Then again, it was his fault entirely that he kept his feel on the ground. Perhaps a lapse in judgment or memory failed to remind him he wasn't in the Si Wong Desert, and couldn't easily break free from solid earthen binds nearly as easily as he could from a sandy floor. He'd pummel this woman to oblivion if he could get his hands on some sand or loose dirt, but a brief glance showed him nothing but grassy plain for miles around. She had the greatest advantage, but Jochi still wouldn't admit defeat.

As he thrashed and fidgeted, through his mind rushed images and thoughts that burned his short fuse to a crisp. Why did she even attack him? Damn her for being so petty! Couldn't she just have let him walk away with those coins, thereby obeying the laws of survival? Screw her and her skewed notions of civility and order! The whole thing, including her single-handedly starting that first fight and landing them in the brig, made Jochi want to strangle her with his bare hands.

Trying to wriggle free of his constrants, weak from exhaustion, enraged by defeat and past memories, growls, curses, and groans rumbling in his throat, Jochi was on the path to wearing himself out sooner than he thought. He was pinned to the floor, making bending of any sort a difficult task, much less bending of an element so unfamiliar. The most he could free from the shackles was a tiny creaking noise and nothing more. Jochi knew it wasn't hopeless though...

[baoli]

Still coiled like a snake and ready to strike, Bao Li watched the fight before him with interest. He would have been more than happy to let it go on had it not been for the streak of emerald he spotted out of the corner of his eye, up on top of the massive outer wall. Dai Li. They hadn't given up. Under his dirt-coated shell, Bao Li blanched.

As much as he loved a good bender battle, and was really pleased about the fact that for once, he wasn't the one being shackled down, Bao Li couldn't let this go on. He sprang to mid-field and raised both arms to his sides, hands open. He had the distinct impression that he was probably going to get hurt for this one, but he had to raise the attention of the two benders to their potential problem.

"Hang on, hang on! I dunno if we're safe yet, you two, this might not be a good place for this fight! Especially if you're both tired! Look!" He pointed to the top of the wall, where the single Dai Li agent had been joined by three others. "They're still looking for us. We're too close to the walls. We need to get out of here!"

[ikeru]

Oh, it was definitely hopeless. There was no goddamn BAD!ing way Master Midget McGee, Captain of the Clueless and Lord of All Who Was Vertically Challenged, was getting back up. Definitely, definitely, definitely. Advancing upon her prey bounty booty easy victory with a sneer frozen on her face, she clapped her hands together over her head, formed them into one big fist, and shook her arms in triumph. “Looks like I beat you again, asshole,” she teased, kicking up a little pebble and nudging it into Jochi’s side. “I think you should just give up calling yourself a man right now cause me beating you ain‘t doing you--” Her emasculating taunt was abruptly cut short as Bao Li’s warning carried through the air. Ikeru sighed, glanced up, spied the emerald hats silent stalking of the Dai Li, and promptly stomped her foot, hard, into the ground. “Come on!” she whined, thoroughly fed up with their bullBAD!.

Waving her hand to release the poor Jochi from his bounds, she grabbed Jochi by the waist without even thinking twice about it, sprinted for Bao Li, and picked him up, too. Once both boys were firmly grasped, she tossed them back onto the ground and dropped into stance. “The boy can come with me, you follow,” she demanded, jabbing her thumb at Jochi. It wasn’t a question or a suggestion or even a thought: it was an out-right order. “May the Spirits help your poor, poor soul if you don’t listen to me. I’ll beat the hell outta you if you go some other way or BAD! us over somehow.” With that, Ikki bent her knees in and kicked her leg behind her, creating a mound of earth for her and Bao Li to ride on, where she zipped off down the plain and hopefully far, far away from those pesky Dai Li agents.

[jochi]

If Jochi had ever felt like raining doom, death, and destruction on someone with immesurable passion, that would have been the time. That taunting, jeering, picking, cutting; those acidic words of bitterness and spite; the physical torture he was unable to avoid or resist. And to top it off, he was still pinned to the ground!

If the demons of physical weariness didn't make him as weak as a singing gopher, he would have made the greatest attempt to escape and break a few necks. But was it really worth it? This woman had outshone him, with greater ease able to bend rock and earth, whereas he had simply driven himself too far. If those shackles were broken, he probably would have laid there, motionless. He was that tired.

And, serving as the piece de resistance, those stupid, frickin' Dai Li were back. Again. Except they were outside the wall this time around! Did they ever give up? Couldn't they let go of these 'criminals' even when they were outside that city? In Jochi's mind, they were just that stupid.

But as he was thinking of freedom and disemboweling a few Dai Li, he found that the woman - spirits forbid - actually released him from his earthen shackles. Rubbing his wrists and shaking with rage-slash-pain-slash-exhaustion, he heard every word she said. Was she serious...? What was more; she actually made sense. Jochi had every reason to escape those Dai Li yet again, even if it meant being in the woman's 'eternal debt'. He'd weasel his way out of that one sooner or later, no doubt.

With all his might, he found the strength to raise a lump of earth much like the woman did, and, with low-pressure movements of his arms, scuffled it along the ground behind her and the boy. If anyone was going to be caught first, it was him. If he got close enough, he'd definitely hop aboard her makeship sailer-thing and enjoy the ride. Jochi may have hated lazy bastards, but he had his limits.

[ikeru]

Pumping her legs and falling into a steady pace, the words just keep chugging along, just keep chugging along, just keep chugging along prattling away in her mind in an idiot monotony, Ikeru spared no fearful looks behind her shoulder to check if the Dai Li were following, nor did she allow herself to stop and rest until she was absolutely positive that the Terrible Trio were out of Ba Sing Se's jurisdiction and therefor safe. Every muscle in every limb and every possible square inch of her body shrieked, begged, pleased for mercy and threatened to give out at any second, but the woman--certainly no slave to her own body, that was for damn sure--grit her teeth, clenched her fists, and carried on until, at last, her knees buckled and her careful form dissolved and she toppled to the ground.

Ikeru fell in an awkward heap, a pile of protruding limbs and jutting angles, and could do nothing but lay there. Well, she had done it; she had pushed her body too far. Shoveling boulders for hours, then fighting, then carrying a small boy on a mound of earth had completely wiped her out. Miserably, she tried to pick herself up, at least trying to sit up for the sake of the Spirits, but her arms would have none of that: they wobbled under her own familiar weight and broke beneath her, and Ikeru, pushing herself up into some half-assed push-up position, ate dirt and felt a sharp pain in her tongue as it clicked between her teeth. She tasted blood and spit: bright ruby on the pale dirt.

Ikeru feebly waved her arm over her head, signaling either The Midget or The Boy to come over, and shut her eyes to wait. She wasn't sure if either had even noticed, but she didn't care. "Just...do...make a...make a tent or something," she panted, throwing a free arm over her eyes to block out the prying rays of sunlight. "I'm just...I'm only gonna just close my eyes...for a few minutes..."

With that, she fell asleep.

[Ikeru has fallen asleep in the thread. no night-time molesting plz.]

[jochi]

Jochi came to a winding halt when he saw the woman collapse, deciding it was high time he did the same. Tumbling off the rock, he dragged his sorry body nearer the two slowly and steadily until his wavering strength gave out. Feet from the woman and boy, he fell flat on his front, arms splayed to the sides, cheek rested on the cold ground. After all he'd been through in that accursed city, he didn't want to wake up until next weekend. The skinny woman landed him in the brig twice, and the boy ostensibly did the least work and absolutely no bending. They weren't only lazy, but selfish too!

When the woman ordered him to raise a sort of earth tent, he flatly denied as much as his tired and apathetic mind would allow. "BAD! you," he muttered, barely audible. After all she'd put him through, she didn't deserve to sleep in safety and shelter. She and and the boy deserved everything foul that would befall them. Spite spite spite, hate hate hate, lust lust lust. It was all his weary mind felt before drifting to sweet, sweet slumber. And, as he lay motionless, he was almost like a dirty, sweaty angel...until he started muttering quiet obscenities in his sleep. He'd been through a lot of stress that day...

~Jochi is sleeping! THE END AT LAST~