Book 2.5: The Great Fights (Teen) {Open/Spots still open}

"A lot better without that many Fire Nation people around," Aang commented with a grin.

(True, and if they don't meet I have more time to give Maikka a chance...)

"I think the Northern Air Temple would be a good place to start, and if we can't find anything about Aang's whereabouts then at least we can stock up on supplies there." Katara suggested, only receiving a nod from Zuko who was still being rather quiet.
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Mai and Sokka looked across their old camp and were satisfied to see that there were not traces of the warriors having been there. "Well then I suppose we should go to town and find something to ride so we can get to Ba Sing Se." Sokka said as he picked up his pack.
The water tribe boy and Mai has spent a few minutes discussing which route would allow them to inform the biggest amount of O.W.L. members possible while still giving them enough time to find Aang.

"Then lets go." Mai said apathetically as she turned and headed north towards the small town only a mile away from them.

"Thanks," Haru said, a little grim. "But who knows how the villagers are treated. I don't want my family to have to work on the Fire Nation ships again. But it doesn't look that bad down there. I can actually see some of the Earth Kingdom villagers walking around."

"That's good," Toph said. She wondered what if was like in her home, but didn't say anything. Toph really didn't have any urge to go there anyways.

"Is that a Water Tribe boy there?" Aang asked as he had Appa descend near the boy and the girl he was travelling with.

((Wait, I thought we were going to wait til Ba Sing Se to have them meet up?))

(Oh. Sorry. I could delete that if you'd like.)

(Or something could happen to make them forget seeing Sokka. Like someone falling off of Appa. XD)

Haru got more excited as Appa got lower to the ground. He couldn't wait to see his parents. It had been a long while since he had. He looked over where Aang saw the Water Tribe person and started to feel weird. Soon Haru felt himself fall.

"Crap!" he called out. Luckily he landed in a tree which broke his fall as he hit the ground. "Ow...."

"Bounty hunters!?" Mai thought as she pushed Sokka off the path and jumped on top of him.

"What are you do-mmin!?" Sokka shouted before Mai covered his mouth.
"Shut up, shut up before I let the bounty hunters take you." The knife girl hissed, at the moment not caring if her emotional shields were up, she actually just wanted to not be caught at this point.

"Someone must be following us, possibly a bounty hunter, but their clumsy." Mai whispered as she leaned on top of Sokka, letting go of his mouth so she could glance up. Unfortunately, or fortunately. Mai could not see through the canopy of trees and was also relived to hear silence.

"What should we do?" Sokka hissed as he lay down on the ground trying to stay still, unfortunately his nose was beginning to itch.
"Aren't you the plan guy?" Mai asked as she raised an eyebrow.
"Oh yeah.....Well we should probably wait here for a few more minutes until..ah ah...until their gon-Achoo!" The water boy cut himself off as he sneazed, knocking Mai's grip off and making her fall completely on top of him.

The girl closed her eyes as she heard a few birds fly out of the tree above them. "This...peasant! This idiotically sexual peasant!" Mai thought as she grew seriously annoyed, yet she didn't dare move because she knew that Sokka would start panicking and apologizing the second he could open his mouth.

"Was Haru always this clumsy?" Teo asked Aang as they landed near the earthbender.
"I have no idea. He was more Katara's friend," Aang told him with a shrug. He called over to Haru, "Are you okay?!"

"Well, that could have gone better." Suki commented after seeing Haru fall. She shook her head. He should have known better than to lean too far away from the base of Appa's back. Well, hopefully he wasn't hurt.

Haru nodded that he was ok.

"My backside hurts and so does my dignity, but otherwise I'll be fine," Haru said, as he stood slowly. Jet snickered at him and got off Appa. Toph jumped down, landing more gracefully that Haru did. She just smirked at him.

"Don't worry Haru. No one's going to tease you about your clumsyness."

"Really? Why don't I believe you?"

"Hey Haru, how about the next time you fall of Appa you can land on a column of Fire Nation soldiers?" Jin joked, getting off of Appa. So, this was what a village outside of Ba Sing Se was like. It was really different.

Haru scowled at Jin, before looking around. He was right. It seemed that things here were much more laxed. The villagers were able to walk around without too much trouble. It made Haru sigh in relief.

He began to race towards his home. Jet and Toph followed him, wondering how he could move so fast after just falling out of the sky into a tree.

Mai rolled off of Sokka and wiped his spit off of her mouth before looking around cautiously. "Well they're gone whoever the fools were." The knife thrower muttered as she waited for Sokka to get up.

"Well we can't go into the village, not with bounty hunters who are looking for us there already." The water tribe boy admitted as he pulled the map out of his pack and rolled it onto the ground. "There. We'll go to Xing for now. It's only fourteen Kilometers south and we already know that south is the direction the Bounty Hunters were coming from, so we should be safe there." Sokka said before rolling the map up and putting it away.

"Fine then lets go. We have a lot of walking today and I don't want to have to stand around for long." Mai commented as she walked back onto the path carefully before looking all around her. Satisfied that the path was clear and safe, Mai headed south followed shortly by Sokka.

Aang sighed and landed Appa in the bushes. He looked around and asked, "Should we follow Haru?"

"Probably. Haru does know where he's going." Suki said.

Aang nodded before having Appa take flight again. He was going to shadow the earthbender, just incase.

Haru spotted his house and rushed into it. His mother, who was cooking, almost dropped the pot. She went wide eyed and soon the two were hugging.

"Haru, my boy, I've missed you," she told him, pulling away. "But why are you here?"

Toph slid up to the door and stood by it. Jet too didn't go in. He felt a bit weird about interrupting Haru's reunion with his family.

Suki stayed back and decided not to ruin Haru's family reunion for the moment. He deserved it, and she didn't want to end it right now.

Ty Lin frowned and again checked the poster. Now noticing a smudge, he wiped it clean. "Oh." the firebending master said, after seeing what the city was really named, without the stain.

"So I heard that there is a play here?"

Haru's mother looked at Haru and began to laugh. Haru raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Haru it's not here anymore. It's in Ba Sing Se. I'm so sorry."

Haru felt kind of stupid and nodded. "Oh well. Thanks mom. I guess I'll be going then."

"First let me feed you and your friends," she said looking at the people in the doorway.

(Sry for double post this is paused until I return)

((Can we continue now?))

(Yesh we can)

((Oh and happy Fourth of July for all us Americans. Probably everyone, but you never know.))

"We'd love to stay for dinner, Mrs...well, I don't really know your name. Anyways, we'd love to stay for dinner." Suki said, smiling at the woman. Staying for dinner at Haru's place wouldn't set them back much. They could easily reach Ba Sing Se in two or so days.

(Happy Fourth of July back.)

Haru's mom smiled at Suki and urshed everyone in. As she began to set the table for all of them, Haru looked around. He felt weird being home. He wanted to stay.

"Hey Haru don't forget. You promised to help us free the Earth Kingdom," Toph said quietly. Haru nodded. He remembered meeting Toph and joining her and the others. It seemed so long ago, but Haru didn't want to break that promise.

"I know."