When Worlds Collide: Book Two, Earth

Chapter Eleven

\\\\\ZUKO'S POV/////

The last several days have been hard. All I can think about is Uncle and Sam. I miss them both, but I think I miss Sam more. I had finally kissed her, and then she stayed with the Avatar. I do get it, though. They're friends, and she wanted their trust again. Really, I couldn't blame her.

I just wish I could see her again.

\\\\SAM'S POV////

We had landed for the night, so we started to unpack the gear.

"You guys picked a great camp site," Toph said, standing on a pile of Appa's fur. "The grass is so soft."

I chuckled at the blind girl. "You silly goose, it's not grass," I told her.

"Appa's shedding," Sokka said, looking at the ground in disgust.

"Oh, gross!" Katara said, hopping around.

"It's not gross," Aang said, from the saddle. "Just a part of spring. You know, rebirth, flowers blooming, and Appa gets a new coat."

"And spring fever, and spring cleaning, and..." I trailed off, realizing what I was saying. "Did you just say spring?!"

"Yea, why?" Aang asked.

I opened my mouth to answer, but Appa sneezed, sending fur everywhere, like snow.

"Stop, Appa!" Katara scolded.

"Aw, come on Katara, it's not so bad," Sokka said, turning around, with fur on his head. "It makes a great wig!"

"And a great beard!" Aang said, floating off of Appa, leaving just me on the saddle, still in shock.

The boys laughed at each other, and Katara just shook her head. "I'm just glad that we have another girl in the group, to overthrow you guys," she said. "Because you guys are disgusting."

"Excuse me," Toph said, stepping in between the two boys. "Do any of you have a razor? 'Cause I have some hairy pits!" She raised her arms, revealing the white fur shooting out from her underarms.

Aang and Sokka looked taken aback, before they all started laughing. Aang sneezed, and he flew back, slamming into Appa, and falling back down again, which only made Sokka laugh harder.

Even Katara chuckled. "Looks like I was mistaken," she told me. "Whats wrong?" she asked when she saw the look on my face.

"It's... you said it was spring," I mumbled.

The others stopped laughing, and Aang floated up next to me. "Yea, so?" he asked.

I shook my head. "It's not spring. It's summer. It's the beginning of summer."

"Sam, are you okay?" Sokka asked.

"No... when I left my world, it was the very beginning of summer. And now you're telling me that it's spring?" My voice was rising, and I was almost yelling. I didn't care that we hadn't told Toph about me being from another world yet, I had to figure out why the seasons had suddenly changed.

"Sam, maybe we should..." Katara trailed off, glancing at Toph.

"No, I want to know what's going on," I said.

"Uh, so do I," Toph said, looking confused.

"Sam, maybe the seasons are just different from your world," Aang said, trying to reassure me.

"Guys, what is going on?" Toph asked.

We all exchanged glances that she couldn't see, and Katara sighed. "Toph... we were going to wait to tell you. But-"

"Sam's from another world," Sokka rushed.

"Sokka!" Katara hissed.

"Wait..." Toph said. "You expect me to believe that Sam is from another world?"

"Yea, pretty much," Aang replied, still gathering a few things off Appa's back.

"Sweet."

I stared at her. "What?"

"I think it's cool," she said, and I blinked.

"You don't want proof?" I asked her.

She shook her head, smiling. "I knew you were different. There's just something off about your footing on the ground." She paused, seemingly as if she was pondering something. "And your name. That's almost a dead giveaway."

"Yea, we should probably work on that," Sokka said.

I glared, and threw a sleeping bag at him. "Shut up, Sokka."

/////\\\\\

Later that evening, after everything was unpacked, everyone had fallen asleep, except for Katara and I.

"She just doesn't listen," Katara complained.

"Katara, chill," I whispered. "It's her first night camping with us, cut her some slack."

"But even when I apologized, she didn't even accept it!" she exclaimed.

"Shh!" I shushed her, even putting my hand over her mouth.

She said something else, but the words were muffled.

"Look," I told her, "just give her time. She'll settle in, and be part of the group in no time."

She sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

I smirked. "I always am."

/////\\\\\

I was awoken by Toph shouting, something about us being under attack, or something. Her words sunk in, and I shot up, following Sokka and Katara over to where Aang and Toph were.

"What is it?" the monk asked.

"It feels like an avalanche," she said. "But, also not an avalanche."

"Your powers of perception are frightening," Sokka said, oozing sarcasm.

"Should we leave?" Katara asked.

"Better safe than sorry," Aang said.

"I'll start rolling up the sleeping bags," I said, and everyone else started to pack up things.

We then climbed onto Appa's saddle, and were flying in the night sky. There, in the distance, we could see a giant machine looking thing.

"What is that thing?" Katara asked.

"It looks almost like a train," I observed, squinting to see it better.

Aang yawned, and we all began to doze. I could tell that Toph didn't want to sleep where she couldn't see, but the tiredness was overwhelming her.

We finally landed somewhere on a mountain, and Toph immediately jumped off the saddle, hugging the ground. "Ah! Land, sweet land!" she proclaimed, and I chuckled at her. "Well, I'll see you all in the morning!"

"Actually, could you help us unload?" Katara asked, and I shot her a look. What? she mouthed.

I just shook my head, and rolled my eyes at her.

"Really?" Toph asked, turning around. "You need me to help unload Sokka's stinky sleeping bag?"

Sokka, who was in the process of unloading his sleeping bag, smelt it, made a funny face, and fell over. I raised an eyebrow, and hopped down from Appa's saddle while Katara and Toph argued. I helped Sokka up, and we, along with Aang and Momo, watched them argue.

"Should we... do something?" Aang asked.

"Hey, I'm just enjoying the show," Sokka said back.

I rolled my eyes at the two. "Boys," I muttered.

"Okay, okay," Aang said, walking over to them. "You both need to calm down."

"Oh boy, now he's done it," I whispered to Sokka, who gave me a scared look.

"Both?" Katara growled, then whipped around, with a crazy look. "I'M COMPLETELY CALM!"

Aang froze, then started to back away slowly. "I can see that," he said, holding up his hands.

"I think from now on, we should let Sam handle the girls," Sokka said softly.

"I heard that!" Katara shouted.

We were silent.

/////\\\\\

"The stars sure are beautiful tonight," Katara said loudly. "Too bad you can't see it, Toph."

I heard a strangled scream come from Tophs little rock tent, and a second later, Katara was in the air, then falling back on Sokka, who grunted.

"How are we supposed to sleep with all this yelling, and earth quaking!" Sokka shouted, motioning towards Aang and I.

Toph came out of her little tent, a look of panic on her face. "That thing is back!" she said.

"How far away is it?" I asked.

"Yeah, maybe we can close our eyes for a few minutes," Sokka said, pulling his sleeping bag over his head.

"I don't think so, Sokka," Aang said, looking over the treetops, where a billow of smoke was forming.

So, after we packed everything back up, we were off again.

"What is that thing?" Katara asked herself.

"And how does it keep finding us?" Toph asked.

"I don't know," Aang said, "but this time, I'm going to make sure we lose them." He turned back around, and I watched Sokka snore while Aang steered Appa in between mountains, until he found the perfect spot. The giant sky bison fell over, making all of us tumble out.

"Okay, forget about setting up camp," Sokka said, still huddled in his sleeping bag. "I'm going to sleep."

"That's good, because Toph wasn't going to help anyway," Katara griped. She had bags under her eyes, and she used her rolled up sleeping bag as a pillow.

"Oh, I didn't realize that baby still needed someone to tuck her into bed," Toph said.

"Come on guys, there's something after us, and we don't even know what, or who it is," Aang mumbled, pulling his shirt over his head.

"It could be Zuko," Katara said, "we haven't seen him since the North Pole."

I stiffened at his name. Zuko. Gosh, I missed him terribly.

"Who's Zuko?" Toph asked. "I feel so out of the loop. Sam from another world, and now mystery guy."

"Oh, just some angry freak with a ponytail who's tracked us all over the world," Sokka said.

"What's wrong with ponytails, ponytail?" Katara asked.

"This, is a warriors wolf tail," Sokka said, pointing at his head.

"Well, it certainly tells the other warriors that you're fun and perky," Katara teased.

"Zuko is not an angry freak," I said, glaring at the sky. "And I like the ponytail." I yawned, extremely tired.

"Of course you do," Katara muttered.

"Anyway," Sokka said, "whoever's chasing us, they couldn't've followed us here. Everyone, just, shh." He put his finger to his lips, then lay back down. Momo landed on his chest, and began to chatter, but Sokka just waved, saying, "No, Momo, sh. Sleepy time."

The lemur ran to the cliff side, his ears perked. We all raised up to see what was wrong, and Sokka groaned at the chugging sound coming up the mountainside.

"That's impossible," Aang said, "There's no way they could've tracked us."

"I can feel it with my own two feet," Toph said.

Aang ran over to where Momo was, looking into the distance. I followed him, and saw the giant machines smoke billowing into the air.

"Let's get out of here," Katara said, glancing back at the monster tracking us.

"Maybe we should face them, find out who they are," Aang said. "Who knows, maybe they're friendly."

"Always the optimist," Sokka sighed.

The thing stopped, and three giant lizards came out of an open door, with three girls on their backs. Mai, Ty Lee, and Azula. They began to race towards us, with determined looks on their faces.

"It's those three girls from Omashu!" Katara exclaimed, getting into a defensive stance, and the rest of us followed.

"We can take 'em!" Toph shouted. "Three on three!"

"Actually, Toph, there's five of us," Sokka said.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't count you and Sam," the earth bender said. "You know, no bending and all."

"I cans still fight!" Sokka screamed, his eyes popping out of his head, and his nostrils flaring.

"Hey! I can bend two elements!" I declared.

"Oh, okay," Toph said, "three, on four plus Sokka."

Sokka's face was bright red as he fumed, so I patted his back.

Toph did something with her hands, and several rocks came out of the ground, and flew towards the three girls. The giant lizards collapsed, spilling the girls onto the ground.

"Well, we wanted to find out who they were, and we did, so let's get out of here," Sokka said, and we all ran to Appa, except for Toph, who created a wall to delay the three enemies.

Azula waved her arms around, and summoned lightning to break a hole in the wall, not breaking stride even the least. Our mouths dropped, and Toph was the first to recover, raising the earth and blocking three darts that were flying towards our faces, thanks to Mai.

Sokka helped Toph onto Appa's saddle, and we were off the ground before Aang could get out the second 'yip'. Azula shot a few shots of lightning towards us, but missed. And for the third time that night, we were off.

/////\\\\\

"I can't believe they followed us all the way from Omashu," Katara said.

"I still think we could've taken 'em," Toph grumbled.

"Are you kidding me?" Katara asked. "The crazy blue fire bending and the flying daggers are bad enough, but last time we saw them, one of those girls did something that took my bending away. That's scary."

The sun began to rise to the East, and Sokka jumped up complaining. "Oh no, the sun is rising!" he groaned. "We've been up all night without any sleep."

"Sokka, we'll be okay," Aang said tiredly from Appa's head.

"Are you sure?" Sokka asked. "I've never been without sleep before! What if I fall asleep now, what if something happens? Something always happens!"

"Sokka! Chill!" I shouted. "In my world, my friends and I pull all-nighters all the time. It's no big deal."

"Every time we land, those girls are there," Katara said. "So we'll just have to keep flying."

"We can't keep flying forever," Aang said, rubbing his eyes.

I sighed. "Look. You guys are all pretty tired. I'm not that tired, so how about I take the reins?" I asked, motioning towards Aang.

"Do you even know how to- You know what? Nevermind. I'm too tired. Just don't kill us." Sokka said, before lying down and trying to get some sleep.

I shrugged, mostly to myself. "It can't be much harder than riding a horse, right?"

"You mean an ostrich horse?" Toph asked.

I chuckled. "Sorta," I told her. "Now, you guys get some sleep. Just tell me which way to go, and I'll follow that direction until I get tired or something, then I can switch."

/////ZUKO'S POV\\\\\

I was following the tracks of a Fire Nation tank, certain that it was my sister and her friends. I was also certain that they were tracking the Avatar and his friends, which meant Sam. I had to see her again. Even if it was for just a second, even if I couldn't convince her to stay with me.

I just had to see her.

/////SAM'S POV\\\\\

Aang yawned as I woke him up around noon. "So, what's the plan?" he asked, as he took the reins, and I lay down on the saddle, using Katara's legs as a pillow.

"Don't know," Toph said, holding onto the side of the saddle, "too tired to think."

"I'm sure we'll come up with something after a short nap," Katara said.

"Stop it," I moaned, swatting at her legs uselessly. "You're too loud."

"Yes," Sokka whimpered. "Sleep."

We all started to rise into the air, as Appa went down.

"What's going on?" Toph shouted, clutching the saddle.

"Appa fell asleep!" Aang shouted, still clinging to the reins.

We all screamed, and Sokka and Katara clung to each other. I could tell that Toph was losing her grip on the saddle, so I grabbed her wrist, and held her tight while Aang tried to wake up Appa. Right as we were about to hit the tree tops, Appa jolted awake, and pulled us forward, making us scratch through the trees on our way down. We finally landed in a crater, where we relaxed for a few seconds.

"Appa's exhausted," Aang mumbled, about to fall over.

"Okay," Sokka said, grabbing his sleeping bag and walking a little ways away, "we've put a lot of distance between us and them. The plan right now is to follow Appa's lead, and get some sleep."

"Of course, we could've got some sleep earlier, if Toph didn't have such issues," Katara said, glaring at the young girl.

Toph clutched the ground, pure anger on her face. "What?!" she shrieked.

"Both of you, shut up, before I bury you both six feet under!" I screamed at them.

"Me?" Toph shouted. "I haven't done anything!"

"Oh, whatever! You have done nothing but-" Katara was cut off by Aang, who was shouting angrily at all three of us.

"All right!" he yelled. "Everyone's exhausted. Let's just get some rest."

"No," Toph said, glaring at Katara. "I wanna hear what Katara has to say. You think I have issues?"

"I'm just saying," Katara said, rolling her eyes, "maybe if you helped out earlier, we could've set up our camp faster, and gotten some sleep. And then maybe, we wouldn't be in this situation!"

Sokka groaned, and slammed his head on the ground.

"You're blaming me for this?" Toph yelled, stalking towards Katara, who motioned for her to come at her.

"No!" Aang said, stepping in front of Katara, trying to stop the brewing fight. "She's not blaming you!"

"No, I'm blaming her!" Katara shouted, making matters worse.

Toph picked up Aang, and threw him out of her way. "I never asked you for a dandy doo dah! I carry my own weight. Besides, if there's anyone to blame, it's Sheddy over here!" She pointed to Appa, which shocked Aang.

"What? You're blaming Appa?" he asked.

"Yeah! You wanna know how they keep finding us?" she asked rhetorically. "He's leaving a trail everywhere we go!" She put her hand on Appa's fur, and when she pulled away, his fur flew away in the wind.

"How dare you blame Appa," Aang said menacingly. "He saved your life three times today. If there's anyone to blame, it's you! You're always complaining about how you're carrying your own weight, but you're not! He is! Appa's carrying your weight! We never had a problem flying when it was just the four of us! And the main reason for that is because Sam wasn't even with us half the time! She was too busy frolicking with Zuko, and taking his side on things!"

I blinked, frozen. Did he really feel that way? Was it just sleep, or was he really that upset?

Toph was silent for a bit, before turning away. "I'm outta here," Toph grumbled, grabbing her bag, and walking away.

"Wait," Sokka said, stepping in front of her. Toph used earth bending to move him out of her way, and he was shocked for a few seconds.

We all watched as Toph walked away, Aang still fuming.

I stared at the ground, twiddling my thumbs. "A-Aang?" I called, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to pool over.

He looked at me, still glaring, but his expression softened when he saw the look on my face. "Sam, what's wrong?"

"What you said... you don't really think that I was taking his side on things, do you?" I asked, avoiding eye contact.

"Sam... I'm so, so sorry. I don't know what came over me," he said, giving me a hug. "Wait... WHAT DID I JUST DO?!" he shouted, collapsing on the ground. "I yell at Sam for no reason, and I just yelled at my earth bending teacher! I can't believe this. Now she's gone."

"I know," Katara said. "We're all just trying to get used to each other. I was so mean to her..."

"Yea, you two were pretty much jerks," Sokka said, drinking some water.

"Thanks, Sokka." Katara glared at her older brother.

"No problem," he said, taking another sip.

"We need to find Toph and apologize," Katara said.

"Okay," Sokka said. "But what are we gonna do about the tank full of dangerous ladies chasing us?"

Aang took a fist full of Appa's fur, and let it float in the wind. "I have a plan," he said, smiling.

So, we set to work giving Appa a bath, and gathering all the fur that came off. I made sure to stand on the bank across from Katara while Aang, Sokka and Momo scrubbed him from in the water.

"Toph was right," Aang said. "Appa's fur was leading a trail right to us. But now that he's clean, no more trail."

"Are you sure he's okay to fly?" Katara asked.

"He'll be fine as long as we leave the saddle and all our stuff here," Aang said. "I'm gonna use the fur to make a fake trail, and lead the tank off our course."

We said our goodbye's until next time, and wished Aang luck, before we flew off over the trees.

/////\\\\\

We were flying over the trees looking for Toph, who was nowhere to be found. The sun was setting, and all three of us had dark, heavy bags under our eyes.

"Toph couldn't have made it too far," Sokka said.

Momo went over to the side of Appa, and started screeching.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Yeah, Mom-OH NO!" Sokka shouted. "Katara!"

I looked to see Mai and Ty Lee on the giant lizard creatures chasing after us.

"How did they find us?" she asked, urging Appa to go faster, but he started to descend.

"Come on Appa, go faster!" Sokka said.

"He's too tired!" I said. "We're going to have to make a stand."

"Not good, not good!" Sokka shouted. "We just need to make it across that river."

"Of course, the river," I muttered, but no one heard.

"Come on Appa, just a little further!" Katara encouraged, and with one last push, Appa skimmed the water, but landed us on the other side.

"We made it!" Sokka exclaimed. "We're safe."

"You did it, Appa!" Katara congratulated.

Sokka and Katara hugged, and I looked across the river, and gasped. "Guys, not to rain on your parade or anything, but we have a problem," I whimpered.

They turned to see the two girls' lizards run across the water.

Katara ran towards the water, and used water bending to try to pull them under, but Ty Lee jumped off her animal, and began to fight her. While they were fighting, Mai threw daggers toward Katara, but Sokka stepped in, and blocked the small blades.

Mai then went after Katara, while Ty Lee made Sokka's arms, and then one of his legs useless. When she tried to hit Sokka's head, she recoiled, and cradled her fist.

"Good try," Sokka said, "but no."

I pulled out my fans, and charged at Ti Lee, as she spun to greet me. "Sweetie, Sokka's head is already useless," I said. "There's nothing in there."

"Hey!" Sokka shouted, hopping over to help his sister, who had gotten herself tacked to a tree. He fell, and Ty Lee tripped me, making me land next to him.

"You're lucky we can't hurt you," Mai said to me.

"Well, that's good for me," I said, and stood up, my fans ready.

The two girls glared, then shared a look. They nodded to each other, and Ty Lee jumped me, making my limbs go numb. I fell back to the ground with a thud.

"How ya doin'?" Sokka asked Katara.

"Oh, you know," she answered.

"I thought when Ty Lee and I finally caught you, it'd be more exciting. Oh, well." Mai studied her nails, ignoring us. "Victory is boring."

Appa's tail came from nowhere, throwing the two girls into the river.

"Thanks Appa!" Sokka said. "I don't know what we'd do without you!"

Appa licked Sokka's face, and I laughed at him.

/////ZUKO'S POV\\\\\

I was spying on the Avatar ever since he arrived at the old ghost of a town. I didn't attack, however, because I knew that Azula wouldn't be far behind.

After a few minutes, she finally arrived, exchanging a few words with the Avatar. I didn't pay much attention, because I was wondering about Sam. Why wasn't she here? Shouldn't she be with the monk?

When the Avatar raised his voice, I started to pay attention again.

"Do you really want to fight me?" Azula taunted.

I stepped out of my hiding place, riding the ostrich horse, and jumped down. "Yes, I really do," I said, glaring at my sister.

"Zuko!" the Avatar whispered.

"I was wondering when you'd show up, Zuzu," Azula said, and the Avatar stifled a laugh behind me.

"Zuzu?" I heard him say, but I ignored him.

"Back off, Azula!" I shouted, getting into a fighting stance. "He's mine."

"I'm not going anywhere," she said, also getting into a fighting position.

The three of us stared each other down, waiting for someone to make the first move. Several minutes passed, before Azula shot her blue fire at me, but I was too slow to react. I flew back, slamming into an old building. The Avatar tried to fly away, but Azula sent fire towards him, forcing him to fall back to the ground.

Azula attacked the Avatar again, but I was already up, and ready to fight. Soon, it was a three way battle, and the Avatar ducked into an old house, my sister close behind. I followed, not slowing down, and realizing too late that there was no floor. I fell down a level with a thud, groaning. The Avatar pushed Azula down, but she landed on her feet. We glared at each other for a second before getting back up, and fighting each other out the door.

She blasted me with fire, and I flew out of the house, landing on my back. I opened my eyes, and had to blink several times, because I was seeing things. When the figure didn't disappear, I smiled. "Sam?" I asked.

She laughed. "You can't last very long without me, can you?" She glanced behind her, and looked back at me with her eyebrows raised. "Or Iroh, I see."

I looked to see Uncle standing over me. "Uncle," I said.

"Get up," he demanded, offering me a hand.

I stood, and looked around for Sam, seeing that she had joined the Water Tribe siblings and the Avatar in fighting Azula. It was three against one, but Azula was good, and was holding them off pretty well. Sam was using everything - fire bending, water bending, and her little fans.

Azula suddenly looked at the ground and fell.

Behind her, stood a little girl, who looked like she was twelve. "I thought you guys could use a little help," she said, obviously speaking to Sam and her friends.

"Thanks," the water bender said, and Azula started running down an alley.

Uncle grabbed my arm, and pulled me down another alley, where we were able to cut her off, Uncle using his belly to make her fall to the ground when she wasn't looking. All seven of us had her surrounded, and backed her into a corner.

"Well, look at this," she said, "enemies and traitors, all working together. I'm done. I know when I'm beaten." She held up her hands, looking at all of us in turn. "You got me. A princess surrenders with honor."

Sam snorted. "Please. You are not a princess. If you were, you'd be locked up in a tower somewhere. And not because of a curse."

I didn't know what she was talking about, but I still smiled.

Out of nowhere, Azula shot fire at Uncle, and he fell to the ground. I watched in horror, then turned to Azula. I shot a steady stream of fire at her, while the water tribe girl attacked with water, the new little girl was throwing rocks with alarming speed, the Avatar was hurling wind, and Sam was using water and fire at the same time, her face red.

There was an explosion, and when the smoke cleared, Azula was gone, and I was at Uncles side, panicking. I heard the group come from behind me, and I turned quickly.

"Get away from us!" I shouted at them.

"Zuko, I can help," the water bender said, but I ignored her, throwing out fire, though nothing that would hurt them.

"Sam, you know him," I heard the water bender say, "talk sense into him."

I didn't hear a reply, and jumped when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Zuko," she said. Her voice was soft, and was full of hurt. "Please. Let us help."

I shut my eyes tightly, reminding myself not to yell at her. It was Sam. I trusted Sam.

"I said to leave," I growled harshly, and her hand immediately was gone. I didn't hear anything else, and when I looked back, they were gone. A tear slid down my cheek, and I bowed my head, worried for my uncle, and ashamed for being so harsh to Sam.

/////\\\\\

Okay, this is now edited!!

Anyway, I'm SOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSO sorry that this is so late!! You would not believe how crazy things are. But, like I promised, here was Zuko! Not what you were probably expecting, huh? But I had fun writing this, mainly because of the drama. And, because every time I paused the episode to write something, one of the characters were making a weird face... But I hope you liked it!! And I will post the edited version when @She_Who_Lovez_LAMPZ 's laptop is fixed!

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