"How could you let them take Appa?" Aang screamed at Toph with anger. "Why didn't you stop them?".
Moments ago there had been celebration amongst most of the gang. We had found the date of the next solar eclipse, when the fire nation would be extremely vulnerable. But none of that mattered now, as we were stranded in the middle of a sandy desert, with no form of transportation out. Appa, as Toph had glumly explained to us, had been taken by vicious sandbenders. And now Aang, in an act of denial, was taking it out on Toph.
"I couldn't! The library was sinking!" the young earthbender truthfully responded. "You guys were still inside and-,"
"You could've come to get us!" Aang angrily countered. "I could've saved him!"
"I can hardly feel any vibrations out here," Toph reasoned. "The sandbenders snuck up on me and there wasn't time for-,"
"You just didn't care!" the young Avatar furiously objected. "You never liked Appa, you wanted him gone!" he unfairly tried to reason. This had gone on for too long, now, and I wasn't going to stand by and watch the argument. Myself, Sokka and Katara all knew that without Toph, we'd all be buried right now.
"Aang, Toph is the only reason we're standing here right now," I calmly told him, placing my hand on his shoulder. "Without her we'd be buried who knows how many feet underground,". Despite my words, Aang just grumpily shrugged my hand off of his shoulder and took a few steps away from me.
"Well, who's going to save us now?" Sokka asked as he stared into the distance, which consisted purely of hills made of sand. "We'll never make it out of here,"
"That's all any of you guys care about; yourselves," Aang shouted at all of us as he began to walk away. "You don't care whether Appa is okay or not!" he cried out as he dropped to the floor dramatically.
"We're all concerned, but we can't afford to be fighting now," Katara told him.
"I'm going after Appa," Aang mumbled, barely audibly, before using his glider to fly off into the distance. Despite Katara calling after him, we watched as Aang flew away into the distance.
"We'd better start walking," Katara instructed. "We're the only people who know about the solar eclipse. We have to get that information to Ba Sing Se,"
"You think if we dig out that giant owl, he'd give us a ride?" Sokka joked, though nobody laughed as we began to walk in silence. The vibes were well and truly dead after Appa's capture and Aang's subsequent leaving.
We walked for a few hours across the burning sand; the surrounding dunes all that we could see in the distance. The heat was certainly starting to get to us, as we were all sweating profusely, and Sokka had started to use Momo as a sort of umbrella for the sun. To make matters worse, we were running out of water very quickly. All we had left was Katara's bending water, as the majority of mine I had used when training with Wan Shi Tong. It was becoming abundantly clear to me that we wouldn't last much longer without a source of water. However, it seemed that Sokka found a solution, as he loudly exclaimed, pointing forwards.
"Look!" he shouted, pointing at a cactus in the distance. Without a second thought, he used his sword to slice off one of the prickled ends of the desert plant, and began chugging the fluids that were inside. I must admit, it did look very refreshing, and I was dying for a drink. I starting jogging over to the cactus, preparing to finally feel hydrated, before Katara put her arm out in front of me, stopping me in my tracks.
"Wait! You shouldn't be eating strange plants!" she scolded us, though it was mainly directed at Sokka, who was still guzzling the cactus liquid.
"There's water trapped inside these," Sokka stated confidently, though Katara looked very hesitantly at her brother. "Suit yourself. It's very thirst quenching, though," he continued, though I noticed his pupils starting to expand as he spoke. "Drink cactus juice, it'll quench you!" he suddenly explained spontaneously. He then began a strange performance where he danced around the rest of us, chanting about how quenching the cactus juice was. Though I couldn't help but laugh at him, my desire to drink the cactus juice has quickly diminished.
"Come on, we need to find Aang," Katara said defeatedly as she grabbed Toph's hand and began walking once again. I didn't move though. I knew that we wouldn't make it out of the desert alive if we didn't find water. Katara looked back at me with a questioning glance before asking "What are you waiting for?".
"We're going to die of dehydration out here if we don't find water," I revealed to her, though she still looked at me quizzically.
"So what do you suggest?" she questioned me with a raised eyebrow. I fished out my compass from my pocket and held it out in front of her.
"You take Sokka and Toph and go north east, towards Ba Sing Se. I'll try and find some water, and then I'll meet up with you," I offered. She took the compass from my hand, though hesitantly.
"And how will you find us?" she asked.
"Once I've found water, I'll just use the sun to find where north eastwards is," I explained. "Hopefully I'll be able to find you guys,"
"I don't know, (Y/N)..." Katara said slowly, clearly thinking it through. "It sounds a bit too risky,"
"It's either that or we just walk until we die of thirst," I admitted bluntly. "I'll find a way, don't worry," I added more positively, with a smile that even I wasn't convinced by. Nonetheless, it seems like Katara had also realised that we had no other choice. Eventually, she nodded slowly at me.
"Okay, but be careful, okay?" she told me strictly.
"I'll try my best," I responded with a smile, before Sokka decided to chime in.
"But how are you going to travel across this big ocean without a boat?" he asked me randomly, and we all decided to ignore him. I said a quick farewell to the gang, before heading in a different direction to them.
"Good luck, spirit boy," Toph shouted as I walked away.
"Watch out for tsunamis and giant squids!" Sokka yelled.
And so, I set off in a random direction. I walked and walked through the coarse desert, seeing nothing but sand for miles. Occasionally I would pass by a lone cactus, but I steered well clear of them. Whatever was happening to Sokka seemed like fun, but I knew it would only get me killed out here by myself. I could literally feel the heat radiating around me as the sun beamed down onto the back of my neck. I had started getting used to the earth kingdom climate, which was far warmer than the freezing conditions of the Northern Water Tribe, but nothing could have prepared me for this scorching desert. Luckily, a little trick came to mind. Of course, I was sweating a lot because of the heat, so I came up with the idea of using my bending to regulate the temperature of my sweat to make it colder. It certainly did prevent me from getting heatstroke, but unfortunately no bending ability could create more water for me to drink. However, after a few hours of trudging through the sand, there was a beacon of hope in the distance. I could see water in the distance! It seemed to only be a small desert creek, but that didn't stop me from using all of my energy to sprint towards the water.
When I finally arrived at the creek, I instantly knelt at the edge of the water, and scooped up some of the water in a large water bottle that I had in my rucksack. Despite my thirst, I knew that I had to check if the water was clean first. The creek appeared to be sourced by a small stream, so the water was running, making it more safe. As an extra precaution, I boiled the water that was now in my bottle, just to make sure that I killed all dangerous bacteria that could be present, before cooling it down again. Then, without a thought, I guzzled the water from the bottle. It felt so good to pour the refreshing water down my parched throat after hours of dehydration, and so I did just that for a few minutes.
Eventually, my stomach was filled with water, so I could drink no more. I made sure to fill all bottles and empty containers that I had in my rucksack with water, so that I could bring it back for the rest of the gang. I also filled my waterbending pouch, which had been empty ever since we had left the library. After that, I took a moment to admire the desert creek. It was certainly very peaceful; the tiny stream meandered into the basin of the creek. The surrounding area was made of dry sandstone, and I couldn't help but feel very tranquil and at-ease. Something about this place made me want to visit the spirit world. Perhaps it was the tranquillity, or the lack of loud noises, but I felt connected to the spirits here. It may be selfish, but I decided that I would visit the spirits for a moment. After all, I owed my powers to them, so it would be rude not to visit every now and then. I sat at the edge of the creek and closed my eyes. For the moment I tried to ignore the intense heat of the desert, and instead on the sound of the nearby stream trickling into the creek. After a few moments, I felt myself leave the physical world, and enter the spirit oasis of the spirit world. But I wasn't alone; there was somebody else here with me, and it wasn't just Tui, La or Yue. I felt the presence of my childhood friend.
"(Y/N)!" I heard a voice that I knew so well shout from behind me. I immediately got up from my sitting position and onto my feet. I spun around to see the familiar tan skin, bright blue eyes and plaited hair of Kyana. Instantly we ran towards each other and embraced.
"Kyana! How have you been?" I asked her dearly as we broke away from each other. She looked the same as when I had left the tribe. It had only been about a month and a half, I had to remind myself; it had certainly felt like a lifetime since I had been at the Northern Water Tribe.
"I've been okay," she told me with a big smile, which I happily returned. It was great to see her again. "I've been visiting here every day, hoping that maybe we'd just so happen to both come here at the same time," she explained. I had taught Kyana how to enter the spirit world ever since I first learnt how to do it from a young age.
"Well here we are," I chuckled, impressed that she had perfected the art of entering the spirit world. Even I used to have trouble getting here, until that one time during the siege. Ever since then it had been easy for me to travel over to the spirit world, probably due to my closer bond to Tui and La.
"How have your travels been?" Kyana asked me genuinely. "Did you find the Avatar?"
For the next half an hour, I explained everything that had happened since I left the tribe. I described my travels to find the gang, our run in with the three girls, my discovery of my limited firebending powers, the library and, of course, where we were now. She was excited to learn of my adventures, but also clearly concerned about my current predicament.
"How are you going to find your friends now?" she asked me with a slightly fearful expression.
"Don't worry, I have it all covered," I half-lied. Yes, I had a plan to find the team, but I wasn't convinced that it would actually be successful. But I didn't want to worry Kyana, so I remained positive. Then, I asked her a question that had been on my mind ever since my banishment from the Northern Water Tribe.
"How had the tribe been?" I questioned. It felt wrong to still care about the place and people that banished you, but I couldn't help it.
"They finished rebuilding from the damages taken during the siege a few weeks ago," Kyana explained. "We're doing fine, but it's been very different without you and Yue,"
"Are things still the same?" I enquired, referring to the culture that I despised so much.
"Unfortunately, yes," she admitted. "But I'm still secretly training my waterbending whenever I can. Of course, it's not the same without your teaching, but it's something," she confessed with a smile, before pointing at my neck. "I'm glad to see that you still have my necklace," she beamed at me.
"Of course!" I exclaimed obviously, and we continued to chat for a while. We talked about my future plans to go to Ba Sing Se and perhaps meet the Earth King, and a lot of other things. Eventually, we decided that we would have to part ways once more. Although we could talk for days, I knew that my mission to bring water to the gang still wasn't finished.
"I'll be visiting here every day, so hopefully we'll meet each other here again sometime soon," Kyana told me before adding "I know you're busy, but I'll wait every day anyway," she said with a smile, and I enveloped her in a quick farewell hug.
"I'll see you here again soon, don't worry," I assured her.
"Oh, and by the way, I brought two people here that have wanted to talk to you," she said with a weak smile. I wasn't sure as to what she meant, but I then heard a cough come from behind me. I turned around very cautiously, as I had never shown anyone except Kyana how to enter the spirit world. I only taught those who I trusted the most how to do it. When I turned around, I came face to face with not one person, but two. It was two people that I was dreading to see again; not because I didn't like them, but because I knew it would be awkward. In front of me stood my parents.
I stayed motionless for a moment as it sunk in. Kyana must have shown them how to enter the spirit world, and honestly, I wasn't particularly pleased. I looked behind me towards Kyana again, but found her nowhere to be seen. She must have left the spirit world so I could talk to my parents privately.
"Hi, son," my father said to me after a moment of very awkward silence.
"Kyana showed you how to enter the spirit world," I muttered, not even giving them a greeting.
"Yes, she did," my father informed me. "We've been waiting with her every day in hopes of seeing you,".
"She's such an intelligent young lady," my mother claimed before adding "she would have made a great wife,". And just like that, my parents were already starting to get on my nerves again. When I lived at the Northern Water Tribe, I had tolerated them because I thought that they had loved me. But they only cared about my 'destiny' as the waterbending prodigy of the Northern Water Tribe.
"What do you guys want?" I asked them, probably more rudely than I should have. Despite this, both my parents smiled at me.
"We wanted to know how you are," my father smiled weakly at me. Although he was seemingly being nice, I was still rather annoyed, and I let them know that.
"My waterbending training is going great, if that's what you care about," I harshly told them as I drew conclusions.
"That's not what your father asked," my mother calmly stated. "We wanted to know how you are. I'm very glad to see that you're safe,". I was surprised that my parents weren't focussed on my progress as a waterbender, but that didn't diminish my annoyance.
"I'm doing fine," I told them begrudgingly. "But you'll be disappointed in me. I have firebender DNA, and I've been incorporating firebending techniques into my waterbending,". My parents had done everything that they could to move on from their fire nation past, so I knew that telling them of my recent discoveries would annoy them.
"We always knew that there was a possibility that you inherited some firebender DNA," my father grinned, which took me aback.
"You aren't annoyed?" I asked them, surprised. "This insults everything that the water tribe stand for," I continued, as if trying to provoke them on purpose.
"Whether you're a waterbender, firebender, or a mix of both, you're still our son," my mother confidently claimed. It was at this point that I started feeling guilty for my cold reaction towards seeing them.
"So I'll ask you again," my father chuckled. "How are you, son? Not your training, you,". I paused for a moment as it started to sink in. Maybe my parents really did care for me after all.
"I'm doing great, honestly," I admitted to them. "I joined the Avatar and his team, and it's going really well. I finally have some friends,". I decided to leave out the part that I was stranded in the middle of the desert. They probably didn't need to know that, I reasoned with myself.
"As long as you're happy," my mother beamed at me, genuinely seeming delighted that I was doing well. It was becoming more apparent to me that, although I may never be able to move on from the years of busy schedules and lack of friends, perhaps I can forgive my parents. Maybe not now, but someday. I realised that there was no point in being mad at them anymore. What they put me through sucked, but they did care for me at least.
I talked to my parents for a few more minutes. It was somewhat awkward to tell them what I had been up to, especially after I left the tribe without saying goodbye, but it was also nice to talk to them again. Eventually, though, I excused myself. I knew that I still had to complete my quest to get water to the gang.
"Stay safe," my father told me as we said our brief farewells. I said goodbye to them both, and then quickly sat down next to the spirit oasis pond in order to leave the awkwardness. Fairly quickly I found myself returning to the physical world.
I opened my eyes to see the desert creek once more. I could still hear the sound of the stream trickling into the creek basin, yet something seemed off, as if the peace had somehow been destroyed. I felt the presence of another person, and not somebody that I wanted to see.
"Hello, nephew," I heard from behind me, and all of my worst fears were confirmed. I scrambled to my feet and turned to face him. He stood a few feet behind me with his classic black and red fire nation armour and his stupid sideburns. He looked as if he had been waiting for me to return.
"Zhao," I muttered deeply as he grinned maliciously at me.
"Not calling me uncle yet? That's a shame," he beckoned with a smirk.
"Why did you wait for me to return from the spirit world?" I quickly asked him. "You could have killed me while I was defenceless,"
"Oh I don't want to kill you," he told me slowly and darkly. "I want to capture you, and hold you as a hostage so I can get to the ocean spirit again," he explained maniacally. "When I arrive at the Northern Water Tribe with a knife to your throat, they'll have no choice but to take me to the ocean spirit,"
"Well your plan is flawed," I told him angrily. I couldn't believe that I was related to such a disgusting human being. "The Northern Water Tribe will never take you to the spirits, no matter who you have hostage,"
"That may be so," Zhao admitted, though the evil smile on his face never faltered. "But perhaps another onslaught of battleships will convince them otherwise,"
"Screw all of that, you still could've taken me hostage while I was at the spirit world," I said to him. "Unless you want me to kick your ass again in another duel?" I tried to intimidate him with a smirk of my own.
"My defeat to you and your spirits did affect my position within the fire nation military," Zhao confessed to me. "So it would be a pleasure to defeat you in a fight again. Don't you remember what happened in our first duel?" he mocked, his signature grin still plastered on his stupid face. Of course I remembered what happened; I don't think I'll ever forget.
"So be it," I claimed, faking confidence.
"I will admit, I tracked you down while you were in the desert because I hoped you wouldn't have access to water," Zhao acknowledged. "But it seems as if you found some anyway. Never mind, let it be a fair fight. Your spirits aren't here to help you this time," he intimidated, and I'll admit that it did work slightly. I realised that I had never actually beaten Zhao in a duel which I wasn't assisted by the powers of Tui and La. Nevertheless, I got into a waterbending stance, ready to defend against Zhao's first move.
It didn't take long for Zhao to make the first strike. He punched the air in front of him violently, and a bolt of scorching fire was sent towards me. Luckily I was prepared for his attack, simply bending some water from my waterbending pouch to extinguish the flames. Zhao didn't allow me any time to think, though, as he quickly formed a wave of fire that he threw at me with a slice. I strafed to the side, avoiding the flames, before starting an attack of my own.
I sent a powerful jet of water to the side of my uncle, which hit him accurately, sending him to the floor. Noticing my quick advantage, I ran towards my grounded opponent. I was just about to direct a flurry of ice spikes towards Zhao, but he suddenly kicked his feet in my direction, sending multiple bolts of fire towards different parts of my body. It took a lot of concentration to avoid the fireballs, so by the time I had managed to evade them all, Zhao had recovered and was back on his feet. He wasted no time as the firebending master created a huge wall of fire, which he sent towards me with great pace. I didn't have enough time to avoid the wall, so I had to swiftly control a large amount of water from the creek, which I used to create a ball of ice around myself. The fire wall passed harmlessly over the ice. I knew that I couldn't let Zhao constantly be on the aggressive, as that was exactly what he wanted. Instead, I turned the ice back into water, which I then sent as a wave back towards Zhao. The wave made impact, but Zhao stood strong, letting the small wave pass over him. I was shocked to see that the wave hadn't knocked Zhao over; he must have been training against my moves since the siege. I would likely have to switch things up and use some new moves that he hadn't seen if I wanted to defeat him.
Before I could do anything else, Zhao created a whip of fire, which he controlled in the air in front of him. He lashed it at me many times, and I was forced to jump, dive and roll to avoid its swings. I had never seen this move, and although I admittedly didn't have a whole lot of experience in fighting firebenders, something clicked in my memory. Wan Shi Tong had mentioned that Zhao had stolen scrolls on advanced firebender! This wasn't good news. However, I didn't have the time to dwell on it for now, as Zhao was still relentlessly beating his whip at me. Deciding that enough was enough, I created a water whip of my own, which I lashed at Zhao's whip. The two whips collided and tied around each other, and I found myself in a dangerous game of tug and war against my own uncle. For a minute or two I held relentlessly onto my side of the whip. But, despite my childhood training resulting in me having a fair amount of muscle and strength, Zhao was far bigger, older and stronger than me. Eventually, I could pull no more, and the Admiral gave a sudden harsh tug, causing me to fling towards him, skidding across the rough sand. Despite the pain of the sand burning my skin, I quickly got back up on my feet. As I did, I noticed a lone cloud floating above us within the bright blue sky. Usually this would be nothing special, but I knew of a special trick that I potentially had up my sleeve. Wan Shi Tong had told me of a way in which I could perhaps generate lightning.
I focused on the cloud above us, hoping that Zhao wouldn't strike me while I did. I felt the heat of the desert, and strengthened my breathing. I tried my hardest to concentrate on creating an electrical imbalance within the cloud, just as Wan Shi Tong had said. But something wasn't working. I couldn't tell if the move just didn't work, like the knowledge spirit had warned, or if the desert cloud was simply too dry. Either way, absolutely nothing happened, and I could hear Zhao laughing at me. Frustrated, I sent a whip of water rapidly towards the now distracted Zhao, which wrapped around his leg. Then, I sent some electricity through the water, just like Wan Shi Tong taught me earlier in the day. I watched ruthlessly as my uncle spasmed from the electricity that coursed through his body as he shrieked in pain.
As I watched Zhao flail on the sand in pain, it made me feel strange. I hated my uncle more than anybody in the world, and yet I seemed to be feeling remorse towards him as he twitched in agony. Did I want Zhao to die? I knew that eventually he had to be eliminated somehow if I wanted to end the war, but maybe there were other ways. After a few moments of thought, Zhao managed to punch a ball of fire towards me as he was getting electrocuted. Distracted by my internal dispute, I only just managed to dive out of the way of the blast, throwing myself to the sand. As I got up from the ground and dusted myself off, I saw that Zhao had recovered and was also standing. He was shooting me a glare of pure hatred and evil.
"Oh we're playing with lightning now?" he grunted at me as a menacing smirk began to build on his face. "Now it's time for me to show off my new moves," he beckoned as he began to do a strange motion with both of his hands. He was waving both hands around his body and, most strangely of all, he had his index and middle fingers pointed outwards, while the rest of fingers were balled up. It didn't look like any firebending move I had seen before. Before I even had a chance for it to sink in, he pointed both hands at me. From his four fingers shot a clean beam of white lightning, travelling with great speed towards my body. There was no chance of me avoiding or blocking it, but my reflexes tried to move me out of the way nonetheless. The lightning made impact with my left arm as I hopelessly tried to dodge it. I felt the warmth run up through my arm, and then into my entire body. The warmth turned into intense burning, and I felt myself fall to the floor. My whole body spasmed as the electricity forcefully stimulated my helpless muscles, and the pain was immense. There was nothing I could do but cry in pain into the sand as Zhao approached me and kicked me over so I was forced to stare him in the eyes.
"I really thought this would be more fair of a fight," he ridiculed with a maniacal grin of his face. "Unfortunately for you, I've changed my mind. I would capture you, but we're in the middle of this desert, with no means of transportation. I'm sorry, my dear nephew, but I have to eliminate you," he informed me, though he didn't seem apologetic in the slightest. 'Was this really going to be the end?' I thought to myself as I continued to whimper in pain on the floor. No, it couldn't be. I'm not about to let myself die to the hands of my uncle; my enemy. Through the burning pain in my left arm, I desperately tried to muster up any energy I could find in my body. As I did so, I saw Zhao start generating some lightning, as he had done moments ago. This time, though, I was ready. As he was still forming the lightning, I used my right arm to send a rapid stream of water towards his face. Using the heat I had coursing through my body, I was able to instantly boil the water via temperature regulation, which I then threw into Zhao's face. The boiling water splashed directly into my uncle's face, burning it as it made contact. Some even went into his eyes, and I heard him howl out in pain. Seeing my chance, I used all the energy I had left to scamper up from the ground, and I began running in the opposite direction. I knew that I was in no state to make a finishing move on Zhao, so I had to hope that I could get as far away from his as possible before he recovered.
I ran and ran through the painful agony, not daring to look back. The sliding sand and my heavy rucksack, which thankfully I had forgotten to take off during the fight, weighed me down, but I still sprinted relentlessly. After a while, my injured and exhausted muscles couldn't run any more. I collapsed to the ground, laying down in the sand. I looked around me, and I couldn't see either the desert creek or Zhao anywhere in the far distance. I must have lost him, and I was finally safe.
For the first time, I looked down at my left arm that had been struck with Zhao's lightning. It wasn't a pretty sight, to say the least. My entire arm was bright purple and had swelled up considerably. With my right arm, I used some of the water from my waterbending pouch to try and heal the injury. I wasn't the best healer at all, but it did soothe a little bit of the pain. By now it was becoming nighttime, and hopelessness began to set in as I realised I was stranded in the desert by myself. Eventually, I decided that my only hope now was finding the rest of the gang, wherever they were. I had told them to go north east, towards Ba Sing Se, so I just had to pray that I would intercept them. I got up off of the floor and looked around for the sun. It was becoming barely visible as it began to set, but just the sight of it allowed me to understand my bearings. With the knowledge that the sun sets in the west, I began trekking north east, albeit slowly due to the pain.
I staggered through the desert for hours upon hours, powering through the exhaustion and the pain that shot through my left arm. I focused my mind on the gang, who were probably worried about me. I also thought about Kyana, who had no idea I was in danger. Hearing that I had perished alone in the desert would absolutely destroy her, and I had promised to see her again soon... I also thought about my parents. Although I didn't always agree with them, my meeting today with them had changed my opinion of them. They did love me, and it would shatter them to hear that their son had died to the hands of his uncle. All of these thoughts gave me the strength to press on, as I forced my legs to drive me through the desert. Before long, the sun began to rise again. I had trekked through the whole night.
Suddenly, I noticed a huge cloud of sand in the distance. In my confused, delirious state, I initially thought that a tornado had formed in the desert. Then, somewhere in the back of my brain, my last few functioning braincells formed a possibility. It could be somebody airbending! With this hope, I began to power through the sand, once more using the last remaining bit of energy I had in my body. I kept my head down and limped until I heard the sound of voices. Even in my now barely-conscious condition, I knew it was my team. My vision had now gone blurry, and my ears were ringing loudly. I shuffled over to them until they could see me. I heard somebody shout my name, though who it was I had no idea. I heard more shouting, presumably from the rest of the team as they all noticed me. But the only thing I could see in front of me was shapes. My legs finally gave in, and I collapsed to the floor in a heap as I blacked out.
Word Count: 5728
(A/N: Hey everyone, I hope you enjoyed this super long chapter. Initially I was going to release this as two separate parts, but I thought it flowed better as just one very long chapter. Anyways, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm going to need a little while until I release the next chapter. Even though I have the whole story planned out, I'm suffering from a little bit of writer's block. But don't worry, I'm not going to give up, and I'll power through it! It just means that I won't be releasing the next chapter until next Tuesday so that I have a few days to catch up. So yeah, sorry for the week-long wait. Also, on a more positive not, thanks as always for all of the support for this story! Seeing everyone's views and votes, and interacting with your comments, is truly the highlight of my day, so thanks! Anyways, that's enough yapping from me. I'll see you all next Tuesday! -JetDragon09)