MIIZUMI WAKES UP as she hears rumbling coming from every side of her. she shakes aang awake and he stirs in the sleeping spot they share on appa.
"aang!" miizumi whisper yells, climbing off the bison and she watches four fire nation soldiers on rhinos come out from the bushes.
"give up. you're completely surrounded." one of the soldiers say. miizumi gets into a fighting stance but sokka pulls her back onto appa.
"we don't have time!" sokka exclaims and they look to katara who is running to the bison but stops in her tracks.
"my scrolls!" she turns back to the tree stump where her waterbending scrolls are. the soldier in front of her plants his sword in the ground.
"my staff!" aang exclaims and flies off appa. he retrieves his staff and katara retrieves her scroll with barely having to fight and they all take off on appa.
"wait, my boomerang!" sokka yells.
"there's no time!" katara exclaims.
"oh i see, so there's time to get your scrolls and time to get your staff but no time for my boomerang?" sokka explains.
"that's correct." katara smiles.
"oh." sokka sighs and miizumi puts a comforting hand on his shoulder. the head soldier glares at appa as they ride further away and turns back to his men.
"that's the lost princess." the head soldier says.
"you're sure, sir?" one of them asks.
"positive. i saw her scar and she looks just like this picture." the man pulls out one of the wanted posters with miizumi's face on it.
"word's gonna get around soon. you know that, right?" a soldier says.
"yes, i know."
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"sorry about your boomerang, sokka." aang walks up to sokka who is sitting on the ground while miizumi stands next to him.
"he's just throwing a fit, he'll be fine." miizumi sighs and sokka leans his head back to look up at her.
"no, i won't be just fine! i feel like i've lost a part of my identity." sokka groans.
"and whose fault is that for leaving their boomerang out in the open?" miizumi replies, leaning closer to his face.
"well, imagine if you lost your... everything or if aang lost his arrows or if katara lost her... hair loopies." sokka exclaims as he stands up.
"oh, you big baby." katara smiles as she hugs sokka.
"here's your produce, ponytail guy." the salesman says.
"i used to be boomerang guy." sokka sighs.
"if you want, i'll buy you another one." miizumi softly smiles as she checks through the basket with sokka. "would that make you stop complaining?"
"yes please!" sokka dramatically cries as tears threaten to spill from his eyes. miizumi wipes a tear from his cheek.
"have a nice avatar day!" the salesman calls.
"avatar day?" aang asks.
"you guys are going to the festival, right?" the salesman replies. aang, miizumi and katara look at each other with a smile while sokka still whines about his boomerang.
"let's go!" katara says, running off and aang follows her. miizumi drags sokka to his feet as they run down the pathway that leads to the earth town.
"i want my boomerang!" sokka sobs.
"just shut up!" miizumi replies. soon, they enter the town that is decorated with earthbending symbols and green lanterns that hang from streamers.
"there's a holiday for the avatar." aang says. "who knew?"
"look! they made a giant kyoshi float." katara points to the large replica of the woman as it rides down the street. they begin to follow the float.
"that's avatar roku!" miizumi points to the roku float.
"having a huge festival in your honor and all is great, but frankly, it's just nice to be appreciated." aang smiles.
"and it's nice to appreciate their deep-fried festival food!" sokka takes a bite of the food.
"aang, look!" katara says and the boy looks to his own float.
"that's the biggest me i've ever seen." aang remarks. as they begin to watch the celebration begin, miizumi digs into sokka's bag of food and grabs a piece for herself. she takes a bite and a small smile forms on her face.
"it's good, isn't it?" sokka smirks and her smile falls.
"i guess." miizumi replies.
"i know my stuff. go on, you can say it." sokka closes his eyes and waits for her words.
"you sure i can say it?" the girl asks.
"actually," sokka looks at her uneasily. "i can never tell what you're gonna say so i take that back." a man runs down the street with a flaming torch in his hand.
"hey, what's that guy doing?" katara asks as the man approaches kyoshi. suddenly, he jumps through the float, setting it on fire.
"down with the avatar! down with the avatar!" the crowd chants. another torch is thrown and hits the eye of the giant aang.
"aang, what'd you do to these people?" miizumi asks.
katara runs to the middle of the festival and collects water from the barrels. she waterbends and splashes the water onto the flaming floats, putting out the fire.
"that party pooper's ruining avatar day!" a citizen exclaims. aang jumps onto the float of himself and lands on the shoulder.
"that party pooper's my friend." the boy says and takes off his hat that hides his arrows.
"it's the avatar himself!" the mayor of the town shouts.
"it's going to kill us with its awesome avatar powers!" another citizen yells.
"no, i'm not, i-" aang reaches out to the crowd and they begin screaming and cowering in fear.
"i suggest you leave. you're not welcome here, avatar." the mayor says.
"why not?" katara asks. "aang helps people."
"it's true." aang says as he flies to the ground, landing next to katara. "i'm on your side."
"i find that hard to swallow, considering what you did to us in your past life! it was avatar kyoshi. she murdered our glorious leader, chin the great." the mayor explains.
"how is aang supposed to remember that?" miizumi asks, taking a step forward and sokka puts his hand on her shoulder.
"you think i... murdered someone?" aang sighs.
"we used to be a great society before you killed our leader." an old man says. "now look at us!"
"aang would never do something like that, no avatar would." katara replies. "and it's not fair for you all to question his honor!"
"let's tell her what we think of the avatar's honor!" a man blows a raspberry at aang and his friends.
"aang, we should just go. who cares what other people think of you?" miizumi asks.
"i don't want to be known as an evil avatar, miizumi." aang looks at her before approaching the crowd. "give me a chance to clear my name."
"the only way to prove your innocence is to stand trial." the mayor says.
"i'll gladly stand trial." aang responds.
"you'll have to follow all our rules. that includes paying bail."
"no problem."
in a matter of seconds, aang is locked up in a jail cell.
"how was i supposed to know they wouldn't take water tribe money?" aang asks.
"whatever. let's just bust you out of here." sokka replies.
"i can't." aang looks down.
"sure you can! a little-" sokka blows air out of his mouth. "swish, swish, swish! airbending slice! and we're on our way." the boy explains.
"i think what master swish is trying to say, is that you're supposed to be out saving the world. you can't do that locked up in here." katara says.
"i can't do what with people thinking i'm a murderer, either." aang sighs. "i need you guys to help prove my innocence."
"how are we gonna do that? the crime happened over three hundred years ago." sokka folds his arms across his chest.
"that's okay, sokka." aang says. "for some reason, i thought you were an expert detective." miizumi looks at sokka.
"expert detective? i'd love to see this." miizumi scoffs.
"i guess i could be classified as such." sokka smirks.
"back home, he was famous for solving the mystery of the missing seal jerky." katara says.
"everyone wanted to blame it on the polar leopard, but i figured out it was old man jarco wearing polar leopard boots. see a real eight-hundred-pound polar leopard would've left much deeper tracks. okay, i guess i am pretty good." sokka exclaims.
"i think that's a story for another time." miizumi looks at katara and aang's annoyed expressions.
"so, you'll help me with my case?" aang asks hopefully.
"fine. but i'm gonna need some new props."
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"that's a big kyoshi." miizumi says to herself as she looks at the statue of the avatar on kyoshi island.
people dressed in blue clothing come up to her, sokka and katara and start cheering. a boy pushes through the crowd, takes a glance at the three of them and starts screaming. he falls onto the ground.
"where's aangy?" a little brunette girl asks.
"he couldn't be here, koko." katara replies. the mayor walks up to the three.
"oyaji, aang is in jail." katara says. "the town of chin says he murdered their leader in a past life."
"they say it was kyoshi." sokka adds.
"kyoshi? that's crazy talk." oyaji exclaims. "i'll take you to her shrine. maybe something there will help you clear her name." the man begins to lead them to a building on the top of a hill.
miizumi looks at the townspeople who are obviously talking about her. she feels someone tug on her hand and she looks down to see the little girl from before, koko.
"who are you and where's aang?" koko asks angrily.
"i'm... mitsuki. and i'm from the northern water tribe." miizumi tries to put on her best smile.
"oh. so you can waterbend?" koko says.
"no. i'm really good in combat though." miizumi replies. koko reaches for her dagger and grabs it. the girl's eyebrows furrow in confusion when she sees the fire nation symbol on the handle of the dagger.
"what's this?"
"i stole it from a fire nation soldier." miizumi quickly snatches it back.
"koko, leave the girl alone." the girl turns around to see the boy from earlier walking up to them. "i'm sorry for her. i'm kinju." he bows.
"mitsuki. is this your sister?" miizumi asks.
"she's actually my cousin. she's also annoying." kinju stares at koko. "go away." he says and she runs off, waving to miizumi.
"what are you guys doing here?" kinju asks.
"we're trying to prove aang's innocence." miizumi replies as she wraps her arms around herself.
"oh. i thought i could show you around our island while you're here, but you seem to be busy." kinju sighs.
"miizumi!" sokka shouts and she turns around to see him in the distance. "come on!" he says. miizumi walks towards sokka and kinju watches them leave.
"i thought her name was mitsuki."
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