Iroh, Zuko, and I are Zuko's cabin, drinking tea. I close my eyes and then take a sip of my cup of tea.
It's nice to be able to take a break and relax from my bodyguard duties.
"See Prince Zuko, a moment of quiet is good for your mental well-being." Iroh tells Zuko as he pours him a cup of tea.
Just as Zuko is about to take a sip, the ship suddenly jerks. The vibrations cause the tea to soak Zuko's face and hair. Zuko grunts in frustration and pushes his ponytail back. The three of us rises to see what the commotion is about. We head to the deck of the ship, several soldiers stand poised, ready to attack.
A large beast leaps onto the deck with a young woman with pale skin and black hair with bangs covering the right side of her face mounted on its back. The soldiers flee from the beast. The woman slows down the beast's progress.
"Look out! Argh!" shouts one of the soldiers.
"Get back! We're after a stowaway!" She yells, holding a rolled up whip.
"There are no stowaways on my ship." Zuko tells the woman.
The beast tears off a chunk of the metal deck flooring and hurls it in our direction. Zuko and I duck for cover while the soldiers and Iroh move to the side. The metal piece hits the doorway leading to the main compartments of the ship with a clang and we turn around to watch it hit the door. Zuko looks on in frustration while the soldiers, Iroh, and I take a firebending stance.
The beast sticks his head inside and begins sniffing around. It raises his head out of the hole as a stowaway appears from it, dashing away. The beast begins to chase the man. While pursuing the man, it's tongue strikes the stowaway's neck, causing him to fall onto the deck (almost as if he can't move at all) and with a terrified look on his face.
The Prince and I look in shock at what happened.
"He's paralyzed." Zuko says in shock.
"A creature that can paralyze living things with it's tongue? Fascinating." I replied to the woman.
"Only temporarily." She tells us while lifting the man and slings him over her shoulder. "The toxins will wear off in about an hour. But by then, he'll be in jail and I'll have my money."
"But how did you find him on my ship?"
The woman is about to mount on the beast, with the stowaway already slung onto it's back. "My shirshu can smell a rat a continent away." she mounts on her shirshu.
"Well, I'm impressed." Iroh tells her.
She cracks her whip and the shirshu bolting off the ship and racing down the dock.
"Very impressed." Iroh leans over the ledge of the ship with Zuko and I, stroking his beard thoughtfully. Zuko look at him in disgust while I suspiciously raise my eyebrow at him.
"Right." I tell Iroh in dismay.
Sounds to me that the retired General has taken interest in a woman that rides a shirshu.
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We walk near a tavern in the Earth Kingdom, where a crowed is cheering at a arm wrestle.
"Out of my way!" Zuko yells in the crowd annoyed. He pushes a man out of the way. "Step aside, filth!"
I walk through the crowd and head towards the man. "Sorry about that. He's in a bad mood." I apologized.
"And he means no offense! I'm certain you bathe regularly!" Iroh tells him as we proceed to follow Zuko.
We approaches the woman, who is arm wrestling.
"I need to talk to you!" Zuko tells her agitated.
"Well, if it isn't my new friends: Angry Boy, Fire Girl, and Uncle Lazy." she retorts sarcastically.
Her opponent strains to get the upper hand. Iroh laughs at her remark and she wins her match without breaking a sweat. The crowd cheers and throws money at the winner.
"Your beast trashed my ship. You have to pay me back!" Zuko demands.
"Well, I'd love to help you out, but I'm a little short on money." she tells him as she collects her winning. "Drinks on me!" she yells to the crowd and they cheer.
As she moves to take sip of her drink, Zuko angrily grabs her wrist.
"Money isn't what I had in mind." he replies.
The four of us head outside. As the woman brought her shirshu, I told her that she haven't told us her name. She replies that her name is June and was born in the Earth Kingdom. Her father was a bounty and she aspired to be one as well. He received a shirshu from an animal collector and gave it to her. She named it Nyla.
June background is very interesting. Being a bounty hunter must be something to do for a living in her eyes.
"I need you to find someone." Zuko shows June Katara's necklace.
"What happened, your girlfriend run off on you?" She asks him in a sarcastic tone. I roll my eyes with a small smile.
"It's not the girl I'm after, it's the bald monk she's traveling with." Zuko states.
"Whatever you say." June replies unamused.
"If you find them, I'll consider the damage to my ship paid for." he offers.
June scoff. "Heh, forget it." she starts to climb onto her saddle.
"Plus, we'll pay your weight in gold." Iroh adds.
June stops, widens her eyes in surprise, and smiles. She walks over to Iroh. "Make it your," she pokes his stomach "weight and we gotta deal."
Iroh laughs with his hand on his stomach. "You got it!"
She turns back to Nyla. "Get on!"
June takes Katara's necklace from Zuko, and shows it to Nyla. The shirshu soon finds Katara's scent on the necklace, and we head off.
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We (mounted on Nyla) arrived outside of a small house. An elderly woman is there with a cat.
"Out for a bit of fresh air, are we?"
"No ma'am. We're looking for someone." I reply to her.
"I hope it's not Miyuki." she turns to her cat. "Miyuki, did you get in trouble with the Fire Nation, again?" she asks and the cat Miyuki responds with a meow.
"Who we're looking for ma'am, isn't your cat." I reassure.
"The Avatar's been through here. Let's keep moving." June tells us and Nyla continues to follow the trail.
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We followed Katara's trail to a village and citizens flee from Nyla in terror. The shirshu stops in front of a shop. A woman remains outside her shop, completely calm.
"Why are we stopping?" Zuko asks June annoyed.
"Because the girl must have spent a lot of time here." June answers.
"We have no time for this!" Zuko states impatiently, getting off Nyla and hangs the necklace in front of his face. Nyla appear agitated and slashes it's tongue at Zuko, who quickly avoids from being hit.
"Hey! Watch it!" he yells at the shirshu.
"Oh look, he likes you!" June replies to the Prince sassily as me and Iroh laugh in response to her remark.
The woman walks up to Iroh and I, still calm. "Care to hear your fortune, handsome?"
"At my age, there's really only one big surprise left, and I'd just as soon leave it a mystery." Iroh tells her.
"How about you young lady? Would like to hear your fortune?" she asks me.
"As much as I want to here what my future holds, I'm really busy at the moment." I reply.
"Very well." she says and we leave on Nyla, still tracking the trio.
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The sound of rumbling alerts the nuns as they stare in fright as Nyla enters the abbey holding June, Iroh, and Zuko.
"We're getting close." June tells us and whips Nyla, who runs out of the abbey and into the woods.
Nyla spots the Water Tribe siblings and jumps behind them. They both turn around to run but end up getting cornered. Nyla looks at Katara.
"So this is your girlfriend." June states to Zuko as he jumps down. "No wonder she left, she's way too pretty for you."
I roll my eyes and Zuko ignores her sassy remark.
"Where is he? Where is the Avatar?" he asks Katara and Sokka.
"We split up. He's long gone." Sokka tells him.
"Do we both look like a bunch of imbeciles to you?" I ask him rhetorically.
"Pretty much." Sokka grabs Katara. "Run!" he yells.
They start running, but Nyla uses his tongue to paralyze them, causing the two to fall face first to the ground.
"What should we do now?" I ask as Nyla walks closer to Sokka and Katara.
"It's seeking a different scent. Perhaps something that the Avatar held." June replies.
Nyla knocks the map off Sokka's pack , smells its scent, and follows the trail.
The shirshu breaks open the gates of the abbey. Nuns scattered around in panic. Nyla walks around in a circle.
"What's it doing? It's just going in a circle." Zuko states.
We see the Avatar flying down. Nyla stands on his hind legs and attempts to paralyze the Avatar with his tongue, causing us to fall off of his back. The shirshu falls down, too.
"Aang!" Katara says happily as she tilts her head, still paralyzed.
"Up!" June orders Nyla, cracking her whip and he stands. She mounts the shirshu.
They charge at Aang, but the horned creature knocks them down by charging towards the shirshu's side. It growls and snorts at June and Nyla.
Zuko, Aang, and I begin to face each other. Zuko sends a fireball at Aang, who stops it by waving his glider. Aang sends a blast of air at us. Zuko sidesteps the attack while I summersault to my right. I direct a fire kick Aang and he jumps to avoid the blast. Zuko moves closer to Aang and sends two fire blasts at his head and feet. Aang jump and duck at the blasts. I unleash fire punches and kicks at Aang. Aang avoids these blasts and sends an air blast at my head and Zuko's. We duck and sends more fire blasts at Aang. Zuko and Aang both firebend and airbend, respectively, at each other at the same time, creating a large explosion. The blast sends me backwards and I fall on my back, groaning in pain.
I get back on my feet and see the Prince and the Avatar fighting on the roof. I start to climb up the rooftop. As I grab onto the edge of the roof, I roll my legs on front of me and direct a stream of fire out of my feet at Aang. Aang jumps into the air to avoid my attack. Zuko sends a fire blast at Aang's feet. Aang jumps up and sends an airbending blast at Zuko and I. When Aang lands, I send a fire blast at him. Aang uses an air shield to stop the assault. Aang gets up and sends a stream of air at the two of us. Zuko crashes into a abbey corner tower while I get send backwards a bit, but I use my boots to prevent myself from falling. Aang runs toward us and unleashes an air blast.
We jumps off the roof and Nyla jumps on it to chase the Avatar. As Aang runs away from him, the horned creature uses his tail to send an airbending blast at the roof.
Aang jumps in the abbey courtyard stream and Nyla follows him. They end up on the roof with the shirshu and June running to the side due to the explodes.
Iroh examines some perfume bottles. He sniffs one and sneaks it into his sleeves. I playfully roll my eyes.
'Yeah, getting a bottle of perfume and not pay for it is so worth it.' (Note my sarcasm.)
Aang stands by a well. Zuko sends three fire blasts at his direction. He jumps to the other side of the well to dodge them. I send a fireball at Aang and he ducks.
"You've got something I want." Aang tells Zuko, noticing that he's holding Katara's necklace.
Aang jumps between the four beams of the well, dodging Zuko's fire blasts by moving on all sides of the well. Zuko breaks two of the well's beams and sends the wooden structure away. Zuko jumps on the well's circular stone structure to join Aang. Zuko sends two fire blasts at Aang, who dodges them by stepping around the well. Aang sends two air blasts at Zuko. Aang snatches at Katara's stole necklace, but misses. Zuko lunges at Aang, who jumps onto his back. The Avatar flies through the air as he grabs Katara's necklace off his foot. Aang lands in the well. Zuko sends a fire blast down the well. The water from the well rises out and sends Zuko flying and pushes me a few feet away. I spit out the water; unamused. Aang jumps out with the water, which rains a little before Zuko falls down.
Zuko stands up and the horned creature walks toward him. Nyla's tongue lashes out at it and he growls. June cracks her whip and Nyla's tongue lashes out at the horned creature again, causing it to fall down.
Me, the Prince, and Nyla cornered Aang to wall. As we are about to attack the Avatar, a sweet thin mist appears. The perfume clouds Nyla's vision of Aang and he lashes out in panic.
While thrashing around, Nyla's tongue strikes at Zuko, paralyzing him. He fall to the ground and I give him a worried look as Iroh concerned looks at Nyla. Before I could say and do anything, the shirshu's tongue lashes out at my arm. I cry out in surprise and fall to the ground as well.
"June! No!" I hear Iroh yell as he catches a paralyzed June from falling to the ground. Gee, thank you Iroh for more concern about your crush being accidentally paralyzed by a shirshu than Zuko and me. (note my sarcasm)
Were on the ground still paralyzed and that when I realized something. "Uncle? I didn't see you get hit with the tongue." Zuko replies to Iroh.
I sigh in annoyance, "Please don't tell me you're pretending to be paralyzed so can have the opportunity to hit on June."
"Shhh." Iroh tells us as he went back to his "paralyzed" position, smiling. June opens her eyes angrily upon learning this. Note to self, next time if a honor driven prince is going to hunt the Avatar, don't use a shirshu.