Cologne hopped over in the direction her son-in-law had been going as he fought the young prince of the Fire Nation. She knew that they had to get out of the area as soon as possible if they were to avoid causing massive amounts of damage to the village. She soon spotted a red-haired woman fighting with a scarred young man.
'Even in this new world and with this new style of martial arts, Son-in-law is as skilled as ever with his chosen craft.' Cologne thought to herself as she watched the battle. Ranma was moving like the wind as she avoided the fire burst from the young man that was her opponent. Speed was definitely Ranma's strong point as she weaved and bobbed around Zuko.
Clearing her voice, Cologne tried to catch Ranma's attention. Continuing to fight the apprentice airbender replied to the older woman, "What is it old ghoul? I'm kinda busy at the moment and I don't need the distraction."
Colonge tried to think of a way to communicate to Ranma that it was time for them to leave without tipping Zuko off about the fact that the group would be leaving the village behind them. She could only hope that Ranma would understand the direction that she would be hinting at.
"The village is taking great damage from the Fire Nation's attacks. I think that it is time for a change in tactics." The amazon elder responded, hoping that Ranma would take her hint.
Ranma stopped for a moment before speaking, "It's time for the "Saotome" special attack." Seeing his opponent making some strange movements with her hands the Zuko stood his ground and prepared for the coming attack. Even the old woman was curious about this special attack as she had not seen Ranma use it before, not even on her when she locked his curse.
“‘Saotome’ special attack! Run away!" Ranma dashed away from Zuko as she picked up Cologne and swung the amazon over her shoulder. Moving like lightning she sped way from the shocked young prince as he watched the dust cloud left behind from the running girl.
Cologne herself was shocked at the special attack that the new airbender had demonstrated. "So running away is the 'Saotome' special attack?"
"Well, that is part of it. The 'Saotome' special attack is ta retreat, ta think and then comeback stronger. Or at least my version of it is that. I get the feeling that you ain't comeback so soon though." Ranma said as she moved towards the village.
"The others and I have decided that it is time to leave the village so that the fire soldiers will follow us away from Kyoshi. We have to think about the non-combatants before we continue the fighting, so we are leaving before the damage is irreversible." Cologne said from her perch on the young woman's shoulder.
Soon the two of them were back at the flying bison where all of the others were waiting for them. Ranma took a giant leap as he landed gently on the huge animal as they prepare to take off from the island nation that they were trying to protect.
"Appa, yip yip!" Aang called out as he grabbed hold of the reins, urging the creature to take flight. Giving a mighty groan Appa took to the skies and flew away from the village. From a vantage point on the ground Zuko watched as the Avatar began to get away from him.
"Back to the ship, don't lose sight of them!"
Back on the bison...
Everyone but Aang was sitting on the saddle as they left the burning village behind them. From his seat atop Appa’s head Aang hung his head hanging down in a sign that he was upset about the events that had taken place in that last few moments of their time there.
Trying to ease Aang’s mind Katara spoke, "I know it's hard but you did the right thing. Zuko would have destroyed the whole place if we had stayed. They are going to be okay Aang." But before anyone else could say a word Aang jumped off of Appa's head and dived into the waters of the lagoon.
"What are you doing?" Katara shouted as she watched Aang dive into the cold waters, disappearing into its depths. Seconds later, the giant form of the unagi burst from the waters.
Controlling it by tugging on the whiskers of the great beast, Aang turned the head of the giant eel so that it was looking towards the village of Kyoshi. Giving a hard pull on the whiskers the eel shot out a stream of water from its open mouth, cascading high into the air and coming down in a heavy rain, putting out the fire that the soldiers had started. Soon the village was only smoldering.
On the land, Zuko and his men had taken a showering from the waters of the unagi. Zuko sat on his steed and looked quite unhappy with the situation that they had found themselves in.
Seeing that the village was out of danger, Aang let go of the unagi's whiskers and jump up to be caught by a diving Appa. Appa caught the young Avatar in his front paws and rose into the sky. If they could see inside the village they would have seen the elder say, "Thank you, Avatar." His face full of the gratefulness he felt.
Aang climbed into the saddle that the others were sitting in. The Amazons, the Water Tribesmen, Ranma and Momo looked at him like they were waiting for him. Aang expected that he would be getting a lecture from either Katara or Cologne and spoke first, "I know, I know. That was stupid and dangerous."
"Yes, it was." Katara said as she then hugged Aang which caused his face to light up with joy and surprise.
"Doing something from the heart is always dangerous, but it is often the right thing to do. If you keep doing that you should have a great future ahead of you, but remember that the right thing is usually not the easiest thing to do." Cologne told the twelve year old as she smiled at his actions.
"It took guts, sensei. So what are we going ta do now? Where are we going ta go ta next and how are we goina’ to keep Zuko off of our tails." Ranma asked trying to think one step ahead for once.
Aang being a little disappointed at having to be released from the hug, said, “I know just the place. It should be safe from the attacks of the Fire Nation and Zuko while being tons of fun. It was the hometown of an old friend of mine. Let's go to Omashu!"
Meanwhile on the metal ship of Zuko...
"You didn't seem to have held the Avatar long." Zuko said, trying to berate the young man that had just changed back from duck form.
"You didn't do to well against that fiend Saotome either. Let's face it; it isn't as easy as it looks trying to get the two of them. It just means that next time we have to have a better plan to go up against the two of them, better than just chains and flames." Mousse said as he sat on the floor.
"I still have a few more tricks up my sleeves that I can use against the Avatar. I do have a few sleep smoke bombs that might work better against the Avatar and allow you to take him alive. Besides the chains would have held him had I not been turned into a duck. Likely by one of Ranma's dirty tricks." The amazon male told the prince.
"It had better work!" the young scarred man said as he left the other young man behind.
Elsewhere...
Zhao was looking at his new recruit, the young man had literally come from now where. What had really surprise him was his skill in conjuring lightning, an ability that was rare in a firebender as it required a great amount of skill. Yet the young man was easy to manipulate if one had a keen mind like Zhao.
The clothes that the man wore were strange as was his speech, always talking about the justice of heaven or something like that. He said that he was from nobility and that he had been ripped from his world by an evil sorcerer named Saotome. He had taken to firebending like a turtle duck to water and saw it as a gift from a sun spirit that he said was woman named Ama-something. But that could also be turned to his advantage.
Still the boy was strange, loudly yelling about a fierce tigress and a pig-tailed girl that were his true loves, saying that they were being held by the same sorcerer that had banished him to this world. 'As if there was more than one world, ' Zhao thought as he watched the young man add flames to the metal sword they had given him. The heat surrounding the blade sliced the air itself, allowing him to cut items without touching them.
'That talent might be of use when I hunt down the Avatar though so I think I'll just keep this boy close to me before I see if he is really worth my time.' Zhao mused as he continued to watch.
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Sun, 27 Aug 2006 02:48)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.