The six people were walking their way up the path to the walls of Omashu that protected it from danger. Aang was speaking to them as they walked, "You guys are gonna love Omashu. The people here are the friendliest in the world." It was then that they all hear a rough voice talking near by.
Looking around they saw that a merchant was trying to get into the city but was being stopped by three guards. "Rotten Cabbages!" spoke one of the guards adding, "What kind of slum do you think this is." As the group took a closer look at things they saw a merchant with a cart that was full of cabbages. He was dressed totally in green and was watching the guard as the officer was holding one of the cabbages that he was trying to sell.
Soon the vegetable was crumpled into garbage as the guard then knocked the arm of the vender causing the cabbages in the seller's arms to tumble over the side of the high road. Stamping hard on the ground the guard caused a chunk of rock to flinging the cart into the air and over the side of the road as well, causing it and its contents to fall hundreds of feet.
"Noo! My Cabbages! “The man cried as he looked over at his product fall into the trench, lamenting his losses.
The gang looked at the gate, with Aang and those native to this world looking like that were a little nervous to go forward. Ranma and the women warriors with him looked like they were not afraid, but they seemed to be bracing for something that would be coming up. Aang just told them to, "Keep on smiling..." The avatar walked forward with a smile as Katara laughed with a little anxiety, all of them moving forward.
The same guard that had devastated the cabbage seller moved a huge boulder from the ground and held it over the avatar's head. "State your business!” the officer commanded.
Aang moved forward with surprising speed and pointed a finger at the guard and spoke with an aged voice, "My business is my business, young man and none of yours. I have half a mind to bend you over my knee and paddle your backside." The guard dropped the stone in surprise as he was confronted by the older looking man. Sokka and Katara looked on with fear as Ranma and Shampoo stood there smiling and holding their ground.
Cologne came up to Aang and said, "Remember your blood pressure, honey." She placed her hand on Aang's pointing arm and was looking like she was soothing him. Acting like his wife might as was the roll that they had decided on earlier.
"Thank you, mam. Now can you just tell me who are?" asked the guard, glad that someone was keeping things calm and orderly.
"Name's Bonzu Pipinpadaloxicopolis, the third, and this are my wife and grandkids." Aang said continuing his old man voice.
"I'm Song Pipinpadaloxicopolis, deary," said Cologne adding, "I'm sorry about his behavior. He's always been a little touchy."
"And I'm June Pipinpadaloxicopolis, nice to meet you." Katara said with a serene smile.
The officer pointed to Katara and Cologne saying, "You two seem to be responsible ladies. See that Mr. Pipinpadaloxicopolis stays out of trouble. Enjoy Omashu."
"We will." piped up Katara said at they waited for the signal to enter. The guard motioned them to pass, which they did with Ranma taking the rear.
"Wait a minute." The soldier said as he grabbed Ranma, which caused the boy to tense up for a second. "You're a strong young boy. Show some respect to the elderly and carry your grandfather's bag." With that Ranma relaxed his muscles as he sensed that the fight that he thought was going to happen was not happening.
"Good idea!" Aang said as he threw his bag to Ranma who caught it with no effort. Ranma just smiled like he was ashamed of himself. The gang looked to the solid wall that faced them, which then began to move to the sides as the stone parted. As they moved into the city, Momo began to move which caused his ears to poke out of Aang's wig just as the rocks closed.
The gang looked out on the city as they stood on a railed platform. They saw many houses with roofs painted in the color of the Earth Kingdom, greens of every shade and hue. Chutes covered the city with packages and crates zooming up and down those same chutes. Before anyone else could speak, Cologne spoke up.
"I think that we might have to split up. It looks like the Avatar has some plans of his own if I am judging that look right. I have a few things that I want to look up while I am in the city, as this might be the place to find what I am looking for. A city like this might have secrets that could be useful on our travels or there might even be a way home for us to use the hidden back alleys of this city." Cologne said as she pointed out her mission.
"So you will meet us back at Appa when you’re done? I'm not sure that might be a good idea if the guards start to ask questions why we're not together." Katara said as she wondered what it was that they would do next.
"Shampoo knows the answer to this problem, the ancient Amazon technique of chi tracking. It is one of the first techniques that an Amazon hunter is taught so that she could find both food and enemies. By focusing their minds on the chi of the person they are looking for, one can track the person even if that person has moved miles away from the hunter. This is how Shampoo tracked Ranma across a sea and on a foreign island." Shampoo told the rest of them as she smiled.
"That and the fact that Aang has one of the largest signatures of chi in the world, if not the largest, should make him easy to track. As long as you stay with him or with either Shampoo or my self, we should be able to find each other at the end of the day." Cologne said as she spoke to the group. "So what are your plans?"
"I want to show you the chute system of the city. It has miles and miles of tubes that use gravity to send the crates down and earthbending to send the crates up." Aang told them as they turned to look at the crates move on their way through out the city's landscape.
"Great, so they get their mail on time." Sokka said as he tried to brush it off as they looked at the day to day use of the tubes.
"They do get their mail on time, but my friend Bumi found a better use for the chutes..." Aang smiled with much mischief. His mind went back a hundred years ago.
Omashu, a hundred years ago...
A boy with orange hair tinted up with a headband looked at the city then turned to look at Aang as they stood before the chute. They boy smiled with a lost tooth and with slight insanity to his grin. "Look around you, what do you see?" he asked Aang.
"Ummm... the mail system?" Aang responded.
In a tone that hinted at conspiracies, "Instead of seeing what they want you to see, you gotta open your brain to the possibilities."
"A package delivery system?" Aang was looking confused at his friend's words.
"The world's greatest super slide!” Bumi said as they looked down at the chute, which from their point of view did look like a super slide.
"Bumi, you're a mad genius." Aang smiled at his friend's idea as Bumi grinned then snorted in laughter.
Flash forward, a hundred years...
"So I take it that you're going to take a trip using these super slides?" Cologne asked as Aang nodded with great excitement as he looked at his friend hoping that they would be coming with him.
"I'm sure that Sokka and I would love to go with you on the ride." Katara said as she looked at her brother.
"Sure, it sounds like fun." Sokka said as he looked at Aang with a smile.
"It sounds like fun, but I think that I wanna learn more about this chi tracking thing. Plus there are a few moves that I wanna go through so that I know what it is that I am doing while I airbend." Ranma said as he thought about the new technique that he wanted to learn and the moves that he wanted to master.
"Well, I can't have you slowing me down, son-in-law. So you're going to have to stay with Shampoo. That way she can find me and Aang. As long as Katara and Sokka stay with Aang, both of us should be able to track him as well as each other." Cologne said as she noticed that Ranma tensed with the son-in-law comment.
"Alright, I'll go with Shampoo and she can teach me this technique. She might even be able ta help me train with my martial arts as well. Even with the moves that sensei Aang has been teaching, I don't want my older skills going rusty while I'm in this world. Pops would kill me if that happened." Ranma said as he looked at Shampoo. She just smiled softly as he looked at her.
"It would be Shampoo's honor to teach Ranma," Shampoo was trying her best to hold back her emotions especially the joy that she felt to be with her beloved in this city. She knew that she needed more control over her emotions if she wanted to catch Ranma's heart. "We will look for a park so that we can practice where there is some space for us to move."
With that Cologne and the two groups separated for the day they were spending in the city of Omashu, each one looking to make the most out of their visit to this city in the Earth Kingdom.
(Posted Thu, 19 Oct 2006 14:08)
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