Aang stared sadly at the once great city. "I just can't believe it ... I never thought Omashu would be taken by the Fire Nation."

Sokka crossed his arms. "I guess only Ba Sing Se stands free." I swatted his arm and gave him a "You're only making him feel worse" look before sitting down at the cliff's edge.

Katara stood beside Aang. "I know this is bad, but we need to keep moving."

He shrugged her off. "No. I need to find Bumi." I sighed and stood up.

"Aang, I know you have your heart set on seeing him again, but this isn't going to end well."

Sokka nodded, "Plus, he might not even be, well ..." Aang whipped around.

"What? He might not what?" I placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Relax, dude. He's alive, just captured." Then I blinked, realizing my slip up.

My three friends stared at me. "How are you so sure?" Katara asked.

I sat down. "You guys might want to sit, too. This might blow your minds." Once everyone was seated, I began, "Look, in my world, we have this thing called TV. It's where you have this box that plays a show. Kind of like watching a play, but from a screen, far away from the actual play. Anyways, this world, well ..." I looked at my hands. "This world isn't real."

Aang frowned, "Of course we're real. I mean, if I weren't real, could I do this?" He smacked Sokka's arm, causing me to laugh.

"Well, now I know you're real, but for most of my sixteen years, I thought you guys were just animated characters created for children's amusement. That's how I know how things are, or what's gonna happen." They nodded, but I could tell that they still didn't understand.

Sokka raised his hand, like a student asking their teacher a question. "If you know what's going to happen, why didn't you warn us about the cave in?" I rubbed my temples.

"See, that's the thing; it's like I can't remember things about the show until they happen. That, and random little memories. Like, I should know how we plan on getting into Omashu-"

Katara interrupted, "We never said that we were."

"-but I just don't remember. And when it happens, I'll mentally face-palm because then it seems so obvious." I glanced at my ring. "It's almost as if whoever brought me here doesn't want me to know. Maybe so I won't totally mess up the plot and send the show into chaos."

Sokka frowned, "Plot?"

"Don't worry about it. Okay, so, Aang wants to go to Omashu, but Katara doesn't." She nodded and turned to Aang.

"We can find another earthbending teacher-"

"This isn't about earthbending," Aang said. "This is about helping my friend."

I rubbed my hands together. "Omashu, here we come!"

Aang popped open the sewer grate. "That is how we're getting in?" Sokka scrunched up his face in disgust. 

I raised an eyebrow. "You have a better plan?" Although I didn't much like the prospect of jumping into a sewer either.

"I'm sure I could think of something," he muttered. "Hey, wait a minute. How can we be sure you won't have another panic attack?" Katara and Aang gave to strange looks.

I narrowed my eyes. "Sewers are actually pretty big. It'll be like walking down a hallway. The tunnels were very narrow, making them feel smaller than they actually were. Also, I won't feel trapped in there, because sewers have exits at regular intervals." They gaped at me. "What? Haven't you guys ever explored the sewers with your friends?"

"Um ... no," Katara replied, as if it were obvious. I picked at my fingernails.

"Man, you guys are weird. Okay, into the sludge!" I declared, pointing at the open tunnel. "By the way, I'm standing behind you, Aang." We all climbed in.

I pulled myself out of the manhole, then bent down to help Katara. Aang had kept himself and yours truly from getting covered in slime, and Katara had waterbent the stuff to keep herself clean. Although, I didn't know what happened to Sokka ...

"That wasn't so bad," I said. Then, a slimy figure emerged from the manhole. "Ahh! Kill it! Kill it with fire!" I yelled, using one of my favorite phrases from Gravity Falls. Katara glanced at the monster, then bent water from a nearby pot and washed the sludge away. There stood Sokka, grouchy and hosting three little purple squid things.

"Get them off!" he shrieked. Aang tackled Sokka and shushed him.

"Quiet. They're just purple pentapi." He rubbed one of the creatures on the head, causing it to let go of Sokka.

Katara leaned over and whispered, " 'Kill it with fire' ?" I shrugged, a sheepish grin spreading across my face.

"Gotta love Soos and his crazy outbursts." She just shook her head, apparently done trying to understand my otherworldly references.

Just as Aang removed the last pentapus, three guards walked up to us. "Hey, you! What do you think you're doing, out after dark?" Aang quickly wound some cloth over his head to cover up his arrow. I smiled at the leading guard.

"We were actually just heading home, officer." I turned around and started walking in a random direction, my friends following me. Then the guard called out to us again.

"What's wrong with him?" he asked, pointing at Sokka. I didn't understand at first, but then I saw the red dots on Sokka's neck and face; the result of the purple pentapi tentacles sticking to him.

I blurted out, "Pentapox." My friends looked at me, but I kept going. "It's super deadly. And contagious." The guard stopped walking toward us. I coughed into my hand and rasped, "I think I've got it too." Sokka, the smart guy, moaned and limped forward like a zombie. The guards quickly backed up and ran away, talking about washing their hands and burning their clothes.

"They have a point, you know. You'll should wash your hands frequently," I snickered.

*****

Hidden by the twilight shadows, we dashed down the empty street and up some stairs. "Watch out!" Aang hissed as a Fire Nation patrol came our way. We dove behind a pile of metal and watched them pass.

"Let's just find your crazy friend and get out of here," I muttered.

Sokka turned slightly towards Aang. "Where do you think he is?" Aang closed his eyes, then looked up.

"Somewhere where there's no earth to bend. Like a metal cage."

Just wait. Toph'll prove you wrong, I thought happily. We moved on.

I heard voices, and turned to see a group of people walking near us. It was four guards, a woman with a baby, and a teenage girl who looked miserable. Isn't that Mai? Then that means ... I looked up to see two giant boulders shooting down the Omashu mail chutes. "Aang!" I hissed, pointing. His eyes widened, and he used his staff to destroy the rocks as they passed us.

The lady with the child pointed at us and yelled, "Rebels!" Mai spread her arms, and a bunch of tiny arrows flew at Aang. He jumped up and landed on the metal bars, the arrows burying themselves into the metal.

"Come on!" We ran, Fire Nation guards scrambling up a ladder to follow us. Katara turned and water whipped them, sending them flying. Team Rocket's blasting off again! Mai climbed up and ran towards Katara, flinging more arrows from her right hand. Katara raised an ice shield, catching most of the arrows, but one of them came my way.

Without thinking, I reached up and caught it, centimeters away from my face. "Whoa," I breathed. Since when can I do that?

"Beth!" Katara grabbed my hand and yanked me along, as Mai was still chasing her. We reached Aang, who stepped aside to let us pass. He spun his staff and a blast of wind caused the scaffolding to collapse. Mai threw a throwing star at him, which he caught with his staff.

Mai looked at me, Sokka, and Katara standing next to Aang. A sneer on her lips, she flung arrows at us. I knew that this time, I wouldn't be able to catch them.

Then the earth swallowed us up.

"Ooh, ow," I mumbled, rubbing my head. When the stars faded, I saw Aang and Sokka sitting next to me, also rubbing their heads. Katara looked dazed. "Katara, are you okay?" I moved towards her. I heard a cough.

I looked up, and there was a group of people watching us. Uh, oh ...

*****

"So, where's King Bumi? Is he with you guys?" Aang asked. We were in some sort of cave, with a group of resistance fighters. Yung, the man in charge, balled his fist.

"No," he growled, "King Bumi surrendered. He didn't even fight. He just said, 'Let's do nothing!' and cackled like a witch." Aang looked crestfallen. "But, we're still going to fight. Freedom is worth fighting for."

I nodded, "Yeah, back home, a long time ago, we had this thing called the Revolutionary War. It lasted seven years, but we finally got our freedom from Britain." Katara raised an eyebrow, like she was thinking, Really? Your war only lasted seven years? Ours has been going on for one hundred! I just shrugged.

Aang looked up at Yung. "You don't have to fight. There's another way: Leave Omashu." He turned to some Earth Kingdom soldiers. "You guys are outnumbered. If you retreat, you can strengthen yourselves and come back."

"Nonsense," Yung snorted, "we've been fighting far too long to give up."

I growled, "It's not giving up. It's using common sense. You can't win right now, so try again later. If you think otherwise, then you're as stupid as you look!" I was face to face with him. It really bothered me that he was willing to risk these people's lives to protect his pride.

Yung looked ready to explode, but before he could utter a word, one of the resistance fighters stepped up and said, "She's got a point. I'd rather retreat and live than fight a battle I know I can't win."

Another nodded his head. "I'm with her."

Yung glared at me, then looked at Aang, then back at me. "Fine," he spat. "But what is your plan? There are thousands of us, and the guards aren't just going to let us waltz out."

Sokka startled us by yelling, "Suckers!" Katara raised an eyebrow, confused. The others wore similar expressions. But I smiled.

"I think," I smirked, "that you all are about to contract a deadly disease."

*****

Sokka waved his hands to get everyone's attention. "Okay, everybody get ready!" The Omashu civilians practiced their act. Sokka and I had explained that everyone would put purple pentapi on their faces, arms, and shoulders so it would look like they had "pentapox". It was finally time to leave.

"Let's go!" With Sokka in the lead, the group made their way to the gates. I was about to follow, but heard Katara say, "Where are you going? Aren't you coming?" I turned to see Aang walking away.

"I'm finding Bumi. I'm not leaving until I do." Momo hopped on his head and tugged at his face, but Aang just put him back on the ground. "Later, Momo, later." He airbent himself into the air and jumped from rooftop to rooftop.

I ran up to Katara. "Don't worry. I'll follow him. Go with your brother," I said. She nodded and joined the "sick" group. I raced after Aang, determined to not let him out of my sight.

He leaped from house to house, eventually landing on the ground and running through the streets. I huffed, hugging the stitch in my side. My head pounded. This is not the time for  a headache! Finally, he stopped, looking at a giant white creature. It looked miserable, slowly pushing a turnstile. Aang jumped down, and I ran to him.

"Aang!" I gasped, my chest heaving. "What ... the heck ... is ... that thing?" I bent over, trying to catch my breath. Aang jumped about three feet in the air, startle by my sudden appearance.

"What're you doing-"

I cut him off, "You're a twelve-year-old. I'm not gonna just let you run off alone. And besides, I forgot to pentapus myself, so I couldn't have gone with Katara and Sokka." I straightened. "Now, what is that?"

Aang gestured to the white thing. "This is Flopsie, King Bumi's pet goat gorilla." Upon hearing its name, Flopsie turned and leaped toward Aang. It was held back by a chain, so it whimpered and stopped. Aang frowned. "We need to get him out of here." He bent the water from Flopsie's drinking bowl and froze the lock on the chains. I hopped up on the turnstile and axe kicked it as hard as I could. The lock snapped, and Flopsie hugged Aang and licked him. Aang jumped on Flopsie's back. He held out a hand.

"Oh, you want me to ride Flopsie. Okay. I've done weirder," I muttered as I took his hand and pulled myself onto the goat gorilla. As soon as I was seated, Flopsie raced away.

*****

We returned to the rendezvous point-a campsite in the mountains- weary and despondent. Katara and Sokka ran up to us. "Did you ...?"

Aang shook his head, "We couldn't find him anywhere." Katara pulled him into a hug. Flopsie moaned, and I patted his arm. Surprisingly, Sokka turned and hugged Flopsie. Then Yung appeared.

"There's a problem. We just did a head count," he said, looking uncomfortable.

I raised me head. "Did someone not make it?"

Yung shifted. "Well, no. We have a stowaway." He pointed to Momo, who had a baby latched onto him. We all stared at the toddler. I broke the silence, a smile on my face.

"Aww!"

I sat by the campfire, playing with the baby. Isn't his name Tom-Tom, or something? I'll just call him Tom-Tom. Tom-Tom tried to catch Momo, but the lemur scrambled away. The baby spotted Sokka's club and started biting it.

"No!" Sokka snatched the club away. "Bad! Bad baby!" Tom-Tom started to cry. I picked him up and cradled him while Katara smacked Sokka on the head. I glared at him. "Fine," he sighed, giving the club back to the baby. Tom-Tom instantly brightened, causing me to smile.

Katara pinched the baby's cheeks. "He's adorable!" She kissed him on the head, and I hugged him. Sokka rolled his eyes.

Ying glared at us. "He might be cute now, but he's Fire Nation. One day, he'll be part of their army. That kid'll be a killer." I held out the baby.

"Does this little guy look a killer to you?" When Yung didn't respond, I smiled smugly and went back to playing with Tom-Tom.

Sokka cleared his throat. "So, Beth, you said you've, um, explored sewers before. Why?"

I looked up and sighed. "It was one of the many things on my bucket list: Explore the New York sewers. I wanted to see if there really were alligators down there. When we went on a school trip to New York, Amy, Jacob, and I snuck out. We got in so much trouble." I laughed, then frowned. "I'm, uh, trying to complete my bucket list as fast as I can." I rubbed my forehead, where another headache was forming.

Katara nodded, but then she leaned over to Sokka and whispered, "What's a 'bucket list' ?"

"Obviously, it's a list that you keep in a bucket. Duh." She looked satisfied with his answer. I breathed a sigh of relief, glad that my friends didn't know what the term meant; I didn't want them freaking out over me. I needed them to concentrate on stopping Ozai, not my health.

Just then, a screech sounded. A hawk flew down and landed on a rock near the fire. Aang walked over to it and opened the canister on its back. He pulled out a scroll. His eyes widened. "The Fire Nation governor thinks we kidnapped his son. He wants to trade him for ... King Bumi?!" Everyone gasped.

"I wasn't expecting that!" I sang.

*****

Aang and I walked down the hill to where Appa and the others were waiting. Aang had Tom-Tom in his arms. The toddler burbled in delight. I glanced at Aang, thoughts of last night's events on my mind.

"You realize this is a trap, right?" I wound Aang's turban around his head. "There's no way they're gonna give up Bumi for a baby." Even if said baby is the cutest thing in the world.

Aang glanced at me. "I think you're wrong." We reached our friends.

"This is a trap," Sokka said immediately. "You know that, right?" Even Katara looked doubtful.

Aang grinned at Tom-Tom. "Look, guys, they might be Fire Nation, but I'm sure they still love their son. They definitely want him back." He looked up and smiled at us. "I've got a good feeling about this."