The Little Dragon

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Wednesday, July 8th

Kaida

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     "Oh no, the sun is rising! We've been up all night with no sleep." Sokka groaned.

     "Sokka, we'll be okay." Aang reassured but I already had my eyes closed. I sleep on Appa all the time, this time is no different, except I'm super sleep deprived.

     "Are you sure!? I've never not slept before! What if I fall asleep now and something happens? And something always happens!" I peaked my eyes open to see him flailing his arms wildly.

    "Sokka. We literally went the whole day without sleeping at the Northern Water Tribe." I said with a groan before rolling over and finding a good spot to shut my eyes.

    "Well, that was a hard day. There was no time to sleep."

    "Mhm. Mhm." I rolled my eyes, knowing he was very wrong.

    "Every time we land, they are there, so we'll just have to keep flying."

    "We can't keep flying forever." Though that was a fact that I didn't want to try and fathom at this moment. In the distance the mountains became a nice flowered grassland.

"So, what's the plan?" Aang asked looking back at Sokka and I. I looked at Sokka with a shrug.

    "I can draw them away if you want." I'm sure I can be a good decoy in order for them to escape, I probably wouldn't survive it, or will be captured, but the survival of the Avatar is much more important.

    "No, Kaida, you are weak right now, I'm not leaving you alone to deal with whoever is in that tank." Katara looked at me, shaking her head in refusal.

    "Sure, she's weak but she might be on to something," Sokka said snapping his fingers at me. I raised a brow. What was this man trying to get at?

     "Don't know... too tired to think," Toph said as she closed her eyes, hanging over the side of her saddle.

      "I'm sure we'll come up with something after a short nap." Katara agreed with Toph, its good to see that they are finally getting along. They made me want to tear my hair out just a moment ago.

     "Yes! Sleep!" Sokka said, closing his eyes as well. Then I felt my stomach drop. I woke up with a start, grabbing onto the side of Appa's saddle.

    "What's going on!" Toph shouted before I could.

    Aang responded with a sound of distress, "Appa fell asleep! Wake up, buddy!" Aang desperately tried pulling on the reigns. Though he couldn't stop the giant bison from plummeting towards the ground. Then suddenly we were jerked up, as if Appa has woken up. I looked over to Hyo who was keeping up fine. Hyo didn't need to sleep because he drew his energy from me. I was two seconds from abandoning ship and jumping onto my Hyo and hope he flies.

   Appa does a rough landing, and we fell off, landing on our butts, this time Hyo doesn't catch me in time. I laid my head on the ground looking up at the blue sky. Would death be better than this? I groaned, turning to my side.

    "Appa's exhausted." What made you think that Aang? The fact that he just body-slammed the ground and launched us off him?

    "Okay, we've put a lot of distance between us and them. The plan now is to follow Appa's lead and get some sleep." Sokka said rolling out his sleeping bag before flopping onto it.

    "Of course, we could have gotten some sleep earlier if Toph didn't have such issues." My eyes shot open at Katara's words, rage filling my lungs.

     "What!?" Toph and I yell.

     "Do you remember what I said earlier. Sokka get me a rope!" I pointed a finger at sleeping Sokka.

     "Alright, alright! Everyone's exhausted. Let's just get some rest." Aang intervened.

     "No! I want to hear what Katara has to say. You think I have issues?" Well she does, but that's not the point, Katara started this brawl and now they are both going to pay the price.

     "I'm just saying, maybe if you helped out earlier we could've set up our camp faster and gotten some sleep and then maybe we wouldn't be in this situation!" I looked to Sokka who was not moving. I glared at both of them before storming to the saddle, grabbing the rope. I swear I am surrounded by children. Children!

     "You're blaming me for this!?" Toph shouted and it made my ears want to fall off my body.

    "No, no! She's not blaming you!"

    "No, I'm blaming her!" I dropped the rope, my fire bubbling up from within me. I have been regenerating it for a while now.

"I never asked you for diddly doo da. I carry my own weight! Besides, if there's anyone to blame, it's sheddy over here!"

"What? You're blaming Appa?!" Aang was now shouting. I threw the ropes to the ground and stomped on it. This was a lost cause.

    "Yeah! You wanna know how they keep finding us?" She grabbed a chunk of Appa's fur and blew it into the wind. "He's leaving a trail everywhere we go!"

    "How dare you blame Appa! He saved your life three times today! If there's anyone to blame, it's you! You're always talking about how you carry your own weight, but you're not! He is! Appa's carrying your weight! He never had a problem flying when it was just the four of us!" My eyes widen to the size of dish plates.

    "Aang!" I scolded and he looked back at me, fear in his eyes as what he had just done. Toph stood for a second then walks away. Toph approaches her bag and kicks the ground causing it to fly up into her arms.

"I'm outta here." I run over to her and held out my arms.

    "Wait." I stopped her in her tracks. She raised an arm sending her Earth Bending at me, I jumped to the side. "We need you." And she needed us. But she just walked past me. "Toph!" I called out one last time before she disappeared into the forest that was now around us.

    "What did I just do!?" Aang yelled in despair, I looked over at him.

    "You let your anger get the best of you." I looked at Aang before I glared at Katara. "We all did."

    "I can't believe I yelled at my Earth Bending teacher. Now she's gone."

    "I know. We're all just trying to get used to each other, and I was so mean to her." Was she just seeing that? Screw this, I'm sleeping. Where is Hyo? I looked around to my dragon who was looking off into the distance. The area we just were. That's not a good sign.

    "Yeah, you two were pretty much jerks," Sokka said still on the ground trying to sleep.

     "Thanks, Sokka," Katara said sarcastically.

    "He's right." Katara looked at me, then looked away like a hurt puppy. At least these kids are learning that there are consequences for being horrible people. Unfortunately for me, it set us back three steps. I should probably go after her. I looked back at the direction Toph went. But there are still people on our tail.

     "We need to find Toph and apologize." Katara turned to me, we seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"Okay, but what are we going to do about the tank full of dangerous people chasing us?" Sokka looked between the both of us. I shrugged my shoulders, I already said that I would be willing to sacrifice myself. I am feeling better, there is no way that I could beat the girls, but I certainly give them a run for their money.

    "I have a plan." We turned to Aang to see him pull off Appa's fur and letting it flow into the wind. He looked at us, I had my hands on my hips as I nodded to him. I think this could work.

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