The Outsider- Avatar Fanfic

Chapter 31 - ...Furious

'Shit shit shit shit,' I hissed as razor sharp knives whizzed past my head before thudding into a tree, far too close for comfort. Any closer, and I would've been sporting a new haircut.

Sokka was screeching as he tried to avoid a young woman with a long brown braid and a pink two peice outfit, who was currently flipping about and turning herself inside out with a gigantic grin plastered to her face. What was terrifying, as Katara had soon found out, was that her sharp jabbing hands could make your limbs numb and take your bending away for a couple minutes. She had her abilities back now, but for a little while there all I could see in her eyes was utter fear.

So, I was doing my best to steer clear of the acrobat. Now, this would have been relatively easy if I didn't have to avoid the other woman of the trio that had chased us the entire goddamn night. She didn't have jabby hands, but she did seem to have an unlimited supply of throwing blades, and had very good aim. My sleeves were already torn from near misses I had had, and were continuing to have, as I unashamedly ran away. Well, retreated.

Despite all of this action, she had the enviable ability to look completely bored by the whole experience.

But, I apologise. You are probably wondering how we got in this mess in the first place, and where the hell the Avatar and Toph were.

Ha. Well.

What if I told you, that after spending the entire night running away from three women in a metal thing, that your water bending teacher and your earthbending teacher got into yet another squabble about 'pulling their weight', only to have said earthbending teacher blame Appa for leading the women to us because of his shedding hair. What if I told you that your airbending teacher got hugely offended by this statement and decided in turn to blame the extra weight of having your earthbending teacher on board with you as the reason Appa was now exhausted, and in doing so implying that the group was better off without her.

What if I told you that your earthbending teacher, the only one able to teach both you and the Avatar, left. Walked out. Just like that.

Now, not only was I trying to avoid two crazy women with knives and acupuncture hands (we guessed the third one had gone after Aang, who was laying a false trail with Appa's fur), but I had to do it knowing that my potential earthbending skills were completely untrained.

'Okay, this is really starting to get old,' I panted, whirling around and blocking five knives that were heading my way.

'You're telling me,' the woman said in a drawling voice, pitch black hair still perfectly in place. 'We tailed you guys all night for this? I'd rather go back to bed.'

'You know, I'm actually a bit offended by that,' Sokka called out, arms limp by his side as the acrobatic acupuncturist giggled at him. To be fair, he did look a little ridiculous.

'So do something then,' the knife-thrower retorted.

'Mai!' the bright little woman said, bounding over to her companion while the rest of us watched her warily. 'That's a bit mean.'

Mai, or whatever her name was, shrugged. 'I don't think they care Tai Lee.'

I pointed at the knife girl, and then to the acrobat. 'So you're Mai, and you're Tai Lee?'

'Yup! Nice to meet you, even if Azula says you're enemies.'

'You're crazy, aren't you?' Sokka said in disbelief, eyes wide. Tai Lee grinned and sent him a flirty wink, which I think only affirmed his opinion.

'And who's Azula?' Katara asked. Something pinged in my mind. I had definitely heard the name before, but I couldn't think where.

Mai rolled her eyes, hands dipping ominously into her wide sleeves. 'You'll meet her soon enough, if I don't die of boredom first.'