Book 3: Earth, Chapter 5: Avatar Day

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Zuko jolted awake in his sleeping bag with a start as the ground shook beneath him.

Earthbenders?

"Give up! You're completely surrounded!"

His eyes widened when he whipped around and saw who had spoken. At the top of the short cliff overlooking their campsite stood a komodo rhino with a rider on its back—a ruthless-looking man whose head was almost completely shaved, save for a small patch at the top of his head, where a feather-embellished topknot braid sat.

Definitely not earthbenders.

The shaking of the ground increased in its intensity, and within seconds, the entire camp was surrounded by four more komodo rhinos, each with their own rider.

As Zuko scrambled to his feet, he saw that his friends were now fully awake as well, and assumed a defensive position.

"Colonel Mongke! What a pleasant surprise!"

Zuko's brow furrowed in confusion as his eyes darted over to Iroh, who appeared to be calmly addressing the man on the cliff.

"If you're surprised we're here, then the Dragon of the West has lost a few steps," the man replied, a look of disdain crossing his features.

"Uncle, you know these guys?" Zuko questioned.

"Sure," Iroh replied nonchalantly. "Colonel Mongke and the Rough Rhinos are legendary . Each one is a different kind of weapon specialist. They are also a very capable singing group."

Zuko narrowed his eyes. What exactly was Iroh attempting to do? Talk his way out of the situation?

He glanced at Aang, Katara, and Sokka, who each appeared somewhat disheveled and groggy due to having been woken up so abruptly in the early morning. He was not certain how well any of them would be able to fight in this state.

"We're not here to give a concert," the colonel snapped in reply. "We're here to capture the Avatar, and to apprehend his traitor accomplices."

Iroh simply smiled, as if they weren't in immediate danger, and Zuko felt his stomach tighten with anxiety.

"Would you like some tea first?" Iroh asked. "I'd love some. How about you, Kahchi?" He turned around to address one of the riders surrounding the camp—a burly man with a bushy braided beard and a guan dao in hand. "I make you as a jasmine man. Am I right?"

"Enough stalling!" Colonel Mongke growled. "Round 'em up!"

The rider wielding a ball and chain acted first, tossing his weapon directly at Iroh. Thankfully, the former general's reflexes were quick, and he easily kicked it to the side before dodging several fire blasts from the now irritated-looking colonel above them.

"Sokka, watch out!" Zuko exclaimed as he pulled the startled warrior out of the path of three flaming arrows. He looked up to see that the ride who had fired it had the unmistakable facial tattoos of the Yuyan Archers, and he winced as he recalled the piercing pain from the forehead wound that one of them had inflicted upon him all the way back at Pohuai Stronghold.

"Come on, come on, come on!" Sokka shouted as he scrambled up into Appa's saddle.

"My scrolls!" Katara exclaimed in sudden realization just as she was about to follow her brother. As she turned back around, the rider wielding the guan dao plunged the weapon into a large tree stump, where the box of scrolls Pakku had given her sat.

"My staff!" Aang exclaimed, hopping off of Appa's head.

With sudden realization, Zuko's hand instinctively moved down to his hip, feeling nothing but the cloth of his shirt. "My swords!"

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