Mizumi (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

Chapter 9: The Mysterious Swamp

Team Avatar flew over a large forest-like area cover in eerie fog. Well at the moment they were flying towards it. Aang was guiding Appa down, he seemed to be in a trance-like state.

"Hey, are you taking us down for a reason?" asked Sokka, but Aang didn't respond, "Aang, why are we going down?"

Aang snapped out of his trance, but seemed confused, "What? I didn't even notice."

"Are you noticing now."

"Is something wrong?" asked Katara moving to the front of the saddle.

Aang still seemed dazed "I know this is going to sound weird, but I think the swamp is calling to me."

"Is it telling you where we can get something to eat?" asked Sokka holding his belly.

"No, I ... I think it wants us to land there."

"I think your right... I, I can feel it...?" said Zumi who had been silent during the whole exchange, she too seemed a bit dazed, but not as much as Aang.

"Is that a question or a statement?" Sokka raised an eyebrow. "Look, no offense to the swamp, but I don't see any land there to land on."

"I don't know. Bumi said to learn earthbending I would have to wait and listen, and now I'm actually hearing the earth. Do you want me to ignore it?" said Aang, he was confused, but he felt like this was something he needed to do.

"Yes" answered Sokka at the same time Zumi said "No." They looked at each other; Zumi, determined; Sokka, exasperated.

"I don't know. There's something ominous about that place." added Katara

Appa groaned while Momo hid.

"See, even Appa and Momo don't like it here." said Sokka.

"Okay, since you guys feel so strongly about this, I guess majority wins. Bye swamp." said Aang resigned.

"Yes, lets ignore the Avatar and our very awesome friend because the place is too 'scary'." Zumi pouted.

"Sorry, Zumi." said Aang sincerely, even though he wasn't part of the problem she referred to, "Yip, yip!"

Appa flew upward, away from the swamp, but a tornado suddenly appeared heading right for him. It seemed the swamp wasn't about to let them go so easily.

"You better throw in an extra 'yip'! We gotta move!" said Sokka, panicked at seeing the twister behind Appa.

Appa flew faster, but not fast enough. As the tornado drew closer Sokka was lifted up from the saddle. Katara and Zumi quickly grabbed onto him, not letting him get swept away by the tornado. Aang, in an attempt to help his friends, jumped into the saddle and created an air shield, stabilizing the air inside it and allowing Sokka to fall back into the saddle. But maintaining the shield wasn't an easy task and the tornado drew ever closer, finally catching up and drawing them in. The shield was shrinking; the tornado was too strong to fight against. It shrank too much and one of Appa's legs slipped through, breaking it. Everyone was flung into the swamp; the kids one way, their animal companions another.

The fall was a long one and the landing rough, except for Aang who landed lightly on his feet.

"Where's Appa and Momo?" the airbender asked, and jumped unto a tree, "Appa! Momo!" he called out, but they were nowhere to be seen.

"Sokka, you've got an elbow leech." said Katara.

Sokka spun around in a panicked motion, "Where? Where?!"

Katara crosses her arms, "Where do you think?"

Sokka rips the small creature off of his elbow and complains, "Why do things keep attaching to me?!"