When Worlds Collide: Book Two, Earth

/////Sam's POV\\\\\

"What are you doing?" I asked, staring at Sokka. Aang and Katara had left a little while ago to find a printer for all the 'Missing Bison' posters.

"I'm making posters to find Appa," he answered, looking at me with a 'duh' look.

"That's..." Normally, I would burst out laughing, but I could only raise my eyebrows.

"We found a printer for our-" Katara cut herself off, staring at me. He and Aang had just burst through the door. "What's wrong?"

I just shook my head, and tried to smile.

"Anyway..." Aang trailed, looking at me warily. "We got our posters printed out!" He held out the picture of Appa I had drawn last night, with a bunch of writing that I couldn't read.

"Hey, I thought designing the lost Appa poster was my job," Sokka complained, and held out his flier. "I've been working all day on my Appa."

Katara had to cover her mouth, and I just sighed, and laid down with my feet propped against the wall.

"Sokka, the arrow is on Appa's head," Aang stated, tilting his head.

"This is his head," Sokka defended, pointing.

"Why are there feet coming out of it?" Katara asked, walking over, and taking the paper.

"Those are his horns!" Sokka exclaimed, snatching the paper back. "I haven't seen him in a while, okay?" He looked down, defeated, and I was finally able to chuckle.

"It looks just like him to me," Toph chimed in, laying down and smiling to herself.

"Thank you," Sokka said, "I worked really-"

I buried my face in a nearby pillow, smiling softly. Sokka just glared at Toph. "Why do you feel the need to do that?" he asked the blind girl, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Let's just stick with Sam's version," Katara suggested, and her brother tore his picture to tiny pieces.

"Hey, wait," I called, throwing the pillow away, and looking at one of the papers he had been using. "Sokka, are these haikus?"

"Yeah," he said, snatching the paper back. "What about them?"

"They're... good," I replied, trying to take it back. "And I can read them."

"What do you mean?" Katara asked, peering over her brother's shoulder.

I held my hand out, and he hesitantly placed the parchment back in my hand. "I mean, I can read them. He wrote them in english - good english."

He sighed, lowering his head. "You're mean," he huffed. "I'm smart!"

"But these are extremely good, considering I haven't been teaching you long," I clarified. "Only a couple spelling mistakes, but only on words like 'tough', and 'enough.' Which is to be expected. I'm going to have to start hounding Aang." I grinned at the young monk, who blushed, and looked away.

"Well, come on!" Aang exclaimed, pulling all the posters out of his bag, and changing the subject. "Let's get busy!"

I rolled my eyes slightly, and gave Sokka his poetry back, before we set off, handing fliers to everyone we saw, and gluing some to several walls. Once I was done with my batch, I made my way back to the house, where Toph, Katara, Sokka and Aang were already waiting for me.

"Any news?" Aang asked as I stepped in. He bounded over to me, with a hopeful look on his face.

"Apparently, one of the old ladies down the street has a wolf-cat that ran away," I huffed, sitting down next to Katara, who was playing some card game with Sokka. "What the heck is a wolf-cat?"

"Pointy ears, sharp teeth," Sokka shrugged. "Pretty tame, despite their name."

I groaned, and put my head in my hands. "Crazy world," I muttered.

"It's only been a day," Katara told Aang, who's face had fallen. "You just have to be patient."

As soon as Aang sat down, there was a knock on the door, and he leapt up, grinning. "Wow, you're right! Patience really pays off!" He danced over to the door, and flung it open to see Joo Dee.

"Joo Dee?" he asked, confused.

"Hello, Aang, and Katara, and Sokka, and Toph, and Sam," she greeted, sounding robotic.

"What happened to you?" Sokka asked. "Did the Dai Lee throw you in jail?"

"What?" she asked, smiling. "Jail? Of course not. The Dai Lee are the protectors of our cultural heritage."

"But you disappeared at the Earth King's party," Toph pointed out.

"Oh, I simply took a short vacation to Lake Laogai, out in the country," Joo Dee assured. "It was quite relaxing."

"But, then they replaced you with some woman who's name was also Joo Dee," Katara said.

"But, I'm Joo Dee," the woman said.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, and I noticed she had deep bags under her eyes. So much for relaxing vacation.

"Dropping fliers, and putting up posters is not permitted within the city," she said, pulling out one of our posters. "Not without proper clearance."

"We can't wait around and get permission for everything," Sokka told her, looking annoyed.

"You are absolutely forbidden by the rules of the city to continue putting up posters," Joo Dee grinned.

Aang sprung out in front of her, looking furious. I gave him a worried glance, but made no move to stop him. "We don't care about the rules, and we're not asking permission!" he shouted. "We're finding Appa on our own, and you should just stay out of our way!" He ushered the scared looking woman out, and slammed the door in her face.

"That might come back to bite us in the blubber," Sokka pointed out, crossing his arms.

"I don't care," Aang fumed. "From now on, we do whatever it takes to find Appa."

"Yeah! Let's break some rules!" Toph cheered, and stamped her foot, making the ground rise and rush towards the wall, smashing it to pieces.

"That... was a little... a little extreme, don't you think?" I asked, staring at the damage with wide eyes.

She just grinned, and followed the others out the door, and I had to jog to catch up.

/////\\\\\

"We'll split up to cover more area," Sokka decided, as I slapped glue to a stone wall, and smoothed out the poster. "Toph, I guess you can just come with me."

"Why?" Toph demanded. "'Cause you don't think I can put up posters on my own?" To prove her point, she snatched a poster from Sokka's hand, took my glue brush, and slammed the poster to the building. When none of us said anything, she looked down. "It's upside down, isn't it?" she asked. "I'll just go with Sokka."

I ruffled her hair as she walked by me, and then I went the opposite way of everyone else. I was away for about half an hour, when I heard shouting and fighting. I sprinted towards the noise, running into Aang along the way. He caught me with airbending before I could go down, and I smiled in thanks, before we both took off again.

We came to a dead end, where Katara had a guy pinned to the wall. Sokka and Toph joined us, and we watched as Katara looked like she was about to rip off his head.

"Katara, what's wrong?" Sokka asked, sending a glare to the guy.

"Jet's back," she said shortly, and my eyes widened as I looked at the guy more closely.

Dark eyes, tan skin, shaggy brown hair. It was definitely him.

"We can't trust anything Jet says," Katara stated.

"But we don't even know why Jet's here," Sokka spoke up.

"I don't care!" I said, standing next to Katara. Partly because I didn't trust him as far as I could throw him (and I really couldn't throw him very far), and because Katara seemed to be really upset. Probably because she really liked him, and he let her down. And I knew how that felt. "No matter the reason, it can't be good."

"I'm here to help you find Appa," Jet said, and a poster fell out of his hand that was pinned to the wall.

"Katara, Sam," Aang sighed, staring at the poster, "we have to give him a chance."

"I swear, I've changed," Jet promised. "I was a troubled person, and I let my anger get out of control. But I don't even have the gang now! I put all that behind me."

"And who did you go see?" I spat harshly. "Dr. Phil?"

"You're lying!" Katara accused, ignoring my comment.

Toph pushed between us, and we shared a look of shock as the young earthbender put her hand against the wall. "He's not lying," she told us.

"How can you tell?" Sokka asked.

"I can feel his breathing and heartbeat," Toph explained. "When people lie, there's a physical reaction. He's telling the truth."

"Katara, Sam," Aang started, turning to us. "We don't have any leads. If Jet says he can take us to Appa, we have to check it out."

Katara and I shared a look, before sighing. "Alright," she decided, and I nodded.

"But we aren't letting you out of our sight," I spat, glaring.

Katara let Jet go, and we followed him to a big, abandoned-looking building. "This is the place I heard about," he said, walking in.

"There's nothing here," Aang noted, standing in the doorway, while the rest of us filed in.

"If this is a trap-" Katara started, but Jet cut her off.

"I told you, I work nearby!" he defended, raising his arms. "Two guys were talking about some giant furry creature they had. I figured it must be Appa."

"He was here!" Toph exclaimed, and we turned to see her holding a tuft of fur high above her head. We all rushed over, trying to get a good look at it.

"We missed him," Aang said sadly, stroking the fur. I gently put my arm around him for support.

"They took that big thing yesterday," a man said, walking behind us and pushing a broom. "Shipped him out to some island. 'Bout time... I've been cleaning up fur and various, uh, leavings all day."

We all looked at each other with newfound hope, and Aang was bouncing on the balls of his feet. "What island?" he asked. "Where's Appa?"

"Four men said some rich, royal type on Whale Tail island bought him up. Guess it could be a zoo, or such. Or, could be the meat is good."

My eyes widened, and even though Aang had his back to us, I could see him tense, and could only imagine the terrified look on his face. "We gotta get to Whale Tail island," he said, then paused. "Where's Whale Tail island?"

"It's far," Sokka sighed sadly. "Very far." He lowered the map in his hands, and pointed. "Here it is, near the South Pole, almost all the way back home."

"Aang, it'll take us weeks just to get to the tip of the Earth Kingdom," Katara warned. "And then we'll need a boat to get to the island."

"I don't care," the monk stated. "We have a chance to find Appa. We have to try."

"It must be nice to visit an island," the old man piped up. "I haven't had a vacation in years."

"Don't you have anything better to do?" I demanded, crossing my arms.

"Shuffle on," he sighed, and continued sweeping, "I getcha. No more need for Old Sweepy."

"You're right, Aang," Katara said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Right now, our main concern is finding Appa. We can come back when we have him."

"Alright," Sokka agreed, rolling up his map, and standing up. "Let's get moving."

"I'll come with you," Jet offered.

"We don't need your help," Katara growled, stopping in her tracks, and pulling my arm so I would stop too.

"Why won't you trust me?" he asked, looking confused, before walking off.

"Gee, I wonder," Katara scoffed, crossing her arms, and looking away.

"Was this guy your boyfriend, or something?" Toph asked, now standing next to us. I laughed at Katara's face, and started jogging to catch up with the boys.

"We can take the train out to the wall, but then we have to walk," Sokka planned, leading the pack.

"Don't worry," Aang smiled. "On the way back, we'll be flying."

"We're finally leaving Be Sing Se," Toph marveled. "Worst. City. Ever!"

"Something doesn't seem right, though," I pondered, looking around. "I feel like I'm forgetting something. Something important."

"We still have to get our stuff from the house," Katara reminded me. "That's probably it."

"Maybe," I sighed, but I couldn't get the feeling out of my head.

"Jet!" we heard, and we all spun to see two Freedom Fighters. Smellerbee, and Long Shot.

"What happened to not being part of a gang anymore?" I asked, glaring.

"I don't," he promised, and turned, only to be attacked by the short girl.

"We were so worried," she said, not letting him go. "How did you get away from the Dai Lee?"

"The Dai Lee?" Katara asked, shocked.

"I don't know what she's talking about!" Jet defended.

"You got arrested by the Dai Lee a couple weeks ago," Smellerbee said. "We saw them drag him away."

"Why would I be arrested?" Jet asked. "I've been living peacefully in the city."

"This doesn't make sense," Toph noted, putting her hand to the ground. "They're both telling the truth."

"That's impossible," Katara told her.

"No, it's not," Sokka suddenly said. "Toph can't tell who's lying, because they both think they're telling the truth. Jet's been brainwashed!"

"That's crazy!" Jet defended. "It can't be!" He looked around wildly, and I took a step forward. "Stay away from me!"

We all began to close in on him, blocking him from escape.

/////\\\\\

"The Dai Lee must've used Jet to mislead us," Katara said, her arms crossed.

We had taken him back to the house, and sat him in a chair, with his hands tied so that he couldn't pull any tricks. Everyone circled him, except me. I was sitting in a corner, wracking my brain, trying to remember what I had forgotten.

What was I missing? What was going on, that I couldn't see? And why was I forgetting everything? The others talking seemed to disappear, and I closed my eyes, with my fists clutched to my head. I felt dizzy, and I needed to sit down. But I was sitting down. Why did my head hurt so much?

"Sam?" I heard, after what seemed like eternity. "Sam, are you okay?"

My eyes shot open, and saw that everyone was staring at me. "What?" I asked, confused.

"We... we said that we were going to Lake Laogai," Katara said, looking at me worriedly. "That's where Jet was taken."

I rubbed my eyes, and nodded. "Right. Sorry." I shakily stood, and Katara took my arm to help steady me.

"Sam, are you sure you're alright?" Sokka asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm fine," I snapped, and brushed Katara's hand away. "We should go, though." I took step forward, but lost my footing, and started falling, but Sokka and Jet caught me at the last minute.

I felt cool hands press against my forehead, and I weakly swatted them away.

"She doesn't have a fever," Katara sighed, and I was suddenly being lifted, and laid down on the bed.

"No," I grumbled, trying to sit up, but Toph pushed me back down. How was such a little girl so strong?

"Sam, you've been acting strange lately," Aang said, sitting down at the edge of the bed.

"No I haven't," I grumbled, giving up on fighting Toph. A sudden wave of pain washed over me, and I yelped, pulling at my hair. "Make it stop," I then begged, trying to fight tears.

"No, I've noticed it too," Katara added. "You've been really moody lately."

"Yeah, well maybe I'm-" I stopped mid-sentence, partly because of all the boys in the room, but mostly because another wave of pain started. I whimpered, and tried to drown out all sound.

"Sam!" Katara called, kneeling next to me on the ground. "You've been acting weird for while. What's going on?"

"Nothing!" I insisted, glaring. "I've just had a lot on my mind lately, that's it."

"She's been drawing a lot," Toph noted. "More than usual."

"Maybe because I've finally gotten some free time," I growled harshly.

"But they're always people," Sokka said. "And places." He suddenly ran out of the room, and came back in a few seconds later, holding several of my doodles. "But they're always crossed out. Like you got mad at it, and scribbled everything out."

It was true. One of the pictures was supposed to be my parents. But they didn't look the same, and I couldn't remember how they were supposed to look. Was Mom taller or shorter than Dad? And then there was a picture of Ali and Brittany. At least, it was supposed to be. But Ali's nose wasn't that big, and Brittany had freckles. Didn't she? And did Ali's hair really look like that? Danny wasn't that small. He was taller, and had chubbier cheeks. Right? Or was he shorter and slimmer? And my room. I didn't have a desk. Did I? And I know I didn't have that many books. Wait, yes I did. McDonalds. Why would I draw that stupid place? I don't even remember what it was. And the car. That stupid, stupid car that my Nan and Pop picked me up in. But it could easily have been a truck, or a minivan, maybe.

Angry at myself, I snatched the picture of my two best friends, and tore it to pieces. "They're gone," I muttered, as I ripped the parchment. "Make them go away! They aren't real! You aren't real!" I was a child. That's what I was acting like. A stupid, temper tantrum child, that didn't know how to behave.

Tears were sliding down my face, and Katara rushed to put an arm around me. "Sam, what's wrong? What aren't you telling us?"

I sobbed, and through my tears, I saw the three Freedom Fighters let themselves out of the room.

"Sam?" Katara asked. "Talk to us."

"It's gone," I cried.

"What is?" Sokka asked, sitting down next to Aang on the bed. Toph was sitting next to me now, and I was squished between the earth and waterbenders.

"Everything," I said, closing my eyes. "I can't remeber anything. You're a show. A cartoon I used to watch with my little brother. I can't even remember what he looked like! The most important person in the entire world to me, and I can't even remember what color his hair was!"

None of them responded, only giving each other odd looks.

"You really want to go home, don't you?" Toph asked sadly, twiddling her thumbs.

I gripped my head again, my eyes shut tight. "That's just it, I don't know! I miss my family and friends, and would give anything just to see them again," I said. "But I couldn't imagine a place without you guys. It wouldn't be the same."

"How about you just sleep, okay?" Aang reccommended, putting his hand on my shoulder. "The monks always taught me that while you have to think, you also have to let your mind rest. Otherwise, you overthink things, and it all just turns out to be one, big mess."

I sighed, looking at each of them. They were my family, as odd as the bunch of us were. I nodded, and pulled all of them into a big hug. "I'm sorry," I whispered, "for being so mean to all of you lately."

"You're just stressed," Katara assured me. "We'll head out to Lake Laogai in the morning, alright?"

I nodded, and started to get up and head to my own room, but four sets of hands pushed me back down.

"Just sleep in here tonight," Sokka told me. "It's just the guest room, anyway."

I nodded, and they quietly shuffled out.

I may be stuck in another, strange world, but I couldn't ask for a better one.

/////\\\\\

The next morning, I did feel slightly better. My eyes were slightly puffy, but I didn't feel as upset as before, and as I walked into the main room, everyone seemed to notice. None of them brought up last night's episode, but they smiled at me reassuringly.

After breakfast, and we all got ready, we met with Jet, Smellerbee, and Longshot, who had gone to their own place last night after leaving. We took the city-train-thing (I'd given it a name, hadn't I? What was it?) as far as we could, but ended up having to walk most of the way.

After several hours, we stood on a beach, looking out over the dreadful water. "So, where's this secret headquarters?" Sokka asked.

"Under the water, I think," Jet answered, rubbing his head. Great.

"There's a tunnel right there, near the shore," Toph said, pointing, before walking over and whistling. With a jump, an earth bridge rose out of the water, and Toph walked along it, until she reached the end, where a sewer hatch like thing was. When we opened it, we saw that it seemed to go down forever - even Momo flew away. We all climbed down, and wandered the halls aimlessly, all the while avoiding the Dai Lee.

Jet lead the way, as his memories seemed to be coming back to him. "I think it's through here," he said, and opened a door, only to reveal an empty cell room. We walked in, and the door slammed behind us. Lights came on, and we looked up to see chains and Dai Lee hanging from the ceiling.

"That's something different," Sokka whistled.

"You have made yourselves enemies of the state," Long Feng stated, glaring down at us all. He, and a bunch of other Dai Lee agents were standing on a platform above us. "Take them into custody."

Officers hopped down from their perches, and I ran to meet two of them. They flung their rock gloves at me, but I pulled out my fans and sliced one to pieces, while ducking away from the others. All the anger and emotions that I felt last night overwhelmed me, and before I knew it, I had the two Dai Lee on the ground without having to use any bending.

"Long Feng is escaping!" I heard Aang shout, and I turned to see him chasing after the dreadful man. I quickly followed, but ended up being stuck in the room with everyone but Aang and Jet.

"We have to get out of here!" I exclaimed, banging on the wall.

It took forever, but Toph was finally able to relocate the hidden door and we made our way down the passage, until we came upon the room where Aang was hovering over Jet, who was lying on the ground.

We all ran forward, and Katara kneeled down, using her water healing to try and help. "This isn't good," she said, looking up.

"You go and find Appa," Smellerbee said, looking sadly at her wounded friend. "We'll take care of Jet."

"We're not going to leave you," I insisted, kneeling down next to Katara, and feeling Jet's rib cage. I winced at the feeling of two - no, three - broken ribs.

"There's no time," Longshot insisted, and I realized it was the first time I had heard him speak. "Just go. We'll take care of him. He's our leader."

"Don't worry, Katara," Jet said, seeing her terrified face. "I'll be fine."

Teary eyed, I helped Katara to her feet, and we numbly walked away, unwillingly.

"He's lying," I heard Toph say softly, and I closed my eyes, trying to fight back a new wave of tears.

We walked down the corridor silently, until we came upon a door. "Appa's gone," Aang stated, seeing the open shackles and piles of fur. "Long Feng beat us here."

"If we keep moving, maybe we can catch up with them!" Sokka suggested, and without saying another word, we sprinted out, heading out of the secret base. We emerged to the surface with a bang, and ran down the beach with one goal in mind.

"You think we can outrun them?" Sokka asked, and I looked back to see Dai Lee chasing after us.

"I don't think it's gonna matter," Aang replied, and I looked to see a string of Dai Lee waiting for us. They raised a barricade around us, and we were trapped.

Momo suddenly flew onto Aangs shoulder, chattering away. "What is it, Momo?" he asked, and the lemur flew off into the direction of the sun. When I lost sight of him, a bigger shadow appeared, and I soon realized that it was actually my favorite flying bison.

"Appa!" Aang shouted, and the beast crashed through the Dai Lees cage around us. Aang and Toph rushed over to the cliffside, and used earthbending to throw the Dai Lee that was perched there into the water.

Appa landed in front of Long Feng, who stood his ground. "I can handle you by myself," he said, and started to kick, but Appa caught the man's foot with his mouth, and tossed him carelessly into the lake.

We all cheered, and attacked our long lost friend with hugs, before setting off into the skies once again.