And I'm back. I'm not sure if I'm particulary happy with this chapter, but I need to get it out of the way... I might come back to edit this at some point.

And as always I own nothing.

The Painted Lady

The brown fetid water bubbled below Appa's swinging legs as the sky bison made his way lazily along the water feature. The eddies and ripples on top of the river sent a horrid stench of sewage wafting up towards the group and noxious bubbles formed and popped on its surface. None of this seemed to bother Aang as he dived in and out of the water after Momo.

"Momo!" Aang yelled before submerging and appearing elsewhere in the water. "Oh Momo!" he cried again disappearing and reappearing suddenly again. The small lemur eventually locking onto him andflying over. "Ah! Ha ha, you found me buddy!" He paused for a moment. Seemingly taking in te water he was diving through before shooting out of it with airbending. Spinning around to rid himself of it as he landed back on Appa's saddle.

"Hey guys I think this river is polluted." The rest of the GAang glared at him as he turned to look at them, now covered in the slime that had previously been on him.

"Sorry guys" he muttered before sending out a blast of air to clean off his friends. Sokka hefted his fising pole out of the water.

"Well, that explains why I can't catch a fish around here. Because normally my fishing skills are… off the hook! Get it? Like a fishing hook?" He recoiled slightly as Tenten mimed playfully slapping him as Shikamaru and the others groaned.

"Too bad your skills aren't on the hook." Toph responded with, earning some giggles from the group as Tenten murmured something about not encouraging him.

"It looks like we'll need to go somewhere else to get food" She unfurled a long scroll in front of her. "Assuming that'll fit into Sokka's master schedule" she sent her brother a withering look which he promptly ignored in favour of investigating his schedule.

"Hmm… it's doable, but that means only two potty breaks today!" He announced triumphantly.

"We really should have prepared some emergency rations for situations like this." Tenten murmured as Aang scanned the landscape in front of them.

"Maybe we can get food there." The others looked as Aang extended his arm to point out a small village on the horizon.

"Looks good" Shikamaru said following Aang's finger. "Besides we can't fly much further without resting Appa anyway. Appa let out a sound of agreement and allowed Aang to steer him down towards a nearby hill overlooking the village. Collapsing happily onto the ground, soggy mud squelching underneath him. Aang quickly grabbed some of the abundant moss and drapped it over Momo like a cloth, the ninja grabing a larger patch and draping it over Appa.

"There you two go, you look just like little hills…" Appa let out a moan as he slumped down on the ground. "Well a hill with majestic horns buddy." Aang bowed before saying his goodbyes and re-joining the others on the way towards the town. The followed the muddy, overgrown path for a while, eventually finding themselves on a small precipice, overlooking the town slightly further up the river.

"I don't feel anything. Where is this village?" Toph asked looking around.

"It's in the middle of the river!" Sokka announced as they took in the creaking wooden supports and buildings of the town.

"Sure is!" came a voice from nowhere, the group jumping slightly and falling back into combat stances, hands twitching for weapons. They looked around, eventually all eyes going down to reveal a boat bobbing up and down on the water.

"My name's Dock. Mind if I ask who you are?" He remained as cheerful as before, seemingly not caring about the initial reaction to him.

Katara was the first one of the group to manage out a reply. "We're… um… from the Earth Kingdom colonies."

"Wow… colonials! Hop on; I'll give you a ride into town." Dock seemed unfazed by the strained responses and moved over, allowing the group to all hop down into his boat. Dock quickly got the boat on its way, bobbing up and down on the filthy waves towards the wooden town.

"Why do you guys live on the river?" Katara asked as they made their way towards a lowered wooden platform, clearly a dock.

"Because we're a fishing town!" Dock announced proudly, before pausing and carrying on. "At least that's how it was before the factory moved in." He pointed up towards a gap in the cliffs, a large metal and cement monstrosity squatting there. Smoke billowing out from high towers. "The army makes their metal there, moved in a few years ago and started gunking up our river. Now our little village is struggling to survive."

The rest of the boat ride was finished in silence as Dock expertly guided the boat towards and then alongside the wooden platform. The crew jumped up onto the wooden platform, leaving creaking wood under their feet. Aang turned and waved to Dock as the rest of the group made their way into the town proper. They passed a variety of people on their way into the town. Fishermen passing with nets, light on fish but heavy on garbage and dripping with gunk. A few women went past, baskets of laundry in their hands, though through the stench coming from the baskets it was hard to tell if the clothes had been washed or not. Kids ran past the adults, playing and laughing, but their clothes were obviously far from the finery of other Fire Nation towns, mud and other contaminant's caking the cloth.

"Look at this place, it's so sad. We have to do something to help." Katara spoke, looking around at the small town.

"No, we can't waste our time here! We have a bigger mission that we need to stay focussed on. These people are on their own!" Sokka replied, very much not wanting to help out the Fire Nation people."

"These people are starving, but you turn your back on them?! How can you be so cold and heartless?"

"I'm not turning my back, I'm just being realistic! We can't go around helping every rinky-dink town we wander into. We'll be helping them all b taking out the Fire Lord!" Toph in response slapped a hand harshly over Sokka's mouth.

"Maybe we should be a little quieter when we talk about taking out the Fire Lord."

"Come on Katara be reasonable about this. You know our mission has to come first." Sokka replied, much quieter now.

"I'm not sure, taking out their leader might just be a good way to build resentment. If we act friendly on the base level we are more likely to generate good feeling towards us." Tenten said, glancing around to make sure no one had been listening to their conversations.

"Not you too…" Sokka let out in a moan.

"I'm not saying we help them now, there's not much we can do openly, and just that taking out their leader might not work out well for us if they're loyal." Sokka pouted at her as she carried on. "Besides it's essentially what we did in that last town with Aang."

"You both have good points, but you're right Sokka, we can't hang around." Katara said, looking thoughtful. Sokka chose to ignore this however as he appeared much happier.

"Let's just get what we need and go" Aang said, interrupting the rest of the group and leading them towards the counter of an outdoor market stall. The stopped for a moment, seeing Dock standing behind the character. They looked around a couple of times before carrying on. Sokka approaching the counter and leaning on it.

"Hey, Dock. You work here too?" he asked, looking over the counter to get a glimpse at the possible supplies.

"I'm not Dock, I'm Xu. Dock's my brother" 'Dock' replied, the kids looking confused, Tenten raising a hand, having questions before deciding that it simply wasn't worth it.

"But we just saw you? You're even wearing the same clothes… The only difference is your hat." Aang said, not ready to drop it just yet.

"Dock works on the docks, that's why they call him "Dock", and I work in the shop, that's why yhey call me "Xu"" He replied.

"I don't get it" Aang responded with.

"Me neither" Xu turned and picked up a crate filled to the brim with grey, rancid seafood. The smell of rotting eggs and fish mixing together. He grinned at the party, looking between them all and the, distinctly off, sea food in his crates. "So what can I getcha? Hey I'll give you a special deal. If you buy three fish, I'll through in a clam for free.

"The group looked at the offerings, all of them, bar Sokka recoiling at the scent wafting up at them from the crate.

"We'll just take some fish." Sokka replied, even him looking unconvinced at the clams, ordering several fish for the party. "Mind telling your brother we need a ride back to shore?" At his friends glares he shrugged. "What? We need to eat." He clarified, turning back to see Dock back instead of Xu.

"Hey colonials! My brother says you need a lift." Deciding not to question him the group made to follow him back to his boat when a small kid, clad in ragged and tattered clothes.

"Can you spare some food?" He asked, looking up at Katara longingly, his rib cage almost visible under his skin, the ripped cloth not hiding his starvation.

"I wish I could spare more" Katara replied, picking up one of the fish Sokka had just bought, handing it to the kid who ran away happily. As they watched they saw him hand it to a sickly looking woman, presumably his mother. Katara smiled at the two, who waved back, ignoring Sokka's shocked glare at having lost some of his dinner.

Dock quickly got them back to the shore, they waved him goodbye, his toothless grin lighting up as he waved back, heading back to his 'brother's shop. They trudged their way back to the campsite, each of them sharing the load of fish. Katara and Aang picking up water using bending and ridding it of pollution, letting them use if for cooking and drinking as Tenten and Lee set up a camp fire and started cooking. Occasionally forcing Shikamaru to help out. Sokka hand sat down on a nearby tree stump, pulling out his schedule and 'hmm'ing and 'ahhh'ing. Eventually announcing his findings to the group.

"Our detour into town today has completely thrown off our schedule. It's gonna take some serious finagling to get us back on track."

"Finagle away, O schedule master." Toph replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Well for starters, it looks like we'll need to wake up forty-three minutes earlier every day!" Sokka announced gleefully. Either choosing to ignore Toph's sarcasm, or simply not noticing it.

"Seems… oddly precise" Tenten replied as Katara raised an eyebrow. Repeating back the time to Sokka.

"Look, we only have a few weeks to get to the Fire Lord in time for the invasion and the eclipse, which by the way only lasts for eight minutes. And we just lost a whole day. So if we want to make up the time and stay on schedule we have to wake up early!"

Lee nodded enthusiastically at the idea of getting up even earlier, Shikamaru however did not share his sentiment.

"Just cause you guys have to be up doesn't mean I have to. I'll just be cloud watching or napping on Appa"

"What he said" Toph announced. "I'm not waking up early."

Sokka didn't let his comrade's lack of enthusiasm put him off however.

"Well we could just cut out all of our eating breaks?"

The idea was quickly shouted down by the other team members.

"I got it! How's this. From now on we'll take food breaks and potty breaks at the same time!" Sokka announced triumphantly.

He look at the teams expressions before conceding.

"He it might be gross, but it's efficient. Either way, we have to leave here first thing tomorrow morning.

BREAK

The moon was high in the sky, casting a pale light over the campsite. The campfire was waning, sending shadows scattering all over the reddy brown earth. Small tufts of grass swayed slightly in the breeze.

Katara stirred, and got up, looking over the bay at the village.

"You want to do more to help them don't you" she heard a lazy drawl from behind her. Turning around she saw Shikamaru laying on a rocky outcrop. Katara looked over at the sleeping form of the overs before joining Shikamaru on the outcrop.

"How do you guys do it?" She asked hoisting herself up next to the shadow wielder.

"What do you mean?"

"Carry on" she replied, indicating Tenten and Lee, both sleeping soundly next to each other.

"They've lost their leader and they don't know their way home, you don't know how to get home either."

Shikamaru shifted slightly before replying.

"I know my team will be fine, they won't have let the enemies left faze them and I imagine they're securing a way home for us at our village as we speak." He paused for a while clearly considering conversation to be a chore at this point.

"As for those two, they're strong" He indicated at Tenten and Lee. "We were so caught up in escaping ourselves that we had other things to focus on whilst escaping." He looked over at Katara. "We also talked to your dad a lot whilst Aang was unconscious. We know that Iroh will have gone home as a captive and for someone who is not an air bender to have Neji's techniques would be too interesting for them to just execute."

Katara shuddered slightly at the idea of execution but did her best to hide it. "You're sure?"

"We are" Shikamaru replied. "They'll want to learn about Neji's techniques and ours since we're unknown quantities. Even if that means locking him away."

"But what about torturing him?"

"We considered that, your dad nearly had to restrain Tenten to stop her running off as soon as he'd told us about the Fire Nation prison system." He paused. "From what we know Neji will likely be with Iroh as a high profile prisoner. Though for both of them they will be kept very secretive, it's not great for morale for an unknown assailant and the brother of your leader to be kept captive. Especially if their allies, us, are still roaming large."

Shikamaru shifted, glancing around the campsite wearily for a moment.

"Add to that the fact that as far as they're concerned, they've won. The next few weeks will likely involve celebrating and enforcing their rule on the Earth Kingdom. Taking over the capital city won't have won them the Earth Kingdom yet. They'll be looking to wipe out the last resistance of the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe as soon as possible before Neji and Iroh will be at risk."

Katara nodded, taking in Shikamaru's words. The two sat in silence for a while before Shikamaru carried on.

"Though if we ever get to the point where we can raid prisons, we'll be the first strike team" Katara looked other, a steely glint she hadn't seen before in Shikamaru's eyes.

"Thanks, but what about the people here, we can't just leave them. How do you guys leave on people behind on missions?"

"Sometimes you have to do something for the greater good." Shikamaru replied, drawing up his sleeping bag. "Though it seems to me that your problem is that we're leaving first thing in the morning on Appa, as get a ways go this one is surprisingly comfortable." He shifted slightly, laying down in his sleeping roll.

"Anyway since you're up now, you can take over my watch." Shikamaru yawned. "It's so troublesome staying up."

BREAK

"I think Appa's sick." Katara announced from her position next to the poor flying bison. Gently soothing him as she tried to take care of him.

"Appa's sick, that's awful!" Sokka announced rushing over.

"Wow Sokka, I didn't realise you cared so much."

"Of course I care. I might as well just throw our schedule away now" Sokka turned around, if looks could kill he'd have been wiped out in a manner that would have impressed the Fire Nation generals. He quickly ran over to kneel at Appa's side.

"I mean of course I'm concerned because my big furry friend doesn't feel well."

"He must have gotten sick from being in the polluted water."

"He doesn't look sick. You okay buddy?" Aang announced, moving over to his best friend and pulling his tongue out smiling. He glanced at it before looking concerned and speaking fast. "His tongue is purple! That can't be good. Katara can you heal him?" he looked down at his crush as she stood and straightened herself out.

"It looks like he needs some medicine. Maybe we can find the right herbs in town."

Sokka groaned as the GAang made their way over to the path leading down to the village. The three shinobi volunteering to look after the camp.

They watched over the camp for two hours, mostly catching up on their own training and techniques when the sound of conversation reached their ears. They gathered by the entrance as their friends returned. Sokka talking happily about how the two headed fish he'd gotten from town offered more for their money.

"Did you get the medicine?" Tenten asked, looking around the returning group.

"We didn't…" Katara said, her voice much happier than it had been the previous day. "But we did find out that the village's patron spirit, the Painted Lady appeared last night and delivered food to them." Tenten nodded, not quite convinced but moved to help the rest of the group with the supplies.

The group devolved into their usual routine of training and planning for the rest of the evening. Eventually night drawing in with Katara eagerly taking care of night watch duties.

When she had made sure that everyone was asleep she went down to the river, out of view of the camp. She pulled up some of the nearby water, freezing it into a mirror and starting to apply her make up. She was pulling on her hat and veil and robes when she heard a voice behind her.

"So the Painted Lady showed up did she?" A lazy drawl from behind her.

She turned, water raising up around her as she looked up at the figure slumped against the trunk of a nearby tree.

"You said sometimes you have to do something for the greater good" she replied. Shikamaru sighed, hopping down from his tree.

"Not quite what I had in mind." He muttered. "You know as soon as we leave the village will be in trouble again." He paused. "Not to mention the Fire Nation will likely get suspicious if the village suddenly turns around."

"If we help them stand up then they can carry on themselves, besides we have to wait for Appa to get better anyway."

"I'm sure Appa will be better once you stop feeding him those berries." Shikamaru motioned to the purple berries in a bowl near Katara's feet.

"So what are you going to do?" Katara asked. "I haven't finished helping the village yet… actually with your abilities you could be a great help for me" She gained a predatory grin. "So if you don't want me to wake you up every time you try to nap or cloud watch I'd suggest helping me."

Shikamaru sighed again, following after Katara's lead. Women could be so troublesome.

BREAK

Clouds covered the moon, the pale moonlight being obscured and leaving the only source of illumination the flickering torches. A few Fire Nation soldiers patrolled the palisade walls of the small Fire Nation fort. Built around the army camp away from the factory. Metal buildings filled the walls, with a large courtyard in the middle of the fort. A Fire Nation flag flying high in the air.

The torchers of one guard tower flickered suddenly, contorting and suddenly shooting up. Strands of darkness struck at the back of the guards, hitting the nape of their neck between the metal plates armouring them. The two guards slumped down unconscious, not noticing the suddenly burst of water flowing up from the river. Two figures landed in the tower replacing the fallen guards. They were silent as the crouched down. Pulling a map down from a nearby table and checking the layout.

"We're here" Shikamaru pointed out, the rushing river obscuring his voice. "From the looks of this the infirmary is here, so we can take this route." He looked up at his companion. "They're going to notice these supplies missing, you know that right."

"That shouldn't be an issue, I'll make sure the crates won't be seen so they won't suspect the villagers."

"Alright" Shikamaru muttered, not wanting to argue. I'll take out the guards here, here and here so you can focus on getting into the infirmary storeroom." Katara nodded, adjusting her veil and vaulting the guard tower wall. Landing on the ground below.

She flittered from wall to wall. Staying within the showers, themselves twisting around to protect and obscure her. Shikamaru meanwhile kept low as he moved along the walls. A Fire Nation guard turning around, his eyes widening as he saw darkness approaching him. He fell down unconscious on the wall as Shikamaru moved on.

He quickly dispatched more guards, striking down some with his hands quickly as other guard towers were assaulted by shadows, the guards there suddenly finding themselves short of breath before collapsing down.

Katara got to the edge of the courtyard. Looking up to the walls, noticing the small flickering of torches going out one by one.

The clouds shifted, more light now illuminating the open space in front of her. The guards armour glinting in the pale moonlight. One of the guards turned, her eyes nearly meeting Katara's when suddenly shadows shot down the flag pole. Sinister shadowy hands made their way up the guard's bodies, panic entering their eyes for a moment before consciousness left their eyes and they collapsed down.

Shikamaru hopped down from the flag pole. "The rest of the way should be open, I'll get the gate open if you get the supplies." Katara nodded, running across the courtyard. She swept into the infirmary, using some water from her flask to take out the guard patrolling, thankful that they had their back to them.

Within minutes she found what she was looking for. Crates upon crates of medicinal supplies. She quickly used her water to form an ice sledge. Jumping on the back of it and using water jets to push it out of the doors. She almost flew over the ground. Gliding out towards the forts gate, grabbing Shikamaru on the way before disappearing into the cover of night, a shadow rising up to close the gates behind them.

They arrived on the outskirts of the village after a quiet thirty minute journey. None of the other Fire Nation patrols had spotted them with Shikamaru spending the majority of the journey using a Kunai to remove the Fire Nation emblems from the crates, should they be spotted.

Katara moved back up to the village, moving towards the hut she knew housed the injured. Shikamaru muttered, annoyance in his voice as she left him to move the supplies to the storehouse behind it. Breaking up the crates as he did so.

As for the water bender herself she moved into the infirmary. Using her ending to create a slight mist as she hurriedly moved between the people sleeping with in. A warm glow illuminated the hut sporadically as she healed them as best she could. Finishing off the treatment of one final woman and turning to leave. Making her way outside, hearing a voice from behind her as she made to move to the watere.

"Thank you Painted Lady"

A small boy said, looking up at her. She nodded at him before jetting off across the water, shadows enveloping her as she disappeared into the shadows.

BREAK

The group made their way down into the town. The sounds of celebration and music could be heard before they set foot in the village. They walked past several people laughing and dancing. Chatting happily between each other as one man strummed a guitar nearby.

They made their way back to Xu's shop, the man in question polishing his Painted Lady figurine with a rag as they approached. Removing all traces of dirt and placing it gently onto his store front.

"Hey Dock!" Sokka announced, leaning casually on the store front. "Is Xu around?"

"Let me check…" Dock yelled, charging around the corner and disappearing for a second before coming back wearing a different hat. "Hey there! Back again, are ya?"

"We need some more food. Our friend is still sick and we can't leave until he's better." Xu nodded. Ducking down for a moment before pulling out a plate of noxious looking clams.

"That's too bad, maybe if you guys are lucky the Painted Lady will visit you in the night and heal your friend." Xu carried on talking happily to Toph and Sokka, either ignoring or not noticing Sokka's sarcastic replies. Katara felt eyes upon her, but looking around the group where either talking to Xu, or joining in with the locals. Lee had a few children following him as he led them through a mixture of martial arts and dancing.

Shikamaru was facing skyward, watching the clouds move lazily by, seemingly not interested in the locals and continuing praise of the Painted Lady.

He continued his indifference as they made their way back to their camp. Moving around the labyrinth of wooden platforms. The boards creaking underneath their feet. Sokka moved his sarcasm from Dock to Katara, causing an argument about how much the Painted Lady was helping. Sokka ended it by pointing out that as soon as the Painted Lady stopped the village would go back to how it was before. He mentioned that it would be for the best if she took out the factory causing all of the problems, rather than taking out the symptoms.

Whilst Aang and Sokka talked and hammily acted out the use of spirit magic Katara turned to Shikamaru, smiling at him as he looked down from the clouds for a brief second, sighing before looking up again at the sky.

The afternoon was spend at camp, Aang again practicing his bending as the shinobi kept up their skills. The clams were dubiously consumed and as night started to settle in Katara volunteered Shikamaru for the first guard duty.

BREAK

Shikamaru waited at the entrance to the factory. He sighed and looked up at the clouds floating lazily overhead. The bark dug into his jacket as he leaned back more and more into it. Eventually he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. He turned, seeing two figures approaching. He hung back slightly, staying out of sight as they approached.

"Shikamaru, Aang's going to be joining us." The veiled woman announced. He moved forward, revealing himself to the couple.

"If you've got Aang helping you, I doubt you'll need me." He made to walk off but he was suddenly yanked back by a trail of water.

"No you don't, I'm not letting you get out of this that easily." Katara mentioned, pulling him back as they made their way towards the factory doors. "Besides, your skills make it much easier to appear mystical."

He muttered something about troublesome women as Katara sent a pulse of water slamming into the door. Blasting it open to make their entrance. A few guards turned to face them. Whipping their heads around. Shikamaru moved quickly. Taking advantage of their shock to rush in, shadows raising up, pulling the swords from two guard's scabbards. Bashing the pommels into their heads before casting them down.

Aang and Katara moved in moments after him. A blast of air barrelled down a corridor, sending guards flying around and smashing into walls and knocking them out. Meanwhile Katara pulled up some of the surrounding water, sending a wave of water crashing down another corridor, flooring several more guards.

"Head up to the higher levels, I'll sabotage this layer" Shikamaru said, wanting to get the impromptu mission over and done with as quickly as possible. The other two benders nodding, running off up a nearby metal stair case. Shikamaru made his way deeper into the factory. The cold steel walls spreading on and on, his footsteps drowned out by the rumbling of water crashing down the industrial pipes mounted on the walls.

He made his way past several control room. Leaving explosives mounted with in them near important looking machinery. Eventually he made his way to a huge open room. Water crashed through pipes and open water tanks. Gantries filled the air, intermingling between the pipework and large metal tanks. As Shikamaru made his way he saw some Fire Nation guards coming to meet him. Their spears glittering in the lamp light as fires ignited from a few soldiers in their midst.

He cursed and his shadow raced out, easily using the excess darkness in the room and the shadows generated by the fire benders to grab the front row of spear men. Making them turn their spears around, tripping and knocking out their companions. A group of benders moved towards him when a sudden gust of wind burst forth from one of the gantries. Metal debris raining down and landing on the charging fire benders knocking them out.

The water from the tanks stirred, whipping up as sudden gushed of water blasted up, knocking down metal flooring, the debris falling into tanks and pipes and the ground. Soldiers cried out as they were knocked from their feet, their weapons sent airborne. A group of swordsmen appeared behind Katara and she whipped around. A nearby pipe groaning as water was ripped from it, spreading out as it rushed around Katara, cutting off the Swordsmen. Aang jumped from a nearby gantry. A blast of air propelling him forwards as he used his staff and bending to knock the men away from his crush.

Katara herself carried on, freezing the water rushing out of the wrecked pipe to make a bridge to a nearby ledge. The water hovering around her whipping around, cutting through Fire Nation banners as well as more pipework. Shikamaru carried on. More and more Ninja wire lined with explosives being thrown out, multiple shadows suddenly shooting up to knock several arrows to the ground.

He threw a few shuriken up at the archers lining the upper levels. A few of them crying out as they fell to the throwing weapons. A few more cried out as bow strips were cut, the wood and metal snapping up suddenly. One falling to the ground, yelling about his cabbages as he clutched at his groin.

Water wrapped around the remaining archers, yanking them off the ledge and sending them crashing down to the ground floor. Katara snap froze some of the pipes, causing pressure to build up. The metal groaned as it strained against the forces building up before snapping. Broken metal and streams of water opened up all around the factory as Shikamaru activated his rigged explosions. Flames whipped around the room as a deafening roar echoed down the hall and around the room.

"We need to go!" Aang yelled, whipping air and wind around him. Picking up Katara and then Shikamaru and flying out of a nearby, recently made, hole in the wall.

As they landed on the shore near their campsite they could still hear the faint sound of explosions coming from the factory. Black smoke drifting into the air as the metal collapsed in on itself, water pouring out.

"Ha ha!" Aang announced happily. "Boom!"

Katara shushed him. "We don't want to wake the others" she muttered changing back into her normal clothes and leading them back towards the camp.

"I think it's a bit late for that" a voice could be heard. Looking up revealing a disapproving Sokka.

"Oh hi Sokka!" Katara managed out. "we… um we were just taking a morning walk!" She tried to smile innocently at him.

"Oh really…" Sokka replied, dropping the dry grass bundle from Katara's sleeping bag onto the ground in front of her.

"I know you're the Painted Lady, I know you've been sneaking out at night and I know you've been lying about Appa and feeding him purplizing tongue berries!" Sokka pointed at Toph and Appa, both sticking out their tongues to show the similarities.

"Katara, what you did put our whole mission in jeopardy. We're leaving right now!"

Sokka turned to Aang.

"And how long did you know about this?!" He cried out.

"Hey I just found out this morning" Aang replied with a shrug.

Sokka merely sighed and turned to Shikamaru.

"And you've known for what, a couple of days?"

Shikamaru murmured his agreement. Happy that someone else had called Katara out on the points he'd raised.

"Well it was obvious something was up, when our lazy friend was up to something." Tenten muttered giggling. They started to pack up their camp in relative silence when a faint noise started to interrupt.

They looked around, Sokka announcing that they'd stayed too long and that they were about to be attacked.

Shikamaru moved to observe the village, seeing several jet powered skis powering towards the village.

"Well this is troublesome" he let out, causing the rest of the group to join him.

"What did you do?!" Sokka let out, comically shouting at his companions.

"I… we… kind of destroyed their factory." Katara admitted, looking sheepish.

"You what?!"

"It was your idea!"

"I was joking… I said to use spirit magic and made funny noises! Did you think this through? The army's going to blame the villagers. They're going to be headed there for revenge!" He turned to Shikamaru.

"Why didn't you stop her?!"

"It was too troublesome to argue with her about it." Both Sokka and Tenten face palmed at the typical response.

"Well what were we supposed to do? Leave?" Katara shot back.

"Yes, leave do nothing." Sokka replied, wishing the ground would swallow him up.

"No. I will never, ever turn my back on people who need me." She swept up her Painted Lady disguise. She carried on as she pulled the robes back on. "I'm going down to the village, and I am gonna do whatever I can."

Sokka looked like he wanted to cry, but after a few tense moments of fighting with himself he rushed after Katara.

"Wait. I'm coming too."

"I thought you didn't want to help?"

"You need me, and I will never turn my back on you."

"Sokka. You really do have a heart!" Katara made out hugging him.

"He really does have a heart doesn't he?" Aang asked the rest of the group smiling. He wiped away tears of joy as he turned to Toph. The earth bender merely socked him in the chest.

"As nice as this it, there are some Fire Nation soldiers that we need to clean up."

BREAK

"I thought we could live as neighbors, in peace. But I guess I was wrong. You steal our food, our medicine… and then you destroy our factory." General Mung announced. Striding along the wooden planks. The metal boots causing the wood to creak and groan under foot. He glared at the assembled villagers, almost daring one to reply.

"We didn't do any of that" Dock appeared, popping up from the crowd. General Mung glared at him, but he quickly disappeared. Xu appearing a few feet away. "Yeah the Painted Lady brought us food. She's the one that healed our sick, not your medicine!"

"Oh right. The mysterious Painted Lady did it." General Mung yelled back. "And I suppose she drew the army emblem on your containers too!" He shot a blasé of fire at the nearby storehouse, the building's walls exploding in flames, leaving a residual fire lapping at the remaining struts. The crowd murmured and some of them tried to hide giggles, as whilst medical supplies could be seen, the boxes and crates holding them most definitely did not have any Fire Nation insignias. Instead a poorly dyed rendition of the Painted Lady was there.

The General sent another blast of fire crashing through nearby houses.

"This town is full of thieves and liars!" He launched a two handed bunch, a torrent of flame billowing out to engulf a row of unfortunate houses.

"Where's your Painted Lady now? We're going to cure the world of this wretched village."

He motioned and wave after wave of fire scythed through the air. The crowd panicked as their homes caught alight, fire spitting and jumping from roof to roof.

Two soldiers moved towards the docks. They sent out two blasts of fire, igniting a ball perched on a buoy in the river. They turned to go back to the village when a sudden gust of wind wiped out the flame.

They cursed, the crowd of frightened villagers and soldiers paying attention as they sent another blast of fire to ignite the buoy.

The buoy light up as wood splintered off it. The soldiers turned smug, when a sudden blast of air rocked through the river, extinguishing it.

"Light it again!" General Mung cried. Making his way towards the soldiers. They hurriedly sent out another blast, but before it even hit the buoy another blast of air wiped out the flames.

A chilling melody drifted into the town. The faint notes of a flute drifting on the wind, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Look at that! Where's it coming from?!" A Fire Nation soldier cried out, pointing towards a mist suddenly descending onto the town. The heavy fog rolled over the river. Soon visibility was reduced to just a few meters. A few silhouettes could be seen moving in the fog, though the shapes twisted and danced. Never existing for more than a few moments.

The notes carried on, the haunting melody seemingly coming from all around the town. Assailing the soldiers from all sides.

"Something strange is going on" another soldier let out as he drew his sword from his scabbard.

"It's the Painted Lady! She's coming!" A young village boy let out, looking around excitedly.

"There is no such thing as the Painted Lady!" General Mung let out, sending out a few fire blasts at the flickering silhouettes. The fog parting only for a moment as the flames blasted forward, before being engulfed and snuffed out.

"What's that sound?!" A guard let out, looking around fearfully. A large thudding sounds could be heard. The sounds where getting louder and louder, more and more shapes swirling around in the distance in the fog. The soldiers backed away in fear.

"M…maybe it is her." One Fire Nation guard let out, stumbling back from the water. A few other soldiers nodding in agreement, one even tripping up and falling backwards into the river with a loud splash.

The fog parted suddenly, revealing the surface of the water. The river stilled, the sounds stopped.

A figure could be seen. Her face obscured by a shifting veil. The world stood still for a few seconds before her head snapped up. Moments later a blast of water shot out from behind her. The spray crashing down in the midst of the fog as the figure sped towards the jetty.

She leapt up as she approached the dock, spinning around and sending a wave of water flying. A few of the Fire Nation jet skis were sent flying high up into the air.

"Do something!" General Mung let out, trying, and failing, to hide the fear in his voice.

"We! We can't move!" Let out a few of the Fire Nation soldiers. Crying out in fear as shadowy hands slowly made their way up their bodies. Gasping for air as their worlds darkened, collapsing unconscious. A few soldiers started to flee as they saw some of their comrade's fall, unable to fight back.

They turned and fled, running back through the city, ducking under burning planks. The fire flickered. A shimmering appeared and suddenly a group of soldiers were thrown back to their general, their armour rent by unseen hands.

"I… I don't want to fight spirits!" Cried out a lieutenant. "I wasn't trained for this."

"Get in their weakling!" General Mung yelled. Pushing the cowering man forward. The Painted Lady turned. A chilling blast of air shooting out and wiping the lieutenant along with his soldiers off the wooden platform.

The Painted Lady herself used the confusion to draw up more water. The fires throughout the town being extinguished. Steam joining the fog covering the town.

The remaining soldiers jumped onto the jet skis. A sudden blast of water catching two of them as they started up, sending the vehicles crashing into the river, the men and women riding them flying through the air. Some of them landing on the fire side of the river, others following their skis into the river.

"I'll take care of you myself!" General Mung cried. Ignoring the spray coming up from his fleeing troops. He launched a roundhouse kick into the air, a cruel arc of fire raced through the air towards the Painted Lady. The chilling wind returned, blasting her up into the air. A wall of ice formed around the path, the fire crashing harmlessly into it.

General Mung launched a few punches at the Painted Lady. Fire blasts roaring through the sky. The Painted Lady in response merely shifted one way and then the other. The fire soaring past her as she few back towards the river. She disappeared as she reached the river. The fog building up suddenly before a large blast of air roared up from the river.

The dock was torn in two as the General was blasted high into the air. He hung in the air for a moment before crashing back down into the river. Shards of wooden debris landing all around him. He surfaced, floundering slightly as he tried to keep his head above the water, trying to remove some of his armour to help him.

The Painted Lady appeared in front of him. Water pouring off her hat as she raised up slowly from the depths.

"Leave this village and never come back." She let out. The river rushing around her and causing the General to get thrown around in the currents. He nodded his head, swimming off quickly to the one remaining jet ski, a large spray being kicked back as he disappeared into the distance.

BREAK

Sokka grinned at Toph as she raised up one of the two giant stone slabs. Crashing the other one down with a resounding thud. He played the flute eagerly, the wrongs notes only adding to the eerie atmosphere as random sharps and flats were carried away by Aang's bending. Appa suddenly jumped between them, letting out a loud roar that was soon amplified to a level far above the usual ability of the sky bison.

Sokka looked up, he could just about make out the figures of the three ninja. Moving around on the top of the water, the faint glow around their feet making them appear more mysterious. He saw Tenten move around, playing her flute to confuse the soldiers on the docks. The few fire blasts sent out getting nowhere near them as they skilfully moved around.

He saw the fog shift, knowing that Katara was about to make her move. As the sounds of carnage grew he ran with Toph to the shore. Getting into their boat and picking up Tenten on their way over to the jetty.

They heard the villagers applauding as they neared, hurrying up when they heard the sounds of celebration turn to suspicion.

"How dare you act like our Painted Lady?!" They heard as they neared. Aang, Shikamaru and Rock Lee joining Katara on the jetty. Moving forward to block off Katara from the crowd as they surged forwards.

Sokka leapt from the boat, leaving Tenten to dock it.

"Maybe she is a waterbender, but she was just trying to help you! Because of her, that factory won't be polluting your river, and the army is gone. You should be down on your knees thanking her!" He yelled, running in front of his sister and friends.

"Sokka, it's okay." Katara spoke up, causing everyone to turn to look at her. "I shouldn't have acted like someone I wasn't, and I shouldn't have tricked you. But I felt like I had to do something. It doesn't matter if the Painted Lady is real or not. Because your problems are real, and this river is real. You can't wait around for someone to help you. You have to help yourself!"

She finished her speech, looking around the gathered villagers.

"She right, but what should we do?" Dock said popping out from the crowd.

"Maybe we can clean the river?" came a voice, Toph's voice from the crowd.

"Yeah we can clean the river!" came the reply from the rest of the crowd.

"We can rebuild the fishing village!" Came Tenten's voice from another part of the villagers.

"Yes, we can return to how we were!" The crowd shouted in return.

"You're not so bad for a waterbender!" Dock announced, thanking Sokka and shaking his hand. The other villagers running off. Some already with tools, repairing the damage to the village and walk ways.

"You, wouldn't mind keeping that a secret, by the way, would you?" Sokka replied, shaking Dock's hand.

"No problem. Keeping my mouth shut is a personal specialty. My brother Xu on the other hand. Hoo! He's a blabbermouth."

Sokka sighed as Katara asked Dock about cleaning the river.

"No ma'am! I'm going to get my other brother, Bushi to help. He loves cleaning rivers." He didn't move from the spot as he pulled out yet another hat, pulling it roughly onto his head. "Alright, I'm Bushi! Let's get some river cleaning done!"

The group took a double take at the brazen hat switching.

"Aha I knew it! I knew you were the same guy! You're the shop owner and the boat guy!" Aang yelled triumphantly. Tenten muttering in the back, wondering where on earth he was hiding all his hats.

"Oh you must be talking about my brothers. Dock and Xu." Bushi replied, not fazed by his response.

"No… I just saw you. You switched hats and called yourself another name!

"Oh you know who does that. My brother Dock." Bushi leaned in. "He's crazy." He waggled his eyebrows for effect, Aang silently fuming as Bushi ran off.

Benders helped out the villagers with cleaning, the brown river turning a beautiful crystal blue by the end of the day. The non benders helped out with repairs to the town, in-between resupplying their packs.

"Alright gang!" Sokka announced as they got back to their campsite. "Early start tomorrow, we can at least try to make up for some time!" He promptly jumped into his sleeping bag, making over the top snoring noises. The rest of the group following suit. Katara making her way down to the river bank. She washed her face in the newly cleaned river, but nearly jumped when she looked up.

Standing in front of her was an ethereal figure. Fog swirling around her as her robes moved lightly in the breeze. The moon illuminated the river bank. Tree leaves and other foliage stilling in her presence. Her face was covered by a veil, draping down from her hat. Intricate patterns were painted on her face.

"Thank you" the figure announced, smiling at Katara. Disappearing back into the fog.