Avatar: Yuki's Chapter, Chapter 6: The Gumshoes

"*Are you certain of this?*" She said in sign language. "Yes, I promise you, she's at the Spirit Portal now!" Another girl said out loud, also signing. "...Are you going to hurt her?" The deaf girl thought long and hard about this. "*She's not my mom anymore. It's a different person living a different life. Miri, she's got to go down, Avatar or not."* she signed. "Shin, I'm sure she does. But what if she goes into the Avatar State? What then?" Miri replied.

*"Then I’ll  make sure she never gets back up again, in this life or the next."*

**AT THE SPIRIT PORTAL**

Master Meelo took a step towards Yuki. "There's something we need to tell you. But we can't do it here..." Toka stepped between him and Yuki. "She's not going into that Portal until you tell us what's going on." Master Jinora looked back at the portal and sighed. "Meelo, she's not ready yet."

"But..but Jinora-!" He stammered, but she shook her head. "It's not worth the risk, She’s just here to look. Plus, we promised Korra...." Yuki looked back and forth from the two masters. "Who's Korra?" Toka looked down and stayed silent this time. Po ran up to the rest of the group, skidding to a stop when he saw everyone's grim look. "What's going on?" Hena pulled him over to the side and whispered, "Uncle Meelo wants to take Yuki into the spirit portal." Po snatched his hand away and raised his eyebrows. "What's with you people? We just got here! Now you guys want to take her into portals and do what? And where are all the spirits? This place is supposed to be thriving with them. She's not going anywhere."

Hena hung her head, aware that this was all too risky, even for Uncle Meelo. “I wish I could answer all of your questions, I really do. But that’s WAY above my pay grade, Po. I don’t know anymore than you do on some things, but I can’t tell you why all of the spirits went away. That’s...something too sensitive to talk about in public, let alone anywhere.”

Po opened his mouth to respond when sirens rang through the city, sounding like they were coming for the spirit portal. “Aw jeez, here come the gumshoes!” Toka exclaimed. Uncle Meelo gave one last look between Jinora and Yuki before hopping on the sky bison. “Well? Are you coming?”“Wait, where are you going? Why are we running?” Yuki asked. Master Jinora didn’t answer, instead she pulled the girl away from the portal. “I didn’t think the police were gonna be here!” Toka exclaimed. Jinora shook her head. “Those aren’t the police…” She said, climbing on the bison with Yuki, Po, Hena and Toka right behind her. With one last solemn look between one another, they soared off on their sky bison, heading back to the air temple.

It was dark. And cold. Yuki opened her eyes, seeing two people in the distance. A tall woman with long hair and face paint seemed angry when she was talking. The other woman she was talking to was dark-skinned and strong, wearing water tribe attire. "I'm very aware of the risks, I just need your approval, that's all! I won't go forth with the plan if you aren't for it. " "Hello?" Yuki called out to the women. They both looked back with surprised looks on their faces. "She's not ready." The water tribe woman said. The other female nodded. "Wake her up." Yuki jolted up in bed. *What a strange dream…* It had been hours since they had gone to the Spirit Portal, and she couldn’t remember a single thing that happened. So she just got out of bed and did her best to remember the way to the main center of the temple, where all the other nomads were. “Po?” She called out. Hilang, the airbender she had met from earlier, turned and smiled. “Hey, Yuk! Goin’ somewhere?” He said. He seemed to block her from trying to talk to the other nomads, who seemed to just stand around and look gloomy, but she ignored it and smiled back. “I’m just looking for Master Jinora. How long have I been asleep?”

He ignored the question and led her to a meditation room, talking the whole way. “Why don’t you relax for a bit? Your brother is waiting there for you!” Yuki nervously smiled at him, yet she followed him. Indeed her brother Po was waiting, but he seemed anxious. Hilang walked her inside the room and waved goodbye, closing the door and leaving the two siblings alone. Yuki sat down on a comfy chair next to her brother. “Hey Po…Is everything ok?” He shook his head, keeping quiet. Yuki put a hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eyes. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

Po looked up at her. He ran his fingers through his hair before speaking. “Have you noticed anything strange about this place? Like how all of the nomads haven’t spoken to any of us? Or how everytime someone mentions Avatar Korra, they all go silent? Including Toka?” Yuki shook her head. “No, I haven’t seen any of that! What’s going on with you?” “Do you remember anything before we were in school?” Po asked. “Of course I do!” She said, growing more and more worried. “Tell me one thing that happened. One thing about our parents, our neighborhood, *anything*.” Now it was Yuki’s turn to fall silent. She was really trying to remember at least one little detail, squirming uncomfortably in her seat. “I…I don’t…remember anything.” She finally said. Po’s eyes widened, and he looked back at the floor. As of this moment, the meditation room felt more tense than relaxing. “Yuki…something’s wrong here, and you feel it too, don’t you?” Po finally said. Yuki was about to reply when the doors burst open. Master Meelo quickly made his way over to the two and sat down, letting out a heavy sigh. “Are you alright?” Yuki asked. Meelo looked up and put a finger to his lips. He leaned in between them and lowered his voice to a whisper. “You guys need to listen closely. I’m not allowed to say this to you, but this will be a warning. Don’t ask any questions about what’s happening here, understand? You’ve got eyes on you, and ears listening. Please, for your own good, stay quiet. Understand?” He looked at them both with fear and remorse in his eyes. Every single word coming out of his mouth hurt him to say, but he wouldn’t be able to sleep at night without warning them. Yuki looked confused, but she nodded and went along with it. Po stayed quiet. A single tear ran down the Master’s face before standing up, gave them one last solemn look, and left. MEANWHILE

Homura felt herself well up with fear. She didn’t prepare for a situation like this, and she definitely didn’t think she would be just moments away from falling from a fragile rope bridge. She knew she shouldn’t give up now, but what else could she really do? She should’ve stayed at home with her mother and sister, with a roof over her head no matter how her family treated her. Homura shook that thought out of her head, knowing that it was just going to throw her off more. She steadied herself, taking one step at a time across the wobbling wooden planks. She looked to her left and saw that the moon seemed much closer than it was before. The sky was illuminated in a way that looked and felt surreal, suddenly washing the fear away for a split second. Homura could’ve sworn she heard soft and lovely music in the back of her head. She felt her hands warm up and ignite, startling her.

One of the ropes snapped from the fire, causing the whole bridge to become lop-sided. She cried out, holding on for dear life. “Spirits of the islands, how did that happen?!” She said. Homura had always thought that she had complete control over her fire bending, but as soon she heard the music, her hands heated up and here she was now. *I don’t have time for this…* She thought. One hand after another, she started climbing the side of the bridge. The ropes weren’t hard to reach, but she felt herself wobble a little each time she grabbed on.

*Just a bit more to go…*

With one last ounce of strength, she hoisted herself up, reached out her hand, and grabbed on. That’s when her arms started to give out, causing her to slip. “Aw, nibbling pig-chickens!” She exclaimed. Feeling herself fall, she looked on towards the ledge where the end of the bridge was. *If I could just get over there-* Her thoughts were interrupted when her whole body felt strange. Her arms had let go, and it was a long way down before her misery would end. Letting out a gasp, she closed her eyes tight, not wanting to see how the rest of this would go. She let out one last scream before accepting her fate. But when she felt the air around her fall still, she opened her eyes to see if she was still falling. Homura smiled. Her hands, which were at her side, had started firebending, projecting a rocket-like booster from each hand. She kept the flames going, boosting herself above the lop-sided bridge. Looking at the moon one last time, she smiled.

“Thanks…Is what I would say if you had a conscience.” Homura said. She made her way over to the ledge, where she should’ve been by now, and landed roughly on the ground. She let out a sigh of relief, hugging the ground. She stood up and thought back to how the bridge had snapped in the first place. *The music in my head…*

Homura took a deep breath, and looked on towards the dark abyss that awaited her. “Into the woods we go, and the Temple of Shino, here I come” She said. Re-igniting her fire for light, she carried on to her destination. Feeling eyes on her, she whipped around and saw a boy quickly jump behind a tree. “Come out, whoever you are!” She said, holding her fire out in front of her. The boy peeked out from the trunk and came out smiling with his hands in the air. He was tall and large, with a bun for his hair. “I don’t mean any harm, ma’am. You have my word that no malicious intentions come from my being here." He took a bow. "The name’s Uka.”

AUTHOR'S NOTE

See you all in the next chapter...Welcome back everyone

-YesThisIsYukiii