The Stakeout

The Krew travelled all night before they finally arrived at a local Earth Kingdom desert village. Korra was leading on Naga, who occasionally stopped to sniff the ground as the others followed behind her in the jeep. Naga stopped to sniff the ground again. 

"Aiwei has definitely been through here." Korra declared before petting her dog, "Nice tracking, girl." 

"Let's ask around. Maybe someone's seen him." Mako said 

The Krew headed into a nearby tavern. But as the group entered, the other customers turned to glance at them. Bolin noticed something on the wall to his right and smiled. 

"Oh look, they have a mover poster of me. Must be big Nuktuk fans." He rubbed his hands together and grinned. "Yeah, I should go out and say hello ..." 

Mako quickly grabbed his brother's sleeve before he could walk away. 

"No. Those are wanted posters." Mako corrected

"And there's one for each of us." Elira frowned and gestured to the other posters on the wall. 

"Wanted by Her Majesty, the Earth Queen, for crimes against the Kingdom."Mako read one of the posters, turning to the others. Korra and Elira did not look happy. "I'm guessing this is because we took her airbenders." 

"They weren't hers to keep!" Elira exclaimed 

"I swear, if I see her pinchy little queen face again, I am gonna--" 

"Uh, guys?" Asami interrupted Korra's ranting 

The others turned to see various patrons of the bar still staring at them, and one man pulled out his sword while another showed off his spear. 

"We should get out of here." 

"Don't have to tell me twice", El muttered, grabbing Bolin's hand, and they all quickly left the tavern, Korra making an "I'm watching you" gesture to all the men in the tavern before she departed. 

*

Later that day, Naga ran down a windy road with Korra on her back, while Asami and the boys followed closely with the jeep and Elira and Pichi flew overhead. They followed Naga up a small slope before the polar bear dog stopped,  sniffing the ground for any scent near a bunch of rocks.

" Naga found something." Korra declared, dismounting Naga, who sat down as the jeep stopped and Elira and Pichi landed. 

Elira looked down the slope at the town below them and smiled 

"The Misty Palms Oasis. Gran-Gran and Grandpa Aang came here on their adventures!" She gasped in awe

Korra earthbent a giant boulder to the side, revealing Aiwei's jeep hidden behind a small clearing.

Naga then bumped her head on Korra, nudging her a little as she waited for her reward. 

" Oh ... Sorry, I forgot to bring treats. But, good girl," Korra affectionately rubbed the polar bear dog's face. 

Naga merely responded by whining and turning to walk away, whipping Korra in the face with her tail. 

Korra hunched her shoulders from Naga's cold shoulder attitude as Elira and the others walked up to the vehicle in the background. 

"This must be Aiwei's jeep. He can't be far." Asami said 

"Bolin and I will investigate the Misty Palms Oasis and see if he's hold up there." Mako declared, looking down the slope at the town. 

"Yes! I love it when you talk like a cop." Bolin grinned, folding his arms. 

"I'm coming too!" Elira excitedly held up her hand, bouncing on her feet. 

"So am I" Korra added 

"We can't all go. Someone should stay here with Asami in case he comes back. Besides, we don't want to call too much attention to ourselves." Mako said 

Elira turned to Korra with a pleading look in her eyes. She really, really wanted to see the Oasis. 

 Korra sighed and smiled. "All right, I'll stay with Asami." 

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" El grinned, hugging the Avatar tightly. 

"Ooh, guys, guys, guys! We should wear disguises and pretend we're going undercover! That way, no one will recognize us." Bolin placed a hand over his mouth and the other on his forehead, covering his face. "Haha, police work is so exciting!" 

Pulling a bunch of things out of their supply bags, El and the brothers were soon dressed in bright yellow raincoats and bright green goggles. Korra and Asami just looked at them askance and unconvinced, as if questioning the effectiveness of their disguises.

"All right, now we need our undercover identities!" Elira grinned 

"Ooh, I've got one! I'm an ex-United Forces operative named Ting-Ting. War was the only woman I ever loved," Bolin described before gesturing to Elira as he continued. "Until Ivy came along and showed me what real love is." Elira blushed and giggled a little. "Tragically, we were separated when my archenemy, Dr. Razor -" 

"Enough!" Mako interrupted and began walking towards the Oasis. "Let's just find Aiwei." 

"But you haven't heard your backstory yet" Elira whined 

"I'm a cop. I don't have a backstory." 

"Uh! You're good at this." Bolin and Elira ran to catch up with the firebender. 

*

Elira grinned, looking around in wonder as she and the boys approached the Misty Palms Oasis entrance. Inside the oasis, spirits lurked and perched on the rooftop and telephone lines of the town, looking down at the three yellow-coated figures. 

Making their way down the street, Elira and the boys came to the city's centre, where an ice spring with three spirits lounging on it. The trio paused and stopped near the ice, watching a guy sweeping and pushing three kiwi bird-like spirits outside the door with a broom.

"Shoo! Human customers only." The guy huffed, and El frowned a little as the spirits scurried off. 

"Let's see if this guy knows anything," Mako said, walking over to the tavern owner sweeping his stoop. "Excuse me, sir? We're looking for a man about sixty, balding, wearing glasses in a long green robe." 

"And he's got this weird piercing that goes from his nose to his ear", Bolin added, pointing to his nose and ear. "Freaks me out." 

"Yeah, sure. Sounds like a guy who came in last night. I told him I had the best drinks in the Earth Kingdom, and he called me a liar." The man explained 

"That's him! Any idea where he is now?" Elira asked, smiling. 

"Nah, afraid not. But he was right." The man looked down, defeated. " My drinks are terrible." 

He then turned and walked dejectedly into his bar while the trio looked on in shock. 

"Now, what do we do?" Elira turned to the boys 

"Let's search around. Maybe someone else saw Aiwei." Mako walked off, and Elira and Bolin followed. 

A while later, Elira and Bolin were waiting near the door of an establishment while Mako was inside. A purplish spirit rises from a nearby urn, catching the couple's attention. Bolin smiled and started to coo at it. 

" Well, aren't you a cute little spir-" The spirit then bit his finger, causing him to cry out ", Ow! Hey!" 

"Are you okay?" Elira asked

"Yeah, I guess. But can you kiss it better?" Bolin held up his finger, pouting a little. 

Elira giggled and took his hand, kissing his finger gently. "Voila! You are healed." 

"Why thank you, my good lady. And now for your payment." Bolin declared, making Elira giggle again before he leaned in to kiss her tenderly. 

Pulling away after a second, the couple affectionately nuzzled their noses together, smiling. But Elira's soon fell when she noticed over Bolin's shoulder a man and woman watching them from the shop across the street and instinctively pulled her hood further over her head to hide her arrow. 

"What? What is it?" Bolin followed her gaze, spotting the two figures still staring at them. 

It was then that Mako finally came out of the building, sighing, "No luck here." 

" I think there might be a couple bounty hunters over there who recognize us!" Bolin, not so subtly, whispered to Mako. 

Seeing the trio staring back at them, the man and woman began walking over. 

"We've been made. Let's lose 'em!" 

The trio took off! Fleeing down the street. The bounty hunters were close on their heels. They finally ducked down an alleyway and hid behind some boxes. Bolin peeked out over them but was quickly pulled back by Elira before their female purser could spot him from where she stood at the turning. 

After a second, the bounty hunters moved on, and the trio peeked out of hiding.

"Okay, I think we're good now" Elira let out a breath of relief. 

"We should head back to Korra before someone else recognizes us," Mako stated 

Elira pouted, "Aw, I wanted to explore more." 

"We here on a mission, El, not a vacation. We don't have time to--" 

Bolin suddenly grabbed his brother and girlfriend, pulling them behind the boxes again. 

"What are you--" 

"Look!" Bolin pointed down the alley where Aiwei was strolling by! 

"Aiwei!" Elira gasped, and she and the boys moved closer to the alleyway corner, watching Aiwei walk down the street, eating food from a box. 

"All right. Stay cool and follow my lead." Mako said, putting on his goggles and began walking after Aiwei. 

"Ting-Ting always finds his man." Bolin grinned, also putting on his goggles as Elira pulled her hood down more over her arrow before they followed behind Mako. 

The trio followed Aiwei closely through. Hiding behind another street corner, they watched as the old man entered a room and closed the door behind him. 

"Keep an eye on him. I'll go get Korra." Mako ordered, turning to head back the way they came as Elira and Bolin smiled at one another. 

"And no distracting each other", Mako called over his shoulder, making the couple pout. 

*

When Mako returned with Asami and Korra, they told Bolin and El their plan to stake out Aiwei's room and follow him to his meeting with Zaheer in a place called Xai Bau's Grove. Elira could have sworn she'd heard that name before but couldn't pinpoint where. 

Taking off their disguises, the team walked into the reception of the Misty Palms Inn while Naga, Pabu and Pitchi waited outside. Elira smiled when she saw Pabu and Pitchi playing with a couple of light spirits before following her friends inside. 

"Good afternoon. We'd like a room on the ground floor, across from 102, please," Mako said to the innkeeper. 

"Forget it! Last time a bunch of teenagers came in here, they trashed the whole room," The woman scowled. 

"We found you!" A gruff voice yelled from the entrance, causing the teens to whirl around. 

It was the two bounty hunters from earlier! 

The team quickly got into fighting poses. Mako lit up a ball of fire above his palm, and Korra bent fire daggers in both hands. 

"Hey, no bending in here! Take it outside!" The innkeeper ordered. 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. We're not here to fight you." The man bounty hunter held up his hands as a goofy smile appeared on his and his partner's faces. "We're here to meet Nuktuk and Elira!" 

The teens looked slightly stunned. 

"We're your biggest fans." The woman approached the young couple, pulling out two posters for them to sign. One was of Bolin as Nuktuk, the other Elira with a microphone surrounded by the Wolfbats. " Can you make it out to Lily and Macao?" 

"Uh..." Elira shared a glance with her boyfriend. "Sure. We'd be happy to." 

" Always love meeting our fans." Bolin grinned uncomfortably as he and El started to sign their respective posters. 

The man and woman, Lily and Macao, were standing extremely close to them now. Lily even started playing with her hair, sending flirty looks at Bolin, which Elira did not appreciate. 

"You're so much prettier in person. Like an angel." Macao sighed, staring dreamily at Elira. 

Lily suddenly pulled out a doll that looked like Bolin in his Nuktuk costume.

 "I made this Nuktuk doll for you." She held it up and squeezed it, making it squeak. 

" Aw, it's ... cute." Bolin grinned as Lily squeaked the doll in a sound of agreement

"Why didn't you tell me your friends were celebrities?" The innkeeper smiled at the others. " I'd be happy to rent you any room in the inn." 

"We'll just take the one across from 102," Mako said 

The innkeeper looked confused. "But that room is too small for the five of you!" 

"Trust me, it'll be perfect." 

*

When they got to their room, the innkeeper was been right; it was tiny. The teens and their pets all barely fit inside. 

"I'd just like to say, for the record, this room is definitely not perfect." Bolin frowned, sitting against Naga, who was lying on her back on the bed with Pitchi and Pabu on her stomach. Elira was sitting right beside him with her knees pulled up to her chest. 

Naga's tail suddenly hit Bolin in the face. 

"Naga!" He complained, sputtering from the dog hair in his mouth as the polar bear dog lifted her head innocently. 

Asami was sitting in the corner while Mako and Korra were stationed near the window watching the room Aiwei was staying in. 

"There he is," Korra said, spotting Aiwei peeking out of his window before going back into his room. 

Bolin got up from the floor and began walking about the small, confined space, looking bored. "I thought stakeouts were supposed to be exciting. This isn't. At all!" 

Elira spotted a side table beside the bed and scooted over to it. "Maybe there's something in here we can do."

Opening the top drawer, there were only a few uninteresting-looking books. Moving on to the bottom drawer, Elira grinned at what she found, quickly grabbing it. "Hey, look! A Pai Sho board!" 

"Yes!"Bolin cheered "Mako, you wanna play?" 

" Kind of busy here, bro," Mako replied, not looking away from the window 

"I'll play." Asami smiled 

"Me too," Elira added. "I love playing Pai Sho" 

"Oh, well, ugh, no offence, but I learned street Pai Sho from Shady Shin, and I'm pretty good. So, wouldn't really be a fair game." Bolin said 

"So? I learned to play from my grandmother, who was taught by her Uncle Iroh. The greatest Pai Sho player ever," Elira boasted, crossing her arms. 

"And I learned to play from my dad, the diabolical genius. I'll destroy you." Asami smirked 

"Well, looks like we've got ourselves a Pai-Shodown." Bolin grinned

"I verse the winner", Elira declared, raising her hand 

They quickly set up the board on the floor. Naga had even rolled over onto her stomach to watch, Pabu now resting on her paw and Pitchi laying on her head. 

 "Ladies first," Bolin said, gesturing to Asami. 

The two exchanged a couple of moves, with Elira now sitting on the right side of the board, facing the pets on the bed, watching each play before Asami stopped and thought about one of her turns.

"Uh, I don't mean to rush you, but let's speed things up a bit." Bolin ushered 

"Why? This game is all about slow, methodical strategy." Asami replied 

"No, it's not. This is a fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat game of chance! Don't think. Just go." 

Asami and Elira shared a look. 

"Bo, sweetie, I don't know what Shady Shin taught you, but it wasn't the real Pai Sho," Elira said 

"Oh really? I think Mr. Rulebook might disagree with you." Bolin took out the rule book Elira had found in the drawer and began reading from it. "The origins of Pai Sho date back over ten thousand years. It is a game of both strategy and chance." 

"Wait, how can it be both?" Elira asked 

"Let me see that." Asami took the book from Bolin and started reading from it "There have been countless variations of Pai Sho through the centuries, and each culture has its own rules and variations of the game." 

"That's no help at all. Korra, as the Avatar, you need to standardize these Pai Sho rules." Bolin turned to the Avatar sitting by the window 

" Okay, I'll put that on my to-do list right after bringing back the Air Nation and taking down the group that tried to kidnap me," Korra replied sarcastically. 

"That's cool. Whenever you get to it." Bolin shrugged, not picking up on the sarcasm 

"Assuming we do find Zaheer, what then?" Mako questioned as Asami and Bolin continued playing. 

"Then I make him talk." Korra declared, punching her palm

"He was locked away for thirteen years, Korra, and never broke. I don't think a little bending is going to intimidate this guy." 

"You have a better idea?" 

"Yeah, we spy on them. If Aiwei and Zaheer don't know they're being watched, they'll talk freely. Then we'll find out who they are and what they want." Mako said 

"That's just like Pai Sho!" Elira exclaimed, reading the rule book, "In order to defeat your opponent, you first have to know your opponent." 

"Then I guess I know Bolin pretty well. I win." Asami smirked, making a winning move. 

"What? Ugh. All right, you know what? That was just a fluke. Best two out of three." 

"Oh no, you don't. It's my turn now." Elira grinned, squeezing her way into Bolin's spot at the Pai Sho board. 

*

The trio kept playing many times, alternating pairings. Asami and Elira were pretty evenly matched when it came to winning. Bolin, however, continued to lose against both of them. Again...

"Oh, come on! Best four out of seven." 

And again

 "Eight out of fifteen." 

And again

"Seventeen out of...thirty-three?" 

This went on for hours, and it was getting close to sundown when Bolin finally came close to winning against Elira. 

"Ha, ha! Looks like you're on the ropes this time." He grinned 

"I can't believe it. You might actually win this one." Elira smiled, looking a little surprised but proud of her boyfriend 

Then, Pitchi and Pabu, with the Bolin doll in his mouth, decided to leap off of Naga, landing on the board and scattering the pieces. 

"No! Pabu?! Pitchi?! Why?!" Bolin cried, falling onto his side 

The ferret and the lemur were playing tug of war with the Bolin doll, which ultimately made its head tear off and roll towards the real Bolin on the floor. 

"It's almost sundown. Why hasn't Aiwei left yet?" Korra questioned as the others got up from the floor, seeing as the Pai Shodown was officially over. 

"Maybe he sneaked out when you weren't looking," Asami suggested 

"No, I just saw him peeking out of his window fifteen minutes ago. It's in my logbook." Mako said, holding up his log book. 

"I'm going over there." Korra declared 

"Korra, wait! You're going to blow our element of surprise." Mako warned, and he and the others quickly followed the Avatar as she stormed out of the room. 

Reaching Aiewi's room, Korra busted down the door with airbending."It's over, Aiwei! Where's ...?" 

She paused, seeing Aiwei meditating on his bed. "What?" 

The others followed her into the room. 

"That's a weird way to nap," Bolin said, looking at the old man sitting on the bed. 

"He's not sleeping. He's meditating," Elira corrected, waving her hand in front of Aiwei's face, trying to get a reaction out of the old man. 

Korra's eyes suddenly widened with realisation. "Wait! Asami, those spirits were trying to tell us something earlier. Xai Bau's Grove isn't on the map because it's not in the physical world! It's in the Spirit World!" 

Elira hit her forehead. "Of course! That's why the name sounded so familiar." 

"I'm going in after him", Korra declared, sitting down opposite Aiwei.

"We'll watch him in case he wakes up. Be careful!" Mako said 

Korra nodded before meditating and successfully passing into the Spirit World

*

It had been a couple of hours since Korra went into the Spirit World, and her friends were still keeping watch. Elira and Bolin were sat on the bed, Elira watching Aiwei and Korra in case one of them moved. Asami was sitting on the side table beside the bed, and Mako stood with his back against the wall between the door and the window, looking out for any unexpected visitors. 

He suddenly tensed when he spotted Ming-Hua and Ghazan walking through the inn. 

"Uh, I don't know how, but Water Arm Lady and Lava Guy found us", He announced 

Bolin gasped as Elira and Asami both stood up. 

"How?" Elira questioned

"I just said I don't know how!" Mako snapped as Bolin crawled onto the bed and began shaking Korra. 

"Korra, come on! Wake up!" 

Korra's eyes remained closed. 

"What do we do?" Asami asked 

"You get Korra out of here", Elira declared. "Bolin, Mako and I will hold them off long enough for you to escape." 

The others all nodded, agreeing with her plan. 

A few moments later, the room door flew open, and Naga ran out with Asami in the saddle holding Korra in her arms. 

"The Avatar!" Ming-Hau exclaimed, firing ice shards at her but missed as Naga turned the corner. 

It was then that Elira and the boys came bursting out of the room, each bending their respective element at the two. 

Elira was helping Mako fight against Ming-Hau while Bolin took on Ghazan. Bolin sent the lavabending back with a tunnel of rock, but Ghazan counterattacked, sending heaps of molten lava at Elira and the boys, forcing them to split from one another and jump away in different directions before they got burned. 

Ming-Hua attacked Mako again with her waterbending, but he ducked and rolled to avoid it. Fleeing to the roof of the inn, Mako firebent back at her, which she also blocked. 

Ming-Hau sent another of her water tendrils at Mako, which he jumped to another roof to avoid, rolling along the stone. 

Getting up, Mako blocked another attack, sending a fire blast in return before jumping back to the ground to avoid the waterbender as she chased him. 

Meanwhile, Ghazan was harassing Bolin and Elira with lavabending.

Elira continuously tried to cool down and harden the lava as it was sent at her and Bolin, but more would get sent their way each time she did so! 

Bolin threw a rock at Ghazan as Elira blew a blast of air at him, sending him back a bit and allowing the two to escape a few feet before the lavabender chased after them. 

Ghazan sent another wave of lava at them, and Bolin quickly bent a rock wall in front of him and his girlfriend to protect them. 

"We can't beat this guy! It's like I'm giving him ammo! Wanna trade?" Bolin called to Mako 

The firebender didn't reply,  running at a wall and backflipping off it to avoid another one of Ming-Hua's attacks.

He cut through her water tendril with his firebending and went to send another blast at her, but Ming-Hua grabbed his hand and froze it in ice before pinning it to the wall behind him. Grinning evilly at him, she picked him off the door and threw him against another door, knocking him out. 

"Mako!" Elira  yelled, seeing her friend lying on the floor 

"Watch out!" Bolin bent another rock wall up to protect them from Ghazan's lava. 

Regaining focus, Elira round-house kicked, sending a swipe of air at Ghazan, who jumped over the attack and, as he landed, sent three lava bombs hurling at the duo. 

They ran for cover, eventually jumping into the pool to avoid the bombs. Elira airbent a bubble around them both as they did so, allowing them to breathe. 

Sinking to the bottom of the pool, Elira focused on keeping the air bubble intact while Bolin looked up to the surface and noticed Ming-Hau looking down at them. Waving her arms, she bent a sphere of water around the air bubble. The bubble got smaller and smaller as the water sphere got tighter and tighter. 

Elira groaned and fell to her knees, sweat dripping from her forehead as she tried with everything she had to keep the bubble intact. Ming-Hau grinned evilly down at her and tightened her water sphere once more. That was all she needed to finally break through Elira's air bubble, surrounding the teens in water and bringing them to the surface. 

"Go get the Avatar! I have these three under control." Ming-Hau said, and Ghazan ran off after Asami. 

Ming-Hua picked up a limp Mako from where he lay unconscious on the broken door, bringing him up side by side with the sphere of water as Bolin and Elira surfaced, gasping for air. 

*

Outside of town, Naga was running up a hill, and Asami glanced back at the Oasis. She didn't like leaving her friends behind, but getting Korra to safety was more important. She just hoped Elira and the boys would be okay. 

Facing forward again, Naga was suddenly forced to stop as a giant slab of earth rose in front of them. Three more slabs soon rose around them, trapping them inside an earth tent. 

Naga barked and clawed at the stone, but there was no way out. 

Elsewhere, Ghazan and Mig-Hau had brought Elira and the boys to their hidden cave hideout, where Zaheer and Pa'Li were waiting for them. 

"The Earth Queen's army snatched up the Avatar before I could," Ghazan explained as he and Ming-Hau dropped Elira, Mako and Bolin to the ground. 

They were tied up and visibly battered.

"But we figured you could find a use for these three," Ming-Hau smirked. 

Zaheer looked down at the three beaten teens, meeting Elira's glaring eyes. 

"Load them in the truck", He ordered. "We're taking a trip to Ba Sing Se."