As usual I don't own Avatar

And also as usual please read and review!

This story is a sequel to my other story: I can't go back so those of you who have already read that can just skip this part it's just a recap of previous events.

What has gone before:

During the final battle to defeat Ozai, while Aang is fighting the fire lord; Katara is killed by Princess Azula. After Defeating the Fire Lord, Aang returns to the field of battle and discovers what happened; he snaps, goes into the Avatar state and kills anyone who doesn't get far enough from the shockwave; he then mutilates and kills Azula. He then flies to the South Pole with Katara's body; Sokka and Toph catch up 4 days later. At Katara's Funeral, Aang gave a tear jerking eulogy and created a perfectly detailed statue of her; Aang vanishes to unknown regions soon after. Five years pass and the Gaang went their separate ways, Toph has an Earth bending school, Zuko is Fire Lord and Sokka is now the chief of the Southern water tribe. Sokka goes looking for Aang and finds out that his wife, Suki, and Toph have been kidnapped by Fire Nation Rebels still loyal to Ozai. Having no other options, Sokka set out on his own to find the Avatar. After two months he finds him; He tries to get him to resume his duty as Avatar but has no luck. Not until Katara, who became the Spirit of Water after her death appears and talks to them does Aang agree to help.

I still recommend you read the other story before you read this one.

A new Beginning

Chapter 1: The Plan

After flying around for a few minutes Aang landed on the ground and asked Sokka to help him pack a few things. "Hmmm," Aang mused, "Should I bring my Air Nomad outfit?"

"Nah," said Sokka, "it's too conspicuous; but I'd bring it along just in case". Aang collected a few more personal effects and they left the hut; he took one last look at what had been his home for the past five years, then he set it on fire with some fire bending, to make sure that there was no trace that he had ever been there; then just to make sure he removed the scorch marks from the ground using earth bending. Securing their packs, the pair set off.

"You left Appa at the South Pole?" asked Aang.

"Yeah," replied Sokka, "Flying bison are kind of conspicuous when you want to hide from people."

"It worked pretty well for us back in the day," retorted Aang.

Sokka slapped his forehead "If you'll recall, we were getting captured by the Fire Nation every other day!"

Aang laughed "Ha Ha! Those were good times…"

"Seems you're in a better mood," said Sokka cautiously.

"I am!" replied Aang, "I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my chest…would you believe that back there, after Katara…kissed me, that was the first time I've smiled since she, um, died I guess; though I don't think she 'died' but it doesn't matter; now I know that she's always with me and I can talk to her at any time" practically skipping as he said the last part.

"Yeah I know what you mean,"said Sokka "I feel freer than I have in a long time"

"So what's the plan?" asked Aang "where is the rebel base?"

"That's the problem," said Sokka, "I don't know, they're very good at covering their tracks; on my travels the only evidence I've seen that they even exist is the occasional ransacked town. So our first order of business is to gather what information we can on these bastards…"

"How?" asked Aang, "Neither of us is very subtle so were probably going to get caught."

"That's why we wear disguises. As to the how, we're going to go to towns that have been recently attacked and we look for evidence, we ask villagers questions, stuff like that.

"Awww…" complained Aang, "I hate doing that stuff; it's boring."

Sokka laughed, "You're still that goofy little kid that we found in that iceberg."

"Hey!" said Aang indignantly "I'm…good grief! I've forgotten how old I am!"

"Well," mused Sokka, "If I'm 21 then you must be 18! Actually you're 118!"

"Sweet!" said Aang I'm an Adult now!"

"You've been an adult for a hundred years idiot!"

So the two traveled around the Earth Kingdom, seeking attacked villages; unfortunately, they found absolutely no sign of the rebels aside from the ransacked towns. They even traveled to the village where Toph's school was located where Sokka bought back his Water Tribe clothes with some of the money that he had made telling stories.

As they were sitting around the camp fire one night Aang spoke up "You know, I've been thinking," he said fidgeting with the little vial of water that he had taken to carrying around, "We've found absolutely no trace of the rebels,"

"Yeah, tell me something I don't know," said Sokka sarcastically.

"I think there's earth benders involved with the rebellion." blurted Aang.

"What makes you say that?"

"The fact that there's no evidence; not a single footprint even from the villages that we visited only an hour or so after the attack; so logically, someone must be covering their tracks. I used the technique early on after I ran away to prevent you guys from finding me."

"Makes sense…" Sokka said, "but that also means that we'll never find them with our current strategy…" suddenly Sokka whipped out a map of the earth kingdom, "I've got an idea, you get some sleep, I let you know when I'm done." So Aang got some shut eye

About an hour later Sokka shook him awake "Ok I've figured it out; we've been searching for their base of operations, but we can't find it; that's because there isn't one, they're a mobile force that's currently making tracks for the western seaboard of the Earth Kingdom so they can get back to the Fire Nation with their captives."

"So what are we supposed to do? With Zuko gone they probably have whoever is Fire Lord now in their pocket; so if they make it back there we'll never find them!" fretted Aang.

"Relax," said Sokka "It's under control"

"What's the plan?" asked Aang.

"The plan" Sokka said "is to give them the missing piece to their collection. Me!"

"Huh?!?"

"I'm going to get captured!" said Sokka smirking.

Well I know that chapter wasn't very exciting, but the next chapter will have some action! Please review!