Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar, Nickelodeon does, and if i did, there would be a kataang relationship by now!

A/N: Aang is 13 now, Katara is 15, Sokka is 16, Toph is 13

Aang sat on Appa eating a nut that Sokka had gotten the night before. Toph was busy in her little earth tent with her crucial relaxation. Katara sat staring into the fire they had built earlier that morning.

Sokka was, of course, still sleeping. With nothing more to do than eat nuts or sleep, Aang just sat eating nuts that tasted like crap. Katara looked up at him with questioning eyes. Aang figured it was because of his upcoming battle with Oazi. He'd already mastered firebending with the help of Iroh. Agni only knows what became of Zuko.

But all thoughts aside, Katara's look was one of worry and question.

"What is it?" he asked. "Nothing." She answered. Stupid girl, Aang thought, I know you better than that.

"Now, Katara, I am 13, not stupid. I have known you for a year and I know better than to let those looks go unnoticed." Wow. That came out really wrong.

She blushed a little, thinking the exact same thing, "Oh alright, its just," She sighed, "What will happen if you don't succeed in facing the Fire Lord?" She looked down with hot tears in her eyes.

"I don't know. It depends on whether or not I am in the avatar-state. But I will not fail anyway. That's because I have you and Sokka by my side."

"That's what scares me also. What if you do succeed? What will become of Sokka and I?"

Aang airbended down to her. His feet lightly touched the ground and she stood up to hug him tightly. Hot tears streamed down his neck. He whispered to her.

"I will never leave you. I would do anything in my power to make you happy. If the time comes that you want me to go, I don't know if I'd go or have to stay with you until you punch me in the eye," She let out a soft giggle, "But until then, I will always be by your side."

"Aang, I don't know what to say," She said amongst tears, "but thank you so much."

"Katara, there's something I've been wanting to tell you. The truth is that I—

"Get over here Twinkle-Toes! Time for some earthbending!" Toph yelled from inside her earth tent.

Aang gave Katara the 'Grrr. I guess I'll tell you later' look. He trudged over to Toph, who was getting out of her tent. She pointed toward a piece of earth and he walked toward it. Katara watched from the sidelines.

"Okay, Twinkle-Toes. I want you to block whatever I throw at you, counter-strike anything that you can, try to attack using only advanced moves, and try to avoid my surprise. If you cannot avoid it, you must earthbend your way out of it. And no airbending. I want you to fight only using earthbending."

Aang nodded his understanding. Toph stood for a moment, sensing his vibrations and stance. She lifted a boulder the size of Appa, and lifted it over Aang's head. At first, he thought she was going to drop it, but, he focused his energy in that split second and noticed that her stance may have looked like she was going to drop it, but a slight shift in her feet meant something else.

An even bigger boulder came at startling speeds from behind him. He knew that something was coming, but he didn't know what. He turned toward it and kicked through it. That was going to hurt later. But now his attention turned to the boulder above him. Once he punched through the other one, Toph dropped this one. Aang dropped to one knee, put his head down, and waited.

Katara looked like she was about to piss her pants. "Aang! What the hell are you doing?!"

Aang just sat there. He didn't even acknowledge her. It took the boulder ten seconds to drop. When it was only a foot above him, Aang braced himself. As it started to touch the top of his head, he threw his arms out and grabbed it. He stood carefully, holding a three-ton boulder on his shoulders. His knees wobbled and he almost fell. He thought he heard Katara whipser Aang, be careful. At that, a fire burned in his eyes. With all his strength, he lifted the boulder above his head with earthbending and threw it toward Toph. His shoulders ached like hell. He thought for a moment that he was going to pass out. He looked over at Katara and saw the thrilled look in her eyes.

He saw the huge rock as it flew toward Toph. The entire move took her by complete surprise. She jumped up and came crashing toward the rock with her head and smashed through it. Aang groaned not only from the pain all over his body, but also from the fact that this fight was far from over.

Toph kicked the ground and it sended the earth rolling toward Aang at high speeds. He was focusing his attention on evading it. He didn't notice Toph throwing a series of small rocks, seven at a time, toward his face. He looked up after hearing something cutting through the air. As he looked up, about fourteen small rocks coming at speeds unknown to man crashed into his face. He flew back a good twenty feet and smacked into a wall. He was sure his face was a mess from blood and dirt. It probably looked like something from a horror movie to Katara. He could feel her worry.

His hit against the wall forced rocks to come tumbling down toward him. He weakly looked up and did his best to ignore the extreme pain he was now feeling. His will was not yet defeated. He earthbended the rocks with unknown strength and sent them hurtling toward Toph in different directions. She blocked some, but Aang knew that even Toph couldn't block all of them. About seven rocks smashed into her from different angles and he made them stay there, keeping her from moving at all. He lifted her rock prison up and tightened it. He then threw it at the other wall opposite of him. She smashed into it hard and the rocks constricting her fell apart with the arrival of new rocks, burying her. She sat in there for a moment, then broke free.

Aang could see scratches on her face and she was bleeding a little. Not nearly as much as Aang, though. He was losing blood by the second. Toph made the sides of the small canyon they were fighting in quickly close. The first thing that came to his mind was to airbend out, but he remembered his limit to only earthbending. He let the wall close on him. He could feel his bones and muscles straining. He created a spiral of earth and drilled his way out at high speeds and landed on top of the wall. Toph was still against the wall. She looked surprised that Aang got out so quickly. She flinched and started to get up to fight, but Aang acted faster. He made the ground constrict her till she was down to her knees. She couldn't get out fast enough before Aang sent a boulder at her, hitting its target.

Toph felt her nose break. Blood gushed out. She fought free of the boulder and sent it at Aang. He was taken by surprise and the boulder hit him in the back of the head and sent him flying into the ground. Everything was blurry. He got up and, with his last ounce of strength, threw four walls of earth at her. She was unable to escape. They closed tightly around her, on the verge of crushing her. He stopped the walls before he hurt Toph anymore.

He looked at the small, tight room holding Toph, "This fight is over." He looked at Katara and smiled. Then, he blacked out.