It was a normal day in the Earth Kingdom, about as normal as you could get. It was hot, and the locals were about to get picked up for the soon coming war. The Water Tribe had recently announced a full fledged war against the Earth Kingdom, and Ba Sing Se has been trying to get as many troops as they could. There was a girl who wanted to join the forces, the earth benders who were on their way to fight. There was one little problem, though.

"So what if I can't earth bend, I can still fight!" The teenage girl stood at the booth, arguing with the man behind it. She wore traditional green clothing, along with a thin jacket around her, a bronze pin keeping her shirt up. She had long, brown, hair, and had a small dagger to her side.

"For the last time, this unit's for earth benders, only." The girl pouted, and walked off. Keeping her eyes on the man. While she was backing up, she bumped into someone. She stopped in her tracks immediately, and turned around.

"Zanna, what are you doing here?" The girl looked up, and saw her father. He was wearing a fur coat, presumably with weights inside, and traditional green pants. "You know you're only 16, you can't go to war."

"I CAN!" Zanna turned away. "I want to fight, so why can't I?"

"Because, you don't need to prove anything. Leave the fighting to those who can. For now you need t-"

"To work as one of the family blacksmiths. I know, dad."

"Then, where are your goggles. I know you can't see well without them." Zanna blushed, and pulled out a pair of goggles.

"Why did you have to make these like regular glasses?" Zanna looked up at her dad, expecting a simple shake of his head.

"So you can work without hurting yourself." Zanna looked back at the goggles, before sliding them on.

"Tashin, the recruiter wished to talk to you." Zanna's dad turned around, looked back at his daughter, and nodded his head.

"I'll be right back, honey." Zanna watched as her father walked off, a tear in her eye. She didn't know why, but she did know why. She was, saddened.

"Z...n..." What was that? "Za...a..." Who's there? "ZANNA! WAKE UP!"

Zanna shot up, her head slamming into Rali's. "DAMMIT RALI! You can't just scream at me!" Zanna rubbed her head, and looked at the girl in front of her. She had charcoal-colored hair, and bright, red, eyes. She was in a green shirt, the arms rolled up to her shoulders. The shirt was lined with red, and a small fire symbol on her chest. Rali blushed.

"Why are you staring at me?"

"You woke me up, and I want to know why." Rali shook her head.

"Sorry, but it's time to go to work." Zanna groaned, before nodding her head. She jumped up, and slammed her feet onto the ground, pushing her hands forward. Rali jumped back, and got into a different stance. Her feet were loose, but her hands were stable. They kept their eyes focused on one another.

"Well, seems like we got the same idea."

"Morning work out?"

"You got it!" Zanna thrust her foot towards Rali, watching as she jumped back. Rali shot a short burst of fire Zanna's way, Zanna got back into her position, and ducked quickly. Just barely dodging the fire, she shot back up, forcing herself to stay in the same stance, and pushed her hands together. She made a fist with each, and thrust them both forward. Nothing happened. Rali stood there in her stance, waiting for Zanna to make another move, her fist was pulled back, a ball of fire in front of it.

"Still can't do it?" Zanna sighed. She had never been able to earth-bend, despite coming from a family of earth-benders.

"How come you can bend? I've been trying all my life, and I still can't." Rali lowered her fists, and shook her head.

"I never knew my parents, so I don't know. I could be a full-blooded fire-bender, but I could also come from a family that's never been able to bend. Who knows?" Zanna sat down.

"Let me get dressed, and I'll be out." Rali nodded her head, and started her walk out.

"Don't forget your goggles this time. We have more work to do today."

"I know, don't worry." Rali laughed, and walked out of the room. Zanna got off the floor, and looked around for her clothes. "I hate only having a couple pairs of clothes." After shuffling the entire room around, Zanna found her clothes. She slid the robe on, and buttoned it up. Zanna found her shorts right next to it, and quickly put them on. She decided to leave her jacket, because she knew it'd be burning up in the smeltery. Zanna grabbed her dagger, and slid it in her pocket. She ran out the door, turning the lantern off as she left.

Zanna ran as fast as she could, trying to catch up to Rali. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME WE WERE GOING OFF FOR MATERIALS?" Rali stopped, and turned around, chuckling to herself.

"You never asked, so come on. We need more iron." Zanna stopped right in front of Rali, trying to catch her breath. Zanna looked around the market place. There were booths for everything, from food to weapons. Yet, she didn't see a booth for metals.

"W-where are we going?"

"Further down, trusted ore seller. Has a shop, instead of a booth." Zanna nodded, and followed behind Rali. The two walked to the end of the street, passing by booths. Zanna looked at all the flowers, and all the metal benders practicing. There were people with courses on earth-bending, and metal-bending.

"Maybe I should take a training course?"

"They're rip-offs. I tried a fire-bending one, didn't teach me anything." Zanna walked a bit faster, and started moving next to Rali.

"Hey, uh, Rali. "

"Yeah?"

"I've been wanting to talk to you about so-"

"WE'RE HERE!" Rali shoved her arms in the air, looking at the sign on the building in front of her. "Oh, sorry. What were you saying?"

"Oh, it was nothing. Let's go get this metal." Zanna opened the door, and let Rali walk in. Zanna started behind Rali, before someone grabbed her.

"Hey there, little miss. Where do you think you're going." Rali turned around, and saw the big, beefy man holding Zanna. She lit a small fire, and started towards the man. He pulled his fist up, and a knife flew to Zanna's neck. "Now, think about what you're doing girly."

"Metal-bender."

"You got that right. Now, I want you two to give me all the yuans you have." Rali backed up, and stared at the man. He had blue clothes on, fur outlining all of them.

"W-We don't have any yuans." the knife flew closer to Zanna's neck.

"Rali, do something!"

"If you didn't have any, why would you show up here? In fact, where's your parents?" Rali stared, as two more men came in. She watched on, as she saw fire in the town. People were screaming, and running. She thought about her home-town. She watched on as memories came back to her, of the buildings burning down.

"Y-you monsters." Rali fell to the floor, her eyes tearing up.

"We are. All of us. We just snuck in, and took the town down." Zanna looked down, only seeing Rali crying. What am I doing? Why can't I move? Come on Zanna, do something!

AN: This is my Avatar Fanfiction. Brand new characters, a brand new premise, and a much darker story (IMO) Can't wait for chapter 2.