Hi guys, this is my FIRST EVER fanfiction and I hope you enjoy :) Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar, if I did I wouldn't be writing fanfiction, would I?
I really wanted to write something like this for quite a while now and finally I have.
I'll try to update within the next week or so.
WISH ME LUCK!
Chapter 1- The New Avatar
Hanako let the reins drop from her hands as she extended her arms to stretch upwards, letting the wind ruffle her straight black hair and her traditional Earth Kingdom garb. Her Eel Hound took on a similar motion; curving his back upwards towards the sky, so the air caught on to most of his dark green scales. Feeling a change in stance from beneath her, Hanako looked down at her lifelong friend and giggled.
"Enjoying the air, Iko? It's nice, but it's nothing compared to the view from up here," chimed Hanako.
Iko merely blinked at her in response and turned back towards the city below them. The winding streets were full of markets, cart merchants, labourers, beggars, nobles, shops, gossiping housewives, frolicking children and minor troublemakers. All this chaos continued to the edges of the city, where it met the towering city walls. Beyond the stone barriers was a seemingly endless expanse of grass and hardened dirt that was speckled with idle villages and farms.
Hanako had always wondered about the world outside Ba Sing Se. She's travelled before, but it had never been through the open wilderness, stumbling upon village after village like a travelling nomad or one of her predecessors. The idea had sounded appealing, but this girl of 13 years of age had her duty as Avatar to fulfil -to master all four elements- and these duties don't allow her to have such privileges, not in this lifetime... or the next. Having only mastered Earth and Air, she knew her elemental training wouldn't be finishing any time soon.
Shaking away her thoughts, Hanako looked up at the sky and noticed that the sunlight was dimming and a rosy orange hue had begun to creep from the edges of the horizon. 'It's about time to head back,' she thought, 'Best not be late or Aunty Rei might throw a fit.' Retrieving her grasp on the reins, Hanako pulled on them gently, signalling Iko to retreat backwards until he reached the opposite side of the roof, giving him a chance for a runner up.
"Ready, Iko?"
Iko gave a roll of his golden eyes and a flick of his tongue before he braced his leg muscles to spring forward, earning a lopsided grin on the young Avatar's face.
Still grinning, Hanako whispered to where she thought Iko's ears were, "Now."
Iko leapt forward, quickly closing in on the end of his short runway. His two front feet had took hold of the edge and pushed off, launching him and his ridiculously ecstatic master into the air.
Hanako threw her head back and laughed, her emerald eyes sparkling and her shoulder-length, black hair flying out behind her. They landed with a thud on the roof below, and continued to descend at exhilarating speeds, flying over tyrannic breaks between buildings that could have ended in a certainly fatal and long fall.
Hanako and Iko came to the realisation that they were going too fast, and could not come to a complete stop nor could they slow down, in fear that they would lose the momentum to clear the gaps and fall to their deaths. They had no choice but to continue jumping down from roof to roof, tearing down clothing lines and scaring the daylights any unfortunate civilians who happened to be leaning against their window sill with the Iko's monstrous form and speed.
After what seemed to be eons of that, Iko's feet had managed to meet the ground and were forced to continue running by the rapidity they were going at. They followed the road directly into the city's main market square, with Hanako calling out apologies over her shoulder to the people that had to dodge the oncoming flash of green.
Just ahead was a market stall that appeared to sell an abundance of cabbages. Hanako had noticed this and desperately pulled on the reins, causing Iko to claw against the ground and drift and coming to a stop inches away from the fragile frame of the stall. She was going to punch the air in victory but was stopped when she notice she was slowly tipping forward as her friend had lost his balance.
CRASH!
Iko had smashed the poor stall to splinters and lay among the smashed wood and cabbages.
"MY CABBAGES!" called the pained shrieks of the cabbage merchant owning the stall. He fell to his knees, cuddling an unaffected cabbage to his face as he whimpered. Hanako looked into the golden orbs of her scaly friend and sighed. Walking over to the sobbing grown man, she knelt in front of him and untied a generous bag of yuans from her belt and proceeded to jingle it above his shoulders. Looking up, his tear filled eyes widened at the size of the coin purse.
"I apologise about your stall. Will this be compensation enough?" Hanako asked hopefully.
The man nodded and pocketed the bag of money, humming in delight; knowing that the amount of money was worth a lot more than his cheap stall and poorly grown cabbages. Mourning the loss of her allowance, Hanako retraced her steps to Iko and settled herself in his saddle. Lightly tapping Iko's side with her foot, she sent Iko trotting towards their home; The Jasmine Dragon.
"Are you sure we're going the right way?" asked Sayuri, as the Sun beat down on them with a merciless fist of heat. 'I'm not built for these extremities,' she thought to herself.
"Of course I'm sure, we just need to follow this path and it will eventually lead us to a village," Hikari explained from the seat behind Sayuri. "Why do you want to rush anyway?"
"I don't want to rush, I just want to make sure that you haven't got us lost… again," sighed Sayuri, stroking the fur of her Buffalo Yak, "Not to mention the fact that we're basically sitting in a desert and my poor Kurri won't be able to carry us much further if he gets dehydrated."
"Fine, once we get to the next village and have a rest, you can make the choice on which way we go," said Hikari, who didn't seem to be affected much by the heat, much to the envy of Sayuri.
'Firebenders,' she thought, 'We're basically polar opposites and one of them happens to be my sister.'
Her spite flew away as she remembered when she had first brought her younger sisters to the Southern Water Tribe and Hikari was shivering like crazy, trying to cover herself with whatever materials she could find. It was a wonder that they were related, let alone sisters. It didn't only seem that way to her, but almost everyone.
Their looks were of different kinds completely; Sayuri had long black locks of hair that was almost always pulled into a side braid and had shocking turquoise eyes, whereas Hikari had brown hair that fell in curls with a thin braid running down the side of her head and amber coloured eyes, but they both shared their mother's pale skin.
Both were highly accomplished benders and both wore simple clothes of their home nation; contrasting blue with red. They were accompanied by their own companions; Hikari had her sleepy Aardvark Sloth called Picho and Sayuri had Kurri, her strong Buffalo Yak.
And they were both on their way to Ba Sing Se, so they could pay a visit to their youngest sister; Hanako.
Bet you guys didn't expect that.
The plot might get a little complicated from here on out, but hang on. :DDDD
This thing is getting fun (for me).
Remember to read and review.