Hello old and new readers of ANTLA! I first started this fanfiction in April 2013 and went on a hiatus in May 2013. It was because of writers block and that the story was a "what if" story so that made it even more overwhelming. This chapter will be explaining the backstory of how Aang learned he was the Avatar for those of who you don't know and why he ran away into the Storm. There will be content from the Avatar: The Last Airbender episode "The Storm" in this chapter. I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or it's characters.
Southern Air Temple, 0 AG
(The pan up changes quickly from the rock of the cave to an outdoor shot of the Southern Air Temple in its heyday. A stone plaza is populated with many young airbenders playing games, a flying bison soars in the distance.)
(Cut to a shot of Aang addressing a group of young airbenders. Most seem Aang's age or younger, one is taller and probably older. Aang demonstrates the air scooter move.)Aang: First, you form a ball. Then you gotta get on quick. (Aang makes an air ball and sits on it fast. He laughs and begins to move at terrific speed across the plaza. He goes upside down in a nearby archway under a walking bridge, then climbs a wall and gets up on to the bridge, coming back to the plaza by a nearby set of stairs. Aang exclaims "yeh!" and "woohoo!" as he travels. Cut to the older boy, who readies his own attempt.)Older Boy: Okay! Here goes! (He makes a ball.)
Aang: Quick, get on!
Older Boy: Wh, wh, whoaaaa! (He wobbles and is thrown.)Ugh!
Aang(dismounting his own scooter): You kinda have to balance on it like it's a top. (He twirls his finger to demonstrate.)
Older Boy: Man, that's hard. (A young boy enters the screen from the left and tugs at Aang's shoulder.)Young Boy: Where'd ya learn that trick, Aang?
Aang: I made it up.
Young Boy(doing a goofy dance): Wow! (Screen pans left to show five elderly airbender monks on the stones steps leading up to the bridge. Monk Gyatso is one of them.)Monk Gyatso: Aang, come with us. We need to speak with you. (Cut to Aang, who obeys with a look of trepidation on his face, the other kids looking at him strangely. Cut to a chamber in the Air Temple where the five elder monks sit cross-legged and serene on five evenly spaced stools. The middle monk's stool rests under an ornate parasol; he is likely the leader or abbot of the monastery. Monk Gyatso is the second from the left. Aang kneels in front of them, head down, his back to the camera. He lifts his head to address them.)Aang: How do you know it's me?
Elder Monk #4: We have known you were the Avatar for some time. Do you remember these? (The fourth monk on the right who has just spoken reveals a rolled up package, which he airbends over to Aang. It lands at his feet and rolls open of its own accord. Inside are four children's toys. On the left is a little toy turtle. Second from the left is a propeller toy. Third from the left is a little monkey or donkey. The fourth is rattle type object with yellow and red swirls on its face.)Aang: Those were some of my favorite toys when I was little! (He picks up the propeller toy.)
Elder Monk #4: You chose them from among thousands of toys, Aang. The toys you picked were the four Avatar relics. These items belonged to Avatars past. Your own past lives.
Aang: I just chose them because they seemed fun. (He smiles and pulls the cord on the propeller toy, sending the propeller spinning into the air. It spins through the air and the scene cuts back to a close view of the five monks.)Elder Monk #4: You chose them because they were familiar.
Monk Gyatso: Normally we would have told you of your identity when you turned 16, but there are troubling signs, storm clouds are gathering.
Abbot: I fear that war may be upon us, young Avatar.
Monk Gyatso: We need you, Aang.
(Fade to another flashback at the plaza near the south wall of the Southern Air Temple. This time the plaza is full of young airbenders riding on air scooters, laughing, and having fun.)Aang: Hey, not bad! You guys have been practicing!
Young Boy(scooting around Aang): Not only that, we made up a game you can play with the air scooters!
Aang: Great! (Aang makes his own air scooter, but the young boy looks confused and a bit alarmed. He stops his scooter. The shot widens to show the other young airbenders stopping their scooters as well.)Aang(dismayed): What's going on?
Older Boy(unhappy, but without malice): Now that you're the Avatar, it's kind of an unfair advantage for whichever team you're on.
Aang(trying to smile): But I'm still the same – nothing's changed. So, what, I can't play?
Older Boy: That's the only fair way.
Aang(dismounting his scooter): Oh, ok.
Young Boy: Sorry, Aang. (The young airbenders look upon as he retreats from them, sadness in their eyes. The older boy turns to address them.)Older Boy: Okay, now who wants to have Jinju on their team? (Screen pans right to reveal a dirty looking airbender boy with a stupid grin on his face who makes an equally stupid noise. Cut to a view of Aang and Gyatso playing Pai Sho through an exterior window. Then a close up of Aang, who absentmidndely moves a token on the board. He is sad and distracted.)Monk Gyatso: Very interesting move, young one.
Aang: What do you mean? (Behind his back, Monk Gyatso begins to bend air in an arch over his head and behind Aang. The wind blows Aang's hood up over his face, giving the old monk time to switch a few pieces before Aang can remove the hood.)Aang(pointing at the board): Hey! (Both begin to laugh. The door opens to reveal one of the other monk elders, in fact the one who had been sitting fourth from the right in the prior scene.)Elder Monk #4: You're playing games with him? The Avatar should be training.
Monk Gyatso: Aang has already trained enough for today.
Elder Monk #4: Time is short. Come with me. I must test you on some high level techniques. (Aang gets up and begins to follow the Elder out of the room. Monk Gyatso then raises his hand in a gesture of cessation.)Monk Gyatso: No, as long as I am his guardian, I will decide when he trains and when he gets his butt kicked at Pai Sho.
Elder Monk #4(close up, clearly angry): Huh! (The Elder Monk stalks off as Aang turns to smile at Monk Gyatso.)
(Aang's flashback resumes, this time of Monk Gyatso and Elder Monk #4 standing in front of the monk who sits on the middle stool under the parasol, presumably the abbot.)Monk Gyatso: Aang needs to have freedom and fun. He needs to grow up as a normal boy.
Elder Monk #4: Humph! You cannot keep protecting him from his destiny.
Abbot: Gyatso, I know you mean well, but you are letting your affection for the boy cloud your judgment.
Monk Gyatso: All I want is what is best for him.
Abbot: But what we need is what's best for the world. (Looking down for a moment before raising his head to continue)You and Aang must be separated. The Avatar will be sent away to the Eastern Air Temple to complete his training. (Monk Gyatso bows as the camera zooms past him to reveal Aang eavesdropping through a hole in the ceiling, his eyes alarmed and distraught.)
(Showing an overhead shot of the young airbender monks hard at play on their air scooters back at the south wall. The shot zooms backwards to reveal that we are seeing the kids from Aang's p.o.v. – he is watching them from a window high up in the Temple. He is sad and clearly longs to be normal again. Aang leaves his window and flops dejectedly on his bed.)
(The scene fades to a night scene in the hallway outside of Aang's bedroom. Monk Gyatso approaches, knocks and enters.)
Monk Gyatso: Aang, I'm not going to let them take you away from me. Aang?
(Gyatso sees a rolled up scroll on Aang's bed. He picks it up and opens it, his eyes going wide in concern. He draws an intake of breath to look at the window where it is storming violently.
(The flashback continues with Aang's and Appa's plunge into the sea during the storm.)
So that was the prologue. It actually did not take so long considering I found a transcript of "The Storm" for you guys. I tried to edit it as much as possible. Next time we will see what happens when Aang and Appa are forced into the Iceberg by Aang in the Avatar State.