Avatar:
The Last Airbender
Chapter I
"Katara?" Aang rubbed his eyes clean of drowsiness. "What are you doing up?"
Katara was sitting cross legged, bending water from a jar that was set in front of her. She smiled when she noticed him start to sit upright.
"It's 'bout time you woke up, sleepyhead." She let the water dribble back into the jar. "The sun was up two and a half hours ago. I felt bad, starting the day without you two."
Aang sighed. This was the third time he had slept late. Sokka and Momo hadn't been too fortunate either. It seemed that since they had left Bah Sing Sei, they could never get enough rest. Momo's ears perked and the little flying lemur's eyes fluttered open. Aang smiled and allowed his pet to relax on the top of his bald head. Sokka began to stir also. It wasn't long before they were all up and ready to start the search for breakfast. A slice of bread and at least ten mulberries; not the fanciest meal but it did the trick on morning hunger.
Appa had just finished the mulberry bush from which the three kids had gotten breakfast. Soon they were flying high. They stopped once or twice and Katara and Aang bended water from a couple clouds into their pouches.
"Aang, We've been flying for hours….And were exactly are we going?" Sokka was complaining about being thirsty although he had just gulped down his second helping of water, or that his eyes hurt from looking out at the expand of seawater they were over, or Momo was getting on his last nerve and he needed Aang to control the little "demon". Oh well, those were the consequences of having Sokka around.
"Sokka for the last time; We don't know were we're going, we need to preserve our water, and Momo isn't even back here with you so calm down and be QUIET!" Katara scolded him when he became a nuisance.
"Wait," Aang's voice got serious. "Look." He pointed out to the horizon. Floating there was a good sized Fire Navy ship.
"Great, we're dead penguin meat." Sokka said
"No were not, if we can fly slowly and quietly, we can make it past." Aang reassured. "Ready……….Now!" Then there was dead silence. Appa slowed to a glide. Momo's ears bent back. Katara made fists. Aang bit his lip. Now they were right over the ship. Smoke started rising from the deck.
"What are they doing?" Sokka whispered as he crawled up next to Katara.
"No," Aang sighed. "They've spotted us."
Chaos. Appa sped trying to get the threesome out of there. The Fire Navy Army flung hot stickers at the bison. Momo was almost lost, but found hope in Sokka's head. Sokka yelled when Momo grabbed hold of his ponytail. Aang constantly cried "YIP, YIP!" to Appa.
And they finally cleared the Fire Navy's view.
"Appa, are you alright!" Aang yelled to the bison. Appa groaned and started licking an open wound on one of his front paws.
"Appa's hurt!" Aang told Katara. "Do you think you can heal him?" Katara looked over the side of the saddle.
"I don't know. That gash looks pretty big. It's risky doing it all the way up here. We should land. It's pretty late and we need to make camp anyways." Katara replied.
"There's an island not far from here. It's uncharted, but I know where it is. It's very near the Fire Nation, but with a wound like that, we gotta' take the chance for Appa." Sokka said.
Katara frowned. "If this island is uncharted, how do you know where it is?"
Sokka smirked. "I found a secret map of the oceans in Wong Shi Tong's library. I still have it." Sokka pulled it out of his sac in which other parchments where being kept.
Sure enough, just southeast of the wicked Fire Nation, a small dot of an island was marked on the sheet.
"My calculations, according to the stars, say we're right here." Katara pointed to the sea just left of the island.
"Aang, wake up. We're here." Katara shook Aang awake. He yawned and looked out over the endless sea. The island, it wasn't far.
"Appa! Yip, yip!" Aang yelled to the bison.
Appa groaned and headed toward the island.
The three hopped of Appa and landed on the sandy beach of the island.
"We should camp in the forest." Sokka suggested. "Fire Navy could probably spot us on the beach."
"Good idea," Katara agreed.
The three sleepy teens, the injured bison, and the flying lemur all ventured deep into the brush, until…..
"No way, a clearing!" Aang's face brightened. They had just stumbled across a perfect clearing with a pond set in the middle of it. Apple and moon peach trees bordered it. Cherry blossoms glistened with their blooms. The soft grass beneath the trio's feet was wet with dew. The moon shone and reflected in the scales of trout swimming in the pond and the cool breeze rustled the cattails. It was perfect. Paradise! Heaven on earth!
"Food!" Sokka felt himself start to salivate as he caught sighting of a moon peach tree. He ran to climb it.
Katara and Aang ran to dip their hands in the pond and bring the pure water to their lips.
Katara looked up from a drink. "It's perfect here. There's plenty of food, a pond to practice waterbending. And there's a clear view of the stars if we suddenly have to leave. I feel like anything can happen here."
"Yeah, there's a strange tingle I keep feeling. Like its magical here," Aang agreed.
"HEY!" They heard Sokka whine. Appa was eating the moon peach tree Sokka had started to climb a while back. Sokka had fallen to the ground and was rubbing his sore bottom.
Katara and Aang laughed. Sokka just got up and walked over to climb another moon peach tree ways away from the bison.
"Alright, if we're going to get this bison healed we better start now." Katara brushed her dress off and walked casually over to Appa. She pulled a long stream of water from the pond and waterbended it onto the bison's paw. Appa groaned as the water started to glow. The gash started to heal. Beads of sweat rolled down Katara's forehead and with a splash, the water fell to the ground. The grass swallowed it down to fast it seemed the puddle hadn't been there. A scar was left as a dark reminder of the cruel Fire Nation.
Katara sighed. "That's as good as it's gonna' get. It'll fade in time." She said.
"Poor Appa." Aang stroked the bison's fur. Appa let out a long groan, making Aang smile.
"Appa's FINE! What about ME? I was the one that fell on my toush while HE ate my moon peach tree." Sokka pointed accusingly at Appa.
Katara bent down and patted the grass. "We'll sleep here." She said. "We can eat in the morning."
Aang rubbed the back of his neck. "I'd kinda' like to sleep somewhere else. A tree, maybe."
Katara smiled. "I don't see who's stopping you!" She started to roll her sleeping mat out next to Sokka's.
Aang, also smiling, hopped onto an air scooter which disintegrated when he came upon a fairly large apple tree with flat branches. He clambered to the top branches and sat.
"Good night!" He yelled across the clearing.
"You, too!" Was Katara's reply. Sokka was already asleep.
An apple was dangling from the leaves above Aang. He twisted it off and bit into it.
"Hmmm." He hummed. It was a bit tart. His eyes ridges began to fill with sleepiness. Soon he could barely keep them up.
The apple fell to the ground.
That night somebody found it.
And Aang.
Chapter II
"Oh." Aang groaned. What was this agonizing pain in his arm? He heard the twittering of birds, but there was something else, quiet breathing, not of him but of someone else. He opened his eyes. Staring back into them were two deep blue eyes.
The eyes pulled back and Aang could see that they belonged to a girl about his age. She had long black hair with some parts pulled up in a bun on either side of her head. She wore a short, torn, brown skirt and a black tank-top that was struggling to cover her bellybutton. She had black cloth bracelets up each arm and a couple on her ankles. There was a larger one covering her right knee. She looked at him as if she had found her lost flying lemur. She was holding a hand carved wooden cup.
"Why do I always wake up to girls hanging over me?" Aang mumbled. The girl giggled.
Aang tried to sit up, thinking it was stupid of him to just lay there, but he fell back, clutching his arm. He realized his shirt was off and on of the bands that were on the girl's arm was covering a cut on his.
The girl's smile turned to a concerned frown.
"Here, drink this," She handed him the cup and helped him sit up. "It'll hopefully bring down the swelling." Aang tipped the cup to his mouth. A sweet liquid poured down his throat. The girl smiled and said, "Unfortunately it'll make your liver fall out."
Aang spluttered and coughed, wide-eyed. She smiled bigger. "Just kidding."
"What is it?" Aang asked.
"Moon-apple juice." She replied. Aang raised an eyebrow.
"But there's no such thing."
"Well, its moon peach juice mixed with apple juice. I figured it would be easier to call it 'moon apple juice'." The girl informed him. Aang blinked.
"So-o, how did I do this?" He tugged at the bloodstained band.
"You sort of fell." She pointed upward. Aang looked up at the branches of the apple tree he had climbed the other night.
"Ouch." He winced. The girl nodded. "So do you own this clearing?"
"In a way." She said.
"Great, so I'm alive. I guess I should be getting back to my friends' camp." He got up slowly.
The girl jumped up. "There're more of you!"
Aang slipped on his shirt and said: "Yeah, Katara and Sokka. Wanna' come see them? I'll take you." He offered. She looked ecstatic.
"That'd be GREAT, umm, what's your name?" She smiled.
"Aang. What's your name?" Aang replied.
"Alla. Nice to meet you, Aang." Alla bowed in the traditional way. Aang bowed back.
"So you wanted to meet my friends, huh?" Aang put his hands on his hips.
"If that's alright with you."
"Oh, it's perfectly alright with me!"
"THANK YOU!" Alla smiled big and threw her arms around Aang.
Aang felt himself blush. He had never met anyone so excitable and kind. In fact, Alla kind of reminded him of himself.
As Alla pulled away from her grateful embrace on Aang, she caught sighting of his arrow.
"What's this?" She poked where the tattoo came into a point.
"A traditional tattoo that most Airbender monks wore." He informed her. She raised an eyebrow.
"Airbender? But they all died in a Fire Navy siege. The only known Airbender living is the Avatar, but you couldn't be him. He would be over a hundred years old…………right?"
"Unless, I was 'preserved' in an iceberg that was opened a hundred years later." Aang smiled. Alla's jaw dropped.
"No, you, you couldn't be. It's…..impossible." She said hysterically. Just then, Momo dropped down from a tree, with a moon peach in mouth, and landed next to Alla. She squealed and hopped sideways.
"What's that?" She flung a hand to her chest in order to calm her racing pulse.
"That's my flying lemur, known to inhabit both the eastern and the western air nomad temples. His name is Momo." Aang picked up the lemur and cradled Momo in his arms.
"Flying lemur? I've never seen one before. Heh, heh, I like his big ears." Alla fingered the tips of his ears.
Momo jumped from Aang's arms to Alla's shoulders and hugged her neck. She giggled as the lemur's soft fur brushed against her ticklish skin.
"So you're the Avatar?"
Aang nodded in respond.
"Wow, what's it like, bending-wise 'n all?" Alla took Momo from her neck and scratched between his ears as he devoured his breakfast.
"Well, I can't bend fire, yet. But I've pretty much mastered air, water, and earth. We just returned my earthbending coach to her home in Bah Sing Sei. I just need to get a firebender that will teach me other than kill me. Then I get to kick Ozai outa' here!"
"You're going to try to defeat Ozai? You're crazier than I thought."
"No, Sokka and I have a plan. We're going to attack Ozai when a solar eclipse happens. Firebenders lose their ability to bend when a solar eclipse is in effect," Aang explained.
"Yeah, we d-I mean they do, yeah," Alla stuttered. "So are you gonna' introduce me to your friends or NOT?"
"Of course, Alla!" Aang replied.
Aang grabbed Alla's hand and hurriedly led her to where his friends had apparently made a fire to ward off hungry sword mosquitoes. Sword mosquitoes were the nastiest pests, with a long, jagged, saw-like mouth. When they bit you, it would create a whelp-like sore that itched like crazy. Usually, sword mosquitoes only lived around the Fire Nation, where it was warmer in climate. Obviously enough; they were close to the Fire Nation.
"KATARA, SOKKA!" Aang yelled to his friends at the top of his lungs. The two teenagers were both up. Sokka was busy gathering fruit in a woven basket. Katara was rolling up their sleeping bags. She looked up, but instead of being happy to see Aang, she was frowning. This surprised Aang.
"Wait! Aang slow down!" Alla said as she was tripping trying to keep up with Aang so that he wouldn't pull her arm from its socket. Aang slowed to a stop.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"What's wrong is I'm not beating you!" She smiled and quickly ran toward the campsite, followed by Aang and Momo. When they got there, Alla bent over, with her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. Sokka dropped his fruit basket.
"Firebender." He said. Aang led a breathless Alla up to Katara.
"Katara, this is Alla. Alla, Katara." Aang introduced them to each other.
Alla smiled and offered her hand to Katara. She didn't take it. On the contrary Katara looked away from Alla and said to Aang; "Aang what are you thinking going and befriending an unfamiliar person. She might be from the Fire nation!"
"Alla, no. She's too nice. She aided me, Katara," He said pulling up his sleeve for all to see. "Think of what could've happened if the wound had gotten infected. She possibly saved my life. No Fire Nation civilian would just walk up to someone and do that. No, Alla's not Fire Nation."
"Aa-aang, we can't be sure." Katara straightened her back. "Right, Sokka?"
Sokka stood there, frozen. "Firebender!" He took a step back. Alla turned to look solemnly at Sokka. Why were they rejecting her like this? Aang hadn't been that way. She just wanted to make friends. Her eyes glistened with the first stage of tears.
"Aang we can't afford to befriend every kid we come across!" Their talk had turned into a loud argument.
"Well, you can at least afford Alla!"
"No, it's okay. I can survive. Good luck on defeating Ozai, Aang. I'll be rooting for you. See ya'." Alla said as she turned and ran for the woods.
"YOU SEE WHAT YOU DID!" Aang shouted angrily at Katara. "Now she's gone. She wished me luck on defeating Ozai! If that's not kind, I don't know what is!"
Katara hung her head low. "I'm sorry, I jumped to conclusions."
Sokka gasped; "That was a FIREBENDER!"
"No, Sokka. That was a friend." Aang walked over to Momo and picked him up.
"AAAAAAHHHH!" A loud scream echoed out of the woods. A mouse like creature about the size of Momo leapt out of the tangle of trees. It bounced up and down, squeaking loudly.
Momo's eyes widened. The girl was in trouble? He grabbed hold of Aang's shirt and tried to pull him toward the monkey mouse. Aang followed Momo who followed the mouse through the dense forest.
"AWW, YUCK!" Sokka whined. He had just walked through a giant spider web. Aang looked back at Sokka and took one of the sticky strands between his fingers.
"Oh, no." He whispered.
"What it?" Katara asked.
"And why's it on ME?" Sokka tried to brush the strings away.
"It's a Bull Widow." Aang frowned. "C'mon, we gotta save Alla."
After a minute or two, they came upon her. Alla was pinned against a tree and the Bull Spider's horns on either side of her. The spider's horns were piercing the tree, and going deeper into the trunk each second. The fangs were only inches away from Alla's thigh.
Just then, a huge blast of air swept away the Bull Spider and trapped it in its own web. It hissed and jabbed its horns at the web.
Aang ran to help Alla up.
"My leg." She gasped. Aang looked down. Not a scratch. "Tsukumo, he spat on my leg. The venom needs to be washed off."
"Tsukumo?" Aang helped Alla through the bushes.
"Yes, the horned spider god. This is Tsukumo Island." She said.
When they got back to the clearing, Katara waterbended some water from the pond and held it to Alla's leg.
"Alright, I think it washed off okay." Alla told Katara. "Don't drop that water. It'll kill the grass and poison the soil. Throw it far out into the ocean. Salt will break up the venom."
"How do you know all this?" Sokka asked.
"Because I've been attacked by Tsukumo before. He doesn't exactly enjoy human company." She replied and followed Aang and Katara out to the beach. "Alright, all together now…… GO!" The puddle of water and venom was tossed out to sea, followed by a boosting burst of Aang's air.
"Squeakle, squeakle!" The monkey mouse ran up to Alla who scooped her up and stroked its back.
"Is that yours?" Aang permitted the creature to sniff his fingers.
Alla nodded. "Her name's Flamsi. I saved her from getting baked by the Fire Navy."
"Flamsi? Why Flamsi." Katara asked.
"She was used as a practice target. She sucked in so much smoke….watch…" Alla plucked a moon peach from a nearby tree and threw it to her pet. Jets of flames leapt from the little creature's throat and burned the moon peach in midair.