Hi! This is my first shot at actually writing an Avatar the Last Airbender fanfiction, so if I make an error, please, correct it so my writing can improve. I have had this idea in my head for so long, over a year in fact, so I decided I should get off my lazy butt and start typing!
Disclaimer: I do not and probably never will own any property of Avatar the Last Airbender
Chapter 1 - Prologue
Flashback, Unknown POV
A young boy, about 5, sits in the ashes of a burned down home. With a closer look you may see that the boy was crying, laying on 2 charred corpses.
The boy, sobbing, lay on the scorched bodies. It was no wonder why he was upset. The bodies he was crying over… were his parents.
Castro POV
I ran around the house, collecting my belongings I wished to take with me to the Southern Air Temple. Grabbing multiple sets of clothes, my coin purse, and the last of my stash of fire flakes to snack on, I hurriedly threw these items into my pack and dashed outside to meet with Aang and his mentor, Monk Gyatso.
Upon reaching the doorway, I shouted to them excitedly, "I'm ready, let's go!" Aang grinned and shouted back, "Pronto hotman! Let's get going, we don't want to miss the beginning of the festival!" Jumping onto Appa with a burst of fire, I landed neatly in the saddle and quickly got comfortable, for as soon as I did, Appa slammed his tail into the ground and took off in the direction of the Air Temple.
I smiled. We were heading to the annual Summer Solstice Festival, which was being held in the southern temple this year. With fireworks, various vegetarian festival foods, dance parties, and many other entertaining activities, the Festival was well-known and often attended by many friends of the Air-nomads from the other four nations.
"Hello Castro, how are you doing?" Monk Gyatso greeted warmly, smiling.
"Great! I've discovered how to do something amazing with my firebending! I'll show you guys later, I don't want to scare Appa." I replied.
Gyatso raised an eyebrow, "Would you mind explaining what it is that you have discovered?" I shrugged, "Sure, why not? Well, do you remember me telling you guys about my theory about electrical fire?" Gyatso stroked his beard thoughtfully, "Yes, I do. What of it?" I looked around, and then leaned forward, grinning, as if sharing a secret. "I've done it; I've found a way to create white fire!" At this, Gyatso jerked back, eyes widening in surprise.
He then relaxed, grinning, "Impressive, Castro! And here I was, thinking that you wouldn't find something more powerful than blue, well done!" he said nodding appreciatively. My grin faded. "There are some drawbacks to it though, for one, I can't do it for a long time; it is extremely draining on my chi reserves. For two, if it is concentrated, the fire is so bright, it can blind you! First time I did it, I couldn't see for an hour!" I explained, gesturing wildly with my hands.
Aang, who had been listening in, looked back at me. "Wow! That's amazing! How does it work? Can you show me? What happens if- Hold up Aang, one question at a time!" I cut in, laughing. "Which one do you want answered first?" I asked him.
He looked at his mentor. "Monk Gyatso? Could you please take the reins so I could talk to Castro?" Gyatso smiled. "Of course Aang." Gripping the reins, Gyatso switched places with Aang.
After getting comfortable, he hummed thoughtfully, "How do you do it? I've never heard of a firebender using white fire before." He then looked at me expectantly, grey eyes full of curiosity. "Well, I got the idea a long time back, when I used lightning for the first time. I figured, if I can use lightning, what if I could combine it with fire? So, I started practicing, at first I tried bending fire out of one hand, lightning from the other, this just resulted in the lightning exploding in my face."
I took a breath before I continued, but Aang beat me to it. "What does this have to do with my question?" he asked impatiently. "Hold on, Aang I'm getting there. Well, after many trials and errors, and even more explosions, I managed to do it both at the same time, out of the same hand! There I was, holding the first ball of white fire in history! But, I looked at it too long and nearly went blind." I finished lamely looking at my feet.
"How did it almost blind you? How bright was it exactly?" he questioned. I chuckled, "Bright enough to blind me!" Aang joined in on the laughter.
"Boys, collect your things, we are almost to the temple." Gyatso shouted over to us over his shoulder.
I grabbed my pack and began to organize the items inside. "Awesome! Hey Castro, we didn't miss the starting show!" Aang said, peering over the edge of Appa's saddle.
"And they are still setting up the stage, which means you have some time to recollect with your friends." Gyatso added.
Appa landed on the pavilion with a whoosh of air. When we landed Aang and I were greeted by two familiar faces. I jumped down and looked at my other two friends, Kuzon and Bumi. I smiled. "Long time no see guys! How's things go back home for you guys?" Bumi gave me his trade-mark crazy smile, "Stuff back home has been awesome! Dad let me have both Aang and Kuzon over for a week before the festival, it was awesome, and I wish you could have been there!"
Kuzon nodded excitedly, "how about you? You been okay?" I grinned, this was gonna be funny. "Yeah, come here and look at this!" I waved them to follow me to the edge of the temple pavilion. Taking a deep breath, I gathered an immense amount of chi in my right hand…and flung the chi into the air.
The resulting fire ball was a bright, beautiful white. At this display of fire, all three of my friends' jaws dropped. "Cool…" they said collectively. I smirked, "Yeah, it is pretty cool."
Bumi was the first to sober up, "Is that the electrical fire you mentioned?" I nodded. "It was a pain in the butt to get it right though. And that's not the only thing I can do with it either. Stand back!" I warned.
Once they were a safe distance away, I stood up straight, focused my chi into the soles of my feet…And began to fly. "That's amazing! Could you teach me how to do that?" I fell to the ground and smiled. "Sure thing! How about tomorrow morning?" Kuzon nodded. "Sounds good to me!"
"Hey kids! The shows about to start!" a man shouted across the pavilion. "Thank you!" Aang shouted back. "Come on guys! Let's not miss the show!" we all nodded in agreement. And with that we all ran across the pavilion to enjoy the festival.
The next morning Aang POV
I groaned and stretched in my bed as I awoke. I stood up, and then put on some clothes for the day.
Walking out side I saw Bumi setting on a bench in a nearby clearing, watching Castro trying, and failing, to teach Kuzon how to lightning-bend. Walking closer I heard them talking. "Remember; if you feel any emotion, it will interfere with the lightning and it will keep exploding. Try again." At this, Kuzon took a deep breath and began to move his hands slowly in a circle. Peering closer, I saw sparks beginning to gather at his fingertips. And then, the energy he had been gathering exploded violently, blowing Kuzon straight back into my chest.
Oomph! We hit the ground. Kuzon stood up, panicked, and looked at me. "Umm, good morning?" He said sheepishly, rubbing his neck. "Ugh…" I groaned then stood up. Bumi and Castro ran up to me. "I'm sorry about that." Kuzon apologized. "It's alright, it wasn't your fault." I reassured him. Bumi and Castro looked at me, "Are you okay?" they asked.
"Yeah, I'm okay. I didn't land that hard." Castro nodded, and then looked at Kuzon. "What happened? That was perfect!" he scolded him. Kuzon sighed, "I got excited, that's all." Castro nodded patiently. "Oh. Do you want to try again?" he shook his head, "No, my dad is gonna be here pretty quick to pick up me and Bumi. We do have enough time to get some breakfast though!"
My stomach rumbled. "That doesn't sound bad to my stomach." I joked. Laughing we made our way to the mess hall.
"Hey Kuzon," Castro said over breakfast, "promise me that you'll keep practicing your lightning while you're at home, you were close to doing it." He said encouragingly. Kuzon smiled, "I will."
"So Aang," Bumi started conversationally, "how's this whole Avatar thing going along?" I frowned. "Well, let's just say I'm lucky to have today off." Bumi chuckled at this. "Wow, they really work you don't they?" he said. "Too much." I agreed.
Monk Gyatso walked into the room. "Kuzon? Your father is here to take you and Bumi home." Kuzon sighed. "Well, it was nice seeing all of you." He and Bumi walked over to the door, where Monk Gyatso was awaiting them. "Bye!" They shouted at us before leaving the mess hall to go home.
Waving, Castro and I stood up. "Well," I started, "What do you want to do?" He smirked; dropping his voice to a whisper, he said, "Wanna go see what those cranky elders are up to?" I grinned. This could be fun...
Castro POV
We were sitting in the rafters above the elders meeting with Monk Gyatso.
"We think you've been too soft on the young Avatar, he needs to train! Not to visit with his friends!" One of the elders began angrily, scowling. Gyatso simply nodded, "Avatar or not, Aang needs friends in his life, without friends he will not become the Avatar he needs to be." Gyatso argued.
The same elder as before continued scowling, "No! There is unrest in the Fire Nation, and we believe there may be a war coming! The Avatar does not need friends; he needs the necessary training to stop whatever madness may be brewing in the west! Because of this, we have decided, the Avatar is to be sent to the Western Air Temple to continue his training. He leaves tomorrow."
Gyatso's eyes widened in shock. "I this true?" he looked to the other elders for confirmation. The other elders nodded gravely. "Yes Gyatso, this is true."
I looked over at Aang worriedly, but he wasn't there. Must've left after what the old guy said. Silent as a ghost, I fled the scene.
It was near dark when I reached his room. I knocked on his door. No answer. "Aang? You in there?" Once again, no answer.
"Psst! Hey Castro, up here!" looking up I saw Aang waving at me urgently. Shooting flames from my feet I flew up to where Aang was waiting for me.
I looked at him suspiciously. "What are you doing up here?" I asked. "Leaving." He replied simply. "Leaving? Why?" I demanded. Aang sighed, "I can't let them take me to the other temple! This place is my home, it's either here, or where I feel like going." He said adamantly. I knew that tone of voice, there was no changing his mind now.
"I'm going with you then. But-No buts! I'm going with you whether you like it or not! When do we leave?" I asked him. Aang rubbed his neck, "Umm. Now?" I nodded, "Alright let me grab my pack."
I jumped down, sprinted to my room, grabbed my things and ran to meet Aang at the stables. Hopping on the bison I said to him, "Let's get going before someone catches us." Aang nodded. Then we left.
The ride was silent. "Hey Aang?" I called. "Hmm?" he acknowledged. "I'm gonna take a nap." I told him. "Alright." I lie down, head on my pack, and drifted into an uneasy sleep.
I heard screaming. Waking up more, I noticed a powerful storm raging dangerously around. "Aang! Turn around! We can't get through this safely!" I screamed at him. CRASH! A wave slammed into Appa, dragging all of us under the water, and I from consciousness.
Flashback, Unknown POV
The young boy stood up, still crying. A shadow passed over him, blocking out the midday sun for a moment. The boy stopped sobbing for a moment as he inspected the source of the shadow. There was nothing in sight.
Suddenly a pair of dragons, red and blue descended above the boy. He started crying again, fearful of what the creatures might do to him. The dragons landed, one on either side of him. Abruptly, a strange feeling of peace came over him.
"Hush child, we will help you." A voice spoke in his mind. I knew it was the dragon, the red one. Another voice came to him, deeper, raspier. "Come child, I will let you ride upon my back."
The young boy timidly approached the enormous creature. Once close enough the dragon gripped his pants in his jaws and placed the child onto his back. The boy clung there, terrified. Glancing at each other, the dragons nodded, and then ascended in to the sky.
Wow. I had to force myself to make it over 2,000 words, because as a frequent reader, I hate short chapters. I hope this isn't too short for you! Have you figured out who the young child is in the flash backs? I bet you can guess who the dragons are too. I would love to get some feedback on the first chapter of this story, so please, review or send a private message! If you enjoyed it, don't forget to favorite and/or follow. Thank you and have a great day!
