Wing:Yeah this is replacing my dead fic Vento addition.
(Sounds of disappointment came from the viewers)
Wing:Yes yes, great tragedy and all but this one will be as good if not better than it.
Toph:What do you expect when you use awesome people?
Wing:...I really should shut that door but...Toph is awesome can't deny.
Toph:You sure can't, Greywing44 does not own ATLA, if she did I would be the main character.
Wing:Damn right you would.
"Sokka I told you to restock before we left!" A dark-skinned blue-eyed girl whisper shouted as she and two other boys snuck through Ryoyama, an occupied Earth Nation town.
You see they were headed to an Earth kindom outpost after leaving the North Pole, when Katara looked to their supplies to find none had been stocked. Besides the amulet with water from the spirit oasis, and Aang's water bending scrolls...Sokka had received only well wishes from the Northern tribes.
"Well its not my fault I couldn't find any meat!" A dark-skinned boy with his hair in a wolf tail style replied, this was Sokka. "Lets just find something to eat and head towards Omashu, and hopefully not gain any Firebender's attention."
"I don't see why we have to sneak around, I can just cover my arrow and then we'll be fine." Aang grinned, he was the bald arrow headed monk of the group.
"Oh yeah sure we can just cover your arrow and..." Sokka then trailed off as Katara and Aang stared at him, he then smacked his forehead in realisation.
"Let me get a hat for you Aang." Katara smiled at the Arrow headed boy before walking off.
Katara then looked around for a shop as many people went about their business, a man carrying a paper went over to a board and pasted it next to a familiar wanted poster of Aang. It was another wanted poster of a straw-hat male dressed in green with a black with green handled katana. She couldn't tell anything else about the man since the hat covered his face, he also wore a green lined with gold male kimono top, it looked loose-fitting and allowed free movement.
"The Fire Lord has issued a reward for anyone who can bring in the Wanderer!" The man who posted the picture shouted. "This earth bender has committed crimes against our great Fire nation! Destroying our military supply caravans and upheaving our rule in the smaller towns! The reward is 1,000,000 Gold!"
That statement had the populus buzzing, that reward was enough to make anyone rich!The people took copies of the picture and so did Katara, who studied the picture for a moment. Katara's mind buzzed, this could be the earthbending teacher Aang needs! And even better if this "Wanderer" is against the Fire nation, hopefully he won't have any problem with Aang being the Avatar. With that thought done Katara quickly bought the needed hat for Aang and quickly running back to the rest of their merry group.
"Guys guess what!" Katara shouted with a big smile as she bounded up to the two, putting the wide-brimmed hat on Aang's head.
"What?" Aang asked as he adjusted the hat.
"Did you get any meat?" Sokka asked hopefully which made Katara stare at him.
"No Sokka." Katara said bluntly which made Sokka slump over, Katara's face brightened. "I think I found an earthbending teacher for Aang!"
"Really, who?" Aang asked excitedly, the prospect of finding a teacher this quickly exciting him.
"This guy." Katara grinned as she showed them the wanted poster.
"Woah woah woah!" Sokka said, was he the only one who found the prospect of a convict Teacher alarming? "You guys just wanna ask this shady convict to teach Aang? Sorry Sis but that's a no go, we can't ask a criminal to do this!"
"He's a criminal to the Fire nation." Katara stressed. "And from the description I think he knows what he's doing, plus we've already got the Avatar with us not like anymore criminals will make us a bigger target."
"Well ok say we do agree to have him teach Aang, how will we find him?" Sokka protested
"It says here that he's been sighted in the forest not too far from this town." Katara grinned as she shoved the poster in his face with him grimacing and pushing her arm away.
"Come on then, lets get Appa and go!" Aang shouted before he ran off to where their flying Bison was, the siblings shouting and running after him.
(The Forest)
The Gaang flew over the forest looking for their supposed Wanderer for a few minutes, so far they haven't found him. But from the ruins of past Fire nation caravans they were probably close...
"Looks like this guy gets around." Aang said as he put a hand over his eyes to see the wreaks better, it looked like they were cut open with a sword or something sharp.
"Welp we didn't find him, let's go back." Sokka said, trying to get them to turn around so they wouldn't have to get a criminal to teach Anag anything.
"We've only been here for a few minutes Sokka." Katara shot down before she turned to Aang. "You think we should search on foot?"
It was then screams emanated from the far side of the forest, making the Gaang jump before turning.
"...I say we don't check that out." Sokka said but was ignored as Aang quickly made Appa change course towards the screams.
(A Few minutes earlier)
A Fire nation caravan mae its way down a dusty road, the solider's looking left and right for anything that could stop them. Some of them had heard story's of the fabled Wanderer, how he could strike down army's with a single stroke of his bending. Also that he was seven feet tall and could breath fire so you can see that there are some exaggerated rumors, but this still scared the crap out of the soldiers. The Caravan was suddenly split in half with an earth wave, sending the soldiers who were lucky enough, out of the wreck while some were trapped under the side of one half or the other.
"We're under attac-!" Was all a fire nation solider could get out before a black and green blur rushed him with a kick, sending him into a solider who was about to get up.
This was the same for the rest of the soldiers as the found themselves on the ground, courtesy of the blur with kicks and what seemed to be the butt of a sword hitting them. This went on for a few minutes before the last solider found himself out cold on the ground, the blur then slowed to show a straw-hatted person as he went over to the wreckage of the caravan. He sifted through the remains for anything useful, money, clothes, or even a weapon or two to sell. He was then startled when what looked like a bison start to touch down near the wreckage, he then sprinted behind a near by tree to see what they wanted...
"I'm telling you this is a bad idea." Sokka grumbled as he got off Appa, looks to be the suspicious one of the group the figure mused.
"And I'm telling you we need an earth bending teacher for Aang, even if it means getting a convict to do it." Katara said as she jumped off Appa with Aang making a whirlwind to coushin his landing, making the figure gasp.
'I thought airbenders were extinct!' The figure thought before he zipped over to the group and put a katana blade to Aang's throat.
"Who are you guys?" The figure asked in a low menacing voice. "Why are you looking for me?"
The figure was a male with a wide brimmed straw hat that shadowed his the top half face so only his chilling crimson eyes could be seen. The lower half of his face was covered with his dark green long sleeved, high collared shirt, with a green with gold lined male kimono top over it with the left sleeve dangling over a blue rope belt and the other worn right without his hand showing oddly enough. Under the top he had on a black lineded with white vest that was closed. The left arm holding the black and green handled Katana was plated with black and gold squared armor on the upper arm and forearm, his pants were black male kimono pants with the same plating on his arm over his shins and ninja sandles. But the most distinguishing feature was...
"Oh man your way shorter than the rumors say you are!" Sokka laughed as the warrior was only an inch taller than Aang.
"Sokka..." Katara warned lowly as she saw the warrior tighten his grip on the katana
"Man your like a midget compared to the story's!" Sokka continued
"Sokka..." Aang said as the warrior started to tremble with anger
"I talking like the grand shorties of shorty-!" Sokka was suddenly cut off when the warrior planted his fist in his gut, making Sokka slump over winded as the warrior stood over him.
"Any more cracks about my height?" The warrior growled as he expertly caught his katana that he threw in the air so that he could hit Sokka.
"No..." Katara and Aang said, shaking their heads in the negative in fear.
"Good, now..." The warrior said before he pointed his katana at them. "What do you want?"
Katara had to gather herself before answering, she could tell despite the lack of height that this one held great skill.
"We heard that you were a great earthbender." Katara started slowly, checking for a reaction from the warrior. "And we wanted you to-"
"Train the Avatar next to you?" The Warrior cut her off, surprising her as she didn't think he knew Aang was the Avatar.
"H-how did you know I was the Avatar?" Aang asked shakily
"Easy, the next Avatar was supposed to be an airbender and I saw you bend." The warrior explained as he put the flat of his blade on his shoulder, making the two relax a fraction. "But you have the wrong guy for the job. I'm not a good guy, as these guys would agree." he waved to the mass of defeated soldiers in various positions on the ground.
"Thats not true." Aang piped up which made the warrior glare at him.
"What?" He snarled as he rested the point of his katana at his neck. "You don't see the body's on the ground, or the wreckage I made of that wagon? I'm a criminal, you should be scared of me, even hate me."
"I'm not scared of you, nor do I hate you." Aang grinned despite the sword at his neck. "I can tell you're a good person because none of the soldiers are dead when you could have easily took their lives. Plus you could have easily killed Sokka when he mentioned your height instead of just punching him in the gut."
This made the warrior stare at the endearing grin before slowly lowering his sword. He then took off his hat to reveal messy black hair with some put into a low pony tail that stopped at the end of his neck, his red eyes looking softer then the hat shadow portrayed. He then pulled down the collar to show a scar next to his mouth on the right side of his face, stopping just below his eye making it squint a bit more than the other. It went over his jaw to disappear under his clothing.
"Sorry you still have the wrong guy." He said as he sheathed his katana into the sheath behind his waist.
"What?" Katara asked after she fully relaxed after the sword was put away. "But you earthbended that wagon in half, so your obviously skilled."
"Yeah, technically that wasn't me, I'm not even a bender at all." He said which made their eyes widen, the Warrior then took his sword in his hand. "This is Groga, the bending sword, legends say that the spirits themselves embued this katana with the power of the four elements."
"Ohhhh cool, its kinda like me that way!" Aang shouted as he gained stars in his eyes before he got in the warrior's personal space, making him uncomfortable as he looked at the sword strapped to his waist. "Whats your name anyway?"
"Um Tian Yang..." Tian replied, spirits why was he telling them all this!? Or, better question why were they so calm when a complete stranger threatened their lives and knocked out one of their own? He was a criminal for crying out loud!
"Cool its nice to meet you, you know besides threatening me with a sword an all." Aang said with a grin as he got out of Tian's space and held out his left hand to shake. "My name's Aang and thats Katara."
"Yeah nice to meet you...too?" Tian asked slowly as he looked at Katara as if to say 'is he always this calm after someone threatens his life?', not shaking Aang's hand with his right which made him pout.
"Aang's always forgiving, and a good judge of character most of the time." Katara elaborated which made Tian make an 'oh' sound.
"What do you mean most of the time?" Aang whined with a pout when Katara whistled innocently, he then turned back to Tian. "Hey you wanna join us?"
Now this made Tian's brain screech to a halt as he tried to prosess this information. He just threatened them with his katana, knocked out their friend, and was a complete and total stranger to them...he only had two words to describe this situation...
"The hell...?" Tian asked blinking.
"Are you sure Aang?" Katara asked worriedly. "We baerly even know him, no offence." she said that last part to Tian who waved it off.
"Positive, another kid my age will be good for me." Aang said, trying to calm her. "Plus the extra man power never hurt anyone."
Katara thought this over for a moment before nodding, they could always use extra hands. And another Non-bender would help in situations where bending wouldn't help at all. As this happened Tian was thinking it over in his head, on the one hand taking their offer would bring him closer to his goal, defeating the Fire nation. On the other...he bearly knew them...
"So what do you say?" Aang asked Tian which snapped him out of his thoughts.
"I..." Tian took a breath for the choice he had to make. "...sure I'll come with you..."
"Yes!" Aang shouted before he took the young warrior's wrist and started to drag him off, leaving Sokka with Katara. "I can't wait to introduce you to Appa and Momo, then we can all play games!"
"Ughhhh what hit me?" Sokka groaned as he came back to the world of the waking, rubbing his gut.
"A 12 year-old criminal who's now going to be our new travel companion." Katara elaborated before she followed after Aang. "Also wouldn't want to call him short again."
"...WHAT!" Sokka shouted as the info finaly set in, he was going to be traveling with a Fire nation crook!
Wing:Annnnd done
Toph:You don't think it should be longer?
Wing:I thought so too but this is the prologue so...yeah.
Toph:Eh makes sense, by the way Greywing44b does not in any way own ATLA.
Tian:She does own me though...but why didn't I shake his hand?
Wing:You'll all know why next chapter, Syonara my dear readers!
Tian&Toph:Review because the Author loves it!