AN: My bud Blackmoon gave me this idea almost a year ago. Took me a while, but I've finally got it posted. See, Moony? Told you I would.
Four months. They'd been on the road for four long months avoiding Zuko, Zhao, the rest of the Fire Nation, bounty hunters, pirates, and all sorts of serious bad guys, only to be jumped by bandits. Not even good bandits either. Most of them didn't even have weapons.
Sokka shook his head, sidestepping as one of the bandits charged then smoothly pivoting to konk the guy on the back of the head with his boomerang. How these guys managed to get the drop on them he'd never know.
Further down the road he could see Aang playing keep-away with a small knot of marauders. Sokka thought he counted eleven of them but he kept losing track as Aang sprung from trunk to trunk off the towering trees that lined the forest path, darting over their heads through the lower branches like a crazed spider-monkey, sending down gust after gust of strong wind that knocked the bandits off their feet as he went, followed by little whirlwinds to pick them up and fling them off into the thick underbrush.
'Looks like Aang's doing fine. Now where's- Uh-oh.'
Past the group of men trying to get Aang was a figure in blue, gracefully dodging out of the way of a bandit trying to grab at her. Katara, but what was she doing? She wasn't attacking and Sokka couldn't see her doing any defensive waterbending either.
He moved, vaulting over the bandit he had knocked out in a mad dash to get to his sister. Even if these jerks didn't have weapons, they were big. Katara was doing all right at staying out of his reach for now, but if she didn't start fighting back, that guy could really hurt her. Katara glanced his was as Sokka skirted the group after Aang and just narrowly managed to twist out of the bandit's reach as he lunged again, taking advantage of her momentary distraction.
"Sokka, I'm out of water! Throw me your canteen!"
Sokka reached down to grab the canteen tied to his belt. He had it in hand and ready to sling when a brigand pulled away from jumping after Aang and tackled him to the ground, ruining his aim. The canteen soared off into the understory. Sokka twisted around in the bandit's hold, trying to knock the thug off with his boomerang as he shouted back over his shoulder at Katara.
"Just punch him!" He hit his bandit again and tried to see what Katara was doing, only to find her and her attacker both staring at him incredulously.
"What?"
Sokka sighed and swung once more. Benders. Take away their element as they're completely lost.
"Just punch the guy!" Katara knew just as much about martial arts as he did, even if she usually did hers long-distance with water. The moves behind waterbending were pretty much the same as the hand-to-hand style Water Tribe warriors learned and worked just as well with a fist as with a wave. She'd even hit Master Pakku before! "You don't need water to fight!"
There was a moment of shocked silence, then he heard his sister get it.
"Oh, okay."
Sokka hit his bandit one last time and the man crumpled, slumping forward bonelessly, though his grip didn't loosen by much. Turning back around, Sokka watched Katara as he struggled to pull himself free of the thug's dead weight. Her attacker had shaken off his surprise and leapt at her again.
To his disappointment Katara didn't sock the bandit like he suggested. Instead she threw herself into a roll and tumbled around him, springing up about six feet behind him, and fell into a basic waterbending stance as the thug turned. He took a step, preparing to lunge again, but she beat him to it. Sliding forward, Katara ducked around his outstretched arms and spun through the motion Sokka recognized as a simple water whip, only, instead of an open hand directing a thin stream of water, his sister used a fist. Right in the guy's face.
Sokka winced as he heard the bandit's jaw clop shut and the guy go flying, the momentum from his own leap sending him rolling across the road in an ungainly heap of limbs. He wasn't getting back up any time soon. Katara straightened up, unclenching her fist and cracking her knuckles. Yep, that was his sister all right. More intimidating than a fourteen-year-old girl had any right to be. He finally managed to get out from under the unconscious bandit and walked over to stand by her. Behind them Aang finished with the last of his assailants, slamming the man into a tree trunk, and soared down from the forest canopy to join them.
"You guys okay?"
"Yeah." Katara flexed her hand, wiggling her fingers and shaking out her wrist. "We should keep moving. There might be more of those guys around." Aang nodded then laughed, his face breaking into a wide grin.
"I can't believe you hit that guy."
"Yep." Sokka smiled and shoved her playfully. "I'm proud of you, sis."
AN: As Blackmoon pointed out to me, bending is modeled after real-life marital arts. This means that benders should know enough of their respective styles to kick some serious tail, even if they don't have ready access to any of their element. Why then do benders seem to freeze up when they run out of water or earth? (Air and fire never really run out, but there are times when they can't concentrate enough to bend.) Azula is the only bender I've never seen have this problem.