Okay, this story requires a bit of an explaination. First, this is set AFTER the Western Air Temple, so beware of Spoilers! Second, I wasn't the only one that wrote this. A friend of mine (who likes to be known as Kuro), had been writing this RPG with me, and we thought it would be neat to post it up. Because the spaces between are messed up with the uploader, here're the characters each of us chose:

Me: Katara, Aang, Ty-Lee

Kuro: Zuko, Sokka, Toph, Azula, Mai

And both of us took Appa and Momo and some side characters that appear later on.

We do not own Avatar or any of it's characters I sure hope you enjoy this (As for Shipping...This has Kataang, Zutara, Tokka (a bit of), Maiko, etc. So...hopefully it'll appease everyone XD)

Episode 1: The Worm

Zuko watched as Katara slammed his temporary bedroom door shut. He felt a wave of sadness at being so vehemently rejected. He knew she hated him, but it still hurt. He hoped that one day perhaps he could be friends with them all.

He'd never actually had friends; unless you included Mai and Ty Lee, but they were really more like Azula's friends. If you counted family, Uncle Iroh was really the only true friend he'd ever had.

Now he had to figure out what his best move was. He was being watched VERY carefully. "One false move..." The banished prince gulped.

He picked up the painting of his uncle and watched it, imploring it to give him answers. "What now? Do I go out there so soon after the water tribe girl... what was her name? Katara.. After Katara threatened me? Or do I wait in here and let the air clear? Uncle.."

He never realized until his uncle was gone just how much he relied on his uncle's advice. So he stood there, clueless.

---

Toph stared blankly ahead, dipping her feet in and out of water as she listened to the preparation of lunch nearby. She appeared deep in thought about something or other. "Is lunch ready YET?" Or maybe she was just hungry.

Sokka smiled at Toph as if she'd be able to see it somehow. "It's finished. Katara offered to go fetch Zuko so we could start eating lunch together... WOW... That sounded really weird coming out of my mouth. Zuko Zuko Zuko..." He twitched ever so slightly.

Aang chuckled, "You'll have to get used to it, Sokka. I guess we all need to." He sniffed at the food curiously and scratched his bald head, "I wonder what's taking them so long...Katara should have brought him out by now. If they take any longer Appa's going to get irritated.

The large bison roared his displeasure and impatience at the lack of a meal. He had to wait until they all got thier share, and he didn't feel like waiting too much longer.

"I'm back..." Katara slowly stepped into the room, her eyes downcast and her tone tinged with anger, "I'm not sure if Zuko's going to be eating with us."

That was all she said. She sat down on the ground, resting her back against a column and avoided making eye contact with any of the others. She didn't want to reveal the words she spoke to the banished prince unless she had to. Right now she urged herself to calm down so the others wouldn't be worried.

Sokka watched his younger sister closely. She seemed visibly upset. The others didn't seem to even notice, but being her brother and all, he could easily sense these sorts of things. He pondered whether he should pry or if he should just let her sort it out herself. Pry. PRY.

Sokka slipped beside Katara and also leaned against the column. "Sooo did you and the angry jerk have a fight or something? Is that why he won't come out? Did he say anything mean to you? I will go in there right now and TALK TO HIM!" His face had gradually gotten more and more vicious as he spoke.

Toph just sighed. "Alright let's just start without our new royal princely friend. I'm starving."

Katara clenched her teeth and her brows furrowed as her brother began to ask her hundreds of questions. However, at his last comment, she realized she needed to say something quick to cover it up, "No, It's fine, Sokka. We just got into a little arguement...that's all." it was a lie, and she knew Toph could probably figure it out, but for now it would do. "As for the food, I agree, he can join us later if he wants." It was hard to conceal the venom in her voice, but to cover it up, she grabbed out a few bowls from Appa's saddle and divided the soup evenly, keeping a bowl separate for Zuko, and water bended the rest into Appa and Momos' mouths.

"Mmm mmm, this is great!" Aang exclaimed as he took quite a few bites of the soup, "No meat, extra veggies, just how I like it!"

Noticing earlier that Katara wasn't in the best mood, he sat by her side when she took a seat and gave her an inquiring look, "Are you feeling alright? Maybe after this you should get some rest." he suggested.

"I'm feeling just fine!" Katara snapped, "Just give me some peace right now, okay!" She turned her back to him and started to eat her food, leaving the young Airbender to blink in confusion and concern.

Toph didn't even seem to notice that Katara was lying. Or maybe she just didn't care to act like she noticed. Sokka gave Toph her soup, eyeing Katara on and off while he 'enjoyed' his meatless soup. "ooouuhh what I'd do for some tasty meat right now..." He couldn't help but wonder if they should leave Zuko alone. He still didn't trust the young man. His sister was Azula after all. "Suki," he thought to himself. He wondered if Zuko perhaps knew where Suki was. It was then Sokka's face lit up with the whole 'I have an idea' look.

"Hey, since Zuko's on our side now, he can tell us everything he knows. Right? Maybe he knows where Suki is.. Oh, and maybe he knows secret stuff about the fire nation!" He nodded as if in agreement with himself. "We should interrogate him. That'll show us how much we can trust him. Am I right?"

Toph played idly with her soup, it almost being finished. "Yeeah, that's a great idea Sokka. Better than leaving him alone in his room to plot against us." She was being plainly sarcastic, and she obviously had no fear for the awkward banished prince.

Katara rolled her eyes at Sokka's "idea". "Yeah, that sounds like a good plan." She said with her tone chock full of sarcasm, "Interrogate a Fire Bender that can be set off at any moment if you push him the wrong way. What are you going to do? Make him laugh to death with all your pathetic jokes?" She set her barely-touched bowl of soup roughly down onto the bench she sat on and stood up, "If you need me I'll be in my 'room'". With that said, she stormed off towards the nearest building entrance, hoping that a little rest would do her some good.

Aang's face held a look of utter sadness on it as his best friend stomped off. He turned his eyes downward towards the ground and sighed softly. Being the Avatar, he knew that he had to keep the peace in the group, but now, it seemed that was going to be impossible if Katara refused to get along with Zuko.

And as for Sokka's idea, "I don't think that would be a good option right now, Sokka." Aang murmured, "He might need this time to think. It must be hard for him having to leave everything he knew behind in order to start a new life."

-----

"Oh come on Aang, now's the time to test him to make sure he's serious about being part of our gang. I mean, I guess I could play nice and not be too hard on him but seriously. After all those times he gave us a hard time, I just want to make sure he's actually our ally. The things I'll ask him won't matter if he truly broke away from his old life." Sokka appeared really stubborn on this issue, as if he wouldn't budge an inch. He must've thought it was a really good idea.

---

Zuko held his stomach as it painfully growled while he sat on his bed. He should have brought more food with him. Why could he never think things through? He felt terrible about everything he'd done to these people who now accepted him into their group. He never thought anything through. If he had truly thought about his life back when he was first banished, he would have realized that his father sent him to capture the avatar because he never actually expected the avatar to show up. His father sent him on a wild goose chase, knowing full well that his son was too much of a gullible spineless blind moron to do anything but his father's bidding.

"I'm so stupid..." He should have listened to his wise uncle all of this time. He should have understood that the avatar was a part of the world to create balance, and that his father was wrong for continuing the war.

"Am I interrupting something?" Sokka peeked inside of Zuko's room.

"What? No... Not really. Is lunch ready?" Zuko feigned a smile that stated he was alright, but he was a terrible liar.

"Hm? Didn't Katara tell you? She went to go get you a while back. Lunch is over. But we saved you a bowl. It's probably cold now sorry--"

Zuko shook his head. "No really, cold food isn't a problem..." He trailed off at the part explaining why it wasn't a problem as if such a thing shouldn't be spoken of.

Sokka nodded. "Ohhh right. That skill comes in handy for reheating food? I never thought of that before. Wow, must be pretty useful. I mean, when I was in my little village --you know, the one you attacked-- anyway, I always had trouble eating hot food. It always gets so cold."

Zuko offered a meek smile and an awkward silence ensued.

"..."

"..."

And so Zuko got up and walked outside of the room with Sokka, both of them uncomfortable. As soon as Zuko figured out that his food was safe from Katara's presence, he jumped for it in the most princely, mannerly way possible and reheated it before sipping away.

"... Where's the meat?" Zuko looked at the soup funny. Sokka smiled brightly. Maybe having Zuko around wasn't so terrible after all./quote

--------

Aang shrugged as Sokka stated his belief that this idea was really going to work. Once he was set on a certain goal, it was hard to change his mind, "Alright, but take it easy on him. I'm sure he wouldn't care too much if you start screaming at him right away."

With this said, he watched as Sokka left and turned a concern gaze in the direction Katara left.

Katara let out a frustrated groan as she collapsed onto a make-shift bed she made with the sleeping bags she brought along. She buried her face in the soft cloth, her thoughts jumbled and confused. Why would Zuko decide to join thier group after what he had done? Was it a trick...a way to get close to Aang in order to kill him like he tried before? Did he have nowhere else to go? She coudn't bring herself to think the one thought that remained hidden in the farthest corner of her mind...Did he really change his ways?

The sound of a door opening snapped her out of her reverie and she turned her head to see Aang standing outside of her room. She averted her gaze to the wall and murmured, "What do you want?"

The Airbender walked to her bedside and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, "I wanted to help you, you look like something's bugging you."

Katara pulled away from his grasp, "It's nothing...just...I need some time alone."

Aang stood in his place, his hand hovering inches from her shoulder. He sighed and left the room, shaking slightly from fear and sadness. Katara never acted this way before...something was really bothering her.

-----

"Aang's a vegetarian so we don't have meat in our soup. Sometimes we cook it seperately. So you like meat too huh?" Sokka watched Zuko. He was glad they had this in common, and it was the only thing he could think that they even had in common.

"I always have meat in my meals.." Zuko felt awkward making a connection over meat, but at least there was some sort of connection. "I really love meat..." The banished prince let out an uncomfortable smile before finishing his soup.

"That's good, that's really good. Maybe with you here we can add more meat to the budget. When we go to the markets... Yeah." Sokka looked towards Toph to see what she was up to.

Toph was just listening quietly while picking her nose. Zuko was completely avoiding looking at anyone. And Sokka wondered where Aang was. The others had left bowls behind but there was no sign of them either./quote

Aang shut the door behind him carefully and quietly, trying his hardest not to disturb Katara any more than he had. His fingertips lingered at the doorknob before he pulled away and shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants. As he looked down at the ground, he saw Momo gazing up at him with a curious look on his face.

"You don't want to go in there now, Momo. Katara is acting a bit odd."

The small lemur just cocked his head to the side and flapped his bat-like wings in order to perch lightly upon the Avatar's shoulder. Aang pat the small creatures head and walked back towards the rest of the group.

Back in the room, Katara closed her eyes and rested the side of her face upon her pillow, letting the jumbled thoughts lie forgotten in her mind for a brief moment. She felt exhausted, both physically and mentally, and she allowed the darkness of sleep to overwhelm her. She would face her problems when she wakes up, but for now, she needed rest.

"Hey Aang! Oh right!" Sokka smacked the back of his head lightly. "I forgot, I was going to ask you some questions Zuko.. er.. That's okay with you isn't it?"

Zuko looked up at Aang from where he was sitting and then back at Sokka. He had this look on his face that said he was afraid of what Sokka would ask him. "... Yes, sure. That's alright."

"Okay, so do you know where Suki is?" Sokka almost pointed at him accusingly. "I'm sorry... Who is Suki?" Zuko frowned, unable to answer the question. "Suki, she's of the Kyoshi Warriors. She's been taken prisoner by Azula".

"I didn't know about it, but maybe I could help you find her. There's several Fire Nation prisons in the Earth Kingdom.." The prince watched the used food bowls absently. "First you should make sure and teach Aang firebending." Sokka didn't want to admit it, but that was more important than finding Suki. Zuko nodded in silent agreement and looked at Aang.

Aang also nodded, "Yes, Sokka's right, we should really get working on it. I can't save the world if I don't master all of the elements." He stood before Zuko and, pressing his fist against his palm, bowed in the Firebender style greeting as a respectful gesture to his new teacher, "I am ready for my lessons to begin, Master Zuko."

Katara opened her eyes, hearing fighting going on outside. However, instead of the warm stone walls of the Western Air Temple, she was surrounded by walls made of pure ice. As she gazed around the room she was in, a smile came to her face as recognition flooded her.

"It's my house..." she murmured.

Throwing the blankets off of her, she stood up and walked out side, feeling the chill air against her bare arms. She rubbed them to keep warm, and gazed around at the all-too familiar landscape. However, the sounds of a battle came to her ears and she turned her head as she saw a group of Fire Nation soldiers fighting her father and his band of warriors. She started forward, but paused as she saw her mother fighting along side of them.

She wanted to cry out with joy, but the battle was getting rougher, and she knew she needed to help. She tried desperately to stream the water from the water skin at her side, but as it came out, it splashed uselessly to the ground.

"What the..." She then turned her gaze upwards as Zuko suddenly appeared with his back towards her, facing her mother. He turned his golen eyes back towards her, with his brows furrowed in a glare, and sent a blast of fire towards her mother's turned back.

"Mom! NO!" Katara shot up from the Air Temple bed, beads of sweat tumbling in large numbers down her face. It took her a few moments to realize that it had only been a dream, and she collapsed back down onto her back, breathing heavily

Zuko smiled warmly and stood up. He respectfully bowed back in the way he was taught. He'd never been so happy before. It was very odd to him. "I'm honored to be called your firebending master Avatar. Let us begin."

Sokka made a face in response to Zuko and Aang. It was just really weird. Toph smirked quietly to herself, as if she found out a juicy bit of information. "Hey guys, just don't practice around me okay? I'm pretty much done with being accidentally burned."

Zuko frowned, deflated by the statement. "Yes, firebending is pretty dangerous. Follow me avatar..." Zuko walked off in search of a place they could safely firebend without harming other members of the group or causing an out of control fire.

---

Aang didn't hesitate, but followed along with Zuko. He wasn't sure how far he'd have to go alone with him in order to prevent the others from getting hurt, but it didn't matter now. Learning firebending was an important goal for him that just had to be learned. And he wasn't going to have his new teacher think that he wasn't brave enough to learn it. But still, he kept a wary eye on Zuko, knowing full well what he was capable of.

Katara rested on her back, staring up at the ceiling as the images from her dream faded away. Zuko should be training Aang soon...that would mean she had to keep an eye out to make sure nothing bad happened.

When she walked out to where Toph and Sokka were sitting, she looked around, her heart sinking as she realized that Zuko and Aang were nowhere to be seen, "Where are they!" She demanded, turning towards her brother.

Sokka was watching something in the distance suspiciously with what appeared to be some sort of weird monocular. "I've got it all under control little sister.. I'm watching them at the bottom of the canyon right now. They're just sitting there. Not even using fire." Toph sighed. "How boring.." Her feet were out of water. They were pruned and painfully starting to peel, but they were set lightly on the ground regardless.

Zuko sat with Aang on the ground. "Let's start with basics. Your breath and your energy level are the key to controlling firebending. Stance is also important, but without proper breathing, fire can easily get out of your control. Unlike any other element, fire has a life of its own. The life that you give it. Once it is created, it will consume everything in its path, attempting to live on. Being aware of your surroundings can be a matter of life or death."

The prince scratched his head, wondering if he'd blurted too much out all at once. "Do you understand? That's why we're going to start with proper breathing." By the look on Zuko's face, one could tell that he hated proper breathing.

Katara clenched her fist, "Well, at any sign of Zuko betraying us, tell me. I'll be down there faster then you can say 'wait'".

She walked over to where Toph was sitting and frowned in sympathy at the sight of her injured feet. Her tone softened a bit as she sat next to the young Earthbender, "Aang's not ready to use fire yet. He needs to learn the 'boring', as you say, basics so that the flames don't go out of control." Her gaze was cast downwards as she remembered his last Firebending lesson a few months ago, "Trust me, the last time he messed with fire it wasn't very pretty."

Aang smiled and chuckled, "Yes, I understand perfectly. I actually learned quite a bit of the basics for Firebending by a man named Jeong Jeong. Unfortunately, I haven't seen him since..." He sighed, but then stood up straight, "I'm ready for my first lesson. It may not be fun, but I know how essential it is to learning the actual Firebending."

Zuko nodded and seemed to be deciding something for several moments. "... Show me what you learned Avatar. You were taught by the great Deserter, so you must've learned something." The prince was being impatient, and he knew he was. But he hated the basics.

Sokka watched from his monocular. "They're talking; I can see their mouths moving. Oh how I wish I could read lips." Toph shook her head at the two water tribe siblings. "I know the things he did to you guys in the past were pretty messed up, but seriously. He's been sincere. And if you think about it, that means he gave up his family, his servants, his kingdom, everything, just for the avatar. I can somewhat relate. But unlike me, I can imagine he has no one to return home to."

The water tribe boy sighed. "It's not that we don't want to trust him. But Aang is our friend, and I'd feel bad if something happened to him. And of all people, Zuko, son of Firelord Ozai and heir to the throne, is not someone I'd trust with Aang alone. He chased us all over the world before you met him. I just don't know if someone could change that much so suddenly, and I wonder exactly WHY he changed so much so suddenly."

Toph would stomp her foot in irritation but it burned too badly. "Who cares why?"

Aang sensed the thinning of Zuko's patience, and knew he had to get this right. He wanted to impress the Firebender, show him what he was really made of, but at the same time, he knew he had a lot to learn. He took the stance that Jeong Jeong told him, and began to breathed deeply in and out, taking gentle, but long breaths as he let the air flow freely through his lungs.

Katara nodded in agreement as Sokka voiced his concern. Those were exactly the questions she had asked herself. It seems she had quite a bit in common with her brother. However, at Toph's outburst, she lost her cool and clenched her fists before turning her narrowed eyes to the blind Earthbender, "I care! Do you realize how I bad I felt when Aang was shot out of the air by Azula after Zuko betrayed us! I don't want to see him hurt that badly again, and if it happens again, I'm afraid I don't have any of that water to bring him back!"

Toph's face turned less annoyed but more severe. "After meeting Azula, I began to feel like I understood why Zuko had suddenly reverted in Ba Sing Se. She is a lying and deceitful person, and she's not afraid to use your weaknesses to her advantage. She played us. Imagine living with her."

Sokka turned momentarily to look at Toph. He seemed disgusted and disturbed all at once. "That's got to be one miserable life. You think she gave him that scar?" He looked out of his monocle again.

Toph frowned. "What scar? How would I know?"

Zuko watched Aang as he breathed. "That seems about right." He walked over and fixed Aang's stance. "That's even better."

Katara closed her eyes and remembered offering to heal Zuko's scar. She thought he had changed then...but she was dead wrong, and paid for it with Aang's life. But then the thought of him having to grow up with such a terrible sister caught hold. Was he possibly afraid of her? Azula was a frightening person, but Katara herself nearly defeated her in their last battle. If only Zuko hadn't interrupted...

She was snapped out of her thoughts by a loud sound in the distance. It appeared in the direction that they came from, towards the Fire Nation Capital. She shivered, and hugged her knees to her chest. Hopefully they were well concealed in this hidden Air Temple.

Aang gratefully accepted Zuko's help, and found that his breathing came in easier and stonger then ever before. He took in his biggest gulp of air and let it out with a satisfying sigh.

------

Toph raised a brow. "Was that just thunder I heard? Does it look like it's going to rain?" Her feet were really becoming unbearable again. She turned around, again placing her feet in a pool of water.

Sokka looked around at the mildly cloudy day. "It could, but it doesn't look like it right now.. It's not that cloudy at all." Sokka hoped it wasn't trouble. He wanted it to rain. The rain was something he enjoyed. It never bothered him.

Zuko didn't seem to hear anything. "Do you feel your breath feeding your chi?" He took a stance beside Aang, a serene look on his face. "Do you feel the air as it gives you life? The air takes away impurities when you breathe out as well. Concentrate on feeling it." He felt himself word for word quoting his uncle's lessons.

Katara looked up at the sky. The skies were clear, maybe with a stray cloud here or there. They had just arrived in the safety of the Western Air Temple...She hoped and prayed that it wasn't who she thought it was.

"We should check up on the surface every so often in case the Fire Nation sent out some soldiers to look for us. I'm sure we won't be able to live the next few months in peace..." She sighed, "Though I think I'd prefer it by now...I've had enough danger in my life to last me quite a while."

Aang closed his eyes, and continued to breathe in, feeling his muscles relax as he felt the air flowing through him. Even though he controlled air every day, he never really thought about its importance in everyday life. Every single breath he took gave him renewed energy.

Zuko allowed several long moments to pass while they breathed before starting something new. He walked over to face Aang. "Listen, firebending in itself is not entirely devoted to unleashing the power of fire on opponents. In truth, the focus is placed upon balance. You need inner calm, discipline, and emotional stability to be a great firebender. Keep this in mind, because many of our exercises will be based on these aspects." Zuko sat down and motioned for Aang to do the same. "We're going to meditate on what holds us back, such as our fears and our shame, and we are going to let it go." Zuko closed his eyes and gave a quiet sigh.

Sokka, who was continuing to monitor through his monocle, seemed distracted. "... Well the Western Air Temple is probably not someplace we should stay for a long period of time.. I'll look up our next destination. Here Toph, hold this.." He handed her the monocle. Toph frowned. "What's this? A cup of some kind?" Sokka smacked his forehead while pulling out a map. "Nevermind, Katara, you take it. Sorry Toph." He grabbed the monocle from Toph and gave it to Katara.

Aang chuckled softly at the list of qualities it took to be a Fire Bender. It didn't seem that Zuko fit any one of those, except maybe the discipline part, but he had his doubts. However, he sat down and closed his eyes, following Zuko's example and sighing in the same way. He remembered his lessons at the other air temple, in opening his chakras, and frowned slightly at the memory.

Katara blinked as Sokka set the monocle in her hands. She sighed and then rolled her eyes, "I don't think we can trust you with that map on you're own...The last thing we need is to accidentally go back towards the Fire Nation, especially at this time."

Sokka pouted. "Okay now you're just being mean. We all know I'm the map guy, and you've said so yourself. I know exactly where we are, and I've got a good idea of where we should be going." He looked away for a moment before opening the map back up. He couldn't believe his little sister would say something so untrue and hurtful. "I mean, sure I've made one or two bad choices of paths but I'd never stupidly lead us back to the fire nation."

Toph shook her head. "What's your deal sweet stuff? Don't take stuff out on Sokka just because your -boyfriend- is giving Zuko a second chance. Why don't you just chill out?"

Katara's mouth shot open to argue, but she realized that there was no way she would win. Besides, she felt bad about her cruel comment, and her eyes once again wandered downwards to gaze sadly at the ground, "I...I'm sorry Sokka. I didn't mean to make you feel that bad. Toph is right, I do need to chill out...I'm going to take a small walk, I'll come back when I feel a bit better."

Without another word, she stood up and formed an ice bridge between the main building they were on and the one next to it. She wanted to take a look around up near the top of the cliff anyway, to see if the source of that strange sound was anywhere nearby.

As she crossed the bridge, she couldn't help but look down to see how far the hidden village was from the ground below. She gulped, unable to see anything but darkness, and continued to step across her makeshift bridge./quote

Toph heard ice being formed and she felt Katara's body leave from her 'sight'. It felt as though she walked right off the cliff. She'd feel better if Katara just used an earth bridge, and she was prepared to make one if for some reason Katara ended up needing it.

Zuko, having been unknowingly let out of the gang's sights, continued to meditate with Aang. He meditated on his recent decisions and their possible consequences. He feared losing his country over this. His country meant everything to him. He had to let this fear slide, and so he did. He feared how Mai reacted to his note of apology. He feared he'd have to give himself his uncle's role for the rest of his life. That his uncle was ashamed of him.

"Okay, that's enough meditation for now.."

Katara took a deep breath as she arrived on the other end of her ice bridge, and aimed her outstretched hand at the water. With a quick motion, the bridge melted and a thick stream of water followed the motions of her hand before it reared up towards the upper cliff and formed icy steps. Swiping a strand of hair out of her eyes, Katara made a mental note to put it back into a braid when she got back. She then began to climb the tall, crystal steps, preparing herself for anything she would find up there, friendly or not.

Aang's fears made themselves known as he meditated on them. He was afraid that time was running short, that the comet was going to come before he was ready to stop the Fire Nation. He was afraid for those brave warriors that surrendered at the hands of the Fire Lord, who were now captured and held as prisoners. Who knows what they were going through? And then his friends...he was putting them all in danger because of his destiny, his role as the Avatar. He bit his lip gently and then took one deep, sighing breath, in order to let those fears go.

"Okay, that's enough meditation for now.."

Zuko's voice caught him off guard and he started as he snapped out of his meditation. He looked at the banished Prince and gave a small nod to show his agreement.

Zuko was deep in thought about something that was important to him. Whatever his deep thoughts were, they were distracting him from his task. It took him several moments before he decided what he would say. "Uhh... I guess now we can work with fire." Zuko felt this was right because he didn't want to bore the Avatar or anything, and he'd already learned some things from Jeong Jeong, The Deserter. The prince had many other reasons buzzing in his head, and some of them were selfish reasons. He wondered how well the Avatar would handle fire in the beginning.

Sokka charted out their path on the map successfully and rolled it up. He took a look around and saw Katara in the distance climbing. "Why is Katara climbing up there? Couldn't she have just waited for Aang and Zuko to be done training and hitch a ride with Appa?" The water tribe peasant was glad that she wasn't obsessing over making sure Aang would be safe alone with Zuko or not. With that thought he searched for his monocle. "Where'd my monocle go? Ooh man..." He couldn't find it, so he squinted to check up on the fire nation prince and Aang.

Aang leaned forward in anticipation after he had stopped his meditation. Zuko wasn't responding...He frowned, wondering what was on the banished prince's mind, and waited for him to say something.

"Using real fire now? Are you sure? The last time I tried that and wasn't ready...a small accident occured..." He closed his eyes and sighed, remembering Katara's hurt expression when he burned her. He knew he had to learn Firebending eventually, and the sooner he did the better, but he wanted to make sure he was fully ready before he actually used fire.

As Katara arrived at the top of the steps onto the grassy area above, she took in a calming breath and looked around. As far as the eye could see across the vast plain, there were no signs of anything suspicious. The Waterbender gave a sigh and sat down on the ground in order to clear her thoughts. She felt that she should be keeping an eye on Aang and Zuko, but for now she had to think this through.

"Okay...so not only do I have to worry about the Firenation coming through here, but I have to keep an eye within our own group as well..." She whispered her thoughts, hoping it would help to keep her mind focused on what she needed to do in the near future, "I need to think of a way to keep an eye out on those two in order to make sure Zuko doesn't decide to change his mind early in the journey...yet at the same time try not to make a total fool out of myself in front of Aang and the others..." She sighed, and, turning her eyes to the side, saw a pretty large frog sitting not too far from her, "What are you looking at?" she snapped.

Zuko watched Aang with a pretty serious face. "There isn't much to burn here. I mean, besides me. But I'm a firebender, and besides, what are you going to do to me? Burn me? Like that hasn't already happened to me. You're just going to pace yourself and be careful." He reassured Aang with a small awkward smile.

"We're going to start small. The point is to control the flame. You need to keep it alive but not feed it so much as to let it get out of control." Zuko pulled a weed from the ground and stared at it for just a moment. He created tiny flame on the tip and blew it out until it was just barely alive. He wanted to say something sarcastic about the great avatar handling something so scary, but he bit his tongue and just gave it to him. "Keep it alive."

"You've got a good point there..." Aang said as his eyes trailed to Zuko's scar. He watched as Zuko took up the plant and started the small flame. Aang remembered the similarity to Jeong Jeong's lesson, and he gently took the weed from Zuko.

As he gazed at the flame, he concentrated on it carefully. The small flame looked so feeble and weak, it seemed like it wouldn't live for long. He made a small motion with his forefinger, and it appeared as if the flame slowly was getting larger. He concentrated harder on the fire, and little by little it gained more life.

"You idiot, I said keep it alive. Not feed it. You're going to burn your hand. Fire has a will of its own, and you need to respect it." Zuko frowned. "Get it right or we can't do this on a larger scale." He crossed his arms stubbornly.

Sokka continued to search for his monocle, but it continued to elude him. He wished he could go down there and see what Aang was learning.

Toph just didn't care, and she decided she'd take a nap. She was very tired from the night before.

"Gah!" Aang jumped at Zuko's reaction and the flame went down to its usual size, "Well it would be easier if I knew what I was supposed to do!" He groaned in frustration and looked at the small flame. He made the same mistake before...creating the flame before he was ready. Sweat dripped down his forehead, he had to get this down.

Katara jumped as another loud sound boomed out from the plains behind her. She leapt to her feet and twisted around, seeing nothing unusual once again. However, the sound still echoed through the cavern below. It was louder this time.

"What is that..." She whispered. The frog on the ground gave a small croak in reply. "That really helps..." She added.

Her curiousity got the best of her as she cast a hesitant look down at the cavern where the others were waiting. The sound wasn't too far off...she could just investigate and come back before they begin to worry about her.

Lifting the water satchel at her side, she weighed it in one hand to make sure there was enough to provide her in case of an attack. She then let it fall limp at her side and set off in the direction of the sound. If her hearing was correct, it wasn't too far off.

"I told you to keep the flame alive. You're supposed to keep it from dying, and that's all." The banished prince pulled out his own piece of grass and demonstrated. "See, this is what you're supposed to do. And this--" The grass suddenly burst into flame and died out, "is what you were about to do. How is that keeping it alive?" His bright amber eyes watched Aang fiercely, as if daring him to object. Suddenly his eyes narrowed at another subject, somewhere in the distance. "Was that thunder? Did you hear that, Avatar? I mean... Aang?" He openly chided himself for that slip up.

Sokka finally found his monocle when another bout of thunderous noise. "What is that? Heat lightning?" He'd heard of it while in the Fire Nation. Apparently heat lightning is a common phenomenon where the... "Wait a second.. heat lightning doesn't touch the ground. And that's where thunder comes from.. What is that noise?"

Toph sat up, not even having dozed off yet. "It doesn't feel like it's going to storm Sokka. Do you think it might be trouble? I mean, we didn't get much distance from the fire nation. Zuko was able to track us." Sokka interrupted. "He's really experienced at tracking us. Of course he tracked us. I guess it might be worth a look around though." Sokka signaled at Aang to come back up the cliff.

Aang heard Zuko's challenging tone, and hissed in frustration. Then the great booming sound met his ears and he turned his attention to it. "Yes, I heard it...I haven't heard that kind of sound before though..." He looked up, seeing that Sokka was gesturing for him to come up, and he turned to Zuko, "I guess we'll have ot continue these lessons later...We need to find out what that sound is. If it's the Fire Nation...well...we'll have to think of a plan."

As Katara walked further away from the Western Air Temple, she began to see a small speck on the horizon. She squinted her eyes, hoping to get a better view. Another thunder-like sound came and the speck vanished. The waterbender blinked and quickened her pace. Once again, the figure appeared, closer and larger, and vanished once more. It was coming quickly, and each time it went below ground, it gave off the thunderous noise. As it drew closer, Katara could feel the earth shake. She then paused as she came close enough to distinguish what it was. From her far vantage point, she saw that it was a large machine that resembled a worm. And when it vanished, it tunneled underground only to resurface yards further up ahead.

"Oh boy..." She murmured.

Toph crawled towards the edge of cliff, suspecting something. Once Sokka had successfully gotten Aang and the jerk's attention, he noticed Toph crawling and picked her up. "Where do you want to go?"

Toph almost squirmed in defiance, but it was Sokka. She didn't mind if Sokka did things for her. "Bring me to the cliff. I want to see something." Sokka obediently did just that and watched with a slight admiration as she placed the palm of her hands the cliff face. She then punched the cliff face lightly. "Wait, what IS that?" She did it again. "There's a big metal worm, and it's heading right for us. Katara's up there, and it's catching up to her!" Sokka's eyes bulged out and his voice cracked. "What! We've got to save her!"

Zuko cringed at the thought of it being the Fire Nation. He'd burned Toph on accident because he was worried the Fire Nation had come for him. "Great. The Fire Nation. That's just perfect." The prince scowled. "what if they tracked me and now I've lead them to the avatar? What if they're especially going after him now that there's a traitor teaching him firebending? What if it's Azula? What if it's Mai?" A slew of uncertainties ran through his head. As sure as he was with his decision to join, he still didn't feel up to running into anyone he knew as Prince Zuko. Everything was too fresh. Zuko's face scrunched in mental anguish over the whole thing.

Sokka decided it'd take too long for Aang and the jerk to get back up, so he helped Toph and himself onto Appa and gave them a lift. "Come on! We have no time! Some giant worm... thing is gaining on Katara!" Zuko took one look at Appa to figure out how to get on and then he hopped on with little effort. "It must be the Fire Nation." He gruffed. And suddenly, Zuko's stomach hurt because he was so irritated and nerve wracked, but he chose to ignore it.

Aang gasped when he heard what was up there, "Katara's up there alone! When did she wander off!" Without waiting for an answer, he tapped his staff on the ground, unleashing the canvas wings, and grabbed onto the cross-bar holding up the broadest wingspan, "I'll meet you guys up there! Be careful!" Concern rang deeply in his voice and with a great leap, he was soaring upwards, guiding the wind to take him up in a quicker fashion.

Katara stared in shock and backed away as the ground a yard ahead of her began to shake and crack. She immediately retrieved the water she carried and allowed it to circle around her in a defensive manner. Her hands moved quickly to keep the large stream moving, but as the giant creature surfaced, she lowered her hands in shock.

The machine looked frighteningly more alive than fake. As it reared its ugly head above her, she saw that its mouth was filled with hundreds of razor-sharp teeth placed in a circular pattern within its mouth. Four rows of the daggers rotated, crushing whatever bits of earth were left. It was large enough to swallow a whole ship. Its body was sectioned off, enabling it to move in a similar way that the giant drill had at Ba Sing Se. Katara gulped and took quite a few steps back, then, throwing a punch towards the machine's open mouth, she froze the tip of the water to a sharp point and had it soar into the rotating jaws.

Zuko watched as Aang rushed off ahead of them and his stomach further tightened. Was Azula going to be there? If so, would Mai be there as well? If she were there, would she fight him? Sokka left him no time to really concern himself over it as he spoke loudly. "Yip yip Appa!" Appa instinctively rose in hurry, following Aang without even being guided. Zuko grabbed hold of the saddle, shocked at the sudden thrust. Toph held on tight to Sokka's arm, staring straight ahead.
The giant worm's teeth began to slow down, in no part thanks to Katara's little ice spike, which was crushed. Steam blew from one of the sides and out stepped Azula, proud as ever in her posture. She walked calmly over to Katara without any threatening motion besides the tiny overconfident smirk on her face. "Well if it isn't the water tribe girl. Have you come to greet me?" Mai poured out right behind Azula, seemingly disinterested in the situation. She watched Katara blankly.

As Aang flew over the cliff of the Western Air Temple, he groaned as he saw the worm-like creature quite a ways from them. How long had he and Zuko practiced that Katara could have gotten so far away? He quickened the speed of his glider and furrowed his brow in concentration. He heard Appa roar loudly, and Momo hovered below him. "Why did she have to go out on her own..." he complained with a small groan.
Katara took another step back as Azula stepped out of the machine. "Not at all," She hissed in reply to Azula's comment, "I'm just curious why you're riding in a giant, hideous worm. A tribute to yourself, no doubt? You may have won the battle in the Fire Nation, but that was from sheer dumb luck." The water she had left rose over her right shoulder threateningly. She wanted to wipe that disgusting smirk off of the girls face. She knew she was vastly outnumbered, but as long as she could distract them before the others showed up, she could at least try to stand a chance.

From behind Azula and Mai, Ty-Lee nimbly leapt behind them, a giant smile planted on her face, "Hey! Why'd we come out, that ride was fun!" She cocked an eyebrow as she saw the waterbender and she looked around, "Hmm...if she's here, where's that cute water tribe warrior?"

"Ty-Lee, less talking and more attacking. Subdue her. You too, Mai." Mai grumbled quietly, apparently in a bad mood, and began attacking Katara with her hidden throw weapons as she ran towards her. Azula looked on, somewhat disinterested in Katara. She watched something in the distance with a glare, preparing herself for a fight. If her thoughts were true, she was outnumbered quite a lot. It would be important to capture the waterbender as to somewhat even out their chances.
Sokka watched as they reached the top of the cliff, scanning for Katara and a giant worm creature. Since they were in a plains area, it was easy to spot them. They were further away than he would have liked. "Hurry Appa, Katara's in trouble!"

Ty-Lee gave a quick nod and immediately ran forward to action. She made it to Katara before Mai did and immediately struck out, aiming towards the pressure points on the Waterbender' s body.
Katara immediately prepared herself for this and mushroomed out the water around her. She then breathed out icy air to freeze the water in a dome-like barrier. The weapons Mai threw bounded harmlessly from the icy surface, and Ty-Lee's fingers met a solid wall.
"Owwie...that hurt!" She quickly shook her hand to get rid of the pain and gasped as a whip of water came shooting out at her from the center of the dome. Katara's hand was raised in the air before her. "Is that all you've got?" She taunted.

Azula's glare became another smirk as she brought her attention back to Katara. She quickly disabled Katara's barrier with a blue fire attack, causing it not only to mostly melt, but also to shatter. Mai took full advantage of this opening and from not too far behind Katara threw some more of her projectile weapons towards her legs, hoping to injure them.

Katara gasped as he shield shattered, and managed to take a look behind just as the weapons came flying towards her feet. She quickly stroked her arm in a downward motion and a thin stream of water slammed into the weapons. However, the stream missed one, and it embedded itself into her ankle. The waterbender hissed in pain as she fell to one knee and she quickly threw her outspread palm towards Mai to send a blast of water towards her stomach.
Ty-Lee took the distraction into her stride and cartwheeled behind the waterbender. She threw out her fist towards Katara's neck, but the waterbender quickly wheeled around and slammed her fist into the ground, causing water to appear from the flowers before it became a wave that slammed into the Taijutsu fighter.
Katara weakly stood up, favoring her injured foot, and kept her eyes moving from one person to another. She knew she couldn't last long, but she only needed to stall a little bit more...

Mai easily dodged the water, which she noticed was a somewhat weakened attack. It was probably due to her bending stance being partially hindered. She turned around, noticing that the avatar wasn't too far behind them. He was going to charge directly, without trying to use any surprise. Made sense considering it'd be hard to sneak attack in this area. Well, two could play at that game. She took her time to aim perfectly, which only took her about two seconds.
Azula raised her arm and sent a blue fireball lunging toward Katara and prepared her stance to follow up on it with some more. However many it took to bring her down.
Zuko watched from Sokka's left side for who their enemies were. Sure enough it seemed Mai and Ty-Lee were beside his sister. Did they really think their trio would be enough to capture the avatar still? Or could they be there for a different reason entirely...

Aang watched as the projectiles came towards him, and he leaned his bodyweight towards the side so his glider would turn sideways in the air, allowing the weapons to shoot past harmlessly. He took in a deep breath and then let it out, shooting a large ball of air towards the goth-like girl.
Katara gasped and quickly streamed as much water as she could towards her hands and froze them into sword-like points. She staggered to her feet, wincing at the pain in her ankle, and lashed down at the first blue flame. She ran forward, her speed hindered by the injury. At each fireball that was sent at her, she lashed both of her makeshift blades at them, trying to get as close to Azula as she could for close-combat.

Azula also ran towards Katara and sweep kicked fire right in Katara's path.
Mai continued her onslaught of thrown weapons at Aang, attempting to keep him seperated from Katara.
Zuko jumped off of Appa and rolled once he hit the ground. He ran into the fight with a passionate frenzy of fireballs, some aiming for Ty-Lee and others aiming for Azula.
Azula had to stop mid strike and roll out of the way of his barrage. She stood up and got into a fighting stance. "Well well, if it isn't my traitorous brother. Are you here to save your new girlfriend, the water tribe girl?" Zuko became flustered at this statement. "She is not my girlfriend!" Azula smiled knowingly. "So you'd deny dating the waterbender but you wouldn't deny betraying your country? Your own father?" As she spoke she took several steps away from Katara, eyeing both of them. Zuko's face grew rather serious. "I'm not betraying my country, I'm saving it. But you wouldn't understand my decision, would you." Azula shrugged. "I never did understand how your little mind works Zuzu." Zuko became short again. "I told you never to call me that!"

Aang gasped as more of the weapons came towards him. He had to swerve and flip through the air on his glider in order to avoid most of them, and the others he shot away. He had to keep moving in order to avoid being hit. He caught a glimpse of Appa landing, and he was glad that the others could help Katara.
Katara's eyes widened in shock as she saw the wave of fire coming towards her. She quickly allowed the icicle-like blades on her hands to melt and form into a stream of water that struck the flames head-on. As she ran forward through the steam, she stopped as she saw Azula roll aside as Zuko attacked. Katara quickly took this distraction, noticing that Ty-Lee was leaping away from the fireballs, and leaned down to take the weapon out of her ankle. Hissing, she allowed a bit of water to cover her hand and she ran it over the wound, healing it enough to stop the bleeding. It was still quite sore, but she had to worry about that later.
As she lifted herself back up and saw the feuding siblings, she stiffened at Azula's first comment. In synchronization with Zuko's words, she yelled, "He's not my boyfriend!" And clenched her fists. Remembering the last battle that took place similar to this, she kept her eyes on both of the siblings. She couldn't be too careful.
Ty-Lee stayed close to the three benders, wondering what she should do. Azula had given her an order, to subdue the waterbender, but it seemed that the Princess was doing well on her own. In order to keep herself from getting bored, the acrobat watched for an opening in the waterbenders defense. She was distracted by the other two, it would be a perfect time to strike, but she was curious as to how this was going to turn out.

Azula glared at Ty-Lee for not taking her opening, hoping she'd get the point subtly. She then continued to mock Zuko. "You're my dear brother, and I don't wish to kill you like father wants me to. I'm hoping to change his mind somehow. Maybe if you'd drop this rebellious little phase of yours; I think that would help. So father had you banished. You deserved it after the way you'd been acting before it."
Zuko had frozen in place, listening quietly to his sister's words. Some part of him still believed her lies, but it wasn't a big enough part to change his mind. It only hurt him. His anger had dampened some from her hurtful words. He watched Mai from the corner of his eye. He wondered how she felt about all of this.
Azula was quite happy with how well she still managed to manipulate her emotional brother and took this moment to go after Katara again. But Sokka and Toph had caught up to the fight. Toph, although her feet were in great pain, managed to block Azula off from Katara. Sokka dodged Ty-Lee and came to his sister's side, noticing she was hurt. "Katara, I've got your back now."

Katara scoffed, "You don't want to kill him? For some odd reason I highly doubt that what you're saying is true." She shifted her weight more onto her good foot, and looked out of the corner of her eyes as Sokka leapt past the acrobat in order to get to her side, "I'm glad you do, brother." She whispered back to him, "You make sure that Tai-Lee doesn't come to close to us benders. If Toph, Zuko, and I are going to take this girl out, we need to have all our concentration focused on her. She breathed out a shaky sigh as a sharp pain shot up her leg, "Don't worry, we'll be fine..."
Aang knew he had enough and he watched Mai carefully in order to make his move. When she reached to take out more weapons, he closed the wings of his glider to make it into the staff and fell towards the ground. However, instead of falling all the way down, he sent a blast of air at the earth in order to avoid her next attack and then slammed his staff downwards, sending a mix of air and chunks of rock soaring towards her.

Sokka drew his beautifully crafted sword and watched Ty-Lee with a devilishly handsome grin. "Don't you think it's a little unfair on her end? I have this awesome sword now, and she just pokes with her little girly fingers." He overdid his fighting stance, attempting to seem extra muscly. "Bring it Ty-Lee. You may have moves, but I've got the sword."
Mai dodged the majority of the rocks, covering her head and protecting herself against the ones she couldn't avoid. She groaned as one of the them knocked her right in the back and knocked her over. She immediately took advantage of her position and secretly threw several daggers in Aang's way.
Zuko proved he was still tied to Mai when he could barely take his eyes off of her while she was being attacked. He knew he should have been helping Katara, but he had these feelings for Mai. He closed his eyes, chiding himself for being overly emotional. He needed to focus on his duty.
In the back of his mind, Sokka was concerned about Zuko. If Zuko were to change his mind now, they'd all be in trouble. By the way he was acting, it seemed as though he could be pushed in either direction. He needed to--
"Hey Zuko, mind helping us out a little? Or are you too busy just standing there?" Toph walked over to Zuko, obviously pained with each step. She demanded to be noticed, her chest puffed out. She pushed him roughly. "Or are you just too much of a pansy to fight them?" Zuko felt a mix between pity and guilt at first, but then he just got angry. "I'm not a pansy! I'll fight them! Of course I'll fight them! I told you guys I'm on your side didn't I!" He came running at Azula, drawing his dual broadswords.
Using them as an extension of his arms, he firebended out of the broadswords straight at Azula. Azula wasn't the least bit shocked at his move and jumped backwards out of the way, sending her own blue fire to parry his in midair. Zuko was about to dodge when he realized she wasn't even aiming for him. She was aiming for Toph. He had to block it. He swung his swords like a fan, using his fire as well to block. The blow sent him flying backwards into the dirt, beside Toph. "Oh sorry Zuko... Am I getting in the way? I'm having trouble earthbending because someone burned my feet." Zuko just glared at her. "Ptooy... ugh... I think I got dirt in my mouth."

Aang grinned as he saw Mai fall and his eyes widened in shock as he saw a flash of metal near to the ground. He awkwardly leapt into the air, performing a flip as he landed right after the projectiles had passed. He sighed in relief and then slammed his foot downward into the ground, allowing a large chunk of rock to leap up from the earth. When it rose up to chest level, he struck out his fist and sent it flying towards the fallen girl. He hoped to at least pin her down.
Ty-Lee smiled flirtatiously at Sokka, "Girly little fingers, huh? Let's see who's the big lion-dog after you see this!" She waited until he was slightly distracted with his thoughts about Zuko before leaping in to attack. She ducked low in case he tried to swing the black blade at her, and aimed low for his legs, her hands appearing like blurs as they moved. Without stopping to know if she made contact to his chi points or not, she twisted around to step behind him and aimed another attack towards the back of his neck.

As Azula leapt in midair, firing at Toph, Katara took her chance and charged forward, curling her hands into fists before streaming a large amount of water from the plants below her. Ignoring the terrible pain in her ankle, she drew as close as she could to the Fire Nation princess as she could and performed a circular motion with her hands, ending by throwing them forward completely. This caused the water to circle around her once before it shot towards Azula.
Sokka noticed that Ty-Lee had gotten close to him, but too late to react properly. He swung his sword, only to embarrassingly miss her. He felt two jabs to his legs and they gave in like jelly. Sokka was unable to stand properly, and therefore unable to turn properly, and so he was jabbed in the neck. And down he went, pathetically with his rear in the air. "Aggh! My body! It won't... MOVE!"
Zuko continued spitting out dirt as he got up. He watched Sokka's pitiful display and then Katara's awesome display. He sympathized with Sokka at that moment. No, not just empathized. He totally sympathized.
Azula attempted to block the force of gushing water, but she miscalculated just how much water the watertribe peasant had her hands on and went down. It was almost as if she made water appear out of thin air! From the ground she noticed that the plants around Katara were dried out. "So that's your game..."
Mai smacked the rock out of her way with her arm as she got up, simultaneously throwing another projectile in Aang's direction.
Zuko took his chance and double teamed against Azula, knowing that if she were taken down, Ty-Lee and Mai would give up. He shot a whip of flame at Azula from her blind spot.
Azula rolled out of the way and crouched, eyeing Katara and Zuko in waiting.

Playfully, Ty-Lee stood on one hand on Sokka's back and pulled at his poof of hair with the other, "He he, you went down faster then the last time, cutie. Looks like you need to train a bit more with that sword. I could've taken you out with my eyes closed!" She smiled and then leapt off of his back, landing on her feet in front of his face.
Katara smirked. So the pampered princess wasn't prepared for that little surprise. All the better for her. She quickly drew some water from the waterskin at her side and sent a whip of water towards Azula. As it flew through the air, she took a deep breath and sent a blast of freezing air from her lungs at the tip, causing it to freeze to a point like before.
Aang twisted to the side and sucked in his stomach as the projectile whizzed past. He quickly regained his composure and sent a few blasts of air towards her from his staff.

Mai kept herself wedged between Aang and the others, and they seemed to have gotten further away from the group. She easily dodged him, continuing to send projectiles after him. Where did she keep all of them?
"Cutie? You think I'm cute?" Sokka smiled goofily. "Hey, could you do me a favor and get this hair out of my face?"
Zuko managed to block off Azula's escape route and smiled at Katara. He then overheard Sokka and glared. "Stop flirting with Ty-Lee! That's so gross!"
Sokka raised his eyebrows and continued to grin.

Ty-Lee grinned from ear-to-ear, and flipped onto her hands so she could look at his face before pushing the strand away, "There you go Hot Stuff! All better!"
Aang groaned as he noticed the distance from the others. He groaned as he dodged another group of projectiles, these ones coming a bit closer then usual. She had to run out eventually. In the meantime, he sent a large blast of air towards her, hoping to push her back in the direction of the giant machine, and his friends.
Katara saw Zuko smiling at her, and she turned her head away, glaring forward as if she hadn't seen anything. She drew some more water from the ground and allowed it to rise into the air before sending it crashing down towards Azula.

After his hair problem was solved, Sokka grabbed Ty-Lee by the arms, his arms still in perfect working condition, and pulled, hoping to bring her down painfully.
Zuko then frowned like a sad little puppy for a quick moment before watching Katara's bending with amazement. She was really good. Azula created a circular shield of flame around her, blocking Katara's move. She then tripped Zuko, who quickly rebounded and tripped her right back, catching her between the neck with his broadswords.

Azula stood stock still as he closed in on her. She knew he didn't have the guts to kill her, but she couldn't be too careful.
Mai's eyes widened as she ran out of the way of the blast, closing in on Aang and getting herself moreso inbetween him and his friends. "You're so predictable. How boring." She began using close combat, apparently out of projectiles. She gave several quick jabs aimed right for his stomach.

"Gah!" Ty-Lee gasped as she was brought down to the ground and she fell face-first into the earth. "Mmfou...mmmricked...mmwe" she murmured with her face in the dirt.
Aang gasped and arched his back out in order to avoid being jabbed. He then went behind her, ducking left and right as she continued to try and hit him. He constantly remained moving, easily avoiding her attacks.
Katara watched, impressed, as Zuko had Azula pinned. Her arms lowered, wondering if it was over, and clenched her teeth as the pain became to much. She collapsed to one knee, holding herself up with one hand while the other went to her sore ankle.

Azula stayed still for several long moments, allowing for Zuko and Katara to cool off. "I guess you're going to finish me now brother..." Zuko frowned, unsure of how he should reply to that. He looked to Katara for help. "I'm not going to kill you... As long as you stay still and don't make any moves."
Sokka kept a firm grip on Ty-Lee's hands, and her body was quickly covered with earth except for that small part of her arms he was grabbing and her head. Toph grinned widely through her pain. "Well that takes care of her."
Mai introduced her moves more in a way to continue widening the gap between Aang and his gang rather than actually attempting to land blows on him. But it looked as though she were actually trying to hit him. "Stay still you little--"

Katara took in a deep breath and lifted her hands above her. The plants around her slowly withered as the water lifted from them and surrounded Azula, freezing her entire lower body to the ground, "She could melt herself out of that, but it will have to do for now. Keep the swords there until Aang catches up. I'd rather not leave you two alone..." She glared down at Azula, "I still have a score to settle with you for hurting Aang. You're so lucky that Zuko's standing that close, I would've struck you down already."
Ty-Lee frowned as she was buried nearly all the way in the earth, "Well this is a predicament..."
Aang smirked and leapt backwards more than an arms reach away from her. He slammed his foot into the ground and shot another ball of earth at Mai.

Mai felt the rock slam into her stomach and she fell down hard, yelping in pain. "Ow!" She forced herself up, but she was obviously in pain now, her body swaying from side to side. She didn't make a move, she only stood in the avatar's way.

Zuko smiled warmly. That was the nicest thing Katara ever said about him lately. She didn't strike them both down. How sweet. Azula just stood there, not one single move being made. "It seems Mai's the only one left... I just heard her in pain a second ago though.. She won't last much longer either." Zuko frowned in concern. "I didn't hear her in pain.." Azula raised a brow. "Your ear must be deaf on your bad side, because I certainly heard it."

Sokka smiled at Ty-Lee and winked at her. "It certainly is, isn't it."

Toph frowned at Sokka, jealous.

Aang saw her sway, and took in a deep breath, he then sent a blast of air towards her, hoping to knock her down so he could continue. He didn't want her coming up from behind and attacking. He had to be sure she was down.

Katara stiffened, knowing what Azula was up to, "Don't listen to her, Zuko. She's trying to trick you." She heard the cry as well, but she knew Azula was using it against him. She drew the water from her waterskin once again and prepared herself. This wasn't looking good."

Ty-Lee sighed and bobbed her head left and right, "Well, I'm completely bored..."

Sokka twitched his legs. "hey... my legs are starting to get feeling back. How come that lasted longer than the neck move anyway?"

Zuko nodded, believing Katara's lie as opposed to Azula's truth. "Even if that were true, I have my duties to the avatar. Mai can handle herself.." He couldn't help but worry though. Azula listened intently, apparently for her inevitable defeat.

Mai dodged the airblast, almost falling over in doing so. "I won't let you pass me." She got right in front of the avatar, attempting a fighting stance. She seemed strangely determined for some odd reason. As if there were some sort of passion driving her this time.

Ty-Lee smiled, "You have more chi in your legs then in your neck. You must work out quite a bit." She rested her chin on the top of her hands, smiling dreamily up at him.

Katara heard the doubt in his voice. She also noticed Azula's full attention was on his words. Taking a deep breath, she adjusted her position so her ankle wouldn't ache as much. Her arms were getting tired from the battle, but she forced herself to keep the water above the earth where she could use it.

Aang was amazed at Mai's sudden show of strength and determination. "Listen, I don't want to hurt you." He said as he too got into a fighting stance. "You're weak, you should just give up for now."

"Why? Are you afraid of me?" Mai seemed almost angry underneath her monotone voice. Something was grating her, and underneath that calm lake, there was a hint of a strong current flowing underneath. She stopped staggering, planting herself to the ground like an unmovable rock.

Sokka raised his eyebrows flirtingly at Ty-Lee. "I do work out. Just a 100 or so pushups a day... Nothing major." He flexed his arm muscles.

Zuko listened carefully, seeming somewhat distracted. As if to counter his distractedness, he pushed the swords a bit closer to Azula's throat. This seemed to make Azula uncomfortable. "I'm not making any moves.. Don't kill me.."

Aang's eyes narrowed, "A good fighter knows when to quit. You're making a mistake." He quickly sent a blast of air towards her and aimed a punch towards her shoulder in order to make her step back. He then performed a round-house kick in order to sent a strong wave of air towards her feet.

Ty-Lee giggled, "That's impressive. Have any girls you're seeing? Or are you single?"

"Well, I'm kind of seeing someone... sort of... Suki. But she was captured by princess cruelty over there and probably you too actually, and I have no idea where you guys are keeping her or if she's even okay." Sokka looked away, saddened.

Mai fell over with a slight groan, having been knocked somewhat of a distance towards the gang. She didn't give up however, instead she got right back up again, somewhat recovering from the huge rock to her stomach. "Is that all you've got?" Despite her supposed frail status, she began another series of quick and fluid punches, attempting to land anywhere vulnerable. She could tell that she was the only one of the girls left standing, which only proved to irritate her further.

"Hmm…Suki…Suki…That name doesn't sound familiar to me. Of course, I don't usually make it a habit to learn everyone's names that we capture." She cocked her head to the side and smiled sweetly.

Aang swiftly covered the distance between the two and threw his staff into the ground in front of him, sending a blast of wind that continuously tried to push Mai back. He then lashed the weapon in the air left and right to create more waves of air that flew at her with increasing speed.

Katara took a brief second to look back over to where Aang was. She couldn't see him at first, and her heart sank in her chest as she realized that he was much further from the group then she would have liked. She could see him fighting Mai in the distance. He was doing his best to push the girl back, but she continued to get up and try fighting once again. Why was she so determined to stand in his way? Couldn't she see that the battle was lost already?

Zuko watched for Aang and Mai; he heard the battle. He just couldn't see them, but that soon changed. There was Mai, being completely obliterated. He could tell that Aang was holding back, but his heart still jumped at the sight of her sliding and rolling in the dirt, only to rise again and take another shot.

Azula took a glance at each of the Avatar's allies. The watertribe girl was glancing at the Avatar and Mai, as was her traitorous brother. Sokka was busy conversing with Ty-Lee, and even so, he wasn't a threat. The earthbending girl was obviously hurt and seemed to be paying more attention to the Avatar anyway. This was her moment.

She had been slowly melting away at her ice prison from the inside this whole time, the true reason she dared not move. The ice around her shattered as she shot a blue fireball right into Zuko's stomach from point blank range. Her devious plan had worked flawlessly as Zuko dropped his broadswords and collapsed to the ground with a pained growl.

Azula wasted no time, attacking the waterbender with no mercy. Azula was attempting to cause her to lose her balance, attacking her good leg with a low swinging fire kick.

Mai noticed that Zuko was down, and visibly it didn't seem to matter to her. (Not that Aang and crew would know they had a "thing" for each other in the first place.) She only needed to hold out for a little while longer. She stood in Aang's way once more.

Sokka attempted to get up once he noticed that all was not well for the Gaang. However, his legs had only remotely regained feeling, and so he "flopped" to Katara's rescue. It wasn't an impressive sight, and he didn't really move at all. "KATARA!" He saw Zuko go down, but really, he only had time to name one name and Katara was more important.

Toph, who'd been completely overlooked, felt rather irritated at this. "HEY! DON'T OVERLOOK ME!" Although it hurt, she tried to make a projectile rock. It didn't really work, so she got down on her knees and began using her hands for earthbending. She tossed rock after rock at Azula, who barely even cared enough to block them while attacking Katara.

Katara saw the flash of sapphire flames and she gasped as a wave of blue fire came towards her feet. She staggered backwards, throwing her arms out both to try and regain her balance and to send the water she had in reserve towards Azula. However, the water evaporated as more flames continued to come, and it took all of her concentration to keep her arms moving to negate the attacks. Unfortunately, as she backed away, her injured leg gave way and the flames streamed towards her. She cried out in pain as the blue fire engulfed the right side of her body. Her working leg, now burnt and weak, collapsed beneath her and she fell to the ground. Her breathing came out harsh and ragged, and her scalded, bleeding arm lay uselessly limp beside her.

Aang was about to send another blast of air at Mai to push her back more, but stopped right in his tracks, his staff raised in the air, as he saw Katara fall. His heart plummeted within him, and his staff fell from his shaking fingers to the ground. He was paralyzed by shock and fear, and couldn't bring himself to move an inch. His eyes glistened, and gleaming tears rolled down his face. Unable to control himself, his shaking grew worse and his knees buckled, causing him to fall to the ground. He couldn't think…he couldn't move…he could only kneel and stare, feeling his world crash down around him.

Zuko was down for the count, and although he tried to stay conscious, it wasn't working out very well. He knew Katara was in danger, but pretty soon he forgot who Katara was, or where they were. He began dreaming about his mother and his body relaxed.

A tear rolled down Sokka's cheek as he saw Katara fall nearby. He smelled her singed flesh. He knew she was in danger, and that he had failed to protect her. He grabbed his boomerang and was about to make a move, but something happened that stalled him.

Azula was about to finish off Katara when Momo grabbed hold of her face and began tearing at her hair viciously. While Azula was so distracted, Sokka took this moment to tie a rope to his boomerang. He threw it at Azula's feet and as it came back, it twirled around her legs and brought her crashing to the ground. Appa came to Aang's rescue, slamming his tail and sending Mai flying quite a ways from the fight. Azula finally got hold of Momo, throwing him away from her.

Toph took this chance to cover Azula's torso and arms with a solid layer of rock. She left her tied legs exposed so Sokka could gain access to his boomerang again. How thoughtful.

Aang shook his head quickly, trying to get rid of the fear that paralyzed him, and he appeared like a blur as he knelt at Katara's side. He cringed as he saw her wounds. Her right arm was completely black and cracked. The edges of her clothes were scorched, and were stained dark red. Her eyes were closed, but she was breathing, low and shallow. Aang closed his eyes, "Please be okay..please be okay…" He took her unmarked hand into his own and gently pressed his forehead against the back of it.

Toph got on all fours and crawled to Aang and Katara's side. She couldn't take the pain in her feet anymore. "Aang, we need to get out of here now while we still can." Sokka forced himself to his feet. His legs looked like jelly, but he was standing. "Take my sister Aang. I'll carry Zuko... er... if I can.. We should just leave him here.." He sloppily walked over to Zuko and attempted to wake him, but he was out cold. "aw man.." Sokka shoved Zuko over his shoulder, only to fall over from the added weight.

Appa walked over to Aang and Katara and waited patiently for Aang to allow him to help. Sokka rephrased how he was going to help. "Nevermind.. Maybe you should get Zuko on Appa. I'm having trouble staying up by myself.."

Aang nodded and supported Zuko on his shoulder and brought him up Appa's tail in order to set him gently down in the saddle. He then leapt down and helped Toph to her feet, being careful so he wouldn't accidently hurt them. He helped her up onto the flying bison as well and glided back down.

When Aang took another look at Katara, he felt another twinge of fear. How injured was she? She was the healer of the group...she would have to heal on her own until she recovered enough to help herself, and who knew how long that would take?

The Airbender sighed and gently slid his arms beneath her back and beneath her knees in order to gently lift her from the ground. He then turned to Sokka, motioning with his head towards Appa so he would get on first. He then stomped on the ground, making a pillar of earth rise beneath his feet so he could rise up to Appa's saddle easily without bumping Katara at all. He gently set her down, and, wiping a stray strand of hair away from her face, blinked away the tears that continued to come.

Sokka sat beside Katara, and as much as he tried to remain the strong leader like figure for the group, he couldn't help but cry seeing his sister hurt so badly. She was his backbone, and if she were to... No, it was too painful to think about.

Toph sat by Sokka and Aang, silently supporting everyone with every ounce of mental strength she could psychically throw out. She wished for everything to turn out alright. She didn't cry, but she wanted to. She sensed the seriousness of Katara's injury. And Zuko was hurt too, which she felt kind of guilty about not caring enough.. but she just didn't know him that well.

Momo climbed on Aang's shoulder and rubbed against his face comfortingly. Sokka decided he'd take the reigns, wiped his tears and broke the painful silence that had surrounded the group. "Yip yip Appa." And with that cue, Appa was soaring through the sky. Sokka knew he had to go back for the others and their stuff, but then they'd have to leave immediately.

For Aang, the tears came slower, and soon stopped completely. He wiped his red, wet eyes and swallowed painfully, keeping his fingers wrapped around Katara's uninjured hand. It began to sound like he would never master the Avatar state at the rate he was going. Such a blow to the heart revealed how much he cared about her. He couldn't begin to think about how hard it would be to let her go, to forget her all together. He wouldn't even allow the thought of her not making it invade his mind. He forced it out, forming a barrier around his thoughts to avoid the painful thought that was on everyone's mind.

"We need to find a new place to lie low so everyone can rest and heal…" He gulped in a breath of air and let out a shaky sigh, "We can't stay at the Western Air Temple…and we have to find a place where that giant machine of theirs can't reach. We have a little time, but we have to make haste."

Sokka landed them at their little home base and the others gathered around. "Listen up everyone. We've got a bit of a problem. It seems Princess Azula of the firenation has caught up to us, and she's only been stopped temporarily. We need to get out of here now." Everyone picked up their stuff, got on Appa, and they left.