A Brighter Future

by DarkAuraX

One hundred years ago, the Fire Nation declared war to seize control of the world. Only the Avatar could stop their march of destruction, but no one had seen him for a century. But now, he has returned to a world much different from the one he remembers and with the help of two siblings and one wandering vagrant, hopefully he can end the war and lead the world to a bright future.

Legend tells of a time, long ago, where peace existed between the Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads. A time where the Avatar, a being believed to be the incarnation of the Spirits themselves, lived among the people and kept balance throughout the world.

But that all changed when the Fire Nation attacked.

Being able to master all four elements, the Avatar was the only one capable of stopping the destruction and tyranny of the Fire Nation. However, when the world needed him most, he vanished.

A hundred years have passed and the Fire Nation is nearing victory in the war. In an attempt to halt their progression, the men of the Water Tribes journeyed to the Earth Kingdom to help aid in battle. But it seems as though the Fire Nation is able to destroy any resistance they come across.

Some people believe that the Avatar was never reborn into the Air Nomads and that the cycle is broken. Some people still hold onto hope that one day the Avatar will return to save the world and put a stop to the war. But who can say for certain that the help will come before it's too late?

I guess no one knows for sure...

0-0

The brisk cool air blew across the arctic landscape as a two person canoe slowly drifted through iceberg laden waters. The sun shining brightly on the horizon revealed the time to be around late afternoon as all seemed calm in the waters.

Inside the canoe, a light brown-skinned teenage boy, with shaved brown hair except for a pony tail and wearing brown leather boots, mittens, and a large blue overcoat with white fur trimming around the hood, sleeve ends, and some sort of feather hanging from the neck, sat on one end of the canoe and held a spear in anticipation for some unexpected pray. On the other end of the wooden vessel, a young girl, who looked similar to the boy, and wore the same apparel, leaned over the edge of boat to see the fish.

"It's not getting away from me this time." The young boy said as he readied his spear, "Watch and learn, Katara. This is how you catch a fish."

The girl, now known as Katara, shot the boy an unamused glance before returning her attention to the water. Her eyes quickly widened in surprise when she saw a fish swim by. Hesitantly, she removed her left glove. Taking a deep breath, and with a look of trepidation, the young girl began motioning with her exposed hand. Suddenly, a globe of water containing the fish floated out of the water.

"Sokka, look!" Katara exclaimed as she slowly floated the globe closer to the boat.

"Shhh. Katara, you're gonna scare it away." Sokka whispered, "Mmmm... I can already smell it cookin'."

"But Sokka! I caught one!" The young waterbender cheered as she tried to retain control of the small orb of water.

However, Sokka seemed way too indulged in his own hunting to even pay attention to the floating blob of water that slowly made its' way closer and closer to him. When he cocked his arm back to throw his spear, the bubble of water burst, sending the fish back into the sea and drenching the unsuccessful hunter.

"Hey!" Katara cried as she felt her influence on the orb of water disappear.

"Ugh! Why is it that every time you play with magic water I get soaked?" The male occupant groaned as he tried flinging water off his coat.

The girl gave an annoyed sigh, "It's not magic. It's waterbending," She explained, "and it's-"

"Yeah, yeah, an ancient art unique to our culture, blah, blah, blah." Sokka mockingly finished as he pulled on his hair to drain the water out of it. "Look, I'm just saying that if I had weird powers, I'd keep my weirdness to myself."

"You're calling me weird?" Katara scoffed, "I'm not the one who makes muscles at myself every time I see my reflection in the water." Just as she said that, the boy was flexing his muscles and looking at his reflection in the water. Annoyed at the insult, Sokka turned around and shot the girl an unamused glare.

Suddenly, the canoe bumped into a small floating glacier, knocking both Water Tribe members off balance. They looked up and saw that they had entered an ice packed area and quickly began working frantically to maneuver the vessel between icebergs.

"Watch out!" The waterbender cried. Acting quickly, Sokka steered the canoe out of the way of an oncoming patch of ice. "Go left! Go left!" Katara cried out again.

The canoe continued threading its way through the ice pack, icebergs colliding all around them, just barely missing their mark. Soon, the current the boat was caught in brought them between three large icebergs and crushed the boat. Having jumped out at the last second, Sokka and Katara were now stranded on one of the patches of ice, at the mercy of the currents.

"You call that left?" The girl complained as she took a seat on the iceberg.

"You don't like my steering. Well, maybe you should have waterbended us out of the ice." Sokka mocked as he performed faux waterbending movements.

"So it's my fault?" Katara asked angrily as she quickly stood up.

"I knew I should have left you at home." The boy sighed as he hugged his knees. "Leave it to a girl to screw things up.

This comment sent the waterbender over the breaking point. "You are the most sexist, immature, nut brained..." She listed off as she pointed to the sitting teen. "Ugh, I'm embarrassed to be related to you!" As she got more excited, the iceberg on which they were sitting on began heaving as a huge iceberg a few feet from them began cracking. "Ever since Mom died, I've been doing all the work around camp while you've been off playing soldier!"

For the most part, Sokka had been ignoring his sisters' rant. But in one passing glance, he noticed the iceberg behind her cracking and quickly began worrying. "Uh... Katara?"

"I even wash all the clothes! Have you ever smelled your dirty socks? Let me tell you, NOT PLEASANT!" Katara shouted as she kept pointing her accusatory finger at her brother.

"Katara! Settle down!" The male teen panicked.

"No, that's it. I'm done helping you." The enraged waterbender screamed, "From now on, you're on your own!" As she finished her screaming rant, the iceberg behind her split open entirely, disintegrating into multiple major pieces that fell into the water, pushing their patch of ice away. They held on desperately until the iceberg settled.

"Okay, you've gone from weird to freakish, Katara." Sokka said as he released his hold on his sister, acting as a brace for her so she wouldn't fall off.

"You mean I did that?" The girl asked in disbelief. Both siblings were leaning over the edge of the iceberg raft.

"Yep. Congratulations." The boy congratulated sarcastically. Suddenly, the water just in front of them began glowing an incandescent blue. The Water Tribe members moved backwards on their raft as another, lighter colored iceberg broke the surface.

As the new iceberg settled, Katara walked to the edge of their makeshift raft for a better look. Deep in the ice, she could see the figure of a boy in a meditation pose. He had white arrows on his fists and on his bald head. Much to the waterbenders surprise, his eyes and his arrow markings were glowing white.

"He's alive!" Katara exclaimed, "We have to help!" She said as she grabbed her brother's hockey stick type spearhead, pulled down her hood, and ran toward the larger iceberg.

"Katara! Get back here!" Sokka protested as he pulled his spear from the ice and ran after his sister. "We don't know what that thing is!"

Ignoring the cautious Tribesman, the waterbender skipped across a few little icebergs and arrived at the one in which the boy was trapped. She began using the hockey stick to whack the ice as her brother arrived next to her shortly after. After a few big whacks, she managed to crack open the ice and from within, a force of pressurized air was released, as if the iceberg had a hollow chamber within.

The iceberg then cracked from bottom to top and exploded, releasing a beautiful pillar of bluish-white light that shot straight into the heavens. The pillar reached beyond the skyline and could be seen for miles along with the aurora australis that appeared as a result of the powerful energy.

0-0

For miles, nothing but white could be seen. In the middle of the arctic tundra, a lone figure walked through the snow. The figure wore a gray overcoat with white fur trim on the hood and sleeves, black winter pants, leather boots, gray mittens, and a black face mask that covered to just below the eyes. An animal hide sack hung from the figures' back and the mysterious individual held a wooden staff that was being used to trudge through the snow. With the upper half of its' face exposed, one could see that the color of its' eyes were amber and the face was light in tone, almost pale. Stopping for a brief moment, the figure reached into its' coat and pulled out a piece of parchment. On it was the drawing of the southern arctic region.

"It's official. I'm lost." The figure spoke to itself, it's voice revealing it to be male. As he continued looking at the map, at beautiful glow caught the corner of his eye. Looking in the direction of the light, he saw the pillar of energy that shot into the sky as well as the aurora australis that surrounded it far off in the distance. "Wow, never seen anything like that before." The figure spoke as he tucked the piece of parchment back into his coat. "Let's check it out. Better than wandering aimlessly, anyway." He finished as he continued making his way through the snowy wonderland.

0-0

In a different part of the arctic region, an iron hulled battleship with a spiked prow cut through the ice laden sea. It appeared to be steam powered as it had a single smokestack, and the foredeck was much longer than the afterdeck.

On the foredeck, a young man dressed in red, with a shaven head except for a pony-tail of black hair, stared intently at the shaft of light in front of the ship. The left side of his face was badly scarred around his left eye and his eyes had an amber color to them. "Finally." The young man said under his breath before turning around, "Uncle, do you realize what this means?"

Behind the teen, an old man wearing similar clothing sat cross-legged at a low table, drinking tea and playing a game involving domino like objects. He was balding in the front, but had long gray hair with part of it tied up behind his head with long mutton chops and a thin pointed beard. "I won't get to finish my game?" The old man asked.

"It means my search-it's about to come to an end." The teen explained, causing the elderly man to groan. "That light came from an incredibly powerful source. It has to be him!" He reasoned as he looked into the distance as the pillar dissipated.

"Or it's just the celestial lights." The old man argued, "We've been down this road before, Prince Zuko. I don't want you to get too overexcited over nothing." He said as he placed a domino on the table in front of him. "Please, sit. Why don't you enjoy a cup of calming jasmine tea?"

The prince turned around to address his uncle quickly, "I don't need calming tea! I need to capture the Avatar!" He shot back in a very explosive manner before looking up to address someone else. "Helmsman, head a course for the light!" With a disapproving shake of the head, the old man placed another domino on the table to resume his game.

0-0

Back with the iceberg, the powerful force of light began to dissipate as the two Water Tribe siblings looked up to see residual blue light still swirling around the top of what was left of the iceberg. Suddenly, the boy appeared, his eyes and arrow markings still aglow. Upon closer inspection, the boy wore orange and yellow monk robes.

In an attempt to protect himself and his sister, Sokka raised his spear at the boy, "Stop!" He demanded without the slightest hint of fear.

The boy stood up as the glow and residual energy faded. He then passed out and slid down the side of the ruined iceberg toward the two siblings. Acting quickly, Katara lunged forward and caught him just before he reached the ground. As she rested him against the snow, Sokka poked the mysterious boy in the head with the blunt end of his weapon.

"Stop it!" His sister defended the boy while pushing her brother away. As she gently turned him over so that he was lying on his back, the boy began to wake up.

He slowly opened his eyes, revealing gray colored irises, and saw a blurry image of the girl come into focus, a gentle breeze blew her braids as she smiled at him. "I need to ask you something." The boy whispered in a weak voice.

"What?" Katara asked worriedly.

"Please... come closer." He whispered again.

"What is it?"

After a brief pause, the boy spoke again, this time with more life in his voice, "Will you go penguin sledding with me?" He asked in an excited tone, a bright smile decorating his face.

"Uh... sure." The confused waterbender answered as she moved away from the boy. "I guess."

The next moment, the boy floated to his feet and rubbed the back of his head, scaring Sokka as he did so. "What's going on here?" The thawed out boy asked.

"You tell us! How'd you get in the ice?" The Water Tribe male asked as he poked the mysterious boy with his spear, "And why aren't you frozen?"

"I'm not sure." The young bald headed monk said absently as he batted the spear away. After he said that, a low, animal like growl came from inside the iceberg, causing the monk to gasp. He then frantically climbed back up the ruined iceberg and jumped over the lip of the ice crater and landed on a huge furry animal. "Appa! Are you all right?" He asked as he moved toward the animal's eye, "Wake up, buddy." He said as he leaned down and opened its' eye. Closing it again, the boy hopped down and tried to lift the animal's huge head, but had no success in doing so.

Katara and Sokka came around the corner just in time to see the monster open its' mouth and lick the boy, their mouths dropping in shock at the sight of the creature.

"Haha! You're okay!" The boy cheered as he hugged the animal. As the animal got up and shook itself, the Water Tribe siblings noticed it was a bison with white fur, it had a giant arrow on its' head, had six legs, and horns like a steer.

"What is that thing?" Sokka asked in bewilderment.

"This is Appa, my flying bison." The bald boy answered, nonchalantly.

"Right." The hunter said, bemusedly, "And this is Katara, my flying sister." The young boy was about to reply, but didn't since Appa cut him off as he began to sneeze. Just as the bison unleashed his sneeze, the boy ducked out of the way, leaving the mucus to fly all over Sokka. "Ewww! AAHH!" The teen cried as as he tried getting rid of the snot by rolling around on the ice and snow.

"Don't worry." The mysterious boy said, "It'll wash out."

"Ugh!" Sokka cried as he tried removing the snot from his face, only for it to stick to his hand and stretch through the air.

"So, do you guys live around here?" The boy asked happily.

"Don't answer that!" The angered Water Tribesman growled as he pointed his spear at the boy, "Did you see that crazy bold of light? He was probably trying to signal the Fire Navy."

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure he's a spy for the Fire Navy." Katara mocked as she pushed her brother out of the way, "You can tell by that evil look in his eye." She said as she pointed to the boys' innocent face. "The paranoid one is my brother, Sokka. You never told us your name."

"I'm A... aaahhh... aaahhh... aaah aaah aaah AAAAAACHOOOOO!" The monk sneezed, causing him to fly off the ground high into the air, before sliding down the side of the remains of the iceberg. "I'm Aang." The boy answered before sniffling and rubbing his nose.

"You just sneezed... and flew ten feet in the air." Sokka said incredulously.

"Really? It felt higher than that." Aang smiled.

"You're an airbender!" Katara gasped as she realized what she and her brother had come across.

"Sure am." The monk answered happily as he pointed to himself.

With so much insanity that happened in a short span of time, Sokka was reaching his limit on weirdness for one day. "Giant light beams, flying bison, airbenders, I think I've got Midnight Sun Madness." He said as he began walking toward the edge of the iceberg, "I'm going home to where stuff makes sense." Just as he finished his sentence, he stopped walking and realized that he was stranded in the middle of the sea on a floating patch of ice. He couldn't get home.

"Well, if you guys are stuck, Appa and I can give you a lift." Aang said before floating himself onto Appa's head, then to the top of his back where an enormous saddle rested. Reigns were attached to both of Appa's giant horns.

"We'd love a ride! Thanks!" Katara gleefully accepted as she climbed onto the giant animal.

"Oh, no... I am not getting on that fluffy snot monster." Sokka complained.

"Are you hoping some other kind of monster will come along and give you a ride home?" His sister asked rhetorically, "You know... before you freeze to death?"

Sokka was about to say something, but soon realized that his sister had a point. If he didn't get home before the night came, he would certainly freeze. With a defeated sigh, Sokka made his way up onto the saddle of the giant monster and took a seat next to the young waterbender. However, he wasn't going to enjoy this as he had a grumpy look on his face and his arms folded across his chest.

"Okay. First time flyers, hold on tight!" Aang told them before turning to address his trusted friend, "Appa, yip yip!" With a shake of the reigns, Appa made a low rumble. Soon after, the giant bison flapped his huge beaver tail and then launched into the air. He spread his legs wide, but then came right back down into the water with a huge splash. Once in the water, Appa began swimming forward. "Come on, Appa. Yip yip." The disheartened monk said again as he shook the reigns.

"Wow." Sokka sighed, feigning surprise, "That was truly amazing." He leaned against the back as his sister crawled to the front of the saddle.

"Appa's just tired. A little rest and he'll be soaring through the sky." Aang explained as he made a "soaring through the sky" motion with his hand, "You'll see." He finished as his eyes finally rested on the female waterbender, a wide smile on his face as he looked at her.

"Why are you smiling at me like that?" Katara asked, a bit weirded out.

"Oh... I was smiling?"

"Uuuuuugh." Sokka groaned in disgust as he tilted his head back to look at the sky. The three continued making their way as Appa swam through the water, flapping his tail like a propeller.

0-0

As the sun began setting over the arctic tundra, a small village made up of igloos and animal-hide tents rested near the sea among the ice. Surrounded by a circular wall of snow, and one tall tower made of snow, the village seemed to be secluded from any outside relationships, probably for defensive reasons, with only one lone pathway that led into and out of the village.

Inside the village, three small children, two boys and a girl, garbed in small blue overcoats, similar to Sokka and Katara, were laughing as they tossed a blue ball around. As they continued passing the ball, the wind suddenly increased and carried the small object down the lone path. The young girl began to run after it, but when she approached, she saw their toy bump into the legs of a mysterious figure at the entrance. Stopping in her tracks and looking up at the figures' face, she saw his piercing, reddish-brow eyes glaring at her.

Before the figure could say anything to the girl, she burst into tears, catching him completely off-guard. He then quickly knelt down and tried calming the scared child.

"Aya, what's going on?" One of the boys called out as he came to the entrance of the village. Once he got there, he saw the young girl crying and the figure kneeling in front of her. "AAAAHHH! Intruder!" The boy cried, alarming the coated figure even more.

"No, wait I-" The figure tried saying to the children. But before he could explain himself, the boy ran away to alert the village. "Great..."

0-0

Back among the iceberg-laden waters, the large navy ship continued its' unrelenting path in hopes of reaching the location of the mysterious aura. With the sun setting over the horizon, some of the passengers of said ship were making preparation for the night. However, the resident prince stood firmly on the spotting deck off the bridge, looking over the rail into the distant tundra. "I'm going to bed now." Zuko heard an elderly voice say to him, followed by an exaggerated yawn. Without looking, the scarred teen could tell it was his uncle who spoke to him.

"Yep. A man needs his rest. Prince Zuko, you need some sleep." The old man stated. "Even if you're right and the Avatar is alive, you won't find him. Your father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all tried and failed." He explained.

"Because their honor didn't hinge on the Avatar's capture. Mine does." The teen reasoned as he shot his uncle a glare over his shoulder, "This coward's hundred years in hiding are over."

Knowing that any attempt at trying to calm his energetic nephew down would be futile, the old man sighed as he turned around and entered the ship.

0-0

The giant flying bison's swimming continued as it made its' way through the calm sea with the three young passengers resting on it. In the saddle, Katara crawled toward the front of it while her brother was snoozing away. Once she reached the front, she looked over and saw Aang lying on his back on the head of the bison, both hands behind his head, and eyes trained on the cloudy sky.

"Hey." The young waterbender greeted, capturing the young boys' attention.

"Hey." The bald monk replied, "Whatcha thinkin' about?" He asked casually.

"I guess I was wondering – your being an airbender and all – if you have any idea what happened to the Avatar." Katara confessed.

This response caused a look of disconcert to grow on Aangs' face. "Uhh... no. I didn't know him..." The young airbender replied nervously as he picked himself off his friends' head, "I mean, I knew people that knew him, but I didn't. Sorry." He added with just as much nervousness as before.

"Okay. Just curious. Goodnight." The Water Tribe girl said happily before she stood up and walked back to the back of saddle.

"Sleep tight." The bald monk returned. Once the waterbender was out of eyesight, an expression of fear came across Aangs' face as he turned around and faced in the direction Appa was swimming.

0-0

Inside of a rather spacious igloo, the mysterious figure who wore the gray overcoat was seated on a mound of snow in front of a small fire pit with a kettle pot hanging over it. Inside the kettle was a hot liquid with a ladle inside. While the figure took in his surroundings, he pulled his mask down from his face, but the top half of his head was still hidden by the hood of his coat.

"You'll have to forgive the children." A female voice said to the figure. The voice was elderly, but sincerity was very prevalent in it, "We haven't had anyone from outside come to the village in a long time." The woman added. He looked over and saw an elderly woman with a dark skin tone and gray hair tied in a low ponytail, wearing a blue overcoat much like the ones the children were wearing when he first approached the village.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare them." The figure apologized. The older woman came over with a wooden cup in her hands. When she reached the kettle, she picked up the ladle and filled the cup with some of the liquid. Once it was ready, she handed the cup to her guest. "Thank you, Nushi." The guest said as he took the cup.

The elderly woman took a seat on the other side of the kettle, "There is no need for formalities. Call me Gran Gran." She offered.

"Uh... okay." The masked guest agreed, albeit a bit uncertainly, "Thank you, Gran Gran."

"You're welcome." Gran Gran replied, "However, I must say, I am curious as to why a young man like yourself is out wandering the arctic."

The boy took a sip from his cup before placing it on the ground in front of him, "Well, I was following a map I bought off a trader to trade with the Northern Water Tribe," he explained, pulling out the piece of parchment from inside his coat, "But I guess it's out of date." He said handing the map to the woman.

After examining the piece of paper, Gran Gran gave him a different explanation. "I'm afraid you are mistaken." She stated evenly, "This map is of the Southern Water Tribe from before the Raids."

This gave the guest pause, "What." The mysterious figure asked flatly, "I can't believe it. That peddler ripped me off." The figure brought his hands up and covered his face.

"If you would like, we could give you a map of the area." The Water Tribe member spoke.

This caught the figures' attention, "Really? You'd help a stranger like me?" He asked graciously.

"Of course. You don't seem to be trouble, and you have manners." Gran Gran added, "But I haven't heard your name yet."

After a moment, the figure replied, "Hyou." He wasn't too keen on introducing himself if he didn't need to, but this village elder had been very hospitable to him and offered to help him. "But I couldn't possibly bother you with this."

"Nonsense." The elder said. "You've been very polite and respectful to me and the children."

"Then, at least let me repay you in some way." The figure, now known as Hyou, offered as he dug into his bag.

"Please, you needn't give me anything of yours." Gran Gran stated as she held up a hand to stop her guest, "But if you truly wish to repay me, then perhaps one of my grandchildren could give you a task."

"Really? Okay then, who are your grandchildren?" Hyou asked as he placed his bag back on the ground.

"I shall introduce you to them. They should be back soon, they went out to-"

"Excuse me, Elder Kanna." The two heard a female voice come from the entrance of the igloo, "Katara and Sokka have returned, and they brought some company." A woman of the water tribe said as she entered the small ice hut.

"Looks like they're here." Gran Gran said as she stood up, "Come, I'll introduce you."

With a nod, Hyou stood up and followed the elderly woman outside.

0-0

It was dark. Storm clouds covered the sky as heavy rain and winds surrounded the area. Aang opened his eyes and found himself on Appa's saddle as a lightning bolt cracked across the sky. Seeing his friend struggle against the winds, the young monk quickly took his reigns and tried his best to steer through the chaos. This proved to be futile as both man and animal penetrated the surface of the watery depths below. Coming up briefly for air, Appa groaned before a massive wave drove them both underwater again. As they sank lower and lower, Aang dropped the reigns and began losing consciousness. Suddenly, the young boy's eyes and markings glowed white. Slamming his hands together, the water around him and the flying bison began spinning in a sphere before it slowly began freezing over.

"Aang! Aang, wake up!" The airbender heard. Gasping for air, Aang quickly sat up from the ground, tossing some covers off of him. "It's okay. We're in the village now." He saw Katara kneeling next to him as he looked around, noticing he was inside a tent. Come on, get ready. Everyone's waiting to meet you."

With a nod, the young boy got up and put on his clothes and grabbed his staff. As he did, Katara was able to get a good look at his arrow tattoos. Once he was ready, the young waterbender grabbed him by the hand and dragged him outside.

Outside of the tent, a small crowd had gathered to greet him. It was composed of women of various ages and children. Among them, was a gray coated figure holding a wooden staff as well.

"Aang, this is the entire village. Entire village, Aang." The young waterbender introduced. Aang bowed to them in a friendly manner, but the people pulled back from him, cautiously.

"Uh... why are they all looking at me like that?" The bald boy asked, "Did Appa sneeze on me?" He added as he inspected his clothes for bison snot.

"Well, no one has seen an airbender in a hundred years." An elderly woman said as she approached the young boy and girl. "We thought they were extinct until my granddaughter and grandson found you."

"Extinct?" Aang asked in disbelief.

"Aang, this is my grandmother." Katara said.

"Call me Gran Gran." Gran Gran insisted with a rather bored look on her face.

"What is this a weapon?" Sokka asked as he walked up next to Aang and grabbed his staff from his hands, "You can't stab anything with this."

"It's not for stabbing." The young airbender smirked as he created a jet of air that sucked the staff back into his hand. "It's for airbending." At his last word, red wings emerged from the sides of the staff, turning it into a glider.

"Magic trick! Do it again!" One of the little girls cheered happily.

"Not magic, airbending. It lets me control the air currents around my glider and fly." Aang explained, motioning to his staff as he did so.

"You know, last time I checked, humans can't fly." The teen warrior stated with annoyance, not even slightly amused by the transpiring events.

Aang merely shot a determined smirk at the skeptical Water Tribesman as he positioned himself under his glider, "Check again!" He boasted before launching himself into the air. As he soared through the air, the young monk performed loops as the villagers on the ground pointed at him in wonder.

"Whoa..."

"It's flying..."

"It's amazing!" The members of the tribe all awed at the sight of the flying boy. The hooded figure also watched, but kept his awe silent.

As Aang continued soaring through the air, he glanced down and noticed Katara was smiling at him. He was so enthralled with her attention that he didn't notice he was on a collision course with the tall snow tower. "Oof!" He grunted as he slammed into the guard tower, the young monks' head sinking into the side, burying his head completely.

"My watchtower!" Sokka gasped in horror as the airbender pried himself free of his cold confines and fell to the ground, covered in snow.

Running up to help the bald boy to his feet, the young waterbender couldn't help but be amazed by his bending prowess. "That was amazing!" Katara complimented as Aang twirled his glider shut.

Behind the happy duo, the distressed watertribe warrior examined his now ruined tower for any irreversible damages, but got a big surprise when a huge bank of snow fell on top of him. "Great. You're an airbender, Katara's a waterbender, together you can just waste time all day long." Sokka groaned as he stood up from the pile of snow. As he stalked off, the hooded figure followed after him, leaving the group of women and children.

That bit of information caught the young monk by surprise, "You're a waterbender?" He asked happily.

"Well... sort of." Katara clarified, "Not yet."

"All right. No more playing." The young watertribe girl and monk heard Gran Gran say from behind them. "Come on, Katara, you have chores." She said as she led her granddaughter away from the group.

As they walked through the small compound, Katara could hardly contain her excitement at finally finding someone who could bend an element like she could, "I told you! He's the real thing, Gran Gran!
I finally found a bender to teach me." She cheered.

The village elder only shook her head as she tried quelling her granddaughters' enthusiasm, "Katara, try not to put all your hopes in this boy." She cautioned.

"But he's special. I can tell." The waterbender replied, "I sense he is filled with much wisdom." Glancing back at Aang, Katara and her grandmother saw the bender in question with his tongue frozen to his staff with the children gathered around him.

"Sthee? Now my tongue ith thuck to my sthaff." The bald boy slurred as the children giggled; one tried yanking the staff free, but it did nothing to free the stuck airbender.

Katara nervously chuckled as her grandmother shot her a bored stare, clearly not amused by the boys' antics.

0-0

Mid-afternoon on the metal vessel didn't really leave much to do. The ship continued its' voyage on the arctic sea in the direction of the pillar of aura that appeared the day before. However, one certain sailor aboard the ship was preparing himself for an upcoming battle. On the main deck of the ship, the young scarred teen was facing off against two guards clad in armor not unlike Edo period samurai, while the old man supervised the exercise.

"Again." He said firmly.

At his command, Zuko moved his arms and blasted fire from his hands at the guards. They reacted in turn and dodged the assault while countering with blasts of fire of their own. This proved to be just as ineffective as the scarred teens' attacks as he flipped through the blasts and landed on the other side of the deck.

"No!" The elder sighed as he stood up, "Power in firebending comes from the breath. Not the muscle." He explained as he motioned a firebending attack, "The breath becomes energy in the body. The energy extends past your limbs and becomes fire." At the end of his explanation, the young teens' uncle performed a demonstration, releasing a controlled plume of flame that burst in front of, while completely missing, his nephew. "Get it right this time."

"Enough." Zuko shot back as he approached the much wiser firebender, "I've been drilling this sequence all day. Teach me the next set. I'm more than ready." He demanded firmly.

"No, you are impatient." The old man countered, "You have yet to master your basics. Drill it again!" He said more forcefully as he sat back down on his stool.

With a growl, the scarred teen spun around and kicked out, releasing a gout of fire that struck down one of the guards. Returning his attention to his uncle, Zuko spoke his mind, "The sages tell us that the Avatar is the last airbender. He must be over a hundred years old by now. He's had a century to master the four elements. I'll need more than basic firebending to defeat him." He explained, "You WILL teach me the advanced set!" He demanded angrily as he looked down on the old man.

As his nephew explained his reasoning, the elderly firebender gave the impatient lad a very stern look before complying. "Very well." His stoic visage soon dissipated to one of joy, "But first I must finish my roast duck." He said happily as he pulled out a box filled with meat from behind him. Zuko could only stare in disbelief as he watched his uncle chow down on the tasty meal.

0-0

The afternoon sky had not a cloud in it as the blazing sun shined across the tundra. Just outside the small compound, the Water Tribesman gazed out, collecting his thoughts before a speech came to him. "Now men, it's important that you show no fear when you face a firebender." Sokka stated as he paced back and forth as though he were addressing an audience. "In the Water Tribe, we fight to the last man standing. For without courage, how can we call ourselves men?"

With the determination to rouse his troops, the young warrior of the Water Tribe held his fist up high. His speech wasn't bad, per say, it's just that his audience consisted of six tiny children... most of which were toddlers. In hindsight, it really shouldn't have been a surprise to the teen when he was answered with blank stares from his troops.

After a few moments, one of the small boys raised his hand, "I gotta pee!"

"Listen! Until your fathers return from the war, they're counting on you to be the men of this tribe." Sokka tried sounding stern with the children, but it really came off as whining more than anything, "And that means no potty breaks."

"But I really gotta go." The small child argued, not understanding the reasoning behind Sokka's words.

With a defeated sigh, the up-and-coming warrior eased up on the kid, "Okay... who else has to go?" He asked. Without hesitation, every child who was present for the speech raised their hands. Sokka could only slap his forehead in distress as all six kids walked away.

"Well, I thought it was a good speech." The dark-skinned teen heard a voice come from behind him. Turning around, he saw the gray-hooded, mysterious figure standing with a sack hanging over his shoulder, "Though, I'd say they're probably a little too young to worry about what you're saying." He let out a small chuckle as he finished giving his two-cents.

"Oh, great. It's you." Sokka seemed less than enthused to be speaking with this suspicious outsider, who could very well be a Fire Nation spy, "Look, Hikki, or whatever your name is, I'm sure where you're from, you have plenty of people protecting your home, but here, we're all that's left." He explained as he approached the other teen, pointing a finger into his face, "So I'd appreciate it if you kept your thoughts to yourself! Besides, did you do what I told you to do? If you want that map, you're gonna have to pull your weight around here."

Sokka couldn't see the other teens' face because of the mask he wore, but the bored expression in his eyes spoke volumes about how he felt towards the young warrior. Without saying a word, Hyou took the sack off his back and placed it on the ground. Opening it to reach inside, the gray-coated teen pulled out a line that had multiple fish hooked to it. This action alone was enough to silence the Water Tribesman and cause his eyes to bulge from his skull as he looked at the amount of fish the outsider had been able to catch.

"Ah... but... how..." Sokka's voice was caught in his throat as he tried to speak, but it only lasted a moment before he collected himself. "Right, well... you didn't debone them yet." He explained after clearing his throat.

With a small growl, the masked teen swung the sack back over his shoulder, "I'm starting to think you're making me do chores you don't want to do." He grumbled under his breath, passing the dark-skinned teen and making his way to the entrance of the compound.

Once Hyou was out of earshot, Sokka let off an annoyed sigh as he rubbed his temples, "Great, first we find some weird monk in an iceberg, then we come home and find some outsider asking for a map." The young warrior groaned, "Is anyone else going to show up today?" He asked to no one in particular.

However, his complaining was cut off as his sister approached him. "Have you seen Aang?" Katara asked once she reached him, "Gran Gran said he disappeared over an hour ago."

"No. I haven't seen him." The older brother responded flatly, "But the next time you do, get him out of here. My lessons are for warriors only."

"Wheeee!" The Water Tribe siblings were drawn to the sound of children cheering.

When they looked in the direction of the noise, they saw the giant bison with his tail propped up with a makeshift sawhorse, with Sokka's spear, that turned the animal's tail into a slide. Aang was on on the bison's back and steadied another child to slide. Once he was ready, the little Water Tribe boy slid down the length of the beasts' back and tail before landing in a pile of snow.

"Stop! Stop it right now!" The wolf-tailed sourpuss shouted as he ran over to break up the fun. He was the only one who wasn't amused by the antics of the airbender since the children, and even Katara, were laughing. "What's wrong with you?" Sokka griped as he grabbed his spear off the sawhorse, "We don't have time for fun and games with a war going on."

"What war?" Aang asked as he hopped down from his trusted animal companion, the news of a war was clearly something new to him. "What are you talking about?"

Both Water Tribe teens stared incredulously at the bald boy. "You're kidding, right?" The warrior asked.

Instead of answering Sokka's question, Aang's attention shifted slightly off of the dark-skinned teen to gaze at something behind him.

"PENGUIN!" The young monk shouted excitedly as he saw the animal in the distance. Using his airbending skills, Aang ran at unbelievable speeds towards the horizon where the penguin had just been, leaving the two family members alone.

"He's kidding, right?" Sokka reiterated, this time asking his younger sister. She could only shrug her shoulders in response.

0-0

With the airbender having sped off, Katara took it upon herself to find him while Sokka was more than happy to know that he wasn't around anymore to interrupt his warrior lessons. Now, if only there were some way to get rid of the second unwelcome guest in the village. Though, in all honesty, a part of the young warrior did enjoy having someone around that he could give orders to and would obey.

At the moment, Hyou was sitting at the top of the snow-built structure, adding more snow to it, as per the dark-skinned teens' request. The hooded figure could only let out an annoyed groan as he kept piling more and more snow to the tower. "Dig holes around the compound. Now cover them up. Now rebuild my watchtower." He mocked in a voice that vaguely resembled the wolf-tailed warrior. "Give me a break. This is way to much trouble for a map." He sighed.

"And make sure my watchtower has a clear view of everything!" Sokka shouted from down below to the cloaked foreigner. After receiving a reluctant sigh from the worker, the dark-skinned teen turned to face his group of up-and-coming warriors. "Now remember men, the Fire Nation will show no mercy if and when they come knocking on our doorstep. So we must- Gah!" He was startled when a snowball hit the ground next to him. As the children giggled at their 'leader's' scared state, Sokka looked up to the top of the tower. "Hey! What was that?!" He shouted.

"Oops, sorry, I was aiming for your head." The gray-coated builder answered, looking down towards the distressed teen.

"Oh, we got a comedian here." Sokka quipped, "Well, mister Funny Man, you just got the job to help with combat practice. C'mon men, we're going outside the walls."

"Oh, boy..." Hyou sighed as he scratched his left cheek through his mask.

0-0

After making his way down from the watchtower, he followed the young warrior to the desired location for combat practice. Armed with only his walking staff, the foreigner stood opposite the Water Tribesman, who equipped himself with his spear.

"Okay, men, watch carefully." Sokka cockily told the group of boys that sat to the side of the two fighters, "I'm going to show you how a real warrior fights." He gloated as he brandished his weapon.

"Do we really have to do this?" Hyou asked as he scratched the back of his head, "I'm not much of a fighter."

His opponent only smirked, "And you're supposed to be a man? Well, you're about to learn fast." Readying his spear, Sokka took a step toward the gray-coated figure, only to find himself falling into a snow covered pitfall. After a moment, his head popped out from the snow before shaking his head to get rid of any precipitation.

The foreigner looked down at the submerged teen and bonked his forehead with his staff. "Is that what a real warrior does?" He asked as the children giggled at his expense.

The buried Tribesman shot a dirty look at his adversary as he was poked on the head a few more times. "Stop that!" He whined as he dug himself out of the hole he was in. Picking up his spear, he readied himself for another attack, "That was just practice. This time it's for real."

However, before he could actually show his fighting skills, a loud and powerful whistling caught the groups' attention. Looking over, the two fighters and children saw a bright light sail through the air, followed by a trail of smoke.

"Oooh, what's that?" One of the boys awed as they pointed at the object.

"Looks like a signal flare." Hyou replied.

"Signal flare? But that's impossible. There aren't any ships except for-" Sokka cut himself as a look of sudden realization hit his face, "Oh no. Quickly, everyone back to the village!" He hurried the group of children back to the compound. The gray-coated guest followed as well.

0-0

Once they were back at the village, Sokka spent no time at all to warn his grandmother of the signal flare. Suspicions ran rampant through the village elders' mind and she hoped, no prayed, that her suspicions were wrong. But there was no time for wondering what happened, so the elder told her grandson to gather the villagers and meet at the entrance of the compound.

When all the villagers gathered at the entrance, the hooded guest joined them as well and noticed that it was nearly sunset. He hadn't planned on staying too long at the village, and hopefully he'd be able to leave before anyone came to investigate the signal flare.

Looking down the ice road out of the village, the group saw Aang and Katara in the distance walking towards them. As they approached, the children ran forward to greet the pair.

"Yay! Aang's back!" The children cheered as they gathered around the airbender.

"I knew it!" The angered Water Tribesman yelled as he stepped forward, "You signaled the Fire Navy with that flare! You're leading them straight to us, aren't you?" He accused as he pointed at the monk.

"Aang didn't do anything." Katara defended the young boy, "It was an accident."

"Yeah, we were on the ship and there was this booby trap and well..." Aang tried explaining as he placed his hand on his head as if trying to puzzle out a thought, "...we 'boobied' right into it."

Gran-Gran could only shake her head in disappointment, "Katara, you shouldn't have gone on that ship." She said to her granddaughter, "Now we could all be in danger!"

"Don't blame Katara! I brought her there," The bald boy defended before looking downcast, "It's my fault."

"Aha! The traitor confesses! Warriors, away from the enemy!" Sokka ordered, the children obeyed by walking away from Aang and toward the villagers. "The foreigner is banned from our village!"

"Sokka, you're making a mistake!" The younger sister shouted angrily at her idiot brother.

"No! I'm keeping my promise to Dad. I'm protecting you from threats like him!" The protective older brother returned as he pointed at Aang again.

"Aang is not our enemy!" The waterbender motioned to the airbender, "Don't you see? Aang's brought us something we haven't had in a long time. Fun."

"Fun? We can't fight firebenders with fun!" Sokka angrily argued.

"You should try it sometime." Aang suggested with an earnest smile.

"Get out of our village." The warrior demanded, not acknowledging any of the young boy's cheerfulness, "Now!"

But Katara was strongly against the banishment of the airbender, "Grandmother, please, don't let Sokka do this." She begged as she turned to address the elder.

"Katara, you knew going on that ship was forbidden. Sokka is right." Gran-Gran was unable to grant her granddaughter's wishes, knowing that preserving the safety of the village was the most important thing. "I think it best if the airbender leaves." The other villagers didn't say anything, but through the looks they were giving the tattooed boy, everyone was in agreement.

The inexperienced waterbender couldn't believe her family. They were supposed to be a welcoming people who would help anyone in need, yet here they were casting out a young boy to fend for himself in the world. She couldn't believe it. She didn't want to believe it. "Fine! Then I'm banished too!" She shouted angrily before turning around and taking Aang by the shoulder, "C'mon, Aang, let's go!" She said as she dragged the monk away from the village and toward the large sky bison just a few meters from the compound.

"Where do you think you're going?" Sokka shouted after his departing sister.

"To find a waterbender!" Katara shot back without turning to address him, "Aang is taking me to the North Pole!"

Aang was completely lost at the girls' sudden exclamation, "I am?" But his confusion lasted for less than a second as his face immediately brightened, "Great!"

"Katara!" The older water siblings' sudden shout stopped the duo in their tracks, "Would you really choose him over your tribe? Your own family?" He asked sullenly.

That question was enough to create great pause in the dark-skinned young woman as shadows doubt and indecision made themselves apparent on her face. However, she didn't have to choose since someone else was willing to make the choice for her.

"Katara," Aang spoke up, gaining her attention, "I don't want to come between you and your family." He said sadly as he passed her.

"So, you're leaving the South Pole?" Katara asked in disbelief, "This is goodbye?"

"Thanks for penguin sledding with me." The bald monk said a bit sullenly.

"Where will you go?"

"Guess I'll head back home and look for the airbenders." Aang replied as he patted his bison friend, "Wow, I haven't cleaned my room in a hundred years." He suddenly realized, "Not looking forward to that."

"But you'll be all alone." The waterbender noted sadly.

"No he won't." The two of them heard a voice surprise them. "He'll have this giant beast with him." The two benders turned to face the direction of the voice and saw the gray-coated foreigner with his sack and staff petting the head of the sky bison, who let out a small growl. "Sorry." He chuckled as he stopped petting and walked over to the pair. "Plus, I was hoping to catch a ride out of here."

"Sure!" The cheerful monk brightened at the prospect of having someone travel with him. "It'll be fun!" With a nod, Hyou climbed the side of the bison to get into the saddle. "See, Katara? I won't be alone now." He then airbent himself onto Appa's head where he took the reigns. "It was nice meeting everyone." He bid farewell to the villagers.

"Let's see your bison fly now, air boy." Sokka taunted as he watched the two foreigners get ready to depart.

"Come on, Appa, you can do it!" Aang encouraged his trusted friend, "Yip! Yip!" The only response he got from the large mammal was a guttural rumble as he got onto his feet.

"Yeah, I thought so." The Water Tribe warrior shouted.

As Appa turned to leave, a little girl with pig tails ran forward with a cry to stand by Katara. "Aang! Don't go! We'll miss you!" She pleaded while on the verge of tears.

The airbender looked over his shoulder at the girl with a sad look of his own, "I'll miss you too." He returned. He then turned to look at the young waterbending beauty once more before facing forward, "Come on, boy." Aang said as he shook the reigns, signaling the sky bison to walk once more.

Katara and the little girl watched as the giant animal disappeared over a snowy dune before the little girl stalked back sadly toward the village.

A moment later, the village elder walked up behind the waterbender. "Katara, you'll feel better after you-"

"You happy now?" Katara cut her grandmother off angrily as she turned to face her. The entire situation enraged the dark-skinned girl to no end as she came to see how her family treated outsiders. "There goes my one chance of becoming a waterbender!" The enraged Water Tribeswoman finished before stalking off angrily, leaving her grandmother to sadly stare off after her.

Back at the gates, the wannabe commander directed the little boys through the village gate, making sure they were ready for whatever forces that were coming. "All right! Ready our defenses! The Fire Nation could be on our shores any moment now!" Sokka stated as one little boy stopped, raised his hand, and danced about suggestively.

"But I gotta-"

"And no potty breaks!" The wolf-tailed warrior added forcefully as he pointed to the fortifications.

0-0

Hiking through an arctic tundra is no easy feat. Even if you happened to be a massive half-bison, half-manatee hybrid, trekking through waist high snow could get tiring. So, after finding a nice secure spot to stop, Aang, Appa, and Hyou huddled around a small fire as fish impaled on sticks cooked over it. The area the trio settled in had some ice formations that towered high above the dunes, giving a great view over the ocean. At the moment, Appa was curled in a ball with Aang leaning against his stomach, while Hyou was sitting by the fire and reading a piece of parchment in his hands.

Even though the atmosphere was peaceful, with some food getting cooked, Aang had a lingering sense sadness. After a moment, the sky bison let out growl. "Yeah, I liked her too." The bald boy replied as he sat up and rubbed his friends' side. He then stood up and walked over to the fire where he took a seat next to his gray-coated traveling buddy.

"How're you holding up?" Hyou asked as he looked over to the sullen boy. Most of his face was still hidden by the cloth that covered up to his eyes, but his reddish-brown eyes were still visible.

"I'll be okay." He replied, though his tone of voice didn't really help persuade the other foreigner. Furrowing his brow, the amber-eyed male grabbed a stick and offered it to the monk. "Thanks." Aang accepted the gesture and took a bite out of the fish.

"Cheer up, kiddo." The traveling companion comforted as he grabbed a stick of his own, "I'm sure this isn't the last time you'll see her." He added.

Before Aang could reply, the sound of a foghorn resonated through the air. With a gasp, the young airbender quickly stood up and, using his control over the air, sprinted up one of the ice towers. Once he was at the top, he looked toward the sea and saw a large, metal ship sailing through the waters. He then looked from the ship to where the village lied over the horizon. "The village!" He cried before sliding down the side of the giant obelisk. "Appa, wait here!" He said as he grabbed his staff and tossed the fish he had toward his bison friend. The sky bison only let out a rumble as he caught the fish in his mouth.

"Hey, wait! Where are you going!" Hyou stood up and called after the boy.

"To help the village!" Was the only response he received.

"What? But you-" The gray-coated male tried calling for the boy, but Aang was already out of earshot. "Oh..." Hyou let out a sigh as he looked at the fish in his hand. "Well, it's not really my business." He really didn't want to concern himself with the problems of others, but a nagging feeling ate at him as he sat by the crackling fire. It didn't take long at all for the pestering to get the better of him and, with a groan, he picked up his walking staff, tossed his fish to the bison, and ran off in the direction of the village.

0-0

Running through snow is not easy. On top of that the cold air that blows into your face while doing it only makes your face hurt when you finally stop to catch your breath. That was exactly how Hyou felt when he was finally able to catch up to the young monk. It amazed him just how fast he could run, airbender or not.

But once he had finally caught up, he and the airbender were lying on the ground, looking down a snowy dune that overlooked the coastline. It was truly a sight to behold; the Fire Navy ship unceremoniously docked into the side of the village, causing quite a bit of damage to the small settlement. From what the two foreigners could tell, it didn't look like anyone from the village was hurt, but who knows how long it would be before the Fire Nation soldiers changed that. Aang and Hyou could also faintly see the legs of someone kicking about wildly in the air as the rest of the body was buried in snow.

"We have to help them!" Aang said with firmness as he clenched his staff and stood up.

"And do what?" Hyou asked as he grabbed the boy and pulled him back down. "If you go in there now, those soldiers will surround you and do who knows what while they hurt the villagers."

"But they didn't do anything!" The airbender cried, worry very prevalent in his voice.

"Yeah, but they don't know that." The amber-eyed figure explained, referring to the Fire Nation. "Right now, they don't know where we are." He began forming a plan to go about getting to the tribe. "If we could somehow get there and surprise them without being seen, we'd have a better chance at helping the villagers." He sat up and began placed a hand to his chin, "But how are we going to do that?"

Aang looked at the taller figure next to him with a worried expression. He really didn't want innocent civilians to get hurt because of him and the way things were, it was only a matter of time before the soldiers started strong-arming them. He looked back at the village and let out a shocked gasp as he saw a plume of fire shoot towards the villagers. "We have to go!" He stated resolutely as he stood.

"But we'll be sitting doves if we go down there." Hyou argued.

The bald boy turned to look down at the masked male and was about to say something. But, as if the Spirits themselves heard their plight, two penguins popped up out of the snow on both sides of the sitting boy, letting out a confused squawk as they looked at each other. "I have an idea!" Aang gasped as a huge smile appeared on his face.

0-0

Back where the action was hot, Sokka tried his best to defend the village as the current leader, but things weren't exactly looking up for him. After pulling himself out of the snow he was so graciously knocked into, the Water Tribesman retrieved his makeshift club and charged the Fire Nation prince with a battle cry.

The attack proved to be very ineffective as Zuko turned to his would-be attacker in annoyance and easily dodged his charged, flipping him over his head. The scarred prince then fired a blast of flame at Sokka, but the warrior was able to roll out of harms way at the last second, throwing his boomerang at pale-skinned prince in retaliation. Caught by surprise, Zuko barely avoided the weapon and turned to look back in anger at the dark-skinned male over the near miss.

Sokka found himself in a tight spot as he knelt in front of the villagers to protect them. Thankfully, the young warriors took some of his lessons to heart and one little boy retrieved his spear. "Show no fear!" The child exclaimed as he tossed the weapon.

Sokka caught the spear and charged toward Zuko. Unfortunately, the prince proved to be much more trained in combat and easily broke off pieces of the spear shaft with his wrist guards. After the head of the spear had been torn off, the firebending prince grabbed the spear, boinked Sokka on the forehead with it several times, then broke it in half and dropped the pieces on the ground. After getting bonked on the head, the defeated warrior had also sunk to the ground, rubbing his head to ease the pain.

In the sky in the background the boomerang reappeared on a course to return to the thrower. It slammed Zuko in the back of the head, knocking his helmet off kilter. Furious, Zuko began spitting fire out of his hands like daggers as he hovered menacingly over Sokka.

Before he could take another step toward the downed teen, both outsiders skyrocketed down the snowy dunes around the village on the penguins from earlier, both wielding their staffs. The young airbender was the first to enter the compound, sweeping Zuko's legs out from under him as he flew past the soldiers. Hyou followed shortly after before the disgraced prince fell on the ground, butt up, as his helmet landed perfectly on his behind.

The children cheered as Aang reached the villagers, but stopped when he and the penguin banked, dumping a lot of snow on the kids. The silence only lasted a second as the children expressed their happiness again.

The penguins that led both foreigners to the village soon slid to a stop and pushed their riders off. The penguins got up, looked at them, and then turned and waddled away without a second thought. If those animals could talk, they'd probably say the entire process was embarrassing. But since they're animals and can't speak, they didn't.

"Hey Katara. Hey Sokka." The cheery bald monk greeted after the penguins left.

"Hi... Aang." Sokka replied dryly, making his enthusiasm for the boys' return readily apparent, "Thanks for comin'."

The reunion would have lasted longer, but Hyou had to cut it short as he tapped his shorter traveling companion on the shoulder, gaining his attention. Both turned their attention toward the firebenders where they saw the prince getting to his feet and motioned for his men to surround the two of them.

Aang readied his staff to defend himself, but a hand from the taller figure stopped him. Stepping forward, the gray-coated male spoke to the young leader of the firebenders. "I see the Fire Nation hasn't changed." Hyou spoke in a mirthless tone, "I've been away for a while, but I was hoping that attacking defenseless civilians would stop."

Zuko narrowed his eyes as he glared at the figure in front of him. He didn't like the tone of voice this stranger was using, speaking as though he was looking down on the nation of his birth. "You know nothing of the Fire Nation." He stated icily as he assumed a firebending stance.

"Maybe. But that still doesn't change you attacking this small village." The masked figure shot back, readying his walking stick for an attack. Aang and the rest of the villagers stepped back and watched the standoff between the two. Both of the Water Tribe siblings watched incredulously as a stranger defended them, though Sokka had a more difficult time understanding why this stranger would help them. "So, are we going to stand around here all day, or are we going to fight?" Under his mask, Hyou smirked as the Fire Nation soldiers took stances similar to their prince.

The soldiers all took a step as if too attack, but no sooner that they walked did each one of them sink into the snow, burying themselves up to their necks. Everyone to each of the buried firebenders in surprise while the children suffered from a fit of giggling. "Huh, look at that." Hyou sighed under his breath, "Those holes came in handy after all."

Zuko let out an annoyed grunt before he began shooting blasts of fire from his hands at the hooded traveler. Reacting quickly, the unexpected protector of the village twirled his stick in front of him like a helicopter blade, dissipating the fire in front of him as he trudged towards his attacker. The dissipation caused the fire to go around Hyou and head for the villagers, causing them to gasp in fear. The gasps caused the staff twirler to turn for a brief second, but saw Aang act quickly and block the flames with his own staff.

Relieved that the villagers and children were safe, the gray-coated foreigner returned his attention to his opponent.

Zuko found himself angry at the hooded male since his attacks failed to cause any sort of damage and quickly shifted his stance to one for hand-to-hand combat. However, in the moment he took to change his stance, he found himself having to deflect a swing from the mysterious figure in front of him. That wasn't the last of the attacks, though, as he found himself on the defensive, having to block and evade more and more swings and jabs from the stranger.

It finally looked as though the fight was about to change when the Fire Nation prince got his hands on Hyou's staff, but Zuko quickly noticed himself flipped to the ground. The reason being Hyou having kicked his legs out from under him while pushing against his chest with his staff at the same time. The pale-skinned teen then quickly rolled out of the way, dodging a stab from the staff that hit the snow where he was a moment ago.

As the fighting went on, the villagers all watched in awe, Katara and Sokka included, as the children cheered happily.

"Whoa." One of the children awed.

"Who is he?" One of the tribeswoman asked incredulously.

As the fight continued, it became apparent that neither fighter was able to gain any ground on the other. Hyou seemed to be putting the pressure on, but it didn't do any good if he couldn't land a hit. The same for Zuko, he was able to dodge each attack, but he couldn't counter with any of his own. This also didn't sit well with the young prince; he had been training night and day for years in his search for the Avatar, but here he was in a stalemate against some random stranger in the middle of the South Pole. How does that happen?

With one more attack, the two came close together, eyeing each other angrily before Zuko kicked his aggressor away. "Just who are you, and why are you here?" He asked angrily, never letting his guarding stance down.

"I could ask you the same thing." Hyou replied as he stood up straight and tapped his staff against his shoulder. "What's a Fire Navy ship doing all the way out here in the South Pole?"

"I've come searching for the Avatar." Zuko explained evenly, keeping up his stoic demeanor. When he said that, Aang winced, but it went unnoticed since everyone was too focused on the confrontation. "And I know he's here in the village." The firebender added.

"The Avatar? You're kidding, right?" Hyou scoffed at the idea, greatly irritating the young prince. "The Avatar hasn't been seen for a hundred years. Even if he was alive, he'd be either bald or have gray or white hair." The hooded figure paused for a second before speaking again, "Like this." He said as he slid off his hood, revealing a bushy and unkempt head of white hair.

After witnessing the reveal of the coated strangers' hair, the villagers all gasped in shock, some even muttering among themselves if the Avatar was alive. The Water Tribe siblings also let their surprise show on their faces as they saw the white hair on the foreigners' head.

"You? But how?" Zuko circled who he thought was the Avatar, never letting his guard down. "Doesn't matter. Now I understand why your skills with the staff are impressive. I'll be glad to take you back to the Fire Nation."

"I'd like to see you try." Hyou smirked from under his mask, brandishing his staff as he mimicked his opponents movements. With his hood gone, everyone could see the top half of his face, making his amber eyes more visible. "Though with your skills, I'd say I'm pretty safe." He mocked, trying to taunt the scarred teen.

The taunt worked as Zuko let out a snarl before shooting another blast at the mysterious stranger. Just like before, Hyou countered by twirling his staff and dissipating the fire around him, but the snarl on the prince's face flipped into a grin. While the two were talking, the other soldiers had finally dug themselves out of the holes they were trapped in and moved to help their prince. Two of the soldiers posed themselves into a firebending stance.

"Look out!" Katara cried, gaining the masked males' attention.

Turning his head in her direction, his eyes widened as he saw more flames fly towards him. Luckily, the flames never reached their mark as a very powerful gust of wind blew through the battleground, sending the flames away from the gray-coated figure as well as knocking the soldiers to the ground.

Hyou and Zuko both braced themselves against the wind, shielding their faces from the blast of air. A side effect of the strong breeze also caused the mask on the white-haired males' face to fall down, fully revealing his entire image. Once it died down, both fighters turned towards the source and saw the young monk run up and leap over the gray-coated male. He then came down with his own staff and blew snow off the ground, knocking the soldiers back.

"Was that... airbending?" The firebending prince asked incredulously as he watched the bald boy twirl his staff around before bringing it down on the ground. "You're the Avatar?" He asked accusingly. His tone resembled that of someone who just had all their expectations shattered, but Zuko was much more disgusted by the fact that the Avatar was nothing more than a child.

This revelation thus caused more surprised gasps from the villagers. "Aang?" The waterbender asked under her breath.

"No way." Sokka commented, letting his own astonishment be known.

Aang didn't refute the proclamation. He didn't even respond. He only stared at the firebending prince with a blank expression.

"I've spent years preparing for this encounter. Training. Meditating." Zuko explained as he began circling his new opponent. "You're just a child!"

The assertion caused the monk to get a little dispirited, but he soon shot back with his own affirmation. "Well, you're just a teenager."

"Who doesn't look that much older than that Socko guy." Hyou added as he rubbed his chin.

"Hey!" 'Socko' shouted, having heard the white-haired teen get his name wrong.

"And you!" The teenaged member of royalty turned his attention to the gray-coated male, "How can you be so skilled with the staff? You can't be much older than I am."

Hyou shrugged, "I was blessed by the spirits?" He offered with a wry smile. He was greeted by a blast of fire that caused him to quickly duck out of the way.

Zuko followed up with blasting more and more streams of fire from his fists at his two opponents. However, just as Hyou was able to repel the attacks, Aang copied his movements by twirling his own staff around, fear showing on his face.

To take some of the heat off of his new found traveling companion, the white-haired teen swept around the monk and ran towards the hot-headed prince. When Zuko noticed the gray-coated staff fighter running towards him, he shot another blast at him, only to see Hyou slide underneath the blast on his knees and come back up with fistful of snow that he threw into his face. The children of the Water Tribe giggled at the sight.

Zuko couldn't believe this was happening. He had come here to take the Avatar back to the Fire Nation so his father would lift the banishment on him and restore his honor. But instead of any of that happening, he was here fighting a small boy who turned out to be the Avatar, and some other stranger that had been disgracing him during their fight.

"That's ENOUGH!" The angered prince shouted as a massive flame emerged from his entire body, melting the snow on his face. In one quick motion, he performed a spin and unleashed a powerful blast of fire towards both staff users.

Hyou and Aang countered by once again shielding themselves by spinning their weapons of choice. They were able to stop the fire, but when it dissipated, the screams of the villagers caught their attention.

Turning around, both boys saw the soldiers that accompanied Zuko standing around the people of the tribe, flames shooting from their hands like daggers, much like how the prince had done earlier. Aang quickly saw the fear in the childrens' eyes, especially Katara's and knew what he had to do.

"You'd let your soldiers hurt innocent civilians?" Hyou barked at the prince as he shot him a menacing glare. Zuko didn't respond, only repaying the gray-coated male with a glare of the same intensity. "Fine! Don't answer. I'll settle this wi-" He cut himself off when he saw Aang place his hand in front of him.

The young bald boy then took a few steps forward, closing the gap between him and the scarred prince. Zuko braced himself for an attack, but what surprised everyone was the monk getting on his knees and bowing before the teenager.

"Aang, what are you doing?" The white-haired staff fighter called out to him, in complete disbelief of the boy's actions.

Aang ignored his new friends' question and spoke only to the Fire Nation prince, "If I go with you, will you promise to leave everyone alone?" This question caught everyone off guard, even Hyou, who couldn't even bring himself to protest.

Zuko still held his firebending stance as he contemplated the boy's offer, but after a brief pause, he straightened up. "Very well." He agreed as he nodded stiffly. He then motioned for the soldiers to retreat, sending one of them to pick the boy up by the arm and lead him to the ship as he took the boy's staff.

Silence filled the entire snowy wasteland as the soldiers passed the white-haired fighter, but was suddenly broken when the young waterbender rushed forward. "No, Aang! Don't do this!" She cried.

"Don't worry, Katara, it'll be okay." The young monk replied with false reassurance as the soldier's pushed him forward to keep him moving.

Katara refused to let him go and tried pursuing the group, but was held back by the white-haired male. She looked toward him to yell, but saw the dejected look in his eyes before he shook his head. Trying to fight back tears, Katara looked to the airbender once more as he watched him walk up the bowsprit.

"Take care of Appa for me until I get back." Was the last thing she heard Aang say to her before he entered the ship.

"Head a course to the Fire Nation." Zuko ordered his men as he boarded the ship, "I'm going home."

As the bowsprit rose off the ground, Aang looked back hopefully at his new friend as the ship closed. But his smile quickly dropped when he saw the tears she had in her eyes. That was the last thing he saw before the shadow of the bowsprit closed over him.

0-0

The morning after, the members of the small tribe found themselves with a horrible mess in their village. The jagged path through the ice that the Navy Ship opened was plainly visible, as was the shattered snow wall that surrounded the compound. That would probably take many days to fully restore. But life goes on as the Tribeswomen and children worked to fixing the damages; digging out the watchtower, re-raising tents, and tending to fires for cooking. They weren't in the greatest of moods as they went about their lives, but they made due with what they had.

However, we're not focusing on the village for the moment. Instead, we're focusing on the lonely foreigner as he trudged through the snow, trying to find his way back to the small campfire he made when he was still with Aang. He didn't have his mask and hood on since the wind had died down and the sun was shining, plus it wasn't like anyone would recognize him now.

After trudging through the snow again for so long, the lonesome wanderer stopped at the edge of the ice and looked toward the horizon. Strangely enough, he could see the Fire Nation Ship in the distance as it sailed further and further into open sea.

Hyou sighed, "Poor kid. He really gave his own life for those villagers." He scratched the back of his head as he continued walking. "It's a shame too, even if he isn't the Avatar, we could've used an airbender in the war." With every step he took, a pang of guilt made itself more and more apparent in the back of his mind. Maybe he could have done something more to help the bald boy, or maybe it would have just gotten him killed. But then again, it would have saved the, probably, last airbender in existence.

The young white-haired teen tossed around useless thoughts in his head for a bit before he was broken out of them but the guttural roar of a giant mammal. Looking in the direction of the sound, Hyou saw Appa mounting the crest of a hill in the distance. Both parties made their way towards each other and when they were close enough, the young male placed a hand on the animals' head.

"Looks like you'll need a new master, big guy." The foreigner stated sadly, "If you want, you can come with me. I know someplace that'll love you." He gave the bison a gentle smile, trying to offer any comfort he could.

"MMMMmmmmm." Appa only grunted in response as he shook his entire body, causing the staff wielder to back up a bit.

Once the beast stopped shaking, Hyou looked at the determination in his eyes, "You want to save your master don't you?" He smirked, already knowing the answer. "Alright then, let's go get him." He firmly stated as he climbed up to the reins. "But first, I think someone else would like to save him too. Hi-yah!" He whipped the reins connected to Appa's horns, making him trudge through the tundra once more.

0-0

Back at the small Water Tribe compound, the two siblings formed a plan of their own to save their new found airbending friend, even getting the blessing from their grandmother to go and venture forth into the world. With all their supplies gathered and their mode of transport ready, it seemed like everything was set to go for their rescue plan; though there was one glaring problem.

"There's no way we're gonna catch a war ship with a canoe." Katara pointed out, bringing up a very valid and realistic point.

To their surprise, though, they wouldn't have to use the canoe as they heard a loud whistling come from behind them. The family trio all turned towards the sound and saw the white-haired teen riding Appa in the distance. They could see him waving at them as the bison made his way closer to the village.

With a delighted gasp, the young waterbender quickly ran over to the beast. Appa stopped moving when Katara met him and Hyou jumped from the head to the ground. "You came back! And you brought Appa!" She exclaimed.

The gray-coated traveler nodded as he responded, "Well, I figured you'd want a ride to rescue Aang." He said as Sokka and Gran-Gran walked over to join the two.

"Oh great, you just love taking me out of my comfort zone, don't ya?" The dark-skinned warrior sighed as he pieced together the new plan.

"Come on, Sokka." His little sister pleaded, "This is the only way we'll be able to catch the ship."

"Yeah Sokka, please?" Hyou added teasingly, earning him an annoyed glare from the Water Tribesman.

With a defeated sigh, Sokka agreed to go along with the uncomfortable plan, "Fine, fine. We'll just forget all about the thought of riding a giant animal without its' master." He sarcastically stated.

With sarcasm completely lost to her, Katara beamed as she gave her brother a hug, leaving Gran-Gran to smile warmly at the sight. "Thanks Sokka, you're the best!" She said before letting go, "Come on, help me get the stuff from the canoe." Sokka only let out an annoyed grunt as he did what the waterbender said.

When the two siblings left, only Hyou and the village elder stayed by Appa. "Young man." Gran-Gran said, gaining the teens' attention.

"Yes, Nushi?" He asked, coming face to face with the old woman, his eyes meeting hers as she seemed to examine him.

"I don't know where your destiny leads, but I sense a great power within you." She explained, leaving the young foreigner a bit confused. "I have no place to ask you, but if you could watch over my grandchildren on their journey, I would be forever grateful. I know they will be safe if you accompany them."

Hyou was a bit surprised by the request given to him. I mean he didn't owe her anything, technically, but when he first entered the village, she was nothing but polite and offered to help him. So it would only be proper to reciprocate. "You don't have to worry." He said reassuringly as he over to her grandchildren, who were now running back toward them with their supplies, "I'll be sure to keep them safe."

Gran-Gran only gave him a very gentle smile at his words.

0-0

Fire Prince Zuko couldn't have been happier. After so many years of wandering the world in search for the Avatar, luck had finally thrown him a bone and granted his wish. With the Avatar now in captivity, the young prince only had to relax as they headed back to the Fire Nation, the place he had called home so many years ago.

But before he retire to his quarters, he decided to address the bald monk he had captured as the war ship cut through the ice packed waters with ease. He, along with his uncle and a couple of guards, stood on the ship's prow as Aang, hands bound behind him, stood and faced his captors. "This staff will make an excellent gift for my father. I suppose you wouldn't know of fathers, being raised by monks." The scarred prince said as he analyzed the airbender's staff, silently admiring the craftsmanship of such an ancient and well preserved weapon. "Take the Avatar to the prison hold. And take this to my quarters." Zuko barked the orders to his men, the last order being directed towards the old man accompanying him as he shoved the staff into his hands.

Taking the staff as his nephew walked away, the old man immediately turned to one of the guards around him. "Hey, you mind taking this to his quarters for me?" The uncle asked as he lazily handed the item to the guard.

The guard took the staff as Aang was escorted down some stairs into the ship. Once down there, two guards continued making their way down a narrow hallway lined with metal doors.

"So... I guess you never fought an airbender before." The young monk said, making pleasant conversation with his captors. "I bet I can take you both on with my hands tied behind my back."

"Silence!" The guard in front of him ordered, quickly quieting the boy. They soon stopped in front of a door, and one of the guards moved to open it with a key. As he did so, Aang drew a great breath and blew the guard with the key into the door, knocking him out. The breath also propelled him backwards and into the guard behind him. Both airbender and unsuspecting passenger were blown all the way back down the hallway, resulting on both crashing into the stairs they came down on. The other guard was also knocked out since Aang used him to cushion his own impact.

With both guards out cold, Aang had the perfect opportunity to escape, and that's exactly what he did, by airbending himself back up onto the deck and sprinted towards the main hull of the ship. Airbending the door at the end of the deck open, he entered the ship and ran down one of the halls. As the Avatar showed his skills, one of the guards that were knocked out in the prison hold emerged and shouted up to a guard on the bridge deck.

"The Avatar has escaped!" He shouted, sending the other guard on high alert as he ran to inform the rest of the crew.

0-0

The rescue plan wasn't going as well as the trio had hoped. In fact, they were pretty the distance to the ship was only getting larger as Appa floated a snails pace through the iceberg-laden waters. As they floated along, Hyou was holding the reins of the bison with Katara next to him, while Sokka was sitting on his back in the saddle.

"Go. Fly. Soar." The enthused wolf-tailed warrior drearily deadpanned, trying to get the beast to speed up.

The two pilots shot him a dirty look before turning their attention to their trusted ride. "Are you sure this big fella can fly?" Hyou asked the young waterbender.

"Aang said he could, so he has to be able to." She reassured him, "At least, I hope so." She added, a little less assuredly. With the movement speed still the same as before, Katara tried pleading with the sky bison. "Please, Appa, we need your help. Aang needs your help." She said.

"Up. Ascend. Elevate." Sokka kept listing words he knew that were synonymous to flying, but so far nothing worked.

"You know, you're not helping at all." The white-haired teen shouted back to his bored counterpart. Sokka only stuck his tongue out at him to retort.

"Sokka doesn't believe you can fly, but we do, Appa." The dark-skinned brunette then leaned down and began rubbing his white fur. "Come on. Don't you wanna save Aang?" She asked coaxingly.

Appa groaned as if to agree, but didn't speed up or fly.

"Spirits, this is hopeless!" Hyou cried as he tried whipping the reins again. "Isn't there some way to get him going?"

The bored teen in the back sighed as he scratched the back of his head, "What was it that kid said? Yee-ha? Hup-hup? Wahoo? Uh... yip yip?"

On the last response, Appa rumbled again and flapped his massive beaver tail. As a result, he began hopping along the surface of the water as he picked up speed. Finally, with a mighty heave, he took off into the sky.

"Now this is something I've never seen before!" Hyou cheered now that they were soaring through the skies.

"You did it Sokka!" Katara ecstatically exclaimed as she turned to face her brother, who was eagerly moving about the saddle.

"He's flying! He's flying!" The cheery teen cried happily, "Guys, he's-" He cut himself off when he looked towards the head of the bison and saw his sister and the traveler smirking at him smugly. "I mean... big deal, he's flying." He quickly stated, nonchalantly.

0-0

Aang was almost literally running circles around the entire ship. Even with his hands still bound behind him, his airbending wasn't hindered in the slightest, allowing him to sprint through the halls of the war ship easily.

Though, just as he passed through another corridor, he came across three Fire Nation soldiers blocking his way, weapons drawn and ready to attack.

"You haven't seen my staff around, have you?" Aang asked through heavy breathing. The guards didn't respond, they only moved to seize the young boy, but were caught off guard when he ran forward and up and around them by running along the walls and ceiling in corkscrew circles. "Thanks anyway!" The airbender called back as he ran past, leaving the guards completely stunned by the act.

Still in search for his staff, Aang ran into another hallway, this time blocked by a single guard. The soldier blasted a fireball at him, but he avoided it by launching himself over the guards' head. Just as he flipped over the lone guard, Aang was able to cut his wrist bonds by catching them on the horn of the guard's helmet. The bonds broke and the guard was thrown off balance and onto the ground.

With his hands now free, Aang ran off down yet another hallway, opening random doors that he passed by hoping to get lucky with one of them. The last door he opened, though, contained the uncle of the prince, snoring away in his cot without a care in the world.

"Sorry..." The young boy whispered as he closed the door softly, hoping he didn't disturb the old man's rest.

He then ran by another open door, stopped and turned back to look inside. "My staff!" Aang cheered as he entered to retrieve his prize. But just as he entered, the door shut behind him. Looking back, the bald monk saw Zuko standing in front of it, blocking his only exit.

"Looks like I underestimated you." The scarred prince said, almost impressed at the child's abilities. Aang didn't say anything, only staring at the firebender before having to dodge some blasts sent his way.

Terrified and gasping for breath, the young Avatar continued his dodging of the attacks, even rolling underneath his attacker to get behind him. By staying behind him, Zuko was unable to hit him with any fire strikes. However, the prince was able to get one attack in by sweeping a leg behind him, causing Aang to back up a bit, allowing the prince to face the airbender again and blast him with more fire.

The escape artist was able to dissipate each fireball with a small air ball he formed with his hands, but he really wanted to get out as fast as he could before he slipped up and got burned. So Aang then created a larger ball of air and rode that around the walls and ceiling of the room, all the time getting licked by the bouts of flame the Fire Nation royal unleashed at him.

Jumping off the airball, Aang then grabbed a tapestry off the wall. He wrapped Zuko up in it as he passed. While the scarred teen struggled against his bindings, Aang grabbed his staff and readied himself to defend himself. Just in time too, as the prince burned his bonds and squared off against the boy. They circled each other in silence, positioning Zuko just enough to get him next to a mattress that laid on the ground.

Thinking quickly, Aang airbent the mattress up off the floor and slammed it into his opponent. The makeshift weapon propelled Zuko into the opposite wall where he smashed into it and fell onto the ground, landing on the mattress. Aang then airbent the mattress up to the ceiling, smashing the prince against that as well before falling back down to the ground.

With a pain groan, the member of royalty looked up from the mattress and saw that the room was empty; the Avatar had managed to escape.

0-0

Inside the bridge of the ship, the deck hatch opened up to permit Aang entrance. Looking around, he saw the pilot of the vessel at the helm, guiding the ship through the waters. It didn't look like he noticed Aang was there, so taking the opportunity, the boy rushed forward out on to the bridge's observation deck. He opened his glider, threw it into the air and jumped after it. With a happy expression on his face, he managed to catch it and finally make his escape. Unfortunately for him, though, Zuko had been in hot pursuit since he left his room and had jumped after him.

With a fierce cry of desperation, he grabbed Aang's foot. The added weight was too much for the glider and both came crashing down onto the ship's deck. Quickly standing up, both firebender and airbender squared off again. Aang's look of trepidation was tempered when he heard a loud bestial roar come from behind him. Turning over his left shoulder and saw Appa in the sky, gaining on the ship.

"What is that?" Zuko asked in complete bewilderment. He probably couldn't believe his own eyes when he saw the sight of a giant bison flying.

"Appa!" Aang cheered. However, he had to go back on the defensive as he turned just in time to use his staff to block a fire blast from the irate prince.

He twirled his staff in front of him to dissipate the blasts, just as he did when Zuko attacked the village. But the blasts increased in intensity and pushed him back to the edge of the deck, almost causing him to fall overboard. He regained his balance and blocked three more fireballs before his staff was knocked away from him. He dodged a few more blasts, but one lucky blast from the scarred royal struck his face, causing his consciousness to fade. This left the Avatar to fall back over the edge and towards the water.

Hyou, Katara, and Sokka could only watch in horror as their young friend disappeared into the icy depths. "Aang! NO!" The waterbender cried hysterically, on the verge of tears. "Aang! Aang! AANG!" She kept calling out, hoping her words would reach him.

Whipping the reins the their bison friend, Hyou wanted to get lower to the surface of the water. Maybe it wasn't too late. If they hurried, he could dive down and bring him back up before he froze. It wouldn't matter how cold the water was, the white-haired teen would risk it to bring him back.

However, it looked as though Katara's words reached the Avatar as before Appa could get closer to the ship, a monstrous, inverted tornado of water broke the surface and towered high over the bridge. At the top of the swirling maelstrom of water was Aang, no worse for wear, but his eyes and tattoo's were glowing white.

Zuko could looked up at the swirling column of water and the Avatar at the pinnacle with dismay and fear. The trio of rescuers stared in awe at the sight.

Aang landed on the deck, his eyes still aglow, and bent the water from the column around him in a circle. He released it, causing it to expand outward in a shockwave that blasted Zuko and his men overboard.

"Did you see what he just did?" The female waterbender asked incredulously. She, along with the two boys with her stared in absolute astonishment at the level of mastery the child had performed. In their amazed daze, they could only nod in agreement.

Back on the foredeck, Aang's body gave out from the huge energy expenditure, dropping him to his knees. He then fell over onto the deck as the white energy faded from his eyes and tattoos. A moment later, Appa made his landing on the ship and the three teens jumped off to check up on him.

"Aang! Are you okay?" Katara asked as she knelt down and rested the boy against her, Hyou and Sokka on either side of them.

When he opened his eyes, his vision was a bit blurry. But as it focused, Aang saw the three worried faces surrounding him. "Hey, guys." He greeted weakly, definitely drained from the state was was previously in. "Thanks for coming."

"We're just glad your safe." The gray-coated teen gave the prone boy a smile.

"And I mean, hey, I couldn't let you have all the glory." The wolf-tailed warrior smirked, earning him a bored side glance from the other male teen.

Aang looked around him for a bit and noticed his personal weapon of choice was on the other side of the deck. "I dropped my staff." He said, weakly pointing in the direction of said item.

"Got it!" Sokka exclaimed as he quickly stood up and ran over to it. As he picked it up, the dark-skinned Water Tribesman was shocked to see that Zuko was holding onto the other end of it, having grabbed onto it to save him from falling into the water when Aang blasted him with his waterbending. As he tried pulling himself back up on deck, Sokka butted the prince in the head with the staff three times, mirroring the same action Zuko did to him in the village. The prince finally let go and began falling to the water below, but grabbed the anchor chain in time, stopping his fall. "Ha! That's from the Water Tribe!" He called out triumphantly down to the teen before turning around.

As Sokka was returning with the staff, more guards stormed the deck from inside the ship, all weapons drawn and ready to fight. This definitely caught the groups attention as Hyou looked over with wide eyes. "Uh... Time to go!" He stated as he helped the weary monk off the ground and threw him over his shoulder, with Katara following close behind. When they got to Appa, the foreigner and Water Tribeswoman glanced back and saw the guards quickly approaching.

Hyou moved to climb up the head of the bison while Katara picked up a stream of water from the deck to defend them. At the sight of the waterbending, the guards pulled back slightly in fear, but it was soon quelled when the inexperienced waterbender whipped the stream of water behind her, creating a frozen path of ice that even froze the water around her brother's feet, causing him to drop the staff.

"Katara!" He whined at his sister before he started chipping away at the ice with his boomerang. After placing Aang safely on Appa, Hyou jumped off the beast and ran back to help.

Thinking quickly, the dark-haired girl turned around and mimicked her movements. This time when she threw the water behind her, it hit the guards that were mere inches from her, freezing them in a thin sheet of ice. She was a bit surprised at that fact, but quickly gathered herself and climbed back up on Appa. "Hurry up, guys!" She called out to the two teens in the back.

Sokka let out an annoyed grunt as he continued chipping away at the ice. "I'm just a guy with a boomerang," He whined to himself, "I didn't ask for all this flying and magic." He managed to get his left foot free and began working on the other.

"Stop complaining and hurry up." Hyou said as he reached the trapped teen. Grabbing Aang's staff off the deck, he twirled it around quickly and brought it down against the ice around Sokka's right foot. The ice shattered and fully freed the young warrior. "Let's go!" Both teens were off in a heartbeat.

"Yip yip! Yip yip!" Sokka shouted as he and the white-haired teen ran up Appa's tail and jumped into the saddle. Once they were aboard, the giant flying bison let out a growl and made his ascent.

As Appa made his exit, Zuko's uncle emerged onto the deck after his nap, looking up to the sky. "Huh?" The old man rubbed his eyes as he watched what the flying animal get further and further away. He then scanned the deck and saw the aftermath of the fight before stopping at his nephew climbing up the side of the ship. He made his way over to him and helped him back up.

"Shoot them down!" The aggravated prince ordered once safely back on the ship.

As Appa gained altitude, Zuko and his uncle, in unison, launched a massive bolt of fire at him.

"Hold tight!" Hyou shouted, bracing himself with his hands held out in front of him, Katara and Sokka looking at the approaching fireball in horror. But before the massive blast could reach them, Aang jumped to the back of the saddle and, using his staff, airbent a gale that sent the fireball away from them and into a nearby ice cliff.

The fireball exploded, releasing a huge amount of ice from the cliff wall which fell into the narrow channel that Zuko's ship was navigating. Zuko gasped in horror as the bow of his ship, as well as the entire channel, was blocked up under the avalanche. The gang on the bison all laughed triumphantly as the made their getaway.

"Good news for the Fire Lord." Zuko's uncle said as he looked at the damage. "The nation's greatest threat is just a little kid."

"That kid, Uncle, just did this." The prince motioned to the large amount of snow that buried the ship. "I won't underestimate him again. Dig this ship out and follow them!" He ordered the remaining guards, but quickly found them preoccupied with using their firebending to thaw out their frozen compatriots. "As soon as you're done with that." He added.

0-0

The sunset in the distance signaled the end of the day, and what a day it was for the group. With Appa safely flying through the skies, the children were all seated in the saddle, with Aang sitting cross legged on the bridge of the saddle. At least now they could get some rest and relax, but it seemed like none of them were tired at all from the events that transpired, especially not the energetic waterbender.

"How did you do that? With the water?" Katara eagerly asked the airbender. "It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen."

Unfortunately, it didn't seem like her enthusiasm rubbed off on him as Aang had a sad expression on his face. "I don't know. I just sort of... did it." He replied.

Silence washed over the group for a minute, the other three giving each other looks of confusion before Katara spoke again. "Why didn't you tell us you were the Avatar?" That was definitely the question on everyone's mind.

The sad expression on his face never left when he finally replied. "Because... I never wanted to be."

Overhead, a cloud passed by, momentarily blocking the fading sunlight. "It must've been tough learning that, huh?" Hyou asked, trying to give any sort of comfort he could. Aang closed his eyes as he nodded.

"But Aang, the world's been waiting for the Avatar to return and finally put an end to this war." The dark-skinned girl said.

"And how am I going to do that?"

"According to legend, you need to first master water, then earth, then fire, right?" She asked, earning her a look from Hyou at the last part.

"That's what the monks told me." Aang replied.

"Well, if we go to the North Pole, you can master waterbending." Katara explained.

This seemed to brighten the boy as he turned to look at the girl, "We can learn it together!" He said with a smile.

"Sounds like a great idea." The white-haired male added, "And I have to get to the North Pole to see the chief." He explained, getting a confirming nod from the waterbender.

"And Sokka, I'm sure you'll get to knock some firebender heads on the way." She said to her brother in hopes of persuading him of staying.

A genuinely happy smile stretched across the young warrior's face when he heard that, "I'd like that. I'd really like that." He said somewhat dreamily.

"Then we're in this together." Katara stated happily.

"All right, but before I learn waterbending, we have some serious business to attend to." Aang said as he produced a scroll from his robes and airbent himself over to the other three. Opening it, the scroll was revealed to be a map of the world.

"Where'd you get that?" Hyou asked as he moved closer to examine the map.

"From the ship." The monk replied with a smile on him face.

This caused the traveler to let out a slight chuckle, "Heh, I'm starting to like you already." He said as he looked back at the scroll.

"Okay, before we make it to the North Pole, we have to make a few stops." Aang explained as he pointed to three spots on the map, "Here, here, and here."

"What's there?" The young Tribeswoman asked as she pointed to one of the spots.

"Here we'll ride the hopping llamas." The happy child said, "Then waaaay over here we'll surf on the backs of giant koi fish. Then back over here we'll ride the hog-monkeys. They don't like people riding them, but that's what makes it fun!" As he explained, a look of annoyance made itself present on Sokka face while Hyou and Katara smiled at the boy's innocence.

For the first time in one hundred years, things were finally looking hopeful. With the Avatar's return the world was going to change. Though whether it be for better or for worse wasn't certain yet, but no matter what happened these four were locked together no matter the outcome. Whatever happened, they would be sure to work towards a brighter future.

---

"Long ago in a distant land,
I, Aku, the shape-shifting master of darkness,
Made you read this in my voice."

Author's Note:

Hey, here's an original idea; let's put someone in from the real world into the world of Avatar! (That's been done before, idiot!) Oh... how about a character that gets paired with Zuko, he's not that much of a character that gets paired enough with. (Shut up, DAX, you don't know just how awesome Zuko is!) Uh... okay then. How about an alternate world that takes place in high school? (NO!) Um... a story that takes place after the story but before Korra? (Okay, you're not even being serious with this, are you?) Nope! So let's go with the idea of having an original character inserted in the story from the beginning! I'm sure no one will get mad at that!

Hello you beautiful readers from Fanfiction and welcome to a new story. I decided to take a break from writing my other story, and I thought to myself; "How can I lower my quality of life and make me want to shove bricks into my throat." (Just kidding.) So here I am, writing a story about Avatar: The Last Airbender!

Naw, it's all just fun and games, really. For some reason I wanted to write something different for a change, so I decided to blast some Nujabes and wrote this in two days. I think it turned out alright, though I have some weird thoughts, so I can't really trust myself.

For those of you who don't know me, hello, it's nice to meet you and I hope you enjoyed the chapter and hope you stick around for more in the future. For those of you who do know me from my Teen Titans story, thank you for reading this, and I hope you're not mad for how long it's taking me to upload another chapter. I will not be making any promises, but it's coming soon, hopefully... maybe... probably. And I hope it'll be worth the wait. Thank you for your patience and I want you to know I appreciate all of you.

So again, thank you all for the time you spent reading this. If you like it, great! Thank you for the support. If you hated it, great! Thanks for reading the chapter, you're not getting that time back. Leave a review if you want to, and if you have any questions or suggestions, PM me, I love hearing your thoughts.

Well, it's the end of the page, so I guess this is where we say goodbye.

Until we meet again, See You Space Cowboys.