Avatar: The Last Airbender

The Avatar Guardians

Water, Earth, Fire, Air. Long ago the four nations lived together in harmony, and then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar; master of all four elements could stop them, but when the world needed him the most, he vanished. A hundred years have passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar, an airbender named Aang. And although his airbending skill is great, he has a lot to learn before he is ready to save anyone. But I believe Aang can save the world.

~ Katara, Waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe

Chapter 1: Not Every Day is Perfect

      It was early morning on a coastline of an Earth Kingdom island, which was not much bigger than Kyoshi. Clouds covered most of the sun, but the wind kept them moving briskly along allowing the sun's rays to burst forward in small beams of dazzling light. The ever going trip had been peaceful for the time being, and the small gang took the opportunity to sleep on solid ground. Small waves broke against the shore in a melodious tone that held the peace and serenity of the new day.

      Katara woke as a ray of the morning sun gently swept across her face. She slowly opened her eyes and took in a breath of the cool morning air. Katara slowly sat up and surveyed their campsite. The fire from last night was still smoked a little, and Momo slept on a rock near the dead flames. The air was still cold, and rain clouds hovered in the sky. Momo scratched his ears and assumed another cat-like position as he slept. Katara stood and stretched with a sigh. Aang lay snoring in Appa's fur, while the large bison out snored Aang by decibels. Toph slept in a small rock tent that she had created the night before. Katara smiled as she watched her friends sleep, it was the only time everything was quiet. The young girl shivered in the morning cold as it penetrated her thin robes. She rubbed her arms to ward off the morning chills. Katara went to get the water bucket, but decided to tell Sokka where she was going first so he wouldn't worry.

      Katara was about to wake her older brother when he woke with a scream.

      "NO!" he shouted waking, his eyes practically bulging out of his head, "Food eats people!" Katara jumped back with a small shriek and raised her right eyebrow at her brother's sudden antics. Sokka blinked a moment reorienting himself.

      "Oh, sorry about that," Sokka said looking sheepishly at his sister with a wide grin on his face.

      Katara rolled her eyes, smiled and took the small bucket that was lying by the fire and headed into the nearby forest to a spring the group had found yesterday.

      She walked slowly through the small forest listening to all the morning noises of birds chirping and squirrel-munks scampering about. The breeze rustled through the branches and tugged at her robes. The young teen came upon the small spring and took a deep breath of fresh air. The small bubbling pool greeted her in the dim forest. Walking to the waters edge Katara dipped her hands in the cool liquid. Gently washing her face, she dried of with the hem of her robes. The water sparkled in her eyes as blue as the noon sky. Katara took a stance and easily pulled a strand of water from the pond and bent it into the bucket. Katara was about to leave with her water when she heard several gruff voices. She quickly but quietly went to investigate. Silently peering through some underbrush Katara saw several Fire Nation soldiers arguing amongst themselves.

      "Why are we waiting out here?" one complained.

One of the other soldiers looked at him with an incredibly annoyed look. "So when Princess Azula comes through to attack the Avatar, they can't escape into the woods because we'll be waiting to ambush them," explained the other.

      "Oh, when will they be coming through?"

      The other threw down his spear and began ranting at his partner.

      The girl's eyes widened in horror as the information sank in. Quickly slipping from the brush, Katara took off back down the path, she had to warn everyone. The bucket was released from her grasp in effort to produce every ounce of speed. She ran through the woods, small woodland creatures scurrying to get out of her path. Branches and brush grabbed at her robes and scratched at her face and arms. Clearing the forest Katara was about to shout for her friends when a small explosion erupted in front of her. She was too late.

      The small clearing was ablaze in battle. Princess Azula and her followers along with a band of firebenders and soldiers had already started the battle. Aang fought Azula and the occasional soldier. May and Ty-Lee where sitting on the ramp of the large Fire Nation ship that had forced its way onto the beach. The two sat and laughed at the spectacle. Well, Ty-Lee did most of the laughing anyway. A firebender noticed Katara and turned to fire. The girl was ready far beyond the fire bender's expectations. As the bender unleashed his flame Katara rolled to the side and picked up her water skin that she purposely aimed for. Rolling to her feet, she lashed out with the semi-solid whip and cracked the firebender across the helmet dropping him like a fly.

      Toph slid forward and slammed her foot into the ground, firing her arm forward in a four-finger-spear she caused a spire of rock to explode out of the calm earth. The stone slammed into two soldiers hurtling them through the air to devastating ends against trees. Three spearmen charged the blind earthbender but where easily subdued by large stones being catapulted from their earthy homes, and sent crashing into the unfortunate men.

      Sokka parried a sword with his own, and then struck back with his fist. A burst of flame detonated near Sokka, who responded with a flick of the wrist; sending his boomerang spinning through the air. The firebender kept up the attack until the spinning blade caught him in the back of the head, sending him into the dirt.

      Aang was in a battle all his own, Princess Azula would not let up her attacks, and Aang was starting to get tired. He was sending blades and volleys of air at Azula but she dodged and persisted yet still. With a mighty swing of his staff, the young Avatar unleashed a powerful crescent wind that forced Azula to jump to the side or be knocked against the side of her own ship. Azula came up in a roll and fired a shot of the blue scorching flame.

      Katara lashed out at another soldier catching him on the leg and yanked him to the ground. A spearman charged the waterbender but was quickly dispatched as Katara expertly bent the water in fast lashing motions around herself using it as much as a shield as a weapon. Two firebenders came in from either side. Katara swung the whip so it lashed around herself, hugging her. As the enemy came in to attack, Katara spun and sent the whip out in a wide are that struck both firebenders in the face; knocking them both out simultaneously. Rolling the water into a ball, she prepared for the next opponent.

      Toph stared down two soldiers, sort of. Holding her arms straight out in front of her, fingers to the sky, she slid her foot against the ground causing a rumble. The young earthbender slid quickly to the side dodging a fire blast. Toph then quickly stepped forward and fired her hands into the gravel. A shockwave cracked the ground with her power and exploded beneath the attacking firebender. Using her abilities to grip the ground, she pulled two decent sized rocks from the ground as she stood back up. Seeing the vibrations caused by two firebenders, she hurled her rocks at them, hitting them square on the head although she couldn't tell that. Smiling at her own abilities, Toph raised her arms pulling stone from the earth and began to force it into a ball.

      With a defiant shout, Sokka struck another soldier with his meteor forged blade. A firebender then took it upon himself to get rid of the boy. He unleashed a jet of flame aimed for Sokka's head. With a slightly girly scream Sokka dodged the move and threw his boomerang from behind his back, clobbering the firebender in the side of the helmet. A spearman came from the side but pulled away a broken pole as the Water Tribe warrior swung his dangerous toy. The poor soldier didn't quite realize what had just happened; Sokka was on him in seconds.

      "I have you now Avatar," the vile princess hissed.

      "Not yet!" Aang chided as he jumped clearing the aimed fire blast quickly. Aang spun in a circle and rushed his hand forward in the 'eagle claw' hand position. Dust spun with him around his feet, as he pulled his staff in against his back for kick use. A concentrated blast of air was sent forth and forced Azula to dodge to the side.

      She was about to land perfectly when Aang snapped his bent legs. He spun in the other direction, pulling his staff from behind his back out to the front sending a slicing arc of air rushing across the ground. The blast of wind caught her foot the moment it was about to touch down, causing her to fall with a gasp into a sprawled out position. Aang leapt into the air and landed right in front of the prone princess. He pointed his staff at her face.

      "Tell your soldiers to back off now!"

      "I don't think so," she grinned. Azula quickly rolled to the side and up onto her feet. She snapped her fingers and small angry sparks flew up. The sound of chain and metal could be hear as the large spike on the front of the Fire Nation ship disconnected and began to fall. A large booming noise erupted as the front of the ship dropped open and slammed into the beach.

      The force from the front end hitting the beach ended the other sub-battles immediately, making everyone guard their faces from the flying sand. Steam erupted from the ships innards and into the cool morning air. A mix of whirring and clanking noises echoed from within the ship like an angry beast coming out of its cave, as the steam now slowly billowed forth.

      A large metal leg immerged through the opening followed by another. The flat metal feet slammed into the beach, maintaining the weight of what ever mechanical weapon was inside. The large creature revealed itself, showing off its large metal body. The main body appeared to be a ball with four legs sprouting from the bottom half of the weapon. The main body was split horizontally across the middle. The top half could swivel, allowing the fire bender inside to have a full range of fire.

      The Fire Nation insignia was painted on the middle of the underside, while a flag was connected to one of the pipes sticking form its head coughing out steam and coal smoke. The whistling of the gases form the pipes made a low humming noise that could probably be heard from quite a ways away.

      Aang's mouth hung open at the site of the mechanical weapon. Azula grinned and took the opportunity to kick Aang's staff from his hands. "You could have swallowed a bug doing that," She laughed as she caught his falling staff. The young Avatar quickly back flipped to make sure the witch wouldn't get a second attack.

      Katara pulled a soldier to his knees and then struck him across the helmet with her whip. The Fire Nation weapon had fully immerged from the ship and stood awaiting orders. The sight of the destructive metal goliath nearly made her drop her whip. Katara stepped back a little and stared at the huge monstrosity. Her crystal blue eyes scanned the thing looking for a weakness, but none were to be found. The machines body was almost completely covered with armor. The uncovered parts where the joints, which where built solidly.

      All the soldiers began to back away, they moved closer to the mech, away from Aang and his friends. The small group reorganized as Mai and Ty-lee joined Azula as the two teams stared on hard at each other. Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph faced off against Azula, Mai, Ty-Lee, and Azula's new weapon.

      "Get them!" Azula called to her new toy. The machine began to make metallic screeching sounds again. Steam poured out of several vent as it began to take large awkward steps towards Aang and his friends. Its walk was slightly abstract, but it walked with a threatening confidence as every step was sure and solid. Toph grinned. The machine was nothing more than a giant chunk of metal to be bent into a new, less dangerous, shape. The young earth bender ran at full speed

      "This thing has nothing against me!" Toph shouted confidently, referring to her ability to bend the metal with the force of her hands.

      Two crossbowmen spun out from behind trees and released the triggers of their large net guns. The thick rope nets whistled through the air and hit the unsuspecting earthbender from both sides. Toph fell to the ground, yelling at who ever was listening, as she struggled with the invisible net. Before she could retaliate much farther, a cord attached to the nets began reel her in. Toph was dragged against the ground before it pulled her up to its full height at the top of a crane mounted upon the deck of the Fire Nation Navy ship. An angry Toph was left dangling in the breeze. Her hair band was released from the shear force of the fishing line letting her long black hair to fall about her shoulders.

      "Help! Sokka, Aang, Help!" She called from her netting.

      "We'll be there in a second, Toph!" Aang called up to his earth bending teacher.

      The group looked on. The whole thing had happened in barely a few seconds; it made the rest of the team feel helpless as their friend had been so easily apprehended.

      Azula laughed, "I know all about you, you little pest. I know you can only see when you're on the ground, and I also know you can somehow bend metal. But up there, your nothing but a poor, defenseless, little blind girl." Azula's counterparts laughed along with her.

      "Let her go now!" Aang protested, stepping forward, the winds picking up from his anger.

      "Oh I don't think so, and besides you don't have your staff." The vile girl chided as she spun the stick around before handing it to one of her guards. "Get them now!" Azula yelled up to her loyal weapon.

      The huge metal monster replied, by igniting its engines and began to slowly walk towards the group of friends once again, minus one.

      "RUN!" Aang shouted quickly elevating a rock from the earth and launched it at the machine. The stone ricocheted off of the things steel armor, not even making a scratch. The hulking weapon's armor opened on the upper portion of the head. An orange glow followed by a noise that sounded as if something had just been spit out of a tube. A fireball exploded from the cannon and whistled towards the small team. It barely missed Sokka's head and exploded on the ground, sending ravaging sparks and flame in all directions. The group had already started to move, but now they had plenty of incentive. Sokka was just behind the others when something tangled around his legs. With a shout he fell to the ground.

      Katara turned around to help when she saw the source of Sokka's entanglement. A Fire Nation Soldier had lashed a weighted rope around Sokka's legs. Katara was just about to run at the soldier when the same suction noise was heard and a fireball was hurled at her. She barely had time to fall back. The ball hit barely a few feet from Katara, spraying her with sparks and heat. Aang ran to help her; "NO, we have to go back for him!" she shouted at Aang fighting his grasp.

      "There's no time, keep going!" Aang said trying to get his friend to safety. Katara got to her feet with Aang's help.

      Aang pulled the girl through the woods. Fire balls whistled through the air exploding into the ground. The pair ran through the forest trying to avoid the explosions caused by the chaotic flame. They ran from tree to tree not looking back to see the destruction that followed closely behind. Aang pulled the older girl along holding on to her hand. Aang barely cared for his own safety but the girl trailing behind him was very important to him.

      The clouds seemed to darken in an instant as an explosion from behind them split the pair apart. Aang rolled and got to his feat quickly. Katara hit the ground hard and rolled a few feet were she laid. The powerful noise was heard again and Aang could see a bright orange light fighting its way through the leaves. The young Airbender quickly jumped towards his fallen friend. He stood over her protectively and spun in a full circle to generate wind and by completing the circle Aang put his hands together creating a large shield of air. The light broke forth into a searing burning blast. The corrupted flame struck the shield but was dissipated. Katara slowly rose to her feat as Aang stood with his hands raised defensively.

      The machine exploded through the trees and stood in front of the two. Aang created a crescent shaped air blast and unleashed it towards the metal monster's legs. The thing buckled but didn't fall. Azula walked in under the machines' legs.

      "Just give up, you can't stop this thing, it has some of the best Fire Nation technology available." she coaxed to the pair.

      "Never! Now give us our friends back!" Aang shouted shifting into a left lunge stance.

      "I don't think so, but it doesn't matter, you'll join them soon."

      Aang came forward with his trailing leg and stomped forward. A large boulder erupted from the earth and Aang launched it towards Azula, but she was prepared for it and dodged aside. Katara took the advantage and lashed out at the Fire Princess with her water whip. But Azula stopped short and the whip missed. The vile teen launched a hefty shot of flame at the Water Bender. Katara whirled her water around to block but the flame evaporated the water in an explosion. The young water bender flew back and landed on her rear.

      The Avatar raised his hands calling more earth around him to levitate out of its home. A chain was fired from a small hatch on the under belly of the hulking weapon. The weighted end lashed out and rapped around Aang's outstretched hands. The young Avatar came out of concentration and the earth that was collecting fell back to ground. The chain reeled in the boy and left him to hang a few feet off the ground.

      "Katara, run!" he shouted to his friend. Katara looked up from getting off her bruised bottom. Her eyes widened as Azula dealt a nasty punch into Aang's stomach. The boy's eyes widened and he blacked out with a coughing noise. Katara screamed and ran towards her unconscious friend. The large weapons' leg quickly shot forward with a large clanking boom and hit Katara full force. Her small body was sent soaring through the air and hit a tree with gasp and slid to the ground in a slump.

      Katara's world was black until a crashing noise brought her to her senses, mostly. She slowly opened her eyes. Her vision was still blurred, but she could hear crashing sounds from within the trees and was getting closer. Her head began to clear and she could see Fire Nation soldiers smashing through the undergrowth. She tried getting back on her feet when a powerful shooting pain shot through her right shoulder. With a small moan she sat back down. She looked down at her pained shoulder to see her thin robes stained crimson. She gently touched to find it was still bleeding. Katara stood up more carefully to survey her surroundings. Her water skin was punctured; completely useless. The Fire Nation soldiers where getting closer, they would be upon her within minutes.

      She began to run, she had to find Aang. She quietly sprang through the undergrowth trying not to move her arm to much. The young girl finally came upon their old campsite. The mechanical fiend was still active and slowly moving around. She saw that Sokka was in a metal cage while Toph was still hanging in her prison of netting. The waterbender soon saw Aang; in chains. He was being put onto the ship along with an immobilized Appa. Katara knew she had to act fast. She sprang from her hiding place and into the clearing. Calling water from the nearby shore; she encased the lower legs of the mechanical monster in sheaths of ice. Soldiers immediately took notice and charged. But Katara had the whole ocean to play with. A few spinning movements brought a wave crashing into the opposing Fire Nation warriors.

      Katara's movements where slowed because of her shoulder but she had to fight through it, for the sake of her friends. Azula soon came up from below deck to see the commotion. See peered down upon the little waterbending peasant and her anger was renewed. She leaped down in front of Katara with a shout and a sneer. Katara jumped back in surprise, but brought her hands up to defend. She winced as her injured shoulder shot more heated pain into her nerves. Azula smiled as she saw the younger girl's distress. The vile princess leashed a long thin flame directly at Katara's injured shoulder. Katara brought a shield of water up into the path of the blast in time to save herself. Azula fire three more similar blasts. Katara caught on to Azula's plan of attack. She quickly brought another shield into play, but her shoulder pained her again. She cringed and dropped to one knee.

      A slight rain began to fall as the clouds darkened farther.

      Azula laughed at Katara's attempt to save her friends.

      "You really are worthless, aren't you?" she laughed, "You came to save your friends, but you can seem to even stay on your feet. You are a waterbender, you're weak. You don't even deserve my patience."

      With that final statement, Azula let loose a burst of flame that mushroomed. The blast wasn't intended to kill just injure, and it worked. Katara cursed as she was caught off guard and raised her arms as fast as she could to try and take the blow. The burst hit her and knocked her over. Azula motioned to some of her Firebender Guards and walked back into the ship. Katara struggled to get onto her hands and knees. She looked up at the guards with a horribly pained face; her eyes welling with tears.

      The rain began to fall heavier.

      It was a cold sad rain.

      One of the guards raised his hand to fire at her when Aang's voice echoed through her head from before when she tried to help Sokka; "There's no time, run!"

      And with that Katara used every last bit of energy she had left and sprang up to her feet and took off into the woods. Azula was on the ship watching the girl run.

      "She will come back, she will bring help, and then we will take her and anyone who helps her for treason to the Fire Lord" she said answering her captain's question.

      "Oh, she will come back" Azula laughed a wicked, horrible, cackling laugh.