Ch 2 the avatar returns

Lin watched as Aang played with the kids in the village, having a happy time. She decided not to tell Aang about the war, but rather let history run its course.

"We don't have time for games with the war going on." Sokka said.

"War? What war?" Aang asked.

"You're kidding, right?" Sokka asked.

Aang was about to ask when he noticed a penguin, and acted accordingly.

"Penguin!" he shouted, and ran after the fleeing animal at an inhumane speed with his airbending.

"He's kidding, right?" Sokka asked his sister.

"Doesn't look like it." Lin replied, and went after Aang.

Lin trailed after Katara as they went after Aang, and found him in a batch of penguin's. Aang attempted to catch one when Katara came to him.

"Now where's that fire nation ship?" Lin muttered, knowing how Zuko first found Aang. A flare was launched from a shored up warship, left over from the first raids.

The metal-bender walked past the herd of penguins, slid down a tunnel and approached the dilapidated warship.

"100 years." Lin muttered, walking inside the warship. She quickly found the armor, thanks to her seismic sense and picked out a Katana sword. She hid herself in the shadows and waited for Katara and Aang.

"I have friends all over the world. Including the fire nation." Aang said.

"How long have you been in the iceberg?" Katara asked.

"A few days, I think." Aang replied.

"Aang, you've been gone for 100 years." Katara said.

"What? Do I look like a 112-year-old man to you?" Aang asked.

"Think about it. The war has been going on for 100 years. The reason you don't know about it, is because you were gone that whole time." Katara said.

Aang sat down, hit hard by the news.

"100 years." Aang said.

"We need to leave." Lin said, approaching the two.

"How long were you here?" Katara asked.

"A few minutes. Chances are, the ship's rigged." Lin said.

Aang ignored Lin's advice and continued to walk thru the ship.

"Aang, we should leave." Katara said.

Aang walked on a trip wire, and a gate closed.

"What was that you said about it being rigged?" Aang sheepishly added.

"Great." Lin muttered, and looked across the bridge for an escape.

"Hold on tight." Aang said to Katara, and air jumped thru a hole in the ceiling. Lin followed by using her cables and escaping the same way.

"We need to move, right fucking now!" Lin said, and ran towards the village.

Lin braced herself for an icy welcome. All the adults, and Sokka, glared at the three of them as they came back to the village.

"I knew it. You're leading the fire navy towards us." Sokka said.

"Aang didn't do anything, it was an accident." Katara said.

"We were on the that ship and there was this booby trap, and we boobied right into it." Aang said.

"Aha. The traitor confesses! Warriors, away from the enemy. Those two are banned from our village." Sokka said.

"Sokka, you're making a mistake." Katara said.

"No. I'm keeping my promise to dad. I'm protecting you from threats like him." Sokka said.

"Sokka, why don't you think for a second? You're the only one in the village who can fight. Me and Aang can help when the fire navy arrives." Lin said, trying to reason with Sokka.

"No. I was suspicious of you from the beginning. You're leaving as well." Sokka said.

"Pray that it's a quick and painless death. The fire nation isn't known for mercy." Lin reminded, and walked towards Appa.

"I'm leaving too." Katara said, and grabbed Aang.

"Where are you going?" Sokka asked.

"To find a waterbender! Aang is taking me to the north pole!" Katara said.

"I am? Great!" Aang said, not fully grasping the situation.

"Aang, you don't understand what you're doing." Lin said.

"Katara, are you going with him? Over your own family?" Sokka asked.

"Katara, I don't want to get between you and your family." Aang said.

Lin shook her head, knowing full well that Sokka didn't stand a chance against Zuko. But they had to leave. If they stayed in defiance, that would only prove Sokka correct in his assumptions.

"Well, there goes that." Aang said, as they rested in the ice.

Lin approached Aang and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry. You'll see them real soon." Lin said.

"How can you be sure?" Aang asked.

"Lucky guess." Lin sarcastically, pointing to Zuko's ship approaching the village.

"Wait here, Appa." Aang said, and went to the village, followed by Lin. The two ran towards the village, when Aang took a detour.

"Where the hell are you going?" Lin asked, running after him.

"Just go. I'll catch up!" Aang said, searching for a penguin.

Lin walked up a snow bank and watched as Zuko mops the floor with Sokka.

"Dumbass." Lin said, and brandished her knives.

Lin slid down the opposite side of the snow bank and ran towards Zuko and his soldiers, intent on fighting them. Out of the blue, Aang outran Lin on a penguin and knocked Zuko off balance. Approaching the soldiers, Lin used her metalbending on the soldier's armor and threw them back inside the ship.

"Looking for me?" Aang asked, facing Zuko.

"You're the avatar?" Zuko asked.

"No way." Sokka said.

Zuko and Aang faced each other and exchanged words.

"I've spent years preparing for this. Training, meditating. You're just a child!" Zuko said.

"Well, you're just a teenager." Aang replied.

Zuko didn't take kindly to that, and threw fire balls at Aang. Aang twirls his staff in front of him to dissipate the blasts, but the flames still reach the villagers. Aang notices and stops the fight.

"If I go with you, will you promise to leave everyone alone?" Aang asked.

Zuko stiffly nodded, and his soldiers grabbed Aang and hauled him into the ship.

"Set a course for the fire nation. We're going home." Zuko said.

The villagers watched as the avatar was taken away.

"We're going after him?" Lin asked Sokka.

"We're going after him." Sokka replied.

The next morning, the two were loading supplies in a canoe. To be more accurate, Sokka was putting supplies in a canoe, and Lin would take them towards Appa.

"Hey, what happened to all of our stuff?" Sokka asked, seeing the empty canoe.

"We can't catch up on a canoe." Lin said.

"Then where is the stuff?" Sokka asked, then saw Appa approach them.

"Lovely." Sokka muttered.

Sokka, Lin, and Katara got on Appa and went after Zuko's ship. And it was slow going at first. Appa just swam through the water.

"Go. Fly. Soar." Sokka dryly said.

"Please, Appa. We need your help. Aang needs your help."

"Up. Ascend. Elevate." Sokka said.

"Sokka doesn't believe you can fly. But I do. Come on, don't you want to save Aang?" Katara coaxed.

"What was it that kid said? Yee-ha, Hup hup? Yip-yip?" Sokka said.

Appa responds to the last command and lifts into the air.

"Holy shit! He's flying!" Sokka exclaimed.

Lin only chuckles in response, and looks down to find Zuko's ship.

"Get me close to the ship. I'll take care of the rest." Lin said.

Approaching Zuko's ship, Lin drops from the bison and lands on the deck of the warship.

"Aang, run for it!" Lin shouts, and shoots a cable from her arm and wraps it around Zuko. Zuko looks in alarm at Lin, and his thrown against the hull of the ship, knocking himself out.

More fire nation soldiers appear, and start shooting fireballs at Aang. Aang lost his staff in the fight, and the next wave of fireballs knocked him over the ship.

Lin runs forward and causes a ripple to occur on the deck of the ship, knocking the firebenders off balance.

Aang reappears on the top of a whirlpool. Aang lands on the ship, the maelstrom of water still surrounding him. Moving his arms, Aang throws the water at the firebenders and knocked them off the ship.

"Now that, was some waterbending." Sokka said.

Lin held Aang in her arms as he exited the avatar state, drained of his energy and strength.

"Hey guys. Thanks for coming after me." Aang said.

"You're welcome." Lin said, and ran up Appa's tail and into the saddle.

Fire nation soldiers approach the water tribe siblings, and Katara attempts to fight them with her waterbending. But she encases Sokka's feet in ice, instead.

"I'm just a guy with a boomerang. I didn't ask for all this flying, and magic." Sokka said to himself, as he chipped away at the ice with his boomerang. Sokka frees himself from the ice and runs on Appa.

"Yip yip. Yip yip!" Sokka shouts, and Appa leave the fire nation ship.

"Shoot them down!" Zuko shouts, waking up from unconsciousness.

Zuko and Iroh fire a large fireball at the fleeing bison, but Aang swings his staff and airbends a gale that knocks the fireball into the ice cliff. The results is ice and snow falls onto the cruiser, and pins it into place.

"Thank for the save." Lin said.

As they fly into the night, Katara talks to Aang.

"How'd you do that? That was amazing!" Katara said.

"I just did it." Aang said.

"Why didn't you tell us you were the avatar?" Katara asked.

"Because… I never wanted to be." Aang softly said, almost ashamed to admit it.

"Aang, the world's been waiting for the avatar to return and put an end to the war." Katara said.

"And how am I going to do that?" Aang asked.
"You need to learn the remaining elements. Water, earth, and fire. I can teach you some earthbending, but you need to learn water first." Lin said.

"Thanks. I appreciate it." Aang said.

"Me and you can learn waterbending together." Katara said.

"Good luck with that." Lin said, knowing from history the northern tribe's sexist views.

"Alright. Before we start training, we have some serious business to attend to. Here, here, and here." Aang said, pointing on a map.

"What's there?" Katara asked.
"Here we'll ride the hopping llamas. 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!" Aang said.