Hey guys! I just wanted to start by saying thanks to all of the wonderful reviews I've been getting as of late. A special thanks to all of those he read the author's note and answered the questions for me. I think I know what I'm going to do, it's so evil, you might love me or you might hate me! But regardless, it's gonna be good. Just got to wait a few more chapters until I get to the North Pole!

Everyone who reviewed, once you are done with this chapter, I have written each of you replies to your reviews at the bottom as I always do. You guys really push me to put out chapters more often. So thanks and keep reviewing!

BTW: I wrote most of this chapter on the notes app on my iphone during the SuperBowl and then copied and pasted it to fanfiction mobile. This is the last time I'll do that. Lol So there might be some errors in this chapter. They do need to add Bold and Italisized to the iphones keyboard; thank God fanfiction has those things.

Onto the next chapter!

The town appeared to be in the middle of a celebration. Though the cloaks that Toph and Aang were wearing protected their identities, it made them stick out like a sore thumb to the rest of the crowd. "I think we should get some masks Toph."

Toph was confused: "Why? I thought the cloak would hide us pretty good."

"Well, usually it would, but everyone is wearing masks."

Just when Aang was about to begin his search for a mask for both Toph and himself, a salesman walked up to him, offering two for a small price.

Once the masks where purchased, he and Toph were able to easily blend into the still growing crowd of people.

"I wonder what all of these people are celebrating about?" Toph wondered aloud.

"How do you guys not know? It's the Fire Days festival. All Fire Benders from the colonies come to celebrate and show off their talents" The man looked genuinely surprised by their lack of knowledge of the event.

Aang quickly tried to cover for them: "Oh, it's that festival. I can't believe I forgot the name!"

Though he looked and sounded like a complete idiot, the man accepted his answer and moved on, shaking his head.

Toph just rolled her eyes: "You gotta be a little more careful there Twinkletoes, you have to think on your feet a little more."

Aang looked shocked: "You're gonna blame me? I wasn't the one who questioned why all these people are here, I'M not even that stupid."

Now Toph was mad: "You are so lucky that we are in a Fire Nation town right now, otherwise I would have crushed you a long time ago."

Aang gave her his trademark smile: "Oh come on Toph, we are at a festival, let's have a little fun before you kill me"

Toph smirked at him for his slight sarcasm: "Fair enough Twinkletoes. But I'm starved!"

Aang groaned outwardly: "You are so like Sokka."

"You keep comparing me to some guy that I've never met, stop doing that!"

Aang rubbed his neck: "Sorry Toph."

After Aang bought Toph some fire flakes, which she consequently hated, they began to walk through to some of the attraction. Aang watched a small puppet show, which displayed the Fire Lord burning an Earth Kingdom soldier for questioning him. Aang was disgusted, to say the least.

As Aang was about to call it quits for the night, he noticed another performance was about to start in a few minutes. "Hey Toph, can we watch this last performance, it looks like it'll have a fire bender in it."

"Whatever" Toph huffed. She clearly wanted to get back to camp soon.

As Aang and Toph pushed to the front of the growing crowd, the performer stepped onto the stage: "To close off the Fire Day Festival, I have one last performance for you!" At this, the crowd cheered, including Aang.

"Before I start, I'll need a helper!" The performer said.

By this time, almost everyone in the crowd was raising their hands, except Toph.

The man noticed this and pointed straight to her: "How about you little lady."

Since she was blind she didn't notice him pointing to her, but when she fault people begin to lift her up onto the stage, she called out to Aang: "Don't worry Toph; I won't let anything happen to you!" Aang yelled over the noise of the crowd. This didn't quell Toph though, she never wanted to admit it, but she was afraid of fire, especially with no earth to feel around her.

"For my last performance, I will tame a dragon against my damsel in distress." He blindfolded her, but Toph found it largely unnecessary since she couldn't see anyway.

To Aang's amazement, the performer began to form a large fire dragon, creating a whip in his other hand to lasso it with. "I can't control it much longer" The performer said before the small whip disintegrated; allowing the dragon to move straight towards the unprotected Toph. Aang thought fast, jumping onto the stage in between Toph and the dragon. Taking his stance, Aang airbended the dragon away, but to his surprise, it turned into confetti.

Everyone cheered at this, that is, until someone in the crowd pointed Aang out as the Avatar. Aang quickly untied Toph and tried to lead her off the stage. It was at this point that two small explosives went off around them. Aang instinctively shielded Toph from the blast, though he was injured, he began to lead Toph into an alley.

Fire Nation soldiers were giving chase to them. Aang blew hard on his bison whistle, but just before he was going to jump onto Appa, a smoke bomb exploded nearby. For a split second, he lost his grip on Toph: "Toph!" Aang yelled.

Just as he was about to blow the air away from around him; he found himself quickly grabbed and flung into the air and onto his bison. A mysterious man seemed to be the cause of the bombs, Aang figured as he took a few more bombs, set them off, and threw them into a nearby fireworks bundle; effectively covering their escape.

When they were out of immediate danger, Aang turned towards the cloaked man. Before he could begin to ask questions, the man spoke: "Hi, my name is Chey. I'm sorry for the danger I put you in, I never intended to hurt the Avatar." Chey noticed a little blood staining through his clothes.

Aang shrugged him off: "It's only a little scratch, thanks for the help in the escape. My name is Aang and this is Toph by the way" Aang said as he put his hand out.

Chey smiled: "Nice to meet you Aang and Toph"

Toph huffed: "It just would have been nice to be given a little warning is all."

Chey laughed a little: "Sorry, I was only following orders"

"Orders from whom?" Toph questioned.

Chey smiled proudly: "From Master Jeong Jeong."

Aang looked slightly confused: "Who is he"

Chey deadpanned: "How do you not know him, he is the first ever Fire Nation soldier to desert and live. I was the second, but you don't get much for being second."

"Where is he now, you think I could meet him?" Aang quickly asked.

"He's right up the river" Chey said as he pointed off in the general direction of his leader.

Aang quickly turned Appa in that direction, but soon Chey told him that it would be better if he landed Appa and just walked the remainder of the trip. He didn't want to alert the Fire Nation of his group's camping sight.

About half way through the walk, the group was surrounded by warriors and led in blindfolds to the camp. Though Chey said he was a part of this mysterious group, he was treated the same as Aang and Toph.

When they reached the camp, Aang and Toph were given a tent to rest in until Jeong Jeong was informed of their presence. Until that time, Aang was given medical care for the wounds he had sustained during the attack.

Toph just fumbled with her hands during this time, but when they were given privacy, she spoke: "I wanted to thank you for what you did back there."

"For doing what Toph" Aang sincerely asked.

"For protecting me like that, I couldn't see what was coming at me, so thanks for watching my back."

Aang only smiled: "That's what friends are for Toph." Aang concluded to touching her shoulder, but Toph quickly shrugged him off.

"Don't think I'm going soft or anything on you now!" Toph huffed.

Aang rolled his eyes: "You? Never."

It was many hours before Aang Chey came back into Toph and Aang's tent: "He doesn't want to see you."

Both Aang and Toph were completely shocked: "What do you mean he doesn't want to see Aang? He's the Avatar!"

Chey only bowed his head further: "I doesn't think you are ready to see him yet."

Aang didn't want to hear any more of this, he quickly left the tent and marched straight over to Jeong Jeong's.

When he entered, he was shocked by the amount of candles that were lit within. Aang also noticed the tree that appeared to be dead that was firmly rooted in the corner of his tent. Jeong Jeong appeared to be meditating, with his back facing the door.

"I thought I told you that I didn't want to see you." Jeong Jeong calmly said.

"I was kinda hoping that you could teach me some fire bending." Aang said, clearly ignoring what Jeong Jeong has said.

"You lack self-control and restraint, you have not learned the other elements, and therefore I will not teach you."

"I need to master firebending and you might be my only opportunity, I need you to teach me!" Aang desperately replied.

"No, this debate is over." Jeong Jeong said: "You may leave now."

Before Aang could leave the tent, a spirit cloud formed in the room in front of Jeong Jeong, completely unknowingly to Aang.

"You will teach Aang fire bending." Roku's spirit said.

"Roku! But he does not know restraint, he isn't ready to control fire bending." Jeong Jeong replied, clearly flustered now.

"Who are you talking to? Is that Roku? Roku! Tell him I'm ready." Aang said, before tripping over himself and falling unceremoniously to the ground.

"This is what I'm talking about" Jeong Jeong said as he motioned towards the fallen Avatar.

"I understand, but he needs to learn." Roku said firmly before dissipating.

Jeong Jeong looked towards the ground: "Very well, I will teach you."

Aang jumped in the tent with his fist raised: "Yes!" But he quickly recovered when he realized his mistake: "I mean, very well."

Aang smiled, he would finally get a chance to learn fire bending.

Katara and Sokka:

It had been a hard few weeks since the trio had left Gaoling. They had a few encounters with Fire Nation soldiers, the funny part was that they were no longer wanted people, so they were just ignored. Not traveling with the Avatar did have its perks.

From Sokka's map, Katara could tell that they were getting close. They were likely only two or three days away from their father now.

"I guess we can head through this long winding path." Sokka said as he scrutinized his map.

Katara peered over his shoulder, trying to get a better look at the road that they would be traveling. "It's called the Serpent's Pass. I don't like it already."

Sokka just rolled his eyes: "Hey, it's the shortest path to dad, we are going to take it."

"Sokka has a point Katara, it won't be that bad for us." Bato interjected.

Knowing that she was outnumber, she conceded: "Fine, it looks like it will only take a day or two to get threw anyway."

"Yah, and then it's just a straight path to Chameleon Bay from here. " Sokka said with a small smile forming on his lips: "Finally"

Katara looked up, noticing that it was almost mid-day: "I think we should get a move on, I'd like to get through this Serpant's Pass as soon as possible."

The group walked in mostly silence the whole way to the beginning of the pass, there was a sign on one of the posts and Katara read it aloud: "Abandon Hope"

"I already don't like this place" Bato said aloud.

Ignoring Bato, Sokka just started to walk along the thin pass. Sometime later, Sokka spoke: "I guess they get the name cause the path is winding like a Serpent."

"Probably" Bato mused back.

Katara wasn't paying much attention to the banter that was going on ahead of her, she was more worried about how she would broach the subject of Aang to her father. She knew that he wouldn't want her to follow him right off the bat. I need to convince him to go up north. What can I use though? She had been avoiding these questions for the past few weeks now, not liking any answers that she was coming up with, essentially, she was still at square one.

At this point, she knew she hadn't seen her dad in years, she figured, that he would go into protective dad mode the second he saw her. He'll likely send us all back to the Southern Water Tribe, he isn't gonna go in the opposite direction.

Before she could dwell on the topic any longer, Sokka had called for camp to be set up in what appeared to be a large outcropping. After dinner had been made and Sokka's meat addiction fulfilled, he quickly went off to bed, but Katara couldn't sleep, not yet and Bato noticed it.

"Is everything ok Katara?" Bato asked as he sat beside her.

Katara was startled out of her thoughts; she had truthfully not expected anyway to come talk to her: "I'm doing fine Bato"

Bato gave a small chuckle at this: "You know, you are just about as easy to read as a children's book"

Katara only grew irritated at this, but in an instant, he grew serious again: "It's about your father, isn't it."

Katara looked up at him: "How am I going to convince him to head north so we can meet up with Aang?"

Bato thought for a few moments: "I honestly don't know an answer to that question, your father isn't going to want to take his men that far from the South Pole"

"I know, I know, I just need to get up there. Aang needs me" Katara looked down, tears forming in her eyes: "I need him"

At this confession, Bato was not at all shocked; he suspected that Katara had feelings for the young Avatar. Though she likely couldn't fully understand them, he knew it for what it was. "You love the boy, don't you?"

Over the past few weeks, Katara had found that she loved him, but decided to try and cover it up: "I love him like a brother Bato, he's family to me."

Bato was not at all convinced, in fact, he smiled knowingly: "If the Spirits decide that you should cross paths with him again, they will make it happen for you."

Katara didn't seem so convinced at this: "I just need the right words to say to dad, he has to go north."

"I know, I know Katara." Bato said as he wrapped his arms gently around her and gazed at the full moon.

When the trio had woken up the next morning, ate, and packed up the small camp, they continued on their journey.

The previous day had be easy travel, with generally flat areas, but during the second half of the Serpant's Pass, it was slightly more dangerous. It was more rocky, with steeper drops and thinner passageways.

After a few hours of trudging along this path, the reached what appeared to be the highest point in the Serpant's path. Sokka voiced his thankfulness immediately: "Oh thank the spirits!" Sokka cried dramatically.

Both Katara and Bato rolled their eyes dramatically, annoyed at Sokka's immaturity. But when Katara looked back up from her brother, she finally noticed it. "Sokka, take a look at this"

When Sokka got back up, he turned towards the other side of the precipice. It had remained blocked by a large rock wall previously. What he laid eyes on next shocked him completely: "Oh man"

Another cliff hanger! Can anyone guess what it is? Idk when the next chapter will be out. Whenever I get inspiration, Now onto the reviewer's replies.

AvatarCat13: I just want to start out by saying that you reviewing my story is huge! I absolutely love your story Kataang Island adventure, wish I could write with that kinda skill, but I'm not there yet. Keep up the great work on that story. As for the review, I really do appreciate the kind words. I liked ch. 5 a lot, it showed Katara's regret as well as Aang's ability to move on. He needs to if he is gonna survive, though it will cause tension later in the story for him.

Gamlover41592: I appreciate both your review on ch. 5 as well as your response on the A/N. I will be setting things right in a few chapters, sorta… But I'll let you be the opinion of that. :p

Nyistar: I will be continuing the story after the North Pole, I have begun to think up ideas, but usually my best work just comes out of me sitting down and just writing without a plan. When I started this story, I actually had no idea where I was going to take it or if it would stick, when it got such great responses, I immediately picked it up and here are the results.

Blazelight790: Thanks for the first time review! I am glad you love the story and believe me, there will be some angst and I will not be following the cannon completely, because than I just feel like it gets too redundant.

Seaweed Fish Girl: Thanks for the review, I appreciate it tons and will take your advice in some areas pertaining to the jealousy, but we will see where that goes.

Farticus: just wanted to say thanks for making me laugh this morning, great review!