Well, with Zuko and Katara's budding romance out of the way, we now turn to Jet and Katara's fling. Most of you will remember Jet for his lies which are stupid, horribly planned, and are made so only morons would believe them.

That issue is addressed. Enjoy.


What SHOULD have Happened in Avatar the Last Airbender: Book 1: Chapter 10

Deep in a large forest, shaded by amber leaves, Aang groaned as Momo slept calmly on top of the backpack on his back. With Sokka leading him, Katara, the lemur, and Appa, who walked just a few steps behind them all, the last air bender let out a loud whine. "Walking stinks! How do people go anywhere without a flying bison?"

Behind the bald boy, Hakoda's daughter put on a fake smile as she lugged her own bags. "I don't know, Aang. Why don't you ask Sokka's instincts? They seem to know everything." Her brother groaned as his pack weighed on his body.

"Ha ha, very funny."

The Avatar formed a small sneer on his face. "I'm tired of carrying this heavy pack."

Katara fake-smiled again. "You know who you should ask to carry it for a while? Sokka's instincts!"

Aang mimicked the girl's phony grin. "That's a great idea! Hey, Sokka's instincts, do you mind-?"

The Water Tribe boy snarled. "Ok ok, I get it!" He approached two bushes with red leaves. "Look, guys, I'm tired too." He pushed the branches aside. "But the important thing is that we're safe from the Fire… Nation…" The three youths and the lemur passed through the foliage and found themselves in a clearing and standing face to face with almost 20 Fire Nation soldiers.

The red and black-armored men looked up from their seats and bowls of soup as the tallest child yelled, "Run!"

The Avatar and his friends dropped their bags and hurried away as the soldiers grabbed their swords and spears and hurried after them. One soldier with an eye patch launched a fire ball over their heads and blew the bushes in their path into a pillar of flames.

Sokka's eyes widened at the bonfire. "We're cut off!"

Aang pointed at his friend's immolated shoulder. "Sokka, your shirt!"

Katara watched her brother scramble as she bent water out of her pouch and doused the small blaze on his arm. However, at that moment, they found themselves cornered by the company of sword and spear-wielding men.

Hakoda's son steeled himself and stepped forward as his companions took battle stances. "If you let us pass, we promise not to harm you."

The water bender cringed. "What are you doing?"

The girl's brother glanced at her and raised an eyebrow. "… What? They might not guess by the look of Aang, but he's got enough wind power to blow them to the moon. Besides, they should at least consider it, seeing as we have a ten-ton flying monster who's..." Sokka then blinked twice before glancing from one side of the clearing to the other, but unable to spot even a hair of the enormous creature who walked mere steps behind him moments ago.

All of the dark-skinned boy's teeth grinded together while his hands clenched into tight fists. "… who's gonna be BISON STEAKS!"


0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0


As battle ensued around him, one Fire Nation soldier raised his sword at the Water Tribe boy, who lifted his machete-club over his head. Before either could swing, the soldier felt something strike him in his helmet-covered skull and he began to slip into unconsciousness. With an ounce of awareness left, he turned his body towards what hit him and saw the shaft of a spear. "This armor… does… nothing…"


0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0


While the Freedom Fighters calmly looted the Fire Nation campsite, Katara slowly approached their leader as he sat under the shade of a tree with a piece of wheat in his mouth. Her hands lay folded behind her back and a bright smile spread across her face. "Um… Thanks for saving us, Jet." She breathed heavily. "We were lucky you were there."

The hook sword-wielder smirked back. "I should be thanking you. We were waiting to ambush those soldiers all morning, we just needed the right distraction." He pulled the straw out of his mouth. "Then you guys stumbled in."

The water bender narrowed her gaze and glanced behind her at her brother. "We were relying on instinc…" The girl's eyes shot open as she looked back at the scruffy-haired boy. "Wait, did you say you were waiting for a distraction?"

Jet raised an eyebrow. "Um… yeah. Why?"

Katara tsked and dropped her arms. "Wow… Ok, we 'stumbled in' when they were sitting down and eating lunch. Only, like, three guys were holding their weapons. How much of a distraction do you need after that?"

Before the Freedom Fighter could reply, the Water Tribe girl turned around and laughed with a mocking tone in her voice. "Oh, spirits, that's sad!" She then wiped a small tear from her eye. "And to think, I almost fell head over heals for you."


0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0


Sokka watched Jet, Pipsqueak, and Smellerbee communicate via fake bird calls as all four stood on the thick limbs of the trees in the forest. When the Freedom Fighters finished their 'talk' Hakoda's son jammed his machete club into his branch's trunk.

Jet turned around and saw the other boy putting his ear against the handle of the blade. "What are you doing?"

"Shhh. It amplifies vibrations."

The scruffy-haired boy smiled. "Good trick… I bet you've used it plenty of times in the past and will certainly use it many times over in the future. Especially if you come across someone who could, I don't know why I'm picking this in particular, but 'see' with vibrations in earth bending. His or her 'earth bending sight' combined with that would allow him or her to see for miles."

Hakoda's son nodded. "That is an odd scenario. But, yeah, it would be horribly stupid if I never used this trick again nor used it to boost someone's 'earth bending sight,' should I ever run into such a person."

"Stupid indeed."


0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0


Jet looked up from his seat in his tree house as the Water Tribe boy glared at him and Katara and Aang stared at the boy with wide, hopeful eyes. "Sokka, you told them we attacked an old man, but you didn't mention that the guy was Fire Nation?"

The water bender put her hands on her hips and glared at her brother. "No. He 'conveniently' left that part out."

Hakoda's son threw his hands into the air. "Fine, but even if he was Fire Nation, he was a harmless civilian!"

Jet pulled a curving dagger from his tunic. "He's an assassin!" After slamming the blade into a table, he twisted the ring at the bottom of the small weapon's handle. "See? There's a compartment for poison in the knife." The Freedom Fighter pulled out a small vile of pink liquid. "He was sent to eliminate me." The teen glanced up. "You helped save my life, Sokka."

Katara and her bald friend smiled. "I knew there was an explanation."

Sokka, however, furrowed his brow. "Are you guys serious?" He watched his sister and friend continue to stare at Jet and smile. "You do realize his reasoning involves a knife, that was hidden, and that it was poisoned, because of a hidden compartment, which he only 'found out' because he ambushed, by surprise, and attacked, unprovoked, an old guy as he was taking a stroll."

Jet continued to chew on his wheat. "You didn't see it 'cause he was concealing it."

Katara gestured her hand forward. "See, Sokka?"

As his traveling companions continued to look on with wide eyes and pleasant grins, Hakoda's son threw his hands out. "Look, I'm not even questioning that the dagger is poisoned! I mean, I have never seen anyone coat a blade in poison by having it work like a syringe or something. But I'm willing to believe that, somewhere in this crazy, magical, and mixed-up world, someone engineered a poisoned dagger that works like that. I will completely believe that! But are you trying to tell me that you two are actually buying this tiger-bull of a story?"

Aang turned and smiled at his friend. "Way to save the day, Sokka."

"GRAHHH!" The Water Tribe boy stormed off. "Stupid benders…"


0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0


As Hakoda's son slept on a rolled up knapsack and inside a tree hut, faint sounds trickled into his ear. His eyes then shot open and he made his way towards the door of his and his companions dwelling. Pulling the entry flap aside, he saw, in the full moonlight, Jet and several of his companions quietly sliding down to the forest floor; the Water Tribe boy narrowed his eyes and followed.

Landing on a large branch, Sokka watched the Freedom Fighters load up a wooden cart with barrels and canisters and begin taking it towards the Earth Kingdom town.

Several minutes later, as sunlight barely crept over the horizon, Jet led his crew to the tip of a cliff overlooking the town and a wooden damn. "Now listen…" He pointed to his men. "…you're not to blow the damn until I give the signal. If the reservoir isn't full, the Fire Nation troops could survive."

The Duke looked up at the teen. "But what about the people in the town? Won't they get wiped out too?"

The hooksword-wielder put his hand on the little boy's shoulder. "Look, Duke, that's the price of ridding this area of the Fire Nation." He then pointed at his archer friend. "Now don't blow the damn 'til I give the signal. Got it?"

From behind nearby bushes, Sokka watched with widened eyes as the archer nodded. He then heard rustling behind him and raised an eyebrow just before Pipsqueak grabbed him by the hair and pulled him up. "Ow! Agh!" He struggled and jerked until Smellerbee brought the curved, poisoned dagger close to his throat.

"Where do you think you're going, Ponytail?"

Moments later, as the sun shined high in the sky, the leader of the Freedom Fighters stood at the edge of the cliff as his men dragged Katara's brother towards him. "Sokka… I'm glad you decided to join us."

Hakoda's son felt himself thrown on the ground at Jet's feet. He then clutched his right shoulder as he glared up at the teen. However, in the next second his eyes widened and he frantically looked left and right.

The hooksword-wielder raised an eyebrow. "Are you paying attention to me? We're going to free this valley from the Fire Nation." However, he watched the Water Tribe boy continue to stare in every direction. "Alright! What are you looking at?"

Sokka slowly turned back towards the scruffy-haired teen and pointed at the sky. "It's the middle of the day…"

"Yeah, so?"

"So, like 10 seconds ago, it was barely light out."

Behind the water bender's brother, Smellerbee blinked twice. "Oh by the spirits, He's right!" She clutched her bushy hair. "When we grabbed this guy, it was still night, the sun was barely rising at most, now look at our shadows! It's high $%^-ing noon! HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?"

[[Yes, this actually happens. Sokka gets found when it's hardly dawn, commercial break, next thing you know, it's the middle of the day.]]


A/N: And there you have it. From the spawn of Zuko and Katara's relationship to the spawn of Jet and Katara's. I'm really proud of how this one came out, especially because, at first glance, I didn't see too much wrong with it other than Appa deserving to be bison steaks. However, I took another glance at it and, just like that, saw more and more and the sun going from the horizon to the middle of the sky in three seconds.

I was thinking of putting in a bit about why Jet didn't kill any of the Fire Nation troops he battled at the beginning, but realized that it was probably because they all ran away too fast. By the way, anyone wanna wager on what happens when a defenseless young Fire Nation girl crosses paths with the Freedom Fighters? *shivers*

That's all for today, folks. Hope you enjoyed it and be sure to join us next week for: Book 1: Chapter 11

The Great Divide