Hello again everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates, I got sidetracked with my new fanfic, 'Apprentice'. But I am back now, with the newest chapter of Fighting Free! Chapter 10! The big 1-0

Haha, I am very grateful for the support this fic has. I hope you all continue to enjoy it!

Not the longest chapter, but I have another 3 fanfics to update tonight, so...yeah.

Oh, I want to share the music I listen to whilst writing. The ones that inspire me/get me pumped up are:

The soundtrack from the anime 'Attack on Titan/Shingeki no Kyojin'

'My Songs know what you did in the Dark' (fallout boy I think)

'I'll make a man outta you'- Mulan

Enjoy ~

The group had been travelling for three days straight, and all were beginning to feel the strain. Aang was less energetic, Toph was even quieter than usual. Sokka had nearly run out of jokes, Zuko was...Zuko. Katara was the one feeling the best- after all, she was surrounded by her native element. Often, this worked in their favour- if a ship approached, it would be easy to bring the ships down, and to give them cover to escape if need be.

"Are we there yet?" Toph asked for the fifth time that morning.

"We'll get there when we get there!" Sokka shouted. He was more than a bit tetchy.

"Alright, alright." Toph huffed.

"How much further?" Zuko asked Sokka, in a more calm tone.

"We should be there by midday. There's a small fishing village, going by Aang's directions, about three days from the western air temple." Sokka answered.

"I see." Zuko nodded. He turned to Katara, at the same time she turned to face him.

The two of them locked eyes for a moment, before they both went bright red, and swiftly looked away. The exchange did not go unnoticed- Aang looked somewhat puzzled, whereas Sokka was glaring at Zuko. He liked the guy, but he was also rather protective of Katara. Sokka frowned again, when he saw Zuko staring into the distance, facing the opposite direction to the way they were travelling.

"What is it?" Sokka frowned.

"A fire navy ship. I'd recognize that shadow anywhere." Zuko clicked his fingers, ready for combat, if the situation went to that.

"What?" Katara sprung back into awareness.

"We can't have it following us." Aang bit his lip.

"Well, we can use a mist-" Katara started.

"No." Zuko suddenly spoke up, idly touching where his scar used to be. "If we take over that ship, we can get access to their weapons. They'll have supplies- we can go straight onto the Western Air temple."

"That's a pretty smart idea, Sparky." Toph remarked.

"Sparky?" Zuko looked bewildered.

Aang and Sokka snickered childishly.

"It's your new nickname." Sokka shrugged.

"Fine." Zuko rolled his eyes.

"Back to the matter at hand, shouldn't we turn round?" Katara stood up.

"Why don't you, Aang, and Zuko go ahead of us? If they start firing at us, we don't want to risk Appa getting hurt." Sokka suggested as he prepared to turn around.

"What about me?" Toph spoke up angrily.

"Well, I need backup if they start firing rocks at us." Sokka bit back.

"Right. Aang, Zuko, lets go." Katara nodded.

Sokka turned Appa around, and soon they were swimming in the water, floating along. Katara bent up a wall of water, and froze it, before flipping it over to use as a board. Once she had stepped on, she gestured for Zuko to get on. Almost hesitantly, the prince obeyed, climbing down Appa's side, and gingerly stepping onto the ice. Katara froze her feet to the ice board, whilst Zuko knelt down, and used his firebending to melt the ice, creating two handgrips. Aang was already soaring towards the ship on his glider, face calm and concentrated.

"You ready?" Katara spoke, still facing the ship.

"As I'll ever be." Zuko answered.

With a swift twirl of her arms, Katara propelled them towards the boat, speeding off so suddenly that Zuko nearly lost his balance.

Within a few minutes, Katara and Zuko reached the side of the behemoth of a ship, just ahead of Aang. The airbender joined them on the ice board, having managed to avoid the sight of the ship. Once they reached where the anchor was chained, Katara and Aang turned to Zuko expectantly.

"What?" Zuko looked from one to the other.

"We figured you'd know more about these ships." Aang rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Fair enough." Zuko cautiously rose to his feet. "A ship this size...usually needs a crew of around 20 or 30 soldiers, if I remember right."

"That's alot." Aang's eyes widened.

"Its normal. The ship requires the captain, a man at the helm, three supporting soldiers in the control room, firebenders to keep the engines burning, more navy recruits to guard the ship, cooks, cleaners, a doctor..." Zuko's voice tailed off. "The soldiers are usually pretty skilled, on ships this size."

"So it's going to be a good fight." Katara nodded her head.

"Definitely." Zuko looked up. They were still unnoticed. "I'll go up first."

"Okay." Aang nodded.

Quietly, barely making a sound, Zuko scaled the side of the ship, speedily climbing up the anchor chain, until he could get a grip on the side of the ship. Making sure to keep his breaths quiet, he peered over the edge, eyes scanning the deck of the ship, making sure to memorize the amount of soldiers. From his vantage point, he could spot ten soldiers on deck, and a soldier at the top of the ship's tower, keeping watch. That made eleven. Nodding, he looked down at Katara and Aang.

"Ten on deck. There's another on lookout, at the top of that tower there." Zuko gestured to it. "We need to be quiet."

Aang and Katara nodded, determination set in their expressions.

Unbeknownst to them, they were being watched.

The man looked down at the deck. As stealthy as the intruder seemed to be, he had still spotted the top of a head peering over the deck. With his trained eyes, he could make out pale skin, and raven black hair. Those two attributes could only be found on a person from one particular nation. Those attributes meant that the intruder was likely to be someone from the fire nation. A smirk found its way onto the man's face, and the lookout, barely visible at the top of his tower, stepped towards the open window.

And with a practiced gesture, the Yu Yan archer notched an arrow to his bow...

His target...

Within sight.