Sorry for the time. I have no internet right now and had to go to the library to upload this. Chapter 15 will be up very soon. I appreciate your patience. PLEASE REVIEW IF YOU READ THIS. I WANT A REVIEW FROM EVERY SINGLE READER.
Zuko walked into the house of Team avatar. It was late and he had had a mediocre night at the dance.
"I am glad I got out of there. It's a good thing Jin is moving to Omashu. Now she isn't my problem anymore. I can just go back to Mai" he said happily.
At the dance Jin had told him she was moving and they couldn't be together. Zuko faked sadness and left the dance. He explored the city a little bit before coming back to the house late. Zuko went to his room and lay next to his fiancé. She was already asleep. He got under the covers and pulled her closer to him. He then drifted off into a nice sleep.
The gang woke up the next day happy. Aang had figured out what he was going to do with Katara. He ran out early and picked up a picnic basket. He then picked up some flowers and headed back to the house. He put the things on Appa and went in the house. When he got there he found that the others were up. They were eating breakfast.
"What's up Aang? Where did you go?" Katara asked.
"I had to run errands" he said.
"Oh Aang that reminds me, do you wanna go to this party today." Sokka asked.
"I can't go. I am hanging out with Katara today" Aang said.
"You can't, what if someone sees you" Toph said.
"We just won't hang out in the city" Aang said.
"Where are we gonna go?" Katara
"I know a place" Aang said cooly.
"Okay" Katara replied, "When do we leave?" she asked.
"Soon" Aang said.
"What are you guys doing" Katara asked.
"Suki and I are going to the library to study for finals. The first test starts tomorrow. Plus the day after exams is the battle royal" Sokka said.
"Oh yeah the battle royal, I am going to kick butt." Toph said.
"What is the battle royal?" Mai asked.
"It is when all the benders and warriors from the school have a free for all battle to see who the best fighter is. You eliminate someone by rendering them incapable of fighting. The winner goes down in the hall of fame of winners from years past. I really want to win" Sokka said.
"No chance Snoozles. I am almost guaranteed the win. With twinkle toes only using fire bending I am the strongest person out there" Toph said.
"Hey, I may only have fire bending but don't underestimate me" Aang said.
"What about me. I will give you a run for your money" Katara said.
"Whatever guys, I will still win" Toph said.
"We'll see about that" Sokka said.
Everyone rolled their eyes and continued to eat. Katara was really excited to spend some time with Aang. She hadn't really been alone with him for weeks. After she finished eating she went to get ready to go. Aang stayed downstairs with the others.
Katara came downstairs wearing a slight amount of makeup. Aang led her out and they got on Appa.
"Hey Appa, today is a great day for flying. I know you really want to fly. I am sorry I haven't had a chance to fly with you. School has just kept me occupied buddy" Aang said to appa.
"Yip yip" he said and Appa took off. Aang steered Appa in the direction of an island that Gyatso had showed him as a kid. It was remote and no one knew about it so he assumed it would be the same as he had left it. He got into the saddle with Katara and they relaxed.
"So where are you taking me?" she asked.
"Oh it's a surprise. You'll like it though" he said.
She kissed him and he kissed back. It was their first kiss in weeks and the two didn't want to come back up for air. They held it as long as they could and then released. Katara leaned on Aang and he held her close. They sat like this for a while before Aang went to Appa's head with the map to check their status.
"We are almost there" he called.
"That sounds nice" Katara called back.
Appa moved a little faster and dropped altitude. Katara saw an island in the distance. They were getting closer fast.
"That's it" Aang said.
"Looks nice. What's there?" she asked.
"Beauty that is only rivaled by your beauty" Aang said sweetly.
Katara smiled and said, "Thanks Aang" She then kissed him on the cheek.
Appa landed on the beach of the island. Aang hopped off and Katara followed.
"Okay we have to hike a little bit but it isn't far" he said.
"Okay" Katara replied.
Aang grabbed the picnic basket and they headed deeper into the island. They were walking through a jungle. Aang earth bended a clear path for them to walk on and they continued easily.
"It should be over this ledge" he said before air bending himself up there. Katara reached the ledge and looked over. Her face turned to pure shock and excitement. She was looking at a pond with a beautiful waterfall. The pond was surrounded by hundreds of different types of flowers.
"Aang its… oh my…how" she stumbled. Aang grabbed her hand and they walked through the flowers. Aang stopped before the pond and put the basket down.
"Do you wanna go for a swim?" he asked.
"I'd love to" she said.
"Race you there" he said.
Aang threw off his clothes and so did Katara. Aang used air bending to jump to the top of the water fall. He then jumped off and dove into the a water. Katara laughed. Aang made a bubble of water fall on her.
"You didn't want to do that" she said. They started having a water fight. Both were bending a lot of water. They giggled and had more fun than they had had in weeks. When they finished swimming the couple sat in the flowers and ate their vegetarian picnic. Aang picked up an especially pretty flower and put it in Katara's hair. She looked at him lovingly and the sat together enjoying the others company.
"We should head back to Appa soon. We need to get back in time to do some studying for exams" he said.
"Do we have to" she whined.
Aang laughed and they started heading back toward Appa. They found him and took off back toward Ba Sing Se. They reached the city at nightfall and came into the house.
"How was your day?" Suki asked.
"Wonderful" Katara answered.
"Where did you go?" Toph asked.
"We went to this special island with the most beautiful flowers and a water fall. We spent the whole day there" Katara said.
"Sounds nice" Mai said.
"Stupid Aang, he keeps upstaging me. I can't take Suki to an enchanted meadow. Aang should stop showing off and making me look bad" Sokka thought to himself.
The gang split up to do more studying. None of them wanted to do poorly on their finals. Katara was in a noticeably better mood since her date with Aang. The day of the first wave of finals came quickly. They were easy for the gang which had been studying a lot. Aang found history easiest for him. Being as all the events happened closer to his original life time. Katara was taking the final for her healing class and Zuko was taking his final in his Dao sword class. Sokka had taken a calligraphy class and was taking its final. Suki had taken a sculpture class and was taking that final. Toph was taking the final for her tea making class. After a long day of finals team Avatar met up at home.
"How where your finals" Aang asked, exhaustion evident in his voice.
"Fine" Katara replied.
"Mine were easy" Sokka said.
"I just wanna relax" Zuko said.
"Well while you lazy bones relax I will be preparing for the battle royal" Toph said.
"Well I am going to train now" Aang said. He went outside and started doing fire bending drills. He was determined to win. The others went back to studying and the next two days of finals went quickly. All the kids were talking about the battle royal. They were dying to see a Kuzon Lee rematch and were even happier at the prospect of team avatar in the fight. People were coming up with different scenarios. Gambling on the battle royal was very popular. The bets were placed mostly on Aang, Toph and Katara. Zuko got some but people thought Kuzon would do better. Sokka and Suki weren't getting many bets on account of being non benders.
"Wow this betting thing is big" Aang said to Sokka.
"Yeah and no one bets on me" Sokka said annoyed.
"You and Toph are the favorites to win. Katara is right behind" Suki said.
"What about me?" Zuko said annoyed.
"Nobody cares about you Sparky. After you lost to Aang Katara and I are considered his only competition" Toph said.
"Yeah sorry Sifu Hotman" Aang said.
"Don't call me that" Zuko said annoyed.
The others laughed and the gang went to bed for the night. The next day they were all ready for the battle royal. They were in school and waiting to fight. They had been separated by what type of fighter they were, fire benders, water benders, earth benders, and warriors. Zuko had brought his swords and was ready to fight. Aang was meditating. Katara was trying to focus. Toph was doing some last minute practice. A gong rung and the contestants walked out into a make shift arena. The arena had a pond in the middle and lots of rocks scattered around. All the non contestants sat in stands surrounding it. They were cheering and the contestants walked into the center of the ring.
"These students have worked hard" the headmaster started. "Today they will show who has worked the hardest and who our strongest student is. This person will go down in history. I wish each of them good luck" he finished.
The gong rang again and each contestant got into their stance. There was silence. Not one contestant wanted to initiate the battle. For a few minutes they all stood in silence. One of the fire benders shot out a blast of fire and all the contestants started fighting. Aang managed to keep others away with quick and powerful fire blast. Zuko was dueling Sokka with his swords while Sokka fought with his own single swords. The two fought evenly and Zuko was forced to mix fire bending with his moves. Sokka then went on the defensive. Katara was fighting some warriors with her octopus stance. None of them could get close without getting significant damage. Toph had bended herself metal armor and was annihilating all of her competition.
"Oh man I can't fight Zuko with swords and fire bending. I got to think of something" Sokka thought.
Zuko shot a large fireball at Sokka who dropped his sword and fell to the ground. Sokka then threw his boomerang quickly and it knocked Zuko's swords out of his hands. Zuko shot a fireball at Sokka and surrounded him in a ring of fire. One of the officials ran over to Sokka and told him he had been eliminated. Sokka looked disappointed and sat on the side. Half of the contestants had been eliminated by this time. Aang started going one on one with one of the earth benders. He was having trouble blocking fast incoming rocks. He gathered his strength and blasted a large fireball. It broke through the earth bender's defenses and sent him reeling. Zuko ran over to Aang and the two started dueling. The crowd cheered as the two fought. Everyone was excited for the rematch that was happening. Before they could go any farther they were both engulfed by the wave of one of the water benders. The water bender attempted to drown his competition. It didn't go as planned. All the competitors got up and continued fighting even though they were wet. Aang and Zuko continued fighting but there were no cheers. They started to hear gasps and whispers. The both stopped and looked around confused. Everyone including the other contestants was staring at them. Aang saw his reflection in a puddle of water and then knew why.
"Oh crap, the makeup wore off in the water. My arrows are completely visible" he thought.
Zuko then realized too and the two froze on the spot.
"Its avatar Aang" someone called out.
"And fire lord Zuko" someone else called.
There was an explosion of whispers and conversation.
"That isn't avatar Aang. It must be a ruse to fool us and intimidate us" one of the earth benders said.
"Oh they don't believe huh. I have been exposed so I might as well win this thing" Aang thought to himself.
The earth bender who had spoke out stomped his foot to attack. Aang sensed the vibrations and when the boulder came at him he redirected it back. The earth bender freaked out and rolled to the side. One of the water benders shot a wave of water at Aang. Aang twirled the water around him and shot it back as a giant ice fist.
"No way" the water bender said before getting plowed by Aang's attack.
The battle recontinued and Team Avatar started to dominate the field. Suki and the rest of the non benders were eliminated quickly after. The other benders were being beaten back. None of them could handle the intensity of Aang's attacks. Before long only four contestants were left. Toph, Aang, Katara
"This isn't good. Three master benders have closed in on me. I have to do something. I've got it!" Aang thought.
Aang started doing the motions for his lightning attack. At the sight Katara backed off a little and Zuko got in position for a possible redirection. Toph created a wall of earth in front of herself. Aang fired the lightning but instead of hitting an opponent the attack hit the ground in front of Aang. Smoke and Dust shot up into the air. When the smoke cleared Aang was gone. Zuko looked around and saw him falling from the sky. Zuko shot his most powerful fire blast at Aang. Aang responded by blasting it back using air bending. The fireball hit Zuko in the chest and sent him reeling to elimination. Aang landed and then started to water bend all the water in the arena. He spread it out over the entire arena and froze it.
"Oh no. I can't see" Toph said. Toph started panicking at her inability to see. The earth had been covered by ice and Toph couldn't bend. Aang froze her in a column of ice. He and Katara stood facing each other. Katara use the ice to shoot icicles at Aang. Aang dodged the attacks splashed large amounts of water at Katara. They continued for a few moments but it was evident Aang was being very defensive.
"You are holding back Aang" Katara teased.
"What?" he said.
"No fire bending" she said teasing again. Aang shot a blast of air and knocked Katara off her feet. He then earth bended her hands and feet to the ground so that she couldn't move or bend.
"The avatar wins" the headmaster called out to the crowd.
Everyone started cheering with an uproar. They had enjoyed the fight and Aang came to the podium to accept his victory.
"Thank you," he started, "I have been in disguise at your school as Kuzon by request of the earth king. I am glad that you had me at your school. I am honored to have won and have enjoyed my time here. Unfortunately soon I will have to go back to my duties as Avatar. I wish you all a humble good bye" he said. Aang walked off and was mobbed by the other students. He spent a couple of hours answering questions and being mobbed. He had finally made it back to his house where he found the others. The first thing Aang did was shave his head bald. He had missed his baldness.
"I guess school wasn't so bad" Aang said cheerfully/
"Yeah" Zuko replied.