Southern Earth Kingdom

Avatar Aang

They couldn't touch him.

Boulders were launched. Stone pillars erupted around him. Blasts of fire lanced through the night sky. But nothing touched him. He'd been taken off guard by the initial ambush, sustaining a painful burn on one leg and a shallow cut on his shoulder from an arrow that bled a lot, but since then they hadn't scored a hit.

He wondered if they suspected who they were facing. So far, he'd only used waterbending, with a little airbending to keep him going. But his agility, combined with the fact that there was only one of him and he'd still taken down more than twenty of them so far, probably made some of them wonder.

He brought his arm around, and a slice of water knocked aside a rock hurtling towards him. He retaliated with a crashing wave of water drawn from the flooded field they battled by, the fourth time in five minutes he'd done it. You'd think they would have moved by now.

They'd been battling for nearly thirty minutes, and he hadn't seen any sign of the lightningbender. Apparently he – or she – preferred to send out the mooks rather than face him themselves. That fact alone gave Aang hope – that wasn't like Azula. Of course, who knew how she'd changed in the years since they'd seen her?

He was suddenly tired of it all. Just find the lightningbender and leave. He was afraid that if he revealed who he was, he would scare them into hiding. And he'd already spent far too long hunting them down. I am not missing my best friend's wedding because of you.

A fireball soared towards him from the right, and he dodged it easily, then used a water whip to knock aside an arrow. How long were they going to keep this up?

And then his heart skipped a beat as even above the sound of the rain and battle, he heard a familiar sound. A crackling, sizzling sound. His eyes darted to the treeline. There stood a figure, outlined by the energy tracing a circle around it. Lightning.

There you are.

He ducked a boulder and turned towards the figure as it released the energy, blazing blue power leaping for Aang. The fighting stopped, as if all his assailants were waiting to watch their opponent struck down by their leader.

He reached out to the lightning, and drew it into him. Power, surging and exhilarating, sparking around him, rushing through him. A dragon fighting to break free. He drew the power down and then up through his other arm. Lightning lanced from his fingertips, slicing the sky with brilliance. In its absence, the world seemed so much darker than before.

He could practically hear the stunned disbelief of the gathered attackers. No doubt they had never met anything that could stand up to their leader's terrifying power, and now this strange man evades all their attacks, takes them out, and deals with the lightning like it was no big deal.
This is over. Now. You aren't escaping me.

He smiled grimly. His prey was here. No more hiding.

Wind swirled around him, battering the men around him. They seemed to wake up and begin attacking him again. He dispelled a fireball, erected a stone shield to deflect a boulder, and slammed it back into the ground before releasing his own blast of fire.

The dim figure at the treeline hadn't moved. Aang narrowed his eyes. "Azula, if that's you, be very afraid," he murmured. Bringing his fists together, he inhaled and raised his head. A blazing white glow lit up his eyes and arrow tattoos, marking his identity as clearly as if he'd shouted it.

"The Avatar," one man said, his voice so devoid of emotion that you might have thought he was merely taking tea at home. "This sort of thing always happens to me, doesn't it."

Aang brought his arms around, and a blast of air flattened the men in front of him. Running forwards, he leaped over the shocked men and sprinted towards the lightningbender, who finally turned and ran.

Aang gestured, and a wall or rock slammed up in front of the fleeing person. They whirled, and Aang cut off that direction. Finally they faced Aang, crouched in a ready position. Aang landed. The glow was gone from his eyes and tattoos, but there was no doubt of who he was.

The lightningbender stepped forward, and punched a fist out. A ball of white-hot flames exploded forward, and even as Aang blocked it with his own fire, he could feel himself relaxing in relief. White fire. It wasn't Azula after all.

He brought a snake of water around behind the figure, dodging white fireballs. A rock sheath erupted around the firebender's feet, holding him in place. More stone leaped up and encased the rest of the person's body.

Aang walked forward and pulled the hood off of their face. A middle-aged man stared back at him with hatred, firelight clearly illuminating his face. The last shred of fear was dispelled. He wasn't facing the crazed fire princess, just another firebender.

He gestured, and the rock surrounding the man jerked up, holding him in midair. Aang started running towards the edge of the trees, the man in tow. As he ran he pulled out a whistle and blew hard into it, producing a faint, whispery sound. He wanted to get out of here before the other men came to their senses, but something told him that once he revealed his identity they were much more reluctant to attack.

He stood at the treeline, watching. Like he'd suspected, no one wanted to be the first ones to attack the Avatar. Also, the fact that he'd captured their leader made it clear he was no pushover.

He let most of the rock fall away from the man, leaving his hands and feet encased and held together. As he did so, a familiar grumbling bellow sounded, and a white shape soared out of the sky.

"Appa!" Aang ran forward as the sky bison landed with a shuddering thud by him. He grabbed the firebender and ran forward, using an airbending-assisted jump to land in the saddle. Making sure the man was well secure, he ran to the edge of the saddle and leaped onto Appa's head, grabbing the reins. "Yip yip," he said, and Appa took off.

Aang studied the map for a few minutes. "Jierosu is the closest place with a decent jail," he said aloud. "We'll drop him off there. Normally I'd go ahead and take him to Omashu, but I don't want the detour." He looked up at the stars, swinging Appa's head to the northwest. "It's taken me this long to track down and find this guy… I don't know if I can make it to the Fire Nation in time…"

Appa growled, and they soared off through the night.