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Thanks for reviewing:

EastCoastie1500 – Thank you. Lol. Drake is just one of those names a lot of people seem to know, but it is a humorous coincidence.

EyeoftheTigerKissoftheDragon– Thank you! I'm glad you are enjoying it as much as you are. But I do hope you find other stories that you find just as good. I know it's a bit of a challenge sometimes, depending on what your looking for.

Chapter 4

"Ow!" Aang cried for the tenth time in less than a half hour.

"Keep your head up!" Keara yelled in an agitation that revealed she had said the same thing far too many times in a short time span.

Keara and Drake had been traveling with the group for nearly a week. Sokka's mood had had lightened greatly as he came to see what Aang had in the other worldly girl, but was still weary of the humanized dragon.

"Sorry," Aang muttered as he rubbed his sore head.

With a sigh Keara brushed the comment off, "It's alright." She back way from the boy and looked him up and down for a moment, "I think that's enough for today, I've probably given you a migraine."

"Na" Aang answered, "Just a headache."

"That's good I suppose," Keara said half heartedly. "But Aang it's crucial you learn to keep that head of your up. If you are to save the world you will need to fight at least one very difficult opponent and he or she will not be lenient towards you in the least as you will be their biggest obstacle. Putting your head down will give your opponent the upper hand, even if it's for a fraction of a second since a fatal blow can be dealt within that time. Do you understand?"

Aang nodded, "I'm going to get it, I have to."

"Good," Keara smiled, "But come, too much training in one day is not good for anyone."

Drake pulled his friend to the side gently as she began walking to the others with the intent to sit and relax. "Keara I hope you know what you are doing. The boy might be capable of many things but the training which you underwent might very well be too much for him to handle, especially since you are going at a rate far greater than your own training was."

"I know," Keara said with sigh, "But it has to be done. He has less than a year to learn three elements, where as I have been training with fire my entire life. That is one element Drake, not three. I have to teach him quickly and that means the training has to be difficult while not overdoing it."

"I am well aware of these facts," Drake pointed out, "But what I am getting at is that you have not yet begun to teach him fire. You have been teaching him movements for a week and have been pummeling him in the process. You'll beat the kid to death before you get to the elemental part at this rate."

Keara squeezed the bridge of her nose, "I know, I know." She took her hand away, "I'm trying to teach him the basic and the moderate skills at the same time, but the problem is he doesn't keep his head up. That's the problem I can see with Katara. When she waterbends she keeps her head down to see what she's doing and has unintentionally taught that same bad habit to Aang. It's far to dangerous to let him continue the way he is, he will get himself killed if he doesn't stop it."

"Keara, teach the boy some basic fire skills and he will learn that keeping his head up is wise lest he wants to burn his nose off," Drake told her with a slightly stern voice. "You don't have the time to stray from the element. Do the two things at once and he will learn it, be it the hard way or not. You learned to keep your head up only after you caught your hair on fire, which might not have been your masters intent but it did what he wanted. Now it's time for you to do the same thing."

The teen nodded, "I understand. I just wanted to evade getting him burnt. I'd rather give him migraines than burns as they could stop him from training for weeks."

"Yes, but now is not the time such ideals. Get off the body movement since he has that, except for his head being down, and get to the fire. If you need to teach him new movements do it as you teach it with fire, don't dawdle on what your master had. As you have pointed out he had years to teach you, you have but a few weeks since he needs to learn other elements."

Keara sighed once more and looked to the young Avatar as he laughed at something Sokka had said. He seemed so at peace despite the fact that he had so much strife ahead of him. "I'll do what I can without breaking his spirit."

Drake nodded, "That is what's needed." He to looked to Aang, "It would be a shame to turn him into something so many fire users are; arrogant, power hungry fools."

"Indeed it would be," her tone was somewhat saddened and Drake did not let it go unnoticed.

"Keara you are nothing like your kin."

The teen looked to her friend with saddened eyes, "So I like to believe."

vvvv

Prince Zuko paced in his chambers impatiently. The candles in the room seemed to react to his attitude as their flame traveled in his direction and flickered as if angry. The room itself held the aura of its occupant's feelings, creating a rather unpleasant illusion.

It had been a week since he had last heard news of the Avatar, or seen the mysterious girl from another world whom had stole him away. The mere thought of her enraged him. He had been so close to achieving his goal but at the last moment it had been snatched away from him as if it had just been there to tease him horribly.

'With the speed that dragon has they could be leagues away from here by now,' his mind growled.

A soft knock on the door disrupted any further thoughts that had been surfacing. "What is it?" he growled.

The door opened to reveal his uncle as the culprit of his distraction. "Prince Zuko you should not be so sour."

"I need to catch the Avatar."

"Which is why I came," Iroh said with a smile, "We have located him and Keara."

Zuko's irritable attitude turned almost to glee, except his face only revealed a smirk to prove it. "Finally. This time I will catch the Avatar and bring him before my father."

vvvv

"Ah!" Aang clasped his hands over his burnt nose as he hopped around. "It burns! It burns!"

Keara rolled her eyes, "It's fire." She walked up to the Avatar and forced him to stop his antics. "Let me see."

Aang complied and lowered his hands. "How bad is it?"

After a moment inspection she nodded to herself and stood upright, "Just fine. Looks like you got it a bit too warm, but not enough to burn it."

Aang gave out a sigh of relief but Keara was not done with the matter just yet. "Do you now understand one of the reasons why I said to keep your head up?"

He nodded his head, "Ya. I'm definitely not doing that again."

"Good," Keara said with a smile, "Now let's try this again without the attempt to burn your nose off."

"Right," Aang readied himself for the basic fire move once more. He took a deep breath and exhaled to calm himself and ready his energy.

"When you are relaxed do as I have told you to," Keara told him calmly.

After another intake of breath Aang lunged on his right leg and sent his right fist out sharply. A burst of flame erupted and traveled for several feet before dissipating into the air.

"Good, but you still don't have full control of it," Keara told him as he came to strand properly. "You are forcing the flame out instead of letting it just flow naturally off of your hand." She demonstrated what she meant before she spoke again. "Now try again and this time let it flow."

Once again Aang readied himself before lunging. This time however the fire that was emitted seemed natural even if the source it had come from was not of a flammable substance. "I did it!" He cried and jumped in the air.

"Very good," Keara said with a smile. "But we are hardly done for today." This did not seem to downcast the Avatar, instead he awaited his next challenge. "Next you'll learn to emit fire from you feet. Now watch as I'll show this to you only once."

Keara bent her legs slightly, "Bending your legs gives you better balance and will lead to greater power being dealt within the attack," she explained. Her next move was a roundhouse kick that had a trail of flame following behind it like a comet with a tail that went out several feet from her body in a spiral fashion.

"Cool!" Aang exclaimed.

"It can be used for closer combat," Keara told him, "And it does come in handy, you just have to know when to use it."

"Is that even a basic move?" Katara asked from where she sat watching with interest.

"No," Keara said with a shake of her head, "It's somewhere between a moderate level and an advanced level as it require much more concentration that the move before did, but I believe Aang is quite capable of handling it at this time."

Aang readied himself once again and did a roundhouse kick, only to loose his balance completely and fall to the ground. Though he had created flame with the movement its flow was disrupted due to its sources ungraceful fall.

"If you hadn't of lost your balance that would have been perfect," Keara told him as she helped him up. "Do you know why you lost your footing?"

"I kicked forward to hard."

"Correct. You need power behind the move, but too much power destroys the attack because it does not flow as it should; naturally."

"Can I try again?"

"Of course," Keara said with a smile.

The second attempt proved well as he got the flame to flow naturally from his foot like the tail of a comet. The next move he got on his first try as it was much easier; a simple kick up.

"Very good," Keara said with a light applause. "Now all I want you to do is kick your leg out, but as you kick twist your hips so that you become almost completely stream line."

Aang did as he was told without a demonstration and had only failed the first time because he had forgotten to put energy into the attack. The second attempt proved him capable of it with almost perfect style.

"You catch on quickly Aang, I'm impressed."

The boy gave a big smile, "You're a really good teacher."

"Na, for you this is second nature, you just needed to be reminded of it," Keara said with a shrug.

"You taught me to keep my head up," Aang told her, "That helped a lot."

Keara smiled, "Always does."

At that moment a cry from the river just beyond the dense line of trees was heard. Katara was fast to her feet, "Sokka?"

The boy came running into view not a moment later screaming, "Firebenders!"

"Wonderful," Keara muttered, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "You guys get on Appa and get out of here now. Drake, go with them and make sure they stay safe."

"With all do respect Keara, my duty is to protect you, not them," Drake said calmly.

"We are not at home Drake, that old standard doesn't matter."

"But it does to me," he said as he came to stand at her side.

Aang stood where he had been, "Why should we leave? We can help."

"You have to stay unharmed to continue your training," Keara reminded him, "We are on limited time remember. Now go."

There was no time for further arguments as the firebender's came through the trees, Zuko leading them on his large rhinoceros like beast. Upon seeing them the prince jumped off his ride.

"Ah, it's that boy again," Keara said more to herself than anyone.

"I've finally found you Avatar," Zuko said with a smirk, "This time you are mine." With a quick and decisive lung he threw out his fist, causing a funnel of flame to fly in Aang direction.

Without so much as a word Drake intercepted the attack before it came within several feet of the young Avatar, stopping it effortlessly with the sharp whip of one arm. Everyone except Keara was amazed at his speed and ease at blocking the attack that would have undoubtedly caused harm to Aang.

Taking full advantage of the distraction Keara pulled off an advanced maneuver that would baffle all that did not know her. With a step forward she used the momentum of the step to do a full spin and, upon having done three-fourths of a circle, let her arm nearest the firebender's fly out, palm up. From her open hand flew a small ball of fire that split in two upon clearing her hand at an angle just big enough go to the very edge of the circle like shape the firebender's were in. The two flames hit the ground and erupted both outward and towards the sky, bending around the group only stopping when it had re-met its other half, forming a domed cage of fire when it was finished.

"Wow!" Sokka cried, "How'd she do that!"

Sokka wasn't the only one amazed by the technique, everyone was. Even Zuko had to admit, to himself, that he had never before seen such a trick.

Keara turned to her friends, "Let's get out of here before they figure a way out."

"Right," Sokka said hastily as she jumped up on Appa after Aang. Katara was next to jump on, but only after a quick glance at the other female, followed by an ever calm Drake, whose arms were crossed over his chest.

Keara lingered for a brief moment to watch the firebenders as they came to their senses and tried to get out of their fiery cell. She shook her head at their methods, "You're thinking far too hard kids," she said playfully before joining her friends upon the giant bison.

"Appa, yip yip," Aang commanded as he gave a light slap of the reigns.

Once they were safely in the air Katara spoke the question on her brothers mind, "What did you tell them that for?"

The other worldly teen shrugged, "I suppose you could think of the cell as a challenge I invoked upon them and, like any challenge, there is usually at least one clue given. My words were a clue."

"Ya, but that'd get them on our tails quicker," Sokka said in agitation.

"Perhaps," Keara said calmly, "But I can easily lock them in an even stronger cell." Sokka was at a loss to come up with a counter statement and so he crossed his arms and leaned against the side of the saddle with a deep frown.

"Can you teach me that trick?" Aang asked as he crawled back to the saddle.

"It's a bit too far of a reach for you at this point in time," Keara told him, "But at the rate you're learning the fire skills you'll get to the needed point in no time."

Aang grinned happily, "I can't wait!"

"You do know that it's called firebending, not fire skills, right?" Sokka asked.

"Same difference," Keara responded with a shrug, "I just use different terminology, but I'll pick it up eventually."

A sudden scurrying up her back alerted her to the presence of yet another of Aang's animal friends; a lemur by the name of Momo. Without looking she pet the animal on the head when he had come to rest on her left shoulders as if he were a parrot.

Katara looked back in the direction from which they had just come, "I wonder how long it'll take them to get out."

"I'd say they're out by now," Drake said as he took gazed in the same direction. "That boy is not to be underestimated when he's in a rush. That much I can reason without further study of his personality."

"You say that like he's a book or something," Sokka pointed out.

"You humans are just like books," Drake said calmly without turning his gaze from where it was being held.

Sokka made a face but could utter nothing as Keara gave a soft laugh and spoke, "We are indeed like that of an open book." She looked to Aang and gave him a kind smile, "You just need to know the language to understand each one."

I love that holding cell move! Lol. It is my own creation… I've missed two or three episodes of the anime so I don't know what happened as far as fire bending goes. But anyways, how does Zuko manage to get out of the cell?

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