PROLOGUE
Water. Earth. Fire. Air.
Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. But then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.
Only the Avatar- master of all four elements- could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished.
One hundred years passed and Katara and Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe discovered the new Avatar- an Air Bender named Aang. And although his bending skills are great, he has a lot to learn before he is ready to save anyone.
But Katara believes that Aang will save the world someday . . .
BOOK TWO
CHAPTER THREE: THE ATTACK
Zuko and Jet lay in their cell. A day had passed, and Longshot was the first to be executed. Prince Zuko was next.
"This is all your fault, you know," Zuko accused, bitterly.
Jet didn't reply.
"If you hadn't interfered, Zhao would be dead," he continued.
Jet raised an eyebrow, curious. "You're against Zhao, too? But, you're Fire Nation."
Zuko turned away. "I was. Until my father banished me."
"So what's Zhao got to do with that?"
Zuko paused and took a breath. "I can only restore my honor by capturing the Avatar. And Zhao is just an interference. So- Wait, why am I telling you all this?"
"I don't know."
There was a moment of silence. Zuko continued to stare at the wall, lost in thought. Thinking about what life was like before he was banished. Before he had opened his big mouth.
"It seems you and I could be friends," Jet broke the silence.
"Hm . . . Perhaps."
"So . . ." Jet extended his hand. "Friends?"
Zuko shook it.
"There's only one problem."
"What's that?" Jet asked.
"How do we get out of this cell?"
Jet paused. "Wait . . . I think I have an idea."
Tai stood at the edge of Zhao's ship. He raised his hand in the air, and a huge lump of coal shot up from the fuel storage. He spun the rock around and around above his head, then crashed it into a canoe from the Northern Water Tribe about ninety yards away.
"'I only know a little bit of Earth Bending,'" Tai quoted the lie he had told Zuko only hours before.
The ship entered the Water Tribe's harbor.
Zhao gave a one-word order to his troops: "Attack."
The hundreds of soldiers leaped from the boat and quickly burned down the gates of the tribe.
"Fire Benders!" Master Pakku cried.
Panic had grown in the tribe. They had expected an attack, but not one this strong. To make matters worse, most of the guards standing by the gate had fled for their own lives, instead of protecting the innocent.
However, benders such as Master Pakku were able to keep of most of the Fire Benders. One thing that really surprised them was an Earth Bender working for the Fire Nation. Tai was pulling the earth up from beneath the ice and hurling it with all of his might. He was the tribe's main threat at the moment. And then . . .
Fire seemed to be raining from the sky! But how?
Aang- who had been ordered to stay in the safety of an igloo along with Katara and Sokka- looked up into the sky to see several fireballs being shot from the war balloon in the sky.
"We can't just stay here and do nothing!" Sokka complained. He grabbed his boomerang.
"Sokka, what are you doing?" Katara whispered. "If the Fire Nation finds us here . . ."
"The sooner we get the Fire Benders out of here, the better," came the response.
He quickly ran outside of the igloo and hurled his boomerang at the balloon. It hit balloon. As it went down, Sokka felt proud.
The Water Benders had managed to drive all of the Fire Nation soldiers out of the tribe- and Tai. Attack one had failed. But there was no celebrating. The Fire Nation had left much damage in the tribe, but not as much as Sokka had.
"You caused the balloon to crash into the Healing Hut!" Master Pakku yelled. Thousands of victims taking cover there were lost, including Princess Yeu.
The chief stared solemnly. "You- and your friends- are banished from the Northern Water Tribe.