The Avatars – Chapter 3 – Flame
Disclaimer: Still don't Avatar or any of that stuff.
A/N: Flame is an O.C., for all the people who will find his sudden appearance very, very, confusing.
"You didn't do that? How did it happen then? Saka can't Airbend and I'm fairly certain that I can only Waterbend! Who else could have done it? I'm grateful you did, but don't act like you didn't!" Katara screamed.
"Katara, think about it. If Ozai really is another Avatar, then how do we know who is or isn't? Your eyes turned blue before that wind came and saved you. You probably did that yourself by accident," Ang said back.
"Ang, you might be right. But, I can't handle being an Avatar, I barely know Waterbending."
"I can teach you what I know, it would be helpful to have someone else with as much power as me helping out. Let's stop on that island so I can show you what I know of Air, Fire, and Earthbending," Ang said soothingly.
"All right," Katara said, deciding that this was a good thing instead of a burden. "Wait, we're in Fire Nation territory. We should go back and land on an Earth Kingdom island."
"The island looks deserted," Ang said. And he was right, it did look deserted, at least from that side of the mountains running along the middle.
Zuko stood on the bow of his ship. He was still a little shocked from the incident about an hour ago.
"We'll stop at that island for the night," he told the crew. They all breathed a sigh of relief because they were beginning to think that they were never going to get a break.
"But that means I want you to work twice as hard to get there within the hour!" he yelled, then mumbled to himself, "Maybe that'll get them going."
Flame stood at peak of the mountains on the island. To the east, from the direction of the Earth Kingdom, he saw a ship belching smoke, it was a Fire Nation ship. To the west, from the direction of the mainland Fire Nation, he saw a flying bison with three people on it. They were both going to hit the shore of his island on their respective sides around the same time. He knew, from the occasional traveler telling him the news, that on was Zuko, the banished prince from the Fire Nation who hunts the Avatar, and the other was the Avatar. They would collide here and it wasn't going to end well.
They were surveying the other side of the mountains to make sure it was abandoned. It seemed so, and they found nothing. They decided they might as well stay on that side of the mountains instead of recrossing. The ship in the distance would have made them decide otherwise, but they didn't see it from there. What they did see, though, was a boy around their age coming down the mountains…
Flame wanted to meet the Avatar. He was climbing down to talk to them. They saw him before he saw them.
"Hi! My name's Ang! What's yours?" the Avatar, a young Airbender apparently named Ang, yelled out to him.
"You might want to think out recrossing instead of staying here," Flame yelled instead of telling his name to them.
"Why's that?" Ang asked, now within distance enough so he didn't need to yell.
"Because Zuko is about to land on this shore, and you're not going to want to be here for that," he told them.
"Ang, he's right. We don't want to fight Zuko now. You're not strong enough and we've got other reasons to be here than to fight him," Saka said to Ang.
"No. I don't think we'll end up fighting," he responded.
"Well, have fun with that," Flame said. This gave the group a shock because they had already forgotten his presence.
"The Avatar is on those shores! I can see him from here!" Zuko said excitedly. "This is my chance."
"Don't fight him. I've heard he's learned some Firebending and some Earthbending," Iro told him.
"I wasn't going to fight him, Uncle, I was going to join him," Zuko said to the stunned shock of everyone on the crew and Iro.
"What? But joining him will make your situation worse! Your father will banish you permanently!"
"You saw what happened a few hours ago! He's not the only Avatar," Zuko said, shocking himself as well, "I want to learn as much as I can and help fight the Fire Nation."
"When did you decide this?" Iro asked, not fighting the decision, but curious as to its origin.
"I decided to join him when I rescued him from Xiao. The incident a few hours ago reaffirmed it."
"And when did you rescue him from Xiao?" he asked, because he just liked making Zuko admit to his crimes. Not to turn him in, but so he could keep going guilt free.
"I'm the Blue Spirit. The man that broke into Xiao's fortress, freed the Avatar, and brought him to safety."
"Good. I knew those broadswords I bought for you would do some good eventually. You would do well to integrate them into your fighting style," Iro said calmly. Zuko couldn't believe that his uncle was taking this the way he was. What he didn't know was that his uncle went and puched his pillow all night until he got a cramp in both arms and fainted…