Why does everyone start these things off talking to their characters?

Katara: Maybe they want to! You should join the crowd..

Me: Weirdos.. continuing the next story!

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Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee watched the storm off in the distance, trying to figure out what their next move was.

"We have to avoid that storm by any means necessary!" Azula yelled as she looked ahead. "We can't afford to get taken down in that."

"What if it's like the one the soldiers saw yesterday?" Mai asked her, almost afraid that the storm would follow them anyway.

"Yeah, it could be the Avatar again," Ty Lee spoke up from behind them.

"Well, we know where they're going. We'll keep heading that way avoiding what we need to until we get there. We'll keep going through the night while they stop and we'll be there before them to surprise them." Azula's evil grin spread over her face.

Mai walked over to a chair and sat down. "I'm starting to get really tired."

"We can go to bed and let our new crew take us through the night," Azula laughed. They all walked out and she ordered the soldiers to take over for the night. She made sure to remind them what would happen if they stopped or got lost. She didn't want to waste any time.

She watched the storm for another minute before they changed course to go around it. She just caught a glimpse of a giant wave before she lost sight of it all.

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Katara came up coughing, waves still coming pretty hard but calming down a little. The water was freezing and she was so cold her bones didn't want to move, but she had to find her friends. What happened? she thought. Where is everyone? She found a fairly large iceburg to climb up on. "Sokka! Zuko! Aang! Where are you!" She saw something floating a little further away. She used her bending to pull it to her. It was Sokka. "NO!" She pulled him up out of the water and laid him on the iceburg next to her, bending the water out of his clothes so he wouldn't freeze to it. He wasn't moving. She thought quickly and bended the water out of his lungs, but still nothing. "Sokka, don't leave me! Zuko, Aang, someone help! Come on, Sokka. Open your eyes, you can't leave me! It'll be okay, you'll be okay, please hold on! Someone help me!" She was crying hard, she didn't know what to do. My dream, she thought, I knew I shouldn't have gone back to sleep! What have I done!

She heard coughing and looked at Sokka, but it wasn't him. She looked in the water and Zuko was swimming towards her slowly with Aang under his arm. "Katara, help me get him up there!" She used her bending again to pull them over and helped them up. Iroh had climbed up behind them dragging Momo up by the tail. No sign of Appa yet. They had to wake Aang and Sokka. Katara bended the water out of Aang's lungs as she had done Sokka's, but Aang woke up coughing. Sokka was still laying there. Katara noticed that his chest wasn't even moving and put her ear down to hear his breathing, but he was silent. Her hand jumped up to her mouth and she started crying again. Zuko went to him and tried what we know as CPR, but in their world it was just called saving someone's life. He gave him mouth-to-mouth and after a couple minutes, Sokka's eyes started moving and he took a breath. He leaned over and coughed hard.

"Sokka!" Katara yelled and jumped on top of him. His eyes opened slowly and he looked around. Katara was on top of him, Zuko right next to his head, Aang and Iroh down near his feet, everyone staring at him.

"What happened? Where's the storm? Why is everyone looking at me funny? And why are you on top of me again?"

"We thought we lost you," Katara whispered still crying. They were happy tears now. She sat back as he tried to get up on his elbows.

"Why do I feel like I've been kissed?" he asked, wiping his mouth. Everyone but him laughed at that. "Wait, that's not funny. Everyone here is either a guy or my sister. Who did it!"

Katara looked at Zuko, who in turn looked at Sokka. "It wasn't a kiss. I just saved you. You weren't breathing, I had no choice."

Sokka sat up the rest of the way and looked at him. "Thanks."

Their little touching moment was interupted when Aang yelled, "Appa!" They all looked in the direction he was looking and saw a big patch of fur in the water.

"Aang, he's too big." Katara was already trying to pull him over. "You have to help me!"

Together, Katara and Aang pulled the water around Appa and got him as close as they could before attempting to raise the water to get him up there with them. Aang and Katara got on either side of him and together they pulled the water from his huge lungs. Iroh and Zuko had to hold his mouth open for it to come out. It was hard for them because he's so big, but they managed. When they saw the water come floating out, they put his mouth down as gently as possible only to have him open it again, grunt, and then lick Zuko, drenching him again. Everyone laughed.

They let him rest for a little while before jumping on and heading south again. Aang drove again, spending time with the friend he had almost lost for the third time since he got Appa. They were close to the Air Temple. If that storm hadn't come up they would be there by now, but no one could help that. It was dark out, so Iroh, Sokka, and Zuko were sleeping. Katara didn't want to sleep. She couldn't. Not after that.

Aang spoke up from Appa's head. "I like your hair like that."

Katara looked confused. "Like what?"

"With the gold streaks in it. You didn't see your reflection?"

"I didn't pay attention. Besides, it was getting dark and I was focusing on getting everyone back. Why is my hair gold?"

"I guess it turned gold the same way your eyes did, but your hair stayed. It happened while the storm was forming in front of us and you were sleeping. Zuko pointed it out, it was weird. He actually saw a strand change. It looks good though." Aang smiled at her before turning back to watch for the Temple.

"Thanks for being cool about all this. Me and Zuko, I mean. You've been a better friend than I deserve. I would come up there and give you a hug, but.." she looked down in her lap at a sleeping Zuko, "..I'm stuck." She laughed a little quietly so not to wake him.

"Well, I'm glad you're happy. If it weren't for me, you and Zuko wouldn't even have met! I'm happy I could help."

She smiled and looked down at Zuko. She tried to run her fingers through his short, scruffy looking black hair but it was too short to really do anything. She was tired still, but fought sleep as hard as she could. When we get to the Air Temple, we can sleep inside and not have to worry about my sleep storms, she thought. She laughed as she thought about her whole new meaning to 'brain-storming'.

"I think I see it up ahead," Aang called to her. "I'm pretty sure that's it, we're headed that direction. It's supposed to be the next thing we see after the mountains."

"Good, maybe we can sleep in peace.. or at least inside away from whatever storm my brain conjures up next. I didn't even know we were back over land."

Aang laughed. He just got the 'brain-storming' thing. Appa started going faster when he saw the mountains in front of them. He was tired and he wanted to sleep. Aang noticed and looked ahead. They were basically right in front of them.

"See if you can get him to the Temple before he falls asleep," Katara laughed.

Aang started a little worried, "Um, Katara? This can't be it."

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Azula and Mai walked up to the ship's front deck to find Ty Lee already up. "We passed the Air Temple mountains a couple hours ago. We're getting close."

Azula looked at her funny. "Why were you up so early?"

"I couldn't sleep. I don't know why, but I keep catching myself thinking about those storms. If the Avatar can do that, what else is he capable of?"

Mai and Azula looked at each other, neither knowing what to say. "I have an idea. If we capture his friends, those Water Tribe peasants, then he'll have to give up," Mai suggested.

"Isn't that what Zula's brother did all the time? It never worked. He ended up joining them, remember?"

Azula looked at Ty Lee and smiled. "Yeah, my brother never was cut out for that kind of stuff. He can't even beat me in battle! He's weak. That's why I was my father's favorite."

"He's still hot," Mai laughed.

Ty Lee had to laugh a little with her, but she was still curious. "What about your mom?"

"She 'died' a while ago, but she always like Zuko better. I think because she felt sorry for him for not being as good as me. Pathetic, really. Anyway, Mai, it was a good idea but it's been done and we've seen firsthand it doesn't work. Unless.." Azula was thinking hard about this before she spit it out. "Unless we do capture his friends and have them guarded while all three of us take him! Surely we can do that! He can't be powerful enough to take on all of us at the same time, we're strong!"

Mai and Ty Lee thought about that for a second and agreed. "We might as well try, if that doesn't work then all we have left is the hope that the firelord can defeat him," Ty Lee hoped.

"If we can't defeat him, my father can and will," Azula growled.

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"Where is the Temple?" Zuko asked when he woke up. Aang had been up for a little while, trying to figure out what could've happened. Katara was sleeping soundly, no storms this time. Iroh was starting to wake up as Zuko jumped down off of Appa. They had landed in the mountain range that was supposed to be home to the Air Temple, but it wasn't in sight.

"This is it. It's supposed to be here, but it's not. I went to the place it sits, but all I found were a couple piles of rocks and the foundation that it's supposed to be sitting on. I- I think they destroyed it."

Zuko walked over to where Aang sat and sat down next to him. "How long has Katara been asleep?"

"Almost since the time we landed. It was pretty dark. I stayed up for a while after she fell asleep, but all that came were a couple big clouds."

"We should try to find some food, everything was lost in the storm."

Aang sighed. "Yeah, I guess we should." He got up, Zuko standing up next to him.

"We could stay here today and go to the place the Air Temple was to practice your firebending if you want."

Aang smiled up at Zuko, happy he made the offer. "Race you there?"

"Don't cheat and you're on!" They took off through the trees and disappeared.

Sokka woke up when Iroh started digging through whatever was still tied to the back of Appa's saddle. "At least we can still have tea," Iroh chuckled, pulling his things out of the small bag. "Would you like some?"

Sokka yawned and stretched, then jumped down from the saddle. "Yeah, sure. Thanks."

"No storms, I guess that means she's okay for now."

"I hope so. I hope even more that our Gran Gran can explain what's going on. She probably can't though. Katara's the only waterbender in our whole village, she taught herself."

"That's a sign of true greatness. Maybe the storms are her powers strengthening. Soon she may be able to control them consciously and remember everything, but until then she needs all the support she can get. She can't control them right now so it's really not her fault."

"I know," Sokka sighed. "Maybe we can help her control it somehow. The first time she was upset. She was yelling and that's when the storm started. But the second time, she was asleep. Could she have been dreaming of something that was upsetting her?"

"We could ask her. We need to take these things into consideration, they could help her control the oncoming of the storm, but how to make them stop is a bit more difficult. The first time, Prince Zuko kissed her. The second time, I'm guessing she woke up in the water. It must be something that either startles her or makes her feel comfortable."

"Maybe.. why do you still call him 'prince'?"

He chuckled. "I don't know, I guess I just got used to it. That's what I had to call him. Well, either that or just 'nephew'. Now it's just a bad habit that I can't rid myself of."

"Where did Aang and Zuko go?"

"They went to where the great Air Temple once stood to practice."

"It's not there anymore?" Sokka looked around and realized he didn't see it. "It was just here a few months ago when we first started our trip to the North Pole, what happened?"

"Given it's just a guess, I'm going with the Fire Nation destroyed it"

"Somehow, I feel more powerful standing here," Aang said. He was out of breath when they reached the Temple ruins. Zuko had beat him, but just barely. Aang was fast for a twelve-year old.

"Well, you're an airbender," Zuko was out of breath too, "Aren't you supposed to feel that way here?" He paused for a second to catch his breath. "I always felt that way when I entered the Temple in the Fire Nation." He laughed thinking about it. "It never helped me though."

Aang laughed a little before throwing a fireball at him. Zuko jumped back and looked him in surprise. "Gotta keep you on your toes, expect an attack at all times."

Zuko smiled. "You've been talking to my uncle too much." He fireblasted at Aang and Aang threw up a firewall. "Good, good. Has he taught you to redirect lightening? He just taught me that one recently."

"No, not yet. We could've used that yesterday, huh?"

"That's what he sat up on his knees to do, right before that huge wave took us down. I can teach you the movements if you want."

"Okay!"

"Okay, first put both your arms pointing towards the sky, but at an angle." He showed Aang how to do it. "Then the arm that extends further will take the lightening and you will guide it through your body with your other hand: down your arm, into your stomach, and out the other arm. When you go from your arm to your stomach, be careful to avoid your heart."

"That's actually pretty easy," Aang said, practicing his new move.

"If you ever go up against Azula, and I'm almost positive you will if you ever plan on taking my father down, you'll have to know that move. She can do lightening. I still haven't gotten that one down, everytime I try it blows up in my face.. literally! My uncle says that it's not about anger or force, but I could never fully control that part."

"Why don't you try it now? I'm sure with Katara you're happy and calm alot, maybe it'll work."

"You might be right, Aang. Okay, back up a little. I don't want to hurt you if it blows up again." Aang backed up as Zuko got into the stance. He cleared his mind and made his face blank, no emotion in his eyes. He extended the two main fingers on each hand, moved his arms around along with his body then thrusted them towards the sky. Blue lightening. He stood there shocked for a few seconds before Aang tackled him with a hug.

"You did it! You did it!"

"I did!" He was staring at his fingers, then looked at the sky as if he couldn't believe what just happened.

"Come on, let's go tell Iroh! I'll race you back!" Aang took off, leaving Zuko behind trying to get to his feet to chase him.

Katara was awake when they came bursting through the trees together yelling. She was gathering water in the pot that Iroh found, he was boiling it, and she was cooling it down enough to fill their canteens.

Iroh looked up at them and smiled. "Which one of you figured out how to do that?"

"Zuko did it!" Aang yelled as they ran into the camp out of breath again.

"Zuko? Is this true, nephew?"

"Yes, Uncle. I made that. After all this time of it just blowing up in my face, I finally got it!"

"I told you that you couldn't be angry when you did that or it would blow up like all the other times. You finally found your muse, Zuko."

"He taught me how to redirect lightening, too!" Aang said excitedly. "He didn't shoot any at me though, he just walked me through the stances in case I ever had to go up against Azula."

"Sounds like you two had fun," Katara finally spoke up.

"Yeah, except for the part when Aang cheated when we raced back here." Zuko elbowed Aang and Aang just smiled really big. "He couldn't take losing again."

"There's a village somewhere in these mountains, should we risk it?" Aang asked. "I mean, if the Fire Nation destroyed the Temple, they might have soldiers in the village. Do we need supplies that bad? I mean, we're only about a week from the South Pole."

"I think I found enough food for us for the next few days," Sokka said, walking out of the trees behing Iroh and Katara. "Come help me get it, there's a lot."

They all followed Sokka through the thick trees and came to another small semi-clearing. It was full of small trees with lots of different fruits on them, and there were animals all over the place.

"I remember this place!" Aang whispered loudly so he didn't scare the animals off. "I used to come here all the time, the other airbenders used to take care of the animals who lived here."

"Well, it's their turn to take care of us. Aang, gather what fruits you want to take. Everyone else, pick an animal and let the master get it for you."

Zuko gave Sokka a funny look, then bent down and pulled the dagger out of his boot and threw it at a rabbit that was running by. Direct hit. Sokka returned the funny look. He took his boomerang out of its holder and threw it at a deer, but it stuck to the tree it was running past. He did his nervous laugh, complete with the scratching the back of the head before going over to pull it out.

Katara was standing with her arms crossed and a smirk on her face, the same position she had known Zuko to do in the past, and said, "I guess the master needs more practice." She couldn't help but laugh when she realized how much she felt like Zuko standing that way. "I think you two can handle the food, I'm going to go practice my bending some more. Maybe I can find some way to control the storms that I don't remember making."

Aang was running around gathering the fruits already when she headed back, Iroh following close behind. When he spoke up, it startled her because she didn't know he had followed her. "I wanted to talk to you about that."

"The storms?"

"Yes, I need to know what you were dreaming about when you went back to sleep on Appa after your bad dream yesterday evening."

She hesitated, but then thought maybe he could help so she told him, "I dreamt of Sokka. That he died. I couldn't save him. No one was there to help until I woke up and it started coming true. Then I heard Zuko, he brought Aang, and then you popped up with Momo."

"That's something like what I expected. Sokka and I were talking about it this morning and we noticed something. You're upset whenever the storms come and it takes something to startle or comfort you to end them. It's like you're connected spiritually with your element. It can sense when you're angry or upset and it comes to help. It's almost like Aang in his Avatar State."

Katara thought about that and realized he was right. "That's how I found Aang," she said quietly. "Sokka and I were fishing and he made me mad. I was yelling at him and he said that every time I flung my arms back, the waves hit a giant iceburg that was behind me and it cracked up the middle and fell apart. Aang and Appa were inside." She stopped for a second thinking about that and realized that's not the only time it happened either. "And in the North Pole, Master Pakku taught Aang and refused to teach me because I'm a girl. I confronted him and yelled a challenge at him in front of their council and every time I moved my arms the floor cracked and I broke a couple of water vases that were on either side of the stairs to the counsil's chairs. And in the battle with him, I did things I had never learned before because I was angry and they just came to me."

Iroh looked at her with a smile. "I think we found it. Let's just hope you don't do what Aang did in the North Pole and turn into La himself."

She wanted to keep talking, but stopped and looked up at him still somewhat in shock that she didn't realize this sooner.

"I just think that on the island, when your eyes turned gold, it was the ocean spirit posessing you to make you more powerful. Let's try something." He took her over to the edge of the lake they landed beside. "Now, just think about every bad thing that's ever happened to you. Let the thoughts flow through your mind, get angry, thrust your arms, yell if you have to. We're going to see if we can control this."

Katara closed her eyes and concentrated. Her dad leaving, being captured so many times, losing her necklace, her necklace, her necklace, Azula still has her necklace, Azula is still after them, she wants to hurt them, she's trying to destroy the world's only hope, she'll kill her brother, her Zuko, she's trying to take him away, she wants him dead, she wants all her friends dead... When she opened her eyes, she felt different. The clouds were moving all around the lake and through the mountains, the lake's waves were coming in fast and hard and getting bigger, the trees were blowing from the swirling clouds. She looked at Iroh, who was watching her.

"You're doing it! Your eyes!" he yelled over the storm. She had control. She could feel the spirit in her. Then she whispered in her head a thank you and the spirit left, the storm leaving with it. Iroh walked up to her quickly, proud that she had learned how to control it and he had helped. The boys came running out of the trees as the clouds were leaving, prepared for anything. All they saw was Katara jumping up and down in excitement and Iroh laughing, holding his stomach.

"What happened?" Sokka asked, running up to his sister.

"I did it!" she yelled. "I controlled it! I thought about bad things that have happened and things that are going on and I opened my eyes and I could see it all! I felt him with me!"

Zuko walked over to his uncle. "What did you do? Who is she talking about?"

"The ocean spirit is connected to her somehow. I was helping her control her new power and when she looked at me her eyes were blue and gold spotted. When the gold faded out, so did the storm."

Zuko walked over to her and Sokka. "The ocean spirit, La? Really? Uncle Iroh said when he saw your eyes, they were blue and gold spotted so you could actually see what you did?"

"Yes, it was amazing! I could feel him with me, the energy just flowing out of me into the lake and right back at me. I'm going to try it again later when I get some energy back. I didn't use that much this time. I want to see if I can talk to him. I need a couple questions answered."

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They coasted the ship slowly through the mess of iceburgs so they wouldn't hit any. Azula was pacing back and forth, getting impatient with how slowly they were going but she knew they had to or they'd sink. Mai was out at the front of the ship watching the iceburgs float by, occasionally throwing a flame at one. Ty Lee was in her room writing. Azula walked outside to join Mai throwing flames.

"Bored?" she almost laughed.

"Just a little. How much longer do we have to go? I'm ready to get back on land right about now. I've never been on the water for so long and it's starting to get to my stomach." Mai laughed a little, but stopped quickly for the sake of her nausea.

Azula thought it was a little funny, but didn't laugh. "We'll be there soon. Probably tonight."

"Good. I'm sick of the water, literally. Is Ty Lee still in her room?"

"Yeah, I think she's reading or writing or something. She's been acting kind of funny today. I mean, the sudden interest in my family."

"I noticed that. I wonder if something is wrong?"

"Who knows, she hardly talks about herself." Azula saw a big iceburg and blasted it, melting the whole tip off.

"What do you think they've taught the Avatar in the time we've been chasing them?"

"No idea. Iroh is most likely the one teaching him firebending and Iroh is almost as powerful as I am, but we still don't know how quick a learner he is. I've heard he's pretty fast, but rumors aren't always true. He could still be learning a fireball or mastered lightening by now. I don't even know how much of water and earth he knows. Judging by the lake in the mountains, either he's good or the people in the village lied."

"They probably lied. You saw the storm, that could've been him. Traveling with the waterbender girl, he's probably picked up a lot from her, especially since she's a master now."

"Yeah, and that earthbender girl that was traveling with them for a while.. oh, how I hate that day." Azula blasted another iceburg. Mai looked at her confused. "The day enemies joined forces to take me down. The two Water Tribe kids, the Avatar, Zuko, Iroh, and that earthbender girl." She smiled. "That day, I finally showed my brother how serious I am. I hit my uncle with lightening the second he took his eyes off of me, but then everyone hit me with everything and I had to get away."

One of the soldiers came from the bridge. "Princess Azula, we're coming up on the.. city?."

Azula looked out at the new and improved South Pole and smiled. "Good."

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Her necklace, her necklace, Azula has her necklace, she's planning on taking the world's hope, she wants the Avatar, she wants her brother, she can't have him, she'll never have him, over her dead BODY!

Katara's eyes snapped open. Wind blowing, rain pouring, black clouds, huge waves. Maybe she let it get too far before she stopped. Okay, she thought. I need a favor from you, La. She felt the spirit moving around, telling her he was listening. If you are in contact with the other spirits, my friends and I could use their help soon. We're preparing for a great battle, possibly more than one. We need help preparing and possibly battling to put the world and the nations back in peace. Can you help?

The spirit finally spoke to her. I can try, it said. I will try. Then the storm was over, the gold specks were gone from her eyes.

Zuko ran to catch her before she fell. Her eyes closed before she fell and they stayed that way until dark. She awoke to a surprising sight. A little way in front of her, there stood a great tower where the Air Temple was supposed to be.

"What is that?" she asked, pointing to it.

Zuko was there with her. "You were kind of talking in your sleep, except it wasn't you. We think it wasLa. He said for Aang to go to the ruins and wait. Well, Aang went and next thing we know, that shot out of the ground. When he came back, he had green specks in his eyes before he passed out next to you. We think it was the earth spirit. He went up there after he woke up and said the Air Temple was back. What did you ask when you talked tohim?"

"I asked for help in our upcoming battle. I think he just gave me an answer."

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I know this is a bit weird, but keep in mind that I wrote all this before I saw episodes 19 and 20, before I even knew about La and Tweebeing mortal and whatnot. I went back and fixed a few things, but I left most of it the same because I didn't want to rewrite the whole thing and the next few chapters.The next chapter has a pretty kickass fight scene that I may spice up morebefore I put it up. It's called "Azula vs. Katara". XD

R&R!

Jenn, waterbending master of the south