Hey guys.. I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in a long time..i was busy with a bunch of stuff..but finally im gonna get to post this chapter! Go ahead..just read it!

A/N: by the way this is story is AU and I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender…Nickelodeon does.

A day full of surprises

Katara was trying to calm herself down after Bato, the water kingdom Commander, had just fought her to duel her in an Ap Kai. 'What was that man's problem?' 'He just barged up onto my ship thinking that he could defeat me?' 'Well he was wrong'…flashback

Princess Katara docks her ship at a water nation port. Her ship needed many repairs from her encounter with the Avatar.

"Hurry up men, we don't have much time before we lose track of the Avatar," she yelled to her crewmembers .All of a sudden, Bato walks up to Gran-Gran and Katara welcoming them to his harbor. Katara sneered as she saw the man she hated with a passion walk up to her.

"My Princess… You have grown quite beautiful during these past few years," He told her with a lustful grin on his face, reaching to touch his hand on her delicate face. But Katara quickly slapped his hand away from her. Bato quickly became angered but regained his composure.

"May I ask why your ship is damaged?" Bato asked Katara

"Well it really is a funny story captain…"Katara was about to say when Bato interrupted her.

"Oh my dear princess, I am no longer a captain; I have been promoted to Commander now."

"Well then commander, let my Gran-Gran tell you how it happened." Katara answered with a sneer as she urged her grandmother to make a lie of everything.

"We crashed into a Earth Nation ship while we were sailing," She answered bluntly.

Bato of course didn't believe them but simply asked if they would like to join for a drink.

"I'm sorry Commander, but we must be on our way; it was nice talking to you." She told him forcing a smile onto her face.

"Come Katara, at least be polite and accept the man's offer," her grandmother told her.

Katara agreed and followed the Commander to his ship.

"By the end of the year I believe that we will have the Earth Kingdom's capital under water nation rule and the Water Lord will take victory of this war." Bato told the two ladies.

"Hmph, My father is a fool if he actually thinks people will follow him, all he's done is cause damage." Katara said nonchalantly

"You've been at sea for two years and still you have no respect for anyone at all; so how's the search for the Avatar coming along?" Bato asked

"We still haven't found him yet." Katara lied straight to Bato

"O come now, hasn't anything interesting happened to you these last two years?" Bato asked trying to pry some information out of her.

"Besides seeing some whales…no not really." Katara told him plainly. "We have wasted your time staying here, so now we must take our leave." Katara stood up walking towards the door when two guards came up and prevented her from going any further.

"While you were here, some of my crew members went to your ship to interrogate them." Bato said, "They confirmed that you had captured the Avatar but let him escape right out of your palm."

Katara was stuck; the commander had just found out her secret, she would have a word with her crew when she got back to her ship. All of a sudden Bato came up to her from behind sliding his arms across her shoulders making her uncomfortable.

"Now, tell me again how your ship was damaged by the earth kingdom." He told her in a whisper.

I'm not going to tell you anything Bato!" Katara yelled at him

"You truly are pathetic; a mere 12 year old boy, the Avatar, defeated you and you waterbenders, no wonder you father banished you." Bato sneered while slapping her once again in the face.

"I promise I will not underestimate him again." Katara told him

"I'll make sure of it, you are not going to hunt the Avatar any longer." Bato told her

"WHAT, why?" Katara yelled

"This job is to big for a mere teenager to handle, the Avatar is mine now." Bato said

Katara let out her anger and jumped towards the Commander but a couple of guards held her back. Bato went up to his guards and told them to keep the prisoners here for the time being. As Katara's anger welled up, Gran-Gran just sat calmly in the corner requesting for another cup of tea.

Bato returns to his tent and asks his guards if the search party is ready. Once they told him they were, he went up to Katara and told her that he would her go when they had left the port.

"Aren't you afraid that we could stop you?" Katara asks but Bato just laughs in her face. Katara stands up, ready for a fight. 'Bato shouldn't be underestimating me; I will capture the Avatar first!' She thought

"What you want to fight me now?" Bato asks smartly, "How could you, I mean, do you want to face the same fate you did two years ago, to be ashamed?" Bato told her. "You even have that stupid water mark on your back to prove that you are a disgrace to your nation."

Katara had last it at that point and yells at Bato, "I declare a duel between us, an Ap Kai—a water duel."

"Katara are you sure, I mean, do you remember the last time you fought a master?" Gran-Gran stood up looking worriedly at the banished princess.

"How could I ever forget," Katara says so only her grandmother could hear her.

Princess Katara and Commander Bato were facing each other, waiting for the duel to begin. Katara was in her training clothes while Bato was shirtless in just some baggy training pants.

"Princess, do not forget the Waterbending basics." Gran-Gran says to Katara

"Don't worry grandmother, I will not let Bato win." Katara told her whole smirking

They duel started when a man rang the gong from the above field. They both use a water whip, each being avoided or blocked. Bato throws his fiercest water whips at Katara, each hitting her directly in the face. She finally falls backwards and Bato jumps right in front of her, sending icicles into Katara's face. But right when he was about to hit her, Katara was able to twist out of the harmful blow just in time. Now the tables are turned and Bato trips and falls to the floor, and Katara smirking, ends up to be the one standing over him. Katara has her icicles ready at aim, but Bato tell Katara to release him. Katara does as he is told but shoots a waterwhip at Bato... only to aim it directly to the ground beside him.

Bato, a little amazed, says to Katara, "You father had raised a coward."

Katara just ignores the comment and walks away. "If you get in my way next time, I won't hold back," Katara said while stopping in her tracks. At that point, Bato is furious, and gets up to overwhelm Katara with a massive wave; However, Gran-Gran grabs his hands before he could control the water and throws him backwards.

"What a disgrace Bato, even in exile, Katara was more honorable than you. Thank you for the tea, it was delicious, but we must take our leave." Gran-Gran says calmly Leaving Bato in a shocked state. End flashback

He should have known better than to mess with her. She was trained by the best. She couldn't help but smirk to herself, thinking of how good it was to finally defeat Bato. She had finally calmed herself down by meditating. Breathing slow deep breaths while moving the water from right to left slowly with her palms.

Gran-Gran interrupts Katara session by telling her that they have completely lost sight of the Avatar. Katara knew she shouldn't have lost control by she did anyway, turning the water into tiny icicles and throws it at the wall against her.

"There may have been sightings of him, but it is impossible to track down." Gran-Gran indicated.

Appa had been flying over the ocean for a couple of hours now. Zula, Zuko, Aang, and his new pet Momo a lemur; were very restless by now.

"If no ones going to say it then I will, we are LOST," Zuko yelled at no one in particular.

Aang can feel the tension between everybody so he goes near Zula to show her something. He had developed a mixture of feelings for the beautiful fire nation girl but still held his heart for the princess.

"Look at this Zula," he told her while doing an airbending trick which was twirling a couple of marbles in the palm of his hand.

"That's nice Aang," Zula said while sewing her brother's pants.

"But you didn't even look up," He said disappointedly to her.

"O come now Aang, you got to give girls their space when they're sewing," Zuko replied in his own sexist remark.

Zula just looked up at him with a scowl on her face," What do you mean we need our space?" She asked questing him.

"Well it's just that guys need their space when they go hunting or fishing, and girl's need their space when their sewing and doing girly stuff." Zuko replied smartly

"All finished, and look at what a fine job I did with you pants," She told him trying to keep herself calm.

"But Zula, there's still a hole," he said his voice cracking while sticking his hand through the hole.

Aang was just watching them amused at the siblings fight when he told them that they needed to land for his own reasons.

"Aang we just made a pit stop yesterday, we should do more flying before we stop again," Zuko tell his him.

"He's right Aang, we need to get to the North Pole so you can get a master for waterbending," she told Aang.

All of a sudden a giant fish jumps out of the water and Aang quickly strips of his clothes only leaving linen wrapped around his waist.

"That's why we're here, I'm going to ride the elephant koi." He said grinning widely.

As soon as he jumps head first into the water, he screams, it was too cold. But he just ignores it and goes under water rising up on the back of a giant elephant koi.

"Hey Zula, look," He yells to the girl but his frown turns upside down when he sees Zula leaving to make sure Appa doesn't eat something.

As Aang continues to hang on the back of the elephant koi, he doesn't realize that something in the water brings another koi fish down under.

Zula soon returns and her and Zuko scream at Aang. "Get out of the water," but the young airbender couldn't hear them, he thinks they're waving at him so he waves back.

But soon, the koi fish he was on goes down and he realizes that he is in trouble. The fish flung him off into the water. A giant black fin starts rushing towards him from behind. Screaming, he runs the whole way back on top of the water slamming into Zuko in the process.

Aang starts to put his clothes on and the group gets ready to leave when…

Yes my first cliff, but I think you can all guess what's going to happen next. This ch. wasn't that long but I got to start getting ready to go to a party. First of all I would like to thank SleepingDragon13 for her idea about the Katara vs. Bato thing. And thank you LunaChaos for verifying that this story was AU. If I forgot anyone else I'm sorry but I will try to remember next ch. Hope you liked this ch. Please review and I promise I will try to put Zutara in the next ch. REVIEW! NOW! lol

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