Hey all! I've decided to go with a new Avatar story this time! I hope you like it! (And on a side note, constructive criticism is definitely welcome and would be highly appreciated.)
The story is rated T for cursing and all that other fun, yet still mild, stuff.
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar or any of its characters. If I did, I probably wouldn't be submitting this here, now would I?
Chapter I
It was a bright sunny day in the large village of Kohaku. Even though the Fire Nation controlled the village, the citizens tried their best to keep the area as peaceful as possible. The day was young and everyone was going about their business. The women were purchasing goods, the men were out hunting, and the children were playing games, all while the Fire Nation soldiers, in their heavy red and black armor, patrolled the streets. Everything seemed normal. However, it wasn't long until the peace was broken.
"Hey, look! Over there! That kid's an Airbender! She must be working with the Avatar!"
This comment caught the attention of many, including all of the Firebenders in the nearby area. The accused girl didn't have any time to react to the person's shout before she found herself surrounded by Fire Nation soldiers.
'Great… I use my bending to keep some lady's pottery from falling and breaking and someone just has to go and see me and scream it out,' she thought as she let out a sigh, 'Well, I have two choices… I can either put up a fight and probably die a quick, yet painful death, or play stupid, get thrown into prison and die a long, painful death…… So much for my choices…'
The young girl didn't realize that while she was thinking about what to do, the Firebenders were closing in on her. When she finally noticed, it was too late. Two of the soldiers grabbed her arms, picked her up, and they carried her toward their ship.
"Huh? Hey! Put me down! You've got the wrong kid! I'm not an Airbender! I'm not working for the Avatar! I don't even know the Avatar! Put me down!" The girl continued shouting and began to swing her legs violently in every direction, occasionally kicking one of the soldiers in the leg, but they didn't let her go. "I'm telling you! You have the wrong kid! Now let me go!"
"HEY! Put her down!"
The commander of the troops didn't seem too pleased that someone dared to oppose him. He turned around with fire burning in his eyes. The girl was sure that those flames were eager to come out through the captain's fists. He motioned for the two Firebenders that were carrying the girl to continue onto the ship. The girl turned her head to see what was going on and saw a boy with a blue arrow on his head standing in the middle of the road. The captain let out a smug chuckle as he and another soldier walked toward the boy.
"And what will you, a weak, little boy, do if I refuse?" he asked mockingly, a small smirk finding its way onto his face.
"If you don't release her, then I'll have to force you to let her go!" Although the boy knew that he was up against the strongest Firebender in the village, he neither backed down nor looked the least bit nervous.
"Those are pretty big words for such a small kids. Who are you?"
"My name is Aang. I'm the Avatar."
"You're the Avatar? Then this peasant really does work for you!"
"Wait, do you mean to tell me that you were going to arrest that girl for something you didn't even know was true or not!"
"Of coarse. We must keep the peace even if it means-" The captain paused in mid-sentence. "Wait… What do you mean 'were going to arrest'?"
"Why don't you look for yourself and see what I mean?" the Avatar stated as he smiled and leaned to the side to look around the now increasingly irritable Fire Nation captain. The captain glanced behind and immediately did a double take. His temper sky-rocketed and the fire in his eyes grew even larger as he saw the same two Firebenders, who were supposed to be bringing the girl onto the ship, lying on the ground, knocked out cold. The captain turned around to turn the boy into ashes, only to become more infuriated. The Avatar had gotten away as well.
"Well?" the captain said through clenched teeth to the remaining soldier as steam leaked from his fists, "What are you standing around for? Gather the rest of the troops! Search every street, alley, and house! I want those brats found!"
"Y-yes Sir!"
The young monk ran through half a dozen alleys until he was sure that he was a good distance from the Firebenders. He stopped at the small intersection of two side streets, turned to the right, and saw his friends, a girl and boy from the water tribe of the South Pole, standing in the shadows. He ran up to them with a broad smile on his face.
"Katara! Sokka! The plan worked perfectly! You two did great! I didn't even see you go and free that girl!"
"Well, what can I say, Aang? We've gotten so skilled that we can just-" the boy named Sokka began. He, however, was cut short by his sister, Katara, whom had hit him hard over the head.
"Ow! What gives, Katara?"
"You should give credit where credit is due, Sokka," Katara responded. The Airbender known as Aang looked at Katara quizzically.
"What are you talking about?"
"The truth is, Aang, we didn't rescue that girl," the Waterbender stated.
"What do you mean, you didn't rescue her? When I looked over, the guards were knocked out and the girl was gone!"
"What we mean is that the girl never needed help in the first place. She was able to get loose on her own," said Sokka.
"But how?" Aang was as confused as ever and wanted some answers. Katara and Sokka swapped unsure looks with each other. Neither of them knew what to say.
"It would probably be better if you heard it from her instead of us, Aang," Katara said. She pointed down the dimly lit alley. "She ran over that way."
"All right…"
Aang, still quite confused, walked deeper into the alley. It wasn't long until he saw a figure sitting in the shadows against the wall, its arms wrapped around its knees. The young Avatar slowed his pace and eventually stopped a few yards away from the girl. It was hard to see her in this poor light, but Aang noticed that she was around Katara's age and had long, light brown hair. Her eyes, however, were being covered by her bangs, so it was hard for Aang to see what color they were. The girl didn't seem to have noticed him standing there.
"Umm… Excuse me?"
The girl jumped and let out a small gasp. Thinking Aang was a Firebender wanting to take her away, the girl swung her arm and a large gust of wind hit the Avatar, sending him back five or six feet. Aang was completely baffled by this. There was actually another Air Nomad aside from him. While Aang was regaining his composure, the girl quickly stood up and began to run away.
"No, wait! I'm not here to hurt you! I just want to talk!" The girl stopped running and, very cautious, slowly walked back to Aang. It wasn't until the girl was a few feet away from Aang that she noticed who he was.
"Oh! You're that boy who distracted Captain Shang and let me escape!"
"You mean the goat-gorilla with the short temper? Yeah, that was me distracting him…" The girl laughed at Aang's comment.
"I'm surprised. Not many people here in Kohaku would dare to say anything like that about one of the Fire Nation soldiers."
"Well, I always seem to come up with pretty good descriptions of all the Fire Nation soldiers of high status." The young Avatar laughed as well. A moment then passed in silence.
"You know what? Even though we just met, I already know that we have one thing in common," Aang stated.
"Really? What?" the girl asked.
"We're both Airbenders!" Aang took some marbles from his pocket and used his bending to have them spin in circles. "See?" The young girl's eyes widened and she almost fell backwards in shock but was able to remain standing. Aang was now able to see that her eyes were a light shade of brown, though for a split second, Lena's eyes seemed to be golden rather than brown. However, when Aang did a quick double-take, they were brown once again, so he just shrugged it off as a figment of his imagination.
"Y-you're an Airbender? So what you said is true?" she questioned, "You're the Avatar?"
"The one and only!" The girl began muttering, mainly to herself.
"If he's really the Avatar… Then that must mean he's-" Her thoughts were suddenly cut off by Katara and Sokka, whom had just run up to the two Airbenders. Katara seemed her usual calm self, but Sokka was getting impatient.
"Come on! What's taking so long?" he asked, his impatience showing in his voice.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but Sokka has a point. We can't stay here much longer now that the Fire Nation knows you're here," Katara stated.
"I know, Katara. I was just- GAH!" Without warning, the female Airbender had grabbed Aang by the wrist and started pulling him off somewhere.
"What are you doing?" Aang shouted in surprise.
"I'm taking you to see my grandfather! He'll probably die of shock when he sees you!" the girl said back to him. After a few seconds of running, Aang remembered something.
"I forgot to ask you your name!"
"It's Lena! And there's no need for me to ask yours, Aang!"
"Wait! How do you know my name?"
"Aside from the fact that you said it to General Shang?"
Aang's face turned a light shade of pink. "Oh, I guess you got me there."
"But I also know a lot more about you than just your name, Aang. I'll tell you about it later, though. Now just keep running! We have to get to my grandfather's house before any Fire Nation soldiers see us!"
I hope you liked Chapter One. I'm planning on getting more into the plot at the end of Chapter Two/beginning of Chapter Three. Please try to bear with the rest of the background information that will be given during the next installment. I promise to get through all this pretty boring stuff as soon as possible.
I'm also going to say that I plan on following through with this story until the very end. I've been writing notes on all of the ideas that I've been getting non-stop. So don't expect me to end this story for a while (it may take me a bit of time to put up some... er... most of the installments, but I WILL update, I assure you!). So until next time, see ya!
