Special thanks to starlightz1112,almostinsane,Cala Akina Morushiku, nonesofar,Fran, Mystic Water Bender3, frozonedude12, albr62,Tree Flower,Junkfood, Kiriko-sama,LittleYugiBoy,Gmasangel, Animeloverja,TMW, Sirius123, and fanfictionfun for reviewing!
Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar the last airbender.
I am SO sorry I haven't updated in like...two months! I hope everyone had happy holidays. The last Avatar episodes were great huh? Well I do have an excuse for not posting mwahahahaha. Internet got shut off. But it's back! Hurrah!
Zuko jumped out in his full blue spirit guise holding both swords. Zhao backed up in surprise. Zhao shot a fire blast at Zuko but Zuko ducked and swung the weapons at him. However Azula climbed out. "Princess!"said Zhao. Azula smiled nastily and shot a fire blast at Zuko. Zhao grinned and the two began shooting fire blasts at him. Zuko dropped the swords and sent a heavy fire kick at Zhao while sending a fire punch at Azula.
"He can fire bend?"said Zhao.
"Idiot! Who do you think this is? It's Zuko!"snarled Azula.
"He wont be able to take both of them on!"Sokka whispered. Aang nodded. "We have to go out there and help."he said and he bursted into the air staff ready.
"The Avatar!"said Zhao.
"Last time I checked."said Aang sending blasts at both Azula and Zhao. Zhao slammed against the wall and was out cold. Zuko took off his guise and put it back in the bag. "We need to get out of here quickly."He muttered. Sokka, Katara, and Ryu exited the secret room.
"Your not going anywhere!"Azula yelled getting in fighting stance. Zuko stared at her for a moment than turned and ran. Azula and Ryu both ran after them. Aang shot an air blast at them knocking them down only for the moment. They burst on deck. Iroh looked up.
"We need to go. I'll meet you at the north pole uncle."said Zuko.
"APPA!"yelled Aang. The flying bicen rose into the air and landed on the deck. Ryu and Azula burst out on deck but they were to late Appa rose into the air and they were off. Iroh smiled. Azula yelled in rage sending blasts of fire everywhere. Zhao came on deck looking dizzy.
"Wha happn? where they go?"he said holding his head.
"The prince just took off with the Avatar and his friends and general Iroh was housing them!"said Ryu. Zhao regained sense at this and smiled cruelly.
"Well well the fire lord will be interested with this."said Zhao.
"Indeed. Why don't you take the princess home and tell the fire lord?"said Iroh. Zhao stared at him with confusment.
"Aren't you going to try and stop me?"said Zhao. Iroh shook his head with a smile. Zhao frowned.
"You wont be smiling old man, when the fire lord learns that your a traitor."said Zhao.
"Maybe."said Iroh with a shrug.
"Come princess your father will be pleased to see you."said Zhao and he lead the princess and Ryu off the boat and onto his. Iroh waited until he could no longer see their ship.
"Our new destination is to the north pole!"Iroh yelled.
"Yes sir!"yelled the crew.
Zuko sighed and closed his eyes. All his life he knew what he was supposed to do. Learn fire bending, make his father proud, capture the avatar but now his future was so open. Now he chose his own path. It was strange, but nice. Sokka sighed loudly laying down.
"Anyone else hungry?"he said. Katara dug through her bag and tossed him a peach. Momo looked at it hungrily. She handed the lemur one too.
"What do you think is going to happen now?"Katara asked.
"Well now instead of Zuko going after us it will probably be Zhao."said Sokka he paused. "Actually I think this makes things simpler." Zuko shook his head.
"Zhao may be a power hungry buffoon but he's as smart as he is cruel-Well okay he isn't really the smartest guy either..."said Zuko. They all laughed.
"So where are we heading too now?"Katara asked.
"Well we aren't very close to the North Pole so we are going to have to make a few stops on the way."Aang said.
"Stops?"asked Zuko.
"For supplies and stuff."said Aang happily. The sun began to set.
"Should we find somewhere to sleep?"asked Zuko.
"Looks like there is a small island up ahead."said Sokka. Appa landed on the small island and Zuko made a small fire. Aang smiled.
"What?"asked Sokka.
"HOG MONKEYS!"he yelled excitedly and dove into the woods behind the small beach and came back riding a monkey which was running wildly. Aang laughed. "Come on guys! It's fun!"cried Aang.
"I'll pass."said Sokka bititng into another peach. Suddenly there was a loud bang. The hog monkey screeched and knocked Aang off and ran into the woods.
"What was that?"asked Katara.
"It sounded like an explosion."said Sokka frowning. Zuko stood up quickly.
"Lets go check it out then."he said. They put there fire out and walked into the woods. The forest must have been very old. The trees were covered in moss and there was so much plant life they could hardly see the dirt. It was oddly quiet however. They began to hear a soft banging sound. Drums.
"Drums? that means people right?"said Sokka.
"No. It means hog monkeys- of course it means people!"said Zuko glaring at Sokka.
"What?"asked Sokka.
"Is your brother always this stupid?"Zuko asked Katara.
"Are you always this quick to temper?"asked Katara with a smrik and they continued walking. As the drums got louder they could hear a sweet musical tune. They neared a clearing and found a small village. The villagers were all in the center of the village. They seemed to be having a party. There was laughing and dancing around a large fire and people were playing drums and music.
"Looks like fun. Lets join them."said Aang.
"You cant just walk into someones party. Who knows it could be some important ritual or something."said Sokka.
"Theres food."said Aang.
"Lets go!"said Sokka. They walked up to the people. The people smiled. "Come join us in our celebration for today is the last day of the work cycle!"said a kind looking old man.
"Work cycle?"asked Aang interested while looking around. These people didn't seem to be benders just ordinary common people.
"Yes! The work cycle is over! You see the work cycle is when we harvest food. We keep some for our village and the rest goes to the Forest god!"said the old man. He had a long white beard and clear blue eyes. He pointed to the edge of the village where lots of food laid. Tons of it.
"Tonight after the celebration the forest god will collect it and we will be spared. You see when our people first came here the forest god came. The forest god didn't want us here and was going to destroy our village but my ancestor made a deal with the god. We provide the god with as much food as we can and we are spared. We have gathered enough food so rejoice!"said the old man.
"Forest god eh?"said Katara with a frown. They walked a bit away. "What would a forest god want with food?"asked Katara. Aang shrugged.
"Sometimes gods like sacrafices and stuff."said Aang.
"I dont' know it sounds...fishy."said Katara.
"Maybe it's a spirit? And it likes messing with people? Or maybe it really is a god who likes to eat who knows- I like to eat so-"said Sokka and he rambled on.
"I've never heard of a forest god..."muttered Katara.
"Well there a whole tribe of people Katara they have their own beliefs. Leave it be."said Sokka.
"Well I don't like the idea of their food going to waste."said Katara. Sokka groaned.
"Your not going to be happy until you find out what happens to the food right?"He said. Katara nodded.
"Well hey this island sure beats that creepy island with the shape shifting ghosts."said Sokka. They decided to join the party. Sokka stuffed his face, Katara practiced with the drums Aang danced and Zuko stood there with his arms crossed most of the time. Than the music stopped and the villagers grew quiet.
"The forest god is coming!"cried one of the villagers. They all stood their quietly looking at the food. Everything was silent than the Food was engulfed in a cloud of dust. When the dust faded the food was gone. The villagers were still quiet...waiting. A small flame appeared it rose than diminished. The villagers began to cheer. "That is the sign that the forest god is pleased!"said the old man and the party continued.
"That was weird..."said Sokka.
"That was fire bending."said Zuko staring at the forest.
"Fire bending? Come on lets go check it out!"said Katara and they slipped into the forest un-noticed. They saw a strange sight. All the food was floating in the air. Four people stood under it. One was moving their hands directing the floating food. The four began walking. The one moved the food carefully with hand motions making it follow.
"That persons air bending!"whispered Aang in shock."HEY YOU!"yelled Aang. The people turned around and broke into run. They followed them. the one who was air bending moving the food tripped and fell. The food fell to the ground. The other three turned around. They were all woman now that Aang could see them close. Zuko grabbed the woman who had been airbending.
"LET GO OF ME!"the girl yelled trying to fight Zuko off.
"Not so fast."said Zuko. The other three woman went in fighting stances. "We just want to ask you some questions. Like why are you stealing those poor peoples food? Oh great forest gods!"said Katara angrily. The woman exchanged looks.
"We have lived here for a while now. We have been hiding for most people do not like or understand...our kind. They either see us as dangerous or a joke. So we kept ourselves hidden from the other tribe. But our tribe is scarce of people and scarce of vegetation. So we tricked the other tribe. We had heard of a forest god who protected this forest when we first came here. We pretended to be the forest god and using our bending we convinced the other tribe that we were. They give us food. It's a nasty trick but key for survival."said a woman in green.
"It is a nasty trick! You should combine your tribes instead of stealing the others goods!"said Katara. A woman in blue shook her head.
"You don't understand our kind isn't liked."said the woman in blue. Next to the woman in blue was a woman in red. Zuko had hold of a woman in yellow and orange. They were al wearing dresses.
"Right on to another question."said Aang who had been patiently waiting to discover if the girl Zuko had hold of was an air bending. He turned to her.
"You were airbending weren't you?"said Aang.
"Yeah. Do you got a problem with it shorty?"she snarled. Aang blinked.
"But thats impossible there are no air benders left!"said Aang.
"Ha. Thats what the fire nation thinks."said the girl shoving Zuko away from her.
"But I thought the air benders were monk men!"said Katara.
"Well those men had to have had mothers right?"said The air bending woman dusting herself off.
"What exactly are you saying?"asked Sokka.
"Well the air bending temples and air benders were only considered to be the monks. See woman could air bend but they couldn't be allowed in the air temples. If a woman had an air bending son they gave it up to the monks. Now a lot of woman could air bend but they weren't allowed to. Back than it was considered un-propper."said The air bending woman.
"Thats horrible!"said Katara angrily. Aang looked at the ground.
"It was the belief of my people. They thought air bending was to dangerous for woman to use. It was a belief that went back for centuries."Aang muttered. Frankly he had thought that woman couldn't air bend...
"Right so my grandmother and her tribe joined theres and they came here."said the air bending woman.
"I see. But I don't understand why is your kind- not liked?"asked Sokka.
"Because we are gypseys cutey."said the air bender. "I'm Faith." She looked at the woman in green. "This is Clover." Than she looked at the woman in blue "Crystal." Looked at the woman in red "Phoenix." "I'm an air bender Clover is an earth bender,Crystal is a water bender, and Phoenix is a fire bender."Faith said.
"Sothereareotherairbenders?We'vegottogomeetthem!Wehavetogotoyourtribenow!"Aang yelled. Faith blinked.
"What did he say?"she asked.
"I think he said whats a gypsey."said Sokka. Aang glared at Sokka and crossed his arms.
"Basically Rouge benders that get their money by dancing and doing bending tricks for people."said Colver. speaking for the first time.
"Now if you don't mind we have got to bring this food to our tribe."said Faith waving her arms and the food lifted into the air again.
"So there are other air benders in your tribe?"asked Aang.
"Only woman."Faith said with a small smile.
"Still- thats good. There are still some air benders left. That means that i'm not the last...that the air benders can come back."said Aang smiling to himself.
"It could happen. The air benders could start over. But it's not going to happen with that blasted war going on. Well we really need to go."said Faith and she smiled. Phoenix started moving her hands and suddenly the four girls were entrapped in a huge circle of fire. The fire dissapeared and they were gone.
"Hey! Where did they go? We can't let them get away with stealing all that food!"said Katara.
"Yeah. Plus I wouldn't mind taking a look at their village."muttered Aang quietly to himself. Sokka looked around searching for clues. They all looked at Zuko.
"What?"He asked.
"Your probably the best tracker out of all of us- we should know. You always tracked us down."said Katara.
"Yeah well I had connections then."Muttered Zuko.
"Your still good at tracking in the woods. we've been tracked by you before."said Katara glaring. Grumbling Zuko looked around.
"They went this way."Zuko grunted and they followed him deeper into the woods. Aang sighed to himself. He wasn't alone...He wasn't the last air bender.
