The Avatar Returns

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except Tora and her mother.

Tora: Unfair!

Sokka: HAHAHAHA!

Tora: Shut up, Sokka!

Me: NO VIOLENCE IN THE DISCLAIMER!

Edit: New version! Changes in the chapter. Watch out for them. Some of them are kinda subtle, so you may not notice them, but they're there.

I was sitting on top of Appa, playing with the other kids, when it happened. A flare appeared out of the horizon, flew into the sky, and exploded. The kids and I stopped playing and stared at it. Lili tugged on my sleeve. "What was that?"

I turned back to her. "Nothing. Don't worry about it." No need to frighten them. Sokka ran over to us.

"What are you doing?" he asked me angrily. "That flare signaled the Fire Nation! Why are you just sitting around?"

Everyone stopped what they were doing. "I thought you said it was nothing." Lili said, sounding scared.

"It is nothing. Don't worry, Sokka and I will handle those Fire Nation bitches." I said, cracking my knuckles and smiling as Lili and the rest of the kids gasped when I used a bad word.

Everyone made our way to the 'gates' of the Tribe and saw Katara and Aang walking toward us, both of them shamefaced. The kids all rushed forward to the airbender, cheering as they saw Aang.

Sokka, however, was not as excited to see him. "I knew it! You signaled the Fire navy with that flare! You're leading them straight to us, aren't you?" he said, pointing accusingly at Aang.

"Aang didn't do anything on purpose. It was just an accident." Katara said defensively.

"Yeah, we were on this old ship, there was this booby trap… and we boobied right into it." Aang rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Katara, you shouldn't have gone on that ship. Now we all could be in danger." Gran-Gran scolded.

Aang was quick to defend Katara. Interesting… could just be because she's his friend… but still interesting…"Don't blame her! It's all my fault. I brought her there."

Sokka let out a 'ah-ha!' "The traitor confesses." Sokka shouted, pointing at Aang triumphantly. I frowned as Sokka ordered his "warriors" to get away from the "enemy". The kids all started walking back toward us, staring at the ground sadly. As they came back to us, I patted their shoulders comfortingly.

"Sokka, you're making a mistake!" Katara said angrily, clenching her fists. Sokka's reply was that he was keeping his promise to their father, and protecting Katara from threats like the airbender. "Aang is not our enemy! Don't you see? He brought us something we haven't had in a long time: Fun!" Katara shouted.

"We can't fight firebenders with fun!" Sokka yelled back.

"You should try it sometime." Aang commented.

"Get out of our village." Sokka snarled. "Now. Or I'll set Tora on you." I turned to give Sokka a look of complete disbelief, which he ignored completely.

Katara turned to Gran-Gran. "Gran-Gran, please - don't let Sokka do this!"

"Katara, you knew going on that ship was forbidden. I think it would be for the best if the airbender left." Gran-Gran said.

After a moment, Katara grabbed Aang's arm and pulled him toward Appa, who was waiting patiently for the two of them. "Then I'm banished too! Come on Aang. Let's go."

"Where do you think you're going?" Sokka demanded angrily.

"To find a waterbender! Aang is taking me to the North Pole!" she responded.

Apparently, this was news to Aang. "I am? Cool!"

Okay, I had to stop this before it got out of hand. "Katara." I said, stepping forward. "I want you to become a master as much as you do, but are you willing to leave your family? Especially with the Fire Nation coming?"

Katara stopped walking. I could see she was feeling confused. Aang looked at her and said something I couldn't hear. Whatever it was, Katara didn't like it, because she looked very upset. The airbender crawled up his bison's body and sat on Appa's head, holding the reins in his hands.

I walked over to Katara. "So, where are you going now?" I asked him.

"Guess I'll go home and look for the other airbenders." He paused. "Oh, wow. I haven't cleaned my room in a hundred years. Not looking forward to that." I couldn't help but smile at the kid. He smiled back at me. He looked at Katara. "Thanks for penguin sledding with me." I looked over at Katara, who was looking at him sadly. Yeah, he's totally crushing on her.

"It was nice meeting you all!" he shouted at the Tribe. I couldn't help but feel proud of him for that – he was saying goodbye to them even after Sokka being a total jerk. Aang looked down at me. "Nice meeting you too, Tora. Hope you can master your elements soon."

"Thanks."

"Let's see your sky monster fly now!" Sokka shouted at him. I turned around and glared at him, and felt satisfaction when I saw him flinch slightly.

Aang didn't seem too bothered by it. "Come on, Appa, you can do it. Yip, yip!" Appa sat still for a moment, before getting up and walking away. Lili suddenly emerged from the Tribe group, and ran toward us, crying.

"Aang, please don't go. I'll miss you." she pleaded, looking up at him with eyes that made you feel like you kicked a puppy.

"I'll miss you too, Lili." Aang said sadly. "Come on, Appa." He picked up the reins and Appa walked off. Katara and I stood there, watching him leave. I put my arm around her shoulder in a comfortingly way. She looked like she was about to cry.

Lili walked back to the tribe with a sad look on her face. I heard Gran-Gran coming over to us.

"Katara, you'll feel better after you-"

Katara whirled around and shoved my arm off her shoulder, glaring at Gran-Gran angrily. "Are you happy now? There goes my last chance of being an actual waterbend!" She yelled angrily, and stomped off, leaving me and the elder alone.

Gran-Gran looked at me, and I stared back. "Why are you so against Katara learning waterbending? Katara has the potential to be a real master, but every time she wants to practice, you won't let her! It's suffocating her! So don't be surprised if you wake up one day and she's not here." I told her calmly, but my voice had a hidden anger in it. Then I ran back to the village, where Sokka was trying to arrange his warriors. I heard him yell, "NO POTTY BREAKS!"

"You're going to regret that decision." I stated, walking past him. Sokka glared at me for a second, before running off, presumably to put on his war makeup.

Meanwhile, I went back to my igloo. I picked up my sword, inspected it briefly, before strapping it to my waist and making sure my mom's necklace was still on my neck. Katara's necklace fell off a lot, since it didn't really hang on well. I remember the last time she lost it. She went insane and started tearing everything apart until I found it underneath one of my blankets. To this day, I don't know how it got there; although I have a feeling Sokka put it there to mess with her.

I ran outside, and crawled on the top of the snow wall. I started scanning the horizon, searching for the Fire Nation ships. To be honest, I had no idea whether or not the Fire Nation even saw the flare, or was even here.

After searching for a few seconds, I had some seal jerky that Sokka had hidden up here. I tore off a shred of the meat, and then resumed looking for the Tribe's enemy. Then, I saw a small metal ship making its way toward us. I grabbed Sokka's watch glass and peered through it, searching for any indication of who it was. Damn it, I couldn't find anything!

Suddenly, it began to get foggy, so I couldn't see anything that wasn't less than two feet in front of my face. Then I felt the earth rumbling under my feet, and two bright lights shone out of the fog. I sucked in a breath as I realized what this meant. Oh, Spirits…

Nearby, Sokka's watch tower collapsed. Again.

"Aw, man!"

"Get all of the kids inside!" I yelled, hoping down from the wall and speeding toward the middle of the village. Sokka sped past me and ran up the wall, standing right where the ship was coming. I slapped my forehead in frustration. The idiot would get himself killed!

"YOU IDIOT! YOU'RE GONNA GET YOURSELF KILLED!" I screamed at him. Suddenly, out of the fog, there it was. It was surprisingly small, considering it was a ship that belonged to the Fire Nation, and ships that were supposed to be patrolling the Fire Nation borders generally weren't so… puny. I didn't know they made them that small… Nevertheless, it was huge compared to Sokka, who was still standing on the wall, his club in his hand. The ship kept coming forward, until it lodged itself right in front of the tribe. Actually, it lodged itself practically inside the tribe. The ship caused a large crack to form in the ice.

"SOKKA, GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Katara screamed at him.

The ship crashed into the walls of the village, and sent Sokka down (still standing up I might add) in a small avalanche of snow. I held my breath, hoping the ship would stop. It did. I gave a sigh of relief. It stood there, in its large, metallic glory, with steam rising from the top. Everyone emerged from their tents and stared open mouthed at the Fire Nation ship currently stuck halfway into their village.

The bowsprit slowly detached itself from the rest of the ship and lowered itself onto the snow. Now, as the fog cleared, we could all see the people emerging from the ship. There were two soldiers, complete with the skull looking masks, the pointy helmets, and the red, black, and grey armour. Mostly red, though. I hadn't really thought about it until now, but I realized how much I missed the colors of home. In the South Pole, the only colors were the color of the tribe's skin, eyes, hair, and clothes. Everything else besides the animal's fur colors was white.

At the lead was a teenage boy, who looked like he was Sokka's and my age. He was wearing the same style helmet as the guards, only with a ridiculous pointy crown looking thing, and without the mask. His armour was the same, only a little bit brighter, and nobler looking.

Great. A noble of the Fire Nation. That's just what we need. A stupid boy who's been trained how to kill and fight with firebending. That's when I looked closer and saw, to my surprise, a scar covering the boy's left eye. It looked like a burn.

Scar… burn… Fire Nation noble…

It took me five seconds to figure it out.

No way.

Damn it! Can't we ever get a break?

The boy was Zuko, prince of the Fire Nation. I had never actually met him, personally, but Iroh had mentioned him once or twice during the few times he had come to my father's house for a meeting with the White Lotus. For whatever reason, three years ago, before I had been sent away from home, Zuko had been banished from the Fire Nation, and given a mission from his father. I had no idea what the mission was, nor did I know how he had gotten his scar. I just heard that he had been burned, not how he had gotten it.

Zuko and the two soldiers came down the ramp toward us, and Sokka shot out from where he was kneeling and ran up the ramp, yelling a war cry. Oh, sure, give him a warning, why don't you?

I tried really hard not to laugh when the prince simply kicked Sokka's club out of his hand, then kicked Sokka off the ramp into the snow. Katara, who was clinging to Gran-Gran in fear, gave me a look, and I gave a short nod. I would attack, but I had to be patient.

Zuko came toward us and stood in front of our pathetic excuse for a village. He glared at all of us, then came over and stood in front of Katara, Gran-Gran and me.

"Where are you hiding him?" He demanded. Katara and I exchanged confused glances. He seemed annoyed when none of us answered him. He reached out and snatched Gran-Gran from Katara's grasp, and showed her to us.

"He'd be about this age? Master of all elements?" He said, giving Gran-Gran a little shake.

Again, none of us answered. Why is he looking for the Avatar?

Then, after a brief pause of silence, he got frustrated and blasted fire at us. "I KNOW YOU'RE HIDING HIM!" Several of the kids started crying in panic. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lili clinging to her mother. That's what set me off.

"Hey, Zuzu!" I yelled at him angrily. "That's my tribe you're messin' with!" And I sent a blast of fire at him. He was startled, but quickly recovered, and blasted his own fire, blocking mine.

I sped toward him, pulling out my sword and melting the snow under my feet as I did, so I could bend it easily. When I got close enough to Zuko, I concentrated… and a huge block of ice sent me into the air. I sprang into the air, holding my sword at the ready, and landed a few feet away from him. Zuko spun around to face me. "You… you're the one?"

That caught me off guard. I stared at him and lowered my sword. "Excuse me?"

"You're the Avatar?"

"What? No!"

"Then how did you bend two elements?"

"That's none of your business!"

The village looked confused by our exchange of words. Neither of us were fighting physically, and this seemed to annoy Sokka. He picked up his club and charged toward Zuko and me, again giving a battle cry. Zuko simply flipped Sokka over his head, and Sokka landed on the ground. Zuko blasted fire at him, Sokka dodged, and threw Boomerang at him. It missed Zuko by inches, and it flew off into the distance.

"Show no fear!" Hahn, one of the kids, yelled, throwing a spear to Sokka. He caught it, and charged toward Zuko, who just started breaking off pieces of the spear one at a time. Then he grabbed the bone part of the spear, and hit Sokka with it a few times. Then he snapped it in half and threw both halves on the ground.

Sokka fell on the ground, rubbing his head.

"Epic fail, Sokka." I said out loud.

Sokka glared at me. I noticed something shoot out of the sky, and it turned out to be boomerang, which hit Zuko in the head, disgruntling his helmet. Now he looked furious. Fire daggers formed in his fists. I made one in my left hand, holding my sword with the other hand.

We lunged for each other. But I had the advantage. I was a waterbender and a firebender. Zuko was a firebender who was way out of his territory. I raised both my arms, and the mountain of snow in front of the ship turned into a wave, and with a flick of my wrist, the wave turned into a million ice daggers.

"When did you learn that?" Sokka hissed at me.

"Just now."

Zuko turned, and saw the daggers flying toward him. He promptly raised a shield of fire, and the daggers melted before they reached him.

All of a sudden, there was a blur of black, white, orange, and yellow shooting across the tundra and toward us. The blur shot between Zuko's legs, knocking him off his feet in the process and sending him face down in the snow. The blur knocked me off my feet as well, and I fell into a snow bank, blinking wildly.

It was Aang, riding a penguin.

The kids started cheering, and Aang accidently sprayed them with snow. They stopped cheering, but continued after a moment. Aang jumped off the penguin in front of Katara and Sokka, and the penguin waddled off somewhere.

"Hey, Katara. Hey, Sokka. Hey, Tora." Aang said calmly, as if it was no big deal.

"Hi, Aang. Thanks for coming." Sokka grumbled, looking a little embarrassed.

"Great timing, Airboy." I said, giving him two thumbs up from my place on the ground. I got back on my feet and ran back to the Tribe, standing in front of them protectively.

Zuko's guards started coming for us, but Aang blasted air at them and they were forced backwards. Zuko held his ground and shielded his face from the wind.

"Looking for me?" Aang said heroically. Well, as heroically as any twelve year old could.

"You're the airbender? You're the Avatar?" Zuko asked in a mixture of disbelief and shock.

"Aang?" Katara gasped.

"No way." Sokka muttered in amazement.

"Awesome!" I exclaimed.

Zuko and Aang started circling each other carefully. Zuko started giving a rant about how he had spent years training for their "encounter", as he called it. "You're just a child!" Zuko spat.

"Well, you're just a teenager." Aang replied, frowning a little bit at the insult.

"He's right you know." I called from my place in the crowd of villagers. Zuko shot me a glare, before he started firebending blast after blast at the airbender. Aang started spinning his staff, knocking the fire off balance, but sending it toward the villagers in the process. I quickly lifted my hand, and the fire sort of split in half, going around us instead of hitting us. Aang suddenly stopped fighting. "If I go with you, do you promise to leave this village and its people alone?" Aang asked. Zuko stopped and thought for a second, then nodded.

"I want her to come as well." Zuko said, pointing at me.

"What?" I yelled. "No way!"

"A girl who can both firebend and waterbend will make an interesting… prize for my father. I don't want to go back on my word." Zuko said, and he formed fire daggers in his fist again. I didn't even need to think about it.

"Fine, I'll go with you. But if you hurt anyone, I won't hesitate to attack." I said through clenched teeth. Without a word, I tossed my sword down into the snow. A soldier grabbed Aang's hands and tied them. Another tried to chain my hands, but I yanked my hands away and hissed at them. "I'll keep my word if he keeps his. You don't have to chain me." Zuko rolled his eyes, but waved his hands, making the soldiers back off.

"No! Please, don't do this! Let them go!" Katara pleaded, rushing forward.

"Don't worry Katara." I said. I winked at her. Hopefully she saw it and Zuko didn't.

"Take care of Appa for me until I get back." Aang called. We started walking up the gangplank, with Zuko in the lead.

"Head a course for the Fire Nation! I'm going home." Zuko yelled.

Fire Nation. Home. I thought. No matter how much I loved the Water Tribe, the Fire Nation would always be home for me.

Behind me, I could hear Kaya crying out. "Don't hurt them! Pwease, don't hurt them!" As I turned back, I saw her fall onto the ground, sobbing into her hands.

Although I would deny it if anybody asked, I felt a tear slide down my cheek as the gangplank closed up.

~~Water~~

Aang and I stood on the ship's deck. We were already on the move out of the South Pole. A soldier was holding my wrists together, keeping me from escaping. At some point, Iroh had emerged from the captain's room, and when he saw me, his eyes widened. I glanced at him, and then back at Zuko. He had taken Aang's staff from him.

"This will make a fantastic gift for my father." Zuko stated. He glanced at Aang. "I suppose you wouldn't know about fathers, since you lived with the monks." His eyes traveled back to me. I glared at him.

"Escort the Avatar to the prison hold. Leave the girl with me. And take this to my quarters." Zuko ordered, handing the staff to Iroh. I noticed Iroh hand the staff to a random soldier. Aang left with a few other soldiers, leaving me and Zuko alone. I glared at him.

"So, tell me. How is it you can bend water and fire?" Zuko asked. I just stared at him. "I asked you a question, girl. How are you a firebender and a waterbender?" I was silent. I could see him getting angrier and angrier. Steam was practically shooting out of his nose. "ANSWER ME!"

"You know, Zuko, you should watch your blood pressure. I knew this one guy, Lee? One day - BAM! He keeled over, just like THAT!" I snapped my fingers for emphasis. "Stress, it's a killer." Zuko looked furious. I decided to give him a little break. "My dad was Water Tribe. Had waterbending in his blood. My mother was Fire Nation. She was a firebender. Simple as that."

"Water Tribe and Fire Nation?" He asked, sounding disgusted. I nodded. "Disgusting."

"Oh, and I suppose attacking an innocent Tribe full of women and children isn't disgusting?" I shot back.

"Your mother is a traitor to her people."

"And your mother would be ashamed to see you doing all this." I retorted, ignoring the "is" part of what he said. He didn't know my mother was dead. I had said it as soon as I thought it. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to say. His face got all red and angry looking, and he shouted something very rude at me. "Watch your tongue, Zuzu."

"I'm finished with you! Send her to my room!" Zuko said furiously. A guard came over and grabbed my arm. He led me down to Zuko's room.

Too bad I didn't get there.

Aang suddenly shot down the hallway, staff in hand, and saw me and the guard. "Tora!"

The guard took a stance, and Aang blasted a huge amount of air at him. The guard shot back, and slammed his head against the metal wall. I winced. "Ouch."

"C'mon, let's get out of here!" Aang said, grabbing my wrist and pulling me along. I ran after him, and soon we were both on the deck. Then we both smacked into Zuko.

"Looks like I underestimated you." He said, glaring down at Aang. I leaned over and saw something in the sky.

"What the heck is that?"

Both Zuko and Aang looked at what I had seen. Aang's face lit up. "Appa!"

"You mean he can actually fly?" I asked in shock. Zuko stared at Appa in shock. I took this as an escape and shot off toward the side of the ship. Zuko emerged from his state of shock and shot fireballs at Aang, who started blocking them by spinning his staff again. Meanwhile, I had taken on the soldiers, who had managed to keep me from reaching the side of the ship. I started waterbending at them, darting around wildly and shooting ice daggers at them. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Aang finally get knocked overboard. "AANG NO!" I screamed. I heard Katara's hysterical voice shouting his name. While I was distracted, one of the soldiers grabbed my wrist and held it behind my back.

"See if you can beat us now!" He yelled.

All of a sudden, a geyser shot out of the water. And riding on top of the geyser was Aang himself. Only it wasn't Aang. His eyes and tattoos were glowing white. He looked furious – not at all the childish grin that I had come to know in the short time I had known him.

"The Avatar State." I whispered softly. I had only read about it before. Now I was actually seeing it with my own eyes. Amazing… Yet terrifying.

Aang landed on deck, his eyes still glowing, and he bended the water geyser in a circle around him. He released it, and the water shot forward, knocking Zuko and the soldiers of the boat, and sent me flying into the air, landing on Appa's saddle.

"Tora! You're okay!" Katara exclaimed, flinging her arms around me. "Did you see that?" Sokka also made a comment, but my head was spinning too much to focus on it. Below us, Aang's glow faded, and he fell on his knees. Appa landed on deck, and the other two jumped down and ran toward the Avatar. I stayed on the sky bison and put my head between my legs until the urge to throw up passed.

When it did pass, I slowly got to my feet, just in time to see some of the soldiers get up and take fighting stances. Katara shakily waterbended some water into a small whip, and tried to attack them, but somehow managed to freeze the water on deck. And in the process, froze Sokka's boots to the floor.

Katara did the same thing again, only this time it actually worked, and she froze the soldiers in a layer of ice. I made the ice thicker than it was before, keeping my position on Appa's back. Katara and Aang raced toward the sky bison and crawled up onto him, eager to get away from the crazy prince. I looked around and saw Sokka, still frozen to the deck, chipping at the ice with boomerang. "Sokka, hurry up!"

When he finally freed himself, he ran over to us and I helped him get on. "Yip, yip! Yip, yip!" he yelled panicking.

Appa floated into the sky, and we shot off. Suddenly, fireballs started to shoot toward us from the ship. We're done for! Aang leapt out of the saddle and swung his staff, creating an air blast that shot the fireball heading for us into an ice cliff. As soon as the fireball made contact with the ice, it sent an avalanche of snow and ice down, covering the front half of Zuko's ship.

I couldn't resist. "THAT'S FROM THE WATER TRIBE!" I screamed. Hope he heard me.

~~Water~~

Zuko stared in disbelief at the ice and snow covering his ship. He heard his uncle coming toward him.

"Good news for the Fire Lord. The fire nation's biggest threat is just a little kid." Iroh said.

"I will not underestimate him again." Zuko snarled, trying and failing to contain his rage. "And I still don't understand how that girl could bend two elements. Dig the ship out and follow them!" He yelled at the soldiers. Then he turned around and saw that the soldiers who hadn't been frozen were currently melting the ice sheet covering the other soldiers. "As soon as you're done with that."

~~Water~~

Katara was still gushing over Aang's water trick. I was sitting off to the side of the saddle, holding my knees to my chest. My head still hurt from my toss in the air. "That trick - it was the most amazing thing I've ever seen!"

"That makes two of us." I agreed.

Aang was sitting cross legged on the front of the saddle, not on Appa's head like he usually was. He looked kind of sad. "I don't know. I just…"

"Aang." I said gently, interrupting him. "Why didn't you tell us you were the Avatar?" This was something that had been bugging me for a while.

"Because… I never wanted to be." Aang said, looking down. I had to agree with him. I mean, that much responsibility when you were twelve years old? Who would want that? We were all silent for a moment.

"Aang, the whole world has been waiting for you to return. You can put an end to this war." Katara said.

"And how am I supposed to do that?"

"You're supposed to master the elements in their natural order, correct?" I asked, leaning forward.

"That's what the monks told me." Aang agreed, still sounding depressed.

"Well, if we go to the North Pole, you can master waterbending!" Katara said, picking up my point.

"We could learn it together!" Aang said in realization, looking more excited about this.

"Don't forget me." I said, leaning against the side. "I'm planning on mastering both my elements on this adventure."

"What about me?" Sokka asked.

"You could knock some Fire Nation heads on the way." Katara said, pacifying him.

"You know, I'd really like that." Sokka said, almost dreamily.

"We're in this together Aang." I said, punching my fist into my palm.

Suddenly, Sokka spoke up. "Oh, Tora! I grabbed this for you!" He said, reaching into a pack and pulling out – my sword! He tossed it to me, and I caught it in one hand, before hugging it to my chest. Thank Agni I hadn't lost it. I loved it so much, I would have been devastated!

Aang brought my attention back to him. He had airbended himself over to us and pulled a map out of his shirt, unfolding it in front of him. "Before I learn waterbending, we have some serious business to attend to here, here, and here."

"What's there?" Katara asked.

He pointed to a place in the Earth Kingdom. "Here we'll ride the hopping llamas."

"Awesome." I said, completely serious.

"Then way over here," He pointed to a place in the Southern Air Nomad islands. "We'll surf on the backs of giant koi fish."

"Even awesomer."

"That's not a word." Sokka pointed out.

"Does it look like I care?"

Aang grinned at me, then returned to the map. "Then back over here we'll ride the hog-monkeys. They don't like people riding them, but that's what makes it fun!"

I laughed out loud.

This was going to be one hell of an adventure.

And the chapters over! The fun begins next chapter! See you next time!

Remember. Review if you like it and review if you don't. Tell me if Tora is a mary sue and point out the sue traits and I'll fix them.

Edit: So how'd you guys like this new version? I liked it better than the old version – and I'm not just saying that because the old version could help in getting the story deleted.

Also, you guys – don't worry. If this story is deleted (and I'm working hard to make sure it isn't) I'll change some things around and repost it. So don't you guys worry, alright?

So my plan is to work on a chapter a day. First I'll work on this story, and then I'll move onto my other stories – but I'm going to work on working on both stories very fast.