Katsuki lit his fists with small explosives and Izuku caught the ghost of a wild grin before rocks rained down from above and he had to concentrate on not getting crushed.

"Come on, nerd, or you'll lose before we start." Katsuki said and when Izuku looked up he saw him already standing on top of the hole he'd created. Izuku sighed good naturedly before jumping up as high as he could, grabbing onto the edge of the small circle, and pulling himself up.

Only to feel himself shoved to the ground, Katsuki's body on top of him as a stream of fire blew over where Izuku had been standing two seconds ago. "Damn, these guys are a pain." Katsuki grumbled and stood.

"Thanks Kacchan."

"For what," he snarled, glaring at Izuku, as if daring him to say it.

"Never mind…"

Izuku hopped to his feet and ignored everything else around him. Zeroing in on the enemy, the only ones that mattered in that particular moment. Izuku ducked under a burst of flame and threw a fist. It was hard to gauge strength, but Izuku tried hard. He wasn't exactly eager to add murder to the list of things he'd done in his life.

But at the same time it didn't seem like Katsuki cared about little details like that. At least it would be easy to tell their enemies apart considering Katsuki's would probably have scorch marks all over them.

Izuku finished another and squinted into the fire in front of him, and he had to admit Katsuki looked… a bit terrifying to say the least. Standing on top of a mound of bodies was bound to be slightly intimidating.

"So, Deku, you ready to admit defeat." Katsuki shouted and laughed what Izuku could only describe as maniacally.

Izuku glanced around at his own wins and he had to admit, while he'd also gotten a lot, Katsuki had visibly more, so there was really no need to count them. "Fine, I admit defeat." Izuku said with a sigh.

"You ready to reap what you sewed!" he said and jumped down from the mountain.

"What I sewed?"

"Remember, we agreed loser catcalled and then flirted with the first person they see."

Izuku started to sweat a nervously, "Did I say that, I don't remember that."

"I thought you might say that, so here let me remind you." Katsuki took out his phone and Izuku heard himself and Katsuki talking about the consequences in losing.

"Is that me? That doesn't sound like me."

Katsuki looked at him unimpressed. "Fine, we agreed it would be the first person I saw! Well I've got a perfect solution for that. I'll just never look at anyone again!"

"Good luck." Katsuki said and scoffed.

"What's going on up here?" they both turned and saw Katara. Izuku gasped and then covered his eyes.

"No, you saw her, you have to." Katsuki said.

"I don't even know… but…" Izuku sighed. Katsuki hit record. "Great, that way you'll be able to show the courts I was murdered, right?"

"Nah, this video is for my own personal enjoyment."

Izuku gulped, this was so awkward, and his tongue felt three sizes too big. He guessed he should whistle… but he didn't know how to whistle and would probably just look like an idiot and confuse her. But maybe it was better she be confused then know what he was actually doing so whistling was probably the way to go.

He tried, but it sucked, he wondered if she could hear it. "Hey, Katara-san…"

"What did you two do!" she cried as everyone else climbed up on top of the cave too.

"Um, we lost you, and we fight."

This was going to be a disaster. Never mind the fact Izuku couldn't flirt in his own language, a foreign one was damn near impossible. "Uh… Katara-san, you are very…" Izuku tried to think of a word. "pretty." He said finally after mulling over a few different adjectives.

"Oh, uh thanks, I guess." She said and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She smiled, a small blush coating her cheeks.

That wasn't quite what Katsuki or Izuku had been expecting. But Izuku sighed in relief that she seemed to be okay with it. He wasn't sure if he had exactly accomplished flirting, but he'd gotten close.

Katsuki was just disappointed he hadn't captured Izuku's murder live on camera. Izuku smiled and nodded. "You are welcome!"

"Learn your contractions!"

"But I not know how!"

"That's why I said learn! Because you don't learn something if you already know it, but you don't know it, so you learn!"

Izuku blinked and slowly nodded. Really, he'd only understood half the words in that sentence but he pretended he understood more. "Yes Kacchan."

"Come on, hurry, before they come with reinforcements." Katara said.

They all nodded and got off the mountain to the edge of the cliff and said goodbye to the weird people.

After they left, Aang said, "I can't believe we're finally here." He turned to Izuku and Katsuki with an innocent smile

"Alright guys welcome to the city of Omashu!" They turned their gaze on the city only to see that Omashu had smoke wafting up inside it and soldiers in red uniforms all over the ground. And to top it off a giant Fire Nation insignia was draped over Omashu's entrance.

"Something tells me it's not supposed to look like that." Katsuki said.

"Of course it is not." Izuku gave him a slightly annoyed look.

"Right. Well, I guess we have to go back now." Katsuki shrugged and turned away.

"Kacchan, these people are in trouble. We can't just leave them." Izuku whispered urgently in Japanese this time.

"Don't be stupid, Deku. Don't forget why we're here, it's not to make the world full of sunshine and rainbows and puppies, it's to get half 'n' half and take that bastard home."

"But we're heroes in training, what would our teachers want?"

Katsuki scoffed loudly, "Go hide in the corner cuz you're fucking stupid and useless. You're two years old and oh my god, is that a scratch, go to Recovery Girl right now, also, detention!"

"Don't be like that. Our teachers would want us to do what's right and help these people. Besides, there's not even rules about fighting here, they just do it."

Katsuki didn't look convinced.

"You can blow stuff up."

"And you won't give me crap if someone accidentally dies."

"Why would you think I would do that."

"Because you think you're Buddha or Jesus or something."

"I do not."

"Well you act like you know everything morally right and wrong."

"Do not!"

"And you better not give a disappointed look either or I'll blow it off your face!"

"Fine, just help me help them."

Katsuki rolled his eyes, "Alright, fine. I'll help. But you're lucky I'm doing this for you."

"I know."

Shouto watched Zuko take a 'nap' which seemed to consist of lying on the ground and grumbling unhappily. Shouto frowned at him and wondered if there was something he could do to cheer him up.

Rising to his knees Shouto crawled over towards Zuko and came up next to him. Looking around for something he could use to cheer the other boy up, he thought of something that was bound to work. It always made his friends smile or in Katsuki's case, smirk in a way that made Shouto feel silly or stupid. But Katsuki made a lot of people feel like that, so he'd never thought much about it. The point was that it made people happy, so he figured he should try with Zuko. He picked up some leaves, because that was all he had to work with. He looked at Zuko who had his back turned towards him, and then Iroh who was enjoying tea in the distance. He gauged it was safe and created a small, sharp icicle and poked holes and a mouth through the leaves and then melted the icicle in his other hand.

"Zuko." He whispered to get his attention.

"What." Zuko grumbled. "No wait, don't tell me, you set the forest on fire."

"Um, no." he said. "Look, look."

After a moment of hesitation, Zuko rolled over to face him. "What?"

"Once upon a time there was a tomato." He held up a leaf with a smiley face. Normally he'd have a real tomato, but that wasn't an option since there was only leaves.

"What are you doing? Please stop."

"He wanted to join the lettuce, spinach, carrots, cucumbers, and peppers in the salad. But they all said, you can't. You're a fruit. The tomato was very confused and sad."

"Shouto…"

"Shhh, listen to the story! Anyway, since the vegetables told the tomato he was a fruit, he went over to the fruit basket where the banana, apple, and oranges were. They were hanging out and the tomato wanted to join. But the fruits didn't want him there. They said he was a vegetable." Shouto held up a frowny face leaf, "The tomato was super sad because he felt like he didn't belong anywhere. He went back in the fridge and cried because there was nowhere he belonged. The end."

"Wait what?"

"The end."

"So… there's no happy ending?"

"Real life doesn't have happy endings."

"Wait… but, uh. Why did you tell me that?"

"I wanted to cheer you up."

"Oh."

"Did it work?"

"No."

"Oh…" Shouto frowned. Maybe he should've made a happy ending like he did sometimes for his other friends.

"Besides, why would you try to cheer me up?"

"Because you looked sad, so I wanted to help you. That's what friends do."

"Right, well… that's nice I guess."

They sat in silence for a couple minutes before Zuko coughed awkwardly, "We should um… we should probably get moving."

Zuko stood up and turned around, "Uncle, we have to go now!"

"Can't we stay just a little longer? We just got here."

"No, we have to find a cure."

"A cure for what?" Shouto asked.

"Both your face and your stupidity. Only problem is, I don't know plants, so unless you know the plant, uncle, we'll have to find someone who does."

"Ah, I don't think so. We'll probably have to go into town to get one."

"That's just perfect." Zuko grumbled and sighed and they all started moving forwards.

Retaking Omashu wasn't as hard as Katsuki originally thought it would be. There were a lot of soldiers but they were easily torn through. What really pissed him off though, was that it was all for nothing.

Turned out Aang's 'Earthbending teacher' was just an old flake who wasted his time in taking down all those soldiers. He also spoke in riddles, which grated on his ears and only Izuku's intent stare on him kept him from blowing them all up.

He supposed they'd managed to free the townspeople so that was something, so they hadn't done it for completely nothing.

Now they were at camp with the towns people wondering how to proceed. "Um, we have a bit of a problem." Aang said somewhat sheepishly.

"More of a problem then no earthbending teacher?" Katsuki grumbled only to get elbowed by Izuku. Katsuki elbowed him back, but as hard as he could and it left Izuku gasping and made Katsuki smirk.

"Sort of," Aang said and held up a little toddler kid. "He's wearing Fire Nation colors, you can see it. And he must've followed us out when the gate was open."

"So what's the problem. Kill the kid, the end."

"Cannot do that!" Izuku gasped. "He is a baby!"

"And?" Katsuki grumbled disinterestedly.

"We give him back." Izuku said. "But how?"

"Hey, hey, I have an idea!"

"What Kacchan, torturing him next."

"Good idea, but no. We could trade him for that king."

"A baby for the king?" Izuku asked doubtfully. "No, we should just give him back."

"Aw, come on, he looks like an important baby, the least we could do is try."

"What's the point. Bumi said he wouldn't teach me, so it doesn't even matter." Aang muttered.

"Let's just try."

They all looked at each other, "Okay," Aang said, smiling. "Let's go."

...

"Why would you do this, it was a terrible idea!" Katsuki shouted.

"It was YOUR idea, Kacchan!"

"Well no one told me, it would involve emos, pink, and little girls!"

"They're as old as you are." Izuku grumbled, on the floor.

"And how are you already defeated, I know you're weak but damn!"

"She played dirty and did this thing. I can't move now for some reason. And it's not like you're doing better."

"I'm held back by having to protect you, stupid nerd!"

"Stop being mean." Izuku said. "We could just retreat like Aang, Katara, and Sokka, but we can't because I can't move and you're too stubborn to run away!"
"You know I never lose, if I could just get them in the same vicinity…" if he could get them to just attack him at the same time he could blow them both up.

"Kacchan." Izuku said through gritted teeth and narrowed eyes.

"Don't you give me that!"

"You'll get them next time I promise. You're not losing, you're just drawing back to think of your next move. Like a chess game."

"I'm not a nerd like you!"

"Please."

Katsuki paused panting. Normally he wouldn't have a problem, but they were so fast, he could barely keep up. "Fine, but you owe me!"

"Fine! Let's just go!"

And since the trade failed they just gave back the kid, though Katsuki still claimed they'd be better off killing him. "That kid's gonna turn into a killer."

"I don't believe that." Izuku said. "You trust that Shouto sees some good in Zuko so why can't you trust me when I think this baby won't turn into a killer."

"Shouto's Shouto and he's kind of a cryptic, see the worst in humanity, kinda person. Somebody I can appreciate. You're an optimistic, worried mother hen. You see the best in people even when it's no longer there. In other words, I hate you."

Despite his sound argument though, he was out-ruled so the baby was returned without harm, much to his chagrin.

It didn't really matter though because soon, they were flying off in a different direction without any idea what they were going to do next. Katsuki just hoped Zuko found them soon so they could get out of here with Shouto.

He wasn't interested in trying to play hero here.

Especially not when everyone already seemed to have one.

He didn't know why they'd chosen a bald twelve-year-old, but hey, who was he to judge?

A/N Okay, here we are. Now I think I'm going to mainly focus on just Zuko and Shouto because hey, they're what this story is actually about! But so many things happened to the Gaang right here and there were lots of introductions of characters. Now, I think I'm actually going to skip the episode where they find Toph because for one, I believe I'm already focusing on the Gaang way too much considering they're not supposed to be the main characters, and two because to be honest, I'm having a very hard time remembering the plot. Yes, I only watched it a few months ago, but I forget little details in between and I'm just like... I know this happened, but I don't know when, where, or how they even got there, not even why! So yes, I think I'm just going to focus on Zuko and Todoroki and fast forward a little to the Zuko Alone episode and have Toph meet Iroh just like she did in cannon, but Shouto's there also since now Zuko left the both of them. Now then, so that's that. Sorry to anyone who wanted to read about them first meeting Toph, I might slide Izuku and Katsuki's reactions to her in there somewhere, But right now I've gotta choose my priorities considering this story is already considerably longer than I thought it would be, and I still have a long way to go. But anyway, thank you so much for reading, reviews are love, and I will see you again soon! Bye!