Chapter 16: Sassy and Bald

Zuko had never seen more of a bizarre duo, than the one he currently had his eyes on. A young man in orange with a bright blue arrow tattooed on his head came flying in with a small girl in green, who seemed to be struggling like never before. They landed gracefully on the ground in front of him, when the girl jumped forward and plunged her hands and feet into the ground.

"Earth!" She sighed in satisfaction. "You have never felt so good until now."

"Come on, Toph," said the tattooed boy with a raised eyebrow. "It wasn't that bad. And look—we got here a lot quicker." He mused.

Zuko continued to stare at the two before him. The soldiers were blown away with the sudden wind, and were struggling on top of each other. At a closer look, the tattooed boy was no shorter than Zuko—if not the same height, his blue arrow tattoo seemed to extend to his arms and hands. He had warm gray eyes and deep-set dimples on his cheeks that formed while smiling at the girl next to him. A long brown staff was in his hand, and Zuko could have sworn there was something orange protruding out of it before. The girl was even more unusual-looking than the boy. She was a whole head shorter than him, dressed in green and light yellow attire, with the poof of her raven black hair adding a few more inches that she desperately appeared to have needed.

"Who are you guys?" Zuko finally croaked out. He breathed heavily; it seemed to take all his energy to say those four words. He was backed up against the tree that supposedly hid Katara, unsure of what to do. On instinct, he didn't feel that they were his enemies, but Zuko couldn't find himself trusting anyone at the moment.

The tattooed boy turned his head to face Zuko, a kind smile still plastered on his face. "Oh—Hi," he lifted his free hand as a gesture. "Don't worry, we're here to help you. We saw the fire nation navy approaching and came to see what was going on, then we saw you getting attacked—"

"And now we're here to get these guys off this island and save your sorry butt," the girl interrupted and finished his sentence. The boy shot a slight frown at the girl, while she responded maturely by sticking her tongue in his direction.

Zuko would have flared up in anger at the sudden jibe from the girl, but his exhaustion cooled his temper. He also felt that what she said what right. Katara was severely hurt, his uncle was all alone fighting a dangerous battle, and he was loosing his strength, fighting the soldiers. He must have looked absolutely pitiful and pathetic.

"My uncle…" Zuko swallowed and spoke again, only to be cut off.

"I know, I can feel it," she interrupted, lifting her hand to signal to the boy next to her. "You stay here twinkle toes, I'll deal with the two at shore."

The boy smiled, and smacked his hand against hers with a sharp snap. "Be a little inconspicuous, yeah?" he playfully remarked.

The girl only seemed to roll her eyes at him. The ground suddenly shook under her feet, the earth erupting with the rise of her fists. Zuko's jaw dropped in surprise, feeling the powerful effects of her bending.

She was an earthbender.

Before his shock could subside, the ground moved under her, carrying her through the trees faster than Zuko could have thought. It looked as if she was running with a large earth boulder under her feet.

"Jeez," the boy sighed, slightly shaking his head. "Never the type for stealth attacks."

Zuko didn't even think twice about how she knew there was two people fighting near the shore. His energy began to circulate again as his steadied his breathing. I can do this. Katara is waiting for me. He snapped his eyes into focus and stepped next to the tattooed boy.

"Are you… okay?" the boy asked with a raised eyebrow, but sincere worry was in his voice. The soldiers had passed the initial shock, as they stood up and prepared themselves for an attack. Zuko gave him a curt nod, trying to save every bit of energy he had left to fight.

At his nod, the boy, sprang forward, startling the soldiers that were close to him. Zuko watched for a moment as the boy's arms and legs seemed to fly in every direction, sending concentrated arcs of air at the soldiers. They flew back with such force, causing them to hit the trees or rocks and lose consciousness. Zuko's eyes widened in surprise as the boy landed back on his feet easily, turning his body with the wind. He seemed to be moving effortlessly, the air around him obeying his every command.

Zuko turned just in time to block an on-coming attack from a soldier. He couldn't be distracted at a time like this. With a low grunt, he kicked the masked enemy squarely in the chest, sending him flying back into the trees. Zuko could see the armor had roughly caved in and was hissing from his fire. He concentrated the flame in his fists, sending large bullets in flame in rapid succession towards the men before him. He had hesitated too long; he had let his confusion and cowardice overcome his drive. With a final roar of exasperation, he sent a wave of fire against the remaining men that were rushing towards him. After knocking down what seemed to be the final soldier, he turned to the boy, only to see him watching Zuko with curious eyes, dozens of soldiers lying unconscious at his feet.

Zuko panted heavily, his adrenaline rush quickly dying down. The boy didn't even seem out of breath or tired. He simply stood in front of Zuko with an unreadable expression.

"You're a firebender," he suddenly said. The boy didn't seem angry, but the smile from his face had faded.

"And you're an airbender…" Zuko equally replied, not believing his own words. He had heard of the other elemental benders from his uncle, but he had never seen them fight—much less meet one. Katara had been the first water bender he met. He then realized what the boy meant. Zuko shook his head, his eyes widening and his hands rising to his defense. "I swear I'm not with these guys." He swallowed his remaining pride and slightly lowered his head. "You have to believe me."

"…I believe you."

Surprised, Zuko glanced up at the boy to see a faint smile return. He didn't seem like he was lying, or trying to trick Zuko in any way. Zuko nodded and the two both came to some kind of mutual understanding. There was a sudden blare of what sounded like a horn, causing them both to turn their heads towards the direction of the shore.

"***"

Iroh had to blink, rub his eyes and shake his head in denial when a small girl walked out from the forest. He was sure someone had earth bended a massive amount of sand and dirt—and quite honestly, he did not expect a small girl to be the one responsible. She continued to walk out, approaching a dazed and confused Iroh.

"So I assume you're the uncle?" she dully asked, lightly glancing back to where Azula had fallen. She was thrown back at least three hundred feet, and barely saved herself from a neck-breaking fall by blasting fire from her feet to propel her body into alignment. She stood again, glaring daggers at the newcomer.

"You met my nephew?" he cautiously asked, wondering who this girl was. She gave him silent nod and turned to Azula again.

"Hey lady over there!" she hollered in Azula's direction. "It's time for you to get your invading butt off this island!"

Iroh threw a hand up to his mouth to muffle a sudden laugh. He had no idea who this girl was, but he liked her already. It seemed as if she wasn't an enemy, but it was never his style to let small girls fight for him, especially against Azula. Before he could interfere, Azula blasted forward, rapidly cutting the distance between them. The girl also jumped forward, the sand piling under her feet and throwing her towards Azula. Two large slates of sand burst from the ground in front of Azula momentarily stopping her advance. She ruptured the slates with fire, and continued dashing forward. The two girls met hard, earth against fire.

The small girl had bended the earth from inside the woods sending boulders of hardened dirt and sand towards Azula. She stomped on the ground, continuously making the sand erupt near Azula's feet, forcing her to back away.

With a frustrated snarl, Azula stepped back concentrating lighting in her fists. Iroh could watch no more. He had momentarily stood by, surprised and curious, watching two skillful benders battle, but things were getting dangerous. He rushed towards where the earthbender stood; ready to redirect the lighting, when the girl lifted both her arms out in front of her. With a rigid motion she clamped her hands into fists and brought them together. At the motion, Azula's arms stopped. With a sudden yelp she tried to move her arms, yet they moved outwards, seemingly against her will.

"Brat—what… is this…?" she growled dangerously, her arms hanging out to the side against her will.

Iroh's stopped breathing for a moment. What was going on? Was the girl… controlling her body? That seemed impossible. Yet something was happening right in front of his eyes. He continued to stare at the earthbender in front of him until she flicked her wrists slightly. Azula's chest plate rose, pulling the struggling princess into the air.

"If you're not going to leave, I don't mind sending you flying into the ocean," the girl spat at Azula.

A loud blast—the sound of an amplified horn suddenly echoed in the distance. Iroh knew that call too well. He turned his head only to see his prediction come true. Another fire navy was making its way towards the island, with a high chance of it being filled with hundreds of new soldiers. With the distraction, Azula ripped free of her invisible hold, dropping roughly against the ground. Before the small girl could move, she tore away her arm guards, her chest plate and the rest of her armor, leaving her in a dark red and orange robe.

"Hey!" The girl yelled when Azula propelled herself with fire off the island. She gave one last glare to the little earthbender before turning around and flying faster than Iroh could have ever moved with his huge body. The small girl didn't seem to give up; she raised a hand towards the water when a large piece of metal flew towards her hand. Iroh immediately recognized it as part of the previous ship he had destroyed. As soon as the metal plate came into contact with her hand, she crushed it down as if she was crumbling paper. She folded the metal into a large spike, and launched it towards Azula with a fierce battle cry.

Inwardly, Iroh's jaw dropped once again as he watched the metal barb fly towards Azula with such force, he was momentarily afraid that it would impale her straight through her body. From the distance, he saw her react in time and change course as the enormous thorn flew by her and collided with the side of the on-coming ship.

"Che." The girl wrinkled her nose, obviously not satisfied with the outcome. She raised her arms to retrieve another large chunk of metal before Iroh realized what was going on.

She was controlling and bending metal.

He wasn't sure how she did it, but that was how she was able to control Azula before—she was simply controlling the thin metal she was wearing. Refined metal had bits and pieces of earth that were left from the place of origin. It seemed ridiculous that this small girl was able to locate, and control the bits of earth left in the metal, yet the only explanation that came to his mind.

"It's okay now, let her leave," Iroh insisted, putting a calloused hand on her tiny shoulder. She looked up at him with a frown.

"Do you really think she's leaving?" she scowled. "If her reinforcements are here, that'll mean more trouble for us." Her vision seemed unfocused and a hazy gray color appeared to fill her entire eyes. Before he could observe any longer, they both turned around to see two men rushing out from the forest.

"***"

Zuko was reluctant to leave Katara. In fact, he was completely unwilling to leave Katara until the boy—he learned to be Aang—was able to convince him otherwise. If she was injured, it wasn't best to keep moving her. He finally decided to help Iroh and Sokka before coming back to take Katara. She would be safe behind the rocks anyways.

The two ran out from the forest only to see the small girl from before and his uncle standing on the shore. Zuko gazed out into the ocean to see a black ship approaching them.

"Uncle!" he yelled. "What's going on? Did she leave?" Zuko breathed hard, still exhausted from the run. He didn't realize how far he ran into the forest until he tried to run back out.

The girl—he remembered Aang had called her Toph—turned around with a scowl on her face. "Reinforcements are coming, twinkle toes."

Zuko silently cursed and stared at the girl; he had just noticed the abnormally large chunk of metal that was in her hand, towering above all of them. How was she even holding that? It looked unbelievably heavy in her small hands.

Aang frowned and slightly scratched his head, staring at the ship in the distance. "Let's not fight if we don't have too."

Toph huffed in response, "Always the pacifist, eh?" She effortlessly threw the large slate of metal into the ocean, causing a large wave, and crossed her arms. "Fine then, let's change the course of the ship and force it away."

"Clockwise?" Aang mused.

Toph nodded.

Zuko was lost. Turn the course of the ship? Was that even possible? If they were talking about what he thought, he assumed they were trying to force the entire ship to turn around. Zuko gazed at the warship again; it looked colossal, even from the distance. The mere thought of it being forced around seemed impossible. He glanced at Aang and Toph, wondering what they were thinking.

"Wait until it comes closer. I can't fully see the metal just yet." Aang nodded again at her words. At a tap of his staff, orange wings protruded from the sides of the wood.

"Don't destroy the rudder, okay?" he playfully remarked. "We're only turning them around and sending them off." And with that, he mounted his glider and flew off towards the ship.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," she lightly scoffed. Zuko watched as she raised her hands out in front of her and stared into the distance with a look of utmost concentration. The ship was approaching closer, and Aang was flying around the front of the ship, causing a wave of panic through the soldiers on board. "Ready when you are!" she hollered.

At her call, the wind around them began to pick up in speed. The waves began to rise and continuously crash the left side of the ship. Aang was bending all the air to push against one side of the ship. The metal groaned and creaked under the pressure, slowly turning to the right. There was the sound of mass panic on the ship as soldiers were running around in every direction, trying to figure out why the ship was shifting. Blasts of fire shot from the deck, but were blown out by the intense wind as soon as they escaped the bender. Zuko heard Toph growl in frustration as her hands moved slightly to the right, still holding its rigid form.

"Toph, you're going to snap the rudder!" Aang's voice traveled down with the wind.

"I know!" she screamed back. "Only because they're trying to control it!"

Zuko watched in amazement as the huge ship completed a ninety-degree turn. Aang was still blowing heavy winds against the side of the ship. The water was rising; crashing into the side with the force of an intense storm. His uncle was similarly in awe, watching the two benders, preforming what he deemed an impossible task. The ship was coming close to a full turn, and Aang was slowly moving towards the back of the ship.

"They're going back!" He yelled down as he flew closer towards shore. "I heard the command to retreat."

Toph smiled in triumph, obviously pleased with the outcome. Aang landed gracefully next to her and smiled back at her. With a final move, Toph flipped her hands over, resulting in a high screeching noise, as if metal was being ripped and torn. Sure enough, a large slab of metal burst from the ocean and flew towards the shore. Toph slightly shifted the direction with a flick of her wrist, causing the massive metal rudder to crash into the sand a few meters next to them.

"There," she simply stated. "Now they won't even be able to steer properly, much less turn around."

Zuko was stunned. If his mouth could have dropped any lower it would have. He rubbed his eyes and cleared his throat, to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

"Overdid it, as usual." Aang lightly commented.

"Please, I wasn't the one causing a freak storm," she snapped back. "Just call Appa, there's injured people here." She turned to face Zuko and raised an eyebrow. "Is that man back there with you guys?"

Zuko turned in the direction she motioned to, but didn't see anybody. Then it had hit him, Sokka was thrown back there.

"Y-Yeah, and Ka—"

"The girl in the forest right?" she cut him off for the umpteenth time. "I can barely feel her heartbeat anymore. I'll get her. It's much safer for me to bring her anyways."

Before Zuko could protest, Toph turned around and earth bended herself into the forest again. How did she even know where she was? Worry and guilt clawed at his chest, when a large hand pat down on his shoulder.

"It's going to be all right, nephew," He rubbed his beard and breathed. "I do not feel as if they are enemies. Let us trust them for now."

Zuko gave his uncle a short nod while forcing his bitter tears back. After a moment of silence, the two firebenders walked towards where Sokka had fallen. Thankfully, he appeared not to have been touched, but he was already covered in so many injuries, that Zuko couldn't tell what was what. They carefully carried him back to where Aang was standing, staring up at the sky.

The wind picked up again. Zuko had thought Aang was doing some sort of airbending when a large shadow appeared above them. Zuko almost gasped. A white creature about half the size of the fire nation ship landed in front of Aang. He had six legs, a pair of black horns that looked well over twice the size of Zuko, a large flat tail, and a dark brown arrow traveling down the length of the creature's body from forehead to tail.

"A sky bison," Iroh breathed in amazement. Zuko shot a confused look at his uncle then back at Aang, only to see his laugh and hug the furry creature's head. "What a stunning animal…"

Zuko would have freaked out if not for his uncle. This giant animal looked as if he could devour all of them in one sweep. He gulped down his nervousness as Aang turned around with a smile.

"Guys, meet Appa," he gestured towards the two men. "Appa, meet Zuko and his uncle."

Appa let out a deep groan and nudged his head at Aang. Zuko flinched, afraid that Aang would be thrown back with the force. Appa playfully stuck out its large tongue, licking Aang's face in one big motion, leaving his face drenched in saliva.

"Appa stop," he joked. "That's bad manners in front of new people."

There was another quiet rumble as Toph came out of the forest. She held Katara above the ground as a small earth bed supported her. She gave a frown to Zuko and then looked at Aang.

"This one's critical. We should get her to the village quickly." Zuko's heart constricted. Aang's smile faded as he approached Katara. With a swift motion, a small whirlwind formed under her body, and she was carefully set down on Appa's back. He walked over to Zuko and preformed the same maneuver, easily lifting Sokka to the saddle on Appa.

"Get on guys, the village is pretty far from here and we need to get going." He slid a hand under Toph's waist before lifting the two of them onto Appa's back.

Half of Zuko wanted to say 'no thanks' and back out. He still watched the sky bison wearingly, not sure if it was going to attack.

"It would be my honor," Iroh replied quickly, lowering his head to Appa. Reluctantly, Zuko followed his uncle, climbed up the side of Appa and lowered themselves on the saddle. Aang sat on Appa's head and grabbed the reins.

"Yip-yip!" Aang called. Appa moved with surprising fluidity, and leaped into the air. Zuko yelped. This enormous animal was flying. He forced his anxiety down for the last time before turning his attention to Katara.

The color had drained from her face; her breathing was barely audible, and she stayed motionless. He could slightly see the raw skin that was torched from the lighting attack.

Why did she do it? Why didn't she move and avoid the attack? Zuko felt guilt and shame overcome him. He had given up. Seeing Azula's attack, he was just going to die and let them take her. Zuko gritted his teeth and frowned. He had failed her. If his uncle hadn't come, or if Aang and Toph didn't show up, things would have been much different. He grew angry with himself, knowing that Katara had relied on him, but he had failed.

"Zuko."

His head shot up at his uncle's voice. Iroh watched him with a stern expression, the wind blowing at his beard. His large hand was lightly ruffling Zuko's messy hair.

"I can feel your fire burn, nephew," he paused and breathed slowly. "But do not let anger possess your spirit. You will only cause more harm than good."

Zuko frowned again, unable to let go of his anger. He wasn't in any mood to listen to his uncle's wise words. He was too angry with himself. He felt his palms heat up, and Iroh's grip on Zuko's head suddenly hardened. His breathing halted, as he felt his core body temperature rise rapidly from his head. His vision blurred. Was his uncle… giving him a forced heatstroke? He took a last look at Iroh's apologetic face before falling forward, loosing consciousness.

"I'm sorry, Zuko," Iroh mumbled. "We'll talk again when you are better… there is… much you need to hear."

A/N: It's been two weeks... My apologies. Although I said I would try and update every week, I have obviously been unsuccessful -_- I'll be out of state next weekend, so It's going to be another two weeks until I update the next chapter *Hides in the corner in shame* And I know it's not much, but every week I miss, I'll add another 500-1,000 words to the chapter, as I have done to this one!
Anyways, this was a pretty action packed chapter, eh? The next few chapters will be more dialogue based, and I'll be revealing bits of the truth here and there (: I have yet to decide if I'm going to make Aang the avatar. As of now, I am leaning towards a 'no'. I know Aang's timeline doesn't make any sense because technically he could be over a 100. But for the sake of my story, let's say he was born 15 years ago.

Don't forget to review! :D If you guys have any questions or confusion I'd be happy to answer as long as it doesn't give away anything too big (; See you soon!