Chapter 4 Taang

The Training Begins

Katara's Pov

I woke up the next morning to a semi surprise of yet again being carried by Zuko. He noticed and pulled me off his shoulder. I gave him a quick thank you and he just kept walking. I rolled my eyes and followed him quietly. I can say I was enjoying not being on his shoulder. It was very uncomfortable for me and my stomach hurt because of the way he held me. It's very weird following my enemy but it's this or have him lash out at my brother and Toph. Hmmm… I looked down remembering that I left them there. I smiled at the thought of them butting heads without me there to keep them from going at each other. Zuko stopped suddenly and I bumped right into his back. "Ow…" I said as I rubbed my forehead. His back was solid like a rock, or just very muscular. Jeez how much muscle does he have? "Why the sudden stop?" I asked him. He turned back toward me with a finger to his lips. "Were being followed.." He whispered. Followed? Huh? I looked behind me not seeing anything. Then I looked further up the mountain and still nothing. Then we both heard a sudden movement and Zuko pulled me behind him. I was shocked by this. He was protecting me? Whoa who is this Zuko? I like it… I said while I blushed as much as I tried not to. Soon I snapped out of it as Zuko began to talk. "Who's there? Don't make me come find you!" He threatened. I stepped to the side trying to see if anyone came out. Just as I peered over his shoulder I saw it. There was several of them. I tucked myself closer behind Zuko and tried to get out of sight. "Alright, Alright you caught us." Said a man as he walked out from behind a boulder with his hands up and a large grin across his face. "I'm warning though, don't try anything stupid kids!" He said while putting his hands down and walking towards us. How long had they been following me and Zuko? Zuko then started to back up and I walked backwards making sure he didn't bump into me. That's when I started to step on snow. My eyes lit up and I poked Zuko and pointed to the snow. Both of us realizing what that meant started an attack.

Zuko jumped to the side and melted the snow as I bent the water left over as a weapon. "Ah so your both benders, how peculiar though. A fire bender and water bender traveling together." He said kind of shocked at the thought. I did have to say though it was strange how that happened. I was just about to attack the man when two arms grabbed me from behind and pulled me away. I screamed as a bag was thrown over my head. Using the water around me I bent what I had and hopefully smacked my attacker in the face. I figured yes when I heard an ow and the arms retreated. I pulled the bag off my head facing the man. He was bald and was very, very muscular and tall. He was intimidating but I continued any way with continuously hitting him with water whips. Once I was able to hold him in one spot I surrounded him with water and froze the water and left him there. I turned around and saw Zuko struggling against the other guy who apparently was also a bender unlike the man I just faced. I bent up some water and ran to go help Zuko.

Meanwhile…

Ty Lee's Pov

Hey, Ty wake up!" I heard Aangs voice ringing in my head as he gently shook me awake. I fluttered my eyes open and looked at Aang with a tired angry look that said 'this better be good'. He gave me a quick smile and pulled me out of the tent. "Hey yah morning! Why am I up so early?" I asked him noticing that it was only sun rise. He grinned at me. "It's time for you to start your air bending!" He exclaimed. What is he talking about? I gave him wide eyes before getting up and walking back to my tent. "Call me back again in about five hours." I said grumpily. I heard a sigh before I noticed I was back in front of Aang. I growled at him but sat down. "Why so early?" I whined to him. I am obviously very cranky and not in the mood to be training. I decided that there was only way out of this. "Can I just get one more hour?" I asked him with pleading eyes. I immediately saw him go mush in my hands and he nodded while hanging his head down. I quickly crawled back to my tent not wasting any time.

One hour later…

Yet again someone was shaking me awake and speaking my name oh so softly. "Hmm?" I asked the person. I heard a slight laugh and opened my eyes. Sure enough there was Aang shaking me. "It's been an hour it's time to start training." He said calmly. I groaned but got up.

We walked out into an open field and Aang bowed to me. I gave him a confused look but mimicked him and bowed back. He grinned at me and then spoke. "I'm sorry for waking you up early, but the air is most fresh and alive in the morning." He said to me. He did seem right. All the scents in the air were even more enhanced and the wind was blowing so beautifully. I have to say air is an amazing element. "Okay so um… what am I learning first?" I asked him and he just laughed. I folded my arms and leaned on my hips and then he finally realized I wasn't kidding. "Well were going to have to help you open your chi." He told me. "Chi?" I asked. "It's what helps let you use your ability and give you the freedom of it." He said with a smile. I nodded and watched. Aang sat down in the field and closed his eyes. After a while he opened his eye and looked at me. "Uh… your supposed to be doing this too." He said sheepishly. "Oh!" I said quickly and sat like how he was. "Concentrate on the air, as if it could pick you up and take you away with it." He said as if he were a great monk. I toke a deep breath and imagined myself just as he said. Before I knew it I felt like I was flying away, going with the wind. We sat like this for what seemed like hours but I was disturbed soon when Aang shook my shoulder softly and I opened my eyes. I was still sitting down but Aang was standing and we could see eye to eye. I looked down and there was a ball of air beneath me. "Whoa" I breathed. Aang smirked at me and I smiled back. "I think your ready to start." Is all he said as he grabbed my wrist and pulled me out of the giant air ball beneath me.

He told me to go into a fighting position and I did just that as he walked about 10 feet away and as well got in a fighting position. "Wait! I still don't know any moves!" I yelled over to him. He just shrugged and grinned at me. "Then make something up!" He told me. I got very nervous. I'm about to fight the avatar, he could easily whip me right off my feet. "This won't be fair though! You have control over 3 elements!" I exclaimed. He gave me a face knowing that when he got out of his fighting position. "That's true. How about you pick which element you want me to fight you with." He said with a smile. Well this could be a positive and a negative. I know that he's a master air bender and also water bender but I don't think he's a master earth bender. Still though with what he showed me when we went to the market yesterday, he could still defeat me. "How about water?" I asked. He raised an eye brow but nodded. In a way that would be easier considering were not around water. Aang got back into a fighting position and began.

Nobody's Pov (Viewers Visual)

In one swift movement Aang span in a circle absorbing all the water in the grass around him. Ty Lee's eyes widened but she stood there still ready to fight at any moment. Aang grinned at her and she finally moved. In an attempt she used the move that Aang told her to do while trying to prove to him that she's an air bender. Ty Lee squared her feet sliding one foot back and pushed her right hand forward trying to push out air but to no avail. She quickly became panicky and looking around for no reason. Aang just grinned at her and began his attack. Eventually Ty Lee noticed and just as he attacked she jumped out of the way. Yet again she tried another move thought up in her head. Ty Lee stood up straight and bent her right leg behind her left and spinning in a circle let out and amazing gust of wind toward Aang. Ty Lee was shocked by how she had knocked Aang over and more because she just air bended. Aang was as well surprised by the amazing amount of air shot at him. He stood up with wide eyes and absorbed more water. Ty Lee now realizing how she had focused to bring out the air, assumed another fighting position and attacked. Both charged at each other fighting for hours and taking tiny breaks here and there. After about four hours of fighting they stopped both falling to the ground exhausted.

Aang's Pov

"Well you finally did it!" I exclaimed to her with a grin. She smiled back at me taking lots of deep breaths. "Water?" I said while pulling out some fresh water from the plants. She nodded and I walked over to her dropping some in her open mouth. Eventually she put her hand up and I stopped. "Where did you learn to bend the water out of plants?" She asked me. I sat back down and turned to her. "Well, me and my friends ran into a blood bender once and she taught Katara to bend the water out of the plants around her, and blood bending.." I said slowing down near the end and hanging my head down. Katara was really upset when she was kind of forced into learning how to blood bend. No one talked about it in front of her. I looked back up at Ty Lee and she just nodded and looked up at the sky. I fell back on the ground looking at the sky too. "We really need new clothes." Said Ty finally breaking the silence. I looked at both hers and my clothes. She was completely right. I stood up walking over to her and held out my hand. She looked up at me then toke my hand. I pulled her up and we walked back down to the Market.

When we walked into the market we noticed it wasn't really that busy like yesterday. I looked at Ty Lee confused and she just shrugged. I didn't bother to talk about it and so we went in search of a clothes stand. As we walked by we only saw several stands open and the ones that were open were completely empty not even a merchant. "Oh look at these!" Exclaimed Ty Lee as we passed by a stand called Jasmine clothing. I looked at the clothes before trying to find the merchant. Still no one there. "Uh which ones do you want?" I asked Ty. She pointed at about 5 different things and I just put up 2 fingers. She lowered her head back down to the clothes and picked 2 things. I picked them up and handed them to her and left five silver pieces to pay for them. We continued on our way until yet again, Ty saw some clothes except this time for me. I do have to say they are nice clothes. I grabbed the clothes and left the last silver coins there.

As we arrived back at camp I made a quick box for Ty Lee to get changed in. When she came out my eyes almost popped out of my head. She was beautiful just breath taking. I looked away quickly before changing myself. I was wearing what seemed to be a fire nation students clothes. I shrugged and faced Ty Lee. She laughed a little and then grinned. "You do know your wearing a students clothes right?" She said with another giggle. "I kinda figured, besides you're the one that picked it out!" I said while I pointed at her. She grinned and shrugged. I didn't really care I was just happy to be in a different pair of clothes. Although I did prefer my air monk clothes over fire nation clothes any day. They were much lighter and easier to move around in! I grinned over at Ty Lee. I walked over to her and grabbed her hand. I let go of it real quick to make a quick sitting spot then grabbed it again. We both sat down on the new bench and I looked over at her. She was blushing like crazy and all I could do was smile. "Ya know these past few days have probably been the best days since the invasion on the fire nation." I said while I leaned back a little and looked up at the sky. "Really?" She asked sounding kind of surprised at what I had said. I looked over at her and nodded while I smiled. She blushed even more and looked away. "You just really brighten the day." I said while still smiling. I couldn't stop smiling it was like my lips were just pinned where they were but I didn't mind. I liked it. I looked over at Ty Lee and she was smiling too. "Wow.." Was all she managed to say.

The wind blew ever so softly and Ty Lee's hair went with it but soon that pleasant breeze became harder until it was vicious. "What's going on?" Asked Ty Lee raising her voice above the roaring wind. "I don't know!" I yelled to her. I quickly grabbed her hand and ran towards the tents. We both dove into her tent and I put up an extra barrier to help block the wind. It was like a tornado was coming through. I heard screams coming from down in the town. My eyes went wide and I looked over at Ty. "We have to go help them!" I yelled to her. The wind was still very loud it was blowing right into the tent. "Help who?" Was all I managed to hear her say. "The villagers!" I yelled back. She gave me a look that seemed to say 'are you crazy?'. I looked at her giving her eyes that I knew she couldn't say no to. Before I knew it we were out in the crazy wind storm heading down towards the town. The wind had actually gotten worse than it was. I had to almost walk blind because of the pressure of the wind and things getting whipped in my face. We both ran down the hill hand in hand. "We need to stop the wind from hitting all the villagers!" I yelled to her. She looked over and nodded. I let go of her hand and span a big circle of air around us so we could breath better.

As we entered the town we both opened are eyes up wide. There was clothes and food and even some animals all over the place. Some of the stands were completely tipped over or just completely wrecked. "Kar! Kar! Where are you? Has anyone seen my little boy?" Yelled a woman as she ran through the streets with tears. "We need to help her find her son!" I screamed over the wind to Ty Lee. She nodded again and we ran up to the woman. She nodded her head furiously as we asked if we could help find her son. Ty Lee went with the woman and I went on my own. We went in different directions. "Kar! Hello? Kar!" I yelled down the streets. I heard crying further down an alley way and quickly sprinted towards it. I turned and there sat a little boy crying hysterically. "Kar?" I asked over the wind. The boy looked up and nodded still crying. "Have you seen my mommy?" I said trying to hold back tears. I nodded to him and motioned for him to come to me. He stood up quickly and ran over to me. I picked up the boy and ran down the alley and looked for his mother and Ty Lee. I pressed the boys face down and away from the winds. There was debris flying around every where and I had to duck a lot. "Ty Lee?" I screamed. She appeared around the corner and motioned for me to come to her. I quickly ran holding on to the boy stronger and entered a tiny under ground cave. " What are you doing in here?" I asked her gasping for air. "His mother figured he might have gone here but apparently not." She said nodding towards the boy in my arms. Ty Lee turned around and ran into the crowd of people and returned with the boys mother. "Kar!" Yelled the woman as I set the boy down. He ran right into his mothers arms and she kissed him all over his face before giving him a tight hug. She put him down and grabbed his hand and led him into the crowd. Soon though he reappeared and came over and hugged me around my legs. "Thank you for saving me." He said before again disappearing in the crowd. I grinned and knew I did a good job. I looked back over at Ty Lee and noticed she was smirking and leaning on her hip. "What?" I asked. She just shook her head and grabbed my hand and led me out of the underground cave.

I quickly remade an enlarged air ball to make breathing easier. There was a much louder roaring now and we turned around. Not so far away was an amazingly large tornado heading right for the town. Ty Lee jumped behind me and grabbed on. She was trembling like crazy to a point where I was shaking myself. "T- T- Tornado!" She screamed. I turned around quickly and grabbed her pulling her as close as possible. I let go and held her shoulders so she was looking at me. "This is your first test. Stopping a tornado." I said to her. Her eyes opened as wide as possible and she shook her head like a mad man. "No, no, no I can't do this!" She yelled as she sank to the floor. I went down to her level and cupped her cheeks in my hands and made her look up at me. "I know you can!" I said to her with a smile. She looked at me with pleading eyes. Just basically begging me not to do this. "Think of all the lives you'll save!" I exclaimed to her. She still shook her head no. "I'll be right beside you directing you on what to do." I told her giving one last try. She looked up at me and paused. She finally nodded and I helped her up. We both looked at the tornado that was quickly coming upon the little town. " You need to steer it away from the town." I said to her quickly. She gave me a crazy look. "You need to let out an amazing amount of air to the top of the tornado and direct away. She nodded and we began running toward the tornado ready to take it on.

Sorry for the delay! I didn't want to wait so long but I had a lot of homework this week! I should be posting again by the weekend! Keep reading and reviewing! Thank you to those who did review! I'm looking for 3 more reviews to unlock the 5th chapter which will be the most action packed yet! With more Zutara and a little bit of Mai! (for my dear friend *******) Next chapter: Battle of the Tornado.

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