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Hope looks at her father and mother with tears in her eyes as team Avatar receives gifts from Pakku "Be safe our little water bender"
Hope gives them a sad smile "I will be, I will send letters as much as possible"
Her father chuckles lightly and her mother brings her into a hug and her father soon joins "I don't doubt you won't"
Hope leans into their touch savouring their touch as it will be a while before she feels this safe again "Remember your training with training the avatar, Pakku has let it go and has lifted my banishment so we will be fine"
Hope nods gently and pulls back to smile once last time at her parents and then she walks away from them. She walks over to team avatar and before she can climb on Appa Pakku stops her "Wait, I have something for you"
Hope can hear Sokka complaining in the back as Pakku takes out her gift and she smiles "What is it?"
"A Waterbending scroll, it is used for only the most powerful waterbenders, it is a way to draw water from the very air we breathe, I may be upset that you went against tradition but I have seen your potential and I do not want you to waste it"
Hope nods and Pakku pulls her into a quick hug and they step away from each other "Be safe, Hope"
She smiles sadly and climbs onto of Appa the beast giving a groan of contentment. Hope looks to her parents and gives them a reassuring smile and waves "Appa, yip, yip!"
The bison flies in the air and Katara shout to Pakku "Say hi to Gran-Gran for me!"
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Team Avatar stop for a while to let Appa rest but Hope Aang and Katara weren't resting. Hope stands in the water across from Aang and Katara showing off her stance "See you just do as I did and the water will rise around you to make a water barrier"
Hope watches as they perform the same stance and are both quick to do it "Look, Look Hope I'm doing it!"
Aang says with great enthusiasm and Hope smiles at him "Yes you are both naturals I would even think Katara could teach you Aang"
"I don't think I'm ready for that yet"
Katara brushes a hair out her face as she blushes at the praise "You could, you may not even need me"
"Your company is enough"
Aang says with a big smile and Hope returns it and pulls out some scrolls and passes them to the two "Try these out they are a bit advanced but I think you both will easily be able to do them"
Aang and Katara smile and take a scroll each and Hope moves away from the water and sits next to a tree. She looks over the scroll Pakku gave her and stands again and gets ready.
She attempts it two times before she manages to bring water out of thin air she smiles to herself and lets the water drop into her pouch. She sits back down looking around before starting her meditation and when she opens her eyes again she sees Aang going to bed as well as Katara.
Hope thinks to herself it's probably best for her to go to bed too she stands once again and that's when she hears a squeak. She looks at the sound to see a small rat she titles her head slightly before looking around.
She raises a hand and concentrates on the rat and then the rat begins to twirl around her father told her to never practice Bloodbending but it became a curious thing for her. She raises her hand and the rat rises up before she places them gently back down and makes her way back to her tent to get some rest.
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Appa flies over General fongs base and Sokka quickly gets up "There it is"
They all look down as Appa descends and lands and they get off and General Fong and some soldiers wait. The group walk over "Welcome, Avatar Aang! I am General Fong, and welcome, to all of you great heroes! Appa, Momo, brave Sokka, The North's power the mighty Katara ..."
Katara smiles at him and looks pleased "Mighty Katara? I like that"
Fireworks start going off in the background being launched by earthbenders "Not bad, not bad"
The group walk inside Hope had never seen earthebenders before spending her life inside the Northern tribe. General Fong sits at his desk as we all stand across from him "Avatar Aang, we were all amazed at the stories of how you singlehandedly wiped out an entire Fire Navy fleet at the North Pole..." he strokes his bread in thought "I can't imagine what it feels like to wield such devastating power, It's an awesome responsibility"
Aang shrugs trying to act casual "I try not to think about it too much"
"Avatar, you're ready to face the Fire Lord now"
Fong says in a calm tone and Aang looks at him shocked "What? No I'm not!"
Hope steps forward and looks at the General "Aang has yet to master all four elements he is still on the water and he must follow the natural order"
"Why? With the kind of power he possesses, power enough to destroy hundreds of battle ships in a matter of minutes, he could defeat the Fire Lord now!"
The man exclaims and stands up "But sir, the thing is, Aang can only do those things when he's in the Avatar State"
Aang cuts in holding up a finger "See, it's this special state where-"
Zong cuts him off sharply "I'm well aware! Your eyes and tattoos glow and you're able to summon unbelievable power, Without you, we'd be slaughtered before we even reach their shores.." he points to the map and lands on the fire nation capital "... But with you leading the way, as the ultimate weapon, we could cut a swath right through to the heart of the Fire Nation"
Aang looks doubtful and Hope and the others understood why "Right, but, I don't know how to get in or out of the Avatar State, much less what to do once I'm there"
"So, it's decided then, I'll help you figure out how to get into the Avatar State and then you'll face your destiny"
Hope had a sad look on her face Aang never asked for this "No, nothing's decided. We already have a plan, Aang's pursuing his destiny his way"
"Well, while you take your time learning the elements, the War goes on, May I show you something?..." Fong moves over to the window and the group follow and look out and see plenty of injured soldiers "... That's the infirmary, and those soldiers are the lucky ones, They came back. Every day, the Fire Nation takes lives, People are dying, Aang! You could end it, now, Think about it"
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Hope sits at the end of her bed practising the water gathering as Katara and Sokka get ready for bed "General Fong is trying to manipulate Aang"
Katara lets out a sigh as she looks over to Hope "I know and I think it's working"
Sokka hangs from the top bunk of his bed and looks at the two girls "Am I the only one who thinks Aang can do it"
"Aang can do it but we don't want him hurt if he masters the four elements it would make him secure"
"Exactly"
Hope smiles at Katara and then brings the water she just gathered and puts it into a pot "You have to teach me that"
Hope closes the pot and smiles at Katara "Of course"
Katara gets into bed and lies down and that's when Aang walks through the door and jumps up into his bed "I told the general I'd help him, by going into the Avatar State"
Katara quickly sits up and looks at Aang in shock " Aang, no! This is not the right way!"
Sokka speaks up "Why not? Remember when he took out the Fire Navy? He was incredible"
"There's a right way to do this, Practice, study, and discipline!"
"You could get hurt Aang the Avtar state is powerful but not invincible you must practice properly"
Can't lowers his head but Sokka remains unfazed "Or just glow it up and stop that Fire Lord!"
Katara stands up and throws her hand up in the air annoyed "If you two meatheads want to throw away everything we've worked for, fine, go ahead and glow it up!"
"Katara, I'm just being realistic! I don't have time to do this the right way!"
Katara exits our room and Hope and Aang watch with sadness and Sokka yawns as he rolls over to go to sleep.
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Hope and Sokka watch as Aang drinks some chi-enchanting tea and then starts talking rapidly and spins around on an air scooter "I guess he could talk the Fire Lord to death"
Hope doesn't smile she was truly worried about Aang the rest of the day is filled with more tests. One ends with mud all over Fong's face which causes Hope to smile the once again and return to bed.
When they wake up the next morning with Aang shakes Hope and Sokka "Sokka, Hope, Wake up!"
The two turn to him Sokka very confused "Huh?"
"I don't think we should be trying to bring on the Avatar State"
Hope smiled she knew he would eventually agree must have been something to do with Katara not returning last night "That's a good choice Aang"
He nods to Hope and looks down "Do you think the general will be mad?"
"What can he say? You're the Avatar, Who knows better than you?"
The three of them get ready and in the same hour they are standing in front of General Fong "The thing is, I don't think we'll ever be able to trigger it on purpose, So I guess that's it"
Fong looks at him nodding slightly before stating calmly "You sure I can't change your mind?"
"I'm sure, I can only reach the Avatar State when I'm in genuine danger"
Fong nods once again "I see, I was afraid you'd say that"
The man blasts the heavy table at Aang with earthbending and Sokka and Hopes's eyes widen "Aang!"
Hope goes to take water out of her hand but her hands are put behind her back so is Sokka's. They watch helplessly as Aang is thrown out of the building "Men! Attack the Avatar!"
Hope looks at Sokka and he looks down and stands on the man's foot before hitting the man who was holding Hope with his boomerang. Hope is quick to gather water and uses it to trap the man's hand with ice and they both chase after where Aang went.
They see Aang narrowly dodging some massive coins and Hope uses water to slice the two that were coming for Aang in half "You can't run forever!"
"You can't fight forever!"
Solider start to approach Hope and uses water to expertly and dodges any attacks coming toward her. Hope sees Katara join the fight and Sokka going toward an ostrich horse and she lifts the man who was riding it off.
Sokka looks back and gives a thumbs up and jumps onto the ostrich Hope looks back and sees Fong join the fight "Maybe you can avoid me ... but she can't"
Fong traps Katara in a ring of the earth rings and makes her sink to the ground Hope quickly raises her hand but an earth benders traps her hands. Hope looks around and sees Sokkas ostrich horse be sunk into the ground and he is flung to the groundz.
Aang begs the man and clutches onto Fongs arm "Stop this! You have to let her go!"
"You could save her if you were in the Avatar State!"
Tears begin to form in his eyes as he looks at Katara "I'm trying ... I'm trying!"
Katara sinks once again and Aang falls to his knees "You don't need to do this!"
"Apparently, I do"
The man sinks Katara completely and Hope's eyes go wide she looks to the Earthbender who trapped her. She looks at him and then Katara feeling helpless Aang has jumped to try and catch Katara but falls short.
Aang faces Fong, the avatar state now activated and the man looks at him victorious "It worked! It worked!"
A blast of air hits Fong and he thrown back and now looks terrified he stands up "Avatar Aang! Can you hear me? Your friend is safe!.." he brings Katara out of the ground but it seems to not do anything "It was just a trick to trigger the Avatar State...And it worked!"
Aang raises in the air the wind he is producing blowing everything away and after a while, he lowers back to the ground. The shoulder that trapped Hopes's hands lets her go and she quickly runs down to Team Avatar.
Just as Hope reaches them Sokka hits General Fong on the head and she smiles "Well done Sokka"
He smiles and looks around "Anyone got a problem with that?"
The soldiers don't do anything but one steps forward "Do you still want an escort to Omashu?"
Katara looks at him with an annoyed glance "I think we're all set"
Hope looks around before looking back to the group "This has been an intense first adventure"
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