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Enjoy the next chappp!
~ MC
We've been flying for days now. Aang was pacing back and forth as Sokka took the reins. "Would you sit down?" Sokka called back from the reins. "If we hit a bump, you'll go flying off. What's bugging you, anyway?"
"It's what Avatar Roku said." Aang wailed his arms around. "I'm supposed to master all four elements before the comet arrives."
"Well let's see. You pretty much mastered airbending, and that only took you 112 years. I'm sure you can master three more elements by next summer." Sokka grinned, I walked over to him and gave him a smack on the head. "Ow" He said as he rubbed his head.
"I haven't started waterbending and we're still weeks away from the North Pole." Aang grunted, and he started to pace around again. "What am I going to do?"
"Calm down, its gonna be okay." Katara caught his arm and pulled him towards her. "If you want, I can try and teach you some of the stuff I know."
Aang beamed at her. "You'd do that?"
Katara nodded and crawled to the side. "We'll need to find a good source of water first."
"Maybe we can find a puddle for you to splash in." Sokka teased. I giggled and laid down on the back. "This is going to be a long ride."
"Alara wake up!" I stirred, Aang was shaking me. "C'mon Alara!" He jumped down from Appa.
I yawned and jumped down following Aang. We were beside a waterfall. I went beside Sokka who looks a bit dumbfounded. "Nice puddle." Aang and Katara has huge smiles on their faces. Appa splashes down into the water, getting Momo wet. "Yeah don't start without me boy!" Aang yelled as he removed his clothes leaving him in his undergarments.
"Remember why we're here." Katara reminded him.
"Oh right. Time to practice waterbending." Aang chuckled sheepishly as he put his clothes back on.
I giggled, "Well I'm going swimming." I started to remove my clothes leaving me with my undergarments.
"Great. So what am I supposed to do?" Sokka asked.
"You can join me if you want, unless you want to get the gunk out of Appa's toes." I grabbed a near by branch and offered it to him.
Sokka looked at the branch, then to Appa and back at me. "Swimming it is."
I giggled and jumped into the water. I swam to the deeper parts, watching the small groups of fish. I went behind the waterfall, there was a small cave behind it. I sat on one of the rocks on the shallow part of the water. A chill went down my spine, like someone is coming near me. I grabbed their arm and thrown them down. "ALARA IT'S ME!"
"Sokka!" I helped him up. "Sorry, force of habit."
"I think I should've gotten the gunk instead." Sokka grunted as he rubbed his shoulder.
I laughed, "That's what you get for sneaking up on me." I splashed some water towards him.
He grinned, "Oh it's on!"
We started an all out water war, just without waterbending. After some splashes here and there, Sokka disappeared. "Sokka-AAHHHH" He grabbed my waist and pulled me down the water.
We went up, he was laughing his eyes out. "You should've seen your face!"
"Yeah, yeah." I crossed my arms, and faced him. We sat down on one of the rocks and stared at the water. It was very peaceful, I knew we both needed after everything. Slowly, I started to lean on his shoulder. We just sat there in silence, enjoying the calming nature of the place.
***
Sokka and I were laughing about, then suddenly a huge wave appeared. I jumped out of the way just before the wave fell but Sokka wasn't that fast. "AANG!" Sokka yelled, as the wave splashed on him.
I laughed and pulled him out of the water. "Careful there Aang."
"Looks like I got the hang of that move. What else have you got?" Aang looked proud of himself.
Katara on the other hand, not so much. "That's enough practicing for today."
"Yeah I'll say. You just practiced our supplies down the river." Sokka pointed at the supplies as it headed down stream.
"Uh Sorry." Aang smiled sheepishly. "I'm sure we can somewhere to replace all this stuff."
"My life was hard enough when you were just an airbender." Sokka groaned, and walked away.
I giggled, "Well on the bright side, you've done some waterbending!" Aang beamed at my words but Katara still seemed off.
We left the waterfalls and headed to find a village to replace our stuff. There was a village but as we were walking by it didn't give quite a good vibe. I placed my hand on my katana just incase someone wanted to try anything. I glanced at Aang his face was full of wonder. "Oh Aang, you're too innocent for the the world."
We went shop to shop until we were able to get the supplies we needed. Katara, Aang and I were waiting for Sokka to return as he went to buy more things. Few minutes later Sokka went out, "We've got exactly three copper pieces left from the money King Bumi gave us. Let's spend it wisely."
"Uh make that two copper pieces Sokka." Aang said, as he put his arms at his back, looking a bit guilty. "I couldn't say no to this whistle." He showed us the whistle that slightly resembles a bison. Aang blowed on it but no sound came.
Sokka covered his ears, but realized no sound was coming. "It doesn't even work." Momo screeched. "See even Momo thinks it's a piece of Junk."
"No offense Aang but I think Katara and I should hold on to the money from now on." I told my brother as he gave the money to me and I split it with Katara.
As we were on our way back, there was a man by ship yelling, "Earth Nation! Fire Nation! Water Nation! So long as bargains are your inclination, you're welcome here! Don't be shy. Come on by!"
"Oh you there!" He ran towards us. "I can see from your clothing that you're world traveling types, perhaps I can interest you in some exotic curios?"
We all stopped walking as Aang stopped. "Sure! What are curios?"
The man blinked and hesitated , "I'm not entirely sure." But he quickly regained his composure. "But we got 'em." He slang an arm around Aang's shoulder and lead him to the ship, the three of us following behind him.
Inside, it was full of strange things. One of which caught my eye, was a monkey with rubies on it. I shivered it was creepy.
"I've never seen such a fine specimen of lemur." A voice at the door spoke. He stepped out, he looked kinda old, with gray long hair and a reptile bird on his shoulder. "That beast would fetch me a hefty sum, if you'd be interested in bartering."
Momo screeched at him. "Momo'a not for sale." Aang tried to comfort the lemur.
It suddenly clicked to me, the ship, the various merchandise from different nations, the reptile bird. These men were pirates.
"Look at this Aang!" Katara called out. "It's a waterbending scroll. Check out these crazy moves."
"Where do you get a waterbending scroll?" Aang asked the pirate.
He quickly grabbed the scroll away from the two. "Let's just say I got it up North."
"Aang we need to go." I whispered to him. "It's not safe here."
"Wait a minute-" Sokka started, I rushed towards him and covered his mouth. Sokka removed my hand. "Alara these people are pirates!"
The man calling out before sling his arm around Sokka and I. "We prefer to think of ourselves as high-risk traders."
"So how much for the traded scroll?" Katara questioned.
"I've already got a buyer. A nobleman in the Earth Kingdom." He leaned closer towards Aang and Katara. "Unless, of course you kids have 200 gold pieces on you right now."
"I know how to deal with guys, Katara." Aang whispered. "Pirates love to Haggle." Katara gave him the money. I sighed and gave him mine. He strode back to the pirate. "Watch and learn."
I covered my eyes, "This is not going to end well."
"What say ye to the price of..." He held up the copper piece to the Pirate. "One copper piece?"
He laughed, "The price is 200 gold pieces. I don't haggle on items this rare."
"Ok, two copper pieces." He held up two this time.
"It's not as amusing the second time, boy." The Pirate glared at him.
I glared at the Pirate and rushed towards Aang. "C'mon Aang lets just get out of here."
"Aye! We be casting off now!" Aang yelled.
"What was that about Alara?" He asked as soon as we left the ship.
"Yeah I was just starting to browse through their boomerang collection." Sokka added.
"It's never good to to trades with pirates, unless you want trouble." I told them and looked at Katara. "Besides we better get some distance before they find out." Katara stood shocked, but she sent me a grateful smile.
"Hey you!" A voice behind yelled.
We turned and saw the Pirate who was yelling earlier. "Look who's come to their senses." Aang smiled. "Told you the haggling would pay off."
Katara backed away and glanced at me. "I thought it was gonna take a bit longer. They're actually smarter than they look." I whispered to her. Katara lightly giggled but it was interrupted by the several pirates getting down the ship. "There they are! Get 'em!"
"I don't think these pirates are here to trade with us." Katara said worriedly.
"Run!" I yelled as we ran away.
We could hear the pirates yell before us. We ran passed by the shops. Katara bent some water making into ice. I looked back and saw some pirates fall. In front there was a cabbage cart, Sokka and Katara went through the sides. Aang went through it, me following behind him. As we went through we sent a blast of air towards the cabbage cart making it hit the pirates. "MY CABBAGES!"
We kept running until we reached a dead end. "Now, who gets to taste the steel of my blades first?" A voice behind us said. It was them.
I looked at Aang and he nodded. "No thanks." We said in unison as we blasted them off.
Aang opened his glider, "Grab on!"
"You sure about this?" I screamed.
"No!" Aang yelled back as Katara, Sokka and I were holding onto the glider.
Luckily, and I mean luckily, we were able to escape almost unscathed. Aang flew us back to the waterfall. "I used to look up at pirates, but those guys are terrible."
"I know." Katara smirked and held out the waterbending scroll. "That's why I took this."
"No way!" Aang said in disbelief.
"Isn't it great?!" Katara exclaimed.
"No wonder there were trying to hack us up." Sokka chimed in. "You stole their waterbending scroll."
"I prefer to think of it as, high risk trading." Katara grinned. "Besides, where did you think they got it? They stole it from a waterbender."
"It doesn't matter." Sokka argued. "You put all of our lives in danger just so you could learn some stupid, fancy splashes."
"These are real waterbending forms, you know how crucial it is for Aang to learn waterbending." Katara retorted.
Sokka sighed and walked off, "Whatever."
"Well we have it now, better make some use of it." I told the two of them. They both nodded and they started to get ready.
Katara examined the scroll. "I just want to try this one move first, and then it's all yours." She gave it to Aang. "Here hold it up for me."
I sat beside Sokka as Katara tried to do the form. She took a breathe and tried it only to hit herself on the head. Sokka laughed, and Katara glared at him, a red bump appearing on her head. "What's so funny?"
"I'm sorry, but you deserved that." Sokka said while he was still laughing. He turned to Aang. "You've been duped. She's only interested in teaching herself."
"Aang will get his turn once I figure out the water whip." Katara tried it one more time but it ended up hittting Momo. "Ugh! Why can't I get this stupid move?!" She yelled in frustration.
"You'll get it." Aang said as he approached the stream. "You've just got to shift your weight through the stances." He performed it effortlessly. "There, see? The key to bending is-"
Katara interrupted him. "Will you please shut your air hole! Believe it or not your infinite wisdom gets a little old sometimes! Why don't we just throw the scroll away since you're so naturally gifted?!" Katara yelled angrily at him.
I sighed and walked towards her. "Ok cool down there."
"What?!" She turned to me.
"You and I are gonna have a talk." I looped my arm around hers. "C'mon." I dragged her away from the boys.
I looked at Aang and his eyes were getting teary, Katara noticed as her expression changed to guilt. "Look I know you didn't mean to yell at my brother like that-"
"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me." Katara said regret dripping in her voice.
"I know Katara, that's why we're talking." I sat down beside a tree, Katara sat beside me. "Listen, I get it, bending is frustrating especially if you don't have a good teacher to learn from but what's worse is that you've been practicing your whole life yet someone shows up and is immediately catching up."
Katara looked down and I placed a hand on her shoulder. "I know what it's like to live under Aang's shadow, trust me I do. But eventually you'll find out that you can make a name for yourself. You're going to be a great bender Katara, I know you will."
"Thanks Alara, for this and also for not snitching me out." Katara smiled.
"Anytime." I winked at her and she giggled. "Now C'mon we got to head back." We headed back and Katara got everything sorted out. Night fell and we called it a night.
I yawned as I stretched. I rubbed my eyes and checked on the others. "Aang, Sokka, Momo, Appa, Kat-" I jolted up. "Katara!" I yelled out waking the boys.
"Huh? Where did she go?" Sokka went through the bags. "I don't believe it."
Aang yawned and stretched. "What's wrong?"
Sokka flipped the bag. "She took the scroll. She's obsessed with that thing. It's just a matter of time before she gets us all in deep-WOAH!" Someone attacked Sokka. We turned and saw that there were two more coming for us.
Sokka launched at the person as I handled my attacker. I unsheathed my katana hitting him the hilt making him fall. I turned to Aang to see him caught in a net. Another person tried to shoot it at me, but I dodged it. Sokka wasn't that lucky.
"Let's just go! We just need the monk!" One of them said.
"I don't think so!" I sent a wave of air to them knocking them off. "One two where's the-AHH"
I struggled underneath the net. I tried to use my katana but they took it away from me. "This should make a good price." I glared at them.
They tied us up in ropes and made us walk the rest of the way. Minutes later we ended up by the river. Katara was tied up to a pole and she was with Zuko. "Now this makes sense." Our eyes locked at each other for a split second before his gaze went back to Aang.
"Aang, this is all my fault." Katara said sadly.
"No Katara, it isn't." Aang replied.
"Yeah it kind of is." A short old man said. "That must be General Iroh."
"Give me the boy." Zuko commanded.
"You give us the scroll." The pirates replied.
"You're really gonna hand over the Avatar for a stupid piece of parchment?" Sokka spoke up.
"Don't listen to him!" He pointed to Sokka. "He's trying to turn us against each other."
"Your friend is the Avatar?" The Pirate asked.
"Sure is and I'll bet he'll fetch a lot more on the black market than that fancy scroll." Sokka grinned.
"Shut your mouth! You water tribe peasant!" Zuko yelled at him.
"Yeah Sokka, you really should shut your mouth." Aang whispered.
I shushed him. "Don't worry he knows what he's doing."
"I'm just saying." He leaned towards the pirates. "It's bad business sense. Just imagine how much the Fire Lord would pay for the Avatar. You guys would be set for life."
The pirates grinned and so did Sokka. "Keep the scroll. We can buy 100 with the reward we'll get for the kid."
"You'll regret breaking a deal with me." Zuko and his guards shot fire at us.
The pirates threw smoke bombs which covered the whole place. I coughed and tried to find a way out of ropes. Luckily something sharp flew but and cut it free. I got out of the smoke only to be face to face with Zuko. He glared at me and I rolled my eyes but then I noticed something glistening on his wrist. "That's Katara's necklace." I looked at Zuko and back at the necklace. "Sorry about this." I blasted him with air as he fell, I quickly got the necklace and ran to find Katara.
I found them by the boat. "We need a team of rhinos to budge this ship." I heard Sokka say.
"A team of rhinos or two waterbenders." Aang turned to Katara with a smile which she returned.
The two started to bend the water towards the sand making the ship move. Once it was on water we hopped on the ship setting sail.
I walked towards Katara. "Lost something?" I held out her necklace.
She gasped. "Alara how did you get it?"
"Oh you know, Zuko gave it ever so willingly." I giggled.
Katara smiled and hugged me. "Thank you Alara."
I hugged her back. "Anytime."
"Sokka can't you make it go faster?" Aang yelled from the back.
I ran towards him and saw the group of pirates on Zuko's ship. "I don't know how!" Sokka yelled as he was steering the ship. "This thing wasn't made by the water tribe."
"Just keep going I'll handle the pirates!" I went on top of the rails.
I was about to jump off but Aang stopped me. "Alara don't!"
"Hey don't worry I'll be fine, just stay safe ok?" I took a deep breathe and jumped on the other ship. They were shock to find me there but recovered and charged at me. I tried my best to keep them at bay and buy enough time for Sokka to get away. Soon enough, almost all the pirates were overboard, except for one. He pointed his sword at me and yelled running fast towards me. I ducked and grabbed his arm, using his force and threw him out.
I looked at the ship but it was turning the other way, then I realized this was a waterfall. "Alara jump!" I heard Aang yell from Appa.
I ran and jumped. Aang tried to reach my hand but I was an inch too far. I could see the fear in his eyes as I told him. "GO!"
"NO ALARA!" Aang yelled, that was the last thing I heard as I fell into the water, and everything went black.