The Tide Rises (Atla Fanfiction) - DISCONTINUED

Part 2

  I loomed over a trembling Sokka. "What the spirits was that?" I yelled. "You can't just go accusing every outsider of being a spy!" I took a deep breath to calm myself down. "Sorry, Mizumi." He said.

      I squatted and put my hands on his shoulders. "It's fine Sokka. Just stop for a second and think next time instead of jumping to conclusions. OK?" He nodded and said "sure thing, Mizu-". He was interrupted by a loud crash outside. I jumped up and ran back towards the center, Sokka following close behind.

     By the time we arrived, ash had already started falling. I saw a large Fire Nation ship carving it's way through the ice. "My wall!" Sokka shouted, running to the pile of snow that he had created around the perimeter of the village that the warship was headed for.

    The ship crashed through the barrier, knocking my brother from where he was standing, waving his boomerang at the mass of black metal. Katara ran to help Sokka. I just stood there, my hand twitching towards my club that I barely know how to use.

     The ship opened from the front and Fire Nation soldiers filed out. They were led by a young man with a scar over his left eye. Only one person in the world had a scar that distinctive, Zuko, the prince of the Fire Nation. "Where is he!" He shouted " where is the Avatar? I know that you're hiding him!" He grabbed Gran-Gran by her collar.

      He turned her to face us. "He would be about this age? Master of all four elements?" He shoved her back toward us and I caught her. Getting angrier, he whipped a length of flame over our heads.

      Sokka, bless him, charged at the Zuko with his club. The man simply shoved him down. No one messes with my family. I felt myself reaching out for the nearest source of water, which happened to be the barrel that we washed clothes in right behind him. I bent the water into a whip that struck the Fire Prince, causing his helmet to spin on his head. Everyone looked at Katara, but she shook her head. It hadn't been her. I gulped. Stupid! I thought, don't reveal yourself.  Thankfully,  it was at that moment that Aang decided to make his grand entrance. He slid in on an otter-penguin, knock Zuko onto his rear.

      He waved to everyone. "Hi guys!" Sokka waved back. "Hey Aang, thanks for coming."

     Aang turned to Zuko. "I heard you're looking for me?" Zuko sneered. "You? You're the airbender? You're the Avatar? You're just a child."

    Aang shrugged. "Well, you're just a teenager. "

     "Oh, buurrrrrn!" yelled Aenon from somewhere behind me. Zuko started throwing balls of fire at Aang. One nearly hit Aenon before Aang blocked it with his staff. He stood tall. "If I go with you, will you leave everyone alone?" Zuko waved his hand, as if to say whatever, and his soldiers moved to apprehend Aang while he strode back onto his ship. Aang didn't resist as they pulled him on aswell, though he did turn around to look at Katara as the door closed behind him.

       The ship pulled out of the ice and off to who knows where with Aang, no, the Avatar, on board. I ran over to where Katara was helping Sokka up to his feet. "Did you know that kid was the Avatar?" I asked both of them, but mostly Katara. They both shook their heads. "He never told us." Katara said, sounding depressed.

     Sokka, on the other hand, was practically livid. "Do those ash-makers know how hard I worked on this wall!" I, smartly, stayed silent. "Ten months! Ten months of hard, back-breaking, cold, wet work! And they think that they can just barrel through it?" He started shoveling snow back onto the wall. Turning away from his moping and grumbling,  I noticed that Katara had a sad expression on her face. "Are you ok?" I asked her, squatting down sk that my eyes were level with hers. "What's going to happen now?" She asked me. I hesitated, with the Avatar gone, the war wouldn't end for maybe another hundred years. "Well," I started,  "we'll probably go back to our daily lives." Katara looked down at her feet. "Or," I continued, smiling, "we could go and save Aang and beat up the fire Nation soldiers in the process." Katara smiled.

     Then Sokka can up and put his arms around our shoulders. "I'm all for fighting the fire Nation, but how are we gonna get there?" Katara rubbed her chin, then snapped her fingers. "Appa!" She exclaimed. 

      "Whowha now?" I said. "Appa, Aang's flying sky bison. He could catch up to the ship in no time!" She explained.

     The three of us snuck out and ran over to where the giant, hairy beast was standing. We had started loading up the sky bison  when Gran-Gran came up behind us, carrying a large bundle. "And just where do you think you're going?" Katara and Sokka looked down at their feet. I slid down Appa from where I had been standing. "Now Gran-Gran,  I know waht it looks like-" I started,  but she interrupted me. "Where you're going, you're going to need this." She said, handing the bundle to me. Inside was a change of clothes for each of us and some extra food. I looked up at her,"you're not gonna stop us?" She shook her head and placed her hands on Katara's and my shoulder. "If that boy really is the Avatar, he needs to learn the elements. First water, then earth, then fire, and you need to help him accomplish that." She walked away and Sokka said "Well, that's that, I guess. Come on, let's go get Katara's boyfriend back."

     Katara blushed, "He's not my boyfriend!" Sokka and I shared a look. "Whatever,  let's just get going." I said, helping my siblings climb on and then following. I sat on Appa's head and grabbed the reins that were tied to his horns. I turned to Sokka and asked "So how do I get him to fly?"

     "I think Aang said something," Katara mentioned, "I think it was 'yip yip'?" I turned back to facing forward, in the direction Aang had gone. I leaned down and patted Appa's side.

     "Ok, Appa, yip yip"