42 The Avatar Returns

As a pillar of bright white light reaches the pale blue sky above, a metal ship drifts through an icy sea, moving ever closer to a land completely covered in a thick blanket of snow.

"Finally," a tall young teen wearing the Fire Nation military uniform stands on the deck, gazing at the light. His ponytail flutters in the wind.

Turning around, he faces another person in his uniform who sits at a small table and grins with a confident yet calm smile. "Uncle, you know what that means, don't you?"

The old stout man, playing some sort of card game, answered calmly while looking at the tile he was holding toward his nephew "I won't get to finish my game?" he asked in a somewhat downcast mood.

The young teen gave him a smirk "Well… I believe we have quite a while until the ship reaches there, so enjoy the game while we sail."

The old man in the military uniform gave him a huge smile and nodded.

The teen narrowed his one good eye while staring at the horizon. "That light has to be him, we all felt it, it's an incredibly powerful source."

Iroh, the old man, looked again at the tile in his hand, which depicted the symbol of airbending. "It could just be celestial lights, we've been down this road before, Prince Zuko." He placed the tile he was holding onto a tile carrying the symbol of firebending. "However…" he gave his nephew a reassuring smile. "Although I don't want to raise your hopes over nothing… We have nothing to lose by going there, but how about we finish our game while we are on our way like you suggested?"

Iroh gestured towards the empty seat at the other side of the table while continuing with a relaxed voice. "Please, sit. Why don't we enjoy a cup of calming jasmine tea as well?"

Zuko's eyebrow twitched as he watched his Legendary Uncle behave like a kid once again. After taking a deep breath he shouted "Helmsman... Head to the light!" right before sitting at the table to give his uncle company, although he refused to drink the tea.

'Well at least it's already an improvement, a major one even…' thought Iroh while observing his nephew discreetly while playing his game, finally placing the earthbending tile on top of another tile that carried the symbol of airbending.

A few hours later, in a very primitive village in the middle of the snow fields.

"What war? What are you talking about?" asked a bald boy with a blue arrow tattoo on his forehead that in the back went all the way down his spine, while sliding down a huge flying bison.

A young teen with both sides of his head shaved and his remaining brown hair tied up raised one eyebrow in disbelief. "You're kidding. Right?"

The bald boy looked questioningly at the older teen, but his expression changed to enthusiasm when he caught sight of an otter penguin. "PENGUIN!" He shouted and chased the poor creature, racing past the teen girl that accompanied her brother while enhancing his speed by using his airbending and leaving a trail in the snow as he ran.

"He is kidding… Right?" asked the male teen again, but this time to the girl by his side.

They both glanced at each other, not sure what to think about the bald boy's reaction.

After another hour or so, a bright red flare exploded high in the sky, the light hovering over the frozen wasteland for quite a while, giving a certain metal ship a better reference for their journey.

The tanned male teen ran towards his sister and the bald boy as they arrived back at the village while shouting angrily "I KNEW IT!" and pointing his finger at the boy as he drew closer. "You signaled the Fire Navy with that flare! You are leading them straight to us, aren't you?"

The girl immediately moved between her brother and the boy. "Aang didn't do anything! It was an accident!" she said while protecting the young boy.

"Y-yeah… We were on the ship and there was this booby trap, and… well… " Aang sheepishly and awkwardly rubbed his head "…We booby-ed right into it…"

An old lady walked up behind the teenage girl and spoke to her in a worried voice. "Katara, you shouldn't have gone on that ship! Now we could all be in danger!"

"Don't blame Katara!... It… It was my fault…" said Aang sorrowfully.

"AHA! The traitor confesses!"

The little drama continued for a while until Aang left on top of Appa, the flying bison, who still couldn't fly, and while that relieved Sokka a bit, his biggest worries were somewhere else.

'If there is even a single patrolling ship from the Fire Nation around these parts... Our village…' he looked around and stared at the very small community of Southern Water tribesmen and decided to go to the wall surrounding the place. 'I hope there are none…'

Sadly for him, not only was there a ship… but that one ship was dead set on finding the source of both events, the pillar of light and the flare. Once arriving at the village, the ship simply rammed against the 'walls' of the village and forced its way inside with little to no resistance what so ever.

The hatch opened, turning into a ramp that lead all the way down towards the snow, and a teen with a fully bald head, except for a high ponytail, and with a half-burned face walked down towards the village followed by two guards.

Once Zuko left the vessel he looked around while crossing his arms in front of his chest, like a certain someone, scanning everyone's faces like a hawk.

Without delaying, Sokka, who was kneeling in the snow in front of Zuko's group, holding a battle stance that reminded one of a wolf preparing to pounce on his prey to defend his tribe, charged at the Prince with his club held high without uttering a single word other than his battle cry.

But once he reached Zuko, the prince merely kicked the club to his left and without even changing stances or looking at his opponent, kicked Sokka over to his right, sending him into the snow, where his head became trapped.

While Sokka kept trying to free himself from the snow, Zuko simply stood there as more and more guards came out of the ship, slowly surrounding the village.

"Where is he?" He asked calmly and while his voice was calm, deep down he only felt anxiety.

No one replied, much to Zuko's annoyance. He then pointed toward an old woman nearby, Kanna, and tried to keep his calm while explaining. "He should be this age, master of all elements… Where is he?"

Once again no one replied and while eyeing the crowd Zuko could see the fear in their gaze, but that didn't diminish his determination. Turning around towards his guards, he commanded them to action.

"Search the perimeter, he should be around here… Try to find anyone with different clothing compared to these people, if that's not possible, look for a fair-skinned old man. The avatar isn't a Water Tribesman, he should be easily recognized."

All of the villagers felt despair as the soldiers slowly moved towards their huts, searching everywhere they could.

"SHOW NO FEAR!" Sokka shouted while grabbing a spear and charging Zuko again.

Zuko simply leaned sideways, easily dodging the telegraphed strike, and hit Sokka right in the gut with his knee, making the poor teen lose his breath and fall to the ground in pain.

"Stay down, once I get what I seek, we will leave," the Prince said.

"Cough… Like I am… cough… Believing the word of the Fire Nation!" Sokka answered while trying to regain composure, but failing miserably, as that blow to his gut made him feel like he was hit by a hammer.

Zuko ignored his remarks and kept looking around, waiting for his soldiers to return.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a bald boy with a blue arrow tattoo arrived in the village riding an otter penguin while holding his staff. Using speed, he tried to create a small wave of snow toward the prince, who took a step back and avoided it completely.

The villagers cheered his arrival, but the boy simply came to a halt before them and after giving the animal a smile, he cheerfully spoke. "Hey, Sokka!" then turning his head to the side a bit he waved "Hey, Katara!"

Grumpily Sokka answered, "Hi, Aang… Thanks for coming."

Zuko inspected the newcomer, who except for his age fit the criteria of his search quite well. Sending hand signals to his guards, the armored soldiers surrounded the bald boy, and Sokka, who was nearby.

"Looking for me?" Aang asked while assuming a fighting stance.

Shocked, Zuko raised one eyebrow "You are an airbender!… The Avatar!?"

"No way..!" exclaimed Sokka.

But Aang didn't deny it and that action by itself had a very obvious meaning.

Taking a deep breath, Zuko sighed. "I've spent years preparing for this encounter, meditating, training… I went through the worst and most painful moments in my life for this moment… and you are…" he closed his eyes with a deep angry frown on his face, "Just a child!"

"Well… You are just a teenager."

Zuko lost his temper and launched a series of fire blasts at Aang, who defended himself by twirling his staff which dissipated the flames. Using the proper airbending combat style of avoiding and evading, Aang danced around Zuko who kept trying to incapacitate him.

The prince simply dodged every strike of the bald boy, like his airbending skills were easy to track.

"You better come with me," Zuko said while trying to rein in his anger "You are outmatched, and outnumbered…" he said while looking around, towards his guards. "Just think of what will happen if I give the order to them."

Aang's face paled, he looked around and saw at least eight armored firebenders surrounding them all waiting for a command to act. He turned his face towards Zuko. "If I go with you, do you promise that you will leave everyone here alone?"

Zuko stared at the boy. "I came here only for you, nothing else"

Nodding, Aang relaxed his posture, which made Katara start to cry but after giving her some reassuring words, Aang followed Zuko inside the ship.

In a high-class Japanese-styled mansion, surrounded by cherry blossom trees, a late-teen/young adult with long black hair and black eyes finished gathering his companions.

"You all felt it, didn't you?" He asked with obvious annoyance showing on his face.

"Yes… It was… weird…" answered a hot woman with a dark tan.

"It interrupted my morning s…. Ahem…" realizing what he said, the other man who was there and had long hair tied in a low ponytail, coughed to dismiss what he just said. "Yes, I felt it too…" he said with a solemn gaze, a solemn gaze that only made the other two stare at him with deadpan Saitama faces.

"Are ye serious?" Kaliya asked.

"Don't be mean, age is finally catching up with him… He needs all the chances he can get while he can still rise for the task." Said Madara with a smirk.

Lei's eyebrow twitched at that comment, but Kaliya wasn't one to be outdone.

"Perhaps he is already having performance issues, he has been very cranky lately… This was probably a very precious event for him."

"OI!" Shouted Lei. If Madara teased him so be it then, he is his Boss and best friend, but this woman? To hell with her!