Avatar The Last Airbender Fan Fiction ❯ Doppelganger ❯ Fire Days ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar… Nickelodeon does apparently.

 

Doppelganger

 

Chapter One

 

. . .

 

“Tell me again why we are going into a fire nation town?!” Sokka whispered fiercely at his two companions. The three of them were at the border of the brightly lit town. Lanterns lit by flames littered the walls of the buildings, sending flickering illumination over their dark clothing. They had to scrounge different clothing that didn't give them away. They were already wanted and didn't often have a spare set of clothing and had to take what they could get.

 

“Because,” Katara sighed, scowling at her brother. “We need new supplies and we need to see if we can find a firebender to teach Aang.” Sokka coughed and lead the trio into the town. “Fine, but I seriously doubt that we'll find anybody to teach Aang” Aang caught up to Sokka and smiled. “Yea, but it can't hurt to try can it?”

 

“No… I guess not”

 

Around them people were dancing in the streets and singing. Vendors were selling random trinkets and snack food. There were different attractions from fortune telling to displays of firebending. All in all, it was quite the festival.

 

“Where are we gonna get masks like those?” Sokka wondered, looking around. A large amount of the townspeople were wearing what seemed to be festival masks. Each mask was brightly colored; some had feathers and beads.

 

“Get your genuine fire-days masks over here!” A salesman yelled from the side of the street.

 

“Wow… that was strangely easy” Sokka smiled as the three of them purchased three masks to hide their faces from the community.

 

Not one of the travelers noticed the figure following behind them.

 

. . .

 

“Hey, what's that over there?” Saka pointed to a rather large crowd gathering at around stage. The three of them made their way through the crowd and soon arrived at the front. On the stage was a lone person who was wearing armor similar to the fire nation soldiers, with some differences.

 

“And now for my next trick,” The performer spoke in a loud, practiced voice. “I'm going to need a volunteer from the audience!” At least a dozen young women called to him, apparently wanting to volunteer for his trick. Aang jumped up and down, waving his arms about.

 

“Ooh, Ooh! I wanna volunteer! I wanna volunteer!”

 

Katara grabbed his arms and pinned then to his sides, effectively seizing him and stopping his inane bouncing.

 

“What are you doing? You don't want to attract attention to yourself! We can't get caught here!” She tried to whisper loud enough to be heard above the crowd, so Aang could hear her. It caught the performers attention.

 

“How about you there!” He pointed to Katara. “Yes, you; the pretty young one! Come on up here!” The other women on the audience groaned loudly and looked at Katara with a loathing stare.

 

How he could reason that she would be pretty when she was wearing a mask was beyond her, but all the same, Katara shook her head and inched away.

 

“Aww… it looks like she is shy!” The young man boomed. “Lets try and give her some encouragement!” His voice rose to a roar that encouraged the crowd to cheer. The man could sure throw his charisma around.

 

The crowd, with the help of Aang and Sokka, pushed Katara up onto the stage and into the clutches of the performer. Who turned her around and sat her on the chair positioned in the center of the stage.

 

“For my next trick, I will perform what is called… Taming the Dragon!” He crouched close to Katara. “And you shall be my captured princess.” With that, he stepped away and got into an advanced firebending stance.

 

The performer circled his hands around each other and a small flame appeared between them. The small flame quickly grew and he threw it up in the air. The flame, when it reached a good distance above the ground, exploded in a puff of black smoke.

 

Out of the smoke flew a stream of fire. The fire looked, as the trick was named, like a dragon. It was crude, but the concentration it took for the bender to shape the flame into a complex thing such as a dragon, was tremendous. He was apparently a very gifted bender.

 

The dragon circled around the crowd slowly and turned its attention to the captive princess. Just as it was about to reach her, the Dragon Master sent out a thin string of fire that caught the dragon by the neck and was pulled off its course to the princess. The Firebender pulled the dragon around the stage for a few rotations and just when everyone thought he had finally tamed the dragon, he broke the cheers.

 

“Oh no! I don't think I can hold it for long!” He yelled with an edge in his loud voice.

 

Aang turned to Sokka. “Oh no! We have to help Katara!” And before Sokka could stop him. Aang leapt onto the stage as the dragon's leash disappeared.

 

The dragon was heading strait for the princess, and just as it was about to finish her off, Aang jumped into its path, twisted his body around, and thrusting his hands forward, sent a wall of air in the fires path.

 

The flames collided with the air, and exploded, sending sparks and confetti everywhere. There were gasps emanating from the crowd and Sokka climbed onto the stage to untie his sister. Things were going to get rough now.

 

“Hey!” The performer growled. “Are you trying to upstage me, kid?” Just as the three travelers were about to leave, a yell rang from the crowd. “That kids the Avatar!” Aang's mask had been blown off in the explosion.

 

Soldiers in full armor were on the scene in a flash.

 

The trio turned heel and ran off the stage in the opposite direction of their pursuers. They were in a fire nation town and had been discovered. They were not going to escape without fighting; if they even escaped at all. From the looks of things, the regiments of troops filing after them, and the dead end Aang, Sokka and Katara had just run into, it looked like escape would not be an option.

 

They were cornered; and the fire troops knew it. “Surrender!” The commanding officer in front proclaimed. “And we will not have to destroy you!” Aang got into his bending stance and was followed closely by Katara. “We're not going to go without a fight!” Sokka yelled as he drew his boomerang.

 

Just as the first rank of soldiers charged a figure dropped from the roof of one of the buildings they were between.

 

The figure landed between the fire troops and the three heretics, effectively stopping the advance. He was a man who looked young, maybe seventeen or eighteen. He wore a long tan coat, its bottom reaching his shins. His complexion had slightly pale in he flickering light, which looked odd against his dark hair, reaching the back of his neck. Anything else he had was hidden underneath his lengthy coat.

 

“Who are you?” The Officer demanded, dropping into a practiced firebending stance. “Speak! Before I permanently silence you.”

 

The man didn't speak. He stood perfectly still, as if waiting for the officer to make the first move.

 

“Fine.” The firebender growled and thrust his first forward, sending a stream of fire careening towards the small group in front of him. A split second later the flame exploded and the alleyway was screened in black smoke and shrapnel from the brick walls around them. The Officer held his fist out until the smoke cleared.

 

The man had shielded himself from the column of fire with his coat. He had brought the end across his body and it took the power of the blast, even more so, it wasn't even frizzled. Dropping the tail of his duster back to his shins, he cocked his head to one side sharply, causing a load crack from his neck. “Is that all?” He asked with a blank visage.

 

The officer yelled and sent two more waves of fire in quick succession.

 

The Flames never hit anything but brick.

 

Dodging the first flame pillar to the left, the newcomer reached the brick wall and pushed off of it with his legs, sending him right into the firebender with such force, he was jettisoned into the rest of the regiment.

 

After a minute of confusion, the fire soldiers re-assembled and the captain stood up and strode over to his adversary, dusting off his armor. “You have quite the skills, young one.” He sneered and drew his sword. “How about you join the fire nation? We can accommodate all your needs… “ He narrowed his eyes and finished. “What do you say?”

 

The man moved almost too fast to see. But before the officer could react his neck exploded in a plume of red liquid. He let out a gurgling scream and fell to the ground with a loud thump.

 

Aang, Katara, and Sokka were shocked beyond believe. This person just killed a fire nation officer in the blink of an eye. They had to get out of here, fast. The soldiers were converging on them quickly.

 

Then the stranger turned around to the three heretics. “I'm going to clear a path for you to escape. When I say so, run toward the gates and don't stop. Get it?” They nodded and the man turned back to the regiment and quickly snapped out of his coat two knives, holding them at waist-length.

 

“Now!” He yelled and charged at the soldiers. Sokka was the first to move, followed by Aang. Katara hesitated for a split second, then ran. The stranger reached the first soldier and trust his right knife up through his chin and sliced the next closest across the chest, the knife cutting right through his chest armor.

 

One soldier, just out of knife range, brought his sword down, trying to hack at the stranger. But before the sword connected, the man had brought his blade around and caught the flat of the sword, deflecting it. With the sword out of the way, he brought his knife across and slashed the soldier across the face.

 

There were too many soldiers, the man realized, to get through before his charges could make a break for it when they got where he was in a matter of seconds. Clenching his jaw tightly, he braced himself and threw himself into the maelstrom of fire troops, knocking the majority of them to the ground.

 

This gave Aang, Katara, and Sokka the break they needed to escape the alleyway.

 

The three of them ran away from the battle and stopped when they were a good distance away. “We can't just leave him there!” Katara yelled. “He saved us, we have to save him!”

 

Aang agreed, followed by a reluctant Sokka. But before they could even take a step toward the melee, the pile exploded and soldiers were thrown every which way. In their wake stood the stranger, his coat smeared with blood and dirt. He ran over to the trio and implored that they follow him. “This way, I can get you out of here to safety.”

 

The four of them took off down the now deserted streets, the fire troops still running after them.

 

“Who are you?” Aang yelled right behind the stranger. He didn't stop for turn around to answer; he just kept running.

 

“We wont follow you unless you tell us who you are!” Katara demanded clearly expecting an answer. This earned a frustrated growl and a terse glare at her. “Fine!” She yelled, glaring in return.

 

Three soldiers appeared out of an alley in front of them, swords drawn and ready to intercept.

 

Before they could do anything, one received a knife thrown in the face in the face; another in the chest, and the last had the stranger's arm broken through the armor and into his torso. He drew his arm out of the soldier body, retrieved his blades, and beckoned his followers to continue.

 

A few more soldier's piled out of the alley between the man and the trio. Aang jumped, spun in mid-flight, and delivered a hard kick to the first's chest, sending him flying. Katara sidestepped another's spear and grabbed it, thrusting the blunt end into his stomach, knocking him out. Sokka deflected the last one's sword with his blade and hit him on the side of his head with the blunt end.

 

They were almost to the gate, almost to freedom. As they rounded the corner, the four of them halted suddenly. No less then two dozen guards were stationed the entrance to the town.

 

“Well, well… you gaze us quite the chase, the four of you. You even managed to kill an Lieutenant… I must give you my thanks for that seeing as I will be promoted now that he's dead.” The soldier's pulled themselves into firebending stances uniformly, followed by the commander. “I will give you on last opportunity to surrender.”

 

The stranger turned his head to whisper to the Aang. “Get you friends behind me, and brace yourselves.” Aang hesitated for a moment then nodded, getting Sokka and Katara behind him. The man took a slow breath and pulled his left arm back, his hand at his waist. His right hand was held out in front of him. “Give it you best shot.”

 

The commander sighed. “Very well then, open fire!” He gave to command and a solid wall of flame shot at the four heretics. The flames gathered at the man's hand and spread around his body, circling around him in a blistering whirlwind. He gritted his teeth and thrust both of his arms forward, sending two highly concentrated pillars of fire at the shocked troops.

 

The two pillars collided in the middle if the group, sending a few soldiers flying to the sides. The man turned his hands upside down and lowered them, making the fire connect to the ground. With than, he pulled his arms apart and the two now-walls of flame spread to the buildings, forcing the soldiers to pull back to the alleys; making a clear path to the gate between two walls of flames.

 

“Run, now!” He commanded his charges and they cleared the gate, disappearing into the woods.

 

After they had escaped the flames died out and the troops gathered back at the gate.

 

“Pursue them! Don't let the avatar and that renegade firebender escape!”

 

. . .

 

A/N: Alright. This was my first crack at a fanfic. Read and review if you please.