64 Red Moon Rises

"Tonight, we celebrate the arrival of our brother and sister from the Southern tribe. And they have brought with them someone very special, someone whom many of us believed to have disappeared from the world until now… The AVATAR!"

Said a stern looking middle aged man with bright blue eyes, typical of the Water Tribes, dark brown hair tied and stylized in a tribal way and wearing long blue robes with white fur around his collar.

After a loud round of applause and cheers he continues.

"We also celebrate my daughter's sixteenth birthday. Princess Yue is now of marrying age!" he concluded while gesturing to a white-haired young woman.

"Thank you, Father. May the great Ocean and Moon Spirits watch over us during these troubled times!" Yue said with a calm and composed expression.

Giving a curt nod to his daughter, the chief then gestured to two young men led by another stern old man, this one with white hair, who was standing by. "Now, Master Pakku and his students will perform!"

As Pakku and his two students bent significant blobs of water, they captivated Aang and Katara. They merged the three blobs into one stream, bending it around each other.

While Aang and Katara were enamored by the "classy" waterbending techniques, Sokka was enamored by something… or someone… else….

"Hi there. Sokka. Southern Water Tribe." Said the teen, giving his typical grin and raising an eyebrow.

"Very nice to meet you." Answered Yue, smiling and bowing slightly.

The two of them shared an awkward silence for a moment until nervously Sokka decided to take the lead in their conversation;

"So… uhhh…. You're a princess. Huh? You know…. Back in my tribe I'm kind of like a prince myself…" The poor sod's rizz would work… possibly… if his sister wasn't nearby to counter it…

"Ha!" Katara interrupted, "Prince of what, exactly?"

"A lot of things!" Sokka shouted in exasperation. Can't his sister work for his benefit once in her life?! "Do you mind? I'm trying to have a conversation here…."

"My apologies, Prince Sokka." Katara responded, with very obvious sarcasm.

As Sokka tried and failed to level up his rizz and speech skill tree to score a Northern Princess while being sabotaged by his own sister, Chief Arnook and Pakku were having a talk; 

"Master Pakku, meet your newest student, the Avatar" Arnook said, with Aang bowing to the master.

"Just because you're destined to save the world, don't expect any special treatment" Pakku said, his memory of Madara and Kaliya were still vivid in his mind, as well as Madara's illusion that made him have nightmares for weeks.

Comparing him… the Avatar feels… unpolished… and that's being polite, the boy in front of him didn't seem to have what it takes to end the war, hell he was more excited about the sight of the city and the food than talking to him… but again… he had been wrong before…

"My friend and I can't wait to start training with you! After we relax for a couple of days." Replied the Avatar with a big grin.

'A couple of days he says...' the old Master frowned. "If you want to relax, then I suggest visiting a tropical island. If not, I'll see you both at sunrise. Good night."

The next day at dawn, Aang and Katara finally made it to the place where Chief Arnook told the Avatar to meet Pakku.

"I've waited for this my whole life," Said Katara excitedly "I finally get to learn from a real waterbending Master!"

Aang nodded with his huge toothy smile as they turned to Pakkyu who was busy bending a stream of water. "Good morning, Master Pakku."

The old man dropped the water and spoke in an annoyed tone "No, please, march right in. I'm not concentrating or anything…"

"Uhhh… this is my friend… Katara. The one I told you about…"

"I'm sorry. I think there's been a misunderstanding. You didn't tell me your friend was a girl. In our tribe, it is forbidden for women to learn waterbending." Answered Pakku.

Angrily Katara shouted "What do you mean you won't teach me? I didn't travel across the entire world so you could tell me no!"

Pakku stared at her for a second 'childish and entitled, just because she made her way up here, she believes she has the right to demand my knowledge and skills… a far cry from you, Kaliya…'

"No." he said with a bored tone.

"But there must be other female waterbenders in your tribe!" said Katara.

"Here, the women learn from Yagoda to use their waterbending to heal. I'm sure she would be happy to take you as her student, despite your bad attitude."

"I don't want to heal; I want to fight!"

"I can see that. But our tribe has customs, rules."

"Well… your rules STINK!" 

Aang was also angry "Yeah, they're not fair! If you won't teach Katara then…"

Pakku could only stare at the bald boy with a bit of disappointment "Then what?"

"Then I won't learn from you!" the young Airbender shouted, as if it was the ultimate threat.

'Foolish boy… at least that Firebender had the guts to stare me in the eye and make me feel fear, Kaliya at least had the guts to challenge me to prove her point… these two are just… disappointing…'

"Well, have fun teaching yourself then, I'm sure you'll do a great job."

"Wait! Aang didn't mean that!" Shouted the Southern Water Tribe girl right before running towards the fuming Avatar that was already leaving.

'To think that the girl is less of a fool than the Avatar… how disappointing indeed…'

Approaching the bald boy, Katara grabbed his shoulders "You can't risk your training for me. You have to learn from Master Pakku…. Even if he is a big jerk..." she said the final part while stealing glances at the old Master. It's not that he didn't notice or hear it, he simply didn't care.

Aang tried to argue but Katara stared at him as a mother would stare at her misbehaving child, which for some reason made Aang agree with her point of view real quick…

As Aang approached back towards the old Master he was blasted away with a stream of water, making him sprawl on the icy floor of the training platform.

"Why are you laying down already? We barely started… "

Hours passed. Aang was beaten a lot, Sokka was embarrassed a lot, and Katara learned a lot, healing was as bad as she thought and she could see how useful it could be to the team… but she still wanted to fight… the necklace background and also Kanna… or, as many knew her as, Gran-Gran...

Aang then decided to do a more clandestine move that night after the gang talked about their day, he went out of his way to try to teach Katara what Pakku taught him, which didn't end well for the Avatar boy… which led to the current events outside of the main palace of Agna Qel'a.

"Are you crazy, Katara? You're not going to win this fight!" said Sokka worriedly.

"I don't care!" Responded the fuming girl while removing her coat.

"You don't have to do this for me. I can find another teacher!" Said Aang, feeling guilty.

"I'm not doing it for you! Someone needs to slap some sense into that guy!" Katara said as she saw Pakku coming down from the palace; "So, you decided to show up?"

But contrary to her expectations… the old man simply walked away

"Aren't you going to fight?!" the angry Katara asked

"Go back to the healing huts with the other women where you belong-" Before he could continue talking, whips of water were sent towards him, to which he dodged easily.

"I see…. Fine. You want to learn to fight so bad? Study closely then!" the old Master bent two streams of water from nearby pools and sent them both at a charging Katara.

The impact made the girl fall back while the old master joined the two streams together. Encircling both Katara and himself in a forceful ring of water "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you."

The fight continued with Katara trying every trick she learned on her way here, she used every trick she managed to learn from the scroll as well, but all of that merely made the old Pakku raise an eyebrow and continue blasting her with water until she was trapped.

The curtains closed as Team Avatar finally learned about Pakku and Kanna's engagement, and after a long drawn out drama, Pakku finally decided to accept the girl as his student.

'Perhaps… Perhaps you were right all along… Kaliya'

Thought the old man as he walked back to his residence.

For the next few days, both Aang and Katara joined Pakku at the training grounds, Sokka tried to woo Yue, which would've worked easily before she met Madara.

Did she have feelings for Madara? No… not quite, but the point is… the fact that Madara supplied her with the excitement she didn't know she needed from the outside world, which would make Sokka's endeavor significantly more challenging since he wasn't the first 'outsider' that she met.

To be fair, most of Madara's stories about the outside world were a bit more exciting than Sokka's, with the one exception being the Fire Nation Avatar Temple, but even that was just on par with Madara's tales.

The poor guy didn't even have a chance in that. What could Sokka possibly talk about that would be more exciting than a gigantic hidden library that existed since the dawn of humanity, guided by an equally old and wise Owl spirit? To her? That values spirits and worshiped them as divines? ... NOTHING!

Not that Sokka didn't have a chance… It was just that different from canon… he wasn't meeting sheltered and easily impressionable girls… both Suki and Yue had their horizons expanded before meeting him, so now he had to do more than just being charming and funny... he had to be… impressive… which he wasn't yet, but, who knows about in the future?

The fun days came to an end abruptly though, once Sokka spotted the soot, also known as 'Black Snow', that was known to precede a Fire Nation attack. He knew the time had come… The fire nation was there, and this time he felt it would be war.

To make things even worse for Sokka, he also met his rival in romance, a tall handsome young warrior named Hahn, but that drama was short-lived… no drama needed while having the Northern Water Tribe be capital sieged by fireballs after all.

The attack was easily put on hold due to the full moon shining brightly in the sky, which gave Team Avatar the time needed to parlay with Tui and La at the spirit Oasis, unfortunately for them… Zuko managed to steal the Avatar away.

On the streets of Agna Qel'a, the battle was bloody, things that the TV series didn't show, such as the waterbenders using sharp ice to cut and pierce or simply drowning Fire Nation soldiers with their bending, while the firebenders would burn people on their path mercilessly.

With people dying left and right on both sides, the Fire Nation was being pushed back, the Full Moon was no joke and doubled the waterbenders output. Although extremely mild when compared to the Sozin's Comet enhancement, one must not forget the high quantity of waterbenders and the home advantage, everything in Agna Qel'a was made of ice... everything was a weapon under their disposal here.

The fighting was getting more and more chaotic and bloody from both sides until suddenly… the Moon turned red.

"I am… a legend now!" a middle-aged man with sideburns grinned pridefully while holding a bag above a small pond, surrounded by lush green vegetation. "The Fire Nation will, for generations, tell stories about the great Zhao, who darkened the moon! They will call me, Zhao the Conqueror, Zhao the Moon Slayer, Zhao the Invincible!" He shouts in excitement, finally… FINALLY… he achieved something great after so many defeats over the years!

While the Admiral was daydreaming about the fame and glory he would earn under his name, Team Avatar approached them and the fire nation soldiers behind Zhao positioned themselves to fight.

"Don't!" Said Aang while lifting his arms in a surrendering motion, one could see him and Sokka bruised, the southern young man was even limping. If it wasn't for the full moon helping Katara, they would have been captured by Zuko then and there, even Katara was breathing hard with many scorched marks on her tunic.

"It's my destiny, to destroy the Moon and the Water Tribe!" Said the Admiral in glee.

"Destroying the Moon won't hurt just the Water Tribe… It will hurt everyone, including you. Without the Moon, everything would fall out of balance. You have no idea what kind of chaos that would unleash on the world." Aang tried his best.

"He is right Zhao" An old yet stern voice came from the side

"General Iroh, why am I not surprised to discover your treachery?" Zhao responded while looking towards the hooded newcomer.

"I'm no traitor Zhao. The Fire Nation needs the Moon too, we all depend on the balance!" Said the old general with a serious expression, taking his firebending stance "Whatever you do to that spirit I'll unleash on you tenfold. Let it go. NOW!" 

Zhao even recoiled a bit in fear while looking at Iroh, he never saw the old general this serious before, that look in Iroh's eyes was telling him that the old general would aim for the kill the moment he attacked the spirit.

The Admiral's hands trembled; he was frustrated. Everything seemed to be working against him. He failed his mission in the swamp several years ago, he failed to capture the Avatar with the best archers in the world, he failed to capture the Prince to gain the Fire Lord's favor…

Even when he got promoted, the one spark of victory he had in the last decade of his life, he didn't feel like he achieved anything… no… he wanted to show that he was superior, he was worthy… his name should be a legend… 

'I will show them all!'

The slight pause already showed a difference from canon, Zhao didn't crouch down to release the spirit, no… under the red moonlight time seemed to slow down as his right hand ignited in flames, aiming for the bag held by his left hand.

Aang, Katara, Yue, Iroh, Sokka… everyone's eyes went wide at the sheer craziness of Zhao's move, they all wanted to move and stop it, but it was too sudden! Even Iroh, who was somewhat prepared, knew that even if he blasted his fire towards Zhao now it would be too late.

They could only watch Zhao's crazy smile in horror, as the Admiral's flames slowly drew closer to the Moon spirit.

As the flames drew closer, a black shadow seemed to rush in front of Zhao, inches before the flames consumed the almighty spirit fish.

A loud CLANK sound echoed throughout the oasis, drawing everyone's attention to the weirdly shaped fan, upside-down and halfway sunk into the earth leaving a trail on the pristine grass, while a man with a wild, long black hair, black clothes underneath crimson armor and red eyes that seemed to reflect the red moon above stood on top of the fan, with one foot on top of the tip of the handle while the other was on the lower part of the fan, in a Sasori style stance.

On his right hand a bloodied scythe could be seen, while his left hand held the bag carrying the moon spirit…. And… a severed arm?!

"It's been a while… Little Zhao… we finally meet again…"

What followed was a scream of pain and agony 

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"