Oh boy, for some reason I'm psyched! I don't know why...maybe because that this book's villain isn't Ozai? Oh well, here's Book4: Chapter1 of The Outcast

doN'T own.

She hasn’t been to Ba Sing Se for 5 years and is going to the 5th Anniversary party that was inside the Palace. Last time she was in a partying outfit was in Ba Sing Se with Sokka, Toph, and Aang. The party was in the exact place as well, in the throne room. She slowly walked up the steps in a Water Tribe dress that showed her blue eyes as it was dark blue and the designs were a white dragon across the dress. Even in this formal outfit and the 5 years passing, she had the exact same hair type done and had the same personality.
The 19-year old Katara had grown much in the last 5 years. Her slim body fit her perfectly as she continued to walk up the Palace steps gracefully. But even in a time of peace and in the heart of Ba Sing Se, she always kept her water pouch hidden with her in case things got chaotic. However, she has never fought someone seriously with waterbending for 5 years and doesn’t plan to now. She was also very excited as the invitation she received mentioned that everyone of the GAang would be attending the celebration as well, including the Avatar, Aang. She couldn’t stop thinking how much he has grown and matured. He already started to mature a lot since his battle with Fire Lord Ozai, even if Katara didn’t see him since, she could still tell.
With the Waterbender were her father, brother, and sister-in-law. Sokka and Suki got married not too long ago in the South Pole as Sokka proposed to her with a neatly carved necklace that was similar to the Earth Kingdom symbol mixed with the Water Tribe. The wedding was small and only he, she, Katara, the Kyoshi Warriors that survived the Invasion, and the people of the South Pole were there. No one else knows about their marriage, but they don’t plan to keep it a secret. Both at the age of 20, they were very happy together like any perfect young couple would. Sokka was wearing a dark blue vest that was added with lighter blue pants with a white stripe across the waist area. Suki, on the other hand, let her hair grow and wasn’t wearing Kyoshi makeup. She was wearing a new beautiful dress she received as a gift from her warriors as it was lavender-colored with a green dragon design on it that was similar to Katara’s dress. Hakoda, on the 3rd imaginary hand, wasn’t very formal and was in his regular fighting clothes and outfit that he had since he left the South Pole 7 years ago, but not all of him was the same as he started to get some grey hairs from aging.
They entered the throne room after showing their passes to the big guard and found the party packed. Everyone of the highest rank in the AoF and the richest people around the world were here. Fire Nation nobles, Earth Kingdom heroes, Water Tribe legends, everyone; well, everyone except the people they wanted to meet the most.
“Do you think they’re here yet?” asked the woman, Katara.
“You mean Aang and the others? I actually doubt it. I heard that they were very busy with tasks around the world,” replied the older and wiser Sokka, “especially if Aang was searching for that Guider of the Darkness, which can be a big time-taker.”
Because Hakoda was growing older and older, Sokka got the new place in the South Pole as the chief. It also meant that the meat-and-sarcasm guy had to mature more as he had much more responsibilities, but he was still the way he was 5 years ago deep in his heart…and stomach as it was wanting some meat.
“I hope we see them again; five years is just way too long,” said the Kyoshi Warrior, Suki, who was holding onto Sokka’s arm and was wearing her marriage necklace.
Hakoda split from the three to talk to some Earth Kingdom nobles that wanted to hear his tales from when he was protecting Chameleon Bay for 2 years. Just as Katara, Sokka, and Suki were about to grab a plate of food when a guard wearing a helmet and an armored uniform that concealed his face stepped in front of them.
“Do you have the golden seal passes?” asked the guard in a deep voice.
“What 'golden seal' passes? Are you saying we can’t eat without them?!” asked Sokka, now looking like he usually did with food.
“No, I’m just kidding! But I have to have a word with you three,” replied the guard.
Suddenly, the guard just walked up to the three and hugged them all tightly. Katara tried to see who this guy was but then recognized the 6-foot sword strapped to his back and knew only one person who would carry a sword that long.
“Ito!” said Katara, hugging him back.
“Ito?!” said Sokka and Suki, before they too looked at the freakishly long sword strapped behind him. “Long time no see!”
The guard took off his helmet to reveal that was, indeed, Ito, only this time much older at the age of 18 and muscular. His dirty-blonde hair was slightly messed up as he wore the helmet for some time today and his eyes were blue as they always were. It was obvious that Ito had been fighting as he had a small cut on the side of his neck and was wearing the royal armor of the Earth Kingdom. It was dark green and the shoulder blades had several pure gold stripes; indicating that he was a colonel.
“So Ito, are you with the army of Ba Sing Se or still with the AoF?” asked Sokka, always interested in military talk.
“AoF all the way; the BSS army is only for protecting the city itself, which is hell of boring,” started Ito.
Suki and Katara just walked away from the two and their ‘military talk’ to see if they can find the other three. Every person in the room was either wearing armor to indicate that they were from the AoF or BSS army or they would wear dresses and robes that had at least a little bit of silver or gold to display how wealthy they were. Then, one of the three was found by Suki, as this smiling person was wearing a pink dress that glittered and was colored red around the neck area as well as the sleeves. Ty Lee turned to see the other two and hugged each other happily.
“Katara! Suki! How have you been?” asked Ty Lee, smiling like she always did, with her hair let out and cut so it only reached the bottom of her shoulder blades on the back.
“Great Ty Lee, I heard from our message shipper that you are very popular with your circus team,” replied Katara, happy to see over half of the GAang.
“Yeah, but because of that, my performances were known to be full of racism with people from the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation attending,” said Ty Lee, putting her arms on her hips, slightly annoyed on that part. “So what about you two, did you manage to rebuild the South Pole?”
“Very well, in fact; we managed to get several people from the North Pole to sail across the entire world to live in the South Pole instead of the North,” replied Suki, holding onto her marriage necklace on her neck. “And some events to happen…”
Ty Lee knew that Suki and her old crush, Sokka, were married. She wasn’t jealous as she grew from her old teenaged crush as the years flown by to make herself a 20-year old woman.
“Oh, and if you looking for—“
“Hello Sugar Queen,” said a lady from behind.
“Nice to see you again!” said Katara and Suki at the same time, hugging their lost friend.
The lady Katara and Suki were hugging was the Blind Bandit, Toph Bei Fong. She was now 17 and had her lady voice as well as her lady body as she has grown now to be as tall as them. Her hips have grown out as well as her chest (A/N: Sorry, but I have to put in the details! Besides, that’s life, isn’t it?). She was no longer the short one of the group as she was just as tall as everyone else of the girls. She had the exact same dress as Suki, only more golden and the dragon design was instead a flying boar, in honor of her family’s symbol. She still had her hair wrapped in a bun and had her old cotton-balled bun to hold it, but it was twice as small surprisingly as it was when she was 12. She also had lipstick and eyeshade on to complete her formal look.
“Well…I heard what’s been happening with the South Pole; good stuff,” said Toph, a little bummed about something.
“What is it Toph?” asked Ty Lee from behind the duo.
“Oh nothing, just that it’s been five long years since we saw each other,” replied Toph, crossing her arms.
“So what have you been doing for the last 5 years? I heard that you, Aang, Ito, and Ty Lee here helped recapture Omashu,” asked Katara.
“Yep, and after that, nothing much…except rebuild……Noku’s old town,” said Toph, now looking sad. “I got to name it after his last name, Iwamatsu.”
“Iwamatsu; that was his last name?” asked Suki.
“Yeah, he told me before…well…you know.”
“Oh…well, at least it’s rebuilt! That’s another town for the Earth Kingdom,” said Ty Lee, trying to change the subject.
While Ty Lee, Suki, and Toph continued to chat about their life the past five years, Katara strolled off; eager to find the Avatar. He hasn’t seen him for five years and couldn’t imagine what Aang must look like now as he was supposed to be 17 now.
‘It shouldn’t be that hard Katara. Just look for a man with an arrow on his head,’ thought Katara to herself while continuing to look around.
So far, no luck at all; she thought Aang would be within’ a large crowd since he was the Avatar, but all the big crowds either had Hakoda in the middle or any other main general during the Invasion 5 years ago. She started to get a little impatient as she started to worry that he wasn’t coming. Katara was then shocked completely as a pair of hands grabbed her shoulders, spun her around, and she locked lips with the person that spun her. She relaxed and eased into the kiss and was happier then ever as the person who was kissing her was Aang.
“So I’m guessing you are Katara of the Southern Water Tribe because of how you didn’t slap me like other girls would,” joked a deep-voiced Aang.
Katara looked up to look at Aang in the eyes. She was no longer taller than him as now he was taller than her by a whole inch. The Avatar has obviously been training non-stop since he was muscular and fit like Ito and was now a mature man.
“Well, I think every girl shouldn’t slap the Avatar, even if he kisses them right in the lips,” said Katara, wrapping her arms around his neck. “And I see puberty hit you since it changed your voice.”
“Everyone has to deal with it, but now I’m back with you after 5 long and boring years.”
She smiled and then they kissed again. His arms were now on her hips as they pulled slowly from each other, foreheads still touching.
“I’ve missed you so much…” whispered Aang.
“You don’t know how much I missed you,” whispered back Katara.
“Hey guys…don’t make a scene here, even if you are the Avatar and his girlfriend,” said Ito from the side of the two.
The two lovers looked to their side to see everyone else of the GAang. Sokka slightly grossed out as he just saw his sister kissing the Avatar, but he was fine with them being together. Ty Lee was smiling more as she thought the two were very cute together.
“It’s also very weird how you two caught up so…fast and……and, uh…you know, romantically,” finished Ito. “Just don’t be in the center of attention please, just not yet.”
“It’s obvious that the two love each other,” said Toph, happier then when she left her home 5 years ago.
“Sorry about that, just that we missed each other…a lot,” said Aang, wrapping his arm around her back as she blushed at that.
Everyone is the room immediately stopped talking as a bell was ringing from where the throne was at. The mechanic from the Northern Air Temple was the Earth King’s new advisor and leader in technological advances. He stopped ringing it as several soldiers carried a figure inside a concealed tent of some kind and placed it in front of the throne. Then the figure inside rose and moved the sheets as it was the Earth King. He looked exactly the same way he was 5 years ago, except this time without Bosco as his poor pet died a few years before. Everyone bowed to the Earth King as he sat onto the throne.
“Tonight, we celebrate the 5th Anniversary of the fall of Fire Lord Ozai and his empire! Let us eat and enjoy ourselves as our dancers perform for us!” said the Earth King.
Everyone clapped for his short speech as 10 female dancers came from the sides and started to perform. Many whistles came from the AoF guards and soldiers (including Ito) as the performers were half-naked on the stage as they wore green chest wrappings and glittering-gold waist and leg wrappings. They also wore a cloth over their mouths to hide their identity from others so all was showing was their eyes, hair, stomach, and the bottom half of their legs. Ito continued to whistle as the girls of the GAang got slightly annoyed.
“Ito has definitely gotten older, hasn’t he?” asked Katara.
“Yep, but so have all of us. Come on, let’s find something to eat already!” said Sokka, looking at the dinner table with a giant hunk of turtle duck awaited him.

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Meanwhile…
“How come you don’t want to attend the party in Ba Sing Se?”
“I never was invited, and besides, I have much more important things to do than celebrate something I don’t even know much about.”
“It’s supposed to be the fall of the Fire Nation International Empire on this day or something like that.”
“Let the Avatar, his friends, and the rest of those unsuspecting generals celebrate their party; we have more important things to worry about.”
“But we still need to secure our prizes before we should commence our plan.”
“We can still succeed without our prizes. Remember, that they’ll only just confirm a better and sweeter victory.”
“Never underestimate the Avatar; he has killed the Fire Lord, who has been ruling over that empire that spread ruin and destruction, at the young age of 12. Now look at him, he’s 17 and has obviously been training on things he’s already mastered for the past five years.”
“I’m well aware of that, and I plan to continue our operation; even if those traitors manage to succeed their mission in disrupting our efforts to secure our prizes.”
“I only hope the element of surprise is on our side completely when the time comes.”
“Oh it will my brother…it will.”