Thought I'd try my hand at writing an Avatar: The Last Airbender story.

This likely won't be anything more than a one-shot, because I literally have no idea what else I'd do with this. I'm no great world-builder, and usually if I'm writing (or trying to write) an actual story, I need to have at least a general idea of the plot…

Anyway, here's a story to read.

Disclaimer: I do not in any way, shape or form own Avatar: The Last Airbender or The Legend of Korra, nor the rights to either of those shows.

Through one hall, sharp turn into the next, sprint down the hall-

Straight down the stairwell, ignoring the stairs-

"You impulsive idiot!" A voice shouted above him, even as the owner followed him downward.

"Hey, I'm no weapon, and they are not changing that!" He yelled back, landing safely and dashing forward.

The other male caught up with him, breathing heavily as he pushed himself to keep up.

"Look," his friend said, "I know- you don't want- to be used. Neither- would I!" A moment's pause as he gasped for more air than he could get in the middle of sentences. "But we had a plan!"

Sheepishly, the teen smiled weakly. "Sorry… I panicked when they started talking about using me as a deterrent." A fierce scowl wiped the small grin off of his face. "I don't care how powerful I'm supposed to be or that I was born here.

"There's no excuse to try and use the Avatar – use me – to control the other nations!"

The other boy went to respond, but they had to cut off their conversation as people appeared and blocked the immediate path forward.

"There he is!"

"Don't let the Avatar escape!"

His friend almost stopped, but kept going when he saw the determined look on the Avatar's face.

"Ketu, what are you planning-"

"Gangway!"

As Ketu shouted, he swept his hands forward and sent a massive blast of air forward, sending the mass of bodies soaring away from them.

Immediately, the young Avatar bounced into a doorway just past where their opposition had been.

Sighing, his friend followed him in, and immediately began falling.

The door led to a chute, dropping straight downwards for at least a hundred feet. Both teens fell in silence the whole way.

Upon reaching the ground, each of the boys created a gust of wind to cushion their landing.

Rushing out the door, they came to a halt.

There were two paths to take.

And neither of them had been to this part of the fort before.

"…Well, I'm going with the 'we split up' option here," Ketu said with a smirk.

"That… makes no sense at all."

Ketu looked at his friend. "Come on, Shin. Think about it – if one of the ways is a dead end, we come back this way. If both of them lead out of here, then we both get out and we're scot free!"

While Ketu was grinning at his seeming brilliance, Shin was nowhere close to being convinced. "That doesn't make any sense at all. They know we came down this way, so whoever hits the dead end will have to face-"

"Good to know you agree, you take the other path!" Ketu shot over his shoulder, propelling himself down one of the paths.

Shin groaned, but sprinted down the other path. Under his breath, he muttered, "I sure hope you know what you're doing, Ketu…"

"There is nowhere to go, Avatar. Please, cease this foolishness."

Ketu sighed. His path hadn't gone for very long, and ended in a large room. Probably some sort of secret training room – or maybe a not-so-secret one he'd just never seen before. Who knew?

Regardless, Shin had been right. With a dead-end in front of him, his pursuers knowing where they had gone, and the fact that they had master benders on their side, it took almost no time at all for them to find him and corner him with a mob of benders and non-benders alike.

"Please surrender, Avatar. We would hate to have to fight you in order to make you see reason," the robed elder in front of him repeated.

Of course, Ketu knew better. The elder might look frail, but the tattooed arrow on his head was more than enough to tell Ketu that he, as well as every bender in the crowd, was a master Airbender.

And those who weren't were highly proficient in their weapon, be it katana, naginata or bow. Of those, Ketu was the most wary of the archers – combined with the benders in the crowd, they could do a lot of damage to him.

Ketu counted six benders, eight non-benders. Of those, three archers, three swordsmen, and two naginata users.

They wouldn't kill him – or at least, they wouldn't try to. He was the Avatar, after all, and they wanted him to help intimidate the other nations.

Ketu smirked. "You want me? Come and get me!"

The elder's eyes hardened. "Very well. You give us no choice, Avatar.

"Fight to subdue, and attack."

The crowd moved.

Three arrows flew towards him, boxing him in even as he was flanked by the naginata users. A tunnel of wind blasted towards him, threatening to slam him into the wall.

Ketu used his own airbending to take control of the tornado barreling towards him, using its remains to force the arrows far enough off course that they couldn't be bent back towards him. Even as he did so, the teen leapt off the ground, spinning himself between and past the spiraling naginatas.

His feet touched the ground, and three katanas were slicing towards him even as the air stilled unnaturally around him, master benders working to render his airbending null.

But they could not fight what they did not know.

The Air Nation knew that Ketu was the Avatar.

What they didn't know is that despite his lack of formal training, he had practiced in secret with the other three elements. Ketu was nowhere near mastery – it was probably a stretch to even call him proficient with any of them.

But in combination with his creativity, the element of surprise, and each other?

They could do some damage.

Ketu fell into a solid stance, and lifted.

A trio of stone pillars erupted around him, slamming into the katanas and disarming one of the swordsmen, forcing the other two back.

All of the fighters paused in surprise.

And the hold that the benders had on the air around him lifted.

Ketu took advantage of it, snapping off the top of the pillars and using his airbending to send them flying outward. He hadn't been able to actually move stone when it wasn't connected to earth, but he could at least simulate it with his airbending for a single direction.

One stone slammed into a swordsman, collapsing him and taking him out of the fight. The other two flew near benders, who recovered from their shock and easily shifted themselves out of the way with a movement of the wind.

A twister sprung up around, blocking Ketu's sight of anything outside of it. He smirked. It was as if they had forgotten he was a master airbender himself. He could sense the air, and therefore he knew everything they were doing, regardless of whether he could see it.

Arrows flew into the twister, piercing straight through the gale-force winds with the aid of the benders. Ketu used short jets of wind to deflect them, slamming them downward with his palms.

One, two, three-!

Ketu took advantage of the break in attacks – the twister was narrowing, but he had a moment with no arrows incoming-!

Fire erupted from a fist, punching into the twister and setting it ablaze.

He couldn't see anything outside of it, but Ketu could sense and hear the cries of shock and alarm.

Concentrating fully on his firebending and airbending, the teen shortened the tornado of flame, condensing it into a whirling spiral of dancing fire around him –

And then let it loose, pushing at the flame with two elements, both the fire that composed it and the air that it used to survive.

Ketu fell to his knees, gasping with the effort it took to control the fire to that extent. It took precious seconds to recover enough to force himself back on his feet and take in the situation. He surprisingly hadn't been attacked while he recovered…

When he looked at what was around him, maybe it wasn't so surprising.

Over half of the combatants were on the ground, moaning or wailing in pain from the seared patches of skin on their body. Only two benders and one of the naginata users were still on their feet, and even they bore pale faces and patches of heated skin.

One of the bending masters still standing muttered, "So this is the power of the Avatar… He who bends the four elements."

The man likely didn't mean for Ketu to hear, but he did. Devoid of his usual grin, he spoke, an unearthly echo faintly audible underneath his words.

"This is what happens when you try to use the Avatar for your own purposes. The Avatar is balance. The Avatar is all elements, not simply one."

The echo faded as Ketu continued. "And yet, in this case, there is a saying for one element that you should remember.

"If you mess with fire, prepare to be burned."

Faces set into masks of determination, the two benders twisted the air around Ketu downward to keep him from moving as the naginata wielder charged, twirling his weapon to build up momentum.

Ketu ignored the benders' manipulations, lowered his stance, and moved.

The ground beneath his charging opponent sank, and the naginata user tripped over himself, slamming into the earth even as a column of stone shot upward and launched the non-bender across the room.

Both remaining opponents were sweating, staring at the teen who had earthbent even through the air pressure they had forced him downward with.

The teen Avatar, who had used earthbending and firebending in a fight against multiple opponents successfully despite no training, and who was a master airbender in his own right.

Ketu smirked at both of them.

And then took control of the air from them, propelling both benders into the ceiling and then back into the floor.

As they fell unconscious, Ketu strolled out of the room, on his way out of the Air Nation fort to meet up with Shin.

Please review if you liked it!