Hey everybody! I've been wanting to write this story for a while, so I'm starting it now and I can assure you, it's gonna be a long one! And an epic one XD! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Pokémon special/Adventures manga, Avatar the Last Airbender, or the picture representing my story

Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. But then, everything changed when the fire nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements could stop them, but when the world needed him most, he vanished. It's been one hundred years since then…

The sun wavered in the sky as it began to set, its glow bathing Ember Island of the Fire Nation in a color that fit its name. The last glimmering rays fell upon a handsome manor house with arching red and gold gables, and soaring turrets. Over the door hung a red flag with a black flame emblazoned on it. It was the house of a Fire Nation general.

"Where is he?" Growled a boy with messy black hair and piercing red eyes. He was standing inside the house and before a stove with an apron wrapped around his waist. Flames curled from his hands, and slowly roasted the two steaks sitting neatly in a pan that he was holding.

"Food'll be cold or burnt by the time he gets his lazy self up here.." The boy murmured again. Just then he heard the front door slam open, and loud footsteps announced the arrival of another boy in the kitchen.

"Hey, I'm home." The first boy turned around to face the newcomer. He was met with bright gold eyes, a wide grin, and hair as black and messy as his own.

"Took you long enough, Gold. Where've you been?" Red sighed, deftly pulling the steaks out of the pan and onto two plates.

"I was playing hide-and-explode with Joey!" Gold smiled winningly, loosening the belt of the school uniform he had neglected to change out of and wiping soot from his face.

"Yeah, sure. Not hitting on Bugsy again, right?"

"Aw, c'mon Red! That was only once! And it was an accident!" Red chuckled to himself at the indignant expression on Gold's face.

"What about you? Wearing that frilly apron." Gold shot back.

"Oh, gonna insult the apron? You wanna cook?" Red replied, hastily taking off the apron in question.

"You know I'd give us food poisoning."

"...Yeah, you got me there." Red conceded, taking a seat across from Gold and tucking into the meat.

"Besides, no one makes Ember Island steak like you do bro!" Gold said, shoving half of his meal down his throat in one go. Red couldn't help but smile at his younger brother's antics.

"Heard from mom?" Gold asked the usual question, expecting the usual answer.

"...Yes." Red replied at length.

"Whoa! Wait, what?! Seriously?" Gold's head shot up.

"Yes." Red repeated, "But.. she's not coming home anytime soon Gold. She's stuck outside of Omashu. It.. it might be another year before she can come home." Gold's face fell. Red sighed and placed a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder. Gold shook it off angrily.

"Why? Why does she have to be a stupid general for the stupid Fire Lord?" He spit out bitterly.

"You shouldn't talk about the Fire Lord like that-"

"I don't care! Why does she have to go to war in the first place? Why is there a war? It's not like we need to take over the world or anything!"

"I don't know Gold." Red looked down at the table, "I don't see the point of it either." They sat in silence for a while, Gold moodily watching flames dance around his fingertips.

"Want to go out tonight? Do something fun?" Red offered, in hopes of raising Gold's spirits.

"...Well.. The Ember Island Players are performing tonight and-"

"Absolutely not. I'm sorry I offered." Red stated flatly.

"Awww, why not?" Gold said eagerly, knowing that his brother would cave eventually. Red silently thanked Sozin that Gold had dropped their prior conversation so readily, but really wished that he had picked something, anything else, to do.

"What's the play?" Red sighed, and Gold did a little fist pump.

"Love Amongst the Dragons." Gold answered, retying his belt. Red groaned.

"Aw, c'mon Red! Dragons, love, hot girls… what more could you want?" Gold said excitedly.

"I'm subjecting myself to a night of torture aren't I.." Red mumbled as his brother dragged him from the house.

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"Okay Gold, can we leave now? We made it to intermission." Red pleaded.

"No way, it's just getting good!" Gold replied, purchasing a bag of fire gummies from a vendor, "Want some?" He offered, and Red nodded reluctantly.

"Yeah, I guess. But I really want to leave. How do you even like this kind of stuff? They're awful actors!"

"Red, Red, Red." Gold shook his head pityingly and placed his arm around the older boy's shoulders, "Surely you must know that a play isn't about the acting. Why do you think the audience is mostly male?" Red shook his head in exasperation.

"Oh, I have no clue." He said sarcastically.

"It's all about the girls. Nobody cares if someone's a good actor or not, all that matters is if they're hot- Why hello there little lady!" He called after a girl, who blushed furiously and waved before being hurried off by her friend. Gold chuckled and ran a hand through his hair.

"Please Gold. You can drag me out here, but stop doing that. I'm embarrassed to be seen with you sometimes." Red said.

"You should learn from me bro! Sixteen and still no girlfriend.. a good looking guy like you.." Gold tutted. Red's face flushed slightly, and he punched Gold in the shoulder.

"Owch! Geez.. don't need to hit so hard.." he turned and began walking back to his seat, "Come on, you promised to watch the whole thing!" Red sighed defeatedly, and began trudging back inside, but suddenly froze.

"Did you see that?" Red questioned, looking out to the beach from the theater's open balcony.

"Did I see what? Don't you try to get out of this-" Gold began.

"No, I'm serious. Wait, there it is again!" Red cut him off, squinting out to the ocean.

"I bet it's some sort of glowing fish- hey! Red!" Gold shouted in alarm as his brother swung his leg over the balcony and leapt off.

"That idiot, we're gonna miss the best part.." Gold muttered to himself, glancing over his shoulder and into the theater longingly. With a drawn out sigh, he leapt over the balcony after Red. He landed lightly on the sand, and ran towards the silvery water. A full moon hung in the sky, and a few wispy clouds floated in front of it. Gold's feet began to sink in the sand as he got closer to the water, and he felt liquid start to seep into his shoes.

"Red!" He shouted at the older boy who was knee-deep in the ocean, "What do you think you're doing? Are you crazy!?" Reluctantly, Gold waded into the water after his brother, wriggling uncomfortably as his clothes became weighted down and soaked through.

"Look." Red stated simply, and Gold complied. Past a small rocky outcrop that was barely visible in the darkness, there was something aglow that was not the moon. It was beneath the surface of the water, and seemed to be growing larger.

"Come on." Red whispered, tugging on Gold's sleeve. He began to swim towards the outcrop.

This is insane. Gold thought to himself, but curiosity overcame him and he started out after his sibling.

Red gasped as a small wave hit him in the face, then his hands met the rocks and he pulled himself out of the water. Panting slightly, he shook his sodden hair from his eyes and stared in wonderment as the glow seemed to get brighter, and the source, closer. He heard a cough and knew Gold had crawled onto the outcrop after him.

"What.. is it?" Gold asked quietly.

"Shh. It's coming closer." Red replied. They stared with wide eyes as the surface of the water stretched and broke over the top of a ball of… ice? The boys could only keep watching as the entirety of the monstrous iceberg was revealed, the glow slowly fading until it sat, motionless, before them. For a minute, they didn't stir.

"Red.." Gold began.

"I saw it too. There's someone in there."

"What do we do?"

"What can we do, other than help?" Red asked, and Gold stared into his eyes for a minute, before nodding silently. The two boys spread their legs in a stance, and thrust their fists forward. Two balls of flame hit the huge mound of ice, and shattered part of it. Hissing steam erupted on contact, and they squinted, trying to see through it. The silhouette of a figure slumped forward, and Red rushed forward and caught the strange person, noting that they seemed to have blond hair, a color not native to the Fire Nation, and that they were wearing a large straw hat.

"Wh-what is it?" Gold asked tentatively from behind Red.

"It's a person… a boy, I think." Gold breathed a sigh of relief.

"Phew, thought it was some alien, or a monster-" He was cut off as a low growl sounded from within the half-melted chunk of ice that remained.

"Okay, what is that?" Red questioned, backing away slightly with the strange boy still in his arms.

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"My lord, I have important news." A slender woman with pitiless slate gray eyes and purple hair announced. She was standing in a long room and facing a raised platform which had a wall of fire spouting from it.

"What? Spit it out and be done with it." A voice growled from behind the flames. The woman's face stretched into a thin-lipped smile.

"We have just received word from the Fire Temple on Crescent Island… The Avatar has returned." The fire roared and the flames got larger for a split second, and then died down.

"The Avatar? And do we know where said Avatar happens to be now?" Fire Lord Giovanni asked.

"Why yes, we do indeed my liege." The woman said, bowing, "There was a glow seen from Ember Island not fifteen minutes ago." Giovanni's face creased into a deadly smirk.

"Excellent princess Sird, excellent. We shall capture the last shred of hope that the world has, and conquer the Earth Kingdom. Send the prince out at once." He ordered, and Sird frowned slightly.

"The prince my lord?"

"You heard me."

"But my lord, with all due respect, do you believe he will actually carry out his mission?"

"I do. As long as he believes the lies I fed him. I will turn him into the perfect child yet, Sird." She gave him a doubtful glance, "Now!" Giovanni barked, and she bowed yet again.

"Your wish is my command, of course." She said, and swept from the room.

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"Ungh…" The strange boy groaned, rubbing his eyes. Red noticed peculiar tattoos on the backs of his hands. They seemed to be blue arrows.

"Hey Gold, he's waking up!" Red frantically whispered to his brother.

"Hate to disturb you bro, but I think we have a bigger problem on our hands." Gold said in a panicky murmur. The deadly rumbling growl was still hovering in the air all around them.

"Chu...chu?" The boy muttered, and his eyes fluttered, then flew open in shock.

"Whoa!" Red cried out as the blond suddenly began to flail, leaping away from the brothers.

"Dude, what's your problem?" Gold shouted, clutching his nose where the boy had accidentally hit him.

"Chuchu!" He cried out again, the threatening growl stopped, and was replaced by a frantic yipping noise. Out of the debris a small furry thing came flying into the boy's arms.

"Wh-what is that furry little pipsqueak?" Gold cried out in astonishment.

"Don't tell me.. was that thing the one growling?" Red asked incredulously.

"Yeah, this is my baby flying bison, Chuchu! She has a scary growl doesn't she?" The boy said with a wide grin, "Oh! I haven't introduced myself yet! My name is Yellow!"

"I'm Red, and this is my younger brother, Gold." Red answered. Gold looked at Chuchu with suspicious eyes. The small bison sneezed, and a glob of snot hit him right in the face.

"Ugh! What the- it's in my hair!" Gold yelled in horror.

"Oh, sorry about that! She does that sometimes." Yellow giggled, as Gold frantically tried to finger-comb the gunk from his impressive bangs.

"Umm, Yellow? Who exactly.. are you? Where are you from, and… why were you stuck in an iceberg?" Red inquired in a small voice. The boy in question was staring around with wide eyes.

"Whoa, wait, too many questions at once! Hey… where are we?" He asked. Gold facepalmed.

"The Fire Nation." Red answered.

"Fire Nation? Oh, well that's okay, I have friends in the Fire Nation after all!" Yellow said, relieved.

"You do? Wait, where are you from exactly?" Gold cut in.

"The Western Air temple! Oh that's right, I'm an airbender!" Yellow said with a wide smile. He leapt ten feet into the air, did a backflip, and then slowed his descent with a gust of wind. Gold gave Red a startled look.

"Umm.. Yellow.." Red began, but froze. Loud shouts flew across the water, and as the three benders whipped around, spotlights began sweeping the waves, edging nearer to them. Sleek Fire Nation battleships could be seen, bobbing in the water and billowing smoke.

"Oh crud, you think they're after us?" Red asked his brother.

"One thing's for sure, if we stick with this guy they will be." He glanced at Yellow, and then continued in a whisper, "An airbender Red. Either this guy is crazy, or he's telling the truth, in which case he's a target. Our best bet is to get out of here."

"I know.. but I can't just leave him here. That's not the right thing to do, Gold." The younger boy rolled his eyes.

"I can't believe you." He sighed, "Ugh, but I knew you were going to say that. Hey! Straw hat boy! This way!" He said to Yellow, gesturing to the water. Red and Gold slipped into the dark swells for the second time that night, and Yellow followed, staring at the spotlights with wide eyes.

"Why are they after us?" He hissed to the two Fire Nation boys. Chuchu gave a small whine from where she was hovering around their heads.

"Save your breath for swimming, and try to stay silent! We'll be okay!" Red assured him in a low voice.

"Y'know," Gold choked around a mouthful of seawater, "If we're talking about the right thing to do, it'd probably be turning him in. I mean, we are Fire Nation after all. Are you sure this is okay?"

"...I don't know, Gold. Things aren't making sense right now. But I feel that this is the right thing to do, so I'm going to do it." Red answered, "Dive!" He hissed in alarm, and shoved the heads of his two companions and Chuchu beneath the water before following suit. A spotlight swept over where they had just been bobbing. They reemerged, gasping for breath.

"Sorry about that." Red whispered over his shoulder, before continuing to strike out for land. Chuchu snarled at him, and grumpily shook the wet out of her fur. Gasping, the three dragged themselves onto the damp sand, and eyed the shore warily. Gold waved to them, and gestured upshore. The other two followed at a crouch. They scurried between the supports and under the raised porch of one of the huge summer houses that littered the beach.

"Aww, I lost my hat." Came a whisper. Yellow slumped to the ground, panting. Red and Gold stared.

"Wait a minute.." Gold began. They were looking at somebody who was obviously the same kid, but something was… off. There was a long blond ponytail where Yellow's hat should have been.

"Wh-wh-wh… b-but.. h-he's a girl.." Red mumbled in disbelief.

"Wait.. whaaaat!?" Gold gaped.

"Umm, what do you mean?" Yellow questioned, looking confused, "I've always been a girl."

"He's a girl." Red repeated. Gold blinked, and then seemed to pull himself together.

"Very intelligent of you, Red." He said, slapping his brother on the back, "Well Yellow, I don't know if we've had proper introductions yet but-" He inched closer, running a hand through his hair and flashing her a carefree grin. Red elbowed him in the ribs.

"Owch! Hey!" Gold turned on him.

"Is this really the time?" Yellow sighed, and pointed, "Because I think we might be in trouble if those guys are looking for us." Red and Gold snapped their heads around to see what she was indicating, and what met their eyes made their stomachs drop. Hundreds of soldiers milled about in the town square, holding torches which glimmered off the bright white of their trademark skull helmets. But what was worse, was the lights that flickered on in one particular building.

"Gold, they're in our house." Red said, panic gripping at his throat. The golden-eyed boy seized up beside him.

"Red, can we please ditch her now? I don't want to be caught. We haven't done anything wrong yet, I-I just want to go home and see mom again." Red heard the plea in Gold's voice, and felt the temptation it brought with it. They could say goodbye to this whole problem if they just left Yellow to the troops. Surely they wouldn't hurt her, and the two could go back to their normal lives, the ones where their mom would come back to them. The ones where they weren't being hunted down by their own country. He glanced over his shoulder at Yellow. Now that he got a good look at her, the girl seemed much smaller than she had when they first met, but that might also be due to her missing the enormous straw hat. She was wet and shivering, and when she looked up, her eyes met his. Trust was shining there.

"No." He answered, and Gold looked at him, "I'm sorry Gold, but.. I-I can't. I can't just abandon someone like that. I wouldn't be able to live with myself." Gold heaved a long, drawn out sigh, and Red was scared for the reply that came tumbling out of his lips.

"Then.. we can't stay here." Gold finally muttered, and Red smiled thankfully at him.

"We could steal one of those." Yellow suggested, waving at one of the large, metal navy ships that was floating in the water just offshore. The two boys stared at her. Then stared at each other. Gold grinned. Red facepalmed.

"Y'know, I think we're gonna get along just fine straw hat gu- I mean, gal!" The younger of the two said, throwing an arm about Yellow's shoulder. She smiled craftily at him.

"How do you suppose we go about doing this Gold?" She asked him. Red looked at the boards above him, praying to Sozin that Gold would have a strategic and good answer for once in his life.

"Brute force!" Gold announced, and Red groaned.

A/N: Whoo! Chapter one down! I've already started on chapter two, so be ready! Also, just letting you know that while I focus a lot of my attention on this story, I will periodically be writing others that are pokespe only. So stay tuned!

If you're curious about their clothes, Gold is wearing the Fire Nation school uniform, Red is wearing what Sokka wore during his time in the Fire Nation, and Yellow is wearing the normal airbender getup.