Forbidden | Avatar the Last Air Bender

Chapter 28: Battle Techniques

Training with the Avatar

Aang's POV

Ever since Tasha joined the team, I hadn't seen her in battle before. I've really wondered how much her battle skills have changed over the past few months and how she was able to help me as my spiritual guardian.

"Hey Aang?" I could feel Tasha sit beside me.

Currently, I was mediating on a cliff right above a huge lake. It was so peaceful and tranquil with the sounds of the rest of team Avatar basking in the lake below.

I flipped open my eyes. "Yeah?"

"About my duties as your guardian... How am I supposed to go about it?" She asked, her large blue eyes flickering in the light of the afternoon sun.

"I'm not so sure myself," I responded, feeling slightly guilty. "Do you want to try training with me or something? Like do some butt kicking with your water bending?"

Tasha seemed to be stunned by my sudden question, her lips were slightly pursed open. After a moment of silence, she finally nodded her head in agreement.

"Okay," She smiled. "Let's do it."

Smirking, I looked down to the bottom where the lake was, and stood up. I looked towards Tasha mischievously, and in turn she was giving me a very incredulous look at the moment.

Without warning, I leapt head down to the lake below.

"Last one in the water is a loser!" I yelled playfully as I started plunging down to the cool icy water below.

I felt the cool water envelope my whole body, and it was so refreshing considering that I did not have this much freedom and relaxation for a very long time.

Resurfacing, I saw Tasha already in the water and Sokka and Katara were looking over at us, puzzled.

"Let's go!" I jumped up and water bended myself up. I created a platform of ice for me to stand on. Tasha nodded her head and followed after me, doing the same.

Tasha's POV

"Let's see what you got, Avatar." I teased, and brought a few simple whips of waters flying towards Aang. And as expected of the Avatar, he deflected my attacks away with a simple swipe of his hand.

"Not bad," I praised. "Now what about this...!"

I flicked a huge wave of water up and let it break apart into small droplets of water. I flung the water droplets at high speed towards Aang, freezing it into tiny icicles along the way. Along with that, I also kicked a few whips of water, turning them into ice and threw them towards Aang.

"Whoa!" Aang was caught by surprise, but being the agile person he is, he managed to dodge them quickly and even deflect the attacks back at me.

I thought that Aang wouldn't attack me back using my own attacks but I was wrong. When he deflected my attacks back at me, I was thrown back by the impact of the ridiculously sharp edges of the water icicles and hit the water hard.

Struggling, I managed to resurface in time with Katara's help. I gasped for air as I reached the surface.

"Are you alright?" Katara asked as she brought me to dry land.

"I'm fine," I lied. I wasn't even feeling good at all - how could I become this weak all of a sudden? Usually, I would be able to deflect attacks as quick as the wind. But somehow doing so with Aang seemed to have brought the opposite.

"Tasha! Are you okay? I didn't mean to hurt you!" Aang jumped quickly from where he was towards me.

"It's alright, I think I might have lost my touch with water bending a little bit. Heh." I laughed it off, but felt pain stinging my whole body. Those muscle cramps will probably be the death of me.