Except for the fact that Azula managed to evade Aang, Sokka, and Toph for a good little while during DOBS, with just her own non-bending skills and a couple of Dai Lee Agents to run cover for her.

That is a point that I always go over on with Azula and her general awsomeness - it is just that: general. In addition to prodigal bending skills, she's devastating in hand-to-hand combat, has been seen to pull off some pretty sweet gymnastics moves, and has implied proficiency with concealed weaponry. Granted, she most likely couldn't match Mai or Ty Lee on their own grounds (although she completely pwned Sukki in 216), but she could definitely put up a strong front. Then you get into those other things that we luffs about her - her tactical and strategis genius, incredible awareness and ability to make use of her environment, brilliant manipulations, strange sort of charisma, dominating oratory, etc, etc. These last, most notably the ones that would be of use in a fight, were not exactly in use by her in her last stand during Sozin's Comet...

I can't actually decide... I actually think their bending is on par with each other. If I was to say one of them is better than the other, I would be uncomfortable with it, so in my eyes, they are both equal...

I think Azula has more physical skill, but with anything (and I mean ANYTHING) Katara tries to do, she eventually accomplishes mastering it. Katara has this heroic will power to master anything she dedicates her mind to. That makes her an incredible female warrior, and we all know that. But Azula was born to be the closest thing to perfect. Azula is the embodiment of the world "Prodigy". And Azula isn't just a Fire-ebdning prodigy; she is exceptionally talented at everything she has been known to take on. In some ways, her and Katara are very similar, BUT, what makes me put over Azula more, is her need and will to NOT settle for anything less than perfect. She almost has this permanent hunger to surpass all her competition.

Katara: The girl is a tremendous warrior. Anything Katara puts her mind into mastering, whether it is Physical or Mental, seems to get conquered (by her). Also, she has developed in skill, quite possibly more than anyone in the WHOLE show. She went from: A lowly confident, na??ve young girl, and sucky Water-bender, who at best could make large blocks of ice and snow and make short lasting bubbles of water, to arguably, the best Water-bender in the world, all in the space of a year. She is the only known Water-bender other than Hama, who is a master in all forms of Water-bending, and she is only fifthteen years old. She has managed to surpass all Water-ebdners of any age in twelve months, and is basically an incredibly quick study. Is basically unstoppable during a full moon. These are great accomplishments, but in no way, shape or form, does Katara compare to the following:

Azula: Where to start? This girl is incredible in EVERYTHING... She is the closest thing (in fiction or real life (deliberate MAJOR exaggeration (although, she isn't far off))), to the perfect person. She has athletic skills, all of which have proved to be incredibly useful. For a start, she doesn't seem to far off from Ty Lee in terms of acrobatics, gymnastics and pure flexibility. She seems very agile and physically built (perfectly). Not only that, but she owned Suki, one of the best female warriors in the show, in Martial Arts, which clearly shows Azula to be great at that as well. Her manipulation skills, and clear ability to pick out to weaknesses of people (some of those people being people she has never even MET before) is her biggest weapon. She used these skills to: Conquer Ba Sing Se. Ba Sing Se, is the most mysterious, protected city on their entire planet, and no one in HISTORY has ever captured it and kept it that way. Azula has broken this record, and did it at the age of fourteen (she is fifthteen now). She also managed to trick Sokka (the brains of the gAang, an incredibly skilled swordsman (and possibly the WHOLE ENTIRE GOOD SIDE)), Toph (the Human lie detector (Azula also got away with lying to Toph) and the best Earth-bender in the whole show), and Aang (the freaking AVATAR), while she had no bending, and got them to chase her (they couldn't even catch up), WHILE SHE HAD NO BENDING, and then when they did get her, she used words to get out of it, until her bending came and she escaped. All that happened in the course of eight minutes... That is just how much Azula owns... I could list MORE of her amazing, un-heard of accomplishments, but these are pretty much the important ones...