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Chapter 3
"Hey Zuko here." Zuko said as he smiled and waved at the group before him. The group was confused and ready to attack.
"What are you two doing here?" Katara asked angrily.
"We came so we can join your group and teach Aang firebending." Azula said hoping for them to believe her so there wouldn't be any unnecessary fighting.
"Yeah right. You're just trying to trick us so we can let our guard down and you can attack Aang." Sokka said
"No not really. Listen I've changed, I really want to help." Zuko said
"Oh you've changed? Like that's going to work. The last time you changed Aang got shot with lightning." Katara replied
"I'm serious. If I haven't change then why did I release your bison in Ba Sing Se?" Zuko asked
"You're not welcome here." Sokka said with a tone of finality in his voice
"If you won't accept us as companions then how about prisoners?" Azula said as she pulled Zuko down on his knees with her.
"No!" Katara said as she hit them with some water that knocked them back.
"You don't have anything to say?" Zuko asked as he looked up at Aang. Aang looked away and remained quiet
"Get out of here!" Sokka said as he pulled out his boomerang in a threatening way
"We better not see you again or else." Katara said as Azula, knowing when it was time to fall back, pulled Zuko away.
"How could think we'd fall for that?" Katara asked
"He wanted us to let our guard down." Sokka said.
"He was telling the truth." Toph said, breaking up the conversation.
"Oh on list of all the bad things they've done we can't add animal cruelty to his list." Sokka said using sarcasm. Toph was getting pissed off.
"What did I say! They were being sincere with their words. And you two lamebrains are too hurt to think logically. Aang needs a firebending teacher. And two of the best firebenders in the whole nation is offering their services and you won't even think about it?" Toph raged
"They're not training Aang!" Katara said.
"I'm wondering who's really blind around here." Toph said as she stormed off.
Later that night
A figure quickly snuck through the woods. He expected that the only people he would see would be the two firebenders that he was looking for. That figure was Aang. The real reason why he didn't speak today because he was too caught up in his thoughts about Azula. He was more than willing to accept and forgive Zuko, but bringing Azula really threw him off. He noticed how cute she was when they first met and hated that they had to be enemies. I mean he still had his little crush on Katara, but it looked like that was going nowhere. He wanted to have someone like Sokka had Suki and now was his perfect chance. If he could get the two of them to join him he knew Toph and Sokka would follow him. Toph already wanted to let him join and Sokka would like for things to get easier. Katara would be a problem, but who really cares he was the avatar the one needed to make the decisions. Hopefully Katara didn't have a problem with the decision he made, but if she did they would somehow work it out. He was later brought out of his thoughts as a figure grabbed his mouth and pulled him down. "Twinkle toes, be quiet. It's me. I headed to see Zuko what are you doing out here?" Toph asked as she let go of his mouth.
"Same reason. I need a firebending teacher and I don't have many options. And you're right they are 2 of the best." Aang said as they began creeping toward Zuko's camp as they got nearer Toph accidently stepped on a twig and alerted Zuko to an unknown presence. "Who's there?" Zuko said as he slashed out a small fire wave in confusion.
"Wait it's me…" "Zuko stop…" Toph and Aang said simultaneously as Aang, off instinct raised a small earth wall in front of him. Toph was behind him and took a step back and burned her feet. She let out a yelp of pain which alerted Azula as well to a hurt presence. Toph begin moving away but, "Toph stop. It was an accident. You'll be alright." Aang reassured her as he grabbed her shoulder
"I'm sorry. It was out of defense and I was just waking up." Zuko said. Azula walked up as well.
"It's ok; I want you guys to know that I want you to join us. So does Toph, but you have to come to the temple tomorrow instead of now I don't want to shock those two with a burnt feet Toph and new companions." Aang said as he walked away. Zuko and Azula were on their way back to sleep when they heard a scream that sounded like Katara in pain. Zuko quickly jumped up and dragged Azula to the sound of Katara's voice. Aang heard it too and started rushing with his hurt teammate.
Katara had screamed out as shrapnel from the fountain hit her arm. Sokka had got them away to safety by noticing Combustion man's silent approach, but they weren't fast enough to take cover. As soon as three more shots hit the hanging temple that they were standing on Sokka realized that he wanted to knock it off.
"Stop I won't allow you to hurt the avatar's friends!" Zuko exclaimed as he and Azula attacked the assailant. Aang ran up to Katara and Sokka with Toph still in his arms.
"What happened to her?" Aang and Sokka said in unison.
"It was an accident." Aang said
"We weren't fast enough to get to cover when he started attacking." Sokka said. As they looked up Zuko and Azula's attack were only making the man angrier. He shot at Zuko who put up a fire shield which still got pushed over the edge. "ZUKO NO!" Azula screamed.
"I can't use my bending from here and not get shot. I need to get an angle." Aang said as Sokka got an idea. "Step aside Aang." Sokka said as he slide to the front of the corner. Azula was grief stricken because she believed that Zuko was dead. As Sokka threw his boomerang, and it hit the target, Zuko ran from behind, grabbed Azula and jumped.
"ZuZu. You're alive?" Azula said in relief as he used his firebending to blast them over to the landing the gang was on. Just before they landed Sokka jumped up and caught his boomerang with the rest of the gang following him out of hiding. When Zuko landed they saw that Combustion man stood back up and they hid again. Combustion man's eyesight was blurry at best. He attempted to use his third eye again, but it backfired and blew him and the landing he was standing on to smithereens. All that could be seen falling with the rubble was his metal hand which survived the explosion.
"Guys the reason for Toph's burnt feet is because we were sneaking through the woods to find Zuko and Azula. We startled Zuko and in self-defense he blasted a small wave of fire. We were looking for them because we wanted to invite him to join our team." Aang said
"Why would you do that?" Katara asked
"Because I need a firebending teacher so that I can defeat fire lord Ozai and save the world. Without these two I'd be no match for him and we'd lose the war. All of our sacrifices would be for nothing if I lose." Aang said. "Now who agrees with me?"
"Let him join. You took my reason, so my new reason is because it'll give me a lot of time to pay him back for my feet." Toph said
"Hey I just want to defeat the fire lord. If this is the way you want to do it Aang then I'm ok with that." Sokka said
"I trust you Aang and I'll follow you whatever your decision." Katara said.
Zuko looked towards Aang and said, "Thank you. Along the way I've always believed it was my destiny that I had to follow and that my destiny was to capture you. I've realized that I had to go through everything I went through just to find the right path." Zuko said. With that everyone walked away and Azula and Zuko followed Sokka. He showed Azula to her room which was next door to Aang's and Zuko's room which was next to Katara's. After Zuko left Zuko he began to unpack his stuff. He sensed that a person was watching him so he turned around to see Katara. He smiled and began to speak but she cut him off.
"You may have everyone buying your transformation, but let me tell you something. You and I both know that you've had problems doing what's right in the past. Just know this if you make one wrong move, one slip up, one step in the other direction and you won't have to worry about destiny because I'll cancel your destiny right then and there." She said as she turned to walk out of the room. She slammed the door behind her and went back to her room.
