Howdy! First off, I own nothing. Secondly so this is chapter two! I've got some stuff to explain at the bottom that'd ruin the flow of the story otherwise. So if you get confused, push onward, for all shall be explained at the end of your journey. Now go my children and read!
Chapter 2
Just Like Old Times Part 2
"I think you might just be ready." Toph said, smirking.
"For what?" Aang said, relaxing his stance.
"To metal bend of course. You've made a lot of progress, and you might just be ready to become the second ever metal bender."
"Really?" With a gust of wind Aang leapt six feet in the air and clicked his heels together. "I can't wait!"
"Well you're going to have to, Twinkletoes, there's a lot to it." Toph said, scooping a plate of metal out of a bag resting by her feet. "Now me and you are two of the only people in the entire world who can do this. You need to use Earth bending sight to do it. Metal is just refined earth, it's a big pure rock, however, inside are small imperfections, to bend the metal you need to locate these imperfections and move them and the metal will 'bend.'"
"What I'm holding here is barely refined metal. It's just a glorified flat rock. And this is what you'll practice on. Your goal is very simple, turn it into a ball, a big hunk of metal." She threw the plate at Aang's feet, he simply stared at it then looked up.
"How do I find the imperfections?" He asked, a hint of worry in his voice.
"That's the hard part, bending it is easier. To find the imperfections you need to really feel the metal. Pass it through your vision and try to find the less dense pieces. Pick up the plate." Aang stooped and lifted the metal. "Now, focus. Feel it. You're good at that whole, meditation thing, so I think you should be ok."
Aang closed his eyes and sat in lotus position. He pushed out his earth bending feelers and tried to focus. Nothing, the metal felt like, well, metal. Three hours later and nothing had changed. "Hey, Twinkletoes, it's almost time. Wanna turn in?"
"Huh?" Aang said coming out of his trance. "Oh, yeah, sure." He stood up, stretching, and handed the metal to Toph.
"No, no, keep it," she said pushing it back towards Aang, "You obviously need more practice."
"How do you know I didn't find the imperfections?" Aang retorted.
"Cuz I know you," Toph said smirking, "You wouldn't be able to shut up about it if you had."
Aang flushed. "Well uh, yeah, I'll keep practicing." He placed the metal into his bag, then smiled, "But for now, we've got a party to go to."
"I'm gonna get ready." Toph said, "I'll see you there."
With that Aang made a beeline for the clearing in which Appa was grazing, he faintly heard Toph yelling something to the maids about making her look fancy before his things were packed tightly to the side of his bison. With a "Yip yip" he was borne skyward and the city of Ba Sing Se got smaller beneath him.
The party Aang had mentioned was an anniversary celebration of the end of the Hundred Year War. The third one to be exact. Today was the first day of the weeklong celebration, and he, the Avatar, was of course expected to attend. People celebrated worldwide of course, but the big shebang was here in the city of walls.
After the war trade between the Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom, and Water Tribes reopened. The nations were now thriving and displaced people were able to return to their original homes. It was generally peaceful. Of course many extremists who couldn't shake old feelings toward the fire nation, and vice versa, caused problems, but Aang, an ever improving, fully-realized Avatar was well prepared for this.
The celebration the first year went down as the longest city wide celebration in history, it only ended only when, after twenty three days of endless partying, food and drinks began to run low. Since the anniversary of the end of the war had become a worldwide holiday. The first year it was celebrated in the Fire Nation Capital, which proved too small to accommodate the mass amount of people who showed. It was moved to Ba Sing Se for two reasons. The significant size difference, and to symbolize peace. The city of walls was now open to people everywhere, and the walls were nothing more than outdated equipment.
Aang passed over the palace and began to bring Appa down. He spotted the colors of all three nations and heard a roar begin to rise in the crowd. They had seen him, and now Aang's least favorite part of his job began. He knew it came with the job, but being an Air Nomad he had come to truly enjoy the peace of their life style. He enjoyed the occasional gathering now and then, but this, a week of raucous celebration, this was too much.
Appa landed softly on the demonstration portion of the front steps of the palace, and Aang hopped off. He looked toward the center of the area and Zuko, sitting next to Mai, stood and walked with open arms toward Aang. The two embraced, "Different year, same thing, right?" Zuko said into Aang's ear as the crowd burst into fresh cheers.
They walked and sat next to the Earth King and Bosco, Zuko taking his place next to Mai again, who smiled at Aang. There was but one person of importance missing, and after twenty minutes of waiting the king of the northern water tribe appeared. He took a place next to Aang and whispered toward him "Sorry I'm late, but the North Pole's a ways off, you know?" The Earth King looked at each of the people on the stage, and stood.
Walking to the podium, he put up his arms to silence the crowd, and then began, "Brothers and Sisters today we celebrate the end of the Hundred Year war. With open arms I welcome all of you to my city. May we now and forever remember those we owe our freedom to. First off," He turned and faced Aang. "The Avatar. Without whom we wouldn't be celebrating today." There was a roar from the crowd in agreement. Aang stood and bowed, it was his turn to speak.
The Earth King moved to the side and sat again in his original position. Aang walked to the podium and cleared his throat. "One hundred and sixteen years ago I was born to a world of peace. The world was in balance, and I was raised not knowing the sorrows of war. I awoke just four years ago to pain and suffering I couldn't imagine. And now it has all changed again. We are once more a peaceful, balanced world, and may all those who live today remember what happens when that balance is upset, and may we remember for a very long time, what a world of peace feels like." There was more cheering and then Aang said. "And now I call Fire Lord Zuko to the front." With that Aang made way for Zuko and returned to his previous spot.
Now Zuko stood at the podium. "I would give a speech, but I feel those before me truly summed it up. So without further ado, let's party." Zuko's speech received the most cheer of all. He smiled at the crowd and returned to the leaders of the world who were now standing, shaking each other's hands, and talking amongst one another. Zuko walked over to Aang and Mai, who were talking.
As soon as Zuko reached them Mai piped up. "So Zuko and I have some great news, Aang."
"What's that?" Aang asked, genuinely curious.
"Well," Zuko said, coming up behind Mai, placing his arms around her, and putting a hand on Mai's stomach. "Mai's pregnant. We're going to have a baby." Zuko was beaming, simply lit up.
"Wow! Congrats! When is it due?" Aang exclaimed causing the other leaders to glance over at them.
Mai chuckled, "In eight more months. We just found out last week." Aang was overjoyed, but his conversation was broken by footsteps and voices coming his way. Sokka, Toph, and Katara were headed his way. Aang, Zuko, and Mai all smiled as they each ran up to hug each other.
Aang saved his last hug for Katara, who he embraced more tenderly than the others. The found each other's lips for a short kiss then broke apart still holding hands. Three years into their relationship and they still acted like a new couple. Toph punched Zuko in the shoulder then turned to him, a look of shock in her eyes. "Mai is…"
"Yep!" Zuko said, with distinct pride in his voice. "She's pregnant." The group then broke into talks of the past, present, and future. Zuko was leading the Fire Nation in a completely new direction; the army was now a tiny fraction of what it had been at the height of the war. Sokka was rebuilding the Southern Water Tribe with his Father, whereas Gran Gran had relocated to the Northern tribe to live with Pakku. Toph was running her own Earthbending School and continued to own the belt at Earth Rumble. She had worked out most of her problems with her parents and they finally accepted that she was a competent Bender, and a competent person. Katara and Aang were going from nation to nation perfecting Aang's bending, and doing any Avatar business that was needed. The topic of Suki and Sokka's fight was touched on briefly and then buried quickly.
Aang may not have been a huge fan of parties, but he had to admit, seeing everyone back together was a wonderful thing.
That is it. So Timeline explanation, First off this is as you may have guessed, four years after the war, three anniversaries after. It got me confused too, but now I'm not. This means that in the Danny Phantom world, Danny saved the world just last year and so on. Some characters you won't see. Bumi, sorry, he didn't make it to a hundred and sixteen, only one hundred and fifteen. Haru and others. I found those characters to be kinda boring, but that's just me. Jet, cuz Jet is dead. Anyway, I hope that doesn't deter you readers. Please, Read, Review, and Prosper.
