A little while after the storm, Sokka and Katara got sick from being out in the cold rain for such an extended period of time. Aang found some shelter for them to stay in, but they weren't well enough to travel. He set out to find them some medicine, but was told by a healer that the only cure was for them to suck on some frozen frogs from a nearby swamp.
While Aang was out collecting these frozen frogs, some archers from the Fire Nation took him down and dragged him off to a prison. Zuko somehow managed to find out that his rival, Zhao, had kidnapped the Avatar using these archers. This was just horrible, because if Aang no longer needed to be caught, then Zuko would no longer have an excuse to chase Sokka all over the world. So, he made a plan.
First, he made a super cool mask out of paper mache. Then, he painted it blue, just like the war paint Sokka had on the first time they met. Having a face like Sokka's made Zuko feel so manly that he was able to get Aang from Zhao with absolutely no trouble at all. But, Zuko knew he couldn't keep Aang. Releasing him back into the wild was necessary so that Zuko could keep his excuse to chase Sokka.
Meanwhile, in the shelter, Sokka was having many dreams and hallucinations. The main one that would haunt him for the rest of his life was a particularly embarrassing dream about one Prince Zuko. Though Sokka wouldn't admit it for months, this was the point when he finally realized that there was a chance he had a small crush on the firebender.
After Aang was released, he collected the frozen frogs and brought them to Sokka and Katara, instructing them to suck on them without letting them know what exactly they were sucking. Mid-suck, Sokka's frog thawed and leaped out of his mouth, disgusting Sokka greatly. In order to try to clean out his mouth (but not really thinking about the proper way in which to do this), Sokka began licking Appa. As soon as he did this, he got a mouth full of fur, and noticed that he had suddenly wished that Zuko had been there to help him clean out his mouth instead.
While walking one day, the teens came across a random guy being attacked by a platypus-bear, but refusing to fight back, claiming a fortune teller told him he wouldn't be harmed. Not believing in such superstition, Aang and Appa chased off the animal. Katara, however, was intrigued by the idea of a fortune teller, so she dragged the others to the nearby town to discover her future.
This caused Sokka to worry quite a bit. Though he didn't truly believe in the unscientificness of fortune telling, he was still afraid that maybe there was some truth to the skill. What if this fortune teller told Katara and Aang about his crush on Zuko? That would not be a good thing. It would be like betraying Aang, since Zuko was always trying to capture him.
Luckily, the fortune teller had no interest in reading Sokka's future, so Sokka didn't have to stress over his secret getting out. Before long, Aang had saved yet another town from fiery doom, and the Avatar gang was off to a new location again.