5

Katara, Aang, Sokka and Appa mount the crest of a small hill. Aang smiles and spreads his arms wide. "The Earth Kingdom city of Omashu!" A walled city rests atop a huge rock promontory and is accessible only by a narrow, switchback road. The city looks both impressive and impregnable. "I used to always come here to visit my friend Bumi!" Katara and Sokka looked at the outer wall of the city, "Wow. We don't have cities like this at the South Pole." Katara said shyly. Sokka is just in amazement, oohing and aahing at everything. "This wall is better than my defense tower." "There's buildings that don't melt." and other nonsense that only he would appreciate. As Sokka muttered to himself of all the wonderful buildings, Aang happily said, "Well, let's go slow pokes! The real fun is INSIDE the city!

Aang launches himself into the air and lands farther down the hill.

Katara runs after him, yelling, "Wait, Aang!" In which he does. As she stops to catch her breath, she huffs out, "It could be dangerous if people find out you're the Avatar. You need a disguise." Aang couldn't contain his laughter, "So, what am I supposed to do? Grow a mustache?"

Aang wears a huge fake head of hair and mustache made out of some of Appa's hair. He is scratching underneath the wig. "Ooohhh! This is so itchy! How do you live in this stuff, buddy?" He asks Appa, who simply grunts at him in response. Sokka stifled a giggle, "Great! Now you look just like my grandfather." Katara spoke as Aang picked up his staff, "Technically he IS 112 years old." and upon picking up his staff, Aang turned to the group, using a fake old man voice, "Now let's get to skippin', young whippersnappers! The big city awaits." Aang begins to walk hunched over, using his staff as a walking stick. "You guys are gonna love Omashu! The people here are the friendliest in the world."

The three stop short at the sound of A merchant trying to get into the city, but the three guards are giving him trouble. "Rotten Cabbages?" One of the guards asks. "What kind of slum do you think this is?" Asks another. The guard is holding one of the offending cabbages. He crushes the cabbage in his hand, knocks those in the merchant's arms over the side of the access road. The guard then earthbends a lump of the ground, knocking the merchant's cabbage cart high into the air and over the side of the access road. The cart and all the merchant's cabbages plunge hundreds of feet to the valley floor below. "NOOOOOOO! MY CABBAGES!" The merchant looks over the side of the road as he laments.

The three now look ahead to the gate with some trepidation. "Just keep smiling." Aang says as walks forward with a big smile. Katara titters uneasily, but she and Sokka follow. The guard who has just obliterated the cart walks forward to meet Aang. He earthbends a huge boulder out of the ground and holds it over Aang's head, telling him to, "State your business!"

Aang rushes forward out from under the rock in a move much too sprightly for his supposed age. He points an accusing finger at the guard and using his old man voice begins to speak. "My business is my business, young man, and none of yours! I've got half a mind to bend you over my knee and paddle your backside!" The guard drops the stone behind Aang in surprise. Katara and Sokka are both terrified at what Aang is doing. The guard chuckles, "Settle down, old timer. Just tell me who you are." Aang looks calmer and says "Name's Bonzu. Bonzu Pipinpadaloxicopolis, the Third, and these are my grandkids." Katara came forward a few steps, smiling serenely, "Hi, June Pipinpadaloxicopolis. Nice to meet you." The guard that Aang was just pointing his finger at, now pointed his finger at Katara, "You seem like a responsible young lady. See that your grandfather stays out of trouble. Enjoy Omashu!" The guard motions them to pass. The three walk forward into the city with Sokka trailing. "Wait a minute!" The guard shouts, grabbing Sokka by the shoulder as he passes, making the group make a collective gulp. "You're a strong young boy. Show some respect to your elderly and carry your grandfather's bag." ""Good idea," Aang said as he threw his bag to Sokka.

Cut to a rear shot of the three at the gate, which is stone and consists of three movable, interlocking stone walls. The three are shocked by the size and power of this fortification. The gates begin to close again as the three move to pass through it. Just as his vision of Aang is obscured, the guard sees Momo's ears emerge from Aang's wig.

Once inside, the gang looks over a railing. There are many houses with roofs painted in Earth Kingdom green and chutes all over the city with crates and packages sliding along them. Aang starts matter-of-factly, "This is Omshu's delivery system. Miles and miles of tubes and chutes. Earthbending brings the packages up and gravity brings them down." Sokka looked bored, like any student in a school, "Great, so they get their mail on time." Aang beamed mischievously, "They do get their mail on time, but my friend Bumi found a better use for these chutes…"

Flashback sequence. A young boy with spiky orange hair tied with a headband looks out over the city. The boy, Bumi, has a missing tooth and a slightly insane facial expression. "Look around you!" He said. "What do you see?" Aang took a second to answer. "Umm… The mail system?" Bumi beamed conspiratorially, "Instead of seeing what they want you to see, ya gotta open your brain to the possibilities." Aang looked out over the mail system again, not able to see what Bumi meant. "A package sending system?" "No, Dork! The world's greatest super slide!" Aang looked at the mail system once more, "Bumi, you're a mad genius!" who smiles widely, laughs and snorts.

Aang and Bumi in one of the transport bins rocketing down the slide.

The flashback ends, but it is clear that Aang, Katara and Sokka are now at the same place in the city where the flashback occurred. At the top of the slide, where the three are now sitting in one of the transport bins, teetering, Aang is excited and the other two are leery. "One ride," Aang says in the front seat, "Then we're off to the North Pole. Airbenders honor." Aang took the two middle fingers on his left hand and flipped them up, his hand looking like _././._- in a salute. Katara covered her eyes with one hand and held onto Aang's arm with the other, "This sounded like fun at first, but now that I'm here, I'm starting to have second thoughts!" As Katara finishes her sentence the cart drops an insane initial vertical drop. It is intimidating. As she finishes, the bin drops into the chute and they rocket away. As they accelerate down the chute, a neighboring chute becomes visible in the background. It is clearly going to merge with the chute our group is in. A rack of spears is dropping down this other chute and after the two paths merge, Sokka is soon ducking to avoid getting killed. Katara and Sokka start making distressed noises as they try to avoid the spears. Aang starts rocking the bin back and forth in the chute. He soon derails them out of the chute and their bin freefalls onto a rooftop below.

Below, there's a group of Earth Kingdom soldiers being addressed by an officer. "Men, you'll be going off to combat soon. It's important that you be prepared for anything." At this moment, the bin with our group falls into view of the soldiers. Aang has grabbed the front of the bin and is apparently trying to pull it up, his foot in Katara's face. Sokka is panicking in the back. Aang airbends to propel the bin back into the air and within seconds they have managed to drop back into a chute and are rocketing down once again. Behind him, Katara freaks out, screaming, outright demanding, "Aang, do something! Use your airbending!" Aang smiles wider, eyes watering already, "Yeah! Good idea! That'll make us go even faster!" Aang blasts air behind them, making them speed up. city dwellers look at them in alarm as they whiz by down the chute. As they approach the drop down of the last major chute, they all scream as they see the off-load point just in front of them. The off-load has a package on it that they will hit. An earthbender next to it moves the package. The kids breathe a sigh of relief. The earthbender raises another package into the off-load point, making the kids scream yet again. Rather than hit the package, they hit the side of the trench and ran off the track again. They all fall out of the bin and are falling, but Aang airbends them each back into the bin. They bounce off a roof and into a man's work room, destroying his pottery. They bounce off his floor and out the window opposite the one they came in. "SORRY!" Aang yells behind them, things blurring too fast for him to truly know the damage he's done. They drop into someone's living room and fly through their house. Outside they crash through the wall of the balcony and drop again, screaming. The cabbage merchant from earlier is fondly shaking one of his cabbages in front of his cart. He looks up and jumps back as the bin and the kids fall onto the cabbage cart, totally destroying it, blowing cabbages all over the place. The kids land in a heap and Aang's disguise is now gone. The cabbage merchant starts flailing about, "My cabbages! MY CABBAGES! You're gonna pay for this!" The three are quickly surrounded by soldiers and Aang sheepishly asks for, "Two cabbages please."

As the kids are escorted to King Bumi's throne chamber, they see that it's decorated in shades of Earth Kingdom green. The aged King sits on his throne in the distance, for it is a large room. the King wears the same crazy expression as in Aang's flashback, though he is now clearly ancient. He looks upon the three, and the guards behind them force them to kneel. One of the guards in front of the kids spoke, "Your majesty, these juveniles were arrested for vandalism, traveling under false pretenses and malicious destruction of cabbages." The cabbage merchant is still irate, frothing at the mouth, screaming, "Off with their heads! One for each head of cabbage!" and being physically held back by a guard, who then tells him, "Silence! Only the King can pass down judgment." And looking to King Bumi, asks, "What is your judgment, Sire?" King Bumi looks at each of the children in turn. Sokka is nervous, Katara hopeful, and Aang tries to act like he's invisible. "Throw them…" King Bumi dramatically starts "...a feast!" Guards make noises of surprise, the merchant of chagrin, and Aang just mutters a single, "Huh?"

Momo eats goodies on the right side of the table. The three are seated with Aang in the middle. Behind them King Bumi stands, giggling, "Hehe! The people in my city have gotten fat from too many feasts, so I hope you like your chicken with no skin." offering a piece of chicken to Aang. Aang graciously declined, putting his hand in front of him to stop the chicken touching his face, "Thanks. But I don't eat meat." Upon hearing this, King Bumi had no quarrels, no arguments, he instead turned to Sokka. "How about you? I bet YOU like meat!" he said, and then stuck the drumstick in Sokka's mouth, who then proceeded to chew and moan in delight. Katara turns to Aang and asks, "Is it just me, or is this guy's crown a little crooked?" She makes cuckoo motions at the side of her head as she says the latter. King Bumi moved to take his seat at the opposite end of the table. "So, tell me young bald one. Where are you from?" Aang stammers for a second, but plays it off as him eating, "I'm from… Kangaroo Island." He finally spits out. King Bumi leans forward in his chair, looking at the three kids, "Oh, Kangaroo Island, eh? I hear that place is really hoppin!" Silence is broken by Sokka's laughter, the other two look at him like he has grown a third head. "What? It was pretty funny. Not like you two are comedians." King Bumi yawns and says, "Well, all these good jokes are making me tired. Guess it's time to hit the hay." As he ends his sentence, he suddenly throws another drumstick at Aang, who airbends it to a standstill, though he is very surprised. It spins in the air in front of him. The guards draw breath in surprise. King Bumi stands up, "There's an Airbender in our presence and not just any Airbender, the Avatar!" He points at Aang who drops the drumstick, trying to act like he didn't just reveal himself. "Now what do you have to say for yourself, Mr. Pipinpadaloxicopolis?" Aang stands and spreads his arms wide in a gesture of defeat. "Okay! You caught me. I'm the Avatar, doing my Avatar thing, keeping the world safe. Everything checks out," he looks under the table, "No Firebenders here. So, good work everybody." He puts his arms around his companions and together they stand. "Love each other, respect all life and don't run with your spears. We'll see you next time!" The three have been walking backwards to the door, but the guards stop them. "You can't keep us here," Katara shouts across the room, "Let us leave!" King Bumi cocks his head to the side, "Lettuce leaf?" He picks up a lettuce leaf from the plate in front of him and takes a bite. The three see this and Sokka leans in closer to the others, whispering, "We're in serious trouble. This guy's nuts!" King Bumi straightens up, stops laughing at his own joke, and is now deadly serious, "Tomorrow the Avatar will face three deadly challenges. But for now, the guards will show you to your chamber." The guard that spoke earlier looked confused, cleared his throat, and asked, "My liege, do you mean the good chamber, or the bad chamber?" King Bumi answered as if it was common knowledge, "The newly refurbished chamber." and it wasn't common knowledge, because the guard then asked, "Wait, which one are we talking about?" King Bumi answered much more patiently than anyone expected of the crazy man, "The one that used to be the bad chamber, until the recent refurbishing that is. Of course, we've been calling it the new chamber, but we really should number them. Uh, take them to the refurbished chamber that was once bad!" The three are being led out by guards while King Bumi sits back down at his chair, eating lettuce, with a crazy look in his eye.

The three are thrust into the 'newly refurbished chamber that was once bad' and the "door" is closed by earthbending. The chamber is beautiful, spacious and furnished with three comfortable beds. Katara did a once over of the chamber, "This is a prison cell? But it's so nice!" Aang airbended himself over to one of the beds and layed down, "He DID say it was newly refurbished." Sokka crossed his arms and continued walking around the room, "Nice or not, we're still prisoners." Aang got cozier in his bed, "I wonder what these challenges are gonna be." With this, Katara started to walk around like her brother, "We're not going to stick around to find out. There's gotta be some way out of here." Aang could see a way from his position lying in bed. He bolted up, smiling and pointing, "The air vents!" Sokka stopped walking around and just stared at Aang incredulously, "If you think we're gonna fit through there then you're crazier than that king." The air vent is a SMALL circular hole in the wall. "We can't," Aang starts, "but Momo can." Momo is sprawled on the bed, gorging on an apple, his tongue still licking the fruit. "Momo, I need you to find Appa and bust us outta here!" The light from the room is blocked as Aang stuffs Momo face first into the vent, having some trouble. "Go on, boy, get Appa!" He stops, only to have Momo's behind dangle from the vent. He is stuck. Sokka scratches his head. "Eh. How was Appa supposed to save us anyways?" Aang helps Momo out of the vent and answers Sokka, "Appa is a ten ton flying bison. I think he can figure something out." Katara starts fluffing out a cover. "Well, no point in arguing about it now." She gets into bed. "Get some rest, Aang. Looks like you'll need it for tomorrow." Aang walks dejectedly back over to his bed, the one in the middle, and lays down. Asleep, he snores so loudly that he almost doesn't notice the room shake as an earthbender opens the "door" He opens his eyes to see the other two beds empty. "Sokka! Katara!" Turning to guards he asked, "Where are my friends?" The guard looked at Aang stone faced. "The King will free them if you complete your challenges." Aang cocked his head to the side. "And if I fail?" The guard's expression softened just a little, "He didn't say. Your staff please?" Aang gives his staff to the guard, and is escorted to the throne room, flanked by two additional guards. King Bumi is standing to the left of his throne, wearing a horrible, blue, purple, and light green robe. "First, Avatar, what do you think of my new outfit? I want your honest opinion." Aang, as well as all three of the guards, have no reaction. Bumi clears his throat, demanding, "I'm waiting!" Aang stammers for a second. "I… well, you… It… I guess it's fine." Aang said, slightly scared of the mad King's response. "Excellent!" King Bumi boomed. "You passed the first test!" Aang looked puzzled for a second, then relieved. "Really?" The mad King thought for an equally long time, "Well, not one of the deadly tests. The real challenges are much more... challenging." Aang's expression becomes angry. He airbends his feet to run in an instant up to King Bumi. "I don't have time for your crazy games! Gimme my friends back! We're leaving!" King Bumi, now nose to nose with Aang, squints his eyes to look more frightening, "Ohh. I THOUGHT you might refuse…" the King on the left, Aang on the right, and a view of the wall of the chamber between them. At this moment a "door' is opened by guards holding Katara and Sokka in the corridor beyond. The guards place small rings on one of their fingers which contract to fit snugly as soon as they are worn. Sokka and Katara struggle to take off the rings, but can't. "...so I will give your friends some special souvenirs. Those delightful rings are made of pure genemite, also known as creeping crystal. It's a crystal that grows remarkably fast. By nightfall your friends will be completely covered in it. Terrible fate, really. I can stop it, but only if you cooperate." The Ring starts creeping up Sokka's finger, scaring him into a frenzy. "AAAAAAAHHHHHH! HELP!" Aang tells Bumi, "I'll do whatever you want." King Bumi grinned evilly, "Mmmm…"

Inside a cavern moments later, Aang stands on a small stone parapet with a waterfall in the background. The cavern floor is covered in stalagmites. King Bumi, the guards and the prisoners stand on a balcony. Crystal already covers the forearms of both prisoners. King Bumi laughs. "It seems I've lost my lunch box key and I'm hungry." There's a key hanging by a long chain in the middle of the waterfall. A ladder reaches up from the ground of the cavern to about where the key dangles. "Ooh… There it is. Would you mind fetching it for me?"

Aang jumps into action. Using his airbending skills he bounces from stalagmite to stalagmite. He charges into the waterfall, holding his breath, and begins to climb the ladder. The force of the water stops him from making progress, though. The mad King starts talking mad shit. "Ooh, climbing the ladder. No one's thought of that before." Aang loses his grip and is shot out of the waterfall. He is about to get impaled when he recovers and slides between two stalagmites, one foot on the side of each. He breathes a sigh of relief. He looks up at his friends and regains his determination. This time he flies up to the stalactites on the ceiling and is soon looking down at the key. He concentrates, jumps into the waterfall, and is shot right back out, managing to grab onto a stalagmite. Looking over at his friends, Aang sees that the crystal now covers them up to their shoulders. King Bumi laughs. "That's right. Keep diving in head first. I'm sure it'll work eventually." This gives Aang an idea. He breaks off the top of the stalagmite he is holding and throws it at the chain holding the key. Using his airbending skills he makes sure it breaks the chain and carries the bottom part of it along with the key up to the balcony. The tip of the stalagmite embeds itself like a spearhead into the top of the doorway. The key now dangles just over the surprised King's head. "THERE! Enjoy your lunch! I want my friends back, NOW!" Aang shouts out. "Not so fast, Avatar." the mad King responded politely, "I need help with another matter."

Outside in an earthbent arena, shallow and wide, with a railing along the top, Bumi announces, "It seems I've lost my pet Flopsy." Aang is in the middle of the arena. On a rock, not too far from him, sits a small fluffy bunny. "Found him!" He shouts. "Well, that was easier than I thought…"his thought was interrupted by Bumi shouting, "Bring him to me! Daddy wants a kissy kiss from his beloved babykins, Flopsy!" Behind Aang, a huge monster lands with a 'flop.' Aang talks to the small bunny on the rock, "Come here, Flopsy!" Aang turns around to face the monster while the bunny squeaks and runs off. The monster crushes a huge boulder in front of Aang. He flips backwards and lands as the bunny runs by him, squealing in terror. "Wait Flopsy! WAIT! Flopsy!" Aang chases the bunny while the monster chases Aang. King Bumi is cackling maniacally. The bunny runs into a rabbit hole in the wall of the arena. Aang slides up next to it and sticks his hand in the hole. He rummages around, but finds nothing. Meanwhile, the monster closes in. Aang has another idea. He stands up and faces the monster just as it arrives. "Flopsy?" The monster stops instantly and wags its tail. Flopsy picks Aang up tenderly, making gentle noises. Aang is surprised and starts screaming. He stops when Flopsy gives him a huge lick. "FLOPSY!" He rubs Flopsy's head. Flopsy drops Aang and scales the arena wall in response to King Bumi's whistling and kissing noises. He flops on back in front of King Bumi. "Awww, that's a good boy! Yes, who has a soft belly?" He begins to rub Flopsy's belly. Flopsy's left leg paws the ground in pleasure. Aang jumps onto the railing of the arena, seeing his friends. Katara is covered from neck to ankles in crystal. Aang asks, "Gusy! Are you ok?" Katara doesn't miss a beat. "Other than the crystal slowly encasing my entire body, I'm doing great!" Sokka is in similar straits. A new length of crystal grows on the left side of Sokka's head. He loses his balance and keels over. Aang looks over at Bumi, who's still rubbing Flopsy's belly, and with the facial expression of an angry father, says, "Come on. I'm ready for the next challenge." the mad King just laughs.

With both Aang and the mad King standing in the middle of an earthbending arena, ill-lit and largely featureless, there lies on a balcony Katara and Sokka, now encased in crystal except for their faces and feet. "Your final test is a duel and as a special treat you may choose your opponent. Point and choose." Two enormous gladiator type characters show up to flank King Bumi. The champion on the left is a muscular man with a nasty smile and a huge axe. The champion on the right is a mammoth fighter who looks like he relies upon brute strength. Aang is terrified. Aang stands and thinks for a second. "So, you're saying that whoever I point to, that's the person I get to fight?" the mad King responds, "Choose wisely." Aang lifts his arm. "I choose…" He flicks his index finger out, pointing it at, "YOU!" He's pointing directly at King Bumi. "HA! Wrong choice!" King Bumi, with some effort, corrects his lumped posture. He dumps his robes to reveal a surprisingly muscular physique for such an old man. He is clearly formidable and Aang recoils, realizing his mistake. The King is also apparently a master earthbender, for he immediately stamps the ground, blowing Aang far out into the arena. He lands in the dust. King Bumi launches himself off the balcony and lands close to Aang. He laughs evilly. "You thought I was a frail old man, but I'm the most powerful earthbender you'll ever see!" As Aang gets up from being knocked on his dairy-air, he asks the mad King, "Can I fight the guy with the axe instead?" King Bumi booms, "There are no 'take-back-sees' in my kingdom. You might need this!" while motioning to a guard to throw Aang his staff back. King Bumi immediately launches several boulders at him which Aang dodges. "Typical airbender tactic: avoid and evade. I'd hoped the Avatar would be less predictable." He launches another boulder at Aang, who dodges and launches himself into the air. "Don't you have any surprises for me? Sooner or later, you'll have to strike back." The King launches another stone at Aang which misses, but explodes upon impacting the ceiling of the arena. The debris knocks Aang to the ground and he loses his staff as he falls. Aang gets back up as King Bumi begins walking around. With each turn he makes a huge pillar of rock block Aang's path. One of them catches Aang in the gut as it rises into the air. "Oh, you'll have to be more creative than THAT!" Aang jumps off the pillar, riding one of his famous airballs, riding the wall of the arena and he approaches the King from his right. He launches a huge gale at his opponent, who blocks it with a sheet of stone raised from the floor of the arena. The King emerged from behind the stone shield, a smile on his face, "Did someone leave the windows open? It feels a little drafty in here!" the King drops his smile, "Are you hoping I'll catch a cold?" Aang drops his airball and the King kicks over the stone sheet and begins to raise it on earth dug out of the arena's surface. He shoots the earth underneath the stone sheet at Aang which knocks him over. The King strikes the ground with his fist, sending a shock wave through the arena surface right at Aang. The Avatar flips backwards and avoids the shock wave, but now is close to the rear wall of the arena. The mad King chastises, "How are you going to get me from waaaaaaaayyyyyyyy over there?" Aang looks determined and begins to run to his opponent. King Bumi who uses the side of his foot to dash the earth. The ground around Aang becomes quicksand and he falls in. The King raises two boulders and sends them to smash the struggling Aang. He escapes just in time as the rocks smash together. Aang jumps straight at his opponent, unleashing a blast of wind that knocks him and the stone sheet he stands upon back against the wall of the arena. The King raises one of the boulders from where he had just failed to crush Aang and pulls it back towards him at frightening speed. The Avatar sees it just in time and does a backflip that barely allows him to get up and over the flying boulder. The boulder of course moves on to almost crush the King, but he breaks it into many pieces as it reaches him. With tremendous effort, King Bumi tears the entire gate area of the arena out of the ground and holds it over his head. Aang screams in terror and begins to run in circles, creating a tornado. The King throws the massive earth mound, but the tornado grabs it and throws it back at him. As it reaches King Bumi he bisects it neatly in two. Aang appears between the rock pieces and pins the King with his staff. The King smiles and looks up. Overhead hovers one of the two halves of rock, ready to crush them both. "Well done Avatar!" King Bumi says as he throws the rock to the side of the arena. "You fight with much fire in your heart!" He then falls backwards into the floor, disappearing and leaving a Bumi shaped hole. Aang is flabbergasted. A hole opens up in the floor of the balcony and the King emerges, the hole closing instantly beneath him. Aang, using his staff as a helicopter blade, lands on the balcony. When they both reach the balcony, the King turns to Aang. "You've passed all my tests. Now, you must answer one question." Aang stomped his foot defiantly, barely making a thud in the balcony of the arena. "That's not fair! You said you'd release my friends if I finished your tests." the King says, "Oh, but what's the point of tests if you don't learn anything? Answer this ONE question, and I'll set your friends free. What… is my name?" Aang doesn't look to have a ready answer. "From the looks of your friends, I'd say you only have a few minutes." And he takes his leave.

Aang stands there, left in turmoil for a moment, "How am I supposed to know his name?" Katara calmly says, "Think about the challenges, maybe it's some kind of riddle." They all think for a second. Sokka is the first to speak. "I've got it! He's an earthbender, right? Rocky!" Silence… "ya know. Because of all the rocks?" Katara looked desperate, hoping that her life wasn't dependent on 'Rocky' and told Sokka, "We're gonna keep trying. But that's a good backup." Aang started pacing, thinking back. "Okay, so back to the challenges. I got a key from the waterfall. I saved his pet and I had a duel." "And," Katara started, hoping to coax some kind of answer out of Aang, "What did you learn?" "Well," Aang started slowly, "Everything was different than I expected. And they weren't straightforward." a piece of crystal grows into Katara's cheek. "To solve each test, I had to think differently than I usually would." Realization touched every facet of Aang's face. "I KNOW HIS NAME!"

Back in the King's throne room, Aang and the King stand opposite each other. King Bumi is once again hunched over and in his regular green robes. "I solved the question the same way I solved the challenges. As you said a long time ago, I had to open my brain to the possibilities. Bumi, you're a mad genius!" He runs and hugs the old King. "Oh, Aang. It's good to see you. You haven't changed a bit. Literally." Aang's old friend rubs his bald head, like it was a Buddha belly and would give him luck. Sokka and Katara come waddling in, barely able to move. The King makes a pulling back gesture with a fist, shattering the crystal from around both water tribe members. Crystal flies all over and King Bumi catches a piece. "Genemite is made of rock candy." He takes a bite. "Delicious!" Katara, finally freed and able to stand straight again, asks Aang, "So this crazy old king is your old friend, Bumi?" Bumi looked indignant and taken aback. "Who you calling old?" And after a moment's pause, he agreed. "Okay. I'm old." Sokka was quietly stretching in the background until others' conversations died down. Then asked, "Why did you do all this instead of just telling Aang who you were?" "First of all, it's pretty fun messing with people. Hehe." He snorted out a laugh. "But I do have a reason." Turning to Aang, he added, "You have a difficult task ahead. The world has changed in the hundred years you've been gone. It's the duty of the Avatar to restore balance to the world by defeating Fire Lord Ozai. You have much to learn. You must master the four elements and confront the Fire Lord, and when you do, I hope you will think like a mad genius!" Aang clasps his hands together and bows in thanks, "And it looks like you're in good hands. You'll need your friends to help defeat the Fire Nation." Momo jumps onto Aang's shoulder. "And yes, he'll need you too." he said, speaking directly to the flying lemur. As Aang straightened up from his bow, he said, "Thank you for your wisdom. But before we leave, I have a challenge for you!" A moment later a delivery bin flies by, King Bumi at the front, Aang in the back. Both are having a blast as the air rushes by them. They can't stop, but it doesn't bother them. They land at the bottom of the chute system in a plume of dust and smoke, and you can hear an angry man yelling, "MY CABBAGES!"

Katara was curious about how Aang's old friend Bumi became King of Omashu. So when Aang and Bumi came back to the palace she thought it was only right to ask. "Excuse me King Bumi, I have a question, if you would mind regaling us." Katara started. "Here we go again, another unwanted history lesson." Sokka mumbled under his breath but everyone heard him. "Yes, what is it?" Bumi asked. "Well we had thought that everyone Aang used to know was dead since it had been a hundred years. But How did you become the King of Omashu?" Katara asked. "Oh yes I would love to regale you with this tale. But first…" Bumi turns to the guards, "Get them some supplies for their travels that should last a few days and also make sure to not just give meat but some vegetables, fruits, and some sweets as well." He ordered the guards. "Great! No foraging for food for a while!" Sokka said. "As long as you don't eat too much again." Aang said, since last time they got food, Sokka ate a lot and they only had enough food for four days instead of two weeks. "Now let us begin…" Bumi started

Flashback Bumi's POV

It was some time ago, at the start of the hundred year war, when I was just a kid at twelve years old. Word had reached us that the Airbenders had been taken out by traveling Fire Nation Soldiers. They were not interested in taking Omashu at the time as they were just passing through but we were ready to fight if they did. Now my parents did not want me to be out there waiting to fight, knowing I was still learning Earthbending myself. I was considered a prodigy by my parents but I preferred the term mad genius. Years went by. When I was around sixteen, I was in one of the first Fire Nation Campaigns for this city. I was with the military and came up with a mad plan that my commander had approved. We stopped them on the roads around the city by lowering them into the caverns below that is why there is one entrance and one exit. I might have also chucked flaming carts at them. Well... The carts weren't on fire until they hit them with Fire. But it was enough to keep them away from the city. After that battle I rose to the ranks and became the Mad Commander. Now we helped protect the city many times and I was about thirty-five when it was time to crown a new king since my own father was ready to give up the throne and pass it to me, their oldest and craziest child. The day I was given the crown I decided then I would continue to train and keep myself healthy and strong to defend my city.

End of Flashback Back to normal POV

"So living a healthy life is how you are able to live this long to see your best friend come back to save the world." Katara was amazed by that and the whole story. "No!" Bumi thundered. "Rigorous training, mad geniusing, and… Well, of course, the diet and exercise, dearie." He finished with a grin almost as wide as Aang's when you call him out on something.

"Wait, you were called the Mad Commander? And your family were royalty. How did Aang not even know this?" Sokka asked, "Um, because he never talked about it. We did things NORMAL kids would do." Aang said "That's right. And now it is time for you all to be on your way." Bumi said. After quick goodbyes the gang left to finish their trip to the North Pole.