Phew, sorry bout all the confusion in the last chapter. (blink) Author…note…thing…
Or whatever it was. Point is, ON WITH THE STORY!
THE REAL CHAPTER 16- Let the Lessons Begin!
"CHIKARA!" Tsuyosa laughed, leaping to hug the poor boy and knocking him to the ground. Everyone in the plaza just stared, more then a bit confused.
"Tsuyosa! Get the hell offa me!" Chikara hissed. Still grinning, the fire dragon complied. "You go around terrorizing citizens and expect a welcome wagon? You're a simple-minded as ever." He said, standing and brushing himself off.
"And you still have a stick up your ass." Tsuyosa mumbled, standing as well. "And I wasn't terrorizing anyone! I was doing my Godly duty and protecting the future Fire Lord!"
"Completely forgetting that there's a war going on mostly between these two nations! You idiotic Shen-Long(1)!" Chikara yelled back.
"King De!" the general cried, giving a deep bow. The two stopped immediately.
"King…De?" Sokka asked slowly, watching as the others in the plaza bowed as well. Chicora laughed nervously.
"Oh, right. I guess I forgot."
"You forgot you were King of the Earth Kingdom!" Tsuyosa hissed.
"Umm, maybe it would be better if we continued this back at the palace. General Naru," he said, turning to the old general.
"Yes, My Lord?"
"Would you please escort us to the palace?" Standing slowly, Naru gave a confused glance to Zuko.
"M'lord, what are we to do with the firebender?" he asked cautiously.
"He is to come as well. If he truly has come to overthrow the Fire Lord, we have much to discuss. Besides," he smiled at Aang, "I do not think the Avatar would appreciate having his friend killed."
"YOU'RE THE KING OF THE EARTH KINGDOM?" Tsuyosa shouted less then a second after the great doors to the dining hall shut. The two dragons sat at the ends of the gigantic table; Zuko and Aang to Tusyosas right, Sokka and Katara to Chikaras.
"I somehow don't like the seating arrangements (2)…" Zuko mumbled.
"What's the matter with them?" Aang asked.
"It's a formal thing. I'll explain later."
"I had to do something for the twenty years we've been waiting. Is it my fault the Earth Kingdom offered me the throne and I took it?"
"Yes." All of them answered.
"Well, it is the dragons' duty to slowly join into society while we wait for the Avatar." He pointed out.
"Yes, but not by becoming a KING! I thought we agreed that you would take the job of Blacksmith!"
"And I was. But my extravagant Earthbending made me king. Why is this so hard to grasp?" Chikara asked calmly.
"Because we're on a dead-line and things are getting worse by the day! Chikara, I saw one. I saw a demon near the Fire Nation! Sozan is getting closer." The earthbenders eyes widened.
"This soon? We were told at least a few more months!"
"I sent it back. So we have maybe a month."
"You expected a demon to follow a time line? Even a human knows that won't work." Zuko cut in.
"So, I have a month to learn two more elements?" Aang asked, feeling a bit sick. It had taken him a month to learn one!
"Less then that. We still need to get to the Fire Nation and rescue my uncle and crew."
"Could you please not talk of rescuing wanted Firebenders inside these walls? You're lucky you got in here, don't make things worse." Chikara sighed. He closed his eyes, thinking deeply.
"Maybe…" He said, eyes still closed, "Maybe if you take two classes at once. You just have to learn Earthbending first. So if I teach you the basics in the morning, and Zuko and Tsuyosa teach you the basics in the afternoon, it'll still follow the rules." There was a tense silence as they considered this. It might work.
"Okay." Aang said.
"Afternoon would be best anyway, the suns stronger." Zuko pointed out. Nodding in agreement, the group stood.
"I heard the Avatar was here, and had rooms prepared. But I didn't expect more then two people, so if some of you wouldn't mind sharing…"
"With Who?" Zuko and Sokka asked.
"I hate you." Zuko sneered, flopping face-first onto one of the small beds.
"It's not like I like this either!" Sokka snapped, throwing his sleeping bag and other supplies in the corner. "But what else could've happened?"
"You're brother and sister, right? You could've stayed with the waterbender." The firebender sighed.
"Ohh, I get it. You wanted to stay with Tsuyosa."
That bastard was so lucky the Avatar cared about him.
"It is nothing like that. I just would've preferred not having to stay with you." He hissed. It was true, he kinda cared for Tsuyosa, but it was nothing like love.
"Sorry, sorry. It's just that you act a lot nicer to her then others. Some could take that the wrong way."
No reply.
"Scarface?" Sokka asked, walking over to the prince. The other teen was facing away from him, eyes closed and breathing lightly.
Completely and utterly asleep.
"Hmm… I should let him sleep. He must be a bit tired after that demon and the guards…" Grinning, he ran over and grabbed a few red berries they had found earlier. "Of course, I do have to consider who he is." For half a second he wondered if this would be too mean, but soon shoved it from his mind.
It was just a joke.
"Guys? Time to get up! Zuko, Tsuyosa asked you to come up with what you want to teach A-" Katara stopped mid-sentence as she opened the door.
Wrapped in the bed sheets, covered in what seemed to be blood, was Sokka. In the other bed, Zuko lay sleeping, the same red all over his hands.
She screamed.
"Uh-Wah? What the! Stop yelling! What the hell is wrong with you?" Zuko yelled, sitting up.
"Sa-You-Your hands!" Katara managed. Confused, the firebender looked at the red staining his fingers. It was thin and crusted, kind of sticky and the first thought was blood.
A laugh was heard from across the room.
"Aw-Oh man! You should see your faces!" Sokka gasped, clutching his stomach.
"Sok- SOKKA! YOU JERK!" Kataras demeanor quickly changed from relief to anger as she stormed over to her brother. "HOW DARE YOU SCARE ME LIKE THAT! I WAS ABOUT TO KILL ZUKO!"
"You were?"
"Oh, c'mon Katara! It was just a joke!"
For the next five minutes, loud punching and screaming noises echoed from the room.
"Do I want to know what happened to Sokka?" Tsuyosa asked as the three entered the dining hall, the poor water tribesman covered in bruises.
"No." Katara and Zuko said in unison, sitting down. The three holy beings looked nervous before deciding to let it go.
"Right. Anyway, Zuko, did you come up with anything to teach Aang. I don't think I can go back to the basics that easily…"
"In other words you want me to teach him today."
"I'm glad we understand each other! I'll take over once he's got the simple stuff down." The dragon smiled, stuffing a large chunk of raw meat into her mouth. The four humans watched in mild disgust as they watched the two dragons. Apparently, food poisoning was non-existent to them. Luckily, there was normal food, too.
"Wow! I haven't had this stuff in ages" Aang grinned, scarfing down a plate of strange purple and blue leaves.
"I'm glad you like it." Chikara smiled. Sokka and Katara were also enjoying some South-Pole specialties, and Zuko was eating some sort of meat; looking happy even if he was trying not to.
"We get a lot of food from different nations by way of refugees. And some of the Earth Kingdom towns bring Fire Nation supplies." The earthbender explained, not that they were listening.
"Hey Zuko, what's that?" Aang asked.
"Rhino meat." The prince answered simply. Aang, who had seen a few rhinos and was strictly promised not only never to eat meat, but not to eat anything that he had seen, quietly wished he hadn't asked.
"Okay, Avatar-"
"Could you call me Aang?" the airbender asked from across the courtyard. Chikara sighed.
"Sorry, sorry. Okay, Aang, we're going to star with just moving rock." The earthbender demonstrated by lifting a huge boulder and slowly setting it back down. Cheers were heard from atop the courtyard wall.
Word of the Avatar and the future Fire Lord had spread quickly, and people gathered to watch as Aang learned the last elements. This, in turn, made Aang a bit nervous. And apparently, there were going to be more for the Firebending demonstration.
"The key to earthbending," Chikara went on, "is mostly strength. Unlike Air and Water, Earth and Fire are offensive elements. Kicks, punches, lifting and pulling are demanded. All you have to do is imagine lifting the rock, and after a few tries, it should-"
"I'm Doing It!" eyes widened and gasps were heard as Aang held a nicely sized rock over his head.
"Wow. Um, okay. I was planning on just figuring that out today. Let's go on to the next one."
In the next two hours, Aang had learned to lift relatively sized boulders, create sand, and draw out hills and holes.
"Well, that's good for today, no? Ready for lunch?" Aang nodded tiredly, and the two retreated inside. Chikara promising the townsfolk the firebending would be in about an hour.
"How's the Avatar doing?" Zuko asked. He was alone at the table, and had apparently just finished eating.
"He's the Avatar, I should have expected as much. He ran though my first three lessons in just over two hours." Chikara laughed, him and Aang sitting.
"Tsuyosa and the others went out to the town. They shouldn't be back until around sunset." Zuko explained.
"There sure are a lot of people out there. What's so exciting about firebending, anyway?" Aang asked.
"This is the first firebending they've seen that's not aimed at them. Besides, Zuko's the new Fire Lord, they want to see if he's good or not." The two went a bit quiet.
Cheers and boo's were mixed as the two former enemies stepped out into the courtyard. Chikara had fixed the ground to be level so as not to intrude on the lesson, and had also taken the liberty of getting rid of all grass. A fire was not needed.
"Okay, first lesson," reaching into a bag he had brought, Zuko place three candles on the ground and lit them.
"What are those for?" Aang asked.
"All I want you to do is change the size of the flame. It's simple enough, and a common practice tool." The people in the crowds stared strangely, feeling cheated.
"But I don't even know what firebending is! How am I supposed to control it?"
"C'mon! We want to see some fire!" a man in the crowd yelled. Zuko glared.
"Well I guess you wasted your time! This is training, not a sporting event! If anyone here wants blood, I'll call you when we have an Agni-Kai!" he yelled back. Silence.
"You want to know what firebending is, right?" Zuko asked, turning back to Aang. The airbender nodded.
"I can usually control it once I know what to do." He explained. The firebender thought for a moment.
"Firebending is… hm, it's mostly a feeling of anger." He said matter-of-fact.
"How are you supposed to copy that?"
"That's the thing. Most firebenders only use firebending to protect themselves or others. We live in a time of war and know it's kill or be killed. If you face down your opponent, you know only on of you is getting out alive."
"But there was firebending before the war! How did they do that then?" Aang pleaded. He had a very hard time being angry, and there had to be another way.
"The only person here alive a hundred years ago is you and Tsuyosa, and that dragon was in the heavens then."
"You haven't been angry all the time. How do you firebend?" Zuko was feeling like he was being interrogated. That was it, no children, and no teaching from now on.
"I just watch the flame. I picture the fire coming from my hand or growing bigger. Then I follow through with the action and-"
A sudden red light filled the courtyard, causing onlookers to awe.
Aang was glowing.
"I get it…" he whispered, voice slightly echoed. Raising his fist, it ignited at shot at the farthest wall. The light soon disappeared and the boy smiled.
"What just happened?" Zuko asked bluntly.
"I asked Avatar Roku what firebending was. It's simple." He wobbled a bit before sitting back on the ground, wiped out from his Avatar spirit.
"Firebending, Zuko, is courage."
BEHOLD!
Aang now knows earth and firebending! It's my simple way of two birds with one stone. And I'm sorry if this is yet again corny with the "courage" thing. But I just can't see Aang getting angry or filled with hate (yet).
(1)- First try at Chinese, please don't kill me! If this is anything close to my information, it should be close to "God-Dragon"
(2)- Okay, history lesson, everyone! When sitting a table in royal times, sitting to the right of the king showed that the king was of higher status. Meaning since they were sitting to the right of the dragons, Chikara and Tsuyosa were more important then them.
R&R!