Chapter 8: Training

Quick responses to reviews:

Hhaileyynicholee: Thanks! I'm glad that you like it so much already. Yeah, I've got a bad habit of doing cliffhangers, but at least it keeps you guys on your toes like you said. And I agree, Tokka's not bad, and I like that they have some things in common, but I like Sukka more, so I'll try to figure out a way to get Suki into the story. And yes, you're right. He's going to be slowly transitioning into his role as the Avatar over the next few chapters, but I'll just let you see how it develops. And thanks! I agree, I think they should have made Aang a healer in the show as well.

Benoc2004: Well, I wouldn't call it stupidity, I would call it just being doubtful and not knowing for sure and not wanting to risk messing up a friendship, but yeah. Hope you had a good Christmas.

Stegz: Oh no, it won't be the last explosion. You got that right. Oh yeah, absolutely hate it. Especially because I have to wake my crew up to take care of them, and then I can't get any sleep after I'm done. Cheers!

Ashley Barbosa: Yeah, I alluded to it in the first chapter that there were airbenders, but it's okay. I only mentioned it one other time so it's understandable. Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying it!

Kataangforeverrr13: Wow, thanks! I'm glad that I'm doing well enough that you guys can actually imagine it in your heads. And I agree, I won't be doing Tokka for this story. I'll figure out how to get Suki in the story somehow. Thanks!

TheRaccoon13: I don't know for sure, but it's not going to be a super long one. I'm guessing between 11-13 chapters depending on how things go, but I don't know yet.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.


Aang and Katara could only stare at each other, both at a loss of words from what had just happened. It was clear to them that they had both participated in the kiss, but neither of them could see if it was because they liked each other or if it was for another reason.

After a few moments of complete silence, it was Katara who decided that she wouldn't let it continue any longer. "So… what does this mean?" she asked quietly, almost shyly as she found herself still in a bit of a daze from their kiss.

"I don't know," Aang admitted with a blush as he looked away. "What does it mean to you?"

Seeing that they were just going to keep talking in circles if they kept going like this, the young waterbender decided to just be honest with him. "I… I like you, Aang," she admitted, making his eyes widen in surprise.

"Y-you do?" he couldn't help but stutter a little, making Katara laugh as she saw how surprised he was at this.

"Aye, I do. I don't know why," she told him as she looked out at the sea. "I've never felt this way about anyone before, but I do." Her voice became a little shy. "Do you… like me?"

Aang couldn't help but blink in surprise, wondering why she even had to ask that question. He thought he had been rather obvious with how he felt about her, but apparently not. "Aye, I do," he finally managed to get out, despite the fact that he was still surprised to hear that she felt the same as he did.

"Really?" she asked hopefully with the beginnings of a smile, making him chuckle as he found that he couldn't believe that she was so uncertain of how he felt about her.

"Captain-"

"Katara," she corrected him with a smile, making him smile back at her before he continued.

"Katara, I thought that I was being obvious with how I feel about you," he laughed, making her laugh as well as she thought about it.

"Well, Toph said that she knew how you felt about me, but she wouldn't tell me," she thought aloud as she looked up at her forehead as if she was trying to look into her mind. "Sokka teased me, but he never said if he knew that you liked me or not."

A look of confusion crossed over Aang's face as he heard this. "Sokka teased you about liking me?" he asked, to which Katara nodded. "When did that happen? I don't remember him teasing you about anything like that."

"That's because Sokka had the decency to tease me when you weren't around," Katara told him with a roll of her eyes as she thought of her friend. "Toph on the other hand didn't."

Aang's eyes widened in realization as he remembered something. "Like on the beach today."

Katara nodded as she rolled her eyes. "Aye, like on the beach today. That's why I got mad at her," she admitted reluctantly, making him laugh as he saw the clearly unamused look on her face.

"Well, I can't say I don't understand why you got mad," he began with a smile as he cupped her cheek in his hand, making her frown turn to a smile. "Though I do wish that I had known why you were mad. It would have made things a lot easier for me."

"Aye, probably," Katara agreed with a smile, finding herself unable to move as he pulled her back in for another kiss, once again making her heart beat faster and her insides feel like they were melting as she kissed him back. This time, he kept it short, leaving her a bit disappointed as he pulled away.

"So… What do we do next?" he felt that he should ask.

A puzzled look overtook the waterbender's face at this question. "What do you mean?" she couldn't help but ask in utter confusion. She had thought that it was clear that they both wanted to be together now that they had confessed to each other how they felt.

"Well, since we like each other," Aang began with a bit of a nervous look on his face, making Katara laugh that he still seemed doubtful that she liked him back. "Should we tell the others about it?"

Katara's eyes widened in understanding as she finally got what he had meant. "Oh, I hadn't even thought about that," she admitted with a sheepish laugh before thinking about it for a few moments. "On one hand, it would be good for everyone to know-"

"But on the other hand, you don't want Toph to know so she doesn't tease you," Aang finished for her, making her blink in surprise from seeing that he could practically read her mind. "Aye, I get it. I'll leave it up to you. Whatever you decide is good with me." He smiled and kissed her again. "Just as long as I get to be with you."

The young captain couldn't hold back a wide smile as she looked up at him with adoration in her eyes. "Well, as much as I don't want Toph to tease me, we should tell the crew. The sooner they're used to it, the better."

At this, Aang smiled and nodded in agreement. "Aye, that sounds like a plan. How do you want to tell them?" he asked curiously.

"Well, we could make a scene and have rumors spread around the ship, which we would confirm once they started asking us about it," she thought aloud, seeing the look of doubt on Aang's face as she did so. "Or we could just tell them."

"That sounds like a good plan," Aang agreed with a chuckle. "I'm not one to tell my Captain how to do things, but trust me. Rumors do nothing good for anyone."

"Aye, you're probably right," Katara agreed sheepishly, feeling silly for thinking of that in the first place. "Okay, then tomorrow we'll tell them."

The young Avatar smiled as he looked at her. "Sounds like a plan to me." A yawn interrupted him, making him smile sheepishly as he saw that he was getting tired again. "Well, maybe we should get some rest for tomorrow?"

A yawn escaped her lips as well, despite the fact that she was still rather happy from what had just happened. "Aye, that sounds good to me. Night, Aang," she told him with a smile.

"Night, Captain," he smiled back at her as he started walking away, but stopped in his tracks and turned around to give her a quick kiss before walking back, making her blush and sigh happily as she watched him go. Though this certainly wasn't how she had expected her day to go, between her thinking that she had lost Toph and Sokka and finding out that Aang felt the same as she did, she could definitely say that it was one of the most exciting days she had yet.

"Look at you, Sugar Queen," a familiar voice teased from behind her, making her freeze up as she instantly recognized the voice. "You finally manned up and kissed the guy."

Unable to stop herself from rolling her eyes, she turned around and crossed her arms over her chest, trying and failing to hide the embarrassed blush on her cheeks. "What are you doing up here, Toph? I thought that you were below deck," she asked with clear annoyance in her voice, making Toph just laugh as she shrugged.

"You know me. Fights wake me up, so I thought that I'd get some fresh air." She grinned as she remembered everything that she had just heard. "I just got lucky that I stumbled onto your little love fest with Twinkle Toes there."

The young captain rolled her eyes once more, letting out a sigh of defeat as she knew that there was no point in trying to convince her otherwise. "Well, normally I would try to convince you to not tell anyone, but we're going to be doing that tomorrow anyway, so go ahead."

"That and you know that I'm a wildcard, right?" Toph asked with clear amusement on her face.

"Yeah, that too," Katara admitted before shaking her head. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed."

"You do that, Sugar Queen," Toph grinned, her eyes dancing with excitement. "You've got a big day tomorrow." Rolling her eyes one last time, Katara started walking away when Toph called out. "Oh, and just so you know, I'm teasing you all day tomorrow!"

Katara let out another sigh, knowing that her friend was serious as she continued walking. "I know!" she called back dully, making Toph laugh as she finally made it to her cabin door. She wasn't going to let Toph's teasing get her down, though, no matter how much she wasn't looking forward to it. After all, she had just found out that Aang felt the same way she did.

Making sure that her cabin doors were locked, she once again stripped out of her clothes and made her way over to her hammock, laying down on it as she enjoyed how soft it was. And as she fell asleep, she had a smile on her face, finding that she was looking forward to what tomorrow might bring.


The next day, Katara woke up to the sound of people talking outside of her cabin, making her groan as she attempted to roll over to ignore them. She hadn't gotten as much sleep as she usually got, likely due to the fact that they had ended up having a late night battle, but she still wasn't very happy about it.

Unfortunately for her, the chattering of her crew eventually got to her, making her sigh in defeat as she got up and gathered her clothes. If she hadn't been so tired, she likely would have yelled at them for waking her up.

Once she was dressed, she made sure that she had all of her gear and that she looked decent before opening the doors, instantly covering her eyes as the bright sunlight shone directly into her eyes. Clearly, she still wasn't quite used to getting up early, and it was showing.

But, once she finally managed to get used to the almost blinding light, she was surprised to find that everyone was already standing in front of her cabin. Why were they all there? It was as if they had been waiting for her to come out.

A nagging suspicion came to mind as she looked at her friend, who was currently leaning back against the nearest mast with a smug smirk on her face, and she knew instantly what had happened. Sighing a little, she looked around the crew for the one that she was looking for, but was surprised to find that he wasn't there.

Fortunately for her, she didn't have to wonder where he was for long, as she soon saw his head appear above deck as he too seemed surprised by the gathered crowd around Katara. Seeing that she didn't appear to be happy about something, he made his way through the crowd of pirates and looked at her with a question in his eyes.

The young captain then motioned for him to come up with her, knowing that the sooner they got this over with, the sooner that everyone would leave them alone. Aang did as he was told and stood next to her, turning around to face the crew who were all looking at them with a mix of both surprise and excitement on their faces.

Rolling her eyes a little, Katara cleared her throat and spoke. "Alright, I'm guessing that Toph told you guys something?" They all nodded. "And you want me to confirm whether it was true or not?"

"I don't!" Sokka called from the back of the crowd, earning a punch in the shoulder from Toph, making him wince as he remained silent from then on.

Smiling appreciatively at Toph, she returned her attention to her crew and nodded to one of the pirates who had raised their hands. "Is it true that you and the Avatar are dating?" they asked, sending a fit of surprised gasps coming from a few members of the crew.

Although she noticed that Aang didn't like being called 'the Avatar', she didn't blame them for calling him that, and decided that it would be best to just act like nothing had happened. Taking a deep breath, she smiled and looked over to Aang, taking his hand in hers as she turned to look back at her crew.

"Aye," she spoke loud and clear for them all to hear. "Aang and I are dating now."

The crew around them erupted into a fit of excited whispers and smiles, making her smile as she saw that they were happy for them. The only one who didn't appear to be smiling was Sokka, but she understood well why that was. He would always be her older brother, and that meant that he would always be disgusted by the thought of his little sister dating anyone.

But, she knew that he would get over it eventually, though she also knew that it would probably take him a while. If she had learned anything about her brother other than the fact that he loved sarcasm and meat, it was that he held onto things for a long time when he didn't like them.

"Well, it's about time," Toph spoke up as she moved from her position against the mass and moved up to the front of the crowd. "Your heartbeats have been driving me crazy."

Aang couldn't help but look confused at this, and as he looked to Katara for an answer, she decided to help him out. "Toph is a master earthbender, but more than that, she used to be a blind earthbender."

"What?!" Aang couldn't help but almost squeak out in surprise, making Katara giggle as she saw the look on his face from hearing this. "What do you mean, used to be?"

"What part of that don't you get, Twinkle Toes?" Toph smirked as she yawned a little. "I was blind for most of my life."

"I get that, mate," he decided to not get angry with her for acting like he was stupid. "But how are you not blind anymore?"

This time, it was Katara who spoke up. "Well, when I first met Toph, she was blind and lived with her family," she began explaining while the rest of the crew went back to their chores upon Toph's orders. "I met her at an underground fight club and decided that I wanted her on my crew."

"So when Sweetness found me, she had to convince me that being a pirate would be better than winning Earth Rumbles," Toph broke in, making Katara roll her eyes as she saw that her friend couldn't just let her explain something once. "And after a lot of talking it up, she offered a way for me to have my sight."

No one else said anything after that, making Aang look between the two as if they were crazy. "Um… So how exactly did you help her see?" he finally decided to ask, making Katara smile sheepishly as she realized that he wouldn't know how such a thing was possible.

"Well, back when I first started becoming a pirate, my brother and I wanted to go to the North Pole, so we went there and stayed there for a few months," she continued her explanation, becoming surprised as Toph didn't bother to interrupt her again. "While we were there, Sokka and I made a friend who took us to the Spirit Oasis up there. The Oasis had water with incredible healing abilities, so when our friend wasn't looking, I took this," she reached down into her dress and pulled out an exquisitely crafted vial with the symbol of the Water Tribes on it.

Aang, still being confused and not understanding what it was, waited silently for her to continue until she realized that she hadn't finished and blushed in embarrassment. "This is the water I took from the Spirit Oasis. I thought it would come in handy in case something ever happened, and when I met Toph, I thought that it might be able to work for her."

"And it did," Toph grinned, remembering all the days she had spent wondering what the people around her had looked like, and being thankful that she no longer had to wonder about it. "But, before Katara helped me see again, I had a different way of seeing." Aang waited for her to explain further. "When I was a little girl, I was trained by badgermoles how to Earthbend. They taught me how to see without actually seeing. I used the vibrations in the Earth to sense my surroundings, and I could 'see' that way."

"Wow," Aang couldn't help but breathe in amazement from her story, making her grin as she nodded her agreement.

"I know. I'm pretty awesome," she grinned, making Katara roll her eyes as she saw that her friend hadn't gotten any humility lately. "Anyway, since I spent so many years being blind, I can still use vibrations to read my surroundings. Like I can see that Snoozles back there," she pointed to a surprised looking Sokka who had been sneaking some seal jerky. "Is trying to eat something without someone noticing."

Katara, upon seeing that she was right, took a closer look at what was in his hand and became annoyed as she recognized it. "Sokka! That's my seal jerky!"

His eyes widening as he saw that he had been caught, he shoved what was left in his mouth and swallowed it, making Katara sigh in annoyance as he smiled apologetically to her. "Sorry, sis."

Deciding that she would make him pay for that later, she then thought of something, something that she had almost completely forgotten about over all the craziness that had been happening lately. "Wait. This is perfect!"

"What's perfect?" Aang couldn't help but ask in confusion, clearly not being on the same track of thought as she turned to him.

"You need people to teach you the other elements, Aang," she reminded him, making his eyes widen as he realized that she was right. "Toph can teach you Earthbending and I can teach you waterbending."

"Um… I think you guys are forgetting an element!" Sokka called from behind them, making Katara roll her eyes as he then said. "And this is coming from a nonbender!"

Ignoring her sudden urge to scold him, she turned to Aang with a pensive look on her face. "As much as I don't want to admit it, he's right. We need to find you someone who can teach you firebending."

The three were all silent as they thought about it. Of course there were plenty of firebenders on the ship, but it wasn't likely that they were all masters. And even if they were, they still needed someone that they could trust to stay on task, and Katara seriously doubted most of the firebenders would be able to do that.

Then, a thought occurred to her as she remembered one of their newest crewmates. "What about Iroh?" she suggested, making Toph and Aang's eyes widen as they realized that she might be right.

"Well, it's worth a shot," Aang shrugged with a smile.


Iroh couldn't help but let out a hearty laugh as he heard their question, making the four friends frown as they saw that he found it funny. This was not quite what they had expected. After all, Iroh seemed to be the best choice. He had many years of wisdom, and likely many years of firebending experience. If anyone could teach Aang how to firebend, it would be him.

But, he didn't seem to agree, as his laughter just continued as he poured himself a cup of tea. "Well, while I'm very much honored you three would think of me for the role of teaching the Avatar, I must politely decline your request," Iroh finally told them as he took a sip of his steaming tea.

"Why not?" Toph decided to ask, her tone as confused as her face looked as she did so.

Taking another sip of his tea, he let out a satisfied sigh and set his cup back on his plate before stroking his beard in thought. "I am a master firebender, but I do not use it to attack anymore, as your captain well knows," he added with a pointed look at Katara, who blushed as she realized that he was right.

"Well, you don't have to use it to fight," Sokka decided to speak up this time. "Just teach Aang how to so he can use it when he needs to."

"I am sorry, my young friends," Iroh smiled apologetically as he stroked his beard a few times before leaning back in his chair. "But not only am I in my later years of life, but I simply do not wish to teach it myself." His face took on an unusual look of sadness as he thought of his past. "I have a past that I am not proud of, and I do not wish to revisit it."

Although the four found themselves disappointed that he wouldn't teach Aang firebending, they all knew him well enough by now to know that they wouldn't be able to convince him otherwise, and decided that it would be best to just forget about it.

"Okay, well thanks for hearing us out," Katara finally spoke up. "We just need to find someone to teach Aang firebending."

"Well, for that, I might have a solution for you," Iroh told them wisely as he took another sip of his tea and set it back down. "While my nephew and I were on the run, I trained him to the level of mastery."

"You mean that Hothead can help us?" Toph asked with a raised brow.

"Of course," Iroh nodded his agreement. "That is, if you can convince him to."

Aang grinned, feeling confident that he would be able to persuade his new friend to help him out. "Don't worry. It shouldn't be a problem."


"No," was Zuko's only reply as he took a sip of his beer while Mai leaned into him with his arm around her shoulder, making the four people around them get annoyed.

"Why not?" Toph asked in disbelief with her hands on her hips, clearly not being happy that the only two people who would be able to help them were saying 'no'.

"Because I don't want to," Zuko shrugged simply as he took another sip of his beer. "Training someone takes a lot of time and effort, and honestly, I don't think I would be a very good teacher."

"Come on, Zuko," Katara groaned a little, feeling frustrated as well that they even had to try to convince the firebenders who they had given a place to hide from whatever they had been running away from when they had first met them. "Aang needs a teacher, and Iroh won't do it."

"Why not get one of the other firebenders to do it?" he shot back with a raised brow.

It was Aang who spoke up this time. "Because you and Iroh are the only ones who are actual masters, and because we know that you guys are the only ones who can actually do it the right way."

"Sorry," he shrugged unapologetically, making Mai smirk as she heard the dry sarcasm in his voice. "I don't think I can help you out."

"Oh come on, Zuko," Sokka finally decided to speak up as he put a hand on the table and leveled with him. "There's gotta be something we can do to convince you to teach Aang."

Just as Zuko was about to turn them down again, Mai whispered in his ear, making his eyes widen as he heard what she was saying. Once she finally stopped, he seemed to get nervous, and had to clear his throat before he spoke. "Okay, I'm in."

"Really?" Sokka choked out in surprise, not expecting it to be that easy.

"Yeah, I'm in," Zuko repeated himself, once again taking them all by surprise as they saw that they had heard him right.

"What made you change your mind?" Aang asked curiously.

"Trust me, Twinkles," Toph frowned as she remembered what she had managed to pick up on from her heightened hearing sense. "You don't want to know."

The other three were confused at what she was alluding to, but they all blushed as they realized what it likely meant, and decided that it would be best not to ask further.

"Right," Aang chuckled awkwardly as he tried not to think about what Mai had whispered in Zuko's ear. "Well… thanks, I guess. We'll let you know when it's time." Zuko nodded his agreement and the four walked away, all of them sporting a look of disgust on their face as they tried not to think about what Mai had whispered in Zuko's ear.

"Well, at least we got you a firebending teacher," Katara brought up lightly, trying to change the subject to something they were all more comfortable with.

"Aye, I'm glad we did," Aang nodded in agreement. "Though I've got to admit, this is all a bit scary. I've never bent anything but air before."

Katara gave him a reassuring smile as she kissed him on the cheek. "Don't worry about it, Aang. We'll help you through it."

"You got that right!" Sokka agreed with a wide smile on his face as he wrapped an arm around the young airbender's shoulders. "Especially with your motivational bender to help you!"

"Motivational bender?" Toph asked with a raised brow.

"What? It's a real thing," Sokka frowned while crossing his arms over his chest in defiance, making Aang laugh as he smiled at all of them.

"Thanks, guys. Now, before we get into my training, how about we all have a little fun?" His friends cheered at this, making him laugh as he led the way to the crew mess where the rest of their crew likely were already, feeling excited for what the future might bring.


She took a deep breath of the sea air around her. Normally, she wouldn't be out here on the waves, but she had a special mission that needed to be completed. One that she had spent a long time trying to accomplish, but had yet to complete so far.

This wasn't going to last, however, as she had finally found traces of her prey. Thanks to the sighting of an Earth Kingdom commoner who had told her what they had seen, she now knew that her target was hiding on a pirate ship. Which one, she had no clue, but she was going to find out. Even if it meant she had to sink every pirate ship in the world to find him.

"Your highness," the captain of the ship bowed to her as he approached her. "We have spotted a pirate ship not far away. What are your orders?"

The princess smirked, her amber eyes lighting up with joy as she found herself looking forward to what came next. "Bring us in close and get ready to attack. We will sink every pirate ship that comes our way until we've found him."

"Yes, Princess," the captain bowed and ran back to his post, not noticing as she smiled evilly and looked out at the ship coming towards her in the distance. He was on one of these ships, and she would personally make sure that every single one of them burned until she had found him. And when she did, she would silence him forever.

"I'm coming for you, brother."