Ning and Zhong's graduation came much faster than either of them would have liked. While Ning appeared excited about starting a new stage in her life, Zhong didn't feel the same. They both knew it would be difficult once they were parted from one another.
They said their farewells at Zhong's house as the servants were loading his belongings into the car. The trip to Zoafu ended up being a boring one, with no girlfriend and no parents to accompany him. When Zhong finally arrived in Zaofu, he felt very alone.
The servants brought Zhong's belongings to his private room in Zaofu's elite metalbending school while Zhong was escorted to his orientation. He was lead to a large room with a rough stone floor and metal walls. There were no windows and once the door closed, the only lighting present came from a series of octagonal lamps that were hanging from the high ceiling.
The gathered group was small and appeared to be separated with teachers at the front of the room and students facing them in a line. Zhong quickly spotted Master Li who sent him a smile and a quick wink. Zhong averted his gaze and lined up with the other students next to a muscular girl with curly black hair. She glanced at him with a squint, but said nothing.
"Welcome to Zaofu's Elite Metalbending Academy," said a woman at the front of the group. "I am Master Bao and I am one of the head instructors here." Master Bao had her hands clasped behind her back as she surveyed the students in front of her with crisp blue eyes. "You have all been brought here today because you have shown incredible skill in earthbending. Members of the White Lotus have taken an interest in your abilities and as such it is our duty as teachers to help you all hone your skills. I'm sure it's no secret just who the White Lotus are looking for, but do not get too full of yourselves. There is a lot of ground to cover in searching for the Avatar and this isn't the first class we've held with this intent."
The girl standing next to Zhong raised her hand. She held Master Bao's gaze unflinching as the instructor turned her attention to the young woman. "Yes?" Master Bao asked.
"When will we be seen by Master Guo?" the girl asked.
There was silence as the instructors turned to each other. One man leaned over to a woman on the far end and whispered something in her ear.
"Master Guo won't be seeing anyone," Master Li said. Someone snickered.
"What Li means to say, is that Master Guo will not be bothered by any of our students unless they have proven themselves to the instructors. Those of you who do go on to see Master Guo will be our top candidates, but keep in mind that this still does not guarantee anything. You won't be the first students from our classes to be taught by him."
"How many students from these classes have been sent to him?" the girl persisted.
"Very few." The girl opened her mouth to ask another question but Master Bao continued her speech, apparently determined to get this orientation over with as quickly as possible. "Today we will be doing an initial assessment of your skill levels. You will start by sparring with one another, and as you do so, we will be pulling you aside for one-on-one assessments. There are enough of you here today to form groups of two, so pair up with someone, find a place, and get to work."
"So, they're not going to let us settle in first?" asked Zhong.
"Why waste time?" said the girl standing next to him. She cast a critical gaze over Zhong, which caused him to squirm, then she smiled. "So what do you say, fellow potential avatar, care for a fight?"
Master Bao's speech had actually calmed Zhong's nerves somewhat. Master Li had made it seem so positive that Zhong was the avatar, but what had all these other students been told if not the same thing? Maybe he'd get his butt whooped by this girl, and they wouldn't send him to see this Master Guo, and Zhong could go back home to his parents and Ning.
Isn't it kind of your responsibility as a citizen of the Earth Kingdom to help him?
Ning's words rang through Zhong's head before the thought of going easy in this fight even had a chance to form. He would have to give it his best, and if he failed then even better. If he succeeded though...
The girl introduced herself as Liu Shi and the two of them got changed into sparring clothes before facing each other and giving a polite bow. She didn't wait very long to throw the first attack.
It was a good thing the room was so massive, because otherwise four simultaneous earthbending matches would have gotten very messy. As it was, they still had to dodge the occasional stray rock from their fellow students as they launched their own attacks at one another.
Liu Shi was fast and direct. It was almost more of a challenge to fight her than it was to fight Master Li. Zhong found himself narrowly avoiding attack after attack as he himself lifted chunks of rock from the ground and hurled them at his opponent. But she appeared to not be content with a narrow tie. Liu Shi lifted a mound of rock under his foot, destabilizing Zhong's stance and causing him to fall back. This, of course, stuck him right in the center of another sparring match.
One of the other students had just flung a rock at her opponent, but with Zhong's sudden arrival, it was now aimed at his head. Zhong quickly re-directed the rock so it was flying towards Liu Shi, much to the displeasure of the rock's original bender.
Liu Shi side-stepped the attack and heavily stomped one foot, lifting the ground behind Zhong to create a sizable wall that blocked any quick escape. Zhong wasn't planning on running away though, and instead pulled out chunks of the wall and threw them at Liu Shi, who dodged agilely.
The other students were scattering as Zhong and his opponent spread destruction across the massive room. The ground shook violently, giant cracks having formed at their feet. Liu Shi was flinging pebbles at incredible speeds so that others had to dodge or hide behind boulders to avoid being struck. Zhong wasn't so easily caught off guard, pulling up barriers to protect himself as he threw large chunks of the floor at his opponent from all sides. He was perspiring heavily and gasping for breath as she forced him to work harder than he had in a training session since, well, ever.
And Zhong found he was enjoying the challenge for once in his life.
That was, until the ground shook so violently that Zhong almost lost his footing again. Liu Shi stumbled forwards, a shocked expression flashing across her face, before a barrier of rock rose from the ground and separated them. It extended from wall to wall, forcing Zhong to step back and catch his breath. The barrier descended almost as quickly as it had appeared and Zhong caught sight of the teachers, standing behind Liu Shi, as they too lowered their stance. Apparently the fight was over.
"Congratulations," said Bao as she lowered her arms. "I don't think we've ever found candidates quite this quickly."
Even with her shoulders heaving as she caught her breath, Liu Shi smirked. "We'll be seeing... Master Guo... then?" she asked.
Master Guo was in the library when they were brought to him. Zhong wondered if he would be expecting them, given they were being taken directly from their sparring match with what appeared to be no notice. He hoped Master Guo wasn't the type to hate interruptions.
The four of them strode into the large room after a lengthy walk through the courtyard, past the power disk arena. Zhong and Liu Shi stood next to each other as they entered the room behind Masters Bao and Li. The tall metallic bookshelves towered above them, brightly lit by sunlight that streamed into the library through windows that spanned an entire wall. Zhong could smell the dust that floated through the air, but he didn't have much time to take in the ambiance, because they were quickly being led down an aisle to their left. The aisle ended at a metal door which, once opened, revealed a dimly lit room with one curtained window.
Guo Beifong was sitting at a desk in the middle of the room, his cloudy green eyes staring blankly about a foot past the book he was in the process of reading. His leathery, calloused fingers ran across the page with practiced grace as the four newcomers filtered into the room.
"You two must be very good," he said without missing a beat. "Or they wouldn't have had you interrupt my reading. Really, Bao. You know I like my stories."
"My apologies, Guo. These two completely tore up the training room. I wasn't sure if you were watching or not..." Bao trailed off as Guo reached a hand across the desk to grab a bookmark.
"I wasn't," he responded. "But it must have been impressive." He was taking his time placing the bookmark in the book. He carefully closed it, and slid it across the desk before standing from the metal chair he was sitting on. As he strode around the desk, Zhong noticed that below his loose fitting green dress pants, Guo was, oddly, barefoot.
"Well, you've both certainly got the build for earthbenders," he said as he stood in front of the new arrivals. His wrinkled mouth curled into a smile. "That should translate very well into metalbending. Now what's your problem?" The man's head had turned ever so slightly in Liu Shi's direction. It was then that Zhong noticed the completely awe-struck expression that had crossed the girl's features.
"It's just... I..." Zhong could hear her excited breaths, but her back remained straight as the girl attempted to appear professional in the older master's presence. Zhong suddenly understood. She was a fan.
"I've followed your career closely, Mister Beifong! I just, I've seen you play on TV and in person... Your match in '68 against Xun was exceptional! There hasn't been a player like you since you retired." There was a slight quiver in Liu Shi's voice. It was barely perceptible, but Zhong caught it, and he was certain the metalbending master had caught it as well.
"A power disk fan!" the master replied with a wide grin. "That's good! We'll have you playing in no time."
Zhong could have sworn Liu Shi's heart stopped. Her eyes grew wide and she seemed to stop breathing for a moment.
"Are you going to train both of us?" Zhong asked, diverting attention away from the star-struck Liu Shi. She would probably thank him for it later. "It's just, I've heard you don't usually..."
"You can stop staring at my feet, young man. I'm blind. I use them to see." Zhong quickly snapped his gaze back to the man's face. "It seems to run in the family, I'm afraid. But to answer your question, yes. You see, I appear to have inherited the Beifong Family Curse."
Zhong stared into the man's hazy eyes. He couldn't mean...
"Yes, once again, a member of the Beifong family is stuck teaching the avatar to bend! Ah well, it doesn't matter to me which one of you it is. We'll start, the three of us, tomorrow morning in the power disk arena." He turned back to his desk and grabbed the book he had been reading as he walked past.
"Now get yourselves settled in. You'll want to be well rested by the time we get started. We Beifongs aren't known for going easy on the avatar."