And here it is! Chapter four, which presents the very first duel of the story. Enjoy!

Chapter 4: Battle with Pakku

Aang, Katara, Toph, Sokka, Suki, Iroh, Pakku, Bumi, and Paindao all flew on Appa to the battlefield. Zuko was in another meeting, so he wouldn't make it. It was a few miles outside of the outer walls of Ba Sing Se, in the barren lands where nobody would notice. By the time they reached their destination, the sun had set and the moon was out. Katara and Aang both immediately knew why this duel was taking place at night; waterbending was stronger when the moon was out, and the order wanted to see Aang's full capability with the elements.

The 'arena' was a perfectly rectangular island about 60 feet by 30 feet. surrounded by a rectangular lake. On the other side of the water was where those not involved in the duel would observe. In each corner of the island was a large crater that held a generous amount of water. Between that and the water surrounding them, there would be plenty to work with. Once they landed Pakku finally spoke to his opponent.

"I trust Katara has trained you well. I hope you are ready for this. I shall not hold back." Pakku said.

"I'm ready," was all Aang responded with.

No time was wasted as Bumi ascended Paindao on a pillar that could overlook the battle ground. Pakku got on one side of the field and Aang got on the other side.

"I, Master Piandao of The White Lotus, am the referee of this duel between Master Pakku and Avatar Aang. The rules are as follows: Only waterbending is allowed. Avatar Aang, if you use any other elements, even unintentionally, you are disqualified."

Aang nodded. The others were seated across the water, ready to watch. Piandao continued.

"Once the duel begins, only I may stop the match. Any technique with waterbending may be used, and there is no limit to how much power you may put into your attacks. The match will progress until I deem that one competitor is unable to continue the fight. You may not surrender prematurely or ask for a pause, and those in attendance cannot ask for a stop to the match. Once I end the match, the winner is final. Do you both understand the rules of competition?"

Aang and Pakku both nodded there heads and readied themselves for combat.

"Begin!"


Pakku went on the offensive immediately. He drew almost all of the water from one of the water craters on his side and sent the large mass right at Aang in mid-air; a simple but powerful opening move.

Aang waited until the approaching mass of water got close. He quickly leaned back and circled his arms, motioning to send the water over to his right. He continued his circular motion with his arms, sending the water behind him, around, over to his left, and right back at Pakku.

Pakku took a deep stance with one foot in front as he saw his attack return to him. When the water was only a couple feet away he leaned forward and shot his right hand out, fingers extended. All the water exploded on cue with his motions in every direction. Pakku seized control of all the scattering water, and sent dozens of very thin yet fast and powerful water streams at Aang from multiple angles.

Aang started spinning his whole body with extended arms, making every approaching stream start circling around him when they were at point blank range. He gathered all the circling streams together and shot a single powerful jet stream back to the White Lotus master.

Pakku sidestepped the incoming stream and circled it around him. As he gathered it he started drawing water from his other crater, summoning a tall water tornado around him. He rose to the top of the spinning column of water, which was at least 15 feet tall. It was the same move he did at the North Pole, only with liquid water instead of snow. He began shooting several pointed icicles out of the spinning water pillar at his younger opponent with amazing speed.

Aang was struggling to dodge all of the incoming icicles. He didn't have time to think of a counter attack as the waves of ice were coming in fast and hard. He quickly dove forward to get closer whilst evading attacks at the same time. Seeing Pakku ascended at the top gave him an idea. He rolled forward again to get close and quickly drew a chunk of water out of the middle of the water tornado, trying to split the tornado and cause Pakku to crash down after losing control. As he drew the water he used it to send the same ice attack Pakku had used against him.

Pakku was unfazed by the Avatar trying to split and destroy his tornado, however, and he gracefully guided the top half he was ascended on to the bottom half, making the spinning water whole again. He easily discarded Aang few icicle attacks.

Enough of this, Pakku thought.

Pakku quickly dropped to the bottom of his raging weapon, gathered it closer to him while still spinning, and lashed it outward from him in a spinning saw fashion. Aang was completely caught of guard by the sudden 5 foot tall spinning column that was widening in all directions, and it struck him hard. Aang was pushed back with the water all the back to his side of the field and hit the ground roughly.

Pakku wasted no time in following up as he drew water from the island and shot powerful streams at Aang, knocking him down every time he tried to get up. Even though they were on opposite sides of the field, which was a good 60 feet or so, Pakku's attacks made it all the way across with blazing quickness. Every time Aang tried to get up, he was knocked right back down.

All of Aang's friends were worried now, and Katara was gripping her hands out of anxiety and fear as she watched Aang get pummeled. She was struggling to not beg Pakku for mercy. She prayed that Aang would bounce back.

After 5 streams that knocked him down, Aang barely regained enough sense to roll over to avoid the sixth one. He quickly drew water from the lake and sent a basic razor-sharp blade of water, just seeking to buy some time. Pakku easily dodged his attack and moved closer, almost to the middle. Aang remembered the water arms Katara used in the catacombs to fight Azula and then Zuko. Scared by Pakku's advance, Aang drew from of his water craters to mimic the move in desperation.

Katara immediately saw the move Aang was going for, and she freaked out twice as much now. No, Aang! Don't!

Aang went to trap Pakku like Katara did to Azula with this move. Pakku, however, simply latched onto the water with his own arms. He quickly shook his arms in a push and pull motion to send ripples of energy back at Aang. Not predicting this move, Aang's body started to spasm when the energy hit him. He couldn't control himself suddenly.

Pakku had complete control of the water that joined them now. He raised Aang twenty feet in the air before slamming him down hard. The impact caused an indent where Aang landed, and for dust to spring up. Pakku placed all the water over Aang and slammed it down onto him… hard.

Aang's friends were screaming in horror now. Even Toph was starting to tear up as she felt the hard impact and the change in Aang's pulse. Aang tried to stagger up only for Pakku to raise the water and slam him again. A few repeats and Aang was motionless. Pakku didn't stop his assault, however.

"Stop! Please stop!" Katara pleaded to Piandao, despite the rules of the match. Piandao kept his eyes on the action, ignoring the young waterbenders cries.

"Stop it! You're killing him!" Katara continued hysterically on her knees.

"Cease Fighting!" Piandao finally called after the eighth or ninth time Pakku slammed the water down. "The winner is Master Pakku."


In an instant Katara was at Aang's side, holding his now unconscious body up with his arm around her neck. Tears were flowing down her face. She didn't care that Aang had lost, but the brutality that her old master had shown towards the end was too much for her. She thought it was inhuman and barbaric to assault him like that, Avatar or not. The others were at Aang's side quickly as well. The order showed some emotional sorry as well. It took a few seconds before Aang regained consciousness, and he was in pain.

Iroh spoke up. "I am sorry that you had to endure this brutal event. The spirits would be angered if we showed any mercy towards you in this challenge, even if you are hurt. The spirits must observe your ability against a merciless opposing master."

"What happens now?" Sokka spoke up. "What happens to Aang?"

"A rematch will take place in one week, at this exact same location."

Katara whispered into Aang's ear. "You hear that, Aang? You're still the Avatar, you get another chance." Aang smiled as much as he could through his pain.

Iroh continued. "As Aang has failed in a duel, however, he is forbidden from using the Avatar State until he passes the entire challenge."

"WHAT?" Everyone had the same reaction.

"The punishment for losing one duel is loss of the Avatar State. Aang, you will also be unable to contact your past lives for now."

"How does removing Aang's power help prove his skill?" Toph asked in her blunt fashion. "That sort of defeats the whole purpose of the challenge."

"The spirits assume a loss is because the Avatar has relied too much on the power of his past lives. They severe this power to force them to hone their skills on their own."

"This is a sick and twisted test," Katara spoke up, still holding Aang up.

"This is not our decision, Katara. It is the way of the spirits. We should head back, so that Aang may heal," Iroh responded.

Pakku walked up to Katara and looked at her square in the eye. "I hope that Aang's failure is not because of poor instruction and training on your part, Katara. Perhaps I made a mistake in deeming you a master," the old man said coldly.

Katara glared at her old teacher. "You can still be a sour old man, you know that?" anger dripped from her growling voice.

With that everybody boarded Appa to head back to Ba Sing Se. It wasn't late, since this match was short-lived. The whole battle had played out in less then 3 minutes. Nobody spoke as Sokka flew Appa back to the Jasmine Dragon. Aang was in Katara's lap in the saddle. He was in a shallow sleep for most of the trip, awakened when they landed at their destination. Katara helped him into the building. The order, save for Iroh, said their farewells and left. Katara deliberately avoided giving Pakku a farewell for his earlier remark.

Katara laid Aang on the couch and gave him a thorough healing session. It took a while to get the majority of his injuries healed. He had several deep cuts and bruises from the hard impacts. Everyone else sat around quietly, not knowing what to say. Iroh decided to give some wisdom eventually.

"Now that Aang has lost his connection with his past lives, he will only have you, his friends and family, to support him. You must make sure that your efforts assist him in this task, rather than distract or weaken him. I wish it didn't have to be this way, but the spirits always adhere to these ways. I apologize for what must be done." With that, Iroh left the room.

Katara finished healing Aang and helped him to his feet. "Aang, let's go to my room. We need to talk."

Suki interrupted. "Maybe we should have a group discussion, Katara. Iroh just said we all need to help Aang."

"Yeah, Sugar Queen. Twinkletoes is going to need all the help he can get."

Katara spoke firmly. "No, I must console Aang privately; not just a friend, but as his waterbending master."

Everyone understood after she said that. They all engaged in small talk about the turn of events as Katara helped Aang upstairs. She had to console him. She knew what the problem was, here. It was something she had known for a while, but never considered a problem. That was, until now…


What could possibly be the problem? What issue has Katara never brought up that is suddenly so important? How does it affect Aang's battle against Pakku? How will he fix it? Stay tuned to find in thr next chapter.

PS. Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it.