Chapter Six

"Defeat"

Appa flew over the great city of Ba Sing Se, leaving it behind once and for all. On his back, Aang, Toph, Katara, and Momo sat watching Sokka and and Bojing in total shock. Well, Toph didn't watch, exactly, but she did listen, and with Sokka, it was certainly something to hear.

"You're a firebender! Admit it!" He shouted at Bojing.

The happy boy only grinned. He shrugged, as though being a firebender wasn't a bad thing.

"Just another service I was hoping to offer the Avatar," he said simply.

"No way! Aang's not going to be trained by someone who didn't even tell us who they were until now!"

"Oh, come on, Sokka, this is just what I needed. And he did help us find Appa. Besides…" Aang paused to grin. Beside Bojing, the two young boys looked similar. "I like his way of living."

Katara watched the two boys and had to smile. They did seem similar in their way of acting toward situations.

"He does seem nice," she said, referring to Bojing.

Sokka's mouth dropped wide open in shock.

Katara frowned then and turned to Aang. "But I still think you're making a mistake about taking this all on now."

Sokka smiled again, apparently glad that his sister wasn't completely on Aang's side.

Aang turned to Katara, sad and serious. "Katara, I need to do this. It may be my only chance."

She regarded him sadly and shrugged, wishing she could do otherwise. "It's up to you, Aang."

Sokka flew into a rage once more, protesting. "Katara!"

He sighed and fell back in frustration, mumbling his complaints to himself. It was obvious that he didn't trust Bojing. And Katara had to admit that finding a firebending teacher for Aang the moment they found Appa and left the city seemed too good to be true. Sokka's earlier words about things not coming easily for them rang in her head, but she trusted Bojing. He seemed like a very nice boy.

Toph broke the silence then. "Either way, I say we leave this city and make camp – on the ground."

Katara smiled, remembering again how Toph hated flying. Aang still hadn't given his answer about what he was going to do, but Katara let it go, knowing that a good night's sleep would probably be best for everyone.

"It has been quite a night," she remarked.

And with that, Appa flew away from the city, leaving its walls and secrets behind.

Outside of a forest several miles away from the city, Appa had finally landed and the group had made camp. They were all sleeping peacefully as the sun began to rise in the east. Toph was the first to wake.

She sat up with a yawn, and stretched her arms over her head. Her movements caused a bed of rock several feet away to rise up out of the ground at a fast speed.

Bojing happened to be sleeping on that bed of rock, and so, was flung into the air. He instantly woke up. "Whoa!"

Getting to his feet quickly, he leapt from the rock bed. Landing on the ground, he looked to Toph in annoyance. "Hey!"

Toph shrugged. "Sorry."

Bojing's yelling woke Katara who sat up in worried question, looking to Toph and Bojing.

"What's wrong?" She mumbled in waking.

No one had to answer, for she saw the rock bed and realized at once what had happened. Beside her, Sokka moaned and rolled over to continue sleeping.

A few feet away, Aang bent the air to leap to his feet. He moved toward Bojing and Katara saw the sadness in his eyes. The night before, as they had been making camp, he had told them all his final decision, but now it seemed as if he really didn't want to learn firebending from Bojing.

"Ready Bojing?" Aang questioned him.

Bojing turned to him, his grin returning to his face. "Sure, but we better go by the river just in case."

"Yeah," Aang replied and his sadness deepened.

Katara watched him go in concern.

"I'll get the firewood, you start breakfast?" Toph asked.

Katara nodded in agreement. "Yeah." She continued to watch Aang and Bojing move into the trees, then pulled herself away and moved toward Appa to ready breakfast.

Aang followed Bojing sadly through the woods. In all honesty he didn't want to learn firebending. He had said he would never learn it. Even knowing that it was up to him to end the war be learning it, he couldn't stop thinking of the look in Katara's eyes that day back in Jeong Jeong's camp when he had burned her with his carelessness. He sighed as he followed Bojing, than shoved the thought from his mind and tried to focus on his surroundings.

As he looked about, he began to grow confused. He looked to Bojing in question. "Do you know where you're going?"

Before him, Bojing only grinned. Aang began to grow worried as he continued to look around.

"Come to think of it, I don't remember seeing a river when we landed," he continued.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine."

Aang continued to follow him, but the further they got into the trees, the deeper his worry and fear became.

Suddenly, without warning, Bojing stopped, swinging his leg out behind him in an arch, and shooting flames at Aang. With a gasp, Aang leapt quickly into the air to avoid being burned. Coming to land on the ground, he looked to Bojing in alarm.

"Sokka was right!" Aang realized. It hadn't been his surroundings he needed to worry about, but the one before him.

Bojing faced him with a grin. "Yes, he's smart. You really should listen to him more often."

His grin never died as he pulled his hands back, then pushed them forward to shoot repeated fireblasts at Aang. Aang avoided them with his airbending.

But suddenly the fighting was interrupted when a familiar form stepped out of the trees to their right.

"Give up, Avatar, you're clearly outnumbered." Zuko's bitter voice floated to Aang's ears.

Aang turned to see that Zuko was ready, in a fighting stance, facing him.

Bojing turned to Zuko with a grin. "I knew you'd change your mind," he said. "How'd you find me?"

Zuko frowned, keeping his eyes on Aang. "Your pranks leave a trail of complaints. From there it was just a matter of following a giant… flying… bison."

Zuko's eyes narrowed as he studied the Avatar, his words growing angry, but suddenly a blast of wind sent him flying to the ground.

"Uh!" He cried, the wind knocked from his lungs.

He got up quickly and turned toward the Avatar in anger. "It's been awhile, Avatar!"

He quickly sent fireblasts toward Aang, who watched in helplessness. Bojing joined in and Aang truly did feel outnumbered, surrounded by fire, which was the one element he could not yet control. As the fireblasts neared him, he leaped, ducked, and rolled to avoid them.

Soon there was a break in the blasts, and he used his staff to send a great gust of wind around him in a circle.

Bojing leaped agilely into a tree, avoiding the great gust. Zuko ducked just in time, and got instantly to his feet and in fighting position once again as soon as the gust was gone.

Seizing the opportunity, Aang lifted his bison whistle toward his lips, ready to call for help, but Bojing instantly leaped from his perch in the nearby tree, landing directly beside Aang, and grabbing the whistle as he passed it.

"Not this time!" He shouted.

Aang turned to him in anger and stomped his feet into the ground, hard. The earth beneath Bojing shot into the air, causing Bojing to lose his balance and drop the whistle. Using airbending, Aang pulled the whistle toward himself, catching it up in his hand.

"Thanks for the lift!" The angry call from above caused Aang to look up in time to see Bojing standing on the earth column above him, in a fighting stance, his hands pointing at Aang, and his grin on his lips.

Fear seized Aang.

"Give up! Or pay the consequences!"

Aang glanced behind him to see Zuko, also in a fighting stance, hands pointed at him, moving in on him.

He glanced one more time at Bojing, than hung his head in defeat.

"Okay, you win."