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Chapter 5: Fighting the master

Arriving early at the training grounds the following morning, he saw that he and master Pakku were the only ones present. Seeing that practice started at 10 am, Mako set out to do a few exercises to warm up. Seeing his sifu do the same, he heard someone yell from across the training grounds.

"Hey master Pakku!" the yell came from Aang, who was seemingly excited to begin his waterbending lessons. Hearing master Pakku muttering something about "… I'm not concentrating or anything.", Mako had to suppress his laughter, so that the elder wouldn't hear it.

He was too far off to hear the rest of the conversation, but he noticed that he brought that girl from last night with him. Knowing what the avatar was going to ask, he braced himself for the worst. Watching the girl defend herself, made him realize how much she reminded him of Kyra. She was as stubborn as her and showed to have the same passion.

He finally got to catch something she said, "I don't wanna heal , I wanna fight!". 'Exactly what Kyra said.' he thought while smiling at the memory. As predicted, the discussion became heated, with the avatar turning his back on Pakku, and the older man yelling. "Well then have fun teaching yourself, I'm sure you'll do a great job."

Watching the girl running after the avatar, he saw them talking and after a short conversation, the girl walked away. Reluctantly, Aang turned around and immediately a stream of water sent him flying across the training grounds. Falling a few meters from his feet, Mako went over and helped the boy up. "Thanks for helping me up, I didn't expect…" seeing a familiar face helping him up, he immediately became excited again, "Mako! Did you see how rude Pakku was to Katara?"

'So Katara is her name…' Mako thought. "Yeah, I thought you knew that our tribe doesn't allow women to learn waterbending." seeing the boy's expression darken visibly, he knew that that wasn't the answer he was looking for.

"No… I didn't know." he said with a sad expression etched on his childlike features.

"Well, just between you and me… I think it's stupid too." Mako said, trying to brighten the avatar's mood. Watching Aang with a sad smile on his face, the blonde-haired waterbender went on. "Why don't we start training so you can get your mind off of things.". Seeing the boy nod, he gestured for Aang to take the lead.

During their training, Mako was amazed at the speed Aang was learning. It took the avatar only 2 to 3 tries to master the technique. There were forms Mako had to practice on for days, but the avatar made them his own in only a couple of minutes. To top it all off, he never lost that smile on his face.

Nearing the end of the days lesson, Mako wondered when he was to battle his master. Just when he was about to ask, Pakku spoke. "Mako , can you come forward please."

Stepping forward to meet the elder, Mako felt a feeling of nervousness creep in. "Yes, master Pakku?"

Seeing the nervousness in his student's eyes, he couldn't help but to let a small smile form on his wrinkly face. "Are you ready to spar with an old master?"

"Well I would never call you old, sifu. My choice of words would be 'aged'." was the young man's answer.

Hearing Pakku laugh for the first time since… ever, Mako wondered why he didn't laugh more often. "I think I'll take that as a yes." the old man said while still smiling.

Standing 20 or so meters from each other, Mako began to feel confident again. He figured he had his height, strength and youth as an advantage on the older man.

That confident feeling quickly faded, when Pakku called forth a massive ball of water from the surrounding basins. Bracing himself for the attack, he too called forth a good amount of water. After seeing that Pakku threw the sphere at him, he moved his arms so that the water took on a V-shape with him standing right behind it. Slicing the ball of water in two, the halves fell to the ground with a big splash. Bending his wall so that there were icicles shooting directly at his master, Mako thought he had his master taken off guard. That was before he saw him melting the icy projectiles with a flick of his hand.

Trying a different approach, Mako raised his hands above his head, and while bringing them slowly down he blew out a puff of air. Having the arena filled with a thick fog, Mako tried to get closer to the old waterbender. Trying to trick his master, Mako created a water whip behind Pakku's back. Just when he wanted to hit the man in the back of the head, he felt a cold substance climb up his leg. "You should know better than to try and trick me, Mako." came Paku's voice from his right side.

'How in Tui's name did he get there so fast?' was the thought ringing in his head. Trying to concentrate on his fighting, Mako took the water from his failed surprise attack, and used it to cut the watery cord strapped to his leg. Knowing that the mist wouldn't do him any good, he used it to surround Pakku in a watery circle and freeze it so he would be trapped. Pakku smirked and bend the icy prison away from him with a few flowing arm movements. Mako knew it would be difficult to win this without immobilizing him somehow.

Pakku, being quite impressed with his students progress, knew he had to cut this fight short or his opponent would get too confident in his future endeavors. Bending a wave underneath him, Pakku took off at an incredible speed. Not expecting this from the old master, Mako swiftly bend a hole underneath his feet so he would be safe from Pakku's attack. Feeling that the coast was clear, he came back up but Pakku was nowhere to be seen. Feeling nervous, Mako started to turn and twist, making sure he could not be blindsided by another attack.

What he didn't expect was for Pakku to be underneath him, using the same technique his student used just moments ago. Getting an uneasy feeling in his gut, Mako thought it would be best for him to be on the high ground in case Pakku had a trick up his sleeve. Bending a large platform, so he had enough space to move in, he closed his eyes and tried to feel the attack coming… just like his sifu taught him. Feeling the ground rumbling, Mako knew that his master was underneath him.

Trying to evade his attack, he quickly bend a board made of ice so he could escape the impending attack. But what he didn't know was that Pakku was quicker than he thought, so by the time he took off, Pakku was already hot on his tail. Being one step ahead, Pakku bend a small pillar in front of his ice-board, making Mako fall flat on his face in a pile of snow. Next the master bend the snow into an ice cube so he was stuck with his arms and head in a giant block of ice.

Knowing the fight was over, Mako stopped struggling and tried to bow to his master while still having his arms and head stuck in the giant ice block. Accepting Mako's defeat, Pakku made a hand gesture, causing the ice to melt back into water.

"Very good, Mako. Not many students are able to last longer than a minute on their first try against their teachers." Pakku said, while bowing in respect to his student.

Mako, grinning with that compliment, answered: "Thank you, sifu Pakku. It was an honor fighting against you."

Forgetting formalities for a minute, Pakku took Mako's arm and gestured for him to come closer. When Mako was close enough for Pakku so no one would hear, he whispered: "Bending that ice-board was quite ingenius, maybe you should try and perfect it so I won't knock you down next time."

Chuckling with Pakku's comment, Mako answered in the same whisper as his master. "Don't worry sifu, I will practice hard. Next time you won't beat me so easily."

Bidding his students farewell, Pakku went back to his house to rest from the sparring session. Having to take off as well, Mako quickly went over to the avatar to compliment him on his performance during his first lesson with Pakku. But when he was approaching the young boy, he saw that he was standing in a circle full of older children. Analyzing the situation, he walked closer until he could hear what was being said.

"So you dare come back after a 100 years and expect us to give you a warm welcome?" asked the largest of the group.

Aang didn't know what to say, "uh… I'm sorry?" came the 12 year old's hesitant response.

This seemed to anger the leader even more. "Oh I'll give you something to be sorry about." raising his fist to strike the avatar, Mako knew he had to step in. He bend a wall in front of the avatar's face so that the boys fist slammed into the ice rather than Aang's head. Hearing the boy's pained cry, Mako took the opportunity to separate the group from Aang.

Standing in front of the avatar, Mako spoke to the group. "How dare you speak like that to the world's last hope. We should be grateful he wants to help us end this war once and for all."

Having their leader incapacitated for awhile, another boy took charge. "He left us with the wolves at our doorstep, we should hand him over to the Fire nation, so they will leave us alone."

Hearing these treacherous words from his fellow tribesmen made him feel sick. "Is that how you all feel?" When the group nodded in confirmation, his anger rose to a new level. "Well if anyone wants to hand him over, they will have to go through me first."

Having seen the sparring session between him and Pakku, the group was not very keen on fighting the top student of the greatest waterbender in the north pole.

"Well? None of you will fight me? Then leave Aang alone or you will have to deal with me." seeing their surprised faces, he wanted to make them cower away in fear. So with as much venom as he could muster in one word, he said "Understood?"

Watching them scatter like frightened animals made him bring a smile to his face. Turning around he saw the avatar staring at him. "I apologize for my fellow tribesmen, most of us are happy you are back among us." When he didn't hear a response from the boy, he began to get worried. "Aang, are you alright?"

"That was amazing! I never had someone defend me like that!" he said in an excited voice.

"No problem Aang, they shouldn't have spoken to you like that."

"You've got to meet my friends!" there was that excitement again.

"I would love to Aang, but I have to be somewhere. Maybe another time?"

"Off course Mako. Tomorrow maybe?" was the avatar's hopeful question.

"Yeah, tomorrow is good for me. But I really have to get going now, I'll see you later 'kay?" And with that he left the Avatar and headed home to help his father cut up the fish the tribe caught this morning.

AN: I know the story is progressing rather slow, but I hate stories that are moving too fast. I first wanted Mako and Katara to have a good foundation to build their relationship on.

Tell me what you think!