Summary: Bending. What's that? There was no such thing. Until now. Recently, Ozai, a scientist that researches supernatural controls of the elements, discovered four teenagers who were gifted with such powers. Zuko – a teen who discovers he can bend flames to his will. Katara – a teen that discovers her powers over the oceans, rivers and lakes a little too late. Aang – a teenage monk who discovers he has the ability to control air. Toph – a blind, yet powerful teenager who possesses the mastery to manipulate the earth as well as having the aptitude to sense even the slightest seismic activity.

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

A/N: Here's the next chapter for you guys! Thanks for all the review, I really appreciate it and it's great to know that so many people like this story! Okay then, here's the next chapter for you awesome readers to enjoy. Once again, remember to review and tell me who you think the mystery thief is! And what was Sokka whispering about to Ozai? I don't know! You tell me! =) ENJOY!

Bending Origin

Chapter 3 – The Lost iPod

By xAvatarLovex

After completing his homework without music, Zuko promptly fell asleep after shoving all his books either into his drawer or into his bag ready for the next school day, which was highly unusual for him since he was the unorganized guy who could never live a day of homework without music. The next morning, Zuko got up half an hour earlier than necessary and searched for his iPod once again but found nothing, once again. After a while, he decided to shower and go down to breakfast. After making his own breakfast consisting of many half-burnt pancakes and some not-so-tasty cereal with low fat milk (since that was the only one there was at the moment), Zuko went back upstairs and searched again for his iPod but to no avail. His iPod was truly missing. He had searched every possible and impossible place. Just then his dog woke and barked softly to alert Zuko that he was awake.

Soon after, every other pet began to wake up, causing Zuko to have to once again search for the food that the pets could have. Although this didn't take him that long since he already had a rough idea of where it was from last night, he still took 10 whole minutes just to find a few bags of food. After feeding his pets and playing with them slightly, he sat on his bed and reviewed his homework since he could find nothing better to do. He found that not only had he completed all his homework, but, as far he was concerned, it was all correct too.

He set his alarm clock just in case he got carried away and slowly fell asleep again. What seemed like a few minutes later, he awoke to his alarm clock singing 'Friday' extremely loudly. He groaned and turned around and put his uniform on before going downstairs with his stuff and greeted everyone there.

As they piled into Sokka's car for the trip to school, he decided to bring up the topic of his lost iPod. As he said that it was missing, Sokka seemed to fumble with the wheel and a worried expression crossed his face but he immediately regained his composure and acted as if nothing had happened. Toph, however, clearly noticed that he had fumbled for a second and she could also feel his heartbeat pick up and he was attempting to slow it down because the car was metal and she had taught herself to metal-bend after discovering he divine ability to manipulate the earth. However, she decided not to mention anything and opted to say, "Sokka, you okay? You seem a bit pale," although Sokka was not at all noticeably pale.

"Uh…y-yes Toph. I-I-I'm fine thank-k-you," he stuttered.

" 'Course you are, Meathead," she replied.

"Meathead?" Katara questioned.

"Yes, Meathead, you guys all have nicknames according to your personality, actually. Zuko is Sparky-which is self-explanatory, Aang is Twinkletoes since I can barely sense his presence sometimes due to his ability to airbend, Katara is Sugar Queen because she is so sweet and people like to refer to me as the Blind Bandit as I am blind yet strong and stealthy," she replied, happily.

Sokka, who was barely listening and was trying to drive without causing any suspicion, had heard the last bit of Toph's words and got this feeling that he was being watched by her. After all, she could probably sense his heartbeat and sense how unstable he currently was but it was good of her to ignore it, or at least not mention it to anyone. Yet.

Soon, they arrived at the school and Sokka quickly walked off to supposedly find his friends. However, he was heading in the opposite direction to where his friends usually were since he had something else more important to do, or as he was told anyway.

The rest of the Gaang, which is what they called themselves and Aang was the main one of the group and therefore was named after him, went on with their daily lives. Later that afternoon, Sokka had reappeared and, as usual, drove them all back to the Institute so they could start the testing.

As soon as they were home, Zuko dashed for his room and fed his pets to prevent them from getting angry at him and then quickly took a shower. It was only 3:30pm when he was done and he had an extra half-an-hour on his hands. He would have taken a nap, but if he did, he would have to get up before he would've gotten to sleep so he opted to do his many pages of homework instead. He quickly finished off anything easy and when he got up to his assignments, he realised it was time for testing.

Testing was just about exactly the same as the day before and soon afterwards, it was dinner time. At dinner they had steak that was perfectly cooked, MORE mash potato and a choice of either lemonade or water. Everybody except Aang chose lemonade. After hastily finishing his meal, for he was not at all hungry, Zuko went back to his room and started on his Science Assignment which read 'Explain the effects when liquid nitrogen is added to different substances in a PowerPoint presentation. You may choose up to 5 different things to do your experiment on and a minimum of 3 must be chosen. Liquid nitrogen has been attached in a smaller tank/bottle for you inside the zip-lock bag that contains other materials for this assignment. If possible, do this assignment alone and if completely necessary, then you may work with other people but a group must not exceed 3.'

Okay then, Zuko thought, I will do this alone and I'll test it on whatever I have in this Institute that is obtainable. He smiled. This assignment could probably be done in a day.

And he did. The next assignment was a history assignment. Oh how much Zuko hated history. He didn't get why one should learn history as he thought that it was pointless. What's past is past. Why do we need to learn it in the present when what has happened in history won't really bother them anymore. Technology was more advanced now and it's not like we would have to walk around in 50 layers even on the hottest days of the summer and have to starve to death because of 40-hour famines, nowadays. Sure, some countries were really poor and people were starving but that doesn't meant learning history will help them. He just hated history as it did nothing to teach him anything about the modern world. It did not benefit him or anyone else in any way, even if he learnt all the history there could possibly be.

As he looked at his homework sheet, he sighed. It read 'Present an essay on the history of Australia. This essay must be typed and at least 3000 words and the font size must be 12 at the largest. This should take about 6-7 pages. References must all be included. NO COPY AND PASTING! TEACHERS WILL CHECK THE WEBSITE AND ANYTHING MADE UP WILL BE DELETED. DUE: next Thursday 12th. If late, DETENTION!'

Zuko decided to get the stupid history assignment over with first. He grabbed his laptop and started looking up Australian history as he did not learn much of it when he was in America. After all, Americans preferred to learn American history as it was, not only longer and more interesting, but was history of their native country.

After searching a few sights, he found something on Wikipedia that interested him. He quickly skimmed through and found some points on the early settlers, Captain Cook(he gave himself a mental note to look him up later), the aboriginals and the first fleet with their convicts. He then checked out a few points on the Australian Gold Rush and the Eureka Stockade. Afterwards he searched some stuff about the colonies and the establishment of Australia becoming a whole country and having Federation. He quickly jots down a few dates and the past prime ministers of Australia.

Soon, he had what he thought to be enough information for this essay and began writing. He tried to put in as much description and detail as possible so he wouldn't have to come up with more and more ideas but a man can only describe one thing so much. After a few hours of tiring typing, Zuko had finally completed the assignment and proof-read it a few times too. He sent it to his beta reader on this beta-reading site and asked her to beta-read it when she had a chance. He hoped, however, that she would do it quickly so he could hand it in. And as he had hoped, she had sent it back in a matter of minutes, all read and corrected. He thanked her and put it on his USB so he could hand it in tomorrow. By the time he was done, it was already 11:59pm and approaching midnight very, very soon. He quickly took off his shirt and threw it into an empty corner and took off his pants so that he was only wearing his 'The Simpsons' boxers and climbed under the cover so he could get some sleep for the next fast-approaching day. However, that night he had a dream he could remember very well and was very odd.

A/N: DUN, DUN, DUN! So, who's the mystery thief and what was Zuko's dream about? I actually have no idea for the details yet but I can tell you that the whole of the next chapter will be devoted to dream! So therefore, it will be a filler but I promise that it will be exciting! Oh and where do you think Sokka is going to every day at school? I actually have no idea! Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing. I can't be bothered to wait for reviews but I can easily see that lots of people are reading this and I'm pleased. Thanks to everyone who review ( 3 3 3 ), puts me/story on alert or adds me/story to fav! You guys are all awesome!

xAvatarLovex