V: Journey to Ba Sing Se

They made camp at a nice little lake, and Aang spoke: "Iroh, Wan Shi Tong said that you're a friend to spirits and that you've been to the spirit world."

"Yes, that's true."

"What did you do in the spirit world?"

Iroh sighed and Zuko got a distant look on his face as he looked into the campfire.

"I went there in search of my late son, Lu Ten, who was killed in battle at the front lines. It was a life changing experience for me." Iroh replied.

"I'm sorry to hear about your son." Aang spoke.

"Thank you, Avatar. I know that you've been through great losses, but you can't let that get in the way of enjoying everything else around you that is good. Since I left the Fire Nation with Zuko, I've looked to him as my own son." Iroh replied looking to Zuko with proud eyes. A small smile spread across his face.

After a moment of silence, Zuko looked to Sokka and asked him: "Do you think that you can handle a couple swordsmanship lessons from me tomorrow?"

"I believe I can, I've improved since our first meeting at the South Pole."

"I'll be the judge of that." Zuko told him.

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They woke up with the dawn, Aang and Toph Earthbent a bench to watch as Zuko and Sokka began sword fighting practice. Zuko was using one of his dual swords while Sokka had his machete. They assumed fighting stances and Zuko told Sokka: "Now we're going to start this nice and slow. I'm going to advance on you, and you're going to block me."

"Sounds good." Sokka replied. Zuko stepped and slashed his sword, which Sokka blocked with ease with his machete. Zuko stepped again, thrusting his weapon, and Sokka stepped away to avoid it. Zuko continued basic slashes and thrusts for Sokka to block and evade, but shook up the pattern and sped up his attacks, until their movements were quite fluid. Finally Zuko raised his hand to Sokka and told him: "Alright, you've got basic defense down. Now, I'm going to come at you, but this time, you're going to do basic counter-attacks. That includes blocking and moving to the point where you can move in to strike back.."

"What if I hit you?" Sokka asked.

"You won't." Zuko replied, and he advanced on Sokka with a slash. Sokka blocked it and went in to give Zuko a jab; however, Zuko dodged it.

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Through the morning, Sokka had eventually got the basics down, quickening his counter-attacks, honing his defense, and initiating attacks.

"Alright, Sokka, I think that's enough for now. We'll continue this some other time." Zuko stated, and they put their swords away.

Katara went to the lake and found the fresh water to have very little in the way of impurities, perfect for swimming and getting laundry cleaned. She took off her dress and began washing it. She offered to wash the others' clothes while they also went in for a swim… all went in except for Toph, but she was happy splashing her feet in the water.

"Hey Toph, why don't you wade in a little bit? To be honest you could afford to be cleaned up some." Katara spoke

"Yeah, and your clothes are getting kind of rank." Sokka added.

"You're one to talk! You've got the nastiest socks I've ever smelled!" Katara retorted.

"Thanks for that banter, you two, but my clothes are not dirty, this is a protective layer of earth. It's an Earthbending thing so I wouldn't expect you to understand." Toph told them. Katara took her by the arm and dragged her to the lake with her crying out: "Hey, no way! I don't want a bath! Let go of me or I'll…!"

She used her Earthbending to whack Katara in the face with a short pillar of rock.

"Fine, you want to play dirty… Very well, if I can't bring you to the water, I'll bring the water to you!" Katara declared, and she bent the water to snatch her up and give her a swirling water ride before dropping her back on land, standing on a rock, while still soaking wet, Aang dried her off with his Airbending.

"Gee, thanks for that." Toph said, laden with sarcasm.

Sokka got out of the water to dry off and look over the maps he took from the library for a while. He figured out where they were and was thinking of a new course to head.

Katara looked about to find Aang floating in an ice cube he put himself in, and Zuko was swimming leisurely. She quit her laundry washing and climbed up a cliff, only to jump off of it calling out: "WATERBENDING BOMB!" She splashed through the surface, sending about half of the lake skyward! Aang was thrown out of the lake, his ice cube shattered when it hit a rock, and Zuko found himself caught in a nearby tree!

"Sure, 5000 year old map from the Spirit Library, just splash them!" Sokka exclaimed.

"Sorry!" Katara spoke, and she bent the water out of the map.

"Hey, can I get a little help over here?!" Zuko called out. Katara gave a light laugh and bent a tentacle of water to gently pull him out of the tree and brought him back to the group saying: "Sorry Zuko, I was just having a bit of fun."

"I suppose the ride into the tree was a bit fun, but a bit more warning next time, please." He told her.

"Alright, Iroh, Zuko, I don't know how you're going to like this, but we're heading for Ba Sing Se. We need to get the news of the eclipse to the Earth King so we can plan for an assault on the Fire Nation."

"To return to the site of my greatest military disgrace as a tourist, it should make for an interesting experience." Iroh stated.

"Are you two alright going there then?" Sokka asked.

"Yeah, it might be nice to be in an actual city for a while." Zuko told him .

"Alright, well, it looks like the only way to get there is through a sliver of land called the Serpent's Pass." Sokka told them.

"Is that the only way from here? That pass is dangerous, guarded by a giant sea serpent, and if I'm not mistaken, the Fire Nation patrols that area." Iroh spoke.

"Well, it's not like we have Appa to fly us to Ba Sing Se." Sokka replied.

"Sush up about Appa, can't you try to be a bit more sensitive?" Katara whispered.

"It's okay, I know I was upset before, but now I just want to get to Ba Sing Se, see the Earth King, and tell him about the eclipse." Aang told her.

"Whoa, okay, I'm glad that you're doing better." Katara replied.

As luck would have it, a family of refugees, including a very pregnant woman, found their little area calling out: "Hello fellow refugees!"

They waved in return and got their clothes and offered to take the Serpent's Pass with them, and they cringed in fear. They suggested an alternative route that was safer, faster, and hidden from the Fire Nation, where they would be riding a ferry to reach Ba Sing Se.

Of course the group chose to take the ferry's to Ba Sing Se.

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At the station, Katara remarked about how awed she was at how many lives have been distorted by the Fire Nation… almost forgetting whom she was traveling with.

As they approached the rather cantankerous ticket vendor, she snapped at a cabbage farmer: "NO VEGETABLES ON THE FERRY! ONE CABAGE SLUG COULD RUIN THE ENTIRE ECOSYSTEM OF BA SING SE! SECURITY!"

A giant platypus-bear was brought to his cabbage cart and destroyed it and the farmers' precious…

"MMyY CaAAaBbAGES!" He wailed, and he was hauled off in a state of shock.

They bought their tickets with ease, thanks to Iroh's passports, from the vendor, but as they were stepping aside to wait for their ferry to be called for boarding, someone stopped Sokka saying: "Tickets and passports please."

Sokka turned to find a young lady working security, she was about his age, and seemed a bit familiar.

"Is there a problem?" Sokka asked.

"Yeah, I've got a problem with you! I've seen your type before: you're probably sarcastic, think you're hilarious, and, let me guess, you're traveling with the Avatar!"

"Do I know you?"

"You don't remember?! Well maybe you'll remember this!" She told him, and then she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"SUKI!" Sokka exclaimed.

"Sokka, it's good to see you!"

"Hey guys! It's Suki!" Sokka called out, but then a slight flashback hit him, when they were on Kyoshi Island, Zuko kind of burnt down the village. He sprinted over to Zuko and warned him that Suki was someone he actually fought. Before Zuko had any chance to hide his scar, Suki came over and recognized him. Before she could get a word in, Sokka covered her mouth telling her: "We'll explain everything, and we can catch up."

As they were finding a space where they were away from others. Suki told them how she ended up here with the other Kyoshi warriors by helping to escort refugees. On their way to a secluded spot, they caught someone trying to rob the family they traveled with! Katara bent her water and trapped the robber in an ice trap, and Suki ran off to bring in a couple of the other Kyoshi warriors to arrest him.

With that excitement out of the way, they found their secluded spot and Suki asked them: "So, what are you doing with these two?" She gestured to Zuko and Iroh.

"We got into a fight with the Fire Princess, and we all just happened to team up together. Well when he got injured, Katra healed him and they've decided to stop hunting us, so we joined forces." Sokka explained, referring to Iroh at 'he'.

"Oh, and have they been any help since?" Suki asked.

"Well yeah, actually. They've told us about some of their culture and some fighting techniques." Sokka replied. Suki glanced off to the side and Sokka told her: "Hey, it's good to see you again, and it's nice to know that you're doing well."

"Thanks, so how was the North Pole? You've got time for a long story." Suki told them.

They elaborated that once they reached the North Pole, Sokka grew close with their Princess, and their first big challenge was to convince the master Waterbender to teach Katara, because Waterbending for fighting was prohibited to women in the Northern tribe. However, when the master saw Katara's necklace, he recognized it and stated that he made it for their grandmother. Soon after that, he agreed to teach Katara, perhaps out of respect for their grandmother, and she became his star pupil.

During a Fire Nation Admiral Zhao slayed the moon spirit, and Aang joined forces with the ocean spirit to drive the Fire Nation fleet away, and the moon spirit was brought back to life when the princess gave her life to save it, just as the moon spirit did for her. In effect, she became the moon spirit.

"So, what became of Zhao?" Suki asked.

"The ocean spirit took his life. It just grabbed him and pulled him into the water, it happened right before my eyes." Zuko told her.

There was a moment of uneasy silence.

"Can't say that I feel too sorry for him, after what he did to the Waterbenders. Without the moon spirit, the Waterbenders couldn't fight back, making it an unfair fight… It's dishonorable to fight those you know are much weaker than you. Then, not too long before the siege, he tried to have me killed by having my ship blown up while I was still inside." Zuko told them.

"Wow, sounds like it was quite the adventure… So, if I may ask, what are you guys doing trying to get a ferry, wouldn't you just fly over to Ba Sing Se on Appa?"

"Appa is missing; we're hoping to find him in Ba Sing Se." Katara told Suki.

"Oh, Aang, I'm sorry to hear about that." She spoke.

"I'm doing what I can to deal with it." He told her.

"Well the ferries should be ready for boarding soon, so I'll let you go. Have a good trip, and I hope to see you later!" She told them.

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Soon after they got on the ferries, Katara saw that the pregnant woman was about ready to give birth and she helped her out with the delivery. Seeing the newborn girl, named Hope, brought hope back to Aang that he would find Appa and things will eventually turn out for the better.

Later on, the crew divvied up some sort of stew for the refuges, but it tasted foul and even a bit rotten.

"Ugh, I'm sick of eating rotten food… and sleeping in the dirt!" Zuko proclaimed, as he spat out the stew over the ship.

"Aren't we all?" A new voice asked, well new to Zuko, Iroh, and Toph.

"JET!? What are you doing here?!" Katara exclaimed.

"Whoa, hey, Katara Sokka, Avatar, fancy seeing you here. If you must know, my Freedom Fighters, Smellerbee, Longshot, and I are going to Ba Sing Se for a new start. Now, I see that you've made some new friends." Jet stated.

"Yeah, you meet new people when you travel. These guys are: Lee, his Uncle Mushi, and Toph an Earthbending master." Sokka stated.

"Nice… So, here's the deal, I hear that the captain is eating like a king while us refugees have to live off of his scraps, it doesn't seem fair, does it? How would you like to help us 'liberate' some food?" Jet asked them.

"What sort of king is he eating like?" Iroh asked.

"The fat and happy kind." Jet replied. Iroh practically drooled over the prospect of a decent meal.

"I'm in." Zuko told Jet as he tossed his bowl overboard.

"Great, I'll come for you after sundown." Jet told him, and he left with Smellerbee and Longshot tailing after him. Once they were gone, Katara elbowed Zuko in the upper arm and snarled in a hush whisper: "What do you think you're doing?"

"I think that I'm going to get us some decent food tonight." Zuko told her.

"You don't understand, you've never met Jet before! When we ran into him, he tried to wipe out a town of innocent Fire Nation citizens by washing it away! The moment he finds out your national background it'll be your butt that gets fried!"

"She's not kidding, Lee, he once robbed a harmless old man just because he was Fire Nation, right before my eyes." Sokka added.

"I appreciate your concern, but I don't plan on bending tonight." Zuko replied and he looked over his shoulder to his dual swords on his back.. He placed a hand on Sokka's shoulder and asked him: "How does having a piece of fresh red meat for dinner sound to you?"

The thought of such a treat made Sokka drool.

"Listen, you can help keep us out of trouble, I'm sure of it." Zuko added.

"Well, if it's just food we're talking about, then what's the harm?"

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True to his word, Jet returned, and they managed to sneak into the kitchen where Jet snatched up a sack of chicken-turkeys. Zuko used his swords to seal up several containers and then he tied them together with a ribbon. Sokka managed to heat up some strips of red meat before Smellerbee alerted them of the guards, and they escaped by sliding down a rope connected to Longshot's arrow.

They handed out some of their 'liberated' food to the other refugees before sitting down for a meal together.

"I hear that people eat like this all the time in Ba Sing Se, I can't wait to set my eyes on that wall, and find my new beginning." Jet stated.

"It really is a magnificent sight." Iroh stated.

"Oh, you've been there before?" Jet inquired.

"Once, when I was a different man." Iroh replied.

"So Jet, what do you plan on doing when you get to the city?" Sokka asked.

"That's the beauty of it. I'll let fate decide. I'll go where I'm needed… and should you guys ever need us, you just come and holler." Jet replied.

"Thanks, we'll keep that in mind." Zuko replied.

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With the wall in sight that morning, Aang took flight on his glider to get ahead of his friends and search the city for Appa, but he had to cut his search short, for he saw something big approaching the Outer Wall, and it bore the insignia of the Fire Nation!

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You guys know what episode is next but what's going to happen after the team gets settled in the city? What's going to become of Jet?

PLEASE review! It is my drive! I love me some reviews!