XIX: Spirit

The next day, early in the morning, the benders left the nonbenders off for Aang to teach them about chakras, he showed them to a peaceful place where they could relax. As they left Katara told Sokka, Teo and The Duke, to take care of the laundry and prepare dinner. They planned on being gone for the whole day.

Aang had set up circles, a small pool of water with a rock at the center, a ring of lit candles (somehow Aang managed to find some that had survived over the years), and two rings of bare earth and rocks. Aang took a seat on a boulder to watch over his friends as they sat in the rings in accordance of their respective elements with Momo on his shoulder.

"Alright, chakras are within your body and sprit, they flow like a stream with pools of water to which the flow rests and swirls before flowing into the next pool, but certain life experiences can lead you to block this stream, and so I'm going to guide you through to help you release those blocks. This technique was to help me master the Avatar State, but I believe that it may help you to fully realize your elements. Is everyone ready?" Aang spoke.

Everyone nodded.

"Alright, everyone pose like I am, hands in the same position… Good. The first chakra is the chakra of earth, located at the base of the spine, it deals with survival and is blocked by fear. Think of what you're most afraid of…"

For Toph it was never being accepted by her parents, for Haru it was being taken away from his family and being left to rot in a prison cell, for Katara it was her mother's murderer, and for Zuko it would be to live life as a failure. Some of them had looks of discomfort and others screamed.

"… Your visions are not real, now take your fears, and let them go." Aang told them.

They managed to think of a way to conquer their fears and move on within themselves.

"Good, good, now the second is the water chakra, located at the sacrum. It deals with pleasure and is blocked by guilt, look at all the guilt which burdens you, what do you blame yourself for?"

Right off the bat for Katara it was stealing the Waterbending scroll for her own selfish desires, and it led to her brother and Aang getting attacked by pirates and Zuko, back when he was the enemy; for Toph it was abandoning her parents, she knew she had to leave them, but she knew that she hurt them; for Haru it was leaving his father behind after the battle and letting him get captured again, and for Zuko it was turning his back on the team in Ba Sing Se, had he stayed with them, perhaps Aang wouldn't have gotten struck by lightning.

"Now take that guilt and let it go."

This one was a bit harder to get through, but they strove for some inner peace, and managed to let their guilt go.

"Next we have the chakra of fire, located in the stomach, it deals with power and is blocked by shame. What are you ashamed of? Lay it out, and let it go."

For Zuko it was killing Jet, it was in self-defense, but he used his bending on a nonbender, and it just didn't seem fair; for Katara it was Bloodbending, and realizing that she had the power to hurt others, for Toph it was actually her initial attitude for Katara, and for Haru, he thought back to his early childhood when he accidentally brought down a rockslide that nearly wiped out a herd of horse-ostriches… but they let it go… Aang could tell when everyone let out a belch… Toph's was the loudest.

"Right… I probably should've warned you that the Fire chakra opens less like a flowing creek and more like a burping bison. Alright, now we're on to the Air chakra, located in the heart. It deals with love and is blocked by grief. You all need to lay all the grief out in front of you and let it go."

"Wait, am I just supposed to forget about my mother?" Katara asked.

"No, not forget her, but to not allow your grief to be a burden to you." Aang replied.

Everyone laid their grief out in front of them, and let it go with tears falling from their eyes. Everyone had suffered a loss at some point.

"At this point we can take a break. Would anyone like a snack? I have enough nuts and berries for everyone." Aang told them. They didn't leave their rings, but they enjoyed their snacks before Aang continued on with: "The next chakra is of truth, located in the throat, and is blocked by lies, the ones we tell ourselves."

They let go of their lies and accepted the truths.

"At the center of the forehead we have the light chakra, it deals with insight and is blocked by illusion. The greatest illusion of this world is the illusion of separation. Things you think are separate and different are actually one and the same. If you open your mind, you will see that all the elements are one. Four parts of the same whole. Even metal is just a part of Earth, that has been purified and refined."

They realized that everything was connected, and let go of separation.

"Finally, we have the thought chakra, located at the crown of the head, this is the one that was supposed to help me get into the Avatar State, but after my attack in Ba Sing it's been blocked. It deals with pure cosmic energy and is blocked by earthly attachment. Meditate on what attaches you to this world. Now, let all of those attachments go."

The benders found themselves walking on an astral plane, heading towards an image of the original masters of their element, the moon, the badger mole, and the dragon. However, there seemed to be something about Zuko's dragon that seemed a bit off. It looked like a shell containing a spirit. He walked ever closer to the dragon and it finally descended upon him. Within his body, Zuko felt like something woke up in him!

Katara, Toph, and Haru opened their eyes, absolutely breathless. For they had received visions of the full potential of their elements, both in the most beautiful of ways, and the most terrifying. For example, Katara had a vision of being able to pull water from living beings, leaving behind bodies of meat raisins, but also helping life to flourish.

However, for Zuko, something definitely woke up within him, it was more than just a full realization of the elements. His eyes snapped open, and they were glowing gold! He threw his head back as if it had been pulled by an unseen force, and a stream of flame plumed from his mouth like a dragon's fire!

All the other benders took cover and Momo flew off with a screech, as whatever overcame Zuko had him going out of control! He had gotten to his feet, but fire sprang from his mouth every time he exhaled, with propulsion, he was and it didn't help that he was on the verge of hyperventilating! Whatever it was that overcame him, he was aware that it was happening, and it drove him into a panic!

Katara bent the water from her water skin and made tendrils to restrain Zuko, Toph trapped him in an encasement of rock and so Katara bent the water and used her healing powers to relax whatever it was within Zuko that just suddenly woke up and made him go out of control. When his eyes went from glowing gold to yellow again, he finally relaxed. Toph freed him, and everyone took a step back.

"What just happened?" Toph asked.

"I-I'm not sure." Zuko replied.

"You looked as you'd gone into the Avatar State, but I have it on good authority that my eyes and tattoos glow white, your eyes were gold." Aang stated. By this time Momo had returned to his shoulder, now that everything had calmed down.

"How is that even possible? There's no way that there's a second Avatar!" Zuko exclaimed.

"No, but you are the great-grandson of one… maybe that has something to do with this. If I could get in touch with one of my past lives, or in touch with the spirit Raava, we might get an answer." Aang replied. He led Zuko away and told the others to practice their forms.

Aang took Zuko to a room inside the temple where they could meditate without fear of interruption.

Alright, Avatars before me, can anyone help me to figure out what is happening with my friend, Zuko? Aang asked within himself.

He opened in his eyes and came with a vision of an Air Nomad Avatar!

"I am Avatar Yang Chen, and I have been a rather scholarly Avatar, always favoring settling conflicts with my wits whenever possible."

"Avatar Yang Chen, my friend and Firebending teacher has discovered about himself. I taught him how to open up his chakras, in hopes that he and my other bending friends could fully realize their bending potential! However, when he opened up his thought chakra, he opened his eyes and they were glowing gold!"

"Hmm, this is intriguing… Is he related to another Avatar?" Yang Chen asked.

"Yes, he's the great-grandson of Avatar Roku."

"Aang, I once had a friend named Miyako Su, she was fascinated in hereditary genes and the spirit world, and one day she came to me and gave me a theory: because the Avatar is the product of a human combined with the spirit of Raava, a child of the Avatar could also be considered a child of Raava, provided if a part of her had passed into the child as a gene. Should a child of Raava be born a bender, the child would have the potential to master a state similar to the Avatar State."

"I guess it's possible that the gene could be passed through more than one generation." Aang stated.

"That is the way with genes. Sometimes they skip generations before they show up again." Yang Chen replied.

Aang opened his eyes to see Zuko, he looked at Aang eagerly and asked: "Did you get any answers?"

"I spoke with the Air Nomad Avatar before me, she told me that it is possible that your spirit holds a child of Raava, as you told me in a letter, Raava is the spirit what combines with a human to become the Avatar. The presence of Raava's child in you can triggered your glowing eyes, it must've been when you fully realized your element."

"Alright, and since I apparently have this gene… what now?"

"You should learn how to master it. Now that it has woken up, you may run the risk of triggering it when you're overemotional, it's happened to me a few times already with the Avatar State. In your… uh… What do you want to call it when your eyes start glowing? It can't be the Avatar State."

"How about we call it the Dragon State? After the first Firebending masters, and how I reacted when I triggered it." Zuko replied.

"I like it, and I'm sure that Sokka might've come up with the same thing. Okay, so your Dragon State, if you trigger it involuntarily, you could cause a lot of destruction. If you master it, you could trigger it at will and have complete control of yourself, while also becoming the most powerful Firebender you can be."

"Well then, I guess we should start practicing your forms some more." Zuko stated.

They returned to the benders and they explained what happened with Zuko.

"It's almost not fair, the Fire Nation is already so powerful." Haru stated.

"Well then, it's a good thing that I'm on your side then, Haru; once this war is over, I promise you that your father will be pardoned, and I'd even escort him myself back to you… I'll make sure that Hakoda will be pardoned too, Katara." Zuko replied.

"Come on, let's get back to bending! Haru, maybe I can teach you the ways of Metalbending!" Toph told them, and they wandered off to continue their training; for a long day. Aang even worked on Zuko's Dragon State, to the point where he could trigger it at will and get out of it, but it did seem to exhaust him whenever he got out of it.

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When they returned to the Air Temple where they left Sokka, Teo, and The Duke, they found that a fancy tent had been erected while they had been out for the day, by now it was night. Sokka stepped out wearing robes and a hat, Momo leapt from Aang's shoulder and into the tent.

"Welcome Lord Momo, we've been keeping your hat warm for you." Sokka stated in his posh voice. Sure he welcomed the lemur, but when Aang approached, with childish excitement, he was denied entry as Sokka stated: "So sorry Aang, but you can't come in."

"You let Momo in." Aang challenged.

"Of course, he isn't a bender and this is strictly and bend-free establishment!" Sokka replied, he turned back inside and called out: "Hey, leave some of those lychee nuts for me!"

Aang retreated back to the benders as Katara spoke: "Don't worry about it, Aang, we're at war, we have to train, it's not your fault that he's being such a baby about it. He'll come back to us in a few hours when he's bored"

They sat around a campfire, which Zuko lit for them and they prepared a quick dinner.

"Let the first meeting of the Bendless Boomerang Club COMMENCE!" They heard Sokka announce: "There will be snacks and beverages served in the main hall, and Advanced Boomerang lessons in the foyer."

"Sokka never showed me how to use a boomerang." Aang grumbled.

"Aang, you can throw rocks with your mind." Katara told him.

"Still…"

A second later a toy, looking like an airplane, flew over their heads, but as Aang tried to catch it, Teo and The Duke rolled in and snatched it out of the air! Teo smiled and The Duke spoke: "Wow this went a long way!"

"Yeah, let's go test out the other ones I've made!" Teo replied, then he rolled back into Sokka's fancy tent.

"Did you see that awesome flying toy?!" Aang asked in excitement.

"Nope." Toph replied.

"We have to get in that clubhoue!" Aang declared.

"Why? It's just a bunch of stupid kiddie stuff." Zuko replied.

"They have flying toys!" Aang exclaimed.

"You're an Airbender." Zuko stated.

"And hats!"

"Aang, you're the Avatar, I think you've got more important things to worry about." Haru replied.

Aang finally settled back down and told them: "Ah, you're right, it's stupid, I don't need to be in some silly club."

"Get some sleep, Aang, you'll feel better about it in the morning… Hey, you gave us some pretty good lessons today." Katara spoke. Aang sighed and turned in for the night.

However, the next morning, Aang was on his knees at Sokka's feet as he begged for Sokka to let him in: "PLEASE can I be in your club!"

"Well, I suppose that we can make another exception." Sokka replied.

"Another?" Aang questioned. Sokka opened the lap to the tent and he found everyone inside!

"I thought you all said this was all dumb kids' stuff!" Aang exclaimed.

"Well, they were having a Pai Sho tournament, and it's um… what uncle would want." Zuko replied.

"Free foot massages twice a week, enough said!" Toph declared.

"And you know… the hats." Katara added both she and Haru were blushing a bit. Haru was currently interested in one of Teo's flying toys.

Aang turned back to Sokka and told him: "I'm glad you let us benders join your club, it's pretty great."

"Of course, of course, but you still have to recite the Boomeranger oath!" Sokka replied, and he had the benders take a knee and recite: "I pledge my allegiance to my bendless brethren, and admit that no bending can equal the might of the noble boomerang, one team, under hats, indivisible, with snacks and field trips for all!"

They spent a fair chunk of the day just having some fun for once. Zuko beat most of the players in Pai Sho, Teo showed Aang and Haru how his flying toys worked. At some point they went outside the tent so Sokka could teach them how to throw a boomerang, and let everyone give it a shot… The Duke had a surprisingly good toss for a little kid!

Sokka and Zuko also gave them a spectator sport of having a duel, now that Sokka had some training with Zuko's sword master, he was more of an equal match, but Zuko was still a better swordfighter, but then again, he was fighting with his dual swords.

However, as the sun was setting, Sokka pulled Zuko away and told him: "Katara and told me what happened yesterday while you guys were off doing your bending stuff. It sounded pretty scary. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, Aang taught me how to control it, and we decided to call it the Dragon State." Zuko replied.

"Dragon State, I like it! So do you think that you can bend lightning now?" Sokka asked.

"Let's see…" Zuko closed his eyes and took a deep breath, clearing his chakras, and he made the movements to bend lightning, and to his amazement, he created the spark and guided the bolts around before sending it into the sky!

"Whoa! I did it! That's the first time I've ever bent lightning! I've redirected it, but never bent it before."

"It's impressive… So, listen, I'm worried about my dad, he stayed behind while we fled, no doubt that he's been captured. Where would they have taken him?"

"My best guess would be the Boiling Rock." Zuko replied.

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Now that was fun to write!

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