General Fong began leading the friends through the village. Following him, they could see just how much of the area had been affected by fire.

"When was the attack?" Sokka asked.

"Last week, but they weren't the ones who attacked," the man said, wearing an odd smile. "The Fire Nation had claimed the land for themselves until we came and killed them."

Aang's face turned pale as he heard this. "Y-you killed all of them?"

"Almost all. There's no better way to send a message. The Earth Kingdom won't be conquered, not even if our cowardly kings won't stand with us."

The Avatar began frowning. "Bumi isn't a coward."

"Any king who surrenders is a coward, young Avatar. Kuei from Ba Sing Se is just as pathetic."

Katara put a hand on Aang's shoulder, getting him to look at her. He calmed down and did not say anything else to the general about the other earthbender. The four people kept walking until Fong stopped in front of a home.

"You two can stay here."

"'Two?'" Sokka asked.

"The Avatar is going to make his own place to spend the evenings. He'll use earthbending."

"Already?" Aang asked, shocked.

"We're too late as it is," Fong told him. "We can't waste any more time. As soon as I give the orders to the soldiers about our plans, I'll start your training."

The general left the trio and once he was gone, Aang spoke.

"I don't want to help him kill people."

"He didn't say you would," Katara said.

"He didn't, but it's probably what he'll say."

Sokka shrugged. "Probably, but isn't that what you'll have to do eventually anyway?"

The airbender's eyes widened. "What?"

"We're in the middle of a war, Aang. Everyone can't make it out. You'll have to kill the Fire Lord, then boom! War over. Ow!"

Katara elbowed her brother who started rubbing his arm. The waterbender went over to Aang.

"I know you don't want to kill anyone," she said gently. "There might be a day where we have to, though."

After a moment, Aang shook his head. "No, I think there's always another option."

"If you say so, Guru Aang," Sokka said jokingly.

This put a small smile on the boy's face. "I kind of like the sound of that."

Katara grinned as well. "I do too." Her expression became more serious. "I can understand if you don't really get along with General Fong. It's not easy learning from someone you don't like, but we still need to find you a teacher."

The Avatar nodded and sighed. "I know. I'll try my best to learn from him."

Sokka's face lit up in excitement. "And just think, you're about to learn how to make a shelter in two seconds. We'll save a bunch of time doing that and won't have to get rained on in the middle of the night since someone can't block the droplets in her sleep."

Katara frowned at her brother, making Aang chuckle. His sounds quickly died down when he saw that the general had returned.

"While we train, I'm sure there is something that can entertain you children for the time being."

Sokka puffed up. "Hey, we might be young, but we don't need to be entertained while you're off working. We're always around Aang when he trains. We can just watch and work on things while you're doing that."

"No, you won't."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't allow an audience.'

"But they're my friends," Aang chimed in, disliking the man more with every second. "They wouldn't get in the way."

"You don't know that. Earthbending takes up a lot more space than air or waterbending. They'd either be in the middle of the ground you're trying to control or would distract you. So, they'll stay away during training."

The brother and sister stared Fong down. Unfortunately, they knew there were few alternatives for masters, so they agreed to these terms. Sokka watched the general and Avatar leave, making sure he knew exactly where they were going.

"While Aang's doing that, we can start working on our next plans," the boy suggested. "After he learns earthbending, we'll still need to figure out a way to use it to stop the Fire Nation."

Katara nodded and began practicing some waterbending and her brother came up with ideas. As they busied themselves, Aang entered an area with Fong. There were several homes, but the man used his bending to move them to the sides, creating an open space. Fong went to stand in the middle.

"Show me what you can do."

"I can't do any earthbending at all yet."

Fong got into a low stance and raised his right hand, also raising the ground in the process. It turned into a small home. Aang watched, trying to study the form.

"Do that."

Giving it his best attempt, Aang was frustrated by his inability to execute the move. Fong frowned and created a pillar.

"If it's too much to make a shelter, make a smaller portion of the earth rise up like I did."

Aang tried the new move, but he was met with the same type of outcome. Fong's frown deepened and anger bubbled up in him.

"I thought you were the Avatar," he stated.

"I am."

"Then, why can't you earthbend?"

"I think I can. I just can't right now." Aang paused. "Maybe it would help if my friends were here. They might say something that lets me figure out what I need to do."

Begrudgingly, the general relented, so Aang went to find the other children.

"That was fast," Katara said, shocked.

"I guess General Fong just realized how amazing we are," Sokka added, smiling.

Katara just shook her head at him and they followed Aang to where the instructor was waiting. His arms were crossed in impatience.

"Go on," he instructed. "Get inspired by them."

The kids huddled together. "Okay, so what's going on?" Sokka asked.

"He tried to get me to create a shelter, then a pillar, but I can't do either one," Aang said glumly.

"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself," Katara told him. "Earth and air are as different as fire and water."

"That might be why it's so difficult for me then."

"Yeah, and earth is all grounded and stuff," Sokka said. "Maybe you should try to have grounded thoughts."

Aang tried to make sense of the advice, but it still did not work. Katara tapped her chin before her face lit up.

"Maybe you're trying to bend too much at once. What if you just focused on a tiny rock?"

The Avatar turned and focused his attention on a stone near them. He reached out his hand, then envisioned it moving. Suddenly, it shifted slightly to the right. Aang smiled brightly.

"I did it!"

"Great job!" Katara congratulated.

"You'll be bending boulders in no time!" Sokka assured him.

As the friends celebrated, the general's demeanor remained serious.

"Now that you can move a pebble, we'll work on real earthbending," he stated. "You two can wait outside, so you don't get in the way."

"Sure, don't mind us," Sokka said sarcastically. "We weren't helping or anything."

The siblings unhappily left the training area, but the brother stopped when they were still close enough to see.

"What are you doing?" Katara asked. "He'll probably complain if he sees us, then it'll just be harder for Aang to learn."

Sokka's gaze did not leave the earthbender. "There's something off about General Fong. I don't think we should leave Aang with him. We can work on stuff here and keep an eye on them."

Katara did not mind the idea of staying around the pair, so she put up no argument. The next four days were spent with them remaining just out of sight of the duo while they trained. Like before, Aang was a fast learner, but the siblings did not like Fong's tone or teaching method.

"You should have been able to hold the boulder longer," he scolded. "I would've thought that the Avatar would have more power than this."

The waterbender's temper flared and she almost moved closer, but Sokka caught her arm.

"He keeps saying stuff like that," she whispered, glaring off towards the general.

"People suck sometimes."

"That's not helping."

"Neither is trying to make everything easy for Aang," Sokka reasoned. "The world's a lot meaner than it was in his time. You saw how he got when Zhao was killed or when he heard about the soldiers who got killed. He'll have to get used to the way things are now."

Katara looked away from the instructor and pupil, but she frowned at her brother. "He shouldn't have to."

"He still does." Sokka kept writing on a map. "When he's done for today, I'll let you both know the new plans for where we can go to see what you think."

As she waited, Katara continued working on waterbending. That evening, Aang met up with them, visibly tired.

"Are you okay?" the waterbender asked him.

"Yeah, it's just that Sifu Fong is a tougher teacher than I thought he'd be. Even when I do the moves right, he doesn't seem to be happy about it."

"Well, here's something nice to think about," Sokka chimed in, pointing at the map. "After you've learned everything you need, you'll still need a firebending teacher. Since we only know one of those who doesn't want to kill us, I was thinking we could try to sneak into the Fire Nation and find Zuko."

"That sounds good to me."

"Great! How much longer do you think it'll be until you're an earthbending master?"

Aang shrugged. "Waterbending was a lot easier. I don't really know how long this will take. It doesn't seem like I'm really getting that much better."

"We've been watching the training and you're doing a lot better than Fong makes it seem," Katara said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Thanks," the boy said with a small smile. The expression became more unhappy as he sighed. "I should probably go to sleep now. He said he wants me to be up early tomorrow for 'special training.' Whatever that means."

The siblings wished him good luck with the next day's training and continued to work. When morning came, Aang was awake before they were and went back to the training area. It seemed empty when he got there, but he was sure he had the right time Fong had said. Suddenly, part of the ground opened up to reveal someone. A young man soaked in blood and restrained with shackles made of earth was on his side. Aang yelped and jumped.

"Terrible, isn't it?" Fong asked.

Aang looked up to see the general approaching. Fong's eyes were hatefully gazing upon the injured individual.

"He's a soldier," the earthbender spat. "We've been questioning him since we got here, but his lips might as well be sewn together."

The boy disliked all the dried and fresh blood he saw. "A-and you've been attacking him?"

"Torture normally works well in cases like this, but he's proven to be a difficult prisoner to break. That's why you're going to kill him."

Aang's eyes shot to Fong. "You want me to do what?"

"You heard me. Kill him."

"Why would I do that?" Aang asked, horrified. "He's already your prisoner. I thought you were asking him questions."

"I was, but it didn't work, so now he's just wasting space. If you kill him, then he's useful."

Aang could not properly form his words before the general continued speaking. His eyes were cold and his tone was icy.

"You've killed before, Avatar. You've caused more deaths than this by not being here during the war."

It felt like a fire blast had just hit the airbender. He took a step back.

"I wasn't avoiding the war."

"It doesn't matter. You weren't here and people died. You might as well kill him so that you know what it's like to directly end a life. In this situation, it's safer. Your hesitation won't matter because he's not going anywhere."

Aang pitifully looked at the beaten body, then shook his head. "No, I'm not killing him."

"Yes, you are."

Fong controlled the earth under the soldier, forcing him to his knees. A short pillar lifted up, covering his neck entirely.

"Just focus on that collar," the man instructed. "It'll crush his throat. That's all you have to do." Fong's gaze moved from the prisoner to Aang, turning more sinister. "I'm not letting you or your friends leave unless I know you'll be able to kill the Fire Lord."

A chunk of earth launched at the boy, but he deflected it with a blast of air. Fong twisted the ground with his hand, making where Aang was standing turn into quicksand. The Avatar could not successfully use airbending this time and his earthbending was not yet strong enough. Fong walked over to him, peering down.

"Don't believe that I won't kill those Water Tribe kids if you need more convincing," he threatened.

Aang's eyes widened and he felt anger build inside of him. Before it could fully take hold, he smiled. A large shadow was behind him. Fong looked up and grunted as a blast of water threw him into a wall. Katara was on Appa's saddle as Sokka pulled Aang out of the sand.

"I think it's time we left," the older boy suggested. Sokka waved to the general. "Sorry to leave on such rocky terms!" The other two children sighed heavily and he shrugged. "What? I've been holding that in ever since we met him."

Appa flew them out of range of Fong's attacks, but once they were, Aang frowned again.

"There was a soldier back there. He's going to be killed."

The siblings looked at one another.

"We might not have saved him, but that doesn't mean we won't save the next one," Katara told him.

Aang still was in low spirits as he thought over Fong's words. "So many people got killed because I wasn't here."

The Water Tribe pair went over to him, understanding expressions on their faces.

"You're a great airbender, Aang, but you're still a kid," Sokka said. "I don't think you fighting at the height of the war would have ended well. At least now, you'll get to have your own team." He started to smile. "Besides, you got to meet us and we're pretty great."

A smile came to Aang's face and he blushed a little when Katara gave him a big hug.

"I'm glad I met you both too," he admitted, grinning.

Sokka pulled out a map. "We'll figure out how to fix everything. First, we just need to find a new, less murderous earthbending teacher. Hopefully, that won't be too tricky." His eyes scanned the scroll until he found a new location which looked promising. "Okay, let's try here."

Aang checked out the location, then went to the reins. "Thanks for bringing Appa," he said to them.

"Don't mention it," Sokka said, smiling. "What are friends for if they don't escape from homicidal generals together?"

The Avatar chuckled. "It would just be silly if we didn't do that, I guess."

The friends continued to talk and come up with plans as they traveled. Soon enough, they landed again, but they quickly saw that this land was claimed by the Fire Nation.

"Okay, we've got a problem," Sokka said, brows pinched together. "We couldn't look less like Earth Kingdom citizens than if we wrote 'Water Tribe' and 'Air Temple' on our faces."

"Would anyone else let us use their clothes?" Katara asked. "We don't have any Earth Kingdom money."

"We'll probably be able to find something," Sokka stated. "We don't need anything fancy. Just some cloaks to cover up anything suspicious, namely those tattoos."

Aang's face looked pouty. "But I'm proud of my tattoos."

"Trust me, you'd be a lot less proud of them if they caused all the soldiers here to kill us." Sokka strapped the sword to his back. "You two stay here. I'll get those supplies. We'll figure out what to do with Appa when I get back."

They agreed to the plan and the boy speedily went down to the city. As soon as he found a stand with clothes, he bought several cloaks and put on one. Sokka was about to return when he saw a burned-looking building's roof about to slide off to the side. Underneath it was a girl. He moved to push her out of the way, but she smoothly stepped away before it could fall. Sokka had gotten close enough to see her eyes and scratched his head.

"You've got some good luck," he said. "You just happened to move before that roof fell."

"It's not luck. It's skill."

"Skill? Okay, sure," Sokka said, shaking his head.

"Thanks for rushing over to help, though."

"No prob–wait, how did you know I wasn't just already here?"

The girl hesitated, considering something. "You seem like you've got some fight in you. Am I right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Because that's the type of person my friends and I have been looking for."

"If you're with the Fire Nation–"

"I'm not," she said, offended. "Well, they are technically, but I'm not."

"What?"

"I should really let them be the ones who do the recruiting," the girl said under her breath. "We're trying to stop the Fire Nation from taking over any more than they already have. I'm Toph."

"I'm Sokka, but how are you going to do that? You can't see anything."

"I noticed," Toph said, chuckling. "I don't need to. I'm an earthbender."

"An earthbender?" Sokka asked, eyes brightening with hope. "How…you know what, I'm going to take a good thing when it happens. Great. My friend needs an earthbender to teach him. Can you do that?"

"Yeah, I just started teaching people recently. If you come with me to where our group meets up, I'll teach your friend along with the others there."

"When do you meet up?"

"We do it at night, so no one notices. I'll come find you. There are three of you, right?"

Sokka's jaw dropped. "Good guess."

"Told you, it's skill. I noticed you landing here with your bison."

"I feel like I'm not going to understand most of the things you can do."

"And I feel like I'm going to enjoy that," Toph said, grinning. "I'll come get you when it's time."

Toph left before Sokka could say anything else, so he returned to where he had left the others, handing them the cloaks.

"I found you an earthbending teacher. Her name's Toph."

"That was a productive market trip," Aang said, shocked.

"You could say that again. Sometime tonight, she'll come back here to show us to this place for training with some other rebels."

The airbender excitedly awaited the evening, hoping that this new instructor would help more than the last. While they waited, Sokka thought over Toph's words. Part of what she had said stuck out to the boy. Some people in her group were with the Fire Nation?

"Could she have been talking about…no," he thought, shaking his head. "He's still in the Fire Nation. I doubt the Fire Lord would leave again and come out to a city like this. If he didn't go to Omashu, Gaoling definitely wouldn't seem important enough."

Sokka continued planning for the evening, preparing for as many case scenarios in case this was actually a trap. After he completed his fifth strategy, he saw Toph approaching.

"You're younger than I thought you'd be," the waterbender said. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Katara."

Toph waved. "You're all pretty young too. I guess we can pretend it's not weird for three kids and a bison to be showing up in different cities alone. Now, which one of you is supposed to learn earthbending?"

"That's me," Aang said. "I didn't get too far with my last instructor."

"Well, that's just because you didn't have me yet. Come along, Twinkle Toes."

"My name's actually Aang."

"It might be, but Twinkle Toes fits you better. I felt you walking all lightly and stuff when I was coming up. You still are."

The siblings chuckled and kept following Toph deeper into the city. When they got to the base of the underground staircase, she knocked and was let through the entryway. The friends entered and took in all the sights and how many people were there. It was promising. They could really stand a chance to save this place as well if the people's skills were half as great as their numbers.

"Sokka?" a voice called out, surprised.

The Water Tribe boy could not stop as a smile spread over his face. Full of surprise, he turned and saw his friend.

"Zuko!"

Hurrying over to one another, the pair clasped forearms. Even though neither knew how their time in Gaoling would go, they knew one thing: the team was back.