The group made it close by a Fire Nation town. They made sure to stay out of site out sight and move to rocky canyon. The five teenagers lied under the night sky, watching a bunch of lights fall from the sky. Zuko lied on the far left, Toph lied next to Zuko, Aang lied to Toph, Katara lied next to Aang, whom had used Momo as a pillow behind his head. And Sokka lied next to Katara.
"Wow. This is amazing to watch." Katara said as she enjoyed the view.
"Kind of makes you think how insignificant we are." Sokka thought out loud.
"Eh," Toph yawned. "You've seen nothing once, you've seen it a thousand times."
"Oh yeah, you're blind. I almost forgot." Zuko mentioned, as he looked at Toph.
The group suddenly saw a blue light coming a little closer towards their direction. "Whoa…"
"You've never NOT seen anything like this." Sokka's eyes widen as he sat up.
The group sat up and noticed how close it was, but was still dozens of feet above them. The group ducked and took cover. Zuko grabbed Toph to make sure she wasn't hit, which made Toph blush a little. The blue ball of light was shot over their heads and landed onto a nearby open grass field. The heard the impact, as Toph could feel the rumble through her feet.
"That's not good." Zuko noted as he saw smoke coming from the south. That's where the meteor had landed.
The group quickly made their way and flew on top of Appa's back, hovering above the meteor crash.
"That fire is gonna head into town!" Katara noted.
"Not if we can stop it!" Aang confidently spoke. Appa flew down closer to the crash but not close enough to the fire. The group jumped off of Appa's back, except Katara, whom jumped on top of Appa's head. She grabbed Appa's rein and looked to her friends.
"There's a creek over here. I'll bend the water onto the fire. Yip yip!" Katara whipped the reins, telling Appa to fly.
"Toph. Let's make a trench to keep the fire from coming any closer!" Aang said.
Sokka grabbed his jawbone blade and looked at Aang and Toph, as they moved. "Wait, what should I do?" he asked, feeling left out.
Aang and Toph paused, briefly as they looked at Sokka and saw Momo fly pass by. "Keep an eye on Momo." He replied.
"So what, I'm just a lemur sitter?" Sokka asked himself as Momo flew on top of his head. "There, there." He patted Momo's head, which is on top of Sokka's head.
"You're not the only one feeling left out." Zuko said as he stood right next to Sokka.
"Thanks, Zuko. I'm feeling better already." Sokka said, sarcastically.
Zuko and Sokka watched Aang and Toph bend earth to make a line within the ground so the fire wouldn't spread. A few sparks of fire burst out and a few spots of had hit the ground. The Zuko stomped on the sparks, Sokka hit the sparks and Momo just jumped over and threw dirt over it.
"Sokka, we gotta stand clear. It's not safe here." Zuko told Sokka.
"Right. Stand clear." Sokka responded, taking cover with his head hung down.
Meanwhile, Katara whom was riding on Appa's back had bended a large body of water from a nearby creek and brought it with her. The body had almost resembled a large bubble behind her. As she had arrived at the scene once again, she bended the body of water and some of the water caused it to rain down on the fire, as she rode on Appa.
Toph used her earth bending skills to create earth tiles to flatten over and put out the fire.
Katara passed the body of water to Aang, which had hovered over his head. "Alright, here we go!" Aang decided to combine the body of water hovering over his head and use the air in his lunges to blow and splash the burning meteor. Now that was nothing but falling snowflakes and snow on the ground. Aang had just invented snowbending.
"Wow. Look at that. Snow." Zuko said as he saw the snow.
"Yeah." Sokka sighed. "I wish I could do that, too."
The next day, the group of teenagers dined at an outside restaurant. The group sat at a long table where they could sit together and talk. They all had their treys of food in front of them.
"These people have no idea how close they were from being toasted, last night." Aang said before he took a bite out of a bun.
"Yeah. The worst part of being in disguise… is that we don't get any rewards or hero worshipping." Toph said.
"I personally think we shouldn't talk about this in public." Zuko insisted that they be a little quiet.
Toph ignored Zuko. "Man, I miss the love" she pouted.
"Boohoo. Poor heroes." Sokka mocked. He sat on a wall, staring at an area of town. The group stared at Sokka's backside in worry.
"What's your problem? You haven't even touched your smoked seaslug." Katara pointed at his meal.
"It's probably because of what happened last night." Zuko said.
"About the meteor?" Aang asked.
"Yeah. You see, Sokka felt left out an—"
"Let me tell the story!" Sokka yelled at Zuko. He took a quick breather and apologized. "I'm sorry. It's just… all you guys can do this awesome bending stuff, like putting out forest fires and flying around and making other stuff fly around." Katara, Aang and Zuko glanced at each other for a moment and looked back at Sokka. "I can't do… anything." He moaped.
"That's not true. I can't read a map like you." Katara tried to relate to Sokka's pain.
"I can't read at all." Toph said.
"And no one can physically fly around like a bird." Zuko said.
"Yet." Toph added.
"Also, who keeps us laughing with your sarcastic puns?" Aang asked, trying to cheer him up. "I mean…" Aang looks at Zuko.
"Yeah, I can't firebend… what's the—" Zuko paused and realized. "Hey!"
Aang embarrassingly grin, as Zuko gives him… the growl.
Sokka cut Aang off. "It's alright. I appreciate the effort. But the fact is… each of you is so amazing and so special, and I'm… not. I'm just the guy in the group who's… regular." He continued to stare at the houses, moping in depression.
Katara got up from her seat and walked over next to her brother, sitting on an edge of a wall. "I'm sorry you're feeling so down, but I hope none of us see you that way." Katara then thought of an idea and turned to Sokka. "I know something that's gonna make you feel better!"
Sokka turned his head and glanced at his sister. "You do?" he asked.
About ten minutes after eating at an outside restaurant, the group of teenagers traveled to a famous weapon store. Katara knew that Sokka liked weapons.
"Shopping!" Sokka said cheerfully, as he ventured into the store of weaponry. He looked through each isle trying to find out which weapon to get. "Maybe a little something to reinvigorate my battling." He thought out loud, as he picked up a pair of Nun chucks. "Hey, how about these?" he asked Toph, who watched as he tested them out to see if the Nun-chucks were fight for him. He made swooshing sounds as he swung, until he hit his head by accident. "Oof!"
"Heh," Toph chucked, as he fell on the floor and a few sticks landed on top of himself. "I think they fit you quite well."
Zuko looked around the shop, searching for a sword that would fit him.
Sokka had tried out many weapons, but none of them happened to be his soulmate. He grabbed a single sai and used it's tip to get some food out his teeth. He glanced to the right and saw a set of swords in a corner. But what caught Sokka's interest was sword at the very top. The sword had a wooden hilt, as its sheath had a Chinese dragon crest on it.
"Wooh…" Sokka moaned, as he walked over and slid his hand on its sheath. "That's what Sokka's talking about."
"You have a good eye. That's an original from Piandao, the greatest sword master and sword maker in Fire Nation history." The shop owner said with a broom in his hand. "He lives in a big castle, up the road from here." He said, before sweeping off somewhere.
The rest of the group walked over to Sokka and the shop owner. As Zuko looked at the sword, then at the shop owner who was sweeping elsewhere, he lightly gasped as he saw a close resemblance to his uncle Iroh.
Katara looked and caught Zuko staring at the shop owner. "Something wrong?" she whispered.
Zuko suddenly woke up and turned his face to Katara. "Oh, it's nothing." He murmured.
"That's it! That's what you needed all along, Sokka." Aang just got an idea.
"A sword?" Sokka asked.
"Not the sword, but a master." Aang said, as Sokka picked the prop from the wall. "We've all had masters to help us get better. You should see that you could study under Piandao."
"That's a great idea. I would've never gotten anywhere, if I never met Master Pakku. Everyone needs a teacher." Katara mentioned her grandfather.
"I learned from Badger Moles. They don't talk, but they're great teachers." Toph mentioned.
"And I learned from…" Zuko paused, as he didn't want to ruin the surprise. He then changed his mind and thought about Iroh. "My uncle…"
"Hm. Maybe becoming a master sword fighter wouldn't be so bad." Sokka removed its sheath, staring at Piandao's original blade. "Alright, I'll talk to him."
About a couple of hours after Sokka had visited Piandao's mansion, the group of teenagers had walked back to the campsite and lied on the grounds, bored out of their minds.
"What do you guys wanna do today?" Aang asked, as he stared at some clouds.
"I'm tapped out. I already picked my toes, twice." Toph said.
"Twice?" Aang turned his head towards Toph and Momo jumped onto the ground.
"The first time is for cleaning, the second time is for the SWEET picking sensation." Toph wiggled her toes when she said the word "SWEET".
"Sokka's been in charge of the schedule. I don't know what we'll be doing today." Katara said.
Toph picked her nose. "Plus, it's sooooo hot today."
"How hot is it?" Aang asked.
"I don't know. Real hot?" Toph guessed.
"It's so hot…" Aang turned to Katara when she spoke. "It's so hot, that…" Katara stroked Momo's fur. "Momo is shedding fur like Appa! Eh? Eh?"
Aang remained silent, at her failed pun. "I guess the jokes don't run in the family." He mentioned.
"Oh, ha-ha. Everyone's a critic." Katara mentioned, sarcastically. Appa moaned. She then looked at Zuko, whom was staring at the clouds, imagining Iroh in the sky.
'Zuko.' Zuko imagined Iroh calling his name.
"Uncle?" He muttered, as he stared at the Iroh-shaped cloud. He thought her was hallucinating, but then his ear suddenly worked again, as he heard Katara call his name.
"Zuko. Zuko… Zuko?" Katara called, catching his attention.
"Huh?" Zuko sat up in surprise. "What?" he turned to his friends, as they looked at him in worrisome.
"Are you alright?" Katara asked.
"Oh, sorry. I was just staring at some clouds." Zuko rubbed his head.
"You've been spacing out for a while now." Toph noted. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Look, don't worry about it. I'll be okay." Zuko lied back down staring at some more clouds. By the time he glanced back up, the clouds had already dispersed within the air.
Shortly after a while, Katara pulled out a map of the Fire Nation country. Since Sokka wasn't there to navigate, they decided that they wanted to go one step ahead of Sokka in their journeys. The four benders sat and looked at a map, discovering where they are in the Fire Nation.
Toph gasped in joy. "Sokka's coming!"
The others turned their heads and saw Sokka walking up the rocky road.
"Hey guys. What are you doing?" Sokka asked as his friends as he arrived.
"Sokka!" Aang, Katara and Toph immediately group hugged Sokka, as Zuko just walked towards him.
"We missed you, SO much!" Katara smiled.
"Say something funny!" Aang begged for one of Sokka's jokes.
Sokka looked at Aang and Katara in a weird way. "Funny how?" The two benders broke out and laughed, as Sokka remained confused. He turned to Zuko and Toph. "What's their deal?"
"I don't know." Toph replied.
"I guess they missed you a lot since you were gone for a while." Zuko assumed.
"I didn't care." Toph turned away from Sokka, hiding her blush from him and Zuko.
"Thanks. That warms my heart," Sokka said, feeling a little touched on the inside. "Anyway, I need some help."
The group of teenagers ran to the sight of the meteor crash and slowly walked closer towards it. The five glanced down big rock-sized black meteorite, closely.
"You want to make a sword out of this meteorite?" Zuko asked.
"Of course. Technically, it's not part of the earth. So, I want to be the first to ever use this kind of material." Sokka said as he moved closer to the meteorite. He grunted, trying to push and pull the meteorite, but couldn't do it alone. "Little help, you guys?" The four benders looked at each other in no rush, then looked at Sokka and jumped down to help him move.
Five minutes later, the group is pushing the black meteorite up the hill towards Master Pindao's mansion. Toph had to stay behind and earthbend, so the meteorite wouldn't fall.
After ten minutes of pushing and bending, the group successfully brought the meteor to Master Piandao's fancy double doors. Sokka rung the door handles like crazy again, until Master Piandao opened the door, which made Sokka flinch.
"Who are they?" Piandao asked Sokka, as he saw four teenager with the black meteorite.
"Oh, these are my friends. Just good Fire Nation folks." Sokka replied, as Zuko, Aang and Katara respectfully bowed.
"Likewise." Piandao responded by bowing back.
"Do you think we can make a sword out of a meteorite?" Sokka asked, as he gave Piandao space to touch the meteorite.
"You'll make a sword, unlike any other in the world." Piandao said, as he secretly glanced at Zuko.
After the meteorite was brought into his Piandao's home, Sokka begun to work on making his meteorite sword. It took hours of work for Sokka. The group watched as Sokka sweating and grinding, pumping air into the fire They watched from behind a wall.
Aang turned to Zuko, curiously. "Hey, Zuko. You're a swordsman. Are you sure you don't want to make a meteorite sword, like Sokka's doing?" Aang asked.
"Yeah. You could be missing out on a once in a lifetime opportunity, you know." Toph said.
"Look, I appreciate the offer and your concerns, but Sokka has finally come a long way. Not only as a leader, but as a man. He's earned it." Zuko said, as he continued to watch Sokka.
"Yeah, what Zuko said. Sokka's finally come a long way. He's earned it." Katara gazed at Sokka out of amazement.
"I remember the days when he had nothing but his jawbone blade and boomerang." Aang reminisced from the day they met to now.
"Yep, good times." Toph chuckled, as she slid her back downwards on the wall.
The next day, Team Avatar were invited to come to Sokka's orientation and were brought inside of Piandao's home. The group were on their knees, listening to Piandao's speech.
"Sokka," Piandao called. "When you first arrived, you were so unsure. You even seemed down on yourself. But then I saw something inside of you right away. I saw a heart as strong as a Lion-Turtle, twice as big." he noted his Sokka's sheer will. "And as we trained, it wasn't your skills that impressed me." His butler fat bowed and respectfully handed Sokka's sword to Piandao. "No, it certainly wasn't your skills..."
Sokka had a look of shame on his face and glanced to the left, while the group behind him looked at Sokka's backside.
"You showed me something beyond that." Piandao slowly drew out the meteorite blade from its sheath. "Creativity. Versatility. Intelligence. These are the traits that define a great swordsman." he stared at the blade and saw his own reflection. "And these are the traits... that define you." Piandao respectfully bowed and offered Sokka to take his sword. "You told me that you were not worthy, but I believe... that you are more worthy than any man I have ever trained."
Sokka took his bleed and silently sighed. He knew that he had to come in terms with himself and Piandao. He had to speak the truth. "I'm sorry, master. You're wrong. I am not worthy." Sokka said.
"What do you mean?" Piandao asked.
"I'm not who you think I am. I'm not from the Fire Nation. I'm from the Southern Water Tribe." Sokka said, honestly with disappointment in his voice. Leaving a shocked reaction from his friends.
Zuko face palmed himself. 'Why didn't I think that Sokka would come clean?!'
"I lied, so I could learn swordsmanship from you. I'm sorry." Sokka apologized and offered to give his sword back to Piandao, whom was a bit angry after finding out the truth.
"I'm sorry, too." Piandao turned to his left a bit and drew out his sword, swung at Sokka.
"Guh!" Sokka grunted as he dodged and drew his blade, clashing it with Piandao's. Team Avatar stood up to assist Sokka, but was stopped. "No. This is my fight. Alone." he said, which made Piandao smile.
Five minutes later, Piandao and Sokka stood on the training grounds, prepared to duel one another, while Team Avatar stood on the balcony alongside Piandao's butler, Fat. They watched as the fight took place. Katara and Aang had worried looks, while Toph had a blank reaction and Zuko had confidents.
Master Piandao drew the first move on Sokka, playing the offensive role, placing Sokka on defense. They clash swords a few times before Piandao palm struck his chest, which made Sokka push back a few inches. Sokka jumped onto the short bridge, unintentionally using his evasive skills.
"That's it. Using your agility against an older opponent. Smart." Piandao noted, as he chased after Sokka.
"Should we follow him?" Aang asked.
"No. Remember, Sokka said that this is his fight alone." Zuko quoted. "This is also a training ground. We don't want to tarnish Sokka's pride by interfering."
"He's right." Fat said, which made Aang and Katara look over to him. "This is a fight between two swordsmen. And only two swordsmen could deal with it."
"Good use of brain. Fighting from the high ground." Piandao noted, as Sokka jumped onto a wall and caught Piandao's blade with his own by pressing down with his sword.
"Uh!" Sokka tripped and fell backwards, landing on some bamboo, which made the group except Zuko silently grunt. After running into a bamboo forest, Sokka ran like a wild man. "Aaaaah!" he screamed, as Piandao chased after him. He nearly struck Sokka, whom dodged by ducking. He tried to pull his blade out the ground. As he did, he grunted and released some dirt that got onto Piandao's face.
'Not even I had thought of that.' Zuko thought as he watched.
"P-tuh!" Piandao spat some dirt out and closed his eyes. "Very resourceful." he then opened his ears to catch his opponent.
Sokka tried to silently move away from his master, but accidently stepped on a twig, which caught his ears. Piandao thrust forward, which clashed against Sokka's blade. He locked onto Sokka's and twirled his blade, spiraling until he made Sokka lose his grip. Sokka is now defenseless and Piandao attempted to swing ninety degrees, which mad Sokka jump back and grunt. Piandao pointed the tip of his blade towards Sokka's face. Aang, Katara and Toph thought that they were gonna kill him, so they jumped over the balcony to try and intervene.
"Excellent work, Sokka." Piandao said, which got a confused look out of Team Avatar. He then called for Fat to throw him over his sheath, which he did and the sheath landed over and on top of the sword, perfectly. "I think I'm a little too old to be fighting the Avatar."
Katara and Aan looked at each other in confusion before staring at Piandao. "How did you know?"
"Oh, I've been around a while. Of course, I knew from the beginning that you all would be coming here sooner or later." Fat handed Piandao a handkerchief to wipe the dirt off his face.
"You knew you that we were coming here? How?" Katara asked.
"Once I saw one my recognizable students in town yesterday, I knew that you would all be coming," Piandao turned to Zuko. "Prince Zuko."
Zuko removed his eyepatch and respectfully bowed towards his master. "It's good to see you again, Master Piandao."
Sokka, Katara and Aang were shocked and stared at Zuko. "W-what?!" the three yelled.
"Zuko, YOU were trained under Master Piandao? Since when?!" Aang asked.
"It was a few years ago, before I was banished." Zuko stated s he also nodded. "I wanted Sokka to have his moment, that's why I didn't say anything."
"So you had us all fooled, thinking that you were a hot head prince. Smart." Toph smiled and roughly nudged Zuko's arm.
"Yeah," Zuko silently grunted.
"If you already knew Master Piandao, why didn't you tell us?" Aang asked Zuko.
"Because if you all had found out, then you'd probably wouldn't have came here seeking a master." Piandao answered Aang's question. "Plus, I knew that Sokka was Water Tribe from the beginning. You might wanna think of another Fire Nation cover name. Try Lee. There's a million Lee's." he took a sip of tea
"I actually used it when I was in Ba Sing Se." Zuko raised his hand.
"But why would you train Sokka, even if you knew he was from the Water Tribe?" Katara asked.
"The way of the sword doesn't belong to any ONE nation. The knowledge of art belongs to us all." Piandao answered, passing his teacup back to Fat. He then picked up Sokka's blade and handed it to him. "Sokka. Zuko. You two must continue training in the art of swordsmanship. If you stay on this path, I know that you two will be even greater swordsmen than I am."
Both Sokka and Zuko smiled and respectfully bowed towards their master.
Five minutes later, Team Avatar begun their departure from Piandao's home.
"Wait!" heard a familiar voice. The group looked back to see Fat running towards them. "Master Piandao wanted to give this to you." Fat had caught up and gave Sokka a small black pouch. "Something to remember him by." Fat respectfully bowed and left.
Sokka opened the pouch to find a Pai Sho tile. "It's a Pai Sho tile."
"Of the White Lotus." Aang said.
"Wait, I've seen this before." Zuko took the tile from Sokka.
"What does it mean?" Katara asked.
Zuko suddenly remembered back when he and Iroh were in a desert, and Iroh played Pai Sho with another elder man. "My uncle played this game Pai Sho a lot when we were together. Could this mean..." By the time Zuko looked at Piandao's family crescent, he started to see the pictures together. 'This white lotus tile. And the symbol on the door. Could this mean that-'
"Oh, that reminds me." Sokka pulled out a piece of meteorite from his back pocket. "Toph, I know you never had to bend space earth before." he handed the piece to Toph.
"Sweet! Check this out!" Toph then bended the black meteorite into the shape of a star, then bended it into a you know what.
"I personally don't think that there is a thing of space-earth. If it's from space, then it's not from earth... right?"
"Must you ruin everything?" Sokka complained.
"I can't belive that I missed you, Sokka." Katara said, as they finally departure from Piandao's home.
Zuko stared at the clouds that took the shape of Iroh again. 'Uncle, I hope you're safe. Just hang in there. I'm going to rescue you.'
Meanwhile, Iroh is in jail, doing bunch of different exercises, like pushups, sit ups, squats, pull ups while no one is around. He is somehow aware of the Day of the Black Sun and wants to prepare for it. His body used to be fat and is now ripped. He is currently training his mind and body.