Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years passed and my brother Sokka and I discovered the new Avatar, an airbender named Aang. Although his airbending skills were great, he had a lot to learn before he was ready to save anyone. But from the day I first met him, I believed Aang would save the world. And you know what?
I was right. With the help of his friends, Aang defeated Fire Lord Ozai and ended the Hundred Year War. Zuko, Ozai's son and our ally, became the new Fire Lord. Together with Earth King Kuei, The Dragon of the North Lü Bu, Aang and Zuko promised to restore the four nations to harmony.
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The scene opens with Appa flying near some rocky terrain. Katara is resting her head on Aang's shoulder with hearts shown around them. A close-up shows them holding hands. Meanwhile Sokka and Toph are resting against the rolled up sleeping mat stored on which Momo is sleeping. While Sokka watches the couple in front of him with a bored expression, Toph is picking her nose. And Lü Bu is sleeping with his back turned from everyone.
Sokka: Ugh.
Toph: What? Everybody does it!
Sokka: I was talking about them, not y--
He notices Toph picking her note, his expression morphs to one of disgust.
Sokka: Oh. You, too.
The scene cuts to the Beifong Metalbending Academy. Toph stands up and looks over the valley toward her school as Lü wakes up.
Toph: Well, it's been fun, guys, but I gotta get back to my school.
Lü: Leaving already, Toph?
Toph: Yeah. Someone's gotta keep the lily livers– I mean, my students in line. You can come with if ya like Lü, it'll help you get your mind off Azula.
Lü: Ah what the heck.
He grabs his bag until Sokka lays flat on the saddle, tugging on both his and Toph's pants to get their attention as he speaks in a whisper.
Sokka: Wait! You can't leave me alone with them! The oogie-osity's only gonna get worse after you're both gone! How am I supposed to keep my food down?!
Toph: Well, you could come with us.
Sokka: No, no. Hey! How about I go with you guys?
Lü: Great idea, Sokka. Wish I'd thought of it.
Sokka: Katara? Aang? I'm going with Lü and Toph. To check out her school, not because you two are giving me the oogies or anything and it makes Lü feel like a total failure in saving his crazy girlfriend.
Lü scowls at Sokka and slaps him in the back of the head shutting him up.
Sokka: Shutting up now.
Katara: Hm? Oh! That sounds good! We'll pick you up on the way back from Ba Sing Se.
Aang: Hold on, guys! Just give Appa a second to land!
Toph: Don't bother, Twinkle Toes. We're close enough to the ground. Sniff I can smell the trees near my school. Come on!
She grab's Sokka wrist and jumps off of Appa.
Sokka: Hey, isn't that the hand you used to pick your- ?
They both start to fall through the air as Lü was free falling next to them with a smile.
Sokka: Aaaaah!
Toph let's go of Sokka to bend the earth below them.
Toph: I gotta let go of you, but don't worry!
Sokka: I'm worried! I'm worried!
Lü: Relax wise man! This is where the fun begins!
Toph earthbends an earth slide to guide Sokka and herself to the ground; while she surfs down the slide on her feet, Sokka roughly landed at its top on his back and glides down uncontrollably.
Sokka: Aaaaah!
At the base of the slide, Toph lands firmly on her feet then, Lü safely landed in a pile of leaves, while Sokka lands on his back.
Sokka: Oof!
Lü: Another happy landing.
Sokka gets to his feet, looking up at the slide with a smile while rubbing his back. As Lü get out the pile shaking any leaves out of his hair.
Sokka: I tasted my own stomach when we were halfway down, but by the end-- not a bad way to travel.
The three of them start to walk through the forest toward the school.
Sokka: So how'd you come up with the idea of starting your own school?
Toph: After teaching Aang, I realized how fulfilling teaching can be! I mean, I've helped him reach his potential as an earthbender, as the Avatar, and as a human being! I felt like I've made a difference! So when I discovered metalbending, I knew in my heart that I had to share it with the world! It was almost like... a calling!
Lü: Aw, who're you kidding? You just like telling people what to do.
Toph: Yeah. And yelling. I love yelling.
As they reach the school, Toph sees her three students walking away from it, Penga dragging a large suitcase and Ho Tun carrying a pack on the end of a stick; yelling at her students.
Toph: Just where do you lily livers think you're going?! Don't tell me you were trying to escape– I mean, give up on your training! I'm gonna put you in so much hurt you won't remember what day of the week it is!
Penga: Sifu Toph!
Ho Tun: Oh, this is bad! We're so doomed!
Penga points at Lü and Sokka, her mood suddenly changing.
Penga: Sifu Toph, who's that?
Toph: Oh, yeah. Lü, Sokka, these are my students: Ho Tun-
Ho Tun: Please, sir! Save us from our doom!
Toph: -Penga-
Penga looks at Lü and Sokka with hearts for eyes.
Penga: Your biceps are enormous!
Toph: and Moo-
Dark one: The Dark One.
Lü: ...Toph what the *BLEEP*
Toph: Lily livers, this is my friend Sokka. And my best friend Lü Bu.
Sokka: Oh, I don't know about "enormous" biceps. "Impressively large", maybe-
Penga then latches onto Lü's arm as Sokka's mouth dropped open. While Lü looked in confusion.
Penga: You're my new boyfriend! Starting right now!
Lü: How old are you, Penga?
Penga: Almost sixteen.
Lü: And by "almost," you mean...
Penga: Nine.
Lü: ....
He gently slips his arm away from Penga and picks her up and moves her over to Sokka and moved her arms to where she latched onto Sokka's arm.
Lü: Im seeing someone at the moment sorry.
Sokka: Yeah in prison.
Lü was about to say something but Toph covers his mouth and stands in front of him.
Toph: So what were we talking about before all this nice-to-meet-you garbage? That's right. We were talking about hurt.
Ho Tun: Please, Sifu Toph! We weren't trying to run away! We were kicked out!
Penga: They wouldn't even let me pack all my shoes first!
Dark one: I hate practicing forms, but getting kicked out is the worst!
Toph: Kicked out? Kicked out by who?
The scene moves to the inside of the building, where Kunyo, an elderly man in a black and red outfit, oversees three students in red gis' going through firebending forms.
Kunyo: Breathe in, disciples of Kunyo! Breathe in the fury of our ancestors! Breathe in the glory of-
Toph slides the door open, standing in the doorframe.
Toph: Get out! Get out of my school! Now!
Kunyo: Who dares disturb Master Kunyo's firebending dojo?!
Lü: Only watched Last Airbender who dis?
Toph: "Firebending dojo?!"
She raises the earth underneath Kunyo and his students, causing them to loose their balance and fall.
Toph: This is the Beifong Metalbending Academy!
He firebends at a tapestry bearing the Beifong family crest that hangs on the wall, setting it ablaze.
Kunyo: My students and I left this building in deference to the Harmony Restoration Movement! But now that the Fire Lord has recovered his senses, and withdrawn his support for the movement--
As the crest burns away, it reveals the firebending symbol etched into the wall.
Kunyo: --we've come to reclaim back what is rightfully ours!
Toph punches the wall, replacing the firebending symbol with the earthbending one.
Toph: Fire Lord Zuko's off his gourd! You people don't belong here! This is the Earth Kingdom's– and the world's– first school of metalbending!
Kunyo: Psh. Shame on you for selling such a fantasy to these poor dupes, young lady! Everyone knows that "metalbending" doesn't exist.
As a response to Kunyo's skepticism, Toph bends the metal weapons resting in a rack behind Kunyo; she takes one of the spears and wraps it firmly and tightly around Kunyo's head, to the discomfort and shock of the instructor, and the disbelief of his students.
Kunyo: Gah!
Student: Master Kunyo--!
Kunyo: Watch carefully, disciples! Your master's about to teach this dirt girl a lesson!
Toph creates a fissure underneath her feet.
Toph: Bring it on!
Sokka walks between the two with his arms outstretched.
Sokka: Okay, everybody calm down! If you two start fighting, there won't be a building left to fight over! This place is meant to be a school, right? It seems to me that it ought to go to whichever school is most effective.
Penga: My boyfriend's so reasonable!
Lü: I'm telling Suki!
Kunyo: Good point! Rather than settle this with a match between the teachers, we'll settle it with a match between our students! A match to the death!
Students: Yes!
Ho Tun: Oh, doom upon doom!
Penga: Does this mean I won't get my shoes back?
Dark one: Figures it'd end this way.
Both Sokka and Lü noticed their discomfort at the idea.
Lü: Uh... well... How about a match to the sit instead?
Toph: What?
Sokka: You know, a match to the sit!
Toph: No, I don't know, because you both just made that up!
Lü: Well sorry Im working under pressure here!
Toph: We're team Avatar all we do is work under pressure!
Sokka: Okay look! Whichever team can force a member of the other team to sit down first wins!
Students: Well... I guess... As long as we still get to beat people up...
Ho Tun: So we're only partially doomed?
Penga: What great ideas my boyfriend has!
Dark one: Whatever. I still hate it.
Sokka bows while gesturing at the door.
Sokka: Come back in three days, Master Kunyo. We'll have the match then.
Kunyo: Three days?! Why should we wait-?!
Toph: Or we could settle it right now, Master Pointy-Head, just you and me.
She uses her metalbending to tighten the spear around his head, causing him to yell in pain before she lets go.
Kunyo: Harumph! Three days it is.
Kunyo and his disciples leave the building while Lü, Sokka and Toph follow them, whispering to one another as they do so.
Toph: I don't know about this, guys. The lily livers can't even-
Sokka: Come on, Toph! Those firebenders are a bunch of little kids! With three days of intensive training, your guys will be able to take them!
Kunyo and his disciples turn toward Sokka and Toph.
Kunyo: Before we leave, disciples of Kunyo, let's give our opponents the Kunyo Salute.
The three pupils jump upon each other's shoulders, bending flames to their sides.
Students Beware, enemies of Kunyo!... For we shall roast you!... -in the flames of your own defeat!
Sokka's jaw drops at the display while Penga hides behind him and Ho Tun puts his hands to his cheeks in a look of shock. Only Lü, Toph and the Dark One appear unbothered.
Sokka: What's that you're always saying, Ho Tun?
Ho Tun: We're doomed.
Lü and Toph: Pretty much.
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The scene switches to Katara, Aang, and Momo as they fly over Ba Sing Se on Appa.
Aang: Find yourself a nice, quiet hill to spend the night, okay, buddy? I'll whistle for you tomorrow after our meeting with the Earth King.
Aang flies off on his glider carrying Katara, with Momo flying beside them, before landing in the Upper Ring.
Aang: Now we have to find a place to spend the night.
Katara: I'm sure Iroh has a couple of spare rooms. Do you remember how to get to his teashop from here?
Aang: I think we go-
???: Oh, my gosh! Is it, like, really you?
???: Eek!
Aang and Katara turn toward the sound of the voices to see Hei-Won and Won-Yee, two Upper Ring girls wearing yellow shirts with portraits of Aang on them over their dresses.
Hei-Won: I can't, like, believe it? It's really you, with your flying lemur and everything? I had, like, this recurring dream where I'd wake up and you'd just be there, all magically and stuff? I'd be like, "Wow, you're really here?" But then I'd be like, "Oh no, it's just a dream?" But now, it's real and everything? So, like, wow?
Won-Yee: Eek!
Aang: I'm sorry, have we met...?
Hei-Won: Oh my gosh! It's, like, me who should be sorry? I'm Hei-Won, co-president and co-founder of the Official Avatar Aang Fan Club, Ba Sing Se chapter? And this is Won-Yee, my fellow co-president and co-founder? Can I just say, your lemur is, like, sooo cute? Also is Lü Bu here?
Won-Yee: Eek!
Aang: Wow! Did you hear that? They started a fan club for me!
Katara: Wonderful.
He bows toward Hei-Won and Won-Yee.
Aang: Nice to meet you both! I'm Aang! My lemur's name is Momo. And Lü Bu is currently not here at the moment.
Hei-Won: "Momo" is, like, the cutest name ever?
Won-Yee: Eek!
Annoyed by the girls, Katara turns away and pointedly clears her throat, drawing Aang's attention to her.
Katara: Ahem!
Aang: Oh! And this is Katara!
Katara: Ahem!
Aang: My girlfriend Katara!
Katara: Hi!
The girls bow toward Katara.
Won-Yee: What an honor it is to meet Avatar Aang's first girlfriend!
Katara: Why thank you, I-- Wait, what do you mean "first"?
Won-Yee looks up at Katara in response while raising an eyebrow and grinning. Realising the implication, Katara takes Aang's shoulders and starts leading him away from the girls.
Katara: Uh... Aang? We should get going. It's getting late, and we need to find a place--
Hei-Won: Oh my gosh! You guys are, like, looking for a place to stay? It'd be sooo amazing if you, like, stayed at our clubhouse?
Aang: Wow! I'd love to see it!
Hei-Won: Um, it's just down the street? And we, like, made it look like the Western Air Temple, because most of our club members are girls and everything?
Cut to the clubhouse of the Official Avatar Aang Fan Club's Ba Sing Se chapter, a small, slightly run-down building with an Air Nomad banner displayed next to the door.
Aang: You said this is modeled after the Western Air Temple?
Hei-Won: Um, yeah? Won-Yee did, like, all the decorating? To make it look upside down and everything? Like how the real temple is?
Won-Yee: Eek!
Hei-Won: Do you, like, like it?
Aang and Momo bowing toward Hei-Won and Won-Yee.
Aang: I love it! Thank you, Official Avatar Aang Fan Club! I'm flattered! Come on, Katara! Let's check it out!
Katara: Can't wait.
Cut to the Capital City Prison, where Zuko talks with Ozai.
Ozai: Do you remember those family vacations we used to take on Ember Island? Once, at the beach--you couldn't have been older than three at the time--we saw a hawk attacking a turtle-crab by the water.
As Ozai describes the events of the past, they are displayed in the next few panels as a flashback.
Ozai: "You and Lü Bu ran as fast as your little legs could carry you to rescue that turtle-crab. Even then, you both possessed an affinity for the weak. But then, when you had the turtle-crab safely in your arms, you hesitated. The hawk looked at you two with hungry eyes, and you realized you were condemning it to starve. You didn't know whether to side with the hawk or the turtle-crab. Before you could reach a decision, a giant wave washed over you and carried you and him out into the ocean."
The flashback ends.
Ozai: me and Mulan dove in ourselves to save you both. The both of you spent the rest of the day in your mother's arms, vomiting sea-water.
Zuko: I came here looking for advice. I want to know how you were able to sleep peacefully in spite of the pressures of the throne.
Ozai: And I told you.
Zuko: I don't see how an old family memory--
Ozai: I'm tired, Zuko. We're done talking for now. Perhaps we will continue tomorrow.
Zuko gets up and leaves the prison cell but stops when Ozai speaks again.
Ozai: Bring more tea.
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Back at the Beifong Metalbending Academy, the students are trying to metalbend a small coin, but no avail.
Students: Yaaah!
Ho Tun: Nothing. No movement at all.
Penga: How am I supposed to impress my boyfriends?!
Dark One: I hate failure.
Ho Tun: This is bad! I can't concentrate on my forms with doom coming in two days!
Penga: I'm sick of hearing about doom! I'm not practicing with you anymore!
Dark one: I hate... I hate... All of this!
Cut back to Lü, Sokka and Toph.
Lü: Im sorry did she said boyfriends as in plural?
Sokka: So these were the most qualified students you could find, huh?
Toph pulls her left sleeve up, revealing a bracelet made of earth from space.
Toph: It wasn't me! It was this!
Sokka: Oooh! Space bracelet!
He puts his hands together and looks at the sky as if in prayer.
Sokka: Oh how I miss you, space sword!
She moves bracelet around her finger.
Toph: About a year ago, I noticed that every now and then, when I was in public, my bracelet would shiver the tiniest bit.
Cut to a view of the Beifong Metalbending Academy with Lü, Toph and Sokka at the entrance.
Toph: I could only feel it when I was really paying attention. Eventually I figured out that this would happen when someone around me got super emotional. So I had an idea. Maybe these people who could move my bracelet could also become metalbenders. I started recruiting them to my school.
Cut to a flashback of Toph walking in a Ramen house seeing Ho Tun.
Toph: "I met Ho Tun in a ramen house. He'd just found a spider-wasp in his soup."
Ho Tun: Ack! I swallowed a mouthful of doom!
Toph: Actually, it was more like half a spider-wasp. Penga was in a marketplace arguing over shoes with one of her family's servants.
Cut to the marketplace where a servant and Penga were looking at shoes.
Penga: I want them! I want them! I want them!
Servant: Forgive me, Mistress Penga, but we've already spent all the money your parents allotted for this shopping trip.
The scene then cuts to street corner where Dark One stood looking over the villagers.
Toph: And The Dark One was people watching at a street corner.
Dark one: I hate you... and you... and you... and you...
The flashback ends as it cuts back to the present day with Toph, Lü, and Sokka.
Sokka: That sounds about right. Katara found out she was a waterbender because the ice would crack whenever I made her mad-- er, whenever she got super emotional.
Lü: That explains a lot actually.
She opens door to go into the academy again.
Toph: Yeah, but there's a problem with finding students that way. Think about it. What kind of people get super emotional in public?!
Sokka: Uh, crazy people?
Toph: Crazy people! And even worse, the whole thing is just a theory!
She puts her hand on her head as if it hurts from the frustration.
Toph: Nobody in that sorry group of lily livers has moved even the smallest piece of metal since they've been here! Not even a coin!
Sokka puts hand on Toph's back while she puts her bracelet back on.
Sokka: Listen, I don't like to brag, but--
Lü and Toph: You love to brag.
Sokka: Okay, I love to brag, but Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe is just what this school needs!
Toph: What are you talking about? You're not a bender of anything, let alone metal!
Sokka: Oh, but I am a bender! I may not be able to bend any of the elements, but I can "bend" people's motivation! I'm a motivational bender!
Lü: That's a stretch.
Sokka: Hey, who led the invasion on the Day of Black Sun? Who started training warriors in his own tribe when he was just a kid? Sokka the motivational bender, that's who!
Toph: Yeah. But Lü gave the motivational speech rallying the troops. Twice.
Sokka: Look just explain to me metalbending basics. Then leave the lily livers-- I mean, your students-- to me! To become a true metalbender you not only have to see the metal--
He closes one eye.
Sokka: But hear the metal--
Sokka shakes the coin next to his ear as if hearing it.
Sokka: Taste the metal--
He licks it.
Sokka: --And be the metal.
Ho Tun: That doesn't even make sense.
Dark One: Why should we listen to you? You're not a bender!
Penga: Don't talk to my boyfriend that way!
Sokka: I've already explained to you guys! I am a bender of motivation!
The scene pans to Toph who points to her eye while trying to roll both of them.
Toph: Hey, Sokka, am I doing this right? I'm trying to roll my eyes at you.
Sokka: Look, people, can we just give this a shot? Let's start with the defending-palm technique! First, take a steady and strong stance, just like Sifu Toph taught you.
He walks in front of students with his hands behind his back while the students take their stances.
Sokka: Next, gather your chi deep in your gut. Feel your gut heat up like a furnace! Now let your gut furnace refine your senses! Close your eyes and feel the earth around you. Then feel the metal within that earth!
He takes out metal coins and throws them at the students.
Lü: Um Sokka?
Sokka: Now feel the coins coming at you and stop them in midair! Come on, Team Beifong! Let's metalbend!
The students fail to metalbend the coins and are hit in the head by them with a ping.
Students: Ow!
Ho Tun down on the floor face-down with his head between his hands.
Ho Tun: I'm bleeding, right!? Oooh! My forehead's gonna get infected then --!
Lü: Your not bleeding. It's just a scratch.
Penga points at Sokka.
Penga: You better buy me shoes to make up for this!
Dark One: Do I even need to say it?
Sokka: I know, The Dark One. You hate me.
Lü: Good try wise man.
Toph then punches Sokka in the arm.
Toph: Yeah. Nice going, o great bender of people's motivation! Amazing what a difference a fancy headband helps! You don't see Lü motivating people because he has that ugly headband on.
Lü: Yeah!
Sokka: You're not very helpful right now.
Lü let's out a sigh before shaking the his head.
Lü: I Really hope Aang and them are doing better then us. Also whats wrong with my headband?
===============================
Back at the Official Avatar Aang Fan Club's headquarters.
Aang: ...And this is a technique called air scooter! I invented it when I was training at the Southern Air Temple. It's part of how I earned my tattoos.
Fangirl: Look at him go!
Fangirl 2: Wow
Fangirl 3: How does he do that?
Fangirl 4: Avatar Aang is sooo dreamy!
The scene cuts to Katara who looks annoyed as Aang gets too much attention.
Aang: And here's a brand-new technique I've been working on!
He gathers air and makes air marbles with it.
Aang: First, I gather a handful of air marbles... And then I turn them all into air scooters!
He blows on the air marbles and the air tosses the fangirls on top of an air scooter.
Fangirl: Ha ha ha!
Fangirl 2: Wheeee!
Fangirl 3: Woah!
Hei-Won: Um, Avatar Aang?
Aang: Good morning, Hei-Won! Come join the fun!
Hei-Won: I'd like to, like, introduce you to somebody? This is my fellow co-president and co-founder Yee-Li? She's wanted to meet you since, like, forever?
Aang: Another co-president and co-founder? How many co-presidents and co-founders are there?
All the fangirls raise their hands.
Yee-Li: It's such an honor, Avatar Aang! I want to show you something I bought from a traveling merchant a couple years ago...
Yee-Li takes out an airbender's flute and Aang looks at it excitedly.
Aang: Wow! An airbender's flute! Monk Gyatso used to have one just like this!
Yee-Li: I just knew it had to be from the Air Nomads! Do you know how to play?
He begins to play the flute. While Aang is playing the airbender's flute.
Famgirls: Ha ha ha!
Aang starts playing the airbender's flute while all the fangirls start dancing; one dances with Momo. Katara subsequently gets up and walks toward Aang.
Fangirl: The Avatar's even more dreamy when he's playing music!
Katara: I hate to ruin the fun, Aang, but shouldn't we get going? We're here to meet with the Earth King, remember?
Aang suddenly stops playing and looks at her.
Aang: You're probably right...
They promptly leave with Katara angry as Aang waves good-bye to the fangirls.
Katara: Well you certainly seemed to enjoy those girls' attention.
Aang: Weren't they amazing?! I know it's just a silly fanclub, but for a moment there, It almost felt like... Like I was at home again. With my people. Thanks for agreeing to stay there for the night, sweetie. It meant the world to me.
Katara: Don't thank me, Aang. I don't deserve it.
The couple continues walking. Back in the Capital City Prison, a light casts over Ozai as Zuko walks in with some tea. He hands Ozai a cup and he takes a sip.
Zuko: I stayed up all night thinking about what you said. At the beach, I was overwhelmed by my circumstances because I couldn't decide which side to take Lü already knew his decision. I should have sided with the hawk but Lü sided with the turtle. It was strong and noble, much like the Fire Nation. It had earned its meal. But I've already done that, father! I'm no longer neglecting the needs of my own people, as I did when I first took the throne! And I still can't sleep!
Ozai: You're only partially correct in your assessment. Your sleeplessness does indeed stem from your inability to choose sides, to distinguish what is right. But you're wrong about the hawk.
Zuko: So you're saying... I should have defended the turtle-crab? I should have sided with the weaker of the two?
Ozai: What I'm trying to say is -- There is no right or wrong apart from what you decide. Whom you choose to defend deserves to be defended simply because you chose them. You are the Fire Lord. What you choose, by definition, is right.
Zuko: No! Right and wrong are bigger than me, or you, or even the Avatar! And I believe that the Avatar, the Earth King, and I can come closest to what's right by working together!
Ozai smirked as he takes a sip of his tea and speaks.
Ozai: I've heard rumors about this little meeting of yours. Do you think the Earth King, after being humiliated time and time again by our mighty nation and his own incompetence will be reasonable? Do you think he'll treat the remaining Fire Nation colonies fairly? In an attempt to restore his own dignity, he'll send out his army to crush them! If you truly are the Fire Lord, you will defend the Fire Nation citizens of Yu Dao ferociously! Not simply because they are your people, but because they are an expression of your will!
Zuko: I'm going to wait
He slams his tea cup on his knee, some falls out.
Zuko: and my patience will be rewarded with a peaceful resolution for everyone! Even as we speak, the Avatar is--
Ozai: The Avatar is an irrelevant relic of a bygone age! He wants to keep the world frozen in time by denying the inevitable victory of the strong over the weak!
Zuko: Avatar Aang is my friend! More often than not, he's been on the side that's right! I trust him.
Ozai: More than you trust yourself?
Zuko looks away which angers Ozai as he stands up.
Ozai: You sicken me, Zuko. Leave my presence.
Zuko: Who are you to talk to me this way?! Have you forgotten your current place in--
Ozai: Leave. My. Presence!
Zuko leaves the prison. While he does this, Suki looks at him from above.
===============================
Back at the Beifong Metalbending Academy, Toph is still struggling with teaching her students metalbending.
Toph: Look alive, lily livers! Take your horse stance, steady and strong! Make your gut furnace and use it to feel the metal in front of you! Now, kick! Kick like your life depends on it!
The students kick at the coins in an attempt to metalbend, but no avail. The bender sighs and rests hand on a pole that holds the coins up.
Toph: Not even a shiver.
Ho Tun: Aren't you gonna yell at us?
Toph: No.
Lü and Sokka walk on scene getting her attention.
Sokka: Hey, Toph? Sorry to bug you during the training, but something important just happened.
Toph walks out front door with Sokka and Lü.
Toph: Take a break, guys.
Dark one: We've already had three breaks this morning! The match is tomorrow!
Toph: I said take a break!
Cut outside where the trio stood out in front of the building.
Sokka: I just had the best idea ever!
Toph: You said something important just happened!
Lü: It did. His brain.
Toph: Oh gosh...
Sokka: Listen! You said your students were able to move your space bracelet when they were super emotional. Well, to make them metalbenders, we just have to get them super-mega-uber-emotional!
Toph: Like... Lü Bu emotional?
Lü: What the- NO!
Toph: Okay if not Lü Bu emotional, then how do you plan to do that? Let me guess. You're gonna wear two fancy headbands!
Sokka: Very funny. I've been thinking. For Ho Tun, it's easy--
Toph: Doom.
Sokka: Yes! And Penga--
Lü: Shoes.
Sokka: Of course. The Dark One's the only one I can't figure out. What gets more to him than anything in the world?
Toph: His real name. But I promised I wouldn't ever tell anybody.
Sokka cups hands together and makes puppy-dog eyes.
Sokka: Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease--
Toph: Okay, okay! Quit your blubbering!
She whispers the name in Sokka's ear, then Sokka whispers in Lü's ear.
Lü: No. Way. What were his parents thinking?
Toph: I know, right? No wonder that guy hates everything!
Sokka: Now, you remember what you did during our final battle with Ozai? In the cabin of that Fire Nation airship? I need you to do something like that! If only we had a bunch of metal to work with...
Toph: Why didn't you say so? There's a bunker full of metal under the school building!
Lü: This plan is either gonna work or fall apart real quick.... LETS DO IT!
Toph and Sokka: YEAH!
They go to the bunker under the building. Sokka brings a lamp to be able to see and a chart. When they get there, Lü and Toph leans against a wall with her arms crossed and Sokka is impressed.
Sokka: Woah! Look at all this Fire Nation armor!
He sets lamp down and grabs a helmet.
Sokka: These are all kid sized! Who would make armor for little kids?
Lü: A weirdo like Kunyo, that's who.
Sokka opens chart up in Toph's face. Lü facepalmed at his action forgetting she was blind.
Lü: Sokka...
Sokka: So here's what I need you to make with your metalbending powers!
Toph: Hello?! How many times do I have to remind you?!
Sokka: Right. Sorry. How about I just describe it to you?
As Sokka explains how the metal figure needs to be done, Toph gets to work and finishes it.
Sokka: That's incredible! Toph Beifong, you've really outdone yourself!
Toph: Just call me the greatest earthbender of all time!
Sokka: Ha ha!
Toph: No seriously. I want you both to call me that.
Lü: Toph, you're the greatest earthbender of all time.
Toph: Gee, thanks, runaway groom! That's so sweet of you!
Lü: Stop calling me that!
Toph: Stop denying and just admit that you left Azula at the alter.
Lü: Okay 1: We were engaged and kids at the time! 2: I was forced into hiding cause her psychotic dad wanted me dead. And 3: I was nearly killed by assassins and my moms crazy ex-boyfriend. Then I got hit with amnesia!
Toph: All I hear is excuses.
Lü: How are we best friends?
Toph: Our love for fighting and destruction.
Lü: Good point.
Back at the Yu Dao Resistance's camp, Kori is training them. They are shooting fire at straw figures.
Kori: One last exercise, and then we'll call it a day! Earthbenders, create a barrier!
The earthbenders create a barrier.
Kori: Now everyone, attack!
The earthbenders create platforms for the firebenders so they can shoot from higher ground. The straw figures are subsequently hit with earth and fire. Soon after, they wave goodbye to Kori.
Kori: Good work! We'll meet tomorrow morning, same place!
Meanwhile, Sneers tiredly makes his way to Kori.
Sneers: Psst! Kori!
Kori: Sneers!
The couple share a kiss, hold each other closely, and Sneers looks at the burning straw.
Sneers: You've been missing our dates so you could train with firebenders?
Kori: So I could train with my cousins. And only two of them are firebenders! We have to be ready to defend Yu Dao! Didn't you hear those protesters outside the city walls a couple days ago?
Sneer away uncomfortably.
Kori: Don't tell me you were a part of that.
Sneers: We were leading that.
Kori pushes Sneer away from her in anger letting him fall on ground.
Kori: Get away from me!
Sneer: Oof! Yu Dao is a Fire Nation colony! Smellerbee said--
Kori: I don't care what Smellerbee said!
Sneer: You have to choose, Kori! Are you Earth Kingdom or are you Fire Nation?
Kori: Choose, choose, choose! All my life, people have been asking me to choose! I am an earthbender and a Fire Nation citizen, and I live in Yu Dao! That's what I choose! Now you choose, Sneers! Do you want to follow Smellerbee... Or do you want to be with me?
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Meanwhile, Aang, Katara, and Momo arrive at King Kuei's palace.
Aang: Greetings, Earth King Kuei!
Kuei: Avatar Aang! Katara of the Southern Water Tribe! It's been much too long! I heard you were in the Earth Kingdom dealing with the situation at Yu Dao! Thank you for all your help with the removal of that colony! The remaining few seem to be more difficult than--
Katara: That's why we're here, Your Majesty. We'd like to set up a meeting between you and Fire Lord Zuko. Yu Dao... Is still there.
Aang: For now.
Kuei: So then, the Fire Lord persists in denying the movement his support! He wants to keep his colonies!
Aang: Earth King Kuei, I'm on your side! The people of the Fire Nation don't belong in your Kingdom, so the Harmony Restoration Movement has to continue! With a little convincing, I'm sure Fire Lord Zuko--
Katara: Fire Lord Zuko has legitimate concerns about the colonials who still live there! We really need to sit down and talk through our options. Maybe there's something we missed.
Kuei narrows his eyes, not looking happy about this at all. Meanwhile at the Beifong Metalbending Academy, everybody but Toph is sitting around a fire.
Ho Tun: This is bad! Why do we have to eat outside? The outside is so... so...
Dark One: Dark? Cold? Dirty?
Ho Tun: Doom-y.
Lü: Ho Tun, that's not even a word.
Sokka: And besides, a campfire's the perfect setting for a little Team Beifong bonding!
Penga slides into view hugging Sokka.
Penga: I think it's romantic!
Sokka: Uh... No. It's not.
Dark one: Where's Sifu Toph? How come she gets to miss out on all the "bonding"?
Lü: She'll be here soon! She just had to, uh... Take care of some sifu-ish type stuff first. Hey, do you guys remember that flying boar banner that used to be in the training room? The one Kunyo burned down? Anyone know why it was there?
Penga: Oh, boyfriend number 2 your so silly sometimes!
Lü: I'm rated second....? FU-*BLEEP*
Penga: Everyone in the Earth Kingdom knows that the white flying boar is the Beifong family symbol!
Sokka: No! I mean, yes it is, but that's not why the banner was there! Sifu Toph hung that banner up to placate the winged boar spirit that haunts this mountain!
Ho Tun: W-w-winged boar spirit?
Penga: What are you talking about?!
Sokka: Yes! The winged boar spirit! The ancient harbinger of doom and eater of fine footwear!
Ho Tun: Doom?!
Penga: Footwear?!
Sokka: And now that Kunyo's burned down the banner, we can probably expect to--
The giant spirit enters the scene; it is big, made of metal, carrying a lot of shoes, and roaring.
Lü: Oh look, speak of the winged boar spirit! There it is right now!
Penga and Ho Tun: Aaah!
The spirit starts eating Penga's shoes.
Penga: It's eating my shoes! How'd it find my shoes?!
Ho Tun: Mommy, save me from my doom ...
He suddenly faints. As foam comes out of Penga's mouth as she bawls.
Penga: Nooo! Not the jade platforms! Anything but the jade platforms!
Dark One: This is ridiculous. I know that's you in there, Sifu Toph.
Toph makes a hatch open and pops here head from inside it.
Toph: Very perceptive, The Dark One! Or should I say... Moo-Chee-Goo-Chee-La-Poo-Chee! The Third!
The Dark One's eyes open wide and he falls to his knees.
Dark one: By uttering that name... You've lodged a splinter in my soul!
Sokka: This is going to be better than I'd hoped! Everybody feel all that emotion coursing through your bodies? I want you to direct it at these coins! Let's metalbend, Team Beifong!
He takes coins out and throws them at the students, but none attempt to metalbend.
Sokka: Team Beifong?
The Dark One sobs.
Penga: My shoes... My shoes...
Lü: Think we broke them.
Switch back to the Earth Kingdom Royal Palace. Aang and Katara are eating with Bosco and Momo.
Aang: Mm! Sweetie, you have to try this!
Katara: I'm still working on these delicious pan-fried noodles!
Aang: This has got to be the best tofu I've ever tasted! Right, Momo?
He takes a dumpling as Earth King Kuei walks in.
Kuei: Avatar Aang and Katara, thank you for giving me the time to ponder out present situation.
Aang: No problem, your earthiness! Thank you for dinner! So when should we set up our meeting with Fire Lord Zuko?
Kuei: I'm sorry, but you're not going to like what I have to say. All my life I've been weak-- so weak that my most trusted advisor was able to hide a hundred years' war behind a curtain of lies! Well, I'm tired of being weak! It's time for me to be a man!
Katara: What's that supposed to mean?
Kuei: Fire Lord Zuko promised he would see the Harmony Restoration Movement through to the very end. Now he's turned his promise into a lie! Why should I meet with him -- So he can tell me more lies?! I will not stand for any more lies! I will order General How to lead my troops to Yu Dao and enforce harmony!
Katara: Your majesty, do you even hear what you're saying?
Aang: Please, Earth King Kuei! Sending your army there will be seen as a declaration of war!
Kuei: The Fire Nation residents of Yu Dao will either leave my kingdom peacefully or face the most dire of consequences! That is my decision! If you are not with me, Avatar Aang, then I can only assume you are against me!
He leaves the room leaving the duo in shock. Cut to night as Lü and Sokka approaches Toph, who is sitting down on the front stairs of her school. She is in a crouched position with her face down.
Sokka: Toph! There you are! Don't give up yet, okay? I just got a brand-new best idea ever! What if I rig it so that--
Toph: You ever think about metal?
Sokka: Nope. When I have extra thinking time, I usually spend it on food. Meat, specifically.
Toph: Metal is just a part of earth that's been purified and refined. But how does it become like that? By getting heated, melted, and pounded. By going through pressure and pain. I discovered metalbending in a tiny metal cell, when Master Yu and Xin Fu were taking me back to my parents. That whole trip, all I could think about was how my parents expected me to be something I'm not. Sure, they wanted me to be helpless, but they also wanted me to be a cultured, well-mannered, soft-spoken little lady. All I felt was pressure and pain. When I brought Ho Tun, Penga, and The Dark One to this school, I expected them to become metalbenders! I was going to make them tough enough to move the most stubborn part of the most stubborn element! I expected them to be something they're not.
The students overhear that last line as they are carrying their sack that holds their belongings and freeze.
Toph: How is what I'm doing to them different from what my parents did to me? Maybe the Beifong Metalbending Academy is just a way for me to pass all that pressure and pain to someone else.
Lü: No, Toph. That's not what this place is at all...
Toph: When Kunyo comes tomorrow, I'm gonna go up to him and sit down. He can have his school back.
Toph enters the academy as Sokka looks sadly as she goes. Back in Ba Sing Se, Aang and Katara are running toward Appa, who is landing toward them.
Aang: We have to get back to Yu Dao-- The sooner the better!
He grabs a surprised Katara and uses his airbending to get them on Appa.
Aang: Hopefully, we can convince the Fire Nation colonists to evacuate before General How gets there.
Katara: Those people would be leaving their homes... Maybe even their families. Aang, what happens if they refuse to go?
Aang: ...The Earth King is right, you know. Not about sending his army, but about Zuko breaking his promise. Promises shouldn't be broken. Not ever.
He turns to Appa petting his head.
Aang: Sorry, buddy. We've got a long night of flying ahead of us. Yip, yip!
Cut to Yee-Li who saw the whole scene and has a messenger hawk with her.
Yee-Li: Fly, messenger bird, fly! Tell our sisters in the Yu Dao chapter that the Avatar needs their help!
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It is now day and the time has arrived for Kunyo's students to face Toph's. Kunyo opens the door strongly with a smirk.
Kunyo: Greetings, enemies of Kunyo! Prepare to be roasted in the flames of your own defeat!
Sokka: Nice headgear.
Kunyo: I find it a convenient way to carry flags. I can take it off anytime I want. Where are your students, young lady? It's time to begin our deadly match to the... uh, sit!
Toph: I don't know where they are, but it doesn't matter. You can have your school back, Kunyo. You win this match to the sit.
Kunyo: Ha, ha! I knew it!
As Toph is about to sit down, her students come barging in.
Ho Tun: Sifu Toph! Don't sit down!
With the arm he had straight, he is able to metalbend a small coin and send it toward Toph; who is hit on the leg.
Toph: Ow! Ho Tun, did you just... metalbend?
Penga: Ho Tun figured it out!
Ho Tun: Yeah. I think I did.
Dark one: I can't believe it.
Toph: Normally I'd pummel you for hitting me on the butt, but in this case, good job!
Ho Tun: Please don't sit down, Sifu Toph! Last night the three of us heard --
Kunyo: Is this some kind of dirt-people trick?! Disciples of Kunyo, attack!
Kunyo's three students get one on top of the other and attack Toph's students with their firebending.
Ho Tun, Penga, The Dark One: Aaah!
Sokka: Come on, Team Beifong! It's no time to hide! Let's metalbend!
Sokka throws coins at Toph's students so that they redirect them at Kunyo's students. Ho Tun manages to send two to the girl at the top, hit her in the face and successfully knock her.
Kunyo student: Ow!
Penga also manages to send a coin toward another of Kunyo's students.
Penga: Ha ha! This is easy!
Kunyo's student 2: Ouch!
The Dark One also manages to metalbend and gets the most coins.
Dark One: Hmph. I hate that it took us this long to figure it out.
Kunyo student 2: Yikes!
Kunyo student 3: Stop firebending, my fellow disciples! We're just heating up the coins!
Kunyo: Don't you dare stop, disciples of Kunyo! Never stop firebending! Never!
Toph's students direct the remaining metal coins at Kunyo himself, who is smacked in the face as a result until a blow in the jaw throws him backward; forcing him to sit down.
Kunyo: Yeeeow!
Kunyo and his disciples accept defeat and leave the building.
Lü: You guys ought to be really proud of yourselves, Penga! I'm impressed!
Penga: Kick rocks, losers! I'm over you two! Ho Tun's the one for me now!
Lü: Oh thank god.
Ho Tun: W-Wha--?!
Dark one: Sifu Toph. Last night, the three of us were packed up and ready to leave. Then we overheard what you said about us.
Toph: I don't get it. I didn't say a single nice thing about any of you.
Penga: You told my exes that you expected us to become metalbenders.
Ho Tun: Nobody's ever expected me to be anything other than a... a... a wimp.
Penga: ...A spoiled brat.
Dark one: ...A tall, dark, mysterious hunk.
Lü: Really?
Dark one: Why can't people see I'm more than just a pretty face?! I have the soul of a poet!
Lü: And the worse/longest name in all four nations.
The scene cuts closely to Ho Tun.
Ho Tun: Sifu Toph, you're the first person to believe that we can become more than what we are.
Toph wipes a tear from her eye and turns to face her students quickly.
Toph: What're you lily livers waiting for, then?! You think getting some coins to fly through the air makes you metalbending masters?! Get back to practice!
Ho Tun, The Dark One, Penga bows in respect to their master.
Students: Yes, Sifu Toph!
Back in the Fire Nation, Fire Lord Zuko is sitting on his throne. He sighs and extinguishes the fire in front of him.
Zuko: This isn't me.
Mai enters the throne room.
Mai: I know you've been secretly meeting with Ozai.
Zuko: Mai! Who did you hear that from?
Mai: Does it matter? Not from you.
Zuko: But you don't get onto Lü for talking to Azula.
Mai: Lü Bu is different. He actually came to me beforehand and told me that he will be visiting her. You wanna know why, Zuko? Because I'm his friend and he trusts me.
Zuko: I know I keep screwing up. But please... I... I love you, Mai.
Mai: I know. But lately I've realized that you love your secrets more. You'll have an easier time keeping them when you're alone.
Zuko: What are you telling me?
Mai bows towards Zuko.
Mai: Goodbye, Fire Lord.
Zuko: Mai! Come back! I-- I-- I order you to come back! Argh! Why would I say that? So stupid.
Suki walks into the throne room and kneels towards the Fire Lord.
Suki: This is my fault! I'm so sorry! When I asked her to talk to you about your father, that wasn't quite what I had in mind.
Zuko: Suki! But how did you know--?
Suki: I followed you yesterday morning. Sorry about that, too. We just wanted to know what was going on, to see if we could help you in some way. The Kyoshi Warriors are really worried about you, Zuko. I'm really worried about you.
Suddenly General Mak enters the Throne Room.
Mak: Fire Lord Zuko!
Zuko: General Mak!
Mak: A message has arrived from the spies you sent to the Earth Kingdom!
Suki: You sent spies?!
Mak: Your suspicions are confirmed. The Earth King's army now marches towards Yu Dao.
Zuko: Father... You were right.
The Earth King's army is seen marching on a mountain along with a blimp that is carrying the Earth King himself, looking stern. A closeup of his gray eyes is shown. Traveling by sea, Fire Lord Zuko is leading his army toward Yu Dao, prepared for battle; the episode ends with a view of the ships.
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*TO BE CONTINUES*
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