Chapter 12: 12. Training Montage

Later that night, after they'd all had their supper, they lounged by Appa's fur with a campfire, and Aang asked the same question he'd been burning to ask.

"Why did you come looking for me?"

The entire gang sat up, even Mark wanted to know more.

"My grandfather sent me," Aaron said, unsure of where to start. He'd practiced this part of the speech many times as he trained in wait for the Avatar, but the boy was nothing like he expected him to be. He was pure and good, and he blamed himself for the war. By all signs, he was the perfect recruit for the Air Nation.

"His name is Grandmaster Paku from the Eastern Air temple, and he was on his way to the Northern temple with a message when Sozin's comet came. The Fire Nation was empowered beyond belief, and they wiped out all the temples in a hunt for you, Aang."

"Me?"Aang trembled.

"What is Sozin's comet," Sokka asked.

"It's exactly what it sounds like. It's a comet that comes around every hundred years or so, and it empowers a firebender with enough energy to scorch a village to the ground. Sozin's comet gave the then Fire lord the power he needed to start the 100-year war."

Sokka, Aang, and Katara paled. Only Mark remained indifferent.

"When is the next comet coming," Aang asked, with a slight panic in his voice.

The question gave Aaron some pause. His grandfather had hinted it would be within the year but hadn't told him the date yet. During his studies, Aaron also hadn't stumbled upon any celestial patterns in the Earth temple libraries.

"I honestly don't know."

For a while, they listened to the firewood crackle.

"Do you intend to stay with us?" Aang asked.

"If we can," Aaron said almost too quickly. "My grandfather has trusted me with battle techniques the Airbenders have fashioned in the last 100 years and a unique method of elevating a bender called Chi breathing. I think you'll find it most useful. He also instructed me to travel with you and help you in any way possible."

"Will it work for a water bender too?" Katara asked, leaning forward.

"Mark has learned the basics, so I can teach you that." Aaron gave a diplomatic answer.

Katara's eyes snapped to Mark, who wagged his brows.

Sokka coughed. "Mark told me you fought off a squad of fire Nation men with just your swords, you got anything a regular guy like me can use?"

Understanding his plight, Aaron flashed him a smile. "Trained Airbenders can use all sorts of weapons, but the only ones I ever had a real talent for were swords. I can teach you most of what I know if you're willing."

"Alright," Sokka hooted.

"I never thought I'd have to relearn air bending," Aang said. "I'm just a bit worried about the battle techniques you mentioned. They sound…lethal."

Aaron hesitated for a bit but doubled down. There was no hiding it. "Of course they are. We are being actively hunted by the Fire Nation. We have to be able to defend ourselves. We can't still abide by our old philosophies."

"But the monks taught us all life is sacred. The Air nomads do not kill," Aang said, raising his voice.

"We grew up with very different masters," Aaron said, shaking his head. "I understand where you're coming from, Aang, but the world is a lot more…violent than you remembered. People die every day at the front. Earth Nation cities are falling. The Fire Nation is winning. You can't ask Air Nation people, or anybody else for that matter, to spare the life of people looking to kill them."

"But…" Aang spoke up, but Mark cut him off this time.

"The village we left before we found you are a few miles away from the place where I grew up. And I know it's only a matter before the Fire Nation comes knocking. When they do, do you want my people not to fight back?"

"I… " Aang struggled to find his words, and Katara held his hand.

"There are no easy answers, Aang," Aaron said. "No one expects you to fix a century of war and hatred in a month. You're just at the start of your journey."

Aang nodded. "I'm glad to have you with us," he said with a small smile. "It's nice to know I have a whole family in the Earth Kingdom."

"And they can't wait to meet you. After I send a message to my Grandpa, he'll be glad to set up a meeting."

"So, what's the new plan now?" Sokka asked. "Aang and Katara were headed to the Northern Water temple to learn, but with you and Mr smiles over here as part of the team, our path might look a bit different."

"Asides from training more often, I don't see much changing. We can still visit Kyoshi Island and all the other places Aang wants to go," Katara said with a thoughtful look.

"Visiting places?" Aaron asked the children, already dreading the answer. "What are your travel plans exactly?"

Katara looked at Sokka, who looked at Aang.

"Well…" he started with a bashful smile.

Over the next hour or so, Aang proceeded to recount their entire adventure so far. Him waking up, being chased by a burned fire Prince, and plans to visit every major attraction in the Earth Kingdom. Aaron nearly foamed out of his mouth at the carelessness. Mark laughed, seeing Aaron's face.

"The teenager is Prince Zuko, and his father sent him on a wild goose duck chase to track you down. It was supposed to be an informal banishment, but with your turning up, he'll be gunning for you, and so will more than half of the Fire Nation troupes in the Earth Kingdom." Aaron massaged his nose bridge as he felt a headache coming. "Our number 1-10 concerns should be stealth. They must not find you."

Aang gulped. "But what if someone needs our help."

"Then we help if we come across them," Aaron said. "No mentioning you're the Avatar if you can help it, and all of you need to change your clothes, or at the very least buy new ones."

"Hey, I like my clothes," Sokka protested, prompting Aaron to shake his head.

"You won't like it very much when you have half of the Fire Nation breathing down your neck."

—

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"Rise and shine!" Aaron yelled at the group of slumbering children. "Come on, everyone. It's daybreak, and we got no time to lose."

They all let out a collective groan of exhaustion. Aaron had kept them awake planning late into the night, and he'd resolved to start training them the very next day.

"You can't tell me it's morning already," Mark yawned, rubbing his gummed-up eyes.

"It's amazing and all that you take training us so seriously, " Sokka said, sitting up '"but can't we start training in, I don't know, one hour from now? I'm sure one less hour of training won't kill us."

"Yeah, Sokkat," Katara said. "We barely had 5 hours of rest. We all need more rest."

"You're absolutely right, Katara," Aaron said, squatting down to their level. "Whether I will let you stay in bed is another matter entirely. Fire Nation soldiers rise at dawn and drill for two hours every morning. We need to be doing that as a start. Our enemy has legions of soldiers on their side, and what we have is an untrained Avatar, a few pre-teens, and an Airbender who is far from a master."

The children threw each other worried looks, and Aaron dug deeper into his instructor persona. "We're one big mistake away from losing everything. Never forget that."

—

Aaron started the kids off with a jog around the temple grounds. On instinct, Aang used Airbending to reinforce himself, but Aaron forced him to run without it to assess his stamina.

When the children started to huff and puff, he showed them a simple breathing technique the airbenders learned to conserve energy and increase oxygen intake. Despite being trapped in the ice for over 100 years, Aang barely worked a sweat when they arrived back at camp. The others were wheezing uncontrollably except Mark, who suffered in silence.

After they cooled down, he demonstrated the basics of the feather fist– the foundational technique his father had left in a scroll for him to learn when he discovered his heritage all those years ago.

It emphasized flow and flexibility, and Aang took to it like Fish to water, blasting through the forms as if he'd practiced for weeks. Mark's brow twitched at the unfairness and tried to out-demonstrate the Airbender by showing off his advanced flexibility and mastery, causing Katara and Sokka to feel left out.

Both stared in apprehension and awe as Mark and Aang mixed up katas and battled without ever touching each other.

"Don't get too down, both of them are prodigies," Aaron said. "Aang literarily has centuries of martial experience, while Mark…well, he's just cheating."

" What do you mean he is cheating?" Sokka asked.

"Let's just say the gremlin is not so different from Aang," he muttered before he shook his head. "Anyways, we'll slow things down for both of you. It might take a while to get things right, but when you do, we can move on to sparring."

Sokka asked more questions about Mark, but Aaron avoided them all, pulling their focus to the exercises. By the end of their session, he was surprised by how well they moved. Sokka's eyes practically glowed when Aaron let him unsheathe his curved blades. Katara was also a surprisingly good fighter, but not on the level of Mark or Sokka.

As Appa flew them in the general direction of Omashu, one of the safe Earth Kingdom city-states, Aaron couldn't help but rethink his reassessment of the children. They were far more talented than he thought normal or reasonable.

Given enough time to mature, each of them would be a force to reckon with, especially the young Avatar. He couldn't begin to fathom the heights the new Air Nation would reach with him by their side.

But then, Aaron thought of Mark, and the smile on his lips shifted into a small frown.

"That some smile you got going," Mark said as he scuttled up to Aaron, pulling Aaron out of his thoughts.

"I was just thinking."

"Something to do with me?"

Aaron shook his head.

"Uh. Anyways, I just wanted to say I got another mission."

"Already?" Aaron raised a brow. "And the reward from last night's mission?"

"One-fifth of the schematics for a wingsuit and an X2 learning card," Mark said.

"What's a Wing suit?" Aaron asked. "Some kind of body glider?"

"Yup," Mark grinned. "Say goodbye to fiddling with a gliding stick and hello to flying with style. My mouth is watering thinking about all the fun and chaos you and the other phantom could wreak with it."

Aaron hid his excitement because of instinct alone.

"The young Airbenders would love it," Aaron muttered, and so would the masters. Infiltration and assassinations would be even easier when you're not fumbling with a 7-ft stick.

It was absurd how little people looked up.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it could change the tide of war if they had more Airbenders.

"I imagine all Airbenders would want one." Mark smiled. "All we need is 4 more schematic pieces, and we're in business. Speaking of which, we need to get to Kyoshi Island. The mission says we apparently have some important people to meet."

"But we just left the temple," Aaron frowned. "At least tell me there is a worthwhile reward."

Mark grinned."Oh yeah. 1/10 schematics for an automatic crossbow?"

After explaining the potential of rapid-fire, high-speed projectiles powerful enough to punch through fire bender armor, Aaron 'reluctantly' agreed to the mission.

"I'll go tell Aang. I guess it's time for our first town."

 

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