So You Want To Learn Earthbending

Tony had had enough of running with the Jets gang who had been his friends since he was young. He had already resigned his position as leader to Riff and was looking for a steady job. However, Riff wasn’t happy about it and told Tony so every chance he got. Finally Tony had enough and put his foot down, literally, causing a wide crack to form in the ground beneath his feet! None of the boys (not even Tony) realized that he was the cause of the fissure, but someone else who was watching did. His name was Zola and he realized immediately that the kid was a fledgling earthbender and he knew he needed to be taught before he accidentally caused an earthquake.

He tracked the boy down and introduced himself, then informed Tony that he was an earthbender and asked if he wanted to learn to use his powers properly. Tony didn’t want to believe he was an earthbender, but after Zola pointed out the crack in the earth he’d caused, Tony had to believe it. He knew he needed to talk to his parents about this. They didn’t believe him at first, but when the house was hit by a highly localized tremor, they had to believe it too, and they realized Tony needed training to prevent any accidents from happening. Therefore, they both agreed he should attend the academy and learn all he could from Zola.

The next day Tony arrived down at the docks to find Zola there waiting for him. He greeted him and then instructed him to follow him. Zola then led him towards what appeared to be a solid wall of rock. Zola then planted both feet firmly and shoved his hands apart, palms out, as if shoving open a pair of double doors. To Tony’s shock, an opening formed in the rock, very much like a door, which they then went through into the room beyond! Tony looked around, amazed, and saw that the room they were in was designed to look similar to a dojo with areas that opened onto the water, enclosed areas, and areas that opened onto cliffs and paths outside. In the areas near the water, Tony saw several students in blue practicing sparring with water flowing between them, while over in the enclosed areas, Tony could see some students in red and orange outfits practicing shooting fire and lightning at each other. Still others wearing yellow were scooting around the room on balls of air that were almost transparent, and others wearing green were moving boulders without even touching them. It was an amazing sight. Tony noticed that even though all of their uniforms were different colors, all the uniforms were the same essentially, pants and/or leggings with protective pads on the knees and thighs, non-slip shoes a short-sleeved shirt covered by a top similar to the gi worn by karate practitioners, and a belt also similar to karate students. The main difference was that the girls had a sort of long cloth piece over the leggings and protective gear. Other than that, the uniforms followed the same standard for all students.

Zola then took him to the boys locker room, where he found a uniform similar to those worn by the waterbenders he’d seen waiting for him. To his surprise, it fitted like a glove. When he asked Zola how they’d known his measurements, he only grunted and motioned for him to follow him. He followed him over to where the other kids in green were sparring and introduced him to the other students. He told him he would have an opportunity to meet the other students and teachers later. Tony began to practice with the others and learned a lot. He even actually looked forward to going back the next day. Finally, Zola announced that they were done for the day and the students all went to change. In the locker room, Tony met a young boy named Aiden who was a firebender, Adam, an earthbender, Keanu, an airbender, and Dax, another waterbender. They changed quickly and headed out of the locker room, where they met Moria, Aeola, Assana, Brande, and Terra. Terra was an earthbender; Moria and Aeola were airbenders; Assana was a waterbender, and Brande was a firebender. The ten of them quickly became fast friends and hung out together frequently outside of school. The next day Tony met the teachers of the other groups: Lyn, the waterbending teacher; Kai, the fire-bending teacher, and Makani, the air-bending teacher. All of them were very nice, especially Lyn, but Kai seemed a little tough. Tony began to really enjoy himself at the school, even though Zola wasn’t the most patient teacher, teaching him to earthbend by making him do it again and having a lower tolerance for mistakes. Soon Tony was among the best students in the class and could spar with the others on equal footing. One day, however, his secret would be discovered by the last people he wanted to know.

One day a week later, Riff and the other Jets were walking down near the docks when they saw a flash of light around the corner. They snuck around there to see what it was and were suddenly hit by a strong wall of earth that knocked them down. “That’ll teach you to come sneaking around here like that. Now, who are — ?” Tony broke off abruptly in shock as he realized exactly who he’d just attacked. “Oh my gosh! Riff! Are you guys okay?” Tony asked. They all sat up and said they were fine. Riff had a lot of questions for his friend, though, such as how he did it. Tony explained everything to them, demonstrating his earthbending to open the door and showed them the school. The boys were amazed to see all the kids sending fire at each other, scooting around the room on air balls, shoving boulders across the room, and even flicking water at each other. Just then, Zola came over and got upset that Tony had brought non-benders into the school, but when they promised to keep it a secret, he allowed them to see the school. However, he cautioned them not to come back too much because the other teachers weren’t as understanding as he was.

During one of their visits a week later, Makani offered to teach the boys some of the martial arts style moves they taught young airbenders. Only Baby John accepted because he wasn’t as tough as the other boys in the gang. It soon became clear that Baby John wasn’t as ordinary as the rest of the boys, though. The air began to act funny around him and Makani realized they had a fledgling airbender on their hands. They offered to let Baby John start at the school the following day, at which point they’d have a uniform in his size. So the next day Baby John came down to the school and met Makani outside the airbender door, where he was shown how to open it. Within a few days, Baby John had it down and could open it himself. It wasn’t hardly a week later, though, before things began to go wrong. The government found the bender school and saw what the students were practicing. They quickly lumped the bender kids in with the mutants and treated them the same. Several of the firebender students began to rebel, led by Aiden, which pitted friend against friend and student against student. Tony ended up pitted against his friend Brande, who was sorry to fight him, but felt she had no choice.

Tony, Baby John and the others defended the townspeople against the rebels, and soon they began to realize that the benders weren’t the problem — they were. They’d immediately assumed that the bender kids were like the mutants and the kids had only acted to defend themselves. The people then promised the kids that if they would swear not to use their powers destructively ever again, that they wouldn’t be persecuted. Brande immediately apologized and promised, but Aiden and some of the other more stubborn firebenders took longer to apologize. Finally, they did, though, and the battle was over. The benders and normal people lived together in peace from then on.