| abstract
| - Zuko tosses and turns in his sleep before he eventually awakens and arises from his bed. He makes his way toward a Fire Nation prison and looks distantly toward it. As he stands near the entrance, a guard spies him from the roof and demands to know Zuko's identity, but rather than reveal it, Zuko simply walks away. Meanwhile, Aang and the others are traveling through the Fire Nation, using a combination of waterbending and airbending to hide Appa in a cloud. They take temporary shelter in a cave and seek out new clothes so they can blend in with the Fire Nation citizens, eliminating the need to hide. They find an unattended clothesline and steal some outfits- with Toph modifying her shoes by removing the soles. Aang shyly blushes when Katara appears in her new outfit, but quickly indicates that she has to remove her mother's necklace. Afterward, they venture into a bazaar to purchase some accessories, including a new necklace for Katara. In town, the group attempts to blend in and act natural, which is somewhat impeded by Aang, who, having traveled through the Fire Nation a century before, claims to be an expert of their customs. He calls people he sees on the street "hotman" and uses other expressions that are clearly out of date. When the others go to buy food from a meat stand, Aang abstains due to his vegetarianism and goes off on his own for a bit. However, he is quickly caught by a group of soldiers who escort him into a classroom. His stolen clothing happens to be the uniform of a local school and the soldiers assume that he is a truant. The teacher assumes he is a new student from the Fire Nation colonies in the Earth Kingdom. Aang calls himself Kuzon after his old Fire Nation friend and attempts to blend in at the school with partial success. After dismissal, he meets a friendly girl named On Ji, as well as On Ji's apparent boyfriend, Hide, a popular student with a much more aggressive personality. After a brief confrontation, Aang winds up making friends and playing a game known as "hide and explode" with Shoji and other children from the school. Aang, covered in soot as a result of the game, returns to the cave at nightfall, to the relief of Katara, Sokka, and Toph, who were worried by his long absence. The fact that he had been attending a Fire Nation school all day shocks Aang's friends, especially Sokka. When Aang claims to have enjoyed the experience and wishes to return to the school the next day, Sokka strongly objects. Aang argues that he is obtaining valuable knowledge about the Fire Nation and manages to convince the warrior to allow him to continue attending the school. Aang joyfully exclaims, "Flameo, hotman!" to Sokka, who becomes utterly confused by his statement. Meanwhile, Zuko returns to the prison. When confronted by the guard from the previous night, he aggressively threatens him not to tell anyone about his visit and proceeds to enter Iroh's cell. Iroh turns away from him, showing great disappointment in his nephew. Zuko blames Iroh for the latter's circumstances and states that the two could have returned to the Fire Nation together as heroes. Iroh still refuses to speak, sending Zuko into a fit of rage and prompting him to leave. The next day at school, Aang gets in trouble for not reciting the Fire Nation Oath correctly, having never previously heard it. The students think his bumbling through the oath is a funny joke, but the teacher punishes his disruption of the class by calling for a pop quiz on the Fire Nation's history. The first question asks for the year in which Fire Lord Sozin defeated the Air Nation Army. Aang, confused, asks if it was a trick question and points out that the Air Nomads had no formal military and were defeated by an ambush, much to the class' astonishment. The teacher rejects his claim, as it is not in the Fire Nation's history texts and states that he could not know that unless he had been there. Aang responds that he will just write down his best guess. In band class, Aang tries to play the tsungi horn and gets chided by the teacher for dancing, which apparently is not considered proper in the Fire Nation. Nevertheless, On Ji is amused by the dance, though when Aang offers to show it to her during recess, he incurs the wrath of Hide, who attempts to hit him. However, Aang skillfully evades every attempted blow with his hands behind his back, eventually getting the clearly outmatched Hide to stumble and fall over without any bending or even touching him. However, this gets Aang into trouble for "roughing up" a favored student of the Headmaster, resulting in a parent-teacher conference. Sokka and Katara attend the conference acting as Aang's parents, "Mr. Wang Fire" and "Mrs. Sapphire Fire". Concluding the conference, the Headmaster warns them that any more disruption will result in "Kuzon" being sent to reform school, namely the coal mines. While they manage to succeed in fooling the teacher, Sokka is against Aang returning to school by saying "No more school for you, young man." Aang, however, tells Sokka that this is the first time since he found out that he was the Avatar that he has had the chance to be a normal kid and insists that they need to do something for the children in the school in order to allow them to have freedom of expression for at least a brief period of time. Since these students are the next generation of the Fire Nation, changing them might help. He plans to hold a secret dance party in the cave for everyone in the school, to which Sokka, still wearing his beard, responds with an irritated, "Go to your room!" Meanwhile, Zuko has a romantic picnic with Mai and they share a kiss. The two are interrupted by Azula, who tries to get Zuko to talk to her. He refuses, but Azula sends Mai away by saying that Ty Lee needs help untangling her braid. Mai complies politely, but gives Azula an angry look behind her back. Azula tricks Zuko into admitting that he was visiting Iroh and warns him, with apparent sincerity, not to do so, as his visiting a traitor would make others suspicious. Nevertheless, Zuko visits his uncle in prison again. Again Iroh merely faces away from Zuko, who attempts to be kinder, bringing his uncle food as a gift. He begs his uncle for his advice, explaining that he believes the Avatar to be alive, and that he is confused and has no idea what to do about it without Iroh's guidance. When Iroh remains silent, Zuko flies into another rage, berating him, and leaves. As he leaves, Iroh continues to remain silent, but a tear runs down his face. Back in the cave, the children arrive and the school band begins to play. However, they are stunned by nervousness, not knowing how to dance and afraid they will get in trouble. Aang demonstrates some dance forms and eventually asks On Ji to dance, which gradually encourages the rest of the students to do the same. Sokka states that Aang and On Ji look good together, to which Katara gives a slightly terse response. The students gradually start to freestyle, although Toph, Sokka and Katara do not join in. Later, Aang asks Katara to dance. After hesitating, she takes Aang's hand and they perform a combination of Bagua and Northern Shaolin in synchronization, which does indeed appear to be an acrobatic dance based on their bending techniques - the students are all awed. At the end of the dance, Katara and Aang share a moment of what looks like mutual attraction. However, the Headmaster and several soldiers appear on the scene, having been told of the dance by Hide. They try to catch Aang, but he hides within the crowd of kids. Because the soldiers identify Aang with his headband, they are thrown off when they discover several other students wearing the same headband. Eventually, every student in the cave appears to have put one on, effectively delaying the Headmaster's hunt for Aang. Team Avatar manages to slip away in the opening behind the cave. However, before leaving, Aang stops and exchanges smiles with Shoji before running off, closing the opening behind him with earthbending, leaving Shoji shocked and speechless. Some of the soldiers accept defeat and dance as well, much to the chagrin of the Headmaster. While the group flies off on Appa, Toph compliments Aang on his efforts, which she believes made a serious impact on the students. Katara agrees, thanks Aang for dancing with her and kisses him on the cheek, causing him to blush. Sokka refuses to take his fake beard off, claiming, "It's permanently glued to [his] skin". Meanwhile, Zuko walks into a dark alley at night. There he meets a mysterious man with a metal arm and leg, as well as a tattooed third eye. Zuko states his purpose for contacting the man: he has heard the man is capable of doing his job effectively and secretly, and he wants him to track down and eliminate the Avatar.
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