I know... It's been a lot time, and I'm sure you all wondering what I've been doing or what happened to me, but considering the time that has passed we all know that'll be one long story. So I'm just going to chalk it up to writer's block and move on, okay?

Enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 9- Bedtime Story

To say that Danny was uncomfortable would be an understatement. Within the last twenty four hours he has seen benders put out a fire caused by a meteor, had his secret revealed, he went to a sword master with Sokka, almost got a boy killed, and now he was getting ready to fight the same boy with real swords! He had to wonder how he always got himself into these types of situations.

"You alright man?" Tuck asked as he looked at Danny with a worried face.

"Y-yeah, I'll be fine." He said as he slowly picked up the sword that the man who answered the door earlier gave him. To be honest the sword didn't feel quite right in his hands, but he chose to ignore the feeling since he thought it would be rude to ask for another.

"Alright you two," Piandao started, "make sure to keep the injuries to a minimum. The goal is to disarm or pin your opponent, not to kill them." At that Danny sweat dropped, he didn't know how to do any of the things the master said.

'Sam…' Danny asked in his head, hoping to get some outside advice on how to fight.

'Danny? Are you alright?' Sam asked, apparently she had heard the worry in his voice… mind… whatever.

'Honestly… I don't know… do you know anything about sword fighting?'

'Sword fighting… are you in danger?!' Sam asked, her voice both worried and protective, Danny almost laughed at her reaction.

'I don't think so. I'm sparing so I can learn how to fight with a sword. The problem being I've never really fought anyone for real like this.' Danny clarified, hoping to calm her down.

"Are you two ready?" The master asked, causing Danny to jump a little.

'Oh… well I could give you some moves I know, but you'll have to let me see what is going on and really pay attention to what I say.' Sam stated, and Danny nodded in understanding.

"Good!" Piandao stated, taking Danny's nod as a sign that he was ready. "Then begin!"

'Crap!' Danny thought as he opened his mind for Sam so she could see what was going on as Tucker readied his sword, and Danny reluctantly did the same.

'You're holding it wrong,' Sam stated, 'put your feet wider apart and stand firm. Otherwise your opponent will knock you down within minutes.' Danny quickly did as she said, 'Good, now since you're a little more finely built than your opponent you have to think on your feet, use your speed to your advantage.'

Just as she said that Tuck came at him, and without any warning Sam sent a thought towards him that felt more like sensation of a type of movement than actual words. And without question, Danny followed the movements and found himself sidestepping Tuck's sword and about to deliver an attack of his own to only have it parried.

'Good, keep that up, move like I showed you with your ice bending.' Danny quickly did as she said and before he knew it his fighting was getting better. He had become more about speed than power, defense than offence, and flowed more like water than standing firm like a rock.

Whenever Danny did attack, Tuck barely had enough time to block before he tried again. Danny kept trying to deliver swift attacks to Tucks legs and arms, but no matter how fast he went his opponent always managed to block and deliver stronger and faster blows. However at one point Tuck managed to hit Danny's sword with his own, and before Danny knew it, his sword went flying into the air and his foot was kicked out from under him.

"I win." Tuck said with a triumphant smile as he jammed his sword into the wood right next to Danny's head.

Danny smiled back, not at all fazed by the sharp object next to his face. "Nice one." He said with a chuckle.

Tuck laughed back as he offered his hand to Danny who happily took it. "That was some nice skills." Tuck stated as he helped the young Halfa up. "Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"Oh, a friend taught me. She's a really good teacher."

'Thanks.' Sam stated. Danny could just imagine the smile she was wearing.

"A friend?" Piandao asked with a confused look on his face as he walked over to the two boys.

Danny nodded. "Yeah."

Piandao looked down in thought before he shook his head and looked over to Sokka, "It's time for your training."

"Wait!" Danny yelled, "What about me, you said that you would teach me if I fought Tuck!"

Piandao smiled, "I know I did, and Tuck here will be your tutor. Learn well." He said as he led Sokka outside.

Danny stared at the master's retreating form in shock until he could no longer see him. "Are you kidding me?!" Danny yelled. "After everything I've been through he just goes and ditches me?"

'Well you do seem to know more than Sokka, so he could be considered more of a priority.' Sam stated, apparently still paying attention to Danny's open mind.

"Don't take it too badly." Tucker stated as he patted Danny on the back. "Master rarely takes in students, and to be honest I'm surprised he let both of you stay here as long as he has."

Danny let out a sigh before nodding, deciding that both of his friends had a point. "Alright, so what will my tutor be teaching me?" he asked as he looked over to Tuck, who was smiling maliciously.

'Not good,' Danny and Sam thought at the same time as Tuck took Danny's arm and started leading him who knows where.

"Welcome to Foley Incorporated!" Tucker exclaimed as he gestured to the inside of what was unmistakably his room, though it was littered with junk, paper, and other stuff, most of which Danny had never seen before.

"Cool!" Danny stated as he rushed over to a weird looking object that was only a foot tall but looked totally kick butt. It seemed to be made of bamboo, paper, and straw. "That's this?"

"Oh that is what I like to call an air-screw!" Tuck exclaimed as he picked it up. It was a little device that had a spiral looking object on top and a little square area that looked like it was supposed to hold something. "It's supposed to fly, but so far it only floats to the ground, watch!" He stated as he threw it in the air, and then it gently started to fall, the spiral top spinning like a screw as it fell.

"That's awesome!" Danny yelled as it finally landed.

"Thanks!" Tuck said with a wide smile. "I've tried to invent an object that could actually fly, like the airbenders did a hundred years ago, but all I've gotten were a lot of failed inventions." He finished with a defeated sigh.

Danny nodded, understanding his reasoning. He himself could fly when he was Phantom, and he could now also fly in his human form thanks to Appa. Tuck on the other hand had nothing to help him. "I'm sure you'll get there."

Tuck smiled widely at Danny's comment. "Thanks, but it'll be awhile before I get there." He then turned back to the rest of the room and started looking around. "Common baby, I know you're around here somewhere." He grumbled to himself as he continued looking from desk to desk, until he gave a triumphant "AH HA!" and walked back to Danny. "Now young grasshopper," Tuck said with a joking smile, "this is my newest invention, a PDA!"

Tucker then held out a small, but bulky, object. It took Danny a moment to realize that it was just a lot of papers piled on top of each other with a spiral shaped wire across the top, seeming to be holding all the papers together. It also held an odd black object inside the spiral.

"What is it for?" Danny asked as he examined it further, now noticing that the black object was charcoal.

"Taking notes, making plans, and on rare occasions impressing the ladies." Tuck said with a wink.

"The ladies?" Danny asked with an amused smile.

"Yeah, they totally dig men with brains!"

Danny let out a chuckle, "Dig? Isn't that what people do when they are trying to plant something?"

"Well, in a way yes… but I've come to use it for my own purposes."

"Like picking up ladies?"

"Exactly!" Tuck bellowed, like Danny knew exactly what he was getting at.

So as it would turn out, Tucker was a pretty good teacher. He helped Danny get all the basics and even helped him master all the moved that Sam had showed him how to do earlier. However those were only the basics, and after a while Tucker ended up stopping, discovering that there was nothing more he could really teach him.

As a result Danny found himself looking around the building. It was an interesting place to say the least. He found a blacksmiths area for making swords, a lot of rooms with awesome views, and a large quantity of paintings that all, one way or another, resembled a majority of the sights that Danny had seen through the windows in the rooms. It wasn't until a half hour into his personal tour that he found the master's room again; with the sword from before still sitting on the desk.

Upon seeing the sword Danny found himself stop in his tracks. He couldn't place how or why, but the sword just had a familiar feel to it that reminded him of Sam's forest. And, to be honest, it had a sudden allure that drew him in, so he wasn't all that surprised that his feet started to act on their own accord as they started moving towards the weapon.

Of course Danny could've, or actually should have stopped and left the room. After all, the sword wasn't his, it was Piandao's, and for all he knew it could be a priceless artifact that would shatter if someone so much as looked at it wrong. However his body continued to move, ignoring his mind's protest, and before he knew it he had the sword in his hand, the cloth forgotten on the table. It was within the first couple seconds of holding the sword that the unexpected happened.

First off, Danny noticed the tattoo's on his hand glow bright red, and was sure the rest were glowing as well. The next was the sword started giving off the same glow, the marble embedded inside of it glowing the brightest. And lastly, the white ring that would normally form around his waist when he was about to change into Phantom appeared, and then split. Danny let out a startled yelp as he tried to push the lights away, to no avail, they just kept moving until they finished their process and vanished.

Danny's heart did over a dozen flips during that whole entire process, and he frantically looked down at his tattoos, expecting the blue glow that would usually appear when he turned Phantom, but found them still red, just not glowing anymore. Danny quickly looked around the room, trying to find a mirror, to check to see if anything was different, but no mirror was in sight. Until he looked down at the sword in his hand, the steel of the blade was as reflective as the ice Sam conjured up on Danny's first day as a Halfa.

Upon seeing a makeshift mirror he didn't hesitate to lift the blade to eye level, only to find his usual blue eyes and black hair staring back at him. He let out a sigh of relief as he sat himself on the floor. All the stress of the last couple minutes had left him totally exhausted.

After taking in a couple breaths in an attempt to calm down Danny looked down at the sword in his hands, realizing that the marble was still red, but neither it or the rest of the sword were glowing anymore.

"It's a magnificent piece isn't it?" A voice asked behind him, making his heart jump for the hundredth time today. Danny quickly turned around to find Master Piandao. "I found that about five years ago while I was traveling. I heard so many stories about it that it was hard to not go looking for it."

Danny looked at the master, his heart not exactly settled yet. "How long had you been standing there?"

"For as long as you've been sitting there staring at that sword." The master answered, Only to pause as he stared at Danny in interest. "Do you mind if I ask you what your last name is?"

Now that threw Danny for a loop, and you could probably understand his reluctance to answer the question. He opened his mouth to give the man some sort of answer that, knowing Danny, would most likely be a lie. However he shut it, remembering what had happened the moment he picked up the sword. "I'll answer your question if you tell me the stories about this sword."

Piandao smiled, "Seems fair," he started as he walked over and sat himself on the other side of the table where Danny and Sokka had found him earlier this afternoon, "it's a long story that one of my past apprentice had told me years ago.

"This story took place many years ago. When men were exploring the world and tried to take what was not theirs. Many of these victims were spirits who eventually lost their homes. However there was this one spirit, shaped like a striped feline, that had decided that spirits had lost enough and stood its ground against the armies of men. Many men fell before its might, and many more recklessly challenged it. It became such a challenge that a reward was proposed to all who thought they could defeat the spirit.

"It was then that a strong master swordsman wandered into the village. He was a good and honest man, which was probably why he was so broke and desperate for money. So, upon hearing about the reward he quickly headed out in search of the spirit, for once thinking of nothing but himself. When he found the spirit they had a glorious battle that lasted several days, and at the very end, the swordsman held his blade to the spirit's chest, about to end it.

"Until the spirit started to chuckle weakly, 'Congratulations warrior,' it stated weakly, 'you have won what small piece of my forest you have not stolen from me already.'

"The swordsman was shocked by the spirit's words. 'I didn't fight you for your land,' He spoke honestly as he stepped away from the spirit, 'and I have stolen nothing from you.' The man then sheathed his sword.

"'Then why fight me?' The spirit asked, 'I have nothing else of value to you.'

"The swordsman looked down, guilt more than apparent on his face, 'I needed money, I have no food or shelter.'

"The spirit laughed at the man, 'Then you should leave, I have no money. Only a small forest that is dwindling with every passing day thanks to your people.'

"'Then let me help!' The man suggested, surprising the spirit.

"'Help? You really want to help?' The man simply nodded, which made the spirit chuckle. 'You are a weird man, but if you are to truly help me maintain my forest, then you should have a proper sword.'

"It was then that the spirit transformed from a it's cat like form into that of a woman with white hair and eyes. The man looked at her in shock, but she took no notice as she walked up to a tree and summoned a sword from it's bark.

"'This is a sword of my own spiritual energy. If you truly want to help I must have your word that you will do so at any cost. That includes sacrificing your life for my forest.' The spirit stated holding out the hilt of the sword for the man to take. The man smiled a wide goofy smile and took the hilt without question.

"It is unsure exactly what happened to the man after this. Many say he fought and died in the forest after many years of defending it, other say he betrayed the spirit and the sword poisoned him. However my apprentice told me that the sword transformed the swordsman so that he would be a spirit by night and a man by day."

Danny looked at Piandao in shock, not sure what to say. Sure, the story sounded a bit like him and Sam, but he never fought her and he was turned into what he was by a kiss, not a sword. Then again the story could have been nothing more than a fairy tale told to kids as a bed time story. However one look at the sword told Danny otherwise.

"That… was interesting…" Danny stated, not sure of how exactly he was supposed to react. He looked down at the sword in his hand, the one in the story.

"I'm glad you think so. The apprentice who told me this story is named Maddie Fenton, I have a feeling you know her."

Yay for a finished chapter. Boo at the terrible length of it. All well, it was the best I could think to do at the moment.

As for Tucker's inventions, yes, his PDA is a notepad, and yes I did steal his air-screw from Leonardo De Vinci since it seemed the most appropriate.

You all know the drill, review, IM I don't care just tell me what you think.

I hope you all had a great Easter.