Adaki

Biographical information
Nationality	Karr Lok Island, Fire Nation
Ethnicity	Fire Nation
Age	11 in Light It Up!
Physical description
Hair color	Black
Skin color	Brown
Personal information
Pronouns	He/him
Allies	Jiyung, Aera, Sujun, Chuan
Enemies	Team Undefeated
Weapon of choice	Fire
Fighting style	Firebending
Political information
Profession	Student
Position	Regional bending tournament champion
Affiliation	Sunray Academy Team Matchsticks
Chronological information
First appearance	Chapter One (Light It Up!)
Last appearance	Build the Flame!
Image gallery (8)

 

Adaki expresses pride in his team during the duel with Tearan.Isn't that the point of a team? We all carry each other.

Adaki was a firebender during the era of Szeto. Born to a family of fishers on Karr Lok Island, he dreamed of becoming a bending champion and master. To achieve this dream, he founded Team Matchsticks at Sunray Academy, eventually leading the group to win a regional firebending tournament.

History

Early life

Adaki was born to Adaro on Karr Lok Island in the Fire Nation during the era of Szeto. His family traditionally worked as fire-fishers, using their firebending to attract fish to their boats at night. Adaki's father Adaro was quite proficient at this work, regularly impressing the young boy. Though Adaki liked fishing, he also considered one of his grandfathers as "pretty cool"; the latter had gone against tradition to become a farmer and thus become the "wild rebel within his family".

As Adaki grew up, he went to Karr Lok Island's school, Sunray Academy, where he made three friends: Jiyung, Aera, and Sujun. He came to adore the "Flame Throwers", a youth team of local firebenders who had won the nationwide bending competition. Adaki sought to emulate his father and the "Flame Throwers", hoping to become a more powerful firebender.

Signing up to the regional tournament

Adaki was shocked by the sudden appearance of a small animal during his nightly fishing tour.

When he was eleven, Adaki began to help on his father's fishing boat. One night, he was allowed to act as the boat's firebender and tried to create a fireball which would attract a swarm of sardines, but the pressure of doing well as well as the poor weather conditions hampered the boy's efforts. His fireball was fairly weak and ineffective at attracting fish until his concentration was completely broken when a small winged animal temporarily landed on his shoulder, scaring him. At the urging of the other fishermen, Adaro subsequently took over from Adaki, quickly producing an effective flame and ensuring their tour's success.

Adaki was left frustrated about his inability to help his father, despite the latter consoling him. On the next day at school, the boy slept during Sifu Saruzo's mediation class due to his exhaustion. Afterward, he shared his experiences with his friends. The group were disrupted when they heard of a firebending match at one of the school's training rooms.

Once Adaki, Jiyung, Aera, and Sujun arrived at the training room, they witnessed a group of sixteen-year-old students easily defeating a group of six graders. They were surprised when Chuan, the top firebending teacher of their school, appeared on the stage to declare that they were still seeking fifth graders for a youth team to enter the regional bending tournament. She offered to train any fifth graders who enlisted, despite her students usually being fourteen at the youngest. The other eleven-year-old students were unwilling to sign up, as they would have to battle the older students whose power had been demonstrated just moments before. However, Adaki declared his willingness to enlist. He was motivated by the chance to be trained by Chuan as well as the chance to win one hundred gold pieces for the tournament winners, as this money could help his father to buy a new fishing boat.

Adaki spontaneously volunteered his friends, much to their shock.

To form a team, he spontaneously announced that his team would include Jiyung, Aera, and Sujun, much to his friends' horror. Adaki spent the following time trying to convince his comrades to actually sign up. After the next class, the group got a lunch break during which Adaki tried to counter his friends' doubts about the idea. When Jiyung pointed out their low chances of victory and her own inability to stay calm under pressure, he confidently expressed that they could win because they would meet the challenge as a team after being trained by Chuan. The group began talking about what they would do if they won the prize money, with Adaki declaring that would buy a bigger boat and fishing net for his father. Furthermore, he pointed out that their firebending abilities would increase due to the training regardless of any victory, meaning that they would profit no matter the tournament's outcome.

Seeing that his comrades were inclined to his point of view, Adaki rushed to officially enter the group's names at the sign-up sheet. Yet this led to a small discussion on their team name; Aera suggested "Team Adaki". When Adaki asked whether this made him the leader, the others loudly objected, causing the entire group to laugh.

First training session

At the first session Adaki was initially excited. After Chuan explained the rules of the tournament and gave inspiration, she taught the first lesson, which involved math. Initially Adaki was horrified, but remained committed to learn from the teacher despite his doubts. Chuan tried to convey how firebending launched at specific degree angles had a greater impact, meaning that math was useful for bending. Yet Adaki, Aera and Sujun balked at having to understand these concepts. Just like the others, he failed Chuan's first test of quickly painting a series of angles. When the teacher retreated from the room to allow the students to ponder the test's meaning, Aera and Sujun declared their intention to leave over their dislike of math. Adaki attempted to calm them down, claiming that Chuan would surely start to let them d "actual firebending" despite current session's "really pointless" math tasks.

Hearing the other constantly disparaging math eventually caused Jiyung to angrily silence them, while breathing a fireball at the ceiling. Taken aback by his friend's outburst, Adaki listened as Jiyung expressed her frustration at the group's lack of appreciation for math, which she enjoyed. Jiyung retold how Avatar Szeto had used math to solve problems for their ancestors during the great famine, including Adaki's grandfather who had benefited from state aid to support his farm.

Adaki was impressed as Chuan demonstrated how firebending benefited from a combination of passion, confidence, and technique.

The group apologized to Jiyung, while also starting to discuss how she had managed to bend such a powerful fireball. Adaki realized that Jiyung had accidentally put her head at a certain angle, suddenly understanding Chuan's lesson. Returning to the room, the teacher promptly reinforced her students' budding understanding, adding that –besides the correct techniques– passion and confidence were the keys to firebending, comparable to what Jiyung had for math. Finally convinced of the lesson's usefulness and impressed by Jiyung's fierceness, Adaki and his friends expressed their commitment to Chuan's way of training. The group continued to train for the rest of the week, making noticeable progress.

Sujun's struggles

The following Monday, Adaki and his team were at the school cafeteria when they were greeted by the four older students who had previously won the demonstration match a week earlier. Adaki enthusiastically introduced his own group, initially misunderstanding the sarcasm of Team Undefeated's leader Tearan as genuine friendliness. Yet the older students were merely sizing up Adaki's team as the competition. Tearan eventually recognized Sujun from an encounter in their parents' restaurant. He began to cruelly tease the younger student by claiming to have witnessed Sujun being scolded by their parents over botching a batch of dumplings. Sujun tried to deflect, but became increasingly nervous. Adaki, Aera, and Jiyung quickly came to Sujun's defense, asserting that the latter was a great cook and accusing Team Undefeated of being liars. After their rivals left, Adaki promised his friends that they would get them back in the tournament. Noticing Sujun's continued unease, Adaki, Aera, and Jiyung decided to cheer their comrade up by secretly asking Chuan to center the next training lesson on cooking.

Adaki was excited at the start of Chuan's cooking lesson.

At Chuan's next lesson, however, Sujun was shocked instead of happy upon witnessing the cooking utensils. Though worried at his friend's response, Adaki was still enthusiastic over the lesson as it involved frying dumplings with firebending. The students were tasked to keep the fire under their respective frying pans so consistent as to create an even cook of the dumplings; they could eat any well-cooked dumplings. Thinking about his previous inability to produce consistent flames during fire fishing, Adaki worried about becoming the "weak link" of his group at the exercise. Distracted by his worries, the boy quickly made numerous mistakes such as forgetting to put oil in the frying pan. Looking over to Sujun, Adaki expressed admiration for the latter's well-fried dumpling. These friendly words only triggered Sujun, however, who yelled that it was not perfect and eventually sizzled their dumpling to a crisp in an emotional outburst. Afterward, Sujun stormed out of the room, leaving the others confused and worried. Adaki felt that the incident had been his fault, as Sujun's outburst had happened after his compliment. Chuan encouraged the student to follow his friend, and the young firebender did so.

Appearances

Bending Academy novels

• Light It Up!
• Build the Flame!