Plot

The gang engage in a rock-paper-scissors-style bending battle. Sokka, although unable to bend, is also involved. When Zuko and Iroh appear, Zuko claims that fire is the best and Toph takes it as a bending battle challenge.

The gang is seen bending in a rock, paper, scissors fashion, saying "One, two, three, BEND!" Toph puts out her hand and bends a miniature pyramid, Aang sticks his hand out and creates a miniature tornado inside his palm, and when Katara puts out her hand she is seen holding a little water pinwheel. Sokka, being unable to bend, sticks his hand out, his thumb and pointer finger bent. He claims it is his boomerang. The others argue that 'boomerang' is not an element.

Using Sokka as their guinea pig, Katara, Toph, and Aang each demonstrate their abilities, each trying to prove that their element is the best. Aang hits Sokka with an air blast and also hits Katara. Katara blasts Sokka into the air with her water, freezes him into a block of ice, and breaks it into small cubes of ice. Satisfied, she fuses the pieces back together.

Toph tells Aang and Katara that air and water are both great elements, but that earth is better. Sokka tries to sneak away, but Toph sends him flying into a makeshift pinball machine formed out of the vertical side of a cliff and into Appa's mouth. Aang saves him, catching him in the air with his bending. Sokka thanks Aang and subsequently remarks that he is "sick and tired of being everyone's personal dummy."

Aang promptly fills Sokka with air, inflating him like a balloon. He begins to float away, but when Appa's horn pokes Sokka's nose, the "puffed up Sokka" explodes. He subsequently crash lands into a pool of water, emerging carrying a fish in one hand.

Zuko and Iroh suddenly appear on top of a cliff. Zuko shouts to them, asking if "[they] call that bending". Katara's eyes turn into hearts and she exclaims that the tiny Zuko looked cute. Zuko becomes enraged and steam begins coming out of his nostrils and mouth, and he yells that he is neither cute nor tiny, and briefly reverts to his appearance in the series. Iroh agrees with Katara, causing Zuko's temper to flare and he shoots a large blast of fire at the gang. The blast hits Sokka directly, causing the fish he was holding to catch fire and cook.

Zuko claims that fire is the best and Toph takes it as a bending battle challenge. She begins to raise mountains out of the earth, and when she has finished she shows the others an aerial photograph of the mountains which form a picture of herself. Momo promptly holds up a "7.6" sign, Appa an "8.2", and Iroh claps with amazement.

Aang makes a large ball of air, and using it as a trampoline, launches himself into the air, and while doing so, he breaks a piece of a cloud off and takes a bite out of it. He flies up to outer space, comes back down to earth, and lands on the ground. Momo puts up a "6" sign, Appa an "8", and Iroh shakes his finger in disappointment. Aang points out that through his performance he had made an arrow shape out of the clouds. Momo subsequently flips the "6" over to make a "9", Appa turns his "8" over, even though this did not change its value, and Iroh looks impressed.

A nearby volcano erupts and Zuko is riding the lava. He uses his firebending to make a dragon out of the lava, shouting that he will "bring in the heat". Katara bursts his bubble by riding a giant wave over Zuko's dragon, putting his fire out, and leaving behind a little rock dinosaur created by the fusion of the magma and water.

Iroh says that each element has its own strengths and weaknesses. Sokka eats the burnt fish as Iroh promptly claims fire is the best. He and his nephew make a quick escape, vanishing in a cloud of dust before anyone can argue.