The Sand Prince

Ch. 16 The Northern Air Temple

We open to Aang and the gang listening to a storyteller around a campfire. The storyteller was just finishing a story.

Man: "So, travellers, the next time you think you hear a strange large bird talking, take a closer look. It might not be a giant parrot, but a flying man, a member of a secret group of air walkers who laugh at gravity and laugh at those bound to the earth by it."

The man goes around with his hat collecting money from his listeners. When he gets to the gang, Y/n pulls out a gold piece and tosses it into the hat. Aang went up to the man to thank him for the story, and he was told that the man's grandfather had seen the air walkers recently. The next morning, the gang was in the sky headed for the Northern Air Temple.

Aang: "We're almost to the Northern Air Temple. This is where they had the championships for sky bison polo."

As they approached the temple the gang saw that there were indeed people flying around in the air.

Katara: "They really are airbenders!"

Y/n: "Incredible!"

Aang: "No, they're not."

Aang leans back against Appa with a scowl.

Sokka: "What do you mean they're not? Those guys are flying!"

Aang: "Gliding maybe, but not flying. You can tell by the way they move they're not air bending. Those people have no spirit."

A young boy sitting in a wheelchair with a glider strapped to the top of it swoops down next to Appa, laughing. Aang jumps from Appa and begins to fly around with the young boy, while the rest of the gang lands at the temple. After Aang and the boy, Teo, finish their flying and land, he approaches them.

Teo: "Hey, you're a real airbender. You must be the Avatar. That's amazing! I've heard stories about you."

Aang: "Thanks."

Sokka: "Wow, this glider chair is incredible."

Teo: "You think this is good, wait until you see the other stuff my dad designed."

Teo leads the gang into the temple, inside they find that the walls, floors, and ceilings have pipes and other mechanical contraptions running on and threw them. Aang looks at the state of the temple in shock and sadness. Aang goes up to one wall that has mural painted on it, but pipes are running threw it.

Aang: "This is supposed to be the history of my people."

Y/n walks up next to Aang and places a hand on his shoulder. The gang continues to another part of the temple, this time there are not pipes or machinery. Aang and the gang stand before a statue of an air monk.

Aang: "Its nice to see at least one part of the temple that isnt ruined."

A man suddenly shouts before a boulder suspended by a rope comes crashing through the wall, destroying the statue. A man and several workers come through the hole in the wall.

Teo's Father: "What the doodle?! Dont you know enough to stay away from construction sites? We have to make room for the bathhouse."

(This guy literally doesnt have a name.)

Aang: "Do you know what you did?! You just destroyed something sacred for a stupid bathhouse!"

Teo's Father: "Well people around here are starting to stink."

Aang: "This whole place stinks!"

Aang uses his air bending to send a massive wave of air at the crane used to break the wall, sending it over the cliff of the temple.

Aang: "This is a sacred temple. You cant treat it this way. I've seen it when the monks were here. I know what its suppose to be like."

Teo's Father: "The monks? But you're twelve."

Teo: "Dad, he's the Avatar. He used to come here a hundred years ago."

Aang: "What are you doing!? Who said you could be here?"

Teo's father then told the gang about how he came to find the air temple after a flood. Sokka was intrigued by the inventions of the man and went with him to another part of the temple while Aang, Katara, and Y/n went with Teo. Teo leads them to an air locked door.

Katara: "Hey, it's just like the one in the other air temple."

Teo: "Only an airbender can open it. So inside, its completely untouched. Just the way the monks left it. I've always wondered what it was like in there."

Y/n: "Aang, you dont have to if you dont want to."

Aang: "No, I need to see what's inside. And besides, Teo you may not be an airbender, but I can tell you have the spirit of one."

Aang uses his air bending to open the locked door. The door swings open, and the group is shocked at what they see. Weapons, metal, and the logo of the Fire Nation greets them.

Aang: "This is a nightmare."

Teo's Father and Sokka come up behind the rest of the group.

Teo's Father: "You dont understand."

Aang: "You're making weapons for the Fire Nation!"

Teo: "Explain all this.. now!"

Teo's Father: "It was about a year after we moved here. Fire Nation soldiers found our settlement. You were too young to remember this Teo. They were going to destroy everything, burn it to the ground. I pleaded with them. I begged them to spare us. They asked what I had to offer. I offered my services. You must understand, I did this for you."

Teo turned away from his father. Later, a Fire Nation minister came to the temple but Aang denied the minister any weapons. Sokka and Teo's father were able to get his latest weapon for the minister working for them, a war balloon. Later that day, the Fire Nation attacked with soldiers and a new weapon, tanks.

Aang: "Y/n, I need you to face the Fire Nation on the side of the mountain while the rest of us attack from the air. Can you do that?"

Y/n: "They wont get passed me."

The gliders took off into the sly, diving below the clouds to attack the soldiers with smoke and slime bombs. Y/n waited on the edge of the temple, watching for when the soldiers got close. As the gliders attacked the soldiers, metal hooks on chains were shot from the clouds, pulling tanks onto the plateau of the mountain under the temple.

Y/n: "Looks like it's my turn."

Y/n leapt from the edge of the temple, as he hit the ground he sent out a shockwave of rock pillars that slammed against the tanks and soldiers.

Y/n: "Only a fool challenges an Earthbender on the side of a mountain."

Y/n assumes the stance of the mantis and begins to attack the tanks and soldiers. Aang and Katara land next to him and begin to help him but the tanks and soldiers seem endless. The three retreat to the temple as Sokka and Teo's father emerge with the war balloon, but due to it having the Fire Nation insignia they arent attacked. They fly over the troops and drop their engine down a ravine that was filled with natural gas, causing an explosion that forces the Fire Nation to retreat.

They've won against the Fire Nation... for now...