"Caught up in the blast
Caught up in the action
Caught up in the bursting flame
There's comfort in burning"
________________
It is morning and two waterbending students face off against each other. The student on the left, a nervous looking teenage boy whose left eye twitches slightly in anxiety. The boy's opponent – Katara. She looks very confident, a slight smile on her face. The boy raises up a ball of water, turns it to ice, and throws it at his opponent.
Katara bends the ice around her, liquefies it, and sends a huge stream of water back at the boy who is washed up and backwards. As he is washed away, the water turns to ice, imprisoning him about ten feet of the ground. Katara bows in front of Katzumi who was invited to watch the lessons while Pakku approached from over her shoulder.
"Nice try, Pupil Sangok. A couple of more years and you might be ready to fight a sea sponge." Pupil Sangok continues to struggle against his bonds. Master Pakku turns away, makes a motion with his left hand, and the ice prison melts, dropping the hapless student to the ground. The rest of the students who are sitting slumped on the ground.
"Would anyone care for a rematch with Katara?" Pakku asks
They all shake their heads.
"Katara, you have advanced more quickly than any student I have ever trained. You have proven that with fierce determination, passion and hard work you can accomplish anything. Raw talent alone is not enough."
Pakku turns to Aang lying on the ground, floating Momo around on an airball, a lazy smile on his face.
"Pupil Aang!" Momo's airball dissipates and Momo falls on Aang's head.
"Yes, Master Pakku?" he asked
"Care to step into the sparring circle? I figure since you've found time to play with house pets you must have already mastered waterbending."
Aang airbends himself to his feet.
"I wouldn't say "mastered", but check this out!"
Aang spins around, collecting snow around him as he goes. When he is done, he has made himself into a snowman. Momo pounces on him and knocks him down.
Pakku and Katara wear similar expressions of disdain. Master Pakku shakes his head in disgust.
❅
Princess Yue begins to speak as she and Sokka enter, Sokka is walking on top of the bridge's guard rail.
"So they don't have palaces in the Southern Tribe?" Yue asked
" Are you kidding? I grew up in a block of ice. It's not exactly a cultural hub."
Yue laughs with a warm smile, and puts her hand on Sokka's shoulder. After a moment she pulls back and looks at him seriously.
"Sokka, this is wrong."
"What's wrong? We're taking a walk!"
"I'm engaged. It just... feels..."
Sokka's smile wanes as she begins to walk away, but the smile returns as he gets an idea.
"I know what you need! You need to meet my good friend Appa!"
"Who?" Yue asks
Sokka and Yue enter Appa's pen. He is eating from an enormous pile of greenery in front of him.
"Appa and I go way back. Don't we boy?"
The thunder of Appa's shifting bulk is heard and Sokka's features turn to surprise. Appa pins him down with his forepaws.
"Ahh! Easy!" Appa licks him from bottom to top – twice.
"Down boy! Ahh! No! Up!"
" Looks like you haven't been giving Appa enough attention."
Sokka struggles to try and free himself from Appa's embrace.
❅
"So how does this work?" Yue asks
"You hangin' on tight?"
"Mmm hmm."Yue answer
"Yip....yip!" Appa soars into the nearly cloudless sky.
"Oh...my...goodness!" Yue yelled
Appa flies effortlessly through the sky
"Wow! I can't believe you do this every day!" Yue said
"Yeh, we pretty much live up here." Sokka answered
"Is it always this cold in the sky?" Yue snuggles up against Sokka.
"Not when you're with someone."
"It's beautiful up here." Yue gasped
"Yeh."
Pause while they look at each other with adoration. They come close to kissing before they break off.
"Whoo! Yeh! Good times! Good times!"
Around them, what looks like snowflakes begin to fall.
"Hey, look!"
Appa flies into a squall of these "snowflakes". Strangely, most of these "snowflakes" are black.
"What's happening?" Yue asked
"Oh no."
❅
Aang laughs as he rolls around in a circle in the snow. Momo is nearby. Within a few seconds ash starts to fall around him, but he doesn't notice.
Aang notices the ash and looks up, Katara and Katzumi also realize the snow.
❅
"Soot."
Sokka kneels on the ground, the ash and snow still in his hand
"What?" Yue asks
"I've seen it before. Right before my village was attacked. It's soot mixed with snow."
Sokka stands.
"But why?" Yue asks again
"It's the Fire Nation. They've closed in on the North Pole. And from the looks of the stuff..."
"...I'd say there's a lot of them."
many city dwellers running up the steps of the citadel. The Princess stops, bringing Sokka to a halt along with her.
"What's wrong? We have to go!" Sokka insists
"No, Sokka, wait. I can't see you anymore. Not at all." Yue says
"What? We're just friends."
"I wish we could just be friends, but I like you too much and it's too confusing to be around you. I'm marrying someone else." Yue explains
"You don't love him, do you? You don't even seem to like him." Sokka suggested
"But I do love my people."
"You're not marrying them."
"You don't understand. I have duties to my father, to my tribe. I have to do this, goodbye!"
❅
Chief Arnook beginning a speech to a group of Water Tribe warriors. His voice echoes through the great hall as he speaks. Behind him sit Princess Yue and Master Pakku. On the floor, their backs to a nearby wall, sit Aang, Katzumi, Katara and Sokka.
"The day we have feared for so long has arrived. The Fire Nation is on our doorstep. It is with great sadness I call my family here before me, knowing well that some of these faces are about to vanish from our tribe. But they will never vanish from our hearts. Now, as we approach the battle for our existence, I call upon the great spirits! Spirit of the Ocean! Spirit of the Moon! Be with us! I'm going to need volunteers for a dangerous mission."
"Count me in." Sokka says standing up
"Sokka!" Many other men stand up in the crowd with him.
"Be warned. Many of you will not return. Come forward to receive my mark if you accept the task."
The men form a line in front of the Chief to receive his mark. It is three red lines on the forehead, made from some paint or ink that the Chief holds in a bowl in front of him. Sokka is the second in line. As Sokka leaves, he turns and makes eye contact with Yue before he turns again and walks away. Yue begins to cry silently
❅
Aang sits on one of the pylons at the top of the citadel steps. He is looking out over the city walls to the ocean horizon in the distance. Behind him the Chief approaches.
"The stillness before battle is unbearable. Such a quite dread." Aang says Katzumi and Katara standing at his left
"I wasn't there when the Fire Nation attacked my people. I'm gonna make a difference this time."
❅
All looks calm and quiet on a beautiful sunny day. A slanted shot of a row of Water Tribe warriors who line the top of the city wall, their faces painted for war all looking out to sea with expressions of fierce determination.
In the distance a single ship is seen. It launches a fireball which hurtles directly at the center of the city wall. It strikes the water symbol in the center of wall and blows a massive hole through it. Many defenders are blown backwards into the city by the concussion, along with huge chunks of ice and debris.
Another fireball once flying through the air towards the city. It lands in a canal with an explosion of smoke, water and fire.The Fire Nation crew launch another fireball from the trebuchet on the approaching ship's foredeck. It strikes the right side of the city wall, shattering a piece of it. Appa recoils and roars as the smoke and exploding ice create havoc around him.
"Yip! Yip!" Aang yells
Appa and Aang launch off the wall towards the Fire Navy ship while the defenders on the wall try to reorganize.
Sokka search among the wreckage of the ruined wall.
"Katara!?Katzumi!?" Sokka yells
He walks behind a large mound of snow which begins to move. A large chunk of the snow mound blows out Katara waterbends it away to release herself and Katzumi. Sokka helps them to them feet just in time to see two more fireballs come over the city wall.
❅
As Aang and Appa approach the Fire Navy ship it fires a few more fireballs at them. The last Aang bats out of the with his staff. The blow changes the trajectory of the fireball and it goes wild, harmlessly striking the ice cliff way to the left of the city.
"I'll take it from here, boy!" he tells Appa
Appa begins to invert himself allowing Aang to just fall of the saddle into a free fall. Appa exits the frame as Aang continues his drop. After a few seconds he opens his glider and closes in on the ship. Dodging several more fireballs Aang arrives on the foredeck, breaking the rest of his fall by using his staff as a helicopter blade. Once he lands, he whips up a gale that blows much of the deck crew off deck.
Aang then hops up onto the arm of the loaded trebuchet and begins to walk down it. A huge Fire Nation soldier blocks his way, however, and he is forced back up the arm. Two more soldiers have climbed the trebuchet, however, and appear behind Aang. They all swing mighty hammers at him and miss, damaging the trebuchet. Finally, Aang jets into the air and with a mighty blow blasts the trebuchet into a dozen pieces.
Aang runs over to the other trebuchet on the deck. He breaks the chain the stops the trebuchet arm from overextending and then fires the trebuchet.
The arm overextends and the weapon shoot its fireball into the deck, straight through the forepeak and into the water below. Aang runs back up the deck to two more trebuchet, Fire Nation guards in tow. He ties the chains of two trebuchets together in a bow knot. He then runs over to one of the machines firing mechanisms and kicks it into operation.
The activated trebuchet draws the one it is tied to across the deck towards itself. When the one strikes the other they disintegrate into a pile of useless junk.
Aang grins widely as he runs over to another trebuchet and is observed by a large Fire Nation warrior. He about to strike the firing mechanism with a hammer when he sees the warrior approach.
Aang drops the hammer in fear, narrowly avoiding multiple hammers attached to chains that attempt to strike him from The warrior wielding the chained hammers as weapons. Hiding behind one of the trebuchet's girders, Aang is quickly ensnared by two chains which rap around him.
Appa's feet suddenly swoop into the frame, breaking the chain and sweeping the warrior out of the picture. Aang frees himself from his now loose chains.
"Appa!"
Aang runs over and jumps onto Appa's forehead, bear hugging him.
"Thanks for the rescue, buddy!"
Suddenly the ship starts to vibrate violently. A huge spear of ice breaks through the foredeck straight into the sky. The port side hull which is now encased in rapidly expanding ice. The Fire Navy ship has been surrounded by Water Tribe skiffs full of waterbenders.
Together they the Fire Navy ship out of the water on a bed of ice. Appa and Aang take off the now heavily listing deck. As Aang and Appa rise above the now wrecked ship, Aang's expression turns to horror and surprise as he looks in front of him. The horizon is full of Fire Navy ships as far as the eye can see.
"You have got to be kidding me."
❅
"Men, you'll be infiltrating the Fire Nation navy. That means you'll all need one of these uniforms..."
Hahn, an arrogant looking, dark haired young man. The uniform he wears, while clearly of the Fire Nation, is not current standard issue. In particular, the shoulder armor has wings that curve upward. Laughter from Sokka. He puts his hand over his mouth. The other warriors turn to look at him.
"What's your problem?" Hahn asked
"Fire Navy uniforms don't look like that." Sokka answered
"Of course they do. These are real uniforms captured from actual Fire Navy soldiers." Hahn explained
"When, like a hundred years ago?" Sokka sarcastically asked
"Eighty five." The chief admitted
"The Fire Nation doesn't wear shoulder spikes anymore. The newer uniforms are more streamlined. "
"How do we know we can trust this guy? Such bold talk for a new recruit." Hahn said
"Sokka is from our sister tribe, Hahn, he is a capable warrior and I value his input."
"Now, our first objective is to determine the identity of their commanding officer." The chief ordered
"His name is Zhao. Middle-aged. Big sideburns. Bigger temper." Sokka said
"Sokka, I want you to tell everything you know to Hahn, he is leading this mission. Hahn, show Sokka your respect. I expect nothing less from my future son-in-law."
Arnook exits as Hahn pushes his hair back over his ears. Sokka's jaw has dropped in shock at the Chief's last pronouncement. He recovers and points an accusing finger at hahn.
"Princess Yue's marrying you?" Sokka asked baffled
"Yeh, what of it?" Hahn said
"Nothing, congratulations."
❅
Katara, Kaztumi and Yue, are standing in front of the citadel looking out over the city and its walls to the line of threatening Fire Navy ships. Plumes of smoke rise over several sections of the city that have been bombed.
" They've stopped firing." Yue states
"Aang!"
Appa lands on the plaza at the base of the Citadel steps. Katzumi and Katara run down to them. As Appa lands he lies down on his belly, his feet too tired to keep him up. Aang looks small and dejected in the saddle. He slides off and comes to rest next to Appa's left forepaw.
"I can't do it. I can't do it."
"What happened?" Katzumi asked him
"I must have taken out a dozen Fire Navy ships, but there's just too many of them. "I can't fight them all."
"But, you have to! You're the Avatar!" Yue pleaded
"I'm just one kid." He buries his head in his arms in despair as Katzumi sits down to comfort him.
❅
"Let me tell ya, Soka, I've courted a lot of girls, but Yue is the finest – and she comes with the most perks." Hahn stated
"Perks!? What does that mean?" Sokka asked feeling offended
"I mean, Yue's nice and everything, but the points I'll get with the Chief aren't bad either."
"Princess Yue is wasted on a self absorbed weasel like you!" Sokka yelled
"Whoa. Hang on. What do you care? You're just a simple rube from the Southern Tribe. What would you know of the political complexities of our life? No offense."
Sokka yells in anger and tackles Hahn to the ground. Sokka ends up on top and punches Hahn in the face.
" You're just a jerk without a soul! No offense!"
They roll around a bit more before Chief Arnook hands appear in the frame to break them up.
"That's enough! Sokka, you're off the mission." The Chief exits again as Sokka looks away, humiliated.
"All right, fall in men! Everybody listen to what I say and we'll take out this Admiral Jo in no time." Hahn orders
"It's Admiral Zhao!" Sokka yells
❅
"The legends say the moon was the first waterbender. Our ancestors saw how it pushed and pulled the tides and learned how to do it themselves." Yue explains to Katara, Katzumi, Aang who are looking at the moon over the city from a room in the citadel.
"I've always noticed my waterbending is stronger at night. " Katara says
"Our strength comes from the Spirit of the Moon, our life comes from the Spirit of the Ocean. They work together to keep balance." Yue finishes
"The Spirits! Maybe I can find them and get their help!" Aang gets an idea
"How can you do that?" Yue asked
"The Avatar is the bridge between our world and the Spirit World. Aang can talk to them!" Katzumi says
"Maybe they'll give you the wisdom to win this battle! " Yue smiles
"Or, maybe they'll unleash a crazy amazing spirit attack on the Fire Nation!"
A moment of silence and Aang puts his arms behind his back and smiles.
"Or wisdom. That's good too."
"The only problem is, last time you got to the Spirit World by accident. How are you going to get there this time?" katara asked
"I have an idea, follow me."
Yue stops in front of a wooden half height door.
"So is this the way to the Spirit World?"
"No, you'll have to get there on your own. But I can take you to the most spiritual place in the entire North Pole." Yue explains
❅
Inside there is a long pool of water. At the back of the chamber is a waterfall coming from the glacier way above. On the sides of the pool are two ledges by which one can access the landing at the back of the chamber. The landing is filled with green foliage, another smaller pool that looks almost tropical in nature, and a small t shaped gate like structure very much akin to a Chinese paifang or perhaps a Japanese torii. The landing is connected to the ledges on the side of the chamber by two wooden foot bridges.
Aang runs over the left bridge, laughing. He lands on the soft grass in front of the little pond. He rubs it fondly.
"I never thought I'd miss grass this much!"
He flops over on his back as Yue, Katzumi, and Katara walk onto the landing themselves.
"It's so warm here! How is that possible?" Katzumi asks
"It's the center of all spiritual energy in our land."
"You're right, Yue. I can feel...something...it's so...tranquil."
Aang sits cross legged in front of the pond. He closes his eyes, makes two fists and puts his knuckles together in an attempt to meditate.
❅
"Is something wrong, Sokka?" The Chief asked Sokka
"Oh no! Hahn's out there on the top secret mission while I'm here sharpening my boomerang. Everything's fine!" Sokka yelled out making clear that he wasn't
"Listen to me. I took you off the mission for selfish reasons. I have a special task in mind for you."
"What? You want me to scrub the barracks?" Sokka asked
"I want you to guard my daughter, Princess Yue." the chief responded
"Er, sure. That shouldn't be too hard."
❅
" Why is he sitting like that?" Yue asked
"He's meditating – trying to cross over into the Spirit World. It takes all his concentration." Katzumi response
Aang cracks an eye at this continued interruption.
"Is there any way we can help?" Yue asked again
How 'bout some quiet!? C'mon guys! I can hear every word you're saying!" Aang yelled
He resumes his pose. The black and white fish circling each other in front of him. Aang stares at them. As he looks at them they blur into the Yin – Yang symbol. His eyes and then a second later Aang's eyes and head arrow glow white.
"Is he okay?" Yue asked
"He's crossing into the Spirit World. He'll be fine as long as we don't move his body. That's his way back to the physical world." Katara said
"Maybe we should get some help?" Yue said
" No, he's my friend. I'm perfectly capable of protecting him." Katzumi insisted
"Well, aren't you a big girl now?" Zuko histed
"No!" katara yelled
"Yes! Hand him over, and I won't have to hurt you." Zuko said
Katzumi got in a firebending stance while Yue and Katara ran the other direction.
Zuko send the first shot. He send fire steams at her. Katzumi stood her ground putting her hand in a diving motion, Letting the flames fall at her side. Once the flames are out Katzumi send him two fire rings making him jump in a awkward way Katzumi saw this as a opportunity. She send Zuko 3 disks witch made hims stumble a bit but he got back up
" I didn't come this far to lose to you." Zuko yelled.
" well sorry to disappoint you brother" Katzumi said
He fires another blast which she blocks. Zuko them send her multiple attacks flipping over with fire coming out of his feet and once he lands sends two fire japs. She redirects the first fire blast but unfortunately she didn't see the jab coming from her right. Katzumi is hit and she flies and hits the podium. Katzumi groans and passes out
Zuko looks over her, his hand on Aang's collar
" I'm sorry it had to end this way" Zuko said to his sister
❅
"Aang!" Kaztumi yells. She got out of her involuntary nap. She holds her head in defeat
Sokka, Katara, and Yue in the saddle. They move to hop down.
"What happened? Where's Zuko?" Katara asked
"He took Aang. He took him right out from under me." She says
"Where did they go?"