It had been four months since the defeat of Fire Lord Ozai. The world had experienced a return to normality, or at least as close to normality as it could come. Under the combined guidance of Avatar Aang and Fire Lord Zuko, the four nations were once again united in harmony, much like the elements from which they drew their power. However, there were still uncharted lands out there, and within these lands lay uncharted dangers…

---

Aang felt, at last, truly contented with his life. His duties as the Avatar were surprisingly lax; the occasional pockets of rebellion within the four nations were mostly left to the jurisdiction of their respective kings, leaving Aang primarily to deal with environmental threats. He still felt the slightest twinge of fear when taming an active volcano, as this very scenario had claimed the life of his predecessor Avatar Roku, but Aang knew he had faced worse threats before. Besides, how could he truly be called Avatar if he was unable to set aside his fears for a greater cause? That was what the Guru Pathik had taught him, after all. And of course, regardless of the threat, his friends were naturally at his side; they would fight with him 'til the very end, and the likelihood was very high that they would all go to the grave together.

More important than any of this, though, was the fact that Aang had Katara at his side. Four months ago he professed his love to the young Water Tribe girl, and his proposal had not been made in vain. Katara was both Aang's lover and his dearest friend. She was at his side not only in battle, but in all walks of life. They fought together, ate together, slept together (though not in the more adult sense of the word, not yet anyway). Aang often found himself getting lost staring into her intense blue eyes; upon waking next to her he found himself marveling at her delicate features. Katara's presence in his life was what reminded Aang that, despite his immense power, he was indeed still human.

Sokka knew, of course. A year ago he would've clobbered Aang had he known he was trying to court his sister, but as of now, he didn't care. Moreover, he felt happy for the two of them. He's been through so much over the past year, why not let him get the girl? Sokka thought to himself. And my sister deserves a good guy; who better than the Avatar? Besides, he had Suki at his side, as fiercely loyal and determined as she always was. With her to take care of the important decisions, and with Aang and his sister well cared for, Sokka could focus on the finer things in life: fried meat, Pro Earthbending, and finding a replacement for his space sword.

---

"My Lord! We have another outbreak of fighting along the eastern coast!"

Zuko shook his head with a sigh. It distressed him to hear of such matters, especially so early in the morning.

"How bad is it?"

"My Lord, this is no small skirmish. The revolting group is said to have forces numbering in the hundreds!"

"Very well then. I'll need the Avatar's help for this. Is he in his quarters?"

"Indeed he is my Lord, he and that girl."

"Summon them at once. I have a feeling this will be a group effort."

"Yes my Lord," and with that, the aide left.

Zuko sighed once more. From the very beginning of his reign he'd known that there would be infighting. He'd heard the rallying cries. We are a nation of warriors! To dedicate ourselves to meaningless platitudes like peace and love is to deny our very nature! Death to the false king Zuko; long live Fire Lord Ozai! At this point, he was used to it. It still stung to be compared to his father in such a negative way, but Zuko knew that in order to truly move his country forward, he must weather whatever storm was sent his way.

"Zuko!"

Aang and Katara had arrived. The two still bore the look of sleep; it was obvious they had been suddenly awoken by his aide. Not that Zuko held this against them. After all, he's the Avatar, he should be allowed to sleep in every once in a while.

"Aang, Katara, I'm sorry for the sudden intrusion. I know it's the weekend and all…"

"Don't mention it," said Katara with a smile.

"Yeah, duty never calls…I mean, duty never rests…or something…I dunno', it's too early for proverbs," said Aang somewhat sheepishly.

"Well, we've got a serious situation on our hands. I could use your help."

"Another skirmish?" said Katara. "It seems like they're becoming more and more frequent."

"This isn't just any small skirmish, however. My sources tell me this is a full militia, with forces in the hundreds."

"That's not good," added Aang.

"Indeed, it's not. The militia was last seen on the eastern island chain. Normally I'd have my forces take care of it, but that would leave our local borders unguarded."

"That's why you need us," said Katara.

"Right. I figured you two would probably want to work together. You should find Sokka too; you'll need as many extra hands as you can get. If this militia manages to take Fire Fountain City, they'd have a fortified stronghold to increase their numbers, and then we run the risk of all-out civil war, and we can't have that."

"Don't worry Zuko, we're on it," said Aang, and he and Katara went off in search of Sokka.

---

Sokka was ecstatic. His mouth watered as the man took his money and handed him the fried fowl. "There ya' go, pal," said the man.

"Oh man, turkey duck! You can normally only get this back in the Earth Kingdom!" said Sokka excitedly. Truly, the Royal Plaza was the home of infinite delights. Just as he was about to take his first bite…

"Sokka!" shouted Katara, causing him to drop his delicious meal.

"Katara! That cost me two silver pieces! Man, now what I am gonna' eat?" he whined.

"There are more important things going on right now, Sokka," said Aang. "We need your help. There's an armed militia near Fire Fountain City, and we need some extra manpower."

"Oh yeah, Suki told me about that. She said she was going over there to help quiet things down. You two are working together, right?"

"Of course," said Aang and Katara in unison.

"Appa too?"

"Yep, he's napping back at the palace."

"Momo?"

"Sure, I guess."

"ALL RIGHT!! Team Avatar is officially back together, baby!"

"Well, except for Toph," said Katara with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Yeah…except for Toph. I wonder how she and her family are doing. Hey, maybe after this whole situation is settled, we can go visit her!"

"We'll worry about that later, Sokka. Right now, we need to prevent a civil war," said Aang.

"Right."

And with that, they were off.

---

The sight that greeted the four was far worse than what they initially imagined. When Zuko said "militia," Aang thought he meant a few hundred guys with rustic swords starting fires and making threats. That was what a militia usually consisted of these days. What Aang wasn't expecting were tanks and full suits of armor.

Appa landed in a nearby rock clearing, two miles or so behind the militia. The three took time to assess the situation. There had to be two hundred here, easily, and that wasn't counting the tanks or komodo rhinos. "Zuko was right. It looks like they're preparing to capture Fire Fountain City," said Katara.

"Well guys, I'll let you handle yourselves. I've gotta' go find Suki and make sure she's okay," said Sokka as he was about to scurry off.

"Wait a minute! Do you even know where she is?!" said Katara.

"Yeah, she told me her and the other Kyoshi warriors would be slightly to the north of here. If we split up, you two benders can take on the blunt of the forces with a surprise attack, while the Kyoshi gals and I can flank them from the side. They won't be able to fight two elite fighting forces at once, right?" said Sokka, punctuating his explanation with a dramatic martial arts pantomime.

"That's actually a pretty good idea. Okay, good luck," said Aang.

And thus, Sokka was off, leaving Aang and Katara to strategize.

"So how should be go about this, Mr. Avatar? You just go into the Avatar State and completely annihilate them?"

"Well, I would, but why should I have all the fun? We hardly get into any good battles anymore. Besides, we're not gonna' kill these guys, just incapacitate them and send them over to Zuko for all the…official stuff."

"If you call life sentences in prison official Fire Lord Duties, then yes, I suppose you're right. Okay then, what's our strategy?"

"Well, you take them from the left with some water. I'll come at them from the right with some fire to counter their attacks. Appa can provide some air support if we need it. We meet in the middle, and if worse comes to worse, I've still got two elements left after that."

"Okay, sounds good. Kiss for luck?"

"You don't have to ask me twice."

As the two shared a passionate kiss, the sky grew dark. Black clouds swirled overhead, and the air became at once cold and humid. "What's up with the weather?" said Aang curiously. Almost as soon as the words left his mouth, a lightning bolt cracked the sky, wiping out one of the sabotaged tanks. Two more lightning bolts hit, destroying the other two tanks and a handful of soldiers, and Aang soon realized that the lightning wasn't coming from the sky, but rather from a nearby mountaintop.

"That's fire-lightning!" shouted Katara.

"But the only people who can generate lightning are Iroh, Ozai, and…"

"AZULA!" cried the two in unison.

The two ducked inside the clearing in order to ascertain this new threat. Could Azula really have broken out of the mental facility? If so, why was she waging war on her own people? Wouldn't she be helping the uprising rather than quelling it?

As these thoughts raced through the mind of both Aang and Katara, a most curious incident then occurred. The lightning stopped, and was soon replaced a massive tornado. Aang then realized this could only either be the work of vengeful spirits, or the work of a fellow Airbender.

And then the tornado burst into flames.

"Okay, what exactly is going on?!" shouted Katara.

"You got me," replied Aang.

The swirling fire vortex quickly cut a swathe through the militia's ranks. Bodies were tossed about like playthings, swords and armaments all melted in the extreme heat. Rain began to pour down on the beaten would-be army, and the ground, once made of hard rock, turned to mud and then solidified again, trapping the militia in the very earth itself. This could only be the work of four highly skilled masters working in unison. Perhaps the Order of the White Lotus had taken it upon themselves to end this uprising before it even began?

That was when Aang saw him: a figure, clad in a black variant of Aang's very own Air Nomad monk attire. As the figure approached, Aang could see that he was looking into the face of his exact duplicate. This warrior had the same shaven head, the same arrow tattoo, the only different was a strange tribal tattoo around his left eye. Aang and Katara were only further shocked when the figure spoke; not only was voice the exact same as Aang's, but what he actually said was completely impossible. There was no way…

"It's been a long time…brother."