A/N: Weeeeellllll...About this chapter. It sort of wasn't in my original plan for this part of the story, but I found that just taking Aang and Ty Lee straight to Ba Sing Se from the entrance to Full Moon Bay was kind of a cop out, especially when the canon series takes two full episodes with that...so I came up with this. The resultant drop in quality (in my opinion, at least), should be blamed on my patchwork plot creation. I also don't feel I did two of my favorite minor characters (which you will find contained herein) justice, but at the end of the day, I was far to fed up with it to rewrite any more of it that I already had, so I went with this. As always, enjoy!


The waiting area for the ferries across Full Moon Bay was cramped, hot, and smelly. Hundreds of people were crammed into the relatively small space. In fact, the cave itself was quite large, but the sheer volume of people trying to get on the ferry meant that they were packed in shoulder to shoulder. Some of them looked like they'd been there a long time, or else come a great distance, as they appeared to be temporarily living out of tents hastily set up on the cave floor. Many of them gave Aang and Ty Lee looks as they passed, including some rather coveting looks for the long-shot slung over Aang's back.

"I didn't realize there were so many people that wanted to go to Ba Sing Se," Aang said curiously.

"A lot of them have had enough of Fire Nation controls of their towns, and think that moving to Ba Sing Se would make it better."

Aang looked at Ty Lee incredulously. "They do know that Ba Sing Se is controlled by the Fire Nation, right?"

Ty Lee laughed. "Of course they do. They just think that it'll be easier to escape the Fire Nation if they're in a huge city, as opposed to a small town. After all, the Fire Nation controls all of the Earth Colonies."

Aang grabbed Ty Lee's sleeve in sudden anger and spun her around to face him. "How many times to I have to say it?! It's the Earth Kingdom, not the Earth Colonies!" His face was livid.

Ty Lee scowled at him, and leaned down to hiss in his ear: "Not here, it isn't. If you want to pass as a Fire Nation colonist, you might want to start acting like one."

"What?"

"If any of the officials here catches you spouting off like that, they'll have you arrested. Anti-Fire Nation protests and public sentiment are illegal."

"Oh…" Aang looked embarrassed.

Ty Lee straightened up, a frown still on her face. "Yeah. So, you should probably keep your mouth shut." She surveyed the cavern. "C'mon, let's get tickets for the ferry."

The ticket official was a scrawny man with a pinched face and beady eyes, dressed in Fire Nation robes that were considerably more ostentatious than his job really demanded. He looked them over with a shrewd eye, finally pulling a form from a stack to his left.

"Names?" he barked, in a voice that perfectly matched his features.

Aang was sweating bullets, so it was a good thing Ty Lee had enough sense to answer. He kept trying not to stare at the armored security guards. Their armor was different from the soldiers they had encountered in the past, but they looked just as intimidating. He shivered.

Eventually, the antagonistic official tore a part of the form off and handed it to Ty Lee. "Two tickets for the midnight ferry. It leaves promptly, so don't be late!" He waved them off.

"The midnight ferry?! Couldn't you have gotten one that left in the morning? I wanted to sleep…" Aang complained.

"Hush," Ty Lee said. "You can sleep on the boat, and anyway, I don't like the looks of this place. Too many people with different motives. You get an eye for places you want to steer clear of when you work in the circus." She winked at Aang, and led him through the throngs until they reached the raised stone platform that the piers were attached to. Aang was reminded uncomfortably of the train station. He hoped nothing like that would happen this time.

--

They boarded the ferry safely about a half hour later, and immediately realized that just because the ferry was leaving at midnight didn't mean it was any less crowded. If anything, they were packed in even tighter aboard the old junk than they had been in the cave.

The ship itself was a creaking old Earth Kingdom ship that had been retrofitted with a Fire Nation steam engine. The effect was that the port side of the ship looked like it had had a huge chunk taken out of it, and the hole filled in with ugly machinery. Smokestacks capped its small superstructure, and it was propelled by a large paddle wheel attached to the engine.

Ty Lee found them a relatively open place to rest, and Aang immediately laid down, letting the steady thrumming of the ship's engines lull him into a deep sleep.

--

Aang awoke sometime later to shouts. He groggily forced open one eye to see Ty Lee confronting a figure about his size, wearing grubby Earth Kingdom garments and sporting a head of short, shaggy hair. Aang pushed himself up onto one elbow, trying to figure out what they were arguing about.

"You need to watch where you're going!" Ty Lee shouted.

"Why? We're all crammed on this damn boat together; I don't see why you get any special treatment!"

"You ran right into me! And now my food is all over the deck!" If Aang squinted, he could just make out a splatter of some unappetizing white sludge on the deck at Ty Lee's feet.

"Whatever. It's tasteless shit, anyway; you won't miss it." The guy smirked and turned to go, bringing a bowl to his own mouth to drink as he did so. Ty Lee grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around.

"You little-!"

Aang jumped up and ran as only an airbender could, jumping between them. He grabbed Ty Lee's wrist and forced it down, preventing her from paralyzing the poor guy.

"Ty Lee, stop. I'm sure it was an accident, and you don't need to paralyze the guy." He waited until Ty Lee backed off before turning to the guy she had been fighting with. "I'm sorry about my friend. We're just kinda stressed, and…" He suddenly noticed the angrily indignant look on the guy's face. "What?"

"I'm a girl, you ass!"

"Wha-?" Aang took a closer look and realized, yes, "he" was actually a girl. "Oh, spirits, I'm so sorry…"

"Save it," the girl said, waving off Aang's hasty bows and apologies. She walked away, disappearing into the crowd.

Aang glared at Ty Lee. "Good job. What was that about watching your step?" She blushed furiously.

--

Aang tried to go back to sleep, but found it impossible; the passengers were restless and rowdy, and every time he tried to lie down, someone would run along and kick him or something. Finally, Aang gave up, settling for looking out over the glassy surface of the bay. Above, the moon hung in the sky, enormous and bright. It would be full in a few days, Aang noticed.

He felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned to see the girl that had been fighting with Ty Lee. "Whoa!" he yelled.

"Hey, hey, relax," she said, holding up her hands to placate him. "I'm not here to fight. I wanted to apologize for before. It was an accident. I'm just really…" she trailed off.

"Stressed?" Aang supplied.

"Yeah," she finished. "By the way, I'm Smellerbee." She held out her hand, which Aang gladly shook. "And this is Longshot." Behind her was a tall, saturnine boy about the same age as Smellerbee, perhaps a little older, wearing a wide, conical hat, and a bow slung over his shoulder. He also proffered his hand, smiling and inclining his head respectfully at Aang. Aang returned the smile with interest.

"I'm Aang. So, I guess you guys are heading to Ba Sing Se, too?"

"Yeah. We've been living in a little town west of the Si Wong for a while, but those Fire Nation bastards really started cracking down on us a few months ago. So we decided to leave. We're hoping Ba Sing Se will be better. It is the biggest city in the Earth Kingdom. Maybe we can lose them."

Aang suddenly grinned. "Hey, you called it the Earth Kingdom!"

Smellerbee smirked. "Of course I did. Firebenders can torture me all they want, but I'm never calling it the Earth Colonies."

"Nice."

Ty Lee showed up then, and jumped back when she saw Smellerbee. "You again! What do you want now?!"

"To apologize." Smellerbee thrust out her hand, though it seemed to be costing her some amount of pride to do so. "You were right, it was an accident."

"About ti—oof!" Aang sent an air-slap at her. "I mean…thank you, uh…what was your name again?"

"Smellerbee. And this is Longshot."

"I'm Ty Lee." As she was shaking Longshot's hand, her eyes lit up. "Hey, Aang, isn't that the name of that thing Teo gave you?"

"Oh, yeah!" Aang unslung the long-shot from his back and showed it to Smellerbee and Longshot.

"What is it?" Smellerbee asked.

"It's a weapon. My friend called it a long-shot, because it shoots really far. See, it fires these." Aang pulled a dart from the belt around his waist and held it up. Smellerbee took and began examining it.

"Nice weight and balance…how does it work?" She handed the dart back.

"Like this." Aang popped open the chamber and loaded the dart. Then, remembering what Teo had showed him, he closed the chamber, pumped the handle on top of the barrel a few times, and took aim over the railing. Ty Lee suddenly put a hand on his shoulder.

"Wait! What if one of the guards sees you? I know the Fire Nation doesn't have these, but they might take it…"

Smellerbee snorted. "Don't worry, Pinky, the guards on these boats are thicker than a platypus bear's skull. They won't notice." She motioned for Aang to continue.

Aang found he could aim better using the scope if he rested the butt of the long-shot against his shoulder. Then he only had to tilt his head slightly to see through the scope. He took aim, and pulled the trigger. A hiss came from the chamber, and the dart flew out of sight over the water.

"Wow," Smellerbee said, impressed. "That's cool. You might even be able to beat Longshot here with something like that."

"What do you mean?" Aang asked.

"Longshot's the best archer in the world," Smellerbee bragged. "You aren't gonna find anyone that can shoot straighter or aim better than him." Longshot put a hand on her shoulder, a slight frown on his face. "What? It's true! In fact, I bet he could still beat your fancy contraption with his plain old bow and arrows!"

"What will we shoot at?"

"Those." Smellerbee pointed across the water, and Aang saw a large group of rocks jutting up from the water. Scraggly trees grew from cracks in the rocks. "I know Longshot can hit those. Can you?"

Aang nodded. "Sure I can! Let's do it."

The found a place out of sight of the guards, and took aim over the railing. Aang quickly discovered that Longshot was every bit as good as Smellerbee had said he was, even if he had been reluctant to admit it. Every arrow he fired hit a tree. Aang hit most of his shots, too, but he knew that was more luck and Teo's advanced designs than his own skill. After missing a few, and feeling his cheeks burn at Smellerbee's taunts, Aang decided it was time for a little covert operations. When he loaded his next shot, he pumped the handle a few times, but also passed his hand over the chamber, using his airbending to increase the pressure almost to the breaking point. When he fired, the kickback knocked him over, and the dart fired ripped a limb off the tree Aang had been aiming for.

"Aang!" Ty Lee chastised. "You can't cheat!"

Aang's breath caught, just as Smellerbee grabbed him from behind. There was a knife in her hand that had not been there before. "You little-!"

"No, no, the thing just malfunctioned, I swear!"

"Aang, don't lie, you were using your…" Ty Lee seemed to realize what she was saying and stopped.

"Using your what?" Smellerbee pressed.

"My…airbending."

To his surprise, Smellerbee started to laugh. "Airbending? That's funny, Aang. What were you really doing?" But she fell silent when she saw that Aang had taken off his headband and was holding his hair back, revealing the tip of the blue arrow still tattooed to his scalp. "You're…you're the…Avatar?" Her voice was almost inaudible. Aang nodded, and Smellerbee suddenly bowed very deeply. "It's an honor, Avatar."

"Oh, spirits, stop that," Aang said hastily. He felt his cheeks growing warm. "I'm just a kid, not some great, all-knowing super-being."

"You are to us," Smellerbee said honestly. "We thought the Avatar was dead. To think that you're still alive! What are you planning on doing in Ba Sing Se?"

"I don't know," Aang replied. "I still have a lot of questions about what I'm supposed to do, as the Avatar. I'm hoping Ba Sing Se is the place to find the answers." He retied his headband to hide the arrow.

Smellerbee opened her mouth to say something, but there was a sudden commotion from the front of the boat. The foursome looked to see a huge Fire Navy warship coming to a stop directly in front of them. There was a groan as the ferry's engines halted.

"That can't be good…" Ty Lee whispered. She looked at Aang. "You don't think they could've figured out you were here?"

"How could they have? We haven't used our real names since before the train station," Aang replied. "There's no way they know we're here."

As he finished, a group of Fire Navy soldiers boarded the ferry from their ship, making use of a bridge that had been laid down between the two. The leader called out in a gruff voice.

"We have reason to believe that the Avatar is hiding aboard this boat!" The passengers immediately began chattering to one another, this coming as news to the vast majority of them. The Avatar had returned? It wasn't possible…he'd been gone for a hundred years…surely he must be dead…but maybe not!

"Silence!" The lead soldier barked. "This is not a time for discussion! All you need to know is that the Avatar has committed numerous crimes against the Fire Nation, and is therefore an enemy of the state! His capture is of utmost importance! And you will all cooperate while we root him out. Now I'm speaking to you, Avatar! If you do not come forward and present yourself," the soldier suddenly grabbed a nearby man, huddled on the deck, "then this man will be executed. The longer you wait, the more people will die! How many can you bear to be responsible for, Avatar?"

Aang felt liked someone had just run him through with a sword. "I have to turn myself in. I can't let these people be killed to protect me."

Smellerbee grabbed his shoulder. "No, Aang! You're too important to this world to be captured! Let me do it! I'll pretend to be you, and then you and Ty Lee can get away!"

"And what about you?" Aang asked, mirroring the question Longshot seemed to want to ask. "I don't think those soldiers have any intention of keeping the Avatar alive for long. You'll die, and I'll be the one responsible. No way. I won't let you."

Smellerbee looked like she had been convinced. On the bow of the ship, the soldier cried out, "I'm waiting, Avatar! You have two minutes left before this man receives an untimely death!"

Aang sighed. "Okay. I guess—"

But at that moment, Smellerbee took off running towards the bow, yelling. "Wait, wait! I'm here!"

The soldier looked pleased and incredulous at the same time. "You're the Avatar?"

Smellerbee nodded. "Yeah. Now, will you let him go?"

"Yeah, we'll let him go. As for you though…things are about to get pretty hairy." The other two soldiers lunged forward and grabbed Smellerbee, while their leader tossed his captive back onto the deck. "Let's get out of here."

They were gone in seconds, and Aang, Ty Lee, and Longshot were left standing in shock.

--

The ferry completed its trip across the Bay soon after, and Aang, Ty Lee, and Longshot disembarked dejectedly.

Longshot glared at Aang.

"Look, I know, I'm sorry, but she just…ran off! How was I supposed to know she would pull something like that?" Longshot just shook his head.

They stood silently for a few minutes until Ty Lee said, "So…what do we do now?"

Longshot looked at Aang again, and in that look, Aang saw the reason why he never talked.

"We rescue Smellerbee." Aang said.

--

After some brief searching, the threesome found a narrow ledge that wound up the side of the cliff near the harbor they had landed at. They climbed quickly, Longshot leading, using his sharp eyes to search for the warship that had taken Smellerbee. He stopped them when they reached the peak of the path; not only was it raised, it was also blocked from view by a wall of stone about chest high, like a natural safety railing.

Longshot pointed out over the Bay, and Aang was just able to make out the shape of the warship steaming northwest, towards the Serpent's Pass. The first gray haze of dawn was on the horizon.

Longshot suddenly held out his hand. Aang looked at him in confusion before Longshot glanced pointedly at the long-shot still strapped to Aang's back.

"Oh…um, are you sure you know how to work it?" Longshot nodded, and passed his hand over the chamber. Aang realized he would have to pressurize the chamber in order for its range to be long enough.

Longshot set himself against the wall, taking aim. He nodded, and Aang passed his hand over the chamber. Longshot fired, then waved for Aang to go. Ty Lee cried, "You have to go get Smellerbee, Aang! Longshot can cause a diversion, but she can't get away on her own!"

Aang nodded, and threw his glider out over the precipice, leaping after it. It felt exhilarating to fly as an airbender for the first time in weeks, and he almost forgot what he was doing in his joy. At the last second, he dove, getting as close to the water as possible to avoid detection while speeding towards the ship. As he got closer, he heard shouts and clang of weapons that meant a scuffle onboard, and knew he had to hurry. Those soldiers wouldn't hesitate to fry Smellerbee, especially once they realized she wasn't the Avatar.

Aang pulled up at the last second, skimming the metal skin of the ship and retracting his glider in time to land on the deck. It was chaos. Soldiers were running around in a panic, trying to figure out how one of their men had been killed, apparently by an invisible assailant. They were so worked up that they didn't even notice Aang for several seconds, giving Aang time to spot Smellerbee, viciously defending herself with two knives against a trio of soldiers.

Aang whipped his staff around in time to deflect a fire blast, and then brought it down to the deck, creating a powerful gust that cleared a path through the firebenders to his target. He called out to Smellerbee, opening his glider again and leaping over her.

"Jump!" he shouted, and Smellerbee leapt up to grab onto his ankle. Aang compensated for the extra weight, and they managed to glide out over the water, though it was a little shaky.

Aang dodged left and right to avoid the shots fired from the deck of the ship, urging them on with some tricky airbending. Aang suddenly cried out in pain as a fireball grazed his shoulder. He gritted his teeth, but was unable to keep them up in the air. The glider and its two occupants fell into the Bay.

Aang heard cries coming from the ship, muffled by the rushing water. They were coming for them…no…

That was when Aang's vision became a blur of energy, and his arrows and eyes began to glow.

--

Smellerbee hit the water hard, her breath shocked out of her by the cold. She surfaced with a gasp, coughing to rid her lungs of water. She heard shouts coming from the soldiers, and turned to find Aang. They had to get back in the air if they were going to escape…

"Aang! Aang? Where are you…" Smellerbee trailed off as a powerful glow in the shape of a person burst into existence beneath her. Her eyes widened as the glow rose up, breaking the surface. "Aang…?" Smellerbee whispered. No way…

Suddenly a high wind kicked up, swirling over the water, whipping up whitecaps. The wind coalesced around Aang's glowing form, forming a powerful vortex. Smellerbee could feel herself being drawn into it, and struggled to swim away. It turned out to be no threat, though, as Aang immediately began moving away, the vortex touching down to create a huge waterspout. The firebenders on the ship began launching fireballs at the windstorm, but they were extinguished on contact. Smellerbee watched Aang raise his arms, waving them in a strange pattern. The water gathered by the vortex spun away, forming a twisting snake of fluid in the air. With a final motion, Aang attacked, and the water stabbed down into the warship's superstructure.

There was a colossal explosion as the attack struck the ship's engines. The stern of the ship was blown to pieces, shrapnel raining down into the Bay. The severed bow of the ship sank in moments.

The vortex surrounding Aang died away, and the glow faded. Aang himself sank back into the water, suddenly looking very limp. Smellerbee swam over to him.

"Aang! Are you okay?" Aang groaned and shook his head.

"Unh…yeah…I think so…"

"That was amazing! What the hell was that?!"

"It's called…ahh…it's called the Avatar State," Aang explained. "It's like my special Avatar power." He started treading water. "But now, we need to get out of here. I'm sure there are more Fire Navy ships in the area, and they'll be here soon to investigate."

Smellerbee nodded. "Yeah."

--

They rendezvoused with Longshot and Ty Lee back up on the ridge just as dawn was breaking. Ty Lee hugged Aang hard. "That was crazy! I saw you go into the Avatar State…how did you blow up that ship?"

Aang shrugged, smiling sheepishly. "I don't really know. But…I think I might have used waterbending."

He turned to Longshot and Smellerbee, who were hugging tightly. "So, what are you guys going to do now?"

Smellerbee shrugged. "We're not sure. But we'll figure something out, I know it."

Longshot stepped forward then, holding out his hand. "Thank you, Aang. I don't know how I could repay you." His voice was quiet, but full of strength and sincerity. Aang gaped, despite himself, but managed to shake Longshot's hand.

"Hey! You just talked!" Ty Lee said. Aang elbowed her in the ribs. Smellerbee just laughed and smiled at Longshot.

"Yeah, he does that sometimes." She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. Longshot blushed, covering it by holding the long-shot out to Aang. Aang pushed it back.

"No, you keep it. I think you could use it for more good than me." Longshot nodded, slinging the weapon over his shoulder.

--

They said their goodbyes in the ferry dock, the entrance to Ba Sing Se. Aang offered Smellerbee and Longshot a place in their group, but they politely declined. Smellerbee said they needed to find their own way in the world.

When the two had departed, Aang and Ty Lee looked around the dock. Off on the far side of the cavern, they could see large train cars, like the train they had tried to ride weeks ago, only smaller. Travelers were boarding them for Ba Sing Se.

"I guess where we go," Ty Lee said quietly. They exchanged a look. Now that they were here, things seemed a lot more complicated. In the city beyond lay Aang's destiny, and Ty Lee's as well, since she had thrown her lot in with him.

"Well, time to go," Aang said. The two headed towards the monorail station, and their future.


A/N: As always, thank you to my small but devoted cadre of readers for supporting me in my endeavor (Bluetiger, you are the man!). Keep up the support, and please review!