"Please please work." Aang mutters under his breath and seconds later begins glowing blue with the tell-tale light of the avatar state.
The blue light slowly grows and grows first engulfing the boy's body then his friends next to him then Puck and a few of the closer ghosts and finally the cell and even a fair bit outside it. When the light fades everyone but the avatar find the boy unconscious and the spirits gone.
Aang opens his eyes after the light fades and finds himself in a tranquil garden with the ghosts fully formed and nearly indistinguishable from living people.
"Lord avatar!"A woman in green traditional earth kingdom cloths bows before Aang and ques most of the other spirits to follow suit.
"Whoa whoa whoa! Please don't do that! You don't need to bow!" Aang waves his hands in front of his face nervously eschewing their reverence.
"Can't believe that worked..." Aang mutters before returning his attention to the spirits now rising to meet his eyes. "I have ushered you into the spirit world, here you should be able to find the peace you were denied in life."
Most of the apparitions look confused for a second before being hit suddenly with a bolt of realization and clarity. The now enlightened spirits nod gratefully and dissipate into the spirit world leaving three ghosts still standing there staring at the avatar. One was obviously a Fire Nation soldier still wearing his combat armor and oddly enough despite his face mask being completely shattered his face was still obscured by heavy shadow. The second was a young woman in a red dress, and the third was an Earth Kingdom infantryman his armor nearly completely charred black.
He soldiers gazed cynically at the avatar for a moment then turned their attention to each other, and as if it was the most natural thing to do they slowly walked forward and began strangling each other. The ground around the two begins to crack and growl, sparks of flames erupt spontaneously and lick at their heels. The ground blow them fissures more violently and the flames turn into jets of engulfing inferno.
"STOP THIS!" Aang yells desperately and as if to heed his cry the ground turns into a giant maw the fire it's tongue and swallows the two unceremoniously, then returns to normal.
The woman on the other hand ignores the spectacle and resolutely makes her way to Aang and asks him one question.
"Sir Roku pl-please," her tears well and stream down her eyes as she speaks. "would you please help me find my wife please help me find Fe Li."
Before the dumbstruck airbender could even think to answer the request Avatar Roku the kindly old Fire Nation avatar appeared next to him with a hand on his shoulder. Roku looked deeply into the woman's tear filled eyes, reached out his hand and said.
"Certainly." His tone rich with sympathy and warmth.
The woman took his hand with out hesitation and the two disappeared into a crimson light, here one moment gone the next.
"What. Just. Happened?" Aang mutters to himself still coming to terms with the two men getting eaten by the terrain. Aang looks around for a second, coughs, and says. "Whelp. I guess my work here is done..." And with that Aang focuses and begins channeling his energy back into his physical body.
Aang's eyes flicker open as he finds himself jostling over the shoulder of the black swordsman mid stride with easily twenty or more ghosts on his tail. Aang cranes his head back and sees Katara and Serpico leading the pack. The waterbender creating a wall of glowing swirling water that seemed to have a barrier effect on the spirits, and the blonde man slashing at the ghosts non-lethally driving them away. The rest of both parties stand next to Schierke and Farnese who manged to create a small barrier which barely covered the rest of them.
Aang snaps to a summons some air to lift him from Guts' burden.
"What's happening?! Where are we running too?!" Aang shouts.
"Sokka and Isidro pissed off the spirits, so now need to get to them out of the city!" Katara calls back.
"It was mostly the kid's fault!" Sokka shouts and receives a swift jab in the ribs from the young man.
Aang runs along side Guts for a solid few seconds before. "Oh right!" he says retrieving a whistle shaped like a bison from in side his shirt.
The airbender empties his lungs completely then overfills and expends all his breath into the whistle.
"Hey kid," Guts reels back his iron appendage. "Duck." Aang haplessly complies and Guts follows through with the action knocking a spirit away from the boy.
"Hey uh Aang, now correct me if i'm wrong but, I thought Appa couldn't fly of us sooo…" Toph prods.
"Argh!" Aang face palms.
"Actually, that should be fine" Schierke chimes in. "we only need extricate Guts and Casca from the city, and that should cause the effect of their brands to dissipate along with the apparitions."
"Alright, but who's going to go with them?" Zuko says in between blasting a fireball at a ghost. "Someone'll need to lead Appa."
"Obviously not Toph, probably shouldn't send Aang or Katara either… so Zuko you wanna volunteer?" Sokka grins halfheartedly.
Zuko takes a second considering the situation and his feelings then nods in acceptance. "Alright, I'll do it."
"Okay then, here's-" Sokka begins
"Master, shouldn't you and I go along with them as well? We'll need you to find a place safe enough for us, and I'll look after Casca." Farnese purposes astutely.
"Fine! Then-" Sokka interrupted.
"Then I shall accompany you as well," Serpico interjects. "My sylph cloak should reduce my burden upon your stead's back. It is my duty to seem milady safe after all."
"ANYONE ELSE?!" Sokka yells impatiently. "Good then as-"
Sokka is drown out by the sound of the giant sky bison's sudden entrance.
"REALLY APPA?!" Sokka exasperatedly questions the hulking beast coming down for a landing.
"You were saying?" Toph snidely asks Sokka as Zuko and most of Gut's party begin boarding Appa.
"Nothing..." Sokka replies with a sigh before turning to the crew already nearly ready to leave and saying. "We'll be waiting for you outside the walls, Zuko!"
With a nod and a very muted "Yip yip" Zuko instructs the Bison to lift off.