Over the days that I've pretty much had to myself, I've been able to reduce the time needed to change elements to a fraction of a second, basically anyway. Iroh also commented that I was a natural with firebending, which certainly helped me prepare. One disadvantage to changing elements, that I've found, is that since flying was an airbending ability, I couldn't fly while using firebending.

Over the past few days as well, at least fifty soldiers were stationed on the roofs and five at each entrance to warn of attacks, and we were all basically ready at all times, so when the time finally came, we were prepared.

They attacked during the night, the end of the night to be exact, trying to take us by surprise.

Just as expected, they had sent everything they had, or close to it: a couple hundred mechas, even more regular benders and of course the three big bads.

After a couple moments of scouting from above, I found that Sakeme and Souta, along with their mechas, broke off to attack from behind. I landed and told the group the game plan. "Alright, Iroh, Ling, and Lord Zuko will go to the front, along with most of the soldiers, to fend Kaito and the foot soldiers off. The rest of us, and the soldiers on the roof, with head toward the back, Souta and Sakeme are going to attack from behind. I'll go on ahead and try to slow the latter down. Hopefully, he won't get past me," I said. "Is everyone ready?" They all nodded. "Alright, break."

We all moved to our positions. I flew on ahead to meet the mechas and Sakeme. He held his hand up. Neither of us said anything for a moment. "This is it, isn't it?" he asked.

"If not, then I don't know what is," I agreed. "Just you and me," I offered.

"What about the rest of them?"

"I couldn't care less."

"…Fine," he said, waving them ahead. I assumed a stance as the mechas moved past me. Once all of them were past me, I dashed forward. As I did, Sakeme brought up a rock wall in front of him and thrust it toward me. I vaulted over it and let loose a downward kick imbued with air, beginning our battle.

Kanon and the soldiers on the roof looked out into the distance and soon saw hundreds of mechas approaching. Izumi pointed. "There, attack!" she said as she launched an initial assault, shooting several lighting blots, taking down one at a time. The others soon joined in, Kanon included, taking out a large chunk of the mechas before they made it to the palace.

As they drew near, Izumi and several others jumped down to keep the mechas at bay with fire while the lightningbenders continued picking off mechas still coming in.

With Ling, he sat waiting for the army to come to him. The two forces stood facing each other. Kaito and Ling stood looking at each other in disgust; Ling for using his sister as a hostage and Kaito for betraying the Red Lotus.

"Maybe…in another life…we could've fought side by side, not facing each other," Kaito offered, her voice lined with sincerity. "Your kind of diversity could've been useful."

"Sorry, but I'm a material guy; I deal with reality, not what ifs," Ling countered.

Zuko shot the first attack. "Attack!" he called to the others, who soon began a barrage of flames at the enemy, including his dragon and even Naga. Ling just stood there, taking several deep breaths, preparing himself for Kaito.

The waterbender was busy blocking Zuko's barrage as the two seemed relatively equal in terms of prowess, though Zuko was also dealing with other Red Lotus members as well.

Zuko then took a glance at Ling, who was planting his feet into the ground. "Get back!" he yelled over the chaos, and the Fire Nation army tore back, the Red Lotus soon following. As soon as the Fire Army was behind Ling, he let out the most powerful scream ever, sending a wide arcing wall of pure sound outward from his mouth, pushing all but Kaito back, and even then, it nearly completely evaporated her water barrier.

As Kaito recovered, Ling smirked. "Leave the waterbender to me," he told Zuko. Kaito glared and readied herself as the Fire Army charged forward to handle the rest of the army.

Sakeme swept me off my feet and attempted to pummel me with earth, but I back roll-kicked (if that makes sense) with air to push him away as I roundhouse kicked another blast towards him.

He put up another rock wall and propelled it forward with fire, sending a few more blasts along with it. I broke apart the wall and blocked many of the blasts, but the last one got me off guard. Sakeme took his chance and launched an offensive, propelling himself into me with fire and then flipping me over his head, shooting me with a couple more bursts.

I dodged the attacks and landed with a sweeping wave of air to trip him up, followed by…something. I don't know what, because Sakeme got to me before I could pull it off, once again getting up into my face. I had to back handspring out of the way of several fire blasts, and as one surprised me, I shot air towards it, propelling myself into the air using the force. I stayed there for a moment, catching my breath, soon landing and waiting for Sakeme to attack.

"Is this all you have to offer?" he questioned. "Where'd your fire go?"

I smirked. "Oh, you want fire?" I asked, pressing my thumbs to my chest and changing to fire bending, dashing toward the man and sweeping an arc towards him, followed by a powerful set of blasts from my fists. "How's that for ya?"

"Uncontrolled!" Sakeme responded, sending out his own blasts, surpassing mine in intensity. I managed to diffuse them for a while, but soon had to go on the defensive. Both of us sent shot after shot of flames, until we both let out a fire stream of great power, the two blasts colliding with each other. "And how is it possible for you to firebend without experiencing my pain?"

"I would tell you, but that would spoil the surprise!" I said as I broke off my stream and propelled myself above Sakeme's and landed with a strong blast behind me. I rolled forward to stop my momentum sending a couple more blasts as I did before changing back to airbending and circling Sakeme.

As I did, he retaliated quickly, pushing me back with wave after wave of rock and flames. He soon got the upper hand again, pushing me back a lot of the time. I changed back to firebending and exchanged shots with him, using evasive maneuvers akin to an airbending style, ready to continue the battle.

"Would you stupid Fire Freaks just give up already?!" Souta demanded as he, from his more advanced mecha, managed to knock the roof-bound soldiers and Kanon from their perch. Now, in the large courtyard, it was an all-out war. Iroh had left the frontlines to come and help his family and provided much needed support to the mother and daughter. The three made a good team, blasting many mechas out of commission, but there were simply too many. The three were pushed back to a previous courtyard, closer to the heart of the palace.

Kanon could even hear the sounds of Ling and Zuko's battle. "This isn't good. We need to push them back!" she called to the others. As she charged forward, she got reckless and a couple of mechas started to gang up on her. Iroh was busy dealing with his own batch, and Kanon was quickly becoming overwhelmed.

Suddenly, Souta's mecha came from behind her and raised an arm from pound her into the ground. "Get away from her!" Izumi yelled, spontaneously filled with life as she roared into the crowd and launched several powerful blasts of fire to make distance from the mechas and then grabbing Kanon and leaping out. She was soon pushed away by her daughter.

"What's your problem?!" she demanded of her mother. Izumi looked about to respond when Souta recovered and rallied his men, soon pushing the three back once again. They ducked the wall to the courtyard and fended them off with fire blasts.

"Kanon! I don't know what you want from me!" Izumi yelled, grabbing her daughter's shoulders. "Every time I try and make amends, you push me away, like you want to stay in this constant battle with me!"

"Well maybe I do! I've finally found a place where I feel like I belong and then I get dragged back here!"

"You chose to come back," Izumi reminded.

"Well, I didn't…"

"Look, I don't care if you come back anymore," Izumi said. "I don't care if you go back to your new life, but I don't want the last words we say to each other to be ones of conflict. Is that so much to ask?"

"I…"

"Now, if you don't mind, we need to finish off these heathens. We need to combine our strengths."

"Like you mean…" Iroh started.

Kanon grinned. "A lot of lightning to make their mechs useless; now you're speaking my language."

The three seemed to come to a silent understanding. Iroh and Izumi made a wall of flames in the courtyard entrance while Kanon jumped to the center of it and began charging her attack, Izumi and Iroh soon joining her.

Then, in one fluid motion, the three joined fingertips and let loose a wide arc of lightning that spread across the entire courtyard and even outside of it. Bright sparks and lights erupted from every single one of the mechas and soon they were down for the count.

Kaito and Ling exchanged blows for only a moment before things got up close and personal. Neither of them was entirely experienced with close-range combat, so it was more of a street brawl than anything. Soon, though, Kaito held Ling down onto the ground, but was quickly blasted off with sound.

"You're out of water," Ling stated. "Why try?"

"Because." She said as she wiped sweat from her forehead. "The more I try, the more water I get!" she countered as she separated the water from everything else in the sweat and slowly formed a water whip with it.

Ling didn't get a chance to fight her like that though, as Zuko interrupted them with a flame whip of his own, soon battling the waterbender, giving Ling time to rest slightly. "Ling!" he called. "You have to finish this!"

Ling nodded and began charging again, for an even more powerful blast. A sound wave so powerful that it could part an ocean. "Ready?" Zuko called, looking back, only to see the air around Ling distort itself from the contained pressure. "Whoa okay, you're ready…pull back! Back to the palace!"

The Fire Army once again retreated, several soldier staying just behind Ling to keep the Red Lotus at bay. Kaito seemed to accept the defeat, as she knew that she didn't have enough water to block the attack.

Ling let loose the attack, which was so powerful that it seemed akin to earthbending with how much of a shockwave was caused, complete decimating what little resistance the Red Lotus had left.

This part of the battle was over, which left only…

Neither of us was giving an inch of ground. Every time he attacked, I dodged or diffused the strike; while he put up rock walls to block mine, though I could tell this much earthbending was slowing him down. In the beginning, he was definitely faster than me, but now we were at least even, if not he was slower than I.

"What's wrong? You're not giving out on me, are you?" I questioned, sending a potent blast of air towards the man before propelling myself forward and into his face. I head-butted him and then sent him away with another roundhouse air sweep.

"In your dreams!"

In retaliation, he sent an earth line to try and trip me up, but I back handspringed past it and airbent at him, sending him further back.

I dashed forward again, launching yet another assault, this time completely breaking through his defenses. I saw one particular opening and leapt forward, flying at great speeds into Sakeme and flying upwards with him, stopping just below the clouds and letting him hang by his shirt.

"What the…get the hell off of me!" he yelled, but I refused to let go.

"Look," I saw, looking at the end of the night. "You said before that you don't care if they destroy the rising sun, but, looking at it now, admiring it in its glory…can you really say that?"

"Of course I…"

"…Well?" I questioned.

"...It doesn't matter anyway."

"Well, I tried to tell you this before, but you don't have to work for the Red Lotus anymore. I know a way to get rid of your earthbending."

"You-"

"Now, that's not to say that you won't have to live up to your crimes, attacking the Fire Lord is punishable by death…in most cases. I guess I'll plead for you to stay alive for a while."

I heard him chuckle. "I pegged you wrong; you're not a bad guy," he concluded.

"Thanks; you're a bit brooding if you ask me. Lighten up a little; it'll pay off," I said as I lowered us to the ground.

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Great, so, do you wanna continue our fight or…"

"No; you would've won; I couldn't keep that up for much longer," he admitted. "Though, if it's possible, after all of this is over, I'd like to have a rematch; Agni Kai-style."

"Deal," I said before we both heard footsteps approach. Soon, Iroh, Kanon, and several battle-weary soldiers came into view, taking stances to fight Sakeme. I held my hand up. "No, wait; the fight's over."

"Then why isn't he unconscious, or-"

"You know, if I hadn't seen it myself, I'd think he was a killer too, but he's not," I put my hand on his shoulder. "Give me two days and I'll return him to face punishment."

"Two days to do what?" Iroh questioned.

"To get rid of his earthbending and make him a good guy, what else?" I said as I grabbed his shirt and flew up and eastward. We flew for a long while, about a day or so, until we reached the desert.

I landed and sat down, tired from flying while carrying someone for so long. "Well? How are you gonna rid me of earthbending?"

"Well, see, I got the ability to energybend from a lion turtle who lives in this desert, and if it senses me, it should come and then we can ask it to take the earthbending away."

"If it gave you the ability, then why don't you do it?"

"Depends, do you want an amateur bender or an expert to do it right?"

After a moment of silence, Sakeme sat along with me. Soon, we heard rumbling, and then the lion turtle rose from the sand. "It is good to see you again, young airbender," it greeted as I stood and bowed respectfully. "I can tell you are becoming more adept at using the gift I gave you."

"Yes, and thank you, but today I need your assistance once again. This is Sakeme and for some reason he is a firebender who can also earthbend, and it is as you and Avatar Wan said; it causes extreme pain when he does and he wishes to be rid of it. Could you please remove his earthbending while keeping his firebending intact?" I asked politely. Sakeme stood and bowed, but didn't say anything.

"This man…do you believe that he is worthy to grant his wish?"

"I do, great lion turtle of earth. I believe that he's suffered enough to circumstances that he can't control."

"…Very well. Step forth," the great beast ordered, and when Sakeme did so, it touched its claws on his head and chest, like it did me. A bright green light appeared, and lasted for what seemed like a couple of minutes, and when it disappeared, the lion turtle simply left without saying anything else, feeling its work was done.

Sakeme then smiled, saying thank you before we returned to the Fire Nation palace. We landed, and Iroh greeted us with a set of shackles for Sakeme. He held his hands out in surrender. "I'll face whatever punishment I deserve."

"Try not to kill him, alright?" I asked without waiting for a response. I soon found Kanon and Naga. Izumi was there too.

"…So, let's just…be family again. Is that okay?" Izumi questioned, her voice soft. "That's all I want, and I'll approve any decision you make."

"That's…what I've wanted for the longest time," Kanon exclaimed as she hugged her mother. I cleared my throat, signaling that I was there. "Is it…time to leave?"

"Well, I've got to get back to Korra at the Southern Water Tribe as soon as possible, so yeah, unless you want the Fire Nation Navy to escort you back."

Kanon waved her hands in front of her face. "No; I think that'll freak everyone out a bit too much. Goodbye, mom."

With that, we all made it back to the dock where we left the small boat, and with a little trouble we got the boat. After a few days, we made it back to Kyoshi Island, where i dropped Kanon off. I immediately depart for the Southern Water Tribe, and made it back, again, in a few days.

As soon as we landed, we got strange looks, looks of…sympathy? I wasn't really sure why.

Naga bounded off, with me on her back, toward Tonraq's home, and when we burst in, I yelled "We're home!"

Tonraq and Senna soon greeted us. "Welcome back!" Senna greeted, letting Naga lick a familiar face. "How was the Fire Nation?"

"Well, I met some…interesting people there," I explained. "Where's Korra?"

"Well, she…she left a few months ago."

I frowned as time seemed to stand still. "…What?"

"Now, don't worry. She's recovered quite a bit from when you left and she felt going back to Republic City for a while on her own was a good idea, and we thought so too. She's even sent us letters that she's met up with Tenzin on Air Temple Island once already."

"B-but…but what if she…" I jumped off of Naga. "I have to go," I said as I started to walk out.

"Yuuto, wait. We're going to Republic City to meet her in a few months. Maybe she needs her space."

"Or maybe she's just running from her problems. She did that for nearly two months before she tried to recover," I reminded them.

"Yuuto," Tonraq gave me a stern look, telling me to back off.

"Look, if she turns out to be fine, then I'll come back or leave her to have her space, but I can't risk having something happen to her," I said as I flew away, not waiting for a response.

As I flew, and started thinking aloud.

"How could she have been so stupid?" I questioned. "I feel…"

Betrayal.

"Never mind. I just need to find her and make sure that she's alright, because she was definitely not fine the last time I saw her," After a half a day or so, I landed on Air Temple Island. "Tenzin? Tenzin!" I called, trying to get the master's attention. He soon came out to greet me.

"Ah, Yuuto; it's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Look, I know it's been a while, but I need you to tell me where Korra went when she came by here," I said, though I only got the arch of an eyebrow. "You know, Korra; the Avatar? She sent Tonraq a letter saying she came by; I need to know where she went so I can make sure that she's alright."

"Yuuto…I'm not quite sure if this is a practical joke, but Korra hasn't been on Air Temple Island since you two left three years ago. We all thought she was still at the Southern Water Tribe with you."

"Wait, so you mean…Korra is…"

Gone…

Author's Note:

I'll make this quick; this is the end of the second arc and the third will start in about a week-ish. We'll say...well actually, let's just make it a week. It'll start back up on the April 27th, so don't miss it.

The Author's Note video on youtube will be coming in the following week, though because of illness and school, I might not have the time right away.

Anyway, thank you guys for reading and I hope you'll review and are looking forward to the next chapter!