a/n: Okay, we left off where Korra was all depressed and confused, (well, more so than usual) on the ships (NWT Fleet) on the way to take Aang to Crescent Island to meet Roku.

Also, this is the SOUTH's summer solstice. North's winter solstice. This means it's winter in the north, summer in the south. And I'm going to try and make everything from the north's POV 'cuz most english reading people live in the northern hemisphere :) enjoy!

–

A few hours later, the fleet arrived at Crescent Island and docked on the southwestern shore, behind the mountain range.

"This way, we'll stay out of sight of the temple! We'll be stealthy." said Aang excitedly.

"Hey Bozo!" said Tarrlok as the ships neared the stony sea cliff, "You wanna bend a little tunnel for us to hide our boats in?"

"Stop calling me that! And why don't I just bend a cave?" griped Bolin while assuming an earthbending stance, "It'll be a lot easier."

"We need a second way out. We don't want to get cornered in there."

"Ohhhh!" Bolin replied as he thrust his hands into the rocky mountainside, "Smart thinking!"

He shoved his palms into the rock, creating a spacious, watery tunnel. Then, he broke through from the inside of the rocky cliff, about a hundred meters beyond entrance, creating an emergency escape route.

"Thank you, Bolin." said Pakku, "We are extremely grateful to have a bender among us."

"Oh, pfft. No problem." he said, waving his hand flusteredly, "Helping people's my thing-"

"In fact," cut in Yakone, "You are going with Aang into the temple."

"Oh...Oh man!" exclaimed Bolin hopping from one foot to the other and rubbing his palms together in anticipation, "Oh man this is so exciting!"

"Yes. Risking your life is certainly exciting."

"Yeah! Will Mako and Korra come as well?"

"Mako will," decided Pakku, "As will Tarrlok, and Katara."

"Wait!" cried Korra, "Why am I not going?"

"We want as few people as possible, so we chose our most dangerous people. Having a firebender and earthbender is invaluable, Katara is very good at hand to hand combat. Tarrlok is a good strategist."

"Plus, us seasoned warriors are starting to get back pains!" said one of the older warriors jovially, "We aren't really fit to fight either! Don't take it too personally."

Korra stared stonily at the ground, and Aang went over to her, not sure if his presence would be a comfort or a distress.

"Korra?" he said tentatively, "It's okay, you'll get to do stuff with some more practice."

"Yeah...yeah. I suppose."

"You should rest." said Noatak to the squad going on the mission, causing Korra to look up longingly, "Tomorrow's the solstice, and you guys will be leaving in the afternoon."

–

On the early evening of the next day, Aang skipped up to a small ridge in front of the temple with Momo on his shoulders, peeking over the edge. "I don't see any guards." he noted

"The Fire Nation must have abandoned the temple when Avatar Roku died." figured Mako.

"It's almost sundown." said Aang, leaping lightly over the edge and scurrying towards the entrance of the temple. "We'd better hurry."

He led the group through an ornate archway and into the five tiered Pagoda and into a red, circular stone entrance hall.

"Whoa." he breathed, "This is really-"

"Wait..." whispered Tarrlok, cutting him off, "I think I heard something."

Aang whipped around and immediately relaxed when he saw five solemn, innocuous looking old men in red robes and funky hats.

"We are the Fire Sages." introduced one of the old men, stepping forwards, "Guardians of the temple of the Avatar."

Aang stepped forward excitedly, not noticing Tarrlok making a slicing motion across his neck in attempt to dissuade him.

"Great!" exclaimed Aang, "I am the Avatar."

The Fire Sage in the front gave him an flat look and bluntly said, "We know."

Wait, they should be welcoming me! Not...getting into a fighting stance?

"Run!" shouted Tarrlok as the five old men simultaneously shot out fireballs.

"You guys go ahead!" shouted Mako as he jumped in front and dispersed the barrage with a whirling fire shield, "Bolin and I will hold them off!"

Then, Bolin slammed his fist into the temple floor and created waves in the earth, knocking the old men to the ground. Then, he grabbed Mako and shoved him down a hallway after the rest of their group.

"Come on! We're good now!" he yelled to everyone while sealing the entrance of the hallway with a slab of rock.

Aang immediately took off down a hallway shouting, "Come on! Follow me!"

"Do you have any idea what you're doing?" called Tarrlok down the hallway, where Aang had reached a corner.

"Nope!" replied the avatar brightly as he careened around the corner, before abruptly stumbling back with a Fire Sage right on his tail.

"Wrong way!" he cried while shoving all of them away with his small, clammy hands.

"You moron!" yelled Tarrlok as they clumsily bumbled back down the hallway.

"Wait!" called the Fire Sage, "Come back!"

Monkeyfeathersmonkeyfeathersmonkeyfeathers! Aang swore internally as they whipped around the narrow winding hallways.

Actually, it was pretty fun, like playing tag with more risk. But he couldn't enjoy it because he didn't want his new friends to get hurt. And he had to meet Roku soon! He ran faster, hoping to find some sort of staircase to lead him higher up the building, but no such luck. Instead, they ran into a dead end.

Aang turned around and saw the Fire Sage starting to drive them into a corner.

Aw POOP.

He raised his staff and saw that the rest of his friends had done the same with their own weapons.

To his surprise, the Sage raised his hands above his head in a sign of surrender.

"I don't want to fight you." he said in a soft, raspy voice, "I am a friend."

"Uh, firebenders aren't our friends." snapped Katara.

Instead of responding, the Sage cautiously crept up to Aang and lowered himself in a deep bow. "I know why you're here, Avatar." he said

"You do?" queried Aang, deciding to believe this guy and relax his combatitive stance. He looked and saw his friends were not so trusting.

"Yes." replied the Sage, standing back up, "You wish to speak to Avatar Roku. I can take you to him."

"And how would you do that?" asked Tarrlok warily.

In response, the Sage reached out to rotate a lamp on the wall, revealing a small hole. He released a puff of flame into it, which flared into an outline the frame of a hidden door. Then the door slammed open to reveal a secret passage with stairs leading into darkness within the mountainside.

"This way!" said the Sage.

Katara frowned and gave it a dubious look, "Uh...We're not going into a confined space with a secret door, thank you very much."

Suddenly, Aang heard voices coming from the hallway behind the sage, "find them!" hissed the voice of that first old Sage.

Oh no!

"Time is running out!" hissed the Sage with urgency, "Quickly!"

When the rest of the group still wouldn't trust the sage, Bolin said "Come on guys! I'm an earthbender; caves are my thing! We can get out either way, and it would be nice to avoid those super unfriendly Fire Sages right now!"

Finally, the group grudgingly conceded and slipped into the tunnel. The Fire Sage hastily flipped a lever to close the secret tunnel, right as the enemy sages arrived, looking around in confusion.

–

Tarrlok couldn't believe he was being so stupid and impulsive! He just abandoned all logic and followed the stupid twelve year old boy into a place that could have very well been a trap. But luckily, the kid happened to be right to trust this guy. Maybe he should be more naive too, spirits knew that would make his life easier.

Turning his thoughts away from self criticism, Tarrlok took inventory of his surroundings, staring with wonder at the rivulets of live, glowing magma. And Holy Tui and La was it hot too! It was the first time he had ever been anywhere near magma, and he was unused to the heat.

But somehow, none of the magma flowed even remotely close to the tunnels, which were long, winding, and deep underground. Then, when Tarrlok felt the path start to assent, the Fire Sage said, "Avatar Roku once called this temple his home. He formed these secret passages out of the magma."

"Did you know Avatar Roku?" asked Aang

"No." replied the Sage, "But my grandfather knew him. Many generations of Fire Sages guarded this temple long before me. We all have a strong spiritual connection to this place."

"Is that how you knew I was coming?"

"Actually, few weeks ago, an amazing thing occurred." replied the Sage earnestly, "The statue of Avatar Roku, its eyes began to glow!"

"That's when we were at the Air Temple." exclaimed Katara, "Avatar Roku's eyes were glowing there too!"

"At that moment, we knew you had returned to the world." said the sage reverently.

"If this is the Avatar's temple," asked Aang, scratching his shiny, tattooed head, "Then why did the Sages attack me?"

"Things have changed. In the past, the Sages were loyal only to the Avatar." said the Sage sadly, "When Roku died, the Sages eagerly awaited for the next Avatar to return. But he never came."

Aang stopped and slumped against the cave wall in shame, "They were waiting for me." he sighed.

"Hey, don't feel bad, you're only a hundred years late." said Bolin in a sad attempt at optimism.

Aang glared at him.

"They lost hope the Avatar would ever return. When Fire Lord Sozin began the war, my grandfather and the other Sages were forced to follow him." interrupted the Sage quickly, "I never wanted to serve the Fire Lord. When I learned you were coming, I knew I would have to betray the other Sages."

"Thank you for helping me." said Aang bowing at him.

"Excuse me," asked Tarrlok, "What was you're name again?"

"Shyu" he replied with a smile before gesturing to a spiral staircase, "We'll follow these stairs to the sanctuary. Once you're inside, wait for the light to hit Avatar Roku's statue. Only then will you be able to speak with him."

At the top of the staircase, Shyu lifted a slate on the ground cautiously before coming out and gesturing for the group to do the same. Then he took a look at a set of grand, ornate red double doors with five dragon heads sticking out, and he gasped, "NO!"

"Shyu, what's wrong?" asked Aang.

"The sanctuary doors, they're closed."

"Can't you just open them with firebending?" asked Bolin, "Like you opened that other door?"

"No." despaired Shyu, "Only a fully realized Avatar is powerful enough to open this door alone. Otherwise the Sages must open the doors together with five simultaneous fire blasts."

"Should I try?" asked Aang.

"No," replied Tarrlok contemplatively, "Five fire blasts, huh?" he asked rhetorically, face suddenly lighting up with an idea, "I think I can help you out!"

–

"This is a little trick I picked up from the men on the ship." said Tarrlok, holding a ball full of oil, tied off with a string like a bomb, "I seal the lamp oil inside an animal skin casing, Shyu lights the oil soaked twine and tada! Fake firebending!"

"Wow," said Katara, "You've really outdone yourself this time, Tarrlok."

"This might actually work." Shyu said hopefully, "But the Sages will hear the explosions, so as soon as they go off, you rush in." he said to Aang

Tarrlok finished tying up the last of the oil bombs, and stuffed one in each of the five dragon's mouths. Then he joined everyone behind the columns and plugged his ears in anticipation for the blowout.

"Its almost sunset." Katara said, turning to Aang, "Are you ready?"

"Definitely." said Aang, nodding confidently.

Shyu sent a small stream of fire past the five lion heads, igniting the dangling pieces of twine. Then, he hurried over and hid behind the column with the rest of the group. Tarrlok clenched his fists anxiously around his ears, and the twine sizzled slowly away...

Then BANG!

The bombs exploded and Aang flew over to the door, through the rapidly expanding cloud of smoke.

"They're still locked!" he shouted while tugging desperately on the handles.

"It didn't work." uttered Shyu dejectedly as Aang sank to his knees in front of the doors.

Then, Aang sprang up and started to furiously hurl blasts of air at the door,

"Why-"

whoosh,

"Won't it-"

whoosh,

"Open!?"

whoosh,

"ARGH!" he bellowed.

"Aang, stop it!" yelled Katara, jerking his arm back, "There's nothing else we can do!"

"I'm sorry I put you through all this for nothing." sighed Aang, hanging his head.

"I don't get it." muttered Tarrlok while examining the leftover soot, "That blast looked as strong as any firebending I've seen."

Suddenly, Katara's head snapped up. "Tarrlok!" she cried, "You're a genius!"

"Wait, how is he genius?" asked Aang sharply, "His plan didn't even work!"

"Come on Aang," sighed Tarrlok, "Let her dream."

"You're right. His plan didn't work..." she said excitedly while Tarrlok's face lit up in realization as well, "But it looks like it did!"

"Did the definition of "genius" change in the last hundred years?" asked Aang
snidely as everyone rushed to hide behind to pillars once more.

–

"Hurry!" shouted Shyu as the other Fire Sages scurried into the room, "The Avatar has entered the sanctuary."

"How did he get in?" asked the lead Sage in disbelief.

"I don't know. But look at the scorch marks and down there!" he cried while pointing to the black residue from the oil bombs and two legged shadow moving behind the door.

"He's inside." said the head Sage, getting in front of the doors, "Open the doors immediately before he contacts Avatar Roku."

Oh boy! This is working! thought Aang as he perched behind a pillar, waiting for the doors to open. He watched as the Fire sages simultaneuosly shot five streams of fire at each dragon's mouth. Slowly, the doors inched open, releasing murky grey fog to reveal...

Momo.

The Fire Sage looked on in disbelief as the lemur sneezed and shook off the soot.

"It's the Avatar's lemur!" he hissed angrily," He must have crawled through the pipes! We've been tricked!"

Suddenly, Momo launched himself forwards and clawed at the lead Sage's eyes while Bolin trapped the rest of the Sages with earth cages and Mako blocked their fire blasts.

"Now, Aang!" shouted Shyu

"Aang! Now's your chance!" cried Katara as well.

Suddenly, a squad of fire nation soldiers burst into the room. "Close the doors!" exclaimed one of the men, "Quickly!"

Then, to Aang's horror, one the soldiers struck Bolin on the head with the butt end of his knife, knocking him out leaving a bloody gash. Another chained up Mako, Katara, Tarrlok, and Shyu. Aand quickly bent a ball of air around himself, throwing off the chains, and glanced at the rapidly shutting doors. Then he decided to help his friends escape instead.

Katara had other plans.

"GO!" she screamed at him, "WE'LL BE OKAY! JUST GO AANG!"

Aang nodded at her indecisively before dodged another fireblast and diving through through the crack in the door at the very last minute, almost catching his foot on the way in.

The doors slammed shut.

From inside, Aang heard a victorious shout of "He made it!" as well as an enraged roar and several more attempts to open the doors. He chewed on his thumbnail anxiously and hoped his friends were okay. Then, he turned to look at Roku.

"The light hits the statue and I talk to Roku." me muttered to himself, "So why isn't anything happening?"

When there was no response, Aang clasped his hands together and began to pace.

"Why isn't anything happening?" he repeated desperately, "I don't know what I'm doing! All I know is airbending! Please, Avatar Roku, talk to me!"

Aang stared, mesmerized as beam of red light reflecting from a gem on the opposite wall steadily grew closer and closer to Roku's face and eyes...until they began to glow.

Suddenly, in a flash of white light, the room suddenly filled up with glowing white mist. Aang looked around in surprise and found that he had been relocated to the peak of a mountain. Then from behind him he hear a voice.

"It's good to see you, Aang." It said as Aang whipped around and gawked at the venerable face of Avatar Roku, "What took you so long?"

Aang stared at him reverently for a long moment, then place his fist into his palm and bowed deeply.

"I had something very important to tell you, before, Aang. But now that time has passed and something new of urgency has come up."

"What was it before?" asked Aang, "What is it now?"

"Before, it was Sozin's comet." said Roku, showing Aang a vision of a fiery orange ball, like a burning star, shooting across the sky. "One hundred years ago, Fire Lord Sozin used that comet to begin the war. He and his firebending army harnessed its incredible power and dealt a deadly first strike against the other nations."

Aang's eyes reflected the comet's light as it disappeared over a mountain range and the vision faded. "So the comet made them stronger?"

"Yes. Stronger than you could even imagine."

"But that happened a hundred years ago." said Aang, puzzled, "What does the comet have to do with the war now?"

"Not as much as perhaps eight years ago when it returned a century after Sozin, but it did cause many strange things to occur in the spiritual energy of our solar system. Listen carefully." said Roku, "In our solar system, there are two primary spirits of water, the Moon, and Neptune. When Zhao killed the mortal form of the Moon spirit, the imbalance it caused was so great that the spirit of Neptune, who is a cousin to our very own Ocean spirit, changed it's path around Agni."

"But, why does this matter?"

"Neptune is now set on a collision course with the spirit of Pluto, which was the most mysterious, violent and unstable of all the Celestial Spirits. It is also the only spirit whose elemental association was undefined. However, when Sozin comet returned after the moon's stabalizing physical embodiment had been removed, Pluto had turned into an element of fire, and may spread inhumanity to other spirits in our solar system."

"What?" cried Aang, "When will it run into Neptune? What will happen?"

"Their orbits will intersect by the next summer solstice. If it collides with Neptune, who has such close relation to our ocean, it could cause water to completely vaporize from the face of our planet. If this happens, even the Avatar won't be able to restore balance to the world. Aang, you must return the moon back to the physical plane and subdue the fire nation's power over the rest of our world, lest Pluto's violent, sadistical nature spreads to the other beings of fire and overruns the universe."

"But..." spluttered Aang, feeling like his brain would explode from the sheer amount of information, "But I haven't even started learning waterbending, not to mention earth and fire!"

"Mastering the elements takes years of discipline and practice." said Roku sympathetically, "But if the world is to survive, you must do it by the next year's end."

Aang was horrified! How could he do it? It was such a big job for one twelve year old boy!

"What if I can't master all the elements in time?" he cried, "What if I fail?"

"I know you can do it Aang, for you have done it before." replied Roku sapienty, "The solstice is ending. We must go our separate ways...for now."

"But I won't be able to come back to the temple." fretted Aang, "What if I have questions? How will I talk to you?"

"I am a part of you. When you need to talk to me again, you will find a way." said Roku, before closing his eyes, and showing Aang a vision of the Fire Nation troops and his struggling friends, "A great danger awaits you at the temple. I can help you face the threat." he said, opening his glowing eyes, "But only if you are ready..."

Aang's arrows begin to glow and he felt Qi and power flooding through his veins. It was as if his entire being was one electrified outlet for all the pure energy of the universe.

Suddenly, his luminous eyes snapped open, meeting Roku's, as their spirits fused to become one. Light flooded out of his mouth as the voices of all the previous avatars inside of him replied in a collective, echoing voice...

"I'm ready."

–

Back outside, Tarrlok desperately tried to find a way out of this fiasco.

Crap, our earthbender is comatose, out firebender has his hands behind his back, we're all tied up, and the Avatar is about to die. First real mission and I bomb it. Great. Fire nation prison, here I come...

He watched in despair as a dozen soldiers surrounded the doors, which was beginning to glow. The lead soldier grins and raises his fist as mist begins to flood out of the crack under the door, "Ready..."

"No!" shrieked Katara as the light began to fade and the doors opened, revealing two eerie glowing eyes, "Aang!"

"FIRE!" bellowed the soldier as he and his crew all sent a long, blazing torrent of flame fueled at maximum power towards the figure coming out of the chamber. Tarrlok's hair billowed backwards from waved of heat coming out of the fireblasts, which was forming a sphere instead of burning Aang...Then suddenly, the flames dissapate for a moment as a random old guy sucked all the flames and heat from the camber into his own body.

Beside him, he heard Shyu gasp with reverence, "Avatar Roku!"

At the sound of his name, Roku, (Or was it Aang?) flung his hands outwards and sends a gust of flames and wind across the entire room. All the soldiers are knocked heavily to the ground, and the heat liquified the metal chains binding Tarrlok to the pillar.

When Tarrlok was free, he turned around and saw the gust of fire blasting through the wall behind them. Then, the traitor Fire Sages all ran away from Roku's furious glare as the entire temple rumbled on its foundations.

"Avatar Roku's going to destroy the temple!" cried Shyu, "We have to get out of here!"

"Not without Aang!" insisted Katara

"KATARA, HE'S THE FUCKING AVATAR!" bellowed Tarrlok as he clutched his head, completely losing his calm, "HE CAN TAKE CARE OF HIMSELF! YOU GUYS CAN'T!"

Too late...

Roku raised his hands, and glowing cracks ripped through the floor like a spiderweb. Then, the old Avatar drew his hands inwards, like he was pulling up a fishing line, except he was drawing out the MAGMA underneath! Tarrlok gaped in amazement, momentarily forgetting that he was about to die.

Apparently, Bolin had a similar train of thought.

"Woaah! That guy's lavabending!" shouted the earthbender with a stupid grin as Roku raised his palms and caused gushes of glowing orange magma to erupt through the top of the pagoda.

"Bolin!" bellowed Mako, "It would be nice if you'd give us some protection!"

"Oh, right, right." he said, slapping himself on the forehead while bending a little cave to protect them from specks of flying lava.

Then as soon as it started, it stopped.

Tarrlok peeked out of the protective earth cave and saw that Roku had pulled all the heat and smoke from the room into a cocoon around himself. He heard one more deep breath before the smoke dissapated and an exhausted twelve year old boy stumbled forwards, eyes still tinged with whitish blue light.

Katara gasped and sprang forwards, catching him in her arms. Tarrlok also came out, searcing desperately for a way out of the temple that didn't involve being vaporized or falling down five stories out of a window.

But obviously, Katara had more important things to do than help me, he thought irritably while she and the others huddled around Aang.

"We got your back." said Mako to the exhausted Avatar.

"Thanks." replied Aang weakly, "Where's Shyu?"

"I don't know." said Katara looking away

Suddenly, the temple gave a massive lurch. "Oh no!" cried Aang as he struggled to stand up, "The temple's sinking!"

"Yes it is! So we should probably find a way out!" snapped Tarrlok, jumping over cracks to reach the staircase where Zhao's soldiers had come in. To his dismay, lava was gradually creeping over all of the steps.

He backed away warily, then whipped around and saw a tiny tunnel right next to the sanctuary doors that was not obscured by lava. "THERE!" he called pointing to the potential exit, "That looks like an exit! Let's get out of here!"

–

It turns out that going into random volcanic caverns in the middle of millenia old temples was not a smart idea. They were lost in a labyrinth of tunnels, with magma steadily chasing them from behind. And the magma was unstoppable! Bolin had put up barrier after barrier of stone, but it just kept melting through! Finally, when Tarrlok had given up all hope for survival, Mako pointed to a tiny speck of light.

"Look!" he shouted, "There's the end!"

Tarrlok whooped with joyous relief as they sprinted madly towards the exit. They were saved!

"WAAAH!" cried Bolin when he reached the end, hastily wrenching up a stone pillar to prevent himself from falling out of the exit...

Which was located on the side of a sheer cliff with jagged rocks and boiling ocean water below.

Bolin slammed full speed into his pillar, and Tarrlok slammed into Bolin, and Mako into him, and Katara into him, until they were all packed tightly together like bruised barnacle-crabs in a huddle.

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?" bellowed Tarrlok as his gaze whipped from this useless excuse for an exit, a hundred meters up the side of the cliff, to the boiling magma that was rushing closer AND ABOUT TO SWALLOW THEM WHOLE!

"Now what!?" yelled Mako, eyeing the fast-approaching lava with unadultured panic.

Suddenly, Bolin stared at the nearing lava vacuously for a long moment, before leaping right into its path and looking away with his eyes closed. The wave of boiling liquid rock crested over his head, and started to plunge downwards...

"BOLIN!" screamed Mako in terror.

But the wave wasn't crashing down and incinerating them at all.

Am I dead yet? questioned Tarrlok as he gazed blankly at the frozen orange liquid, held up by Bolin who had his eye squeezed shut and palms thrust out.

Then, Bolin let out a feeble yell and clenched his fists together, causing the lava to cool down and turn into a humongous, concave lump of black pumice.

"Incredible." stated Katara as Bolin gingerly cracked open his eyes, still frozen in his earhbending stance.

"You're a lavabender!" exclaimed Mako with pride.

"I...I know?" breathed Bolin a little hysterically, "I just found out, haha...ha."

"Nice going, Bozo." said Tarrlok with heartfelt gratitude causing Bolin to snap out of his shock gave him a small glare.

Then, his heart stopped when he saw Korra out side the cave and she was flying!

Oh no, wait, she's on the sky bison. Okay, that made more sense.

"Hey," she asked, worridly giving them a look over, "You guys need a lift?"

"Yeah, thanks for coming now," said Mako a bit venemously, "After my little bro just defeated a volcano."

"Well I'm sorry I had to look for you." she snapped, "I can't exactly, ya know, stomp on the mountain to try and feel for you any more."

"I-"

"Can we get on the bison?" interrupted Katara with a bit annoyance.

"Oh. Yes," said Mako uncomfortably, "Sorry."

Tarrlok, Katara and Aang joined Korra on top of Appa, and Bolin and Mako were about to jump on when suddenly,

WHOOSH!

A fiery projectile suddenly struck the cliff right above the cavern where Bolin was trying to get on Appa.

"Aah!" he yelped, jumping back and stumbling into Mako.

"Oh no!" cried Aang as shale and fire rained down, causing Appa to panic and start flying away, "Back buddy! We've got to save them!"

"No!" yelled Mako when he spotted a bright red war balloon appear behind them, "Just leave!"

"We can still do this!" cried Korra desperately.

"Bolin!" commanded Tarrlok, "Launch yourself and Mako in the air! Using the rock!"

"On it!"

With one mighty stomp, Bolin and Mako flew into the air. Aang steered Appa underneath and was about to catch them when suddenly, the war balloon behind them launched a net and bagged the two of them in mid air.

"NO!" screamed Korra.

Then another net flew towards Appa, almost trapping him, until Aang blew it away with a vicious gust of wind.

"BURN THROUGH THE NET!" yelled Tarrlok.

"I CAN'T!" Mako bellowed back, watching with anxiety as Appa was almost snagged by another net, "It's made of metal!"

"LEAVE!" Bolin cried, "You have stuff to do! We'll be okay!"

"No..." said Aang feebly.

Then, Mako irritably punched a ball of fire at Appa to make him fly away. Appa roared in panic and dodged away, right as the war ballon readied another net.

"Would you just fuckin' LEAVE!?" roared Mako.

Korra gave them one last look of longing and anger and sadness.

"We'll rescue you, I promise." she swore before Appa flew high into the sky, leaving behind her two best friends.

–

"So...how did you get to us?" asked Katara as the group went to look for the rest of the fleet.

"Momo actually flew to me, and I was the only person who knew how to steer a sky bison, so I left to pick you guys up." she said, "When the rest of the crew realized the volcano was erupting, they took their ships and left. They said they'd wait for us at the southern bay of the Stone Fingers."

"Cool! Then we'll almost be at the North Pole."

"Yeah." replied Korra dully.

"Korra," said Tarrlok kindly, "It's okay. We will have many chances to rescue him after we bring back the moon. Just imagine, you'll be a master waterbender after that!"

"Yeah...I suppose."

"And besides, It wouldn't benefit anyone to panic-HOLY SPIRITS!" he cried as he looked down and saw the boats of his fleet burning up in the ocean below, "Mother of...we have to rescue them!"

"No!" said Katara, also seeing the captured ships. "That would be a suicide mission!"

"But...but my brother's down there!" he cried, "And my father! We have to help them!"

"No." sighed Aang, closing his eyes, "We have to bring back the Moon spirit. Roku told me that the balance of the universe depends on it!"

"But..."

"Tarrlok, many of them used to be master waterbenders." reasoned Katara, "They'll be okay. We'll be helping them all by returning the moon. They can break themselves out!"

Tarrlok wrung his hands together in terror, looking like he was on the verge of crying before he finally conceded and slumped back onto Appa's saddle. "Fine." he sighed dejectedly, "Fine."

With one final glance at the blackened, burned skeletons of the water tribe ships, the group flew off. Each stony faced. Each set upon their mission.

–

a/n: the reference I used for Roku's message, concerning astrology, can be found on my profile.

And review! What do you think of the new challenge for balance for Aang? How's the characterization? What do you like/dislike? What is confusing? I need feedback!

Also, I won't be updating for a super long time because I have midterms. Sorry bubs.

And does anyone even read these? Sometimes I actually put relevant information...