(A/N: Alright, readers. Here's the deal. Reigo told you a few chapters ago that Kei would be teaching Meiya Earthbending, not Ischi. Unfortunately, writer's block has won this round, and I'm forced to do something that I don't like doing: alter reality. Kei will not be teaching Meiya Earthbending, and you can exhale your breaths, because Zuko is not going to find out about Kei, at least not in Republic City.

I know both of these would've been great plot sequences to try and cover, but I'm not perfect. Writer's block affects me, too. I'm usually strong enough to fight it off, but not this time.

But don't let that get you down! The story must go on, and so it shall!)

Beads of sweat dropped from Meiya's head to the dry earth as she leaned forward, panting heavily. Her eyes shifted to the left, noticing the sun gradually sinking beneath the waves.

"You don't have much time left, Meiya. Make your next move." Ischi's serious voice called, not far from Meiya.

The muddled Avatar looked up, steeling her nerves and standing straight up before taking an Earthbender pose.

Ischi twitched her eyes, then stomped on the ground, raising a chunk of earth, before pushing her hands forward, straight toward Meiya. Meiya pushed her own hands forward, stopping the flying boulder in midair.

Mimicking Ischi's movements, Meiya pushed her hands again and sent the boulder back at Ischi. The quick-acting princess clasped her hands together, smashing the boulder to pieces. Ischi then windmilled her arms, slowly at first, then much quicker. The chunks of earth began to spin around an invisible axis around Ischi's hands, before collecting into two spinning earth saws. Ischi shot both hands toward Meiya, causing the earth saws to fall to the ground and zoom away, throwing up lots of dirt as it travelled.

Meiya swept her hands against the ground, causing the earth saws to fly into the air. Meiya slightly clenched her fists and they stopped moving, but they didn't stop rotating.

With a grunt and a sweep of her arms to either side, Meiya caused the saws to fly away from her in both directions. With another grunt and a pull of her arms into her chest, the saws made an arc in their paths and began to fly toward Ischi.

Ischi leaped backward to avoid the blades, which made Meiya smile. When the spinning saws collided, they erupted in a giant cloud of harmless dust and dirt.

Ischi gasped at Meiya's skill with her earth, then immediately began to cough. Meiya flexed her hands and made waving motions with them, causing the dust cloud to begin to swirl around Ischi. Then Meiya pounded her fists together and yelled out. All of a sudden, the dust cloud compressed into a sphere of earth, which trapped her.

Meiya lifted her hand into the air, causing the earth sphere to fly up with it. Once it was high enough, Meiya slammed her lam down to the ground, opting the earth sphere to follow and smash Ischi against the earth.

As the dust settled, Ischi stood, panting. There was a bloody spot on her temple, and her shoulder looks dislocated. She raised her good arm in defeat.

"I concede… You've won, Meiya…" she said with a proud smile.

Meiya looked again to the sky and saw just the tip of the sun setting. Only seconds later, the sun completely vanished, and the world was dark.

Zuko, Kohi, and Khole cheered from the other side of the earthy field, running toward the two combatants.

"I've seen and mimicked a lot of amazing Earthbending techniques, but none so fantastic as yours. What was that, Meiya?" Ischi asked, standing up straight, taking a deep breath, and cracking her shoulder back into place.

"Oh, you mean the Dustbending? Just something I made up and practiced yesterday. I combined my Airbending and Earthbending power to control the dust in the air."

"But that would require bending every granule of dust you command! Not even Great-Granny Toph could hope to do something like that!"

"Not really, I just focused my Earthbending power on the general area of the dust and used Airbending to change the shape of the air around it.

"Well, I guess there's no chance of me perfecting that technique. Congrats, anyway, Meiya. I didn't think it'd be possible, but in just five days, you've gone from a novice to doing the stuff of Earthbending legend."

"And Earthbending was supposed to be my most difficult element to learn! Imagine what I can do with Firebending!"

"We'll have to save that for tomorrow. Right now, I think it's high time we all take a nice rest and grab something to eat."

"Here here!" Kohi chimed. Kisi chattered in agreement on Kohi's shoulder.

Taking one last look back at the open ocean, then up at the incredibly swelled moon, Meiya gave a sly smile, then turned to catch up with her teammates.

000

Kaizu was anything but happy at the moment.

Just minutes ago, he heard his beacon that he carried around, signaling the coming of D-Day. He knew that he had no choice but to ship himself back to the base camp to head the oncoming army with Reigo. Failing to do so would not hinder the invasion at all, but it would not be beneficial or healthy for Kaizu.

Kaizu walked down through the city, dully noting the ship stationed at the dock. He had almost reached the dock when a voice called out.

"Kaizu!"

'Miye?' Kaizu thought, turning around and seeing the woman who brought more light to his path running up to him.

Kaizu opened his mouth to speak, but Miye interrupted.

"Kaizu, I know you've told me already… But I just can't let you leave!" she cried, walking up to him and looking up at his spectacled face.

"I have to, Miye… My own people need me."

"Kaizu, you're not that kind of person. You don't kill; you don't destroy. You're kind and compassionate. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you weren't a Shadowbender. You're better than they are, Kaizu."

"That may be, but I have loyalties to uphold. It's not just my people that need me; my family does as well."

Kaizu turned and walked up the dock. He was almost to the ship when Miye spoke up again.

"A couple of days ago, when you were away with other business in the city, I was very ill. I had no idea what was wrong, so I went to the doctor with my kids. The doctor gave me all sorts of tests before finally reaching a diagnosis."

Kaizu stopped, but he didn't turn around. Miye continued.

"I'm in the earliest conceivable stages, but there's no denying it. I'm pregnant, Kaizu, and there's no doubt that you're the father. You say that your family needs you, Kaizu. I, we, are your family now." Miye said, touching her stomach.

Kaizu turned, his heart and his mind twitching violently in his body. His mind twitched just a little bit more as he remembered his mother and his sister's dire warnings.

"Miye…" he started, before walking up toward her. "I will be back, I promise you. I will be the father that our child needs. But at this moment, for the next week, I cannot be here. My own future and your future requires it. I solemnly swear, I will return to you."

Miye's eyes began to water as Kei turned and walked onto the ship. The tears rolled down her faces as the ship slowly pulled out into the dark ocean…

000

Kumori walked slowly through the moaning, metal hallways of an unknown, underground building. Reigo walked beside her.

"Soon, daughter. Soon, the world of the past will be ours and our future will be saved."

"History is not an easy opponent to fight, Mother. What are you going to do, should your invasion fail?"

"I have already planned for this. Though it is unlikely, should the assault fail, I will be forced to activate the TSD and will launch another invasion."

"How will you know that the result will be any different?" Reigo questioned.

"Because the soldiers I have for the second assault will be much more effective than my human soldiers."

"What do you mean? These secondary soldiers are not human?"

Kumori shook her head.

"Well, if they're so effective, why don't you use those soldiers instead of the human soldiers?"

"They are far too destructive. Using them without activating the TSD will astronomically alter the course of history, and activating the machine without a definite cause could tear a fabric in the space-time continuum."

"What, exactly, are these super-soldiers?"

"I'll show you." Kumori said, taking Reigo into an elevator and sending them to a lower floor. "They're called Nithlings. I created them myself, using just a small fraction of my dark energy. The result was marvelous; a race of creatures I could be proud of."

"You're implying that you created this entire army out of a small fraction of your energy?"

"How small do you think my energy level is?

"Well, how large is your army?"

As Reigo asked this, the elevator doors opened onto a railed ledge that hung over an incredibly large room.

"Well, I haven't been able to take a full head count…" Kumori said.

Reigo's eyes widened as she saw the floor of the room below. It was completely black, crawling with chattering masses of inky creatures with glowing red eyes and mouths. They seemed to be made entirely out of living shadow.

"But, if I had to give a guess, I'd say it's about 1.5 million soldiers, from just a tiny fraction of my power." Kumori finished.

"This is amazing… Nothing would be able to withstand an onslaught of these Nithlings."

"Exactly. I'm hoping it doesn't have to come to this, but if push comes to shove, we're going to have to unleash these creatures. We must make sure that the Lightbender never arrives, and to do that, we must assure that the first Shadowbender is born first." Kumori said, looking down with pride on her 'children'.

"She must be reborn soon, or none of us will come out of it." Kumori said lastly, turning and walking into the elevator, leaving Reigo to gape in awe at the massive Nithling army.

000

Days later, as the sun sank beneath the waves, Meiya and Zuko stood before each other on the same plot of land where Meiya and Ischi sparred five days before. All around, the ground was scorched and blackened.

"Very good, Meiya. In just five short days, you've grasped all you can about Firebending." Zuko said.

Meiya nodded.

"Now, show us what you've learned." Zuko said, looking back at the other three and stepping back.

Meiya closed her eyes and breathed outward. A second later, her eyes opened again and she raised her hand to the sea, causing a pillar of water to rise. Behind, her, she stomped on the ground and erected a similar pillar of earth. With a cringe and a sweep of both of her hands into the air on either side of her, Meiya rose up a tower of fire on one side and a raging tornado on the other. Tall structures of all four elements swirled on all sides of Meiya.

"I think I'm ready." Meiya said with a smile once she lowered her elemental towers.

"Everyone's ready." Ischi said. "All of the colonies in the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom that are still free have sent their best fighters, and villagers from the Southern Water Tribe are sending experienced healers to aid in battle."

"Our ten days have passed. We should be expecting Kumori and her army pretty-"

Before Meiya could finished, a clap of dark thunder streaked through the air. TeaMeiya looked to the sky and saw that the moon was churning again. Another clap of shadowy thunder struck the ocean.

"What's going on? What's happening?" Kohi yelled.

Meiya took her glider and flew up into the air. Ischi raised a dais of earth and transported the others with it.

Meiya landed on the wall of Republic City, looking out into the distance. One the ocean, ships of all sizes with the Shadow Clan mark cut through the water, quickly approaching the city. In the air, the moon trembled, then released another clap of dark thunder. Afterwards, small dark meteors shot out of the moon and headed straight for the city. As the approached the ground, the shadows took form and the cloud of meteors in the sky soon turned into a mass of Shadowbenders on the ground. Heading this land force were Reigo and Kaizu, charging full speed toward the city wall.

"Time's up, it looks like." Ischi said with a gulp.

"No worries! With a little work, we can take out this army before Republic City gets the half of it." Meiya said confidently. She flinched and looked to the sea when she heard a loud, metal groan.

Coming from the distance was a giant humanoid sculpture of metal, stomping toward the city. Though it was extremely sluggish, each giant step brought it much closer to the city than it had been a step earlier.

"It's hopeless! Nothing in our arsenal is enough to take down something of that size! Even if we do beat the army, there's no chance of us beating THAT thing, too!" Khole yelled.

"Hrm… I'll deal with the metal monster. You guys help our army hold off the Shadowbenders."

"Meiya, are you crazy? You seriously think you can take on that thing alone?" Zuko protested.

"No, but do you have any other ideas? I'm just going to try and distract it; you know, lead it away from the city."

"Yeah, but once it eventually finds its way here, what then?" Ischi asked.

"It's a work-in-progress. I'll think of something; trust me." Meiya said. "Good luck, you guys."

And with that, Meiya leaped into the air and extended her glider, soaring as fast as she could toward the creature, who was approaching the land.

(A/N: It has begun! D-Day is here, and right out of the box, it's not looking bright for TeaMeiya! Will they pull through? Can Meiya distract The Devourer long enough for the Three Nations Army to beat back the Shadowbenders? Who are the 'Lightbender' that Kumori wants to stop from destroying her future? Should they win, would TeaMeiya be able to withstand the chaotic wrath of the Nithlings? Will I ever stop asking these pulse-pounding questions? Find out next chapter: The Dusk of War! Until then, this is SH10, enjoying a ROCKIN' Spring Break! See ya!)