Note From the Author: In Book 1, the Gaang (minus Toph) met the Mechanist and Teo, and Yun got along very well with Teo. Of course, I didn't write this due to my laziness. So just assume, please. As a favor to this author.
The invasion force met Yun and her friends at the cliffside where they were staying. Covered by a cloak of fog, the water tribe boats settled into the docks Aang and Toph had earthbended into creation. There were five boats full of people that they had met on their adventures. Yun watched Katara and Sokka run to their dad and felt a pang of jealousy that she hadn't felt in a while. She just really missed her parents in moments like this.
Yun watched as some guys in leaf loincloths and no pants stepped off the ship. Those must have been the waterbenders who lived in the swamp that Katara was talking about. They weren't quite what Yun expected, but at the same time, they were exactly what she expected. She couldn't quite explain it. Then Yun saw Haru, the earthbender Katara had saved oh so long ago, step off the ship. Katara ran up to him and hugged him. Yun wrinkled her nose; she wasn't quite sure about the mustache and beard he was sporting. She would need time to get used to it.
"Toph, this is Haru," Aang said. "His town was controlled by the Fire Nation, so he had to hide his earthbending."
"Katara inspired me and my father to take back our village," Haru said, while Katara looked away, blushing. Yun blinked and then blinked again. That was new. Haru's father stepped up behind them, putting one hand on his son's shoulder and one hand on Katara's.
"You helped us find our courage, Katara," he said. "Now we're here to help you."
Toph suddenly tensed up before turning.
"No way, is that . . .," she started before she was lifted into the air by an enthusiastic giant.
"Hippo happy to see Blind Bandit," he roared, lifting Toph up into the air the same way a child would life a baby cat-owl. Speaking of which, Yun turned to see where Song was. Calling out her name, she was glad when her pet landed on her arm. Everyone else had their reunions, but they didn't have a cat-owl as cool as Song so there. Yun sure showed them. Yun was then shocked out of her reverie by a large bang. Running over, she saw smoke coming out of one of the boats. She saw Teo descending down to the dock and her face brightened. Running over, she dropped to her knees and gave him a big hug.
"Teo, how are you," she asked, still grabbing around his shoulders.
"Good other than the peanut sauce that I'm covered in. It's also getting on your clothes," Teo commented, laughing, before he returned the hug.
"I don't care. It's been a long time," Yun said, grinning as she backed up from the hug. Teo then saw Aang, and reached into his chair.
"Aang, my dad and I made this for you," he said.
"A new glider. This is amazing," Aang said, unfurling it.
"And as a special feature," the mechanist declared before moving closer to Aang. 'I added a snack compartment."
"Oh, well, I'm sure that will come in handy," Aang said, looking dubious. Yun snickered before turning to Teo.
"We have a little bit of time before Sokka will present the war plan. Do you want me to bring you a koala sheep," Yun asked Teo.
"Why don't you just tell me what's happened since we last met," Teo offered, guiding Yun over to rock where she could sit down.
"A lot's happened. It'd probably take me a week, at least."
"Summarize, why don't you."
"Fine, but only if you promise to tell me what's happening with you," Yun said. She gnawed on her lip for a bit, wondering where to start before launching into her tale.
She was just at the bit where she made a giant ocean dragon for the first time, when a fist landed solidly on her head.
"Ow," she whined, rubbing her head.
"Sokka's thing is starting," Toph said.
"Okay, Teo let's go," Yun said, getting up.
"Actually, I'm going to help my dad with some last minute preparations. You go on without me," he said, wheeling off to one of the boats.
Yun started walking with Toph.
"Soooo," Toph began. "Do you like him?"
"Yeah, he's my friend. I met him when we went to the Northern Air Temple," Yun said.
"Not what I meant, but okay," Toph said. Yun and Toph sat in the front with Katara, Aang, Sokka, and Hakoda. Yun could tell Sokka was nervous and silently wished him luck.
Sokka walked onto the makeshift stage, wishing everyone a good morning before he fell flat on his face. Fumbling with his multiple scrolls, he rose back up.
"So, a-a-as you know, today we're invading the Fire Nation," he said, before he hung his head. "I know you know that. Otherwise, why would you be here? Anyway-." He then dropped his scrolls again. Yun winced, hoping it would get better for Sokka, but things rarely did. He showed the wrong map, then started freaking out, then started explaining things from the beginning. And by beginning, he apparently meant, from the very beginning, when he and Katara found Aang encased in ice. Hakoda rose up and mercifully interrupted Sokka. He began going over the main points of the invasion.
"There are two steps to the invasion," Hakoda said. "There is a naval stage and a land stage. To gain sea access to the Fire Nation capital, we have to get past our first major obstacle." Yun proceeded to tune out the rest of what he was saying. Sokka had gone over the plans with the group so many times, Yun felt she could have recited what Hakoda was saying alongside him.
After Hakoda had finished speaking, everyone split up to prepare for the invasion. Yun had finally acquired four skins and filled them to the brim. She needed as much accessible water as she could. Once they got past the Plaza Tower, she didn't know when the next time she would be able to replenish her water supply. She also shined and sharpened her daggers as a worst case scenario. Her waterbending was the best for long range fighting, but she wanted a contingency plan.
She looked up when Appa roared, seeing him in his full armour set. What a handsome sky bison! Whilst looking back down, Yun saw Sokka staring out into the sea. She made her way up to him.
"Sokka, we're getting ready to go," she said.
"Just give me a minute," he said. Grabbing his hand in hers, Yun squeezed gently.
"This invasion exists because of you, just remember that," Yun said before making her way down to the boat. Before she climbed aboard, she went up to Appa.
"What a handsome fella, you are," Yun cooed. Appa snuffled and licked her. Giggling, she planted a kiss on his armoured head before boarding her designated ship. She settled down next to Teo.
"Are you ready," Teo asked.
"Not really, who really is ever ready for war," Yun asked. A water tribe warrior was in the same boat as them overheard.
"No one really is," he confirmed. "You just have to prepare as much as possible."
With that, the boats took off the shore. It seemed like forever, but not long at all before the boats reached Azulon's gates.
"Well, it's my time to go on deck," Yun said, pushing to her feet.
"Be careful," Teo said.
"Same to you." With that, Yun got up on deck and helped lift a fog to cover the advancing boats. It was then the true gates of Azulon were revealed. Flaming nets of iron lifted from the sea, blocking off access to the capital. At the same time, boats of Fire Nation soldiers were rushing toward their boats. Yun rushed down into the boats where the subs were hidden.
She made sure everyone was on board before she was, cutting the switch with her waterbending and releasing the subs from the bottom of the boat. Then she, along with some swamp water benders began propelling the sub forward. They made it halfway to the capital from the gates of Azulon before they had to resurface. Yun turned to Teo.
"I have to go now. I'm taking care of Appa until we reach the capital," Yun explained. Teo wheeled himself closer to Yun and took her hand. Squeezing it lightly, he looked up at her.
"Take care of yourself," he said seriously.
"Same to you," Yun said, before she let go of his hand. She climbed out of the sub and waterbender her way over to the sub Katara, Sokka, and Toph were at. Aang joined them.
"So this is it, huh," he said.
"Are you ready for the Fire Nation to know the Avatar's alive," Sokka asked. Aang looked up at him with a steely gaze.
"I'm ready," he said firmly. He and Sokka clutched at each other's arms like men do, before the whole group engulfed him in a big hug.
"I hope you kick some serious Fire Lord butt, Twinkletoes," Toph declared. They were interrupted when Hakoda announced that the next time they surfaced, it would be on the beaches of the capital and that they had to head back into the subs. Yun felt her heart rate pick up, but she decided it was because she was so ready to kick some Fire Nation butt. Yun squeezed Aang's shoulder.
"I'll take care of Appa until you get back. Good luck, Aang." Aang nodded at her, and Yun waterbended her way onto Appa.
"Hey buddy, looks like we're travelling together for a bit," she said. She began checking Appa's armour, making sure straps were secure, the saddle was fitted properly, and that everything was in tip-top shape. Seeing Aang take off into the sky, she formed a bubble around Appa's head and they dived down. Yun thought she had seen Katara and Aang kiss, but frankly now wasn't the time to think about it, and also it wasn't her business. Her business was getting Appa safely to the Fire Nation capital and then helping the invasion forces reach the palace.
As they neared the capitals, spearheads attached to chains came flying down at them. Appa had to quickly swim around them. Yun then saw one of the submarines being lifted by the chain.
"Yip, yip," she called out to Appa, urging him in the direction of the sub. Yun quickly cut the chain with her waterbending. Appa remained out of the water, dodging chains so the subs had time to reach the shore. Yun had to bat a fair amount away with her waterbending as well. When she saw the subs had reached the shore and the tanks were being deployed, she urged Appa forward to meet the invasion forces. She jumped off and ran forward a few steps when Sokka caught her arm. She turned so see him, Katara, and Hakoda there.
"We need to take out those battlements," Sokka yelled, pointing up. Yun nodded before climbing back onto Appa.
"Get on!"
Katara was in charge of steering. As they flew by, Hakora threw bombs in one, Sokka sliced off the crossbow tip on another, Katara froze one of the soldiers in battlement, and Yun waterbended a dragon that picked the soldier out of the battlement and froze him to the cliffside. Sokka winced, but Yun just shrugged. It was war after all. Appa landed, and there were three battlements in a row.
"You two take care of that battlement, I got this one. Yun, stay with Appa," Hakoda said.
"There is one at the end," Yun said. "I'll take care of that one."
"By yourself," Hakoda questioned, but Yun was already running towards it. Blasting open the doors, Yun decided she didn't need subtlety. She waterbended a dragon which quickly took care of two of the guards, and with a flick of her fingers and a quick twist of the wrist, the dragon picked up the soldier in charge of the cross bow and flung her out of the battlement. Then with a downwards motion with both hands, Yun let the dragon destroy the crossbow contraption. She ran back to meet Sokka and Katara only to see them kneeling by the fallen form of their dad.
"What happened," she gasped out.
"He was injured when he took out the battlement," Sokka frantically explained.
"Let's get him onto Appa and away from crossfire," Yun urged, helping Sokka and Katara get him onto Appa.
As Appa flew over the invasion force, Yun yelled, "Let me down here."
"We are not landing in the middle of that," Katara said.
"Just fly a little lower," Yun said, getting ready to jump off.
"You're going to get hurt," Katara warned but flew Appa lower. Yun waterbended her way down, using an ice slide of sorts, before melting the ice into water and back into her pouches.
Using the water from three of her four water skins, she created a dragon half the length and width of the Unagi. She covered the tanks which at the moment were in disarray. Sending out her dragon, she was able to knock out multiple Fire Nation soldiers at a time, but she felt sweat forming on her forehead and shakiness in her limbs. It was taking a definite toll on her. Even with all the resistance training, bending an ocean dragon took a lot of energy. However, she needed something that could cover the multiple sides of fire they were under. It was then that Sokka arrived on Appa.
"Listen up everyone. I want the tanks in wedge formation. Warriors and bender in the middle," he yelled. "We're taking that tower and heading for the royal palace." And with that, they advanced. Yun dropped her dragons and ran behind the wall of tanks. They managed to break through the wall to the tower, with the tanks taking up most of the fire damage. When they broke through the wall, Yun could clearly see the path up to the inner part of the capital. They were so close to the Fire Nation palace. They were so close to victory.
The tanks were in a semicircle, taking damage, while earthbenders were in the tanks, sending out rocks intermittently. Yun was inside the semicircle with Sokka reviewing the plans and making changes where necessary. She was looking at the plans when Sokka called out, "Dad!"
Hakoda was walking in, supported by Katara.
"You're on your feet again," Sokka said, relieved.
"Thanks to your sister," Hakoda said, before taking a seat on a displaced piece of rubble. "I can't fight, but maybe there's some way I can help."
"Everything's going smoothly, and the eclipse hasn't even kicked in yet," Sokka said, kneeling in front of his father.
"Let's hope our luck holds out," Hakoda said wisely. Yun was feeling pretty good about the whole thing, but experience from their journeys had shown her nothing ever really works out how people want it to. Katara then began to walk forward.
"Katara, you seem distracted. Is something wrong," Hakoda asked.
"Yeah, is that- is that Aang," Katara asked. Yun turned around, and sure enough, Aang was gliding in. Was the Fire Lord defeated already, before the eclipse?
"Please tell me you're here, because the Fire Lord turned out to be a big wimp and you didn't even need the eclipse to take him down," Sokka implored, looking up at Aang from his position on the floor.
"No one was home," Aang said. "The entire palace city is abandoned."
"They knew," Sokka said, realization dawning on his face.
"It's over," Aang said, hanging his head. "The Fire Lord is probably long gone by now, far away on some remote island where he'll be safe during the eclipse."
"No, my instincts tell me he wouldn't go too far. He would have a secret bunker," Sokka said.
"Yeah," Yun said. "Something tells me he is a proud man. Men like that don't want to think they are running. He would stay close by, but he will remain safe."
"If it's an underground bunker we're looking for, I'm just the girl to find it," Toph said cheerily.
"The mechanist gave me this time device. It looks like we've got ten minutes until the eclipse. Ten minutes to find the Fire Lord," Sokka said.
"We can still do this. We can still win the day," Aang said.
"Wait," Katara warned. "If they knew we were coming, it could all be a trap. Maybe we should use the time we have left to make sure we all get out of here safely."
"Everyone who's here today came prepared to risk everything for this mission. They know what's at stake. If there's still a chance and hope I think they would want Aang to go for it," Hakoda said.
"What do you think," Sokka asked Aang. "You're the one that has to face the Fire Lord. Whatever you decide, I'm with you." Aang's eyes narrow and he turns around to face the palace city.
"I've gotta try," he said.
Toph and Sokka scramble onto Appa.
"I'm going to stay with Dad," Katara said. Sokka turned towards Yun.
"I've gotta help the invasion force," Yun said. "But good luck."
Sokka, Aang, and Toph left on Appa, going towards the volcano and the Fire Lord. Yun turned to Katara.
"If you can cover any projectiles that may come over the tank line, I can help the formation advance," Yun told Katara.
"By yourself? Are you crazy," Katara hissed, holding onto Yun's arm.
"I don't think it's a good idea either," Hakoda advised.
"You said it yourself, everyone who's come here today came prepared to risk everything. We need to make it up that volcano," Yun argued. "Besides, I'm a lot stronger than I look."
Yun wriggled her arm out of Katara's hold and drew out the water from all four of her skins. Walking forward, she summoned a dragon. As she walked in front of the tanks, she sent it forward. With serpentine grace, it accurately blasted away every soldier from there to the base of the volcano. As soon the dragon struck one soldier, it was onto the other, and then the other until what was once an obstacle was now just a path of unconscious bodies. Yun shakily let the water ocean dragon dissolve back into water before drawing as much water as she could back into her water skins.
"Let's go," Yun said weakly before falling to her knees and dry heaving. Katara ran up to her and held her up.
"Might be a while until I can do that again," Yun shakily whispered, unable to stand without putting most of her weight on Katara.
"You're ridiculous," she said crossly before pushing Yun into a tank.
"You are not to come out until you can stand without almost passing out," she ordered, before running back to help her father. Yun appreciated Katara.
She looked around to see that she was placed in the same tank as Teo. He looked over to her.
"I just saw that. You're amazing," he said.
"Thanks, I know," Yun said jokingly, her voice still trembling from exhaustion. Ruffling her hair, Teo turned forward, watching as the tank advanced.
"We're doing this, we're actually doing this," he whispered. Yun sat beside him thinking the exact same thing. She could feel the steepness of the path as they went up the volcano and she could feel the impact of the fire that was raining down upon them.
"I should go out there and help," Yun said.
"Yun, I'm not sure how much of a help you would be in this state," Teo said apologetically. "Just stay and rest a little before going out again. I'm sure Katara doesn't want to be carrying an unconscious Yun around."
Yun was going to argue, but that was a fair point. Sighing, she continued to do nothing as fiery missiles hit their tank. Then all of a sudden, the impact stopped. She heard Pakku say, "The eclipse is only minutes away. We can make it up the hill by the time it starts and secure the entire palace by the time it's finished."
After a few minutes, the Mechanist orders them to put on their eclipse glasses. Yun puts them on and then watches the eclipse. She and Teo watched as the tank rode up the volcano. At the edge, she saw the palace town, deserted and quiet. She saw firebending guards surrendering left and right, now that their fire bending had been taken away by the eclipse. They were so close, but they weren't there yet. Yun got out of the tank and began helping the invasion troops with the surrendered soldiers. She then made her way to Katara.
"No sign of Aang and the others," she asked.
"No sign," Katara answered, looking worriedly at the palace. Hakoda and Yun both looked at the blackened spot where the sun used to be.
"It's almost over," Yun said, noticing how the sun was beginning to show. Please, please Aang. Please end this, Yun prayed.
They had waited a few more moments before Pakku came running up.
"What should we do, Hakoda? Shouldn't something have happened by now?"
"I don't know," he admitted, leaning on a tank. "But now that the eclipse is over, we should see firebenders any minute." Pakku's eyes then widened in fear. Yun, Katara, and Hakoda turned around to see what looked like the Mechanist's balloon but it had the Fire Nation's insignia on it. Behind those were giant, monstrous versions of it. Yun watched, horrified, as the flew above.
"They're back," Katara said. Indeed, Appa was flying towards the group.
"It was all a trap," Sokka said once they landed. "Azula knew we were coming. We just gotta make it to the beach as fast as we can, we can make it to the submarines and get away safely."
"They've got air power, but so do I," Aang declared, standing up. "I'm going to do what I can to slow them down." With that, he was off, flying up with his glider.
"Appa and I can help too," Katara declared, getting on Appa. The rest of the invasion force made it back towards the beaches. On the way, Aang and Katara met back up with them.
"There were too many," Aang explained. Toph bended a stone overhang, and they all braced themselves for missiles overhead. Yun winced as dust shaken up from the impact fell on them. She then saw the balloons keep flying forward.
"Why aren't they turning around to attack us again," Katara asked. Yun then gasped, her hands flying to her mouth in shock.
"The submarines, the subs. They're going to get the subs," she panicked.
"How are we all going to escape," Sokka asked.
"We're not," Hakoda said, led up to them by Pakku. Sokka turned to him.
"Then our only choice is to stand and fight," Sokka said. "We have the Avatar. We could still win."
"Yes, with the Avatar we could still win on another day," Hakoda said. "You kids have to leave. You have to escape on Appa."
"What? We can't leave you behind. We won't leave anyone behind," Katara said, running up to her father.
"You're our only chance in the long run. You and Sokka have to go with Aang somewhere safe. It's the only way to keep hope alive," Hakoda said.
"The youngest of our group should go with you. The adults will stay behind and surrender. We'll be prisoners, but we'll all survive this battle," Pakku added. Haru's father came up.
"It's not going to be easy, but we'll get by," he said.
"They're at the beach already," Sokka yelled. They watched as each of their subs were destroyed. Yun shuddered, seeing their exit strategy so thoroughly destroyed. Yun watched as Teo and The Duke got on Appa. She got on him as well, giving Haru a hand onto Appa as well. Song and Momo curled up around her, picking up the somber attitude all around them. Yun saw Sokka and Katara saying goodbye and felt a spike of self-loathing pierce her body. How could she have felt jealous of them being with their father? She should have celebrated that they could experience that. She turned away from the scene. Sokka and Katara boarded Appa before Aang stood up, wiping away his tears.
"Thank you all for being so brave and so strong. I'm going to make this up to you," he promised, before Appa turned and flew off.
They were heading to the Western Air Temple.