Even with the doubled speed, it took the warriors another day to reach the village. Once they got there, they saw a plume of smoke in the distance.

"That's a Fire Navy ship!" Ezeke' said, "We need to hurry!"

Once they reached the edge of the village, Ezeke' stopped the cart, jumped out, and immediately began to run into the village; the others quickly followed behind Then, Ezeke' heard voices coming from ahead, and ducked behind a tent to hide, motioning for the others to do the same. As they hid, Ezeke' risked a peek from his spot to see what was happening. Sure enough, a Fire Navy ship had stopped at the edge of the ice, and multiple soldiers had already exited. One in particular was a young man with a ponytail and a massive red scar on his eye. He was dueling a young boy who, judging by the outfit and tattoos, was another airbender. Just then, the boy said: "Wait, if I go with you, will you leave these people alone?"

The Fire Nation boy straightened up and nodded, as two Fire Nation soldiers grabbed the boy and began to bring him on the ship.

"Another airbender!" Ana whispered.

"No," Ezeke' said, sensing the boy's aura, "That's the Avatar."

Then, they overheard the Fire Nation boy say: "Plot a course for the Fire Nation. I'm going home."

Ezeke' felt like he knew that voice, but he couldn't quite figure it out. What was clear to him was that the Fire Nation had beaten them to the Avatar.

"We're too late," Lyra said.

"Not yet, we're not." Ezeke' said, then turning to Ana, "Can you lift me up towards the ship.

"I can try," Ana said.

"Good, follow me guys." With that, the warriors ran out towards the ship as it began to back out from the ice. Lyra ran out and, too everyone's surprise, began running on the water. Ezeke' turned back to Ana as they ran and yelled: "NOW!"

Gathering what strength she had, Ana unleashed a blast of air that launched Ezeke' far in the direction of the ship. Just as he reached the wall, he drew his word and stabbed the steel. Lyra darted towards the water, and, to everyone's surprise, began running on the water till she reached the side of the ship where Ezeke' was dangling. Ezeke' noticed her as she came.

"Go back!" he yelled, "You need to stay with the others."

"What about you," Lyra shouted back.

"I know how to navigate these ships! I'll find the Avatar and bust him out. Now go!"

Lyra stopped; she knew there was no changing his mind now. She turned around and ran back to the shore. Meanwhile, Ezeke' hoisted himself up, melting the metal with fire to make better handholds, until he reached the railing of the ship. There, he flung himself over the railing, and, landing on the deck, ran for the door to get inside. So far no one either saw him get on board, or just didn't seem to care; his armor did look a lot like theirs after all. Quickly he ran through the hallways, taking turn after turn, knowing very well where the brig was.

"He's not in the brig, if that's where you're going," said a voice behind him.

Ezeke' whipped around to see, surprisingly, the old man from before, the one who gave him his powers to begin with. He was standing in the doorway of a room.

"Are you following me?" he said, cause the whole popping out of nowhere thing is getting kinda creepy."

The man chuckled: "I can assure you; I am not following you. Frankly, I'm surprised you're even here. You must be taking your new duties seriously."

"Yeah, I even found the other three."

"And where are they?"

"Back at the village. I had them go back so as to not draw too much attention."

"Ah, smart move."

"Okay, who even are you? You never told me your name."

"My name is Iroh."

"Iroh? As in, the brother of Fire Lord Ozai? That Iroh?"

"The very same." Iroh replied. "Fun fact, back when I had your power, they called me the Dragon of the West. I was quite the fighter."

"And yet, you're going against the Fire Nation now?"

"In secret. Ozai has gone too far; he cannot be allowed to go any further. So yes, I am resisting him. When I saw you were too, I took the chance to give you the powers of the Fire Dragon Warrior. Of course, it took me quite some time to find you, but I did."

"So, where is the Avatar? I saw them bring him on board."

"They brought him to the interrogation chamber. From what I know, he's still there. If you hurry, you can save him."

"Just then, they heard voices coming from the hallway. Iroh turned to Ezeke': "We don't have much time. Hurry."

Ezeke' nodded and ran down the hall, and Iroh went back into the room, closing the door. Ezeke' took off down the hallway, now changing course towards the interrogation room. Once he reached it, he stopped at the edge of the door and peeked around the edge. Sure enough, the airbender was there, his hands chained to two different poles. Surprisingly, one Fire Nation captain stood in front of the boy, his back turned to Ezeke'; perfect opportunity. Drawing out his sword, he ran up to the captain and tapped his shoulder. The captain turned around.

"Wassup," Ezeke' said before fireblasting the captain through the wall. The boy looked at Ezeke' with surprise.

"It's a long story, okay." Ezeke' said, then igniting his blade, "Move your hands."

The boy shouted and pulled in his hands just as Ezeke' swung his sword, cutting the chains holding him. The boy saw that his hands were fine and then stood up.

"Thanks," he said.

"Don't mention it," Ezeke' replied, "What's your name, Avatar?"

"I'm Aang, and how did you know I was the Avatar?"

"I could sense it. Being a Dragon Warrior, I realized I can sense when powerful benders are around, and the Avatar is as powerful as they come."

"A what?" Aang asked.

"Basically a powerful benders that fight alongside the Avatar. I'll explain more later. I'm Ezeke' by the way." Here, he held out his hand for Aang to shake, which he promptly did.

"So, you ready to get out of here?" Ezeke' asked.

Aang nodded.

"Good," Ezeke' said, "Then follow me."

Running out of the room, Ezeke' led Aang through the series of hallways, cutting down or fireblasting any Fire Nation soldier that the ran into. Despite Ezeke's heightened stamina, Aang managed to keep pace; typical of airbenders to use air for speed. After a few more turns, they burst out onto the deck and ran to the edge of the railing.

"So, what's the plan now?" Aang asked.

Ezeke' looked around until he saw a Fire Nation lifeboat near the front of the ship, hanging over the edge and suspended by a crane. He pointed it out to Aang.

"We gotta make a beeline for that boat. My sword can cut the lines, and we'll drop down and make our way back to the village. Sound good?"

"Well, I honestly don't have a better plan."

"On my mark…GO!"

The two bolted for the boat. They had gotten about halfway across when a voice behind them yelled: "STOP!"

Stopping dead in their tracks, Ezeke' and Aang turned to face a group of Fire Nation soldiers behind them. In front of then was the boy with the scarred eye from before.

"He stays with us." The boy said.

"Not a chance," Ezeke' replied, stepping in front of Aang.

"You're a Fire Nation soldier. You should be helping us, not letting this dangerous threat escape."

"The Avatar is the protector of this world, last I checked. And I WAS a Fire Nation soldier." He took off his helmet, revealing his face, along with his scarred eye to the soldiers.

"This is what I got because of it,"

The boy looked at Ezeke' in confusion, which then changed to surprise.

"Ezeke'?" he asked.

Ezeke looked confused; how did this guy know his name. But then, as he looked closer at the boy's face, he realized why the boy looked familiar; he used to know this boy three years ago, before he was exiled; before the boy had a scarred eye.

Ezeke' gasped: "Zuko?" This definitely was not part of the plan, and as Ezeke' faced his old friend, he realized that things were about to get a whole lot uglier than he wanted…