The sea was crowded with warships, as Appa swooped overhead.

It was the day of the Solar eclipse, and as agreed a joint force consisting of troops from the Earth Kingdom and both Water Tribes had landed in the Fire Nation. If all went well, the war would end today.

As Appa flew lower, Sokka could see that the vessels were Fire Nation ships, but their pagodas, normally painted red, had been painted different colours. Most of them were now green, but he could see both light and dark blues there too.

It was still very early in the morning, but still the invasion force had mostly finished unloading the ships; Sokka saw the first formations of troops beginning to form up and march inland.

Team Avatar had come dressed for war. They had all changed out of their Fire Nation disguises and back into the clothes from their native nations. Sokka was wearing his wolf's head helmet, and a set of leather armour, while Suki was wearing her Kyoshi Warriors' uniform, complete with the red and white makeup.

Movement caught his eye, and he saw the Earth King waving at them. Appa flew towards him and touched down.

"Hello again!" The Earth King said. "Have you enjoyed your time in the Fire Nation so far?"

"Yes, but I would prefer it if we weren't being hunted."

"Then it's a good thing we're here to end the war." Kuei said. "The Triple Alliance has mustered an army of 8,000 men and women and we've brought it across the ocean, for you. The Avatar still holds a lot of power."

"He does indeed," a new voice joined the conversation.

"Dad!"

Sokka and Katara both ran to hug Hakoda, who had appeared behind them.

"I'm so happy to see you both again," Hakoda said happily, "but we have a job to do. These people look to you for leadership." He looked at Aang and Sokka most of all as he said this.

Aang nodded uncomfortably.

"So, Sokka, you're the reason we're here, so what's the plan?"

Everyone turned to look expectantly at him.

Sokka thought deeply for a while. He had thought deeply about his plans for this day.

"Aang, you should go and fight the Firelord in his palace." He said. "Katara, Toph, you two are powerful benders too so you should go with him."

"I'll go too," Zuko said. "I have some unfinished business with him."

Sokka nodded. "Meanwhile, us non-benders will stay with the army and help it take the capital. Dad, are your men bringing the sea-mines?"

"Why would we bring sea-mines to a land battle?"

"Because we're not going to use them as sea-mines," Sokka replied.

"Alright, I trust you know what you're doing. I'll have them brought."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Aang said.

After Zuko and Mai had said their goodbyes, the four of them got on to Appa and prepared to depart.

"Good luck, Aang!" Sokka called. "Look after him, Katara!"

"I will! Good luck!"

"I'll punch Ozai for you!" Toph called.

With that, the Sky-bison rose into the air, and soon Sokka was watching as his friends receded into the distance in the direction of the Caldera.

Sokka watched them go for a while, and then turned back to Suki and Mai.

"Suki, you should go and join your warriors," he began. "They need their leader."

Suki nodded, kissed him, and hurried off. There was a job to do, so there was little time for much else.

"How much do you know about Fire Nation tactics?" he asked Mai. He had initially wanted Zuko here for that reason, but surely Mai could prove just as valuable.

"Enough," she replied. "I worked alongside the Fire Army in the earth kingdom hunting you, remember?"

"All too well," Sokka said. "We should get going, anyway. It's not a long march but we need to be there by the time of the eclipse."


The Army of the Triple Alliance had been marching inland for about two hours when scouts reported suspicious movements from ahead.

"There have been skirmishes with Fire Nation scouts," one of them reported to the group of generals that Sokka and Mai were with.

"Individual firebenders won't pose much of a danger," one of the generals said.

"True," replied Mai. "But perhaps whatever they are scouting for could."

Sokka's heart sank. So they would have to fight their way to the Caldera, after all.

Shortly afterwards came further reports. A large army of Firebenders had been sighted. Scouts had not been able to precisely estimate how large it was, but they did know it was more than 8,000. In other words, they were now outnumbered.

"What do we do?" Kuei asked.

"Have our scouts found a suitable battlefield?" Sokka asked.

"There's a large plain not that far off the road," the scout replied.

"Good. Have the troops form up there."

The battlefield, it turned out, was bordered by a river on one flank and a cliff on the other. Sokka thought that their battlefield could not have been chosen better. There was still several hours before the eclipse, so they had some time.

Sokka placed the waterbenders on one flank, closest to the river. On the other flank he placed the Kyoshi Warriors, and in the middle the southern water tribe warriors, with each body of troops being mostly made up of earthbenders.

They didn't have to wait long for the Fire Nation to offer battle. Soon, the first marching columns of the Fire Army were entering the plain, and beginning to fan out opposite their positions.

"Should we attack now?" One of the generals said.

"They are still organising, we would have the element of surprise."

"We shouldn't," said Mai.

"Why shouldn't we? We have the advantage here."

"If we defeat them by doing something dishonourable, such as, for example, attacking while they are still forming up, that reduces the chance of them accepting they were defeated."

"Dishonourable?" the general thundered. "The Fire Nation lost any pretence at honour on the day of the last Sozin's Comet! You may feel that if it comes down to victory or honour, honour is more important, but I would choose victory every time!"

"Wait," Sokka held his hand up. "I trust you, Mai. We'll follow your plan."

"WHAT!"

"You heard."

Another half an hour passed.

By now, most of the enemy army was on the field. Sokka watched a few tanks rumble into position on the flank.

Then, a flame shot into the sky, aimed towards the flank nearest the river, swiftly followed by four more shots of flame. That flank began to move forward. As the Firebenders charged, the earth shifted under their feet, opening sudden trenches and holes into which some of them fell, their war cries replaced by shouts of alarm and pain.

The northern waterbenders moved their arms in unison, causing the river to rear out of its bed and crash into the side of the advancing formations. Hundreds of firebenders were immediately washed away.

Sokka heard Mai give an involuntary gasp beside him. He knew she was on his side, but it still must have been extremely jarring making war on her own countrymen and women.

Still the charge came on, but by the time it reached the front lines of the Coalition army it had basically run out of momentum. The Firebenders basically bounced straight off their lines. They shot a few close range fireballs into their ranks, which were easily extinguished, and then retreated.

"What would they do now?" Sokka asked Mai.

"If they don't break an enemy at first, they try again with increased force, which means those tanks."

Sure enough, a second fiery signal shot into the sky over the fire nation lines, and over on the other flank the tanks lurched forward.

That was the flank the Kyoshi Warriors were on, and so Sokka decided to do something.

"It's time to use those mines."

Sokka had set aside some earthbenders, and he had them fashion large cups out of earth. Into each of them was rolled a sea-mine.

At a signal, each Earthbender threw his mine at the tanks.

Hakoda had called these mines the stink and sink, and while they wouldn't be able to do much sinking they would have other purposes.

Sokka watched as the first projectile hit a tank. Upon impact it burst, scattering seaweed that tangled into the tracks of the vehicle. It emitted a terrible groan and ground to a halt. Which was when a terrible smell reached Sokka's nostrils.

"Oh Agni," he heard Mai groan in disgust beside him. The two of them were right at the back of the battlefield overseeing the tactics, and they could still smell it.

It must have been so much worse in the tanks though. Sokka saw the hatches thrown open, as the crew scrambled out, retching, and ran away as fast as their legs would carry them. With luck, nobody would be going near that tank for a very long time.

As the other tanks also recieved direct hits, clogging up their tracks and stinking out their cockpits, the assault on that flank petered out too. The infantry that had been following along behind the tanks were similarly discouraged by the terrible smell.

"Great, now we attack along the river," said Sokka.

"The smell on the other flank will affect our troops as well as theirs, besides, they are weaker on that flank."

"Let it be done," the general replied. "One sharp blow and this war is over."

He stepped forward, and concentrated. The ground in front of the troops nearest the river began to swirl, as individual pebbles danced across it, forming words and symbols to be read by the divisional commanders; first came the word advance, and then a large arrow pointing at the section of the enemy line they wanted them to advance towards.

Sure enough, the troops began to move forward. Those of them who had weapons levelled them as they marched. Those who did not used their earthbending to create shields which they held out in front of them to block incoming fireblasts.

Sokka watched as they smashed into the weakened fire nation flank, and a melee ensued. Earth, fire and water were all thrown about as the two sides struggled. However, the Fire Army was having a worse time of it; the earth and waterbenders were slowly pushing forward, having to fight hard for every step.

On the other hand, though, the Fire Nation commander was not taking this lying down. Another spurt of flame went into the air, as their centre began to turn itself around and attack the advancing column. Suddenly, the troops at the front of the formation found themselves being attacked on two sides.

"Send in our centre," said Sokka. "Theirs is distracted, so let's use it."

The general nodded, and used his earthbending writing technique to order the centre forward.

The firebenders, whose flank was already crumbling, now had their centre thrown into disarray as they were attacked on two sides. Meanwhile, their other flank was still dealing with the terrible smell from Hakoda's sea mines. Many of them had already fled the field and those who had not were struggling to maintain their formation, gagging and holding their uniforms up over their noses.

Sokka had known that a weapon called the "stink and sink" would do that, but he hadn't been expecting it to be that potent.

A Great War-cry arose from the southern water tribesmen and earth soldiers in the centre as they crashed into the enemy centre, in turn now forcing the firebenders to fight on two sides. Under the pressure, Sokka saw the first firebenders in the centre begin to flee.

The others saw it too, and within minutes a rout had developed. The firebenders did not need much of an excuse to flee the overpowering aroma from the sea-mines, and Sokka watched with satisfaction as the enemy army lost all cohesion and fled.

"We did it!" He shouted.

"Well done," the Earth King said happily. "Keep this up and there might be a place on the Council of Five for you."

"We'll deal with that later," Mai interrupted, but we should follow them now."

"Yes, right." Sokka composed himself. "We do still have somewhere to be and we don't want to allow them to regroup. Take us back to the road."

Morale was high as the army marched onwards. There was still a couple of hours before the eclipse, they would still reach the Caldera before it happened, and they had already vanquished one Fire Army in a pitched battle without the use of it.

"Look!"

Sokka looked, and soon he saw a Sky-bison flying towards them.

"They're back already?" He asked. "Do you think they managed to defeat the Firelord without the eclipse?"

"I hope so."

That hope was soon replaced by dread, though. For as Appa came close enough for the faces of his passengers to be made out, it became apparent from their expressions that whatever had happened there, it hadn't gone well.