Our forces pushed forwards until we reached the last tower that blocked our path, blasting through the walls and setting up a defensive barrier as we pushed the fire benders back. I jumped and rotated in the air, using my feet to kick a blast of water at a fire bender before quickly sweeping across the ground, somersaulting repeatedly before with a final spring I back flipped with a pirouette, throwing my hands up in the air to create several ice spiked wheels which I flung forwards to take out several fire benders before landing elegantly, turning out before pushing my hands down to calm myself. "Pretty fancy footwork you've got there, maybe you should be twinkle-toes instead." Toph called to me from where she was firing mounds of earth through our caterpillar tanks to hit back at the Fire Nation troops.

"It helps me get into the flow of things." I joked back, twirling on one foot before I leaped out from behind cover in order to aim directly for their commander with a water strike, collecting water around me and spiralling them until they were in the shape of hand sized orbs which I hardened into ice, juggling them between my hands and feet before I launched them as projectiles, hitting the leaders and commanders in the head and stomach to knock them out so that their troops would be leaderless.

"Nice." Toph appreciated so I gave her a grin and a tap of my foot in her direction so that she could feel it just as Sokka called out to his dad who was being helped by Katara to approach us, sitting him down on a rock so that he could rest from his injuries.

"Dad! You're on your feet again."

"Thanks to your sister. I'm in no shape to fight but maybe there is some way I could help."

"Everything's going smoothly and the eclipse hasn't even kicked in yet." Sokka assured him as Toph and I joined them, all of us gathered together as Katara looked up at the skies, frowning before walking off a little.

"Let's hope our luck holds out. Katara, you seem distracted. Is something wrong?" After a moment she tilted her head, squinting into the light.

"Yeah...is that...is that Aang?" All of us turned around to see, Sokka and I exclaiming with disbelief but sure enough, there was only one person who could possibly be soaring through the skies on a glider, and it was Aang, and he was headed right towards us before he landed and closed his glider with a twirl.

"Please tell 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 hoped but was immediately shut down.

"He wasn't home. No one was. The entire palace city is abandoned."

"This isn't good…doesn't that make this entire invasion pointless?" I worried, biting down on my lip as another fireball flew down and struck one of the tanks close to us, making me flinch and squeak. Being cowardly doesn't exactly help in these kind of situations. Why do you do this to yourself Kayo?

"They knew." Sokka realised, looking alarmed and slightly at a loss as to what to do.

"It's over. The Fire Lord is probably long gone. Far away on some remote island where he'll be safe during the eclipse." Thinking it over carefully, all of us naturally turned to Sokka for answers and instructions, knowing that he was the best guy for the job at a time like this.

"No. My instincts tell me he wouldn't go too far. He would have a secret bunker. Somewhere he could go so it'll be safe during a siege but still be close enough to lead his nation."

"If it's an underground secret bunker we're looking for, I'm just the girl to find it." Toph jabbed a thumb at herself, everyone settling as we began to think things through carefully and logically.

"It would make sense. There were the underground catacombs at Ba Sing Se, why not here?" I reasoned as I ruffled Toph's hat so that it sat wonky on her head, making her complain and straighten it out again. "What do we do Sokka?"

"The Mechanist gave me this timing device. It looks like we've got about ten minutes until the full eclipse. Ten minutes to find the Fire Lord." Well, that doesn't exactly give us a lot of time. Can we even make it to the underground bunker in ten minutes?

"We can still do this. We can still win the day." Aang looked determined, but Katara reasoned that it might be best if we used the time we had left to make our escape so that everybody could retreat to safety instead of risk getting captured, but Hakoda shook his head and spoke up.

"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 there's still hope, I think they would want Aang to go for it." Now we all turned to Aang for his decision, knowing that since it all depended on him, it should be his choice to make.

"What do you think? You're the one who has to face the Fire Lord. Whatever you decide, I'm with you." Standing up and turning around to face the heat of the battle, we could hear the raw determination and resolve in Aang's voice as he spoke, inspiring the rest of us to feel just as resolute and committed to this plan as he was.

"I've got to try." Katara stayed behind to serve as a medic to the injured, leaving Sokka, Toph and myself to join Aang in search of the Fire Lord as I reasoned that there were only eight minutes in the eclipse and Aang needed to focus on the Fire Lord, which still left other problems such as Azula, her friends Mai and Ty Lee, as well as Zuko to deal with.

"I doubt they're going to just sit back and let this happen. The three of us can handle them whilst you take on the Fire Lord." I said to Aang as Appa flew us into the air.

"Thanks, I'll be counting on you." Flying up to the volcano side, I couldn't help but look down on the capital with a pang. I'd never been here before, but I'd always wanted to come. I just never realised I'd be coming as an invader to my own nation. Shaking off my distraction, I focused on the task at hand as Appa landed, allowing us all to jump down where Toph immediately began to feel for the earth below her. "Do you feel anything down there?"

"Yep. There are natural tunnels criss-crossing through the inside of the volcano."

"Anything else? Is there a structure somewhere?" Sokka questioned so Toph plunged both hands into the rock in order to get a better feel for what was down there.

"There's something big, dense, and made of metal deep in the heart of the volcano."

"Sounds like a secret bunker to me." Well, looks like we've found our bunker. Burying her way in, Toph led the way as we left Appa and Momo outside, entering the volcano in order to find ourselves a Fire Lord. Pretty soon we came to a tunnel as we stepped out from within the rock and Toph felt the ground in order to get a better read of the layout around her.

"This way! That one's a dead end."

"What would we do without you?" Grateful to have Toph with us, our little earth bender smirked smugly as she answered.

"Perish and burn in hot magma." The active volcano was constantly spewing out hot lava and magma, making it rather intense to crawl past it as it pulsed and spit, making me squeak and hurry to get away from it before it could burn me alive until we came to a cavern with ventilation holes across the floor which spewed out molten lava at random. Just great. "The tunnel continues on the other side and it leads right to the bunker."

"It looks like the mountain is just vomiting at us. Should we take that as an insult?" I drawled as I leaned back slightly, not all that keen in crossing such a dangerous cavern.

"We'll have to be fast but careful." Instructing us on how to do it, Sokka attempted to run straight across the cavern only for a lava vent to erupt right in front of him, making him release a girly shriek as he hurriedly covered his head in a panic before Aang swung his staff and used a blast of cold air to rapidly cool the lava, turning it to rock. I clapped sarcastically.

"Great job Sokka. A perfect example of what not to do."

"Hey!" He protested as Aang landed beside him.

"How was that careful?" Begrudgingly admitting his mistake, Sokka corrected himself.

"I was wrong. We need to be fast, careful and lucky." So it became a dangerous game of dodge the lava, all of us cautiously moving across the cavern and relying mostly on Toph's feet when she felt the vibrations from a vent start to tremble before we made it across, only to find our next obstacle. A floor made of lava. Oh I'm loving this, this is exactly what I signed up for when I woke up this morning. "There's no floor! It's just a river of lava."

"Oh really? Because I thought it was just a river of jelly. Thanks for clearing that up." I responded sarcastically, making Sokka pout at me.

"Hey, I'm the sarcasm guy in the group. Get your own character quirk!" Sticking out my tongue, Aang spun his staff in order to open out the wings of his glider, grabbing on securely.

"Climb aboard and hold on tight."

"You're kidding, right?" Turns out, he was not. Before I knew it I was screaming in terror as I hugged Aang's waist, holding on for dear life as I begged for this to all be over soon, Sokka and Toph doing pretty much the same as we swerved uncontrollably across the cavern, Aang using air bending to keep the glider up and moving though the extra weight meant that he struggled, an explosive column of lava erupting way too close and causing us all to scream more. I was never happier to put my feet onto solid ground, breathing heavily as I recovered. "When we leave…let's not come back this way."

"I second that one." Toph nodded before we all moved onwards. Finally we found the bunker, being faced with a pair of gigantic doors which Sokka couldn't help but be impressed by as Toph walked up to it in order to give it a tap with her knuckles.

"That's some door!"

"Not a problem." With a hit from her elbow, Toph rented the metal before simply punching her way through, forcing the metal to bend and creating a hole in the previously perfect doors, stepping through before pointing in the direction of the underground throne room as we all just followed dumbly after her.

"Why is it that the toughest and most badass one of us is the youngest?" I asked which made Sokka shrug back at me in answer, choosing not to complain since it helped us get through metal doors which would otherwise be unsurpassable. Running down a corridor, we passed what looked like to be one of the war ministers who was whistling contentedly to himself when we turned around to face him, all of us taking up our battle stances as I pulled water out of one of my pouches but the guy froze, squeaking in fear and holding up his hands in surrender.

"The Fire Lord's chamber is that way down the hall to the left and up the stairs. You can't miss it." He instructed, pointing the way as we all scowled at him suspiciously, waiting on Toph to see if she sensed any lying but when she said nothing, Aang grinned and said thank you before we all followed his directions, bringing us face to face with an earth door with the Fire Nation symbol above it, with only thirty seconds left until the full eclipse.

We all came to a halt in front of the door, Aang taking a deep breath to ready himself before he nodded. "I'm ready. I'm ready to face the Fire Lord." Raising his staff, Aang blasted the door clear out of the way, allowing us all to enter in order to face the Fire Lord, expecting him to be seated on his throne surrounded by fire bender soldiers and guards, only to find it empty. Save for one.

"So, you are alive after all." Azula. "I had a hunch that you survived. It doesn't matter, I've known about the invasion for months." This…is bad.