The 2nd day of negotiations resumed at 7:00 in the morning, this time with Lithuania's leader, Antanas Smetona also at the table. "So, what we propose is a two crown system, similar to what the Austro-Hungarians did." Said Chamberlain clasping his hands
"I will not accept this. Lithuania will not sacrifice their sovereignty to please the great powers." Smetona screamed. "The point of this deal is for you to not lose your sovereignty. You will have a joint rule with Poland. You will unite and put your resources together." Prince Wilhelm 3 said.
"If you don't accept this, we can't stop Poland from using military force against you." He added. It was a blatant lie to those that were there yesterday but luckily Smetona wasn't. Right when Smetona was about to say something an aide burst into the room breathing heavily.
"Sirs, Paris and London have been nearly destroyed." He said. "What is this blasphemy, how could they have been destroyed?" Lebrun practically screamed. The aide handed them the newspaper.
Paris, London, Warsaw Destroyed Among Other Cities
Lebrun, Chamberlain, and Raczkiewicz stood silent. "YOU, YOU GERMAN BASTARDS DID THIS. YOU DIDN'T THINK THAT THE DEAL WOULD GO SO WELL DID YOU. SO YOU PLANNED FOR OUR CITIES TO BE BOMBED. I KNEW WE SHOULDN'T HAVE TRUSTED A GERMAN LIKE YOU!" Lebrun screamed at Wilhelm 3. "President Lebrun, Berlin has been destroyed too." The aide said.
Lebrun instantly stopped in his tirade. "What else has been destroyed?" Chamberlain asked. "London, Warsaw, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Istanbul, Moscow, Manchester, Dublin, New Delhi, Cairo, Alexandria, Tokyo, Nanking, Chicago, Rio, New York City, Ottawa, Mexico City, and much more." The aide said. "Here's a letter for all of you as well. It's sent from a nation called the Phoenix Empire."
"All of us?" Lebrun asked. "Yes," the aide said, handing a letter to everyone. Wilhelm took the letter and began to read.
'Greetings Leader of the Nation of Germany, I am the Phoenix King, leader of the Phoenix Empire. We hail from another world and have conquered our entire world. It was I who blew up Berlin. This letter was sent to you to ask for you surrender. We would like to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. What we have done is a small fraction of our strength. In our world, people can control the elements such as air, water, fire, and earth. We control fire. We burned down your glorious city to the ground and we will do it again just to your whole country if you don't surrender. If you do agree to surrender, travel to the place you call Western France and you will see a man dressed in red. You will pledge your fealty to him and we will accept your pledge. We are already in the process of moving our troops and ships out of the entrance into your world. We expect to see you in 2 days. Sincerely the Phoenix King.' Prince Wilhelm read to himself.
The aide had stepped out for a second and came in bearing more news. "Some of the royal family has escaped but not all. King George 6 is dead. His daughter, Elizabeth, who was away from London for the day is being sworn in. Luckily the houses were not in session but still a few died in the fire. Wilhelm," the aide said turning to the prince, "Your father is dead. You are now the new Kaiser of Germany."
To both Chamberlain and Wilhelm, it felt like the world was falling apart. For Chamberlain, the main governmental area in his entire nation had been destroyed. The monarch was dead. Chamberlain put his head into his hands as a sign of mourning. He mourned for what could be the end of the British Empire. Wilhelm just stood still with his mouth agape. He was now the Kaiser of Germany. His father was dead. His mother was most likely dead too. Wilhelm would never be called Will by his father again. He knew his fathers life was coming to a close but he didn't expect this quickly. Wilhelm sat down in the nearest chair and also put his face into his hands. He mourned for his people, his family, for his country.
Lebrun had also sat down thinking about the loss of Paris. However, Raczkiewicz kept his cool. "Now is not the time to mourn. We must cast aside this pettiful argument we just had and rather focus on the big picture. We have all been attacked, even you Smetona. We've been attacked mentally, politically, and economically. They did not aim for our military. They aimed for our centers for political, civilian, and economic activity. We must all unite for a common cause." He said. Wilhelm nodded, "Send a letter to all the nations of the world. Have them go to Vienna for a conference. We will decide what to do. This Phoenix King is extremely arrogant. He expects us to submit to him after his show of power. He is either so confident or so stupid that he mentioned where his army is. It's in Western France. Likely near a waterway since they said they would be sending ships. So let's come together to defeat this great enemy."
The other leaders nodded. "Aide, can we trust you to do this?" Wilhelm asked. The aide saluted. He could tell that they might have a fighting chance. He just felt it. "Yes sir," he said before running off to send the letters. "Each of us should go back to our nations and address our people. It's the right thing to do. Then we will reconvene in Vienna" said Raczkiewicz. The others nodded and quickly took off for their countries.
Around the World
"September 8th, a day that will live in infamy." Came the voice of the President of the United States.
"We were attacked unprovokedly by the Nation of Firebenders." Yelled Joseph Stalin to crowds of cheering Soviets.
"Our capitals and major cities were destroyed!"
"Our political, economic, and civilian capitals have been destroyed." The president of Poland said.
"Peace can not be an option of coexistence between Italy and the Phoenix Empire."
"Millions of our own country men have been killed!" Ataturk raised his arms to millions of Turks in Ankara.
"They have fought dishonorably and dishonestly. For that they must pay." Hirohito said on the radio in Japan for the first time.
"They have hurt our allies and friends. Even if they have not attacked us directly, they have attacked the main economic sections of the world." Smetona stated in a speech to the populace.
"Even now, they decide to march towards Paris without even our response. Even if France was alone we would fight. But we are not alone!" Lebrun said.
"The German Empire has been attacked by this cowardly foe. They have slaughtered our king. The honest Germans in Berlin. They burned it down with their bending. This offense against Germany can not be ignored!" The new Kaiser Wilhelm 3 spoke into the microphone.
"Our nation and our mother nation have both been attacked." Mackenzie King pointed out.
"We will not surrender to these infidels. We shall fight wherever we see fit. We shall not surrender!" The president of Brazil told his aide, who was writing everything he said down.
"The United Kingdom now calls on all its subjects to unite for a common cause." Chamberlain said.
"We will not surrender to these foes. As I'm speaking now our forces move to Le Mans to meet these firebenders. These foes are so evil that the Germans have agreed to help us in our endeavors!" Lebrun smiled.
"Germany will always go against dictators. When the madman Hitler tried to take power 6 years ago, we fought him with tooth and nail. Now we will do the same to the Fire Nation."
"So members of the Senate I urge you to vote to declare war on the Fire Nation for blowing up our industrial centers and killing 3 million Americans."
"Hereby the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics declares war on the Fire Nation."
"The United Kingdom declares war."
"The French Republic will now declare war."
"The Empire of Italy will declare war."
"Lithuania declares war."
"Canada will join her mother nation and declare war on the Fire Nation."
"We will avenge our fallen comrades. Turkey is now in a state of war with the Fire Nation."
"Brazil has declared war on the Fire Nation."
"Poland has declared war."
"Mexico has declared war."
"The Empire of Japan has declared war."
"The British Raj will join their mother kingdom in going to war with the Fire Nation."
"China will put aside its differences and form a United front against the Fire Nation."
"The German Empire will not let this go unheard of, we will avenge the fallen and go to war with the Phoenix Empire."
The deadliest war in the history of the two worlds has begun.
In the Earth Kingdom
The Gaang traveled through the air watching the Fire Nation ship below them. They were in the Northern Earth Kingdom and the ship below them was hugging the coast.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Sokka asked. "It's the only way we could find the portal to this new world." Aang said as he snapped the reins again and Appa sped up.
It was at that moment when they saw Fire Nation ships lining up to enter a river.
"Should we block the river?" Katara asked, watching hundreds of Fire nation ships traveling down the river. "There's way too many Fire nation ships and even more soldiers that would make it impossible for us to even escape. Plus we wouldn't even reach the portal." Zuko said.
Aang shook his head and snapped the reins again. He looked to his left and he saw thousands of soldiers marching along the rivers bank. Tanks rolled across the side as well. "We might need more people to help defend this place." Aang said.
Sokka looked to the side and his eyes widened. "This is bad." He said. "Let's hope they're more advanced than my man made them seem to be." Zuko said, staring straight ahead.
It was then that the portal came into view. It was a swirling circle of purple and blue. It was mesmerizing. They all sat looking into the swirling portal. "By the little sound you guys are making, I'll assume that we found the portal?" Toph asked.
"Are we landing or going through now?" Sokka asked. "There's nowhere for us to land." Aang said looking down. Surrounding the portal was an army of Fire nation soldiers stretching out for miles in every direction.
"So we are all in agreement about going through this portal. We're not sure what's on the other side. We may never come back." Aang told them. "Aang you know we're with you. If it means traveling to a new place with new people, we're in." Katara said and the others nodded. "We're with you Aang." Toph said.
Aang nodded, "Yip Yip Appa," Aang said. Appa lifted high in the air and moved towards the portal. Aang snapped the reins one last time before entering the portal.
Vienna
Raczkiewicz walked into the building in Vienna. It was a quaint building and all the leaders had worn disguises to enter just in case the Fire Nation decided to destroy them all in one blow.
Each of them were given an identification card telling the security guards that they were indeed them. They were instructed to not tell anyone of these cards.
Raczkiewicz entered the building and showed his identification card. The guards let him use the stairs and he walked up the stairs and entered the room to the right. Inside was a giant table and many of the leaders were already there. He was 10 minutes early and was sure many would come in the next 15.
15 minutes later all the leaders of the world had arrived. It did not matter who you were and where your country was. Every single country was affected economically by the Fire Nation attacks. Each one had a score to settle with the Fire Nation.
"We all know why each of us have been called." Chamberlain began. All the leaders nodded their heads. "We have come to think of a course of action to deal with the Fire Nation. We have to decide how we will distribute our forces to attack the Fire Nation. Germany and France have already United their forces to stop the advancing Fire Nation army. So what will we do?" He added.
Many people began speaking at once. Raczkiewicz put his head into his hands. Some were arguing how they would not work with each other. Some were saying how they would not waste their armies in a pointless war.
"My friends," Raczkiewicz said. Everyone stopped talking and looked at him. "We have all been affected by the Fire nation." Everyone began talking but he put up his hand. "The Fire nation has blown up some of the major centers of trade in the world. In a few days we'll all see the effects of this on each of our economies. This is a time for us to unite. A time for us to come together to face a common enemy which is the Phoenix Empire or the Fire Nation. However you want to call them, it doesn't matter. Regardless, the economic, political, and civilian centers of the world. We shall not surrender to them. It doesn't matter who your enemies and friends were. Now we have to forget that. If we're not united, we will fall. This will be the end of everything we've ever had. We will all be subjects to this foe. We must fight against this evil dynasty that is the Fire Nation. We must bring this world of theirs freedom and our ideals. Democracy, Communism for you Stalin, Fascism for you Mussolini. You two have to put aside your ideological differences. We can also share our technology as well. We must free their world. And to do that we must defeat the Fire Nation. And to defeat the Fire Nation we have to unite. We have to put aside our differences for this cause. This is what our countries and in all honesty, what our world and their world needs."
It started with claps from Chamberlain, Wilhelm, and Lebrun. Then Smetona, Ataturk, and Mackenzie King. Then soon everyone was standing and clapping for Raczkiewicz. What Raczkiewicz had just spoken would be known as The Great Speech of Raczkiewicz. Raczkiewicz smiled.
Somewhere in between worlds
"Ahhhhh" everyone on Appa screamed. They felt like they were be twisted and flipped and twirled. Appa let out a groan as they were twirled. Momo squeaked and held on to Appa's fur. Aang desperately tried to hold onto the reins.
They all held desperately to Appa's saddle. All fearful of what would happen if they let go and fell. Aang closed his eyes tightly for a few short seconds and he suddenly felt wind against his face. He opened his eyes and saw blue skies.
He looked down and realized they were fairly close to the river and there was a Fire Nation ship directly in front of them. "Yip Yip" he called and Appa lifted high in the air. He decided not to follow the river and instead went away from the Fire Nation navy.
Off in the distance he saw a cloud of smoke. Aang decided to head toward the smoke and realized that it was the Fire Nation Army. Aang snapped Appa's reins and they sped ahead of the large Fire Nation Army.
Unbeknownst to Aang, three Bf 109's laid above the cloud cover watching them. "Commander, what do we do?" The right wingmen asked. "In 5 kilometers, we'll force them to land since we'll be near the airbase. They could be spies." The commander replied over the radio.
Meanwhile Aang and Gaang chilled while sitting on Appa. Aang took in the environment. It looked very lush with many forests. Sadly he knew what would happen to them. They would be destroyed along with this entire world if Aang and his friends didn't help them.
This entire world would be easily conquered by the Fire Nation if he didn't help them. They would all die and fall like Ba Sing Se and the Earth Kingdom. Aang was so lost in thought he didn't see the three winged metal objects pull up next to Appa.
"They're only kids, commander." The left wingman told the commander as he pulled to the left of the winged beast. The beast seemed to be a large flying bison. The commander pulled to the right of the winged beast while his right wingman pulled behind. "They could still be spies, I'd rather them interrogated." The commander said.
He pulled his cockpit window down and waved to the person driving the animal. "Guten Tag!" he said waving. "My friends and I were wondering if you could land." He asked sincerely but added the edge to his voice that said that if they didn't there would be consequences.
Aang looked to his left to see the winged objects flying next to him with a man wearing a mask over his mouth. He watched the person pull down the mask and wave and heard him say to land. Aang wasn't so sure what to do.
"Should we?" Aang looked back asking. He looked at the side of the winged objects and saw a black plus sign with a white lining. "I think we can outrun them. They might be Fire Nation." Katara said.
"I've never heard of any Fire Nation things looking like that." Zuko said nodding his head toward the flying objects. "Yip yip" he said and Appa took off.
The planes seemed to follow them and no matter how fast Aang went the planes stuck with them. "Land now, or we'll open fire on you and most likely kill all of you and your beast. We don't want that." The commander yelled.
Aang slowed down and shook his head. He looked back to everyone. "I don't think they're Fire Nation." Zuko said. Aang signed and began to descend.
"They're descending, have a ground force about 100 meters from base for apprehension." The commander said into his radio. He and his planes circled around the beast for a bit before they were close to the ground and a force of men stood waiting to apprehend them. Then the commander and his wingmen returned back to base.
When Appa landed they found themselves surrounded by men in blue and green uniforms. Each of them holding something wood. "Put your hands up." One of the men in the green uniform said. They all did that. "Parlez-vous français?" One in the blue uniform spoke.
Aang shook his head. "Don't anger them. They're holding things that can shoot pointed metal things." Toph said. "Can you bend it?" Whispered Sokka. "There's too much wood on it. If I tamper with it, it could go off and kill us all."
"Ahh, ils parlent anglais." The people in blue said. "You're coming with us." The leader of all the troops said. They all decided to follow and not put up a fuss after what Toph had said. Aang couldn't help but wonder if he made the wrong decision
They reached a large building surrounded by more winged things. They were funneled inside and searched. "Hey that's my boomerang!" Yelled Sokka as his boomerang and sword were taken away.
Aang was thrown into a room and was quickly tied to a heavy chair. Across from him a man in a green uniform sat down. "Hallo could you please tell us your name?"
Aang weighed his options carefully. On one hand he could tell them who he was or he couldn't. Aang did not believe they were Fire Nation and would most likely not know who he was."My name is Aang."
The man nodded. "Now, why are you here. It's obvious your from the other world. Our pilots saw you emerge from the portal. Have you come to spy on us?" He asked.
"What? No!" Aang said shaking his head. He had heard what would happen to spies in the Fire Nation and it wasn't very pleasant. He didn't want to know what would happen to spies here. They could kill him and all his friends. They could kill Appa and Momo.
"I'm the avatar." Aang said. The man looked at him funnily, "What's an avatar?"
"The avatar is the person in my world taht can control all the elements. I can bend air, Fire, water, and earth. My friends are my teachers. I'm the person who is supposed to bring balance to the world. We came to lend your world a hand since we couldn't save ours. We don't want events to repeat themselves." Aang said.
The man in the uniform looked at him for a long moment before he took out a knife. Aang winced preparing for pain but he felt the ropes being loosened. "We'll let your friends out if you can prove that you can bend all the elements."
Off the Coast of Northern England
The crew of the Nelson sat eating in the dining hall. People were laughing and joking around. For the people on board life was good. Few of them had lost people in the explosions in London and Manchester. Most were the children of farmers. Of course they wanted revenge, but right now was a time to enjoy life before they were at war.
That's when suddenly the ship sirens went off. "Fire Nation Ships emerging from the Loire River. All sailors move to the briefing room." Everyone immediately stood up and began moving to their briefing room far into the ship.
"Men," the ships commander said to them. "The Fire Nation has emerged from the Loire River. It is our job and Rodney's job to intercept them and destroy them. Our destroyer escorts will be joining us along with the Hood and planes from the Ark Royal."
All the sailors nodded. "This is our chance of revenge against the Fire Nation. So men, go to your stations, prepare for battle." The commander saluted them and they saluted back before they ran off to their stations.
In the Skies over the border of France and Germany
Aang and his friends sat in a large plane on its way to Vienna. Around them were 10 German (as the interrogator called them) soldiers carrying what they call guns. Aang had told the people after they had been released that he needed to see the world leaders to tell them about the Fire Nation.
Luckily the head of the airbase understood and a large 'plane' was brought from a hangar. Appa was left back at the airbase much to Aang's dismay but the head of the airbase said he might be shot down if he took a flying bison. All Aang had was Momo.
He had been told that even if they tried anything, the soldiers would shoot at them plus they were over a 'kilometer in the sky' as the head of the airbase said. Aang also knew he had no idea how to fly this.
Aang shuddered as the plane twisted in turbulence. He much preferred Appa.
20 kilometers away from Lyon
So-Lin sat driving his tank peacefully. His Fire Nation tank had been equipped with a giant crossbow on top for heavy armor. So-Lin was very confident that his strong tank would defeat anything that was thrown at him.
His nation could defeat anything and anyone. If they could wipe out the air nomads, defeat the Earth Kingdom, and the water tribes. These non-benders would not stand a chance.
Even though So-Lin was a non-bender, he knew that the ability to bend was precious. A few benders can change the course of the battle. There was nothing that could stop benders and So-Lin was fine with that.
So-Lin had witnessed a surge of Fire Nation pride after the end of the war. The people were, however, itching for war. The people of the Fire Nation wanted to share their glories to not only their world but others. So when this world was found, the Fire Nation people were happy to invade.
So-Lin remembered the weird objects that the Fire Nation had found. One was something that looked like his Tundra Tank but weirder looking. Then there was a thing with wings. He remembered how the things were brought to the Fire Nation to be studied.
So-Lin was traveling with 5 other Tundra Tanks with mounted crossbows and 3 normal Tundra Tanks. They were making their way toward Le Mers, a city in this nation called France. So-Lin had no doubt they would fall with a flick of a finger. He hoped he wouldn't miss the adrenaline of battle.
Michael Wittmann sat in the gunner seat of his Panzer 4. He and 2 other Panzer 4 along with 2 French Char B-1's. The driver drove forward through the thick foliage obscuring Michael's view.
Michael let loose a sigh. He was bored on this patrol like any other. There was never any action. The last two patrols he had been on had been uneventful. This was only his 3rd time in the gunner seat of a tank. It was still a new experience but boring.
He was about 20km outside of Lyon. If he got high enough, he would be able to see the buildings. It was said that the Fire Nation was somewhere around here, approaching Paris.
"Anything sighted?" The voice of the tank leader came into the radio. Each tank, even the French ones were equipped with a radio. "Nein, nothing over here." Came one of the Panzer's "Non, only forest." A French tank driver replied.
Michael's tank broke through the trees and appeared into a clearing. On the other side, 8 Fire nation tanks rolled across the meadow. "I see 8 enemy tanks!" Michael said into his radio. The other tanks rolled out of the forest as well. "Permission to fire?" Michael asked.
"Permission granted." Came the reply of the commander. Michael picked his target. The lead tank which moved slowly towards the end of the meadow. "Driver forward," he called before he aimed for the lead tank and fired.
A deafening crack and then a giant explosion as the lead Tundra Tank was engulfed in flames.
So-Lin heard the firebenders in his tank call out, "Enemy tanks to the right!" So-Lin quickly turned the tank and the other person in the tank loaded the crossbow. He saw a grey tank come out of the forest.
He knew how dangerous the crossbow bolts were. They were made out of wood with a heavy metal spike at the end. It could pierce anything and was easy to aim.
He heard the sound of the crossbow launching a bolt and watched it pierce the grey tank coming out of the woods. Then the grey tank exploded. The. To his horror he saw another grey tank rolling to his right and 3 other tanks emerging from the woods.
"We lost the commander!" Yelled the other German Tank commander. Michael tried to put that out of his head as he aimed for the last tank and fired. Another explosion.
Michael watched the 6 tundra tanks left move out of the column. He saw the other 3 tanks fire as well and 2 more tanks were destroyed along with a tree. Michael watched as another crossbow bolt was fired from a Fire Nation tank which went right through the Char B-1 rendering it useless. Michael fired again and took out another tank whose turret went flying.
As Michael prepared to fire again a blast of fire obscured his vision of the other tanks. Once the fire had dissipated, the remaining tanks were gone. The battle that would become known as the Battle of Lyon had begun.