Aang's eyes widened in realization and horror. "We got to move now!"

The group hopped on Appa who took off into the air, flying as fast as they could from Ba Sing Se to the Fire Nation colonies.

Only when they got there, what they saw weren't the colonies.

Fire.

Everywhere they could see there was fire.

"That's a lot of fire." Toph muttered, feeling the heat.

Or in Toph's case, she could feel fire in every direction even if she was sitting on top of Appa.

"No…" Sokka whispered, horror-struck by the sheer fiery carnage before him and his friends.

This couldn't be real.

They had won the war.

They had stopped the Fire Lord.

They had brought peace back to the world.

So why did it feel like they had accomplished nothing even after everything they had been through?

"We have to fan out and search for survivors." Aang immediately said, jumping off of Appa and flying over the burning town with his glider.

Appa let out a small whine as he landed on the ground and allowed the others to disembark.

Toph landed on the ground first and 'stared' sadly at the fire. "…There's not going to be any survivors."

Katara looked at Toph and then at the fire, the memories of a dozen places like this being burned during the war flashing to life in her mind.

"We need to be careful…Whoever did this might still be around here." Sokka said quietly.

They knew he was trying to focus on finding the perpetrator for this massacre so he didn't have to focus on the horror of it.

They were all trying to cope in their own way.

It was the only they could even stand in the middle of fire that was spreading through the destroyed town.

BOOM!

BOOM!

Team Avatar jumped as fiery explosions shook the ground but that wasn't the end of it as a laugh was heard that sent chills through them despite the heat.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

They watched as a figure made of literal fire and rock stepped out of the fire, grinning evilly at the group.

"Wh-What is that?!" Sokka jumped back, holding his sword tightly.

"Whatever it is, it's made of rock…and it has a heartbeat!" Toph exclaimed, shocked by what her senses were telling her.

"That voice…" Aang's eyes went wide. "Fire Lord Ozai!"

"Formerly Fire Lord Ozai just I am formerly the Phoenix King." The fiery creature stepped forward. "Those names and titles mean nothing to me now but I will settle for being the new Agni to suit my new status...As a GOD OF FIRE!"

With that he released a blast of fire at Team Avatar but Aang and Toph raised a wall of earth to protect them.

BOOM!

The fire still blasted through the wall, causing them to duck and jump out of the way.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The creature, formerly known as Ozai but now calling himself Agni walked forward, his footsteps melting and torching the ground with each step he took. "I suppose I should thank you as I feel this miracle only came forth because of you humiliating me and taking away my Bending. Now I am something truly greater than any man, no matter what titles I had held before."

"Why are you doing this?!" Aang shouted as he stood up. "These were your people! Your subjects! As Fire Lord, former or not, you're supposed to protect them!"

"They were traitors for supporting my treacherous son and you. As I told Zuko all those months ago, the people are the Fire Nation are not just the subjects of the Fire Lord, but are an expression of his will! They chose to ally with Zuko, thus they are no longer my people. So I exercised my right and gave them proper punishment." Agni scoffed. "Just they reject me, I reject you and my foolish son's ideals for a world of weak peace. They did not help him anymore against me than it did your people when they were exterminated like the rodents they were and it will not help you. You cannot trick your way into rendering me powerless this time."

"The world needs to heal! We are trying to help it heal from the damage you have done! How can you stand there and justify this?!" Aang gestured to the fiery landscape around them. "How does this make you powerful?!"

"The ability to control and bend everyone and everything to your will is the duty of those born with the divine right to rule. The chance to make all bow before you. You would understand this if you were not born amongst those weak monks who could not see death coming until it was literally staring them in the face." Agni retorted. "It does not matter if you are the Avatar for you are too weak to understand what it means to be truly powerful. If so, you would have long ago taken matters into your own hands, overthrown my kingdom but instead you ran and hid like a coward and only faced me when you learned how to steal my bending. Those gifted with power are allowed the right to impose their will on the world around them in any manner they see fit."

"That's a lie!" Aang barked. "What you seek could never be found with this! It cannot be found in enslaving others either! The only reason you continued the war was because it was never enough!

"It didn't give your ancestors the peace they sought either and you thought by wiping out everyone who resisted you then you would find it. You're still not going to find it, even as you are now. It doesn't matter what you do to me or my friends, but I know we will not die in need or want of anything no matter how much pain you inflict. Even if it hurts our bodies, our spirits and souls will not feel any pain at all." Aang brought a hand to his chest. "All they will wish is that when the end comes, it will end as quickly as possible."

Agni seemed bored from hearing Aang's speech. "Are you done?"

"I see my words have fallen on deaf ears or whatever you have that lets you hear." Aang frowned and sighed.

"Indeed they have. I frankly never understood your kind and their so-called spiritualism. They spoke of letting go of their connection to the physical world but we both know that only truly happens when you die. All of their babbling nonsense about higher purposes and ascending when they couldn't bother look right in front of their eyes." Agni scoffed. "You and my brother truly are alike and that only further disgusts me. I had wanted to burn you alive simply for all the humiliation you caused me but for that nonsense you just spewed I think I will stretch it out. With Zuko, it was quick simply because he was once my son who shared my blood…For you, I will look forward to hearing you scream."

With that, Agni let loose a blast of fire at Aang who spun his staff, using his airbending to block the flame and sent it back at Agni who simply walked through the fire blast, completely unaffected.

"Fool! Unlike last time, I cannot be hurt by my own power!" Agni roared as he raised his hands and fired twin streams of fire at the Avatar and his friends.

Katara raised his hands, summoning water from her flask to block the flames but the sheer heat cancelled out both the fire and her water which evaporated instantly. Toph raised an earth wall that blocked the other attack. However the rock wall eventually melted, forcing the group to scatter.

Agni laughed as they rushed to dodge his attack. "Pathetic. Look at you, scurrying like rats. You all who became so famous for stopping me and now you can't even lay a finger on me."

His eyes narrowed as he spied Sokka getting up from the ground. "You…"

Sokka gulped as he watched the fiery monster approach.

"I remember you having the nerve to mock, only after I was stripped of my bending. Typical Water Tribe peasant. Only having a spine when you know your enemy is helpless. So tell me…wretch, where's your mocking attitude now?"

Sokka slowly got up, pulling out his boomerang only for Agni to send a fiery blast at him.

"NO!" Aang landed in front of the attack, spinning his staff and creating a wind barrier that blocked the attack and redirected it into the sky.

"You…" Agni glared.

"I am not letting you hurt anyone else. No one wants a war anymore." Aang pointed his staff at the fire demon. "You're alone."

Agni chuckled. "All the better…I and I alone will be the one to finish what my ancestors started. First I will kill the last Airbender, and then I will burning the Earth Kingdom to the ground. After that, I think I will pay a visit to the Water Tribes, since my army did such a good job wiping out the Water Bender population."

Katara snarled from nearby as she stood up.

"Then all that's left will be fire." Agni chuckled. "A fire god for the Fire Nation to worship. No longer will there be any need for heirs or Fire Lords."

"You are no god, Ozai." Aang snapped.

"To all, I might as well be." Agni took a step forward. "I might not even die like a human does…Or even the Avatar. If I remember correctly, when you die then the next Avatar is a Water Bender." He glanced at Katara. "I wonder how you would find a way once the tribes have BURNED!"

Aang let out a scream as he activated the Avatar state, gathering the surrounding fire around in a sphere of wind, pulling water from the air no matter how difficult it might be and lifting pieces of earth up from the ground.

"Yes, that's it…" Agni grinned. "Show me that power again…Show me the glow I despise…Show me your strength, Avatar so I can snuff it out!"

With that, Agni let out a roar of his own as the ground around him blazed with fire and was slowly lifted up into the air, seemingly coming carrying Agni into the air as if he was truly the deity he now believed himself to be.

The two elemental forces of nature stared each other down for one second…

And then shot towards each other, colliding with each other in a large blinding explosion.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Katara and Sokka watched as the four elemental powers surrounding Aang collided with the fire surrounding Agni, both of them screaming as they tried to overpower the other.

"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Aang roared with the voices of all his past incarnations.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Agni roared back, his power burning with the fury of a thousand suns.

These two forces of nature fought with such power that land and sky seemingly trembled. The sky overhead was covered in dark clouds while a powerful hot wind swept through the land, actually pushing Katara, Sokka and Toph back as they looked on from below. Fire raged against fire, earth, air and water, creating steam and magma but Aang continued gather more power around him as he struggled to overpower Agni. Meanwhile, Agni kept on summoning more and more fire from his body, pushing back Aang's elemental attacks with sheer power.

Soon enough the very earth itself was beginning to shake from these two powers that fought for dominance.

It was scary…

And blinding.

The fire emitted from Agni was blinding, forcing Sokka and Katara to cover their eyes while Toph simply continued to 'stare' up at the battle. "…Okay, that's a lot of fire."

Then it happened.

Agni roared and let loose a fiery blast so powerful it forced the clouds above to scatter, the land to shake so much it felt like it would break…

And the two combatants were sent flying in opposite directions like meteors.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!" Katara screamed, seeing Aang shooting through the air and fell to the ocean in the distance, vanishing out of sight a second later.