Hello, People of Fanfiction!

Chapter 44 is here! we're finally starting the action that we've all been waiting for, the war is finally starting, I can't believe this journey is finally coming to an end, but let's not get ahead of ourselves because the upcoming chapter are going to be really hard to write, so let's hope I finish them real soon.

Please review after reading and have a good read :)


Aang

"Bring It On, YuYen!" Aang said furiously as he jumped from behind the house to engage the enemy.

When he got on top of the building, He found The YuYen archers everywhere, it was a sight that he was used to, so he wasn't surprised.

He knew there were buildings nearby so he decided not to use fire, he had a strategy in mind that he decided to follow.

Instead he launched an airbending attack on the enemy, the attack hit its mark on some of them, but the others countered with arrows that were sent towards him, Aang didn't stop at that, he created an airball, a move that he invented himself to get him out of here, he took through the streets of Kyoshi Island to get out, and the archers started to chase him, his strategy was starting to work.

Aang couldn't get out of their range, they kept shooting at him but all he could do was merely dodge the arrows, the archers were so fast and so agile, almost as agile as airbenders, Aang had to question the amount of time they put into their training, they are the most dangerous group in the firenation after all, they had to be so agile to do such swift moves, Aang kept using the airball to get him away, but as some point he noticed that dodging wouldn't get him out of harms way, so he decided to take action.

He propelled himself into the air in a quick move, and launched another airbending attack at the archers, it knocked some of them, but the others not, and they started shooting arrows again at him, he got to the ground and created an air shield to block the arrows, he kept the air shield on and created another airball to get him away from the archers, the chase kept going and going with Aang evading the arrows and momentarily countering the attack to defend himself.

Aang kept going until he found a cabbage cart in the way, he couldn't do anything but to snuff out the airshield and the airball, and use his airbending to propel himself and get himself from between the cart, not only that, he also sent a blast of wind that throws the cart into the group of archers behind him. The stunt was followed by a guy shouting, "MY CABBAGES!"

Aang didn't pay him any attention as he created another airball and air shield and kept going, he was getting tired by now because he used a lot of energy doing airbending moves for some time, but Aang didn't know the word 'Surrender', he kept going holding the shield and ball, he's almost there, just a little bit.

Suddenly, an flaming arrow was launched and it landed perfectly in front of him, Aang thought it was just a regular flaming arrow, but he thought wrong, as mere moments after it landed in front of him, it exploded right in his face, the arrow wasn't a regular arrow, it had explosive powder inside of it, and the flame made it explode.

Aang quickly used an air shield to protect him from the blast but it wasn't enough to protect him from getting knocked over the airball and away to the nearby inn, the bystanders were eating and drinking peacefully until Aang got inside, they stopped what they were doing and simply stared at him in shock.

The Avatar used whatever remained of his energy to stand up on the counter, he found the bartender staring at him in fear.

"Avatar Aang.. Welcome to our humble establishment!" The Bartender said as he was crying in fear.

Aang was about to return the greeting until he heard the footsteps of the archers from outside the inn, he immediately got behind the counter and waited for them to arrive.

"I told you.. it's over, Avatar. Come out and face your death like a man." a voice called from behind the counter, and Aang knew it was the leader of the archers.

Aang didn't respond, he just kept thinking about what if he's right? what if it's indeed the end for him, getting killed by a bunch of mercenaries when the fate of the world is at risk? He was taught a long time ago by the monks that power and greed would definitely be the end of this world, but he didn't know it would be so true. Azula's lust for power could end the world in an instant.

"How am I not surprised that you are a spineless little runt who keeps running away from trouble? that you would risk the lives of these people because you are too much of a coward to face us?" The leader said, he hit his mark, and forced Aang to speak.

"The lives of these people? what do you care about the lives of these people, you greedy sons of bitches? you are a bunch of mercenaries, you know nothing but the language of personal profit, you don't know that by killing me, there's no hope for this world to survive." Aang responded maliciously.

The leader laughed, "You think we would fall for this stupid spiritual mumbo jumbo? the main reason that the firenation is superior to all other nations is that they don't fall for such crap, and secondly, we are not mercenaries, we are firenation soldiers, dedicated to the firelord, we follow orders because we believe in our leaders, and we support them no matter the cost." The leader responded, his voice sounded sincere, but Aang knew better.

The avatar snorted, "Yeah.. like you supported an evil maniac who was torturing the people of Yu Dao, or the other maniac who wanted to bring chaos to the world by killing the world leaders in his own nation? Firenation soldiers are nothing but paid mercenaries, nothing more." Aang said, as he was feeling energy rising up in his system.

"Again, that doesn't surprise me one bit, you know nothing about the world that you're supposed to protect.. and here I thought one day that I could just believe in you, you're nothing more but a cowardly avatar who would never stand in the face of trouble to protect his own people, and where were you when Shun tortured the people of Yu Dao, or when Firelord Ozai killed the world leaders? that's right, you were hiding, and even if you weren't, that makes you unqualified to be the avatar, You claim to be a hero? well, what did you lose to call yourself a hero? nothing. the rest of the world lost plenty, you should be ashamed of such fact." the leader said, with his archers and him aiming their arrows at the avatar.

Aang was silent for a second, remembering everything he lost, Appa, Iroh, Jet, Yue, Chief Arnook, the former avatars, his morals. it appears that same as the world, he lost plenty, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he finally felt the energy running in his system again, he was ready to fight again.

He sighed, "I lost a lot more than you could ever imagine." he said calmly.

Before getting over the counter in a swift move and before the archers could launch their arrows, he launched a firebending attack at all of them, it burned some of them to a crisp and the others just screamed till they snuffed the fire out, he didn't know which was the leader as they all looked alike, but he couldn't care.

He got out of the building to find the archers surrounding the place, arrows were launched at him from everywhere, he created another air shield to protect himself, but an arrow found its way to his shoulder, he let out a muffled scream in pain but he kept going, there was no use of his left arm anymore as the arrow hit its nervous part, so he decided to use his legs, he made a run, as fast as he could he kept running with the air shield above him to prevent the arrows.

He finally got to where he wanted, the beach, and the archers got there behind him, as soon as he got there, his eyes narrowed and he took a deep breath, he snuffed out his air shield and turned around to face the archers who stopped as well to confront him.

"Looks like you are trapped." The leader said. so he's alive after all. Aang thought. No matter, they're all about to die anyways.

"No.. you are the ones that are trapped." Aang responded calmly. before launching an all out firebending attack at the archers, he finally got out of town to stop himself from burning it to the ground, but now that he's at the beach, he can launch attacks of this sort at anytime.

The attack immediately hit its marked and it burned most of the YuYen archers to a crisp, they didn't know how good Aang was with his bending, especially firebending, Aang was very good with firebending, as well as the rest of the elements, he just found it too vicious to be used, but times like this, only fire can be used.

Some of the archers survived the all out attack, but they found something that really shook them to the core.

Avatar Aang used his firebending to propel himself to the air, a move he learned from Azula, and used his aerial advantage to launch attack at the archers, he killed almost fifteen of the twenty five archers that were sent after him, it was complete carnage at the beach that he just fought a hard battle on not too long ago.

Aang found it ironic that they just disposed of the corpses that were laid on this beach after the battle of Kyoshi Island, only to have more corpses on it only a week later.

He kept fighting not realizing that his shoulder was pouring out blood, until he felt it as he was in mid-air, and as soon as he felt it, he immediately fell to the ground.

Aang couldn't move anymore, there were at least ten archers left, including the leader but he couldn't just get himself up to kill them.

They surrounded him as he was passing out from the pain and the blood poured out of his shoulder.

But before they could do anything, they felt the sea moving oddly, until it finally moved and washed them away from beside Aang, some of them were iced in their place, and some just survived the waterbending attack.

As Aang moved his head to see the attacker, he found that it was Katara with the Kyoshi Warriors.

"Aang!" Katara called as she started to engage the YuYen Archers with Suki and The Kyoshi Warriors in toe, they didn't have the time to put on the face paint, and they were fighting with their nightgowns, even at this state, Aang found it amusing that he's watching skilled girls fighting in their nightgowns.

They finally got rid of the remaining archers, and Katara managed to arrest their leader and ice him in his place. But Aang couldn't see the rest, as soon as Katara came running towards him to check on him, his eyes shut and he passed out.


Miki

*Flashback*

Miki was sitting at the counter of Master Pakku's Waterbending academy, she just finished training with Master Pakku, and decided to refresh herself with a nice cool beverage.

She was thinking about Kai, how nice of a boy he is, she found herself to be falling in love with him, their relationship started off a little rocky and now they are dating, talk about irony, but nonetheless, she only thought that it would be a passing relationship, but now, she's sincerely thinking that it could be a relationship that would last a lifetime, at least if they both come out of the upcoming war alive, which she really hoped would happen.

She was also thinking of Lord Voccak, and how odd he's been as of late, he's been acting very weird ever since that spiritual shenanigan that happened during the party, when the evil spirit destroyed that storage of the explosives, and they decided that they would learn how to purify evil spirit, Although it proved useful as the southern watertribe learned to protect itself and it also encouraged the non-bending people to agree to the evacuation process, but for Voccak, Miki thought that wasn't the case.

He appears to have something else in mind to take from this training, he's been following Master Pakku everywhere, what could that mean? it certainly doesn't mean just trying to learn from him. Miki tried to push the negative thoughts aside, until Master Pakku came inside the cafeteria and sat beside her with a disturbed face.

Miki looked at him, waiting for him to speak, but he didn't let out a word, she kept sipping her beverage awkwardly, but still Master Pakku wouldn't budge, she felt so awkward that she didn't realized she was sipping the beverage loudly, making a noise that disturbed Master Pakku.

"Would you cut that off?" The Old Master said with an annoyed face.

Miki immediately put the beverage on the counter, "Apologies, your majesty." She said sarcastically.

"I'm in no mood for your sarcasm, Miki." The Master said, normally Miki would take that as a cue to be more sarcastic, but she really felt that he was disturbed so she decided to keep it in.

"What's wrong?" She asked, concerned for the old master.

Master Pakku kept silent for a while, until he realized that he couldn't keep that information from her, he sighed and said, "I received a message from the white lotus this morning." Master Pakku said, as he pulled the parchment out of his pocket and handed it to Miki.

Miki was confused, but then she took the parchment from the old master and opened it to read the message.

"The tattooed trader sent a hawk, he says there's a corrupt chicken in your farm, Best deal with it quickly before it spreads the disease."

That's what the message said, Miki couldn't understand.

"What does it mean?" Miki asked, looking at Pakku.

The Old Master sighed sadly, "It means there's a traitor in our midst and the avatar wants us to deal with it right away, not just a traitor, a corrupt traitor.. an evil spirit." Pakku said as he was looking at Miki with serious eyes.

Miki was shocked to the core, but she only asked, "How did you get that from this vague message? and what's the avatar gotta do with it?" She asked.

"The tattooed trader is Avatar Aang, the corrupt chicken is a term we use for evil spirits." Pakku answered.

Miki was too shocked to comprehend what Pakku just said, "It can't be.."

Pakku got stern all of a sudden, "But we will get rid of it before it spreads the disease, even if it means my own life.." He looked at Miki with all the seriousness in the world, he held her hand and said, "You're the best hope for the southern watertribe right now, I want you to trust yourself, Miki.. this is the potential I saw in you when I started training you, I saw the potential of one of the greatest waterbenders of all time, and the last hope for this tribe to fight evil spirits.. I just.. want you to be ready when it happens, Am I clear?" Pakku finished with a confirmation question, all he wanted was a sincere confirmation from Miki that she's ready, he looked at her with hope.

Miki couldn't understand the burden that was put on her shoulders at the time, she was scared and confused, Yes.. but if she knew that it would be the goodbye message from the old master she would have said more words to him than,

"I'm ready."

*End Of Flashback*

Miki was sitting on the walls of the southern watertribe that were overlooking the old forest, she kept staring at the scene, still very shocked about what happened some days ago, she had Kai by her side consoling her for the loss of the old master, but she would have none of it, the only consolation she would have is that if she carried on the old master's mission, and got rid of every evil spirit in the world. But would that be enough to get over her grief? that's something she would have to wait to find out.

She was so engrossed in her thoughts, that she never noticed the presence that made itself felt mere seconds later.

"Hello, Miki." Miki looked over her shoulders to find that it's the chief's son.

"Hello, Prince Sokka." She greeted back and kept staring ahead.

"Please.. Sokka is fine, I'm not used to those fancy titles." Sokka said as he took a seat beside her, he felt the chill of cold and so he said, "Aren't you cold?"

Miki was silent for a while before she said, "Yes, I am."

"Kai said that he asked you to come inside but you refused. I know you can't wait to get your hands on those ugly monsters but we need to preserve our energy to do so. you barely eat, you barely sleep, you sit out here in the cold, It's not heathy, you know?" Sokka said, out of concern.

Miki felt his genuine concern, but she only said, "I'm fine."

Sokka felt sorry for the girl, but he couldn't help but keep trying to get her inside, "I know how much you loved Master Pakku. we all did. but instead of being depressed, you should be proud of the way he went out, he stood tall to defend his tribe from those evil monsters, he wouldn't have wanted us to waste away after all he did for us." Sokka said.

Miki felt tears stinging her eyes, he knew he was right, Master Pakku would want the tribe to stand tall and fight for their country, but she was just too hurt to think rationally,

"I said I'm fine, okay?!" She just shouted and stood up, she went away from Sokka and to the other side of the wall.

Sokka sighed, and stood up as well, "As you wish." He simply said, and turned around to walk away, but before he got down from the wall, he said, "But for the record, I'm just as sad and angry as you are for Master Pakku's death, but I chose to move forward to be able to avenge him and protect this tribe, you ought to do the same, you have so much potential, we don't want you to waste away.. not for your sake, but for the sake of this tribe.. I'd go as far as saying you are the only hope left for this tribe at the moment. Please.. don't give in just yet." Sokka said, and he took the stairs down.

That was it for Miki, she got into a fit of muffled sobs right after Sokka departed, he said the same words as Master Pakku, that she's the only hope left for this tribe, What Sokka didn't know is that it's not only Master Pakku's death that's affecting her, but also the burden that he left on her shoulders when he said those exact words, she still doesn't believe that she's that important to them, that they really see her that way.. more importantly, she doesn't think that she's up to the task.

She kept crying, until she saw something from the distance that made her wipe away her tears to clear her vision, she saw.. them.

Miki immediately panicked, and went to the other side of the wall, and she put her hands on the rampart and shouted, "THEY ARE HERE! THEY ARE HERE!"

The Soldier standing beside the bells heard her, and with fearful eyes and panicked hands, he rang the bells.

All the soldiers kept coming out with prepared, all of them were waterbenders except for the leaders, which are Chief Hakoda and Prince Sokka, who ran to the wall beside Miki to look at them.

They kept staring in shock, they could only remember the describtions in the books, and Avatar Aang's words of them.. but nothing could describe them better than actually seeing them.

The Evil Spirits stood at a distance from the wall, some of them were floating, they were all terrified of the scene.

Until something else made them even more terrified. The Giant red spirit that came from behind them, They knew exactly who it was.

"Vattu is here." Sokka said in a low voice.

The Master Of Evil himself came to the southern watertribe, Sokka kept asking why didn't he use the other portal, why this one? But questioning himself wasn't his style.

He knew they could take on them no problem, and with Miki at their side, the waterbenders along with the avatar are the only hope left for this world, and he kept encouraging himself that they could actually do it.

Miki on the other hand was more afraid than ever, until she felt a hand touching hers, she looked beside her to find Kai looking at her with an encouraging smile.

"This is it." He said, appearing to be looking for encouragement from her himself. Miki finally got over her shock and narrowed her eyes, her face got very serious as she looked at the evil spirit Vattu and said the same words she said to Master Pakku,

"I'm ready."


Zuko

Sitting around a fire, awaiting your death seemed to be more enjoyable than Zuko could ever have thought, the soldiers were all in good spirits, or they were just pretending to be, but none the less, it was an environment to be around when you are about to die.

apart from the soldiers that are guarding the wall, including the best and strongest of the waterbenders, Petu, the remainder of the soldiers were either in their homes in the northern tribe or outside doing whatever they want to do before their doom, Zuko, Fung and Toph were sitting with a couple of soldiers having a laugh and telling jokes before they go out.

everyone was happy except for Toph, which was understandable of course, the only guy she found likable turned out to be an evil spirit, When Zuko told her of the events that transpired, he was met with a shocking reaction, she just asked a couple of questions of the incident calmly and then she never spoke of it again, Zuko knew Toph too much to know that it's because of her own insecurities, she probably told herself that he's too good for her to be real anyways, and so she surmised that something bad would happen and this relationship wouldn't go as planned anyways, poor Toph.

Zuko and Fung had some shocking news as well that was delivered to them as well, it turns out that the southern watertribe chief and his assistant are the remainder of the children of Vattu, and that a miracle girl soldier managed to purify the assistant but the chief ran away, the first question that occurred to Zuko's mind is 'How Many waterbending prodigies exist in this world?', Petu just showed incredible skills when he purified the late Northern watertribe chief Hahn, and now this girl in the southern watertribe showed pure talent as well.

The second thing that occured to his mind is that the evil spirit is definitely coming soon, all the incidents that occured as of late say so, The Evil spirit is coming, very soon, and they are the furthest away from being ready for it, maybe Petu gave him some hope that they could actually win this, but with the circumstances at hand, he knew there's no hope left.

But he still decided to spend probably the last night of his life having a laugh with Fung, Toph and the watertribe soldiers.

They were in the middle of laughter when a Watertribe Soldier stopped them to tell a joke, "Wait Wait.. Hear this one.. What did The watertribe girl tell the Lord Voccak when he was revealed as the evil spirit?" "What?" Another soldier responded.

"Vocc You!" The Soldier said and the rest of them laughed loudly, Zuko chuckled a little at the silly joke, and Fung smiled, only Toph had no reaction whatsoever.

"That was a good one, dude." another soldier said.

"What are you doing?" a voice suddenly said that stopped the laughter, they all turned their heads to Toph who said so, she spoke up for the first ever since the start and so they were shocked by that reaction of hers.

"What?" Zuko asked.

Toph's eyes narrowed and her voice got louder, "What're you doing?! The enemy is at our gates and you are telling jokes!"

"My apologies, Lady Beifong, but we are just trying to pass the time." A soldier said.

"You should pass the time training to be prepared for the upcoming attack!" Toph responded looking at the soldier menacingly, he cowered back in his place.

"Toph.. C'mon." Zuko said.

The earthbender sighed and stood up, "I need some air." She said and walked out of the main hall, and out of the palace.

She stood outside in the cold, not feeling the ground from the shoes she's wearing for the cold really dulled her senses, but she couldn't care less, as she was in agony to care, she felt her eyes sting with tears but she couldn't just let them out, she blinked them away immediately.

It was at this time that Zuko decided to come from behind her and say, "Are you alright?"

Toph snorted, "What a stupid question to ask."

Zuko couldn't believe he asked that too, "I'm sorry. I was just checking on you."

"I'm okay." Toph replied.

Zuko only knew one way to answer this question, and that was to turn head and leave her to her thoughts, but not in this case, after all, Toph is one of his best friends, and she's in agony, he needs to be there for her, because no one else will.

"Toph, Please.. talk to me." He begged her, it was the first time he's ever begged her to talk to him, so Toph turned around to look at him in shock, but then she understood his concerned and turned her head again.

She sighed, "I just.. I can't believe how shit my life is." Toph started, "Every time I think it can't any worse, it does get much worse.. what can I do to just have peace?" She said, getting emotional.

Zuko felt sorry for her, "Well, that's how life is.. this is exactly what I kept telling myself up until I ki-" He stopped himself for a second, he gulped and then continued, "until I killed my father." He said, looking at the ground.

"What happened after that? how did you get over feeling this way?" Toph asked.

It was Zuko's turn sigh, he thought long and deep before answering, "I convinced myself that life is just THAT bad. things can't get worse if you already think of the worst possibilities ahead, that's what kept me moving forward. a depressed point of view, I know.. but this was the only way for me to move forward and move on from what happened." Zuko said, still looking at the ground.

Toph finally decided to spare him a look, "It is a depressed point of view.. but at least it helps. unfortunately, I can't think the same way, as cynical as I am.. I can't just always think of the worst possibilities.. this is just who I am. and this is how I accepted myself a long time ago." The Blind earthbender confessed.

"It differs from one person to another.. I'm just not that tough." Zuko said.

Toph was about to speak, she was about to console him, even though she's the one that's hurt, but she realized that they are both so emotionally wrecked, they need to move forward to get this ship sailing, everyone, whether it's her, Zuko, Petu or anybody else.. we all have to move forward.

She's was about to tell him this, until she heard.. they all heard it.

RING!

RING!

RING!

Zuko and Toph heard it and they both looked at each other in fear.

"The Bells are ringing." Zuko said.

"They are here." Toph followed up.

Both of them decided to run for the gates, when they arrived there, they found Petu with the wall guards standing there, waiting for the attack, Petu especially, he looked extra determined.

They went by his side and stood looking at the terror that's coming to the city from the northern forest.

Petu spoke up, "That's Voccak." He said, pointing at the only man standing among evil spirits, leading from the front, he was in his human form, which perplexed Zuko, but no matter the reason, they are ready for it.

Voccak stood there with an army of evil spirits, ready to command and attack, Zuko knew that he could turn to a giant evil spirit any second, but apparently he has enough army to cover for him.

Zuko looked at Petu, and by the determination on his face as he was staring Voccak, Zuko somehow got hopeful, they could actually win this war, he then looked at Toph and Fung who arrived at their side, and found them mirroring his expression In any war, there are circumstances, a target, and the consequences, The War of the spirits has officially begun in the world, our duty is to protect the world. He knew the circumstances, and he knew the target.

let's hope the consequences won't be very severe.


And that's it for this chapter :)

I hope you enjoyed, and Please, don't forget to review.