The others didn't notice Athena wasn't in the Phantom when Hera took the ship into the sky. Having eight people on that ship at the moment made it difficult to immediately realize that the one girl was gone.
Ahsoka noticed the absence of the girl when they were about four minutes into the flight, a mere minute from the ship. The bag with no owner sat in front of her feet.
"Where's Athena?" she questioned with worried eyes.
"Crap! Did we leave her in the city?" Kanan questioned as he realized this too.
"We must've," Hera said. "We're coming in on the ship right now. Do you want me to turn around?"
The air around them got smokey and dark. Ash began to blow off from the volcano.
"The volcano is already giving off this much ash, so we don't have much time," Kanan put a hand on Hera's shoulders. "You take everyone else off the planet. I'll fly the Phantom back to get her."
Hera landed the small ship onto her freighter and locked it into place for the moment. She looked at Kanan.
"Do you think you'll be able to get her in time?"
"I'll go too," Ahsoka volunteered. "I'm her Master. I should've been more responsible in making sure she was by my side."
"Hera, we'll get her. You get these guys off the planet," Kanan assured. "We couldn't save any of the other people on this planet. Let's at least save these guys and Athena."
Hera reluctantly nodded before she stood from her pilot seat and looked to the rest of them. "Alright, get into the Ghost. This volcano is about to blow this planet to bits. I want us all off it by then."
The others looked at each other for a moment, unsure of it all.
"Now!" Hera barked. "I'm already letting Ahsoka and Kanan risk their lives to go get Athena. I don't want anyone else on my crew to be in danger."
The others followed Hera's order, sliding down the ladder into the common room. Hera looked to Kanan once more.
"Go get her back. Be safe."
"You know I will."
She pulled him in for a momentary hug - knowing time was tight. But, she didn't want to regret not giving him one at least.
Before Kanan knew it, the hug was over and Hera descended the ladder.
The Jedi wasted no time in releasing the Phantom from its mother ship and speeding back towards town. Ahsoka stood by his side, both of their eyes stern. They saw the ash getting heavier by the second. The volcano could be seen in the air glowing red at the top now.
Athena's feet beat against the ground as she began to ascend the treacherous mountain. The wind behind her pushed her faster than she would have ever hoped to run at any other time before this.
She felt the rocks give her an extra push of energy with every step. Every speck of dark soil and rock between her toes rejuvenated her body and sprung her further up the monstrous mountain. The fire in her soul fueled her spirit to keep going when her human muscles told her to stop. The water in the clouds she ran through cooled her skin and protected her from the thickening ash.
Even as she began to reach up into the higher elevations with lower oxygen levels, the air around her continued to support her every breath.
The screech of a convor echoed into her ears from the distance.
She knew what she had to do.
The ash was so thick now that she couldn't see. But, she didn't need to. She had the Force. She had the Ones.
The only thing she could see was the glow of orange left by every footprint she left on the side of the volcano. The fire was connected to her.
When she finally reached the crater at the top of the mountain, she could see nothing but black smoke. Knowing she needed to see to do her work with the magma, she needed a way to push away the ash and smoke.
She felt her hair whip about as the air rushed around her. She remembered the twisters she could make dance on the forest floors. She remembered how they took whatever they wanted away.
The swirls of wind pushed and pulled the stream of ash and smoke and balled it all up into one sphere even bigger than the Ghost. Athena screamed as she felt the energy in her reach a new height.
"The ash that comes from the top of that volcano provides eighty percent of this planet with fertilizer," she remembered the old man saying.
She felt her feet plant into the mountain beneath her, connecting herself with Bakunyuu once more as the winds continued to whip above her head. She breathed heavily as she searched for the crops that yearned for this ash's nutrients, closing her eyes tight.
She soon could feel the masses of crops just a few kilometers away. Thousands upon thousands of living plants were rooted into the ground, feeding on the planet's nutrients.
"Bring it to them…" she grunted, doing her best to balance the ground beneath her with the air above her. "Give it to the crops."
As if it had a mind of its own, the spiraling ball of wind began to move away from the girl and the mountain of fire beneath her. The air cleared once again as the grey ball of wind and ash traveled away.
Her eyes were still closed as she released the winds onto the massive fields of crops about two kilometers away.
She opened her eyes and let out a shaky breath as she saw the intensely hot lava bubble and occasionally spew just in front of her. A crater bigger than the crew's little camp was in front of her now - like a portal back to Hell.
"So, I'm fighting volcanoes now?" Athena chuckled to herself. "I must be insane."
The girl let out a scream of horror as a larger spew of lava burst out of the crater. The heat in the air alone felt like it could melt her skin off.
"Did you see that?" Kanan said in amazement, nodding towards the grey ball floating above the monstrous volcano kilometers away. All the smoke that once blinded them was now back over the volcano in the shape of a sphere.
"See what?"
The two Masters nearly jumped out of their skins when a new voice joined them.
Ezra sat up from his little hiding spot in the back of the Phantom and joined the two at the front of the ship. His jaw dropped when he saw the site ahead of them.
"Woah…"
"That must be her wind powers," Ahsoka shook her head in disbelief.
"She has wind powers?" Ezra questioned in amazement.
"What are you doing here? Hera gave you a direct command to be on the Ghost!" Kanan berated.
"I wanted to save Athena too! She's my friend and our crewmate."
"You could get killed! This is a dangerous situation, Ezra!" Kanan snapped.
"It's too late to take him back, anyhow," Ahsoka shook her head, turning back to the volcano. "Now we just need to get Athena off that volcano."
"Do...you guys maybe think she could fight this thing?" Ezra questioned.
Kanan shook his head, "She just started training. There's no way in the galaxy she could ever pull this off."
Ahsoka pondered for a moment. Yes, this girl was new, but she had a fire in her soul and the Ones behind her back. She had an unimaginable amount of potential stored in that little body of hers. But a volcano? That did seem a bit much...Ahsoka never even saw her try to control any significant amount of lava.
"Look at that!" Ezra exclaimed, gripping Kanan's chair as he pointed at the site ahead of them.
Both of the Master's had wide eyes as a stream of lava spewed out from the top of the mountain. It curved away from the town and unnaturally flew backwards.
Athena let out slow and deliberate breaths as she still had her hands pushed out away from herself.
That last stream of lava was large, but not even close to being of any significance in comparison to the rest of the lava left in the mountain.
She looked back to see she had cleared the clouds that had laid across the volcano's peak. She could see the entirety of Bakunyuu's capital city and a large portion of the forests that surrounded it. She turned to the other side, looking across the crater of molten lava, she could see plains of crops. She sighed as she saw the grey dusting of ash cover them - promising a better harvest.
Then, a tingle. In the back of her skull.
She turned back again and saw rivers of orange magma oozing down the side of the mountain.
Side vents.
Three.
Rushing towards the city.
She turned her body and planted her right foot down the mountain a little and held her right hand out. Her fingers flexed before they bent, forcing the three rivers of lava to follow and mimic the motion of her middle three fingers. The girl took the three fingers of lava and swished them back and forth - creating a line across the front of the steep hill. The lava kept building up and up as lower layers slowly solidified into grey, sturdy, rocks protruding from the side of the mountain.
The wall of rock was about twenty meters wide and fifty meters long when Athena was done. She plugged up the three vents and let the hardened lava cool for now.
It was her last-stand point. The last point where lava could freely flow on that side of the mountain. A fence. A wall. Whatever you'd like to call it. It was the last-stand for stopping the lava from flowing directly onto the city below.
She turned back to the portal of Hell and let out a deep breath.
No matter how much she wanted to, the girl couldn't look down into the hole unless she wanted her eyes to burn. It was far too bright. Far too hot.
The only reason she was still alive was because of the water in the fog clutching onto her skin and the fresh air rushing around her head in an attempt to let her survive these molten conditions.
She stomped each of her feet to the sides of herself and kept her chin down as she felt the next rumble.
A bubble of lava larger than the last exploded. The girl took her left arm and grabbed a hold of the voluminous amount of lava with the Force and suspended it in the air.
What to do with this lava?
Let it burn these people? Or let it burn their dwindling food and let them starve?
Freeze it and let it drop into the lava just to be reheated and spat out again? At least that gave her time to think of a plan. Just for a moment did she get to think.
The voice of Son seemed to take hold of mind; echoing like a speakerphone between her ears.
"Let it burn! Let it consume! It is the fire's desire! Let it free!"
Daughter's voice was next: "Do not let them consume for you will be left with nothing. It will only destroy if you let it free. Constrain it."
So, the bad guy was suggesting she let something free and the good woman was suggesting to keep it captive? Seemed kinda contradictory in Athena's view.
Father was last: "See the balance. Fire can create and destroy."
If it can create and destroy, it can also cancel itself out! Athena remembered from Father's lesson.
But how do you fight fire with fire..?
That just brings destruction.
"Ice?" the girl shrugged. The girl put her hand out and projected the coldness from her memory onto the churning and bubbling lava.
The glow of the crate began to subdue and cracking echoed in her ears. The lava creaked and cracked as it hardened on the top layer.
Her smile of pride was preemptive, however. The girl had to leap back as the lava overcame the stiffened surface of coolness. Too much heat for too little coolness.
A blast bigger than all the last ones erupted, rumbling the ground beneath her.
She had no time to think.
Her arms reached for the lava in the sky as she connected with the mass of molten material.
What was this thing's opposite? What did it mirror?
Ice.
It didn't want to be ice, rather follow the forms of water. The forms humans knew the best.
Liquid, solid, gas.
Lava was the liquid form of fire, Athena figured. So, what was its solid form?
With a glance at the ring on her finger, she remembered.
Let the fire free, but keep it contained.
Athena laughed as she brought the behemoth of obsidian down onto the side of the volcano. It was free from the magma chamber, but it did not run freely onto the crops or people.
The rock was probably as big as the Phantom - still puny in comparison to the rest of the magma chamber's contents.
"Did that spout just turn into a rock?" Ezra exclaimed in confusion as Kanan began to circle the volcano.
"She turned it into volcanic rock..." Ahsoka mumbled
"She is fighting a whole volcano! What is wrong with that child…" Kanan grumbled.
"Hey, she is your sister," Ezra jabbed.
"You shut it," Kanan warned. "You're not supposed to be here."
"Well, at least Athena's got this under control." Ezra gestured to the volcano. "At least the city isn't blown to shreds yet."
"Yet," Kanan emphasized.
"Kanan, watch out!" Ahsoka yelled.
The three screamed out as a gigantic stream of lava erupted from the volcano. Kanan whipped the Phantom as far away as he could from the eruption.
Athena screamed as well, planting her feet into the ground and she stretched her arms above her head.
She needed to let this stuff out now, and on her terms.
This magma was dangerous and unpredictable, so Athena made it predictable. She made it hers.
This all had to get let out - it was dangerous to keep it all in. So, Athena let it all out. Though, she did keep some magma deep in the core. She knew that leaving it hollow would collapse it. So, she left some in the deepest part of the mountain's core.
That Hell Son had placed her in last night didn't hold a candle to the heat that surrounded the girl's body now. She screamed out with every ounce of her lungs behind it as she thrusted the lava high into the air.
So much adrenaline filled her body.
So much fear yet so much courage.
So much hurt yet so much pride.
It overwhelmed her. Her body began to sizzle against the heat.
"Water…!" she screamed. "I need...water!"
Lightning crackled around her as winds once again whipped her hair around. Dark clouds surround her and the lava - white and blue lightning crackling with immense power. Thunder roared with her screams now. Her eyes glowed a bright orange now.
The red lava glowed against the black clouds as the lightning surrounded them like a cocoon. Smoke billowed out of the crater and flowed down the mountain. Steam sizzled off the girl's skin as the clouds' cold water splashed against her skin. It became so massive that the clouds flattened out on the top - having hit the next level of the atmosphere.
Nothing could describe the scene other than raw power.
"WHAT THE HECK?!" the three in the Phantom couldn't help but scream.
They couldn't help but have the breath in their throats stolen. There was no way a human could survive that. There was no way.
The usual grey clouds that hung around Bakunyuu turned several shades darker. Rain began to flood the skies.
The lightning slowly stopped crackling and the wind began to subside. The heat no longer burnt her skin and the glow died down.
The girl's eyes rolled up into the back of her head. Her body went limp and she couldn't stop herself from falling backwards. She didn't even feel the jagged rocks hit and punctured her skin as she rolled down the steep incline. Her body fought back as much as a ragdoll would being thrown down a flight of stairs.
It wasn't until she hit her last-stand rock wall did she stop her violent tumble.
Her body didn't know whether or not to feel warm from the recent event, or cold from the freezing rain. Tired from the exuberant experience, or powerful for simply surviving such a feat. Hurt from the pain, or exhilarated from the adrenaline.
Time didn't pass like it should have for the girl as she lied there on the side of the volcano. She coughed as the last bits of volcanic gas and ash slowly poured out of the crater.
It felt like a dream. Time was moving, but she sure wasn't.
More wind brushed against her skin and she shut her eyes a little tighter, gripped the soil beside her as she braced for the storm above her head.
A hand shook her.
Her vision was blurry, but she could see colors contrast against the dark sky above her.
Orange.
"Athena!" Ahsoka cheered in joy, cupping the side of her face as she crouched next to her on the rock protrusion.
"Did...did I win?" she coughed.
"Holy- what- how-" Ezr couldn't wrap his mind around anything. His eyes kept switching from Athena to the volcano. "YOU DID THIS?"
Athena let out a weak chuckle, "I tried."
"You're kinda warm but not as bad as last time," Ahsoka smiled as she felt Athena's forehead. "You did good."
"I...won against...a volcano?"
"I'd say you won," Ezra could barely keep his footing as he still processed everything. "Holy...Force…"
"I'll call the Ghost and let them know we're okay," Kanan called from the pilot seat of the Phantom - hovering just a few meters away from the shelf on the volcano's side.
"I'm going to pick you up now, okay?" Ahsoka looked to her weakened Padawan covered in ash. The girl's hair a fiery red now - still glowing. Her eyes were amber instead of teal. The girl could barely nod. Ahsoka scooped her up into her arms, one hand behind her back and the other under her knees.
The Force assisted her in leaping back into the Phantom with the girl in her arms. She laid her down and watched as Ezra joined them in the Phantom again.
Ahsoka didn't really want to try to take in the behemoth of a figure just beyond them, erupting from the crater. It was too much for them all at the moment.
