Five teenagers stood on the walls of Ba Sing Se, and gazed in horror at the scene before them.
The Fire Nation had come to Ba Sing Se again. In force.
It had been a few hours since reports had reached them of Fire Nation troops approaching from the direction of the Serpent's pass, and since then a camp had been thrown up outside the walls. Aang could see a line of siege artillery, trebuchets that looked like larger versions of the armament of Fire Nation warships. Behind them, rows and rows of tents stretched as far as the eye could see; it was just possible to make out the tiny outlines of soldiers scurrying between them. Next to them were equally large lines of Fire Nation tanks, with mechanics flitting about between them. The largest tent was an enormous structure made up in various shades of red, accented with gold and emblazoned with the Fire Nation symbol. That was undoubtedly the Campaign tent of the Firelord himself, which meant Ozai was here.
This made Aang incredibly nervous. He can't be here! I'm not ready yet! I haven't even learned firebending and now I have to fight the Firelord?
Katara tore her eyes away from the display of military might in front of her long enough to notice Aang's worry; she must have been feeling it too.
"Don't worry Aang," she tried to comfort him. "They are out here and will stay there for a while; you still have plenty of time to train before you need to do anything."
"Besides, we can always fly over them. We have Appa", said Sokka.
This didn't make Aang feel much better, but before he could reply they were joined by Kuei, who was accompanied by the Council of Five and several watertribesmen including Hakoda.
Kuei surveyed the scene before them and seemed just as horrified as Aang felt. "The Fire Nation are here? So soon?"
"Don't worry, Your Majesty!" Boomed one of the Council of Five. "They couldn't drill through the wall before and the we stopped General Iroh's siege only a few years ago! The Fire Nation will just bounce off harmlessly, just as all attackers do. They cannot starve us out either."
This display of confidence was meant to encourage the Earth King, but instead he frowned. "What do you mean, "General Iroh's Siege?" Are you trying to tell me that Ba Sing Se has been attacked before during my reign and nobody told me anything about it?"
The General suddenly looked uncomfortable.
"Well, as you know we answered to Long Feng back then, but we are your loyal servants now and would never hide anything like that from you!"
Kuei waved away the General's attempt at flattery. "Make sure you don't".
Just then, the Fire Nation artillery must have recieved the order to fire, for their throwing arms swung through the air and several balls of flame rolled lazily towards them. They impacted the wall about fifty feet below the ramparts. The group staggered a bit but were otherwise fine. The crews were already beginning to reload them ready for another salvo.
The bombardment continued in this way for another hour, while troops began to gather. As each projectile smashed into the wall, it made a small hole, but for earthbenders these were easy to repair. Much more concerning was the buildup of Fire Nation troops in front of their camp, accompanied by twelve of their tanks.
"They're going to attack!" Hakoda said.
"Return to the Palace, Your Majesty. You're not a fighter." General How commanded him.
Aang saw a figure move in front of the assembled mass of Fire Nation troops, and as he turned to look up at the walls he got his first good look at Firelord Ozai.
He was surprised by how ordinary Ozai looked; barring his Fire Nation headpiece, customarily worn by the reigning Firelord, and the cruel expression on his face, this symbol of evil looked just like any other person. He was dressed in richly adorned Fire Nation armour, that glinted in the sun. Aang would not have been surprised if there were jewels embedded in it, but of course he was too far away to really see.
Ozai turned back towards his troops and began waving his sword around, presumably giving his troops a big motivational speech to prepare them for the attack. Whatever he told them though, Aang would never know. When his speech had concluded, Ozai turned back to the walls, levelled his sword at the defenders, and gave the order to attack. Then, as his troops surged forward, he began walking back towards his tent. Ozai was clearly not the type to lead from the front. As the assembled mass surged forward, the defenders atop the wall began throwing rocks down towards them. Several of the Firebenders took direct hits and went down.
"How are they going to get up here?" Aang wondered. He was answered by the thud of a grappling hook embedding itself in the wall just below him, and the tank which had fired it cruised up to the base and began to pull itself up. The other tanks followed suit.
Toph wasted no time. After waiting until the tank had reached a sufficient height, she earthbent the grappling hook out of the wall. The tank, suddenly untethered, plummeted and smashed itself to pieces on the ground below.
"Well that was easy!" Sokka said. "At this rate none of the rest of us need to do anything!" Toph did the same to a second tank, which met a similar fate to the first. Aang winced as he watched it smash. "Keep doing what you're doing!" He shouted at Toph before grabbing his glider and jumping off the wall.
Aang landed on the top of the third tank. Its crew opened the hatches and tried to blast him with flames, but instead a gust of wind fired them out of the cockpit and they fell helplessly. Aang followed them and managed to provide a soft landing with his airbending, just as Toph cut their unoccupied tank loose. Firebending troops on the ground beneath it were forced to jump out of the way.
It was hard work, but slowly the rest of the tanks were dealt with in a similar way. Their crews were ejected and then provided with a smooth landing by Aang, before the machine was provided with a much rougher landing by Toph.
None of the tanks so much as reached the battlements.
"That can't be it." How said. "That was too easy."
"I would be surprised if it was it," Sokka replied. "Ozai can't have expected that to work. There must be something else he's planning."
As Aang listened to Sokka debating tactics with General How, he knew that Sokka was right, and that sooner or later he would have to face the Firelord in person.