Disclaimer: All rights belong to Nickelodeon, Bryan Konietzko, Michael Dante DiMartino, and all the men and women that created the A:TLA show, books, and comics. I take no credit, and I do not mean to break any copyright rules. This is simply a work of fiction made for enjoyment. No money is being made. The lyrics are from the song "Battlefield" by Svrcina
Rating: General Audiences. Warning: some scenes contain dark themes and minor violence
Chapter 3: The Western Air Temple Part 2
We carry on through the storm
Tired soldiers in this war
Remember what we're fighting for
Meet me on the battlefield
"This is bad," Sokka says. "Really bad."
Katara, Suki, Sokka, Aang, and Teo stand on one of the bridges connecting the wings of the Western Air Temple together. The wind has turned icy, but Katara isn't just shivering from the cold.
"How are we going to fend off the Fire Nation?" Suki asks. "It's just us, a depressed inventor, and a couple dozen innocent inhabitants. Maybe if I had all my warriors with me, but this is just suicide."
If even Suki is expressing concern, then Katara knows the situation is bad. "You don't have to stay here," she says. "Appa can take whoever doesn't want to be involved away to safety. But I have to stay and fight. I'm the reason the Fire Nation is coming."
Suki shakes her head. "No way I'm leaving. I haven't crossed the world just to abandon the Avatar when she needs me the most."
Sokka puts his arm around her. "I'm not leaving, either."
Katara looks over at Aang, who is staring at her with fierce determination. "I promised you I'd stick with you," he says. "No matter what."
"This is my home," Teo says. "I have to protect it."
She nods, a little warmth filling her up again. "Good. But now we need a plan. What advantages do we have?"
"We have the air on our side," Aang declares. "We control the sky. That's something the Fire Nation can't do. We can win!"
They all watch the gliders in the air. Those people have no idea the battle that's about to happen. Their entire home is at stake. Katara hopes they have it in them to fight back.
"I want to help."
They all turn to see the mechanic approaching. He looks a bit sheepish but also convicted.
Katara looks over to see Teo smiling proudly at his father.
"Good," she says. "We'll need it."
They head inside to the mechanic's office, where he clears off a large table and lays out a map of the Western Air Temple. Some of the other people also gather in, ready for instructions on how to defend their home.
"We finally got the war balloon working, thanks to Sokka here," the mechanic announces. "This kid is a genius!"
Sokka's face turns red under the praise. Suki bumps into his side and smiles at him.
He picks up the model and a candle. "The problem with the old war balloon is that you could get it air borne, but once you did, it just kept going. You could put a hole in the top, but then all the hot air would escape. So the question was, how do you control the hot air? Well, putting a lid on it!"
Katara and Aang exchange glances and laugh a bit. Sokka ignores them. "If you control the air, you control the war balloon," he continues.
"That's pretty smart," Aang admits.
"Now, we have four types of bombs," Sokka says. "Smoke, slime, fire, and…"
"Stink!" the mechanic cuts in. "Never underestimate the power of stink!"
Sokka pulls out a handful of scrolls. "We divided up the defense force and the supplies into groups that will be strategically placed around the Air Temple to best intersect and stop the Fire Nation. We need a leader at each spot who will supervise the defense groups. Each scroll has information about each area."
He passes them out to the people in the room. "If your area is overrun or under heavy attack and you need more support, light the torch. It's equipped with special smoke powder that will rise up high and colored, and someone will come give you support."
The people nod. Katara feels like she needs to say something. She steps forward and stands next to Sokka.
"Everyone! I just have something quick to say." With everyone's eyes on her, she suddenly feels very small. "Uh…" She forgets what she was going to say. The seconds tick past, each feeling like an eternity. Finally she settles on telling a story.
"The Fire Nation destroyed my village. They came without warning. I didn't fight back. I ran. And now all my people are dead." She takes a deep breath. "You have a chance here. You know the Fire Nation is coming. You have plans to defend against them. Now all you need is the courage to face them. I didn't have that courage when my village was destroyed, but today I'm going to stand and fight with you. No one else should ever have to suffer the way I did. I'm never going to let it happen again."
Her eyes roam around the room. Everyone returns her look with solemn resolution.
"We're going to win today. We're going to show the Fire Nation that they can't just take what they want!"
"Yeah!" someone shouts, and everyone else begins to cheer. The energy in the room palpably changes. Katara feels a small smile on her face.
Suki grins at her. "Hey, that was a good speech," she says.
Katara laughs a bit shakily. "I'm not exactly sure where it came from," she admits.
The Kyoshi Warrior shakes her head. "It doesn't matter. A good leader always finds the right words when they're needed the most."
Aang swoops out of they sky and lands on the parapet next to Katara. "They're coming," he says.
Teo looks up at Katara worriedly. "Are we ready?" he asks.
"Yes." Her words are confident, but she looks worriedly up in the sky. Where is Sokka and the war balloon?
Teo snaps his goggles on and glances back at the other gliders. They all give him a thumbs up. Katara wheels him off the edge, other gliders following close behind.
And so the battle begins.
Aang glides through a cloud. When he emerges in clear air again, he can see the marching lines of a half dozen Fire Nation squadrons marching up the snow-covered slopes of the mountain. Their metal speartips gleam in the pale sunlight.
There are so many of them. Aang had been so confident, but seeing the sheer numbers is like a direct punch to the gut.
Then he remembers the confidence on Katara's face and the fear goes away. He trusts Katara. She's the Avatar. She knows what she's doing.
Teo signals Aang and they angle their gliders, dipping down lower and punching through the clouds. They emerge right on top of the Fire Nation soldiers. Pulling on a string, a row of bombs discharge on the unsuspecting soldiers below.
They circle back. Aang can hear the generals and commanders yelling orders, but the soldiers aren't prepared for attack from above. They all release another set of bombs, adding to the general confusion.
Aang jumps off his gliders and creates an airball, riding it along a snowy slope. The snow behind him blows off the slope and begins falling onto the soldiers below. He jumps back up in the air and catches his glider. He looks down as two dozen soldiers are buried in the cold substance and the trail is blocked.
"We got them on the run!" he shouts to Teo. "We need more slime!"
Katara appears then, riding on Appa. The entire saddle is covered in slime bombs. She and Momo hand them up to gliders flying overhead.
Suddenly chains with grappling hooks are shot up from below. Katara lets out a shout as they barely miss her and Appa. Aang feels a spike of fear, but Appa expertly flies them out safely.
Aang and the other gliders circle back to see what the Fire Nation has next. Large tanks with huge gripping spikes drive up the side of the mountain, supported by the chains.
Aang stares at them in shock. Now this is an unexpected surprise. How are they supposed to fight tanks with stink bombs?
They throw their slime bombs down with varying degrees of success. Some of the tanks are slowed down. One or two come to a complete stop. But most of them keep advancing.
Aang flies his glider into the mountain, stabbing the staff deep into the packed earth supporting one of the grappling hooks. Then he flips around it, leveraging the hook out. The tank falls with the chain out of sight. A second later, a new chain is thrown up and the tank once again begins to ascend.
Okay. This is not as fun as Aang thought it would be. This is becoming a bit scary. He suddenly understands why the monks decided to isolate themselves from the world once the Fire Nation began their sieges.
But he promised the Avatar that he would help no matter what, and it's a promise he intends to keep.
The gliders fly overhead, keeping up with the tanks. The war machines reach the top of the mountain and start driving towards the Air Temple. Some of them begin to shoot fire at the gliders, who are forced to go on the defensive to avoid being shot down.
They drop firebombs on the tanks, which slows them down a bit but not enough. They continue advancing towards the Air Temple. Towards Teo's home.
Aang lands in the middle of a group of tanks, using his staff and airbending to flip them over and send them flying back. But the tanks have a special counterbalancing design that allows them to continue driving mere seconds after being flipped. Aang watches in shock as they come right back.
He decides to change tactics and start deflecting the fire being shot out, offering a thin layer of protection for the other gliders.
He doesn't know how long he can keep it up, but he has to do something.
"Those things are unstoppable!"
Katara anxiously watches Aang attempting to stop the machines, only for them to keep coming back. In the air next to her, Teo is watching critically.
"I think I may know how to stop them," he finally says. "I remember my father tinkering with the counterbalancing system. Something to do with water."
"Water?" Katara sits up straight. "Can you get me close to one?"
Teo grins. "No problem."
A second later, Teo drops Katara off next to Aang. She summons water up from the snow and creates an ice block which she pushes against one of the tanks. Then she expands the ice. A second later, she and Aang watch as the joints of the tank split and the entire thing falls apart on the snow.
She destroys a second tank that's creeping up on their flank. Then she and Aang turn to face the invasion force - and they realize that they're going to need some help.
Another dozen tanks are approaching, and behind them are dozens of Fire Nation soldiers at the ready. Aang jumps in front of her and airbends away the fireballs shot at them.
"Come on, Avatar state," Katara mumbles under her breath. "Now would be a really good time to take over."
Of course, nothing happens. Appa swoops in from the sky, barrels over a couple tanks, and growls at them to climb on. She and Aang rush up his tail and he takes off, bearing them away to safety.
They fly back over the outer walls of the Temple to the main square. Katara looks down at the battlefield below. About a quarter of the tanks are destroyed or stopped up with slime, but the rest continue their deadly advance. And despite the gliders' work on the slopes, there are still a few dozen men marching behind the tanks.
"We're all out of bombs," Teo announces when they land.
Katara watches the horizon anxiously, hoping Sokka and the mechanic get their war balloon working soon.
"You've certainly made a mess of things here," Azula declares brazenly. "All you had to do was destroy a little Air Temple with a couple dozen peaceful inhabitants. How have you possibly managed to lose a quarter of your invasion force?"
The gray-haired general cowls in front of her. "T-t-they have help, your majesty," he stutters.
"Help?" Azula raises an eyebrow. "What kind of help?"
"Airbenders, ma'am. A dozen of them."
She sighs deeply and pinches the bridge of her nose. "There are no more Airbenders here, General. Those are normal people using gliders. All your men had to do was burn one little hole or throw one spear through the fabric of the glider and they would fall to their deaths."
"I swear, your Highness, there was an Airbender. I saw him with my own eyes."
"Then you must be blind. And therefore unfit to command. I'll be taking over this operation now." Azula shoves him to the side and glances at his invasion plan. It's not half bad, which proves how incredibly incompetent the man has to be in order to be struggling so hard. He has tundra tanks at his disposal - and not just a couple, but more than a dozen. Those tanks should have made quick work of any form of resistance within minutes.
Now that Azula is taking over, she doesn't think there's anything to worry about any more.
"Uh, Azula?" Ty Lee's high-pitched voice chimes out behind her.
"Yes?"
"Maybe that general wasn't completely crazy."
Azula turns around sharply. "What are you talking about?"
"The person who helped the Avatar escape from us," Mai cuts in. "It was a bald kid with brightly colored clothes. And he had this pet that could fly."
"I didn't see an arrow tattoo, but it was pretty dark. We could have just missed it," Ty Lee adds.
Azula has to take a deep breath to keep from exploding. "And you didn't think this information was important until now?" she demands. "If that kid is here, that means the Avatar could be here!"
"That might explain all the trouble the general was having," Ty Lee cautiously says.
Azula gathers up the strategy scrolls. "Come on, girls," she says, pushing past them to exit the tent. "We have a temple to raze and an Avatar to catch."
Sokka, Suki, and the mechanic rise into the air. The mechanic laughs crazily. Suki grins at Sokka.
The wind begins to blow through their hair and clothes, but standing around the furnace of hot coals, they aren't cold. The war balloon rises out of the workshop and into the air. They can see the inside square of the temple, where their allies are cheering them on. And they can see the advancing Fire Nation forces threatening to destroy the temple.
"Just in time!" the mechanic announces. He looks over at Sokka. "Are you ready?"
"Absolutely!"
Sokka steers the war balloon over the enemy forces. No one shoots at them.
"Why aren't they attacking us?" he asks.
"Look at the balloon," Suki says, pointing. The big, red canvas has a large, black Fire Nation emblem painted across it. "They think we're on their side."
"Then they're in for a surprise!"
Sokka nods at Suki. She leans over the side and cuts the ropes holding the large slime bombs to the war balloon. They watch as the bombs fall and hit the ground in front of the invasion force, sending a wave of slime so large and thick that it covers all the tanks and men.
"It worked!" the mechanic exclaims. "We saved the temple!"
"Uh, guys?" Suki points to the edge of the mountain, where a new wave of tanks of approaching. "We got a trouble."
Sokka leans over the side. "Oh no! Those were the last bombs!"
"Wait a second," the mechanic says. He sniffs the air. "Do you smell that?"
Sokka takes a big whiff and instantly regrets it. "It smells like rotten eggs!" he groans.
Suki smacks him.
"Hey! What was tha- Rotten eggs!" Sokka points to an opening in the mountain below them. "That's where the gas is escaping!"
Sokka evaluates the situation quickly and critically. Then he begins detaching the furnace.
"What are you doing?" the mechanic exclaims. "That's our fuel source!"
"And it's the only bomb we've got." Sokka unfastens it from the floor of the hot air balloon. Suki grabs the other side and they haul it to the side and throw it overboard, right into the gullet of the ravine.
For a long few seconds, nothing happens. The balloon begins to sink. They all wait with held breaths.
Then an earth splitting eruption shakes the entire mountain. A huge ball of fire explodes. They all cover their faces with their hands as a wave of hot air blows by.
They don't see what happens next because the falling balloon picks up speed. Sokka grabs on to the side of the air balloon tightly with one hand and with the other grabs Suki's hand.
Someone's screaming. He thinks it might be him. He hadn't thought this plan entirely through when he made the decision to throw out the furnace.
He's never felt fear like this before. Hurtling through the air with no rescue plan, the side of the mountain approaching far too quickly -
And Suki. Why oh why did he bring Suki into all of this?
Then suddenly he's being yanked in the opposite direction. He feels someone grab onto his other hand. The fall slows down and he opens his eyes to see that he's not falling anymore but gently descending. He looks up to see Suki holding tightly onto Aang with her other hand. And the mechanic is holding onto his other hand.
Teo glides by and takes his father, relieving some of the weight from Aang. Sokka's heart is still racing, and he knows it's going to for a while longer, but he allows himself to accept the victory.
"They're retreating!" someone shouts, and all the other people join in on the celebrations. Katara isn't going to be fully relaxed until Sokka and Suki are back, standing next to her, but she trusts Aang. He's going to rescue them. He's more than proved himself today.
"Wait!" someone points in the distance. "There's one still coming!"
Katara runs over and follows the man's arm. Sure enough, one single tundra tank is driving at full speed towards the temple. She has no idea who is brave or stupid enough to continue fighting when everyone else is running, but one tank doesn't pose a threat. Not after the army they just fought off today.
"I'll take care of it," she promises, grabbing a glider and jumping off into the air. Her stomach drops initially, but then she catches the wind currents and her heart resumes beating. She angles it down the way she saw the others doing it and rides the wind until she reaches the bottom. Then she drops lightly in the snow and watches the approaching tank.
It doesn't stop. It just keep coming. Katara is sure the driver is bluffing, so she doesn't move. But when it's close enough that she can see the screw heads holding it together and it shows no signs of stopping, she's forced to shove an ice wall towards it, piercing the metal hull and bringing it to a halt.
The hatch opens. Katara watches as three Fire Nation soldiers jump out.
No, not soldiers - three girls.
"Azula."
The princess walks up, flanked by her two friends. She stops a few feet from Katara.
"You. You turned my own brother against me."
Katara narrows her eyes. "No. You did that yourself."
She lowers herself in a defensive position, but Azula makes no move to attack.
"You met my friends before," the princess says instead. "Ty Lee and Mai. I met Ty Lee at school, but Mai has always lived mere steps from the palace. We often played together as children."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because Mai here was really close to my brother, if you know what I mean. And there's something she doesn't know." Azula grins. "Avatar, why don't you tell her how my brother caught you?"
Katara tries her best not to react. "I trusted him and then he betrayed me."
Azula sighs. "You need to work on your storytelling skills. You're missing out on all the important details. Mai, ask her how Zuko got her to trust him."
Mai's face is like a statue. Her voice emanates boredom. "How?"
Katara stares at the princess. She knows exactly what Azula is doing. She's not going to play her game.
"Fine. I'll tell it myself. Zuko and little miss Avatar here got to know each other pretty well before Zuko captured her."
"So what? He captured her," Mai says, but Katara can hear an uncertain undertone in her voice.
"So he's the one who helped her escape. And he told me he still had feelings for her." Azula turns to Katara with a sly look on her face. "The Avatar stole your boyfriend, Mai. Even after all you did for him."
Katara watches the other girl with a bated breath. Mai stands there, face completely unreadable. Then suddenly she moves and Katara barely manages to deflect two ninja stars thrown her way. She doesn't even have time to recover before Mai presses on the attack. Katara stumbles backwards in the snow, finally creating an ice shield around her.
It doesn't last for more than a few seconds before Azula melts it with her strange blue fire.
"Come out and fight like a real girl," she taunts. "You're making us all look bad."
Katara uses the water in the snow and launches attacks and defenses, but she's outnumbered two to one, and Mai is on the warpath. Her face is strangely calm the entire time, only narrowed eyes and the occasional sneer hinting at her real anger. Katara is barely able to keep up.
Then the girl with the braid, Ty Lee, manages to sneak behind her. Katara feels a series of kicks and punches in her back and suddenly she falls on her face in the snow, completely immobilized.
"The Chi-block never fails," she says brightly.
Azula puts her hands on her hips. "I can't believe the Avatar is so weak. People have hope in you. They're mistaken." She starts to turn. "Bring her in, girls."
Before Ty Lee and Mai can reach Katara, someone lands in the snow. And then two more people follow.
"Take this!" Katara hears Aang yell. A blast of wind flows out and knocks the girls to their feet. Azula turns just in time to get smacked in the forehead by a blue and white boomerang. And Mai's ninja stars are blocked by an expertly wielded metal fan.
Katara can only half-experience the battle that follows, but her friends hold off the Fire Nation girls long enough for the gliders to bring in new slime bombs. And apparently even Azula can't fight well when her limbs are sticking together.
She and her friends disappear. Sokka and Suki lift her onto Appa and lay her there.
"Do you know how long the Chi-block will last?" Aang asks.
"No," Katara says. "Hopefully not too long."
"Let's take her back to the temple," Sokka suggests. "I think we've all had enough excitement for today."
A few hours later, when the sun is setting and Katara can (stiffly) walk again, they decide it's time to hit the road again. The mechanic and Teo and their people are in danger here as long as Katara stays.
"I'm happy you're living here now," Aang tells their new friends. "I was upset at first because this is the home of my people. But we left, and it would be a waste of a good home if no one lived here."
"We'll take care of it," Teo promises.
"You already have."
The mechanic nods to Katara. "Thank you for your help. If you are ever in need of the services of a good mechanic, you know where to find me."
The people give them some supplies for the trip and then they all climb on Appa.
"Where are we going to now?" Aang asks.
Katara looks at Sokka. "You make the plans," she tells him. "Where to next?"
He looks over at Suki. "I think it's time we go back to the beginning."