(A/N: I'm really sorry for the delay. A lot of things have been happening and I've had zero free time. I managed to finally get a break and put this chapter together. Hope you like it.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 13: War of Fire and Water

Zhao didn't like it. It was far too quiet. If Zuko and the other traitors had made it to the Water Tribe, they would surely have guessed what his strategy was. Yet even now as they approached the pond of La and Tui, there wasn't a single Water Tribe member anywhere. Had the cowards flown the coop?

"Still no signs of life." Said one of his soldiers. "It seems even the animals have fled from us in terror."

Zhao looked down from the large airship. "No, they're far too stubborn for that. Until we completely crush them, those peasants won't give up. They're out there… somewhere."

And Zhao was right. As the ships flew in and the tanks crushed everything in their path, Zuko and the others were waiting for the right moment to strike.

That time was now.

"NOW!" he shouted.

The lion-turtle came out of his island-shell, a fleet of airships hovering over its head and several tanks at its feet. With a loud roar, it swatted at the ships in the sky it could reach, and slashed at the tanks beneath it.

From the trees on its back, several flying bison took flight, going after the ships that the lion-turtle couldn't reach. On the ground, several other warriors snuck out of the lion-turtle's shell, attacking the other tanks.

"What the hell?" Zhao snarled. "What is that thing?"

"I think it's a lion-turtle." Another soldier cried.

Zhao's fists clenched. "Where did they get one of those? I thought they were extinct." He turned to his men. "Take us higher! Get us out of its reach! And shoot down those flying water pests!"

Fire began flying through the air as the Fire Nation soldiers attacked the bison. But the bison were much faster, able to avoid the flames while still able to attack the balloons of hot air holding the ships up.

On the ground, the tanks shot balls of fire at the Water Tribesmen. They fought back, melting the snow and ice around them so they could Waterbend.

Zhao surveyed the scene angrily. "Damn that prince reject. If he thinks he can stop us with his army of savages, he's wrong. Don't show them any mercy! Burn them all! I want to see a shower of barbecued bison!"

The soldiers hurried to their posts, launching fireballs at any approaching bison. But the Fire Nation was at a disadvantage here. Though they too were up in the air, they couldn't maneuver as fast as the Water Tribe on their bison.

"Stay on course!" Zhao ordered. "And if you see Zuko, take him out."

There was a loud tearing sound followed by a repeating his as a hole appeared in on of their balloons. Another Fire Nation airship, this one painted blue and modified in great detail for faster movement, was flying towards them. It was flown by Mai, and she had a pile of at least 200 knives with her.

"Oops." She muttered, grabbing another knife.

She threw it, this time aiming for the balloon on Zhao's airship. With an angry snarl, he shot fire at the knife knocking it away.

"Light her up!" he ordered.

The larger airship shifted to get a better angle, but the modifications to Mai's airship allowed her to move out of range quickly. As she flew the ship, she threw another knife, causing Zhao to duck for cover.

"You're not the only one with a few tricks." She commented.

As Mai did battle with Zhao, Katara and Jet led the aerial attack on the other airships. But they were unable to get close enough without getting burned.

"Attack from above!" Jet shouted. "Take out the balloons on their ships!"

The Water Tribe did as commanded, out of range of the fire attacks. Fire Nation ships began falling from the sky as the Water Tribe tore their balloons to shreds.

Turning his attention away from Mai, Zhao saw what the Water Tribe was doing. "Launch catapults!"

One of his men looked at him in surprise. "But, sir, we may hit our own ships."

"They may take out all our ships at this rate. Launch catapults!"

The soldiers obeyed his orders and began launching large balls of fire. A couple airships were indeed hit, but the Water Tribe was forced to retreat.

Zhao smirked. "Look how they flee from the fire, like insects. This will be a day long remembered when the Fire Nation rids the world of these pests. We'll be able to report back to base with good news.

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Unbeknownst to Zhao, the Water Tribe had planned their own attack. Zuko had given them all the information needed to penetrate the Fire Nation's base. Having underestimated their opponent, the Fire Nation hadn't anticipated an attack, and Ozai was most surprised to hear that they were under attack.

"What do you mean, under attack?" he demanded.

"They're already in the base! They're taking over everything!"

Ozai's fists clenched. "Well they'll never get in here. It's six solid feet of metal. They'll never reach this room. Once Zhao and his army get back, we'll take them out. Until then, we stay here."

The door burst open and a soldier rushed in. "Fire Lord, we have a problem."

With an angry growl, Ozai turned to the soldier. "What now?"

The soldier pointed to the window. Ozai raised an eyebrow. What was the problem? The windows were too small to get through. The Water Tribe couldn't get in that way.

He looked out the window all the same, and what he saw made the color drain from his face. Toph was standing a several feet away with a whole army of Water Tribe warriors behind her.

Sensing the Fire Lord looking at her, Toph smirked and gave him the middle finger, then bent down and placed her hands on the metal surface. With a single movement, and the use of her Metalbending, she tore an opening straight through the wall of metal that separated Ozai and his guards from the Water Tribe.

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Back at the battlefield, the Water Tribe was not as successful. They were being overrun on both the land and in the air. Mai was currently in a real predicament. Her ship had finally been hit and was up in flames, spinning out of control.

"Looks like I'm going down." She muttered. "Sorry Zuko."

As her ship went down, it was spotted by none other than Combustion Man. The large man's eyes narrowed as he zeroed in on the flaming ship and took a deep breath. From out of his forehead, he shot a concentration of heat right at her.

Mai seemed to sense the attack, because she turned towards the direction the blast of heat was coming from just before it struck her ship, causing it to explode.

With Mai's ship down, Jet tried to go in for a direct attack on Zhao's ship. Jumping from his bison, he landed on board the ship, and was immediately surrounded by Fire Nation soldiers. He put up a fierce fight, taking out several Fire Nation soldiers before he was finally hit with a stream of fire and fell over the railing, taking a long drop towards the ground.

Aang was facing his own problems. There were Fire Nation soldiers everywhere. So far he had managed to use his Airbending to keep them at bay and block their fire, but one soldier with enough skill shot lightning at him, which Aang was unable to Airbend away. He could only turn away and shield his heart. The lightning stuck him in his back. Fortunately for him, it was not that strong, and he managed to survive, but he was down and out.

Katara was also in trouble. She maneuvered Appa through a shower of large fireballs launched from catapults. But there were too many, and Appa was finally hit. With a loud cry, he and Katara fell from the sky. In a last ditch effort to save his master, Appa turned so he hit the ground first, giving Katara a cushion to land on with his own body.

"Appa!" she cried.

She jumped off the bison hurried to his head to see if he was all right. Appa's eyes were closed, blood pouring out of his crooked mouth, the jaw broken from the fall.

Fighting back tears, she quickly took cover. Peaking out from her hiding place, she saw tanks and soldiers coming her way with Combustion Man in the lead. She knew right away that she would not survive the fight. But she would not surrender and become prisoner to these monsters. She would fight to the death.

Bending the water out of her pouch, she prepared to attack. But she stopped as she felt the ground shake. The Fire Nation soldiers felt it too, and began looking around for the source.

Suddenly, a stampede of Saber-Tooth Moose-Lions came charging at the Fire Nation. They were followed by several other animals, appearing in the thousands. They ran right past Katara, not even giving her a second glance, and attacked the soldiers. People were run down and tanks were flipped over as the animal army attacked.

Combustion Man was the only one to hold his ground. He took a deep breath, ready to blast anything that came at him. He wasn't fast enough, and a Moose-Lion slammed into him, sending him crashing into a tree.

He stumbled to his feet, feeling dazed. He knew he had a concussion, but he was still willing to fight. Taking another deep breath, he launched another heat blast, and instead spontaneously combusted.

Katara hadn't seen Combustion Man accidentally self-destruct. Her gaze was fixed on the sky, which was now filled with wild bison and other flying animals; all of which were attacking the Fire Nation.

"Zuko," she whispered, "Yue has heard you." She felt a rush of hope and excitement as she shouted to the sky. "Yue has heard you!"

The Fire Prince was well aware of this as he watched the Fire Nation ships drop from the massive onslaught by seemingly nature itself. The Fire Nation was completely overwhelmed and outnumbered, their seemingly assured victory clearly lost.

"And now for Zhao." Zuko muttered, directing his lion-turtle towards the admiral's ship.

Trusting his lion-turtle completely, he jumped off its head and was caught in the beast's massive paw. The lion-turtle threw him in the air towards Zhao's ship. As he soared through the air, Zuko created a fire dagger, and shot fire out of his feet like a rocket to direct himself towards the large balloon giving Zhao's ship flight.

Unfortunately, he was spotted by Zhao, who decided to take matters into his own hands. Taking aim, he shot a bolt of lightning at Zuko. He missed.

Zuko stabbed into the balloon and let gravity do the rest. As he fell, his fire dagger ripped open the balloon, leaving a trail of fire behind. When he came to the end, he let himself fall and be caught by the lion-turtle.

The large airship fell from the sky. As it fell, Zhao jumped from it, using his Firebending to launch himself away from the ship. He then Firebended downward, reducing the speed of his fall. He still hit the snow rather hard, but he was alive, and far away enough from the airship when it came crashing down.

Brushing the snow from his face, he growled angrily. The battle was lost; he knew that. But he wouldn't give up. He would go on alone if he had to, and he would hang those two fish out to dry. The moon would die by his hand; he vowed it.

Getting to his feet, he saw several feet from him a frozen river. According to Zuko, the frozen river ran past a crack in the canyon that led right to the oasis where the spirit fish were.

A sinister smile crept up the admiral's face. It seemed the gods favored him after all.

(A/N: Once again, I'm sorry for the long wait, but I've been busy, and still will be for a while. I'll update as often as I can.)